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From Paul Craig Roberts Website

Identity Politics is the ideology of the liberal/progressive/left and the Democratic Party. Identity Politics teaches hatred of white people, all white people. An article last November in the student newspaper at Texas State University declared that white DNA is an abomination.

Americans, assuming that they are aware of this hostile statement toward white people, dismiss it as student silliness. They do not understand that it is the logical conclusion of the reigning ideology in America today. Naomi Klein, for example, writing in the current issue of Sierra, takes for granted the explanations of Identity Politics when she writes that the stakes in the 2016 election were enormously high for "those targeted by racist attacks as Trump fanned the flames of rising white nationalism ... to the prospect of women losing the right to decide whether or not to become mothers, to the reality of sexual assault being normalized and trivialized at the highest reaches of power."

Formerly, the liberal/progressive/left and the Democratic Party stood for the working class. In those days societal conflict was understood in class terms, and the capitalist was seen as the exploiter. Today the conflict is identity driven, with the white heterosexual male placed in the role as the exploiter of blacks, homosexuals and women.

The idea that power resides in the white heterosexual male is obviously erroneous. Imagine if the Texas college student had written that black DNA is an abomination or homosexual DNA is an abomination. The article would not have been published. But it is perfectly OK to denigrate whites. Indeed, white males have no protection against abuse, because they are not protected by quotas, political correctness, and hate speech prohibitions.

Whites are easily discriminated against, as the recent firing of James Damore by Google illustrates. Damore simply stated a scientific fact that males and females have different traits that suit them to different jobs. But this is a fact that is inconsistent with Identity Politics. Just as Trofim Lysenko managed to destroy Soviet genetics by denying facts, Identity Politics is destroying American society by denying facts. Ideologies are only interested in facts that confirm the ideology. When no such facts exist, ideologues make up the facts.

Americans, especially white people who are the target of the deadly ideology of Identity Politics and are placed by the ideology in the same position as Jews in Nazi Germany and capitalists in Soviet Russia, are unaware of the extent to which Identity Politics is now the dominant force in American culture. For example, as James Damore's lawsuit against Google proves, Google's corporate culture is 100 percent Identity Politics. Damore was fired because he challenged Identity Politics.

Read here for examples of the raw hatred that Google employees expressed against Damore. None were fired for hateful and threatening language that went far beyond Damore's mild statement that males and females have different traits. Google actually rewards employees for beating up on white heterosexual males and conservatives and holds diversity training sessions, the purpose of which is to put whites on the defensive. The whites who survive at Google are the ones who deplore their whiteness.

Clearly, Identity Politics has turned Google into a totalitarian organization, one that cooperates with police state agencies in restricting access to non-approved information. We must hope that a blockchain Internet soon replaces Google and that Google's stock declines in value to zero.

As few people understand the role played by Identity Politics in the attack on President Trump and the American working class that elected him and the role of Identity Politics in falsifying American history, it is beneficial to revisit the Charlottesville, Virginia, staged show of last August and the way the presstitutes cast an Identity Politics explanation over the show.

As the liberal/progressive/left, the Democratic Party, major corporate cultures, and the print and TV media have no compunction about attacking white people in the most threatening and hurtful ways, Amnesty International's Margaret Huang is clearly wrong when she declares whites, with gags in their mouths, to be the "emboldened and empowered violent segments of our society."

Listening to NPR last August confirmed what I already knew. Charlottesville is being turned into another nail in President Trump's coffin. NPR had no interest whatsoever in reporting the actual facts about what had occurred in Charlottesville. The several "interviews" with the like-minded were orchestrated to produce the desired propaganda result: It was all Trump's fault. It was Trump's fault for many reasons. He had stirred up White Supremacists and Nazis by appealing during the presidential election campaign to their supremacist views with his slogan "America first."

Of course, what Trump means by "America first," is precisely what the voters understood him to mean -- the interest of the broad American public should come before trade deals that serve the interests of other countries and the narrow profit interests of global corporations. However, the NPR propagandists put words in Trump's mouth and twisted the meaning of the slogan to be "White America Comes First."

In other words, "America first" according to NPR is code language to white supremacists to take advantage of the electoral college and elect a leader over the popular vote of the heavy population densities in the narrow geographical areas that comprise the northeast and west coasts, the centers of moral rot. Thus, Trump was the candidate of white supremacists and, thereby, illegitimate.

NPR next conveyed the message that Trump proved he was the Nazis' candidate when he criticized both sides for the trouble in Charlottesville. NPR used its orchestrated interviews to place all blame for violence on the group that had a permit for their rally. According to NPR, the group that had no permit and formed in order to protest the rally consisted entirely of white hats defending America from free speech by alleged Nazis and racists.

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From Middle East Monitor

Not a day passes without a prominent Israeli politician or intellectual making an outrageous statement against Palestinians. Many of these statements tend to garner little attention or evoke rightly deserved outrage.

Just recently, Israel's Minister of Agriculture, Uri Ariel, called for more death and injuries on Palestinians in Gaza.

"What is this special weapon we have that we fire and see pillars of smoke and fire, but nobody gets hurt? It is time for there to be injuries and deaths as well," he said.

Ariel's calling for the killing of more Palestinians came on the heels of other repugnant statements concerning a 16-year-old teenager girl, Ahed Tamimi. Ahed was arrested in a violent Israeli army raid at her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

A video recording showed her slapping an Israeli soldier a day after the Israeli army shot her cousin in the head, placing him in a coma.

Israeli Education Minister, Naftali Bennett, known for his extremist political views, demanded that Ahed and other Palestinian girls should "spend the rest of their days in prison."

A prominent Israeli journalist, Ben Caspit, sought yet more punishment. He suggested that Ahed and girls like her should be raped in jail.

"In the case of the girls, we should exact a price at some other opportunity, in the dark, without witnesses and cameras," he wrote in Hebrew.

This violent and revolting mindset, however, is not new. It is an extension of an old, entrenched belief system that is predicated on a long history of violence.

Undeniably, the views of Ariel, Bennett and Caspit are not angry statements uttered in a moment of rage. They are all reflections of real policies that have been carried out for over 70 years. Indeed, killing, raping and imprisoning for life are features that have accompanied the state of Israel since the very beginning.

This violent legacy continues to define Israel to this day, through the use of what Israeli historian Ilan Pappe describes as "incremental genocide."

Throughout this long legacy, little has changed except for names and titles. The Zionist militias that orchestrated the genocide of the Palestinians prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948 merged together to form the Israeli army; and the leaders of these groups became Israel's leaders.

Israel's violent birth in 1947-48 was the culmination of the violent discourse that preceded it for many years. It was the time when Zionist teachings of prior years were put into practice and the outcome was simply horrifying.

"The tactic of isolating and attacking a certain village or town and executing its population in a horrible, indiscriminate massacre was a strategy employed, time and again, by Zionist bands to compel the population of surrounding villages and towns to flee," Ahmad Al-Haaj told me when I asked him to reflect on Israel's past and present.

Al-Haaj is a Palestinian historian and an expert on the Nakba, the "Catastrophe" that had befallen Palestinians in 1948.

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Kiss My Bull

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Many thanks to Bob Dylan's great song of the same name. What rankles me is how so many of my friends, neighbors and acquaintances seem to accept how far down the rabbit hole our Amerikan society has fallen. We live under the broken umbrella of an empire that cares not to protect the overwhelming majority of us. We live under the auspices of a regime that spends half or our hard earned tax dollars on phony wars, illegal foreign occupations and excessive militarism at home. Yet, most of the lemmings I cohabit with are only concerned about tripe news on sexual scandals and other base events that have nothing to do with their health or financial well being. For every person who can profit from this insane stock market run up, there are a thousand times more folks who are lucky to afford the bare necessities of life. Many of us, even we who earn more than the median income level, still walk around with missing teeth, knees and necks in need of operative repair and so on.



Kiss My Bull

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We Amerikans have become like those serfs on the feudal manors, working hard and still bowing and scraping when the lord of the manor passes. Why should the boss worry in most businesses, when but less than 10% of private sector workers are in a union? There are fewer and fewer protections for working stiffs in Amerika, and the empire knows it. When we who know better shout as loud as we can that the Fat Cat CEOs earn upwards of 300 times that of their workers, some serfs answer " Well, they worked hard for their success, and they deserve it! " Really? Well, in 1960 the top federal tax rate was at 90%, and the Fat Cats still did very well ( of course no one paid 90%- they all had accountants and plenty of write offs ). In 1985 that top rate was at 50%... now it is at less than 39%, and sinking lower as I write. So, do the math: A Fat Cat CEO who earns 300 times of his or her worker is most likely keeping double or triple what his counterparts of 32 or 57 years ago kept. Where is the disgust from most of my fellow working stiffs?

To keep one soldier in Afghanistan costs the same as hiring 25 new fireman, policeman or school teachers, each at a $ 40k a year salary. Hellfire Missiles ($ 70,000 each) shot from a Reaper Drone ($28 million dollars) many times not only kill innocents via Collateral damage, but that spending redirected can help keep our neighborhood libraries open longer and filled with tons of new books! The real crime is in the fact that our empire has NO business being in those countries... period! Monday, January 15th was Reverend King's birthday, and this coming April will be the 50th anniversary of his assassination, for that matter. A year before he was murdered, Reverend King gave one of his most memorable speeches, at the Riverside Church in N. Y . C. For the first time he publically denounced our empire's involvement in Indochina:

This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Amerika is truly running out of band-aids!
This week marks the 37th anniversary of a pledge made by the United States in 1981:

"The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs."

This week also marks 37 continuous years of the United States failing to uphold its pledge: the 1981 Algiers Accords.

Just how many people have heard of the 1981 Algiers Accords, a bilateral treaty signed on January 19, 1981 between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran? Chances are, not many. Just as chances are that not many are fully aware of what actually led to the signing of this treaty.

Following the success of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Shah, America's strongman in Iran, plans were made to topple the new government in Tehran. In 1980, under the Carter administration, the United States began clandestine radio broadcasts into Iran from Egypt. The broadcasts called for Khomeini's overthrow and urged support for Shahpur Bakhtiar [i] , the last prime minister under the Shah. Other plans included the failed Nojeh coup plot as well as plans for a possible American invasion of Iran using Turkish bases [ii] .

The new Revolutionary government in Iran, with a look to the past and the 1953 British-CIA coup d'e'tat that overthrew the Mossadegh government and reinstalled the Shah, had good reason to believe that the United States was planning to abort the revolution in its nascent stages. Fearful, enthusiastic students took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took the diplomats as hostages in order to prevent such plans from fruition.

These events led to the negotiation and conclusion the Algiers Accords, point 1 of which was the pledge by the United States not to intervene in Iran's internal affairs in anyway. The Algiers Accords brought about the release of the American hostages and established the Iran--U.S. Claims Tribunal ("Tribunal") at The Hague, the Netherlands. The Tribunal ruled consistently "the Declarations were to be interpreted in accordance with the process of interpretation set out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties." [iii] ( [*] )

A pledge is only as valid and worthy as the person making it. From the onset, the United States failed to uphold its own pledge. For instance, starting in 1982, the CIA provided $100,000 a month to a group in Paris called the Front for the Liberation of Iran. The group headed by Ali Amini who had presided over the reversion of Iranian oil to foreign control after the CIA-backed coup in 1953 [iv] . Additionally, America provided support to two Iranian paramilitary groups based in Turkey, one of them headed by General Bahram Aryana, the former Shah's army chief with close ties to Bakhtiar [v] .

In 1986, the CIA went so far as to pirate Iran's national television network frequency to transmit an address by the Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, over Iranian TV in which he vowed: "I will return," [vi] . The support did not end there. Pahlavi had C.LA. funding for a number of years in the eighties which stopped with the Iran-Contra affair. He was successful at soliciting funds from the emir of Kuwait, the emir of Bahrain, the king of Morocco, and the royal family of Saudi Arabia, all staunch U.S. allies [vii] .

In late 2002, Michael Ledeen joined Morris Amitay, vice-president of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs; ex-CIA head James Woolsey; former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney; former senator Paul Simon; and oil consultant Rob Sobhani to set up a group called the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI) [viii] . In spite of his lack of charisma as a leader, in May, 2003, Michael Ledeen wrote a policy brief for the American Enterprise Institute Web site arguing that Pahlavi would make a suitable leader for a transitional government, describing him as "widely admired inside Iran, despite his refreshing lack of avidity for power or wealth." [ix]

In August 2003, the Pentagon issued new guidelines. All meetings with Iranian dissidents had to be cleared with Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith. Reza Pahlavis' name was included in the list of contacts that had been meeting with Pentagon analysts [x] .

Concurrent with this direct interference, and in the following decade, Washington concentrated its efforts into putting a chokehold on the Iranian economy. A provision of the Algiers Accords was that "the United States will revoke all trade sanctions which were directed against Iran in the period November 4, 1979, to date." Embargoes and sanctions became the norm. Failing to interfere in Iran's domestic affairs in order to topple the Islamic Republic through economic hardship, the United States once again turned up pressure through broadcasts and direct support for dissidents and terrorists -- in conjunction with economic sanctions.

This stranglehold was taking place while concurrently, and in violation of the Algiers Accords, the CIA front National Endowment for Democracy was providing funds to various groups, namely "Iran Teachers Association" (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994,2001, 2002, 2003); The Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI founded in 1995 by Kenneth R. Timmerman, Peter Rodman, Joshua Muravchik, and American intelligence officials advocating regime change in Iran), National Iranian American Council (NIAC) 2002, 2005, 2006), and others [xi] .

Funds from NED to interfere in Iran continued after the signing of the JCPOA. The 2016 funding stood at well over $1m.

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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com.

In 1956, in an interview with journalist Anna Louise Strong, Chinese leader Mao Zedong famously said of American imperialism: "In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of; it is a paper tiger." It wasn't the first time he had used the image. Ten years earlier he had told Strong that, even with its new world-ending weapon, the atom bomb, the U.S. was a paper tiger, adding of that bomb, "It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapon."

More than half a century later, with nuclear weapons once again on the table, Mao's language seems a bit dated. Paper? What's that? And America as a tweetable (or Twitter) tiger doesn't exactly do the trick, does it? Still, whatever its truth at the time, that ancient Maoist image might possibly have a second life in a new century. You know, the century in which the United States was finally led by a "very stable genius."

As TomDispatchregular Alfred McCoy, author of In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, suggests today, we finally seem to have reached the paper-tiger stage of American imperial history. After all, we have a president who just screened The Greatest Showman, the new movie on P.T. Barnum and the founding of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, at Camp David and is himself, tweet by tweet and statement by statement, turning the empire into a failing sideshow in the ever more riveting three ring circus of Trump. Perhaps it's fitting that 2017 was the year Barnum's circus had its final performance. Tom

The World According to Trump

Or How to Build a Wall and Lose an Empire

By Alfred W. McCoy As 2017 ended with billionaires toasting their tax cuts and energy executives cheering their unfettered access to federal lands as well as coastal waters, there was one sector of the American elite that did not share in the champagne celebration: Washington's corps of foreign policy experts. Across the political spectrum, many of them felt a deep foreboding for the country's global future under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In a year-end jeremiad, for instance, conservative CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria blasted the "Trump administration's foolish and self-defeating decision to abdicate the United States' global influence -- something that has taken more than 70 years to build." The great "global story of our times," he continued, is that "the creator, upholder, and enforcer of the existing international system is withdrawing into self-centered isolation," opening a power vacuum that will be filled by illiberal powers like China, Russia, and Turkey. The editors of the New York Times remarked ruefully that the president's "boastfulness and belligerence and tendency to self-aggrandizement are not only costing America worldwide support, but also isolating it." Discarding the polite bipartisanship of Washington's top diplomats, Obama's former national security adviser, Susan Rice, ripped Trump for dumping "principled leadership -- the foundation of American foreign policy since World War II" -- for an "America first" stance that will only "embolden rivals and weaken ourselves." Yet no matter how sharp or sweeping, such criticism can't begin to take in the full scope of the damage the Trump White House is inflicting on the system of global power Washington built and carefully maintained over those 70 years. Indeed, American leaders have been on top of the world for so long that they no longer remember how they got there. Few among Washington's foreign policy elite seem to fully grasp the complex system that made U.S. global power what it now is, particularly its all-important geopolitical foundations. As Trump travels the globe, tweeting and trashing away, he's inadvertently showing us the essential structure of that power, the same way a devastating wildfire leaves the steel beams of a ruined building standing starkly above the smoking rubble. The Architecture of American Global Power The architecture of the world order that Washington built after World War II was not only formidable but, as Trump is teaching us almost daily, surprisingly fragile. At its core, that global system rested upon a delicate duality: an idealistic community of sovereign nations equal under the rule of international law joined tensely, even tenuously, to an American imperium grounded in the realpolitik of its military and economic power. In concrete terms, think of this duality as the State Department versus the Pentagon. At the end of World War II, the United States invested its prestige in forming an international community that would promote peace and shared prosperity through permanent institutions, including the United Nations (1945), the International Monetary Fund (1945), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947), the predecessor to the World Trade Organization. To govern such a world order through the rule of law, Washington also helped establish the International Court of Justice at The Hague and would later promote both human rights and women's rights. On the realpolitik side of that duality, Washington constructed a four-tier apparatus -- military, diplomatic, economic, and clandestine -- to grimly advance its own global dominion. At its core was an unmatched military that (thanks to hundreds of overseas bases) circled the globe, the most formidable nuclear arsenal on the planet, massive air and naval forces, and an unparalleled array of client armies. In addition, to maintain its military superiority, the Pentagon massively promoted scientific research, producing incessant innovation that would lead, among so many other things, to the world's first system of global telecommunications satellites, which effectively added space to its apparatus for exercising global power. Complementing all this steel was the salve of an active worldwide diplomatic corps, working to promote close bilateral ties with allies like Australia and Britain and multilateral alliances like NATO, SEATO, and the Organization of American States. In the process, it distributed economic aid to nations new and old. Protected by such global hegemony and helped by multilateral trade pacts hammered out in Washington, America's multinational corporations competed profitably in international markets throughout the Cold War. Adding another dimension to its global power was a clandestine fourth tier that involved global surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and covert operations on five continents by the Central Intelligence Agency. In this way, with remarkable regularity and across vast expanses of the globe, Washington manipulated elections and promoted coups to insure that whoever led a country on our side of the Iron Curtain would remain part of a reliable set of subordinate elites, friendly to and subservient to the U.S. In ways that to this day few observers fully appreciate, this massive apparatus of global power also rested on geopolitical foundations of extraordinary strength. As Oxford historian John Darwin explained in his sweeping history of Eurasian empires over the past 600 years, Washington achieved its "colossal Imperium... on an unprecedented scale" by becoming the first power in history to control the strategic axial points "at both ends of Eurasia" through its military bases and mutual security pacts.

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From Alon Ben-Meir Website



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The geopolitical developments in the Middle East over the past 15 years have created new political and security dynamics engendered by the violent turmoil and profound concerns over the Iranian threat, shared by Israel and the Arab states. Israel is now facing a new critical juncture: continue with its oppressive occupation and creeping annexation of Palestinian land, which stands in total contrast to its moral responsibility and Jewish values; or seek a peace agreement with the Palestinians in the context of an Arab-Israeli comprehensive peace, which the Arab states seek now more than any time before because of their domestic and foreign security concerns.

The current government, led by Netanyahu with the support of three radical ministers, Lieberman, Bennett, and Shaked -- who hold the key ministries of Defense, Education, and Justice respectively -- relishes the new geopolitical environment. They complement each other by developing a defense posture, biased educational curriculum, and skewed public narrative while weakening the judiciary, with Netanyahu orchestrating the long-term strategy that denies the Palestinians a state of their own.

Blinded by the euphoria created by Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the near-unimpeded expansion of settlements and annexation of Palestinian land, the ministers feel confident that the occupation is no longer a major concern to the Arab states. And with the unwavering backing of Trump, they are assuming a free hand to do what they choose with impunity. They are tragically wrong.

Israel must now seize the momentous, time-sensitive opportunity provided by the changing geopolitical regional dynamic precipitated by the common Iranian threat against Israel and the Arab states. The leading Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states, view Israel today as a strategic ally rather than an enemy, which presents Israel with two options:

The first is to make further territorial gains by building new, expanding existing, and legalizing illegal settlements, which will basically foreclose any prospect of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement based on two states. This will not stop the Arab states from cooperating with Israel because of their preoccupation with domestic and foreign threats, which assumes priority over the Palestinians' aspiration for statehood.

The relatively mute reaction to Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital only reinforces the view that the Arab states' anxieties about the Iranian threat takes precedence, even over such a sensitive issue as the future status of Jerusalem.

That said, although the Arab states want to normalize relations with Israel, they will not do so because that would be seen as a blatant betrayal of the Palestinian cause which they have championed for decades. Instead, they would (continue to) maintain tacit strategic cooperation with Israel against Iran, which they need, but deprive Israel of a comprehensive peace which the Israelis greatly seek.

The second option for Israel is to capitalize on its current state of relations with the Arab countries by reaching out to the Palestinians to resume serious peace talks. This may well be an historic opportunity because the Arab states, who want to maintain their strategic cooperation with Israel, are now predisposed to pressure the Palestinians to make important concessions to Israel, especially on national security, refugees, and land swaps.

The current conditions provide a rare opportunity to reach a peace agreement that can be implemented over a long period of time (10 years or more), during which both sides can develop trust (which is sorely lacking) through joint socio-economic projects while cementing security arrangements and cooperation.

By establishing a Palestinian state, Israel will end its human rights violations and stop the continuing moral erosion precipitated by the occupation, which has infected the country for five decades and severely undermined Jewish values and humanitarianism. These values were the very secret behind Jewish survival throughout the millennia, even though they were subjected to discrimination, persecution, expulsion, and death.

As Rabbi Daniel Polish eloquently stated in his writing "Judaism and Human Rights," "The system of values and ideas [on which human rights are based] are among the beliefs which constitute the very core of Jewish sacred scripture and the tradition of ideas and practices which flows from it..."

At their core, Netanyahu and his company are dedicated to the idea that God bequeathed the "Land of Israel" exclusively to the Jews, which justifies taking any measure, however wrong and humanly abusive, to secure the land in perpetuity in the name of God. They have become oblivious to the fact that "Human rights are an integral part of the faith and tradition of Judaism."

The right-wing segment of the Israeli population views the development of events between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the US' recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as proof of the unassailability of the Netanyahu government's judgment and policies. But there is nothing further from the truth.

If these policies could, in fact, lead to a comprehensive peace, I'd say, stay the course. But given the volatility of the Middle East, today's friends may well become the foes of tomorrow. This is a prospect that the Netanyahu government cannot ignore.

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From Consortium News

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin [Md.], has become a big star in national media by routinely denouncing Russia as a dire threat to American democracy. The senior senator from Maryland personifies the highly dangerous opportunism that has set in among leading Democrats on the subject of Russia.

Chelsea Manning confirmed on Sunday that she is challenging Senator Cardin's re-election effort in the Democratic primary this June. Her campaign has real potential to raise key issues. One of them revolves around the kind of bellicose rhetoric that heightens the dangers of conflict between the world's two nuclear superpowers.

In a typical foray into reckless hyperbole, Cardin told a public forum in November: "When you use cyber in an affirmative way to compromise our democratic, free election system, that's an attack against America. It's an act of war. It is an act of war."

Cardin is far from the only member of Congress to use "act of war" rhetoric about alleged Russian cyber actions. Republican ultra-hawk Arizona Senator John McCain has hurled the phrase at Russia. But the most use of the phrase comes from a range of Democrats, such as Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and the normally sensible Northern California Representative Jackie Speier.

As his party's ranking member of the key Senate committee on foreign policy, Cardin is at the tip of the anti-Russia propaganda spear. After three decades in Congress including nearly a dozen years in the Senate, he's an old hand at spinning. No one has worked harder to get political mileage out of "Russiagate."

A Distorted Report

Last week, Cardin upped the ante with the release of a report that he commissioned. In effect, it's a declaration of red-white-and-blue jihad against Russia.

The report -- which accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of "a relentless assault to undermine democracy and the rule of law in Europe and the United States" -- received massive coverage in U.S. news media. Conservative and libera l punditry voiced acclaim.

"Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a U.S. president," a solo statement by Cardin declares on the opening page. With the truly repugnant President Trump in its crosshairs, the report's most polemical claims -- no matter how debatable or ahistorical -- have predictably gotten a pass from mass media.

But the much-ballyhooed report is a carefully selective and distorted version of history.

The expansion of NATO up to Russia's borders, the U.S. interference in dozens of countries' elections (including in Russia during the Clinton administration), Washington's support for repressive regimes in the past and present -- such realities didn't merit consideration or mention. Nor did facts such as the USA's role as the world's biggest arms merchant. Or the aggressively deadly U.S. military interventions in the recent past and present, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya.

Such omissions are essential to the self-righteous tone of the Russiagate frenzy. Only with silence about basic truths of U.S. foreign policy can officials in Washington pose as leaders of an angelic nation that must confront satanic Russia.

In light of what is at stake for human survival -- with the odds of nuclear war shifting ominously because of the agenda that he's helping to push -- Senator Cardin can be understood as someone who avidly fits into patterns of nationalistic and militaristic madness. The sad fact is that he has plenty of company on Capitol Hill.

Democratic leadership used to be much saner. Five decades ago, it was the fanatical Republican standard bearer Barry Goldwater who scorned reaching out to the Kremlin -- while Democratic President Lyndon Johnson wisely sought de'tente with Russian leaders on behalf of peaceful coexistence and reducing the risks of nuclear conflagration.

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall's Bottom Up is a revaluation of values, not the empty mouthing of the word 'democracy' that is so common, but the application of belief in popular wisdom to every aspect of life. Actually believing that the views of more people is better, means a new way of thinking about the world that is democratic, feminist, localist, populist, and radically richer than the elitist perspectives that are more common even in the parts of the world that shout the word 'democracy' the most. Here we come to understand both the power of small groups and the upsides to internet crowd sourcing, the potential of nonviolent movements and ways in which the past has not been what we supposed. Don't just read this book; get lots of people to read and talk about it."



David Swanson, host, Talk Nation Radio, author of War No More: The Case for Abolition.
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Since ancient times, there have been whole cities built underground. Derinkuyu in Turkey is nearly 2,800 years old, with room for 20,000 residents, extending 200 feet below the surface.



Derinkuyu Underground City is an ancient multilevel underground city in the Derinkuyu district in Nevsehir Province, Turkey. (Credit: ralucahphotography.ro/Getty Images)

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There are 1200 interconnecting tunnels under Orvietto, Italy, about 2500 years old.

In the 13th Century AD, a holy city was built within the salt mines under Wieliczka, Poland.



Chapel in the cathedral carved out of the rock salt in Wieliczka salt mine. (Credit: DeAgostini/Getty Images)

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In the 1960s, the Chinese government built a bomb shelter for a million people under the streets of Beijing.



A mural dedicated to the workers who dug the tunnels that later became the Beijing Underground City in Beijing, China. (Credit: Bryan Chan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

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Damanhur is a present-day holy site, built under Northern Italy, inspired by one man and constructed over 40 years, smaller than the cities described above, but with an aesthetic and spiritual breadth of vision.

Are there secret underground cities today with a more sinister purpose? According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there have been many occasions in recent decades when the world barely escaped nuclear holocaust, several times by the decision of a single military officer to defy orders and refuse to launch missiles. Forbes has identified 2,043 billionaires in the world. The "black budget" of the US is reported to exceed the entire budget passed by Congress each year. There are trillions of dollars unaccounted for just in the last decade. There are rumors about underground bunkers, perhaps whole cities underground where self-styled Noahs are laying a foundation so they can begin the world anew after nuclear war or global ecosystem collapse or any number of fragilities to which our entire civilization might succumb.

It is ironic that we know so much about vast underground cities from the ancient past, but we have only rumors that even vaster facilities have been built in the present era. Peter Dale Scott has researched a secret American plan for continuity of government. Here is where the American military command will survive during a nuclear war:



bunker01

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More on underground cities in history

Mt Yamantau is where Vladimir Putin is rumored to have an underground safe haven.

Raven Rock is an underground Pentagon facility in south central Pennsylvania.

Something on the scale of a city is under Denver Airport

Greenbrier, WV is home to a sprawling underground city where the US Congress could retreat in the event of nuclear war.


John Roberts Appointed all the Surveillance Court Judges

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Senate Leader Mitch McConnell this Tuesday pulled out his bag of parliamentary tricks to avoid a meaningful alternative to extending, until 2023, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). On January 11, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi cooperated in the House of Representatives to beat back rising bipartisan opposition to unconstitutional domestic snooping that has been ineffective in preventing terrorism in the US.

Cloture limits total debate on the bill to 30 hours (often actually far less), with no more than one hour per senator. It also requires that proposed amendments be filed by certain deadlines. This will severely weaken the threat of Senators Paul and Wyden to filibuster passage of S.139, also requiring participation in the filibuster by numerous colleagues. Additionally, cloture bans consideration of amendments that have not been filed by specified times.

Using Section 702 authority and operating without warrants, the National Security Agency (NSA) has since at least 2008 scanned fiber optic lines entering the United States, copying, storing and searching them using a list of targets and other key words. Stored "hits" from these electronic transmissions may contain mere passing mention of such items. No warrants are obtained to scan and collect these electronic communications to or from US persons. Nor do analysts from NSA, FBI and elsewhere get a warrant to pull US persons' messages from the databases and search them for any reason, even criminal investigations, not just counterterrorism. During House debate, supporters of Section 702 advocated excepting 702 operations from Fourth Amendment requirements.

Declassified opinions from the FISA Court (FISC) document longstanding and serious NSA violation of FISC's guidelines, plus the Court's inability to trust the Agency's word. The Court found no way to enforce even the very lenient conditions it imposed. In 2008, then-Speaker Pelosi had ridiculed any suggestion that Section 702 would enable warrantless surveillance. But if any law should be rejected because of widespread abuses, this is it. Surprisingly, supporters of S.139 claimed during House debate that there had been no or minimal compliance problems, and those supporting an amendment to S.139 did not challenge this claim. Nor did they note that FISA allows emergency collection for three days while getting a warrant.

In an apparently deliberate loophole, Section 702 does not define what is "foreign" collection. Many communications between persons located in the US routinely are routed abroad to less crowded or cheaper fiber optic lines. Such communications re-entering the US therefore often are purely domestic, but could be labeled as "foreign" because they are returning from abroad. All such communications are searched using key words, and retained if there is a "hit." So, for instance, if your email to a nearby buddy discusses a terrorist "bomb" explosion in New York, it may be copied and dumped into a 702 database.

In another sleight of hand, NSA secretly redefined its use of terms to avoid their common and prior technical meaning. Collection now occurs only when an analyst retrieves an item from the database; this abets NSA in misleading the public about the extent of collection. NSA has repeatedly refused to tell even its Congressional Intelligence Committee overseers how many US persons or communications are in such databases, a tally or range that mostly should be available using 2001 technology.

Despite this sorry record, the Judiciary Committee's S. 139 bill extending Section 702 actually "legalizes" what FISC declared to be violations of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment banning unreasonable, warrantless search and seizure. It allows databased communications, whether foreign or domestic, to be searched by NSA and other agencies, for any purpose and without a warrant.

Past claims that pending terrorist attacks were blocked due to domestic surveillance have not withstood scrutiny.

Failure traces to NSA's "collect it all" approach that buries useful information. Even were a few claims of 702 prevention of domestic terrorism reliably verified, the responsibility to protect our freedom and republic is far more important. Almost inexplicably, US terrorist attacks by untargeted persons who were radicalized and trained online to create bombs occur regularly.

These online sites, not ordinary persons' electronic activities, should have blanket NSA coverage, but the agency repeatedly fails at this most basic task.


A press conference attendee illustrates its theme.

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As the disaster of the Department of Homeland Security's new role of chasing down "voter fraud" has replaced the Pence/Kobach "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity"'s former task, a window of opportunity opened up in front of the SCOTUS building this morning.

Barbara Arnwine, co-chair, president, and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, will also co-chair a commission to strike back with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, absent today due to illness. She addressed a press conference to herald the establishment of the National Commission for Voter Justice (NCVJ), or the People's Commission, "a nearly two year examination into voter suppression across the United States."

In that the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, has specified that all relevant election-related activities and measures will occur "in secret," Arnwine later said, the only information states will be able to obtain from them will be whether a voter is "legal" or not, for example, an immigrant--something Arnwine called ridiculous. She added that Nielsen said that voting rights issues are the province of the Department of Justice.

They concern all of us actually, which was again and again emphasized at today's press conference, sandwiched between SCOTUS, notorious for the 2013 decision that gutted section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and the Capitol building, representing the largely negligent attitudes of both the executive and legislative branches of the government toward election integrity.

The People's Commission will be working at the local level, where the real power resides and must be activated despite the bullying federal muscle. They will tap into the oldest and newest methods of reaching We the People: canvassing door to door and using social media and the Internet. The people must be educated, several speakers emphasized, and every effort will be made to reach them. A March 3 conference in Texas, for example, precedes the state's primary by four days, and publicity has been dismal. The People's Commission will use outreach to counter this roadblock. In Texas the deadline for registering for the March 6 primary is February 5, a well-kept secret so far.

All other rights cave in once the people's right to vote is tampered with; evidence for this need go no farther than the long line on the steps of the SCOTUS building this morning to witness the debate over the survival of DACA. A small protest was being held across the street as well by the population concerned--the dreamers whose future life here is so jeopardized.

The weather was freezing today but spirits, inspiration, and determination were hot, said Arnwine. She introduced the new NCVJ commissioners and other speakers, including John Nichols, the well-known writer for The Nation as well as author, with whom she just co-authored an MLK Day article in that publication on MLK's lesser-known but equally powerful 1957 speech "Give Us the Ballot."

Other speakers included another new commissioner, Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Hughes, and National Bar Association president Juan Thomas. Please note that this organization, not to be confused with the ABA, was founded because of the other's refusal to admit African Americans. The immediately past president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Terry O'Neill, spoke, along with the current president, Toni Van Pelt.

After introducing all of the speakers, Arnwine reminded us of her 2011 Map of Shame, the restrictive legislature passed in the wake of Election 2010, much of it based on an ALEC-designed template. Fully 710 laws were passed in 30 states targeting millions of minority voters in the area of the voter ID requirement, which 25 million eligible voters lack; 1.5 million were purged from voter lists; 3 million special-needs voters were kept from the polls; 2.1 million felons or ex-felons were similarly repressed; new poll taxes are in the works in New Hampshire; long lines in front of inner-city polls and elsewhere remain to block Democratic voters from their share in their democracy; and then there is Russian and other tampering with our cybersecurity

One hundred percent of eligible voters should vote, speakers later added; our numbers are dismal compared with other democracies in the world. How can this reflect the People's will?

Collaboration with existing organizations like the Brennan Center for Justice, the NAACP, and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law is vital and will advance the project. Such networking will "reinvent the wheel," said Nichols later.

Nichols spoke of migrant workers freezing in his home state of Wisconsin as they work to sustain this country's dairy industry--many of them in danger of deportation. He stressed NCVJ's nonpartisan membership: We the People must be represented by as many segments as are willing to cooperate. What of the District of Columbia and other U.S. territories that lack full voting rights?

Hughes reminded the group that his state managed to defeat the push toward mandatory voter ID via a protracted battle.

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Falling | 203.366 Haven't you seen me sleepwalking? Cause I'. | Flickr1024 -- 685 - 61k - jpg

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We can't wake him up.



The sleepwalker is bulding a big bomb

To blow up a church.

In his sleep now

He is weaponizing his unconscious hatred.



The defense: He doesn't know what he's doing.

Judgment: Let him go.



Now the sleepwalker

Votes in a racist.

Abuses women.

Embraces violence like a lover.



In a rare lucid moment

He pleads innocent:





I didn't know what I was doing.



The sleepwalker

Asks the judge,

Can I go now?

I didn't know.

I didn't know anything.



Judge: Let him go.



Prosecution: Let there be nuclear war.

Let there be the end of things.

Let the sea rise.

Let the homeless wander the earth.



The sleepwalker walks out.

He walks down the middle of the street.

Cars swerve around him.

He is innocent.



Leave him be.
Trump and his allies in Congress and the media have launched a coordinated, escalating assault on the Federal Bureau of Investigation--the FBI. And they're also targeting special counsel and former FBI head Robert Mueller. Mueller is investigating possible Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump and his campaign colluded with it.

Over the holidays, Trump went after deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, claiming he was politically biased and helping to conduct a partisan witch hunt against him while letting Hillary Clinton slide. He bellowed that the agency's reputation is in "tatters," and has called for a house cleaning of top FBI leadership. He denounced charges of collusion with Russia as a hoax and declared: "I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department" (which oversees the FBI).

In the face of these assaults, the FBI's liberal (and right-wing) defenders portray the agency as a bastion of the rule of law, justice, and honesty against the Trump/Pence regime's lawlessness and lies. And this is how the FBI has been portrayed through the years by countless bourgeois politicians and in the media.

But what does the FBI's actual record show? That from the day it was founded in 1908 right up to today, the FBI has been this system's political police!

This is the organization (originally called the Bureau of Investigation) that in 1918 rounded up some 50,000 people suspected of evading the World War 1 draft. That arrested 10,000 for allegedly being communists or anarchists in the Palmer Raids of the 1920s. The organization that carried out a massive anti-communist witch hunt and smear campaign in the 1950s.

This is an organization that set up a covert program--COINTELPRO--to target, infiltrate, spy on, and disrupt civil rights activists, antiwar protesters, radicals, and revolutionaries. Under this program, the FBI orchestrated a smear campaign against Martin Luther King Jr. and tried to drive him to suicide. It did drive the actress Jean Seberg to suicide because she dared support civil rights and Black liberation struggles.

Under COINTELPRO the FBI helped the Chicago police set up and carry out the cold-blooded execution of the revolutionary Black Panther leader Fred Hampton on December 4, 1969. The FBI had planted informants in the Chicago Black Panther chapter, and one of them had become Hampton's bodyguard. He gave the FBI and the Chicago pigs floor plans of Hampton's apartment, and then drugged him the evening the execution was set to go down.

What about Mueller, who headed the FBI from September 4, 2001 until September 4, 2013? And what about his successor James Comey, who was fired by Trump earlier this year? Both are being portrayed by the Democrats and the mainstream media as stellar public servants, beyond reproach.

In a damning account, former FBI agent turned whistleblower Coleen Rowley details that among other things:

Mueller knew, for instance, that Vice President Dick Cheney's claims connecting 9/11 to Iraq were bogus yet he remained quiet.... In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Mueller directed the "post 9/11 round-up" of about 1,000 immigrants who mostly happened to be in the wrong place (the New York City area) at the wrong time. FBI headquarters encouraged more and more detentions for what seemed to be essentially P.R. purposes.... [T]he FBI overstepped the law improperly serving hundreds of thousands of "national security letters" to obtain private (and irrelevant) metadata on citizens, and for infiltrating nonviolent anti-war groups under the guise of investigating "terrorism."... Comey signed off on a number of highly illegal programs including warrantless surveillance of Americans and torture of captives. Comey also defended the Bush Administration's three-year-long detention of an American citizen without charges or right to counsel.

Comey has been hailed for rushing to the hospital bedside of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004. There, with Mueller's backing, he convinced Ashcroft not to extend a program giving the Bush regime extraordinary powers under a "state of emergency." But Rowley exposes this as a sham:

The mythology of this episode, repeated endlessly throughout the press, is that Comey and Mueller did something significant and lasting in that hospital room. They didn't. Only the legal rationale for their unconstitutional actions was tweaked. Mueller was even okay with the CIA conducting torture programs after his own agents warned against participation. Agents were simply instructed not to document such torture, and any "war crimes files" were made to disappear. Not only did "collect it all" surveillance and torture programs continue, but Mueller's (and then Comey's) FBI later worked to prosecute NSA and CIA whistleblowers who revealed these illegalities.

Under Mueller, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with state police, worked to criminalize and disrupt political protest--in one notorious instance, infiltrating and carrying out preemptive raids and arrests of activists and independent journalists throughout Minneapolis/St. Paul (the Twin Cities) before the 2008 Republican National Convention. It also targeted Muslims, carrying out widespread spying in mosques and infiltrating Muslim communities.

As for Comey, after he'd become head of the FBI, how did he respond to the righteous uprising against wanton police murder sparked off in Ferguson, Missouri, in the summer of 2014 and spread across the U.S.? Comey warned of a "Ferguson effect." He wasn't talking about how police across the U.S. were murdering young Black men just like Darren Wilson had murdered Michael Brown in Ferguson. He was condemning people videotaping and protesting against police! Comey claimed this increased crime by "making the police think twice." This was justification for the pigs continuing their aggressive, brutal policing of the ghetto with full impunity.

To this day, the FBI is STILL using informers, entrapment, and all kinds of fuckery against ecological groups, Muslims, protest groups at the major political conventions, etc. And who knows what other police state moves are going on that haven't yet come to light--including against radical and revolutionary groups of all kinds.

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As a country's wealth continues to far exceed its distribution, a feudal system develops. Even though, in some ways, it seems unfair to substantially tax inheritance, without the tax, we will simply develop into the non-working "landed-gentry" system of the middle ages. This path will eventually lead us to the death of capitalism. In fact, what good is capitalism if it benefits such a small minority of super-wealthy, super-powerful individuals simply feeding off of the rest of the peons? While the defense of the concept of "trickle-down economics" may be largely one of misdirection, it is hard to deny that "trickle down" is still the trademark of any capitalistic society's economic success. However, it is important to understand that the difference between a feudal society and a democratic society lies in the responsibility owed by the democratic society's employers to their employees as well as to the consumers on whom they so desperately depend for their success.

As President Obama once pointed out, without publicly financed infrastructure, that is transportation, roads, bridges, postal service, fire and police service, utilities, public media, and public education, there would be no successful corporations, no supposedly "self-made" millionaires and billionaires. Meanwhile, we have already witnessed the tragedy, the volatility and chaos of both the Great Depression and the recent nearly apocalyptical Bush-era economic recession, both caused by uncontrolled greed and the absence of responsibility of elected officials to the naive citizens who elected them. Despite the bellicose rantings of some of the more ideologically and intellectually bankrupt Tea Partiers it is clear that with the restoration of mostly sane government regulation initiated under the Obama administration the economy seems to be making a healthy recovery. The real question is: "where will it go from here?"

What we have so far in the current "Trump" or what is more accurately the "We used to be Christians" Republican administration is literally a Christmas wish list submitted by the wealthiest and most greedy of Republican donors. Some of the wishes involve legitimate economic concerns that had been kicked down the road by both Democratic and Republican administrations, especially the lowering of corporate taxes. However, the wish list, including permission to again wantonly pollute our air and water, to reestablish abuses by lenders, to purposely destabilize an already inadequate health-care system along with a grossly inadequate income-tax bill, was granted without hesitation, to be paid for, lock, stock, and barrel, by the middle class and poor working people.

I say this because there was no plan! Nor was any permission given bean counters to evaluate the economic and physical costs of arbitrary massive federal deregulation for fear of the administration embarrassing their patron Republican oligarchs. And, instead of phasing in lower corporate taxes with a goal of 20% or even less depending on how the "plan" worked, instead of mildly tweaking the inheritance tax and taxes on the wealthiest "earners," the party of the "We used to be Christians" tried their damnedest to emulate the same type of rich people condemned by Jesus in Matthew 19:23-26. Beside the fact that the saying in Aramaic and even in later Greek is actually that a rich man has as much chance of going to heaven as a "heavy rope," not really a "camel," has of fitting through the eye of a needle, Jesus was not talking about the type of rich person whose wealth every community needs to survive. Instead, he is referring to the Roman-appointed priests who acquired enormous wealth by stealing it from the worshipers' offerings meant to feed the poorest of the working priests. In similar fashion, at the behest of ideologically, if not completely morally and intellectually bankrupt Republican leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, the "We used to be Christians" tax bill as well as the clean-up of the environment will eventually be financed by cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as many other federal programs that assist the needy. And, when the non-corporate portions of the tax bill expire, these God-less souls will expect their middle class and poor peons to pick up the rest of the tab along with all the broken pieces just as they always have.

Al Finkelstein, 1/11/18
MyLockup.com, UK Implements Self Storage Manager Across Multiple Facilities

www.mylockup.com

www.selfstoragemanager.com

BLUE BELL, PA, January 16, 2018 - E-SoftSys, a total solutions provider for the self-storage industry, today announced that My Lockup, a multi-facility self-storage operator in the UK has successfully implemented Self Storage ManagerTM (SSM), the enterprise management software from E-SoftSys, across all their locations.MyLockup.com implemented Self Storage Manager in order to modernize their operations with the latest tools in preparation for an additional five new facilities in 2018.We needed a cloud based solution to streamline and automate our manual processes and give access to all our facilities from any location. Self Storage Manager had all the essential features needed for our routine operations said Adam Milner, Commercial Director of MyLockup.com. We were impressed with the speed at which the team at E-SoftSys was able to get all our locations live on Self Storage Manager. Their entire team was at our disposal during the whole implementation period. A customer support team available 7 days a week was essential and was able to customize certain parts of the application to meet our unique needs as well as meeting statutory requirements in the UK. This new software and support will help us to meet our growth expectations and offer even better customer support.According to Kat Shenoy, President and CEO of E-SoftSys, We are delighted to have MyLockup.com join the list of our growing customer base in the UK and Europe. We are deeply committed to MyLockup.coms mission to provide superior customer service and look forward to a long term mutually beneficial association. Our focus is to ensure 100% customer satisfaction and achieve a leadership position in the self-storage industry. We will continue to work with our client base and enhance the software based on client feedback and keep up with technological advances. We are continually adding enhancements to our products to help our clients improve their business processes.About MyLockup.comMyLockup.com is a multi-site operator trading since 2004 and Yorkshires largest operator. They offer indoor self-storage units for both individuals and businesses in Scarborough, Northallerton, Thirsk, Bishop Auckland and Bridlington at highly competitive rates. Further facilities are opening in Darlington, Chester Le Street, Knaresborough and Catterick during 2018.Mylockup.comthe answers yes!For more details, please visit them atAbout E-SoftSysE-SoftSys, a technology leader for the self-storage industry, offers products and services that include; Self Storage Manager - Comprehensive management software for single and multi-facility operators; Online Reservations and Rentals with Electronic Signature & Digital Storage of leases; e-CRM - Fully integrated Customer Relationship Management module with interfaces to leading phone systems, Constant Contact, Truck Reservations and with an optional Call Tracker module to capture valuable statistics including lead to rental conversion ratios, cost per lead etc.; SSM Text Messenger / Voice Messenger - automatic payment reminder and payment collection systems designed to reduce the managers time on collection calls; Customer Portal- A self-help interactive portal for customers to view their account history and balance, make payments, enable or disable autopay, schedule move-outs, update their contact information and more; Android Tablet/Mobile Phone based Site Walk Through & Work Order Management Module for site managers to perform lock checks, enter unit maintenance notes, mark units for move outs, create work orders for maintenance activities and much more; Other Interfaces - QlikViewTM Business Intelligence and Analytics, Website Integration, Accounting Interfaces; 24/7 Customer Support - with Dedicated Team and Project Manager assigned for multi-facility operator implementations, as well as periodic upgrades to the software program.Self Storage Manager has been implemented by many single and multi-facility companies in UK/Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please contact E-SoftSys at + 44 (0) 808-234-1429 (UK), +31 646 074841 (Europe) and 1-800-469-1740 x 1 (North America) or by visitingor Click here to email us.Blue bell, pennsylvania, USA
Pick to Light Market worth 538.2 Million USD by 2023

MarketsandMarkets

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=7015816

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/pick-to-light-market-7015816.html

According to the new market research report "Pick to Light Market by Method (Auto Guided & Manual), Power Source (Wired and Wireless), Operation (Putting and Picking), Industry (Assembly & Manufacturing, Retail & E-commerce, and Pharma & Cosmetics), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023.The pick to light market is expected to grow from USD 323.7 Million in 2017 to USD 538.2 Million by 2023, at a CAGR of 8.84% between 2017 and 2023.Pick to light is also known as digital picking system. Factors driving the growth of this market include the emergence of automated warehouses and connected intralogisitcs, growth of the e-commerce industry, and globalization of supply chain network. Moreover, pick to light offers error-free operations, enhanced productivity, and enhanced labor utilization.Download PDF Brochure-Browse 36 market data Tables and 44 Figures spread through 122 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Pick to Light Market - Global Forecast to 2023"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports.Manual method expected to hold larger share of pick to light market during forecast periodIn the manual method, the picker needs to manually confirm the picking activity, whereas in the auto guided method, sensors (primarily photoelectric sensors) are used that automatically acknowledge the picking activity. The manual method is cost-effective and provides high ROI. OMRON (Japan), Wenglor Sensoric GmbH (Germany), and Panasonic (Japan) are some companies that provide sensors for auto guided picking systems. The adoption rate of auto guided systems is higher in APAC than in Europe and North America.Market for wired pick to light expected to grow at higher CAGR during forecast periodAdvancements in wireless technology help manufacturers design and develop wireless pick to light systems. These are advanced systems in which pick to light modules and controllers are wirelessly connected, and the picking module is powered by a battery. These are plug-n-play systems that are easy to use in warehouses. Wireless pick to light systems gained traction in recent years; however, due to the wireless feature, these cost higher than wired pick to light systems. The adoption of wired pick to light systems is high owing to their high ROI and short payback period.Putting operation expected to gain traction in coming yearsPick to light systems support picking and sorting operations from shelves to other locations. Light-directed picking and putting offer better productivity and error-free operations, resulting in high ROI. Picking operations are widely used for order fulfillment process in the e-commerce industry. They are most suitable for piece picking and broken case picking of items. Pick to light is considered an ideal picking solution where the goods from warehouses go to customers directly. However, the use of pick to light for putting operation is expected to gain traction in the coming years.Retail & e-commerce industry expected to capture largest share of pick to light market by 2023Growing SKUs, increase in the number of orders, and last mile deliveries are some factors responsible for the huge adoption of pick to light solutions in the e-commerce industry globally. Amazon (US) is one of the leading players in the e-commerce industry, which is significantly contributing to warehouse automation.Pick to light market in APAC to grow at highest CAGR during forecast periodAPAC is an emerging market for pick to light. Fast-growing e-commerce industry, booming manufacturing sector, and increasing emphasis on domestic production by emerging economies such as China and India are the key factors for the significant growth of the pick to light market in this region.The pick to light market is dominated by various players according to their core competencies. Key players in this market are Daifuku (Japan), Murata Machinery (Japan), SSI Schaefer (Germany), Dematic (US), and Honeywell Intelligrated (US).About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.MarketsandMarketss flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.Mr. RohanMarketsandMarkets INC.630 Dundee RoadSuite 430Northbrook, IL 60062USA : 1-888-600-6441sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Zabel Property is now JLL Residential Development

http://jll.de/apartments

Following the acquisition of Zabel Property by the global real estate consultancy JLL at the start of 2017, the companies have announced that the integration process is now complete and Zabel Property has been rebranded as JLL Residential Development.The new Residential Development division now offers property developers a comprehensive range of services for the design, marketing and sale of their residential developments from six JLL offices across Germany. Over the past 25 years, Zabel Property has developed an intimate understanding of the German real estate market and amassed extensive expertise in the sale and marketing of residential properties to a sophisticated, international clientele. Having completed the integration of Zabel Property, including 45 global sales and marketing partners and the companys specialized consulting team, which is fluent in 15 languages, JLL's global network has both significantly expanded its position in the residential real estate sector and closed a gap in its range of services.International residential property investors are already extremely active in Berlin and Frankfurt, and demand for properties in other German metropolises is also developing strongly. JLL Residential Development currently manages the sales and marketing campaigns for 31 developments with a combined total of more than 2,000 residential units. Many of these are located in Frankfurt, including Germanys tallest residential building, the Grand Tower. JLL Residential Development has already concluded sales for well over 90 percent of the towers apartments. Sales have also been strong for star architect Daniel Libeskinds Frankfurt city villas, and for the coming Eden residential tower. JLL Residential Development is also marketing a host of developments in Berlin, including Fritz Tower, a micro-apartment building, the Luisenpark residential quarter, and the flagship development The Wilhelm at the Brandenburg Gate.I am delighted by the way we mastered the full integration of our two companies in just one year, said Thomas Zabel, Head of Residential Development Germany. Thanks to JLLs global positioning and market penetration, we can now build on our achievements in Berlin and Frankfurt and extend our condominium sales and marketing activities throughout the whole of Germany, added Zabel.JLL Residential Development is Germanys leading specialist for sales of condominiums from developers to international clients.From six of JLLs German offices, the Residential Development Division offers property developers a comprehensive range of services for the design and marketing of their property developments. New residential units are marketed by the German team, which is fluent in 15 languages, together with 45 sales partners abroad and JLLs global network of offices.Jones Lang LaSalle Residential Development GmbHMelanie MartenUnter den Linden 14 | 10117 Berlin | GermanyE residential.development@eu.jll.comT +49 30 886600 173
Indiabazaaronline.com Unveils Redesigned Website

Anubha Creations Pvt Ltd

Indiabazaaronline, a global online retailer and manufacturer of ethnic wears announced today the launch of its redesigned website Indiabazaaronline.com. This revamped version provides better user friendly design, fresh new look, enhanced product filters and optimized fast load speed to allow its customers a better and simplified shopping experience.The new and better user friendly design allows the users to surf the website easily and purchase via quick links like latest blouse designs, designer hand bags, highest selling products, groom turbans, girls ethnic dresses, mother daughter collections etc. This makes the customers shopping experience easier and hassle free. The redesigned website of Indiabazaaronline.com has fast loading speed which helps a user to surf the website smoothly without getting irritated.There are also better product search and product filters in this revamped version of Indiabazaaronline.com. Whereas the product filters like fabric, work and occasion are same as in the old website, some new and helpful filters like customization, worn by and sizes are introduced in the redesigned website of Indiabazaaronline.com. Like say, if customers want to buy a red dress for Christmas then they can choose the color filter, if they to make a purchase on the basis of fabrics then they can apply the fabric filter. The new filter of Customization helps a customer to sort their purchase on the basis of Made to order or as per the design displayed on the website. Every outfit displayed on the website cannot be fully customized and hence this filter will be of a great help for the customers who are looking specifically for the made to order outfits. There are many such outfits in our website which are modeled by the Bollywood and TV actresses or such outfits which the actresses have worn at certain events. The worn by filter will be of great help for those customers who are looking for a specific actress outfit like Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor or Shilpa Shetty.The category sections are also redesigned completely keeping in mind the customers preferences over the years. The Premium section is revamped and categories like theme dresses, dreamy couture, fashion fusion, saree gowns, father sons collection, mother-daughter collection are introduced. For the first time Indiabazaaronline.com has also introduced Direct from the Designer section wherein the collection of their own in house designers are displayed.The Saree category is now further sub-categorized by occasion, by fabric, by style and by saree accessories. This sub categorization in every category will make the buyers shopping much convenient. Someone who is not so familiar with the Indian ethnic dresses and its style can also shop very easily with this new revamped website design. In Shop by Style section, there are options like pre stitched saree, half and half saree, lehenga style saree, designer saree, bollywood saree, printed saree etc. This sub categorization will narrow down the pain of the users of surfing the entire website for one specific product and make their online shopping experience less time consuming.The salwar kameez category is also subcategorized in the same way like by fabric, by occasion, by style and there is also a special section, Celebrate the Curves which is specially designed for the plus size ladies. Usually bigger size ladies always have a hard time getting their perfect outfit but with this redesigned website of Indiabazaaaronline.com, size will never be a problem for any lady. By style categorization will be of great help for the users as they can directly go the style that they are looking for!! Like say if they want to shop anarkali suits, just click on the anarkali salwar suit, if they want Patiala suits; just click on Patiala salwar suits and so on.In the Lehenga section also, users can not only shop by fabric and occasion but also shop by style. There are so many styles of Lehenga Choli and if customers are looking out for a specific style of lehenga choli then instead of surfing the entire lehenga choli section, they can just click on the style that they are looking for!!The new redesigned Men section at Indiabazaaronline section has so much more to offer at a single place. The category is further sub categorized into shop by style and Wedding Box. In By Style category you can find different styles of men kurta payjama like sherwani, dhoti kurta etc. The Wedding box category in itself contains all the Indian groom wedding essentials like Wedding turban, mojari, sherwani stole etc.A new section of Puja items is incorporated in the redesigned version of Indiabazaaronline.com. This category is included more as serving humanity and hence the price of each product in this section is kept very nominal. Our aim is to cater the religious needs of the people living outside India to whom these puja items are not easily accessible. This section includes religious books, puja items like god ornaments, prayer beads, bhajan-kirtan essentials and havan samagri.Indiabazaaronline.com is an online shopping website that deals in majorly in Indian ethnic wears. We focus on traditional Indian ethnic wears and contemporary Indo-western fusion outfits. Our aim is to dress up new age women, men and kids with style and elegance without compromising with the traditional Indian roots. We have been serving our valuable customers since last 11 long years and spreading smiles all over the world through our excellent products and dedicated services. Our online store has received wide acceptance in the global market for our unique collection of clothes. We are a part of textile industry since last 11 years and have customers all around the globe. We specializes in our Made to Order section, designer sarees, lehenga choli, salwar kameez, indo western gowns, mens sherwani, kurtis and kids wear.The high-class web store of Indian Ethnic Wear and a name identical with array and flashiness pervades color and custom into apparels round the world. The handpicked, the most thornily woven and embroidered, the most reliable and gorgeous of sarees, salwar kameez, lehenga cholis, fusion wear and jewelry from across India are showcased for lovers of ethnic fashion.Anubha Creations Pvt LtdH-30 ,Laxmi Nagar New DelhiIndiaMedia ContactMr. UjjawalEmail : info@indiabazaaronline.comPhone : +91.11.65421064
Construction Industry Association Announces Two New Board Members

Center for Job Order Contracting Excellence (CJE) announces appointment of two new members of its Board of Directors, as well as the full slate of board members for 2018.Joining the Board of Directors are Vincent LeMond and Jason Lynch. Both of our new Board members embody the ethical principles and best practices in Job Order Contracting. We are very fortunate to have them by our side as we continue to strengthen education, awareness, and the professional certification program, Mitch Filipowicz, Industry Chair.Vincent LeMond, CJEs new Industry Chair-elect, works with the City of Austin and has a 30-year history in Facilities Operation, Maintenance and Construction/Project Management. Specializing in Alternative Delivery Contract methods, he has served other agencies such as University of Texas and the Department of Defense. His 12-year success as a national facilities management and Job Order Contracting training instructor established LeMond as one of the nations premiere experts in facilities construction contracting. He is a Certified Project Management Professional and an accredited LEED Green Associate.Jason Lynch, CJEs newest Member-at-Large, is a Program Manager at TMG Construction Corporation in Virginia. He is an accredited LEED Professional and holds Bachelors Degree in Building Construction from Virginia Tech. He has maintained several leadership roles within his community, employers, and industry groups. Lynch also serves as a Chapter officer for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter.Existing board member Rick Farrag, Vice President at Brown & Root, has been elected and appointed to the Treasurer position as his new role on the Board of Directors. The Chair of the Owners Advisory Council is Michael Bevis, Purchasing Agent for Arlington County, Virginia. Rhonna Endres serves as Executive Director.The slate of board members for 2018 is as follows: Mitch Filipowicz, Industry Chair; Vincent LeMond, Industry Chair-elect; David Adams, Immediate Past Chair; Leo Wright, Secretary; Rick Farrag, Treasurer; Jason Lynch, Member-at-Large; John Martin, Member-at-Large; Parrish Rowland, Member-at-Large.Center for Job Order Contracting (CJE) is the non-profit organization serving to educate and share best practices for job order contracting and related IDIQ methods. In partnership with Arizona State University, CJE provides standards, education, and the national credentialing program for the industry - Certified Job Order Contracting Professional (CJP).Media Contact: Rhonna Endres, Executive DirectorCenter for Job Order Contracting Excellence2030 W Baseline Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85041202-847-5170endres@jocexcellence.org
Out now: Svenson rocks with Michael Jacksons guitar player Jennifer Batten

Svenson - Rainbow Rocket Ride Cover

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Jennifer Batten loves "Rainbow Rocket Ride": After a collaboration with Sven Kuhbauch, the famous guitarist of Michael Jackson and Jeff Beck was so excited about his composition "Rainbow Rocket Ride" that she produced her own video for the title and plays the track in her own solo program. "It's a killer track, great sound," said Batten. The track is available for download on all common platforms. In addition, the piece is transcripted as an eBook with a backing track.iTunes:Amazon:iBooks (Sheet-Music):"Rainbow Rocket Ride" is a true ride to the stars. "These are bebop lines a la Joe Pass, fully distorted with a Peavey 6505 head and a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby," says Kuehbauch. Guitarists are likely to listen to such an announcement. But also music lovers without instrument skills get their money's worth: Memorable triads and brilliant tapping thunderstorms by Svenson and tapping goddess Jennifer Batten are ear catchy. "It was a pleasure to work with Jennifer. She is very professional and with her own style and ideas she brought this production to a whole new level" says Kuehbauch happily.Rainbow Rocket Ride:Guitar - SvensonGuitar - Jennifer BattenKeys - Thomas FoersterBass - Shanice Ruby BennettDrums - Richard MuenchhoffMix/Master - Manfred ZmarslyVideo Footage - Jennifer BattenCover - DrakenFor ten years, the 41-year-old rocked under his stage name Svenson. Last year, the studied and passionate guitarist showed his impressive range on his anniversary album "10th anniversary" and trumped with out-of-print titles such as "Ride away", in which the otherwise convinced instrumental artist even sings. An awarded title is "T for Theia" ("Best Instrumental Blues Song" / The Academy Music Award). The international press paid tribute to the album and guitarist by writing: "Svenson plays rhythm and lead guitar at once much like Charlie Hunter does (...) a solitary acoustic guitar well done with beautiful chords and clean articulation." (Blues Report) , "Svenson uses his expertise as a guitarist to speak to his audience. (Warlock Asylum International News) "Svenson's breadth of talent and style is evident as his brand of restrained wizardry and his ability to put the matter to the fore." groove above all else with creativity and impeccable precision purveys the album." (Tunedloud)So much skill does not come by chance: The musician Svenson from Marburg studied at the jazz and rock school in Freiburg, which he left as the best guitarist of his class. Since 1994 he has given individual and group lessons and has gained his rich experience in masterclasses, lessons and workshops from Greg Howe, Scott Henderson, Pat Metheny, Joe Dioro, Michael Sagmeister, David Friesen, Uwe Kropinski, John Stowell, Matt Smith, Georg Gruntz and Ernie Watts. He has performed worldwide with his solo show and as a band guitarist, including shows at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and has worked with such greats as Jerry Donahue, Jennifer Batten, Lulo Reinhardt and star percussionist Rhani Krija (Sting). With the latter, who is considered a "world-class percussionist" (drums & percussion), he recorded the original composition "Agua de mundo" (2016, format: Download), which Big Fuss Records chose as an opener for the environmental compilation "Our Green Earth". His solo albums are highly praised in professional circles, not only the web radio station "Blues Road" was thrilled: "More than worth listening to. A guitarist who puts his feelings into music and miraculously serves his guitar. "But not only on the guitar Kuehbauch shows empathy and passion. Through his enthusiasm for the wild west and as an avowed Karl May fan, Kuhbauch was delighted to compose and record the chapter music for six Karl May audiobooks (Karl May Verlag, Bamberg). At the request of the publisher, Kuehbauch presented his Karl May sound world to the illustrious audience of the 100th anniversary of the publishing house, where Winnetou's sister Nscho Tschi (Marie Versini) was also a guest. Kuehbauch's compositions are as catchy as credible and can be heard in various television productions (including Sat1).In workshops (published in the magazine "Gitarre & Bass" among others) and interactive eBooks, Sven Kuehbauch teaches his knowledge. His "Interactive Guitar workshop" series is considered groundbreaking and has established itself as the standard work of modern interactive guitar textbooks. "Interactive Country Guitar" is available in three languages.Blues webside critic, BMans Blues Report recently reviewed one of SVENSONs albums and commented, He plays the rhythm and lead guitar at once much like charlie hunter. Extremely clear and well executed. This is indicative of the fact that Svenson is truly a guitarists guitarist. But there is more to discover. Sven Kuehbauch aka Svenson is an author, composer and instructor as well.Sven is currently teaching at the music school of the Hansestadt Stralsund. Beforehand he taught at the Beethoven music school of Bonn. He published Svensons Guitar workshop, a series written exclusively for the multi touch book format .iba (Apple iBooks) and available only on iBooks and iTunes. Sheet music by Svenson is available at Amazon, iTunes and Google play store.Sven performs worldwide: Bangkok, Beijing, Monte Video, Shanghai, Seoul, Stockholm...In 2011 he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival.Svenson studied at the Jazz and Rock School in Freiburg, Breisgau, Germany, which is an official partner to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, U.S.A.While there, he attended master classes and workshops given by: Scott Henderson, Greg Howe, Pat Metheny, Joe Diorio.Svenson composed the main titles for German TV-shows and audiobooks like cable television Sat 1 and famous Karl May Verlag audiobooks.Svenson has performed at all major music trade shows around the world as an endorser for Music Man, Jim Dunlop, Farida guitar, Peavey, Rodenberg amplifications and Ernie Ball Strings.Sven has recorded with such greats as Jennifer Batten, Jerry Donahue, Rhani Krija and Lulo Reinhardt.SvensonguitarGaia BornBahnhofstr. 818581 Putbus0049 038301 655113presse@svensonguitar.com
GetSavvi Health: A Friend Indeed

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Accidents, injuries, ailments or deterioration of health, none of these can be foreseen. Every family knows how it feels when an emergency arises regarding health issues. But sometimes the expenses become hefty and burden us with lifetime loans from the bank for these cases. Health insurance company, GetSavvi Health has made it their purpose to provide quality services at an affordable rate to the citizens of South Africa.GetSavvi Health has sectioned their services into three types of plans. They are as follows: Primary Care Plan: This plan provides several services including unlimited doctors visits, basic and emergency dentistry, black-and-white X-rays, HIV and STI tests and acute and chronic medications. They provide professional and experienced advisors regarding medical advice in an emergency, assessing everyday symptoms, crucial medical knowledge, the database of various drugs, poisoning database, health guidance, managing stress, counselling of trauma, etc. The NetCare 911 Emergency services are available 24/7 where skilled technicians assess the clients emergency and dispatch air or road support immediately, whichever is appropriate. They also support families with funeral costs and the customer hotline is always ready for assisting HIV, trauma and assault counselling. Primary Care Plan+ :This plan includes benefits like unlimited physician visits and consultations, basic and emergency dentistry, x-rays, blood tests, chronic and acute medication and many more services already included in the Primary Care Plan. The plus benefit added to this plan is the Hospital plan. The casualty benefit here allows out-patient hospital treatment in an emergency for injuries sustained in accident. In-patients get hospital treatment in an emergency for stabilisation in a private or public emergency unit. They also provide personal accident benefits. Get Care Plan: This plan can be seen as the summation of both the Primary Care and Primary care plus aiming to serve the clients with better hospital facilities and lowered costs.To know more about the company and its services, please visit:About the Company:GetSavvi Health is a leading South Africa based health insurance provider aiming, with various propitious plans, to reduce the burden incurred from medical expenses on an average South African or the state institutions and create an affordable and efficient medical environment.Contact:27 Willie van Schoor Ave, Tygervalley,Bellville, Cape Town, 7530, South AfricaTel: 0861 18 9202talktous@getsavvi.co.za
Psoriasis Treatment Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023

Psoriasis Treatment Market

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Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by abnormal growth of the skin cells. It forms skin patches above the skin and it is not contagious. Psoriasis skin patches are red and itchy. There are different types of psoriasis namely guttate psoriasis, plaque psoriasis, pustular psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis and inverse psoriasis. Plaque psoriasis is common and constitutes about 90% of psoriasis cases. The diagnosis of psoriasis is typically made by obtaining information from the physical examination of the skin, medical history, and relevant family health history. Psoriasis affects skin over the elbows, knees, and scalp and is often itchy. Although any area may be involved, it tends to be more common at sites of friction, scratching, or abrasion. Currently, there was no cure for psoriasis. However, treatment is focused on curing the symptoms. Treatment may include steroid creams, vitamin D3 cream, UV light, and immunosuppressants.Global psoriasis treatment market is driven by increase in smoking and alcohol consumption trends globally. Increased spending on medicines and escalating health care expenditure are the key growth drivers of the market. Psoriasis treatment mainly treated by topical agents only. The Recent launch of systemic products into the market expected to drive the growth of the market. However, high cost of the drugs and side-effects associated with the existing medication for psoriasis are expected to hinder the psoriasis treatment market during the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Psoriasis treatment market segmented on the basis of drug class, type, route of administration, and distribution channelBased on drug class, global psoriasis treatment market is segmented into TNF Inhibitors Vitamin D Analogues Interleukin Blockers Topical Corticosteroids Monoclonal Antibodies OthersBased on type, global psoriasis treatment market is segmented into Plaque Psoriasis Guttate Psoriasis Flexural Psoriasis Inverse Psoriasis Psoriatic PsoriasisBased on route of administration, global psoriasis treatment market is segmented into Oral Topical ParenteralBased on distribution channel, psoriasis treatment system is segmented into Hospital Pharmacy Retail Pharmacy Online PharmacyTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Psoriasis treatment market is expected to show significant growth rate owing to prevalence rates and severity of the disease. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3%-34.7% of psoriasis patients develop chronic psoriatic arthritis, which may lead to joint deformations and disability. World Health Organization (WHO) also predicts that psoriasis affects about 100 million people with prevalence rates of 0.09% to 11.43% in different countries. The most common type of psoriasis is plaque psoriasis, affecting 90% of all psoriasis cases. Market players are focusing on R&D to develop new drugs and treatments for psoriasis. The market has a handful of drugs and dominated by generics and biologics. Market players heavily influencing the treatment decisions. Due to the entry of biosimilars into the market, there is availability of cheaper drugs to treat psoriasis and it leading to increased availability and increase market size. In addition, market has drug pipelines which are expected to boost the psoriasis treatment market during forecast period.Need more information about this report @Geographically, psoriasis treatment market has been segmented into following regions viz. North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounts largest market in the psoriasis treatment market due to high prevalence of the disease. According to American Academy of Dermatology, approximately 7.5 Mn people in the United States have psoriasis. In Europe, the psoriasis treatment market is expected to grow at significant rate due to factors such as increased prevalence and growing awareness about skin diseases and recent launch of biosimilars such as elerzi, amzevita. In Asia-Pacific region, India and China are expected to be fastest growing market due to developing infrastructure and rapid growth in awareness and available treatment options for psoriasis.Some of the market players in psoriasis treatment market include Amgen Inc. (U.S), Eli Lilly and Company(U.S), Novartis AG (Switzerland), Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S), Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., (U.S) Pfizer, Inc. (U.S), AstraZeneca (U.K), AbbVie Inc. (U.S), LEO Pharma A/S (Denmark) and Biogen (U.S) to name a few.Get access to full summary @About Precision Business InsightsPrecision Business Insights is one of the leading market research and business consulting firm, which follow a holistic approach to solve needs of the clients. We adopt and implement proven research methodologies to achieve better results. We help our clients by providing actionable insights and strategies to make better decisions. We provide consulting, syndicated and customised market research services based on our client needs.Contact to Precision Business Insights,Kemp House,152  160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXEmail: sales@precisionbusinessinsights.comToll Free (US):+1-866-598-1553Website @
MoBerries Bot - The AI Powered Job Hunt Pioneer

MoBerries, one of the 100 hottest startups in Europe according to WIRED, revolutionize via their next-gen job discovery chatbot.

MoBerries Bot - The AI Powered Job Hunt PioneerThe future of HR lies in this Messenger chat robotBerlin, Germany, 16/01/2018: MoBerries, one of the 100 hottest startups in Europe according to WIRED, continue their commitment to revolutionizing the antiquated recruitment business through their next-gen job discovery chatbot jobbot. The real time Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) based bot is now freely available on Facebook Messenger. Jobbot is backed by MoBerries proprietary job matching technology which surpasses existing industry-standards. It has resulted in Jobbot already becoming one of the 10 most used messenger bots worldwide.The chatbot helps professionals discover exciting new jobs on one hand, and companies to hire the best fitting talent on the other by eliminating frictions in the hiring market. The bot will soon be able to overtake the entire job application process, even seamlessly taking over the first round interview. Already, the bot has delivered an exceptional 92% candidate response rate within the first 2 minutes of engagement for MoBerries current customers.We grew from 80K monthly active users to 120K monthly active users in one month, after launching our MoBerries Bot. Bots help us to collect important information from candidates in order to strengthen our recommendation engine. This enables us to offer them the most value when they need it most - during their pressing job search. This eliminates the headache of candidates having to look for new job postings daily. Any Job, posted anywhere in the world, anyhow relevant for the candidate, is shared directly to the candidates messenger. Our advantage is that the bot is not standalone but an extension of our platform, and unlike most standalone bots, is not overly reliant on the typical rules based matching. Bots are nothing new, for us it is all about how we can be part of ushering the new era of this technology. We see the bot as being part of a robust stack as the real advantage says Founder Terence Hielscher.MoBerries has partnered up with several hundred companies including many industry leaders such as Rolls-Royce, Deutsche Handelsbank, almost every top Tech company in Germany, several company builders such as hy.co (Axel Springer & Egon Zehnder), Rheingau Founders, B10, and more than 20 leading Venture Capital Funds.The release of the bot to the public makes the MoBerries offering even more robust, allowing for further granularity and better targeting for job seekers as well as hiring managers. This will only further accelerate its international expansion and attract more businesses that want to stay on top of their hiring game.What makes the MoBerries Bot so unique is its ability to learn from personal interactions in order to provide a customized guided experience for the candidate. Unlike other platforms MoBerries is clearly positioning themselves outside the classic parameters of matching by focusing on the release of products built off of their neural network stack. As a candidate who was hired through MoBerries after spending enough time on the platform you get a sense for how recommendations are evolving based on your interactions on the platform. - Clemens Meyer, former candidate of MoBerries.About MoBerries GmbH: MoBerries is a Berlin-based AI-driven hiring SaaS platform enabling companies to hire highly qualified candidates fast. Capitalizing on network effects, all partner companies contribute to a shared talent pool consisting of high-caliber job seekers. In exchange, partner companies receive a pre-ranked selection of exceptionally suited candidates. Founded in 2015, MoBerries developed and honed its technology with a select group of customers referred by Europes leading VC Funds. Earlier this year, the company raised a 7-figure funding round from 42cap, HTGF, LITTLEROCK, several hedge fund managers, and well-known business angels.Sophienstrasse 1610178 BerlinGermany
3D Bioprinting Market 2021 Manufacture explores with production, revenue and market share

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3D printing is a process used to produce three-dimensional objects. The object is produced using computer-aided software, by adding successive layers of materials on the product to generate 3D shape (additive manufacturing). 3D bioprinting works on the same principle as traditional 3D printing, except the procedure is done using live cells, tissues, and organs, where the complexities of tissues and cells, such as cell type, functionalities, growth, and differentiation patterns are addressed.A comprehensive analysis of the situation of 3D Bioprinting Market is been done in this intelligence report. It includes the investigations done of the past progress, ongoing market scenarios and future prospects. An accurate data of the products, strategies and market shares of leading companies in this particular market is mentioned.Download PDF Sample Copy:Companies Profiled: The Top Key Players Included in this market are Organovo, RegenHU, Cyfuse Biomedical, 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Bio3D, Qingdao Unique, BioBots, Aspect Biosystems, Rokit, MedPrin, Nano3D Biosciences, TeVido BioDevices, Modern Meadow, 3Dynamic Systems, Hyrel 3D, OxSyBio, EnvisionTEC, GeSim, 3D Systems, Stratasys, 3D BiotekThis study provides an evaluation of aspects that are expected to impact growth of market in an undesired or constructive method. The 3D Bioprinting market has been consistently examined with respect to the corresponding market segments. Each year within the mentioned forecast period is concisely considered in terms of produce and worth in the regional as well as the global markets respectively.The report analyzes the entire demand and supply chain in the global 3D Bioprinting market and studies the various components. The effect of Porters five forces on the growth of the market has been also analyzed in the report. Referring to case studies, the report traces the historical development of the market. The demand for each of the product types has been assessed in the report.To Get 20% Discount on this Report:The report gives a SWOT analysis of the new projects in the international and 3D Bioprinting market, investment feasibility, development trends, and investment return analysis of these projects. Study of the 3D Bioprinting markets competitive landscape includes data facts and figures about leading countries and suppliers capacity, cost-structures, production values, profits, and gross margins of key businesses operating in the market over the reports review period.The report also provides details such as product picture and specification, and contact information of the companies profiled in the 3D Bioprinting markets manufacturer analysis segment. Initially, the 3D Bioprinting 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 3D Bioprinting market players in driving business insights.Table of ContentsGlobal 3D Bioprinting Market Research ReportChapter 1 3D Bioprinting 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 3D Bioprinting Market ForecastBuy 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 Mobile Payment Technology market CAGR of +21% by 2022- Challenges Standardization, Competitive Market Share, Operator Case Studies and Key Players

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Global Mobile Payment Technology market estimated to grow at a CAGR of +21% during forecast period.Mobile payments through short message services (SMS) mode dominate the market, whereas near field communication (NFC) would witness growth in its market share in coming years and is anticipated to grow at a robust rate. Increased penetration of smartphones, growth in m-commerce industry, change in lifestyle, and the need for quick and hassle-free transactions are the major factors that drive the market growth. In order to expand their market share, global players such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple have launched new mobile payment apps and mobile wallets that allow customers to make payments with their phones/smartphone.Global Mobile Payment Technology market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share and contact information are shared in this report analysis.Get a sample:Companies Profiled in this report includesPayPal, Boku Inc, Fortumo, AT & T, Vodafone Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Google, Apple, Microsoft Corporation, and others.This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global Mobile Payment Technology market for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of social games, virtual goods, and game apps from gaming and social media sites. It also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top six vendors in the market.Get Reasonable Discount on this Report @:Global Mobile Payment Technology market is a detailed research study that helps provides answers and pertinent questions with respect to the emerging trends and growth opportunities in this particular industry. It helps identify each of the prominent barriers to growth, apart from identifying the trends within various application segments of the global market for Mobile Payment Technology.The report provides information on the technological advancements that are bound to take place in the coming years or are currently taking place in the market. Furthermore, the opportunities and threats faced by the main players dominant in the Global Mobile Payment Technology market have been highlighted. This report covers the market from the bottom line, starting from its definition. Later, it segments the market on various criteria to give a depth of understanding on the various product types and pricing structures and applications. Each and every segment is examined carefully by factoring in sales, revenue and market size in order to understand the potential of growth and scope.For More Information @:Table of ContentsGlobal Mobile Payment Technology Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Global Mobile Payment Technology 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, ExportChapter 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 Market ForecastChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 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
Know in detail about Latex paint Market Market Analysis, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Application Development Potential, Price Trends, and Competitive Market Share

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Latex paint is easier to work with and dries more quickly, but it isn't quite as durable as oil-based paint. Latex is good for general painting projects such as walls and ceilings. However, latex usually does not adhere well to high-gloss finishes and, even though it can be used on wallpaper, there is a risk that the water in the paint may cause the paper to peel away from the wall. Because of its water content, latex will cause bare steel to rust and will raise the grain on raw wood.The report on the Global Latex Paint Market is a complete overview of the market, covering various aspects product definition, segmentation based on various parameters, and the prevailing vendor landscape. It compiles in-depth information and research methodologies. It is also combined with relevant charts and tables to enable readers to get a better perspective of this global market.Get a sample @:Key Players in this report:Nippon, Dulux, China Resources, Carpoly, Bauhinia, Levis, Maydos, TIKKURILA, SKSHU, Dabao, PPG, BADESE.The analysis of the manufacturing cost structure of the Global Latex Paint Market has been performed based on key aspects such as industry chain structure, manufacturing process, raw materials, and their suppliers. The manufacturing plants analysis and technical data of the market have been explained in the lights of raw material sources, technology sources, research and development status, manufacturing plants distribution, and commercial production date and capacity.To Get Reasonable Discount @:Major Factor in this Report:Production Analysis Production of the satellite is analyzed with respect to different regions, types and applications. Here, price analysis of various Latex Paint key players is also covered.Sales and Revenue Analysis Both, sales and revenue are studied for the different regions of the global Market. Another major aspect, price, which plays important part in the revenue generation is also assessed in this section for the various regions.Supply and Consumption In continuation with sales, this section studies supply and consumption for the Market. This part also sheds light on the gap between supple and consumption. Import and export figures are also given in this part.Other analyses Apart from the aforementioned information, trade and distribution analysis for the Latex Paint Market, contact information of major manufacturers, suppliers and key consumers is also given. Also, SWOT analysis for new projects and feasibility analysis for new investment are included.Get Complete Report @:Objective to Access the Report:Drivers and restraints impacting the growth of the market have also been analyzed. A segmentation of the global Latex Paint market has been done for the purpose of a detailed study. The profiling of the leading players is done in order to judge the current competitive scenario. The competitive landscape is assessed by taking into consideration many important factors such as business growth, recent developments, product pipeline, and others. The research report further makes use of graphical representations such as tables, info graphics, and charts to forecast figures and historical data of the global Latex Paint market.Table of ContentsGlobal Latex Paint Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Global Latex Paint 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, ExportChapter 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 Market ForecastChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 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
Threat Intelligence Security Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2023

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This statistical surveying research report on the Global Threat Intelligence Security Market is an all-encompassing study of the industry sectors, up-to-date outlines, industry development, drivers, and restraints. It provides market projections for the coming years. It contains an analysis of late augmentations in innovation, Porters five forces analysis and progressive profiles of hand-picked industry competitors. The report furthermore articulates an analysis of trivial and full-scale factors indicated for the new and tenured candidates in the market along with a methodical value chain exploration.Top Key Vendors in Market: IBM Corporation, Cyveillance Inc., Dell Inc., Intel Corporation, Juniper Networks, Symantec Corporation, Trend Micro Inc., Webroot Inc., Accenture, Arbor Networks, Cyveillance, Dell SecureWorks, Deloitte, Ernest & Young, HP, Juniper Networks, Secunia, Webroot, Optiv Security Inc.Get Sample Copy Of this Report @The initial section presents the industry overview of the Threat Intelligence Security Market. This part of the study encompasses the specifications and definition of the market. In addition, the types of the machines have been detailed. The application areas of the market come next in the study. The dynamics impacting the development of the Global Market such as the drivers, challenges, opportunities, and trends are also described in detail in this research surveying report.The competitive landscape of the Global Threat Intelligence Security Market is discussed in the report, which also includes the players market share. The report profiles some of the leading players in the global market for the purpose of an in-depth study of the challenges faced as well as growth opportunities in the market. The report also considers the approaches implemented by the main corporations to sustain their hold on the industry. The business synopsis and financial synopsis of each of the companies have been examined.Get Reasonable Discount on This Premium Report @The report provides both, qualitative and quantitative research of the Global Threat Intelligence Security Market, as well as incorporates worthy insights into the balanced scenario and favored development methods adopted by key competitors. Distinctive distribution channels and slants inclined to bear fruit in the 2018-2023 forecast period have been bestowed in the report to permit readers to plan captivating strategies.On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Threat Intelligence Security Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the Threat Intelligence Security 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.Table of Content:Global Threat Intelligence Security Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Threat Intelligence Security Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout 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)
iBall Guard presents Home Security PT HD Camera - View your Children from anywhere iBall, a brand known for its innovative and latest technology products,announced the newest safety partner to every family, iBall Guard PT HD Camera.Introducing a space-age security camera which safeguards your home and workplace, every single microsecond even while you are away at work or on-the-go!This New Year make a resolution to bring Safety FIRST!



Easy to configure, the iBall Guard PT HD Camera lets you connect the devices such as Android and iPhone smartphones with Wi-Fi Hotspot enabling Real Time Viewing.Its truly exceptional feature is the embedded best-in-class performance microphone also enables, Two Way Conversation. The Two-Way Conversation is a system which comes with a built-in Microphone, letting you converse with kids or families at home from anywhere, anytime from your smartphone app.



This security camera offers Remote Operation, allowing you to access the live camera vision at any moment from anywhere. Likewise, System settings, account management, network management, stream code sets areavailable. The remote operation even allows you to rotate the camera by 350 and tilt the camera angle up to 105 for a complete overlook. Another superior feature is the SD card storage that makes your footages transmittable and shareable.



One of the best features of this security camera is the Minimum illuminationand1.3MP High-Resolution HD (1280960P) camera. It is equipped with H.264 Video Compression with Dual Streaming (480P and 720P) that allows you to view every moment - live and detailed, from anywhere.With superior brightness viewing at 11 IR LEDs that functions within the range of 10m, it ensures better surveillance with no color cast and image distortion.



Loaded with exceptional features such as Mobile Monitoring, Video Tuning, and Image Sensors, the PT HD camera gifts you the power to keep track of every motion, whether baby wakes up from sleep or unusual stranger creeps into the premises,



Speaking on the launch, Mr. Sandeep Parasrampuria (CEO and Director  iBall) says,This New Years, iBall focusses to bring high utility products for everyone. iBallGuard PT HD Camera with two way communication and 350 degree tilt and pan, allows you to see your loved one from anywhere. Be it worrying for the Grandpa at home, or baby under maidsurveillance, iBall Guard lets you watch every step.



Designed to consume less energy, iBall Guard PT HD Camera takes a step closer to future of secure technology. This safety gadget is already available with leading retail stores in India at just MRP of  5,990 only.



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Caustic Soda Market Trends, Analysis, Growth and Opportunities 2012 to 2023

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The Global Caustic Soda Market is likely to grow exponentially in the years to come. Increasing demand through a number of businesses for instance Paper &Pulp, Fabric, Carbon-based Chemicals, etc. is likely to make stronger the progress of the market. Growing demand for alumina in automobile manufacturing particularly in the area of Asia Pacific is well thought-out to motivate the development of the market. Changing rates owing to the greater ingestion of energy and irregular manufacture proportions is in the offing to restrict the development of the market. The manufacture of Chlorine is likewise estimated to affect the market of the caustic soda, such as it is co-manufactured using chlorine.Browse Full Research Report @The Caustic Soda functions such as a robust alkali multiple and eagerly responds with various substances including zinc and aluminum. This is another major factor likely to propel the market demand in metallurgical applications. Moreover, the market is further expected to accelerate with the increase in consumption of caustic soda in alumina extraction. The Caustic Soda Market may be divided by Type of Use, and the Area. The division of the Caustic Soda Market on the source of Type of Use spans Inorganic chemicals, Food, Paper &Pulp, Organic chemicals, Soaps & Detergents, Alumina, Water Treatment, Fabrics, Steel/Metallurgy  Sintering, and others. The division of the Caustic Soda Market on the source of Area spans North America [U.S., Canada], Central &South America, Europe [Italy, France U.K., Rest of Europe], Asia-Pacific [Japan, India, China, and South Korea] Middle East & Africa.Increasing fabric along with paper &pulp manufacturing chiefly in India and China is to be expected to motivate the provincial market. The area of Asia Pacific is furthermore estimated to observe the premier progress in future. China is the biggest manufacturer over and above customer of caustic soda. The development of the market may be credited to greater demand from fabric and paper & pulp manufacturing inside the nation-state. The North American and European caustic soda markets are estimated to observe reasonable development because of the stages of the developments of the market.Request Sample Copy of this Market Research @The important companies working in the global market are expected to concentrate on unifications & acquirements to enlarge their market existence. Price effective manufacturing of the caustic soda is measured to be a most important task that will affect the market in upcoming ages. The companies operating in the Caustic Soda Market on the international basis are Olin Chlor Alkali Products, Befar Group Co. Ltd., Dow Chemical Company, Shintech Inc., and AkzoNobel Chemicals. The caustic soda industry is split in nature due to the existence of a huge amount of minor companies focused in China. That will observe greater manufacture plus the intake of the caustic soda in the approaching ages.Table of Contents1 Caustic Soda Overview2 Global Caustic Soda Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Caustic Soda Analysis by Region4 Global Caustic Soda Analysis by Type5 Global Caustic Soda Market Analysis by Application6 Global Caustic Soda Manufacturers Analysis7 Caustic Soda Technology and Development Trend8 Research Findings and ConclusionSee More Reports of this Category by Million Insights @About Million Insights:Million Insights, is a distributor of market research reports, published by premium publishers only. We have a comprehensive market place that will enable you to compare data points, before you make a purchase. Enabling informed buying is our motto and we strive hard to ensure that our clients get to browse through multiple samples, prior to an investment. Service flexibility & the fastest response time are two pillars, on which our business model is founded. Our market research report store, includes in-depth reports, from across various industry verticals, such as healthcare, technology, chemicals, food & beverages, consumer goods, material science & automotive.Contact Details:Ryan ManuelResearch Support SpecialistOffice No. 302, 3rd Floor, Manikchand Galleria,Model Colony, Shivaji Nagar, Pune, MH, 411016 IndiaPhone: 91-20-65300184Email: sales@millioninsights.com
RGF Executive Search Partners with Proventa International to Highlight Candidate Experience

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With more businesses continuously emerging here and there, attracting great talent has become increasingly difficult. Companies may attract applicants with competitive compensation packages, engaging company culture and exciting career paths but going through a poor application experience can completely turn them off, cutting chances of getting quality hires in half.Research across 3,991 full-time workers found that a negative application experience can impact an employers ability to recruit or even generate revenue. Less than half said they would never seek employment from the company again. 22% said they would advise other not to work at the company and almost 10% said they would tell others not to purchase products or services from the company.Being the frontliners for recruitment, HR professionals need to understand the value of an efficient hiring process to promote exceptional candidate experience.Treating your candidates like your customers is key, shares the Regional Practice Head for Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice of RGF Executive Search, Stephen Irish.Stephen, who is currently leading a team of 50 specialized search consultants across Asia Pacific, advises HR executives to have candidate experience in mind when designing recruitment processes.A smooth and seamless candidate experience has proven to build respect for companies as a brand and employer, adds Stephen, who will also be sharing his expertise at Proventa Internationals HR Life Sciences & Healthcare Strategy Meeting happening at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on April 9, 2018.I take pride in our holistic approach to providing exceptional leadership talent and I hope to provide valuable insights in this RGF Executive Search  Proventa International partnership, says Stephen.RGF Executive SearchRGF Executive, the leading executive search firm across Asia, takes a holistic approach to the business of delivering exceptional leadership talent. We have the largest single footprint of any search firm in Asia, offices in all the major cities and several hundred client-facing consultants and researchers, backed by cutting-edge recruiting technologies. Our group companies have won industry awards as the best executive search businesses in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and several of our search leaders have been featured in lists of the worlds top headhunters.About HR Life Sciences & Healthcare Strategy Meeting 2018Proventa Internationals unique format of HR Life Sciences & Healthcare Strategy Meeting 2018 gathers seasoned local and global thought leaders in an exclusive discussion where each C-Level Director gets to share knowledge and insights on key strategic challenges that others are currently facing. This years HR Life Sciences and Healthcare Strategy Meeting will be held at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on 09 April 2018. For more information, please visitSubmit your interest to attend, sponsor or partner!Delegate Registration: kmj@proventainternational.comSponsorship Opportunities: lp@proventainternational.comMedia Partnership: jp@proventainternational.comCommitted to bringing research-based strategies and groundbreaking innovation to Life Sciences and Healthcare industry, London-based management consultancy firm Proventa International has been helping businesses build strategic partnerships for 15 years.Together with our satellite teams in the United States and Asia Pacific, we take pride in our unique format of engaging and connecting C-level executives worldwide via our strategy meetings.Exclusive, spontaneous and insightful, our strategy meetings gather director-level executives and industry thought leaders from established and emerging Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology organizations to discuss similar strategic challenges, share valuable insights and work together to achieve short and long-term organization goals.Unit 51 Skyline Business Village, Limeharbour, London E14 9TS, United Kingdom
Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market - Key Segmentation of Industry & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market: SnapshotA microgrid is a power grid of a smaller level, that can operate on its own and independent of a locations primary electrical grid. Additionally, a microgrid can be used in conjunction with the primary grid, a factor that opens up a number of possibilities and opportunities. Small-scale and localized stations can be run with their own source of energy and contain generation and distribution equipment, as long as the station adheres to the policies as specified by the regions government. The core function of a microgrid is to be a fallback for structures or industries in the event of failure of the primary grid, or when the primary grind cannot supply sufficient power during peak hours.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Additionally, microgrids can be used to lower an establishments total consumption of power from the primary electrical grid. This can be supplemented by the fact that microgrids can operate using different sources of energy, including renewable ones. The large scale use of microgrids, under management and control by providers of microgrid as a service players, can allow establishments in a sizeable area to both reduce their consumption rates of conventional power sources and ramp up the use of renewable energy. At the same time, most microgrids are designed to be modular in nature, allowing them to make the primary grid less likely to completely fail in the event of a major incident. Under MaaS plans, these modular microgrids can also be upgraded over time to incorporate more efficient and renewable power sources.Global Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market: OverviewThe world microgrid as a service (MaaS) market is foreseen to build its growth on the back of software as a service (SaaS) sector which helps in the creation of more cost-efficient, reliable, and safer microgrid systems. The SaaS market could be followed by operation and maintenance service. However, SaaS is prophesied to mark a ruling share in the global MaaS market with vital benefits such as decrease in the risk of failures and delays of projects and a single point of accountability offered to microgrid owners.Key segmentation areas such as vertical, service type, and grid type are carefully analyzed in the report while taking a radical approach. This will help the interested parties to invest in the right industry spheres and secure a long-lasting growth.The tailor-made publication prepared on the world MaaS market has followed all the steps recommended for primary and secondary research to make available accurate and reliable information to the buyers.Request TOC of the Report @Global Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market: Trends and OpportunitiesDuring the forecast period, the world MaaS market is anticipated to gain strength as the need for enhanced resilience sparks hefty government investments in the field of microgrid infrastructure. The need for reliable MaaS could augment further with remote localities, universities, and hospitals looking to leverage the unequalled benefits of microgrid infrastructure. Besides this, the end users of MaaS are not required to invest heavily upfront, which could boost the growth of the global market even more. By installing a microgrid infrastructure, operational costs can be curbed impressively. This could encourage most regions of the market to adopt MaaS.The industrial vertical market of MaaS is foreseen to promise a growth that is challenging for other profitable vertical segments such as utility, military, commercial, and residential. The microgrid technology could be adopted at a significant degree, owing to factors such as fuel independence, grid resiliency, better and trustworthy power supply quality, and reasonable energy expenditure.There is a tough competition expected to be witnessed between islanded or remote grid and grid connected markets, where the previous is predicted to take the leading position in the global industry. Much of the demand for islanded or remote grids is anticipated to arise from their services to meet energy requirements through greater control and allow distributed energy sources to be better managed.Get Discount @Global Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market: Regional OutlookOut of the top regional markets for MaaS, Asia Pacific is forecasted to exhibit dominance while riding on the dire requirement for electricity with a reliable, constant, and undisturbed supply. Moreover, there is a high degree of investment made more or less on a consistent basis to adequately maintain microgrid infrastructures. As a result, the Asia Pacific MaaS market is prognosticated to record a commanding CAGR throughout the course of the forecast period. More opportunities are expected to emerge from the remarkable rate of power consumption and the application of MaaS in industrial sectors and rural electrification. Market players can expect to take advantage of key opportunities in the developing regions of Asia Pacific witnessing a weighty development in power infrastructure and industrial sectors.Global Microgrid as a Service (MaaS) Market: Companies MentionedAlthough the standards, regulations, and policies relating to MaaS and the supremacy of customer-owned microgrids could raise a few questions in the minds of the market players, there are some critical strategies they can rely on for growth. Some of these could be pertaining to the widening of their revenue share in the global MaaS market, where product developments and launches, agreements, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships could be the frequently adopted ones. Amongst others, Exelon Corporation, Eaton Corporation PLC, Siemens AG, General Electric, and ABB Ltd. are the top manufacturers operating in the industry.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
Bearing Market 2018 Industry Trends, Size, Sales, Growth Drivers, Opportunities and Forecast to 2025

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World Bearing Market Report 2018-2025 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Bearing Market. This report studies Bearing in Global market, especially North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM).Bearings are the machine elements which helps to restrains the relative motion to preferred motion by reducing friction between the moving machine parts. They offers high durability, reliability and precision with the ability to rotate at fast speed by minimizing vibrations and noise. The increasing production of vehicles and the rapid industrialization mainly in developing countries will fuel the bearing market in the forecast period.The factor that can act as a restraint in the growth of the market is the growing sale of imitation products may hamper the bearing market. However, the boost in the demand of energy-efficient vehicles and the escalating need of bearings from the aerospace industry will create new opportunities in the market of bearings.Request FREE Sample is Available atKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Inquire Before Buying atBearing Market Key Players1. Wafangdian Bearing Group Co., Ltd.2. The Timken Company3. SKF Group4. Rexnord Corporation5. RBC Bearings Incorporated6. NTN Corporation7. Schaeffler Group8. C&U Group Ltd.9. Asahi Seiko Co., Ltd.10. Luoyang LYC BearingComplete Report is Available atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor,Amanora Chambers, East Block, Amanora Township,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Specialty Fats and Oils Market - Major Key Players & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Specialty Fats and Oils Market: SnapshotSpecialty fats and oils find a diverse array of niche applications across a number of fields, especially in the food and beverages industry. The properties of specialty fats and oil are quite different from the general fats and oils, the latter group including cream fats, pastry fats, margarine, shortening, and a number of other products. Some of the largest applications for specialized fats and oils come from the chocolate and confectionary makers. Specialized fats, for instance, are finding a growing scope of applications in chocolate products, especially ones that are molded, including chocolate bars.The demand for specialty fats and oils is also growing among the manufacturers of chocolate products, such as chocolate wafers and biscuits, fruits and nuts, and other similar applications. Specialty oils and fats are also being used in the confectionery industry. A lot of applications of specialized fats distinguish them largely as cocoa butter alternatives, more specifically, cocoa butter substitutes, cocoa butter replacements, and cocoa butter equivalents. There is a growing but currently niche segment of exotic fats, but nearly all specialized fats find most of their applications in the confectionery and bakery goods production. Other end users of specialized oil and butters include the personal care and cosmetics markets, the manufacturers of animal feed, and the manufacturers of dairy products or processed foods.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Specialty Fats and Oils Market: OverviewThe world specialty fats and oils market is prognosticated to grab a massive chuck of demand in the food and beverages industry with a number of products fetching indispensable applications. The global market is deemed to be a highly fertile ground for high-paying business opportunities. Specialty fats and oils are lavishly used in a multiple food applications and possess the capability to enhance sensory and physiochemical characteristics such as appealing flavors, creamy and rich texture, and smoothness. Most countries have already restricted the usage of trans fats that risk the consumers with fatal heart diseases. This could be a great opportunity for the manufacturers dealing with trans-free specialty fat and oil products to rake in handsome revenues.The report offered here considers the vital segmentation categories of the global specialty fats and oils market, viz. form, application, oil type, and fat type. With our customized approach, all of these segments can be comprehensively analyzed to determine the most lucrative market types and ensure a tangible business success.Request TOC of the Report @The tailor-made reports prepared at TMR Research, a market research hub, are a foolproof guideline to capitalize on the most promising and unrevealed opportunities. Buyers of this report can prepare their businesses to get aligned in just the right direction for securing a reliable growth in the international specialty fats and oils market.Global Specialty Fats and Oils Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe market for cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) is anticipated to count its dominance on the application in compound coatings and chocolates. CBEs are extensively used in confectionery and bakery products. The flourishing rise of this specialty fats type segment could significantly raise the bar of growth for the world specialty fats and oils market. Since CBEs reduce the risk of heart disease by being free of trans fats and non-hydrogenated, the demand growth is expected to elevate even more in the global market. In addition to that, CBEs can be used to enrich the flavor of the ingredients used in various products. Besides CBEs, exotic fats, dairy fat replacers, cocoa butter improvers (CBIs), cocoa butter replacers (CBRs), and cocoa butter substitutes (CBSs) could fairly contribute to the market.The liquid form of specialty fats and oils is foreseen to hold the potential to register a higher CAGR against the dry form specialty fats and oils market because of its saturated fatty acid melting point properties. A large number of chocolate and confectionery items today are produced without trans fats. As a result, there has been an augmenting inclination toward trans-fat-free chocolate and confectionery products, which could intensify the demand in this segment. With respect to its exhaustive availability and usage in the making of different products such as confectionery fillings, palm oil is forecasted to gain traction over other specialty oils type markets.Get Discount @Global Specialty Fats and Oils Market: Regional OutlookThe Asia Pacific region is prophesied to emerge as a leading market for specialty fats and oils with a host of remunerative opportunities in store. The global specialty fats and oils market has recently witnessed the birth of a broad-ranging scope of applications in Asia Pacific, viz. animal feed, cosmetics, and personal care. This is envisaged to mark a rising rate of demand in the region. Palm oil and other specialty oils are consumed in vast amounts in India while China, Indonesia, and Malaysia are hailed as the authoritative makers of specialty oils and fats. In this regard, Asia Pacific could record an impressive CAGR against the background of other key regional markets such as North America. Such a dominance of the Asia Pacific market is expected to be in place with reference to both value and volume.Global Specialty Fats and Oils Market: Companies MentionedThe top companies making their mark in the international specialty fats and oils market could take advantage of the new geographies yet to be explored. Salient business strategies such as collaborations with key players, investments and agreements, joint ventures, and launch of novel offerings are predicted to be implemented by most firms operating in the global market. Some of the leading organizations anticipated to take charge are AAK AB, Wilmar International, IFFCO, Bunge Ltd., and Cargill.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
ATM Market 2018-2025 Research Report by ATM Services Providers, Banking, Business and Finance Industries

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World ATM Market Report 2017-2025 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the ATM Market. This report studies ATM in Global market, especially North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South America (SAM).An electronic banking outlet that enables customers for completing financial transactions without the help of a branch representative or a teller is an ATM. ATMs today are being used for a variety of banking transaction purposes such as bill payments, cash withdrawal, cash deposits and obtaining bank statements. Privacy of transactions, quicker and efficient services, ease of accessibility for cash to a customer are some benefits of ATM have allowed rapid deployments across the globe.Developing automation, increased needs for security in banking and financial services emerge as the various driving factors for deployments of ATM, whereas reasons such as random cyber-attacks and theft based threats to an ATM infrastructure act as deterrents to growth of this market. The growing importance of diverse managed services for banking services and increasing popularity of ATMs in rural areas will bring new opportunities in the for ATM players in the market.Request a Sample Report atKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?Inquire Before Buying atATM Market Players:1. CMS Infosystems2. Diebold Nixdorf3. NCR Financial Solutions4. Triton5. GRG Banking Equipment Co. Ltd.6. Nautilus Hyosung America, Inc.7. INETCO Systems Limited8. Fujitsu Ltd.9. Euronet Worldwide, Inc.10. TIDELView Complete Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout The Insight Partners:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor,Amanora Chambers, East Block, Amanora Township,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Cloud Computing Server Market Development and Technological Trends By Application (Banking, Financial Service, Insurance, Healthcare, Telecom and IT, Government & Public Utilities till 2018

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This report provides an in-depth insight of Global Cloud Computing Server Industry covering all important parameters including development trends, challenges, opportunities, key manufacturers and competitive analysis and much more.This report studies Cloud Computing Server in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringIntelIBMAmazon Web Services (AWS)MicrosofDellHuaweiOracleGoogle Cloud PlatformSalesforceRackspaceSAPOracleChina Information Technology (CNT)Get FREE Sample of report atOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoType IType IIBy Application, the market can be split intoBankingFinancial ServiceInsuranceHealthcareTelecom and ITGovernmentPublic UtilitiesBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaBrowse complete report atKey points from Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Cloud Computing Server2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Cloud Computing Server3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Cloud Computing Server4 Global Cloud Computing Server Overall Market Overview5 Cloud Computing Server Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2017E Cloud Computing Server Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2017E Cloud Computing Server Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Cloud Computing Server8.1 Intel8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Intel 2016 Cloud Computing Server Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Intel 2016 Cloud Computing Server Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 IBM8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 IBM 2016 Cloud Computing Server Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 IBM 2016 Cloud Computing Server Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Amazon Web Services (AWS)8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Amazon Web Services (AWS) 2016 Cloud Computing Server Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Amazon Web Services (AWS) 2016 Cloud Computing Server Business Region Distribution Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Cloud Computing Server Market10 Cloud Computing Server Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Cloud Computing Server12 Conclusion of the Global Cloud Computing Server Market Professional Survey Report 2018Get Discount on report atList Of tables and FiguresFigure Global 2012-2017E Cloud Computing Server Market Size (Value) and Growth RateTable 2012-2017E Global Cloud Computing Server Capacity and Growth RateTable 2016 Global Cloud Computing Server Capacity (K Units) List (Company Segment)Table 2012-2017E Global Cloud Computing Server Sales (K Units) and Growth RateTable 2016 Global Cloud Computing Server Sales (K Units) List (Company Segment)Table 2012-2017E Global Cloud Computing Server Sales Price (USD/Unit)Table 2016 Global Cloud Computing Server Sales Price (USD/Unit) List (Company Segment)Figure North America Capacity OverviewPurchase Complete Report atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Medical Suction Devices Market Size will Grow Profitably in the Near Future

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Global Medical Suction Devices Market: Overview and ScopeSuction devices have a wide range of applications in the clinical environment and are used to remove fluid and other debris in the body with the help of a vacuum. Medical suction devices, both handheld and wall-mounted ones, are used in surgical procedures, for airway clearing, and in research and diagnostics at home, hospitals, pre-hospitals, and clinics. These devices can be manually operated or be battery-powered, AC-powered, or dual-powered.Hospitals and clinics are the most preferred settings for medical suction devices, and the soaring demand for suction devices in these areas positively impacts the demand for wall-mounted devices. While the demand for medical suction devices in surgical applications is significantly high, their application in the field of diagnostics is anticipated to gain prominence in the coming years owing to an increase in clinical research and diagnostics.Read Report Overview:The report offers clients an in-depth evaluation of the performance, contribution, and size of the medical suction devices market. The scope and dynamics of this market also form an integral part of the research study. The leading segments and players have been identified and assessed with the help of the latest market intelligence tools, including SWOT analysis, Porters Five Forces analysis model, market attractiveness analysis, and value chain analysis.Global Medical Suction Devices Market: Key Trends and OpportunitiesThe paradigm shift from traditional health care settings to home health care, coupled with the growing need for portable and compact devices, has significantly boosted the market for medical suction devices. Portable suction devices are easy to use, reliable, and durable and as a result, their adoption in home care settings has greatly increased. The increase in aging population is another factor boosting the market for medical suction devices. Rising geriatric population globally will result in an increased demand for emergency care and growth in surgical procedures. This, in turn, will positively impact the need for effective suction devices.Download Brochure of Report:Other factors driving the global medical suction devices market include declining prices of suction devices, increase in the number of surgical procedures, and growing incidences of chronic respiratory diseases.Global Medical Suction Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the global medical suction devices market can be segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. North America accounts for the largest share in the overall medical suction devices market and is most likely to retain its lead throughout the forecast period. One of the key factors boosting the market for medical suction devices in this region is the rising incidence of chronic diseases across the region. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that around 50% of the American population suffered from at least one chronic disease in 2014. Seven out of 10 deaths in the U.S. resulted from chronic diseases and these diseases accounted for a whopping 86% of the total health care costs in the country.The Asia Pacific market for medical suction devices is projected to gather steam in the coming years and expand at the fastest pace through 2024. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the increase in aging population, and the consequent increase in home care as well as surgical interventions will bolster the medical suction devices market in Asia Pacific. The growing focus of leading players on the APAC region as a strong and lucrative contender is also anticipated to benefit the medical suction devices market here.Pre Book Medical Suction Devices Market Research Report:The international medical suction devices market boasts of a number of small and large players competing at various levels. These include Laerdal Medical, Labconco Corporation, ZOLL Medical Corporation, Precision Medical, Inc., Medela Holding AG, Amsino International, Inc., INTEGRA Biosciences, Welch Vacuum, Drive Medical, Allied Healthcare Products, Inc., Olympus Corporation, MG Electric Ltd., Medicop, ATMOS Medizintechnik GmbH & Co. KG, SSCOR, Inc., and Weinmann Gerate fur Medizin GmbH + Co. KG.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Corrosion Resistant Resin Market worth 12.56 Billion USD by 2026

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The report "Corrosion Resistant Resin Market by Type (Epoxy, Polyester), Application (Coatings, Composites), End-Use Industry (Oil & gas, Heavy industries, Automotive & transportation) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2026", The global corrosion resistant resin (CRR) market is projected to reach USD 12.56 Billion by 2026. It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period.Browse 109 market data tables and 43 figures spread through 156 pages and in-depth TOC on Corrosion Resistant Resin Market by Type (Epoxy, Polyester), Application (Coatings, Composites), End-Use Industry (Oil & gas, Heavy industries, Automotive & transportation) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2026Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports.Industries incur huge losses due to corrosion every year, and corrosion can pose a direct threat to the well-being of property and people. Corrosion resistant resins help in minimizing these losses and prevent damage to structures, equipment, and machinery. These are the major drivers for the corrosion resistant resins market.Download PDF Brochure:Epoxy segment to lead the CRR market during the forecast periodBased on type, the epoxy segment is projected to lead the CRR market during the forecast period. Epoxy has superior physical properties and is cost-efficient. Thus, it is preferred over other types of corrosion resistant resins.Composites application segment projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodBased on application, the composites segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2026. As the adoption for lightweight materials is increasing, these composites are replacing traditional metals, as they are cost-effective due to low maintenance. R&D departments of manufacturing companies are carrying out researches to widen the application area of corrosion resistant resins, which is expected to drive the CRR market during the forecast period.Asia-Pacific is projected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2026The CRR market in the Asia-Pacific region possesses immense potential for growth. Increasing GDP growth of economies in the region and modernization of infrastructure are fueling the demand for corrosion resistant resins in the region. China, Japan, and South Korea are some of the key countries in the region contributing significantly towards the growth of the CRR market in Asia-Pacific.Speak To Analyst:Some of the key players in the CRR market are Ashland Inc. (U.S.), Reichhold Inc. (U.S.), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), Hexion Inc. (U.S.), Olin Corporation (U.S.), Scott Bader Company Limited (U.K.), among others. Investments & expansions, and partnership & agreements & collaborations were the major growth strategies adopted by the market players between 2012 and 2016 to enhance their regional footprint and meet the growing demand for corrosion resistant resins in developing economies.About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.M&Ms flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7,SEZ, Magarpatta city, Hadapsar
Hermetic Packaging Market - New Product Launch in Industry & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Hermetic Packaging Market: SnapshotThe global hermetic packaging market is predicted to witness strong opportunities emerging from the ascendency of ceramic-metal sealing (CERTM) demonstrating a higher growth rate and share in terms of type. There are some crucial factors that could propel the demand for CERTM in the market. The assurance of failure-free operation and passenger safety in the automotive sector is anticipated to fortify the growth of CERTM sealed sensors such as differential non-contacting, chassis level, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) sensors. The growth of the market could also gain a telling impetus on the back of an elevating demand for low-porosity and thermal shock-resistant hermetic packaging materials.Although military and defense could take a leading share in the global hermetic packaging market on the basis of application, healthcare, food and beverages, petrochemicals, and consumer electronics are also expected to be significant. The healthcare market is prognosticated to record an impressive demand while riding on major advancements in technology for medical implants and other critical fields. The need to protect food from dirt, yeasts, molds, and bacteria could intensify the demand for hermetic packaging in the food and beverages sector. Glass bottles and rigid metal cans employ hermetic packaging seals as per the standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Request Sample Copy of the Report @Expansion and new product launch are envisaged to be some of the top strategies adopted to gain a strong foothold in the global hermetic packaging market. For instance, Amkor Technology expanded its China test factory and assembly in 2015 and Schott AG launched Puravis and autoclavable Solidur LED in 2017.Global Hermetic Packaging Market: OverviewExhibiting a positive CAGR between 2017 and 2025, the global hermetic packaging market is forecast to spawn into a multi-billion dollar industry by the end of the forecast period. The need to protect the sensitive electronic components used in sectors such as defense and military against invasion of moisture, oxygen, humidity, and any other forms of contaminant, which may result in system failure is the key factor spurring the demand for hermetic packaging. Besides this, with the growing use of hermetic packaging across end-use industries such as aeronautics and automobile electronics, experts see strong growth on cards for the market in the coming years.The report provides a holistic market overview, covering growth witnessed across end-use industries, key application segments, and major regions. The classifications under these segments are studied in detail. The study also includes an in-depth analysis of various drivers and restraints projected to impact the markets trajectory across the aforementioned segments. It therefore compiles exhaustive information regarding the market obtained via proven research methodologies. The market study also identifies the most lucrative segments in the market and gauges the investment feasibility for the new market players.Request TOC of the Report @Global Hermetic Packaging Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAmong major end users, the demand for hermetic packaging is considerably high in the military and defense sector. This segment is expected to gain from the high budget allocation in the defense sector in countries such as the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Besides this, the high demand from the defense industries in India and China will boost the hermetic packaging market in Asia Pacific. In the coming years, the rising demand from the aeronautics and space industry will contribute to the markets growth as well.Among other segments helping the market gain pace, the contribution of the multilayer ceramic segment is worth mentioning. The market players are expected to witness considerably high opportunities in response to the increasing adoption of multilayer ceramic packages across high-frequency applications such as wireless communication, optical communication, and data communication. Multilayer ceramics allow a large volume of electrical feed-throughs, which is a key factor fueling its demand, subsequently gaining increased traction for the overall market.In the coming years, the use of hermetic packaging transistors is expected to increase at a robust pace. This growth will be stoked by the increasing uptake of hermetically sealed transistors for designing home appliances and telecommunication circuits. Spurred by the increasing applications across diverse segment, the global hermetic packaging market is forecast to report strong growth in the coming years.Get Discount @Global Hermetic Packaging Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, the leading manufacturers will find a lucrative market in Asia Pacific. The region exhibits increasing demand for energy, backed by growth in the rate of GDP across emerging nations such as India and China, which will create growth opportunities for hermetic packaged electronic component manufacturers. Besides this, India, Japan, and China are now allotting increased funds in space research. The growth in space-related activities such as exploration missions and satellite launches in these countries will give impetus to the Asia Pacific hermetic packaging market. Additionally, North America and Europe will continue offering attractive opportunities to the enterprises operating in the market.Global Hermetic Packaging Market: Vendor LandscapeTeledyne Microelectronics, AMETEK, Inc., SCHOTT AG, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Amkor Technology, Legacy Technologies Inc., Micross Components, Inc., Willow Technologies, KYOCERA Corporation, and Materion Corporation are among the established players in the global hermetic packaging market. Besides in-depth assessment of the companies profiled, the report also studies the impact of the strategies they adopt on the overall market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Cell Counting Market Size will Grow Profitably in the Near Future

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Global Cell Counting Market: OverviewCell counting is a significant process in the field of life sciences, including medical diagnosis and treatment and biological research. For researchers, cell counting is a major step in most experimental workflows, allowing them to maintain cell cultures, prepare cells for transfection experiments, and prepare cells for downstream experiments. Although cell counting continues to be performed as a manual as well as an automated procedure, most researchers have been switching to the latter owing to the fact that manual cell counting is a time-consuming and tedious process.The key cell counting product types include flow cytometers, cell counters, spectrophotometers, and hematology analyzers. These products are mainly used in research institutions, diagnostic laboratories, hospitals, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The research report identifies the leading product, technology, application, and regional segments of the global cell counting market and examines their performance and contribution over the years. A detailed section on the prominent market players has also been included, which sheds light on their business strategies, alliances, financial standing, and products and services portfolio. In addition, an overview of the various macro and micro factors governing the cell counting market has been provided, with inputs and recommendations from industry experts.Read Report Overview:Global Cell Counting Market: Key Trends and Vendor LandscapeThe global market for cell counting is primarily fueled by the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS, cancer, and several other chronic diseases. An increase in the occurrence of life-threatening diseases has led to a surge in cell-based research, thereby propelling the demand for cell counting. The development of enhanced image analysis instruments and improved informatics solutions has also contributed to the growth of the cell counting market. In addition, the rise in government and corporate funding, new opportunities in emerging economies, and the increasing focus on stem-cell research is likely to drive the global market. In contrast, the reluctance on the part of researchers to use advanced techniques and the high prices of modern cell counting systems act as restraints on the cell counting market.This highly competitive market boasts of well-established companies as well as consistent efforts by new entrants to further their businesses and increase their share in the market. This ongoing competition is anticipated to drive innovation in the cell counting market and help overcome some of the major challenges obstructing growth. The leading companies operating in the global cell counting market include Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., GE Healthcare, Agilent Technologies Inc., PerkinElmer Inc., Tecan Group Ltd., Biotek Instruments Inc., Becton, Dickinson, and Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Danaher Corporation, and Merck Millipore.Download Brochure of Report:Global Cell Counting Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global market for cell counting is geographically fragmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. By revenue, North America and Europe are the largest markets at present, driven mainly by the presence of prominent cell counting market players, the presence of highly developed health-care systems, and an increasing number of cell-based and stem cell research programs initiated by the government.The Asia Pacific cell counting market is anticipated to witness strong growth in the coming years and emerge as the fastest-developing region by 2024. This future growth can be attributed to a number of factors including a rise in research collaboration, a surge in the aging population, a rapidly expanding health-care sector, and growing expenditure on R&D. The Asia Pacific cell counting market is also fueled by the rising focus of leading players on the region; the increasing investments by prominent companies in the health-care industry in countries such as India, Malaysia, China, and Taiwan; the growing demand for cutting-edge technologies; the rapid expansion of private sector hospitals in rural areas.Pre Book Cell Counting Market Research Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market Size will Grow Profitably in the Near Future

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Global Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market: SnapshotThe global multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) assay market is anticipated to experience a strong push forward in demand with the requirement of the technique to detect proteins and peptides in biological specimens. However, the detection of small molecules is performed with the help of this technique in case of clinical specimens. While the MRM technique allows for greater selectivity of proteins within a specimen, the conventional mass spectrometric technique detects all proteins within the specimen, which does not serve the purpose of selective detection. The MRM approach could prove to be crucial for researchers to calibrate and adjust an instrument for the detection of specifically interested proteins.Even though MRM techniques are usually combined with mass spectrometry (MS), the former provides improved detection speed, sensitivity, and specificity in a wide scope of analyte concentration. Western Europe countries, in particular, are expected to set the tone for a valuable growth in the global MRM assay market on the back of a surging count of installed systems and institutes that hold a significant relation with biology researches. North America could follow Western Europe at close quarters with a rise in the demand for assay products contributing toward the growth of the region. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is also predicted to add to the growth of the worldwide market for MRM assay.Read Report Overview:Human cardiovascular MRM, custom MRM, human cancer MRM, and human discovery assays could be some of the prominent markets by type, whereas biomarker assessment and MRM-MS quality control are envisaged to be key usages.Global Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market: OverviewMultiple reaction monitoring (MRM) is an extremely selective and sensitive method of analyzing small molecules. This targeted method is used for the quantitation of peptides or protein fragments in complex biological samples. The MRM platform technology enables targeted filtering of specific proteins instead of going through massive amounts of data resulting from nontargeted studies. This powerful method for the quantitative measurement of target proteins has emerged as a principal tool in research methodologies today.Multiple reaction monitoring assays can be of various types: Human discovery assay, custom multiple reaction monitoring assays, human cancer multiple reaction monitoring assays, and human cardiovascular multiple reaction monitoring assays. These are used in diagnostic centers, hospital centers, and research institutes for quality control and biomarker assessment. Geographically, the worldwide market for multiple reaction monitoring assays covers four key segments: Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World.Download Brochure of Report:The report serves as an ideal tool for both new and established players in the multiple reaction monitoring assay market, offering some of the best expansion strategies. The latest and most trusted business intelligence tools, such as the Porters Five Forces analysis model, have been employed to give readers a 360-degree overview of the multiple reaction monitoring assay market and the various macro and micro trends impacting its trajectory. Apart from statistical and qualitative insights, the report also includes recommendations from industry experts.Global Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market: Key Trends and OpportunitiesMultiple reaction monitoring has been used for several years now for the detection of peptides and proteins in clinical samples. Multiple reaction monitoring offers a host of benefits to researchers, including better sensitivity, improved speed of detection, greater selectivity, higher specificity, and the ability to adjust or calibrate the instrument to detect a specific protein of interest. These advantages have significantly boosted the global multiple reaction monitoring assay market. In addition, the surge in R&D in the field of biologics has contributed significantly to the worldwide multiple reaction monitoring assay market. The rising use of multiple reaction monitoring assays in research institutes, diagnostic centers, and hospitals has also driven the global market.Global Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market: Region-wise Outlook and Competitive Landscape AssessmentGlobally, North America and Europe led the multiple reaction monitoring assay market. Countries in North America and those in Western Europe, such as Germany, France, Italy, and the U.K., have been contributing majorly to the multiple reaction monitoring assay market thanks to the increasing number of biology research institutes in the regions and the higher number of installed systems.Pre Book Multiple Reaction Monitoring Assay Market Research Report:The most well-known companies in the global multiple reaction monitoring assay market include MRM Proteomics, Sigma Aldrich, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. These players, along with other prominent players, have been carefully examined in the research report based on key parameters such as company overview, recent developments, product portfolio, R&D, business strategies, and financial standing. The report also employs a SWOT analysis to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the leading players.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Track Geometry Measurement System Market - Comprehensive Representation of Players & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Track Geometry Measurement System Market: SnapshotThe prosperity of the global track geometry measurement system market is owing to several factors, such as increasing need for safety and security in railway transport, growing railway networks and metro lines, and deployment of intelligent techniques in railways. On the other hand, slow infrastructure growth in a number of emerging economies is hindering the market from attaining its full potential. Nevertheless, the stockholders connected to the value chain of the track geometry measurement system market will gain new opportunities from the growing requirement from public and private partnerships (PPP) and diversification of services and solutions offered by these measurement systems.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Based on operation-type, the global market for track geometry measurement system can be segmented into contact based and no contact based, while on the basis of measurement-type, this market can be categorized into cant and cant deficiency, track gauge, twist, curvature, vertical profile, alignment, dipped joints, dynamic cross-level, and others such as inclination and cyclic top. High-speed railways, heavy haul railways, light railways, and mass transit railways can be some of the categories of the global track geometry measurement system, whereas component-wise bifurcation of the market can be software, navigation equipment, lighting equipment, computer, communication equipment, camera, data storage, sensor, and power supply equipment. Geographically, this report takes stock of the potential of the track geometry measurement system market in all important regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa.The report is a comprehensive representation of the current scenario of the market for track geometry measurement system and provides analysis as well as forecasts on its future prospects.Global Track Geometry Measurement System Market: OverviewThe global track geometry measurement system market is projected to exhibit a positive CAGR between 2017 and 2025. The market will benefit from the increase demand for improved security in railway transport and the growling metro lines and railway networks. Besides this, the deployment of cost-effective and smart technologies in railway drive will give the global track geometry measurement system market significant impetus during the forecast period.Request TOC of the Report @The report studies growth exhibited by the tract geometry measurement system market based on various parameters such as railway type, measurement type, operation type, component, and region. It covers various aspects such as growth drivers, key restraints, opportunities, and challenges that companies are likely to witness. The profiles of some of the most prominent enterprises operating in global market are included as well.The report is therefore compiled with the intent of presenting a comprehensive overview of the global track geometry measurement system market. It gauges the impact of Porters five forces on the overall market and analyzes the investment feasibility for new players. Exhaustive information included in the report is obtained from trusted industrial sources via proven research methodologies. It is aimed at helping readers gain a clearer perspective about the prevailing dynamics and trajectory of the global track geometry measurement system market.Global Track Geometry Measurement System Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe rising demand for improved safety in railway transport is the chief driver of the market. The recent incidents of train mishaps have raised concerns worldwide compelling governments to digitize the mode of transport to ensure safer journey. The demand for cost-effective yet smart technologies for maintaining tracks and ensuring operational safety is therefore at all-time high. This however can be achieved through calculating the geometry parameters in real-time. Track geometry measurement systems assist in maintenance works conducted to detect any track irregularities, which is a key factor enabling the market gain impetus.Get Discount @While these factors will support the markets expansion, slow infrastructure growth will restraint it to an extent. Furthermore, data management and control is a sensitive concern for the track geometry measurement systems market. It is therefore very important to ensure protection of data generated via diverse measuring devices. This is a key challenge posing threat to the market as well.Global Track Geometry Measurement System Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, Europe, and Asia Pacific are among the key regional markets for track geometry measurement system. Among these regions, the market is witnessing highly lucrative opportunities in Asia Pacific. The rising demand for track geometry measurement system in China, which as of 2016 had the longest high-speed railway network in the world, is supporting growth witnessed in the region.Besides this, the market is also gaining from the rapid expansion of metro networks in countries such as Australia and India. Growth in railway networks also fuels the demand for advanced maintenance to ensure risk-free travel to the passengers. Since, railway networks constitute the key transport across emerging Asian economies, the region exhibits a considerably high demand for track geometry measurement system.Global Track Geometry Measurement System Market: Vendor LandscapeSome of the most prominent enterprises operating in the global track geometry measurement system market are Ensco, Inc., MER MEC S.p.A., Fugro, Balfour Beatty, Plasser & Theurer, Egis, MRX Technologies, R. Bance & Co., Ltd. Inc., and Goldschmidt Thermit Group.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 Animal Health Market Size  Growth, Latest Trend & Forecast 2021

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"The Latest Research Report Global Animal Health Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Animals, like humans, also suffer from diseases and hence require proper care from veterinarians, farmers and pet owners. Improving the health of companion animals and livestock and treating them is the foremost objective of animal health industry. The animal health industry can be broadly classified into two parts - production and companion segments. Every animal has distinct need of its own and thus, requires different treatments in accordance to its breed. Further, on the basis of products, animal health market is divided into three main sections; pharmaceuticals, biological and medicinal feed additives.Get Sample Copy of this report @The key factors driving the growth of animal health market include rising disposable income, growing ageing population, increasing pet ownership, mounting incidence of zoonotic diseases and less stringent animal drug approval process. Some of the noteworthy trends and developments of this industry include mergers & acquisitions in the industry, human drugs crossing over to the animal health and preventive therapies. However, the expansion of animal health market is hindered by barriers to entry for new players, high cost of product development and increasing pressure to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock.The report Global Animal Health Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides a comprehensive analysis of the global animal health market and its major regional markets. Furthermore, market dynamics such as key trends and development; and challenges are analyzed in-depth. The global market is highly competitive consisting of several large enterprises including Bayer AG, Merck & Co., Inc., Eli Lilly and Company and Zoetis Inc,. The competitive landscape of the respective market, along with the company profiles of leading players are discussed in detail.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Content1. Overview1.1 Animal Health1.2 Animal Health Products1.3 Value Chain Analysis2. Global Animal Health Market2.1 Global Animal Health Market by Value2.2 Global Animal Health Market Forecast by Value2.3 Global Animal Health Market by Product2.4 Global Animal Health Market by Species2.4.1 Global Production Animal Health Market by Value2.4.2 Global Production Animal Health Market Forecast by Value2.4.3 Global Companion Animal Health Market by Value2.4.4 Global Companion Animal Health Market Forecast by Value2.5 Global Animal Health Market by Region3. Regional Markets3.1 Americas3.1.1 Americas Animal Health Market Forecast by Value3.1.2 The US Animal Health Market by Value3.1.3 The US Animal Health Market Forecast by Value3.1.4 The US Animal Health Market by Products3.1.5 The US Pet Industry Spending3.1.6 The US Pet Industry Spending Forecast3.1.7 The US Pet Industry Spending by Product3.2 Europe3.2.1 European Animal Health Market Forecast by Value3.2.2 European Animal Health Market by Products3.2.3 UK Animal Health Market by Value3.2.4 UK Animal Health Market Forecast by Value3.2.5 UK Animal Health Market by Products3.2.6 UK Animal Health Market by Species3.2.7 UK Animal Health Market by Legal Category3.3. Asia-Pacific3.3.1 India Animal Health Market Forecast by Value3.3.2 India Animal Health Market by SpeciesView Sample PDF @4. Market Dynamics4.1 Growth Drivers4.1.1 Rising Disposable Income4.1.2 Growing Ageing Population4.1.3 Rising Pet Ownership4.1.4 Rising Incidence of Zoonotic Diseases4.1.5 Less Stringent Animal Drug Approval Process4.2 Key Trends & Developments4.2.1 Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) in the Industry4.2.2 Human Drugs Crossing Over to the Animal Health4.2.3 Preventive Therapies4.3 Challenges4.3.1 Barriers to Entry for New Players4.3.2 High Cost of Product Development4.3.3 Increasing Pressure to Reduce the Use of Antibiotics in Livestock5. Competitive Landscape5.1 Global Animal Health Market5.1.1 Revenue and Market Cap. Comparison5.1.2 Product Mix and Geographic Mix Comparison5.1.3 Global Animal Health Market Share by Company6. Company Profiles6.1 Bayer AG6.1.1 Business Overview6.1.2 Financial Overview6.1.3 Business Strategies6.2 Merck & Co., Inc.6.2.1 Business Overview6.2.2 Financial Overview6.2.3 Business Strategies6.3 Eli Lilly and Company6.3.1 Business Overview6.3.2 Financial Overview6.3.3 Business Strategies6.4 Zoetis Inc.6.4.1 Business Overview6.4.2 Financial Overview6.4.3 Business StrategiesBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Ultra-mobile Devices (UMD) Market - Company soon Launching New Technology 2017 - 2025

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Global Ultra-mobile Devices (UMD) Market: SnapshotUntil a couple of years from now, the future of the sleeker, smaller, and portable computing devices, now dubbed as ultra-mobile, looked bleak. The segment had few devices and the flagship devices failed to entice masses. But the scenario soon transformed and ultra-mobile devices charged in the burgeoning global computing devices market with immense force, a host of new products from some of the worlds most renowned brands and are witnessing massive sales.Analysts predict that ultra-mobile devices will soon supplant desktop computers in professional as well as public spaces. With the impressive rate of technological advancements that this segment of computing devices is achieving in a short span, this transition does not seem very far or difficult. Vast advances in battery, screen, processing, and material processing technologies are supplementing this change, making it technically very feasible to develop portable devices that can easily compete with the present-day ubiquitous, relatively bulkier, and mostly immobile workhorse personal computers.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The rapid influx of a number of technologically advanced and highly promising candidates in the global ultra-mobile devices arena is strengthening the position of the segment as the right candidate to claim a significant stake in the workplace computers replacement process that many organizations eagerly await. Conventional smartphones and tablets fail to be as productive and fast as desktop computers when it comes to fulfilling a number of requirements, a factor that makes the high demand for ultra-mobile devices more likely. This report gives a detailed overview of the global ultra-mobile devices market and its crucial segments.Global Ultra-mobile Devices (UMD) Market: OverviewUltra-mobile devices (UMD), also referred to as ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPC), the notebook computers with physical features such as screen and overall size scaled down to bring about a reduction in weight make the devise more compact, have emerged as one of the largest selling computing devices in the past few years. These portable and easy to carry computing devices, which majorly pack capabilities and functionalities similar to those of a traditional personal computer, are steadily outpacing the conventional personal computer models.Request TOC of the Report @The market for ultra-mobile computing devices is expected to expand at a promising pace in the next few years as the trend of mobility gathers further pace. This report on the global ultra-mobile devices market provides a thorough analytical overview of the market in the present times and several forward-looking statements predicting the growth prospects of the market and its segments for the period 20172025, wherein 2016 is considered the base year.The report covers a detailed analytical overview of all the key trends expected to play a key role in the overall development of the market over the said period. The study highlights factors such as drivers, restraints, regulations, and opportunities expected to impact the growth prospects of the market during the forecast period.Global Ultra-mobile Devices (UMD) Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe report states that of the key varieties of ultra-mobile devices available in the market, including basic UMD, utility UMD, and premium UMD, the segment of premium UMD accounted for the leading share in revenues in the global market. Operational capabilities equal or enhanced as compared to conventional personal computers, compact size, and high cost have made premium UMDs one of the most profitable UMD segments in the global market in the past few years.Get Discount @On the basis of operating system, the global UMD market can be segmented into Windows, Mac, Android, and open source. Presently, the Windows category accounts for the dominant share in the global market and is expected to retain dominance over the next few years as well.Global Ultra-mobile Devices (UMD) Market: Geographical and Competitive DynamicsFrom a geographical perspective, the report analyzes the UMD market across regions such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Of these, the North America market contributed to the leading share in the global markets revenue. The presence of an affluent consumer base and some of the worlds leading UMD manufacturers have helped the region take the top spot in the UMD market.Emerging economies across regions such as Asia Pacific and Latin America have become some of the worlds profitable destinations for the personal computers market owing to the rising population of affluent and digitally aware consumers and the burgeoning enterprise and education sectors. However, the high prices of UMDs could crop up as one of the key challenges for markets expansion in these regions, making people favor budget computing devices over UMDs. The consumer perception that UMDs lack in data processing or operating functionalities as compared to conventional personal computers could also be a factor limiting the overall demand for ultra-mobile devices to mostly business professionals and enterprise circles in these regions.The study also includes business profiles of some of the leading players operating in the global immersive simulator market with details such as recent developments, growth strategies, market share, market positioning, finances, and product portfolio. Some of the leading companies operating in the global UMD market are HTC Corporation, Google, Dell, Microsoft Corporation, Lenovo, ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Apple Inc., Sony, HP Development Company L.P., and Samsung.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
Aseptic Processing Market - New Added Flavors & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Aseptic Processing Market: SnapshotAs per the Food and Agriculture Organization, 43% of the food produced in Asia Pacific in 2014 was wasted, leading to huge financial losses for both manufacturers and retailers. Thus, the need for efficient packaging which offers long life and maintains the quality of products was felt. This gave rise to the demand for aseptic processing and the market for this technology is projected to witness a high growth in the years to come.The growing preference for eco-friendly packages is behind the high demand for aseptic processing technology, despite their complexity when compared to terminal sterilization or canning. A surge in the demand for convenience foods and pharmaceutical supplies is boosting the growth of the aseptic processing market. Aseptic processing enables longer shelf life and thus, in demand. As the disposable income of consumers is increasing, their spending capability is also growing, creating a heightened demand for various products, driving the global aseptic processing market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Players in the market are expected to witness a stupendous growth as they increase their already large production capacities. The increased demand for aseptically packaged goods has compelled manufacturers to expand their business and production capacity. The cosmetics and dairy sectors are two areas demanding aseptic processing increasingly, thus pushing the growth of the market. The dairy industry is witnessing robust growth on account of the high demand for varieties in terms of flavors, which is benefitting the aseptic processing industry in turn.Global Aseptic Processing Market: OverviewAseptic processing is referred to as the methodology through which sterile or aseptic products, mainly pharmaceutical and food is packed in a sterile container which would efficiently maintain its sterility. Sterility is obtained through a process of flash heating between a temperature of 195 and 295 degree F which recollects more nutrients and employs less energy than the traditional form of sterilization methods such as hot-fill canning or retort. The method of aseptic food preservation allows the storage of processed food for elongated periods without the use of preservatives. These type of aseptic packages are generally a mix of aluminum, polyethylene, and paper. Collectively, these materials form a constricted seal against degradation, contaminants, microbial organisms, thus removing the requirement for refrigeration. The products which packed using aseptic processing are tomatoes, gravies, liquid whole eggs, fruit juices, and milks.Request TOC of the Report @The market intelligence report investigates into the conceivable growth prospects for the aseptic processing market and the sequential growth of the market during the course of the forecast period. It also exclusively provisions the mandatory data related to aspects such as the dynamics manipulating the progress in all possible reflective manner. Numerous pervasive and non-pervasive trends have also been stated in the report. An outlook of extensive nature keeping in mind the Porters five forces analysis has been provided to make the vendor landscape transparent to the reader. The report further points out several activities related to R&D, mergers, acquisitions, and crucial conglomerates and corroborations. The companies in attention have been examined on the basis of market shares, prime products, and key marketing strategies.Global Aseptic Processing Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe global aseptic processing market is likely to witness exponential growth over the forecast period owing to rising focus on environment-friendly packaging and improvement in technologies and equipment in the packaging industry. The market is also expected to be benefitted by the mounting need for pharmaceutical supplies, growing demand for quality and convenience food products, and significant progress of the dairy beverage market. However, the market is expected to be negatively impacted by the high initial capital investment required for buying equipment and the need for advanced understanding of the technology in question in place forms of packaging forms.Get Discount @In terms of packaging, the segment of paper and paperboard is expected to lead the market in the coming years. This is because, paperboard can be easily cut and processed and is both strong and lightweight, thus making it an ideal material for packaging. Paperboard packaging is available in different grades with unique qualities. The grades are thus chosen on the basis of the respective packaging requirements.Global Aseptic Processing Market: Regional OutlookDeveloping countries such as Argentina, Brazil, India, and China are likely to contribute significantly to the revenue of the global aseptic processing market in the coming years. The growth of the markets in these countries can be primarily attributed to the hectic lifestyles of consumers and their shift towards processed and ready-to-eat meals, growth in household incomes, and favorable demographics.Global Aseptic Processing Market: Competitive LandscapeEquipment manufacturers and suppliers are focusing on offering innovative equipment in different categories along with integrating processing equipment. They are also diversifying the product offerings to strengthen distribution base. Some of the leading companies are JBT Corporation, Greatview Aseptic Packaging Co. Ltd., GEA Group, Amcor Limited, Becton, Dickinson and Co., GEA Group, Tetra Laval International S.A., E.I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company, and Robert Bosch GmbH.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
Wednesday, January 17, 2018



oh canada by ankakay

Immigrants have been fleeing the United States for Canada, hoping for a less stringent immigration system that will allow them to establish a permanent home in the land of our neighbor to the North. It's an issue we've covered before (here, here, here, here, here, here).

As the NYT reports, "Canadian officials are warning that even liberal Canada has its limits amid concerns, fairly or not, that illegal migration is stretching the immigration system to a breaking point[.]"

Ahmed Hussan, Canada's minister of immigration, notes that only 8% of claims for asylum from Haitian migrants have been granted. That's not a strong shot.

Canada is taking steps to let would-be migrants know that the odds are not in their favor. Worried about Salvadorans fleeing north after the loss of TPS, Canada sent one member of parliament, Pablo Rodriguez, to L.A. to meet with "members of the Hispanic community there to explain the limits of Canadian asylum policy."

It's a strategy Canada has employed before. This summer, another Canadian member of parliament, Emmanuel Dubourg, traveled to Miami to inform members of the Haitian communities there that gaining asylum in Canada would be difficult.

But there is a very large backlog of cases (over 40,000) in Canada. And just waiting for one's asylum case to be heard will inevitably buy migrants some time in Canada. Maybe even years.

-KitJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2018/01/canada-publicizes-long-odds-on-asylum.html
Power Rental Market: Industry Insights by Generator Type, End User, Application and Geography Forecast to 2023

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The global power rental market is driven by the rising grid instability of conventional grids. Power rental plants provide better flexibility, reliability, speed and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, the alternating power spikes is expected to contribute to the global market growth.Get a free sample of this research report:The global power rental market is expected to benefit from the rising awareness about cut down on energy demand during peak hours. Other factors that are expected to fuel the power rental market include the rising preference for renting power instead of buying it. The expanding construction activity in GCC countries is one of the prominent drivers for the global market growth.Government's initiatives on generating alternative sources of energy and reducing dependence on oil and gas reserves is expected to drive the market in the developing economies. Growing construction, tourism and hospitality industries offer enormous scope for using rental power.Utilities has been the major end user segment of the global power rental market. Increasing power demand, unstable grid and support and low electrification rates are the major driving factors for the power rental market in the utilities segment.Explore report at:Geographically, the global power rental market has been segmented into North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Rest of the World (RoW). North America and Asia-Pacific are expected to be the major markets for power rental, during the forecast period. Africa power rental market is expected to grow at a significant rate. Saudi Arabia in the MEA power rental market is expected to register high growth.Make enquiry before buying the report:Some of the major companies operating in the global power rental market are Aggreko PLC, APR Energy Inc., Ashtead Group Plc, Caterpillar Inc., Power Electrics, Speedy Hire, United Rentals, Cummins Inc., Hertz Corporation, Kohler, Smart Energy Solutions and Rental Solutions and Services.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Beverage Can Market Segments by Size, Share and Region - Forecast to 2021

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"The Latest Research Report Global Beverage Can Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Packaging is a technology of enclosing and protecting products for distribution, storage, sale and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. It can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, warehousing, logistics, sale and end use.There are three types of packaging; primary, the first layer that encloses the product and comes in the direct contact with the product; secondary, prevents from the pilferage or to group the primary packages together; and tertiary, used for bulk handling, warehouse storage and transport shipping. Further, consumer packaging can be segmented into glass, paper and board, flexible plastics, rigid plastics, other metal and beverage cans.Get Sample Copy of this report @Metal cans are used to contain a wide range of products, including beverages, processed foods, aerosol products, paints, medicines and many other products. Beverage can is a metal container designed to hold a fixed portion of liquid such as carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, teas, herbal teas, and energy drinks, etc.The global beverage can market has been growing at a steady pace for the past few years. The North American market is expected to recover at a flatter rate after a period of steady decline. The major factors which are expected to drive the global beverage can market include increasing global aluminum production, rising global GDP per capita, rapid urbanization, and swelling global beverage consumption. However, the growth of the market is hindered by stringent compliance regulations and environmental concerns. Few notable trends of the market include rising demand for specialty cans and shifting focus of market players taking towards developing markets.The report Global Beverage Can Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) analyzes the development of this market, with regional focus on Europe, North America, Brazil and China. The major trends, growth drivers as well as issues being faced by the market are discussed in detail in this report. The three major players: Ball Corporation, Crown Holdings, and Ardagh Group SA are being profiled along with their key financials and strategies for growth. The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the global beverage can market along with the study of the regional markets.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Content1. Overview1.1 Packaging1.2 Types of Packaging1.3 Metal Cans1.4 Manufacturing of Beverage Cans2. Global Packaging Market2.1 Global Packaging Market by Value2.2 Global Packaging Market Forecast by Value2.3 Global Packaging Market by Product Segment2.4 Global Packaging Market by Material Type2.4.1 Global Paper & Board Packaging Market Forecast by Value2.4.2 Global Flexible Packaging Market Forecast by Value2.4.3 Global Rigid Plastic Packaging Market Forecast by Value3. Global Beverage Can Market3.1 Global Beverage Can Market by Volume3.2 Global Beverage Can Market Forecast by Volume3.3 Global Beverage Can Market Volume by Region3.4 Global Beverage Can Consumption Per Capita by Region4. Regional Markets4.1 North & Central America4.1.1 North America Beverage Can Shipment Volume4.1.2 North America Beverage Can Market Forecast by Shipment Volume4.1.3 North America Beverage Can Shipment by Product Type4.1.4 North America Beverage Can Shipment Forecast by Can Type4.1.5 The US Beverage Can Shipment Volume4.1.6 The US Beverage Can Shipment Volume Forecast4.1.7 Mexico Beverage Can Shipment Volume Forecast4.1.8 Mexico Beverage Can Shipment by Product Type4.2 Europe4.2.1 Europe Beverage Can Shipment Volume by Product Type4.2.2 Europe Beverage Can Shipment Volume Forecast by Product Type4.2.3 Europe Soft Drinks Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.4 Europe Beer Can Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.5 UK Beverage Can Shipment by Product Type4.2.6 UK Beverage Can Shipment Forecast by Product Type4.2.7 UK Soft Drink Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.8 UK Beer Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.9 Spain & Portugal Beverage Can Shipment by Product Type4.2.10 Spain & Portugal Beverage Can Shipment Forecast by Product Type4.2.11 Spain Soft Drink Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.12 Spain Beer Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.13 Austria and Switzerland Beverage Can Shipment by Product Type4.2.14 Austria and Switzerland Beverage Can Shipment Forecast by Product Type4.2.15 Austria and Switzerland Soft Drinks Filling by Packaging Mix4.2.16 Austria and Switzerland Beer Filling by Packaging Mix4.3 South America4.3.1 Brazil Beverage Can Market by Shipment Volume4.3.2 Brazil Beverage Can Shipment Volume Forecast4.3.3 Brazil Beer & Soft Drinks Filling by Packaging Mix4.4 Asia-Pacific4.4.1 China Beverage Can Market Forecast by Shipment VolumeView Sample PDF @5. Market Dynamics5.1 Growth Drivers5.1.1 Rising Global Aluminum Production5.1.2 Rising Urbanization5.1.3 Increasing Global Beverage Consumption5.1.4 Swelling GDP Per Capita5.2 Key Trends & Development5.2.1 Rising Demand for Specialty Cans5.2.2 Shifting Focus towards Developing Nations5.3 Challenges5.3.1 Stringent Compliance Regulations5.3.2 Negative Environmental Impact6. Competitive Landscape6.1 North & Central America6.1.1 The US & Canada Beverage Can Market Share by Company6.1.2 Mexico Beverage Can Market Share by Company6.2 Europe6.2.1 Europe Beverage Can Market Share by Company6.2.2 Russia Beverage Can Market Share by Company6.3 South America6.3.1 Brazil Beverage Can Market Share by Company6.4 Asia-Pacific6.4.1 China Beverage Can Market Share by Company7. Company Profiles7.1 Ball Corporation7.1.1 Business Overview7.1.2 Financial Overview7.1.3 Business Strategies7.2 Crown Holdings Inc.7.2.1 Business Overview7.2.2 Financial Overview7.2.3 Business Strategies7.3 Ardagh Group SA7.3.1 Business Overview7.3.2 Financial Overview7.3.3 Business StrategiesBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Test and Measurement Equipment 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Fortive , Rohde & Schwarz , Anritsu , Keysight , Yokogawa Electric Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

Global Test and Measurement Equipment Market

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Global Test and Measurement Equipment MarketThis report studies Test and Measurement Equipment in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringFortiveRohde & SchwarzAnritsuKeysightYokogawa ElectricNational InstrumentsEXFOAdvantestViaviCobhamTeledyneTexas InstrumentsRequest a Sample Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoGeneral Purpose Test EquipmentMechanical Test EquipmentBy Application, the market can be split intoCalibration ServicesRepair Services/After-Sales ServicesBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaTo enquire about this report visit @Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Test and Measurement Equipment Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Test and Measurement Equipment1.1 Definition and Specifications of Test and Measurement Equipment1.1.1 Definition of Test and Measurement Equipment1.1.2 Specifications of Test and Measurement Equipment1.2 Classification of Test and Measurement Equipment1.2.1 General Purpose Test Equipment1.2.2 Mechanical Test Equipment1.3 Applications of Test and Measurement Equipment1.3.1 Calibration Services1.3.2 Repair Services/After-Sales Services1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Test and Measurement Equipment2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Test and Measurement Equipment2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Test and Measurement Equipment2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Test and Measurement Equipment.8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Test and Measurement Equipment8.1 Fortive8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Fortive 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Fortive 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Rohde & Schwarz8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Rohde & Schwarz 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Rohde & Schwarz 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Anritsu8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Anritsu 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Anritsu 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Keysight8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Keysight 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Keysight 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Yokogawa Electric8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Yokogawa Electric 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Yokogawa Electric 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 National Instruments8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 National Instruments 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 National Instruments 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 EXFO8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 EXFO 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 EXFO 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Advantest8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Advantest 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Advantest 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 Viavi8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 Viavi 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 Viavi 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Cobham8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Cobham 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Cobham 2016 Test and Measurement Equipment Business Region Distribution Analysis8.11 Teledyne8.12 Texas InstrumentsContinued.Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Carnauba Wax Market - Higher Demand for Sweets Products 2017 - 2025

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Carnauba Wax Market: SnapshotThe global carnauba wax market, traditionally dominated by Brazil, has emerged as a major economic avenue in recent years thanks to the steady growth of the automotive and food and beverage sectors. The cosmetics sectors growth in developing countries has also been vital for the global carnauba wax market and is likely to remain a key driver due to the growing demand for a variety of anti-pollution and anti-aging products.The automotive industry has emerged as a leading consumer in the global carnauba wax market due to the growing secondhand car industry. Carnauba wax is a precious commodity in automotive maintenance due to the superior performance it provides in terms of polish. Thus, resold cars generally require a generous application of carnauba wax, while new cars are also often treated with carnauba wax to maximize their appeal to customers. The growing automotive industry in developing countries is thus likely to be vital for the global carnauba wax market, while developed regions are home to an affluent consumer demographic that has shown a steady interest in automobile maintenance and is likely to remain a key consumer in the global carnauba wax market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The food and beverage industry has become a key consumer in the global carnauba wax market due to the rising demand for food glazing and the increasing consumption of confectionery items such as jelly and chewing gum. The rising demand for sweets in developing countries, where the products are still novel, is thus likely to be a vital contributor to the global carnauba wax market.Global Carnauba Wax Market: OverviewThe global carnauba wax market has witnessed tremendous growth over the past few years, due to its increasing application in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sector. Brazil is the leading producer as well as exporter of carnauba wax across the globe. The manufacturing of this wax involves low setup cost, however, the labor intensive nature of extraction and processing leads to a high labor cost, thereby boosting the overall manufacturing cost. Moreover, the widespread adoption of primitive tools for extraction leads to an increase in the overall extraction time. This wax commonly finds its application in food, pharmaceutical, automotive, and cosmetics.The report serves as a reliable business tool providing information regarding important parameters of the global carnauba wax market. It is intended to update stakeholders about the ongoing trends of the market. It provides an immaculate understanding of the market through definitions, classifications, applications, and chain structure. It gives a detailed description of the factor influencing the market and analyzes the extent to which they impact the growth. It offers qualitative and quantitative insights into the competitive landscape of the market. It profiles key players in the market and takes into account their business strategies, latest development, investment outlook, financial overview, and market shares. For a coherent understanding, the report segments the global carnauba wax market on the basis of various criteria including geography and applications.Request TOC of the Report @Global Carnauba Wax Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe burgeoning consumption of confectionary products such as jellies and chewing gums, particularly in developing countries, is anticipated to stimulate the demand for carnauba wax in the forthcoming years. In addition, the rising demand for food glazing agent in the food and beverage industry is bolstering the growth of the market. The growth of the market is also backed by conducive regulations enforced by regulatory authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Union. On the other hand, the rising attempts of market participants to increase their margins and revenues are resulting in an increase in price, which in turn is adversely affecting the growth of the market.Global Carnauba Wax Market: Geographical SegmentationBased on geography, the key segments meticulously studied in the report are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. Europe and North America will account for a substantial cumulative share in the market throughout the forecast period. The growing demand for waxes for the production and maintenance of automobiles is bolstering the growth of these regions. The robust growth of the automotive care industry, due to rising automobile sales coupled with the increasing sales of pre-used cars, is translating into the greater uptake of carnauba wax.Get Discount @Asia Pacific will rise at a noteworthy pace during the same period, owing to the growing demand for food glazing agents in the food and beverage industry. The rapid industrialization, which is leading to the flourishing growth of various end-user industries, is also impacting the growth of the region positively. Moreover, the rising disposable income of consumers is propelling the growth of the region.Global Carnauba Wax Market: Competitive LandscapeProminent players in the global carnauba wax market are paying strong attention to improving their distribution network to cater to the global demand. The majority of players are focusing towards product customization to serve better to the requirements of end users and stay relevant in the market. The strong foothold of key players, due to their market knowledge and acumen, makes the market a highly competitive arena. Some of the key companies operating in the global metal carnauba wax market are Brasil Ceras, Tropical Ceras do Brasil Ltda, FONCEPI  Comercial Exportadora Ltda, Pontes Industria de Cera Ltda, and Carnauba do Brasil Ltda.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
Laminated Busbar Market - Greater Supply of Inexpensive Products & Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Global Laminated Busbar Market: SnapshotAs the switchgear market worldwide is treading along a healthy growth track, the global laminated busbar market is anticipated to rake in a healthy share of the revenue pie. Laminated busbars are used in various industries and with their widening scope of applications such as in electric and hybrid vehicles, the market is expected to experience a significant push in the coming years. However, the upward climb of the market is marred by the protean prices of raw materials. Moreover, the expansion of gray markets is leading to the greater supply of low-quality and inexpensive products, which in turn is adversely affecting the overall revenue generation of the global laminated busbar market.The demand for these busbars is likely to witness a surge in the forthcoming years, especially for alternative energy. Power generation through alternative sources of energy requires the generation of DC feeds into a capacitor circuit and insulated-gate bipolar transistor, through a low inductance laminated busbars. This enables delivery of safe and efficient power.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Developing regions are expected to emerge as key destinations for prominent players in the global laminated busbars market in the near future. The emergence of smart cities, increasing number of high-rise buildings, and government policies encouraging energy saving solutions are rendering these regions highly opportunistic. Market participants are also paying high attention to contracts and agreements and new product launches to stay ahead in the global arena.Global Laminated Busbar Market: OverviewThe power density requirements of present-day technologies and the highly complex and compact electronic devices require the central power distribution system to optimize the power being distributed, while also improve performance and reliability of the device it supplies. Also, the need for power distribution systems capable of making efficient use of space and providing low inductance is also deepening with rising adoption of high speed electronics and increasing switching speeds and decreasing pulse rise times of analog and digital circuits, generators, and data transmission equipment. These developments have made laminated busbar assemblies the ideal power distribution tool of late.This report on the global laminated busbar market presents a detailed overview of the markets growth dynamic in the present times and forecasts it on global, regional, and country levels. The report includes a, in-depth analytical study of the market and the factors such as growth drivers, opportunities, trends, and challenges, expected to have a prominent impact on the markets growth over the period between 2017 and 2025. The report includes several forward-looking statements about the growth prospects of the market and its segments over the said period, backed by detailed analysis of past and present trends, industry standard analytical models, and inputs from industry experts.Request TOC of the Report @The level and dynamic of competition in the market has been examined with the help of a detailed Porters five forces analysis of the competitive landscape of the market, allowing the reader a clear understanding of the opportunities that new and established companies can exploit going ahead. The report also includes an attractiveness analysis for the key segments covered under the scope of the study, benchmarked on the basis of criteria such as future growth potential, present market size, growth attractiveness, and growth rate.Global Laminated Busbar Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global market for laminated busbar has witnessed growth at a healthy pace in the past few years and is expected to remain strong over the reports forecast period as well. Some of the key factors expected to have a notable positive impact on the overall development of the market are the rising adoption of connected infrastructures across industrial and residential setups and the rising demand for compact and high-speed electronics across these facilities.The increased focus on increasing the use of renewable energy sources and the subsequent need to modify power distribution infrastructures is also expected to fuel the demand for laminated busbar assemblies in the next few years. Moreover, the rising awareness regarding the need for saving and efficiently using energy is also expected to drive the increased demand for efficient power distribution tools such as laminated busbars.Get Discount @Global Laminated Busbar Market: SegmentationThe report segments the global laminated busbar market on the basis of criteria such as insulation material, end-use industry, and geography.Of the key materials used for insulation in laminated busbars, including nomex, epoxy powder coating, polyimide, polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), epoxy glass, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the segment of epoxy coating presently dominates the market. The material finds extensive usage in the production of laminated busbars owing to its high dielectric strength and low cost.Key industries utilizing laminated busbar assemblies for a variety of applications include transportation, power electronics, telecom, data centers, and alternative energy. Of these, the power electronics industry is presently the key consumer of laminated busbars and is expected to remain the leading contributor of revenue to the global laminated busbar market in the next few years as well.Global Laminated Busbar Market: Geographical and Competitive DynamicsFrom a geographical standpoint, the global laminated busbar market is dominated by Asia Pacific and Europe owing to the presence of established and high-growth industries such as steel, manufacturing, and automotive. Asia Pacific is expected to remain the region with the most promising growth opportunities for the laminated busbar market in the next few years owing to the continuously rising set of applications across these high-growth industries.Some of the key companies operating in the global laminated busbar market are Methode Electronics, Inc., Idealec SAS, Amphenol Corporation, Rogers Corporation, and Mersen S.A.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
NEW ORGANIC BEARD LINE LAUNCHES FOR BEARDED CAR GUYS

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Lakeland, Florida, January 16, 2018 - Gearhead Beard Oils launched in March of 2017 after 6 months of research, planning, and development. Founded by Darrin Quincel and Nicole Tatlock, gearheads in their own right, they have been working on cars for a combined 60 years. Gearhead Beard Oils is located in Lakeland, Florida and oils are currently available online and at local barbershops.In No-Shave November 2015, Darrin started his personal beard journey, trying beard oils and balms without any success. Nicole had three years experience with body and essential oils and started researching different formulas to create an organic beard oil that was not too oily and helped to smooth and grow Darrins beard without itching or stunting the growth.Darrins inspiration for his beard journey is Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. The inspiration for the Gearhead brand is the love of cars and car guys everywhere.Gearhead Beard Oil has created 4 car themed fragrances that are 100% organic and with a Rosemary essential oil base, to assist in growth and conditioning. While Gearhead Beard Oil is a new business, Nicole is no stranger to the business world.Nicole has over 15 years as a business owner, with her first and current business focusing on business creation and marketing. Nicole has helped over 500 businesses to either launch or build their business. Nicole started her second business in 2013 with the creation of Sensual Scents, an essential and body oil business.Both Nicole and Darrin have an extensive and deep love for cars, engines, racing and getting dirty under the hood of any vehicle. Every car has a soul, as does every person. Cars and people have a unique connection and Gearhead Beard Oil is based on that connection and soul. Gearhead Beard Oil is devoted to bringing a beard oil to the market that not only appeals to car guys but all guys, on their own personal beard journey.As part of their business launch, they are looking for beard ambassadors to share the beard journey and promote Gearhead Beard Oil. Beard Ambassadors receive free beard oil in exchange for their promotion on their social media profiles. You can learn more atIf you are a barbershop owner, looking for a line of beard oils to offer in your shop, you can sign up as a distributor online atGearhead Beard Oil can be found online at, on Facebook at, on twitter at gearhead_beards, and Instagram as gearheadbeardoil. For publicity inquiries, contact Nicole Tatlock at 863-660-9438 or nicole@gearheadbeardoil.com.The team at Gearhead Beard Oil is passionate about beard care and provides only the highest quality products. All products are natural, man made, in small batches to ensure only the best products for your beard. We do not test on animals, we only test on bearded mechanics and car guys, who receive a lifetime of beard oils courtesy of Gearhead.Gearhead Beard Oil vision combines the best of health and beauty for your beard with the love of cars and engines for fun. Gearheads everywhere are loving Gearhead Beard Oil.7966 Kaitlin CircleLakeland, Florida 33810
Global Gas Analyzer Market 2017: Region Wise Analysis of Top Players in Market By Types and Application

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The global gas analyzer market has been witnessing a positive growth. This is due to the increasing consumer awareness about the health hazards of the gas emissions and leakage, as well as various advancements being made in technology.Request a free sample report:The latest report by IMARC Group, titled Gas Analyzer Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2017-2022, finds that the global gas analyzer market has reached a value of nearly US$ 4 Billion in 2016. Gas analyzers are stationary or portable units which are used for analysing gas; and for measuring the qualitative and quantitative composition of gas mixtures. They are generally fitted with low power consuming and high responsive semiconductor gas sensors. Gas analysers offer various advantages which include safety, accuracy, efficiency and compliance with environment. Currently, they are available in different types such as residual gas analyzer, infrared gas analyzer and orsat gas analyzer.Highlights of the global gas analyzer market:Stringent regulations by various governments remain one of the major factors driving the market growth.Oil and gas holds the majority of the market share, representing the leading application segment.Asia-Pacific currently represents the largest market for gas analyzer.One of the major factors catalysing the growth of the global gas analyzer market is the strict legislations and enforcement of health and safety regulations by various governments across the nations. This has resulted in rising consumer awareness about the safety risks of gas emissions and leaks. Apart from this, technological advancements like integration with wireless devices for offering remote-control, real-time monitoring and backing up data logs have also contributed to the growth of the market. Moreover, an expand in explorations of shale gas and tight oil have further strengthened the demand for gas analyzers across the globe. As a result, the global gas analyzer market is expected to reach a value of more than US$ 4 Billion, exhibiting a CAGR of 4% during 2017-2022.On the basis of application, oil and gas exhibit a clear dominance in the market, followed by power, chemical, food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals. Region-wise, Asia-Pacific is currently the biggest market for gas analysers owing to the expansion in building and construction applications. Other major markets include North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. Based on imports, China accounts for the majority of the share, followed by the United States, Germany, Republic of Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei. On the basis of export, Germany holds the largest global share. It is followed by the United States, Japan, China, Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom. The competitive landscape of the market has also been analysed with some of the key players being ABB, Emersion Electric, General Electric, Figaro Engineering Inc. and Thermo Fishers Scientific.Read full report with TOC:The report by IMARC Group has examined the global gas analyzer market on the basis of:Application:Oil and GasPowerChemicalFood and BeveragesPharmaceuticalImport:ChinaUnited State of AmericaGermanyRepublic of KoreaJapanChinese TaipeiExport:GermanyUnited State of AmericaJapanChinaRepublic of KoreaUnited KingdomRegion:Asia PacificNorth AmericaEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaKey Players:ABBEmersion ElectricGeneral ElectricFigaro Engineering Inc.Thermo Fishers ScientificBrowse related reports:Saccharin Market Research Report:Industrial Gases Market Research Report:About UsIMARC Group is a leading market research company that offers management strategy and market research worldwide. We partner with clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their businesses.IMARCs information products include major market, scientific, economic and technological developments for business leaders in pharmaceutical, industrial, and high technology organizations. Market forecasts and industry analysis for biotechnology, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, travel and tourism, nanotechnology and novel processing methods are at the top of the companys expertise.Contact usIMARC Group309 2nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USAWebsite:Email: sales@imarcgroup.comUSA: +1-631-791-1145Follow us on twitter: @imarcglobal
CMOS Power Amplifier Market Expected to Behold a CAGR of 16.6% through 2016-2024

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Expanding application base of the Internet of Things (IoT) is translating into rapid technological advancement and miniaturisation of devices that entails stronger connection peripherals. This, in turn, is resulting in higher demand for CMOS power amplifier. Future Market Insights has recently conducted an analytical study on the global CMOS power amplifier market that projects a stout growth in terms of revenue between 2016 and 2026. The arrival of superior wireless communication networks and extended benefits of CMOS technology is expected to provide an impetus to the overall development of the market. Network challenges introduced by news wireless standards is an additional factor expected to sustain the demand for CMOS power amplifier over the next couple of years. The US$ 1,017.9 Million CMOS power amplifier market is estimated to surpass US$ 4,714 Million by 2026-end, riding on a CAGR of 16.6% during the forecast period. Robust usage of CMOS power amplifier in GSM/EDGE, LTE, CDMA 2000, and other wireless communication technology is anticipated to create lucrative market opportunities for leading manufacturers and suppliers of CMOS power amplifiers.Request For Report Sample:Market RestraintsFuture Market Insights report titled CMOS Power Amplifier Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026 also reveals that technical complexities in CMOS power amplifier design may dampen the surging spirit of the market to a certain extent during the assessment period. Moreover, the inherently poor linearity of CMOS power amplifiers can often lead to distortion, thus, limiting its application to low-PAR (peak-to-average ratio) modulation systems.Usage of CMOS Power Amplifier in LTE Technology to Grow HigherBased on modules, GSM/EDGE segment commanded nearly 31% revenue share of the market in 2015. However, swift adoption and rapid development of 4G and 5G wireless communication are leading towards higher consumption of CMOS power amplifier in LTE technology. In addition, the LTE module segment is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR of 20.2% over the assessment period. Manufacturers are focussing on developing high-performance CMOS power amplifier in order to meet the growing need for wider bandwidth and faster data speeds.Application of CMOS Power Amplifier in Smartphones to Remain DominantIn 2015, the smartphone segment registered the largest market share, reaching a market valuation of US$ 423.4 Million. The segment is expected to hold its top position throughout the forecast period, expanding at 17.9% CAGR over 2026.Global CMOS Power Amplifier Market: Regional OutlookFuture Market Insights report delivers key insights and offers analysis on the potential of the CMOS power amplifier market through a regional overview. In 2015, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) commanded a dominant share of the market attributed to the healthy existence of consumer electronics manufacturers across the region. The market in Asia Pacific is projected to remain dominant and expand at a staggering 19.4% CAGR over the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Competitive DashboardKey stakeholders in the global market for CMOS power amplifier include Skyworks Solutions, Inc., Toshiba Corporation, Broadcom Ltd., ACCO Semiconductor, Inc., DSP Group, Qorvo, Inc., Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., and Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Most of these companies are concentrating on further product innovation to increase their market presence at a global level. For instance, in October 2015, ACCO Semiconductor Inc., a leading provider of fabless semiconductors headquartered in the U.S. launched a range of CMOS power amplifier technologies designed to support quad-band GSM/EDGE and 12-band 3G/LTE smartphones as well as Internet of Things applications.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:
Student Information System Global Market Top Key Players  Campus Management , Ellucian , Jenzabar , Skyward , Unit4 and Forecast to 2025

Student Information System Market

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Global Student Information System MarketDescriptionWiseGuyReports.Com adds Global Student Information System Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 Research To Its Database.This report studies the global Student Information System Market, analyzes and researches the Student Information System development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeCampus ManagementEllucianJenzabarSkywardUnit4EduwareAnubavamComSpec InternationalForadian TechnologiesClasse365Illuminate EducationFocus School SoftwareITG AmericaSAPTribal GroupWorkdayGet sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoCloudOn-premiseMarket segment by Application, Student Information System can be split intoHigher EducationPrimary EducationEnquiry About Report @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsGlobal Student Information System Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Student Information System1.1 Student Information System Market Overview1.1.1 Student Information System Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Student Information System Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Student Information System Market by Type1.3.1 Cloud1.3.2 On-premise1.4 Student Information System Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Higher Education1.4.2 Primary Education2 Global Student Information System Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Student Information System Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Campus Management3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Ellucian3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Jenzabar3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Skyward3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Unit43.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Eduware3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Anubavam3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 ComSpec International3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Student Information System Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments..CONTINUEDAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, Industry research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)
Global Elevator & Escalator Market Size, Current Trends, Industry Analysis and Outlook 2017-2021

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"The Latest Research Report Global Elevator & Escalator Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors or levels of a building, vessel or any other structure. There are basically three types of elevators; Pneumatic elevators, counterweight elevator and hydraulic elevators. Another type of booming market specialty is smart elevator. It is an advanced system that allows automated vertical transportation of goods or passengers. Smart elevators are designed to transform the simple act of traveling between floors. Escalator is a moving staircase or a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor driven chain of individual linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Get Sample Copy of this report @The global E&E market comprises three main segments namely new equipment, modernization and maintenance. The factors such as growing urbanization, increased old-age population, ageing E&E installed base and codes & regulations are expected to drive market growth. However, the growth of respective industry is challenged by high price of E&E equipment, lack of skilled workforce and safety issues. The few notable trends are growing elevator density, digitization and energy conservation.The report provides a comprehensive study of global elevator and escalator market and also major regional markets. Furthermore, market dynamics such as key trends and development; and challenges are analyzed in depth. The global elevator and escalator industry is highly competitive consisting of several large enterprises including the United Technologies Corporation, Kone Corporation, Thyssenkrupp and Schindler Holdings Ltd. The competitive landscape of the respective market, along with the company profiles of the leading players are also discussed in detail.Table of Content1. Overview1.1 Elevators & Escalators1.2 Life Cycle of Elevators & Escalators1.3 Supply Chain1.4 Value ChainBrowse Complete Report with TOC @2. Global Elevator & Escalator Market2.1 Global E&E Market by Value2.2 Global E&E Market Forecast by Value2.3 Global E&E Market Value by Region2.4 Global E&E Market Value by Segments2.5 Global E&E Maintenance Market2.5.1 Global E&E Maintenance Market Forecast by Value2.5.2 Global E&E Maintenance Installed Base Volume2.5.3 Global E&E Maintenance Installed Base Volume Forecast2.5.4 Global E&E Maintenance Market Volume by Region2.6 Global E&E New Equipment Market2.6.1 Global E&E New Equipment Market Forecast by Value2.6.2 Global E&E New Equipment Market by Volume2.6.3 Global E&E New Equipment Market Forecast by Volume2.6.4 Global E&E New Equipment Market Volume by Product2.6.5 Global E&E New Equipment Market Volume by Region2.7 Global E&E Modernization Market2.7.1 Global E&E Modernization Market Forecast by Value3. Regional Markets3.1 Asia-Pacific3.1.1 Asia-Pacific E&E Market Forecast by Value3.1.2 China E&E Installed Base Volume3.1.3 China E&E Installed Base Volume Forecast3.1.4 China E&E New Installations Forecast3.1.5 China E&E Market by Application3.1.6 China E&E Export Volume3.1.7 China E&E Market Export Volume Forecast3.1.8 China E&E Maintenance Services by Types3.1.9 Japan & Korea E&E Installed Base Volume3.1.10 Japan & Korea E&E Installed Base Forecast3.1.11 India E&E Installed Base Forecast3.2 EMEA3.2.1 EMEA E&E Market Forecast by Value3.2.2 EMEA E&E Installed Base Volume3.2.3 EMEA E&E Installed Base Forecast3.2.4 EMEA E&E New Installation Forecast3.2.5 Spain E&E Market by Value3.2.6 Spain E&E Market Forecast by Value3.2.7 Spain E&E Market by Segments3.2.8 Spain E&E Maintenance Market by Value3.2.9 Spain E&E Maintenance Market Forecast by Value3.2.10 Spain E&E New Installation Market by Value3.2.11 Spain E&E New Installation Market Forecast by Value3.3 Americas3.3.1 Americas E&E Market Forecast by Value3.3.2 North America E&E Installed Base Volume3.3.3 North America E&E Market Installed Base Forecast3.3.4 North America E&E Market New Installation Forecast3.3.5 The US E&E Market New Installation3.3.6 The US E&E Market New Installation Forecast3.3.7 The US Elevator New Installation Market by Type3.3.8 South America E&E Market Installed Base Volume3.3.9 South America E&E Market Installed Base Forecast3.3.10 South America E&E Market New Installation ForecastView Sample PDF @4. Smart Elevators Market4.1 Global Smart Elevator Market by Value4.2 Global Smart Elevator Market Forecast by Value4.3 Global Smart Elevator Market by End Users4.4 Global Smart Elevator Market by Segments4.5 Asia-Pacific4.5.1 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator Market by Value4.5.2 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator Market Forecast by Value4.5.3 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator Market by Segments4.5.4 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator Modernization Market Forecast by Value4.5.5 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator New Installation Market Forecast by Value4.5.6 Asia-Pacific Smart Elevator Maintenance Market Forecast by Value5. Market Dynamics5.1 Growth Driver5.1.1 Urbanization5.1.2 Rising Geriatric Population5.1.3 Ageing E&E Installed Base5.1.4 Rising Global GDP5.1.5 Codes and Regulations5.2 Key Trends & Development5.2.1 Digitization5.2.2 Energy Conservation5.3 Challenges5.3.1 High Price of Installation5.3.2 Availability of Skilled Workforce5.3.3 Safety Issues6. Competitive Landscape6.1 Global E&E Market6.1.1 Market Cap Comparison6.1.2 Global E&E Market Share by Companies6.1.3 Global E&E New Installations Market Share by Companies6.1.4 Global E&E Maintenance Market Share by Companies6.2 Asia-Pacific6.2.1 Asia-Pacific E&E Market Share by Companies6.2.2 China E&E Market Share by Companies6.3 EMEA6.3.1 EMEA E&E Market Share by Companies6.3.2 Spain E&E Maintenance Market by Companies6.4 Americas6.4.1 Americas E&E Market Share by Companies7. Company Profiles7.1 United Technologies Corp7.1.2 Financial Overview7.1.2 Financial Overview7.1.3 Business Strategies7.2 KONE Oyj7.2.1 Business Overview7.2.2 Financial Overview7.2.3 Business Strategies7.3 ThyssenKrupp AG7.3.1 Business Overview7.3.2 Financial Overview7.3.3 Business Strategies7.4 Schindler Holding AG7.4.1 Business Overview7.4.2 Financial Overview7.4.3 Business StrategiesBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
LEXINGTON  In his second week on the job, Central Community Colleges new president made a visit to Lexington.

Dr. Matt Gotschall attended a Chamber Coffee, toured Lexington High School and some off campus sites where high school students are engaged in CCC coursework and attended a leadership workshop.

Gotschall has worked for CCC for 17 years and has been president of the Columbus campus for the past 12 years. His duties at that time also included overseeing extended learning, which made him already familiar with Lexington.

"As a whole, our mission is to maximize student and community success," said Gotschall.

CCC serves a 25-county district with campuses in Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings and learning centers in Holdrege, Kearney and Lexington.

Gotschall said as a Nebraska native who grew up in Atkinson, located in Holt County in north-central Nebraska, he knows firsthand the joys and challenges of living in Nebraska.

He said CCC has strong ties within communities, offering learning opportunities for high school students, adults and immigrants. There are classes for those in need of continuing education, as well as the lifelong learning seeking to expand avocational, meaning hobby, and recreational possibilities.

Gotschall said CCC is economical and accessible. It is often a first choice when starting higher education or preparing for a first job.

He said some of the best scholarship applicants come from Lexington students. "We will continue to be a good option for first generation students (first in family to attend college) and first generation Americans," said Gotschall.

"Our success is definitely tied to the success of our communities in 25 counties," said Gotschall, noting partnerships with schools, Chambers of Commerce and local businesses and industries.

Gotschall said he hopes to bring public awareness to CCCs successes.

"We need to talk more about our successes. There are a lot of them," he said. Measures of success include helping people improve their lifestyle, such as helping a parent learn English so they can read to a child, as well as helping someone obtain career skills.

In addition to sharing what CCC has to offer, Gotschall said he wants to be out within communities listening and finding gaps.

He said he knew of Lexingtons diversity prior to his visit, but walking into Lexington High School and seeing the row flags of various countries hanging up in the entryway and a world map on the wall marked to show where students have come from made an impact. "It brings it home," said Gotschall.

"They are doing wonderful things with a great, diverse population of students," he said, noting he visited an English Language Learner classroom.

Gotschall said he was impressed as he walked the hallways of the school, to learn of multiple school additions. He said such growth is positive, and especially impressive in rural Nebraska.

Gotschall also toured Plum Creek Care Center, located across the street to the north, where students enrolled in a dual credit nurses aide class through a school/CCC partnership get hands on training.

"Students receive practical application for their training toward good paying jobs," said Gotschall.

He also visited another partnership site, the Skills Armory on S. Washington St., where LHS automotive and welding classes are taught.

He commented favorably about the state of the art facility. He said he talked with the instructors about next steps for the school/CCC partnership, such as making it possible for students to leave high school with certification or a diploma related to their area of study at the Skills Armory, whether welding or automotive.

Gotschall said the work experience of the instructors, who once worked in the fields they now teach, is invaluable to the students. For instance, students will do some welding projects outdoors because welding is not always able to be done in a controlled environment.

Introduction to music is a new dual credit course for LHS students.

"I really do love the mission of working with students and working with communities, including rural communities," said Gotschall.

He said research shows CCC has a strong role in communities in a vast range of areas impacting elementary aged children through seniors and "everything in between."

It is a key part of the economic vitality of the Nebraska economy.

He said a bragging point he is most proud of is that over 85 percent of CCC graduates stay within the 25 counties were CCC is located for school and work. Over 95 percent remain in Nebraska.

"This speaks a lot of our region of Central Nebraska," said Gotschall.
Formaldehyde-Free Resin Market to Witness Steady Growth During the Forecast Period 2016-2026

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Formaldehyde-free resins are the adhesive which replaces traditional urea-formaldehyde glass mat resins and phenol-formaldehyde insulation. They are designed for mineral fiber and fiberglass applications in commercial & industrial and non-woven residential insulation. The global formaldehyde-free resin is expected to have substantially high growth rate, attributed to growing adhesive industry across the globe. North America accounts for significantly high revenue share in the global formaldehyde-free resin market, attributed to robust marketing and demand for furniture in the region.Global Formaldehyde-Free Resin Market Dynamics:The growth of global formaldehyde-free resin market is driven by growing furniture, construction, and adhesive industry. The macroeconomic factor responsible for the growth of global formaldehyde-free resin market is the rapid rate of urbanization, rising disposable income, and regulations over the use of adhesive for furniture. The advantages of formaldehyde-free resin including be easy-to-use, easy-to-store, reduce emissions of hazardous formaldehyde, and requiring no capital investment for retrofitting also fueling the global formaldehyde-free resin market. The company providing the formaldehyde-free resin have significantly high opportunity in regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, owing to the significant demand for formaldehyde-free resin with rising demand for the adhesive in the regions. The formaldehyde-free resin market also has a significant opportunity in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa region as these are the emerging market, attributed to rising disposable income of consumers in these regions.Request for Sample @Global Formaldehyde-Free Resin Market Segmentation:Basically, global formaldehyde-free resin market is segmented on the basis of product type, end-use, and region. On the basis of product type global formaldehyde-free resin market is segmented as wood adhesive, foil bonding adhesive, fiberglass adhesive, and mineral fiber adhesive. Among the product type segment, chemicals contribute for the significant revenue share over the forecast period in global formaldehyde-free resin market, owing to increasing demand for formaldehyde-free resin in various segments of the chemical industry. On the basis of end-use, the global formaldehyde-free resin market is segmented as residential insulation and commercial and industrial (C&I) insulation, wherein commercial and industrial (C&I) insulation segment is growing at a significant growth rate.Based on product type, the global formaldehyde-free resin market is segmented into:Wood AdhesiveFoil Bonding AdhesiveFiberglass AdhesiveMineral Fiber AdhesiveBased on end-use, the global formaldehyde-free resin market is segmented into:Residential InsulationCommercial and Industrial (C&I) InsulationGlobal Formaldehyde-Free Resin Market Regional Outlook:Based on the geographies, the global formaldehyde-free resin market is fragmented into seven key regions -- North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific except Japan, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. Among the regions, North America accounts for a significant share of global formaldehyde-free resin market, owing to relatively high-value share of the region in the global furniture market. Western Europe is followed by North America region in the global formaldehyde-free resin market. The Asia-Pacific except Japan region accounts for significantly high volume share in the global formaldehyde-free resin market, owing to the substantial growth in the furniture industry in the region as a result of growing population.Eastern Europe and Japan also accounts for significant value share in the global formaldehyde-free resin market, owing to the significant growth of the adhesive product industry over the forecast period. The developing economy such as Middle East Africa and Latin America have a moderate opportunity in the global formaldehyde-free resin market, owing to the rapid rate of urbanization. Overall, the outlook for the global formaldehyde-free resin market will have a positive growth over the forecast period, owing to the increasing demand for the non-hazardous adhesive in end-use industries as an anti-counterfeiting measure.Request for Table of Contents @Global Formaldehyde-Free Resin Market Player:Few players in the global formaldehyde-free resin market include DSM Inc., Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, The Dow Chemical Company, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, EGGER GROUP, and NineSigma, 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:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Packing Supply Introduces Colored Retail Shopping Bags & Merchandise Carrier Bags

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PackingSupply.in an e-commerce packaging portal specializing in tamper evident bags, security envelopes, plastic mailers and poly security bags now launches Coloured Retail Carry Bags. These Coloured Carry bags are designed for retail businesses, trade shows, conference, promotion, advertisements, events and exhibitions.The Coloured Carry bags are an addition to the existing list of white carry bags, custom screen printed carry bags, courier bags, bubble padded envelopes and other packaging material that the company specializes in. They are designed to meet the demands for exclusivity and novelty in the packaging of retail products. With 4 colour options namely pink, purple, blue and yellow, each bag is suited for a different type of business.We have tried to bring colour psychology in play and help businesses benefit from it through the launch of these coloured retail carry bags. Each colour influences the buying decision of customers and also helps make a long lasting impression of your business in the long run. Logos are also enhanced when printed on different colours, says Semil Shah, Digital Marketing Manager, Packingsupply.in.Coloured retail shopping bags are available in custom printed options, with bottom gussets and side gussets too. Each merchandise bag comes with highly durable loops for ease of carrying and you can choose from a wide range of sizes.Order now atIn addition, Packing Supply also sell Amazon Branded Festive Courier Bags with Jacket/Document Pouch with amazing festive print. They also offer Amazon.in branded packaging bags & envelopes, corrugated boxes, Amazon printed BOPP packing tapes in several sizes to select from at cost effective rates. They have an entire range of personalized wedding bags and customized event bags too.Packingsupply.in is a new initiative by market experts Dynaflex that has three-decade-old experience in printing and packaging. It is a one-stop online destination for all your packaging material and aims at helping you buy high-quality packaging material at the ease of your fingertips, shipped straight to your homes. The best part about the website is that one can buy in bulk with rate per pack feature and get order delivered at the address of choice in minimum 3 working days.G-15/16, Indiabullls Mega Mall,Jetalpur Rd, Sarod,Sayajiganj, Vadodara,Gujarat 390001
Hypochlorite Bleaches Market Set to Grow Exponentially During the Forecast 2016-2026

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Hypochlorite bleaches are mostly the sodium salt of hypochlorous acid dissolved in water. It is also known as liquid bleach or bleach. Hypochlorite bleaches are used as a bleaching agent and a disinfectant. The global hypochlorite bleaches market is expected to have substantially high growth rate, attributed to growing healthcare industry across the globe and increasing chances of contamination by pathogens. North America accounts for significantly high revenue share in global hypochlorite bleaches market, attributed to robust marketing and research in the region.Global Hypochlorite Bleaches Market Dynamics:The growth of global hypochlorite bleaches market is driven by growing pharmaceutical and laundry industry. The macroeconomic factor responsible for the growth of global hypochlorite bleaches market is rising disposable income, the rapid rate of urbanization, and changing lifestyle. The key factor restraining the global hypochlorite bleaches market is the corrosive property of hypochlorite bleaches if not handled properly. The company providing the hypochlorite bleaches have significantly high opportunity in regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, owing to significantly high demand for disinfectant coupled with rising demand for pharmaceuticals in the regions. The hypochlorite bleaches market also experiencing significant growth in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa region as these are the emerging market, attributed to rising disposable income of consumers in these region.Request for Sample @Global Hypochlorite Bleaches Market Segmentation:Basically, global hypochlorite bleaches market is segmented on the basis of product type, end-use, and region. On the basis of product type global hypochlorite bleaches market is sub-segmented as sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, potassium hypochlorite, and lithium hypochlorite. Sodium hypochlorite is further classified on the basis of use as bleaching, surface purification, odor removal, and water disinfection. Among the product type segment, sodium hypochlorite contributes for the significant revenue share over the forecast period in global hypochlorite bleaches market, owing to increasing demand for sodium hypochlorite in the healthcare industry as a disinfectant agent. On the basis of end-use, the global hypochlorite bleaches market is sub-segmented as healthcare, domestic uses, laundry, and others, wherein healthcare segment contribute comparatively high revenue share, owing to high demand for disinfectant in the healthcare industry.Based on product type, the global hypochlorite bleaches market is segmented into:Sodium HypochloriteBleachingSurface PurificationOdor RemovalWater DisinfectionCalcium HypochloritePotassium HypochloriteLithium HypochloriteBased on end-use, the global hypochlorite bleaches market is segmented into:HealthcareDomestic UsesLaundryOthersGlobal Hypochlorite Bleaches Market Regional Outlook:Based on the geographies, global hypochlorite bleaches market is fragmented into seven key regions -- North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific except Japan, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. Among the aforementioned regions, North America accounts for a significant share of global hypochlorite bleaches market, owing to relatively high-value share of the region in the global healthcare market. Western Europe is followed by North America region in global hypochlorite bleaches market. The Asia-Pacific except Japan region accounts for significantly high volume share in global hypochlorite bleaches market, owing to the substantial growth in the pharmaceutical industry in the region. Eastern Europe and Japan accounts for significant value share in global hypochlorite bleaches market as these region has significant growth in the disinfectant market. Overall, the outlook for global hypochlorite bleaches market will have a positive growth over the forecast period, owing to the increasing demand for the disinfectant as an anti-counterfeiting measure. The developing economy such as Middle East Africa and Latin America have a moderate opportunity in global hypochlorite bleaches market, owing to the moderate growth rate in the pharmaceutical industry and growing population.Request for Table of Contents @Global Hypochlorite Bleaches Market Player:Few players in global hypochlorite bleaches market include Lion Apparel, Inc., Shijiazhuang Xinlongwei Chemical Co., Ltd., Shouguang Tianwei Chemical Co., Ltd., Ecoviz Kft, JSC AVANGARD, SAI CHEM CORPORATION, Tianjin Yufeng Chemical Co.,Ltd., Union Overseas Enterprise Ltd., United Chloro Paraffin Pvt. Ltd., Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation, and P and J Enterprises.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Automotive Injectors Market: Quantitative Market Analysis, Current and Future Trends

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Increasing vehicle exhaust emissions are a major factor responsible for the rise of man-made pollution. To overcome this, government authorities across the world are taking precautions to reduce emissions from vehicles which eventually add to the pollution. The government is so insistent on putting regulations to vehicles and vehicles manufacturers, as these regulations will impel manufacturers to come up with technical changes in vehicles that might lead to reduced emissions. Many advanced systems are developed to minimize the vehicle exhaust emissions and increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, one of them is automotive injectors.Today, automotive fuel injectors have become a necessity  fuel injectors enhances the vehicle fuel efficiency and decreases vehicle emissions. The manufacturers, these days, are focusing on enhancing the production and performance capabilities of automotive fuel injectors to meet the growing demand from the vehicle manufacturers. The Asia-Pacific region holds the largest market share in the global vehicle production. The growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles is estimated to fuel the growth of the automotive fuel injectors market in the Asia-Pacific region.Request Report For TOC @The automotive fuel injectors market is primarily segmented on the basis of vehicle type, such as Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicles and Heavy Commercial Vehicles. The passenger cars segment is a major consumer of automotive fuel injectors and since passenger cars are in huge demand all over the world, they will drive growth for the global automotive injectors market. The automotive fuel injectors market is expected to grow at a fast pace during the forecast period. The main focus of the automotive fuel injector manufacturers has always been on OEMs as, in terms of volume, they are the primary consumers of automotive fuel injectors.A key growth driver is expected to be the growth in the automotive production and sales. The growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles is estimated to fuel the growth of the automotive fuel injectors market.Moreover, stringent emission control regulations imposed by authorities in various regions such as Europe and North America will also drive the growth of the automotive fuel injectors market.On the basis of fuel type, the global automotive fuel Injectors market is segmented into Gasoline and Diesel.Request to Sample of Report @On the basis of vehicle type, the global automotive fuel Injectors market is segmented into Passenger Car, Light Commercial Vehicle and Heavy Commercial Vehicle. The passenger car segment can be further segmented in to; compact, sub-compact, mid-size, sedan, luxury, and vans.The Asia-Pacific region is estimated to hold the largest market share in the automotive fuel injectors market during the forecast period. The major share of diesel-based automotive vehicles in the Asia-Pacific automotive market is estimated to support the growth of the market during the forecast period.Europe and North America are expected to be the prominent automotive injectors market due to stringent emission regulations in these regions. Apart from this, growing demand for fuel efficient vehicles is also growing the automotive injectors market. Japan is expected to show stagnant growth in the automotive fuel injectors market over the forecast period. Increasing demand for cars and heavy duties vehicles in Middle East & Africa and Latin America will lead to increased demand for automotive fuel injectors and hence, the market expected to show high growth during the forecast period.Examples of some of the market participants identified across the value chain of global automotive Fuel Injectors market are Robert Bosch GmbH, Delphi Automotive PLC, Continental AG, Denso Corporation, Keihin Corporation, Magneti Marelli SpA, Hitachi Ltd., and Stanadyne LLC among others.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:
Global Foodservice Equipment Market Key Players, Revenue, Industry Analysis & Outlook 2017-2021

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"The Latest Research Report Global Foodservice Equipment Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"The foodservice equipment industry involves those companies that manufacture the equipment needed to produce, transport, store, and serve food products. This type of equipment ranges from large freezers and ovens to small appliances sold at kitchen stores. Different versions of equipments are made for large manufacturers and smaller food providers. Foodservice equipment can be organized into six basic categories. Cooking equipments, storage and handling, kitchen purpose, refrigeration, serving and ware washing are the six main areas needed when running a hospitality business such as a restaurant or hotel. The exact type of foodservice equipment required depends on the type and size of the commercial eatery.Get Sample Copy of this report @Foodservice equipment industry is a prominent segment of the foodservice industry. The progress in the number of restaurants, hotels, fast food joints have led to the expansion of the foodservice equipment industry. Foodservice equipments help in preserving the sanitary and hygiene standards which is crucial in todays environment and various rules are laid down by different food regulatory bodies in order to maintain and regulate the standards since hygiene has become an essential issue in preserving good health.The global foodservice equipment market is set to experience favorable growth driven by factors such as rising global population, increasing number of restaurants, rapid urbanization, and development of tourism industry among others. The major trends observed include increased automation in kitchen equipments, development of quick service restaurants and technological advancements. However, the growth of this budding market is constrained by challenges such as high cost of foodservice equipments, stringent regulations and impact of economic downturn.The report Global Foodservice Equipment Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) analyses the development of this market, with focus on North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The major trends, growth drivers as well as issues being faced by the market are discussed in detail in this report. The four major players: Rational AG, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Middleby Corporation and Welbilt, Inc. (Manitowoc Foodservice Inc.) are being profiled along with their key financials and strategies for growth. The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the global foodservice equipment market along with the study of the regional markets.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Content1. Overview1.1 Food Service Industry1.2 Components of Food Service Industry1.3 Food Service Equipment2. Global Foodservice Equipment Market2.1 Global Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by Value2.2 Global Foodservice Equipment Market by Region3. Regional Market Analysis3.1 North America3.1.1 North America Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.1.2 The U.S. Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.1.3 The U.S. Foodservice Equipment Market Value by Products3.1.4 The U.S. Refrigeration Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.1.5 The U.S. Cooking Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.1.6 The U.S. Serving Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.1.7 The U.S. Foodservice Equipment Sales by End Market3.1.8 The U.S. Foodservice Equipment Market by Needs3.2 Asia-Pacific3.2.1 Asia Pacific Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.2.2 China Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by Value3.3 Europe3.3.1 Europe Foodservice Equipment Market Forecast by ValueView Sample PDF @4. Market Dynamics4.1 Growth Drivers4.1.1 Rising Global Population4.1.2 Expansion of Restaurant Industry4.1.3 Declining Unemployment Rate4.1.4 Rapid Urbanization4.1.5 Development of Tourism Industry4.1.6 Accelerating Economic Growth4.1.7 Changing Lifestyle of Working Population4.2 Key Trends & Developments4.2.1 Increased Automation in Kitchen Equipments4.2.2 Development of Quick Service Restaurants4.2.3 Technological Advancements4.3 Challenges4.3.1 High Cost of Foodservice Equipments4.3.2 Stringent Regulations4.3.3 Impact of Economic Downturn5. Competitive Landscape5.1 Global Market5.1.1 Revenue and Market Cap Comparison5.1.2 Product Portfolio Summary by Key Companies5.1.3 Global Foodservice Equipment- Companies by End Markets5.1.4 Global Foodservice Equipment- Companies by Geographic Mix5.1.5 EBITDA Margin Comparison by Company5.2 North America5.2.1 North America Foodservice Equipment Revenue by Company5.3 Asia Pacific5.3.1 Asia Pacific Foodservice Equipment Revenue by Company5.4 EMEA5.4.1 EMEA Foodservice Equipment Revenue by Company6. Company Profiles6.1 Rational AG6.1.1 Business Overview6.1.2 Financial Overview6.1.3 Business Strategies6.2 Illinois Tool Works Inc.6.2.1 Business Overview6.2.2 Financial Overview6.2.3 Business Strategies6.3 Middleby Corporation6.3.1 Business Overview6.3.2 Financial Overview6.3.3 Business Strategies6.4 Welbilt, Inc. (Manitowoc Foodservice Inc.)6.4.1 Business Overview6.4.2 Financial Overview6.4.3 Business StrategiesBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Hosted Test Environment Management Market: Granular View of The Market from Various End-Use Segments

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Test Environment Management (TEM) has evolved as an efficient capability to provide software developers and organizations with test-environment to aid their software testing cycle to execute test scenarios and identify bugs. Hosted TEM facilitates an organization to speed up their software testing process and enable faster release of their software to the market, as the setup time for creating a traditional test environment is reduced to great extent.This provides organizations with lead time in the market due to the faster release of their software and gain a competitive advantage in the market. On-demand access to varying needs of test tools on the hosted test environment serves as an important factor to attract software organizations to hosted TEM management services.Furthermore, it reduces the cost attached with allocating a dedicated teams for critical software testing and also enhance the quality of software testing procedures. The hosted TEM eliminates the need for the setup of complex infrastructure within an organization. Hosted TEM service provider offers comprehensive solutions that include technology and infrastructure, resources, and security and standard compliance.Browse the Report @Hosted TEM services market is anticipated to observe continuous increase in demand in the coming years. This is attributed to the rise in the IT industry sector in recent past. The rise in IT industry sector has intensified the competition among the software organizations, thus encouraging them to adopt hosted TEM services and increase the testing process time. Moreover, increasing demand for cloud services due to its cost benefits over on-premise deployment has attracted many organizations towards the deployment of Hosted TEM services.Pay-as-you-use model is another factor to add to the growth of hosted TEM among the small and medium-sized businesses. Increasing complexity of web and mobile applications, and its requirements to test for multiple operating systems is another major factor to support the TEM management services market. However, hosted TEM faces certain challenges such as security and environment availability might affect its widespread adoption in the market.Request Sample @Hosted TEM services market is segmented depending on the enterprise size that include small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises. Small companies with lack of resources for testing are more likely to prefer hosted test environment management services. Hosted TEM services witnessed huge demand in the North America region. The concentration of established software organizations have largely contributed to the hosted TEM services market growth in the U.S.Considering the high potential market and growing opportunities for the hosted TEM services market, large number of software organizations are focused on providing these services across the world. The key players offering the hosted TEM services include Capgemini Group, Infosys Limited, and Plutora, Inc., and Computer Sciences Corporation.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Bakery Filling Market | Comprehensive Analysis and Future Estimations 2024

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Overview:With the rise in the demand for desserts and bakery products, the bakery market is growing at rapid paste. Bakery products are high in demand various developing and developed economies, and often consumed as snacks and post lunch/dinner desserts.Bakery Fillings are very important ingredients of various delicious bakery products which also adds color, texture, taste and longevity to a variety of desserts and bakery products, such as cakes, pastries and mousse. Bakery Fillings are available with different manufacturer, in different flavours and forms includes custard creams, fruit-based fillings, nut and seed-based fillings and more. Bakery fillings are versatile products which inspires creative applications, and are used mainly for various traditional bakery products such as layer cakes, cookies, eclairs, pies, turnovers etc.Download PDF Brochure @Global Bakery Filling Market: SegmentationThe global bakery filling market is segmented on the basis of type, application and region type. The bakery filling is segmented on the basis of type mainly includes fruit-based fillings, nuts and seeds based fillings, and cream based fillings. Among these types, fruit-based and cream-based fillings are consumed more as compared to nut and seed-based fillings. The global bakery filling market can be further segmented on the basis of applications, such as pie and tart fillings, turnover fillings, donut fillings, tropical fillings and others. Each application is varies on the taste and preference of the customers and demand trends.The bakery fillings are also used in bakery products to improve and retain the taste of the product longer and also increases the shelf life of the products in some cases.Global Bakery filling: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global bakery filling market is fragmented and the major players dominates the market whilst several domestic players enter the market every year. Bakery filling market can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Globally, among all regions, North America has developed as the most dominant market and accounts for highest share in terms of consumption, followed closely by Europe. Thus, changing food habits and increasing health concerns is expected to force the manufacturers to innovate and offer bakery filling products, with less or no artificial sugar, and less fat content. Furthermore the increasing demand for non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) products will also result in growing preference towards health oriented bakery filling launches in the developed economies. With the rise in global bakery product demand and increasing snacking habits globally, has strengthened the growth of global bakery filling market and hence is projected to significantly expand the revenue contribution of the global bakery filling over the forecast period.Global Bakery filling: Growth DriversThe global bakery filling driving factors differs from region to region, however certain factors like, increasing health concerns, growing snacking habits of consumers and increasing demand of bakery products is expected to drive the growth of bakery filling market across the globe. Another factor which is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of bakery filling market is increasing use of low calorie fillings and innovation in food industry, which can help the manufacturers to offer bakery fillings as per preference of health conscious consumers.Obtain Report Details @Global Bakery filling: PlayersSome of the major players identified across the value chain of the global bakery filling include Tech Food Sdn Bhd., CSM Bakery Solutions, EFCO Products, Inc., Dawn Food Products, Inc., Rice & Company, Inc., Doris Italian Market & Bakery, Tereos Starch & Sweeteners s.a.s., Avebe, Calprofoods, Baker Food Processors Ltd., and Trisco Foods.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Hosted PBX Market: Influential Factors Determining the Trajectory of the Market.

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Hosted private branch exchange (PBX) also referred to as virtual PBX, allows businesses to use sophisticated telephone systems without investing in the telecom equipment. The call platform is hosted at the service providers location. The subscribers connect via IP to the service provider for voice service. It is a cloud-based system that can be accessed via an IP network. As all services are hosted in the cloud operating costs are reduced. The service provider takes care of the hardware, software and necessary maintenance.Hosted PBX allows employees to work from home or their cellphones and still be connected to the office telephone system. Call routing and switching is handled by service providers at their own location. Such systems can function over public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and VoIP. Like a regular telephone system, calls can be transferred or put on hold, conference calls can be set up and the phone can be answered by an automated attendant who can route callers to different departments in an organization.As per business requirements, ranging from a single user at an office to multiple users scattered across different continents, necessary solutions can be provided by hosted PBX service providers.Browse the Report @Infrastructure costs have direct impact on profitability of companies. The key growth driver for hosted PBX market is the significant cost savings in telecom infrastructure it offers to companies. Also, as the office phone system is virtual, location constraints are eliminated.Businesses are increasingly going global and hosted PBX makes it possible for them to establish a virtual presence at locations where they do not have a physical presence. Thus, increasing number of companies are opting for these services. Traditional phone systems are also limited by the number of users they can handle.Virtual systems can expand to accommodate growing needs of a business. With intuitive web interfaces which anybody can manage and monitor, hosted PBX system is more user friendly than traditional telephone system. The multiple security layers and failover technology offered by service providers is further likely to fuel the growth of hosted PBX technology.Request Sample @However, as voice quality and connections depend on Internet service, any disruptions in Internet results in loss of phone service. Furthermore, the unfamiliarity of hosted PBX users with VoIP technology and support issues from service providers pose challenges in the growth of hosted PBX market.The hosted PBX market can be categorized in terms of organization size, end-users, and services. On the basis of organization size the market can be categorized into small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and large organizations.On the basis of end-users, the market can be classified into financial services, health care, retail, education, manufacturing, real estate, professional services and others. Also, on the basis of services, the market is categorized into network services, managed services, security services, unified communications and cloud & IT services.The major companies in the hosted PBX market include XO Communications, LLC, VirtualPBX.com, Inc., Jive Canada, RingCentral, Inc., Digium, Inc., 8x8, Inc., Intermedia.net,Inc., TelePacific Communications, 3CX, Megapath, Engin, Bullseye Telecom, Nextiva, Vonage, Mitel Networks Corporation and ShoreTel Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Harrows Market: Insights into the Competitive Scenario of the Market

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Harrows are basically the agricultural tools which are used for smoothing out and breaking up the surface of soil. Harrowing is always carried out on the agricultural field to track the rough finish left by ploughing operations. The purpose of harrowing is generally to breakup lumps of soil, thereby providing a good tilth, finer finish soil structure that are suitable for seedbed use. Harrowing are also used to remove cover seed and weeds after sowing.The rising demand for agricultural farm machinery is one of the prominent factors which is driving the harrows market demand worldwide. This is majorly supported by the growing demand for food which is expected to rise substantially owing to the significant increase in global population during the forecast period. Rising food demand has encouraged the adoption of advanced farming practices to increase crop yields which is further resulting in the demand for agricultural machinery globally.The global harrows market is driven by increasing adoption of farm machinery for mechanization of farming operations which resulted in increased production and profitability by achieving timeliness in farming operations. This in turn helps farmers in optimum utilization of costly inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and irrigation among others.Browse the Report @Farm mechanization also helps in the preservation of the farm produce, which further improves profitability and cost effectiveness by reducing post-harvest losses. Similarly, increasing awareness about the importance of technology in agriculture is also an important factor which is fueling the growth of the harrows market globally. This increasing awareness can be attributed to rising adoption of farm tractors and other agricultural machinery which yields high productivity gains.Moreover, Low purchasing power and high cost with low technology adoption is currently challenging the wide-scale adoption of farm machinery tools including harrows. The market growth is also inhibited by growing urbanization and decreasing farmlands. In order to counter this restraint, governments worldwide are promoting and encouraging the adoption of farm machinery tools by providing subsidies on this equipment, thereby allowing manufacturers to offer the equipment at lower rates.Request Sample @The global harrows market can be segmented on the basis of types, and various geographical regions. Based on different harrows types, the market has been segmented into disc harrow, chain harrow, tine harrow, and chain disk harrows. Based on various geographical regions, the market is classified into North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.In Asia Pacific, countries such as India and China are witnessing the shift in overall population. Growing population is responsible for increasing food demand in Asia Pacific, which in turn will fuel the demand for harrows for effective farm production in this region. In North America, rising need for enhanced productivity is also one of the major factors that are triggering the market growth.Some of the key players in the global harrows market include S.P. Industries, Deere & Company, AGCO Corporation, Iseki & Co., Ltd., HARROWS DARTS, Kelly Engineering, and Agroking Implements Industries, among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Current and Projected Power Electronics Market size in terms of volume and value 2015 to 2025

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To control the flow of energy, the switching electronic circuits are used. These switching electronic circuits are called power electronics. Power electronics are also considered for the conversion of electric power. Such conversions are performed by semiconductor devices like diodes, transistors and thyristors etc. Power electronics devices have several advantages including optimum forward and reverse backing capabilities, simplified circuits, compact designs etc. Moreover, power electronics find its applications in connection of renewable energy resources to power grids, transportation in electric trains, motor drives and lighting. The major use of power electronics devices is heat sinking as well as soft starting of an equipment deploying power electronic devices.Request For Report Sample:Global Power Electronics Market: SegmentationThe global power electronics market can be segmented into geography, types and applications. On the basis of geography, the global power electronics market can be segmented into America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Others. Considering types, the global power electronics market can be segmented into diode rectifiers, ac-dc converters, ac-ac converters, dc-dc converters, dc-ac converters and static switches. On account of applications, the global power electronics market can be segmented into industrial activities, solar power, wind power, electric cars, aerospace and consumer electronics.Global Power Electronics Market: Region-Wise OutlookIn terms of power electronics market value, Asia Pacific is the largest geography. America being the fastest growing region, Europe is considered as a very promising market comprising of Germany and UK while Middle East also grants an impetus to the growth of the global power electronics market.Global Power Electronics Market: DriversVarious factors are fuelling the growth of global power electronics market including rapid use of renewable sources of energy followed by the increase in the adoption of electric cars and defense. ICT, telecommunications, self monitoring and diagnostics systems, hospitals and healthcare are the major fields driving the global power electronics market to grow apparently.Global Power Electronics Market:: RestraintsThere are various challenges faced by the global power electronics market like high initial costs, deposition of GaN on silica materials which is in turn very difficult to reach in high voltage ranges. Moreover, manufacturing of power electronics is way to expensive and time consuming thus posing a restraint to the global power electronics market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Power Electronics Market: Key PlayersThe major companies playing a key role in the manufacturing of power electronics are Enercon, Fairchild, Fuji Electric, GE Wind Energy, Mersen, Methode Electronics, Semikron Elektronic GmbH & Company etc. Microsemi Corp, Toshiba Corp, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Vishay Intertechnology, Infineon Technology, Texas Instruments Inc are some major key players in the field of global power electronics 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 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:
LEXINGTON  Lexington High School will have a representative from its student body at the high reaches of state government.

LHS sophomore Tessa Eldridge was appointed to the Governors Youth Advisory Council.

The Governors Youth Advisory Council consists of a group of students ages 1421 from across Nebraska who watch legislation affecting youth.

According to the councils web site, the group meets four times a year, two of those times with the governor, to talk about bills affecting the youth of Nebraska.

"We take an active approach to the legislative process by discussing selected bills, presenting our stance (for or against) to the governor, and meeting with our own senators to learn more about ways we can affect the fate of that legislation. Be it testifying in committee hearings, or meeting with senators one-on-one, members of GYAC care whats going on in the state legislature and want to do something about it," reads the about us portion of http://negyac.blogspot.com.

After hearing about the council last year, Eldridge said sh

"What motivated me most to apply was that the council is directed toward youth of Nebraska. It focuses on laws, bills and policy that affects youth," she said.

She said she just about forgot that she had applied for the position, when her mother informed her that she had gotten a large envelope in the mail. Inside the envelope was a letter and certificate informing her of her selection for the council.

"I opened the envelope. I was ecstatic," Eldridge said about realizing she had been selected.

"I felt it would be cool to meet the governor and senators and express how I feel policies and laws affect people in Lexington," she said.

A member of the LHS speech team who is interested in politics, she said she will be using her presentation and public speaking skills as a member of the council.

"I will present a presentation to the governor and senators during a lunch," Eldridge said.

Eldridge said she is especially interested in education, issues that have to do with social work, immigration and how children are raised and taken care of.

"Having representation in government will be good for Lexington," she said.

As part of her duties as a member of the Governors Youth Advisory Council, Eldridge will travel to Ashland and Lincoln Feb. 35.
Vibration Meter Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate During 2025

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Vibration Meter Market: OverviewVibration Meter is equipment which is being used for measuring the velocity, displacement, and acceleration of any vibrating object. A vibration meter is a device that measures the vibrations and oscillations originating from machines and components. Vibration meters are especially design for measuring the vibration risk management, machine monitoring and vibration analysis of rotatory machines. Vibration meters are being applied in manufacturing, maintenance and in the laboratory also.Vibration meter is mainly used in the machines and in the installation of tools, as well as it is used in the development of various components and to measure their vibrations and oscillations.Report Overview @Vibration Meter Market: DynamicsThe major driving factors of the vibration meter market are such as, transportation industry, electrical equipment industry, agriculture industry, electrical tool industry and power industry. In transportation industry vibration meters is being used for making of transportation equipment. In electrical equipments industry, it is used in making fans, tachometers and in various motors. The agriculture industry is also a major driving factor due to the great usage of vibration meters in various pumps and in the water supplying motors. Vibration meters are also used in power industry in making of power tools. Some restraining factors of vibration meters are such as, it requires external power for operating high capacity tools, and it also requires electronic integration for the displacement. Another major restraining factor is electrical and mechanical noise. Some opportunities in the vibration meter are such as.The automotive industry, in this industry vibration meters, can be used for controlling the gear movement and engagement. Vibration meters can be used for monitoring turbines and compressors. There is also great opportunity in equipment shock, pulsation check and in conveyors. Some latest trends in the vibration market are such as, vibration meters come with an option for internal or external accelerometer, automatic power off, four-level scale indicates the severity of problems for overall vibration and bearing condition, large screen with high resolution for easy navigation and viewing and flashlight for viewing measurement locations in dark areas.Request Report for TOC @Vibration Meter Market: Regional OverviewRegarding geography, vibration meter market has been categorized into seven key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Vibration meter market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period due to high demand of electric equipments, in chemical processing, in an automotive and in various other industries. In terms of regions, North America accounts for the significant share of vibration meter market, owing to the high growth and demand for motors and turbines in the region as compared to other developed regions and it holds the major share in the global vibration meter market in terms of production and revenue sharing.Followed by North America, APEJ and Latin America are expected to grow relatively at a higher CAGR during the forecast period since the use of, vibration meter improves the various operations in many industries. The global vibration meter market in Japan is well established and expected to grow at average CAGR over the forecast period. Europe and MEA are expected to expand at sluggish growth rate due to very high population in this region.Vibration Meter Market: Regional SegmentationIn Asia-Pacific, the growth of the vibration meter is significantly high and with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period owed to factors such as such as rapid economic development, globalization and increasing demand of the vibration meter in power industry and its sub-verticals, and high usage of the vibration meter in oil &gas and automotive industry. Also, Over the forecast period, Asia-Pacific market for is anticipated to grow significantly owing to the growth of vibration meter industry in the region. Overall, the global market for vibration meter is expected to grow significantly by the end of forecast period.Request to Sample of 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:
Digital Workplace Transformation Services Market: Comprehensive Evaluation Of The Market Via In-Depth Qualitative Insights

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The digital workplace services comprise of technologies that are useful for the workforce to complete their work in their workplace. Ranging from collaboration, instant messaging, workplace automation tools, and virtualization to core enterprise applications, digital workplace services are becoming increasingly in demand from enterprises wishing for enhanced flexibility.This is anticipated to be some of the key factors fueling the growth of the global digital workplace transformation services market. The growth of the global digital workplace transformation services market can also be attributed to the need for an enhanced cooperative work style by enterprises so as to stay competitive in the market.One of the trends witnessed in the global digital workplace transformation services market is the increasing adoption of bring your own device (BYOD). Another trend becoming popular is increased need for enterprise mobility by organizations. The changing nature of workplace and reduction in operational expenses are some of the factors having a positive influence in the growth of the global digital workplace transformation services market.Browse the Report @Changing demographic factors and processes supported by organizational reorganizing and restructuring are also favoring the growth of the global digital workplace transformation services market. The growing need for collaborating with enterprises separated by geographies and time zones is expected to continue to fuel the demand for these services in the years to come.Digital Workplace Transformation Services: IntroductionIncreasing number of enterprises are demanding more flexible and cooperative work-styles to stay competitive in the market. Moreover, modern context-aware work scenarios necessitate workers to seamlessly switch back and forth from mobile devices to large and collaborative multiscreen setups, with new scenarios around the corner.The digital workplace transformation service is segmented by type of service, vertical, region, and application. By organization size, SME's is anticipated to grow at the significantly high growth rate during the forecast period. Due to their small body structure, SME's are deploying the digital workplace services rapidly.Request Sample @Digital Workplace Transformation Services: Market DynamicsFactors such as increasing adoption of new technologies, changing nature of workplace and processes supported by organizational redeployment and reorganizing are driving the digital workplace market.Moreover, the growing trends of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), enterprise mobility by organizations, reduction in working expenditures and varying demographic factors are also driving the digital workplace market.However, the issues related to transformation & integration of processes by organizations and lack of training & education amongst workforce are the factors which are hampering the growth of the market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Biotech Flavour Market: Rising Demand For Natural Flavour in Beverages to Bolster Industry Growth

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Global Biotech Flavour Market: OverviewBiotech flavors have been developed as an alternative for organic synthesis of flavors. Escalating growth has been observed in flavor and fragrances industry in the recent times. With robust innovation in the area of biotechnology has led to the development of flavoring compound using microorganisms. As these flavors are produced through the involvement of microorganisms, hence are categorised as natural. over the chemically synthesised flavours. Thus biotech flavors market is playing a significant role in the revolution of flavors and fragrances industry.Biotech flavors market has given the boost to the food industry, as the manufacturers can profoundly modifying the nutrient value of their products without compromising the taste. Due to the upwelling trend in the biotech flavors market, it has led to the identification of a new biochemical process for the exploitation of new enzymatic synthesized flavors. Although flavors are also extracted naturally from plants and animal sources but the concentration of these flavors obtained is very low, thus has led to the rapid shift of the flavors industry towards bio catalyzed flavors through the strains of micro-organisms.Download PDF Brochure @Global Biotech Flavour Market: Drivers and RestraintsAn increase in the demand for natural and organic food by the health conscious consumers has greatly impacted the growth of biotech flavors market. Moreover, with improved biocatalysts engineering techniques, innovation in the food industry and use of novel ingredient have led to the increase in the production of biotech flavors. The extraction of the flavors from the microbial strains has the better concentration of the extracts as that obtained from animal and plant source. Thus providing an opportunistic platform for the growth of biotech flavors market.However, isolation and purification of organisms require specific growth conditions, hence the extraction of flavors involves high manufacturing cost. Thus may hamper the growth of biotech flavors market. Moreover, strenuous governmental guidelines are to be followed by the flavors and fragrances industry which adhere to the environmental and consumer safety. Thus may limit the use of use of the microbial strains used for the extraction of desired biotech flavors in the biotech flavours market. Although, the multitude of microbial is used for the production of biotech flavors, the concentration obtained from some of these microbial is customarily too low for industrial applications, thereby hindering the growth of the market.Global Biotech Flavour Market: Region Wise OutlookThe global biotech flavors market is categorized into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), , Japan Latin America and, North America.Asia-Pacific is expected to witness a behemoth growth in the biotech flavors market due to shift in the consumer's consumption pattern along with demand for products which are either natural or organic in nature. India and China are considered to the opportunistic market for the growth of biotech flavors as consumers are adopting an experimental attitude towards fragrances and flavors. With the enhancement of biotechnology industry, an increase in demand for biocatalyst products has been observed in North America and European regions. North America is considered to be the leading players in terms of consumption of biotech flavors.Obtain Report Details @Global Biotech Flavour Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in the global biotech flavours market includes:Senomyx, Inc.Amyris, Inc.Evolva Holding SAIsobionics B.V.Symrise A.GFirmenich S.AGivaudan SATakasago International CorporationInternational Flavors & Fragrances Inc.Mane Inc.Advanced Biotech. Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700,Albany, NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
SaaS- based Invoice Software Market Growth,Size, Status and Forecast 2022

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Research Beam has added a report on Global SaaS- based Invoice Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022SaaS- based Invoice Software Market is provided in the report based on product scope and market status & outlook. The market is segmented on the basis of type, end-users/application, and geography. The report provides information about the production, price, revenue, market share, and growth rate of each type. Geographically, the market has been analyzed across North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India. The status and prospect through 2015-2022 for each of these regions are listed in the report.Get Sample@The report entails the qualitative and quantitative analysis of current and future market estimations. It also divulges details about the mode of research methodology used for the study. It includes data from primary as well as secondary resources. The report is a useful resource for industry players, new entrants in the marketplace, and investors as it helps them plan their business to gain fruitful and meaningful outcomes. It makes them aware of the production, capacity, revenue, supply, consumption, export, import, the challenges and risks associated with the industry, and much more.Factors that drive the growth of the market are detailed in the study. Key players are profiled in the report and their developments in recent years are mentioned, which helps in understanding the competitive outlook of the Global SaaS- based Invoice Software MarketGet 15% discount on this report @The Global SaaS- based Invoice Software Market This incorporates the overall industrial chain analysis, upstream raw materials sourcing, raw materials sources of the product major manufacturers in 2015, and downstream buyers.The report also throws light on the marketing strategy used for the study. It includes marketing channel (direct marketing, indirect marketing, and marketing channel development trend) and market positioning (pricing strategy, brand strategy, and target client).The Global SaaS- based Invoice Software Market report also covers an analysis of the market effect factors. This includes the technology progress/risk (substitutes/threat and technology progress in the related industry), consumer needs/customer preference change, and economic/political environmentalThe key players which provide solutions in the Global SaaS- based Invoice Software Market FreshBooks QuickBooks Xero Stripe Chargify zuora SuiteDash InvoiceraCheck Full Report With TOC@About Us:Research Beams uniqueness lies in its highly ethical reports at economical rates because we value your relationship and growth more than money. Your growth is our aim. With the arsenal of different search reports, we help you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency.Contact Us:Global Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United Statesphone+1 (800) 910-6452mail help@researchbeam.com
Fortified Wine Market is expected to reach nearly US$ 2,000 Mn by 2022

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Fact.MR has recently added a new report to its vast online database. This research study is titled as Fortified Wine Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking: Global Review 2017 to 2022 which presents an in-depth study about the production, consumption, market volume, revenue (million USD) and market share across different geographical regions.Request Free Sample Report-Fortified wines are prepared by blending wines with a distilled liquor, for example  brandy. Fortified wines, often confused with spirits, were originally utilized as a preservation method. Wines are usually fortified for enhancing their strength and flavor. These wines are often referred to dessert wines, owing to their high sweetness levels, coupled with their tendency of being consumed after meals.Product premiumization is considered to be a major factor driving demand for fortified wine around the world. Majority of the consumers believe that premium products comprise high-quality ingredients. There has been an uptake in demand for new flavors in fortified wine over the past few years. Leading players in the global fortified wine market are focusing on launching new fortified wine flavors, in a bid to cater the rapidly changing preferences of customers. For example  McWilliams launched three new flavored fortified wines in 2016 viz. McWilliams Espresso Press, McWilliams Spice Royale, and McWilliams Strawberry Delight. Fortified wines infused with marijuana are gaining prevalence among consumers, especially in the U.S. where the product is legal. Alcoholic beverage industries have been focusing on research & development, which in turn has resulted into introduction of various innovative flavored fortified wines.However, a large number of people are actively participating in campaigns, in order to spread awareness about adverse health effects of alcohol consumption. In addition, excessive consumption of these wines have resulted into numerous negative health effects. Higher consumption of fortified wines by consumers have led to a rise in risks of diseases such as liver disease, heart disease, and certain cancers. These factor is expected to impede demand for fortified wines on a large scale in the upcoming years.9 Key Estimations on Future of Global Fortified Wine Market for Forecast Period 2017 to 20221. Fortified wine for individuals who are light-bodied is estimated to account for the largest revenue share of the market, with sales anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 3% through 2022.2. Although sales of fortified wines that are semi-sweet will witness a sluggish expansion through 2022, revenues from this segment is estimated to account for a major portion of the market share throughout the forecast period.3. Modern trade is estimated to remain the largest sales channel in the global fortified wine market, accounting for more than one-third market share in terms of revenues from 2017 to 2022.4. Fortified wine sales in e-commerce sales channel will exhibit the highest CAGR through 2022.5. Marsala will continue to remain dominant in the global market for fortified wine, based on product type. Over one-fourth revenue share of the market will be accounted by Marsala over the forecast period.6. Madeira is estimated to remain the second largest product segment in the global market for fortified wine.7. In terms of revenues, Europe will remain the largest market for fortified wine.8. Fortified wine sales will witness the fastest expansion in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) through 2022.9. Key players identified in the global market for fortified wine include Sogrape SGPS, SA., F.LLI GANCIA & C. S.p.A, Sogevinus Fine Wines, S.A., The Wine Group LLC, Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A., E. & J. Gallo Winery, and Bacardi Limited.Browse Full Report with TOC-Europe to Remain Most Lucrative Region for Fortified Wine MarketEurope will continue to be the most lucrative region for the fortified wine market, in terms of revenues. However, sales of fortified wine in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) are estimated to register a comparatively faster expansion than all the regional segments through 2022.Marsala is anticipated to retain its position as the top-selling product in the global fortified wine market. Over one-fourth share of the market is expected to be accounted by revenues from sales of Marsala across the globe during 2017 to 2022. In addition, Madeira will continue to be the second most lucrative fortified wine over the forecast period, in terms of revenues.Modern Trade will Continue to be Largest Sales Channel for Fortified WineAccounting for over one-third revenue share of the global market, modern trade will continue to be the largest sales channel for fortified wine worldwide. However, sales of fortified wine in e-commerce sales channel is expected to register the highest CAGR through 2022.Fortified wine for light-bodied individuals is expected to hold the largest share of the market in terms of revenues, with sales projected to expand at 3% CAGR through 2022. Based on sweetness-level, although sales of semi-sweet fortified wine are expected to be sluggish through 2022, revenues from semi-sweet fortified wine will account for the largest market share over the forecast period.Competition TrackingKey players listed in Fact.MRs report on the global fortified wine market include Bacardi Limited, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A., The Wine Group LLC, Sogevinus Fine Wines, S.A., F.LLI GANCIA & C. S.p.A, and Sogrape SGPS, SA.Check Discount-About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized Food & Beverages market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MRSuite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandTelephone: +353-1-6111-593Email: sales@factmr.com/Web:
Portable Medical Devices Market Intelligence and Forecast by Future Market Insights 2015 - 2025

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The portable medical devices market encompasses all healthcare associated diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices that are miniature in nature and can be easily transported from one location to another without any inconveniences. The market for portable devices has evolved greatly over the years particularly due to miniaturization of electronic components. Low power consumption technology has also greatly helped in developing portable technologies. As the world has begun shrinking due to increased connectivity, telemedicine, home-care and remote monitoring have become familiar terms with modern healthcare. Several factors led to the increasing need for portable devices, of which the major impact factors include increasing demand for diagnostics in remote areas of the world where a significant population continues to reside, increasing number of emergency medical services such as ambulances and helicopters that are required to be well equipped, military medicine for on-field applications and aging population that has begun to feel the pressure of moving to and fro from hospitals for simple diagnostic procedures. In a field like healthcare, the upcoming markets such as wearable medical devices and smart wearable sensors have culminated in the large revenue generation since the past several years which is expected to continue in the coming years as well.Request Report Sample@Several government initiatives to reduce the hospitalization time for patients has begun over the world and particularly in North America primarily enforced due to high healthcare expenditure that the government has had to endure. Re-hospitalization may be investigated by government to understand if there has been a shortfall from medical experts that led to re-hospitalization and may result in the medical expert being penalized along with the hospital. Thus portable medical devices will play a major role to reduce healthcare expenditure and increase space in hospitals by freeing beds for serious patients.The market can be perceived and segmented through various aspects such as the general medical application such as cardiovascular, urological, neurological etc. Pacemakers, defibrillators, heart rate monitors, electrocardiographs and dialyzers are some portable devices available today. Increased wireless capabilities with the help of networking technologies such as Bluetooth, LAN, and WAN have also led to a significant rise in the portable technologies market. This increase in connectivity and safety has led to the inception of new consumer markets of medical devices that do not require intensive training. Portable devices such as activity monitors and heart-rate monitors are increasingly popular with all ages of people and are also used in veterinary science. A large number of companies such as Nike, Adidas, BodyMedia, Lark Jawbone, Polar, Fitbit, Sketchers and Scosche have ventured and gained considerable success in this field.Visit For TOC@Larger diagnostic machines such as bone densitometers and blood pressure monitors became popular due to the use in remote areas for monitoring health of villagers and non-urban population due to low awareness.In contrast, urban areas such as cities have seen increasing demand for complex portable medical devices such as defibrillators for usage in offices, public areas such as parks and railway stations due to rising incidence of sudden cardiac arrest, heart attacks and other cardiovascular ailments. Companies manufacturing this automated external defibrillators and bone-densitometers include GE Healthcare, Hologic, Philips, Cooper Surgical, HeartSine, Sorin Group, Zoll Medical, PhysioControl, Schiller AG and Cardiac Science.In terms of geography this market is distributed into four major regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World of which North America accounts for a significant portion mainly due to a large number of companies manufacturing portable medical devices and equipment. Along with this, a greater amount of marketing takes place in the region which increases the awareness. Europe is also a significant market for devices such as defibrillators, home monitoring and remote patient monitoring along with on-field medical devices. Asia-Pacific market is expected to rise tremendously in coming years due to increasing awareness, connectivity and availability of portable medical devices. This will be further supplemented by the downward trend of cost of these devices which will result in a greater affordability. Rest of the World region will soon follow suit with Asia-Pacific as emerging economies such as Brazil, Middle-East and North African countries are already exhibiting greater purchasing power of portable medical devices.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:
Smart City Market 2016: Company Profiles, Segments, Landscape and Demand by Forecast to 2022

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Internet of Things plays a vital role in various fields apart from communication networks, such as sanitation, healthcare, transport and energy use. Internet of things refers to a technology that connects all devices to a network. Internet ready and connective devices are achieved by IoT technology. This enables the flow of data creating a network of objects. Internet of Things leads to advanced use of internet which would result in developing device to device relationship. Internet of Things when applied to smart cities it adds more technology into everyones life and also enables a new and fully integrated approach to the designing and developing of the smart cities. There are tremendous ways in which internet of things help in the development of smart cities. Higher the adoption of internet of things; easier would be the implementation of smart city solutions.The Global Smart City Market is growing rapidly over 27% of CAGR and is expected to reach at USD 1,900 billion by the end of forecast period 2022.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 51 market data tables and figures spread over 103 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Smart City Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022.Major Key Players: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. (China) IBM Corporation (U.S.) Cisco Systems, Inc.(U.S.) AT&T Inc. AG (U.S) Siemens AG (Germany) Oracle Corporation (U.S.) Microsoft Corporation (U.S.) Schneider Electric SE (France) Hitachi Corporation (U.S.) Ericsson (Sweden)Request a Sample Report @Global Smart City Market SegmentationThe global Smart City Market has been segmented on the basis of component, application and region. On the basis of component, the market is segmented into hardware, software and service. On the basis of application, the market is classified into utility, transport, government, residential, education, healthcare and others.Regional Analysis of Smart City Market:The global smart city market is expected to grow at a promising rate during the forecast period, 2016-2022. North America is projected to have the largest market in Smart City Market. High adoption of internet of things, growth in high end infrastructure and focus towards energy saving and availability of efficient network connectivity is driving market in North America region.Followed by Europe region would hold a large share in the market. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in smart city market due to the increasing initiatives and high investment by government.Intended Audience National/ State Government Real Estate Developers Research & consultant organization IT Solution Providers System Integrators Networking Solution Providers Telecom Service Providers Transportation Service Providers Utility CompaniesMarket Research Analysis:Regional analysis for global Smart City Market is studied in different geographic regions as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of world. The study reveals that North America region would evolve as a leader in global Smart City Market. North America is the most technically advanced region and is growing with high end-infrastructure and focused towards energy savings which thereby has developed high growth for smart city market. Europe is expected to be the second highest market in terms of revenue generation. Whereas, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness high growth in the forecast period and projected to grow with approximately 25% CAGR during the forecast period. Technological and industrial growth in Asian countries, such as China and Japan, is giving boost to the Smart City Market in the coming years. Further, Increasing technological advancements and increasing disposable income in also supporting market growth of smart city components in Asia-Pacific region However, privacy issues is expected to hinder the growth of the market in the region.Access Report Details @Table of Contents1 Market Introduction2 Research Methodologies2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research2.4 Forecast Model2.4.1 Market Size EstimationContinuedList of TablesTable 1 Global Smart City Market By Component, 2016-2022 (Usd Billion)Table 2 Smart City Market Of Hardware Segment By Region, 2016-2022 (Usd Billion)Table 3 Global Smart City Market Of Software By Region, 2016 - 2022 (Usd Billion)ContinuedList of FiguresFigure 1 Mrfr Researh ProcessFigure 2 Forecast ModelFigure 3 Global Smart City Market: Drivers & ChallengesContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global All-Steel Coupling Market Outlook Covering Growth Prospects through 2025

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The discussions on the global limestone market can be found in a recently added research report on the Market Research Hub (MRH) archive of databases, titled Global All-Steel Coupling Market Research Report. This 102-page research study examines the emerging All-steel coupling market in top 6 regions along with an analysis on market size & segmentation.Request For Free Sample -Geographically,this report is segmented into several key Regions,with production,consumption,revenue (million USD),market share and growth rate of All-Steel Coupling in these regions,from 2013 to 2025 (forecast),coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal All-Steel Coupling market competition by top manufacturers,with production,price,revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSiemensmayrFAVE Global SolutionsStubliEtronKtrROMAC...On the basis of product,this report displays the production,revenue,price,market share and growth rate of each type,primarily split intoSteelCast Iron / Ductile IronAsbestos CementConcreteHDPEPVCOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications,this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users,consumption (sales),market share and growth rate for each application,includingIndustrialMiningConstructionEnergyAutomotiveMarineOthersBrowse Full Report With TOC -Table of ContentsGlobal All-Steel Coupling Market Research Report 20181 All-Steel Coupling Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of All-Steel Coupling1.2 All-Steel Coupling Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global All-Steel Coupling Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global All-Steel Coupling Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Steel1.2.4 Cast Iron / Ductile Iron1.2.5 Asbestos Cement1.2.6 Concrete1.2.7 HDPE1.2.8 PVC1.2.9 Others1.3 Global All-Steel Coupling Segment by Application1.3.1 All-Steel Coupling Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Industrial1.3.3 Mining1.3.4 Construction1.3.5 Energy1.3.6 Automotive1.3.7 Marine1.3.8 Others1.4 Global All-Steel Coupling Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global All-Steel Coupling Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of All-Steel Coupling (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global All-Steel Coupling Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global All-Steel Coupling Capacity,Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global All-Steel Coupling Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global All-Steel Coupling Capacity,Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global All-Steel Coupling Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global All-Steel Coupling Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global All-Steel Coupling Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global All-Steel Coupling Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers All-Steel Coupling Manufacturing Base Distribution,Sales Area and Product Type2.5 All-Steel Coupling Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 All-Steel Coupling Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 All-Steel Coupling Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions,ExpansionContinueEnquire About this Report -About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.90 State Street,Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email : press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite :Read Industry News at -
Global Molding Machine Sales Market Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Report 2017

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Molding Machine Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Molding Machine market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Molding Machine for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Molding Machine market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Molding Machine sales volume, Price (K USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingABBKUKASepro GroupWittmann Battenfeld GroupYushin Precision EquipmentFANUCYaskawaENGELUniversal Robots (Teradyne)StaubliHAHN AutomationARBURGKraussMaffei GroupSintoOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMechanicalHydraulicOtherOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingAutomotivesConsumer GoodsElectronicsPackagingOthersTable of ContentsGlobal Molding Machine Sales Market Report 20171 Molding Machine Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Molding Machine1.2 Classification of Molding Machine by Product Category1.2.1 Global Molding Machine Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Molding Machine Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Mechanical1.2.4 Hydraulic1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Molding Machine Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Molding Machine Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Automotives1.3.3 Consumer Goods1.3.4 Electronics1.3.5 Packaging1.3.6 Others1.4 Global Molding Machine Market by Region1.4.1 Global Molding Machine Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Molding Machine Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Molding Machine (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Molding Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Molding Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Molding Machine Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Molding Machine Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Molding Machine Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Molding Machine Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Molding Machine (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Molding Machine Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Molding Machine Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Molding Machine (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Molding Machine Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Molding Machine Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Molding Machine (Volume) by ApplicationBrowse Detail Report With Full TOC @3 United States Molding Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Molding Machine Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Molding Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Molding Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Molding Machine Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Molding Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Molding Machine Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Molding Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Molding Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Molding Machine Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Molding Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Molding Machine Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Molding Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Molding Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Molding Machine Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Application6 Japan Molding Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Molding Machine Sales and Value (2012-2017)6.1.1 Japan Molding Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.2 Japan Molding Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.3 Japan Molding Machine Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)6.2 Japan Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Players6.3 Japan Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Molding Machine Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Energy Retrofit Systems Market Dynamics, Forecast, Analysis and Supply Demand 2018-2022

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Energy Retrofit Systems is progressively developing, because of the mind boggling accomplishments in exceedingly effective and canny instruments and innovations that are quickly rising. These improvements have extended the conceivable outcomes of taking e-learning to awesome statures, like never before some time recently.Get Free Sample Copy atCompanies Profiled in this report includes AECOM Energy, Daikin Applied, Johnson Controls, Orion Energy Systems, Schneider Electric, Ameresco, Chevron Energy Solutions, Eaton, Philips Lighting and Trane.The provide details regarding the worldwide Energy Retrofit Systems showcase is a far reaching diagram of the market, covering different viewpoints, for example, item definition, division in view of different parameters, dissemination channel, store network investigation, and the predominant merchant scene. It incorporates thorough data sourced by means of demonstrated research techniques. The data of the Energy Retrofit Systems showcase is open in a legitimate section insightful arrangement. It is likewise mixed with pertinent charts and tables to empower perusers to show signs of improvement viewpoint of the worldwide Energy Retrofit Systems advertise.Different elements are in charge of the markets development direction, which are learned finally in the report. Whats more, the report records down the limitations that are posturing danger to the worldwide Energy Retrofit Systems showcase. It likewise measures the bartering energy of providers and purchasers, risk from new contestants and item substitute, and the level of rivalry winning in the market. The impact of the most recent government rules is likewise examined in detail in the report. It ponders the Energy Retrofit Systems markets direction between conjecture periods.Inquire for Discount atWith the end goal of the examination, the worldwide Energy Retrofit Systems advertise is portioned in light of different parameters. A top to bottom local order of the market is likewise included in this. The variables which are affecting the markets development are contemplated in detail. The report additionally exhibits a round-up of vulnerabilities which organizations working in the market must evade with a specific end goal to appreciate feasible development through the course of the conjecture time frame. Other than this, profiles of a portion of the main players working in the worldwide Energy Retrofit Systems advertise are incorporated into the report. Utilizing SWOT examination, their shortcomings and qualities are broke down. It additionally enables the answer to give experiences into the open doors and dangers that these organizations may look amid the figure time frame.Table of Content1 Industry Overview of Energy Retrofit Systems2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Energy Retrofit Systems3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Energy Retrofit Systems4 Global Energy Retrofit Systems Overall Market Overview5 Energy Retrofit Systems Regional Market Analysis6 Global 2012-2018E Energy Retrofit Systems Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Global 2012-2018E Energy Retrofit Systems Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Energy Retrofit Systems9 Development Trend of Analysis of Energy Retrofit Systems Market10 Energy Retrofit Systems Marketing Type Analysis11 Consumers Analysis of Energy Retrofit SystemsPurchase this report at-Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
ILLUMI RUN A GLOWING SUCCESS WITH MORE THAN 4,000 RUNNERS

It was an illuminating night with a line-up of acts to pump up the jam!

Kuala Lumpur, 13 January 2018: The ILLUMI RUN Malaysia kicked off on high note at the Selangor Turf Club, attracting more than 4,000 ardent fun runners and festival go-ers.ILLUMI RUN is organised by Infinitus Productions Pte Ltd in collaboration with presenting sponsor, MPI Generali Insurans Berhad. The ultimate festival on the run offered the most exhilarating neon experience ever to runners. Participants enjoyed the night running through an escalating scene of dashing colours whilst being splashed with the iconic ILLUMI Glow Water.Oliver Tan, CEO of MPI Generali Insurans Berhad said: It was exhilarating to be part of this new experience of running through music zones with splashes of glowing water. At MPI Generali Insurans Berhad, we are happy that this Run provided a platform for us to engage with the community, our employees and business partners. We are proud to witness this first Illumi Run in Malaysia, more importantly to witness its successful accomplishment of the fundamental for this run  the combination of wholesome fun, community spirit and promote running at the same time.Held for the first time in Malaysia, ILLUMI RUN showcased the Neon Paradise themed route complete with paradise-themed glow zones that will douse participants in ILLUMI Glow Water as they run and dance along to fresh beats through the night.Flagged off at 8.00pm, the run began with a Laser Rainforest, showcasing 3D light and neon paint displays and the hottest fist-pumping tracks. Those with a sweet tooth looked forward to running into Candy Pop, a candy-lovers dream showcasing life-sized candy and rainbow sprinkles where ILLUMINATORs shot participants with Glow Water.Meanwhile, Cosmic-Land transported the runners to a galactic world of planets and stars, while lifes is a beach at A Beach Lifezone, a sandy paradise featuring surfboards, glow floats, and balls. The runculminated at Flower Dreams, a glow zone that treated runners to a one-of-a-kind neon field of flowers.The fun continued beyond the run, with the ILLUMI Glow Slide at the festival village, cooling participants after their run with even more ILLUMI Glow Water and the ultimate ILLUMI Festival with LIVE acts including Dangerdisko (MY) and Jenni-F (MY). The music festival finale was definitely the kicker for the whole course as the runners ended the night on a luminescent high. Being able to witness thousands of Malaysians enjoying themselves in the run is indeed the most gratifying part. There is not a single doubt that this is something we will be continuing for our future events within Malaysia and the region. We will be certain to surpass our own standards each year. said by Jeffrey Foo, Director of Infinitus Productions Pte Ltd.One of the runners, 42 year-old David along with his 12-year-son shared, "My favourite activity in ILLUMI village was definitely the ILLUMI slide! We enjoyed a dive and plunge into a pool of neon happiness as promised for a thrilling experience!"Kar Jun, 25 and Elaine, 26 also revealed that their favourite activity for the night was the ILLUMI slide. "Laser Rainforest (Zone 1) was mind-blowing as we danced along with the adrenaline pumping tracks played and was amazed by the stunning glow paint display. We were most impressed with the DJs for the music festival.""Tonight was unquestionably memorable! Not forgetting the awesome neon makeover, as we had the opportunity to turn our faces into creative art pieces. We will surely look forward for another ILLUMI Run next year!" shared both friends Fatiman, 29 and Murni, 34.ILLUMI RUN also believes in giving back to the community and pledged monetary support to S.O.S Kids, a community support group who aims to improve the care of the critically sick and underprivileged children based in Sarawak. The funds were raised through registration fees as well as add-on donations from participants. Through ILLUMI RUN, the event hopes to raise awareness for S.O.S kids and contributes more funds towards their efforts to provide better medical care for these children.In addition, ILLUMI Kids Morning Run was also held on the same day at 7.30am with a distance of 2km where more than 300 kids and their parents participated in the run.For more information, please go to www.illumirun.com/my ILLUMI RUN MALAYSIA 2018 DETAILSDate : 13 January 2018 Time : 6.00pm  11.30pmVenue : Selangor Turf ClubDistance : 4km with 5 different glow zones along the routeTag everything with : #illumirunmy / #illumirunmy2018Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/illumirunInstagram : http://www.instagram.com/illumirunmyILLUMI KIDS MORNING RUN 2018 DETAILSDate : 13 January 2018Time : 7.00am  11.30pmVenue : Selangor Turf ClubDistance : 2km run with Parent (On-Route Zone: 2)Age Limit: For age 4 to 12 years old.
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics Market Expected to Rise Steadily throughout 2018 to 2023

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The report presents a 360-degree overview of the competitive scenario of the EMEA Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics Market. Thus helping organizations understand the major threat and opportunities that vendors in the market are dealt with. It also includes detailed business profiles of some of the major vendors in the market. With the all-inclusive market data concerning the crucial elements and segment of the market that can influence the growth prospects of the market. This report can effectively help companies and decision makers in addressing these challenges strategically to gain the maximum benefits in the highly competitive market.Top Key Vendors:Therabron Therapeutics, Inc., Serendex Pharmaceuticals A/S, Silence Therapeutics Plc, Histocell S.L., Altor BioScience Corporation, Athersys, Inc., Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy, FirstString Research, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Phylogica LimitedGet Sample Copy of this Report: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 EMEA Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics 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 major growth drivers, challenges, and trends influencing the market are examined at length. The report also presents a thorough qualitative and quantitative data affecting to the projected impact of these factors on markets future growth prospects.The vast amount of EMEA Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics market data that is available in any market, in general, makes it a tough task to narrow it down to the most crucial details and statistics relevant to the business issues at hand. Many companies could lack the much needed dedicated resources and the specific skills necessary for compiling a comprehensive market research. Focused market research methodologies help organizations in clearly gauging the most crucial stakes in the market that need to the considered for effective decision making. A number of analysis tools such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis have been employed to provide an accurate understanding of this market. Also, the report is compiled in a way for the readers and customers to understand better.Get Upto 40% Discount on this report:Emerging countries such as India, Japan, France, and China are the primary targets of the industry. Increasing demand for the commodities, increasing losses, and changing practices and storage technologies are some of the major driving factors for this market. Regulatory changes such as Environmental Protection Laws and changing government policies across diverse geographies are restraints for the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics market players.In last section, the chief manufacturers in the EMEA Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics have been presented. Their company profiles, price, cost, revenue, gross, capacity, product picture, and contact information have also been covered under this section of the study. Geographically, the report studies the regional and country markets for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India. The most prominent exporter serving the demand that is generated from the developed countries is also mentioned in this report.Purchase the Complete Report:Table of Content:EMEA Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Therapeutics Market OverviewChapter 2 EMEA Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout Healthcare Intelligence Markets:HealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001
The Grid Optimization Solutions Industry Will Be Fiercely Competitive in 2018

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Grid Optimization Solutions to its huge collection of research reports.A market intelligence report on the global market for Grid Optimization Solutions has been added to enable key stakeholders in it to bet right on the market and thus improve their profit margins. The exhaustive report furnishes information on how the market will evolve over the course of years. It discusses its vendor landscape and tries to gauge its growth path over the course of the next couple of years.The report on the global market for Grid Optimization Solutions has been put together after exhaustive primary and secondary research. While primary research involved consulting industry experts for their take on the market and its trajectory, secondary research was conducted by gleaning crucial information from company websites, their financial reports and balance sheets, and other paid sources. The information collated from the different sources is then analyzed for insights and collated in the form of charts, tables, and figures.For more info, get the sample report for FREE here:The report on the global market for Grid Optimization Solutions tries to answer some of the crucial questions stakeholders are at present confronted with. A few of them are:What is the size of the market vis-a-vis revenue and volume at present?What will be the size of the market at the end of the forecast period in Grid Optimization Solutions-end?Which are the regions that would prove highly profitable for players in the forecast period?Which are some of the big shot companies operating in the market for Grid Optimization Solutions and what are their winning strategies?A major part of the report contains a granular analysis of the tailwinds and headwinds promoting or hindering the global market for Grid Optimization Solutions. The report offers an executive-level blueprint of the vendor landscape in the global market for Grid Optimization Solutions too. To do so, it lists prominent companies in the market, studies their main product offerings, sales and revenues, and growth prospects.This report studies the global Grid Optimization Solutions market, analyzes and researches the Grid Optimization Solutions development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeABBAclara TechnologiesEatonGeneral ElectricPower TechnologiesFirstEnergyGreen Mountain PowerHexagonSimpson ElectricDoble Engineering CompanyEKM MeteringCGI GroupElectric Power GroupHolley Metering...Read Complete Table of Content of the Report at:Table of ContentsGlobal Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Grid Optimization Solutions1.1 Grid Optimization Solutions Market Overview1.1.1 Grid Optimization Solutions Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Grid Optimization Solutions Market by Type1.3.1 Software Components1.3.2 Hardware Components1.4 Grid Optimization Solutions Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Government Departments1.4.2 Enterprise Sector1.4.3 Financial Industry1.4.4 School1.4.5 Other2 Global Grid Optimization Solutions Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 ABB3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Grid Optimization Solutions Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Aclara Technologies3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Grid Optimization Solutions Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)4 Global Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Grid Optimization Solutions in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Grid Optimization Solutions5 United States Grid Optimization Solutions Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size (2013-2018)5.2 United States Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 United States Grid Optimization Solutions Market Size by Application (2013-2018)...About QYResearchReports.comQyresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from Qyresearchreports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Sodium Reduction Ingredients Market | Key Players - Archer Daniels Midland Company, Kerry Group PLC, Cargill Incorporated, DuPont Nutrition & Health, Tate & Lyle plc, AJINOMOTO and CELANESE CORPORATION

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Market Scenario:Sodium reduction ingredients are salt alternatives used to lower the sodium level in the food. Sodium chloride is an essential nutrient for maintenance of health, but excessive consumption leads to the development of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, neurological diseases, kidney disease, asthma, obesity, and others. Therefore, steps are taken in reducing excessive sodium consumption to promote health. The most commonly used sodium reduction ingredients include mineral salts, amino acids, yeast extracts, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and others. They help in maintaining the flavor to imitate salt but also lower the sodium level.Sodium reduction ingredients are used as a substitute for salt by many food processors. Increasing awareness about the problems associated with high intake of sodium is driving the growth of the market. Growing consumption of processed foods owing to change in lifestyle is one of the major factors driving the growth of the market.FDA is issuing voluntary targets for reducing sodium in commercially processed and prepared food both in the short-term and over the long-term, which is boosting the growth of the market. The key players are making continuous efforts to bring new solutions to the food industry, which is supporting the growth of the sodium reduction ingredients market. However, the high cost of the ingredients may hamper the market growth over the forecast period.Get a Sample Report @Major Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the Global Sodium Reduction Ingredients Market are Archer Daniels Midland Company (U.S.), Kerry Group PLC (Ireland), Cargill Incorporated (U.S.), DuPont Nutrition & Health (Denmark), Tate & Lyle plc (U.K), AJINOMOTO (Japan), CELANESE CORPORATION (U.S.)Key Findings:Potassium chloride is the most commonly used sodium reduction ingredientsIn dairy industry, processing of low sodium cheese has gained much importanceMarket Segments:On the basis of ingredients, the global sodium reduction ingredients market is segmented into mineral salts, amino acids, yeast extracts, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and others. Among all, mineral salts segment is dominating the market followed by yeast extracts. In mineral salts segment, potassium chloride is the most commonly used ingredient as a substitute of salt owing to the health benefits associated with it without compromising the flavor and taste of the food.Based on the application, the global sodium reduction ingredients market is segmented into bakery and confectionery, dairy and frozen foods, sauces and seasonings, snacks, meat products, and others. Among all, sauces and seasonings segment is dominating the market followed by bakery segment. Increasing consumption of pizza, sandwiches, bread, and rolls is driving fuelling the growth of the bakery segment in sodium reduction ingredients market. Moreover, snacks segment is likely to grow at a moderate rate over the estimated period.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:The global sodium reduction ingredients market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). North America is dominating the market followed by Europe. Americans now consume on average about 3,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day, while federal guidelines recommend less than 2,300 mg for the general population. This has resulted in government intervention in making efforts for reduction of sodium in a wide range of foods.Europe is witnessed to be the fastest growing region for sodium reduction ingredients. The Asia Pacific and the Middle East are projected to have a moderate growth over the forecast period. Growing consumption of processed foods in India and China is likely driving the growth of the sodium reduction ingredients market in the Asia Pacific. Technological developments and new product launch by major players are boosting the growth of sodium reduction ingredients market in rest of the world.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Market Insights, Inc: Legal Process Outsourcing to Go Beyond $40 Billion by 2024

http://www.coefficientsco.com!

The growing necessity for proficient legal departments to handle high volume, process-oriented legal work is expected to skyrocket the legal process outsourcing market, amassing over $40 billion by 2024. The cost of legal proceedings has increased drastically over the years, and this led companies to subcontract these services overseas. Being cost-efficient and practical have been the major factors that immensely helped the LPO industry.Legal proceedings and clerical services have now been influenced by modernization and technological advancements. These lead to significant growth in revenue. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a vital tool for managing valuable and sensitive information allowing law firms to focus more on client work with the right mindset leading to a more efficient, and accurate delivery of services. The growing demand for advanced technology to gather information from unstructured data sets together with the human-like understanding and interpretation is expected to boost the growth of AI in the legal process outsourcing landscape.Security issues that may arise from the current LPO set up is anticipated to hinder the growth and development of the industry in the set timeframe. Major industry players are dealing with security and confidentiality concerns by employing globally standard certifications and processes, like ISO 27001 and Six Sigma.E-discovery services are projected to have a significant CAGR growth of more than 40% from 2017 to 2024. This growth is because businesses are now utilizing digital systems in their processes, and electronic documents containing large amount of sensitive data are now being outsourced. Generating and indentifying the said data and information are found to be bothersome for internal legal department. Outsourcing these processes helps make their time management more efficient.Legal process outsourcing markets stipulation for patent support is also expected to have significant growth due to the increasing preference towards legal research and IP monitoring for better budget management. This is set in place to deliver the clients intellectual property portfolios, and made them aware of any possible threats or infringements.The size of onshore LPO market is expected to thrive over the set timeframe. This is because of the increasing demand from different law firms and European corporations preferring their services be provided locally, rather than outsourced. The rising operational cost in India and South Africa along with varying European Union (EU) laws on data protection is also hindering which types of services and processes can be outsourced further boost the demand for onshore services.Philippines LPO market size is expected to grow for legal services in the country because of being cost-efficient and has the ready infrastructure. Local outsourcing company Coefficients Co. Ltd, has started offering legal process outsourcing services, and is expected to immensely grow in the coming years.With the entry of LPO in the Philippines outsourcing landscape, and the growing demand for e-discovery services, Philippines outsourcing industry is expected to thrive, pull in more revenues and boost the countrys manpower. Industry players are focusing on getting certifications like ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. In addition, various outsourcing providers, like Coefficients, Co. Ltd, are employing a hands-on approach in training their employees on certain legal engagements. The training involves a corporate legal professional to directly focus and tackle such learning initiatives.Visit us atAbout Coefficients Co. Ltd.Coefficients currently serves more than 20 global clients in knowledge services. The companys eventual metamorphosis from BPO to KPO is a very good opportunity for it to be ideally positioned to lead in knowledge-based services via ramping up capacity and honing its peoples competency.Here at Coefficients, we go above and beyond for our clients. From assessment, to solution design, to training, transition and launch; we cater to every phase and we got you covered every step of the way. We dont go for temporary aids. We strike to the core.2nd Floor Coefficients Bldg., Peridot cor. Aquamarine St., Pleasantville Phase 2, Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City, Philippines 4301
Global Spinal Cord Stimulation Market 2017: Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecast to 2021

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"The Latest Research Report Global Spinal Cord Stimulation Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a therapy for people who are not relieved from back or neck pain by surgeries and other treatments. It helps to treat pain by hiding pain signals before reaching brain. A device is implanted in body to deliver the signals to spinal cord. Battery attached to pulse generator are of two types, non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries for the power demand of device.Failed back surgery is the most common reason for spinal cord stimulation surgery. SCS is a two step process to determine whether spinal cord stimulation will work for the patients or not. Trial spinal cord stimulation is a test drive to determine if therapy will provide pain relief to the patient or not. After the implantation in trial, patient considers the permanent implantation of device based on pain relief improvement.Get Sample Copy of this report @The U.S. is the main contributor to the SCS market with increasing chronic back pain prevalence and rising addressable population for SCS. The U.S. has great potential in the years ahead with favorable reimbursement policies and improved health service quality. The growth of SCS outside the U.S. is driven by increasing awareness and need for new therapies and devices. The market is relatively small due to lack of reimbursements, that limits the growth of the market.The global SCS market is expected to grow in future due to growing ageing population, increase in health care expenditure and rising obese population. Key trends of this market include favorable reimbursement landscape in the U.S., launch of new products, awareness regarding early treatments, increase in trial SCS treatments, increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, increase SCS for predominant back pain and rising mergers & acquisitions activities. However, high cost of treatment, tough regulatory problems and dependency on traditional therapies are some of the factors posing challenge for the market growth.The report Global Spinal Cord Stimulation Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) by Koncept Analytics provides an extensive research and detailed analysis of the present market along with future outlook. The report discusses the major growth drivers and challenges of the market, covering the U.S. and Outside the U.S. region. The report profiles the key players of the market including Nevro Corporation, Medtronic Plc., Abbott Laboratories (St. Jude) and Boston Scientific.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Content1. Market Overview1.1 Introduction1.2 Spinal Cord Stimulation Devices1.3 Conditions for SCS Treatment1.4 Spinal Cord Stimulation Therapies1.5 Surgical Procedures2. Global Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) Market2.1 Global SCS Market Forecast by Value2.2 Global SCS Market by Region2.3 Global SCS Addressable Population Forecast2.4 Global SCS System Implant Volume Forecast3. Regional Market3.1 The U.S.3.1.1 The U.S. Chronic Back Pain Prevalence Forecast3.1.2 The U.S. SCS Market Forecast by Value3.1.3 The U.S. Addressable SCS Population Forecast3.1.4 The U.S. SCS System Implant Volume Forecast3.2 Outside the U.S.3.2.1 Outside the U.S. SCS Market Forecast by Value3.2.2 Outside the U.S. SCS Addressable Population Forecast3.2.3 Outside the U.S. SCS System Implant Volume Forecast3.2.4 Outside the U.S. Rechargeable SCS Market Forecast by Value4. Market Dynamics4.1 Growth Drivers4.1.1 Rising Ageing Population4.1.2 Increasing Healthcare Spending4.1.3 Rising GDP Per Capita4.1.4 Increase in Obese PopulationView Sample PDF @4.2 Key Trends & Developments4.2.1 Increase in Trial Units for SCS in the U.S.4.2.2 Mergers and Acquisitions4.2.3 Increasing SCS Implants for Predominant Back Pain in the U.S.4.2.4 Accelerating Use of Percutaneous Lead Technology in SCS Treatments4.2.5 Increasing Demand for Minimally Invasive Devices4.2.6 Rising Awareness of Early Treatment for Chronic Pain4.2.7 New Product Launches4.2.8 Burden of Chronic Pain in the U.S.4.2.9 Favorable Reimbursement Policies in the U.S.4.3 Challenges4.3.1 Dependence on Traditional Therapies4.3.2 High Cost Related to SCS Treatment4.3.3 Tough Regulatory Problems5. Competitive Landscape5.1 Global SCS Market5.1.1 Revenue and Market Cap Comparison5.1.2 Global SCS Market Share by Company5.1.3 Key SCS Product Comparison by Company5.2 Regional SCS Market5.2.1 The U.S. SCS Market Share by Company5.2.2 Outside the U.S. SCS Market Share by Company6. Company Profiles6.1 Nevro Corporation6.1.1 Business Overview6.1.2 Financial Overview6.1.3 Business Strategies6.2 Medtronic Plc6.2.1 Business Overview6.2.2 Financial Overview6.2.3 Business Strategies6.3 Boston Scientific6.3.1 Business Overview6.3.2 Financial Overview6.3.3 Business Strategies6.4 Abbott Laboratories (St. Jude Medical)6.4.1 Business Overview6.4.2 Financial Overview6.4.3 Business StrategiesBuy Now This Report From Here @About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Digital Isolator Market Outlook, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2022

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The Global Digital Isolator Market is envisaged to gain a steadfast momentum on the back of the mounting need for industrial automation. The improvement of manufacturing and production facilities could be a result of the growing trend of adapting to the requirements of customers and rising inter-industry competition. The increasing focus on automation processes, which are more effective and efficient compared to manual labor, could bode well for the market. Industrial automation helps to boost flexibility, reduce employee wages, and decrease reliance on labor.Access Sample Copy of Report @The report presented herewith is a detailed assessment of some of the critical growth factors, trends, and opportunities of the global digital isolator market. The segmentation study provided in the report is expected to assist players in determining crucial areas of growth and business prospects.Global Digital Isolator Market: DynamicsThe world digital isolator market is envisioned to testify the growth of a latest trend which marks a rising usage in higher altitude applications. Digital isolators require advanced technology to appropriately function in high-moisture and polluted environments and of course, high altitudes. The growth of the market could be significantly uplifted with the growing acceptance of advantages offered by technologies such as capacitive digital isolator. The highly competitive nature of the market could boost revenue shares as companies look to execute newer strategies and expand their product portfolio.Global Digital Isolator Market: SegmentationThe international digital isolator market is anticipated to be segregated according to four categories, i.e. isolation, data rate, channel, and vertical. On the basis of isolation, the market could include giant magnetoresistive as a larger segment. In 2017, this segment accounted for a US$430.5 mn of the total revenue of the market. During the forecast period 2017-2022, it could expand at a 7.1% CAGR. Capacitive coupling and magnetic coupling could be the other two types of isolation.Browse Complete Outlook of Report @By data rate, the international digital isolator market is prognosticated to be classified into less than 25 mbps, 25 mbps to 75 mbps, and more than 75 mbps. As per the segmentation by channel, there could be important segments such as 2 channel, 4 channel, 6 channel, 8 channel, and others. By vertical, the market could create prospects via segments such as industrial, healthcare, automotive, telecommunication, aerospace and defense, energy and power, and other verticals.According to regional segmentation, the international digital isolator market is predicted to witness the dominance of Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) expected to exhibit all through the course of the forecast period. It could rise a 6.4% CAGR. As is with most markets, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Japan are projected to showcase a sluggish growth in the coming years. However, North America and Europe could balance the market growth with their attractive share. The market is also forecast to be contributed by Latin America.Global Digital Isolator Market: CompetitionThe worldwide digital isolator market is foretold to resound leading industry names such as National Instruments, Murata Manufacturing, NXP Semiconductors, Maxim Integrated, ROHM Semiconductor, Broadcom Limited, Silicon Labs, Infineon Technologies, Analog Devices, and Texas Instruments.Get More Detail about Report, Enquire here @About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Spirulina Market Key Players: Cyanotech Corporation, DIC Corporation, E.I.D. Parry Limited, Tianjin Norland Biotech Co. Ltd, Hydrolina Biotech Private Limited

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Market Scenario:Spirulina is a multicellular and filamentous blue-green microalgae. It is used as a human food supplement and to overcome malnutrition since it is a rich source of protein, vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and antioxidants. Spirulina grows in fresh water and is also grown artificially based on its nutritional value. It is further procured using various methods and is ultimately dried and powdered. From the last few decades, Spirulina has gained its popularity based on its diverse applications in food industry (majorly nutraceuticals) and as a potential protein supplement.The food and beverages industry have slowly started phasing out artificial colors due to the rising safety concerns and growing demand for natural colors. Spirulina is considered to be one of the popular natural food color among the food & beverages manufacturers. The primary pigment in spirulina is a protein called phycocyanin that n. It imparts a vibrant blue color. Additionally, it can be combined with other colors to make customized colors of such as green and lavender or violet shades, which makes it. Thus, making it ideal for using in various food and beverages products. Spirulina also finds its major application in the cosmetic & personal care industry. Spirulina mainly used in cosmetic & personal care products especially for the anti-aging cream. Spirulina is considered to be effective as one gram per day is sufficient enough to correct severe malnutrition in a child within in a few weeks. New studies suggest that spirulina capable of improvising the physical development as well as cognitive performance. Spirulina is considered to be of high quality natural feed additives which can be used in animal and poultry nutrition. It also plays an important role in aquaculture, especially in the aquatic farming and hatchery. One of the significant reason of the increasing growth of global spirulina market is rising demand of clean label products. Clean label trend has evolved beyond ingredients and indicates that the food is prepared by the natural color. The increasing consumer awareness on health and wellness and their growing interest to adopt spirulina as a natural food color instead of synthetic colors.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players:The leading market players in the Global Spirulina Market primarily are Cyanotech Corporation (Hawaii), DIC Corporation (Japan), E.I.D. Parry (India) Limited (India), Tianjin Norland Biotech Co. Ltd (China), Hydrolina Biotech Private Limited (India), Jiangxi Alga Biotech (China), and Synergy Natural Products Pty Ltd. (Australia)Regional Analysis:The global spirulina market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the world. Among these, Asia Pacific is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period owing to robust economic growth, rising urbanization, and increasing middle class population. North America is estimated to reach USD 129.20 million by 2023. However, Rest of the World is projected to expand at a moderate CAGR of 7.54% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Market Segments:The global spirulina market has been segmented on the basis of form such as powder, capsule & tablet, liquid, and gelling agent. The powder segment is projected to account maximum market proportion and projected to grow at CAGR of 8.23% during the forecast period. On the basis of applications, the global spirulina market is segmented into nutraceuticals, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic & personal care, and others. Among all the applications, nutraceutical segment is estimated to witness the highest growth at a CAGR of 8.34% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.Target Audience:Spirulina manufacturersRaw material suppliersEnd usersRetailers and wholesalersE-commerce companiesTraders, importers and exportersAccess Report Details @Key Findings:Asia Pacific is estimated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period and to grow at a substantial CAGR of 8.45%. Among the Asia Pacific country, China is projected to witness a substantial growth of 9.30% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.Spirulina manufacturers find massive opportunity in the U.S. owing to the huge demand of natural color in the food & beverages.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Bank Reconciliation Software Market 2017-2022: Business Development Analysis

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Global Bank Reconciliation Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022The global Bank Reconciliation Software market from the perspective of all its current trends that are influencing it is important to understand in order to obtain the most rounded solution for business strategies in it. These trends are geographical, socioeconomic, economic, consumer, political, cultural, and their overall effect on client or consumer preferences will have a major data in how this market will form itself in the following years to come. Dynamics and the way they impact the global Bank Reconciliation Software market have been studied in absolute precise details in the report. The ultimate goal for the dissemination of this information is to create a detailed descriptive analysis of how these trends could potentially affect the future of the global Bank Reconciliation Software market within the reports forecast period.Get sample copy of this report:Companies Profiled in this report includes: Broadridge, AutoRek, ReconArt, SmartStream, Oracle, SS&C, Adra, BlackLine, Treasury, Xero, DataLog, Cashbook, Rimilia, Fiserv.Bank reconciliations are the process of verifying the integrity of data between bank records and a companys internal financial records. Bank reconciliation begins with the comparison of balances between bank statements and the associated transactions within various accounts in a companys chart of accounts. This is a necessary step to ensure that bank account balances are correct and accurate.Get Discount of this report:This bank reconciliation process is carried out when bank statements are received or after the close of a financial period. Accountants go through each bank statement or file and match transactions to transactions with the companys internal systems. When discrepancies are found, investigation is performed to determine the appropriate corrective action.Bank reconciliation software automates all steps in the bank reconciliation process. It imports data from both ERP or general ledger systems and bank files or statements. It then compares account balances and transactions details between these sources, and identifies any discrepancies so that they can be investigated by accounting staff. This removes the burden of manually matching transactions that is placed on accounting staff, and frees accountants to focus on analysis of discrepancies.Get Complete Report:Table of Content:Global Bank Reconciliation Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Bank Reconciliation Software2 Global Bank Reconciliation Software Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Bank Reconciliation Software Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)5 United States Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook6 EU Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook8 China Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook9 India Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Bank Reconciliation Software Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Bank Reconciliation Software Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comCompany Name: ReportsWebWebsite: Reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Smart Grid Sensor Market Growing at a CAGR of 29.4% from 20172025

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The global energy sector is transitioning into intelligent, efficient network of power supply, and smart grids are actively replacing conventional power grids across the world. The demand for smart grid sensors grows in parallel with surging adoption of smart grid technology. In todays day and age, detection and monitoring operations have helped save potential losses worth millions of dollars. Therefore, smart grid sensors are also expected to gain surplus demand in tomorrows energy industry. Persistence Market Researchs latest report on the global market for smart grid sensors projects that the market, which is presently valued at a little over US$ 128 Mn, will soar at a stellar CAGR of 30.3% to bring in US$ 1,447.3 Mn in revenues by the end of 2025.Request Sample Report@Key findings in the report exhibit that the global smart grid sensors market will have a steadfast growth during the assessment period, 2017-2025. In this period, the dynamic growth of the global smart grid sensor market will be impacted by several factors, among which following have an enduring influence:Extreme Weather Conditions: Severe climate and harsh environment is disrupting the operational efficiency of smart grids, compelling the deployment of thermal sensors that can detect temperature differences and adapt to drastic weather changes, particularly in the US.Electricity Thefts: Rising incidence of electricity thefts in developing & underdeveloped regions is driving the adoption of smart grids. In Latin American countries, power authorities are monitoring such malpractices with help of sensors that identify faux power glitches.Proliferation of IoT: Internet of Things (IoT) is influencing the sales of smart grid sensors but remuneratively. Presently, utilities companies in Europe are looking to leverage IoT to improve development and operation of smart grids by connecting unique devices, which will end up creating an intelligent & self-sustained energy ecosystem.Ineffectiveness of older power grids, increasing energy demands, and implementation of smart metering systems has also propelled the global demand for smart grid sensors. According to the report, titled Smart Grid Sensors Market: Global Industry Trend Analysis 2012 to 2016 and Forecast 20172025, rising concern regarding safety & security of smart grids, and high implementation costs of smart grid sensors is likely to impede the global markets growth, but to a certain extent.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @Based on the region, Latin Americas smart grid sensors market is projected to exhibit a relatively high growth, registering a robust CAGR of 36.1%. The demand for voltage/temperature sensors, in particular, is projected to remain high throughout the forecast period. The report estimates that in 2016, more than 40% of global smart grid sensor revenues were accounted by sales of voltage/temperature sensors. In terms of application, smart energy metering is expected to dominate with more than 40% share, while revenues amassed from other applications such as lead management, energy storage and renewable energy will be registering a speedy growth at 38.1% CAGR. The report also profiles key participants in the global smart grid sensors market, which include ABB Ltd., Aclara Technologies LLC, General Electric Company, Honeywell International Inc., Eaton, Toshiba Corporation, Networked Energy Services Corporation, QinetiQ Group PLC, Torino Power Solutions Inc., Sentient Energy, Inc., ARTECHE, Siemens AG, Ingenu Inc., GIPRO GmbH, GRID20/20 Inc.For more information about this report visit @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, 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, Con-sumer 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.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Cage Free Eggs Market Value is Expected to Rise to US$ 6,559.1 Mn by the end of 2025

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Persistence Market Research presents analytical insights into the global cage free eggs market in a new report titled Cage Free Eggs Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) & Forecast (2017-2025), touching upon key aspects such as drivers, trends, opportunity areas, and a global market forecast on the basis of color, size, and region. According to Persistence Market Research forecasts, the global cage free eggs market is estimated to record a market valuation of US$ 4,541.0 Mn by 2017 end and is likely to witness a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period, to be valued at US$ 6,559.1 Mn by the end of 2025. Growing number of cage free commitments from various food manufacturers and food service providers is expected to fuel market growth. Further, an increasing consumer concern towards product origin as well as animal welfare is also anticipated to boost the growth of the global cage free eggs market.Report overview @Global Cage Free Eggs Market: Segmentation & ForecastThe global cage free eggs market is segmented on the basis of color into Brown and White. Brown cage free eggs are likely to dominate the global market in terms of consumption and the brown segment will hence show increased revenue growth. Persistence Market Research predicts that the brown segment will hold the maximum market share throughout the forecast period, reaching a huge value share in excess of 85% by the end of 2025. The brown segment is estimated to reach a market valuation of US$ 5,653.4 Mn by 2025 end, registering a growth rate of 5.1%. This segment is expected to represent absolute $ opportunity of US$ 159.8 Mn in 2017 over 2016 and an incremental $ opportunity of US$ 1842.5 Mn between 2017 and 2025.The global cage free eggs market is segmented on the basis of size into Medium, Large, Extra Large, and Jumbo. Large size cage free eggs are the choice of consumers in key markets and this probably explains why the large segment is slated to dominate the global cage free eggs market. The large segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 2,899.8 Mn by the end of 2025 and register a CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period.Request Sample Report@The global cage free eggs market has been tracked across the key geographies of North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, and MEA. Europe is anticipated to be the dominant regional market, holding an estimated value share in excess of 40% by the end of 2025. Europe is predicted to be the highest growing market followed by North America. The North America cage free eggs market is expected to represent absolute $ opportunity of US$ 49.1 Mn in 2017 over 2016 and an incremental $ opportunity of US$ 601.3 Mn between 2017 and 2025.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @Global Cage Free Eggs Market: Competition AnalysisThe report profiles some of the key players operating in the global cage free eggs market such as Egglands Best LLc, Cal Maine Foods, Inc., Herbrucks Poultry Ranch, Inc., Rembrandt Enterprises, Rose Acre Farms, Hillandale Farms, Trillium Farm Holdings, LLC, Midwest Poultry Services, L.P., Hickmans Family Farms, Sparboe Farms, Weaver Brothers, Inc., Kuramochi Sangyo Co., Ltd., Granja Agas S.A., Pazo de Vilane S.L, Farm Pride Foods Limited, Avril Group, The Lakes Free Range Egg Company, Lintz Hall Farm Limited, Sunny Queen Farms Pty Ltd., and St Ewe Free Range Eggs LLP.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, 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, Con-sumer 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.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Research On Global Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumables Market, Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Manufacturers in the Global Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumable Market are focusing on strengthening their supply chain, particularly in regions such as Asia Pacific and Europe. Key market players are also concentrating on strategic mergers and acquisitions with other players in order to increase global reach and enhance their product offerings. North America, Europe and Asia Pacific are expected to remain the key regions in the global waterjet cutting machine consumable market, both from the supply side as well as the demand side in the next eight years. India, Brazil Russia and China will provide significant opportunities in the global waterjet cutting machine consumable market over the forecast period. These are some of the key findings from a new publication by Persistence Market Research titled Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumables Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) and Forecast (2017  2025).Access Sample Copy of Report @Global Waterjet Cutting Machine Consumables Market: Regional Lifecycle AnalysisNorth America with the U.S. in prominent position is expected to dominate the demand for waterjet cutting machine consumables, followed by Germany and FranceNorth America had the maximum installation of waterjet cutting machines globally. However, the acceptance of advanced waterjet technology such as robotic waterjet cutting machines has been increasing in high precision industries such as aerospace, defense, electronics, and automotive. The North America waterjet cutting machine market will start maturing after 10 yearsIn Europe, waterjet cutting is a cold cutting process that is extensively used in medical and aerospace applications. Further, 5-axis gantry robots and 6-axis articulated arm robots with waterjets are used increasingly in the automotive industryInputs from primary respondentsSenior Vice President of waterjet cutting machines consumables manufacturers explains that with the growing awareness among industry participants regarding benefits of a waterjet cutting, the demand of waterjet cutting machine consumables is expected to witness double digit growth. However, intensifying competition will lead to price competitiveness in the market.Forecast assumptions and market sizingWhen developing the market forecast, we have started by sizing the current market, which forms the basis for forecasting how the market is anticipated to perform in future. We have considered the product-wise Weighted Average Selling Price (ASP) to deduce market values at a regional level. We have used the bottom-up approach to assess market numbers for each product category, while top-down approach has been used to counter validate the market estimations. Macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, Manufacturing sector growth, global trade statistics, automotive industry growth and waterjet cutting machines sales growth have been considered. All values for market size are in US$ Mn (US Dollar-Million) and volume data are in 000 units unless specified. BPS sum may not be equal to 100, due to rounding off of numbers. One Unit of abrasives is denoted by 25kg of Bag/SackBrowse Complete Outlook of Report @Research MethodologyWe have adopted systematic research approach while inspecting this report. In-depth secondary research is used to arrive at an overall market size, top industry players, top products and industry associations. Our analysts have formulated a detailed discussion guide in order to conduct expert and industry interviews. We also have conducted interviews with industry experts, industry players, distributors and retailers. Data is validated by triangulation method, wherein primary, secondary, and Persistence Market Researchs analysis contribute to the final data. We have also analysed the various companies annual report, investor presentation, SEC filings, reports and press release operating in an automotive market to fetch substantial information about the market size, trends, opportunity, drivers, restraints and to analyse key players.Market SegmentationBy Product TypeAbrasivesNozzlesWater FiltersGratesFocus TubesOthers (Mixing Chambers, Orifice, Etc.)By End UseMetal FabricationAutomotiveCeramicsElectronicsOthers (Food & Beverages, Paper & Pulp, Aerospace)By ApplicationPure Waterjet CuttingAbrasive Waterjet CuttingBy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle East & AfricaGet More Detail about Report, Enquire here @About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Global Asia Pacific Mobile Protective Cases Market Expected to Account US$ 18,000 Mn by 2026 end

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Surging demographics of mobile phone and smartphone users in Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, and India, among others, has prompted the production of protective cases to a large extent. Persistence Market Research has recently published its forecast report on the mobile protective case market in Asia-Pacific, insights from which project that the market will rake in US$ 17,680.9 Mn in revenues by the end of 2026. The market, which is presently valued at closed to US$ 10,000 Mn, is anticipated to exhibit a steady CAGR of 5.9%.Report overview @In the report, titled Mobile Phone Protective Case Market: Asia-Pacific Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2026, the demand for mobile phone protective cases is cited to grow at the expense of strengthening distribution network across the Asia-Pacific region. While rising population and proliferation of smartphones offer the necessary boost for markets growth, absence of standardization is expected to curtail the development of advanced mobile phone protective cases. World leaders in mobile phone manufacturing such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. are profiled in the report as key market players. The report also observes Reiko Wireless Inc., Pelican Products Inc., Incipio, LLC, Moshi, Otter Products, LLC, Belkin International Inc., Griffin Technology, Inc., and CG Mobile Ltd. as key manufacturers of mobile phone protective cases in Asia-Pacific region.Request to sample reportAccording to the report, over half of the regions mobile phone protective case revenues will be accounted by China alone. In 2016, Chinas outright dominance on the Asia-Pacific mobile phone protective case market helped it attain a value of more than US$ 4,000 Mn. India is also expected to join China by being at the forefront of market value contribution throughout the forecast period. At present, a majority of mobile phone protective cases sold across the region are projected to be available at low price range. Towards the end of 2026, the demand for mobile phone protective cases at premium and medium price range will gain traction, accounting for more than 60% share in terms of revenues. Likewise, the report also predicts that in 2017, multi-brand stores will be largest distributors of mobile phone protective cases in Asia-Pacific. However, the dominance of multi-brand stores as well as single-brand stores will incur marginal decline towards the end of forecast period. This downtrend is anticipated to be recompensed by rising prominence of online distribution channels.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, 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, Con-sumer 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.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Automotive Seats Market to Surpass US$ 74.19 Bn by 2025

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Automotive Seats Market: Global Industry Analysis (20122016) and Forecast (20172025), is the new report published by Persistence Market Research for the estimated period of 8-years. With a CAGR of 3.7%, this market is expected to witness steady growth throughout the forecasted period. Slowdown in the global automotive production and increasing use of public transport to cut down the transportation cost are significant reasons behind the slow growth of the global market for automotive seats. Global sales of automotive seats is estimated to be valued at US$ 55.34 Bn in 2017 and is projected to increase and to be valued at US$ 74.19 Bn by 2025.Request Sample Report@Global Automotive Seats Market: RestraintsLowering hide production to act as restraint in the Europe automotive seats marketAdoption of Low-cost and Inferior SubstitutesSoaring government regulations and rules are acting as hurdles for the manufacturersSlowdown in the Global Automotive ProductionIncreasing use of public transport to cut down the transportation costGlobal Automotive Seats Market: Segmental Analysis and ForecastThe market is segmented into product type, vehicle type, cover material, by technology, and by sales channel. Product type segment include bench and bucket. Sales of Bucket segment Seats segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 35.46 Bn in 2017 and is slated to reach US$ 48. 82 Bn by 2025.On the basis of vehicle type, the market is segmented into passenger cars, LCV (Light Commercial Vehicles) and HCV (Heavy Commercial Vehicles). The Passenger Car market segment is estimated to dominate the global automotive Seats market with a 75.1% market value share, valued at US$ 41. 57 Bn by 2017 end; expanding at a CAGR of 4.1% over the forecast period of 2017-2025. This segment is expected to create a total incremental opportunity of US$ 15.71 Bn between 2017 and 2025. The segment is anticipated to reach a market value of US$ 57.28 Bn by 2025 end, in the global automotive seats market.Cover Material segment consists of genuine leather, synthetic leather and fabric material.The Fabric Material segment by cover material is estimated to dominate the global automotive seats market with a 63.6% market value share, valued at US$ 35,205.1 Mn by 2017 end; expanding at a CAGR of 4.2% over the forecast period of 2017-2025. This segment is expected to create a total incremental opportunity of US$ 13.58 Bn between 2017 and 2025. The segment is anticipated to reach a market value of US$ 48.78 Bn by 2025 end, in the global automotive seats market.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @Technology segment include standard, powered, heated and massage. By Technology, the powered segment is expected to be a relatively attractive segment in terms of market growth rate and market size with a market value share of 17.4% by the end of 2025.By sales channel, the market is segmented into OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and aftermarket. OEM segment is expected to create a total incremental opportunity of US$ 18,339.7 Mn between 2017 and 2025. Sales of OEM segment is estimated to be valued at US$ 71,360.6 Mn by 2025 end as compared to is US$ 53,020.9 Mn in 2017.Global Automotive Seats Market: Forecast by RegionThe report covers five regions namely, North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC and MEA. Sales of Automotive Seats in North America is estimated to be valued at US$ 9889.3 Mn by the end of 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 12.45 Bn by the end of 2025, registering aCAGR of 2.9% in terms of value over the forecast period. On the other hand APAC market is estimated to dominate the global automotive seats market with a 49.5% market value share, valued at US$ 27.36 Bn by 2017 end; expanding at a CAGR of 4.1% over the forecast period of 2017-2025.Global Automotive Seats Market: Competitive LandscapeAdient PLC, Faurecia SA, Lear Corporation, Toyota Boshoku Corporation, TS Tech Co., Ltd., Magna International Inc., Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., Tachi-S Co., Ltd., NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Guelph Manufacturing Group, RECARO Holding GmbH, Gentherm, Camaco LLC, Amvian Automotive (Pvt.) Ltd., Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG, Kahovec, s r.o., Daewon Kangup Co Ltd, Siemens AG, PHOENIX SEATING LIMITED, and Autostop Global are some of the key player in the global automotive seats market.For more information about this report visit @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, 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, Con-sumer 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.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Connected Logistics Market will become worth US$55.17 bn By 2025 - Google Inc., Amazon Web Services Inc., SAP SE And Infosys Limited

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Albany, NY,17th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Connected Logistics Market - Global Industry Analysis Size Share Growth Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.Traditionally computers have been used to monitor and track logistics in transit. Connected logistics add an all new dimension to the management of logistics sector.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Connected logistics can provide valuable information related to operations in connection to logistics. Connected logistics involves multiple sensors on the vehicles, in which the products are transported, that pass on information to internal and external data feed which would provide information and analysis of the road conditions, in terms of the physical condition of the roads, traffic at various parts of the day. Further the connected logistics provide information regarding the weather, shipping lane traffic, and much more. Connected logistics could emerge as a major breakthrough in transportation of sensitive products like pharmaceutical items. There are many applications in management of such sensitive items. For instance, in the event of a stiff temperature fluctuation at the time of transit, the manufacturer would be alerted automatically and will be in a position to intervene before the products gets affected. The application of connected logistics would also enable better management of the goods, optimize management of the entire process involved in managing the logistics, and further help reduce time of delivery, and reduce damage to goods during transit. Connected logistics provide real time access to data. This enables retailers and manufacturers with information about the movement of the ships, trucks, planes, and trains and helps logistics departments of the business to plan more effectively and bring more efficiency into the process. Further, real time access to data enables handling complex logistics operations more effectively with the help of tools that are designed to accumulate and decode data. Logistics operations could be managed in a more precise and streamlined manner. In addition, it also leads to greater customer satisfaction in the logistics sector, thus creating demand for connected logistics.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Global Connected Logistics Market: Market SegmentationThe connected logistics market by service has been bifurcated into asset management, remote asset tracking, security, network management, data management. Further, the connected logistics market by end use industry has been bifurcated into freight management, food and beverage supply chain, healthcare, retail, warehouse management and others. The global connected logistics market by geography has been bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Global Connected Logistics Market: Scope of StudyThe market report deals in the forecast of the connected logistics market in terms of revenue (USD billion) as well as the CAGR for the forecast period 2016 to 2027. The competitive profiling of the key players in the global connected logistics market has been comprehensively covered under the scope of the report. The key players in the connected logistics Market have been competitively profiled across the five broad geographic regions. This competitive landscape is inclusive of the various business strategies adopted by these major players and their recent developments in the field of connected logistics market. In order to provide a detailed insight into the market dynamics of global connected logistics Market, the drivers and restraints affecting the industry are included in the study. Market dynamics include market opportunity, drivers and restraints and an extensive analysis of these factors are included in the report. Furthermore, market attractiveness breakdown has also been provided in the report. Therefore, the report provides a comprehensive study of the global Connected logistics market and also offers the forecast of the market for the period from 2017-2025.Global Connected Logistics Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key players participating in the connected logistics market include Google Inc. (U.S.), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (New York City, U.S.), Amazon Web Services Inc. (Seattle, U.S.), Microsoft Corporation (Washington, U.S.), Infosys Limited (Bangalore, India), SAP SE (Walldorf, Germany), Dynatrace LLC (Waltham, U.S.), NETSUITE Inc. (San Mateo, U.S.), Oracle Corporation (California, U.S.), Freightgate Inc. (California, U.S.).The market has been bifurcated as follows:Connected Logistics Market, by ServiceAsset ManagementRemote Asset TrackingSecurityNetwork ManagementData ManagementConnected Logistics Market, by End Use IndustryFreight ManagementFood and Beverage Supply ChainHealthcareRetailWarehouse ManagementOthers?Connected Logistics Market, by Geography:North AmericaThe U.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeThe U.K.GermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia PacificChina(Including Taiwan)IndiaJapanSouth KoreaRest of Asia PacificMiddle East & AfricaUAEBrowse Report @Saudi ArabiaSouth AfricaRest of MEALatin AmericaBrazilRest of AmericaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on :
Automotive Gears Market Sees Promising Growth during 2017 - 2025

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An automotive gear is a rotating part containing teeth, which forms a mesh with another toothed machine part or gear and transmits torque. The gears can change torque, speed and direction of the power source and are considered to be a critical component in an automotive system for its locomotion. The automotive gears market has evolved from manual gear shift prototypes to automatic gear transmission systems in current set of vehicles. Automatic transmission has gained traction in automotive gears market at present owing to improved product durability and fuel efficiency of the vehicle. Technologically advanced gear system helps in smooth functioning of engine and avoid engine losses that may result from friction and lubrication. This reduces the emission level of vehicle.The demand of automotive gear system derived from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) as well as aftermarket of which the aftermarket is considered to be the prominent contributor for the growth of automotive gears market.Request Report For TOC @The growth in passenger as well as production of vehicles has resulted in demand increase of the automotive gears. The automotive gears market is primarily driven by the increasing demand for improved acceleration and low carbon footprint in the automotive vehicles. The limited product shelf life in conventional gear systems also can be attributed to the growth of automotive gears market.The lightweight and highly durable aluminum and composite gears are estimated to gain popularity with their market registering a significant growth during the forecast period. Parallel shaft gears and skew shaft gears together are expected to account for a large market share in the overall automotive gears market over the forecast period.Increasing demand for the automatic transmission in vehicles is one of the growing trends witnessed in the automotive industry, which in turn has increased the demand of automotive gears market.Obsolescence is one of the major restraints for the auto gear manufacturers which affects the auto gear production with the change in technology the parts replacing the existing prototypeRequest to Sample of Report @The burgeoning production volume for passenger and LCV in the Asia Pacific region is expected to be an attractive market for the global automotive gears market.North America is expected to be another prominent market during the forecast period owing to the large customer base for vehicles in this region particularly in commercial vehicles thus facilitating the growth of the automotive gears market. The growing North American automotive market thus represents several opportunities for manufacturers of automotive gears and other automotive parts.Europe followed by North America is estimated to account for a considerable share of the global automotive gears market during the forecast period with France, U.K., Italy, and Germany being the prominent countries.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:
Polyphenylene Ether Alloy (PPE) Market Expected to reach a valuation of US$1,951.2 mn by 2025 - Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation And Mitsubishi Engineering Plastics Corporation

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Albany, NY,17th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Polyphenylene Ether Alloy (PPE) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.Polyphenylene ether alloy is an engineering thermoplastic widely employed in automotive, electrical & electronic, and industrial applications. They are also known as blended or modified polyphenylene ether alloy as other thermoplastics such as polystyrene or polyamide has been used in their formulation.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @They possess various characteristic features such as high dielectric properties, high insulation, and dimension stability; it also possess low shrinkage, and high temperature performance properties. They are recyclable and are environment friendly in nature.The report estimates and forecasts the polyphenylene ether alloy market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2025 based on volume (Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2016 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the polyphenylene ether alloy market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the polyphenylene ether alloy market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes global average price trend analysis of polyphenylene ether alloy.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the polyphenylene ether alloy market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein application and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report comprises price trend analysis for polyphenylene ether alloy between 2017 and 2025.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Global Polyphenylene Ether Alloy Market: Research MethodologySecondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Global Polyphenylene Ether Alloy Market: Market SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the polyphenylene ether alloy market by dividing it into product type, end-user, and geography. The polyphenylene ether alloy market has been segmented into PPE/PS, PPE/PA, PPE/PP, and others. End-user segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2017 and 2025.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for polyphenylene ether alloy in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for end-user and product type segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual end-users and products in all the regions and countries.Global Polyphenylene Ether Alloy Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corporation, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Mitsubishi Engineering-plastics Corporation, and Sumitomo Chemical Company. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).The global polyphenylene ether alloy market has been segmented as follows:Polyphenylene Ether Alloy Market  Product Type AnalysisPPE/PSPPE/PAPPE/PPOthersPolyphenylene Ether Alloy Market  End-user Type AnalysisAutomotiveElectrical & electronicsIndustrialOthersPolyphenylene ether alloy Market  Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyFranceU.K.ItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanASEANRest of Asia PacificMiddle East & AfricaGCCSouth AfricaBrowse Report @Rest of Middle East & AfricaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin 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 :
Home Theater Audio Systems Market Growing at a CAGR Of 5% through 2025

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Multi-room audio systems, which enable to play songs through mobile application, are expected to pave huge opportunities for home theatre audio systems manufacturers. Integration of home audio systems with wearable devices have compelled manufacturers in developing smart and networked speakers. Global sales of home theatre audio systems will account for revenues worth US$ 9,954 Mn in 2017, according to a report by Persistence Market Research (PMR). PMRs report projects the global home theatre audio systems market to register 5% CAGR through 2025. Global sales of home theatre audio systems are estimated to reach nearly US$ 15,000 Mn in revenues by 2025-end.Key Takeaways from Findings of PMRs Report on Global Home Theatre Audio Systems MarketLow-range home theatre audio systems will remain sought after, based on price range. Sales of premium home theatre audio systems will register fastest growth in the market. In addition, revenues from sales of mid-range home theatre audio systems will remain comparatively higher than that of premium home theatre audio systems.Un-organized retail stores will remain the most lucrative sales channel for home theatre audio systems, expanding at the highest CAGR through 2025. Sales of home theatre audio systems in organized sales channel will account for revenues worth US$ 5,909.2 Mn by 2025-end.By technology, Bluetooth home theatre audio systems will remain dominant in the market, followed by Wi-Fi. In addition, sales of Wi-Fi and NFC home theatre audio systems are estimated to exhibit parallel expansion at 4.8% CAGR through 2025.More than 40 Mn units of 9.1 channel & above home theatre audio systems are expected to be sold by 2025-end, based on channel type. In terms of volume, sales of 6.1 channel home theatre audio systems will comparatively lower than other channel type segments in the market.North America will continue to be dominant in the global home theatre audio systems market, with sales poised to reach US$ 4,748.8 Mn by 2025-end. Asia-Pacific (APAC) will remain the second largest market for home theatre audio systems, closely followed by Europe. However, sales in Europe will exhibit a comparatively higher CAGR than APAC through 2025.Request to sample reportIncreasing Adoption of Wireless Home Theatre Audio Systems to Drive Market Growth in North AmericaIncreasing adoption of wireless home theatre audio systems equipped with features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is expected to drive growth of the market in North America. Audio industry in the region has been witnessing a rise in technological advancements, transforming the fashion in which music is played and appreciated. This is further expected to fuel demand for home theatre audio systems in North America. However, increasing risk of subsequent hearing loss, resulting from prolonged exposure to music with noise levels over 85 decibels, is likely to inhibit growth of the market in this region.Increasing Government Support for In-house Manufacturing to Influence Growth of the Market in APACGovernments in Asia Pacific countries are providing necessary support for in-house manufacturing through various schemes, for example  Make in India scheme by the Indian government. This has further led towards reduction in manufacturing costs, thereby prices of products. The home theatre audio systems market in APAC is expected to be highly influenced by such initiatives of governments. In addition, increasing population, especially in India and China, is further expected to impact adoption of home theatre audio systems in these regions.However, confined living spaces in APAC countries, owing to ever-growing population, has resulted into disturbance to neighbors caused by high frequency of home theatre audio systems, particularly in urban areas. This has led people living in urban areas to adopt personal hearing devices such as earphones, or, Bluetooth speakers. These factors are expected to restrain growth of the home theatre audio systems market in APAC.Key market players identified in PMRs report include Bose Corporation, Harman International Industries, Yamaha Corporation, Sony Corporation, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd, LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics, Pioneer Corporation, VOXX International Corp, Sound United LLC, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Bowers & Wilkins, Pioneer Corporation, Bang & Olufsen, Braven LC, Sonos.Request Report for TOC @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, 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, Con-sumer 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.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Online Survey Software Market : New Business Opportunities & Investment Research Report 2017- 2025

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Global Online Survey Software Market: OverviewThe ever-changing consumer behaviour patterns and the increasing need among sellers to understand it has largely fueled the growth of the global online survey software market. The growing e-commerce activity that is indicative of the fluctuating and changing consumer spending habits can be effectively scrutinized through online survey software. Widespread internet penetration and the improving access to high-speed internet have drastically propelled the demand for online products and services. Additionally, the increasing expenditure on online marketing have resulted in surveys being conducted to allow companies to reach out to a wider audience in the remotest areas. All of these factors will be collectively responsible for the soaring revenues of the global online survey software market in the near future.Global Online Survey Software Market: Key TrendsThe global online survey software market is likely to witness intense competition in the coming years due to a presence of large number of national and international players in the market. These companies are expected to compete on the basis of technologies, product differentiation, services, quality, and price modeling among others. The geographical reach of these companies is also projected to be instrumental in defining the growth of the global online survey software market.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Currently, the key users of global online survey software are market research firms, manufacturing units, financial services, and the retail sector. Of these, the market research firms hold a lions share in the global market and are expected to dominate in the revenue contributions in the coming years as well. Market research firms extensively use online software solutions, implementation of advanced software, data analytics tools, cloud-based online survey software, along with other features to implement web-based surveys for qualitative and quantitative analysis for various products and services. Analysts project that advantages such as efficient management of complex market research projects, swift data collection, ability to collect responses from global respondents, and tremendous help in generating accurate report based on the collected information is making these software famous amongst market research firms.Global Online Survey Software Market: Market PotentialExpansion is expected to be an important move for several online survey software companies. For instance, US-based Qualtrics stated that it intends to expand to Asia Pacific region along with its plans to tap into the Australian market. In line with this move, the company plans to open offices in Brisbane, Singapore, and Japan in the coming few years. The talk about Qualtrics going public has also been going around in the industry. Qualtrics recently announced the launch of its new product, the XM Platform, which brings together brand, product, employee, and customer experience to help users understand their consumers better.Request TOC of the Report @Global Online Survey Software Market: Regional OutlookFrom a geographic point of view, the global online survey software market is segmented into the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The Americas held a dominant share in the global market in 2016. The region is estimated to continue its dominance in the coming years due to a high adoption rate of technology. Users are opting for cloud-based online surveys as opposed to on-premise methods due to their convenience and ease of access. The online survey software market in the Americas will also be propelled by the strong presence of leading players in the region.Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:Some of the leading players operating in the global online survey software market are CloudCherry, Getfeedback, Campaign Monitor, Medallia, Inqwise, QuestionPro, SoGoSurvey, Toluna, Zoho, SurveyGizmo, Confirmit, Qualtrics, and SurveyMonkey.Get Discount @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
SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market will expand at a phenomenal 51.4% CAGR between 2017 and 2025 - Silver Peak, Inc., Cloudgenix Inc. And Nuage Networks

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Albany, NY,17th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.This report on the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) 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 SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market growth during the said period. Technologies that are playing a major role in driving the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market have also been covered in the study. The study provides a comprehensive analysis on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of value estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies.The report also includes key developments in the SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market. Porter Five Force analysis and funding received are also included in the report. The report also covers segment wise comparison matrix, market attractiveness analysis and market share analysis for all regions covered in the scope of study.Comparison matrix includes segment growth matrix, 2015 - 2025 (%), segment value share contribution, 2015 - 2025 (%), and segment compounded growth matrix (CAGR %). Market attractiveness identifies and compares segments market attractiveness on the basis of CAGR and market share index.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Global SD-WAN Market: SegmentationThe SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) market has been segmented on the basis of component, deployment, service, vertical and geography. Based on component, the market has been divided into virtual appliance, physical appliance and hybrid segment. Based on deployment, the market has been divided into on-premise and cloud. 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.Based on service, the market has been divided into managed services and professional services. Managed services could be defined as the outsourcing of management responsibilities and functions in order to cut expenses and improve operational efficiency while professional services could mean the intangible product sold by a vendor or a contractor to a customer in order to help them manage their businesses. The providers of such services have specialized knowledge about different areas of interest. The market on the basis of vertical has been segmented into BFSI, Retail, Healthcare, Government, IT & Telecom, Manufacturing and Others (Oil & Gas and Mining & Transportation).Geographically, the report classifies the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) 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, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.Global SD-WAN Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report also includes competition landscape which include competition matrix, market share analysis of major players in the global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) 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 SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market include Silver Peak, Inc., Talari Networks, Inc., Nuage Networks, VeloCloud Networks, Inc., Versa Networks, Inc., Viptela, Inc., Riverbed Technology, Inc., Cloudgenix Inc., Fatpipe Networks Inc. and Citrix Systems, Inc.The global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market is segmented as below:Global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By ComponentVirtual AppliancePhysical ApplianceHybridGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By DeploymentOn-PremiseCloudGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By ServiceManaged ServicesProfessional ServicesGlobal SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By VerticalBFSIRetailHealthcareGovernmentIT & TelecomManufacturingOthers (Oil & Gas and Mining & Transportation)Global SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) Market, By GeographyNorth AmericaThe U.S.CanadaRest of North AmericaEuropeThe U.KGermanyFranceRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaJapanIndiaRest of APACBrowse Report @Middle East and Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaUAERest of MEASouth AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on :
United States Letrozole Market Report 2017 : By Product, Application, Manufacturer, Sales and Segmentation - QYResearchreports

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Notes:Sales, means the sales volume of LetrozoleRevenue, means the sales value of LetrozoleThis report studies sales (consumption) of Letrozole in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player, coveringTevaActavisMylanFresenius KabiEndoApotexSun PharmaHengruiGet Free Sample And TOC Details @Market Segment by States, coveringCaliforniaTexasNew YorkFloridaIllinoisSplit by product types, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoType IType IISplit by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Letrozole in each application, can be divided intoApplication 1Application 2List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of LetrozoleTable Classification of LetrozoleFigure United States Sales Market Share of Letrozole by Type in 2015Table Application of LetrozoleFigure United States Sales Market Share of Letrozole by Application in 2015Figure United States Letrozole Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure United States Letrozole Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Table United States Letrozole Sales of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)Table United States Letrozole Sales Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)Figure 2015 Letrozole Sales Share by ManufacturersGet discount on Purchase report atAbout 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 affectstheir business operations.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Cloud-based Value-added Services Market 2017  Recent Study Including Growth Factors, Applications, Regional Analysis, Key Players and Forecasts till 2022

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Global Cloud-based Value-added Services Market Size Status and Forecast 2022 newly adds in ReportsWeb.com database. This report covers leading key company profiles with information such as business overview, regional analysis, consumption, revenue and specification.Cloud-based Value-added Services is progressively developing, because of the mind boggling accomplishments in exceedingly effective and canny instruments and innovations that are quickly rising. These improvements have extended the conceivable outcomes of taking e-learning to awesome statures, like never before some time recently.Get Free Sample Copy atCompanies Profiled in this report includes Cisco, Huawei, IBM, Infosys, Ericsson, CALLUP, Ethrix, Gintel AS and OCSBOX.The provide details regarding the worldwide Cloud-based Value-added Services showcase is a far reaching diagram of the market, covering different viewpoints, for example, item definition, division in view of different parameters, dissemination channel, store network investigation, and the predominant merchant scene. It incorporates thorough data sourced by means of demonstrated research techniques. The data of the Cloud-based Value-added Services showcase is open in a legitimate section insightful arrangement. It is likewise mixed with pertinent charts and tables to empower per users to show signs of improvement viewpoint of the worldwide Cloud-based Value-added Services advertise.Different elements are in charge of the markets development direction, which are learned finally in the report. Whats more, the report records down the limitations that are posturing danger to the worldwide Cloud-based Value-added Services showcase. It likewise measures the bartering energy of providers and purchasers, risk from new contestants and item substitute, and the level of rivalry winning in the market. The impact of the most recent government rules is likewise examined in detail in the report. It ponders the Cloud-based Value-added Services markets direction between conjecture periods.Inquire for Discount atWith the end goal of the examination, the worldwide Cloud-based Value-added Services advertise is portioned in light of different parameters. A top to bottom local order of the market is likewise included in this. The variables which are affecting the markets development are contemplated in detail. The report additionally exhibits a round-up of vulnerabilities which organizations working in the market must evade with a specific end goal to appreciate feasible development through the course of the conjecture time frame. Other than this, profiles of a portion of the main players working in the worldwide Cloud-based Value-added Services advertise are incorporated into the report. Utilizing SWOT examination, their shortcomings and qualities are broke down. It additionally enables the answer to give experiences into the open doors and dangers that these organizations may look amid the figure time frame.Table of Content1 Industry Overview of Cloud-based Value-added Services2 Global Cloud-based Value-added Services Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles4 Global Cloud-based Value-added Services Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)5 United States Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook6 EU Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook8 China Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook9 India Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Cloud-based Value-added Services Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2017-2022)12 Cloud-based Value-added Services Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisPurchase this report at-Note: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Cardiac Implants Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Analysis, 2017-2025

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Cardiac implants are designed to monitor irregular heartbeats for people suffering from heart rhythm disorders. These abnormalities are caused by problems with the hearts electrical system, which signals the heart to contract and pump blood throughout the body. Cardiac implants comprise pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization therapy, implantable hemodynamic monitoring, and implanted heart rhythm monitors, among others, are also known as loop recorders. These implants are used in the treatment of myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias, and acute myocardial infraction. Due to growing aging population and demographic changes across the world, prevalence of heart disease is expected to increase, which in turn, is expected to increase the demand for cardiac implants in the near future. According to the American College of Cardiology, as of 2017, cardiovascular diseases accounts for around 800,000 deaths in the U.S and it remains the leading cause of death in the U.S.Browse the complete report and table of contents @Rising prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is expected to boost growth of the cardiac implants marketRising incidence of cardiovascular diseases is expected to boost growth of the cardiac implants market over the forecast period. According to the World Health Organization, in 2015, around 17.7 million deaths were recorded due to cardiovascular diseases, out of which around 7.4 million deaths were caused due to coronary heart disease and 6.7 million deaths due to stroke. The other factors that are contributing to growth of the market include sedentary lifestyle leading to adoption of unhealthy eating habits, rampant advancements in technologies such as Cardialen, Parachute Implant, Watchman, HVAD Pump (HeartWare Ventricular Assist System), and HeartMate 3 are leading to new therapies for heart failure as well as growing geriatric population. However, high cost of the devices making it unaffordable for the middle and low income population is hindering growth of the global cardiac implants market are.Market Taxonomy:The global cardiac implants market is segmented on the basis of devices, application, end users, and geography.On the basis of devices, the global cardiac implants market is segmented into:Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) Devices,Pacemaker Devices,Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Devices,Implantable Hemodynamic Monitoring,Implanted Heart Rhythm Monitors,.On the basis of application, the global cardiac implants market is segmented into:Arrhythmias,Myocardial Ischemia,Acute Myocardial Infraction,Congestive Heart Failure,Others,.On the basis of end user, the global cardiac implants market is segmented into:Hospitals,Ambulatory Surgical Centers,Specialty Clinics,Ask for customization:Increasing demand for pacemakers is expected to propel growth of the cardiac implants market in North AmericaOn the basis of regions, the global cardiac implants market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to hold a dominant position in the market, owing to the rising demand for pacemakers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017, every year around 790,000 people have a heart attack, out of which 580,000 are reported as new cases, and 210,000 are recurring cases. Every 40 seconds one heart attack case is reported in the U.S. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to be the key region in the global cardiac implants market. This is mainly due to rampant advancements in technology such as MRI compatible pacemakers, increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, and rising prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.Increasing development of innovative products is expected to propel growth of the cardiac implants marketMajor players operating in the global cardiac implants market include Medtronic, Inc. Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott Vascular Inc., Edwards LifeScience Corporation, Thoractec Corporation, Syncardia systems, and St Jude Medical, Inc. Key players are focusing on strategic mergers and acquisitions and development of innovative products. For instance, in 2014, Medtronic announced the worlds first smallest minimally invasive cardiac pacemakerMicra TPS (Transcatheter pacing system), in the U.S. The device is delivered into the heart directly through a catheter inserted in the femoral vein. Micra TPS does not require the use of wires to connect to the heart, this in turn reduces recovery time and complications as compared to conventional pacemaker implants.Browse The Complete Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website:
Gas Hydrates Market Poised to Garner Maximum Revenues During 2016-2026

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Gas hydrates are also known as methane hydrates and are cage-structured lattices of water molecules which contains methane, the foremost component of natural gas. Gas hydrates are crystalline, naturally occurring, ice-like substances which is poised of gas particles bonded in a cage-like arrangement. Gas hydrates are a rigorous arrangement of natural gas but are less concerted as compared to liquefied natural gas. Gas hydrates occur in beneath of the sediment outer continental margins in foremost regions of Siberia and Alaska. Gas hydrates occur in a modes of occurrence and varied range of geologic settings. These regions include host lithology, gas hydrate in abundance, and distribution inside the burial depth, sediment matrix, water depth, and several others. The key regulatory factor on where gas hydrate forms is availability of methane and lithology.Gas Hydrates Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe major factors driving the growth of gas hydrates market are growing demand of oil and gas across the world, gas hydrates end-user adaptability. Moreover, the market is seen as an opportunity in gas sector as most of the major gas & oil players across the world are doing an advanced research to drive methods for extraction of gas hydrates from ocean. Although, recently India and Japan, are launching aspiring projects to examine the feasibility of gas hydrates. These initiative projects from major countries will help to answer significant questions on the properties of the design of the production system, the host reservoir, and, the economics and costs of hydrate recovery. The geological survey performed by U.S. has a dynamic research program to certificate the geographic factors to measure the volume of gas stored gas hydrate accumulations in U.S and that regulate the occurrence of gas hydrates. The factor restraining the growth of gas hydrates market is climate warming, as enormous volumes of methane are stowed across the globe in the sea floor in the form of solid methane hydrates. Gas hydrates signify an abundant energy reserve for the world. But on other hand it cause climate warming, however, could cause the hydrates to unsettle. The gas hydrates is a greenhouse gas, which can emit without any usage into the atmosphere and also can quicken the climate change.A sample of this report is available upon request @Gas Hydrates Market: Market SegmentationThe gas hydrates market is segmented into four parts based on the product type, application type, distribution channels, and geography.Based on the type the gas hydrates market is segmented into:Onshore gas hydratesOffshore/ Marine gas hydratesBased on the application type the gas hydrates market is segmented into:VehicleCommercialIndustrialOthersGas hydrates Market: Regional OutlookRegarding geography, gas hydrates market has been categorized into five key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Gas hydrates market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific represents the significantly high market share and grow with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period. North America is experiencing the rapid increase in the production capacity of gas hydrates as demand for oil and gas in the region is rising at faster pace. The gas hydrates market is projected to register healthy growth in coming five years due rising consumption of gas hydrates across globe in future. Gas hydrates market for Asia Pacific is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period primarily attributed to the growth of oil and gas industry, especially in China and India.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Gas Hydrates Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the upcoming prominent gas hydrates market are:-Global Oil & Gas AGPetroChinaRoyal Dutch ShellSinopecTotal SAValero EnergyOthersThe research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technology and applications.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:Abhishek BudholiyaFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Sjogren's Syndrome Market Intelligence and Analysis for Period 2017 - 2025

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Sjogrens syndrome is an inflammatory disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltrates in exocrine organs, primarily in lacrimal and salivary glands, resulting in classic sicca symptoms of dry mouth (xerostomia) and dry eyes (xerophthalmia). Etiology of the disorder is unknown though finding suggests interaction between innate immunity and acquired immunity may lead to develop Sjogrens syndrome. Worldwide, it affects one to two million people. In the U.S. Sjogrens syndrome is the second most common rheumatic disorder. This disorder can affect individuals of any age, but it is most common in elderly people (prevalence of about 3% above the age of 50 years). It affects primarily women as compared to men. The disorder segmented into primary and secondary. The disorder that occurs in the absence of other autoimmune disease, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or scleroderma is known as primary Sjogrens syndrome. The one that occurs due to presence of other autoimmune diseases is known as secondary Sjogrens syndrome.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:The Sjogrens syndrome market is growing as no single therapy is approved for both primary and secondary Sjogrens syndrome. Most of the treatment for Sjogrens syndrome is aimed at relieving symptoms such as dry mouth (saliva stimulants), gastric reflux (proton pump inhibitors or H2 blockers), infection (antifungals), and dry eyes (artificial tears). Corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents are also used for the treatment of this disorder. Researchers such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Biogen Inc. are now evaluating biological therapies for the treatment of Sjogrens syndrome. In addition, therapeutics such as abatacept and belimumab are under clinical development. As of March 2017, clinical pipeline of Sjogrens syndrome consists of 42 drug molecules, out of which 38% are biologics, 35% are small molecules, 10% are fusion protein, and 16% are others (protein, peptide, recombinant protein, and devices).The global Sjogrens syndrome market has been segmented by indication, product type, application, and geography. In terms of indication, the market has been categorized into primary Sjogrens syndrome and secondary Sjogrens syndrome. The secondary Sjogrens syndrome segment market dominated over the primary Sjogrens syndrome segment due to increased incidence and prevalence rate of other autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma). Based on product type, the market has been segmented into small molecules, biologics, and others. The biologics segment expected to grow as compared to other therapeutic segments because owing to the limitation in current treatment options In addition, majority of pipeline molecules for the treatment of Sjogrens syndrome are biologics, which has shown more promising results in clinical development. Based on application, the market has been segmented on the basis of symptomatic treatment such as dry eyes, dental care, vaginal dryness, musculoskeletal, and others.Request for Sample Copy of Report:Geographically, the global Sjogrens syndrome market is classified into five regions namely; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. The Europe and North America markets are expected to grow as compared to the Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa markets due to higher prevalence rate, increase in the number of other autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or scleroderma), rise in demand for advance treatment, and increase in geriatric population. Asia Pacific is an emerging market due to developing health care infrastructure and rising government expenditure in the health care industry. In addition, increased incidences of Sjogrens syndrome and rise in diagnosis rates are key factors driving the growth of the Asia Pacific market. However, affordability, lack of proper treatment, and poor patient education restraining the growth of the Sjogrens syndrome market in developing and undeveloped regions such as Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Major key players with strong product portfolio for the treatment of Sjogrens syndrome include, Kissei Pharmaceutical, Novartis AG, Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Amgen Inc., and Biogen, Inc.Purchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Forecast and Analysis on Synthetic Blood Substitutes and Blood Products Market for Period 2017 - 2025

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Synthetic blood substitute or artificial blood is a replacement for blood. It generally replicates and fulfills some functions of blood and provides an alternative to blood transfusion. The main purpose of artificial blood is transportation of oxygen and carbon dioxide across the body. Blood loss due to traumatic injuries and diseases is responsible for thousands of deaths each year. Furthermore, fresh blood can be stored for only 42 hours. The need of a substitute to overcome blood supply shortage and increased awareness and incidence of transfusion transmitted diseases led to the invention of artificial blood substitutes. In the past, several substances such as milk, saline solution, and sheeps blood were used as blood substitutes. Experimentation over the years led to the invention of new type of blood substitute called perflurochemical in 1966. However, it had few side effects. The artificial blood or blood substitute should possess certain characteristics to be used as replacement. It should be able to transport and release oxygen when required, should be sterile, and have definite shelf life.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:Increase in demand for blood transfusion in cases such as blood loss during surgeries, trauma, and anemia led to growth of synthetic blood substitutes. Increase in incidence of disease seeking medical interventions or surgeries, rise in road accidents, military wars and trauma cases, insufficient number of blood donors, and rise in blood related disorders are the major drivers of the synthetic blood substitutes and blood products market. Advent of stem cell therapy has created new opportunities for players in this market. However, instability and lower shelf life of artificial blood products and stringent regulatory approval process are considered major restraints of the synthetic blood substitutes and blood products market.Based on product type, the synthetic blood substitutes and blood products market has been segmented into perflurocarbon-based products (PFC), hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers, synthetic platelets, recombinant factors, and blood expanders. Commonly used PFCs are Perfluorodecalin and Perflubron. Major advantage of PFCs is easy transportation of oxygen throughout the body. However, decrease in blood platelets count is a major side effect of usage of PFC. Hemoglobin-based blood carriers are preferred over PFCs due to longer shelf life. However, hemoglobin-based blood carriers can cause anaphylactic shock when frequently used in patients.Request for Sample Copy of Report:In terms of region, the synthetic blood substitutes and blood products market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to hold the largest market share owing to advanced research and development in stem cell therapy. Key players in the synthetic blood substitutes and blood products market are BioPure, Sangart, Inc., Northfield Laboratories, Dentritech, Inc., HemoBioTech, Inc., Dextro-Sang Corp., Baxter International, FluorO2 Therapeutics, and Alpha Therapeutic Corp.Purchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Drug and Gene Delivery System Market Insights and Analysis for Period 2017 - 2025

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Drug delivery system are advanced engineered technologies used for the controlled release and targeted delivery of the therapeutic agents. Administering the drug locally rather than systemically would reduce the adverse effects while maximizing the treatment effects. Drug delivery systems has been changing drastically since past few decades and greater changes are anticipated in the future with the advancement in the biomedical engineering. The more targeted the drug is the less are the chances of developing drug resistance.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:Gene delivery system is referred to as the process of introduction of foreign DNA into the host cell. Gene therapy consist of the insertion of the normal gene into a genome through a vector to replace the abnormal or disease causing gene. Gene delivery system should have the following three characteristics  vector should protect the transgene from nuclease enzyme. Should transport transgene from plasma membrane to target cell nucleus, should not have any toxic effects. A clear understanding of mechanism of interaction between the target cell and delivery system is required for the successful design of the gene delivery system. Recent advances in the field of molecular biology and r-DNA technology is changing the basis of the clinical research and drug and gene delivery system is extensively employed for treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases and auto-immune diseases.Few of the market drivers for the drug and gene delivery system are emerging new and advanced technologies, increased investment on the R&D of drug delivery and gene delivery methods and better targeting and low dosing frequency. Growing demand for the self-administration and home healthcare devices is also fueling the growth of drug and gene delivery system market. However stringent regulatory process, technical barriers, increased drug recalls are few of the restraints for the drug and gene delivery market. Based on the product type drug delivery system is segment into oral drug delivery system, transmucosal drug delivery system, inhalation/pulmonary drug delivery system, transdermal drug delivery system, injection-based drug delivery system, carrier based drug delivery system. Carrier based drug delivery system is further segmented into liposomal drug delivery system and nanoparticle drug delivery system. Based on technology drug delivery system are segmented into intrauterine implants, prodrug implants, polymeric drug delivery and targeted drug delivery, Based on the application the drug delivery system are segmented into infectious disease, oncology, ophthalmology, urology, diabetes, lung-specific drug delivery system, CNS drug delivery system.Request for Sample Copy of Report:Based on vector type gene delivery system is segmented into viral gene delivery system, non-viral gene delivery system and combined hybrid systems. Viral gene delivery system is further segmented into adenoviral delivery system, lentiviral gene delivery system, retrovirus gene delivery system, adeno-associated viral delivery system, sendai virus and herpes simplex viral delivery system. Non-viral gene delivery system is further segmented into natural organic compounds, physical methods and chemical methods. Natural organic compounds include naked DNA or plasmid DNA, physical method include electroporation, gene gun, sonoporation, magnetofection, ultrasound, hydrodynamic therapy. Chemical methods include polymers, electrostatic interaction, encapsulation, adsorption, liposomes, dendrimers, cationic lipid compatible systems and nanoparticle carriersBased on geography the drug and gene delivery system is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. It is anticipated that North America would dominate the market due to advanced healthcare infrastructure, increased funding for research and development activities for drug and gene delivery system. Asia Pacific region is anticipated to grow significantly due to the vast untapped market, adaption of advanced delivery systems. Key players are Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Inc., 3M company, Amgen Inc, Astrazeneca plc, Bayer AG, Baxter International Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Becton, Dickinson and Company Teva Pharmaceuticals, Boston Scientific and Novartis AGPurchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Seaweed Market Estimated to Experience a Hike in Growth during 2016  2024

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Seaweed is species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae, which are found in oceans and seas across the globe. The hydrocolloids such as alginate, agar, and carrageenan, gelatinous substances are extracted from seaweed. Seaweed is beneficial to health to fight against illness and diseases. Seaweed is used in food, medicines, cosmetics and organic fertilizers and feed additives.The red seaweed is a source for carrageenan hydrocolloid, which is highly used in food industry owing to its improved gelling and thickening property. The red seaweed segment is anticipated to dominate among the product type segment, due to the increasing demand for agar and carrageenan from the food industry. The brown seaweeds is expected to follow red seaweeds owing to the growing use of brown seaweed in animal feed additives and fertilizers.Request Report for TOC @On the basis of form type, the liquid form seaweed is expected to account for larger market share in terms of value and volume, this is owing to rising demand from agriculture and pharmaceutical industries across the globe. On the other hand, the human food segment is expected to hold significant market share among the application segment, this is due to increase in seaweed consumption in human food coupled with increasing demand for seaweed derived snacks. The global seaweed market is anticipated to witness significant CAGR during the forecast period.Global Seaweed Market: Drivers, Restraints, and TrendsIncreasing consumption of seaweed as a food extract, medical use, and for bio-refining is expected to drive the demand for seaweed. Furthermore, growing consumer awareness regarding nutritional benefits of seaweed, rising demand for alginate in food, pharmaceutical industries is expected to boost the growth of global seaweed market. In addition, increasing demand for seaweed derived snacks is anticipated to fuel the demand for seaweed.Request to Sample of Report @Global Seaweed Market: Regional OutlookBased on the geographies, the global seaweed market is segmented into five key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Owing to the increase in harvesting and consumption of seaweed in China, Japan and Indonesia, the Asia Pacific seaweed market is anticipated to hold major revenue market share. North America and Europe is anticipated to collectively, contribute in the global seaweed market, this is due to increasing seaweed harvesting coupled with consumption in US, Germany, UK and France.Also, rising demand for seaweed in food industries coupled with increasing investments in R&D activities by key manufacturers in US, and increasing popularity for seaweed baths coupled with increasing use of seaweed in German beer (contains agars, carrageenans and alginates) in Germany and UK are making these regions as favorable regions. Owing to growing consumer awareness regarding medical and other benefits of seaweeds in Brazil, GCC countries and South Africa, the Latin America and MEA are expected to witness modest growth rate.Global Seaweed Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global seaweed market includeCargill, Incorporated, DuPon, Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL), Biostadt India Limited,Brandt Consolidated, Inc., COMPO Expert GmbH, Gelymar, Lonza Group Ltd., Marinalg International, Ocean Harvest Technology, Ocean Rainforest Sp/F, Qingdao Bright Moon Group Co., Ltd., Groupe Roullier, Seasol, TBK Manufacturing Corporation, W Hydorcolloids Inc., CP Kelco, High Hope Foods (Nanjing) Co., Ltd.Read Report Overview @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:
Sinus Dilation Products Market: Future market projections for forthcoming years

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Sinuses are the hollow cavities present in the cranial bone, used to store and secrete mucus and also doubling up as a resonance chamber for the voice. The upkeep of the sinus can play a vital role in maintaining overall human health. Sinuses can naturally expel mucus and foreign objects with ease, but there are commonly occurring cases where the sinus cavity of a person may not be able to do so. The cause for this ranges from diseases and infections that cause the sinus to get inflamed or congested, to congenital defects in the sinus cavity. The more severe cases of sinus congestion, known as sinusitis, requires medical aid to be maintained, giving rise to the need for products such as sinus dilation products.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:Commonly, sinus dilation products can vary in type depending on the type of sinus congestion, which is classified into chronic, acute, and sub-acute, based on the duration of symptoms affecting a patient. Some of the key factors driving the global sinus dilation products market are the growing number of patients suffering from nasal congestion, along with the consistent rate of development in products. Products such as balloon nasal dilation devices that are aimed at the more severe cases of nasal congestion are being developed at a very fast pace, allowing their use to cause minimal discomfort to a patient while improving results.Sinuses are hollow, air-filled cavities in the cranial bones, near the nose and connecting to it. Sinuses are used for secretion of mucus and thus helps in providing resonance to the voice. Mucus plays a vital role by preventing foreign particles from reaching the lungs and preventing the nasal cavity from dryness. The sinuses have openings which allows the mucus to drain and flow into the nasal passage. But in few cases, the sinus openings are blocked and thus the mucus remains logged inside causing infection, headache, congestion, and inflammation. This severe condition is called sinusitis. According to the duration of symptoms, sinusitis is divided into three types: acute, sub-acute, and chronic. The treatment of sinusitis is decided depending upon the duration of infection. Sinus dilation devices are used for dilating the sinus openings in order to allow the mucus to drain. This is a minimally invasive procedure and has long-lasting effects. In case of chronic sinusitis, doctors recommend surgery.Request for Sample Copy of Report:Important factors driving the growth of the sinus dilation products market are increasing incidence of sinusitis worldwide and continuous innovation in technology. According to the CDC, nearly 12% of population in the U.S., in the age group of 18 years and above, suffers from sinusitis. New developed devices and technologies such as balloon sinus dilation systems are more effective and have less invasive risk. This factor is likely to boost the growth of the global sinus dilation products market. In addition, the technological advancement of devices from local players is projected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period. However, few factors such as prescription drugs such as antibiotics and decongestants which are primary treatment options and high cost of sinus dilation products are restraining the growth of the market. The global sinus dilation products market is segmented according to product type, end-user, and geography. In terms of product type, the market is segmented into balloon sinuplasty systems, sinus ventilation devices, distal suction blades, sinoscopes, sinus seekers, nasal catheters, nasal forceps, and others. On the basis of end-user, the market is categorized into hospitals, specialty clinics, and ambulatory surgical centers. In terms of geography, the market is distributed over North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.North America is expected to continue to dominate the global sinus dilation products market during the forecast period. According to the CDC, in 2013 there were 29 million people in the U.S. affected with chronic sinusitis. Chronic sinusitis is one of the ten costliest health conditions in the U.S. The market growth in the region is attributed to the increasing demand for rapid treatment offered by new sinus dilation systems. Europe is the second largest market for sinus dilation products. Asia Pacific is an emerging market with increasing incidence of chronic sinusitis due to unhealthy conditions, pollution, and continuous changing climatic conditions. In Asia Pacific, India, China, and Japan are projected to be major contributors to the growth of the sinus dilation products market in terms of revenue. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are emerging markets for sinus dilation products. Key players operating in the sinus dilation products market include Acclarent, Inc., Medtronic, Entellus Medical, Inc., SinuSys Corporation, Smith & Nephew plc, Aetna Inc., KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, and Olympus Corporation.Purchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Cryoablation Device Market to 2025: Trends, Business Strategies and Opportunities

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Cryoablation is a treatment in which the irritated nerve is numbed by using localized freezing temperatures. Cryoablation is commonly known as cryosurgery, percutaneous cryoablation, or targeted cryoablation. It is the best treatment used in treating localized cancers, such as prostate cancer and skin cancer, and few abnormal skin cells. Cryoablation is used in treating conditions such as benign nerve growth which is neuromas, various forms of nerve entrapments, pre-cancerous skin nodules, skin tags, retinoblastoma, and liver and cervical cancer. In this treatment, a probe is inserted near the affected tissue and the temperature of the probe goes down effectively to freeze the nerve. The freezing process inactivates the nerve and thus the irritated nerve is relieved from pain. The current cryoablation treatment uses imaging guidance, a cryoprobe which is like a needle applicator, and liquid nitrogen or argon gas for intense freezing to destroy the abnormal cells.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:The global cryoablation device market is expected to be a promising market during the forecast period. The market growth is driven majorly by factors such as innovation in surgery technologies, rising demand for advanced treatment therapy in developed countries, rising incidence of various types of cancer wherein target specific treatment is possible, and increasing prevalence of nerve diseases. In addition, increasing emphasis on minimally invasive surgery over the conventional method is an important factor for the market growth. According to the WHO, it is projected that cancer cases are expected to increase more than 70% by 2030. It is estimated that approximately 9 million deaths are due to various types of cancer. However, the treatment with cryoablation devices leaves the tissue affected with unusual sensations such as numbness, tingling, and irritation of the skin, which is one of the restraining factors for the market growth.The global cryoablation device market is segmented according to device, application, end-user, and region. In terms of device, the market is segmented into tissue contact probe ablators, epidermal and subcutaneous cryoablation systems, and tissue spray probe ablators. In terms of application, the market is segmented into oncology, dermatology, cardiology, pain management, ophthalmology, and gynecology. In terms of end-user, the market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and research institutes.Request for Sample Copy of Report:Geographically, the global cryoablation device market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the cryoablation device market due to well-developed health care infrastructure and availability of advanced medical technology and skilled professionals. These are the factors driving the market growth for cryoablation device. Europe is the second largest market for cryoablation devices. Use of advanced medical technology and well-developed health care infrastructure along with increasing awareness about different treatment options are factors boosting the growth of the Europe cryoablation device market. Asia Pacific is expected to project a fast growth rate during the forecast period due to increasing awareness about different treatment options and fast growing economies such as India and China. Latin America is an emerging market for cryoablation treatment and is expected to expand at a significant growth rate due to increasing awareness and improving economic conditions. Middle East & Africa is likely to be a promising market due to slow economic growth and high cost incurred in the treatment. Key players operating in the global cryoablation device market include CryoConcepts LP, Brymill Cryogenic Systems, Metrum Cryoflex, CooperSurgical, Inc., Cortex Technology, Cryoalfa, Erbe Elektromedizin, GmbH, Galil Medical, Inc., Medtronic Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation, AtriCure, Inc., Smith & Nephew plc., Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, Terumo Corporation, and Johnson & Johnson.Purchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Blood Viscometer Market Research Report by Key Players Analysis 2025

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The measurement of the viscosity of blood is done by using a blood viscometer. Rheometer measures the viscosity of a fluid with various flow conditions, whereas, viscometers measure the viscosity with one flow condition. The applications of the blood viscometer are to diagnose the viscosity of the blood which is helpful in diagnosis of all known risk factors related to cardiovascular diseases, which include high blood cholesterol, pressure, smoking, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases. This helps predict cardiovascular diseases, and ultimately, the viscosity of the blood can be improved with the help of the medication from experts. Not only the blood viscometer helps in the prediction of cardiovascular diseases but also, other major diseases such as Alzheimers disease, migraines, diabetes, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis.Browse Premium Industry Research Report with Analysis:Viscosity can be determined over a wide range of shear stresses, as infrared sensors are incorporated in the new capillary blood viscometer. The blood viscometer is designed in such a way that the blood flows through the capillary and the flow of the blood varies according to the time. In the blood viscometer there is an air chamber which has a suitable transducer to measure the pressure and the pressure varies according to the time. The blood flows through a compliant membrane to the sample in a fixed volume air chamber due to pressure. In the capillary, the air pressure controls the instantaneous shear stress of the blood, whereas pressure, which is time derivative, controls the instantaneous shear rate. Nonlinear sample viscosity determines the entire blood flow resistance. The air chamber comprises two parts, which can be disconnected from each other. This allows the easy discard of the blood containing part of the instrument, eliminating the cleaning and handling of blood-contacted components. There is no need of anticoagulants, as the entire process is completed within a minute.The driving forces of the market for blood viscometer include simplicity in usage, requirement of one run and small test sample volume, short measuring time, viscosity can be measured over a range of shear rates, and the non-requirement of anticoagulants. The advancements and developments in research of the blood viscometer have led to overcoming of the challenges posed by the traditional viscometer or rheometer methods. This, in turn, has led to the significant demand for these devices, thereby driving the market for the blood viscometer. Rising threat of various cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimers disease, migraines, diabetes, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis has greatly increased the demand for blood viscometers across the globe. However, the advancements in the research and development of other methods of prediction of cardiovascular diseases and other diseases have proven to be restraints for the blood viscometer market.Request for Sample Copy of Report:In terms of product type, the global blood viscometer market can be segmented into rotational viscometer, capillary viscometer, and other instruments. In terms of end-user, the blood viscometer market can be segmented into clinics, hospitals, laboratories, and others. Geographically, the global blood viscometer market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, & Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global blood viscometer market in 2016, as there are significant investments in research and development of blood viscometers which has led to production of the advanced and developed blood viscometers resulting in whooping considerable demand for blood viscometer products in the region. The market in Asia Pacific is estimated to expand due to the population pool especially in countries like India and China, and spreading awareness about the blood viscometers wide applications. Key players operating in the blood viscometer market include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Anton Paar, RheoSense, Brookfield, BioFluid Technology, Health Onvector, Lamy rheology, Lauda, Benson Viscometer, and HRD.Purchase this Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Paperboard Packaging Market from white lined chipboard segment to exceed $30 billion by 2024

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Paperboard Packaging Market is classified on the basis of region where Asia Pacific held a significant share in 2016 and is set to surpass USD 175 billion by the end of the forecast period. Paperboard Packaging Market size will likely surpass USD 240 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Corporate lifestyle of people and odd working hours result in home delivering and on-the-go eating habits. These factors are boosting the packaged food industry in the emerging countries. Rising number of working women in these countries is also one of the factors driving the packaged food industry in these regions. China is one of the leading packaged food manufacturer with huge bakery, processed food, sauces, dressings, and baby food production. In 2016, China packaged food market was valued over USD 275 billion and is poised to grow at a significant rate in the forecast period. Increasing consumption of such packaged food & beverages by consumers in the emerging countries due to rapidly changing lifestyles will positively influence the paperboard packaging industry in coming years.Request For Sample Copy Of This Report @Plastic, metal, and glass packaging are a few factors that may affect paperboard packaging market in coming years. Plastic is a widely used substitute product used for packaging purposes. The abundant availability of paper and paperboard material for packaging purposes and safety regulations pertaining to plastic usage however results in a traditional use of paperboard packaging all over the world.Few of the shortcomings faced by the paperboard packaging market include the higher costs than plastics and the durability. The products are not inherently water resistant and need extra protection layers of plastic to prevent moisture damage. These factors shall act as restraints for the global paperboard packaging market.Paperboard packaging market is classified based on raw materials as recycled waste paper and fresh (virgin) sources. Used and collected waste paper is recycled and added with fresh fiber for strengthening properties as recycled paper has the tendency of losing strength when reused. Impurities in recycled paper, and inferior quality are the main reasons they are not used in the packaging of food & beverages owing to the food safety standards and norms. Fresh sources majorly include wood pulp as raw materials, which account to almost 90%, while other raw materials are sugarcane bagasse, straw, hemp, cotton, etc.Browse Complete Report Summary@Considering products, the paperboard packaging market is bifurcated into containerboard and boxboard. The manufacturing process of containerboard is done on modified paper machines as they have the ability to handle superior grammages. The segment will grow at an exponential CAGR of over 8.5% from 2017 to 2024.Boxboard segment is additionally bifurcated as white lined chipboards, solid bleached boards, solid unbleached boards and folding boxboards. The white lined chipboard segment will surpass USD 30 billion by 2024.Considering application, paperboard packaging market is segmented into medical, non-durable goods, durable goods, food & beverages and others. The others segment includes machineries and industrial goods. Development in food & beverage industry, and increasing packed food consumption will positively influence the paperboard packaging market. It is one of the fastest growing segment and will exhibit growth with CAGR of over 8% in the forecast spell.Rising industrial activities and developing cosmetic, electronic and food & beverages industry is set to fuel the regional paperboard packaging market demand. Europe market will exhibit growth at a decent rate in the predicted period due to the developed market in this region paired with the supportive governmental norms.Make An Inquire to Buy This Report@Key players present in the paperboard packaging market are Badger Paperboard, Southern Champion Tray, Outlook Group LLC, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), Smurfit Kappa Group, Shandong Bohui Paper, South African Pulp & Paper Industries Limited (Sappi Limited), Stora Enso Oyj, Rock-Tenn Company, Oji Holding Corporation, Metsa Group, International Paper Company, ITC Limited, Mondi, Nippon Paper Industries, and others.Read Our Blog:About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Social Media: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Impact of Existing and Emerging Banaba Leaf Extract Market Trends 2017-2025

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Banaba tree (Lagerstroemia speciosa), the tropical flowering tree also known as pride of India has been used for making tea by brewing the dried leaves. Banaba leaf extract is still being used as a folk remedy for the treatment of diabetes in India, Philippines and other South East Asian countries. The anti-diabetic effect of banaba leaf extract is due to the presence of corosolic acid as found in clinical studies. With no adverse drug effects being reported, this extract has proven to be of immense potential, providing an alternate and safe method for the treatment of diabetes. The banaba leaf extract has shown a moderate decrease in weight and therefore it is also used in many weight loss formulations. In addition to this banaba leaf extract also helps maintain normal levels of antioxidants. This natural herbal extract has gained significant attraction from diabetic population who are looking for a better and safe diabetes medicine and thus creating a huge demand globally.Request to view Sample Report:Banaba Leaf Extract Market SegmentationBanaba leaf extract is segmented on the basis of dosage form, distribution channel and region. On the basis of dosage form it is segmented as powder, capsules and tinctures. The capsule formulation being more popular in use, is expected to endure its steady growth rate. However factors like increasing health awareness and availability of quick information online are expected to supplement the growth in sales of capsules formulation.On the basis of distribution channel banaba leaf extract is segmented as; retail stores, specialty stores, and online retail. The major share of revenue being driven by retail segment, the online retail is expected to attain a superior growth rate and a substantial market share by showcasing the information available on internet.On the basis of region the banaba leaf extract is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Japan Western Europe and Middle East. Japan with its high share in demand attributed to the vast popularity of traditional medicine and its benefits has attracted exporters worldwide and the wide acceptance of herbal health products in other developed countries like United States, Canada, France and U.K. has created a powering demand and thus it is expected to show an accelerated growth during the forecast period.Buy this Report at:Banaba leaf extract market Global Market Trends and Market Drivers:The growth of herbal healthcare market remains persistent due to its appeal as healthy and safe to use products. The sedentary lifestyle among people is creating an ever increasing demand for health and wellness promoting supplements. Banaba leaf extract with its natural no side effect USP has gained attention from the diabetic population, furthermore the consumer centric approach in treatment of disease has led to a boom in the herbal product market; consumers looking for a safer alternative to pharmaceutical medicines have approached herbal products. The high valued trust on Ayurvedic preparation in western countries has attracted the Ayurvedic manufacturers to sell their products worldwide. The cemented faith among consumers of Ayurvedic products backed by the information available globally is expected to fuel the market growth of banaba leaf extract. Further innovations like use of nanotechnology by EastGate Biotech Corp. to boost the blood glucose lowering ability of banaba leaf extract is expected to drive the market growth.Banaba Leaf Extract Market Key Players:Variety of banaba leaf extract formulations have been introduced by the manufacturers and some of the global market players manufacturing banaba leaf extract market include; Nutra Green Biotechnology Co., Ltd., JIAHERB Inc., Eastgate Biotech Corp., Cambridge Commodities Ltd., New Directions Aromatics Inc., Vitaco Holdings Ltd., Swanson Health Products Inc. Among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Tensioner Pulley Market is likely to register double digit CAGR during 2017 - 2025

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The tensioner pulley is a belt mounted to either an adjustable pivot point or to a spring mechanism which is used to keep constant tension on the serpentine belt. Tensioner pulley market registers significant growth rate, owing to growing automotive industry. North America tensioner pulley market is expected to contribute for major revenue share, attributed to high demand for passenger cars across the region.Global Tensioner Pulley Market Dynamics:The growth of the global tensioner pulley market is driven by growing industries such as automotive and manufacturing. Moreover, increasing demand for passenger cars fueling the global tensioner pulley market. Macroeconomic factors such as growing economy, rising disposable income, and rapid rate of industrialization also driving the global tensioner pulley market.Request Report for TOC @Increasing investment in the automotive industry is trending the global tensioner pulley market over the forecast period. The company offering tensioner pulley can increase its share in the global tensioner pulley market by increasing their investment in Asia-Pacific region, attributed to growing automotive industry across the region and relatively less cost required for the production of tensioner pulley particularly in China.Global Tensioner Pulley Market Segmentation:The global tensioner pulley market is segmented on the basis of product type, end-use, and region. By product type, the global tensioner pulley market segmented into automatic belt tensioner and idler pulley. Among these, automatic belt tensioner segment is growing at relatively high CAGR in terms of value in global tensioner pulley market with relatively high share.On the basis of a distribution channel, the global tensioner pulley market is further classified into original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket. Among which original equipment manufacturers segment account for a relatively high market share in tensioner pulley market over the forecast period. By end-use, the global tensioner pulley market segmented into automotive, industry machinery, and others. Among these, the automotive segment is growing at a substantial value CAGR in global tensioner pulley market with relatively high share followed by industry machinery segment over the forecast period.Request to Sample Report @On the basis of geographies, the global tensioner pulley market is segmented into seven regions -- North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific except Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Among the regions, North America account for a relatively high share of the global tensioner pulley market in terms of value, attributed to high demand for passenger cars across the region. Western Europe is followed by North America in global tensioner pulley market, owing to high demand for automotive across the region.Eastern Europe and Japan also accounts for significant value share in the global tensioner pulley market, owing to high technological advancement across the regions. The Asia-Pacific is expected to register relatively high growth rate in the global tensioner pulley market over the forecast period, owing to rapid rate of advancement in automotive industry across the region.Latin America and Middle East Africa accounts for relatively lower value share in the global tensioner pulley market, attributed to lower industrial development and economic development compared to other regions across the globe. Overall, the outlook for the global tensioner pulley market will have a positive growth over the forecast period.Global Tensioner Pulley Market Player:Few players in the global tensioner pulley market include Dayco Australia Pty Ltd., Mubea Aftermarket Services GmbH, Zhejiang Renchi Auto Parts Co., Ltd., Taizhou GEDLBT Machinery Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Gambo Industry Co. Ltd., Guangzhou Kafu Engeering Machinery Parts Co. Ltd., Gaoyao Jinxing Road Hongtong Hardware Factory, Capitol Stampings Corp., and BrewerRead Report Overview @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Automotive Braking System Market Development, Market Trend, Segmentation and Forecast to 2023

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Automotive Braking System Market Research Report- Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Global Automotive Braking System Market Information Report by Brake Type (Disc and Drum), by Brake System (ABS, TCS, ESC, and Others), by Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars and Commercial Vehicles) and by Region - Global Forecast to 2023The market is segmented on the basis of brake type, brake system, vehicle type, and region. On the basis of brake type, the market is segmented as disc brake and drum brake. Disc brake is expected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period due to the rise in safety regulations by the government. In North America and Europe, the emphasis on increasing the stopping distance, has led to the growth of the disc brake market. Currently, there is an increase in the production of passenger cars, which will drive the growth of the disc brake market. On the basis of brake system, traction control system (TCS) is expected to account for the largest market during the forecast period due to the growing technology in braking system. Government have set various regulations to make use of this type of braking system for the safety of people. Based on vehicle type, passenger car is expected to account for the largest market during the forecast period due to increase in production of passenger cars.Get Sample of Report @Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period due to growth in demand for commercial and passenger cars in countries such as India, China, and South Korea. China is expected to have the largest contribution in automotive brake system market due to increased opportunity for the brake system companies. Europe is expected to be the second largest market in automotive braking system market. Increase in demand for the production of passenger cars and increase in government regulations for the safety of the vehicle are the factors responsible for driving the automotive braking system market. The rise in vehicle safety will drive the demand of braking system in passenger cars, which will lead to the growth of this market.The key players in global automotive braking system market are Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Continental AG (Germany), ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Germany), Wabco Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), Knorr-Bremse AG (Germany), Aisin Seiki Co, Ltd. (Japan), TRW Automotive Holdings Corp (U.S.), Halla Mando Corp. (South Korea), Akebono Brake Industry Co. Ltd.( Japan), Valeo (France).Brake is a mechanism that prevents motion of the vehicle by absorbing energy when the vehicle is in moving condition. Thus, braking system is also used to stop the vehicle or slowing down of vehicle. There are various types of brake systems that are installed in the vehicle such as ABS, TCS, and ESC. They provide safety to the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion. The global automotive braking system market is expected to account for market size of 30.95 billion by 2023 with 6.89% CAGR.Enquiry before Buying @BRIEF TOC:1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Global Market, By Packaging Type5. Global Market, By Technology6. Global Market, By Application7. Global Market, By End-user8. Regional Market Analysis9. Competitive Analysis10. Conclusion11. List Of Tables12. List Of FiguresAsk for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.The report for Global Automotive Braking System Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Access Full Report @About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
New Research Report Explore Photomask Market Expected to Register a Value of US$ 4,249.1 Mn by 2026

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This research report offers a comprehensive analysis of the Photomask Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2026The main objective of this report is to deliver insightful information and clear-cut facts pertaining to the growth trajectories of the market.Request to view Sample Report @Integration of robotics is expected to be one of the key trends in the photomask market in the coming years. Increasing demand for smart home, smart infrastructure, smart cities, smart cars, etc., is driving Internet of Things (IoT) across various industries. This is resulting in the growing automation in the semiconductor industry, thereby driving the global market for photomask.A new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) expects the global market for photomask to experience sluggish growth, expanding at the CAGR of 2.3% between 2017 and 2026. The global market for photomask is also anticipated to reach US$ 4,249.1 million revenue by 2026 end.Masters to Emerge as the Highly Preferred Photomask TypeMasters is likely to emerge as one of the highly preferred photomasks. By 2026 end, masters is estimated to bring in close to US$ 2,600 million revenue. Masters mask is the photomask used to make copy masks. The circuit patterns are also made in the same size as actual size of circuit on wafers. Generally, masters mask consist the full image of final wafer and the resolution is also limited to around 1um-2um which is sufficient for many emerging or mature technologies.Captive Trade Type to Gain Maximum Revenue ShareCaptive trade type is likely to gain more than half of the revenue share by 2017 end. Captive trade type in the photomask market is estimated to reach nearly US$ 2,400 million revenue towards 2026 end. Mask shop is the factory which manufactures photomask for semiconductor industry. Captive mask shops are owned by biggest semiconductor corporations and are the part of in-house operations. Captive mask shops have also become a competitive necessity among the tier-1 device makers. Captive model is more beneficial when it comes to testing new mask sets, as merchant mask shop can only produce it but cannot test new mask sets. The time taken in mask production is also less as everything is done in-house.Emulsion Technology to Gain Maximum Traction in the MarketCompared to the various technologies in the photomask market, emulsion technology is likely to be one of the most preferred technologies in the global market for photomask. By 2026 end, emulsion technology is estimated to reach around US$ 1,900 million revenue. Emulsion glass photomask has a good dimensional accuracy and also does not get affected from humidity induced problems. Hence, it is suitable for high accuracy and high-resolution process.Browse Full Report with TOC @APEJ to Emerge as the Largest Region in the Global Market for PhotomaskSouth Korea and China are the leading countries in APEJ for photomask. These countries are the home of most of the key electronics manufacturing companies. Also, China is witnessing a huge demand for semiconductor components, especially integrated chips. The Chinese government has also done some changes in its policy to encourage development of domestic semiconductor industry. Adoption of latest technologies in North American countries such as Canada and the U.S. and high concentration of prominent semiconductor companies are driving the market for photomask in the region.Competition TrackingLG Innotek Co., Ltd, Taiwan Mask Corporation, SK-Electronics Co., Ltd, HOYA Corporation, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd, Nippon Filcon Co., Ltd, Lasertec Corporation, Photronics, Inc., KLA-Tencor Corporation, and Applied Materials, Inc., are prominent market players in the global market for photomask. Market players are focusing on developing new sets of photomasks due to the shrinking size of semiconductor devices owing to the technological advancement in packaging of semiconductor such as 3D packaging.Enquire about this Report @Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Packaging Tape Printing Market Attracts Investor Interest with Unparalleled Growth Rates at 6.2% CAGR

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Packaging Tape Printing Market Research Report- Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Global Packaging Tape Printing Market by Product (Hot Melt, Acrylic), Material (Polypropylene, PVC, Others), Printing Ink (Water-based, UV-curable) & by Region - Global Forecast to 2023.Market Synopsis of Global Packaging Tape Printing:Printing on the packaging tapes highlights the companys name and logo, facilitates the ease of stock handling and identification. It boosts the visibility of product and helps to protect the stock during transit. It also makes the product visually pleasing, thereby resulting into instant recognition of the packages.The growth of global packaging tape printing market can be majorly attributed to growing demand for aesthetic looks and innovative printing styles to print packaging tapes. Also, growth in the packaging printing industry, is expected to boost the market growth. However, factors such as fluctuation in raw material prices is the major restraint that could hinder the market growth.The global packaging tape printing market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 6.2% during the period 2017 to 2023.Get Sample of Report @Regional Analysis of Global Packaging Tape Printing Market:The Asia-Pacific region is projected to have the largest share and dominate the global packaging tape printing market during the forecast period. China being a leading manufacturer and supplier of printing materials and equipments exhibits high growth opportunities for the packaging tape printing market. While, North America accounted for the second largest market for the packaging tape printing the forecast period.Key Players:Quad/Graphics Inc. (U.S.), Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (U.S.), E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Xerox Corporation (U.S.), SIAT S.p.A (Italy), RR Donnelley & Sons (U.S.), Canon U.S.A., Inc. (U.S.), FLEXcon Company, Inc. (U.S.), WS Packaging Group (U.S.) and Cenveo, Inc. (U.S.) are some of the leading players operating in this market.Target Audience: Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerEnquiry before Buying @BRIEF TOC:1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Global Market, By Packaging Type5. Global Market, By Technology6. Global Market, By Application7. Global Market, By End-user8. Regional Market Analysis9. Competitive Analysis10. Conclusion11. List Of Tables12. List Of FiguresAsk for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.The report for Global Packaging Tape Printing Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Access Full Report @About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash Anand,Market Research FuturePune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone No. :+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Duty-Free Retailing Global Market Top Key Players  Dufry Lagardere Travel Retail , Lotte Duty Free , LVMH , Aer Rianta International (ARI) and Forecast to 2022

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Global Duty-Free Retailing MarketDescriptionWiseGuyReports.Com adds Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Duty-Free Retailing Market 2017 Forecast to 2022 Research To Its Database.This report studies the Duty-Free Retailing market. Duty-free shops?(or?stores) are?retail outlets?that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national?taxes?and?duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country. Which products can be sold duty-free vary by jurisdiction, as well as how they can be sold, and the process of calculating the duty or refunding the duty component.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Duty-Free Retailing in Global Market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Get sample Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDufryLagardere Travel RetailLotte Duty FreeLVMHAer Rianta International (ARI)China Duty Free GroupDubai Duty FreeDuty Free AmericasGebr. HeinemannJR/Group (James Richardson)King Power International Group (Thailand)The Shilla Duty FreeMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversPerfumesCosmeticsAlcoholCigarettesOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAirportsOnboard AircraftSeaportsTrain StationsOthersEnquiry About Report @Table of Contents -Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Duty-Free Retailing Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Perfumes1.2.2 Cosmetics1.2.3 Alcohol1.2.4 Cigarettes1.2.5 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Airports1.3.2 Onboard Aircraft1.3.3 Seaports1.3.4 Train Stations1.3.5 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Dufry2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.1.1 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Description2.1.1.2 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.1.2 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.1.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.1.2.2 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.1.3 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.1.3.1 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.1.3.2 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.2 Lagardere Travel Retail2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.1.1 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Description2.2.1.2 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.2.2 Dufry Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.2.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.2.2.2 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.2.3 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.2.3.1 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2.3.2 Lagardere Travel Retail Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.3 Lotte Duty Free2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.1.1 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Description2.3.1.2 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.3.2 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.3.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.3.2.2 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.3.3 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.3.3.1 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3.3.2 Lotte Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.4 LVMH2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.1.1 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Description2.4.1.2 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.4.2 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.4.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.4.2.2 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.4.3 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.4.3.1 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4.3.2 LVMH Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.5 Aer Rianta International (ARI)2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.1.1 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Description2.5.1.2 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.5.2 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.5.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.5.2.2 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.5.3 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.5.3.1 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5.3.2 Aer Rianta International (ARI) Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.6 China Duty Free Group2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.1.1 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Description2.6.1.2 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.6.2 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.6.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.6.2.2 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.6.3 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.6.3.1 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6.3.2 China Duty Free Group Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.7 Dubai Duty Free2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.1.1 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Description2.7.1.2 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.7.2 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.7.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.7.2.2 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.7.3 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.7.3.1 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.7.3.2 Dubai Duty Free Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 20162.8 Duty Free Americas2.8.1 Business Overview2.8.1.1 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Description2.8.1.2 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Headquarter, Main Business and Finance Overview2.8.2 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.8.2.1 Production Bases, Sales Regions and Major Competitors2.8.2.2 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Product Introduction2.8.3 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Revenue and Market Share2.8.3.1 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.8.3.2 Duty Free Americas Duty-Free Retailing Market Share in Global in 2016..CONTINUEDAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, Industry research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)
Global Active Protection System Industry

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Global Active Protection System IndustryLatest Report on Active Protection System Market Global Analysis & 2025 Forecast Research StudyThe report covers the analysis and forecast of the active protection system market on global as well as regional level. The study provides historic data of 2016 along with the forecast for the period between 2017 and 2025 based on revenue (US$ Mn).The study provides a detailed view of the active protection system market, by segmenting it based on by end user, by platform, by system type and regional demand. Active protection system (APS) is considered as advanced defense system of any military sector. This system is capable of interrupting and shooting down threats such as rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles. The active protection technology uses radar and sensors, fire control technology, computer processing, target and knock down and ATGMs or Anti Tank Guided Missiles. The increase in adoption of active protection system in combat vehicles has been the trending factor for driving the growth of the market during the projection period of 2017-2025.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. The segmentation also includes by end user, by platform and by system type.The competitive profiling of the key players in the global active protection system market across five broad geographic regions is included in the study. These include different business strategies adopted by the leading players and their recent developments.The report covers a detailed competitive outlook that includes the market share and company profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Aselsan A.S., Airbus Group, Raytheon Company, KBM Group LLC, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems ltd., Safran Electronics & Defense and Navistar International Corporation.Try Sample Report @A comprehensive analysis of the market dynamics that is inclusive of market drivers, restraints, and opportunities is part of the report. Additionally, the report includes potential opportunities in the active protection system market at the global and regional levels. Market dynamics are the factors which impact the market growth, so their analysis helps understand the ongoing trends of the global market. Therefore, the report provides the forecast of the global market for the period from 2016 to 2025, along with offering an inclusive study of the active protection system market.The report provides the size of the active protection system market in 2016 and the forecast for the next nine years up to 2025. The size of the global active protection system market is provided in terms of revenue. Market revenue is defined in US$ mn. The market dynamics prevalent in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America have been taken into account in estimating the growth of the global market.Market estimates for this study have been based on revenue being derived through regional pricing trends. Demand for active protection system has been derived by analyzing the global and regional demand for active protection system in each application for its respective functions. The active protection system market has been analyzed based on expected demand. Forecasts have been based on expected demand from active protection system applications. We have used the bottom-up approach to estimate the global revenue of the active protection system market, split into regions. Based on, platform, by system type, and end user, we have summed up the individual revenues from all the regions to achieve the global revenue for active protection system. The application split of the market has been derived using a bottom-up approach for each regional market separately, with the global application segment split being an integration of regional estimates. Companies were considered for the market share analysis, based on their innovation and application and revenue generation. In the absence of specific data related to the sales of active protection system several privately held companies, calculated assumptions have been made in view of the companys penetration and regional presence across all applications.The global active protection system market has been segmented into:Global Active Protection System Market: By End User Defense Homeland SecurityGlobal Active Protection System Market: By Platform Land-Basedo Light Protected Vehicles (LPV)o Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)o Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV)o Armored Personal Carrier (APC)o Main Battle Tank (MBT)o Amphibious Armored Vehicle (AAV) Airborneo Fighter Aircrafto Special Mission Aircrafto Helicopterso Others Navalo Frigateso Aircraft Carrierso Destroyerso Submarineo OthersGlobal Active Protection System Market: By System Type Electro-optics Jammers Radar Decoy Directed Energy Infrared Decoy Missile/Rocket Based Light Weapon VehiclesGlobal Active Protection System Market: By Geography North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo U.K.o Franceo Russiao Germanyo Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Indiao Chinao Japano Israelo Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East and Africao Turkeyo South Africao Rest of Middle East and Africa Latin Americao Brazilo Rest of Latin AmericaFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some points from table of content:1 INTRODUCTION1.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 ECOSYSTEM OF ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM MARKET2.2 TOP-DOWN APPROACH2.3 BOTTOM-UP APPROACH2.4 ASSUMPTIONS3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3.1 GLOBAL ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM MARKET SNAPSHOT3.2 GLOBAL ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM MARKET REVENUE, 2016  2025(US$ MN)4 MARKET OVERVIEW4.1 INTRODUCTION4.2 KEY TRENDS ANALYSIS4.3 PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSIFICATION ANALYSIS4.4 PORTERS FIVE FORCE ANALYSIS4.5 VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS4.6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE4.7 COMPANY MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS4.8 EXPANSION STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY LEADING PLAYERS5 ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM MARKET, BY END-USER5.1 OVERVIEW5.2 DEFENSE5.3 HOMELAND SECURITY6 ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM MARKET, BY PLATFORM6.1 OVERVIEW6.2 LAND BASED6.3 AIRBORNE6.4 NAVALContinued.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune  411028Maharashtra,Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing Market Analysis and In Depth Study by Type, End-use Sector, Regions, Companies, Price, Product and Forecast Study 2023

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Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing Market Research Report provides information on Products, Services, Trends, Top Companies, Verticals, Countries, Technology, Application, and Geography globally. This report will help the viewer in Better Decision Making ,offers by OrbisResearch.comDescriptionAccording to the Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report, the market is expected to reach the value of $XX million at the end of the forecast period of 2018  2023, showing good progress, rising at a CAGR of XX%. The Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report covers a detailed analysis of the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing including the various parameters on which the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing is analyzed such as the product, applications, regions, competition, and many others. The Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report from 99 Strategy is prepared keeping in mind the key requirements of the customer, which is to empower them with the information to take on the market.Get a Free sample of Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing Market report atEach product is analyzed in depth across all parameters which include the market size by value and volume, trends in the market for a particular product, and which is the product with the largest share in the market and which is the fastest growing product, among others.Gain Full Access of Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing Market with complete TOC atFor providing the customer with the best view of the competition to handle, the Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report provides an in-depth view of the top players in the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing.The report includes a detailed company profile of the players along with their product portfolio and recent developments in the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing. The players information is a handy tool for the customers to understand which are the current trends that are being followed in the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing.The fastest growing and the leading applications are covered in the report along with the value and volume statistics to elucidate the market trends.Do Inquiry Before Accessing Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing Market Report atA vast portion of the Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report covers the regional analysis of the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing. The performance of the market in different regions across the globe holds significance for the customer for their plans of growth and expansion. As many players across the globe are forming partnerships and acquiring other companies in specific regions to gain a foothold in the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing, the regional market analysis comes handy here for the customer to realize maximum gains through planned expansions in lucrative regions.The Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report is segmented on the basis of region into the following: North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & AfricaThe Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report further provides a detailed analysis of the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing through a SWOT analysis, price analysis, marketing channels, and value chain. The horde of data and statistics has been provided to compliment the information in the report through tables and charts for easy consumption of the customer. Anyone looking to garner information about the Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing for commercial or academic purposes, the Global Fashion Luxury Cashmere Clothing report presented by Orbis Research is a great value buy.For any enquires before buying, connect with us @ enquiry@orbisresearch.comAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients .Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019For more information contact sales@orbisresearch.com
Smooth Hinge Caps And Closure Market Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2017-2027

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Over the past few years, packaging industry is experiencing a robust growth, mainly driven by the changing packaging solutions along with the increasingly changing the customer needs. Packaging is not only restricting to protect the products during transportation but also it is used to enhance the brand visibility that in turn increases the brand value of the product. Caps & closure is considered to be one of the important packaging solution among the personal care & cosmetic and beverage manufacturing companies. One of the most widely used caps & closure serving the purpose for most of the brand owners is smooth hinge caps & closure. Smooth hinge caps & closure is gaining momentum as a packaging solutions owing to it innovative and aesthetic look. Finally smooth hinge caps & closure offers anti counterfeit property which is expected to enforce the brand owners to use smooth hinge caps & closure as a packaging solutions.Smooth Hinge Caps & Closure: Market DynamicsSmooth hinge caps & closure market growth is attributed by impressive growth in consumer products market across different geographies. Cosmetic & personal care industry which reported over 10% annual growth in developed nations of Asia Pacific regions, anticipated to be the key contributor to smooth hinge caps & closure demand. On the other hand, luxury packaging acted as a substantial factor to the accelerated demand for smooth hinge caps & closure across the globe. Due to the mounting growth of organized retail sector, smooth hinge caps & closure plays a pivotal role because consumers makes the decision making process not only by the quality of the products but also packaging of the product is considered. Now a days, consumers are also interested pay higher amount of money to obtain the cosmetic & personal care products having attractive and aesthetic look. Thus, a larger chunk of pharmaceutical manufacturers are expected to adopt smooth hinge caps & closure to minimize the chances of counterfeiting. Apart from cosmetic & personal care industry and pharmaceutical industry, smooth hinge caps & closure are widely used as packaging solutions for the various food products like condiments that is expected to create a positive impact in the global smooth hinge caps & closure market.Request to View Sample Report @Smooth Hinge caps & closure: Market SegmentationThe global smooth hinge caps & closure market is segmented on the basis of material type, end user and seal typeBased on the material type the global smooth hinge caps & closure market is segmented into:Polyethylene (PE)Polypropylene (PP)OthersBased on the end user the global smooth hinge caps & closure market is segmented into:BeveragesNonalcoholicAlcoholicCondimentCosmetic & personal careShampooBody lotionShower gelOthersHome carePharmaceuticalBased on the seal type the global smooth hinge caps & closure market is segmented into:Liner lessPacking linerSmooth Hinge caps & closure Market: Regional outlookRequest For Table Of Content @In terms of geography, the global smooth hinge caps & closure market has been divided in to five key regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The global smooth hinge caps & closure market is expected to witness an impressive CAGR over the forecast period of 2016- 2024. Among all the regions, Asia Pacific region is expected to account maximum market share in the global smooth hinge caps & closure market during the forecast period. Growth in Asia Pacific is contributed by the mounting growth of cosmetic & personal care sectors during the forecast period. Within the Asia pacific region, India and China are expected to be the attractive destinations for the smooth hinge caps & closure manufacturer. Furthermore, North America, particularly US will continue to post an impressive growth, largely contributed by the growing organized retail sectors coupled with the introduction of new products. However, Middle East & Africa region which is poised to reflect least growth across all geographies.Smooth Hinge caps & closure Market: Key playersSome of the key players in the global smooth hinge caps & closure market are Nippon Closures Co Ltd., Interpac International Corporation, B&C PLASTICS LTD., RPC Group Plc, Closure Systems International, Inc., Bericap GmbH and Co KG, Global Closure Systems, AptarGroup, Inc. etc.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. technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market InsightsValley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Bare Metal Cloud Market to Reach US$ 5 Billion By 2022

Global Bare Metal Cloud Market

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Florida, January 17, 2018: The Global Bare Metal Cloud Market is segmented on the lines of its service, organization size, vertical and region. Based on service it covers (Compute Services, Networking Services, Database Services, Identity and Access Management Services, Volume and Object Storage Services, Professional Services and Managed Services); based on organization (size Small and Medium Enterprises and Large Enterprises); based on vertical (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance, Government, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, IT and Telecomand Others) . The Global Bare Metal Cloud Market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.The global Bare Metal Cloud Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 5 Billion at a CAGR of 40.2% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report Here:The increased demand for cost-efficient hosted services to achieve increased performance, streamlined data operations, and data security would result in a higher adoption of bare metal cloud in various verticals within the near future. Currently, the world bare metal cloud market is driven by telecom & IT due to the growing big data and increasing demand for effective storage. However, advertising is the most money making end use segment and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period.The major driving factors of Global Bare Metal Cloud Market are as follows: Critical Need for Reliable Load Balancing of Data-Intensive and Latency Sensitive Operations Necessity of Non-Locking Compute and Storage Resources Advent of Fabric VirtualizationThe restraining factors of Global Bare Metal Cloud Market are as follows: Stringent Cloud Regulations Lightweight HypervisorsThe opportunities factors of Global Bare Metal Cloud Market are as follows: Bare Metal Cloud for Big Data and Devops Applications Bare Metal Cloud for Microservices and Batch Processing ApplicationsThe Challenges factors of  Global Bare Metal Cloud Market are as follows: Premium Pricing Model Hindrances Faced in the Bare Metal RestoreThis report provides:1) An overview of the Global market for Bare Metal Cloud and related technologies.2) Analyses of Global market trends, with data from 2015, estimates for 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Global Bare Metal Cloud Market.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.The scope of the report includes a detailed study of Global Bare Metal Cloud Market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.Request Sample Report:Table of Contents1 Introduction2 Research Methodology3 Executive Summary4 Premium Insights5 Market Overview6 Industry Trends7 Bare Metal Cloud Market Analysis, By Service Type8 Bare Metal Cloud Market Analysis, By Organization Size9 Bare Metal Cloud Market Analysis, By Vertical10 Geographic Analysis11 Competitive Landscape12 Company Profiles12.1 Introduction12.2 IBM Corporation12.3 Oracle Corporation12.4 Centurylink Incorporation12.5 Rackspace Hosting, Incorporation12.6 Internap Corporation12.7 PacketAbout UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Fluid Sensors Market to Record Sturdy Growth by 2025

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Fluid sensors or liquid sensors are used for detection of liquid levels between two liquids such as oil and water or liquids and fluidized solid such as powders, granular materials, slurries, etc.Point detection sensors detect fluid or liquid at a certain point in a system where fluid level needs to be managed. The sensors present in these devices acts as a switch and sound an alarm when the liquid or fluid level either falls or rises to a certain level. Continuous level detection sensors provide information on fluid level at every point of the system regardless of the level of liquid. Continuous level detection sensors are used in systems where high precision is required. Contact fluid sensor devices are in contact with the liquid whose level it measures. Non-contact fluid sensor devices measure the liquid level without being in contact with the liquid, whose level it measures. Generally when measuring the level of corrosive liquids such as acids and bases we employ non-contact fluid sensors. In global fluid sensor market, the major market share is held by non-contact fluid sensors.Request A Sample Of This Report -Rising government intervention and strict environmental regulations are increasing the demand for level sensors and switches. Presently there is a demand for wireless flow sensors. The oil & gas industry in Gulf countries and Africa is a major consumer of fluid sensors which is driving the demand. Fluid sensors are an important component of medical devices such as a dialysis machine. Growth in healthcare sector in Asia-Pacific region especially in China and India is driving the demand for fluid sensors in this region. In automotive industry, fluid sensors monitor the acceptable engine oil level to avoid overfilling and under-filling when the engine is on. Thus rising sale of automobiles is increasing the demand for fluid sensors.Global fluid sensor market can be segmented based on type, technology, material, end-use industry and geography. The market when segmented by type are single point/ multi-point detection and continuous level detection. The market when segmented by technology are contact type and non-contact type. The market when segmented by material are nylon, polypropylene, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), stainless steel and others. The market when segmented by end-use industry are automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceuticals, wastewater, energy and power and others (construction, paper and pulp, agriculture, etc.).View Report -Geographically global fluid sensor market is segmented by regions into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America. North America is expected to be a prominent fluid sensor market in the world. The U.S. is expected to dominant the market in this region and is expected to have a high growth rate during the forecasted period. Other major fluid sensor markets in North America are expected to be Canada and Mexico.Europe is expected to be a major fluid sensor market in the world. The major fluid sensor markets in Europe are expected to be Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain. Asia-Pacific is expected to be a one of the largest fluid sensor market in the world. China is expected to be the largest market in the region having a high growth rate during the forecasted period. Other major fluid sensors markets in Asia-Pacific are expected to be Japan, South Korea and India. Middle East & Africa is expected to be a significant fluid sensor market lead by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, South Africa and others. South America is a expected to be another major fluid sensor market consisting of Brazil and Argentina.Buy This Report -The major players operating in the market are Continental AG, Texas Instruments, TE Connectivity, ABB Group, Endress+Hauser (Switzerland), Emerson Electric Company, MTS Sensor Technologie GmbH & Co. KG, Gems Sensors & Controls (the U.S.), Honeywell International Inc. and Siemens AG (Germany) among others.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Hot Melt Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) Market Witness Highest Growth Rate Over 2017-2024

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Asia Pacific share for global hot melt APAO market is projected to be valued at above USD 100 million by 2024. This region will witness high growth due to increasing packaged products demand from food & beverages and e-commerce sector.Hot Melt Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) Market size will likely surpass USD 380 million by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.Growing awareness about personal hygiene along with improving sanitary situation in developing countries will result in high demand for personal hygiene products. This will fuel the growth of hot melt APAO market during the forecast period as these adhesives are employed in manufacturing carious sanitary products. Demand for personal hygiene products such as baby & adult diapers, feminine hygiene products, etc. have grown substantially in the last two decades. This can be attributed to increasing income levels and willingness to spend on personal hygiene, chiefly in developing countries. Increasing number of working women around the world is also a contributing factor towards the demand for these goods, in turn boost the overall hot melt APAO market.Health hazards associated with the use of these adhesives may hinder the global hot melt APAO market during the period of study. Fumes that are released during the application of these adhesives are toxic in nature up to a certain extent. Prolonged exposure may cause eye irritation and respiratory problems in people. Special care must also be taken while using these adhesives due to their high temperature which may burn a persons skin if it comes in direct contact.Request for a sample of this research report @Copolymers and homopolymers are the two product segments under the global hot melt APAO market. Homopolymers category market value is estimated to surpass USD 100 million in 2024. This category will grow due to their higher strength and stiffness and their usability in structures requiring corrosion resistance. Copolymers segment of the global hot melt APAO market will likely grow with a CAGR exceeding 6%. Copolymers segment can be characterized with toughness in lower temperatures, durability, and stress crack resistance.Browse key industry insights spread across 110 pages with 143 market data tables & 11 figures & charts from the report, Hot Melt Amorphous Polyalphaolefin (APAO) Market Size By Product (Homopolymers, Copolymers), By Application (Paper & Packaging, Personal Hygiene, Bookbinding, Woodworking, Product Assembly), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, GCC), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024in detail along with the table of contents:Global hot melt APAO market, in terms of application, is segmented as paper & packaging, woodworking, product assembly, personal hygiene, bookbinding, and other application types. Woodworking application segment market value is forecasted to be above USD 45 million in 2024, growing at CAGR exceeding 5.5%. Product assembly segment of the global hot melt APAO market will likely grow with a CAGR of almost 6% to a value of above USD 55 million by 2024.Make an Inquiry before buying this report @Rising income levels in developing economies of Asia Pacific such as China, India, Indonesia, etc. will augment the hot melt APAO market as willingness to spend on personal hygiene will increase. High industrial growth in the region will also boost the industry due to increased demand for hot melt adhesives in product assembly and other applications such as textiles, plastics, woodworking, etc.Arkema, Henkel AG, Eastman, Evonik Industries, H.B. Fuller, REXtac, and Huntsman Corporation are the major players in hot melt APAO market. There are other key players in the industry including Evans Adhesive Corporation, Liaoyang Liaohua Qida, Guangdong Orient Resin Company, Texyear Industrial Adhesives, Glue Machinery Corporation, Almas Fanavaran Giti Company, Adtek Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, Bond Tech Industries, etc.About Global Market Insights, Inc.Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Email: sales@gminsights.com
ESCHA Group reports record figures for 2017

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Halver, 17 January 2018  The ESCHA Group completed the financial year 2017 generating record figures. With a consolidated turnover of 68.5 million Euros, the German connectivity specialist reported a growth of 34 percent over 2016. ESCHA also reported a new record of order entry and number of employees. The family-controlled company currently has about 900 employees worldwide. That is 17 percent more than the previous year. 150 new jobs were added group-wide nine of which were trainees.In 2017, we achieved new records of turnover, order entry, and number of employees for the fourth time consecutively. The growth is based on an increased demand in all relevant markets and cannot be attributed to a single region, said Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. Marco Heck, Managing Director of the ESCHA Group and specifies: In particular, we were able to generate high growth rates in the fields of Renewable Energies, Bus- and Rail Industry as well as Automation Solutions for mobile machines. Industrial-Ethernet products were another driver enabling our customers to lay the foundations for their Industrie-4.0-applications.According to ESCHA, a package of sales- and location related strategic measures has facilitated the steady growth rates of the last few years. This includes the beginning of direct sales in Poland in March 2017 as well as the start-up of the new production- and logistics center at company headquarters in Germany and doubling the capacity at the China plant. In order to be all set for more growth, plans for extending the factory in Germany are currently being initiated. These plans should be realized in 2019. ESCHA expects a sales growth of a high one-digit percent range for 2018.About ESCHAThe ESCHA Group is a leading supplier in the fields of connectivity and housing technology. For more than 30 years, the family-controlled company has been developing and manufacturing innovative product novelties taking dynamics to the market for automation components. Based on its standard products, the company designs custom-made connectivity and individual special solutions. With about 900 employees around the globe and highly in-depth development and production, ESCHA is extending its product portfolio constantly and independently. The consolidated annual group turnover amounts to nearly 70 million Euros. ESCHA guarantees high availability and consistent quality of its products worldwide through production facilities in Germany, Czech Republic and China as well as licensed production in USA and Mexico.ESCHA GmbH & Co. KGElberfelder Str. 3258553 Halver | GermanyDipl.-Medienokonom Florian SchnellManager Corporate CommunicationsTel.: +49 2353 708-8156E-Mail: f.schnell@escha.net
Maxim Creation : The Latest In Wedding Dresses & Bridal Gowns.

Henna Party Dress, Soiree Gown, Walima Gown, Cocktail Party Dress, Princess Wedding Gown, Takchita.

Established in the year 1990, we, Maxim Creation are one of the foremost organizations engaged in offering a wide gamut of Islamic Clothings. All these products are designed using supreme quality cotton and fabrics under the assistance of our skilled professionals. Known for their perfect stitching and comfortable to wear, our entire range of products are highly demanded by Muslim ladies. Moreover, available in various sizes and types, these garments are offered to the clients at market-leading prices.Backed by skilled work force, we offer quality products to our clients. For this we make use of quality fabrics and latest technology in our fabrication process. Moreover, our quality experts strictly check the entire range, right from the procurement of the raw material till the final dispatch of the products. Owing to our quality centric approach and ethical business practices, we have been able to stay ahead over our competitors. Apart from this, for the convenience of our patrons, we offer various easy payment options like cash, cheque and DD.Henna Party Dress, Soiree Gown, Walima Gown, Byzantine Nikkah Dress, Takchita, Cocktail Party Gown, Djellaba, Lebssa, Luxe Thobe, Oriental Robe.Unit No 65,Municipal Industrial Estate Gandhi Nagar , Worli West, Mumbai -18, India
Spinal Cord Trauma Treatment Market : Partial spinal cord trauma Worth US$ 1,870.3 Mn by 2025

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This market is segmented into five regions such as North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC and MEA. Asia-Pacific account for the largest market share in the global spinal cord trauma treatment market. Large patient population due to the high rate of road accidents and crime is making the Asia Pacific region most attractive market for spinal cord trauma treatment. On the other hand, MEA and Latin America is expected to be the least attractive market for spinal cord trauma treatment, with attractiveness index of 0.3 and 0.5 respectively over the forecast period.Spinal Cord Trauma Treatment Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Forecast 2017  2025 is the recent report of Persistence Market Research that throws light on the overall market scenario during the period of eight years, i.e. 2017-2025. According to this report, Global spinal cord trauma treatment market is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. This growth is expected to be primarily driven by increasing incidence of spinal cord trauma, and increasing government support to reduce the burden of spinal cord injuries. Additionally, development of nerve cells growth therapy is expected to boost the market in near future. The global market for spinal cord trauma treatment is is estimated to be valued at US$ 2,276.3 Mn in terms of value by the end of 2017. The global spinal cord trauma treatment market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.7% over the forecast period to reach a value of US$ 3,036.2 Mn by 2027 end.On the basis of end user, the global spinal cord trauma treatment market is segmented into hospitals and trauma centers. Hospitals segment dominated the global spinal cord trauma treatment market in revenue terms in 2016 and is projected to continue to do so throughout the forecast period. Hospitals and trauma centers segments are expected to approximately similar attractive index. Hospitals segment accounted for 53.2% value share in 2017 and is projected to account for 52.5% share by 2025 end.Global Spinal Cord Trauma Treatment Market Research Report Overview @On the basis of injury type, the global spinal cord trauma treatment market is segmented into complete spinal cord injuries and partial spinal cord injuries. Partial spinal cord trauma treatment segment is expected to show better growth than the completed spinal cord treatment segment due to higher growth in the incidence rate of partial spinal cord trauma than the complete spinal cord trauma. With US$ 1,870.3 Mn market value in 2025, this segment is likely to expand at CAGR 3.8% throughout the projected period.Request Sample Report@On the basis of treatment type, the global spinal cord trauma treatment market is segmented into corticosteroid, surgery, and spinal traction segments. Surgery segment dominated the global spinal cord trauma treatment market in revenue terms in 2016 and is projected to continue to do so throughout the forecast period. Surgery segment is the most attractive segment, with attractiveness index of 2.6 over the forecast period.Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., Asterias Biotherapeutics, ReNetX Bio, BioArctic AB, BioTime, Inc., InVivo Therapeutics, Kringle Pharma, Inc., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Pharmicell Co. Ltd., Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Bioaxone Biosciences, Inc. are some of the key players in the global spinal cord trauma treatment market.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:
Future of Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Size 2022 AbbVie, Endo International, Eli lilly, Pfizer, Actavis (Allergan), Bayer, Novartis, Teva

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MarketStudyReport.com adds New Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 new report to its research database. The report spread across 117 pages with table and figures in it. The report provides information on Industry Trends, Demand, Top Manufacturers, Countries, Material and Application.Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a class of hormone replacement therapy in which androgens, often testosterone, are replaced. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is an FDA-approved medical treatment for men of any age who have low testosterone, a hormone necessary for male sexual development.Request a Free sample PDF of this research to evaluate more @Scope of the Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Report:This report focuses on the Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Report Segment by Manufacturers Include as AbbVie, Endo International, Eli lilly, Pfizer, Actavis (Allergan), Bayer, Novartis, Teva, Mylan, Upsher-Smith, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Kyowa Kirin and Acerus Pharmaceuticals.Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa).Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Segment by Type, covers as Gels, Injections, Patches and OtherGlobal Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into: Hospitals, Clinics and OthersEnquire Discount on Global Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Testosterone Replacement Therapy market.Chapter 1, to describe Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Testosterone Replacement Therapy, with sales, revenue, and price of Testosterone Replacement Therapy, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global Testosterone Replacement Therapy market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Testosterone Replacement Therapy, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to Testosterone Replacement Therapy Industry analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Testosterone Replacement Therapy market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Testosterone Replacement Therapy Industry sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.For more information on this report, Please visit at:Related Reports: -North America Testosterone Replacement Therapy Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022This report focuses on the Testosterone Replacement Therapy in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:
Physical Intellectual Property Market In Technical Growth in Business Sectors To 2025

Physical Intellectual Property

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QY Research Groups has published its new and latest market report based on thorough research on the Physical Intellectual Property Market. This detailed, all-inclusive report renders an integrated approach to growth of the market along with an elaborate and accurate analysis of the complete competitive situation of this market on a global level with the key market trends and newest technologies, being a major part in the markets growth during the estimated period. Besides the current analytical and statistical account, the report cloaks the trends, market drivers, challenges, potential opportunities, which have an effect on the market. This market report discusses the present situation to predicted trends and aspects of the Physical Intellectual Property Market. Furthermore, it gives a dynamic overview and insights related to the market at both global as well as regional scale.For Sample Report with TOC, Please Visit @Scope of the Report:This report concentrates on the Global Physical Intellectual Property Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, particularly in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report classifies the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application. This report covers associations in the field along with new product launches, mergers, acquisitions, competitive landscape analysis, and recent strategic developments in the market by the major manufacturesDistinguishing the increasing predominance of Physical Intellectual Property Market, this market research report demonstrates to be a key source of management and thorough data on the market across the globe. In order to strategize the outlook and prospects, this report assesses the current market status along with the altering trends in the market. It is a methodical research depending on the market and examines the competitive framework of the global Physical Intellectual Property Market industry. Comprehensive information attained from trusted sources from the industry and via proven research methodological analysis, this report gives the 360 degree data on this market. The report features market figures, graphs, and data and renders a superior level strategic plan of the global market.This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeARMCadence Design SystemsCEVARambusSynopsysImagination TechnologiesLattice Semiconductor...Browse full report with Table of Content:Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoLogic IPInterface IPPOP IPOtherMarket segment by Application, Physical Intellectual Property can be split intoMobile Computing DevicesConsumer Electronic DevicesAutomotiveIndustrial AutomationOtherTable of Contents 1 Industry Overview of Physical Intellectual Property1.1 Physical Intellectual Property Market Overview1.1.1 Physical Intellectual Property Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Physical Intellectual Property Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Physical Intellectual Property Market by Type1.3.1 Logic IP1.3.2 Interface IP1.3.3 POP IP1.3.4 Other1.4 Physical Intellectual Property Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Mobile Computing Devices1.4.2 Consumer Electronic Devices1.4.3 Automotive1.4.4 Industrial Automation1.4.5 Other2 Global Physical Intellectual Property Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Physical Intellectual Property Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureGet the best price @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Global Event Management Software Market 2017: Key Players: Etouches, Centium Software, Eventbrite, Certain Inc. and More

Global Event Management Software Market

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WiseGuyReports published new report, titled Global Event Management Software MarketIntroductionEvents or functions are an important and effective way of communication between clients and companies. Companies, universities, government, public/private associations, agencies, and other hospitality sectors conduct events on a regular basis. For the success of these events, a well-designed planning is required, pertaining to event registration, venue sourcing, attendee management, session management, event marketing, on-site technology (mobile apps, speaker management and others), among various other tasks. Event planning thereby requires months of preparation for tasks such as pre-booking of venue and hotels or rooms, marketing, and record keeping in form of paper work.Event management software is a solution that helps in the entire planning of the report using a single platform. Event planners can register events online, send emails and event details to target audience, track the appropriate venue options and availability with the associated cost, manage sessions, conduct surveys to understand the feedbacks, and can create a customized environment for attendees to interact with speakers as well as with other audiences.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Key PlayersThe Key Players in the Event Management Software Market are Cvent, Inc., Etouches, Centium Software, Eventbrite, Certain Inc., Ungerboeck Software International, Bizzabo, The Pulse Network, Active network LLC, and Webconnex.Study Objective of Global Event Management Software Market - Trends & Forecast, 2016-2022 To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 6 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Event Management Software market development and demand market Upcoming technologies, high growth geographies, and countries were identified Key market segments estimation and analysis that includes categories namely software type, application, deployment, and region To study and analyze the competitive scenario within the event management software market through strategic profiling of key players and identifying various market developments adopted by themTarget Audience Software developers Software distributors Event management companies Corporate Media Educational Institutes Research OrganizationKey Findings Global Event Management Software market is estimated to reach $14.45 billion by 2022 from $7.57 billion in 2016 with CAGR of 11.39% during the forecast period, 2016-2022 Cloud based event management software deployment would reach the revenue of $ 10.24 billion by 2022 from $ 4.48 billion in 2016 North America has the largest market share followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific North America event management software market has been valued at $2.96 billion in the year 2015 which is expected to grow at $6.95 billion by the end of year 2022.Regional and Country Analysis of Event Management Software MarketNorth America holds the largest share within the event management software market as compared to other regional markets. It is also the fastest growing market, and is expected to exhibit high growth during the forecast period. Rapid technology adoption and increasing number of small & large-scale event organizing companies are the major growth drivers of the North America region. Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa markets are estimated to register a slow growth rate as event organizers are still rely on the traditional approach for event planning. Lack of technical awareness of event management software is also a major factor responsible for the slow market growth in these regions...CONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Ambulatory Surgical Centres Market Projected Valued at US$ 113,046.7 Million of 2027

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Ambulatory Surgical Centres Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016 - 2026 Request For Free Sample Report @Ambulatory Surgical Centres (ASCs) are healthcare facilities focussing on delivering same-day surgical care, including diagnostic and surgical (preventive) procedures. These are also called outpatient surgery centres and same day care centres in certain countries such as the U.K., Germany and certain Asian countries. Ambulatory surgical centres are highly regulated by federal and state entities to ensure safety and quality.The first ASC was established in 1970, in Phoenix, Arizona. As per the Center of Medicare and Medical Services, the number for Medicare certified ASCs in the U.S. totalled 5,400 in 2015. Various specialties offered in ASCs include ophthalmology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, pain management, urology, dermatology and others. Most ASCs today are owned and operated by community physicians. Some ASCs are jointly owned by local hospitals and physicians.Market Value and ForecastIn terms of revenue, the global ambulatory surgical centres market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period and is projected to be valued at US$ 113,046.7 million by the end of 2027.Market DynamicsGrowth of the global ambulatory surgical centres market is principally driven by a growing focus on containment of healthcare costs and increased Medicare spending on ASCs. ASCs are primarily focussed on increasing number of facilities and types of procedures performed. Increasing the types of procedures provided offers ASCs with greater variety of reimbursement opportunities. ASCs across the world are constantly making efforts to expand their range of services to drive patient influx and increase revenues. The growth of ASC surgeries is likely to continue to outpace hospital outpatient surgical growth. Also technological advancements and market consolidation have led to ASCs supporting more complex cases such as major spine, total hip, platelet, and plasma therapy cases.Browse Full Report With TOC @Various healthcare organisations such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), healthcare systems and large group practices are developing multiple speciality facilities within the premises of their primary healthcare facility thus establishing attractive global market share. This helps the facility to grow at a faster pace and gain larger market share. Thus, the market is facing immense competition and market contributors are finding it difficult to reap profits.The major trend witnessed in the global ambulatory surgical centres market is a declining number of free standing ambulatory surgical centres, whereas more centres are built within a larger facility that offers a wider array of ambulatory care services to achieve economies of scale and gain a competitive edge.Market Segmentation, by Centre TypeBased on product type, the market is segmented into single speciality centres and multispecialty centres. In terms of revenue share, the multispecialty centres segment dominated the global ambulatory surgical centres market in 2016 and is expected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The single speciality centres segment is expected to witness relatively higher growth rates in the global ambulatory surgical centres market over the forecast period.Check Discount @Market Segmentation, by Modality TypeBased on modality type, the global ambulatory surgical centres market is segmented into hospital-based ambulatory surgical centre and freestanding ambulatory surgical centre. In terms of revenue share, the hospital-based ambulatory surgical centre segment dominated the global ambulatory surgical centres market in 2016 by registering higher CAGR as compared to other modality type segments. The freestanding ambulatory surgical centre segment is expected to witness relatively higher growth rates in the global ambulatory surgical centres market over the forecast period.Market Segmentation, by ServicesBased on service type, the global ambulatory surgical centres market is segmented into diagnostic services and surgical services. In terms of revenue share, the surgical services segment dominated the global ambulatory surgical centres market in 2016 by registering higher CAGR as compared to other service type segments. The diagnostic services segment is expected to witness relatively higher growth rates in the global ambulatory surgical centres market over the forecast period.Market Segmentation, by Speciality AreaBased on speciality area, the market is segmented into gastroenterology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, pain/neurology, urology, dermatology and others. In terms of revenue share, the gastroenterology segment dominated the global ambulatory surgical centres market in 2016 and is expected to dominate throughout the forecast period. The ophthalmology segment is expected to witness relatively higher growth rates registering higher CAGR as compared to other speciality area segments in the global ambulatory surgical centres market over the forecast period.Make An Enquiry @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Global Two-wheeler Anti-braking System (ABS) Market From 2017 - 2021: Growth At A CAGR Of 59.75%

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Two-wheeler Anti-braking System (ABS) Market From 2017 - 2021: Growth At A CAGR Of 59.75%" to its huge collection of research reports.The objective of ABS is to stop the vehicle without locking the wheels. ABS offer the braking force in pulses and allows the vehicle to come to a gradual halt, reducing the possibility of skidding, and reduces the braking distance.Technavios analysts forecast the global two-wheeler anti-braking system (ABS) market to grow at a CAGR of 59.75% during the period 2017-2021.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global two-wheeler anti-braking system (ABS) market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the new installations, shipments, volume, and aftermarket services.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEuropeTechnavio's report, Global Two-wheeler Anti-Braking System (ABS) 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.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key vendorsBoschBWIContinentalHonda MotorZF TRWOther prominent vendorsAisin SeikiBrakes IndiaHaldexHitachi Automotive SystemMandoMarket driverRise in sales from emerging markets for ultra-luxury motorcyclesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHeavy penetration of low-cost bikes in India, China and the UKFor a full, detailed list, view our reportBrowse TOC @Market trendLight weighting of ABSFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @Follow us on Blogger @
Global Plastic Food Containers Market 2018 - Placon, ALPLA, Amcor, OXO

Global Plastic Food Containers Market

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The statistical surveying information incorporated into the Plastic Food Containers report is the aftereffect of significant essential and optional research exercises. The report fragments the global Plastic Food Containers market based on makers, item compose, applications, and regions. In this report, each fragment is contemplated completely and measurements are introduced in detail. The report offers an exact outline of the global Plastic Food Containers advertise covering key factors, for example, drivers and restrictions affecting the development.Get the sample report :Top manufacturers of Plastic Food Containers Market Report :BemisSealed Air CorporationWihuriCoverisLock&LockHuhtamakiSabertPrintpack IncorporatedVisy Proprietary LimitedTupperwareSilganConsolidated ContainerReynoldsPakPlastLINPAC Packaging LimitedChuo KagakuPlaconALPLAAmcorOXORubbermaidGenpakRing Container TechnologiesEMSALeyiduoWorld Kitchen-snapwareSerioplastBonsonHebei BoqiangBeijing YuekangThe Global Plastic Food Containers advertise report is the result of the intensive investigation of the market, which will help showcase players to manage and develop exponentially in the gigantically aggressive market.Enquire before buying Plastic Food Containers Market report :The Plastic Food Containers report is set up after essential and auxiliary levels of research exercises. Essential research speaks to the heft of research endeavors, supplemented by a broad optional research. Auxiliary research incorporates investigation of late exchange, web sources, and factual information from government associations, exchange affiliations and offices. This has ended up being the most dependable, powerful and fruitful approach for getting exact Plastic Food Containers advertise information, catching industry member's bits of knowledge and perceiving business openings. The write about the Global Plastic Food Containers showcase likewise talks about a portion of the main players display in the market, winning rivalry, key procedures received and their current advancements.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite -
Global Atrial Fibrillation Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2026

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Atrial Fibrillation MarketRequest a Free Sample Report @Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat identified by the rapid and abnormal beating of the heart. The global market for atrial fibrillation is majorly driven by the rise in high blood pressure and valvular heart disease. Meanwhile, increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation among the geriatric population is also fueling the growth of the market. Significant technological advancement is leading to the development of new monitoring technologies that can help patients as well as clinicians to keep a close watch and treat it on time. Smart, wireless, easy-to-use, cost-effective, and efficient monitoring systems are also being focused on to monitor the heartbeat. These developments present a major opportunity for key players operating in atrial fibrillation space.Innovative technologies with the ability to target the causes of atrial fibrillation have led to the maximum success rate of treating the condition. The key market players are also entering into a partnership with research institutes and other companies to develop an efficient system to detect and treat atrial fibrillation.Global Atrial Fibrillation Market: Research MethodologyThe research is based on primary and secondary research, done for understanding the trends, drivers, opportunity, restraints, etc. The research is done to forecast the expected revenue of the global atrial fibrillation market. Primary research is based on the information collected from interviews and discussions with a number of industry experts and opinion leaders.Secondary research includes the study of company websites, press releases, annual reports, investor and analyst presentation, and various other factors. The report also offers an estimated market size in terms of US$ Mn for product type, end-user, and application for the forecast period of 2017 to 2026. The report also takes into account the macro and micro factors that are affecting the market. The report also offers Porters five force analysis and SWOT analysis. An in-depth analysis of factors resulting in driving and restraining growth of the market and future opportunities has been provided in the report. The report also offers market attractiveness analysis that provides an analysis of the competitive scenario in the global atrial fibrillation market.View Complete Report with Table of Content @The global atrial fibrillation market is segmented on the basis of product type, end user, and application. Based on the product type, the market is segmented into EP diagnostic catheters, EP ablation catheters, cardiac monitors, EP mapping & recording systems, LAA closure, access devices, and other products. On the basis of end user, the market is segmented on the basis of hospitals, ambulatory surgical center, and electrophysiology labs. By application type, the market includes EP ablation, diagnostic, and surgical. The market growth rate for each segment within the global atrial fibrillation market has been provided after an in-depth research on past trends, future trends demographics, various regulatory requirements, and technological developments.On the basis of region, the market is segmented on the basis of North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The forecast for each region has been provided for the year 2017-2026, on the basis of product type, end user, and application. The report also provides revenue share and CAGR in form of percentage for each segment.Global Atrial Fibrillation Market: Competition LandscapeThe report provides market share analysis of the key players in the global atrial fibrillation market. The report also offers in-depth information for new entrants and established players to expand geographically and also increase their revenue share. Some of the key players in the report include Biosense Webster, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Plc, Boston Scientific Corporation, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Biotronik SE & Co. KG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., AtriCure Inc., CardioFocus, Inc., and Osypka AG.Send an Inquiry @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Curing Adhesives Sales Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Curing Adhesives Sales Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Curing Adhesives market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Curing Adhesives for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Curing Adhesives market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Curing Adhesives sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingHenkel AG & Co. KGaABostik SAH.B. FullerDow Corning3M CompanyJowat SEDymax CorporationTosohDELO Industrial AdhesivesSelleysSika AGTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoEpoxyPolyurethaneAcrylateSiliconeOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingUV curing adhesivesMoisture curing adhesivesThermal curing adhesivesBrowse TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Curing Adhesives Sales Market Report 20171 Curing Adhesives Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Curing Adhesives1.2 Classification of Curing Adhesives by Product Category1.2.1 Global Curing Adhesives Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Curing Adhesives Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Epoxy1.2.4 Polyurethane1.2.5 Acrylate1.2.6 Silicone1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Curing Adhesives Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Curing Adhesives Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 UV curing adhesives1.3.3 Moisture curing adhesives2 Global Curing Adhesives Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Curing Adhesives Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Curing Adhesives Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Curing Adhesives Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Curing Adhesives (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Curing Adhesives Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Curing Adhesives Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Curing Adhesives (Volume and Value) by RegionAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @Follow us on Blogger @
Polylactic Acid Market Regulations, Size, Share and Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2025: Acute Market Reports

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polylactic acid Market was calculated to be USD 825.0 million and is projected to reach USD 2,657.8 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 16.3% from 2015 to 2022. In 2017, in terms of volume the market demand for polylactic acid was 532.5 kilo tons and is projected to reach 1,031.1 kilo tons by 2025 at a CAGR of 14.0% during the forecast period.Browse Here For Full Report:Rising demand from various end use applications along with expanding application use of polylactic acid is one of the major factor triggering the market demand. Moreover, rising awareness about the properties and uses of PLA is another factor contributing towards market growth. However, volatility in the prices of raw materials is one of the major factor restraining the market growth. Untapped and emerging economies provides huge market potentials.By applications, in 2014, packaging segment accounted for major share of the pie in terms of volume and revenue and will maintain their dominance in the future. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2015 to 2022 in terms of volume. Construction materials and catering segments are projected to witness fastest growth rate during the forecast period from 2015 to 2022. Technical materials and agriculture segments are projected to witness moderate growth rate during the forecast period.Europe is the largest market for PLA followed by North America. In 2014, Europe accounted for 37% share of the market pie. It is projected to maintain its dominance due to high demand and increasing environmental concerns. Europe was followed by North America and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.4% from 2015 to 2022 in terms of revenue. Availability of raw material in abundance is the major driver of PLA in this region. Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing market due to rising awareness supported by high spending power. RoW regions are projected to witness average growth rate during the forecast period.Synbra, Nature Works, Pyramid, Uhde Inventa-Fischer, Teijin and Hisun are the major manufacturers of PLA.ToC:Chapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.1.1 Purpose of the Report1.1.2 Target Audience1.1.3 USP and Key Offerings1.2 Market Segmentation1.3 Research Methodology1.3.1 Phase I  Secondary Research1.3.2 Phase II  Primary Research1.3.3 Phase III  Expert Panel Review1.3.4 Approach Adopted1.3.5 Key PointsChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Market Snapshot: Global Polylactic Acid MarketChapter 3 Introduction3.1 Introduction3.2 Classification3.3 Drivers3.4 Restraints3.5 Opportunities3.6 Supply Chain3.7 Porters five force analysis3.7.1 Bargaining power of suppliers3.7.2 Bargaining power of buyers3.7.3 Threat of new entrants3.7.4 Threat of substitutes3.7.5 Degree of competition....Browse Here For Full Report:Browse Here For Same Category Reports:Latest Reports:About Us:Acute Market Reports is the most sufficient collection of market intelligence services online. It is your only source that can fulfill all your market research requirements. We provide online reports from over 100 best publishers and upgrade our collection regularly to offer you direct online access to the worlds most comprehensive and recent database with expert perceptions on worldwide industries, products, establishments and trends. Our database consists of 200,000+ market research reports with detailed & minute market research.Media ContactName: Chris PaulAddress: 105 N 1st ST #429SAN JOSE, CA 95103 USE-mail: sales@acutemarketreports.comPh: +1-855-455-8662Web:
Aurora Kinase Inhibitors Market with Best Scope and Growth

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As the importance of aurora kinases was recognized due to their significance in human biology and cancer therapy, the demand for aurora kinase inhibitors has been surmounting of late. Aurora kinases are a type of enzymes that play a significant role in cell proliferation. In the mitosis process, these enzymes undertake the responsibility of breaking down the genetic material of the parent cells via the control of chromatid segregation.Based on type of aurora kinase enzymes, A, B, and C can be the key segments of the global market for aurora kinase inhibitors. While aurora A and B lead to tumerogenesis, aurora C is associated with spermatogenesis process. Although they are not associated with a certain type of cancer, some instances of cancer exhibit over-expression of a particular type of aurora kinases. Aurora B was found to be related to thyroid, breast, and colon, whereas aurora A was found to be associated with prostate, pancreatic, ovarian, cervical, lung, breast, and brain.The report offers key information pertaining to the leading growth drivers, deterrents, and market trends. The key opportunities proffered by the different regional segments have been analyzed in detail, alongside relevant market data, charts, and figures. Efficient analytic tools such as the Porters Five Force analysis and SWOT analysis have been adopted by the study to produce accurate evaluations. The major players transacting in the global market for aurora kinase inhibitors are also assessed with regards to their market shares, product portfolios, and business strategies.Report Details @The rising incidence of cancer on a worldwide scale has been fuelling the demand for aurora kinase inhibitors recently. Cancer has been found to be one of the foremost factors increasing mortality rates over the globe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by the end of 2025 the number of cancer patients will reach nearly 19.3 million, which was 14.1 million during 2012. The study also reveals that more than 8.2 million people die from cancer, of which almost 522,000 are women diagnosed with breast cancer. While the mortality rates are higher in the developing regions of the world, the frequency of cancer is higher in developed countries.The progress of the global market for aurora kinase inhibitors can receive a blow due to the exorbitant costs required in the development of these inhibitors. Small manufacturers might not possess enough capital to invest massively in the creation of advanced aurora kinase inhibitors. Moreover, lack of awareness among the developing economies can also restrict the expansion of the market. However, the adoption of several biological therapies in the domain of oncology will create opportunities for further expansion of the market.By geography, the global market for aurora kinase inhibitors can be segmented into Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America. The countries in North America witnessed greater growth when compared with other regions. As a result, North America accounted for the greatest portion of the global revenue. The continuous upgrading of the healthcare sector has been propelling the market for aurora kinase inhibitors in North America.High growth rate of geriatric population and heightening incidence of cancer rates in Asia Pacific have been responsible for the burgeoning demand for aurora kinase inhibitors in the region. India, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia are likely to contribute substantially to the growth of the market for aurora kinase inhibitors in Asia Pacific over the next few years.Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Roche, Sanofi, and Novartis are some leading companies operating in the global market for aurora kinase inhibitors.Request Brochure Copy of the report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry: Global Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry: Global Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Market Report by Material, Application, and Geography-Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).The report firstly introduced the Electrical Energy Measure Transformer basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.The report includes six parts, dealing with:1.) basic information;2.) the Asia Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Market;3.) the North American Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Market;4.) the European Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Market;5.) market entry and investment feasibility;6.) the report conclusion.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Table of ContentsPart I Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry OverviewChapter One Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry Overview1.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Definition1.2 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Classification Analysis1.2.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Application Analysis1.3.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Product Market Development Overview1.6 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Market Analysis1.6.1 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Market Analysis1.6.5 Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Global Market Development Trend AnalysisBrowse TOC @Chapter Two Electrical Energy Measure Transformer Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market AnalysisAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @Follow us on Blogger @
Elemental Analysis Market - Overall Industry Growth

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Elemental analysis is a process of detection and quantification of elemental compounds, molecular species and elements. This analysis technique is a part of analytical chemistry and can be qualitative and quantitative in nature. Sample types tested for trace elements comprises of aqueous, non-aqueous, organic and non-organic materials. For organic chemists, elemental analysis refers to CHNX analysis, which is used to determine the purity and structure of a compound. In this technique, a sample is burnt in excess of oxygen and thereby collecting combustion products like carbon dioxide, nitric acid and water. The masses of these products are used to determine composition of the sample. Ultra trace analysis and elemental trace analysis detection range from parts per million (ppm), to parts per billion (ppb) and parts per trillion (ppt) levels, using updated techniques and instruments. Some of the major technologies used for elemental analysis include inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, X-ray Fluorescence and X-ray Diffraction among others.Some of the key driving factors for elemental analysis market are increasing concern for food safety, increasing usage of X-ray fluorescence in clinical research and growing R&D funding in life sciences. Moreover, this technology has a wide range of application areas in different segments of industry and thus has a major market worldwide. There are other geographical drivers which are also responsible for the growth of the market. In addition, demand from emerging markets across India and China are expected to create opportunities for elemental analysis market in the future. However, high cost of elemental analyzers and urge for efficient professionals act as major restraints to the growth of the market.Report Details @Global elemental analysis market can be broadly classified on the basis of types, technology, applications and geography. By types, the market for elemental analysis is segmented into organic and inorganic. The market is divided by technology into destructive and non-destructive technologies. Moreover, elemental analysis has different application areas including food and beverage testing, life sciences, environment testing and geology among others.Currently North America is dominating the market for elemental analysis in terms of revenue, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. The major factor responsible for immense development of elemental analysis market in North America is rapid technological advancement of this technique in various application areas, such as food and beverage, biotechnology, chemical and semiconductor industries among others. However, Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at a significant rate in the future, primarily due to increasing awareness for elemental analysis in China and India coupled with rising demand from applied markets. Furthermore, strategic expansion by manufacturers in China and use of modern analysis technique in Chinese medicines are likely to develop the market for elemental analysis in Asia Pacific.Some of the key players in this market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S.), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), AMETEK, Inc. (U.S.), PerkinElmer, Inc. (U.S.), Bruker Corporation (U.S.), Shimadzu Corporation (Japan), Elementar Group (Germany) and Rigaku Corporation (Japan) among others.Request Brochure Copy of the report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Forecast Till 2021: Global Warehouse Automation Market with Focus on Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS) Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Forecast Till 2021: Global Warehouse Automation Market with Focus on Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS) Market" to its huge collection of research reports.The report entitled Global Warehouse Automation Market with Focus on Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS) Market (2017-2021), provides analysis of the global warehouse automation market, with detailed analysis of market size and growth, and segmentation of the industry. The report also includes the detailed analysis of ASRS market by value, by end markets and by segments.Under competitive landscape, different products offered by some of the key players in the warehouse automation market have been described. Further, supply chain management software suppliers have been compared on the basis of certain parameters.Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global warehouse automation market has also been forecasted for the years 2017-2021, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.KION Group, Honeywell International Inc., KUKA and Bastian Solutions are some of the key players operating in the global warehouse automation market, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Company CoverageKION Group AGHoneywell International Inc.KUKABastian SolutionsExecutive SummaryWarehouse is a commercial building wherein different types of goods are being stored such as raw materials, packing materials, spare parts and components, finished goods linked to agriculture, manufacturing and production. Under warehouse automation, all the works relating to storage, retrieving and moving inventory is carried out with the help of automated systems. Thereby, cutting short labor requirement and expenses.The global warehouse automation market can be segmented on the basis of software, hardware and services. On the basis of software, the market can be divided into warehouse management system, warehouse control system and warehouse execution system. On the basis of hardware, the market can be sub segmented into equipment and load. On the basis of services, the market can be further divided into automotive, electronics & electrical, retail and others.Browse TOC @The global warehouse automation market and ASRS market are expected to grow at a healthy rate during the forecast period (2017-2021). The market is projected to increase on the account of various growth drivers such as increase in e-commerce sales, upsurge in disposable income, increasing urbanization, cost effectiveness of automation, potential of growth and ageing demography.However, the market also faces some tough challenges such as high initial investment cost and issues of flexibility of automated systems. Mergers & acquisitions, reduced order selection time and labor hours, technological advances, the evolution of the internet of things, omni channel business model and preference of speedy deliveries on the part of the customers are some of the latest trends in the global warehouse automation market.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @Follow us on Blogger @
Cryogenic Pump Market Estimated to Record Highest CAGR by 2016-2026

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A cryogenic pump is a vacuum pump which captures gases by condensing them on a cooled surface which is at a very low temperature of about 120 K. However, the efficiency of the pump is largely dependent upon the boiling and freezing temperature of the gases involved. These pumps finds wide application in the handling, transportation and transfer of cryogenic fluids such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, argon and liquefied hydrocarbons. As the demand for liquid gases increases across various industries, usage of cryogenic pumps becomes inevitable. The global demand for cryogenic pumps is anticipated to expand with a decent CAGR throughout the forecast period.Global Cryogenic Pump Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe prime factor driving demand for cryogenic pumps is the increasing growth across its end use industries. Moreover, as more and more complex industrial processes evolve which incorporates the usage of liquid gases, demand for cryogenic pumps is bound to increase. The rapidly growing demand for energy and power is expected to drive more demand for LNG and thus, ways to handle its transportation, further fuelling more revenues to the global cryogenic pumps market. Along with, reviving steel industry across the globe, is also anticipated to drive demand for cryogenic pumps, as cryogenic gases are indispensably used to create durable steel structures. Noteworthy, is the usage of cryogenic pumps extracting the regenerated energy from exhaust gases from an engine; though this is at very niche stage, but is expected to fuel the demand for cryogenic pumps over the forecast period. In a nutshell, the global growing demand for cryogenic pump is directly proportional to growing economic development across all nations.Request For Report Sample@Global Cryogenic Pump Market: SegmentationOn the basis of pump functionality,CentrifugalPositive DisplacementOn the basis of type (based on cooling),Bath CryopumpsRefrigerator Cooled CryopumpsSupercritical Helium Cooled CryopumpsOthersOn the basis of application gas,NitrogenOxygenLNGArgonOthersOn the basis of end use industry,Energy & PowerMetallurgy and MiningChemicalsOthersGlobal Cryogenic Pump Market: Region Wise OutlookThe global Cryogenic Pump market is segmented into the seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). The APEJ region is projected to be the largest market for Cryogenic Pump demand, and is anticipated to remain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This can be directly attributed to rapid development activities across China and India, and rising need for energy across all nations of the Asia Pacific. Western Europe and North America are next in line considering the demand for cryogenic pumps and demand for the latter is expected to expand moderately throughout the forecast period. Moreover, growing oil and gas industry and the need to handle LNG across, has let MEA to also account for a prominent market share in the global cryogenic pumps market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Cryogenic Pump Market: Key PlayersACD Cryo AGCryostar SASSumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd.Flowserve CorporationBrooks Automation Inc.Ebara CorporationABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
A Report on Class 8 Truck ADAS Market in North America 2017-2022

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Mobility Foresights announced publication of a new syndicated report titled Class 8 Truck ADAS Market in North America 2017-2022Key contents of the report include- Market size and Forecast segmented by, Application segment (Vocational, Long-haul, and Regional haul), Technology(Collision Mitigation System, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control, ESC and ABS) Market Dynamics(Trends, Drivers, and Challenges) Market share and competitive landscape of Tier- 1 ADAS suppliers in North AmericaDownload a sample of the report at our website-INTRODUCTIONBeyond ABS and ESC, both of which are profiting from government legislation, Adaptive cruise control is the most adopted ADAS, followed by Lane departure warning and Forward collision warning. A lot of OEMs have now made Collision mitigation systems as standard fitment on their on-highway models. Collision mitigation systems have the potential to reduce an accident severity by more than 90%.This is one of the prime reasons why it has seen such wide adoption of late. Lane departure warning and forward collision warning don`t offer the same amount of value addition as collision mitigation system. Therefore they are lagging behind.The adoption of ADAS will become even more important in future, as we inch closer to autonomous trucks. The commercial and safety benefits of autonomous trucks are too big to be ignored and there is no doubt that ADAS will play a pivotal role in getting there.MARKET DYNAMICSAs we all know the idea of autonomous trucks is getting popular with every passing day but to some, it might seem far-fetched and that's where the concept of truck platooning comes in. The idea of getting goods delivered by four trucks but utilizing only one driver in the lead vehicle is actually an irresistible proposition.It might also act as a bridge between the drivered truck and driverless truck just the way we are moving to pure electric vehicles using hybrids as a bridge. The platooned trucks could be driven on the arrow straight Interstate highways of the US and drivers can be used to navigate them into the cities before reaching the end of the trip. It will also take care of the safety angle involved in these high-value vehicles.MARKET SIZE AND FORECASTBendix Wingman Advanced is one of the most popular collision mitigation systems available in the North American market. It is widely specced on all best-selling on-highway tractors of Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, and International.WABCO`s Onguard collision mitigation system ranked second in popularity, utilized by 193 fleets and close to 140,000 units sold between 2007-2017.As per our discussion with fleet operators, we heard many positive reviews about XX as opposed to XX collision mitigation system which has a major shortcoming in creating false alarms. The market penetration of collision mitigation system was approximately XX% in 2017.Among all the ADAS technologies studied for this report, collision mitigation system is expected the highest growth rate of XX% during next 5 years. As per our estimates, the cost of a collision mitigation system in North America was approximately $XX in 2017.COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPEThe competitive landscape of ADAS suppliers in North America resembles the competitive landscape of Class 8 truck manufacturers. The market is completely consolidated reflecting upon the fact that the barriers to entry in this market is quite high.XX and YY collectively make up for more than 70% of the market. Detroit Assurance is a suite of safety technologies by Daimler Trucks North America, which is completely vertically integrated, supplying only to Daimler. WABCO is the leader in ABS and a leading supplier to Daimler Trucks North America. Barring ABS, WABCO doesnt have much presence in the ADAS market.THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER FOLLOWING QUESTIONS1. The market size (both volume and value) of ADAS in Class 8 trucks in North America in 2017-2022 and every year in between?2. The impact of upcoming mandates on this market3. The market size and forecast of Class 8 truck market in North America segmented by US, Canada and Mexico-Volume and Value4. The market size and forecast segmented by end-use segments (Vocational and Line haul)- Volume and Value5. The market size and forecast segmented by technology- Volume and Value6. Latest trends in all truck segments7. Market share and future strategy of Tier 1 ADAS suppliersTo enquire about the report write to us at sales@mobilityforesights.comThe report can be purchased atWe are a market research firm specialized in mobility domain(s). Our zone of research entails automotive, aerospace, marine, locomotive, logistics and construction& agricultural equipment. We deal with syndicated research, custom research and consumer research for all the above domains mentioned. We envision the future of mobility every single day, following mobility domains is not just our profession rather its our passion.CONTACT US:MOBILITY FORESIGHTS PVT LTD#56/2, HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore, INDIA 560008Phone: +1 912-454-2080Mail:sales@mobilityforesights.com
Valerian Root Powder Market To Make Great Impact in Near Future by 2025

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Derived from root of the plant Valeriana officinalis, the valerian root extract is famously used to treat sleeplessness or insomnia in traditional culture, this is due to the presence of valerenic acid. The extract is used both alone and in combination with other ingredients to form balms or other dosage form which synergies the sleep inducing effect of valerian root extract. Apart it is use in treating insomnia it is also used as a nootropic supplement. Enhancing cognitive function by the use of valerian extract is one of its key attraction and is expected to drive the market growth of valerian root powder during the forecast period.Download PDF Brochure @This naturally derived extract offers a much safer alternative to prescription medicines and for those who are trying to withdraw the use of sleeping pills. The valerian root powder market is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period due to the associated health benefits offered by the use of valerian extract, manufacturers using research based evidence and mass communication to spread these benefits. The global valerian extract market is set to take a hike in growth attributed to the high demand among health conscious consumers.Valerian Root Powder Market SegmentationValerian root powder market is segmented on the basis of application and by regions. On the basis of application, valerian root powder market is segmented into three main segments as herbal supplements, flavors and cosmetics. The herbal supplements are further sub-segmented into tablets and capsules. These forms are being used by the herbal manufacturers from a long time and the demand for the same has also been increasing throughout attributed to the health benefits of valerian root extract and the convenience in use of these dosage forms. The approval by FDA for the use of valerian extract as an additive for flavor and fragrance is further expected to fuel the market growth of valerian root powder.China being the largest exporter of herbal medicines followed by India. There is an increasing demand of herbal products throughout the globe with the major exports accounting to the following regions; North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. In regional segments North America accounts for a significantly higher share whereas rise in market demand originating from developing countries, Asia Pacific regions are expected to grow to a considerable fraction during the forecast period.Buy this Report at:Valerian Root Powder Global Market Trends and Market Drivers:The growth of organic food market remains persistent due to the attraction of healthier and safe to use products. The sedentary lifestyle among people is creating an ever increasing demand for health and wellness promoting supplements.The growing concern among consumers regarding the toxic and the habit forming effect of pharmaceutical grade sleep medicines is shifting the consumers preference towards the natural plant derivatives is expected to show a favorable market growth during the forecast period.The valerian root powder form is versatile in use and the applications in use include; cosmetic preparations and additive for food and beverages. The value addition in food product by adding valerian extract such as an additive in bakery, drinks and use as a health enhancing remedy is expected to drive the global valerian root powder market.Valerian root powder Market Key Players:Variety of forms of valerian root extract have been introduced by the manufacturers and some of the key global market players manufacturing valerian root powder include; BioTae, Nutra Green Biotechnology Co., Ltd., JIAHERB Inc., Foodchem International Corporation, Martin Bauer GmbH & Co. KG, Productos Quimicos Gonmisol SA.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Automotive Radar Deep Research on Industrial and Market studies - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends, Share and Forecast 2017 - 2026

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"Automotive Radar Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends, Share and Forecast 2017 - 2026" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.. .Description-' 'An increasing focus on safety features to curb a rising accident rate in emerging economies coupled with continuous innovations in radar technology is anticipated to fuel the automotive radar market. In addition, the falling prices of automobiles along with component cost should boost the automotive radar market. Automotive radars are essential in several safety systems such as pedestrian detection, cruise control, emergency braking, and blind spot detection. Transparency Market Research has prepared an exhaustive report titled Automotive Radar Market- (Range Type- Long Range, Medium Range, Short Range; Vehicle Type- Assisted, Semi-automated, Conditional Automation, Highly Automated; Application Type - Adaptive Cruise Control, Autonomous Emergency Brake, Autonomous Park Assist, Blind Spot Information, Other Applications)- Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends, Share and Forecast 2017-2026.. .Get Sample Report @' ' Automotive Radar Market Taxonomy RegionNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeJapanAPEJMEA Range TypeLong RangeMedium RangeShort Range Sales ChannelOEMAftermarket Application TypeAdaptive Cruise ControlAutonomous Emergency BrakeAutonomous Park AssistBlind Spot InformationOther ApplicationsA key section of the report highlights the regional trends in that exist in the automotive radar market. Country-specific trends that have a direct impact on the global automotive radar market have been mentioned. There is an equal emphasis on both emerging and developed economies for companies that seek to target either of the two in the automotive radar market.The automotive radar market report begins with an executive summary and an introduction that provides a birds eye view of the automotive radar market. The report consists of an extensive analysis of the automotive radar market expressed in terms of US dollars, primarily to cater to a global audience. Furthermore, this chapter includes the technological advancements along with an opportunity analysis of all the factors in the automotive radar market. An in-depth assessment of each market within the automotive radar market across diverse geographic regions can be gleaned from this section of the automotive radar market report. The market presence of important players has been discussed in the form of an attractiveness index.In an ever-changing automotive industry, it is essential to conduct forecasts not only in terms of CAGR but also with other metrics such as absolute dollar opportunity and Y-o-Y growth rate to gauge the automotive radar market accurately. The final section of the automotive radar market report comprises the competitive landscape that can be expected in the automotive radar market. The competition landscape is presented in a concise yet comprehensive dashboard format that delivers all the necessary information pertaining to the immediate competition. A company overview, recent developments, strategies adopted, and key financials are some of the data points that report readers can hope to glean. It is possible to conduct an in-depth competition SWOT analysis from this section which could prove to be immensely helpful to both incumbents and new entrants seeking to tap the automotive radar market. Logical and comprehensive research methodology carefully honed by TMR teamThe research methodology pioneered by Transparency Market Research is amongst the best in the industry and has been devised after careful requirement analysis. The analyst team has years of experience in the automotive industry and they conduct intense primary and secondary research to prepare reports such as that on the automotive radar market. After the data is gathered, it is thoroughly validated with proprietary company tools for providing all the quantitative and qualitative insights of the automotive radar market.. .More Clear Details get Table of Contents @ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Transcriptomics Market Global Report, Application & Research 2024

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Transcriptomics incorporates the exploration and assortment of transcriptomes and finds diverse applications, chiefly in molecular genetics. The global transcriptomics market could see a whole lot of instances of new product launch. For example, Trio RNA-Seq launched by NuGEN Technologies, Inc. is particularly suited for low abundance transcripts applications as it offers an extremely sensitive whole transcriptomics solution. This innovation embodies three powerful technologies, viz. single primer isothermal amplification (SPIA), DimerFree, and AnyDeplete, for performing high sensitivity ribonucleic acid (RNA) analysis.Read Report Overview @In terms of end use, type of product, and technology, the global transcriptomics market could be segmented to help participants make a careful analysis and find authentic growth opportunities.The authors of the report have taken into account all the important aspects of the global transcriptomics market in order to provide a deep insight for buyers to ensure a lasting advancement in the business.The international transcriptomics market is expected to gain impetus from the increasing amount of investments directed toward research and development activities in molecular genetics. Newer innovations such as those pertaining to next-generation sequencing (NGS) and RNA interference (RNAi) have birthed as a result of the technological advancements in the international transcriptomics market. With improved precision and accuracy, these cutting-edge technologies can be put to use with a view to help researchers analyze the transcriptional activity of a vast range of diverse organisms. This will in turn assist to furnish precise outcomes and manage colossal quantities of transcriptomics data with the help of improved data analysis practices.High cost of service on account of the dearth of trained professionals and high input cost is projected to discourage end users from opting for transcriptomics. Howbeit, cheaper and novel technologies that keep cost in view are anticipated to set the tone for the global transcriptomics market. The analysts foresee a steady growth over the forecast years on the part of the global transcriptomics market as cardiac diseases coupled with pollution-related ailments spread their presence worldwide. Biotechnology research and drug innovation actively and extensively employ transcriptomics technologies.Prophesied to register a significant CAGR for the forecast years, Asia Pacific could rely on countries such as India, Japan, and China for its strong growth in the global transcriptomics market. The region is predicted to fuel the demand in the global transcriptomics market on the back of a widespread presence of a ballooning count of biotech as well as pharma firms. This could be underpinned by the tangible economic growth and government support witnessed therein.Request to view Sample Report:Some of the top players functioning in the global transcriptomics market are Becton, GE Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. With most end users purchasing reagents in bulk, vendors in the global transcriptomics market could be benefited with a larger revenue in the transcriptomics consumables sector. Enzymes, reagents, and assays are frequently procured for the purpose of performing various tests in the transcriptomics consumables sector.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Diagnostic Ultrasound Market to reach $7 bn by 2024

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The research report Diagnostic Ultrasound Market Size By Technology (2D, 3D and 4D, Doppler), By Portability (Trolley, Compact/Handheld), By Application (General Imaging, Cardiology, Obstetrics / Gynecology, Others), By End use (Hospitals, Maternity Centers, Others), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 - 2024 by Global Market Insights, Inc. says, Diagnostic Ultrasound Market size is set to exceed USD 7 billion by 2024.Growing geriatric population base along with increasing chronic disease incidence rates will drive diagnostic ultrasound market growth over the forecast period. Higher susceptibility of the elderly towards certain orthopedic ailments and chronic diseases will boost ultrasound demand as the technology facilitates management of these disease conditions on an ongoing basis. For instance, a patient with prostatic hypertrophy started on certain medications which could possibly worsen bladder emptying can be monitored with ultrasound after initiation of medication.Request for a sample of this research report -Ultrasound devices are witnessing a transition from trolley based, single use systems to highly portable, versatile and multiuse systems. Rapid technological advancements in microelectronics and sensors coupled with improvement in image quality and expansion of applications will propel ultrasound system adoption rates.Dearth of skilled ultrasound technicians and sonographers especially in countries such as UK and Canada hinder industry expansion. Lack of availability of these skilled professionals is resulting in increased patient waiting time for ultrasound examinations and underuse of the equipment.Existence of barriers such as lack of training, high machine maintenance cost, absence of support personnel, lack of gel, irregular electrical supply, discomfort in image interpretation and liability concerns hamper technology adoption in developing countries.Browse key industry insights spread across 120 pages with 106 market data tables & 14 figures & charts from this 2017 report Diagnostic Ultrasound Market in detail along with the table of contents at:2D technology held significant industry share in 2016 being the most common and traditional method used for scanning. The technology produces a series of flat, two-dimensional image of the scanned tissue. Increasing usage of newer technologies such as 3D, 4D and 5D which provide a more detailed and realistic image as compared to 2D will impede segment growth.Compact or handheld ultrasound devices segment will grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period as they offer greater convenience due to their small size and light weight. Furthermore, they are highly beneficial for medical professionals practicing in acute care settings where transportation of the patient may be difficult owing to the constantly changing health condition.Application of the technology in cardiology held significant industry share. Increasing number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases such as stroke will drive segment growth over the forecast timeframe.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Hospitals end user segment is slated to grow at a robust rate owing to increasing influx of patients undergoing ultrasound scans in these settings. Expansion of hospitals and development of new ones will further spur growth.China diagnostic ultrasound market held significant industry share. Increasing healthcare expenditure, growing disease burden along with increasing desire for and utilization of more advanced technologies in healthcare facilities will drive industry growth.Prominent industry players include GE Healthcare, Samsung, Hitachi, Siemens, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Toshiba, SIUI, Promed Group, TELEMED Medical, Mindray and Esaote. The industry participants adopt various strategies such as acquisitions, new product development and launch for expanding their industry foothold. For instance, in March 2016, Mindray launched Resona 7 in Europe.Browse Related Reports:Molecular Diagnostics Market Size By Application (Infectious Disease, Blood Screening, Genetic Testing, Oncology Testing), By Technology (PCR, In Situ Hybridization, Chips and microarrays, Mass spectrometry, Sequencing, Isothermal Amplification), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Japan, China, India, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, KSA, UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Israel), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Internet of Things (IoT) Security Concerns Leading to Massive Market Growth: Competitive Landscape and Key Vendors 2017-2021

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This market research study identifies Cisco Systems, Wurldtech Security Technologies, IBM, Infineon Technologies, Intel, and Symantec as the leading players in the global internet of things (IOT) security market. A comprehensive analysis of this market is also presented by the network security components (services, software, and hardware), end-users (industrial, commercial, and consumer), and geography (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA).Overview of the global IOT security marketThe global IOT security market is anticipated to grow rapidly and will post a CAGR of close to 48% during the forecast period. The increasing adoption of cloud-based services will drive the growth prospects for the global IOT security market in the forthcoming years. Some of the major factors driving the demand for cloud-based services include modern video management systems, authentication processes, and storage of biometrics information. Also, a multitude of organizations such as banks and healthcare organizations are increasingly shifting from the conventional method of storing confidential data towards the cloud technology. With this growing trend of cloud technology, becomes imperative for service providers to make the use of cloud platform secured against any unauthorized access.Get the sample copy of this report :In terms of geography, the Americas accounted for the maximum market share during 2016 due to the high concentration of electronic consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and IoT vendors that provide IoT security solutions to these industries. However, during the forecasted period, the market share of the Americas is expected to decline due to the rapid shift of industries towards other technologies such as IoT devices integrated with biometrics for authentication. Furthermore, according to the industry research report, the APAC region is expected to dominate the market in the future because of the high adoption of IoT security solutions among SMEs, especially for the efficient and secure functioning of utilities like energy management.Competitive landscape and key vendorsThe global IoT security market is highly fragmented and competitive due to the presence of a large number of multinational vendors and small regional vendors across the globe. Some of the international vendors increasingly focus on expanding their product portfolio and market share by acquiring small vendors. Also, vendors are trying to distinguish their product and service offerings through a clear and unique selling proposition to sustain and survive in this intensely competitive environment.Request for TOC of this report :Key vendors in this market are -CiscoWurldtech Security TechnologiesIBMInfineon TechnologiesIntelSymantecOther prominent vendors in the market include Cypress, Digi International, Ericsson, Eurotech, Fortinet, Gemalto, Kore Wireless, NetComm Wireless, Nokia, Numerex, Palo Alto Networks, PTC, Rockwell Automation, Secure Crossing, Sierra Wireless, Sophos, Systech Solutions, Telit, Tofino, and Ventus Wireless.Segmentation by network security components and analysis of the IOT security marketServicesSoftwareHardwareThe IoT security hardware segment accounted for the maximum market share during 2016 and will continue to dominate the market until the end of 2021. However, in next four years, the segments market share is estimated to decline due to the high cost of implementation, replacement, and updates of the components.Segmentation by end user and analysis of the IOT security marketIndustrialCommercialConsumerView full report here :The industrial segment accounted for the maximum market share during 2016 and will continue to dominate the market for the next four years. The increasing use of IoT technology in process control, maintenance, manufacturing execution system (MES), asset location, and smart agriculture and farming will drive the prospects for growth in this market segment.Key questions answered in the report includeWhat will the market size and the growth rate be in 2021?What are the key factors driving the global internet of things (IOT) security market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global internet of things (IOT) security market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in the global internet of things (IOT) security market?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global internet of things (IOT) security market?What are the trending factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global internet of things (IOT) security market?MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments. We have built a veritable reputation for our commitment to fulfilling our clients' exacting market research solutions. From Fortune 500 companies to SMEs, our clients place their trust in us for reports from verified publishers.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Military Vetronics Market Overview, Segmentation & Competitive Landscape by Focusing On Top Key Vendors: Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Oshkosh Corporation, Rheinmetall Defence, SAAB A.B., TE Connectivity Ltd., BAE Systems

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The report, titled Global Military Vetronics Market. The report on the global market offers an elaborate assessment of key drivers and restraints, emerging trends, notable opportunities, prominent business use cases, and recent technological advancements. The research presents a thorough insight into the market share and size of various types of lucrative avenues, and competitive landscape.This report studies Military Vetronics in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2023.Top Key Vendors:Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Oshkosh Corporation, Rheinmetall Defence, SAAB A.B., TE Connectivity Ltd., BAE Systems plc, Elbit Systems Ltd., General Electric Company, General Dynamics Corporation, Ultra Electronics Ltd., Thales Group, The Raytheon Company, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, Moog, Inc., Lockheed Martin CorporationGet Sample Copy @The report offers a fundamental overview of the Global Military Vetronics Market. It includes definitions, product specifications, classification, and applications of the global market. The study also comprises an industry chain analysis and an industry overview of the major regions and their status in the global market.The next section of the report analyzes the development plans and policies, manufacturing process, and product cost structure of the Military Vetronics market. The report specifically focuses on the leading regions and manufacturers engaged in the production of consumer devices along with the analysis of the competitive landscape, development trends, and prime regions status of development. The report also contains information such as company profiles, product specification and picture, production capacity, cost, revenue, and gross profit margin.The report profiles the key market players which are dominant in the global Military Vetronics market. It also provides essential information about leading companies, such as product specification, financial overview, business overview, contact information, and recent developments. The list of figures provided in the table of content has mentioned all of the statistical representations of the market offered in the report.On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Military Vetronics Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.Get Up to 40% Discount on this report:The research report profiles the players and offers a detailed report about the competitive landscape present in the global Military Vetronics market. Additionally, the report also includes a Porters five forces analysis, which examines the threat of the new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, and the intensity of the competitive rivalry. The report also discusses the business and marketing strategies likely to be implemented by these in the coming few years.In the concluding divisions of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the  Military Vetronics 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.Table of Content:Global Military Vetronics Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Global Military Vetronics Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout QYReports:We at QYReports, a leading market research report publisher cater to more than 4,000 prestigious clients worldwide meeting their customized research requirements in terms of market data size and its application. Our list of customers includes renowned Chinese companies multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering you accurate, in depth and reliable market insight, industry analysis and structure. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in an and execution of a new project globally and in Chinese markets.Contact:The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India411016
Global TV White Space Spectrum Market 2018 - Aviacomm Inc,Adaptrum Inc,ATDI SA,Carlson Wireless Technologies

Global TV White Space Spectrum Market

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Global TV White Space Spectrum Market 2018 Analysis Report audits a Market Regions, Product Categories, with Sales, Business Revenue, Goods cost, TV White Space Spectrum piece of the overall industry and Growth patterns, concentrating on driving TV White Space Spectrum industry players, showcase size, request and supply examination, utilization volume, Forecast 2018 to 2022.The major regions present in the continents like United States, Germany, Japan and China and their contribution to global TV White Space Spectrum market is elaborated in this research document. In next section, the report discusses industry policies and plans, cost structures, the outline of TV White Space Spectrum market globally, manufacturing processes. The growth rate exhibited by TV White Space Spectrum market based on consumption ratio, consumer volume, market gains is included in this report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:The Global TV White Space Spectrum report gives a thorough situation of the present and gauge TV White Space Spectrum showcase procedures, improvement methodologies and development openings. Starting a discussion on the contemporary condition of TV White Space Spectrum showcase, the report extra dissects the market powerful moving each area begun in it.Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportKTS WirelessMicrosoft CorpAviacomm IncAdaptrum IncATDI SACarlson Wireless TechnologiesMeld TechnologyMetric Systems CorpSpectrum Bridge IncShared SpectrumTelcordia TechnologiesAlphabet IncKeybridge LLCThe report additionally concentrates the TV White Space Spectrum bits of knowledge of the organizations and suggestions that will help the perusers to have progressive learning of the TV White Space Spectrum showcase.Enquire Before Buying @A principal diagram of the TV White Space Spectrum market is introduced to the perusers with the assistance of market definition, order, different applications, and production network examination. The TV White Space Spectrum report covers the investigation of conventional and the developing markets. The report more expresses the TV White Space Spectrum showcase rivals, their business profiles, freshest news, their piece of the overall industry, developing arrangements and methodologies, client volume and creating strategies.All in all, it is an exhaustive research report which will help perusers to break down the possibility of interest in TV White Space Spectrum advertise.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite -
Aircraft G-meters Market Overview, Segmentation & Competitive Landscape by Focusing On Top Key Vendors: Falcon Gauge, MGL AVIONICS, Belite Aircraft, Grand Rapids Technologies, Chief Aircraft, QWD

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The report, titled Global Aircraft G-meters Market. The report on the global market offers an elaborate assessment of key drivers and restraints, emerging trends, notable opportunities, prominent business use cases, and recent technological advancements. The research presents a thorough insight into the market share and size of various types of lucrative avenues, and competitive landscape.This report studies Aircraft G-meters in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2023.Top Key Vendors:Falcon Gauge, MGL AVIONICS, Belite Aircraft, Grand Rapids Technologies, Chief Aircraft, QWDGet Sample Copy @The report offers a fundamental overview of the Global Aircraft G-meters Market. It includes definitions, product specifications, classification, and applications of the global market. The study also comprises an industry chain analysis and an industry overview of the major regions and their status in the global market.The next section of the report analyzes the development plans and policies, manufacturing process, and product cost structure of the Aircraft G-meters market. The report specifically focuses on the leading regions and manufacturers engaged in the production of consumer devices along with the analysis of the competitive landscape, development trends, and prime regions status of development. The report also contains information such as company profiles, product specification and picture, production capacity, cost, revenue, and gross profit margin.The report profiles the key market players which are dominant in the global Aircraft G-meters market. It also provides essential information about leading companies, such as product specification, financial overview, business overview, contact information, and recent developments. The list of figures provided in the table of content has mentioned all of the statistical representations of the market offered in the report.On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Aircraft G-meters Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.Get Up to 40% Discount on this report:The research report profiles the players and offers a detailed report about the competitive landscape present in the global Aircraft G-meters market. Additionally, the report also includes a Porters five forces analysis, which examines the threat of the new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, and the intensity of the competitive rivalry. The report also discusses the business and marketing strategies likely to be implemented by these in the coming few years.In the concluding divisions of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the  Aircraft G-meters 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.Table of Content:Global Aircraft G-meters Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Global Aircraft G-meters Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout QYReports:We at QYReports, a leading market research report publisher cater to more than 4,000 prestigious clients worldwide meeting their customized research requirements in terms of market data size and its application. Our list of customers includes renowned Chinese companies multinational companies, SMEs and private equity firms. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering you accurate, in depth and reliable market insight, industry analysis and structure. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in an and execution of a new project globally and in Chinese markets.Contact:The Work Lab,FC Road, Pune, MH, India411016
Quantum Cryptography Market Analysis by Manufacturers Competitive Strategies And Forecasts 2018 To 2025

Quantum Cryptography Market

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2018 Global Quantum Cryptography Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 is a pragmatic solution in the tough financial landscape in which we work. It will build resilience and capacity across both authorities and will help us to retain skilled and experienced staff by providing more opportunities for career development and specialism.The Global Quantum Cryptography Market research report provided the most detailed study about Quantum Cryptography that is estimated to grow at a tremendous rate over the forecast period 2013-2025. This report contains precise and updated insights in respect with the leading market players and prevailing regions of the business.To avail a sample of this report click here:The Global Quantum Cryptography Market Research Report renders deep perception of the key regional market status of the Quantum Cryptography Industry on a global level that primarily aims the core regions which comprises of continents like United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.The report on Global Quantum Cryptography Market is a professional report which provides thorough knowledge along with complete information pertaining to the Quantum Cryptography industry a propos classification, definitions, applications, industry chain summary, industry policies in addition to plans, product specifications, manufacturing processes, cost structures, etc.This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeHP Development CompanyID QuantiqueIBMNokia...The potential of this industry segment has been rigorously investigated in conjunction with primary market challenges. The present market condition and future prospects of the segment has also been examined. Moreover, key strategies in the market that includes product developments, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, etc., are discussed. Besides, upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also conducted.Browse full report with Table of Content:Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoDesignStudyMarket segment by Application, Quantum Cryptography can be split intoGoverning and regulatory bodiesLarge enterprisesSMEsTable of Contents 1 Industry Overview of Quantum Cryptography1.1 Quantum Cryptography Market Overview1.1.1 Quantum Cryptography Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Quantum Cryptography Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Quantum Cryptography Market by Type1.3.1 Design1.3.2 Study1.4 Quantum Cryptography Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Governing and regulatory bodies1.4.2 Large enterprises1.4.3 SMEs2 Global Quantum Cryptography Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Quantum Cryptography Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 HP Development Company3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Quantum Cryptography Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 ID Quantique3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Quantum Cryptography Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 IBM3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Quantum Cryptography Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Nokia3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Quantum Cryptography Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent DevelopmentsGet the best offer of this study @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Europe Automotive Parts Aluminium & Magnesium Die Casting Market Report 2017, Trends, Analysis, Share, Estimates and Forecasts to 2022.

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The Europe Automotive Parts Aluminium & Magnesium Die-Casting report provides an in-depth analysis of the various market segments and its sub-segments.Product types Covered: Pressure die casting Semi-solid die casting Squeeze die casting Vacuum die castingApplications Covered: Body assemblies Engine Parts Transmission parts OthersThe report focuses on current and upcoming market trends such as Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, and Challenges, technological advancements, Porters Five Forces analysis to assess the intensity of competition in the market. The market values are presented in the form of tables and graphs for better interpretation.For More, Please Visit:Market Size EstimationsThe market assessment is made by the core industry experts using our 360 research approach. The data is derived from the most reliable, authenticated data sources and is validated by the industry experts (Primary Research). Both top down and bottom up analysis are implemented to enhance the accuracy of the market figures. The market projections are calculated for the next 8 years using the actual market numbers of previous year as the base year.Company ProfilingThis section provides the overview of the key players that are leading in the industry, covering their business operations, financials, list of products & services, SWOT analysis, major developments such as mergers & acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, new product launch, expansions etc.Report Highlights:- Market share assessments for all the mentioned market segments and sub-segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years for all the given segments- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping, mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor More, Please Visit:We offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA
PCR Detection Technology Market Latest Trends and Demand Analysis by Manufacturers 2018  2025

PCR Detection Technology Market

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This report provides in depth study of PCR Detection Technology market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The PCR Detection Technology Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Analysis of PCR Detection Technology Industry Key Manufacturers:Thermo FisherRocheQIAGENBio-radAgilentBioerBiosynexEscoAnalytik JenaTechneBio-RadGlobally, the healthcare industry is garnering more attention in the last few years with new and latest technologies emerging. The prevalence of increasing diseases and rising awareness and concerns pertaining to the health are elements being contributive factors to revenue generation and overall growth of the healthcare sector and its associated industries. Escalated use of new inventions, and enhanced technologies along with ascending rate of investments in R&D, are encouraging the scope of the market and revenue growth of the global market.Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoGenome SequencingCloning GeneGene RecombinationMarket segment by Application, PCR Detection Technology can be split intoMedicalLife Science ResearchForensic ApplicationBrowse Complete Report with TOC @Prime countries, regions, and sub-sectors have been studied for giving improved knowledge of the market scope across the globe. The market report classifies the market by assessing the manufacturing chain, market manufacturers and their contribution in the industry, dominant policies and revenue structure, and regulatory aspects. The geographical markets of the PCR Detection Technology Market are thoroughly examined by assessing the profits garnered, product pricing, demand, logistics, production capacity, and supply, along with past performance of the market in the said region.The report renders penetrates into the competitive landscape of the global market industry along with major manufacturers profiled in the report. The PCR Detection Technology Market is extremely competitive and regulated. Lastly, trends, plans, company profiles, business strategies, M&As, financial metrics and strategical business planning of the leading market players in the global market of this industry have been analyzed in this study.Table of Contents 1 Industry Overview of PCR Detection Technology1.1 PCR Detection Technology Market Overview1.1.1 PCR Detection Technology Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global PCR Detection Technology Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 PCR Detection Technology Market by Type1.3.1 Genome Sequencing1.3.2 Cloning Gene1.3.3 Gene Recombination1.4 PCR Detection Technology Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Medical1.4.2 Life Science Research1.4.3 Forensic Application2 Global PCR Detection Technology Competition Analysis by Players2.1 PCR Detection Technology Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Thermo Fisher3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 PCR Detection Technology Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Roche3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 PCR Detection Technology Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 QIAGEN3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 PCR Detection Technology Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent DevelopmentsGet the best Discount in the market here @About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on Global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Future of E-commerce Payment Market Size 2022 Alipay, Tenpay, PayPal, Visa, MasterCard

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MarketStudyReport.com Add New Report Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) E-commerce Payment Market 2017 Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 117 pages with table and figures in it.The study on the global market for E-commerce Payment has evaluated the historical and current performance of this market, especially highlighting the key trends and growth opportunities. According to the study, the rising demand for this product is driving the global market for E-commerce Payment significantly. The expansion in the various related industry is also expected to reflect positively on the sales of E-commerce Payment product over the next few years.E-commerce Payment is a transaction of buying or selling online. Electronic commerce payment draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI) and automated data collection systems. It has become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the internet-based shopping and banking. Payment method security technology, payment customer experience are fast updating all the time. These are also the key features market players engaging to lead the run from all over the whole.Request a Free sample PDF of this research to evaluate more:Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Global E-commerce Payment market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Alipay, Tenpay, PayPal, Visa, MasterCardE-commerce Payment Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers Real-time bank transfers & offline bank transfers, Cash on delivery, Direct debits, E-invoices, Digital wallets, PostPay, PrePayRequest Discount for Global E-commerce Payment Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global E-commerce Payment market.Chapter 1, to describe E-commerce Payment Market Size Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of E-commerce Payment Market Size, with sales, revenue, and price of E-commerce Payment, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of E-commerce Payment, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the E-commerce Payment Market Size by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, E-commerce Payment market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe E-commerce Payment sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -World Temperature Data-loggers Market Research Report 2022 (covering USA, Europe, China, Japan, India, South East Asia and etc)Temperature Data-loggers market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:
Global Automotive Soft-close Doors Market 2018 - Johnson Electric,Kiekert,U-Shin,Brose

Global Automotive Soft-close Doors Market

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Global Automotive Soft-close Doors Market 2018 Analysis Report audits a Market Regions, Product Categories, with Sales, Business Revenue, Goods cost, Automotive Soft-close Doors piece of the overall industry and Growth patterns, concentrating on driving Automotive Soft-close Doors industry players, showcase size, request and supply examination, utilization volume, Forecast 2018 to 2022.The major regions present in the continents like United States, Germany, Japan and China and their contribution to global Automotive Soft-close Doors market is elaborated in this research document. In next section, the report discusses industry policies and plans, cost structures, the outline of Automotive Soft-close Doors market globally, manufacturing processes. The growth rate exhibited by Automotive Soft-close Doors market based on consumption ratio, consumer volume, market gains is included in this report.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:The Global Automotive Soft-close Doors report gives a thorough situation of the present and gauge Automotive Soft-close Doors showcase procedures, improvement methodologies and development openings. Starting a discussion on the contemporary condition of Automotive Soft-close Doors showcase, the report extra dissects the market powerful moving each area begun in it.Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportContinentalJohnson ElectricKiekertU-ShinBroseInteva ProductsSTMicroelectronicsSlamStopWitteTLX TechnologiesMabuchi MotorHoerbigerIFB AutomotiveMitsubaThe report additionally concentrates the Automotive Soft-close Doors bits of knowledge of the organizations and suggestions that will help the perusers to have progressive learning of the Automotive Soft-close Doors showcase.Enquire Before Buying @A principal diagram of the Automotive Soft-close Doors market is introduced to the perusers with the assistance of market definition, order, different applications, and production network examination. The Automotive Soft-close Doors report covers the investigation of conventional and the developing markets. The report more expresses the Automotive Soft-close Doors showcase rivals, their business profiles, freshest news, their piece of the overall industry, developing arrangements and methodologies, client volume and creating strategies.All in all, it is an exhaustive research report which will help perusers to break down the possibility of interest in Automotive Soft-close Doors advertise.About UsApex Market Reports offers elevating market research globally. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different categories. Apex Market Reports provides you to best services, weather youre searching for new trends in market or competitive scenario in emerging market.Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezCorporate Sales Specialist155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Phone: +17739042683Email id - sales@apexmarketreports.comWebsite -
Laboratory Information Systems Market : Global Key Players - Cerner Corporation, Recent Developments, Eclipsys Corporation, LabVantage Solutions Inc, LabWare Inc

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Global Laboratory Information Systems Market Research Report By Application( Clinical, Industrial, Drug Discovery ) By Components( Software, Hardware, Services ) By Delivery ( Web-based, On-Premise )- Forecast to 2027Globally the market for Laboratory Information Systems is increasing rapidly. Global LIS market is driven by eight major drivers such as need for advanced techniques, growth in molecular diagnostics, cloud computing, rising government initiatives and increasing demand for laboratory efficiency.Get a sample copy of this report atStudy Objectives of Laboratory Information SystemsTo provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Laboratory Information Systems marketTo provide insights about factors affecting the market growthTo Analyze the Laboratory Information Systems market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW)To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospectiveTo provide country level analysis of the market for segment by Application, Components, Delivery and its sub-segments.To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketTo track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Laboratory Information Systems marketBrowse Complete Report atKey FindingsThe global LIS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% between 2016 and 2027, driven by growth from both developed and emerging markets.Clinical application will drive the majority of the growth in the global LIS market.Software accounts for the majority of the global LIS market in terms of componentsNorth America and Europe together contributed more than 75% of the global total market size in 2014. Emerging markets such as China and India are expected to generate significant demand for LIS during 2016-2027.Key PlayersCerner CorporationRecent DevelopmentsEclipsys CorporationLabVantage Solutions IncLabWare IncMcKesson CorporationMedical Information Technology Inc.Merge Healthcare IncSTARLIMS CorporationSunquest CorporationThermo Fisher Scientific IncThe report for Laboratory Information Systems of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact usMarket Research FutureMaharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Marketresearchfuture.Com
Cigarette Market : Popular Trends & Technological advancements to Watch Out for Near Future; Global Industry Analysis 2021

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Albany, NY,17th January : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Global Cigarette Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2017-2021)" globally.The report titled Global Cigarette Market: Size, Trends and Forecasts (2017-2021), provides an in-depth analysis of the global cigarettes market by value, by volume, by products, by region, etc. The report provides a regional analysis of the cigarette market, including the following regions: the US, EU, EEMA, APAC, Latin America and Canada.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global cigarette market has also been forecasted for the period 2017-2021, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.The competition in the global cigarette market is dominated by the four big players, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands Plc., and Philip Morris International Inc., which are profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.Country CoverageThe USEUEEMAAsia-PacificLatin America and CanadaView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Company CoverageBritish American TobaccoImperial Brands PlcJapan Tobacco InternationalPhilips Morris International Inc.Executive SummaryCigarette is a thin cylinder of finely cut tobacco rolled in paper for smoking. The cigarette contains nicotine or any other herbal substance depending upon the type being manufactured. The cigarettes are been consumed for varied reasons ranging from personal factors, professional factors to societal factors and others. The manufacturing of cigarettes is almost completely automated. It is done by machines without people. Machines crush and clean tobacco leaves and add chemicals like nicotine. They also roll cigarettes, put on filters, cut them to length, and then package them.The engineering of a cigarette consists of filter, cigarette paper, tobacco filler, tipping paper, ventilation holes and additives. Cigarettes impose both financial and health hazards.The global cigarette market has increased at a significant CAGR during the years 2010-2016 and projections are made that the market by value would rise in the next four years i.e. 2017-2021 gradually. The cigarette market is expected to increase due to growth in global GDP per-capita, rising urban population, declining global tobacco prices, increasing youth population, etc.Browse Report @Yet the market faces some challenges such as, declining adult smoking incidence in varied parts of the world, emergence of e-cigarettes, increasing per-capita healthcare expenditure, etc.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.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 :
Biostimulants Market with Industry Size, Market aspect, and Forecast 2016-2023 Acute Market Reports

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Biostimulants Market, By Crop Type, Application and Active Ingredients - Growth, Future Prospects and Competitive Analysis, 2016 - 2023, the global biostimulants market was valued at US$ 2.06 Bn in 2017, and is expected to reach US$ 3.82 Bn by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2017 to 2025.Browse Here For Full Report:Market Insights:There has been an upsurge in the demand for organic food products across the globe. This is fuelling the demand for efficient crops, furthermore to meet the demand for food in the growing world population. Agriculture is a key indicator having an impact on a particular countrys economy along with livelihoods of the individuals. Thus, presence of good quality arable land is gaining significant traction among agriculture product producers especially in countries such as Denmark, India, Poland and Germany. Since, these countries are among top 25 countries, when analyzed according to the arable land statistics in 2013. Also, arable land is expected to grow at a moderate growth in the near future, which is expected to spur the demand for agricultural products referred to as biostimulants. Definition of biostimulants varies according to particular region, for instance in Europe biostimulants definition as proposed by European Biostimulant Industry Consortium (EBIC) is Plant biostimulants contain substance(s) and/or micro-organisms whose function when applied to plants or the rhizosphere is to stimulate natural processes to enhance/benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and crop quality.Of different crop types, fruits and vegetables segment is expected to record highest growth in the forthcoming years. However, row crops segment holds largest market share throughout the forecast period. There is an increased consumption of row crops such as pulses, oilseeds and cereals and cultivation of row crops accounts for significant share in the total cultivated land. This is further intended to increase adoption of biostimulants among growers, thus fuelling the biostimulants market growth.Among different regions, Europe is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of revenue share contribution, followed by Asia Pacific and North America. Asia Pacific is expected to record highest CAGR during the forecast period. Improving supply chain in countries such as China and India, technological advancements, and growing awareness among growers regarding usage of biostimulants are some of the key factors bolstering the biostimulants market growth in the region.Competitive Insights:Some of the prominent players identified in the biostimulants market include Biovert S.A., Micromix Plant Health Limited, Acadian Seaplants Limited, Bio Atlantis Ltd., Italpollina spa, BASF SE, Dow Chemical Company, Agrinos, ILSA spa, Bayer AG, Koppert B.V., Valagro Spa, Biostadt India Limited, Arysta LifeScience Limited, Novozymes A/S, Biostadt India Limited, Omex Agrifluids Ltd., Platform Specialty Products Corporation, Agrinos A/S and Trade Corporation International.Key Trends: Asia Pacific serves as potential market for biostimulants due to government support for sustainable agriculture industry Increasing awareness among growers related to improved crop quality and yield Mitigation of territorial and social cohesion through economy development, owing to agriculture being an important indicator in overall economy especially in Europe and Asia PacificToC:1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Description1.2. Research Methodology1.2.1. Phase I-Secondary Research1.2.2. Phase II-Primary Research1.2.3. Phase II-Expert Panel Review1.2.4. Assumptions1.2.5. Approach Adopted2. Executive Summary2.1. Global Biostimulants Market Snapshot2.1.1. Global Biostimulants Market by Crop Type, 20152.1.2. Global Biostimulants Market by Application, 20152.1.3. Global Biostimulants Market by Active Ingredients, 20153. Market Summary3.1. Market Overview3.2. Value Chain Analysis3.3. Market Dynamics3.3.1. Drivers3.3.2. Challenges3.3.3. Future Prospects3.3.4. Impact Analysis of Drivers and Challenges3.4. Attractive Investment Proportion3.4.1. By Crop Type3.4.2. By Application3.4.3. By Active Ingredients3.5. Market Positioning of Key Players......Browse Here For Full Report:Browse Here For Same Category Reports:About Us:Acute Market Reports is the most sufficient collection of market intelligence services online. It is your only source that can fulfill all your market research requirements. We provide online reports from over 100 best publishers and upgrade our collection regularly to offer you direct online access to the worlds most comprehensive and recent database with expert perceptions on worldwide industries, products, establishments and trends. Our database consists of 200,000+ market research reports with detailed & minute market research.Media ContactName: Chris PaulAddress: 105 N 1st ST #429SAN JOSE, CA 95103 USE-mail: sales@acutemarketreports.comPh: +1-855-455-8662Web:
Loan Origination Software Market Analysis by Commercial & Retail, Dynamics of Demand and Supply, Present Scenario and Future Forecast to 2022

Loan Origination Software

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Orbis Research has introduced research report on 2018 Global Loan Origination Software Industry Research Report. This report is premium source of information on Loan Origination Software and its worldwide market status with Current Services and Emerging Technologies.Browse The Full Report With TOC@:DescriptionThe Global Loan Origination Software Market report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Global Loan Origination Software industry. This report evaluates the Global market for "Global Loan Origination Software".The Global Loan Origination Software Market report provides complete analysis of the Global Loan Origination Software Market by analysing all round market dynamics such as regional market opportunities, drivers, challenges, constraints, threats, and other market trends.The Global Loan Origination Software Market report contains latest Business Data resulting from various Research sources that helps Decision Makers to deliver a Distinctive and Trustworthy Analysis for Companys Growth.The Global Loan Origination Software Market Survey starts with Industry overview of Global Loan Origination Software Market covering Major Regions Status, Industry Chain Structure, Definitions and Specifications, with a detailed focus on Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis including Raw Material Suppliers, Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturing Process.In Next Part, the researchers has collected and presented information on Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis which comprises of Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source of Major Manufacturers in 2017.Get a PDF Sample of Global Loan Origination Software Market report @:In following segment, with Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Business Region Distribution Analysis, Competition between various Company Profile has been given along with Product Pictures and Specifications in Global Loan Origination Software Industry Report.The Key Players Mentioned in Global Loan Origination Software Market Report are: Fiserv Pega Tavant Technologies Juris Technologies FIS D+H SPARK Mortgage Builder Axcess Consulting Group Compass Technologies Integrated Accounting Solutions Turnkey Lender EGROUP EU Byte Software Ellie MaeMarket Analysis by Regions: North America Europe China Japan India OthersMarket Analysis by Types: SaaS-based On-premisesMarket Analysis by Applications: Commercial Retail OtherPlace a purchase order of Global Loan Origination Software Market Report @:The Global Loan Origination Software Industry Report is also a Great Source of Marketing Type Analysis consisting:1. Global Loan Origination Software Regional Marketing Type Analysis2. Global Loan Origination Software International Trade Type Analysis3. Traders or Distributors with Contact Information of Global Loan Origination Software by Regions4. Global Loan Origination Software Supply Chain AnalysisSome Points From Table of Content:1 Loan Origination Software Market Overview1.1 Product Overview of Loan Origination Software1.2 Classification and Application of Loan Origination Software1.3 Global Loan Origination Software Market Regional Analysis1.3.1 USA Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.2 Europe Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.3 Japan Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.4 China Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.5 India Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.6 Southeast Asia Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.7 South America Market Present Situation Analysis1.3.8 South Africa Market Present Situation Analysis1.4 Loan Origination Software Industry Development Factors Analysis1.4.1 Loan Origination Software Industry Development Opportunities Analysis1.4.2 Loan Origination Software Industry Development Challenges Analysis1.5 Loan Origination Software Consumer Behavior Analysis2 Global Loan Origination Software Competitions by Players2.1 Global Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Players2.2 Global Loan Origination Software Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2017-2018)2.3 Global Loan Origination Software Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2017-2018)2.4 Global Loan Origination Software Gross Margin by Players (2017-2018)3 Global Loan Origination Software Competitions by Types3.1 Global Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Types3.2 Global Loan Origination Software Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Type (2013-2018)3.3 Global Loan Origination Software Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2013-2018)3.4 Global Loan Origination Software Gross Margin by Type (2013-2018)3.5 USA Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.6 China Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.7 Europe Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.8 Japan Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.9 India Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.10 Southeast Asia Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.11 South America Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.12 South Africa Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type4 Global Loan Origination SoftwareCompetitions by Application4.1 Global Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.2 Global Loan Origination Software Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Global Loan Origination Software Price (USD/Unit) by Application (2013-2018)4.4 Global Loan Origination Software Gross Margin by Application (2013-2018)4.5 USA Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.6 China Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.7 Europe Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.8 Japan Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.9 India Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.10 Southeast Asia Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.11 South America Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application4.12 South Africa Loan Origination Software Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Application5 Global Loan Origination Software Production Market Analysis by Region5.1 Global Loan Origination Software Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Region5.1.1USA Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.2 Europe Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.3 China Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.4 Japan Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.5 India Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.6 Southeast Asia Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.7 South America Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.8 South Africa Loan Origination Software Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.2 Global Loan Origination Software Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Region (2013-2018)5.3 Global Loan Origination Software Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2013-2018)5.4 Global Loan Origination Software Gross Margin by Region (2013-2018)Got any Query? Feel free to ask us @:Lastly, the Report provides Development Trend Analysis for 2017-2022 years which will forecast Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales Price, Consumption Forecast, Market Trend (Product Type) and Market Trend (Application). Also the List of Major Consumers is analyzed and Contact Details are provided to easy communicating.Finally, the Report is concluded with Various Methodology, Analyst Introduction and Data SourcesOrbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.
Cyber Security Market : Top 5 Ways to Ensure Cybersecurity in the Age of IoT

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The rising rate of digitization has resulted in an increased demand for enhanced cybersecurity skills and processes that can easily cater to the rising challenges posed by IoT. In fact, increased adoption of IoT has necessitated that companies build capabilities which are efficient enough to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.Five ways to ensure cyber security#1 Choose the right IoT security based on ones business modelAs a matter of hygiene, a basic range of IoT security is needed in almost all the organizations. But, to build a system that is cyberproof, a clear understanding of your business model is the first step. It is very important to choose IoT security solutions which align with your business model and enable fruitful monetization. Cybersecurity solutions, thus, need to be selected based on the risk aspect of that specific business.#2 Right allocation of responsibilityAs discussed in the earlier part of this article, often, organizations fail to allocate clear roles and responsibilities of IoT security  especially evident in the case of supply chain management. Also, the decision makers in the organization should realize that IoT applications demand a holistic cyber protection plan which covers the entire IoT stack. Therefore, it is crucial that all key decision makers in each IoT stack be trained to understand the pitfalls which the product could potentially face.#3 Impart rigorous training to the resourcesThe best way to keep the workforce in-the-know about the latest updates in the cyber protection is by organizing trainings on a regular basis. Cybersecurity is a long-term process, and this is precisely why experts hold the view that decision makers should focus on enhancing the skills and mind-set of the workforce. Also, a culture needs to be built in the work area that places due importance to following the hygiene, and exposing employees to cross-system training.#4 Pull in regulators and other industry players on the same platformIt is vital that businesses, regulators, and fellow industry players are on the same page when it comes to following cyber protection measures. Industry specific standards make the task of cybersecurity quite uncomplicated. The need of the hour is to establish industry specific IoT security standards, which are accepted by all the players as well as regulators so that right action be taken in case of any security mishap.#5 Have a post-breach plan in placeThis is another major area where most organizations lag miserably. A post-breach plan is one of the cornerstones of a practical cyber protection strategy. The plan may involve external security researchers, disaster-recovery solutions, and a transparent issue redressal blueprint. This way, in case of any mishap, there is already a process available which can be followed to contain the loss.This industry research report identifies Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro as the key vendors in the global cyber security market. This industry research report also presents a comprehensive analysis of the market by deployment (on premises and cloud based), by end user (government, BFSI, manufacturing, ICT, retail, healthcare, and others), and by geography (APAC, Europe, Latin America, MEA, and North America).Get the sample copy of this report :Overview of the global cyber security marketTechnavios market study identifies the increasing IT security budget to be one of the primary growth factors for the cyber security market. To counter the increasing IT security threats, several end-user sectors have increased their IT security spending. End users use high number of websites and web applications, that results in high incidences of identity and data theft. End users are deploying advanced and expensive cyber security solutions to prevent cyber-crime. Additionally, increasing complexity of cyberattacks and the growing awareness of the security risks will also contribute to this market. The market analysts estimate that the market will grow steadily at a CAGR of around 13% by 2021.IoT is an interconnection between devices that allows the exchange of large volumes of data stored in the cloud. IoT enables proper communication between systems, devices, and services and facilitates efficient transmission of huge amount of data through networks at high speed. Implementation of IoT enables better connectivity and interaction between people and machines and resolves all critical situations. IoT is targeted by cyber threats as it uses wireless networks extensively. The increasing adoption of IoT is identified to be one of the key trends contributing towards the growth of the cyber security market.Competitive landscape and key vendorsThe cyber security market is steadily growing influenced by the growing demand for commercialized cyber security solutions. Several pure-play vendors in the market offer cyber security solutions as software kits that can be integrated into devices used to access private and public networks. Large cyber security vendors are entering into M&As to expand their product portfolio and improve their technological capabilities.Request for TOC of this report :The leading vendors in the market are -Booz Allen HamiltonLockheed MartinMcAfeeSymantecTrend MicroThe other prominent vendors in the market are Boeing, Brocade Communications Systems, Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, Dell EMC, F-Secure, Fortinet, General Dynamics, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Kaspersky Lab, Juniper Networks, L3 Technologies, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Sophos.Segmentation by deployment and analysis of the cyber security marketOn-premisesCloud basedOn-premises solutions provide high level of security and complete control over the critical data. Government, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), and manufacturing sectors widely implement the on-premises cyber security solutions.Segmentation by end user and analysis of the cyber security marketGovernmentBanking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI)ManufacturingInformation and communication technology (ICT)RetailHealthcareThe significant investments made by defense sector and homeland security in cyber security solutions and the implementation of government security installations in developing countries will contribute to the growth of the cyber security market. Additionally, the rising need for security and confidentiality of data will contribute to extensive adoption of IT security solutions.View full report :Key questions answered in the report includeWhat will the market size and the growth rate be in 2021?What are the key factors driving the global cyber security market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global cyber security market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in the global cyber security market?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global cyber security market?Trending factors influencing the market shares of the APAC, Europe, Latin America, MEA, and North America.What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global cyber security market?MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments. We have built a veritable reputation for our commitment to fulfilling our clients' exacting market research solutions. From Fortune 500 companies to SMEs, our clients place their trust in us for reports from verified publishers.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
PAN Fiber Market Opportunities and Key Manufacturer Report 2018-2023

PAN Fiber Market

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This is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global PAN Fiber Market with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the PAN Fiber manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2018 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of PAN Fiber industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis.FREE | Request Sample Copy is Available atThe report then estimates 2018-2023 market development trends of PAN Fiber industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of PAN Fiber Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2018-2023 Global and Chinese PAN Fiber industry covering all important parameters.Major Points from Table of ContentsIntroduction of PAN Fiber IndustryManufacturing Technology of PAN FiberAnalysis of Global Key ManufacturersGlobal and Chinese Market of PAN FiberMarket Status of PAN Fiber IndustryMarket Forecast of Global and Chinese PAN Fiber Industry 2018-2023Analysis of PAN Fiber Industry ChainGlobal and Chinese Economic Impact on PAN Fiber IndustryMarket Dynamics of PAN Fiber IndustryProposals for New ProjectResearch Conclusions of Global and Chinese PAN Fiber IndustryInquire before Buying atList of Tables and FiguresFigure PAN Fiber Product PictureTable Development of PAN Fiber Manufacturing TechnologyFigure Manufacturing Process of PAN FiberTable Trends of PAN Fiber Manufacturing TechnologyFigure PAN Fiber Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Production Global Market ShareFigure PAN Fiber Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Production Global Market ShareFigure PAN Fiber Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Product Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value ListFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Production Global Market ShareFigure PAN Fiber Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Production Global Market ShareFigure PAN Fiber Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Product Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value ListFigure 2012-2018 PAN Fiber Capacity Production and Growth RateContact Us:Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email Id: sales@reportsweb.comAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
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United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, 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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Industrial Construction Americas Market 2018 Industry Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast To 2022

Industrial Construction America

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SynopsisAlthough the US is the dominant global consumer market, the Americas does not dominate the industrial construction projects market, with only 43% of the value of the Asia-Pacific industrial construction projects market. Year on year industrial production in the US has risen 2.9% in the 12 months up to October 2017. Brazil, the driver for the Latin American economies, posted growth in industrial production of 5.3% year-on-year in October 2017, which was above market expectations.GET SAMPLE REPORT @This report provides detailed analysis, information and insights based on 1,157 CIC projects in the Americas, including detailed metrics on the region's industrial construction projects (as tracked by CIC) split by country and value and by six types of project including manufacturing plants, metals and materials production and processing and chemical and pharmaceutical plants. Country profiles are provided for the top 10 countries including the US, Brazil and Canada.SummaryConstruction Intelligence Center (CIC) is currently tracking industrial construction projects in the Americas with a total value of US$487.0 billion. Of this, US$243.3 billion is in the planning stage.The US accounts for the highest value with US$305.9 billion, followed by Brazil with projects valuing US$71.4 billion. Canada and Mexico follow with projects with a value of US$34.4 billion and US$16.6 billion respectively.The Americas highest project investment is in chemical and pharmaceutical plants with a value of US$171.0 billion followed by manufacturing plants with a value of US$144.7 billion.The largest projects currently in the pipeline are the US$16.4 billion Taiwanese-financed Microchip Fabrication Plant and the US$11.0 billion MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility both in the US.ScopeThe report provides analysis based on CIC projects showing total project values for the Americas and analysis by stage and funding for the top 10 countries.The top 50 projects are listed for the region giving country, stage, value and type of industrial construction. Values by six types of project categories are given including chemical and pharmaceutical plants, and manufacturing plants.Ranked listings of the top participants for the sector are also provided showing the leading contractors, consulting engineers and project owners.Reasons to Buy Gain insight and see forecasts for the industrial construction sector. Assess all major projects by value, start date, scope and stage of development for the region and top 10 countries to support business development activities. Plan campaigns by country based on specific project opportunities and align resources to the most attractive markets.Key Highlights The highest value of projects are at the planning stage, with US$243.3 billion, followed by projects at the execution stage with US$167.1 billion. Projects in the pre-execution stage amount to US$40.7 billion, while projects in the pre-planning stage account for US$35.9 billion. The US accounts for highest value of industrial projects with US$305.9 billion. Private investment is responsible for funding the highest proportion of projects, with 90%, with joint public/private funding at 6% and only 4% of projects financed by public funding. Assuming all projects tracked go ahead as planned, annual spending on the projects would reach US$123.2 billion in 2019. The top contractor in the region is Tecnicas Reunidas SA based in Spain followed by Technip SA based in France."Table of Content: Key Points1. Regional Overview2. Key Operators3. Project Analytics by Country3.1. The US3.2. Brazil3.3. Canada3.4. Mexico3.5. Peru3.6. Chile3.7. Bolivia3.8. Argentina3.9. Uruguay3.10. Ecuador4. Methodology5. DisclaimerContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Pest Control Market Size, Share - Industry Trend and Forecast 2017-2021

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Latest industry research report on: Global Pest Control Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, Forecasts.Pest control is the process of managing (by using deterrents or repellents) or removing pests from the house or place of business. Pest control services include screening and sealing of openings to avoid entry of pests inside the premises. Such services are provided in home, offices, schools, ware houses, factories, and laboratories, residential and commercial complexes. General pests like cockroach, ants, lizards, spiders, bed bugs, termites, mosquitoes and rodents are covered under pest control services. Effective pest control requires some knowledge about the pest and its habits.There are many methods for controlling the pests, and many of these methods are tailored according to specific pests or problems. Pest control must be approached from a multitude of directions if it is to be truly effective. The most common types of pest control methods include traps, chemical repellents, poisoned baits, etc.Request For Sample Report @The global pest control market is set to experience favourable growth driven by factors such as increasing global population, rapid urbanisation, rising middle class population and upsurge in disposable income. Further, the scope of growth for this market will be broadened by rise in global temperature and increasing economic activity. However, growth of this budding market can be hindered by stringent regulations, seasonality and hazardous pesticides.Request For Table of Contents @The report Global Pest Control Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) analyses the development of this market, with focus on North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Major trends, growth drivers as well as issues being faced by the market are discussed in detail in this report. The four major players: Rollins, Inc., Rentokil Initial Plc., ServiceMaster and Ecolab Inc. are being profiled along with their key financials and strategies for growth. The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the global pest control market along with the study of the regional markets.Complete Report Details @Table of Content1. Overview1.1 Introduction1.2 Types of Pests1.3 Pest Control Methods2. Global Market Analysis2.1 Global Pest Control Market Forecast by Value2.2 Global Pest Control Market by Region2.3 Global Pest Control Market by Pest Type2.4 Global Insect Control Market Forecast by Value2.5 Global Termite Control Market Forecast by Value2.6 Global Pest Control Market by Services2.7 Global Commercial Pest Control Market Forecast by Value2.8 Global Residential Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3. Regional Market Analysis3.1 North America3.1.1 North America Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.1.2 North America Pest Control Market by Region3.1.3 The U.S. Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.1.4 North America Pest Control Market by Services3.2 Europe3.2.1 Europe Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.2.2 Europe Pest Control Market by Region3.2.3 UK Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.3 Asia Pacific3.3.1 Asia Pacific Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.3.2 Asia Pacific Pest Control Market by Countries3.3.3 China Pest Control Market Forecast by Value3.3.4 India Pest Control Market Forecast by ValueAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Zeolite Molecular Sieve Market Opportunities and Key Manufacturer Report 2018-2023

Zeolite Molecular Sieve

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This is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Zeolite Molecular Sieve Market with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Zeolite Molecular Sieve manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2018 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of Zeolite Molecular Sieve industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis.FREE | Request Sample Copy is Available atThe report then estimates 2018-2023 market development trends of Zeolite Molecular Sieve industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Zeolite Molecular Sieve Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Zeolite Molecular Sieve industry covering all important parameters.Major Points from Table of ContentsIntroduction of Zeolite Molecular Sieve IndustryManufacturing Technology of Zeolite Molecular SieveAnalysis of Global Key ManufacturersGlobal and Chinese Market of Zeolite Molecular SieveMarket Status of Zeolite Molecular Sieve IndustryMarket Forecast of Global and Chinese Zeolite Molecular Sieve Industry 2018-2023Analysis of Zeolite Molecular Sieve Industry ChainGlobal and Chinese Economic Impact on Zeolite Molecular Sieve IndustryMarket Dynamics of Zeolite Molecular Sieve IndustryProposals for New ProjectResearch Conclusions of Global and Chinese Zeolite Molecular Sieve IndustryInquire before Buying atList of Tables and FiguresFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product PictureTable Development of Zeolite Molecular Sieve Manufacturing TechnologyFigure Manufacturing Process of Zeolite Molecular SieveTable Trends of Zeolite Molecular Sieve Manufacturing TechnologyFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Production Global Market ShareFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Production Global Market ShareFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value ListFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Production Global Market ShareFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product Capacity, Production, and Production Value etc. ListFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Capacity Production and Growth RateFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Production Global Market ShareFigure Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product and SpecificationsTable 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Product Capacity Production Price Cost Production Value ListFigure 2012-2018 Zeolite Molecular Sieve Capacity Production and Growth RateContact Us:Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email Id: sales@reportsweb.comAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.Pune:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market 2018-2023 Bosch, Denso, Delphi

Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market

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http://qymarketsresearch.com/report/global-commercial-vehicle-ignition-coil-market-201-141390/

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Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market Research 2018A market study "Global Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market" examines the performance of the Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market 2018 report includes Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market Revenue, market Share, Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil industry volume, market Trends, Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market 2018 :1. Bosch2. Denso3. Delphi4. BorgWarner5. Federal-Mogul6. Hitachi7. NGK8. Yura9. Mitsubishi10. SparkTronic11. SOGREAT12. Zunyi Changzheng13. Jiaercheng14. Anhui KING-AUTOCommercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market : By ApplicationOEMAftermarketCommercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market : By TypeSingle-sparkMulti-sparkFirstly, the report covers the top Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil industry, Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Commercial Vehicle Ignition Coil market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Creatine Market Innovative Trends, Manufacturing Technology, Production Capacity and Strategic Outlook to 2025

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http://www.reportsweb.com/global-creatine-market-report-2018-2023

Global Creatine Market Report 2018-2023 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Creatine industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Creatine manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2018 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of Creatine industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis.The report then estimates 2018-2023 market development trends of Creatine industry. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Creatine Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Creatine industry covering all important parameters.FREE | Request Sample Copy is Available atTable of ContentsChapter One Introduction of Creatine Industry1.1 Brief Introduction of Creatine1.2 Development of Creatine Industry1.3 Status of Creatine IndustryChapter Two Manufacturing Technology of Creatine2.1 Development of Creatine Manufacturing Technology2.2 Analysis of Creatine Manufacturing Technology2.3 Trends of Creatine Manufacturing TechnologyChapter Three Analysis of Global Key ManufacturersChapter Four 2012-2018 Global and Chinese Market of Creatine4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Production Value of Creatine Industry4.2 Global Cost and Profit of Creatine Industry4.3 Market Comparison of Global and Chinese Creatine Industry4.4 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Creatine4.5 Chinese Import and Export of CreatineChapter Five Market Status of Creatine Industry5.1 Market Competition of Creatine Industry by Company5.2 Market Competition of Creatine Industry by Country (USA, EU, Japan, Chinese etc.)5.3 Market Analysis of Creatine Consumption by Application/TypeInquire before Buying atChapter Six 2018-2023 Market Forecast of Global and Chinese Creatine Industry6.1 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Capacity, Production, and Production Value of Creatine6.2 2018-2023 Creatine Industry Cost and Profit Estimation6.3 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Market Share of Creatine6.4 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Creatine6.5 2018-2023 Chinese Import and Export of CreatineChapter Seven Analysis of Creatine Industry Chain7.1 Industry Chain Structure7.2 Upstream Raw Materials7.3 Downstream IndustryChapter Eight Global and Chinese Economic Impact on Creatine Industry8.1 Global and Chinese Macroeconomic Environment Analysis8.1.1 Global Macroeconomic Analysis8.1.2 Chinese Macroeconomic Analysis8.2 Global and Chinese Macroeconomic Environment Development Trend8.2.1 Global Macroeconomic Outlook8.2.2 Chinese Macroeconomic Outlook8.3 Effects to Creatine IndustryChapter Nine Market Dynamics of Creatine Industry9.1 Creatine Industry News9.2 Creatine Industry Development Challenges9.3 Creatine Industry Development OpportunitiesComplete Report is Available atChapter Ten Proposals for New Project10.1 Market Entry Strategies10.2 Countermeasures of Economic Impact10.3 Marketing Channels10.4 Feasibility Studies of New Project InvestmentContact Us:Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email Id: sales@reportsweb.comAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers.533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Rett Syndrome Market: Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts 2017-2025

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Latest industry research report on: Global Rett Syndrome Market | Industry Size, Share, Research, Reviews, Analysis, Strategies, Demand, Growth, Segmentation, Parameters, Forecasts.Rett syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder. This genetic disorder affects females exclusively due to the presence of X chromosome, and is rarely seen in boys. Male children are less prone to this disorder because boys with mutations in MECP2 hardly survive till birth. Changes in MECP2 typically occur during spermatogenesis, and such changes are usually on the paternal copy of the X-chromosome.Request For Sample Report @The symptoms of Rett syndrome generally occur after 12 months of birth and include signs like slow growth, loss of normal movement and coordination, abnormal hands and eyes movements, and breathing problems. Other drastic symptoms also develop with age. This disorder generally occurs in stages and fourth stage is said to be its last stage. Rett syndrome has no cure and is often treated with off-label drugs which prove to give no relief to the affected patient. Few pharmaceuticals companies are realizing the need for target specific drugs and many therapeutics are being developed, which are in their clinical phases.The global Rett syndrome market will grow over the years driven by increase in female population, rising spending on public healthcare programs, and increasing global healthcare expenditure. The major trends and developments of the market include efforts to use gene therapy to rectify this neurological disorder, development of new drugs and use of more efficient technologies. However, growth of the market is challenged by factors like high cost of treatment and high R&D expenditure.Request For Table of Contents @The report Global Rett Syndrome Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2025) analyzes the development of this market, with focus on Sarizotan drug and its market opportunities. The major players are: Newron Pharmaceuticals, Neurem Pharmaceuticals Limited, Anavex Life Sciences Corp., Neuroloxis, and Edison Pharmaceuticals.Complete Report Details @Table of Content1. Market Overview1.1 Rett Syndrome1.2 Signs and Symptoms1.3 Stages of Rett Syndrome1.4 Causes of Rett Syndrome1.5 Diagnosis and Treatment2. Global Market Analysis2.1 Global Rett Syndrome Prevalence2.1.1 Global Rett Syndrome Prevalence by Region2.1.2 Global Rett Syndrome Prevalence Share by Region2.2 Global Rett Syndrome Incidence2.3 Global Sarizotan Drug Market2.3.1 Global Sarizotan Drug Market Forecast by Value2.3.2 Global Sarizotan Drug Market Forecast by Region3. Regional Analysis3.1 Europes Rett Syndrome Patient Volume Forecast3.2 Europes Rett Syndrome Population with Breathing Disorder3.3 Europes Rett Syndrome Patient Diagnosis Rate3.4 Europe Sarizotan Drug Market3.4.1 Europes Sarizotan Drug Market Forecast by Value3.4.2 Europes Sarizotan Drug Treatment by Patient Volume3.5 The US Rett Syndrome Patient Volume Forecast3.6 The US Rett Syndrome Population with Breathing Disorder3.7 The US Rett Syndrome Patient Diagnosis Rate3.8 The US Sarizotan Drug Market3.8.1 The US Sarizotan Drug Market Forecast by Value3.8.2 The US Sarizotan Drug Treatment by Patient VolumeAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Personal Protective Clothing Market 2018-2023 3M Company, Ansell Limited, Lakeland

Personal Protective Clothing Market

https://goo.gl/nVRc8M

http://qymarketsresearch.com/report/global-personal-protective-clothing-market-2018-si-140704/

http://qymarketsresearch.com/

Personal Protective Clothing Market Research 2018A market study "Global Personal Protective Clothing Market" examines the performance of the Personal Protective Clothing market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Personal Protective Clothing market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Personal Protective Clothing market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Personal Protective Clothing Market 2018 report includes Personal Protective Clothing market Revenue, market Share, Personal Protective Clothing industry volume, market Trends, Personal Protective Clothing Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Personal Protective Clothing Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Personal Protective Clothing Market 2018 : 3M Company (U.S.) E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.) Ansell Limited (U.S) Kimberly Clark Corp (U.S.) Lakeland Industries, Inc. (U.S.) Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.) Royal Ten Cate (Netherlands) Sioen Industries NV (Belgium) Lakeland industries (U.S.)Personal Protective Clothing Market : By ApplicationThermalChemicalMechanicalBiological/RadiationVisibilityPersonal Protective Clothing Market : By TypeAramid & BlendsPolyolefins & BlendsPolyamidePBIUHMW PolyethyleneCotton FibersLaminated PolyestersFirstly, the report covers the top Personal Protective Clothing manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Personal Protective Clothing report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Personal Protective Clothing industry, Personal Protective Clothing industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Personal Protective Clothing Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Personal Protective Clothing research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Personal Protective Clothing market revenue worldwide.Finally, Personal Protective Clothing market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Global Permanent Magnets Market 2018-2023 Molycorp Magnequench, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Hitachi Metals

Permanent Magnets Market

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http://qymarketsresearch.com/report/global-permanent-magnets-market-2018-size-growth-140700/

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Permanent Magnets Market Research 2018A market study "Global Permanent Magnets Market" examines the performance of the Permanent Magnets market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Permanent Magnets market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Permanent Magnets market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Permanent Magnets Market 2018 report includes Permanent Magnets market Revenue, market Share, Permanent Magnets industry volume, market Trends, Permanent Magnets Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Permanent Magnets Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Permanent Magnets Market 2018 : Molycorp Magnequench Hangzhou Permanent Magnet Group Shin-Etsu Chemical Anhui Earth-Panda Advance Magnetic Material Adams Magnetic Products Hitachi MetalsPermanent Magnets Market : By ApplicationAerospace & DefenseAutomotiveConsumer ElectronicsPermanent Magnets Market : By TypeFerriteNdFebSmCoAlnicoFirstly, the report covers the top Permanent Magnets manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Permanent Magnets report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Permanent Magnets industry, Permanent Magnets industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Permanent Magnets Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Permanent Magnets research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Permanent Magnets market revenue worldwide.Finally, Permanent Magnets market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Global Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market 2018-2023 Saehwa IMC, Herbert Maschinen, King Machine

Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market

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http://qymarketsresearch.com/report/global-passenger-vehicle-tire-molds-market-2018-si-140696/

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Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market Research 2018A market study "Global Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market" examines the performance of the Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market 2018 report includes Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market Revenue, market Share, Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds industry volume, market Trends, Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market 2018 :1. Saehwa IMC2. Herbert Maschinen3. MK Technology4. King Machine5. Quality Mold6. A-Z Formen-und Maschinenbau7. Shinko Mold Industrial8. SeYoung TMS9. Himile10. Greatoo11. Anhui Wide Way Mould12. Wantong13. Anhui Mcgill Mould14. Tianyang15. HongChang16. Qingdao Yuantong Machine17. Shandong Jinli Tire EquipmentPassenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market : By ApplicationMPVSUVSedanPassenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market : By TypeSegmented MoldsTwo-Piece MoldsFirstly, the report covers the top Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds industry, Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market revenue worldwide.Finally, Passenger Vehicle Tire Molds market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Global Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market 2018-2023 Jayvir Dye Chem, Jay Organics, Bharat Chemicals

Para Amino Phenol Market

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http://qymarketsresearch.com/report/global-para-amino-phenol-pap-market-2018-size-g-140692/

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Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market Research 2018A market study "Global Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market" examines the performance of the Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market 2018 report includes Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market Revenue, market Share, Para Amino Phenol (PAP) industry volume, market Trends, Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market 2018 :1. Jayvir Dye Chem2. Aarti Industries Ltd3. Jay Organics4. Bharat Chemicals5. Anhui Bayi Chemical6. Taixing YangZi Pharm Chemical7. MaheshRaj Chemicals8. Alfa Aesar9. Liaoning Shixing Pharmaceutical10. Luan Pharm11. Taizhou Nuercheng Fine Chemical12. Feipeng Chemical13. Xinyu14. Lianyungang Taisheng Chemical15. Chang-Yu ChemicalPara Amino Phenol (PAP) Market : By ApplicationPharmaceutical IndustryDyestuff IndustryPara Amino Phenol (PAP) Market : By TypePurity 98%Purity 99%Purity 99.5%Firstly, the report covers the top Para Amino Phenol (PAP) manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Para Amino Phenol (PAP) report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Para Amino Phenol (PAP) industry, Para Amino Phenol (PAP) industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Para Amino Phenol (PAP) Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Para Amino Phenol (PAP) research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market revenue worldwide.Finally, Para Amino Phenol (PAP) market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Open Source Data Center Conference 2018  Call for Papers is now open

www.osdc.de

www.netways.de

The Europe-wide known Open Source Data Center Conference will take place with a new concept from 12.-13. June 2018 in Berlin. For experienced administrators and architects the conference offers an optimal platform to learn and exchange information about the use of open source software in complex ITinfrastructures. Organizer NETWAYS is now kicking off the submission of lectures for the tenth anniversary of the English-speaking conference.Nuremberg, November 28, 2017Until the end of January, interested speakers are invited to apply for a talk on Open Source Software in Data Centers and Complex IT Environments at the Open Source Data Center Conference (OSDC). This is possible via the Call for Papers form on the new conference website. In addition to classical lectures, creative and interactive contributions are also welcome. The application deadline is January 31, 2018.The lecture program of the OSDC highlights all aspects of "Simplifying Complex Infrastructures with Open Source". There is always offered an optimal platform to inform the participants themselves about current challenges, opportunities, innovative solutions and innovations.Furthermore, there will be much space for networking between attendees and speakers, which the organizer attaches particular importance to. There is the opportunity to initiate forward-looking projects and to exchange views. In addition to the lectures, the conference framework offers get-together on June 11, as well as an evening event on the first day of the conference, which will take place in a separate location.The registration as well as the submissions can be done via the official conference website on. The price for the conference ticket is 799,00, - excl. VAT. Additional accommodation can be booked if required.All detail informationOpen Source Data Center Conference12-13th June 2018BerlinVenueMercure Hotel MOABerlin Stephanstrasse 41D-10559 BerlinNETWAYS GmbHNETWAYS GmbH has been supporting companies for the management of complex IT environments based on open source software for more than 20 years. NETWAYS is the leader in open source systems management based on Icinga, Puppet and Elastic.Our customers include companies and organizations from all sectors, such as Deutsche Postbank AG, Volkswagen AG, Bayer AG, Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom AG, ING-DiBa AG, Deutsche Welle, REWE Group, Rakuten, Audi AG, Continental AG AG.The NETWAYS Web Services (NWS) SaaS solution offers a variety of preconfigured applications. Operational tasks such as updates and operation are centrally managed for the user via NWS access. NETWAYS has also made a name for itself as the organizer of various conferences and training courses on open source monitoring and open source data centersNETWAYS GmbHDeutschherrnstr. 15-1990429 NurembergGermanyPRESS CONTACTJulia HackbarthMarketingmanager+49 911 92885-0julia.hackbarth(at)netways.de
Global 3D Bioprinting Market research and Analysis, 2015-2021

https://www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/3d-bioprinting-market/

Global 3D Bioprinting Market, Size, Share, Market Intelligence, Company Profiles, Market Trends, Strategy, Analysis, Forecast 2015-20213D BIO-PRINTING MARKET INSIGHTS:The 3D bioprinting market is anticipated to witness an impressive growth rate during the forecasted period. According to analysts estimate the 3D bioprinting market is expected to grow impressively with a CAGR of 17.3% during 2016-2021. The pivotal factors contributing in the growth of 3D Bioprinting Market includes rising incidences of life style oriented diseases, massive demand for organ & tissue transplants and improvement in life expectancy rate. Approximately, 17,107 kidney transplants took place in 2014 in the U.S. while the mortality rate is around 13 individuals per day while waiting for a kidney transplant. Limited number of organ donors has also attributed towards the growth of the 3D bioprinting market. According to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in every 10 min. an individual is added to the national transplant waiting list. The growth in the waiting list of transplants has created a potential for the 3D bioprinted implants and organs.Technological advancements and integration of IT in the healthcare sector and enhancing R&D efforts for the industry are likely to act as high impact rendering drivers for the global 3D bioprinting market. Increasing geriatric population base is also seen as one of the major booster to the growth within the 3D bioprinting market during the research. According to Helpage.org in 2015, around 12.3% of the global population is of age group 60 and above, which is expected to reach 16.5% by the end of 2030. Emerging medical applications of 3D bioprinting such as drug discovery, consumer product testing, toxicity testing and tissue engineering are anticipated to further drive the growth of the global market positively. However, lack of skilled professionals is anticipated to hamper the growth of the global 3D bioprinting market.GEOGRAPHICAL INSIGHTS:The global 3D bioprinting market can be geographically segregated into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and RoW. In current scenario, North America dominates the global 3D bioprinting market in terms of revenue. In 2014, the region held the market share of around 35%. Rise in life style oriented diseases and growth in geriatric population along with reasonably higher patient disposable income and sophisticated healthcare infrastructure are the key drivers for the regional market. Moreover, extensive research activities are being conducted within the region which is anticipated to be a vital growth factor during the forecasted period. In 2015, at the AHASS (American Heart Association Scientific Sessions), the Wake Forest University of North Carolina presented their research study related to the development of the personalized medication. The pills will be designed as per the biological profile of each patient which includes weight, organ function capacity, race and gender.Furthermore, APAC region is anticipated to be fastest growing region mainly due to significant adaptation of technological advancements and pioneering presence in the development of healthcare IT. The supportive government initiatives, rising awareness level and increasing foreign investments within the region for the research purpose is anticipated to propel the market growth over the projected period.The report includes detailed market overview, market determinants, company profiling, sector analysis, market segmentation, geographical analysis, patent analysis, strategic recommendations, key company analysis, key findings, market estimations, market insights, analyst insights and predictive analysis of the market.Competitive Insights:Key players of 3D bioprinting market include Cyfuse Biomedical, Organovo Holding Inc., Luxexcel Group BV, BioBots, Aspect Biosystems, Stratasys Ltd., and 3Dynamics Systems. The market palyers are adopting the strategy of tie-ups with universities and research institutes that work on grafting as well as organ regeneration technologies. In 2015, Organovo Holding Inc. participated in Cantor Fitzgerald Inaugural Healthcare Conference with the aim to increase awareness related to their current activities in 3D bioprinting market. The other key strategy which was adopted by market players during 2015 is product launch. In 2015, Biobots Inc. launched its premier 3D bioprinter named BioBot 1. This bioprinter possess the capability of printing functional 3D constructs from living cells.This device is expected to put the 3D bioprinting technology within the hands of more researchers across the globe by considerably lowering the technical expertise as well as cost that is required to operate the similar kind of devices in the past.MARKET SEGMENTATION:4.1. 3d BioprintingMarket by Technology4.1.1. Magnetic Levitation4.1.2. Syringe Based4.1.3. Laser Assisted4.1.4. Inkjet Based4.1.5. Valve-Based4.2. 3d Bioprinting Market by Application4.2.1. Medical4.2.2.Bioinks4.2.3. Dental4.2.4. Food and Animal Product4.2.5. Biosensors4.2.6. Consumer/Personal Product TestingOMR REPORT COVERS:Comprehensive research methodology of global 3D Bioprinting marketIn-depth analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the global 3D Bioprinting marketInsights about market determinants which are stimulating the global 3D Bioprinting marketDetailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of researched revenuesExtensive profiles and recent developments of market playersFor Full Reports Available here:At OMR we strive to deliver quality reports that are based on a 360 degree analysis of the market factors. We provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of the market. We serve clients from 16 different domains which includes healthcare, biotechnology, chemical, agriculture and information technology. We work to add more to our array of clients, services and products. At the moment OMR provides 4 services:i. Industry Reportsii. Consultingiii. Custom Reportsiv. Company ProfilingMarket research and consulting is a highly competitive market. There are number of companies which provide top quality reports and analysis. At OMR we believe in overcoming the competition by delivering timely and quality reports.CORPORATE OFFICE:Orion Market Research Pvt Ltd116, Shagun ArcadeVijay Nagar SquareIndore, Madhya Pradesh  India- 452010Email: info@omrglobal.comIndia: +91-780-304-0404Global: +1-646-755-7667
Modular Data Center Market Global Outlook 2018: Huawei, Eaton, Cannon, Dell, Schneider

Modular Data Center Market 2018

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The report entitled Global Modular Data Center Market 2018 delivers the comprehensive and in-depth research analysis of the key regional industry standing of the Modular Data Center market on a global level. This report especially focuses on the core regions such as North & South America, Europe, Africa, South & Middle East Asia and Australia and also the key countries like (USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia, India, China, South Korea and Japan).Get Sample Copy of Report Here:This Modular Data Center market report state and future prospects of the segment have jointly been examined. Additionally, key methods within the Modular Data Center market that features partnerships, product developments, link-ups, and acquisitions, etc., mentioned. Besides, Upstream raw materials, equipment, and downstream consumers analysis is equally carried out. This extensive research encompasses of market profit, sales, Modular Data Center market revenue, potentials, and challenges also project the growth rate. Producers Analysis and Prime Sellers of world Modular Data Center Market 2018:1. Huawei Technologies2. Eaton Corporation3. Bladeroom4. Cannon Technologies5. Commscope Holding Company6. Dell7. Flexenclosure AB8. Rittal GmbH9. Schneider Electric SEInquiry for Buying, Visit Here: Modular Data Center Market (Type Analysis):- All-In-One Functional Module, IT Module, Electrical Module, Mechanical Module Modular Data Center Market (Application Analysis):- Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance, IT and Telecom, Government and Defense, Healthcare, OthersIn the first segment, The Modular Data Center report covers the marketing research and forecast of Modular Data Center Market on a regional also the world level. The Modular Data Center report is generically divided into six components and each half aims at the summary of the Modular Data Center past, present and future conditions of the market, the feasibility of the investment on many methods and policies. Excluding the classification and definition, the Modular Data Center market report conjointly discusses the analysis crucial and export and explain a comparison of the Modular Data Center market that is targeted at the trends and development. Key Emphasizes the Modular Data Center Market:1. Modular Data Center Market evolution for the regional as well as country level segments.2. Depth Analysis of global market forecasts and outlook for 2022, and forecasting of CAGRs through an expected period.3. In-depth analysis of Types/product and applications.4. Competitive mapping the prevailing key trends.5. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the Modular Data Center market estimations.6. Analyze the crucial market trends and new evolution technologically in the Modular Data Center Market.After that, This Modular Data Center report deals with the precise info on the selling Channels and novel project investments. So the modern professionals and the mainstream industry rival get the direction of these markets trends as well as regional analysis. This report also supports the new entrants, readers, investors and the established players to set up their plans and decide which segment or sub-segment to invest on so as to reap maximum profits.Finally, In Modular Data Center report key details, methods, and variables are examined and also whole helpful data are combined together for the learning and understanding the key facts related the worldwide Modular Data Center market. The Modular Data Center market share and production price with the SWOT analysis everything is integrated into this report.About Us:Business Worldwide is a trusted brand in the research industry with a capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Business Worldwide, we believe in building long-term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals and Materials, Automotive, Software and Aerospace.Contact Us:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
Car Rental Market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 17.94% during the period 2017-2021

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"The Report Car Rental Market in Europe 2017-2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Car RentalCar rental services operate in a network of pick-up/drop-off points and offer a range of vehicles. The vehicles are owned by an organization or firm that rents them to users for short periods of time, based on daily, monthly, or annual plans. Car rental has grown from a basic service provided by popular organizations to a widely recognized component of the urban transport market. It is also swiftly developing into a globalized industry that can provide many transportation, land use, environmental, and social benefits.Technavios analysts forecast the car rental market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 17.94% during the period 2017-2021.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the car rental mark et in Europe for 2017-2021. The report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:Western EuropeEastern EuropeTechnavio's report, Car Rental Market in Europe 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsAvis BudgetEnterpriseEuropcarHertzSixtRequest For Toc @Other prominent vendorsAlphabetArvalHermesIrish Car RentalMaggioreMarket driverRising consolidationFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeStringent rules for car rental in EuropeFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendElectric cars in rental industryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?View Report @Table of ContentsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTIONMarket outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPEMarket overviewMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY RENTAL TYPECar rental market in Europe by rental typeCar rental market in Europe for airport transportCar rental market in Europe for local transportCar rental market in Europe for outstation transportPART 07: REGIONAL LANDSCAPEGeographical segmentationRegional comparisonWestern Europe Market size and forecastEastern Europe Market size and forecastMarket opportunityPART 08: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 09: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGESMarket driversMarket challengesPART 10: MARKET TRENDSImpact of telematics on car rental industryElectric cars in rental industrySubscription models of rental carsPART 11: VENDOR LANDSCAPECompetitive scenarioAvis BudgetEnterpriseEuropcarHertzSixtOther prominent vendorsAbout Us:MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketaState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Future of Clientless Remote Support Software Market Size 2022 Bomgar, Cisco WebEx, LogMeIn, TeamViewer, NTRglobal, Rsupport, F5 Networks Inc

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MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Clientless Remote Support Software Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 120 pages with table and figures in it.Clientless remote access is remote network access obtained without the installation of software on a user's device. Clientless Remote Support Software can connect to a remote client without configuring network settings or installing software.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Clientless Remote Support Software market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Clientless Remote Support Software Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers this report covers  Bomgar, Cisco WebEx, LogMeIn, TeamViewer, NTRglobal, Rsupport, F5 Networks Inc, Citrix Systems, SimpleHelp, Techinline.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Clientless Remote Support Software Market OverviewGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software by CountriesGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software Market Segment by TypeGlobal Clientless Remote Support Software Market Segment by ApplicationClientless Remote Support Software Market Forecast (2017-2022)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionAppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers EnterpriseSMBMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into IT IndustryGovernmentEducationOtherEnquire For Discount on Clientless Remote Support Software Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Clientless Remote Support Software market.Chapter 1, to describe Clientless Remote Support Software Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Clientless Remote Support Software, with sales, revenue, and price of Clientless Remote Support Software, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Clientless Remote Support Software, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Clientless Remote Support Software market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Clientless Remote Support Software sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -North America Clientless Remote Support Software Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022Clientless remote access is remote network access obtained without the installation of software on a user's device. Clientless Remote Support Software can connect to a remote client without configuring.Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter
Global Natural Construction Composites Market 2018-2023 Ashland, Huntsman Corporation, PPG industries

Natural Construction Composites Market

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Natural Construction Composites Market Research 2018A market study "Global Natural Construction Composites Market" examines the performance of the Natural Construction Composites market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Natural Construction Composites market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Natural Construction Composites market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Natural Construction Composites Market 2018 report includes Natural Construction Composites market Revenue, market Share, Natural Construction Composites industry volume, market Trends, Natural Construction Composites Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Natural Construction Composites Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Natural Construction Composites Market 2018 : Ashland, Inc. (U.S.) Huntsman Corporation (U.S) PPG industries (U.S.) Jushi group Co. Ltd. (China) Owens Corning (U.S.)Natural Construction Composites Market : By ApplicationIndustrialCommercialHousingCivilNatural Construction Composites Market : By TypePolyesterVinyl EsterPolyethylenePolypropyleneFirstly, the report covers the top Natural Construction Composites manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Natural Construction Composites report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Natural Construction Composites industry, Natural Construction Composites industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Natural Construction Composites Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Natural Construction Composites research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Natural Construction Composites market revenue worldwide.Finally, Natural Construction Composites market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Accounting Software Market Analysis, Strategic Assessment, Trend Outlook and Bussiness Opportunities 2018-2021

Accounting Software Market 2018

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Accounting Software Market Analysis, Strategic Assessment, Trend Outlook and Bussiness Opportunities 2018-2021.Description:The Accounting Software industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Accounting Software market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of X% from XXXX million $ in 2012 to XXXX million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Accounting Software market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Accounting Software will reach XXXX million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAccounting software is a type of application software that records and processes accounting transactions within functional modules such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger, payroll, and trial balance. It functions as an accounting information system.Statistics in this report by functionality:Accounts ManagementOrder & Stock ManagementPayroll & Tax ManagementOthersStatistics in this report by end users:SMEEnterpriseOthersAsk Query @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1 Accounting Software Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Accounting Software1.2 Classification of Accounting Software by Product Category1.2.1 EMEA Accounting Software Sales (K Units) Comparison by Types (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Accounting Software Sales Market Share (%) by Types in 20161.3 EMEA Accounting Software Market by Applications/End Users1.4 EMEA Accounting Software Market Overview by Regions1.4.1 EMEA Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Accounting Software Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Middle East Accounting Software Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Africa Accounting Software Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Sales and Revenue) of Accounting Software (2012-2022)1.5.1 EMEA Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2022)1.5.2 EMEA Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012- 2022)2 EMEA Accounting Software Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Regions, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Accounting Software Market Competition by Players/ Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Accounting Software Sale Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Accounting Software Sales and Revenue by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Accounting Software Sale Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Accounting Software (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Accounting Software Sales and Revenue by Regions2.4.1 EMEA Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)2.4.2 EMEA Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)2.4.3 EMEA Accounting Software Sales Price (USD/Unit) by Regions (2012-2017)3 Europe Accounting Software (Sales, Revenue and Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type3.3 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications3.4 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Accounting Software Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Accounting Software Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.3 Germany Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.4 France Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.5 UK Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.6 Netherlands Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)3.4.7 Italy Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.8 Denmark Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.9 Belgium Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.10 Luxembourg Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)3.4.11 Spain Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.12 Austria Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4 Middle East Accounting Software (Sales, Revenue and Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application4.1 Middle East Accounting Software Sales and Revenue (2012-2017)4.1.1 Middle East Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)4.1.2 Middle East Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.2 Middle East Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type4.3 Middle East Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.4 Middle East Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.1 Middle East Accounting Software Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.2 Middle East Accounting Software Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)4.4.4 Israel Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.4.5 UAE Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.4.6 Iran Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5 Africa Accounting Software (Sales, Revenue and Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application5.1 Africa Accounting Software Sales and Revenue (2012-2017)5.1.1 Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.1.2 Africa Accounting Software Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)5.2 Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type5.3 Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications5.4 Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.1 Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.2 Africa Accounting Software Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.3 South Africa Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012- 2017)5.4.4 Nigeria Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.4.5 Egypt Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.4.6 Algeria Accounting Software Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)6 EMEA Accounting Software Manufacturers/Players Profiles and Sales Data6.1 Intuit6.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.1.2 Accounting Software Product Types, Application and Specification6.1.3 Intuit Accounting Software Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.2 Sage6.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.2.2 Accounting Software Product Types, Application and Specification6.2.3 Sage Accounting Software Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.3 SAP6.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.3.2 Accounting Software Product Types, Application and Specification6.3.3 SAP Accounting Software Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.4 Oracle (NetSuite)6.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.4.2 Accounting Software Product Types, Application and Specification6.4.3 Oracle (NetSuite) Accounting Software Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.4.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinue.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Global Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market 2018-2023 AFFiRiS AG, AstraZeneca, Corestem

Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market

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Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market Research 2018A market study "Global Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market" examines the performance of the Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market 2018 report includes Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market Revenue, market Share, Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics industry volume, market Trends, Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market 2018 : AFFiRiS AG AstraZeneca Plc Corestem Inc MitoDys Therapeutics Ltd Modag GmbH Neuropore Therapies Inc Prana Biotechnology LtdMultiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market : By ApplicationHospitalClinicMultiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market : By TypeAnle-138bAZD-3241CS-10BR05NPT-20011PBT-434PD-01Firstly, the report covers the top Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics industry, Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market revenue worldwide.Finally, Multiple System Atrophy Therapeutics market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
Brake System Market Advanced technologies & growth opportunities in global Industry by 2023

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Global Brake System Market Research Report 2018, further states major drivers manipulating industry, the possibility of development, and the challenges going up against the administrations and industrialists in the market. This research study portrays an all-encompassing valuation of the Global Brake System Market, taking several market verticals, such as the dynamics of demand and supply, sales volume, production capacity, revenue, product pricing, and the growth rate of this market into consideration. The global market can be evaluated on the basis of the type pet, product type, and geography.Get an exclusive sample of this report@:Top Key Vendors: ZF, Aisin, Akebono Brake Industry, CBI, Continental, Nissin Kogyo, Mando, APG, Knorr-Bremse, Wabco, XinYi, Shandong AoyouThe report also covers the trends in development activities in the Global Brake System Market, which includes the status of marketing channels available, the details of traders and distributors still functioning, and an analysis of the regional export and import. The report ends with a conclusion for the global market as it was at the beginning of the forecast period. This will help the reports users assess their standing in the market as well as create successful strategies in the near future.The affect purpose of the imperative advance players has in like way been well-completely considered in the report with a recommendation to their things, publicizing and inciting strategies, and the level of contention among them.This provides a thorough overview of the revenue of the Brake System market in various key regions, including an understanding of how the revenue generation patterns have changed over the recent past. The relation between the overall revenue generation figures and the sales structure of the industry in each regional segment is also explained in the report.Ask for a Special Discount on this Report@:The performance of the key product and application segments of the Brake System market in each regional market has been explained in the report. Likewise, each regional markets competitive dynamics have been elaborated upon by providing information about the hierarchy among the leading players operating in it. This helps provide a thorough granular analysis of the global market. The report also provides 2018-2023 forecasts for each product, application, and geographical segments of the global market.Table of Content:Global Brake System Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Brake System OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixGet more Information about this 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 Mirrorless Cameras Market 2018-2023 Sony, SAMSUNG, Panasonic, Nikon

Mirrorless Cameras Market

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Mirrorless Cameras Market Research 2018A market study "Global Mirrorless Cameras Market" examines the performance of the Mirrorless Cameras market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Mirrorless Cameras market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Mirrorless Cameras market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Mirrorless Cameras Market 2018 report includes Mirrorless Cameras market Revenue, market Share, Mirrorless Cameras industry volume, market Trends, Mirrorless Cameras Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Mirrorless Cameras Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Mirrorless Cameras Market 2018 : Sony Corporation SAMSUNG Panasonic Olympus Nikon Leica SL Fujifilm CanonMirrorless Cameras Market : By ApplicationPersonal UseIndustrial UseMirrorless Cameras Market : By TypeChangeable LensFixed LensFirstly, the report covers the top Mirrorless Cameras manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Mirrorless Cameras report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Mirrorless Cameras industry, Mirrorless Cameras industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Mirrorless Cameras Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Mirrorless Cameras research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Mirrorless Cameras market revenue worldwide.Finally, Mirrorless Cameras market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"QY Markets Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact: +1-214-661-1669Web:
World Clinical Reference Laboratories Market 2018 by KingMed Diagnostics, Aurora Diagnostics, Sonic HealthCare Limited, Synlab International GmbH and Forecasts Till 2027

Market Research Future

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The Clinical Reference Laboratories are private as well as commercial facilities that perform high volume routine and specialty testing. The tests performed in these laboratories are referred by physician's offices, hospitals, government agencies, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies who outsource their specialty tests to reference laboratories. These clinical reference laboratories conduct various types of diagnostic testing which include services such as environmental microbiology, cytology, genetics, diagnostic trials and related services in order to identify the cause of the disease, to analyse the progression phase of the disease, imbalances in the physiology and other such factors.The Global Clinical Reference Laboratories Market is growing exponentially owing to the increasing value-based outsourcing from hospitals will boost the market for clinical reference lab services and application of advanced automation technology in reference laboratories all these factor are contributing to the growth of the market. Globally the market for Clinical reference laboratories is expected to grow at the rate of about 5.8 % from 2016 to 2022.Get Exclusive Sample Copy @The most significant innovation is the development of genetics and molecular technologies into mainstream medicine which will have substantial impact on the health of the population, clinical practice and the management of patients. Hospitals spend 3-4% on an average for their net patient revenue on clinical laboratory services. The mid-size 300-500 bed hospitals with annual net patient revenue of approximately $300 million contracts with a national diagnostic testing laboratory which has reduced the laboratory spending up to 20% or $2 million annually. One of the reason for increasing outsourcing by hospitals is the budgets constrains resulting in the decline of medicare reimbursements.Industry UpdatesFeb, 2017 Quest Diagnostics and PeaceHealth to Increase Access to Innovative, High-Value Laboratory Services in the Pacific Northwest. Both the parties have formed a two part arrangement to improve the delivery of laboratory services in United StatesFeb, 2017 Veracyte To Expand Patient Access To The Afirma Gene Expression Classifier In Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis Through Agreement With Quest Diagnostics. This agreement is focused on reducing surgery and healthcare cost by resolving diagnostic problems.Feb, 2017 Unilabs acquires Alpha Medical, a leading medical diagnostics company in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, two important Eastern European markets. This acquisition signals Unilabs return to making smart acquisitions, aligned with the services portfolio and high-end quality standards.Jan, 2017 ARUP recently earned the highly respected ISO 15189 status from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). In doing so, some would say ARUP sharpened its axe to the cutting edge  bringing six laboratory divisions, with over 70 individual labs, into close, coordinated communication and integrating a new system.Global Clinical Reference Laboratories Market - Regional AnalysisNorth America holds the largest market share of ~47% for the global clinical reference laboratories market in the forecast period. In Europe, the EU Reference Laboratories (EURLs) aims to ensure high-quality laboratory testing. They also support the commission activities on risk management and risk assessment in the area of laboratory analysis. Developed countries in APAC region such as Japan, China, and India exhibit strong growth with a significant CAGR over the forecast period.Global Clinical Reference Laboratories Market - Competitive AnalysisThe clinical reference laboratory industry has turned into a critical and element power in global clinical laboratory industry. Through extensive research it is found out that the market players have adopted the strategy of bringing in acquisition for new specialized techniques to perform the clinical trials and medical laboratory testing in the market, the key player involved in this strategy are Sonic HealthCare Limited, Aurora Diagnostics, Unilabs among others.Some of the key players in this market are: Laboratory Corporation of America, KingMed Diagnostics, Aurora Diagnostics, Sonic HealthCare Limited, Synlab International GmbH, Bioreference Laboratories, Unilabs, Clinical Reference Laboratory, ARUP Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and others.Get Discount @Major TOC for Clinical Reference Laboratories Market:1 Report Prologue2.1 Research Objective2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.2.1 Assumptions2.2.2 Limitations2.3 Market Structure2.4 Market Segmentation2.4.1 by Service Providers2.4.1.1 Introduction2.4.1.2 In Stand Alone2.4.1.3 In Hospital Based2.4.1.4 In Clinical Based2.4.2 by Application2.4.2.1 Introduction2.4.2.2 Clinical Trials2.4.2.3 Laboratory Medicine2.4.2.4 Others2 Scope of Study3 Research Methodology3.1 Primary Research3.2 Secondary Research4 Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.1.1 Increasing value-based outsourcing from hospitals will boost the market for clinical reference lab services4.1.2 Application of advanced automation technology in reference laboratories4.1.3 Cost and time savings for hospitals and clinics due to increase in outsourcing by independent laboratories4.2 Restraints4.2.1 Healthcare budgetary restrictions will hamper the growth of the market4.2.2 High costs of advanced technologies may lead to an increase in the costs of specialized tests4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges..ContinuedAsk to Expertise @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com .
2018-2025 Global Cloud Engineering Market Key Players: Sogeti, Trianz, GFT Technologies, Rapidvalue Solutions, Nitor Infotech, Softcrylic,.

Cloud Engineering Market

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Cloud Engineering Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Cloud Engineering Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Cloud Engineering market, analyzes and researches the Cloud Engineering development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeSogeti (France)Trianz (US)GFT Technologies(Germany)Rapidvalue Solutions (US)Nitor Infotech (India)Softcrylic (US)Calsoft (US)Searce (US)VVDN Technologies (India)Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, Cloud Engineering can be split intoLarge EnterprisesSmall and Medium-Sized EnterprisesIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Cloud Engineering Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Cloud Engineering1.1 Cloud Engineering Market Overview1.1.1 Cloud Engineering Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Cloud Engineering Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Cloud Engineering Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Large Enterprises1.3.2 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises2 Global Cloud Engineering Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Cloud Engineering Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Sogeti (France)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Trianz (US)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 GFT Technologies(Germany)3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Rapidvalue Solutions (US)3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Nitor Infotech (India)3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Softcrylic (US)3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Calsoft (US)3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Searce (US)3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 VVDN Technologies (India)3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Cloud Engineering Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9.5 Recent Developments4 Global Cloud Engineering Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Cloud Engineering Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.2 Potential Application of Cloud Engineering in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Cloud EngineeringContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
China Automotive Pumps Market Analysis, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2023

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China Automotive Pumps Market Research Report 2018, further states major drivers manipulating industry, the possibility of development, and the challenges going up against the administrations and industrialists in the market. This research study portrays an all-encompassing valuation of the China Automotive Pumps Market, taking several market verticals, such as the dynamics of demand and supply, sales volume, production capacity, revenue, product pricing, and the growth rate of this market into consideration. The global market can be evaluated on the basis of the type pet, product type, and geography.Get an exclusive sample of this report@:Top Key Vendors: Aisin Seiki Co.Ltd., Delphi Automotive Llp, Denso Corporation, Johnson Electric, Robert Bosch GmbH, KSPG AG, Magna International Inc., Mikuni Corporation, SHW AG, TRW Automotive, XIXIA Waterpump, Aerospace ShiyuanThe report also covers the trends in development activities in the China Automotive Pumps Market, which includes the status of marketing channels available, the details of traders and distributors still functioning, and an analysis of the regional export and import. The report ends with a conclusion for the global market as it was at the beginning of the forecast period. This will help the reports users assess their standing in the market as well as create successful strategies in the near future.The affect purpose of the imperative advance players has in like way been well-completely considered in the report with a recommendation to their things, publicizing and inciting strategies, and the level of contention among them.This provides a thorough overview of the revenue of the China Automotive Pumps market in various key regions, including an understanding of how the revenue generation patterns have changed over the recent past. The relation between the overall revenue generation figures and the sales structure of the industry in each regional segment is also explained in the report.Ask for a Special Discount on this Report@:The performance of the key product and application segments of the China Automotive Pumps market in each regional market has been explained in the report. Likewise, each regional markets competitive dynamics have been elaborated upon by providing information about the hierarchy among the leading players operating in it. This helps provide a thorough granular analysis of the global market. The report also provides 2018-2023 forecasts for each product, application, and geographical segments of the global market.Table of Content:China Automotive Pumps Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 China Automotive Pumps OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixGet more Information about this 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
2018-2025 Global Legal Analytics Market Key Players: Wolters Kluwer, Thomson Reuters, MindCrest, UnitedLex Corporation, Argopoint, LexisNexis,.

Legal Analytics Market

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Legal Analytics Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Legal Analytics Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Legal Analytics market, analyzes and researches the Legal Analytics development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeWolters Kluwer (Netherlands)Thomson Reuters (Canada)MindCrest (US)UnitedLex Corporation (US)Argopoint (US)LexisNexis (US)Premonition (US)Analytics Consulting (US)The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) (US)IBM Corporation (US)Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoDescriptive AnalyticsPrescriptive AnalyticsPredictive AnalyticsMarket segment by Application, Legal Analytics can be split intoCorporatesLaw FirmsOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Legal Analytics Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Legal Analytics1.1 Legal Analytics Market Overview1.1.1 Legal Analytics Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Legal Analytics Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Legal Analytics Market by Type1.3.1 Descriptive Analytics1.3.2 Prescriptive Analytics1.3.3 Predictive Analytics1.4 Legal Analytics Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Corporates1.4.2 Law Firms1.4.3 Others2 Global Legal Analytics Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Legal Analytics Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Wolters Kluwer (Netherlands)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Thomson Reuters (Canada)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 MindCrest (US)3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 UnitedLex Corporation (US)3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Argopoint (US)3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 LexisNexis (US)3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Premonition (US)3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Analytics Consulting (US)3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) (US)3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 IBM Corporation (US)3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Legal Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.10.5 Recent Developments4 Global Legal Analytics Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Legal Analytics Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Legal Analytics Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Legal Analytics in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Legal AnalyticsContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Market Analysis and Forecast

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Industry OverviewAssisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Market size was $22.31 billion for 2015 and is predicted to be evaluated at $31.41 billion by end of forecast period registering CAGR of 4.4%.ART is a modern technique used to treat infertility. The procedures included in it are gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), in vitro fertilization (IVF), zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the leading method in which eggs and sperms are combined in laboratory and fertilized eggs are transferred into uterus of woman. IVF process includes stimulation of ovaries, egg recovery, fertilization, embryo culture and transfer of embryo.GIFT (Gamete intrafallopian transfer)is a methodin which gametes are transferred into fallopian tube of woman and fertilization takes place in fallopian tubes. The method is performed only if fallopian tubes are functioning normally. In ZIFT (zygote intrafallopian transfer) fertilization occurs in laboratory instead of fallopian tube and fertilized eggs are moved to fallopian tube instead of uterus. ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) is a technique in which sperm is directly inserted into matured egg. In U.S ICSI methodis very popular and leads ART methods.Procedure OverviewThe industry is segmented into fresh donor segment and frozen non-donor segment.Fresh donor segment exceeded $1.3 billion revenue mark for 2015 and is predicted to register more than 5% CAGR during forecast timeframe. The proportion of donor eggs used in assisted reproductive technology cycles grows with age. As per CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the kind of ART (assisted reproductive technology) cycles differ with womans age. These cycles where woman uses own eggs is mostly dominated by young women.For instance, 97.01% of women below 35 years of age used their own eggs for fertilization.Get a Sample Copy of this Report @Frozen non-donor segment is predicted to register CAGR of 5.8% during forecast timeframe.Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Market SizeRegional OverviewAPAC assisted reproductive technology market share contributed more than 19% of total revenue and is predicted to register CAGR of 6.1% during forecast timeframe. Rapid growth in healthcare sector in nations like Japan, China and India is predicted to promote industry expansion during forecast period.North America assisted reproductive technologymarketsize was evaluated at more than $9 billion for 2015 and is anticipated to be evaluated at greater than $11 billion by end of 2023. It is predicted to register CAGR of about 2.7% during forecast timeframe. Rise in infertility owing to fatness and demographical changes have fuelled expansion of North America assisted reproductive technology industry.Europe assisted reproductive technology market contributed more than 22.51% of the total revenue share and is predicted to register a CAGR of 2.7% during forecast timeframe.Competitive TrendsKey industry players profiled in the report include Vitro Life, Research Instruments,Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporation, Irvine scientific, Genea Limited,Research Instruments, IVFtech ApS, Origio a/s, Esco Micro Private Limited, Cook Medicaland Smiths Medical.Make Inquiry of this report @About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Global Military Surveillance Drones Market 2017: Key Players: Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Thales Group (France), Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel) and More

Global Military Surveillance Drones Market

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WiseGuyReports published new report, titled Military Surveillance Drones MarketMarket SynopsisMilitary drones are powered aerial vehicles that do not carry human operators and can fly autonomously and remotely. These drones are largely being used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The drones can stay in air for hours or days at a time, and their high-tech cameras can scan a wide geographic area required for surveillance. Such drones are procured by several countries for monitoring their national and sea borders.The global military surveillance drones market is a very dynamic market and is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period. The global Military surveillance drones market is driven by various factors such as increase in Internal and External Security Threats, increasing Need for Border Monitoring and development of Next-Generation Drones. Drones are the next generation of aerial platforms that are being deployed by the defense ministries around the world. The demand for such unmanned systems has been fuelled by their successful deployment, during combat missions, majorly in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of global conflicts such as the Russia and Ukraine conflict over Crimea, battle for supremacy in the South China Sea territory between China and South Korea, maritime disputes between Venezuela and Guyana, and the sea border dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua. This creates the need to up-date border surveillance systems and the treatment of operational information concerning threats.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The global Military surveillance drones market is expected to grow at 11.96% CAGR during the forecast period. In 2016, the market was led by North America, with a 54.3% share, followed by Europe and Rest of the World with shares of 22.2% and 13.1%, respectively.The global military surveillance drones market has been segmented on the basis of types, payload and regions. On the basis of types, the market has been segmented into Fixed Wing, Micro/ Nano and Mini. Whereas, the payload segmented has been divided into Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensor, Cameras, Electronic Intelligence, Maritime Patrol Radar and Others. Of all types, the fixed wing segment is projected to account for the largest market share. Fixed-wing drones are equipped with wings (rather than vertical lift rotors), which are similar to the normal airplanes, and are much efficient as compared to other type of drones. On the basis of payload, Electro-Optic/Infrared Sensor segment is dominating the global Military surveillance drones market.The key players of global Military surveillance drones market include Boeing (U.S.), Airbus Corporation (Netherlands), Lockheed Martin (U.S.), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Thales Group (France), Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel), Saab Group (Sweden), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel), AeroVironment, Inc. (U.S.) and General Atomics (U.S.).The report for Global Military surveillance drones market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions...CONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
The Swiss Insurance Market 2018 Industry Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast To 2022

The Swiss Insurance

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Synopsis'Governance, Risk and Compliance  The Swiss Insurance Industry' report is the result of extensive research into the insurance regulatory framework in Switzerland.It provides detailed analysis of the insurance regulations for life, property, motor, liability, personal accident and health, and marine, aviation and transit insurance. The report specifies various requirements for the establishment and operation of insurance and reinsurance companies and intermediaries.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The report brings together research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on prevailing insurance regulations, and recent and upcoming changes in the regulatory framework, taxation and legal system in the country. The report also includes the scope of non-admitted insurance in the country.SummaryThe report provides insights into the governance, risk and compliance framework pertaining to the insurance industry in Switzerland, including: An overview of the insurance regulatory framework in Switzerland. The latest key changes, and changes expected in the countrys insurance regulatory framework. Key regulations and market practices related to different types of insurance product in the country. Rules and regulations pertaining to key classes of compulsory insurance, and the scope of non-admitted insurance in Switzerland. Key parameters including licensing requirements, permitted foreign direct investment, minimum capital requirements, solvency and reserve requirements, and investment regulations. Details of the tax and legal systems in the country.Scope The report covers details of the insurance regulatory framework in Switzerland. The report contains details of the rules and regulations governing insurance products and insurance entities. The report lists and analyzes key trends and developments pertaining to the countrys insurance regulatory framework. The report analyzes the rules and regulations pertaining to the establishment and operation of insurance businesses in the country. The report provides details of taxation imposed on insurance products and insurance companies.Reasons to Buy Gain insights into the insurance regulatory framework in Switzerland. Track the latest regulatory changes, and expected changes impacting the Swiss insurance industry. Gain detailed information about the key regulations governing the establishment and operation of insurance entities in the country. Understand key regulations and market practices pertaining to various types of insurance product.Key Highlights The Financial Market Supervisory Authority is responsible for governing and regulating the Swiss insurance industry. FDI of up to 100% is permitted in the Swiss insurance industry. Swiss Solvency Test, a risk based solvency standard, similar to Solvency II in the EU, was introduced into the Swiss insurance industry in 2008. Non-admitted insurance is not permitted in the Swiss insurance industry, except for marine, aviation and transit insurance, and reinsurance. Motor, marine, and aviation liability insurance, health insurance, accident insurance, and fire insurance for buildings are the key classes of compulsory insurance in the Swiss insurance industry.Table of Content: Key Points1 INTRODUCTION1.1 What is this Report About?1.2 Definitions2 GOVERNANCE, RISK AND COMPLIANCE2.1 Legislation Overview and Historical Evolution2.2 Latest Changes in Regulation2.3 Legislation and Market Practie by Type of Insurance2.3.1 Life insurance2.3.2 Property insurance2.3.3 Motor insurance2.3.4 Liability insurance2.3.5 Marine, aviation and transit insurance2.3.6 Personal accident and health insurance2.4 Compulsory Insurance2.4.1 Health insurance2.4.2 Marine liability insurance2.4.3 Motor third-party liability insurance2.4.4 Accident insurance2.4.5 Aviation liability insurance2.4.6 Clinical trials liability insurance2.4.7 Professional indemnity insurance for insurance intermediaries or brokers2.4.8 Third-party liability insurance for operators of nuclear installations2.4.9 Fire insurance and insurance against natural forces for buildings2.5 Supervision and Control2.5.1 International Association of Insurance Supervisors2.5.2 Financial Market Supervisory Authority2.5.3 National Regulatory AuthorityContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
5D Data Storage Market Size, Share 2017 - 2025 Current trends, Opportunities, Challenge

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Five dimensional (5D) data storage is the technology invented by a team of scientists at the University of Southampton, England with a view to store data in a disc made up of Nano structured glass. This data storage disc is expected to store data up to 13.8 Billion years which is an estimated age of the Universe. This Nano structured glass is etched microscopically with a laser. The 5D disc can be best explained as a result of XYZ dimensions along with time referred to 4th dimension. The 5thdimension inside of the discs are the size and orientation in relation to the 3-dimensional position of the nanostructures. The tiny patterns printed on the 3 layers allow an optical illusion to the viewer giving different view of the patterns when viewed from different angles. Each disc layer of the 5D data storage has multiple layers of macro and micro images.Get the sample copy of this report :The thought behind creating a data storage disc using 5D technology is owing to the present options of data storage devices getting damaged, rotten, or obsolete. Also, harsh or extreme weather conditions such as excessive dampness, heat, humidity, etc. can also damage the storage devices. Such factors lead to the thought of a rugged compact data storage product and hence, 5D data storage disc is considered as an option. The Nano structured glass is long lasting with chemical, heat and other reaction resistant. These Nano-structures tend to adapt to the lights polarization so that positive and negative values can be read effectively. The Nano structured discs are hit with ultra-laser rays to form structured dots with short, strong light pulses. The scientist team has named this disc as superman memory crystal. The scientist team from the University of Southampton is looking for industry partners to commercialize the disc for storing rich information to pass it on to the next generation. Some of the famous documents printed into 5D data storage are the holy Bible, Magna Carta, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Sir Isaac Newton's Opticks.Request for TOC of this report :The expected driver for the 5D data storage market is the need for a secure and portable form of data storage product. Within the military and other related industry verticals secured data communication or transfer becomes a problem. Hence, this factor of secured data storage product can drive the future years across diverse industry verticals. Furthermore, big data is expected to allow commercializing of 5D data storage discs to diverse applications as data is increasing exponentially with time. On the other hand, one of the main challenge for the 5D data storage market is that the commercialization of the disc is not expected to reach the market soon as the University is not yet ready to disclose the key for the 5D data storage disc for reading the rich information to the industries. Another challenge will be the high cost of the glass making it less accessible to wider applications. One of the anticipated opportunities are no mere substitution for ultrafast lasers which will make the product grow across the high technology adopted regions. Another opportunity for the 5D data storage is that civilization around are looking forward to record their culture and developments to pass it on to their next generations. Additionally, secret military agencies emerging on a huge scale across territories is also expected to be an opportunity for the 5D data storage market.To conclude, the 5D data storage disc featuring 360TB data capacity, withstanding up to 1000C temperature, able to have a life of 13.8 billion years at 190C is expected to rule the big data market in near future once leading industry players invest in R&D to come up with more products in the 5D data storage market.View full report :The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketNote: Although care has been taken to maintain the highest levels of accuracy in TMRs reports, recent market/vendor-specific changes may take time to reflect in the analysis.MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. 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Steam autoclaves market share,size,trends analysis

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Steam autoclaves market is likely to traverse alongside a lucrative path in the forthcoming seven years, pertaining to the increasing awareness among the regulatory bodies about the importance of sterilization and decontamination for healthcare and food applications. Since a while now, influenced by the lure of profits, a substantial number of F&B companies have been adopting unhygienic alternatives in the food manufacturing process. In consequence, to maintain health and hygiene, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deployed strict norms to control food safety exploitations by food manufacturers. Taking into account the immense demand for hygiene maintenance, local food manufacturers, restaurants, and hospitals are increasingly giving preference to steam autoclaves for sterilization, which will significantly impel the overall steam autoclaves industry share.Request sample copy @Regulatory bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) are also taking initiatives to enable hospitals and other healthcare service providers to use decontaminated devices for enhancing the effectiveness and life span of the product. Considering the future scope of sterilization for medical applications, many researchers have been continuously involved in the development of several sterilization products for medical device packaging. In 2016 alone, medical applications accounted for a major share of steam autoclaves industry. It is prudent to mention that many non-governmental organizations and regional governments have also been supplying funds and equipment to hospitals, in a bid to adhere to hygiene standards. Recently, the government of San Luis invested USD 4,61,198 in the procurement of medical devices encompassing two autoclaves  one for sterilization and another for laboratory services. The aforementioned incidence testifies the contribution that regional governments have been making for encouraging the medical sector to adopt sterilization devices, that would considerably influence steam autoclaves market size.Apart from the regulatory bodies, renowned manufacturers in steam autoclaves market are heavily investing in new product developments to improve the functionality of devices. For instance, recently, Astell Scientific, a renowned player in UK steam autoclaves market, launched a touchscreen assisted autoclave, focusing on the requirement of the product for pharmaceutical labs, research organizations, and universities. Speaking of which, other well-known participants in steam autoclaves market are Medisafe International, Tuttnauer, Getinge Infection Control, Priorclave, and Matachana.Make Inquiry of this report @Lately, it has been observed that steam autoclaves industry giants have shifted their focus toward the development of customer friendly products to strengthen their presence across the business space. Many of the manufactures have been collecting feedback from consumers to design customized products. Furthermore, industry giants are investing heavily in research and development activities as well, in a bid to reduce the water consumption in laboratory autoclaves. Consolidated Sterilizer Systems in fact, recently launched two innovative vertical sliding door autoclaves along with the implementation of a power door feature for simplified maintenance and ease of application. The currently prevalent competitive scenario across this vertical is likely to bring forth the launch of innovative products, which would eventually impel the commercialization potential of steam autoclaves market.Significant government strategies pertaining to the growth of the healthcare sector will continue to remain one of the most prominent drivers of steam autoclaves market. For instance, under the scheme of Make in India, the Indian government has encouraged medical equipment manufacturers across the country to develop exclusive products that would be commercialized under the Indian brand name. Driven by the escalating development of large capacity and cost-effective products, it has been predicted that steam autoclaves industry will surpass a revenue collection of USD 3 billion by the end of 2024.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Digital Rights Management Market Development, Key Opportunity, Application & Gross Revenues 2017

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MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Digital Rights Management Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 122 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the Digital Rights Management market, Digital rights management (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Digital Rights Management market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Digital Rights Management Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Microsoft, Google, Apple, Adobe Systems, DELL/EMC, Oracle, Sony, Symantec, LockLizard, Amazon, Intertrust Technologies, Intel, Seclore, Founder Tech, Haihaisoft.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Digital Rights Management Market OverviewGlobal Digital Rights Management Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Digital Rights Management Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Digital Rights Management Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Digital Rights Management by CountriesGlobal Digital Rights Management Market Segment by TypeGlobal Digital Rights Management Market Segment by ApplicationDigital Rights Management Market Forecast (2017-2022)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionAppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers Video/FilmSoftware/APPsGameTV/OTTOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into PCMobileTVOthersEnquire For Discount on Digital Rights Management Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Digital Rights Management market.Chapter 1, to describe Digital Rights Management Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Digital Rights Management, with sales, revenue, and price of Digital Rights Management, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Digital Rights Management, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Digital Rights Management market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Digital Rights Management sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -United States Digital Rights Management Market by Manufacturers, States, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022This report studies the Digital Rights Management market, Digital rights management (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthori.Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter
Israel Oil and Gas Industry Market 2017- Develop Strategies Based on the Latest Regulatory Events

Israel Oil and Gas Industry Market

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WiseGuyReports published new report, titled Israel Midstream Oil and Gas IndustrySummary"Israel Midstream Oil and Gas Industry Outlook to 2022 - Market Forecasts for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Oil Storage, Pipelines and Gas Processing", is a comprehensive report on midstream oil and gas industry in Israel. The report provides details such as name, type, operational status and operator for all active and planned (new build) LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in Israel till 2022. Further, the report also offers recent developments in the countrys midstream sector.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Scope- Updated information related to all active and planned LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in the country, including operator and equity details- Key mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, private equity and initial public offerings in the countrys midstream oil and gas industry, where available- Latest developments related to midstream oil and gas industry in the countryKey points- Gain a strong understanding of the countrys midstream oil and gas industry- Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of capacity data- Assess your competitors major LNG terminals, oil storage terminals, major trunk pipelines and gas processing plants in the country- Analyze the latest developments related to the countrys midstream oil and gas industryTable of Contents1 Table of Contents2. Introduction3. Israel LNG Industry4. Israel Oil Storage Industry5. Israel Oil and Gas Pipelines Industry6. Israel Gas Processing Industry7. Recent Developments8. Appendix..CONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Glufosinate Ammonium Market Research Report Now Available on Brisk Insights

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According to the recent report published by Brisk Insights, the Global Glufosinate Ammonium Market is expected to provide sustainable growth opportunities during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. This latest industry research study analyzes the Glufosinate Ammonium market by various product segments, applications, regions and countries while assessing regional performances of numerous leading market participants.Browse Full report on Global Glufosinate Ammonium Market forecast 2017-2025 report atThe report titled "Glufosinate Ammonium Market - Global Trends, Market Share, Industry Size, Growth, Opportunities, and Forecast - 2017  2025" offers a holistic view of the Glufosinate Ammonium industry encompassing numerous stakeholders including raw material suppliers, providers, distributors, consumers and government agencies, among others. Furthermore, the report includes detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the global Glufosinate Ammonium market considering market history, product development, regional dynamics, competitive landscape, and key success factors (KSFs) in the industry.The report includes a deep-dive analysis of key countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, China, Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, among others. Thereby, the report identifies unique growth opportunities across the world based on trends occurring in various developed and developing economies.Key Takeaways: Product popularity and adoption based on various country-level dynamics Regional presence and product development for leading market participants Market forecasts and trend analysis based on ongoing investments and economic growth in key countries Competitive landscape based on revenue, product offerings, years of presence, number of employees and market concentration, among others number of employees and market concentration, among othersBrowse Full Report atLatest Reports:Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aiding businesses to identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Visit Us:Our Blog:Company Name: Brisk InsightsContact Person: Jennifer SmithEmail: sales@briskinsights.comPhone: +448081890034Address:Office 1094, 109 Vernon House, Friar Lane, Nottingham NG1 6DQCity: NottinghamState: EnglandCountry: United Kingdom
Global Contact Center Analytics Market 2018 Key Players: Cisco Systems, Genpact, Verint Systems, 8X8, Genesys, Oracle,.

Contact Center Analytics Market

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Contact Center Analytics Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Contact Center Analytics Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryThis report studies the global Contact Center Analytics market, analyzes and researches the Contact Center Analytics development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeCisco Systems (US)Genpact(Bermuda)Verint Systems (US)8X8 (US)Genesys (US)Oracle (US)Mitel Networks (Canada)SAP (Germany)Enghouse Interactive (US)Five9 (US)CallMiner (US)Servion Global Solutions (India)Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoOn-PremisesCloudMarket segment by Application, Contact Center Analytics can be split intoAutomatic Call DistributorLog ManagementRisk and Compliance ManagementReal-time Monitoring and ReportingWorkforce OptimizationCustomer Experience ManagementOthers ApplicationsIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Contact Center Analytics Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Contact Center Analytics1.1 Contact Center Analytics Market Overview1.1.1 Contact Center Analytics Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Contact Center Analytics Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Contact Center Analytics Market by Type1.3.1 On-Premises1.3.2 Cloud1.4 Contact Center Analytics Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Automatic Call Distributor1.4.2 Log Management1.4.3 Risk and Compliance Management1.4.4 Real-time Monitoring and Reporting1.4.5 Workforce Optimization1.4.6 Customer Experience Management1.4.7 Others Applications2 Global Contact Center Analytics Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Contact Center Analytics Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Cisco Systems (US)3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Genpact(Bermuda)3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Verint Systems (US)3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 8X8 (US)3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Genesys (US)3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Oracle (US)3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Mitel Networks (Canada)3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 SAP (Germany)3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Enghouse Interactive (US)3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Five9 (US)3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Contact Center Analytics Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 CallMiner (US)3.12 Servion Global Solutions (India)4 Global Contact Center Analytics Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Contact Center Analytics Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Contact Center Analytics Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Contact Center Analytics in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Contact Center AnalyticsContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Cloud Robotics Market Segmented by Top Manufacturers - FANUC, KUKA, ABB, Yaskawa, Mitsubishi, Irobot, SoftBank, Hit Robot Group, SIASUN, Fenjin

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MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Cloud Robotics Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 120 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the Cloud Robotics market, Cloud Robotics (DRM) is a systematic approach to copyright protection for digital media. The purpose of DRM is to prevent unauthorized redistribution of digital media and restrict the ways consumers can copy content they've purchased.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Cloud Robotics market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Cloud Robotics Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers FANUC, KUKA, ABB, Yaskawa, Mitsubishi, Irobot, SoftBank, Hit Robot Group, SIASUN, Fenjin.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Cloud Robotics Market OverviewGlobal Cloud Robotics Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Cloud Robotics Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Cloud Robotics Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Cloud Robotics by CountriesGlobal Cloud Robotics Market Segment by TypeGlobal Cloud Robotics Market Segment by ApplicationCloud Robotics Market Forecast (2017-2022)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionAppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers HardwareSoftwareServicesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into IndustrialProfessional ServicePersonal ServiceEnquire For Discount on Cloud Robotics Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Cloud Robotics market.Chapter 1, to describe Cloud Robotics Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Cloud Robotics, with sales, revenue, and price of Cloud Robotics, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Cloud Robotics, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Cloud Robotics market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Cloud Robotics sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -Global Digital Microscope Cameras Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023In the Global Digital Microscope Cameras Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, grow.Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter
Cordless Electric Screwdriver Market: Analysis, Drivers, Strategies, Segmentation, Application & Forecast

Cordless Electric Screwdriver

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HTF MI recently broadcasted a new study in its database that highlights the in-depth market analysis with future prospects of Cordless Electric Screwdriver market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, industry executives and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. Some of the key players mentioned in this research are AIMCO, Anlidar Industrial, Black & Decker, Bosch Production Tools, C. & E. Fein GmbH, DEWALT Industrial Tool, HITACHI KOKI, Loover Industrial Co., Ltd., MAKITA, Milwaukee & Sumake Industrial.Enquire for customization in Report @The research covers the current market size of the Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia & India], by product /end user type [Straight Rod Type, Handheld & Other], by applications [Automobile Industry, Shipping Industry, Decorate & Other] in overall market. The in-depth information by segments of Cordless Electric Screwdriver market helps monitor performance & make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver Market.This study also contains company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of various international, regional, and local vendors of Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver Market, some of them are AIMCO, Anlidar Industrial, Black & Decker, Bosch Production Tools, C. & E. Fein GmbH, DEWALT Industrial Tool, HITACHI KOKI, Loover Industrial Co., Ltd., MAKITA, Milwaukee & Sumake Industrial. The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Straight Rod Type, Handheld & OtherMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Straight Rod Type xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Handheld xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Other xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Check for discount @The research study is segmented by Application such as Automobile Industry, Shipping Industry, Decorate & Other with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)Automobile Industry xx xx xx xx% xx%Shipping Industry xx xx xx xx% xx%Decorate xx xx xx xx% xx%Other xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Cordless Electric Screwdriver in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segment by Regions 2012 2017 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2017-2022)North America xx xx xx xx% xx%Europe xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Key questions answered in this report - Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver Market Research Report 2018What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate beWhat are the key market trendsWhat is driving Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver marketWhat are the challenges to market growthWho are the key vendors in Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver market space?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver market?Buy PDF version of this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Cordless Electric Screwdriver market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Cordless Electric Screwdriver, Applications of Cordless Electric Screwdriver, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Cordless Electric Screwdriver, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia & India, Cordless Electric Screwdriver Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Cordless Electric Screwdriver Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Cordless Electric Screwdriver;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Straight Rod Type, Handheld & Other], Market Trend by Application [Automobile Industry, Shipping Industry, Decorate & Other];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Cordless Electric Screwdriver;Chapter 12, to describe Cordless Electric Screwdriver Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Cordless Electric Screwdriver sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get Access to sample pages @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road, Edison, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218
Veno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease Therapeutics Market Growth and Forecast 2017-2027

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Veno-occlusive hepatic disorder or veno-occlusive disorder is the obstruction of small microscopic veins of the liver. The blood gets blocked only in small veins, the blockage do not get affect the larger veins. As the blood flow of the liver is blocked, the blood is congested in the liver and reduces the amount of blood entering the liver thereby damaging the liver cells. The liver gets enlarged due to congestion. Finally leading to cirrhosis of the liver. The common causes for veno-occlusive disorder is use of certain drugs that can cause serious effects on the liver, radiation therapy or ingestion of certain alkaloids etc. The patients who have undergone transplants have suffered from veno- occlusive disease. There is no specific treatment for veno occlusive disease, the primary goal is to normalize the flow in the blood vessels by controlling vasculitis and fibrin deposition.Veno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease Therapeutics Market: Drivers & RestraintsVeno occlusive disease is said to occur due to radiation and chemotherapy given during transplantation, therefore the rise in incidence and prevalence rate of cancer is the major factor responsible for the growth in the global veno- occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic market during the forecast. The rate of the allogeneic transplants have increased which is one of the factor influencing the growth of the global market. The patients suffering from liver diseases are at high risk of developing veno-occlusive disorder, therefore the rise in rate of liver disease is another factor that can influence the growth of the global market. Furthermore, revenue growth in the global veno-occlusive disease therapeutics market is expected to fuel by factors such as rise in prevalence of viral hepatitis, unhealthy lifestyle, obesity and excessive consumption of alcohol through 2027.Some factors that can restrain the growth of the global market during the forecast are rise in the cost of the procedure, less availability of super specialized professionals. Strict FDA approvals and stringent government regulation are also the factors that can hinder the growth of the global market.Request to View Sample Report @Veno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease Therapeutics Market: SegmentationVeno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutics market is classified on the basis of type of drugs, type of disease and end-user.Based on types of drugs, the veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic market is segmented into the following:AntimicrobialsAntiviralsAntithromboticAnti-ischemicAnti-inflammatoryOthersBased on types of disease, the veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic market is segmented into the following:HepatitisCancerBone marrow transplantationOther diseasesBased on End-User, the veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic market is segmented into the following:HospitalsResearch InstitutesAmbulatory Surgical CentresBased on geography, the veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic Market is segmented into following:North AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding JapanJapanMiddle East and AfricaVeno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease TherapeuticsMarket: OverviewRequest For Table Of Content @The global veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutic market is expected to expand at a significant growth rate across regions. Major players in this segment are working on their research and development process to build advanced products. Number of agents have shown improvements in clinical trials. Also the major players are working in segment to develop drugs which have antithrombotic, anti-ischemic and anti-inflammatory action altogether.Veno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease Therapeutics Market: Region-wise OutlookA geographic condition regarding veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutics market, it has been segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and the Middle East & Africa.North America region is expected to dominate the global market closely followed by Europe due to factors like higher spending on healthcare, developed regulatory framework, prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle etc. Asia Pacific region is anticipated to show a remarkable growth in the global market through 2027 due improving healthcare infrastructure, increase prevalence of liver cancer in Asian countries, increase in disposable income etc.Veno-Occlusive Hepatic Disease Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players operating in the global veno-occlusive hepatic disease therapeutics market are Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Norgine Pharmaceuticals Limited, Novartis AG, Genitum among others worldwide.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. technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market InsightsValley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Cell Therapy Systems Market: Competitive Intelligence and Tracking Report 2017-2027

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The use of stem cells in medicine is evident since 1968 through the achievement of the first bone marrow transplantation. The application of bone marrow transplantation is for treating genetic blood disorders. With various technological advances taking place, the transplanted haematopoietic stem cells are increasingly sourced from peripheral and umbilical cord blood rather than the bone marrow. Beyond bone marrow transplant, there are high near-term expectations for stem cells therapeutics derived from multipotent mesenchymal stem cells; in the long term, pluripotent embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are promising.Cell Therapy Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe market for the stem cell therapy is expected to witness growth with the increasing research spending to understand the conversion of undifferentiated cell to differentiated stem cell. This is further expected to address neurological disorders such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers. In May 2017 Orthopedic Research & Education Foundation in partnership with the National Stem Cell Foundation granted US$ 800,000 over a three-year period. The will be used towards investigator-initiated clinical research proposals focusing on adult stem cells.Request For Report Sample:Stem cells are like blank slate cells with the ability to become several kinds of different cells in the body. In theory, these cells can replace or repair damaged tissues, eliminating the need for surgery. For example, if injected into a persons spinal cord, the stem cells mimic spinal cord cells. This peculiarity has drawn attention of researchers to explore the use of stem cells to develop treatment towards various disorders and diseases.Cell Therapy Systems Market: SegmentationOn the basis of products, the cell therapy systems market can be segment as:Pluripotent stem cell productsNeural stem cell productsMesenchymal stem cell productsStem cell substratesCulture reagentsCTS cytokines and growth factorsOn the basis of application, the cell therapy systems market can be segment as:Stem cell therapy researchImmunotherapyNeural media & reagents for cell therapyTissue engineeringOthersCell Therapy Systems Market: OverviewCellular therapy (CT) is the transplantation of human cells to replace or repair damaged tissue and/or cells. With new technologies, innovative products, and limitless imagination, many different types of cells may be used as part of a therapy or treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions. Some of the cells that may be used include hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells (HSC), skeletal muscle stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, lymphocytes, dendritic cells, and pancreatic islet cells.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Cell Therapy Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookIn terms of geography, cell therapy systems market has been divided into seven regions including North- America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia- Pacific excluding Japan, Japan Middle-East & Africa and Latin America. North America is expected to remain the dominating region while Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as a fastest growing region. North America invests a lot in the cell therapy systems research and development. Many of the academic institutes are receiving funding from the industry players or government to encourage intensive cell therapy research.In developing regions such as Japan, government is supporting the development of cell therapies by accelerating the approval process. The significance of these regulations is that they allow companies to receive conditional marketing approval and commercialize regenerative medicine products while clinical trials continue through the later stages.Cell Therapy Systems Market: Key Market ParticipantsSome of the cell therapy systems market participants are GE Healthcare, DSS Imagetech, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Octane Biotech 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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Jet Trainer Aircraft Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth By 2022

Jet Trainer Aircraft Market

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Florida, January 17, 2018: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Jet Trainer Aircraft Market By type (Basic Jet Trainers, Intermediate Jet Trainers, Advanced Jet Trainers) and by Regional Analysis - Global Forecast by 2017 - 2023.A trainer is an aircraft that is meant to specifically train the pilots for future roles. Its bound characteristics that differ from regular aircraft like forgiving characteristics like once a pilot makes a mistake he will recover by somewhat application unlike supersonic fighters who got to be flown with precision, aspect by aspect flight controls so the beginner will see the instructors movement and tandem flight controls in advanced trainers to simulate real flying conditions. The advanced jet trainers simulate a fighter jet but with light weight, light attack capabilities, some countries have used the advanced trainers like Dassault/Dornier alpha jets that were employed in light strike roles along with a supersonic fighter aircraft.The Jet Trainer Aircraft market is expected to exceed more than US$ xx Billion by 2023 at a CAGR of xx% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report Here:The major driving factors of Jet Trainer Aircraft market are as follows: Increasing Political Disputes and Civil Unrest Across the Globe Adoption of Virtual Training to Ensure Safety of Trainees and Cost-Effectiveness Reduction in Military Budgets in Developed Countries, Paving Way for Simulator Training PracticesThe restraints of Jet Trainer Aircraft market are as follows: High Complexity of Simulator Systems Concerns Related to Simulation TrainingThe opportunities of Jet Trainer Aircraft market are as follows: Evolution of Simulators for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Technological Advancements in the Field of Military Simulators Increasing R&D Activities in the Field of Military Simulation and TrainingThe challenges of Jet Trainer Aircraft market are as follows: Challenges for Manufacturers of Simulators Lack of InteroperabilityThe Jet Trainer Aircraft market is segmented on the lines of its type and regional. Based on type segmentation it covers Basic Jet Trainers, Intermediate Jet Trainers and Advanced Jet Trainers. The Jet Trainer Aircraft market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Jet Trainer Aircraft market and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, estimates for 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Jet Trainer Aircraft market4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.Report scope:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets on Jet Trainer Aircraft market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Irkut Corporation, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Diamond Aircraft Industries, Embraer, Northrop Corporation, Dassault Aviation, Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Fabrica Militaar De Aviones, Grob Aircraft, Bombardier, 3x Trim Aircraft Factor, Diamond Aircraft Industries, Pilatus and Raytheon Aircraft Company and others. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.Request Sample Report:The Jet Trainer Aircraft market has been segmented as below:By type Basic Jet Trainers Intermediate Jet Trainers Advanced Jet TrainersBy Regional Analysis: North America Europe Asia-Pacific Rest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all Jet Trainer Aircraft market.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Jet Trainer Aircraft market data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Forecast on Veterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market for the Period 2017-2027

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X-Ray illuminator is a key element of x-ray devices. X-Ray illuminators provide a clear image of the body for the diagnosis purpose. Each x-ray illuminator include a ventilator system. With the increasing need for the diagnosis of animals demand of x-ray diagnosis for animals is also rising. These veterinary x-ray illuminators provide a clear image of animal body parts for the better diagnosis of problem faced by animals.Veterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global veterinary x-ray illuminators market is expected to be drive by increasing awareness among people regarding the care of companion animals. Veterinary market is flourishing over the last few years as people has become highly concerned for their animals. Rise in the trade of animals is also expected to drive the growth of veterinary x-ray illuminators market as, no one is going to buy unhealthy animal. So in order to keep the animal keep people are getting their animals regularly checked. Veterinary x-ray illuminators market is expected to growth with the rise in the number of x-ray procedures. Veterinary x-ray illuminators market is also expected to grow due to rising number of veterinary clinics and veterinary offices.Request For Report Sample:Veterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market: SegmentThe global veterinary x-ray illuminators market can be segmented on the basis of product type, end user and region.On the basis of product type the global veterinary x-ray illuminators market can be segmented into:Single UnitTwo Bank UnitThree Bank UnitFour Bank UnitOn the basis of end user the global veterinary x-ray illuminators market can be segmented into:Veterinary HospitalVeterinary ClinicsVeterinary Imaging CentersVeterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market: OverviewThe global veterinary x-ray illuminators market is expected to show a significant growth over the forecast period. Rising number of healthcare infrastructure for animals is expected to drive the growth of veterinary x-ray illuminators market. With the rise in the number of veterinary clinics all over the world is also expected to drive the growth of veterinary x-ray illuminators market as rise in number of clinics will lead to the higher number of x-ray equipment installation specific to the animal diagnosis. Emotional attachment of people with companion animals is also expected to drive the growth of veterinary x-ray illuminators market. Increasing disposable income is also a factor for the growth of the veterinary x-ray illuminators market as people have large sum of money to spend on the health of animals. Veterinary hospitals segment is expected to dominate the market as these x-ray equipment require large sum of money to install and without the x-ray machine market of x-ray illuminators cannot grow.Veterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market: Region Wise OutlookThe global veterinary x-ray illuminators market can be segmented into regions: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to dominate the global veterinary x-ray illuminators market over the forecast period followed by Europe. People in North America region has large sum of disposable income and they can spend higher amount on animal health. Number of veterinary clinics and higher awareness among people regarding the animal care is also expected to drive the growth of veterinary x-ray illuminators market. Asia Pacific region is expected to be fastest growing market for the veterinary x-ray illuminators due to increasing veterinary healthcare infrastructure and higher number of animal population in the region.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Veterinary X-Ray Illuminators Market: Key PlayersSome of the market participants in the global veterinary x-ray illuminators market are, Paragon Medical Supply, Inc., Protech Medical, DRE Veterinary, Wolf X-Ray, Easywell Technologies Co. Ltd., The Stevens Company Limited, DLC Australia, Maxant Technologies, Z&Z Medical, Inc., Apexx Veterinary Equipment and Cranford X-Ray.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Twist Open Market: Challenges and Opportunities Report 2017-2027

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Global Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market: Introduction:Over the last decade, manufacturers across the globe are increasingly focusing on increasing convenience to end consumers. Easy to open and close caps forming an essential packaging component to offer fast and easy suitability across multiple industries. Twist open  twist close caps market is one such product types which have aided in accelerating the demand for cap & closure market across the globe. These twist open  twist close caps, prevents the product from any external and internal leakage and drying. Also, twist open  twist close caps provide appropriate grip hold which enables ease in opening and closing of packaging products.Plastic material accounts for a significant share in twist open  twist close caps market which is expected to witness an above average growth over the forecast period. Also, the demand for plastics caps & closure market is expected to cross 1.1 trillion in terms of volume. With increasing application use of single-serve packaging, it is creating a burgeoning demand for twist open  twist close caps market. The region of APEJ is prominent players who are highly demanding the need for single-serve packaging for storing its product.Request For Report Sample:Global Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market - Market Dynamics:With beverages industry still continues to dominate the caps & closure market, so manufacturers are focusing on innovation and product development process which renders high brand visibility and easy to use. The pharmaceutical and cosmetic market is expected to witness a big chunk of growth for twist open  twist close caps market. Also, an emerging trend which is prevalent in twist open  twist close caps market is the increasing use of smooth skirt twist open  twist close caps.On the flip side, regulation bodies operating in the regions of North America and Europe are demanding for use of biodegradable polymer material to lessen the impact on the environment. But on the other hand, it is hampering the revenue share margin of manufacturers of twist open  twist close caps market.Global Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market - Market Segmentation:By product type, the global twist open  twist close caps market is segmented into ribbed skirt and smooth skirt. By material type, the global twist open  twist close caps market is segmented into plastic and metal. Further, plastic is sub  segmented into polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Moreover, metal is sub  segmented into steel, tin and aluminium. By end user base industries, the global twist open  twist close caps market is segmented into food & beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, automobile and other.Global Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market - Regional Outlook:North AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)JapanGeographically, the twist open- twist close caps market is highly fragmented across the regions of North America and Asia Pacific excluding Japan market. Countries of U.S., China, India, Malaysia, Germany are expected to witness an above average growth rate. Also, with increasing consumption of beverages across the APEJ market, it is expected to accelerate the demand for twist open  twist close caps market. The manufacturers have to take into consideration the latest changing need of ultimate consumers and end-use industries and implement necessary changes to render convenience and stay ahead of the competition.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market  Key Players:Some of the key players operating in the global twist open - twist close caps market are Stull Technologies, Mold-Rite Plastics, Roda Packaging, O.Berk Company, Talco Corporation, Yorker Packaging, Ramson Engineering, Crown Holdings, Inc., Nippon Closures Co., Ltd, Greiner Packaging, Neville and More.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Aseptic Paper for Packaging Market Intelligence Report for Comprehensive Information 2017-2027

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Aseptic Paper for Packaging Market  Introduction:The global packaging market is growing immensely due to various innovations and developments that are provided by manufacturers to endure such competition in the packaging field. Aseptic packaging is a significant packaging system which allows products stored without refrigeration for a long period of time. Aseptic packaging is used to store delicate foods such as milk, soy beverages, nectars, and juice. Aseptic paper for packaging helps in increasing the shelf life of the products during the maintenance of its original composition. Aseptic paper for packaging market is growing due to rise in the demand for pre-cooked food, milk, juice, and meat which require to be packed aseptically. Aseptic paper for packaging is light in weight, energy efficient, and a reliable solution for packaging. Aseptic paper provides strength and stiffness to the package which combines high performance material and high performance features.Aseptic Paper for Packaging Market  Dynamics:The aseptic paper for packaging market is likely to get traction during the forecast period owing to increase in food, beverage, and dairy industries which have been widely utilizing aseptic packaging. The growth of aseptic paper for packaging is increasing due to rise in the demand for non-carbonated soft drinks packaging and other beverages packaging. Developing countries constitute the maximum rise in the demand for aseptic paper for packaging. Technological advancements in the type of packages use, increasing the demand for aseptic paper for packaging, as it faces low threat of direct substitution. A large number of conventional food and beverage packaging companies are likely to switch to aseptic paper for packaging in the upcoming period considering the positive impacts of aseptic packaging, environmentally as well as nutritionally on packaged food.Request For Report Sample:The growth of aseptic paper for packaging market is increasing due to rising awareness about preservative free food and beverages. Aseptic paper for packaging helps in decreasing the cost and make the package light in weight. Along with this, it provides the new avenue for new entrants in the market. Aseptic paper for packaging offers the opportunity to manufacturer to strengthen their existing and increase their customer base. Aseptic paper for packaging adds shelf life to a product and keep food and dairy products fresh without refrigeration or addition of preservatives. Aseptic paper for packaging is also used for the packaging of medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. Aseptic paper for packaging market has a large number of suppliers, making it easy for the manufacturers to easily gain access to raw material at an economical price.Aseptic Paper for Packaging Market  Segmentation:The global aseptic paper for packaging market is segmented on the basis of paper type, by thickness, and by end use.On the basis of paper type, the global aseptic paper for packaging market is segmented as follows:Bleached paperboardCoated Unbleached Kraft PaperboardOn the basis of thickness, the global aseptic paper for packaging market is segmented as follows:Up to 100 microns100 to 200 microns200 to 300 micronsAbove 300 micronsOn the basis of end use, the global aseptic paper for packaging market is segmented as follows:Food & Beverages packagingDairy IndustryPharmaceuticalsOthersAseptic Paper for Packaging Market  Regional Outlook:On the basis of geography global aseptic paper for packaging market is segmented into Latin America, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Japan. Among these region, Asia pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growth in the aseptic paper for packaging market due to rise in aseptic pharmaceutical packaging. Along with Asia pacific, North America continues to grow at a rapid speed during the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Aseptic Paper for Packaging Market  Major Players:Some of the prominent players operating in the global aseptic paper for packaging market include Tetra Pak International S.A., Nampak Ltd., SIG Combibloc Obeikan (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Mondi Ltd, Polyoak Packaging Group (Pty) Ltd., Amcor Limited, Elopak SA, IPI s.r.l., Uflex Ltd, and Ducart Group.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Seatbelt Retractor Market Forecast Report Offers Actionable Insights 2017-2025

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Seatbelt Retractor Market: OverviewSeatbelts are extremely important components of an automobile from the safety point of view. In times of accidents, seatbelts can prove to be life saviors. It is advisable to the drivers as well as passengers to wear the seatbelts while driving because seatbelts act as safeguards at the time of accidents. The work of a seatbelt retractor is to store the webbing that is not being used and at the time of a crash, lock the webbing. Modern retractors consist of two types of independent sensors, which are vehicle sensors and webbing sensors. These sensors ensure high reliability. A spool is present as a central element in the seatbelt retractor assembly.Report overview @At one end of the webbing, spindle (or spool) is attached. Spring is used to provide the rotational force. This spring is present inside the seatbelt retractor assembly. Any loose webbing is wound up by the spindle with the help of the spring that rotates the spindle. When the webbing is pulled out. The spindle rotates in the anti-clockwise direction, and hence the spring rotates in the same direction. In short, the spring is untwisted by the rotating spool. The spring resists this twisting motion as it tries to return to its original shape. The spindle rotates in the clockwise direction until the belt is tight or there is no slack left in it, and the spring tightens up when the webbing is released.The parent market of the Global Seatbelt Retractor Market is the Global Automotive Seatbelt Market. The Global Automotive Seatbelt Market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.1% in the forecast period 2017 to 2021 and reach $9.1 billion at the end of the year 2021.Seatbelt Retractor Market: Drivers and RestraintsWith increasing awareness about the automobile safety measures and the increasing demand for safety systems in the automobiles that are better than the traditional ones, the demand for seatbelt retractors is expected to go up. The rise in automotive production activities and the advancement in the technology related to the seatbelt assembly have led to the growth of Seatbelt Retractor Market. The introduction of strict safety measures as well as the standards related to the safety of the passengers and the driver in the automobile set by the governments of certain countries are also likely factors that will drive the growth of the Seatbelt Retractor Market.Request Report for TOC @In recent years, compact cars have become the fastest selling segment of the automobile industry. This rise in production of the compact cars is likely to provide a boost to the Seatbelt Retractor Market. Increasing number of casualties in the road accidents worldwide is a reason for concern that will lead to growth in the Seatbelt Retractor Market in the forecast period 2017 to 2021. Also, seeing this growth, huge investments are being made in the Automotive Seatbelt Market that will eventually lead to the growth in the Seatbelt Retractor Market.A major factor that is likely to restrain the growth of the Seatbelt Retractor Market is the high cost of the new and advanced seatbelt retractors that are soon replacing the traditional retractors in the automobiles.Seatbelt Retractor Market: Regional OutlookThe Asia Pacific and the North America regions are expected to hold their position as the highest revenue shareholders in the Seatbelt Retractor Market in the forecast period 2017 to 2021. The Asia Pacific region owes the growth in the Seatbelt Retractor Market to the increasing cases of road accidents and implementation of the measures related to road safety. Also, the increasing demand for the production of compact cars in countries of the Asia Pacific region, such as Japan, China, and India has led to a boost in the growth of the Seatbelt Retractor Market in the Asia Pacific region.Countries like India, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan are the major markets for the seatbelt retractors in the Asia Pacific region. Asia Pacific region is gradually being called the hub of automobile production. Assembly plants for the seatbelts are being set up at a very fast pace in the Latin America and the Middle East regions. Owing to this factor, Latin America and the Middle East region is also expected to see a high growth rate in the Seatbelt Retractor Market in these regions. In the Europe region, Germany is a major market of seatbelt retractors. This is because of the presence of major automobile manufacturers in this region.Request to Sample of Report-Seatbelt Retractor Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players of the Global Seatbelt Retractor Market are:-Tokai Rika Co. Ltd.Autoliv Inc.Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd.ZF TRW Automotive Holdings Corp.Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd.Takata CorporationKey Safety Systems Inc.Robert Bosch GmbHDenso CorporationContinental AGAbout 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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Comprehensive Report on Box Filling Machine Market: by Future Market Insights 2017-2027

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Box Filling Machine Market  Introduction:Boxes have been quick to gain market share as an efficient single-use packaging solution, which significantly increases the shelf-life of the industrial products. In addition to packaging and storage, they are also used by brand owners as a tool to enhance brand image. As the global consumer preference continues to incline more towards convenient packaging solutions that have a positive impact on the shelf life of the product, the global box market is likely to grow without hurdles, over the forecast period. The increasing popularity of boxes, coupled with growth in adoption of automated pack filling systems has triggered the need for products such as box filling machines. Modern semi-automatic box fill machines are capable of filling boxes of varying sizes. Since the machines are easy to operate and maintain, box filling machines are anticipated to remain one of the most sought after products to fill the boxes.Box Filling Machine Market  Dynamics:The global packaging industry has undergone significant transformation in the past few decades, with evolving consumer and supplier preferences playing a pivotal role in dictating the momentum of innovation. Since their inception, there have been many design level innovations made to box filling machines, which has widened the range of products that can now be filled in boxes. Box filling machine manufacturers emphasize on additional integrated features for capability enhancement. The demand for aseptic and convenient packaging solutions on the part of the consumer and the need to reduce per-package cost price on the part of the manufacturer are the prime factors behind the emergence and rising adoption of box containers across industries. The global box filling machines market is also expected to heavily benefit from increasing demand for boxes in the packaging industry, which will likely facilitate growth at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample:Rise in demand for alternate packaging solutions, such as cubitainers, which are also highly regarded as a very efficient storage and transport solution, will potentially prove to be a hindrance to optimal growth of the global box filling machines market. Box filling machines are used to fill products, both liquid and semi-liquid, and solids in boxes. Boxes are considered a convenient and economical alternative to bottles. Box filling machines are widely used by food, dairy, wine, and many other companies. Therefore, it is anticipated that the market scenario for the global box filling machines market will remain largely positive over the forecast period.Box Filling Machine Market  Segmentation:The global market for box filling machines is segmented on the basis of product type, by speed, and by application.On the basis of the product type, the global market for box filling machines is segmented as follows:High-speed fillersSemi-automatic fillersManual fillersRotary fillersCustom box fillersOn the basis of the speed, the global market for box filling machines is segmented as follows:Less than 20 boxes per minute20 to 40 boxes per minute40 to 60 boxes per minuteMore than 60 boxes per minuteOn the basis of application, the global market for box filling machines is segmented as follows:Wine/Spirit fillingBeverage fillingSoap/Detergent fillingPetroleum fillingBox Filling Machine Market  Regional Outlook:On the basis of geography, sandwich wedges market region is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Japan. The North American region, followed by the Western European region, is expected to be the key contributor to growth of the global box filling machines market. This is attributed to a highly automated industry in these regions. The APEJ box filling machines market presents lucrative opportunities for growth of the global as well as regional market, as emerging economies such as China and India, are currently witnessing a steady economic growth. However, due to limited penetration of automated pack filling format in the APEJ region, manufacturers are expected to focus on increasing their market presence in the APEJ region.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Box Filling Machine Market  Major Players:Some of the prominent players operating in the sandwich wedges market include Smurfit Kappa Group, ABCO Automation, Inc., DS Smith Plc, Technibag, Flexifill Ltd., and Engi-O, among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Automotive Axle System Market Intelligence with Competitive Landscape 2017-2025

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Automotive Axle System Market: OverviewAn axle is fixed with the rotating wheel, rotating with them or their parts with the rotating wheels around them. Hence an axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel. An axle can also be classified as the integral part of the vehicle as full floating, semi floating, front and rear axle. The real axle function can be used only on those vehicles which have rear wheel drive. The front axle is supporting the front wheels of the vehicle. The front axle also supports the weight, helps in effortless use in steering, absorbing the shocks due to patchy roads and also absorbing the sudden torque due to braking.Report overview @An axle system transfers the torque by differential method to wheels and engine differentiates the torque to vehicle. The type of axle in the vehicle depends upon the function of the vehicle and also the position where the axle is being fitted in the vehicle. Commercial vehicles such as trucks, heavy trucks or buses may have two or more than two live axles fitted with the vehicles depending upon the type of application and type of vehicle. Likely passenger cars will have one live axle and one dead axle in the vehicle.Automotive Axle System Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe increasing demand of automotive axle system is high due to the high demand of vehicles in the market because of ever increasing population. This is the major factor driving the market but apart from this the aftermarket demand of axles in the ever growing and emerging economies is also a factor in the growth of automotive axle system market.However the factor restraining the Automotive Axle system market is the increased cost of the vehicle due to the extra component as axle fitted to it. Another factor restraining the growth of automotive axle system market is the additional weight of the vehicle due to the fitting of axle system in the vehicle. When the vehicle weight is becoming a major concern due to the axle system then the demanding trend comes is of the light weighted axle system. During the forecast years the increasing adoption of electric vehicles will bring a significant change in the system design and utilization of the materials in the automotive axle system market. With this the critical focus will be over the power trains which are becoming a major trend for the automobile industry.Request Report for TOC @Automotive Axle System Market: Regional OutlookRegarding geography, the Automotive Axle System Market has been categorized into seven key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Automotive Axle System Market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period due to high demand of axle system because of high demand of vehicles due to increasing population.In terms of regions, North America accounts for significant share for Automotive Axle System Market, owing to the high growth and demand for automobile industry in the region as compared to other developed regions. In terms of developing region of Asia-Pacific, the growth of the Automotive Axle System Market is significantly high and with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period owed to factors such as such as rapid economic development, globalization and increasing demand of the Automotive Axle System Market.Request to Sample of Report-Automotive Axle System Market: Few PlayersFew players identified in Automotive Axle System Market are:-American axle and manufacturing holdings Inc.Dana Holding CorporationDelphi GroupHitachiKalyani GroupHyundai Wia CorporationAbout 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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
ESD Clamshell Market: Opportunity Assessment Research Study 2017-2027

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Global ESD Clamshell Market: Introduction:The global market for electronic devices such as Printed Circuit Board PCBs and Semi-Conductor accounts to nearly US$ 3.1 trillion with about nearly six percent of the products gets damaged from the static flow of electricity. Improper packaging of ESD sensitive component, assemblies, and equipment result in soft damages which cost manufacturers and users millions of dollar. To tackle this challenge, packaging manufacturers opt for ESD protective packaging, one such form of ESD protective packaging product which is highly demanded across the electronic industry is ESD clamshell. Every time an assembly and component is placed in or removed from a package, it can transfer electrical charge. To prevent devices from any static discharge ESD clamshell is used which resist the static flow of electricity in small electronic devices and component.ESD clamshell is totally enclosed container in a plastic container which is clear antistatic plastic that is usually thermoformed and is optical and resistive. Also, as the market value of electrical components across the globe is expected to witness a CAGR of approximately nine percent. This factor is fuelling the demand for ESD clamshell which is expected to create an immense growth during the forecast period. Moreover, ESD clamshell manufacturers are engaged in the continuous material and technological development which has rather reduced the overall production cost of ESD clamshell.Request For Report Sample:Global ESD Clamshell Market - Market Dynamics:Manufacturers producing ESD clamshell are progressively focusing on investing in packaging machinery and equipment which has enabled increasing output ESD clamshell production. But on the flip side, the carbon additive used in ESD clamshell damages the mechanical properties of devices and assembly stored inside the ESD clamshell. This factor has aided manufacturers to focus on using an alternative chemical additive which renders complete product protection from static electricity.Global ESD Clamshell Market - Market Segmentation:Global ESD clamshell market is segmented into application type, material & additive type, end user base industries. On the basis of application type, the global ESD clamshell market is segmented into electrical & electronic component, equipment, drugs, etc. On the basis of material and additive type the global ESD clamshell conductive and dissipative polymers are sub-segmented into Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polycarbonate (PC), Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyamide (PA), Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN), and others. Furthermore, metal is sub-segmented into aluminium, steel, tin, copper and others. Additionally, additive is sub-segmented into electrical & electronic, automobile, defence & military, manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare and others. On the basis of end use base industries the global ESD clamshell is segmented into electrical & electronics, automobile, defence & military, manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare & others.Global ESD Clamshell Market - Regional Outlook:North AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)JapanThe global ESD clamshell market is majorly demanded in the regions of APEJ and MEA market. With countries of India, Indonesia, South Africa, China are among the key players who are demand ESD Clamshell. The increasing demand for electrical & electronic component across APEJ & Japan market is correlating a high consumption for ESD clamshell across the APEJ & Japan region. Regions of Europe and North America is showcasing an increasing growth for ESD clamshell due to increasing spending on defence components.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):ESD Clamshell Market  Key Players:Some of the key players operating in the global ESD clamshell market include Integrated Packaging Films Inc., Primary Automation Systems, Inc., Sigma Supply of North America, 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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market to to Reach US$ 17 Billion By 2023

Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market

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Florida, January 17, 2018: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market By Product (Sterling engine, Fuel cell) and by Regional Analysis - Global Forecast by 2017 - 2023.Air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems square measure any marine propulsion technologies that modify a non-nuclear submarine to work while not access to region gas, so eliminating the necessity for egression or skin diving. Most AIP systems generate electricity, which, in turn, drives an electrical motor for propulsion or recharges the submarines batteries. Excluding aiding in propulsion, the AIP system on board the submarine can even be used as a backup to supplement the immediate power needs for the on-board electrical associate degreed equipment throughout an emergency.The Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 17 Billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 2.5% in the given forecast period.The major driving factors of Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market are as follows: Enhancement in underwater endurance of non-nuclear submarinesBrowse Full Report Here:The Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market is segmented on the lines of its product and regional. Based on product segmentation it covers Stirling engine, Fuel cell and others. Based on Others Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, estimates for 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Air-independent system for Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.Report Scope:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include United Shipbuilding Corporation, Saab, ThyssenKrupp and United Technologies. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.Request Sample Report:The Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market has been segmented as below:By Product: Sterling engine Fuel cell OthersBy Regional Analysis: North America Europe Asia-Pacific Rest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Global Submarine Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) Systems Market data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Arteriovenous Malformation Market 2018 - Fujifilm Holdings, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Shimadzu Corporation and more by 2023

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The Worldwide Arteriovenous Malformation Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~6.1% during the forecast period 2017-2023. There are various symptoms of arteriovenous malformation which include bleeding in the skull, most commonly a subarachnoid hemorrhage, headaches, focal neurologic deficits such as weakness, numbness, or tingling in one part or side of the body, muscle weakness, inability to move a limb, and lack of coordination. It is estimated that 15 % patients with AVM may have difficulty with movement, speech and vision.According to the American Stroke Association, AVMs are more common in males than in females, more than 50% of patients with an AVM have intracranial hemorrhage and amongst AVM patients, 20%-25% have focal or generalized seizures.According to the World Health Organization estimates, neurological disorders are responsible for 4.5%-11% of all illnesses including low or high income economies. This is far higher as compared to the number of respiratory ailments, gastrointestinal disorders, or cancers, and the burden is expected to increase further over the coming years.Increasing prevalence of brain diseases/disorders, increasing investment by biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in R&D, and rising need for the better treatment methods drive the growth of the market. Furthermore, favorable reimbursement policies, increased application and significant investments in the development of new technologies for the treatment of diseases will fuel the market growth during the forecast period. Moreover, globalization in healthcare has increased the market growth. Established market players in the developed countries leads the globalization by pushing new products and services into the developing countries and emerging economies. However, limited availability of facilities and higher treatment cost may hinder the market growth during the forecast period.Get Exclusive Sample Report @Arteriovenous Malformation Market Key Players:Some of key the players in the market are Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Japan), Carestream Health (U.S.), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan), Electrical Geodesics Inc. (U.S.), Fujifilm Holdings (Japan), GE Healthcare (U.S.), Siemens Healthcare(U.S.), Philips Healthcare (U.S.), Shimadzu Corporation (Japan), Masimo Corporation (U.S.), Hologic (U.S.), Esaote (Italy), and others.In Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), a tangle of blood vessels in the brain or on its surface, bypasses normal brain tissue and directly diverts blood from the arteries to the veins. There are several types of AVM such as true arteriovenous malformation, occult or cryptic AVM or cavernous malformations and others.Arteriovenous Malformation Market Regional Analysis:The Americas dominate the global arteriovenous malformation market owing to well-developed technology, increasing patient population for brain diseases/disorder, high health care spending, and increasing government support for research & development. Furthermore, increased R&D activities and the concentration of major companies have fuelled the growth of the market in this region.Europe holds the second position in the global arteriovenous malformation market owing to the government support for research & development and availability of funds for research. This is expected to continue to drive the European market over the forecasted period. For instance, developed economies such countries such as Germany and France are increasing investment in the healthcare domain and are focusing more on hospital infrastructure.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing arteriovenous malformation market owing to the presence of rapidly developing healthcare technology, increasing stressful life, and high healthcare expenditure. Moreover, increasing patient population in countries like India and South Korea are likely to emerge as the fastest growing market across the globe. Furthermore, increasing demand for quality devices in the healthcare is projected to lead the use of advanced equipment, which, in turn, may increase the market growth in this region.On the other hand, the Middle East & Africa holds the least share of the market owing to less availability of funds, limited medical facilities, and deprived political conditions in Africa.Ask Questions to Expertise @Major TOC for Arteriovenous Malformation Market:Report PrologueMarket Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsResearch Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary research3.4 Market Size EstimationMarket Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentMarket Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.1.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers5.1.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers5.1.3 Threat of New Entrants5.1.4 Threat of Substitutes5.1.5 Intensity of Rivalry5.2 Value Chain Analysis5.3 Investment Feasibility Analysis5.4 Pricing Analysis.T.O.C ContinuedAbout US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com .
Global Household Smart Appliance Market 2018 Industry Key Players: General Electric, Panasonic, Haier, Miele, Indesit, Midea, Gree Electric,.

Household Smart Appliance Market

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Household Smart Appliance Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Household Smart Appliance Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Household Smart Appliance in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Household Smart Appliance market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGeneral ElectricPanasonicHaierMieleIndesitMideaGree ElectricLG ElectronicsElectroluxSamsungPhilipsWhirlpoolOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMonomial IntelligenceMultiple IntelligencesOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingKitchenSitting RoomBedroomIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Household Smart Appliance Market Research Report 20181 Household Smart Appliance Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Household Smart Appliance1.2 Household Smart Appliance Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Household Smart Appliance Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Household Smart Appliance Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Monomial Intelligence1.2.4 Multiple Intelligences1.3 Global Household Smart Appliance Segment by Application1.3.1 Household Smart Appliance Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Kitchen1.3.3 Sitting Room1.3.4 Bedroom1.4 Global Household Smart Appliance Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Household Smart Appliance Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Household Smart Appliance (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Household Smart Appliance Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Household Smart Appliance Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Household Smart Appliance Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Household Smart Appliance Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Household Smart Appliance Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Household Smart Appliance Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Household Smart Appliance Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Household Smart Appliance Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Household Smart Appliance Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Household Smart Appliance Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global Household Smart Appliance Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 General Electric7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 General Electric Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Panasonic7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Panasonic Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Haier7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Haier Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Miele7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Miele Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Indesit7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Indesit Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Midea7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Midea Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Gree Electric7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Gree Electric Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 LG Electronics7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 LG Electronics Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Electrolux7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Electrolux Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Samsung7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Household Smart Appliance Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Samsung Household Smart Appliance Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Philips7.12 WhirlpoolContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Global Logistics Labels Market 2018 - JLH label, Weber, SATO America, NiceLabel

Global Logistics Labels Market 2018

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Global Logistics Labels Market 2018-2023The Research Report gives detailed information of Logistics Labels Industry Size and Share in globe. The Logistics Labels Market Report contains data that is collected from various primary and secondary resources. The data collected was validated from the industry analyst which makes the document a useful resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other to get access and self-analyzed the study which helps to understand market trends, applications, specifications and market challenges.Get Free Sample Copy of Report @The MRS Research Group report provides a detailed study of the global Logistics Labels market 2017-2022, enlightening the major areas such as future market scenario, market growth factors, market growth restraints, and others. Segments are broadly segmented based on the constant updates in the development parameters, quality parameters, reliability parameters and end user demands. The advanced technological trends and various new opportunities are also provided in Logistics Labels research report.The Report Covers:The report has information of Logistics Labels market that comprises of a large number of reputed organizations, firms, vendors, manufacturer and can deliver in-detail summary of the overall key players who hold major count in terms of revenue, sales, demand, through their reliable services, products, and post-sale processes. The Logistics Labels report provides a thorough analysis of the prominent driving factors that are identified based on the end-user demands, variable market changes, restraining elements and regulatory compliance. Many trends such as globalization, technology advancement, over-capacity in developed markets, market fragmentation regulation & environmental concerns, and product proliferation are covered in Logistics Labels report.Read Complete Report With TOC @The Major Players in global market, including :JLH label, Weber, SATO America, NiceLabel, Avery Dennison, 3M, Ascension Technocrats, GS1 Global, ELMED d.o.o., Flexor, North & South Labels Ltd, Delhi, Armor TT, Mercian Labels, Verst Group Logistics, CAIKE, SchadesMajor Key Regions Covered in This Market:United StatesEUChinaJapanIndiaSouth KoreaTaiwanKey attractions of the Logistics Labels market :1.The market analysis of the global market share, position, and size from the different regions are done.2.The admired players in the market and their share in the global market are discussed.3.Suggestions and the strategic plans that will help the new market players to maintain the competitive edge are also included.4.Several other major points that are included in the Logistics Labels Market report are growth factors, limiting factors, challenges that are faced, new upcoming opportunities, the technological advancements, and much more.5.On the basis of the estimations of the global market, the recommendations and the observations are included in the business segments.The report provides a thorough assessment of the market entailing key strategies, technologies, market drivers, challenges, deployment models, standardization, opportunities, regulatory landscape, operator case studies, future roadmap, value chain, and ecosystem player profiles. Additionally, the report offers an abstract about the dynamics of the market, by evaluating numerous aspects such as investment scenario, value chain, drivers, customer acceptance, and restraints.The Logistics Labels report covers the precisely studied and evaluated data of the global market players and their scope in the market using a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such as investment return analysis, SWOT analysis and feasibility study are used to analyze the key global market players growth in the Teeth Whitening Kits industry. The report is also useful for the governments, commercials, manufacturers, residential & industrial consumers and other stakeholders to propose their market-centric strategies in proportion to the estimated and enduring trends in the market.Enquiry Before Buying @MRS Research Group is the worlds giant collection of the Market research Reports. Where we specialized in global publisher, tailor made reports and specialists consulting. Global Publisher provides in-depth analysis of global and Chinese market. Tailor-made reports represent methodologies deliverable to proper insight of the client. While, expertise research specialist helps to provide strategic solution in specialists consulting.3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138
Sexual Wellness Market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 9.47% to 2021

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"The Report Sexual Wellness Market in the US 2017-2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Sexual WellnessSexual wellness widely refers to wellbeing related to sexuality. Products that enhance sexual health and experience include condoms, sensual lingerie, lubricants, sex toys, contraceptives, costumes, and enhancement supplements. These products enhance pleasure during intimacy. They are entering the mainstream media, and the market is getting bigger every year because of their growing acceptance.Technavios analysts forecast the sexual wellness market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 9.47% during the period 2017-2021 .Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the sexual wellness market in the US for 2017-2021 . To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of sexual wellness products in the market.Technavio's report, Sexual Wellness Market in the US 2017-2021 , has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsAnsellChurch & DwightReckitt BenckiserDoc JohnsonOther prominent vendorsAdam & EveAnn SummersBioFilm IP LLCBijoux IndiscretsCalexotica novelties (California Exotic)CayaDame ProductsEsculptaEVOLVED NOVELTIESFuji LatexGood Clean LoveGLYDE AMERICAIntimate EarthJimmyjaneLELOLuvu Brand (Liberator )LovenseLovehoneyLeading Edge HealthLovelife ToysPjurPure RomanceSagami Rubber IndustriesTENGATrigg LaboratoriesVeru (The Female Health Company)The Yes Yes CompanyRequest For Toc @Market driverGrowing LGBT population in countryFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeIncrease in side effectsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendEmerging technological advancesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?View Report @Table of ContentsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: INTRODUCTIONMarket outlinePART 05: MARKET LANDSCAPEMarket size and forecastFive forces analysisPART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY PRODUCTMarket overviewSex toys market in USCondoms and female contraceptives market in USPersonal lubricants market in USErotic lingerie market in USOther sexual wellness products in USPART 07: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY DISTRIBUTIONMarket overviewSexual wellness market in US by retail and specialty storesSexual wellness market in US by online storesPART 08: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 09: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGESAbout Us:MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketaState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Game Headphone 2018 Global Key Players  HyperX, Sennheiser, ASTRO, SteelSeries, Creative Sound, Logitech Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

Game Headphone Market

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Game Headphone Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Game Headphone  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:This report studies Game Headphone in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringHyperXSennheiserASTROSteelSeriesCreative SoundLogitechSenteyRazerPhilipsBeyerdynamicAudio TechnicaRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoWiredWirelessBy Application, the market can be split intoGame eventsAmateur playersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Game Headphone Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Game Headphone1.1 Definition and Specifications of Game Headphone1.1.1 Definition of Game Headphone1.1.2 Specifications of Game Headphone1.2 Classification of Game Headphone1.2.1 Wired1.2.2 Wireless1.3 Applications of Game Headphone1.3.1 Game events1.3.2 Amateur players1.3.3 Application 31.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Game Headphone2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Game Headphone2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Game Headphone2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Game Headphone8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Game Headphone8.1 HyperX8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 HyperX 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 HyperX 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 Sennheiser8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 Sennheiser 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 Sennheiser 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 ASTRO8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 ASTRO 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 ASTRO 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 SteelSeries8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 SteelSeries 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 SteelSeries 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 Creative Sound8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 Creative Sound 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 Creative Sound 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Logitech8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Logitech 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Logitech 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 Sentey8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 Sentey 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 Sentey 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 Razer8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 Razer 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 Razer 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 Philips8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 Philips 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 Philips 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 Beyerdynamic8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 Beyerdynamic 2016 Game Headphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 Beyerdynamic 2016 Game Headphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.11 Audio TechnicaContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Global Missile Defense Systems Market to Cross US$ 382 Billion By 2023

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Florida, January 17, 2018: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Missile Defense Systems Market By Product (Surface-To-Air Missiles, Surface-To-Surface Missiles, Air-To-Surface Missiles, Air-To-Air Missiles, Anti-Tank Missiles, Anti-Ship Missiles) and by Regional Analysis - Global Forecast by 2017 - 2023.Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception, and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defense against nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), its application has broadened to include shorter-ranged non-nuclear tactical and theater missiles.The Global missile defense systems Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 382 Billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 40% in the given forecast period.The major driving factors of Global Missile Defense Systems Market are as follows: Increasing threat of radical institutions (both state and non-state) with access to weapons of mass destructionBrowse Full Report Here:The Global missile defense systems Market is segmented on the lines of its product and regional. Based on product segmentation it covers Surface-To-Air Missiles, Surface-To-Surface missiles, Air-To-Surface Missiles, Air-To-Air Missiles, Anti-Tank Missiles and Anti-Ship Missiles. Based on Others Global missile defense systems Market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Global Missile Defense Systems Market and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, estimates for 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for missile defense systems Market for Global missile defense systems Market.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.Report Scope:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of Global Missile Defense Systems Market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Raytheon, MBDA, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Kongsberg Defense Systems, Saab, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Orbital ATK, Rheinmetall Defense, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.Request Sample Report:The Global Missile Defense Systems Market has been segmented as below:By Product: Surface-To-Air Missiles Surface-To-Surface Missiles Air-To-Surface Missiles Air-To-Air Missiles Anti-Tank Missiles Anti-Ship MissilesBy Regional Analysis: North America Europe Asia-Pacific Rest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all Global Missile Defense Systems Market.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Global Missile Defense Systems Market Data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Global Construction Aggregate Market - Explore Market trends, analysis, forecasts, Overview, market development by 2021

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The Analysis presents the study of Worldwide Construction Aggregate Market facilitating the regional and country wise analysis covering the strategic analysis of each market player and the market share they holdMarket ScenarioThe global construction aggregate market is driven by the growth in construction and infrastructure industry along with increased investment. The Construction Aggregate market is applications driven and is highly dependent on the residential, commercial and infrastructure development. With the rising industrialization, the need for construction material has widened the scope of construction aggregate market. Furthermore, the rising investments in building and construction industries in emerging countries have stimulated the demand for construction aggregate in a big way.SegmentsGlobal construction aggregate market is segmented on the basis of Material, Application, and Region. On the basis of material it is segmented as crushed stone, gravel, sand, and others. On the basis of application it is segmented as commercial, residential, industrial, infrastructure, and others. Additionally on the basis of region, it is segmented as North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Regional Analysis of Global Construction Aggregate MarketAPAC dominates the global construction aggregate market with its fast growing market worldwide. The region is expected to show rapid infrastructural growth. With lot of investments in the regions of China and India, the construction sector is growing. The inflow of foreign investment in India further augments the market for Construction Aggregate.Request a sample @Key PlayersThe key players of Global Construction Aggregate Market report include- Aalborg Portland A/S, CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., Heidelberg cement AG, Anglo American PLC, Boral Limited, Martin Marietta Materials Inc., LSR Group, Lafarge Holcim Ltd, Asamer Baustoffe AG, Vulcan Materials Company, CRH PLC and Eurocement Holding AG.Global Construction Aggregate Market - Competitive AnalysisCharacterized by the presence of several well-established along with medium and small players, the global market of construction aggregate appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. Smaller players at country level are seen expanding their footprint in the market and are competition well with the global players, especially in terms of features such as product differentiation, product portfolios, quality, and pricing. The market is witnessing intensified competition which is expected to get more intensified further during the forecast period.In 2017, construction materials group SigmaRoc has agreed a deal to acquire Poundfield Products for USD 11.6 million. Ipswich-based Poundfield specialises in making concrete retaining walls, including its patented Alfastop, Alfabloc, Betaloc and Taperbloc systems.Mick George has landed a USD 18.1 million contract for the exclusive supply of concrete for the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme. Mick George will supply 300,000m3 of concrete over three-and-a-half years from two dedicated on-site plants. These have been established at Brampton and Ermine Street, with further supplies sourced from Mick Georges existing local facilities.The UKs leading retirement housebuilder; McCarthy & Stones specialist area is apartments for the elderly, where they offer independent living with a plethora of on-site support services. Charcon Construction Solutions, Aggregates precast concrete products division, has been involved in 24 of its developments this year of 2017, supplying and installing products, with many more scheduled for next year.Browse report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Ripeness Indicator Labels Market Report  Actionable Insights and Recommendation 2017-2027

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Global ripeness indicator labels: Market IntroductionIncreasing traction for intelligent label solutions among food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and electrical & electronics sectors, enables the manufacturers to focus on product development and technological advancement. Due to lack of cold chain facilities for fresh produce, massive amount of food is getting wasted globally. Therefore, ripeness indicators labels provide a better solution to mitigate this problem. Ripeness indicator labels respond to the aroma released from the fruits as they ripen, giving consumers a convenient solution to determine the shelf life of the product. Ripeness indicator labels change colour to indicate the ripeness of fruit it contains. Moreover, ripeness indicator labelling packaging solution is expected to ring significant efficiencies to the fresh produce industry by reducing the wastage. The ripeness indicator labels change colour according to how fast the fruit ripens, changing the labels through a range of colours. Ripeness indicator labels offer a convenient solution to match the colour of the label according to eating preferences.Global ripeness indicator labels: Market DynamicsWith global labels market worth over 40 Bn and anticipated to expand at a CAGR of over 5%, the demand for smart labels tends to drive the market share of ripeness indicator labels. Ripeness indicator labels market is growing on the backdrop of the food industry. The key factor driving the market share of ripeness indicator labels market is the consumer preference towards sustainable packaging solution as ripeness indicator labels are recyclable. Ripeness indicator labels offer a convenient solution to consumers as consumers can choose and consume fruits according to their eating preferences. Furthermore, ripeness indicator labels help in wastage reduction as the colour of the products indicates the ripeness of the product and the product can be timely consumed.Request For Report Sample:Moreover, ripeness indicator labels offer an efficient packaging solution to the fresh produce industry, reducing wastage and eliminating the old selling process of loose, unripe products into bins, where the product is bruised or squeezed to determine the ripeness. Ripeness indicator labels help consumers in determining the shelf life of the product thus accentuating the market share of ripeness indicator labels. Growing number of supermarkets, retail outlets, etc. propelling the market share of ripeness indicator labels. Also, the trend of shifting from unorganized sector to organized sector will increase market demand for ripeness indicator labels.Despite the favourable conditions for the growth of ripeness indicator labels market, there are certain factors that hinder the growth, such as the use of plastic in manufacturing ripeness indicator labels.Global ripeness indicator labels: Market SegmentationRipeness indicators market is segmented on the basis of material type, thickness, printing technology type and region.On the basis of material type, ripeness indicator labels market can be segmented intoPaperPlasticPolypropylene (PP)Polyethylene (PE)Polyvinyl (PVC)PETOthersOn the basis of thickness, ripeness indicators labels market can be segmented intoLess than 40 microns40 to 100 microns100-150 micronsAbove 150 micronsOn the basis of printing technology type, ripeness indicator labels market can be segmented intoDigital printingFlexographic printingOffset printingOthersGlobal ripeness indicator labels: Regional OutlookRipeness indicator labels market has been segmented on the basis of the region into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America. North America is expected to dominate the overall market share throughout the forecast period due to an increased number of supermarkets and retail outlets in the region. APAC region is anticipated to represent the high growth opportunity owing to the availability of low cost of raw materials in the region. The European region is expected to register significant market share over the forecast period due to increasing shipping and logistics sector in the region during the forecast period.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global ripeness indicator labels: Key PlayersRipeSense is the world's first intelligent ripeness indicator label, developed in New Zealand by Jenkins Group, in partnership with HortResearch. However, the ripeness indicator labels provides manufacturers to gain lucrative market opportunity during the forecast period.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Anti-Static Liners Market: Challenges and Opportunities Report 2017-2027

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Anti-Static Liners market: IntroductionAnti-Static Liners are used to protect electrostatic discharge prone devices from damage. The electrostatic discharge is generated due to the contact between two electrically charged objects. The electrical and electronic devices such as semiconductors, PCBs, etc. are packed in the ESD liner to avoid any damage caused due to electrostatic discharge. The Anti-Static liners do not fully eliminate the static charges but however, assist in dissipating charges from the surface of the product. The Anti-Static liners are used for the variety of the applications including bulk packaging of the chemicals, paints, inks, sealant, adhesives, electrical & electronic components, etc. Also in the chemical industry, sometimes the granular and powder materials can cause electrostatic discharge and may lead to ignition and explosion of the flammable liquids and gases. Anti-Static Liners play an important role in avoiding these type of explosion during handling and shipping. Anti-Static liners can be made up of the variety of polymeric materials blended with some conductive and dissipative additives such as carbon black and others. The Anti-Static Liners enhances the protection of the product with its extraordinary features. There are no alternative packaging solution which could overcome the benefits of the Anti-Static Liners.Anti-Static Liners: Market DynamicsAnti-Static Liners market has witnessed strong noticeable growth in the past few years due to the increasing demand for the electrostatic discharge protection products. The Anti-Static liner is an ideal packaging solution for the protection of such type of products from damage. The companies involved in the production of anti-static liners are busy in innovating their existing products to make this product compatible for large number of applications. However, it is already widely used packaging for the electrical and electronics components such as semiconductors, PCBs, etc. The main restraint which could hamper the demand of the Anti-Static liners is the bad quality of the product which is being manufactured by hundreds of unorganized players due to highly fragmented market. Other restraints include the high cost of the additives used for the production of the Anti-Static Liners. Some of the brand owners are not aware of this packaging solution for the electrostatic discharge protection of their products. However, recent study showcase that the more and more manufacturers are becoming aware and using this packaging solution to save hundreds and thousands of dollars during the shipping and handling process. Due to rising awareness and high demand for the discharge protection packaging, there are lots of opportunities for the new entrants in the anti-static liners market.Request For Report Sample:Anti-Static Liners: Market SegmentationAnti-Static Liners market is segmented as follows-Anti-Static Liners market segmentation by product typeRigidFlexibleAnti-Static Liners market segmentation by end use Electrical & ElectronicsChemicalAutomotiveAerospaceOthersAnti-Static Liners Market: Regional outlookGeographically, the global Anti-Static Liners market is segmented across following regions- North America, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The penetration of the Anti-Static liners are prominent in the developed regions such as North America, Europe, and Japan. Most of the companies are aware of protective packaging and are using anti-static packaging solutions for their brand products. Also, the high penetration of the production of the electrical & electronics components in these regions drives the market. However, the demand for anti-static liners is increasing substantially in the Asia-pacific and Latin America region due to increasing usage of electrostatic discharge prone products such as semiconductors, PCBs, etc. This is primarily due to the high usage of electrical & electronics devices in these regions. The MEA region also offers untapped growth potential in the anti-static liner market in the coming years.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Anti-Static Liners Market: Key playersSome of the key players in the global Anti-Static Liners market are International Plastics Inc., Desco Industries, Inc., Berlin Packaging L.L.C., Air Sea Containers Ltd., CDF Corporation, Lormac Group, Nittel GmbH & Co KG, Static Solutions, Inc., etc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Optic Neuritis Treatment Market Shares, Strategies and Forecast Worldwide, 2017 - 2025

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Demyelinating inflammation of optic nerve is referred as optic neuritis. It is also commonly termed as optic papillitis and retro tubular neuritis. In most cases, optic neuritis is found to be associated with multiple sclerosis and can lead to partial or complete vision loss. Other diseases likely to be diagnosed along with optic neuritis in early stages include hyperkalemia and diabetes mellitus. Major symptoms associated with optic neuritis are partial or complete vision loss, blurred vision, pain in eyes, etc. In several cases, primary symptoms of optic neuritis include photophobia, reduced night vision, and eye redness. Adult optic neuritis and pediatric optic neuritis are two types based on age group of patients diagnosed with optic neuritis.The optic nerve consists of axons arising from retina and transmitting visual information to visual nuclei. Inflammation of this optic nerve causes improper functioning and can lead to vision loss because of destruction of myelin sheath attached to optic nerve. 40% to 50% patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) develop optic neuritis and around 30% optic neuritis patients show symptoms of multiple sclerosis. A recent article published in the Journal of Neurology stated that the annual incidence of optic neuritis in the U.S. is found to be around 5/1,000,000, with estimated prevalence 115/1,000,000.Download Report Brochure @Growing awareness about early detection of optic neuritis associated with multiple sclerosis and availability of affordable treatment options are expected to drive the global optic neuritis treatment market during the forecast period. Increase in geriatric population, rise in multiple sclerosis patient pool, growing awareness and affordable prices are the major factors propelling the market. Side effects of optic neuritis treatment drugs and growth of the generic drugs market are likely to restrain the global optic neuritis treatment market during the forecast period. Availability of reimbursement and well-established health care infrastructure are other factors expected to augment the market during the forecast period.The global optic neuritis treatment market can be segmented based on type of therapy, distribution channel, and region. In terms of type of therapy, the market can be categorized into steroidal therapy, supplementary therapy, and immunomodulators therapy. Steroidal therapy includes cortecostreoidal drugs, which have proven efficacy for decades. Steroidal therapy is projected to hold major market share due to proven efficacy and easy availability. Supplementary therapy includes vitamin supplementation therapy with vitamin B12 and is considered to be adjacent therapy in the treatment of optic neuritis. Immunomodulators therapy involves disease modifying agents such as interferons beta1a and beta1b which are beneficial in optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis.Based on distribution channel, the global optic neuritis treatment market can be divided into hospitals, ophthalmic clinics, and ambulatory surgical centers. The hospitals segment captured a major market share and is likely to sustain its leadership position during the forecast period. A large population prefers visiting hospitals first rather than ophthalmic clinics for treatment as the cost of therapy at hospitals is lower. Ambulatory surgical centers is the less preferred option for the treatment of optic neuritis.Geographically, the global optic neuritis treatment market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America projected to be the largest market during the forecast period. The region is anticipated to continue to dominate the market during the forecast period due to increase in the geriatric population, growing awareness among the population regarding MS and optical neuritis, and well-established health care infrastructure.Europe is expected to be the next dominant region during the forecast period due to increase in volume sales of steroidal therapeutics especially corticosteroids and upcoming new launches of combined medication products. The market in Asia Pacific is likely to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. The market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is projected to expand at a sluggish CAGR during the forecast period. Increased focus by federal governments on enhancing health care facilities and rising awareness among the population are the factors contributing to the growth of the market in these regions.Pre-Book Full Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. 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Gas Transmitters 2018 Global Key Players 3M (USA), Adev (Italy), ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany), Analytical Technology (USA) Market Analysis And Forecast To 2023

Gas Transmitters Market

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Gas Transmitters Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Gas Transmitters  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2023 To Its Research Database.Description:This report mainly introduces volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Gas Transmitters industry.This report splits Gas Transmitters market by Gas Types, by Technology, which covers the history data information from 2013 to 2017 and forecast from 2018 to 2023.This report focuses Global market, it covers details as following:Major Companies3M (USA)Adev (Italy)ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany)Analytical Technology (USA)Critical Environment Technologies (Canada)Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA)Digitron Italia (Italy)Drager Safety (USA)E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria)Emerson Automation Solutions (USA)Endee Engineers Pvt.LTd (India)EYC-TECH CO., LTD. (China Taiwan)GE Measurement & Control (USA)General Monitors (USA)GfG (UK)HK Instruments (Finland)Honeywell analytics (USA)Hubei Cubic-Ruiyi Instrument CO., LTD (China)Leopold Siegrist (Germany)Mil-Ram Technology (USA)MSR-Electronic GmbH (Germany)SCOTT SAFETY EMEA (UK)Seitron SpA (Italy)Sensors Europe (Germany)Southland Sensing (USA)Teledyne Analytical Instruments (USA)Tongdy Control Technology (China)WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG (Germany)Wuhan Cubic Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (China)Request for Sample Report@Main RegionsNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaLatin AmericaMexicoBrazilArgentinaOthersEuropeGermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainRussiaNetherlandOthersAsia & PacificChinaJapanIndiaKoreaAustraliaSoutheast AsiaIndonesiaThailandPhilippinesVietnamSingaporeMalaysiaOthersAfrica & Middle EastSouth AfricaEgyptTurkeySaudi ArabiaIranOthersMain Product TypeGas Transmitters Market, by Gas TypesCarbon DioxideToxicOxygenFuelOther (Carbon Monoxide, Methane, Multigas)Gas Transmitters Market, by TechnologyElectrochemicalInfraredCatalyticMOSOther (Diffusion, Ionization)Main ApplicationsEnvironmental MeasurementsAmbient AirVolatile Organic CompoundAutomotive IndustryOthersEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Gas Transmitters Detailed Analysis Report 2018-2023Chapter One Gas Transmitters Market Overview1.1 Global Gas Transmitters Market Sales Volume Revenue and Price 2013-20231.2 Gas Transmitters, by Gas Types 2013-20231.2.1 Global Gas Transmitters Sales Market Share by Gas Types 2013-20231.2.2 Global Gas Transmitters Revenue Market Share by Gas Types 2013-20231.2.3 Global Gas Transmitters Price by Gas Types 2013-20231.2.4 Carbon Dioxide1.2.5 Toxic1.2.6 Oxygen1.2.7 Fuel1.2.8 Other (Carbon Monoxide, Methane, Multigas)1.3 Gas Transmitters, by Technology 2013-20231.3.1 Global Gas Transmitters Sales Market Share by Technology 2013-20231.3.2 Global Gas Transmitters Revenue Market Share by Technology 2013-20231.3.3 Global Gas Transmitters Price by Technology 2013-20231.3.4 Electrochemical1.3.5 Infrared1.3.6 Catalytic1.3.7 MOS1.3.8 Other (Diffusion, Ionization)Chapter Three Gas Transmitters by Players 2013-20183.1 Global Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Market Share by Players 2013-20183.2 Global Gas Transmitters Revenue Share by Players 2013-20183.3 Global Top Players Gas Transmitters Key Product Model and Market Performance3.4 Global Top Players Gas Transmitters Key Target Consumers and Market PerformanceChapter Five Global Top Players Profile5.1 3M (USA)5.1.1 3M (USA) Company Details and Competitors5.1.2 3M (USA) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.1.3 3M (USA) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.1.4 3M (USA) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.2 Adev (Italy)5.2.1 Adev (Italy) Company Details and Competitors5.2.2 Adev (Italy) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.2.3 Adev (Italy) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.2.4 Adev (Italy) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.3 ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany)5.3.1 ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany) Company Details and Competitors5.3.2 ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.3.3 ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.3.4 ADOS GmbH, Mess- und Regeltechnik (Germany) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.4 Analytical Technology (USA)5.4.1 Analytical Technology (USA) Company Details and Competitors5.4.2 Analytical Technology (USA) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.4.3 Analytical Technology (USA) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.4.4 Analytical Technology (USA) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.5 Critical Environment Technologies (Canada)5.5.1 Critical Environment Technologies (Canada) Company Details and Competitors5.5.2 Critical Environment Technologies (Canada) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.5.3 Critical Environment Technologies (Canada) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.5.4 Critical Environment Technologies (Canada) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.6 Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA)5.6.1 Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA) Company Details and Competitors5.6.2 Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.6.3 Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.6.4 Detector Electronics Corp. (Det-Tronics) (USA) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.7 Digitron Italia (Italy)5.7.1 Digitron Italia (Italy) Company Details and Competitors5.7.2 Digitron Italia (Italy) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.7.3 Digitron Italia (Italy) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.7.4 Digitron Italia (Italy) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.8 Drager Safety (USA)5.8.1 Drager Safety (USA) Company Details and Competitors5.8.2 Drager Safety (USA) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.8.3 Drager Safety (USA) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.8.4 Drager Safety (USA) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.9 E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria)5.9.1 E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria) Company Details and Competitors5.9.2 E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.9.3 E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.9.4 E+E ELEKTRONIK (Austria) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.10 Emerson Automation Solutions (USA)5.10.1 Emerson Automation Solutions (USA) Company Details and Competitors5.10.2 Emerson Automation Solutions (USA) Key Gas Transmitters Models and Performance5.10.3 Emerson Automation Solutions (USA) Gas Transmitters Business SWOT Analysis and Forecast5.10.4 Emerson Automation Solutions (USA) Gas Transmitters Sales Volume Revenue Price Cost and Gross Margin5.11 Endee Engineers Pvt.LTd (India)5.12 EYC-TECH CO., LTD. (China Taiwan)5.13 GE Measurement & Control (USA)5.14 General Monitors (USA)5.15 GfG (UK)5.16 HK Instruments (Finland)5.17 Honeywell analytics (USA)5.18 Hubei Cubic-Ruiyi Instrument CO., LTD (China)5.19 Leopold Siegrist (Germany)5.20 Mil-Ram Technology (USA)5.21 MSR-Electronic GmbH (Germany)5.22 SCOTT SAFETY EMEA (UK)5.23 Seitron SpA (Italy)5.24 Sensors Europe (Germany)5.25 Southland Sensing (USA)5.26 Teledyne Analytical Instruments (USA)5.27 Tongdy Control Technology (China)5.28 WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG (Germany)5.29 Wuhan Cubic Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (China)Continued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. 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New Trends of Coagulometers Market with Worldwide Industry Analysis to 2025

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Coagulation is a process wherein certain proteins and blood cells together create a gel-like clot to stop bleeding from a damaged or leaking blood vessel. Coagulometer is a device that is used to evaluate the efficiency of blood factors to form a clot. Coagulometers are widely used across the globe to diagnose hemophilia and other genetic hematological diseases. They are also used to monitor the progression of treatment with anti-coagulants in affected patients. These devices detect the time taken for coagulation in an ambient environment. Before the introduction of semi-automated and automated coagulation analyzers, these tests were performed manually. They involved high cost, skilled labor, and high probability of errors.There has been rise in the incidence and prevalence of blood disorders such as hemophilia for the last few years. According to Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in the U.S., around 400 newborn babies are estimated to have hemophilia every year. According to National Hemophilia Foundation of the U.S., around 400,000 people across the globe are estimated to be living with hemophilia. Another bleeding disorder called von Willebrand disease is estimated to have prevalence of 1% among general population.Download Report Brochure @This high prevalence of blood disorders is estimated to drive the demand for more diagnostic tools. This, in turn, is likely to fuel the global coagulometers market during the forecast period. Moreover, there is rising consumption of anti-coagulant drugs such as aspirin and heparin, coagulometers are used to monitor the treatment progress in those patients. This factor is likely to propel the coagulometers market from 2017 to 2025. However, high cost of these devices diverts potential users toward manual coagulation testing, which is projected to restrain the global coagulometers market during the forecast period.The global coagulometers market can be segmented based on product type, technology, channel type, aesthetics, end-user, and region. In terms of product type, the market can be divided into automated and semi-automated coagulometers. Based on technology, the market can be divided into mechanical detection, photo-optical detection, electrochemical detection, and others. Most of the automated coagulometers work on the principle of photo-optical or electrochemical detection. This is estimated to result in a significant share held by these segments.The others segment includes combination of the above-mentioned technologies and other innovative methods. Based on channel type, the market can be segregated into single-channel, double-channel, and multichannel coagulometers. Multichannel coagulometers are widely used in diagnostic laboratories and hospitals, which is projected to result in a prominent share held by the multichannel coagulometers segment in the global coagulometers market.Based on aesthetics, the global coagulometers market can be segmented into portable and bench-top models. Based on end-user, the market can be divided into hospitals & diagnostic laboratories, home care settings, and research institutes. The hospitals & diagnostic laboratories segment is projected to account for a major share of the global coagulometers market from 2017 to 2025.Geographically, the global coagulometers market has been divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is likely to hold a major share of the global market during the forecast period, owing to high adoption of technology and high expenditure on health care by public and private sectors in the region.Europe is anticipated to account for a significant share of the global market during the forecast period, due to high prevalence of blood disorders in the region. Local governing bodies in Asia Pacific are investing in the development of health care facilities and academic research institutes in the region, which is projected to propel the market in the region during the forecast period.Pre-Book Full Report @Major players operating in the global coagulometers market are HORIBA, Ltd., Abbott, Tridema Engineering S.r.L., Erba Group, ratiolab, Maccura Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Bioline Technologies, SYCOmed e.K., Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Zymed, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., and Rayto Life & Analytical Sciences Co., Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
WiFi Smart Lock Market Is Flourishing Worldwide

WiFi Smart Lock Market

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HTF MI presents an in-depth assessment of current WiFi Smart Lock key market drivers, market size and trends and Global WiFi Smart Lock opportunities, challenges, and restraints as well as key market segments, technological updates, impact of any regulatory policies as well as key market segments. The research study provides forecasts for WiFi Smart Lock investments till 2022.If you are involved in the WiFi Smart Lock industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. Its vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Application, Type and major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Get free access to sample pages @The Study is segmented by following Product Type: Deadbolts, Lever Handles, Padlocks & OthersMajor applications/end-users industry are as follows: Commercial, Residential, Institution & Government & IndustrialGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions such as North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Global WiFi Smart Lock in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Major companies covered in the report are ASSA ABLOY (Sweden), Allegion (Ireland), Dorma+Kaba (Switzerland), Spectrum Brands (US), Salto Systems (Spain), Onity (US), Cansec Systems (Canada) & Master Lock (US)This study also contains company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of various international, regional, and local vendors of Global WiFi Smart Lock Market. The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Key questions answered in this report - Global WiFi Smart Lock Market Professional Survey Report 2018What will be the market size and the growth rate in 2022?What are the key factors driving the Global WiFi Smart Lock market?Who are the key market players and what are their strategies in the Global WiFi Smart Lock market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global WiFi Smart Lock market?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global WiFi Smart Lock market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the WiFi Smart Lock market?New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis?Buy this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global WiFi Smart Lock market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of WiFi Smart Lock, Applications of WiFi Smart Lock, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of WiFi Smart Lock, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India, WiFi Smart Lock Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the WiFi Smart Lock Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of WiFi Smart Lock;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Deadbolts, Lever Handles, Padlocks & Others], Market Trend by Application [Commercial, Residential, Institution & Government & Industrial];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of WiFi Smart Lock;Chapter 12, to describe WiFi Smart Lock Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe WiFi Smart Lock sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire for customization in Report @Check for discount @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218
Antihyperlipidemic Drugs Market to make Great Impact in near Future by 2025

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Hyperlipidemia, also called hyperlipoproteinemia, is a lipid disorder caused due to the increase in levels of lipids (fats) in the bloodstream. It is caused due to improper lipid metabolism or a disorder in the synthesis and degradation of plasma lipoproteins or plasma lipid transport. Hyperlipidemia means abnormally high levels of lipids (fats) in the blood. These lipids include cholesterol and triglycerides. The primary biological function of these lipids is the storage of energy.However, abnormal lipid metabolism results into metabolic syndrome such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Deposition of fats and cholesterol along the walls of the arteries leads to atherosclerosis. Furthermore, high levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), low density lipoproteins (LDL), and decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL) are major risk factors for chronic degenerative disease and coronary heart diseases.Download Report Brochure @Antihyperlipidemic drugs or agents help reduce lipid levels in the blood. A few antihyperlipidemic agents reduce triglyceride levels, some help reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and some help raise the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Primary and secondary symptoms of coronary heart disease are prevented by reducing the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Antihyperlipidemic agents function in a number of ways such as they inhibit cholesterol absorption in the intestine and also prevent cholesterol synthesis. Moreover, they sequester bile acids in the intestine and alter relative levels and patterns of different plasma lipoproteins.The global antihyperlipidemic drugs market is anticipated to expand during the forecast period due to the increase in hyperlipidemia cases. The primary cause of hyperlipidemia is lifestyle habits or medical conditions. Obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise are lifestyle habits that are expected to lead to hyperlipidemia. Medical conditions that are likley to result in hyperlipidemia are kidney disease, diabetes, pregnancy, etc. The global antihyperlipidemic drugs market is expected to expand due to the increase in the elderly population and incidence of cardiovascular diseases.According to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) there are more than 11 million new cases of cardiovascular diseases in Europe and more than six million new cases in the European Union. Moreover, according to the report by faculties of the Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, by 2020, cardiovascular diseases are expected to account for seven out of every 10 deaths in developing countries.The global antihyperlipidemic drugs market can be segmented based on class, distribution, channels, and region. Based on class, the global antihyperlipidemic drugs market can be segregated into bile acid sequesters, cholesterol absorption inhibitors, fibrates (fibric acid derivatives), miscellaneous antihyperlipidemic agents, PCSK9 inhibitors, and statins. These classes of antihyperlipidemic drugs differ in their mechanism of action and also in the type of lipid reduction and the magnitude of the reduction. Statins are the most common group of antihyperlipidemic drugs, which function in lowering the cholesterol levels by interrupting the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway.The fibrate class of antihyperlipidemic drugs decrease fatty acid and triglyceride levels by stimulating the peroxisomal b-oxidation pathway. Based on distribution channel, the global antihyperlipidemic drugs market can be segmented into hospital pharmacies, retail stores, and online retailers. The hospital pharmacies segment accounts for a prominent share of the global antihyperlipidemic drugs market.In terms of geography, the market is segmented into Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, North America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the antihyperlipidemic drugs market in terms of revenue and is anticipated to dominate during the forecast period. Rising prevalence of vascular diseases and number of amputations in the region are likely to augment the antihyperlipidemic drugs market in North America. Expansion of the market in North America can also be attributed to substantial investments in R&D and healthcare expenditure by governments and private players operating in the field of prosthetics in the region.Europe follows North America in terms of share of the global antihyperlipidemic drugs market. This is due to compulsory medical insurance in countries such as Germany and France, high disposable income and high research and development activities in the healthcare sector of the region. The market in Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa is anticipated to expand at a significant growth rate during the forecast period.Pre-Book Full Report @Key players operating in the global antihyperlipidemic drugs market are AstraZeneca plc, Grifols S.A., Pfizer, Inc.,Shire Plc, Biotest AG, Octapharma AG, Kedrion S.p.A., Baxalta Incorporated and Talecris Biotherapeutics, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global E-cigarette Market Key Players: Blu eCigs, Njoy, V2, International Vaporgroup, Vaporcorp, Truvape, ProVape, Cigr8,.

E-cigarette Market

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E-cigarette Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds E-cigarette Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of E-cigarette in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanGlobal E-cigarette market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBlu eCigsNjoyV2International VaporgroupVaporcorpTruvapeProVapeCigr8KiKHangsenFirstUnionShenzhen Jieshibo TechnologyInnokinKimreeOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCigalikeseGosModsOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingMaleFemaleIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global E-cigarette Market Research Report 20181 E-cigarette Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of E-cigarette1.2 E-cigarette Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global E-cigarette Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global E-cigarette Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Cigalikes1.2.4 eGos1.2.5 Mods1.3 Global E-cigarette Segment by Application1.3.1 E-cigarette Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Male1.3.3 Female1.4 Global E-cigarette Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global E-cigarette Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 EU Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 South Korea Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of E-cigarette (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global E-cigarette Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global E-cigarette Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global E-cigarette Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global E-cigarette Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global E-cigarette Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global E-cigarette Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global E-cigarette Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global E-cigarette Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers E-cigarette Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 E-cigarette Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 E-cigarette Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 E-cigarette Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global E-cigarette Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Blu eCigs7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Blu eCigs E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Njoy7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Njoy E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 V27.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 V2 E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 International Vaporgroup7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 International Vaporgroup E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Vaporcorp7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Vaporcorp E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Truvape7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Truvape E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 ProVape7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 ProVape E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Cigr87.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Cigr8 E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 KiK7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 KiK E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Hangsen7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 E-cigarette Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Hangsen E-cigarette Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 FirstUnion7.12 Shenzhen Jieshibo Technology7.13 Innokin7.14 KimreeContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Worldwide Analysis on Sepsis Detection Device Market Strategies and Forecasts, 2017 - 2025

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Sepsis is the destructive inflammatory response of the body to bloodstream infections which leads to organ damage & death. Sepsis is serious condition requiring early diagnosis and treatment to increase the patients chances of survival. Sepsis is categorized into 3 types such as sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock based on the severity of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) symptoms shown by the body. According to NCBI, the number of patients suffering from the ailment is steadily increasing, resulting in the need for rapid and advanced diagnostic testing. As per the Sepsis Alliance, in U.S., every year, nearly 258,000 people succumb to sepsis. Globally, there are around 18 million cases of sepsis diagnosed each year.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 180,000 sepsis-related deaths occurred in U.S., in 2014. Sepsis has a high prevalence rate among geriatric and neonatal population owing to their weak immunity. Neonatal sepsis has the highest death rate. Alarming prevalence and mortality rate is expected to boost the growth of the global sepsis detection device market during forecast period. It is difficult to diagnose sepsis from other similar non-infectious conditions in critically ill patients with similar symptoms. Therefore, the demand for rapid and accurate sepsis detection devices is expected to increase during forecast period.Download Report Brochure @Rising geriatric population, high incidence of hospital-acquired infections, growing number of surgical procedures, changing healthcare infrastructure, and increasing product approvals are factors driving the growth of the global sepsis detection device market. However, high cost of treatment and lack of skilled staff are factors impeding the market growth. Research and development activities are focused to develop sepsis detection techniques providing fast and accurate results.Emerging markets such as India and China are actively involved in the development of novel devices for the early detection of sepsis. For instance, an IIT Delhi-based researcher developed a colorimetric rapid card test with the help of using an antibiotic colistin and gold nanoparticles to detect endotoxin levels in human serum. Another, India-based diagnostic chain SRL diagnostics has developed Sepsiscreen Test to fulfil the huge unmet need for sepsis detection.The global sepsis detection device market can be segmented based on technology, product type, method, usability, pathogen type, and region. Based on technology, the market can be divided into microbiology, molecular diagnostics, immunoassays, and flow cytometry. In terms of product type, the market can be categorized into blood culture media, instruments, assay kits & reagents, and software. Based on method, the global sepsis detection market can be bifurcated into conventional diagnostics and automated diagnostics.In terms of usability, the market can be segmented into laboratory testing and point-of-care testing. Based on pathogen type, the market can be categorized into bacterial sepsis and fungal sepsis. The bacterial sepsis segment can be further bifurcated into gram-negative bacterial sepsis and gram-positive bacterial sepsis. The molecular diagnostic technique is less popular as compared to other techniques, due to higher cost. However, it is anticipated to show rapid growth during forecast period owing to changing economic conditions, increasing health care expenditure, and rising demand for fast and accurate results.Based on region, the global sepsis detection device market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is leading the market owing to the high sepsis prevalence rate in the region, adoption of advanced techniques, and the presence of a well-established healthcare infrastructure. Sepsis is the leading cause of death in North American countries such the U.S.After North America, Europe is largest sepsis detection device market due to high prevalence of the disease, which accounts to nearly 3 in 1,000 in general population and 23 in 1,000 in hospitalized patients and a high mortality rate ranging between 36,000-64,000 cases in England and Wales. Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a considerable growth rate over the forecast period, owing to increasing expenditure on research & development activities, rising geriatric population, and poor hygiene conditions in many underdeveloped regions.Pre-Book Full Report @Key players operating in the global sepsis detection device market are bioMerieux SA, T2 Biosystems, Inc., Spectral Medical, Inc., Radiometer Medical ApS, Nova Biomedical, Bruker Corporation, Cube Dx GmbH, GenMark Diagnostics, Inc., MAGNA PARVA, Cepheid, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Luminex Corporation, Nanosphere, Inc., Abbott, Roche Diagnostics, BD, and Beckman Coulter, Inc.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Lid & Bottom Box Market Intelligence and Forecast by Future Market Insights 2017-2027

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Lid & Bottom Box market: IntroductionLid & Bottom boxes are the primary packaging solution for most of the consumer goods and gifts. It is a very cost-effective and efficient packaging solution for the variety of products available in the market. The Lid and Bottom boxes contain a lid to cover the bottom box which contains product inside it. These boxes are available in hundreds of shapes and sizes to cater specific demands of the manufacturers. The box offers good handling and shipping protection to the product. Most of the companies pack their branded products in these attractive boxes to market their products. Almost 80% of the watches and shoes available in the market are packaged in the lid and bottom boxes packaging. The packaging solution is highly suitable for the packaging of these type of consumer goods. Lid & Bottom boxes are generally made of the paper and plastics material. The material offers high strength and resistance properties. The boxes are used in different industries such as automobile, personal care, food & beverages etc. for the wide range of applications. Packaging manufacturers are continuously focusing to innovate their existing products to stay competitive in the market.Lid & Bottom Box: Market DynamicsThe Lid & Bottom Boxes have noticed a noticeable growth in the past few years due to the rise in consumption levels of the consumer goods. This is primarily driven due to increase in disposable incomes of the middle-class households in the emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, etc. The companies are also focusing to opt for the cost-friendly packaging solution and offer high strength and resistance characteristics. Also, due to high competition in the market, packaging manufacturers are providing these boxes at the competitive prices. The introduction of the alternative packaging solution may hamper the growth of the bottom & lid boxes in the coming years. Also, some brand owner often face some problems in the quality of the product to safeguard their products in transit. This is primarily due to the presence of hundreds and thousands of the manufacturers who do not meet quality standards. The latest trend observed in the lid & bottom boxes market is the innovation of the existing products and the material used for manufacturing of these boxes. There are lots of opportunities available in this market for the new entrants in the emerging economies to capture market share from other competitors by offering differentiated products.Request For Report Sample:Lid & Bottom Box: Market SegmentationLid & Bottom Box market is segmented as follows-Lid & Bottom Box market segmentation by material typePaperPlasticsGlassOthersLid & Bottom Box market segmentation by end use Food & BeveragesGiftsPersonal CareHealthcareOthersLid & Bottom Box Market: Regional outlookGeographically, the global lid & bottom box market is segmented across following regions- North America, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. The penetration of the lid & bottom boxes is very high in the North America and European region due to the brand owners preferences towards more eco-friendly and cost-effective packaging solution. The consumer in these regions also get easily attracted by this type of packaging solution. The demand for lid & bottom boxes in the Asia Pacific region is increasing day by day due to increase in disposable incomes of the middle-class households. The per capita spending on these type of products has increased substantially in the last few years. The India and China region offer strong growth in the lid & bottom boxes during the forecast period. Also, the packaging solution is widely used in the Japan. The MEA and Latin America region also offer untapped growth potential in the lid & bottom boxes market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Lid & Bottom Box Market: Key playersSome of the key players in the global Lid & Bottom Box market are Pisacane srl, Essence Ecocrafts Ltd., Dongguan Fullbright Industry Co., Ltd., FABREGAS PACKAGING, S.L., Duke Packaging, China Doso Pak Co. Ltd., Tiny Box Company Ltd., Staples, Inc., HE Koch & Co.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Thermal Security Cameras Market Key players (Axis Communications, Flir Systems, A1 Security Cameras,etc.) Industry Size, Forecasts, Applications, Shares & Insights

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HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Thermal Security Cameras market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Thermal Security Cameras market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [Military & Defense, Commercial, Residential & Industrial], products type [Temperature Alarm Camera, Thermal Network Camera & others] and various important geographies like United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan].Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Thermal Security Cameras market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of Thermal Security Cameras market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Thermal Security Cameras Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global Thermal Security Cameras Market, some of them listed here are Axis Communications, FLIR Systems, A1 Security Cameras, Network Webcams, Kintronics, Bosch Security Systems, Pelco, Dahua Technology, Lorex, DRS Infrared, Honeywell Security, Ganz Security, GeoVision, Infinova, Texas Instruments, Leopard Imaging, Hikvision, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, Avigilon, Mobotix & Vivotek. The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Thermal Security Cameras (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Temperature Alarm Camera, Thermal Network Camera & others. Further the research study is segmented by Application such as Military & Defense, Commercial, Residential & Industrial with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Thermal Security Cameras in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Thermal Security Cameras market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Thermal Security Cameras, Applications of Thermal Security Cameras, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Thermal Security Cameras, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan, Thermal Security Cameras Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Thermal Security Cameras Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Thermal Security Cameras;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Temperature Alarm Camera, Thermal Network Camera & others], Market Trend by Application [Military & Defense, Commercial, Residential & Industrial];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Thermal Security Cameras;Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe Thermal Security Cameras sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire for customization in Report @What this Research Study Offers:Global Thermal Security Cameras Market share assessments for the regional and country level segmentsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersStrategic recommendations for the new entrantsMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional marketsMarket Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsCompetitive landscaping mapping the key common trendsCompany profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developmentsSupply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsBuy this research report @Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsThanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road, Edison, NJ USA - 08837sales@htfmarketreport.comPh: +1 (206) 317 1218
Printing Machines Market Poised to Register 4.1% CAGR through 2017 - 2026

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Future Market Insights exclusive study on the global printing machines market delivers a forecast on how the demand for printing machines will shape up in the years to come. According to the research study, the global market for printing machines will be worth over US$ 25 Bn by the end of the forecast period, 2017-2026. During this period, the market is poised to expand at a moderate CAGR of 4.1% as a range of factors are likely to restrain the production and sales of printing machines.One of the key restraints for the global printing machines market is the stringent environmental laws. Manufacturers of printing machines are compelled to modify their production techniques and create machines that can optimize the use of printing inks. Since these inks contain VOCs, strict environmental laws are curbing the commercialization of machines that arent able to optimize the use of printing inks. In addition, the report also projects that increasing penetration of electronic devices will lower the need for printing, and ultimately limit the demand for printing machines in the near future. Printed hoardings on streets will be replaced by digital signage, and consumers will gradually shift to print-free media. Leading manufacturers of printing machines, which are the key stakeholders in the global printing machines market, will face the brunt of the changing dynamics as such. The study reveals that companies namely, Agfa-Gevaert Group, Oce Imagistics, Inc., Bobst Group SA, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Koenig & Bauer AG, Komori Corporation, Apex Machine Company Inc., and Cerutti Group will remain active in the expansion of the global printing machines market through 2026.Request For Report Samlple@High Demand for Offset Lithography Printing MachinesA majority of key players in the global printing machines market are focusing on increasing the production of offset lithography printers. Competitive advantage of offset lithography when compared to digital printing techniques and flexography will continue to drive the demand for such machines. By the end of 2026, over US$ 12.7 Bn worth of offset lithography printing machines are expected to be sold across the globe. Digital printing machines, on the other hand, will register a CAGR of 5.4%, reflecting fastest sales during the forecast period.APEJ and North America  Leading Markets for Printing MachinesRegional analysis and forecast, developed in the study, projects that the printing machines market in North America and Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region will register impressive growth. By 2017-end, the printing machines markets in these regions are expected to be worth over US$ 4 Bn individually. North America is anticipated to record higher sales of printing machines due to booming packaging businesses in the US and Canada, while the APEJ printing machines market will be characterized by mass-scale production of printing machines at affordable costs.Request For Report Table of Contents (TOC):Global Printing Machines Market: Additional Forecast HighlightsThe report has further revealed that:In 2017, paper and paperboard will be the leading type of substrate used in printing machines. Revenues procured from sales of paper and paperboard substrates for printing machines is estimated to net over US$ 8 Bn in global revenues by the end of 2017.Packaging is expected to be the leading end-use industry for printing machines, accounting for nearly half of the global market value in 2017 and beyond.Throughout the forecast period, printing machines will be predominantly used in packaging and labelling applications.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:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Phototherapy Lamps Market to expand at a CAGR of 6.8% by 2017 - 2026

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Increasing adoption of phototherapy as a safer option for treatment of skin disorders has propelled the sales of phototherapy lamps across the globe. According to a recent research report by Future Market Insights, the global phototherapy lamps market is anticipated to expand robustly at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period. The report projects that by the end of 2026, more than US$ 4.1 Bn worth of phototherapy lamps will be sold across the globe.Regional insights from the report reveal that North America will dominate the global phototherapy lamps market in terms of revenues throughout the forecast period. The healthcare marketplace in the US and Canada has shown considerable rise in adoption of phototherapy as a safer treatment option for skin disorders. Consumer lifestyles in North America will continue to propel the incidence of common skin diseases, which will be mostly treated by the use of phototherapy lamps. In addition, robust infrastructure for adoption of phototherapy lamps has also supported the dominance of North America in the global market. The report reveals that in 2017, phototherapy lamps sold in the US and Canada will bring in nearly US$ 700 Mn in revenues.Request For Report Samlple@LED-based phototherapy lamps to register highest salesThe study reveals that LED-based phototherapy lamps are the top-selling products in the global market. Low risk of burns, cost-effective production, and easy installation will continue to drive the demand for LED-based phototherapy lamps in the foreseeable future. By the end of 2026, nearly US$ 1.6 Bn worth of revenues procured in the global phototherapy lamps market will be accounted by the LED segment. The study also reveals that the demand for UV-based phototherapy lamps will be impressive, while halogen lamps will lose traction towards the end of the forecast period.Skin care clinics to emerge as the largest end-user of phototherapy lampsThe report further reveals that hospitals will initially witness high traction in terms of end-users, but skin care clinics are projected to record the highest revenue share in the global market. By the end of 2026, phototherapy lamps used in skin care clinics is expected to bring in more than US$ 1.6 Bn revenues.Growing effectiveness of phototherapy in psoriasis treatment to drive the sales of phototherapy lampsOn the basis of their applications, phototherapy lamps will be predominantly used in the treatment of psoriasis. In 2017, phototherapy lamps sold for treatment of psoriasis across the globe are expected to bring in over half a billion dollars. Over the forecast period, the applications of phototherapy lamps in treatment of neonatal jaundice are likely to register fastest CAGR of 8.1%.Request For Report Table of Contents (TOC):Leading manufacturers of phototherapy lamps have been profiled in the report. Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric Company, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Bistos Co. Ltd., TSE SPOL. S. R. O., The Daavlin Company, Fanem Ltda., Herbert Waldmann GmbH & Co. KG, Natus Medical Incorporated, and Schulze & Bohm GmbH are expected to actively partake in the expansion of the global phototherapy lamps market through 2026.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Abhishek Bhudoliya616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Molten Salt Battery 2018 Global Key Players  LC Energy, TechCrunch Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

Molten Salt Battery Market

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Molten Salt Battery Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Molten Salt Battery  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:This report studies Molten Salt Battery in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringLC EnergyTechCrunchRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSodium SaltOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoElectronicsAutomotiveAerospaceOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaEnquiry before Buying @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Molten Salt Battery Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Molten Salt Battery1.1 Definition and Specifications of Molten Salt Battery1.1.1 Definition of Molten Salt Battery1.1.2 Specifications of Molten Salt Battery1.2 Classification of Molten Salt Battery1.2.1 Sodium Salt1.2.2 Others1.3 Applications of Molten Salt Battery1.3.1 Electronics1.3.2 Automotive1.3.3 Aerospace1.3.4 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Molten Salt Battery2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Molten Salt Battery2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Molten Salt Battery2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Molten Salt Battery8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Molten Salt Battery8.1 LC Energy8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 LC Energy 2016 Molten Salt Battery Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 LC Energy 2016 Molten Salt Battery Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 TechCrunch8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 TechCrunch 2016 Molten Salt Battery Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 TechCrunch 2016 Molten Salt Battery Business Region Distribution AnalysisContinued..Buy now @Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Biotechnology Separation Systems Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2018 To 2023

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The report is titled Global Biotechnology Separation Systems Market Research Report 2018 and hastens a boundless and centered investigate into this market. The market size is concluded through comprehensive study and examination through subordinate research. The numbers interpreted from subordinate research is converged into the research report after approval of the market data approximations through different conferences and analyses directed and gathered information from the industry and market authorities.Get Sample Copy of this Report @On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Biotechnology Separation Systems Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.This research study presents an all-inclusive evaluation of the global Biotechnology Separation Systems market taking various industry parameters, such as the capacity of production, product pricing, demand, supply, and sales dynamics, returns on investments, and the growth rate of the overall market into consideration.Know more about this Premium Report@According to the research report, the global Biotechnology Separation Systems market is witnessing a continual rise in its valuation with the advancement in technologies, which is impacting the consumer behavior and, accordingly, their purchasing patterns to a great extent. In addition to this, the increasing penetration of internet and the surge in mobile surfing are expected to boost the demand across the world, states the research report.The major growth drivers, challenges, and trends influencing the global Biotechnology Separation Systems market are inspected at length. The report also presents a thorough qualitative and quantitative data affecting to the projected impact of these factors on markets future growth prospects. A number of analysis tools such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis have been employed to provide an accurate understanding of this market. Also, the report is compiled in a way for the readers and customers to understand better.In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the Biotechnology Separation Systems 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.Table of Content:Global Biotechnology Separation Systems Market Research Report 2018-20231 Industry Overview2 Global Biotechnology Separation Systems Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles and Key Data4 Global Biotechnology Separation Systems Market Size Application (2012-2018)5 United States Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook6 EU Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook8 China Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook9 India Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Biotechnology Separation Systems Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions and Application (2018-2023)12 Biotechnology Separation Systems Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Methodology and Data Source15 Research Finding /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
North America Calcium Carbonate Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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Calcium carbonate is composed of three elements which are of particular importance for all organic and inorganic material on our planet: carbon, oxygen and calcium. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a white solid, is non-toxic and odorless. Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) is an inorganic mineral that finds extensive use as functional filler in the production of plastics, paper, and rubber. Along with talc and kaolin, the mineral is extensively used in metalloid mineral applications.To Request For a Sample Copy Of This Report, Please Visit:Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Calcium Carbonate in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversOmyaImerysMinerals TechnologiesMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited StatesCanadaMexicoMarket Segment by Type, coversGround Calcium Carbonate (GCC)Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPaperPlasticPaints & CoatingsCarpet BackingAdhesives & SealantsOtherFor Browsing the Entire Report, Please Visit:There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the North America Calcium Carbonate market.Chapter 1, to describe Calcium Carbonate Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Calcium Carbonate, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;.About Us:Global Info Reports, a market research company that renders broad analysis of global market sizing, determines the industry intelligence, wrapping markets where advancements in science and technology are persistently improving the entire standard, quality and business upkeep. We have the most copious collection of market intelligence services online. We provide market reports and update our collection frequently to offer you with immediate online access to complete enhanced database of expert insights on global industries, products, market players, companies, and latest trends.Contact us:Email- sales@globalinforeports.comFollow Us:Twitter:Facebook:Google Plus:
Air Oxygen Blender Market Trends & Opportunities with Forecast Upto 2025

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Gas blending is the procedure of precise mixing of different gases for a medical or non-medical purpose in a controlled environment. Gas mixing or blending has extensive use in industrial and research procedures, food making and storage, and medical gases. The necessity of equipment that can enable the formation of a mixture of ambient air and oxygen in an easy, safe, non-toxic and controlled fashion in critical care units is becoming increasingly important. Air/oxygen blenders, also known as mixers or oxygen proportioners are special instruments that offer a simple, reliable, and accurate method of delivering gas to the patient.Report Overview @The air-oxygen blender is used to mix oxygen with ambient air for patient treatment. Air-oxygen blenders allow clinicians to form a precise mixture of oxygen, usually 21% to 100%. A typical air-oxygen blender has one or two low-flow or one high-flow output port. Oxygen-air blenders are generally fitted out with a pressure-regulating apparatus and connectors for the main gas source and the supply of the mixed gas. The mixed gas output can then be passed through a humidifier or nebulizer and provided to patients at flow-rate of 1 L/min to more than 100 L/min using endotracheal tubes, oxygen tents, tracheostomy tubes, oxygen hoods, or masks. The blender is connected to a ventilator system, respirator, or breathing machine to supply proper air pressure into the patients lungs.The air oxygen blender market is estimated to witness high growth during the forecast period due to their growing application in emergency situations to reduce the procedure time with their use and for faster recovery of patients. The market is also driven by technological advancements, increasing incidence and prevalence of chronic illnesses, and alarming rate of trauma and accident cases worldwide. Increase in the geriatric population vulnerable to chronic illnesses is also escalating the demand for surgical procedures globally, which in turn will drive the market for air oxygen blenders.Download Report Brochure @On the basis of product type, the air oxygen blender market can be segmented into low flow air/oxygen blender and high flow air/oxygen blender. Technological advancements such as MRI compatible models are expected to boost the air oxygen blender market during the forecast period. On the basis of end-user segment, the market can be fragmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, long-term care centers, and home-care settings. However, the air oxygen blender market is expected to face some restraints during the forecast period.Lack of skilled professionals in developing countries, hidden application cost, and unstable reimbursement regulations are hampering the growth of the air oxygen blender market in developing countries. Geographically, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. North America is anticipated to be the largest market for air oxygen blenders owing to the large number of patients, increase in geriatric population, and mounting trauma cases. Asia Pacific is the most promising market due to expanding health care expenditures, boost in economic status, and large population of underserved patient pool.Pre-Book Full Report @Key players in the global air oxygen blender market include Precision Medical, Inc., Inspiration Healthcare Group plc, Maxtec, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Bio-Med Devices, nice Neotech Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd., Ohio Medical, Sechrist, and Weyer GmbH.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Epoxy Paint Market 2018 Competitive Strategies, Outlook and Forecast To 2023

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Market Research Explore Analysis Report studies ultimate Global Epoxy Paint Market diligence trends, amplification aspects, market gains and Epoxy Paint diligence outline during the projection period (2018-2023). The fundamental overview of Epoxy Paint diligence, key market segments, product description, Epoxy Paint applications are presented in this report. The objective of report is to define, segment, and project the market on the basis of product type, application, and region, and to describe the content about the factors influencing market dynamics, policy, economic, technology and market entry etc. The past data pertaining to Epoxy Paint diligence along with present and projection market outline will drive useful business decisions.Get Free Sample Within One Click:Global Epoxy Paint Market Report includes top Epoxy Paint manufacturers along with their company profile, Epoxy Paint boost aspects, opportunities and threats to the market amplification. Global Epoxy Paint report lists the details related to demand and supply, consumption ratio, sales margin, production capacity, cost analysis and factors affecting the boost of Epoxy Paint. This report presents the Epoxy Paint diligence analysis from 2018 and then provides projection details til 2018-2023.Import/export outline, market share is covered in this report.Why Purchase the Global Epoxy Paint Market Report? TO know about the ultimate R&D in the Epoxy Paint market. The effect of Epoxy Paint on the environment, subsequently affecting the Epoxy Paint market. The type of Epoxy Paint that will dominate the market. The regions that will witness the fastest boost during the projection period. Top Manufacturer/Vendors:JotunAkzoNobelHempelNippon PaintPPG IndustriesKansaiChugoku Marine PaintSherwin-WilliamsBASFGlobal Epoxy Paint Market report of furthermore highlights key proposals of new project amplification along with offering an assessment of investment feasibility interrogatory.This interrogatory answers several queries for Stakeholders, primarily which market segments they should focus upon next five years to prioritize their efforts and investments.The above Epoxy Paint Market Report can be customized according to your needs.Have a Query? Speak to Expert:Key Questions Answered in this Report What will the market size be in 2018 and what will the boost rate be? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market boost? Who are the key Flippers in this market space? What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key Flippers?The report Epoxy Paint will make elaborated interrogatory mainly on above questions and in-depth research on the Manufacturing Cost Structure, market size, amplification trend, operation outline and future amplification trend of Epoxy Paint on the premise of stating current situation of the diligence in 2018 so as to make comprehensive organization and judgment on the competition situation and amplification trend of Epoxy Paint Market and assist manufacturers and investment organization to higher grasp the event course of Epoxy Paint Market.About Us:Market Research Explore(MRE) is unique market research platform. Our industry reports offer an invaluable resource for consultants; analysts; industry executives; marketing, sales and product managers; and other industry experts looking for reliable industry information. The market data in the reports is clearly presented and can be easily incorporated into presentations, internal reports, and so on.The prime motto of MRE is to see the exponential growth of our clients by meeting all the research requirements.Contact Us:sales@marketresearchexplore.com500N Michigan Avenue,#600, Chicago, IL 60611
Tele-Health Monitoring Market Report 2018-2023 Featuring Major Players: Biotronik SE & Co. KG, Boston Scientific Corporation, CAS Medical Systems

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The market for Global Tele-Health Monitoring Market research report 2018 has been undergoing a transitional phase over the recent past. The continual advancements in technologies and the swift increase in infrastructural development projects have influenced the demand for market research report 2018 substantially over the past few years. The swift rise in urbanization and the significant increase in the disposable income of people are likely to maintain the demand pace of market research report 2018 in the near future. The augmenting interest of investors, government funding, and the rising trend of automation are also projected to reflect positively on this market in the years to come.Promising Key Players are: Biotronik SE & Co. KG, Boston Scientific Corporation, CAS Medical Systems, CONTEC MEDICAL, Dragerwerk, GE Healthcare,Guangdong Biolight Meditech, Medtronic, Inc., Mindray Medical,Nihon KohdenGet Sample copy of this Report@In this research report, the prominent trends, driving factors, restraints, opportunities, and challenges have been taken into consideration in order to identify the markets future. It also discusses the production cost structure of Global Tele-Health Monitoring market research report 2018. As per the research study, raw material and equipment are two major components of the market research report 2018 manufacturing process. Here, researchers have studied the costs of raw materials and equipment with a special mention to their suppliers. Furthermore, the labor and other operational costs experienced in the production of market research report 2018 have also been discussed at length in this market report.The report presents an estimation of the overall market size in terms of value (US$) and in volume (kilo tons) and talks about the key segments and the geographical subdivisions of the Global Tele-Health Monitoring market research report 2018 in details. It presents in-depth information on the development trends and the policies and regulations, concerning market research report 2018, implemented in each of the geographical segments. The predominant applications of the market research report 2018 have also been talked about at length in this research report.For more details enquire @Further, the research study analyzes the regulatory framework of the Global Tele-Health Monitoring market research report 2018, offering stakeholders a better understanding of the various policies, rules and regulations, and future projects, which are expected to influence numerous proceedings in this market. It also collects in-depth information gained through extensive primary and secondary research methods, which has been assessed with the help of several effective analytical tools. Based on the data attained from such systematic research, the research report presents near-accurate estimates for the market players as well as the readers. Readers will also gain significantly from the references and case studies given in the research study.The research report also presents a thorough assessment of the competitive landscape of the Global Tele-Health Monitoring market research report 2018 by reviewing the company profiles of the leading players functioning in this market. The market hierarchy has also been identified in this study by analyzing the current developments and future prospects of these players.Table of Content:Global Tele-Health Monitoring Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Global Tele-Health Monitoring Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixAbout QYReports:We at, QYReports , a leading market research report 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
Comprehensive Industry Report Offers Forecast and Analysis on Smart Handle Market 2017-2025

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Smart Handle Market: OverviewWith the growing trend of home automation, people demand every single entity in their house to be automated, be it appliances like hot water heaters and cooking utensils or even doors and windows. This growing trend of home automation has led to innovation in the smart home industry. Smart handles are used in the smart home industry. Smart handles are available in many variants. They can be in the form of a door handle and lock secured with the help of a keypad which needs a password to open the door. A smart door handle needs a smart lock to make a smart door.Report overview @The growing concerns of people regarding safety have forced the manufacturers of door and door parts to level up and provide components that provide safety as well as are comfortable to use. What makes these handles smart is the use of technology in the form of Bluetooth, touchscreen, keypad or other connected devices. Smart handles are also a part of the automobile industry. These smart handles are used in the form of exterior door handles that comprise of a lock/ unlock sensor, transmitting antenna and sensor detection circuit.The door can be operated just by touching the electrostatic- capacitance type of sensors present in the handle. These handles are coated by chromium plating or body color paint. But the coating cannot be applied over the entire surface of the handle otherwise the electromagnetic waves are blocked from the antenna because the coating is conductive in nature.Smart Handle Market: Drivers and RestraintsConsumers are increasingly getting interested towards optimum resource utilization and energy efficiency. In addition to that, growing concerns regarding security are key factors likely to push the growth of Smart Handle market. The push button control requirements are satisfied by the smart handles provided in the doors. With the help of touchscreen devices along with the handle, only those people can access the handle whose fingerprints are registered on the device. Hence, people can move out of their homes without having to worry about the keys.Request Report for TOC @Connected devices allow the owner to access the handle of the door even by sitting very far away from the door. These factors are likely to push the growth of Smart Handles Market in the home automation industry as well as the automobile industry. Technological advancements, awareness of consumers regarding vehicle security features and vehicle security regulations are other likely factors that may drive the growth of Smart Handle Market.The electrostatic capacitance of the sensor may be changed if any other part is touched other than the sensor. This factor may result in the lock/ unlock sensor not behaving properly. Only the coated part will function properly if this condition occurs. The extreme sensitivity of smart handles may hinder the performance of the Smart Handle Market. The high cost of these smart handles is also a likely restraining factor of the Smart Handle Market.Smart Handle Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is expected to see a surge in demand for smart handles. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, number of people of age above 65 was 40 million in 2010. This figure is expected to reach 88 million by 2050. Rising demand for medical care at home and home healthcare is expected to drive the market for smart handles in this region. In the Asia Pacific region, rising consumer awareness regarding the benefits of smart handles and the increasing demand for new technological advancements is likely to drive the growth of the Smart Handle Market in the Asia- Pacific region.In the automobile sector, Asia Pacific region is expected to see a growth in the Smart Handle Market at a high CAGR. The reason behind this is that the Asia-Pacific region is the hub for the production of passenger cars and electric automobiles. This is growth is also attributed to the potential and growth of the Chinese vehicle market. High sales of automobiles in the China as well as United States region is likely to boost the demand for smart handles in these regions.Request to Sample of Report-Smart Handle Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the Smart Handle Market are:-ZF Friedrichshafen AG-TRWAisin SeikiSilca S.p.A.Denso CorporationValeoTokai RikaContinental AGHyundai MOBISMitsubishi ElectricHoneywell International Inc.Vivint, Inc.KwiksetSchlageAbout 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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Milk Market 2018 Key Players: Nestle, Danone, Arla Foods, Mengniu Dairy, Lactalis, Dairy Farmers of America, General Mills, Unilever,.

Milk Market

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Milk Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Milk Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Milk in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Milk market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingNestleDanoneArla FoodsMengniu DairyLactalisDairy Farmers of AmericaGeneral MillsUnileverDean FoodsFonterraSaputoYili GroupMeiji HoldingsDMKAbbott LaboratoriesSodiaalBrightfoodSanyuanOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoYogurtProbiotic MilkPure MilkOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingDiscount StoreSupermarketConvenience StoreOnline SaleIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Milk Market Research Report 20181 Milk Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Milk1.2 Milk Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Milk Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Milk Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Yogurt1.2.4 Probiotic Milk1.2.5 Pure Milk1.2.6 Others1.3 Global Milk Segment by Application1.3.1 Milk Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Discount Store1.3.3 Supermarket1.3.4 Convenience Store1.3.5 Online Sale1.4 Global Milk Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Milk Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Milk (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Milk Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Milk Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Milk Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Milk Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Milk Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Milk Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Milk Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Milk Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Milk Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Milk Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Milk Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Milk Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global Milk Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Nestle7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Nestle Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Danone7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Danone Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Arla Foods7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Arla Foods Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Mengniu Dairy7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Mengniu Dairy Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Lactalis7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Lactalis Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Dairy Farmers of America7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Dairy Farmers of America Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 General Mills7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 General Mills Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Unilever7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Unilever Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Dean Foods7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Dean Foods Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Fonterra7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Milk Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Fonterra Milk Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Saputo7.12 Yili Group7.13 Meiji Holdings7.14 DMK7.15 Abbott Laboratories7.16 Sodiaal7.17 Brightfood7.18 SanyuanContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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Convenience Foods Market Intelligence and Analysis for Period 2014 - 2020

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The convenience foods market is driven by busy lifestyles and ageing population. It includes a range of processed foods that has longer shelf life and are easy to use. The major attributes that consumers look for in convenience foods are ease of use, packaging, nutritional value, safety, variety and product appeal. These are prepared by adding various preservatives at specific conditions and few of them need an efficient supply chain and storage to retain their properties. Convenience foods save time and energy for preparing food at home or hotels. Technology and innovative packaging options have widened the food choices that are available in the market in various categories such as frozen, chilled, packaged foods, etc.The market has been segmented by type as canned foods, frozen foods, ready-to-eat snacks, meals, chilled foods and others. The market can also be segmented on the basis of distribution channels into supermarkets and hypermarkets, departmental stores, mom-and-pop shops, convenience stores and others. Geographically, the market can be segmented into Asia-Pacific, North America (the U.S., Canada and Mexico), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East & North Africa and RoW (Rest of the World, including Latin America and South Africa).With more women in the workforce, the demand for convenience foods is rising, primarily in emerging economies. The rapid growth of the food service industry in large number of developing markets is also expected to fuel the demand of packaged ready-to-eat snacks such as potato fries, bakery products and meat products. However, lack of proper storage and logistics is a threat to the frozen and chilled category of convenience foods in developing countries. There are stringent regulations on labelling and manufacturing of convenience foods in both developed and developing nations. One of the major drivers for convenience foods industry growth is widened distribution channels and tendency of consumers to buy off-the-shelf especially in emerging markets of BRICS and MENA.Request Report Sample@The U.S. is the largest market for convenience foods in the world and the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America would fuel the future growth of the same. The U.S. will remain a strategic market for convenience food processors in the forecast period due to declining trend towards away-from-home dining and at-home cooking. There is a rising demand for meal solutions/ready-to-eat meals that can be prepared in two-step cooking. For instance, in December 2013, ConAgra Foods launched 23 new varieties of quality meals and desserts in Bertolli and P.F. Changs brands to enhance consumers at-home dining experience with convenience. In addition, consumers are looking for meals with foraged, hyper-local ingredients with different flavours and blends such as mushrooms, nettles, blackberries, rose hips, seaweeds, truffles, etc.The global convenience foods market is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR from 20142020. Some of the emerging markets may even experience a double-digit growth rate through the forecast period in significant categories.Visit For TOC@Large multinational corporations follow multiple strategies to develop and penetrate the market for convenience foods in different regions. However, providing products that match local consumer taste is of utmost importance. Pricing is another important factor for convenience foods, however nowadays, consumers are ready to pay a premium price if they get to buy quality convenience foods with health benefits. Some of the common strategies that companies have adopted in recent times are portion controlled packaging, in-store promotions, mergers & acquisitions and health claims in labels. There is a growing trend towards healthy convenience foods that are rich in proteins, functional fibres, vitamins, probiotics and omega-3 fatty acid. For this, many market leaders are integrating their operations by acquiring ingredient manufacturers to increase their technical know-how. Availability of customized food ingredients has become a boon for convenience food manufacturers as they can provide large varieties in each category.Some of the key companies manufacturing and distributing convenience foods are Amy's Kitchen, Inc., Cargill, Incorporated, ConAgra Foods, Inc., General Mills, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc., Mondel?z International, Inc. and Kraft Foods Group 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:
Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market Revenue, Opportunity, Forecast and Value Chain 2017-2027

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) like stroke and heart disease are the leading cause of death across the globe. As per World Health Organization (WHO), 30% of the deaths caused globally in 2008 was due to heart disease which accounted for 17.3 Mn. Majority of cardiovascular diseases could be managed by early detection of abnormalities in the functioning of heart. Continuous cardiac monitoring devices are used for observation of cardiac activity. Continuous monitoring of heart is mandatory to assess patients condition suffering from CVD. Cardiac monitoring devices records and display pressure and electrical waveforms of the cardiovascular system for measurement and treatment.Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market: Drivers & RestraintsGrowth in the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market revenue is expected to boost due to factors such as increasing burden of cardiovascular diseases due to change in lifestyle, rising awareness amongst patients regarding regular monitoring of heart to increase life expectancy and ease of use and portability of devices. Increasing demand for home based and remote monitoring cardiac systems is expected to affect significantly on continuous cardiac monitoring devices market. Additional factors such as favorable government initiatives, increasing availability of technologically advanced products especially in developed regions, increasing contribution of independent organizations to spread awareness and increasing prevalence of obesity are projected to favor the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market over the forecast period.Few factors that can pull back the market are high cost of devices, low accuracy of invasive cardiac monitoring devices and unstable reimbursement policies. Apart from these factors, scarcity of technologically advanced products in developing regions is expected to hamper the revenue growth of global continuous cardiac monitoring devices market over the forecast period.Request to View Sample Report @Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market: SegmentationContinuous cardiac monitoring devices market is classified on the basis of product type, modality, end user and regionBased on product type, the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market is segmented into the following:ECG DevicesResting ECGStress ECGHolter Monitor DevicesImplantable Loop RecorderCardiac Output Monitoring DevicesMinimally Invasive COM DevicesNoninvasive COM DevicesEvent MonitorsPre-symptomPost-symptomBased on modality, the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market is segmented into the following:StandalonePortableBased on end user, the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market is segmented into the following:HospitalsAmbulatory Surgical CentersCardiology ClinicsHome Care SettingsBased on geography, the continuous cardiac monitoring devices Market is segmented into following:North America (U.S., Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, rest of Latin America)Western Europe (Germany, Italy, U.K, Spain, France, rest of Western Europe)Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, rest of Eastern Europe)Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand, rest of APEJ)JapanMiddle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, rest of MEA)Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market: OverviewContinuous cardiac monitoring devices market is expected to expand at a significant growth rate across regions. Major players in this segment are working on their research and development process to build superior products and increase product portfolio. The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases are on the rise across the globe due to a large number of elderly population are suffering from cardiac ailments. Furthermore, the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. Ease of diagnosis by cardiac monitoring devices due to wide variety of products available in the marketis attracting more number of patients which is expected to boost revenue growth of global continuous cardiac monitoring devices marketRequest For Table Of Content @Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookA geographic condition regarding continuous cardiac monitoring devices market, it has been segmented into seven key regions: North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Latin America, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan and the Middle East & Africa.North America is anticipated to account for significant contribution under continuous cardiac monitoring devices by revenue generation. Advances in development of new products and high spending on research and development in Western Europe proves to uplift of the continuous cardiac monitoring devices market. With rising in standards of health care services and increase in awareness towards the treatments in India and China is expected to propel the market for continuous cardiac monitoring devices in overall Asia Pacific region.Continuous Cardiac Monitoring Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the players in continuous cardiac monitoring devices market are Boston Scientific Corporation, GE Healthcare, PULSION Medical Systems, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Deltex Medical and LiDCO Group plc.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. technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market InsightsValley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Segmented by Top Manufacturers - Arkema, Kaneka, Dow, LG Chem, Shandong Ruifeng Chemical

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MarketStudyReport.com Add New Global Acrylic Impact Modifier Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its research database. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 122 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the AIM (acrylic impact modifier) market; Acrylic-Based Impact Modifiers are used as a plastic additive for rigid plastics particularly for PVC formulation for weather, and heat stability as well as for impact resistance and UV durability. They are free flowing powders designed for effective cost and fast production performance in window profile, door frames siding, fence, outdoor furniture, pipe and injection molding compounds.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier) market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Research Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers  Arkema, Kaneka, Dow, LG Chem, Shandong Ruifeng Chemical.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Table of Contents:Global Acrylic Impact Modifier Market OverviewGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Manufacturers ProfilesGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Competition, by ManufacturerGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Analysis by RegionsGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier by CountriesGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Segment by TypeGlobal Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Segment by ApplicationAcrylic Impact Modifier Market Forecast (2017-2022)Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and DealersResearch Findings and ConclusionAppendixMarket Segment by Type, covers Ordinary AIMLow Temperature Resistance AIMMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Window ProfileDoor FramesFenceOutdoor FurniturePipelineEnquire For Discount on Acrylic Impact Modifier Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier) market.Chapter 1, to describe AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier) Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier), with sales, revenue, and price of AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier), in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier), for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier) market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe AIM (Acrylic Impact Modifier) sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -Global 3D Laser Scanners Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023In the Global 3D Laser Scanners Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at aCentralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter
Global Smart Cards Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast to 2023

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Smart cards are IC-based cards that accumulate and retrieve information using various computer systems. Smart cards consist of central processing units and memory units. Smart cards primarily act as a cost-effective way to store, manage, and maintain credentials for their users. This makes these products highly convenient for different applications. In addition, the portability of smart cards enables their extensive adoption across different applications. Currently, smart cards are widely used across sectors such as telecommunications, BFSI, and government. Due to the numerous advantages they offer, smart cards are increasingly used in the healthcare, government IDs (e-passports), and retail sectors. Thus, strong ongoing adoption of smart cards across different sectors is estimated to substantially spur the markets growth in the coming years.Request a Free Sample Report @The research study titled Smart Cards Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2023 provides in-depth analysis of the market and related sub-segments. The report strategically focuses on market segments including different types of smart cards and components. In addition, this report provides market insights and forecasts of the size and growth of each segment across each of the geographic regions. The report includes detailed analysis of prevalent market trends and profiles of key players. In order to provide better understanding of competition in the market, the report offers ecosystem analysis and competitive landscape. The study on the global smart cards market has been conducted with the objective of providing thorough coverage of the underlying technological and socio-economic factors driving the market.The smart cards market is expected to see consistent growth in the coming years due to the increasing demand for secure and reliable payment transactions across the retail and BFSI sectors. Moreover, cost-saving schemes for merchants from payments brands such as Visa, MasterCard, and Europay is driving the smart card technology innovations. The decreasing prices of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards and tariff rates are increasing the number of mobile subscribers, and thus further contributing to the growth of the smart cards market. However, factors such as price pressures and technological challenges along with the cost of migrating to smartcard compatible readers affect the adoption of smartcards. Conversely, technological advancements, falling prices, and the introduction of high-end SIMs offer potential opportunities for the growth of the smart cards market.View Complete Report with Table of Content @This report studies the current scenario as well as the future market potential for smart cards globally. The market for smart cards has been segmented based on three major parameters: card type, components, and geography. The major types of smart cards used are contact smart cards, contactless smart cards, hybrid smart cards, and dual-interface smart cards. On the basis of components, the smart cards market is segmented into microcontroller-based smart cards and memory-based smart cards. The demand for microcontroller-based smart cards is significantly high owing to the wide adoption of such cards for contactless and dual-interface smart cards. The market size and forecast, in terms of revenue and volume (US$ Mn & Mn units), for each of these segments has been provided for the period from 2013 to 2023, considering 2013 and 2014 as the base years. For 2015, report provides actual data for the first half and estimate for the second half. Also, the report provides market size and forecast in terms of volume (Mn Units) for various segments for the above mentioned period. The report also provides the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for each segment of the market for the forecast period 2016 to 2023.Send an Inquiry @Geographically, the market for global smart cards has been segmented into four regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a competitive landscape, wherein the market share analysis of leading players in the global smart cards market for the year 2014, in terms of value percentage, has been discussed. The report concludes with the company profiles section, which provides an overview of the major companies operating in the market including strategies deployed by them to gain competitive advantage, annual revenue generated by them in the past two years, and key developments in the market. The companies profiled in this report include the American Express Company, Atos SE, NXP Semiconductors NV, Infineon Technologies AG, Gemalto NV, INSIDE Secure, Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) GmbH, and Texas Instruments, Inc.The global smart cards market is categorized into the following segments:Smart Cards Market, by TypeContact Smart CardsContactless Smart CardsHybrid Smart CardsDual-interface Smart CardsSmart Cards Market, by ComponentMicrocontrollerMemory CardSmart Cards Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East & Africa (MEA)Latin AmericaCheck Discount @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
Gaining Student Success on Campus: $252,465 Grant Awarded To Southwest Texas Junior College By Campus Consortium

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Campus Consortium, the largest global education association of schools, colleges and universities, awards Southwest Texas Junior College (SWTJC) a $252,465 Grant to implement a mobile app for students and faculty. Located in Uvalde, Texas, the college is a highly ranked Junior College and recently named in the top 150 U.S. Community Colleges by the Aspen Institute. SWTJC is a comprehensive, public, two-year College serving eleven counties in Southwest Texas. The College provides accessible, affordable, high-quality education that prepares students to successfully transfer to senior colleges and universities; enter the job market; pursue their professional and personal goals; and contribute to the economic growth of the region.SWTJC consist of nine campuses and we had over 6,600 students enrolled during the Fall 2017 semester. We have made numerous improvements in our technological services, yet we did not have mobile applications until this time. Campus Consortiums generous grant will transform the college on various levels, said Hector E. Gonzales, President at Southwest Texas Junior College.He also added, 69% of our students qualified for Federal Financial Aid in our Fall 2017 semester and many have full-time jobs in addition to attending College. Online and distance learning continues to increase each semester, the ability for our students to access the Student Information System and all associated services via a mobile application would increase access for our students from now on.The grant covers 100% of the mobile app software licensing costs associated with implementing a mobile app over five years and will enable Southwest Texas Junior College to build their official mobile app through the technology provider Unifyed. The mobile app will consist of 14 basic applets like Campus News, Emergency Numbers, Campus Events, Social Media, Parking, Dinning etc. In addition, it will also feature Unifyed Applets for LMS, Academic and Unifyed Campus Bulletin Board, Whats Up.We pleased to award Southwest Texas Junior College with the Mobile Campus Grant. We believe they are working towards enriching education and adding value to every students learning phase. The app will help them make campus life more interactive and student-friendly, which is an added advantage for any institution states Anjli Jain, Chairman of the Campus Consortium. "We congratulate them on receiving the Campus Consortium Grant.To learn about and apply for a Campus Consortium Grant, please visit campusconsortium.org/grant-programsAbout Southwest Texas Junior CollegeAs far back as 1926 a few far-sighted citizens of Sabinal and Uvalde advocated a junior college for this vast Southwest Texas area to be located in Uvalde, but it was not until twenty years later that this dream became a reality. Today Southwest Texas Junior College is a comprehensive, public college serving eleven counties in Southwest Texas.For more information, please visitCampus Consortium is a leading education association with more than 37,000 higher education institutions and K-12 school district members. The Campus Consortium's mission is to help members reduce the time, cost and effort associated with implementing enterprise IT services by leveraging shared IT services, lessons learned and best practices so that each member can avoid reinventing the wheel.125 South Clark Street,17th Floor
Almond Oil Market Expected Growing $2,680 Million By 2023.

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Global almond oil market was valued at $1,118 million in 2016, and is expected to reach $2,680 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 13.2% from 2017 to 2023. Almond oil is considered as one of the best oils for hair and skin care remedies. It consists of vitamins, such as Vitamin E, minerals, protein, and essential fatty acids (EFAs). It is particularly high in the monounsaturated fatty acid called oleic acid. Moreover, the nutrients and beneficial properties of almond oil make it a powerful cosmetic ingredient. In addition, almond oil is also rich in vitamin E, which makes it favorable for addition to skincare products. Other benefits offered by almond oils include skin rejuvenation such as increased levels of collagen production deriving from the fact that it can penetrate the skin more deeply. Furthermore, other medicinal properties of almond oils include relief to damaged skin occurring by sun exposure, treatment of dry skin. Sweet almond oil is also safe for digesting internally and thus considered as popular medical oil in the Unani system of Medicine.For More Info, Get Sample :The global almond oil market is witnessing rapid growth in the recent years owing to increase in demand in personal care and medical industry. The suitability of almond oils for all skin types to soften, soothe, and re-condition the skin increases its utilization in aromatherapy. Moreover, the growth in demand for aromatherapy coupled with increase in the number of spa customers further drives the sales of various essential oils including almond-based oils. Moreover, the advent of supermarkets as distribution channels to supply almond oil to consumers coupled with the rise in global population has amplified the demand for these supermarkets, which in turn positively impacts the market growth. The growth in consumer demand for innovative food products, in regions such as Europe and North America also creates new opportunities for almond oil products.The report segments the market based on type, application, distribution channel, and region. Based on type, the market is bifurcated as sweet almond oil and bitter almond oil. Based on application, the market is classified as food preparation, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and others. Based on distribution channel, the market is divided as hypermarkets & supermarkets, food specialty stores, pharmacy, cosmetic discounters, and others. Based on region, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Major players operating in this market are AOS Products Private Limited Ashwin Fine Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Blue Diamond Growers, Inc. Caloy Quality Natural Oils Eden Botanicals Jiangxi Baicao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Jiangxi Xuesong Natural Medicinal Oil Co., Ltd. Liberty Vegetable Oil Company Mountain Ocean NOW Foods Proteco OilsKEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS This report provides a quantitative analysis of the current trends and estimations from 2016 to 2023 of almond oil market, which assists to identify the prevailing market opportunities. Major countries in each region are mapped according to individual market revenue. Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrict the growth of the market is provided. An in-depth analysis of current research and clinical developments within the market is provided with key dynamic factors that highlight the market behavior. Leading players and their key developments in recent years are listed.Enquire About Report :KEY MARKET SEGMENTSBy Type Sweet Almond Oil Bitter Almond OilBy Application Food Preparation Cooking Oil Confectionery Others (Salad Dressings and Vegetable Dips) Cosmetic Skin Care Hair Care Pharmaceutical Others (Biofuel and Lubricant)By Distribution Channel Hypermarkets & Supermarkets Food Specialty Stores Pharmacy Cosmetic Discounters Others (Convenience Stores and Online Stores)Also Request For Discount :By Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe UK Germany France Spain Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China Japan India Australia South Korea Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEA Chile UAE Turkey Rest of LAMEAKEY PLAYERS Natural Sourcing LLC Aromantic Ltd. Camden-Grey Essential Oils, Inc. Spectrum Laboratory Products Inc. Akoma International Ltd. Advanced BiotechTable Of Content CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3 MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4 GLOBAL ALMOND OIL MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5 GLOBAL ALMOND OIL MARKET, BY APPLICATION CHAPTER 6 GLOBAL ALMOND OIL MARKET, BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL CHAPTER 7 GLOBAL ALMOND OIL MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 8 COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell our authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward for a long term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com
Forecast on Asia Pacific Nutraceuticals Market for the Period 2014 - 2020

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There is a sense of awakening throughout the world to endorse a healthier lifestyle and eliminate unhealthy food habits. People are engaging in personal research to structure their eating habits towards nutritionally rich food, and are self-appraising their habits to attain health stability. This has excavated a strong market for nutraceuticals and is expected to keep evolving over the coming years. Junk food, which was until recently at the helm of peoples desires, is now being avoided by a large chunk of health-conscious population. This prompts the need for healthy substitutes, and nutraceuticals make up for that vacuum in the market. The market is expected to thrive on the forces such as an increased awareness amongst people, sensitivity towards health, and the collective effort to alleviate diseases. The market is expected to inflate in Asia Pacific where people are desperate to change their lifestyle through quicker approaches for prevention of diseases.The market for nutraceuticals is segmented into two categories viz, type and geography. They have been further segmented to get a holistic view of the market.The report gives an integral set of insights about the various market dynamics, and makes assertions with regards to the future opportunities, threats, and drivers in the market. The projections are in sync with the current trends which shall help in scrutinizing the market.Request Report Sample@Asia Pacific Nutraceuticals Market: Trends and ProspectsNutraceutical products act as efficient agents to tame obesity, enhance skin, and are even administered during cancer treatments. This places key vitality to the market for nutraceuticals which is expected to flourish on account of the immense acceptance of nutraceuticals. Moreover, the fitness and healthcare industry has complemented the growth of the market. People are deftly inclined towards exercising to tone their bodies, which is a huge boost to the industry. Moreover, nutraceuticals are used for preventive therapies, which has bolstered the demand in the market following which an increasing number of players aim to exploit the market gap.The governments across various regions have strictly ordained the usage of natural ingredients in preserved and non-preserved food, which upticks the demand for nutraceuticals and strengthens the entire market. A handsome rise in the disposable income of people, and a scrupulous inclination towards healthy foods, collectively act as a major driver for the global nutraceuticals market.The condescending attitude of certain groups of people towards the consumption of healthy foods could subtly obstruct the growth. The geographical disparities result in unawareness amongst people about health and wellness, which also hinders market growth. However, with yarded advancements such as the bioavailability of nutraceuticals, the market is expected to grow by leaps and bounds.Visit For TOC@Asia Pacific Nutraceuticals Market: Geographical OutlookThe market in Asia Pacific is far behind Europe and U.S. that hail as the largest markets for nutraceuticals. This owes to the evident impetus given to healthcare across these regions, coupled with the stringent policies of the government to adhere to health standards. Delving further, Germany exercises the highest control over the market across Europe by reaping a heavy market share. In Asia Pacific, the trio of Japan, Brazil, and China has exhibited commendable market growth for the nutraceuticals industry. India, however, has shown a sluggish growth pattern due to multiple hindrances. The escalating disposable income and a stride in health awareness has been the contributor towards the growth of the market in Asia Pacific. Australia is another region with a voluminous success of the market for nutraceuticals.Asia Pacific Nutraceuticals Market: Competitive AnalysisThe market players are expected to resort to a range of strategies in order to gain optimum market share. It is anticipated that the various players would make efforts to assert the authenticity of their products and work towards spreading greater awareness. There are immense opportunities for the market players to diversify their horizons and reach fruition. The key players include Pfizer, Natures Answer USA, Cadilla Healthcare, Omvita. APS, Numico, and Celestial Biolabs LtdMagnum.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Full HD TVs Market 2018 Industry Key Players: Samsung, LG, SONY, Sharp, Panasonic, Toshiba, Seiki (Tongfang),.

Full HD TVs Market

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Full HD TVs Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Full HD TVs Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGeographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Full HD TVs in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeaChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Full HD TVs market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSamsungLGSONYSharpPanasonicToshibaSeiki (Tongfang)HisenseSkyworthChanghongTCLKonkaPhilips(Suning)HaierOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into55 Inch65 InchOthersOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingFamilyPublicIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Request Sample Report @Table of content:Global Full HD TVs Market Research Report 20181 Full HD TVs Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Full HD TVs1.2 Full HD TVs Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Full HD TVs Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Full HD TVs Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 55 Inch1.2.4 65 Inch1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Full HD TVs Segment by Application1.3.1 Full HD TVs Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Family1.3.3 Public1.4 Global Full HD TVs Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Full HD TVs Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Full HD TVs (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Full HD TVs Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Full HD TVs Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Full HD TVs Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Full HD TVs Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Full HD TVs Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Full HD TVs Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Full HD TVs Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Full HD TVs Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Full HD TVs Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Full HD TVs Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Full HD TVs Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Full HD TVs Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global Full HD TVs Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Samsung7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Samsung Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 LG7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 LG Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 SONY7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 SONY Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Sharp7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Sharp Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Panasonic7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Panasonic Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Toshiba7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Toshiba Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Seiki (Tongfang)7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Seiki (Tongfang) Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Hisense7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Hisense Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Skyworth7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Skyworth Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Changhong7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Full HD TVs Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Changhong Full HD TVs Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 TCL7.12 Konka7.13 Philips(Suning)7.14 HaierContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Organic Pesticides Market Reach $279,195 Million By 2023.

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The global organic pesticides market size was $99,200 million in 2016 and is expected to reach $279,195 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 14.9% during the forecast period. Pesticides are defined as mixtures of substances that are deployed to control, prevent, destroy, repel, and attract any biological organism classified as a pest. Organic pesticides are pesticides that are added during cultivation of organic food. These pesticides are produced in accordance with the Organic Act (USDA). Moreover, the USDA has allowed the usage of certain synthetic pesticides, such as sulfur, oil sprays, and copper-based fungicides, on organic food production. In addition, according to the National Organic Program Standards, these pesticides do not pose any harm/risk to humans.For More Info, Get Sample :The global organic pesticides market is driven by growth in demand for food and organic food, ongoing greater utilization of pesticides, due to significant advancements in pest management procedures and technology, and favorable governmental policies. Furthermore, reduction of farmers land and adoption of genetically modified crops create demand for synthetic organics in the market. However, the presence of multiple end users leading to difficulty in managing inventory & distribution costs, and growth in sale of spurious pesticides hamper the market growth.The report segments the global organic pesticides market based on product, crop type, mode of application, and application. Based on product, the market is classified natural and synthetic. Based on crop type, the global market is bifurcated into permanent and arable. Based on mode of application, the market is divided into seed treatment, on farm, and after harvest. Based on region, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.The prominent players in the global organic pesticides industry have strategically focused on product launches as their key strategy to gain significant share in the market.The key players profiled in the report are Mark Organics Bayer Cropscience Sikko Industries Ltd. PARRY AMERICA Monsanto Arysta LifeScience Andermatt Biocontrol Ag DuPont Dow AgroSciences Certis USA LLCKEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS This report provides an extensive analysis of the current trends and emerging estimations in the global organic pesticides market. In-depth analysis of the industry is conducted through market estimations of key segments for the period 2017 to 2023. Competitive intelligence of leading manufacturers and distributors of organic pesticides helps understand the competitive scenario across geographies. Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrain the growth of the global organic pesticides market is provided in the report. Extensive analysis of the industry is conducted by following key product positioning and monitoring the top competitors within the market framework. The key players are profiled along with their strategies to determine the competitive outlook of the market.Enquire About Report :KEY MARKET SEGMENTSBy Product Natural SyntheticBy Crop Type Permanent ArableBy Mode of Application Seed Treatment On Farm After HarvestBy Region NORTH AMERICA U.S. CANADA MEXICO EUROPE UK GERMANY FRANCE SPAIN ITALY REST OF EUROPE ASIA-PACIFIC CHINA JAPAN INDIA SOUTH KOREA AUSTRALIA REST OF ASIA-PACIFIC LAMEA BRAZIL ARGENTINA UAE REST OF LAMEAAlso Request For Discount :Other players in the value chain, include Swaroop Agrochemical Industries Sikko Industries Limited BioNature Mark Organics Ortect Organics Sushil CorporationTable Of Content CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3 MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4 ORGANIC PESTICIDES MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5 ORGANIC PESTICIDES MARKET, BY CROP TYPE CHAPTER 6 ORGANIC PESTICIDES MARKET, BY MODE OF APPLICATION CHAPTER 7 ORGANIC PESTICIDES MARKET, BY GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 8. COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell our authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward for a long term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com
Chemical Licensing Market Size & Analysis  Forecasts To 2025

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Chemical Licensing Market InsightsThe chemical licensing market is projected to grow at a high CAGR over the coming years as it is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to procure technological advanced solutions and relevant information. The need for efficient and accelerated production techniques is expected to augment demand for chemical licenses in the various applications sectors.Chemical Licensing Market: Product InsightsOn the basis of product the chemical licensing market is segmented into technology licensing, intellectual property licensing, and chemical processing licensing. Technology licenses include new technologies introduced in the market and commercialization of improved technologies. Intellectual property licenses include patents, sharing technical know how etc. Chemical processing technology includes licensing of complex or advanced manufacturing techniques, commissioning, designs, and provides startup guidance and training.Request for a sample copy of the chemical licensing market report at:Chemical Licensing Market: Application InsightsOn the basis of application, the chemical licensing market is segmented into biological processes, pharmaceutical, materials, energy & power, environmental, chemistry, food & beverages, and others. Increasing investment in research and development in coatings, polymers, processes, specialty chemicals, composites, medicines and drugs is projected to a positively influence demand for chemical licenses over the coming years.High funding by government and private institutions in research & development of chemical processes and speciality chemicals is expected to foster market demand for chemical licenses. New product development is very critical for a companys success and sustainability, acquiring chemical licenses will therefore benefit companies.Chemical Licensing Market: Regional InsightsThe demand for chemical licenses in the Asia Pacific market is projected to grow at a high CAGR on account of growing number of small and medium enterprises engaged in various production activities. Industrialization and expanding manufacturing capabilities in the Asia Pacific is expected augment growth in developing Asia Pacific countries.The North America region occupied a large share in 2016 and is projected to witness a high demand for chemical licenses due to its faster technological acceptance and adoption rate. The need for efficient manufacturing process and equipments is projected to foster demand in the European and Central & South American region.Chemical Licensing Market: Vendor LandscapeThe report contains a chapter dedicated to vendors operating in the market, covering raw material manufactures, equipment developers, manufacturers, and distributors. The report provides these insights on a regional level. This section of the report entails contact details, experience, products manufactured/supplied, and geographical presence of companies.Chemical Licensing Market: End-Use LandscapeThe report provides a detailed list of end-users operating across the world. The end-user landscape includes consumer contact details, geographical presence, revenue, product portfolio, organic and inorganic growth strategies among others. Some of the companies who are likely to use chemical licensing include Ashland, ADAMA Agricultural Solutions, and Asahi Glass among others.Chemical Licensing: Market Share & Competitor AnalysisSome of the prominent companies engaged in chemical licensing market include E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Johnson Matthey, Mitsui Chemicals, ExxonMobil Chemical, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Eastman Chemical Company, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, Shell Global, and LyondellBasell among others.In June 2017, Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemi) amended rules with regards to licenses for private handling of hazardous chemical products and commercial transfer in Sweden. In April 2017, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation entered into licensing of the company-owned patents for polyester polyol and polyurethane with other companies or organizations.Check our annual research partnership service at:Were constantly identifying and analysing high growth markets and revenue pockets. In consultation with various industry experts, our team of highly-skilled industry analysts study these markets through sophisticated tools and fail-safe, industry-approved methodologies.Name: Global Market Estimates Research & Business ConsultantsAddress: A-9, Silver Croft CHSL, Mumbai:400064, IndiaContact No,: +91 9146632316Email Address: sales@globalmarketestimates.com
Hypercar Market Size to Grow Steadily during Forecast period 2017-2025

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Hypercar Market: OverviewHypercars refer to ultra-modern, extremely efficient cars which offer safe, clean, and economical high performance. Hypercars can attain advanced three to four fold enhancement in fuel economy, which has equivalence or enhanced performance, amenity safety, and affordability, compared to present vehicles processing. Hypercars have outstanding aerodynamics, efficient propulsion, and weight efficient construction which can exceed typical Autobahn speeds. It offers good handling and achieve staggering fuel economy.Report overview @Hypercar Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe need of Hypercars is because of its excellent engine performance and is used in the automotive industry. Hypercars are produced by a small number of manufacturers who can bear the cost of making them. Apart from the cost it is very difficult to match the speeds, since hypercars work on the speeds above 200km/hr. Hypercars are made only for the rich people and are made in small quantities. The Hypercar market is very small and if one needs to buy them then they have to constantly look for it. Mercedes benz has launched a project called project one which is gaining popularity amongst the engineers because of its excellent efficiency.Companies are investing more in their research and development departments and producing new technologies which they can accommodate in the automobiles. The need of hypercars in the automobile market is increasing because of its advanced technology and fuel efficiency. The future of hypercars is expected to be fully electric or gas powered. Currently we are using hydrogen gas in these cars for high speeds. Artficial Intelligence can be used to make these cars fully automatic. Since the neural network will recognize the driving pattern and then it will learn by its own just like our brain does. Fully electrical hypercars would be beneficial for the environment.Request Report for TOC @Hypercar Market: Region wise OutlookThe hypercar market is divided into seven regions, namely Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), MEA, Japan, Latin America, North America, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Europe is the global leader in producing hypercars because of Italy, Germany and UK which are the top three manufacturers of hypercars. Some of the top brands are present in this region, which are the major producers of hypercars and they are situated in Europe. North America is expected to be the next prominent region in producing hypercars because of USA which has brands like Ford which produce hypercars. Japan is the country which produce a large number of economical cars rather than producing hypercars but some of its cars are the best competitors to other hypercars. Europe and MEA are the global leaders in buying hypercars followed by North America. APEJ is the region which produces and consumes a large number of economical cars rather than hypercars because of the lifestyle and annual income.Hypercar Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in Hypercar market are:-Automobili LamborghiniLexusKoenigsegg Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE)Pagani AutomobiliMaseratiBugattiDaimler GroupKoenigseggMcLarenZENVO AutomotivePorscheFerrariRequest to Sample of 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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Fast Casual Restaurant Market in The US (2017-2021) | Size, Growth, Trends & Forecasts

US Fast Casual Restaurant Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "The US Fast Casual Restaurant Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2017-2021)" to its huge collection of research reports.The report entitled The US Fast Casual Restaurant Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2017-2021), provides analysis of the US fast casual restaurant market, with detailed analysis of market size and growth, and segmentation of the industry. The analysis of the US fast casual restaurant market includes the market by value and by segments.Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall the US fast casual restaurant market has also been forecasted for the years 2017-2021, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., Firehouse Restaurant, Five Guys and Panda Express are some of the key players operating in the US fast casual restaurant market, whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this segment of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies are provided.Company CoverageChipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.Firehouse RestaurantFive GuysPanda ExpressExecutive SummaryA restaurant is a place or a business which prepares and serves food and drinks to customers in return for money. On the basis of the services provided by the restaurants, they can be broadly classified into two groups as: Full-service restaurants and Limited-service restaurants.A full service restaurant refers as a sit down eatery where food is served directly to the customers table. Full-service restaurants can be further categorized into Fine Dining Restaurant, Casual Dining Restaurants and Family Dining Restaurants.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Limited service restaurants usually serve lunch and dinner menus, and some offer breakfast, afternoon, and late-night meals. Limited service restaurants can be further classified into fast food or quick service, fast casual restaurants, pizza restaurants, and cafes.The US fast casual restaurant market is expected to increase at high growth rates during the forecasted period (2017-2021). The US fast casual restaurant market is supported by various growth drivers, increasing urban population, increasing employment, more customization in food menu, increasing disposable income, etc.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Egg and Egg Products Market Intelligence and Analysis for Period 2014 - 2020

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Products which are obtained from different blends and components of eggs and are ready for human consumption are known as egg products. Egg products can partly be complemented by additives or some other food products. They can be found in different forms such as concentrated, crystallized, deep-frozen, liquid, solid, and frozen with a shelf life of three weeks.About 70% of the eggs are mainly produce in the economies of China, India, U.S., Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, and France. In which 36% of the eggs are produce in China and about 11% in Latin America. There are different types of eggs products available in the market which includes pasteurized liquid egg, pasteurized liquid yolk, pasteurized liquid white, dehydrated white, dehydrated egg, hardboiled egg, dehydrated yolk, and ready-cooked meals with egg as their main ingredient.Request Report Sample@As egg and egg products offers a source of protein to the consumers with the slightest environment impact is the major factor driving the growth of the market. Technology changes, government regulations are some of the factors contributing to the growth of the market. As the industry is continuously changing due to rising demand, increasing consumption and production of egg and egg products and technology advancement the market has huge growth opportunities in future. But, the insignificant growth in the international trade with some exceptions can act as a restraint for the market.Visit For TOC@Some of the key players of the market are Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Land O'Lakes, Inc., Noble Foods Ltd, Tyson Foods, Inc., and Ningbo Jiangbei Dexi Foods Co. Ltd.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT: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:
North America Tea Tree Oil Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca oil is an essential oil with a fresh camphoraceous odor and a color that ranges from pale yellow to nearly colorless and clear. It is taken from the leaves of the Melaleuca alternifolia, which is native to Southeast Queensland and the Northeast coast of New South Wales, Australia.To Request For a Sample Copy Of This Report, Please Visit:Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Tea Tree Oil in North America market, especially in United States, Canada and Mexico. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversMain CampG.R. DavisMaria River PlantationCassegrain KalaraMarket Segment by Countries, coveringUnited StatesCanadaMexicoMarket Segment by Type, coversPharmaceutical Grade OilPremium Grade OilMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoMedicineSkincare ProductsFor Browsing the Entire Report, Please Visit:There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the North America Tea Tree Oil market.Chapter 1, to describe Tea Tree Oil Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Tea Tree Oil, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the North America market by countries, covering United States, Canada and Mexico, with sales, revenue and market share of Tea Tree Oil, for each country, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;.About Us:Global Info Reports, a market research company that renders broad analysis of global market sizing, determines the industry intelligence, wrapping markets where advancements in science and technology are persistently improving the entire standard, quality and business upkeep. We have the most copious collection of market intelligence services online. We provide market reports and update our collection frequently to offer you with immediate online access to complete enhanced database of expert insights on global industries, products, market players, companies, and latest trends.Contact us:Email- sales@globalinforeports.comFollow Us:Twitter:Facebook:Google Plus:
Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Global Industry Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Report 2017

Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanKoreaTaiwanTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingHuaweiCalixZTEAlcatel-lucentCiscoHimachal Futuristic CommunicationsMACOMInfiniti TechnologiesZhone TechnologiesFiber Optic TelecomAdtranHitachi Ltd.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoOptical Line Terminal (OLT)Optical Network Terminal (ONT)Passive Optical SplittersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingOperatorsGovernmentsUtilitiesOfficeOther end usersTable of ContentsGlobal Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Market Report 20171 Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON)1.2 Classification of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) by Product Category1.2.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Optical Line Terminal (OLT)1.2.4 Optical Network Terminal (ONT)1.2.5 Passive Optical Splitters1.3 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Operators1.3.3 Governments1.3.4 Utilities1.3.5 Office1.3.6 Other end users1.4 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market by Region1.4.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Korea Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 Taiwan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume) by ApplicationGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Application6 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Value (2012-2017)6.1.1 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.2 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.3 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)6.2 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Players6.3 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Latest Renovation of Automotive Radiator grilles Market : Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts 2017-2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Automotive Radiator grilles Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Automotive Radiator grilles : OverviewIn automotive engineering, a mesh grille installed at the front of the vehicle is used to protect the radiator and engine from outdoor particles and allow air to enter. The grille provides maximum ventilation to the engine and radiator and protects it from flying stones which wont dent or distort. Other common grille locations include below the front bumper, in front of the wheels (to cool the brakes), in the cowl for cabin ventilation, or on the rear deck lid (in rear engine vehicles). It is mostly made of aluminum or stainless steel. Aluminum material has the features of high strength, versatility, low density and resistance to corrosion. Stainless steel has higher strength than aluminum but increase the weight.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Automotive Radiator grilles: Drivers & RestraintsSome of the major drivers contributing to the overall growth of the automotive radiator grilles market include increasing consumer awareness regarding advanced technologies, increasing per capita income of consumers, growing demand for technically advanced, good looking and strong cars. Advancements in technology have given rise to market competition owing to which major leading organizations are heavily investing in R&D activities. However, complicated hardware designs and high expenditure in terms of manufacturing are challenges to the automotive Center clusters market. Growing interest in super cars and racing cars have also driven this market.The automotive industry has high reliability and safety standards to adhere to. The opportunities lie in investing in constant research and development as this segment is dominated by ever evolving technologies. The per capita car ownership has been on a continuous rise due to the worldwide increase in the middle-class population. According to the International Transport Forum of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the number of cars worldwide would reach 2.5 billion by 2050.Automotive Radiator grilles: Market SegmentationThe Automotive Radiator grilles Market is segmented into five parts based on the type, application, material, sales channel and geography. With the increased use in automobiles around the world and also consumers looking for more style and elegance in their vehicles, the manufacturers are constantly working on developing and producing new styles in their products which has been driving the automotive radiator grilles market.Make an Enquiry about TOC @Based on the type Automotive Radiator grilles Market is segmented into:Perforated metal car grillsExpanded metal grillBased on the application Automotive Radiator grilles Market is segmented into:Passenger VehiclesCompactMid-SizedPremiumLuxuryBased on the material Automotive Radiator grilles Market is segmented into:AluminumStainless steelBased on Sales channel Radiator grilles market is segmented into:OEMAfter MarketAutomotive Radiator grilles: Regional OutlookRegarding geography, Automotive Radiator grille Market has been categorized into seven key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Automotive Radiator grille Market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period due to the high demand for automobiles. In terms of regions, Europe accounts for significant share for Automotive Radiator grille Market, owing to the high growth and demand for automobiles in the region as compared to other developed regions. North America region accounts for a healthy share in terms of automotive radiator grille primarily used in automobiles.The passenger car in the region is anticipated to further add value to the Automotive Radiator grille Market in the region. In terms of developing region of Asia-Pacific, the growth of the Radiator grille is significantly high and with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period owed to factors such as such as rapid economic development, globalization and increasing demand of the Radiator grille in automotive industry and its sub-verticals. In addition, Over the forecast period, Asia-Pacific market for is anticipated to grow significantly owing to the growth of automotive industry in the region. Overall, the global market for the Radiator grille device is expected to grow significantly by the end of forecast period. Automotive Radiator grille Market for MEA is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period primarily attributed to the growth of the automotive market and increasing usage of the Radiator grille in GCC and South Africa.Automotive Radiator grilles Market: Key PlayersFew of the major players in the, market include, the mesh company, honesty and faith, wire mesh fabrication. These companies are being profited with the increase in sale of automobile across the globe.Few players identified in Automotive Radiator grilles Market are:-The mesh companyHonesty & FaithWire Mesh fabricationShineyResearchMoz 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,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Topical Drug Delivery Systems Market Intelligence Report Offers Growth Prospects

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Topical drug delivery systems are designed to deliver drugs through topical routes such as the skin, mucosa or cavities in the body. These are applied locally for site specific action or to avoid first pass effect of the drug. Skin is the most readily accessible part of the body with a large surface area and is rich in blood vessels and porous structures, enhancing the absorption of the drugs. The topical drug delivery system has witnessed technological advancements over a period of time and is attracting many researchers to develop novel products in this area. Common skin diseases that are treated preferably by topical drug delivery system include bacterial infections, fungal infections, inflammations and pruritic manifestations, acne, psoriasis, hair and skin problems, and others. Nasal mucosa is highly perfused with blood vessels and has been proven as a site for faster absorption of drugs. Hence, there is increasing research toward the development of targeted drug delivery systems for nasal route. Topical is a highly preferred route of drug administration for the treatment of ocular disorders owing to its site specific action, reduced first pass metabolism, and faster action.Request to view Sample Report:The growing incidence and prevalence rate of tropical diseases is boosting the growth of the topical drug delivery systems market. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, in the U.S., about 50 million people are affected by acne each year. The global topical drug delivery systems market is expected to expand at a fast growth rate during the forecast period owing to factors such as increasing number of patients with skin diseases, preference for novel transdermal delivery systems, growing patient preference towards topical drugs over oral drugs owing to avoidance of bitter taste of the drugs taken orally, and desired site specific actions to treat many disorders. However, high development cost, different solubility profiles of drugs making product formulation challenging, stringent regulatory requirements, and difficult testing procedure of final products are some of the factors restraining the growth of the global market.The global topical drug delivery systems market is segmented based on drug delivery system, route of administration, distributor, and region. In terms of drug delivery system, the global market is segmented into conventional drug delivery systems and novel drug delivery systems. The conventional drug delivery systems segment is further categorized into solid drug delivery systems, semi-solid drug delivery systems, and liquid drug delivery systems. The solid drug delivery systems sub-segment is further divided into powders and suppositories. The semi-solid drug delivery systems sub-segment is further categorized into creams, ointments, gels, and pastes. The liquid drug delivery systems sub-segment is divided into lotions, sprays, solutions, and others. The novel drug delivery systems segment includes nanosomes, liposomes, and transdermal patches. Based on route of administration, the global market is segmented into dermal, ophthalmic, nasal, oromucosal, rectal, and vaginal. In terms of distributor, the market is categorized into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and online pharmacies.Geographically, the global topical drug delivery systems market is distributed over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global market for topical drug delivery systems owing to high incidence of skin diseases, growing awareness about cosmetic care, high health care expenditure, and growing R&D activities in the transdermal drug delivery systems by players located in the U.S. Europe is the second largest market due to growing geriatric population, increasing R&D investments, and rising adoption of novel drug delivery systems to treat chronic dermatological conditions. Asia Pacific is considered as an emerging market owing to higher prevalence of skin diseases due to unhealthy lifestyle among general population, and lack of hygiene, along with increasing awareness and accessibility for topical drugs for treatment of various diseases.Key players operating in the global topical drug delivery systems market include GlaxoSmithKline plc, Valeant, 3M, Bayer AG, Novartis AG, Cipla, Galderma S.A., Pharmatek Laboratories, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Transdermal Technologies, Inc., and Prosollus Pharmaceuticals.View Report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.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.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Welding Materials Market to observe high growth by 2024

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Welding Materials Market. The study, titled Welding Materials Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.The global welding materials market is growing on account of the thriving growth of application segments such as transportation, building and construction, marine, and automobiles. The growing urbanization in developing nations will drive the growth of this market. The increasing infrastructure development in Asia Pacific will also fuel the growth of the welding materials market. The technological advancements in the automobile industry will also aid the growth of this market. The automotive industry makes use of welding materials in various processes, including the manufacturing of the high quality, light-weight, and fuel efficient components.View Report Preview:One of the latest trends in the global welding materials market is the use of new materials, which results in reduced weight of the overall finished products. This will drive the welding materials market. The manufacturing of new welding equipment and materials will push the growth of this market. On the other hand, the use of welding products can pose safety and health issues among operators and this will restrict the growth of the market as regulatory bodies impose restriction on their use. The American National Standards (ANSI) has stated that welding can be a potential threat for operators as it may cause injury and illness.The market is characterized by the supremacy of large players. As this market is capital intensive, new entrants and local vendors face a tough challenge surviving in the market. Large players offer quality, functionality, and good services and give competition to local players.Welding Materials Market: OverviewWelding materials market may be mature owing to their use ever since industrial revolution, however, the market is still experiencing technological advancements, which is ensuring a continued growth of this industry. Welding processes are used extensively across various end-use industries such as automobiles, manufacturing, marine, offshore, and building and construction. This is leading to a growth in the global welding materials market. The process of welding makes use of coalescence to join metals or thermoplastics. The welding materials market primarily comprises welding equipment, accessories, and welding consumables. Some of the materials used for welding process, include solid wires, stick electrodes, SAW wires and fluxes, flux-cored wired, and gases.The report is a comprehensive analysis of key driving factors and obstacles faced by players in the global welding materials market. It is collated by expert analysts who make predictions based on the historical and present state and size of the market. The report segments the market on the basis of key criteria and gives information such as leading, declining, and fastest growing segments. Information regarding the degree of competition, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitutes, and bargaining power of suppliers has been included in the report. Thus, the report is enriched with key information which proves to be very fruitful for companies wishing to invest in the welding materials market.Welding Materials Market: Trends and OpportunitiesWhile the arc welding segment has been leading in the market, other technologies such as laser beam and resistant welding are also gaining popularity for specific applications for their ability to perform deep weld penetration and owing to their minimal size. The demand for welding materials is expected to continue to grow as welding is the only joining technique that can be used for applications such as space and underwater. For instance, welding is essential for repairing ships, pipelines, and offshore oil platforms. In marine applications, underwater welding is an emerging application. Additionally, it is used by end-user industries in repair and maintenance operations. Welding joints provide fatigue and corrosion resistance, and strength, boosting the welding materials market. The transportation and automobile industry is one of the biggest consumers of welding materials, thus driving the market.Market: Geographical AnalysisBy geography, the market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and the Rest of the World. Asia Pacific is expected to continue to lead in the welding materials market with countries such as China and India as leading markets in the region. A surge in construction activities, including residential and non residential projects is one of the reasons behind the growth of the Asia Pacific welding materials market. The growing transportation sector and support from government to promote the manufacturing sector are some of the other factors boosting the Chinese and Indian welding materials market. The European and North American markets have a lack of skilled labor in the welding industry and thus experiencing sluggish growth.Request to view Sample Report:Companies Mentioned in the ReportSome of the key manufacturers of welding materials are: The Linde Group, Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., Ador Welding Limited, Colfax Corporation, Illinois Tools Works Inc., Praxair Incorporated, ESAB, Air Liquide S.A., and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. The report gives a detailed analysis of each of the companys recent developments and strategic business moves for business expansion. The business and financial overview of companies and the challenges faced by them are a part of the competitive landscape section of the report.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Rising Occurrence of Respiratory Diseases are Likely to Impel the Growth of Nebulizer Market in Future, according to Research Nester

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Global Nebulizer Market: Global Historical Growth (2012-2016) & Future Outlook (2017-2024) Demand Analysis & Opportunity EvaluationThe global nebulizer market is segmented into product type such as ultrasonic nebulizer, compressor nebulizer, mesh nebulizer, portable nebulizer, pediatric nebulizer and accessories. Among these segments, compressor nebulizer segment is expected to occupy the leading position in the market. The rise of the compressor nebulizer segment is backed by its advantages such as, its ability to offer a range of particle sizes and high durability as compared to other products.Global nebulizer market is expected to register a notable CAGR over the forecast period. Moreover, the Global Nebulizer Market is expected to reach at notable revenue by the end of 2024. The market is expected to expand on the back of favorable government policies and increasing environmental awareness. Further, high occurrence chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as airflow blockage and breathing-related problems are likely to augment the growth of global nebulizer market]Request Report Sample@The North America nebulizer market is likely to grow at remarkable pace during the forecast period. Rising prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as airflow blockage and breathing-related problems is major driver of the North America nebulizer market.Increasing Number of Patients Suffering from Respiratory DiseasesIncreasing prevalence of respiratory diseases among the paediatric and geriatric population due to weak immune system is believed to be the dynamic factor behind the rapid growth of nebulizer market. Furthermore, growing demand for rescue medication during sudden asthma attack is also predicted to bolster the growth of nebulizer market by 2024. Moreover, continuous advancement in nebulization devices is also believed to spur the growth respiratory inhaler device marketRequest For TOC Here:Increasing Pollution and Unhealthy Life Style of ConsumersWith the growth of industrial sector which leads to environmental pollution as well as respiratory problems. Moreover, swelled disposable income coupled with increasing spending of the consumer towards healthcare products is envisioned to flourish the growth of nebulizer market. However, high reliability on electric source and chances of infection due to long term use of nebulizers are some of the factors that are likely to inhibit the growth of the nebulizer market in the near future.The report titled Global Nebulizer Market: Global Historical Growth (2012-2016) & Future Outlook (2017-2024) Demand Analysis & Opportunity Evaluation delivers detailed overview of the global nebulizer market in terms of market segmentation by product, by end-user and by region. Further, for the in-depth analysis, the report encompasses the industry growth drivers, restraints, supply and demand risk, market attractiveness, BPS analysis and Porters five force model.Buy This Premium Reports Now @This report also provides the existing competitive scenario of some of the key players of the global nebulizer market which includes company profiling of Philips Healthcare, OMRON Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Agilent Technologies,, Allied Healthcare Products, PARI Respiratory, Inc. , CareFusion Corporation, Aerogen , DeVilbiss Healthcare LLC, GF Health Products, Inc., and AirSsential. The profiling enfolds key information of the companies which encompasses business overview, products and services, key financials and recent news and developments. On the whole, the report depicts detailed overview of the global nebulizer market that will help industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, existing players searching for expansion opportunities, new players searching possibilities and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to the ongoing and expected trends in the future.For more details visit @Research Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.Contact for more Info:Name:- Ajay Daniel1820 Avenue M, Suite# 1113,Brooklyn, New York 11230Email: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comU.S. +1 646 586 9123U.K. +44 203 608 5919
Patient Monitoring Devices Market 2022- Identify Opportunities and Challenges

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Global Patient Monitoring Devices Market is expected to reach USD 23.4 billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 5.7%. North America is the largest market for patient monitoring devices while Asia-Pacific region is fastest growing. Europe is second largest market for patient monitoring device and expected to grow steadily during forecasting period.Patient monitoring devices in this report refer to the sensors which are used in smart wearable devices. Global Patient monitoring devices market is driven by increasing demand of wearable for infants and continuously evolving sensor technology. With increasing personal care and health consciousness, for tracking biometrics such as calories burnt, heart rate and others, the demand for wearable fitness trackers and other wearable is increasing. Rapid expansion of internet of things (IoT) is driving demand of Patient monitoring devices in various application areas such as healthcare and fitness, consumer electronics and others.Get a Copy of Sample Report @The global Patient monitoring devices market has been evaluated as steadily growing market and it is expected that the market will continue to grow similarly in the near future. These monitoring devices continuously check patients vital signs by using a medical monitor. Patient monitoring devices market has various functions such as glucose monitoring, blood monitoring, temperature monitoring, cholesterol monitoring, weight monitoring etc. Electrocardiography is fastest growing sub-segment, it is largest in cardiac monitoring market and fastest growing in neurological device. Electrocardiography is the process that checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. Electrocardiography is very helpful to diagnose unexplained chest pain or pressure, cause of symptoms of heart disease, to check how well medicines are working and see if they are causing side effects that affect the heart. Increase in consumer awareness is driving the market growth which expected to grow in same pace in near future. Patient monitoring devices manufacturers trying to make more advance, accurate and innovative device to provide desirable solution.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 120 market data tables and figures spread over 80 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Patient Monitoring Devices Market Research Report Global Forecast to 2022.Segments:Patient monitoring devices market has been segmented on the basis of product type which comprises Central monitoring stations, Portable bedside monitors, Electrocardiogram (ECG) Devices, Hemodynamic Monitoring Devices, Fetal and neonatal monitors, Respiratory Monitors, Weight management monitors, Temperature monitoring devices, and others. On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into Hospitals and clinics, Ambulatory care centers, Home care and others.Regional Analysis of Patient Monitoring Devices Market:Considering the global scenario of the market, North America region is believed to be the largest market for Patient monitoring devices. Moreover the European market is also growing and second largest market for Patient monitoring devices. On the other hand, Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the Patient monitoring devices during the forecasted period. Rest of the World is likely to have a limited but steady growth in the market.Browse Full Report Details @Key Players for Patient Monitoring Devices Market:Some of the key players in this market are: GE Healthcare, Roche Diagnostics, BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Abbott Laboratories, Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, CAS Medical Systems, Inc.,Spacelabs Healthcare, Honeywell International, Inc., Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co.The report for Patient Monitoring Devices Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regionsGet Discount @Study objectives of Patient monitoring devices Market:- To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Patient monitoring devices market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Patient monitoring devices market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by product type, by end user and its sub-segments. To provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Patient monitoring devices market.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Patient Monitoring Devices Market - Global Forecast To 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Anti-corrosion Nanocoatings Market to increase rapidly by 2024

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Anti-corrosion Nanocoatings Market. The study, titled Anti-corrosion Nanocoatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Corrosion is increasingly becoming a major issue for owners of industrial equipment and plants. Corrosion, which is mostly caused by a chemical attack, can lead to significant industrial losses. Corrosion, in its various forms, is estimated to cost the global economy US$3 Trn per year. The presence of corrosive chemicals can result in deterioration of a structure or equipment and is also a potential risk to personnel. It may also lead to permanent structural failure, which can be deemed costly in terms of repair. The corrosion phenomenon majorly affects economies of industrial companies. However, with the advent of innovative technologies, it is possible to eliminate corrosion in prior stages through anti-corrosion nanocoatings. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings consist of homogeneous thin films made up of alkoxides with chemically attached nanoparticles. Corrosion and high temperature oxidation can be reduced by coating materials made up of thin layer of chemically resistant oxides. Such films are primarily suitable for metallic surfaces. They offer various advantages such as low temperature processing, high purity, and control of the composition.View Report Preview:Nanocoatings are materials manufactured by shrinking raw materials at the molecular level to form a denser product. Nanocoatings are preferred over traditional coatings due to their lower content of VOCs. Additionally, nanocoatings offer characteristics such as resistance to scratch, UV, and chemical; low maintenance; anti-corrosion; and color and gloss retention. Nanocoatings are classified as anti-fingerprint, anti-microbial, anti-fouling and easy-to-clean, self-cleaning (bionic and photocatalytic) and others (specialty coatings, etc.). Anti-microbial is a highly used nanocoating across various end-user industries. Anti-microbial nanocoatings are employed in end-user industries such as medical and health care, water treatment, food manufacturing, and packaging. Anti-fouling and easy-to-clean nanocoatings are also employed on a large scale in marine, food manufacturing, automotive, and electronics industries, etc. The anti-fingerprint nanocoatings segment is expected to expand substantially in the near future due to the increasing demand in electronics, automotive, and medical and health care industries. Other types of nanocoatings are used in building & construction, packaging, and textiles industries.The global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market is expanding owing to the high demand in medical and automotive coatings industries. Growth in the coatings sector, rising demand, and urbanization in BRIC countries has been driving the global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market since the last few years. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings are used in medical equipment and implants. The medical and health care industry is likely to expand significantly in the next few years. Energy and electronics are high-growth end-users of anti-corrosion nanocoatings. This trend is estimated to continue in the next few years. Furthermore, increase in usage of anti-corrosion nanocoatings in automotive to retain color and gloss of the surface is likely to drive the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market in the near future. Demand for nanocoatings is high in the building & construction industry, as they inhibit microbial growth, mildew, and algae. Anti-corrosion nanocoatings are also used in food manufacturing, packaging, textiles, and water treatment industries, among others.The global anti-corrosion nanocoatings market is expected to witness significant growth due to the ability of these nanocoatings to provide high degree of adhesion and excellent chemical and abrasion resistance to meet the regulatory requirement. North America and Europe are the major markets for anti-corrosion nanocoatings, driven by the implementation of stringent emission standards to comply with the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Growth in the medical and health care industry in North America is estimated to drive the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market in the near future. Currently, the demand for medical equipment and implant coatings is high in North America. It is projected to rise owing to the increase in development in technology. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a rapidly growing market for anti-corrosion nanocoatings in the next few years. Demand for anti-corrosion nanocoatings is likely to increase in Asia Pacific due to growth in automotive and electronics industries.Key players operating in the anti-corrosion nanocoatings market include Buhler PARTEC GmbH, Nanogate AG, and P2i Ltd.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Anemia Drugs Market is envisaged to hit USD 34.7 Bn by 2022

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The Global Anemia Drugs Market is expected to be around US$21.4 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.4% to reach US$34.7 billion by the end of forecast period.Anemia is one of the most common disorder related to blood and affects a whooping one quarter of the world population. It is characterized by tiredness, shortness of breath, lack of exercise capacity, weakness etc. The reason for the above symptoms are the lowered capacity of blood to carry oxygen due to imbalance in the level of red blood cells. The disease has a propensity towards women especially pregnant and lactating and geriatrics.The global market for anemia is growing at a good rate and the market is expected to make a transition in favor of developing regions. The driving factors are growth of geriatric population, increasing awareness, increasing focus of social healthcare on women health and particularly anemia, rise in accidents and cancer, rise in other risk factors such as diabetes, modern lifestyle induced stress, poor nutritional habits, rise in lactating and pregnant women in developing regions, intestinal infections etc. The market opportunity is huge and the market is quite fragmented with a number of players. There is a huge unmet market especially in developing regions. In some nations the market can also be segmented into contract and private, with the contract market led by government contracts for anemic drugs for social health programs.Get a Copy of Sample Report @The drugs such as parenteral and oral iron supplements have a poor absorption and side effects associated with them. The market is devoid of a good efficacious drug and development pipeline represents a huge opportunity. Other restraints on the market is growing incomes of developing regions which will result in loss of patients affected by anemia due to nutritional factors.The Global anemia drugs market has been evaluated as a growing market and it is expected that the market will touch high growth figures in future. The global anemia drugs market is expected to grow with CAGR of ~8.4% during the forecast period. The rise will be led by the developing regions and market development will represent a good strategy. Market penetration is comparatively easy and the market is also devoid of a very efficacious drug. Thus research and development collaboration between companies will be a smart strategy. The rising healthcare funding in developing regions also provide a good opportunity for further market development. Biologics development pipeline represent another potential alternative for developing anemia drugs.Key Players for Global Anemia Drugs Market:Some of the key players in this market are: Amgen Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Bluebird bio, Biocon, GlycoMimetics Inc., Regen biopharma Inc., Bayer AG, Acceleron Pharma, Eli Lilly and company and others.Market Segments:Global anemia drugs market has been segmented on the basis of anemia type which comprises iron deficiency anemia, sickle cell anemia, aplastic anemia, hemolytic anemia pernicious anemia and others. On the basis of route of administration; market is segmented into oral and injectable. On the basis of gender; market is segmented into male and female. On the basis of product type; market is segmented into biologics and non-biologics. On the basis of end users; market is segmented into hospitals, self-administered and others.Browse Full Report Details @Regional Analysis of Global Anemia Drugs Market:Globally America is the largest market for anemia drugs followed closely by Europe. However it must be noted that the Asia pacific region is the fastest growing region and is poised to overtake the developed regions market soon. The Middle East and African market will also witness good growth rates. The chief cause for the greater growth of developing regions market is the rise of geriatrics population, unmet medical needs and social health schemes launched by governments and other bodies. The awareness towards women health and changes in social conditions is also fuelling the demand for anemic drugs.Get Discount @Study Objectives Global Anemia Drugs Market:To provide detail analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 7 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global anemia drugs market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segments by anemia type, by route of administration, by Gender (Male and Female), by product type, by end users and other sub segments. To provide overview of key players and their strategic profiling in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments globally.The report for Global Anemia Drugs Market of Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research along with the detail analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides detail information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different markets segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Anemia Drugs Market Research Report- Forecast to 2022 related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Therapeutic Medical Guide Wire Market Key Factor Analysis and Trend, By 2023

Therapeutic Medical Guide Wire Market

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The Global Therapeutic Medical Guide Wire Market is expected to grow at a CAGR 5.9% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Guide wire is a simple spring type wire that provides firmness and control to the site where angiogram is taken. The main function of guide wire is to guide the catheter for placement. This medical device is usually made up of stainless steel, but are also available in the form of metallic alloys. Majorly, there are two type of guide wires, i.e. solid guide wire, and wrapped guide wire. Both the types has one end rigid and other end flexible. The flexible tip enters the blood vessel first to prevent damage to the vessel. The most prominent advantage of using solid guide wire is that it reduces the chances of catheter tip flaring, and abrasion of the vessel.Rising prevalence of chronic disorders, technological advancements in medical guide wire, growing preference towards minimally invasive surgical procedures, and growing geriatric population are promoting the fuelling the growth of therapeutic medical guide wire market globallyGet a Sample Copy @However, lack of skilled physicians, and medical guide wire related health problems may hinder the growth of market to an extent.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 296 market data tables and figures spread over 251 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on therapeutic medical guide wire market research reportGlobal forecast till 2023.Major Key Players in Global Therapeutic Medical Guide Wire MarketSome of key the players in the market are Cordis (Cardinal Health), Biotronik, SP Medical A S, Infiniti Medical, Acme Monaco, Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic plc, Terumo Medical Corporation, Cook Medical, and others.Regional Analysis:The global therapeutic medical guide wire market consists of four regions: the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.The Americas is the leading market across the globe on account of large patient pool. According to the report published in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2017, nearly 92.1 million adults dealing with at least one type of cardiovascular disease.Europe accounts for the second largest market in the world. Europe consist of two regions namely Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe holds the major share of the market, which is majorly contributed by Germany, the U.K., and France. The increasing government support for development of the healthcare domain drives the European market.Check Discount @Asia Pacific region is projected to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period. Rising burden of chronic disorders, and rapidly improving technology drives the growth of this market in Asia Pacific region. As per the study published in BMC Public Health in 2017, prevalence of type-2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease has increased rapidly in recent years.The Middle East and Africa holds the least share of the global market owing to the presence of poor and slow developing countries, especially, in African region.SegmentationThe global therapeutic medical guide wire market is segmented on the basis of type, shape, application, and end-users.On the basis of type, the market is segmented into solid guide wire, and wrapped guide wire.On the basis of shape, the market is classified into j-shaped, angled, and straight.On the basis of application, the market is classified into peripheral artery disease, cardiovascular diseases, neurovascular diseases, and urological disease.On the basis of end -users, the market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, and academic institutes.Ask to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market 2018-2023; By Type, Application and Region

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The Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose Market is expected to grow at a CAGR 4.1% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Pharmaceutical grade lactose is produced by concentrating whey or permeate to over-saturate the lactose which is further refined, dried, and milled properly. This grade of lactose is prepared to meet rigid pharmaceutical specifications. Pharmaceutical grade lactose is manufactured in different specialty and customized range to use in various oral solid dosage forms (OSDFs) such as tablets, capsules, sachets, dry powder inhalers and others. In solid form, lactose can either be in an amorphous state or in a crystalline state.The most well-known forms of crystalline lactose are -lactose monohydrate and -lactose. The general properties offered by lactose such as, cost effectiveness, low hygroscopicity, excellent physical and chemical stability, compatibility with other ingredients, and its bland taste contribute to its acceptance by government bodies as lactose is marked safe according to the regulations of FDA Inactive Ingredients Database and is also GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) listed. Lactose and its complex are also predominately recommended as filler/diluent in solid dosage forms by European Pharmacopoeia.Get a Sample Copy @Increasing approval from government bodies to use pharmaceutical grade lactose as an excipient, drug formulation coupled with nanotechnology, efficient compatibility with active ingredients and other excipients, and increasing demand for dry powder inhalers (DPI) products will propel the growth of the market. However, lactose-induced health complications, stringent government regulations, and lack of compatibility of pharmaceutical grade lactose with amine based drugs may hinder the growth of market to an extent.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 296 market data tables and figures spread over 251 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Pharmaceutical grade lactose market research reportGlobal forecast till 2023.Major Key Players in Global Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose MarketSome of key the players in the market are BASF SE, Merck KGaA, Kerry Inc. DFE Pharma, Meggle, Armor Pharma, ALPAVIT and others.Regional Analysis:The pharmaceutical grade lactose market consists of four regions namely the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.Europe accounts for the largest market in the world. Europe consist of two regions namely Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Western Europe holds the major share of the market, which is majorly contributed by Germany, the U.K., and France. The increasing government support for development of the pharmaceutical domain drives the European market.Check Discount @Asia Pacific region is projected to be the second largest, and fastest growing region owing to the improving health infrastructure, and developing pharmaceutical industry. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), in 2016 the generics market of India stood at USD 26.1 billion. Asia Pacific consists of regions namely Japan, China, India, Australia, Republic of Korea, and rest of Asia Pacific.Pharmaceutical grade lactose market growth in the Americas is majorly attributed to the approval for the usage of lactose as excipient by FDA. However, high occurrence of lactose induced problems has strongly affected the growth of the market.The Middle East and Africa holds the least share of the global market owing to the presence of poor and slow developing countries, especially, in African region.SegmentationThe pharmaceutical grade lactose market is segmented on the basis of type, and application.On the basis of type, the market is segmented into crystalline monohydrate lactose, inhalation lactose, granulated lactose, spray dried lactose, and others. Crystalline monohydrate lactose is further segmented into -Lactose monohydrate, and -Lactose (anhydrous lactose). Sub-segmentation of -Lactose monohydrate includes milled, and sieved. Inhalation lactose is further segmented into sieved, and milled.On the basis of application, the market is classified into tablets manufacturing, capsule manufacturing, and others. Tablets manufacturing is further classified into direct compression, wet granulation, and dry granulation. Capsule manufacturing is further classified into capsules, sachets, and others.Ask to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Anti-snoring Devices and Snoring Surgery Market Research Report with Top Key players like Apnea Sciences Corporation, ImThera Medical Inc., ResMed, SomnoMed and Airway Management

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Databridgemarketresearch.com Launched New report on Global Anti Snoring Devices Market is expected to reach USD xx million by 2024, from USD xx million in 2016, at a CAGR of xx% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024. The new market report contains data for historic years 2014 and 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Anti-snoring device comprises of a compressor and a tube is connected to this compressor which feeds the compressed air through a tube to a snore reducing nasal air cannula. The anti-snoring devices are the devices which are used to help those people who have snoring problems; these devices help in the reduction of snores as snoring can lead to various health risks such as strioke, arrhythmias, aastroesophageal reflux disease, heart disease among others.This report consists of below pages: No of pages: 350 No of Figures: 50 No of Tables: 250Free Sample Report Available @:This market is steadily progressing, driven by various factors such as ageing population, increasing prevalence of obesity, increasing consumption of cigarette and alcohol, growing healthcare expenditure, government initiatives towards better health and increasing awareness about ill effects of snoring. However the high cost of the anti-snoring devices can be the restraining factor for the growth of this market.Market Segmented:On The Basis Of Device: - prescription, distribution channel end-user and geography.On The Basis Of device type: - oral appliances, nasal devices, tongue stabilizing devices, expiratory positive airway pressure therapy devices, chin straps and position control devices.On The Basis Of Prescription: - over the counter and prescription based.On The Basis Of Distribution Channel: - retail stores, manufacturers website, pharmacy stores and others.Access Full Report @On The Basis Of End User: - hospitals, home healthcare, sleep clinics among others.On The Basis Of Geography, the market is segmented into 5 geographical regions, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and rest of the world.Market Competitive Analysis:The global anti-snoring devices market report contains an in-depth profiling of the key market players, along with the recent developments (New device launches, partnerships, agreements, collaborations, and joint ventures) and strategies adopted by them to sustain and strengthen their positions in the market. For instance, in April 2017, ResMed announced the next-generation continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device called the ResMedAirMini for sale which is the smallest CPAP solution and achieved new heights in patient-centered innovation in the market.Top Manufacturers are:The report also includes companys share analysis for the major companies operating in this market by major regions as North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The details of mergers and acquisitions, device launches, expansions, and device life cycle matrix are also a part of this report. Some of the major players operating in this market are GE Healthcare (U.S.A), Koninklijke Philips N.V (U.S.A), AccuMED Corp. (U.S.A), Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited. (New Zealand), Apnea Sciences Corporation (U.S.A), ImThera Medical, Inc. (U.S.A), ResMed (U.S.A), SomnoMed (Australia), Airway Management (U.S.A), GlaxoSmithKline plc. (U.K.), inSleep Health (U.S.A), Meditas (U.K.), The Pure Sleep Company (U.S.A), Theravent, Inc. (U.S.A),Tomed GmbH (Germany) among others.Any query? Talk to Expert @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit Blog:Follow us on LinkedIn:
Medical Tourism Market Estimation and Core Contributor by 2023; Fortis Healthcare, Prince Court Medical Centre, Samitivej PCL

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The Global Medical Tourism Market is growing at a steady pace and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.4% during the forecasted period 2017-2023.Medical tourism or health tourism refers to traveling abroad to a foreign nation for the purpose of seeking healthcare services. The activities are not restricted to only surgical intervention and may involve medical check-ups, and other practices that require skilled medical interventions. According to OECD estimates, nearly 50 million medical tourists travelled to the emerging nations in 2016.Market dynamics of the Global Medical Tourism MarketThe Medical tourism market is been driven by factors such as rising geriatric population, high cost of treatment in developed countries, availability of cost-effective and quality treatments in developing countries, development of effective travel especially air travel, assistance from tourism departments and local governments, availability and spread of latest medical technologies throughout the world, high penetration of health insurance, development of communication technology, and others.Get a Sample Report @The rise of in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy, retro-production has also stimulated the market. International accreditation is a key factor boosting international medical tourism. Currently, over 600 health facilities in the world are accredited by the U.S. Joint Commission International (JCI), which is growing by 20% each year.The market restraints are limited coverage and insufficient reimbursement offered by insurance companies, difficulties associated with cross border travel, such as cultural barriers, connectivity issues, documentation, and VISA approval issues, and others.Key Players in the Global Medical Tourism MarketSome of the key players in this market are Asklepios Kliniken Verwaltungs gesellschaft mbH (Germany), Fortis Healthcare (India), Gleneagles Global Hospitals Group. (India), Prince Court Medical Centre (Malaysia), Samitivej PCL (Thailand), Christus Muguerza (Mexico), Anadolu Medical Center (Turkey), and others.Mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and joint ventures for delivering enhanced medical care, is an attractive strategy that is being pursued by many players. These mergers result in increased buying power for the players leading to economies of scale. The cost saving due to the economies of scale help to sustain the intense competition resulting in higher returns on investment. It also strengthens the market positions. Examples of collaborations include Bumrungrad International Hospital (Bangkok) and IBM Watson for better cancer care, and the collaboration of Anadolu Medical Centre (Turkey) with Johns Hopkins Medicine (U.S.).Segments of the Global Medical Tourism MarketMedical tourism market has been segmented on the basis of treatment types, which comprises of orthopedic/spine treatments, oncology/cancer treatments, cosmetic treatments, cardiovascular/cardiology treatments, dental treatments, neurology/neurosurgery treatments, fertility/IVF treatments, and others.This treatment may include a wide array of medical services; however, the most frequently availed services include cancer treatment, orthopedic treatment, neurological disease treatment, elective surgery, fertility treatment, and others.Check Discount @Regional Analysis of Global Medical Tourism MarketMedical Tourism Index ranks Canada, U.K. Israel, and Singapore as the key destinations. Globalization has led to a huge impact on the market for medical tourism as can be witnessed by the dominance of Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is home to many emerging economies of the world. The Asia Pacific region accounted for the largest share of the global medical tourism market, of greater than 40% in 2016. This growth is attributed to infrastructure development, rising economy, technology up gradation of health facilities, low cost and quality medical services, and government initiative to promote medical tourism in this region. Asia Pacific market was led by Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The rise of x-soviet economies is the hallmark of medical tourism in the European continent. Countries such as Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia have leveraged their healthcare systems for medical tourism.Americas holds the second position in the medical tourism, followed by Europe. Central and South American countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba and Ecuador are popular destinations for medical tourists. The South American nations have specialised in cosmetic surgery and includes destinations such as Brazil, Argentina and others. According to Patients Beyond Borders, global medical tourism market grew at CAGR rate of 15% to 25% and Mexico was predicted to the fastest growing market. The Middle East and Africa have poor market owing to poorly developed healthcare sector and socio-economic development. Israel and Jordan are the best destinations for medical tourism in Middle East and Africa.The global medical tourism market is likely to witness a flurry of branding activities as marketing has a large effect on the return on investment. Many destinations have specialised in specific segments. For example, India, Thailand, and Singapore are renowned for specialist cardiac surgeries, cosmetic surgery and complicated surgical procedures respectively. Malaysia offers state-of-the-art medical infrastructure and is anticipated to acquire one of the top market positions in the global medical tourism market, during the forecast period.Ask to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Lancet Market Top Key Player Analysis till 2022; Terumo Medical Co, Bayer Cropscience Ltd, HTL-STREFA S.A

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The Global Lancet Market is growing at an exponential rate and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% during 2016 to 2022.Globally, lancets are being utilized by patients who are affected by endocrine related complications, cardiovascular issues, and many others. Lancets are being used for diabetes/glucose test, tests in infants, heel-stick screening tests, as well as for scarred emergency patients or severely burned patients.The increasing prevalence of diabetes and growing incidence number of contagious and non-contagious diseases has been the major factor for influencing the growth of the market. Incidence of contagious diseases is increasing rapidly on a global level. According to the WHO, it has been calculated that, infectious diseases like plaque which is also known as black death has an estimated 50 million deaths in the 14th century, this infectious disease can be a serious disease if not treated, this disease has a case fatality ratio of around 30%-60%, as of 2013 there were 783 cases worldwide which includes 126 deaths.Get a Sample Report @The global lancet market appears to be oligopolistic owing to the presence of large players active in the regional market. The market is also characterized by a reasonable degree of brand loyalty where establishing a brand name is difficult for newcomers. However, the cost involved in manufacturing setup is low to medium which discreetly comfort the new entrants to enter in the market easily. Developments in the medical device industry are made to simplify the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of various diseases. One of such device is lancet, which is capturing a huge market share due to its application. Safety lancets and personal lancets being the two major types of the lancets are dominating the global lancet market.Industry UpdatesJune, 2016: F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG received European approval of Avastin Drug in combination with Tarceva for cancer patients with a specific type advance lung cancer.January, 2016: Catalent Inc., a company involved in biologics announced its research collaboration with Roche on Smartag(TM) technology. Catalent claims Roche will pay Catalent an up-front fee of $1 million. Roche to provide additional research funding during the initial phase of the collaboration between these two companies.October, 2015: BD announced the acquisition of GenCellBio systems, an Irish biotech company that has developed proprietary technologies that address key biological analysis protocols, for an undisclosed consideration. The acquisition is expected to improve the BDs Next Generation Sequencing line of products.August, 2015: Roche Holding AG acquired GeneWEAVE to strengthen offerings in microbiology diagnostics. Roche will pay GeneWEAVE shareholdsers $190 million upfront and up to $235 million in contingent product related milestones.March, 2015: BD completed the acquisition of CareFusion Corporation (CareFusion) for $12.2 billion. CareFusion will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of BD. The acquisition is intended to enhance the medication management and patient safety solutions provided by BD.March, 2015: BD announced the acquisition of CRISI Medical Systems, a medical technology company focused on providing safety and delivery of IV injectable medications. The acquisition will strengthen BDs position in addressing preventable medication errors and improve care delivery efficiencies.Check Discount @Global Lancets Market - Competitive AnalysisMany key players involved in this market are keen in introducing new advanced safety lancets for the treatment of various contagious diseases. HTL-STREFA S.A. accounted for major market share of global lancet market, with more than 35% of market share. The large share of the company is attributed to the high demand for safety lancet globally. Moreover, this company has a strong sales and distribution network and this company also provides after sales services and help which play a major role in the satisfaction of the customers. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG accounts for approximately 22% which can be attributed to their product the ACCU-CHEK which is one of the safety lancets having high demand in the market.The major players in the market which have global operations of the Lancet market, and are consistently working for the development of the following technology are F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Greiner Bio One International GmbH, Improve Medical Technology Co. Ltd, Terumo Medical Corporation, Bayer Cropscience Limited, HTL-STREFA S.A, Sarstedt AG & Co and others.Global Lancets Market  Regional AnalysisThe oligopolistic nature of the market with North America at its prime holding the largest regional share. The factors contributing to this major share include the well-established healthcare infrastructure and the high income generating end users. As of now the medical device industry is majorly established in the U.S. and Europe. But trends are showing enormous growth opportunity in Asia, wherein China will play a prominent role in both usage and development of medical devices.Moreover, in terms of volume; manufacturers from China are anticipated to capture a large portion of the market, companies such as Guangzhou IMPROVE MEDICAL Technology Co. Ltd, SteriLance Medical (Suzhou) Inc., and others are contributing to this major portion. These companies have established their manufacturing unit worldwide.Ask to Expert @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Automotive Tow Bars Market Prospects And Estimations Forecasted During 2017-2022

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The study begins with a detailed overview of the market for Global automotive towbars, including the definition, classification, and industry chain structure of Automotive Tow Bars Market, and move forward to cover every aspect of this market, counting several criteria based on which the market is classified. Focusing specifically on the key trends, it further evaluates the overall performance of this market during the assessment period. With Automotive industry undergoing a phase of technological disruption, innovations in products are likely to shape the future of the Global Automotive TowBars Market.Rapid advancements in both the manufacturing techniques coupled with towbar materials have led to a boom in the automotive towbar market. Newer technologies and material science have allowed key stakeholders to use either polymers or metals with a high tensile strength that has considerably improved the operational life of automotive towbars. In addition to this, manufacturing processes such as 3D printing have allowed companies to produce extremely complex towbar components in the shortest possible timeframe. The automotive towbar market is directly linked to the growth of the automotive sector that has a bright future, particularly in under-penetrated, rapidly growing emerging economies.Another name for an automotive towbar is a tow hitch. As the name suggests, an automotive towbar is meant to tow a vehicle that is not in a working condition or has broken down for some reason. Towbars effectively transport the broken down vehicle to the nearest service center as they attach it to another vehicle that tugs the former along.Fact.MR has studied the automotive towbar market for a five-year period and it is anticipated to record a modest CAGR of 2.8% and grow to just over US$ 6.8 billion by end 2022.Retractable Towbars Largest Segment in Automotive Towbars MarketThe retractable towbar segment comprises more than a quarter revenue share in the automotive towbar market by product type and is poised to be worth almost US$ 1.9 billion by end 2022. Even though Europe represents the largest region in this segment, companies are advised to target Latin America also as this dynamic, fast-growing region is estimated to record the highest CAGR.Request For Sample Report-Detachable Towbars to Gain Popularity in Automotive Towbars MarketDetachable towbars account for a slightly lesser contribution in terms of product type in the automotive towbars Market. APEJ is anticipated to push past Europe by the end of the forecast period and be worth just over US$ 442 million. However, Europe cannot be ignored at the cost of APEJ and key stakeholders in the automotive towbars Market are advised to devise their long-term strategies accordingly.IAM and OEM Segment Have Similar Market OpportunityThe IAM and OEM segment have a similar market as both have a revenue share of approx. 1/3rd in the automotive towbar market. This equates to a market value of nearly US$ 2.4 billion by the end of the study period, making them extremely lucrative opportunities in the automotive towbar market. Along with Europe, companies could look at targeting either North America or APEJ as these regions have the greatest potential in the automotive towbar market.Browse Full Report With TOC-Close Call Between Compact and Mid-sized Passenger CarsIt is a closely fought battle between compact cars and mid-sized passenger cars in the automotive towbar market with the former currently leading. Companies that wish to focus on the compact segment in the automotive towbar market are recommended to focus on either Europe or APEJ as these two regions are on track to exceed half a billion dollars by end 2022.5 Forecast Highlights on Global Automotive Tow Bars Market1. The retractable tow bars segment by product type seems to be the largest segment compared to other segments in product type. It is anticipated to grow and reflect a value of about US$ 2 Bn by 2022 end. The key manufacturers are advised to focus on APEJ region owing to higher potential in this region, apart from Europe in this particular segment.2. The detachable tow bars segment have started to gain popularity in the recent months. The APEJ region is poised to surpass Europe region in this segment and is expected to be a worth over US$ 440 Mn. Europe also shows good attractiveness in this respect.3. IAM and OEM segments by sales channel show similar growth opportunities and both have a revenue share, approximately 1/3rd of the automotive tow bars market. This value is equivalent to almost US$ 2 Bn by the end of the forecasted period (2022). Along with Europe region, the key companies can also shift their focus on the North America and Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region which show good opportunities and a high potential in the automotive tow bars market.4. The compact passenger cars segment by vehicle type experience higher growth rate and is poised to register a CAGR of 3.1% during the period of forecast. The mid-sized passenger cars segment reflects sluggish growth rate during the period of forecast and also has low market share by revenue as compared to the compact passenger cars segment.It is also expected by the compact passenger cars segment to gain additional BPS by the end of 20225. Europe region shows higher market attractiveness and is more lucrative than other regions followed by Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region. The APEJ region is anticipated to show higher growth in the coming yearsRequest For Discount On This Report-Competition DashboardThe Fact.MR report on the automotive towbar market has profiled active companies in the automotive towbar market which include Bosal International N.V., Westfalia Automotive GMBH, Thule Group, Dixon Bate Limited, David Murphy Towing Brackets Limited, and Brink Group B.V.About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MRSuite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandTelephone: +353-1-6111-593Email: sales@factmr.com/Web:
Global Fetal Monitoring Market Research Report: Full In-depth Analysis by Latest Trend, Share, Size, Application, Growth and Forecast to 2024

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Global Fetal Monitoring Market is expected to reach USD 3,245.49 million by 2024 from USD 1,954.00 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.7% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024. The new market report contains data for historic years 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.The major factors driving the growth of this market are the increasing birth rates and preterm births, technological advancements and new product launch, government and non-government funds for the best facilities. These factors increase the demand for devices such as ultrasound, fetal Doppler, fetal electrodes. On the other hand, stringent regulatory procedures, high cost of equipment may hinder the growth of the market.Free Sample Report Available @Key Manufacturers Analyzed In This Report:GE healthcare is going to dominate the global fetal monitoring market following with, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Fujifilm Holding Corporation and Siemens along with others such as Edan Instruments Inc., Neoventa Medical AB, Medtronic, Natus Medical incorporated, Cooper Companies, Inc., MedGyn Products Inc., Dixion, Lutech Industries Inc, Advanced Instruments, Inc, Shenzhen Bestman Instrument Co., Ltd., TRISMED Co., LTD, Progetti Srl, ArjoHuntleigh, Analogic Corporation, Wallach Surgical Devices, OSI System Inc. Instruments & consumables market segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global fetal monitoring market. This segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the forecast period 2017 to 2024. The non-invasive method is one of the dominating sectors of global fetal monitoring market. This segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.Market Segmentation: Product Type Portability Methods Application End Users Distribution ChannelBased on Product Type, the global fetal monitoring market is segmented into instruments & consumables and software. In 2017, Instruments & Consumables market segment is expected to account for the largest share of 86.5% of the global fetal monitoring market. Instruments and consumables are further segmented into ultrasound, electronic maternal/fetal monitor, fetal electrodes, fetal doppler, telemetry solutions, accessories & consumables and other products. Ultrasound is further sub segmented into 2D ultrasound and 3D & 4D ultrasound. Electronic maternal/fetal monitor is again sub divided into external monitor and other monitors.On The Basis Of Portability, the global fetal monitoring market is segmented into standalone systems and portable systems. Portable systems are further sub segmented into wearable systems and non-wearable systems. In 2017, the standalone segment is expected to dominate the market with 70.3% market share.On The Basis Of Methods, the global fetal monitoring market is segmented into non-invasive method and invasive method.Access Full Report @On The Basis Of Application, the global fetal monitoring market is segmented into antepartum fetal monitoring and intrapartum fetal monitoring. Antepartum is the most common and the highest growing segment with the highest CAGR of 7.6% in the forecast period 2017 to 2024.On The Basis Of End Users, the global fetal monitoring market is classified into hospitals, gynecological/obstetrics clinics, homecare and others. Among these, in 2017 hospitals segment dominated the market and the trend is expected to remain the same till 2024.On The Basis Of Distribution Channel, the global fetal monitoring market is classified into direct tender and retail. Among these, in 2017 direct tender segment dominated the market and the trend is expected to remain the same till 2024.Key Drivers:Some of the major factors driving the market for global fetal monitoring market are increasing birth rates and preterm births, government and non-government funds for the best facilities, technological advancements and new product launch. These factors increase the demand for devices such as electronic fetal monitors and Ultrasound. Fetal monitoring market is growing due to increasing birth rate and pre term births. In 2015, due to preterm birth complications, estimated 1 million deaths occurred among children under 5 years of age. Many companies are increasingly focusing on technological advancement of devices in order to strengthen their product portfolios in the fetal monitor market.Any query? Feel Free to Inquire @About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit BlogFollow us on LinkedIn:
Global Dust Collector Market Report 2017 with Top Key Players : Alstom, Donaldson, Kelin

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Dust Collector Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.A newly added research report about the global market for Dust Collector produces a 360-degree overview of it. The report brings to the fore important details and elucidates every aspect expected to mold its path going forward. It sheds light on stimulants and deterrents affecting the market. It also provides a quantitative and qualitative description of their expected impact on the market over the course of the forecast period. The primary intent is to help key stakeholders comprehend the dynamics and calculate their moves accordingly.The various segments of the global market for Dust Collector have been discussed carefully at length. The various application segments, product segments, and end user segments have been discussed in the report, leveraging historical and current figures. Leveraging both primary and secondary research, the report arrives at growth figures for each of the segments. This enables it to find out the global market for Dust Collectors growth prospects. This helps to furnish a granular overview of the market for Dust Collector and the areas where main opportunities lie.For More Info Download Free Report Sample :A thorough examination of the competitive landscape of the global market for Dust Collector has also been provided in the report. Prominent participants in the global market for Dust Collector have been examined and data pertaining to their sales and revenues, among other things, have been presented. The report examines their strengths and weaknesses. This report has been prepared carefully with data gathered through primary and secondary research methods.The primary intention of the report is to help the companies operating in the global market for Dust Collector to gain an insight into the current market dynamics, including opportunities and pitfalls that would enable them to strategize sagaciously. To do, it deploys analytical tools to understand the competitive landscape at present.Table of Contents1 Dust Collector Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Dust Collector1.2 Classification of Dust Collector1.3 Application of Dust Collector1.4 Dust Collector Market by Regions1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Dust Collector (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Dust Collector Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Dust Collector Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Global Dust Collector Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Global Dust Collector Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Dust Collector Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Dust Collector (Volume and Value) by Type2.3 Global Dust Collector (Volume and Value) by Regions2.4 Global Dust Collector (Volume) by ApplicationTo Get Discount Of This Report Click here @3 United States Dust Collector (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Dust Collector Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Dust Collector Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Dust Collector Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 United States Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by Application4 China Dust Collector (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Dust Collector Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Dust Collector Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Dust Collector Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 China Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 China Dust Collector Sales and Market Share by ApplicationList of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Dust CollectorTable Classification of Dust CollectorFigure Global Sales Market Share of Dust Collector by Type in 2015Figure Global Sales Market Share of Dust Collector by Application in 2015Figure United States Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure China Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Europe Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Japan Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Southeast Asia Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure India Dust Collector Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Figure Global Dust Collector Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Solar Photovoltaic in Turkey Market Outlook to 2030

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ReportsWeb.com published Solar Photovoltaic Market from its database. 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."Solar Photovoltaic (PV) in Turkey, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2017-Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles", is the latest report from Publisher, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market in Turkey.The report provides in depth analysis on global renewable power market and global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Turkey (includes conventional thermal, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details renewable power market outlook in the country (includes hydro, small hydro, biopower and Solar Photovoltaic (PV)) and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Turkey Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is provided in the report. The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants.Request a sample copy @The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by Publisher's team of industry experts.Scope:The report analyses global renewable power market, global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market, Turkey power market, Turkey renewable power market and Turkey Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. The scope of the research includes--A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption.-An overview on global renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends, generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. The information is covered for the historical period 2006-2016 (unless specified) and forecast period 2017-2030.-Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), Solar Photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), small hydro power (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.-Detailed overview of the global Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major Solar Photovoltaic (PV)power countries in 2016 and key owners information of various regions.-Power market scenario in Turkey and provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with forecasts up to 2030.-An overview on Turkey renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2006-2030), generation trends(2006-2030) and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources in 2016.-Detailed overview of Turkey Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market with installed capacity and generation trends and major active and upcoming Solar Photovoltaic (PV) projects.-Deal analysis of Turkey Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market. Deals are analyzed on the basis of mergers, acquisitions, partnership, asset finance, debt offering, equity offering, private equity (PE) and venture capitalists (VC).-Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewable power sources in general and Solar Photovoltaic (PV) in particular.-Company snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country.For more information about this report @Reasons to buy:-The report will enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.-Identify key growth and investment opportunities in Turkey Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market.-Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) market.-Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industry's growth potential.-Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.-Identify key partners and business development avenues.-Understand and respond to your competitors' business structure, strategy and prospects.Companies Mentioned:STUDIO TECNICO BFP s.r.l.Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 22 Executive Summary 63 Introduction 94 Renewable Power Market, Global, 2006-2030 155 Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Market, Global, 2006-2030 316 Power Market, Turkey, 2006-2030 467 Renewable Power Market, Turkey, 2006-2030 608 Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Market, Turkey, 2006-2030 759 Power Market, Regulatory Scenario, Turkey 8710 Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Market, Turkey, Company Profiles 9411 Appendix 95Inquire for Report @About ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Phone : +91-20-67278686E-Mail : info@reportsweb.com
Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) 2018 Market Segmentation,Application,Technology & Market Analysis Research Report to 2021

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) 2018 Market Segmentation,Application,Technology & Market Analysis Research Report to 2021.Description:The Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 3.71% from 33260 million $ in 2013 to 37100 million $ in 2016, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2021, The market size of the Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) will reach 43600 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDManufacturer DetailEdison ChouestTidewaterBourbon OffshoreGulf MarkMaersk Supply ServiceFarstad Shipping ASAHornbeckSwireDOFDeep Sea SupplyHARVEY GULFSEACOR MarineSiem OffshoreSolstad OffshoreCoslIsland OffshoreHavilaPACC Offshore ServicesContinueAsk Query @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Product DefinitionSection 2 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Manufacturer Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Shipments2.2 Global Manufacturer Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Revenue2.3 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market OverviewSection 3 Manufacturer Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.1 Edison Chouest Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.1.1 Edison Chouest Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2013-20163.1.2 Edison Chouest Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 Edison Chouest Interview Record3.1.4 Edison Chouest Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Profile3.1.5 Edison Chouest Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Product Specification3.2 Tidewater Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.2.1 Tidewater Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2013-20163.2.2 Tidewater Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Tidewater Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Overview3.2.5 Tidewater Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Product Specification3.3 Bourbon Offshore Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.3.1 Bourbon Offshore Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2013-20163.3.2 Bourbon Offshore Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Bourbon Offshore Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Overview3.3.5 Bourbon Offshore Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Product Specification3.4 Gulf Mark Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.5 Maersk Supply Service Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business Introduction3.6 Farstad Shipping ASA Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Business IntroductionSection 4 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.1.2 Canada Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.3 Asia Country4.3.1 China Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.3.2 Japan Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.3.3 India Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.3.4 Korea Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.4.2 UK Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.4.3 France Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.4.4 Italy Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.4.5 Europe Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.5.2 Africa Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.5.3 GCC Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Size and Price Analysis 2013-20164.6 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 2013-20164.7 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)5.1 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) Market Size 2013-20165.2 Different Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Product Type Price 2013-20165.3 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2013-20166.2 Different Industry Price 2013-20166.3 Global Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Market Forecast 2017-20217.1 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Segmentation Market Forecast (Region Level)7.2 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Segmentation Market Forecast (Product Type Level)7.3 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)7.4 Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) Segmentation Market Forecast (Channel Level)Continue.For more information or any 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Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Double-acting hydraulic cylinders to hold largest share of market between 2017 and 2023

MarketsandMarkets

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According to the new market research report "Hydraulic Cylinder Market by Function (Single Acting, Double Acting), Specification (Telescopic, Tie Rod, Mill Type, Welded), Application (Mobile and Industrial), Bore size, Industry, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023",The hydraulic cylinder market is expected to be valued at USD 13.64 Billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 19.30 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.95% between 2017 and 2023. The key factor driving the growth of the hydraulic cylinder market is their rising demand in the construction industry and mining process equipment.Increasing demand for lifting equipment in the shipping industry and for material handling equipment in the aerospace & defense industry is the key opportunity for the players in the hydraulic cylinder market.Download PDF Brochure-Browse 66 Market Data Tables and 55 Figures spread through 154 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Hydraulic Cylinder Market - Global Forecast to 2023"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports.Double-acting hydraulic cylinders to hold largest share of market between 2017 and 2023Double-acting hydraulic cylinders are suitable in presses and chippers for opening and closing drawers and for all types of raising and lowering devices. Unlike single-acting, double-acting cylinders have 2 ports i.e., cap end port and rod end port enabling them to operate hydraulically in forward as well as backward direction. Companies involved in the development of double-acting hydraulic cylinders include Hirotaka (Japan), Nordon Cylinders (Australia), SSH Stainless (Denmark), and Helipebs Controls (UK), among others.Construction industry to hold largest share of hydraulic cylinder market between 2017 and 2023Excavators, telehandlers, compactors, backhoe loaders, concrete and cement machines, drilling rigs, wheel loaders, loading shovels, dumper trucks, and quick hitches are deployed with heavy-duty hydraulic cylinders. These machines extensively use hydraulic cylinders for a wide range of specific purposes owing to their strength, performance, and reliability. Hydraulic cylinder providers operating in the construction industry include JARP Industries (US), Oscar Equipment (India), AH Garner (UK), and Actuant (US).APAC held largest share of hydraulic cylinder market in 2016APAC is the largest and fastest-growing market for hydraulic cylinders. APAC accounted for a share of ~32% of the global hydraulic cylinder market in 2016. The market in this region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.30% between 2017 and 2023. This growth is mainly attributed to the growing adoption of hydraulic cylinders across manufacturing industries. The increasing popularity of hydraulic cylinders owing to their superior results encourages more companies in APAC to install these cylinders in automated equipment. Some of the key players in the hydraulic cylinder market in APAC are Wipro (India), Apex Hydraulics (India), EZY-FIT Hydraulics. (Australia), and Yuci Hydraulics (China).The major players in the hydraulic cylinder market are Caterpillar (US), Parker Hannifin (US), Actuant (US), Eaton (Ireland), Jiangsu Hengli Hydraulic (China), Robert Bosch (Germany), and Wipro (India).About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.MarketsandMarketss flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.Mr. RohanMarketsandMarkets INC.630 Dundee RoadSuite 430Northbrook, IL 60062USA : 1-888-600-6441sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Global Normal Balloon Catheter Market Size, Demand, Trend Analysis And Forecast With Top Players Analysis: Reviewed Till 2022

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To understand the Normal balloon catheter Industry Status worldwide, Fact.MR has included the latest Forecast report titled Normal Balloon Catheter Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking: Global Review 2017 to 2022, to its vast database. This study offers data about the prime regions operating in the Normal balloon catheter manufacturing sector, along with their production, consumption, revenue and market share details. Further, the intelligent report also anticipates that the market would grow at a constructive CAGR until 2022.Request For Sample Report-Normal balloon catheter, an innovative medical device, comprises a catheter and a guidewire that is inserted into femoral artery in the legs, or, sometimes into radial artery in arms for treating constricted blood vessels. Generally normal balloon catheter is utilized for preventing blood vessel constriction, which is caused by atherosclerosis, i.e. deposition of the lipid substances in blood vessels.The number of cardiovascular diseases has been witnessing a rise, along with growing cases of cardiology intervention procedures worldwide. Several governments are providing reimbursement support for people suffering from vascular diseases. There has also been a hike in healthcare expenditure. These factors might favor demand for normal balloon catheters. In addition, various other factors such as growing geriatric population, rising investments in research & development activities concerning normal balloon catheters are expected to pave potential growth opportunities for manufacturers of normal balloon catheters. The global market for balloon catheter is likely to exhibit a moderate growth during 2017 to 2022. Revenues from the global market for normal balloon catheter will reach nearly US$ 2,000 Mn by 2022-end.Trends Being Observed in the Global Normal Balloon Catheter Market:1- Rise in interventional cardiology is facilitating use of the normal balloon catheters.2- Surging prevalence of patients with end stage renal disease have been fueling demand for normal balloon catheters.3- The number of people undergoing renal replacement therapy is increasing, thereby fueling growth of the normal balloon catheter marketBrowse Full Report with TOC-Europe to Account for the Largest Revenue Share of the Market during 2017 to 2022In terms of revenues, Europe will account for the largest share of the market during the forecast period. Europe will continue to be the most lucrative market for normal balloon catheter. Sales of normal balloon catheter in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) will register the highest CAGR through 2022. In contrast, sales of normal balloon catheter in North America will exhibit the lowest CAGR in the market through 2022.By indication, coronary artery disease will remain dominant in the global market, with sales poised to surpass US$ 1,000 Mn in revenues by 2022-end. Approximately three-fourth revenue share of the market will be accounted by sales of normal balloon catheter for coronary artery disease during 2017 to 2022.Hospitals to Remain the Largest End-Users of Normal Balloon CatheterSales of normal balloon catheter in cardiac catheterization laboratories are expected to exhibit the fastest expansion through 2022, based on end-users. Hospitals will remain the largest end-users of normal balloon catheter throughout the forecast period.Nylon will continue to be the preferred raw material for manufacturing normal balloon catheter. Nearly half revenue share of the market will be accounted by nylon, based on raw material. However, sales of polyurethane for production of normal balloon catheter will register a comparatively higher CAGR than sales of nylon through 2022.Competition TrackingKey players profiled in Fact.MRs report include Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic plc, Terumo Corporation, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Hexacath, Tokai Medical Products Inc., Cook Medical INC, Cordis Corporation, and BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG.Check Discount On This Report-About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized healthcare market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:
Variable Data Printing (VDP) Market  Opportunities in Key Application Sectors by 2022

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Variable Data Printing (VDP) Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Variable Data Printing (VDP) has been witnessing a transitional phase. With a highlight on these changes, this research study presents an in-depth analysis of the worldwide Variable Data Printing (VDP) market during the period from 2018 to 2023.The market report provides a comprehensive picture of the latest and upcoming trends in the global Variable Data Printing (VDP) market, underlining the major market practices and the key rules and regulations associated with various types of market products available across the world.In this research study, the global market for Variable Data Printing (VDP) has been analyzed by taking significant market factors into consideration. It further makes future predictions for this market, using significant statistical information. The availability of products, production volume, pricing structure, and the revenue generated in the market are the key factors, based on which the report determines the performance of the worldwide Variable Data Printing (VDP) market. The production chain and the sales dynamics have also been evaluated in this research report.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:With the help of a number of tables and figures, the report makes a valuable source of guidance for market participants. It also includes the general overview of the global market for Variable Data Printing (VDP), such as the definition, products, application, end users, and the market chain structure.The competitive landscape prevalent in the global Variable Data Printing (VDP) market has also been evaluated by performing SWOT analysis on the key market participants. It further discusses the industry chain and the government norms and policies, boosting the demand for Variable Data Printing (VDP) across the world at length.The main objective of this study is to deliver a clear picture of the global market for Variable Data Printing (VDP) to market participants, stakeholders, and consultants, assisting them in creating appropriate strategies to gain a competitive edge over their peers.Table of ContentsGlobal Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Variable Data Printing (VDP)1.1 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Overview1.1.1 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market by Type1.3.1 Electrophotographic Printing1.3.2 Ink-Jet Printing1.3.3 Other1.4 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Consumer Goods1.4.2 Food & Beverages1.4.3 Advertising Printing IndustryAccess the full Report TOC in Detail @2 Global Variable Data Printing (VDP)Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size (Value)by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players)Profiles3.1 HP3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Revenue (Value)(2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Canon3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Variable Data Printing (VDP)Revenue (Value)(2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 3M Company4 Global Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Variable Data Printing (VDP)in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Variable Data Printing (VDP)5 United States Variable Data Printing (VDP)Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Variable Data Printing (VDP)Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Variable Data Printing (VDP)Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)To Get Discount Of This Report Click here @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. 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Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Share, Growth by Top Company: Starix Technology, AKELA, General Atomics Corp, Johanson Technology, Pulse Link

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 to its huge collection of research reports.The growth dynamics of the global Ultra Wideband (UWB) market is shaped by a diverse range of regional and global factors and trends, the detailed account of which forms the core of the report. The study presents in-depth insights into various developments, identifies broad opportunities, and offers a granular analysis of the factors influencing the growth of prominent segment. The comprehensive account on the global Ultra Wideband (UWB) market includes an assessment of the prevailing operating and macroeconomic environment in various regions. It highlights the recent changes in governmental regulations and evaluates their impact on emerging investment trends. The study takes a closer look at major research and development activities in various regions and their broad impact on emerging product of service offering of prominent stakeholders in the global Ultra Wideband (UWB) market. The revenue share and size of various regional and global players help in understanding the strategic dynamics of the market. Major strategies adopted by them to gain a better foothold in the market are also highlighted in the report.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:The study is prepared using a vast and diverse database of secondary research and the findings are validated through a wide spectrum of primary research, including interviews, discussions, and conferences. The trends offered in the report mirrors the views of opinion leaders, CEOs, CXOs, and strategists in the global Ultra Wideband (UWB) market and are supported by quantitative data and analyses. To make the analytics in the findings reliable, the study employs various industry-wide tools such as Porters five forces analysis and the general SWOT analysis. The scope of innovative technologies emerging in the global Ultra Wideband (UWB) market causing disruptions in the market is also analyzed in the study.The report strives to give clear indications to market participants into which trends will gain prominence or which will lose their luster in the coming years. This helps emerging as well as established companies in effective strategy formulations.Table of ContentsGlobal Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Ultra Wideband (UWB)1.1 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Overview1.1.1 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market by Type1.3.1 Impulse Radio1.3.2 Multi-band UWB1.4 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Banking1.4.2 Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI)1.4.3 Public Sector1.4.4 Healthcare1.4.5 IT1.4.6 TelecommunicationComplete table of content is available at:2 Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Decawave Ltd.3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 TDC Acquisition Holdings, Inc.3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Texas Instruments Incorporated4 Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Ultra Wideband (UWB) in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Ultra Wideband (UWB)5 United States Ultra Wideband (UWB) Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Ultra Wideband (UWB) Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Ultra Wideband (UWB) Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Enquiry For Discount Visit @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. 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QYResearchReports Launches New Smart Shade Devices Market 2017: Bali, Graber, Horizons, MechoSystems, SWFcontract

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Smart Shade Devices Market Research Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The report on the global Smart Shade Devices market offers elaborate and comprehensive assessment of key growth drivers, challenges, noteworthy trends, major technological advances, and strategic landscape. The analysis presents a detailed overview of the current market offerings, their scope in various regions, and major research and development activities influencing their growth. The study presents a detailed assessment of various types of business risks, notably operational and strategic, and highlights the prevailing governmental regulations in various regions. It further takes a closer look at expected growth areas and lucrative prospects emerging in the global Smart Shade Devices market. Key innovations likely to open up new revenue streams in untapped markets are also covered in the report.Click here to get a FREE sample report in your inbox :A diverse range of trends is causing considerable shifts in consumer preferences in the global Smart Shade Devices market in various developing and developed regions. The study offers a granular analysis of such aspects and the likely opportunities that will emerge on account of this are covered. It further zeroes in key factors that will support public and private investments in the global Smart Shade Devices market.The study highlights major recent developments in end-use sectors likely to change the competitive dynamics of the overall market. It estimates the current revenue share and size of various players in the Smart Shade Devices market and analyzes the factors that will account for the dominant position of some over the assessment timeline.The research methodology employed in analyzing the Smart Shade Devices market draws from approaches universally accepted by industries and reflects the findings from a wide spectrum of primary and secondary research. This is supported by extensive rounds of interviews with CXOs, business executives, policy makers, and industry leaders. The findings offered in the research study is invaluable for various market participants, stakeholders, and budding entrepreneurs.Table of ContentsGlobal Smart Shade Devices Market Research Report 20171 Smart Shade Devices Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Shade Devices1.2 Smart Shade Devices Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Smart Shade Devices by Type in 20151.3 Smart Shade Devices Segment by Application1.3.1 Smart Shade Devices Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.4 Smart Shade Devices Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)Access the full Report TOC in Detail @2 Global Smart Shade Devices Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Smart Shade Devices Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Smart Shade Devices Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Smart Shade Devices Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Smart Shade Devices Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Smart Shade Devices Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Smart Shade Devices Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Smart Shade Devices Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Smart Shade Devices Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Smart Shade Devices Production by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Smart Shade Devices Production Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Smart Shade Devices Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Smart Shade Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Smart Shade Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Smart Shade Devices Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Smart Shade Devices Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)4.1 Global Smart Shade Devices Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Smart Shade Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Smart Shade Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Smart Shade Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Smart Shade Devices Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Smart Shade Devices Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Smart Shade Devices Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Smart Shade Devices Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Smart Shade Devices Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Smart Shade Devices Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Smart Shade Devices Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Smart Shade Devices Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Smart Shade Devices Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesGet discount copy @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. 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Sifting Machine Market Analysis And In-Depth Study of leading key players: Sweco, LAO SOUNG, Guan Yu, Russell Finex, Rotex

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Sifting Machine Industry 2017 Market Research Report to its huge collection of research reports.The far reaching report here collects alternate points of view having a place with the general Sifting Machine marketplace which verbalizes the all-encompassing day records and destiny exposures as regards to the dynamic forces at play. The prime aim in the examination report is to offer the endorser with a broad game plan and make available the helpful facts and substances. The quantifiable and trying different things with enlightenments at the back of the exam isolated from executes certainty on bothers, for instance, drivers, impediments and projections to gage the delayed effect of the general Sifting Machine market through the move of the communicated gage time span inside the examination record. The record in like course passes on a brief and world class record of the predefined market lines, which joins two or three events of the veritable obsessions at work which can be concentrated to cause change inside the market or may in like manner reason any poor effect.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:This record isolated from stations into the general Sifting Machine market by methods for in a general sense inspecting the part and industrialized chain of the marketplace. This is required to in like way help with passing on confirmed blue information and information on compound parts of the fitting marketplace, for instance, material identifying with systems for the overseeing layout inside the conventional and well known strata, movement and transmission shape, targets, and manners of thinking in top rate got for the contributed mean.The record makes use of several exhibited industry exam and entire contraptions. They permit the exam collect pass on a revealed basic assessment of the general Sifting Machine market and help endorser and marketplace troupes with being reproached concerning speculation and wander judgments. The wide reasoning of the exam offers a marketplace part on a conspicuous and moment scale. It stores up essential and discretionary examinations structures along those strains. The overseers have figured the recorded examinations and rose it from the forward and in flip round trade the circumstance to outline a shape for the general Sifting Machine market in the years ahead of time.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Sifting Machine11.1 Definition and Specifications of Sifting Machine11.1.1 Definition of Sifting Machine11.1.2 Specifications of Sifting Machine21.2 Classification of Sifting Machine21.3 Applications of Sifting Machine31.4 Industry Chain Structure of Sifting Machine51.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Sifting Machine51.5.1 Industry Overview of Sifting Machine51.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Sifting Machine71.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Sifting Machine71.7 Industry News Analysis of Sifting Machine8Access the full Report TOC in Detail @2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Sifting Machine102.1 Main Component Suppliers and Price Analysis of Sifting Machine102.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Sifting Machine112.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Sifting Machine112.4 Other Costs Analysis of Sifting Machine132.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Sifting Machine142.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Sifting Machine163 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Sifting Machine173.1 Revenue of Global Sifting Machine Major Manufacturers in 2015173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Sifting Machine Major Manufacturers in 2015183.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Sifting Machine Major Manufacturers in 2015183.4 Main Components Sources Analysis of Global Sifting Machine Major Manufacturers in 2015194 Revenue and Production Analysis of Sifting Machine by Regions, Types and Manufacturers214.1 Global Revenue and Production of Sifting Machine by Regions 2011-2016214.2 Global and Major Regions Revenue and Growth Rate of Sifting Machine 2011-2016244.3 Global Production of Sifting Machine by Types 2011-2016264.4 Global Revenue and Production of Sifting Machine by Manufacturers 2011-2016285 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Sifting Machine by Regions, Types and Manufacturers355.1 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Sifting Machine by Regions 2011-2016355.2 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Sifting Machine by Manufacturers 2011-201638Get discount copy @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
UK, Germany and France Card Market 2017 by Current & Upcoming Trends By QYResearchReports

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report UK, Germany and France Card Printers Market Research Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global Card Printers market has been developed by a selected group of professional market research analysts, with a solitary goal to present the current scenario of the market for Card Printers and throw light on its growth prospects. The report targets audiences such as manufacturers of Card Printers, government agencies, and other research consultancy services. The report presents comprehensive assessment of the major factors that may impact the demand in the global Card Printers market, analyzes the challenges or pitfalls, and catches the latest trends, which the existing vendors must take a note of in order to stay ahead of the competition.Click here to get a FREE sample report in your inbox :This report on the global Card Printers market provides estimations regarding the market size in terms of value (USD million). It includes both top-down and bottom-up views in order to estimate and validate the size of the Card Printers market and of several other related submarkets in the overall global market. The opportunities open in the market for Card Printers by manufacturing countries type and application, and presents forecast for the duration of 2018-2023 has also been discussed extensively in this research report.As this report targets the stockholders of the global Card Printers market, it was only wise that some of the leading companies currently in this market are profiled in order to represent their market share, product portfolio, and recent strategic decisions. This chapter is also aimed at understanding the potential of the entrance of new players. Leading players in the global Card Printers market have been detected via secondary research, and their dominance in respective regions have been evaluated through rigorous primary as well as secondary research.Table of Contents1 Card Printers Market Overview11.1 Product Overview and Scope of Card Printers11.2 Card Printers Segment by Types (Product Category)11.2.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Production (Units) and Growth Rate (%) Comparison by Types (2012-2022)11.2.2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Production Market Share (%) by Types in 201631.2.3 Dye Sub Printers41.2.4 Inkjet Printers51.3 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Segment by Applications51.3.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Consumption (Units) Comparison by Applications (2012-2022)51.3.2 Enterprise71.3.3 School71.3.4 Government81.3.5 Commercial8Read Complete Table of Content @2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers by Players, Type and Application162.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Market Competition by Players/Suppliers162.1.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) of Key Players (2016-2017)162.1.2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Revenue (Million USD) and Share (%) by Players (2016-2017)182.2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers (Revenue and Sales) by Type212.2.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)212.2.2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Revenue and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)232.3 UK, Germany and France Card Printers (Revenue and Sales) by Countries242.3.1 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Countries (2012-2017)242.3.2 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Revenue and Market Share (%) by Countries (2012-2017)262.4 UK, Germany and France Card Printers Sales (Units) by Application283 Germany Card Printers (Revenue, Sales and Price)313.1 Germany Card Printers (Revenue and Sales) (2012-2017)313.1.1 Germany Card Printers Sales (Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)313.1.2 Germany Card Printers Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)323.1.3 Germany Card Printers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)333.2 Germany Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Type333.3 Germany Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications344 UK Card Printers (Revenue, Sales and Price)364.1 UK Card Printers (Revenue and Sales) (2012-2017)364.1.1 UK Card Printers Sales (Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)364.1.2 UK Card Printers Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)374.1.3 UK Card Printers Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)384.2 UK Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Type384.3 UK Card Printers Sales (Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications39Enquiry For Discount Visit @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Worldwide Electrophoresis Reagents Market to Raising at a CAGR of +6.3% During the Period 2017-2024 with Top Key Players is Thermo Fisher Scientific, Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

Global electrophoresis reagents market growth till 2024

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Data Bridge Market Research Latest report of Global electrophoresis reagents market is valued at an estimated USD 1.36 million in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR 6.3% during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024.The new market report contains data for historic years 2014 & 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.Request for Sample Report @Electrophoresis is a widely used separation technique for biomolecules, including nucleic acids and proteins. This technique is used in various fields, such as diagnostics, drug development, genomic & proteomic research, forensics, and quality testing. Moreover, electrophoresis is widely used as a preparative technique prior to sample analysis for a number of analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry, DNA sequencing, PCR, cloning, and southern blotting.The electrophoresis reagents market is segmented on the basis of products, end users, techniques, applications, and region.Browse Full Report with Details TOC @Market Segmentation:The electrophoresis reagents market is categorized into 4 product segmentsgels, dyes, buffers, and other reagents. In 2015, the gels segment accounted for the largest share of the global electrophoresis reagents market.Based on technique, the electrophoresis reagents market is broadly categorized into gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoresis. In 2015, the gel electrophoresis segment accounted for the largest share of the global electrophoresis reagents market.The electrophoresis reagents market is broadly categorized into four major end-user segmentsacademic & research institutions, pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, hospitals & diagnostic laboratories, and other end users.Based on geography, the market is segmented into five geographical regions: North America Europe Asia-Pacific South America Middle East and AfricaThe geographical regions are further segmented into 29 major countries such as U.S. Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Japan, China, Singapore, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa and others.The Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period, primarily due to the increasing research funding, rising demand for advanced electrophoresis techniques, and growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in this region.Top Companies Thermo Fisher Scientific Sigma-Aldrich Corporation Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Lonza Group QIAGEN N.V. Among othersInquiry before Buying @Other Market Insights:Asia-Pacific (APAC) Q-PCR and D-PCR Devices Market  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Asia-Pacific (APAC) Q-PCR and D-PCR Devices Market By Product Type, By End-Users, By Distribution Channel, By Geography (Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines, Rest of APAC)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit Blog
Global Tilt Sensor Market to Cross US$ 259 Million By 2022

Global Tilt Sensor Market

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Florida, January 17, 2018: The Global Tilt Sensor Market is segmented on the lines of its product type, end-user and regional. Based on product type segmentation it covers Switch Based Tilt Sensors, Proportional Tilt Sensors, Optical Tilt Sensor. Based on end-user it covers Mining, Construction, Automobile, Transportation, Robotics, Gaming and Aviation Others. Global Tilt Sensor Market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.The Global Tilt Sensor Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 259 Million by 2022 at a CAGR of 7.8% in the given forecast period.You Can Browse Full Report here:Tilt device primarily measures the tilting in 2 axes of a reference plane. Primarily tilt sensors square measure used for indicating roll and pitch of vehicles, aircraft, and sail boats. Moreover, it additionally helps in observation the boom angle of fabric handlers and cranes. Tilt sensors also are used for activity the peak of polls and trees. Tilt sensors square measure used for the measure of angles, primarily in relevance gravity. The newest trend during this market is demand of MEMS technology primarily based tilt sensors, rising demand in construction instrumentality create the market grow in future. there's want of tilt sensors for many applications like Digital & Video Cameras, craft Flight Controls, Construction instrumentality, Robotic Technology, Automobile Air luggage, Videos Game Controllers, Thermostats, Automobile Security Systems, Others can produce a large marketplace for the lean sensors.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Global Tilt Sensor Market and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Global Tilt Sensor Market.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.The major driving factors of Global Tilt Sensor Market are as follows: Demand for the lean Sensors supported MEMS Technology Rising Demand for Construction instrumentalityThe restraining factors of Global Tilt Sensor Market are as follows: High price of Tilt SensorsThe scope of the report includes a detailed study of Global Tilt Sensor Market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.Request Sample Report:Table of Contents1 INTRODUCTION2 Research Methodology3 Executive Summary4 Premium Insights5 Market Overview6 Tilt Sensor Market, By Technology7 Tilt Sensor Market, By Housing Material Type8 Tilt Sensor Market, By Vertical9 Geographic Analysis10 Competitive Landscape11 Company Profiles11.1 Introduction11.2 TE Connectivity Ltd.11.3 Sick AG11.4 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.11.5 Pepperl+Fuchs Vertrieb GmbH & Co. Kg11.6 Level Developments Ltd11.7 IFM Electronic GmbH11.8 Balluff GmbH11.9 Jewell Instruments LLC11.10 The Fredericks Company11.11 DIS Sensors BvAbout UsMarket Research Engine (MRE) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. MREs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each Market Research Engines research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Iron Ore Mining in India to 2021- Iron Ore Industry to Pick up Pace Aided by Strong Steel Demand and Rapid Economic Growth

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ReportsWeb.com published Iron Ore Mining Market from its database. 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.GlobalData's "Iron Ore Mining in India to 2021-Iron Ore Industry to Pick up Pace, Aided by Strong Steel Demand and Rapid Economic Growth" report covers comprehensive information on India's iron ore mining industry, iron ore resources, reserves by state, form and grade, the historical and forecast numbers for iron ore production by form and state. The report also includes the historical and forecast numbers for iron ore consumption by end use sectors, and trade. Detailed analysis of the Indian mining industry's regulatory structure, demand drivers, competitive landscape, and mining projects at various stages (active, exploration and development) of the supply chain is provided.For more information about this report atScope-Summary of the country's mining industry across various parameters-reserves, production, consumption, trade, competitive landscape, regulatory scenario and the future potential.-Iron ore production, consumption and trade numbers from 2000-2016 and forecast for next five years to 2021.-Production split by form and consumption split by end use sectors.-Policies and regulatory framework governing the industry.-Company details, including company overview, business description and data on major active, exploration and development iron ore projects.Reasons to buy-Gain an understanding of India's iron ore mining industry-Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data-Obtain the state-wise most up to date information for active, exploration and development iron ore projects.-Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events-Identify various factors affecting the iron ore demand.-Identify key operating companies' and obtain the business structure, strategy and prospects.Request a sample copy atCompanies MentionedOdisha Mining Corp LtdSteel Authority of India LtdNational Mineral Development Corporation LtdVedanta Resources plcTable of Content1.1. List of Tables 31.2. List of Figures 42. Iron Ore Mining in India to 2021 52.1. Key Highlights 53. Iron Ore Mining in India: Reserves, Production, Consumption, and Trade 63.1. Reserves/Resources by State, Form, and Grade 63.2. Historical and Forecast Production 83.2.1. Production by state 123.3. Active Mines 143.4. Exploration Projects 163.5. Development Projects 173.6. Consumption and Trade 193.6.1. Domestic iron ore consumption 193.6.2. Iron ore trade 223.7. Demand Drivers 253.7.1. Demand for pig iron and sponge iron 274. Major Iron Ore Producers in India 284.1. Odisha Mining Corp Ltd 284.2. Steel Authority of India Ltd 294.3. National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd 314.4. Vedanta Resources plc 315. Fiscal Regime 335.1. The Indian Mining Industry-Governing Bodies 335.1.1. Ministry of Mines 335.1.2. Ministry of Coal 345.1.3. Ministry of Steel 365.1.4. Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) 375.1.5. Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) 385.2. The Indian Mining Industry-Rules and Regulations 385.2.1. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR), 1957 385.2.2. Mineral Conservation and Development Rule, 2017 395.2.3. Other Mining Laws 405.2.4. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 405.2.5. Coal Blocks Allocation Rules, 2017 405.3. The Indian Mining Industry-Mining Concessions, Rights and Obligations 415.3.1. Reconnaissance Permit (RP) 415.3.2. Prospecting License (PL) 415.3.3. Mining Lease (ML) 415.3.4. Rights 415.3.5. Obligations 425.4. The Indian Mining Industry-Royalty Rates 425.4.1. Royalty Rate 425.4.2. Coal-West Bengal 435.4.3. Gold and silver 445.4.4. Mining Concession Fees 445.4.5. Dead Rent Rates 466. Appendix 47Inquire for Report atAbout ReportsWeb:ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Contact Us:505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Meet CAS DataLoggers at Pittcon 2018!

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T&D Automates Temperature Monitoring in the LabCHESTERLAND, OHJanuary 16, 2018Here at CAS DataLoggers were getting ready for the worlds largest Laboratory Science expositionPittcon 2018! This year, Pittcon is held in sunny Orlando, Florida from February 26th to March 1st.CAS DataLoggers Sales Manager Pete Martin will be at T&D Booth #3500 alongside T&Ds Steve Knuth to show you the latest in wireless lab monitoring products. Japans #1 manufacturer of temperature and humidity data loggers, T&D's wireless data loggers are an affordable way to keep tabs on temperature, humidity, current/voltage and more in your lab application.For official show info, visit the official Pittcon site atSick of the Cold? Come to Orlando!This year Pittcon is in Orlando, making it a must-see. Make sure to get there early! Each day of this innovative convention is packed with opportunities to see the latest lab technology, to network, to attend workshops, and more.Pittcon is the Worlds Largest annual conference and exposition on laboratory science. With visitors from over 90 countries, Pittcon 2018 offers you tons of opportunities to meet world-renowned professionals and to check out the latest lab management solutions!Whether youre a lab manager, technician, assistant, or purchaser, Pittcon has something unique and valuable for you!T&D for Reliable Lab Monitoring: Affordable Solutions for Labs and Clinics Manage your Data over the Cloud, Anytime, Anywhere! Wireless Capability Remote Alarm Capability Expandable Wireless RangeThe Worlds Largest Lab Exposition!At CAS DataLoggers were looking to build on our increasing customer base from past appearances. This year were showing our visitors the latest in Lab Automation systems to save their applications both time and cost.Your laboratory can benefit from T&Ds wireless dataloggers, which fully automate lab monitoring and help users in the Laboratory, Food & Beverage, Pharma, Enviro, and Healthcare industries.T&D Temperature and Humidity dataloggers are popular for standalone and remote data collection, with models sending real-time data and text/email alarms via WiFi, Ethernet or USB. Lab technicians and managers use these durable and reliable data loggers to monitor and record Temperature, Humidity, CO2, Voltage, Current and more!If you also need to monitor carbon dioxide, T&Ds CO2 Temperature Humidity Data Logger covers all three measurement values.Wireless Systems Auto-Push Data to Your Office PC: TR-7wf Wireless series: These Wireless LAN devices record and send data online to the T&D Cloud WebStorage service. For local notification, these models feature a large LCD display showing current values, recording status, and memory capacity. TR-nw Wired series: Wired LAN Temperature & Humidity dataloggers for those who want a wired solution. RTR-500 Wireless family: RTR-500 Series Wireless data loggers remotely log nearly any lab value, automatically sending data and alarms via cellular phone networks. A Wireless USB Base Station collects and transmits all logger readings.Check out our video on the Wireless 500 series.FREE Cloud Storage Service!Monthly cloud subscription fees have become expensive, but with T&Ds FREE WebStorage cloud storage service, you now have 24/7 access to your dataat no charge!The WebStorage Service provides up to 20MB of long-term cloud storage for customers files. Now you can remotely view, save, and print your data at any time, from any location!For example, if your lab storage freezer suddenly fails, youll instantly get a text or email alarm no matter where you are. You can also present downloaded data as graphs and charts for proof of best practices. Additionally, the T&D Thermo App for iOS and Android lets you view and download data right from your smartphone or tablet!For more info on T&D wireless data loggers, or to find the ideal solution for your application-specific needs, contact a CAS Data Logger Applications Specialist at (800) 956-4437 or visit our website atComputer Aided Solutions, LLC. dba CAS DataLoggers is a distributor of data loggers, paperless recorders and data acquisition equipment.We have the industrys most complete selection of data logging equipment, with hundreds of different models from more than 18 manufacturers. With data loggers from 1 to 300 channels we can record temperature, humidity, force/strain, pressure, flow, voltage, current, resistance, vibration and other digital signals, in connection with serial (RS-232/RS-485), CAN/OBD or SDI-12 devices. We sell directly to end users and also work through a network of distributors and resellers throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America.CAS DataLoggers8437 Mayfield Rd., Unit 104Chesterland, OH 44026(440)729-2570
Frontex report Illegal border crossings to Spain from northern Africa hit a new record high

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According to a recent report by Frontex, whilst illegal border crossings in the Eastern Mediterranean eased in 2017, the number of migrants detected reaching Spain from northern Africa hit a new record high of nearly 22 900. This was more than double the previous record set in 2016.The situation in the Rif region of Morocco, the main transit country for migrants heading to Spain, created an opportunity for more departures from its western coast in the second half of the year. This was coupled with a growing use of high-capacity boats capable of transporting large numbers of migrants.Almost 40% of the migrants were nationals of Algeria and Morocco, whose numbers have been on the rise since the middle of 2017. Most of the remaining migrants on this route came from Western Africa.Dr. Tunji Asaolu, Chairperson of the Social Affairs and Health Cluster Committee of the African Union-Economic, Social and Cultural Council will deliver an opening keynote address highlighting some of the challenges facing African countries, whilst Rasa Ostrauskaite, Director of the Transnational Threats Department of the OSCE, will give address key issues and threats to the region.The challenges posed by the rise in irregular migrants in the Western Mediterranean make this years WBSC more pertinent and timely than ever.The OSCE will also be hosting one of the Closed Agency Workshops addressing this issue Challenges in the Mediterranean' looking at how the multiple challenges faced by authorities in the Mediterranean being tackled and how the use of risk analysis capacities help meet the challenges.AU-ECOSOCC Workshop  Migration - Creating Opportunities for Young People In AfricaAs part of the drive to enhance the collaboration in developing solutions for the challenges in Africa, the Social Affairs and Health Cluster Committee in conjunction with Committee on Political Affairs of the AU-ECOSOCC, will be hosting a Workshop on the margins of the Congress to understudy the situation and proffer necessary solutions that will address the issues of Migration in Africa.For further details visitOther Speakers include: Major Michael Jones, Chief Operations Officer and Acting Executive Director, IMPACS Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC) Antonio Doblas Jimenez, Lieutenant Colonel Head of the National Coordination Centre-EUROSUR Spain Gregor Pelzl, Head of Coordination Office for Migration and PNR, German Federal Police Bjorn Clarberg, Team Leader, Border Management and Migration Team, EUBAM Libya Rasa Ostrauskaite, Director, Transnational Threats Department, OSCE Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, European Commission Florian Forster, Head, Immigration and Border Management (IBM), Department of Migration Management (DMM), International Organization for Migration BG Col. Sawomir Markowski, Head of Unit for Border Infrastructure and Information, Border Management Department, Polish Border Guard HQ Babatunde Olomu, Assistant Comptroller of customs, Nigeria Customs Service James Shaw, Senior Legal Officer, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) Alket Furxhiu, Director General, Central Bureau of Investigation, Albania Justice Amevor, Assistant Commissioner Immigration, Ghana Immigration Dr Enrique Belda, Deputy Director General of Information Systems and Communications for Security Secretary of State for Security, Ministry of Interior, Spain Jim Nye, Alliance Operations Commander, Devon & Cornwall Police, UK Florian Forster, Head, Immigration and Border Management (IBM), Department of Migration Management (DMM), International Organization for Migration (IOM) Lasma Stabina, National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, Ministry of the Interior, LatviaWorld Border Security Congress will be held in Madrid, Spain from the 20-22 March 2018.The World Border Security Congress is a high level 3-day event that will discuss and debate current and future policies, implementation issues and challenges as well as new and developing technologies that contribute towards safe and secure border and migration management.For the full Congress programme, speakers and more details about the event visitThe World Border Security Congress, organized by the Torch Marketing and KNM Media, will take place from 20th to 22nd March 2018 in Madrid, Spain.Torch Marketing Co Ltd53 Clarendon RoadCheshuntEN8 9DJ+44(0)7725 318601info@torchmarketing.co.uk
CHETU NOMINATED AS 2018 SFBJ BEST PLACES TO WORK HONOREE

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Plantation, Fla. (December 12th, 2017)  Chetu, a leader in software development, was announced as a nominee in SFBJ Best Place to Work awards. Each year, South Florida Business Journal publically commends a group of employers in the South Florida area on their superior employee relations, recognizing the great lengths they go to remain engaged with their staff. This year, SFBJ has named Chetu a 2018 Best Places to Work Honoree.Considering professionals spend a large portion of day confined in their office, Chetu believes this time should pair with a sense of belonging, and all employees should be confident in their role within the Chetu team plus understand that all successes are a product of the team, rather than a single person."All triumphs are celebrated holistically," stated Atal Bansal, CEO at Chetu Inc., "We strive to not only maintain, but improve the environment we create within our offices."SFBJ accepts nominations from businesses throughout the area, and then asks workers to fill out questionnaires anonymously. These questionnaires are designed to rate job satisfactions through a series of measures. From there, SFBJ hand-selects the top fifteen employers in South Florida, all leaders in progressive employment practices. Employers are rated on communication and resources, manager effectiveness, personal engagement, team dynamics, and trust in leadership.Honorees received an invitation to attend an awards luncheon on Thursday, February 22, 2018. To illustrate how the nominees have gone above and beyond the normalized standards to create happy microcosms within their workplaces, SFBJ encourages a superhero theme at the annual event. Honorees dress in superhero costumes, accepting their roles as the, "superheroes of the South Florida workforce."About Chetu, Inc.:Founded in 2000, Chetu Inc. is a global provider of customized software development solutions combining technological expertise, specific domain experience and passion for excellence to deliver enterprise-grade solutions to start-ups, SMBs, Fortune 5000 companies, and major brands. Chetu is a true and seamless backend technology partner, helping businesses accelerate the development of desktop, mobile & web-based apps with on-demand developers. Headquartered in Plantation, Florida, Chetu has fourteen locations throughout the U.S. and abroad. For more information visit:Media Contact:Seth Burger and/or Carolina Nunezpr@chetu.com954-342-5676Chetu is a custom software development company servicing startups, SMBs & Fortune 500 firms worldwide with specialized technology solutions. We provide on-demand programming from senior-level software developers who are dedicated to advancing your business technology objectives.Chetu Inc.10167 W Sunrise Blvd,Suite 200, Plantation,FL 33322
EdgeConneX Expands to South America, Announcing the First Edge Data Center in Buenos Aires

Offering 10+MW, Carrier Neutral Solutions and Robust Peering Infrastructure With the Lowest Latency Content and Cloud Access AvailableHerndon, VA  January 16, 2018  EdgeConneX, specializing in global data center solutions at the edge of the network, today announces its first Edge Data Center (EDC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Together with the Argentina Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (AAICI), telecommunications service provider, Silica Networks, and an extensive network of ecosystem and peering partners, this new EDC will provide underserved regions in South America with high-quality, low-latency content delivery, cloud access and international interconnectivity in an N+1 and carrier neutral facility.The multi-tenant EDC will be located at Parque Industrial Pilar, one of the largest industrial districts in South America, which serves as the hub to hundreds of national and multinational companies. While developing their highly-interconnected facility, EdgeConneX has built a strong ecosystem of industry partners that will offer services from the Buenos Aires EDC. In addition to Silica Networks, this ecosystem includes Claro Argentina, Internexa, IPLAN, Metrotel, Telecom Argentina, and access to regional Internet exchanges.We are very excited to welcome EdgeConneXs innovative Edge Data Center model to Argentina, which is clearly in line with Argentinas Data Center Promotion Project, an Argentine government effort led by the Argentina Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, says Francisco Cabrera, Minister of Production of Argentina. The new Buenos Aires EDC will provide the region with economic growth through the introduction of cutting-edge technology and connectivity, making Argentina a more attractive location for data investment by enterprises across a wide range of industries.The Buenos Aires EDC will serve as a robust connectivity and peering platform, offering extensive fiber, density and peering options to customers with wholesale economics. As a result, enterprises and organizations throughout the region will gain access to low-latency connectivity and content delivery, as well as advanced cloud and communications services previously unavailable to the region.We are pleased to embrace EdgeConneX and their new facility here in Pilar, notes Nicolas Ducote, Mayor of Pilar. We are delighted that they chose our city as their inaugural locale in South America. Their investments will contribute to the development and growth of a vast Internet ecosystem and we look forward to supporting their effort across Argentina.As a result of the impending Buenos Aires EDC, many local market customers will gain the ability to access and utilize a wider range of cutting-edge cloud services, shares Horacio Martinez, CEO Silica Networks. The establishment of this EDC will provide substantial economic savings as well as low-latency connectivity for the transmission of bandwidth-intensive data and content, making it easier than ever for regional enterprises to implement advanced cloud strategies.In collaboration with its customers, EdgeConneX has recognized the need for Edge services across the globe as cloud applications require localization and availability in the most proximate location to enterprise and consumer end-users.We are thrilled to extend the Internets Edge into South America, specifically into the Buenos Aires market, says Clint Heiden, chief commercial officer, EdgeConneX. As we continue to expand the edge globally in partnership with our customers, we look forward to enhancing the Internet in Buenos Aires by facilitating the fastest and most reliable delivery of cloud, content, network and other services closer to their end users.For more information about EdgeConneX and its leading Edge of network infrastructure solutions for expanding and improving access to wireless and data communications, visit edgeconnex.com or email info@edgeconnex.com.EdgeConneX will be attending PTC18, January 21-24, 2018 in Honolulu, Hawaii. To schedule a meeting with the team, please email info@edgeconnex.com.# # #About EdgeConneXEdgeConneX is the only global Edge Data Center provider. Creating purpose-built, edge-of-network infrastructure solutions that extend the internets reach, EdgeConneX enables the fastest and most secure delivery of content, cloud services and applications. Edge Data Centers host bandwidth intensive and latency sensitive data closer to end-users, establishing a more secure, reliable and cost effective distribution model for the internet. For more information, please visit the EdgeConneX Internet of Everywhere at edgeconnex.com.MEDIA CONTACTS:iMiller Public Relations for EdgeConneXMamaroneck, NY 10543+1 866 307 2510pr@imillerpr.com
Artsyl Technologies Announces Record Growth in 2017

ONTARIO, CANADA (January 15, 2017)  Artsyl Technologies, Inc., a leading global provider of smart process technology for data capture and document workflow processing, today announced that it achieved record sales and revenue growth for 2016, while continuing to develop new integrations and enhancements to the companys flagship docAlpha digital transformation platform.Leading partners generated over $1M in revenue from their partnership with Artsyl in 2017, while helping clients to achieve greater value from their core business systems. The company continued to deepen its relationships with partners including Acumatica, SAP, ReQlogic, Harris ERP and Epicor.In 2017, Artsyl released three new service packs to the docAlpha 5.0 platform and added Chinese language support. New enhancements expanded the platforms ability to manage enterprise operations, including optimized capture performance, more flexible and adaptable workflow functionality and expanded batch processing capabilities.The introduction of docAlpha 5.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4) delivered a new vendor portal and enhancements to further optimize email batch processes for content and attachments, rules-based and on-demand workflow assignments and enhancements to ERP connectors for Acumatica, Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics GP.We are proud of the incredible success we achieved in 2017, working with our partners to deliver seamless ERP and ECM integrations to drive greater efficiency, innovation and business transformation to companies of all sizes in a wide range of industries, said Jeff Moore, Chief Sales Officer at Artsyl Technologies.Record Client Successes in 2017In 2017, Artsyl documented dozens of client success stories, spanning a broad range of company sizes, industries and applications.One customer, Tower Products, Inc., relies on docAlpha to automate handling 2,000 monthly invoices for 800 vendors, with seamless integration to their ERP and document management syste ms.As supervisor of the department, I've seen an improvement in accountability, Tower Products Controller Vincent Baldwin said. I have much more visibility and transparency into the work flow status so I'm able to see invoices flow through and see how we're behind and how we're processing invoices so that's been good from my standpoint.Other customer successes included: Cooperative Elevator (Agriculture, AP Automation) Mega Group (Retail services, Sales Order Automation) CPower (Energy Management, AP Automation) Herrick Industrial Supply (Equipment Supplier, Sales Order Automation) Small Mining Development LLC (Mining Equipment, AP Automation) Tower Products (A/V Equipment, AP Automation).Each year, more customers turn to Artsyl to drive greater efficiency and control over their business processes to drive growth and remain competitive, Moore said. We are proud of their successes and look forward to helping more customers on their digital transformation journey.Artsyl Technologies, Inc. is the innovative company behind the docAlpha Smart Process platform. For over 10 years Artsyl has been designing, building and innovating technology used by companies globally to reduce their document processing burdens. Whether you have Accounts Payable Invoices, Sales Orders or Remittances docAlpha is designed to make their processing easy. docAlpha can be used in any business process to automate the classification, data extraction, validation and routing of mission critical information to its proper line-of-business application. docAlpha is a state-of-the-art IDR platform designed using Microsoft .NET and a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) which allows it to scale up for Enterprise level On-Premise deployment or be used as a CLOUD based SaaS solution. docAlpha is sold through distributors and VARs globally.Artsyl Technologies, Inc.10-8707 Dufferin Street, Suite # 111, Vaughan, ON L4J 0A6 CanadaNastya Samnastya_s@artsyltech.com(905) 326-0676
IndraStra Global launches IGOR, an Open Access Repository

The Logo of IGOR - IndraStra Global Open Repository

NEW YORK, July 17, 2018 - IndraStra Global, a digital publishing company and a key provider of strategic brand solutions for academics, corporates, and other professionals has recently launched its open access repository called "IGOR - IndraStra Global Open Repository - Hosted over Zenodo". This significant step forward helps to enhance a publication's research impact as well as visibility in a proactive manner.Underlining the Open Access principles, IGOR allows contributing authors of IndraStra (anywhere in the world) to submit their pre-prints, post-prints, and other datasets over OAI-PMH enabled repository. The new open repository is based on Zenodo platform, created by OpenAIRE and CERN Geneva which accelerates time to indexing in the complex world of digital publishing.Why Use Open Access?By creating a free-to-use open access repository platform for research articles and datasets (published on IndraStra Global properties), the exorbitant expenses of library indexing in the form of article processing/submission charges disappear. IGOR on a centralized repository platform like Zenodo, we remove all the extra administration and repository hosting fees of traditional indexing platforms, says Rahul Guhathakurta, Publisher at IndrStra Global. He further clarifies that "With IGOR, nearly 100% of our effort goes to the authors and researchers. The only expense is the publication hosting charges over an HTML format to process the general search engine indexing which we would like to bear it by ourselves.Amrita Jash, who heads Indrastra Global's editorial activities says that "a publication is validated and credited provided it has undergone the rigorous peer review process along with deep-level library indexing solutions". She further adds, "IGOR is a way to reinforce our commitment to Open Access and also, it defines our integrity towards the field of scholarly publication by promptly and broadly disseminating the information in a transparent way".IGOR, as an Open RepositoryIGOR provides 2-legged ORCID OAuth authorization during the login and at the same time it allows multiple upload types as publications, posters, presentations, datasets, images, videos/audios, software, lessons, etc., and prepare it search-engine friendly, especially the title, abstracts, keywords, and headings. Most researchers use specific terms which are only known by peers in their own fields. IGOR provides authors to choose the keywords commonly used and general to be optimized. Eventually, the submission could be picked up by the search engines from the world wide web.During the upload, authors can also choose to mention the names of co-authors and collaborators along with the access rights of their works coupled with multiple copyright licensing options. Also, there is a provision to specify identifiers of related publications and datasets. Supported identifiers include DOI (with versioning option for Zenodo owned DOIs), Handle, ARK, PURL, ISSN, ISBN, PubMed ID, PubMed Central ID, ADS Bibliographic Code, arXiv, Life Science Identifiers (LSID), EAN-13, ISTC, URNs, and URLs.About IndraStra GlobalIndraStra Global is a New York-based digital publishing company, primarily focused on publishing and online media intelligence, based upon "O.O.D.A." Framework. Company's product portfolio, which combines data-driven analysis, assessment, and forecasting into multiple-publishing platforms, which in turn supports the nurturing of on-boarded legacy systems.IndraStra Global163 W, 71st StreetNY-10023, New YorkDesk: +1-516-926-0755Emai: info@indrastra.comPress Contact:Rose McReidAssociate Partnerrose.mcreid@indrastra.com
Halitosis Treatment Market Ready to Reach at USD 22,153.4 billion by 2023

Halitosis Treatment Market

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The report for Global Halitosis Treatment Market by Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain a deeper insight of the market and industry performance.The Global Halitosis Treatment Market is expected to reach USD 22,153.4 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR of 18.58% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Halitosis is a clinical condition characterized by unpleasant odor present in the mouth due to various periodontal and chronic diseases. It has become a social problem affecting large number of people across the world. The most common cause of halitosis is lack of oral hygiene and lack of awareness about diagnosis of this disease. Halitosis Treatment Market is expected to show a massive growth due to availability of a wide range of dental health care products, increasing geriatric population and rising prevalence of periodontal diseases.Halitosis Treatment Segments:The global Halitosis Treatment Market is segmented on the basis type of halitosis, indication, diagnostic test and drug treatment.On the basis of type of halitosis, the market is segmented into pathological halitosis and others. Pathological halitosis is divided into oral pathological halitosis and extra oral pathological halitosis. Other types include physiological halitosis.On the basis of indication, the market is segmented into respiratory, liver, kidney, gastrointestinal, systemic, and others. Respiratory segment is further sub-segmented into sinusitis, tuberculosis, emphysema, pharyngitis, pneumonia, and others. Liver segment is further sub-segmented into liver failure, gall bladder diseases, and others. Kidney segment is further sub-segmented into Uremia. Gastrointestinal segment is further sub-segmented into esophageal reflux, stomach cancer, malabsorption, and pharyngitis. Systemic segment is further sub-segmented into diabetes.On the basis of diagnostic test, the market is segmented into halimeter, gas chromatography, BANA test, -galactosidase activity assay, and other tests.On the basis of drug treatment, the Global Halitosis Treatment Market is segmented into antacids, antiseptic, ranitidine and other drugs. Other drugs available of the treatment of halitosis are cetylpyridinium chloride and cimetidine.Key Players in the Global Halitosis Treatment MarketSome Prominent Key Players profiled in the report are Colgate-Palmolive Company (U.S), All USA Partners LLC (U.S), Dr. Harold Katz, LLC (U.S), Rowpar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (U.S), Abbott (U.S), Listerine (U.S), AstraZeneca (U.S).Get Sample Copy @Halitosis Treatment Regional analysis:The Global Halitosis Treatment Market is segmented into four main regions namely America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa.The Americas account for a significant market share owing to rising prevalence of gum diseases and extensive use of oral care products such as toothpastes, mouth washes, mouth sprays, etc. In 2013, in the US, USD 810 million was spent for halitosis treatment.Europe is the second largest market in the world whose growth is attributed to an increase in awareness regarding halitosis and products available for its treatment. Furthermore, increasing demand for new oral care products influence the market growth.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly due to rising prevalence of chronic diseases such diabetes, respiratory diseases, kidney or liver failure with the increasing population. Rising geriatric population suffering from these diseases also contribute to the market growth.In the Middle East & Africa, the market is expected to witness a moderate growth owing to poor economic conditions, and lack of awareness about oral health.Table of Contents:1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction3 Research Methodology: Halitosis Market4 Marker Dynamics5 Market Factor Analysis6 Global Halitosis Treatment Market, By Type7 Global Halitosis Treatment Market, By Indication8 Global Halitosis Treatment Market, By Diagnostic Test9 Global Halitosis Treatment Market, By Drug Treatment10 Global Halitosis Treatment Market, By Region11 Competitive Landscape12 Mrfr ConclusionContinuedApply for Discount @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comMRFR has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.Our Research Analysts are eager to share their knowledge and assist you in refining market research parameters, choosing right market studies, and evaluating both the market scope and the research methodologies of varied segments.We bridge the gap between our clients and their clients by identifying and decoding just the target group, while generating leads with the highest accuracy.Years of research into diverse fields of work has ingrained within us, a proficiency so distinguished that our industry-specific specialists identify with your business ideas and feel the pulse of your challenges and opportunities. This enables us for providing assistance, through our consulting and strategic consulting services, in informed managerial decision making. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industries, WantStats Research and Media often conducts industrial visits for its research analysts. Relevant inputs from various established market participants, help our clients make significant contribution in respective markets are a huge motivation for all of us to endlessly furnish quality. We depend greatly on profound insights into complex realms of our study.Pune, India
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Designed specifically for the needs of small businesses, Infusionsoft by Keap, which starts at $199 a month per user account, is a solid all-around email marketing solution that integrates customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation functionality in one interface. Its designers worked towards making Infusionsoft an antidote to businesses spending too much time with data entry and who struggle managing marketing information across disparate systems.

If your business is accepting of the idea that sales and marketing should not be considered separate functions, and that they are better off regarded as a unified process, Infusionsoft by Keap is certainly an option worth considering. Larger or more traditional companies may balk at this hybrid approach, specially since theres a foundational separation between marketing and sales, with each department handling its own area independently, as well as using specific tools to do the job. While that makes perfect sense for enterprise users, small businesses whose requirements are less stringent can benefit from an integrated solution, provided there's enough functionality to justify the cost.

This flexible 'CRM-meets-email marketing solution' approach does not come cheap, however, which might prod newer SMBs to consider if they need all the bells and whistles that Infusionsoft by Keap offers, and if it is worth the price. Conversely, smaller businesses might just need the email marketing component independently of the CRM solution. This is where solutions like SendInblue, or Editors' Choice selection Mailchimp, might seem more focused options, even as Mailchimp itself has recently expanded into a full-service marketing platform.

For businesses driven by the need for a CRM solution with email marketing aspirations, Infusionsoft by Keap's feature set puts it on par with offerings from companies with much larger product suites, including not only Salesforce, but also our third CRM Editors' Choice, Zoho CRM.

Pricing of Infusionsoft by Keap

Infusionsoft by Keap begins at $199 per month, starting with 500 contacts and one user (with 50 percent off for the first three months on all plans). As your number of contacts increases, so will your monthly fee. For example, 50,000 contacts will run you close to $500 per month. All plans now include unlimited emails, CRM, marketing automation, sales automation, and e-commerce. This includes features such as the ability to automatically qualify leads, set reminders, trigger automated emails, track sales team activity, and view forecast and reports. The plan also includes invoicing and payment processing. As the software is geared toward small businesses, Infusionsoft by Keap comes with a mandatory one-time setup fee of $499.

An optional expert coaching package, which costs $999 as a one-time fee, can be purchased separately and consists of consultation with one of Keap's coaches, five one-on-one calls, migration of existing contacts, consultations for Zapier integration, Advanced Sales pipeline and E-commerce setup. While Keap offers an abundance of free seminars and support articles, the coaching package might be a good investment for businesses who want to hit the ground running and get set up quicker and with less guesswork.

All Infusionsoft by Keap plans come with access to your permanent application instance. Infusionsoft by Keap carries an expensive price, but that's because it delivers CRM and marketing automation alongside your email marketing tool, as opposed to our Editors' Choice CRM tools or other mid-tier platforms such as Pipedrive CRM or Bitrix24 CRM, which are primarily stand-alone CRM tools.

For smaller businesses or for managers that are starting up and have to wear multiple hats, the flexibility of managing the CRM and marketing solutions stack from a single interface is very compelling. Specially when considering the convenience of a singular customer support channel should any need arise.

Infusionsoft by Keap's lead management tool called Pipeline(Opens in a new window) helps users organize and manage prospects and deals in a single location. It links to your customers' information so that you can gain insight on all activity and interactions for prospects on one dashboard. Pipeline can assist companies to better customize sales stages, add a contact or business to a card, follow up with leads, and prioritize next steps.

The Lead Scores are a key lead management metric that businesses can customize by going into the Settings menu and selecting Edit Score. From here, you can create various rules and assign point values to them to determine the criteria by which you judge a desirable lead. The score is on a scale of 1 to 5 "flames"; users can associate point values with tags from a contact's bio such as budget, interests, new lead, new customer, subscribers, and linked campaigns or opportunities.

Depending on the score, you can also set automated actions and tasks using a visual automation buildersetting a trigger, for example, to automatically send a message and generate a task when a lead reaches three flames. Other products in our email marketing roundup like HubSpot Marketing Hub, Salesforce Pardot, and Zoho Campaigns offer a similar lead scoring to keep track of the status of subscribers and contacts.

Marketing businesses can use this handy feature to automate basic qualifications of which leads are worth the time and resources to pursue. Setting up the granular rules and triggers associated with lead scores and automated actions can be a bit of a painespecially for businesses that haven't thought out how they'd like to measure scores beforehand. But that kind of setup task is also covered in Infusionsoft by Keap's Kickstart setup packages.

Again, one reason for Infusionsoft by Keap's higher price is that it combines CRM with marketing automation and an email marketing tool. Many competitors, including our Editors' Choices and other mid-tier platforms such as Pipedrive CRM or Bitrix24 CRM, are primarily standalone CRM tools.

Your time with the platform begins with a guided tour, plus tutorials on lead management, sending emails, building campaigns, and managing automated tasks and processes. From there, the navigation takes you to the main dashboard. The layout is customizable and lets you drag and drop widgets onto the dashboard, including ones for contacts, quick email reports, usage stats, campaign reporting, tasks, or a real-time widget showing leads in various stages of the sales pipeline.

Creating and managing contacts is exceptionally intuitive. You can quickly add a contact by clicking the Plus button on the top right of the dashboard, next to the Search bar. In the main Contacts page (accessible from the top navigation bar), hovering over a contact entry pops up a Quick Action bar that lets you do things such as add a task or appointment, send the contact an email, view recent quotes and sales opportunities (leads), or check their Lead Score (more on that in a second) without having to click into the contact. The entry itself includes more detailed contact info and sales fields, including associated sales campaigns and the ability to manage the contact's invoices.

The contact and lead management capabilities can't compete with a platform like Salesforce, but for inexperienced users, it's all easy and straightforward. All entries offer inline editing accessible by clicking the small pencil icon in any element to open a pop-up box.

Another useful feature of the Infusionsoft by Keap platform is called My Day, which is a separate dashboard view that's more centralized and task-oriented. Accessible from the home icon drop-down menu, My Day is another widget view that acts like a project management dashboard. It puts tasks, appointments, notes, and opportunities in a left-hand column and has a work area on the right where you can pull up and work on a sales task.

The company sees My Day as an SMB sales or marketing employee's first stop to organize their priorities and log contact and lead updates. We think it's a winner. If anything, Infusionsoft by Keap should make My Day the main dashboard view, with more widget customizability, because its only fault is a mild feeling of redundancy.

Additionally, Infusionsoft by Keap has a landing page builder, Vimeo integration that allows users to add an email capture box within a video, and integrations with Facebook Ads and WordPress. Existing integration with QuickBooks Online, Gmail, and Outlook plus, dynamic contact, and additional automation within the Campaign Builder feature are all welcome features. Landing page builders are standard across various email marketing products, but some are going beyond this functionality. Editors' Choice selection Mailchimp has evolved into website builder and hosting services within its expanded marketing solutions offerings.

We had no issues with Infusionsoft by Keap's no-frills contact management, which is on par with what you'll find in similar offerings such as Base CRM and Insightly CRM. The only hitch we encountered was mapping fields from a CSV file; the software figured out email and birthday but oddly not name, surname, or gender. However, it was simple to click a field to align the CSV data with the appropriate categories. You can add custom fields in several categories, including drop-down menu, text, numbers, and dates.

When you log into Infusionsoft by Keap for the first time, you're prompted to set up an email signature (or more than one) and connect to Facebook and Twitter and add users. You can import contacts from third-party services including 1ShoppingCart, AWeber, Constant Contact, iContact, and Microsoft Outlook, or by uploading a CSV file.

For every list you upload, you need to answer several questions to prevent spam. The questions include whether you plan on sending email marketing to the list, and if so, how the contacts joined the list and how often you plan to email. One nitpick: the software doesn't note that all fields are required, even in the blank form at the end. We couldn't get past it until we figured that out. We appreciate the spam compliance, but it would have been helpful to label it as such.

Accounts come with unlimited hosted web forms. You can choose the fields you want to use and drag and drop elements like an HTML block, image, social button, or video to the form. As with an email broadcast, you can customize the font, layout, and styling. Next, you can set up a landing page, where signups go after they submit the form. Once you publish the form, you can grab the code to post it on your website.

Setting Up and Tracking Email Broadcasts

You can send out several different types of broadcasts, as Infusionsoft by Keap calls them, including email, fax, letter, and voice. For email broadcasts, you can either create an email from scratch or use the supplied email builder. The first option gives you more flexibility and includes an HTML code builder if you have that expertise.

The email builder includes over a dozen customizable templates, which seems limiting. Infusionsoft by Keap's options are more versatile than those offered by Zoho Campaigns. Besides adjusting font styles, sizes, and colors, you can drag and drop elements such as images, spacers, text, video, and social buttons, and change the colors and styles of each. We like that you can also delete an unwanted element by clicking it, which reveals a trash icon. We couldn't remove those when using SendinBlue.

You can preview your email on both desktop and mobile so you can get a sense of how it will look on different platforms and devices. Once you're satisfied, you can send out your email right away or schedule it for later delivery. Before you're able to send, though, Infusionsoft by Keap checks it and flags anything that's missing (such as a subject line or contact list). Zoho Campaigns also flags these types of errors. You can save customized templates with your company logo for easy reuse.

To create autoresponders, you use the campaign builder tool, with which you create a simple process map. There, you choose triggers (clicked an email link, made a purchase, and so on) or segments (contacts in a geographic region or demographic). Infusionsoft by Keap's marketplace includes predesigned campaigns you can usemany of which, such as networking campaigns and appointment follow-ups, are free. You can set these up for internal staff, too, such as an onboarding series.

Sending and Tracking Emails and Campaigns

When you're ready to send an email, you can send campaigns immediately or "Send at the best time today." This feature lets you look at global open rate trends to calculate the ideal time to send the email. Or you can schedule for an exact time.

On the Email Stats page, you can view all the information about a broadcast, including when it was sent, the template used, subject, and how many contacts received it. Beneath that, you can see a pie chart showing what percentage of recipients opened the email. Next to that is a tabulation of opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and bounces. Finally, there's a social reach section that shows you how your campaign performed on Facebook and Twitter.

With applications like GetResponse and Zoho Campaigns you can see this data right away; with Infusionsoft by Keap, we got a message to check back in a day or so to see results. You can export the report in Excel, CSV, or ZIP formatPDF is missing, though, you can choose to print and save as a PDF.

If you've sent a campaign with a series of emails, you can see how each one performed and where engagement dropped off so you can make improvements as necessary. For email batch results you can take a number of steps such as Update Opt-In/Out Status, Start/Stop a Campaign Sequence, or Delete Contacts. One handy report shows who's unsubscribed. On your dashboard, you can view how well an email broadcast has performed as compared to your average performance.

We also liked the email complaint summary, which shows a graph of the number of internal complaints (when a recipient opts out of receiving emails) and ISP complaints (when the recipient files a complaint about the sender to the Internet service provider). Infusionsoft by Keap includes A/B testing so you can compare the performance of one version of an email versus another which is a feature a popular with many marketers.

Reporting and Third-Party Integration

CRM and email marketing reporting is reasonably extensive for small businesses across sales and referral data. Under the Reports menu, the Sales section includes pipeline-specific reporting such as stage-to-stage progression of leads, call history summaries by representative, sales rep conversion percentages, and revenue by lead. The Referral reports cover partner activity, payments, ledgers, and per-contact success of any referral program the business is running. Infusionsoft by Keap also gives you the ability to save a report and run it again.

The reports themselves are simple in aesthetic and executionstraightforward charts and graphs without many added metricsand don't compare to the more robust reporting of a platform like Zoho CRM. But small companies will find the metrics they need without being inundated with data they don't.

On the integration front, Infusionsoft by Keap has a marketplace that's accessible from the top navigation bar in the dashboard. It includes apps, services, and add-ons built mostly by third parties, as well as the above mentioned email marketing campaigns uploaded by users. The marketplace is still relatively small but growing.

Marketing Automation for the Little Guy

Although Infusionsoft by Keap is designed primarily for small businesses, its marketing automation features are robust and easy to use. Its elegant and quick drag-and-drop interface is ideal for pulling together complex marketing workflows. You can personalize your navigation to create any look and feel you need.

Campaign workflows are presented in graphical form so you can easily see each step and branch. Actions and communication methods have icons (e.g., an envelope for email and a phone for click-to-call) that you can drag and drop into position along the marketing funnel. To connect one step of the chain to another, you draw a line with your mouse from one icon to the next, which tells the system that the previous step's completion triggers the following action. You can double-click any icon to investigate or edit the stage of the campaign should you need to make on-the-fly changes.

To keep track of your workflows, you can create an unlimited number of campaign categories such as Welcome, Birthday, Consultation, or Nurture. Within each of these, you can see the different types of campaigns you've created (as opposed to a list of thousands of campaigns).

Another of the tool's more innovative elements is its real-time alert dashboard, which lets you see the moment people act on a campaign. For example, if an email you sent to Lester Jones three weeks ago was just opened, a notification will appear alongside other recent contact actions. Now you can take immediate action on a white-whale contact without having to search their record. You can also find these types of proactive alerts in Salesforce Pardot.

Infusionsoft by Keap lets you create customized sales pipelines, reports, and unlimited custom tagging. It also includes dozens of pre-built reports. Each contact record can include up to 100 custom fields. You can then monitor contact and campaign performance based on multiple criteria such as purchases, opens, or any other interaction. After that, you can choose from dozens of actions to move each user through the funnel or dump them entirely. There's no limit on the number of stages of a campaign or the number of branches for each step. If you want to start blasting out emails quickly, the tool comes with 67 prefab campaigns, each of which is customizable.

Unfortunately, Infusionsoft by Keap doesn't include social media marketing automation, so you're limited to your contact's email inbox to spread your messaging. However, it does have an open application programming interface (API) that integrates with Zapier so you can connect third-party tools. Infusionsoft by Keap's integrated e-commerce, email marketing, and CRM platforms let you track contacts from discovery to email registration to upsells and cross-sells. We're seeing solutions like Mailchimp offer tighter social media marketing automation as part of their consolidation of features and move towards a total marketing platform.

Infusionsoft by Keap's biggest limitation is that it is designed for smaller scale deployment. The company recommends limiting its use to companies with no more than 100 employees, with no more than 20 people using it at once for optimal performance. This is okay for businesses that stay small, but if your company wants to scale, it should consider a beefier tool such as HubSpot Marketing Hub or Salesforce Pardot.

A Boutique Approach to Marketing

Fledgling businesses that are kickstarting their sales, marketing, and email campaigns are an ideal fit for what Infusionsoft by Keap has to offer. This is an integrated and intuitive solution with a lot of support options, including a white-glove expert coaching package, that can make setting up the solution painless, but for a fee. The premium and boutique nature of Infusionsoft by Keap is something that potential customers should certainly consider.

Infusionsoft by Keap 4.0 (Opens in a new window) Check Price (Opens in a new window) Pros Combines CRM with email marketing.

Makes it easy to add contacts

Great coaching and support options Cons Expensive

Reporting could use some refinement

Template designs are limited The Bottom Line Ideal for small businesses where managers wear multiple hats, Infusionsoft by Keap is both the launchpad and the control center for various email marketing and CRM activities.
Extreme snowfall expected to last through weekend

Snowfall is expected to continue through Sunday, Nov. 20, according Matt Gillen, meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
Yesterday, we took acrank and bottom bracket system.And then shit blew up.In the comments section, that is. So I summarized what I thought were some of the most common comment threads and punted a handful of questions back to SRAM. While I was at it, I also reached out to a couple bike company product managersthese are the people whose job it is to spec the bikes you ride. What's their take on DUB?Let's start with Roberts Graudins, the product manager at SRAM who was in charge of developing DUB.

Okay28.99. You guys had to know that you were going to get a rash of shit for not simply saying 29. Why, then, 28.99?

Photo by Mike Kazimer

Here is the straightforward answer. We wanted to be as transparent as possible. When I started at SRAM over 12 years ago, I was a design engineer for cranks who was a bit OCD on accuracy and details. So now as a product manager, when I was asked what the diameter was I told you the honest answer. 28.99mm is literally what the nominal dimension on our design drawing says and so that is what we shared with everyone. We could just round up and say 29mm to dumb it down, but when asked what the spindle diameter is, we wanted to be honest. There is no marketing twist to it, just actual values we have machined our DUB spindle to. We also saw a few comments about Do they really machine to those tolerances? The answer is yes. We expect the DUB BB/Spindle combination to perform at a really high level and part of that comes from having to hold really tight tolerances on our parts.

In practical terms, how much more durability (in terms of riding hours or, I suppose, hours on the testing machines), did you gain by going to 28.99 millimeters (rather than 30)?

Photo by Mike Kazimer

When we looked to develop the DUB platform, our goal wasnt to specifically make the system more durable than 30mm systems. It was to make the whole sub-system equal or better than our most durable system today (24mm, GXP threaded), but at the same time reducing the weight like you get from 30mm systems. To do that we benchmarked everything we had with our current platforms (24mm and 30mm systems). And just like all other BBs in the market, each combination of spindle and BB has its particular benefits. Typically you see 24mm platforms being more durable, but heavier than 30mm systems. While on the flip side 30mm systems typically being lighter, but not as durable in certain frame BB shell configurations as 24mm systems.There are compromises in almost all of those systems today because the majority of them were designed with a lot of constraints about making sure things werent too far out of the norm. But like we found with Eagle technology drivetrains, sometimes the best solutions out there are the ones that dont necessarily follow the norm. So we looked at it from a clean slate and asked ourselves how we would design a new platform of cranks/BBs to have the benefits of both 24mm and 30mm systems today, but still be compatible with all the major frame shell standards in the market.Durability was a key part of that, but is also one of the most tricky elements to put numbers to that accurately translate to every rider. Putting durability is terms of riding hours is almost impossible as there are no two riders who ride exactly the same, in the same conditions, with the same cadence or intensity and maintain their bike the same. What would be considered two hours of riding for one rider could actually be equal to what another rider would equal in 10 hours of riding. Which is why having a number to define that doesnt really help translate to what riders actually see in the field because everyone is different.But as to not skirt the question, we can say that a large number of folks in the industry either know someone or have personal experience with the durability level of SRAMs 24mm, GXP threaded crank/BB system. And what we can say is that every single DUB BB configuration now outperforms in the lab and in the field where we were from a contamination durability standpoint than our current GXP BB systems. The percentage of what that translates to you as a rider again varies depending on how you ride and where you ride, but it is clear that it will be better. So while I cant give a number or percent of how much better it will be that translates exactly to every rider individually, I can say it will be better than what is out there today for every rider.

Going to a 28.99-millimeter diameter spindle allows you to run larger ball bearings than is the case with a 30-millimeter spindle (at least, that's certainly true within the confines of a BB92 bottom bracket shell). What is the precise difference in bearing size between 28.99 and the 30-mm compatible models already in your line up?

How/Why exactly did dropping 1 millimeter in spindle diameter result in better sealing? Did it, for instance, allow you to change the size and shape of the seals? If so, by how much? What does that matter?

One of the most common MTB BB shell standards that frame manufacturers use is the PF92 standard. On top of that, the popularity in the market of shoving 30-millimeter spindle cranks in all frame BB shell standards has grown. The problem with this combination is that putting a 30-millimeter spindle in that small of a shell diameter (PF92) makes it so tight you cant really add any proper seals to prevent premature wear on the BB due to corrosion. Some of the BBs in the market today for that combination (30mm spindle/PF92 shell) have little to no actual sealing of the bearings. And that is something our engineers just werent happy with from a performance level.



The most common failure for BBs is not that the balls wear out or are overloaded by impact loads, it is because they start to corrode due to contamination. And so for us, going down in spindle size allowed us to add more sealing both from external contamination and internal contamination. Externally, we were able to have a double layer of sealing to protect from external contamination.

One of the most common MTB BB shell standards that frame manufacturers use is the PF92 standard. On top of that, the popularity in the market of shoving 30-millimeter spindle cranks in all frame BB shell standards has grown. The problem with this combination is that putting a 30-millimeter spindle in that small of a shell diameter (PF92) makes it so tight you cant really add any proper seals to prevent premature wear on the BB due to corrosion. Some of the BBs in the market today for that combination (30mm spindle/PF92 shell) have little to no actual sealing of the bearings. And that is something our engineers just werent happy with from a performance level.The most common failure for BBs is not that the balls wear out or are overloaded by impact loads, it is because they start to corrode due to contamination. And so for us, going down in spindle size allowed us to add more sealing both from external contamination and internal contamination. Externally, we were able to have a double layer of sealing to protect from external contamination.

The reason for us going to 28.99mm wasnt to have a larger ball size for the traditional 30mm frame BB shell configurations. The diameter actually came from us listening to the market about them wanting less configurations on cranks, but at the same time not wanting to give up any of the benefits of their current 24mm configuration or their 30mm configuration. We would hear things like, I love the light weight and stiffness of the 30mm crank setup, but I wish it had the durability of the 24mm crank setups. And so our target was to find a single solution that would be the best of both worlds.Our goal for DUB was to achieve three key factors to address that desire from the market. Simplicity, durability and compatibility.Simplicity in that we wanted to find a solution that would allow us to provide a single crank design that would fit onto any MTB bike regardless of the frame BB shell standard that was chosen by the OE to use in their design. Durability in that we wanted to ensure the BBs of this single crank solution would be just as durable in any frame BB shell standard configuration that the OEs chose to design to. And finally to make sure that simple and durable solution is compatible with those frame BB shell standards that are out there today.So in order for us to achieve a single solution that gave us good sealing and durability in all of the common frame BB shell standards that exist today, we ended up with a 28.99mm DUB spindle. This was the diameter our engineers landed on that provided us the balance of having a simple, durable and compatible solution to all major frame BB shells standards in the market. The ball size was just one small item we looked at in the landscape of all the things that add up to our DUB BB solution (ball size, bearing race thickness, internal/external seal design, part tolerances, grease fill, grease type, spindle/interface, spindle/crank attachment features, frame BB shell standards, frame BB shell tolerances, etc.)Internally, it allowed us to have a better sealed bearing and fully-sealed center tube to protect from internal contamination caused by water getting into the BB shell of the frame. Both of these reinforcements to sealing we felt were needed to make sure our BBs did not wear out prematurely.So, yes, while itsound small, 1 millimeter is enough to add these types of seals to add that corrosion protection. Other frame BB shell standards that OEs use in their designs dont have the same constraints for space as the 30mm/PF92 combination, so arent as big of a concern on space. But as we dont control what frame BB shell standards OEs use on their designs, we have to make sure our designs have the best possible performance in any configuration. And DUB does exactly that for the main MTB frame BB shell standards that are being used by manufacturers today.

Some people might see the release of DUB as a move made specifically to close your component ecosystem from companies such as Shimano, FSA and, specifically, RaceFace, the latter of which you are currently in a lawsuit with. How do you respond to that?

Our intention isnt to close anyone out from anything. Our intention is to make the best possible drivetrain systems and components that fit on bikes that are in the market. Sometimes that means not just following the norm. If we did that, wed all still be riding 26 hardtails with 80-millimeter travel forks and 3x8 gearing. Sticking with the norm often comes with a bunch of compromises on the design and with Eagle technology (DUB included) drivetrains that isnt what we were after. With Eagle technology, our goal was to make the best possible drivetrain system in the market. The only way for us to be able to deliver what we did with Eagle was to go away from the norm. And so far, based on the number of riders we see in the market on Eagle drivetrains, we feel we did a pretty good job in achieving that. DUB technology on our crank products is just one more step to furthering the Eagle technology package.

I think that part of the anger from readers in our comments section stems from the fact that your video states that DUB is "backwards compatible." In some ways thats truein others its not. To wit, DUB will fit on any existing frame AND you can now swap a DUB crank from one bike to the next with no compatibility problems.



DUB cranks and bottom brackets, however, are not backwards compatible with existing cranks or bottom brackets. How do you respond to some of the reader statements that suggest that your video is being a bit disingenuous with its "backwards compatibility" claim?

Photo by Mike Kazimer

...AND NOW FOR THE BIKE COMPANIES....

Kevin Dana, Product Manager, Giant Bicycles

Tara Seplavy, Product Manager, GT Bicycles

Josh Kissner, Product Manager, Santa Cruz Bicycles

Alex Cogger, Product Manager, Rocky Mountain

Ian Schmitt, Product Manager, Kona Bicycles

We view compatibility in terms of our systems being compatible with MTB bikes that exist today. Like you have heard in articles before on Eagle drivetrains, our target for Eagle was to create the best possible drivetrain systemnot a bunch of random components that are hung on a bike. And now that DUB is the latest technology of the Eagle technology family, we view it the same way. As a system. When that is how you look at it, we have a hard time seeing how it isnt backwards compatible to the existing frame BB shell standards that are in the market today. Hence, why we were genuine when we said it is backwards compatible.This does, however, highlight the difference of how some of the readers might have been looking at it. They potentially see DUB as 2 separate sub-components (BB and Crank), where we see it as one sub-system (crankset) that is ultimately part of one full drivetrain system (Eagle). If we look at viewing it as individual components between BB and crank, then you can make the argument that no BB/cranks in the market are fully backwards compatible. Not even the existing ones that folks in the forum were mentioning (24mm systems). They are all based on being used as a sub-system and only those sub-systems can really be called backwards compatible. For example, not all 24mm cranks/BBs are created equal. The diameters, bearing placements and even attachment methods arent the same between all 24mm crank configurations. So if those sub-systems are considered backwards compatible, how isnt DUB in that same boat?"I have spent ample time on the new DUB system on both XC and Enduro applications, with the latter having being ridden everywhere from Whistler, to Sedona, to SoCal, dry and dusty to sloppy at times, and back to dry and dusty. I honestly cant complain about the new system at all, and in Giant's case, the new system actually shaves some weight off of the previous generation SRAM product. Not saying that weight is a defining factor in product decisions, but lets face it, nothing is really getting much lighter these days, so you take it when and where you can if it makes sense. As far as durability claims, time will tell the truth, but the new system is sealed relatively well, and Ive experienced a system that has actually settled in quite nicely with no slop, and no creaking. To me, thats always a win."As for making product decisions simpler? Nah. Not for us, at least. Theres no complications in choosing a BB; its either compatible or its not. In terms of choosing the overall drivetrain? While some brands are more apt to break up and Mr. Potato Head drivetrains, for Giant, its traditionally a system approach to drivetrain spec. The various systems offered now generally meet the needs of most (not all) of Giants customers. Theres enough aftermarket options out there to meet any individual needs these days, but Giants focus is delivering a solid core foundation in which each part works together as intended, and is easy to service and troubleshoot when issues do arise. Lets face it, not every manufacturers frame tolerances are up to snuff, which in turn leads to shifting issues, which then you start chasing individual components. Is it the RD hanger alignment? The frame? Cheap chain? Oval chainrings? (kidding)."Cranks and BBs havent changed too disruptively in a while, and I certainly wont get caught up in what diameter the spindle is. Do they fit my bike? Are they strong enough? Do they look rad? Spin freely? Sweet, lets go smash some rocks.""For us it was just a swap over. The old ones will no longer be available for OEM purchase after a certain date. It also does not impact all of the crank models. Because SRAM enforces purchase of the full Eagle group (FC, RD, SL, CS, CN) it kinda locks you in anyway to a crank purchase."As for longevity, we haven't had enough ride time to really comment yet. But, if this makes it easier for brands to spec a single BB part number, or simplifies production for factories, or increases the chance that your local shop will have the BB you need in stock, then all the better!""I've had a set of cranks for a few months now and they've been problem-free. I'm not the best durability tester, as I ride too many different bikes to put a proper thrashing on anything in a short time period. Plus I live in California... I will say that we've never had BB durability issues with SRAM products, I suspect because we've always used threaded/GXP cranks on our bikes. I think the bearing/sealing issues people were having are on bikes with pressfit BBs, especially the smaller diameter ones (BB 86/92, etc)."How will it impact my job? No real change in that regard, but it will make our bikes lighter as we can use the aluminum spindle with our threaded BB's now. Which is sweet. Where we spec Eagle, SRAM forces us to buy complete drivetrains (cranks included), so there's no change to the amount of work/debate (or lack there of) to decide specs. Obviously we're happy when something we're already purchasing gets improved, and that's what's happening with DUB.""Since SRAM delivered samples to us for ride evaluation in the fall (and believe it or not 2019 spec needs to be locked in and final in December), we have only put a little bit of time in on the new DUB cranks, and so far have not encountered any issues. Hard to say what the future holds, but we have to have faith they have done their homework."As far as DUB's impact on our jobs goes... its same same but different. SRAM cranks have always used SRAM-specific BBs (unlike Race Face and Shimano which are interchangeable, for example). So DUB or no DUB, we still buy SRAM BBs for SRAM cranks. This is not a new standard, simply a change in the design in their components. I recognize that its tough for dealers however, who need to stock new BBs now."SRAM is the dominant drivetrain in performance MTB (for good reason, thanks to leading the charge in 1x and the advent of Eagle), and they have decided all new performance cranks will get DUBed (get it?). Furthermore, their drivetrains are a closed systems as they pertain to cranks / rings / bottom brackets, so we are all in with DUB if we want to spec Eagle (which we do).""The durability [with DUB] has been very good. Ive had the same bottom bracket in my bike since August and have had no issues with it. Normally I have 24mm or GXP cranks on my bikes and I replace my BB when its worn. Usually 4-8 months depending on how much I am riding and the conditions. The bearings in my crank still spin freely and have no grinding or play. Id say that the claims are valid and that the new BB and spindle interface is an improvement."DUB doesnt really change my job one way or another. The ordering process is the same whether Id spec a GXP crank or a DUB crank. No change to the frame-fitment or design and an ostensibly better product make it an easy decision, which doesnt impact the value of a consumer's current bike."
Atlanta has a vibe unlike any other show on TV. Surreal and sublime, the show's universe feels hyperrealistic like a bubble waiting to be punctured.

Donald Glover's Atlanta is finally coming back to FX (March 1st, 10 p.m. ET) after a brief hiatus in which Donald Glover became a father, toured his '70s Funkadelic-inspired album, Awaken, My Love!, and prepared for his role as Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story (experiencing a minor hiccup after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired by Lucasfilm). Glover won an Emmy for best-directed comedyone of the first Black nominees to winand also took home an Emmy for best actor in a comedy series, so it's no surprise that Atlanta is one of the most anticipated releases in 2018.

Season one of Atlanta touched on topics of race, co-parenting, poverty, the perils of navigating fame, and paid homage to the hip-hop and culture of Atlanta; Glover has apparently named season two of his hit series Atlanta Robbin', based loosely on the thematic structure of Tiny Toons: How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Does this mean Paper Boi (played by the exceptional Brian Tyree Henry) will give up his rap stardom to become a voice actor for Cartoon Network? Fortunately, noseason two will simply further develop the episodic and experimental tone Glover dabbled with in season one, i.e. "Streets on Lock," "B.A.N.," and "Juneteenth."

With more creative room to explore the world of Atlanta, season two sounds like it might just expand upon the parts of the series that made it such a unique and refreshing watch: Paper Boi's conflicted celebrity image, Darius' (Lakeith Stanfield) stoner-esque aphorisms, and Earnest's college-educated entitlement challenged by his new job as Alfred's manager. Not to mention, Earn and Van's (Zazie Beetz) tender relationship together with their daughter, Lotti, is one of the most nuanced and subtle relationship depictions on TV. Here are the top five best moments of season one that made Atlanta a standout comedy series.

The "B.A.N." Episode The fictional "B.A.N." stands for Black American Networka good mix between BET and PBSand features a low-budget show called "Montague" (that looks like the set of The Eric Andre Show). This episode feels like an alternate universe within the show itself, as if all the characters are interdimensional beings visiting the set of Atlanta. Easily one of the best (and most experimental) episodes in the series, "B.A.N." features thought-provoking commentary on hyper-masculinity in hip-hop culture as Paper Boi discusses the boundaries of his rap image and sexuality. (Also worth noting, YouTube's very own Nileseyy Niles makes an appearance in the hilarious "Transracial" report where he claims to be a 35-year-old white man from Colorado.)

Celebrating Juneteenth in a Mansion Atlanta doesn't shy away from race and identity politics in the Black community and "Juneteenth" (the national holiday commemorating the legal abolition of slavery in Texas and Confederate States), is no exception; it's easily one of Atlanta's most provocative episodes. Van attempts to network with an old friend married to a white, wealthy businessmanwhose fascination with Black culture is slightly fetishisticand things quickly spiral out of control once she finds out Earn is Alfred's manager. In an ironic twist, Van and Earn are attacked by the hostess and embraced by the husband who proclaims rap is the epitome of Black culture. Oh, and Van and Earn get it on in a car.

Paper Boi the Star "The Club" is Atlanta's where's-my-money episode and it delivers. Paper Boi's single is finally gaining traction in the community and he's expecting a paycheck, but the club promoter isn't too eager to pay up, avoiding Paper Boi and his crew. After getting strong-armed and jacked by Paper Boi, the club promoterlike a character out of a blaxploitation filmstraightens out his collar and says, "That boy's gonna be a star." Nuff said.

The Exploitative Pizza Run FX One of the few episodes that unpacks exploitative clickbait, "The Streisand Effect" features one of Atlanta's most annoying characters, Zan, a Twitter troll who also somehow gets away with saying the N-word and is, for lack of a better word, a sociopath. Zan lacks total empathy, but after conning a young boy to steal money for him during his pizza deliveries, it's Alfred who ends up having the empathy to leave Zan alone despite his slanderous online drivel.

Dont Play with Migos FX Long story short, Atlanta's Migos have a memorable cameo in "Go for Broke," and it's one of the most surreal murder scenes in the entire series. It's a stark reminder that Paper Boi isn't big enough to forget hood politics.

Season two of Atlanta premieres March 1st, 10 p.m. ET on FX.

Shaun Harris is a poet, freelance writer, and editor published in avant-garde, feminist journals. Lover of warm-toned makeup palettes, psych-rock, and Hilton Als. Her work has allowed her to copyedit and curate content for various poetry organizations in the NYC area.

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Revisiting the YouTubers You Watched in High School
Read from one point of view, cinema reinforces the ancient notion of sight as a distance sense. For many ancient Greek thinkers  and this is reinforced in the writings of Renaissance philosopher Marsilius Ficino  smell, touch, and taste were all closely bound with the body and its maintenance. We might dub these preservation senses. We employ touch to navigate the world safely and to move away from items that endanger us (the hot stove, the sharp blade); taste reveals what is good or bad to eat (rotten food tastes horrible); the malodorous indicates the corrupt and, perhaps, the diseased. These senses preserve the integrity of the body; they protect our corporeality. The remaining two senses, sight and hearing, what are often termed the rational sensesor in Thomas Aquinass formulation, maxime cognoscitivitranscend our corporeality and put us in touch with the world outside our immediate needs and requirements.

This is why Pythagoras purportedly coined the term theoria (theory) as a derivation of the word theatai (spectators)to engage in theory is to see as a spectator, as an audience member in a theater. To have theoretical knowledge of the world is to be detached from it. When we are in the theater (at least typically), we are not participating in the unfolding of events; we watch from a critical distance and thus evaluate and judge without being directly implicated in the proceedings. For Pythagoras, such a theatrical experience is metaphorically connected to philosophical understanding. In the great theatrum mundi of the universe, philosophers are the wise spectators, observing from a distance, involved in the sense of being alert to the subtleties laid out before us but uninvolved in the sense that (at least at that moment) we do not have an impact on what transpires.

Cinema reinforces sight as a distance sense in that the screen registers as a metaphorical barrier and physical limit to our connection with the images we observe. Calling out to the images on the screen will garner no response (at least not from those imagesbut perhaps from your fellow audience members). The people and events who left those images indelibly impressed upon the film occupy a different temporal and spatial realm from the person sitting in the darkened theater. We observe and are unobserved; we are perhaps moved but not to act (at least not in the immediate sense). Sight, in this sense, marks our distance from the world, our isolation.

And yet there is another way in which we might conceive of sight (and hearing) as a distance sense; that is, it is a sense that has the capacity for overcoming distance. In this manner, sight bridges the ontological chasm that separates the isolated self from the teeming and inviting (if often terrifying) world in which we find ourselves. I employ that locution (in which we find ourselves) deliberately. The very notion of a self depends upon something outside the self. Freud alludes to this fact in the opening of Civilization and Its Discontents when he claims that ego formation follows the erosion of the seemingly unbounded and limitless oceanic feeling that perceives whatever we are as fully connected to and not separated in any manner from the universe in its entirety. But if the self depends upon otherness and cannot be realized if closed off from that otherness, the ethical-ontological question at the core of our being perforce must be: what ought our relationship to that otherness entail? How ought we to comport ourselves to the world that surrounds and informs our very being? Sight, then, becomes a means to reach out toward that awaiting world, to connect with otherness.

Hence, sight occupies a seemingly contradictory position: it is the marker of our distance from the world and the means by which we connect with that world. Cinemaas an art form that alternately controls, manipulates, plays with, confounds, liberates, and rewards sightcan, from this point of view, be seen as a working out of that contradiction. Because it (often) deals with actions and the motivating factors behind them, film has a deeply ethical component to it that surpasses painting, for examplesince at least Aristotle, ethics has involved an examination of the deed. Because it produces the representation of those deeds without actual people in the room as the performers, film offers a kind of abstraction that heightens its impact as theoria in a manner that differs strongly from theater, where the presence of living people paradoxically heightens the artifice while asking us to live in that shared space. In short, cinema enacts the ethical deed for its theatai, leading to a kind of withdrawn knowledge or theoria. Sight, then, operates in cinema in a manner that occupies both of its polesit separates us from and connects us to the filmed other.

To observe and to learn and yet to be more intimately involvedthis was the goal that two documentary filmmakers pursued in the early 60s, giving rise to styles of film known as cinema verite and direct cinema. These approaches had much in common and yet differed in significant ways that can all-too-easily be overlooked. Understanding these differences is essential when coming to grips with the ethical character that resides at the heart of these filmic projects. Both cinema verite and direct cinema were hugely influential, not just on future documentaries but also on fiction filmincluding the New Wave French cinema and the American independent film scene. From 19 January to 6 February, the Film Forum in New York City presents 60s Verite, a festival curated by Elspeth Carroll that charts the rise and early development of the verite and direct cinema styles in works ranging from the excoriatingly immersive documentaries of Frederick Wiseman and the iconic music documentaries of D.A. Pennebaker to John Cassavetess partially improvised masterpiece Faces and Agnes Vardas bewitching Cleo from 5 to 7. But the founding figures of these styles and the charismatic presences that inform the festival as a whole are Jean Rouch, one of the progenitors of cinema verite, and Robert Drew, the driving force behind direct cinema.

Jean Rouch and Cinema Verite as Mimetic Act

In 1941, Jean Rouch, in his mid-20s, arrived in Niger as a hydrology engineer supervising a construction project. There he met Damoure Zika, a young Songhai man who became Rouchs friend, collaborator, and muse. Rouch became fascinated by Songhai traditions and rituals and was determined to film Songhai ceremonies and send the footage back to his mentor, the anthropologist Marcel Griaule. Several of his early films featured spirit possession, culminating in his first major film statement, 1955s Les Maitres Fous (The Mad Masters). The Mad Masters was a controversial film; it was banned in Niger and Great Britain, sharply criticized by Griaule, and widely condemned as dismissively colonialist by African viewers and disgustingly exploitative by European audiences.

And yet, with its meagre half-hour running time, the film presents a striking account of the Hauka movement toward the end of the colonialist period in the city of Accrathe capital of what is now, after independence from colonial rule was declared in 1957, the Republic of Ghana. The Hauka movement involved a religious ritual of possession in which the participants took on the characteristics of their colonialist oppressors. What is remarkable about Rouchs film is that, even with the omnipresence of his voice-over narration, The Mad Masters creates its effects through visual means. The images and their juxtaposition are responsible for the films argumentation; the voiceover does little more than describe what we are seeing at a given momentand in a situation so far removed from most European or American experience, the descriptions are hardly redundant.

The film opens with a look at the hustle and bustle of a modern Accrathe ceaseless traffic, the huge market, the train, the workers and merchants. In the midst of his description of modern life in the city, Rouch alludes to a practice that transpires outside of the city limits and outside of the boundaries of the work week. As he mentions the word Hauka, the film jumps to a clip of a mans face in the dark, illuminated by a flashlight; the man foams menacingly from the mouth. There may be an element of exploitation herecertainly this exoticizes the practice of possession but I would imagine that in 1955 (and still today) it is rather difficult to portray a possession ritual to Europeans without it seeming exotic. What the cutaway does is to replace the voiceover as the primary means of communication with the audience with the film cut. It is the juxtaposition that does the work here. In the midst of our survey of the daylight world of Accra, we are shown a mysterious presence that is somehow outside of the city and yet resides at the very heart of the citys inhabitants and their understanding of their relationship to the world around them. Notably the use of the darkness is clearly contrivedthe possession ritual we witness in the next part of the film takes place during the daybut the contrivance is employed to make an argument about the shadow self that resides within (and perhaps redeems) the colonial subjects.

The extended possession scene itself is, obviously, the source of the consternation expressed by many viewers then and now. For some critics, the lack of contextualization reduces the scene to the merely fantastic and bizarrethus dehumanizing the African subjects. Indeed, Rouch makes no effort to place this ceremony within a longer tradition of Songhai rituals. This arises from Rouchs disinclination to provide much in the way of overt explanation at all. Most of the explanatory work that is done is, again, accomplished through the juxtaposition of images. For instance, Rouch never says that this possession ritual is meant as a critique of the British colonial powers. He simply juxtaposes images of the ritual with images of the British army in formation or the image of a celebrant cracking an egg on the head of a statue with the image of a serviceman with the ostentatious yellow and white plume on his helmet. These juxtapositions suggest but they do not dictate our interpretation. One gets the sense that the ritual adopts an exaggerated form of British ceremonial military activity in order to show how contrived and ritualistic it already is.

By mimetically embodying the British calls for order and grounding their interactions in the absurd vestiges of logic, the possessed men reveal the disorder and illogic that underwrites the colonialists and their power. Mimesis is, strictly speaking, a non-conceptual form of coming to know otherness. By imitating the unknowable other, the subject accommodates the self to a mystery that might have seemed frightening until it was embodied. The act of mimetically absorbing the other is not mere domination (although some manner of domination may come into play here) but rather involves a point of mediation between the seemingly powerless self and the seemingly omnipotent otherness of the world. The goal of mimesis is not a reversal of a power structure but rather a shift within it, an attempt to come to grips with an oppressive world by incorporating (quite literally) the strangeness of it all.

To my mind, this is the key to what Rouch accomplishes in this film. We are confronted, largely without explanation, by a ritual that at first appears chaotic, shot through with superstition, and without purpose (that is, without any so-called real-world efficacy). The film refuses to talk down to either its audience or its subjects. To explain what is going on would be to exert yet another form of colonialist control. Indeed, these subjects are not mere subjects in the film, they are collaborators. They explicitly invited Rouch to film the ritual and encouraged him to show it to people outside of Africa. Instead of imposing the organizing and containing force of explanation, Rouch and his collaborators largely allow the material to speak on its ownin all of its disorienting profundity, its puzzling polysemy, its ethical conundrums. Thus, in documenting the mimetic processes of the possession ritual, The Mad Masters itself performs an act of mimesis. It offers us a seemingly frightening and othered experience that turns out to be a reasonable critique of a power structure that is so familiar to European history that one easily forgets just how strange it really ismilitary and colonialist logic being, at the core, a corrupt and corrupting illogic. At least this is what one might learn on this reading, my reading, which is hardly the only reading available of the film since, with only one exception to be addressed in a moment, it endorses none.

The film ends with a return to the daylight workaday world of Accra and shows the celebrants in their quotidian jobs, no longer possessed, no longer foaming at the mouth. Rather than imitating or criticizing their British overseers, they are now occupied in colonial employ. These figures smile at the camera, appear well-adjusted and happy. Here, however, is where Rouch blinks. Perhaps in an effort to bring the film to some sort of conclusion, he offers a bit of interpretationperhaps the first overt moment of explanation. He suggests that these men have found a panacea in the face of anxiety, that the charged ritualistic moment of the possession ceremony has expunged the suffering they experience under colonial rule. This ending brought Rouch a great deal of grief and criticism. It seemed to many as though he was suggesting that the usefulness of the ritual was really to benefit the British, providing a kind of safety valve to prevent African rebellion.

Ultimately, I think this is the wrong way to understand the moment. It is striking to see these men returned to the Accra environment of productivity after the visceral emotional extremes of the ceremony. Rouch really didnt need to offer any explanation; the images (once again) are perfectly capable of speaking for themselves. These images dont provide clarification but rather a productive obscurity; it is indeed the mysterious connection between these two different manners of existence (the workday and the possession ritual) that so eloquently illustrates the conflicted dynamics of colonialist occupation and the manner in which the occupied live under those conditions and seek to mimetically accommodate themselves to it. This is not mere acquiescence but it is not some bloated fantasy of military retaliation, either. It is something far more complex, far more interesting, far more human.

Rouch continued to collaborate with his African subjects in his extensive output. Now the collaborations became more overt, with the subjects not only suggesting the topics of the films but also improvising narrations over the images. This gave rise to what Rouch termed ethnofiction, a genre in which the people in the film act out a scenario that is based on their own experiences but is not simply a transcription of that experience. In essence, Rouch and his collaborators solved the paradox of sight in cinema through a set of constructively mimetic acts. The films recognize that the camera always-already negates the unobserved truth of the world; the act of filming alters the truth. Instead of denying the intrusive presence of the camera and the act of filming, Rouch and his collaborators fully acknowledge that all narrative truth is a construction. Whomever tells the story exerts (even if unintentionally) some manner of control over that narrative. Although justifiable questions arise as to just how much control Rouch was willing to give to his collaborators, these films at least allow for some aspect of agency on the part of the filmed subjects in shaping their narratives.

Robert Drew and Direct Cinema as Immersive Act

In 1955, Robert Drew, a writer and editor for Life magazine, held the year-long Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. The year before he had made a documentary film, Key Picture (Magazine X), for NBC and was disappointed with the results. So, he employed his year at Harvard to explore the reason behind his frustration with his own work. The problem, according to Drew, was that documentaries were, by and large, simply lectures or interviews with picture illustrations. They operated by word logic rather than picture logic, while he sought a dramatic logic in which things really happened. Just as we saw in Aristotle, Drew maintained that ethical truth resides in action and the documentary film had to open up a space in which that truth was not simply retold as narrative but revealed in its unfolding. In this manner, Drew believed, the documentarian would get out of the way of the truth of the moment being documented. This would be a new basis for a new journalism a theater without actors plays without playwrights reporting without summary and opinion, [this journalism] would be the ability to look in on peoples lives and crucial times from which you could deduce certain things and see a kind of truth that can only be gotten from personal experience.

There are obvious parallels here with Rouchs concerns: the insistence on allowing truth to emerge, the notion that documentaries are a type of theater employing non-actors who arent exactly acting but not exactly being themselves in some innocent manner, the shifting of the impetus for interpretation from the filmmaker to the viewer making critical judgments. There are technical parallels also: the use of the handheld camera to heighten the naturalness of the shoot (avoiding the obtrusive set lighting and staginess of earlier documentaries), the use of the lighter equipment to foster a sense of immediacy that attempts to override the distance inherent in viewing a film (the paradox of sight we discussed at the outset of this essay).

And yet important differences abound. Drews direct cinema is far less reflexive (especially in the first decade of his output) than Rouchs cinema verite. Drews films make a concerted effort to efface, insofar as possible, the presence of the filmmaker. Drews acolytes, the Maysles brothers, even went so far as to get their subjects used to their presence before the real shooting took place so that they would be more easily ignored while working. Whereas Rouch acknowledges that theater happens whenever anyone is actively looking (such as a camera), Drew seems to understand life itself as an endless theater (a theatrum mundi) that is best understood by not intervening. In this manner, Drew, far more than Rouch, is concerned with the aspect of sight that relies upon distanceat least a kind of ontological distance. The camera sees all by, ideally, not being seen, not participating and insofar as the camera is the proxy for the viewer that viewer is offered a kind of Gods eye viewobserving without being observed, witnessing without impacting the events. There is a paradox afoot here. In offering this ontological distance, Drew hopes to create an experiential proximity. By having less of an impact on the filmed subjects we become more directly involved in the unfolding of the filmed events.

Rouchs films rely upon the performative self-awareness of non-actors playing the role of being themselves. Drews films suggest that life is already performative and is only perverted and made more artificial (and consequently less dramatic) when the subjects of the film are made aware of themselves as subjects. In Rouchs work, the filmmaker and his collaborators (the subjects of the film who maintain some kind of sovereignty over their representation) engage in an active dialogue with the viewer. The material is not pre-digested but it makes no pretense toward being simply as things are. In Drews work, the filmmaker ideally recedes into the distance, making way for direct access to the filmed subjects, who ideally exercise no attempt at control over their representation, and affording the viewer what Drew calls personal experience, the illusion of being there. Indeed, Drews films operate on what we might term the logic of immersionour ontological distance being superseded by experiential proximity. Instead of absorbing a world mimetically (as we do in a Rouch film), these films encourage our absorption by and within that world. If, following our Aristotelian insight, movement and action is the source of ethical understanding, then Drews work catches us up in the sweep of those movements.



Primary (1960) (NYC Film Forum)

Drews landmark effort was Primary (1960), documenting the Wisconsin primary between Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy. Drew had recently founded Drew Associates and he gathered around him a group of fellow travelers who would emerge to be some of the most important documentary filmmakers of the United States: among them Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, and Albert Maysles. Furthermore, with funding from Time and Life, Drew developed a handheld camera with synchronized sound, something that Rouch did not have available to him until around that same time. Rouchs film, because of the reliance on voice-over and the total lack of synchronization between the sound and the images, always have a dream-like quality, a touch of the surreal (which accords well with Rouchs aesthetic predilections). But Drews films engross the viewer in a world that does, at times, seem unmediated. Primary brings us into the presence of Humphrey and Kennedy; we hear their voices in the context of the rooms in which they speakthe background noise, the unexpected interruptions, the ambient reverberation.

There is a notable and justifiably celebrated moment in Primary. The narrator quickly mentions the importance of the fourth district of Milwaukee to Kennedys campaign and then falls silent. A quick shot of a booster rallying the crowd gives way to an extended walking shot as the camera follows closely behind Kennedy as he forges a path through a veritable sea of humanity on his way to the stage. Just slightly above him, the camera is at times so close to Kennedy that it nearly bumps the back of his head. The extended, two-minute shot threads behind Kennedy as he navigates the adoring crowd. He shakes hands, acknowledges pleasantries and cheers of adulation; we witness the gazes of the members of the crowd, the looks of hope and admiration. One woman claims she wont wash her hand for a year after shaking his. Kennedy passes through a doorway and up a crowded stairway and finds himself on stage. The camera wheels about and the sound immediately shifts from the melee of greetings and desultory talk to the mass singing of the Kennedy campaign song based on High Hopesoops there goes the opposition. The camera wanders away from Kennedy, and we reconnect with (are reabsorbed by) the teeming mass of people that have flooded into the hall.

Something remarkable happens here. Once we pull back from the quasi-POV shot following Kennedyduring which it seems like this crowd is endlessly vast, stretching to infinitythe camera opens onto the expanse, revealing it to be not all that expansive at all. The room is, certainly by todays political standards, modest in the extreme. It is just a relatively small banquet hall or perhaps a school assembly room. There is something touchingly intimate about the whole affair. A stationary camera would inevitably portray the moment as either suffused with a stultifying pageantry or reduce it to a mere stopping place during a hectic campaign. But Drews approach reveals the dialectics of the political situation: at once formal and intimate, Kennedys efforts to connect with the public seek to bridge the public and the private.



The Chair (1962) (NYC Film Forum)

Drews other films build on this approach. The Chair (1962) charts the last-ditch attempt to save Paul Crump from Chicagos electric chair. Again we are immersed in the environments of this world: the prison where the warden tests the chair with so much noise that we are unable to hear his instructions to his subordinates; the lawyers office strewn with discarded paper documenting his struggle to articulate to those loyal to capital punishment what seems to him to be so ludicrously self-evident; the courtroom where a mans life is decided who is not even present to bear witness, where the nature of redemption and reformation are pondered, where the very nature of truth and our access to that truth (how can we tell whether Crump is actually rehabilitated or whether he is feigning) is debated.



Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1962) (NYC Film Forum)

That same year, Drew produced one of his most impressive and controversial films: Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, which traces the standoff between President Kennedy and Alabama governor George Wallace, who attempted to prevent the court-ordained integration of the University of Alabama. The camera takes no sides, simply bears witness to Wallaces attempts to exert the states rights argument the South still attributed to the Civil War while Kennedy mulls over his responsibility for confronting a state-level politician with the open display of federal power. The film garnered some criticism owing to the sheer level of access the cameras were given to the White House. We watch as attorney general Robert F. Kennedy attempts to mediate between his official representation on the ground in Alabama (headed by his deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach) and the president. RFK is constantly on the phone, frustrated by the lack of clear communication but assured of Katzenbachs abilities. His feet propped up on his desk, leaning back in his chairthis is the portrayal of the informal quotidian habits of a man working in a position of the utmost formality. We are offered access that ideally comes with no pretense of playing up to the camera. We are given access to the privacy that resides at the heart of public life.

Of course, a lot of work is being done here by that word, ideally. The subjects are supposed to be caught in the act of behaving as they would were they not caught in the act. But this puts an outsized responsibility on these subjects. One cant help but wonder how much of RFKs nonchalance in this film is an intentional rhetorical gesture, an attempt to win the battle of perception. No one forgets there is a camera in the room, making all of this much more complex in practice than in theory. And here we are once again contemplating theory and its relationship to practice, sight and its relationship to the understanding of deed. And once again we return to Aristotle.

If we as the audience, as theatai, are removed from the situation unfolding before our eyes as a necessary attribute of our mandate to make judgments, we are always aware that those judgments have an ethical element as their basis. We are making ethical judgments in the sense of evaluating the deeds shown in these films in light of what we determine as being right and wrong. But we also are ethically compromised by that ostensibly objective point of view we occupy. By what right do we have this access? By what right do we get to judge while remaining beyond the reach of the judgment of those on the film?

On the other hand if, as Aristotle claims, ethics reside in the deed, in movement, then it is not true that we are somehow inactive. We are moved by what we see; we are involved. This, for Aristotle, is more than merely metaphorical. Aristotle asserts that we watch theater, in part, because it affords us an opportunity to hone our ability to make right judgment. We are impacted by theater because the deeds of a person are an expression of the movements of character (ethos) that constitute the person. In being moved, we mimetically accommodate ourselves to the otherness that confronts us. With all of their differences, the insistence that we are moved is integral to the cinematic enterprises of both Jean Rouch and Robert Drew. Whether we coax it into being (like Rouch) or reveal it in its own secretive unfolding (like Drew), truth is not a fixed, stable entity. It demands action; it elicits response. This, it seems to me, is the lesson that both Rouch and Drew teach us. Theory shades overineluctably and inexorablyinto practice; objective sight becomes ethical deed.
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.
Charleston, SC (29403)

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The forthcoming HOPE Center will serve as a hub for various services such as housing and financial assistance and medical care. The fundraising drive is part of regional effort led by the Mayor's Commission on Homelessness which is a collaboration between Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie and North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey. Read moreCharleston seeks fundraising boost for new homeless outreach center
The day after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would step aside, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York announced his own history-making bid Friday to become the first Black American to helm a major U.S. political party in Congress as leader of the House Democrats. The 52-year-old Jeffries gave nod to the "legendary figures" before him, Pelosi and her leadership team, while encouraging his colleagues to embrace this "once-in-a-generation opportunity to further unleash our full potential as a team." Read moreHakeem Jeffries makes historic bid to lead House Democrats after Nancy Pelosi
The Guam Army National Guard is offering a $20,000 enlistment bonus, effective immediately.

Maj. Josephine Blas, public affairs officer for the Guam National Guard, told The Guam Daily Post, "The bonus is a nationwide initiative to 'Grow the Army!'" and is available for a limited time only.

Blas said the military was downsized during the last administration and "one of the goals, since President Trump came into office, has been to increase the size and capabilities of our military." She added, "The bonuses are one incentive in getting this done.

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Blas said new recruits also will be eligible for educational incentives, which includes the Federal Tuition Assistance program and subsidies offered by the Montgomery GI Bill.

The Student Loan Repayment Program pays up to $50,000 for qualified loans, Blas said, and the Montgomery GI Bill kicker provides an additional $350 per month.

For more information, contact the Guam Army National Guards Recruiting Offices at the GCIC Annex in Hagatna, or call 671-477-5957 or -5958.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 13:15:02

VistaJet ideally positioned to seize even larger market share in 2018

Flew over 50,000 passengers in one year for the first time

Investment from Rhone Capital values company's equity at over $2.5bn - making VistaJet one of the only companies in the business aviation market to be valued in excess of $1bn and one of Europe's most valuable "Unicorns"

Double digit growth in flight hours in the US and Asia

Market outperformance in the Middle East - number of new Program customers grew by 50% year-on-year in the region

45% of US Program customers who joined in 2017 have booked additional hours

Increased market share in all markets, including the US and the Middle East

Now have 72 long range aircraft, making its fleet one of the largest in the private aviation sector

Average flight times increasing, and expected to rise still further in 2018

Focused on taking advantage of sector leading position in Middle East and building market share in North America and Asia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VistaJet, the first and only global business aviation company, today announced that it had its strongest ever year in 2017, with flight hours up markedly year-on-year. It also made significant progress on its core strategic priorities, increasing market share across the globe, and recording double digit growth in flight hours in both the US and Asia. Also, following investment from funds affiliated with Rhone Capital, the company's equity is valued well in excess of $2.5bn, cementing VistaJet's position as one of the top five European unicorns by funding.1

If current trends continue, 2018 is expected to be another momentous year for the company. The upper-end of the sector historically tracks the global economy, and with Europe, the US and the Middle East seeing growth once more, demand is only set to build in 2018. While the more budget end of the sector is struggling, trading for premium brands such as VistaJet is strong, as business leaders, corporations and UHNWIs are becoming ever more selective in their booking choices.

Where previously customers were most interested in speed and efficiency, in 2018 the key will be attention to detail, additional services, and a personalized experience. Generations that have grown up with having the world at their fingertips are increasingly searching for travel options that match their lifestyles, preferences, and attitudes. On top of that, the options created by exciting new long-range aircraft models such as the Global 7000 will only add to the positive momentum in the sector. Customers are also choosing to fly ever more globally, meaning that average flight times are rising. As a result, demand for larger aircraft is building; in the private aviation market, only VistaJet is able to meet this need all over the world.

With the growth of the tech sector on the West Coast of the US and a growing body of entrepreneurs in key global financial hubs such as Dubai, the audience for private aviation will get even younger in 2018. After many years of stability, the private aviation industry is finally beginning to innovate to meet this burgeoning demand. VistaJet is at the forefront of these steps; it's On Demand solutions and Direct app give entrepreneurs transparency over pricing, and its business model is based on access over ownership, an approach users of Uber and Airbnb are familiar with.

Other 2017 highlights include:

VistaJet performed strongly in the Middle East, with the number of new Program customers growing by 50% year on year. The company recorded a particularly robust performance in the UAE, and the growing markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. The UAE accounted for the majority of flights in the region (at 28%), and the number of flight hours (37%).

Heading into 2018, VistaJet is seeing very positive trends in the Middle East, with both flight hours and flight numbers increasing significantly. In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of flights to the UAE grew by 44%, and to Oman by 300%.

VistaJet continued to grow its market share in the key markets of the US and Asia. While the market as a whole in the US grew by low single digits, VistaJet saw its flight hours increase by 38% year-on-year, and the number of flights by 49%. One of the main drivers of this growth was the sustained demand on the West Coast of the US, particularly from the Tech sector.

Strong growth in Asia, with flight hours increasing by 16%. The fastest growing countries in the region were China and India. With its growing economy and increasing number of global entrepreneurs, India is set to be one of the most exciting markets for the private aviation sector in the world over the next 5 years. In addition, the economy in China is proving more resilient than many expected, meaning that the private aviation sector is likely to flourish in the country throughout 2018.

VistaJet cemented its position as one of the leading operators in Europe in 2017. Europe accounted for 41% of the total hours flown by the company in the period, with the UK making up 26%, France 19% and Italy 11% of regional flights.

VistaJet continued to lead the market in 2017 in terms of innovation and technology. Over the last twelve months, the company launched VistaJet Direct, its new digital membership which offers priority access to VistaJet's one-way and empty leg flights at preferential rates. The new offer is expected to be a key driver of the business' growth over the coming years.

Thomas Flohr, VistaJet's Founder and Chairman, said:

"Last year was undoubtedly a transformational year for VistaJet, and a turning point in its history. With the investment from Rhone Capital, we are now firmly established as one of Europe's leading and most exciting unicorns, and one of the only companies in the business aviation market to be valued in excess of $1bn.

We had our strongest ever year in 2017. Along with seizing market share from our rivals in all of our core markets, including the largest market in the world - the US, we reinforced our position as the brand of choice for the world's leading business leaders and entrepreneurs. In the last twelve months, we have flown more Chief Executives and Chairmen to more destinations than we ever have before.

We head into 2018 in a fantastic position. While some of our smaller competitors are finding trading challenging, with our unicorn status and robust operational foundations we are ideally placed to lead the market and seize any new opportunities that arise. We are committed to becoming the No.1 player in every market in which we operate, and we are on course to make great strides towards that goal over the next twelve months."

Looking ahead to 2018, the company remains focused on building its share in the largest markets in the world, namely North America and Asia, while also taking advantage of its sector leading position in the rapidly growing markets in the Middle East. VistaJet's subscription business model will continue to be a central pillar in its business, and with more customers than ever before expected to choose to increase their hours in 2018, the global trend away from full and fractional ownership is set to continue.

Information

Jennifer Farquhar

VistaJet International

T: +44 (0) 203 617 3077

M: +44 (0) 7834 335505

jennifer.farquhar@vistajet.com

James Leviton

Finsbury

+44 207 251 3851

VistaJet@finsbury.com

About VistaJet

VistaJet is the first and only global aviation company. On its fleet of silver and red business jets, VistaJet has flown corporations, governments and private clients to 187 countries worldwide. Founded in 2004 by Thomas Flohr, the company pioneered an innovative business model where customers pay only for the hours they fly, free of the responsibilities and asset risks linked to aircraft ownership. VistaJet's signature Program service offers customers a bespoke subscription of flight hours on its fleet of mid and long-range jets, to fly them anywhere and at any time.

____________________________

1 https://www.nanalyze.com/2017/10/8-biggest-startups-europe/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a1dc8290-4e50-47fa-9609-d53531e5fa2a

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: VistaJet Ltd via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 19:18:01

The airline carried more than 127,000 customers on the route in 2017. Aeromexico plans to increase its capacity to the London market by 7% in 2018.

Mexico City, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, celebrates its fifth anniversary operating the Mexico City-London route. In 2017 the carrier was recognized as the airline with the best on-time performance at the London Heathrow Airport for six months in a row, in addition to carrying more than 127,000 passengers during the year which represents a 19.88% increase over 2016.

For more than 60 years, Mexico's global airline has positioned itself in the European market by serving different destinations such as Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and London. Aeromexico currently serves these destinations by offering 35 flights with 17,800 seats per week.

For several years now, Mexico and the United Kingdom have maintained the strongest bilateral relationship in their history. The UK is the sixth largest trade partner in the Latin America region and the 18th largest trade partner worldwide. It is also the fourth nation in the European Union that most invests in Mexico, holding the sixth place worldwide. Having a bridge in the skies that facilitates the relationship between both countries was fundamental to consolidating these ties, and currently serves to create new investment opportunities.

Aeromexico's service quality has also made it the customers' airline of choice. In 2012 Aeromexico started serving the market with three nonstop flights per week. In May 2017 it added new frequencies to offer seven flights with more than 3,200 seats on the route per week, where it expects to increase its capacity by 7% this year.

London -Mexico City* AM 8 22:30 p.m. 4:20 a.m. (+1) Daily

Mexico City-London* AM 7 23:25 p.m. 15:55 a.m. (+1) Daily

*Times are published in local time and are subject to changes without notice.

Aeromexico operates the Mexico City-London route with its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern commercial aircraft in the skies with 243 passenger seats -32 in Clase Premier, Aeromexico's Business Class cabin, featuring more space between seats, larger touch-sensitive windows, individual touchscreens and Sky Interiors LED lighting.

Thus, Aeromexico reaffirms its commitment to building bridges in the sky that not only increase connectivity but also promote commercial, tourist and cultural exchanges between Mexico and the world.

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About Grupo Aeromexico

Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. is a holding company whose subsidiaries provide commercial aviation services and promote passenger loyalty programmes in Mexico. Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, offers more than 600 daily flights and operates its main hub out of Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport. Its route network spans more than 90 cities on three continents including 43 in Mexico, 23 in the United States, 15 in Latin America, four in Canada, four in Europe and three in Asia.

Grupo Aeromexico's fleet of 126 aircraft includes Boeing 787, 777 and 737 jet airliners and next generation Embraer 170 and 190 models. In 2012 the airline announced the most significant investment strategy in aviation history in Mexico, to purchase up to 100 Boeing aircraft including 90 MAX 737 airliners and 10 B787-9 Dreamliners.

As a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which is celebrating its 17th anniversary, Aeromexico offers customers more than 1,000 destinations in 177 countries served by the 20 SkyTeam airline partners rewarding passengers with benefits including access to 672 premium airport lounges around the world. Aeromexico also offers travel options with its codeshare partners Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines and WestJet with extensive connectivity in countries like the United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

www.aeromexico.com www.skyteam.com

Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/09fd5918-8f5b-4d20-9e0d-2f5354f264dc

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/57b1d540-a68f-4aef-8abc-06e393fac1c5

Barbrha Ibanez

Aeromexico

bibanez@aeromexico.com

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Aeromexico via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 14:00:50

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Ashburton Ventures Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Ashburton Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture:ABR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Ashburton Amends Z-1 TermsTo 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 Ashburton Ventures Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Ashburton Ventures Inc.Source: Ashburton Ventures Inc. (TSX Venture: ABR, FWB: ARB, WKN: A1J3M5, ISIN: CA0437832086)Date: January 17, 2018Time: 8:00 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Ashburton Ventures Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 23:02:01

CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serinus Energy Inc. ("Serinus", "SEN" or the "Company") (TSX:SEN) (WARSAW:SEN), is pleased to announce the following management appointments at the Company's business units in Tunisia and Romania.

In Tunisia, the Company is pleased to appoint Mr. Haithem Ben Hassen as President of Winstar Tunisia BV, Serinus Energy's wholly-owned operating subsidiary in Tunisia. He is replacing Dr. Trent Rehill who has resigned his position for personal reasons. Mr. Ben Hassen joined Winstar Tunisia in November 2014 as Senior Project Engineer and was then promoted to Project Manager in June 2015. During this time, he has been responsible for the completion of numerous capital projects undertaken by the Company, including the vital seconded role as Project Manager for the Moftinu Gas Development Project in Romania. Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Ben Hassen had numerous senior engineering roles with Pireco Tunisia, Mondial Contractors, and Frimar SA in Tunisia. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada.

The Company is also pleased to appoint Mr. Arafet Mansali as Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Chedly Maghraoui as Finance Director of Winstar Tunisia BV.

Mr. Mansali joined Winstar Tunisia in February 2014 as Senior Production Engineer before being appointed Production Manager in May 2017. He has significant petroleum engineering and operations management education and experience. Mr. Mansali will work closely with the Calgary technical team to implement capital programs to increase production efficiency from our Tunisia fields.

Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Maghraoui was Finance Accounting and Administration Manager for Ensco PLC, overseeing the financial reporting functions for all of Ensco's projects in the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean region. He will work closely with the Calgary finance team in the financial reporting requirements of the Tunisia business unit as well joint venture financial reporting. He has significant training and experience in financial controls and audit compliance.

In Romania, the Company is pleased to announce that it has promoted Ms. Alexandra Damascan to the position of President of Serinus Energy Romania SA from her previous role of Country Manager, Romania. This change in title better reflects her significant role and contributions as the head of the Romanian Business Unit as the Company moves forward in the construction and commissioning of the Moftinu Gas Project. Ms. Damascan has been with Serinus Energy Romania since 2008 and has proven to be an invaluable member of the Serinus team. She has degrees in Political Economics, an MBA in Business Transactions from the Academy of Economic Studies, a Law Degree and LLM in International Arbitration from the Romanian-American University, as well as being currently enrolled in the MBA Oil & Gas Program at the Oil and Gas Institute in Ploiesti, Romania.

In addition to the promotion of Ms. Damascan, Serinus Energy Romania has also appointed Mr. Florin Georgescu to the role of Vice President, Production & Development. In this position, Mr. Georgescu will oversee the Romanian commercial and production operations, working closely with the Calgary team. Mr. Georgescu has an MBA in Business Management, an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from the Oil & Gas University in Ploiesti, Romania as well as significant education and experience in Commercial, Financial and Banking and working experience in oil regions such as North America and Middle East.

Serinus Executive Management is very pleased to appoint and promote these very competent and experienced individuals to their positions. These are important organizational steps for the Company as it positions itself for future years of growth in both Business Units.

About Serinus

Serinus is an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company that owns and operates projects in Tunisia and Romania.

For further information, please refer to the Serinus website (www.serinusenergy.com) or contact the following:

Serinus Energy Inc. Serinus Energy Inc. Calvin Brackman Jeffrey Auld Vice President, External Relations & Strategy Chief Executive Officer Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 cbrackman@serinusenergy.com jauld@serinusenergy.com

Translation: This news release has been translated into Polish from the English original.

Forward-looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements made as of the date of this announcement with respect to future activities that either are not or may not be historical facts. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, any potential results suggested by such statements involve risk and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Various factors that could impair or prevent the Company from completing the expected activities on its projects include that the Company's projects experience technical and mechanical problems, there are changes in product prices, failure to obtain regulatory approvals, the state of the national or international monetary, oil and gas, financial , political and economic markets in the jurisdictions where the Company operates and other risks not anticipated by the Company or disclosed in the Company's published material. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in this announcement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement, unless required by law.

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Serinus Energy Inc. via Globenewswire


Copper Sulfate Market report categorizes global market by product type, and end use industries - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20162024

Copper Sulfate Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 12:01:49

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Copper sulfate, denoted by the chemical composition CuSO4, is derived as a result of the chemical reaction when copper is treated with concentrated sulfuric acid. Copper sulfate is also known as cupric sulfate and is available in two forms namely hydrous copper sulfate and anhydrous copper sulfate. Copper sulfate market is witnessing an ever increasing growth in demand owing to its significant application in agricultural industry as an efficient fungicide. Apart from agricultural industry, copper sulfate is also used in the chemicals industry as a component for preparation of catalysts used in various chemical processes, of purification of gases such as removal of hydrogen chloride and hydrogen sulfide. It is also used as a source of copper. Copper sulfate is a versatile chemical compound that has an extensive range of applications in various industries such as chemicals, leather, and electrical. Copper sulfate finds major application in industrial processes such as electroplating, dyeing mordant, tanning processes, and preparation of anti-fouling paints. Copper sulfate is set to witness escalating demand in niche applications such as analytical reagent, medical uses and organic synthesis. Owing to increasing demand for copper sulfate as an additive in animal feedstock and the application of copper sulfate as an analytical reagent for the preparation of several other types of reagents such as Biuret reagent and Benedict solution, the copper sulfate market is positioned on a high growth trajectory over the near future.Request to View the Table of Content: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/340 Copper Sulfate Market TaxonomyBy TypesOn the basis of types, the global market is segmented into:HydrousAnhydrousBy End-Use IndustryOn the basis of end-use industries, the global market is segmented into:AgriculturalFungicidesHerbicidesPesticidesChemicalElectricalsElectroplatingBatteriesOthersMedicalLeather & TextilesOthers (paints, hair dye, glues, etc.)The agricultural industry is a major end user of copper sulfate market. Demand for copper sulfate is expected to increase significantly in this industry, owing to its increasing use in production of herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, and fertilizers in animal feedstock sulfate. Other applications of copper sulfate contribute fairly to the increasing demand for copper sulfate industry such as, copper sulfate adhesives that are used in production of paints and glues. Copper sulfate witnesses an increasing demand sulfates an additive in binding pastes and glues for books in order to protect them from book bugs. This highly versatile compound also finds wide application in the construction industry, sulfate where it is used as an additive in concrete to offer disinfectant and water resistance qualities. Increasing usage of copper sulfate in fireworks, artworks as a coloring agent, printing ink, and hair dye, among other applications is expected to lead to a significant surge in growth of the copper sulfate market.To Check The Trending Report of Copper Sulfate market: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/copper-sulfate-market-340 Market Outlook  Rapidly growing agricultural activities is expected to fuel the demand for Copper Sulfate marketAsia-Pacific region is a region characterized by a burgeoning agricultural industry that is witnessing significant growth to keep pace with the population explosion in the region. This creates a highly conducive growth environment for copper sulfate, which is used in agricultural chemicals including fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. Growth of the agricultural sector in developed regions of North America and Europe are also expected to position these as lucrative market for producers of copper sulfate, especially in sulfate in U.S. and Canada. The production of copper sulfate is increasing in Europe due to the increasing usage of copper sulfate additive in animal feedstock.Leading producers of copper sulfate include ATOTECH, Allan Chemical Corporation, WEGO Chemical & Mineral Corp., and NOAH Technologies Corporation.
Adoption of novel technologies such as better implant material and minimal invasive surgery is also a factor in turn favoring growth of distraction osteogenesis device market.

Distraction Osteogenesis Devices Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 12:12:19

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Distraction osteogenesis is a surgical technique used in oral, orthopedic, and maxillofacial surgery for treatment of various pathological conditions and skeletal deformities such as leg length discrepancy, bone deformity or bone defects also termed as callotasis, callus distraction, and osteodistraction. Distraction osteogenesis is also a treatment option for adults and children with unilateral or bilateral mandibular hypoplasia. It is also used as treatment option for widening an excessively narrow mandible. Moreover, distraction osteogenesis is also an alternative treatment for management of airway obstruction, continuity, reconstruction after a resection, defects of the mandible, and alveolar crest augmentation.Furthermore, distraction osteogenesis is indicated in the following cases such as severe retrognathia associated with syndrome, mostly seen in infants and children; Nonsyndromic mandibular hypoplasia, patients with unilateral hypoplasia of the mandible, patients with severe Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).Browse report summery with TOC: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1172 Rise in cases of bone defects is expected to fuel growth of the distraction osteogenesis devices market in the near futureDistraction osteogenesis devices has aided in field of orthopedics, maxillofacial, and oral surgery. Application of distraction osteogenesis offers novel solutions for surgical-orthodontic skeleton and asymmetries to treat the rising number of bone defects cases. According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. each year about 2,650 babies are born with cleft palate. Adoption of novel technologies such as better implant material and minimal invasive surgery is also a factor in turn favoring growth of distraction osteogenesis device market.Furthermore, according to data published in Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering Journal in 2012, annually in the U.S., over half a million patients receive bone defect repairs, costing around US$ 2.5 billion and this is expected to increase by 2020, which in turn favors growth of the distraction osteogenesis devices market.New product developments are also expected to favor the growth of distraction osteogenesis devices market. For instance, in October 2017, DePuy Synthes is launched the MAXFRAME Multi-Axial Correction System, an external circular fixation device used to gradually correct bone or soft tissue deformities in the arm, leg, foot or ankle. Furthermore, in April 2017, NuVasive, Inc., a medical device company focused on transforming spine surgery with minimally disruptive, procedurally-integrated solutions, announced the launch the new RELINE. RELINE Trauma enhances the surgeons ability to dial-in fracture correction through a dual rack system achieving independent lordosis restoration and parallel compression/distraction for ligamentotaxis.Distraction Osteogenesis Devices Market Taxonomy:By Device Type:External Distraction Osteogensis Device,Intraoral Distraction Osteogenesis Device,.By Site:Mandibular,Maxillary,Alveolar,Palatal,Craniofacial,.By Surgery:Craniofacial Surgery,Plastic Surgery,ENT Surgery,Head & Neck Surgery,OMF Surgery,Other Surgeries,.By End User:Hospitals,Specialty Surgical Cenetrs,Other End Users,.Ask for customization: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1172 North America is expected to be dominant in the global distraction osteogenesis devices market over the forecast periodNorth America market accounted for the largest share in the global distraction osteogenesis devices market, followed by Europe market in 2016. This is attributed to robust healthcare infrastructure and increasing rate of sports-related injuries in the region. For instance, According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in the U.S. in 2016, around 2 million high school athletes are reported with injuries, with head injuries accounting for 14% each year.The distraction osteogenesis devices market is expected to exhibit high growth rate in Asia Pacific region over the forecast period, due to increasing prevalence of road accidents. As according to A Report on Road Accidents in India 2016, published by Transport Research wing under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, the country recorded at least 4,80,652 accidents in 2016, leading to 1,50,785 deaths.Key players are expected to account for a large share in the global distraction osteogenesis devices market over the forecast periodKey players are focusing on research and development for new innovation in osteogenesis devices. In October 2017, DePuy Synthes introduced a device for gradual correction of bone or soft tissue deformities. The feature of the device is its accompanying 3D planning software designed to cut treatment times and lower costs, which is expected to aid in the global distraction osteogenesis device market growth.Key players operating in the global distraction osteogenesis devices market includes Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc., Stryker, KLS Martin Group, Jeil Medical Corporation, OsteoMed, and Ningbo Cibei Medical Treatment Appliance Co., Ltd.Browse The Complete Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/distraction-osteogenesis-devices-market-1172 About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@ coherentmarketinsights.com Visit our news Website: http://www.coherentnews.com
Fact.MR

PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 13:43:47

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Emulsifier and co-emulsifiers are increasingly used in the food production as it makes oil-in-water emulsion possible. Food processing industry is using both natural and synthetic emulsifiers. The use of emulsifier and co-emulsifiers in foods have also increased as manufacturers are focusing on providing food products with low fat content, and also maintaining flavor and texture of the food products. The most commonly used raw materials for producing emulsifiers are soy bean oil, palm oil, and sunflower oil. Natural food emulsifiers are gaining lot of popularity in the market as apart from maintaining freshness of the food for a long time, it also prevent growth of molds in food. Foods including biscuits, cakes, soft drinks, frozen desserts, bread, and caramels are some of the largest users of natural emulsifiers.Request For Sample Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=388 However, stringent regulations by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and governments across different countries on safety of preservatives is hampering the growth of the market. Moreover, lot of food emulsifiers are banned in various parts of the world.As per the report compiled by Fact.MR , the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market is expected to witness strong growth, growing at a CAGR of 7.8% in terms of value throughout the forecast period. The global emulsifier and co-emulsifiers market is also projected to generate revenue of US$ 2,421.3 million by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, in the terms of volume, the market is expected to reach 2,178000 tons by 2026 end. Emulsifier and co-emulsifiers are being used on a large scale in various food products as it helps in reducing fat content in the food along with enhancing taste and maintaining food quality. Following are some insights on how the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market will perform in the coming years.4 Forecast Highlights on Global Emulsifiers and Co-emulsifiers Market1- Europe is expected to dominate the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market in terms of revenue. By the end of 2026, Europe is projected to reach nearly US$ 1000 million revenue. Increasing use of food additives in various food products is driving the market growth in the region.2- North America and Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) are also expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The U.S. is one of the major consumer of emulsifying products. Moreover, clean label trend going on in the country is also expected to boost the use of natural emulsifiers.Browse Full Report with TOC- https://www.factmr.com/report/388/emulsifier-co-emulsifiers-market 3- Mono, Di - Glycerides & Derivatives are expected to witness the highest growth in the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market. By the end of 2026, mono, di - glycerides & derivatives are projected to bring in more than US$ 2,000 million in terms of value.4- Food & Beverages industry is expected to be the largest user of emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers. Food & beverages industry is projected to exceed US$ 1,200 million revenue by the end of 2026.The report provides profiles of the leading players in the global market for emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers, which will operate in the market through 2026. These include companies such as Lonza Group, Danisco A/S, Cargill, Inc., Palsgaard A/S, BASF SE, Beldem, Adani Wilmar Ltd., Solvay S.A, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Lubrizol Corporation, CSM N.V., Spartan Chemical Company, Inc., and other players.Request For Discount- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=D&rep_id=388 About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 14:04:02

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lyfebulb, a chronic disease-focused, patient-empowerment platform that connects patients, industry and investors to support user-driven innovation, is partnering with UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) to launch an innovation challenge featuring new businesses and products aimed at treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, up to 1.3 million people in the United States are affected by IBD, which includes Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Lyfebulb and UnitedHealth Group will help raise awareness for the conditions and stimulate user-driven innovation. By linking entrepreneurs with representatives from UnitedHealth Group and Lyfebulb, the partnership will spotlight the entrepreneurs' efforts and ideas, and provide professional discussion, direction and inspiration.

The innovation challenge, to take place in the spring and summer of 2018, will be open to entrepreneurs living with IBD, or who have family members living with IBD, who have founded a company to develop an innovative idea for better management of IBD using pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices or consumer products. Eligibility criteria and official rules will be announced by Lyfebulb in April. UnitedHealth Group will host an innovation event in July for 10 finalists. A panel of judges will award cash prizes to three winners, to be used for their company's further development of the winning innovations.

"Patients living with chronic disease and caregivers caring for someone with chronic disease understand the many challenges they face and are often in the best position to offer tangible solutions," said Deneen Vojta, M.D., executive vice president, Research & Development, UnitedHealth Group. "UnitedHealth Group's partnership with Lyfebulb will help place the patient at the center of early-stage innovation, thus providing us a unique opportunity to learn from and be inspired by patient-entrepreneurs."

"This partnership with UnitedHealth Group in IBD means a tremendous amount to Lyfebulb in our efforts to enhance patient-driven innovation," said Dr. Karin Hehenberger, CEO and Founder of Lyfebulb. "Continuing to build on the concept of patient entrepreneurs and partnering with leaders across health care are key components to fulfilling our mission to improve the quality of life of people living with chronic disease."

Press Contact for Lyfebulb:

Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD, CEO Lyfebulb, phone: 917-575-0210 email: karin@lyfebulb.com

About Lyfebulb

Lyfebulb is a chronic disease focused, patient empowerment platform that connects patients, Industry (manufacturers and payers) and investors to support user-driven innovation. Lyfebulb promotes a healthy, take-charge lifestyle for those affected by chronic disease. Grounded with its strong foundation in Diabetes, the company has expanded disease states covered into Cancer and IBD.

See www.lyfebulb.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn, and Lyfebulb LinkedIn.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and helping make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which provides information and technology-enabled health services. For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on Twitter.

Press Contact for UnitedHealth Group:

Jim Merwin, Senior Director, ERD, phone: 952-936-6070, to email: james_merwin@uhg.com

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Lyfebulb via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 21:03:01

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aptean, a leading global provider of mission-critical enterprise software solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with FAST Technologies in Northern Ireland. This partnership is an important part of Aptean's growth strategy in the European market, specifically the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

FAST Technologies will sell and support one of Aptean's industry-leading process solutions, Factory Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Process manufacturers use Factory MES to gain real-time visibility into production, operations and quality compliance by adopting a true paperless solution. FAST, a leading provider of industrial automation solutions, is well-established with high-volume manufacturers of retail packaged goods and pharmaceutical products.

"We are excited to announce this partnership with Aptean. For many years, we have struggled with an appropriate solution that gives our customers an out-of-the-box experience, with quick implementation and less customization required, allowing a fast deployment at the right price point," said Colin Spence, sales and marketing director for FAST Technologies. "We now believe we have this and look forward to helping our customer base drive inefficiency out of their manufacturing and processing operations."

FAST Technologies' presence as a local reseller will help Aptean better serve its customers in northwestern Europe. In turn, Aptean will rely on FAST's expertise in industrial automation to drive growth in the region.

"Across Europe there's a demand for forward-thinking technology that gives manufacturers granular visibility into their processes," said Alan Somerville, managing director of Aptean EMEA. "We've been interested in expanding Factory MES across Europe, and we wanted to partner with a trusted name in manufacturing technology to give manufacturers peace of mind. FAST Technologies' expertise will be a great asset in supporting our growth of the Factory MES footprint in Europe."

ABOUT FAST TECHNOLOGIES

FAST Technologies, based at Skeoge Industrial Estate, is an innovative solutions focused company providing collaborative robotics, automation and software solutions for SMEs and large bluechip companies. The company employs 30 people and exports products across the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Asia, Scandinavia and the US.

ABOUT APTEAN

Aptean is a leading global provider of mission-critical enterprise software solutions. We build, acquire and integrate industry-focused solutions to support the evolving operational needs of our customers, enabling them to increase operational efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. To learn how Aptean can help your organization stay at the forefront of your industry, visit www.aptean.com.

Aptean is a trademark of Aptean, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Media Relations

Stephanie Zercher, Aptean

stephanie.zercher@aptean.com

678-681-9070

This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Aptean via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 13:00:17

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Theralase Technologies Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX Venture:TLT). has issued a press release with the following headline:Theralase Optimizes Delivery Schedule of Anti-Cancer Vaccine in Destruction of Brain CancerTo 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 Theralase Technologies Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Theralase Technologies Inc.Source: Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSX Venture: TLT, OTCQX: TLTFF, FWB: TTX, WKN: A0DLB7, ISIN: CA88337V1004)Date: January 17, 2018Time: 7:00 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Theralase Technologies Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
Planning a Tanzania safari? Our detailed guide for planning a successful safari. Complete information about accommodation, best time to go and Tanzania safari styles

Safari in Tanzania During Great Migration

PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-12 17:33:00

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938 Hai district, plot 173A, Moshi, TanzaniaPR+255 786 350 115

In Tanzania on SafariBeing in Tanzania on safari is a great chance to see a whole lot of African wildlife in their natural habitat. If youve ever dreamed of seeing any of the big five animals: lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards or buffalo, there is no better place to see them than on Tanzania wildlife safaris.With over 1 million tourists visiting its 16 national parks and 29 game reserves covering an area of 33,660km2, Tanzania has a wealth of wildlife which also includes antelopes and wildebeest among their number. With over 40 other conservation areas this means that 38% of land in Tanzania is under conservation including world famous UNESCO sites such as the Serengeti National Park. This article will help you plan your African Tanzania safari successfully and give you lots of tips.There are many questions which you will need to consider while you planning your trip to Tanzania. One of the first things you should get deep into is finding the best time to safari in Tanzania. You will also need to consider your budget for your trip as well as whether you can afford to have a luxury or budget safari or something halfway between. Another major consideration is which company you will use. One thing that will help you decide which company to use are reviews which will give you a clearer idea of what to expect, what to bring and what to enjoy. Deciding what you need and want from your wildlife safari in Tanzania, really is the best thing to do. You can then engage the services of a travel company to help you plan your trip.One of the easiest options if you are deciding to go on your own is to book your safari through a professional company in Tanzania. This will minimise the paperwork involved and provide proper access and entry to parks. Using an experienced company will minimise any stress so you can look forward to enjoying your trip to this wonderful land, because all the hard work will be done for you. Using a company will enable you to get the best deals on accommodation in parks which requires pre-booking. So its great to get a company you can trust to do all the hard work for you and find you the best accommodation and tour guides rather than doing it all on your own.Spending on Safari in TanzaniaOne of the biggest factors of price fluctuations is group size and the type of accommodation. Whether you prefer a top-end private Tanzania safari or dont mind staying in tents or sharing with others will all be factors in the price. Accommodation can vary from bush tents to tented lodges, private tented lodges right through to luxury lodges.Most people who want to go on a safari adventure prefer to stay in characteristic boutique hotels and so end up mixing unique tented lodges with the luxury lodges. Many tourists to Tanzania spend an average of US $ 240 per person per night on their accommodation. Many seasoned tourists have come to acknowledge that this combination is the best, since tented lodges give them a greater insight into the wildlife environment whilst they still enjoy all the modern conveniences like comfortable beds, hot showers and 24/7 electricity.The Best Time to Go to Tanzania for a SafariIn a tropical climate, the day time temperatures can rise to between 25C and 32C with the evenings and early mornings dropping to single figures. The months from June To October are the best time to visit Tanzania because this is when there is a massive migration of the wildebeest. April and May are considered rainy season, but even during these months, animal safaris are a good option because there are fewer tourists in the park.Best Months to Visit: June, July, August, September and October are the best months to visit the land as there is little or no rain, so animals are concentrated at a few remaining water holes making it easier to catch a glimpse of them. Moreover, at this time there are no mosquitoes, skies are clear for great photographic opportunities and viewing.Other good months: January, February and May.Fair months: March, April, November and December.Timing is crucial when planning your trip to Tanzania as this will also impact on the cost of your safari. It is almost impossible to see a great migration in Tanzania all year round, so you may require longer trips during the rainy season to get a glimpse of the more popular animals. It is much easier to see wildlife in the dry season (from June to August) as animals tend to gather around a few main water sources. However, the low season is advantageous because there maybe better discounted prices for accommodation and Tanzania Tours compared with the peak seasons. Famous Tanzania Parks such as the Serengeti and Ngorongoro are extremely crowded in peak season which may ruin your fantasy of the perfect wildlife experience.However, planning an itinerary during the wet season requires a more careful itinerary and this is where the Tanzania adventure companies come in handy. Some parks have fewer animals especially after the great migration has passed and the water levels are low in Lake Manyara National Park. So, it makes no sense arranging a game drive at this time. The low season begins in March and ends in May in Tanzania.Tanzania Safari Styles4x4For a Tanzania African safari a 44 jeep with a pop-up roof is the classic way for seeing wildlife. Prepare for dust blowing on you and a scorching hot sun. Choosing a fly-in safari enables you to access game parks in South Tanzania and is convenient and shortens driving time on rough roads. If you want to travel in style and comfort board an airplane to board a fly-in to get to northern or southern Tanzanian parks.WalkingIf you want to get up close and personal with wildlife and animals going on a walking safari is the perfect opportunity to be at one with nature and have an adventure. An armed ranger will demonstrate tracking techniques and teach you about the flora and fauna of this wonderful part of Africa. This kind of safari can become grueling for unfit travellers, so make sure you are in a good shape before choosing this one.In a BoatIf you fancy a more leisurely African safari in Tanzania, you can take a boat ride in southern Tanzania which is a superb way to see animals and birds from a completely new perspective. There are half day boat trips you can book on the Ruaha or Rufiji rivers. The Selous Game Reserve trip will enable you to see waterbirds and wildlife coming to the water for a drink and is an amazing opportunity to photograph hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, giraffes and maybe, even some lions.On HorsebackAnother great way to explore the bush is on horseback where you will be able to get very close to wild animals. Although not as hard as the walking kind, this one also calls for being quite fit.Hot Air BalloonA pretty much popular way of seeing the bush from is by hot air balloon. Youll be able to watch the sunrise over the savanna grasslands and float silently above the animals in the Serengeti and look forward to a romantic champagne breakfast in the bush.Whatever kind you decide upon, its best to book beforehand through a trustworthy company in Tanzania as that way you will be safe and will enjoy your safari trip.About Altezza TravelAltezza Travel is a team of dedicated wildlife specialists, whose mission is to turn your Tanzanian dreams into reality. We are vastly experienced in organizing top-notch Kilimanjaro climbing expeditions and safari tours in Tanzania. Unparalleled safety standards, individual care for each guest and professional guides are the foundations of our vision. We will make your adventure a lifetime memory!
PR-Inside.com: 2018-01-17 12:02:01

TOPdesk Proudly Presents its New Company Branding

TOPdesk UK Limited

Courtney Wheeler

+44 (0)20 7803 4200

info@topdesk.co.uk

www.topdesk.co.uk

TOPdesk, the international market-leading IT Service Management software platform, has launched a redesign of their company branding to better reflect the companys personality, values and focus on service excellence.

TOPdesks redesign, which was created in-house, includes a new logo, colours, font, and design language. At the core of the new branding is the tagline - Your Guides to Service Excellence - a reference to TOPdesks twenty-five years experience in developing and implementing service management software. The new company branding better reflects the personal touch that TOPdesk brings its customers.

TOPdesk has experienced major expansion in the last few years, notably North America, in addition to European branches of TOPdesk opening multiple offices in their respective countries. The updated branding reflects the companys growth and maturity.

The new logo is a representation of the company values. The colours red and blue are warmer and friendlier, while the font also reflects a friendly but professional nature. Overlapping shapes in TOPdesks logo signify a strong belief in collaboration.

The TOPdesk branding was roughly the same design as when we started in 1993, said Wolter Smit, TOPdesk founder and CEO. Weve grown up as a company, and it was time for a brand identity that better suits our personality. The TOPdesk brand is more than software. We wanted to create a new and friendly brand that embraced our strong belief in teamwork and focus on helping our customers.

About TOPdesk

TOPdesks software ensures excellent management and provision of services. TOPdesk was founded almost twenty-five years ago with the goal to help supporting departments like IT, Facilities and HR improve their service delivery. The company has since grown to 12 branches worldwide and over 4,000 happy customers.

More about the new look [..]

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201801170051

Service Management software platform TOPdesk has launched a redesign of their branding
The contraction in Nigerias economy is projected to drop to about 0.6 per cent in 2018 and further to about 0.1 per cent in 2019, the African Development Bank, AfDB, said in its 2018 African Economic Outlook Report published on Wednesday.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the report noted the reduced growth from 3.8 per cent in 2016 to 3.2 per cent 2017, but projected an annual increase in growth to more than 4 per cent in 2018 and 2019.

The report stated that per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa, which rose by about 1.1 per cent in 2017, was projected to rise by about 1.5 per cent in 2018 and a further 1.8 per cent in 2019.

Nigeria successfully pulled out of recession in the second quarter of 2017 after five consecutive quarters of contraction since the first quarter of 2016.

The countrys revised Gross Domestic Product, GDP, which is the aggregate value of goods and services over a period, grew by 0.55 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms.

However, the report said the chance for Nigerias economy to grow in 2018 depended on the faithful implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, by the federal government.

The report provided short-to-medium term forecasts on key macroeconomic indicators and analysis on the state of socio-economic challenges and progress in all 54 regional member countries.

Noting that Nigeria still faced significant challenges in the areas of foreign exchange shortages, disruptions in fuel supply, power shortages, and insecurity in some parts of the country, the ERGP holds the promise of weaning the economy from oil as its mainstay.

The ERGP is a strategic plan to restore growth of the economy, invest in the people, and build a globally competitive economy by 2020.

The plan focuses on some priority sectors, namely agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, ICT, financial services, tourism and creative industries, construction and real estate, and oil and gas.

With global oil prices and Nigerias oil production fast recovering in recent times, the report projected it would help drive growth and provide fiscal space as the government pursues ongoing structural reforms to diversify the economy.

Part of the key findings and recommendations based on the analysis of the report showed many African economies would be better placed to cope with harsh external conditions than they were in the past two decades.

Despite recent recovery of oil easing slightly in recent times to about $70 per barrel, the report said countries in Africa still faced major macroeconomic challenges.

Besides, infrastructure investment drive in the region, financed largely by external borrowing, required careful monitoring to ensure that revenue streams were strong enough to meet the debt obligations when they fall due.
The Dutch airline, KLM, has cancelled 220 flights planned for Thursday due to powerful storm that is expected to hit the Netherlands.

The company said in a notice on its website on Wednesday that the decision had been taken due to unfavourable wind conditions.

Amsterdams Schipol Airport also warned on its website that further cancellations and delays were to be expected.

The Netherlands KNMI weather service has forecast winds packing speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour for Thursday.

Vast parts of the country have been given an orange weather warning, the lowest of three levels that predicts moderate severe weather.

The Dutch railway service announced that fewer trains would be running the day the storm is expected to hit and warned of possible delays.

The Netherlands was last hit by a severe storm on January 3, when extreme weather at sea forced the low-lying country to close all five of its major storm surge barriers for the first time.

This time, however, authorities do not expect such extreme weather conditions in the North Sea.

(dpa/NAN)
The UN refugee agency responsible for Palestinians, UNRWA, will launch a global fundraiser to make up for tens of millions of dollars withheld by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The UNRWA Commissioner-General, Pierre Krahenbuhl, said in a statement on Wednesday that the organisation was faced with the most dramatic financial crisis in its history.

He called donors and host countries to create new funding alliances, saying a global fundraising campaign would be launched in the coming days.

The U.S. government, on Tuesday, earmarked 60 million dollars for the agency for 2018, saying it would withhold 65 million dollars.

The U.S. State Department Spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said the fund was frozen for future consideration.

The U.S. was the largest single donor to UNRWA, contributing more than 350 million dollars to the agency in 2017.

Mr. Krahenbuhl added that the U.S. move would stoke further radicalisation throughout the Middle East.

UNRWA supports some five million Palestinians in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced or forced to flee. UNRWA also supports their descendants.

(dpa/NAN)
Innocent Chukwuma, chairman of Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited, on Wednesday failed to make an appearance at an Ikeja High Court for his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on charges of fraud and stealing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr. Chukwuma was to be arraigned alongside his company, Innoson Motors Limited, and Charles Chukwuma.

The defendants, however, failed to appear for their scheduled arraignment to the consternation of the anti-graft agency.

U. Onwukwe, the counsel to the defendants, told the court that he had filed an application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case.

We have an application objecting to the jurisdiction of this court and it was filed on Jan. 15.

My client has not been served, when this matter was filed, the EFCC went to social media, and it was through social media that we became aware and we have not been served.

The EFCC arrested them and they know where they reside, they granted the second defendant (Innocent Chukwuma) bail on self recognition, he said.

He said he was told to come to EFCC office on Feb. 20, and in December, they went ahead to file these charges.

Charles Chukwuma,who is the third defendant in the charge, was not even arrested by the EFCC, Mr. Onwukwe said.

Interjecting, counsel to the EFCC, Zainab Ettu, claimed that the automobile businessman and his co-defendants were evading service.

The most important thing is for us to proceed to trial; the defendants are on administrative bail.

As diligent citizens of the country, when they were aware of the charges they are to come to the EFCC office with their counsel and receive a copy of the charge.

In order to frustrate the trial, they did not come to court but rather filed a frivolous application; they have been evading service.

The person they are trying to protect is the second defendant who thinks he is too mighty to come to court; the defence counsel is shielding his client.

My Lord, we will be asking for the shortest possible date since they are evading service, so that we can serve them in the courtroom, the EFCC prosecutor said.

Justice Mojisola Dada asked the EFCC to pass an advance copy of the charge to Mr. Onwukwe as a form of service.

Mr. Onwukwe, however, objected by saying that he could not accept the advance copy of the charge as a form of service to the defendants.

Put the copy of the charge on the table if he refuses to accept it, the judge ordered.

NAN reports that the defendants were to be arraigned on a four-count charge of conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses, obtaining property by false pretenses, stealing and forgery.

According to charge sheet, the defendants committed the offences between 2009 and July 2011, in Lagos.

The EFCC alleges that defendants, with intent to defraud, conspired to obtain by false pretenses containers of motorcycle, spare parts and raw materials, property of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), from Mitsui OSK Lines Limited, Apapa, Lagos.

The defendants are alleged to have fraudulently induced staff of Mitsui OSK and Maersk Line to deliver to them via their clearing agents.

The goods were imported from China in the name of GTB and the defendants are accused of falsely pretending that they were authorised by the bank to clear the goods.

The prosecution claims that the defendants, in order to facilitate the fraud, forged a bill of lading numbered 598286020 of Maersk Line Limited and 11007950841 of Mutsui O.S.K Lines.

The alleged forgery was in order that the forged documents be used or acted upon as genuine, to the prejudice of any person within Lagos or elsewhere.

The offences, according to the EFCC, are in contravention of Sections 1(1)(b), 1(3), and 8(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2016 and Sections 309(9), 388, 465 and 467(1)(j) of the Criminal Code of Lagos State 2003.

Justice Dada adjourned the case until Feb. 9 for possible arraignment.

(NAN)
The cleric who evaded arrest by the State Security Services, SSS in Jos, Monday night said he refused to honour an invitation by the agency because their action was illegal.

Isa El- Buba stated this Tuesday evening in an interview with journalists in Jos.

Mr. El-Buba in the interview held at his Ministry towers said a deputy director of the state service stormed his fellowship headquarters on Monday night while he was preparing for a midnight service, but he refused to honour the invitation because, the invitaton was not authorised in writing.

I demanded for a letter of invitation and was not given, so I became suspicious of their mission in the night to my office.

According to Mr. El-Buba, the operatives, who came in two trucks made seveal attempts at his residence to pick him to Abuja under the cover of the night.

The cleric also said as far as he was concerned, he had done nothing wrong to warrant his arrest. He insisted that he would continue to preach good governance at all levels of government no matter the threats from security agencies.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the cleric had criticised President Muhammadu Buharis handling of the herdsmen violence and called on his congregation to be ready to vote against the president in 2019.
A senator from Nigerias governing party, APC, Isa Misau, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of appointing incompetent people into his cabinet.

The Bauchi senator also said the appointment of the Director General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ahmed Abubakar, was shrouded with favouritism.

He alleged that Mr. Abubakar failed examinations preceding his appointment.

President Buhari appointed Mr. Abubakar as the substantive DG of the NIA on Wednesday, January 10.

Mr. Misau said the appointment of Mr. Abubakar who was until then the Senior Special Assistant to the President, SSAP, on Foreign Affairs/International Relations, was improper.

Today, the DG NIA that was just appointed, is he qualified to be there? Hes not qualified. This is the person that failed two exams, we know. He failed two exams and just because he is close to people taking decisions, he was appointed.

He berated President Buhari for surrounding himself with incompetent people who take decisions anyhow.

So many incompetent people are holding so many positions. Fifty per cent of the ministers are not performing. Since the president assumed office he has not taken any decision to move this country. Today we are seeing it and everybody is avoiding it, nobody wants to say anything.

So many appointments in this government are not on merit. Some people have taken over the government as if they are even above the president. They take decisions anyhow. We say we are fighting corruption, Babachir that the vice-presidents committee indicted him. Today, they are pursuing other people, why cant they take Babachir (Lawal, former SGF) to court and all of us are here keeping quiet. People who have not done anything are always in court. This is the man that squandered money meant for IDPs and he is still visiting villa every day.

This Attorney-General is becoming a nuisance, going to court to stop Maina (probe) and we are still here. The IG came here with a lawyer that he is not going to answer any question from the Senate. After that he went to institute an order restraining Senate from investigating him.

The lawmaker accused a minister of plotting to remove the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

When we were on holiday, so many people were going behind that they should try and remove the senate president. And it was a minister that was spearheading that thing. What is the reason, they said that the senate president would leave APC that they should create problems for him (Saraki). What kind of country is this? Everything is about religion, about tribe.

He maintained that the issue of security would not be properly tackled until the executive makes appointments based on merit.

He added that without competent people handling the nations security apparatus, issues of insecurity will continue to linger.

It is right time for us, let us know what to do. If its about talking here or holding conference, until we look at how the security system is. Who and who are holding sensitive positions? Are they competent? Were they appointed on merit?

Mr. Misau was, however, countered by Abdullahi Adamu, Nasarawa-APC, who took offence at his choice of words.

I will not accept, anybody coming here virtually calling the President by his name. Calling operatives of government by their names and condemning them. Its not right. Make your points within the laws. Comment that there is insecurity, nobody is saying you shouldnt say so but you dont say so in a way of inciting the public, its wrong.
Two Americans and two Canadians have been kidnapped in Kaduna State, North-west Nigeria.

The spokesperson of the Kaduna Police Command, Mukhtar Aliyu, provided details of the kidnap on Wednesday.

He said two policemen attached to the expatriates were also killed in a gun duel as they tried to rescue the foreigners.

Mr. Aliyu earlier said two expatriates were kidnapped, but later clarified that four were abducted. He did not mention the names of the kidnapped victims but said they were two Americans and two Canadians.

The incident occurred around Kagarko, along Kaduna-Abuja road on Tuesday night at about 8:00 p.m.

The spokesperson said the victims were ambushed by the gunmen around Kagarko on their way from Kafanchan, Kaduna State, to Abuja.

The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, which resulted to the unfortunate death of the two police officers, the police spokesperson said.

Mr. Aliyu said the kidnappers are yet to make any demand.

There is no ransom demand yet, but the anti-kidnap unit of the police is on the trail of the kidnappers, he said.

A commercial driver who witnessed the incident told PREMIUM TIMES that a female passenger was hit on her leg by a stray bullet during the gun duel.

I noticed them (abductors) in a Golf car following the foreigners vehicles. To my surprise, they ambushed the foreigner by a corner between Jere and Kagarko and we heard serious gun shots.

My passengers and I abandoned my car and ran for safety. Unfortunately, a female passenger in the front seat of my car was shot on her thigh. She has been taken to a hospital at Kubaci.

They (the kidnappers) went away with four of the foreigners and one of the drivers, who is a Nigerian. The whole thing was like a film scene, the witness said.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said the federal government has paid compensation to all residents affected by the ongoing new Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge lines.

Mr. Amaechi disclosed this on Tuesday at Papalanto in Ogun State, during his monthly visit and oversight functions to the constructions sites of the project.

We refuse to go by train today basically to see the right of way. There is only a place after Ijoko where we have issue with the right of way.

We have finished negotiations with them and they have finished the compensations to the affected residents.

The contractors will start work from the axis and the construction continues, he said.

According to him, the only challenge confronting the contractor, the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC), now was the Ogun River.

The minister said that pipelines and cables laid along the lines also posed a great challenge to the project.

We still have problems with gas and cables. As for the barracks, the Army has given us the barracks where it affected and work will start at Ebute Metta very soon as a result of the development.

As for the Ogun River, we are consulting the state government to assist us in the course so as to fast track the project in that axis.

We have started battling with time schedule due to these utilities but lm sure the projects will be delivered in due time, he added.

According to him, the government is monitoring the contractor to fast-tract the project completion for the benefit of the people by the end of the year.

The News Agency of Nigeria had reports that CCECC has consulted the Lagos State Water Corporation and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation on relocation of water and gas pipelines along the railway line.

(NAN)
A top official of the State Security Service, SSS, on Wednesday revealed how Don Waney, an alleged kidnap kingpin, was tracked to his hideout in Enugu.

Mr. Waney allegedly masterminded the killings of 23 worshipers on New Years Day, in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers.

The source told the News Agency of Nigeria on condition of anonymity on Wednesday that the operation that led to his death was successful and averted further bloodshed in the state.

The informant said the decision to swoop on Mr. Waney was taken after he ordered his men to carry out killings of innocent residents of Omoku town.

We intercepted Waneys phone conversation he had with one of his lieutenant in which he ordered them to attack schools, hospitals, places of worship, marketplaces and other targets.

The killing and maiming of innocent residents of Omoku, including specific targets were scheduled to take place on January 8.

When we heard their plan to execute innocent citizens  which to us was the last straw  we decided to inform the Army about a joint operation to avert the killings.

This eventually led to the joint operation at his hideout in Enugu leading to his death and that of his two gang members.

The operative said that Mr. Waney was under intense SSS surveillance for over a year.

The source said the New Year killings started after Mr. Waney sent some of his members to assassinate his third-in-command; but failed after the target escaped his apartment with gunshot wounds.

According to the source, the killer squad later killed his wife and other close relatives and, thereafter, proceeded to kill five other persons over an existing feud with one of the gang members.

Some of the people who were killed died from stray bullets during the operation by the murderous gang.

It was easy to monitor Waney because we had our agent on a constant watch that gave us in-depth knowledge of his whereabouts and activities.

Waney had companies that he used as fronts. He used one of these companies to front for surveillance jobs and leak repairs for a major oil company.

We know where his family stayed; we know that his boys camped at a forest in Imo state from where they usually launched their operation.

Waney was always hiding in Enugu and Ogoja (Cross River). He bought a car in Imo state and took it to Enugu  as part of his plans to change his identity, the source revealed.

NAN learned that the ash coloured Lexus ES330 salon car is currently parked at SSS premises in Port Harcourt.

The source said that Mr. Waney had more than 30 active fighters and many volunteers who allegedly worked for top politicians in the state.

It said that Mr. Waneys accounts at First Bank and Unity Bank had been frozen and would be forfeited to the federal government at the end of the investigation.

The banks are fully cooperating with an ongoing investigation which would unravel his financial transactions from the time the accounts where opened, the source added.

NAN learned the deceased militant leader had more than N700 million at some undisclosed banks which is currently being monitored.

Mr. Waney and his second-in-command, Ikechukwu Adiele, and another suspected gang member, Lucky Ode, were killed by security forces in Enugu and their corpses paraded at 6 Division Nigerian Army Port Harcourt on January 7.

Mr. Waney and his gang members received amnesty from the Rivers Government in 2016 but later reneged on the terms of the amnesty deal.

(NAN)
A 20-year-old tailor, Mohammed Salifu, was on Wednesday given six strokes of the cane for constituting public nuisance as declared by a Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja.

The judge, Abubakar Sadiq, handed down the punishment after Mr. Salifu pleaded guilty to a count charge levelled against him and begged the court for leniency.

Mr. Salifu, who lives in Karmo, Abuja, was arraigned for constituting public nuisance within Karmo.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Dalhatu Zannah, had told the court that the Police Crime Prevention Unit, Karmo, arrested and brought Mr. Salifu to the Karmo Police Station, Abuja, on January 13.

Mr. Zannah said that on the same date, at about 9 p.m. when a team of police officers raided a black spot, around Ezumezu in Karmo, Mr. Salifu was smoking cannabis sativa (a.k.a. Indian hemp).

He said that he was shouting and disturbing the people living within the area.

The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 198 of the Penal Code.

(NAN)
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday arraigned former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamus son, Nuriani Adamu, before Justice J. K. Daggard of the Federal High Court, Kano over alleged money laundering.

He was arraigned alongside one Felix Onyago on an amended six-count charge bordering on money laundering and illegal diversion of public illicit funds of N32 million.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The counsel to the defendants, Mamman Lawan, made a bail application in respect of the defendants under Section 36 Sub-section 6 (b) 5 and Section 35 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The defendants were early in September 2015, invited and detained by EFCC and at no time were they found wanting when they were granted bail.

If granted bail, the defendants would not jump bail, nor commit any offence and would not tamper with police investigation, the lawyer said.

Lawan urged the court to grant them bail because the law says they are still innocent citizens until they are proven guilty for the charges.

The prosecuting counsel, B. M. Buhari, told the court that on December 10 and December 23, 2014, the defendants conspired between themselves and did an illicit money laundering under section 18 (a) and 15, 2, (b) of money laundering prohibition act .

He said on the same date, Mr. Adamu transferred N18 million to Mr. Onyagos First Bank Account 2024412016 of Bio block Technology, Kano.

Mr. Buhari also alleged that Mr. Adamu on December 23, 2014, did an illicit money transfer of N9.7 million to Mr. Onyagos First Bank account and they later took possession of the money.

The prosecutor promised to call six witnesses in the next sitting to testify before the court.

Justice Daggard thereafter ordered the remand of the defendants in EFCC custody and adjourned the case until February 7, for ruling of bail application.

(NAN)
The German government has committed 120 million euros to ensure total eradication of polio in Nigeria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Tiwatope Elias-Fatile, has said.

Mr. Elias-Fatile stated this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

The German government and Nigeria have signed three bilateral agreements which are Government Agreement on Technical Cooperation in 2016, Government Agreement on Financial Cooperation in 2016, Financing and Project Agreement on Polio Eradication.

Notable issues in the agreements were the German Governments commitment of the sum of 120 million euros to ensure the total eradication of polio in the country.

He said it also included the new agreement on polio involvement of financial commitment of 10 million euros which would be increased to 29.9 million euros by the German government in line with the agreement.

He added that a delegation from the Japanese Parliament had visited Nigeria to assess the level of cooperation between Japan and Nigeria, most importantly, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Official Development Assistance (ODA).

He said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, received the delegation in Abuja on behalf of the federal government.

The purpose of the visit by the Japanese delegation, which also met with the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, he said, was to know the extent to which Japan had achieved successes in the West African Coast with regards to ODA.

From the meeting, what was clear was that they were really satisfied that Nigeria was benefitting sincerely from it.

The minister mentioned the issue of infrastructure development, power and manufacturing and they also talked about the need for whatever Japan can do to support Nigeria on job creation and to forge greater partnership with each other, Mr. Elias-Fatile said.

On the economic front, Mr. Elias-Fatile said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, initiated Economic Diplomacy Initiative for Nigeria.

He said that following the development, officers of the ministry were currently undergoing training to see how the ministry could key into the initiative.

He added that trainers from Netherlands were facilitated by the Embassy of Netherlands in Nigeria, which is in line with the concept of e-diplomacy.

(NAN)
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has appointed a retired Nigerian lieutenant general, Chikadibia Obiakor, to lead a special investigation into the killing of some Burundian refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General in New York, announced this in a statement issued in New York.

No fewer than 35 Burundian refugees were killed and more than 100 others wounded by security forces in eastern DRC September 15, 2017 at Kamanyola, South Kivu.

The special investigation will look into the challenges facing the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) in discharging its mandate to protect civilians and provide recommendations on improving the performance of its troops.

Mr. Obiakor has had a long and distinguished career in the Nigerian Army and was the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Liberia from 2006 to 2008.

He also served as Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations at UN Headquarters in New York from 2008 to 2010.

The refugees were killed in Kamanyola area in South Kivu provinces Walungu territory after they allegedly rioted and the Congolese army made an attempt to control the situation.

Reports said no fewer than 18 Burundian refugees were killed on the spot and the others died the following day from the wounds they sustained.

The refugees were protesting against the decision of DRC officials to extradite two other refugees arrested for allegedly making weapons.

There are over 400,000 Burundian refugees in DRC who fled after violence erupted in their country in April 2015 when incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to leave power after serving two terms and stood in elections for a third term.

The opposition in Burundi had gone on a rampage, attacking police and army while also killing supporters of Nkurunziza.

Thousands of Burundian refugees had fled to neighbouring countries, including DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Out of 40,000 Burundian asylum-seekers, 28,000 who fled hostilities in their country were identified by the DRCs National Commission for Refugees in Kamanyola.

(NAN)
The 2 Brigade Nigeria Army says its troops raided cultists hideout, killing its leader, Akaninyene Jumbo, on January 15, after trailing him to the border between Akwa Ibom and Abia.

The army said this in a statement issued to journalists in Uyo on Tuesday by the Brigade Assistant Director of Information, Umar Shuaib.

The gallant troops of 2 Brigade Nigerian Army had on Monday 15 January 2018 acting on tipoff trailed a notorious cultist and renowned killer Akaninyene Jumbo Uko Alias Isopafit at Inyih village, a border town between Akwa Ibom and Abia states.

The culprit was known for terrorising the inhabitants of Ukanafun Local government Area in Akwa Ibom State.

He perpetrated the killings of two Nigerian Police personnel and a Truck driver in Ukanafun local government area on 17 November last year.

Also masterminded the killing of a commissioners sister and two others in Ikot Oko Osun community in Ukunafun local government area on 19 November 2017, the statement read in part.

It said that the suspects had been evading arrests after all the incidents.

The statement added that after the first operation, the gallant troops following another tipoff invaded the hideout of the remaining gang members at Ikpe village in Eton Ekpo Local Government Area on January 16.

The troops engaged the hoodlums and killed two members, Aniebet Effiong Udoh and Thankgod Friday Osiokpaphi, it said.

According to the statement, the two are said to be second in command to the kingpin.

The statement further said that some of the remnants of the cultists escaped with gunshot wounds.

It stated that items recovered from the suspects included one pump action gun, two locally made short guns, 13 live cartridges, eight expended cartridges, two dane guns and two cutlasses.

It added that their corpses had been deposited at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital mortuary.

The statement said that the Commander, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Abdu Hassan, has assured law abiding citizens in the area that the Brigade will do everything within its powers to protect their lives and property.

The statement solicited the support and cooperation of the public by reporting any form of crime to appropriate security agencies.

(NAN)
The ripples generated by President Donald Trumps alleged disparaging comments continued on Tuesday with 78 former United States Ambassadors who served in Africa writing the president to remind him about the continents great exploits and potentials.

Africa is a continent of great human talent and rich diversity, as well as extraordinary beauty and almost unparalleled natural resources, the former senior diplomats said in a joint statement delivered at the White House Tuesday. It is also a continent with deep historical ties with the United States.

The statement came days after Mr. Trump reportedly derided Africa, Haiti and El Salvador in a meeting about immigration policy in the White House.

Mr. Trump reportedly singled out Haiti, El Salvador and parts of Africa as shithole countries during the January 11 meeting, according to U.S. media.

Media reports said Mr. Trump favoured immigrants from Norway and Asia, saying they help the country economically.

But he wondered why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out, the Washington Post quoted Mr. Trump as venting.

But the president denied ever describing any race as coming from shithole countries in a January 12 tweet.

Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said take them out. Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record meetings  unfortunately, no trust! Mr. Trump said.

Several African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, have protested the alleged comments by Mr. Trump and summoned the U.S. top diplomats in their countries.

The AllAfrica Media published the reaction of the 78 former American top diplomats to the controversy on Wednesday morning.

As American ambassadors abroad, we have seen Africas complex and rich cultures, awe-inspiring resilience, and breathtaking generosity and compassion.

Even as some nations have faced challenges, we have counted among our contacts dynamic entrepreneurs, gifted artists, committed activists, passionate conservationists, and brilliant educators, the former ambassadors, who served in 48 different countries on the continent said.

We learned of novel solutions to complex problems, helped American companies find partners critical to their success, and counted on African military and intelligence officials who often assumed real risks to help achieve outcomes critical to our shared security.

We know that respectful engagement with these countries is a vital part of protecting our own national interests. The United States of America is safer, healthier, more prosperous, and better equipped to solve problems that confront all of humanity when we work with, listen to, and learn from our African partners.

We also know that the entire world is richer because of the contributions of Africans, including the many Americans of African descent.

It was one of the greatest honors of our lives to represent the United States of America abroad. It was also a privilege to live in and learn from the diverse and spectacular countries of Africa, they added.

The former diplomats urged Mr. Trump to reevaluate his perception of Africa and its people going forward.

We hope that you will reassess your views on Africa and its citizens, and recognize the important contributions Africans and African Americans have made and continue to make to our country, our history, and the enduring bonds that will always link Africa and the United States.

The 78 former ambassadors who signed the statement are listed as follows:

Mark L. Asquino  Equatorial Guinea

Shirley E. Barnes  Madagascar

William (Mark) Bellamy  Kenya

Eric D. Benjaminson  Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe

Michele Thoren Bond  Lesotho

Parker W. Borg  Mali

Aurelia E. Brazeal  Kenya, Ethiopia

Pamela Bridgewater  Benin, Ghana

Reuben E. Brigety II  African Union

Kenneth L. Brown  Ivory Coast, Ghana, Republic of the Congo

Steven A. Browning  Malawi, Uganda

Edward P. Brynn  Burkina Faso, Ghana

John Campbell  Nigeria

Katherine Canavan  Botswana

Timothy Carney  Sudan

Johnnie Carson  Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

Phillip Carter  Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry

Herman Cohen  Senegal, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

Frances D. Cook  Burundi, Cameroon

Walter L. Cutler  Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tunisia

Jeffrey S. Davidow  Zambia

Ruth A. Davis  Benin, Director General of the Foreign Service

Scott H. DeLisi  Uganda, Eritrea

Christopher Dell  Angola, Zimbabwe, Deputy Ambassador at AFRICOM

Harriet Elam-Thomas  Senegal, Guinea-Bissau

Gregory W. Engle  Togo

James F. Entwistle  Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Robert A. Flaten  Rwanda

Robert S. Ford  Algeria

Patrick Gaspard  South Africa

Michelle D. Gavin  Botswana

Donald H. Gips  South Africa

Gordon Gray  Tunisia

Robert E. Gribben  Central African Republic, Rwanda

Patricia McMahon Hawkins  Togo

Karl Hofmann  Togo

Patricia M. Haslach  Ethiopia

Genta Hawkins Holmes  Namibia

Robert G. Houdek  Uganda, Eritrea

Michael S. Hoza  Cameroon

Vicki J. Huddleston  Madagascar, Mali

Janice L. Jacobs  Senegal

Howard F. Jeter  Botswana, Nigeria

Dennis C. Jett  Mozambique

Jimmy J. Kolker  Burkina Faso, Uganda

Edward Gibson Lanpher  Zimbabwe

Dawn M. Liberi  Burundi

Princeton N. Lyman  Nigeria, South Africa

Jackson McDonald  The Gambia, Guinea

James D. McGee  Swaziland, Madagascar, Comoros, Zimbabwe

Roger A. Meece  Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Gillian Milovanovic  Mali

Susan D. Page  South Sudan

David Passage  Botswana

Edward J. Perkins  Liberia, South Africa, Director General of the Foreign Service

Robert C. Perry  Central African Republic

Thomas R. Pickering  Nigeria

Jo Ellen Powell  Mauritania

Nancy Powell  Uganda, Ghana

Anthony Quainton  Central African Republic

Elizabeth Raspolic  Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe

Charles A. Ray  Zimbabwe

Fernando E. Rondon  Madagascar, Comoros

Richard A. Roth  Senegal, Guinea-Bissau

Robin Renee Sanders  Republic of the Congo, Nigeria

Mattie R. Sharpless  Central African Republic

David H. Shinn  Burkina Faso, Ethiopia

A. Ellen Shippy  Malawi

George M. Staples  Rwanda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Director General of the Foreign Service

Linda Thomas-Greenfield  Liberia, Director General of the Foreign Service, Assistant Secretary of State for

African Affairs

Jacob Walles  Tunisia

Lannon Walker  Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast

Melissa F. Wells  Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa)

Joseph C. Wilson  Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe

Frank G. Wisner  Zambia, Egypt

John M. Yates  Cape Verde, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Permanent Charge (3 years) Zaire, Special

Envoy for Somalia

Mary Carlin Yates  Burundi, Ghana, Sudan

Johnny Young  Sierra Leone, Togo.
A Lagos Division of the Appeal Court on Tuesday directed terminal operators to refund over N7 trillion to the Nigerian Shippers Council, a government agency that protects the interest of shippers on matters affecting the shipment of imports and exports.

The court held that the submission of the terminal operators lacked merit and described it as a mere academic work.

The appellate court upheld the verdict of a federal high court in Lagos in 2015 which directed terminal operators to refund the said illegal amount to the federal government.

The terminal operators, under the aegis of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), had dragged the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS) to a federal court over their role to stop the arbitrary terminal demurrage charged shippers as a result of delays.

A high court had in 2015 ruled in favour of the Nigerian Shippers Council over the arbitrary and storage charges even as it directed the terminal operators to return to status quo as regards the charges.

Dissatisfied with the lower courts verdict, the terminal operators approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgement.

The appellate court also upheld the counter claim of the Shippers Association of Lagos State, the second respondent, which stated that they had the locus standi to join force with the Shippers council in the case.

Chidi Uwa, who read the lead judgment, maintained that the appellant failed to establish its case in legal rights which according to her was a mere hypothetical reasons.

I hereby dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of the lower court, the judge added.

The court asked all parties to bear their legal costs in the appeal.

Osuala Nwagbara, counsel to SALS, told PREMIUM TIMES after the courts proceedings that the terminal operators had formulated over a dozen grounds for their appeal.

In fact I think they had up to 17-18 grounds of the appeal and normally issues are a summary of the content of the grounds which should be reduced to a manageable level.

One may file 18 grounds of appeal and the issues formulated may be reduced to 5-6 grounds. I cant recall exactly how many issues that formulated those grounds. And on our own side we compressed the entire issues for determination by the court into two.

Our two issues were one whether the lower court was right in joining SALS to the originating summons.

Secondly whether the court (was right) in upholding our claim and these we believe answered all the issues that are before this court as far as SALS is concerned. Shippers Council also had issues which they have formulated which touched on their status as the economic regulator.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, has urged herdsmen to embrace the modern, systematic and technological way of rearing cattle in the country.

Mr. Ojudu gave the advice while briefing journalists at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) on Wednesday in Lagos.

He explained that the adoption of modern techniques for rearing cows would end the recurring violent clashes between the herdsmen and farmers in some states, especially in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa.

The presidential aide urged both parties to embrace peace and find a lasting solution to the crisis.

Mr. Ojudu said: I think we need to plan on how to embrace modern, systematic and technological way of rearing cattle in the country.

The way out of the crisis is not even a short time solution, because the herdsmen need to be enlightened on the modern techniques, but what Nigerians think about is short term solution.

Perhaps, Nigeria does not even have one third of cows that South Africa has, neither do we have one third of what Brazil has.

These countries are adopting modern ways of rearing their cattles without infringing on farmlands.

Mr. Ojudu commiserated with the Benue people over the recent attacks which led to the death of no fewer than 70 people, describing it as a very tragic incident for the country.

Nobody, including the president can be happy for the tragic killings by the herdsmen.

I know the president will be troubled that this ugly incident was happening in the country he so much loved.

Mr President is a patriot per excellence and a man that is so much passionate about Nigeria and he believe that Nigeria must continue to remain one, he said.

Mr. Ojudu, however, disclosed his intention to contest the 2018 gubernatorial poll in Ekiti.

The president aide said that he had been travelling to few countries to sell himself as one of the aspirants to the people of Ekiti in the Diaspora.

As you all know, I am contesting for the governorship position; I have been engaging with our people in the Diaspora who are professionals and highly skilled.

Ekiti cannot develop without bringing on board the energy of this Diasporas.

Last year, I was in Europe and this year, I went to America. I went to about five to six cities speaking with Ekiti people in Diaspora, he said.

Ojudu said they had promised that this time around they would bring changes to Ekiti because they were not happy with the current situation of the state.

He also said that he had no relationship with the incumbent Gov. Ayodele Fayose, stressing that he was one of the most vocal critics of the administration.

He is not my enemy, but politically, I do not admire him as he has brought us shame in Ekiti, because an average man cannot be proud of what is happening in the state today.

Ekiti people are very humble, intelligent and honest. We will rebuild the good image of the state.

We will respect the elderly people, as it is disrespectful to abuse our elders. Our culture does not train us to be abusing them anytime there is an issue, he said.

Mr. Ojudu said that the state has a huge number of young people that were still unemployed and walking on the streets, adding that his administration would focus on massive job creation.

In 2015, Ekiti people thought Fayose was a messiah then, and they elected him, but today, salaries have not been paid for eight months and one year.

The state gets federal allocation, bailout fund, and the state also got Paris Club Fund and we cannot see anything he has done except for the bridge he constructed that led to nowhere.

The bridge is uncalled for and unnecessary. Even, the Nigeria Engineers have said that the project was a waste of money as it does not add any value to our people.

One kilometre bridge over nothing is not a flyover anywhere. He said he will construct the bridge for N4.5 million, but now, he has spent over N15 million out of the state resources, he said.

Mr. Ojudu said if he had the mandate of the people, it would be prudent for him to pay off outstanding entitlements of the pensioners and workers in the state.

According to him, my father-in-law died two weeks ago after serving as a school principal for 35 years without receiving his entitlement from the state government in the last five years.

(NAN)
Almost three years into the President Muhammadu Buharis administrations avowed fight against corruption, Nigerians are divided about whether corruption has declined in Nigeria, a new study has found.

The study, however, revealed that most Nigerians believe that more Nigerians are appreciative of the government efforts to curtail the menace, with 59 per cent of those polled saying the government has done either fairly well or very well.

The study was conducted by Afrobarometre, a non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues across more than 35 countries in Africa.

The study, which is conducted via face-face interview with respondents, was done in partnership with CLEEN Foundation and Practical Sampling International.

The study interviewed 1,600 randomly selected adult Nigerians between April 26 and May 10, 2017.

While the study revealed that public perception of the governments intent to fight corruption has improved since 2015, more than 90 per cent of those interviewed stated that public officials have not been completely purged of corruption.

Many of those interviewed stated that the police, members of the National Assembly and local government workers are the most corrupt public officials, with 94 per cent saying most, all or some of them are corrupt.

Other officials also viewed as mostly corrupt are government officials (54 per cent), state legislators (54 per cent), state governors and their aides (53 per cent), local council chairpersons (52 per cent), judges and magistrates (51 per cent) and the president and the presidency (43 per cent).

In what should worry the government over its whistle-blowing policy, 77 per cent of those interviewed said they fear retaliation should they report an incident of corruption.

In 2016, the Nigerian government announced the whistle-blowing policy aimed at exposing corruption and fighting financial crimes.

According to the government, whistle-blowers will receive compensation for actionable information. According to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, it hoped that the policy will lead to more discovery of looted funds.

In 2017. The government announced it had recovered at least N73 billion looted from the public treasury by former and servicing public officials.

The government also promised to protect whistle-blowers from prosecution.

However, Ntia Thompson, an assistant director in the Servicom Unit of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) was suspended on December 19, 2016 for allegedly exposing fraud to the tune of $229,000 and N800,000.

He was, however, reinstated in June 2017 after a media outrage and petitions by civil society activists.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, over the reported payment of fuel subsidy by the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, NNPC.

Also summoned were the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Maikanti Baru, and the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Company, PPMC.

In a motion under matters of urgent public importance brought before the House by Karimi Sunday (Kogi  PDP), the trio are directed to appear before the House Committee on Finance and Petroleum (Downstream) to explain where they got authorisation to expend over N300 billion on subsidy payment in 2017.

While moving the motion, Mr. Karimi expressed worry over the payment, against backdrop of the claim by the federal government that it has stopped fuel subsidy payments.

He described the alleged payment of subsidy by the NNPC as illegal and contrary to the provisions of section 80(4) of the 1999 Constitution, which prescribes that no monies shall be withdrawn from the consolidated revenue fund or any of the federation accounts except as approved by the National Assembly.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had said the NNPC currently bears the burden of fuel subsidy and not the federal government, a claim that had generated backlash from some Nigerians.

NNPC is trading in fuel; the Federal Government is not, at the moment, paying for any subsidy. NNPC is trading. If you are buying and selling fuel, you would have to be able to pay for it, Mr. Osinbajo had stated.

So, its not a question of government provision for subsidy, the federal government, at the moment, is not paying any subsidy.

And dont forget that the way that the NNPC trades is that, in many cases, NNPC is actually giving fuel; there is 445, 000 barrels of fuel. So, really, what you are seeing, in many cases, is more or less an exchange for PMS. So, at the moment, NNPC is paying the cost, Mr. Osinbajo told journalists in Lagos recently.

However, while noting that the 2018 Appropriation Bill does not include any provision for such subsidy payment, the House further asked the Executive to make its provision in the appropriation bill, should it deem it fit to continue the payment.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday at an Ikeja High Court, arraigned Justice Mohammed Yunusa, a suspended judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on charges of corruption.

Mr. Yunusa was arraigned alongside Esther Agbo, a staff in the law chambers of Rickey Tarfa.

Mr. Yunusa was charged with a four-count charge of attempted perversion of the course of justice and corruption by a public official, while Ms. Agbo was charged with offering gratification to a public official.

They denied the charges.

According to A.B.C Ozioko, EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Yunusa had constant and confidential communications with Mr. Tarfa, who was handling three lawsuits marked FHC/L/CS/714/2015, FHC/L/CS/715/2015 and FHC/L/CS/716/2015 before him.

The prosecution alleged that Mr. Yunusa collected a gratification of N1.5 million from Mr. Tarfa for the purpose of giving favourable rulings and judgments in the cases.

The judge is also being accused of receiving N750, 000 from Joseph Nwobike, a senior lawyer, between March and September, 2015, to get favourable judgment in cases.

The EFCC alleged that Ms. Agbo on May 14, 2015 paid N1.5 million from Mr. Tarfa into Mr. Yunusas UBA account number 1005055617.

The prosecutor noted that the offences are in violation of Sections 64(1)(a) and 97(3) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

After the charges were read, counsel to Justice Yunusa, I. Mohammed, requested for bail for the judge on self recognisance.

We have filed a bail application dated Dec. 12 and on Jan. 9, we have served the EFCC, seeking bail on self recognisance, Mr. Mohammed said.

Counsel to Ms. Agbo, John Odubela, the second defendant asked the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms because shes a nursing mother.

We will be asking the court for bail for the second defendant on the grounds that she is a nursing mother who just gave birth via cesarean section, he said.

The judge, Justice Sherifat Solebo in a ruling, granted Mr. Yunusa bail on self recognisance while Ms. Agbo was granted 1 million naira bail with two sureties in like sum.

The judge adjourned the case until February 20 for trial.

(NAN)
The government of Ekiti State is currently on a task of dousing tension, following the reported killing of a herdsman, known as Babuga Dengi, on Monday in Oke Ako in Ikole Local Government Area of the state.

Amid concerns about a reprisal attack, the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, summoned a late night meeting on Tuesday to forestall a degeneration of the situation.

According to Mr. Fayose, the herdsman was allegedly killed by members of the Tiv community farming in the area.

He however told a meeting of the Fulani and the Benue communities on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti that no bloodshed should be entertained as the killer of the herdsman would be fished out and punished.

The murder of Mr. Dengi on Monday followed the mass burial of 73 persons in Benue State on Thursday, who were killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen on a revenge mission.

Mr. Fayose had recently raised the alarm of an impending invasion of his state by Fulani herdsmen, and urged local hunters to rise up to protect the people.

He has also been outspoken in condemning the killings in Benue State by the herdsmen.

There is no room for the killing of Fulani herders or farmers or anybody in the state, Mr. Fayose warned.

He said the warning was imperative to prevent violence between farmers and herders and not to give anybody license to unlawfully take human life.

Speaking at the meeting attended by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, farmers, local hunters, security agencies and representatives of the Tiv community, Mr. Fayose assured that he was committed to sustaining peace in the state.

He also warned Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers against turning Ekiti to a war zone, just as he urged security agents to quickly fish out the killers of the herder.

I cant accept anybody to be killed. If anybody killed anyone I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice, said Mr. Fayose.

Im sad about the killing in Benue but we dont want brutality in Ekiti.

I wont accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I therefore plead with everybody to cooperate with us.

I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody. Cow matter cant cause problem between us. Oke Ako-Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out.

When you are entering Ekiti, drop wherever you are coming from at the boundary. You cant kill Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo or Tiv here. From information so far, the deceased died as a result of clash between Fulani herders and some Tiv people, but at that we cant condone lawlessness. We dont want that type of Benue issue here.

A communique proceeding from the meeting however, noted that the problem in Oke Ako was between Tivs and Fulani, and resolved that the people must live in peace.

It urged security agencies to fish out the killers of the herdsman in the area.

The meeting agreed that the committee on herdsmen should be expanded to include Fulani herders while urging the committee to be more proactive and report immediately to security committee when they see strangers in their communities.

We ask security agencies to do more in intelligence gathering, information and prevention, while we thank them for what they have done so far, the communique added.
A bus conductor, identified as Toheeb Olayiwola, was shot dead in Abule Egba area of Lagos on Wednesday, allegedly by customs men chasing a bus loaded with smuggled bags of rice.

An eyewitness, Ahmed Ogundairo, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the victim was in the bus with registration number LND685XJ coming from Sango and headed toward Lagos.

Mr. Ogundairo said that customs men accosted the bus at Abule Egba and started shooting sporadically which resulted to the victims death.

The commercial bus, which was loaded with bags of rice, was en-route Mushin from Sango when the customs stopped the bus and started shooting.

My friend was inside the bus to assist in offloading the rice but he was shot dead when he tried to escape from the scene.

The bus was hired to deliver the rice to Mushin, he said.

Another eyewitness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told NAN that the victim was not a smuggler but a transporter with a commercial bus.

A policeman from Oke-Odo Division, who was at the scene of the accident, said that no official statement could be made until the arrival of the Divisional Police Officer.

He said that the incident occurred at about 6.30 a.m.

NAN reports that there was no customs official at the scene to give an account of the incident but LASTMA officials were seen controlling vehicular traffic.

Angry youths who protested the killing set bonfire under the bridge while the corpse of the victim was at the scene at 7.30 a.m. when NAN correspondent left the area.

The Customs Public Relations Officer, Federal Operations, Ikeja, Jerry Attah, said the unit received a report of the incident from its patrol team.

Mr. Attah said that the team trailed a vehicle loaded with smuggled rice to Abule-Egba, a suburb of Lagos.

He said the customs men were mobbed by the smugglers who prevented the officers from carrying out their duties.

Mr. Attach later released a statement claiming nobody was killed in the incident.

On January 17, 2018 (today), at about 05.30hrs, operatives of the Federal Operations Unit, acting on a tip-off, traced one LT Bus Loaded with unspecified bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice from Sango Area and eventually stopped it at Abule Egba.

Before he was finally halted at Abule Egba, the driver started shouting and making inciting comments that attracted mob action against the officers with different dangerous weapons such as broken bottles, stones and cutlasses.

Obviously, he had driven to where he could get his associates to help attack the Customs Officers.

Given support of the mob, he resisted lawful arrest and the other armed operatives fired shots in the air to disperse the raging mob but to no avail.

As a responsible organisation, the officers retracted back to avoid any casualty.

We appreciate and thank God that no life was lost as at the time of the confrontation, even though two of our officers sustained injuries.

For the avoidance of doubt, the fact that a smuggler has evaded scrutiny either by following unapproved route or compromising any officer does not guarantee that the smuggled item will not be seized anywhere it is found by patrol officers whose duty is to ensure compliance.
A police Inspector, identified as Bobbo, his wife, Sgt. Grace, their daughter and a constable have been burnt to death in an early morning fire at Karewa Police Barrack in Yola.

The Adamawa Command Public Relations Officer, Othman Abubakar, said the incident occurred around 1:00 am and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Inspector Bobbo, his wife Sgt. Grace, their daughter and a newly recruited constable who is a relation that is squatting with them were all killed in the unfortunate incident, Mr. Abubakar said.

Some residents of the barracks who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said efforts to put off the fire and rescue the victims were not successful due to the burglar proof in the house.

Many people have installed burglar proof due to petty thefts being experienced in the barrack, a female resident who spoke under anonymity said.

Meanwhile, Adamawa Deputy Governor, Martins Babale, has visited the barrack to sympathize with the residents over the incident.

(NAN)
Yusufu Akirikwen, the Taraba Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice says that the state has no land for cattle colonies as proposed by the Federal Government.

Mr. Akirikwen said this on Wednesday in Jalingo while speaking with journalists.

The attorney-general said the state government had enacted a law for the establishment of ranches which would come into effect on January 24.

He called on the Federal Government to support the state in implementing the law, describing it as the best for cattle rearing globally.

The truth of the matter is that the idea of cattle colony is still not very clear for most Nigerians.

Where would the Federal Government get land for cattle colonies?

Would they sit there in Abuja and acquire land across the states of the federation for cattle colonies?

We have enacted a law for ranching here in Taraba, but we are not acquiring land for people, herdsmen and cattle owners are going to buy land and do their ranching business, he said.

Mr. Akirikwen said that the state government had put in place implementation mechanism at various levels, while appealing to the Federal Government to deploy enough security for the smooth take off of the law. (NAN)
A group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has criticised the slow pace at which President Muhammadu Buhari is responding to the recent spate of killings by suspected herdsmen in Benue and other parts of the country.

The group said Mr. Buharis refusal to talk to Nigerians directly is raising speculations as to whether the government is shielding the perpetrators or not from justice.

In a statement, Wednesday, signed by the deputy director, SERAP, Timothy Adewale, the organisation called on Mr. Buhari to bring the culprits to justice and ensure reparation for the victims.

Members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday condemned the killings and also called for justice.

One of the resolutions made by the senators was a 14-day ultimatum given to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to ensure that suspected killers are arrested and investigated.

Continuing refusal of Buhari to speak directly to Nigerians on the matter and visit the states such as Benue, Taraba and Adamawa, that have been most affected by these attacks by herdsmen is feeding into the propaganda that this government may be shielding suspected perpetrators from justice and, more importantly, undermines the rule of law and facilitates continuing attacks.

As the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, SERAP believes that Buhari is in a powerful position to end the unlawful killings and destruction of property apparently by herdsmen across the country if he really wants to do so. Buhari needs to speak directly to Nigerians and particularly to the countless victims and their families.

So far attempts by the government to address the persistent attacks by herdsmen in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa states and other parts of the country have overlooked the plight of the victims and their families. But it has to be made clear that victims of attacks apparently by herdsmen are entitled to effective remedies regardless of whether they bring their claims against the government in an individual or collective capacity.

The organisation urged President Buhari to ensure justice and fairness are not undermined in the efforts of security operatives and relevant authorities to arrest the culprits and bring relief to victims.

It is an imperative demand of justice that the responsibility of the perpetrators of the unlawful killings and destruction of property be clearly established and the rights of the victims and their families sustained to the fullest possible extent. Establishing a trust fund for victims of attacks by herdsmen will be an important first step towards justice for victims and their families, it said.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported how a Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, in an essay titled  Impunity Rides Again criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for the failure of his government to act decisively against Fulani herdsmen believed to be behind the recent killings of scores of people in communities across the nation.

The police commissioner in Benue State, Bashir Makama, a few hours after the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, was deployed by the president to address the insecurity in Benue State and neighbouring Nassarawa, where armed herdsmen also invaded informed PREMIUM TIMES that the police are, concentrating their energy and resources towards the safe return of recently displaced residents to their communities.

He said the police are holding back on their offensive against the suspected killer herdsmen.
The Kano State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed into law the 2018 budget of over N246 billion, which is higher than N233 billion earlier proposed by Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje.

Presenting the report of the House Committee on Appropriations, a member of the committee representing Ungogo Constituency, Tasiu Panisau, said the committee had recommended for the increase of over N12.7 billion.

According to Mr. Panisau, some of the areas the increase would go to include education , health , Information, Agriculture, works and Water Resources and rural development.

Our committee has also recommended for the discharge of oversight functions by committees, especially on the implementation of the 2018 budget should be pursued with greater Vigour.

This recommendation will ensure effective delivery of government services for the benefit of the general public in the state, he said.

According to him, the appropriation committee had also recommended that in subsequent years, an interface should be created where sub-committees will physically defends their reports before the appropriation committee.

He explained that the recommendation for the creation of the sub-committees is aimed at ensuring harmony and understanding of divergent positions.

At the plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Abdullahi Ata, the lawmakers after deliberations on the report of the appropriation committee, adopted the report and passed the budget into law.

NAN reports that the House of the Assembly after passing the bill into law, adjourned its plenary session to Feb. 19.

Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje had on Nov. 30, 2017 presented to the state assembly a budget proposal of over N233 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. (NAN)
The Police Command in Edo said it has smashed a three-member gang for allegedly assembling Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, in Okpella, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state.

The State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin while briefing journalists.

Mr. Kokumo said that the suspects were arrested on Monday.

He said that on the day of the arrest, one of the IEDs in the gangs arsenal exploded and severed the lower limb of one of the suspects.

The gang member was said to have died instantly, a situation that caused panic and pandemonium in the area and environs.

He said the gang leader, Idris Abdulmalik an indigene of Kogi, however escaped, while the three, a male and two females also from Kogi, were arrested.

The commissioner said a Toyota Corolla Saloon car with registration number ABUJA-ABC-371-HK was recovered from the suspects.

He said items found inside the car include: one rocket propelled grenade without the launcher and one berretta pistol N0. 53101466 with seven rounds of 9mm live ammunition.

Other items, he said, were two riot gunners; four smoke pistols; 23 empty fire extinguisher cylinders; 18 plastic bottles of prepared borne IEDs; 21 expended smoke cartridges and 17 pieces of pipes.

Mr. Kokumo said two timer clocks; four remote control panel and switches; eight nine volt batteries; eight live teargas cartridges and two smoke grenades were recovered from the suspects.

The rest, he said, were two fire extinguishers borne IEDs; two electric junction boxes; two gallons of gun powder; five empty cans of insecticides; 20 small cans of assorted chemicals; three hydrometers and eight pipette tubes.

The commissioner also disclosed that on Sunday, an articulated vehicle with registration number KANO-KMC-592 YD fully loaded with petroleum product suspected to be Automated Gas oil (AGO) parked in polythene bags was seized by the command.

He said the product was suspected to have been illegally siphoned from vandalised pipeline.

He said that three suspects were arrested in connection with the crime.

Kokumo, therefore, appealed to residents of the state to be vigilant and report any clandestine activities in their domain to the police for prompt action.

(NAN)
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state of planning to recruit cultists declared wanted for their alleged involvement in the New Year Day killing in the state.

Mr. Wike said the APCs intention was to get the cultists  32 of them  to join the party and later work for it in the 2019 elections.

Governor Wike made the allegation on Tuesday at a security meeting at the ONELGA Council Secretariat, according to a statement issued by the governors media aide, Simeon Nwakaudu.

Nobody should play politics with the security of lives. Since we declared these cultists wanted, they (APC) have approached them to work with them, Governor Wike was quoted as saying in the meeting.

Whether or not they work with APC, they will meet their Waterloo, he said.

He said the cult kingpin, Johnson Igwedibias reign of terror lasted throughout the time Rotimi Amaechi was the governor of Rivers, adding that his eventual elimination a few days ago was a proof of his administrations commitment to the anti-cultism fight.

He vowed that Mr. Igwedibias younger brother, Oluchi, and other fleeing cultists will soon be tracked down.

Governor Wike said the manner that Mr. Igwedibia was killed by security personnel indicated that nobody could escape the long arm of the law.

The governor is said to have urged the people of ONELGA to work with the state government to ensure that peace was maintained in the area, so that the people could recover from the devastation.

The governor sympathised with the people and assured that the government was going to foot the medical bills of the injured as well as provide support to the families of those killed in the attack.

He said that the government would be set aside N50 million for the training of a one-year-old girl, Purity Anthony, whose parents were killed in the attack.

The APC in the state has, however, described Mr. Wikes accusation as laughable.

The state Chairman of the APC, Davies Ikanya, told PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday, that some of the cultists in the state said on the radio that the governor was coming after them because they said that they had repented and decided not to work again for him.

We have said to Mr. Wike, why are you mentioning names of some cultists and you have refused to mention the names of the kingpins. Everybody knows that Ateke Tom established the Iceland Cult.

Instead of naming Ateke Tom as one of the cult kingpins in Rivers state and declaring him wanted, you made him a second-class king over a domain, Mr. Ikanya said.

The party chairman said there were other cult kingpins serving as state lawmakers and local government chairmen because Governor Wike was comfortable working with them.

Does it even make sense for us to want to recruit them now, when we didnt recruit them for the 2015 election? We didnt recruit them in all the re-run elections.

The cultists have always worked for Nyesom Wike; Nyesome Wike has always protected them.

All these things that Wike is doing is because Don Wayne is dead. Wike was protecting Don Wayne until he could no longer protect him. When Don Wayne was caught, he had to make sure that Don Wayne died so that his secret would not be revealed.

When Rotimi Amaechi was the governor of Rivers State, he went after all the cultists in the state, all the cultists were on the run, they ran away to the creeks. Amaechi had zero-tolerance for cultism, he said.

Both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state have been engaged in a verbal war since 17 people were gunned down on the New Year Day in Omoku, in the state.
The Coalition for the Advancement of Ekiti State, COAED, and the Federal University, Oye Ekiti Chapter of the Ekiti Students Union have warned politicians in the state not to drag the institution into the political conflicts attending the contest for the governorship seat of the state.

The groups in separate statements in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, said there is an ongoing politicisation of academic activities at FUOYE.

FUOYE is one of a few federal institutions in Ekiti State and it behoves on all of us to join hands with its managers to realise their vision of turning this school into a world class institution, Gbolade Oguntomole, the Executive Secretary of COAED said.

It is disheartening that politicians from Ekiti, rather than look for ways to assist FUOYE to grow fast, have been more interested in using elements in the school to score falsely procured cheap points.

The groups said they were moved to intervene following allegations that the university was operating an anti-Ekiti agenda by replacing Ekiti workers with others from Ogun, home state of its Vice Chancellor, Kayode Soremekun.

The President of the Ekiti Student Union in FUOYE, Akomolafe A.F., said his members joined COAD in dissociating themselves from the allegations against the Vice Chancellor as it is false.

To put the records straight, we are certain that while the Vice-Chancellor is from Ogun State, the Librarian, Dr. Gboyega Adio is from Oyo State. The Acting Bursar and her husband are from Oyo and Osun States respectively and the Director of Administration, Mr. O. Odusanya is from Lagos State and not Ogun State as alleged, he said.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor is from Ogun State, but is married to an Ekiti woman. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Deputy Vice Chancellor was overwhelmingly voted for by a Senate whose membership is largely drawn from Ekiti.

It is also instructive to know that we have seven Faculties in the University namely: Faculty of Agriculture, Arts, Education, Engineering, Social Science, Science, Management Sciences and the Postgraduate School. Five of these faculties are headed by Deans who are indigenes of Ekiti State.

They are: Prof Rasaki Bakare, Prof. Alabadan, Prof. Adebitan, Prof. Omolayo and Prof. Oladele. It is also a fact that 58 per cent of the workforce, (senior staff alone) hail from Ekiti State. Therefore, the issue of marginalisation of Ekiti indigenes as stated by these shadowy groups does not arise.

We believe that this inaccurate information is the handiwork of a fifth columnist and enemy of the advancement of the young institution.

Our hope lies in the fact that, Ekiti indigenes are more enlightened to appreciate the rule of law and the process of appointments in Federal institutions.
TWIN FALLS  A Twin Falls man who threatened to kill his ex-girlfriends family and shot into an empty car after a custody dispute on Fathers Day was sentenced Tuesday to up to 20 years in prison.

Kevin Duran, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors say Duran has known white supremacist ties and a violent criminal history. They recommended he spend 10 to 20 years in prison, and the judge agreed.

Duran was convicted of showing up to his ex-girlfriends home with a gun, attempting to break in and shooting at her new boyfriends car outside. Earlier in the day, Duran had threatened to kill everyone inside the residence, police said. His children were also in the house at the time.

Im going to kill him  my word white power white race I promise and very sorry, Duran wrote in one text message sent to his ex-girlfriends mother, referring to his former girlfriends current boyfriend. I will pull the trigger I hope he doez.

Tearful victim testimonies from Durans ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend and her mother described a long history of violent and abusive behavior by Duran leading up to the incident.

His former girlfriend told the court that Duran had always had really bad anger and jealousy issues while they were together and after their relationship ended, resulting in years of physical and emotional abuse.

This time, Im done, she said. Im sticking up for myself and stopping the abuse.

Duran was initially charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and one count of malicious injury to property, all felonies. As part of the guilty plea, the prosecutors office dismissed five of those six charges.

In a statement to Senior District Judge Cheri Copsey, Duran said he never intended to harm anybody that day.

All I was trying to do was go get my kids, he said. When another man tells you you cant see your kids or have your kids, Im sure another man would get mad.

Another man who cared about his children, as opposed to his own desires, would not have put his children through this incident, Copsey responded. Another man would have gone about it in a civilized way.

Before delivering the sentence, Copsey read Durans criminal history out loud to the courtroom, highlighting his participation in a three-on-one attack on another inmate while incarcerated and previous charges of child endangerment.

She rejected defense attorney George Essmas suggestion that alcohol had been a driving factor in the June incident.

Whatever is going on with you and your white power and all the other stuff you were spouting, it has nothing to do with alcohol, Copsey said.

Duran will serve a minimum of 10 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of 20.
The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a health worker, Yewande Gbadebo, for allegedly using a hot knife to inflict injuries on the body of her 17-year-old housemaid.

The mother of two, who resides in Imala community in Abeokuta, was said to have accused the victim of eating bread belonging to her without approval.

Ms. Gbadebo who works at Community Health Centre in Erunbe located in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of the state, was arrested after the alleged crime was reported to the police by the Committee for Defence on Human Rights, CDHR, Ogun State Chapter.

The CDHR said following a tipoff, its Chairman, Olayinka Folarin, in company of another official of Child Protection Network, CPN, on Wednesday traced the suspect to her shop in Iberekodo area of Abeokuta.

The committee then resolved to hand over the maid (victim) to the police, a development which led to the arrest of the suspect.

She was subsequently taken to the anti-human trafficking unit of the police command where she reportedly confessed to have committed the crime.

The victim, Janet, an indigene of Benue State, said she had been staying with the suspect for over three years but was not allowed to go to school or learn a trade.

Meanwhile, the suspect reportedly told her interrogators that she used a hot knife to threaten the victim, and did not intend to injure her.

Ms. Gbadebo who is a beneficiary of the federal governments N-Power scheme reportedly confessed to the police that she got the maid through a suspected child trafficker in Osogbo town of Osun State

When contacted, the command public relations officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident. He said the suspect would be charged to court as soon as possible.
Troops from the 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Ondo State have recovered 63 bags of cannabis, otherwise known as Indian hemp, and ammunition after a gun duel with cultivators of the weed in a forest in Owo, Ondo State.

A statement from the brigade headquarters signed by Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Ojo Adelegan, said the troops had gone to the forest on Monday after receiving information on the nefarious activities of the gang.

The operation was as a result of a tip off information on the criminal activities of the notorious gang in a hideout in the forest, the statement said.

During the operation, there was an exchange of fire between our own troops and the criminals who later fled as a result of the superior fire power against them.

The troop recovered 63 bags of Indian Helm, 23 expended cartridges and 9 unexpended cartridges.

The army spokesperson urged the public to always avail the security agencies with useful information on any criminal activity in the state.

He also to warned criminals to stay away from the state as the army would not give any room for illegality and criminally minded persons in the state.
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.




TWIN FALLS  The city will relieve congestion on Eastland Drive by eliminating one of several bottlenecks where the road width varies greatly.

Twin Falls city staff will meet with contractors Wednesday to lay out a plan for a $2 million rehabilitation of Eastland Drive North this year. Work will begin immediately to prepare the road for construction, project engineer Josh Baird said.

The City Council on Tuesday approved agreements with two property owners that, combined with the right-of-way on eight other properties, grant the city the right to make Eastland Drive five lanes wide from Falls Avenue to Pole Line Road.

Drivers will see intermittent work with some impact from now until April. Major construction will restrict Eastland Drive North and Pole Line Road to two lanes from April to August, Baird said.

We would recommend using alternative routes during the construction, said Rob Ramsey, project consultant with Civil Science.

The construction will span more than a mile of roadway.

The city had already planned to rehabilitate Eastland Drive North and Pole Line Road along the curve. But the failing road got higher on the priority list after it was damaged from last winters storms and temperature swings.

With $1.2 million of emergency state road money, the city will extend the project even farther. Itll start from Pole Line Road at Mountain View Drive, and extend down Eastland Drive North, almost to Falls Avenue East.

Kloepfer Inc. received the contract for just under $2 million earlier this month. But the final piece was to secure right-of-way with Amazing Grace Fellowship and Twin Falls Rural Fire District in order to widen the road between Julie Lane and Falls Avenue, Baird said.

Im impressed with how quickly this came together, Vice Mayor Nikki Boyd said.

What itll do

Kloepfer will pulverize the existing asphalt and recycle it to be used as base for the new lanes of road, Baird said. The existing road base will be mixed with concrete. Using recycled materials versus doing a total rebuild saves the city about 30 percent on the project.

The contractor will then repave the roadway with new asphalt. When complete, the road will meet traffic needs for 20 years or more. It will have two lanes in either direction, plus a center turn lane.

The city will pay for curb, gutter and a detached sidewalk to be constructed along the widened roadway. It will also make stormwater retention improvements. The new sidewalk means pedestrians will be able to walk along the entire length of the project.

Twin Falls would have required the property developers to make these improvements, Baird said, but since the city wanted the project done sooner, it agreed to build the roadway in exchange for right-of-way. The city will replace some landscaping to make a smooth transition to the affected properties.

One resident asked at the City Council meeting if there were plans to include a bicycle pathway along Eastland Drive. Baird said there were not.

You dont want all of your vehicles and all of your bicycles on the same road, he said.

Also at the meeting, the City Council granted Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office and Twin Falls Police Departments Special Investigations Unit funds to purchase some needed technology. The unit investigates people who are involved in criminal organizations and have committed violent crimes.

The city also approved a guaranteed maximum price of $2.4 million for the downtown commons plaza and associated road work.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Major storms, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks are increasing traveler concern. Based on data from customer purchases, leading travel insurance comparison site, Squaremouth, reveals the 4 biggest traveler behavior trends expected in 2018.

Squaremouth's 2018 Travel Predictions

Prediction: Natural Disasters Will Become Travelers' Top Concern

Major natural disasters in 2017, such as hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the California wildfires, have more travelers worried about canceling their trips.

In 2017, 47% more travelers bought travel insurance specifically to be refunded if weather or a natural disaster ruins their trip

Squaremouth predicts the fear of natural disasters will overtake terrorism as the top cancellation concern this year

The number of purchases with this coverage has increased each of the past 5 years

Prediction: U.S. Travelers Will Choose to Stay Closer to Home

With international unrest following terrorist attacks in popular destinations, such as the United Kingdom and France, U.S. residents prefer travel within North America.

Squaremouth predicts the United States , Mexico , and Canada will be 3 of the 4 most popular destinations for U.S. travelers in 2018

, , and will be 3 of the 4 most popular destinations for U.S. travelers in 2018 Italy has remained the third most popular destination since 2012

Prediction: Travelers Will Spend a Record High on Trips

Trip Cancellation is one of the main reasons travelers buy travel insurance, to protect themselves from losing money if they have to cancel a trip.

Squaremouth predicts the average trip cost will surpass $6,000 in 2018 for the first time

in 2018 for the first time The average cost of a trip insured on squaremouth.com has increased every year since 2012, peaking at $5,854 in 2017

Prediction: Senior Travelers Will Outspend Millennials

Baby boomers and travelers over the age of 65 continue to spend more than twice as much on trips as younger travelers.

Squaremouth predicts travelers between 65 and 79 will, once again, spend the most on their trips, with an average cost per traveler of $3,000

Those travelers spent 2.5 times as much per trip as millennials, who spent $1,190 per traveler

ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH

Squaremouth compares travel insurance policies from every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth's comparison engine and third-party customer reviews, travelers can research and compare travel insurance policies side-by-side. More information can be found at www.squaremouth.com

Available Topic Expert:

Steven Benna

[email protected]

(727) 619-7262

SOURCE Squaremouth

Related Links

http://www.squaremouth.com


In the Best Actress category, nominations go to Annette Bening ( Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool ), Judi Dench ( Victoria & Abdul ), Salma Hayek ( Beatriz at Dinner ), Frances McDormand ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) and Meryl Streep ( The Post ). In the Best Actor category, Steve Carell ( Battle of the Sexes ), Daniel-Day Lewis ( Phantom Thread ), Tom Hanks ( The Post ), Gary Oldman ( Darkest Hour ), Denzel Washington ( Roman J. Israel, Esq.) . Additionally, Helen Mirren will receive the esteemed Movies for Grownups  Career Achievement Award .

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Holly Hunter (The Big Sick), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Melissa Leo (Novitiate), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), and Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird). In the Best Supporting Actor category, Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Laurence Fishburne (Last Flag Flying), Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), and Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World) are nominated. The 2017 Movies for Grownups nominees for Best Director are Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Reginald Hudlin (Marshall), Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World) and Steven Spielberg (The Post).

"2017 was filled with marvelous movies and performances that appeal directly to a powerful audience -the 50-plus. We are delighted to celebrate another year of actors, directors and writers that brought the most compelling stories to life on the silver screen," says Myrna Blyth, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director for AARP Media. "After nearly two decades of celebrating AARP's Movies for Grownups, we are also thrilled to share our awards show with viewers at home."

Co-produced by the Great Performances series, the 17th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards will be broadcast for the first time on Friday, February 23 at 9 p.m. on PBS, (check local listings), pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps.

Event proceeds raise funds for AARP Foundation, AARP's charitable affiliate, which works to end senior poverty by building economic opportunity and social connections for vulnerable older adults in L.A. and across the country.

With weekly news and reviews, nationwide screenings, and an annual awards event, AARP's Movies for Grownups multimedia franchise continues to champion movies for grownups, by grownups. For more information about AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards, go online to www.aarp.org/moviesforgrownups.

The complete list of the 17th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards Nominees:

Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups: Get Out, Lady Bird , Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress: Annette Bening ( Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool), Judi Dench ( Victoria & Abdul ), Salma Hayek ( Beatriz at Dinner ), Frances McDormand ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) and Meryl Streep ( The Post )

( ( ), ( ), ( ) and Meryl Streep ( ) Best Actor: Steve Carell ( Battle of the Sexes ), Daniel Day-Lewis ( Phantom Thread ), Tom Hanks ( The Post ), Gary Oldman ( Darkest Hour ), Denzel Washington ( Roman J. Israel, Esq. )

( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( Best Supporting Actress: Holly Hunter ( The Big Sick ), Allison Janney ( I, Tonya ), Melissa Leo ( Novitiate ), Lesley Manville ( Phantom Thread ), Laurie Metcalf ( Lady Bird )

( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ) Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe ( The Florida Project ), Laurence Fishburne ( Last Flag Flying ), Woody Harrelson ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ), Richard Jenkins ( The Shape of Water ), and Christopher Plummer ( All the Money in the World )

( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), and ( ) Best Director: Kenneth Branagh ( Murder on the Orient Express ), Guillermo del Toro ( The Shape of Water ), Reginald Hudlin ( Marshall ), Ridley Scott ( All the Money in the World ) and Steven Spielberg ( The Post )

( ), ( ), ( ), ( ) and ( ) Best Screenwriter: Guillermo del Toro ( The Shape of Water), James Ivory ( Call Me by Your Name ), Anthony McCarten ( Darkest Hour ), Steven Rogers ( I, Tonya ), Aaron Sorkin ( Molly's Game )

( ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ) Best Ensemble: Get Out , Girls Trip , Last Flag Flying , Mudbound , Murder on the Orient Express

Best Grownup Love Story: Breathe , Films Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, The Leisure Seeker, Our Souls at Night , The Greatest Showman

, , Best Intergenerational Film: The Big Sick, The Florida Project, Lady Bird , Marjorie Prime , Wonder

Best Time Capsule: Battle of the Sexes, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, I, Tonya, The Post

Readers' Choice Poll: Beauty and the Beast, Dunkirk, Get Out, Girls Trip, Last Flag Flying, Murder on the Orient Express, The Post, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Wonder, Wonder Woman

Best Documentary: Dolores, Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, I Am Not Your Negro, Joan Didion : The Center Will Not Hold, Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo

Best Foreign Film: Chavela ( Mexico ), The Insult ( Lebanon ), Like Crazy ( Italy ), A Taxi Driver ( South Korea ), The Women's Balcony (Israel)

About AARP The Magazine's Movies For Grownups Awards' Philanthropic Goals

The annual Movies for Grownups Awards raises funds for AARP Foundation, AARP's affiliated charity, which helps struggling people 50-plus around the country transform their lives through programs, services and vigorous legal advocacy. The Foundation works to increase economic opportunity and social connections to prevent and reduce senior poverty.

About AARP The Magazine

With more than 38 million readers, AARP The Magazine is the nation's largest circulation magazine  and the definitive lifestyle publication  for Americans 50 and older. AARP The Magazine delivers targeted content in three demographic versions  for readers age 50 to 59, 60 to 69 and 70-plus  including health and fitness features, financial guidance, consumer information and tips, celebrity interviews, and book and movie reviews. AARP has been publishing a magazine for members since its founding in 1958. AARP The Magazine is published bimonthly in print and continually online. Learn more at www.aarp.org/magazine/.

About WNET

WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (THIRTEEN PBSKids, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Theater Close-Up, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.

SOURCE AARP

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http://www.aarp.org


PALM BEACH, Florida, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to Grand View Research, the global forecast for the Lithium-ion battery market is estimated to be worth an impressive $93.1 Billion by 2025, demonstrating a CAGR of 17%. Technological advancements to reduce the weight of batteries, cost and increase their power output, is expected to augment industry expansion. In addition, competent distribution channels are likely to be an important way to gain a competitive advantage. In the mining aspect of the market, significant industry players are acquiring assets to enhance technological advancements and mining methods, as well as increase their overall coverage of lithium-rich mining sites. The demand for lithium is only expected to continue to rise as peripheral research aids the improvement of lithium-ion batteries and the general public continues to adopt electric vehicles. All of these factors lead to an active market, headlined by leaders in the space acquiring both assets and competitors evidenced by Triton Minerals recently indicating it had started due diligence on the Western Australia lithium assets and royalties that it planned to acquire from Westgold Resources to enhance Triton's access to the fast-growing lithium-ion battery and battery storage markets. Industry Active companies in the news this week include Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC: ALYI), Lithium X Energy Corp. (OTC: LIXXF) (TSX-V: LIX), QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX-V: QMC), NRG Metals Inc. (OTC: NRGMF) (TSX-V: NGZ), Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RIO).

Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC: ALYI) and Lithium Exploration Group, Inc. (OTC: LEXGD) today announced entering into a letter of intent (LOI) agreement whereby Alternet Systems will acquire the Sonic Cavitation (SonCav) technology assets to include existing SonCav contracts. The preliminary deal structure has Alternet forming a new subsidiary dedicated to serving the lithium mining industry and having the new subsidiary acquire the Lithium Exploration Group SonCav assets. To facilitate a dedicated capital campaign to finance the new subsidiary, Alternet plans to spin the subsidiary off as an independent publicly traded company issuing stock in the spinoff to shareholders of both Alternet Systems and Lithium Exploration Group. Read this and more news for Alternet Systems at http://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/alyi.html

In July of last year, Alternet acquired an exclusive license agreement with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) for ten U.S. Patented lithium battery technologies with an option to acquire the ten U.S. Patents. The company is applying its portfolio of patented lithium battery technologies to enhance the value of electric powered products to include electric vehicles and military support systems. The company is implementing a strategy to optimize shareholder value in the application of its lithium technologies by spinning off applications into independently listed public companies and issuing stock in the independently listed companies to Alternet shareholders through dividend distributions. The deal with Lithium Exploration group accounts for one of the two planned spinoffs and dividend distributions recently announced by Alternet management. To learn more about Alternet's spinoff and dividend strategy, see the company's online presentation: Alternet Spinoff And Dividend Strategy To Unlock Shareholder Value

In the industry developments and happenings in the market this week include:

Lithium X Energy Corp. (OTCQX: LIXXF) (TSX-V: LIX.V) last week filed on SEDAR and mailed to Lithium X shareholders and warrantholders the notice of special meeting, management information circular, letter of transmittal and related proxy materials in respect of the company's special meeting of shareholders and warrantholders to be held at 10 a.m. Vancouver time on Feb. 6, 2018, at Suite 1700, 666 Burrard St., Vancouver, B.C., V6C 2X8. At the special meeting, shareholders and warrantholders will be asked to approve the company's previously announced transaction with NextView New Energy Lion Hong Kong Ltd., whereby NextView will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares and common share purchase warrants of Lithium X by way of plan of arrangement under Section 288 of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia), as described in the news release of Dec. 18, 2017, filed on Lithium X's SEDAR profile. Upon the arrangement becoming effective, each shareholder will receive cash consideration of $2.61 per share and each warrantholder will receive cash consideration of one cent per warrant.

QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX-V: QMC.V) recently announced it acquired, through staking, an additional 9 contiguous mineral claims which increases the number of claims comprising the property to 13 and the area extent of the Irgon Lithium Mine Property to encompass 6,538 acres (2,647 hectares) from 1,729 acres (700 hectares) an increase of 378%. Numerous pegmatite dikes, in addition to the main Irgon Dike, are known to exist on the Irgon Lithium Mine Property. Two major dikes, located south of Cat Lake that have undergone exploration in the past are the Mapetre Dike and the Central Dike. Both were explored in the late 1970's by the Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada ("TANCO") which focused solely on their tantalum-bearing potential. At the time, TANCO appears to have had no interest in the lithium potential of these dikes. The Central Dike is also reported (Cerny et al, 1981, pg. 97) to host cesium-bearing biotite mineralization (to 0.57% Cs2O) along the pegmatite contact with the host rock.

NRG Metals Inc. (OTCQB: NRGMF) (TSX-V: NGZ.V) recently announced that it had held its Annual General and Special Meeting on December 22, 2017. All motions received shareholder approval. As announced on November 16, 2017, the Company completed various agreements to give effect to its strategic alliance with Chemphys to advance the exploration and development of the Company's Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project (the "HMN Project") located in the Salta and Catamarca Provinces area where most of the lithium production occurs in Argentina. Included with the strategic alliance is an off-take agreement for any future lithium produced by the Company at the HMN Project.

Rio Tinto Plc (NYSE: RIO) - According to an article recently published by Mining.com , Global miner Rio Tinto is said to have ditched plans to own a stake in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's largest lithium producer, due to a mix of tricky politics and the fact that such miner is currently the target of several claims. Rio's decision withdraw an offer for Nutrien's 32% stake in the Santiago-based lithium miner, worth about $5 billion at current market prices, doesn't mean the company has abandoned plans to capitalize on the electric-car boom, the article says. The firm is already working on developing its 100%-owned lithium and borates mineral asset in Jadar, Serbia. The project, which is in the early stages of development, could meet about 10% of current global demand for the white metal. Read the full article here

DISCLAIMER: MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release. MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. For current services performed MNU has been compensated forty one hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued by Alternet Systems, Inc. by a non-affiliated third party. MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Contact Information:

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+1(561)325-8757



SOURCE MarketNewsUpdates.com
"We live in the modern reality of ever increasing threats to cybersecurity and growing levels of cyberterrorism," said Maurice Torres, VP of Product Strategy at Action1 Corporation. "Quickly disappearing concept of old-day perimeter security, diminished by worldwide adoption of Cloud technologies, inspired the team of Action1 cybersecurity engineers to rethink the traditional approaches to endpoint protection."

Action1 discovers all organization's endpoints in seconds and allows cybersecurity teams to retrieve live data from the entire network using plain English queries, with a Google-like experience, right in the web browser. Unlike legacy, on-premise, hard-to-scale, heavy-weight solutions that rely on costly ongoing scans of security information that quickly becomes outdated before it's even utilized, Action1 enables endpoint security and compliance that reduces threat response times from days to minutes, while not requiring costly on-premise deployment and maintenance.

"As a small community credit union, we are constantly dealing with ongoing cyber threats, while operating under a miniscule budget," said Marie Cohen, CISO of Midwestern Alliance Credit Union, one of the early adopters of Action1 technology. "The introduction of this free endpoint security service by Action1 allowed us to start performing regular security assessments of all bank computer systems. With the ability to ask the system in plain English, such as 'all open file shares' or 'active network connections' and look at the live data almost immediately, we gained almost an unfair advantage over potential attackers and accomplished this without deploying any heavy-weight, on-premise management tools. And the best thing, Action1 is entirely free for the organization of our size!"

The new Action1 Endpoint Security Platform is available immediately for free with no functionality limitations for all organizations having 100 or less endpoints under management and anyone can sign-up for it at www.action1.com/free. Per-endpoint pricing is available for larger organizations, visit www.action1.com for more details.

Emerging Cyber Threat Landscape

As outlined in the most recent Verizon's Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), a large number of organizations continue to rely on the same outdated cyber defense mechanisms every year, without aligning their security strategies and tools with security threats that exist today. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in 1,935 confirmed data breaches and 40,000 known incidents, which is very likely just the top of the iceberg. More than 60% of data breach victims are associated with businesses under 1,000 employees.

Another interesting fact from the Verizon's report is 95% of all phishing attacks, that remain of the most widespread categories, resulted in some form of software installation (such as installation of remote control tools). By simply knowing what software is being installed on which endpoints in real-time, most of such attacks could have been successfully defended right at the source.

About Action1 Corporation

Action1 provides a Cloud-based lightweight endpoint security platform that discovers all of your endpoints in seconds and allows you to retrieve live data from the entire network using plain English queries, with a Google-like experience, right in your web browser. Founded in 2016 by cybersecurity veterans, Action1 is used by companies around the world that need to assess security and enforce compliance of their endpoints, accomplishing security and compliance goals without sacrificing user productivity and easily scaling their cybersecurity efforts as organization grows. For more information, please visit www.action1.com or call 1-346-444-8530

SOURCE Action1 Corporation

Related Links

http://www.action1.com


GAINESVILLE, Ga., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aeon Global Health, the operating arm of Authentidate Holding Corp. (OTCQB: ADAT), a growth-oriented provider of personalized, clinically actionable medical informatics and telemedicine, announced today that it has agreed with Sabal Therapeutics, LLC to be the primary laboratory marketer of Naprosyn, the branded naproxen oral suspension USP. Under the agreement, Aeon will become the exclusive clinical laboratory marketing representative of Sabal and will market the drug alongside of its industry-leading drug monitoring service, thus providing physicians with an integrated, non-opiate solution for pain management.

In a recent study of 5,500 patients, it was concluded that both NSAIDs and opioids provided the same level of acute pain relief. "With the declaration in October 2017 by President Trump that the opioid epidemic is a nationwide public health emergency, we believe that the combination of providing an alternative to these drugs with our state-of-the-art drug monitoring services will be a welcome alternative for pain management," said Sonny Roshan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aeon Global Health. "Moreover, we believe that combining our testing with this unique pain medication alternative can result in both improved patient outcomes and a reduction in adverse drug reactions so common with some of the opioids. Aeon is committed to offering unsurpassed levels of patient care in a manner that is cost effective, and we believe this agreement with Sabal Therapeutics can achieve both of these core Company goals."

Because Naprosyn is dispensed in a liquid form, healthcare professionals can more accurately prescribe and adjust the dosage based on individual patient needs, especially for patients whose weight, medical condition or pain severity appropriately warrant flexible dosing versus the fixed dosage of tablets. In addition, because Naprosyn is dispensed in a liquid form rather than in a tablet, the difficulty that a number of people, especially those over 50 years of age, may have with swallowing pills is reduced.

ABOUT AUTHENTIDATE/AEON GLOBAL HEALTH

Authentidate Holding Corp. (OTCQB: ADAT), through its Aeon Global Health operating arm, is an emerging leader provision of clinically actionable medical informatics. Founded in 2010, Aeon is focused on the delivery of services consistent with federal quality standards and which exceed industry standards for turn-around time. Operating out of a modern 30,000 square-foot facility in suburban Atlanta, the Company provides a comprehensive menu of diagnostic and laboratory- developed tests as well as interpretative data for a wide range of inherited conditions.

ABOUT SABAL THERAPEUTICS, LLC

Sabal Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical commercialization services company based in Athens, Georgia. The company employs an innovative business model designed to allow domestic entrepreneurs and international in the pharmaceutical companies to gain a foothold or otherwise participate in the robust US market. In addition to technical services, clients have access to sales, marketing and administrative expertise and, if desired, turn-key entry into the pharma space.

Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release may be considered "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. When used in this release, words such as "believe", "anticipate", "think", "intend", "plan", "will be", "expect" or similar expressions identify such forward looking statements. In addition, such statements include declarations regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Authentidate Holding Corp. and its management, including those related to cash flow, gross margins, revenues, and expenses which are dependent on a number of factors outside of the control of the Company including, for example, the markets for the Company's services, costs of and services, other expenses, government regulations, litigation, and general business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control. Other risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our reports filed with the SEC. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The statements made in this press release speak only as of the date stated herein, and subsequent events and developments may cause our expectations and beliefs to change. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, we do not intend, nor do we undertake any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release to reflect subsequent information, events, results or circumstances or otherwise.

SOURCE Aeon Global Health

Related Links

http://aeonglobalhealth.com


CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Allant Group, a nationally recognized marketing technology services provider, announced the recent appointment of Marty Shepard to Senior Vice President of Sales. In this role, Shepard assumes responsibility for all aspects of Allant Group's sales and business development strategy.

"I am thrilled and honored to join the Allant Group team," said Shepard. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with an exceptional team that is all working toward a common goal of providing leading-edge solutions for marketers."

"Job number one is to keep our focus on customer success," said Shepard. "I look forward to taking Allant to a new level as we expand our customer base in established and emerging verticals."

An accomplished sales executive with over 25 years of experience delivering solid, scalable revenue growth, Shepard is known for building high-performing teams that focus on consultative customer relationships. He has also built strong partnerships with agencies and marketing services providers by bringing unique skills and creativity that add value to their solutions.

Prior to joining Allant, Shepard served as SVP of Sales and Business Development at Alterian, a leading provider of cross-channel campaign and real-time interaction management software. He previously was AVP Sales at Teradata, a billion-dollar international provider of analytic data platforms and marketing applications. Shepard also held sales leadership roles at Quantivo, Protagona (now part of Doubleclick) and Interelate. Shepard received a BS/MIS degree from the University of Arizona.

"I'm delighted that Marty has joined our executive team," said Gaurav Issar, Chief Executive Officer, Allant Group. "We have built a solid track record over the years of partnering with our customers to help them achieve or surpass their marketing goals. Marty's experience building world-class sales organizations will be a great asset to Allant as we focus on growth based and our commitment to being a leading marketing technology firm that delivers faster, better solutions to our customers."

About Allant Group

Allant is a marketing technology services provider that delivers end-to-end omni-channel marketing services. Allant's expertise and market knowledge enables the delivery through faster customer and 3rd party data integration, improved analytical insights, easy to understand data visualizations, and effective campaign management execution to enable personalized communication by marketers to acquire, retain and win back customers. Allant is a privately held company headquartered in the Chicago area. For more information, call 800.367.7311 or visit www.allantgroup.com.

CONTACT:

Tim Finnigan

1-630-778-2758

[email protected]

SOURCE Allant Group

Related Links

http://www.allantgroup.com


WELLESLEY, Mass., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson College has appointed Gustavo Trindade, Babson MBA Class of 2017, Director of Babson Miami--the institution's newest global hub.

Trindade will join Katherine Craven, Babsons Chief Administrative and Finance Officer, and Kevin Sullivan, Vice President of Corporate Engagement and Off Campus Operations at Babson, in strategically planning for the Colleges presence in both the Miami area and Latin America. He will also help manage the hubs daily operations, including all activities, events, and programming, and will serve as Babsons ambassador of the Miami location, working in collaboration with the Colleges many stakeholders.

Babson Colleges expanded presence in Miami is an important step in our efforts to engage entrepreneurial communities all over the world, said Sullivan. We are excited to have Gustavo, one of our esteemed alumni, join the Babson Miami team, and look forward to the many successful local Babson endeavors to come.

Trindade will join Katherine Craven, Babsons Chief Administrative and Finance Officer, and Kevin Sullivan, Vice President of Corporate Engagement and Off Campus Operations at Babson, in strategically planning for the Colleges presence in both the Miami area and Latin America. He will also help manage the hubs daily operations, including all activities, events, and programming, and will serve as Babsons ambassador of the Miami location, working in collaboration with the Colleges many stakeholders.

"Babson Colleges expanded presence in Miami is an important step in our efforts to engage entrepreneurial communities all over the world, said Sullivan. We are excited to have Gustavo, one of our esteemed alumni, join the Babson Miami team, and look forward to the many successful local Babson endeavors to come."

Gustavo Trindade has more than ten years of entrepreneurial work experience within several large, global corporations, including in the areas of marketing, business development, finance, and investor relations. In 2012, Trindade was named a 'Top Three LATAM Professional in Investor Relations' by Institutional Investor magazine.

"We are delighted to welcome Gustavo back to Babson and look forward to the leadership and entrepreneurial mindset he will bring to Babson Miami," said Babson College President Kerry Healey. "Miami is a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and a gateway to our vibrant network of 5,000 Babson alumni in the Southern U.S. and Latin America. Our expanded presence in Miami is an important step toward our goal of making entrepreneurship education accessible to everyone, everywhere, and Gustavo's leadership and experience will be invaluable as we prepare to welcome our inaugural class of Miami graduate students this fall."

Trindade graduated with an MBA from Babson's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business in 2017. He also holds a Master of Science in Economics from Ibmec Business School (Brazil). While at Babson, Trindade served as a graduate assistant to Professor Robert Turner in the Accounting Division. He is proudly multi-lingual in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and resides in Miami.

"I take great pride and responsibility in having been entrusted with running Babson's hub in Miami, and am thrilled to bring the No. 1 school for entrepreneurship to the No. 1 city for startup activity. Our innovative programs will not only tap into the growth needs of local entrepreneurs and corporations, but also help further develop the Florida ecosystem," said Trindade. "As an alumnus, it is fulfilling to be a part of such a big institutional endeavor, and to be able to engage with our 5,000 fellow alumni spread throughout the Southern U.S. and Latin America."

Babson in Miami

Babson College has expanded to Miami with three graduate programs--including the Blended Learning MBA, ranked No. 1 for alumni earnings and top 10 worldwide by Financial Times (FT) and The Princeton Review.

The application period is open and classes are set to begin in Fall 2018. Learn more and apply 

Accepted Babson Miami graduate students referred by alumni can receive up to $20,000 in scholarships. Learn more 

Babson's Women Innovating Now (WIN) Lab(r) has had local roots since 2016, with the support of The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, FedEx, and Akerman LLP. The program's first cohort of women entrepreneurs raised nearly $2 million in funding and the second cohort is on its way to celebrating its finale this Spring.

Babson College is also the academic architect of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, hosted at Miami-Dade College since 2014, empowering participating local small business owners to help their businesses grow.

Miami also is a hub for a vibrant network of 5,000 Babson alumni who live and work in the region, Southern U.S. and Latin America. The region boasts the fourth-largest concentration of Babson graduates, many of whom are involved in family enterprises and entrepreneurial ventures in the Miami area. Some of Babson's most notable Miami-area alumni include: Alberto Perlman '98, co-founder and CEO of Zumba Fitness, LLC; Murilo Amaral MBA'16 and Alfredo Keri MBA'16, founders of Cargo42; Carla Curiel '05, founder and CEO of Mundo Lanugo; the Zamora family, who run the financial institution LAFISE; and Diego Lowenstein '90 P'21, CEO and the third generation to work at Lionstone Development, founded and headquartered in Miami.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(r). The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.

Media Contact: Michael Chmura

Public Relations Director

[email protected]

Phone: 781-239-4549

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE Babson College

Related Links

http://www.babson.edu


BOISE  First, Apollo survived the crash. But after running scared into the Idaho desert, his family worried theyd still lost the white terrier mix.

Two days after Christmas, Apollo ran away from a rollover crash on Interstate 84 near the Stage Stop outside of Boise. With the ground blanketed in a layer of fresh snow, rescuers with the Idaho Humane Society knew the dog would be difficult to spot, according to an IHS press release.

Still, officers set out fresh food and water, hoping to lure Apollo to them. They spoke with neighbors and Stage Stop employees, urging them to keep an eye out for the scared animal. For more than two weeks, IHS officers frequented the area  even during their time off  hoping to capture Apollo.

I went out into the desert looking for Apollo, to see if I could locate any tracks, said one officer in the release. A buddy of mine helped by the hiking around the area, and several other officers with four wheelers were looking for Apollo on their days off as well.

Ten days into the new year, David Banks, a caretaker at the Double Tapp firearms range, looked outside and saw Apollo snooping around.

He called IHS, and officers rescued Apollo, skinny from his days in the desert. He was brought to the Humane Society and treated by the organizations veterinarians.

In a video posted on its Facebook page, IHS staff reunited the overjoyed dog with his family on Jan. 11.
(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629893/BlockC60_Blockchain_Opportunities_Summit_2018.jpg )



The summit aims to create a platform that channels and guides the blockchain ecosystem as it transforms and evolves. Thought leaders, academicians, and entrepreneurs driving the blockchain movement forward, will converge at the summit to participate in panel discussions on ICO's, blockchain investments and solutions.

The talks will centre on:

5W's of Blockchain and ICO (Who, What, Where, When and Why of both Blockchain and ICO)

Crypto Trading and Token Economics

Legal and Tax Compliances in Blockchain and ICO

PR, Branding, Business Development and Marketing in Blockchain and ICO

Smart Contract led business transformation and much more

The summit will also witness the launch of a magazine on 'Trends and Opportunities in Blockchain'. Through the summit, BlockC60 the organizer, aims to facilitate partnerships and collaborations between entrepreneurs, investors and blockchain community.

For blockchain experts, it's a platform to share insights with a diverse group of attendees looking to invest and be a part of the growing blockchain industry.

For attendees, it's an opportunity to network and build relationships with prominent business leaders and entities in the blockchain world. This summit is ideal for start-ups looking to launch their ICO or investors looking at crypto currencies for investment purpose.

Registration for the summit is now open. For more information, please contact [email protected]. For the latest news and updates on blockchain opportunities, follow us on Twitter at @BlockC60events.

About BlockC60:

BlockC60 is a Blockchain Technology company offering the complete spectrum of ICO and Decentralized Application services. We are a trusted organizer and provider of information, collaboration and networking opportunities and resources to the blockchain ecosystem. The World Blockchain Opportunities Summit, 2018 is the first in a series of blockchain events planned by BlockC60. This inaugural summit is intended to help the larger community of blockchain enthusiasts leverage/adopt this transformative technology to create wealth.

Media Contact:

Macharayya G

Head Strategy

[email protected]

Ph: +91-9100999504



SOURCE BlockC60
Across all three stops on the tour, HR/benefits professionals are invited to join Businessolver to "Be Ready for What's Next." A packed agenda for each event features rich networking opportunities and an exclusive look at the company's industry-first product innovations  including new advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, refined data analytics, and enhanced user experience to further personalize employees' benefits journey. There will also be client case study presentations and industry expert panel discussions addressing key topics that matter most to today's HR professionals. Also, new for 2018: in-person, hands-on training to assist clients in maximizing Benefitsolver platform functionality and performance. Additional details for all three Vision 20/18 events are available at www.businessolver.com/vision2018 .

"As the American workforce grows more complex and diverse, so must benefits programs and the technology that supports them," said Jon Shanahan, Businessolver President and CEO. "Rather than pigeonhole today's employees into yesterday's benefits and tech systems, we invite HR/benefits professionals to join us in reimagining the benefits world and gaining the tools they need to make sure their organizations are ready for what's next."

Across all three locations, attendees will have two opportunities to hear from award-winning leadership and workforce development expert Cy Wakeman. She will deliver the keynote address as well as deliver an exclusive, half-day training session hosted on the front of each Vision event. The dedicated training, billed as the "Readiness Summit," will give attendees in-depth, personalized insights based on Wakeman's no-drama, reality-based leadership approach  detailed in her New York Times bestseller, "No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Drama, End Entitlement and Drive Big Results."

Attendees will leave the Readiness Summit training armed with a copy of "No Ego," as well as readiness tools and practical strategies to effectively greet change, quickly align and adapt, and deliver to meet the competitive demands of the market and customers. Wakeman will use her no-nonsense delivery to provide tips to help HR/benefits teams shift organizational direction and energy from "why we can't" to "how we can."

"I hope Vision 20/18 attendees dig in and enjoy the concepts I put forth in 'No Ego,'" Wakeman said. "I'm looking forward to communicating how our research and our principles can help them be better leaders and drive real results."

Businessolver also announced its Vision 20/18 sponsors, a top-tier lineup of leading providers in the employee benefits field: Transamerica Employee Benefits, Discovery Benefits, Voya Financial, Allstate Benefits, Ultimate Software, InfoArmor, MetLife, and Unum.

About Vision 20/18

Vision 20/18 events bring together like-minded HR professionals, thought leaders, and the Businessolver community to discuss the difficult challenges facing the benefits industry today and communicate a clear vision for the future. Attendees in all three locations (San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Chicago) will get immersed in deep discussions and strategy sessions on benefits administration best practices, employee engagement, effective workforce management, benefit plan measurement, regulatory compliance, and more. They'll also receive an exclusive inside look at Businessolver's business and product roadmap, including select access to experience new system updates before they go live to the public. Agenda, registration, and travel details for all three Vision 20/18 events is available at www.businessolver.com/vision2018.

About Businessolver

Since 1998, Businessolver has delivered market-changing benefits administration technology supported by an intrinsic responsiveness to client needs. It creates client programs that maximize benefit program investment, minimize risk exposure, and engage employees with easy-to-use solutions and communication tools to assist them in making wise and cost-efficient benefit selections. Founded by HR professionals, Businessolver's unwavering service-oriented culture and secure SaaS platform provide measurable success in its mission to provide complete client delight.

Media Contact

Kristin Korzen

[email protected]

SOURCE Businessolver

Related Links

http://www.businessolver.com


CANCUN, Mexico, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cancun.com, a one-stop shop for those looking to vacation in Cancun and the surrounding areas of the Riviera Maya, today announced the top 10 finalists in its search for a Cancun Experience Officer (CEO) to be the face of the brand, and its newly launched website. The joint venture between Best Day Travel Group and TravelPass Group, who together operate Cancun.com, received more than 8,000 applications from candidates in 120 countries.

"We received thousands of applications from extraordinary candidates from every corner of the world and all walks of life, which made it even harder for us and voters to whittle the search down to just 10," said Chad Meyerson, general manager at Cancun.com. "We're excited to meet the final candidates face-to-face in Cancun, one of the most remarkable travel destinations in the world. One lucky winner will be chosen for a once in a lifetime experience as our next CEO."

Top 10 Finalists

The 10 finalists will attend an interview event in Cancun from January 26-31, 2018. It will include individual and team skill assessments, as well as activities and challenges hosted by Xcaret Park, one of the top attractions in the Cancun-Riviera Maya destination. Profiles for the 10 finalists will be displayed on ceo.cancun.com. The winner will be chosen and announced on January 31, 2018.

As part of Cancun.com's CEO search and commitment to showcase the warmth, wonder and essence of Cancun as one of the world's premier vacation destinations, the company has announced a sponsorship with the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB). Created to promote Cancun, the Cancun CVB is the official entity that interacts with key partners of the different markets around the world to create and develop promotions, marketing and public relations activities in order to highlight the many added values Cancun offers to the world.

"We can't wait to host the top 10 finalists for the Cancun Experience Officer position and have them experience the best food, activities and accommodations that Cancun has to offer," said Lizzie Cole, director general of the Cancun CVB. "Cancun.com's search has garnered a lot of global attention for our beautiful destination. We're grateful for the increased interest, and for all of the talented contestants who applied for the position."

Cancun.com is the premier online destination for those looking to vacation in Cancun, Mexico and the surrounding areas of the Riviera Maya and Yucatan Peninsula. The site features everything from reviews of local hotels and attractions, and the ability to book accommodations, excursions, experiences and transportation all-in-one online location.

About Best Day Travel

Best Day Travel Group is the leading online travel agency in Mexico, and one of the leading Latin American travel industry companies with a strong focus in business-to-business distribution. Best Day Travel understands vacation travel trends and customer requests for the most popular Latin American destinations and offers the best hotel inventory content in the region. The Cancun-based company is a vertically integrated business model with an innovative technology infrastructure that leverages the expertise of six subsidiaries. These include BestDay.com, an online travel agency; BD TRAVEL Solution, a white label technology for partners; HotelDO, services for traditional travel agencies and wholesalers; BD Travel, a leading destination management company in Mexico and Punta Cana; Voiash, a travel brand focused on youth and millennials; and Gran Plan, a strategic alliance with Aeromexico working with more than 120 travel agencies in Mexico.

About TravelPass Group

TravelPass Group is a leading technology company in the travel industry. Spun out of the Utah-based company Partner Fusion, TravelPass Group is a marketplace for independent and brand name hotels, wholesalers, and the world's largest travel agencies. TravelPass Group has been featured multiple times as one of the fastest growing companies locally and nationally by Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and Inc. 5000. TravelPass Group books 10,000 room nights per day through its travel-related websites, including Reservation Counter and Reservation Desk, and a best-in-class customer service center that helps travelers access more than a million properties worldwide.

Contact:

Chelsea Robie

Method Communications

[email protected]

801.461.9787

SOURCE Cancun.com

Related Links

https://www.cancun.com


BOISE, Idaho, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The recently launched Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 offers powerful capabilities to enterprise and industrial users. Industry professionals expect the product to see significant adoption across multiple industries. As large organizations adopt new hardware like tablets and handhelds, specific accessories and additional components are required to maximize the capabilities of the new hardware. Consumer grade single-slot charging solutions are not a viable option for enterprise users in most applications. A specific example is the need to charge multiple devices simultaneously, while minimizing the desktop footprint, and simplifying cable / connector complexity. To address this, Portsmith offers a five-slot charging dock compatible with the Galaxy Tab Active2.

"For businesses adopting the new Samsung tablet products, a simple, reliable charging solution that can handle multiple devices at the same time will be essential to a successful implementation," says Ryan Gray, President of Portsmith. "As the Tab Active2 launches, the Portsmith multi-slot dock is the only product on the market with these capabilities."

Additional features that matter to enterprise users include maximum-rate charging for all five tablets in the dock, durable pogo-pin interface that is less prone to breakage, over-current protection, and FCC Class B / CE compliance.

The Portsmith multi-slot dock was introduced in 2015 for use with the original Samsung Galaxy Tab Active. With over four thousand five-slot charging docks in use, the product has already enabled enterprise deployment of twenty thousand Samsung Galaxy Tab Active tablets. The compatibility with the Tab Active2 has been tested and validated. The multi-slot dock is available now and is shipping to users in North America, EU, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

Portsmith is the leading provider of Ethernet cradles, adapters, docks and accessories for handheld mobile computers and tablets -- designed and built for the VAR and distribution channel, specializing in enterprise applications. Portsmith products are used worldwide with installations approaching over one million units.

Contact Jeff Moeser, General Manager Telephone 208-888-5813 Email [email protected] Website www.portsmith.com

SOURCE Portsmith

Related Links

http://www.portsmith.com


SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE by its Spanish acronym) and the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX by its Spanish acronym) revealed that 2017 was a positive year for Costa Rica thanks to the 40 investment projects attracted and generated 13,754 new jobs.

The new multinational companies and the already established and growing industries, in the sectors of life sciences, corporative services, advanced and light manufacture, food industry, promoted by CINDE, generated 13,754 new jobs in 2017, according to data from the Costa Rican Social Security (C.C.S.S by its Spanish acronym). This number is over the 12,307 jobs created in 2016 (11.7% more than last year).

Regarding the net change on the job level (gross employment minus the transfer of professionals to other industries from Costa Rica or multinational companies), last year reported 7,048 new jobs.

"The multinational companies attracted by CINDE's support generated 20% of net formal jobs in the country and 23% of the total employment created within the private sector in 2017. It is important to indicate that the employment growth rate in the multinationals was 7.8%. This means it was 3.7 times more than the country's average that reported a growth of 2.1%," explained Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director of CINDE.

The Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, said that "in the past 9 months of 2017, Costa Rica obtained US$2,165.6 million in foreign direct investment (FDI), which overcomes in 8.3% the goal established by COMEX in the National Development Plan for all 2017 (US$2,000 millions). Although the flows of foreign direct investment in the world are under the years of the international pre-crisis, Costa Rica has managed to get the job done and continue to attract multinational companies of well known in the country."

Investment challenges

The President of CINDE's Board of Directors, Luis Gamboa, explained that the obtained results were satisfactory within the international challenging and changing context, which demands the constant improvement of the competitive conditions from the countries that dispute FDI as a tool for development and the generation of quality jobs.

"There is a potential of having a bigger growth in the job generation that, as a country, we could take advantage of if we continue to create the human resource specialized in professional and technical areas of high demand, with the abilities that the market requires and the handling of second languages. In the challenging conditions that we face, this theme must be a national priority to continue creating more quality jobs and opportunities for the population," said Gamboa.

According to CINDE, the 2018 strategy of FID attraction includes to continue to diversify the markets in which Costa Rica attracts projects including Asia, Middle East, Europe and Latin America; the development of new sub sectors of investment such as: e-health, health and wellness, and creative industries, as well as the support and promotion of improvement initiatives of Costa Rican human resource, infrastructure, the reduction of procedures and key service costs, as others.

About CINDE

CINDE is a private, non-profit organization that has been committed to Costa Rica's sustainable development and social progress for 35 years, through the attraction of foreign direct investment in manufacturing industries and high value-added services that generate quality jobs, knowledge transfer and productive linkages.

CINDE also collaborates in strengthening the Costa Rican business climate in a way that fosters the growth of valuable activities in the country, improving the preparation of local talent, and generating employment and greater opportunities for its population in the different communities of the country.

Visit www.cinde.org

SOURCE Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency

Related Links

http://www.cinde.org


HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- D'Amore Healthcare in Huntington Beach, CA recently collaborated with A&E Networks' Emmy Award-Winning docuseries 'INTERVENTION' to tackle the Nation's opioid crisis in a special new season focusing on addicts battling this deadly disease within Atlanta's "Heroin Triangle."

D'Amore Healthcare is committed to ending the suffering around addiction and mental health. The prevalence and co-occurrence of substance and process addictions, such as tobacco, illicit drugs, eating, gambling, alcohol, internet, love, sex, work, and shopping deserves more attention than people want to imagine. D'Amore Healthcare helps individuals and their loved ones step back from common symptoms. Symptoms of isolation, anger, and fear can be overcome while making decisions in D'Amore's residential care facility. D'Amore Healthcare strives to listen and work backwards based on your goals and your needs. "We know it is daunting to face a chronic brain disorder alone," shared Devin O'Day from D'Amore Healthcare. "That is why we are here to outline a treatment plan for relief and restoration."

When an intervention results in an individual agreeing to treatment, D'Amore Healthcare works with both the addict and their family. Family members suffer, too. They become embroiled in the chaos of deception and denial that are earmarks of addiction. D'Amore Healthcare counselors educate family members about the nature of the disease of addiction and provide communication tools to teach the family how to support their loved one without enabling destructive behavior.

About D'Amore Healthcare

Founded by visionary and recovery services veteran, Rick Cortese, D'Amore Healthcare is a dual diagnosis, substance abuse addiction treatment center. D'Amore Healthcare also treats mental health at a residential treatment facility. All treatment centers are accredited by The Joint Commission and located in the sunny, southern California coastal communities of Orange County. D'Amore Healthcare specializes in treating mental health and behavioral illness along with the wide variety of addictions such as alcoholism, opiate addiction, cocaine addiction, crystal meth addiction, and prescription drug abuse. D'Amore Healthcare accepts most PPO insurance along with Private pay options.

For general inquiries about treatment, contact: (714) 375-1110.

For media inquiries, contact [email protected].

SOURCE DAmore Healthcare
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Armed Forces Insurance, which has provided insurance for military professionals for more than 130 years, has appointed DEG its agency of record. The full-service digital agency has partnered with AFI since 2009, providing website and email services.

"Armed Forces Insurance has a rich history of member engagement, which we have witnessed first-hand as a long-time agency partner," said Joey Barnes, Director of Client Services at DEG. "We are thrilled to be able to utilize the breadth of our services to further engage and grow AFI's customer base."

As agency of record, DEG will lead the creative, strategy, and execution of AFI's marketing effortsincluding paid media, email, social media, web content, direct mail, and a new websitein order to help AFI build a stronger relationship with its customers.

"Armed Forces Insurance's top priority is the interests and well-being of our members," said Lori Simmons, Chief Marketing Officer at AFI. "DEG's customer-centric approach and strategies align with our own, and we look forward to finding innovative ways to enhance that experience in this new phase of our partnership."

About AFI

Since 1887, Armed Forces Insurance (AFI) has existed with a single, unwavering purpose: To protect the people who protect our nation. For more than 130 years, AFI has provided military homeowner insurance, renter insurance, auto insurance, and much more to its members. AFI proudly serves active, retired, and former military personnel, their families, and civilian Department of Defense employees.

About DEG

DEG, a full-service digital agency, blends deep channel expertise with unparalleled ability to understand and connect with its clients' customers in every moment. This approach has led the agency to become one of the fastest-growing agencies in the country. Named one of Inc. Magazine's "25 Companies Changing the World," DEG serves flagship brands, including Purina, AMC, Crocs, Hallmark, and Ferrellgas. DEG can be found online at www.DEGdigital.com, and on Twitter at @DEGdigital.

SOURCE DEG

Related Links

http://www.degdigital.com


MIRAMAR, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockton named Matt DiGregorio as a senior vice president in its South Florida operation. DiGregorio will advise clients in private equity, real estate and other industries on employee benefits programs. He will also be responsible for new business development. Lockton is the world's largest privately held independent insurance broker.

"Matt is respected for his focus on serving clients and adding value as a consultant," said Doug Hutcherson, CEO of Lockton's Southeast US operation. "Clients will appreciate his insight and guidance as we continue to grow our employee benefits business."

"Matt will be a great addition to the Lockton family and our South Florida team," added Hiram Marrero, regional executive for Lockton. "His credentials, experience and work ethic match the DNA of our Lockton culture.

DiGregorio is a graduate of Temple University's Risk Management and Insurance program and has 15 years of experience consulting with clients. Most recently, he was a principal with Mercer Health & Benefits based in Fort Lauderdale. He is also active in professional associations and the community. He is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Human Resources Association of Palm Beach County (HRPBC) and is co-founder and board member of the South Florida Business Forum. He also founded and remains a principal at Tri-County Next Generation. DiGregorio serves as a board member of Financial Executives International and is chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Taste of South Florida event.

DiGregorio will be based in Lockton's South Florida office at 3601 SW 160th Ave. in Miramar. The phone number is 954-883-2000.

About Lockton

Lockton is a global professional services firm with 6,500 Associates who advise clients on protecting their people, property and reputations. Lockton has grown to become the world's largest privately held, independent insurance broker by helping clients achieve their business objectives.

For nine consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." For the latest insights on employee benefits, check the Lockton Benefits blog.

SOURCE Lockton

Related Links

http://www.lockton.com


Steve Hartgens op-ed piece about re-districting was, as always, well written. I can understand why he is concerned because Twin Falls could suddenly elect a Democrat in the next election. There is ample evidence to suggest that, if not for the overwhelming turnout to vote for Republican Donald Trump in the last election, he would have been beaten by Catherine Talkington, and Deborah Silver would have beaten Lee Heider.

Steves reference to a doughnut hole used is not only an apt geographical description of Legislative District 24, but alsoa reference to the widely unpopular feature of all Medicare Part D plans implemented in the Bush administration. I disagree with him, however, that the boundaries of District 24, most of the city of Twin Falls, fit the classic definition of a gerrymandered district. A case can be made, I think, that District 24 is also of benefit to the residents of the city of Twin Falls and the county of Twin Falls.

Although it has only recently become designated as a metropolitan district statistically, the city of Twin Falls has been urban for a couple of decades at least. I am not alone in thinking of a drive to Buhl or Burley as going on a drive through the country. Having legislators whose primary emphasis is representing rural interests or urban interests is a plus. Partisanship matters little in Idaho districts. The number of registered party line voters throughout Idaho is smaller than those who have no party affiliation registered or who do not automatically vote a straight ticket. Most people vote with a thought to their particular issues.

Two examples of urban interests which seem less significant in agricultural areas are local-option taxing and state-mandated rejection of plastic bag bans. Large groups of closely lodged people often see the growth of plastic bags as an avoidable nuisance or an environmental malady. Less populated areas, not so much. The Legislature, with Hartgens vote, has prohibited any local jurisdiction from banning plastic bags as a gift to the Jerome bag manufacturer. I doubt that any ban would have impacted them at all.

Twin Falls spends considerable tax revenue in providing city services to individuals who do not reside in the city but spend most of their day here. Many city officials, business people and beleaguered tax payers would like the option of adding a (small) percentage onto sales tax collected in the city to offset these expenses. Hartgen has always joined his House Republican colleagues in opposing allowing city voters to vote on a local-option tax.

While the city and county do coordinate on public policy, they have diverse scopes of concern. It is a good thing to have the legislators who represent the county be more obligated to agricultural and land-use issues. Fewer urban dwellers are involved in the land-use debates which are vital to agricultural interests. They can vote for each others bills, but they dont have to become experts on the issues that dont impact their voters.

Our bipartisan system of setting representational boundaries is the envy of the states whose gerrymandering has drawn ridiculous boundaries. Why should we adopt the partisan model which Hartgen suggests when what we have is working so well? One theme I hope I am stressing in my columns is that good public policy should be as nonpartisan as possible. Political parties serve a useful purpose when they support candidates and positions popular within their membership, but to think of our two-party system as an all or nothing, winner take all, or king of the hill system breeds chaos and disunity. We are the United States, after all.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, DoorDash and Feeding America announced a partnership centered on DoorDash's logistical expertise and expansive network of restaurants to expand Feeding America's food rescue efforts. Each year 72 billion pounds of food are wasted across the United States, while 41 million people face hunger.

"Our technology provides an opportunity to solve real problems in the community, which has been part of our company's ethos since day one, and our partnership with Feeding America is a natural extension of those values," said Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash. "The work Feeding America does to combat one of the largest issues facing our country is impressive and DoorDash is proud to work together to support this massive effort."

DoorDash will introduce a pilot program that pairs the company's logistical expertise with Feeding America's MealConnect platform. MealConnect serves as a hub for food donations, linking surplus food with local nonprofits that can use it to feed hungry people. Through MealConnect, the company will provide last-mile delivery expertise and support between restaurants, smaller shelters and food banks, adding a valuable transportation component to the MealConnect platform. DoorDash will use its logistics expertise  specifically DoorDash Drive, the enterprise-fulfillment arm of the business  to help reduce food waste and power deliveries to food banks.

Through the month of January, DoorDash will donate one meal* through Feeding America for every order placed on DoorDash's website, Android, or iOS app. To amplify this effort, DoorDash will leverage the company's national merchant footprint and invite one restaurant partner per month through the end of the year, with plans to extend further, to join them in the "one-meal for one-meal" initiative. One in eight Americans face hunger and DoorDash's meal donation and meal match will help ensure that Feeding America is able to help those families and individuals put food on their tables.

"DoorDash's network of restaurants and extensive national footprint puts us one step closer to our mission of eliminating hunger in this country," said Nancy Curby, Senior Vice President, Corporate Partnerships and Operations at Feeding America. "We are are thrilled to be working with a partner that has a keen interest in addressing the core issues of hunger relief, as well as the technology and operations to make a difference."

Since DoorDash launched four and a half years ago, every employee has 'dashed' each month in an effort to keep employees connected to the experience of Dashers, merchants, and customers, as well as to help improve the product. Moving forward, all funds earned in this effort will be donated to Feeding America to help further power the partnership.

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.

About DoorDash

Founded in 2013, DoorDash is a San Francisco-based technology company passionate about transforming local businesses and dedicated to enabling new ways of working, earning, and living. Today, DoorDash connects customers with their favorite local and national restaurants in more than 600 cities across the United States and Canada. By building intelligent, last-mile delivery infrastructure for local cities, DoorDash aims to connect people with the things they care about  one dash at a time. Read more on the DoorDash blog or at www.doordash.com.

About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 46 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

SOURCE DoorDash

Related Links

http://www.doordash.com


JACKSON, Miss., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EastGroup Properties (NYSE-EGP) today announced that a group of leading industrial real estate investment trusts, including, along with the Company, DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (DCT), Duke Realty Corporation (DRE), First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (FR), Liberty Property Trust (LPT), Prologis Inc. (PLD), and STAG Industrial, Inc. (STAG) (the "Industrial REIT Group"), has agreed on a consistent methodology to calculate various non-GAAP property operating metrics. These non-GAAP metrics include common methodologies for determining property stabilization and occupancy as well as reporting of comparative changes in rental rates and tenant retention rates. In addition, the Industrial REIT Group has agreed on the definition of the annual pool of properties ("same property pool") used in calculating same-store or same property net operating income growth ("same property NOI"). Specifically, the annual same property pool will only include properties held as of the beginning of the prior calendar year which were stabilized (according to the agreed upon definition) throughout both periods presented.

Beginning in the first quarter of 2018, all members of the Industrial REIT Group have agreed to calculate these non-GAAP metrics based on the agreed upon methodologies. These conforming changes are not expected to have a material impact to EastGroup's non-GAAP metrics for periods prior to 2018. 2018 guidance provided by members of the Industrial REIT Group will also be based on the revised methodologies.

Although there may be minor distinctions between how companies within the Industrial REIT Group calculate a given metric or in the terminology used, the collective intent is to produce calculations that are consistent in all material respects.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. EastGroup's portfolio, including development projects in lease-up and under construction, currently includes 40 million square feet.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. press releases are available at www.eastgroup.net .

SOURCE EastGroup Properties, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.eastgroup.net


PHILADELPHIA, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, and part of RELX Group, today announced that it has acquired Via Oncology, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company that provides decision support and best practices in cancer care management. A former subsidiary of UPMC, one of the nation's leading integrated healthcare delivery and financing systems, Via Oncology helps cancer centers demonstrate the value of their care to patients, referring physicians and payers by developing and implementing clinical pathways in collaboration with its network of more than 1,500 US cancer care providers.

Via Oncology's Via Pathways is evidence-based proprietary content developed by committees composed of leading oncologists that forms the basis of clinical algorithms covering 95 percent of cancer types treated in the US. This content is deployed to physicians and their staff at the point of care through the Via Portal, a patient-specific decision support tool that is integrated with the electronic medical record and provides seamless measurement of adherence.

"Cancer centers need to provide evidence-based care, reduce variation and manage care consistently across settings," said Kathy Lokay, President and CEO of Via Oncology whose Via Pathways were developed at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in 2004 and commercialized in 2009. "With its resources and world-class content, Elsevier will be able to add more complex logic capabilities and systems integration into Via Pathways to enhance the value and expand usage in the US and globally."

Via Pathways addresses more than 2,000 unique patient presentations, including expert-defined clinical algorithms and specific recommendations for all significant aspects of cancer care. Additional services provide nurse triage and tracking of symptoms, cost information analytics used by oncologists and their patients in shared decision-making, quality reporting, and medical home tools for cancer centers.

"Elsevier's acquisition of Via Oncology accelerates our ability to support not only the referential needs of caregivers but also the workflow needs of clinicians," said Dr. John Danaher, President of Clinical Solutions, Elsevier. "Clinical pathways integrated into the electronic medical record are key to pushing dynamic, authoritative content at the point of care. Now we can further support healthcare professionals to improve clinical outcomes through evidence-based care. We are pleased to welcome Via Oncology to Elsevier and look forward to serving those healthcare professionals dedicated to cancer treatment."

Elsevier's Clinical Solutions group supports health institutions in improving patient outcomes, reducing clinical errors, and optimizing cost and reimbursements. With Via Oncology, Elsevier will continue to broaden its existing portfolio of solutions to create an integrated offering of end-to-end clinical support and active clinical guidance.

"We are pleased that Elsevier has recognized the value of Via Oncology's successful technology, nurtured for more than a decade at UPMC, and will provide new avenues for the company's growth and for improving the lives of patients," said Tal Heppenstall, President of UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization and innovation arm of UPMC. "We share Elsevier's vision of using data and technology to improve the quality and effectiveness of care and expect that we will find additional ways to mutually pursue these goals in the future."

UPMC, a $17 billion healthcare provider and insurer affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, will continue to be a Via Oncology customer. The Via Oncology chief executive officer, chief medical officer and employees will continue working with the company in Pittsburgh. The acquisition is effective immediately and terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

About Via Oncology

Via Oncology is a national leader in decision support tools for cancer. The Via Pathways span the continuum of cancer care including workup, diagnostics, treatment, symptom management, survivorship and advance care planning. Via Oncology also supports its cancer center customers through quality reporting, patient education, clinical trial support, nurse triage and medical home tools. The Via Pathways are licensed by cancer centers in 28 states including over 1,500 oncology providers in community, hospital and academic-based settings. Learn more at www.viaoncology.com.

About UPMC

A $17 billion world-renowned health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. UPMC provides more than $900 million a year in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region's most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 80,000 employees, more than 30 hospitals, 600 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, and a more than 3.2 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. As UPMC works in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside on its annual Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. UPMC Enterprises functions as the innovation and commercialization arm of UPMC, and UPMC International provides hands-on health care and management services with partners on four continents. For more information, go to www.upmc.com.

About RELX Group

RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company, which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company, which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 33bn/37bn/$45bn. www.relx.com

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scival, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Christopher Capot, Global Communications

Elsevier

+1-917-704-5174

[email protected]

SOURCE Elsevier
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ensono, a leading hybrid IT services provider, released a new commissioned study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Ensono, evaluating the status of digital transformation in the insurance industry.

The study reveals 35 percent of insurance decision-makers say rising customer expectations is the top driver behind digital transformation, ranking ahead of other business drivers like increasing upsell/cross-sell opportunities (27%) and deriving better data insights and predictive analytics on customers (27%). Forty-six percent of insurance leaders admit that improved application performance overall is the most important IT change to make for improved customer experience, demonstrating how evolving customer expectations are forcing insurers to re-engineer their current IT infrastructures.

With a tremendous amount of customer data living on legacy systems, combined with the need to access this data more quickly, digital transformation is a leading priority throughout the insurance industry. In fact, all respondents said accessing data in legacy systems is a critical issue their businesses face. Insurers are finding it difficult to keep up with customer expectations, as legacy systems for claims processes, billing and payments and underwriting have become more demanding of IT departments.

"The insurance industry faces many unique challenges when it comes to digital transformation and many have expressed concern when it comes to their ability to deliver high quality digital experiences for customers," said Ken Harper, director of product and technology at Ensono. "Legacy technology is not going away, but insurance companies can no longer rely only on this technology. Insurers will be successful in their digital transformation when they factor both new technology, like the cloud, and legacy systems into the execution of the digital transformation strategy."

The study found insurers are implementing IT changes to increasingly leverage hybrid cloud to ensure a better customer experience. About 40 percent of respondents believe the cloud offers better reliability and is a strong solution for improved customer engagement. Relying on cloud technology allows insurance carriers to make data more accessible and cull real-time insights.

"Insurance organizations that address their infrastructure challenges and make the decision to digitally transform are building momentum for future growth," said Harper. "Those who invest in an IT infrastructure, finding the right balance between legacy platforms and the emerging cloud, will have the ability to respond faster to customer needs while lowering operational costs."

Ensono set out to find the largest IT challenges for insurance decision-makers, commissioning Forrester Consulting to survey 160 U.S. insurance organizations.

To view the full study, please visit www.ensono.com.

About Ensono

For business leaders managing lots of complexity or disrupting the status quo, Ensono delivers complete Hybrid IT services and governance, from cloud to mainframe, tailored to each client's journey. Whether you're leveraging the power of the cloud or modernizing legacy technologies, you'll be on track to operate for today and optimize for tomorrow. Named a Top 15 Sourcing Service Provider by ISG, some of the world's most successful companies rely on us to help them be great at what they do. Ensono has over 1,000 associates across North America and Europe and is ranked 21st in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For. Our offices are headquartered in greater Chicago. Visit us at www.ensono.com.

Media Contact:

Bridget Devine

312-561-2492

[email protected]

SOURCE Ensono

Related Links

http://www.ensono.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EVOTEK (www.EVOTEK.com), the nation's premier enabler of digital business, announced today that it is expanding operations into the San Francisco Bay Area and has appointed Ben Escobar to lead the effort. San Francisco is the sixth new market EVOTEK has entered in the past two years, joining San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Portland.

Ben Escobar

"Ben will be invaluable as EVOTEK establishes our presence in the Bay Area," said Jeffrey Klenner, President of EVOTEK. "Our unique capability to support customers at any point on the spectrum, between data center and public cloud, continues to capture the attention of our industry's top performers. I am delighted to have him lead our newest expansion team."

In his new role, Escobar is responsible for all revenue and customer-facing functions in the Bay Area. He has a proven track record of building high-performing teams that thrive on providing exceptional service to clients. Before joining EVOTEK, Escobar led a team in the Bay Area at InterVision Systems. Escobar holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from San Jose State University.

EVOTEK was purpose-built to address the evolving technology landscape. With offerings in both data center and cloud, EVOTEK is uniquely equipped to assist customers with the industry shift from traditional IT computing to multi-cloud. With services offerings in mobility, security, and DevOps, EVOTEK has the unique ability to connect the business side of digital transformation with the underlying technology.

"Clients are looking for innovative partners that facilitate and execute next generation solutions," stated Escobar. "EVOTEK has the unique ability to support businesses at any point on their digital journey. This is an exciting time to join the world-class team at EVOTEK."

About EVOTEK

EVOTEK is North America's premier enabler of digital business with a focus on innovation. With technology offerings in both data center and cloud, EVOTEK is uniquely equipped to enable customers with the industry shift from traditional IT computing to multi-cloud. With services practices in security, mobility, and DevOps, EVOTEK is moving up the value chain, closer to the part of digital business that matters most. In both 2016 and 2017, EVOTEK was named to The San Diego Business Journal's Best Places to work and recognized in CRN's Solution Provider 500 list, CRN's Next-Generation 250 list and highlighted CRN's Top 150 Growth Companies, holding the #1 spot, as the fastest growing system integrator in the country.

To learn more about how EVOTEK can enable your digital business, visit http://www.EVOTEK.com/.

Follow EVOTEK:Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

Contact:

Torrie Bradley

6199625470

[email protected]

SOURCE EVOTEK

Related Links

http://www.evotek.com


SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Federal-Mogul Powertrain is supplying engine technologies for all 10 of Wards 10 Best Engines for 2018 model year vehicles. Since the inception of the Wards 10 Best Engines competition 24 years ago, Federal-Mogul Powertrain has designed and manufactured leading technologies for many of the engines recognized each year as the "10 Best."

"Federal-Mogul Powertrain is committed to the development of powertrain components that meet our customers' needs to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy without compromising engine performance," said Rainer Jueckstock, Co-CEO, Federal-Mogul and CEO, Federal-Mogul Powertrain. "We are proud to contribute to the success of our customers with their award-winning engines and congratulate them on this achievement."

2018 award-winning engines featuring Federal-Mogul Powertrain technologies include:

150-kW Electric Propulsion System (Chevrolet Bolt EV)

3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6/PHEV (Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid)

2.7L Twin Turbo DOHC V-6 (Ford F-150)

5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang GT)

130-kW Fuel Cell/Electric Propulsion System (Honda Clarity)

2.0L VTEC Turbocharged DOHC 4-Cyl. (Honda Civic Type R)

3.0L Turbocharged DOHC V-6 (Infiniti Q50)

2.0L Turbocharged DOHC 4-Cyl. (Jaguar XF)

3.3L Turbocharged DOHC V-6 ( Kia Stinger )

) 2.5L Atkinson DOHC 4-Cyl./HEV (Toyota Camry Hybrid)

Federal-Mogul Powertrain provides a wide range of components for these engines, including pistons, piston rings, cylinder liners, valve seats and guides, engine valves, engine bearings, ignition products, spark plugs, gaskets and systems protection products.

Since 1995, the Wards 10 Best Engines competition has recognized outstanding engines and electrified propulsion systems, as well as the technology and engineering behind them. All new or significantly improved powertrains, as well as last year's ten returning winners were eligible. Vehicles must have a base price no higher than $63,000. The winning automakers are honored at a WardsAuto ceremony in Detroit during the North American International Auto Show.

About Federal-Mogul

Federal-Mogul LLC is a leading global supplier of products and services to the world's manufacturers and servicers of vehicles and equipment in the automotive, light, medium and heavy-duty commercial, marine, rail, aerospace, power generation and industrial markets. The company's products and services enable improved fuel economy, reduced emissions and enhanced vehicle safety.

Federal-Mogul operates two independent business divisions, each with a chief executive officer reporting to Federal-Mogul's Board of Directors.

Federal-Mogul Powertrain designs and manufactures original equipment powertrain components and systems protection products for automotive, heavy-duty, industrial and transport applications.

Federal-Mogul Motorparts sells and distributes a broad portfolio of products through more than 20 of the world's most recognized brands in the global vehicle aftermarket, while also serving original equipment vehicle manufacturers with products including braking, wipers and a range of chassis components. The company's aftermarket brands include ANCO wiper blades; Beck/Arnley premium OE quality parts and fluids; BERU* ignition systems; Champion lighting, spark plugs, wipers and filters; Interfil filters; AE, Fel-Pro, FP Diesel, Goetze, Glyco, Nural, Payen and Sealed Power engine products; MOOG chassis components; and Ferodo, Jurid and Wagner brake products and lighting.

Federal-Mogul was founded in Detroit in 1899 and maintains its worldwide headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. The Company has nearly 53,000 employees in 24 countries. For more information, please visit www.federalmogul.com.

*BERU is a registered trademark of BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH

CONTACT:

Ursula Hellstern

Federal-Mogul Powertrain Communications

+49 (611) 201 9190

[email protected]

SOURCE Federal-Mogul Powertrain

Related Links

http://www.federalmogul.com


ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Real estate helps to fuel Florida's growth, and figuring out what lies ahead in 2018 is a key question for policymakers, residents and Realtors.

Several highly respected economists and business data experts will share their insights at Florida Realtors 2017 Florida Real Estate Trends on Jan. 25, 2018, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tickets are not required. The session is a highlight of Florida Realtors' annual Mid-Winter Business Meetings, which take place from Jan. 24-27, 2018, at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld, 6677 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Fla., 32821.

Speakers include Dr. Tony Villamil, founder and principal of The Washington Economics Group, who will discuss the U.S. and Florida economic outlook; Kevin Foreman, general manager of GeoAnalytics for INRIX Inc., who will discuss how self-driving cars will impact the future of real estate; and Dr. Brad O'Connor, Florida Realtors chief economist, who will offer an update on Florida's residential resale market.

"Florida home prices climbed at a brisk pace throughout 2017, continuing a trend which dates back to early 2012," says O'Connor. "Growth in the number of sales, on the other hand, has been soft since late 2015. Both of these trends are currently driven by a housing shortage that, up to this point, has shown no immediate signs of subsiding. So a big question for 2018 is whether there will be enough new home construction to satisfy the high level of housing demand present throughout the state."

He adds, "Between the housing shortage, Florida's strong economic and employment growth, the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the post-Maria influx from Puerto Rico, the recent tax reform bill out of Washington, and numerous other recent developments and trends, there's certainly ample ground for us to cover at this year's event as we preview what's in store for 2018."

Realtors and anyone interested in Florida's future should attend the upcoming Real Estate Trends event, says 2018 Florida Realtors President Christine Hansen, broker-owner with Century 21 Hansen Realty in Fort Lauderdale.

She adds, "Learn what trends may develop for 2018  you'll gain insights that can expand your network, boost your productivity and offer future business opportunities."

Florida Realtors serves as the voice for real estate in Florida. It provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its 180,000 members in 54 boards/associations. Florida Realtors Media Center website is available at http://media.floridarealtors.org.

SOURCE Florida Realtors

Related Links

http://www.media.floridarealtors.org


(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629907/Furukawa_Intracom.jpg )



Intracom Telecom's and Furukawa's common customer centric philosophy and successful long history in their fields, as well as their shared vision to build future-proof networks, reduce TCO and design dedicated revenue-generating solutions in the areas of IoT and 5G are some of the key principles that govern this partnership.

More specifically, this strategic partnership focuses on the development of Fiber-Wireless integrated solutions with Furukawa Electric providing the GPON, WDM, and cabling solutions, and Intracom Telecom deploying its Wireless Transport & Access solutions, offering to operators a larger tool-box of solutions to homogeneously address fixed and mobile transport network with multi-gigabit transport options. Intracom Telecom's unmatched R&D capabilities will support the need for any customization or even the design of new software solutions. Both Groups aim to create profitable synergies mainly in LATAM and Iberia regions by leveraging their strong international presence.

Mr. Foad Shaikhzadeh, President & CEO of Furukawa Electric LatAm S.A., commented: "Furukawa is very pleased to announce this partnership with Intracom Telecom. Our aim is to better attend our customers, who will have the best solution in One-Stop-Shop. Applications such as IOT, Smart Cities, Industry 4.0, fronthaul and backhaul for 5G, and video streaming, increasingly demand more complex hybrid fiber-radio networks. So we can offer the sum of the virtuosity of each network, either the ultra-broadband of the optical fiber, or the fast deployment and less invasive infrastructure provided by the radio solution."

Mr. Mohamed Ahmed, President & CEO of Intracom Telecom, stated: "We are truly honoured to partner with Furukawa Electric. By joining our forces we aim to transform the global market enabling life improving services towards the realization of the digital citizen concept. We are looking forward to leveraging our four decades of accumulated experience and our international successful track record in the ICT field in order to develop technological solutions that will shape the future of smart cities. The combination of our innovative technologies and our R&D capabilities, with Furukawa's FTTx solutions and diversified business, creates a unique offering for all operators preparing for 5G network deployments and plenty of opportunities for businesses in the non-telco area."

About Furukawa Electric LatAm S.A.

Furukawa Electric LatAm S.A. is a company belonging to the Furukawa Electric Group. The history of Furukawa Group began more than 130 years ago, in Japan. Since then, the Group has transformed itself into a global corporation with diversified activities in the metals, light metals, telecommunications, automotive systems, energy sector, among others, forming an international network of industries operating in Asia, North America, Europe, Africa and Latin America. It underlines its values as a company of excellence, by providing products and technology that contribute to global development. Furukawa has more than 100 affiliates and modern research laboratories, prepared to generate new technologies and products. For more information, visit www.furukawalatam.com

About Intracom Telecom

Intracom Telecom is a global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor operating for 40 years in the market. Intracom Telecom innovates in the areas of small-cell backhaul, wireless transmission and broadband wireless access and has successfully deployed its industry leading point-to-point and point-to-multipoint packet radio systems worldwide. Moreover, the company offers a competitive portfolio of revenue-generating telco software solutions and a complete range of ICT services, focusing on big data analytics, converged networking and cloud computing for operators and private, public and government clouds. The company invests significantly in R&D developing cutting-edge products and integrated solutions that ensure customer satisfaction. Over 100 customers in more than 70 countries choose Intracom Telecom for its state-of-the-art technology. The company operates subsidiaries in Europe, Russia and the CIS, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and North America. For more information, visit www.intracom-telecom.com

SOURCE Intracom Telecom
The new City Club of Southern Idaho hosted a forum Monday for GOP gubernatorial candidates Brad Little, Tommy Ahlquist and Raul Labrador.

Labrador, apparently, had more important things to do than face off against his opponents for Magic Valley voters. He did not attend, nor explain why. And no, it wasnt because he had business in the U.S. House of Representatives; Monday was a federal holiday, and Congress did not meet.

Thats too bad, because besides snubbing local voters, Labrador missed a fascinating discussion about the future of Idaho and how Little and Ahlquist, respectively, plan to lead and govern.

By the end of the forum, one thing was clear: Either man will do it with dignity and class. Thats a stark contrast to the toxic rhetoric Republicans are spewing from Washington these days. (Only the most recent case in point: The presidents infamous s-hole remarks.)

While Little and Ahlquist have so far run campaigns that have remained largely civil, Labrador has drawn recent criticism for infective remarks. When Boise State University President Bob Kustra rightly pointed out that Labrador failed to unconditionally condemn the white supremacists at their murderous rally in Charlottesville, Labrador called for Kustra to resign. In May, Labrador told a town hall that Nobody dies because they dont have access to health care. Expect to see that gaffe in plenty of campaign ads between now and November.

Little and Ahlquist made no such gaffes at Mondays forum. Instead, they spoke with passion and detail about how their plans for taxes, education, health care and infrastructure will make Idaho an even better place to live. They were charismatic, well-spoken and polite.

Yes, there was a little banter and some light jabs between the candidates, but they drew chuckles from the nearly 200 people in the crowd. Each man was able to explain his positions without trying to knock the other candidate. Nor did they dip into the noxious well of divisive partisan rhetoric to which weve become so accustomed.

How refreshing.

And how fitting for a City Club forum, whose mission is to promote civil dialogue on the communitys most pressing issues.

Our representatives in Washington would be well-served by following the example of Little and Ahlquist, who are proving its possible to lead a political movement based on ideas, not partisan tribalism. The approach works well with Idahoans, who have a long tradition of disdaining bare-knuckle, dirty politics.

What our state  and our country  needs now are leaders who win by inspiring, not tearing others down to elevate their own egos or provoke primal rage in their bases.

Kudos to the City Club of Southern Idaho and Little and Ahlquist for showing thats still possible, at least in Idaho.
CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hill Rom's (NYSE: HRC) Welch Allyn business today announced that its contracted tele-ophthalmology service provider, RetinaVue, P.C., has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its nationally recognized standards.

The Gold Seal of Approval is a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to providing safe and effective patient care. RetinaVue, P.C. is the first tele-ophthalmology provider ever to receive the esteemed quality recognition, typically reserved for hospitals and ambulatory care facilities.

"Together with Welch Allyn, we are dedicated to partnering with front line care providers to implement high-value, patient-centered approaches to vision care," stated Edward Chaum, MD, PhD, president of RetinaVue, P.C. "Our goal is to preserve the vision of every patient with diabetes throughout their lives. This accreditation is a testament to our continued emphasis on the quality, safety and effectiveness of RetinaVue, P.C.'s tele-ophthalmology service. We couldn't be more proud."

The Welch Allyn RetinaVue Network is the largest tele-retinal network in the U.S., serving more than 2,000 primary care clinics and partnering with leading commercial health plans and insurers nationwide. Using Welch Allyn retinal cameras, clinicians capture high-quality images quickly and easily in primary care settings. Proprietary software automatically performs a quality assurance check to ensure images are of high quality, which can help improve practice efficiency and customer satisfaction by eliminating callbacks for re-imaging.

Images are then securely transmitted through the Welch Allyn HIPAA-compliant RetinaVue software platform for interpretation by state-licensed, board-certified ophthalmologists who provide a diagnostic report and referral/care plan within one business day.

"We commend RetinaVue, P.C. and its staff for achieving this pinnacle and for demonstrating a commitment to patient safety and quality," said Michael Kulczycki, MBA, CAE, executive director, Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation Program, The Joint Commission.

To receive the accreditation, RetinaVue, P.C., underwent a rigorous, unannounced onsite survey in 2017. During the review, a team of surveyors with expertise in ambulatory health care evaluated the organization's compliance with its standards for remote telemedicine programs.

About The Joint Commission

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

About RetinaVue, P.C.

Formed in 2011, RetinaVue, P.C. is the largest dedicated tele-ophthalmology medical services provider in the U.S., with its expansive network of board-certified, state-licensed ophthalmologists and retina specialists. All RetinaVue, P.C.-contracted physicians undergo comprehensive credentialing and certification by RetinaVue, P.C.

About Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.

Hill-Rom is a leading global medical technology company with more than 10,000 employees worldwide. We partner with health care providers in more than 100 countries, across all care settings, by focusing on patient care solutions that improve clinical and economic outcomes in five core areas: Advancing Mobility, Wound Care and Prevention, Patient Monitoring and Diagnostics, Surgical Safety and Efficiency and Respiratory Health. Hill-Rom's people, products, and programs work towards one mission: Every day, around the world, we enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers. Visit www.hill-rom.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION



Investor Relations Contact: Mary Kay Ladone, Vice President, Investor Relations Phone: 312-819-9387 Email: [email protected]



Media Contact: Howard Karesh, Vice President, Corporate Communications Phone: 312-819-7268 Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hill-rom.com


"With wins in two of six categories, it is clear that pushing the boundaries of automotive innovation is in Honda's DNA," said Alistair Weaver, Edmunds editor-in-chief. "Both the forward-thinking Honda Clarity and class-leading Honda CR-V are prime examples of how Honda innovates with buyers in mind, and makes advanced technology features that are both easy to use and accessible beyond high priced luxury vehicles."

The Honda Clarity series was recognized by Edmunds' editors for its leading-edge approach to electrified powertrain technology: "With options including pure electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell models, the 2018 Honda Clarity provides unmatched flexibility when it comes to alternative fuel choices, and proves that innovative design can push the industry further toward a future using renewable energy."

The experts at Edmunds praised the 2018 CR-V for its packaging, efficiency and innovation, saying "the 2018 Honda CR-V offers advanced driver assistance technologies and active safety features at an affordable price point, a rarity among SUVs. Coupled with other outstanding features such as a deftly balanced ride and handling, class-leading fuel economy ratings, and a large and clever storage space, the CR-V is a winner."

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles with advanced safety technologies sold through over 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Fit, Civic, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V and Pilot sport/utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for more than 35 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2017, 93% of all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

For More Information

Consumer information is available at automobiles.honda.com. To join the Honda community on Facebook, visit facebook.com/honda. Additional media information including detailed pricing features and high-resolution photography of all 2018 Honda models is available at hondanews.com.

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Related Links

http://www.honda.com


NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Gregory A. Liguori, MD, anesthesiologist-in-chief at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Clinical Professor in Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell has been selected to receive the 2018 Distinguished Service Award by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA). He will receive his award on April 19 at the 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in New York City.

ASRA's Distinguished Service Award recognizes those who have made extraordinary contributions to the science, teaching, or practice of regional anesthesia or pain medicine, and have had an active involvement in ASRA.

A member of ASRA for 27 years, Dr. Liguori is an accomplished clinical anesthesiologist who specializes in regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine in orthopedics.

"It is among the greatest honors of my life to receive this award, and I am humbled to be included among the ranks of so many leaders in ASRA whose careers I have admired," said Dr. Liguori. "I have dedicated my career to expanding the use of regional anesthesia in orthopedics to enhance quality patient care, and training future leaders in the field."

Under his leadership, over 85 percent of procedures at HSS are performed with regional anesthesia, and over 98 percent of joint replacements are performed utilizing neuraxial techniques. These anesthetic methods have been proven to result in a lower incidence of medical and surgical complications, as well as lower opioid use in the peri-operative period.

Dr. Liguori played an integral role in expanding education programs at HSS including the Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship. Since its inception in 1987, more than 130 regional anesthesiologists have graduated.

"I feel strongly that trainees' exposure to the entire peri-operative spectrum of the patient experience is incredibly important," explained Dr. Liguori. "Our fellowship graduates are the next generation of leaders in regional anesthesia and pain medicine and will continue to evolve and improve the field."

While at HSS, fellows are exposed to a high volume of regional anesthetics in orthopedics (over 45,000 anesthetic procedures in 2017 alone). These physicians have gone on to practice in 21 states and seven countries with some becoming leaders and directors at major hospitals.

After being appointed anesthesiologist-in-chief in 1993, Dr. Liguori helped organize and develop a regional anesthesia fellowship director's group. As leader of this group, he co-authored Regional Anesthesiology Fellowship guidelines and has been drafting and improving updated versions ever since.

Dr. Liguori also works to develop and enhance fellow and resident skills at HSS utilizing cutting-edge educational technology including the expansion and growth of ultrasound-guided regional techniques, a regional-focused simulator program, and a novel cadaver lab curriculum.

Additionally, Dr. Liguori has established an individual quality assurance and performance improvement team within the Department of Anesthesiology at HSS that reviews cases and provides continual improvement at all levels.

During Dr. Liguori's tenure as chief, the Department of Anesthesiology at HSS has grown from 25 anesthesiologists to over 70 anesthesiologists and pain management specialists, all while improving overall patient satisfaction scores.

He has published 5 book chapters and 37 peer-reviewed articles and is also currently an associate editor for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. He has lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to regional anesthesia in orthopedics.

This year's World Congress will be an unprecedented combined meeting of five continental societies: the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Therapy (ESRA), the Latin American Society of Regional Anesthesia (LASRA), the Asia-Oceania Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine (AOSRA), and the African Society of Regional Anesthesia (AFSRA).

Mary Hargett, director of education and clinical initiatives for the Department of Anesthesiology at HSS, a member of HSS since 1988, will also receive special recognition at the 2018 World Congress for her vital contributions to ASRA's educational mission. She will be recognized for her endless energy, enthusiasm, and organizational efforts in support of fellow and resident events and activities at the ASRA spring and fall meetings. Ms. Hargett is a co-author on all three versions of the Regional Anesthesiology Fellowship guidelines, as well as several additional peer-reviewed articles, many of which focus on education and training. She has served as the administrator for the North American Fellowship Directors' Group, a voluntary Group of over 70 Fellowship Programs, since its inception in 2002. Ms. Hargett has also been the administrative leader of the HSS Regional Anesthesiology Fellowship, as well as all of the HSS-affiliated Anesthesiology Residency Rotations since 1995.

About Hospital for Special Surgery

Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is the world's leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health. HSS is nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics and No. 3 in rheumatology by U.S. News & World Report (2017-2018), and is the first hospital in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center four consecutive times. HSS has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. HSS is an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and as such all Hospital for Special Surgery medical staff are faculty of Weill Cornell. The hospital's research division is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. HSS has locations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

www.hss.edu

SOURCE Hospital for Special Surgery

Related Links

http://www.hss.edu


International Biophysics founder and CEO, H. David Shockley said, "With this FDA clearance of our FloPump 32 for the U.S. market we continue to bring the highest quality surgical products to the market while lowering healthcare costs.

Added Mr. Shockley, "We launched the FloPump 32 internationally to strong demand in 2017 when we received both the CE mark for Europe and ANVISA for the Brazilian market. We anticipate the same strong demand here in the U.S now that we have been cleared for this market too."

Origen Biomedical Inc. of Austin, Texas will be the sole distributor of the FloPump 32 in the United States. Origen Biomedical manufactures and sells specialized medical devices including pediatric cardiac catheters. After an estimated early 2018 clearance in Canada, Origen will also distribute the FloPump 32 on the Canadian market.

Origen's founder and CEO, Richard Martin said, "We are very pleased with the FDA declaration of substantial equivalence on the FloPump 32. We believe that the release of this device in the United States will give wider availability and more options to institutions using Rotaflow hardware."

International Biophysics brings to market innovative, disruptive medical devices and technologies that improve treatment therapies and patient outcomes. Centered on a precision ISO 13485 certified, FDA registered quality controlled manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, International Biophysics has a 25 year pedigree of successful medical product and technology launches around the globe.

For more information, please contact:

David Shockley

International Biophysics Corporation

2101 E. St. Elmo Road #275 | Austin, TX 78744

(512) 326-3244

Or visit: http://www.biophysicscorp.com/flopump/

SOURCE International Biophysics Corporation

Related Links

http://www.biophysicscorp.com


AMES, Iowa, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iSEEK Corporation announces the release of CADSEEK Mobile, creating an entirely new capability for engineering shape search. CADSEEK Mobile searches 3D CAD databases using 2D photos of parts taken on an Android, iOS or Windows mobile device. CADSEEK Mobile enables several important use cases, including:

Identification & Substitution

iSEEK Corporation

In an assembly plant, orphaned parts are set aside for identification, but the lack of labor resources often leads to the inventory being scrapped.

In the field, technicians and parts counter personnel must often play detective, trying to identify parts with few clues to assist them. Similarly, service parts often have substitutes that are identical except differences in material or color, or that can be made to work with minor modification. However, that information is typically not available from part numbers. CADSEEK Mobile understands geometric shape, allowing it to simultaneously identify a design and also find highly similar variants that might substitute in time-critical situations.

3D Printing

CADSEEK Mobile can match a design from its 2D photo, not only to native CAD formats but also to the STL format, providing an efficient path from photo to 3D printer. According to Dr. Abir Qamhiyah, CEO of iSEEK Corporation, "Driven by the need to cut inventory cost and speed delivery, On-Demand Manufacturing will mainstream the fabrication of service parts by 3D printing. Currently, the obstacle is in asking the user to upload a CAD file to get an instantaneous quotation. The end-user requiring the service parts, on the other hand, does not have access to CAD models."

CADSEEK Mobile provides the solution by bridging the gap between a worn-out part, and that part's digital representation, which is required for 3D printing.

"On-Demand Manufacturing will motivate providers to evolve from being 3D printing hardware centers, to also becoming digital content licensors of the files needed for on-demand manufacturing of service parts. CADSEEK Mobile enables this evolution by allowing the end-user to take a photo of a needed part. The on-demand manufacturer can then use CADSEEK Mobile technology to identify the part's digital representation, 3D print it and ship it to the customer," explains Dr. Qamhiyah.

Although CADSEEK Mobile has already been evaluated and acquired by a leading global manufacturer of heavy equipment, CADSEEK Mobile's technology is not limited to mechanical designs. CADSEEK Mobile's shape search algorithms are able to match a 2D photo of any shape to similar 3D digital representations including CAD models or STL files. To produce 3D replicas of statues, sculptures, jewelry or other items, the user would first capture a 2D image of the object. As shown in Figure_1, this could be a photo of the actual article, a photograph of an image on a computer display, or even a hand-drawn sketch on the screen of a tablet using the sketch module within CADSEEK Mobile.

The 2D image is then used to initiate a search by CADSEEK Mobile to identify similar shaped objects in one or more databases as shown in Figure_2. The specific selection from the search results will then provide a digital representation STL file for the 3D printing process. Finally, the 3D printer fabricates the finished product for use by the consumer, Figure_3.

iSEEK Corporation is a pioneer in shape-based search, classification, and analytics. CADSEEK Polaris, the company's original product for shape-based search, is deployed by companies such as Moen and Embraer to enable designers and supply chain personnel to search CAD data for part reuse, standardization opportunities, vendor price analysis, should-cost estimation, automated quotations, mergers and acquisitions data clean-up and consolidation. CADSEEK Mobile expands the use of CADSEEK to the service parts business, and potentially into the hands of consumers.

For further information or to request a live demonstration please visit the company's website at www.iseekcorp.com or send e-mail to [email protected]. iSEEK can also be reached by phone at 515-296-4156.

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

Related Links

iSEEK Corporation

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp4DMG9r108

SOURCE iSEEK Corporation

Related Links

http://www.iseekcorp.com


The Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF) and 2017 Genesis Prize Laureate and world-renowned artist and human rights activist Anish Kapoor today announced grants to five prominent NGOs engaged in alleviating the global refugee crisis.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629297/Anish_Kapoor.jpg )



The recipient organizations assist refugees globally and include the International Rescue Committee (IRC), led by its president David Miliband, as well as the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA), HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), Help Refugees, and Hillel International.

The grants are funded by the $1 million Genesis Prize, dubbed the "Jewish Nobel" by TIME Magazine. Anish Kapoor has chosen to focus on refugees as an expression both of his lifelong commitment to supporting excluded people and as an expression of core Jewish values.

The Genesis Prize honors extraordinary individuals who serve as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement, and commitment to the Jewish people and Jewish values, such as social justice, tolerance and charity. Laureates of the Genesis Prize include Michael R. Bloomberg (2014), Michael Douglas (2015), Itzhak Perlman (2016), and Natalie Portman (2018). In November 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kapoor and The Genesis Prize Foundation have teamed up with the IRC to improve community health services for refugees in northern Uganda and to provide life-saving access to safe water for the Rohingya ethnic minority group in the Rakhine state in Myanmar. Genesis funds will also support the expansion into Italy of Refugee.Info, a digital platform, which harnesses social media and other digital tools to ensure that refugees have access to the critical information they need to make informed decisions about their lives.

Additionally, Kapoor's $1 million Genesis Prize will fund the following activities:

Providing life-saving winterization to five refugee camps in Greece and a refugee camp in Calais, France , including the funding of food and the most essential winter equipment (through Help Refugees)

and a refugee camp in Calais, , including the funding of food and the most essential winter equipment (through Help Refugees) Shipping 36 containers of aid to Syrian refugees (through Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees); the contents of the first two containers that MFA will ship under the Genesis Prize program will have a combined value of $20.7 million in medicines and medical equipment

in medicines and medical equipment Strengthening the capacity of local leaders in communities across America to advocate in support of immigrants and refugees to the U.S. (through HIAS); the amount of the grant was doubled as a result of recent policy debate in Washington aimed at curtailing the number of immigrants and refugees from certain countries that the U.S. would accept in the future

aimed at curtailing the number of immigrants and refugees from certain countries that the U.S. would accept in the future Bringing thousands of Jewish students and young adult volunteers together to assemble aid packages for 5,000 Syrian refugees (through Hillel International, in collaboration with the Joint Distribution Committee)

These grants come on the heels of an earlier announcement of a major grant from GPF to Ziv hospital in northern Israel to fund hearing restoration for Syrian children brought from the neighbouring conflict zone. The Ziv grant was made in partnership with Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn.

Anish Kapoor said: "Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees. Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution.

"In recent months, awareness of the plight faced by tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide has fallen significantly while the refugee crisis continues unabated. I believe in a world of compassion, and am fortunate to be able to work with The Genesis Prize Foundation and the terrific NGOs receiving our grants to bring more compassion into the world."

Michael Fridman, co-founder of The Genesis Prize Foundation, said: "I believe it is a moral obligation of every Jew to do whatever he or she can to help refugees, displaced people, and those seeking asylum. There was a time not too long ago when the world turned its back on Jewish refugees, with calamitous results. We, Jews, should not allow history to repeat itself when it comes to other persecuted peoples and religious and ethnic minorities. Otherwise, we have learned nothing from history." In addition to co-founding The Genesis Prize Foundation, Fridman is a major contributor to many other Jewish and Israel-focused philanthropic initiatives, including the recently announced renovation of the Israeli Lounge at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, himself a son of Jewish refugees, said: "Grants like the one from The Genesis Prize Foundation are vital to supporting our work as we grapple with the largest displacement crisis since the Second World War, affecting a staggering 65 million people.

"We are grateful to The Genesis Prize Foundation, which is leading the way in raising awareness of the refugee issue in the Jewish community. It is more important than ever for people to help those who have been forced to flee their homes. With these funds, the IRC will have the ability to provide much-needed resources and support to displaced people in areas across Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia."

SOURCE The Genesis Prize
In her new role, Julie will be responsible for driving market leadership, developing and retaining talent, creating high-performing teams, and providing exceptional client service for a regional practice of 10,000 professionals spanning 15 states and 17 offices. She will also serve as a Senior Advisory Partner on several of the region's largest clients and join the US Executive Committee and the Americas Operating Executive.

Kelly Grier says:

"The Central Region is one of EY's largest regions and its strong position comes from our purpose of building a better working world. Julie has a passion for our people and culture having led Cleveland, the region's second largest office, with outstanding growth, people engagement and recruiting results. During her 30-year career, she has served a variety of EY clients and is known for quality and integrity. Julie knows our region well and has the passion, mindset and experience to move it forward."

Since 2014, Julie has served as EY's Cleveland Office Managing Partner. She is the current Presiding Partner for EY's Central Region Partner Forum and a member of the US Partner/Principal Council, Americas Advisory Council, Global Governance Council and Americas Inclusiveness Advisory Council.

Julie shared that she is honored to succeed Kelly. "EY's Central Region is known for its innovation, exceptional client service and its best-in-class execution of the talent agenda and people engagement. Under Kelly's leadership, EY's Central Region has built impressive momentum that I look forward to building upon."

Julie began her career as a CPA in the audit practice of another Big Four firm. She then worked at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs leading up to her CFO roles at publicly- and privately-held companies. Throughout her career, she's worked in offices in London, New York, Chicago and Cleveland.

Current and past affiliations include current Vice Chair of Destination Cleveland, member of the Greater Cleveland Partnership Board, immediate past chair of the Achievement Centers for Children, Treasurer of the United Way of Greater Cleveland, and founding member of In Counsel with Women. A graduate of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2006, Julie's been recognized as a YWCA Woman of Achievement and Crain's 40 under 40.

Julie holds an MBA in finance and statistics from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and a B.S. in business and accounting from the University of Vermont. She's a native of northeast Ohio.

Notes to Editors

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

SOURCE EY

Related Links

http://www.ey.com


PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With the goal of fueling missions across America, La Colombe's Draft Latte  a first-of-its-kind (RTD), ready-to-drink coffee beverage that delivers the full taste and texture of a true cold latte  is on a mission itself. Today, La Colombe announced that it has taken over 1% market share of RTD coffee beverages across total US food and that it is the fastest growing ready-to-drink coffee beverage in the country. 1

"Our aim is to change the landscape of coffee through obsessive innovation and the cleanest ingredients," said Todd Carmichael, CEO and Co-Founder of La Colombe.

Recently La Colombe was named winner of BevNET's Best of 2017 "Rising Star" award, which honors brands and companies whose performance over the past year has put them into position to create long-term change within the industry. BevNET also awarded La Colombe's Draft Latte Chai as one of the Best New Products of 2017.

The explosive rise has made La Colombe a breakout brand in the $3 billion ready-to-drink coffee category. And, with plans to introduce multiple new Draft Latte and cold brew varieties this year  the specialty coffee company is just getting started.

"The next two Draft Latte seasonal beverages will take flavor innovation to the next level," added Carmichael.

La Colombe, which is the largest independently owned 4th wave coffee company and is the only vertically integrated ready-to-drink coffee company, owns a 55,000 square foot production facility in western Michigan. The facility has allowed La Colombe to more readily meet the growing demand for Draft Latte, which can produce more than 30,000 cases per week.

For more information on Draft Latte, the nutritional value, or to find out which retailers is carrying the can, visit our website or follow our cans' adventures across the United States using #DraftLatte.

ABOUT LA COLOMBE

La Colombe (www.lacolombe.com) is a leading coffee roaster known for ethical, long-term trade practices with growers. Considered one of the pioneers of the third wave of coffee, it provides signature classic blends and exceptional single-origin coffees to cafes, hotels, restaurants and retailers around the world. In addition, the company owns and operates 27 cafes in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.  with additional locations and new markets scheduled to open in 2017. The company has also made headlines in the ready-to-drink business with its DRAFT LATTETM  the world's first-ever textured cold latte.

1 Dollar velocity growth as defined by IRI, Latest 13 Weeks Ending 12/03/17, Total US FOOD: Dollar share of RTD coffee, as defined by IRI, Calendar Rear Ending 12/31/17, Total US FOOD

SOURCE La Colombe Torrefaction

Related Links

http://www.lacolombe.com


"Le Prunier launched at the IBE in August 2017. It's such an honor to be recognized with such high prestige among this group of beauty professionals. Our Plum Beauty Oil is our signature blend of plum-power varietals. We've created a multi-purpose oil that produces significant results, proven to be 6x more powerful than Marula Oil and 8x more powerful than Argan Oil at defending against hydroxyl radicals," said Allison Taylor, co-founder.

Founded by three sisters Jacqueline, Allison and Elaine Taylor, Le Prunier was created from working as the 4th generation on their family's organic plum farm in Sutter County, Calif. The patent-pending blend of plum varietals is sourced from the 100-year-old California family farm which is the world's largest grower and producer of organic plums. From start to finish, Le Prunier holds the highest ingredient authenticity and quality since everything is grown, harvested, cold-pressed and produced directly on the farm.

Le Prunier's Plum Beauty Oil is a rich, luxurious, multi-purpose serum to help calm irritation and seal in moisture without clogging pores, and is free of added fragrances, parabens or sulfates. Quick absorbing and weightless on the skin, in clinical studies it has shown to naturally brighten skin tone, as well as reduce hyperpigmentation, sun and age spots. The plum byproduct naturally fortifies and protects the skin barrier from sun and solar radiation creating a natural UV Sunscreen Booster proven to enhance the UV protection of sunscreen products when used in addition to UV filters, sun care and after sun formulations.

Le Prunier is suitable for all skin types, especially acne prone and extremely sensitive or allergy prone skin -- the Antioxidant Booster for On The Go Glow. Packaged in a dropper bottle for easy application, the Le Prunier Plum Beauty Oil (1oz) retails at $72 and is available on www.leprunier.com, www.NeimanMarcus.com, and January 23rd in all Credo Beauty store locations.

About Le Prunier

In September 2016, siblings Jacqueline, Allison, and Elaine Taylor co-founded Le Prunier, an innovative and organic beauty line based on the power of plum. The brand utilizes 100% all-natural, organic plum byproducts that have been grown, harvested, and cold-pressed on their 4th generation Taylor family farm in Sutter County, California. Launching their Plum Beauty Oil in August 2017, Le Prunier is committed to sustainability and the environment, being USDA & CCOF Certified Organic, and Peta Certified (Vegan & Cruelty Free), their products are also Non-Comedogenic, Clinically, Dermatologist & Allergy tested and certified. For more information, please visit www.leprunier.com.

SOURCE Le Prunier

Related Links

https://www.leprunier.com


"The kitchen is one of the cradles of culture. Considering the downward trend in global economic development, more and more people are returning to the kitchen for relaxation. Cookware that is simple in structure and easy to use makes the act of cooking more fun. Any member of the household is quite capable of preparing a delicious meal with Velosan's products," said Mr. Kepka, brand executive director. He further added that he is of the opinion that a high-quality lifestyle refers to every aspect of a person's day-to-day life.

As cookware has played an increasingly important role in the daily routine, the quality of one's kitchen and its contents is one of the important standards in measuring the overall quality of one's life. The conclusion can be drawn that the quality of day-to-day life can be enhanced by choosing the desired kitchen and cookware. Mr. Kepka noted that Velosan cookware reflects a lifestyle featuring easy-to-use, healthy and fun elements, and choosing Velosan shows the desire to have these elements as part of one's lifestyle. "Despite some differences in lifestyle and cooking habits, German and Czech consumers are both concerned about the quality of life and keeping oneself in good health. By cooking at home, you can directly affect the quality of life for yourself and your family members. We are committed to making the time that you spend in the kitchen easier and fun, in addition to assuring that the food that you prepare is also good to health," added Mr. Kepka, brand executive director.

SOURCE Velosan
TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - McCain Foods Limited ("MFL") today announced the appointment of Mr. Jose Boisjoli to its Board of Directors, by its parent company, McCain Foods Group Inc. ("MFGI").

Mr. Boisjoli is President and Chief Executive Officer of BRP Inc. He has held this position since 2003 and brings to the MFL board more than a decade of experience as the leader of a successful multi-billion dollar Canadian business with international operations.

Mr. Boisjoli joined BRP in 1989, after eight years in the pharmaceutical and road safety equipment industries and holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the Universite de Sherbrooke. His expertise in manufacturing, global markets and expanding Canadian businesses on the global stage will be put to great use by MFL.

Commenting on Mr. Boisjoli's appointment, Andrew McCain, Chairman of the MFGI Board, said: "We are excited to welcome Jose Boisjoli to the Board of MFL. His strategic vision and business experience have grown BRP into a global Canadian success story. He will be a valued voice on our Board as we continue to strengthen the market leading position of MFL around the world."

About McCain Foods Limited

McCain Foods Limited is a privately-owned company based in Canada, an international leader in the frozen food industry and the world's largest manufacturer of frozen potato products. MFL employs 20,000 people and operates 53 production facilities on six continents. MFL's products can be found in restaurants and retail stores in over 160 countries around the world.

SOURCE McCain Foods Limited
Jericho has over nine years of insolvency experience, including representing consumer and business debtors, creditors and trustees in bankruptcy proceedings, contested matters and adversary proceedings. She has also represented business debtors in representing individuals and businesses in state and federal court litigation involving real estate, zoning, contract, collections and debt negotiation.

Jericho earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Western Michigan Cooley Law School in 2008, where he served as the associate editor of the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review. Jericho also received a B.A. in Political Science from Washington and Jefferson College in 2004.

Jericho can be reached at [email protected] or 248.593.2945 X1945.

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

Deborah W. Kelm

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5733

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

Related Links

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicaid and Medicare Advantage Products Association of Puerto Rico (MMAPA) and its members have joined with the Government of Puerto Rico and congressional leaders to advocate for Medicare Advantage patients in Puerto Rico after the passing of hurricane Maria. They are urging the federal government to take the appropriate action to grant rate equality to American citizens residing in Puerto Rico.

"The pressures and lack of resources in our system were exacerbated by cuts of more than 20 percent to Medicare Advantage, which started in 2012, and have directly affected more than 580,000 beneficiaries. These cuts led to the recent crisis in our system, whose underlying problem is that we invest only $3,500 per capita in healthcare annually, while operating within a federal system that averages an annual investment of $10,000 per person for healthcare services," explained Rick Shinto, CEO of MMM and new president of MMAPA.

In anticipation of the issuance of the MA Advance Notice and Draft Call Letter for 2019, 16 congressional members, including Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, issued a letter to CMS, and the Puerto Rico House of Representatives adopted a resolution, seeking to redress these disparities. In early January, the Governor of Puerto Rico followed up on these requests, specifically asking the Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CMS Administrator to use the national average for MA rates, or at least the U.S. Virgin Islands rate, as a proxy to establish the Puerto Rico MA rate. Puerto Rico is currently 39 percent lower than the MA rates in the state with the lowest rates, and 26 percent below the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Cuts in MA rates have accentuated disparity

At the national level, Medicare Advantage benchmark payments for 2017 average $826 per member per month. In Puerto Rico, the benchmark averages $473, which is 43 percent below the national average. CMS bases benchmarks for Medicare Advantage on fee-for-service experience. In the states, fee-for-service Medicare has much higher participation than the Medicare Advantage programs, yet in Puerto Rico MA enrollment represents more than 75 percent of the eligible population. Thus, basing the benchmark on the fee-for-service experience is not representative of the program's costs on the island.

The Medicare funding cuts enacted by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) represent a major problem for Puerto Rico's healthcare system. Between 2012 and 2017, cuts to MA rates have represented $4 billion. The loss of these funds has triggered dramatic disparities in provider payments that are spurring the emigration of doctors and other health care professionals looking for better salary opportunities in the United States. As a result, U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico are losing access to both primary care physicians and specialists. In addition to lowering provider payments and access to health care services, these funding cuts also result in reduced benefits for beneficiaries.

Approximately 70 percent of the funding for the Puerto Rico health system relies on Medicare, Medicaid and Puerto Rico government funds. Any cuts to these programs have a wide-ranging impact on the island's health system.

According to Shinto, MMAPA members and the Puerto Rico healthcare community are grateful for the actions taken by congressional leaders and the Governor, Resident Commissioner and Puerto Rico House of Representatives.

About MMAPA

MMAPA (http://www.mmapapr.org/) is a non-profit association composed of the leading Medicaid and Medicare Advantage organizations in Puerto Rico, including First Medical, Humana, MCS, MMM, Molina and Triple-S. Established in 2009, MMAPA is dedicated to educating policymakers about Puerto Rico's healthcare system and addressing the inequities in current law. The Association's members serve nearly two million Puerto Ricans in the Medicaid and Medicare Advantage lines of business.

Media Contact:

Suzie Boland

RFB Communications Group

813-786-1019

[email protected]

SOURCE Medicaid and Medicare Advantage Products Association of Puerto Rico
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobolize has announced the appointment of Ira Stern as Senior Director of Solutions Engineering to strengthen the company's expertise in working with mobile providers. Stern will help Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), Application (App) Developers and other service providers leverage Mobolize products to increase revenue and lower costs, while retaining and attracting customers.

Ira Stern, Senior Director of Solutions Engineering at Mobolize

Mobile providers can use the variety of Mobolize software products to develop differentiating, marketable products and services, and Stern and his team will help them understand potential combinations that create unique opportunities, along with the advantages of using Mobolize's device-based software.

Responsibilities include customer needs and requirement evaluation for proposed Mobolize solutions, and technical expertise for the company's sales, account management and client support teams.

"Mobolize products uniquely reside on the mobile device, and Ira will work with customers marketing and engineering teams to fully communicate the capabilities and opportunities of using Mobolize products," said Colleen LeCount, Mobolize Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. "These are opportunities that can help mobile operators regain and maintain their competitive edge in this rapidly changing and growing industry."

Stern has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, including 18 at Sprint where he held a variety of positions in Solutions Engineering. As Director of Solution Engineering at Sprint, Ira's teams were responsible for front line technical expertise and customer guidance regarding wireline and wireless technologies, hardware, software, Machine to Machine and IOT solutions.

Stern also worked at Nielsen within their Tech/Telecom team consulting with National Carriers, using data collected around network performance, user experience and behavior.

About Mobolize

Mobolize's on-device software enables telecommunications operators to develop products that help them stay empowered in the mobile device-driven world. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and third-party developers use Mobolize's products to enhance customer experience and increase revenue. Mobolize solutions are deployed on millions of Android and iOS smartphones around the world, including a Tier 1 U.S. operator. To learn more, go to www.mobolize.com.

Contact:

Danielle Prager

8582566344

[email protected]

SOURCE Mobolize

Related Links

http://www.mobolize.com


WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Social media marketing is the leading SEO service priority among U.S. businesses in 2018, according to new research from Clutch and Ignite Visibility. Over 90% of businesses that invest in SEO also invest in social media.

The survey of 303 marketing decision-makers at U.S. businesses reveals that most tend to shape their SEO strategy based on the SEO services they prioritize and the challenges they face.

Top SEO Priorities 2018 55% of businesses partner with an expert firm for SEO services

Two factors impact the direction of a business' SEO strategy: The shifting customer journey and whether the business focuses on paid search or organic SEO services.

Organic SEO services include:

On-site optimization  web design, site infrastructure, blogging

Off-site optimization  content marketing, social media marketing

Over 40% of businesses that invest in SEO focus on organic services, compared to 19% that focus on paid search.

Businesses that focus on organic SEO are more likely to use in-house staff for general marketing, such as content marketing and social media. Over three-fourths (76%) of businesses that focus on organic services use in-house staff.

On the other hand, businesses that focus on paid search are more likely to hire an SEO company. More than two-thirds (68%) of businesses that focus on paid search hire an SEO company, compared to just 37% that rely on in-house staff.

Paid search complements organic SEO by providing feedback on keyword research, audience targeting, and effective ad copy, said Eythor Westman, head of paid media at Ignite Visibility.

How businesses adapt to shifts in the customer buying journey is another factor that shapes SEO strategy. The rise of mobile search drives changes to the customer buying journey.

SEO experts agree that customers use their mobile devices to learn about a company through social media and site content before converting to make a purchase.

"Now, somebody Googles a keyword. Then they click on a top ranking term like, 'SEO company.' They read our blog and click around social media," said John Lincoln, CEO of Ignite Visibility. "Then, they convert three weeks later after they feel comfortable with you."

In response, businesses prioritize SEO services that facilitate the customer journey. Along with social media (20%), businesses rate creating content to earn links (15%), and mobile search optimization (14%) as their top SEO priorities.

Read the full report here: https://clutch.co/seo-firms/resources/how-organic-paid-search-inform-seo-strategy.

For questions about the survey, a comment on the findings, or an introduction to the industry experts included in the report, reach out to Grayson Kemper at [email protected].

About Clutch

A B2B research, ratings, and reviews firm in the heart of Washington, DC, Clutch connects small and medium businesses with the best-fit agencies, software, or consultants to tackle business challenges together and with confidence. Clutch's methodology compares business service providers and software in a specific market based on verified client reviews, services offered, work quality, and market presence.

About Ignite Visibility

Ignite Visibility is a premier Internet marketing company based in San Diego, dedicated to providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. By establishing mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with clients, Ignite Visibility creates custom solutions uniquely tailored to meet the specialized business objectives of each client. Because a company is only as good as the promises it keeps, Ignite Visibility holds itself accountable to clearly defined key performance indicators established at the outset of every campaign. Ignite Visibility's core services are SEO, social media, paid media, email marketing, Amazon marketing, and conversion rate optimization.

Contact

Grayson Kemper

[email protected]

(202) 470-0491

SOURCE Clutch

Related Links

http://clutch.co


OMAHA, Neb. and ST. LOUIS, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mutual of Omaha today announced its entry into the Medicare Advantage market through a strategic alliance with Lumeris, an industry leader in delivering value-based health care solutions.

Beginning in 2019, Mutual and Lumeris plan to offer a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage in select markets. The multi-year agreement between Mutual and Lumeris will create Medicare Advantage plans across the country to provide high-quality and efficient care for Mutual Medicare Advantage customers.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in three people with Medicare are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, and by 2027 that number is expected to climb to 41 percent.

"Our entrance into the Medicare Advantage market represents a significant step forward for Mutual of Omaha as we strive to respond to customer needs and offer a meaningful suite of senior health solutions," said Mutual Chairman and CEO James Blackledge. "We're confident that our collaboration with Lumeris will lead to better health outcomes for our Medicare Advantage customers."

Lumeris, a pioneer in enabling collaborative relationships between payers, providers and consumers, earned recognition as the Best in KLAS leader in Value-Based Care Managed Services for 2015/2016 and 2017. The company has over 10 years of experience with Medicare Advantage plans and has developed a highly successful, collaborative payer model that consistently delivers better clinical outcomes for patients. The first-of-its kind, value-based model emphasizes the wellness of patients and the pursuit of better health outcomes, lower costs, improved patient experience and physician satisfaction.

"Our new initiative with Mutual of Omaha is exciting because it enables both of our companies to build on our successes, while remaining laser-focused on what matters mostdelivering the highest quality care to seniors," said Lumeris Chairman and CEO Mike Long. "This new partnership also leverages each company's unique strengths to benefit the larger health care ecosystem. Together, we will make a deeper, more meaningful difference in the lives of patients and providers."

Blackledge said the alliance will further solidify Mutual of Omaha's leadership in the senior health market. "Mutual of Omaha was one of the first providers of Medicare Supplement plans, and we intend to continue to meet the changing health care-related needs of seniors. By entering the Medicare Advantage market with Lumeris' proven value-based care model, we will be able to offer our senior customers a full array of solutions."

Under the terms of the strategic operating agreement, Mutual of Omaha will own and carry the name of the new Medicare Advantage plans and provide brand, marketing and distribution expertise and capital. Lumeris will work as a strategic operating partner to help evaluate markets, establish networks, align with providers and administer plans. An Executive Steering Committee comprised of Mutual and Lumeris representatives will provide oversight and governance of the plans. In addition, Blackledge has joined the Lumeris board of directors.

Medicare Advantage plans rely on private companies to provide Medicare benefits that are traditionally provided by the government. Most Medicare Advantage plans employ a managed care model and offer additional benefits not traditionally covered by Medicare Parts A and B, including prescription drug coverage.

About Mutual of Omaha

Founded in 1909, Mutual of Omaha is a Fortune 500 organization offering a variety of insurance, banking and financial products for individuals, businesses and groups throughout the United States. In the individual market, Mutual is a leader in the Medicare Supplement, life, long-term care, disability and annuity lines. The company also offers a portfolio of employee benefit and retirement solutions. With $8 billion in assets, Mutual of Omaha Bank is a full-service bank providing financial solutions to individuals and businesses across the United States. For more information about Mutual of Omaha, visit www.mutualofomaha.com.

About Lumeris

Lumeris serves as a long-term operating partner for organizations that are committed to the transition from volume- to value-based care and delivering extraordinary clinical and financial outcomes. We guide health systems and providers through transitions from volume to value, enabling them to deliver improved and more affordable care across populationswith better outcomes. And, we work collaboratively with payers to align contracts and engage physicians in programs that drive high-quality, cost-effective care with satisfied consumersand engaged physicians.

An industry recognized leader, Lumeris was awarded 2017 Best in KLAS for Value-Based Care Managed Services for helping clients deliver improved clinical and financial outcomes. This was the second year we received this distinguished award. For the past seven years, Essence Healthcare, Lumeris' premier client with more than 63,000 members in Missouri and Illinois, has received 4.5 to 5 Stars from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We enjoy working with all of our clients, delivering these same results and aligning our proven multi-payer, multi-population model with their value-based care vision. For more information, go to www.lumeris.com.

Contacts

Media

Amendola Communications

Lisa Chernikoff, 734-678-5513

Amendola Communications

[email protected]

Mutual of Omaha

Jim Nolan, 402-351-2944

[email protected]

Lumeris

Christopher Currington, 314-770-3723

[email protected]

SOURCE Lumeris

Related Links

http://www.lumeris.com


ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of the 41st anniversary of National Handwriting Day, the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA), announces its endorsement of a bi-partisan congressional resolution introduced by Congressman Paul Tonko (New York 20th Congressional District) and Congressman Leonard Lance (New Jersey 7th Congressional District). The resolution expresses support for the designation of January 23rd as National Handwriting Day; it also recognizes the importance of handwriting for cognitive, artistic and educational benefits.

Congressman Tonko will visit Nicole Grosso's second-grade class at Rosendale Elementary School in Niskayuna, New York on National Handwriting Day, January 23rd 2018 at 1 p.m. to introduce the congressional resolution designating the day. The congressman will discuss with the students the importance of handwriting and his personal commitment to handwriting.

The congressional resolution, H.Res.654, in addition to expressing support for designation of National Handwriting Day also acknowledges John Hancock, whose birthday is on January 23rd. His was the first signature on the Declaration of Independence, and Hancock contributed to the overall significance of handwriting. The resolution also emphasizes the educational benefits of handwriting for children, as well as the cognitive development and motor skills benefit. To view the complete resolution, go to https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hres654.

"I can't think of a better way to celebrate National Handwriting Day than a visit with Ms. Grosso's second grade class at Rosendale Elementary School. Handwriting is a disappearing art that is worth preserving, especially for young students. A handwritten letter not only delivers emotion, connection and creativity in ways that an email or text message simply cannot, it also exercises cognitive and fine motor skills for the writer. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution marking National Handwriting Day with Rep. Leonard Lance and am grateful for our mutual commitment to this effort. Thank you to WIMA for highlighting the significance and power of handwriting and for their support of our Congressional resolution," stated Congressman Paul Tonko.

Established in 1977, National Handwriting Day encourages the acknowledgement of the history and importance of penmanship. WIMA suggests honoring the day by picking up a writing instrument today.

Craft a note. A handwritten note can make a huge impact on someone's day  from a quick thank you to a post-it, bring a smile to someone today with a genuine thought on paper. Draft a letter. Letter writing has fallen off with the invention of email. A handwritten letter has much more emotion and can more effectively communicate one's feelings. Transcribe your thoughts. Take a moment to jot down your thoughts today in writing and you may surprise yourself, it may even help you work through an inner conflict. Practice your signature. Channel your inner John Hancock and practice your signature, there is still a place to sign on the dotted line. Create art. Handwriting extends to art, so whether it's a crayon, colored pencil or marker, draw something that makes you smile.

For additional information on National Handwriting Day visit http://www.pencilsandpens.org/national_handwriting_day and https://www.facebook.com/WritingInstrumentManufacturersAssociation/.

SOURCE Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association

Related Links

http://www.pencilsandpens.org/national_handwriting_day


Each year, approximately 50 students will be selected from a pool of more than 2,000 applicants to participate in the five-year program, starting in 8th grade through high school graduation. Those selected receive academic and college advising, as well as financial support for school, Cooke-sponsored summer programming, peer community engagement, and other learning enrichment opportunities.

"The Young Scholars Program gives some of the brightest young minds in the nation access to high quality academic programs that they otherwise couldn't afford," said Cooke Foundation Executive Director Harold O. Levy. "We pair students early on with an educational adviser who will work to ensure they make the most out of their high school experiences, and are prepared for success at competitive colleges and universities."

The program provides a pathway to the Cooke College Scholarship Program, which is worth up to $40,000 a year. Many Young Scholars have also received Cooke Graduate Scholarships, worth up to $75,000.

To be eligible for the Young Scholars Program, a student must: 1) currently be in 7th grade, 2) earn grades of all or mostly As with no Cs in core academic subjects during 6th and 7th grade, 3) have a family adjusted gross income of less than $95,000, and 4) be willing to participate in required multi-week residential summer programs.

More information about the Cooke Young Scholars Program, including instructions on how to apply and a video featuring scholars, can be found here.

About the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

The Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded $175 million in scholarships to more than 2,300 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive counseling and other support services. The foundation has also provided over $97 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. www.jkcf.org

Media Contact: Amber Styles

703-723-5647, [email protected]

SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Related Links

http://www.jkcf.org


WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) will realize a $370 million savings in power costs through 2030 and municipal and industrial customers will avoid a 30 percent increase in water charges over 10 years if the CAWCD continues purchasing power from the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) rather than the open market, a study released today by Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA) concludes.

The Navajo Generating Station has brought enormous economic benefits to the people of Arizona by delivering more than $1 billion in power cost savings to the CAWCD since 2001 while driving down water rates to municipal and industrial customers as much as 50 percent during the period, the study found.

"The Navajo Generating Station will continue to be the low-cost power solution for the CAWCD well beyond 2019," said Seth Schwartz, President of EVA. "The benefit is directly related to the amount of energy used: The more power purchased, the higher the savings in the years ahead."

The Navajo Generating Station was authorized by Congress in the late 1960s to provide a stable, affordable power source for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) to move Colorado River water to the central and southern parts of the state for economic growth. The power plant and mine that fuels it were developed on tribal lands using tribally owned coal to bring jobs and revenues to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe in northern Arizona.

Approximately 25 percent of the plant is held in trust for the U.S. Department of the Interior. The government's share of electricity is divided to provide power for the CAP and generate revenues through the sale of surplus power to repay the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for CAP construction. The CAWCD has a remaining debt obligation of $1.1 billion.

Because the Navajo Generating Station is the vehicle designed to make debt repayment possible, the CAWCD would need to identify a new revenue source in addition to paying up to $151 million in decommissioning costs if the plant is prematurely retired. Any potential savings of purchasing power from the open market will be more than offset by the loss of NGS-related revenue that is being used for debt repayment. If the plant is prematurely retired, full replacement capacity is estimated at nearly $2 billion.

"Allowing NGS to be retired 20 years early would result in an increased cost of power for the CAWCD, higher water rates to CAWCD customers and unnecessary capital expenses for constructing replacement capacity," Phillip Graeter, senior manager at EVA and lead analyst of the study, said.

EVA believes the Navajo Generating Station will be the low-cost power source for the CAWCD based on its commodity price forecasts for the Desert Southwest (DSW) region, which indicate that the market conditions that drove power prices to historic-lows in 2016 were an anomaly and will not continue.

Over the last 16 years, the Navajo Generating Station has operated at a high capacity utilization rate averaging just under 85 percent, well above the U.S. coal fleet average of 62 percent. Because the plant is fueled by the nearby Kayenta Mine, the plant will continue to be one of the lowest cost and most competitive baseload resources in the DSW region, the report concludes. NGS plant owners have spent more than $1 billion over the last two decades on environmental compliance, resulting in one of the lowest emissions profiles of any coal-fueled power plant in the region.

The Navajo Generating Station and Kayenta Mine support 825 direct jobs and provide over 85 percent of the Hopi's annual general fund budget and 22 percent of the Navajo's annual general fund budget.

The EVA study, "Economic Benefit Analysis of the Navajo Generating Station for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District and Its Customers," was commissioned by Peabody and is available here.

About the Authors: Energy Ventures Analysis offers in-depth knowledge and expert energy consulting services to clients in the electric power, natural gas and oil, coal, environmental and renewable energy industries. EVA offers cutting-edge energy consulting services, including energy market fundamentals, economic analysis, and operational management that has led the firm to international recognition.

EVA recently has been recognized by Forbes magazine as a top energy consulting firm with outstanding energy consulting services and customer satisfaction.

SOURCE Energy Ventures Analysis, Inc.
CLEVELAND, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- NeverBounce, the industry leading email verification and list cleaning service, today announced the introduction of its Startup program. Under the new initiative, qualifying startup applicants will receive a significantly discounted 30 percent off NeverBounce's email verification offerings.

"In the early stage of most companies, reaching prospects and customers through email is crucial to creating valuable relationships and growing your business," said Brad Owen, CEO and Founder of NeverBounce. "We hope to further aid young businesses during the early years by extending a discount on our services through our Startup program. Similar programs were beneficial to our own success when we launched three years ago. Having the ability to extend this kind of support to early-stage companies and entrepreneurs is rewarding."

The 30 percent discount will apply to users cleaning email data across all major connectivity methods. Whether using the NeverBounce API, JavaScript Widget, Webhook, or any of the direct integrations that are available, startups will save. To be included in the program, applicants must be privately held, in business for less than two years, and be an established business with a website and/or existing public references on the Internet. Once an application for the Startup program is approved, the discounted pricing will be available for qualifying accounts for up to two years.

Since the soft launch of the Startup program in October of last year, NeverBounce has seen a number of applications from startups looking to take advantage of the most accurate email verification service at a bargain price. "NeverBounce has been a game changer for us and many other Y Combinator companies," said Chaz Englander, co-founder & CEO of Fat Lama, a thriving rental platform based in East London.

To apply for the NeverBounce Startup program, visit https://neverbounce.com/startups.

About NeverBounce

Over 60,000 users trust NeverBounce for their real-time email verification and list cleaning services. NeverBounce ensures you reach your customers by dramatically increasing the delivery of your emails to the inbox. By removing outdated email addresses and checking if an email is valid, NeverBounce improves deliverability and helps businesses adhere to strict email provider guidelines. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, a dedicated team of engineers are available to assist with integrations.

Learn more by visiting http://www.NeverBounce.com, following NeverBounce on Twitter, or connecting on Facebook.

SOURCE NeverBounce

Related Links

http://www.NeverBounce.com


NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In a groundbreaking effort to empower teens and young adults to reach out to friends with mental health issues who may be at risk for suicide, the Ad Council has joined The Jed Foundation (JED), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and Droga5 to launch Seize the Awkward, a national public service campaign. Beginning today the campaign will be activated by an unprecedented group of media partners and platforms, including BuzzFeed, Chegg, Colossal Media, Facebook, The Jacksonville Jaguars, Reddit, Upworthy, Wattpad and YouTube.

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8254851-ad-council-suicide-prevention-seizetheawkward/

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults and for every youth suicide, it is estimated that 100-200 others attempt suicide (CDC; ACHA NCHA). Young adulthood is a critical time when many people experience mental health issues as well as significant stress from life transitions such as gaining more independence and responsibilty when moving from home and beginning college or a career. In fact, 50 percent of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14 and 75 percent begin by age 24 (NAMI). Friends of young adults are often the first to recognize signs of an emerging mental health problem or crisis and an estimated 76 percent of young adults turn to a peer in a time of crisis for support (First-Year College Experience Survey: Harris Poll; JED; Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, The Jordan Porco Foundation; College Mental Health Study: Stress, Depression, Stigma & Students; mtvU/JED).

Seize the Awkward encourages teens and young adults, particularly those ages 16-24, to create a safe space for their friends to open up about mental health challenges. The campaign personifies an awkward silence that can happen between friends before a conversation about mental health. This character, Awkward Silence, portrayed by Broadway star and actor Gideon Glick, shows viewers the opportunity that exists in recognizing something is wrong and breaking through an awkward silence between friends  and encourages them to use this moment to check in and ask about their mental health.

"Suicide prevention is increasingly gaining awareness and attention in the national media, but Seize the Awkward marks the start of a collective movement to empower this generation to do something," said Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council. "This campaign gives young adults the tools and specific language they need to embrace the critical moment of an awkward silence in a way that could have a life-saving impact."

The campaign directs audiences to SeizeTheAwkward.org, a new website created by Haus that provides various resources to help young people "seize the awkward" by reaching out to a friend who may be struggling with mental health problems. Resources include tutorial videos, information on warning signs, conversation starters, tips on how to sustain a conversation around mental health, and video testimonials on mental health from talent such as Hannah Hart, Liza Koshy, Remi Cruz and Tyler Posey.

"Mental health is still something of a stigmatized topic among adults and young adults alike. Our aim with Seize the Awkward is to open the lines of communication among friends at risk in an approachable, thoughtful way," said Ted Royer, Chief Creative Officer of Droga5. "When we see something troublesome, or worse, in our friends and we find the courage to speak to them, we can really help someone in need."

Popular digital and television talent, with a total audience exceeding 70 million people, are starring in an additional campaign video, as well as supporting the campaign on their social platforms. The video, featuring Hannah Hart, Liza Koshy, Markiplier, Meredith Foster, Orion Carloto, Remi Cruz, Shannon Beveridge, Tyler Oakley, and Tyler Posey shows each celebrity initially looking at the camera in awkward silence, before using that space to start a conversation about mental health. Additional videos include deeper personal stories from many of the celebrities. Talent content was produced by Northbound Film.

"We are excited about the campaign's potential to dramatically change how young adults, and generations to come, understand mental health, and what to do when a friend may be struggling. And we know from research that suicide is preventable and that it starts with the person opening up and getting someone the help they need," said Bob Gebbia, AFSP CEO. "Partnering with the Ad Council, JED and Droga5, we have created a campaign that's the first of its kind and will save lives."

Dozens of artists, including Baron Von Fancy, Jeremyville, Sasa Ostoja, Iain Burke and Franz Lang have interpreted the phrase "seize the awkward" in reference to their personal experiences with mental health. These artworks have been turned into posters that will be shared across college campuses and on social media. They will also be used as wild postings and in a Seize the Awkward exhibition.

"Too many young adults are struggling with mental health issues and not getting the help they need," said John MacPhee, Executive Director/CEO, JED. "Seize the Awkward will help empower young people to start important and potentially live-saving conversations and take action to support one another. This generation is poised to lead us in changing the culture around mental health and Seize the Awkward aims to help them do just that. We're proud to launch this groundbreaking campaign with our partners at the Ad Council, AFSP and Droga5."

Per the Ad Council's model, the new creative assets will be distributed to media outlets nationwide and will be placed in donated time and space. Several media partners have made commitments to the campaign prior to launch. Each partner will be providing significant exposure and customized content on their platforms. The campaign also includes activations on platforms including:

BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed is developing original content that aims to tackle how to handle awkward conversations about suicide while educating the audience about Seize the Awkward.

BuzzFeed is developing original content that aims to tackle how to handle awkward conversations about suicide while educating the audience about Seize the Awkward. Chegg: Chegg is donating a sign-in page takeover as well as interactive video inventory to spread the campaign message to their massive audience of college students throughout the country.

Chegg is donating a sign-in page takeover as well as interactive video inventory to spread the campaign message to their massive audience of college students throughout the country. Colossal Media: Colossal Media is donating a hand painted mural that will give passersby the opportunity to take a picture with a message that they can then send to a friend in need. The artwork, created by Rob Flowers , Sam Dunn and Mel Cerri , can be found at the corner of White and Siegel Streets in Bushwick, a young and creative neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York , starting January 22nd .

Colossal Media is donating a hand painted mural that will give passersby the opportunity to take a picture with a message that they can then send to a friend in need. The artwork, created by , and , can be found at the corner of White and Siegel Streets in Bushwick, a young and creative neighborhood in , starting . Initiative: Initiative is providing their expertise to support the campaign through pro bono development and execution of a custom media strategy and communications plan to secure additional high-profile targeted media.

Initiative is providing their expertise to support the campaign through pro bono development and execution of a custom media strategy and communications plan to secure additional high-profile targeted media. The Jacksonville Jaguars: NFL player Brad Nortman of the Jacksonville Jaguars stars in a video about his personal experiences with mental health. Nortman and the Jaguars will also support the campaign on social media.

NFL player of the Jacksonville Jaguars stars in a video about his personal experiences with mental health. Nortman and the Jaguars will also support the campaign on social media. Reddit: Reddit is donating paid media to support four AMAs around the topic of mental health. The first chat will be with the chief medical officers from JED and AFSP, Dr. Victor Schwartz and Dr. Christine Moutier , in late January.

Reddit is donating paid media to support four AMAs around the topic of mental health. The first chat will be with the chief medical officers from JED and AFSP, Dr. and Dr. , in late January. Upworthy : Upworthy is sharing the campaign video content with their community of over 11.4 million Facebook followers.

: Upworthy is sharing the campaign video content with their community of over 11.4 million Facebook followers. Wattpad: Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, will be donating premium digital media inventory to help reach millions of their young adult readers.

Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, will be donating premium digital media inventory to help reach millions of their young adult readers. YouTube: YouTube will be supporting and promoting the campaign on YouTube and on various social channels.

To learn more about the campaign, visit SeizeTheAwkward.org and follow #SeizeTheAwkward. To get immediate, free support 24/7, call 1-800-273-8255 or text "SEIZE" to 741741.

JED

JED is a nonprofit that exists to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for our nation's teens and young adults. We're partnering with high schools and colleges to strengthen their mental health, substance abuse and suicide prevention programs and systems. We're equipping teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other. We're encouraging community awareness, understanding and action for young adult mental health. Learn more at jedfoundation.org.

Check out our programs including: JED Campus (jedcampus.org), Set to Go (settogo.org), ULifeline (ulifeline.org), Half of Us (halfofus.com) and Love is Louder (loveislouder.com).

Connect with JED: Email | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, and with a public policy office in Washington, D.C., AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Droga5

Droga5 is a creative and strategic advertising agency headquartered in New York, with an office in London. Founded in 2006, Droga5's clients include Ancestry, Belstaff, Blue Apron, Chase, COVERGIRL, Danone, ESPN, Georgia-Pacific, Google, Heineken, IHOP, Johnsonville, LVMH, MailChimp, Mattress Firm, Mondelez International, The Nature's Bounty Co., The New York Times, Peroni, Pizza Hut, Prudential, Sprint, Tencent, Under Armour, Unilever, and the Y, among others. Droga5 has won Agency of the Year 13 times in the last 11 years and is the only agency to be named to Advertising Age's A-List over seven consecutive years. For more information, visit droga5.com.

The Ad Council

The Ad Council brings together the most creative minds in advertising and media to address the most worthy causes. Its innovative, pro bono social good campaigns raise awareness. They inspire action. They save lives. To learn more, visit AdCouncil.org follow the Ad Council's communities on Facebook and Twitter, and view the creative on YouTube.

SOURCE Ad Council
New high grade mineralization was discovered and confirmed for the first time, northwest of the A1 shear with a geotechnical test hole and will be followed up during the winter 2018 drill program. Additionally, step-out drilling outside of the area of the current Mineral Resource estimate has resulted in the most heavily mineralized hole in the A3 shear to date. In addition,

Northwest of the A1 Shear

Geotechnical hole GAR-17-001 intersected 8.0 m at 1.43% U3O8 (531.5 to 539.5 m ), including 4.5 m at 2.51% (531.5 to 536.0 m ) in a new mineralized area northwest of the A1 shear.

A3 Step-Outs

AR-17-159c1 intersected 26.5 m at 10.60% U 3 O 8 (427.5 to 454.0 m ) including 13.0 m at 20.74% U 3 O 8 (439.0 to 452.0 m ) located 25 m outside of the area of the current Mineral Resource estimate in the A3 High Grade Domain. This represents the best hole drilled in the A3 shear to date .

intersected (427.5 to ) including (439.0 to ) located of the area of the current estimate in the A3 High Grade Domain. This represents the . AR-17-159c2 intersected 49.0 m at 2.30% U 3 O 8 (429.5 to 478.5 m ) including 5.0 m at 11.72% U 3 O 8 (463.0 to 468.0 m ) and 2.0 m at 9.88% U 3 O 8 (451.0 to 453.0 m ) in the High Grade Domains of the A3 Shear located 15 m outside of the area of the current Mineral Resource estimate .

intersected (429.5 to ) including (463.0 to ) and (451.0 to ) in the located of the area of the current . AR-17-167c1 intersected 15.0 m at 1.49% U3O8 (481.5 to 496.5 m ) including 2.0 m at 10.56% U3O8 (489.0 to 491.0 m ) in the A3 Shear located 45 m outside of the Mineral Resource.

Southwest Gap Step-Outs

AR-17-161c1 intersected 9.5 m at 2.31% U3O8 (827.0 to 836.5 m ), including 2.0 m at 10.57% U3O8 (833.5 to 835.5 m ) in the A3 Shear of the Southwest Gap.

Arrow Infill Drilling

Infill drilling has continued to confirm the strong continuity of mineralization at the Arrow deposit. The A3 high-grade domains have now been largely drilled at a spacing of 25 m x 25 m. Key potential expansion areas have been identified surrounding these domains and will be followed-up during the winter 2018 drilling program.

A2 & A3 Infill

AR-17-176c2 intersected 17.54 m at 3.51 % U 3 O 8 (649.5 to 667.04 m ), including 4.0 m at 12.88% U 3 O 8 (659.0 to 663.0 m ) and 15.5 m at 0.77% U 3 O 8 (692.0 to 707.5 m ), including 1.5 m at 7.71% U 3 O 8 (693.5 to 695.0 m ) in the A2 Shear.

intersected (649.5 to ), including (659.0 to ) and (692.0 to ), including (693.5 to ) in the AR-17-164c2 intersected 21.5 m at 1.80% U 3 O 8 (588.0 to 609.5 m ), including 3.0 m at 12.14% U 3 O 8 (590.5 to 593.5 m ) in the A3 Shear.

intersected (588.0 to ), including (590.5 to ) in the AR-17-155c3 intersected 7.0 m at 2.68% U3O8 (619.0 to 626.0 m ), including 2.5 m at 7.21% U3O8 (619.0 to 621.5 m ) in the A3 Shear.

Development, Activities & Financial

Pre-feasibility technical studies including geotechnical work, hydrogeological work and metallurgy continue in advance of a maiden Pre-Feasibility Study scheduled to be published in Q3/2018 .

. Planning for the winter 2108 drilling program is complete and will begin imminently.

The Company has cash on hand of approximately $155 million .

Garrett Ainsworth, Vice-President, Exploration and Development, commented: "The final assays from our summer 2017 drill program confirm high grade mineralization in key areas for resource growth. We have been especially pleased with results from the A3 High-Grade Domains with hole -159c1 returning the best intercept in the A3 shear to date. Furthermore, hole GAR-17-001 which was a geotechnical hole designed to test the ground conditions of the Arrow Deposit also hit mineralization adjacent to the northwest of the A1 shear indicating the potential of an entire new mineralized shear zone."

Leigh Curyer, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Discovery of a potential A0 shear highlights the incredible prospectivity that continues to exist at the Arrow Deposit. NexGen's Rook 1 project hosts 9 kms of the prolific Patterson Corridor bordering the edge of the Athabasca Basin and significant drilling is planned in order to determine the full extent of mineralization at Arrow, and along strike. Further, strong mineralized intercepts within, and around, the A3 High Grade Domain continue to demonstrate the strong continuity of mineralization at Arrow as we progress to pre-feasibility."

Table 1: Arrow Deposit Assay Results

Drill Hole Athabasca Group - Basement Unconformity Depth (m) SRC Geoanalytical Results Hole ID Azimuth Dip Total Depth (m) From (m) To (m) Interval (m) U3O8 (wt%) AR-17-146c4 327 -70 978.50 110.40 678.00 678.50 0.50 0.10









709.00 712.00 3.00 0.01









714.50 720.00 5.50 0.21









729.50 741.00 11.50 0.03









758.50 760.00 1.50 0.13









764.50 765.50 1.00 0.03









777.50 778.50 1.00 0.22









792.00 796.00 4.00 0.08









822.00 824.00 2.00 0.09









827.00 834.50 7.50 0.07









837.00 838.00 1.00 0.12









907.50 908.50 1.00 0.06









913.50 914.50 1.00 0.02









936.00 937.00 1.00 0.03 AR-17-154c3 327 -70 870.50 120.60 652.00 653.50 1.50 0.14









701.50 704.50 3.00 0.02









760.00 764.50 4.50 0.01 AR-17-154c4 327 -70 945.50 120.60 678.50 680.50 2.00 0.43









714.50 715.00 0.50 0.53









717.50 721.50 4.00 0.17









724.50 726.00 1.50 0.14









729.50 742.50 13.00 0.10









745.00 753.00 8.00 0.06









774.50 775.00 0.50 0.04









799.50 800.50 1.00 0.07









840.50 842.00 1.50 0.05









865.00 869.00 4.00 0.21









889.50 890.50 1.00 0.09 AR-17-155c3 327 -70 912.50 128.60 437.50 438.00 0.50 0.10









465.50 472.00 6.50 0.03









475.50 481.00 5.50 0.23









494.00 495.50 1.50 0.92









500.00 501.00 1.00 0.21









523.00 524.50 1.50 0.11









534.00 535.00 1.00 0.29









546.00 550.50 4.50 0.27









563.00 565.00 2.00 0.35









568.00 571.00 3.00 0.04









582.50 587.00 4.50 0.04









611.00 612.00 1.00 13.14









615.50 616.00 0.50 3.05









619.00 626.00 7.00 2.68







incl. 619.00 621.50 2.50 7.21









648.50 649.50 1.00 0.05









652.50 676.00 23.50 0.07









680.00 685.50 5.50 0.13









689.50 695.50 6.00 0.09









701.00 702.50 1.50 2.98









756.50 757.00 0.50 0.16









760.00 762.50 2.50 0.27









812.50 814.00 1.50 0.02









819.50 820.50 1.00 0.20









823.50 827.50 4.00 0.03









831.50 833.00 1.50 0.62









846.00 847.00 1.00 0.03 AR-17-156c2 327 -70 858.50 N/A 650.00 651.00 1.00 0.11









654.00 658.50 4.50 0.04









679.50 680.00 0.50 0.14









685.00 687.50 2.50 0.10









710.00 711.00 1.00 0.01









714.50 715.00 0.50 0.11









718.00 725.00 7.00 0.23









771.50 772.00 0.50 0.03









813.00 815.00 2.00 0.03 AR-17-156c3 327 -70 903.50 N/A 703.00 703.50 0.50 0.22









720.50 722.00 1.50 0.02









725.00 731.00 6.00 0.18









735.00 748.00 13.00 0.13









764.50 777.50 13.00 0.33







incl. 766.00 770.50 4.50 0.77









780.50 783.50 3.00 0.14









813.50 823.00 9.50 0.08 AR-17-156c4 327 -70 936.50 N/A 528.00 528.50 0.50 0.02









659.00 660.00 1.00 0.38









680.00 680.50 0.50 0.03









692.50 693.00 0.50 0.03









718.50 719.00 0.50 0.08









723.00 724.00 1.00 0.49









742.50 743.50 1.00 0.04









749.50 750.00 0.50 0.05









757.00 758.50 1.50 0.07









768.00 769.00 1.00 0.04









773.50 779.00 5.50 1.10







incl. 774.00 775.00 1.00 4.44









783.00 784.00 1.00 0.29









789.00 790.00 1.00 0.02









794.00 796.00 2.00 0.05









800.50 802.00 1.50 0.09









805.00 806.00 1.00 0.02









809.00 811.50 2.50 0.04









818.00 827.50 9.50 0.05









891.00 892.00 1.00 0.03 AR-17-156c5 327 -70 789.50 N/A 669.50 671.50 2.00 0.03









675.00 675.50 0.50 0.01









682.00 684.00 2.00 0.03









701.00 708.00 7.00 0.05









721.00 722.50 1.50 0.15 AR-17-159c1 327 -70 507.00 131.60 373.50 381.50 8.00 0.03









388.50 390.50 2.00 0.07









395.50 397.00 1.50 0.34









404.00 407.00 3.00 0.48









410.50 415.50 5.00 2.70









418.50 424.00 5.50 1.28









427.50 454.00 26.50 10.60







incl. 439.00 452.00 13.00 20.74







incl. 444.00 450.00 6.00 30.21 AR-17-159c2 327 -70 546.00 131.60 375.50 377.00 1.50 0.04









389.00 404.50 15.50 0.04









422.50 426.50 4.00 2.82







incl. 422.50 423.50 1.00 11.24









429.50 478.50 49.00 2.30







incl. 451.00 453.00 2.00 9.88







incl. 463.00 468.00 5.00 11.72 AR-17-161c1 327 -70 999.50 N/A 743.00 744.00 1.00 0.22









776.50 777.00 0.50 0.09









793.50 794.00 0.50 0.02









802.00 802.50 0.50 0.14









813.00 814.00 1.00 0.06









821.50 823.00 1.50 0.03









827.00 836.50 9.50 2.31







incl. 833.50 835.50 2.00 10.57









848.00 848.50 0.50 0.06









853.50 854.00 0.50 0.25









859.50 862.50 3.00 0.02 AR-17-161c2 327 -70 990.50 N/A 626.50 627.00 0.50 0.19









698.50 699.50 1.00 0.03









703.00 705.00 2.00 0.08









712.00 713.00 1.00 0.06









800.00 811.00 11.00 0.14









818.00 819.00 1.00 0.24









852.00 853.50 1.50 0.05









863.00 869.50 6.50 3.03







incl. 867.50 868.50 1.00 16.40









879.00 882.00 3.00 0.28









892.00 893.50 1.50 0.07









911.50 912.00 0.50 0.04









939.00 940.50 1.50 0.04 AR-17-164c1 327 -70 942.50 126.60 458.50 470.00 11.50 0.04









481.50 484.00 2.50 0.02









487.00 488.50 1.50 0.26









497.00 500.50 3.50 0.24









505.00 513.50 8.50 1.27







incl. 506.50 511.00 4.50 2.08









517.00 528.00 11.00 1.52







incl. 522.50 527.50 5.00 3.25









534.50 535.00 0.50 1.86









545.50 550.00 4.50 1.78









554.50 555.00 0.50 0.05









581.50 597.50 16.00 0.47







incl. 581.50 584.00 2.50 2.79









601.50 605.50 4.00 0.04









618.00 619.00 1.00 0.02









626.00 629.00 3.00 0.03









632.50 644.50 12.00 0.06









648.50 649.50 1.00 0.03









652.50 654.50 2.00 0.04









658.50 659.50 1.00 0.02









662.50 684.00 21.50 0.44







incl. 662.50 667.50 5.00 1.67









718.50 720.00 1.50 0.09









745.00 746.50 1.50 0.38









754.50 755.50 1.00 0.08









773.50 777.00 3.50 1.29







incl. 774.50 775.50 1.00 4.15









808.50 810.00 1.50 0.27









822.00 824.50 2.50 0.03









831.00 831.50 0.50 0.03









840.00 841.50 1.50 0.05









897.00 897.50 0.50 0.06 AR-17-164c2 327 -70 654.50 126.60 426.50 427.50 1.00 0.15









451.50 455.00 3.50 0.02









468.50 469.00 0.50 0.08









477.50 478.50 1.00 0.04









485.50 487.00 1.50 0.31









503.00 504.00 1.00 1.05









507.00 508.00 1.00 0.56









519.50 520.00 0.50 0.41









532.00 533.00 1.00 0.02









544.00 545.00 1.00 0.72









548.00 553.00 5.00 0.34









556.00 565.00 9.00 0.79







incl. 556.00 560.50 4.50 1.41









567.50 569.50 2.00 1.01









575.50 577.00 1.50 1.55









580.50 584.00 3.50 0.85









588.00 609.50 21.50 1.80







incl. 590.50 593.50 3.00 12.14









614.00 615.00 1.00 0.06









631.00 635.50 4.50 0.11









639.50 649.50 10.00 0.06









652.50 654.00 1.50 0.04 AR-17-164c3 327 -70 549.50 126.60 444.50 448.00 3.50 0.24









456.50 457.00 0.50 0.67









459.50 460.50 1.00 0.49









463.50 471.50 8.00 0.11









478.00 481.00 3.00 0.36









485.00 486.50 1.50 0.30









503.50 514.50 11.00 0.65







incl. 506.00 510.50 4.50 1.45









517.50 526.50 9.00 0.06









533.00 533.50 0.50 0.02









541.00 542.00 1.00 0.03 AR-17-167c1 327 -70 837.50 124.00 481.50 496.50 15.00 1.49







incl. 489.00 491.00 2.00 10.56









530.00 536.00 6.00 0.04









539.50 559.00 19.50 0.04









566.50 582.50 16.00 0.16









589.50 595.50 6.00 0.15









600.00 601.00 1.00 0.12









627.00 630.50 3.50 0.24









637.00 637.50 0.50 0.02









654.00 655.00 1.00 0.05









660.00 663.50 3.50 0.03









676.00 679.00 3.00 0.16









681.50 682.50 1.00 0.03









731.50 733.50 2.00 0.09









779.50 785.00 5.50 0.14 AR-17-167c2 327 -70 723.50 124.00 460.00 460.50 0.50 1.11









467.00 470.50 3.50 1.65









478.50 479.00 0.50 0.03









533.00 546.00 13.00 0.03









548.50 549.50 1.00 0.03









552.50 554.00 1.50 0.10









556.50 563.00 6.50 0.07









573.50 574.00 0.50 0.06









580.50 583.00 2.50 0.02









615.00 618.00 3.00 5.02









635.00 636.50 1.50 0.45









639.00 640.00 1.00 0.15









675.00 675.50 0.50 0.03 AR-17-167c3 327 -70 727.50 124.00 434.50 435.50 1.00 0.04









440.50 444.50 4.00 0.55









511.00 511.50 0.50 0.03









534.00 537.00 3.00 0.23









570.50 573.00 2.50 0.02









576.00 577.00 1.00 0.07









693.00 694.00 1.00 0.04 AR-17-171c1 327 -70 920.00 119.30 712.00 715.50 3.50 0.06









719.00 720.00 1.00 0.06









727.00 728.00 1.00 0.03









733.50 736.00 2.50 0.08









741.00 756.00 15.00 0.46







incl. 746.50 749.00 3.00 1.48









769.50 772.00 2.50 0.51









790.00 791.50 1.50 1.13









813.00 814.00 1.00 0.02









855.00 859.50 4.50 0.11









863.00 864.50 1.50 0.06 AR-17-171c2 327 -70 921.50 119.30 649.00 651.00 2.00 0.08









654.50 655.50 1.00 0.03









708.50 716.00 7.50 1.20









718.50 719.00 0.50 0.11









733.50 734.50 1.00 0.16









741.50 756.50 15.00 0.09









760.00 764.00 4.00 0.03









766.50 768.50 2.00 0.06









781.50 782.50 1.00 0.07









805.00 812.50 7.50 0.15









821.00 823.50 2.50 0.08









842.00 843.00 1.00 0.77









890.50 894.50 4.00 0.01 AR-17-171c3 327 -70 978.50 119.30 748.00 754.00 6.00 0.04









766.00 769.00 3.00 0.13









775.50 777.00 1.50 0.05









780.00 787.00 7.00 0.08









790.50 803.00 12.50 0.05









817.00 830.00 13.00 0.10









897.00 924.50 27.50 0.63









927.50 928.00 0.50 0.11









932.00 932.50 0.50 0.05 AR-17-176c1 327 -70 540.00 125.10 434.50 435.00 0.50 0.02









481.00 481.50 0.50 0.09









484.00 485.00 1.00 0.05









489.50 491.00 1.50 0.16









505.00 507.00 2.00 0.04 AR-17-176c2 327 -70 870.50 125.10 444.00 448.00 4.00 0.22









504.00 508.50 4.50 0.14









512.50 516.50 4.00 0.39









607.50 608.00 0.50 0.08









617.50 631.50 14.00 0.28









649.50 667.04 17.54 3.51







incl. 651.50 663.00 11.50 5.33







incl. 659.00 663.00 4.00 12.88









671.00 688.00 17.00 0.47









692.00 707.50 15.50 0.77







incl. 693.50 695.00 1.50 7.71









711.00 717.50 6.50 0.33









758.50 759.00 0.50 0.03









784.00 787.00 3.00 0.01









811.00 815.00 4.00 0.26 AR-17-179c1 327 -68 639.50 130.50 457.00 459.50 2.50 0.04









464.00 469.00 5.00 0.02









494.50 495.00 0.50 1.11









501.00 503.50 2.50 1.34









507.50 508.00 0.50 0.36









525.50 536.50 11.00 0.62









540.00 540.50 0.50 0.21









543.00 547.00 4.00 0.21









551.00 554.00 3.00 1.29









556.50 559.50 3.00 0.13









564.50 565.00 0.50 0.08









569.50 583.50 14.00 0.22









586.00 586.50 0.50 0.03









589.00 598.00 9.00 0.10









600.50 623.50 23.00 0.03









628.50 632.00 3.50 0.02 AR-17-183c1 327 -68 630.50 139.60 478.50 485.00 6.50 0.28









489.00 489.50 0.50 4.91









500.00 501.00 1.00 3.24









512.00 512.50 0.50 0.13









516.00 516.50 0.50 6.57









523.50 524.50 1.00 0.06









529.00 530.00 1.00 7.27









534.00 534.50 0.50 0.35









547.00 547.50 0.50 0.29









552.00 554.00 2.00 1.75









558.50 579.00 20.50 0.23







incl. 564.00 567.00 3.00 1.05 GAR-17-001 327 -70 597.10 115.00 271.50 304.50 33.00 0.12









377.00 378.00 1.00 0.05









415.50 420.50 5.00 0.03









487.00 494.50 7.50 0.05









531.50 539.50 8.00 1.43







incl. 531.50 536.00 4.50 2.51 GAR-17-002 327 -70 884.50 124.70 463.50 465.00 1.50 0.20









493.00 496.50 3.50 0.39









519.50 520.50 1.00 0.83









524.00 525.00 1.00 0.28









529.50 531.50 2.00 0.21









543.50 545.50 2.00 0.18









550.00 551.50 1.50 0.64









555.00 558.50 3.50 0.28









561.00 561.50 0.50 0.21









572.00 572.50 0.50 0.07









576.00 576.50 0.50 0.01









589.00 605.50 16.50 0.15









611.50 628.00 16.50 0.09









630.57 634.50 3.93 0.18









646.50 648.50 2.00 0.10









651.50 657.00 5.50 0.09









663.50 669.48 5.98 0.66









672.00 701.50 29.50 1.29







incl. 696.50 698.50 2.00 16.07









714.55 714.65 0.10 0.10









749.00 749.50 0.50 1.62









768.50 771.00 2.50 1.00









796.00 801.00 5.00 0.16









811.50 813.00 1.50 0.07









821.76 823.00 1.24 0.05









827.00 830.00 3.00 0.17









838.50 840.00 1.50 0.05 GAR-17-005 80 -70 752.40 109.80 487.50 488.50 1.00 0.08









647.50 651.50 4.00 0.05









656.50 659.50 3.00 0.06









670.00 671.00 1.00 0.03









680.50 685.50 5.00 0.08









704.50 705.00 0.50 0.06

Parameters:

Maximum internal dilution 2.0 m downhole

downhole Minimum thickness of 0.5 m downhole

downhole Cutoff grade 0.01% U3O8

All depths and intervals are metres downhole, true thicknesses are yet to be determined. Resource modelling in conjunction with an updated mineral resource estimate is required before true thicknesses can be determined.

Directional drilling has often resulted in mineralization intersected at a more favourable and shallower dip

About NexGen

NexGen is a British Columbia corporation with a focus on the acquisition, exploration and development of Canadian uranium projects. NexGen has a highly experienced team of uranium industry professionals with a successful track record in the discovery of uranium deposits and in developing projects through discovery to production.

NexGen owns a portfolio of prospective uranium exploration assets in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, including a 100% interest in Rook I, location of the Arrow Deposit in February 2014, the Bow discovery in March 2015, the Harpoon discovery in August 2016 and the Arrow South discovery in July 2017. The Arrow deposit's updated mineral resource estimate with an effective date of December 20, 2016 was released in March 2017, and comprised 179.5 M lbs U3O8 contained in 1.18 M tonnes grading 6.88% U3O8 in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and an additional 122.1 M lbs U3O8 contained in 4.25 M tonnes grading 1.30% U3O8 in the Inferred Mineral Resource category.

Technical Information

Split core samples were taken systematically, and intervals were submitted to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories (an SCC ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accredited Facility) of Saskatoon for analysis. For non-infill holes, samples were analyzed using ICP-MS for trace elements on partial and total digestions (non-radioactive samples), ICP-OES for major and minor elements on partial and total digestions (radioactive samples), and fusion solution of boron by ICP-OES. All mineralized samples were analyzed for U3O8 by ICP-OES and selected samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay.

All scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared by or reviewed and approved by Mr. Garrett Ainsworth, P.Geo., Vice President  Exploration & Development for NexGen. Mr. Ainsworth is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), and has verified the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions contained herein by reviewing original data certificates and monitoring all of the data collection protocols.

For details of the Rook I Project including the quality assurance program and quality control measures applied and key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resource please refer to the technical report entitled "Technical Report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Arrow Deposit, Rook 1 Property, Province of Saskatchewan, Canada" dated effective September 1, 2017 (the "Rook 1 Technical Report") prepared by Jason J. Cox, David M. Robson, Mark B. Mathisen, David A. Ross, Val Coetzee and Mark Wittrup, each of whom is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101. The Rook I Technical Report is available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

U.S. investors are advised that while the terms "indicated resources" and "inferred resources" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize these terms. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the material in these categories will ever be converted into mineral reserves.

Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. "Forward-looking information" includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof.

Forward-looking information and statements are based on the then current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about NexGen's business and the industry and markets in which it operates. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon numerous assumptions, including among others, the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the cost of planned exploration activities, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment, supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct NexGen's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward looking information or making forward looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performances and achievements of NexGen to differ materially from any projections of results, performances and achievements of NexGen expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others, negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of the availability of additional financing, the risk that pending assay results will not confirm previously announced preliminary results, imprecision of mineral resource estimates, the appeal of alternate sources of energy and sustained low uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, exploration risks, reliance upon key management and other personnel, deficiencies in the Company's title to its properties, uninsurable risks, failure to manage conflicts of interest, failure to obtain or maintain required permits and licenses, changes in laws, regulations and policy, competition for resources and financing, and other factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2017 under "Risk Factors".

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE NexGen Energy Ltd.

Related Links

www.nexgenenergy.ca


"Frozen pipes bursting during a cold Massachusetts winter can cost homeowners thousands in repairs," said Mike Nicholson, owner of Nicholson Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning. "Bursting pipes put your belongings and furnishings at risk and can cause structural damage in severe cases. Fortunately, there are some best practices homeowners can use to prevent such a catastrophe from happening."

Nicholson Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning offers the following tips to prevent pipes from freezing:

Check insulation  Homeowners should check the insulation in and around the house and identify any potential trouble areas. Filling in or adding insulation to attics, crawlspaces, basements and any other areas containing pipes may be necessary. Make sure to also seal any gaps that may be found in the home's foundation or siding.

Homeowners should check the insulation in and around the house and identify any potential trouble areas. Filling in or adding insulation to attics, crawlspaces, basements and any other areas containing pipes may be necessary. Make sure to also seal any gaps that may be found in the home's foundation or siding. Leave cabinets open  Kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets are best left open during the coldest parts of winter. This allows the warm air circulating in the home to enter and help warm the plumbing.

Kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets are best left open during the coldest parts of winter. This allows the warm air circulating in the home to enter and help warm the plumbing. Use pipe insulation products  Installing specific pipe insulation products is a great precautionary measure. Pipe sleeves, heat tape and heat cable are all available for home use and can add an extra layer of protection.

Installing specific pipe insulation products is a great precautionary measure. Pipe sleeves, heat tape and heat cable are all available for home use and can add an extra layer of protection. Maintain 55 degrees or higher  Even when leaving the residence for extended periods of time, maintaining a temperature throughout the home of 55 degrees or higher will help add an extra level of security to the plumbing. Any increase to the utility bill will still be less than the cost of typical repairs for burst water pipes or the damage it can cause to the rest of the home.

Even when leaving the residence for extended periods of time, maintaining a temperature throughout the home of 55 degrees or higher will help add an extra level of security to the plumbing. Any increase to the utility bill will still be less than the cost of typical repairs for burst water pipes or the damage it can cause to the rest of the home. Leave faucets at a trickle  Consider leaving faucets open at a trickle during the coldest temperatures. The small amount of water flow will help prevent water from freezing in place.

If a frozen pipe is suspected or discovered and is easily accessible, make sure to first leave the faucet open. Heat should then be applied to the pipe by using a hair dryer, portable space heater, heating pad, or by wrapping the pipe in warm towels. Avoid using any kind of device that operates on liquid fuel, like gasoline or kerosene, or has an open flame. Progress in thawing the pipe can be tracked by monitoring the water flow at the faucet.

"New England winters can be harsh, and temperatures below freezing occur regularly here from December through February," Nicholson said. "Anticipating the colder temperatures and proactively preparing for the worst will let you continue to focus more on your daily life and less on the hazards of a Massachusetts winter."

For more information about preventing damage from frozen pipes, call Nicholson Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning at (508) 881-1500 or visit www.nicholson-hvac.com/.

About Nicholson Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning

Based in Holliston, Massachusetts, Nicholson is a family-owned, full service residential plumbing, heating, and air conditioning company proudly serving all of the MetroWest area and beyond. Nicholson takes an all-encompassing approach to ensure clients reach the highest possible level of comfort, while staying within their budget. Nicholson was recently honored with the 2016 Carrier DCNE Outstanding Performance Award. The company offers a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee and Solid Warranty. Nicholson is an Angie's List "Super Service Award" recipient. For more information, visit Nicholson at http://www.nicholson-hvac.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE Nicholson Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning

Related Links

http://www.nicholson-hvac.com


EAST HANOVER, N.J., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Novartis today announced that its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) suspension for intravenous infusion, formerly CTL019, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who are ineligible for or relapse after autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) has been accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Priority Review. In addition, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted accelerated assessment to the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Kymriah for the treatment of children and young adults with r/r B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and for adult patients with r/r DLBCL who are ineligible for ASCT. Priority Review and accelerated assessment are granted to therapies which may provide a significant improvement in the safety and effectiveness of the treatment of a serious disease, and the designations are intended to expedite the standard review time. If approved by the FDA and EMA, Kymriah would represent the first chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy available for two distinct indications in non-Hodgkin lymphoma and B-cell ALL.

Kymriah became the first CAR-T cell therapy to receive regulatory approval when it was approved by the FDA in August 2017 for the treatment of patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor ALL that is refractory or in second or later relapse.

"The first approval of a CAR-T therapy truly redefined the future of the cancer treatment landscape, and we are only at the beginning of this new era in cancer care," said Samit Hirawat, MD, Head, Novartis Oncology Global Drug Development. "The Priority Review designation and accelerated assessment signal that the FDA and EMA have recognized the potential of Kymriah to provide a much-needed therapeutic option for these patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL and DLBCL. We are now focused on working with these regulatory agencies to bring this potentially transformative therapy to more patients."

Kymriah is a novel immunocellular therapy and a one-time treatment that uses a patient's own T cells to fight cancer. Kymriah uses the 4-1BB costimulatory domain in its chimeric antigen receptor to enhance cellular expansion and persistence. In 2012, Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) entered into a global collaboration to further research, develop and commercialize CAR-T cell therapies, including Kymriah, for the investigational treatment of cancers.

The regulatory applications in the US and EU are based on data from the Novartis-sponsored global clinical trial program of Kymriah in children and young adults with r/r B-cell ALL and adult patients with r/r DLBCL demonstrating the efficacy and safety of Kymriah across studies. Results from the pivotal phase II JULIET clinical trial served as the basis of the sBLA and MAA (applications submitted by pharmaceutical companies to health authorities when seeking approval of a new product) for Kymriah in adult patients with r/r DLCBL. Results from the pivotal phase II ELIANA study were submitted as part of the MAA for Kymriah in children and young adults with r/r B-cell ALL.

JULIET is the first multi-center global registration study for Kymriah in adult patients with r/r DLBCL. JULIET is the largest study examining a CAR-T therapy in DLBCL, enrolling patients from 27 sites in 10 countries across the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe, including: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and the Netherlands. Data from the six-month primary analysis of JULIET were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in December 2017.

ELIANA is the first pediatric global CAR-T cell therapy registration trial, examining patients in 25 centers in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and the EU, including: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy Norway, and Spain.

Novartis plans additional regulatory submissions for Kymriah in pediatric and young adult patients with r/r B-cell ALL and adult patients with r/r DLBCL beyond the US and EU in 2018.

About CAR-T

CAR-T is different from typical small molecule or biologic therapies because it is manufactured for each individual patient using their own cells. During the treatment process, T cells are drawn from a patient's blood and reprogrammed in the laboratory to create T cells that are genetically coded to recognize and fight the patient's cancer cells and other B cells expressing a particular antigen.

About Kymriah Manufacturing

Kymriah is manufactured for each individual patient using their own cells at the Novartis Morris Plains, New Jersey facility. In the US, the target turnaround time for manufacturing Kymriah in the commercial setting is 22 days. The reliable and integrated manufacturing and supply chain platform for Kymriah allows for an individualized treatment approach on a global scale. The process includes cryopreservation of a patient's harvested (or leukapheresed) cells, giving treating physicians and centers the flexibility to initiate therapy with Kymriah based on the individual patient's condition. Building on the company's experience, having manufactured CAR-T cells for over 300 patients from 11 countries across various indications in clinical trials, it has demonstrated a reproducible product. Novartis continues to advance its CAR-T manufacturing expertise in Morris Plains where we have been supplying CAR-T cells for global clinical trials and where we continue to invest in support of the anticipated demand to meet the needs of patients.

Novartis has also successfully established the CTL019 manufacturing process at the Fraunhofer-Institut for cell therapy and immunology (Fraunhofer-Institut fur Zelltherapie and Immunologie) facility in Leipzig, Germany, which currently supports the manufacturing of CTL019 for global clinical trials.

Novartis Leadership in Immuno-Oncology

Novartis is at the forefront of investigational immunocellular therapy as the first pharmaceutical company to initiate global CAR-T trials, and has significantly invested in CAR-T research and worked with pioneers in the field. KymriahTM, the first approved CAR-T cell therapy, is the cornerstone of this strategy. Active research programs are underway targeting other hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, and include efforts focused on next generation CAR-Ts that involve simplified manufacturing schemes and gene edited cells.

Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) US Important Safety information (for patients up to 25 years of age with B-cell precursor ALL that is refractory or in second or later relapse)

The full prescribing information, including Boxed WARNING, for Kymriah can be found at: https://www.pharma.us.novartis.com/sites/www.pharma.us.novartis.com/files/kymriah.pdf

Kymriah may cause side effects that are severe or life-threatening, such as Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) or Neurological Toxicities. Patients with CRS may experience symptoms including high fever, difficulty breathing, chills/shaking chills, severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, severe muscle or joint pain, very low blood pressure, or dizziness/lightheadedness. Patients may be admitted to the hospital for CRS and treated with other medications.

Patients with neurological toxicities may experience symptoms such as altered or decreased consciousness, headaches, delirium, confusion, agitation, anxiety, seizures, difficulty speaking and understanding, or loss of balance. Patients should be advised to call their health care provider or get emergency help right away if they experience any of these signs and symptoms of CRS or neurological toxicities.

Because of the risk of CRS and neurological toxicities, Kymriah is only available through a restricted program under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) in the US called Kymriah REMS.

Serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, may occur after Kymriah infusion. Kymriah can increase the risk of life-threatening infections that may lead to death. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider right away if they develop fever, chills, or any signs or symptoms of an infection.

Patients may experience prolonged low blood cell counts (cytopenia), where one or more types of blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets) are decreased. The patient's health care provider will do blood tests to check all of their blood cell counts after treatment with Kymriah. Patients should be advised to tell their health care provider right away if they get a fever, are feeling tired, or have bruising or bleeding.

Patients may experience hypogammaglobulinemia, a condition in which the level of immunoglobulins (antibodies) in the blood is low and the risk of infection is increased. It is expected that patients may develop hypogammaglobulinemia with Kymriah, and may need to receive immunoglobulin replacement for an indefinite amount of time following treatment with Kymriah. Patients should tell their health care provider about their treatment with Kymriah before receiving a live virus vaccine.

After treatment with Kymriah, patients will be monitored life-long by their health care provider, as they may develop secondary cancers or recurrence of their leukemia.

Patients should not drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities for 8 weeks after receiving Kymriah because the treatment can cause temporary memory and coordination problems, including sleepiness, confusion, weakness, dizziness, and seizures.

Some of the most common side effects of Kymriah are difficulty breathing, fever (100.4F/38C or higher), chills/shaking chills, confusion, severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, severe muscle or joint pain, very low blood pressure, and dizziness/lightheadedness. However, these are not all of the possible side effects of Kymriah. Patients should talk to their health care provider for medical advice about side effects.

Prior to a female patient starting treatment with Kymriah, their health care provider may do a pregnancy test. There is no information available for Kymriah use in pregnant or breast-feeding women. Therefore, Kymriah is not recommended for women who are pregnant or breast feeding. If either sex partner has received Kymriah, patients should talk to their health care provider about birth control and pregnancy.

Patients should tell their health care provider about all the medicines they take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

After receiving Kymriah, patients should be advised that some commercial HIV tests may cause a false positive test result. Patients should also be advised not to donate blood, organs, or tissues and cells for transplantation after receiving Kymriah.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," "pipeline," "launch," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, regarding our ability to implement, scale and sustain commercial manufacturing for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, regarding our ability to build and sustain a network of treatment centers to offer the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Neither can there be any guarantee that Novartis will successfully implement, scale and sustain commercial manufacturing for the investigational or approved products described in this press release, or successfully build and sustain a network of treatment centers to offer the investigational or approved products described in this press release. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, our ability to successfully implement, scale and sustain commercial manufacturing and build and sustain a network of treatment centers; the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; general economic and industry conditions, including the effects of the persistently weak economic and financial environment in many countries; safety, quality or manufacturing issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is an affiliate of Novartis which provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals and eye care. Novartis has leading positions globally in each of these areas. In 2016, the Group achieved net sales of USD 48.5 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.0 billion. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 121,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are sold in approximately 155 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis and @NovartisCancer at http://twitter.com/novartiscancer

For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.novartis.com/news/media-library

For questions about the site or required registration, please contact [email protected]

Novartis Media Relations

Central media line: +41 61 324 2200

E-mail: [email protected]





Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media Relations +41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 79 593 4202 (mobile) [email protected] Fiona Phillips Novartis Oncology Communications +1 862-778-7705 (direct) +1 862-217-9396 (mobile) [email protected]



Novartis Investor Relations

Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944

E-mail: [email protected]





Central

North America

Samir Shah +41 61 324 7944 Richard Pulik +1 212 830 2448 Pierre-Michel Bringer +41 61 324 1065 Cory Twining +1 212 830 2417 Thomas Hungerbuehler +41 61 324 8425



Isabella Zinck +41 61 324 7188





SOURCE Novartis

Related Links

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DOWNTOWN DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A record-breaking 1 million people attended events in Downtown Des Moines (DSM) affiliated with the Greater Des Moines Partnership in 2017.

Downtown DSM is home to internationally award-winning events including the Des Moines Arts Festival and Downtown Farmers' Market presented by UnityPoint Health  Des Moines. The Downtown Farmers' Market saw 650,000 patrons descend on the Historic Court District over 26 Saturdays between May and October to support the nearly 300 family farmers, bakers, artists and crafters from around Iowa.

In total, 1,053,100 people experienced Downtown DSM's world class amenities firsthand through events organized in partnership with or produced by The Partnership. Over 1,450 volunteers helped bring those events to life.

"The number of people attending events in Downtown DSM underscores the momentum of the entire region," said Jay Byers, CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. "The vibrancy of Downtown DSM has led to more people living, working and visiting and has been a major contributing factor in our region's status as the fastest-growing metro in the Midwest according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers."

According to police estimates, event attendance from Jan 1. to Dec. 31, 2017 breaks down as follows:

650,000  Downtown Farmers' Market presented by UnityPoint Health  Des Moines

235,000  Des Moines Arts Festival

90,000  World Food & Music Festival

33,300  Brenton Skating Plaza

20,000  Downtown Winter Farmers' Market presented by UnityPoint Health  Des Moines

14,000  Events Under The Canopy at Brenton Skating Plaza

5,300  Out to Lunch

5,000  GuideOne ImaginEve!

500  Wonder of Words Festival

The 2017 Downtown attendance number is 15,000 more than 2016. To view events lined up for 2018, click here.

About the Greater Des Moines Partnership

The Greater Des Moines Partnership is the economic and community development organization that serves Greater Des Moines (DSM), Iowa. Together with 23 Affiliate Chambers of Commerce, more than 6,100 Regional Business Members and more than 320 Investors, The Partnership drives economic growth with one voice, one mission and as one region. Through innovation, strategic planning and global collaboration, The Partnership grows opportunity, helps create jobs and promotes DSM as the best place to build a business, a career and a future. Learn more at DSMpartnership.com.

SOURCE Greater Des Moines Partnership

Related Links

https://www.dsmpartnership.com


Partsmaster supplied hand tools, electric grinders, wire stick electrodes, welding helmets, cutoff wheels, welding gloves and jackets, carts and safety equipment. They also provided safety training and industry knowledge that will enable the inmates to excel in the welding program.

"Partsmaster is proud of the service and supports our dedicated associates provide to their local communities," stated Partsmaster President, David Weiss. "We are honored to partner with Jackson County Correctional Institution to provide the tools necessary for inmates to transition back into society with the potential of employment opportunities."

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal addressed volunteers and recognized the efforts of everyone involved in the creation of the program. Deal expressed many thanks and emphasized the impact that this program will have on the Jackson County community. Also in attendance were Warden Johnny Weaver, Deputy Warden Terry Shadburn, and Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum.

About Partsmaster

Partsmaster is a premier Maintenance, Repair & Operations (MRO) solutions provider dedicated to making customers' work easier. Our industry-leading solutions increase customer productivity, improve user safety, increase asset longevity and promote environmental responsibility. Our exclusive brands include Cryotool cutting tools; Dyna Systems fastener lines; Mega Metal polymer repair compounds; Trust-X high productivity abrasives; X-Ergon welding products; and Partsmaster Services.

Partsmaster was established in 1968 as a division of NCH Corporation, a global leader in industrial and commercial maintenance products and services since 1919. NCH has over 8,000 employees, with branch offices and manufacturing plants located on five continents. NCH is relied upon by companies in over 50 countries to solve maintenance problems with the most innovative and effective products and services.

Partsmaster is your experienced and strategic MRO partner. Partsmaster makes your work easier! For more information visit www.partsmaster.com.

SOURCE Partsmaster

Related Links

https://www.partsmaster.com/


"Avion has become a leading aspirational lifestyle brand in the fast-growing ultra-premium tequila category. This acquisition is important for Pernod Ricard USA as we focus on premiumization and building brands that consumers are passionate about," said Paul Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of Pernod Ricard USA. "We look forward to continuing to develop and grow this exciting brand."

"This clearly displays Pernod Ricard's commitment to this high-potential brand which was voted World's Best Tasting Tequila at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition," said Ken Austin, Founder and Chairman of Tequila Avion. "The Pernod Ricard people, distributors and brokers have been and will continue to be key drivers in taking Avion to the next level."

About Tequila Avion

Tequila Avion is an ultra-premium tequila founded by Ken Austin and produced with third generation agave growers from single source rare Blue Weber agave from Jesus Maria in the highest region of Jalisco, Mexico. Tequila Avion's distinct flavors are created slowly in small batches using a meticulous, time intensive distilling process and proprietary ultra-slow filtration Tequila Avion is available in Silver, Reposado, Anejo, Espresso Liqueur and Avion Reserva 44 Extra Anejo. Avion was named Best Tasting Unaged White Spirit and Best Tasting Tequila in the World at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In July 2014, Pernod Ricard (RI: EN Paris), No.2 in the Wine & Spirits sector, took a majority interest in Tequila Avion. For further information, or to locate bars, clubs, restaurants and liquor stores that sell, stock, or carry Tequila Avion, please visit TequilaAvion.com. Fans can also follow Tequila Avion on Facebook at facebook.com/TequilaAvion or on Instagram @TequilaAvion.

About Pernod Ricard USA

Pernod Ricard USA is the premium spirits and wine company in the U.S., and the largest subsidiary of Paris, France-based Pernod Ricard SA. The company's leading spirits and wines include such prestigious brands as Absolut Vodka, Avion Tequila, Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky, The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahlua Liqueur, Malibu, Martell Cognac, Olmeca Altos Tequila, Beefeater Gin, Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, Monkey 47 Gin, Plymouth Gin, Seagram's Extra Dry Gin, Hiram Walker Liqueurs, Lot No. 40 Canadian Whiskey, Midleton Irish Whiskey, Powers Irish Whiskey, Redbreast Irish Whiskey, Smithworks Vodka, Smooth Ambler Whiskey, Pernod, and Ricard; such superior wines as Jacob's Creek, Kenwood Vineyards, Campo Viejo and Brancott Estate; and such exquisite champagnes and sparkling wines as Perrier-Jouet Champagne, G.H. Mumm Champagne and Mumm Napa sparkling wines.

Pernod Ricard USA urges all adults to consume its products responsibly and has an active campaign to promote responsible drinking. For more information on this, please visit: www.responsibility.org.

SOURCE Pernod Ricard USA
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PieShell, the crowdfunding platform that focuses on food & beverage innovation, announce that they have raised over $370k through equity crowdfunding.

The investment helps to grow its revolutionary crowdfunding platform, further disrupts the fintech fundraising community, and fuels PieShell's growth.

In its first year, PieShell helped 15 new food-space startups raise capital. Each of the innovative companies launched on PieShell reached its first stepping-stone. Those funds, vital for early-stage companies, supporting inventory, innovation, and marketing costs.

Cheryl Clements founded PieShell in October 2016 and is a regular guest speaker, featuring recently at Expo East, and most recently on CNNMoney with Maggie Lake.

Cheryl launched PieShell after searching for a food orientated crowdfunding site only to discover there wasn't one! PieShell quickly gained traction in an industry hungry for innovation, and now nurtures the best ideas, taking them from kitchen tables to the boardroom.

PieShell investors include some of the most interesting US based entrepreneurs and angel investors including Wilson Tsai, Peeled Snacks founder Noha Waibsnaider and her husband Ian Kelleher, and Adam Simons of The Clorox Company, who joined the PieShell team as advisors.

PieShell will expand into equity crowdfunding and raise their brand profile to attract more entrepreneurs and funders. London strategy & creative agency Brand Love, have agreed to partner with Cheryl to further communicate PieShell's message across the US and, ultimately, into Europe and Asia.

PieShell has been also been selected by WeWork for their new concept Area 51 , a launchpad and startup community described by WeWork as made of curious entrepreneurs who are changing humanity in innovative and disruptive ways. Area 51, featured in Wired magazine this week, is a custom designed co-working space helping foster collaboration and meaningful relationships. PieShell has moved into Area 51 located in WeWork's Hudson Street space in New York City.

PieShell can now execute its strategic plan, nurture and further support new entrepreneurs, and move into equity crowdfunding. These steps support the fast-changing environment and the increasing demand from Millennial and Gen Z entrepreneurs who are choosing crowdfunding as their preferred route for raising capital for launch and expansion. PieShell is also now poised to be the pivotal crowdmarketing tool to test and launch new food, beverage, and foodtech brands.

www.pieshell.com

SOURCE PieShell

Related Links

https://www.pieshell.com/


WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash., Jan. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PLANE TRUTHS, a new documentary by filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young, examines the community impacts of U.S. Navy expansion in the Puget Sound region.

Recent growth of Navy training activities in the Northwest has many local residents concerned. Community members on Whidbey Island, the San Juans, and the Olympic Peninsula are disturbed by an increase in noise caused by new EA-18G "Growler" jets based at Naval Air Station Whidbey (NAS)  and a significant proposed expansion of daily Growler test flights. On Whidbey, communities have been additionally impacted by water system pollution caused by chemicals used for firefighting on NAS landing strips.

The new 30-minute film PLANE TRUTHS explores a variety of perspectives on these issues from farmers, current and retired military personnel, environmentalists and other citizens of the affected areas. Viewers will learn how the noise of the Growler jets has affected daily life and business operations in many communities, the regional environmental impacts of expanded Growler flights and newly approved Navy training in Olympic National Forest, potential economic ramifications of increased Navy activity and associated population growth, and the status of  and Navy response to  water system pollution on Whidbey Island.

PLANE TRUTHS will be shown at community screenings in various locations around the Pacific Northwest beginning on Jan. 18. Learn more, view current screenings, and sign up to receive email notifications as new screenings are scheduled at: www.planetruths.org.

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS

Whidbey Island-based filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young (Moving Images) are veteran documentary producers, with prestigious awards from CINE, Houston, Columbus, Prix Leonardo, International Wildlife, Women in Film/Seattle, Chicago, NW Film and Video Festivals. Six of their films have been broadcast nationwide on PBS, most recently, SHIFT CHANGE [2014], which explores the worker cooperative business model. Their production, CULTIVATING KIDS [2016], showcases the unique school farm program in the South Whidbey school district.

ONLINE MEDIA PREVIEW

PLANE TRUTHS is available for members of the media to view online. The producers request that this link not be shared. Preview URL: https://vimeo.com/237826030 [Password: olf].

PHOTO RESOURCES

High resolution images are available upon request.

MEDIA CONTACT

Natasha Dworkin, Matterhorn Creative, 206.715.1696, [email protected]

Related Links

Learn More

SOURCE Moving Images
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free. Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Phaseout of DACA

Why President Trump's Strategy Must Be Challenged

R&D Support for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's

MEDIA JOBS

Reporter/Editor/Researcher  A Team (Home)

Reporter  International Trade Today (DC)

Creative Director, Editorial Lab  Wall Street Journal (NY)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

Our 2018 Blogging Resolutions

Media Insider: Glamour's New Editor-in-Chief, Facebook Tests New App for Local News

Blog Profiles: Organizational Blogs

-------------------------------------------------------------------

EXPERT ALERTS:



Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Phaseout of DACA

Lua Yuille

Associate Professor of Law

University of Kansas School of Law

Yuille can discuss a federal judge blocking President Trump's phaseout of DACA, immigration law, DREAMERS, immigration and appeals of the ruling. Yuille said the decision will "keep DACA partially alive for its existing recipients, which is an important but small victory in what will continue to be an uphill battle for meaningful immigration reform in the country's undocumented communities."

Contact: Mike Krings, [email protected]



Why President Trump's Strategy Must Be Challenged

Harlan Ullman

Chairman

The Killowen Group

Dr. Ullman recently penned a piece for UPI on President Trump's strategy: "As with his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the president received nothing in return other than the thanks of Benjamin Netanyahu and other pro-Israeli supporters. No strategy or plan was apparent to underwrite this unilateral and very unwise decision. But the president seems to respond viscerally and without any consideration of the consequences. For those anti-Trumpists particularly in the so-called 'resistance,' these latest tantrums and outbursts create an opportunity. To defeat the Trump agenda, the president must be isolated from his base. Partisan politics will not help. The more Democrats express anger, the more likely will this congeal presidential support from his base." (Full article: https://tinyurl.com/yd62tzu5)

Based in Washington, D.C., Ullman chairs the Killowen Group, which advises leaders of government and business at the highest levels, including presidential candidates here and abroad, through a brains-based approach to strategic thinking. He is a former naval officer with combat commands in the Vietnam War and later in the Persian Gulf, and has developed a reputation as a strategic thought leader and thinker in the public and private sectors. He is known for the doctrine of shock and awe and sits on advisory boards for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander US Forces Europe. Currently a senior advisor to the Atlantic Council and Business Executives for National Security, he was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the National Defense University and professor of military strategy at the National War College. A student and practitioner of global economies, he writes often on the financial crises in UPI and other media, and sits on the boards of both private and public companies in the high-tech and financial services sectors. He is also the author of "Anatomy of Failure."

Previous TV clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGP9BJtfylY

Website: http://harlanullman.net

Contact: Ryan McCormick, [email protected]



R&D Support for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's

Christopher Bishop

Professor of Psychology

Binghamton University

Pfizer's announcement to halt support for research and development into Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease comes at a difficult time for the several million patients that currently suffer from these devastating neurodegenerative diseases, according to Bishop. This is compounded by the burgeoning elderly population, as new diagnoses are only expected to rise in the years to come. Says Bishop: "Yet, this trend of divestment is not new for large pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, who have found neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's either to be intractable to traditional pharmacological approaches or have had difficulty improving upon mainstay drugs. It remains to be seen how this strategic change in research and development by a major industry player will alter the trajectory towards treatments or cures, but it is clear that bolstering other sources of research will be paramount. Although the current Trump administration has threatened to cut medical research support, Congress has been largely supportive. In addition, companies like Pfizer have stated they will continue to invest in venture endeavors that might spawn new approaches for the future."

Bishop is currently conducting Parkinson's research that focuses not only on the treatment of the disease, but also in the side effects of treatment. Current projects, funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, investigate neuroplasticity in the brain serotonin system that may provide a novel target for the reduction of Parkinsonian symptoms and side effects that occur as a result of chronic drug therapy.

Website: https://www.binghamton.edu

Contact: John Brhel, [email protected]

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Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

Reporter/Editor/Researcher  A Team (Home)

Reporter  International Trade Today (DC)

Creative Director, Editorial Lab  Wall Street Journal (NY)

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OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected]

OUR 2018 BLOGGING RESOLUTIONS: Every January, we start the new year focused on what we'd like to change or do better with our writing and blogging. It's our way of checking in to make sure we're where we want to be personally, professionally and, frankly, with our blog. Here's where our heads are as we gear up for another year on Beyond Bylines: http://prn.to/2Fq8j23

MEDIA INSIDER: GLAMOUR NAMES NEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FACEBOOK TESTS NEW APP FOR LOCAL NEWS. Media Insider is PR Newswire's roundup of media stories from the week. In this week's edition, we look at Glamour's new editor-in-chief; Facebook's new app specifically for local news and events; BBC's news editor quitting her post to protest gender pay gap; and more: http://bit.ly/2ARpiqG

BLOG PROFILES: ORGANIZATIONAL BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and profiles a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the conversation. This week, they look at a few organizational blogs: http://prn.to/2mtwXqw

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To contact ProfNet: [email protected] or 800-776-3638, ext. 1

SOURCE ProfNet

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(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629862/Wingify_The_State_of_Push_Notifications_2018.jpg )

"Web Push Notifications have risen tremendously in usage, importance, and adoption in the last year. Over 50% of the audience we studied told us that they prefer opting in to notifications from the websites of their choice. This gives an edge to Web Push Notifications, a completely permission-based medium unlike its mobile counterpart," said Paras Chopra, CEO of Wingify.

The report uncovers two pivotal aspects of this nascent technology: audience perception and response to Web Push Notifications, and marketers' approach to use the medium. It also uncovers the demographic that displays the highest awareness levels about this technology, a key piece of information that'll help businesses decide if Push Notifications are the right marketing channel for reaching out to their customers.

The study also features insights mined by PushCrew's Data Science team to help marketers understand their subscribers better, by delving deep into subscriber preferences in terms of Timing, Frequency, Richness - all important in making Push Notifications more relevant and personalized, as preferred by 40% of the audience.

Other interesting findings include the evolution of the Push Notification user landscape: domains like e-commerce and online media have advanced from being early adopters to dominant users of this technology. The study also tracks the evolution of the technology itself; according to the report, 100% of the marketers who participated in the study consider Rich Push Notifications an important part of their Marketing Communications.

The report itself is free for download here, from the PushCrew website.

About PushCrew:

The second product from the makers of VWO, PushCrew is the most popular web push notifications platform in the world. With features like audience segmentation, smart campaigns, multi-website support, custom images, cart abandonment, and so on, PushCrew has everything a business needs to reach out to their customers, real-time. With more than 4,500 customers, PushCrew's customers include Lenovo, Vistaprint, gaming giant Ubisoft, Claire's Stores, and College Humor.

Media Contact:

Anshul Kumar,

Head of Marketing for Wingify,

+91-9619190958

[email protected]



SOURCE Wingify
BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock today released a new study, #RelationshipGoals: How Americans are Saving Together, which found that while 74 percent of couples share a checking account and 68 percent sharing a savings account, nearly one-third have feelings of anxiety, confusion or fear when it comes to saving with their partner. The study comes on the heels of John Hancock's launch of Twine, a new collaborative saving and investing app built for couples to help simplify saving for major life milestones. The app was also recently highlighted by Apple as the "App of the Day."

One thousand adults in long-term relationships were surveyed for the study, asking how and why finances are managed collaboratively, what their top financial goals are and why long-term goals can be especially hard to reach.

Can we Talk?

Communication was found to be the biggest challenge when it comes to saving money together, with 57 percent of those surveyed noting they avoid bringing it up on a daily or weekly basis. Despite a majority of respondents indicating they talk to their partner about financial goals, it's the how and where they are talking about these goals that may be impacting getting on the same page and truly working toward achieving them:

70% discuss financial goals only sporadically or during a casual conversation

52% discuss them over a meal at home

21% discuss over a meal in a restaurant

8% discuss them via text message.

"These findings highlight a key issue for consumers navigating their finances: saving and managing money can be difficult and confusing," said Steve Dorval, head of advice and innovation at John Hancock. "We see a major opportunity here to help couples and families reach their financial goals through technology, with hopes that we can make saving money a painless experience that empowers people to live their best lives."

If I had a million dollars...

For those who are willing to pool their finances, the likelihood to impulse purchase or splurge when extra money comes in is hindering couples' ability to reach life goals. To reveal more about saving versus spending amongst partners, respondents were asked to share how they allocate extra funds - whether they are gifted, received as a bonus or won. Results showed that the smaller the reward, the less likely people are to save it, and the more likely they are to spend it alone rather than with their partner. Large sums of money, while great to put in a savings account or retirement fund, are fewer and far between, and relying on a yearly tax return or holiday bonus to reach financial goals just delays crossing the finish the line.

Where would you put extra cash?



$50 $100 $500 $1,000 $5,000 Spend it on myself 66%







Towards a shared life goal

42% 55%



Savings or retirement account





56% 69%

"The survey validates what we have heard from focus groups and early Twine users - they want to work together with their partner to achieve the important goals that make life worth living, but need more education and helpful tools to help them make progress," said Uri Pomerantz, founder and CEO of Twine. "Our goal in developing Twine is to provide a solution that simplifies saving and investing for couples, helping to keep everyone on track with an eye toward their goals."

The team at Twine offers the following #SavingsHacks for couples can try determined from the study:

Consider using technology to help keep on the same page about their goals. Of the 38 percent of survey respondents who are using an app or technology to manage or save their money, more than three-quarters (84 percent) said it has helped them in some way - whether that's saving more money, saving faster or forcing saving behaviors.



Save in smaller, consistent amounts. It's more successful, and far more predictable.



Pick a goal to achieve in the next one, five, 10, even 20 years, and figure out how much to save monthly. Establish a timeline for and commit to an automatic savings plan

Methodology

This report was commissioned by John Hancock and fielded by independent research firm Equation Research in November 2017. The responses were generated from a survey 1,013 people ages 25+, who self-identified as being in a committed relationship for two years or more and have a household income of at least $50,000.

About Twine by John Hancock

Twine is the first savings app built for two. It simplifies saving for major milestones like weddings, down payments and vacations. With a simple interface and intuitive dashboard, Twine makes it easy to open and manage goal accounts and keeps you and your partner on the same page. Twine is backed by John Hancock, leveraging the company's 150 years of stability and expertise to provide bank-level security to keep user information and accounts safe. Twine is currently available for iOS in the App Store. To download, visit http://apple.co/2BZWCjJ. Twine is a service provided by John Hancock Personal Financial Services, LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser.

About John Hancock and Manulife

John Hancock is a division of Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were over $1 trillion (US$806 billion) as of September 30, 2017. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as MFC on the TSX, NYSE, and PSE, and under 945 on the SEHK. Manulife can be found at manulife.com.



One of the largest life insurers in the United States, John Hancock supports approximately 10 million Americans with a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments, 401(k) plans, and college savings plans. We also offer advice through Signator, a network of independent financial advisors. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

PR-2018-04

SOURCE John Hancock

Related Links

http://www.johnhancock.com


CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- GCM Grosvenor today announced that Renae Griffin has joined the firm as a Director in a newly created role. Previously, Griffin was CEO of RG + Associates, a firm she founded in 2001 to focus on market strategy and business development consulting for emerging and diverse asset managers, which has annually sponsored its flagship ConsortiumEAST and ConsortiumWEST conferences for over a decade.

In her new role, Griffin will assist GCM Grosvenor in expanding its industry-leading small, emerging and diverse manager platform, which currently has cumulative commitments to small and emerging managers totaling $15 billion, including $3 billion in commitments to minority-owned and diverse asset managers across a number of asset classes. Griffin will focus on developing effective strategies for institutional investors, federal, state and local government agencies, corporations and non-profits to expand their exposure to high-quality emerging and diverse asset managers. Ms. Griffin will also be instrumental to integrating the Consortium conference series into the GCM Grosvenor Small and Emerging Managers Conference.

"As I explored a partnership to further the work of improving diversity in the asset management industry, I wanted to partner with a team that had a proven track record of doing so while generating top tier investment results," said Griffin. "I have worked with GCM Grosvenor for many years, and have great respect and admiration for the firm's influence and market leadership in the smaller, emerging and diverse manager space. Specifically, I was drawn to the firm's full suite of capabilities, ranging from seeding managers, to anchoring fund commitments, providing secondary capital, and co-investing across the spectrum of the alternative asset management industry. Diversity and inclusion is at the heart of GCM Grosvenor's culture; the firm has a long history of being a catalyst for change in the industry and I'm excited to be joining the team," Griffin said.

"Having known of Renae's work for years when this opportunity arose, it was an easy, resounding 'yes,'" said Michael Sacks, Chairman and CEO of GCM Grosvenor. "This is a perfect fit - Renae has effectively convened LPs, GPs and other stakeholders to address the important issues associated with small, emerging, and diverse asset managers. Addressing these issues and driving outcomes is a highly valued part of GCM Grosvenor's work, and the opportunity to partner with Renae is exciting. Renae's Consortium series and our conference are the preeminent events in the space. We are excited to combine our efforts, deliver even more value to the marketplace and work together to drive equal access to capital for diverse asset managers," Sacks said.

Griffin began her career in finance in 1982 with Bankers Trust Company in the commercial lending group. In 1986, Griffin joined Capital Guardian Trust Company. In 1995, she joined Progress Investment Management Company as a marketing director responsible for investor relations, institutional investor marketing and strategy to many of the largest public institutional investors in the country. Griffin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco. She is a member of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP), Rotary International, and the Private Equity Women Investment Network.

About GCM Grosvenor

We invest on behalf of clients who seek allocations to alternative investments, such as private equity, hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure. With approximately $50 billion in assets under management, we are one of the world's largest and most diversified independent alternative asset management firms.

We specialize in developing customized portfolios for clients who want an active role in the development of their alternatives programs. We also offer multi-client portfolios for investors who desire a turn-key solution. Our offerings include multi-manager portfolios as well as portfolios of direct investments and co-investments.

As part of our broad investment activity across hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure and real estate, we have developed specific expertise in small, emerging and diverse manager investing. GCM Grosvenor's cumulative commitments to these managers total approximately $15 billion. Through our active support of diverse investment programs, and sponsorship and participation in targeted conferences, we are a strong advocate for diversity in the broader financial services industry.

GCM Grosvenor is headquartered in Chicago with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul.

SOURCE GCM Grosvenor
BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BioDirection, a privately held medical device company developing novel and rapid point-of-care products for the diagnosis and management of concussions and other acquired traumatic brain injuries, today announced the appointment of retired Brigadier General Jack Hammond to the company's Military Advisory Board.

"As co-chairman of our Military Advisory Board, I am excited about working alongside General Hammond to develop and implement strategies for broadening our relationship with the Department of Defense and the U. S. Military," said Stephen Brackett, director of BioDirection. "General Hammond has a passion for the safety and well-being of our military developed over his distinguished career in the U.S. Army. We are indeed fortunate to have a man of his experience on our team."

During his distinguished 30-year military career in the U.S. Army, General Hammond commanded troops at the platoon, troop, battalion, and brigade level both at home and abroad, becoming the first Massachusetts officer to achieve the rank of general officer in a combat theater since World War II. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program that is dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war affecting service members, veterans, and their families including post traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Boston-based organization provides a unique, intensive clinical care program, fitness and wellness-based programs, and education and research.

"I have worked closely with Steve Brackett through Home Base, and as a result have observed the development of BioDirection over the last few years," said General Hammond. "The time is right for the company to aggressively pursue military applications for its point-of-care Tbit System, which is well-suited for use in both military training and deployment situations."

After a brief deployment to Afghanistan in 2002, General Hammond deployed to Iraq in 2003 with the invasion force and simultaneously commanded two battalions; Task Force Patriot in Balad performing stability and security operations, and Task Force Enforcer in Fallujah conducting counter-insurgent operations. In Kabul, Afghanistan from 2011-2012, General Hammond commanded Task Force Yankee as the senior U.S. commander for Kabul Province. He was responsible for a multi-national security force of 3,000 personnel, providing security and support for 11 U.S. installations and 10,000 coalition members conducting counterinsurgency operations, humanitarian assistance, and area support missions.

General Hammond is the recipient of numerous military awards including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal for Valor with Oak Leaf Cluster, French Medal of National Defense, and Bulgarian Medal of Mission Support. A native of Reading, Massachusetts, he holds a bachelor of science from the University of Massachusetts, a master's degree in healthcare marketing from Boston University, and was a national security fellow at Harvard University.

About BioDirection, Inc.

BioDirection is a privately held medical device company developing novel and rapid point-of-care technologies for the objective diagnosis and management of concussion and other traumatic brain injury (TBI). The company's lead product, the Tbit System, delivers biologically-based results shown to accurately confirm a TBI/concussion. BioDirection's platform system utilizes a patented bio-nanowire technology with the potential for use in a range of applications in point-of-care diagnostics. To learn more about BioDirection, visit http://www.biodirection.com.

Contact:

Adam Daley Eric Goorno, President & CEO Berry & Company Public Relations BioDirection, Inc. Tel: +1 (212) 253-8881 Tel: +1 (508) 308-8592 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

SOURCE BioDirection, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.biodirection.com


NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Signature Family Wealth Advisors, an independent multi-family office and family wealth management firm, is pleased to welcome Massey Family Management/Triad LC. The families of Ivor and Gene Massey will become clients of the firm, and Triad team members will be joining the Signature Richmond office.

With the merger, Signature not only adds to its portfolio a family with deep roots in Richmond, but also a talented team of professionals who understand how to serve successful families effectively and efficiently. The Triad team includes professionals Greg Suskind, Suzann Ridge, Lanky Hicks and Kristina Spacek-Spivey. They will join Chris Rusbuldt in Signature's Richmond office.

"We are thrilled to welcome the Masseys and the Triad team to the Signature family," says Randy Webb, President and CEO of Signature. "As a multi-family office, we bring an enhanced ability to source talented employees, more buying power, and greater access to investment managers and opportunities."

The decision to merge its single-family office into a multi-family office setting is the result of well-researched and thoughtful deliberations regarding the most effective succession strategy for Massey Family Management. Decisive factors were the Masseys' longstanding familiarity with Signature and Signature's expertise in customizing financial management strategies to the needs of individual families.

Ivor Massey considers the merger "the next evolution of the family office. The combination with Signature provides better long-term financial management with the added advantage of ensuring our employees an advantageous career path."

"Signature also brings access to a strong business professional network and focused attention on the unique needs of the families we serve," adds Webb. "We look forward in the future to bringing these capabilities to other single-family firms."

Signature Family Wealth Advisors

Signature is a Virginia-based multi-family office, offering clients comprehensive strategies and solutions for all aspects of their financial life. With assets under management in excess of $4 billion, Signature takes an intelligent approach to creating customized plans for their high net worth individuals and families. For more information on Signature visit www.SignatureFamilyWealth.com.

SOURCE Signature Family Wealth Advisors

Related Links

http://www.signaturefamilywealth.com


MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Saint Mary's Press Catholic Research Group and The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University (CARA) have unveiled the results of an unprecedented two-year national study on why young people are leaving the Catholic Church.

According to Saint Mary's Press President and CEO, John Vitek, the comprehensive report, Going, Going, Gone! The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics, offers compelling and sometimes difficult insights into the reasons young people are leaving the Catholic Church and religion in general.

"This study was all about young people telling their stories of why they left the church in their own words, uncensored and unfiltered," said Vitek. "Some of what was said by youth about the Catholic Church is disturbing and unpleasant, but it's critical for church leaders to hear it without casting blame or trying to explain it away."

The findings were released at a symposium at the Maritime Conference Center in Baltimore, hosted by Saint Mary's Press. More than 200 people gathered to hear a nondenominational discussion about the findings. Two days of discussion with nearly 65 national leaders in the Catholic Church followed the symposium.

Vitek hopes the church can embrace and seriously reflect on the truthfulness and candor in these stories in a way that helps the church come up with meaningful solutions to keep young people engaged.

Saint Mary's Press, which is based in Winona, Minnesota and celebrates its 75th Anniversary this year, is known for producing educational content for Catholic youth. Vitek said that he and his team were compelled to learn more about why young Catholics leave the church following the Pew Research Center findings in May 2015 about the growth of the "Nones," people who don't affiliate with any religion. Of all the major denominations, Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes.

The Saint Mary's Press/CARA study found that the largest demographic of disaffiliated Catholic youth claim no religious affiliation.

When asked their current religion:

35 percent identified as having no religious affiliation

29 percent said they are some other non-Protestant Christian affiliation

14 percent identified as an atheist or agnostic

9 percent identified as Protestant

Fewer than one in ten of the remaining responded with some other religious affiliation, such as Mormon, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Eastern Orthodox Christian, or Muslim

When asked at what age they no longer identified themselves as Catholic, 74 percent of the sample said between the ages of 10 and 20, with the median age being 13 years old.

"The reasons most adults think young people leave the church are not the reasons young people leave the church," Vitek said. "There are so many assumptions made by adults that are simply not accurate. When you hear a young person tell their story in their own words, it's really instructive and clarifying. Clarity, accuracy, and truth open the doors to authentic insight and understanding."

The study found that disaffiliation is a process that happens over time for young people, typically prompted by a series of events or unresolved questions that simply accumulate. The report stated that many disaffiliated youth believe in what Jesus taught, but they perceive organized religion as having corrupted Jesus' fundamental teachings. They see the church's dogmas and doctrines as nonsensical, and they believe they can live more moral lives without the baggage of religion. Many perceive that religion was forced on them, and they report feeling freer and happier without what they experience as the burden of religion.

"It's clear that church leaders will need to open their minds and their hearts in order to view disaffiliation not as a grave threat, but as a new reality in which the church's evangelizing mission must function in wholly new ways," Vitek said. "Most young people still believe in God and want to be connected spiritually, but they also believe that religion is just one path to a fulfilled life. A critical first step for the church is to provide a nonjudgmental place for young people to openly and honestly wrestle with their questions, struggles, and doubts about faith and religion. If we don't, they will leave and find a place where they can."

Vitek said that Saint Mary's Press will continue to advocate for the voice of youth in the Catholic Church by continuing to collect and share personal stories through their research web site www.catholicresearch.smp.org.

Methodology

Saint Mary's Press and The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate interviewed 204 of the 5.4 million individuals in the United States who are former Catholics between the ages of 15 and 25. Interviews were conducted September 10  23, 2015. The report has a margin of sampling error of +/- 6.86 percentage points, considered a statistically sound sample.

The full report Going, Going, Gone! The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics is available at www.catholicresearch.smp.org.

About Saint Mary's Press

Saint Mary's Press is a nonprofit publishing partner to Catholic schools, parishes, and families, providing human and Christian educational resources for youth. Founded in 1943 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Saint Mary's Press is committed to touching young people's hearts and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in an engaging way that is relevant to pre-K to 12th grade students.

Contact:

Sarah Wheeler

[email protected]

612.547.5017

SOURCE Saint Marys Press
Under the BPA, Salient CRGT will support the full provisioning, engineering, operations, and administration of application hosting services for the HHS Staff Divisions (StaffDivs) and small Operating Divisions (OpDivs) that ITIO serves. These services (including data center environmental services, server administration, managed security services, 24x7x365 monitoring, and Cloud migration) will ensure HHS StaffDiv and OpDiv access to the applications they use to perform their business missions.

"We are pleased to join Sev1Tech and ITIO in providing quality, cost-effective, and secure infrastructure solutions and services to the HHS StaffDivs and OpDivs," said Tom Ferrando, President of Salient CRGT. "Our team is focused on technical excellence and first rate customer service, enabling HHS mission performance and further enhancing ITIO's Shared Service offerings."

About Salient CRGT

Salient CRGT provides federal civilian, defense, homeland, and intelligence agencies, as well as Fortune 1000 companies, with expertise and leadership in health, data analytics, cloud, agile software development, mobility, cyber security, and infrastructure solutions. We support these core capabilities with full lifecycle IT services and trainingto help our customers meet critical goals for pivotal missions. The most innovative talent delivery model in the industry, scientifically providing exactly the right people for the customers' most pressing requirements, fuels these critical capabilities. Salient CRGT has earned a record of success with integration and operations of largescale, highvolume solutions. On March 1, 2017, Salient CRGT completed its acquisition of Information Innovators, Inc.visit newsroom and explore www.salientcrgt.com .

Tweet: @Salient_CRGT awarded subcontract to deliver IT Support Services to #HHS http://bit.ly/1MGSz5l

SOURCE Salient CRGT, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.salientcrgt.com


" Savage Youth " , the film directed by Michael Curtis Johnson ("Hunky Dory"), and produced by Michael Peluso (Producer of TV's "The Voice" and "America's Got Talent") in Association with HIVENTURE MEDIA SA , has been officially selected to premiere worldwide at this year's Slamdance Film Festival . Savage Youth will be featured in the "Beyond" program. "The films in the Beyond Program exhibit singular directorial vision while sharing a common commitment to challenge audiences to step outside their comfort zones", says Beyond programmer, Josh Mandel . "These bold and adventurous filmmakers represent the most current voices in American independent film, and will continue to push boundaries in the years ahead."

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629895/HIVENTURE_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629894/Grace_Victoria_Cox.jpg )



A brutal examination of doomed youth exiled to society's edge, "Savage Youth" portrays the lives of six troubled teens in a racially-divided small town while events take a violent turn over drugs and broken hearts. The worldwide Premier will be on Monday the 22nd of January 2018 at 21:45 at the "Gallery", Slamdance HQ, Screening Rooms and Filmmaker Lounge. Thomas Sanne, Director of Hiventure Media SA, has quoted: "We are thrilled to participate in such an exciting Festival with this amazing project and team behind it, in which we believe strongly. We are especially honoured as this is our first foray as Hiventure Media into Film, and are excited by what the future will bring."

Starring Grace Victoria Cox ("Heathers", "Under the Dome", "Twin Peaks"), Tequan Richmond ("General Hospital", "The Shield", "CSI", "Everybody Hates Chris"), Will Brittain ("Kong: Skull Island", "Everybody Wants Some!!"), Chloe Levine ("The OA", "House of Cards", "The Transfiguration"), it is based on true events. Steve Dollar, the "Wall Street Journal Online" and "Billboard" contributor, has quoted: "Savage Youth (), is both stylized and understated in its slow-burn towards a brutal true-crime episode drawn from events in the filmmaker's hometown of Joliet."

About HIVENTURE MEDIA SA (Luxembourg):

Active in Luxembourg and Internationally with a slate of projects in the Development and Production of Digital and Multimedia Content, HIVENTURE MEDIA SA focuses on a selected few that are best suited to bridge the digital gap, and appeal to Millennials utilizing their preferred channels. Packaged into content to be launched using guerrilla marketing tactics gaining traction and validation, HIVENTURE MEDIA SA produces locally with Global Markets in mind. The Production Company is a Socially Disruptive Force to be reckoned with, bringing progressive change through positively reinforcing messages targeted to Tomorrow's Decision Makers. Strong believer in the democratizing forces within the Mobile, Digital Media & the Shared Economy, it targets issues such as Unemployment amongst the young, Equitable Justice, and Youth Dissatisfaction, striving to speak to their target in a language they get. For example, HIVENTURE MEDIA SA is currently launching an innovative Multiplatform Reality Show called "Appetite For Disruption", with which they strive to spread the Culture of Innovation and Digital Start-Ups as an antidote to youth redundancy.

For more Info, please Contact Mr. Thomas Sanne @ Hiventure Media SA:

email: [email protected]

Web: www.hiventuremedia.com

Links:

http://slamdance.com/SLAMDANCE-2018-ANNOUNCES-BEYOND-FEATURES-AND-SHORT-FILM-COMPETITIONS

https://www.instagram.com/savageyouthfilm/

https://twitter.com/savageyouthfilm?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/savageyouthfilm/

http:// www.hiventuremedia.com

http://appfordisruption.com/en

SOURCE HIVENTURE MEDIA SA
LYNDHURST, N.J., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Scarinci Hollenbeck is pleased to announce that Paul A. Lieberman, a distinguished Financial Services attorney with over 30 years of legal expertise, has joined the firm as Partner. Mr. Lieberman will be located in Scarinci Hollenbeck's Red Bank, NJ and Manhattan, NY law offices. Mr. Lieberman will apply a client-centric focus to his legal representation involving all aspects of the financial services industry. He will also counsel clients on various issues related to formation and governance, regulation, litigation, compliance and risk management, transactions, supervision, Cybersecurity and privacy. With his decades of experience in multiple practices, the addition of Mr. Lieberman adds significant depth to Scarinci Hollenbeck's Corporate Transactions & Business Law and Litigation groups.

Seasoned Financial Services Attorney in NY and NJ, Paul A. Lieberman

"Given his wide-ranging expertise and decades of legal practice, I'm excited to welcome Paul to Scarinci Hollenbeck. I believe he will be a valuable resource for our clients and that he will establish himself as yet another example of the talented and growing pool of attorneys representing the firm," said Russell Ascher, Executive Director of Scarinci Hollenbeck.

"I am happy to be a part of Scarinci Hollenbeck because I feel the firm offers a significant amount of support and value to both myself and my existing clients. I look forward to being a part of the legal team and continuing to expand the firm's capacity to serve clients in the financial sector and beyond," said Paul Lieberman.

Distinguished Legal Practice

Prior to joining Scarinci Hollenbeck, Mr. Lieberman was Partner at Eaton & Van Winkle, LLP where his practice focused on administrative, regulatory compliance matters, transactional matters, and all aspects of commercial litigation and ADR. He was able to achieve successful defenses of SEC, FINRA and state administrative proceedings against Broker-Dealer and Investment Adviser principals/officers and employees as well as investment advisers. His litigation practice involves the prosecution and defense of arbitrations, mediations and civil litigation, and serves as regulatory counsel to clients providing guidance on regulatory, compliance, legal and risk management developments, including improvements in firm policies and procedures across all business lines. He coordinates with what he regards as client "teams" in the review and development of enhancements to policies, procedures, training and implementation of strategic changes to meet the requirements of new legal and regulatory developments.

In addition to his financial and regulatory legal practice, Mr. Lieberman has also focused his practice on Cybersecurity and Privacy matters. Mr. Lieberman has also assisted clients in the selection of "best of breed" expert vendors in E-discovery matters as well as managing the spectrum of Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). Combining his decades of experience with his proficiency in several practices, Mr. Lieberman provides invaluable advice on legal matters facing clients of varying backgrounds, which makes him a valuable and welcome addition to Scarinci Hollenbeck.

For more information on Paul A. Lieberman and his practice please see his bio at www.sh-law.com/attorneys/paul-a-lieberman.

About Scarinci Hollenbeck

With a growing practice of more than 65 experienced attorneys, Scarinci Hollenbeck is a regional alternative to a National 250 law firm. Named among NJBiz's 2017 Best Places to Work list, we have offices in New Jersey, New York City, the District of Columbia, and now San Francisco, California. We serve the niche practice areas most often required by institutions, corporations, entities, and the people who own and control them. We offer a full range of services necessary to assist clients in business law. We have developed our corporate transactions & business law practice with the expertise and specialization necessary to serve our clients in a cost-effective and professional manner. We apply this approach in our work on the behalf of the numerous clients we represent. More information on our firm's expertise and range of practice can be found on our website: www.sh-law.com.

Contact: Peter Moeller

Telephone: 732-780-5590

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Scarinci Hollenbeck, LLC
SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Snowflake Computing, the only data warehouse built for the cloud, today announced that registration is open for its 2018 Cloud Analytics World Tour, which will include the US, Europe and inaugural events in Australia. The Snowflake global event series spans February 6  May 10 and will center on the theme "Unite the Data Nation." Each half-day event will bring together the brightest minds to discuss the latest trends, best practices and lessons learned in data warehousing and data analytics.

Attendees will gain evidence-based insights and the tools and techniques they need to unite data, people and technology across their organizations. The international tour kicks off in London and will visit 14 cities over four months, ending in Melbourne. The tour is expected to draw thousands of senior business leaders, analytics professionals and IT professionals from the US, Europe and Australasia.

"Across the world, people at organizations of all sizes are trying to unify their tools, people and data for more effective and insightful analytics," Snowflake's Chief Marketing Officer, Denise Persson said. "The Cloud Analytics World Tour will help attendees escape the restraints of legacy technology, empower everyone in the organization with data, and create a truly global enterprise data warehouse that unlocks all the value hidden in all of their data."

Confirmed speakers from the Snowflake Cloud Analytics World Tour include:

David Abercrombie , senior staff engineer, Sharethrough

, senior staff engineer, Sharethrough John Adams , CTO, Bringhub

, CTO, Bringhub Trevor Beuthel , lead DW/BI engineer, Vibes

, lead DW/BI engineer, Vibes Martha Bennett , principal analyst at Forrester

, principal analyst at Forrester Tom Davenport , best-selling author and professor at Babson College

, best-selling author and professor at Guy DeCorte , founder and chief technology officer, Gravy Analytics

, founder and chief technology officer, Gravy Analytics Ryan Frazier , director of systems engineering and operations, Harvard Business School

, director of systems engineering and operations, Matt Glickman , vice president of product, Snowflake

, vice president of product, Snowflake Deeraj Haridas, director of business intelligence & analytics, Vibes

Claudia Imhoff , president and founder of consultancy, Intelligent Solutions Inc.

, president and founder of consultancy, Intelligent Solutions Inc. Craig Kelly , group product manager, Overstock.com

, group product manager, Overstock.com Bob Muglia , CEO, Snowflake

, CEO, Snowflake Philippe Nieuwbourg, analyst, author and lecturer at Decideo

Robert Parviainen , vice president of data science, Seriously Digital Entertainment

, vice president of data science, Seriously Digital Entertainment Tommi Vihervaara, development manager, BI and data analytics, Finavia

Tristan Woerth , head of data science, siroop

, head of data science, siroop Jason White , senior director, software engineering, Blackboard

The Cloud Analytics World Tour will include free half-day events at:

London  February 6

Paris  February 8

Stockholm  February 13

Munich  February 15

San Francisco  March 13

Seattle  March 15

Denver  March 20

Austin  March 21

Atlanta  March 22

Chicago  April 10

Washington, D.C.  April 12

New York City  April 17

Sydney  May 8

Melbourne  May 10

Each event will include:

A presentation from a lead industry analyst on the state of cloud data analytics.

Powerful use cases that expose the limitations of traditional data warehousing and reveal what cloud data warehousing can deliver.

Best practices from partners and customers, who will share how built-for-the-cloud data warehousing transformed their struggles into successes.

Q&A sessions between industry experts and event attendees followed by a networking reception.

The Snowflake Cloud Analytics City Tour is brought to you by Snowflake's strong ecosystem of technology and solution partners including Wipro, Talend, Tableau and Looker. Secure your seat for the Cloud Analytics World Tour here: http://bit.ly/cloudanalyticstour2018

Resources

About Snowflake Computing

Snowflake is the only data warehouse built for the cloud. Snowflake delivers the performance, concurrency and simplicity needed to store and analyze all data available to an organization in one location. Snowflake's technology combines the power of data warehousing, the flexibility of big data platforms, the elasticity of the cloud, and live data sharing at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. Snowflake: Your data, no limits. Find out more at www.snowflake.net.

SOURCE Snowflake Computing

Related Links

http://www.snowflake.net


WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Solo Trekker 4 U has launched an exclusive, patent-pending solo travel software tool that revolutionizes how solo travelers find trips on the internet. This one-of-a-kind software is only available at https://SoloTrekker4U.com. This exciting "solo travel search" innovation is called the Solo Travel Pricing Tracker. It is designed to give solo travelers an easy way to find and access travel providers based on the best pricing structure for those traveling alone. Now solo travelers can search for tour providers that meet their travel specifications, but have no or very low single-supplement fees. In addition, this search tool gives solo travelers a way to identify more than 200 hotels priced specifically for those traveling alone.

"Solo travelers can end up paying double or even triple in some cases! The challenge for solo travelers is finding the right deal out of thousands of search engine results. Our Solo Travel Pricing Tracker solves this problem letting travelers choose a destination and type of trip linked to no to low single supplement providers. This gives both solo travelers and travel providers an easy and free way to connect online," said Solo Trekker 4 U Founder Elizabeth Avery.

Solo Trekker 4 U's proprietary database includes 900+ providers with 26,000+ departures. Solo travelers can find best deals without getting out a calculator to compare percentages charged or searching through millions of traditional web search results. Although there is no magic wand to make single supplements disappear, the Solo Travel Pricing Tracker is the only software tool to link destinations and types of trips with 5 different solo travel pricing models.

The Solo Travel Pricing Tracker is only available through https://SoloTrekker4U.com's Home Page by clicking a tab at the top. Solo travelers can easily pick tours that work for them. It will take financial worry out of Solo Travel.

About Solo Trekker 4 U

Solo Trekker 4 U was launched in 2012 to connect those traveling alone with a travel network with low to no single supplements. The Solo Travel Pricing Tracker is an initial step making solo travel deals easier to identify and access for a wide range of budgets and travel styles. (Transactional fees for bookings are borne by the hotel or tour provider.)

Media Inquiries: [email protected]

SOURCE Solo Trekker 4 U

Related Links

https://SoloTrekker4U.com


NEW YORK, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Canada's impending legalization of recreational marijuana has triggered a surge in investment activity as investors lean toward Canadian companies as a less-risky entry point into the broader cannabis industry. With unprecedented product demand on the horizon, consumers trends are shifting toward the pursuit of the 'cannabis lifestyle', rich in a wide range of high-quality retail products, accessories and experiences. This emerging marijuana-centered subculture has the potential to drive incredible opportunity for companies like premium cannabis lifestyle brand DOJA Cannabis Ltd. (CSE: DOJA) (OTC: DJACF) (DOJA Profile), as well as cannabis producers and service providers such as Nutritional High International Inc. (CSE: EAT) (OTC: SPLIF) (FRANKFURT: 2NU), Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. (CSE: GLH) (OTC: GLDFF), New Age Farm Inc. (CSE: NF) (OTC: NWGFF) (FSE: ONF) and MedReleaf Corp. (TSX: LEAF).



It was fitting that 2017 was known as the year of Greenery, since the ongoing progress of cannabis legalization across North America has generated record breaking growth within the industry. Emergent mainstream trends such as celebrity strains, cannabis-inspired haute-couture, and artisan edibles have all signaled the popularity of a newly revolutionized, sophisticated, and lucrative 'cannabis lifestyle'. These initiatives suggest that the next generation of cannabis consumers fantasizes of a world where the cannabis experience extends beyond the bud - to assorted oils, finely crafted smoking accessories, fashionable apparel, and cafes that infuse comfort and sociability into the lifestyle.



From grow rooms and medicinal products to edibles and payment solutions, cannabis presents investors with an exploding market of diversity and growth. According to a recent Bloomberg report (http://nnw.fm/Xo0Ts) that quotes cannabis market research firm the Brightfield Group, global legal cannabis sales are expected to climb to $31 billion by 2021, with the majority of those sales expected to stem from the United States and Canada.



With Canadian legalization of recreational cannabis looming, the opportunity for a brand to become the 'Starbucks' of Canadian cannabis is bigger than ever. Positioning itself squarely in the 'cannabis lifestyle' space is British Columbia-based DOJA Cannabis Company Ltd. (CSE: DOJA) (OTC: DJACF), which operates as a premium cannabis lifestyle brand and is a licensed marijuana producer under Canada's Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR). With an eye on emerging opportunities within the cannabis market, standing out as Canada's premier cannabis lifestyle brand is a primary aim for DOJA. The company has the brand-building experience to make a big impact on the cannabis space - DOJA's CEO and founder is none other than Trent Kitsch, a proven brand maven who developed SAXX Underwear into one of the fastest growing premium men's underwear brands in North America.

Lifestyle branding through strategic M&A



Recently, DOJA announced its binding Letter of Intent to acquire Tokyo Smoke (http://nnw.fm/MbMW9) - a merger that will create a uniquely positioned cannabis company that combines a class-leading craft cannabis producer with an award-winning lifestyle brand and retail-focused cannabis company. The emerging company, Hiku Brands Company Ltd., is in reference to the brand house that will contain DOJA, Tokyo Smoke, and Van der Pop-all increasingly recognizable premium cannabis brands.



Huge players are taking notice and investing in this endeavor. Recently, DOJA announced the closing of a $12.5 million non-brokered private placement led by industry leader Aphria Inc. (http://nnw.fm/i0zqY).



This strategic investment combined with a related supply agreement will help secure cannabis concentrate supply for Hiku's premium brand portfolio, the strategic partnership with Aphria brings unmatched cannabis production experience and ensures secured supply for what is anticipated to be a supply-constrained market when Canada's recreational legalization goes into effect.



The merger will also reportedly foster the creation of Canada's first retail-focused craft cannabis producer boasting a portfolio of highly recognizable brands. Hiku will be strategically positioned to become the foremost craft cannabis brand house within the Canadian adult-use cannabis market and the only craft cannabis producer to have a significant national retail presence and a growing portfolio of premium cannabis lifestyle brands.



Hiku has multiple highly recognizable brands and strategies in place to operate retail cannabis stores across various Canadian provinces, ranging from Eastern Canada to Western Canada with further expansion plans in view. This will represent an unprecedented platform through which the company can build brand awareness and reach consumers. Vertically integrated operations are positioning Hiku to offer exclusive retail products in Hiku-owned stores and to achieve superior margins in comparison to its peers. Hiku will prioritize its retail expansion in provinces that allow private cannabis retail, while DOJA and Tokyo Smoke will respond to the Government of Manitoba's Request for Proposals to establish retail cannabis stores throughout that province.



Following the merger, Hiku will have a projected cash balance of approximately $31 million, expectations are that the company will be well-positioned to expand within the Canadian cannabis market and stretch its reach into emerging global cannabis markets.



Leveraging the profit of positive customer experience



The industry-leading management entities that will be at the helm of Hiku boast broad expertise with a proven track record of building and scaling businesses, including SAXX Underwear and a $100 million+ business at Google. Hiku's supporting team brings extensive knowledge in retail, cannabis, finance, design, marketing and creative fields.



"We have created the leading brand house in cannabis, where high quality and design will shape the cannabis future," DOJA CEO Trent Kitsch stated in a recent press release (http://nnw.fm/jV8Ae). "I am confident Hiku will be trusted by consumers to design better customer experiences and products, resulting in greater market share. Tokyo Smoke's experienced management team has proven its ability to build and acquire respected cannabis brands and create brand awareness in a difficult-to-navigate regulatory environment. We see leveraging those skills and their strong retail operating abilities as highly complementary to our current operations and beneficial to the long-term trajectory of our company. The combination of cannabis production, retail footprint, and a portfolio of cannabis brands gives us the opportunity to realize the significant value of complete vertical integration."



Cannabis cultivation remains key



As a licensed cannabis producer under the ACMPR through its wholly-owned subsidiary Northern Lights Marijuana Company, DOJA currently operates a 7,100-square-foot production facility that is licensed by Health Canada. The company recently acquired second facility is a 22,580-square-foot warehouse where its FUTURE LAB will be housed. The FUTURE LAB will be a state-of-the-art extraction facility for which the company plans to acquire an oil production license. With the completion of the FUTURE LAB, DOJA anticipates its corporate cannabis production capacity will surpass 5,000 kg per year. Phase 1 completion of the FUTURE LAB is anticipated by Q2 of 2018. The facility will utilize an industry-leading multi-tier system powered by LED lighting from Fluence BioEngineering.



Supplementing its medical cannabis production license, DOJA, through its subsidiary, has also applied for a cannabis sales license through the ACMPR, which it expects to receive soon.



Focused on branding premium cannabis flower and extracts, DOJA is bringing a handcrafted approach to the cannabis space. The company's marijuana is grown indoors, and all flower is hand-trimmed and hang-dried to enhance flavor, quality and crystal content.



As part of its focused efforts to foster the "cannabis lifestyle" and help build a cannabis subculture, DOJA recently debuted its first Culture Cafe, located in Kelowna. This high-end cafe and cannabis access center hosts events such as cannabis information nights and doctor discussions for medical cannabis patients, and individuals can also schedule private events at the facility. Following national recreational cannabis legalization, DOJA plans to move toward incorporating a cannabis dispensary within the venue and to open additional culture cafes.



Potential Industry Comparables



Other cannabis players poised to support and capitalize on Canada's burgeoning cannabis lifestyle include Nutritional High International Inc. (OTCQB: SPLIF), a company focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing premium and consistently dosed cannabis-infused products, including edibles and oil extracts for nutritional, medical and adult recreational use. Nutritional High recently entered into a definitive agreement in connection with a joint venture (http://nnw.fm/H5byH) with Abba Medix Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (CSE: CHV), to manufacture cannabis oil extracts and cannabis-infused products in Canada under the ACMPR. As part of this joint venture, Nutritional High and Abba will build-out a production facility at Abba's Pickering location to house a cannabis oil extraction operation that is focused on the production of oils and extracts. Nutritional High is also working closely with Abba to secure a supplemental license from Health Canada to produce medical cannabis oils, with sights set on serving Canada's recreational market as soon as the proper regulatory frameworks are in place.



One of the biggest providers of cannabis oils and solutions in North America, Golden Leaf Holdings Ltd. (OTCQB: GLDFF) is another standout cannabis company on the Canadian landscape that is taking part in the growth of the cannabis lifestyle in that country. Through its branded Chalice Farm retail dispensaries as well as through third-party dispensaries, Golden Leaf Holdings cultivates, extracts, manufactures and distributes its cannabis products. The company recently acquired Medical Marijuana Group Consulting Ltd., which is a medical marijuana consulting company adept at finding and securing insurance coverage for medical cannabis patients and also a leader in cannabis treatment for veterans. The acquisition secures long-term, loyal and profitable customers and will strengthen Golden Leaf Holdings' Canadian market strategy. In November 2017, Golden Leaf also secured, through its subsidiary, a cultivation license from Health Canada for a state-of-the-art grow facility in Ontario, with an intention to submit expansion plans for additional growing space, oil extraction labs and edible production space.



Contributing to Canada's cannabis lifestyle in a more unique way, New Age Farm Inc. (OTC: NWGFF) is an agricultural services company that offers turnkey growing infrastructure and innovative solutions and services for licensed growers and processors of luxury marijuana crops. Through its subsidiary company, NHS Industries Ltd., New Age Farm owns 5.5 acres of prime agricultural land in Langley, B.C., that encompasses more than 48,000 square feet of greenhouse capacity and 80,000 cubic yards of saleable peat soil. The Langley property was spun out as a separate business in 2016, allowing New Age Farm to separate its Canadian and U.S. operations and to pursue further business in Langley as Canada moves toward recreational cannabis legalization. When Canada legalizes recreational marijuana, NHS plans to be ready to accept licensed tenant-growers at its Langley Property. When the Langley Property is completed, it will house a cutting-edge production, processing and warehouse facility where small-scale marijuana grower-producers can produce value-added products derived from their crops. This will increase potential revenue for the growers and will also maintain an ongoing seed-to-sale revenue stream for NHS. Clients will be able to utilize the NHS facility for purposes of growing, processing, storing and distributing their products all from one location, enabling them to lower their overhead.



Another company striving to foster the cannabis lifestyle not just in Canada but on a worldwide scale is MedReleaf Corp. (TSX: LEAF). A licensed Health Canada producer, MedReleaf is the first, and currently the only, ICH-GMP and ISO 9001 certified cannabis producer in North America. The company's mission is to improve quality of life for its patients and to expand global understanding of cannabis and its therapeutic benefits through a broad range of research initiatives. MedReleaf is R&D-driven and offers a variety of premium-quality medical cannabis products that are sourced globally and are carefully cultivated in two state-of-the-art facilities located in Ontario.



As public opinion regarding cannabis continues to evolve and legalization measures advance around the world, the emergence of a legal cannabis lifestyle and subculture is clear. The named Canadian players are endeavoring to foster this developing cannabis lifestyle in Canada and worldwide as Canada prepares for blanket legalization of recreational marijuana use and positions itself to be a global marijuana leader.



For more information on DOJA Cannabis Company, visit DOJA Cannabis Company Ltd. (CSE: DOJA) (OTC: DJACF).

For a more in-depth look into DOJA Cannabis (CSE: DOJA) (OTC: DJACF), view the full report on Microsmallcap.com.

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AKRON, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- State and Federal Communications, Inc., the information leader in researching and presenting complex political compliance laws for government relations professionals in the U.S. and Canada, is introducing a new European publication.

'I COMPLY European Political Compliance Laws' complements the four other publications in the family of services, each covering a specific area related to lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying. The publications are used by government relations professionals, corporate compliance officers, contract lobbyists, and legal and professional firms. They can be accessed at: https://www.stateandfed.com

According to Ms. Elizabeth Bartz, President & CEO of State and Federal Communications, the new European publication has been developed for several reasons. "We have an established reputation in the U.S. and Canada in our industry. Companies trust us to keep them current with the latest lobbying compliance regulations and laws. This publication has been an outgrowth as we further help our many multi-national clients with their compliance reporting needs in international markets where compliance reporting laws can be quite different," she explains.

The new publication offers entries for the European Union, United Kingdom, and Republic of Ireland and uses the same online format used for the U.S. and Canadian compliance publications to find what lobbying and campaign finance activity is permissible and subject to disclosure in any listed jurisdiction.

Ms. Bartz says these publications are considered invaluable to knowing, understanding, and complying with all the various government laws regarding compliance, and to accurately report activities to government entities as needed. Government relations professionals need to know the unique restrictions and obligations in each jurisdiction where advocacy efforts occur. If they do not, this can result in civil and criminal convictions. Violating lobbying and campaign finance laws can result in removal from the registry, costly fines, unwanted media exposure, and even imprisonment.

All online I COMPLY publications are well researched, continually updated with fresh content, and available 24/7. Annual publication subscriptions can be purchased individually or in specially priced combination bundles.

The company's 2018 brochure of services is available at: http://www.stateandfed.com/files/State_Fed_Brochure.pdf

Ordering information is at http://www.stateandfed.com/services/order-guides/

Contact: State and Federal Communications, Inc., 80 South Summit Street, Suite 100, Akron, Ohio 44308 USA, or call +1-330-761-9960.

Norbert Hobrath, Director, Sales & Branding

State and Federal Communications, Inc.

[email protected], +1-440-212-3520

SOURCE State and Federal Communications, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.stateandfed.com


In their report How High the Bar?, the National Superintendents Roundtable and Horace Mann League linked the performance of foreign students on international tests of reading, mathematics, and science to the proficiency benchmarks of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the United States' longest continuing assessment of students. They also examined major assessments related to the Common Core.

The report notes that very few students in most nations would clear the NAEP proficiency bar the U.S. has set for itself in reading, math, and science:

In no nation do a majority of students meet the NAEP Proficient benchmark in Grade 4 reading.

Just three nations have 50 percent or more of their students meeting the Proficient benchmark in Grade 8 math ( Singapore , Republic of Korea, and Japan ).

, Republic of Korea, and ). Only one nation has 50 percent or more of its students meeting the Proficient benchmark in Grade 8 science ( Singapore ).

"Many criticize public schools because only about one third of our students are deemed to be 'proficient' on NAEP assessments," says Dr. James Harvey, executive director of the National Superintendents Roundtable. "But even in Singaporealways highly successful on international assessmentsjust 39 percent of fourth-graders clear NAEP's proficiency benchmark."

Citing the U.S. Department of Education's own records, the report criticizes the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for NAEP, for misusing the term "Proficient." The term does not mean what many assume it to mean: performing at grade level. Nor does it mean proficient as most people understand the term, according to Department officials.

"Misuse of the term has confused the public and defeated the valuable purpose of assessment, which is to gain useful insights into school performance," says Jack McKay, director of the Horace Mann League.

Far from failing, the U.S. ranked fifth among the world's 40 largest and wealthiest nations in Grade 4 reading at the NAEP Proficient benchmark. Singapore, the Russian Federation, Finland, and England ranked ahead.

The research behind How High the Bar? compared NAEP to two international assessments known as the Progress on International Literacy Survey (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Benchmarks also used for Common Core and college-and-career readiness

The report indicates that in 2015, 43 states used tests to evaluate learning related to the Common Core. They include tests associated with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC), as well as tests developed by individual states. Many have adopted benchmarks similar to NAEP's, labeling them as "career and college readiness" standards.

When Common Core assessments are aligned with NAEP's benchmark of Proficient, state test results are also likely to contribute to a narrative of public school failure, conclude the report authors.

Controversy in setting standards

The report also criticizes the speed by which the National Assessment Governing Board adopted the benchmarks.

The National Superintendents Roundtable and Horace Mann League call on NAEP to redefine its basic terminology, and to include a disclaimer in all of its publications reaffirming Congressional insistence that the benchmarks should be used cautiously and on a trial basis. The report also encourages school leaders to educate communities about the flaws with the term Proficient and how school systems abroad would perform if held to the same standard.

"This report doesn't endorse an anti-testing agenda or seek to lower standards. We believe in assessment," says Harvey. "But in the words of a Turkish proverb, no matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back."

The statistical analysis of How High the Bar? was performed by Emre Gonulates of Michigan State University.

The report, a summary, and a video are available at superintendentsforum.org.

About the sponsors

The National Superintendents Roundtable (superintendentsforum.org) is a community of school superintendents who learn, discuss and meet regularly with worldwide experts, sharing best practices and leading for the future.

The Horace Mann League (hmleague.org) is an association of educators committed to the principles of public education. Its members believe the U.S. public school system is an indispensable agency for strengthening democracy and a vital, dynamic influence in American life.

SOURCE National Superintendents Roundtable

Related Links

http://www.superintendentsforum.org


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tahoe Resources Inc. ("Tahoe" or the "Company") (TSX: THO, NYSE: TAHO) welcomes the announcement today that Canada will establish the office of Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise.

Ron Clayton, President and CEO of Tahoe: "We applaud the government's announcement today to appoint a human rights ombudsperson to oversee Canadian mining and other industries abroad. Independent oversight will strengthen best practices, ensure transparency within the mining industry and promote safe and responsible mining operations in Canada and abroad. Today's action is a positive step forward for the Canadian mining and extractive industry and we look forward to working with the new Ombudsperson."

Tahoe is committed to responsible and sustainable business practices in all aspects of its mining operations in Canada and abroad and adheres to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

About Tahoe Resources Inc.

Tahoe's strategy is to responsibly operate mines to world standards and to develop high quality precious metals assets in the Americas. Tahoe is a member of the S&P/TSX Composite and TSX Global Mining indices and the Russell 3000 on the NYSE. The Company is listed on the TSX as THO and on the NYSE as TAHO.

For further information, please contact:

Tahoe Resources Inc.

Alexandra Barrows, Vice President Investor Relations

[email protected]

Tel: 775-448-5812

SOURCE Tahoe Resources Inc.
CHICAGO and MUMBAI, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, today announced the expansion of a strategic partnership with Shure Incorporated, a world-renowned audio equipment manufacturer.

As a part of this collaboration, TCS has established a Global Development Center to help build cross-platform and mobile enabled software for Shure's leading edge audio technology and solutions for an exceptional end-user customer experience. TCS already plays an important role in the assurance and end-to-end system integration testing of some of Shure's new product lines, and Shure will now have the capability to leverage TCS' Innovation Labs and expertise in digital technologies including IoT and Cyber Security to create secure, scalable, and differentiated audio products and solutions

"The Establishment of a dedicated Global Development Center and Innovation labs will bring together talent, tools and frameworks, enabling Shure to adapt their current offerings and launch new products harnessing the potential of new transformational digital technologies," said V. Rajanna, Vice President and Global Head, Technology Business Unit, TCS. "We are excited to expand our relationship with Shure as a Strategic Engineering Services partner."

"Our expanded collaboration with TCS will allow us to complement our core team and create innovative new product offerings more efficiently by leveraging TCS Innovation Labs to better serve our global customers," said Shure CTO and Executive Vice President Dr. Avi Vaidya. "TCS' emphasis on customer focused account teams and digital solutions is in alignment with Shure's business strategy. We look forward to the future of our collaboration with TCS."

The TCS collaboration has provided Shure the agility and scale for software solutions for over five years and will help continued innovation ito the future.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that partners with many of the world's largest businesses in their transformation journeys. TCS offers a consulting-led, Cognitive powered, integrated portfolio of IT, Business & Technology Services, and engineering. This is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 390,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $ 17.6 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.

To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News.

About Shure Incorporated, USA (Shure Inc.)

Founded in 1925, Shure Incorporated (www.shure.com) is widely acknowledged as the world's leading manufacturer of microphones and audio electronics. Over the years, the company has designed and produced many high-quality professional and consumer audio products that have become legendary for performance, reliability, and value. Shure's diverse product line includes world-class wired microphones, wireless microphone systems, in-ear personal monitoring systems, conferencing and discussion systems, networked audio systems, award-winning earphones and headphones, and top-rated phonograph cartridges. Today, Shure products are the first choice whenever audio performance is a top priority.

Shure Incorporated is headquartered in Niles, Illinois, in the United States with more than 30 additional manufacturing facilities and regional sales offices throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia.

SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services

Related Links

http://www.tcs.com


ATLANTA, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It's officially 2018 and what better way to start the new year than to snap up some of the best incentive deals that January has to offer? While many car shoppers tend to see their purchasing options as black and white, new or used, a certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicle can be the perfect blend for those who are on a strict budget, but are not willing to compromise on the reliability and comfort that comes with purchasing a new vehicle.

"While CPO vehicles are often lightly used, with a long manufacturer-backed warranty, they come at a great discount from the new price," said Tara Trompeter, managing editor for Autotrader. "Enticing car shoppers further, many automakers also offer special deals and incentives on CPO vehicles. And to ring in the new year, a number of automakers have added January exclusive incentives to their already strong programs."

The editors at Autotrader have rounded up some of the top CPO deals this month to help welcome in 2018 and guide car shoppers.

Autotrader Editors' Top Picks for CPO Deals for January 2018

BMW's CPO program boasts bumper-to-bumper coverage for up to one year from the expiration of the original factory comprehensive warranty, which lasts for four years or 50,000 miles. Want more coverage? No problem. This warranty can be extended for a fee. Plus, through the end of February, shoppers can also get a CPO 2014 or 2015 3 or 5 Series with 1.49 percent interest for up to 60 months.

Buick's CPO program is particularly appealing, as it offers an extra year of bumper-to-bumper protection in addition to six years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage from the original sale date. On top of this impressive program, through the end of March Buick is also offering 1.9 percent interest on all CPO Buick Enclave and Encore models.

Similar to Buick, Ford's CPO program offers an extra year of bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage, along with seven years or 100,000 miles of powertrain protection from the original sale date. However, Buick is going the extra mile this month, offering 1.9 percent interest for up to 36 months, 2.9 percent for 60 months, and 3.9 percent for 72 months on all CPO models.

Infiniti also touts a top-of-the-line CPO program, offering protection for vehicles for up to six years from the original sale date, with no mileage limit in some cases. Making the program even more alluring, through the end of the month qualified shoppers can get 1.25 percent interest for up to 36 months on all 2013-2018 CPO Infiniti models.

Land Rover's CPO program is among the best in the luxury car world, as it boasts up to seven years or 100,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage from the original sale date. To top off this leading program, qualified shoppers through the end of the month can land excellent financing deals, with some models offering 0.9 percent interest for 24 months and either 1.9 or 2.9 percent for up to 60 months, depending on the model.

Mazda's CPO program also goes above and beyond this month. In addition to offering one year of bumper-to-bumper coverage and up to seven years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage from the original sale date, qualified shoppers through the end of the month can also get 0.9 percent interest for up to 36 months on any CPO Mazda.

Subaru's CPO program offers seven years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage from the original sale date. While the program may not extend the original bumper-to-bumper warranty, Subaru, through the end of the month, is touting 1.49 percent on CPO vehicles for up to 36 months.

Volvo also boasts an industry-leading CPO program, offering a strong warranty that covers vehicles for up to seven years or 100,000 miles from the original sale date. For car shoppers with an eye on a Volvo S60, January is the time to buy. Through the end of the month, Volvo is touting 0 percent interest for up to 24 months on all CPO 2015 S60 models.

To see Autotrader's full coverage of the top CPO programs mentioned and available inventory, please visit https://www.autotrader.com/car-deals/cpo-deals-january-2018-272396.

For more information and news from Autotrader, visit press.autotrader.com, follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Autotrader_com (or @Autotrader_com), Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/autotrader_com/ (or @autotrader_com), like our page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/autotrader/, add us on Snapchat (@Autotrader_com), and get updates at Google+ at https://plus.google.com/+Autotrader.

About Autotrader

Autotrader connects with more actual car buyers than any other third-party listing site, with the most engaged audience of in-market shoppers. As the foremost authority on automotive consumer insights and expert in online and mobile marketing, Autotrader makes the car shopping experience easy and fun for today's empowered consumer looking to find or sell the perfect new, used or Certified Pre-Owned car. Using technology, shopper insights and local market guidance, Autotrader's comprehensive marketing solutions guide dealers to personalized digital marketing strategies that grow brand, drive traffic and connect the online and in-store shopping experience.

Autotrader is a Cox Automotive brand. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit http://press.autotrader.com.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, financial, retail and wholesale solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader, Dealer.com, Dealertrack, Kelley Blue Book, Manheim, NextGear Capital, vAuto, Xtime and a host of other brands. The global company has 32,000-plus team members in more than 200 locations and is partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises' other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com/.

SOURCE Autotrader

Related Links

http://www.autotrader.com


Lin currently serves as a board observer of 4iQ, Attivo Networks and Bayshore Networks.

"I'm excited to be a part of this category-defining firm and diverse team with deep expertise and relationships," Lin said. "The ability to work with our collective network of partners, entrepreneurs, customers and advisors has been a tremendous learning opportunity."

Tushar Kothari, the CEO of Attivo Networks, a leader in deception-based threat detection, is also impressed with Lin's strengths. "Will is incisive. Additionally, he has the network to make relevant connections that are very beneficial," Kothari said.

About Trident Capital Cybersecurity

Trident Capital Cybersecurity (TCC) is a $300 million venture fund focused on investing in early stage and select growth equity cybersecurity companies. The firm is well known as the venture capital firm with peerless connections in cybersecurity. Its 47-person Cybersecurity Industry Advisory Council, including industry executives, serial entrepreneurs, customers and former government leaders, is often recognized for its insights, connections and go-to-market support of portfolio companies. TCC's current portfolio companies include 4iQ, Appthority, Attivo, Bayshore Networks, ID Experts, IronNet Cybersecurity, Prevoty and ReversingLabs. The team has been investing in cybersecurity since 1998 and made 34 cybersecurity investments throughout their investment careers.

For more information visit www.tridentcybersecurity.com. Contact: Jennifer Jones, [email protected]

SOURCE Trident Capital Cybersecurity

Related Links

http://www.tridentcybersecurity.com


For the nearly 15% of Americans living in poverty, a winter coat is a budget "extra" they can't afford. To help warm those in need, TruMoo is encouraging others to pay it forward by heating up a mug of TruMoo Chocolate Milk for a cozy treat and sharing a photo with the hashtag #WarmUpWithTruMoo. Now through February 28, for every photo taken and tagged on Twitter , Facebook or Instagram , TruMoo will help provide warmth for two people 1 .

"The #WarmUpWithTruMoo campaign allows people to support One Warm Coat with just a few clicks on their phones and a few sips from their mugs," said Jennifer Stockard, President and CEO, One Warm Coat. "We're so thankful to TruMoo for their commitment to help people stay warm and protected this winter."

"We are so proud to be partnering with One Warm Coat to help drive much-needed awareness to the importance of donating coats to those in need," said Marissa Jarratt, Vice President of Marketing and Innovation, Dean Foods. "Each year, we encourage our consumers to heat up their TruMoo Chocolate Milk to warm up and we are so excited that this year, their participation will help others stay warm and safe."

In addition to the partnership to support One Warm Coat, TruMoo is also running a promotion with JET-PUFFED Marshmallows in select stores across the country. A coupon will be available when purchasing the products together, encouraging customers to use the mini marshmallows to create a smile in their TruMoo Chocolate Milk served warm.

To learn more about TruMoo Chocolate Milk, please visit www.TruMoo.com

About Dean Foods

Dean Foods is a leading food and beverage company and the largest processor and direct-to-store distributor of fresh fluid milk and other dairy and dairy case products in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Dean Foods portfolio includes DairyPure, the country's first and largest fresh, white milk national brand, and TruMoo, the leading national flavored milk brand, along with well-known regional dairy brands such as Alta Dena, Berkeley Farms, Country Fresh, Dean's, Friendly's, Garelick Farms, LAND O LAKES2 milk and cultured products, Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms, Mayfield, McArthur, Meadow Gold, Oak Farms, PET3, T.G. Lee, Tuscan and more. In all, Dean Foods has more than 50 national, regional and local dairy brands as well as private labels. Dean Foods also makes and distributes ice cream, cultured products, juices, teas, and bottled water. Over 16,000 employees across the country work every day to make Dean Foods the most admired and trusted provider of wholesome, great-tasting dairy products at every occasion. For more information about Dean Foods and its brands, visit www.deanfoods.com.

About One Warm Coat:

The organization began in 1992 with its first coat drive on a Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco. Since its inception, One Warm Coat has grown as a national organization collecting more than 5 million coats and supporting 3,500 coat drives each year. In dedicating the last 25 years to providing a warm coat to anyone in need, free of charge, One Warm Coat's efforts have been recognized with a number of awards, accolades and rankings including Top-Rated Nonprofit by Great Nonprofits and Gold Star Nonprofit by Guidestar. The organization has collaborated with top companies such as Dean Foods to give warmth to those in need. To learn more about One Warm Coat, visit https://www.onewarmcoat.org/

1 Open to all legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. How to Enter: Share a photo of TruMoo brand chocolate flavored milk served hot on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with the campaign hashtag #WarmUpWithTruMoo January15, 2018 through February 28, 2018. For every photo shared, Dean Foods Company, the makers of TruMoo, will donate $1.00, up to $25,000.00, to One Warm Coat.

Photos should be of a wholesome nature and cannot: (a) be previously published, (b) contain material that violates or infringes another's rights, including but not limited to copyright, patent, trade name/trademark, and/or rights of privacy or publicity, slander, libel, or portrayal in a false light, (c) feature brand names or trademarks other than TruMoo. If your photo contains any individuals, be sure you have permission from them to submit the photo.

Submission of your photo automatically transfers ownership of all rights in it from you to Dean Foods Company. Entries that do not comply with these rules may be disqualified. Dean Foods Company is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, or illegible entries.

2 The LAND O LAKES brand is owned by Land O'Lakes, Inc. and is used by license.

3 PET is a trademark of Eagle Family Foods Group LLC, under license.

SOURCE TruMoo Chocolate Milk

Related Links

https://trumoo.com


Onhand for the event was Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Mint David Motl, who expressed his support for the coin's mission. "This new coin gives us all a symbol that we can hold in our hands, a way for us to directly participate in the World War I centennial period."

Terry Hamby, Chair of the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission agreed. "These veterans should be remembered. During World War I, nearly five million American men and women placed their lives on hold. Many deployed to places that most had never visited, to fight for the freedom of people they never met. They did not do this for personal gain, they did it solely to bring peace to the world."

The World War I Centennial Silver Dollar was authorized by statute in 2014 with bipartisan Congressional support. Sponsors of the legislation included U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-Missouri), and U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado).

Speaking for the co-sponsors, Rep. Lamborn said "The World War I Centennial Coin honors the sacrifice of more than 4 million Americans who served in uniform, and more than 100,000 who gave their lives. As we approach the 100th anniversary of the armistice marking the end of World War I, this coin serves as an appropriate tribute to veterans who made America and the world a safer place to live."

The obverse design of the new collectible silver dollar is titled "Soldier's Charge" and depicts an almost stone-like soldier gripping a rifle. Barbed wire twines are featured in the lower right hand side of the design. The wire design element continues onto the reverse side, in a design titled "Poppies in the Wire," which features abstract poppies mixed in with barbed wire. Barbed wire was part of the trench warfare of World War I, and poppies are the symbolic flower of veteran remembrance, a tradition that began during the war.

Designer of the collectible coin was Leroy Transfield, and sculptor was Donald Eberhart. The Secretary of the Treasury selected the winning coin design following an open design competition in 2016 judged by a six-member jury comprised of three members each from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, and chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury's designee.

Surcharges from the sale of these coins are authorized to be paid to the United States Foundation for the Commemoration of the World Wars to assist the World War I Centennial Commission in commemorating the centennial of World War I.

The Centennial Commission is a Congressional Commission, whose mission is public outreach and education about American involvement in the war. The Commission was authorized by Congress to create the new National World War I Memorial in Washington DC. This memorial will be located at DC's Pershing Park, on Pennsylvania Avenue NW and 14th Street NW, a block from the White House. The Centennial Commission receives no taxpayer funding.

The World War I Centennial Silver Dollar will be produced in limited quantities, and will be available for purchase online from the Mint through to December 28, 2018. Sales website is www.catalog.usmint.gov.

The U.S. Mint has also created special companion medals, honoring each of the military branches that served in World War I. These silver companion medals will be available from the Mint as part of five different World War I Silver Dollar and Medal Sets. Information on these sets can also be found at www.usmint.gov

The U.S. Mint's lobby gift shop at the Mint Headquarters is open to the public, and is located at 801 9th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20220. The sales counter conducts business from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Monday through Friday, and is closed on federal holidays.

CONTACTS

Chris Isleib, Director of Public Affairs

U.S. World War I Centennial Commission

[email protected]

301 641 4060

Sharon McPike, Public Affairs Specialist

Office of Corporate Communications

United States Mint

[email protected]

202 354-7228

About the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission

www.ww1cc.org

ww1cc.org/Coin

About the Foundation for the Commemoration of the World Wars

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about/the-foundation.html

World War I American Veterans Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 113212)

https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ212/PLAW-113publ212.pdf

About the new National World War I Memorial

www.ww1cc.org/Memorial

SOURCE U.S. World War One Centennial Commission

Related Links

http://www.ww1cc.org


"We're excited to be an official sponsor of Barrett-Jackson this year because they are the leader in collectible car auctions and are known around the world for putting on incredible events," said John Rothans, Chief Numismatist at U.S. Money Reserve. "Similar to our customer base, Barrett-Jackson attracts a discerning collectibles audience."

Scottsdale auction attendees looking to learn more about U.S. Money Reserve offerings can visit the company's booth in the main Salon. Car collectors interested in viewing and learning about the one-of-a-kind McLaren P1 GTR are welcome. This vehicle's features are as follows:

VIN #0001

One of only 45 manufactured

Odometer reading: only 605 miles

Top speed of 225 mph, 0 to 60 in 2.4 seconds

Serious inquiries may contact Gary Bennett at 480-290-3019

The Scottsdale Auction acts as the premier auction organized by Barrett-Jackson, The World's Greatest Collector Car Auctions, and draws more than 200,000 spectators over the eight days of the highly televised event. Widely regarded as a barometer of the collector car industry, the Barrett-Jackson auctions have evolved over the years into world-class automotive lifestyle events where thousands of the world's most sought-after, unique and valuable automobiles cross the block in front of a global audiencein person and on live national and international television. Barrett-Jackson produces "The World's Greatest Collector Car Auctions," and U.S. Money Reserve will be an official sponsor at the auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona; Palm Beach, Florida; Mohegan Sun in Connecticut; and Las Vegas, Nevada.

"We are continuing to build a collector car event for Scottsdale that is more than just an auction; it is a celebration of the automotive lifestyle," said Craig Jackson, chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson. "We are building an exciting docket covering nearly 100 years of automotive history, with some of the rarest and most sought-after vehicles. Of course, what truly makes Barrett-Jackson the ultimate automotive lifestyle event is the wide, week-long range of incredible activities and exhibits for guests of all ages."

U.S. Money Reserve is a leading distributor of government-issued precious metals and the exclusive dealer of the successful 75th Anniversary Pearl Harbor coin series from Australia's Perth Mint.

For more information or to speak with U.S. Money Reserve leadership, please contact Christol Farris at 512-568-9991 or [email protected] or Lacy Jansson at [email protected] or visit www.usmoneyreserve.com.

About U.S. Money Reserve

U.S. Money Reserve is one of the nation's largest private distributors of U.S. governmentissued gold, silver, and platinum products.

Founded in 2001, U.S. Money Reserve has grown into one of the world's largest private distributors of U.S. and foreign governmentissued gold, silver and platinum legal-tender products. Hundreds of thousands of clients across the country rely on U.S. Money Reserve to diversify their assets with physical precious metals, primarily in the form of U.S. gold and silver coins.





U.S. Money Reserve's uniquely trained team includes coin research and numismatic professionals equipped with market knowledge to find products for precious metals buyers at every level. U.S. Money Reserve goes above the industry standard to provide superior customer service, with the goal of establishing a long-term relationship with each and every one of its customers. U.S. Money Reserve is based in Austin, Texas. Like them on Facebook, connect on LinkedIn, and follow on Twitter.

About The Barrett-Jackson Auction Company

Established in 1971 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Barrett-Jackson, The World's Greatest Collector Car Auctions, is the leader in collector car and automotive lifestyle events, which include authentic automobilia auctions. The company produces auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona; Palm Beach, Florida; Mohegan Sun in Connecticut; and Las Vegas, Nevada. With broadcast partners Velocity and Discovery Channel, Barrett-Jackson will feature extensive live television coverage in 2018, including broadcasts in more than 100 countries internationally. Barrett-Jackson also endorses a one-of-a-kind collector car insurance for collector vehicles and other valued belongings. For more information about Barrett-Jackson, visit barrett-jackson.com or call 480-421-6694.

Contact: Christol Farris

[email protected]

512-568-9991

Lacy Jansson

[email protected]

512-228-8563

SOURCE U.S. Money Reserve

Related Links

http://www.usmoneyreserve.com


BOSTON, Jan. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HqO today announced it has launched its tenant engagement platform for the most innovative commercial real estate professionals. The team that built VentureApp, a business community platform, is behind HqO. The new name  short for Headquarters Optimized  reflects the digital transformation impacting commercial real estate and the focus being placed on tenant community as the essence of the modern workplace.

A screenshot of HqO's mobile tenant engagement platform that helps landlords optimize their property and provide a workspace experience that tenants will love.

Digital professionals have transformed every industry and are subsequently impacting the future of work. By 2020, half of all large enterprises will offer some form of co-working options to their employees as modern, connected tenants expect flexibility and an amenity-orientated, community-driven, and tech-enabled work environment. HqO is uniquely positioned to provide landlords with a platform to build community, maximize amenities, and help their tenants succeed in attracting and retaining the best talent.

HqO's SaaS platform provides landlords with a mobile app that connects tenants to the building, its amenities, and each other:

Improved property utility: HqO integrates with building systems to transform tenants' mobile phones into a remove control to access building and garage entry, transportation and shuttle options, visitor registration, conference room booking, and more.

HqO integrates with building systems to transform tenants' mobile phones into a remove control to access building and garage entry, transportation and shuttle options, visitor registration, conference room booking, and more. Maximized amenity offerings: HqO maximizes and procures the best local and national amenities for landlords to offer their community, enabling tenants to pay, claim and RSVP from their phone.

HqO maximizes and procures the best local and national amenities for landlords to offer their community, enabling tenants to pay, claim and RSVP from their phone. Strengthened tenant community: HqO helps landlords to understand, connect, and engage tenants with its community directory, messaging functionality, custom content, shared experiences, interest-based event postings, tenant polls, and more.

HqO helps landlords to understand, connect, and engage tenants with its community directory, messaging functionality, custom content, shared experiences, interest-based event postings, tenant polls, and more. Unprecedented tenant analytics: HqO provides landlords a better understanding of tenant happiness, community engagement, and the property's competitive differentiation.

This month, HqO entered into a partnership with T3 Advisors, a commercial real estate firm which works with the tech and life sciences industries. HqO is integrating the firm's local and national amenities and enhancing the T3 Studio Resident experience by ultimately building a stronger and more connected community, anchored in their headquarters at One Marina Park in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.

"The commercial real estate industry is reckoning with the demands of the modern tenant who expects strong in-person and digital community, premium amenities, and just an overall exceptional experience at work," said Greg Hoffmeister, co-founder and managing partner at T3 Advisors. "Simply put, CRE professionals that put an emphasis on implementing a software interface for their property will have an incredible advantage in attracting the best tenants. We view this digital experience and community building for our T3 Studio Resident tenants as a necessity, not just a nice-to-have."

"The CRE space is encountering rapid digital disruption and we see an opportunity to help tenant-focused landlords capitalize on this shift," said Chase Garbarino, CEO and co-founder of HqO. "The WeWork experience has given way to increased tenant expectations for premium amenities, workspace community, and mobile functionality. The timing is perfect for our team to offer smart landlords a platform that will help them build community and provide the best tenant experience across their portfolios."

Garbarino is speaking about the modern, connected tenant and how landlords can meet their expectations for a digital experience alongside executives from Boston Properties, WiredScore, ArrowStreet, and more, at Bisnow's "Getting Techy With It" event this Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 a.m. ET.

About HqO

HqO is a tenant engagement platform that helps landlords optimize their property and provide a workspace experience that tenants will love. Headquartered in Boston, HqO partners with the leading landlords, property managers, and brokers who want to attract innovative tenants, provide a premium experience, and increase overall asset value. For more information, visit https://www.HqO.co or follow HqO on Twitter @HqOapp.

Media Contact:

Katie Sullivan

Director of Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE HqO

Related Links

https://www.hqo.co


Dr. Noshad, CTO of VLNComm comments:

"This is a truly revolutionary (yet evolutionary) development in showing the world what Li-Fi is capable of. As the technology continues to evolve, users will appreciate the complementary nature of Li-Fi when used as a replacement or augmentation to radio frequency (e.g., Wi-Fi) technology. What discriminates Li-Fi is that it has no electromagnetic interference (EMI), offers enhanced security, is safer and provides access to a larger amount of available spectrum."

In addition to extending Li-Fi beyond the current ranges, VLNComm will continue to work with luminaire and LED manufacturers to integrate its hardware and software solutions in to products with the goal of standardization, interoperability and wide-spread adoption of the technology. Near term adopters include those where security is of the utmost importance as well as those with a concern for EMI and its impact on sensitive equipment.

Visible Light Communication (VLC) and in particular, Li-Fi, extends beyond how many are currently using the medium to achieve a uni-directional link via optical camera communication (OCC) for indoor positioning or "beaconing", or using near infrared to achieve limited directional communications  neither of which are true, bi-directional Li-Fi. To that end, VLNComm is working with others in this space to develop a common taxonomy, explore what will be needed for device interoperability and the development of domain specific use cases.

Contact

VLNComm

Marty Ragusky, Director

[email protected]

+1 571 356 7576

SOURCE VLNComm

Related Links

http://vlncomm.com


JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WallachBeth Capital, a leading institutional brokerage firm, has announced the Phase I roll out of its internal proprietary Quote Capture platform. The platform further enhances WallachBeth's commitment to providing institutional clients the highest degree of transparency throughout the ETF execution process.

WallachBeth has always leveraged the advantages of a competitive quote model to source liquidity for outsized ETF block trades, providing price improvement and increased liquidity in often hard-to-trade and/or illiquid products. In light of clients' interest in the transparency provided by RFQ ("Request for Quote") platforms, WallachBeth's Quote Capture tool allows clients to quantify and validate their price discovery process and satisfy compliance obligations.

The foundation of WallachBeth's ETF execution business is providing institutional clients high touch access to a full suite of execution strategies, coupled with agnostic advice throughout the trade lifecycle. WallachBeth continues to be increasingly relevant to the broadening number of institutions using ETF products and strategies to achieve their investment mandates. Andrew Mcormond, Managing Director, ETF Trading Solutions, at WallachBeth Capital states, "We always emphasize that best price often goes beyond a block trade. True best execution requires a comprehensive plan that includes experienced consultation, pre- and post- trade analysis and the invaluable expertise of seasoned ETF traders."

About WallachBeth Capital LLC

WallachBeth Capital is a leading provider of institutional execution services, offering clients a full spectrum of solutions to help them navigate increasingly complex markets. The firm's expertise includes ETF and equity trading, derivatives, and capital markets. Operating on a fully disclosed, agency-only basis, the firm is committed to facilitating all client needs with transparency and integrity. The firm's website is located at www.wallachbeth.com.

SOURCE WallachBeth Capital LLC

Related Links

http://www.wallachbeth.com


SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WatchGuard Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, today announced that it has acquired Percipient Networks, a developer of simple, affordable, automated security solutions for small and midsize organizations. Percipient Networks' flagship product, Strongarm, stops phishing and malware attacks by offering an easy-to-deploy, security-focused Domain Name System (DNS) service. Integrated into WatchGuard's security platform, Strongarm will further improve the security efficacy of existing malware protection techniques, increase the value of the company's popular Total Security Suite (TSS) advanced services bundle, and become a key element in the evolution of WatchGuard's cloud security offering.

In 2016, 76 percent of organizations reported falling victim to phishing1. Company size and vertical industry played no role in likelihood of an attack, making it critical for companies to have protections in place against phishing, happy clickers, and other web-based threats. The Strongarm service monitors outbound DNS requests and blocks traffic to websites based on a list of known malicious domains. Furthermore, by monitoring requests at the domain level, Strongarm's filtering capabilities extend to all ports and protocols. Integrating Strongarm into WatchGuard's comprehensive unified security platform, will provide customers with the strongest possible protection from the widest variety of threats.

"In a world of increasing and constantly changing security threats, there is no silver bullet when it comes to protection. Many organizations don't have the resources to research and deploy a long list of security point-solutions. As such, it is WatchGuard's mission to continually evolve our unified security platform to provide the best combination of security services in a simple package, making enterprise-grade security accessible to all. The addition of security at the DNS layer is just another example of execution of our mission," said Prakash Panjwani, CEO of WatchGuard. "Based on years of research and development, the Percipient Networks team has developed a simple, enterprise-grade solution. We are excited to add the Strongarm solution to our platform and to welcome the teams behind developing and launching it to WatchGuard's ecosystem of rapidly growing partners, customers, and employees."

In addition to blocking traffic to dangerous sites, the Strongarm platform was architected to facilitate maximum user and IT admin education. Rather than just blocking traffic to potentially malicious sites, the service redirects users to a 'blackhole' where additional information about the attack is collected, and the user is presented with educational materials aimed at preventing future attacks. Percipient Networks also employs a threat analysis team who engages with the IT managers and managed service providers (MSPs) to provide additional insights into attacks and how to prevent them in the future. WatchGuard will continue investment in both areas.

"Phishing is one of the most common methods used to gain a first point of entry into an organization. It is one of the most effective tactics because it targets people. As such, organizations must employ a two-pronged approach to combat phishing  malware prevention services and employee education," said Todd O'Boyle, co-founder and CTO at Percipient Networks. "By protecting users and using blocked attacks as an opportunity to educate we significantly reduce the odds of that employee making the same mistake a second time. We are delighted to continue development of the product and our threat research team under WatchGuard's leadership."



WatchGuard partners and customers will be able to gain early access to the new DNS filtering service later this month when the product is released into Beta. The new service will be generally available as part of the company's all-in-one security package, Total Security Suite, shortly thereafter in an upcoming release of Fireware. All active Total Security Suite customers will gain immediate access to the new feature at no additional charge with the simple check of a box.

"We are extremely proud of what we have built with the Strongarm platform and this partnership with WatchGuard will put our award-winning technology and education tools into the hands of tens of thousands of organizations around the world almost immediately via WatchGuard's extensive VAR and MSP community," continued O'Boyle. "We are also excited to extend WatchGuard's approach to total security to our customer base, expanding their protection to cover more threats, and to our partner community, who will gain immediate access to the award-winning WatchGuardONE program and full product portfolio."

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, providing best-in-class Unified Threat Management, Next Generation Firewall, secure Wi-Fi, and network intelligence products and services to more than 80,000 customers worldwide. The company's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for Distributed Enterprises and SMBs. WatchGuard is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org.

Media Contacts:

Chris Warfield

WatchGuard Technologies

206.876.8380

[email protected]

Anthony Cogswell

Voxus PR

253.444.5980

[email protected]

1 State of the Phish 2017 - https://www.wombatsecurity.com/state-of-the-phish

SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.watchguard.com


A Silicon Valley start-up that lets tenants bid against each other for rental properties - and which will likely launch in Australia this year - is seeking crowdfunding.

The apartment hunting app is currently seeking funding through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to expand into the world of the blockchain.

The Rentberry platform is operating in over 5000 cities. So far they have processed more than 4000 applications.

Firms like Rentberry are aiming to modernize the traditional mechanism of the rental market by leveraging blockchain technology and its real time deal delivery.

It is suggested the blockchain-based transactions will bring down the cost and promote direct interaction between landlords and tenants.

Unlike many other startups jumping on the ICO bandwagon, the Dan Francisco-based Rentberry already has been fully operational since 2015, backed by a team consisting of some 23 full-time employees.

The Rentberry aim is to rethink the way rental process is organized.

But reviewer blogger Ian Balina said it was a pass on him taking equity. Another, Tony Tian has taken $20,000 stake.

The firm is raising funds from the market running from December 5 2017 to January 26, 2018. Alex Lubinsky, a former investment banking executive who founded and real estate owner turned entrepreneur is the CEO.

With renting increasingly the new normal for many, many innovative fintech companies are come up with new wats.

An Australian product, called Trustbond and created by the startup Traity, lets tenants avoid paying a traditional bond and instead pay a premium, which is a proportion of the rent paid for the term of the lease.

The innovative fintech company has partnered with landlord insurance specialist Terri Scheer Insurance to launch Trustbond.

Trustbond provides security to landlord without freezing the savings of tenants in a rental bond using world-first technology that "will ensure trustworthy Australians save thousands of dollars."

A traditional bond is a large sum that is tied up for the duration of the lease while Trustbond will allows tenant to pay a relatively small fee upfront to cover the protection their landlord required.

The Trustbond system will also allow estate agents and landlords to determine a persons suitability as a tenant while providing landlords with the same level of protection as a traditional cash bond.

Trustbond is being launched initially in South Australia and it is expected will roll out to other states in the coming months. In NSW around 80,000 residential rental bonds, totalling $1.31 billion are held by the NSW Rental Bond Board.

The new product is marketed as a five step process:

Go to www.trustbond.com

Prove you are a trustworthy tenant by building your reputation profile

Replace the cash bond with a Trustbond

Share the Trustbond with your real estate agent or landlord for their agreement

Keep your cash in your pocket for when you need it most

Trustbond measures trustworthiness using online data including networks, ratings and reviews from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb, eBay and Uber to determine a tenants TrustScore.

Once eligibility has been established, the tenant pays an upfront fee that is a percentage of what a conventional rental bond would cost.

As a traditional cash bond might require a tenant to pay $2000, with Trustbond, the tenant might pay around $250 that still covers their landlord for the $2000, freeing up $1750 for the tenant.

The inspiration for Trustbond came from the Traity CEO, Juan Cartagena's own experience of renting property.

As a new resident of the United States with no local rental or employment history, landlords were requesting rental cash bonds of up to $14,000.

He was untrusted as a foreigner, and his landlords requested very expensive bonds as they did not have enough information to trust him.

Trustbond recognises a persons digital profile as an asset, putting money back in tenants pockets to spend on the things that matter to them, Traity executive Will Soutar, said.
As usual vacancy rates were higher in the month of December at 2.5 per cent or 80,092 vacancies.

Despite the record high level of building, vacancies were considerably lower than a year earlier, when there were 89,721 vacancies according to SQM Research figures.



The year-on-year decrease reflects a combination of strong population growth and a very high volume of higher-density apartments still under construction, there being a lag in the completion of this dwelling type.

Hobart has a record low vacancy rate for any capital city of an extremely tight 0.3 per cent, while Canberra (1.3 per cent) and Adelaide (1.5 per cent) remain tight rental markets.

Asking rents have increased strongly in Hobart and Canberra accordingly over 2017.

Perth and Darwin also seem to have turned a corner, with vacancy rates well down from a year earlier, while Melbourne's 2.1 per cent vacancy rate was also well down from 2.4 per cent in December 2016.

This downtrend wasn't the case everywhere however, with Sydney recording a multi-year high reading of 2.6 per cent in December, up from 2.3 per cent last year.

The numbers can jag around a bit, but smoothing the figures on a 6mMA basis gives a sense of the relative condition of the rental market in each city and the prevailing trends.

At the end of the 2017 financial year, New South Wales had a record 64,470 attached dwellings under construction, with the overdue flood of completions doubtless accounting for the jump in December.

Population growth in Sydney nevertheless remains strong, so it will be interesting to see how the market fares in 2018.

On that note, the latest building activity figures are due out today, and these will shed further light on completions and the pipeline remaining under construction.
DIRECTV has selected Business Bureau to launch in Latin America the Trust Ratings Solution, a measurement tool aimed at delivering accurate information about video consumption habits.





The project will be headed by Damian Ignacio Ramos, director for analytics and big data at DIRECTV Latin America, and intends to draw on the main audience analysis companies in the region.Before the end of Q1 2018, DIRECTV and Business Bureau aim to consolidate the databases of a multi-partner alliance known as the Distributed Trust Ratings Agency, to start addressing the challenges and opportunities of blockchain and big data technologies for the industry.From the beginning, DIRECTV will feed the tool with data from 50,000 hybrid set-top boxes (STBs) distributed throughout the region. Ratings will become more real as all the channels and premium options will be represented, said Horacio Gennari, director, Business Bureau.Data feeds from different sources, including demographic figures and multiscreen consumption, will be gradually added to the Trust Ratings Solution.This is a DIRECTV initiative supported by Business Bureau, but we are calling for the entire industry to join our project, as we are well aware of only through real and comprehensive data we will be able to meet the demands of the complex multiscreen markets, said Ramos.
Chiles free-to-air (FTA) broadcaster Mega TV is revamping its operations with the Dalet Unified News solution.





Powered by Dalet Galaxy, the companys media asset management (MAM) platform for news production and distribution, the solution will support Mega TVs traditional and next-generation digital and social media news production and distribution workflows.We are keen to expand our footprint and to better engage audiences with the best news content across all platforms, said Saul Ureta, technical manager for Mega TV.As we seek to grow our broadcast portfolio we were faced with a strategic decision. Do we work with independent production and post-production systems which might create silos in our workflow, or do we plan for the future and build a collaborative and highly efficient workflow for news that spans across all our channels? The Dalet Unified News Operations solution offers a much more fluid way of working as well as integrated tools for remote production and collaboration, added Ureta.The solution will replace Mega TVs existing newsroom computer system and news production system , and will bring a number of new tools and collaborative processes. The Chilean broadcaster will also leverage Dalets Social Media framework to harvest, plan, produce and deliver content efficiently to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, while gathering more data about audiences and their engagement.Continuing and enhancing our five-year-old partnership with Mega TV is significant not just to support the development of their operations and business, but also for Dalets growing footprint and reputation within the wider South American market, said Julien Decaix, general manager for the Americas at Dalet.
Former execs behind mega-hit Stargate are developing The Outpost for NBCUniversal International Networks (NBCUIN), which will debut as an original series for SYFY on channels outside the US.





The Outpost is a fantasy/adventure series following Talon, played by Jessica Green (Roman Empire, Ash vs Evil Dead), a strong female hero and the lone survivor of a race called Blackbloods. Years after her entire village is destroyed by a gang of brutal mercenaries, Talon travels to a lawless fortress on the edge of the civilised world, as she tracks the killers of her family. On her journey to this outpost, Talon discovers she possesses a mysterious supernatural power that she must learn to control in order to save herself, and defend the world against a fanatical religious dictator.As the channel dedicated to science fiction, SYFY is the perfect home for this unique, fantasy/adventure series, said Steve Patscheck, EVP, global programming, NBCU International . We look forward to debuting The Outpost to SYFY fans across the globe as part of the brands continued commitment to building the ultimate community for passionate sci-fi fans.The show is executive produced by Dean Devlin, the co-writer and producer of the 1994 feature Stargate, and Jonathan Glassner, the showrunner/executive producer of Stargate SG-1.The 10x60 episodes will premiere on international SYFY channels in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Latin America, Poland, the Balkans, Middle East, Africa and Australia, from late 2018.
Despite strong demand for LCD panels from South Korean and Chinese TV makers at the end of 2017, implementation of their panel purchasing strategies for Q1 2018 may result in a correction as demand expectations change, says IHS Markit.





According to the analysts latest TV Display & OEM Intelligence Service, while some TV brands are expected to maintain their panel purchasing plans, others are forecast to reduce demand in the first quarter as it is a traditionally slow season, and some demand was pulled into the last quarter.Specifically, South Korean TV makers are expected to reduce LCD panel purchasing volumes by 3% in the first quarter of 2018 compared with the previous quarter, or to increase by 1% compared with the same period last year. Chinas top six TV makers  ChangHong, Haier, Hisense, Konka, Skyworth and TCL  are forecast to cut their LCD panel purchasing volumes by 30% in the first quarter of 2018 over quarter, and 5% over the year.There is risk of a correction in demand as their panel purchasing plans get underway given that a sufficient supply chain buffer is already factored in for the first quarter, explained Deborah Yang, director of display supply chain at IHS Markit. These manufacturers will likely continue to use their plans as a negotiating tactic for more competitive prices. This has been one of the most critical swing factors for the LCD panel supply and demand.It is estimated that the Chinese brands carried relatively higher level of inventories as of the end of December 2017 as they have been preparing for the upcoming promotional seasons in early January and the Chinese New Year holidays in February. Given this, they are in no rush to secure more panel supplies in the first quarter, and may want to negotiate for lower prices.Yang proposed that due to a coming slow season, bargaining power seemed to be with TV makers. However, she cautioned that uncertainties about a stable supply of feature-rich premium and larger panels will have the top-tier TV brands concerned. Furthermore, Yang noted, Chinese panel makers have yet to prove that they will actually start mass-producing 65" LCD panels from the worlds first-gen 10.5 fabs in the first quarter.The top-tier TV brands will want to make sure they can secure sufficient panel supplies of 65" and larger panels; at the same time, they also seek to attain better bargains on large and ultra-large panels in 2018 and beyond, she added. Panel makers, however, have not agreed to offer more price concessions. Some panel makers are scheduled to remodel fabs in the first quarter and this will eventually cause an unstable supply of LCD TV panels, particularly for larger sizes. All this points to the likelihood that the TV panel market will see chaotic swings in demand in the first quarter of 2018.
Cold snaps like the one the U.S. northeast has experienced this month are great opportunities to learn how energy markets work  or dont work. All one has to do is watch energy prices rise and fall in different regions during severe cold weather.

New Years Day 2018 was the coldest yet in the 21st century in the contiguous 48 states, with Dangerously cold wind chills setting records from Maryland to Maine. Boston has tied a 100-year record for seven days in a row with a high below 20 degrees Fahrenheit  and that was before the worst of the weather storm hit. No wonder meteorologists were calling the recent weather formation a winter bomb cyclone.

Both prices and demand for domestic natural gas have surged as people have started plugging in their space heaters. Gas consumption set a new record for daily use on January 1, surpassing the previous record set in January 2014 in the midst of the Polar Vortex. Energy prices in most of the country increased 2030 percent to account for the strong demand before quickly returning to previous levels. But in parts of New England prices spiked more than 400 percent.

Why? New England  including Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island  is the only part of the country that has constrained supplies of natural gas. This constraint is largely self-induced by above-ground political issues. Local and state opposition have blocked a number of natural gas pipelines in recent years, with the result that the region hasnt benefited from the gas production growth in the Marcellus shale formation in nearby Pennsylvania

This means that the 50,000 miles of U.S. natural gas pipelines built during the past decade largely skipped New England, leaving the region with the highest electricity prices in the United States. A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found residents in the Northeast pay 44 percent more than the national average for electricity and 29 percent more for natural gas. Industrial users of electricity pay 60 percent more than the national average, according to the Chamber.

Prices at trading hubs like the Algonquin Citygate, serving Boston, surged from less than $10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to more than $100 per mmBtu during the recent cold snap. As if more evidence was needed of constrained suppliers, New Yorks Transco Zone 6 hub reported a record high sale of gas at $175 per mmBtu on January 4, higher than the previous record of $125 set during the Polar Vortex-influenced winter of 2014.

Combined with the cold weather, these supply constraints make natural gas a scarce commodity. As a result, utilities in New England were forced to fire up ancient fuel oil generators to meet power demand. Unfortunately, fuel oil emits far more greenhouse gas pollutants than natural gas. Generators reached their maximum allowed emissions at some sites, which in turn forced utilities back onto the expensive natural gas spot markets.

While the Massachusetts legislature considers carbon pricing proposals that could swing support behind more gas pipelines on climate change and environmental grounds, the region is years away from any new market signals for investment decisions.

The whole situation might have been different if the Massachusetts Supreme Court hadnt blocked the public funding model supporting the $3.2 billion Access Northeast pipeline in August 2016 to supply parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. A similarly large $3.3 billion pipeline supplying Massachusetts and New Hampshire  Northeast Energy Direct  was cancelled in April 2016 due to lack of political support.

Supporters of these pipelines point out that a lack of gas suppliers resulted in New England consumers spending $7.5 billion in higher energy costs between 2013 and 2016. A similar argument can be made today, since both gas pipelines might have been constructed in time for the current cold weather.

To make matters worse, water-borne supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cant be exported into New England because of strict adherence to protectionist maritime laws. Instead, New England imports more expensive LNG supplies from Trinidad and Nigeria. For instance, Dominion Energy is within days of exporting its first cargo of Marcellus gas from its LNG terminal in Cove Point, Maryland. But the company cannot access New England markets because of the Jones Act, a 100-year-old law that says only U.S. vessels and crews can transport cargoes between U.S. ports.

Unless New Englanders discard their anti-infrastructure pose on energy, they will continue to pay more than Americans in any other region of the country for energy and electricity for years to come.

William Murray is the federal energy policy manager for the R Street Institute. R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization that promotes free markets and limited, effective government.
These days social media influences a large part of our lives, it can easily go from being about your personal life to being a fulltime job. You can make a career by vloging or taking photos, showing how social media has become an integral part of owning a business as well as personal life.
How many steps will it take to walk off Thanksgiving dinner?
The Marriott International Hotels' website and app in China were shut down for listing Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as "countries" in a customer questionnaire.

China has reprimanded a number of multinational companies over "ignorance and lack of sensitivity" after they referred to Taiwan -- a democratic island that has never known communist rule but which is nonetheless claimed by Beijing -- as a separate country.

Warnings were also issued to companies over inaccurate references to Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau, all of which fall within internationally recognized boundaries of the People's Republic of China.

Last week, Beijing's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) demanded that Delta Airlines immediately correct its website listing the Tibet Autonomous Region and Taiwan as "countries."

It called for an "immediate and public apology."

Marriott International Hotels' website and app in China were later shut down for listing Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as "countries" in a customer questionnaire.

"Foreign companies operating in China have displayed their bias, ignorance and lack of sensitivity when it comes to understanding China's sovereignty," the Global Times newspaper, which has close links to ruling Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said in an opinion article.

International fashion chain Zara was also reprimanded; the country menu on its website appeared to have been edited on Monday to read "mainland China" and "Taiwan." An earlier version available on Google cache had simply read "China" and "Taiwan."

The Global Times said China is "insist[ing] proper respect be paid to the country's inherent and lawful territories."

Taiwan was a Japanese colony during the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the nationalist Kuomintang government of the pre-communist Republic of China as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal.

De facto self rule

The KMT government relocated entirely to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists on the mainland, but Beijing still regards the island as part of Chinese territory and has threatened to invade if Taiwan seeks formal independence.

The island's President Tsai Ing-wen swept to victory in 2016 on the back of broad political support for de facto self-rule, where the majority of voters identify as Taiwanese rather than Chinese.

Taiwan began a transition to democracy following the death of KMT President Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of President Lee Teng-hui in 1996.

Professor Liou To-hai, a professor of diplomacy at Taiwan's Chengchih University, said the companies involved had no role in such political matters, however.

"They are commercial concerns, and they shouldn't get involved with politics," Liou said. "The information needs to be accurate enough to ensure correct logistics and convenience; but they shouldn't have to worry about such political sensitivities."

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Tibet were all part of China.

"The companies that come to China should respect Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity, abide by Chinas laws, and respect the feelings of the Chinese people," Lu told a regular news briefing on Friday.

"This is the minimum requirement of any company going to another country to carry out business and investment," he said.

Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie
A court in north-central Vietnams Nghe An province on Tuesday upheld a five-year prison term for jailed blogger Nguyen Van Oai, rejecting his appeal and returning him to jail, Vietnamese sources said.



Oai. 36, had been sentenced in September 2017 to five years, with an additional four years to be served under house arrest, after allegedly violating the terms of his probation after serving an earlier prison term for attempting to overthrow Vietnams government under Article 79 of the countrys penal code.



Article 79 is one of a number of vague statutes that authorities often use to detain writers and bloggers who criticize the countrys communist government and its policies.



Speaking to RFAs Vietnamese Service following Tuesdays court hearing, defense attorney Ha Huy Son said that Oais sentence had been imposed for violating the terms of his probation, for which he received a two-year term, and for acting against persons on duty, for which he was sentenced to three years.



That verdict was unfair and not objective, though, Son said, adding, I told the court that he is not guilty.



Also speaking to RFA, Oais mother Nguyen Thi Lieu said that Oai at his trial last year had not pleaded guilty to the charges made against him.



My child is innocent, and the court was unjust, Lieu said. They should hold another trial.



Oai looked thin and appeared to be in poor health at his appearance in court on Tuesday, said Oais wife Linh Chau, who along with Oais mother was one of the two relatives allowed to attend the hearing.



He was also sometimes prevented from expressing his thoughts, she said.



Two of the witnesses who spoke at his hearing were the police officers Oai was accused of resisting when they came to arrest him on Jan. 19, 2017 for violating the terms of his probation, Chau said.



Both Oai and his lawyer considered this unreasonable, she said.



Oai is a patriot and is not guilty, Chau said. He simply raised his voice for freedom in his country.



Supporters beaten, banners torn away



Supporters outside the court building on Tuesday were beaten by police, with banners calling for Oais release ripped from their hands, some of those present told RFA.



At around 10:30 a.m., some plainclothes men attacked the crowd and snatched the banners from Oais relatives, one protester said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



One guy named Thong was beaten by thugs in civilian clothes, who then grabbed him and dragged him into a car. Someone named Huynh was also arrested, and some women who tried to intervene were beaten too, he said.



Ho Huy Thong, 16, and Nguyen Van Huynh, 17, were struck repeatedly with batons by police during their arrest and at the police station, the two men told RFA following their release.



When I was put in the car, they hit me 15 to 16 times in the head, and when I refused to answer their questions later at the police station, they hit me on the hands another five to six times, Thong said.



Accused by police of recording the protest on his mobile phone, Thong was forced to kneel facing the wall and was then beaten again, he said.



After being forced into a car, Huynh was also beaten, he said.



One man held me down by my neck, while two others jumped and stomped on my back. Another man hit me with his elbow, and another man slapped my face,Huynh said. My shoulders and spine still hurt.



Police upset by cameras



Police were especially angered by supporters attempts to record the protest on their phone cameras, another protester, Nguyen Thi Huong, told RFA.



They took our phones away and tore down our banners, he said, adding, Most of them were in civilian clothes, but a few were in police uniform.



As a member of the outlawed Viet Tan pro-democracy group and cofounder of the Association of Catholic Former Prisoners of Conscience, Oai had frequently campaigned against social injustice on his Facebook page.



In August 2011, he was among a group of 14 Catholic and Protestant youths arrested as part of a crackdown on activists with ties to religious organizations.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Richard Finney.
British historian and best-selling author Antony Beevor says he is dumbfounded at a decision by Ukrainian authorities to ban the import of a Russian translation of his award-winning account of a major tipping point in World War II and that he expects an apology.

"I must say, this sounds absolutely astonishing," he told RFE/RL on January 17 in response to Ukraine's refusal to allow the import of 30,000 copies of his book Stalingrad. "There's certainly nothing inherently anti-Ukrainian in the book at all."

The State Committee for State TV and Radio Broadcasting announced the ban on a Russian translation of Stalingrad along with 24 other books, mostly by Russian authors, including crime novelist Boris Akunin, historian Boris Sokolov, and ultraconservative Russian Orthodox priest Vsevolod Chaplin.

Kyiv has imposed media and other bans to counter a perceived information campaign by Moscow as fighting between Russia-backed separatists and pro-government forces in eastern Ukraine nears the four-year mark in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people.

Beevor's book is a deep dive into one of the most brutal battles in history, the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Red Army and Soviet citizens fought off advancing Nazi troops to maintain Soviet control over the symbolically and strategically important southern Russian city now renamed Volgograd.

The head of the State Committee for State TV and Radio Broadcasting's licensing and distribution-control department, Serhiy Oliyinyk, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that "several paragraphs did not allow us to give permission for [the import of] this book" and accused Beevor of falling for a "provocation" that was never confirmed by war crimes prosecutors after the conflict.

He cited a passage that purportedly said "Ukrainian nationalists were tasked with shooting the children" in order to "spare the feelings of SS Sonderkommando," a reference to forced work units made up of death-camp prisoners.

"We are not aware of such facts being revised at the Nuremberg tribunal. It's a provocation," Oliyinyk said. "When we checked the sources he used, we found out he used reports of The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. It was enough to discuss the issue at expert council and we are happy they supported us."

In an e-mail to RFE/RL, Beevor said that Oliyinyks statement is untrue and that the source for the report was a highly respected anti-Nazi officer, Colonel Helmuth Groscurth, who was a witness to the atrocity and who reported it to another German officer. He said those details were recounted in a book written by Groscurth and published in 1970.

"He wrote to his wife at the time, so shocked was he by what he had witnessed, We cannot and should not be allowed to win this war'," Beevor said in his e-mail. "I expect an immediate apology from Oliyinyk and a reversal of the decision by the expert council.'"

Stalingrad's 1998 publication closely followed new access for Western scholars to Soviet archives after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The book incorporated "primary sources never used before," according to its U.K. publisher, "including reports on desertions and executions from the archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, captured German documents, interrogation of prisoners, private diaries and letters from soldiers on both sides, medical reports, and interviews with key witnesses and participants."

Stalingrad has won prestigious awards including the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson History Prize, and the Hawthornden Prize.

Kharkiv-based rights group Human Rights In Ukraine has described the ban on "renowned English historian and others" as "baffling."

Beevor recalled to RFE/RL one passage in the book when "I think a German officer, when being interrogated, remarked about how unreliable their Romanian allies were and, as far as I remember, some sort of Russian officer said something about, 'Oh well, that's probably like our Ukrainians,' implying that they did not fight as well as the Russians. But this was just a quote from the period, and I cannot imagine any government organization taking that seriously or as a reason to ban a book."

Critics have warned that Ukrainian officials' book bans, frequently in connection with charges that works promote separatism or hatred, are a "slippery slope." Russian-made films, television series, and other cultural projects have also been banned.

Beevor said he was broadsided by confirmation of the ban, which he initially dismissed as possible disinformation in the context of Ukrainian-Russian relations.

"It first of all seems to have been reported, if that's the right word, on [Russian state information agency] Sputnik or whatever, which has some rather, shall we say, dubious elements which might often be fake news," Beevor told RFE/RL, "and I assumed it was fake news coming from the Russian side."

He also expressed doubt as to whether errors or misrepresentations might have been introduced in the Russian version targeted in the Ukrainian import ban, citing the thorough approach of publisher Azbooka-Atticus, a joint venture between French Hachette and Aleksandr Mamut's A&NN Group.

After discarding a flawed translation by another publisher, Beevor said, Azbooka-Atticus "thought that really a proper translation should be done, and they translated it again from the start."

"I'd be very surprised if anything had been slipped in there on the Russian side or anything had been distorted, because they are extremely responsible publishers."

In a 2012 interview, Beevor told RFE/RL that he thought books like his contributed to a greater understanding of the Eastern Front in World War II, particularly among Westerners accustomed to focusing on the Western Front.

Word of a ban on Beevor's book by officials in the Russian region of Sverdlovsk emerged in 2015.
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

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The U.S. ambassador to Kosovo, Greg Delawie, has warned the country's politicians that they will bear specific and harsh consequences should their efforts to abolish a new war crimes court succeed.

Let me be clear: MPs who support this initiative -- and the politicians who lead it, despite their denials -- will be subject to specific and harsh consequences should the initiative succeed. They know this; weve told them, Delawie told reporters in Pristina on January 17.

Meanwhile, parliament put off decision on whether to put forward a vote to scrap legislation on setting up the Special Court, which would try ethnic Albanian guerrillas accused of committing war crimes as they battled Serbian forces in their 1998-99 war.

In December, dozens of Kosovar lawmakers made a failed bid to revoke the law, after war veterans handed in a petition saying the court was "biased."

Relations between Kosovo and the United States, its traditionally close ally, have cooled over the initiative.

And on January 12, the European Union warned Kosovo, which aspires to closer links with the bloc, that bilateral relations will suffer if it scrapped the law establishing it.

A law establishing the Special Court was passed in 2015 to prosecute crimes allegedly committed by fighters from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) or other Kosovar citizens during the 1998-99 war that led to independence from Serbia.

The tribunal, composed of international judges and prosecutors, was set up in The Hague to minimize the risk of witness intimidation and judicial corruption.

It has yet to hear any cases.

Delawie told journalists on January 17 that the initiative to scrap the court was "a terrible example" of self-centered interests prevailing "over the common good and Kosovo's interests as a state."

He said that Kosovo needs an outside mechanism as its justice system has not yet demonstrated itself capable of administering justice in high-profile cases and witnesses continue to be subject to intimidation, threats, and violence.

"Certain individuals who fought for the just cause of Kosovo's freedom committed egregious crimes against others, for which they must be held accountable," he also said.

The Kosovo conflict ended in 1999 after a three-month NATO air campaign that forced Serbian forces out of the province and put it under UN protection.

Kosovos ethnic Albanian majority declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by 114 states but not by Serbia.

The war killed around 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians.

"Our intervention in 1999 was based on the idea that war crimes against anyone, anywhere, were an assault on international justice," Delawie said.

President Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, and parliamentary speaker Kadri Veseli are all former KLA commanders and could potentially be indicted by the court or called as witnesses, local media reported.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
A United Nations mediator has expressed optimism that a solution is within reach to solve a 27-year-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

"I am very hopeful that this process is moving in a positive direction," the UN envoy dealing with the matter, Matthew Nimetz, said on January 17 following a meeting with diplomats from the two countries at UN headquarters in New York.

During the talks, the mediator presented to Macedonia's ambassador to the United States, Vasko Naumovski, and Greeces negotiator Adamantios Vassilakis a proposal for a compromise that will now be discussed in Skopje and Athens.

Nimetz said that he will travel to Macedonia and Greece soon to discuss the proposal, which he did not disclose.

But he said, "I myself don't think it's realistic to expect the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia not to have Macedonia in some form in its name.

"We should know whether we can make some good, serious progress" in the next two months, Nimetz said, adding that the issue could be solved in six months.

Greece's objections to Skopjes use of the name Macedonia since the country's independence in 1991 has complicated the bids by the former Yugoslav republic to join the Europe Union and NATO.

Nimetz on January 15 told the Greek state broadcaster ERT that he thinks "people in both countries are maybe ready to hear some solutions that are consistent with national interests but also have some element of compromise that would resolve the problem."

Nimetz, who has been trying to broker a solution to the dispute since 1994, said he recently has seen some "positive momentum" on the issue.

Athens says the use of the name Macedonia suggests Skopje has territorial claims to Greeces northern region of Macedonia, which includes the port city of Thessaloniki.

At the UN, Macedonia is formally known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

However, the Security Council has agreed that it is a provisional name.

Macedonia has also been admitted to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under the FYROM moniker.

Most countries, including Russia and the United States, recognize the country's constitutional title, the Republic of Macedonia.

Macedonia became a candidate for EU membership in December 2005.

But EU-member Greece blocked the start of negotiations, which must be agreed upon unanimously by all EU states.

Macedonia in April 2008 also presented itself it as a candidate for NATO membership under the provisional FYROM name.

But Greece, a member of NATO, again vetoed Macedonias membership.

The military alliance's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is due in Macedonia later on January 17 for talks on the country's renewed accession bid.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said earlier in January that he thinks the dispute could be resolved by July.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said a solution should be found before the end of 2018.

With reporting by AFP, ERT, and AFP
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov has vetoed legislation extending the official use of the Albanian language to the entire country, saying it could endanger Macedonias unity and sovereignty.

Ivanov said on January 17 that the proposed law would introduce a "very expensive redundancy" in state institutions and make state administration dysfunctional.

He said that it would also threaten the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Macedonia, "instead of building a multiethnic society through a spirit of dialogue and coexistence."

The draft law makes Albanian the country's second official language along with Macedonian.

The government regretted Ivanovs decision, saying that the bill was "in line with the constitution" and motivated by the "care for all citizens of Macedonia."

The proposed law passed in parliament on January 11 with the backing of 69 lawmakers in the 120-member parliament, with the main opposition party boycotting the vote.

It will now be sent back to lawmakers for a second vote. If it is approved again, the president is obliged to sign it.

The legislation has sparked much criticism from members of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party and others who described it as unconstitutional and against Macedonias national interests.

The bill is meant in part to make it easier for members of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority to communicate with institutions such as municipalities, hospitals, and courts.

The current law on languages defines Albanian as an official language, but it has that status only in areas where ethnic Albanians make up at least 20 percent of the population.

Ethnic Albanians -- who make up around one-quarter of Macedonia's 2.1 million population -- live mostly in the northwest near the borders with Kosovo and Albania.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia promised to bring in the new law when he struck a coalition deal with Albanian parties last year.

The coalition agreement ousted the VMRO-DPMNE party, in power since 2006.

With reporting by AP and AFP


BRUSSELS -- U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, has warned that the alliance will not be dominant in certain areas in five years if it fails to modernize and adapt to the growing threat from Russia.

I certainly have concerns with respect to Russia, Scaparrotti told a press conference in Brussels on January 17 following a meeting of top NATO defense officials.

I think that, as an alliance, we are dominant. There are domains within this that were challenged. I think cyber is one of those. They are very competent in that, he also said, referring to Russia.

There are others where because of the modernization you noted, while we are dominant, we will not be in five years per se if we aren't adapting like this to include our structure but also within the nations, our capabilities, across the military functional areas as well as our domains.

Addressing the session of the Military Committee, the alliances highest military authority, Scaparrotti said earlier that a resurgence of Russia as a strategic competitor, growing unrest and instability in Africa and the Middle East, as well as terrorism, [are] reshaping our strategic environment.

Relations between Moscow and the West have been severely strained over issues including Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014 and its support for separatists who control parts of eastern Ukraine.

The war between Kyiv's forces and the Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.

Amid growing tensions, NATO stepped up its defenses in Eastern member nations near Russia.

Speaking alongside Scaparrotti at the press conference, Czech General Petr Pavel, chairman of the Military Committee, called Russia an obvious security challenge.

We characterize Russia as a peer competitor and we obviously follow closely all the development and modernization and taking all the measures that are necessary to be ready for any contingency, he added.

Ahead of the meeting, NATO said the top defense officials would discuss the challenging security environment on NATOs southern flank and the alliances contribution to its stabilization and would review NATOs Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the international coalition against the extremist group Islamic State.

They also held separate talks with top defense officials from Ukraine and Georgia on the security situations on the ground, defense reform progress, and the way ahead.

After the meetings, Pavel told reporters that the defense officials noted the challenge for Ukraine of achieving security and defense reforms alongside reestablishing Ukraine's territorial integrity.

They also stressed their commitment on furthering the capability and interoperability of the Ukrainian armed forces, he added.

On Georgia, Pavel said the defense officials stressed continued support to the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package to enhance the countrys defense readiness.


KYIV -- Iryna Nozdrovska's trip home on December 29 should have been routine: a short walk from her Kyiv office to a subway station, then a 31-minute ride north before taking a bus to the village of Demydiv, where it stops 150 meters from her home.

But the crusading human rights lawyer never made it.

Her body was found on New Year's Day floating in the shallow Kozka River just a kilometer down the road. She had been stabbed multiple times in what police described as a violent death and revenge killing.

On January 17, the Interior Ministry and police released security-camera footage showing the last images and movements of Nozdrovska, who was 38.

The video, published on the personal Facebook page of Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko, shows Nozdrovska walking in a heavily policed government district at about 3:40 p.m., before arriving at the Khreshchatyk metro station two minutes later. Nozdrovska, wearing a brown winter coat, does not appear to be in distress in the footage.

At 4:11 p.m., in what is the last known image of Nozdrovska, she is captured by a surveillance camera exiting the Heroiv Dnipra metro station, where she would normally catch a bus. While the news site Ukrayinska Pravda reported that a witness saw Nozdrovska waiting in line for the bus, it is unclear whether she made it on.

The last contact Nozdrovska made with anyone came in a phone call to her mother around 5 p.m., according to local media reports.

While the video footage may not reflect a break in the case, it is an important piece of evidence in terms of the timeline of the killing, and it shows the public that the police are doing their job, Shevchenko told RFE/RL by phone.

'A Challenge To The State'

Nozdrovskas death comes at a crucial time.

Many observers say Ukraines government faces a choice between reforms promised to an increasingly impatient public following the Euromaidan protests of 2013-14 that brought it to power, or a return to the post-Soviet politics that has allowed similar high-profile cases to remain unsolved for years.

Activists and friends of Nozdrovska have held rallies in Kyiv to demand justice for her and her family.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called the Nozdrovska case a challenge to the state.

Ukrainian authorities have been criticized by Western governments and international rights groups for failing to produce any suspects, let alone arrests, in the brazen, daylight car-bomb assassination of Belarus-born journalist Pavel Sheremet in central Kyiv in July 2016.

WATCH: Clash In Kyiv As Protesters Seek Justice For Dead Lawyer (from January 2)

Delays in a murder case in the town of Nikopol in November led the bereaved father of the victim to detonate two grenades in a courtroom, killing himself and a defendant.

The murder of journalist and co-founder of Ukrayinska Pravda Heorhiy Gongadze in 2000 is still considered only partly solved, as the masterminds remain free.

'You Will End Up Badly'

Nozdrovska had made a name for herself as a human rights lawyer and anticorruption activist. But she became famous while fighting for justice for her own sister, Svitlana Sapatinska, who was hit and killed by a car driven by the nephew of a powerful judge in 2015.

Nozdrovska succeeded in helping put the driver, Dmytro Rossoshanskyy, behind bars for seven years, a move much of the Ukrainian public and media hailed as a victory for the rule of law. Rossoshanskyy appealed the verdict, but judges rejected that request on December 27. Nozdrovska thanked the court for what she called one of the extremely rare just court rulings" in Ukraine.

But the decision angered Rossoshanskyys family and friends and made Nozdrovska a target of threats, according to her own family and friends.

Ukrainian lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem wrote on Facebook on January 1, after Nozdrovskas body had turned up, that Rossoshanskyys father, Yuriy Rossoshanskyy, had threatened Nozdrovska at the December 27 hearing. According to Nayyem, the threat was, You will end up badly.

On January 9, authorities arrested the elder Rossoshanskyy and charged him with the murder of Nozdrovska. The Vyshgorodsky District Court of the Kyiv region ordered that he remain in custody for 60 days.

Rossoshanskyys DNA was found on Nozdrovska's body, the first deputy head of the National Police, Vyacheslav Abroskin, told reporters on January 10. Abroskin said Rossoshanskyy had also written a confession in the presence of police in which he asked for forgiveness.

Rossoshanskyys wife, Olha Rossoshanska, took issue with the confession, describing it not as a confession but as something like a suicide note in which he stated his readiness to assume guilt for the murder due to the harassment of his son, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Let them blame me, although I did not commit this [murder], Rossoshanska quoted her husband as saying in the letter.

She added: My husband is 64. He is big, but very slow. I cannot imagine how he could do it physically.

Possible Accomplices?

Interior Ministry adviser and lawmaker Anton Herashchenko has suggested Rossoshanskyy may have had an accomplice who helped him dispose of Nozdrovskas body. And police say they have information that at least six people, including a woman, may be involved in her murder.

Shevchenko, the Interior Ministry and National Police spokesman, said police are confident they have the right man and that it is too early to name any other suspects.

If the evidence proves [the involvement of others], then maybe not only Rossoshanskyy will be in custody, Shevchenko said cryptically.

In a statement accompanying the video footage of Nozdrovska posted on his Facebook page, Shevchenko called the case a truly tragic family drama.

'My Mother Fought For The Truth'

But thats not how the Nozdrovska family sees it. The haste with which authorities have moved in the case has prompted concern among them and their lawyers.

At a press conference on January 11, Anastasia Nozdrovska said the material she and her lawyers were shown does not match the information given by Rossoshanskyy to police.

Moreover, she said, the police and prosecutors office are pushing a version of her mothers killing that stresses a supposed conflict between the Nozdrovska and Rossoshanskyy families.

My mother fought for the truth, not against the Rossoshanskyy family, Anastasia Nozdrovska said.
GROZNY, Russia - Memorial says its office in Ingushetia has been torched in a "terrorist" attack that the prominent Russian human rights group said was part of a campaign to chase it out of the North Caucasus.

A leading member of Memorial, which has sought to document abuses in the region despite years of pressure and the killing of at least one activist, told RFE/RL on January 17 that assailants set fire to the office in Nazran, Ingushetia's largest city, overnight.

Oleg Orlov said security cameras showed that two masked men arrived at the office at about 3:30 a.m. local time, used a ladder to climb to the second floor, and broke into the premises through a window.

YouTube footage posted by Memorial shows the men in black balaclavas emerging from a car and placing a ladder against the building, which is not in direct view, then fleeing after a flash of light sends what look like balls or fire shooting out into the street:

"We consider it a terrorist attack," he told RFE/RL by telephone, saying that its apparent goal was to "frighten ordinary people" and deal a blow to Memorial.

A photograph on the group's website showed a gutted, blackened room, and Orlov said that three of the six rooms in the building were seriously damaged.

Amnesty International called it a "vicious attack" and part of a "coordinated assault" on Memorial.

The Russian authorities, who have long sought to silence Memorial from speaking out on human rights issues, must launch a thorough and effective investigation...and bring those responsible to justice," Anna Neistat, Amnesty's senior director for research, said in a statement. "Any failure to do so would raise suspicions about the authorities possible involvement."

Orlov linked the incident to the pressure Memorial has come under in neighboring Chechnya, where the head of the rights group's office was arrested on January 9 and is being held on a drug-possession charge, which he and supporters contend is false.

'Massive Pressure'

"This attack is not random. A criminal case was fabricated against Oyub Titiyev and...massive pressure is being imposed on Memorial in Chechnya," he said. "It looks like they consider Memorial an enemy that they want to remove" from the North Caucasus.

Memorial echoed that assessment, saying that its office in Nazran "is exclusively dedicated to human rights problems in Ingushetia and in no way linked to Chechen issues."

"Nonetheless, it's obvious to us that there is a link between the arson attack with those forces who are trying to destroy the work of Memorial in Chechnya and squeeze Memorial out of the entire North Caucasus region," it said in a statement.

Human rights activists say that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who was appointed by Putin in 2007 to head the region in the North Caucasus, rules through repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces. They also charge that Kadyrov has been responsible for abuses that include kidnappings, disappearances, torture, and killings of political opponents.

Natalya Estemirova, who was Titiyev's predecessor at Memorial in Chechnya and was investigating alleged rights abuses in Chechnya by regional authorities and Russian military forces, was abducted and killed in 2009.

Kremlin critics say President Vladimir Putin turns a blind eye to alleged abuses and violations of the Russian Constitution by Kadyrov because he relies on the former rebel to control separatist sentiments and violence in Chechnya, the site of two devastating post-Soviet wars and an Islamist insurgency that spread to other mostly Muslim regions in the North Caucasus.

In a statement, the Emergency Situations Ministry branch in Ingushetia reported the fire but said nothing about the cause and made no mention of Memorial.

'Brazen Crime'

Tanya Lokshina, a Moscow-based senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, condemned what she called the arson attack and also linked it to Titiyev's case.

"There is little doubt that this brazen crime has everything to do with Memorials current work in Chechnya and the attempts by Memorials leadership and lawyers to ensure Oyub Titiyevs release," Lokshina wrote on Facebook.

Titiyev, 60, was detained on January 9 by police who claimed to have found about 180 grams of marijuana in his car.

In a letter addressed to Putin and made public on January 16, Titiyev said he was innocent, accused police of planting the drugs, and voiced concern that he could be tortured or his family threatened in an effort to extract a confession.

Western governments and human rights organizations condemned Titiyev's arrest and called for his release.

Titiyev's attorney Pavel Zaikin said on January 15 that police in Chechnya have ignored Titiyev's medical needs and kept him in a temporary police detention unit that has no medical staff.

On January 14, Zaikin said that some of Titiyev's relatives left Chechnya after police imposed pressure on them.

Memorial has charged that the case against Titiyev was "fabricated" in retaliation against the activist's human rights activities.

Putin's advisory council on human rights has urged the Investigative Committee to look into the circumstances of Titiyev's detention, saying there are "grounds to believe" the marijuana "could have been planted" in his car.

In December 2014, the office of another human rights group, the Committee to Prevent Torture, was destroyed in an apparent arson attack in Chechnya's capital, Grozny.Nobody has been held accountable.


A senior Russian Orthodox Church official is calling for Russia to return back to its traditional Julian calendar that was used until February 1918.

In a televised interview with church-affliliated Spas TV on January 16, Aleksandr Shchipkov said the shift to the Gregorian calendar by the Bolsheviks a century ago was a bad idea.

"[Their] goal was to break tradition, psychologically break the Russian people, to paralyze their will," said Shchipkov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's public relations department.

"The only structure that preserved the old style is the church, which is truly the preserver of tradition," he said. "A calendar is not just numbers on paper; it is a part of the people's world. We are in our Orthodox paradigm and we must stay in it."

In June, lawmakers from Russia's nationalist Liberal Democratic Party unsuccessfully proposed restoring use of the Julian calendar, which lags behind the Gregorian calendar by 13 days. Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7.

The influence of the Orthodox Church, which has close ties with the government, has increased in recent years.

President Vladimir Putin has appealed to what he describes as traditional Russian values, held up the church as an example, and suggested that the West is morally flawed.

With reporting by RIA and pravolsavie.ru
Russian authorities have charged two teenage boys with attempted murder after what officials now say was a pre-planned attack that injured at least 12 people at a school in the city of Perm earlier in the week.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement that the boys -- one of them a 10th grader at School No. 127 and the other a former student there -- will be jailed upon their release from the hospital.

They are charged with multiple accounts of attempted murder, and of plotting the attack in advance.

Initial reports about the January 15 incident suggested it was an attack by intruders, but Russian authorities described it as a knife fight between two boys and said several pupils and a teacher were injured while trying to break it up.

The new statement said investigators believe the boys entered the building armed with knives, went to a room where an elementary school class was being held, and "deliberately" inflicted knife wounds on a female teacher and nine pupils.

It said the boys also stabbed each other and were hospitalized after the attack.

The Investigative Committee also said it was "evaluating the actions or inaction" of school employees, parents, and those responsible for security at the school, suggesting it was seeking to determine whether anyone else was culpable.


OSWIECIM, Poland -- A Polish court has convicted the son of a prominent Belarusian human rights activist and 11 other people on charges of desecrating the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp memorial by staging a nude performance art protest that involved slaughtering a lamb at the camps infamous main gate.

Adam Byalyatski, the son of activist and Belarusian opposition figure Ales Byalyatski, was convicted as one of two organizers of the March 24, 2017 action  which he described as an antiwar protest. The court on January 17 sentenced him to 18 months in prison.

Belarusian co-organizer Mikita Valadzko was sentenced to 14 months in prison by the court in Oswiecim, the Polish town where Nazi Germany operated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camps during World War II.

The court also sentenced 10 other people to one year of community service for taking part in the nude demonstration (shown below in a tweet). They included two Belarusians, a Ukrainian, a German, and six Poles.

Byalyatski and Valadzko, who are both theater students at universities in Poland, also were fined about $600 each for publicly slaughtering an animal.

Byalyatski and Valadzko slaughtered a lamb beneath the sign on Auschwitzs infamous main gate that reads Arbeit Macht Frei  Work Sets You Free.

They also hung a banner containing the word Love over the gate, temporarily changing the signs cynical message to Love Macht Frei  Love Sets You Free.

All 12 people in the group then took their clothes off, handcuffed themselves to each other, and sat down naked -- directly below the sign -- on the path that had been walked by newly arriving prisoners at Auschwitz.

Valadzko told RFE/RL that the purpose of the group's Love Macht Frei performance was to draw attention to the fact that people have not learned anything from what happened at Auschwitz.

We have not been properly taught that killing is bad, and people continue to kill, Valadzko said.

Valadzko also insisted that the demonstration was not meant to insult the memory of more than 1 million Jews who were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps.

I am a Jew myself, Valadzko said. My relatives died in the Holocaust.

But the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum said in a statement that the use of Auschwitz for any demonstrations or happenings deserves punishment as blatant desecration of the memory of Nazi concentration and extermination camp victims.

Byalyatski is the son of Ales Byalyatski, a former political prisoner in Belarus who heads the Viasna Human Rights Center and founded the opposition Belarusian Popular Front party.

When questioned by RFE/RL about the case against his son, Byalyatski declined comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has refused to comply with a subpoena ordering him to answer questions from a congressional committee investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

After Bannon initially refused to answer questions at an hours-long private meeting with the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on January 16, legislators said the committee's chairman Devin Nunes authorized a subpoena during the meeting to force Bannon to respond.

Even then, Bannon refused to answer questions after his lawyer conferred with the White House and was told to refuse to answer questions about the transition period after Trump was elected in November 2016 and before he took office in January 2017, or about Bannon's time at the White House, according to Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee.

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House," Schiff said. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to requests for comment.

Separately, the New York Times reported on January 16 that Bannon was subpoenaed last week by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before a grand jury which is also investigating alleged ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. It reportedly was the first time Mueller is known to have used a subpoena against a member of Trump's inner circle.

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "no one" had encouraged Bannon not to answer questions before the House committee, but she said there's a "process of what that looks like."

"As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognized process that goes back decades," Sanders said.

A White House official told AP the president did not seek to formally exert executive privilege over Bannon  a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions.

Bannon was among Trump's closest aides, championing his "America First" agenda during the 2016 election campaign, and becoming a top adviser to the president in his first months in office.

But the pair had a bitter public falling out over comments Bannon made to author Michael Wolff for his recently published book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

In the book, Bannon is quoted as describing as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic" a June 2016 meeting with several Russians arranged by the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and attended by his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The president denounced and disavowed Bannon after release of the book, and questioned whether he had "lost his mind."

Bannon was fired by the White House in August, though he continued to speak with Trump and promoted the president's agenda after his ouster until their falling out this year.

During his meeting with the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff said Bannon refused to speak not only about his time at the White House, but also about any conversations he had with Trump after he left the administration "that might be for the purpose of the President seeking his advice on anything."

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters


ON MY MIND

When Ksenia Sobchak first announced her intention to run for president, I argued in this space that the dynamic between her and Aleksei Navalny was crucial.

If they cooperated with each other, they stood a good chance of spoiling the Kremlin's big show and tainting Vladimir Putin's legitimization ritual. If they operated at cross purposes, they would play right into the hands of the Putin regime.

For the time being, they appear to be doing the latter.

The underlying argument between the two over the utility of an election boycott is an legitimate one -- and one that much of the Russian opposition is engaged in.

Whether it makes sense for anti-Putin forces to boycott the election, as Navalny is arguing, or whether it would be more effective to send a message to the regime (and society) by voting for Sobchak as an "against all" candidate is still an open question.

(In a piece featured below, Dmitry Oreshkin took an interesting look at the mathematics of a boycott that is well worth a read.)

But what is clear now is that, if the Kremlin had a master plan in facilitating Sobchak's candidacy, it appears to be working (regardless of either her or Navalny's intentions).

IN THE NEWS

A senior Russian Orthodox Church official is calling for Russia to return back to its traditional Julian calendar, which was used until February 1918.

A Russian Orthodox priest has been convicted on child molestation charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Memorial says its office in Ingushetia has been torched in what a senior member of the Russian human rights group called a "terrorist" attack.

U.S. President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has refused to comply with a subpoena ordering him to answer questions from a congressional committee investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani has joined Russia, Syria, and Turkey in opposing a new 30,000-strong border guard force inside Syria that the United States says is needed to keep Islamic State extremists out of the country.

Kremlin economic aide Andrei Belousov has said that the Russian government is considering a possible boost in social spending, as President Vladimir Putin steps up his campaign for the March presidential election.

Viktor Anpilov, a communist politician who was an ardent opponent of Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, has died at the age of 72 after suffering a stroke.

A man who lit himself on fire to protest being fired from his job with Gazprom's subsidiary in the Russian region of Bashkortostan has died.

Ukraine's central bank says an investigation into the country's largest lender, PrivatBank, shows that it had been "subjected to a large-scale and coordinated fraud" over at least a decade.

WHAT I'M READING

The Mathematics Of An Electoral Boycott

In Snob.ru, political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin crunches the numbers and looks at the utility of an election boycott by Putin's foes.

Russian Oil Deals In Iraq

Russian Middle East expert Sergei Balmasov has a piece in Intersection magazine on how Rosnefts contracts with Iraqi authorities in Baghdad -- and an investment deal with authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan -- are both in jeopardy. (the piece is available in both Russian and English.)

Russian Pride

Also in Intersection magazine, the Levada Center's Denis Volkov explains Russian national pride. (The piece is available in both Russian and English.)

The Steele Dossier One Year On

In The New Yorker, John Cassidy looks at the Trump-Russia dossier one year after it was published.

Why Putin Needs A Landslide

In an op-ed for Vedomosti, Aleksandr Rubtsov explains why Putin needs to win the March 18 election by a landslide.

Sweden Braces For War?

The Financial Times has a piece on the civil defense brochure that is being sent to 4.7 million homes in Sweden informing them what they should do in the event of war.

Theater Of The Absurd

In an op-ed for The Moscow Times, journalist and culturologist Yury Saprykin looks at the "theater of the absurd" in the prosecution of theater director Kirill Serebrennikov.
MITROVICA, Kosovo -- Thousands of people in Kosovos northern city of Mitrovica paid their respects on January 17 to Oliver Ivanovic, an ethnic Serb political leader in Kosovo who was shot dead a day earlier outside his Mitrovica office.

Carrying flowers, mourners lined the streets on the northern side of Mitrovica to escort the coffin with Ivanovics remains as it was taken away to Serbias capital, Belgrade, for his burial on January 18.

Mourners also lit candles outside the headquarters of Ivanovics political party in Mitrovica where he was shot six times by unknown attackers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people lit candles in Ivanovics memory on January 17 at the Church of St. Sava in central Belgrade.

Those memorializing Ivanovic at the Belgrade church, one of the largest Orthodox Christian cathedrals in the world, included numerous Serbian opposition politicians.

Ivanovics assassination in the Serb-dominated northern part of Mitrovica has raised tensions in the Balkans and prompted the suspension of EU-facilitated talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008  nearly a decade after the 1998-99 Kosovo war -- and more than 110 countries recognize its independence. Serbia does not.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced that he will visit Kosovo over the weekend amid fears of renewed tensions.

Ivanovic was the president of the SDP Civic Initiative party that ran ethnic Serb candidates in local elections in Kosovo during 2017.

Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has suggested his assassination was a result of interference from outside the country.

Judges from the European Union's Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo convicted Ivanovic of war crimes committed against ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

But that verdict was annulled by the Appeals Court in Pristina in February 2017, and a retrial was under way when he was killed.

With reporting by RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondents in Belgrade, AP, and B-92
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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined other state attorneys general on Tuesday in a joint lawsuit challenging the Federal Communications Commissions repeal of net neutrality rules.

The lawsuit by 21 states and the District of Columbia asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to review the FCCs 3-2 vote on Dec. 13 to repeal Obama-era rules designed to guarantee equal access to the Internet.

Internet access is a utility  just like water and electricity, Becerra said in a statement. And every consumer has a right to access online content without interference or manipulation by their internet service provider. In repealing the net neutrality rules, the FCC ignored consumers strong support for a free and open Internet.

Becerra joined the lawsuit led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. It includes the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.

A free and open Internet drives innovation, economic growth, and consumer choice, Becerra said. As home to countless startups and technology giants alike, California knows this better than anywhere else.

The FCCs order has not been published and finalized in the Federal Register. The states filed a brief protective petition, which means the full lawsuit with all its arguments will still be filed later, said Tejas N. Narechania, associate law professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

This is just to make sure that the suing states dont miss their opportunity to challenge the rules, and to make sure that they have some say over where the case will be heard. It looks like the court of appeals that hears this case will be determined by lottery, Narechania said.

Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C., public interest group, filed a similar petition Tuesday.

The petition asks the court to review the FCCs order that overturned rules originally written to prevent Internet service companies from favoring certain content or websites over others. Net neutrality opponents, including major Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, said those rules, enacted in 2015, amounted to an unnecessary layer of regulations.

The states are asking the court to determine that the FCCs order is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.

The FCCs order is facing challenges on several fronts. Senate Democrats reportedly said Tuesday they had 49 votes to restore net neutrality rules, plus the support of one Republican. However, that leaves the Democrats one vote short in the Senate for a bill that would also need House approval.

Meanwhile, California has two bills pending to create the states own net neutrality rules, one by state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon and the other by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Restoring net neutrality should be an all-hands-on-deck effort and Im glad that Attorney General Becerra and others are going to court to fight this terrible move by the FCC, Wiener said in a statement.

Dane Jasper, CEO of the Santa Rosa Internet service company Sonic, said he supported Californias decision to join the lawsuit. Jasper has long been an ardent net neutrality proponent.

Between this and recently introduced legislation in the state legislature, its clear that California is making up for where the federal government has fallen short, Jasper said in an email.

The FCC did not respond to a request for comment.

Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny
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Shake Shack, the famed New York burger chain, is making its first foray into the Bay Area restaurant scene.

The company plans to open its first Northern California outpost this fall in Palo Alto at the Stanford Shopping Center. A second location is scheduled for Larkspur, though the lease agreement is still being worked out.

Finally, most likely by 2019, a location will open in San Francisco. Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti told The Chronicle hes eyeing the Marina district, a place he says has appeal as a community gathering space.

Without a doubt, San Francisco has been one of, if not my favorite city to eat in, Garutti said. We have a profound respect for the city and its chefs. We were just wanting to find the right time to come here.

Shake Shacks roots go back to 2004 to a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park. Though hot dogs have remained on the menu, its the brands burgers that have elevated its status over the years beyond a hyper-regional East Coast chain.

Shake Shack currently has 160 locations, 100 of which are in the United States. Seven of those U.S. restaurants are in California, but theyre in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

The Bay Area Shake Shacks will feature the chains classics: the Shackburger, crinkle-cut fries and hand-spun shakes. There could also be a regional special, Garutti said. (In Los Angeles, for example, the chain added a Roadside Double  two patties topped with Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and onions that have been cooked in bacon and beer.)

As for why San Francisco hasnt gotten a Shake Shack sooner, Garutti said the brand was taking a calculated approach. He said both he and Danny Meyer, the companys founder, have spent a lot of time in San Francisco exploring the citys eclectic restaurant landscape. Upon its Bay Area area debut, Shake Shack will join a competitive market, with a number of local gourmet burger chains, such as Super Duper (11 locations), Gotts Roadside (six locations) and Roam (four locations).

Now Playing: Whether you're a newcomer or long time San Francisco resident, it's worth checking out these dishes. Video: Kiley Roache, Elizabeth Gerson

Garutti said finding the right location in San Francisco was more important than rapid growth. Plus, even at 100 locations in the U.S., Shake Shack still operates with a mini-chain mind-set, he said.

Were not that big of a company yet. When we decide to go, its kind of a big deal, he said. We wanted to get it right.

Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Adults sure are finding just about every way possible to mess up this country and planet. So its heartening to find impressive and inspiring kids who might be able to right our rapidly sinking ship. Here are a few local examples.

If it were a made-for-TV movie, youd never believe it. A new immigrant to the United States lives in poverty, attends a low-income public high school and wins a full-ride to Princeton!

But its true.

Determination pays off: Nour Aissaoui, 17, was born in the United States, but her family moved back to its native Algeria when she was just a baby. Nour was the only one in her family with U.S. citizenship and, as a teenager, longed to move back to the United States. At just 15, she did it  alone and speaking hardly any English.

You can succeed more here, she explained. You have more freedoms.

She moved into a studio apartment in the Tenderloin with her aunt, uncle and cousin. Its crowded and noisy, and she has to do her homework in the bathroom late at night when everybodys asleep.

But Im really thankful, she said.

She attends John OConnell High in the Mission District, a public school with mostly poor students, many of whom go to City College or San Francisco State University. A handful each year goes to UC schools. Nobody can remember any student ever being accepted into an Ivy League university.

Until now.

Nour said her GPA is about a 4.09. She aced her SATs, participates in all sorts of extracurricular activities and speaks four languages including English, which she now speaks perfectly. She participated in QuestBridge, a Palo Alto nonprofit that helps exceptional low-income teens apply and gain entrance to prestigious colleges.

She received an email last month with just about the best subject line ever: Congratulations from Princeton! It also informed her that shed graduate debt free.

I was, like, so shocked! she said. I was in disbelief. Why would they pick me?

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Jill Marinelli, who works in OConnells college and career program, was there when Nour opened that treasured email. Nour had been asking her consistently for two years about how to get into college, far earlier than most kids start thinking seriously about it.

She was just super motivated, and she knew her goals and what she wanted, and was ready to put in all the work to get there, Marinelli said.

Nour is waiting for word from a number of other universities, including UC Berkeley and Stanford, before she makes her final decision. Shes a little hesitant to move far from the city and her relatives here, considering shes already so far from her family in Algeria.

Nour is a practicing Muslim and wears a hijab, which has attracted some rude stares and nasty comments  even in liberal San Francisco. She overheard some women on Muni talking in French about how she might be a terrorist and responded to them in French that she understood them perfectly and didnt appreciate the comments.

The look on their faces! she said with a grin. Ignorant people are everywhere.

She wants to become a doctor, practicing medicine and doing research in clinics around the world. When she received word from Princeton, she Skyped with her family in Algeria to tell them the news. They cried with joy and looked up images of Princeton on their computer, commenting that it looks like a castle.

So whats Nours secret for success?

Its just about motivation and knowing to preserve your identity, not trying to be like everyone else, she said. Just keep your values.

Starting early: Former Vice President Joe Biden was in San Francisco last week to promote his new memoir, Promise Me, Dad, at the Jewish Community Center. In a small, separate room, the center hosted an event beforehand for a few dozen teens who are interested in entering politics, telling them theyd each get a signed copy of the book and be able to watch Bidens talk on simulcast.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

The teens worked in small groups to come up with a particular cause they wanted to push, which politicians they wanted to lobby and how to get the lawmakers attention.

I chatted with Jake Cohen, 15, and Alexandra Evans, 17, who live in Mill Valley and attend Tamalpais High. Theyre co-presidents of a group Cohen founded called Students for Social Justice. They recently organized a walk-out to support Dreamers  200 kids left class.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

I want to run for office as soon as Im 18, Cohen said, noting he eventually wants to become the first openly gay man to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Evans wants to be in politics, too, but only on the side. Her main goal is to become an astrophysicist, but she figures politics needs a healthy dose of science since so many politicians dont believe in climate change.

We need people who believe in facts rather than opinions, she said. I feel like I want to change something.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

By the way, if you were an adult sitting in the big auditorium waiting 45 minutes for Biden to appear, it was because he stopped by to surprise the teens and talked with them at length. Id say they deserved it.

An app for Mom: Moms can be so annoying. Just ask my sons.

Paulette Donsavage was one such well-meaning but slightly irritating mom who couldnt get the hang of Lowell Highs confusing schedule, which has different start times and different lengths of classes depending on the day of the week.

They have all these codes, explained Donsavage, a lawyer who lives in NoPa, of the schedule. The kids understand it better than the parents.

Her 15-year-old son, Jackson Cooley, is one of four kids in a carpool to Lowell so it was important to know when he needed to get there. He got tired of her asking about it every day so he created an app called Lowell Schedule, which is available in the app store.

Hopefully, they can get the hang of it, he said of Lowell parents.

He sent me a follow-up email reading in part, Ive released V1.1, which fixes a couple issues, and has a few new features, such as a widget extension. V2.0 is currently in the works.

I have no idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.

Jackson has created apps before and wants to major in computer science in college. Asked what he wants to do for a living, he said, Just creating things with technology. I find it fascinating and always evolving.

Jackson got to do what he loves, and best of all, his mom doesnt ask him what time school starts anymore. Win-win.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
The summer before last, my family spent two weeks investigating Norway and I can say with some certainty that we do not want more Norwegians coming to the United States.

For starters, they are just too darned good-looking. The middle-aged hostesses on our Norwegian airlines were more beautiful than Scarlett Johansson. No one there has any detectable body fat, so they look good in whatever they wear. Even the Norwegians who appear to have come from what President Trump recently referred to as shole countries look great, and the biracial young people we saw working in museums, stores and cafes were stunning. I mean, even more beautiful than anyone on the Philadelphia City Council.

Letting in too many gorgeous people will damage our already rocky self-esteem and well have to listen to more Oprahs and Dr. Phils telling us how to deal with it. Norwegians, by the way, deal with it by vacationing in Greece.

Secondly, they apparently know how to run a country. Not only do they have universal health care, six-week vacations and an excellent school system, their public transportation is superb. Their cities and towns are amazingly clean, though its true that, as tourists, we didnt hang out a lot on the gritty side of the tracks. I was secretly glad to see, however, that the walls along the tracks we traveled were lined with subpar graffiti. Made me feel at home.

I know, I know. Its a small country (only 5.26 million beautiful people) and if they let French people in, as Philadelphia used to do, or others from more southerly countries, the place would probably go to heck. There are other downsides. They didnt seem to have much by way of an Americans With Disabilities Act. Theres a step up from the platform to their modern train cars, and there are no ramps. Instead, when an elderly lady couldnt manage it, random Norwegians on the platform stepped in and gently picked her up by her elbows and helped her get situated in the car with her baggage. While that method warmed my inner libertarian, Im not sure it would work on Philadelphias mass-transit system.

Another downside was that Norway is brimming with Teslas. We were told that their purchase was subsidized. There were electric charging stations all over the place. Really, it doesnt speak well of a country to be assisting Elon Musk in any possible way. Still thats the kind of thing they do to keep their carbon footprint down.

One other reason President Trump might reconsider his sudden Norwegian enthusiasm is that immigrants from Norway, and nearby countries like it, have come here and produced female editorial cartoonists! Im one-quarter Norwegian blood. Ann Telnaes, the most brilliant and most caustic Trump caricaturist, is of Swedish stock and Jen Sorensen, whose drawing pen is a Viking spear, descends from Denmarkians.

Still, in an effort to get on the presidents team, I invited my tall, svelte, handsome Norwegian cartooning colleague, Roar Hagan and his tall, svelte, beautiful wife, to move to America. His response was, I love America and Americans. But life here is, except the climate, quite good.

So, Mr. President, if you really want more Norskies, all you have to do is guarantee free universal health care, decent vacations, environmentally friendly transportation and great schools that teach everyone how to speak, write and read English better than we do. That would, indeed, improve our country.

Signe Wilkinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose work is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group. She works in Philadelphia.
Recently the founder of something called ripple briefly became richer than Mark Zuckerberg. Another day an anonymous donor set up an $86 million bitcoin-fortune charity called the Pineapple Fund. A Reddit user spotted a Tesla with a BLOKCHN license plate. More people are looking to buy bitcoin on their credit cards. After the Long Island Iced Tea company announced it would shift to blockchain, its stock rose 500 percent in a day.

In 2017, bitcoin went from $830 to $19,300, and it now quivers around $14,000. Ether, its main rival, started the year at less than $10, closing out 2017 at $715. Now its over $1,100. The wealth is intoxicating news, feverish because it seems so random. Investors trying to grok the landscape compare it to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, when valuations soared and it was hard to separate the Amazons and Googles from the Pets.coms and eToys.

The cryptocurrency community is centered around a tight-knit group of friends  developers, libertarians, Redditors and cypherpunks  who have known one another for years through meetups, crypto conferences and Internet message boards. Over long hours in anonymous group chats, San Francisco bars and Settlers of Catan game nights, they talk about how cryptocurrency will decentralize power and wealth, changing the world order.

The goal may be decentralization, but the money is extremely concentrated. Coinbase has more than 13 million accounts that own cryptocurrencies. Data suggests that about 94 percent of the bitcoin wealth is held by men, and some estimate that 95 percent of the wealth is held by 4 percent of the owners.

There are only a few winners here, and, unless they lose it all, their impact going forward will be outsize.

They also remember who laughed at them and when.

James Spediacci and his twin brother, Julian, who bought Ether when it was about 30 cents, now run one of the most popular whale clubs: private cryptocurrency trading communities where crypto syndicates are coordinated in group chats. He showed me a screenshot of his Facebook post from 2014 telling everyone to buy Ether.

One like, he said, pointing to his phone. It got one like.

Whether its all built on sand or not, the crypto castle has risen. Theres an actual house called the Crypto Castle, and the king is Jeremy Gardner, 25, a rakish investor with a hedge fund who has become the de facto tour guide for crypto newcomers.

Early one afternoon, he opened a bottle of rose while he charged half a dozen external batteries so he wouldnt have to ever plug in his phone in Ibiza, Spain, the next week.

I do ICOs. Its my thing, he said. He wore a pink button-front and pink pants. Its me, a couple VCs and a lot of charlatans.

An initial coin offering is a way to raise money: A company creates its own cryptocurrency and investors buy into the new coin, without actually buying a stake in the company. Gardner led an initial coin offering for his startup Augur, creating an Augur token that he then sold to raise real-world money. These tokens sold fast, and it is one of the forces that kicked off this boom. For a time, the value of Augur, a market-forecasting startup with few customers, exceeded $1 billion.

About eight people live in the Crypto Castle on any given night, and some of Gardners tenants brought out snacks (Cheez-Its and a jar of Nutella). One of the bedrooms has a stripper pole. Gardner leaned back into the sofa and rested his feet on the table. He recently did an ICO for a startup after-party. You can ICO anything, he said.

He is now raising $75 million for his hedge fund, Ausum (pronounced awesome) Ventures. He said his closest friends are moving to Puerto Rico to get around paying taxes.

Theyre going to build a modern-day Atlantis out there, he said. But for me, its too early in my career to check out.

As the bitcoin price exploded in December, Gardner seemed shaken. People had begun making pilgrimages to the Crypto Castle, knocking on the door, hoping Gardner could help them invest.

Nothing feels real. It doesnt feel real, he said. Im ready for crypto assets to go down 90 percent. Ill feel better then, I think. This has been too insane.

Nearby is a building residents call the Crypto Crackhouse.

Grant Hummer, who runs the San Francisco Ethereum Meetup, lives there. Long hallways called Bitcoin Boulevard and Ethereum Alley lead to communal bathrooms. Hummer and his co-founder committed $40 million of their own crypto-made money to their new $100 million hedge fund, Chromatic Capital.

My neurons are fried from all the volatility, Hummer said. I dont even care at this point. Im numb to it. Ill lose a million dollars in a day and Im like, OK.

His room is simple: a bed, a futon, a TV on a mostly empty media console, three keyboard cleaning sprays and a half-dozen canisters of Lysol wipes. His T-shirt reads, The Lizard of Wall Street, with a picture of a lizard in a suit, dollar-sign necklaces around its neck. He carries with him a coin that reads, memento mori, to remind himself he can die any day. He sees the boom as part of a global apocalypse.

The worse regular civilization does and the less you trust, the better crypto does, Hummer said. Its almost like the ultimate short trade.

At the annual San Francisco Bitcoin Meetup Party, hundreds gathered at a co-working space, and there was a line out the door. The waiting list had to be told not to show up. Many wore bitcoin- and Ethereum-themed clothes.

Those closest to the technology are the most cautious. Pieter Wuille, 33, a bitcoin core developer, kept his backpack on as he wandered the party. Hes part of the team working to develop the bitcoin technology.

The technology still needs time to evolve, Wuille said. This infusion of interest is bringing the wrong kind of attention. Some people believe bitcoin cant fail or this technology solves many more problems than it does. It can. And it does not.

He said everyone is asking him whether to buy bitcoin. I tell them I have no idea, he said. I dont know!

Theres so many people rushing into the space, if its a bit of speculation, Im OK with that, said the Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, whose company has become the de facto portal for casual investors. But we cant guarantee the websites going to be up exactly when you need it. Everyone needs to take a deep breath.

Maria Lomeli, 56, came to the party to find the people she had put a lot of trust in. A housekeeper from Pacifica, she said she had invested $12,000 in cryptocurrencies over the past few weeks after reading about it in the news.

She wore running shoes and a zip-up jacket that said, Cinemark, the best seats in town. She worked there cleaning out theaters. Now she cleans houses. Banks, she said, were designed to steal. Taxes left her supporting a government that she felt didnt support her.

Charges for sending money to my daughter, interest on our loans, she said. And then the money we pay in taxes goes to wars and whatever else they want.

She found a bitcoin event in the city and asked people there how to buy bitcoin on her phone. She invested $1,000. It went up. So she put in $10,000 more, she said, along with $1,000 in a currency called Litecoin. Both her children have discouraged this.

And maybe Im going to lose it, she said. Maybe Im going to keep cleaning houses. But something is telling me I can trust this generation. My instinct is telling me this is the future.

She had to leave the party early because parking downtown is expensive, she said. She zipped her jacket and left on her own.

Nellie Bowles is a New York Times writer.
SANTIAGO, Chile  Pope Francis met on Tuesday with survivors of priests who sexually abused them, wept with them and apologized for the irreparable damage they suffered, his spokesman said.

The pontiff also acknowledged the pain of priests who have been held collectively responsible for the crimes of a few, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told reporters at the end of the day.

Francis dove headfirst into Chiles sex abuse scandal on his first full day in Santiago that came amid unprecedented opposition to his visit: Three more churches were torched overnight, including one burned to the ground in the southern Araucania region where Francis celebrates Mass on Wednesday. Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up an anti-pope protest outside Francis big open-air Mass in the capital, Santiago.

Despite the incidents, huge numbers of Chileans turned out to see the pope, including an estimated 400,000 for his Mass, and he brought some inmates to tears with an emotional visit to a womens prison.

But his meeting with abuse survivors and comments in his first speech of the day were what many Chileans, incensed by years of abuse scandal and cover-up, long awaited.

Burke said Francis met with a small group of abuse victims after lunch, listening to their stories and praying with them. The spokesman said the pope listened to them, prayed with them and wept with them.

Earlier in the day, Francis told Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, lawmakers, judges and other authorities that he felt bound to express my pain and shame that some of Chiles clergy had sexually abused children in their care.

Francis did not refer by name to Chiles most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who in 2011 was barred from all pastoral duties and sanctioned by the Vatican to a lifetime of penance and prayer for sexually molesting minors. Nor did he refer to the fact that the emeritus archbishop of Santiago, a top papal adviser, has acknowledged he knew of complaints against Karadima but didnt remove him from ministry.

Many Chileans are still furious over Francis subsequent decision in 2015 to appoint a Karadima protege as bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Bishop Juan Barros has denied knowing about Karadimas abuse but many Chileans dont believe him.

Peter Prengaman and Nicole Winfield are Associated Press writers.
CARACAS, Venezuela  Officials in Venezuela confirmed Tuesday that a rebellious police officer who led a brazen helicopter attack in Caracas last year was among those killed in a violent shootout with security forces.

Oscar Perez was among the seven who died fighting against police and soldiers Monday in a small mountain community outside of Caracas, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said.

Two police officers were killed and eight others gravely injured, he said.

The terrorist acts committed by this terrorist cell showed the destabilizing objectives that they were pursuing, Reverol said.

Opposition lawmakers and human rights groups called for a transparent investigation into the deaths after video images showed Perez shouting over gunfire that they wished to surrender.

Were going to turn ourselves in! Perez said in the video.

A former police officer, action-movie star and pilot, Perez leaped into the spotlight in June, when he stole a helicopter and used it to lob grenades onto the Supreme Court building and open fire on the Interior Ministry in a brazen midday attack in Caracas. Nobody was killed in the attack.

Perez, 36, had been one of Venezuelas most wanted fugitives ever since, periodically posting videos on Instagram calling upon Venezuelans to take to the streets against what he called President Nicolas Maduros tyrannical government.

Perez claimed that he was fighting for Venezuelas freedom from a government that is starving its people. He garnered tens of thousands of followers online and has piqued the curiosity of Venezuelans who either hail him as hero, condemn him as a criminal or question if he might be a ruse to support Maduros assertion that the nation is under attack by opposition conspirators.

In December, Perez posted videos showing him and a small armed band taking over a military outpost and smashing a portrait of Maduro with his foot. Perez and the assailants berated several detained guardsmen for doing nothing to help their fellow citizens.

Perez surfaced online again early Monday in videos  blood dripping across his face  and holed up in a mountainside house. Perez shouted over a spray of gunfire that the group wished to surrender, but that the police outside were set on killing them.

I want to ask Venezuela not to lose heart  fight, take to the streets, he said. It is time for us to be free, and only you have the power now.

Reverol said that an intense search finally led security forces to the house. Perezs group opened fire first, requiring a response from authorities, he said.
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SHRM has partnered with Security Management magazine to bring you relevant articles on key HR topics and strategies. Diverse work teams are smarter than homogenous ones, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study. In "Why Diverse Teams Are Smarter," authors David Rock and Heidi Grant found that such teams are smarter for three main reasons: They focus more on the facts, they process those facts more carefully, and they are more innovative. Working with people who are different from you, the authors found, challenges your brain to overcome rote ways of thinking and sharpens its performance. I know these findings to be true, based on my own experience managing international teams in the information security field. I've also learned that teams are most effective when they are managed in a way that empowers each individual member. Empowerment is a management practice of sharing information, rewards and power with employees, so that they can take initiative and improve their services and performance. It is based on the idea that developing employees' skills; giving them resources, authority, opportunity and motivation; and holding them responsible and accountable for their actions will all contribute to their competence and satisfaction.

But empowering international teams is not always easy. Language barriers, cultural differences and inconvenient time zones can interfere with even the most capable of teams. It is literally impossible to stop by someone's desk to ask a question or clarify a decision if team members are stationed around the world. Given these challenges, this article offers some guidance and best practices on how managers can lead efficiently and effectively by applying the principles of business empowerment to international teams. Much of this guidance is based on my management experiences in the field, with companies such as eBay and Symantec. This guidance applies right from the beginning, when the team is first being established, and continues through the different stages of the team's operations.



Local Managers Sometimes managers are tasked with building a team from scratch. Other times, a manager is charged with working with an existing team. Either way, the first step toward effectively empowering a team is to ensure that the team's structure matches the team's business objectives. A structure-objectives match will serve as the foundation for empowerment, because it will make for efficient and effective use of resources. In the case of international teams, common drivers for members at different locations around the globe are cost, time-zone coverage, around-the-clock service availability and skill sets that need to be divided by geographic locations. For example, when we were building the Global Information Security team at eBay, we carefully crafted our strategy for offshore and outsourced work by evaluating how potential team members' skills should align with the company's business and security objectives. For instance, it was critical that we demonstrate the value of information security activities to the business. We gathered data from a variety of different security tools and populated a dashboard that we shared with company executives. When we were staffing our security metrics team, we looked for individuals with coding and statistics skills. It didn't matter where in the world this person was located, as long as he or she had the right background to perform the function. Other issues that we considered in this process were cost and cultural factors. After interviewing candidates in more than five countries, we decided to focus our international hiring in Israel, Romania and China. Our core team was based on the west coast of the United States, so having international team members in these three countries gave us adequate "follow the sun" capabilities. "Follow the sun" basically means that when team members in one area of the world are finishing their workday, team members in another are just waking up and going into the office. You can go home after work and when you wake up in the morning, several tasks may have been completed by team members in a different time zone. Then you can pick up where they left off. In this way, the overall team can function around the clock, as long as information is effectively handed off between team members. This model is particularly useful for urgent items that must be completed quickly, or when an organization needs to support customers or a service in many different time zones. It also allowed us to staff all functions. In each offshore region, a local manager was assigned and then empowered in several ways. He or she was given authority to make decisions as needed to run the local team. These managers were also empowered with information and clear objectives to focus their work. The local managers were included in management meetings to ensure they would have access to the same information that was being shared within the core team at headquarters. The local managers were also held responsible and accountable for their actions, which increased both their impact and their professional satisfaction. Once established, the Global Information Security team continued to grow. During my tenure at eBay, we built out the team from around 24 to around 60 members in about a year. As the team grew, it also changed in nature, going from a relatively small group of generalists to a much larger group of specialists. During this growth, it was critical for everyone to stay on the same page when it came to our team's mission and vision. So, the top executive led our management team in a formal exercise to define these factors for the team. This method is often referred to by business leaders as identifying a North Star. This common mission set the tone and gave the team purpose. With a clear purpose and vision, every individual on the team was empowered to take the initiative and make decisions to solve day-to-day problems without having to come together and rehash the team's overall objectives time and time again. This shared information prevented specialized teams from organically splitting away from the overall team goals. This alignment and prioritizing is key, because security, and especially information security, is a complex function in most organizations. There are countless dimensions to the fieldfrom physical and network security to host and application security, and from governance and risk and compliance to technical assessment and incident response. Additionally, there is always so much work to do. The harsh reality of limited time, budgets and resources requires teams to make tough decisions about what activities to prioritize. Whether they do this explicitly or notdeciding not to make a decision is a decision itselfthey must live with the outcome. It's an amateur mistake to rank every issue as critical.



Accountability Virtually every team finds clarity of process empowering. When roles and responsibilities are clear, and the step-by-step work flow is understood, a team can work efficiently and maximize its potential. Effective managers have a key role to play in this regard. Depending on the situation, they may decide to develop new processes with clear roles and responsibilities. Or, they may decide to conduct a process evaluation that breaks down an existing process into discrete steps, with defined criteria for when work should be handed off to another team member to advance the process. In evaluating a process, defining and documenting the roles and responsibilities for team members is often a valuable exercise. For example, asking different team members to enumerate the actual steps in a process, and to name who is responsible for what at different phases along the way, can be illuminating. Sometimes, the accounts of different team members do not match. One particularly useful tool that we leveraged during my time at both eBay and Zynga was the RACI model, or the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RACI Matrix). The RACI model maps out who is Responsible, who is Accountable, who must be Consulted and who shall stay Informed. For management, it illustrates clearly and concisely the individual roles within a team. Moreover, the A in the RACI Matrixaccountabilitydeserves special mention here, given its effectiveness as an empowerment tool. As mentioned above, at eBay local managers around the world were empowered with authority to make decisions as needed. Outside of my eBay experience, I have seen the effectiveness of this throughout my career. This is particularly important when it comes to international teams. If a team's managers are in location A and the team members executing the work are in location B, misinterpretations of risks and requirements are more likely to happen. But in these situations, I have observed greater success where a team located far away from headquarters includes a decision-making leader who understands the immediate reality of what the executing team is facing, and can facilitate communication between leadership at headquarters and the local team performing the work. Teams are more likely to engage fully in their work and put in that extra bit of energy and effort when they feel that they have a real seat at the table.



Communication "Communicate, communicate, communicate" is an appropriate message for most team managers. For managers of international teams, a corollary could be added: "communicate some more." Sometimes, a management decision is made that affects multiple members of an international team. If word of the decision reaches only some team members, it's likely that the uninformed members will unwittingly steer in the wrong direction. A few errant steps can be easily corrected, but if this behavior continues without any means for correction, the results may be wasteful at best and devastating at worst. One of the most effective and empowering communication practices used by our product management team at Symantec was a biweekly cross-functional team call. This call included many different stakeholder groups related to, but not limited to, my international team of direct reports. In addition to product management team members, it included representatives from sales, marketing, support and engineering. I led these calls in a structured but flexible manner; each team was allowed to share recent accomplishments, next steps, issues and risks. We briefly reviewed each team's status, leaving enough time to dive deep into one or two issue areas. These deep-dive sessions might be initiated by a team member's question or presenting a problem to the larger team. They always resulted in engaging dialogue, because different individuals offered different ways of thinking and different perspectives. Together, we would share information and brainstorm approaches to gather more information, perform analysis, make decisions and execute on solutions. Management decisions were clearly communicated and discussed, enhancing transparency and trust across the international team and empowering individuals with the information that would affect their daily work. The result was aligned improvements to the team's products and services. To mitigate any information lost in translation due to different levels of mastery of the English language, meeting participants documented their status in a PowerPoint deck that was shared with the cross-functional team before and during the meeting. Additionally, we ran an ongoing Skype chat so that if anyone missed or misunderstood something on the call, they could type a question and receive a written answer to clarify exactly what was being said. One final communication tip for team managers: get in the habit of writing down and sharing any information on issues, risks, roadblocks or anything else that may affect a team member's work, even if the information seems obvious. What is obvious to you may be clarifying to team members, and it may keep incorrect information from spreading. Disinformation is disempowering.



Building Trust In 2012, Google launched an initiative to study hundreds of the company's teams and assess the differences between high-performing teams and the rest. In his book Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg writes about the key scenario comparison that illuminated the initiative's main findingpsychological safety, more than anything else, is critical to making a team work. What it all came down to, Duhigg found, is trust. Work is a part of life, which is highly imperfect and impossible to control. Managers who purposefully create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing information about what's going on in their lives build important if invisible communication channels that can break down walls created by secrecy and anxiety. And what happens in our personal lives matters in the workplace to the extent that our work is affected. Building trust builds an empowering environment, because the comfort level team members feel with each other will rub off and help create a high level of comfort in sharing and honestly discussing work-related ideas. Teams and the human conditions that affect their work are somewhat analogous to software and their security vulnerabilities. The imperfections will always be there, whether we acknowledge them or not. If you look for security vulnerabilities in software, then you will find out what they are and can proceed accordingly. Similarly, if you create space for people to be real in the workplace, then you will find out their imperfections, which you can also work with. It's the difference between accepting imperfection and asking for perfection and then facing the consequences when it is inevitably not delivered. Finally, one-to-one meetings are important. There are things that are more easily expressed in a private setting than a public one, and effective leaders know how to create a safe space and connect with their direct reports in a way that cultivates trust. Make time for face time, if possible. There's nothing like sharing a meal with a colleague that you talk to all the time on the phone and by e-mail. It's not always financially feasible to bring everyone together often, but if a manager can take the time to visit his or her international teams once a quarter or even once a year, it can make a huge difference. If you absolutely can't meet in person, conduct video conference calls.


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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.
WASHINGTON  Air Force officials are talking to potential vendors this week about an upcoming project to update the software used to control the military's missile-warning satellitesand to analyze the data beamed from space.

The ground-based systems are the less exciting but nonetheless important piece of the SBIRS space-based infrared surveillance satellites that provide initial warning of a ballistic missile attack on the United States, deployed forces and allies.

The plan is to shift the current ground software architecture  a closed system developed by traditional defense contractors that is not compatible with commercial software from competing vendors  to an open-systems platform that the Air Force would own and update with new technology as it becomes available. [How Ballistic Missiles Work (Infographic)]

The project is called "future operationally resilient ground evolution," or FORGE. It is part of a broader $173.5 million SBIRS modernization plan. And it is one of several projects where Air Force hopes to attract nontraditional vendors that can bring fresh ideas and cutting-edge products.

The "space enterprise consortium," overseen by the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, is hosting a conference with potential vendors this week in El Segundo, California. Interest in the FORGE program has been so strong that the consortium had to cut off registration for one-on-one meetings.

"Due to overwhelming interest," not everyone who requested a meeting will get one, said a posting on the consortium's website.

The enthusiasm may be a sign that companies believe the Air Force is about to shake up the status quo in some of its major space programs. FORGE and other projects managed by the consortium will test the rhetoric of Air Force leaders who have promised to open the market to commercial businesses and startups. In this case, the Air Force will create a common software framework that will be owned by the government but where companies will be able to host software applications.

The ground software associated with SBIRS, like other major military space systems, is costly and increasingly difficult to update, according to government and industry officials. Because it is not an open architecture, the Air Force is not able to insert fresh software on a regular basis.

The plan is to migrate SBIRS mission management, telemetry, tracking, and satellite ground control to a "command-and-control common platform" enterprise. The Air Force will use commercial contracting methods, known as "other transactions authority," or OTA, to fund prototype designs of a common framework. The other portion of the FORGE program will focus on software to analyze and disseminate the data provided by the SBIRS satellites.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for SBIRS. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems is the payload integrator. The 460th Space Wing at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, operates the system.

The space enterprise consortium has been mentioned by senior Air Force officials as proof that the service is opening up opportunities for newcomers that thus far have been shut out of the military market.

The Space and Missile Systems Center funded the consortium under a $100 million OTA agreement. Membership costs $7,500 per year for large companies and $500 per year for small businesses. About 40 companies so far have joined.

An industry official told SpaceNews that the reviews of the consortium generally have been positive. Commercial companies for years have been disappointed by the military's procurement and contracting processes that tend to favor incumbent companies. A case in point is a highly touted Air Force effort to acquire hosted payloads from the commercial sector. The program came under heavy industry criticism for awarding far fewer contracts than promised.

The OTA agreements usually require that the vendor fund a portion of the project. To prevent established defense companies from buying their way into every project, the contracts require participation by nontraditional suppliers. The bidder has to prove that a nontraditional space company plays a significant role.

Als through the consortium, the Space and Missile Systems Center has published a solicitation for microsatellites intended to operate in high-Earth orbit that would cost less than $5 million each. This project will be highly watched by the small-satellite industry as an indicator of how the service will procure products from the commercial market. SMC would use small satellites to design a "flexible spacecraft architecture" for missions like communication, overhead persistent infrared, precision navigation and timing, weather and space situational awareness.

The potential use of small satellites for the overhead persistent infrared mission  currently performed by SBIRS  should be of interest to advocates of moving away from large expensive satellites that make for "high value" targets to U.S. enemies. U.S. Strategic Command commanding general John Hyten said he was disappointed that the Air Force already is making plans to build a new missile-warning constellation similar to SBIRS that would be deployed in 2029. Hyten said it is imperative that "we go faster."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
An artist's illustration of Astrobotic's Peregrine lander on the surface of the moon.

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.  The moon may soon be a very busy place.

A number of private companies and national governments are planning missions to the lunar surface in the next few years, and the spate of activity could lay the foundation for human outposts on Earth's nearest neighbor in the not-too-distant future.

"It's a pretty pivotal moment, we think, for the moon, and the country, and the world," Dan Hendrickson, vice president of business development for the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic, said Wednesday (Jan. 10) at the Lunar Science for Landed Missions Workshop, which was held here at NASA's Ames Research Center. [Moon Master: An Easy Quiz for Lunatics]

Astrobotic is developing a lunar lander called Peregrine, which the company says will be able to deliver up to 584 lbs. (265 kilograms) of payload to the surface of the moon. Astrobotic has already set a price for this off-Earth transportation service  $1.2 million per kilogram of payload, or about $545,000 per pound.

Peregrine is scheduled to make its first moon trip in early to mid-2020, and the manifest for that "Mission 1" already incorporates deals with 11 partners, Hendrickson said.

The goal is eventually to get Peregrine landers flying often, ferrying a variety of gear to the moon for many customers.

"We're here to serve you and provide a core spacecraft bus for all the different types of mission profiles, whether it's sample-return, whether it's resource utilization," Hendrickson told the workshop attendees, most of whom were planetary scientists and engineers.

An artist's illustration of Blue Origin's proposed Blue Moon system, which the company has said will be able to land up to 10,000 lbs. (4,500 kilograms) on the surface of the moon. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

Hendrickson was on a panel Wednesday with representatives of several other companies working on their own lunar landers: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Florida-based Moon Express and Japanese startup iSpace.

A.C. Charania, manager of advanced programs at Blue Origin, laid out the basic vision for the company'"Blue Moon" lander, which he said will be capable of putting up to 10,000 lbs. (4,500 kg) of payload down on the lunar surface.

Blue Origin aims to be ready to fly its first Blue Moon mission in "the next few years," Charania said. And that will be just the beginning, if everything goes according to plan. [Photos: Glimpses of Secretive Blue Origin's Private Spaceships]

Blue Origin plans to mount "a cadence of missions that build a capability," Charania said at the workshop. "That's our goal. It's not just a single return; it's a return to enable a permanent presence robotically and, eventually, with humans as well."

Such ambition should not be surprising; Bezos has stressed that Blue Origin wants to help make humanity a truly spacefaring species, with millions of people living and working off-Earth.

Moon Express also has big dreams.

"Our vision is really to expand Earth's economic and social sphere to include the moon," Alain Berinstain, the company's vice president of global development, said during the panel discussion. "We see the moon as the Earth's eighth continent to explore and to also mine for resources, like we have with every other continent on Earth."

An artist's impression of Moon Express' MX-1E lander on the lunar surface. (Image credit: Moon Express)

Chief among those resources is water ice, which can be split into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen, the components of rocket fuel. Space mining could therefore enable the construction of off-Earth propellant depots, allowing spacecraft to fill their tanks on the go, advocates say.

Moon Express aims to help make this happen with its MX family of spacecraft, the core piece of which is an exploration vehicle about the same size and shape as R2-D2 from "Star Wars." Moon Express plans to launch one of these MX landers to the moon by March 31 of this year, in an attempt to win the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) competition.

A single MX could put 22 to 44 lbs. (10 to 20 kg) of payload down on the lunar surface. But Moon Express' planned MX-5 and MX-9 spacecraft  which incorporate five and nine of the core lander units, respectively  could land hundreds of kilograms, Berinstain said.

The MX-5 and MX-9 will also come in a sample-return configuration, Moon Express representatives have said. And these craft, along with another one called the MX-2, could explore a variety of celestial bodies in addition to the moon.

iSpace also has a GLXP connection: The company's 9-lb. (4 kg) rover is based heavily on the wheeled explorer being sent to the moon by contestant Team Hakuto. Indeed, iSpace refers to Hakuto's GLXP effort as "Mission 0"; Missions 1 and 2 are currently targeted for 2019 and 2020, respectively.

iSpace's vision involves mapping lunar resources with swarms of rovers, which the company will deliver to the moon, iSpace spacecraft system engineer Jamie Denniston said at the workshop.

An artist's illustration of iSpace's lander and rover on the surface of the moon. (Image credit: ispace)

"Beyond that, in the longer term  starting maybe in the 2030 range  we plan to be a key part of the extraction process and delivery of lunar resources," Denniston said.

National governments are also interested in assessing these resources, partly to help pave the way for crewed missions and, eventually, permanently staffed outposts on the moon. If everything goes according to plan, both NASA and Russia's Federal Space Agency, known as Roscosmos, will launch robotic prospecting missions to the lunar poles in 2022.

NASA's effort, called Resource Prospector, doesn't have a landing site yet. The Russian mission  a collaboration with the European Space Agency known as Luna 27  will target the South Pole-Aitken basin, on the moon's far side.

Other nations aim to touch down even sooner. For example, India plans to launch its Chandrayaan-2 moon mission, which includes a rover and an orbiter, this spring. China's Chang'e 4 mission to the lunar far side is due to launch this year, and the Chang'e 5 sample-return effort is scheduled for 2019. And Japan is developing a demonstration mission called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, with a launch possibly coming in the next few years.

"We think, genuinely, there's about to be an explosion in this area of exploration," Denniston said. "We think we're in the right place at the right time."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane may be back and faster than ever.

Or maybe not. Ambiguous wording at an aerospace-conference presentation last week suggested that the SR-72, a successor to the infamous Cold War spy plane, might already be in production, but neither the military nor the plane's possible maker, Lockheed Martin Corp., is talking.

Bloomberg reported that Lockheed Vice President Jack O'Banion projected an artist's conception of the hypersonic SR-72 during a talk at the annual SciTech Forum of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Florida on Jan. 8. Standing by the image of the sleek gray aircraft, O'Banion reportedly spoke about recent advances in computing and design and then said, "Without the digital transformation, the aircraft you see there could not have been made." [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Airplanes]

The wording implies that the aircraft has, in fact, been made, as does O'Banion's later comments, also in the present tense.

"We couldn't have made the engine itself  it would have melted down into slag if we had tried to produce it five years ago," O'Banion said, according to Bloomberg. "But now, we can digitally print that engine with an incredibly sophisticated cooling system integral into the material of the engine itself, and have that engine survive for multiple firings for routine operation."

Both the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin declined to confirm the existence of a real hypersonic (more than 5 times the speed of sound) spy plane to Bloomberg. Outside defense experts told the news outlet that the plane could be anywhere in the development process, from the digital design phase to the prototype phase.

The SR-71 Blackbird was a speedy, stealthy spy plane specifically designed to absorb, rather than reflect, radar signals and, hence, remain relatively hidden. Though it's more than 107 feet (33 meters) long, the plane appeared on radar as an object somewhere between the size of a bird and a human, according to Lockheed Martin's history of the plane.

The Blackbird was made from titanium so that it would have the strength to withstand the heat generated while flying at above Mach 3 (2,045 mph or 3,300 km/h), or three times the speed of sound. Developers painted the plane black to dissipate some of the heat, lending the aircraft its "Blackbird" moniker, according to Lockheed Martin. The two-seat SR-71 first flew on Dec. 22, 1964. It was retired in 1990, retaining the record of fastest manned aircraft ever made. According to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the final flight of the Blackbird now displayed at its hangar in Chantilly, Virginia, set a speed record: The plane flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 64 minutes and 20 seconds.

The future of hypersonic travel

Lockheed Martin's interest in developing hypersonic "scramjets"  which use oxygen from the environment rather than a tank for combustion in the engine  is no secret, according to Bloomberg. However, the engineering challenges are steep.

Jets like the purported SR-72 could enable the Air Force to make ultrafast bombing runs into enemy airspace without being detected, defense analyst Richard Aboulafia told Bloomberg. (Lockheed Martin engineers said in 2013 that they hoped to develop an SR-72 that could fly at Mach 6 (4,603 mph or 7,407 km/h) by 2030.)

Secrecy and rumors are the norm in the development of new stealth aircraft. According to a Central Intelligence Agency history of the development of the SR-71, the government tried very hard to keep the development of the original Blackbird classified, but a former U.S. Navy admiral named John B. Pearson said he figured out that Lockheed was up to something by 1961, just three years after the project started. A newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, also reported the possibility of a new faster-than-sound airplane in 1963.

Editor's Note: This article was updated to indicate that the SR-71 was not hypersonic, but instead could fly at three times the speed of sound.

Original article on Live Science.
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Gamma ray bursts, intense explosions of light, are the brightest events ever observed in the universe  lasting no longer than seconds or minutes. Some are so luminous that they can be observed with the naked eye, such as the burst "GRB 080319B" discovered by NASA's Swift GRB Explorer mission on March 19, 2008.

But despite the fact that they are so intense, scientists don't really know what causes gamma ray bursts. There are even people who believe some of them might be messages sent from advanced alien civilisations. Now we have for the first time managed to recreate a mini version of a gamma ray burst in the laboratory  opening up a whole new way to investigate their properties. Our research is published in Physical Review Letters.

One idea for the origin of gamma ray bursts is that they are somehow emitted during the emission of jets of particles released by massive astrophysical objects, such as black holes. This makes gamma ray bursts extremely interesting to astrophysicists  their detailed study can unveil some key properties of the black holes they originate from.

The beams released by the black holes would be mostly composed of electrons and their "antimatter" companions, the positrons  all particle have antimatter counterparts that are exactly identical to themselves, only with opposite charge. These beams must have strong, self-generated magnetic fields. The rotation of these particles around the fields give off powerful bursts of gamma ray radiation. Or, at least, this is what our theories predict. But we don't actually know how the fields would be generated.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems in studying these bursts. Not only do they last for short periods of time but, most problematically, they are originated in distant galaxies, sometimes even billion light years from Earth (imagine a one followed by 25 zeroes  this is basically what one billion light years is in metres).

That means you rely on looking at something unbelievably far away that happens at random, and lasts only for few seconds. It is a bit like understanding what a candle is made of, by only having glimpses of candles being lit up from time to time thousands of kilometres from you.

World's most powerful laser

It has been recently proposed that the best way to work out how gamma ray bursts are produced would be by mimicking them in small-scale reproductions in the laboratory  reproducing a little source of these electron-positron beams and look at how they evolve when left on their own. Our group and our collaborators from the US, France, UK, and Sweden, recently succeeded in creating the first small-scale replica of this phenomenon by using one of the most intense lasers on Earth, the Gemini laser, hosted by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK.

How intense is the most intense laser on Earth? Take all the solar power that hits the whole Earth and squeeze it into a few microns (basically the thickness of a human hair) and you have got the intensity of a typical laser shot in Gemini. Shooting this laser onto a complex target, we were able to release ultra-fast and dense copies of these astrophysical jets and make ultra-fast movies of how they behave. The scaling down of these experiments is dramatic: take a real jet that extends even for thousands of light years and compress it down to a few millimetres.

In our experiment, we were able to observe, for the first time, some of the key phenomena that play a major role in the generation of gamma ray bursts, such as the self-generation of magnetic fields that lasted for a long time. These were able to confirm some major theoretical predictions of the strength and distribution of these fields. In short, our experiment independently confirms that the models currently used to understand gamma ray bursts are on the right track.

The experiment is not only important for studying gamma ray bursts. Matter made only of electrons and positrons is an extremely peculiar state of matter. Normal matter on Earth is predominantly made of atoms: a heavy positive nucleus surrounded by clouds of light and negative electrons.

Artist impression of gamma ray burst. (Image credit: NASA)

Due to the incredible difference in weight between these two components (the lightest nucleus weighs 1836 times the electron) almost all the phenomena we experience in our everyday life comes from the dynamics of electrons, which are much quicker in responding to any external input (light, other particles, magnetic fields, you name it) than nuclei. But in an electron-positron beam, both particles have exactly the same mass, meaning that this disparity in reaction times is completely obliterated. This brings to a quantity of fascinating consequences. For example, sound would not exist in an electron-positron world.

So far so good, but why should we care so much about events that are so distant? There are multiple reasons indeed. First, understanding how gamma ray bursts are formed will allow us to understand a lot more about black holes and thus open a big window on how our universe was born and how it will evolve.

But there is a more subtle reason. SETI  Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence  looks for messages from alien civilisations by trying to capture electromagnetic signals from space that cannot be explained naturally (it focuses mainly on radio waves, but gamma ray bursts are associated with such radiation too).

Of course, if you put your detector to look for emissions from space, you do get an awful lot of different signals. If you really want to isolate intelligent transmissions, you first need to make sure all the natural emissions are perfectly known so that they can excluded. Our study helps towards understanding black hole and pulsar emissions, so that, whenever we detect anything similar, we know that it is not coming from an alien civilisation.

Gianluca Sarri, Lecturer at the School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates  and become part of the discussion  on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.
A brilliant fireball lit up the night sky over southern Michigan Tuesday (Jan. 16), dazzling skywatchers lucky enough to see it. Many more felt the earth shake from the meteor's sonic boom, according to media reports.

The meteor occurred at 8:10 p.m. CST and registered as a 2.0 magnitude earthquake, officials with the National Weather Service wrote in an alert. The American Meteor Society has received 399 sightings of the brilliant fireball, which lit up social media.Take a look at some of those sightings:

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You can see more images and videos on Twitter at #meteor.

Editor's note: If you captured an amazing photo or video of the Michigan meteor and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or gallery, send images and comments to: spacephotos@space.com.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Analysis by NASA's commercial crew program expects that the two vehicles under development may not be certified until late 2019 or early 2020, according to the GAO.

WASHINGTON  As the two companies developing commercial crew systems reiterated that they were on schedule to carry out test flights later this year, a government analysis of schedules concluded those vehicles may not be certified to carry NASA astronauts until late 2019 or early 2020.

That assessment, delivered by the Government Accountability Office at a Jan. 17 hearing by the House space subcommittee on the commercial crew program, raises the potential of a gap in U.S. access to the International Space Station when the agency's current agreements for Soyuz seats run out next year.

Christina Chaplain, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the GAO, said in her testimony that despite current schedules, which call for certifying both Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon in the first quarter of 2019 after the completion of planned uncrewed and crewed test flights late this year, NASA's own estimates project that certification to be significantly delayed. [Watch: SpaceX, Boeing Launching Space Taxi Test Flights in 2018]

"We found that the program's own analysis indicates that certification is likely to slip into December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing," she said. Those certifications are required before the vehicles can begin regular crew rotation flights to and from the International Space Station.

Chaplain said the companies assumed aggressive schedules, in part to motivate their teams working on the vehicles, assumptions NASA does not necessarily accept. "According to NASA, both contractors assumed an efficiency factor in getting to the crewed flight test that the program office does not assume in its schedule," she said.

Such delays, she noted, are not uncommon in major NASA programs. "But in this case, the delays and uncertain final certification dates raise questions about whether the U.S. will have uninterrupted access to the space station beyond 2019," she said.

NASA currently has access to the station through the first half of 2019, thanks in part to the purchase of five Soyuz seats from Boeing, which acquired them from RSC Energia as settlement for litigation involving the two companies' partnership in Sea Launch. Three of those seats are on flights launching in the spring of 2019, returning in the fall.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said NASA was studying potential ways to deal with any certification delays beyond the fall of 2019. That will not involve the production of additional Soyuz spacecraft, he said, since each Soyuz has a production time of about three years.

"We are brainstorming ideas to provide additional schedule time, if needed," he said, without elaborating. "The ISS program is looking at ways to maximize ISS operations while allowing for some delays in launch dates."

He emphasized that NASA would not succumb to schedule pressures to make changes that could adversely affect safety. "NASA is aware of the schedule, but not driven by the schedule," he said.

Patricia Sanders, chair of the agency's independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, concurred. "Despite the volume of remaining work, the technical challenges and the upcoming end of the Soyuz transportation for U.S. crews, the Panel sees no evidence that the program leadership is making decisions that prioritize schedule over crew safety," she said.

Despite the assessment from the GAO, representatives of Boeing and SpaceX expressed confidence at the hearing about their latest schedules. Updated versions of the commercial crew flight test schedule, released by NASA Jan. 11, call for an uncrewed CST-100 Starliner flight in August, followed by a crewed mission in November, a timeline unchanged from prior assessments.

"We have high confidence in our plan," said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for commercial programs at Boeing Space Exploration. He said he believed the vehicle would be certified by the spring of 2019.

SpaceX is planning an uncrewed flight of its Crew Dragon in August and a crewed flight in December. SpaceX's schedule represents a slip of four months from its prior schedule for the two test flights.

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said the company had completed most of the technical development of the Crew Dragon vehicle, and was confident the company could meet the latest schedule. However, he, like Mulholland, emphasized safety over schedule.

"Safely and reliably flying commercial crew missions remains the highest priority for SpaceX, and we will launch NASA astronauts only when both we and NASA are ready," he said.

SpaceX in particular faced tough questions from some committee members, who questioned the company's ability to safely transport astronauts given the failures of two Falcon 9 launches and uncertainty about the outcome of the company's latest launch, of a classified payload known as Zuma, Jan. 7.

Koenigsmann reiterated previous company statements that the Falcon 9 performed as planned on the Zuma launch. He also noted that, in the case of the June 2015 launch failure on a Dragon cargo mission to the ISS as well as the pad explosion during preparations for a static-fire test of a Falcon 9 in September 2016, astronauts could have safely escaped using the abort system on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Some members expressed concerns about both the safety of commercial crew vehicles and schedule delays, as well as worries that they could result in increased costs for NASA even though the agency's commercial crew contracts with the two companies are fixed-price.

"With the end of the ISS on the horizon, the clock is ticking on maximizing the return on the taxpayers' investment," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science Committee. He cited delays in other NASA programs, such as the Space Launch System and Orion, as cause for broader concerns. "NASA and its contractors must restore American confidence in their ability to deliver safe, cost-effective leadership in space."

However, another senior committee member, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), praised the commercial crew program and called Boeing and SpaceX "two terrific companies" for demonstrating an alternative to traditional government-led approaches to human spaceflight. "This program has saved money. We've got different approaches that are now being proven. So it looks like the program is going along as we thought it would, even though there have been glitches."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.






Seizure, written by Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, is an intense hour of television, relentlessly swinging between action and emotional drama. The episode opens with inmates at Helmsing Prison rioting to seize control, but, if you think thats all the title of this episode is referencing, prepare your heart. Prepare it now.



With three different gangs controlling three different sections of the prison, Hondo and Jessica work together flawlessly as they devise the plan, but if the clock wasnt already ticking for Hondo and the team to gain control, Gunnar Cades just knifed Sister Carmelita in the side  so Hondos sights are set solely on Cade.



Back at SWAT headquarters, Deacons wife Annie has arrived with cake. Its Deacons ten-year anniversary with SWAT, and she wants him to get acknowledged for that milestone. Not everythings gone his way this year, she tells Hicks. Beyond what weve seen its hard to say exactly what shes referring to, but it feels a lot like a reference to Hondo getting command of the team over Deacon. I wouldnt imagine Annie holds any ill-feelings towards Hondo for that, but seeing her husband miss out must have been difficult.



ANNIE: It was Barbara who taught me how to be a cops wife.

HICKS: Yeah? Well, Barbaras good at that. And just about everything else. I wish Id let her know that more while she was still alive.



Foreshadowing. So much foreshadowing. From that emotional punch in the stomach, we cut to Deacon, and its a tense scene as he and Chris take control of A Block.

We learn some interesting and disturbing things about the prison through guard Telly Appleton, who used to sack groceries before getting this job without any proper training. Hes just stabbed an inmate whod stolen his uniform, and now hes following behind SWAT officers as they work to regain control of the situation. Hes starting to question if $11 an hour is worth it.



DEACON: Piece of advice. When I first got this job, somebody told me that Im gonna see some rough things and Im gonna have to do some rough things. But every cop needs a chair.

APPLETON: A chair? What does that mean?

DEACON: Its whatever you use to decompress. For some people its a chair and a glass of scotch. Others its a favorite meal, a certain book. Anything. The sooner we do this, the sooner we get you back to your chair.





In B Block, some of the prisoners have their chair. Street and Tan enter the rec room to find four inmates, a tub of ice cream each, watching Young and the Restless  because their TV time wont be restricted today. Alas for them, it will be, by SWAT. Its as Street and Tan are locking the four up into two cells that more information about the conditions at this prison are revealed. The cells are made for two, but the inmates are used to sharing with at least four. Its unsettling information.In C Block Sister Carmelita is still bleeding from her knife wound, but shes hanging on, losing blood but speaking words of encouragement to those around her. Hondo and Luca throw a flashbang into the room, and while they incapacitate a couple of the inmates, Cade escapes with the injured Sister Carmelita.Back to the precinct, and if you think SWAT is going to give you a moment to breathe in between prison scenes, with lovely scenes of Annie with Deacons 10th anniversary cake, think again.Hicks is momentarily distracted from the cake by Jess calling, letting him know theyve recovered two of the hostages, and during this call nothing seems wrong. Its after the call, as Annie tells Hicks she understands he needs to leave, that something starts to feel off. Its subtle at first, her use of the word understudy instead of understand. And he smiles in confusion, until she struggles to even form a basic sentence, until the tension starts to show on her face, until its obvious shes in the middle of a medical event, and he helps her to the couch before calling for help. Theres no over-dramatic collapse here, but a realistic scene of fear and confusion played beautifully by Bre Blair.At the hospital we learn theres bleeding in Annies brain, and the question becomes: Do they pull Deacon out? Annies about to go into surgery, theres a chance she wont make it. Jess speaks to Hondo who tells her the situation is far from being under control. She wont compromise Deacon or the team while theyre all still inside  so she makes the difficult decision to keep the news of Annie from Deacon for now.In B Block, in what used to be the infirmary, Tan and Street discover what appears to be a sweatshop operating within the prison. Their discussion about what theyve found ends abruptly when theyre fired upon. They follow the shooters, find the construction workers, but just as they lock up several inmates in a cooler, Moco (I really hope thats a nickname) Hernandez shows up. Street cant just shoot him, so, with Tans help, its time for a little hand-to-hand combat. And Moco wont go easy on them, but they get him into custody with a little teamwork  and some water.The tension continues at the hospital. The bleeding in Annies brain, the stroke, is due to a non-cancerous tumour. Theres swelling in her brain and its getting worse. Its all hitting too close to home for Hicks, who accidentally uses Barbs name instead of Annie when asking if shell be okay. Just in case your heart wasnt completely broken already.Theres now just twenty percent of the rioters still to get back in their cells, and seven hostages to rescue. With Gunnar Cade and his crew to get into custody, and Sister Carmelita to rescue, Hondo keeps the news of Annie from Deacon, and its clear hes struggling with this decision.Hondo and Luca find out, with help from inmate J.R Coltrane, that Gunnar Cade started the riot to use it as a distraction while he found Dale Degroat, an inmate in protective custody who, if he testifies, could put a bunch of Cades buddies behind bars. Right now, Cades using Sister Carmelita as collateral. The team fires a gas canister into where Cade and his crew are attempting to break into Protective Custody. Luca helps Sister Carmelita, while Hondo and Rocker pursue Cade. They follow a trail of blood, suggesting theyve managed to hit him with a bullet.Not much makes me jump, Im so hardened by years of horror films, but this episode managed to get me so on edge from the action and emotional heartache, that when one of Cades men appeared and attempted to take down Hondo I definitely flinched.Jessica is utilized to perfection in this episode. Shes there from the start until the end, helping to organize how theyll tackle the riot, questioning the prison owner, Ashe Jones, making the hard decisions with Hondo during the op, and watching everything and everyone. Jessica may be dating Hondo, but that relationship is kept so separate from their careers, and this character is consistently written so strongly, that there's no danger here of Jessica becoming "Hondo's girl". Its because of Jessica that Cade, disguised in a Guards uniform, limping past squad cars, is unable to escape. No one else pays much attention to him  except Jessica. Its Jessica who steps up to him, Jessica who orders him to the ground, and ultimately Jessica who takes him out with expert aim.With all prisoners now accounted for, its time for Hondo to deliver the bad news to Deacon.DEACON:HONDO:DEACON:Jay Harrington deserves an award for the fear in his eyes alone in this scene.Robert Duncans music breaks us a little more as Deacon runs to a waiting chopper. He cant get there fast enough, so the scene utilizes slow motion to tighten that vice-like grip on our hearts and draw out the scene; the world moves in slow motion in moments like these.Confusion and fear swirl again, this time in Deacon as he meets Hicks at the hospital and tries to make sense of it all.Patrick St. Esprit is powerful in this scene as Hicks calms Deacon, drawing on his own experiences with Barbaras illness.Hondo has the chance to call Ashe out on the conditions of his prison, and he doesnt hold back.he tells him. Hondos angry, and hes going to make sure Ashe pays. Hell get justice for what he saw inside.And Jessica gets in the parting shot, a warning that when Hondo thinks someone deserves to be behind bars, it happens.The episode ends at the hospital, with Deacon surrounded by his family while Annies in surgery, both his kids, and his SWAT family.Deacon admits to Hondo that he and Annie had made a will when he joined SWAT. Theyd planned for what theyd do if anything happened to him.is Deacons chair.And with the success of prisoner rehabilitation brought into question in this episode, I can't help but wonder if Annie might be about to go through rehabilitation of her own  if she pulls through.Thursday cannot come fast enough.
A zza Fahmy, a luxury Egyptian jewellery brand worn by singers Rihanna and Joss Stone, on Wednesday became the first of scores of international designers expected to open debut London shops this year.

Azza Fahmy, who set up her eponymous jewellery business in Cairo in 1969, has inked a deal to open in March alongside the likes of Chanel and Mulberry at the Burlington Arcade.

The Mayfair centre is owned by property investors Meyer Bergman and Thor Equities.

The accessories firm has previously collaborated with Matthew Williamson at London Fashion Week.

Fatma Ghaly, managing director of Azza Fahmy, said it had been looking at opening a store in London for some time.

Burlington Arcades leasing agent Cushman & Wakefield said there are at least 30 luxury retailers which are looking to open shops in London in 2018.

Cushman & Wakefield's Peter Mace said: Demand at the higher end of the market remain very robust as this sector seems to be less impacted by internet sales. Customers want to feel the product before they buy.
T ech guru Kathryn Parsons has called for the introduction of a French-style tech visa to help attract and keep talent in the face of Brexit and safeguard Londons status as the technology capital of Europe.

The founder of tech training firm Decoded said she would use her high-profile positions on Prime Minister Theresa Mays and Mayor Sadiq Khans business councils to promote the idea.

In June, French president Emmanuel Macron launched the French tech visa, a fast-track four-year residence permit for entrepreneurs and their families. The visa makes it easier for fast-growing companies to hire foreign talent and set up shop in France. Parsons wants the UK to go even further and grant anyone with a degree or PhD in science, technology, engineering and mathematics a 10-year visa.

She told the Standard: Many tech executives have left the capital, unwilling to wait and see how Brexit pans out in two years time.

Current rules stipulate that immigrants from outside the European Union with an exceptional talent can apply for a visa and stay in the UK for five years.

However, places are limited to 1000 per year.
B urberry fell out of fashion in the City on Wednesday after the luxury trenchcoat-maker warned the tourist boom to the UK had slowed, and said shoppers were opting for lower priced items over Christmas.

The FTSE 100 firm said that sales in Britain declined by a high single digit percentage in the three months to December 31.

That contrasted with a booming market in London a year earlier, when tourists flocked here to gain from the weak pound.

Burberry also said that its focus on outfits during the quarter meant customers snapped up more lower-priced goods such as tops and trousers.

Finance chief Julie Brown also pointed to a slowdown in China.

Group retail revenue was 719 million, down from 735 million a year earlier, and comparable sales rose 2%.

The figures were at the lower end of analyst expectations, and shares in Burberry plunged 140.50p, or 7.9%, to 1644.5p.

Burberrys update comes two months after new boss Marco Gobbetti unveiled plans to move the company more upmarket to up the fight with rivals LVMH and Kering. He will take the axe to a number of stores not close enough to its high-spending shoppers.

This spring it will unveil a new collection of bags, featuring some more expensive goods.

Gobbetti said the design house is on track to meet full-year profit targets.

Burberry is still seeking a replacement for Christopher Bailey, the designer who turned the firm into a global label, who will be leaving this year.
I t isn't quite real. For all its present impact and vivid historical resonance, Joe Wrights film, Darkest Hour, which describes the War Cabinet crisis of May 1940, occupies what postmodern philosophers call hyper-reality: a form of imitation that seeks to improve upon actuality.

Churchill did not, as the movie claims, use an impromptu Tube journey to gauge the publics readiness to resist the Germans apparently irresistible advance. He did not quote Thomas Macaulay alongside his fellow passengers. The furious debates within the Cabinet between Lord Halifax, advocate of negotiation with the Axis powers, and the Prime Minister, determined to fight on, are compressed and simplified. Nuances are lost, complexities ironed out.

But so what? Like the prosthetics that assist Gary Oldmans astonishing (and surely Oscar-worthy) performance as Churchill, the liberties taken by the film do not mutilate its core of historical truth. So powerful is the effect that cinema audiences across the land have reportedly been breaking into spontaneous applause after the legendary We shall fight on the beaches speech, originally delivered to the Commons on June 4, 1940. A nerve has certainly been struck.

Why so? Coincidentally, I was granted some insight into this question on a trip to Chile last week. In Santiago, where I was leading a conference on fake news and digital technology, there is undisguised dismay at the carelessness with which apparently strong democracies are toying with Right-wing populism and authoritarianism.

Chile is a country in which the memory of dictatorship is all too fresh. I was taken to see Morande 80, the entrance located on the east side of the Palacio de la Moneda, through which the president of Chile traditionally entered the seat of government as a common citizen. During General Augusto Pinochets seizure of power in 1973, the body of the slain president, Salvador Allende, was carried out through this doorway.

It was subsequently sealed and only reopened  in a moment of deep symbolism  in September 2003, 30 years after the coup. A walk through the heart of government in Chiles capital is a tour of a nations scars.

In Chile populism is a dirty word. Its political and media class see Donald Trump as a cartoonish echo of all their worst memories, and Brexit as the foolish act of a nation that has forgotten how fragile prosperity and social cohesion can be. And  because the modern global order is so intimately interconnected  they naturally seek reassurance that we have not taken leave of our senses, or grown complacent about the democratic institutions that they have reclaimed with what Churchill would have called blood, toil, tears and sweat.

To hear such anxieties is humbling. What can one say in response? It is idle to pretend that their concerns are unjustified. The pioneering research of Harvards Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa of the University of Melbourne has shown, with alarming clarity, the extent to which the citizens of the liberal West have grown jaded with democratic politics, and flirtatiously open to authoritarian alternatives.

In their fine new book, How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt warn of the perils of such dalliances: The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracys assassins use the very institutions of democracy  gradually, subtly and even legally  to kill it.

Contrary to the complacent expectation of many liberals, history does not respect the arc of the pendulum. There is no intrinsic reason why the age of Trump, Brexit, Le Pen, Germanys AfD and Right-wing populism elsewhere in Europe should pass like a political season, yielding place to a familiar, benign moderacy. Indeed, the question that should be asked is quite otherwise: why assume that what follows Trump or the false promise of Brexit will not be worse?

What I was able to tell my hosts in Santiago is this: yes, the immune system of the democratic West has crashed. The collapse of trust in our most basic institutions has nurtured a lurid populism, weaponised by digital technology. The only certainty is volatility. Political prophecy has been drained of credibility.

In 2016 the British voted to leave the EU in a surge of hostility to immigration. A year later, they awarded a Left-wing Labour leader 40 per cent of the popular vote. The old patterns of political behaviour have simply melted away. As a society, we are both addicted to change and terrified by it. Only a fool would predict the likely outcome of the next general election with any confidence.

Yet all is not chaos. The resistance to Brexit  derided in some quarters as the anti-democratic reflex of a defeated remoaner elite  shows, on the contrary, that the traditions of parliamentary democracy are not dead, and that the victory of intolerant populism is far from total.

Witness, too, the rise of the fact-checking industry, the many campaigns to combat fake news and the growing consensus that the tech giants must take much greater responsibility for the digital Babel to which they play host. The uncertainty, suspicion and moral relativism upon which authoritarianism preys has not yet won the day.

Which is why the cheers in cinemas for Churchills defiance reflect much more than nostalgia. The isolation that he describes is not an ideal sought, but a burden accepted. The speech gives voice to a deep and not-yet-vanquished readiness to ride out the storm  whatever it may be. Even now, in the dark of the multiplex, 78 years after Churchills great oratory, its message strikes a chord; and shows, perhaps to our surprise, that we still know these freedoms are worth fighting for.
H ow do you arrange the books on your shelves? By topic, I imagine, though some opt for alphabetisation and Ive met a handful of trendy types who claim to arrange by mood.

Now heres a new suggestion from the interiors magazine Ideal Home. The latest issue printed a picture of a shelf stacked with books, but they were all flipped the wrong way around, their spines facing inwards so all you can see is a line of featureless pages. The accompanying headline read: Lauren keeps the look neutral by stacking books back to front.

Seems a bit silly, doesnt it, counter- intuitive. Social media thought so too. The picture quickly went viral and caused a quite an online stir. Well Laurens a blithering idiot then, isnt she? tweeted the comedian Pete Otway.

Some of the comments moved into real cruelty and misogyny (one horrible Facebook troll even threatened to come to her house to kick her head in). Lauren ended up defending her decor decision against the online mob, who concluded that she must be a non-reader to want to display books in this way. Too many books of different colours can make a shelf look cluttered, she explained. Some people may think it is pretentious but to make assumptions about my character based on one bookcase is unfair.

The reaction to Laurens bookcase is extreme but it is true that other peoples bookshelves can give an intimate insight about taste and, yes, character. Its always the first thing I look at when I visit someone elses house. Not to condemn or criticise, of course, but how can one not be curious?

So why have some people been made so angry by poor Lauren (apart from the obvious answer that they are strangers on the internet and so inordinate, cruel rage is basically a requirement)? I suspect it is because she has been unfairly lumped into an emerging group: the book braggarts of Instagram.

It has become rather popular in recent years to show off book collections on the social media platform: photo after photo of neatly lined-up hardbacks, warmly-lit, well-framed and glossy-filtered in the same way others might snap a meal at a swanky restaurant or a poolside selfie. Selfie or shelfie, the tiresome purpose is the same: look at my beautiful life, are you envious yet? Oh, get over your shelf.

Im getting in the popcorn for the next royal biopic

The American TV channel Lifetime has announced a film about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, apparently with the plan to air it before the couples wedding on May 19.

The film is a sequel, of sorts. The networks first attempt at a royal romance, William & Kate: The Movie, about the couple meeting and falling in love at St Andrews, aired in the UK in 2011 just in time for the big day.

I have fond, blurred memories of the film. I met up with fellow university friends, St Andrews alumni, to have a few drinks and a laugh at the almost inconceivably naff disaster. Shots of LA pretending to be Fife, dodgy accents, risible script chock-full of clunky, expository howlers (Youre the heir, Prince Harry tells William. I am just the spare.), it had all you could want from so-bad-its-hilarious trash.

Can Harry and Meghan: The Royal Love Story surpass its predecessor? With less than four months left to write, cast, film and edit the thing, Im optimistic.

A sneeze is always better out than in

An unlucky soul made the headlines yesterday after he tried to stifle a sneeze and ended up blasting a hole through the back of his throat. Shocking stuff, but it could have been even worse  apparently holding in a forceful sneeze could cause a lethal brain aneurysm.

I am a frequent and naturally loud sneezer (I have a mild allergy to sugar but refuse to stop eating it), yet for years I have been suppressing blasts under my wifes instruction. Little did I know that all this time Ive been dicing with death on a daily basis.

But my initial thoughts of horror were soon replaced by opportunism. Sorry, darling, I have to let out my sneezes at full blast now, doctors orders etc. Thanks, quacks.

The Saudis first movie is a bit *thumbs-down*

At the weekend Saudi Arabia lifted its cinema ban for the first theatrical screening in 35 years. But Saudi wannabe cinephiles shouldnt celebrate just yet.

The first film given the thumbs-up by the conservative Islamic kingdoms officials is The Emoji Movie, the childrens cartoon savaged by western critics last year: rancid, oppressively bland, the most hideous example of product placement in cinematic history.

No one could blame the Saudis if they choose to not watch a film again.
Christmas is the most popular time for people to propose, and summer, naturally, the most popular time to have a wedding.

Which, by logic, would make this the most likely time for one of your newly-engaged BFFs to ask you to be her bridesmaid.

It can be a moment of mixed emotions.

Sure, the overriding one is of elation and honour, but if we are truly honest, the nightmares soon set in. Will you have to wear mint green? Will it be strapless? Will ten of you be forced into a one-size-fits-all dress?

And yet, thanks to a flurry of chic, fashion-forward bridesmaid dress brands, there's no reason you can't feel like yourself - even your coolest self - on your friend's special day.

Plus you might actually want to wear it again, post-wedding. Hurrah! Here are eight of the best brands for bridesmaids dresses:

Harmur

Harmur

Since it launched in 2017, London label Harmur has made waves in the eveningwear space with its slinky silky backless tops and dresses. Now, the mother-daughters trio has turned its attention to weddingwear, with the launch of its debut bridal party collection. Featuring some of their most loved designs like the Classic paired with the Maxi Wrap Skirt, as well as new designs like the Angel Sleeve Dress and Drape Back Top, the 12-piece collection comes in four colours: rose, silver, shell and sage. If backless and silky is your bride tribe style, this is the brand for you.

Prices from 155. Orders can be made online and pieces take a minimum of two weeks to complete. harmur.co.uk

Nola London

Nola London

Looking for sustainably-crafted bridalwear thats designed to be worn again? London label Nola, launched by best friends in 2021, produces its simple, elegant dresses in small runs in a central London atelier. There are eight dress styles available in eight colourways, plus co-ordinating hair accessories made from remnant dress cuttings. Each dress is made from sustainable viscose, along with a bamboo and viscose mix for the linings. Zips are made from recycled plastics and labels are produced in Pembrokeshire from recycled polyester. Ideal for a planet-friendly bridal party.

Prices from 120.- 290 nolalondon.com

Rixo

Rixo

Following on the launch of their debut bridal and bridesmaid collection in 2021, Rixos 2022 bridal collection comprises seven dresses in five shapes: The Evie, Abi, Gio, Flavia and Effie (the latter two come in two colours). Featuring the brands signature hand-painted prints: Blush Poppies, Polka Dot, and Daisy the dresses come with a variety of different necklines and sleeve styles, from halternecks and sweetheart necklines to puff and butterfly sleeves.

Available to shop online and stocked in RIXOs Bridal store in Belgravia, London - contact bridal@rixo.co.uk to make an appointment. Prices range from 295 - 345. rixo.co.uk

Sister, by Halfpenny London

Benjamin Wheeler

Kate Halfpenny launched her bridal brand Halfpenny London from her living room in 2005 and has since gone on to design wedding dresses for everyone from Emilia Fox to Millie Mackintosh and Vogue Williams. Now, the London designer has added to her success with the launch of Sister, an affordable bridesmaid collection designed to cater to all shapes and sizes.

Prices for dresses and separates range from 95 to 295. halfpennylondon.com

The Own Studio

The Own Studio

London-based designers and best friends Jess Kaye and Rosie Williams founded The OWN Studio to bring a contemporary aesthetic to wedding wear. Handmade at its London atelier, the label delivers understated silk dresses in a range of silhouettes, from wrap dresses to halternecks to bias cut slip dresses and skirts. Every piece is designed to enter a womans real-life wardrobe and be worn again and are made-to-order, ensuring minimal wastage during production. Fabric offcuts are used to create matching scrunchies as well as other accessories such as flower girl sashes, pocket squares and hair ribbons.

Prices: 120 - 270, theownstudio.com

Vanessa Cocchiaro

Vanessa Cocchiaro

Stylist Vanessa Cocchiaro launched an elegant, contemporary bridesmaid dress brand called Les Heroines in 2017, before renaming her label eponymously in 2019. In addition to bridesmaid-ready statement jumpsuits, fluid dresses and modern separates, the brand has also branched into chic, understated bridal and eventwear. All her pieces are named after influential women such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks, Simone de Beauvoir and Maya Angelou.

Prices for dresses and separates range from 140 up to 420. vanessacocchiaro.com

Rewritten

Rewritten

Got a girl gang that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes? Planning a wedding aesthetic with a tight colour scheme? Look no further than Rewritten. Launched by friends Katie Arnott and Frances Cookson in 2016, the brand offers a tight and minimal edit of dress styles all designed and handmade in London. Seven styles come in nine crepe colours, and two bestselling styles come in seven satin colours. So your girls can all don an exactly matching hue, but find a shape and cut to suit their figure  everyones a winner.

Dresses range from 135 - 220. wearewritten.com

Needle & Thread

Needle and Thread

For designs that are ultra-feminine yet totally on-the-money, British brand Needle & Thread has you covered. Not one for minimalists, these dresses are big on embellishment and big on impact, and the covered-up styles will suit most body types. Although not explicitly a bridesmaid dress brand, several of their styles feel very aisle-appropriate - the cap-sleeved Andromeda dress for example oozes glam winter wedding.

Prices start at 165. needleandthread.com

Reformation

Reformation

LA-based brand Reformation, which officially launched wedding dresses in spring 2017, has become a go-to for millennial bridesmaids looking for something affordable, on-trend and understated. The dresses comes in a variety of necklines and hem lengths and are generally lightweight, flowy and just-the-right-side-of-hippie. Perfect for the 'gram.

Prices start at 218. thereformation.com

Grace Loves Lace

Grace Loves Lace

Australian bridal brand Grace Loves Lace is perfect for those seeking some glamorous - and affordable - bohemian vibes. Each piece is handmade in their studio in Australia using French lace and silk. Maxi dresses and midi slips, bardot tops, silk trousers and dipped hem skirts all come in an array of flattering pastel colours, slinky silver and olive tones.

Founded by Megan Ziems in 2010, the brand also makes wedding dresses - in fact one of Ziems' creations was the most pinned wedding dress of 2017, with 2.5 million pins on Pinterest.

Prices start at 330. graceloveslace.com

Sister Jane

Sister Jane

If a Regencycore aesthetic is the dish of The Big Day then look no further than Notting Hill-based label Sister Janes first foray into bridal and bridesmaid dresses which drops for SS22. Alongside the six puff-sleeve, ruffle-tastic bridal styles come two ultra-feminine pale pink bridesmaid dresses, one maxi and one mini  both big on feminine frills. The Amily maxi dress is a take on the brands best-selling Handwritten Jacquard Maxi Dress, this time in blush pink with a dramatic front-slit, while the Lillia mini oozes prom night cutesiness with a sweetheart neckline and puffball skirt. Not one for the tomboys.

Prices start at 155. sisterjane.com
L ondons summer festival season is rather different from the UK-wide one: just as packed with huge music names and grassy settings but with tents left in the loft, welly deployment also largely unnecessary and little chance of going three nights without sleep, deliberately or otherwise.

Our civilised outdoor offerings can feature football stadiums, a fancy building in the background and, this year, a giant flame-throwing spider. Some of our festivals are even indoors. Heres whats coming up.

The big ones

Rock legends: The Rolling Stones will perform at London Stadium this summer / AFP/Getty Images

London Stadium

Wembley usually takes the crown for busiest stadium concert venue of the summer but the former Olympic Stadium is putting on the largest number of shows in 2018. The Rolling Stones get the outdoor season going early with two gigs in May. Then Beyonce and hubby revive their On the Run Tour, a joint venture that never made it to the UK the first time around in 2014. Foo Fighters wrap things up with what are sure to be two epic, tireless nights of heavy rock.

The Rolling Stones, May 22-25, London Stadium, E20, buy tickets here

Beyonce and Jay-Z, Jun 15-16, London Stadium, E20, buy tickets here

Foo Fighters Jun 22-23, London Stadium, E20, buy tickets here

Wembley Stadium

While Englands footballers are World Cupping in Russia for at least the group stages, their home ground is being taken over by a couple of pop singers. Ed Sheeran is playing twice as many shows as Taylor Swift to reflect the colossal success of his latest album. Swift, however, is likely to put on more of a spectacle than her stubbornly solo pal.

Ed Sheeran, June 14-17, Wembley Stadium, buy tickets here

Taylor Swift, Jun 22-23, Wembley Stadium, buy tickets here

Twickenham Stadium

The Stones have added a Twickenham gig to their tour in addition to the London Stadium dates a month earlier. Meanwhile, mixed reviews for rap giant Eminems latest album, Revival, didnt stop it from spending 10 weeks in our top 10. Theres similarly high demand to see his vocal acrobatics in concert at his first UK solo headlining shows since a Wembley Stadium appearance in 2014.

The Rolling Stones, Jun 19, Twickenham Stadium, buy tickets here

Eminem, July 14-15, Twickenham Stadium, buy tickets here

Finsbury Park

As you were: Liam Gallagher will take to the stage in Finsbury Park in June / Getty Images

The north London park is busier than ever this summer. The weekend of June 30-July 1 could be a new festival for lad-rock fans if it was bunched together as one event  a reboot of Hard Rock Calling perhaps. Instead we have three individual all-dayers: Liam Gallagher helped by Wolf Alice and The Sherlocks on the Friday, Queens of the Stone Age plus Iggy Pop, Run the Jewels and The Hives on the Saturday, and Two Door Cinema Club and The Vaccines on the Sunday.

Liam Gallagher, Jun 29, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Queens of the Stone Age, June 30, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Community Festival, July 1, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park

Having featured Justin Bieber last year, this years set of giant shows in that central London field is staunchly retro looking. Even the youngest booking, Bruno Mars (July 14), has a strong vintage feel to his latest Grammy-winning album. Elsewhere Michael Buble (July 13) looks like a whippersnapper next to Roger Waters (July 6), The Cure (July 7), Eric Clapton (July 8) and whats billed as Paul Simons last ever UK appearance (July 15). There are plenty of big names in the support slots too.

Jul 6-15, Hyde Park, W1, buy tickets here

Wireless

Life of grime: Stormzy tops the bill at Wireless / AFP/Getty Images

The biggest weekend in London for hip hop and R&B has been criticised for its bloke-heavy line-up this year, but no one can question the star power. This time the headliners are North Carolina rapper J Cole (July 6), grime hero Stormzy (July 7) and big-selling shouty chap DJ Khaled (July 8). The rest of the bill stretches from ubiquitous trio Migos to afrobeats star J Hus and  yikes  two whole women, Mabel and Lisa Mercedez.

Jul 6-8, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Dance

Steel Yard

The norths Creamfields festival encroaches on South West Fours territory by bringing their 20-metre high superstructure down here again. While the crowd is outdoors but inside the lightshow, the major dance names providing the sonic euphoria will include Above & Beyond, Tiesto, Steve Angello and Faithless.

May 26-27, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Gala

Theres another opportunity to dance the late May bank holiday away at this all-dayer in a new location. It plays host to a disco set from house pioneer Derrick Carter, Notting Hill Carnival favourite Norman Jay, Horse Meat Disco and Midland.

May 27, Peckham Rye Park, SE15, buy tickets here

Southport Weekender

Keeping the name but sticking to one day and departing Southport for the second year running, therell be nine stages of retro house and soul music in Finsbury Park this June. Live acts include Soul II Soul and Sister Sledge plus house vocalists Alison Limerick, Juliet Roberts and Robert Owens. Among the veteran DJs are David Morales, Hector Romero, Roger Sanchez and Joey Negro.

Jun 9, Finsbury Park, N4, buy tickets here

Lovebox

Headline spot: Childish Gambino will top the bill at Lovebox / Getty Images

With the new All Points East festival bumping multiple events out of Victoria Park this summer, Lovebox is one of several that finds itself in a new home. The layout and the transport experience are sure to be different but the line-up is the same colourful mix of dance, hip hop and R&B. Skepta, Childish Gambino, the reformed NERD, Diplo and SZA are all high on the bill.

Jul 13-14, Gunnersbury Park, W3, buy tickets here

South West Four

As it celebrates 15 years of hosting big-name DJs, South West Four has introduced an innovation called the afternoon headline set. Whether its a billing to placate egos or to ensure they can still book non-dance stars while allowing the night to conclude with the most energetic EDM, it means Dizzee Rascal, Craig David and Galantis appearing while its still light. Marshmello, Chase & Status, Armin Van Buuren and DJ EZ will be the ones staying up late. Look out too for Idris Elba.

Aug 25-26, Clapham Common, SW4, buy tickets here

Mid-size

Field Day

15 alternatives to Glastonbury festival in 2018 1 /20 15 alternatives to Glastonbury festival in 2018 Parklife Manchester. June 9-10, 65 per day Field Day London. June 1-3, 69 All Points East London. May 25-27, 67 Getty Images Citadel London. July 15, 49.50 British Summer Time festival series London. July 6-15, from 75 Getty Images Lovebox London. July 13-14, 115 Community London. July 1, 40 Latitude Suffolk. July 13-15, 197 Green Man Festival August 16-19, 189 End of the Road August 30-September 2, 195 End of the Road festival Festival No. 6 September 6-9, 180 Primavera May 30 & June 3, 200 We Love Green June 2-3, around 79 We Love Green ya Festival 7-11 August 2018, 257 Oya Festival Roskilde June 30 - July 7, 255 Getty Images

The Sunfall festival didnt go down well in Brockwell Park last summer, with complaints about massive queues, but hopefully Field Day will have better luck in its new location. The leftfield line-up includes bass experimentalist Thundercat, eclectic producer Four Tet, US soul veteran Erykah Badu and local rapper Loyle Carner. All that plus an aircraft hangar full of lights as the second stage.

Jun 1-2, Brockwell Park, SW2, buy tickets here

Mighty Hoopla

Sharing the weekends stages with Field Day is this rather less cerebral proposition starring a large number of reanimated boy- and girl groups such as B*Witched, 5ive and the Frankensteins hybrid that is Boyzlife. Lily Allen, MNEK and TLC should raise the tone somewhat.

Jun 3, Brockwell Park, SW2, buy tickets here

Citadel

Another one moving home, Citadel replaces the rowdy revellers of Lovebox in Gunnersbury Park on Friday and Saturday with a classy Sunday offering that includes spoken word and science happenings as well as music from electropop trio CHVRCHES and retro soul man Leon Bridges.

Jul 15, Gunnersbury Park, W3, buy tickets here

Beautiful backdrops

Hampton Court Palace Festival

Neil Lupin/Redferns/Getty Images

Its the Lionel Richie show out at Hampton Court this summer. The soul pop star plays three nights here (June 5-9), while Gary Barlow (June 19-20), The Beach Boys (June 15-16) and Tom Jones (June 21-22) can only manage two each. Jools Holland will be there as ever (June 14) as well as Paloma Faith (June 8) and Joe Bonamassa (June 12). If you fancy it, champagne picnics are 110 a pair.

Jun 5-23, Hampton Court Palace, buy tickets here

Live at Chelsea

When they started out as plucky indie riot predictors, Kaiser Chiefs probably never dreamed theyd be playing the kind of gigs that offer fine dining in state apartments designed by Sir Christopher Wren or a bespoke private gazebo. Yet here they are on June 14, to be followed on consecutive nights by Jeff Beck, James Blunt and a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Jun 14-17, Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3, buy tickets here

Kenwood House Heritage Live

Music Festivals in 2018: The best UK events to book tickets for now 1 /13 Music Festivals in 2018: The best UK events to book tickets for now Latitude As well as boasting one of the most eclectic lineups of the year (The Killers, Alt J and Solange, The Vaccines, Rag N Bone Man, Mogwai and John Hopkins all perform in 2018), Latitude also boasts a diverse arts lineup. Fans can expect strong comedy, theatre, poetry and literature and street food offerings across the weekend in and amongst the bands. Its the UKs biggest boutique festival and one of the best of the entire year. July 12 - 15. Suffolk Reading & Leeds Attending Reading festival and its naughty little brother Leeds has become something of a right of passage for young music fans across the country, and 2018 promises to be no different. Theyre two of the biggest, booziest and most bonkers festival experiences to bad in the UK this year. The lineup sees Kendrick Lamar, Kings of Leon and Fall Out Boy top the bill at the twin events this year and there's always plenty to discover across the festivals nine stages too. August 24 - 26. Reading & Leeds PA Archive/PA Images Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight festival is one of the most established events on the UK summer circuit, with an illustrious history to boot. Three huge events took place on the Isle of Wight between 1968 and 1970 before the festival was revived in 2002. A huge selection of acts are taking part in 2018, with Chase & Status, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Manic Street Preachers, Depeche Mode, The Killers, Kasabian, Van Morrison and Liam Gallagher all performing over the weekend. June 21 - 24. Isle of Wight Isle of Wight festival Bestival Bestival relocated from the Isle of Wight to Dorset last year, and organisers are looking to see in the second year at the new festival site in style. There's a promising line up already confirmed, with M.I.A, Jorja Smith, London Grammar, Grace Jones, Plan B and Chaka Khan all perform in 2018. Bestival is known for being one of the most colourful experiences of the summer calendar, and if you like dressing up and letting your hair down, theres no better festival in the country. August 2 - 5. Dorset Getty Images Download UK metal institution Download takes place at Derby's Donington Park this summer, with Guns n' Roses, Avenged Sevenfold and Ozzy Osbourne set to headline. The festival has entertained UK metal fans ever since launching back in 2003 and all the early signs are suggesting this year will be the biggest celebration yet. June 8 - 10. Leicestershire Creamfields The ever-popular Creamfields is the UKs biggest dance music festival, celebrating house, drum & bass and techno over August bank holiday weekend. The festival will welcome 40,000 people a day to its site in Daresbury, Cheshire this year, with legendary DJ Carl Cox set to headline. He follows the likes of deadmau5, The Chainsmokers Tiesto, Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Armin van Buuren and Eric Prydz who performed in 2017. August 23 - 26. Cheshire Green Man Festival The Green Man Festival site, nestled in amongst the beautiful Brecon Beacons, is one of the most picturesque anywhere in the UK and the setting for one of the best artisan festivals of the year. Its a boutique festival experience on a big scale, with arts events, strong comedy lineups and fantastic food on offer over the weekend. Fleet Foxes, the War On Drugs and Grizzly Bear have all been confirmed for the 2018 event. August 16 - 19. Brecon Beacons End of the Road Festival End of the Road is a gem of a festival tucked away in South Wiltshere. Discerning music lovers are drawn to the boutique event every year to see a diverse lineup of critically acclaimed and hotly-tipped artists. This year Vampire Weekend, St Vincent and Feist will headline the festival, while the likes of Yo La Tengo, Ezra Furman, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, John Cale and Fat White Family also perform. August 31 - September 3. South Wiltshere End of the Road festival TRNSMT Arctic Monkeys mark their only confirmed UK date of 2018 with a performance at Glasgows TRNSMT, four years after their last headline slot at Reading & Leeds festival. Liam Gallagher, Stereophonics, Courteeners and Interpol also perform at this, one of the UKs biggest musical events of the summer. June 29 - 30. Glasgow TRNSMT Festival No. 6 Franz Ferdinand and Friendly Fires headline this diverse and multifaceted event, which all takes place in a stunning Portmeirion setting. Jessie Ware, Everything Everything, The Charlatans, Django Django, Ride and Anna Calvi also perform, but the family-friendly festival also celebrates arts, theatre and comedy across the course of the weekend. September 6 - 9. Portmeirion Festival No.6

Back after five years of silence, the stately home on Hampstead Heath is hosting live music again. The line-up is a soothing one that shouldnt disturb the wealthy neighbours too much. Its mostly popular classical fare from Hacienda Classical (June 15), Alfie Boe (June 16), the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (June 23) and Katherine Jenkins (June 24), while Kris Kristofferson does his singer-songwriter thing on June 22.

Jun 15-24, Kenwood House, NW3, buy tickets here

Greenwich Music Time

Theres a broader mix of bookings than usual outside this grand riverside building this year. Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds will be here on July 7, a week after his little brother plays a far bigger show in north London. Emeli Sande (July 3) and Tom Jones (July 4) will bring the soul, Steps (July 5) will bring the pop and Nile Rodgers & Chic will bring the party (July 6).

Jul 3-8, Old Royal Naval College, SE10, buy tickets here

Somerset House Summer Series

Once again, the neoclassical courtyard by the Thames is providing an intriguing, wide-ranging selection of live music over 11 nights this summer. Theres electronic pop from buzzworthy Norwegian Sigrid (July 11) and Roisin Murphy (July 15), classic hip hop from The Roots (July 12) and De La Soul (July 14), plus veteran DJs Don Letts (July 7) and David Rodigan (July 8) doing live collaborations.

Jul 6-16, Somerset House, WC2, buy tickets here

Kew the Music

Music festivals 2018: the best European music events to book now 1 /10 Music festivals 2018: the best European music events to book now Flow Festival Helsinkis Flow Festival is offering up one of the strongest lineups of the summer, with Kendrick Lamar, Arctic Monkeys, Patti Smith, Bonobo and Sigrid all due to perform at the Finnish festival in August. Flow takes place in an industrial space in Helsinki, and also features a pretty great selection of food and drink too, with a wide selection of restaurants getting involved in the event. Weekend tickets are priced at 195. August 10-12. Helsinki, Finland. Book tickets Flow Festival We Love Green Party in the centre of Paris this Summer with We Love Green festival, which runs from June 2-3. As well as offering a huge 2018 lineup featuring artists such as Lorde, Solange, LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey and James Blake, its also very progressive in its ethos. As the name suggests its one of the most environmentally friendly events of the summer, and the festival runs plenty of green initiatives and offers discounts at the bar for recycling. This could be a great one to try out this June. June 2-3. Paris, France. Book tickets We Love Green Tomorrowland If its an EDM festival youre after, theres nowhere better than Belgiums Tomorrowland. The festival is revered by house, trance and drum and bass fans across the world, and celebrates the worlds best dance music on a huge scale. The stunning setting welcomes fans across two weekends in July, and while tickets are currently sold out, keep an eye out for new waves of passes being released closer to the event. July 20-22 & 27-29. Boom, Belgium. Book tickets Tomorrowland Primavera Sound Kendrick Lamar, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The National, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Morrissey, Lorde, The War on Drugs the Primavera Sound 2018 lineup goes on and on, and offers one of the most impressive selections of live music anywhere this year. The Barcelona festival offers the chance to see a world-class selection of acts in a glorious seaside setting, with tickets costing 215. Whats not to love? May 30 - June 3. Barcelona, Spain. Book tickets Sziget Festival Hungarys Sziget is enormous in its scale, with nearly half a million fans attending the festival in 2017. Every year music lovers from around the globe descend on Obudai-sziget, an idyllic island just north of Budapest, and 2018 will be no different. Kendrick Lamar, Mumford & sons and Liam Gallagher top the bill at this years event, with 5-day passes starting at 299. August 8-15. Budapest, Hungary. Book tickets Sziget Benicassim Benicassim has been one of the biggest and best festivals in Europe ever since the mid 90s, and the Spanish setting is always a great option for sun-worshipping music fans. The Killers, Liam Gallagher, Travis Scott and loads more perform this year, and the idyllic beach-side and blockbuster lineups make for a pretty tempting combination. Over 150,000 music lovers enjoyed performances across the festivals three stages last year and things are only going to get bigger in 2018. July 19-22. Benicassim, Spain. Book tickets Getty Images Roskilde Roskilde is the largest festival in Northern Europe and is gradually becoming more and more popular with UK fans. Bruno Mars, Eminem, Cardi B, Gorillaz, David Byrne, First Aid Kit, Fleet Foxes and Stormzy head to the event in Denmark this year, which promises to be one of the biggest musical celebrations anywhere in the world. As a heads up though, the festival is famous for its naked run, which has been undertaken by the festivals braver punters every year since 1999. June 30-July 7. Roskilde, Denmark. Book tickets Getty Images ya Festival Kendrick Lamar is certainly keeping busy this year, with the rapper set to headline ya Festival in Oslo as well as Helsinkis Flow and Hungarys Sziget. The rapper will be joined by Arcade Fire, Wolf Alice, J Hus and Jorja Smith and 18,000 capacity festival. Its another great green event, which keeps a strict environmentally friendly policy and the serves nearly all locally and organically sourced food, with 50% of dishes meat-free. August 7-11. Oslo, Norway. Book tickets Oya Festival

There are a few familiar faces beside the Temperate House this summer, including perennial picnic concert attendee Jools Holland (July 15), retro pop acts Steps (July 10) and Boyzone (July 14) and even more retro pop act The Human League (July 13). Theres also classical fare from 2CELLOS on July 12 and another visit from flamenco royals The Gipsy Kings on July 11.

Jul 10-15, Kew Gardens, buy tickets here

Keep it indoors

Camden Rocks

If you prefer your festivals without any grass or sky at all, try this crawl of Camden High Streets many gig venues, where one ticket gives you around 200 bands to choose from. The selection is largely indie rock- flavoured, with Maximo Park, British Sea Power and Twin Atlantic providing the strongest brand recognition. The inclusion of PiL, Pop Will Eat Itself and Echobelly should please those of an older vintage.

Jun 2, Camden High Street, NW1, buy tickets here

Robert Smiths Meltdown

Marking 25 years of giving big-name musicians the run of the Southbank, this year the curators hat rests on Cure frontman Robert Smiths unruly hairdo. Strangely, while The Cure are playing in Hyde Park the following month, he hasnt booked himself yet, though there are major bands in the shape of Nine Inch Nails (June 22), The Libertines (June 17), Manic Street Preachers (June 19) and My Bloody Valentine (June 23).

Jun 15-24, Southbank Centre, SE1, buy tickets here

Stone Free

This classic rock event is back up to two days having secured headline bookings for Scorpions on the Saturday and Yes on the Sunday. Therell also be heavier stuff from Megadeth and Buckcherry, plus memorable tunes from Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, as well as comedy, spoken word and a record fair.

Jun 16-17, O2 Arena, SE10, buy tickets here

Visions

Various Hackney venues open their doors to a hip line-up for the day, including the London Fields Brewery, Oval Space, the Sebright Arms and the rooftop at Netil House. Look out for political indie band Idles and shock rockers HMLTD.

Aug 4, London Fields, E8, buy tickets here

Newcomers

Arcadia

Spidey-senses: The Glastonbury spider will arrive in Stratford this May

Be afraid: the giant fire-breathing spider that normally terrifies Glastonbury-goers has walked all the way to London and brought a host of DJs to perform in the pod beneath its limbs. Groove Armada, Rudimental, Sven Vath and Eats Everything will all be there, with Leftfield playing live  though youll be too busy gaping at the lasers, aerial performers and fireballs to notice.

May 5-6, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20, buy tickets here

All Points East

The biggest new arrival to the London festival scene in years has booted numerous other events out of Victoria Park, and hoovered up a huge number of acts that rival weekenders would have killed for. Theres a full festival on the first weekend, May 25-27, starring The xx, LCD Soundsystem, Bjork, Lorde, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Beck, then three individual all-dayers on the second, with headliners Catfish and the Bottlemen (June 1), The National (June 2) and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (June 3). Phew.

May 25-Jun 3, Victoria Park, E3, buy tickets here

Kaleidoscope

A colourful new one for the big hill up north, featuring comedy, theatre and something from the Science Museum, as well as music from The Go! Team, Mystery Jets, Beth Orton, Ghostpoet and thrilling hamster ball enthusiasts The Flaming Lips.

Jul 21, Alexandra Park and Palace, N22, buy tickets here
A t Quo Vadis restaurant club in Soho, the straws are out of the ordinary.

You cant have a frozen margarita without a straw, but were against the use of plastics, says co-owner Sam Hart. So theyve shaken things up and now use metal ones.

This week the Standard launched its Last Straw campaign against plastic drinking straws and it has got the city talking about how changing the way we drink can have a huge impact on the planet.

Plastics are slow to decompose, making them one of the most durable pollutants, particularly of the worlds oceans. In Costa Rica, straws have been found embedded in the noses of sea turtles, while sea birds hunt them off the UKs coast, confusing them for prey floating on the surface of the water.

Shamefully, London reigns as the unofficial plastic straw capital of Europe, throwing away an estimated two billion of them each year  as many as the whole of Italy.

But we are resourceful and solutions are appearing. If you do use a plastic straw, get rid of it responsibly, at a plastics processing yard such as Power Day. It has outposts in Willesden, Brixton and Enfield (powerday.co.uk).

Soon, though, you wont even need to do this. Heres how London is replacing plastic straws with much better new materials, from corn to bamboo.

Get corny

Vegware is championing bioplastic

Ditch plastic for bioplastic, a fully compostable material made from corn that would otherwise go to waste. Its proper name is polylactic acid (PLA) and its used by Vegware to manufacture drinking straws as well as other utensils and coffee cups (10.37 per pack of 120).

While plastic straws take between 100 and 1,000 years to break down in landfill, conventional enzyme action is enough to decompose PLA straws in under 12 weeks, so they can go in your bin with the rest of your food waste.

This year youll start to find these in your locals: restaurant El Pastor in London Bridge and the Oakman Inns London pub chain already use biodegradable straws perfect for popping your Pina Colada.

vegware.com

Glass act

Glass straws from Strawsome

Strawesome, a US company, makes non-toxic, hard-wearing glass straws by hand (7.99 per straw). They can withstand a go in the dishwasher and you can choose from short cocktail straws to longer ones for smoothies.

Co-founder Daedra Surowiec says her designs also give the user an opportunity to have a functional piece of artwork. We create unique designs that offer a one-of-a-kind piece of art that the user can drink with every day, she says. Indeed, like little Venetian souvenirs from Murano, they make a statement as you sup on your lime and soda

strawesome.com

In the fold

Jaguar print straws from Cheeky Tiki

Paper straws are much more eco-friendly and theyre not even hard to get hold of: Morrisons (2 per pack of 25), Asda (1 per pack of 16) and Sainsburys stock variants (1.50 per pack of 24). Fancy Straws, a distributor of eco-friendly straws which works with the Marine Conservation Society, stocks a particularly jazzy range: stripes, circles, florals and checks (2.95 per pack of 25).

fancystraws.co.uk

Cheekytiki.com offers ones with skulls, leopard-print and ones that look like pieces of bamboo (3.50 per pack of 25).

cheekytiki.com

The most important factor, though, is that the ink they use is soy-based, as opposed to petroleum products  another ethical consideration. Kikkerland Design, a New York and Netherlands-based company which specialises in creative solutions to ethical problems, manufactures straws using food safe soy-based inks and biodegradable paper coated with beeswax. (2.18 per pack of 12 straws)

kikkerland.com

Shoots and leaves

Bamboo straws from Bambaw

Bamboo, which is both biodegradable and can grow by up to a metre a day, is another sustainable material. At Super Lyan in Hoxton, the price of bamboo straws is built into that of the drink. Founder Ryan Chetiyawardana uses Pitt White Bamboo, a Devon company.

pittwhitebamboo.co.uk

If you want to recreate the experience, Bambaw sells bamboo straws on Amazon, which are handmade in Bali (12.99 per pack of 12).

bambaw.com

Test your metal

Senhai metal straws, available on Amazon

Quo Vadis uses metal reusables or none at all. On Amazon, sets of eight Senhai stainless steel straws are sold both straight and bent, come in different colours, are dishwasher-proof and come with two cleaning brushes (8.99 per pack of 8). The metal keeps your drink cool  whats not to like?

Make plastic permanent

Alternatively, simply treat your plastic like it lasts a lifetime, which it does. Selfridges stocks Sunnylife pink flamingo and yellow pinapple straws (7 per pack of six).

selfridges.com

Theyre the new personalised phone cases  you heard it here first.
This interview was first published on 28 January 2018

This week Jordan Peterson has taken London by storm. The Canadian psychologist-turned-anti-snowflake crusader has been giving sell-out talks to promote his new book, 12 Rules for Life.

On Monday night at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster, the 1,000-seat conference hall was packed to the gills with mostly white young men, from bearded hipsters to bespectacled nerds, already clutching copies of his book. Extra seats had been laid out and were quickly filled. Rock music was playing and the windows were lit with dramatic red spotlights that flanked an enormous black and white photograph of Peterson, who walked onto the stage to the roar of loud applause. It was as if their messiah had finally arrived.

Earlier in the day I met Peterson in a Holborn flat rented by his publisher to discover what all the fuss is about. A word-of-mouth phenomenon, according to his Penguin publicist, the 55-year-old professor of psychology at the University of Toronto lectures on subjects from the dangers of identity politics and use of gender-neutral pronouns, to the power of mythology and the Bible, to why the works of Jung, Nietzsche and Solzhenitsyn matter today more than ever.

Petersons fire-and-brimstone views form the basis of the 12-chaptered book, which offers positive advice about telling the truth always, avoiding losers, finding meaning, standing up straight, doing tough-love parenting and listening to others, among other things.

It is precisely the kind of hardline counselling for which he has long been revered, especially by 25 to 40-year-old men, who thank him profusely for helping turn their lives around. Petersons videos have clocked up 150 million views and he has 300,000 Twitter followers. But he is also accused of being an alt-Right, racist transphobe, and the stupid mans smart person. In any event, he despises the far-Left and believes all ideologies are inherently evil.

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I lived through a tumultuous times when I was writing this book, says Peterson, adjusting a pencil-slim gold tie that one of his fans has just given him. Particularly around my actions in relation to Bill C-16. This Canadian bill, which passed in 2016, means that it is now a criminal offence to refuse to call a person by their chosen gender pronoun, which Peterson has argued is an infringement of free speech.

When I made a video saying I wasnt going to abide by Canadas new speech laws there were demonstrations at the university and a huge backlash against me  but only to begin with. Then I had a huge wave of public support. The trans-activists videotaped the talk in an attempt to discredit me but the comments were about 50 to one in favour of what I was saying.

Ive had letters from trans people supporting me because theyre not happy. Were in this weird time when if someone claims to be a member of a minority group and claims persecution of that group, then they can put themselves forward as valid spokesperson and everyone says OK. But, no, its not OK. Just because youre a trans person doesnt mean youre a spokesperson for trans people.

Soon after this Peterson became embroiled in the case of Lindsay Shepherd, an English graduate teacher at Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario, who was hauled up before faculty members after playing a video clip of Peterson on the gender- neutral pronoun debate to her students without first condemning it. She was told her actions were like playing neutrally a speech by Hitler or Milo Yiannopoulos. Shepherd covertly taped her inquisition and took it to the media. The story went viral, after which the university issued a public apology to her.

Peterson says this bears out his fears about the bill. Except it was worse, since it was used to persecute an innocent person. As for his own role, he says, half-jokingly, I turned out to be Hitler himself. Or was I Milo Yiannopoulos? Take your pick. That shows exactly the intellectual level at which these ideologues play  they cant even get their insults sorted out.

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Its easy to see why Peterson attracts controversy. You get the sense he enjoys it, or rather that the evangelical zeal with which he talks compels him towards its flame. With his prairie cowboy style  he grew up in Fairview, northern Alberta  and intense gaze, he speaks in a high-pitched, torrential stream of invective, occasionally shouting, and repeating words to emphasise a point, sliding his wedding ring on and off his finger.

And then there was James Damore, he starts up. Peterson video-interviewed the Google engineer after Damore was fired for a memo he wrote questioning the benefits of diversity programmes. Damore also suggested that "the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don't see equal representation of women in tech and leadership."

To understand Damore, he says, you have to understand engineers. Damore was asked by the HR department to a session about diversity, equity, inclusivity, white privilege and all those buzzwords these people use now. He was told they wanted comments, and being an engineer he thought they meant that they wanted comments, because engineers think that when you say something you actually mean it. Engineers arent political and theres a reason for that, which is that if one of the dimensions in which people vary is their interest in people versus things, and one of the biggest gender differences between women and men is their interest in people versus things, then engineers are way the hell over on things.

He's delighted that Damore has just launched a lawsuit against the company for unfair discrimination against a white male at the same time as it faces another one over the gender pay gap. Google is in the wonderful position as far as Im concerned of being harassed legally on both sides, which is exactly what they deserve for playing identity politics.

Nor does it end there. Look up white couple on Google Images, he says suddenly. Then look up black couple, then Asian couple. Peterson and I look together. If you Google white couple, the first four images on the top row show a white woman with a black man. This is way more terrifying than you think, because it means that Google is messing about with algorithms that present information to the public according to a built-in political agenda.

Hardly surprisingly, he is just as contemptuous of #MeToo identity politics and can hardly contain himself when asked what he thought of Hollywoods leading ladies parading in black dresses at last weekends Golden Globes. What, you mean really sexually provocative black dresses? Those ones? he snorts. That says it all. If theres one industry that capitalises on the exploitation of casual sex, its Hollywood. There are all sorts of reprehensible ways that men treat women, obviously, and Im not saying Harvey Weinsteins victims invited their own victimisation, but Im not impressed by the fact that this went on forever and no one said anything. The issue isnt male sexual misbehaviour, its sexual misbehaviour on the part of women as well as men. But we cant have an intelligent discussion about that, because all the women are good and all the men are bad.

Golden Globe Awards 2018 Arrivals - In pictures 1 /101 Golden Globe Awards 2018 Arrivals - In pictures Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd Getty Images Naomi Campbell Getty Images Mary J. Blige Getty Images Eva Longoria Getty Images Nicole Kidman Getty Images Halle Berry Getty Images Reese Witherspoon Getty Images Gal Gadot Getty Images Emilia Clarke Getty Images Saoirse Ronan Getty Images Zac Efron Getty Images Natalie Portman Getty Images Mariah Carey Getty Images Emma Stone and Billie Jean King Getty Images Natalie Portman, America Ferrera, Emma Stone and Billie Jean King Getty Images Ansel Elgort Getty Images Margot Robbie Getty Images Angelina Jolie attends Getty Images Lily James Getty Images Tarana Burke and Michelle Williams Getty Images Millie Bobby Brown Getty Images Kate Hudson Getty Images Maggie Gyllenhaal Getty Images Viola Davis Getty Images Millie Bobby Brown Getty Images Diane Kruger Getty Images Michelle Pfeiffer Getty Images Octavia Spencer Getty Images Jessica Chastain Getty Images Isabelle Huppert Getty Images Kit Harington AFP/Getty Images Zoe Kravitz Getty Images Michelle Williams AFP/Getty Images Kendall Jenner Getty Images Chris Hemsworth Getty Images James Franco Getty Images Abbie Cornish Getty Images Alicia Vikander Getty Images Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel Getty Images Jessica Biel Getty Images Susan Sarandon Getty Images Sarah Paulson Getty Images Jude Law Getty Images Christina Hendricks Getty Images Nick Jonas Getty Images Heidi Klum Getty Images Barbara Meier AFP/Getty Images Dakota Johnson Getty Images Meryl Streep and Ai-jen Poo Getty Images Allison Brie Getty Images Amy Poehler and Saru Jayaraman Getty Images Mandy Moore Getty Images Alessandra Mastronardi Getty Images Katherine Langford AFP/Getty Images The cast of Stranger Things Getty Images Milo Ventimiglia Getty Images Claire Foy and Matt Smith Getty Images Claire Foy Getty Images Matt Smith Getty Images Tracee Ellis Ross Getty Images Catherine Zeta-Jones Getty Images Kelly Clarkson Getty Images Sebastian Stan Getty Images Alexis Bledel Getty Images Jamie Chung Getty Images Caleb McLaughlin AFP/Getty Images Sadie Sink Getty Images Dove Cameron Getty Images Gaten Matarazzo Getty Images Noah Schnapp Getty Images Finn Wolfhard Getty Images Caitriona Balfe Getty Images Debra Messing Getty Images Rachel Brosnahan Getty Images Allison Williams Getty Images

Take responsibility for your own actions, he says, and its ultimately the message of his book. You can put things straight in your own life and have a massive effect on the world around you. Its why the victimisation ideology is so corrosive, he says in parting.

Whether you agree or not, whether you think hes a maniac or a messiah, or a little bit of both, Jordan Peterson is here now, and here to stay.

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Allen Lane, 20) is out now.
V ictims of the black cab rapist John Worboys today launched a legal battle to reverse the Parole Boards decision to release him from prison.

The move to keep one of Britains most prolific sex offenders behind bars through a judicial review came as victims called for him to be banned from Greater London when he is let out.

Worboys, who preyed on women while working as a black cab driver in London, could walk free as early as next week. He was convicted in 2009 of offences against 12 women and sentenced to a minimum of eight years in jail although police believe that he had more than 100 victims. News that he was due to be released emerged earlier this month.

Lawyers for two of the victims were today beginning their own legal challenge on the grounds that the original decision to release Worboys, 60, was irrational.

Victims have launched a crowdfunding website to raise money for legal fees. Any funds left over will be donated to charities for the victims of rape.

If todays bid for a judicial review leads to the way in which the Parole Board took the decision to free Worboys being declared unlawful, a new hearing would have to be convened. It could still decide that he is safe to release but could also rule, contrary to the original decision, that he must stay in prison for public protection.

Predator: John Worboys in handcuffs for court in 2008

The Ministry of Justice is also expected to decide in the next two days whether to seek its own judicial review in the High Court.

In a letter to the Parole Board, seen by the Standard, the victims lawyers called for the release to be delayed and for it to reconsider its earlier decision.

The lawyers also asked for the reasons for releasing Worboys to be made public, arguing that the blanket privacy rule was overboard, disproportionate and arbitrary. Writing in the Standard yesterday, Professor Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Parole Board, also said some decisions should be public.

Another victim told the Standard: I am very happy to hear this and pray they will be successful. It is unthinkable that after such a short time, Worboys can now be considered to be no threat to women. I am terrified of his release. I hope ... the seemingly mad decision made by the Parole Board will be overturned and real justice will be done.

In the letter, the victims lawyers suggested the scale and seriousness of Worboys offending spoke for itself, with his deliberate and carefully formulated behaviour unlikely to change.

They warned that even if he were banned from driving a taxi he could continue his offending by drugging women he came across on nights out.

The letter questioned why the rapist was denied a move from high-security Wakefield prison to an open prison in 2015 but granted parole just over two years later. They said he had not undergone a test period in a more open environment, usually considered vital for sex offenders before release. The Parole Board is meeting on Friday to review victims representations on the terms of Worboys release. Victims have requested that terms include a ban from entering Greater London.

Professor Hardwick yesterday admitted that he could not guarantee the publics safety after Worboys release. He said: I would not be honest if I pretended risk could be eliminated completely. Parole Board members need to be confident a prisoner will not reoffend  but they cannot be certain. If certainty is required, that needs to be reflected in the length of the original sentence.

We have to make decisions about future risk. We cannot reassess the prisoners guilt or innocence or whether the original sentence was appropriate even if we would like to do so.

He has welcomed any possible judicial review by the Justice Secretary but has warned politicians not to interfere in the independence of the Parole Board. He also pointed out that the MoJ had a representative at the hearing at the end of last year, at which Worboys was questioned by the three-member panel.
T he Government has apologised "unreservedly" to BBC journalist Emily Maitlis after her stalker of 25 years was able to contact her from prison.

Edward Vines, 47, who has refused to give up his pursuit of Maitlis since they attended Cambridge University together in 1989, was sentenced to a further 45 months in prison on Tuesday for breaching two counts of a restraining order.

Vines was previously jailed for three years in September 2016 after breaching a previous restraining order but was able to send her letters from prison in "something of a scandal", Oxford crown court heard.

Maitlis said she was left feeling "scared and let down" after Vines was able to contact her from inside jail.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: We apologise unreservedly for this error and for the distress caused to the victim.

We have significantly strengthened our monitoring procedures to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

Ms Maitlis said Vines' actions had left her struggling with her work

"We would like to reassure the victim that any future correspondence involving this offender will be carefully checked, with staff reminded of the sensitivities of this particular case."

Vines was first hit with a restraining order not to contact Maitlis, 47, in 2002 after she became alarmed following the murder of fellow TV presenter Jill Dando in 1999.

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Judge Peter Ross said: This sort of harassment has a crippling effect on the victim. Its psychological torture. You scared her children and affected her ability to work. Its disgraceful conduct.

He said the fact that Vines had been able to send a letter to her from Bullingdon prison in Oxfordshire and demanded an explanation from the governor.

The judge accepted Vines had mental health issues but that doctors had said they had not triggered the harassment.

In a victim impact report read to the court, said: When I heard that Edward Vines had breached his restraining order I felt scared and let down  let down because it meant that even within the prison system the perpetrator was able to reach me.

It has affected my relationship with my husband, who is frustrated that we cannot get to the bottom of this problem, even though we have been tackling it through the CPS and courts for over 20 years, and it has scared my children who thought the threat had gone away  albeit while he was temporarily behind bars.

It has affected my ability to work  I am constantly thinking of where I am being sent and whether he will be attempting to track me down.
T he brother of a male model stabbed to death near his west London home has said: Id swap places with him in a heartbeat.

Harry Uzoka, 25, who was signed to leading London agency Premier Model Management, was found collapsed on a pavement in Old Oak Road, Shepherds Bush, with a knife wound to his heart last Thursday.

His older brother Edmund shared a photograph of Mr Uzoka on Instagram, writing: He looked up to me and loved me unconditionally, I just wish I could hold him again and tell him how much I love him, how proud I am that he always put his friends and family first, how I wish I could be half the man he is, how Id swap places with him in a heartbeat so that the world could still have him.

George Koh, 24, and Jonathan Okigbo, 23, appeared at Westminster magistrates court yesterday charged with Mr Uzokas murder.

Mr Uzoka, 25, died at the scene in East Acton last Wednesday afternoon. / Harry Uzoka/Instagram

Koh, who is also a model who has worked for brands including Louis Vuitton and Paul Smith, is further charged with possessing an offensive weapon.

A family friend said: Harry was such a gentle man, very respectable and he loved his family.

A loving son, a great brother, the coolest uncle, the best cousin in the world and a great friend. Model Jourdan Dunn tweeted: Rest in paradise Young King.

Mr Uzoka is featured in this months GQ magazine and had recently modelled for online clothing retailer Everlane in New York and high street clothing store Bershka.

Everlane said: Theres so much more behind the person youve seen in our campaigns. Thank you, Harry, for being such a great person. Rest in peace.

His ex-girlfriend Leomie Anderson, the Victorias Secret model and fashion designer, wrote on Instagram: He wasnt just my ex-boyfriend, he was one of my oldest and dearest friends. He didnt deserve this and I am heartbroken.

Koh, of Camden, and Okigbo, of Kentish Town, were remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow.
C ommuters have been warned of possible travel delays as powerful winds hit the capital and the south east, prompting forecasters to issue a yellow weather warning.

The Met Office said flying debris could pose danger to life and may damage buildings as they warned of ferocious winds battering London and the south-east on Thursday morning.

Some roads may be closed and rail services may be delayed and cancelled due to the severe weather conditions during the morning rush, forecasters have said.

FOR THE LATEST UK WEATHER UPDATES FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG HERE

In statement, the Met Office added: Power cuts may occur, and there is the potential for other services, such as mobile phone coverage, to be affected. Injuries and danger to life from flying debris are possible, along with some damage to buildings.

The yellow warning was put in place for between 2.55am and 9am this morning.

UK Snow: January 2017 - In pictures 1 /21 UK Snow: January 2017 - In pictures Drivers help to push a vehicle back on the road after heavy snow made road conditions difficult in Midlothian near Edinburgh David Cheskin/PA Satellite images captured by the University of Dundee Receiving Station showing almost half of the British Isles covered in snow and cloud PA Icy conditions in Halifax @WYP_RPU Muker in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, blanketed in snow PA Lorries stuck on the M74 south of Abington Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team A76 north of Sanquhar Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team Mountain Rescue Team covering the eastern side of Dumfries and Galloway and South Lanarkshire help drivers o THE n M74 Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team Dumfries and Galloway Virtual Operations Support Team A man walks in snowy conditions in Oxspring, near Barnsley, South Yorkshir Danny Lawson/PA Wintry scenes in Shawlands on the southside of Glasgow Lucinda Cameron/PA A car in snowy conditions near Snowden Hill in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, as yellow snow and ice warnings are in place for northern England and Northern Ireland and much of Wales Danny Lawson/PA A gritter in snowy conditions near Snowden Hill in Sheffield, South Yorkshire Danny Lawson/PA Wintry scenes in Shawlands on the southside of Glasgow Lucinda Cameron/PA Snowy conditions during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round Replay match between Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle United at Hillsborough Getty Images Racehorses make their way along snow covered roads to the gallops on Middleham Moor near Leyburn John Giles/PA

It comes after forecasters issued a fresh warning for persistent snow in southern Scotland and north-east England with up to 20cm expected to fall.

Police warned people not to travel in areas covered by the amber "be prepared" alert after 200 motorists were left stranded on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Public Health England has issued health warnings in light of the cold weather, urging people to take extra care.

The Met Office's amber warning, which runs from 9pm on Wednesday until 5am on Thursday, says that 3 to 8cm of fresh snow is likely to accumulate widely, with up to 20cm over high ground.
A n Italian prince was killed after suddenly overtaking a lorry at a busy central London junction on a fixed-wheel bike, an inquest heard today.

Business student Filippo Corsini, 21, was dragged under the front of the 50ft-long lorry near Knightsbridge tube station in October 2016.

He was the heir to an Italian dynasty that stretches back to the Middle Ages and includes 18th century Pope Clemente XII, who commissioned Romes Trevi Fountain.

Senior Coroner Fiona Wilcox, sitting at Westminster Coroners Court, heard Mr Corsini had peddled extra fast to overtake and Thomas Dose, driving the left-hand drive German truck, had no chance.

Witness Brian Morey, 72, a black cab driver, told the hearing: I noticed he was peddling extra fast. He was on the outside of the lorry and sort of just got ahead of it.

All of a sudden he made a left turn across the front of the vehicle that shocked me.

Because of the angle, of course the lorry would catch him. It caught his back of the bike, which went up in the air and threw the rider to the road.

He said the bike disappeared under the lorry, along with Mr Corsini, before the vehicle came to a stop.

Mr Morey said: The bike disappeared under the front of the lorry but by this time I could not see the rider. It had obviously gone over him. I dont think the lorry driver had a chance.

Mr Corsini was pronounced dead at the scene.

The cyclist was riding a fixed gear bike which is not road legal, according to police investigator PC David Keen.

He said: The bike has a fixed gear and no front brake. In order to slow or speed up he has to use resistance in his legs.

The nature of this type of cycle could have made it more difficult to slow down or speed up.

The hearing continues
A n American actress, singer and YouTube star is to receive damages from an ex-boyfriend who put revenge porn of her online after winning a landmark case.

Chrissy Chambers, who is based in Los Angeles, brought a claim for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and harassment at London's High Court against a private individual, resident in the UK who, for legal reasons, cannot be identified other than as DCR.

She celebrated winning the case today by proposing to her current girlfriend on the steps of the famous London court building. Ms Chambers is the first revenge porn victim in England to publicly win damages.

Ms Chambers, who operates a successful YouTube platform aimed mainly at teenage girls with her partner Bria Kam, had a romantic relationship with DCR from 2008 to 2009, counsel Alex Marzec said.

She told the judge, Sir David Eady, that in September 2009, DCR - without Ms Chambers's knowledge or informed consent - recorded films of them engaging in sexual activity at her home in Atlanta, Georgia.

In December 2011 and January 2012, unbeknown to Ms Chambers, DCR uploaded six films to a profile on pornographic website Redtube.com.

The titles of three of the films contained Ms Chambers's full name and two of them contained her age at the time of filming - 18.

In June 2013, Ms Chambers was alerted to the films and immediately contacted the website to have them removed.

By then, the films had been online for 19 months and Ms Chambers received numerous comments and messages from YouTube users who wrongly believed she had been intentionally involved in pornography and who no longer wished to view her YouTube content.

Ms Marzec said Ms Chambers had since suffered serious emotional and psychological difficulties resulting, for a time, in substance abuse and relationship difficulties.

She had been diagnosed with PTSD and undergone specialised trauma therapy but continued to have flashbacks and nightmares relating to the disclosure of the films.

Before bringing her case, counsel said, Ms Chambers conducted a crowd-funding campaign on the internet, seeking both to raise money to issue the claim and thereby protect and vindicate her own privacy rights, and also to raise public awareness of the suffering of people whose private sexual information was publicly shared or put on the internet by their partners or former partners without their consent.

Ms Marzec said DCR accepted liability for his unlawful activity and regretted the serious distress and suffering caused.

He had also assigned his copyright in the films to Ms Chambers and measures had been taken to ensure the deletion and destruction of all remaining images and films containing her likeness in his possession.

DCR had also agreed to pay Ms Chambers substantial undisclosed damages and her legal costs.
A west London council have moved closer to setting up the UKs first buffer zone banning pro-life campaigners from protesting outside an abortion clinic.

Ealing Council voted to consult on introducing the exclusion zone following claims of intolerable and distressing intimidation and harassment of people visiting the Marie Stopes clinic.

It follows a petition last year by local pro-choice campaign group Sister Supporter asking the council to take action which gained nearly 3,600 signatures.

Ealing will now consult on whether to introduce a public space protection order (PSPO), which would ban people from approaching or monitoring women accessing the clinic, congregating in large groups, displaying distressing images or using loudspeakers.

Campaigners from pro-life group The Good Counsel Network have held vigils outside the clinic on for more than 20 years, while other protesters include members of The Helpers of Gods Precious Infants, Ealing Pro-Life Group, and The Society of Pius X.

Last night as the councils cabinet unanimously voted through its action plan, councillor Binda Rai condemned protesters methods, which include handing out leaflets picturing foetuses to women entering the clinic, as emotional hijacking at the point of access.

Pro-life campaigners outside the clinic in Ealing / Sister Supporter

The councillor, whose Walpole ward contains the clinic, said: [This is] intimidation and harassment in our neighbourhood as women try to seek legally available healthcare.

Last month the clinical operations manager at Marie Stopes in Ealing told a House of Commons committee that campaigners had warned women they would die of cancer if they went through with the abortion.

The GCN denies using harassment or intimidating tactics.

During the meeting a GCN representative read out a written statement from a mother who said she had reluctantly visited the clinic, before deciding to keep the baby after the intervention of pro-life campaigners.

It read: The real help came from the people I never knew, the people standing outside the abortion centre.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has ordered a review into harassment outside clinics / REUTERS

Outside the council chamber founder Clare McCullough said she did not accept that the presence of vigils could make women feel uncomfortable.

She added: We are disappointed, we dont feel there has been proper discussion of other options.

We deny calling anyone a murderer, we deny chasing women down the roadIm not accepting blame for offering someone a leaflet being a distressing act. If they were going into the dentist and we offered them a leaflet, no one would be claiming we were distressing them.

Labour council leader Julian Bell said he believed a PSPO was potentially a proportionate response and the best way forward, and called for a national approach to the issue.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has ordered a review into harassment and intimidation outside abortion clinics.

After the vote cheers and applause broke out from two dozen-or-so Sister Supporter members in the gallery, many wearing pink high-vis emblazoned with the words Pro-Choice.

Minutes earlier the groups spokeswoman Anna Veglio-White had told the meeting: I think its safe to say that Ealing council are pioneers  and the world is watching.
Y outh workers could be deployed to regional hospitals that have seen a rise in the number of young men injured by violence linked to county lines drug wars.

Pioneering charity Redthread says young people  many from London  are increasingly being admitted to these hospitals after being injured while dealing drugs from the capital.

The charity already helps youngsters with serious assault injuries, often from knives and guns, at Londons four major trauma centres. Youth workers seek to engage with the victims at a teachable moment in an effort to help them turn their lives around.

Redthread now hopes to raise funds to expand to towns affected by county lines drug-dealing.

Dozens of London gangs run operations moving Class A drugs from the capital into county and coastal towns to sell, and a National Crime Agency report found numerous cases of serious violence related to drug turf wars.

Redthread said it had been approached by more than one hospital outside London to work with victims of gang violence.

Charity chief executive John Poyton said: There are young people getting involved in county line drugs violence who are attending hospitals with injuries. They are getting injured as a result of drugs infighting.

Last year, the charity dealt with up to 200 people a month being treated at Londons major trauma centres for serious assault injuries. The project is backed by the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime, although the current 1.2 million grant is due to run out in March. Mayor Sadiq Khan recently said that he would fund an extension of the scheme to other A&E units in London, but no decision has been taken on who should run the programme.

The charity supported 990 young people who had suffered serious violence between 2015 and 2017. Two thirds of victims had been stabbed.

Research found a reduction in violence associated with nearly half of the young people helped by the charity six months after they left hospital. Mr Poyton said: There is a need to look at a health-based approach to knife crime, not just a criminal justice one. The Mayor has been quite visionary in funding a health-based approach and this needs to be expanded.

Whether or not Redthread does this, I think this approach needs to be developed and rolled out across the NHS. 

Last month, Mahad Yusuf, 20, and Fesal Mahamud, 19, pleaded guilty to trafficking a 19-year-old woman who was forced to take drugs from London to Swansea. It was the first such case to use the Modern Slavery Act.
B usiness Secretary Greg Clark today urged banks to seek to avoid pulling the plug on small firms plunged into financial crisis by the collapse of construction giant Carillion.

The Cabinet minister issued the plea to lenders in an early morning meeting as the Government sought to stop Carillions demise from spiralling into a bigger economic crisis which could wipe out tens of thousands of jobs.

A 48-hour lifeline for Carillion private-sector contracts, during which the Government ensured workers were paid, was due to run out today.

Mr Clark also called on banks to ensure that decisions are referred to senior managers before funding streams are cut, which could force more companies to go bust.

Carillion: 'not a business that is going to collapse quietly' / EPA

However, in a sign of the febrile atmosphere gripping the corporate world, panic over Carillions collapse spread as outsourcer Interserves shares were hit.

Reports that the firm, which counts several government departments and the BBC among its clients, was under scrutiny from the Cabinet Office sent the shares down as much as 16 per cent at one point.

The sell-off forced the Cabinet Office to intervene.

A spokesman said: We do not believe that any of our strategic suppliers are in a comparable position to Carillion.

Business Secretary Greg Clark with Theresa May / PA

Shares in the firm, which has 80,000 staff, later clawed back most of the losses. Mr Clark today chaired a meeting with representatives of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Santander, Shawbrook, Aldermore and the British Business Bank.

Speaking afterwards, he said: It is essential that small businesses exposed to the Carillion insolvency are given the support they need by their lenders.

I chaired a meeting this morning of high street banks to ensure that they are in contact with customers impacted, that they have in place the advice and support needed and that any individual cases are escalated and dealt with sympathetically, swiftly and appropriately.

Carillion sinks into liquidation as rescue talks fail

Union chiefs today stepped up their calls for action to protect thousands of sub-contractors and other firms carrying out work for Carillion, many of which are owed significant sums by the construction giant which went under on Monday.

Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, said: The taxpayers bailed out the banks. Now they need to repay that by offering a sympathetic ear to thousands of small firms and the workers that they employ who are the victims of the Carillion scandal.

GMB boss Tim Roache called for firms with links to Carillion to be given more time to deal with the crisis and for a task force to be set up to oversee this rather than workers just being told heres the Job Centre Plus address.

The Standard revealed yesterday that Carillion had just 29 million in cash by the time it went bust and that its creditors could end up getting less than a penny in the pound.

The revelation came in a High Court witness statement submitted by the interim chief executive, Keith Cochrane, on the companys liquidation.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, warned there could be a domino effect among smaller sub-contractors from Carillions downfall.

Those companies are relying on the money coming from Carillion, that has stopped, he said.


T ory backbencher Justine Greening has said Brexit "will not be sustainable" if it does not work for young people, ahead of a final vote in the House of Commons.

The former education secretary, who resigned her post after Theresa May attempted to reassign her to the Department for Work and Pensions, told the Commons future generations could "improve or undo" current plans.

She said: "The bottom line is that looking ahead if Brexit doesn't work for young people in our country, in the end it will not be sustainable.

"When they take their place here they will seek to improve or undo what we've done and make it work for them.

The speech marks Ms Greening's first major intervention since resigning / Getty Images

"So we do absolutely have a duty in this House to look ahead and ensure that whatever we get is sustainable and works for them."

MPs are set to vote on the third reading of the EU Withdrawal Bill at around 7pm on Wednesday evening.

A successful vote would push the Bill forwards to a debate in the House of Lords.

The Labour party looks set to vote against the Bill en masse after its amendment - retaining the EU's charter on fundamental rights as part of British law - was voted down on Tuesday.

Mrs May is not expected to suffer the kind of rebellion she faced in December, when a group of Tory MPs joined Labour to demand a "meaningful vote" on any final deal.
T heresa May has appointed the countrys first minister for loneliness in order to tackle the misery endured by around nine million Britons.

Tracey Crouch will take on the role on top of her current job as Sports minister, aiming to shine a light on the issue.

The Prime Minister has backed a series of recommendations made by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, which highlighted how widespread the problem is.

The commission was set up by MP Jo Cox, who campaigned to find ways to combat loneliness before she was brutally murdered by a far-right terrorist in the run-up to the EU referendum.

Labour MP Jo Cox was killed in June 2016 (Yui Mok/PA ) / Yui Mok/PA

As well as announcing the new minister, Mrs May said a cross-government strategy to find ways to stop people feeling lonely will be published later this year.

Ahead of Downing Street reception to celebrate Ms Cox's legacy on Wednesday, she said: "For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life.

"I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones, people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.

"Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected.

"So I am pleased that Government can build on her legacy with a ministerial lead for loneliness who will work with the Commission, businesses and charities to shine a light on the issue and pull together all strands of Government to create the first ever strategy.

"We should all do everything we can to see that, in Jo's memory, we bring an end to the acceptance of loneliness for good."

The Office for National Statistics will help to devise a method of measuring loneliness and a fund will be set up to allow Government and charities to find innovative ways to deal with the problem across all ages, backgrounds and communities.

Ms Crouch said: "I am sure that with the support of volunteers, campaigners, businesses and my fellow MPs from all sides of the House, we can make significant progress in defeating loneliness.

"This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness."

A study by The Co-op and the British Red Cross showed more than nine million people always or often feel lonely, while Age UK found 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month and Scope said up to 85 per cent of young disabled adults feel lonely.

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Labour's Rachel Reeves and Conservative Seema Kennedy, worked with 13 charities over the last year to help find solutions to the problem. Ms Reeves and Ms Kennedy said: "We are really pleased to see that the Government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that 'young or old, loneliness doesn't discriminate'.

"Throughout 2017 we have heard from new parents, children, disabled people, carers, refugees and older people about their experience of loneliness.

"We very much welcome that Government has accepted the Commission's recommendations including the appointment of a new ministerial lead who will have the responsibility for creating a national strategy to tackle loneliness."
T he Bayeux Tapestry is set to be displayed in Britain after Emmanuel Macron reportedly agreed to let it leave France for the first time in almost a millennium.

The 70-metre tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is set to be loaned to the UK from its current location in Normandy.

President Macron is expected to announce the landmark move at a summit with Theresa May in Berkshire on Thursday, according to the Times.

The artworks loan is believed to have involved drawn-out talks between both countries culture departments, lasting several months.

The tapestry shows William the Conqueror addressing his troops before battle / Getty Images

The Prime Minister is expected to hail the decision as a sign of the enduring bond between the UK and France amid tensions over a future Brexit deal.

The tapestry last left its home at the Bayeux Museum in 1945, when it was displayed in the Louvre, Paris, after being seized from the Nazis.

Emmanuel Macron is expected to agree the deal in principle on Thursday / REUTERS

The UK loan is reportedly being scheduled for five years time, with no location yet decided for where it will be displayed.

Previous attempts to bring the tapestry to Britain have ended in failure, most recently for the Queens Coronation in 1953 and the 900-year anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966.

The director of the Bayeux museum told the Times that the loan move was dependent on tests to ascertain whether the tapestry could be safely transported without suffering damage.

There has long been a debate among historians as to where the tapestry was created, with some arguing it was made in Canterbury, Kent.

The only full-size copy of the Bayeux Tapestry is currently located in Reading Museum, where it has been since 1985.
N early half of women feel their mental wellbeing suffers as a result of the menopause, a new study has found.

Some 48 per cent of women think the menopause has a negative impact on their mental health and mood, research from BBC Radio 4s Womans Hour and BBC Radio Sheffield revealed.

The survey of more than 1,000 women found the menopause makes 25 per cent of women want to stay at home, while a further 23 per cent said the menopause reduced their enjoyment in life.

Most participants said they were uncertain of effects the menopause might have on their mental and physical health, with 70 per cent saying they did not have a strong understanding of it.

What is the menopause? The menopause is when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally. It usually occurs between 45 and 55 years of age.

The physical symptoms of the menopause, which include hot flushes, night sweats and headaches, are generally well-known, said Karen Dalziel, editor of Womans Hour.

But the new research has pointed to a range of psychological symptoms, including anxiety, depressive symptoms, low mood, memory loss, loss of self-confidence and low self-esteem.

"Our findings suggest that women dont have enough information about the menopause," said Ms Dalziel said.

"Whilst some of the physical symptoms are well known, weve discovered how the menopause is affecting womens mental health."

"We also now know that women seem reluctant to talk about it - either with doctors or with their employers, and so could be missing out on sources of support."

The survey found that 70 per cent of women do not tell their employer if they are experiencing symptoms of the menopause, while 20 per cent said their GP had been unhelpful in dealing with the symptoms.

The average age for the menopause in the UK is 51, however symptoms can start to show a few months or even years before periods stop, according to the NHS. These symptoms continue for about four years, but around one in every 10 women can experience them for up to 12 years.

The poll, conducted by ComRes on behalf of the BBC, involved 1,009 women between the age of 50 and 60.
M eghan Markle, who got engaged to Prince Harry over a roast chicken dinner, has received her first official gift - an apron.

Ms Markle may not be a member of the royal family yet but the joint present, to her and her fiancee, was one of hundreds of official gifts received by royals during 2017.

The Queen received glitter balls for the royal Christmas tree, a purple fleece dog bed and the Union Flag from Major Tim Peake's spacesuit.

The annually released list of gifts revealed Harry and Meghan's apron was given to the Duke of Cambridge on their behalf, from an unnamed individual, during a trip to Finland last November.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 1 /108 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex leaves after attending a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Pauls Cathedral AP Freedom Gala AP Christmas 2021 Alexi Lubomirski Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend The Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House Samir Hussein/WireImage Oprah Winfrey interviews Duke and Duchess of Sussex PA Media Misan Harriman Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in St George's Chapel PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex holding their son Archie during a meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in cape Town, on day three of their tour of Africa PA Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embrace following the polo at Coworth Park on 7 May 2017 Rex Features Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet Pony Major Mark Wilkinson and regimental mascot Cruachan IV during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Reuters Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto PA Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto Reuters Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 at Nathan Philips Square on 25 September 2017 in Toronto, Canada Getty Images Prince Harry with girlfriend Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Getty Images Meghan Markle at the Invictus Games in Toronto Karwai Tang/WireImage Prince Harry arrives with girlfriend actress Meghan Markle at the wheelchair tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto, Ontario Reuters Meghan Markle attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada PA Meghan Markle on the cover of Vanity Fair Peter Lindbergh exclusively for Vanity Fair Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games 2017 Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle announce their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Larking around: Harry and Meghan pull faces in footage not shown in the BBC engagement interview BBC Meghan Markle visits Nottingham for her first official public engagement with fiancee Prince Harry Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, to attend a Terrence Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair on their first official engagement together PA Meghan Markle arrives at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair at Nottingham Contemporary Getty Images The royal brothers and their partners on Christmas Day. AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listen to a broadcast through headphones during a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive in Brixton EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM in Brixton Getty Images Loved up: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Cardiff Castle EPA Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend a street dance class during their visit to Star Hub in during their visit to Star Hub on January 18, 2018 in Cardiff, Wales. Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will visit the people of Edinburgh Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception for young people at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images rince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle meet a Shetland Pony as they arrive at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Frank Augstein/AP Meghan Markle during a walkabout on the esplanade at Edinburgh Castle PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with patrons at the Social Bite in Edinburgh AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Meghan Markle arrives for a visit in Birmingham on International Women's Day PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham Splash News Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet members of the public on a walkabout during a visit to Millennium Point in Birmingham PA The Reverend Canon David Stanton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after attending a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbet AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding PA Meghan Markle walks down the aisle in St George's Chapel PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Harry and Meghan leaving Windsor Castle for the glamorous evening reception PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex head back down the Mall to Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018 Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talk to members of OneWave, an awareness group for mental health and wellbeing at South Bondi Beach on October 19, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2018 EPA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the 'Together: Our Community' Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Britain's Prince Harry unveil a plaque to officially open Number 7, a 'Feeding Birkenhead' citizens supermarket and community cafe, at Pyramids Shopping Centre, as part of a visit to Birkenhead, northwest England, Monday Jan. 14, 2019 AP Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the National theatre in central London on January 30, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, which is undergoing a multimillion-pound restoration PA Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (L) and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, reacts as they visit Bristol Old Vic theatre in Bristol, south-west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) help volunteers in the kitchen as they pack food parcels to go in the charity outreach van during a visit to One25 charity in Bristol, south west England on February 1, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards at Drapers Hall in London on February 7, 2019 AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex try some food during a cooking school demonstration at Villa des Ambassadors in Rabat on the third day of their tour of Morocco PA Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Meghan Markle wearing a short Reiss dress on International Women's Day AFP/Getty Images Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House, where they meet young people who demonstrate a Canadian spring tradition of making maple taffy (maple syrup cooled on snow to make sweets) on March 11, 2019 in London Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave following a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, London PA Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex attend a Commonwealth Day Youth Event at Canada House on March 11, 2019 in London WireImage Members of Britain's Royal family leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey AP The Duchess of Cambridge (left) talks with the Duchess of Sussex (right) as they attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey, Richard Pohle/The Times/PA Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold their baby son in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, Berkshire on 8 May 2019 REUTERS Archbishop Desmond Tutu kisses the forehead of baby Archie as his mother smiles on warmly Reuters The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrive for a visit to the Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, on day two of their tour of Africa. PA Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn pixel8000

The monarch was also given an ostrich egg decorated with Maasai beadwork as a 91st birthday present from the Kenyan president.

British astronaut Major Peake, who became the first Briton to form part of the crew of the International Space Station, handed over his own historic gift at Windsor Castle.

He gave the Queen the flag from his spacesuit when he stayed with the monarch for a "dine and sleep" gathering at her Berkshire residence last April.

In November, the Queen was presented with two sets of glitter balls for her Christmas tree by the German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Prince Harry quizzed over Obama wedding invitation

GCHQ also opted for an early Christmas theme when the monarch opened the National Cyber Security Centre in London last February, with the British security agency giving the Queen a Christmas decoration containing Enigma machine paper.

The dog-loving head of state - who now has one corgi and two dorgis - received a purple fleece dog bed and soft toy after a visit to the Canine Partners National Training Centre in November.

She was also given a silver-plated filigree pumpkin during an audience with the Cambodian Ambassador.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte received armfuls of gifts on their overseas tour to Poland and Germany in July, receiving 59 presents between them.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /36 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

This included 17 soft toys, two lollipops, three toy trains, a toy pram, three dresses, two pairs of socks and a dreamcatcher.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge also received a variety of gifts on the high profile trip including 19 books, three pairs of earrings for Kate, and three pairs of cufflinks for William.

There were two handbags for the duchess and replica cavalry sabre for the duke from the president of Poland Andrzej Duda.

During her solo visit to Luxembourg, Kate received a bamkuch by a member of the public, a traditional European cake with a hole in the middle that is served on important occasions.

When William and Kate visited Paris the outgoing president Francois Hollande gave the couple some decorative arts - a vase for William and a ceramic rose sculpture for Kate.

Official gifts can be worn and used, but are not considered the royals' personal property. The royals do not pay tax on them.

They can eat any food they are given and perishable official gifts with a value less than 150 can also be given to charity or staff.

Gifts cannot be sold or exchanged and eventually become part of the Royal Collection, which is held in trust by the Queen for her successors and the nation.

The rules on official presents were tightened following the Peat inquiry in 2003 into the sale of royal gifts and the running of St James's Palace.

Additional reporting by Press Association
T ech companies are being urged to strain every muscle to remove extremist material on their sites as the governments terror watchdog issued a new warning about radicalisation online.

Max Hill QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there was no doubt that social media plays a pivotal role in communication between those intent on terrorism and that some firms were not doing as much as they could to tackle the problem.

He added that some were failing to help because they promoted themselves as being anti-establishment, while others did not accept that such material should be taken down.

There were also firms that did not actively search for extremist content and only acted when they were alerted by others to dangerous or illegal.

Mr Hill said one option suggested by the government was to make it an offence to repeatedly view terrorist content online but suggested that it might be difficult to achieve effective legislation in this area.

But he insisted that internet firms should do more to help and added: Tech companies should strain every muscle to stem the flow of extreme material online.

I have sat next to Metropolitan Police specialist officers who spend every day searching the net to find extreme material, and who then systematically apply hash values and other algorithms to identify each and every posting of that material with a view to writing to every web host requesting the take down of that material. It is laborious work, and it is important.

Mr Hill highlighted the dangers by citing a series of recent court cases in which terrorists had been convicted after plotting attacks online.

They included Suheib Majeed, a physics undergraduate at Kings College London, who used secure and encrypted online systems to communicate with his fellow Londoner Tarik Hassane to plot the killing of a soldier or policeman in a drive-by shooting in the capital.

The pair, who were inspired by Islamic State, were both given life sentences by an Old Bailey judge last year.

Mr Hill said the case of Tareena Shakil, a 26-year-old mother who became prolific on social media in support of IS, provided another illustration of the dangers of the internet.

She took her one year old son to Syria with the intention that he would eventually become a foreign fighter and allowed him to be photographed next to an AK47. She also continued to glorify IS online, before returning to this country and being jailed for six years.

Mr Hill added: There is a powerful argument that anything and everything proper should be done, within the law, to bear down upon terrorist use of the internet.

There can be no doubt that social media plays a pivotal role in communication between those intent on terrorism.

Mr Hills comments, during a speech in London, follow heavy criticism by MPs of companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter over their failure to remove other forms of inflammatory material inciting hatred.
A businessman with a heart of gold was killed alongside two lifelong friends in a horror crash shortly before he was due to get married, devastated friends said today.

Tributes have been paid to Rahat Muqtadir, 31, who died in the early hours on Thursday when the Mercedes ploughed into a lorry parked in a lay-by on the A2 near Canterbury.

His friend Shahjahan Miah, 33, also killed in the accident, was described as a caring and loving family man.

The third victim, a father-of-two in his thirties whose identity has not yet been released, also lived on the same street in Finsbury Park.

The tragedy has rocked the close-knit community. Flowers and tributes have been laid in the street of modern family homes.

A friend said the three men who died had been inseparable and were returning from a trip to the coast when the crash happened at 4.29am.

They were loving, caring men who always put others first and would do anything for friends and family, said the friend, who added that the crash had been witnessed by a second group following in the car directly behind.

They saw it all and are deeply traumatised. They think there was a blind spot up ahead and the car wasnt able to see the parked lorry. Theyre all safe drivers and take care, but they didnt stand a chance.

They were inseparable these friends  it is a tragedy and we just cant believe it.

A fourth man, Turan Senpalit, 32, from Enfield, suffered severe injuries in the crash and is in a coma fighting for life in Kings College Hospital in Denmark Hill.

His father today said his family was heartbroken.

He said: We go to the hospital every day and the situation is not good, he is not responding to anything. We dont know how this happened, we want a full investigation.

The lorry driver, a 35-year-old man from France, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He has since been released pending further investigation.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or with dashcam footage is asked to phone Kent Polices Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 01622 798538, quoting reference SCIU/DM/008/18.
S ome of the UKs big banks have defended their stance towards Bitcoin despite investors claiming the banking sector is shunning the whole cryptocurrency industry.

People investing in Bitcoin today told how they are being pushed into making expensive foreign money transfers or even being refused bank accounts because of their involvement with cryptocurrencies, which operate solely in cyberspace.

Bitcoin, the worlds most well-known digital currency, has shot up in value over the past year, although its value began to plunge in mid-December.

One London-based Bitcoin investor, who made 80,000 after investing less than 3,000 four years earlier, today told the Standard she only uses foreign bank accounts for Bitcoin transfers while her friends had even relocated because of the obstacles.

Marc Warne founded website Bittylicious which allows people to buy and sell Bitcoins, with profits deposited straight into UK bank accounts.

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Bittylicious matches sellers with brokers and takes a commission of one per cent.

Mr Warne told the Standard that companies which are involved in cryptocurrencies, like his, are unable to get a UK bank account.

No banks will give us accounts, he said. To this day, I still cant get a UK bank account which is a pain in the neck.

A whole sector has been shunned by the five banks. If you do anything to do with crypto, like making software or working on Bitcoin ATMs, they wont have anything to do with you.

They claim its to do with a risk. But theres no real reason.

One investor made a mammoth 80k through Bitcoin from an investment of under 3,000 four years earlier. / U. Baumgarten via Getty Images

Banks in Europe are more adapted to using Bitcoin, Mr Warne added, but he said its not going to be good for investors in the UK after Brexit.

UK banks may have traditionally steered clear of cryptocurrencies over fears to links with crime including money laundering and fraud.

Barclays said it does accept transactions from cryptocurrency exchanges while HSBC said it is monitoring the development of virtual and digital currencies.

A spokesman for Barclays said all deposits  whether sourced from Bitcoin or not  are treated with the same level of scrutiny and anything suspicious is flagged up to the authorities.

If a particular payment is regarded as suspicious by our systems, it could be flagged for further investigation.

We escalate our concerns with the authorities and there are a number of actions they could take.

A HSBC spokesperson said: Should a customer wish to deposit funds into their bank account accumulated from cryptocurrencies, the relevant source of deposit evidence would be required in line with other deposit sources.

HSBC is monitoring the development of virtual and digital currencies such as Bitcoin as well as regulations governing their use.

In countries where use of virtual currencies is permitted by the authorities, we expect any customer transacting in them to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, just as they would for transactions denominated in traditional legal tender.

It added: HSBC does not process virtual currency payments and we do not bank virtual currency exchanges.
F orecasters have issued a fresh warning for persistent snow in southern Scotland and north-east England with up to 20cm expected to fall.

Police are warning people not to travel in areas covered by the amber "be prepared" alert after 200 motorists were left stranded on Wednesday.

Meanwhile Public Health England has issued health warnings in light of the cold weather, urging people to take extra care.

FOR THE LATEST UK WEATHER UPDATES FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG HERE

The Met Office's amber warning, which runs from 9pm on Wednesday until 5am on Thursday, says that 3 to 8cm of fresh snow is likely to accumulate widely, with up to 20cm over high ground.

Heavy snowfall causes disruption for UK drivers

It advises that travel disruption is likely, with a risk that some vehicles may be stranded.

Forecaster Nicola Maxey told the Standard: We have got a low pressure system crossing the UK. It will most likely cross a central area in the UK and the northern edge of that system has cold air wrapped around it so rainfall will fall as snow.

That is why we have put out an amber warning for part of Scotland and northern England.

We are looking at 10 to 20cm of snow over high ground, and more widely 3 to 8 cm will accumulate.

At the moment for overnight tonight we have got a yellow snow and ice warning covering the top part of the west coast of Scotland, from 4pm today until 11pm tomorrow.

There is an additional yellow snow warning that covers Northern Ireland, southern Scotland into northern England that is in place from 6pm until 6am.

Hundreds were forced to spend the night on the motorway in Scotland as tailbacks stretched for six miles / PA

There is also a wind warning from 12 tonight until 9am tomorrow covering a large central area of the UK.

We could expect to see winds of 50 to 60mph quite widely which will peak at around 70mph in exposed areas."

Residents attempt to clear snow in Airdrie, Scotland / Getty Images

On Wednesday, heavy snow and ice caused treacherous driving conditions and brought the M74 in Scotland to a standstill.

Dozens of schools were closed in parts of Scotland, while public transport has been disrupted by the weather.

Scotland's transport minister Humza Yousaf told MSPs at Holyrood that following a new Met Office amber warning for Wednesday evening, Police Scotland were upgrading their travel warning from stage three to a stage four.

A gritter in snowy conditions near Snowden Hill in Sheffield, South Yorkshire / Danny Lawson/PA

He said: "That in practice means that all travel should be avoided on those parts of the trunk road affected by the amber warning, namely south and south-west Scotland for the duration of the amber warning."

Police Scotland closed parts of the M74 in Lanarkshire in both directions due to wintry conditions for a number of hours overnight. The road later reopened.

Mountain rescue teams were drafted in to check on drivers, many of whom were stuck in their vehicles for several hours.

Police declared a critical incident and said that more than 200 people were stranded.

All schools in the Borders were closed due to the weather while 16 secondary schools, 58 primaries and 44 nurseries in the Highlands were shut.

Around 20 schools in Dumfries and Galloway and 28 schools and nurseries in South Lanarkshire were also closed.

All prelim exams scheduled to take place in North Lanarkshire secondary schools on Thursday have also been postponed.
T ravel chaos is expected after snowfalls across large parts of northern England and Scotland and ferocious winds in London.

Forecasters have warned of a risk that some vehicles may become stranded on roads on Thursday morning as they issued an amber warning for parts of the UK.

Delays to rail services and flights are also expected with some rural areas likely to be affected by power cuts, the Met Office said in statement.

The Met Office said flying debris could pose danger to life and may damage buildings as they warned of ferocious winds battering London and the south-east on Thursday morning.

This blog now ended, but you can read our coverage below
T he price of Bitcoin continued to fall today, as Vladimir Putin said legislation regulating the cryptocurrency market could be needed in the future in Russia.

The Russian President discussed the risks of cryptocurrencies, saying they are efficient but also not secure, adding that more regulation will be definitely required.

Speaking to Russian news agency TAAS, he said: This is the prerogative of the central bank at present and the central bank has sufficient authority so far.

However, in broad terms, legislative regulation will be definitely required in future.

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It is known that the cryptocurrency is not backed by anything. It cannot be a store of value. No material valuables are behind it and it is not secured by anything, Putin reportedly said.

It can be a settlement medium to a certain degree and in certain situations. This is done quickly and efficiently.

What is Bitcoin? Everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency

Bitcoin  the worlds most well-known cryptocurrency  plunged to $12,000 down almost 11.85 per cent on Tuesday after South Korea said plans to ban it were still a possibility.

It plunged 2.8 per cent overnight from $13,896 after Finance Minister Kim Dong-yem told local radio station TBS that a crackdown on trading digital currencies was a live option.

It continued to drop throughout the day and, despite recovering marginally to $11,222 by Wednesday morning, remained on a downward trajectory.
A group of Brits who live in the Netherlands have gone to court in a bid to keep their EU citizenship after Brexit.

Five UK nationals have launched a case in a Dutch court, claiming they feel forgotten and fear they may be forced to give up their rights when the UK quits the bloc in March 2019.

The landmark case could have knock-on effects for the estimated one million British ex-pats currently living in EU countries.

The group is asking a Dutch judge to put prejudicial questions about the status of UK nationals post-Brexit to the European Court of Justice.

One of the barristers representing some of the group of UK nationals. / AP

Launching summary proceedings at Amsterdam District Court on Wednesday, lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm said that while citizens rights are clear when a country joins the EU, nobody knows what happens when a country decides to leave.

Chris, Molly and Deborah Williams, three UK nationals living in the Netherlands and their barrister Jolyon Maugham. / AP

Under the deal agreed at the end of stage one Brexit talks in December, some detail of the rights of British EU citizens post-Brexit have been outlined but other issues like free movement are unconfirmed.

Key Brexit Players - In pictures 1 /8 Key Brexit Players - In pictures David Davis Reuters Michel Barnier AP Tim Barrow AFP/Getty Images Oliver Robbins Sabine Weyand Didier Seeuws AFP/Getty Images

People with EU citizenship includes the rights to travel and live anywhere in the EU as well as diplomatic protection and help from any EU country all over the world.

Briton Stephen Huyton, who works for a US firm operating in Europe and has lived in the Netherlands for 24 years, told th BBC: Just because the UK voted to leave, it shouldn't be able to force citizens to give up their rights

My children are confronted by choices I don't think are fair or reasonable

In the Brexit breakup, it feels as though they're just making up the rules as they go along. We feel as though we've been forgotten, so at least now people are noticing us.
C alifornian authorities could change home-schooling laws after 13 siblings were found chained to their beds at home in California.

Campaigners argued stricter regulation could have prevented the case of the emaciated family, aged between two and 29-years-old, found shackled inside their home in Perris, Los Angeles, on Sunday.

Parents, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were arrested at the dirty and darkened house on suspicion of child endangerment.

The shocking case has prompted questions of how the victims were kept in such grim conditions without raising suspicions. Some experts suggested it may have been easier for the parents to shield their children from scrutiny because they were home-schooled

Horrific: David and Louise Turpin with their children

"One of the things that was interesting was, he [Turpin] set up his own home school so the kids were accounted for and not really seen by anybody," said Sherryll Kraizer, a child-abuse prevention expert and the founder of the Coalition for Children.

The California Department of Education lists the Turpin address, where the family has lived since 2014, as the location of the Sandcastle Day School, with David Turpin as principal.

In order to run a home-school in the state, Turpin would have had to fill out forms each year but there is no legal obligation for the state to visit and assess the environment.

Media report from 160 Muir Woods Road in Perris, California, / AFP/Getty Images

Rachel Coleman, the executive director of non-profit group the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, told The Los Angeles Times: We know that many home-schooling parents provide their children with a safe and child-centred home environment.

Unfortunately, current law provides nothing to stop families like the Turpins from using home-schooling to isolate and imprison their children.

She called for mandatory check-ups and performance reviews as well as criminal background checks for parents choosing to teach their children at home, arguing that this could stop people who are using home-schooling as a cover-up for child abuse.

Louise and David Turpin have been charged with child endangerment and torture / Riverside Sheriff's Department

On Tuesday, Assemblyman Jose Medina announced he would be looking into proposing legislation to change home-schooling laws following the Turpin case but he did not specify further.

The grim situation was discovered after one of the daughters, an emaciated 17-year-old girl who looked as young as ten, escaped through a window of the home and used a disconnected mobile phone to call the police.

She was then interviewed by officers and showed them pictures of the conditions she was being held in, along with her brothers and sisters.

Residents gathered outside the California home after 13 children were found held captive / AFP/Getty Images

Six of the couple's children are minors, while the rest are over 18. Police who discovered them said they were malnourished and living in horrific conditions.

Following the news, the familys relatives have spoken out about their horror and confusion at the allegations and said they did not have much contact with the family other than over the phone.

Louise's sister Teresa Robinette said she thought David Turpin treated his wife like a queen" and wondered why the children were never allowed to speak on the phone.

California Turpin Family

"We always thought she was living the perfect life," she said. "She would tell us they went to Disneyland all the time, they would go to Vegas."

On Monday, the devastated parents of David Turpin said they were shocked by the allegations and described them as a good Christian family.

James and Betty Turpin, from West Virginia, also said that they had not seen the family since visiting several years ago.

David and Louise Turpin were charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment. They are being held on $9 million bail, with an initial court hearing scheduled for Thursday.
T he star of a new series about the Roman invasion of Britain has warned swords and sandals fans not to compare it with Game Of Thrones  as Britannia is far more psychedelic and humorous.

Written by Jez Butterworth, who created award-winning plays Jerusalem and The Ferryman and co-scripted Bond film Spectre, Britannia tells the story of the power struggle between the Druids, Celts and Romans during a period of British history of which little is known.

Annabel Scholey plays the scheming Amena, a senior member of a Celtic tribe. She told the Standard: I really hope it gets judged on its own merits. Game Of Thrones, and probably Downton Abbey, are the biggest things that have been on television in the past 10 years.

To be compared to Game Of Thrones  we should be so lucky! Britannias got a completely different tone  its psychedelic, its funny, its about a completely different thing and is loosely based on historical facts.

Game Of Thrones was known for its sex scenes, and Britannias opening episode sees Amena in bed with Stanley Webers character Lindon. Scholey, 34, said nude scenes were never comfortable, but added: Im okay with doing some nudity if there is a good reason for it  and it is important in that scene that Amena is in total control. She is predatory and sexy.

The story is set in 43AD, 90 years after Julius Caesar was forced to retreat from Englands shores. This time, a 20,000- strong Roman army led by Aulus Plautius (David Morrissey) are not scared off and find little resistance as the islands inhabitants are too busy warring among themselves.

New TV shows to look forward to in 2018 1 /22 New TV shows to look forward to in 2018 The Little Drummer Girl Florence Pugh as Charlie with Alexander Skarsgard as Becker in the John le Carre thriller BBC / The Little Drummer Girl Distribution Limited. The Cry Jenna Coleman and Ewen Leslie Synchronicity Films Ltd/Lachlan Moore Vanity Fair ITV and Amazon's remake of William. M. Thackeray's classic novel starring Olivia Cooke and Tom Bateman ITV Wanderlust Toni Collette and Steven Mackintosh star in BBC's new raunchy drama BBC/Drama Republic Press Charlotte Riley and Ben Chaplin go head-to-head as rival newspaper editors in new drama from Doctor Foster creator Mike Barlett BBC Death and Nightingales Jamie Dornan, Ann Skelly and Matthew Rhys star in a three-part drama for BBC Two BBC Maniac Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star in the limited Netflix series coming September Michele K. Short / Netflix Disenchantment Matt Groening is back and on Netflix with new adult comedy following Princess Bean and friends Netflix / Matt Groening Age Before Beauty Age Before Beauty on BBC One with Polly Walker, Sue Johnston and Lisa Riley follows a family business with plenty of secrets BBC/Mainstreet Pictures/Todd Antony Hard Sun Luther creator Neil Cross has another dabble at the cop show format in this crime/sci-fi drama inspired by the Bowie song Five Years. BBC/Euston Films A Very English Scandal Hugh Grant stars in this drama from Doctor Who/Sherlock writer Russell T Davies, which adapts John Prestons book about the scandal that surrounded Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe BBC/Blueprint Television Ltd Kiri National Treasure writer Jack Thorne pens a four-part drama about the abduction of a young black girl. The ever-reliable Sarah Lancashire is unconventional social worker Miriam, who finds herself being blamed. Channel 4 Britannia Filmed in Wales and Prague, Jez Butterworths historical drama is set in 43AD, when Roman General Aulus (David Morrissey) is attempting to conquer the Celts. Sky Collateral David Hares four-part drama (his first original TV series) explores the repercussions after a pizza delivery man is shot dead. Carey Mulligan plays Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie, who investigates. BBC/The Forge Save Me In the absence of Doctor Foster, Suranne Jones stars as the mother of a missing girl who believes that her ex- (Lennie James, who wrote the show) is guilty of the abduction, forcing him to work to clear his name. Sky Atlantic Troy: Fall of a City Swords and sandals epic in eight parts made in a collaboration with Netflix, written by David Farr (who also wrote The Night Manager). BBC/Wild Mercury Productions Patrick Melrose Benedict Cumberbatch looks right at home in this adaptation of the Edward St Aubyn novels about an outrageous aristocrat struggling to overcome the damage inflicted by an abusive father. Dave Benett

Filming took place in Prague last year and the series also stars Kelly Reilly and Mackenzie Crook. Scholey, whose stage credits include Richard III and High Society at the Old Vic, said : We arrived for filming in May and it was very hot. We were all assessed as to how good or bad we were at fighting  we were all given large sticks and told to take down about 15 members of the stunt team. I loved it.

What was hilarious though was that, as I was trying to channel my inner Lara Croft and was making some very aggressive sounds, they started playing the Dirty Dancing soundtrack! So I was like, Interesting! Im not really sure Im feeling the right vibes here.
D ylan Farrow will discuss the sexual assault allegation she made against her adoptive father Woody Allen in a TV interview, as a growing number of stars distance themselves from the director.

The interview will air on US channel CBS on Thursday and is Farrows first, according to the broadcaster.

It comes after Farrow recently reiterated her allegations, which Allen vehemently denies, in a newspaper article which questioned why he has been spared by the "revolution" that ended Harvey Weinstein's career.

"I am credible, and I am telling the truth, and I think it's important that people realise that one victim, one accuser, matters. And that they are enough to change things," Farrow said in an extract from the CBS appearance released on Wednesday.

Allen faces renewed questions over his alleged behaviour as he prepares for the release of his latest film in a Hollywood that is coming to grips with its history of sexual harassment and abuse.

Actresses who have spoken out on Weinstein

The 82-year-old filmmaker, who has always denied the allegation, was investigated over the claim he molested Farrow in an attic in 1992 when she was seven, but he was not charged.

Actor Timothee Chalamet said on Tuesday that he did not want to profit from his role in A Rainy Day In New York and would instead donate his salary to three charities combating abuse and harassment, including Time's Up.

Rebecca Hall previously apologised for her role in the film and said she would also donate her earnings to the celebrity-backed initiative.

Accused: Woody Allen is alleged to have sexually assaulted Dylan Farrow / Andreas Rentz/Getty

Others to distance themselves from Allen in recent weeks include To Rome With Love's Greta Gerwig, Wonder Wheel's David Krumholtz and Mira Sorvino, who vowed to never work with him again having won an Oscar for her role in 1995's Mighty Aphrodite.

However, Alec Baldwin, who has worked with Allen on three occasions, expressed his support for the director earlier this week, saying the rejection is "unfair and sad".

Farrow is the sister of journalist Ronan Farrow, whose investigative reporting aided Weinstein's downfall.

With additional reporting from Press Association.
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The wife of Japan's Government Prime Minister Akie Abe on Tuesday evening professed being "utterly impressed" with the cultivation, in Romania, of an ancient Japanese tradition such as the tea ceremony and promised that once back to her country she will share this fact with the Japanese youth.

As a Japanese I am utterly impressed to see all these girls dressed in kimonos and who have learnt to celebrate the tea ceremony here, so far away, geographically speaking from my country. Unfortunately these days, in Japan there are not so many young people to learn the Tea Ceremony, however, when I get back I will tell everywhere that in Romania, such a far away country, people learn our culture that we should also be proud of, Akie Abe said at Romania's National Art Museum (MNAR).Japan Prime Minister's wife inaugurated, together with Culture Minister Lucian Romascanu, the Tea Room, as part of the future Oriental Art Gallery of MNAR, stating that she wishes Japanese art oeuvres will soon be on the museum's walls.Akie Abe expressed hope that the visit of her husband, Japan's gov't Prime Minister, to Romania contribute to the development of the two countries' bilateral relations.In his turn, Minister Lucian Romascanu affirmed being "very honoured" by the Japanese guests' visit to Romania and saluted the accomplishment, through the inauguration of the Tea Room, with the support of private partners, of the first stage of "a successful MNAR project, the first part of the future Oriental Art Gallery.""Even if political life tends to be tumultuous in this corner of the world, the places we have seen today - the Village Museum and the National Art Museum - are quiet places where we can find ourselves and we can enjoy the beauties that the Romanian cultural life and not only can grant us," Romascanu further said.Akie Abe subsequently participated in a tea ceremony, alongside the wife of Japan's Ambassador in Bucharest, Sachiko Ishii, with disciples, teachers and masters of Urasenke Japanese School in Bucharest.

AGERPRES .
Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu on Wednesday said after the meeting with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano that he is positive that Romania will further benefit from Italy's support for a positive decision in the file of accession to the Schengen area. "The European Union is confronted today with a series of major, complex challenges, with in perspective implications. The discussions showed that Romania and Italy continue to plead for a strong European Union, for a cohesive, unitary Union, which should be able to solve the problems that are on the agenda today, based on the respect for the fundamental values and principles which make up the foundation of the European project. I thank once more my colleague for the firm and without reservations support which his country grants to Romania's accession to Schengen. I am positive that we'll further benefit from Italy's support for a positive decision in this file," Melescanu said after the meeting with Italian Foreign and International Cooperation Minister Angelino Alfano.

Minister Angelino Alfano highlighted Italy's support for Romania. "We are and will be by Romania's side for its own ambitions and battles inside the EU and we are by Romania's side for an important political meeting, namely the semestral Presidency of the Council of the EU next year. We are truly close and we don't feel as being in front of or behind Romania, but we fell by Romania's side and we are going side by side," Alfano said.

The two officials approached topics concerning Europe's future, including from the perspective of the ongoing political developments in this space. "We highlighted Romania's firm commitment and the will to actively participate in the debate on re-grounding the European project and the strategic vision on Europe's future. In accordance with the commitments assumed in the European Council, Romania is open to participating, based on its efforts and capacities, in the common effort to manage the migration situation. (...) We have also discussed the European perspective of the Western Balkans, which both countries support and in the context of the recent developments registered in the EU vicinity it is so much more important for the EU and for the candidate states to reaffirm the added value which the EU enlargement policy has, making sure at the same time that the involved states meet the criteria to join the EU," Melescanu added.

He approach with his Italian counterpart the situation in the Republic of Moldova, the Eastern Neighbourhood in general, and underscored that "it is extremely important in this period that the political forces of Chisinau remain committed to the European path and consolidate the credibility both on a domestic and on a foreign level." "We agreed to work together for the reform process of the European vicinity policy. It is a reform process which both Romania and Italy have brought a consistent contribution to through the proposals presented in the EU," Melescanu also said.

The Romanian Foreign Minister brought to mind Italy's taking over the OSCE chairmanship-in-office mandate for the current year. "I assured him of Romania's firm support in the effort to manage the complex challenges to security in Europe. I argued for maintaining among the priorities the frozen conflict solving, particularly those in the Transnistrian area, as well as the crisis in Ukraine and around. One of the OSCE's assets remains the comprehensive approach by reflecting all three dimensions in its actions," Melescanu pointed out.

Agerpres.
Interim Prime Minister Mihai Fifor decided to dismiss from office Romanian Police head, quaestor Bodgan Despescu, and appoint as interim head on a six-month period quaestor Catalin Ionita, the director of the General Anti-corruption Directorate (DGA) within the Interior Ministry (MAI).

Both decisions were made at the proposal of Interior Minister Carmen Dan.

Agerpres.
Save Romania Union (USR) President Dan Barna said on Tuesday that to the extent to which the USR principles would be assumed by a liberal premier, his party is ready to support a prime minister from the National Liberal Party (PNL).

He said that the principles of the party he leads are largely shared by liberals.

"To the extent to which these principles, which I know most liberal colleagues support, will be assumed by such a prime minister, obviously we are ready to support him," said Barna when asked at Realitatea TV if USR would support a liberal prime minister.

He added that USR is also willing to support a technocrat premier, but believes that early elections are the solution.

"Early elections are the solution, because the current structure of Parliament makes such an alternative difficult (...) The stakes for Romania are finding a non-PSD solution," said Dan Barna.

"Our position will be to not support any premier from the PSD-ALDE (Social Democratic Party - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats) coalition, but unfortunately for Romania it will be just opening a public bet on how many weeks until the next government crisis in Romania. Any prime minister, except for Liviu Dragnea, who cannot be a prime minister, will end up in a conflict, will be dismissed, because this is play in which we have been living in Romania for a year," said Dan Barna.

The USR leader believes that the current majority is "toxic to Romania" and for one year it "has been blocking the state".

"This is what we will demand tomorrow from the President, to appoint a non-PSD premier. (...) And if this prime minister assumes a government that includes the four priorities that we have mentioned today - the principle of public offices without law offenders, the annulment of the laws of Justice, the electoral reform with the return to the election of mayors in two rounds and amending the tax revolution - we will support such a government," Barna said.

AGERPRES .
by Austin Bay January 16, 2018

The false missile attack alert that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued at 8:05 a.m. on January 13 provides American civil defense agencies and military planners with numerous points to ponder.

Three deserve immediate attention.

Point 1: Hawaii's civil defense warning system procedures are abysmally bad.

Yes, the Wireless Emergency Alert system worked. Mobile phones instantly received over 1 million text messages.

But that leads to Point 2: the resulting public fright demonstrated rational people fear nuclear-armed missiles, especially when malign regimes like North Korea routinely threaten ICBM attacks. When told by government authorities that an attack was underway, Hawaiian residents felt vulnerable, even those who know the U.S. Navy deploys AEGIS ballistic missile defense warships in the area. Still, Hawaii's current missile defenses are quite thin, so many people panicked. False warnings of this magnitude always erode public trust in government defense agencies, leaders and the media.

This leads to an even more complex defense issue. Point 3: the incident demonstrates computer and digital device vulnerability to cyber warfare attacks, especially computers linked to alert networks.

The Hollywood movie scene has someone pushing a red button on a control console. HawaiiNewsNow.com reports that a rather mundane act generated Hawaii's false alert: a single HI-EMA employee selected the wrong option on a confusing drop-down computer menu checklist.

That menu is a mess. On the menu, the "drill" is in close proximity with other choices. Moreover, the state civil defense drill and the for real U.S. Pacific Command civil defense warning for Hawaii option (an attack warning) nest among other options, including high surf and tsunami warnings.

Tsunamis and enemy missile attacks are deadly threats. The menu's miserable clutter reflects sloppy institutional planning.

8:05 a.m. January 13: instead of selecting the state-PACOM civil defense warning drill, the employee clicked the PACOM civil defense warning option. Then he compounded his error by clicking "yes" on "a second (computer) confirmation page." The false warning was immediately transmitted to the public.

Yes, two mistakes on two separate pages, by one employee, that can generate an automatic message instantaneously alerting 1 million people. Then it took HI-EMA almost 40 minutes to send out a wide-area alert cancellation notice.

Why weren't two people on duty? In the military -- whether the message is drill or for real-- a two-person emergency message team is the standing operating procedure. Two on a team greatly reduces the possibility of a bad decision.

HI-EMA has given media screen shots of a revised menu. The revision? The clutter now includes the option "BMD False Alarm." The revision is a hasty attempt to correct Point 1. However, False Enemy Attack Alarm is a more accurate choice. Small point? Perhaps; think about civil defense threats. The more inclusive choice cancels any false attack alert from a terror attack to an ICBM.

Correcting Point 2 takes money. North Korea isn't the only nuclear threat. America is about 10 years behind where it should be in terms of developing and deploying missile defenses. The Clinton Administration slowed anti-ballistic missile development because hard left Democrats disdained Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative. They were also wedded to the Cold War ABM Treaty.

In 2003 ,House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opined: "The United States does not need a multi-billion-dollar national missile defense against the possibility of a nuclear-armed ICBM. What we need is a strong nonproliferation policy with other nations to combat the most serious threat to our national security."

Does she deserve blame? Yes. America must accelerate ABM procurement.

As for Point 3, hackers have grown more sophisticated in techniques and technology. The Pentagon is worried about the cyber attacks on U.S. sensor systems (like those detecting missile launches) and on some offensive weapons (to include nuclear weapons). The Hawaii fiasco shows how much chaos an enemy hacker can create by generating a false attack alert. The enemy then follows the cyber fake with a genuine ICBM attack.
In 2017 the UN cut food aid to Somali refugees in Kenya because there was not enough money available to keep feeding the Somali refugees who had been in Somalia for years as well as the many new refugees in Africa (South Sudan, Congo, and elsewhere). Some two million Somalis are refugees. Most (55 percent) have found refuge inside Somalia but the other 900,000 have fled the country. Most (nearly 70 percent) are in Kenya and Kenya wants them gone. But in the last three years only 75,000 have been persuaded to return. In December 2017 about 1,500 returned. The second most common source of returned Somali refugees is Yemen which has seen 35,000 return in the last three years, most of them in the last year because of the civil war in Yemen.

Food aid isnt the only form of foreign aid that is being cut. At the end of 2017 the United States cut military aid to Somalia in another effort to curb the rampant corruption in the military. Audits showed that at half the people on the security forces (police and army) payroll did not exist and the pay for these phantom soldiers went to a corrupt government official. No one is sure exactly how many troops the army has been some estimates believe there are no more than 10,000, which is less than half what the army is supposed to have. That was but one of many defect the Somali militaries suffers from.

Several recent defeats (usually when al Shabaab attacked an army base) were found to be partly the result of nearly a third of the troops not having any weapons and many others not properly trained to use the ones they had. It was the same with other forms of aid for the security forces, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, uniforms and whatever could be stolen and resold on the black market. Officers and NCOs were often not present or not competent.

This is becoming a fatal problem because the relatively corruption-free peacekeeper force of 22,000 AU (African Union) soldiers are no longer willing to rush to the aid of areas where the understrength, unpaid and unsupplied soldiers have fled from al Shabaab or hostile clan militias and left the area no longer under government control. The peacekeepers can usually reestablish control but take casualties doing so and the Somali government, despite having, on paper, as many soldiers as the AU force, cannot rely on their own troops because most of them either dont exist or are even less willing to act than the peacekeepers. So African nations supplying the peacekeepers are planning to withdraw their troops and there are few, if any, nations willing to replace them. Somalia has developed a reputation for being impossibly difficult to work in.

Remove Corruption

That al Shabaab controls any territory is mainly because of another problem; corruption. The government forces suffer from it while al Shabaab does not (or at least has much less of it). The inability of the government to ensure that their new security forces are supplied and paid regularly (even though foreign aid provides the needed cash) means the Somali army remains unreliable and unable to control areas that al Shabaab has been driven out of (usually by peacekeepers, but sometimes by pro-government militias). Its another case of greed overwhelming common sense and common interests. This is not unusual for Somalia, which has been rated the most corrupt nation in the world for a decade. One of the side effects of that degree of corruption is the inability to maintain reliable security forces.

Yet al Shabaab also lacks access to foreign aid and provides far fewer amenities for recruits than Somali soldiers or foreign peacekeepers enjoy. Yet al Shabaab continues to operate despite heavy attrition (from combat, disease and desertion). For over a year now Al Shabaab has been maintaining its strength in rural areas west of Mogadishu (Galgudud and Middle Shabelle) by stealing children in addition to food and other supplies. Families that can afford to are sending children (mainly boys age 8-16) away to areas with less al Shabaab presence to protect the kids from a popular form of recruiting in Africa. This began with al Shabaab demanding that rural schools stop teaching anything that might be interpreted as hostile to al Shabaab. Then al Shabaab imposed a tax on some schools that had to be paid in the form of students. In the last year several hundred children have been taken and several thousand have been sent away by their parents to keep the kids safe from al Shabaab. This recruiting tactic has been used elsewhere in Somalia for years.

This tactic was not unexpected because the Islamic terrorist group has suffered heavy losses in the last few years but have maintained its strength by improvising. This is mainly about using children and apparently at least half the current al Shabaab gunmen are armed boys under age 18 and a growing number under 14 years old. This is why, despite losing control of 90 percent of the area it controlled at its peak in 2012, al Shabaab still exists with about half the personnel it had in 2012.

The growing use of child soldiers was noted as early as 2010 when the fighting in Mogadishu was not going well for al Shabaab and many of their fighters had been killed or discouraged enough to desert. Unable to entice enough men to join they have convinced (or coerced) some clan elders to allow kids (large enough to handle an AK-47) to join the fight. Like most Somali children they were eager for the opportunity to have an AK-47 of their very own and people to shoot at. This is a big deal for Somali teenagers. By 2012 it was noted that 10-20 percent of most al Shabaab fighters appeared to be kids. The teenagers are not the best fighters. Most are impulsive and inexperienced so they do not last long if there is a lot of combat and even then they require more supervision than adult fighters. But given the choice between disappearing because of heavy casualties and recruiting more and more kids, many African irregular groups (bandits, rebels, Islamic terrorists) will resort to the use of children. This is not a new phenomenon but it did not become as affordable and widespread until the 1990s. Thats because after several million cheap Cold War surplus AK-47s began showing up in Africa in the 1990s the "child soldier" became a more practical solution to heavy personnel losses. The world market for AK-47s was glutted by the late 1990s. The only market left was Africa, but only if you were willing to sell cheap. The gunrunners were, and still are, very active in lawless places like Somalia, Sudan and eastern Congo. The cheap AK-47 made it possible to use kids as young as 10-14 years old as soldiers. This was a new development, because the old weapons (spears, swords, bows) required muscle. Kids had to be older, and stronger to be warriors. But now, if you could lift a 4.5 kg (ten pound) AK-47 and pull the trigger, you were a killer. Child soldiers changed everything, because warlords could just kidnap or entice kids and quickly brainwash them. These armies of child killers made insurrection and anarchy more common. Tens of millions of Africans fled their homes to avoid these tiny terrors, and many of those refugees died of starvation or disease. These victims were just as dead, even if the bullets didn't get them. In fact, few AK-47 victims died from bullets. It was the massive fear, and breakdown of society, and the economy, that killed most people confronted by all these cheap AK-47s. The kids weren't very good shots, but if they got close enough to you, they were capable of unimaginable horrors. Al Shabaab is continuing this vile tradition, although in the name of God.

Another pragmatic tactic al Shabaab has adopted is to negotiate and keep economic agreements in rural areas where they live. This includes all traffic passing through the area has to pay a tax to pass al Shabaab road checkpoints. This includes trucks carrying foreign aid supplies like food and medicine. This is not much different than in government controlled areas except that al Shabaab will fight any other groups (clan militia, security forces or bandits) seeking additional and unexpected taxes to pass. Al Shabaab will hand out written receipts so drivers will not be taxed more than once while in al Shabaab territory.

Apostate

Al Shabaab has officially declared one of their former senior leaders, Mukhtar Robow, an apostate and called on all good Moslems to try and kill him. In mid-2017 Robow effectively aligned himself and his faction with the government. These negotiations were kept somewhat quiet but by late June 2017 it became difficult to hide. That was when several hundred additional troops passed through Hudur, the capital of the Bakool region in central Somalia. The soldiers were there in case fighting broke out between Robow and other al Shabaab factions that wanted to kill him for negotiating with the government. Robow has been feuding with other al Shabaab leaders since 2010 over strategy and since 2013 has essentially declared that his al Shabaab faction (from his Rahanweyn clan, which dominates the region) was going to defend clan territory and do little else for al Shabaab. That meant al Shabaab men could move through Bakool but government forces would be resisted.

Back in 2012 the U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for anyone who would make it possible to capture or kill Robow. But in mid- June 2017 that reward was quietly withdrawn and by August the U.S. made peace with Robow. This soon led to several al Shabaab leaders demanding that al Shabaab mass its depleted forces and punish Robow for this suspected betrayal. Many al Shabaab still blame Robow for the loss of Mogadishu in 2011. That mess began in 2010 when Mukhtar Robow (then al Shabaab deputy commander-in-chief) split with the group and withdrew his forces from Mogadishu. That also meant he was no longer the spokesman for the group or the deputy commander. The weakened and disorganized al Shabaab forces were then much less able to resist the pro-government clans/peacekeeper offensive to take control of the city.

Robow's complaint was that foreign terrorists were increasingly taking over al Shabaab, sometimes killing those who objected. At the time six al Qaeda foreigners were members of the ten man Sura Council (the al Shabaab supreme command) versus four Somalis. The defection of Robow meant al Shabaab lost about a quarter of its gunmen. That was when al Shabaab began recruiting more teenagers (who are easier to recruit, but aren't as effective in combat) to replace the older, more experienced men they were losing to combat injuries, desertion and defection. Al Shabaab also has to contend with the fact that most Somalis now hated the Islamic radicals and were increasing demonstrating that attitude by fleeing areas ruled by al Shabaab.

The feuding among senior al Shabaab leaders has never really ended but that sort of thing rarely makes the news. One exception occurred in early 2013 when al Shabaab ordered one of their more visible leaders, American born (but with a Syrian father) Abu Mansoor al Amriki (Omar Hammami) to turn himself in or be hunted down and killed. Hammami did not surrender and was caught by al Shabaab and killed in September 2013. Because Hammami was an American citizen that was considered news in most of the world. It all began at the end of 2012 when Hammami was expelled from al Shabaab and accused of spreading discord and disunity inside al Shabaab by going public about a dispute within al Shabaab over enforcing Islamic lifestyle rules. Hammami also accused al Shabaab leaders of corruption and incompetence. Al Shabaab quickly announced that Hammami was no longer their spokesman. Hammami has been with al Shabaab for seven years and had become a public face of the terrorists via his video releases on the Internet. Hammami grew up in Alabama, but came to Somalia and joined al Shabaab in 2006. Once he began appearing in al Shabaab videos he became a target for those fighting Islamic terrorists. The FBI named Hammami one of their most-wanted felons in late 2012 but that did not help get him out of Somalia safely.

In mid-2017 the Somali government did not want Mukhtar Robow to get killed by al Shabaab because that would cause more fighting in central Somalia and enable al Shabaab to continue moving through an area that is the safest route for al Shabaab from northern to southern Somalia. Robow made a peace deal with the government and al Shabaab suddenly has a much more difficult time moving from north to south and, in effect, al Shabaab forces in the south (mostly near the Kenyan border) and north (mostly in Puntland) weree isolated from each other and easier to defeat. Robow took advantage of the situation and made the best deal (for himself and his clan) he could with the government.

January 16, 2018: West of Mogadishu the army managed to defeat al Shabaab attacks on several army bases near Baidoa, although in one case a base was partially captured and looted before reinforcements showed up and drove the al Shabaab attackers away. Some army commanders are able to maintain a reliable force of troops by seeing that payroll and supplies get through on a regular basis. This is not considered normal behavior in Somalia but is slowly becoming more common. The change is too slow for a lot of foreign aid donors who face far larger demand for aid than they can fulfill. So the most troublesome recipients are cut off so that areas where the aid reaches more people it is intended for can get more attention.

In downtown Mogadishu a roadside bomb went off near a police station but there were no injuries.

January 14, 2018: In the southeast (across the border in Kenya) al Shabaab ambushed a convoy near the coastal town of Lamu. One civilian was killed and five policemen were wounded. Traffic in this area requires protection from the frequent al Shabaab robberies on country roads. Several hour after this attack a group of al Shabaab gunmen approached a village near the border and all the Kenyan residents fled. Al Shabaab had told to villagers to stop cooperating with police or else. The al Shabaab men took down the Kenyan flag and looted the place, including an unused army outpost near the village. Since early 2017 an al Shabaab force of up to a hundred gunmen has been attempting to establish a permanent presence near the coast and the Somali border. Some of the al Shabaab men are Kenyans (ethnic Somalis) who were trained in al Shabaab camps across the border in the Boni forest (which has been under heavy attack).

January 9, 2018: In Mogadishu several policeman were wounded by an al Shabaab landmine.

January 7, 2018: In the far north (Puntland) an old border dispute has gotten violent again. No casualties were reported but there was a lot of shooting and massing of troops. Since the 1990s the two statelets that comprise northern Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland, have been squabbling, and sometimes shooting, over possession of the Sool region that lies astride their border. Both sides claim it and both are willing to fight for it. The dispute has been going on since Puntland was formed in 1998 and last flared up in 2014. Back in 1998 Puntland declared they controlled the Sool because the inhabitants belonged to a Puntland tribe. Somaliland based their claim on borders drawn by the colonial governments of Italy and Britain a century ago. Years of negotiations have not settled anything. In 2013 both statelets sent additional troops to the border in anticipation of a fight for Sool. Meanwhile, both statelets have been distracted because of internal problems. Despite that, northern Somalia has been better governed since breaking away from Somalia in the 1990 to form Puntland (2.5 million people) and Somaliland (3.5 million). The other two-thirds of the Somali population to the south, has been in perpetual chaos since 1990.

January 5, 2018: The United States declared Abukar Ali Adan, the deputy leader of al Shabaab, a global terrorist. This makes it more difficult for Adan to travel or do business outside of Somalia.

January 3, 2018: In the southeast (across the border in Mandera country Kenya) al Shabaab ambushed a police vehicle near the coast and killed five policemen.

January 2, 2018: Some 50 kilometers west of Mogadishu an American UAV used a missile to destroy a suicide car bomb two al Shabaab men were delivering to Mogadishu. This is the third time a UAV attack was used to destroy a vehicle equipped for a suicide bomb attack as it was being driven to the city. This is also the first American UAV attack of 2018 (and by the 16th the only one). There were 31 such attacks in 2017, most of them directed at al Shabaab but two hit ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) targets. There were 15 UAV attacks in 2016 and three in 2015.

December 31, 2017: In the southeast (across the border in Kenya) soldiers caught and killed five al Shabaab men who had attacked a police station two days earlier and got away with Land Cruiser and five assault rifles, nearly 400 rounds of ammo, two grenades, bomb making components and a motorcycle. All of this was recaptured after the five Islamic terrorists were killed in a brief gun battle. The vehicle was speeding towards the Somali border, apparently in an effort to get the loot safely to Somalia.

December 30, 2017: In Mogadishu hundreds of soldiers and police guarded, and often participated in, the destruction of 43 refugee settlements that housed over 4,000 people who had fled violence in areas west of the city. This took two days with anyone in the settlements driven out and no one allowed in to gather personnel belongings. Aid groups complained that the destruction of the settlements included $200,000 worth of toilets, water supply points, clinics and schools the aid groups had paid for and helped maintain. This was all about corruption. The land for these settlements was provided by the government but has now been illegally sold to developers needing land to build homes and businesses on because peace has brought prosperity to the city and with that comes growth. Bribe the right official and the land under a refugee settlement is declared illegal and subject to unannounced eviction of the refugees and destruction of whatever was on the land. The courts are no help because they are corrupt as well.

December 27, 2017: Some 25 kilometers west of Mogadishu an American UAV used a missile to destroy a suicide car bomb four al Shabaab men were delivering to Mogadishu.

December 24, 2017: In the south (near the Kenyan border) an American UAV used missiles to attack an al Shabaab camp and kill at least 13 of the Islamic terrorists.

December 23, 2017: The Turkish built and operated military base outside Mogadishu graduated its first class of 400 soldiers. The camp began operations at the end of September. The students were already in the army and selected because they were believed to be most likely to absorb the training and stay in the army. Turkey was given an exemption to the arms embargo on Somalia and allowed to equip the graduates with Turkish made assault rifles. The Turkish MPT-76 weapons are distinctive and use the more powerful 7.62mm NATO round. Turkey has agreed to train 10,000 Somali soldiers. The Somalis recognize the Turks as superior soldiers and see the training as valuable.

December 16, 2017: December 15, 2017: In the south (50 kilometers northwest of Kismayo) an American UAV used a missile to destroy an al Shabaab vehicle and eight of the Islamic terrorists.

December 14, 2017: The U.S. has suspended most of its financial and other aid to the Somali military until the government has implemented an acceptable system for auditing their military budget and ensuring that aid theft is kept to a minimum.
Two suspected militants were killed in the day's second drone strike, this time in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Wednesday, sources.

The latest drone attack took place in Shanqilay area of Afghanistan near the Pak-Afghan border.

Earlier today, at least one person was injured in a drone strike in Lower Kurram Agency, sources said. A missile fired from a drone landed outside a house in Badshah Kot area of the agency  one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

In December last year, at least two people were reported killed in a drone attack near Pak-Afghan border.

In November, three people were reported dead in a drone strike targetting a Taliban commander near the Pak-Afghan border in Kurram Agency.

In October, at least 31 people were killed in three drone strikes targetting areas near the Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan over a span of 24 hours. At least 12 others were reported injured in the multiple drone attacks.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that curse upon the parliament that legislates for re-election of an alleged criminal as a head of a political party.

Khan said that a united opposition stands by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Model Town massacre issue.

He rhetorically asked how could a chief minister (CM) be unaware of gunfire and killings on the streets when Punjab Police was the force that resorted to firing.

He alleged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is repeatedly attacking the courts and that state minister Abid Sher Alis father alleged that law minister Rana Sanaullah murdered 18 persons.

He said that Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed recommended him to tender his resignation as Member of National Assembly (MNA).

Khan said that he could have resigned as MNA long ago during D-Chowk sit-in but the parliament is a platform where peoples representatives talk about peoples issues and he alone cannot take the decision for greater good.

However, he said that a parliament which moves for re-election of a criminal as a partys head deserves to be cursed.

He said that no police in the world opens fire on fellow citizens. They resort to force against terrorists and criminals, he said. Khan said that 11 girls were murdered in the past 11 months in Kasur whereas as many as eight criminals were caught within 24hours in Dera Ismail Khan and at least 55 persons were sent to jail in Mashal Khan lynching case.

Perpetrators of a crime are tried and sentenced in the least delay possible in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, PTI chief claimed.

He said that the people of KP province trust their police whereas Punjab Police recruited several criminal, Khan alleged. He said that son of the chief minister, Hamza Shehbaz appoints DSP and that those who destroy police system cannot correct the department.
Romania was thrown into fresh political crisis Monday as the second prime minister in a year said he would resign tonight or tomorrow morning after losing his Social Democrat partys support.

Mihai Tudoses resignation comes amid growing tensions with PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who cannot be prime minister because of a suspended jail sentence he received for rigging a referendum.

Tudose took over in June 2017, after his predecessor Sorin Grindeanu was ousted by the PSD and its junior coalition partner ALDE, who argued that Grindeanu had fallen behind schedule implementing a reform program.

The party decided that there is a need for a new government, with a new approach, Tudose told reporters after leaving a party leadership meeting on Monday evening in Bucharest. The deputy prime minister, Paul Stanescu, will become interim prime minister on Tuesday, he said.

PSD will hold a leadership meeting on Tuesday morning to come up with a new nomination for leader, Dragnea said, adding that he wouldnt make the choice himself.

Asked about the reasons behind Tudose losing support, Dragnea said there was a conflict between the party and the government, and inside the government as well.

In recent weeks the prime minister had clashed with the interior minister, Carmen Dan, a close ally of Dragnea. Dan wanted Tudose to sack the head of the Romanian police over the case of a policeman accused of pedophilia. Tudose refused to do so and suggested that Dan resign.

PSD and ALDE will now have to nominate a new prime minister, with the choice needing the approval of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. It will be third time he will have had to approve a prime minister since December 2016 elections.

PSD won some 46 percent in those elections on promises of tax cuts and increased wages and pensions. A year on, many of those promises have not been realized, and a decision to shift the burden of social security contributions onto employees caused mass protests last year.

Last year the country was rocked by the biggest protests since the fall of communism when people took to the streets to protest against an emergency decree that would have decriminalized some acts of corruption. The government eventually withdrew the decree, but the parliament last year passed other changes to judiciary laws that opponents feel may impact the justice systems work on corruption.
The University of Cambridge yesterday released a statement rejecting disturbing efforts to implicate Giulio Regenis supervisor Dr Maha Abdelrahman directly in his murder, as part of a continuing campaign to repudiate allegations made against the academic.

Regeni, a PhD student at Girton College, was found tortured and brutally murdered on the outskirts of Cairo in February 2016 after travelling to Egypt the previous month. In the aftermath of his death, Italian police launched a murder inquiry which is still underway.

The statement has been released by Cambridge University following allegations against Regenis supervisor Dr Maha Abdelrahman, a witness in the investigation, in Italys La Repubblica newspaper on 2 November 2017. Despite evidence incriminating Egypts security forces in the murder, La Repubblicas article accuses Dr Abdelrahman of commissioning Regeni to research a dangerous topic that he was reluctant to pursue. As a result, the Cambridge academic has been the subject of national media attention.

The statement, sent from the Vice-Chancellor of the University Stephen J Toope to the academic community, condemns the public denigration of Dr Abdelrahman as shameful and fanned by political expediency, particularly in light of her willingness to assist.

Toope goes on to say that: "Public speculation about Dr Abdelrahmans involvement in the case has been inaccurate, damaging and potentially dangerous. It stems from a fundamental misapprehension about the nature of academic research. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of scholarly aims and methods. It shows a failure to understand the intellectual relationship between a PhD student and his or her supervisor.

"It is not uncommon for academic research in the humanities and social sciences to impinge on politically sensitive issues. Giulio was an experienced researcher, who had already spent time in Egypt, and was a fluent Arabic speaker. He was using standard academic methods to study trade unions in Egypt."

The statement also says that the University of Cambridge have repeatedly expressed their willingness to cooperate with the investigation and that Dr Abdelrahman has voluntarily handed over material requested by the Italian authorities.

Toope insists that The University will of course continue to assist authorities as they seek justice for Giulio and his family. It will also defend the right of academics to engage in legitimate and lawful research, wherever they wish to do so."

In November 2017, 44 academics signed an open letter in support of Dr. Abdelrahman. The letter, published in The Guardian, rejected "the malicious and unfounded allegations made against Dr Maha Abdelrahman in Italys La Repubblica newspaper on 2 November 2017, and asserted that Giulio nor Dr Abdelrahman were responsible for his death in any way.

The university's statement is a further rejection of the allegations made against Dr Abdelrahman. Toope ends the statement by insisting that this brutal killing calls for justice, but that justice will not be served by undermining the very thing that drove Giulio in his brief but inspiring academic career  the search for truth."
Google is rolling out another expansion to its cloud computing platform by adding five new regions. This will allow them to offer cloud services with endpoints closer to their customers. To further improve cloud performance, Google also plans to build three more dedicated undersea cables with improvements costing a massive $30 billion (and counting) over the last three years.

New regions in the Netherlands and Montreal will open in Q1 2018 while sites in Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong will open at a later date. These regions are geographically separate from one another and each region is then divided up further into a handful of availability zones at that region. Customers typically deploy their applications across multiple regions and zones. This type of network architecture is meant to help improve stability in the case of natural disasters or other failures.

Moving to 2019, Google has plans to commission three undersea cables: Curie, Havfrue, and Hong Kong-Guam. The first will be a private cable connecting Chile to Los Angeles, the second is a consortium cable connecting the US to Denmark and Ireland, and the third is another consortium cable connecting numerous hubs in Asia.

Google estimates that their network handles about 25% of all internet traffic. They have invested in directly or leased space on numerous such cables to deliver their services to a growing area. With the construction of the Curie cable, Google will become the first non-telecom company to build its own undersea cable, allowing them to better control the specifications of the cable and increase their overall bandwidth as consumers demand more connectivity.
Delcy Rodriguez denounced the impact of unilateral sanctions on the living conditions of the Venezuelan people. | Read More
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/01/2018 (1767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The intersection of Barkman Avenue and Fourth Street, the site of a collision between a young cyclist and a vehicle in October, will soon be converted into a four-way stop after unanimous approval from Steinbach city council on Tuesday night.

Stop signs will control the flow of traffic travelling on Barkman Avenue, adding to the stop signs already in place for Fourth Street drivers.

Two days after the October collision, Hanover School Division assistant superintendent Rick Ardies appealed to council in a letter asking for the divisions ongoing safety concerns to be addressed.

GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON Emergency crews assist a young male cyclist who was struck by a vehicle on Oct. 11. Steinbach city council has now approved changes to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Barkman Avenue and Fourth Street, where the accident occurred, after a request from Hanover School Division.

This is not the first time we have walked away from near tragedy, grateful that another student has avoided serious injury, he wrote.

The division had asked in 2015 for changes to the intersection but, following a city review, council chose to maintain the status quo. City manager Troy Warkentin noted in a report presented to council on Tuesday that city administrations opinion on the issue had not changed. No changes were recommended, he advised, adding that traffic figures gathered in a city study did not warrant the creation of a four-way stop.

Councillor Jac Siemens, however, presented a motion for exactly that type of upgrade, noting bus traffic on the street as well as parents transporting students and other pedestrian traffic. He also pitched the four-way stop as a better alternative than the divisions other request to lower the speed limit to 30 km/h between Fourth Street and McKenzie Avenue.

That would be a very slow 30 km/h crawl, Siemens suggested.

Councillors Michael Zwaagstra and Earl Funk noted the change would mirror nearby intersections at Barkman and Third as well as Lumber Avenue and Fourth Street.

Siemens, who acknowledged he isnt generally stop sign proponent, concluded this was a good move for a major thoroughfare like Barkman Avenue.

I think it is prudent in this case, he said.
Aziz Ansari. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Over the weekend, a website called babe.net published the story of an anonymous womans sexual encounter with comedian Aziz Ansari. The woman describes Ansari repeatedly ignoring her verbal and nonverbal cues and aggressively pursuing sex; she says she left his apartment in tears. Later, she texted him to express how uncomfortable the experience had made her, and he apologized, saying, Clearly, I misread things in the moment and Im truly sorry. In a statement this weekend, Ansari reiterated the sentiment: It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned.

In discussing the babe.net story, many observers brought up Cat Person, The New Yorker short story that became an unexpected viral success last month  another exploration, albeit fictional, of contemporary sexual dynamics. Each describes an evening that a woman in her early 20s spends with a man in his 30s, and the tension in each comes from the disjuncture between what the woman feels and whats going on around her. Each describes a sexual encounter that might safely be described as bad: uncomfortable, filled with misunderstandings, and ultimately, for the woman, upsetting. The similarities mostly end there (significantly, one involves a celebrity, and was apparently nonfiction). But both stories inspired enormous outpourings of online discussion  and in particular, a profusion of young women attesting to the familiarity of such experiences.

The response to both Cat Person and the Ansari story finds the #MeToo conversation changing and flowering in a new direction: one in which women are eager to discuss and change expectations around sexual manners more generally, not just to litigate right and wrong. Its a more complicated conversation, because the boundaries transgressed are less clear, the villains less outsized, the causes less concrete. As critics of the Ansari story have pointed out, these arent stories where women firmly vocalize a lack of consent; rather, these are stories about how young women  having internalized societys messages about how it is their responsibility to please men, to be compliant, to be down for anything  end up acquiescing to something that makes them feel rotten inside. And yet there is clearly a robust hunger for these sorts of conversations: Cat Person was one of The New Yorkers most-read pieces of the year, while Bari Weisss New York Times op-ed criticizing of the Ansari piece reportedly broke ChartBeat. (Rebecca Traisters piece about how consensual sex can still be bad, written in 2015 but uniquely relevant to this current moment, is the most-read piece on the Cut at the moment.) Critics have argued that a story like the one about Ansari suggests that the #MeToo movement has gone too far, and there have certainly been legitimate concerns about the lack of editorial care shown in babe.nets treatment of the anonymous womans story. Yet it might be more productive to see this as the emergence, however imperfect, of a separate (if related) conversation  one that requires a more nuanced response than the clear-cut cases of assault and harassment that launched our current feminist reckoning.

The backlash to the Ansari story was visceral and immediate. If he pressures you to do something you dont want to do, use a four-letter word, stand up on your two legs and walk out his door, wrote Weiss. In The Atlantic, Caitlin Flanagan gave us all a helpful history seminar (her own experiences of near date rape occurred roughly between the kidnapping of the Iran hostages and the start of the Falklands War) and castigated what she sees as a whole country full of young women who dont know how to call a cab, and who have spent a lot of time picking out pretty outfits for dates they hoped would be nights to remember. These women are, to quote Flanagan, angry and temporarily powerful, and last night they destroyed a man who didnt deserve it.

Yet maybe Im premature in saying this, but aside from a knock to his reputation, Ansari hasnt been destroyed. He hasnt lost his job. His show hasnt been pulled from Netflix. Sure, knocks to someones reputation  especially when your brand is predicated on being a woke feminist ally  can be damaging. But embarrassing stories about celebrities sex lives have always been gossip fodder. (After all, we all know Leo DiCaprio likes to fuck with his noise-canceling headphones on.) A story like this might have popped up on Gawker five years ago, except it would have probably faded from memory soon after publication. The difference is how such stories are being received in our post-#MeToo moment. Now, womens internal experiences are seen as worthy of discussing, and a lot of women are being more vocal about articulating a connection  if not an equivalence  between the kind of commonplace misogynist behavior that Ansari reportedly displayed and the more heinous offenses committed by men like Weinstein and his ilk. As Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti put it on Twitter, A lot of men will read that post about Aziz Ansari and see an everyday, reasonable sexual interaction. But part of what women are saying right now is that what the culture considers normal sexual encounters are not working for us, and oftentimes harmful.

The alarmist response from the likes of Weiss and Flanagan seems predicated on the notion that women cant tell the difference between bad sex and assault. (Its a similar argument to the one levied against the shitty media men list  that men who send creepy DMs and men who rape shouldnt be on the same list, lest they be conflated.) And yet the very existence of this backlash shows that women do know how to tell the difference. Public opinion about this story is divided, and its being debated feverishly on the pages of major media outlets, on social media and message threads, and between men and women in their homes. That in itself is a good thing. Were all thinking out loud, together, in real time.

I understand why Weiss and Flanagan are concerned: We are in something of a Wild West right now, where we havent figured out how to determine what punishment fits what crime. Its a messy, complicated learning process with unpredictable consequences. But instead of seeing the Ansari story as the moment #MeToo jumped the shark, why cant we see it as the moment that the conversation took on more nuance, and with a more nuanced public response, too? Weiss argues that the solution to these problems does not begin with women torching men for failing to understand their nonverbal cues. Rather, she writes: the feminist answer is to push for a culture in which boys and young men are taught that sex does not have to be pursued like theyre in a porn film, and one in which girls and young women are empowered to be bolder, braver and louder about what they want. Why do these things have to be mutually exclusive? Why cant this torching (which seems so far to extend to being the subject of an embarrassing story and some social media outrage) be the thing that leads to us all thinking a little bit harder about what an equal sexual playing field would look like?

That seems to be exactly what is happening. By talking about these stories, women are making that push happen. Instead of thinking of stories like these as destroying a mans life, lets think of them as sparks that ignite a necessary conversation, for both the women that think Ive been there and the men who look back on their past behavior and feel surprised and concerned that everything wasnt really okay all along.
Bruce Weber. Photo: Stuart C. Wilson / Stringer/2016 Getty Images

The allegations against Bruce Weber are mounting. In a new Business of Fashion report, four more male models say the photographer sexually harassed them during photo shoots. The allegations date as far back as 1982.

DJ Janney said that while on a break during a shoot in 1982, Weber asked him to undress first to his underwear, then completely nude. Weber said that the photos were to take to Calvin Klein. Janney refused to get completely nude, and said he realized that the photos were for [Webers] own use, and to show Calvin. While on a shoot with his brother, Weber asked them to pretend to be boyfriends and Janney says they were subjected to verbal abuse when they refused. He believes Weber then blacklisted him from the industry.

In 2006, a fit model, Christopher Cates, said that Weber asked him to go into a guest room away from the crew. Cates said he was asked to completely undress and Weber inappropriately touched him and took photos.

Two years later, Alex Geerman says that Weber asked him to undress for breathing exercises and touched him around the genitals. Geerman said he was so upset at the time he left the shoot and told his mother, but now believes that Weber didnt do anything wrong. It took me years to figure out, it wasnt a sexual thing, Geerman told BoF. It was an art thing.

The final male model who spoke on the record to BoF was Ryan Vigilant, who said the photographer touched him inappropriately on a shoot in 2008.

Almost thirty male models and former assistants accused Bruce Weber and fellow photographer Mario Testino of sexual exploitation in a report from the New York Times published last week. Weber is also being sued by a model for sexual harassment. When asked for a statement for the new allegations against the photographer, a representative for Weber said he stood by his statement to the New York Times. In the statement, he called the claims outrageous.

I have used common breathing exercises and professionally photographed thousands of nude models over my career, but never touched anyone inappropriately.

Read the full report here.
11-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Hit by Car While Skateboarding

An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has died after a car hit her while she was skateboarding.

Anna Marie Davis, a fifth-grader in Stillwater, was rushed to the hospital after being hit but ultimately succumbed to her injuries.

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must tell everyone that Anna passed away  her injuries were too much for her tiny body to overcome, Annas mother posted on Facebook on Jan. 15.

A preliminary police investigation indicates that Davis was riding a skateboard down her driveway when she entered the road and was hit by a car.

Witnesses told police the girl didnt seem to see the car, while the drivers vision was obstructed by a bush, reported the Stillwater News-Press.

Stillwater police arent planning on filing charges against the driver, reported KOCO.

Annas school is preparing to help students affected by the sudden loss of a classmate and friend.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Anna, her family and all those affected by this tragedy. Administrators at Annas school have been advised so they can take appropriate steps for when her classmates and friends return to school tomorrow, Stillwater Police Lt. Jeff Watts told News9.

People commenting on the post of Annas mother shared their condolences.

So sorry for your loss. My prayers are with you and your family. God bless! said one.

I wish there were words to comfort such a great loss. You and your family are in our prayers, shared another.

Bethany  so very sorry to hear about Anna. I can only imagine the hurt you are feeling. Praying for Gods comfort and love to carry you and your family through this time and the days ahead. We are here if you need anything, said yet another.

A family friend has created a GoFundMe for the family to help them out financially after the death.

In memory of the girl, Cody Stites wrote: Her love for her school and class at Richmond were some of the things she talked about all the time. Things she loved to do the most included color/painting, fishing, and anything that entailed dressing up (clothes, make up, and hair). She loved to do her nails even after only having done them earlier that day!

When tragedy strikes, it is important for our community to rally around those touched by it, he added. The family as a whole will need support as they learn what their new normal looks like. We ask that you please give to this family to help cover the cost of medical expenses and Anna Marie Daviss funeral.

From NTD.tv

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NYPD officers respond to an explosion at the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York on Dec. 11, 2017. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi national who entered the United States on a visa obtained through extended family migration, is in custody for the attempted terror attack. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

3 Out of 4 Convicted Terrorists in US Are Foreign-Born: Report

Merit-based immigration system would increase assimilation, reduce risks to US, says administration official

WASHINGTONA new joint report by the Justice Department and Homeland Security has revealed that 549 individuals were convicted of international terrorism-related charges in U.S. federal courts between 9/11 and the end of 2016.

Most individuals (73 percent) were foreign-born. Of the 549 convicted, 254 were not U.S. citizens, 148 were foreign-born and subsequently received U.S. citizenship, and 147 were U.S. citizens by birth.

A senior administration official said the report underscores the need to end chain migration, the diversity visa lottery, and establish a merit-based immigration system.

The focus of our immigration system is in promoting assimilationthat should be what our ideal is, the official said on a press call Jan. 16. Not bringing in individuals who they themselves, or their children, will eventually take up arms against the United States. That is an unacceptable standard.

Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan, a national of Sudan, was admitted to the United States in 2012 as a family member of a lawful permanent resident from Sudan, according to the report. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the ISIS terrorist group, and was subsequently sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The report did not include information about the timing of each individuals radicalization.

Abdurasaul Hasanovich Juraboev, a national of Uzbekistan, was admitted to the United States as a diversity visa lottery recipient in 2011, according to the report. In 2015, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to support ISIS, and in 2017 was sentenced to 15 years in prison. According to court documents, Juraboev posted a threat on an Uzbek-language website to kill President Obama in an act of martyrdom on behalf of ISIS.

He added that, if he were unable to travel, he would engage in an act of martyrdom on U.S. soil if ordered to do so by ISIS, such as killing the president or planting a bomb on Coney Island, the report said.

The diversity visa lottery is based on sheer luck the official said. Its not a good indicator of ability to thrive and succeed in the United States.

Each year, the lottery gives 50,000 green cards to nationals of countries that had a low immigration rate to the United States in the previous five years.

The focus of our immigration system is in promoting assimilation  not bringing in individuals, who they themselves, or their children, will eventually take up arms against the United States.  Senior administration official, White House

Chain, or family-based, migration occurs when a person emigrates to the United States and in turn sponsors other relatives to join him or her. Those relatives, in turn, can sponsor people, and so on, indefinitely.

About 72 percent of the 1 million people who obtained green cards in 2015 came based on a family connection, according to Francis Cissna, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

When pressed about why the report includes a number of individuals who plotted overseas attacks, the official said the location of a plot is irrelevant.

We dont want to be a terrorist safe-haven. So whether someone is plotting an attack in Syria and living in Minnesota, its not something that is in the best interests of this nation, he said.

The problem is that we are admitting individuals, who, after admission to the United States, are plotting attackswhether within, or going to fight and join ISIS abroadthat doesnt serve anyones interest other than those terrorists and terrorist organizations. And thats something that were committed to ending.

The report did not include information about the timing of each individuals radicalization.

Whether someone is plotting an attack in Syria and living in Minnesota, its not something that is in the best interests of this nation.  Senior administration official, White House

The official said the countries many of the terrorists hail from are not a surprise, referring to Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq, which have all struggled with terrorism.

Trumps travel ban issued on Sept. 24 includes limits on eight countriesalmost all citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen were banned indefinitely from entering the United States as of Oct. 18. Some Venezuelan citizens are restricted, and Iraq citizens are not subject to restrictions, but now face heightened scrutiny.

In fiscal year 2017, the Department of Homeland Security encountered 2,554 individuals who are on the terrorist watch list (also known as the FBIs Terrorist Screening Database) attempting to enter the United States2170 by air, 335 by land, and 49 by sea.

Furthermore, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped more than 73,000 foreign travelers on flights destined for the United States, who may have presented an immigration or security risk, between fiscal year 2010 and 2016.

The USCIS referred almost 46,000 visa holders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the last decade, based on information that they had committed egregious public safety offenses within the United States, including murder, rape, firearms trafficking, and child pornography.

These are individuals who have been walking the streets of the United States, who have been convicted or committed egregious public safety offenses, and yet have the gall to apply for an immigration benefit, the administration official said. Thats a large number of foreign nationals, and quite frankly, in our view, its really only the tip of the iceberg.

Violence Against Women

Every year, in the United States, an estimated 23 to 27 women are murdered in so-called honor killings, according to a prior study by the Justice Department. Almost all of them were killed for being too westernized, based on open media sources.

In addition, 513,000 women and girls were at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2012, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease and Control. This is three times higher than the 1990 estimate, and the study noted that the increase was wholly a result of rapid growth in the number of immigrants from FGM/C-practicing countries living in the United States.

The report was commissioned by President Donald Trump as part of his executive order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States released in March 2017. The order requested the report within 180 days, which would have been Sept. 2, 2017. However, the official said the report is late because of the amount of information required to assemble it. The next report is due July 15.

The report does not include domestic terror incidents.

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Stock photo: An Alaska Airlines flight crashes into a de-icing truck on the taxiway at Logan International Airport in Boston on Jan. 15, 2018. (Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images)

Alaska Airlines Plane Hits De-Icing Truck on Taxiway: Reports

An Alaska Airlines plane bound for Portland, Oregon, collided with a de-icing truck on at Bostons Logan International Airport on Monday, Jan. 16.

The plane had 166 passengers on board when it crashed at about 4:40 p.m., reported CBS Boston.

No one was killed or injured.

The de-icing truck was parked and no one was in it, the Massachusetts Port Authority told CBS.

One passenger said it felt like they ran over a speed bump.

Not a big deal, a little bump, Rick Gencarelli from Portland told WCVB. But a little bump turned into a big inconvenience.

It did cause a significant delay for the flight, The plane was taken back to the gate to be checked, and an airline spokesperson said the left wing of the plane was damaged, WCVB reports.

The plane was taken out of service and its passengers put on other flights to the West Coast.

We apologize to our guests who have been inconvenienced this afternoon on AS Flight 33. The safety of our guests and our employees is our number one priority, the airline said in a statement to CBS Boston.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.

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Canadian Girl Convicted of Manslaughter After Police Find Missing Clue in Facebook Photo

A Canadian girl who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after police found a crucial clue in a picture posted to Facebook has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 18 years old at the time, was convicted of killing 18-year-old Brittney Gargol in 2015 and dumping her body on a road south of Saskatoon.

Antoine initially tried to cover up her crime, posting on Facebook the next day wondering where her friend was.

Where are you? Havent heard from you. Hope you made it home safe, she wrote, reported the Star Phoenix.

But it was a photo on Facebook that ultimately punctured her story.

Brittney Gargol died at the hands of a friend, and her family will never know the true reason. Cheyenne Rose Antoine says she doesn't remember killing Gargol, but still accepts responsibility for her death. https://t.co/pUF6b93uRU pic.twitter.com/QhCWDXB2LB  TheStarPhoenix.com (@TheStarPhoenix) January 16, 2018

A picture she uploaded onto the social media website just six hours before the killing showed the two girls posing. In the bottom-left corner, Antoines belt is visible.

Its the very same belt found next to Gargols body, according to police. They believe she used it to strangle her friend.

More information was gleaned from other Facebook posts that helped establish a timeline for the night.

Its quite remarkable how the police developed this information, prosecutor Robin Ritter told CBC.

Cheyenne Antoine has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Brittney Gargol. Crown and defence seeking joint submission of seven years. #yxe pic.twitter.com/aTIVXXrKal  Ryan Kessler (@RyanKGlobal) January 15, 2018

After the evidence emerged, Antoine admitted to killing Gargol, though she says she doesnt remember it. Both girls were using alcohol and drugs on the fateful night, police said.

Ill never forgive myself. Its wrong and shouldnt have happened, Antoine wrote in a statement her lawyer read aloud in court.

A preliminary hearing for the second-degree murder offense was scheduled for next week, but instead, Antoine reached an agreement involving her pleading guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter.

She will now serve seven years in prison.

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A dolphin that was found lifeless on a beach with an octopus in its mouth, is the first known case of an asphyxiated death caused by an octopus, according to a recent study.

The dolphin, a young male Indo-Pacific bottlenose species, was found on a beach located about two hours south of Perth, Australia. It was brought to study leader Nahiid Stephenss house in August 2015, with bits of Maori octopus still hanging from its mouth.

According to Live Science, a science and technology media, the dolphin was found off the coast of Bunbury, a busy port city 175 km (108 miles) from Perth.

He seems to have been extremely greedy and thought, You know what, Im going to swallow it whole,' Stephens, a pathologist at Murdoch University in Perth, told the National Geographic.

Stephens said she conducted a post-mortem to find out what exactly went wrong since dolphins have been observed killing and eating octopus in the past.

It really was a huge octopus, I just kept pulling and pulling and thought, My god! Its still coming,' Stephens told National Geographic.

The octopus, nicknamed Gilligan, had a tentacle span reaching 4.2 feet.

Dolphins have the ability to separate their epiglottisa flap of tissue that connects the larynx to the blowhole. This enables them to open their throats wider to swallow larger food pieces, according to the study.

Stephens said it went wrong for Gillian when the octopus, weighing 4.6 pounds seemed to have grabbed onto his larynx with a tentacle, thereby cutting off the dolphins ability to breathe. It ended up suffocating the dolphin to death.

That octopus might have been, in theory, dead, but the sucker was still functional, Stephens told National Geographic.

According to American magazine, Popular Science, dolphins have to make sure an octopus is dead first, so they can swallow them without any risks. They do this by tearing them apart.

Dolphins beat up octopuses before eating them, and the reason is kind of horrifying https://t.co/zBIVgUuD99 pic.twitter.com/jA46xy1Yw6  Popular Science (@PopSci) April 5, 2017

There are about 60 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins that live off the coast year-round, according to Live Science.

It is also not uncommon to find octopus on the menu, but 60 percent of the dolphins seen eating it were female.

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Dramatic Moment 18-Wheeler Crashes into Traffic Pole Backwards Caught on Camera

In a dramatic crash that highlighted the dangerous road conditions in eastern Texas, a woman caught on video an 18-wheeler sliding down a hill and crashing into a traffic light.

Kristy Boyd captured video of traffic trying to make it up the icy Hawkins Parkway in Longview, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 16, when a car and a truck both started sliding backward.

In the beginning, the footage shows a car making it up over the top of the hill followed by a semi-truck.

The semi looks like it is going to make it to the top, but then a womans voice on the video says its spinning.

The footage cuts to the car at the bottom of the hill that has started slipping backward, and soon the truck comes back into view, sliding backward down the hill.

At an intersection, the truck veers to its left and hits a traffic light, which snags some electric wires above it.

Boyd told the Longview News-Journal that police had been on the scene helping motorists when the accident happened.

It happened near a high school, but school had been canceled due to less than three inches of snow that fell on the area, the Review-Journal reports.

Longview police had warned drivers of slippery roads that day, and suggested people stay home unless they absolutely had to be out.

Freezing temps + icy roadways = Dangerous driving conditions. Please stay off the roads if you dont have to drive in this weather.  Longview Police (@LongviewPolice) January 16, 2018

In Tyler, Texas, about 30 miles west of Longview, Texas DOT said crews had been clearing 18-wheelers that couldnt make the climb all day.

Crews are working diligently to move traffic on the interstate but the situation that has been occurring is when one truck gets stuck, those behind it get stuck while waiting, said Kathi White, TxDOT spokeswoman. Our crews are then spreading more rock and ice melt at locations near trucks that are stopped to help them gain more traction.

The DOT said they were doing the same thing in the city of Tyler and around the eight-county district.

Anywhere there is an incline or decline, motorists are having issues with getting their vehicles going or stopped and that will get worse tonight, said Texas DOT District Engineer Glenn Green. Temperatures are still very low and this ice will freeze again this evening making travel really difficult. Our crews will continue to work but we strongly encourage motorists to avoid travel.

Boyds video has gone viral on Facebook.

In just 24 hours, it had gotten 4.8 million views, 12,000 reactions, and 90,000 shares.

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A van sits on the driveway of the home of David Allen Turpin and Louise Ann Turpin in Perris, Calif., Jan. 15, 2018. (Reuters/Mike Blake)

Horror House Parents Ran Private School at Home That Was Never Inspected

The Californian home where 13 siblings were allegedly kept imprisoned in squalid conditions and starved by abusive parents was used as a private school for the childrenbut it was never inspected by education officials.

David Turpin, 57, had been homeschooling his children at the property, which he called the Sandcastle Day School, reported The Sun.

Six of the children were enrolled in the 2016-17 school year, with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades. There was no indication as to whether other children apart from the siblings were enrolled, reported the newspaper, citing authorities.

Susan von Zabern, director of the countys social service department, told The Associated Press that it was the first opportunity to intervene.

Californian private schools have less government oversight than public schools. They are not licensed by the state education department and do not have any agency that regulates or oversees them, according to the news station.

Private schools are only required to file an affidavit with the state every year that details the number of students, staff members, and information about administrators.

Bill Ainsworth, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, explained that full-time private schools must register with the state to record their students exemption from mandatory attendance at public schools. The education department lacks the authority to monitor, inspect, or oversee private schools, reported The Associated Press.

However, private schools are subjected to an annual inspection by the state or local fire marshal.

We are sickened by this tragedy and relieved the children are now safe and authorities are investigating, Ainsworth told the newswire.

Representatives for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Riverside County Fire Department, and the Perris Fire Department did not indicate whether the Sandcastle Day School was ever inspected.

Ron Reynolds, executive director of the California Association of Private School Organizations, told The Associated Press that private schools are generally regulated by parents who often sign contracts and review standards before enrolling their children. He believes oversight of the 1,500 private schools in California is sufficient.

He said private school staff are required to report suspected child abuse to authorities.

We always desire as our first priority safeguarding our children, Reynolds said. We never resist or oppose legislation aimed at protecting students.

Turpin and his wife, Louise Turpin, were arrested and charged with child endangerment and torture on Sunday, Jan. 14, when their 17-year-old daughter, whom officials thought was only 10, escaped through a window and contacted police. Theyre now each being held on a $9 million bail.

The 13 children were aged 2 to 29 and appeared to be malnourished and very dirty when police got there. Police said the children were shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings.

The Turpins are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, Jan 18.

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David Allen Turpin (L) and Louise Ann Turpin in booking photos provided by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in Riverside County, California on Jan. 15, 2018. (Riverside County Sheriff's Department/Handout via Reuters)

How Horror House Parents Created the Illusion of a Happy Family

David and Louise Turpin may have seemed a bit strange in parenting their children, but, apparently, nobody expected the couple to starve their children, even chain them to beds in foul-smelling surroundings, as recently described by police. The parents were arrested.

Based on numerous media interviews with the Turpins neighbors and relatives, as well as their social media posts, there were two reasons why nobody realized the Turpin children were in danger, until one of their daughters escaped from the horror house in Perris, California, and called the police.

Blocking Information

David and Louise apparently didnt allow anybody to talk to their children, not even their late grandparents, according to Louises sister Elizabeth Jane Flores, 41, from Cleveland, Tennessee.

My parents booked several flights to go see them but when they got there they wouldnt tell them where to go and my parents left crying every time, she told The Daily Mail. They died before they got to see them again. Its just heartbreaking and Im so embarrassed about all of this.

Flores hadnt seen her sister for 19 years, but sometimes talked to her over the phone.

Every time I would ask to talk to her kids, she wouldnt let me, Flores said.

Something didnt seem right about her parenting but never would I have expected it to be like this.

David and Louise also managed to keep their neighbor in the dark.

I had no idea this was going on, said Andrew Santillan, who lives around the corner, The Press-Enterprise reported. I didnt know there were kids in the house.

Wendy Martinez, 41, who lives in a home just behind Turpins property, saw four of the children outside with their mother at the end of October, around 9 p.m.

They were on their knees, four little kids, and they were just rolling on the grass. It was odd at that time of night, Martinez said.

She said hi, but got no response.

No movement, like if they were told not to speak to anybody. The mom, no movement at all, she said.

The children looked very thin and pale, but Martinez didnt feel a need to intervene.

Honestly, I didnt see like they needed help, she said. They were in their yard. It was awkward that it was at 9pm at night but they were in their yard.

False Image

Apart from isolating their children from outsiders, David and Louise also projected an image of a happy family on social media. Their Facebook account contained family pictures, including from trips to Disneyland and Las Vegas, where the children sport bright smiles and matching outfits, some looking thin, but not apparently mistreated. The images date back to 2011 and continue until at least 2015.

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were arrested on Sunday, Jan. 14, on suspicion of torture and child endangerment, Riverside County Sheriffs Department reported. Bail was set at $9 million each.

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Motorists travel through a heavy snow shower on the M8 on Jan. 16, 2018 in Harthill, Scotland. Snow and sleet conditions are affecting large parts of Scotland with long delays affecting motorists on many roads including the M8 and M74. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Hundreds Stranded Overnight in Cars as Britain Is Hit by a Foot of Snow

Heavy snow has caused havoc in parts of the UK, with hundreds of stranded drivers being forced to spend the night in their cars.

Snow showers struck Scotland last night, with up to 39 cm (15 in) hitting Dumfries and Galloway, reported the Daily Mail.

Mountain rescue teams were ensuring drivers were OK as they were stuck in their cars on the M74 in Lanarkshire.

Most of Northern Ireland and Scotland were covered in snow and ice, with authorities in the Scottish Borders announcing all schools are shut today.

Over 200 schools are closed in Northern Ireland, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

Some schools have also been closed in Yorkshire, with around 30 closed in Bradford which have either closed or have opened late, reported the BBC.

Commuters across Britain have been warned of the dangerous conditions as Storm Fionn arrived over Ireland.

Drivers in Scotland spoke of their frustration in the treacherous conditions.

Fergus McCann, who was stuck on the M74, told the BBC, Theres been a fair bit of impatient driving going on.

People are in one queue, then people are cutting out and trying to go down lanes that clearly are not for driving on.

Its not a surprise that youre getting a few hundred yards down the road and youre seeing them facing the wrong way.

Weather warnings have been issued, with snow and ice forecast until Friday.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged people to be careful, tweeting, The weather conditions will continue to be very difficult today. Please take care and follow advice from Police Scotland and Traffic Scotland.

Meteorologist Alex Burkill told the Daily Mail that it was bleak in some parts of the UK.

But, he added, It is going to be quite windy as low pressure pushes through tonight and that could bring some snow across parts of Scotland and in particular northern England.

Once that clears out, we will return to frequent showers pushing in from the north west through Thursday and Friday.

The Met Office also confirmed there could be heavy shows to come, although it will be sunnier and drier towards the south and east.
Husband Found Guilty of Bludgeoning Wife to Death With Hammer

A man has been found guilty of murdering his wife with a hammer, then burning her body in woodland.

Akshar Ali, 27, from Leeds in West Yorkshire, UK, murdered his wife, 26-year-old Sinead Wooding, by bludgeoning her with a hammer and stabbing her six times.

He and his friend Yasmin Ahmed, 27, were found guilty of murder at Leeds Crown Court and face life sentences, reported the Yorkshire Evening Post.

The jury heard how Woodings body was kept in the cellar at Ahmeds home for two days before it was wrapped in a duvet and taken to woodland in north Leeds, where it was set alight.

The smouldering remains were discovered by students who were out for a run on Sunday May 14, 2017.

Wooding was a mother of four who had converted to Islam before she met Akshar Ali, who worked on a food stall in Leeds market.

The couple were married in Feb. 2015 but prosecutor Nicholas Campbell said they had a volatile relationship that was sometimes violent, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

The jury also found Vicky Briggs, 25, guilty of assisting an offender after she helped clean up and burn material after the murder.

Akshar Alis mother, Aktahr Bi, and his brother, Asim Ali, were both found not guilty of assisting an offender.
Illegal Immigrant Charged in the Killing of Two Officers: I Wish I Had Killed More

An illegal immigrant from Mexico accused of killing two police officers burst out during his murder trial saying, I wish I had killed more.

I wish I had killed more of the [expletive], Luis Bracamontes told the jury during the beginning of the trial in Sacramento, California, on Jan. 16.

The only thing I [expletive] regret is I only killed two, he added, reported Fox40.

Prosecutors say Bracamontes, 37, admitted guilt multiple times during the trial. Hes accused of killing Sacramento Sheriffs Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer Sheriffs Deputy Michael Davis Jr. in October 2014.

After he said he wished hed killed more, Bracamontes added another shocking statement.

I will break out soon and I will kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me  Theres no need for a [expletive] trial, Bracamontes said, reported the Sacramento Bee.

Public defender Jeffrey Barbour said that his client is guilty but is arguing that Bracamontes is mentally ill.

He also wants the jury to consider a blood test that found an excessively high amount of methamphetamine in his system, saying it made the Mexican native paranoid and agitated.

Along with killing the two officers, prosecutors say that Bracamontes shot a motorist in the head, killing the driver, and wounded another officer in a violent rampage.

Its not the first time Bracamontes has had an outburst where he admitted his guilt.

In June, reported the Bee, he said: Im glad I killed them [expletive]and I dont regret it at all. [Expletive] the [expletive] justice, [expletive] the [expletive] country.

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Walmart employee Dayngel Fernandez works in the produce department stocking shelves at a Walmart store in Miami, Florida on February 19, 2015. Walmart announced that it would increase the minimum wage for its workers to $11 after the passage of tax reform bill. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

More Than 2 Million Workers Received Bonuses After Tax Bill

Business leaders continue to reward their employees and customers

WASHINGTONMillions of people have already started seeing the perks of tax reform. As of Jan 16, the number of companies offering financial benefits to their employees and customers in response to tax cuts reached more than 170.

The benefits include pay raises, bonuses, hiring, investments, fee cuts, and 401(k) increases, according to the conservative lobby group Americans for Tax Reform, which tracks corporate news on tax reform.

Companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., AT&T Inc., Comcast, American Airlines Inc., BB&T, U.S. Bancorp, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced bonuses of up to $2,000 for their employees. In addition, companies like Visa, Aflac, and Nationwide Insurance increased contributions to employee 401(k) accounts.

Comcast announced at least $50 billion investment in infrastructure in the next five years. The company will also award $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 employees.

Tax reform legislation was welcome news for the U.S. airlines industry. Air carriers will be able to benefit from a corporate tax rate reduction of 40 percent and provisions for full expensing of capital investments.

We will be able to invest even more in aircraft and facilities, and we will be able to do so with even greater confidence about the future, stated American Airlines in a press release on Jan. 2.

While the company does not yet pay cash taxes due to our enormous losses in the past, there is no doubt that our countrys new tax structure will have positive long-term benefits for American, the company stated.

American Airlines will distribute $1,000 to its nearly 127,600 employees at its mainline and wholly owned regional carriers. This will cost the company $130 million in the first quarter of 2018. Other carriers including JetBlue and Southwest Airlines also made similar announcements.

Meanwhile, some utility firms announced they would lower rates for their customers. For example, Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) the largest electric utility in Illinois said in a statement that it would pass on $200 million worth of tax savings to its customers by lowering bills.

The average ComEd residential customer can expect to see an estimated $2 to $3 decrease on their monthly bill related to the tax reduction, stated the company in a press release.

Pepco, Baltimore Gas & Electric, and Pacific Power made similar announcements about lowering rates.

Some companies announced charitable donations too. As a result of the new law, Boeing said that it would spend an additional $300 million for corporate giving, workforce development, and facilities and infrastructure enhancements.

So far, more than 2 million workers have benefited from special bonuses or additional wages thanks to tax cuts.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (DCalif.) continued to slam the Republican tax reform bill and called the company bonuses crumbs during a press conference on Jan. 11.

The bonus that corporate America received versus the crumbs that they are giving workers to kind of put the schmooze on is so pathetic, she said.

Despite criticisms from Democrats, business leaders continue to reward their employees. Many small businesses across the country have also joined the movement.

John Jordan, owner of Jordan Winery, a small business in Sonoma County, California, was one of the first business owners who announced that he would give $1,000 bonus as a result of the passage of the tax reform bill. The company has 85 employees.

Just imagine if we can get 5,000 small businesses, each with around 200 employees, to join us in giving $1,000 bonuses to their employees. Wed be putting close to $1 billion into the pockets of working Americans even before the withholding tax tables change, Jordan said in a press release.

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President Donald Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue at the 99th annual American Farm Bureau Convention in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 8, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Most Economists Agree: Trump Is Driving Stock Market Boom, Economic Growth, Jobs

President Donald Trump received stellar marks in a survey of economists regarding his impact on the stock market, economic growth and job creation, according to a study conducted by the Wall Street Journal.

Of the 68 economists surveyed, nearly 90 percent agreed that Trump had a strongly positive or somewhat positive impact on the stock market, 76 percent agreed that the president had a strongly positive or somewhat positive impact on GDP growth, and 63 percent said that he had a strongly positive or somewhat positive impact on job creation.

In addition, the majority of economists say Trump had a neutral or positive effect on long-term financial growth and a largely neutral impact on financial stability.

There is definitely a sense in the business community that the presidents actions on taxes and regulations have led to a more pro-growth environment for them to operate, Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers, told The Wall Street Journal.

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

While Trump scored positive or neutral in most categories, President Barack Obama received negative and negative or neutral grades on GDP growth and long-term growth around the same time last year.

Since Trump took office more than a year ago, unemployment fell to a 17-year low, the stock market is at an all-time high and the GDP is growing faster than estimated.

Most economists also say that Trumps tax reform package will boost the economy for at least several years, according to the Wall Street Journal. That boost can be a boon for the Republicans who backed it come election time and spell doom for Democrats, none of whom voted for the tax cuts.

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

The tax cut bill has already resulted in direct bonuses of up to $3,000 handed out to over 2 million American workers, according to a list maintained by Americans for Tax Reform.

Many companies are also raising their minimum wages, increasing salaries and committing to further investment in the United States directly as a result of the tax reform, according to Liz Peek a long-time columnist for The Fiscal Times, Fox News, and New York Times

Democrats have downplayed the bonuses. Multimillionaire House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the $1,000 bonuses crumbs and pathetic. However, Pelosi celebrated a $40 tax cut secured by President Barack Obama in 2011, calling it a victory for all Americans that will make a difference, Fox reported.

The Democrats assault on the tax bill and Trumps policies, in concert with severe media bias, is nevertheless having an impact on public opinion. Despite what the majority of economists surveyed by the Journal say, 49 percent of Americans still credit Obama for the positive changes in the economy, while 40 percent credit Trump, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

That poll shows signs of bias, according to Peek. Of those surveyed by Quinnipiac, 23 percent were Republicans and 34 percent were Democratsan 11 point difference that could swing public opinion toward Trump if corrected.

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South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadas Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland attend the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula in Vancouver, Canada January 16, 2018. (Reuters/Ben Nelms)

Nations to Consider More North Korea Sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State said Kim Jong Un must not be allowed 'to drive a wedge' between nations

VANCOUVERTwenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned there must be new consequences to any new acts of aggression.

A U.S.-hosted meeting of countries that backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korea War also vowed to support renewed dialogue between the two Koreas in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions and agreed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis was both essential and possible.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions.

The United States and Canada co-hosted the day-long meeting in Vancouver to discuss ways to increase pressure on Kim.

Tillerson brushed off a question about a potential pre-emptive strike on a North Korean nuclear or missile site, telling a closing news conference: Im a not going to comment on issues that have yet to be decided among the National Security Council or the president.

However, he said the threat posed by North Korea was growing.

We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation  We have to recognize that the threat is growing and if North Korea does not chose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option, Tillerson said.

Our approach is, in terms of having North Korea chose the correct step, is to present them with what is the best option  talks are the best option; that when they look at the military situation, thats not a good outcome for them.

It is time to talk, but they have to take the step to say they want to talk.

The Vancouver meeting pledged to ensure that U.N. sanctions already in place were fully implemented and the participants said in a joint statement they agreed to consider and take steps to impose unilateral sanctions and further diplomatic actions that go beyond those required by U.N. Security Council resolutions. They gave no details.

Tillerson said all countries needed to work together to improve interdiction of ships attempting to skirt sanctions and said there must be new consequences for North Korea whenever new aggression occurs.

He said the meeting had agreed that China and Russia, which did not attend the Vancouver talks and sharply criticized them, must fully implement U.N. sanctions.

U.S. officials say discussion of a military strike option has lost some momentum since North and South Korea held formal talks for the first time in two years this month and Pyongyang said it would send athletes to the Winter Olympics that South Korea will host next month.

Not time for reward

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in Vancouver that the world should not be naive about North Koreas charm offensive in engaging in talks with the South.

It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea, he said. The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said she hoped the dialogue would continue well beyond the Olympics, but stressed that existing sanctions must be applied more rigorously.

Tillerson said North Korea must not be allowed to drive a wedge through allied resolve or solidarity and reiterated Washingtons rejection of a Chinese-Russian proposal for the United States and South Korea to freeze military exercises in return for a freeze in North Koreas weapons programs.

A senior State Department official said U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis briefed the Vancouver participants over dinner on Monday and stressed the U.S. preference for a diplomatic solution, while keeping a military option on the table.

It was a chance to raise peoples confidence that we have thought through this, that we definitely prefer a diplomatic solution, the official said.

Russia and China have been accused of not fully implementing the U.N. sanctions, something they deny.

A U.S. official said Susan Thornton, the State Departments senior diplomat for East Asia, would travel to Beijing from Vancouver to brief China on the outcome. He said he expected Tillerson to provide readouts to his Russian and Chinese counterparts.
Neighbor Reveals Strange Encounter With California Family Months Before Parents Arrested

A neighbor said the 13 people between the ages of 2 and 29, who were allegedly held captive inside a California home, said they appeared pale and odd.

It was about 9 p.m. at night and we came around right here and at the gate, we saw four children inside, Wendy Martinez told the Daily Mail. They were on their knees, four little kids, and they were just rolling on the grass. It was odd at that time of night.

She said that their mother was in the archway, I just remember the mother in the archway, and I said, hi.

There was like no movement, not even to look over to see whos saying hi. No movement, like if they were told not to speak to anybody. The mom, no movement at all, she said.

Honestly, I didnt see like they needed help, she said. It was awkward that it was at 9 p.m. at night but they were in their yard.

Officials revealed this week that Louise and David Turpin of Perris, California, kept their children in horrific conditions, with some being chained to furniture.

The couple was arrested on Sunday and each charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment, the sheriffs office said. They were each held on $9 million bail, with a court hearing scheduled for Thursday, Jan 18.

Authorities were alerted after one of the children, an emaciated, 17-year-old girl, called police after escaping through a window of the house in Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles.

I appreciate the courage this juvenile had to escape that house and get out there and report this to law enforcement, Captain Greg Fellows of the Riverside County Sheriffs Department said in an update, Reuters reported.

Police said they found three of the couples 13 children, who range in age from 2 to 29, shackled with chains and padlocks inside the dark, foul-smelling residence, located in a suburban housing tract.

(Police) noticed the children were malnourished, Fellows said at a briefing. It was very dirty, and the conditions were horrific.

Authorities were seeking court authorization to take custody of the children. Child Protective Services was assisting in an investigation.

Police officer kept talking and she kept just, like, smirking and, like, kinda, like, she spit twice down at the floor, an unnamed neighbor told The Mirror about Louise, 49.

She was, like, just coughing, acting a little weird, just, like, kept looking, the neighbor added.

I cant believe this. I cant believe this. Its so sad, said neighbor Jennifer Luna, CBS News reported. The older kids, I thought they were, like, 12, because they looked so malnourished, so pale, Kimberly Milligan added.

Why dont we ever see the kids? Milligan said she asked herself, Reuters reported. In hindsight, we would have never thought this. But there were red flags. You never dont hear or see nine kids.

The children were homeschooled, and their father was listed in state records as the principal of Sandcastle Day School, which is located at the homes address.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Newlyweds Receive Surprise Message from Donald and Melania Trump

Brianna and Timothy Dargert knew President Donald Trump wouldnt make it to their wedding, but they sent an invitation to the White House anyway.

The couple was married on May 6 last year. Months later, they got a presidential surprise in the maila congratulatory letter from the president and First Lady Melania Trump.

Congratulations on your wedding. We join your family and friends in celebrating this joyous occasion and your love and commitment to one another, the letter read. May your hearts grow fonder and your love deeper each day, and may God continue to bless your life together.

The couple lives in Orland Park, Illinois. They both support Trump.

We both admire the President greatly, the couple wrote in an email to Fox 32 News.

To receive something from him personally completely touched our hearts, they added. It is wonderful to see that he truly cares about the American people!

Brianna is a hair stylist at Hair Cuttery, according to her Facebook page.

The Dargert family are not the only ones to receive a special message from the White House. Israeli news website Arutz Sheva 7 reported on Jan. 11 that a Jewish couple read out a congratulatory letter from Trump at their nuptials.

The letter was given to the bride and groom by Sergio Gor, who serves as a communications director for Senator Rand Paul.

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Police Bodycam Catches Moment Fugitive Drops From Balcony in Florida

Warning: language in video contains expletive

A fugitive who tried to escape arrest by jumping from a second-floor balcony survived unharmedonly to land in the lap of some waiting policemen.

The incident was caught on a bodycam of the Pasco County Sheriff Police, in Florida who released the footage on Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Police had received a tip-off that Rashad Walker, 29, who had an arrest warrant out against him for 2nd degree attempted murder, was in an apartment in New Port Richey.

The footage, which comes with a language warning, shows three officers positioning themselves outside as multiple units tighten the net around the Ashton Oaks apartments on Jan. 12.

Three officers from the Warrants unit, District 1 STAR, whisper to each other as someone knocks on the door of Walkers apartment above.

Then, about 30 seconds into the clip, the figure of a man suddenly drops down from the balcony the officers are hiding under.

The unnamed police officer with the bodycam immediately tells the suspect to get down, and before he has recovered from the drop, is apprehended.

The Pasco Sheriffs Office describes what happened on a statement posted to on facebook.

Rashad currently had felony warrants out of Orange County, FL for 2nd degree attempted murder and aggravated battery with great bodily harm.

Because of the severity of the crimes in Walkers arrest warrant, multiple units were dispatched and surrounded the apartment, said the sheriffs office.

Once units began knocking at the front door, Rashad exited the apartment from the back sliding glass door and jumped to the ground from the second story

He was sent to Land O Lakes Jail.

According to ABC a court date hadnt been set by Jan. 16, and the suspect hadnt yet entered a plea to the charges against him.

Walkers age is listed as 28 in the initial statement with the footage. However, the arrest document shows his age as 29.

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Police Used Invisible Cloak to Shield Kids From Horrific Triple Murder Crime Scene

Police responded to a call to a home in Kentucky and found three people dead with multiple gunshot wounds on Friday, Jan. 12. In the next room, police located two unharmed children inside their cribs and used invisible cloaks to remove them from the home, according to a police press conference.

Lt. Emily McKinley from Louisville Metro Police identified the victims as 27-year-old Mike Miles, his 23-year-old wife, Catherine Miles, and his 39-year-old sister Geneva Miles. They believe their killings could have occurred sometime Thursday evening.

A 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, the children of Mike and Catherine Miles, were found hungry and with dirty diapers indicating they could have been in their cribs for at least 12 hours, according to McKinley.

First responders tended to the two children by changing their diapers and providing them food. They then faced a challenge of bringing them out of their room without [them] seeing the horrific scene just outside the door.

A couple of quick-thinking detectives then went into dad mode and used blankets as invisible cloaks to carry one of the kids outside the house.

With the 4-year-old little boy, they pretended to be Iron Men, and used blankets as invisible cloaks and draped themselves, and quickly carried the little boy outside the house without him seeing anything, McKinley said in the press conference.

With the 2-year-old little girl, we played hide-and-seek with her, draped another blanket over her and carried her out to her family who was waiting outside, she added.

During the investigations, police were able to identify 46-year-old Christopher Cruz Olivo, Genevas partner, as the suspect. Detectives believed Olivo fled the scene in a green Chevy cruise with his 2-year-old daughter.

Police realized that Olivos vehicle was equipped with OnStar technology and tracked him down in the Tampa area of Florida within 30-45 minutes with the help of Onstar, the Hernando County Sheriffs Department, and the Pinellas County Sheriffs Department. His daughter was found unharmed with family in Hernando County, according to police.

During Olivos arrest, police found him wearing a ballistic vest and had an AK-47 assault rifle next to him in the passenger seat. McKinley said the assault rifle was not the weapon.

Olivo was charged with three counts of murder and one count of tampering with evidence, but could face more charges, according to the press conference. Louisville police are seeking to the 46-year-old back to Kentucky.

Police said this is an ongoing investigation and did not release any further details.

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These Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, photos provided by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department show Louise Anna Turpin, left, and David Allen Turpin. Authorities say an emaciated teenager led deputies to a Perris, Calif., home where her 12 brothers and sisters were locked up in filthy conditions, with some of them malnourished and chained to beds. Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrested the parents David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin on Sunday. The parents could face charges including torture and child endangerment. (Riverside County Sheriff's Department via AP)

Sister-in-Law of Dad Accused of Shackling Children Says He Used to Watch Her Shower

A new sickening allegation has emerged from the alleged shackling case in California.

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested recently after sheriffs deputies in Perris found their 13 children shackled inside their home.

The couple had apparently kept their children under lock and key except for occasional and brief forays out into the world, where they were closely watched and never noticed enough for anyone to call the authorities.

But accounts from family and neighbors have been emerging that show there was an awareness of the familys oddities. The latest is Louises sister Elizabeth Jane Flores coming forward to say David often entered the shower when she was in there showering.

He did things that made me feel uncomfortable, she told ABC on Wednesday. If I were to get in the shower, he would come in there while I was in there and watch me, and it was like a joke. He never touched me or anything.

The encounters happened when she lived with the couple for a few months while she was attending college.



The couple had four children at the time.

Flores said she followed the strict rules in the household and kept quiet about David Turpin watching her while she was naked because she was young and scared at the time.

The revelation comes shortly after another of Louise Turpins sisters said she didnt know what motivated her sister to treat her children that way.

Our life wasnt perfect growing up, but, she didnt live like that, Teresa Robinette told NBC. And neither did David. David, I knew his parents, he was raised in a very wealthy home church.



And a neighbor of the family said that Louise Turpin was acting odd when she was arrested.

Police officer kept talking and she kept just, like, smirking and, like, kinda, like, she spit twice down at the floor, an unnamed neighbor said.

She was, like, just coughing, acting a little weird, just, like, kept looking, the neighbor added.

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Top-Selling German Newspaper Says New Online Hate Speech Law Must Be Scrapped

BERLINA new law meant to curtail hate speech on social media in Germany is stifling free speech and making martyrs out of anti-immigrant politicians whose posts are deleted, the top-selling Bild newspaper said on Thursday.

The law which took effect on Jan. 1 can impose fines of up to 50 million euros ($60 million) on sites that fail to remove hate speech promptly. Twitter has deleted anti-Muslim and anti-migrant posts by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and blocked a satirical account that parodied Islamophobia.

Please spare us the thought police! read a headline in Wednesdays Bild above an article that called the law a sin against freedom of opinion enshrined in Germanys constitution.

The law requires social media sites to delete or block obviously criminal content within 24 hours but Bild Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt said it could be applied against anything and anyone since there was no definition of what was manifestly unlawful in most cases.

Intended to prevent radical groups from gaining influence, it was having precisely the opposite effect, he said.

The law against online hate speech failed on its very first day. It should be abolished immediately, Reichelt wrote, adding that the law was turning AfD politicians into opinion martyrs.

Among the tweets deleted was one by AfD lawmaker Beatrix von Storch criticizing police for tweeting in Arabic, saying they had sought to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men. Police have since asked prosecutors to investigate her for possible incitement to hatred.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas defended the law, telling Bild that freedom of opinion did not mean carte blanche to spread criminal content on the internet.

Calls to murder, threats, insults and incitement of the masses or Auschwitz lies are not an expression of freedom of opinion but rather attacks on the freedom of opinion of others, he said.

Germany has some of the worlds toughest laws on defamation, incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, with prison sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities.

Maas said social networks needed to stick to the law like everyone else, adding: Those who care about protecting freedom of opinion cant just look on as criminal incitement and threats inhibit the open exchange of views.
President Donald Trump answers a question from CNN's Jim Acosta during a news conference announcing Alexander Acosta as the new Labor Secretary nominee in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 16, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Trump Orders CNNs Jim Acosta Out of the Oval Office Over Outburst

President Donald Trump ordered CNNs Jim Acosta out of the Oval Office on Tuesday after the networks controversial White House correspondent kept badgering the president as a press session with reporters wrapped up.

Acosta has become known for repeatedly interrupting the president and members of his staff and using televised question and answer sessions to deliver lengthy monologues.

Tuesday was no exception. Acosta said Mr. President loudly three times after the press briefing concluded and Trump thanked everyone present. Once he had the presidents attention, Acosta started firing questions about contested allegations of comments Trump made in a closed-door meeting.

Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr. President? Acosta shouted.

I want them to come in from everywhere. Everywhere. Thank you very much, everybody, Trump responded.

As Acosta continued to shout questions, the president pointed at him and said one word: Out.

President Trump orders CNN's Jim Acosta to get OUT of Oval Office after latest outburst. pic.twitter.com/n2mxIkBdEn  Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) January 16, 2018

Acosta has played a large role in CNNs apparent anti-Trump programming strategy, Fox News reported. The president has branded CNN as fake news and has previously referred to the network, and Acosta himself, as such.

Acosta has also been burned by other members of Trumps team during press briefings. Last month, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders cut Acosta off as he attempted to hijack a press briefing. Acosta was saying that reporters make honest mistakes but that it doesnt make them fake news, before Sanders cut him short.

When journalists make honest mistakes, they should own up to them. Sometimes, and a lot of times, you dont, Sanders said.

Acosta again tried to interrupt her.

Im sorry, Im not finished, Sanders said. There is a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposefully misleading the American people. You cannot say its an honest mistake when youre purposely putting out information you know is false.

President Donald Trump announced in a Twitter message that today, Jan. 17, he would hold an awards ceremony for dishonest media.

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, Trump tweeted on Jan. 7. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!

The president mentioned the terms fake news and CNN in the same tweet 26 times since being elected, according to the Trump Twitter Archive.

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This photo taken on Nov. 29, 2017, and released on Nov. 30, 2017, by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency shows the launch of the Hwasong-15 missile which is purportedly capable of reaching all parts of the United States. (AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS)

Trump Says Russia Helping North Korea Skirt Sanctions

WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump said on Wednesday, Jan. 17, that Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting closer every day to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States.

Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea, Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.

With North Korea persisting as the major global challenge facing Trump this year, the president cast doubt during the 53-minute interview on whether talks with communist dictator Kim Jong Un would be useful. In the past, he has not ruled out direct talks with Kim.

He declined to comment when asked whether he had engaged in any communications at all with Kim, with whom he has exchanged insults and threats.

President Donald Trump addresses world leaders at the 72nd U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 19. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Id sit down, but Im not sure that sitting down will solve the problem, he said, noting that past negotiations with the North Koreans by his predecessors had failed to rein in North Koreas nuclear and missile programs.

Im not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful. Theyve talked for 25 years and theyve taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents, he said.

Trump praised China for its efforts to restrict oil and coal supplies to North Korea but said Beijing could do much more to help constrain Pyongyang.

However, he said Russia appears to be filling in the gaps left by the Chinese.

Western European security sources told Reuters in late December that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea in violation of international sanctions. Russia has denied breaching North Korea sanctions.

North Korea relies on imported fuel to keep its struggling economy functioning. It also requires oil for its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and nuclear program.

North Korean soldiers on the border with South Korea on Nov. 27, 2017. (Korea Pool/Getty Images)

Trump has repeatedly blamed a U.S. investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election for hindering an improvement in U.S.-Russian relations.

He can do a lot, Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But unfortunately we dont have much of a relationship with Russia, and in some cases, its probable that what China takes back, Russia gives. So the net result is not as good as it could be.

Trump, who has grappled with nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea since he took office a year ago, said Pyongyang is steadily advancing in being able to deliver a missile as far as the United States.

Theyre not there yet, but theyre close. And they get closer every day, said Trump.

North Korea said after its last ICBM launch in November that the test had put the U.S. mainland within range. Some experts agreed that based on the missiles trajectory and distance it had the capability to fly as far as Washington D.C.

They said, however, that North Korea had not yet offered any proof that it had mastered all technical hurdles, including the development of a re-entry vehicle needed to deliver a heavy nuclear warhead reliably atop an ICBM, but it was likely that it soon would. Pyongyang could reach that milestone by the end of the year, some intelligence officials said.

Trump said he welcomed talks between North and South Korea over the Winter Olympics to be held in the South next month and said this could be an initial phase in helping defuse the crisis.

He would not say whether the United States has been considering a limited, pre-emptive attack to show the North that the United States means business.

Were playing a very, very hard game of poker and you dont want to reveal your hand, he said.

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Two Teenagers Charged After 500,000 Bees Found Dead in Iowa

Two boys have been charged weeks after half-a-million bees were found dead on a honey farm in Iowa.

The destruction of the farm, Wild Hill Honey, was caused by a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy, the Sioux City Police Department said in a statement.

The boys, whose names havent been released because they are juveniles, have been charged with three feloniescriminal mischief, agricultural animal facilities offenses, and 3rd-degree burglaryas well as the misdemeanor of possession of burglars tools.

Damage of the losses were estimated at $60,000. Its unclear if the boys will be responsible for paying any of the damages.

After discovering the massive loss in December, Wild Hill Honey co-owner Justin Engelhardt said the crime was completely senseless.



They knocked over every single hive, killing all the bees. They wiped us out completely, Engelhardt told the Sioux City Journal.

They broke into our shed, they took all our equipment out and threw it out in the snow, smashed what they could. Doesnt look like anything was stolen, everything was just vandalized or destroyed.

Because insurers dont offer coverage for beehives, the crime likely ended the business, Engelhardt said.



However, an online fundraiser raised over $30,000 for the business, prompting Engelhardt to announce they would be able to continue caring for bees.

Thank you to everyone for your generous contributions and your amazing show of support. Because of you, we will be able to continue our business in the spring. We are deeply moved by your compassion, Engelhardt and his wife Tori wrote.

Between the contributions and the equipment we were able to salvage, our needs have been met. There are so many great causes to support. Our wish is that this spirit of compassion will be used to help others now. Thank you.

From NTD.tv

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Stephen Paddock, believed to be the shooter who killed at least 58 and wounded more than 500 in Las Vegas on the night of Oct. 1, 2017. (Twitter)

Vegas Shooting: New Charges Could Be Coming, Says Attorney

New charges may be possible in connection with the Las Vegas mass shooting in October that left 58 people dead.

Stephen Paddock, 64, died after the Oct. 1 shooting.

Attorney Nicholas Crosby didnt identify any new evidence or suspects, but he told The Associated Press that charges might be possible after an investigation.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the FBI previously stated that Paddock acted alone in the shooting that also left hundreds injured.

Without naming names, there are potential charges against others as a result of the ongoing investigation? Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish asked Crosby this week, AP reported.

Yes, Crosby, who represents the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, was quoted as saying. There are charges being investigated.

According to CNN, Crosby said that charges could be brought against someone other than Paddock within 60 days.

Their exchange took place during a court hearing where media outlets were seeking to unseal court records in the case.

Maggie McLetchie, attorney for the Las Vegas Review Journal, said that the public and media outlets have the right to know what the search warrants in the case contain, Fox News reported.

Just because Mr. Paddock shot himself doesnt mean the public doesnt have a right to know whats in the documents, McLetchie said.

Cadish said she would issue a written ruling on the case next week, CNN reported. Cadish said that she might review the documents before theyre made public. It only makes sense that a party who is arguing that something has to be kept secret cant fully explain in public why it has to be kept secret, she said, according to AP.

Officer Laura Meltzer, a Las Vegas police spokeswoman, told AP that the department is also investigating possible criminal charges related to items discovered during the service of search warrants.

Officials, however, did not provide a motive for the attack.

Paddock planned the attack meticulously and took many methodical steps to avoid detection of his plot and to thwart the eventual law enforcement investigation that would follow, the mass shooting, said a federal court document.

Last Friday, a judge unsealed more than 300 pages of FBI warrant records.

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Pyongyang residents watch a big screen near the Pyongyang Railway Station showing the news on the successful launch of the new intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-15 in Pyongyang on Nov. 29, 2017. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Nov. 29 his country had achieved full nuclear statehood after successfully testing a new missile capable of hitting anywhere in the United States. (KIM WON-JIN/AFP/Getty Images)

White House Hopes Olympics Will Give North Koreans a Small Taste of Freedom

South and North Korea announced on Jan. 17 that their Olympic teams will march together under a unified flag at next months Winter Olympics in Seoul.

The move was welcomed by the White House as an opportunity for North Korea to see the value in ending its nuclear weapons program.

The complete denuclearization of North Korea remains a top priority for the White House, said spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a briefing.

We hope that this experience gives North Korea and its athletes a small taste of freedom, and that rubs off and is something that spreads and impacts in these negotiations, said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

It is not the first time that North and South Korea have marched together under the same flag at the Olympics.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the White House press briefing in Washington on Jan. 16, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

After threathening the United States and its allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, for months with nuclear weapons, it dramatically changed its tone earlier this month.

North Korea agreed to talks with South Korea and to join the Winter Olympics.

Observers believe the change in tone is a sign that the regime is struggling under sanctions imposed on it by the U.N. Security Council on the initiative of the United States.

President Donald Trump has said that the only acceptable outcome to the North Korean crisis is a complete abandonment of its nuclear weapons.

A South Korean government official checks the direct communications hotline to talk with the North Korean side at the border village of Panmunjom on Jan. 3, 2018 in Panmunjom, South Korea. An inter-Korean communication line was reopened at the border village of Panmunjom on Wednesday. (South Korean Unification Ministry via Getty Images)

For decades the communist regime in Pyongyang was able to reach agreements with U.S. administrations to receive financial and material aid in exchange for an end to its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea, however, has broken these agreements time and again and is now in possession of miniuaturized nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles that have the ability to reach any place in the United States.

Trump said on Wednesday that Russia is violating international sanctions by helping North Korea get supplies.

A woman holding a child looks towards North Korea as they stand at a military fence at Imjingak Park, south of the Military Demarcation Line and Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, on Feb. 19, 2015. South Korean families separated during the Korean war often visit the DMZ to offer prayers for their relatives in the North, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea, Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.

Western European security sources told Reuters in late December that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea in violation of international sanctions. Russia has denied breaching North Korea sanctions.

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Woman Shares $5 Babysitting Hack to Keep the Kids Busy, Draws Controversy

An Australian woman revealed a clever $5 babysitting hack that drew praise and criticism online.

Bree Tomasel, of Brisbane, said that parents and babysitters need a $5 bill and a wall.

Do you guys want to win $5? Do you want to play the $5 game? Youre both in? she asks the two children. They reply with yes.

She then gets the kids to place the $5 bill between their foreheads and the wall. Whoever can stand the longest without dropping the bill wins. The first person to touch it with your hands or to drop it, doesnt win the money. Dont move, because whoever keeps it there the longest wins the $5 note, Tomasel says to the kids.

Her video has garnered more than 3 million views on Facebook, as of Jan. 16.

In the video, she declares both children winners and they get the $5 bills.

Tomasel said that she was praised for the stunt, but some accused her of abuse.

The reaction [to her video] was amazing, a lot of comments from parents and people saying that it was genius, she told the Daily Mail. After being posted to other third party pages Ive copped a bit of flack saying that it was child abuse and harmful to the kids which I think is actually disrespectful to people who have actually been through something horrible.

She added that people these days look for something to be upset about and the internet can be a dark place.

But Im just looking to create a bit of light and laughter in this dark world we live in today, she said.

I love to make people laugh, she told the publication. Its a gift to have a platform to be able to do that. Dont believe everything you see on the internet and dont take everything so seriously because a lot of the time you dont know the full context and just learn to have a bit of a laugh. Life is already too serious.

Tomasel told the Mail that she wasnt actually babysitting the kids.

It was at a Christmas dinner and it was a joke. I think anyone who knew the entire context of the video would see that, she said.

Of the stunt, she said the unnamed kids were faced on the wall for about 10 minutes  not very long and they were supervised the entire time.

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A woman has been arrested after returning to the scene of a crime on Jan. 11, where she allegedly shoplifted items worth around $2000 in November. (Libertyville Police Department / Google Maps)

Woman Steals $2,000 Worth of Goods, Then Returns To Same Store and Is Arrested

An Illinois woman was recorded by store security cameras last November appearing to steal thousands of dollars worth of clothing at a boutique in Libertyville, but despite police appeals for help locating her, she remained at large.

Until she returned to the scene of the crime, that is, and was recognized by staff and arrested.

The Daily Herald reported in November that law enforcement officials had released a photo of a woman who had allegedly walked into the Charles & Minerva Boutique in the Chicago suburb on Nov. 2 and proceeded to steal about $2,000 worth of clothing. Libertyville police published the image, taken from the security camera recording, hoping someone would recognize the suspect and notify the authorities.

At the time, Sgt. Ed Swider of the Department described the woman as a white female with blond hair and a nose ring. He said the woman walked out with the stolen items and was last seen wearing dark-colored yoga pants.

But the case got cold as the womans identity remained a mysteryuntil she walked into the same store on Thursday, Jan. 11, and was recognized, CBS reported. Sales associate Raffaella Martino engaged the woman in conversation, while the manager called the police.

Sherry Hana was arrested and charged with retail theft.

I hope she learned her lesson, Martino told CBS. If you cant afford to purchase anything, dont go to the store.

Hana is due to appear in court on Jan. 22 and is prohibited from ever entering the premises of the boutique again.

According to Illinois law, shoplifting goods worth over $300 is a felony, and can result in fines up to $25,000 and between two and five years in jail.

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Woman Who Was Shot in the Face Died the Same Way as Her Mother

A woman who was shot outside a bodega in the Bronx, New York, was killed at the same age and in the same way as her mother.

Shaquana Button, 36, was shot in the face outside a grocery store around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 15, after getting into an argument with her killer.

UPDATE: Police on Wednesday, Jan. 17, released a wanted poster of the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Amere Bryant.

It is not clear what caused the argument, although one witness told News 4 it was over someone cutting the line at the store.

She went tragically like her mother, said Buttons aunt Dawn to the New York Post.

Another aunt, Ruth Mitchell, 58, said that Buttons mother, Dianna Mitchell, died the same way  She was shot in the head in Brooklyn 17 years ago.

Button was 36, the same age as her mother was when she was shot.

Authorities never caught the killer, police confirmed to the NY Post.

Mitchell spoke highly of her niece, saying, She was a free spirit, a wonderful woman. She would give you the shirt off her back. Thats the type of girl she was, she said.

Buttons fiancee, Jermaine Headley, 31, broke down in tears as he recalled her character, the Post reported.

She didnt deserve it, she was a good person. She was an amazing person, he said.

She lights up a whole room. She makes sure she says hi to everyone. Smiling, dancing, happy, he said.

So far there have been no arrests and the search for the killer is ongoing.
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WABCO Holdings Inc., together with its subsidiaries, supplies electronic, mechanical, electro-mechanical, and aerodynamic products worldwide. The company engineers, develops, manufactures, and sells braking, stability, suspension, steering, transmission automation, and air management systems primarily for commercial vehicles. The company's products include pneumatic anti-lock braking systems, electronic braking systems, electronic stability control systems, brake controls, automated manual transmission systems, and air disc brakes; and various conventional mechanical products, such as actuators, air compressors, and air control valves for medium and heavy-duty trucks, buses, and trailers. It also offers pneumatic and hydraulic braking and control systems for off-highway vehicles; conventional braking systems; electronic and conventional air suspension systems; steering technologies; and vehicle electronic stability control and roll stability support products, and advanced driver assistance systems. In addition, the company supplies electronic suspension controls and vacuum pumps to the passenger car and SUV markets, as well as provides remanufacturing services. Further, it offers replacement parts, fleet management solutions, diagnostic tools, training, and other expert services for commercial vehicle aftermarket distributors and service partners, and fleet operators. The company sells its products primarily to truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), trailer OEMs, and car manufacturers; and manufacturers of heavy duty and off-highway vehicles in agriculture, construction, mining, and other industries. WABCO Holdings Inc. was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Nigerias Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has called for a strong and well capitalized African Development Bank (AfDB) that is capable of fulfilling its commitments to member-countries.

Adeosun made this call at the Regional Consultative Meeting between the AfDB President, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina and the Banks Governors and Ministers of Finance from West Africa and Central Africa held recently in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire.

The meeting was the first consultations of its kind since the creation of the Bank in 1963.

The Nigerian Minister stated that a solid AfDB was required to assist the African countries to mobilise their internal resources.

She stated, At the height of the crisis that shook our economy due to the fall in oil prices, the AfDB provided us with substantial budget support, while other partners were very reluctant.

Adesina told the Bank Governors that the annual meetings had hitherto been the only setting for group dialogue between the Governors and the Management of the Bank.

We intend for this type of consultation to be an annual event that provides another opportunity to listen to you, to seek your advice and discuss important developments and matters important to the work of the Bank and Africas development.

At the meeting, the Governors and the AfDB Senior Management agreed to accelerate the implementation of the Banks five strategic priorities which include: light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialise Africa, integrate Africa, and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa

They also called for an increase in capital mobilisation to allow the Bank to meet its mandates for Africa, in view of considerable reductions in official development assistance.

The AfDB Governors recalled that the sixth capital increase, ratified in 2010, made it possible for the Bank to take the volume of loans to unprecedented levels.

They added that aid to countries receiving African Development Fund financing had increased seventeen-fold.

Meanwhile, the AfDB Treasurer and Acting Vice-President, Finance, Hassatou Diop NSele, has assured that the Bank was financially strong.

We know that our continent needs substantial resources to meet its development goals. Without Africa, the sustainable development goals will not be achieved globally, NSele said.

Signed:

Oluyinka Akintunde

Special Adviser, Media & Communications to the Honourable Minister of Finance

Federal Ministry of Finance

17th January, 2018
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Nestle agreed to sell its U.S. confectionery unit to Ferrero, the Italian maker of Nutella, for $2.8 billion (U.S.), in the first substantial step away from the candy industry by the company that invented milk chocolate.

The sale of the unit, which includes the Butterfinger and Baby Ruth brands, is also the first major divestment by the Swiss food giant since chief executive officer Mark Schneider took the helm last year. Nestle plans to focus on healthier and faster-growing categories like coffee, pet food and water as the food industry grapples with a drop in demand for sugary products.

Our commitment to invest in the U.S. is as big as ever, Nestle USA chief Paul Grimwood said on a call.

Read more: Nutellas maker alters recipe to beloved spread, prompting panic among fans

The U.S. chocolate industry is in tumult. Hershey Co. has been cutting 15 per cent of its workforce and Lindt & Spruengli AG on Tuesday reported its weakest organic sales growth since 2009 amid sluggish demand in North America.

The Nestle unit, which also includes brands like Oh Henry!, Laffy Taffy and Nerds, is suffering a decline in revenue and had sales of about $900 million in 2016. Nestle said in a statement announcing the sale that it remains fully committed to its chocolate business around the world. That includes KitKat, which it produces globally except for the U.S., where Hershey Co. owns the rights.

Closely held Ferrero has been pushing harder into the U.S. Last year it snapped up Ferrara Candy Co., the maker of Red Hots and Lemonhead candies, as well as confectioner Fannie May.

The sale to Ferrero, which does not include the Toll House brand of baking products, is expected to close around the end of the first quarter, Nestle said. The business represents about 3 per cent of the Swiss companys U.S. sales.

Nestle said in June it was considering options for the U.S. confectionery unit, and said it attracted significant interest from bidders in July. In December, the company said it expected to sell the business in the first quarter of 2018.

Hershey, which was named as one of the potential bidders, last month agreed to pay $921 million (U.S.) for Amplify Snack Brands Inc. to expand into popcorn and potato chips.

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Who is going to plow the snow from the highways in the Huntsville corridor?

Thats a question far removed from Westminster, where Prime Minister Theresa May faces calls for a full and speedy investigation into the liquidation of Carillion, the mammoth construction and outsourcing company, headquartered in Wolverhampton, with about 43,000 employees spread across the U.K., the Middle East and Canada.

But it does shine a light on the reach and scope of a firm that proudly proclaims its role as Canadas largest highway maintenance provider, protecting approximately 40,000 kilometres of highways across Ontario and Alberta, providing year-round routine and preventative maintenance services.

According to Carillion Canada Inc.s website, 40,000 kilometres equates to the largest outsourced volume of roadways in the nation. Thats a lot of salt.

This is the same company that launched its Toronto operations in 1955 as George Wimpey Canada Ltd. Home buyers in the 1970s particularly will recall the name.

A corporate history recounts how the British firm capitalized on Torontos desperate need for housing construction, attesting that by 1970, Wimpey was building nearly 2,000 homes each year in the province of Ontario alone. Crispy press clippings recount stories of hundreds of eager house buyers lining up for pre-build sales at subdivisions where detached homes sold for between $40,000 and $50,000.

The name Carillion emerged as the successor support and construction services provider, and it became a monster, benefitting spectacularly from the now decades-long trend of outsourcing private sector contracts and being in the right place at the right time for enormous public-private partnership (P3) construction projects. Those P3s here at home included the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital as well as design-build work at both the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Public sector outsourcing is a key part of the puzzle. According to the Guardian, Christopher Grayling, the U.K.s secretary of state for transport, awarded nearly 2-billion worth of contracts to Carillion plc, even after it first issued profit warnings. Little wonder that the Labour party is accusing the government of drip-feeding contracts to Carillion to help keep it afloat.

Last July, Carillion launched a full strategic review of all operations. A hoped-for sale of its Canadian subsidiary was deemed essential to the financial fix. Instead, underperforming P3 contracts and an estimated net debt of between 825 million and 850 million dominated the companys financial update to investors in September. The numbers only grew worse. Carillion Canada did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson indicated to The Canadian Press that the Canadian operations would carry on as per usual.

Lets look at some smaller numbers.

September brought the announcement from Ontarios Ministry of Transportation that its maintenance contract with Carillion Canada would be brought to a premature halt. That contract, which commenced in 2012, was for provincial highway maintenance covering the Highway 400 corridor (Port Severn to Pointe au Baril) and Highway 11 to Haliburton and Minden. The contract was to extend until the spring of 2023. Carillion said it would continue the job until September 2018. Now what? Who knows? The ministry awarded the new contract to Fowler Construction Co. to commence next fall.

At the time of the cancellation announcement, a ministry spokesperson was quoted saying the re-tendering would allow the ministry to make enhancements to the services provided.

Huntsville residents will be interested in this for they will likely recall the $80,000 fine levied against Carillion Canada two years ago for contravening the Environmental Protection Act by burying drums of petroleum and paint waste in its Huntsville yard.

As for road clearing, calls for better service are not new.

In 2015, Carillion was fined $900,000 for failing to adequately clear and sand the QEW between Burlington and Mississauga in November and December of the previous year. In that instance, Carillion fought the fine. Successfully? I dont know. The Ministry of Transportation cites confidentiality in the ensuing mediation, which, the ministry reports, was resolved. I do know that the Ontario road maintenance contracts awarded to Carillion, eight in all, were valued at $87 million.

There are far bigger stories unfolding in the wake of Carillions collapse, including at-risk overseas construction projects running into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And escaping executives making out like bandits.

But its a broad cautionary tale to take a harder look at the outsourcing of essential services, not to mention the global Kool-Aid weve been drinking when it comes to P3 alliances.

jenwells@thestar.ca

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SHANGHAIAn Apple Inc. supplier in eastern China has denied allegations by a New York rights group that its workers toil for 10-hour shifts in loud, polluted conditions, without proper overtime pay or adequate safety protections to make MacBook and iPhone parts, before returning to filthy dormitories with cold showers.

The charges highlight the difficulty of managing complex global supply chains  even for companies such as Apple that have publicly embraced ethical sourcing as a business priority.

Catcher Technology Co. Ltd., which runs the factory in Suqian, about 500 kilometres northwest of Shanghai, said Wednesday in a statement that it had investigated and verified that none of the claims are accurate. Catcher also said it was about to acquire land near the factory to build new dormitories because it was driven to enhance the living standard for our employees.

China Labor Watch said its findings, published late Tuesday, were from an undercover investigation that ran from October 2017 to January 2018.

It said workers without proper gloves had irritated, peeling skin on their hands. Others had machine oil splashed in their eyes. The main door of the workshop opened only 30 centimetres and dormitories lacked emergency exits  clear fire hazards, China Labor Watch said.

The report included photographs of cramped, slovenly dormitories and photos of foamy wastewater that China Labor Watch said was overflowing onto sidewalks.

Apple needs to uphold their claim of honouring Chinese law, China Labor Watch executive director Li Qiang said in a statement. Back in 2013 and 2014, China Labor Watch investigated the same factory and flagged similar safety and labour rights violations.

Apple Inc. said it maintains a monitoring team on-site at the Catcher factory, which has made significant progress in raising standards since 2012. In response to China Labor Watchs allegations, Apple said it sent an investigative team to Suqian to interview more than 150 workers but found no evidence that Catcher was violating our standards.

We know our work is never done and we investigate each and every allegation thats made, an Apple spokesperson said Wednesday. We remain dedicated to doing all we can to protect the workers in our supply chain and make a positive impact on the environment.

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You have to understand that no one puts their children in a boat unless the sea is safer than the land.

Those haunting words are by British poet Warsan Shire, who was born in Kenya of Somali parents. Her poem Home speaks to the intense discomfort of leaving the place that is most familiar, the place of ones friends and family. The words also help anchor a new concert program being presented by Tafelmusik.

No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark, Shire writes.

We rightly think of refugees fleeing terror and persecution as something straight from the news. But, unfortunately, displaced people are not a new phenomenon. The history of humanity was shaped by migrations. Whether watching the news or reading history, we can focus on the negative  for both the refugee or the host  or we can turn and see the good that can come from terrible circumstances.

Read more:

New biography on Toscanini should win music book of the year

Opera plucked from todays public-safety issues

Tafelmusik bass player Alison Mackay, an enthusiastic advocate and creator of multimedia shows combining music, text, video and lighting, has masterminded something new and timely for the orchestras next program: Safe Haven. It focuses on the good of migration rather than the bad.

The multimedia presentation opens Thursday at Trinity-St Pauls Centre, continuing until Jan. 21. There will also be a performance at George Weston Recital Hall in North York on Jan. 23.

Safe Haven is all about how cultures are transformed for the better by the arrival of new people, ideas and traditions.

Because Tafelmusiks specialty is the music of 17th- and 18th-century Europe, most of the program focuses on how French Protestants fleeing persecution during the rule of King Louis XIV, and Jews and Muslims escaping from enforced Christianity in late-16th century Spain enriched their host nations and cities like London, Berlin and Amsterdam.

We might never have heard the gorgeous oboe parts in the cantatas of J.S. Bach had it not been for King Louiss Protestant wind players leaving the court orchestra at the Palace of Versailles and exporting their new instruments to Prussia.

Mackay doesnt limit her focus to the distant past. She also turns our attention to the rich musical cultures of African countries like Mali, which were spread abroad through the slave trade to places like Haiti.

Today, many of their descendants are looking for new homes in places like Canada.

Tafelmusik has invited Malian-born Diely Mori Tounkara to play the kora, a 21-stringed instrument, and Iranian-born Naghmeh Farahmand, who will play percussion. Well-known Toronto vocalist Maryem Tollar will sing as well as provide the narration for Mackays script.

To show how different cultures and time periods can mesh, the guests will improvise with members of the orchestra at one point in the concert. And, for the first time in a Tafelmusik show, Mackay has asked her guest musicians to help create a soundscape to go with the narration.

Mackay freely admits that a show like Safe Haven would have been difficult to assemble and prepare before the age of the internet. There are all these scholars around the world you can now find and contact right away, she says. And so many of them are thrilled to have their work in a concert. There are so many people who are excited to share what they know.

It is like the spirit of everyone who has welcomed refugees, eager to help their fellow human beings and see what new and interesting things can come out of the experience.

Classical music writer John Terauds is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

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WASHINGTONWhen the White House released the results of a test on Donald Trumps mental aptitude Tuesday, showing he aced it without signs of cognitive decline, there was one person out there brimming with pride despite not knowing the president.

That person was Ziad Nasreddine, the man who designed the test.

The Lebanese-Canadian neurologist learned from a reporter Tuesday afternoon that the White House had selected the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to test the presidents faculties after days of speculation about his state.

This was the test Nasreddine developed as a young researcher two decades ago, in an effort to quickly assess, within 10 or 12 minutes, whether someone has suffered light cognitive impairment or the onset of Alzheimers disease, by asking them to perform tasks such as drawing a clock, identifying animals and remembering words.

Read more:

White House to share more details about Trumps health later today

Trump set for first medical checkup as president in wake of Fire and Fury revelations, stable genius comments

He says it has now been used in 200 countries, in 60 languages, and has been deployed in one developing country to demonstrate its leader was no longer fit to govern. On Tuesday, the White House announced Trumps score: 30 for 30.

Its really an honour for me, said Nasreddine, now affiliated with McGill and Sherbrooke universities in Quebec.

Im really thrilled, and happy they decided to use it over other tests.

The White House doctor announced during a briefing with reporters that he selected the Montreal cognitive test among several available. Dr. Ronny Jackson, who also worked with the previous administration, and was praised in social media by former Barack Obama staff, said he never doubted this presidents cognitive ability. He said he talks to Trump daily, and didnt feel he even needed the test.

The president asked me to do it, Jackson said.

Washington had been abuzz in recent days with details from a tell-all-style book suggesting everyone in Trumps entourage questions his mental stability. Trump had responded by referring to himself as a stable genius, and requested the cognitive exam.

Nasreddine cautioned that his exam doesnt test for everything.

Its designed to identify early cognitive decline  not other psychological issues, or personality attributes, such as judgment. He also points out that it can be tricked by someone with a very high level of education.

The test is a screening measure. It has limitations, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump's overall health "is excellent" and he did "exceedingly well" on cognitive screening. That's according to his White House physician, Navy doctor Ronny Jackson. (The Associated Press)

Its a test mostly for executive functions, and memory. Meaning organization, planning, abstract thinking ... (Still), if its 30 on 30 its really reassuring  in terms of the ability of the person to have minimum cognitive function to be able to do important things, in terms of language, memory, executive function. It does not absolutely assess personality issues.

Hes proud of one other thing about this news.

Nasreddine came to Canada as a teenager with his Druze family during the civil war in his homeland, Lebanon. He was 15. He, his widowed mother, and his sisters came to visit an uncle for the summer on 1983  and, with their country ravaged by sectarian strife, they stayed.

They applied for permanent residency, he went to school, eventually moved to the U.S. to attend University of California, Los Angeles, and moved home in the 1990s when he designed the cognitive test.

He recognizes the irony of his test having helped a president who kept out war refugees, promoted a Muslim travel ban, is working to end chain migration by which relatives help other relatives immigrate and reportedly used crude terms during Oval Office meetings to describe poor countries immigrants come from.

He says he hopes the president draws some lessons from his story.

Im an immigrant, Nasreddine said.

Its an honour for me to be able to contribute, to assessing the president of the United States. No matter who the person is, for me its an honour ... I think immigrants can be proud that they are contributing. And this is a good example, I think, that will be helpful to change views about immigration. And maybe for Mr. Trump himself to consider immigrants as contributors to advancing science, advancing our societies.

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MARIANNA, FLA.Police say an 82-year-old Ontario man has been killed in a Florida jail, allegedly by his cellmate.

Arthur Williams of Tillsonburg, Ont., was in custody after being charged for allegedly trying to lure a nine-year-old boy.

Marianna, Fla., police chief Hayes Baggett says officers were called to the Jackson County Correctional Facility early Monday morning to investigate a reported homicide.

Investigators say staff found Williams dead during a security check.

Frederick Patterson, 21, of Brunswick, Ga., is facing a murder charge and is alleged to have killed Williams in what police called an ambush style attack.

Williams was charged in October 2017 with loitering and prowling, trespassing, aggravated stalking, making a threatening phone call and attempting to lure a child under the age of 12.

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EDMONTONAn Alberta legislature member is apologizing for saying Indigenous people dont tend to vote and when these people do engage in politics they only want to talk to the prime minister.

Dave Schneider, the United Conservative member for the southern Alberta riding of Little Bow, has apologized on Twitter for comments he made recently to media in his constituency.

Apologies to any offended by my choice of words, Schneider posted Tuesday. Certainly was not my intent. It continues to be a privilege to represent all constituents since being elected. Encourage all to be engaged in our democracy.

He did not reply to a request for an interview.

Schneider is a first-term legislature member and serves as the Oppositions agriculture and forestry critic. In a story published last week in the Vauxhall Advance, Schneider is quoted expressing concerns about changes in his constituency that will take effect in the next election in 2019.

Schneiders sprawling rural seat includes the Siksika reserve and is being expanded to include the Blood reserve as well.

Not that thats bad, but these people dont traditionally vote, and how is the population going to get engaged in this political system in the province? Schneider told the newspaper.

The Indigenous people generally like to speak to the most important person in Canada, like the prime minister.

Albertas Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan and Chief Tony Alexis of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation had called for Schneider to make amends. They said his comments were improper and disrespectful.

In no manner are these statements a proper or respectful representation of all constituents in the Cardston-Siksika area (Little Bow), which includes thousands of Indigenous people, Alexis posted on Twitter.

He said he took particular offence to the reference these people.

Feehan said at the legislature that Schneider has missed a groundswell of political engagement by First Nations.

Somehow an MLA who lives right in the core of Alberta hasnt any clue as to whats transpired in the Indigenous community over the last 50 years, said Feehan. This is truly an attitude out of the 1950s.

In his interview, Schneider also said its difficult to meet constituents because of access restrictions on reserves.

Feehan said he would be happy to help.

Theres nothing in the Indian Act that says you cant talk to the people in those communities. All of our MLAs do, he said. If hes worried about being on the reserve without permission of the chief and council, its a phone call away.

Tell him Im more than happy to supply him a list of phone numbers if that is something that would facilitate his first little foray into the Indigenous community.

Schneider won the constituency overall as a member of the former Wildrose party in the 2015 election, but fared poorly at the four Siksika polling stations. He received 25 votes compared with 332 for the leading vote-getter on the reserve, Bev Muendel-Atherstone of the NDP.

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WASHINGTONCanadas Conservative opposition is united with its Liberal government in support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer said in Washington on Wednesday.

Were here to support our governments efforts, Scheer said during an appearance at the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center think tank in the U.S. capital.

On NAFTA, the Canadian Parliament  certainly from the perspective of the government and opposition  is united.

Scheers appearance was attended by about a half-dozen officials from the U.S. government, including the White House and Commerce Department, as well as representatives from business groups and law firms. It came the week before the start of a critical round of renegotiation talks in Montreal.

Scheer was making his first foreign trip as Conservative leader. He declined invitations to repeat his domestic criticism of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus handling of the NAFTA file or to offer suggestions for the negotiations, saying that was not the place of an opposition leader abroad.

Instead, Scheer and his delegation of Conservative MPs urged President Donald Trumps administration to preserve the agreement.

NAFTAs the wrong target for Americans worried about economic competitiveness, said Scheer, who suggested they look at issues such as taxation, regulation and technological change.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government is hoping for the best in the sixth round of NAFTA talks, but is prepared for a U.S. withdrawal from the trade deal. Montreal will host the negotiations Jan. 23 to 28. (The Canadian Press)

As Trudeaus government did, Scheer criticized Trumps administration for taking what Scheer called an unhelpfully adversarial approach to the negotiations, saying it would be better to get rid of the attitude that the U.S. can only win if Canada loses.

His MPs said that the Canadian automotive and agricultural industries have benefited from NAFTA.

Oshawa MP Colin Carrie said NAFTA is imperfect  his community, as have some in the U.S. heartland, has lost thousands of auto-manufacturing jobs, he said  but thats not to say right now that we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Read more:

Trump hints he wont begin NAFTA withdrawal until July at the earliest

Thomas Walkom | On NAFTA, Canada agrees to discuss the unthinkable

NAFTAs Chapter 11, which Canada is protecting, cost taxpayers $315 million

Deputy Leader Lisa Raitt said she feels the pain of Americans worried about trade, noting that she comes from high-unemployment Cape Breton. But she argued that there is a bigger risk in terminating the deal than in simply making it work better.

What is going to be the risk associated with the stock market if you do that? she said, mentioning one of Trumps favourite metrics of his performance. How is that going to impact house prices? Because thats something that people care about in your constituency. How is that going to impact food prices?

Scheer was scheduled to meet in Washington with Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic New York Rep. Brian Higgins, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, senior officials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and former World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

Scheers team asked the Liberals for suggestions on what pro-NAFTA messages to deploy and who to try to meet with. Trudeaus government said it welcomed the trip.

We support any effort to engage Americans about the benefits of open trade, said Adam Austen, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. Over the past year, Canadians including business leaders have delivered that message over and over and were pleased to see influential Americans increasingly speaking up in favour of trade and NAFTA.

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More than a decade after the federal government created a toothless position to police Canadas oil and mining companies operating overseas, Ottawa has announced theres a new sheriff in town.

The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprisse (CORE) will be an independent officer who will investigate allegations of human rights abuses linked to Canadian corporations operating abroad.

To fly the Maple Leaf means something. It means being associated with a set of values, said International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne in a news conference Wednesday.

This is an extraordinary brand to have in the world today, he added. But it also comes with responsibilities.

Unlike its predecessor, the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor, the new position will not require the permission of a company to investigate. Nor will the ombudsman need a complaint, as they will have the power to launch their own investigations and publicly report their findings.

It really is momentous, said Julia Sanchez, president of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, an umbrella group of Canadian aid groups. Theres no other such position in the world.

Were often behind. But here, Canada is first. Were ahead of everyone else.

About 60 per cent of the worlds mining companies are based in Canada, making this the ideal place to pioneer ways to ensure mines respect local peoples rights when operating abroad, Sanchez said.

The ombudsman wont deal with only mining companies, the government said in its announcement. The positions scope will cover the mining, oil and gas, and garment sectors, but is expected to later expand to all other business sectors where Canadian companies operate internationally.

While the ombudsman wont have the power to impose sanctions or penalties, both their investigations and their recommendations will be made public. This creates the potential incentive for companies to avoid any reputational damage that could come from publicly ignoring recommendations.

The government will also consider cutting off a company from trade advocacy support and future funding received through Export and Development Canada if the ombudsman recommends it, Champagne said.

Activists have applauded the announcement, especially those who have spent years working with the often isolated and impoverished communities affected by violence and environmental degradation around Canadian-operated mines.

We deal on the ground with very hard situations where its very difficult to get the truth, said Shin Imai, head of the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project at Osgood Hall law school at York University.

In the communities, we hear terrible stories of murder and rape. But the company will give a very different story. And people cant tell the difference.

Until now, if you were a poor peasant from a country like Guatemala, you had virtually no recourse if your town was affected by violence linked to a nearby mine. Villagers from Guatemala have tried to sue a Canadian mining company in Ontario court, but Imai said the ombudsman will be a better solution.

Now we have independent, arms-length ombudsman with investigative powers who will have the budget and mandate to expose the truth, Imai said.

The idea for a mining ombudsman dates back more than a decade to a roundtable held by the federal government in 2006 that brought together mining companies, human rights campaigners and people affected by mining.

While the roundtable called for an ombudsman to act as a point of contact for people directly affected by the operations of Canadian mining companies abroad, the then-Conservative government instead created a watered-down position, called the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Councillor in 2009.

That position will be dissolved at the end of its current mandate in May.

The CSR counsellor received six complaints during its entire existence. None of the complaints was investigated or resolved because the mining company declined to participate each time.

The CSR counsellors office was structured and designed to be toothless, said the CCICs Sanchez. They needed the agreement of companies in order to move on anything.

From the start that was putting the CSR counsellor in an impossible situation where they wouldnt be able to achieve results and they didnt.

Since the new CORE ombudsman is the first of its kind, the government has also created an advisory body to help it, made up of members of civil society and business.

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OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau says he and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talked about the then-incoming Trump administration and the general state of the world when the two of them were on the Aga Khans private island in late 2016.

During an interview this week with The Canadian Press, Trudeau shed a bit more light on his direct interactions with Kerry, who happened to be at the spiritual leaders island in the Bahamas at the same time as the prime minister during his personal  and controversial  family vacation.

In December, the federal ethics commissioner concluded Trudeau violated conflict-of-interest rules when he vacationed at the private island without seeking her approval ahead of time. Mary Dawsons report referenced a senior American official of a previous administration present on the island  since confirmed by the Prime Ministers Office to be Kerry.

Read more:

Opinion | Tim Harper: Trudeau dons his Teflon suit at town hall meetings

Trudeaus Aga Khan dealings presented multiple ethics troubles, Dawson says

Opinion | Editorial: On the prime ministers ethics violations, glib answers wont do

Trudeau learned within a few days or a small number of weeks prior to his trip there was a possibility Kerry would be there, he said.

It was an opportunity to engage with a sitting secretary of state ... but the conversations were very general about the state of the world ... expectations around the incoming administration on foreign policy issues, Trudeau said.

There was nothing decided or of significant, direct impact on Canadian policy in any way.

Justin Trudeau is apologizing after the federal ethics commissioner found the prime minister broke conflict of interest rules when he vacationed at an island owned by the Aga Khan. Trudeau says he'll take all precautions in the future. (The Canadian Press)

The interactions on the island involved people with interesting jobs and responsibilities talking about the state of the world in an informed way, he added.

They were present at, I think, one or two lunches and one or two dinners where there were probably 20 people around the table, mostly family and friends, but topics turned to a ... broad range of general international conversations.

The ethic commissioners report found the Aga Khan had a relationship with Trudeaus father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, that developed in the 1960s, facilitating the current prime ministers relationship with the spiritual leader of the worlds 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

However, Dawson said it was still unlikely the vacation would have been extended to Trudeau had there not been official interactions between the government of Canada and the Aga Khan and had Mr. Trudeau not become a significant player on the Canadian political scene.

Those findings have prompted Trudeau to reflect very much on the difference between his interpretation of friendship and the view of the commissioner, he said.

I think it makes total sense that the ethics commissioner has a more stringent view of who would qualify as a friend to the prime minister than others would, he said. I think thats an important distinction that has certainly, and will certainly inform, my behaviour and the behaviour of future prime ministers moving forward.

Liberal MPs denied an opposition bid to summon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to an ethics committee over his dealings with the Aga Khan. Opposition MPs are accusing the Liberal members on the committee of toeing the party line. (The Canadian Press)

Among her findings, Dawson also found Trudeau breached Section 11 of the Conflict of Interest Act  which pertains to gifts or other advantages  when he and members of his family accepted the Aga Khans gift of hospitality and the use of his private island.

She said the vacations could reasonably be seen to have been given to influence Trudeau in his capacity as prime minister.

Though now more than a year old, the trip has continued to dog Trudeau, such as during a town hall last week in Nova Scotia, where he reiterated a promise to ensure every one of his future vacations is cleared in advance with the ethics commissioner.

Both opposition parties have also demanded that he repay taxpayers for all or part of the transportation and security costs for the vacation, which they say left taxpayers on the hook for more than $200,000.

Trudeaus office has said he reimbursed the commercial equivalent of his and his familys flights to and from the island, in keeping with standard practice, but has not disclosed the exact tab.

For his part, Trudeau is anticipating more scrutiny from the Conservatives and the NDP when MPs return to Ottawa later this month following the holiday break.

I am expecting there might be a few more questions once Parliament returns on this ... exact issue.

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A Toronto man who fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend, leaving her bloodied body on the kitchen floor for her children to find, was sentenced to life imprisonment Tuesday with no parole eligibility for 18 years.

Lascelles Allen, 54, was supposed to stand trial for first-degree murder this month but instead pleaded guilty in December to the second-degree murder of Suraiya Gangaram, 31, a mother of three young girls.

The pairs romantic involvement ended in August 2014 when Allen was charged by police with assaulting her. He was released on a recognizance to a surety and ordered not to have any contact with Gangaram, according to an agreed statement of facts.

Despite the court order, they continued to have contact although Gangaram had begun a new relationship with another man.

On the evening of May 7, 2015, Allen and Gangaram and her three daughters went to see a musical. They returned to her home on Danzig St. in Scarborough and Gangaram went out with her new boyfriend, leaving Allen to mind the girls.

The next day, while they were at school, Allen stabbed Gangaram multiple times in the chest. He also committed an indignity to her body that Superior Court Justice John McMahon called degrading and heinous.

Later that afternoon, Allen threw himself in front of a VIA rail train at a nearby GO station, severing his lower legs.

Police found evidence that Allen was planning a violent act.

Earlier in the day, he bought duct tape, three cable ties, bungee cords, rope, disposable lighters and lighter fluid.

Crown attorney Maureen Pecknold referred to it as a murder kit. Defence counsel Paula Rochman it might also have been a suicide kit. The two lawyers, however, agreed on an 18-year parole eligibility period. The range for second-degree murder is 10 to a maximum of 25 years before an offender can apply.

McMahon said an aggravating factor of the crime was the fact Allen continued to see Gangaram.

While I recognize that the victim was also a party to the breach, nevertheless the accused elected to blatantly disregard the court order that was put in place to protect the victim, McMahon said.

Allen declined to address the court.

He sat in his wheelchair with his head bowed listening as Pecknold read a half dozen heart-wrenching victim impact statements from family members.

The identities of Gangarams three daughters are covered under a publication ban. They were 6, 8 and 14 when she was killed.

Only the eldest, who discovered her mothers body, read her statement.

Now 16, she described to a hushed court how the murder turned the familys world upside down, the tragedy made worse by the fact the killer was a father figure.

Losing my mom, my best friend, the only parent I had, losing my home, losing my self, I couldnt focus, I couldnt think straight, I couldnt go to school, she said reading from her victim impact statement.

I felt drained, weak and helpless. I felt like it was my fault. I felt like the whole world was crashing down on me, and at some points I couldnt breathe.

She also described the nightmarish experiences of being shuffled around in foster care. The first home was a living hell, where the girls suffered nightmares and anxiety and told no one else would want them. They are now with a loving and supportive family, the teen told court.

While every murder victim leaves behind devastated family members, McMahon said the impact on this family exceed what I have experienced in most of the tragic cases I have dealt with in my career as a judge.

He said it was completely incomprehensible that the girls ended up in the first foster home, but said hes relieved theyre now being cared for in a nurturing and loving environment.

The only silver lining in the case is the courage and resiliency of these three young people, McMahon said.

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The Toronto District School Board says it never discussed the implications of allowing an 11-year-old girl to speak to a barrage of reporters after she had made apparently false allegations her hijab had been cut, twice.

It was not part of the conversation, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird told the Star Tuesday.

The TDSB requires that parents or guardians give permission for a person under the age 18 to take part in a media event or availability. Its very important that parents and guardians are responsible for this approval, Bird said.

The 11-year-olds unusual appearance  victims of crime under the age of 18 are traditionally not identified by police or the media  was allowed by the consent of her mother, according to Ross Parry, TDSBs executive officer of government, public and community relations.

Parry said the 11-year-olds mother was asked if she would like to join TDSB spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz for a media appearance. Schwartz-Maltz explained who the media are, that they would be asking questions and that if the mother did not want to answer, she did not have to, Parry said.

Schwartz-Maltz, who stood beside the girl at the Friday appearance, declined requests for an interview.

At this point Im still not sure if Im going to speak further about it, she wrote in an email to the Star.

The mother was concerned for community safety and for her own personal despair for what had happened to the family, Parry said.

She asked her son and daughter if they wanted to join her, Parry said, and they did.

The Star has chosen not to name the girl.

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Shree Paradkar | A girls hijab story isnt true. But wed be fools to believe anti-Muslim hatred doesnt exist in Canada

Justin Trudeau was questioned over his response to an 11-year-old girls claim that a man cut her hijab, which police are now calling untrue. The prime minister says it's important to remind people Canada defends religious freedoms. (The Canadian Press)

At the Friday media event, held at the Pauline Johnson Junior Public School library, the girls mother told reporters she came immediately after getting a call from the school with news of the two alleged assaults against her daughter.

Crying, she expressed that she was glad her daughter was safe and that the community had been so supportive.

She wanted to address the media, Parry said. We have to take the parents lead on this  the parent wanted to speak to media, the parent then engaged with the children. That was between them.

Since Friday, the school has followed up with the family, Parry said. There is a crisis communication protocol for situations like this.

Bird said the TDSB is reviewing the day. As with any situation like this, well look at how the events unfolded to determine if any lessons can be learned, he said.

The TDSB dispatched Schwartz-Maltz after the initial Toronto Police tweet about the incident, which at 9.33 a.m. relayed a report of an assault at the school involving a man cutting off a students hijab.

We were quite shocked by it and very concerned, Parry said. When the school was mentioned in the tweet we all knew we had to have someone there right away.

By late afternoon, Toronto Police were investigating the incident as a suspected hate crime.

At no point did the TDSB call a press conference, Parry said. Schwarz-Maltz was made available Friday to assist school officials and speak on behalf of the board, he said.

Parry said the events that have unfolded since Friday have been unimaginable, and unlike anything the TDSB has dealt with.

I dont think we have anything to measure this against.

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Doug Ford says he will continue telling people he should be mayor of Toronto despite a warning from the city clerks office about premature campaigning.

Ford, who lost to John Tory in the 2014 mayoral election, and announced at his familys September Ford Fest gathering that he plans a 2018 rematch, called the warning unfair.

Theyre saying, You cant campaign, but Im going to let the mayor campaign on a daily basis,  Ford said, referring to the mayors steady stream of announcements, including some where he has said Toronto cant go back to the chaos of 2010 to 2014 when Doug Fords late brother Rob was mayor and Doug Ford, himself, was a city councillor.

Tory is out there full-swing campaigning, Ford said. I want to debate the guy before the election. Lets sit down. Theres no rule saying we cant debate. They debate every day at city hall. I want to debate with this guy. You can sell tickets, raise money for charity . . . I dont care, but I want to debate this guy.

Ulli Watkiss, Torontos city clerk, wrote to Doug Ford in September that a Torontonian had complained about his robocalls inviting people to the annual Ford Fest party in his mothers Etobicoke backyard. Ford confirmed before the event he would announce he intended to challenge Tory, but that was not in the robocall.

In the letter, first reported by The Globe and Mail, Watkiss warned Ford he cannot spend or raise any money to support your candidacy, including paying for robocalls, as that is a violation of the (Municipal Elections Act) provisions and she would take appropriate measures to maintain peace and order for the Oct. 22 election.

The Act says hopefuls cannot raise or spend campaign funds until they register as candidates.

Past Toronto campaigns started Jan. 1 of each election year, but the Ontario government shortened the campaign period so this year it doesnt start until May 1.

Ford, who has used news conferences, press releases and social media posts to paint Tory as an out-of-touch spender and king of congestion, said his candidacy is further hindered by a new provincial rule limiting candidates ability to self-finance campaigns, to a maximum $25,000 in the case of the Toronto mayors race.

Somebody wants to kneecap me, and meanwhile 99 people of out 100 think the (Toronto) election is already on and theyre confused with the provincial election, that will be held in June, Ford said.

Experts in municipal law said its within the city clerks right to warn potential candidates about the rules around timing, but its not clear that Ford promoting himself breaks the rules. (Overt campaign expenses such as a Vote Doug Ford billboard would.)

The Municipal Elections Act is silent with respect to promotional events or efforts that take place prior to nomination day, including events for the purpose of promoting public awareness of a candidate, said John Mascarin, a lawyer with Toronto firm Aird & Berlis.

But if he does make overt fundraising-type pleas, he will be offside (on) the MEA rules.

Eric Davis of Miller Thomson said the wording of a robocall could put potential candidates in hot water.

Depending on what he said, one might try to allege thats campaigning; you need to pay for robocalls, Davis said. Any candidate, including Doug Ford, has to be careful about spending money to campaign before the official period has commenced.

Don Peat, a spokesman for Tory, said that since beating Doug Ford in the last election, the mayor has worked hard to restore trust, accountability and integrity to the mayors office . . . .

There will be plenty of time for campaigning during the election period, and, come May 1, the Mayor will be ready to put his record of accomplishments and vision for the future up against Doug Fords plan to take the city backwards.

Read more

Ontario campaign rules

Doug Ford announces he wants a 2018 rematch with John Tory

Audit finds Rob Ford campaign overspent in 2010.

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Thousands of migratory birds make stopovers every spring and summer at the Toronto Islands as they travel throughout the continent. Now, one Toronto group wants the islands to become a full-fledged sanctuary.

The Toronto Field Naturalists is pushing for an official Bird Sanctuary designation for one of the citys main summer destinations.

Theyre counting on community support to gain the backing of city council, though the title is bestowed by Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Migratory Birds Convention Act.

Other places that have received this designation tend to be isolated, said Anne Purvis, a longtime Toronto birder and board member of the group. Toronto Islands is in a unique position to add an extra layer of protection against any damage on the natural habitat for these birds.

The group is collecting signatures through an online petition, and its members will go before the citys Parks and Environment Committee this Thursday. Councillor Joe Cressy is tabling a motion to support their request.

The official designation would better protect the birds and their habitat. Stricter regulations prohibit the theft, harm or destruction of the birds nests or eggs, backed up with fines under the Migratory Birds Act. Closer management of the area means improvements to infrastructure such as signage to limit damage.

There are more than 90 migratory bird sanctuaries across Canada, with only nine in Ontario and none in the Toronto area. The most recent is on Eleanor Island, a small rocky area in Lake Muskoka, which was designated in 1971.

Purvis said some of the most popular migratory birds such as hummingbirds, songbirds and birds of prey travel to Central and South America during winter months and return in summer for their mating season. Thats when they need extra protection as they fatten up and refuel for the next trip, she said.

There are some areas on the Toronto Islands that have become degraded over time as habitat, she said. What were hoping is that the designation will focus the attention of local environmental groups on fixing that habitat and keeping an eye on it.

Read more:

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Empty nest syndrome is a good feeling at wild animal care centre

Correction  January 18, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is in charge of the Migratory Birds Act.

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Federal prosecutors are on the case of a Progressive Conservative candidate election under criminal investigation amid allegations of forgery and fraud.

Ontarios Ministry of the Attorney General has asked the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to handle the matter that has been investigated by Hamilton Police since last June.

Thats to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest because the Liberal government could be perceived as looking into the rival Progressive sConservatives.

It is not the practice of the Ministry of the Attorney General to comment on the status of any ongoing investigation, unless and until a charge has been laid, the departments Emilie Smith said in an email.

In appropriate cases, the ministry may delegate legal authority over a matter to another prosecution service. In this case, the assistant deputy attorney general, criminal law division, has delegated legal authority over this matter to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, said Smith.

Nathalie Houle, a spokesperson for the PPSC, confirmed Wednesday that the legal authority of the prosecution function has been delegated to federal prosecutors, but could not comment on the legal status of the case.

The PPSC does not discuss which cases it may be reviewing, Houle said from Ottawa.

Hamilton Police said their investigation continues as the clock ticks down toward a provincial election in less than five months.

We are still working on the case, and there is no further information to provide at this time, said Hamilton Police Const. Lorraine Edwards.

Conservative officials declined to comment on Wednesday.

At issue is a disputed Tory candidate nomination last May in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas.

Following a raucous riding election meeting, Vikram Singh, a Hamilton lawyer and runner-up in the four-candidate contest, launched a civil action against the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario alleging wrongful insertion of false ballots.

Singh named Tory leader Patrick Brown, PC president Rick Dykstra, executive director Bob Stanley, and senior Brown aide Logan Bugeja in the suit.

The Conservatives deny any wrongdoing in the case and the allegations have not been proven in court.

Singh also filed a complaint with police and the criminal investigation is separate from the civil action.

Brown has emphasized that the Tories are co-operating with police.

Weve offered full disclosure. Our office disclosed everything that was asked he said last month, referring to two bankers boxes of documents handed over to police by the party on Oct. 27.

But Brown has denied anyone in his inner circle is subject to the police probe.

No one in my office, no one on my campaign team, no one in our headquarters, is under investigation, he said Dec. 1.

According to court documents filed by Hamilton Police in November, Det. Const. Adam Jefferess obtained an order of detention to allow for additional time to examine material obtained from the partys lawyer.

With an election set for June 7, the Tories are anxious for the matter to be resolved sooner rather than later.

Last month, New Democrat MPP Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay) asked Attorney General Yasir Naqvi to move the PC case out of Ontarios jurisdiction by passing it on to federal prosecutors.

That is what happened in the 2015 Sudbury byelection case that resulted in the acquittal of two Liberals and in the deleted documents trial expected to conclude with a verdict Friday in Toronto.

There are currently two top Liberal operatives waiting to hear the courts verdict . . . , Bisson said in December.

In that case, before any charges were laid, the attorney general made the decision to pass the case to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, he said.

We believe that was the right thing to do  and we believe its the right thing to do in the case of the Conservatives as well.

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LAS VEGASCharges could be filed in connection with the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, even though the gunman responsible for killing 58 people is dead, a lawyer for Las Vegas police told a judge Tuesday.

Attorney Nicholas Crosby did not identify new evidence or suspects but said charges might be possible depending on the results of an ongoing investigation.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the FBI have said they believe Stephen Paddock acted alone to carry out the Oct. 1 shooting that also injured hundreds before killing himself.

Read more:

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Could police have taken down the Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock sooner?

Without naming names, there are potential charges against others as a result of the ongoing investigation? Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish asked Crosby as he argued to keep police search-warrant records sealed.

Yes, said Crosby, who represents the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which Lombardo leads. There are charges being investigated.

The attorney declined outside court to say whom he referred to.

Mandalay Bay hotel guard Jesus Campos told Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show that he was heading down the hall after calling for a maintenance worker when he heard rapid fire gunshots. (Ellen DeGeneres / YouTube)

Officer Laura Meltzer, a Las Vegas police spokesperson, said the department is investigating possible criminal charges related to items discovered during the service of search warrants. She did not name a suspect and said she could not specify the type of charges or what was found without compromising the investigation.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault in Las Vegas declined to comment.

Federal court documents made public Friday showed that as of Oct. 6, the FBI considered Paddocks girlfriend, Marilou Danley, the most likely person who aided or abetted Stephen Paddock.

Danley, who was in the Philippines during the shooting, was questioned by the FBI after returning to the U.S. Lombardo and Aaron Rouse, FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said in October that Danley was not a suspect.

An FBI spokesperson said last week that she could not comment about Danley. Her lawyer, Matthew Lombard in Los Angeles, did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages Tuesday.

The judge Tuesday didnt order the Vegas police records released as requested by a lawyer for media organizations, including The Associated Press. Cadish said she might review the documents privately before making them public.

It only makes sense that a party who is arguing that something has to be kept secret cant fully explain in public why it has to be kept secret, she said.

A timeline of the shooting outside Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, which killed 58 people. (The Associated Press)

Media companies want the judge to release affidavits showing what police told state judges to obtain search warrants immediately after identifying Paddock as the man who opened fire from a 32nd-floor suite of a casino-hotel into a country music festival crowd below.

Officials have not said and records released so far dont show what motivated the 64-year-old high-stakes gambler to kill.

Paddock planned the attack meticulously and took many methodical steps to avoid detection of his plot and to thwart the eventual law enforcement investigation that would follow the shooting, one federal document said.

A U.S. judge on Friday unsealed more than 300 pages of FBI warrant records justifying searches of Paddocks properties in Reno and Mesquite, Nevada, along with vehicles and multiple email, Facebook and other internet accounts belonging to Paddock and Danley.

Danley told investigators that they would find her fingerprints on bullets used during the attack because she would sometimes help Paddock load high-volume ammunition magazines, according to the FBI records.

Other records showed that Danley received a wire transfer of money from Paddock while she was in the Philippines and that Danley deleted her Facebook account in the hours immediately after the shooting.

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COPENHAGENMore than 1,000 people, mostly teenagers, face preliminary charges of distributing child pornography after sharing videos and photos on social media, police said Tuesday.

Police say the material  featuring two 15-year-olds having sex  could constitute distribution of child pornography even though 15 is the age of consent in Denmark.

Flemming Kjaerside of the Danish national polices cybercrime unit told The Associated Press the bulk of those who face preliminary charges are under the age of 25, adding more preliminary charges may come as those who have requested the video may also be included.

Kjaerside said young people know it can have huge consequences to share such material, although he acknowledged they may not know it is a crime.

The case dubbed Umbrella was very large and complex, said Lau Thygesen, another police investigator. The spreading of such material must be stopped.

So far, 1,004 people across Denmark face preliminary charges  a step short of formal charges. If found guilty, they face fines, jail or they can be banned from working with children for a decade. Police said it could also mean problems when it comes to entering the United States.

Kjaerside declined to give details about the couple, saying they are victims who have been filmed.

Talking about those who distributed the material, he added, this is serious and it can have great consequences far into the future.

People who send this around should ask themselves is this morally acceptable, he told The Associated Press.

Made in 2015, the videos and photo had earlier circulated online, Kjaerside said. Last fall, they were shared through Facebooks Messenger chat platform, after which the social media informed U.S. authorities, which tipped off Denmark via Europol.

We have picked 10 cases that we would like to test before the city courts, Kjaerside said. With a little luck we may have it before city courts in a couple of months.

Read more: Police in 10 countries break up child porn network operating on WhatsApp

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WASHINGTONSeveral Democrats challenged Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday on her statements that she couldnt recall whether President Donald Trump used a vulgarity to refer to Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting on immigration.

You are under oath. You and others in the room suddenly cannot remember what the president said during Thursdays meeting in the Oval Office, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in an impassioned speech during a Senate judiciary committee hearing. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.

The president referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries during the meeting as shithole countries and said he preferred to receive immigrants from countries like Norway, according to Sen. Dick Durbin, who was at the meeting, and other people who were briefed on it afterward.

The furor over the presidents reported remarks has hardened positions on both sides, as Democrats seek to attach legislation shielding young immigrants from deportation to a must-pass government spending bill to avert a shutdown at the end of this week. Republican leaders in Congress are angling for another short-term funding measure to keep the government open. Democrats say its Trumps responsibility to end the stalemate.

Trump has denied using the vulgar word, and Nielsen said repeatedly Tuesday that she didnt hear the president say it.

I did not hear that word used, no sir, Nielsen said at the hearing. The conversation was very impassioned. I dont dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language.

In repeated questioning by Democrats on the judiciary panel, Nielsen said she didnt hear Trump say any other version of the vulgar word, though she acknowledged the president might have said it and she didnt hear it. Anything is possible, Nielsen said.

Booker said he was seething with anger at Trumps reported comments, saying that such statements give license to bigotry and hate in this country.

At the meeting on Thursday, Durbin and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina presented Trump a bipartisan proposal to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, known as dreamers.

Graham said Tuesday he wanted to know what happened to change Trumps mind from interest in the bipartisan compromise plan to heated opposition.

This has turned into an s---show and we need to get back to working together, Graham said.

I dont think the president was well served by his staff, Graham told reporters later outside the hearing room. I think somebody on his staff gave him really bad advice between 10 oclock to 12 oclock on Thursday.

Durbin told reporters outside the hearing room on Tuesday that Trump told him at 10 a.m. Thursday: I cant wait to hear whats involved in it. By the time of the meeting at noon, the senator said, someone on Trumps staff had invited other members of Congress who generally oppose all immigration reform. The idea was clearly to outnumber us and to kill our efforts.

Durbin said he suspected senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, a White House hardliner on immigration, had worked to tilt the meeting. Any effort to kill immigration reform usually has Mr. Millers fingerprints on it, so I wouldnt be a bit surprised if hes a part of this, Durbin said.

Trump decided in September to end Obama-era protections for the young immigrants, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, on March 5.

The Justice Department said Tuesday it will go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court to appeal a San Francisco federal judges Jan. 9 ruling that blocked Trumps decision to end the dreamer protections. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that it defies both law and common sense for a judge to issue a nationwide order. The Supreme Court rarely grants review without letting a federal appeals court consider an issue first.

Graham made a promise to the young immigrants Tuesday, saying, Were not going to leave you behind. I dont know how this movie ends, but youre going to be taken care of.

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SAO PAULO, BRAZILThe World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it now considers all of Sao Paulo state at risk for yellow fever, recommending that all international visitors to the state be vaccinated.

That puts the megacity of Sao Paulo on the list. But Brazils Health Ministry said in a statement that it was not changing its own recently updated map of at-risk areas, which includes only certain parts of the state and city. The ministry said that the WHOs more-cautious recommendation for foreigners was made in light of the fact that it is impossible to know where visitors might travel once they arrive in Sao Paulo state.

Antonio Nardi, a senior official at the ministry, later told reporters the WHO recommendation was the result of an excess of concern.

The announcement comes as an outbreak is gathering steam in Brazil during the Southern Hemisphere summer rainy season and just weeks ahead of Carnival, a major draw for foreign tourists. Nardi noted that most Carnival activities happen in cities, not in the forested areas that are of most concern, and so visitors should be safe.

Since July 2017, there have been 35 cases of yellow fever confirmed in Brazil, 20 of them in Sao Paulo state and three in Rio de Janeiro state, according to Health Ministry data released Tuesday. In all, 20 people have died. Yellow fever is spread by the same mosquito that transmits other tropical diseases, including Zika.

Much of Brazil is considered at risk for the virus, but a corridor along the coast was long considered largely safe. Last year, however, Brazil saw an unusually large outbreak of the disease, including in areas not previously thought to be at risk. More than 770 people were infected, and more than 250 died. In response, the WHO began expanding its map of areas of transmission, including adding all of Rio de Janeiro state.

Brazil rushed to vaccinate millions of people in a massive campaign last year, and it is continuing those efforts this year. Just last week, the Health Ministry announced that a new campaign would vaccinate nearly 20 million people in dozens of cities in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia states. Sao Paulo health authorities announced Tuesday they would start vaccinations a few days early and said the campaign would vaccinate about half of the states population by the end of next month.

Most of those people will receive a fractional dose of the vaccine  a strategy the WHO recommends to contain ongoing outbreaks that threaten to outrun vaccine supplies.

Nardi declined to say how many doses Brazil has in its strategic stocks, but he said the country has sufficient vaccine to vaccinate the entire Brazilian population if necessary. Brazil is a major producer of yellow fever vaccines, but last year it requested 3.5 million doses from international emergency stockpiles.

Brazilian authorities say studies have shown that a fractional dose is effective for at least eight years, though a WHO fact sheet only goes as far as saying it is effective for at least a year and likely longer. A full dose is generally considered effective for life.

Even before the WHO announcement, Brazilian media were reporting long lines at health centres in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday morning. Some people said they arrived hours before the centres opened to ensure they would get vaccinated.

There is no known treatment for yellow fever, and vaccination campaigns are considered crucial to containing outbreaks. Symptoms of the disease include fever, muscle pain, and nausea; some patients also experience abdominal pain, kidney problems and the jaundice from which the disease gets its name.

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BALTIMOREChelsea Mannings high-profile bid for the U.S. Senate threatens to upend the 2018 Maryland Democratic primary.

The former U.S. army private convicted of leaking over 700,000 classified documents has an uphill battle to defeat Sen. Ben Cardin. But Mannings international fame will almost certainly prevent the two-term senator from ignoring his primary challenger in the heavily Democratic state.

Cardin won the Senate seat in an open race in 2006 and hasnt faced a serious threat since. The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he plans to focus on his own candidacy and looks forward to a strong campaign against Manning or any other contenders.

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When asked specifically about Manning, Cardin said: Each person brings their unique qualifications. Im sure she will do what she needs to try and articulate those.

Already Mannings intention to compete against Cardin has generated headlines and international attention.

The transgender woman, known as Bradley Manning when she was convicted in 2013 of leaking a trove of classified documents, was released from military prison in May after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence to time served plus 120 days in the final days of his administration.

Todd Eberly, a political science professor at St. Marys College of Maryland, said Manning is sure to generate much media coverage due to her sheer notoriety but expects the political novice will face a tough time trying to chip away at Cardins support.

Its really hard to see how voters would cast him aside for someone who spent time in military prison for violating the Espionage Act. I mean, thats a lot to expect voters to be willing to do, Eberly said by phone Tuesday.

Eberly said Maryland has never been an unabashedly liberal blue state, describing it as a place with a tendency to be far more pragmatic when it comes to electing folks. It is home to numerous federal employees, including those at the headquarters of the U.S. National Security Agency in Fort Meade, and a Republican occupies the governors office.

Manning, 30, is already hinting at a no-holds-barred challenge. In a tweet, she called Tuesday for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies to be abolished, saying the reign of terror must end.

She confirmed on Sunday that shes a candidate for U.S. Senate, three days after making her intention known to federal election authorities. A campaign video on her Twitter page weaves together images of white supremacists holding tiki torches in Charlottesville, Va., as well as protesters clashing with police elsewhere.

We dont need more or better leaders, Manning said in the voice-over. We need someone willing to fight. We need to stop asking them to give us our rights. They wont support us. They wont compromise.

Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, was convicted in 2013 of leaking a trove of classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. She came out as transgender after being sentenced.

The Oklahoma native has been registered to vote in the Washington, D.C., suburb of North Bethesda since mid-August, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections.

Shes yet to file for the primary with the state elections board, which she must do in person by Feb. 27, according to the boards website.

Cardin has also yet to file. But campaign finance reports show that his organization had nearly $2 million (U.S.) cash on hand in late September.

A spokesman for Marylands Republican Party didnt return an email seeking comment about whether Mannings entry changes the GOPs electoral strategy. Currently, no Republican candidates have filed to run.

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ALEXANDRIA, VA.A former CIA officer has been arrested and charged with illegally retaining classified records, including names and phone numbers of covert CIA assets.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested Monday night after arriving at JFK International Airport. He made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in New York, but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located.

According to court documents, Lee, a Hong Kong resident, served in the CIA from 1994 to 2007 as a case officer. He worked in a variety of overseas offices and was trained in surveillance detection, recruiting and handlings assets and handling classified material, among other things.

A court affidavit states that in 2012, after Lee had left the CIA, he travelled from Hong Kong with his family to northern Virginia, where he lived from 2012 to 2013. When he flew to Virginia, for reasons that are not explained, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Lees luggage and hotel room. Agents found two small books with handwritten notes containing names and numbers of covert CIA employees and locations of covert facilities, according to the affidavit.

A CIA review of the information in the books found information at Secret and Top Secret levels of classification, according to the affidavit.

The eight-page FBI affidavit makes no allegations of espionage against Lee, only alleging illegal retention of documents. Any conviction on that offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The affidavit indicates Lee was interviewed five times by FBI agents in 2013, but never disclosed that he possessed the books.

Court records do not list an attorney for Lee.

Dean Boyd, a CIA spokesperson, declined to comment on the case Tuesday, citing Lees ongoing prosecution.

Court records indicate Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen and an Army veteran.

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TEMUCO, CHILEPope Francis took the Chilean state and the countrys largest Indigenous group to task Wednesday over their failure to forge a truly unified nation, saying the government must do more than just negotiate elegant agreements and radical Mapuche factions must stop violence.

Francis pointed homily in the heart of Chiles restive Araucania region came hours after two more churches and three helicopters were torched  attacks blamed on Mapuche radical groups demanding the return of ancestral lands and the release of Mapuche prisoners. No arrests have been made.

The outdoor Mass at the Maqueue Air Base was steeped in symbolism because of its own history: the land was taken from the Mapuche in the early 20th century and the location was also used as a detention and torture facility in the early years of Gen. Augusto Pinochets military dictatorship.

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3 Chile churches firebombed, threats made against Pope Francis ahead of his visit

Leading some 150,000 people in a moment of silent prayer, Francis said the fertile green fields and snow-capped mountains of the Mapuche heartland in Chiles southern Araucania region were both blessed by God and cursed by man, the site of grave human rights violations during the 1973-1990 dictatorship.

We offer this Mass for all those who suffered and died, and for those who daily bear the burden of those many injustices, he said.

Francis also referred to the recent violence that has flared in Araucania, Chiles poorest region, and beyond. No one has claimed responsibility for the 11 firebombs that have damaged, or in some cases, burned churches to the ground in several parts of Chile in recent days. Investigators have found pamphlets promoting the Mapuche cause at some of the torched churches and by the helicopters set ablaze overnight.

The Argentine Jesuit pope took radical factions to task, saying violence wasnt the answer to their grievances.

You cannot assert yourselves by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and division, he admonished in his homily. Violence begets violence, destruction increases fragmentation and separation. Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie.

At the same time, he demanded the government not just negotiate elegant agreements with Indigenous peoples, but actually implement them.

He called such accords that yield nothing a form of violence because it frustrates hope.

Tens of thousands of jubilant Chileans turned out in droves for Pope Francis' first public Mass, a huge gathering in the capital's O'Higgins Park. Demonstrators marching against poverty clashed with riot police as they attempted to reach the celebration. (The Associated Press)

After the Mass, Francisca Linconao, a Mapuche leader who has been implicated in the burning deaths of a couple in 2013, tried to approach Francis as he passed in his Popemobile, but police kept her away. She said she wanted to give him an open letter asking him to intervene in the long-standing conflict and proclaiming her innocence.

The pope could speak, could mediate in Araucania region about the situation of the Mapuche who are being incarcerated, Linconao told The Associated Press.

The Argentine pope is particularly attuned to Indigenous issues and their campaigns for recognition of their land, culture and traditions. He hopes to use his weeklong trip to Chile and Peru to put the issue on the global agenda and set the stage for a church meeting next year on the Amazon and native peoples who live there.

The Mass was replete with Mapuche cultural references and symbolism, with traditional music and prayers sprinkled throughout. The pope uttered Mapuche greetings throughout his homily.

The worlds first Latin American pope knows well the conflict-ridden modern history of his home continent: He was a young Jesuit superior during neighbouring Argentinas Dirty War, when thousands of suspected leftists were killed, imprisoned or disappeared at the hands of the military junta.

In Chile, the government estimates that 3,095 people were killed, including about 1,200 who were forcibly disappeared.

Some of them washed ashore along the river that runs through Maquehue, said Patricia Aravena, a 44-year-old secretary who said she grew up hearing stories from her parents and grandparents of the atrocities committed at the base.

My father-in-law told us that in 1973 the military entered the air base with trucks full of people and then left with them empty, she told AP. They would also hear shooting and would go to see bodies that were left on the riverbanks.

Francis gesture of celebrating Mass on the site of some of the militarys worst atrocities recalled St. John Paul IIs famous 1987 visit to Chile during the waning years of the Pinochet regime. In one of the most poignant moments of that trip, the Polish pope delivered a speech to young people gathered in Santiagos national stadium, which had been used as a detention and torture centre.

With the wounds of the regime still fresh, John Paul urged Chiles youth to look forward with hope, even from a place of pain and suffering.

Francis repeated those words Wednesday in his Mass, which began with Mapuche natives performing a traditional horn and drum ceremony at the altar as Francis and other priests looked on.

After the service, Francis had lunch with eight Mapuche, breaking bread over a sumptuous meal of mushroom ragout, octopus carpaccio, crab claws, osso buco with saffron rice and vegetables, and flan. They were joined by a woman the Vatican described as a victim of rural violence as well as a descendant of the German-Swiss colonizers who clashed for centuries with the Mapuche.

Francis had raised the plight of the Indigenous in his first speech on Tuesday to government authorities, urging Chileans to listen to Indigenous peoples who are often forgotten, whose rights and culture need to be protected lest that part of this nations identity and richness be lost.

His words were already reverberating among many in the Mapuche community when Francis celebrated the Mass on Wednesday.

The recognition (of the Mapuche people) has to come from the state and not from the church, said Daniel Antiman, a Mapuche representative.

How likely that is remains to be seen, as the conflict is one of Latin Americas longest involving Indigenous peoples. Their disputes date back to the late 19th century, when the Chilean military finally defeated the Mapuche, who had ferociously resisted Spanish and other European settlers for centuries.

Mapuche groups are pushing for ownership of ancestral lands, legal recognition of their language and culture, and a stop to discrimination that leaders say often makes them police targets.

While the vast majority of Chiles estimated 1 million citizens of Mapuche descent oppose violence, a small number rely on it to push their agenda.

In recent years dozens of churches have been targets. Outside one of the churches attacked last week, pamphlets extolling the Mapuche cause were found.

Some 4,000 police officers were deployed in Temuco, the Araucania capital, as protests were expected but largely failed to materialize.

I think many people were afraid to come out because of everything going on, said Karina Birchmeier, a housewife who attended the Mass with her daughter.

In recent decades, the Mapuche community has made significant strides. Some ancestral lands have been returned, though the program is controversial. University scholarships have been set aside for Mapuche young people and Mapuche foods and culture have become part of the mainstream.

Still, myriad problems persist and many Mapuche complain of discrimination.

Jackeline Martinez, a food worker who attended the Mass, said the conflict needs to be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Burning the churches is an embarrassment, she said. A church isnt to blame.

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Tuesdays Vancouver summit on North Korea underscores how impossibly difficult the standoff between Washington and Pyongyang has become.

The summit, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S., was billed as an attempt to reinject diplomacy into a situation that is becoming increasingly dangerous.

But in opening remarks by key foreign ministers from the 20 countries invited to Vancouver to deal with the crisis over North Koreas development of nuclear weapons, there was little talk of diplomacy.

In fact, both U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono lauded countries that have broken off diplomatic relations with the North, urging more to do the same.

Kono said it was naive to read too much into the Norths sudden decision to reopen talks with South Korea. Pyongyang, he said, was merely trying to drive a wedge between South Korea and its allies.

Even South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who lauded her countrys talks with the North as positive, insisted that unrelenting pressure on Pyongyang must continue.

And thats what this odd summit was about  pressure.

I say odd because the guest list made little practical sense. Belgium and Denmark were invited but not China and Russia  both of which have leverage over North Korea.

Most nations that contributed troops to the Souths side in the 1950-53 Korean War were represented in Vancouver, including Colombia and Greece. But Ethiopia, which had suffered 657 casualties in that war, was not.

Exactly why summit organizers thought it useful to revive even a portion of the old anti-Pyongyang Korean War alliance was never spelled out. But the general idea, it seems, was to convince as many nations as possible of the need to fully implement tough United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

A fully implemented sanctions regime, Tillerson said, could persuade the North to abandon its nuclear program.

His unspoken corollary was that if sanctions dont work, the U.S. will use military force to eliminate North Koreas nuclear weaponry.

To bolster sanctions, the U.S. is encouraging maritime nations to interdict ships believed to be carrying banned materials, such as fuel oil, to North Korea.

This is a tricky business. The latest UN Security Council resolution on North Korea permits any nation to stop, search and seize vessels believed to be carrying contraband  as long as they are in the seizing nations territorial waters.

But it does not authorize search and seizure on the high seas. That is, it does not authorize a full-scale naval blockade, which North Korea could legitimately call an act of war.

Last month, South Korea impounded two ships believed to have transported contraband fuel oil to North Korea. But it did so only after they had docked in South Korean ports.

A confrontation in international waters would have been considerably more provocative.

All of which is to say that the options open to those who would avoid war on the Korean Peninsula are not easy.

All agree that a negotiated solution is best. But the Americans will talk to the North only if it agrees to abandon its nuclear ambitions. And the North, mindful of what happened to other states that surrendered their weapons of mass destruction, will not do that.

Economic sanctions designed to force North Koreas compliance represent the second-best solution. But they work only if stringently applied. And truly stringent measures, such as a full-scale naval blockade, risk igniting the war the sanctions are designed to avoid.

In the end, only artful diplomacy of the sort that produced the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement can find a way past this logjam. The Vancouver summit was billed as a start along this road. It is not at all clear that it succeeded.

Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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With only months to go to a fall Quebec election, some of the Parti Quebecois best and brightest are rushing for the exit.

On Tuesday, three popular sovereigntist MNAs announced they would not seek re-election in October. The list of those who will watch from the sidelines as Jean-Francois Lisee fights his first election campaign as leader is expected to grow.

To a man and a woman those departing insist they had no quarrels with their latest leader. Instead they all claim to have lost the fire in their bellies.

Some of those who are taking their leave from politics have served in the National Assembly for decades. A credible case can be made that they are suffering from battle fatigue and that the latter is exacerbated by the prospect of a return to the opposition benches next fall.

But the list of those leaving also includes 40-year-old Alexandre Cloutier, a rare, bright young star in a party that has become too dependent for its own good on the support of aging baby-boomers.

The next question for the PQ to struggle with is whether a leader who fails to motivate his caucus is liable to do well in a general election.

The year-end polls on Quebec voting intentions put the PQ in third place, far behind the leading Coalition Avenir Quebec and the ruling Liberals.

Lisee, who has been leader for little more than a year, has so far failed to make a positive impression on most voters.

On his watch, PQ fortunes have declined steadily to the point that there is now open speculation that Quebecs premier sovereigntist party is in a death spiral.

In that perspective there are those who see the departing Cloutier as Quebecs version of Emmanuel Macron  the French president who broke the mould of Frances politics by leading a breakaway movement to power.

No one seems to believe the repeat leadership candidate is done with politics, starting with his mother, who is convinced her son has not given up on his ambition to become premier.

What is certain is that with Cloutier and others sitting out the next campaign, the PQ is poised to enter an uphill election campaign under an unpopular leader backed by the partys weakest-ever team of incumbents.

To measure just how weak that team has become, consider that of the front-line candidates who sought to succeed Pauline Marois after she led the party to defeat four years ago, only Lisee will be on the ballot next fall.

Pierre Karl Peladeau  the media tycoon who was Marois immediate successor  led the party for less than a year before abruptly leaving politics for family reasons.

Bernard Drainville  the former lead minister on the controversial secularism charter  is now ensconced in the pundit niche that used to be occupied by the late Jean Lapierre.

Martine Ouellet has moved on to the Bloc Quebecois. She has been leading the federal party  if you can call it that  from an independent seat in the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, Lisee put a brave face on the imminent departure of his prominent battle-tested colleagues, pointing out that more than half a dozen Liberal incumbents are also contemplating retirement.

But it is the PQ that polls suggest is at risk of being edged out of the next election battle and potentially out of Quebecs political mainstream.

The party used to be the provinces progressive beacon and a hotbed of innovative social policies. But over the past decade, it has become increasingly preoccupied with being overtaken on the right by the CAQ.

It was to fend off the Coalition Avenir Quebec that the PQ came up with the secularism charter and that only managed to create deep divisions within the partys own ranks. Cloutier, for one, had no time for the kind of identity politics promoted by Marois and Lisee. The adventure also went a long way to cut the PQ off from the younger cohort of voters.

To wit: It was not that long ago that a critical number of federalist voters would disregard the PQs sovereignty creed to support its progressive agenda. These days, the reverse is happening with scores of otherwise sovereigntist voters casting ballots for federal parties such as the NDP and more recently Justin Trudeaus Liberals on account of their progressive policies.

It is undoubtedly hard to have the stomach for an election battle when ones party is running on empty.

Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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No one knows why Derek Saretzky, 24, strangled cheerful little Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, drank her blood, and ate part of her heart. He had killed Hanne Meketech, 69, five days before, went to the home of Terry Blanchette, slit his throat, and took his 2-year-old daughter away with him to a campsite where he eventually burned her body.

In his kill list, the Lethbridge killer had referred to Hailey as the hideous baby. The 2015 killings were separate and planned. Saretzkys motive remains unknown.

What is to be done with men like Saretzky? Before the Conservative government changed the law in 2011, he would have been sentenced concurrently for the killings, possibly serving 25 years and being released. But he was sentenced consecutively, 25 years for each murder, and will probably die in jail.

So was Douglas Garland of Airdrie, Alta., who in 2014 tortured and killed Alvin and Kathy Liknes and their beautiful 5-year-old grandson, Nathan. So was Justin Bourque, the Moncton man who slaughtered three RCMP officers and wounded two others in 2014.

Concurrent sentences had always seemed like a Get Out of Jail Free card for killers. Ive killed one, the second is free, and the toddler is just for fun. I dont know if killers consider the consequences of killing methodically, but perhaps they will now. Why didnt Saretzky spare Hailey? Two-year-olds are not great witnesses. But he wanted to eat her small heart.

Saretskys lawyer is appealing the conviction and the sentence, basically on all grounds, which seems dubious, but he calls the 75-year sentence cruel and unusual. A lawyer in a Quebec triple-murder case also hopes to challenge the law in the Supreme Court of Canada.

There are three camps on criminal sentencing: one says jail should rehabilitate; another says it should punish; and a third says it should do both.

Canadians agree that capital punishment is intolerable. All we have left is imprisonment. Were Saretzky, Garland and the six other Canadian men facing similarly long sentences over-punished?

At some point the Supreme Court of Canada may have to deal with this. Remember, hard cases (think of Hailey and Nathan) will make bad law.

For catastrophic over-punishment, we naturally turn to the U.S. where, as the Stars Daniel Dale reports, a Black man was sentenced to six life sentences plus 118 years for a no-injury holdup at age 15 in which he stole $65, two phones and three joints. The Democratic governor of Virginia has just partially pardoned him. He will stay in jail another two years.

In the U.S., they call it charge stacking. As an Ohio study from the Center for Prison Reform explains it, prosecutors try to interpret one crime as several. For example, a California man was charged with 170 counts of misdemeanour because 170 of his goats wandered into a neighbours property. He faced 60 years in prison before the charges were dropped.

This is different from the infamous three strikes and youre out. Its the splitting of one crime into three, which means three separate punishments, no matter how simultaneous and minor those crimes might have been. The American legal system is punitive to a distorting extent; its like placing the convicted before a funhouse sentencing mirror.

The patchwork of law across the U.S. is chaotic but overwhelmingly punitive. Rehabilitation is not the primary goal. It sometimes seems that American prisons are designed to appall, so that released prisoners will follow the law out of sheer terror. Good luck with that.

But rehabilitation is an absurd question in the cases of these men. Jailing Saretzky and Garland for life is simply a statement that Canada values little children and cannot risk their lives. Justice William Tilleman said he hoped one day Saretzky would gain some insight and an understanding of the value of human life. A sentence of jail is not a sentence of vengeance.

In these cases, it becomes apparent neither punishment nor attempts at rehabilitation achieve anything for us, the victims or the killer. The deeds were done, the children remain lifeless and dishonoured, and a regretful killer will still not welcome 75 years of thinking sorrowfully about the child. He does not care. We are frozen.

Correction  January 18, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said a California man who was charged with 170 counts of misdemeanour because 170 of his goats wandered into a neighbours property got 60 years.

hmallick@thestar.ca

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The State of Washington has a cannabis problem.

But it's not addiction or even the black market. It's that they've got too much weed and not enough places to legally sell it.

According to cannabis-focused research firm Straight Line Analytics founder Dr. Jim MacRae, the October 2017 outdoor harvest was the state's biggest to date and will mean a 60% larger supply from a year earlier.

Oversupply from that bumper crop would generate sufficient concern on its own. But in Washington, it's paired with a significant shortage of retail outlets for farmers to legally sell their wholesale flower.

As of September there were just under 400 stores operating with more than $1,000 in business per year, MacRae told TheStreet.

After previously medical-only "green cross" stores were rolled into regulation under Washington's Senate Bill 5052, the cannabis patient protection act, there were 556 locations selling retail cannabis legally. MacRae called that figure "grossly inadequate."

As a result of strict regulation, "hot spots" of sorts have popped up in the state, MacRae said. Moratoriums and local bans in cities and counties mean the supply of legal, available retail weed is concentrated in patches where sellers have an easier time complying with local law.

"Geographic access around the state is fairly spotty," MacRae said.

For instance, if a retailer hears that a specific neighborhood on the outskirts of a large city makes the wholesale selling process easier, they'll set up shop there. But so will countless others. That creates patches of availability so fraught with oversupply that even disproportionate demand couldn't bring the market to equilibrium.

According to MacRae, the nearly 1,170 farms licensed to sell the record-setting fall cannabis harvest to retailers in Washington isn't the real issue. Rather, it's the unreliable regulation in the state.

"The local obstructionism has been a problem," MacRae said. "It's really caused a clustering."

MacRae would know -- he applied for a farm license but found the process unnecessarily convoluted.

The licensing process creates a high barrier to entry for retail outlets. And limited access to legal retail has made it difficult for those who want to buy cannabis to do so.

"There are not enough stores from a consumer perspective," MacRae said.

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When asked if he thought there was, in fact, an oversupply, MacRae responded, "relative to the access points out there? They've narrowed the funnel so much that I would say yes."

The fall harvest in Washington could risk not selling at all if farmers can't get the bumper crop to licensed retailers throughout the state. In the "islands" of retail ease, there's a significant oversupply that's driven down the cost farmers can ask for their flower.

Of primary concern for many who've piled into the legal weed market were reports that licensed processors selling their harvest to retail were getting just $1 per gram wholesale.

For reference, the average wholesale selling price for the first half of 2017 across the 10 top-selling strains was $6.25, according to BDS Analytics. That would mean as much as an 84% decline in prices per gram in the state for some growers -- a significant issue if true.

In the 12 months ended March 2017, flower sales increased 57% year-over-year to $455 million in Washington. At the same time, prices declined 23% while the volume of sales increased 105%. Farmers are selling more, but they're also growing more.

It's worth noting that while some producers are forced to accept as little as $1 per gram for some strains, it's not the norm across the industry. Less than 9% of the legal cannabis sold into retail in the third quarter of 2017 was sold for less than $1, MacRae said.

But for that percentage forced to accept shrinking prices for flower in a boom year, oversupply could put them out of business.

They're getting "damn close" to the cost of production, MacRae said.
Russias leading airline Aeroflot announced it will start operating flights to Cairo again for the turn of next month in a move that confirms resumption of regular air traffic between the two countries nearly three years after Moscow suspended flights to and from Egypt.

Aeroflots boss Vitaly Savelyev told local news agency TASS that the airline is waiting for security protocol to be signed before it takes off to Egypt.

We are preparing now and hope to sign a security protocol. Our security functions are working in cooperation with Cairo services. We can actually start flights in late February, if all security papers are signed, he said.

We must be sure that security in Cairo is at a high level, he added.

Russia in 2015 suspended all flights to and from Egypt after Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 was brought down few minutes after taking off from the Red Sea city of Sharm el Sheikh to St Petersburg, with 244 people on board. Most victims were Russian holidaymakers.

The ban has been contingent on security improvement at Egypts airports. Egyptian authorities spent millions of dollars to meet Russian demands.

Cairo has been pushing for resumption of the air traffic between the two countries. Russian tourists represent Egypts largest chunk of global tourists.

Egypts flag carrier, EgyptAir expects to operate three weekly flights to Moscow once the security protocol is signed.
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Ltd., Schneller LLC, Schneller S.A.R.L., Schroth Safety Products, Semco Instruments, Semco Instruments Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Signal Processing Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Skandia, Skandia Inc., Skurka Aerospace, Skurka Aerospace Inc., Symetrics Industries, Symetrics Industries LLC, Symetrics Technology Group LLC, TA Aerospace Co., TA Mfg Limited, TDG Bavaria GmbH, TDG ESL Holdings Inc., TDG France Ultimate Parent SAS, TDG Germany GmbH, TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc., TEAC Aerospace Technologies Inc., Tactair Fluid Controls Inc., Takata Protection Systems, Telair International, Telair International GmbH, Telair International Services PTE Ltd, Telair US LLC, TransDigm (Barbados) SRL, TransDigm Canada ULC, TransDigm European Holdings Limited, TransDigm Ireland Ltd., TransDigm Receivables LLC, TransDigm Technologies India Private Limited, TransDigm UK Holdings plc, Transicoil (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad, Transicoil LLC, Wallop Defence UK Limited, Weston Aerospace Ltd, Whippany Actuation Systems, Whippany Actuation Systems LLC, XCEL Power Systems Ltd., Young & Franklin, Young & Franklin Inc., and exas Rotronics Inc..

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Weatherford International plc, an oilfield service company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere. It offers artificial lift systems, including reciprocating rod, progressing cavity pumping, gas, hydraulic, plunger, and hybrid lift systems, as well as related automation and control systems; pressure pumping and reservoir stimulation services, such as acidizing, fracturing and fluid systems, cementing, and coiled-tubing intervention; and drill stem test tools, and surface well testing and multiphase flow measurement services. The company also provides safety, downhole reservoir monitoring, flow control, and multistage fracturing systems, as well as sand-control technologies, and production and isolation packers; liner hangers to suspend a casing string in high-temperature and high-pressure wells; cementing products, including plugs, float and stage equipment, and torque-and-drag reduction technology for zonal isolation; and pre-job planning and installation services. In addition, it offers directional drilling services, and logging and measurement services while drilling; services related to rotary-steerable systems, high-temperature and high-pressure sensors, drilling reamers, and circulation subs; managed pressure drilling, conventional mud-logging, drilling instrumentation, gas analysis, wellsite consultancy, and open hole and cased-hole logging services; reservoir solutions and software products; and intervention and remediation services. Further, the company provides equipment and drilling tools; tubular handling, management, and connection services; equipment rental services; and onshore contract drilling and related services through a fleet of land drilling and workover rigs. Weatherford International plc was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.
The United States has cut off part of its annual donation to the UN Relief & Work Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) arguing that it expects reforms be made to the agency before making full contribution.

The State Department has withheld $65 million of $125 million planned for this year as US contribution to the UNRWA in a move that translates President Donald Trumps early January threats to cut funding to the UN agency.

The UN agency has been providing relief and social services since 1950 to millions of Palestinians spread across the Middle East, including Gaza, occupied West Bank, Syria and Jordan.

The State Department argues that the UN agency is ill-manned in the way it operates and is funded.

We would like to see some reforms be made, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, pointing out that the cut was a punishment to the agency.

The US official also noted that Washington expects other countries to contribute as much as the US to the agency.

We dont believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States responsibility, she said.

The United States has been UNRWAs single largest donor for decades. In years past, we contributed some 30 percent of UNRWAs total income, another US official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

He claims that the US contribution is critical to the agencys survival.

Without the funds we are providing today, UNRWA operations were at risk of running out of funds and closing down. The funds provided by the United States will prevent that from happening for the immediate future.

President Trump in a series of tweets on January 2 slammed Palestinians for obstructing his administration-renewed peace efforts following his December decision declaring Jerusalem capital of Israel.

The US leader said that America was not getting any appreciation or respect from Palestinians despite US donations.

But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?

UN Chief Antonio Guterres said he was not aware of the US planned cut but warned that the agency provides vital services.

UNRWA Chief, Pierre Krahenbuhl in a statement from the UN headquarters indicated that the cut impacts regional security at the time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization.

He called for global generosity to make up for the loss of US support.
First Republic Bank was founded by Jim Herbert with the intention of providing exceptional levels of customer service. It was his belief that customer service would set the bank apart and create a profitable investment for its shareholders. After 35 years, his vision has proven true with a 25% CAGR that continues to this day. The initial enterprise value has grown from only $8.8 million in that time, to over $19 billion making it the 14th largest bank in the US. First Republic Bank was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

First Republic Bank with its subsidiaries operates in two segments and provides personal banking, business banking, and wealth management services to individuals, families, organizations, and small businesses in the United States. The companys services are available in-person at one of the more than 80 offices or via ATM, online, mobile, and debit cards.

The company offers deposit products including checking and saving accounts, money market, and CDs as well as a range of lending products. The full range of lending products includes but is not limited to residential mortgages, home equity lines of credit, commercial real estate and construction loans, and personal and business loans.

The companys wealth management services include advisory services, online investment management, trusts, estate planning, and alternative investments as well as insurance and foreign exchange. The online brokerage service is available to all clients and can be accessed at any time via a web browser or mobile device.

First Republic Bank operates a network of more than 80 deposit-taking branches and 12 wealth management offices. The network is located primarily in California with additional branches in major metropolitan areas and two destination locations that include Portland, Boston, Palm Beach, Greenwich, New York, and Jackson, Wyoming.

First Republic Bank has proven its worth over the year by maintaining a consistently strong capital level, asset quality, and liquidity position. Its prudent management has allowed it to weather market ups and downs while commanding investment grade ratings for its bonds and preferred stock.
The following companies are subsidiares of Molina Healthcare: Aetna & Humana - Medicare Advantage, Affinity Health Plan, AmericanWork Inc., Better Health Network, Camelot Care Centers Inc, Children's Behavioral Health Inc., Choices Group Inc., College Community Services, Dockside Services Inc, Family Preservation Services Inc., Family Preservation Services of Florida Inc., Family Preservation Services of North Carolina Inc., Family Preservation Services of Washington D.C. Inc., Family Preservation Services of West Virginia Inc., Florida NetPASS LLC, Hclb Inc., Magellan Complete Care, Maple Star Nevada Inc., Maple Star Oregon Inc., Mercy CarePlus, Molina Clinical Services LLC, Molina Healthcare Data Center Inc., Molina Healthcare of Arizona Inc., Molina Healthcare of California, Molina Healthcare of Florida Inc., Molina Healthcare of Georgia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Illinois Inc., Molina Healthcare of Iowa Inc., Molina Healthcare of Louisiana Inc., Molina Healthcare of Maryland Inc., Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., Molina Healthcare of Mississippi Inc., Molina Healthcare of Nevada Inc., Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc., Molina Healthcare of New York Inc., Molina Healthcare of North Carolina Inc., Molina Healthcare of Ohio Inc., Molina Healthcare of Oklahoma Inc., Molina Healthcare of Pennsylvania Inc., Molina Healthcare of Puerto Rico Inc., Molina Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, Molina Healthcare of Texas Inc., Molina Healthcare of Texas Insurance Company, Molina Healthcare of Utah Inc., Molina Healthcare of Virginia Inc., Molina Healthcare of Washington Inc., Molina Healthcare of Wisconsin Inc., Molina Holdings Corporation, Molina Hospital Management LLC, Molina Information Systems LLC dba Molina Medicaid Solutions, Molina Medical Management Inc., Molina Pathways LLC, Molina Pathways of Texas Inc., Molina Youth Academy, NextLevel Health Illinois, Pathways Community Corrections Inc., Pathways Community Services LLC, Pathways Community Support of Texas Inc., Pathways Health and Community Support LLC, Pathways Human Services LLC., Pathways of Arizona Inc., Pathways of Delaware Inc., Pathways of Idaho LLC, Pathways of Maine Inc., Pathways of Massachusetts LLC, Pathways of Oklahoma Inc., Pathways of Washington Inc., Providence Community Services, Providence Human Services, Raystown Developmental Services Inc., The Game of Work LLC, The RedCo Group Inc., Total Care Medicaid plan, Transitional Family Services Inc., Unisys -Health Information Management, and YourCare Health Plan.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Amphenol: ARCAS Automotive Group (Luxco 1) S.a.r.l., AUXEL FTG, AUXEL FTG India Pvt Ltd., AUXEL FTG Shanghai Co., AUXEL S.A.S., Air LB International Development S.A., All Systems Broadband, Amphenol (Changzhou) Advanced Connector Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Connector Systems Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Maryland), Amphenol (Ningde) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Qujing) Technology Co., Amphenol (Tianjin) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Xiamen) High Speed Cable Co., Amphenol Adronics, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Germany GmbH, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Puerto Rico, Amphenol Air LB GmbH, Amphenol Air LB North America Inc., Amphenol Air LB SAS, Amphenol Alden Products Company, Amphenol Alden Products Mexico, Amphenol Antenna Solutions, Amphenol Assemble Tech (Xiamen) Co., Amphenol Australia Pty Ltd, Amphenol Automotive Connection Systems (Changzhou) Co., Amphenol Bar-Tec, Amphenol Benelux B.V., Amphenol Borisch Technologies, Amphenol CNT (Xian) Technology Co. Ltd., Amphenol Cables On Demand Corp., Amphenol Canada Acquisition Corporation, Amphenol Canada Corp., Amphenol Comercial, Amphenol Commercial Interconnect Korea Co., Amphenol Commercial Products (Chengdu) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Commercial and Industrial UK, Amphenol ConneXus AB, Amphenol ConneXus Ou, Amphenol Custom Cable, Amphenol DC Electronics, Amphenol Daeshin Electronics and Precision Co., Amphenol EEC, Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Amphenol East Asia Limited, Amphenol FCI, Amphenol FCI Asia Pte. Ltd., Amphenol FCI Connectors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Fiber Optic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Finland Oy, Amphenol France Acquisition SAS, Amphenol France SAS, Amphenol Germany GmbH, Amphenol Gesellschaft m.b.H., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Baicheng) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Yulin) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Holding UK, Amphenol Intercon Systems, Amphenol Interconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Interconnect Products Corporation, Amphenol Interconnect South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Amphenol International Ltd., Amphenol Invotec Limited, Amphenol Italia S.r.l., Amphenol JET (Haiyan) Interconnect Technology Co., Amphenol Japan Ltd., Amphenol Kai-Jack (Shenzhen) Inc., Amphenol LTW Technology Co., Amphenol Limited, Amphenol MCP Korea Limited, Amphenol Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol Middle East Enterprises FZE, Amphenol Nelson Dunn Technologies, Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 1 B.V., Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 2 B.V., Amphenol Omniconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Optimize Manufacturing Co., Amphenol Optimize Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol PCD, Amphenol PCD (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Phitek Limited, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Amphenol Provens SAS, Amphenol RF Asia Limited, Amphenol Sensing Korea Company Limited, Amphenol Shouh Min Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Socapex SAS, Amphenol Sunpool (Liaoning) Automotive Electronics Co., Amphenol T&M Antennas, Amphenol TCS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol TCS Ireland Limited, Amphenol TCS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol TFC Fios E Cabos do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol TFC MDE Participacoes Ltda., Amphenol TFC do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol Taiwan Corporation, Amphenol Technical Products International Co., Amphenol Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Technology (Zhuhai) Co., Amphenol Technology Macedonia Dooel Kocani, Amphenol Tecvox LLC, Amphenol Tel-Ad Ltd., Amphenol Thermometrics, Amphenol Thermometrics (UK) Limited, Amphenol Times Microwave Electronics (Shanghai) Limited, Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH, Amphenol Tuchel Industrial GmbH, Amphenol Tunisia LLC, Amphenol USHoldco Inc., Amphenol-Borg Limited, Amphenol-Borg Pension Trustees Limited, Amphenol-TFC (Changzhou) Communication Equipment Co., Anytek Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, Anytek International (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Anytek International Co. Ltd., Anytek Technology Corporation Ltd, Asia Connector Services, Berg UK Ltd., Blueline Product Limited, C&S Antennas, C&S Antennas Limited, CSA Limited, Casco Automotive (Suzhou) Co., Casco Automotive Group, Casco Automotive Singapore Pte., Casco Automotive Tunisia S.a.r.l., Casco Holdings Co. Limited, Casco Holdings GmbH, Casco Imos Italia S.r.l., Casco Logistics GmbH, Casco Products Corporation, Casco Schoeller GmbH, Casco do Brasil Ltda., Cemm Thome Corporation, Cemm Thome SK, Cemm-Mex, Changzhou Amphenol Fuyang Communication Equipment Co., ContactServe (Proprietary) Limited, East Asia Connector Services, Edwin Deutgen Kunstofftechnik GmbH, Ehrlich Werkzeug & Geratebau GmbH, FCI Besancon SA, FCI Connectors (Shanghai) Ltd., FCI Connectors Canada, FCI Connectors Dongguan Ltd, FCI Connectors Hong Kong Limited, FCI Connectors Italia S.r.l., FCI Connectors Korea Ltd., FCI Connectors Malaysia Sdn Bhd, FCI Connectors Sweden A.B., FCI Connectors UK Ltd., FCI Deutschland GmbH, FCI Electronics Hungary Kft, FCI GBS India Private Limited, FCI Japan K.K., FCI Nantong Ltd, FCI OEN Connectors Limited, FCI PRC Limited, FCI Taiwan Limited, FCI USA LLC, FCIs-Hertogenbosch B.V., FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna GmbH & Co. KG, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna Verwaltungs GmbH, Fiber Systems International, Filec Production SAS, Filec SAS, Friedrich Gohringer Elektrotechnik GmbH, GE - Advanced Sensors Business, Guangzhou Amphenol Electronics Co., Guangzhou Amphenol Sincere Flex Circuits Co., Guangzhou FEP Automotive Electric Co., Hangzhou Amphenol JET Interconnect Technology Co., Hangzhou Amphenol Phoenix Telecom Parts Co., Holland Electronics, Intelligente Sensorsysteme Dresden GmbH, Invotec Circuits Holdings Limited, Invotec Circuits Limited, Invotec Group Limited, Invotec Holdings Limited, Ionix Aerospace Limited, Ionix Holdings Limited, Ionix Systems Limited, Ionix Systems Ou, Jaybeam Limited, Jaybeam Wireless SAS, KE Elektronik GmbH, KE Ostrov  Elektrik, KE Presov Elektrik, Konnektech, Kunshan Amphenol Zhengri Electronics Co., LPL Technologies Holding GmbH, LTW Technology (Samoa) Co., LTW Top Tech (Samoa) Co., Lectric SARL, Martec Limited, Mocorp Holding A/S, Nantong Docharm Amphenol Electronics Co., PROCOM, PT Casco SEA, PerLoga Personal und Logistik GmbH, Piezotech, Piher Sensors & Controls S.A., Piher Sensors And Controls, Precision Cable Manufacturing Corp. de Mexico, Procom A/S, Procom Antennas AB, Procom France SARL, Pyle-National Ltd., RSI International Limited, S.C.I. Palin, SEFEE SA, SGX Europe SP. z.o.o., SGX Sensortech (IS) Limited, SGX Sensortech China Holdco Limited, SGX Sensortech China Limited, SGX Sensortech GmbH, SGX Sensortech SA, SSI Control Technologies, STEMFI SA, SV Microwave, Shanghai Amphenol Airwave Communication Electronics Co., Shanghai Amphenol Electronics Technology Co., Shanghai Tecvox Trading Co., Shenyang Amphenol Sunpool Automotive Electronics Co., Sine Systems Corporation, Skymasts Antennas Ltd., Societe dEtudes et de Fabrications Electroniques et Electriques, Spectra Strip Limited, TCS Japan K.K., TFC South America S.A., Tecvox Europe S.r.l., Telect, Telect Mfg., Telect de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Teradyne Connection Systems, Thermometrics Mexico, Tianjin Amphenol KAE Co., Times Fiber Canada Limited, Times Fiber Communications, Times Microwave Systems, Times Wire and Cable Company, U-Jin Cable Industrial Co., Zhongshan Feisaide Electromechanical Co., and i2s-sensors.

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Ailing Zimbabwes main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai will be the presidential flag bearer of the MDC Alliance in the forthcoming presidential elections in the Southern African nation, the coalition said on Tuesday.

The MDC Alliance includes the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncubes MDC (Movement for Democratic Change -N), Transform Zimbabwe of Jacob Ngarivhume; Zanu Ndonga headed by Denford Masiyarira and the Multi-Racial Christian Democrats led by Mathias Guchutu.

The alliance, in a statement released on Tuesday, said despite the current condition of Tsvangirai, campaigns will kick off this week and rallies will be addressed by the key principals of the alliance.

Tsvangirai is currently in South Africa where he is receiving medical attention for cancer of the colon, a condition the 65 year old publicly declared in 2016.

In 2008, Tsvangirai won a popular vote, and after a six-week delay, the results were announced showing that he did not garner enough votes for an outright victory.

The ensuing presidential election run-off was, however, marred by several irregularities  including acts of intimidation and violence against his supporters.

The former trade unionist was forced to withdraw, and the international community backed him, forcing Mugabe into a coalition government.
A man accused of incest and another wanted for domestic violence-related crimes are part of the Warrant Wednesday initiative by the State Police.

Anyone with information should contact the local State Police or email Crimetip@troopers.ny.gov.

Davon M. Olin, 26, is wanted by the State Police and the town of Somers Court in Westchester County following a domestic dispute in which he strangled the victim and then fled through a window to evade arrest. He is wanted on charges of strangulation, obstruction of governmental administration, criminal trespass, false impersonation and menacing. Olin has three active warrants for his arrest from New York City. Olin, also known as "Day Day," is thought to live in the Bronx and has connections to Pennsylvania and Florida.

Adam J. Colson, 34, is wanted on an arrest warrant issued in January from the town of Stony Creek for burglary for a November 2017 incident in which he entered a home and stole tools. He is believed to live in the Warren County area.

Nicole A. Harrigan, 41, is wanted by the Plattsburgh Town Court on a bench warrant for failure to meet the terms of her pre-trial release following her arrest on grand larceny charges. Harrigan was originally arrested for stealing over $1,000 worth of merchandise from Dick's Sporting Goods in Plattsburgh in October 2017. Harrigan has a tattoo on her neck that says "Donnie." She may be in Arizona.

Edward Kwiatkowski, 76, is wanted by State Police on an active arrest warrant out of the town of Yates in Yates County issued on Sept. 27, 2017. Kwiatkowski owns JR Construction and took payment to build a barn and did not complete the project.

Laquesha McCullough, 26, is wanted by State Police on an arrest warrant issued Nov. 26, 2017, from Onondaga County Court. McCullough is wanted for cashing a forged check for $2,000 at a bank in Syracuse on April 24, 2017. She faces a charge of possession of a forged instrument.

Thea M. Prunier, 45, is wanted by State Police on a bench warrant for driving while intoxicated. On June 7, 2009, Prunier was driving on the Thruway in the Finger Lakes region when she was stopped by State Police, who determined she was intoxicated.

Akeem Simon, 23, is wanted on a city of Rochester warrant for his arrest on a charge of unlawful possession of marijuana. Simon was stopped for a traffic violation on State Route 104 at Carter Street and subsequently arrested. He is believed to live in Syracuse.
The contrast couldn't have been sharper: In 2009, as Iranians took to the street, they chanted, "Obama, Obama, either you're with us or against us," but President Barack Obama remained silent.

Eight years later, as Iranians again took to the streets, President Donald Trump tweeted up a storm. "Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever," he tweeted. "The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years TIME FOR CHANGE!" Whose strategy was right?

The answer is clear: Trump's. The United States should never apologize for standing up for freedom and liberty. True, the protests were neither caused by nor about America but that does not mean Washington should be silent.

The political disagreements on the issue today result from a combination of anger about Trump's ill-character and historical ignorance.

The United States has long both opposed tyranny and sacrificed to provide moral support for those suffering under it.

During the Cold War, American trade unions opposed communism and spoke out for democracy. Vice President Nixon's 1959 "Kitchen Debate" with Khrushchev resonated because he so clearly identified communism's failures.

At the height of the Cold War, President Ronald Reagan shocked Western leaders and diplomats when he called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire."

His aides tried repeatedly to strike "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" from his speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. Only after the Soviet Union's collapse were those suffering under its tyranny able to testify how his words were like a shot of adrenaline in a dark hour.

True, in some circles, the practicalities of diplomacy trump broader principle.

Both Democrats and Republicans mocked President George H.W. Bush for initial opposition to Ukrainian independence because he prioritized preserving non-proliferation agreements struck with Moscow over support for freedom, no matter that the regime on the verge of collapse had held the world hostage for almost a half century.

Democrats also pilloried Bush for trying to engage Beijing just two years after Chinese troops brutally suppressed protests in Tiananmen Square. Then Sen. Joe Biden declared that China "is a regime marked by brutality at home and irresponsibility abroad; and it is a regime the United States should now cease to court and must no longer appease."

Bush's opposition to the Ukraine and his willingness to sweep Tiananmen under the rug remain black marks on his legacy.

Back to Iran: The Islamic Republic is neither the natural apex of Iranian political evolution nor necessarily permanent. It was an accident of history born of short-sighted animosity toward a cancer-stricken autocrat and the naivete of those who believed revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini when he said he wanted democracy and had no interest in personal power.

The belief that trade or support for reformers can bring meaningful change to Iran is nonsense.

European trade with Iran almost tripled between 1998 and 2005 during Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's "Dialogue of Civilizations."

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The price of oil quintupled during the same period. The Iranian leadership used that hard currency to invest in ballistic missiles and a covert nuclear program.

The problem is that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps dominates Iran's economy. Trade simply pumps money to Iran's oppressors. This is why working class Iranians turned so quickly on Iran's security forces during the most recent protests.

Change in Iran, however, is inevitable. Protests have shaken the regime in 1999, 2001, 2009, and today. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's ill-health mean the Revolutionary Guard will soon have no one around which to rally.

True, rhetoric alone won't change Iran; Iranians will. But, solidarity is sustenance.

In the early 20th century, Iranians briefly had constitutional democracy. They had as much a legacy of democracy as Eastern Europeans did. Trump or no Trump, why not stand on the right side of history?

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise who has lived in post-revolution Iran. His newest book is "Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes."
Rokita's office, Bernard's attorneys spar in court over patient privacy

Attorneys on both sides sparred over the ethics and limits of patient-physician confidentiality during witness questioning on Friday.
AfDB makes a compelling case for Africas industrialization

The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has made a compelling case for accelerating Africas industrialization in order to create jobs, reduce poverty and promote inclusive economic growth.

Citing data from the Banks 2018 African Economic Outlook launched in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, on Wednesday, Adesina said infrastructure projects were among the most profitable investments any society can make as they significantly contribute to, propel, and sustain a countrys economic growth. Infrastructure, when well managed, provides the financial resources to do everything else.

Noting that economic diversification is key to resolving many of the continents difficulties, he urged African governments to encourage a shift toward labour-intensive industries, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the continents population resides.

Agriculture must be at the forefront of Africas industrialization, he said, adding that integrated power and adequate transport infrastructure would facilitate economic integration, support agricultural value chain development and economies of scale which drive industrialization.

He reminded the audience of policy-makers and members of the diplomatic corps in Cote dIvoire that economic diversification via industrialization with tangible investment in human capital will enable the continents rapidly growing youth population to successfully transition to productive technology-based sectors.

Adesina also highlighted the relatively unknown win-win situation that Africas industrialization can generate within the developed world, citing data from the report, which notes that increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP in Africa (and other Less Developing Countries) could boost investment in the G20 by about US $485 billion and household consumption by about US $1.4 trillion.

The Bank President highlighted various innovative ways in which Africa countries can generate capital for infrastructure development and what the Bank is doing through its ambitious High 5 development agenda to address the issues raised in the report.

He announced that the Bank would organise the Africa Investment Forum on November 7-8, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to mobilise funds for infrastructure development, to bridge an estimated funding gap of $130-$170 billion a year, up from previous estimates of US $100 billion per year.

New infrastructure financing gap estimates and innovative ways through which African countries can raise funds for infrastructure development are among the highlights of the 2018 edition of the report, which was launched at the Banks headquarters for the first time in the publications 15-year history.

The Africa Economic Outlook was first published in 2003 and launched mostly in various African capitals outside the Banks headquarters in May each year.

In his remarks, Celestin Monga, the Banks Chief Economist and Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, said the African Economic Outlook has become the flagship report for the African Development Bank, providing data and reference material on Africas development that are of interest to researchers, investors, civil society organizations, development partners and the media.

This years edition focuses on macroeconomic development and structural changes in Africa, and outlines economic prospects for 2018. The report emphasizes the need to develop Africas infrastructure, and recommends new strategies and innovative financing instruments for countries to consider, depending on levels of development and specific circumstances.

Abebe Shimeles, Acting Director, Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research, said the Bank will publish Regional Economic Outlooks for Africas five sub-regions. The self-contained, independent reports, to be released at the Banks Annual Meetings in May 2018, will focus on priority areas of concern for each sub-region and provide analysis of the economic and social landscape, among other key issues.

Participants at the launch session, moderated by the Banks Director of Communications and External Relations, Victor Oladokun, included members of the diplomatic community in Cote dIvoire, representatives of international organisations and multilateral development banks, civil society and the media.

About the report

The African Economic Outlook bridges a critical knowledge gap on the diverse socio-economic realities of African economies through regular, rigorous, and comparative analysis.

It provides short-to-medium term forecasts on the evolution of key macroeconomic indicators for all 54 regional member countries, as well as analysis on the state of socio-economic challenges and progress made in each country.

It presents the AfDB staff economists analyses of African economic development during the previous year and near term. It has become the main flagship report for the African Development Bank, as well as reference material for those interested in Africas development, including researchers, investors, civil society organizations, and development partners.

The January release provides a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the state of African economy, country profiles with key recent developments and prospects for each country, while a set of Regional Economic Outlooks for Africas five sub regions to be released in late January. These self-contained, independent reports, will focus on priority areas of concern for each sub region and provide analysis of the economic and social landscape.

Given a rapidly changing Africa and international economic order, the Bank has revamped the report to enhance its policy relevance while ensuring that it serves the Banks operations well. A few changes are evident.

To facilitate advocacy and policy dialogue, the 2018 AEO has been shortened to a maximum of four chapters and about 180 pages, plus the 54 Country Notes, down from more than 300 pages.

Chapter Breakdown

Ch 1. Africas macroeconomic performance and prospects

This chapter reviews Africas economic performance in 2017 and presents forecasts of GDP growth for 2018-19. It analyses growth outcomes and discusses some of the macroeconomic shocks and vulnerabilities African countries face and how they have affected development financing.

Ch 2. Growth, jobs, and poverty in Africa

Africas growth momentum in the past 25 years has been remarkable by historical standards. Was it marked by growth dynamics that presage sustained growth? Were growth episodes accompanied by shifts in economic fundamentals? Has growth in Africa been job creating and inclusive? What are the common threads that connect rapid growth with continuous expansion in employment opportunities? This chapter explores these issues and provides insights and evidence on the character of long-term growth and its link with jobs and poverty.

Ch 3. Africas Infrastructure  Great potential but little impact

Africa must industrialize to end poverty and to generate employment for the 10-12 million young people who join its labor force every year. One of the key factors retarding industrialization has been the insufficient stock of productive infrastructure in power, water, and transport services that would allow firms to thrive in industries with strong comparative advantages.

Ch 4. Financing Africas infrastructure  New strategies, mechanisms, and instruments

The excess savings in many advanced countries could be channeled into financing profitable infrastructure projects in Africa. That this mutually profitable global transaction is not taking place is one of the biggest paradoxes of current times.

More than $100 trillion is managed by institutional investors and commercial banks globally. African countries seeking financial resources now have a wide variety of options, well beyond foreign aid. Many new financing mechanisms could be implemented in all African countries, taking into account the specific economic circumstances and the productive structures of national economies.

Chapter 3 extract

Africas infrastructure: Great potential but little impact on inclusive growth

Africa must industrialize to end poverty and to generate employment for the 10-12 million young people who join its labor force every year. One of the key factors retarding industrialization has been the insufficient stock of productive infrastructure in power, water, and transport services that would allow firms to thrive in industries with strong comparative advantages.

Despite the potential long-term benefits, the share of resources allocated to infrastructure was cut sharply by African governments and their development partners in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the structural adjustment programs most African countries adopted under the so-called Washington Consensus. That partly explains Africas current lag in infrastructure relative to other regions. And while capital accumulation started to pick up again in the early 2000s, the pace has been too slow to close Africas infrastructure gap. New estimates by the African Development Bank (AfDB) suggest that the continents infrastructure needs amount to $130-$170 billion a year, with a financing gap in the range $67.6-$107.5 billion. But African countries do not need to fill these gaps before proceeding with their economic transformations.

The economic costs of Africas insufficient stock and poor quality of infrastructure are as big for the continent as the size of the potential impacts of resolving the problem. Funding infrastructure in Africa and around the world should not be an issue of financial resources. Beyond the seemingly unlimited resources from the public sector in advanced economies and central banks, institutional investors such as insurance companies, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds have around $100 trillion in assets under management globally.

A small fraction of the excess global savings and low-yield resources would be enough to plug the financing gap and finance productive and profitable infrastructure in the developing world. That would boost aggregate demand, create employment in poor and rich countries alike, and move the world toward peace and prosperity. In ideal political circumstances, a global pact between rich and poor nations would codify a grand bargain based on infrastructure financing. But the world does not have ideal political circumstances. Economic decisions are rarely rational in the realm of dreams, and without the interference of political subjectivities and irrationalities.

So, African countries facing mammoth infrastructure needs have to change their focus and strategy. In fact, even if the continent had the resources, it should not devote them to financing infrastructure. No country or region in world history has ever had to fill its entire infrastructure deficit before igniting and sustaining high rates of growth. Indeed, in the 19th centurys industrial revolution and the 20th centurys miracle economies, countries from several global regions grew at high rates for long periods, while having wide infrastructure deficits.

With an estimated infrastructure gap up to $107.5 billion a year, and urgent needs in health, education, administrative capacity, and security, Africa has to attract private capital to accelerate the building of critical infrastructure needed to unleash its potential.

African countries need to accelerate their investments in infrastructure, but in a smarter way. And they need to find new mechanisms and instruments to fund their most urgent needs  infrastructure and otherwise. African countries can jump directly into the global economy by building well-targeted infrastructure to support competitive industries and sectors in industrial parks and export-processing zones linked to global markets. Using their limited resources for infrastructure more wisely for new investments and maintenance, all African countries can leverage these zones to attract light manufacturing from more advanced economies, as East Asian economies did in the 1960s and China in the 1980s.

By attracting foreign investment and firms, even the poorest African countries can improve their trade logistics, increase the knowledge and skills of local entrepreneurs, gain the confidence of international buyers, and gradually make local firms competitive. This strategy is already being used with great success in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Vietnam. The strategy need not be limited to traditional manufacturing but can also cover agriculture, services, and other activities. Africa is well placed to help boost the global economy. It is up to world leaders to put forth the policy framework to make it happen.

Infrastructure is critical for sustainable growth and inclusive development

The positive impact of infrastructure on economic growth and inclusive social development has been well documented by researchers in several social science disciplines. Infrastructure affects productivity and output directly as part of GDP formation and as an input to the production function of other sectors. And it does so indirectly by reducing transaction and other costs, thus allowing a more efficient use of conventional productive inputs. Poor energy quality, for example, can impose additional costs on firms such as idle workers, lost production, or damaged equipment. But modern transport systems could increase manufacturing competitiveness cheaply and quickly, moving raw materials to producers and manufactured goods to consumers.

High-quality infrastructure is essential for Africa to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN), Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU), and the High Five Goals of the African Development Bank (AfDB). It is needed for raising economic productivity and sustaining economic growth. Good infrastructure has an impact on growth directly and indirectly. It increases total factor productivity (TFP) directly because infrastructure services enter production as an input and have an immediate impact on the productivity of enterprises. It thus fosters aggregate economic output given its contribution, on its own, to GDP.

Good infrastructure can also raise TFP indirectly by reducing transaction and other costs, allowing a more efficient use of conventional productive inputs. It does this by being a factor of production for virtually all goods and services generated by other sectors. In addition, it can affect the adjustment costs of investment, the durability of private capital, and the demand for  and supply of  health and education services. If transport, electricity, or telecom services are absent or unreliable, firms face additional costs (buying power generators, for instance) and struggle to adopt new technologies. Better transport increases the effective size of labor markets.

And in lowering transaction costs, infrastructure fosters more efficient use of productive inputs such as land, labor, and physical capital assets, which translates into higher TFP, and expands the production frontier and profitable investment opportunities. For example, reducing the cost of broadband internet could foster the development of e-commerce and a digital economy. And the greater availability and reliability of infrastructure is poised to develop human capital through improved education and health services, which should foster greater economic prosperity. Other transmission channels include facilitating trade flows, stimulating aggregate demand, and improving a countrys attractiveness as an investment destination. And over the short term, infrastructure projects create jobs during construction, also contributing to growth.

Africa has a compelling case for accelerating infrastructure development. First, it is a continent of small, open economies that will rely on trade as the main engine of growth for the foreseeable future. For much of the period since World War II, there has been an intellectual consensus that barriers to market access  tariffs, quotas, and nontariff measures disadvantaging foreign firms; safety and sanitary requirements; local content and the like  were the main barriers to trade and to foreign direct investment in Africa. That view still has some validity, but the global landscape for production and trade has changed considerably in recent decades.

Tariff barriers have declined steadily in advanced and developing countries, while non-tariff measures have become more prevalent. But another tectonic shift has occurred in global commerce, making infrastructure an even bigger factor in economic growth in Africa. Empirical research by the OECD and the WTO (complemented by a recent WEF-Bain & Co.-WB report) shows that tariff reductions and market access have become much less relevant for economic growth than a generation ago. International trade is no longer about manufacturing a product in one country and selling it in another. It is about cooperating across boundaries and time zones to minimize production costs and maximize market coverage. Value chains (the networks of activities for producing and getting a product to consumers, spanning the manufacturing process and transport and distribution services) are the dominant framework for trade.

Reducing supply chain barriers could increase global GDP up to six times more than removing all import tariffs. Poor quality infrastructure services can increase the input material costs of consumer goods by up to 200 percent in certain African countries.10 In Madagascar for instance, supply chain barriers can account for about 4 percent of total revenues of a textile producer (through higher freight costs and increased inventories), eroding the benefits of duty-free access to export markets. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) tend to face proportionally higher supply chain barriers and costs. Having all countries in the world reduce just two key bottlenecks to supply chains (border administration and transport and communications infrastructure) halfway to those in Singapore would increase global GDP $2.7 trillion (4.7 percent) and global exports $1.6 trillion (14.5 percent). These massive numbers compare with much smaller gains from complete tariff elimination worldwide, which would lead to gains of only $400 billion (0.7 percent) in global GDP and $1.1 trillion (10.1 percent) in global exports. Even a less ambitious set of reforms that moves countries halfway to regional best practice could increase global GDP by 2.6 percent and world trade by 9.4 percent. The main implication of this huge paradigm shift in global trade is that African policy makers should devote more time and resources to building some well-targeted infrastructure that can connect their economies to global value chains.

Second, because the continent is a latecomer to the economic development process and many of its countries are still at low or lower middle incomes, the economic benefits that Africa could draw from improved infrastructure are higher than those for other regions, based on the underlying diminishing returns to capital. Indeed, supplying critical exogenous factors to low-income countries, where most African countries rank, should allow them to draw exceptionally higher returns to capital as they catch up.
French investigating magistrates on Monday, closed a probe into allegations that French peacekeepers of Operation Sangaris, raped children in the Central African Republic (CAR), while there on peacekeeping duties.

According to the magistrates, there was no evidence that peacekeepers, deployed to keep warring militias apart, had abused children in the war-torn nation.

French troops of the Operation Sangaris intervened in the former French colony in 2013 to stem violence between Christian militias and largely Muslim Seleka rebels who had seized power.

The French prosecutor said it is not certain that no sexual abuse took place. But differences in the testimonies of the children who came forward made it impossible to establish guilt among the troops.

An internal UN report containing interviews with children as young as eight was carried out between May and June 2014 by the UN high commissioner for human rights and UNICEF.

The two UN bodies had pledged to crack down on sex abusers to avoid a repeat of past mistakes.

MINUSCAs previous head, Babacar Gaye, resigned in 2015 and some 800 Congolese peacekeepers were repatriated.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), there have been 305 cases of rape and sexual slavery against 296 women and girls by members of armed groups between early 2013 and mid-2017.
Welcome to the first edition of tralacs Daily News selection for 2018!

Your feedback and suggestions are welcome. Send your comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

We thank you for your support and wish you all the best for 2018.

The tralac team.

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The African Development Bank launched the 2018 edition of its yearly flagship report, the African Economic Outlook, at its headquarters in Abidjan. To facilitate advocacy and policy dialogue, the 2018 AEO has been shortened to a maximum of four chapters and about 180 pages, plus the 54 Country Notes, down from more than 300 pages.

Foresight Africa: top priorities for the continent in 2018 (Brookings)

In this years Foresight Africa, AGI scholars and invited experts delve deeply into six overarching themes that highlight areas in which African countries and their citizens are taking the lead to achieve inclusive growth. In a world where China and other emerging economies are ascendant, where cooperation on global governance is under challenge, and where free trade faces headwinds, Africa needs its own institutions to play a more assertive role in advancing the continents agenda. The potential for a more unified Africa to create never-before-seen opportunities for trade and economic prosperity is gaining traction. Through our exploration, we hope to emphasize that Africas future lies in its own hands and that it already has the power to reach its goals. Profiled chapter: Rethinking Africas structural transformation - the rise of new industries:

We have found a new pattern of structural change emerging in Africa, one different from the manufacturing-led transformation of East Asia. ICT-based services, tourism, and transport are outpacing the growth of manufacturing in many African countries. Between 1998 and 2015, services exports grew more than six times faster than merchandise exports. Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa have vibrant ICT-based services sectors. Tourism is Rwandas largest single export activity, accounting for about 30 percent of total exports. In 2014, 9.5 million tourists visited South Africa, contributing 3% to its GDP. Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal all actively participate in global horticultural value chains. Ethiopia has achieved extraordinary success in flower exports, so much so that the country is now a global player in the sector. We also found that, because tradable services, agro-industry, and horticulture share many firm characteristics with manufacturing, it is possible to develop a strategy for structural transformation based on three factors that have largely shaped the global distribution of manufacturing. The first is the investment climate (the environment within which firms operate). The second is the capacity to export, and the third is agglomeration. The three are inter-related, and to boost the pace of structural change African governments need to address them concurrently. [The author: John Page)

Global economy to edge up to 3.1% in 2018 but future potential growth a concern (World Bank)

Regional outlook  Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf): A modest recovery is underway in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by an improvement in commodity prices. Although growth rebounded in Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa - the regions largest economies - it remained low. Metals exporters in the region experienced a moderate rebound, partly reflecting an uptick in mining output amid rising metals prices. Growth was stable in non-resource-intensive countries, supported by infrastructure investment. The region is projected to see a pickup in activity over the forecast horizon, on the back of firming commodity prices and gradually strengthening domestic demand. However, given demographic and investment trends, structural reforms would be needed to boost potential growth over the next decade. Downside risks continue to predominate, including the possibilities that commodity prices will remain weak, global financing conditions will tighten disorderly, and regional political uncertainty and security tensions will intensify. On the upside, a stronger-than-expected pickup in global activity could further boost exports, investment, and growth in the region.

Launching today: the WEFs Global Risks Report 2018

This years report covers more risks than ever, but focuses in particular on four key areas: environmental degradation, cyber security breaches, economic strains and geopolitical tensions. And in a new series called Future Shocks the report cautions against complacency and highlights the need to prepare for sudden and dramatic disruptions. The 2018 report also presents the results of our latest Global Risks Perception Survey, in which nearly 1,000 experts and decision-makers assess the likelihood and impact of 30 global risks over a 10-year horizon.

Committee of Ten Ministers of Finance responsible for the Financing of the African Union: updates from the Kigali meeting, 11-13 January

(i) Mahamat calls for urgency in self-financing of African Union

Available information indicates that as of December 2017, the African Union Commission had on record 20 Member States that were at various stages of implementing the Kigali Decision. Out of these, 14 Member States had already started collecting from the levy and had deposited the funds at an account dedicated for the AU opened with the Central Banks. These Countries include Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea, Sudan, Morocco, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, Gabon, Cameroun, Sierra Leone and Cote dIvoire. On the other hand, Ghana, Benin, Malawi and Senegal have initiated internal legal and administrative processes to allow implementation of the Decision

(ii) CFTA to boost domestic tax collections: an interview with Prudence Sebahizi (Chief Technical Advisor and Head of the CFTA Unit at the AUCs Department of Trade and Industry)

Rwanda Economic Update: rethinking urbanization (World Bank)

In a special section, the Update (pdf) analyses the trends and forms of the countrys rapid pace of urbanisation to examine its contribution to economic development. An increase in the urban population has been accompanied by the physical expansion of cities, notably the periphery of Kigali though around secondary cities as well. The report finds the urban share of Rwandas total population (now about 12 million) has increased far faster than official records suggest because the definitions of urban areas need streamlining. A 2012 census and 2014 household survey calculated the urban share of the population at 16.5 and 17.3% respectively. However, using another, simple definition of urban, the reports researchers found that the level of urbanization had increased far more  from 15.8% to 26.5% between 2002 and 2015, an increase of 132% or almost 2 million people.

Mozambique Economic Update: making the most of demographic change (World Bank)

The World Banks new Mozambique Economic Update (pdf) notes that small and medium enterprises are crowded out, and that not even the sizable growth of commodity exports is sufficient to counteract the effects this is having on the economy. The level of concentration has also increased in 2017: Just a few commodities dominate exports, representing a larger share of foreign currency inflows, which heightens the countrys exposure to external shocks. The concentration of output in the extractive and minerals sector keeps Mozambique on the path of a two-speed economy, one less capable of generating enough jobs to absorb a net inflow of the almost 500,000 people entering the labor force each year. Trends observed in 2017 make it clear that Mozambique needs to double its efforts to support small and medium enterprises and look beyond the extractive sector for more balanced growth.

Tanzania: Seventh Review under the Policy Support Instrument (IMF)

Significant public investment is planned over the coming years. Major projects include the standard gauge railway linking Dar es Salaam with Mwanza, the 2100 MW Stieglers Gorge hydro power project, the Bagamoyo port development, and the Hoima-Tanga pipeline linking Ugandas Lake Albert oil fields to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Timelines and financing modalities are not yet fully decided, and it was agreed that the medium-term scenario presented in the previous staff report continues to be relevant and will guide the authorities public investment plans. Thus, the baseline scenario assumes that the overall fiscal deficit would increase to about 4 percent of GDP for a few years, before converging back to below 3 percent of GDP as major public investment projects are completed and in line with regional commitments toward the planned East African Monetary Union. That scenario allows Tanzania to maintain its low risk of debt distress rating as indicated in the accompanied debt sustainability analysis update.

The Pan-African Investment Code: a good first step, but more is needed (pdf, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment)

It is clear, under these circumstances, that the Code will not keep its original promises. Nevertheless, it certainly remains a useful instrument for African investment policy-making. As many binding regional instruments are currently under negotiation, including the SADC-COMESA-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Agreement and the Continental Free Trade Agreement, which both contain investment chapters, the Code can serve as a useful capacity-building instrument. It can, indeed, provide guidance to the negotiators of these agreements, in support of the continents structural transformation objectives. Having said that, to put the Code into context and clarify its purpose, it will probably be necessary to rename it as Pan-African Guiding Principles on Investor-State Relations. [The author: Mouhamadou Madana Kane]

The role of trade policies in building regional value chains: some preliminary evidence from Africa (UNCTAD)

This study (pdf) uses newly published international input-output tables, obtained from the UNCTAD Eora GVC database, to quantify trade in value added between African countries and to evaluate each countrys position in the RVC. The empirical analysis concentrates on the backward integration perspective, defined as imported foreign value added from the region embedded in a countrys exports to the region. On average, 6.0% (in 2012) of the value added exports to African countries are also sourced from within the region. Southern African countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland are considered to be the most integrated countries, mainly attributed to their proximity to the regional hub, South Africa. Moreover, all African countries, except South Africa, presently import more inputs from within region than they did in 2006. Between 2006 to 2012, real imported FVA increased by 114% while total value added trade increased by 53%. The stronger increase in FVA indicates a strengthening of regional production networks.

Chinas impacts on SSA through the lens of growth and exports (IMF)

If Chinas impacts on SSA are well quantified, a following question would be what the potential transmission channels are? how China influences SSA? In this context, the paper (pdf) seeks to assess the traditional channels of trade and FDI by examining whether China-related variables are among the determinates of SSAs total exports and exports to China. In summary, the paper seeks to answer the following questions: Is Chinas economic growth significant for SSA growth? Does it evolve over time? Does country heterogeneity play a role? Which component of Chinas GDP is more important: consumption or investment? What role does Chinese economy play in SSAs exports?

SADC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement Civil Society Forum: conference report (pdf)

Profiled recommendation: It was agreed that the experience of the European Economic and Social Committee provided useful lessons for the establishment of a civil society platform under the SADC-EU EPA. For example, the EESC participated in a joint consultative committee with civil society from the Caribbean to discuss issues of common interest on an annual basis. It was recommended that a similar structure be established under the SADC-EU EPA with participation from existing umbrella groupings in SADC that are mandated to represent civil society, such as the SADC Council of NGOs, Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council and the Southern African Business Forum. The platform would define its terms of reference and participate in the monitoring of the implementation of the EPA and identify initiatives to tackle bottlenecks related to the agreement. It would also serve as a space to network and exchange best practices between civil society in the EU and the SADC EPA countries.

Maritime piracy and armed robbery reaches 22-year low (ICC)

A total of 180 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported to the International Chamber of Commerces International Maritime Bureau in 2017, according to the latest IMB report. It is the lowest annual number of incidents since 1995, when 188 reports were received. Beyond the global figures, the report underlined several takeaways from the past year:

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Georgian products to be showcased at Chinas upcoming import fair

Georgia is invited as an "important guest at an upcoming exhibition in Shanghai, China, announced Georgias Ministry of Economy Dimitry Kumsishvili today.The exhibition will be held on November 5-10, 2018 and will host exporters and producers from different countries to showcase their production.The Chinese import fair will enable Georgian exporters interested in the Chinese market to popularise their productions in the country.Also, as the minister announced, the exhibition will help Georgian exporters and producers establish communication with potential Chinese partners.Meanwhile, Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and China came into play on January 1, 2018, making Georgia the first country in the region to have such a deal with China.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 withut any transition period.
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You will in any case have to change trains at Antwerpen-Centraal between Schiphol and Brugge (and this whether taking Thalys or IC, although with Thalys you can also change in Brussels, which is more expensive). You don't, however, have to change again at Gent St. Pieters, which the b-europe site will suggest because it is programmed to give you the fastest connection: the fact that you can take any IC train along the route means that you can wait at Antwerp for the DIRECT hourly train to Brugge, avoiding that change, which will also give you time to look around the station - well worth a look.

However, as you say you would be travelling at the end of March, note that until 8 April, work will be taking place in the Netherlands on the IC line (NOT applicable to the Thalys line, which went through this last year) and travelling by IC, you are likely to have to change trains between Schiphol and Antwerp, e.g. at Roosendaal: https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Disruptions

Edited: 4 years ago
Port Douglas is great for all of your family. You may want to mix the accom up a bit and stay in Daintree for a few days or even do a drive to Cooktown and stay two nights. Its kind of old frontier feeling .

You could look at Trinity beach which is more low key than POrt Douglas as well. Or POrt is also great. You could find a place on Stayz like a house near the beach.

Bike hire is also great and August a good time to swim on the beach in the patrolled area.

Or you could also do a few days up on the Atherton Tablelands and waterfall loop- maybe two days for this and the balance in Port or other.
Hi Everyone,

I will be travelling to Adelaide from Bangalore. I prefer a one-stop flight which Singapore and Malaysia airlines provide via Singapore and Kuala Lumpur respectively and within their airlines (no transfer to partner airline). My questions before I choose the right airline are:

1. if I choose a flight with a 4-hour layover in either KL or Singapore is that enough to get me through customs and onto my flight to Adelaide?

2. In either KL or Singapore, does the terminal receiving the Bangalore flight also handle the onward flight to Adelaide or do I need to travel to different terminals?

3. I'm assuming my luggage will be checked through till Adelaide; I don't need to claim and redeposit them right?

Edited: 4 years ago
I used the Tripadvisor forum to help plan a 4 day stay in Rome and I got so many great tips that I decided to try it again for our next city tour.

My husband, daughter (15 yrs) and I will be spending two full days in NYC in June. Since our time is limited, I thought we would spend one day in downtown Manhattan and one day in midtown Manhattan. We will be there on a Sunday and a Monday. We are staying outside of the city so our starting and ending point will be Grand Central Station.

Downtown Manhattan:

 Take the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk half way across and back again to Manhattan. I think this should take about an hour.

 Walk to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I will book the tickets ahead of time. I am planning on two hours here.

 Lunch  any suggestions of good places in the area would be great. We want to eat NYC pizza at least once.

 Walk to the Trinity Church, take a look inside and visit the grave of Alexander Hamilton.

 Walk to the Charging Bull on Wall Street for a picture.

 Walk to the NY Stock Exchange and take a picture. I know going inside is no longer an option.

 Visit Federal Hall to see the bible George Washington used when he took his oath of office.

 Take the subway to the start of the High Line at Gansevoort Street. Walk until the end. I think maybe an hour since I think we will be taking a lot of pictures.

 Any suggestions for afterwards if we have time?

Midtown Manhattan

 Walk to the Empire State Building. This is the number 1 sight to see on my daughters list. I will book tickets in advance.

 Walk to the New York Public Library. I think we will need no longer than 30 minutes inside.

 Walk to the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a t-shirt. Another must for my daughter.

 Spend some time in Times Square.

 Lunch  once again, suggestions are welcome.

 Walk to Top of the Rock. I am not sure if this is necessary since we are doing the ESB. I am considering crossing this off the list.

 Walk by Trump Towers and the Plaza on the way Central Park.

 Spend some time in South Central Park at The Pond and Gapstow Bridge.

 The American Museum of Natural History is close and I am undecided as to whether it is worth a visit of not. We will be visiting DC after NYC which has the National Museum of Natural History. Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

One thing I do not have on the list is perhaps riding the Staten Island Ferry while in Downtown Manhattan to get some nice pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. I read round trip takes a little over and hour. Do you think we would have time? Or do you think we should push the High Line to our Midtown Manhattan day if we add the Staten Island Ferry?

Which part of Manhattan should we do on Sunday? I assume this day will be more crowded than Monday.

We are not opposed to two long days and lots of walking. : )
If you have two extra days use them! I would pick one country. Also, if you are flying into one country and out of another country google "proof of onward travel".

In option 1 you would want a full day in Tortuguero. If you arrive early don't spend time in San Jose. Just get going. One day for Arenal is not much but the good news is that you don't need a day in Liberia. One day for Ometepe would not be enough for me. Long travel day: Arenal to Ometepe (should be possible if you get going early and make it to Liberia by noon... you might have to spend the night in San Jorge and take the ferry/boat to Ometepe the next morning).

Option 2: again, you don't need a day for Liberia and one day for Arenal, Monteverde and Ometepe is not much. Another long travel day: Monteverde to Ometepe.

Option 3 is maybe the best one. But don't stay in Managua. Go straight to Granada. Day 2 Granada and active volcano Masaya. Day 3: go to Ometepe. Day 4-5: Ometepe. But then again... there is nothing in Liberia. And you need more time for Arenal and Monteverde.

If you are going to Arenal for the volcano (beautiful volcano but not active) consider seeing volcanoes in Nicaragua instead. Nicaragua has so many volcanoes. And Monteverde has cloud forest but you could go to volcano Mombacho near Granada (or hike up volcano Maderas on Ometepe) and see cloud forest as well.

You are actually not going to the coast at all (except for Tortuguero in option 1).

Again, I would pick one country. In Nicaragua Leon and its volcanoes and beaches, Granada with day trips and Ometepe Island. Maybe you could even add the Somoto Canyon and a nature reserve near Esteli.

Or Costa Rica: the beaches south of Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, Tortuguero, Arenal, Monteverde.

With both countries and still quite rushed: fly into Managua, Granada, Ometepe, Rincon de la Vieja (near Liberia), maybe Tenorio, Arenal, Monteverde, fly out of San Jose.
Hi! Planning my first solo trip to CR! I speak a bit of Spanish, and now I'm on a mission to know more before my trip! I'm in my 20s, initially I wanted to do a yoga/surf retreat but found it expensive for what they would offer.

So far I have booked 3 nights at Room2board in Jaco when I arrive.

I also want to:

-learn to surf

-go to manuel Antonio playa

-explore nature and animals

-visit La Fortuna region

-see Arsenal (the volcano in La Fortuna)

-waterfalls

-coffee making place

I don't have much planned much but I am open to suggestions. I want to meet people but still have time for myself.

How safe are the buses to go alone?

Any other suggestions, tips that could help me out, please let me know  thanks!
Hi, I will be travelling to Costa Rica this March and this is my plan:

2 nights in Liberia, then renting a car (just 2-Wheel Drive)

3 nights La Fortuna

3 nights Cahuita

3 nights Samara

1 night LIberia

Is it doable or should I change something in this plan? Im not sure about the journey from Cahuita to Samara in one day, it is more than 400 km - 10 hours driving and I know that the road conditions in Costa Rica will be different from European roads. I will appreciate any suggestion or opinion from more experienced travellers on this plan.

Thanks
From GYLA to High Council of Justice

By Khatia Kardava

The President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, appointed his Parliamentary Secretary Ana Dolidze as a member of the High Council of Justice. At the briefing held on January 8, Margvelashvili stated that he decided to appoint Dolidze on this position due to her professionalism, courage and loyalty of her values which she proved many times over the years.From January 17, Dolidze will replace Vakhtang Mchedlishvili, whose 4-year term expires on January 16.While presenting a new member of the Council, Margvelashvili spoke about the judiciary and the role of the justice system. According to the President, despite the expectations after 2012, justice system still fails to answer many questions."Generally speaking, the system of justice in the history of independent Georgia remains an axis of the Achilles, which is actually a problem for all the authorities. In the course of the change of power in 2012, we had all the expectations that the justice system would be improved thoroughly. Notwithstanding, the societys trust to the judiciary system, it remains full of gaps, Margvelashvili stated.According to the President, the High Council of Justice with its aim to ensure independence of the judiciary, should become more transparent and effective. To achieve the goal, it is important to improve the legislative basis by having professional and principled people in the system.Dolidze named three priorities that she intends to lead while being a member of the High Council of Justice."My main task will be to provide a service to the court that will be timely and of high quality; the second objective is to raise the trust of people to the judiciary, especially towards the High Council of Justice. This is possible via openness and accountability. The third task is also related to increasing trustworthiness and the authority of the judiciary by having professionals and worthy persons in the judiciary system, she said.Her appointment was met with controversy among different political and civil sector groups in Georgia. The representatives of non-governmental organizations were mainly positive about the news.Sulkhan Saladze, chairman of the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA), says that Dolidze has enough experience and qualifications to work in the High Council of Justice.Sopho Verdzeuli, Director of Institutional Reform Program of Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center, says the Council of Justice is facing many challenges."Today the Council experiences many challenges in regards to the human resources, says Verdzeuli. Her [Dolidzes] experience, her adherence to principles ensures us that she will be open when communicating with professional groups and with the civil sector.Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze criticized the appointment of Dolidze as a member of the High Council of Justice. As Parliament Speaker stated, the President regularly puts forward his employees. This is a very bad trend.Vano Zardiashvili, the first deputy chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Issues also gives a negative assessment to Dolidze's membership in the Council of Justice. According to him, Dolidze will bring politics to the council.A member of the High Council of Justice Dimitri Gvritishvili holds a more neutral opinion. He hopes that Dolidze will not try to introduce political elements and will act as a part of the court.Dolidze graduated from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Law in 2002.In 2000-2001, she was an assistant of a program on Domestic Violence, Project in the Office of Georgia of Harmony International, and then a coordinator of the same program.In 2004-2006, Dolidze was a chair of GYLA.In 2008-2009, she was a researcher of Europe and Central Asia Program for Human Rights Watch.In 2010-2011, Dolidze worked as the World Bank Consultant (USA).From May 2015 to June 27, 2016 she was a Deputy Minister of Defense of Georgia.On June 27, 2016, Dolidze was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary of the President of Georgia.The High Council of Justice, which is the main coordinating body of the judiciary, has 15 members. It includes the Chair of the Supreme Court, eight judges elected by the Conference of Judges, and six non-judge members, five of whom are elected by the Parliament and one by the President.
I am planning a trip to Vietnam in June and have been searching for the best beach as part of the trip. I read on a thread about An Bang beach that it might be better to head to Ca Bai beach but I can't seem to find where this is. Google brings up other beaches - except for photos of said Ca Bai beach which looks beautiful. Can anyone please tell me whereabouts it is? Which town is it near? Is there any accommodation near? Thank you.
Having been to both places myself, if I had to chose I would prefer to stay a week in Kyoto - there is certainly enough there to keep you busy for that long. However as a first visit to Japan you probably want to experience both places!

I was underwhelmed with Tokyo at first, I was staying in Shinjuku. I would not stay there again. After the serenity of Kyoto it was too crazy for me. I had a lovely time in Asakusa though and would stay there next time if I went back. Depends on what you like though, the big bustling city feel may be your thing!
Re: Which order to visit these places?

6. Re: Which order to visit these places?

>> Is there any train link from Tokyo to kanazaw?

Hokuriku Shinkansen - by the fastest Kagayaki trains it takes 2.5 hours direct.

use hyperdia.com to check train schedules.

Indeed from mid to late November would be the usual peak koyo season in Kanazawa, Kyoto and Tokyo.

You may refer to my trip in Nov 2016 timed to visit Kanazawa and Kyoto in peak.

http://www.japantravelinsights.com/season/autumn/

Edited: 4 years ago
Hi. I'm planning a solo 2-week trip to Japan in May. Seeking advice on possible itineraries.

I plan to land in Okinawa, spend a few days and then fly off to the main island. Possibly Fukuoka, before heading off to Tokyo. The only things confirmed in my trip are the 2-week and needing to fly off from Tokyo on May 22. Everything else is flexible.

I've been to Tokyo many times (so only plan to spend 3-4 days there). Also been to Yokohama, Mt Fuji, Nagoya, Takayama, Osaka and Kyoto. More interested in the southern parts of Japan, either exploring by train or flight.

Please advise. Thank you. Raymond
I will be in Japan for 12 days arriving and departing Tokyo. I need help to plan this so i can maximize the 7 day JR pass. I was thinking of going straight to Kyoto on day 1 so i can finish the trip in Tokyo. From what i have read so far i feel 4 nights in Kyoto, 1 night in Miajima, 1 night in Hakone and 5 nights in Tokyo.

Please help me plan this as the Train system is a bit confusing for me at this stage.

Thanks in advance.
The first 5 days seem a bit rushed for the proposed locations. The Kyoto-Osaka region is quite connected so it isn't much of a problem to base yourself in one city and explore the other but both deserve more than a day trip. Kyoto has various gardens and Arashiyama forest on the outskirts while Osaka's Dotonbori area is well worth visiting in addition to the temples nearby.

Hiroshima is also worth more than a day if you want to explore more than the Peace Memorial Museum. The giant Torii gate can be reached about an hour away from Hiroshima in Itsukushima and there's plenty to explore on the island for at least a day. If you're up for it you could even hike up the mountain for about 2 hrs for a great view of Hiroshima bay.

I know some Ryokans can be strict on dinner times particularly in the mountains but if you contact them ahead of time something can be arranged. The rest of the itinerary seems fine. Just make sure to book in Mt. Koya well ahead of time since spots run out fast in the area.
#6,

No.

All views will be blocked by a very large curtain, provided by Christo.

Of course, you can fly over it - or just go to Sedona, Jerome, or anywhere in Oak Creek Canyon.

The GCNP is lovely, but if a shutdown does happen, much more in AZ, and UT to see. Dead Horse Point, outside of Moab, and a State Park, is marvelous, and similar.

Enjoy,

Hunt
We are flying to Zanzibar via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines and have a 10 hour layover. We're thinking of leaving the airport and seeing some sights, coming back to the airport for our return flight. We will therefore have transit visas for Ethiopia in our passports.

Due to medical reasons I am unable to have the yellow fever vaccine and can provide a doctors letter to confirm this.

Will airport staff check yellow fever certificates on arrival of an Ethiopian flight in Zanzibar? Will they let me in despite not having the vaccine and leaving the airport in Addis Ababa?
Just look for a place in Long Island City or elsewhere in Queens near a subway. Check in when you arrive, get a good sleep. Tour around Manhattan the next day, leave your luggage at the hotel, stop back for luggage on the way to the airport.

In LIC there are a few hostel properties, any hotel or hostel will keep your bags after you check out for the day.
I stayed with my mum in a bunk room at the pod 39 in 2016 and we thought it was great.

Very clean, simple but comfortable, well located, good service and above all nice and cheap. Rooms are definitely small but not a big deal for a 3 night mum and daughter trip when you won't be spending much time there anyway.

I have no experience of the pod 51 but would definitely stay in any pod hotel for the right price after my good experience.

I don't like times square so would choose 51 over it. Quiter and less hassle but still close. But that is personal preference. Ess a bagel beside the pod 51 would be a great cheap breakfast option.

Enjoy your trip!
Interior Ministry says People Avoid Cooperation with Police

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

(TBILISI)--Georgias Ministry of Internal Affairs solved a murder-case that took place in Tbilisi in December. The Ministry states that regardless of many witnesses, no one wished to cooperate with the law enforcers.During a special briefing yesterday, Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili stated that one person was detained for the murder of a 19-year-old in Tbilisi and five others were charged for not reporting the crime.The Ministry solved the case in the shortest period of time, in eight days. The most negative aspect is that the witnesses of the case avoided any type of cooperation with law enforcers. Active involvement of public is crucial for effective measures against the crime, Mezvrishvili said.She called on the residents to immediately provide all available information to the law enforcement agencies in case of any crime acts.Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia spoke about the tragedy at one of Tbilisis secondary schools in early December that ended with a brutal murder of two schoolchildren.The minister stated, the most witnesses of the crime have avoided to cooperate with the police.Georgias civil sector says that the government needs to take effective actions to persuade people that the cooperation with the police is essential.
I would also suggest West Village, Soho, Tribeca or East Village rather than midtown which is sterile, Times Square in midtown west is a terrible tourist mob with kinda lousy atmosphere. Stay in a neighborhood in which there are lots of bars and restaurants that you should definitely venture to sola. No reason to stay in at night, its more than normal to be a solo/a dining in NYC or dining at the bar. If you feel weird go early. Eat at the bar and talk to the bartender.

When on biz I have been put in midtown hotels and that is strange, a bunch of shoe salespeople from Akron or gizmo guys from Asia - I escape to the village or upper west side or anywhere but where you are looking at hotels... I am a female sola traveller. Usually I stay with my bestie in NYC on the UWS but you know about guests, if client is paying I do the hotel deal. Has anybody tried the Public --- I would try that. Ian Schragers new venture. Just looking on hotels.com cuz I get a free room every 10 and i book lots - this Frederick downtown looks kinda cool, well within your budget. Nice down there these days. Chelsea Savoy also in budget, holy canoli I am starting to do Whiz or Chriss job! No OP, get onto hotels.com and booking.com and look at places in a hood you would want to wander around 11 pm, that would be West Village, East Village, LES, Tribeca, Soho, Chelsea, UWS but that is more sorta family or locals.....Go for it and just quit being intimidated by silly outmoded traditions. The best place to get over these fears is NYC where - like who is watching you - nobody. Do what you wilt shall be the whole of the law!! OK sorry, no anarchist stuff but really there is no law against women eating and drinking and having life by themselves.
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- A damning report exposed massive fraud at police headquarters where 86 officers were paid millions illegally

- Police headquarters has warned officers leaking the reports with dire consequences as it tries to save face

- Various police commanders have been directed to ensure all information is kept confidential and only accessed by authorised persons

The leaking of police security and investigations reports lately, that has rattled the police headquarters, has not been without its advantages.

The reports have revealed a lot of misconduct and malpractice within the service.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

To safeguard information and also save its face, the Kenya Police Service headquarters on Friday, January 12 issued a stern warning to the officers leaking information to TUKO.co.ke.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet. Photo: Nation

Investigations based on available reports indicate that some of the police briefs, especially regarding shooting incidents are distorted to justify the killings.

READ ALSO: Kenya Police headquarters on high alert after discovering 86 GSU officers stole KSh 12 million

The reports have also exposed rampant corruption and as well as how the Vigilance House was going out of its way to contain these vices.

Recently, TUKO.co.ke reported how officers at the pay section at Police headquarters were colluding with some officers to fraudulently claim hundreds of millions of shillings as transfer allowances.

The detailed story was based on an investigation report from Vigilance House, the police headquarters.

Vigilance House, the Police headquarters. Photo: Nation

And in at least three cases reported in Kisumu and Nairobi, police deliberately failed to include the identity and the cause of deaths of the victims even though they had identification documents and were positively identified by their kin.

READ ALSO: Fake nuns steal KSh3 million from forex bureau in Nairobi

The records indicated that some were unknown people who died during demonstrations.

In one of the recent shootings in Kariobangi, a police report indicated that there was a fierce exchange of fire between gunmen and the police while eye witnesses said there was no shootout.

I witnessed the shooting and I was shocked to see a police report indicating that the deceased exchanged fire with the police, said a passenger who was in a matatu.

General Services Unit (GSU) officers in action in the past. Photo: Ebru Tv

READ ALSO: Mjane wa Nyenze awahi tiketi ya Wiper kuwania ubunge Kitui Magharibi

Following the leakage of such reports, the Police headquarters on Friday, January 12 sent a stern warning to officers who could be sharing such information, saying that it posed serious security breach.

You are all aware that messages are classified according to their importance and urgency and that there are restrictions on access to certain messages.

In the recent past, a trend has emerged where this privilege has not been observed with all messages accessed by unauthorized persons or officers, said the report.

READ ALSO: Nataka kuwa serikalini, siyo kushirikishwa kwenye serikali ya Uhuru  Raila

Various police commanders have been directed to take measures to ensure confidentiality and security of such information.

The emergence of Social media has become a major challenge to the extent that classified information has been circulated in this platform, the report warned.

To deal with the challenge, the Police headquarters has directed that all commanders must classify all depending on the confidentiality and priority, and ensure that such information is only accessed by authorized persons.

In the event of any malpractice being noted, severe action may be taken against any officer found culpable, the report warned.

READ ALSO: NASA inastahili nishani ya dhahabu kwa kufanya kazi vyema mno pamoja - Orengo

In some cases, the leakage of such reports have embarrassed the service.

On November 28, 2017, Embakasi police station (OB28/28/11/2017) reported that Vincent Wangira, 30, was shot while a riotous mob was being dispersed.

The same report indicated that Geoffrey Mutinda aged 9 was also suspected to have been shot by a stray bullet during the incident.

Though senior police commanders indicated that there were no police officers at the scene, reports by members of the public indicated that the police were dispersing NASA supporters when they shot the baby.

READ ALSO: Jubilee ilitaka niwe naibu wa Gavana Mike Sonko- Miguna Miguna

Four days later, the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet wrote to the Director of the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) Charlton Muriithi directing him to investigate the shooting.

There are reports in the media alleging that on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, at Kware in Pipeline estate within Nairobi County that unknown police officer(s) riding on motorcycles, shot dead a seven year old boy as he stood on a balcony. I therefore instruct that you urgently investigate the matter, he directed.

The IAU was also expected to recommend the possible course of legal action to be pursued to bring to book those involved, and get justice to the affected families. The findings are expected to be submitted by Saturday, January 20.

114 year old grandma enjoys massive support from family - on TUKO TV

Source: TUKO.co.ke
The term self-care is mostly associated to women however, there is a growing trend worldwide which also see men engaging in such practises and activities.

One company...King's Lounge Barber Spa is dedicated to the wellbeing of the total man. King's Lounge offers men an indulgent grooming experience in a luxurious environment and Reporter Sharla Kistow and Camerawoman Kerry Patrick visited the Arima branch earlier this week.
One of the priorities for Ukraine's cooperation with NATO in 2018 will be assistance in reforming the medical and logistics systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Chief of the General Staff, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Army General Viktor Muzhenko said this after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Military Committee in Brussels on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"NATO will continue to provide advisory assistance in reforming the General Staff and other bodies of military management, for example, medical and logistics systems, which is a priority this year," Muzhenko said.

He said that the structure of several directorates of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of the reform had already been changed in line with NATO standards.

op
Chiefs of defense of the NATO member countries have noted significant positive developments in the reform of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Chief of the General Staff, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Army General Viktor Muzhenko, said this after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Military Committee in Brussels on Wednesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"All chiefs of general staff unanimously supported Ukraine's independence and sovereignty. They noted significant positive changes in the issue of reforming the Armed Forces," he said.

According to Muzhenko, at the meeting, the sides outlined further directions of cooperation on reforming and assisting the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

At the same time, he said that the Hungarian side did not express a separate position.

"Turkey was very powerful in support of us, including on new areas of our cooperation," Muzhenko said.

He specified that the issue concerned the provision of humanitarian, financial and advisory assistance, as well as reforming the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Since the beginning of the current marketing year, Ukraine has exported 22.8 million tons of grain crops.

Such data have been provided by the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

"Since the beginning of the current marketing year, Ukraine has exported 22.8 million tons of grain crops, including 11.7 million tons of wheat (6.4 million tons of food-grade wheat and 5.3 million tons of fodder wheat), 3.8 million tons of barley and 6.7 million tons of maize," the report reads.

Over the same period of the past marketing year, 25.2 million tons of grain were exported, in particular, almost 12.3 million tons of wheat (including 7.3 million tons of food wheat and 5 million tons of fodder wheat), more than 4.4 million tons of barley and 8 million tons of maize.

ish
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine appreciates the efforts of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in investigating fraud at PrivatBank.

The embassy wrote this on Twitter.

"We commend the NBU for investigating PrivatBank fraud. Lawful, successful prosecution & recovery of stolen assets would be a positive step forward in Ukraine's fight against corruption," the embassy said.

As reported, Kroll, a company hired to conduct a forensic audit of PJSC PrivatBank, has confirmed that the bank was an object of large-scale and coordinated fraudulent actions for at least ten years before its nationalization, which led to the bank's losses of at least $5.5 billion.

op
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has allocated EUR 400,000 euros to Ukrainian companies to support climate innovation under Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) project.

Senior adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Anton Usov wrote this on his Facebook page.

"The European Union and the EBRDs FINTECC program continue to support by means of climate vouchers the Ukrainian developers of technologies and equipment that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure more efficient use of energy resources in various industries. Ten companies from different parts of Ukraine were granted EUR 400,000 in support of their developments," Usov wrote.

According to him, the electric vehicle charging devices, cogeneration plants and software are among the developments that received financial support.

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The State Emergency Service of Ukraine has issued warnings for mountainous areas in Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions, where considerable avalanche danger is expected on Wednesday, January 17.

The State Emergency Service reported this with reference to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center's forecasts. On January 17, a considerable (III) level of avalanche risk is expected in the Carpathian mountains due to snowstorms, the report reads. ish
Two Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and five more wounded in the Luhansk sector in Donbas after their equipment tripped an unknown explosive device, the press center for the headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine has reported on Facebook.

"Today, on January 17, while on a combat mission in the Luhansk sector, two servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed after their equipment tripped an unknown explosive device. Five more of our warriors were wounded. They are in satisfactory condition. All of them were promptly taken to a local hospital, where they are being provided with necessary medical care," the report says.

The causes and details of the accident are being clarified.

op
Together with the powerful international pro-Ukrainian coalition, Ukraine should make Russia fully implement the Minsk agreements, President Petro Poroshenko has said.

He said this at a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of foreign states and international organizations accredited in Ukraine in Kyiv on January 16, the head of state's press service reported.

"Together with the powerful international pro-Ukrainian coalition, we should finally make Russia fully implement the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said.

The head of state thanked Ukraine's partners in the Normandy format - Germany and France.

"I wish all the best to [German] Chancellor [Angela] Merkel, and believe that the emerging government coalition in Germany will be based on steady support of Ukraine and its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence," Poroshenko said.

He thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for his leadership and vision of a new Europe. He also thanked Austria as the OSCE chairmanship last year and wished every success to Italy's chairmanship this year.

"We are looking forward to closely cooperating on bringing peace back on the Ukrainian land," he said.

Poroshenko commended the brave and committed activity of numerous OSCE SMM observers in the occupied Donbas. "Even the threat to their health and lives from Russian occupation forces does not stop them from fulfilling their noble mission," he said.

"There is nothing impossible when we all join our efforts and speak with one voice. Christmas release of hostages is a brilliant example," he said.

op
The exhibition of photos showing how Ukrainians defend their homeland amid the Russian aggression has been opened at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

The author of the "Face of Peace" exhibition is Ukrainian military photographer and volunteer Dmytro Muravsky, a Brussels-based Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I'm neither a professional military man nor a professional photographer, but I was at the war for nine months and took photos of what I saw there," Muravsky said.

His photos depict the ordinary people, including volunteers, who went to defend Ukraine. There are also women among them, and even an ethnic Hungarian who has just left the battlefield.

The "Face of Peace" exhibition was opened on the day of the NATO Military Committee meeting at the level of the Chiefs of Defence of 29 Allies with the participation of some partners, including Ukraine.

The representatives of the Alliance, including Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Tacan Ildem, were amazed by the photos.

"These pictures have also theoretical and practical interest for the professional military of the Allies," said Vadym Prystaiko, the Head of Ukraines Mission to NATO.

As the Assistant Secretary General of the Alliance emphasized, the most important thing is that the NATO sees Ukrainians who are eager to move forward.

"Over the recent years, our cooperation with Ukraine has gained a new successful pace," the NATO Assistant Secretary General said.

Photo credit: Andriy Lavreniuk

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Croatia has always supported and will support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and it continues to support the initiative to prolong sanctions against Russia.

Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic said this during a meeting Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak in Zagreb, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine reported.

We support and we will support territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. We remain steadfast in this issue, Mr Plenkovic said.

We support the initiative to prolong sanctions against Russia and have a clear position on support of Ukraine in European and Euro-Atlantic striving. Ukraine and Croatia should develop military technical cooperation, as well as strengthen political diplomatic support of Ukraine. Moreover, we exchange experience on peaceful reintegration of territories, the PM of Croatia said.

ish
The News in Brief

Khajimba Reacts to Lukava Case Commission Decision



Russian-backed Abkhaz leader Raul Khajimba claims in his statement released on January 6, that he intended to work with Sokhumi parliament to present the fifth and final constitutional court judge in the shortest possible time.



The statement was issued in response to the decision of the parliamentary investigative commission on the case of Giorgi Lukava , a native of Abkhazias Gali district , whose release sparked anti-government protests in Abkhazia.



On january 5, the commission decided to envision full staffing of the constitutional court and transfer Lukavas released materials to it. Hence the court will assess the legitimacy of Khajimbas pardoning of the prisoner.



The commission also intended on producing a draft law limiting pardon of those who have committed grave crimes on the territory of Abkhazia. The commission also recommended Khajimba to suspend his head of administration until the constitutional court reviewed the pardon case.



In his statement Khajimba agreed with the commissions decision on limiting presidential pardon on grave crimes. However, he rejects the recommendation on suspending his head of administration.



Three opposition MPs Batal Tabaghua, Batal Aiba and Aslan Bzhania - challenged the commissions decision to refer the case to a court that has not been fully formed yet. Instead, they insist on involving the supreme court .The decision was adopted despite their protest, with Tabaghua and Aiba voting against it.



On January 5, prior to the commissions decision, , Khajimba visited the parliament, and later addressed the protest rally in front of the legislatures building. The president insisted that Lukavas release was a political decision which aimed at Russian-backed authorities of Tskhinvali within the tripartite prisoner exchange arrangement.



Tskhinvali leader Anatoly Bibilov had issued a statement on January 4, confirming that Sokhumi actions in relation to the prisoners release were accommodating the interests of Tskhinvali. Bibilov added he hopes that the help to the brotherly Ossetian people, expressed in the good political will of president R. Khajimba, will not become a reason for a socio-political tension in Abkhazia.



The protest rally participants, who remained in front of the parliament until late on January 5, were displeased by the commissions decision to defer the final assessment of Khajimbas actions to the constitutional court. Several deputies, however, asked the rally participants to remain calm. The deputies included the parliament speaker Valery Kvarchia and a former Sokhumi leader, deposed by Khajimbas supporters in 2014, Alexander Ankvab.



According to the regional constitution, Khajimba may be impeached due to the illegal pardoning of Lukava if the parliaments two-third agrees on it. However, majority of the 34- member parliament consists of Khajimbas supporters. (Agenda.ge)







Lado Chanturia starts fulfilling duties in Strasbourg Court



Lado Chanturia started fulfilling duties in the Strasbourg Court. The oath ceremony was held on January 8 at the European Court of Human Rights. On the event were present the Permanent Representative of Georgia to the Council of Europe, the President of the European Court of Human Rights, judges and representatives of the Courts Secretariat.



Lado Chanturia replaced Nona Tsotsoria in the position. The duties of the Strasbourg Judge shall be performed for a term of 9 years from 8 January 2018 to 8 January 2027.



The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe elected Lado Chanturia as the Strasbourg Court Judge on October 10, following the recommendation of the Special Committee of the Council of Europe. (IPN)




SANAA, 16 January 2018  More than 3 million children have been born in Yemen since the escalation in violence in March 2015 according to a new UNICEF report. Born into War details how children in Yemen have been scarred by years of violence, displacement, disease, poverty, undernutrition and a lack of access to basic services including water, health care and education.



An entire generation of children in Yemen is growing up knowing nothing but violence. Children in Yemen are suffering the devastating consequences of a war that is not of their making, said Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen. Malnutrition and disease are rampant as basic services collapse. Those who survive are likely to carry the physical and psychological scars of conflict for the rest of their lives.



According to the report:



 More than 5,000 children have been killed or injured in the violence  an average of five children every day since March 2015.

 More than 11 million children now need humanitarian assistance  nearly every child in Yemen.

 More than half of the countrys children dont have access to safe drinking water or adequate sanitation.

 An estimated 1.8 million children are acutely malnourished, including nearly 400,000 severe acutely malnourished children who are fighting for their lives.

 Nearly 2 million children are out of school, including almost half a million who dropped out since the conflict escalated in March 2015.

 Suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhea have affected over 1 million people, with children under 5 years old accounting for a quarter of all cases.

 Three quarters of all girls are married before the age of 18.

 Health workers and teachers have been only partially paid for over a year, affecting education for 4.5 million children. Less than half of health facilities are fully functional.

 At the end of September 2017, 256 schools were reported totally destroyed, 150 schools were occupied by displaced people, and 23 by armed groups.



Even before the conflict escalated in 2015, Yemen was the poorest country in the Middle East and among the poorest in the world. Yemen has suffered decades of conflict, under- development, economic decline, and the destruction of fragile public infrastructure and services. Most children and families survive only thanks to humanitarian assistance.



The report calls on all parties to the conflict, those with influence on them and the global community to prioritise the protection of children in Yemen by:



 Immediately reaching a peaceful political solution and putting an end to the violence.

 Abiding by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect children unconditionally during conflict.

 Providing sustainable and unconditional access to deliver assistance to every child in need in Yemen. Restrictions on imports of goods into Yemen must be lifted. Food and fuel are essential to counter the threat of famine and to power hospitals and vital water systems.

 Preventing the total collapse of public social services including health care, water systems and education. Salaries for health workers and teachers need to be paid.

 Providing sufficient funds for assistance to be sustained. In 2018, UNICEF is appealing for US$ 312 million to continue responding to the urgent needs of children in the country.



###

Notes for editors:

Download photos, video and b-roll here and the full report, in English and Arabic here



Find out more about UNICEFs work for children in Yemen here: http://uni.cf/yemencrisis

For more information contact:

Joe English, UNICEF New York, jenglish@unicef.org +1 917 893 0692

Christopher Tidey, UNICEF New York, ctidey@unicef.org +1 917 340 3017

Bismarck Swangin, UNICEF Yemen, bswangin@unicef.org, +967 712 223 161

Juliette Touma, UNICEF MENA Regional Office, jtouma@unicef.org ; +962 798 674 628

Tamara Kummer, UNICEF MENA Regional Office, tkummer@unicef.org ; +962 797 588 550
The offensive remark, which has been denied by Trump but confirmed by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who was also present at the meeting, has generated a wave of outrage across the country and in South Florida, home of a large Haitian community.

Other Florida lawmakers were among the first to denounce Trumps alleged comments as racist, including Miami Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

The words of President Trump are unacceptable, racist, she said Tuesday before gathering with other lawmakers for a congressional hearing in Miami. He is clearly saying ... that he would like to have more immigrants from Norway, a country that has 83 percent white population. This is the same president who said a few months ago that all Haitians in Miami have AIDS.

He has a record of saying racist things, Ros-Lehtinen added.

If anyone says that, I not only do not agree but I think that offends unnecessarily, said Senator Marco Rubio, who clarified that he was not at the meeting and has not discussed the issue with colleagues. Those are comments that I do not support, they are counterproductive, no matter who would say them.

After being at the receiving end of criticism for withholding comment, Diaz-Balart suggested that political pragmatism and his interest in avoiding the deportation of thousands of immigrants were behind his decision not to confirm or deny Trumps offensive remark.

I fight for my community every day ... Unfortunately there is only one person from our community who is in these serious, very difficult and delicate negotiations to try to avoid the deportation of hundreds of thousands of people, he said. Im not going to endanger those 800,000 people to go into accusations.

Read more here.
As the construction of hydropower dams in China booms, both China and Laos are looking to sell off excess energy to their Southeast Asian neighbors, with experts saying cheaper electricity costs can help boost development in countries like Cambodia.

Brian Eyler, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Stimson Center, said an abundance of cheap power from China could stall Laos plans to become the battery of Southeast Asia.

In the big picture, the amount of power that can come out of Laos hydropower development is a tiny fraction of the actual demand that countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam need, he said.

Power from Chinas Yunnan province, which has seen numerous hydropower developments in recent years tap into the upper reaches of the Mekong and its tributaries, will cost as little as three cents per kilowatt hour, he added, meaning the cost when it reaches Cambodia will still be cheaper than buying power from Laos own mega-dams, the Xayabury and Don Sahong.

Because the government likes to take a centralized hub and spoke approach, you have big load centers in urban areas, but the generation capacity is always in the periphery, in the mountains, so if you think about hydropower and the idea is just to build out transmission and distribution systems to those far afield assets and link them up to the urban center, Eyler said.

But the world isnt moving that way. The world is moving toward a decentralized system where power is flowing in multiple directions all around you. So urban areas can produce electricity as well as a solar distributive generation, wind farms close to urban areas. There is really no need to continue on with that purely centralized system approach.

He added that the cheap electricity provision from Yunnan provided the governments of Southeast Asia with a window of opportunity to switch to renewable energy, particularly solar, wind and biomass energy, which could provide a long-term solution to energy shortages.

Some 30 hydropower dams are being constructed in Laos and about seven in Cambodia, funded predominantly by Chinese state companies.

Courtney Weatherby, a research analyst with the Stimson Center, said Cambodia had a choice now to invest in solar power.

I think its very possible and there is the technical expertise available and the international community to help find an alternative pathway that would meet all of the needs for Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for revenue, for electricity and to better protect the social, environmental situation that is currently existing around the rich Mekong river, and it does need to have discussions started now on this topic instead of following business as usual, she said.

The price of technology needed to build solar panels has declined dramatically in recent years, making it more profitable in the long term to invest in solar power, experts say.

But many countries are resistant to change and view solar investments as too risky for too little reward.

Meanwhile, the construction of dozens of mega dams along the Mekong River system has come under fire for their social and environmental impact.

The biggest challenge at this point and time is that we are starting to see these impacts, said Weatherby. The biggest challenge moving forward is to ensure that any future projects are done in a way that coordinates with others so you can mitigate and lessen the impacts as much as possible because some of these developments are just going to happen but it could be done in a haphazard way where projects individually look at the mitigation and have no coordination and so the end result could be a disaster for countries downstream.

In a summit last week, China pushed through a five-year development plan for the Mekong River in a meeting with downstream nations. Li Keqiang, the Chinese Prime Minister, said after the meeting that cooperation between the countries was not merely paying lip service.

We talked about important principles in the meeting. We have to respect each other and consider each other with equality for common development, he said.

The actual submitted plan is so broad - covering almost every area of governance - that it is hard to point to a specific objective and no concrete steps appear to have been taken to address the growing number of man-made threats to the river system.
In Popel commune, Takeo province, some seven commune councilors from the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party are going to vote in the Senate election, which will take place on February 25.

The election will take place without the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, which gained more than two-fifths of the of the popular vote in local elections in June before it was dissolved in November by the Supreme Court.

There is no doubt here that the commune council controlled by CPP is going to vote for the CPP despite the secret ballot.

In Popel Commune Hall, along the National Road Number 3 to Takeo province, Touch Pav, the commune chief, sits in front of other commune councilors, telling them he is going to vote for the CPP.

I am going to vote for CPP since I am from the CPP, said Pav, 47, who took up the post after the CNRP incumbent vacated the seat when the party was dissolved and their seats were redistributed.

In the June local election, the CNRP won a majority of seats here.

Touch Pav was a former official from the then-Sam Rainsy Party, which he joined in 1993. He defected to the CPP in 2012.

Before I thought Sam Rainy is a democrat but finally he is not democratic, making social chaos like doing strikes and demonstrations, he said.

There are 11,572 constituencies voting in the upcoming Senate election, as well as 123 lawmakers in the National Assembly.

Four parties will contest the election, but the CPP is expected to win all of the 62 seats.

Pav believes his six colleagues, including one defector, will also vote for the CPP.

It is their right and freedom. They can vote for any party. We dont know, he said. But for him, there is no doubt he will vote for the CPP.

However, Pav says he does not know the total number of seats in the Senate and never met any senators, though he has worked at the commune hall for five years.

Local CNRP officials had worked in the commune for about four months before the party was dissolved. Pav said he got on well with CNRP commune councilors who lost their posts.

I have many good memories with them. We cooperated well with each other in the commune administrative work. There was no problem, he said.

Chea Thol, 45, a former CNRP official in Popel, defected to the CPP last year so that he could get a post as the first deputy commune chief. He joined the Sam Rainsy Party in 2001.

He said he defected because the CNRP was dissolved and he needed to get a post and earn some income.

This is a confidential election. I would not dare to say yet. Wait until the election day comes, he said. I am not sure if I am being watched or not. I am now in one family [the CPP], he added.

Khun Vannoeurn, 45, a female second deputy commune chief from the CPP, sitting next to Pav, the commune chief, said she is also going to vote for the CPP, as she has supported the party since she grew up.

They [my parents] told me that the CPP liberated the country from the Pol Pot regime, she said.

She said she had met with ruling party senators to discuss womens affairs and party work. But people, she said, dont often meet senators, just once or twice a year.

The parliamentarians are busier than the senators, she said.

About a third of Popel commune residents work in three garment factories here, according to the commune chief.

Chea Sophal, the former CNRP commune chief, said the Senate election is meaningless.

What is the meaning of the election, if the electoral college is not from the party people voted for?  he asked.

Sophal is the current commune chiefs cousin. Members of the CPP tried to persuade him to defect. I didnt because it is against the voters will, he said.

However, he is now waiting for the news from the party leaders as to what they are going to do after the party was dissolved.

By law, two senators are nominated by the King and another two nominated by the National Assembly.

If the CNRP was not dissolved, the party would expect to have gained 25 senators, increasing from 11, according to Teav Vannol, a senator from the Candle Light Party, formerly the Sam Rainy Party.

He said the Senate is weak in Cambodian law. The Senate has no power under the constitution, he added. In a democratic country like the U.S., the Senate is strong, even more powerful than [Congress], he said.

Yoeurng Sotheara, a legal and monitoring officer with Comfrel, a local election watchdog, said reform was needed for the Senate to have the power to challenge the National Assembly.

By the provisions provided in the current constitution, the power of the upper house is nothing. I dont see any forceful authority or power of the Senate stipulated in the constitution, he said.

It is good if both of them can play a role of check and balances, he added.

However, Mam Buneang, Senate spokesman, defended the power of Senate.

We do things in accordance with the constitutions and the internal rules of the Senate, he said.

Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sens Cambodia, said the Senate was created not to serve any legislative function but simply to create a power-base for Chea Sim, the former Senate and CPP president who died in 2015.

As you'll recall, he was asked to give up the presidency of the National Assembly, which was then given to Prince Norodom Ranariddh in exchange for bringing Funcinpec into a new coalition with the CPP. Right now the Senate performs no vital legislative function.

Despite no CNRP candidates taking part in the upcoming Senate election, Popel commune chief, Touch Pav said there is still a democratic process in place.

I think without the CNRP, there are other parties, democratic parties, who can contest the election, he said. I believe that there is no problem with the Senate election this term.
Passengers on a commercial flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong could see a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile flying through the November sky, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a gathering of foreign ministers in Vancouver, Canada, Tuesday, highlighting what he called the "recklessness" of Kim Jong Un's regime.

North Korea test fired what it said was an ICBM on November 28. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the commercial airline was 280 nautical miles from the point of impact. At the time, it said, there were nine other flights within that range.

WATCH: Vancouver talks

"Over the course of that day, according to the Department of Defense, an estimated 716 flights were due to pass within that range. The FAA says the total available seats on those 716 flights were 152,110. Thats a lot of people from a lot of countries being put at risk by an irresponsible testing of ballistic missiles," said Tillerson, emphasizing that the potential for a North Korean missile or parts of it to affect civilian aircraft is real.

Tillerson didnt say which airline the passengers were on when they saw parts of a North Korean ICBM test flying through the sky," or whether the plane changed its route as a result.

"Based on its past recklessness," Tillerson said, "we cannot expect North Korea to have any regard for what might get in the way of one of its missiles, or parts of a missile breaking apart."

Tillerson' sobering recollection punctuated a meeting of top diplomats from 20 countries seeking to form a united front to what is widely perceived as Pyongyang's nuclear aggression.

The secretary of state noted the world is at a "tenuous stage," considering how much North Korea's nuclear efforts have advanced recently. Tillerson said the United States and other nations are "resolute" that North Korea will never become a nuclear power.

Sanctions

Co-hosted by Canada for the United States Korean War allies, the Vancouver meeting is seeking ways to avert the threat of conflict with a nuclear-armed North Korea. The participating countries sent troops or humanitarian aid under a U.N. effort to repel the North during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

China and Russia - accused by Washington and others of not doing enough to stop the North from pursuing its nuclear ambitions - were not invited.

In a joint statement, the nations agree to consider and take steps to impose unilateral sanctions and further diplomatic actions that go beyond those required by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Washington also called on nations to take actions to strengthen global maritime interdiction operations to foil North Koreas illicit activities.

"Today we discussed ways to further increase pressure on North Korea through more effective sanctions implementation and compliance. And countries came forward with proposals on how they intend to do that. We agreed that the need for U.N. member states, especially China and Russia, to fully Implement agreed-upon sanctions is essential to their success. We discussed the importance of working together to counter sanctions evasion and smuggling," said Tillerson at a joint news conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

The top Canadian diplomat cautioned the world not to be fooled by North Korea.

"We welcome last week's agreement between North and South Korea to hold military-to-military discussions and for North Korea to participate in the Winter Olympics next month. These are encouraging signals. But let me be clear, no true progress can be made in addressing instability in the Korean peninsula until North Korea commits to changing course, and verifiably and irreversibly abandoning all of its weapons of mass destruction," said Freeland.

Tuesday's ministerial talks come just days after a mistaken missile alert sparked panic in Hawaii.

"Additionally, we must increase the costs of the regime's behavior to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations," Tillerson said during the opening of the talks.

North Korea has defied U.N. calls to refrain from nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The November test of an intercontinental ballistic missile spiked tensions and sparked a war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Those tensions have eased somewhat in recent weeks, and representatives from North Korea and South Korea held their first formal talks in two years.

But experts warned Pyongyang could be buying time to perfect its nuclear capability, while trying to get some sanction relief.

"Actually next year, actually in 2018, its predicted that North Koreas economy will be only one of a few economies thatll actually regress. And thats a huge sign and a real challenge with the sanctions that have been placed. And the reason that the North Koreans are all going through all this, is because they want nuclear weapons to hit the United States," director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest Harry Kazianis told VOA.
France is set to demand that Britain pay more to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis around the northern port of Calais  the main gateway from the European mainland to the UK. Hundreds of migrants are living in dire conditions in makeshift camps around the French city. Following a visit to Calais Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron is likely to raise the issue when he visits London later this week, as Henry Ridgwell reports.
As a candidate, Donald Trump promised a radically different approach to foreign intervention. For years, Trump criticized US wars, arguing they were a waste of lives and money. But how has Trump handled those conflicts during his first year as president? The short answer? There hasn't been a drastic change. In fact, Trump has shown he's anything but reluctant to use US force overseas. Bill Gallo reports.
Afghanistan government negotiators and Taliban officials have reportedly opened unofficial talks in Turkey to discuss the groundwork for initiating a formal peace dialogue between the government and the insurgent group.

Reports of the preliminary talks between the two sides emerged on Sunday in the Afghan local media with participants alleging that the Turkish government cooperated in launching the direct unofficial talks between both sides.

However, both the Afghan government and the Taliban have tried to distance themselves from the meeting in Turkey.

Those people who participated in Turkey talks with the Taliban are not representing the Afghan government, Shah Hussain Mortazavi, a spokesperson to the Afghan president, told VOA.

Afghan government will inform the Afghan people about any kind of talks to be held with armed opposition, the spokesperson emphasized.

Similarly, Afghan Taliban also denied that the militant groups representatives had participated in a meeting with the representatives of the Afghan government.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the insurgent groups spokesperson reacted to the development on Twitter and charged that the media reports are baseless.

Who talked to whom?

With both the Afghan government and the Taliban deny sending their envoys to Turkey on behalf of the government and the Taliban, the question is who were the participants of the Turkey meeting?

The news of talks in Turkey broke when a man, wearing a black turban, claiming to be the chief of the Taliban delegation in Turkey spoke to Tolo TV, Afghanistans most viewed private television station, and alleged that he was representing the Taliban movement in informal talks with the Afghan government.

In the more than seven-minute interview conducted via Skype from Turkey, Tolo TV introduced the man as Maulvi Abdul Rauf, the chief negotiator of the Taliban.

Maulvi Abdul Rauf said he represented all Mujahedeen (holy warriors) including Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), the formal name of Taliban.

He also claimed this was the third round of talks taking place between both sides. However, he refused to elaborate on where he came from to take part in the alleged unofficial peace talks.

I dont feel a need for telling you where I came from, Rauf said when asked about how he made it to Turkey.

Two Afghan officials, Abbas Basir and Homayon Jarir, both advisors to the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reportedly held the meeting with five-member delegation of Taliban, headed by Maulvi Abdul Rauf.

Rauf claimed in the interview that he was a former governor of eastern Khost province during the Taliban regime and currently held membership in Taliban leadership circle.

For the first time, a Taliban representative showed his face to media, confirming the start of what he called informal negotiations with the Afghan government officials in Turkey.

Previously talks between both sides have been shrouded in secrecy.

Mohammad Karim Khalili , the head of the Afghan Peace Council (APC), the government body tasked with talking with insurgent groups, offered a more nuanced and diplomatic response to the alleged talks.

Informal contacts with oppositions is continuing. The peace council along with government of Afghanistan are working together to prepare the ground for talks, Khalili said.

Afghans and international community are both ready for talks, Khalili added.

As the Afghan government and the Taliban are both denying having participated in Turkey talks, the Taliban have quietly sent political negotiators to Pakistan from its Qatar-based office amid a new diplomatic push for encouraging peace talks between parties to the Afghanistan war, according local media reports from Pakistan.

A three-member Taliban delegation headed by Shahabuddin Dilawar, a senior member of the Doha office, is reportedly in Islamabad, local media reported Tuesday.

Pakistani officials have not yet commented on the reports. Diplomatic sources in the capital city told VOA that they are aware" of the arrival of Taliban officials, but refused to speculate on their mission.

Taliban have yet to confirm or deny the arrival of its delegation to Islamabad.

Civil society concerns

Some civil society activists in Afghanistan are concerned over the secrecy of the talks and the denial of parties' participation in negotiations.

Khwaja Hamid Olwi, a civil society activist in Kabul. is not optimistic about the peace talks.

When all the parties refuse that they had no representative in the talks, it indicates lack of respect for peace talks, Olwi said.

That is why people are losing faith in the talks and do not believe (in) such talks, he added.

Pakistan in the equation

The Afghan peace process has been heavily dependent on Pakistan and Afghanistan and could never fully take control of the talks with the Taliban. The last time both sides held official talks was in 2015 in Murree, a resort town not too far from Pakistans capital Islamabad. Pakistan helped launched the talks between both sides and they agreed to meet again in a couple of months. However, the news of the death of Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder and its spiritual leader, postponed the talks indefinitely.

U.S. President Donald Trumps tough stance on Pakistan and Taliban has somewhat revived the hopes for a breakthrough in the stalled Afghan peace process. However, Pakistans Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif ruled out the influence Islamabad once had on Taliban.

Washington and Kabul think otherwise. The visiting U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Ambassador Alice Wells wrapped up her Islamabad visit on Tuesday with a clear message to Pakistan.

U.S. South Asia strategy represents an opportunity to work together (with Pakistan) for the establishment of a stable, peaceful Afghanistan, the defeat of ISIS in South Asia, and the elimination of terrorist groups that threaten both Pakistan and the United States, Wells said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is equally critical of Pakistans role in Afghanistan.

Following a meeting with visiting members of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), Ghanis office released a statement in which the Afghan leader called for more pressure on Pakistan.

In its defense, Pakistan denies safe havens on its soil and maintains that the country has cracked down on all militant groups indiscriminately.
Tight surveillance, experienced crews and the prospects of a multi-party code of conduct make the South China Sea relatively safe for marine shippers, including vessels such as the Iranian oil tanker that wrecked east of China this month, despite ongoing political friction.

Private vessels including oil tankers already use reliable charts while sticking close to shorelines where individual countries have granted passage, experts say.

Even if those ships enter a disputed tract of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, increasingly sophisticated surveillance can pick up any accidents and the six governments with claims to it normally put humanitarian relief above sovereignty disputes, they say.

A code of conduct being discussed by China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would make humanitarian relief a priority along with accident prevention, experts say. China and ASEAN, which includes four rival claimants to the South China Sea, agreed in November to work out the code this year.

When it comes to this kind of humanitarian situation, very ironically it could actually induce these parties to set aside their differences for a few days or a few weeks and try to work together, said Oh Ei Sun, international studies instructor at Singapore Nanyang University.

An Iranian oil tanker exploded into flames Sunday and sank in the East China Sea off Shanghai after hitting a Chinese cargo ship last week. Search crews have dimmed hopes of finding any of the tankers 32 crew members alive. Authorities are still looking for a cause of the accident.

China and Japan dispute tracts of the East China Sea. Japans effective control and Chinas military flyovers to challenge it have strained relations.

Their tension has weakened the atmosphere that might otherwise enable China and Japan to handle accidents such as that of the Iranian tanker, said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the College of International Affairs at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Shared experience

In the South China Sea, a pathway for one third of the worlds marine shipping traffic, six governments vie for sovereignty. Goods shipped in 2016 were worth $3.37 trillion, according to estimates from the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Operators have the experience to avoid disputed waters where possible, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

But during typhoons, high waves or the sudden passage of military vessels, shippers can still face disaster risks, maritime scholars say.

The number of claimants, along with their wariness of one another, however, have raised surveillance in the sea, allowing them to spot danger. Pirates and terrorists seldom occur in the South China Sea, unlike in other oceans, Huang said.

China, the strongest claimant with expanding control since 2010, routinely passes coast guard ships throughout the waterway. Now Beijing is building radar systems on as many as three islets in the seas Spratly archipelago, according to the think tanks Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

China plans to launch 10 satellites over the sea from 2019 to 2021, Chinese state media say.

Safety versus sovereignty

Although the other claimants  Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam  resent Chinese expansion into their maritime exclusive economic zones  they normally put aside disagreements in times of crisis, Koh said.

Accident prevention is really the collective (responsibility) of everyone, he said. Governments usually issue notices to mariners and shippers on a real-time basis.

Taiwan, which holds the largest Spratly feature, has rescued distressed ships from Vietnam, which holds nearby islets, coast guard officials in Taipei say. Taiwan said in 2015 that new construction on the island, called Taiping or Itu Aba, would be used for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Elsewhere at sea, navies from the United States, which is not a maritime claimant, and Vietnam started an exchange in 2016 to head off unplanned hostilities among ships in contested Asia-Pacific waters, the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported.

China and Vietnam, which got into a bitter boat-ramming showdown in 2014 over the placement of a Chinese oil rig, added a search-and-rescue component in 2016 to their decade-old joint naval patrols in the shared Gulf of Tonkin.

In August last year, both Malaysia and Singapore helped rescue people from a collision between the U.S. naval destroyer USS John S McCain and a Nigerian-registered tanker even though they disputed who controls the accident site.

Code of conduct

A code of conduct for the South China Sea would fine-tune accident prevention and emergency responses without touching the underlying sovereignty disputes, ASEAN officials said last year. Its not clear whether the code will extend to private takers and cargo vessels, Huang said.

I think to take disaster management or crisis management, and then for oil tankers to use that in the (code of conduct), thats a very justifiable thing, Huang said.

The code, based on a declaration by the Southeast Asian nations in 2002 but resisted by China until last year, will cover humanitarian relief, Koh forecast.

I think this is one of those lower-hanging fruits that were already floated around amongst ASEAN as well as China on the South China Sea, Koh said. I dont think this may be a big issue when it comes to the South China Sea, because I think first foremost the imperative is always a humanitarian approach to any such contingency before we talk about sovereignty and all other sort of issues, he said.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has agreed to meet and cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller in his criminal probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

U.S. media say no date has been set for his interview with Bannon. But his deal with the prosecutor came after news surfaced Tuesday that Mueller subpoenaed Bannon last week to testify before a grand jury probing the Russian interference.

Bannon could be a key figure in Mueller's investigation into whether Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russian interests to help him win the White House.

Bannon could offer investigators inside-the-White-House information whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey while Comey headed the agency's Russia probe before Mueller took over the investigation.

Bannon oversaw the last few months of Trump's successful run for the presidency and worked in the White House for seven months before being ousted in August. He continues to support Trump's brand of America-first populism, But his relations with Trump fell apart earlier this month after Bannon was quoted extensively with critical remarks about the campaign and White House operations in author Michael Wolff's new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

The former Trump adviser was quoted as calling it treasonous and unpatriotic that Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer in the midst of the campaign in an effort to get incriminating evidence against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Wednesday the White House can't speculate what Bannon might tell Mueller. Asked if Trump and the White House are afraid of what Bannon might say, Sanders said, Not that I'm aware of.

Bannon's agreement with Mueller came after a rocky, hours-long appearance Tuesday before the House Intelligence Committee, one of three congressional panels conducting Russia probes in which Bannon refused to answer questions.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly refutes reports the White House told Bannon's lawyer that Bannon must keep silent during Tuesday's appearance before the House.

Steve has had very very little contact with the White House since he left, Kelly told Fox News Wednesday night.

After the book was published, Trump started calling Bannon Sloppy Steve and said, 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. Bannon also was removed last week as the top executive at Breitbart News, the alt-right news site that has championed Trump's policies.

Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia, although none of the months-long congressional investigations or Mueller has reached any conclusions.

Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news, Trump said in a Twitter comment Tuesday, 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!
Brazilian state lender Caixa Economic Federal suspended four of its vice presidents on Tuesday after President Michel Temer called on them to step down and defend themselves from accusations of wrongdoing.

Caixa said it would follow the presidential order, without commenting on specific allegations after a string of corruption investigations involving loans and investments by public pension funds.

Temer's order, directed to his finance minister and Caixa's chief executive, follows similar demands by federal prosecutors last month, which the government initially ignored, sources told Reuters last week.

The prosecutor-general's office repeated those calls on Tuesday, threatening President Michel Temer with administrative measures should all Caixa vice presidents not be replaced by a February 26 deadline.

Four of Caixa's 12 vice presidents, along with Chief Executive Gilberto Occhi, have been caught up in a wave of graft investigations that have swept Latin America's largest economy in recent years.

In August, Caixa started an independent investigation into the corruption allegations. In December, Caixa said in a quarterly earnings statement that it had not concluded the process.
British lawmakers voted in favor of the government's legislative blueprint for Brexit on Wednesday, marking a victory for Prime Minister Theresa May over political opponents who want a softer approach to leaving the European Union.

But the legislation will now face scrutiny from parliament's largely pro-EU upper house, where May's party does not have a majority, which will intensify efforts to force a re-run of a 2016 referendum, and water down or even stop the divorce.

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was approved by a 324 to 295 vote in the lower house - a milestone on the long road towards cementing the legal foundations of Britain's departure from the bloc.

The bill repeals the 1972 law that made Britain a member of the EU, and transfers EU laws into British ones.

"This bill is essential for preparing the country for the historic milestone of withdrawing from the European Union," Brexit minister David Davis told parliament before the vote.

"It ensures that on day one we will have a statute book that works, delivering the smooth and orderly exit desired by people and businesses across the United Kingdom and being delivered by this government."

The bill has become the focal point for months of divisive debate about what type of EU divorce Britain should seek, severely testing May's ability to deliver on her exit strategy without a parliamentary majority.

But despite one embarrassing parliamentary defeat, several government concessions and rebellion from within her own party, May's Conservative lawmakers overcame opposition from the Labour Party and others.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn instructed his lawmakers to vote against passage of the bill because the government had not met conditions set out by the party, demanding safeguards on a range of issues including workers and consumer rights.

"This bill has never been fit for purpose," said Labour's Brexit policy chief, Keir Starmer, describing any attempt to persuade the government that the legislation needed to change as "talking to a brick wall".

Lords scrutiny

The upper house, the House of Lords, will now begin months of scrutiny of the bill before it can become law. Any changes made by the lords will require approval from the lower house, and the whole process could take until May to complete.

The House of Lords contains a diverse, largely unelected, mix of political appointees, experts, and members who inherited their positions. Many lords are opposed to Brexit.

Some of those figures are expected to try to soften the Brexit approach to include remaining in the EU's single market or a second public vote, but the most likely areas for changes involve technical and constitutional issues.

May has ruled out a second vote and says Britain will be leaving. Labour's Corbyn is also committed to following through with Brexit, albeit pushing for different priorities and aims.

Nevertheless, calls for a second referendum are expected to persist, particularly as both pro- and anti-EU politicians have mooted the possibility recently.

EU officials and some member states have said they would welcome a change of heart from Britain.

But, barring a major change of policy from one of the country's two largest political parties, Britain remains on course to leave the bloc in March 2019.
@jenstaletovich

Two days before lawmakers are set to discuss a massive Everglades reservoir, things are getting complicated.

On Tuesday, Florida environmentalists urged Gov. Rick Scott to step in and fix a design they say does too little to store and clean polluted water needed to repair the suffering Everglades. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state's partner in fixing the old flood control system that broke the River of Grass, has so far not followed through on a deal to help plan the project.

In a letter signed by the Everglades Coalition's 62 member organizations, who met over the weekend, co-chairs Mark Perry and Michael Baldwin said the South Florida Water Management District failed to design a project big enough to both store and treat water. Last year lawmakers approved the reservoir after repeated releases of dirty water from Lake Okeechobee left the Treasure Coast coated with slimy algae. The law allowed the district to use land set aside for a previous reservoir, or swap state-owned land with surrounding property owners to increase the size of the reservoir, but not take land through imminent domain.

Environmentalists say five alternatives drafted by the district fail to do the trick because they fail to explore land swaps or consider the potential environmental benefits in a best case scenario, a requirement under federal rules.

In addition, two deep water alternatives may not provide enough clean water, they say. And three larger alternatives convert an existing shallow treatment basin - that has dramatically cleaned up polluted water coming from the lake and sugar fields - to part of the deeper reservoir. Converting that feature could jeopardize the state's legal settlement over federal Clean Water Violations.

"We are deeply concerned that the limited array of alternatives...will result in a reservoir plan that is neither cost-effective nor likely to be approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Congress," Perry and Baldwin wrote.

The Corps' silence on the project has also infuriated the district's governing board.

Back in November, the Corps agreed to work on the project if the district paid for the services since the Corps hadn't budgeted for the work. But, according to the district, the deal fell apart over the scope of the work and, according to a December letter from district Executive Director Ernie Marks, led to "numerous roadblocks and course changes." At a district meeting last week, governing board members slammed the agency for not holding up its end of the bargain.

"It's unacceptable," board member Federico Fernandez said. "It's troubled me to no end to see you folks pull off a herculean effort and then have to put in time and a half to prognosticate what shouldnt be unclear."

The district is scheduled to provide an update to the Senate's Appropriations Committee on Thursday.
The bail verdict in an increasingly high profile Cambodian espionage case against Australian filmmaker James Ricketson was postponed on Wednesday because the prison delivered him to the court late.

Ricketson, who was charged with espionage after reportedly flying a drone at an opposition rally in Phnom Penh in June, arrived briefly at Cambodias Supreme Court only to be ferried back to prison as judges were apparently now busy.

The transportation was slow, and there are many cases happening at the supreme court today," one of his lawyers, Peung Yok Hiep, explained.

An agitated Ricketson told reporters Journalism is not espionage after eventually arriving in a prison van.

"I have a right to free speech according to the Cambodian constitution and I'd like to think my Australian government would defend my right to free speech," he said.

Which country am I spying for, he asked.

The Australian has been charged with a provision of the Cambodian Criminal Code that prohibits gathering types of information potentially detrimental to the country with a view to supplying them to a foreign state and carries a five to 10 year jail term.

No details have been given about the precise allegations against Ricketson, a divisive figure who has been praised for his generous support of poor families but also amassed plenty of enemies by waging campaigns against civil society organizations he accuses of exploiting the needy.

Uk Kimseth, deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court and Ly Sophana, deputy prosecutor and spokesman for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, also could not be reached.

He has twice been convicted for defamation against such groups and was involved in a bitter, long-running feud with Cambodian Childrens Fund founder Scott Neeson  an Australian philanthropist who Ricketson claims removed children from their families.

Ricketson has also at times strongly criticized the Cambodian government and filmed former opposition leader Sam Rainsy extensively for a political documentary until the party began distancing itself from him several years ago.

Another of Ricketsons crusades has been to secure the release of British national David Fletcher, a convicted pedophile who he has argued was set up and then abandoned by the British embassy.

The delay of the 68-year-olds bail verdict until January 31 is a set back for Ricketsons family, who have watched his health deteriorate inside Phnom Penhs Prey Sar prison for more than seven months.

Ricketsons lawyers say the prosecution was recently granted an additional six months to further investigate the espionage charge against him. They could potentially seek another extension to bring his total pre-trial detention to 18 months.

Its obviously difficult for the family every time we are in court and disappointing to have this delay come about today, said Alexandra Kennett, the partner of Ricketsons son.

As I said last week, we are all hopeful for the swiftest resolution to proceedings as possible and we just ask that the evidence be brought forth and that bail either be accepted or denied so that we can continue to move forward and again we are hopeful for the compassion of the Australian and the Cambodian governments in assisting us to bring this to a swift conclusion, she said.

Pressure for the Australian government to stand up for Ricketson is mounting in Australia, where journalist Peter Greste  who was released from detention in Egypt in 2014 after the intervention of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop  has thrown his support behind the filmmaker.

Help free another journalist in prison on national security charges. No evidence that James Ricketson in Cambodia is guilty of anything other than caring, he tweeted in late December, urging followers to sign a petition calling for Ricketsons release.

That petition, which implores Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Attorney General Christian Porter to intervene, had more than 53,000 signatures as of Wednesday.

On Tuesday, The Sydney Morning Herald published an editorial suggesting the charges against Ricketson were political and calling for the Australian government to step in.

It is to be hoped the Australian government is not standing back, maintaining [as it has thus far] that all it can offer is low-level "consular assistance. This is no time for official passivity, the paper wrote.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was continuing to provide consular assistance in accordance with the Consular Services Charter to Ricketson, while ensuring it did not prejudice in any way his current situation, but declined to answer specific questions related to his case, citing privacy obligations.
Catalonia's new parliament on Wednesday elected a pro-secession speaker, virtually guaranteeing that the push for independence for Spain's northeastern region will continue as its lawmakers prepare to elect a new government.

The opening session of the new Catalan assembly came amid looming questions about the role that fugitive and jailed politicians will play within the chamber's separatist majority and the future regional government.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October dodging a Spanish judicial probe over a foiled secession attempt, wants to be reinstated to his old job. But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain and legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

Puigdemont's and other empty seats in the parliament were adorned with a yellow ribbon Wednesday. Four ex-Cabinet members sought by Spain's Supreme Court are also in Brussels and three more elected lawmakers  including former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras  are jailed on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of Catalonia following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist lawmakers on October 27.

Under special powers, Spain fired Puigdemont's government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on December 21 in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrid's hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes, although Ciutadans [Citizens]  a party that fiercely opposes independence  gained the most seats.

Several hundred people rallied near the parliament in central Barcelona, waving separatist flags as they watched the new house speaker's election on a large outdoor screen.

Roger Torrent, a lawmaker with the left-republican ERC party, was elected to head the assembly's governing committee that plays a key role in deciding what issues are debated and voted on in parliament.

"I want democracy and coexistence to be the foundations of this term," Torrent told fellow lawmakers from the speaker's podium, vowing at the same time to restore the self-government of Catalonia that is now in the hands of Madrid. He also said that, as speaker, he would defend the right of "all 135 voices in the chamber," including those fugitive or in jail.

But Ciutadans leader Ines Arrimadas criticized the inaugural session, saying, "We start the legislature as we finished the last one, with a parliament speaker who is going to work only for independence."

However, she pointed out that things had changed in the parliament because the secessionist bloc now had fewer seats and votes and the independence stance had no international support.

"No matter what happens, we are going to be the guarantors for Catalonia not to make any independence declaration," she said.

Although Arrimadas' party won the most seats  36  unlike the secessionist bloc, she lacks enough support to form a government.

Torrent is tasked with choosing a candidate to try to form a government by the end of the month. The two secessionist parties back the candidacy of Puigdemont, but the former president would first have to get approval from Torrent's committee to vote and be elected from abroad.

Elsa Artadi, spokeswoman for Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), said the separatists are "working to explore all the tools in the parliament's rules to see what will be the formula."

Parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week that Puigdemont can't be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 seats in Catalonia's parliament and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the region's future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.

Parra reported from Madrid. Associated Press writer Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
The New Jersey man found guilty last year of planting two homemade bombs in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, one of which wounded 30 people, has tried to radicalize fellow inmates with Islamic State and al-Qaida propaganda, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, 29, faces a mandatory life sentence under federal law after being convicted in October of eight counts, including using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 13.

Prosecutors said in a filing in Manhattan federal court that since his conviction, Rahimi had distributed terrorist propaganda to other inmates at Manhattans Metropolitan Correctional Center.

The materials included issues of Islamic State's Inspire magazine and speeches by former al-Qaida leaders Anwar al-Awlaki and Osama bin Laden, prosecutors said.

Prison staff found an address book containing the names of other inmates charged with terrorism offenses among Rahimi's belongings, prosecutors said.

Those other inmates include Sajmir Alimehmeti, who is charged with trying to help an undercover law enforcement officer travel to Syria to join Islamic State; Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, who was convicted in September of helping al-Qaida plan a car bomb attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan; and Maalik Alim Jones, who pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to support the Islamist militant group al-Shabab in Somalia, according to prosecutors.

Rahimi also wrote a letter to an associate in Germany in explaining his decision not speak at his trial, in which he said that his prosecutor, judge, jury and his own lawyer were all kaffirs, or unbelievers, prosecutors said.

Their hands are already drenched with Muslim Blood and how will they understand our struggle, Rahimi wrote, according to prosecutors.

The defendants communications while incarcerated further demonstrate that, far from appreciating the depravity of his actions, he is proud of what he did, scornful of the American justice system and as dedicated as ever to his terrorist ideology, prosecutors said, citing the mandatory minimum sentence.

Rahimi was represented at trial by lawyers at the Federal Defenders of New York, a public defender organization. The group withdrew from the case earlier this month, saying it could not continue to represent Rahimi because it represented some of inmates he is accused of trying to radicalize, creating a conflict of interest.

Xavier Donaldson, Rahimis current lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
An Iranian oil tanker that sank in the East China Sea has left two oil slicks covering a combined 109 square kilometers (42 square miles), the Chinese government said late Tuesday, as maritime police scoured the area for damage.

Satellite imaging showed a slick of 69 square kilometers (26.6 square miles) and a second 40-square-kilometer (15.4-square-mile) slick, which is less thick and not as concentrated, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement.

The large tanker Sanchi sank in the worst oil ship disaster in decades on Sunday, raising worries about damage to the marine ecosystem.

The vessel's crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis are all believed to have perished in the incident.

The SOA said vessels have taken 31 water samples in the area around the wreck containing black grease with heavy oil smells, and a concentration of petroleum that exceeds some seawater quality standard limits.

The news came as cleanup teams continued to monitor the wreck area to assess the distribution and drift of the oil spill and the ecological impact.

The tanker had been adrift and ablaze after crashing into the freighter CF Crystal on January 6. Strong winds pushed it away from the Chinese coast, where the incident happened, and into Japan's exclusive economic zone.



The ship, which was carrying 136,000 tons or almost a million barrels of condensate  an ultralight, highly flammable crude oil  sank after several explosions weakened the hull.

On Tuesday, Japan's environment ministry said it didn't see much chance that the spill would reach its shores.
Militias in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are uniting in opposition to President Joseph Kabila, a senior U.N. official there told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

In 2017, a brutal conflict in Congo's southwestern Kasai region drew international attention and condemnation because of reports of atrocities by pro-government militias. Less attention was paid to escalating violence by armed groups in eastern provinces bordering Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Zambia.

"What we hear is that whilst initially some of these armed groups were in it for themselves  they would burn a village, and pillage, rape, burn and scorch the earth  it seems now that they have more of a political agenda," said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration in Congo.

"We now have it seems a coalition of various militia groups  it's a myriad, a cluster of those illegal irregular armed groups, about 70 of them at the last count, probably even more  that seem to be coalescing on the political agenda, which is one of transition without President Kabila."

Kabila has refused to step down, despite his mandate expiring in 2016, and has delayed an election until December 2018.

The eastern militias were hard to track, with constantly changing identities and areas of control. Chauzy said they may have benefited from the Congolese army's deployment to Kasai.

In December U.N. peacekeepers had to repel an offensive againstthe town of Uvira, less than 20 miles from the Burundian capital Bujumbura on Lake Tanganyika, and a similar attack could happen again, he said.

"The assault on Uvira was not really repelled by the Congolese army but by MONUSCO, the U.N. forces in DRC, who deployed attack helicopters and sank some of those boats, because it was more of a naval assault.

He declined to comment on remarks by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, blaming the United Nations for "preserving terrorism" in Congo.

Chauzy said reports of violence were continuing, with shots fired early on Wednesday around the airport in the Kasai city of Kananga, where four died in January.

Earlier this month an attack by armed groups on a military encampment in North Kivu province left "scores dead," a World Health Organization report said.

IOM said the humanitarian situation in Congo had reached breaking point, with a huge gap in funding, 7.7 million people suffering an acute food emergency and 4.3 million displaced.

This month flash floods hit the capital Kinshasa, killing 45 and spreading cholera.
The cabinet of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis resigned on Wednesday, a day after losing a confidence vote on the billionaire politician's first attempt

to form a government while battling fraud allegations.

Babis's ANO party won a national election last October but holds only 78 of 200 seats in the lower house and has thus far been unable to persuade any of the eight other parliamentary parties to join a coalition because of the allegations, which concern EU subsidies.

The government will stay in office until a new cabinet is put in place, which could take months. President Milos Zeman has promised Babis a second try to form a government and has said he would allow sufficient time for negotiations.

Zeman's spokesman said no date had been set for when the president would accept the resignation. He said earlier information that it would be by the end of the week was no longer valid.

With the economy powering ahead and wages rising as unemployment hovers around two-decade lows, markets have brushed off the political uncertainty. The crown jumped to the highest level since March 2013 on Wednesday afternoon.

Much of the electorate also appears unconcerned, and support for ANO has grown despite the subsidy scandal. A CVVM institute poll in December showed the party at 35.5 percent compared to the 29.6 percent it won in October.

This has made other parties wary of forcing a new election and several have declared they were open to negotiation.

However, the prime minister's role remains a sticking point. Police allege Babis, the country's second-richest person, hid ownership of one of his companies a decade ago to win a 2 million euro subsidy, mostly from European Union funds, meant for small businesses. He denies wrongdoing.

Parliament's second-biggest party, the conservative Civic Democrats, has made Babis stepping aside a condition for talks.

The Social Democrats and Christian Democrats  ANO's former ruling partners  are open to talks but say they will not join a government with a prime minister facing a police investigation.

The far-right SPD party and far-left Communists have signaled willingness to work with ANO, but Babis does not want a government with them.

Babis: In or out?

Babis was charged in the case but regained immunity from prosecution when he was re-elected to parliament. Lawmakers will vote on Friday whether to lift that immunity and are expected to do so.

Babis, who calls the subsidy case a ploy by adversaries to chase him out of politics, said on Tuesday he would request it be lifted.

In past months, Babis has repeatedly ruled out mirroring the arrangement in Poland whereby the head of the ruling PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is considered de-facto leader despite holding no formal position in government.

But Babis shifted slightly this week when asked by reporters on whether he could rule out a government without him, saying everything would depend on the upcoming negotiations.

Babis founded ANO in 2011 after building an empire in food, agriculture, chemicals and media valued at $4 billion. After support for the party surged in a national election in 2013, it joined a government led by the Social Democrats.

ANO won the October election with promises to fight political corruption, bring a businessman's sense to government and raise the country's profile within the EU. It has also said it will boost spending on crumbling roads, digitalize government and cut taxes.

The vote brought gains for protest parties at mainstream parties' expense, tracking a trend that has spread across Europe, often complicating coalition-building as in Germany.

The possible departure of Zeman as president is further muddying Czech political waters. His bid for re-election is facing a formidable challenge from academic Jiri Drahos in a run-off ballot on Jan. 26-27.

Drahos has said it would be unacceptable for someone charged with a criminal offense to be prime minister.
A Detroit man who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years has been deported to Mexico.



Jorge Garcia came to the U.S. with his family when he was 10 years old. He has no criminal record, pays taxes and has long sought legal status, according to his family. The 39-year-old landscaper was deported on Monday and can't return to the U.S. for a decade.



Garcia had faced an order of removal from immigration courts since 2009, but had been granted stays of removal under former President Barack Obama's administration.



Garcia learned in November that he'd been scheduled to be deported as part of an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration. A request from Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell pushed back the deportation date to allow Garcia to spend the holidays with his wife and two children, who are all U.S. citizens.



"We did not want to put up a Christmas tree because it was way too sad to even get to that point," his wife, Cindy Garcia, said. "It was rough because we knew he was going to leave eventually. All we could do is make memories."



Immigrant advocates say deporting people like Garcia separates families.



"Rather than wait to see what reforms are made, immigration officials came into work on a national holiday to take Jorge away from his family," said Michigan United, a group that advocates for immigrant rights and other issues.



Jorge Garcia is too old to qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows young immigrants living in the country illegally who were brought here as children to work and study in the U.S.



"I got to leave my family behind, knowing that they're probably going to have a hard time adjusting," Garcia said. "Me not being there for them for who knows how long. It's just hard."



Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday that the federal government was justified in deporting Garcia.



"All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States," Walls said in a statement.
The Dutch government has told the highest representative of Eritrea in the Netherlands to leave the country, minister of Foreign Affairs Halbe Zijlstra said on Wednesday.

Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy has been declared persona non grata, Zijlstra wrote in a letter to parliament, as the government saw mounting evidence of Eritrea continuing to force tax payments from people who fled the country.

A spokesman for the Eritrean Embassy declined to comment on the decision.

Dutch radio program Argos last month said Eritrean refugees were being intimidated into paying a "diaspora tax" at the embassy in The Hague, in order to get access to its services, despite earlier orders by the Dutch government to stop this practice.

"This is an exceptionally severe measure, meant as a signal to the government of Eritrea", Zijlstra said. "We want to make clear that we don't tolerate these unwanted practices."

Zijlstra said he had decided not to close the entire embassy, against the will of a majority in Dutch parliament, as that would make it impossible to help Eritreans.

He called on Eritreans to report criminal offenses they had experienced at the embassy.
An 81-year-old American-Iranian imprisoned in Iran, Baquer Namazi, was hospitalized earlier this week due to a drop in blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat, his lawyer said Wednesday.

It was the fourth time that Namazi, who was detained in February 2016 and later convicted of espionage charges which he denied, had been taken to a hospital in the past year, according to the statement by lawyer Jared Genser.

Last September, Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor and ex-UNICEF official, underwent emergency heart surgery to install a pacemaker.

"[He] has undergone relentless interrogations and has been held in terrible conditions, including having spent extended periods in solitary confinement," Namazi's son, Babak, said in the same statement. "It is becoming more clear by the day that this will be a death sentence for him."

Namazi, who was hospitalized Monday, was transferred back to Tehran's high-security Evin prison Monday evening and his health is now stable, the statement added.

In October 2015, the elite Revolutionary Guards detained Namazi's son Siamak, a businessman in his mid-40s also with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, as he was visiting family in Tehran.

Father and son were each sentenced in the autumn of 2016 to 10 years in prison for spying and cooperating with the U.S. government. They denied the charges.

Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and judiciary officials have said both men would be treated as Iranian citizens in the legal process.

Tehran has had no diplomatic relations with Washington since its 1979 Islamic Revolution and ties have deteriorated anew since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a year ago, after a modest detente under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Others arrested

Five other U.S. citizens and permanent U.S. residents have been arrested in Iran over the past two years  Princeton doctoral student Xiyue Wang; art gallery owner Karan Vafadari and his wife Afarin Niasari; Robin Reza Shahini, an Iranian-American from California; and Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national with U.S. permanent residency.

Last July, Trump warned that Iran would face "new and serious consequences" unless all unjustly detained American citizens were released and returned. Babak Namazi asked Trump to intervene in his family's case.

"My family desperately needs the president to redouble his efforts to bring Siamak and my dad home," Babak added.
Ethiopia's prime minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss a massive dam that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the Nile, at a time of heightened tensions among the countries that rely on the river.

Hailemariam Desalegn is the highest-ranking Ethiopian official to travel to Egypt to take part in what has become a regular meeting of the "High Joint Commission" to address the issue. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced the visit in a statement that only made passing mention of the dam among other issues. The two countries' foreign ministers held talks ahead of the visit, and Egypt said it was committed to an earlier agreement to share the Nile with Ethiopia and Sudan during the filling of a reservoir behind the new dam.

"(It) will be, upon its full implementation, a successful model of cooperation in the Nile basin," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments carried live on state television.

Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over the soon-to-be-completed upstream dam. The Nile provides nearly all the freshwater for the country's 95 million people. Ethiopia, with roughly the same population, has downplayed those fears, insisting the dam is essential to its economic development.

Of special concern is the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam. Egypt has voiced worries that the filling of the reservoir could drastically reduce the Nile's flow, with potentially severe effects on Egyptian agriculture and other sectors.

Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential, noting that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam's hydroelectric plant will generate over 6,400 megawatts, a massive boost to the country's current production of 4,000 Megawatts.

Earlier this month, el-Sissi sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, which has sided with Ethiopia and revived a longtime border dispute with Cairo. El-Sissi insisted Egypt was not meddling in either country's internal affairs or preparing to go to war.

That came after el-Sissi met his counterpart from Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia which went to war with it in the late 1990s. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.

Egypt has traditionally received the lion's share of the Nile's waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.
via @learyreports @alextdaugherty

Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz says President Donald Trump is essentially right: Haiti is a dump.

"I mean, everywhere you look in Haiti, it's sheet metal and garbage when I was there," Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said Tuesday on MSNBC.

Trump has denied using "shithole" to describe Haiti and African countries, though Sen. Dick Durbin stands by his account of last week's immigration meeting at the White House, as does Sen. Lindsey Graham.

"I would not pick those terms, but I would say that the conditions in Haiti are deplorable, they are disgusting," Gaetz said.

Gaetz is a Trump supporter who represents a conservative district on the Florida panhandle. While Florida is home to the nation's largest concentration of Haitians, many of them are in South Florida. Protests erupted last weekend at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach over Trump's alleged comments about Haitians.

Watch Gaetz's interview below:
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday maintained the offer for Britain to remain in the EU even after both sides have entered the second phase of Brexit negotiations.



Juncker told the EU legislature that even if the famed Article 50 is set up to let Britain leave the bloc, there is another article that 'would allow them to accede again and I would be happy to facilitate that.'



Juncker told the lawmakers that 'we are not throwing the British out. We would like them to stay. And if they so wish they should be allowed to do so.'



The British voted in a June 2016 referendum to leave the EU, and the date is set for March 29, 2019.



Both sides came to a partial and tentative agreement last month on specific issues like the amount of money that Britain will have to pay upon its departure, and the status of the now border between the EU's Republic of Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland.



The border has largely disappeared since Britain and Ireland joined the EU's single market in 1993 and Northern Ireland's violent 'Troubles' wound down after the 1998 Good Friday peace accord.



Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told legislators that it was essential there would be no backsliding on those commitments made at the summit last month.



"The U.K. has guaranteed that whatever the future relationship with the EU is, a hard border on the island will be avoided," Varadkar said. "There can be no backsliding on this."



The December agreement indicated that Britain would promise to keep trade flowing by maintaining full regulatory alignment with issues affecting Ireland, especially on trade rules.
The European Union has shelved a 3.6 billion shilling ($35 million) water conservation assistance scheme to Kenya after forest guards killed a member of a community indigenous to one of the forests involved in the project.

The program was helping Kenya plant trees, restore degraded land and protect water catchment areas in highland forests, which are major sources of water that flows into Lake Victoria and the Nile basin.

Stefano Dejak, the EU ambassador to Kenya, said Tuesday's killing of the man, and the shooting of another, in Embobut forest in the west of the country, came after the bloc had told the government it would reconsider financial support if the use of force against innocent locals persisted.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on its website that three UN Special Rapporteurs had expressed concerns about the recent reports of evictions of Sengwer inhabitants, the EU said in a statement. It said the dead man was a member of the Sengwer, an indigenous group in the area.

"The conservation work on the water towers was never expected to involve any evictions or use of violence," it said in a statement.

Judi Wakhungu, the Kenyan minister of environment and natural resources, said she did not have a formal report of the incident the EU referred to.

There was a security operation led by the ministry of the interior in the area to flush out cattle rustlers, criminal elements and militias who hide in the forest, she said.

"We are going to assess how exactly we can improve the prevailing security situation... Thereafter we will see how we can move the project forward once we are satisfied that normalcy has returned," she told Reuters, adding the EU would be involved.
A report released Wednesday said the number of slayings committed by white supremacists in the United States more than doubled in 2017 compared with the previous year.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League noted in its report that while the U.S. death toll from extremism was down in 2017, it was still the fifth most violent year since 1970.

The report said several of the killings were linked to the alt-right movement, "as that movement expanded its operations in 2017 from the internet into the physical world  raising the likely possibility of more such violent acts in the future."

Thirty-four people were killed by domestic extremists in the United States in 2017, the ADL said, compared with 71 such killings in 2016 and 69 in 2015.

One of the most high-profile incidents of 2017 was the death of protester Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August during a white supremacist rally, when a rally participant drove into a crowd of counterdemonstrators.

Las Vegas shooting

Another major incident in 2017, the October 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas in which 58 people were killed during a country music concert, was not included in the study.

A spokesman for the ADL said, "There's no evidence that the Las Vegas shooter had any ideology at all. Nothing has come forth to suggest that he was an extremist or motivated by extremist ideas."

However, the report said that if new information emerged later that revealed an extremist killing, the annual totals would be revised to reflect that.

Wednesday's report also said 2017 was the second year in a row in which black nationalists committed killings in the United States, something the study authors also marked as an item of concern.

"Combined with other violent acts by black nationalists in recent years," the authors said, "these murders suggest the possibility of an emerging problem."

The report said firearms were the most popular weapon of choice in 2017 incidents, followed by vehicles and then by use of stabbing or cutting implements.

Vehicular homicides were mentioned as an item of particular concern, as they have become more common among terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years, and they could be increasing in the United States as well.

In fact, the deadliest U.S. extremist attack of 2017 was carried out with a rented pickup truck. On October 31, an Islamic extremist drove his vehicle onto a New York City bike path, killing eight people along a kilometer and a half of the path.

'Tackle them all'

ADL chief Jonathan A. Greenblatt noted that vehicular attacks were carried out last year both by a white supremacist and an Islamic extremist. "The bottom line is we cannot ignore one form of extremism over another," he said in a news release. "We must tackle them all."

The Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights organization that tracks anti-Semitism and abuses against other minorities, said 2017 was considered a less deadly year because there were no major incidents with high death tolls such as the Pulse nightclub shooting of 2016, in which 50 people were killed, including the shooter.

The report also noted that extremist killings that take place in prisons were "definitely" underrepresented because such incidents are less likely to be reported by prison officials or the media.

Two of last year's victims were corrections officers, and another was a police officer.

Additionally, study authors noted that death is not the only result of extremism. "It is important to note that the deaths described here represent merely the tip of a pyramid of extremist violence and crime in the United States," they said. "For each person actually killed by an extremist, many more are wounded or injured in attempted murders and assaults. ... Moreover, extremists engage in a wide variety of other crimes related to their causes, from threats and harassment to white-collar crime."
Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it would conduct a new, comprehensive search of its records for possible propaganda that Russian operatives may have spread during the run-up to Britain's 2016 referendum on EU

membership.

Some British lawmakers had complained that the world's largest social media network had done only a limited search for evidence that Russians manipulated the network and interfered with the referendum debate.

Russia denies meddling in Britain's vote to exit the European Union, known as Brexit, or in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google and YouTube have been under intense pressure in Europe and the United States to stop nations from using tech services to meddle in another country's elections, and to investigate when evidence of such meddling arises.

Facebook's new search in Britain will require the company's security experts to go back and analyze historical data, Simon Milner, Facebook's UK policy director, wrote in a letter on Wednesday to Damian Collins, chair of the British parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

"We would like to carry out this work promptly and estimate it will take a number of weeks to complete," Milner wrote.

Facebook said in December that it had found just 97 cents worth of advertising by Russia-based operatives ahead of Britain's vote to leave the EU. Its analysis, though, involved only accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, a suspected Russian propaganda service.

Collins last month described Facebook's initial Brexit-related search as inadequate, and said on Wednesday he welcomed the company's latest response.

"They are best placed to investigate activity on their platform," he said in a statement. "I look forward to seeing the results of this investigation, and I'm sure we will want to question Facebook about this when we know the outcome."

Facebook told U.S. lawmakers last year that it had found 3,000 ads bought by suspected Russian agents posing as Americans and seeking to spread divisive messages in the United States about race, immigration and other political topics.

In France last year, Facebook suspended 30,000 accounts in the days before the country's presidential election to try to stop the spread of fake news, misinformation and spam.
France is set to demand that Britain pay more to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis around the port of Calais, the main gateway from the European mainland to the UK.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited the northern town Tuesday, where he met migrants at a local shelter, and praised the commitment of the police in a speech to local officers.

"Under no circumstances will we allow illegal networks to emerge or develop here. Under no circumstances will we let another jungle camp appear here, or any other illegal occupation of land," he said, criticizing those who accuse the police of abuses against the migrants.

Macron is expected to unveil new immigration policies in the coming weeks. Official figures this week showed a record number of asylum applications in 2017, exceeding 100,000 people.

Currently, British border controls are hosted in Calais under an agreement between Britain and France.

Macron is due to travel to London Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May and is expected to demand Britain accept more asylum seekers and pay more toward policing the border.

Hundreds of asylum seekers, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, are living in dire conditions in makeshift camps around Calais. The roads leading to the port are lined with rows of razor wire fences, but the migrants regularly scale the barriers and attempt to hide in trucks and cars heading across the English Channel.

Migrants and volunteers accuse police of routine violence. One 22-year-old Afghan refugee, who has been in Calais for three weeks, said authorities regularly raid the camps.

"When the police stop us, they hit us, they beat us. And when we sleep at night, they take away our tents, they tear them, they gas us, and there's nothing we can do."

At its peak, up to 10,000 migrants lived in a sprawling camp known as the jungle" just outside Calais. Former president Francois Hollande sent in bulldozers in 2016, and his successor, Macron, has taken a tougher line, insisting that migrants are bussed away from Calais to processing centers where their asylum status can be assessed.

Many migrant charities refused to meet Macron during his visit to Calais, in protest of the crackdown.

"Now there really is an incomprehensible step backwards, and it can be qualified as harassment," said Jean-Claude Lenoir, head of the migrant charity, Salam.

Critics say the French and British governments are failing to address the factors that drive migrants to Calais.

WATCH: Crackdown on French Migrants

"Particularly the fact that some people have family links in the U.K., or they have other reasons behind their willingness to go to the U.K. For example, they believe that there are more integration prospects, or they have language skills that would work better in the U.K. Calais is a symptom, its an example of how the U.K. is shirking their responsibilities," Maria Serrano from Amnesty International told VOA in an interview.

Britain says it has a rigorous asylum process and insists that it is one of the biggest global donors to refugee aid programs.
French commandos freed a Dutch hostage from an al-Qaida-linked group in Maili on Monday, more than three years after he was taken captive while on holiday with his wife, French and Dutch officials said.

Sjaak Rijke, a train conductor who was kidnapped in Timbuktu in November 2011, was freed in a pre-dawn raid and has been transferred "safe and sound" to a temporary base in Tessalit, in northeast Mali. His wife had escaped armed gunmen, who took three captives.

French forces killed two militants and captured two others in the operation, said Lieutenant Colonel Michel Sabatier, a spokesman for Barkhane, the French counter-insurgency operation in the region.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Rijke was in good condition considering the circumstances and receiving medical treatment under Dutch supervision. He said he would soon be reunited with his family. In his hometown, Woerden, relieved residents were flying the Dutch flag to mark his release.

"The liberation of Mr. Rijke underscores France's staunch determination to fight armed terrorist groups in the Sahel region as part of the Barkhane operation," the French ministry said in a statement.

"The Netherlands has continuously worked in recent years to bring this hostage-taking to an end," a government statement said. "This is fantastic news for Sjaak and his family."

In November, Rijke's captors, the North African al-Qaida-affiliated group AQIM, issued a video of him along with French national Serge Lazarevic, in which they asked for help from their leaders.

Lazarevic, held captive in the Sahara for three years, was released the following month in exchange for four Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda in north Africa.

France intervened against al-Qaida-linked militants in its former colony of Mali in January 2013. It has since created Barkhane, a 3,000-strong force to track down Islamist militants across a band of the Sahara desert stretching across five countries from Chad in the east to Mauritania in the west.

Dutch troops have been deployed in Mali as part of security and peacekeeping missions under the aegis of the United Nations.
A French start-up has become the first company to start factory production of hydrogen-powered bicycles for use in corporate or municipal fleets.

Pragma Industries, which is based in Biarritz, France and makes fuel cells for military use, has sold some 60 hydrogen-powered bikes to French municipalities including Saint Lo, Cherbourg, Chambery and Bayonne.

At about 7,500 euros per bike, and at least 30,000 euros for a charging station, the bikes are too expensive for the consumer market, but Pragma is working to cut that to 5,000 euros, which would bring their price in line with premium electric bikes.

"Many others have made hydrogen bike prototypes, but we are the first to move to series production," said founder and chief executive Pierre Forte.

The firm's Alpha bike runs for about 100 km (62 miles) on a two-liter tank of hydrogen, a range similar to an electric bike, but a refill takes only minutes while e-bikes take hours to charge. One kilo of hydrogen holds about 600 times more energy than a one-kilo lithium battery.

Pragma also sells refueling stations that produce hydrogen through the electrolysis of water as well cheaper tank-based stations.

The bikes, which look and ride the same as any normal bicycle, are aimed at bike-rental operators, delivery companies, and municipal or corporate bicycle fleets with intensive usage.

Pragma, which produced 100 hydrogen bikes last year, plans to manufacture 150 this year. It has received demand from Norway, the United States, Spain, Italy and Germany, Forte said.

With bike's range limited by the size of the hydrogen tank, Pragma is also working on a bike that will convert plain water into hydrogen aboard the bike, using a chemical reaction between water and aluminum or magnesium powder to produce hydrogen gas.

"In the next two-three years we want to enter the consumer market and massively increase the scale of our operations," said Forte.
A senior U.S. official said Wednesday the Trump administrations Afghanistan strategy is working.

They [the Afghan government] are starting to see the Taliban concede, they are starting to see them move towards coming to the table, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

Haley made the remarks after returning from a two-day U.N. Security Council mission to the South Asian nation, where diplomats met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior Afghan officials.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his strategy for ending the nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan. He said it would include deploying more U.S. troops to the country and intensifying pressure on neighboring Pakistan not to harbor terrorists. Trump said his policy would not focus on nation-building, but on killing terrorists.

Earlier this month, the administration announced it would suspend $1.9 billion in aid to Pakistan until Islamabad takes "decisive action" against the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan insurgent group known as 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.

Haley said the Afghan government asked the Security Council to apply more international pressure on Pakistan to get it to come to the table and change its behavior.

They continue to make 10 steps forward, and with Pakistan they feel like they continue to take steps backward, she said.

Peace process

Ambassador Haley, who is also a member of President Trumps cabinet, said her takeaway from her visit is that the entire peace process is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

We dont think that we need to facilitate the peace process, we think we need to support the peace process, she added.

Afghan government negotiators and Taliban officials have reportedly opened unofficial talks in Turkey to discuss the groundwork for initiating a formal peace dialogue between the government and the insurgent group. But both the government and the Taliban have tried to distance themselves from the Turkey meeting.

Haley praised President Ghanis government for progress on reforms, including fighting corruption and moving toward parliamentary elections later this year and presidential polls in 2019.

They need to be free and fair elections, but they also need to include every ethnic community  so that it is inclusive, she said Wednesday.

The Security Council will hold a high-level debate on the situation in Afghanistan Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to brief members and Kazakhstans foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, will chair the session.
The Hungarian government is proposing a set of laws that would tax and possibly sanction Hungarian groups who assist illegal migration and receive foreign funding.

Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said Wednesday that such groups would have to register with the courts and pay a 25 percent tax on funds received from abroad. Groups failing to register, and which the authorities consider to be adding illegal migrants, could be fined.



The government, which says the draft bill won't be sent to lawmakers until after a debate, has dubbed the bills "Stop Soros" laws.



It blames Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros for Europe's migration challenges, partly because of his funding of groups that advocate for the rights of refugees.



Prime Minister Viktor Orban is an opponent of immigration, especially by Muslims.
As he awaited medical assistance made possible by foreign donors, Ahmad Said spoke darkly about the sudden cut in U.S. aid to the U.N. agency upon which he depends.

"Things are bad, things are very bad," the 84-year-old muttered.

In Beirut, Said waited his turn to be seen by a doctor for leg pains at a clinic run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the organization that assists Palestinians refugees like him and one now thrust into deep uncertainty.

The United States, by far UNRWA's biggest donor, confirmed Tuesday that it was cutting funding from an expected $125 million to $60 million, holding back $65 million pending what White House officials said was "future consideration."

The move has left questions hanging over both the future of UNWRA and the 5 million Palestinians eligible for its services in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as those living in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Long-standing relationship

Since UNRWA's creation in 1949, a year after the conflict that drove an estimated 700,000 Palestinians from their lands following the creation of the Israel, the agency has relied on voluntary donations and on American funding in particular.

Last year, for example, the U.S. administration allotted in excess of $350 million, about a third of the agency's budget.

The latest cut followed warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump and came a month after the American leader's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel  a move welcomed by Israel, but widely condemned by the international community.

On Wednesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl warned that the "dignity and human security" of millions of Palestinian refugees were at stake, and he appealed for additional donations from around the world.

No other help

As elsewhere, Palestinians in Lebanon reacted to the announcement with deep concern.

When he was a boy, Said fled with his family to Lebanon from their home in Haifa, which is now the third-largest city in modern-day Israel.

"I remember the streets of Haifa well," he said. "But here we are not treated well, and we must live in tough conditions."

Palestinians in Lebanon have struggled in the face of pronounced state-backed discrimination in the form of restrictions barring them from a wide range of professions and bans on owning property.

Of the current Palestinian population in Lebanon, conservatively estimated to be 175,000 in a recent census, two-thirds reportedly live in poverty.

In this context, UNRWA provides a vital lifeline. In Lebanon, its assistance includes direct cash help for 66,000 people, as well as funding for 66 schools and 27 health clinics.

Ola Kanaan recalled the financial assistance given by UNRWA toward her father's cancer treatment, a procedure that would have otherwise been far too expensive for her family to afford.

"Without UNRWA, we have no other source of help," said Kanaan, who was visiting the clinic from a nearby Palestinian camp.

"How could I have helped my father? How could I put my three children through school? What Trump is doing is deeply unfair. If he saw how we lived here, he would change his mind."

A complex relationship

Palestinian views on UNRWA are often tinged with ambivalence amid concerns about its use of money and its political direction.

"It is a reality imposed upon us," said Abed Ghosein, who was also in the clinic because of leg pains. "We have nothing, and it is the only option for us."

But according to Sari Hanafi, a sociologist at the American University of Beirut, UNRWA represents far more than just aid to Palestinians. "UNRWA is a sort of custodian of the Palestinian refugee cause," he said. "If you weaken UNRWA, it has potential consequences on the Palestinian right to return [to what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories]."

Protest and problems?

There are reports Trump maintained $60 million of funding on the advice of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster. But these reports also claimed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wanted a full cut in order to force the Palestinians to resume peace talks with Israel.

Back at the UNRWA clinic, Ghosein was fatalistic about the actions of the Trump administration. "We are facing a disaster no matter what, and we cannot stop them," he said.

"If these services are cut, people will awake and demand their human rights. There will be protest and there will be problems," he said. "What do you expect from people who have lost everything?"
@NewsbySmiley

Hundreds of women gathered Tuesday afternoon in Washington D.C. for a White House event highlighting the accomplishments of women under the administration of President Donald Trump, including Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Casey DeSantis, the wife of Republican Congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis.

The event, a three-part panel series called "Conversation with Women of America," featured "prominent women within the Trump Administration and highlight[ed] our accomplishments to-date," according to an invitation. Featured speakers included Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, among others, according to the invitation.

Bondi, who has acted as a Florida surrogate at times for Trump, participated on a healthcare panel and discussed the state's opioid crisis. Trump, who made a surprise appearance at the event, has endorsed DeSantis in his run for governor.

You can watch video the symposium at Real Clear Politics.

Photo from left to right of Casey DeSantis, SBA Administrator Linda McMahon and Lourdes Castillo de la Pena. Courtesy of Lourdes Castillo de la Pena.
Iraq's security forces have advanced to a point where U.S. special operations forces "hardly ever" accompany them on raids against fighters with the Islamic State terror group, according to a top coalition official.

"The operations are increasingly done without us physically present with them," Brigadier General James Glynn, deputy commanding general of the special operations joint task force for Operation Inherent Resolve, told Pentagon reporters Tuesday during a briefing from Baghdad.

"The advice and assistance we provide them is in the planning and in the postoperational aspect of exploiting what they've gotten when they have captured the individual who they are looking for," Glynn said.

Coalition officials estimate there are now fewer than 1,000 IS fighters left in Iraq and Syria, many of them seeking refuge in a part of Syria known as the Middle Euphrates River Valley, which extends from Raqqa, Syria, to the Iraq border.

Officials have been equally cautious about proclaiming any final victory over IS, noting the terror group and its predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, have been resilient, willing to bide their time as they regain strength.

Change in focus

As a result, coalition officials say Iraqi forces have been working to maintain the pressure on the terror group's remnants, switching their focus from reclaiming territory to hunting down what is left of Islamic State's fighting force.

"There are still remnants of ISIS who reside in a cellular structure, who seek to bring instability to local areas, in particular population centers" Glynn said, using an acronym for the terror group.

The goal of Iraqi security forces, he added, was "to not allow those elements to form into a network or something that could form into an insurgency ... to lock them down where they are and give them no alternatives other than to be captured or killed."

Coalition officials have said they fully expect IS will try to establish a viable insurgency. But so far, that type of pushback has yet to materialize.

"There's no indicator of any coordination," Glynn said of the various IS cells still in Iraq, some of which have been trying to hide among civilians in Iraq's cities and towns, while others have fled to more mountainous areas.

On Monday, at least 31 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a double suicide bombing in Baghdad's Tayran Square. No group has yet claimed responsibility, but Glynn said that was the type of disruptive attack officials are worried about.
4 Seven-petal giant flower "Rafflesia arnoldii" is seen in full bloom in Padang Guci, Bengkulu on Indonesia's Sumatra island. The flower, named after British stateman Stamford Raffles and a British botanist Joseph Arnold, is a rare cabbage-like flower that normally has five flower petals, found mostly in the Sumatran rain forest.
In Kenya, members of the Sengwer community who live in Embobut Forest, 400 kilometers from Nairobi, are facing eviction from their ancestral communal land. The government has deployed security forces to evict the group in an effort to preserve forest cover.

Thomas Chelimo, 78, and his wife, Pauline, have called the Embobut forest home all their lives. On January 1, their home and the homes of others were razed, allegedly by Kenya Forest Service (KFS) rangers in a bid to force the Sengwer out of the forest. The forest is a critical water supply area.

Chelimo, who was born and raised in the forest, as were his father and grandfather, says that the forced eviction by the government agency will render the community homeless and landless. Chelimo says his children and grandchildren ran away because of fear of eviction.

Leah Toroitich and her husband, Abraham, say the government initiated a compensation program about three years ago where resident families were given $4,000 each to relocate. However, they say, genuine community members did not get any money.

The European Union (EU) is funding a $37 million, six-year program to protect the ecosystem. International law expert Roselyn Amadi says the Kenyan constitution protects the rights of the Sengwer.

"There is this dichotomy that if they are there, they are destroying the environment, and I think that is what has happened and that is the conflict that we are having," Amadi said. "So whereas you have the right to preserve the environment for present and future generation, you also have the issue of development and you also have the issue of the rights of the cultural people."

Amnesty International Kenya campaign coordinator Naomi Barasa says the eviction of the minority community from their indigenous home is a violation of the fundamental right to shelter.

"Kenya as a state is going against regional, international and local treaties that safeguard human rights because the Sengwer issue, the rights of the indigenous people, rights to their housing are anchored in our constitution and in international law that Kenya is a treaty to, so it is purely a human rights issue and it also affects the lives of the people," Barasa said.

The Kenyan government has not responded to VOA's requests for comment on the evictions.
North Korea rejects as a "provocation" a U.S.-led meeting in Vancouver that discussed tougher sanctions that Pyongyang will fight, a senior North Korean diplomat told Reuters on Wednesday.

Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang that it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.

Choe Myong Nam, North Korea's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said the Vancouver meeting was "harmful and dangerous."

"We denounce that meeting in the strongest possible terms, that is really harmful. It will not be conducive to peace and security and to the ongoing process between North and South that is aimed at creating a peaceful environment, easing tensions and promoting reconciliation between the North and the South," Choe said in an interview.

"We are truly committed and determined to do what we can to fight against sanctions," he said.

Asked about the possibility of a U.S. strike against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Choe said: "We have all the capacity to deter such maneuvers on the part of the hostile forces. We are ready for dialog and confrontation. We are ready for both."

But he said that North Korea is also determined to make the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea a success.

"Event of Korean nation"

"We regard this as an event of the Korean nation, not just of South Korea, [something] which should be jointly and brilliantly demonstrated to the world," he said.

A delegation of North Korean Olympic officials will arrive soon in Switzerland for talks scheduled at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne on Saturday, Choe added.

North Korea has proposed that the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) send a mission to South Korea to interview North Korean restaurant workers "abducted" in April 2016, as well as their families in North Korea, Choe said.

"Our proposal is to make sure OHCHR undertakes a mission to both sides and finally do what they can do to secure the repatriation of these women."

A U.N. human rights spokeswoman was unable to confirm receipt of North Korea's Sept. 28 letter about the proposed visits, addressed to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Choe, asked if the North Korean restaurant workers were an obstacle to family reunions of Koreans separated by the divided peninsula, said that for family reunions to go ahead, the restaurant workers would need to be repatriated.

"We wouldn't say it is a condition. It is a principled matter. South Korea has no right or qualification to talk about reunions of separated families," he said.

"We urge South Korea to repatriate the abducted DPRK women citizens immediately without any preconditions, if they are truly interested in improving inter-Korean relations and truly interested in moving things forward in the right direction."
Five officers involved in two Navy ship collisions last year that killed a total of 17 sailors are being charged with negligent homicide, the Navy said Tuesday.

A Navy spokesman, Capt. Greg Hicks, said the charges, which also include dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, will be presented to what the military calls an Article 32 hearing to determine whether the accused are taken to trial in a court-martial.

The disciplinary actions were decided by Adm. Frank Caldwell and are the latest in a series of moves the Navy has made in the aftermath of the deadly collisions, which investigators concluded were avoidable. It fired several top leaders, including the commander of the 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, and several other senior commanders in the Pacific.

The Navy has been reeling from tough questions arising from the two collisions. The destroyer USS Fitzgerald struck a commercial ship off the waters of Japan in June, killing seven U.S. sailors. The destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in coastal waters off Singapore in August, killing 10 U.S. sailors.

The Navy said it is filing at least three charges against four officers of the Fitzgerald, including the commanding officer, who was Cmdr. Bryce Benson at the time. Benson suffered a head injury in the collision and was airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan. A Navy investigation found that Benson left the ship's bridge before the collision. Also facing charges are two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade, whose names were not disclosed. The Navy said all four face criminal charges, including negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship.

Fewer officers from the McCain are being charged. The Navy said the ship's commander at the time, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, is being charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship. A chief petty officer, whose name was not disclosed, faces a charge of dereliction of duty.

In a statement, Hicks said the announcement of charges Tuesday is "not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses. All individuals alleged to have committed misconduct are entitled to a presumption of innocence.''

Hicks said that in addition to the criminal charges, additional administrative actions are being taken against unidentified members of both crews, including non-judicial punishment for four from the Fitzgerald and four from the McCain.

As a result of the two deadly accidents, at least eight top Navy officers, including the 7th Fleet commander, were fired from their jobs last year, and a number of other sailors received reprimands or other punishment that was not publicly released. Among the senior officers relieved of duty, in addition to Aucoin, were Rear Adm. Charles Williams and Capt. Jeffrey Bennett. Williams was the commander of Task Force 70, which includes the aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers in the 7th Fleet, and Bennett was commander of the destroyer squadron.

In a report released last November, the Navy concluded that the two crashes, as well as a third collision in May and a ship grounding, were all avoidable, and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders who didn't quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies.

A second report called for about 60 recommended changes to address the problems. They ranged from improved training on seamanship, navigation and the use of ship equipment to more basic changes to improve sleep and stress management for sailors.

The extensive training and leadership failures prompted the top Navy officer, Adm. John Richardson, to order all naval commanders around the world to review their staffs and ships to see if they had similar problems.

The Navy's investigation of the two collisions found that in addition to bad judgment, the crews were not adequately prepared.

"In the Navy, the responsibility of the Commanding Officer for his or her ship is absolute,'' it said. "Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision making of the Commanding Officer. That said, no single person bears full responsibility for this incident. The crew was unprepared for the situation in which they found themselves through a lack of preparation, ineffective command and control, and deficiencies in training and preparations for navigation.''
Religious clerics in Pakistan issued an Islamic decree, or fatwa, Tuesday condemning suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism as un-Islamic and against the teachings of the religion.

The decree, endorsed by more than 1,800 prominent religious scholars from different religious institutions, is part of a new book titled Paigham-e-Pakistan or Pakistan's Message, announced by the country's President Mamnoon Hussain in a ceremony held at the President House in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Hussain said Paigham-e-Pakistan would act as a "national narrative in order to curb extremism in keeping with the golden principles of Islam," local Pakistani media reported.

Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's minister of interior, said the fatwa is a significant development as the country is coming together and condemning terrorism from a single platform.

"The fatwa will provide a platform for national unity ... so that in the 21st century, we can make Pakistan a distinguished country, an Asian tiger, and bring the Quaid's [Pakistan's founder] dream to fruition," Iqbal said while speaking at the gathering.

Iqbal stressed the need of a national strategy that could highlight the positive image of Pakistan and help the country deal with the issue of terrorism and sectarianism.

The religious decree comes at a time when militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have been increasingly using suicide attacks in their terror activities, causing massive causalities to civilians.

"Under no circumstance killing innocent people is justified by Islam or constitution of Pakistan, this needs to be stopped. This is an effort in the right direction and will help build peace and cut-out terror elements," Amin ul Hasnat, the Minister of State for Religious Affairs, told VOA.

Waging jihad

The newly issued fatwa also emphasized that waging jihad (holy war) is only the prerogative of the state, not of religious groups and entities. Religious entities, often with links to militant groups, have repeatedly issued fatwas calling for jihad in neighboring Afghanistan and, at times, in Pakistan.

The decree also labels suicide attackers, terrorists and their facilitators as "traitors."

Since 2000, Pakistan has witnessed hundreds of terror attacks by militant groups on civilians and the country's security forces. Based on government estimates, Pakistan has lost more than 70,000 people to terrorism and extremism over the last decade.

Terror groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) have frequently relied on suicide attacks as a tactic to pursue what they call a holy war against the state and for the implementation of Islamic rule, or Sharia, in Pakistan.

National consensus

Religious decrees have been issued in the past as well, in which violence, terrorism and extremism have been condemned.

Last year, 31 prominent religious scholars issued a similar decree in Islamabad that fully supported the army's operations, nicknamed Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, carried out against the militants in the country in different phases.

In 2010, Tahir-ul-Qadri, a prominent religious scholar, issued a detailed 600-page fatwa and declared suicide attacks, targeted killings and attacks on security forces as "unjust" and "evil," and a violation of teachings of Islam.

But some experts view the recent fatwa as unprecedented due to the fact that it was issued after a national consensus was reached.

Qibla Ayaz, head of the Council of Islamic teaching, Pakistan's religious affairs watchdog, believes the fatwa holds significance because it has the blessing of different segments of the society including the government, religious scholars, the military, lawmakers and policymakers.

"This fatwa was much-needed because the previous fatwas were issued in private capacities. Different Islamic sects  either Sunni, Shia, Barelvi, Deobandi or Ahle-hadith  had a consensus on it. So, this is a national narrative and must be appreciated," Ayaz told VOA.

Criticism

While analysts welcome the recent religious fatwa, some criticize the government and the religious institutions of being selective in their condemnation of terrorism and extremism.

"This step of issuing a consensus by the Pakistani government is appreciable and no one can criticize it," Muhammad Taqi, a U.S-based South Asia analyst, told VOA.

"But the question here is, does the government also condemn terrorism carried out in neighboring countries," Taqi said, referring to terror attacks in Afghanistan and India which has roots in Pakistan.

"The government should have one straight policy and stop supporting terrorism anywhere by anyone," Taqi emphasized.

Qibla Ayaz echoed Taqi's concerns and asked for a joint fatwa that would condemn terrorism in the region.

"Scholar from Afghanistan complain that the Pakistani clerics do not condemn jihad in Afghanistan. The religious scholars from both countries should sit together and come up with a narrative that will work for the entire region," Ayaz said.

The recent fatwa comes amid growing tensions between Islamabad and Washington over terror safe havens in Pakistan. The latter accuses the former of failing to take adequate actions against militant groups that operate in Pakistan and plan attacks in neighboring Afghanistan against the U.S. and Afghan forces.

Islamabad denies the allegations and maintains that the country has been cracking down on militant groups on its soil indiscriminately.
The International Organization for Migration warns that many people in the Democratic Republic of Congo will die if international donors do not plug the enormous funding gap that is depriving millions of people from receiving crucial humanitarian assistance.

The DRC is beset by widespread insecurity and escalating conflicts in many parts of the country. Extreme violence by armed groups in Kasai and Tanganyika in eastern DRC last year has pushed the number of internally displaced people in the country to 4.3 million, the largest in Africa.

IOM DRC Chief of Mission Jean-Philippe Chauzy says the humanitarian situation in the country has dramatically deteriorated during the past year. He says more than 13 million people will need international assistance to survive.

Chauzy says the U.N. Humanitarian Response plan for DRC will officially be launched Thursday in the capital of Kinshasa. He says the plan calls for $1.68 billion for 2018, which is twice the amount requested last year. The additional amount is to meet the growing needs.

Take into account the low level of funding last year, we certainly hope that donors will step up and increase their funding to make sure that if we cannot reach the $1.68 billion, at least get close to it because the needs are there, and they were identified, said Chauzy. And if we do not get that level of funding, the people will die. And the most vulnerable will die first. And the children will die first. And that is a fact. That is a fact.

Money from the U.N. Response Plan is divided among the many U.N. agencies to run their humanitarian operations this coming year. Of that sum, IOM is appealing for $75 million to urgently meet the growing needs of displaced Congolese and the communities hosting them in North and South Kivu, Tanganyika and the Kasai.
Pope Francis presided over Mass Wednesday in the Chilean town of Temuco, the heart of a centuries-old conflict with indigenous people regarding land that was taken from them in the early 20th century. It is an area the pope said was the site of "grave human rights violations."

After leading about 150,000 people in silent prayer, Pope Francis said the natural beauty of the Araucania region in central Chile was blessed by God and cursed by man.

Mass was celebrated at Maquehue Air Base, which was built on land seized from the Mapuche people and used as a detention center during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

"We offer this Mass for all those who suffered and died, and for those who daily bear the burden of those many injustices," the pope said.

The long-running conflict in the Araucania region occasionally erupts in violence, as it did just hours before the pope celebrated Mass when a school and an adjourning church in the nearby city of Collipulli were partially burned. In the last week, 10 Catholic churches were firebombed, mostly in the Araucania region, where many of Chile's estimated 1 million people of Mapuche descent live.

No group has claimed responsibility for the violent acts, and no arrests have been made, but Mapuche activists have torched churches in recent years to promote their cause.

Prosecutor Enrique Vasquez told reporters at the scene of Wednesday's blaze that investigators found a sign and pamphlets demanding the release of Mapuche prisoners.The pope urged the Mapuche people to reject violence, saying "You cannot assert yourself by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and destruction."

He also asked the Chilean government to go beyond negotiating "elegant" agreements with indigenous people and actually implement them.

Pope Francis, an Argentine native and the first pope from Latin America, hopes to leverage his weeklong trip to Chile and Peru to raise global awareness of the plight of indigenous people.

In his initial remarks Tuesday in Santiago, the pope urged Chileans to listen to indigenous peoples who are "often forgotten, whose rights and culture need to be protected lest that part of this nation's identity and richness be lost."

The pope's comments resonated quickly in the Mapuche community, including with Hugo Alcaman, president of a Mapuche group that promotes local business development and social change.

"Saying that we should be respected, that we have a right to exist and be recognized is all very strong," Alcaman said. "It's Chile that has to respond, especially politicians."

Mapuche and Chilean government leaders have said they hope Pope Francis can facilitate dialogue. Their conflicts began in the late 19th century, when the government eventually defeated the Mapuche, who had fiercely withstood Spanish and other European settlers for centuries.

The Mapuche have demanded ownership of their ancestral lands in the southern Araucania region, legal recognition of their culture and language, and an end to discrimination they contend makes them police targets.

The pope's visit to Temuco comes one day after meeting in Santiago with survivors of clerical sex abuse. The pope wept with them and asked forgiveness for the "irreparable damage" they suffered as children when they were were sexually abused by priests  a scandal that has damaged the Catholic Church's integrity and cast a pall over the pope's first visit to the country.

Chile's most infamous pedophile priest, Rev. Fernando Karadima, was punished to a lifetime of "penance and prayer" after victims publicly disclosed their accusations in 2010 following years of complaints to church officials that he kissed and fondled them when they were teenagers.

Many Chileans are still angry over the pope's 2015 decision to appoint Karadima protege Juan Barros bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Barros' controversial appointment has divided the diocese, as he denies being aware of Karadima's abuse.

The U.S.-based NGO Bishop Accountability reported last week that nearly 80 Catholic clergy members had been accused of sexually abusing Chilean children since 2000.

A recent Latinobarometro survey said the crisis triggered a sharp drop in the number of Chileans who consider themselves Catholic, as well as a decline in confidence in the church as an institution.

The distrust extends to Pope Francis in Chile, a country that gives him the lowest approval rating among the 18 Latin American countries in the survey.
Two Republican U.S. senators have assailed President Donald Trump for his constant attacks on critical stories about his presidency, saying they undermine a basic tenet of democratic societies, a free and open news media.

Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic from the western state of Arizona, said in a Senate speech Wednesday that Trump's disparagement of the media is similar to that of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He said Trump's "assault" on the media is "unprecedented" and "unwarranted."

Sen. Jeff Flake Cites President Kennedy on VOA to Argue for Free Press

"It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies," Flake said in a reference to a tweet last February in which Trump declared major U.S. news outlets to be the "enemy of the American People."

"It bears noting that so fraught with malice was that phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even [Stalin's successor] Nikita Khruschev forbade its use," Flake said.

"Despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflectively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press," Flake added.

Sen. Flake: Free Press is the Guardian of Democracy

In an opinion article in The Washington Post, Senator John McCain from Arizona, the Republican party's 2008 presidential candidate, said that Trump's frequent claims of "fake news" about stories he does not like "are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy."

Sen. Jeff Flake: Trump has inspired dictators

The attacks on Trump's complaints about news coverage a year into his presidency came the same day the one-time reality television entertainer announced what he called "THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR."

Trump did not respond directly to McCain's and Flake's statements. But White House spokesman Sarah Sanders said Flake was "looking for some attention" because of "terrible poll numbers" that led him to decide to not run for re-election later this year.

The president regularly lashes out against individual journalists and media outlets he thinks treat him unfairly, while praising those that give him positive media coverage.

Flake said a president like Trump who "never accepts blame ... is charting a very dangerous path." Flake attacked Trump for calling investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election a "hoax" perpetrated by Democrats to explain his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton when the interference actually occurred.

McCain, in his newspaper op-ed piece, said, Trump's "attempts to undermine the free press ... make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable. For decades, dissidents and human rights advocates have relied on independent investigations into government corruption to further their fight for freedom. But constant cries of 'fake news' undercut this type of reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent.

"This assault on journalism and free speech proceeds apace in places such as Russia, Turkey, China, Egypt, Venezuela and many others," McCain said. "Yet even more troubling is the growing number of attacks on press freedom in traditionally free and open societies, where censorship in the name of national security is becoming more common. Britain passed a surveillance law that experts warn chills free speech, and countries from France to Germany are looking to do the same. In Malta, a prominent journalist was brutally murdered in October after uncovering systemic government corruption. In Poland, an independent news outlet was fined (later rescinded) nearly half a million dollars for broadcasting images of an anti-government protest.

WATCH: Trump's Rhetoric Compared to Stalin's by a Senator of His Own Party

"Unfortunately, the Trump administrations attitude toward such behavior has been inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst," he said. "While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit. The phrase 'fake news'  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens."
British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor donated $1 million Wednesday to five charities working with refugees worldwide, in a bid to alleviate a record-breaking global displacement crisis.

Kapoor, who was born to an Indian father and Iraqi Jewish mother, won the Genesis Prize  dubbed the Jewish Nobel  last year for his commitment to Jewish values.

"Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees," he said in a statement. "Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution."

The United Nations says the world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record, with more than 65 million people forced to flee their homes, surpassing numbers after World War II more than 70 years ago.

U.N. efforts to agree a voluntary pact on safe, orderly and regular migration suffered a setback in December when the United States quit the negotiations.

"In recent months, awareness of the plight faced by tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide has fallen significantly while the refugee crisis continues unabated," said Kapoor, a longtime social activist.

Holocaust memorial

Kapoor, who lived in Israel briefly before settling in Britain in the 1970s, won the Turner Prize in 1991 and created a Holocaust memorial for London's Liberal Jewish Synagogue.

Winners of the Genesis Prize, which is granted by the Israeli government, award $1 million to charities of their choice, with the aim of inspiring the next generation of Jews.

One of Kapoor's grantees is the International Rescue Committee, which is working with refugees in Uganda  home to more than 1 million people who have fled war in South Sudan  and with stateless Rohingya in Myanmar.

He is also providing food for refugees in Greece and France and medical care for Syrian refugees.

Previous winners include former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor Michael Douglas. The 2018 winner, Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, plans to focus her award funds on promoting women's equality.
@alextdaugherty

Marco Rubios new bill that would swiftly punish Russia for any future election meddling is the latest evidence of a subtle split between the Florida Republican and certain elements of his party who parrot President Donald Trumps argument that the investigations into Russian meddling amount to a partisan witch hunt.

Rubio recently worked with the liberal Washington, D.C., city council to rename the street in front of the Russian embassy after slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. He continues to assert confidence in Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation as other Republicans question Muellers motives. And his election-meddling bill, co-sponsored with Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, would give more power to Congress instead of the president when it comes to sanctioning Russia over election interference.

But Rubios supporters on Capitol Hill insist that the second-term senator isnt changing his ideals, and his actions arent driven by animus towards the president. Instead, Trumps attitude towards Russia and the investigations that have already resulted in the indictments of four former Trump campaign officials, including former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, are making anti-Russia hawks like Rubio more of an outlier within a Trumpian GOP.

I think hes true to his values and the values of our Republican Party, Miami Republican congresswoman and Trump critic Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said. Its just now that instead of the Republican Party, its the Trump Party. But Marco is a true-blue Republican in the old-fashioned sense of the phrase. Who would think that being wary, suspicious of anti-Russian strongarm tactics would be deemed as outliers?

For Rubio, the hard talk on Russian meddling goes back to the 2016 election, when he dropped out of the presidential race after losing to Trump in the Florida Republican primary. Rubio said last year that his former campaign staffers were targeted by unknown Russian IP addresses.

In July 2016, shortly after I announced Id seek re-election to the U.S. Senate, former members of my presidential campaign team who had access to the internal information of my presidential campaign were targeted by IP addresses with an unknown location within Russia, Rubio said at a Senate hearing. That effort was unsuccessful. I do think its appropriate to divulge this to the committee, since a lot of this has taken a partisan tone.

Read more here.
In a wide-ranging hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a Senate committee she did not remember hearing President Donald Trump use vulgar language to describe Haiti and African countries during a meeting last week with lawmakers at the White House.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing follows a busy, often contentious week in immigration politics for the United States, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers sparring with each other and the president over potential reforms to the countrys immigration system.

Notably, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, a committee member, attended an immigration meeting at the White House last week, during which he alleges Trump used the word s---hole to describe African countries.

Trump has said Durbin misrepresented his comments; Nielsen, in turn, has repeatedly said she does not remember hearing the slur from the president.

I did not hear that word used, no sir, the secretary said in response to questions from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), adding that the conversation during the White House meeting was very impassioned.

I don't dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language, Nielsen told the committee.

In a speech that criticized Nielsen and the administration as a whole for their decisions on immigration and their handling of allegations of racial and religious discrimination, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey allowed the secretary little opportunity to interject.

Your silence and your amnesia is complicity, Booker told her.



Questions throughout the four-hour hearing otherwise focused on the Department of Homeland Securitys plans on immigration and border security.

The Trump administration continues to roll out a plan to curb immigration and increase deportation on multiple fronts, including by ending several programs, significantly cutting others and advocating for an agenda that increases what it calls merit-based immigration, over family or diversity applicants.

Administration opponents and activists say that Trumps government is discriminating against some immigrants, largely those of color, in favor of promoting more immigration from predominantly white countries.

Several federal agencies have published reports requested by Trump in early 2017 that, on the surface, seem to provide data that supports the government's curbs to immigration.

To that end, the DHS and the Department of Justice released a report Tuesday morning that shows three out of every four, or 402, individuals convicted of international terrorism-related charges in U.S. federal courts between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2016 were foreign born. The report was mandated in an executive order on immigration issued last March.

A senior administration official who briefed reporters on the report accompanied it with a plea to Congress to work with the administration to end chain migration and the diversity visa.

We are committed to protecting the American People and reforming the immigration system along the lines the president has outlined, the official said.

Our current immigration system jeopardizes American security, the White House said in a release announcing the report.

Alex Nowrasteh, a researcher with the libertarian Cato Institute who has written about the lack of correlation between immigration and terrorism, was immediately critical of the latest government figures.

This DHS/DOJ report says nothing about terrorism that we didn't know before, Nowrasteh told VOA.

Moreover, he added, the data in the report does not report the statistic that matters: From 9/11 through the end of 2017, native-born Americans are responsible for 78 percent of all deaths in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Foreign-born terrorists are responsible for 22 percent.

A request by VOA for additional data and explanation of the numbers was not immediately answered by DHS on Tuesday.

VOA's Aline Barros and National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before a grand jury in a probe of alleged ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

It was the first time Mueller is known to have used a subpoena against a member of Trump's inner circle, the Times said. It cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

A spokesman for Mueller's office declined comment. Bill Burck, a lawyer for Bannon, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The reported subpoena of Bannon does not mean he is a target of Mueller's criminal investigation.

Bannon, a champion of Trump's "America First" agenda, was among the Republican's closest aides during the 2016 election campaign, the presidential transition and his first months in office.

But the pair had a bitter public falling out over comments Bannon made to author Michael Wolff for his recent book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

In the book, Bannon is quoted as describing a June 2016 meeting between Trump associates, including the president's son Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer, as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."

The meeting came after Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email that the Russian government had compromising information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, to which he replied: "I love it."

Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

Bannon was fired by the White House in August and returned to the right-wing news website Breitbart News. He continued to speak with Trump and tried to promote the president's agenda.

But Trump accused Bannon of having "lost his mind" when news of his comments to Wolff surfaced earlier this month. Six days later, Bannon stepped down as executive chairman at Breitbart.

Pressure tactic?

Mueller's subpoena, which was issued last week, could be a pressure tactic to induce Bannon to cooperate fully with his investigation.

Attorney Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said the most likely reason for a Mueller subpoena of Bannon was that "he thought having an attorney present and giving Bannon a more relaxed setting would not yield the same testimony as if he got him in the grand jury room with no attorney there and a more adversarial style of questioning."

A witness is not permitted to bring an attorney into a federal grand jury proceeding, but can step outside to consult with counsel.

Separately on Tuesday, Bannon spent hours meeting behind closed doors with members of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. He was the latest high-profile figure to appear before the panel as part of its investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.

After Bannon refused to answer questions about his time in the White House  as opposed to during the campaign  Devin Nunes, the committee's Republican chairman, authorized a subpoena during the meeting to press Bannon to respond.

"Of course I authorized the subpoena. That's how the rules work," Nunes told reporters.

Asked if the White House had told Bannon not to answer certain questions, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "As with all congressional activities touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material."

"We've been cooperating fully with these ongoing investigations and encourage the committees to work with us to find an appropriate accommodation in order to ensure Congress obtains information necessary to its legitimate interests," she said.

Later in the week, the panel will hear from former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, who served as Trump's spokeswoman during his presidential campaign after a tenure with his Trump Organization real estate business, is also expected to be questioned by the committee this week, according to a congressional source.

Democrats on the committee have accused Republicans of rushing to wrap up the probe to help give the president political cover, despite their requests to interview more witnesses. Republicans have denied the charge.
A group of 21 U.S. state attorneys general filed suit to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's decision to do away with net neutrality on Tuesday, while Democrats said they needed just one more vote in the Senate to repeal the FCC ruling.

The attorneys general filed a petition with a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to challenge the action, calling it "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion" and saying that it violated federal laws and regulations.

The petition was filed as Senate Democrats said they had the backing of 50 members of the 100-person chamber for repeal.

Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement that all 49 Democrats in the upper chamber backed the repeal. Earlier this month, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she would back the effort to overturn the FCC's move. Democrats need 51 votes to win any proposal in the Republican-controlled Senate because Vice President Mike Pence can break any tie.

Override would be difficult

Trump backed the FCC action, the White House said last month, and overturning a presidential veto requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers. A two-thirds vote would be much harder for Democrats in the House, where Republicans hold a greater majority.

States said the lawsuit was filed in an abundance of caution because, typically, a petition to challenge would not be filed until the rules legally take effect, which is expected later this year.

Internet advocacy group Free Press, the Open Technology Institute and Mozilla Corp. filed similar protective petitions Tuesday.

The FCC voted in December along party lines to reverse rules introduced in 2015 that barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the issue would be a major motivating factor for the young voters the party is courting.

A trade group representing major tech companies including Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon said it would support legal challenges to the reversal.

The FCC vote in December marked a victory for AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications and handed them power over what content consumers can access on the internet. It was the biggest win for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in his sweeping effort to undo many telecommunications regulations.

Disclosure required

While the FCC order grants internet providers sweeping new powers, it does require public disclosure of any blocking practices. Internet providers have vowed not to change how consumers obtain online content.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican, said in an interview Tuesday that he planned to hold a hearing on paid prioritization. He has urged Democrats to work constructively on a legislative solution to net neutrality "to bring certainty and clarity going forward and ban behaviors like blocking and throttling."

He said he did not believe a vote to overturn the FCC decision would get a majority in the U.S. House. Representative Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Tuesday that his bill to reverse the FCC decision had 80 co-sponsors.

Paid prioritization is part of American life, Walden said. "Where do you want to sit on the airplane? Where do you want to sit on Amtrak?" he said.
More than a year has passed since Abdulkafi Alhamdo tweeted about what he, his wife, and baby daughter endured during the months-long siege of rebel-held eastern Aleppo by Russian-backed Syrian government forces, as cluster and barrel bombs wreaked havoc around them.

There was a time when I just cried for two days, not for myself but for my family, he reported, as he described the savage destruction and death he witnessed around him.

Now the 32-year-old former English language teacher is back where he was 12 months ago, fearing for his two-year-old daughter amid airstrikes and shelling.

This time hes in Aleppos neighboring province of Idlib, Syrias last opposition-held province, which is in the eye of a Syrian government ground and air assault. And he is bearing witness again on Twitter. I am really tired of reporting bombings, pictures of killed and injured people, pictures of displaced and all the pain we live, he said in one tweet.

In another tweet, with a picture of him and presumably his daughter attached, he says there is No other place to go to. We don't know if we can make it.

He is not alone. United Nations officials estimate more than 210,000 civilians have fled fighting in northwest Syria, abutting Turkey, since mid-December - more than double their calculation last week.

No place to hide



With no letup in a weeks-long government offensive, aid workers warn the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Idlib is on a par with what was seen last year in neighboring Aleppo, where an unrelenting ground and air offensive by Russian warplanes and Syrian government ground forces prompted an international outcry.

U.N. officials and aid workers say many civilians in Idlib, desperate to escape pummeling airstrikes, are refugees from other parts of the war-torn country, many, like Alhamdo from Aleppo, who are now scurrying from town to town, moving as best they can as bombardments reach them.

They have no place to go and are trapped in what was meant to have been a de-escalation zone as Syrian government forces expand an offensive on rebels, a mix of jihadist and more moderate insurgents, in what appears to be a determined bid to finish off opposition in Idlib.

Turkey, much as it did last year during the siege of Aleppo, has refused to open its borders to more Syrian refugees. And complicating the situation for fleeing civilians, Turkey appears to be gearing up to launch an offensive on the nearby Kurdish enclave of Afrin. Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said an operation against the Kurdish-held enclave was imminent.

State-run Turkish television channels have been broadcasting pictures on the Syrian border showing the deployment of troops, tanks and armored vehicles and there have been reports of increased Turkish shelling of Afrin. The Turkish troop movements follow a U.S. announcement that it plans to form a 30,000-member border security force made up mainly of Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters, whom Ankara views as an off-shoot of militant Turkish Kurdish separatists.

Idlib province, home to 2.5 million Syrians, was earmarked as a safe haven in an agreement struck last May between Russian, Iranian and Turkish diplomats. Rebel leaders and analysts were never convinced about the good faith of the diplomats, they warned Idlib's inevitable fate would be as a killing field.

UN says non-combatants targeted

President Bashar al-Assads elite Tiger Forces have seized more than 40 towns in the southern Idlib countryside since December, and according to Syrian military officials more units are being dispatched, a prelude to an attack on an air base at Abu Dhuhour under the control of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).



U.N. officials have criticized government forces for targeting hospitals and makeshift clinics, noting the maternity and pediatric hospital in Ma'arrat An Nu'man alone has been attacked three times this month.

A U.N. humanitarian coordination branch (OCHA) report said Tuesday several health clinics in Idlib are being rendered inoperable because of bombardments. Other facilities, it warned, are running low on medical supplies.

We must be able to reach children in need of humanitarian assistance, urgently and without restrictions, wherever they are in Syria. The various parties to the conflict can make that happen by immediately allowing humanitarian workers to reach them with life-saving assistance, says Fran Equiza, an official with the U.N. children agency.

The offensive on Idlib is unfolding just weeks before peace talks are scheduled in the Russian resort town of Sochi. Syrian opposition groups have said they will boycott the negotiations, arguing Moscow is using talks as a tactic of war. Some analysts say Assad's latest offensive may, though, force some rebels to participate, if for no other reason than to try to get a pause in fighting.
A delegation approved by the Taliban's supreme leader visited the Pakistani capital this week for exploratory talks on restarting peace negotiations to end Afghanistan's 16-year war, two senior officials in the movement said.

It was unclear if any progress was made in the unofficial meetings with a representative of a prominent Afghan politician.

Many previous attempts have failed to revive direct talks that ended nearly as soon as they started in 2015.

The Islamabad talks Monday followed another back-channel meeting over the weekend in Turkey between individuals with Taliban connections and representatives of Hizb-i-Islami, the party of a former Taliban-allied commander who last year laid down arms to join Afghan politics.

A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday he was not aware of the Islamabad talks, while the Taliban did not respond to queries. Both sides on Monday denied participating in the Turkey talks.

However, two senior Taliban officials said on condition of anonymity that supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada had approved Monday's exploratory meeting in Islamabad.

Akhundzada is widely believed to be in hiding somewhere in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Turkey meeting had no legitimate Taliban representatives in attendance.

"This is an intelligence game that aims at defaming and damaging the real peace process in Afghanistan," he said in a statement that referred to the Taliban position that true negotiations can only happen once all international troops leave Afghanistan.

U.S. pressure

Washington has piled pressure on to Pakistan to persuade the insurgents' leaders to negotiate as well as crack down on alleged Taliban safe havens inside the country  two tactics that Pakistan has said are incompatible.

The three-member Taliban delegation from Qatar included Shababuddin Dilawar and Jan Mohammad Madani from the Taliban's political office in Qatari capital as well as the brother-in-law of Mullah Jacoob, son of the late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, the sources said.

They met representatives of Afghan politician Pir Syed Hamid Gilani, head of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan and the son of the former High Peace Council chief who died last July, a senior aide to Gilani confirmed on condition of anonymity. Gilani's office did not respond to queries.

The Taliban's Haqqani network last week released 14 Afghan army soldiers in the eastern province of Paktia as a goodwill gesture ahead of the talks, according to both the Taliban officials and the aide to Gilani.

In his latest report to the United Nations Security Council last month, the U.N. secretary general said there had been "no meaningful progress toward a peace settlement."

Under a new strategy announced last year, the United States has stepped up airstrikes and boosted assistance to Afghan government forces fighting the Taliban to try to break a stalemate and force the insurgents to the negotiating table.

The Afghan government controls less than two-thirds of the country and thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded in high-profile attacks in cities such as Kabul.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting "closer every day" to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States.

"Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. "What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing."

With North Korea persisting as the major global challenge facing Trump this year, the president cast doubt during the 53-minute interview on whether talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be useful. In the past he has not ruled out direct talks with Kim.

He declined to comment when asked whether he had engaged in any communications at all with Kim, with whom he has exchanged insults and threats, heightening tensions in the region.

"I'd sit down, but I'm not sure that sitting down will solve the problem," he said, noting that past negotiations with the North Koreans by his predecessors had failed to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

"I'm not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful. They've talked for 25 years and they've taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents," he said.

Trump praised China for its efforts to restrict oil and coal supplies to North Korea but said Beijing could do much more to help constrain Pyongyang.

But he said Russia appears to be filling in the gaps left by the Chinese.

Western European security sources told Reuters in late December that Russian tankers had supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea in violation of international sanctions. Russia has denied breaching North Korea sanctions.

North Korea relies on imported fuel to keep its struggling economy functioning. It also requires oil for its intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear program.

Trump has repeatedly blamed a U.S. investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election for hindering an improvement in U.S.-Russian relations.

"He can do a lot," Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "But unfortunately we don't have much of a relationship with Russia, and in some cases it's probable that what China takes back, Russia gives. So the net result is not as good as it could be."

Trump, who has grappled with nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by North Korea since he took office a year ago, said Pyongyang is steadily advancing in being able to deliver a missile to the United States.

"They're not there yet, but they're close. And they get closer every day," said Trump.

North Korea said after its last intercontinental ballistic missile launch in November that the test had put the U.S. mainland within range. Some experts agreed that based on the missile's trajectory and distance it had the capability to fly as far as Washington D.C.

They said, however, that North Korea had not yet offered any proof that it had mastered all technical hurdles, including development of a re-entry vehicle needed to deliver a heavy nuclear warhead reliably atop an ICBM, but it was likely that it soon would. Pyongyang could reach that milestone by the end of the year, some intelligence officials said.

Trump said he welcomed talks between North and South Korea over the Winter Olympics to be held in the South next month and said this could be an initial phase in helping defuse the crisis.

He would not say whether the United States has been considering a limited, pre-emptive attack to show the North that the United States means business.

"We're playing a very, very hard game of poker and you don't want to reveal your hand," he said.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority was "not serious" about the peace process, and she threatened to withhold future funding if they did not move toward talks.

"We are not going to reward bad behavior," Nikki Haley told VOA contributor Greta van Susteren in an interview at her office. "Here you've got the Palestinians who are basically saying they are going to cut the U.S. out of the peace process. They are saying that they no longer want to have anything to do with us."

WATCH: Haley on Palestinians: 'Not Going to Reward Bad Behavior'

Following President Donald Trump's December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy there, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. could no longer be a mediator.

"We do not accept any role of the United States in the political process from now on, because it is completely biased towards Israel," Abbas told an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul on December 13.

On Tuesday, the State Department announced that it was withholding $65 million from its initial 2018 contribution of $125 million to the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.

"This is not aimed at punishing anyone," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said during the announcement. "The United States government and the Trump administration believe that there should be more so-called burden sharing to go around."

But Haley's comments Wednesday appeared to contradict that.

"They go and take us to the United Nations and are basically very hostile in what they say and what they do," the ambassador said in the interview. "We are not going to pay to be abused. It doesn't make sense."

Haley said that after the $60 million disbursement to UNRWA, the U.S. would "re-evaluate the relationship."

Last year, Washington contributed $364 million to UNRWA, making it the agency's top donor.

UNRWA provides education and health services to 5 million registered Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said Wednesday that he was looking for "new funding alliances" in the wake of the U.S. decision, which he said had left the agency with the most critical financial situation it has ever faced.

Haley suggested that UNRWA could find new donors among the countries that did not support the United States last month during a U.N. General Assembly vote on a resolution rejecting the U.S. decision on Jerusalem.

"You have 120 countries who voted against us that could more than take up the level of debt that UNRWA has," Haley said.

"We want a peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians," Haley continued. "We want to make sure that moves forward. By the Palestinians cutting us out of the peace process, it shows they are not serious in truly getting to peace."

Victor Beattie contribued to this report.
Criminal charges have been filed against the commanding officers of two U.S. Navy warships that collided with commercial vessels in the Pacific last year, killing a total of 17 sailors.

Commander Bryce Benson of the USS Fitzgerald and Commander Alfredo Sanchez of the USS John S. McCain will be charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, according to a statement issued by the Navy Tuesday.

Seven sailors aboard the USS Fitzgerald were killed when the destroyer slammed into a Philippine container ship off the Japanese coast in June. Two months later, ten sailors were killed when the USS John S. McCain  named after the father and grandfather of U.S. Senator John McCain, both of them prominent admirals  collided with an oil tanker near Singapore. Benson and Sanchez have both been relieved of their duties.

Three other officers on the USS Fitzgerald  two lieutenants and a lieutenant junior grade  are facing the same charges as Benson. A chief petty officer aboard the USS John S. McCain has been charged with dereliction of duty.

The officers will go before a hearing to determine if they will be tried in a court-martial.

In addition, four members from the Fitzgerald and four from the McCain are facing administrative actions.

A report on the collisions issued November by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson found the accidents were avoidable and happened due to lax standards and poor preparation. They included failing to plan for safety as well as failures in adhering to sound navigation practice and executing basic watch procedures.



Several senior naval officers were fired as a result of the incidents, including Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the Pacific-based 7th Fleet, the Navy's largest.
As relations get hotter between the United States and North Korea, U.S. officials say they are trying to cut off Pyongyang's income sources any way they can, especially on the African continent.

The U.S. argues that every penny, won, rand and franc that flows into North Korea from African countries is used to further North Korea's internationally condemned nuclear weapons program.

Everything is important

Africa-North Korea trade, which often takes the form of petroleum deals, infrastructure projects and military assistance, is but a small part of North Koreas income. The nation does not publish economic data, but the respected, Seoul-based Bank of Korea issues annual estimates.

In 2017, that bank estimated that North Korea exports were worth about $2.82 billion. China and Russia are far larger trading partners than any African nation, though experts say North Koreas international dealings are poorly documented, as much of it is illegal.

Sandra Oudkirk, U.S. acting deputy assistant secretary for the Economic Bureau, says every penny counts.

In some cases, people, whether theyre government officials or outside analysts, will look at the numbers and say, Hey, thats a really small number," she told journalists this week. But the fact of the matter is that North Korea is qualitatively and quantitatively different from any other threat the United States faces. There is no trade flow, there is no revenue flow, that is too small or so small that it is insignificant. Everything is important.

The United Nations has investigated at least seven African countries for ignoring international sanctions by trading with North Korea. Pyongyang has eight embassies in Sub-Saharan Africa and has trade links to at least 11 African countries.

Mark Lambert, U.S. deputy special representative for North Korean policy, says the United States has a clear message to African countries, and to North Korea, if they both cooperate.

In Africa, we want to partner with you, he said. We want to work with you to send two clear messages to North Korea. First, the international community is united and has spoken that it will never, ever, ever accept North Korea as a nuclear power. And we will exert more pressure on North Korea until it returns to the table. But secondly, we want to make clear to the people of North Korea and the leaders of North Korea that there is a better future, that if North Korea in fact returns to negotiations, we can work with North Korea to help it develop its economy and better its people.

Give up good deals in exchange for  disparaging words?

Researcher Zachary Donnenfeld, who studies North Korea-Africa relations at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, says many African nations maintain ties with North Korea because it supported them in their post-independence struggles and that because of its trade restrictions, North Korea offers good trade deals.

He also says the United States may face diplomatic difficulties in the wake of controversial, crude comments allegedly made last week by President Donald Trump about Haiti and African countries.

To me, one of the ironic stories of the Trump foreign policy is that at the very moment he needs the international community, he seems to be actively alienating them, Donnenfeld told VOA from Pretoria. If the Trump administration is going to be successful in its efforts to ramp up sanctions, it will need the support of African governments. And in light of recent events and comments, its unclear to me whether or not African governments will be exceedingly willing to give up cheap natural resources and weapons for a country that is disparaging them.

Challenge from the South

Chatham House analyst Daragh Neville studies diplomatic relations between Africa and the rest of the world. He notes that pressure on African countries to drop North Korea is also coming from elsewhere, including South Korea.

The South, in the past  I think since maybe 2002, 2004  they have started to really re-engage with Africa, he told VOA. Theyve held a number of continental forums, the Korea-Africa forum, the Korea-Africa economic forum, a number of these forums. Theyve begun to open more and more embassies in Africa, and they launched last year a new aid program for Africa.

VOA called the North Korean embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, seeking comment. They did not answer our calls.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke with VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday in New York.

Haley discussed several topics, including North and South Korea:

...We are not comfortable with them being a nuclear nation and we never will.  Just because North Korea and South Korea are holding hands today, doesnt mean that threat has gone away. The United States and the international community is going to keep up the pressure on North Korea to totally disband. Until that time, we are going to wait and make sure there is no activity and no testing. When that time comes we will decide at that point. But all the cards are actually in North Koreas hands in how we respond. If they do the right thing, we are happy to work with them, if they dont, weve got options on the table.

The U.S. withholding $65 million in aid to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which cares for 5 million registered Palestinian refugees:

We are not going to reward bad behavior. Here youve got the Palestinians who are basically saying they are going to cut the U.S. out of the peace process, they are saying they no longer want to have anything to do with us. They go and take us to the United Nations and are basically very hostile in what they say and what they do. We are not going to pay to be abused.

On the situation of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar:

Burma (also known as Myanmar) is broken, it is absolutely broken. And we cant look at the fact that the U.S. dealt with it a few years ago and think that we have to coddle it.

On whether the U.S. may sanction Myanmar's military again:

I think that we need to look at everything. We absolutely need to look at everything. I dont think that we should in any way be soft on what is happening with the government or with the military. They need to be held accountable for what they have done. I think we need to provide a safe place for the refugees, because repatriation is not something that is going to come easily because they are too scared to go back.

A full transcript of this interview will be released soon. Please check back.
Commissioner Pam Stewart SCOTT KEELER | Times

The Florida Board of Education unanimously approved a rule on Wednesday opening the door for private nonprofits to apply to receive millions in state funding to operate charter schools near low-performing public schools, called Schools of Hope.

The rule establishes a process for a nonprofit group to become an operator of the charter schools.

The Schools of Hope program was passed last year as part of the controversial school choice mega-bill HB7069, which several school districts are challenging in court.

The board also voted to grant an additional $2,000 per student to 14 struggling district schools through the Schools of Hope program, adding to the 11 that were already selected in November.

During the meeting, a teacher from Gadsden County told the board that she was concerned about charter schools poaching teachers away from public schools with the promise of higher salaries.

If you pay teachers well you wont need all of these Schools of Hope, said Judith Mandela, who teaches middle school math and is the vice president of her local teachers union. A teacher left my district yesterday solely because his salary was extremely low.

Commissioner Pam Stewart said after the meeting that local districts have the power to set their own teacher salaries to be competitive with charter schools and that state board is against a statewide minimum because of the diverse standards of living in Florida.

It is in statute to provide differentiated pay so those districts with low-performing schools can in fact offer teachers more money for serving in those lower-performing schools its a great way to actually lure teachers, she said.
Seven people have been shot dead by police in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state.

Officials say at least 4,000 people surrounded a government building late Tuesday in the town of Mrauk U, shortly after an annual ceremony marking the end of the Arakan kingdom more than two centuries ago.

Tin Maung Swe, the regional governor, says police attempted to get the crowd to disperse by firing warning shots using rubber bullets. When they refused to comply, the crowd began attacking soldiers and the security forces opened fire again using real ammunition.

In addition to the seven dead, 13 others were injured in the shooting. The shooting victims are reported to be Buddhists, not Rohingya.

Human rights group Amnesty International called for an independent investigation into the lethal use of force.

These shocking killings are yet another example of Myanmar security forces contempt for human life. Even if protesters were throwing stones and bricks, nothing can justify police apparently firing into a crowd of thousands. This is a clear case of excessive use of force in violation of the right to life," James Gomez, Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement.

He said Myanmar police shold be better trained and equipped in non-violent methods of crowd control.

Rakhine state is the epicenter of one of the world's biggest and ongoing humanitarian crises. About 650,000 Rohingyas have fled into neighboring Bangladesh since last August, when Myanmar forces launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya villages in Rakhine state in response to attacks on Myanmar police outposts by Rohingya militants.

The United Nations has described the reported actions as "a textbook case of ethnic cleansing."
United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Harry Thomas Jr. says his country welcomes Africans either as immigrants or visitors.

The career diplomat made the remark at a ceremony announcing the award of $502 million in additional health-care funding from the Global Fund to Zimbabwe.

At the event, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Harry Thomas, Jr. urged President Emmerson Mnangagwas government to put more funds in the health sector. As he was about to take his seat, he asked for permission to divert a bit from the subject of the event.

I would like to say on behalf of our embassy, my government, the American people, we have tremendous respect for Zimbabwe, for the African continent, its people, its culture, its traditions. The immigrants to America from African, particularly Zimbabwe are highest achieving people. I just want to say from the bottom of our hearts, we are part of you, we are part global community. We have nothing but respect for you and we welcome you to our shores as visitors, or as residents.

The clapping seem to be a sigh of relief following allegations that U-S President Donald Trump used a vulgar term in referring to African countries and Haiti in a meeting last Thursday about immigration. Ambassador Thomas, a career diplomat, was sent to Zimbabwe by President Barrack Obama in 2015. He did not directly refer to Trumps comment, which the White House has denied.

Zimbabwes health minister David Parirenyatwa commended the U.S ambassador for his remarks. Ambassador Thomas, thank you for your last words. Its very reassuring. We took note of that. Thank you very much indeed.

On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean government said the remarks attributed to President Trump, had shocked and dismayed Harare.

For close to a decade now, Zimbabweans have sought opportunities abroad as the economy declined, or sought asylum as the human rights situation deteriorated under former President Robert Mugabes iron fist rule.
The Zimbabwean government has expressed shock over remarks attributed to American president Donald Trump, who allegedly called Haiti and Africa shithole countries, while attending a meeting with Republican and Democratic party representatives, focusing on the countrys immigration issues.

According to the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Herald newspaper, which quoted a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zimbabwean authorities say the remarks have shocked and dismayed us.

The ministry, headed by Retired Major General Sibusiso Moyo, said, The USA is a prominent country of which the world expects the best example in its projection of democratic values, commitment to the fight against bigotry, upholding the civil rights of all of its people and generosity towards the less fortunate countries in the world.

We join fellow African countries and others in rejecting this unfortunate characterisation of our peoples and countries. We all desire the amplification of positive relations with the USA, and would hope that care will be taken going forward to avoid jeopardising prospects for those relations through such hurtful and prejudicial language from any official quarter in the USA.

The Zimbabwean government, according to the state-controlled media, believes in international relations based on acceptance, respect and values that serve and demonstrate the human family at its best.

Bigotry and hate speech must find no place in contemporary statecraft and diplomatic discourse.

Several African leaders and the African Union have condemned the remarks and urged Mr. Trump to apologize. But Trump, who claims that he is not a racist, says he never used such language during an Oval Office meeting on immigration last Thursday.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that President Trump, asked whether he wanted more immigrants from Norway, said on Tuesday that he wanted the United States to draw immigrants from nations around the world.

I want them to come in from everywhere, Trump told reporters. U.S. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said last week that Trump had repeatedly use the word shithole when speaking about African countries and the Caribbean nation
A Zimbabwean political activist, Gastaff Kativu, says President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling colleagues should be hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of human rights violations.

Kativu, who staged a one-man protest during the Zanu PF Congress held last month claiming that Mnangagwa was allegedly involved in the killing of one of his unidentified friends, said only the ICC is in a position to investigate human rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean courts cannot prosecute Mnangagwa and his colleagues and therefore there is need to take them to the ICC. I represent all victims of torture, the disappeared citizens, Gukurahundi victims and others in Zimbabwe, he said.

He urged Zimbabweans to sign a petition online dubbed Complete Knockdown of Establishment Campaign, urging the ICC to prosecute all Zimbabwean leaders linked to human rights violations.

Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told VOA Studio 7 that it is impossible for Mnangagwa and others to de dragged to the ICC as alleged human rights violations are investigated first before anyone is charged.

Journalist Henry Mateu expressed the same sentiments, saying Kativu is daydreaming.

Presidential spokesperson George Charamba was not reachable for comment.

African leaders have over the years expressed dismay over the manner in which the ICC handles cases related to them, claiming that top officials in developed nations are being deliberately left off the hook after committing some crimes against humanity.

South Africa revoked its decision to withdraw from the ICC in March last year, citing in a letter submitted to the United Nations, a recent court ruling that declared the withdrawal unconstitutional and invalid. Burundi removed itself from the ICC.
@alextdaugherty

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus' political arm is gearing up against Rep. Carlos Curbelo after the Miami Republican caused a stir when he unsuccessfully tried to join the all-Democratic caucus last year.

On Wednesday, BOLD PAC announced that it's backing Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Curbelo's Democratic opponent, for a Miami-to-Key West seat that is the most Democratic-leaning district in the country represented by a Republican running for reelection in 2018. BOLD PAC's endorsement is a potential source of campaign cash for Mucarsel-Powell as she seeks to unseat Curbelo, a prolific fundraiser himself.

I am honored to receive the endorsement of the CHCs BOLD PAC in my campaign for Floridas 26th Congressional District," Mucarsel-Powell said in a statement. "We need real leadership in South Florida on issues impacting our families the most: expanding access to affordable health care and a tax reform bill that helps, not hurts, working families. Thats a far cry from our current Congressman, who has put his partys leadership in Washington ahead of the needs of hardworking people in Miami. As an immigrant, Ive lived the American Dream and Ill work every day to make sure that American Dream is alive and well for South Floridians.

Mucarsel-Powell is the second Miami-area candidate to receive BOLD PAC's blessing. State Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, one of a number of Democrats seeking to replace retiring Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, won their endorsement in September.

"As a Latina and an immigrant, Debbie knows exactly what it means to fight for the right to live the American Dream. Unlike her opponent, she shares our values of passing a clean Dream Act, expanding access to healthcare, and improving the lives of hard-working Florida families, said BOLD PAC chairman Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif. There is no doubt she is the progressive voice the families of South Florida deserve and a fighter they can always count on to stand up for them in Congress. BOLD PAC is proud to support Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in her campaign to flip Floridas 26th Congressional District.

Curbelo tried to join the caucus for months in 2017, privately meeting with lawmakers and joining the organization's advisory council. But Curbelo's membership application stalled, and he took his grievances with the caucus public.

It is truly shameful the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has decided to build a wall around the organization to exclude Hispanic-Americans who arent registered in the Democratic Party, Curbelo said after his membership was denied. This sends a powerful and harmful message of discrimination, bigotry, and division. Unbelievably, petty partisan interests have led the CHC to formally endorse the segregation of American Hispanics. It is a dark day on Capitol Hill."

Mucarsel-Powell, a former associate dean of fundraising at FIU and a consultant for non-profits, is the only Democrat raising serious money in an attempt to unseat Curbelo.

After BOLD PAC announced its endorsement, Curbelo spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez issued a statement:

"The Congressional Hispanic Caucus extreme partisanship has led them to embrace bigotry and discrimination against any Hispanic American who isn't a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party," Rodriguez said. "The Congressman feels sorry for any candidate who feels desperate enough to embrace the endorsement of individuals who promote bigotry and discrimination against fellow Americans of Hispanic descent. Despite many of the caucus' members efforts to segregate and divide America's Hispanic community, Carlos will not stop working with Chairwoman (Michelle) Lujan (Grisham) and others to find a fair solution for Dreamers.
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The cleverest moment of playwright-director Theresa Rebeck's updating of "The Way of the World," a 318-year-old Restoration comedy, is a joke that's barely one week old. "We can't go to Haiti," declares the rich Hamptons aunt to her even wealthier Hamptons niece. "You know, that country is just a sh-sh-sh-shambles!" Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight So much for a classical theater not keeping pace with John Oliver. That the line is delivered from the stage of the Folger Theatre by no less accomplished a comic actress than Kristine Nielsen only adds to the gag's giddiness. With a fey drollness and eyes that dance around their sockets like the numbered balls in a bingo cage, Nielsen is a zany contemporary stand-in for William Congreve's Lady Wishfort (as in "wish for it"), eternally randy doyenne of the 1 percenters.

Here, though, the character's name is Rene, and like so much else in this unripe transplanting of "The Way of the World" to Long Island's over-pampered East End, the material she's given doesn't reveal much of anything about the rich and shallow we haven't heard elsewhere  with more devastating bite.

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We're not even accorded in this world of conspicuous consumption the magnitude of a runway show that would keep our own eyes popping. Costume designer Linda Cho has the right idea, cheekily fusing the silhouettes of London in 1700 and Amagansett in 2018. But quel dommage! It looks as if the costume budget was slashed halfway through rehearsals. No way would a showboat such as Rene be caught dead in the same get-up  a frilly number that makes her look like a mauve Tower of Pisa  three different times in a crowd that considers Vogue the Holy Bible. And neither, for that matter, would poisonous bon mot-slingers such as Katrina (Erica Dorfler) and Charles (Brandon Espinoza) survive with closets consisting of a single outfit.



O, the confounding limitations of not-for-profit!

Rebeck, the prolific playwright who shepherded the Broadway-centric "Smash" to television, writes amusingly well about modern problems: Her recent "What We're Up Against" at Women's Project Theater in New York is one of the most satisfying comedies chronicling the uphill battles for women in the workplace I've ever encountered. Falling back on the social templates forged in other eras seems to have restricted rather than freed her. While we may marvel that the fripperies that Congreve conjured in his money-obsessed snake pit of 17th-century swells have some universal application, most of the easy jokes in this new "Way of the World" come across as stale.

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The plot, as ever, is a mere excuse for sneering at the leisure class. Rebeck has it that highly desired Mae (Eliza Huberth) is an heiress with a $600 million fortune but, to the horror of Rene and the rest of the swarm of dyed-in-the-wool materialists, she wants to blow it all on helping the poor of Haiti. Mae's Achilles' heel is a bona fide heel, one handsome Henry (Luigi Sottile), a chiseler who could have been chiseled by Michelangelo. In lumbering fashion, the play pushes them  ultimately and unconvincingly  into each other's arms.

Alexander Dodge, the set designer, has a nifty notion for giving context to the culture of acquisitiveness we have infiltrated: a floor-to-ceiling wall of cubby holes, each containing the kind of fashion accessory only a mogul could afford. Nielsen, a superior clown, makes capital use of one of the items, a hideous blue hat that seems to consist of a Christmas ornament attached to a reusable icebag. More of this actress's outrageousness would be a better way forward for Rebeck's satirical world.

The Way of the World, written and directed by Theresa Rebeck, adapted from the play by William Congreve. Set, Alexander Dodge; costumes, Linda Cho; lighting, Donald Holder; sound, M.L. Dogg. With Elan Zafir, Daniel Morgan Shelley. About 2 hours 15 minutes. $35-$79. Through Feb. 11 at Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Visit folger.edu/theatre or call 202-544-7077.

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Before you sink your teeth into Fava Pot's charred, almost blackened, Cornish hen, before you revel in the fire and earth of its koshary bowl, and before you bite into its succulent, sumac-scented kofta, you need to perform a small ritual at this Falls Church restaurant: You need to forgive the kitchen its flatbread.

At least for now. By the end of January or early February, chef and owner Dina Daniel should have her new $14,000 oven in place. It will allow her to ditch the baked pita chips, these woody specimens that accompany numerous dishes, and start baking her own aish baladi, the pillowy flatbread at the center of the Egyptian table.

"The bread, it's the main thing in any restaurant," says the native Egyptian. "I have to have the aish baladi."

To understand the importance of aish baladi to Egyptians, you need to understand the words themselves. "Aish baladi" simply means "village bread." But the word "aish" can be translated as either "bread" or "life," as if the terms are interchangeable in the hearts and minds of this community.

Even a cursory review of Egypt's history reveals its deep connection to bread and wheat, the essential element to almost any loaf. In ancient Egypt, wheat was both ingredient and legal tender. More recently, bread (and the government's subsidies of it) has been a source of recurring tension in a country where arable land is a precious commodity. There are even dangers today: Young men, with racks of aish baladi balanced on their heads, navigate their bikes through the mean streets of Cairo just to make sure the people get their daily bread.

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If any country can stake a claim to the proverb "bread is life," it is Egypt.

Does this mean, then, that an Egyptian restaurant without aish baladi is lifeless? That it offers an essentially soulless version of a vital cuisine? It seemed a question worth entertaining. After numerous visits to the restaurant and some tortured ruminating on the subject, I have concluded this: Even without the famous flatbread for the first several months of its existence, Fava Pot has the soul of a pharaoh.

Of course, I should also add: I can't await for Daniel's aish baladi to replace those nasty third-party-baked chips.

Located in a free-standing building in the parking lot of the Shops at West Falls Church, Fava Pot is a restaurant four years in the making. It is the bricks-and-mortar extension of Daniel's Fava Pot food truck, which she launched in 2013, nearly a decade after immigrating to the United States. Her Egyptian chuck wagon has been more than a business incubator: It also provided Daniel with her first chance to serve as chef, after careers in real estate, nonprofit fundraising and even the restaurant business back in Egypt.

Relying on what she learned from a Lebanese chef who worked at her Cairo restaurant, as well as the lessons from her parents' kitchen, Daniel has developed a robust menu with creative, often colorful riffs on Egyptian and Middle Eastern fare. Daniel takes pride in her ingredients, which she painstakingly lists on her website. Halal meats. Organic greens, milk and eggs. Cornish hens raised without antibiotics. She even serves local beers and wine, which hints at her Christian upbringing in a majority-Muslim country that largely abstains from alcohol.

Egyptian cuisine, with its emphasis on legumes and fresh vegetables, provides plenty of tasty grazing opportunities for vegheads. To the uninitiated, koshary might sound like a college-level pantry dump: The bowl combines lentils, rice, elbow macaroni, chickpeas and crispy onions, all tied together with a deceptively spicy tomato sauce. Each ingredient at Fava Pot supplies its own consistency and flavor. Supple pasta. Creamy rice. Pebbly lentils. Chalky chickpeas. Chefs talk about depth of flavor. This dish has depth of texture.

Those accustomed to falafel formed from ground chickpeas  the standard at places such as Amsterdam Falafelshop  might be taken aback by the fried balls at Fava Pot. Their crusty shells crack open to reveal a verdant jungle of chopped parsley, chives, cilantro and fava beans, an Egyptian's preferred base for falafel. The garlicky fritters, fried a beat too long for my tastes, are a pleasure nonetheless when dipped in tahini. I am more devoted to Fava Pot's take on ful medames, simply called "fava beans," in which the beans are slow-cooked nearly 15 hours and combined with olive oil, tahini, cumin and lime. A breakfast staple in Egypt, these favas are a treat anytime of day, if you ask me.

There are meatier amusements on the menu as well. The kofta patties, formed from ground beef and lamb, can be tucked into a pita wrap or served naked as part of a platter, with your choice of sides. I would advise the latter preparation: Without the pita insulation, you have easier access to the kofta's tangy hit of sumac. No such ordering decisions are required for the breaded veal escalope (the cutlets remain ultra-juicy under their fried armor) or the grilled chicken platter (the half Cornish hen, as blackened as Paul Prudhomme's redfish, almost begs for tomaya, a buzz saw of a sauce built with sunflower oil, lime and garlic.)

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Fava Pot exudes a professionalism that is rare among such strip-center operations. Its decor includes a handsome mural that recognizes some of Egypt's famous sons and daughters. Fava Pot is also firmly rooted in the contemporary American dining scene: Everything about the place  its white plates, its Edison-bulb ambiance, its fast-casual counter service  seems designed to ease non-Egyptians into the fold. Smart.

Open since September, Fava Pot will not be fully realized until the installation of its new oven, which is likely to produce the first puffy loaves of aish baladi for many Washingtonians, myself included. Just as important, I suspect the bread pulled from the oven will instantly improve a number of dips, dishes and soups. Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against Daniel's ful, her garlicky hummus or her sweet-and-savory red lentil soup. I think they deserve something better than pita chips.

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7393-D Lee Highway, Falls Church, 703-204-0609, favapot.com.

Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday; and 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Nearest Metro: Dunn-Loring/Merrifield, with a 1.5-mile trip to the restaurant.

Prices: $4.90 to $9.90 for starters, soups, salads and sides. $9.95 to $27.90 for platters, bowls and signature dishes.

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The following review appears in The Washington Posts 2019 Fall Dining Guide. StarSolid StarSolid StarOutline StarOutline ( Good ) Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight This being a trendy hotel restaurant  the lobby of the Line hotel in Adams Morgan, flanked by two bars  theres cavatelli with ragu made with minced vegetables and a burger with an egg and pork belly on it. Erik Bruner-Yangs all-day menu seems to check all the current boxes, from toast to tuna, as in crudo jolted with ginger in a splash of coconut milk. Asian touches abound; yuzu aioli is a better dunk than ketchup for fries.

But the main reason to drop by is Pichet Ong. The former architect is the pastry chef, and Ive never had anything less than dreamy from him. Ong draws inspiration from Chinese pantry staples  ginger, tea, rice  and favorite childhood sweets. He says he was thinking of Maltesers candies when he created his Brooklyn cake: a dome shaped with devils food swollen with espresso, banana pudding, salted caramel and vanilla cream. His desserts, including a matcha cake with berry mousse, are blessedly restrained in their sweetness. Ice creams are presented on chewy rice flour wafers: Go for pistachio, veined with crushed candied nuts.

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You may wait (and wait) to be seated and wait (and wait) for a drink to find its way to you. But youll never be disappointed to order just dessert, please.

2 stars (Good)

Brothers and Sisters: 1770 Euclid St. NW. 202-864-4180. brothersandsistersdc.com.

Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner and late nights daily.

Prices: Dinner mains $13-$55.

Sound check: 74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice.

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The following review appeared in The Washington Posts 2018 Spring Dining Guide.

At Brothers and Sisters, the flavor is fun

StarSolid StarSolid StarHalf StarOutline ( Good/Excellent )

Nothing about this restaurant in the Line hotel in Adams Morgan suggests it came from a corporate playbook. The big lobby, flanked with bars on either side, turns out to be the dining room, and a lack of staff uniforms suggests no ones in charge. The setting, in a former church, has you looking skyward at a pointy chandelier fashioned from organ pipes. Then theres the menu, a quirky combination of items a hotel needs to have (Caesar salad, a pasta) and more imaginative fare (a hot dog bun stuffed with seared octopus takes the cake, and speaking of cake, you should save room for a slice of something lovely from pastry chef Pichet Ong). There is method behind the madness, and his name is Erik Bruner-Yang, the hipster chef who made H Street NE a better place to graze with Toki Underground and later Maketto. The script here calls to many tastes, with duck pasta in a consomme for the discerning soup crowd and a burger built with brisket and Mornay sauce for sharing  four ways, with a steak knife plunged into the middle of the plate-size bun and a raft of bland fries (boo!) to support the construction. Meanwhile, the twin bars wet your whistle with classic and contemporary drinks. Brace yourself for a mob, but also a ton of fun. Marriott, eat your heart out.

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The following review was originally published Jan. 17, 2018.

In a hip new hotel, Brothers and Sisters makes a stylish splash

The Line Hotel DC took forever to open, but the moment it did, last month in Adams Morgan, the brand raised the stakes for lodging in the nations capital.

Quick, name another hotel where a dweller can find live radio broadcasts in the lobby and call for a room-service bartender.

Carved from a century-old church, the venue brings together eating opportunities from some of the Mid-Atlantics best-known chefs: Spike Gjerde, the James Beard award-winner from Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, and Erik Bruner-Yang, whose popular Maketto on H Street NE combines the flavors of Cambodia and Taiwan.

Among the first of six (!) drinking and dining options to open at the Line, owned by the New York-based Sydell Group, is Brothers and Sisters. Developed by Bruner-Yang, the 166-seat restaurant occupies the spacious lobby and its east and west flanks, each with a bar of its own. Guests sitting just inside the entrance can look up to see a spiky chandelier fashioned from organ pipes. Patrons led to the tables to the sides will no doubt be flipping on their flashlights to read about the food and drinks. Like too many restaurants, this one keeps its diners in the dark.

Bruner-Yang, who started talks with the owners in 2012, opted to challenge himself with his first hotel menu. Instead of cooking the Asian food for which he is known, he went out on a limb with the idea of an American restaurant in a foreign country, in this case either Japan or Taiwan, and catering to the natives. As expected of a hotel, this one offers a Caesar salad and hamburger (both pleasing), but the usual suspects are outnumbered by dishes with international roots and several serious splurges, as in caviar tray service for $160.

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The menu comes with a notable design quirk. The contents are presented backward. The last page starts with appetizers. Hebrew readers catch the aberration, says Bruner-Yang, and left-handers are pumped. Speaking as a right-handed Methodist, I find the layout off-putting, an irritation that tends to be forgiven once a dish such as chicharrones lands on your table. Served as a single shard of deep-fried pork rind, the appetizer is tricked out with espelette pepper, dried nori and crumbled diced pork fat. You cant eat these in a library, jokes a server as he presents the noisy dish, whose crunch moves the needle on my sound meter.

No hunger has been left unaddressed. For the pasta fan, there are knife-cut noodles tossed with pork-fennel sausage and broccoli rabe; vegetarians have buttery avocado set on five-grain (count em!) pilaf to consider. Honestly? The latter tastes a little too healthy; spring instead for the Brussels sprouts draped in creamy hot sauce. The most refined dish is the duck consomme, its heady layers of flavor teased from dashi and wonton broth, a clear liquid canvas for delicious hats of duck pasta. Dishes are brought out not in courses, but as theyre ready. From the simply cooked category come a marvelous and juicy pork chop accompanied by subtly sweet onion-apple soubise, but also a roast half chicken served tepid with celery root puree: sad on sad.

A few dishes put conversation on hold while diners absorb their novelty. One of them is a chicken chowder bowl, Bruner-Yangs response to a hotel that wanted chicken noodle soup on its menu. Distancing himself from noodle soups  he has been there, done that, including at the ramen-focused Toki Underground  the chef serves his creamy chowder in the sturdy bowl of hollowed-out milk bread. Another talker, also found in the bread category, is the snappy octopus hot dog. Some customers refer to the five inches or so of seared cephalopod slipped into a toasted potato roll as hoctodog, but I simply know the link as delicious, dotted with pesto and yogurt. Even the french fries, a side dish, stand apart not just for their full potato flavor, but their packaging in a ceramic sleeve designed to look like a fry bag.

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Brothers and Sisters is no one-man show. Bruner-Yang recruited some of the best in the business to enliven the Line. They include bar veteran Todd Thrasher, one of the regions pioneering cocktail craftsmen, to develop the drinks (and wine) menu and Thai native Pichet Ong, the former executive pastry chef for the acclaimed Jean-Georges Vongerichten,

to come up with a sweets list. Leading the kitchen day-to-day, meanwhile, is chef de cuisine Harper McLure, formerly of Brabo in Alexandria.

Thrasher, expected to open a rum distillery and tiki bar at the Wharf this spring, is luring imbibers with a host of classic American cocktails, iconic hotel bar drinks and some Line originals, one of which swirls gin, Cocchi Rosa (an aperitif wine), red shiso syrup and vitamin C powder. Ask for the pleasantly herby and floral Its Not Just for Osaka Anymore. I also applaud what the future holds: Roving punch carts in the lobby, which feels like a cross between a train station and a university library when you look up to see groups of people strolling in with luggage or clusters of laptop users settled in with drinks and snacks at the long, dark tables outfitted with reading lights.

Ongs desserts are very much to my taste, more savory than sweet. The chef reimagines cheesecake as a white berg marrying three kinds of fromage, including goat cheese, and slips banana and chocolate mousse into his tall wedge of chocolate cake covered in whipped cream. One night, I looked up to see Ong with a big glass bowl of strawberry trifle. Help yourself, he said. What looked like a bribe was in fact the pastry chef extending the invitation to any party ordering two or more desserts. Also a bit of brand building on the part of Ong, who told Bruner-Yang, Im going to walk around the dining room. Go, Ong! Some of us can never have too much table-side service.

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Bruner-Yang has another restaurant up his sleeve here: Spoken English, which he has described as a standing-room-only restaurant speakeasy. (A Rakes Progress, from Gjerde, is expected to roll out with a game focus by the end of January.) Already, though, the fledgling Line is making a splash, the ripple effects of which are sure to lift the lodging landscape and burnish the neighborhoods cred as a seriously fun food scene.

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Jeremy Bernard recalls sitting in Los Angeles traffic, a passenger in the car of an increasingly upset driver. His friend was leaning on the horn, blasting out annoyance and impatience in short, angry bursts. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight "I hate to be preachy, but take a breath," Bernard told his friend. Honking will only make a bad situation worse.

The driver was nonplused. "I don't even think of it anymore," he responded. Honking was the natural reaction to stupid drivers. Why shouldn't he honk?

And there, in a tiny nutshell, was the problem Bernard has been wrestling with for the past two years. "It really takes an effort to behave well, because it's so easy to behave badly," he says.

Bernard and Lea Berman, both former White House social secretaries, are co-authors of the new book "Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life." Bernard worked for Barack and Michelle Obama, Berman for George W. and Laura Bush, but their job was the same: Make every person who walked through the door feel welcomed, valued and comfortable.

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Then came the bitter election of 2016, and what started out as a bipartisan memoir about working in the White House evolved into a guide to the importance of civility and respect in modern America.

"Some people heap disrespect on anyone who dares oppose them, tap into anger and manipulate it for their own benefit, and don't seem to see anything wrong with that," they write. "If bad behavior is contagious  as many studies have shown it is  we're in an epidemic."

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) speak about a lack of civility in politics following a shooting at a congressional baseball practice. (Video: Reuters)

The elephant in room, but not called out by name, is President Trump. His belittling tweets and personal insults are the antithesis of conventional presidential discourse. Some people see the blunt language and name-calling as a sign of principle and strength. Or are they just bad manners?

Call it what you will, the authors say, but it's bad for the country. Good people can and do disagree, but a lack of basic respect is corrosive and crippling to democracy itself.

"I think that treating people well now could be seen as a form of passive resistance and a rejection of what we see in the public arena," Berman says. "For generations, we've looked to our leaders and followed their behavior. Now, maybe the leaders need to look at the people and the way we conduct our lives."

Bernard grew up in San Antonio, where saying "ma'am" and "sir" were basic courtesies. "There was the presumption that every person was worthy of respect," he says.

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So what happened to good manners?

Social media, for one, where people can insult and demean others anonymously, saying things they would never say face-to-face. Technology, for another, which has taught us to expect immediate gratification and makes us feel entitled and impatient when we don't get what we want when we want it.

And reality TV, where the loudest mouths and the most outrageous behaviors get the most screen time. "That's what the producers want  they want the drama," Bernard says.

Berman, who worked for the Bushes from 2005-2007, and Bernard, who served from 2011-2015, have always tried to avoid drama. For a social secretary, drama means something is wrong.

White House social secretaries are obsessively polite, trained to listen and make everyone feel warm and fuzzy. They were a close-knit sorority of well-bred women until Bernard was appointed in 2011, the first man and first openly gay person to hold the job.

As he contemplated his next move after leaving the White House, he teamed up with Berman (full disclosure: after this reporter played literary matchmaker) for a book about their common experiences working behind the scenes at the most famous house in the world.

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They compared notes and came up with the book's underlying thesis, outlined in the introduction: "Act as if the world is watching and you cannot fail to do the right thing. Most of us like to think of ourselves as good people, and if we sense that what we're doing is public, we're more likely to behave reasonably."

Washington's establishment has always been traditionally bipartisan, a collection of former administration officials and power brokers who settled in the nation's capital and never left. The rules of engagement: You can question politics and policy, but not the person, their motives or their patriotism. They have agreed to disagree without being disagreeable.

And so it was Tuesday night, when Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem al-Sabah and his wife, Rima, honored the authors at their residence. The couple welcomed hundreds of guests, including former vice president Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne (Berman was their social secretary before joining the White House), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, British Ambassador Kim Darroch, CNN's Wolf Blitzer and members of the Clinton, Bush 43, Obama and Trump administrations. Everyone was on their best behavior.

And everyone in the room has been at the heart of partisan battles. Successful presidents and their supporters, and those from the opposing party, understand that showing respect for one another also shows respect for the Constitution, the institutions of government and the country, according to the authors. "In the past, presidents did not speak ill of others in a personal way," says Berman. "It seems to be something this president is comfortable with."

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Is the president the reason for or a reflection of the moment?

"I think the country is generally less civil," said Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, one of several members of Congress at the party. "The anonymity of social media has gotten people in a place where they say things that they would never have said 10 or 20 years ago." The president, he said, "communicates in that social media better than anyone ever has  and adopts some of the weak points and the strong points of it."

Trump, however, is not a useful measure when it comes to matters of civility. Aside from stagnant approval ratings, he hasn't suffered any significant consequences for his behavior.

The average person, on the other hand, is still held to conventional standards, and is judged by friends and co-workers.

It's easy to be nice when things are going well, harder when you feel you've been treated unfairly. There's a lot of anger in America, and some voters are spoiling for a fight, says Berman.

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But she and Bernard argue that incivility is not the answer. In fact, they say that civility is in most people's self-interest.

"It's the smart thing to do," says Bernard. Being kind to other people encourages them to be nice to you. Bad behavior begets more bad behavior. You honk, somebody honks back, and things can get ugly really fast.

Civility is not personal, and doesn't necessarily mean that you even like a person. Good manners are just a good way to navigate the world.

When they started writing together, Berman and Bernard circled around each other and realized that they were both being "comically polite" as they talked about their ideas and politics.

"Our social secretary hypercourtesy was so ingrained that we each had to read between the lines of our conversations until we built enough trust to see that we had the same goal: sharing with others the things that helped us get along in the world more easily," says Berman.

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But there's a difference between being polite and a pushover. Pushovers are people who are always doing things they don't want to do. The average person in an awkward situation starts out by being nice in an effort to defuse the situation. It doesn't always work.

"It's naive to suggest we all have to be polite to each other all the time," Berman says. "There are some people for whom politeness is a weakness to exploit. You have to be very firm and straightforward and stand your ground."

Part of civility is learning to say no, but there are infinite ways of saying no nicely, as every social secretary learns.

"We lied all the time," says Berman. A state dinner guest would complain about their seat. "I'm so sorry, but the secretary of labor asked for you to be seated at his table," Berman or Bernard would tell them. The guest would calm down, then sit and have a lovely evening. The blunt truth can be cruel and often unnecessary, and civility is understanding when it's required and when a white lie will suffice.

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How to make an uncivil world more civil?

"Ignore as much of it as you can," says Berman. "Deflect what you can't ignore. And when things are really, really terrible, you emotionally detach. Refuse to be drawn into the drama of the bad behavior, because that's usually what the person behaving badly is seeking. It's like gasoline on a fire."

In short, decide not to get mad every time someone is rude. It's probably not personal, and will just make you unhappy. And start being kind.

"You get on a bus, you say hello to the driver and make eye contact," says Berman. "You go into a store, take your ear buds out and say thank you to the cashier. Start with the simplest things that help us reestablish our humanity with each other."

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had more campaign cash in the bank heading into 2018 than the seven Democrats vying to challenge him combined, according to records filed Wednesday. The numbers  Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R) raised $5.4 million in the past year and have accumulated a $9 million war chest  illustrate the daunting task Democrats face as they try to wrest back the governor's mansion from an extremely popular incumbent.

Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 2 to 1 in Maryland, and Democratic officials nationwide are counting on a wave of opposition to President Trump to power their candidates in November. But Hogan has made clear his differences with Trump. And the many Democrats vying to challenge him in November will have to spend a lot and attack one another's positions in the months before the June 26 primary.

With $2 million in the bank, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz had the most campaign cash of any Democratic gubernatorial hopeful. He raised about $1 million in the past year, building on years of earlier fundraising.

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Kamenetz relied on donations from businesses and organizations more than any other candidate, drawing nearly half his haul from those sources. He also had the most local money, with about 91 percent of his campaign cash coming from Maryland, and the fewest small donors.

The biggest fundraisers in the past year were two first-time candidates: Ben Jealous, a former head of the NAACP, and James Shea, a lawyer and longtime Democratic fundraiser, both of whom raised about $1.5 million from others (Shea reported a total of $2 million in fundraising, including $500,000 he contributed to himself).

The pace of fundraising is expected to pick up as the primary approaches. Early hauls help potential donors identify which candidates can marshal the resources to go on air with television ads and assemble field operations.

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Here are some more details from the filings:

While Shea isn't widely known to the public, his connections in the legal community and among established Democratic donors helped him. Half of what he raised from others came from people who gave the maximum $6,000, and about $587,000 came from employees of Venable law firm, where Shea served as chairman.

He had $1.34 million available as of last week, making him the only Democrat besides Kamenetz with seven figures in the bank.

Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, who has led the Democratic field in early polls, raised $1 million in his first year and has nearly $700,000 on hand. About a quarter of his fundraising came from businesses, and about half of his donors gave small contributions.

Hogan's campaign seems to be keeping a close eye on Baker.

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"Baker faces a hotly contested primary, and whomever emerges will have had to drain their bank account, and will likely begin the general election [campaign] battered, bruised and broke," campaign chairman Tom Kelso wrote in an internal campaign email widely obtained by news outlets. "Meanwhile, our financial position allows us to begin making key early investments in staff and infrastructure that will pay off down the stretch."

Jealous, a favorite of national progressive groups, and his running mate, Susan Turnbull, raised $1.5 million and have $643,000 cash on hand. They have spent $860,000, more than any other Democratic candidate, mostly on staff and consulting expenses.

Nearly 7,000 small donors gave less than $250, a sign of Jealous's deep ties to the national progressive base from his stint as a surrogate for the Democratic presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

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About 1,100 of the small donors were locals, which translates to more small donors from Maryland than any other candidate. Still, nearly 83 percent of his campaign cash came from out of state. The donor list includes liberal financier George Soros and members of his family, comedian Dave Chappelle and his wife, and former Reddit chief executive Ellen Pao.

Alec Ross, a little-known technology entrepreneur and former Obama administration official who has lagged in early polls, reported raising $1 million, with $445,000 on hand. About a third of his haul came from California; one-fifth came from Maryland.

Fellow techies donating to his campaign include Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Half of Ross's fundraising came from 85 donors who gave the maximum $6,000. But he could tap those same donors again when he chooses a running mate.

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State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (Montgomery) raised $440,000 in 2017, including a $120,000 loan to himself. He had about $193,000 available, according to his filing, but even more in debt, including the loan.

Madaleno relied the most on small donors, who gave nearly a third of his fundraising take. They are instrumental in his plans to seek public financing. If he qualifies, his donations would be matched by public money, but total spending would be limited to $2.8 million.

Krishanti Vignarajah, a former aide to Michelle Obama and the only woman in the contest, raised $431,000 since entering the race in September, including a $100,000 personal loan to herself, and has spent little. About 80 percent of her money came from out of state, including Indian Americans and several celebrities, including actress Ashley Judd and actress Meryl Streep.

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Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, a policy consultant and the wife of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), struggled to raise many before dropping out of the race this month after her husband was hospitalized. She'd taken in $153,000 since October.

Hogan had a strong grass-roots showing, with nearly 6,600 small donors, just behind Jealous. But unlike Jealous, most of Hogan's small donors were local. Overall, about 86 percent of Hogan's campaign cash came from Maryland in the past year.

Although direct contributions to candidates and their running mates are limited to $12,000, organizations are free to spend beyond that on independent campaign expenditures. The general election is likely to attract significant spending from the Republican Governors Association, the Democratic Governors Association and other outside groups.

Earlier versions of this article incorrectly said a donation from actress Meryl Streep was given by her husband, Don Gummer. The article has been corrected.

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Maryland state employees will receive a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment under a new contract agreement reached with the Hogan administration. Gov. Larry Hogan's office announced Wednesday that the administration and the four major unions that represent state employees have struck a three-year deal. The agreement follows lengthy and at times bitter negotiations that highlighted staffing shortages and working conditions for correctional officers and other employees.

The labor contracts expired Dec. 31. Employees have been working under a tentative agreement since then.

"These contract agreements are tremendous news for the state and our hard-working employees," Hogan (R) said in a statement. ". . . There have been no furloughs or layoffs, and we are very proud of that."

Patrick Moran, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3, which represents the largest group of affected workers, said the agreement was the result of persistence from union members.

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"He gave the employees nothing," Moran said. The Hogan administration, he said, "has no respect for the employees or the work they do. . . . They came to the table with zero. Our members earned every dime they fought for in this agreement."

Moran said the unions' sour relationship with Hogan dates to 2015, the governor's first year in office, when Hogan removed a 2 percent pay raise from the state budget. After pushback from unions and Democratic lawmakers, he agreed to move forward with the raises.

Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer dismissed the criticism as politically motivated, noting that AFSCME campaigned against the governor in 2014.

Under the new agreement with the unions, which represent nearly 25,000 employees, the state will fully cover the cost of medical, prescription and dental premiums during the month of March. The cost-of-living adjustment goes into effect in January 2019.

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In response to staffing shortages, the state plans to offer a hiring bonus of up to $5,000 per person to correctional officers who meet eligibility requirements and a $3,000 retention bonus for certain registered nurses and correctional officers.

The contracts have not been ratified. Union members are scheduled to vote on the tentative agreement Jan. 31. In addition to AFSCME, the contracts affect workers with the Maryland Professional Employees Council, the American Federation of Teachers Healthcare-Maryland and Teamsters Local 355.

The contract agreement comes as Hogan launches his bid for reelection and as his Democratic challengers are hoping that an energized Democratic base, which includes labor unions, will help to unseat the popular Republican governor.

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Chelsea E. Manning, who served time in prison for leaking classified documents, is challenging Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) in the June Democratic primary. (Video: Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

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In her first utterances as a U.S. Senate candidate, Chelsea Manning declares war on establishment politicians, proclaiming, "We don't need them anymore" in a video that includes clips of white supremacists, police assaulting protesters and grinning congressional leaders meeting with President Trump. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The transgender former Army private convicted of passing classified government documents to WikiLeaks is challenging Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a two-term senator and the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Her candidacy brings drama to an otherwise staid primary and gives Republicans an opportunity to stoke divisions among Democrats. But analysts say Manning's maverick approach may not play well in Maryland, a progressive but establishment state that is home to the National Security Agency and went for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders by a large margin in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

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Chelsea E. Manning tweeted a video on Jan. 14 indicating her intention to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland as a Democrat. (Video: Chelsea Manning for U.S. Senate)

"Challenges like this rarely succeed around the country, much less in Maryland," said John T. Willis, a political-science professor at the University of Baltimore. "Maryland is a fairly strong party state, and the political culture is one that rewards experience and familiarity in the political world."

Manning's unlikely entry into the race could draw a different kind of national attention to Maryland in a year when Democrats are trying to unseat Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who has distanced himself from Trump, the GOP's biggest electoral liability in a blue state.

For the far-left wing of the party, Manning's felony conviction and sentence, which was commuted by President Obama last Jan. 17, do not disqualify her. In fact, the opposite may be true.

"Folks that are applying litmus tests for candidates based on criminal record and experience with police  that's one of many reasons why we don't have the diversity of representation that we need in the U.S. Senate," said Neil Sroka, spokesman for the national progressive group, Democracy for America.

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"We were glad to see she's running and we'll be watching that race," Sroka said. "When an incumbent is challenged by a strong challenger that inevitably makes that incumbent more accessible to the Democratic base."

But Democracy for America will wait to see all the Senate candidates in action before making any endorsements, Sroka said.

The organization is backing former NAACP president Ben Jealous for Maryland governor and former Maryland congresswoman Donna F. Edwards for Prince George's County executive.

State Democratic officials declined to comment about Manning's candidacy.

Groups that have worked to elect LGBTQ candidates elsewhere  such as the Victory Fund, which backed Danica Roem in her successful quest to win a seat in the Virginia legislature  also passed on a request to wade into the supercharged politics around Manning.

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"She has not applied for endorsement and we would have to review the viability of her campaign, positions on LGBTQ equality and reproductive rights, etc.," Victory Fund spokesman Elliot Imse said in an email. "We are not yet ready to comment on her candidacy."

The conservative blog Red Maryland broke the news this weekend that Manning filed the federal documents required for her to begin raising money for the race.

She must still file in person with the Maryland Board of Elections to have her name placed on the primary ballot. The deadline is 9 p.m. Feb. 27.

Three other, largely unknown Democratic hopefuls have filed with the state: Jerome Segal of Montgomery County, Richard Vaughn of Baltimore County and Debbie Wilson of Charles County.

No Republicans have filed yet. But that didn't stop Maryland Republican Party Chairman Dirk Haire from challenging Kathleen Matthews, the state Democratic Party chair, to call on Manning to withdraw.

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"I don't think someone who is a convicted traitor possesses the judgment to be an effective senator," Haire said.

Matthews did not respond to messages.

Sen. Cardin, whose last campaign motto was "My friend Ben," is expected to run on a mix of local and national issues including the restoration of Chesapeake Bay cleanup funds and calls for investigation of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

Manning is far better known than past Cardin challengers, such as state Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) in 2013. And cable news coverage of a Manning run could make it difficult for Cardin to brush off the competition.

But Willis noted that notoriety, celebrity and even a strong grass roots following is not necessarily enough to compete against veteran political leaders.

For example, he said, the late entrance of Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson into the 2016 Democratic primary for Baltimore mayor caused a stir, but Mckesson finished sixth in the race.

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Todd Eberly, a political-science professor at St. Mary's College, noted that Cardin is well respected among the many federal government and defense workers who live in Maryland, making it difficult for Manning, "whose claim to fame is espionage," to gain traction.

"If she were to win the nomination," he said, "Republicans would end up with a . . . seat in Maryland. If anything, I think Republicans should probably donate to her."

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The top Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly have a message for President Trump and the Republican-led Congress as they veer dangerously close to the first federal government shutdown in five years: "Enough is enough." Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight In a letter to Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday, state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said they are frustrated by recent actions taken by Republicans and deeply concerned about the possibility of a shutdown, which they say could cost the state $5 million a day.

"Last month you enacted a tax package which blows a $1.4 trillion hole in the federal budget, does uncalculated harm to state and local revenue, destabilizes our health insurance marketplace and drives up costs for consumers, and raises taxes on hundreds of thousands of Marylanders," the joint letter reads. "Now it appears you may not reach a long-term spending deal, which could trigger a federal government shutdown. . . . On behalf of a state that is exhausted from being whipsawed by the inaction in Washington, D.C., we write to say enough is enough."

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On Tuesday, Maryland Democrats unveiled a legislative package that would make changes to the state's tax laws in an attempt to lessen the impact of the federal tax changes on taxpayers from the state.

"Marylanders need a stable partner in the federal government," Miller and Busch wrote. "We urge you to promote stability by shutting down the talk of a shutdown, and to reach an agreement to keep the federal government funded."

Democrats in Congress have threatened to withhold support from a federal spending bill if it does not include protections for undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children, an option that the White House and immigration hard-liners have said would have to be accompanied by a crackdown on border security and other concessions.

On Wednesday, House Republican leaders began rounding up votes for a short-term spending bill, after White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelley said he believes Congress will work out a deal to protect the young immigrants, known as "dreamers," without giving a specific timetable.

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The derailment of a Red Line Metro train in downtown Washington on Monday revealed that vulnerabilities in Metro's radio communications and disaster response continue more than three years after breakdowns in those systems contributed to the L'Enfant Plaza smoke calamity that killed one person and injured scores more. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Metro said Tuesday that the broken rail was being sent to an outside laboratory for forensic testing and that it will probably be weeks before officials receive the results. The eight 7000-series rail cars  the last three of which derailed  are being inspected at the Brentwood Rail Yard in the District, the agency said.

"If you work in the transit industry, you recognize that no system is immune from the hazard of a broken rail," Metro Chief Safety Officer Pat Lavin said at a news conference Tuesday. "It is infrequent but not uncommon."

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Though no one was injured in Monday's incident, some Metro board members acknowledged that they were lucky: Faulty radio communications meant it took longer for rail controllers to determine that a train had derailed, and initial reports were for smoke in the tunnel. It also took more than an hour to begin evacuating the train after the derailment, which a preliminary investigation shows resulted from a shattered rail that caused the train to slide 1,200 feet down a tunnel outside the Farragut North station.

Lavin defended the agency when asked how tracks in the area where the derailment occurred could be defective even after the year-long SafeTrack maintenance project. He pointed out that SafeTrack focused on stretches of track outside the downtown core that were older and more dilapidated.

"This was not an area that was a focus of SafeTrack. There was no SafeTrack work performed in this area," Lavin said.

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The explanation was unlikely to satisfy Red Line riders, who have been subjected to repeated disruptions  including a 10-day rail segment shutdown, subsequent slowdowns from a faulty communications cable and the latest incident  since the $160 million SafeTrack program wrapped up in June.

Tuesday morning was another nightmare commute for Red Line riders as derailment repairs continued, with complaints of packed trains, overflowing platforms and waits that were significantly longer than those Metro had warned customers to expect.

Lavin said recent tests and inspections did not find any problems with track in the area of the derailment. Ultrasonic testing in August showed no internal cracks in the rail, and a specially designed vehicle that uses lasers to inspect the system also picked up no abnormalities, Lavin said.

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He said that the track was visually inspected three times in January by a team of outside contractors, many of whom are retirees from the Federal Railroad Administration, and that he is confident in the quality of those inspections.

In addition, Metro planned emergency repairs Tuesday night to address the "spotty" radio coverage that prevented workers in the Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) from immediately establishing contact with the train operator and learning that the train had derailed. Controllers initially received reports of smoke in the tunnel.

Only after repeated attempts to contact the operator and a call from another employee did ROCC staff learn that the train had come off the tracks.

Lavin said the radio signal on the side of the tracks where the derailment occurred was patchy but that the signal on the other side of the tracks has been tested and is functioning properly.

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Although Metro has had chronic problems with underground radio signals throughout the system, Lavin said immediate repairs were being done only on one side of the tracks between Farragut North and Metro Center stations.

"This area is a known problem," Lavin said, when asked Tuesday why crews weren't extending their efforts to other stretches of the tunnel system. "If we have other known problems, we address those immediately, as well."

Metro blamed the smoke that was reported on the train's skid against the concrete in the narrow and dusty passageway.

After the derailment, it took 90 minutes for authorities to begin evacuating the 61 riders, train operator and a Metro Transit Police officer who had been on the train. The group was herded through the tunnel, finding their way with the aid of glow sticks.

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Lavin said the lag time between the derailment and evacuation was "to ensure that the evacuation was conducted in the safest possible manner." But Metro board members were uneasy about the communication lapses and the 90-minute wait.

"In this case, we're fortunate that there wasn't any serious injury which otherwise could have led to a very tragic situation," board member Michael Goldman said. "It's the problem we had with L'Enfant Plaza  the issues of communication and coordination as well as system failures. Supposedly, we've been improving communications, and we've done drills to improve communication and coordination."

The Federal Transit Administration, which is handling safety oversight of Metro until a regional oversight body takes over, said it sent investigators to the scene "to determine what occurred" but declined to provide details, citing the ongoing investigation.

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The Metro board plans a special safety meeting for Jan. 25 to address questions arising from the derailment, including why track inspectors didn't catch the defective rail, why the radios didn't work and why the evacuation took so long.

Robert Lauby, chief safety officer at the Federal Railroad Administration and chairman of the board's safety and service committee, said he's waiting for the results of Metro's preliminary investigation before deciding whether and what changes need to be made.

"Longer-term, we want to make sure we don't have other conditions that we're not aware of that could have contributed to this," Lauby said.

In response to the derailment, authorities had devised a plan to load the passengers onto a second train that would pull up from the opposite tracks. But about an hour after the derailment, the plan was abruptly scrapped. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Gregory Dean said Tuesday that concerns about the tight squeeze, and reactivating third rail power in a space where 63 people would be crammed, prompted the alternative plan.

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"There was not a need to quickly do anything," Dean said. "So the initial plan was that it's dark in there, it's uneven walking, so if we can get a rescue train in, let's try a rescue train. . . . In the process of doing that, they decided, 'Hey, this is not [going to] work because of how much room the train itself takes up.' "

Metro received word of the incident at 6:28 a.m., and the Office of Unified Communications was called at 6:35, according to Fire and EMS records. From there, crews were dispatched at 6:40 a.m. and arrived at 6:43 a.m.  15 minutes after the derailment.

Metro's last passenger service derailment took place in July 2016, when deteriorating wooden ties failed to secure the position of the two steel rails over time. The derailment led Metro to terminate one-third of its track inspection department after an investigation determined that workers and managers falsified inspection reports and failed to perform routine visual surveys of all of the tracks.

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Radio signal and tunnel communication issues in the system's downtown core have been a persistent issue. During the January 2015 L'Enfant Plaza smoke calamity, the lack of an underground radio signal was a major factor in the significant miscommunication between Metro staff and the fire department  and one of the reasons why it took more than 30 minutes to get passengers off a train filling with smoke.

In December, in response to an FTA requirement that it update federal officials on systemwide radio quality, Metro said it "developed procedures for monitoring radio coverage and performance" and identified areas for improvement.

Metro said Farragut North was not among them. The agency is in the beginning stages of a replacement of its entire radio communications system  throughout its tunnel, track and bus network  using upgraded technology that will automatically alert staff if the radio signal is weak. The $160-million project has been awarded to Motorola Solutions and is scheduled to be completed in 2022.

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Rick Jolly, a British navy doctor whose medical expertise and stiff-lipped poise saved hundreds of British and Argentine lives during the 1982 Falklands War, and made him one of the few service members in military history to be honored by his country as well as his former enemy, died Jan. 13 at his home in Torpoint, on England's southern coast. He was 71.

His death was reported by British news organizations, including the Times and Telegraph newspapers, which did not give a precise cause.

"The Doc," as he was known, reached the rank of surgeon captain in Britain's Royal Navy and had served for about a decade when the military of Argentina's crumbling dictatorship invaded the Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982. Located 300 miles off the coast of Argentina, the islands  known by Argentines as Las Malvinas  were home to more sheep than people and had been controlled by Britain for more than a century.

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The invasion, widely seen as a last-ditch effort by Argentina's military junta to consolidate power, was stifled in just 74 days as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher deployed an armada to retake the archipelago. The result was an ascendant Thatcher, a return to democracy in Argentina and, for Capt. Jolly, a succession of surgeries and operations performed in the dark and cramped conditions of a makeshift hospital bombarded by Argentine fighter planes.

"We hope always in war that we're never busy at all," a lightly bearded Capt. Jolly said in a television interview near the end of the conflict, "but we have been busy."

It was, in typical Jolly fashion, something of an understatement. As the senior medical officer of the 3 Commando Brigade, he oversaw a field hospital inside an abandoned mutton processing plant at Ajax Bay, a landing point used by British troops.

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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)

Known to its patients and 120-odd medical personnel as the Red and Green Life Machine, from the beret colors of marines and paratroopers who were treated there, the hospital attended to about 1,000 service members over several weeks, losing just three patients, according to a government-commissioned history of the conflict.

In what Capt. Jolly later described as a decision based on the rules of war, the hospital was unmarked  bereft of a cross symbol that would have identified it to Argentine pilots as a medical facility and not a legitimate target  because it also housed a mess hall and stood near ammunition centers.

As a result, it was occasionally targeted by Argentine planes, leading Capt. Jolly and his fellow doctors to crouch and cover their patients, fearing the worst, until bombing runs ended. One night, the hospital was struck by four bombs that killed five and wounded 27, according to an account by military logistics scholar Kenneth L. Privratsky. Two of the 500-pound bombs landed near the surgical wards but failed to explode. They were later defused and surrounded by sandbags, and for the rest of the war they rested feet from the hospital's operating tables.

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While Capt. Jolly was widely heralded for his leadership at the Ajax Bay hospital, where roughly 30 percent of his patients were Argentine troops taken in from the battlefield, he was also acclaimed for his bravery in plucking two British sailors from the South Atlantic. When a frigate, the HMS Ardent, was struck by Argentine aircraft in May 1982, Capt. Jolly boarded a helicopter that lowered him 30 feet, into the frigid waters of Grantham Sound.

Wearing little more than his regular uniform  "I hadn't intended to go for a swim," he later said  he pulled one sailor out of the water and was told to go back and save one more.

"I dropped into the water and I was too weak to lift him. He was in a terrible state, with a huge gash in his head and blood all over his face," Capt. Jolly told a newspaper in Plymouth, England. "He was in such a bad state, I'm not even sure he was aware he'd been saved.

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"Even now," he continued, "that whole experience fills me with the deepest spiritual sense of pride."

Richard Tadeusz Jolly was born in Hong Kong in October 1946, according to British news reports. His father was a gunner in Hong Kong's colonial militia who, during World War II, was held captive for five years as a Japanese prisoner of war.

Capt. Jolly graduated from Stonyhurst College, a Catholic day and boarding school in England, and studied medicine at what is now Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry before enlisting in the navy.

By the time the Falklands conflict erupted, he had developed a grim familiarity with wartime medical practice, devising a photographic presentation known as "the Jolly horror show" in which he displayed images of battlefield injuries in an effort to prepare his troops  whom he wryly described as "potential customers"  for combat.

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In all, 255 British troops and about 650 Argentines died in the war. Capt. Jolly treated both, in a commitment to medical ethics that alternately confused and irked his patients.

Among the Argentines, Capt. Jolly and his fellow doctors were rumored to be cannibals who tortured and then consumed prisoners of war; to some British troops, it was unconscionable that treatment was offered to downed pilots who, days earlier, tried to kill them.

When pressed, Capt. Jolly explained his actions by reciting some of the last words of Horatio Nelson, the legendary Royal Navy commander: "May humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet."

He was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1983 and 16 years later was awarded Argentina's equivalent honor, the Order of May, during a ceremony that included Prince Charles and several of the Argentine patients Capt. Jolly had treated during the war.

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Survivors include the former Susie Matthews, his wife of 48 years, according to news reports. A son, James, died in 1989.

Capt. Jolly retired from the navy in 1996, wrote a memoir about his wartime experiences and co-founded a veterans organization, South Atlantic Medal Association 1982, speaking frequently on the importance of proper medical care for veterans and for soldiers in wartime.

"People assume you've got to hate your enemy but that couldn't be further from the truth," he told Britain's Sunday Mirror in 2012. "The only people who know what you're going through are the people on the other side.

"Over the years I've been asked what I'd do if I had to choose who to treat first, an Argentinian or a Brit. My answer was always whoever needed attention more urgently. As far as I am concerned you have to be able to look into your soul and like what you find there."

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Correction: An earlier version of this obituary imprecisely referred to the size of the medical staff that served at the Ajax Bay field hospital during the Falklands War. The group of about 120 medical personnel included medical assistants, not just doctors. It also imprecisely referred to Capt. Jolly's medical expertise. While he held the rank of surgeon captain and served as a senior medical officer, he did not specialize in surgery. The story has been updated.

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Prince William County These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-792-5123. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY Heather Mill Lane, 15100 block, Jan. 11. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 10, a bullet broke through a window and was found on the window sill. No injuries or other property damage were reported.

ATTEMPTED MALICIOUS WOUNDING

Colton Lane, 7300 block, 11:18 p.m. Jan. 11. A 21-year-old Manassas man is wanted for attempted malicious wounding.

ASSAULTS

Sudley Manor Dr., 11700 block, 10:39 p.m. Jan. 7. A 47-year-old Nokesville man was arrested and charged with four counts of assault and battery, assault and battery on a law enforcement officer, felony destruction of property, disorderly conduct, intoxicated in public, and obstruction of justice.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Dumfries Rd., 14800 block, 9:25 p.m. Jan. 8. A jump box and several catalytic converters were stolen from a salvage yard. There was no sign of forced entry.

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Westside Rd. and Commonwealth Ct., Jan. 11. A 23-year-old McLean man, a 21-year-old Manassas man and a 23-year-old Woodbridge man were arrested in connection with an attempted residential burglary.

ASSAULTS

Belmont Bay Dr., 800 block, 2:18 p.m. Jan. 7. A 44-year-old Woodbridge man was arrested and charged with abduction and assault and battery.

ROBBERIES

Jefferson Davis Hwy., 13600 block, 1:11 a.m. Jan. 6. Three armed males accosted a male in a pharmacy parking lot and demanded cash. They threatened the man with a handgun and screwdrivers, hit him in the head and fled with the cash.

Tyler Cir., 1500 block, 6:35 p.m. Jan. 11. A man robbed a female pedestrian of her cellphone, a purse and cash at gunpoint.

SHOOTING INTO A DWELLING

Hargrett Way, 13000 block, 4:10 a.m. Jan. 7. A homeowner heard a loud bang followed by glass shattering. He noticed a hole in a light fixture and the wall and found a bullet fragment.

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Swallow Ct., 14800 block, 10:06 p.m. Jan. 9. Two bullet holes were found in the front of a residence. No other damage was reported.

THEFT/BREAK-IN

Jarrell Pl., 15000 block, 11:50 a.m. Jan. 9. Two males attempted to break into a residence. They fled empty-handed after a neighbor saw them.

Manassas

These were among incidents reported by Manassas police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-257-8000.

SEXUAL BATTERY

Sandalwood Dr., 9000 block, 7:06 p.m. Jan. 11. A masked male assaulted a female pedestrian and then fled.

HIT AND RUN

Digges Rd. 8400 block, 4:40 p.m. Jan. 9. A heavyset male driving a dark-colored Ford pickup truck struck another vehicle parked at a convenience store. The driver's side quarter panel was damaged while the owner was inside the business.

GRAND LARCENY

Wellington Rd., 9900 block, 2:55 p.m. Jan. 8. A 19-year-old Manassas man was arrested and charged with grand larceny.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Centreville Rd., 8900 block, 6:22 p.m. Jan. 8. A man pumped gas at a station and left without paying.

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Massie St., 10300 block, 9 a.m.-9:15 p.m. Jan. 7. A residence was entered and searched. Nothing was reported stolen.

Prince William St., Jan. 6-7. Multiple household appliances and lighting fixtures were stolen from several apartments under construction.

Manassas Park

No incidents were reported by Manassas Park police for this edition of Local Living. For information, call 703-361-1136.

 Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton

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William P. Herndon, 47, of Martinsburg W.Va., who was working as a mental health technician at North Spring Behavioral Healthcare at the time of the teenagers death, was arrested Tuesday and is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on no bond, police said.

A West Virginia man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after police say he fatally restrained a 15-year-old patient at a behavioral health care center in Northern Virginia.

The juvenile male was reportedly unresponsive and not breathing when authorities responded to the facility on Victory Lane at about 3:37 p.m. on Nov. 19. Police said he was taken to a hospital where he died. Police have not released the name of the 15-year-old victim from Norfolk, citing privacy laws.

It is unclear if Herndon has a lawyer at this time. A facility representative was not immediately available to comment Tuesday night, but released a statement in November that stated the facility was cooperating with the investigation and remains fully committed to its mission of providing high quality treatment programs and services to patients with special, and sometimes complex, mental health needs.
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RICHMOND  House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) marched over to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's office Tuesday morning to tell him the week-old bipartisan vibe in the Capitol is hanging by a thread. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Plans to work together on issues such as criminal justice reform and even Medicaid expansion are suddenly in doubt because of what Republicans saw as an overly partisan speech by Northam to the General Assembly on Monday night.

"Frankly, that speech last night truly set us back," Cox said at a hastily assembled news conference Tuesday morning.

The dust-up signals the fragile dynamics in Virginia's closely divided legislature, where Republicans long used to dominance are reckoning with newly powerful Democrats.

Northam took office just this weekend, calling on Virginia to set an example for the nation of how to work together and get things done. Republicans had welcomed him as a homegrown politician they could trust  a big change from his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, whom they saw as a Democratic operative.

Republicans had even prepared a response to Northam's Monday night speech that expressed eagerness to find common ground, but they tore it up once they saw his actual words. In the speech, Northam drew cheers from Democrats for citing a series of campaign promises such as expanding women's access to abortion and expanding Medicaid.

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As the litany went on, Republicans sat in increasingly stony silence. When they finally rose in support of easing student debt, Northam quipped that they needed to stretch after sitting so long.

Afterward, Cox asked to meet with him privately.

"I was very blunt with him," Cox said Tuesday morning, shortly after the one-on-one at the governor's office. "I shared personally how disappointed I was."

Northam's office had no comment on the meeting. A spokeswoman defended his speech as aimed not at partisan issues, but at "real problems that affect real people." Bipartisanship, spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said, "does not mean sweeping big issues under the rug because common ground has been hard to find in the past."



Richmond is a relational town, and both Republicans and Democrats have been counting on widespread personal affection for Northam to ease political gridlock. While McAuliffe tried and failed to get Medicaid expansion for four straight years, Republican leaders are no longer shutting the door on some form of expansion.

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That's partly because of the huge Democratic gains in last fall's elections. Voters reshaped the House of Delegates, reducing Republicans to the barest of majorities  51-49  which they maintained only after one tied race was decided in their favor by random drawing.

Saturday's inaugural speech was the place for Northam to take a victory lap in front of the whole world, Cox and other Republicans said. They saw the Monday night address, by contrast, as a family affair. They expected Northam to include more nods to areas of easy agreement with Republicans  such as addressing the opioid crisis  as well as to credit Republicans for work they've done on the budget and economic development.

But partisan tensions had flared even before Northam's speech. On Monday, a Senate committee killed Democratic bills aimed at gun safety, including one providing for universal background checks for anyone who purchases a gun. All had been Northam priorities, and on Monday night he scolded the committee for nixing them.

On Tuesday, Democrats played hardball of their own in the Senate. Aiming to pressure a Republican senator into supporting Medicaid expansion, Democrats made good on a threat to kill a bill intended to help a shuttered hospital in his poor Southwest Virginia district.

"I have never intimated to any of you all, nor have I ever told you, 'Unless you do something for me, I will kill your bill,'" Sen. William Stanley (R-Franklin) said after his measure failed on a 30-10 vote. Nine Democrats had voted along with all 21 Republicans, but Stanley was two votes short of the supermajority he needed for emergency legislation.

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Stanley was trying to renew state certification for Patrick County Hospital, which closed last year, in hopes that a new operator would come forward. "I'm angry. And I'm ashamed of you," he said.

Democrats, who need support from two Republicans to get Medicaid expansion out of the closely divided Senate, said their goal was the same as Stanley's  only on a larger scale.

"I'm angry also," said Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax). "I'm very angry that I have constituents  yes, even in Northern Virginia, even in wealthy Fairfax County and Arlington County  that have no health care. They're suffering. A few of them died. . . . I think we need to get together to figure out a way we can provide health care throughout the commonwealth and not pick one small community."

After the vote, Stanley said Democrats have turned the hospital into a pawn in the Medicaid fight.

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"I'm heartbroken that they would try to pull this stunt on something that has nothing do with what they're trying to achieve," Stanley said in an interview.

Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) seemed to acknowledge that his vote against Stanley's bill had been "a political vote." Seeking to defuse the tension, he also suggested that the measure might be revived, perhaps as an amendment to another bill.

But Republicans took retribution by calling up bills that had passed earlier, stripping out the ones sponsored by Democrats and putting those aside for the day.

Democratic leaders in the House said that they want to work across the aisle but that they interpret last fall's election as a message sent by Virginians who want a higher minimum wage, an end to workplace discrimination and better gun control, among other priorities.

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"While bipartisanship and civility have their appropriate place and they're something that we embrace, we also have to consider these bills and take positions on bills," House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) said.

Sen. Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment (R-James City) said he had heard the words "comity, collaboration and cooperation" batted around for days. "Somehow those words are already starting to ring hollow," he said.

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Woman dies in crash Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight in Howard County A woman was killed Monday in a two-car crash in Howard County, county police said. The woman was a passenger in a car that crossed the centerline of Twin Oaks Road in the Clarksville area while going west about 12:20 p.m. and collided with a car going in the opposite direction, officials said.

The woman was identified as Deadra Wellington-Brown, 23, of Columbia, Md. The driver of the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The occupants of the other car were treated for minor injuries at the scene, near Heather Glen Way, police said. The incident remains under investigation.

 Martin Weil

Part of a ceiling

collapses at hospital

Part of a ceiling collapsed Monday at a building at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. No injuries were reported.

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The collapse appeared to have involved an overhang outside the entrance to the medical center's emergency department, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

A "partial collapse of a ceiling under construction" near the emergency entrance was reported by Pete Piringer, a county fire spokesman. He added that the entrance remained open .

 Martin Weil

Worker charged in teen death at health center

A West Virginia man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after police say he fatally restrained a 15-year-old patient at a behavioral health care center in Northern Virginia.

William P. Herndon, 47, of Martinsburg W.Va., who was working as a mental health technician at North Spring Behavioral Healthcare at the time of the teenager's death, was arrested Tuesday and is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on no bond, police said.

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The juvenile male was reportedly unresponsive and not breathing when authorities responded to the facility on Victory Lane at about 3:37 p.m. Nov. 19, 2017. Police said the boy was taken to a hospital where he died. The teen was from Norfolk, but police have not released his name citing privacy laws.

It was unclear Tuesday whether Herndon has a lawyer.

A representative for the health care center was not immediately available to comment. In November, the center said in a statement that it was cooperating with the investigation and remained committed to providing quality care.

 Ellie Silverman

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When low-income Americans are concentrated in substandard homes in struggling or violent neighborhoods, it has tangible consequences for well-being. Research confirms that moving families into less segregated neighborhoods improves overall health, and some communities are giving families vouchers to relocate. Kaiser Health News correspondent Sarah Varney and PBS Newshour producer Jason Kane filed this story that begins in St. Louis.
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U.S. moves B-52 bombers to Guam Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight B-52 Stratofortress bombers began arriving Tuesday at Andersen Air Force base in Guam, temporarily providing the Pentagon with a rarity as tensions with North Korea percolate: the presence of three kinds of bombers in the Pacific. The six B-52s and 300 airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana will take over the U.S. military's "continuous bomber presence" mission in the Pacific from a unit of B-1B Lancer bombers at the end of the month, Air Force officials said in a news release. The mission, which has existed since 2004, is designed to reassure U.S. allies in the region and show strength against China, North Korea and other potential adversaries.

The B-52s and B-1s will be joined in Guam by three B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, which deployed last week from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The bat-winged bomber arrived in what the Pentagon characterized as a short-term deployment, giving the Pentagon an unusually robust show of force this month in Guam until the B-1s return to Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota. The Pentagon last had three kinds of bombers deployed in the Pacific in 2016.

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The deployments could have additional significance in the Pacific considering the planes' capabilities. The B-2 is the only U.S. bomber capable of carrying a nuclear gravity bomb. B-52s are able to carry smaller nuclear cruise missiles, while B-1s do not carry nuclear weapons as a result of the 2010 New START Treaty between the United States and Russia.

The deployment of the B-52s in the Pacific came at the same time the Pentagon sent four other B-52s from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Britain. They will carry out training from the base RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, reassuring allies in Europe.

 Dan Lamothe and Simon Denyer

Four officers shot after domestic violence call

A man who was wanted for beating his wife ambushed and shot three SWAT officers searching for him in woods in South Carolina, leaving one deputy "hanging on to life," a sheriff said Tuesday.

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Christian Thomas McCall earlier had shot and wounded a fourth officer, York County Sgt. Randy Clinton, who was chasing him with a police dog, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said.

McCall was also shot and is at the same Charlotte hospital where the four officers were taken. York County Detective Mike Doty was the most seriously injured.

Officers were called to McCall's home outside of York, about 25 miles southwest of Charlotte, around 10:20 p.m. Monday after he attacked his wife, authorities said. McCall ran into the woods and deputies searched for him about three hours, police said.

The manhunt intensified, and about two hours after the search started, McCall ambushed three SWAT team members in the woods. Tolson identified the wounded officers as Doty, York County Sgt. Buddy Brown and York City Police Sgt. Kyle Cummings.

McCall's wife was not seriously injured in the Monday night attack, Tolson said.

McCall, 47, is charged with three counts of attempted murder in the shootings of the three officers who were less seriously wounded, Solicitor Kevin Brackett said. The prosecutor is waiting to see what happens with Doty's medical condition before deciding what to charge McCall with in that shooting.

 Associated Press

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VIRGINIA GOV. Ralph Northam (D) took office with an inaugural speech reminding lawmakers that "Virginians didn't send us here to be Democrats or Republicans  they sent us here to solve problems." Two days after that eloquent bid for bipartisanship for the good of the commonwealth, Republicans responded. Their uncompromising answer: Not so much.

In summarily rejecting a package of gun-control bills backed by Mr. Northam, a Republican-controlled Senate committee made clear it had no interest in working with the governor on his legislative priorities. That Virginia voters showed support for these initiatives by electing Mr. Northam didn't seem to matter. Did Republicans learn anything from last fall's elections?

Voting largely along party lines, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Monday rejected a number of modest measures proposed by Democrats to combat gun violence. The legislation that was voted down included requiring background checks for all gun purchases, mandating that gun owners report lost or stolen weapons and allowing localities to ban firearms at permitted events. In addition to not listening to an electorate that gave Mr. Northam a landslide victory and elected other gun-control proponents in upset races, Senate Republicans also paid no heed to last year's violence at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville where the response of authorities was inhibited by the heavy presence of guns.

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Bills similar to those killed by the Senate are pending in the House. Since Republicans only have control of the House because they were lucky in what was basically a coin toss to decide the outcome of one seat, one would think  or at least hope  they might be more responsive and responsible on this issue. Time will soon tell.

Mr. Northam, for his part, vowed not to give up. "As long as Virginians' lives are at risk because there are too many guns in the hands of people who would use them to harm others, we will fight on this ground," he said Monday after the defeat of the gun-control measures in the Senate committee. That Mr. Northam came under immediate criticism from Republicans for a campaign-style tone is pretty rich considering the success of his most recent campaign and the refusal of Republicans to recognize it by working him even a little bit on needed gun control.

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LARGE MAJORITIES of Americans in both parties favor a deal to provide protection and legal status for "dreamers," the young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. That should give Congress license to make a deal  and ignore President Trump. Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up. ArrowRight Where it concerns Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Obama-era program that shields dreamers from deportation, the president is pure impediment. Mercurial, malleable and malevolent, he has shifted gears, tone and stances on the program so many times that heeding him is like indulging a toddler's caprices.

Better for lawmakers to forge a bipartisan deal and send it to the White House. Fortunately, they already have the outlines of one at hand.

That's the pact struck by a bipartisan group of senators, including Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who presented it to the president last week. The deal has plenty for both sides to dislike, and it omits most of the items on their wish lists; in other words, it's a compromise. But it would grant most dreamers eventual citizenship and appropriate $2.7 billion in the fiscal year starting this fall for beefed-up border security, more than half of it for Mr. Trump's "beautiful" wall  the one he said Mexico would pay for.

Senators from both parties commented on a variety pressing issues on Jan. 16. (Video: Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

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This "dream deal" is not, and cannot be, all things to all people. Its limited purpose is to resolve an immediate problem triggered by Mr. Trump when he announced the dismantling of DACA last fall, starting March 5. In doing so, the president himself urged Congress to resolve the dreamers' status.

The time to act is now, notwithstanding the administration's decision to obey a court order last week ordering the government to resume accepting renewal applications from DACA recipients while legal challenges play out. (The administration announced Tuesday that it would appeal the judge's order directly to the Supreme Court.) And the blueprint devised by Mr. Graham and Mr. Durbin is fair.

In addition to protecting dreamers, and jump-starting the border wall and funding other security measures (including surveillance technology and retaining Border Patrol agents), the deal would reshape and shrink the diversity lottery system that Mr. Trump and some other Republicans dislike. Half that program's current 55,000 visas would be meted out according to a merit-based system to underrepresented countries. The other half would be reallocated to foreign nationals who have been living legally in the United States for years with temporary protected status, which the Trump administration has ordered ended for citizens of Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

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Both sides would doubtless love to ornament that skeletal deal with their favorite immigration baubles  in the Democrats' case, legal status or citizenship for about 11 million undocumented immigrants; in the Republicans', an end to so-called chain migration (family reunification) visas, a feature of immigration law for decades. Mr. Trump is reported to have demanded billions of dollars more for his wall.

But why choke on a full loaf when half a loaf will do? In the Graham-Durbin deal, Congress has the makings of success. It should vote on it.

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What I am about to say might surprise you: Kansas is shaping up to be one of the most interesting political battlegrounds of the coming year. Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up. ArrowRight Yes, Kansas. In the late 1850s, this was the white-hot center of American politics. The writing of the state constitution lit the fuse on the Civil War. But by the 20th century, things settled down to a mostly predictable routine. No Kansas Democrat has been elected to the U.S. Senate since the Great Depression, and Kansas has voted Republican in 19 of the past 20 presidential elections.

However, the churn and tempest of contemporary politics is being felt even here  especially in the race to become the next governor of the Sunflower State. I count at least three political mega-trends likely to surface in the contest, which has attracted a huge field of candidates and appears genuinely up for grabs.

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The first biggie: Does President Trump have coattails?

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Few statewide politicians in the United States are more closely identified with Trump than Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who was the vice chair of the president's recently disbanded commission on supposed election fraud. A super-smart standout at Harvard, Oxford and Yale, Kobach is a former chairman of the Kansas GOP with a national reputation for his leadership in the anti-immigration movement.

His Trump ties run deep. Both men were prominent in the anti-Obama "birther" movement, and Kobach was a source for the president's widely debunked claim that cheating on a grand scale cost Trump a popular-vote victory. Even when Trump's approval rating sank into the 30s in the fall, Kobach welcomed Donald Trump Jr. to town to raise money for his campaign.

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And he'll need it, because Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer has been working for years to cultivate the traditional wing of the state GOP  work that has paid off in the form of a big lead in early fundraising. When Trump nominated Gov. Sam Brownback (R) to serve as U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom last year, it appeared that Colyer would add a year of incumbency to his resume. But delays in the confirmation process have stranded the unpopular Brownback in Topeka, where the one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on is that they can't wait to see him leave.

The Kobach-Colyer fight (with a number of other viable Republicans joining the fray) will test the appeal of Trumpism in the GOP heartland. It's also exactly the sort of intramural bloodletting inside the dominant party that occasionally opens the governor's office to a Kansas Democrat.

That, too, is a crowded primary, one that will test the readiness of Democrats to embrace candidates who can compete in rural America. If elected in November, Joshua Svaty would be the only real-life farmer serving as a governor in the United States. At 38, he is already a veteran of the state House of Representatives and a former Kansas secretary of agriculture with roots as deep as a farmhouse well in the endless prairie of central Kansas. He claims relatives in nearly one-third of the state's 105 counties.

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"He'd pull from areas Democrats don't always pull from," Kansas GOP Executive Director Clay Barker told the Kansas City Star, and because he can win votes outside the cities, Svaty "is probably the one we'd see as the biggest challenge," he said.

The problem  and it's a doozy  is that Svaty cast a number of antiabortion votes while serving in the state legislature. Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Laura McQuade has labeled him an "extremist" and is mobilizing to defeat him in the primary.

Svaty argues, correctly, that a more ideologically diverse Democratic Party could win more elections; on the other hand, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez has argued, also correctly, that choice for women is a key plank in the party platform. Complicating matters: There are a number of good pro-choice alternatives, including Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, who could become the first black governor of Kansas.

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A third major theme in the mix is independent Greg Orman, a wealthy entrepreneur whose rookie campaign for U.S. Senate in 2014 forced the Democrats to stand aside in favor of his candidacy, throwing a scare into Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. Orman understands how technology is cutting out the party middlemen and connecting candidates directly to voters.

The connection was too faint Orman's first time out; he was too guarded and aloof as a campaigner. But his expected entry into the race will scramble every battle plan for every candidate  as independents can easily do in the new digital democracy.

I'll save for another day the congressional race that will help to decide control of the House. For now: Trumpism, compromise and the two-party system are on trial this year in Kansas, where some big political questions might start to find answers.

Read more from David Von Drehle's archive.

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Ronald A. Klain, a Post contributing columnist, served as a senior White House aide to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. In 1995, Jim Lehrer wrote a novel about a conservative candidate for president (coincidentally named Donald) who was unmasked as a bully and abuser by a panel of journalists during a televised debate. In the novel, as proof of his wrongdoing mounts, Donald responds by hurling racist and sexist insults at his questioners. Ultimately, however, it is not these statements that prove the most devastating to Donald: It is his use, during his outburst, of an "f-bomb." It was the extreme cursing that dominated the nation's reaction.

Lehrer's tale seems apt as the national conversation is again consumed by curse words spoken by Donald Trump. As with the "Access Hollywood" recording released in October 2016, however, the real issue should not be whether Trump caused the media to broadcast one of George Carlin's forbidden words. In both instances, ironically, Trump has been lucky that so much attention has been placed on the coarseness of his speech rather than its underlying content.

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Once again, our obsession with dirty words has helped Trump avoid accountability for his real offenses. The focus on the "locker room talk" found on the "Access Hollywood" tape obscured Trump's direct acknowledgment that he had sexually assaulted women. Likewise, the attention in recent days on Trump's "s-word"(and which s-word he used) misses the point. Even if Trump used a G-rated adjective to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African countries  or even if he used no adjective at all  his remark would have been offensive, because of his view that immigrants from wide swaths of the world have nothing to contribute to the United States. Our obsession with the Presidential Potty Mouth, and the rebuke from countries he besmirched, obscures the horrible judgment about immigrants reflected by Trump's statement.

"Why do we want people [from such countries]?" the president asked. Hard facts provide the answer. Immigrants from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean make up about 43 percent of foreign-born members of our armed forces, while those from Europe account for about 6 percent. African immigrants specifically are more likely to have a college degree (about 42 percent) than immigrants from other regions (30 percent), or even native-born Americans (32 percent); notably, a higher percentage of African immigrants are college graduates than immigrants from Norway (38 percent). African immigrants are also more likely to have law, medical or scientific graduate degrees than U.S. natives. Quality of life in one's home country seems to have little correlation to the quality of the contribution that immigrants from that country can make to ours.

At a time when the United States is trying to compete globally, immigrants from some troubled places can offer us a critical edge. Steve Jobs was the son of a refugee from one of the world's most distressed corners, Syria; Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, America's most important Internet company, grew up in two-room apartment in Ashok Nagar, India. The examples are nearly endless.

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Beyond these economic contributions, selfless acts of heroism by immigrants from countries Trump insulted (like the well-known case of Ghanaian immigrant Emmanuel Mensah) have been in the news in recent days. Top of my mind since the president's tirade has been Dr. Martin Salia at whose funeral I spoke during my work on the Ebola response. Salia was an African immigrant who worked in church-sponsored medical clinics around the United States. In 2014, he and his wife were raising their two sons in the D.C. area when Ebola ravaged his native land, Sierra Leone.

As West African medical workers died from Ebola at an alarming rate, a call went out for emigres to return and fill the void. Salia was among the many doctors and nurses who answered. Knowing the danger, he went to serve in a church-run hospital in Freetown, along the country's coast. While performing surgery, Salia was unknowingly exposed to Ebola. Initially misdiagnosed by a local laboratory, his condition was too advanced by the time he was transported back to the United States for treatment. Of the many Americans  native-born and immigrant  who went to West Africa to fight Ebola, Salia was the only one who died.

In the end, maybe we should not be surprised that the president believes that immigrants like Martin Salia have no place in our nation. This is not just because of the color of Salia's skin, or the faraway location of his birth; Salia  like so many immigrants  exhibited a commitment to faith and service, sacrifice and humility, compassion and concern that is profoundly alien to the self-centered occupant of the Oval Office. It is their character, even more so than their country of origin, that may make such people so foreign to the hateful man in the White House.

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John McCain, a Republican, represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate. After leaving office, President Ronald Reagan created the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to recognize individuals who have fought to spread liberty worldwide. Nancy Reagan continued the tradition after her husband's death, and in 2008 she bestowed the honor on human rights icon Natan Sharansky, who credited Reagan's strong defense of freedom for his own survival in Soviet gulags. Reagan recognized that as leader of the free world, his words carried enormous weight, and he used them to inspire the unprecedented spread of democracy around the world.

President Trump does not seem to understand that his rhetoric and actions reverberate in the same way. He has threatened to continue his attempt to discredit the free press by bestowing "fake news awards" upon reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with. Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.

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According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2017 was one of the most dangerous years to be a journalist. Last year, the organization documented 262 cases of journalists being imprisoned for their work. Reporters around the world face intimidation, threats of violence, harassment, persecution and sometimes even death as governments resort to brutal censorship to silence the truth.

The committee's report revealed a bleak global climate for press freedom, as more governments seek to control access to information and limit freedom of opinion and expression. They do this not only by arresting journalists but also by fostering distrust of media coverage and accusing reporters of undermining national security and pride. Governments dub the press the "enemy of the people," weaken or eliminate their independence, and exploit the lack of serious scrutiny to encroach on individual liberties and freedoms.

This assault on journalism and free speech proceeds apace in places such as Russia, Turkey, China, Egypt, Venezuela and many others. Yet even more troubling is the growing number of attacks on press freedom in traditionally free and open societies, where censorship in the name of national security is becoming more common. Britain passed a surveillance law that experts warn chills free speech, and countries from France to Germany are looking to do the same. In Malta, a prominent journalist was brutally murdered in October after uncovering systemic government corruption. In Poland, an independent news outlet was fined (later rescinded) nearly half a million dollars for broadcasting images of an anti-government protest.

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President Trump announced the 2017 Fake News Awards on Jan. 17. (Video: Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

Unfortunately, the Trump administration's attitude toward such behavior has been inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst. While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit. The phrase "fake news"  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens. CPJ documented 21 cases in 2017 in which journalists were jailed on "fake news" charges.

Trump's attempts to undermine the free press also make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable. For decades, dissidents and human rights advocates have relied on independent investigations into government corruption to further their fight for freedom. But constant cries of "fake news" undercut this type of reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent.

We cannot afford to abdicate America's long-standing role as the defender of human rights and democratic principles throughout the world. Without strong leadership in the White House, Congress must commit to protecting independent journalism, preserving an open and free media environment, and defending the fundamental right to freedom of opinion and expression.

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We can do this by encouraging our partners and allies to review their laws and practices, including the abuse of defamation and anti-terrorism laws, to better protect press freedom and ensure that they do not unduly shrink the space for free speech. We can authorize U.S. foreign assistance to support independent media outlets and programs that create greater media pluralism. We can do more to foster conditions in which freedom of expression and information can thrive, including working to change increasingly political attitudes toward journalism. And we can condemn violence against journalists, denounce censorship and support dissidents and activists as they seek to speak the truth.

Ultimately, freedom of information is critical for a democracy to succeed. We become better, stronger and more effective societies by having an informed and engaged public that pushes policymakers to best represent not only our interests but also our values. Journalists play a major role in the promotion and protection of democracy and our unalienable rights, and they must be able to do their jobs freely. Only truth and transparency can guarantee freedom.

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Lisa Foster's Jan. 10 op-ed, "A fine on the poor," was an excellent look into the morally bankrupt practice of funding local government programs, most oxymoronically including justice, through the imposition of fines and fees, with a disparate impact on the poor and people of color. But this is only one example of the institutional injustice that flows from a governing philosophy based on myths, lies and base stereotypes of the poor. The only way that a community can condone locking a person up for the failure to pay parking tickets is if it believes that person is unworthy of humane treatment or if it is oblivious to the humanity of that person in the first place.
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Ted Cruz, a Republican, represents Texas in the U.S. Senate. President Trump's November decision to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism  in response to legislation I introduced that passed in Congress last year  was more than just a symbolic move. The administration has not only plugged holes in America's sanctions regime against Pyongyang, but it has also established a decisive break from the policy failures of past administrations. It's now time to seize the initiative, put Kim Jong Un on his heels and set conditions on America's terms.

In the past, Washington viewed the Hermit Kingdom's nuclear and missile tests more as a disciplinary problem, reluctantly announcing sanctions like hesitant parents punishing rebellious children. Contrary to President Barack Obama's claims, North Korea was not in fact the world's most sanctioned country, but rather the eighth. As Kim  and his father before him  quickly learned, this approach only empowered them to pace their country's atomic development according to their own wishes.

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This appeasement policy has consistently kept the United States two steps behind North Korea, and we must reverse course.

What the American people expect, and our allies need, is courageous leadership that forces Kim to respond on our terms and our timing. America should employ all elements of our national power to reverse this dynamic, but none more so than robust economic sanctions.

North Korea is a mafia state that funds its illicit pursuits through foreign shell companies, bank cyberheists and arms exports. Like any mob, it needs partners. Last month, the Institute for Science and International Security identified 49 countries responsible for enabling sanctions violations. This is a staggering figure, made even more concerning by the geographic diversity of the offending countries. From Eurasia and the Middle East to Africa and Latin America, nefarious regimes including China, Russia, Iran and Cuba  as well as governments with weak export controls  have bankrolled North Korea's nuclear pursuits.

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The scale of Kim's operation is undoubtedly impressive, but also vulnerable. As the Center for Advanced Defense Studies observed in December, North Korea "is reliant on access to hard currency to survive and it is willing to go to unprecedented lengths to obtain it." The report also identified bottlenecks in Pyongyang's operations that are dependent on U.S. dollars and are vulnerable to disruption  including corporate entities that the report said provide cash for the regime in U.S. dollars and are vulnerable not only to direct sanctions but also to indirect measures leveled against foreign banks holding their correspondent accounts.

Kim knows his regime is vulnerable, but until now, he has been able to rest assured that his pacing of missile and nuclear tests would set the tempo of international relations and give his elaborate financial web time to adapt to new sanctions. These moves have also enabled him to seize the diplomatic initiative, as evidenced by his recently proposed bilateral talks with South Korea.

Temporarily lifting sanctions on North Korea to pave the way for its participation in the Olympics, an idea that initially emerged from these talks, would be a grave mistake. While the United States and the world welcome North Korean athletes to participate in the global games, this does not merit a reward for the regime. Adjustments to sanctions enforcement should be contingent on North Korea's complete and verified denuclearization, not on Kim's political whims. Conceding our sanctions policy with no demands or measured return would lead us back to the failed policies that Trump has rightly begun reversing.

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in was right to reaffirm his support of sanctions last week, but merely keeping sanctions in place is not enough. Instead of waiting for the next test or the latest move from Pyongyang, Washington should immediately begin imposing sanctions on both North Korean and third-party entities.

Rather than intervals of silence punctuated by limited designations, the Treasury Department should establish its own rhythm of sanctions announcements and force Kim to respond to our campaign. We must sanction key choke points and fine offending banks  especially Chinese banks. While I credit Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping's limited cooperation, recent reports of Chinese vessels violating sanctions by selling oil to North Korea on the high seas reinforce my long-held skepticism of Beijing's promises.

We've spent nearly three decades wondering what North Korea would do next. It's time for North Korea to fear what America will do next.

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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has called for an "investigator general" for public schools, and Maryland legislators seek "to make Maryland the most woman-friendly state legislature in the country." What about the children? Where is the legislation that would penalize educators for failing to report child sexual abuse to child protective services or the police? Where is the legislation to create an inspector general with enforcement authority to recommend criminal penalties for those who fail to root out child predators in Maryland public schools?
The Fixs Eugene Scott explains how Trumps shithole countries comment is the latest example of his history of demeaning statements on nonwhite immigrants. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post, Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

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While recently perusing unread books gathering dust on my shelves, one tome caught my eye and, upon being loosed from the grip of neglect, fell open to a random page from which leapt the following sentence: "The ancestors of a critical and growing mass of present-day Americans existed in dung heaps of humanity amidst rotting vegetables."

Naturally, the line seemed providential  if you happen to be a columnist.

Did he say dung heap?

Of course, the difference between "dung heap of humanity" and "shithole," as President Trump recently described countries of origin for unacceptable immigrants, is about the width of a sheet of bathroom tissue. Trump's comment has been analyzed to within an inch of its life, with most commentators concluding that this was simply another example of the president's racist attitudes.

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The book in question, "The Idiocy of Assent," was written by F. Reid Buckley, youngest brother of William F. Buckley. As a friend for 30 years before his death in 2014, I never heard or witnessed any suggestion of racism, though he did observe cultural differences among nations and peoples as any seeing-eye human, or anthropologist, would. On the subject of cultural equivalence, he'd bat away the notion with a flick of his wrist and utter, "The Aztec pyramids were dripping with the blood of human sacrifice."

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It is only because of Buckley's "dung heap" and Trump's "shithole" that I noticed the similarities in their immigration views. Buckley would surely never use Trump's word, partly because he thought insults should be more artful.

For those who slept: At an immigration meeting last week, Trump reportedly said that he didn't know why we were accepting people from "shithole countries" such as Haiti, El Salvador and all the ones in Africa, where people coincidentally tend to have darker skin than Trump. He cited mostly white Norway as a better place from which to cull new citizens.

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The inference, of course, is that Trump is pigmentation-averse.

Or, racist, if you prefer. This conclusion is a low hurdle to leap given Trump's history spearheading the "birther" movement against Barack Obama, as well as his having tossed racial chum to his base throughout the campaign.

When Trump's ratings go low, his race baiting goes high.

Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, it isn't necessarily racist to concern oneself at all with the qualities and characteristics of people one invites to join the American experiment. Or, is it? Shouldn't we care about job skills, education, economic mobility or, if you're Buckley, a deep understanding of what it means to be a free people?

Perhaps we are becoming culturalists rather than racists.

Buckley's proposition, which I'm not endorsing, is that when a critical mass of people, if not yet a majority, comes to the United States from countries that don't have a "heritage of doctrines of personal freedom . . . along with the desire to stand tall on our [sic] own two feet," we might easily revert to the status of "serf dependent on the lord" or, in contemporary America's case, on Big Daddy.

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Loose translation for the Trump crowd: Bring in people looking for a handout, and Democrats will ruin the country.

Buckley, who spent the last third of his life running the Buckley School of Public Speaking, a modest think tank (still operating) where conferees are taught to think and therefore to speak more clearly, enjoyed debating the proposition that Americans unconsciously hanker for a king, a strongman or a ruling elite.

He wrote: "It seems to elude us that a nation is great not because of its government but because of its people, and that there is an inverse relationship in that maxim: The greater the government, the weaker the people."

Do you suppose this is what Trump meant to say with his blurt?

But I jest. Such a presumption would be a charitable stretch. It may be charitable as well to presume Buckley's better angels were at work. For within his own arguments  and in Trump's febrile mind  is an implicit lack of faith in another American idea, articulated by George W. Bush. Freedom isn't a gift from us, he said, but rather God's gift to humanity, which can be understood to mean that the yearning for liberty, independent of all other concerns, is entwined in the hearts and souls of all people, regardless of which "shithole" they were born in or from which dung heap amidst rotting vegetables America's earliest immigrants escaped.

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Washington is aghast over the news that, during a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders, President Trump asked if we could exclude immigrants from "shithole" countries such as Haiti and the nations of Africa. If true, what Trump said is terrible. But what the Democrats did is worse. Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up. ArrowRight We do not know who originally leaked the president's comment, though only Democrats benefit politically from embarrassing Trump in this way. But regardless of who was responsible for the original leak, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the minority whip, publicly confirmed what the president said during a closed-door negotiation, declaring that Trump "said things that were hate-filled, vile and racist," and adding, "I cannot believe that in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday."

I'm sure it felt good for Durbin to get that off his chest. But does he think that publicizing what the president said in a closed-door negotiation has made an immigration deal more or less likely?

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Last week, Democrats had a productive meeting with the president, during which he expressed a desire to help legalize not just the "dreamers"  those immigrants brought here illegally as children  but also the vast majority of the nearly 11 million illegal immigrants in this country who have not committed crimes. At one point, Trump turned to Durbin and said, "You want to know the truth, Dick? If we do this properly, DACA, you're not so far away from comprehensive immigration reform. And if you want to take it that further step, I'll take the heat, I don't care. . . . I'll take the heat off both the Democrats and the Republicans."

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This was an extraordinary offer from a president who has made cracking down on illegal immigration a central tenet of his agenda . Indeed, it is precisely because of Trump's anti-illegal-immigration bona fides that he may be able to deliver what Republican and Democratic presidents before him could not. Just as only Richard Nixon could go to China, Trump may be the only president who can sign comprehensive immigration reform into law.

In other words, Democrats are perhaps faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to resolve this issue. Knowing this, if you are a Democratic leader who truly cares about the fate of illegal immigrants, and you are in a closed-door meeting with a president who can lead them out of the shadows, and that president makes a crude remark, what do you do? Do you ignore it and keep working toward an agreement that could change millions of lives? Or do you publicize what the president said in order to score political points? If you truly care about the fates of human beings whose futures depend on the outcome of your negotiations, you keep quiet.

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Scenes from Trumps second six months in office Share Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn MailSolid Email this link View Photos View Photos Next Image Police officers applaud a line by U.S. President Donald Trump (R) as he delivers remarks about his proposed U.S. government effort against the street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, to a gathering of federal, state and local law enforcement officials at the Long Island University campus in Brentwood, New York, U.S. July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

What Durbin should have said was: "What is said between the president of the United States and the second-ranking Senate Democrat during a closed-door negotiation stays behind closed doors. I'm committed to working with the president to pass a bill." Violating the confidence of the president to publicly embarrass him does not facilitate an agreement. It only helps to kill the negotiations so Democrats can blame the president and keep the issue alive for this year's midterm elections.

David J. Bier counterpoint No, Bidens immigration policies are not to blame for the fentanyl crisis A party's priorities are defined by the choices it makes. Yes, Trump's comment was reprehensible. but he was willing to cut a deal to let hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants stay. Democrats took shots at the president at the expense of hurting those they claim to be fighting for. In doing so, they showed they don't care about the dreamers. They don't care about illegal immigrants. All they care about is getting Donald Trump, no matter who gets hurt.

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The Supreme Court seemed reluctant Wednesday to validate a lawyer's decision to concede his client's guilt against the client's wishes, even if the attorney thought it was the best way to save the man from the death penalty. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Justices liberal and conservative indicated such a strategy  to concede guilt and plead for mercy to avoid execution  fell short of the constitutional guarantee of assistance of counsel. The justices did worry, though, about writing a broad opinion that could hobble an attorney's strategic decisions about how best to represent a client.

The court was considering the actions of Larry English, at the time a lawyer in Louisiana. English told a jury that, despite his client Robert L. McCoy's repeated claim of innocence, McCoy had killed three family members. The hope was that the concession would win trust from the jurors and lead them to spare McCoy from the death penalty.

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The strategy was unsuccessful, and McCoy contends he deserves a new trial.

"I totally understand that this lawyer was in a terrible position because this lawyer wants to defeat the death penalty," Justice Elena Kagan told Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill. "And he has a client who says: That's not my goal here."

Kagan continued: "But the question is, when that happens, does the lawyer have to step back and say: You know what? That's not his goal. His goal is to avoid admitting that he killed his family members."

Justice Neal M. Gorsuch followed: "Can we even call it assistance of counsel? Is that what it is when a lawyer overrides that person's wishes?"

Murrill said it would have been a "futile charade" for English to try to convince a jury of McCoy's innocence.

He was convicted of killing his estranged wife's mother, stepfather and son in 2008 after she had left him and gone into protective custody. Each of the victims was shot at close range.

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In a 911 call, McCoy's mother-in-law, Christine Colston Young, could be heard screaming: "She ain't here, Robert! I don't know where she is! The detectives have her!" A gunshot was then heard on the 911 tape, and the call was disconnected.

A car later found to be McCoy's was seen leaving the area, and police officers discovered in the abandoned vehicle the phone that Young had used. McCoy was arrested in Idaho after hitchhiking rides from truckers. The gun used in the killings was found with him. In custody, McCoy tried to hang himself.

But he maintained his innocence, alleging a conspiracy among local police officers to commit the murders and frame him. His first public defender was let go because of differences between attorney and client, and then McCoy's parents paid English $5,000 to represent their son.

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"How does the lawyer back up that defense  'I didn't do it'  when, in the lawyer's view, there is no basis for taking that position?" Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked.

Seth P. Waxman, McCoy's attorney at the Supreme Court, said a lawyer does not have to aid a client lying on the stand but does have an obligation to make the state prove its case, and to strenuously cross-examine the state's witnesses.

Many of the justices' questions were not about McCoy's case but about how to draw lines in cases perhaps not as extreme.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. pressed Waxman on whether a lawyer could concede any element of a crime  crossing a state line, for instance, if there were irrefutable evidence that had occurred. Waxman said no.

"If there is a contemporaneous objection, the trial court may not permit the defense lawyer to admit any element of the offense," Waxman said.

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Justice Stephen G. Breyer said rules that would prevent lawyers from making strategic decisions worried him.

"A large percentage of the people that insist on representing themselves, particularly in death cases, are going to walk right into the death chamber," Breyer said. "A lot of the people there are just not really capable of managing their own defense."

But the harder questions were for Murrill.

"Can I take away from your argument that the state of Louisiana says that if a defendant wants to plead not guilty, the defense attorney can plead guilty if the defense attorney thinks that's the best way to avoid the death penalty?" Justice Anthony M. Kennedy asked.

Murrill said no, because the prosecution in McCoy's case still had to prove his guilt.

But other justices said that was much easier when English told the jury that McCoy had killed the three victims.

The case is McCoy v. Louisiana.

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Stephen K. Bannon has been subpoenaed by both the special counsel and the House Intelligence Committee to testify in their Russia investigations. (Video: Reuters)

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Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's office has subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon to appear before a grand jury, a move that indicates his broad investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign is far from wrapping up. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The subpoena was issued last week, according to a person familiar with the situation, who said that Bannon expects to be able to persuade the special counsel's office to accept a voluntary interview of Bannon by prosecutors in place of a grand jury appearance.

The news of Mueller's action, which was first reported by the New York Times, came on the same day that the House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Bannon for refusing to answer a range of questions from investigators during a combative closed-door interview, frustrating members of both parties who are probing the Trump campaign's alleged Russia ties.

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Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) says the White House effectively enforced a gag order to prevent Stephen K. Bannon from answering questions from lawmakers. (Video: The Washington Post)

"Only Steve Bannon could unite this committee," said Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.).

The twin developments intensify the pressure on the former Breitbart News executive after his public falling-out with President Trump, who reacted angrily to comments Bannon made in the new book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

In the book by journalist Michael Wolff, Bannon criticized Trump for his firing of FBI Director James B. Comey and said it was "treasonous" of Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. to accept a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer who he thought would provide damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

After the book's publication, Bannon expressed regret about his statements and called Trump Jr. "a patriot."

Stephen K. Bannon used to be a member of President Trump's inner circle, but now he's been ousted from Breitbart News after critical comments in a new book. (Video: Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Bannon  the first top Trump adviser known to be summoned by special counsel investigators for a grand jury interview  could provide valuable testimony about what he witnessed in the final months of Trump's presidential campaign and inside the White House, where he served as chief strategist until August.

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"They are going to try to get an understanding of the relationships and how things worked and explain why he came to that opinion," said Peter Zeidenberg, a former deputy special counsel.

Bannon has told associates that he did not see any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but thinks Mueller's case could focus on financial improprieties, according to two people familiar with his views.

Bannon did not respond to requests for comment. White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has said he expects Mueller to wrap up his investigation related to the president shortly, declined to comment.

Mueller's office has typically sought voluntary interviews from current and former Trump aides but made no such request of the White House to interview Bannon, according to a person familiar with the special counsel's communications.

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By sending a subpoena to Bannon before he spoke to Congress, some legal experts said they think Mueller was seeking a way to secure Bannon's full cooperation.

"This is really Mueller's way of cementing a day, time and place for that conversation  rather than negotiating an interview," said Barbara Van Gelder, a veteran white-collar defense lawyer. "If he's going to go [to a congressional committee] voluntarily, he can testify before the grand jury."

Bannon's appearance Tuesday before the House panel perplexed and frustrated investigators, according to people familiar with the session. He arrived with no documents, saying that if lawmakers wanted emails and other communications, they were likely to be available from other witnesses.

And he refused to answer questions about conversations he had with Trump after leaving the administration or communications he had with officials outside government about people serving in the White House.

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Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) said that Bannon's attorney, William Burck, told the committee that while Bannon himself was willing to speak with lawmakers and investigators, he could not answer questions because the White House told him not to respond.

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House preventing this witness from answering almost any question concerning his time in the transition or the administration," Schiff said.

"The scope of this assertion of privilege, if that's what it is, is breathtaking. It goes well beyond anything we have seen in this investigation," he added. "If the White House is permitted to maintain that kind of gag rule on a witness, no congressional investigation could ever be effective. So this obviously can't stand."

Burck said in a statement that "executive privilege belongs to the President of the United States. It's not Mr. Bannon's right to waive it."

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When asked earlier Tuesday if the White House instructed Bannon not to answer certain questions, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded, "As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material."

"We've been cooperating fully with these ongoing investigations and encourage the committees to work with us to find an appropriate accommodation in order to ensure Congress obtains information necessary to its legitimate interests," she added.

Faced with Bannon's resistance, Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.), who is running the panel's probe, said that the committee elected to serve him with a subpoena during the interview.

Bannon's attorney consulted with the White House after the panel issued the subpoena, but "the White House effectively doubled down on the gag rule," Schiff said.

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Conaway and Schiff said the White House never formally invoked executive privilege for Bannon, and Conaway added that he was not aware of the White House invoking privilege with any witness who has appeared before the committee in its Russia probe.

Conaway also stressed that Bannon is not in a position to invoke executive privilege himself.

A person familiar with the situation said that any executive privilege asserted by the White House with regard to Bannon would not extend to an interview by Mueller, who is also an executive branch official, and that Bannon intends to cooperate fully with the special counsel's investigation.

It is not clear when Bannon might return to the House committee under subpoena, which Conaway stressed "stays in effect, and we're going to get answers."

Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.

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A couple days before Christmas 1995, then-Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole grew fed up with his negotiating partners in Newt Gingrich's House of Representatives and the Clinton White House. "It's time for adult leadership," the Kansas Republican declared during a Senate floor speech. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Using a favorite phrase of his tenure as one of Washington's most prominent figures, Dole emerged as the leader in talks to reopen the federal government amid a budget standoff pitting the House speaker, Gingrich (R-Ga.), against President Bill Clinton.

That "adult leadership" made a rare appearance Wednesday in the Capitol. President Trump and the bipartisan leadership awarded Dole, 94, with the Congressional Gold Medal, and it served as a stark contrast to today's partisan toxicity, the whiff of another shutdown in the air.

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This fight pits Trump's demands for border security funds against Democratic insistence on resolving the status of nearly 1 million immigrants brought here illegally as children. By the time Dole finished his speech in the Capitol Rotunda, Trump and Congress had roughly 55 hours to figure out how to keep federal agencies running amid Democratic threats to withhold votes on a short-term funding bill if there's no resolution to the immigration dispute.

The only government shutdowns of the past 30 years involved divided government, with Republicans running at least one chamber of Congress and Democrats in the Oval Office. Today, Republicans rule the entire roost but still cannot guarantee national parks will open Saturday morning and border agents will get paid on time.

"We're gathering [Wednesday] in the Rotunda to honor a man, where everybody in the room can't seem to agree on  I mean, there's very little we agree on," said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who counts Dole as a mentor and sponsored the bill awarding him one of the nation's top civilian honors.

Parts of today's standoff would seem familiar to Dole  Trump's larger-than-life personality and his embrace of contradictory positions on any given day dominate the talks in a way that Gingrich's temperamental nature fueled the 1995-1996 shutdown negotiations. Those talks hit a rocky point when Gingrich, traveling to and from a state funeral in Israel, complained about his seating assignment in the back of Air Force One. Last week, negotiations were derailed after Trump used a vulgar term in explaining his desire to limit immigrants from Haiti and African nations.

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What's truly different is the diminished stature of Washington, with a president who is opposed by more than half of Americans and congressional leaders whose image is so abysmal they are regularly used as the villains in political hit ads.

Dole, in a wheelchair, spoke briefly and then had his wife, former senator Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), read his prepared remarks, which were punctuated by a metaphor about the view from the Senate leader's balcony at the Capitol. It sweeps across the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery  and should compel lawmakers to embrace one another and understand the stakes.

"Leadership begins with the long view," Elizabeth Dole said, reciting her husband's words.

For sure, Dole wasn't always a collegial negotiator. The government did not immediately reopen upon his taking charge of the talks. It took a couple more weeks, and then 18 more months for a big, long-term deal that led to a balanced budget, after Dole had left office. He was a partisan  chairman of the Republican National Committee during President Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign, an aggressive vice-presidential nominee in 1976 attacking "Democrat wars" and a three-time contender for the presidency.

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But Dole's leadership set a tone that established boundaries and decorum, allowing for fierce debates that still left enough personal goodwill for bipartisan dealmaking on those issues that needed it.

The 18 months that followed the mid-1990s shutdown produced a steady dose of big bipartisan deals, on welfare, raising the minimum wage and the budget.

Such an outcome should not be expected over the next year and a half.

Once Dole helped settle the shutdown, it was 18 years before the federal government shut down again.

Roberts said there has not been a leader like him since  and probably won't be another. "Whether Bob Dole or somebody like him could come to the floor, I don't know, it would take a very special person to do that," he said.

Dole's life story helped forge an identity that had gravitas and a character that was built around the hard policy work in one of the most important Senate panels, the Finance Committee.

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Raised in Russell, Kan., Dole enlisted in the Army in 1942, serving in the 10th Mountain Division in Europe. He suffered brutal injuries in a 1945 battle in Italy, after which he went through rehabilitation at an Army hospital in Michigan. A gifted athlete in his youth, Dole lost the use of his right hand and arm, teaching himself to become left-handed while folding his arm in a natural-looking position.

At the hospital Dole bonded with two other wounded veterans, future senators Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Phil Hart (D-Mich.). The trio would go on to serve more than 100 combined years in Congress.

After failing to secure the 1980 presidential nomination, Dole became Finance Committee chairman and then majority leader in 1985, leading Senate Republicans until he locked up the 1996 GOP presidential nomination and resigned his seat. Dole's tenure stood out for some major bipartisan achievements, particularly the 1986 overhaul of the tax code.

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A few months in the summer and fall 1990 summed up Dole's style. Another fierce budget fight ended with Democrats forcing President George H.W. Bush to break his pledge on raising taxes. Yet during that summer, Dole worked closely with Democrats such as Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to pass the Americans With Disabilities Act.

"We stood with many who couldn't stand on their own," Dole said during his 1996 farewell speech to the Senate.

A December 2012 Dole appearance at the Capitol reflected the changing political environment. Dole sat in a wheelchair on the Senate floor, a visible proponent of a treaty with the United Nations to impose international standards on how to treat the disabled. But mainstream Republicans caved to opposition from far-right conservatives, scuttling the pact.

Back in late 1995, as he geared up to challenge Clinton, Dole backed the administration's military intervention into Bosnia, a controversial stand given conservative dislike of Clinton for his avoidance of the Vietnam draft.

"I know I'll get a few whacks out there, but I've been around here long enough to know that at this point we shouldn't be so partisan," Dole said.

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The House passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill Jan. 11, to renew a key NSA surveillance program. Here's what you need to know in 60 seconds. (Video: Elyse Samuels, Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post, Photo: Patrick Semansky/The Washington Post)

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The Senate narrowly voted Tuesday to advance a bill to extend a powerful government authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, after leading Democrats joined senators opposing the legislation for not providing better protections for Americans. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The 60-to-38 vote barely cleared a procedural threshold for moving the bill toward a vote on final passage later this week, which would send to the president's desk the measure reauthorizing the National Security Agency's ability to collect from U.S. companies the emails and other communications of foreign targets located overseas.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) referred on Tuesday to the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008, as "the single most important national security tool we have."

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But privacy advocates have long railed against the program for putting little or no restrictions on federal law enforcement agencies' ability to query the database of Section 702 communications for information about Americans who may have been in touch with foreigners under surveillance. The bill on offer, which passed the House last week, requires law enforcement to obtain a court order before viewing the content of searches for Americans' information, if they intend to use it as evidence in a criminal case. But privacy advocates believe those steps do not go far enough, and they are pushing instead to require warrants to access the information in question.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) appeared to sympathize with the opposition on Tuesday, saying on the Senate floor that the measure "should go somewhat further" in balancing "legitimate concerns about privacy" with "the crucial national security imperatives of the program." He added that the pace with which the bill was slated to proceed through the Senate was "too quick for too much," considering that the measure extends the program for six years, noting "we ought to have some amendments and some discussion."

Senate leaders have not allowed votes on any amendments to the legislation on the Senate floor. Part of that is driven by the fact that Congress is working under a tight deadline: the statutory authority for the program formally expires Friday, though the intelligence community argues that even without an immediate reauthorization, the program can continue operationally until the spring.

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Schumer's call left the Senate's vote in unexpected limbo for approximately 90 minutes, as leaders awaited the late arrival of Sens. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to cast the decisive votes. Both voted in favor of advancing the measure, giving it the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdle. The bill is expected to pass the full Senate late Wednesday or early Thursday and will be then sent to the president's desk.

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HOUSTON, Pa.  It snowed the night before Conor Lamb's campaign rally, coating most of the 18th Congressional District and keeping some voters at home. But 70 loyal Democrats shoveled out and drove to the American Legion hall to meet their candidate for Congress in a district that gave Donald Trump a 19-point victory in 2016.

"I'm not running against the president," Lamb said. "But a coal mine just announced last week that it's closing. Coal-fired power plants have continued to close every 15 days since the president took office. People are tired of career politicians on both sides. They want results."

Democrats and Republicans agree that Lamb, 33, a Marine veteran and former assistant U.S. attorney, has turned the first congressional election of 2018 into a single-digit race. The district, a swath of southwest Pennsylvania drawn to reelect a Republican congressman  Tim Murphy, who resigned in disgrace last year  is already humming with super-PAC TV ads.

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In 2014 and 2016, Democrats could not find a challenger to Murphy. But on Thursday, President Trump will visit the district for a speech about tax policy. Local Republicans consider the Trump speech a boon for state Rep. Rick Saccone, the GOP's nominee for the March 13 contest  a sign of just how much is at stake here, for Republicans and Democrats.

The race will test Trump's popularity in a district where that wasn't a question in 2016  and perhaps provide a 2018 road map for both parties. Republicans will use last month's tax legislation as a GOP selling point, while Democrats will try to win back union households that broke overwhelmingly for Trump.

"It means everything to me that he's coming," Saccone, 59, said of Trump's visit in a short interview after he greeted voters at a gun show over the weekend. "My phone's blowing up with people saying, 'Hey, how can I come? How can I meet the president? This is Trump country.' "

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Trump's visit, his first campaign appearance since he rallied for Senate candidate Roy Moore ahead of a special election in Alabama last month, is part of an expanding White House effort to hold the 18th District and boost Republicans' shaky confidence about this year's midterm elections.

Trump's political team has warned Saccone, who has won before with small war chests, to step up his fundraising. The 45Committee, a pro-Trump super PAC bankrolled by Republican donor Joe Ricketts, is spending at least $500,000 on TV ads bashing Lamb as a say-anything liberal; another Ricketts PAC, Ending Spending, is putting $1 million behind pro-Saccone ads.

A White House official, sketching out the administration's thinking, said that the Lamb-Saccone race would offer a blueprint for 2018. The president, whose approval rating has hovered under 40 percent nationally, will dive into districts where his numbers are stronger. Vice President Pence will campaign at least twice in the district, ahead of midterms where he is likely to stump for more candidates than Trump. As many as half a dozen Cabinet secretaries will head to the district, ready to argue that Trump policies are working for red America.

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"I'm sorry I wasn't there to vote for it," Saccone said of the tax legislation. "Businesses are investing back in their employees. They're looking forward to an increase in their pay. When I talk to small-business owners, they say, 'I'm gonna hire three more employees,' or 'I'm gonna give employees part of the raise.' The Democrats have always been for spend, spend, spend  that's just ideology with them."

Lamb's strategy: Ignore those attacks. He tells audiences that he is needed in Washington to block House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and to protect health care and pensions. In early January, he said he'd oppose House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in any race for speaker, a break from the national party.

"The people running in this race are me and Rick Saccone," Lamb said in an interview. "I've been clear where I stand on the need for new leadership. He has not, except to say that he supports Paul Ryan, who supports coming after Social Security and Medicare. I think he'll have a lot of explaining to do about that."

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Lamb, a first-time candidate whose family is well known in the greater Pittsburgh area, is betting that voters who used to be loyal Democrats can be convinced to come home. As recently as 2000, the largely rural district backed a Democratic candidate for president. In voter registration, Democrats still outnumber Republicans by about 70,000; like many of them, Lamb personally opposes abortion and supports gun rights. Even some Republicans acknowledge that Lamb has activated Democrats who had given up on the district.

"It's a low bar, because Democrats around here basically disappeared in 2016," said Michael Korns, the Republican chairman of conservative Westmoreland County. "I guess if they went anywhere with a Hillary sign or bumper sticker, it was just too brutal."

On the stump, Lamb has opposed much of the GOP's agenda from the populist left. He attacked the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Republicans hope to turn into a vote-winner, not as a threat to the economy but as a threat to retirees and future taxpayers.

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"We could have had a tax cut, and should have had a tax cut, without giving away a trillion dollars to the one percent and corporations," Lamb said after a rally here. "And when I say they gave it away, the rest of us are going to have to pay for that in the future. They're going to come for Social Security. They're going to come after Medicare. My kids are going to have to pay off that debt. There was no reason to add a trillion dollars to the debt to give people a tax cut. It's also not going to mean as much if people's premiums go up."

Republicans, who beat Lamb onto the airwaves, have run the cycle's first pro-tax-cut ads, arguing that the Democrat opposed money coming back to Pennsylvania families. The rest of their messages, familiar from last year's special elections  but awkwardly applied to Lamb  invoke Pelosi. Both the 45Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a super PAC aligned with Ryan, have responded to Lamb's denunciation of Pelosi by putting the Democratic leader's face in their ads.

"Whatever he says during the campaign has zero impact on the campaign we're about to run," said Corry Bliss, the CLF's executive director.

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In the 45Committee's TV spot, photos of Pelosi and a tuxedo-clad Lamb are smashed together to make it look as though they're appearing at the same event (the photo of Lamb was taken at a Pittsburgh fundraiser for the Red Cross).

The CLF, which has concentrated on a ground game more than TV ads, is distributing a door hanger that invokes Pelosi's name three times, says Lamb was "part of Barack Obama's scandal-plagued and corrupt Department of Justice," and says that a vote for Saccone would help "Stop Hillary." Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, appears in the literature, Bliss said, because polling has found that "she's almost as unpopular in the district as Nancy Pelosi is."

Democrats don't deny that their national brand and many of their leaders are toxic in places such as southwest Pennsylvania. In interviews across the district, Republican voters winced or laughed at the mention of Pelosi. Several times, they quoted Pelosi's 2010 promise that the Affordable Care Act would become popular after voters saw its effects  a quote often mischaracterized to imply that Pelosi kept the bill's contents secret.

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"I'll never forget how she said they had to vote for the health-care bill so they could see what was in it," said Keith Moore, a gun-range manager in the small city of Latrobe.

Lamb, who both sides agree has probably outraised Saccone, has tried to turn the Republican ads to his advantage. At rallies and on Twitter, he has ribbed Ricketts, who owns the Chicago Cubs, by waving a Pittsburgh Pirates hat; after the 45Committee's ad went live, he asked donors to "fight back" against an out-of-state super PAC.

Saccone has given Lamb another populist opening  a chance to be the candidate of organized labor. Murphy, a conservative on most issues, had regularly won the support of the 18th District's unions by backing their priorities in Congress. Saccone, who favors right-to-work legislation, has no shot at that support; according to Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder, he never returned an issue questionnaire, leading the union to unanimously endorse Lamb.

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"Show me the jobs!" Snyder said at Lamb's rally. "Bringing coal back again? They're closing down another coal mine. Bringing steel back? Where's the jobs?"

Saccone scoffed at the idea that labor could swing votes against him. "The union members have always voted for me," he said. "Their leadership has never represented their members, and they know that."

Korns, who said that the tax cuts had revved up loyal Republican voters, argued that the choice on March 13 would be even simpler. Lamb wouldn't support the president, and Saccone would.

"He's the best candidate to connect with the Trump voters in Westmoreland and Washington counties, and that's the key to winning this district," Korns said. "Democrats are trying to make this a race when I don't think there's gonna be much of one."

Ashley Parker contributed to this report.

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The message from the man who some say holds more secrets than anyone else in the world may be surprising: Sharing secrets brings people together, he told a large crowd in Billings on Tuesday.

Frank Warren, founder of PostSecret, spoke at Petro Theater on the Montana State University Billings campus as part of weekly activities for Power of One Week, a week "celebrating the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," according to the MSUB website.

PostSecret describes itself as "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard."

It began in 2005 with a strange idea, Warren said.

Photocopying a few thousand postcards with instructions for secret-sharing on them, Warren handed them out in the Washington, D.C., area for reasons he says he didn't quite understand at the time.

Secret sharers would write short notes about their secrets on the postcards and send them to Warren, who put them on a website every Sunday for anyone to see. The website's popularity grew exponentially, garnering 780 million page views, he said.

But why did Warren decide he wanted to help people share their secrets?

Throughout his presentation Warren mentioned bits about his own troubled life, including an abusive childhood, a dysfunctional family, an unfulfilling career and even a period of homelessness.

These personal secrets and their relationship to PostSecret became obvious only after someone sent Warren a picture of a door with two holes in it.

"The holes are from when my mom tried knocking down my door so she could continue beating me," the message read.

That secret "broke everything open for me, it gave me this epiphany," Warren said.

Other people began sending him pictures of doors with holes in them, opening the floodgates for sharing about abusive childhood experiences.

The shared experience moved one person to write to Warren: "All this time I thought I was the only one, and just knowing there are other people out there like me, who share my secret, it doesn't make my secret go away, but it makes my burden feel just a little lighter."

Warren said he's come to believe through running PostSecret that everything happens for a reason. If given the chance, he wouldn't erase the suffering he's experienced, he said.

"We earn our souls through suffering," Warren said.

Warren said he bundles the postcard secrets into bricks of 300 and estimated he has collected about 1 million secrets. Patterns have emerged throughout the years.

One of the more light-hearted patterns was the tendency for dads to tell their small children strange things that aren't true. One person told Warren for the first 12 years of their life they thought "No outlet," signs meant no outlet malls ahead.

Another person told him they were told by their father that the Easter Bunny came out of the toilet the same way Santa came down the chimney. Members in the audience nodded their heads when Warren asked if anyone had ever heard that chocolate milk only comes from brown cows.

Other secret patterns have more weight, such as how people hold onto voicemail messages from loved ones out of fear that the person who left the message might die before they ever see or speak to them again, Warren said.

Several people sent PostSecret those voicemail messages they'd been saving. Warren played some of them for the Billings audience.

Not all of PostSecret's messages are heartwarming. One message Warren received included an unidentified satellite image with an arrow pointing to a spot on Earth. "I said she dumped me, but really I dumped her body," the message read.

The implication that someone was confessing a murder led to a criminal investigation. Members of the online forum website Reddit were ultimately able to figure out the location of the plot of land. Police combed the area, but no body was ever found, Warren said.

Another common thread in PostSecrets is suicidal thoughts. Suicide is "America's secret," Warren said.

PostSecret has helped attack the stigma surrounding suicide and other mental health issues, Warren said. Some secrets explain how little gestures and conversations prevented a person from suicide.

"Sometimes the smallest act of kindness, compassion, listening, it can make all the difference in the world," he said. "I believe some of you here tonight have said the right things at just the right time, and you've saved someone's life and you don't even know it."
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NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza  The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main body providing aid to millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants across the Middle East, made an urgent appeal for international support Wednesday, one day after the State Department announced that it will slash its annual funding. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight "After decades of generous support, dramatic reduction of US funding to @UNRWA results in most critical financial situation in history of Agency," the agency's commissioner general, Pierre Krahenbuhl, wrote on Twitter. "I call on member states of the United Nations to take a stand & demonstrate to Palestine Refugees that their rights & future matter."

In a more detailed statement to the media, Krahenbuhl said the U.S. contribution of $60 million, less than half of a planned $125 million installment, is "dramatically below past levels" and jeopardizes the "dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support."

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President Trump tweeted a threat to cut off aid money to Palestinians on Jan. 2, saying they have "no appreciation or respect" for payments. (Video: Reuters)

In the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, 42-year-old Ahmed al-Assar said his family of eight has been receiving aid from UNRWA for almost 12 years.

"I work part time in construction, but that is not enough to cover all my expenses," he said Wednesday. "Any reduction of aid would be a death sentence for refugees in Gaza. The work is almost nonexistent. There are not enough jobs. Those who work for the Palestinian Authority receive only a stipend, and Hamas employees get a quarter of their salary."

Another camp resident, Zahia Mekdad, described the aid cut as "a purely political decision" that would hurt only ordinary people.

"There has already been a reduction of aid in recent years," she said. "If it is reduced more, it is the women, children and young people who will suffer, not the politicians."

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The U.S. decision to reduce funding to the U.N. aid agency makes good on President Trump's threat this month to withhold money if the Palestinian Authority refuses to take part in a peace process being prepared by the administration.

The United States pays "the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year," Trump wrote on Twitter. "But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"

The United States previously provided about $360 million a year to UNRWA. The State Department made clear Tuesday that further installments will also be held "for future consideration."

The Palestinians likened Trump's threat to blackmail, seeing it as further proof that his administration is biased toward Israel. Following the president's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the Palestinians have said the United States is not an honest broker of peace. The announcement has led to unrest in the region, with one Israeli and at least 17 Palestinians killed.

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In a speech Sunday in Ramallah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas railed against Israel and Trump, calling the nascent U.S. peace deal the "slap of the century." Palestinians will slap back, he said.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the aid cut is not aimed at "punishing anyone" but is more about the administration taking "a look at UNRWA, trying to make sure that the money is best spent, and best spent so that people can get the services."

She also said the administration felt that "there should be more so-called burden sharing to go around."

"The United States has been, in the past, the largest single donor to UNRWA. We would like other countries to step forward and actually help with UNRWA," Nauert said.

The agency provides educational, health and welfare services to Palestinians whose ancestors fled or were forced out of their homes when Israel was created 70 years ago. Its refugee camps and other services are in the occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

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"We are extremely worried," said Gaza's UNRWA director, Matthias Schmale. "We support 1 million people with food. Our biggest donor to that program is the U.S . . . We will be fine for the first quarter and just hope we have enough time to persuade them to change their mind and/or to find another donor."

Israel has long said that rather than solving the Palestinian refugee problem, UNRWA perpetuates it, prolonging conflict and making peace illusory.

In a recent cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that UNRWA promoted "the narrative of the right-of-return in order to eliminate the state of Israel."

"UNRWA needs to pass from the world," he said. "The agency creates a situation in which there are great-grandchildren of refugees, who are not refugees but who are cared for by UNRWA, and another 70 years will pass and those great-grandchildren will have great-grandchildren, and therefore, this absurdity needs to stop."

Mounir Makdah, a security official at Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, said the decision marked "an attempt to push us to give up our demand to return." He added: "This will not happen. We will not give up on our right to return to our land."

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Makdah said the camp leadership was holding "intensive meetings" on what steps to take in light of the decision.

"Meanwhile, we will be supporting the resistance inside occupied Palestine by all means," he said.

Israel's security establishment has long warned against disbanding the agency for fear that it could worsen already dire conditions, especially in the poverty-stricken Gaza Strip, fueling extremism, sparking violence and further weakening the Palestinian leadership.

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian delegation to the United States, said that "taking away food and education from vulnerable refugees does not bring a lasting and comprehensive peace."

"The access of Palestinian refugees and children to basic humanitarian services such as food, health care and education should not be a bargaining chip, but a U.S. and international obligation," he said.

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Zomlot said that by first taking Jerusalem off the table and then attempting to remove the Palestinian refugee issue by dismantling UNRWA, "Trump was heeding Netanyahu."

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, said the Trump administration is "targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life."

By doing so, she said, it "is creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region."

Suzan Haidamous in Beirut contributed to this report.

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BEIRUT  Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri personally intervened to override a ban on screening the movie "The Post" after an outcry among many Lebanese, government officials said Wednesday. The reversal of the ban represented a rare contradiction by the government of a ruling by Lebanon's censorship board. Officials said they could not remember the last time such a decision had been made.

"The Post" had been barred because of ties between the film's director, Steven Spielberg, and Israel. Lebanese laws place sanctions on artistic content created by people connected to Israel. Spielberg violated the laws, which date to the 1950s, by making a contribution to relief efforts in Israel during its 2006 war with Lebanon.

Hariri, who recently returned to his role after a brief and bizarre resignation involving Saudi Arabia, asked the Interior Ministry not to implement the ban, said a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. Hariri did so, the official said, "because he is opposed to the idea of banning movies."

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A statement from the Interior Ministry said the department's head, Nohad Machnouk, signed the decree late Tuesday permitting "The Post," starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, to be screened as scheduled starting Wednesday. The film depicts the decision by then-Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham to defy a judge's interdiction on publishing a story about the Vietnam War.

"Machnouk does not see any reason to ban the film since the content focuses specifically on the war in Vietnam during the 1960s and has no connection to Lebanon or the conflict with the Israeli enemy," the ministry statement said.

Parts of Lebanon were occupied by Israeli troops for 22 years, and thousands of Lebanese were killed in Israeli attacks on the country, explaining why ties to Israel are so sensitive.

Samah Idriss, a leading member of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon, said the group opposed the reversal of the ban.

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"We think this is not the right decision," he said. "We think that notwithstanding the fame and the importance of Steven Spielberg, for the sake of our martyrs and for the sake of Lebanon, our national dignity is more important than any creative elements connected to this film."

Others hailed the decision as a strike for free speech in Lebanon, which is known to be one of the more liberal countries in the Middle East but nonetheless comes up against frequently arbitrary impediments to freedoms that would be taken for granted elsewhere.

"This is an amazing development, and to the best of my knowledge, unprecedented in Lebanon," Gino Raidy, of the anti-censorship group March, wrote on his blog. ". . . This is a great day for freedom of expression in Lebanon."

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On Jan. 17, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined a range of U.S. policy goals in the Syrian conflict, including an "enduring defeat" of ISIS and al-Qaeda. (Video: Department of State)

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BEIRUT  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday committed the United States to an indefinite military presence in Syria, citing a range of policy goals that extend far beyond the defeat of the Islamic State as conditions for American troops to go home. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight But a crisis unfolding on the Syria-Turkey border that threatens to embroil the U.S. military in a wider regional conflict underscored how hard it will be for the relatively small U.S. presence in Syria to influence the outcome of the conflict there.

Speaking in a major Syria-policy address hosted at Stanford University by the Hoover Institution, Tillerson listed vanquishing al-Qaeda, ousting Iran and securing a peace settlement that excludes President Bashar al-Assad as among the goals of a continued presence in Syria of about 2,000 American troops currently deployed in a Kurdish-controlled corner of northeastern Syria.

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His comments represented the most comprehensive and ambitious articulation of Washington's often-contradictory policy in Syria since President Trump took office a year ago, and they underline the extent to which the war against the Islamic State has inevitably also entangled the United States in the region's other conflicts.

The U.S. troops in northeastern Syria were initially deployed during the Obama presidency to aid local Kurdish forces in the fight against the Islamic State. Their presence now appears to be evolving into a wider regional policy aimed, among its goals, at fulfilling the Trump administration's promises to get tough on Iran.

Tillerson said the experience of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, which was followed by the rise of the Islamic State and the U.S. military's return to the region, necessitated an open-ended U.S. presence in Syria to prevent a revival of the Islamic State.

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"We cannot repeat the mistake of 2011, where a premature departure from Iraq allowed al-Qaeda in Iraq to survive and eventually become ISIS," Tillerson said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

But he also indicated that one of the biggest challenges of the post-Islamic State era is Iran's enhanced role. With the Islamic State now beaten back into a small pocket of territory along the Iraq-Syria border, the United States has to address the reality that Iran's support for Assad in Syria has given Tehran a vastly expanded reach, he said.

"Continued strategic threats to the U.S. other than ISIS persist. I am referring principally to Iran," he said. "Iran has dramatically strengthened its presence in Syria by deploying Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops; supporting Lebanese Hezbollah; and importing proxy forces from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Through its position in Syria, Iran is in a stronger position to extend its track record of attacking U.S. interests, allies and personnel in the region.

Squeezing Iran will, therefore, be one of the foremost goals of the continued U.S. troop presence in Syria, he said, acknowledging that the project will be difficult.

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"Syria remains a source of severe strategic problems and a major challenge for our diplomacy," Tillerson said. "But the United States will continue to remain engaged."

One of the starkest illustrations of the risks of the entanglement is unfolding now, as Turkey escalates threats to attack the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.

The area is controlled by Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units, or YPG, who are allied to the United States but did not directly participate in the fight against the Islamic State. They are closely tied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is waging war against NATO member and U.S. ally Turkey.

The latest threat from Turkey was triggered by U.S. military plans to train a 30,000-strong border force to protect the Kurdish-controlled area of northeastern Syria. Turkey regards such a force as a threat to its national security. Saying that the force would represent "an army of terrorists," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to wage war on Syria's Kurds. Turkish tanks and troops have massed in the border region, and Erdogan has said an invasion could occur this week.

The United States would not feel compelled to defend the Afrin area because it did not feature in the war against the Islamic State, according to statements by U.S. officials in recent days.

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"We don't consider them as part of our Defeat ISIS operations, which is what we are doing there, and we do not support them" with training and advisory programs, a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Corps Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, told Turkey's state-owned Anadolu Agency, in comments he confirmed in an email Wednesday.

"We are not involved with them at all," he said. "The groups that we support are exclusively involved in operations countering Daesh," he added, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The announcement of the border force, which has exposed contradictions between State Department and Pentagon policies in the region, has triggered one of the worst crises in years in the already fraught relationship between Turkey and the United States.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Wednesday after meeting with Tillerson in Vancouver, Canada, that any resulting damage to Turkey's ties with the United States could be beyond repair.

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"Such a development would damage Turkish-American ties in an irreversible manner," the Anadolu Agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

Morello reported from Vancouver. Heba Habib in Stockholm and Erin Cunningham and Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed.

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LONDON  The passengers stepping off the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany, last month head straight for the passport-scanning machines that allow European residents to enter Britain quickly and without any human interaction. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight A lone figure in a black hoodie and jeans breaks off from the pack. "Too many biometric details," says Andy Muller-Maguhn, eyeing the cameras on the timesaving devices.

He has come here, as he does most months, to meet with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the world's most controversial purveyor of government secrets. For most of the past six years, Assange has been confined to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, fearful that if he leaves he will be extradited to the United States for prosecution under the Espionage Act. Ecuador recently granted Assange citizenship, but British officials said he is still subject to arrest if he leaves the embassy.

Muller-Maguhn is one of Assange's few connections to the outside world. He typically brings Assange books, clothes or movies. Once in 2016, he delivered a thumb drive that he says contained personal messages for the WikiLeaks founder, who for security reasons has stopped using email.

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These visits have caught the attention of U.S. and European spy chiefs, who have struggled to understand how Assange's organization operates and how exactly WikiLeaks came to possess a trove of hacked Democratic Party emails that the group released at key moments in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks at Ecuadors embassy in London on May 19, 2017. (Video: Reuters)

The three major U.S. intelligence agencies  the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency  assessed "with high confidence" that Russia relayed to WikiLeaks material it had hacked from the Democratic National Committee and senior Democratic officials. And last year, then-FBI Director James B. Comey said that the bureau believes the transfer was made using a "cut-out," or a human intermediary or a series of intermediaries.

Exactly how the Russians delivered the email trove to WikiLeaks is the subject of an ongoing examination by U.S. and European intelligence officials. As part of their effort to understand the group's operations, these officials have taken an intense interest in Muller-Maguhn, who visits Assange monthly, U.S. officials said.

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Muller-Maguhn insists that he was never in possession of the material before it was put online and that he did not transport it.

"That would be insane," he says.

U.S. officials who once dismissed WikiLeaks as a little more than an irritating propaganda machine and Assange as an antiestablishment carnival barker now take a far darker view of the group.

"It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a nonstate hostile intelligence service," CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in the spring after the group released documents describing CIA hacking tools. In December, he doubled down on that assessment, describing WikiLeaks as a national security threat and suggesting that Assange cannot protect those who pass him state secrets.

"He ought to be a bit less confident about that," Pompeo said.

In an interview at the Ecuadoran Embassy last month, Assange insisted that Muller-Maguhn never possessed the hacked DNC emails and blasted Pompeo's statements as "very strange and bombastic."

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Muller-Maguhn is more cautious. "How many of you wouldn't be scared s---less by the head of the CIA declaring you the next target?" he asks.

The 46-year-old hacker moves through Heathrow Airport like a man who knows that powerful governments are tracking his every move. A Washington Post reporter travels with him as he goes through passport control.

He switches off his cellphone, fearful that British immigration officials have technology that can steal his data. Muller-Maguhn could enter the United Kingdom with his German identification card but prefers to use his passport. "The ID card has my address on it," he says.

A heavy-set immigration officer looks over Muller-Maguhn's passport and stares for several seconds at a computer screen.

"Why are you in the U.K?" he asks.

"I'm visiting people," Muller-Maguhn replies.

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The officer pecks at his computer. Necks crane to catch a glimpse of the man clad in all black who is holding up the normally brisk line of passengers headed to early morning business meetings.

After a few minutes, the officer waves through Muller-Maguhn, who is walking toward the exit when the officer remembers one last question.

"Sir, sir, where are you traveling from again?" he shouts.

"Frankfurt," Muller-Maguhn replies.

And with that he is gone. Behind him, the immigration officer is still typing. The travelers who briefly took notice of Muller-Maguhn are back staring at their phones or marching toward their destinations. Muller-Maguhn heads for the Heathrow Express into London.

Into the embassy

The roots of Muller-Maguhn's relationship with Assange trace back to his teenage years in the 1980s when his walk to school in Hamburg took him past the offices of the Chaos Computer Club.

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The group embodied postwar Germany's anti-fascist convictions and the hacker underground's libertarian ethos. Now the largest hacker club in Europe, it bills itself as "a galactic community of life forms independent of age, sex, race or society orientation that strives across borders for freedom of information."

Muller-Maguhn soon became a friend, confidant and adviser to the group's founder, Wau Holland. "They were like a strange couple," said Peter Glaser, a club member, journalist and friend of both men. "Andy was very young and behaved like an adult, and Wau was older and behaved like a child."

Muller-Maguhn later parlayed his interest in computers and surveillance into a business that he co-founded in 2003 making encrypted phones. He had hoped to sell the phones to journalists and dissidents but quickly discovered that military and intelligence agencies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were the only clients who understood the technology and were willing to pay for it.

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"This was during the time I was following the path of capitalism," he said with a smile during one of several lengthy interviews in Berlin.

Muller-Maguhn spent 10 years selling the phones before leaving the company. "You can imagine, I know really strange people in really strange places," he adds. These days, Muller-Maguhn says, he runs a data center that hosts websites and manages email for businesses. He also works as a security consultant, helping companies and governments safeguard their secrets. One of his clients is in China, a state known for its suppression of the Internet and its surveillance of dissidents.

By Muller-Maguhn's calculus, the nominally communist government is less prone to violence overseas and less of a threat than the United States is. "They don't have the wish to apply their standards to the rest of the planet or have others dance to their music," he says. "So there's a big difference."

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In recent years, Muller-Maguhn's consulting and advocacy work has carried him all over the world, including Moscow, where in 2016 and 2017 he attended a security conference organized by the Russian Defense Ministry.

On his way into London for his meeting with Assange, Muller-Maguhn casually mentions that he is just back from a three-day trip to Brazil.

"It was business-related," he says, declining to elaborate.

Muller-Maguhn hops out of a cab in Knightsbridge, a posh section of London that's home to Harrods department store, the Ecuadoran Embassy and Assange. On this cold December day, the stores are decked out for the Christmas season. Muller-Maguhn raises a camera with a telephoto lens and aims it at a building down the street from the brick embassy where Assange has been holed up since 2012.

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The shutter on his Nikon camera clicks as he snaps a few shots, hoping to spot surveillance equipment pointed at Assange and the embassy. Women in fur coats rush by him as Bentleys and Rolls-Royces roll past on the busy road. Muller-Maguhn moves down the sidewalk to get a better angle, takes some more pictures and then slings the Nikon over his shoulder.

Farther down the block and closer to the embassy, he points up toward an apartment building where he suspects that the Spaniards, angry about Assange's tweets in support of Catalan separatists, may have set up a surveillance team.

Then he bounds up the steps of the building that houses the Ecuadoran Embassy, takes one last glance over his shoulder and rings the bell of the front door, where a guard immediately recognizes him and welcomes him inside.

Muller-Maguhn met Assange through the Chaos Computer Club in 2007 when the WikiLeaks founder was seeking support for his then-fledgling organization.

In those early days, Assange described his creation as a group committed to the mission of publishing original source material so citizens of the world could see "evidence of the truth" about global corporations and their governments.

Just past the doors to the embassy, a guard asks Muller-Maguhn to turn over all electronic devices: cameras, mobile phones, as well as his watch and car keys.

"The last time, they even looked into the fruit I was bringing," Muller-Maguhn says. "These guys have their job. They have their instructions. So I am not complaining."

Since WikiLeaks' early days, Assange's circle of contacts has contracted significantly. Some allies, such as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who first invited Assange to the Chaos Computer Club and signed on as WikiLeaks' spokesman, broke with WikiLeaks in 2010 after Assange released hundreds of thousands of pages of U.S. military documents without redacting the names of local Afghans who had helped the military and could be targeted by the Taliban. Other backers were put off by Assange's legal troubles and allegations of sexual assault in Sweden or his Manichaean view of the world.

Still others alleged that the group allowed itself to be used as a tool by the Russians in their campaign to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"Look, he has messed up with so many people, I have no idea how many people he has left as friends," Muller-Maguhn says.

Assange continues to fear that he will be prosecuted by the United States and as a result is afraid to leave the embassy, saying that doing so would lead to his extradition. The Justice Department is considering a case against him, according to people familiar with the matter. Several months ago, Domscheit-Berg said, the FBI sought an interview with him in connection with a long-running grand jury investigation of WikiLeaks' publication of State Department cables. Domscheit-Berg said in an interview that he rebuffed the request. "No matter the differences that Julian and I had, I'm not going to talk to anybody about what happened," he said.

WikiLeaks is 'always just chaos'

As WikiLeaks has contracted and Assange has retreated from public view, it has become harder for Western intelligence agencies to get a sense of how the group operates. An internal CIA report from November said the U.S. intelligence community has "gained few good insights into WikiLeaks' inner workings." The agency predicted that Assange's negative views of Washington would lead the group to continue to "disproportionately" target the United States.

Former WikiLeaks supporters say the group is governed by Assange's whims. "The way to think of it is always just chaos," said one former WikiLeaks activist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a frank opinion and avoid retribution from Assange. "There aren't any systems. There aren't any procedures  no formal roles, no working hours. It's all just Julian and whatever he feels like."

During the 2016 campaign, Assange put out word that he wanted material on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. "He was kind of asking everybody, 'Can we get something for the election?' " Muller-Maguhn recalls.

Assange signs off on all WikiLeaks publications but does not review everything that comes to the group. "For security reasons, he does not want that," Muller-Maguhn says. Muller-Maguhn, though, is vague about WikiLeaks' internal workings.

A former WikiLeaks associate said that Muller-Maguhn and a colleague oversaw submissions through WikiLeaks' anonymous submission server in 2016  although Muller-Maguhn denies such involvement.

Asked to explain the submission review process, he replies, "I don't want to."

The only reliable way to contact Assange, he says, is through Direct Message on Twitter. "He seems to live on Twitter," adds Muller-Maguhn, who doesn't hide his disdain for the platform. "On Twitter you follow people, and that's what German history forbids you to do," he says.

The size of WikiLeaks' staff and its finances are also murky. Neither Muller-Maguhn nor Assange will say how many people work for the group or where they are located. "It seems to be a rather small team," Muller-Maguhn says.

WikiLeaks has amassed a stash of bitcoin, a digital currency that enables anonymous, bank-free transactions. As of this week, the stockpile is worth about $18 million, although in late December, with the currency's spike in value, the group was sitting on $25 million, according to public online ledgers that record such transactions. Over the past several years, the Wau Holland Foundation, which was started in 2003 after the founder of the Chaos Computer Club died, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for Assange's group.

Muller-Maguhn sits on the board of the foundation, which seeks to promote "freedom of information and civil courage in various forms." He says the foundation has provided support for some of WikiLeaks' releases, such as last year's "Vault 7" disclosure of CIA hacking tools.

He describes the Vault 7 releases as a public service, adding that the CIA was "messing up other people's computers and making it look like someone else had done it."

To Assange, any suggestion that Muller-Maguhn may have served as an intermediary to deliver the DNC emails is "a lame attempt" by U.S. intelligence agencies to hurt the Wau Holland Foundation, which is a key conduit for tax-free donations in Europe.

The threat is all the more significant because the only other source of tax-exempt donations, the U.S.-based Freedom of the Press Foundation, has cut ties to WikiLeaks.

Muller-Maguhn says he cannot say with certainty what was on the USB drive that he delivered to Assange. "How can I prove what was on there?" he says. "I cannot." But he adds that it would be risky and impractical to deliver sensitive files by hand, rather than through encrypted channels.

"A classical walk-in? You saw too many movies from the 1970s," he says.

These days, Muller-Maguhn describes his visits to the embassy as motivated by an increasingly rare commodity in Assange's world: friendship. Assange's visitors include celebrities, such as actress Pamela Anderson, and politicians, such as Nigel Farage, a vocal advocate for Britain's exit from the European Union, and Dana Rohrabacher, a GOP congressman from California.

When he talks to visitors, Assange turns on a white noise generator in the embassy conference room to counter listening devices. Above the door, he points out a surveillance camera and indicates that sensitive messages should be communicated only via handwritten notes, shielding the text from the camera with a hand or notepad cover.

On July 3, 2016, Muller-Maguhn visited Assange at the embassy to celebrate Assange's 45th birthday. Inside the brick building, Ecuadoran children, dressed in traditional garb, serenaded Assange with little guitars and pipe flutes.

As the children sang, Muller-Maguhn's mind flashed forward.

"I had this s---ty impression of me standing there watching 50-year-olds making music for us, and Julian would still be there," he said.

After about two hours inside the embassy last month, Muller-Maguhn emerges from the building, carrying his black leather satchel, stuffed with documents, and his Nikon camera. He quickly makes his way through the Christmas crowds and back to Heathrow Airport for an evening flight home to Germany.

He tries to minimize his time in Britain. "I don't like to stay overnight in a country that is hostile toward me," he says.

Jaffe reported from Washington. Greg Miller, Rachel Weiner and Julie Tate in Washington, Karla Adam in London and Stefan Pauly in Berlin contributed to this report.

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A new Justice Department report issued Tuesday suggests that, since 9/11, 73 percent of terrorism convictions in the United States have involved individuals who were born in other countries. An expert on terrorism data, however, said that what is most alarming about the document is its math. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The survey was conducted by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security in response to a specific requirement in the Trump administration's travel-ban order issued in March. It found 549 individuals charged with terrorism. Of them, 254 were not U.S. citizens, 148 were born abroad but later received U.S. citizenship and 147 were U.S. citizens by birth, the report says.

President Trump has called for an end to the practice of letting naturalized U.S. citizens bring their relatives into the United States  critics call this "chain migration"  and for abolishing the "diversity lottery'' for green cards. In releasing the report, administration officials said the figures underscore a need for tougher immigration standards to keep terrorists out of the United States.

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Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham University's Center on National Security, said the figures instead show there is a need for applying tougher statistical standards to government reports.

"It's an awfully thin report for an absolutely important topic," she said. "There's almost no rhyme or reason to the things they choose to include or not include  they don't explain it."

The report considers only those incidents motivated by international terrorist groups  so instances of domestic terrorism are not counted. Moreover, individuals captured overseas, extradited and brought to the United States to face trial are included in the same category as people who emigrated to the United States and were charged with terrorism offenses years later.

For example, Ahmed Abu Khattala, convicted in November in connection with the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, is counted in the same category as someone who successfully applied for a visa to enter the United States.

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"Doing that intentionally confuses the threat of domestic terrorist attack with the number of foreigners, by increasing the number of foreigners," Greenberg said. Extradited terrorism suspects are not immigrants, she said, and should be taken out of the sample.

Trump's executive order specifically seeks "information regarding the number of foreign nationals in the United States who have been charged with terrorism-related offenses while in the United States (or) convicted of terrorism-related offenses while in the United States."

That would appear to exclude those, such as Abu Khattala, who were brought to the United States for the sole purpose of charging them with terrorism crimes committed overseas, but the report issued Tuesday said it includes "those who committed offenses while located abroad, including defendants who were transported to the United States for prosecution."

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A Justice Department spokesman would not say how many such extradition or overseas-capture cases were included in the report.

Greenberg, whose center at Fordham issues reports analyzing terrorism prosecutions, said there are about 80 such cases.

Greenberg also questioned the time frame examined in the report, saying that looking back to 2001 paints a misleading picture of today's terrorist threat.

Online indoctrination and recruitment by the Islamic State and other terrorist groups over the past few years has led to an increase in the number of U.S.-born terrorism suspects. About 54 percent of those charged with supporting the Islamic State in recent years were born in the United States, Greenberg said.

Senior Democrats on two House committees accused the Trump administration of misrepresenting terrorist crimes to fit anti-immigration policy goals.

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Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the report an attempt "to vilify the immigrant community and justify an exclusionary immigration policy," adding in their statement, "The American people will not be fooled by such naked bigotry, and we should not allow this administration to get away with its abuse of the facts to further its extremist, xenophobic agenda."

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), said in a statement that the report "confirms what we already know: our current immigration system is broken, and it fails to protect the American people.''

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During the recent legislative special session, Gov. Steve Bullock proposed that one solution to our states revenue shortfall could be to dip into the reserves of the Montana State Fund (MSF).

Heres the major problem with that plan: MSF reserves are accumulated through payments made by MSF clients and are intended to pay current and future claims of injured Montana workers. The fund ensures that employers can guarantee a workers compensation operation for their employees.

Regulated by the Montana commissioner of insurance, state law protects workers compensation reserves to ensure that they are available when MSF customers need the funds. In addition, in order to help develop and build a first-class workers compensation company to serve Montana, MSF has an independent board of directors appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. The fund has done a good job, protected employers, provided coverage for injured employees and accrued the reserves that a well-run and -funded insurance company should have.

When it comes to Governor Bullocks attempts to balance the budget with $30 million of reserves for injured workers, many are standing up to say no way! For those who remember the last time workers compensation was raided in the 1980s, it didnt end well for Montana. Another Democrat governor poorly managed the workers compensation program and it ended up creating a huge deficit.

Following the special session in November, the MSF board voted to challenge the legality of Bullocks plan to raid the fund as an unlawful breach of contract. However, Governor Bullock quickly removed two of the most qualified board members and replaced them with votes more likely to go his way. Shortly thereafter, the board reconsidered and voted to close down the legal challenge.

So, it was liberal politics that got the state into deep debt with workers compensation and the same thinking that now threatens the fund reserves again. Lets remember that it is workers who have the most to lose in this maneuver.

There is still potential that this can be challenged in the state courts, and it should be. The contractual law between MSF and its customers should be upheld. Then, action needs to be taken during the 2019 Legislature to further protect the MSF from politicians wrongfully robbing their reserves.
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KABUL  Vice President Pence weighed in on one of the thorniest issues in Afghanistan's complex politics on Wednesday by urging the peaceful resolution of a power struggle between the president and the deposed governor of a northern province. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight According to a statement from the vice president's office, Pence emphasized to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani by telephone "his support for the Afghan government to engage with Balkh Governor Atta and conduct a peacefully negotiated transition of leadership."

In December, Ghani announced Atta Mohammad Noor, one of the last remaining Afghan regional strongmen, had resigned as governor of Balkh province and a successor had been appointed, although it appeared to be more of dismissal after months of public wrangling between the two.

Atta, however, has refused to step down.

It was noted with surprise in Afghan government circles Pence referred to Atta as the governor. The call was seen here as an attempt to forestall military action by Kabul to permanently remove him and install his appointed replacement.

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Bashir Bezhen, an Afghan security analyst, said after Pence's call, there was little chance of military action, which would have pitted the army against Atta's thousands of heavily armed supporters.

"There was fear before the phone call that the government will resort to a military move to oust Atta, and his supporters would respond with force," he said. "Now that fear is gone." He added referring to Atta as governor was a blow to the government from a legitimacy point of view.

Atta served as governor for more than 13 years in Balkh, a key province that serves as the gateway to Central Asia. He grew immensely rich in his position and is said to have run the province as his personal kingdom. He was also a key ally to the United States in the fight against the Taliban.

Atta's party, the influential Jamiat-i-Islami, welcomed Pence's comments  the first by a U.S. official on the issue. The Afghan government has not publicly responded to Pence's statement.

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The president's conflict with the powerful regional strongman comes against a backdrop of upcoming elections, increased attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State, and rising ethnic tensions in the country's diverse politics.

Members of Atta's Jamiat party are predominantly from the Tajik ethnicity, while Ghani is an ethnic Pashtun.

U.S. forces have also vastly increased their airstrikes against the Taliban under new rules of engagement that seek to force the insurgent group to the negotiating table.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently released a review of the status of lynx, which were listed as threatened on the endangered species list in 2000.

Now, in the new world of Donald Trumps fact-free, anti-science, war-on-wildlife administration, the FWS recommends removing lynx from Endangered Species Act protections completely, writing: Considering the available information, we found no reliable information that the current distribution and abundance of resident lynx in the contiguous United States are substantially reduced from historical conditions.

The agency does not even attempt to provide the public with an estimated current population number of how many lynx there are because the agency has no idea. The Fish and Wildlife Service has no idea how many lynx there are for one simple reason: the agency no longer monitors lynx populations! What the agency, if it was being truthful, should have written in their report is: Because we no longer monitor the population of lynx, we have no evidence of how many lynx there are and therefore also have no evidence that lynx numbers are declining or increasing or doing anything at all. Also, because we have decided to ignore all of the historical records of lynx presence, we have no evidence of any change from historic conditions.

Seventeen years ago lynx trapping was outlawed due to the endangered species listing, but lynx numbers continued to decline because past and current logging has destroyed the dense, mature and old-growth forests upon which lynx rely for reproduction and survival. Lynx can no longer be found in the Gallatin Range and lynx numbers are falling in the Seeley-Swan Valley, which is the largest lynx population in Montana. Until 2010 there was also still a resident population of lynx in the Garnet Mountains northeast of Missoula. They had most likely been living there since the last Ice Age, but now they are gone as well.

What we do know from the last estimate of the number of lynx in Montana by Dr. John Squires, a Forest Service lynx scientist, was that there were about 300 lynx in Montana. What the FWS should have done to determine whether the population has declined from historic conditions was ask Montanas Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which estimated there were 700 to 1,050 lynx throughout western Montana in 1994. This means there has certainly been a decline.

Additionally, as to habitat, the Fish and Wildlife Services own scientist, Megan Kosterman, found that 50 percent of each lynx home range must be mature, dense forest to provide optimal habitat for lynx to breed and raise kittens, and that no more than 15 percent of each lynx home range should be clearcut. Not a single national forest is complying with this recommendation. What is the impact of that failure on population trajectories? FWS ignores this issue.

The truth is that FWS is only arguing that lynx should be delisted because of a court deadline this week that required that FWS finally, after 17 years of delay, produce a recovery plan for lynx. Rather than produce the court-ordered recovery plan by the deadline, FWS simply filed a document arguing that lynx no longer need any protections under the Endangered Species Act, and therefore FWS does not need to produce a recovery plan. This is a transparent attempt to evade the law.

We urge you to contact FWS and demand that they revoke their delisting recommendation and produce the recovery plan that the law and science require.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba is hoping to have new guidelines for prescribing opioids in place by June.

The proposed standards, which were recently opened to public consultation, encourage doctors to prescribe alternative drugs for pain management, to limit dosages when they feel opioids are necessary, and conduct more comprehensive patient assessments  including urine tests  before prescribing or refilling a prescription.

We know there is a significant number of patients who are managed on opioids for chronic pain when it has been shown that this isnt the best strategy, said Dr. Anna Ziomek, registrar for the college.

AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File

They should be the last thing that we turn to rather than the first thing.

While Manitoba is not the first province to put forward new standards as the country grapples with an opioid crisis, Ziomek said the colleges decision to set standards across multiple patient categories is a first.

There is certainly overlap  they call for comprehensive histories and physical examinations and for doctors to prescribe the lowest effective dose  but specific standards are proposed for when doctors work with patients following surgery as opposed to patients with no history of opioid use or patients currently using prescription opioids or adolescents.

Not only does it make it easier for physicians with a variety of patients to more closely monitor their use of opioids, Ziomek said, but it also makes the risk of opioid use more blatant.

It enables patients to understand why there has to be more discussion about the use of opioids, she said. Theres a requirement for discussion with the patient that has to be documented. Does the patient understand the risks and benefits, have other therapies been tried?

From an addictions perspective, the Addictions Foundation of Manitobas medical director said the proposed standards are welcome.

Were happy to see more attention and awareness, Dr. Ginette Poulin said, especially when it comes to writing the prescription.

How long, how much, how its dispensed, when to get a second option, who to consult can certainly be something thats helpful, she said.

So that we dont end up in a situation where someones on an opioid perhaps inappropriately for an extended period of time.

The colleges proposal spells out time frames for prescriptions, as well as what should trigger a doctor to consult with a specialist before filling or refilling a prescription.

Itll be interesting to see what sort of standards actually result from this process, Poulin said, given the college only governs physicians.

Nurse practitioners, who are members of the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, can also prescribe opioids, but follow their own standards of practice.

A spokeswoman for the college said despite having a role on the working group that came up with the physician recommendations, it has no plan to adjust its own standards.

For now, Ziomek said the college is hopeful its proposal will garner substantial public feedback.

While the latest figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Information show the quantity of opioids being dispensed in Canada dropped between 2012 and 2016, the number of prescriptions rose steadily. Their use can have profound consequences, resulting in dependence or addiction.

The proposed standards should help people more clearly understand that, Ziomek said.

They will then understand how the use of these drugs is really based on a partnership of understanding about risks and benefits and why, sometimes, its not a good idea to go down this road.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For roughly 20 years, Winnipeg firefighters union president Alex Forrest has been drawing two paycheques for his work: one footed by the citys taxpayers; the other  a top-up matching the partial wage of a city firefighter  from the labour organization he leads.

And the arrangement goes back well past 1997, according to Forrest, who says the city was picking up the tab for the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg presidents salary for decades prior to his election as its leader.

On Tuesday, Forrest justified collecting two paycheques, saying combining both salaries represents the value he brings to his firefighters and the city.

PHIL HOSSACK / Winnipeg Free Press Union head Alex Forrest has been engulfed in controversy over his salary.

Thats what a union president would normally get paid. That is the rate of a union leadership for a union of my size. With the combination of the two, Im still probably the lowest-paid union president in the city. And Im one of the lowest-paid union presidents of major fire departments in Canada, Forrest told the Free Press.

Between 1997 and February 2014, the City of Winnipeg paid his salary, benefits and pension payments, while Forrest also collected an additional paycheque from his union for 34 per cent of the salary of a first-class firefighter.

Im still probably the lowest-paid union president in the city. And Im one of the lowest-paid union presidents of major fire departments in Canada. Alex Forrest

Since a renegotiation in March 2014, the city has paid 60 per cent of his salary while the UFFW covers the rest. Forrest, who holds the rank of captain, continues to collect a paycheque from his union.

In a recent interview with the Free Press, Michael Jack, the citys chief corporate services officer, said it was believed the city may have paid Forrests salary between 1997 and February 2014 without a written agreement.

That appears to be false, however, as a city spokesman said Tuesday paying Forrests salary was stipulated in Article 20 of the collective agreements in effect over that time. (It remains unclear why the city did not mention paying Forrests salary for 17 years had been agreed to in collective bargaining prior to Tuesday.)

A request for comment on Forrests claim the city paid the UFFW presidents salary for decades prior to his election was not responded to by civic officials.

If true, it remains unclear just how long Winnipeg taxpayers have been on the hook for a local labour leaders salary.

Other major civic unions in Winnipeg reimburse taxpayers for their presidents salary at the end of each year.

Prior to when I got elected, every UFFW president for decades before were paid 100 per cent by the city. When I was doing union work, as per the collective agreement, the union would pay the replacement for me, so that person would take my place in the fire hall that day. It was only in 2014, when that became untenable because of my workload. Thats what triggered the renegotiation, Forrest said.

Forrest said between 1997 and 2014, the amount of shifts he worked on regular duty varied from half the shifts of a city firefighter to only one or two per year, depending on how much time he needed for union work.

Between 1997 and 2009, if Forrest took time off for union work, either the city or the union would pay to replace him with a stand-in firefighter, as per the collective agreement. However, between 2010 and 2014, the replacement firefighter was paid by the city, a City of Winnipeg spokesman said.

Since March 2014, Forrest has been on full-time leave.

A clause in six consecutive collective agreements indicating union-related leaves of absence for city employees will be without pay doesnt apply to union executives, Forrest said Tuesday. Instead, Article 20 in the collective agreement dictates the city pays for the UFFW presidents salary.

I make no apologies for negotiating agreements and doing it very well. Alex Forrest

I make no apologies for negotiating agreements and doing it very well. The city has a legal department. They have an army of lawyers behind them. So when I go to the table, Im not negotiating with people who do not have sufficient resources, Forrest said.

I am sorry that the city has not kept good records. I am sorry that the city has not been able to negotiate what they believe was appropriate. The statements put out by the city, I read these and I just shake my head I can tell you their statements seem very misinformed, he said.

It blew me away when the city said, We dont know why we were paying Alex Forrest. They had to pay because it was in the agreement. This is not a napkin. This is the collective agreement.

Whatever people may think of the arrangement, Forrest said, it was agreed to in collective bargaining and approved by Winnipeg city council.

A city spokesman had previously indicated the decision to pay 100 per cent of Forrests salary was made prior to 2014 by former Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service chief Jim Brennan.

When reached Tuesday, Brennan categorically denied he had anything to do with the decision. During his time as chief (November 2006 to September 2011), Brennan said there were no new agreements in relation to Forrests salary.

Brennan said he was unaware Forrest was also collecting a paycheque from the union.

When asked if Forrest collecting two paycheques was problematic, Brennan said it would be something for the union rank and file to decide.

The only other thing that comes to mind is the fact that Alex (Forrest) more and more took on a national and international focus in his work. I dont see why the city wouldnt pay for someone engaged in activities benefiting the city. If he was in Toronto say, or overseas, however, I dont think the city would have paid his salary for those occasions, Brennan said.

When asked to elaborate, the former chief said he believes the union would have calculated the days Forrest spent doing work outside Winnipeg, then reimbursed the city for that at the end of the year.

However, the response to a freedom of information request indicates theres no record the UFFW reimbursed the city for employees doing union work between 2009 and 2013.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/01/2018 (1767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 53-year-old mechanic who got a police officer friend to testify at his child pornography trial awaits his sentence in the Court of Queens Bench.

The man cant be named to protect the identities of his former foster daughters, who accused him of secretly filming them in the shower. Justice Sadie Bond acquitted him on charges of making child pornography and voyeurism, finding there was reasonable doubt that the incident happened. But the girls complaint in April 2013 led police to search the mans garage, where they found torn-up photos of naked children and a laptop that contained more than 800 images of child pornography.

Nearly five years later, the West St. Paul auto mechanic faces jail time as Bond considers the appropriate sentence for two convictions of possessing child pornography. The Crown is seeking a one-year sentence and the defence asked for six months. In 2013, the mandatory minimum sentence for each count of possession of child pornography was six months. Its since been raised to 12 months.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

One of the printed photos police found was an image of the mans 12-year-old foster daughter in a provocative pose, covering her chest with her arm. Court heard the girl had been disciplined for taking the topless selfie to send to a boy. When he testified in his own defence at his trial, the man said he was keeping the photo as proof of her misbehaviour, but the judge didnt believe him.

In a pre-sentence report, the man said friends would gather at his garage every Wednesday and take turns watching pornography on his computer.

The accused has no previous criminal record. He told Bond Tuesday the crime doesnt reflect who he is as a person, and he expressed regret at having his four foster children taken from him and his wife in the wake of the police investigation. Two girls, 12 and 13, and two younger boys were fostered by the couple prior to the mans arrest. He said he worries the boys feel abandoned by him.

Thats something Im living with every day. I raised these kids for three years as my own. I feel like Ive been punished a lot, he said.

I welcome any therapy or sessions with counselling that the court could provide. I look forward to it to make sure Im never in this predicament again. I never want to be in this predicament again. I know Im not a harm to anybody and Ill do whatever it takes to prove that with counselling.

During his trial last year, court heard from a 28-year member of the Winnipeg Police Service who testified for the defence. He supported the accuseds assertion that the photos police found  torn up and soaking in an oil pan before he could burn them  did not belong to him. The accused claimed he found a folder of photos in a used car he bought at an auction more than 10 years earlier. He claimed he discussed them with a police officer who has since died.

In testimony Bond rejected as being unbelievable, the accuseds police officer friend  a longtime customer at his auto shop  backed up the story by telling court he remembered having a conversation in 2007 or 2008 about the photo discovery with his now-deceased colleague. The officer worked in WPS child-abuse unit at the time and claimed to have a detailed memory about the conversation, even though he didnt take any notes.

The officer claimed he told his colleague to report the photos to the RCMP and thought he would look after it.

When she delivered her decision last summer, Bond said she didnt know why the officer would lie, other than being friends with the accused.

Asked whether the officer was disciplined as a result of his court testimony, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Police Service said the department cant comment on disciplinary matters. She confirmed Tuesday that the officer is still employed by the police force.

Bond is scheduled to sentence the accused next month.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
After several years of complaints from neighbors in Dawson County, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality released a draft of proposed regulations for landfills licensed to hold low-level radioactive waste last August. The only such landfill licensed and operating in Montana or in North Dakota is located in Dawson County. It holds radioactive oilfield waste from Bakken drilling.

Four months later, Montana DEQ is still working on the regulations and is in the final steps of licensing a fourth landfill to accept radioactive waste from oilfield development. (Two previously licensed landfills havent been built.)

Small wonder that ranchers living and working near the Oaks Disposal site in Dawson County have been worried about the truckloads of waste passing by their property. They are concerned that nearby ground and surface water could become contaminated with radiation. The disposal site near Glendive has accepted hundreds of thousands of tons of oilfield waste since 2013.

DEQ officials point out that each licensed landfill operator is regulated. However, there isnt a set of rules written, publicized and applied to all of TENORM (technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material) disposal sites.

The DEQ is accepting public comment on licensing for a fourth TENORM disposal site till Jan. 29. The proposed Yellowstone Disposal landfill would be located on a 2,600-acre tract about 4-1/2 miles southeast of Sidney. The license application from IHD Environmental of Williston, North Dakota, indicates that 55 acres would be used for disposal of TENORM.

Meanwhile, the DEQ says final radioactive disposal rules may be out this fall.

Why is the Montana rule-making taking years? Why does the DEQ timeline have final rules coming out a full year after the draft rules?

Department spokeswoman Kristi Ponozzo summarized the departments process: It is currently DEQs intent that on or before Jan. 30, 2018, we will submit a request to the Secretary of the States Office to extend the rulemaking process for an additional 90 days. The purpose of this extension is to allow sufficient time to address the numerous comments we received during the regular and extended public comment periods. The notice of extended rulemaking should be published by the SOS no later than Feb. 9, 2018.

Based upon the public input we have already received, DEQ will be revising the proposed TENORM rules and noticing the revisions during the spring of 2018. Those revisions to the original proposed rules will undergo another public comment period and possibly another public hearing. When the revisions have been thoroughly vetted, the agency will provide a response to all substantive comments and submit the final rules to the SOS for adoption. We hope to have a final rule package complete by the fall of 2018.

Montana DEQ should be responsive to public comments. These rules are Montanas opportunity to get regulation right  for the public, the landfill operators and the oil industry.

But Montanans like Seth Newton whose ranch is near the Oaks Disposal landfill outside of Glendive are right to worry about the lack of rules. As Newton told The Gazette last week: Until Montana develops standards and protections, were going to continue to be North Dakotas dumping ground.

Its up to concerned Montanans to keep pushing for TENORM rules. The federal government doesnt regulate this low-level radioactive waste. North Dakota developed rules in 2016, but no such disposal sites have chosen to open there. Montana has no universal rules, and gets radioactive waste.

In this case, good, comprehensive rules will make better neighbors.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister said his recovery is not great after suffering multiple breaks to his left arm in a fall while hiking.

Pallister told reporters Wednesday that his doctor has said his recovery will likely take about six months rather than an expected three months.

Pallister jokingly suggested that part of the problem is he waves his arm too much when talking and that he may have to strap his arm to his body and look like Napoleon.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Premier Brian Pallister's left arm is still in a sling two months after breaking it while hiking in New Mexico. Doctors say his recovery time could be as long as six months.

The premier was badly injured when he fell Nov. 13 after dark on a remote hiking trail in Gila National Forest in New Mexico. He later suffered a setback when he fell at home.

Many Manitobans deal with far worse situations every day, the premier said Wednesday.

Asked if the injury will keep him from pitching softball this summer, Pallister noted: Im left-handed, but I pitch right-handed  go figure.

Meanwhile, Pallister said his transformation of the civil service will be unveiled soon.

The premier announced late last year that he plans to overhaul the civil service in undisclosed ways that will attract young people to exciting and challenging jobs. His pledge comes at a time when his government is freezing public sector wages and benefits and has ordered 15 per cent reductions of jobs at management level.

The transformation is necessary, he said, because civil servants are retiring at record rates. We have an ulterior motive here were losing five per cent of civil servants each year.

Pallister said his government is working with organized labour to be able to offer young people the most gratifying civil service career of anyone in Canada.

But organized labour fired back Wednesday, saying this is the first that the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union has heard about Pallister working with the union that represents civil servants.

As the union that represents workers in the provincial civil service, were not sure who the premier is referring to when he says hes working with organized labour about the future of the civil service, because it isnt the MGEU, said MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky. This is particularly concerning because the premier said he is almost ready to make an announcement about his plans.

She said the union has offered to meet with the premier several times, but he has only met with them once, which was more than a year ago.

So far, the only transformation this premier has announced is the elimination of 1,200 jobs  700 of which are already gone, Gawronsky said.

More cuts will further weaken public services. It could mean fewer probation officers keeping communities safe, fewer water-testers to protect the environment, fewer workers to keep vulnerable children in care safe, and fewer highways staff to clear snow off our roads. Its hard to see how that kind of transformation will make civil service jobs more gratifying and attractive for young people.

The premier also addressed the issue of opioid and methamphetamine addiction and overdoses and whether he would consider safe injection sites.

(Overdoses) are very concerning, obviously. The health minister (Kelvin Goertzen) is taking this issue very seriously.

Pallister said the government must address the causes of addiction, as well as dealing with the effects of addiction. He declined to say whether the Conservative government has entirely ruled out safe injection sites, referring all questions to Goertzen, who has said no to establishing safe injection sites.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba Students Union wants the city to shift gears on some parts of its U-Pass system, after experiencing glitches with Winnipeg Transits Peggo cards.

UMSU president Tanjit Nagra estimated the students union replaced about 2,000 U-Passes in January because the reusable cards werent automatically loading fares for the winter semester.

Its -40 C weather and there are students that are being denied transit service and getting kicked off buses because their U-Pass isnt working, when it was really an error on Winnipeg Transits part, Nagra said in an interview Wednesday.

Winnipeg Free Press Files The University of Manitoba Students Union says it replaced about 2,000 U-Passes after transit's Peggo card showed insufficient funds. Transit said about 1,000 cards were affected at both the U of M and University of Winnipeg.

In an emailed statement, a city spokesperson said some students Peggo cards were displaying insufficient funds on fare boxes Jan. 3, but the issue was quickly resolved overnight. The city estimated only about 1,000 U-Passes were affected between the U of M and the University of Winnipeg.

This was the first time the U of M U-Passes were reloaded online and the city doesnt anticipate any more issues with them going forward, the spokesperson said.

University of Winnipeg Students Association president Laura Garinger said students report Peggo glitches at the start of every term, but the trend only affected about 100 cards of 7,000 eligible users this month.

After consulting with students, Nagra said UMSU is talking to the public works chairman, Coun. Marty Morantz, and other Winnipeg Transit officials about potential changes to the U-Pass system.

The UWSA isnt requesting any major U-Pass changes right now, Garinger said.

Red River College students voted in favour of getting a U-Pass, which is scheduled to happen in September after studies by transit and a review by city council.

UMSU is pushing to introduce a summer U-Pass, which students can opt in for if they want. The students union also wants to waive the proposed $5 fee for Peggo cards, which students are supposed to be charged starting in the fall.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES UMSU president Tanjit Nagra is proposing three changes to the U-Pass system to save students money and provide flexibility for students who can't access the transit network.

When students voted in favour of the $260 U-Pass during a referendum in 2014, they didnt agree to pay the $5 surcharge, Nagra said.

I dont think its fair to then have to charge students a fee for a service theyre already paying for in their tuition, she added.

UMSUs last ask is for a U-Pass opt-out option for students who live in areas with little to no transit service, such as certain parts of St. Vital, Sage Creek, Bridgwater, St. Norbert, Amber Trails and around the south perimeter. (Students outside city limits can already opt out of the U-Pass.)

The students union determined which areas to include based on student feedback and cross-referencing with a City of Winnipeg transit systems map.

Aleem Chaudhary, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1505, said Winnipeg Transit should improve service rather than offering opt outs.

For years, Winnipeg has grown upwards and outwards, while City Hall hasnt invested in expanding a public transit service which is already stretched thin, he said in an email.

Instead of investigating opt outs for those enrolled in the U-Pass program who cant access Winnipeg Transit service, we believe that the city should take action immediately to address historical and current funding shortfalls and move to enhance and expand transit service across Winnipeg.

UMSU would like students who live in areas with poor transit service, such as the city's southwest corner, to be able to opt out of the U-Pass system. (Winnipeg Transit Service Map)

Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said its too soon to tell whether any U-Pass changes could be implemented, but hopes to meet with city administration soon to discuss the possibilities.

It would be premature to say if any changes would be recommended to council, as we will require time to analyze these issues more fully, Morantz said by email. Of course, in the event changes to the U-Pass agreement are recommended by the administration, they would be subject to council approval as a whole.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police raided two locations of the Winnipeg Compassion Club last week, saying the storefronts were operating as illegal marihuana dispensaries.

Police seized approximately $25,000 worth of marijuana, $20,000 of marijuana in alternate forms and $6,000 in cash from both locations, which were openly selling marihuana, police in a news release Wednesday.

Three men were arrested and charged with several drug possession and trafficking offences, as well as possession of the proceeds of crime. The men, aged 45, 28, and 27, have been released pending court appearances.

Two dispensaries, known as the Winnipeg Compassion Club on McPhillips Street and the Winnipeg Compassion Club South on Pembina Highway were raided by Winnipeg police. $20,000 of marijuana in alternate forms was seized.

One of the Winnipeg Compassion Club is located at the corner of McPhillips Street and Jefferson Avenue, while the other, called Winnipeg Compassion Club South, is in the 2900 block of Pembina Highway, according to police.

Attorney Neil Kaplan, who represents the owner of the Winnipeg Compassion Clubs McPhillips location, said his client intends to challenge the allegations made against him.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver described illegal marijuana sales as a public safety issue. Cannabis recently seized by Winnipeg police, he said, has been contaminated with bacteria and heavy metals, although the cannabis seized from the Winnipeg Compassion Club locations has not yet been tested for contaminants.

Carver said police are also concerned edible cannabis products such as the ones seized from the Winnipeg Compassion Club locations could make their way into the hands of children. The products were candy-like in appearance.

These are not safe things, and theyre not safe things that are being distributed in a way that would be specifically appealing to young kids, said Carver. This is dangerous. Im a parent, I dont know anyone who thinks that this could be a good idea.

These are not comments on the forthcoming sale of marijuana (legally), added Carver. Its simply an issue of black market product being sold illegally that could present a danger.

The term compassion club is generally used to describe not-for-profit organizations focused on meeting the needs of medical cannabis users. On its Facebook page, the Winnipeg Compassion Club describes itself as Providing information and access to medical marihuana prescriptions in Manitoba by working within Health Canadas guidelines.

Although Health Canada does regulate a legal medical cannabis regime under the federal governments Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations, those regulations do not permit retail cannabis sales. Medical cannabis users registered with Health Canada must receive a doctors authorization before signing up with a federally-licensed cannabis producer and ordering cannabis that is then shipped by mail.

Federal legalization of marijuana for recreational use is expected this coming summer, at which point legal storefront marijuana sales will be allowed under provincial regulations.

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israel
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/01/2018 (1767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The second annual Womens Equality Week in Manitoba began Tuesday with the launch of the Nellie McClung Trailblazer Scholarship.

The scholarship supports women and girls pursuing education and careers in under-represented occupations with a particular focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), business and trades, a provincial government press release said.

Manitoba Status of Women will award 10 scholarships to high school and post-secondary girls and women. Five awards of $1,000 will be granted to Grade 12 students who have demonstrated an aptitude in an area of study that could lead to further education and/or careers in STEM, business or under-represented trades, the release said. Five awards of $1,750 will be granted to women who are in their first year of a field of study in these areas.

The selection criteria will reflect the diversity of Manitobas population and include awards to students from Indigenous, northern and rural communities, it said. Scholarship application information is posted online at www.gov.mb.ca/msw.

The Manitoba government is promoting gender equality and highlighting womens achievements in the province by proclaiming the third week in January Womens Equality Week, the minister responsible for the status of women and Sustainable Development Min. Rochelle Squires said in the release.

Wednesday, Premier Brian Pallister will host a breakfast with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to highlight the issue of violence against women. The theme is Be More than a Bystander and invited guests will reflect on the role men can play to help end violence.

Manitoba Status of Women is providing a $5,000 grant to the Womens Enterprise Centre to develop an initiative to support women who wish to sit on corporate boards, which will include creating a website where interested women can send their resumes, the release said.

Last year, the province committed to developing a gender-based analysis resource for government workers. This learning tool has been developed and will be shared with all government employees as part of Womens Equality Week, the provincial government said.

Friday, women working in STEM and trades are invited to a breakfast with the minister and Dr. Jeannette Montufar, chair of the Manitoba Womens Advisory Council. Event information is available at www.gov.mb.ca/msw.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If we want to maintain Manitobas notorious distinction as one of Canadas most fertile provinces for breeding criminals, heres how: keep them behind bars as long as possible.

That way, Manitoba jails will remain crammed well over capacity. Education and counselling opportunities within jails will continue to be inadequate to the overpopulation, ensuring prisoners have less chance of improving themselves.

Also, the overcrowded cells will incite chronic distress and more violence. Prisoners will feel more pressure to bond with a gang for protection. The end result will be criminals who become more dangerous than when they went in.

Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg Free Press files Temporary absences from provincial jails, including Headingley Correctional Institution (above), can be a useful step in reintegrating into mainstream society.

When they are finally released, they will have served their sentences in full, so justice officials cant monitor their activities on the outside, which, statistically, will soon include more crimes.

But if, on the other hand, we would rather Manitobas future include fewer criminals, we could grant more temporary absences. Single out the prisoners who most deserve a second chance, remove them from the toxic jail environment and, under careful monitoring, let them try to redeem themselves.

Manitoba Justice should be commended for a new program that will give early release to 100 prisoners every year. Since it began in October, the program has granted 33 prisoners temporary absences. So far, 11 have found jobs, and a further eight are in job-training programs.

Temporary absences are nothing new, of course. They were used frequently decades ago, but became politically unpopular after a couple of highly publicized cases in which convicts reoffended.

The new program, called Responsible Reintegration Initiative, applies only to provincial inmates who are jailed on relatively minor offences and are deemed good bets to stay on the smart side of the law.

Perhaps some people are surprised Manitobas Progressive Conservative government has acted liberal-like in instituting this new program. After all, conservative governments have a reputation for being hard-hearted when it come to criminals, often attracting votes with a tough on crime agenda to jail more people for longer terms.

So, has the Pallister team experienced an awakening of compassion? Hmm. Perhaps comparisons to Mother Teresa are premature.

For starters, the provinces temporary-release program doesnt include new funding to monitor the 100 prisoners a year released early. In fact, this same government has also cut by 20 per cent funding to the John Howard and Elizabeth Fry societies, which have decades of experience in helping prisoners in ways that include the crucial step of finding a lawful job.

Prisoners can have the best of intentions to stay clean, but those intentions can evaporate when their job hunts always end at the application question: Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence?

The importance of prisoners being helped by non-profit organizations, which include John Howard and Elizabeth Fry, was well explained by Shaun Loney in these pages (Social solution to budget woes: a job instead of prison, Feb. 27, 2017). Loney is the co-founder of several non-profits.

He wrote: The smartest option available to the Pallister government is to take the advice of both the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and the Winnipeg Police Service, and partner with Manitobas social enterprises (non-profit) sector, which can focus on lowering recidivism rates.

We move people into the workforce who might otherwise be incarcerated. We have found that odds of reoffending are cut in half when people have access to supportive employment.

The Pallister government doesnt need to try something new and hope it works. Social enterprises such as those at BUILD, Manitoba Green Retrofit, North End Community Renewal Corporation, New Directions, Aki Energy and the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation have created nearly 200 jobs through work contracts.

Discouragingly, Manitobas non-profit sector learned last week it faces an uncertain funding future. A letter from the province announced the elimination of funding for the Manitoba Community Services Council, which distributes money to many non-profit groups. There was no assurance provincial funding for other non-profits will continue.

The simultaneous timing of the two government actions is regrettable. While the left hand launches a program to give early release to prisoners, the right hand cuts funding to the non-profit groups that can help these prisoners get jobs.

Manitoba will be better served if the left hand and right hand can introduce themselves, shake and then pull in the same direction.

Carl DeGurse is a member of the Free Press editorial board.
Workers in Greece struck Monday against the Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) government and protests erupted in Athens in the evening, as Syriza rammed a 1,300-page multi-bill of European Union austerity measures through the Greek parliament. The conservative New Democracy, the social-democratic Democratic Alignment, the nationalist Union of Centrists and the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn voted against the bill in parliament.

Shipping and public transport in Athens were almost entirely halted, amid mass opposition to fresh EU attacks on basic social and democratic rights, including the right to strike. Athens subway, bus and tramway workers and air traffic controllers all took strike action. Schools were closed and hospitals operated on skeleton staffs as doctors joined the strike. Tens of thousands of people marched in two separate trade union protests in the capital.

Clashes erupted between protesters and riot police in Athens after the Greek parliament, led by Syriza deputies, voted 154 to 141 to approve the multi-bill, which slashes family welfare payments, facilitates foreclosures and includes draconian limitations on the right to strike.

Protesters threw Molotov cocktails, pieces of cement and stones, while police retaliated with tear gas and stun grenades.

The eruption of workers struggles against Syrizas attack on the right to strike and the relentless assault on living standards mounted by the EU since the 2008 Wall Street crash marks a new stage in the international class struggle. It explodes the political lie, which the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) has consistently fought, that Syriza is a left-wing or socialist organization. It is a right-wing party, hostile to the workers.

It betrayed its election promises to end EU austerity and now plans to use antidemocratic methods to muzzle workers opposition.

This will have far-reaching implications well beyond the borders of Greece, as growing sections of the working class across Europe move into struggle against plans for mass layoffs and attacks on wages and social spending.

Similar petty-bourgeois populist and anti-Marxist parties across Europe that backed Syrizas electionfrom Podemos in Spain to the Left Party in Germany, the New Anti-capitalist Party and Jean-Luc Melenchons organization in France, and the Socialist Workers Party in Britainalso stand exposed as enemies of the workers. The growing conflict between the working class and these forces, which pass for the left of the European political establishment and are closely linked to the trade unions, will have explosive and ultimately revolutionary consequences.

These events are exposing before millions of workers the increasingly threadbare parliamentary-democratic facade of the EU and the European national governments, which function as a dictatorship of the financial aristocracy to oppress the working class.

The Syriza deputies in the Greek parliament simply rubber-stamped the multi-bill, which was no doubt drafted by the EU and the major banks, without even bothering to read it. As Greeces right-wing daily Kathimerini wrote, with some embarrassment, hundreds of pages of draft legislation had to be debated over just a few days, and there are legitimate doubts about whether deputies will fully comprehend what they are voting for.

It was widely reported and Syriza knew very well that the multi-bill contains drastic attacks, opposed by the people of Greece and Europe, on basic social and democratic rights. It includes provisions for electronic auctions of foreclosed homes, aimed at keeping residents and neighbors from physically blocking foreclosures; deep cuts to family benefits; and measures designed to block strike action, such as requiring 50 percent of all union members (as opposed to 50 percent of all union members present at a strike vote) to support strike action before it can be taken.

Reuters noted that this is a measure Greeces creditors hope would limit the frequency of strikes and improve productivity, that is, increase the exploitation of the workers.

Speaking in the parliament yesterday, Syriza leader and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tried to deny the socially counterrevolutionary character of this agenda. He pledged that this austerity package would be the last raft of cuts dictated by the EU to the Greek people under the terms of successive EU austerity memoranda. Hailing the end of a long and difficult cycle, Tsipras said, We are one step before the end of the program and the final end of the memoranda. He added, In the summer, we will...leave behind a tough, unfair and harmful period.

Denying that the multi-bill aims effectively to scrap the right to strike, which is protected in Greeces constitution, Tsipras continued: Its a shameless lie [to claim] that this government is enforcing demands by creditors and industrialists to deregulate the labor market. The right to strike is a sacred conquest of the working class.

The shameless liar here is Tsipras. His promises in parliament are as worthless as were his election promises to end EU austerity when he came to power three years ago this month. As he spoke in parliament, top EU officials were announcing that they would keep demanding draconian austerity measures in Greece even after the formal end of the EU bailout of the country.

If there is further debt relief after the end of the program, then it is sensible to reach a further agreement, Thomas Wieser, an associate of former German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble and outgoing head of the European Working Group (EWG), told Kathimerini. This implies that the EU will demand additional devastating social cuts should Greece seek to declare bankruptcy or restructure its unviable 323 billion sovereign debt or again ask the EU for help in servicing its loans.

Syrizas multi-bill is part of an assault on the right to strike and other legal rights carried out over a protracted period by the bourgeoisie across Europe. This includes Britains antiunion laws, the imposition of minimum service requirements banning public-sector strikes in large parts of Western Europe, and Frances state of emergency and labor law, which allow for the banning of protests and the imposition of sub-minimum wage salaries.

The protests in Greece are bound up with rising working-class militancy throughout Europewith German metalworkers and British rail workers taking strike action, growing strike activity in Spain, growing social anger at the French governments anti-worker agenda, and strikes by workers in Romania and other Eastern European countries. Faced with the escalation of the class struggle, the capitalist class is moving to tear up basic democratic rights.

The Syriza government is a fundamental strategic experience of the international working class as it goes into a period of resurgent class struggle. Struggles cannot proceed under the political and organizational control of the trade union bureaucracy and pseudo-left parties that, as the experience of Syriza abundantly shows, are hostile to the working class. The way forward is through the establishment of organizations of struggle independent of the trade unions that work to coordinate working-class resistance on a European and international scale.

Faced with the treachery and bankruptcy of Syriza, the working class urgently needs its own revolutionary political leadership, fighting for a socialist and internationalist perspective. This means the construction in Greece and every country of sections of the ICFIthe Trotskyist movement, which alone opposed Syriza from the standpoint of the international working class and warned of the treacherous role it would play before it came to power.
Spains Popular Party (PP) Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has threatened to extend central government control of Catalonia if former regional premier Carles Puigdemont is reinstalled and attempts to rule from Belgium, where he is in self-imposed exile.

The new Catalan parliament meets today for the first time since the December 21 election, which saw a narrow victory for a coalition of nationalist parties. They will attempt, over the coming days, to reinstall Puigdemont as regional premier and head of a new nationalist government.

Because Puigdemont faces arrest and imprisonment on sedition and rebellion charges should he return to Spain, officials from his Together for Catalonia (JxCat) electoral alliance have suggested a swearing-in ceremony via video link from Belgium, or that someone substitutes for him in the parliament chamber.

Rajoys PP government, which has launched one repressive measure after another to prevent any renewal of the independence process, is determined to prevent this happening. Speaking at the PP National Committee on Monday, Rajoy warned that the government will appeal immediately to the Constitutional Court if there are attempts to swear in Puigdemont as premier while he remains in Belgium. The court would then extend the use of Article 155 of the Constitution, invoked to take control of Catalonia and depose Puigdemonts secessionist administration after the declaration of independence on October 26.

There is no margin to be premier at a distance, neither by delegation nor by another type of trap, Rajoy declared, before repeating that article 155 will remain in force until the next premier takes office.

PP government spokesperson Inigo Mendez de Vigo added, Puigdemont is a fugitive from Spanish justice, and Catalonia has to start worrying about its own problems, not his personal ones.

He went on to boast, Slowly and inexorably the application of article 155 is becoming visible. Theres no possibility of carrying out politics outside of the law. Sooner or later the weight of reality falls: [former regional justice minister] Carles Mundo has left politics, Carme Forcadell doesnt want to be speaker, Neus Lloveras is leaving the Association of Municipalities [for Independence], Jordi Sanchez [leader of the separatist lobby group Catalan National Assembly] recognises that the October 1 referendum was illegal.

Rajoys attempt to bar Puigdemont was given added weight by the Catalan parliaments own lawyers, who published a report this week rejecting his investiture via video link and declaring his attendance at the debate essential. The report said an investiture debate requires the direct and personal participation of the candidate, otherwise they could not fulfil their statutory and regulatory function. It cast doubt on the permissibility of a substitute, saying that parliamentary rules only allow one for reasons of maternity or paternity, illness or permanent disabilityand that neither Puigdemont, nor the other seven deputies in Belgium or in prison, fulfil those criteria.

Unless the rules are changed or waived, Puigdemont and the other seven deputies will be unable to take their seats or appoint substitutes. As a result, the nationalist coalition will be short of a majority in the parliamentthey have 70 seats in the 135-seat chamberopening up the possibility of a minority pro-Spanish unity administration headed by the right-wing Citizens party and supported by the Catalan Popular Party (PPC) and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC).

Rajoy and the PP have been encouraged in their anti-democratic repressive measures by the abject capitulation of the nationalists. In a series of inquisition-type confessions, the separatist leaders in preventative detention, charged with sedition and rebellion, pledged in court that they will not support calls for the unilateral independence of Catalonia. Last Thursday, former regional interior chief Joaquim Forn and the leaders of the separatist lobby groups Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium, Jordi Sanchez, and Jordi Cuixart, attended a closed-door hearing in Spains Supreme Court.

Sanchez (JxCat) and Forn (Republican Left of Catalonia, ERC), elected in the December election, said they would only take their seats in the parliament if their parties did not take a unilateral path to independence.

Cuixart declared that any referendum on Catalan independence would be valid only if it was called by the Spanish government. Forn said he did not renounce Catalan independence as an objective, but reassured the court that the only possible path to achieve it would be through a reform of the Spanish Constitution. He also said he would refuse the post of regional interior police chief if he were asked again.

All three are in pre-trial custody for their role in the September 20-21 protests, in which two Civil Guard patrol cars were vandalized. They are being framed upaccused of instigating the violence and therefore guilty of rebellion, which could lead to jail sentences of up to 30 years, even though video footage clearly shows them calling for demonstrators to keep calm and disperse.

Supreme Court judge Pablo Llerena also considers that Forn fostered these violent events because the forces [he controlled] charged with public order favoured [them] and didnt deploy any action.

Despite the promises to abide by the constitution and pleas to be set free, on Friday, Llarena ruled that Forn and Sanchez, along with fellow prisoner Oriol Junquerasformer vice regional premier and Leader of the ERCwould not be able to attend the opening of the Catalan parliament, declaring that only this judge can resolve this conflict of constitutional interests.

Llarenas authoritarian judicial decision means that the argument made by those in the media, government and the judiciary that the jailed nationalists could be released if they accepted the law is a fraud.

Another victim of the PPs repression is Artur Mas, former regional premier of Catalonia from 2010 to 2016. Last week he resigned from the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), the main party in the JxCat alliance, saying he wants to focus on the charges against him, including his alleged role in the October 1 referendum and the November 2014 consultative referendum. Last year, Mas was banned from holding public office for two years, and has had assets seized, including his home, for disobeying the Constitutional Courts ban on the 2014 referendum.

The Catalan nationalist movement does not represent the interests of workers in Catalonia, but factions of the Catalan bourgeoisie seeking a more direct role in the exploitation of the working class. Without endorsing the programme of the Catalan nationalists, workers in Spain and throughout Europe must politically oppose the campaign of repression spearheaded by the PP and backed by the PSOE and Citizens.

The decapitation of the Catalan leadership confirms the warnings made by the WSWS ahead of the December 21 elections that the Spanish governments imposition of snap elections in Catalonia would give voters the choice to elect whatever government they wish, so long as it is the one Madrid wants.

The turn to authoritarian forms of rule in Spain is an urgent warning to the working class. The Spanish ruling class is using the Catalan crisis and the unpopularity of the reactionary secessionist project to impose massive attacks on democratic rights and further austerity.

Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro has already sent a letter to 10 regions, including Catalonia, warning them of the risk of breaking the expenditure rule this year and demanding immediate budgetary cuts to comply with European Union demands.
As popular opposition grows against the outgoing grand coalition between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, the unions are beating the drums for a new version of the same political alliance to assume power. On Monday, German Trade Union Federation (DGB) leader Reiner Hoffmann called on the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to enter formal coalition negotiations with the Christian Democrats (CDU / CSU).

On the whole, this grand coalition is better than what we would have ever achieved with a Jamaica coalition, (named for the party colours of the Christian Democrats, Free Democratic Party and the Greens, which correspond to those of the Jamaican flag). In comparison, an alliance between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats would be of far more substance for workers, Hoffmann told radio station MDR aktuell.

Of course, there were also weak points, added the DGB boss. But you cannot close your eyes and say: I don't accept all that and leave it all alone. That would not be appropriate. Hoffmann emphasized that the debate in the SPD was completely understandable and correct. He assumed, however, that the SPD leadership would receive full support at the upcoming party congress on 21 January.

The chairman of the IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie union, representing workers in mining, chemicals and energy, Michael Vassiliadis, expressed similar views on Deutschlandfunk. He recommended that the SPD bring forward these important projects for workers. That could now be done in the grand coalition. Opposition was not rehab, offering better opportunities to undergo programmatic renewal.

The substance and programmatic renewal that the unions have in mind was shown by the Results of the exploratory talks between the CDU, CSU and SPD published last Friday, which are meant to serve as the basis for a new edition of the grand coalition. The content of the 28-page paper are not important projects for workers, but the programmatic cornerstones for the formation of the most right-wing government in Germany since the end of the Second World War.

The World Socialist Web Site has already commented in detail on the objectives of the CDU and SPD.

On refugee policy, the demand of the extreme right for a cap on refugees was adopted, and it was agreed that the immigration figures will not exceed a yearly span of 180,000 to 220,000.

On social and financial policy, the austerity course that has driven millions of workers and young people in Germany and throughout Europe to despair in recent years will be intensified. Formulations such as, we want to strengthen the EUs competitiveness in the context of globalization and, We want to push for fiscal control in the EU, speak volumes.

Internally, the powers of the state apparatus are being massively increased to keep the growing opposition to social inequality, militarism and war under control and, if necessary, to brutally suppress it. The CDU/CSU and the SPD want to strengthen the federal and state security agenciesby an additional 15,000 posts and create at least 2,000 new jobs in the judicial system (courts, prosecutors, law enforcement agencies).

On foreign policy, the grand coalition wants to push ahead with the return of German militarism it announced at the 2014 Munich Security Conference. For the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) to be able to properly fulfil the orders given to it in all dimensions, we will provide the soldiers with the best possible equipment, training and support, the paper states. In addition, the CDU/CSU and SPD announced an expansion of the Bundeswehrs military operations in Mali, Afghanistan and Syria.

In his interview with Deutschlandfunk, Vassiliadis emphasized that the trade unions fully support the offensive of German militarism. There had been much programmatic and important work done by former foreign minister [Frank-Walter Steinmeier], by the current foreign minister [Sigmar Gabriel], (both SPD) he said. In this way, Vassiliadis is lining up behind the aggressive great power plans of the two social democratic architects of the new foreign policy course.

Just a few days earlier, in an interview with newsweekly Der Spiegel, Gabriel had declared, in a world of carnivores, vegetarians have it very hard, and explicitly demanded that Germany pursue an independent war policy. Germany could no longer rely on the French, British and above all the Americans enforcing our interests in the world. The reliance on the US to assist Germany in case of war should not be over-emphasised, said Gabriel. In an uncomfortable world, we will not be able to make ourselves comfortable as Europeans and wait for the US.

The support of the trade unions for the return of German militarism and a new edition of the grand coalition comes as no surprise. As early as the beginning of 2013, the then-DGB leader Michael Sommer had closed ranks at a joint press conference with then-Defence Minister Thomas De Maiziere (CDU) and the Bundeswehr. Trade union bureaucrats like Hoffmann and Vassiliadis are themselves leading Social Democrats and work closely with the SPD leadership at Willy Brandt House (the SPD headquarters in Berlin) to enforce social attacks.

Workers and young people must understand the reactionary policy of the trade unions as a declaration of war. In the current industrial disputes in the metal and electrical industries and in the protests against mass layoffs and factory closures at Siemens and Bombardier, the unions are not on the side of the workers, but on the side of the bourgeois government and capitalist corporations.

For that reason, workers who want to fight for their jobs and to improve their wages and working conditions must organize themselves in independent action committees and establish contact with workers in struggle in other countries. Everywhere in Europe, the eruption of class struggle is rumbling just beneath the surface, and opposition to anti-social and militarist policies pursued by all capitalist governments and unions is growing. At the end of last year, Ford workers in Romania rebelled against the company-controlled union in a wildcat strike, and in recent days, tens of thousands of workers in Greece have been striking and protesting against the social cuts and the limitation of the right to strike by the pseudo-left Syriza government.

At the same time, the defence of wages and jobs demands a political struggle against the union-backed grand coalition in Germany. The Socialist Equality Party (SGP) calls for the current protest strikes and demonstrations to be extended, and for the beginning of a broad political mobilization for new elections. Under no circumstances should the CDU/CSU and SPD be allowed to implement their reactionary plans.

The SGP is stepping up its campaign for new elections and its fight in the working class for a socialist programme, with the following demands at its centre:

* No to another war! Stop Germany's return to aggressive great power politics!

* Expropriate the super-rich, the banks and the corporations! End poverty and exploitation--for social equality!

* Defend democratic rights and the right to asylum! No to increased state powers and surveillance!

* No to nationalism and the European Union! For the United Socialist States of Europe!

The most important prerequisite for the realization of this programme is the establishment of a new mass socialist party. We appeal to all workers and young people in Germany who reject the attacks on jobs and wages and want to fight against capitalism, war and oppression to contact the SGP and take up the fight for a socialist alternative.
The prevention as well as the treatment of parasitic disease is beyond what working-class and poor residents in Alabama can afford to pay. In the richest country in the world, citizens in this southern US state suffer from parasite-borne scourges previously thought common only in the poorest regions of the globe.

In Butler and Lowndes counties, in the southern part of the state, it can cost half a years income to install a home sewage septic system to help eliminate the breeding grounds for hookworm and other intestinal parasites. As a result of poverty many residents lack adequate indoor plumbing and basic sanitation.

Once a person is infected their treatment can require thousands of dollars in over-priced, branded drugs that once sold as generics for a fraction of current costs, according to Consumer Reports magazine.

The WSWS reported last month on the visit of UN Special Rapporteur Phillip Alston to Alabama, including to Lowndes County, the home county of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Alston described seeing pits of raw sewage with disease-causing parasites that a majority of Americans might have associated with Sub-Saharan Africa.

I think its very uncommon in the First World, Alston said, This is not a sight that one normally sees. Id have to say that I havent seen this.

As the WSWS reported, The loamy soil and hot, humid weather that made cotton farming such a profitable endeavor in the Deep South provides a perfect breeding environment for Necator americanus, a species of hookworm that lays its eggs in the intestines of those it infects. In a place like Lowndes or Butler County, where raw sewage seeps into poorly draining soil, the eggs deposited through sewage have a warm and hospitable locale to incubate, hatch and reproduce. A person unwittingly walking through a soil where hookworms have incubated can become infected when one or more worms enters their body, usually through bare feet and exposed ankles.

The parasite can cause stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

As infection progresses, severe anemia frequently leads to fatigue and cognitive disabilities; in some cases, particularly among the very young, the very old, and the immune-compromised, it leads to death.

Both sanitary technology and effective drugs have long existed to eliminate hookworms and similar parasites, including pinworms.

The incidence of hookworm is clearly tied both to poverty and to blatant malfeasance on the part of local, state and federal governments, the WSWS reported. In Lowndes County, the annual median household makes a mere $30,225 yearly. According to the 2010 US Census, over 25 percent of county residents live below the poverty line. For a family that earns less than $2,000 a month, the cost of a new septic systemwhich can cost up to $15,000 to installis prohibitively high.

The low wages plus price-gouging pharmaceutical companies have prevented treatment relief when prevention is out of reach.

First, there are drugs available to treat hookworm. They have been around for some time and are quite effective, with cure rates of 96 percent, according to www.drugs.com.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends two drugs that were once generic and far less expensive. Anthelminthic medications (drugs that rid the body of parasitic worms), such as albendazole and mebendazole, are the drugs of choice for treatment of hookworm infections. Infections are generally treated for 1-3 days. The recommended medications are effective and appear to have few side effects, the CDC recommended.

But in the hands of the capitalist owners of the pharmaceutical giants, medicine becomes a tool only for increasing profit by, like the hookworm, sucking the lifes blood from the working class.

Albendazole was relatively inexpensive until 2010, when the manufacturer stopped making it. Amedra Pharmaceuticals later acquired marketing rights to the drug in 2013 and started raising its price from $6 per pill. Amedra was subsequently acquired by Impax Laboratories in 2015, a Consumer Reports story last year explained. Mebendazole, meanwhile, was an inexpensive generic drug for decades, then went off the market in 2011.

By purchasing the rights to that drug, Amedra owned the only two prescription pinworm treatments available, which were also the recommended drugs by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) for hookworm treatment, Consumer Reports noted.

Pinworm is a less dangerous and more easily treatable worm parasite, but affects millions of Americans, mostly children between 5 and 10 years of age.

The company was acquired by Impax Laboratories in 2015, and by January 2016 it launched a chewable version called Emverm, pricing it around $400 per pill. The inexpensive version of mebendazole is no longer available, the magazine reported

The recommended dosage to treat hookworms with Emverm is one pill in the morning and one in the evening for three days.

A Costco pharmacy listed the price at $1,868.31 for six pills, while Rite Way showed a cost of $2,332.20 for six, according to a recent internet search.

According to www.drugs.com, the recommended treatment with Albenza (a brand name for Albendazole) can require 28 days, depending on body weight. A 28-day regimen would cost almost $3,000 for the multiple pills.

A single 200-mg pill at nine major pharmacies, including Safeway, Costco, Walgreens and Walmart , ranged in price from $382 to $399.

As the WSWS reported in 2015, the price tag on drugs can be 10 times higher in the United States than other countries.

The price variations bear no relation to health outcomes, Tom Sackville, chief executive with the International Federation of Health Plans (IFHP), said at that time. They merely demonstrate the relative ability of providers to profiteer at the expense of patients, and in some cases, reflect a damaging degree of market failure.

In the case of albendazole, the answer is very simple: Most doctors have no idea that an older, off-patent drug like albendazole could cost $200 per dose, Jeremy A. Greene, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Consumer Reports. That is, until a patient comes back from the pharmacy in shock over the high price.

The drugs have been around a long time, so the average prescribing physician is conditioned to think that it must be very cheap, Greene explained. And they know also that its a drug thats almost free in other countries. The concept that it could cost $200 per pill is unfathomable.
Toastmasters list winners

Top O The Mornin Toastmasters weekly winners included Bob Cerise, best speaker; Denise Kagie, best evaluator; and Lorri DePlazes, best topic respondent.

The next meeting will be held at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 22, at Perkins. Guests are always welcome.

Tech professors paper accepted

John W. Ray, Ph.D, of Montana Techs Liberal Studies Department, has had a paper titled On Hegel as the Most Adequate Social Contract Theorist accepted for presentation at the 32nd International Hegel Congress to be held at the University of Tampere-Finland in the spring. Co-sponsors for the congress also include the University of Helsinki, the Society for European Philosophy and the International Hegel Society.

Recently, because of his scholarly work on Hegel, Ray was invited into the membership of the International Hegel Association (Internationale Hegel-Vereinigung) sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and the University of Berlin. He received his doctorate degree in political philosophy from the University of Wisconsin and has been teaching at Tech since 1975.

Social contract theory, whereby the state is the product of consent, has been an enduring explanation of political obligation for several hundred years. It is also the theoretical underpinning of the American Constitution. Rays paper argues that while not generally recognized as a social contract theorist like Locke, Hobbes or Rousseau, Hegel has an important perspective on the social contract as the product of consciousness.

Big Hole history meeting Saturday

The January meeting of the Big Hole History Book will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, in the Jackson Fire Hall in Jackson.

Descendants of the Big Hole Valley Pioneers are encouraged to share their stories with us. Details: 406-834-3130.

Centrals Bingo Night set for Feb. 9

The Mini Maroon Parent Club will host the sixth annual Mini Maroon Parent Club Bingo Night at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, at the Maroon Activities Center, 550 E. Mercury St. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Come enjoy a night full of fun, games, and great prizes. With your $5 donation, you will receive a pack of seven games and you get three cards for every game, a total of 21 cards.

The concession stand will be open and a cash bar for drinks. Proceeds go towards classroom supplies and special program items needed at Butte Central preschool, elementary, junior high, high school, and Noahs Ark Day Care. You must be 21 to play. For more details or to purchase a raffle/bingo ticket, call 406-491-2351 or 406-310-0221.
Just days after a false alert in Hawaii about an incoming missile, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK panicked the public yesterday with an incorrect warning about a missile being launched from North Korea. A message correcting the error was sent out five minutes later.

Authorities in both countries blamed individuals for making a mistake. However, the two false alarms about a missile attack are not purely coincidental. They are a product of the extreme tensions on the Korean Peninsula, for which the United States and its ally Japan are chiefly responsible.

NHK published an alert on its web site and sent out a warning to mobile phones and via Twitter on Tuesday that read: North Korea appears to have launched a missile. The government urges people to take shelter inside buildings or underground.

Five minutes later came a correction and an abject apology from the NKH on-line host. This happened because equipment to send a news flash onto the Internet had been incorrectly operated, the announcer said. We are deeply sorry. No further details have been provided.

The very fact that two false alerts can take place in less than a week, after decades in which no such panics took place, highlights the advanced preparations for war with North Korea, and also with major nuclear-armed powers such as China and Russia. Surveillance and warning systems are being built, or revived from the Cold War and extended, as part of a rapid US-led military build-up in Asia.

In November, authorities in Hawaii, where the US militarys Pacific Command is based, announced monthly testing of the Cold War-era system that blares out an Attack Warning Tone through sirens. The Emergency Management Agency said it would update the population on its actions to prepare our state for a nuclear threat.

Under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan also has ramped up its civil defence apparatus and instigated civilian drills to prepare for a missile attack. Abe has exploited the confrontation with North Korea to justify the remilitarisation of Japan and his push to eliminate legal and constitutional constraints on the use of the armed forces.

It cannot be completely ruled out that either or both of the false alarms were orchestrated deliberately to create a climate of fear and apprehension about the North Korean threat. Throughout the past year, a relentless propaganda campaign has been conducted in both countries to paint the small, impoverished country with its limited nuclear arsenal as the greatest international menace.

In fact, for all its bluster, the Pyongyang regime, which confronts the worlds most powerful military armed with thousands of nuclear warheads, has always insisted that it requires nuclear weapons as a means of defence. The Trump administration, however, has declared it will not permit North Korea to have a nuclear missile capable of hitting continental America and repeatedly warned it will use all means, including military attack, to prevent that.

Trumps own bellicose threats to rain fire and fury on North Korea and totally destroy the country of 25 million people demonstrate that the US is prepared to use nuclear weapons to achieve its end. At the same time, the US is ratcheting up its efforts to apply maximum pressure on Pyongyang to capitulate to Washingtons demands to destroy its nuclear weapons, missiles and associated facilities, and submit to highly intrusive inspections of its military and industries.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday jointly convened with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland a gathering in Vancouver of 20 nations to discuss ways of intensifying the pressure on North Korea. China and Russia were not invited and condemned the event as unrepresentative and counterproductive.

In their opening remarks, foreign ministers noted recent talks between the two Koreas and the participation of North Korea in next months Winter Olympics in South Korea. However, all of them insisted North Korea had to denuclearise and ruled out any easing of the sanctions that are crippling its economy.

Tillerson reiterated that the US will not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea and called for tougher measures. We have to increase the costs of the regimes behaviour to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations, he said. North Korea is already the most diplomatically and economically isolated country in the world, with bans on most of its exports and heavy restrictions on the import of oil and other goods.

Tillerson specifically called for nations to increase the maritime interdiction of ships conducting illicit trade with North Korea. The US may well be pushing for some form of naval blockadea measure that goes well beyond last months UN Security Council resolution calling for the seizure of such vessels in port.

Canadas top general Jonathan Vance hinted that the search and seizure of vessels on the high seas was being discussed. He declared that he has the military capacity inside the Armed Forces to participate in any efforts to enforce the sanctions against North Korea. A naval blockade would itself be a provocative act of war that could precipitate a wider conflict.

Alongside US demands for tougher measures, the US is accelerating preparations for a war of aggression, not defence, against North Korea in the months ahead. While the US has postponed major joint exercises with South Korea for the duration of the Winter Olympics, the Pentagon is stepping up military drills at home.

Congressman Mac Thornberry, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters yesterday: The administration is very seriously looking at what would be involved with military options when it comes to North Korea. He added that the training underway was very serious.

A lengthy New York Times article yesterday was entitled US military quietly prepares for last resort: War with North Korea. It reported that the scope and timing of the exercises suggest a renewed focus on getting the countrys military prepared for what could be on the horizon with North Korea.

At Fort Bragg in North Carolina last month, a mix of 48 Apache gunships and Chinook cargo helicopters took off in an exercise that practiced moving troops and equipment under live artillery fire to assault targets. Two days later, in the skies above Nevada, 119 soldiers from the Armys Airborne Division parachuted out of C-17 military cargo planes under cover of darkness in an exercise that simulated a foreign invasion.

Next month, at Army posts across the United States, more than 1,000 reserve soldiers will practice how to set up so-called mobilisation centres that move military forces overseas in a hurry.

The article pointed out that the US was sending more Special Forces troops to South Korea during the Olympics, in what some officials said ultimately could be the formation of a Korea-based task force similar to the types that are fighting in Iraq and Syria.

The most ominous sign that the US is preparing for a catastrophic war with North Korea is the build-up of strategic bombers at its bases on Guam in the western Pacific. CNN reported yesterday that the US Air Force has deployed six more B-52 bombers to Guams Anderson Air Force Base to join three B-2 stealth bombers sent earlier this month to replace B-1 bombers. Unlike the B-1, the B-52 and B-2 bombers are equipped to carry nuclear weapons.
Alex Viane, 40, faces deportation from Australia to New Zealand, despite never having set foot in New Zealand and having no ties to the country. His parents, partner and baby daughter are all Australian citizens.

Viane was born in American Samoa and became a New Zealand citizen as a youngster, despite never being to the country. His family moved to Australia in 1990, when he was a child. Last July, Australian Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton ordered his deportation on character grounds due to undisclosed criminal convictions. Viane challenged the order, but the Federal Court dismissed his appeal on January 12.

Viane is one of more than 3,000 people who have been deported following an amendment in December 2014 to section 501 of Australias Migration Act. Anyone who has committed offences with prison sentences totalling 12 months or more can be expelled now, regardless of how long they have lived in Australia. Many people have been deported for minor offences, such as drug possession or shoplifting.

New Zealanders now make up the largest nationality group in Australias immigration detention centres, with approximately 175 people currently detained. In the past financial year, 664 New Zealanders had their visas cancelled. Under a long-standing agreement between the two countries, New Zealanders can live and work in Australia indefinitely without gaining citizenship. Out of more than 600,000 New Zealanders living in Australia, about 400,000 are not Australian citizens.

People who have spent no time in prison can be summarily deported also. Section 116 of the Migration Act gives the minister sweeping powers to cancel a visa if the presence of the visa holder in Australia is or may be, or would or might be, a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community.

On December 4, Radio NZ reported that a 21-year-old man, who has lived in Australia since he was six years old, was deported to New Zealand under section 116. The Brisbane resident was accused, but not convicted, of involvement in an alcohol-fuelled fight while celebrating his birthday.

Filipa Payne, from Iwi N Aus, which advocates on behalf of New Zealanders in Australia, told the World Socialist Web Site that parents were being separated from their children for minor offences.

Payne said: I know a mother whos being detained for shoplifting. Shes been shifted to a detention centre in Melbourne and her daughter lives on the Gold Coast. Theres a family that has been completely ripped apart.

Both the Labor and Liberal-National parties in Australia are whipping up nationalism and xenophobia to scapegoat migrants for the social crisis and to prepare for war. Successive governments have imprisoned refugees indefinitely in inhumane conditions on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island.

The Australian media and political establishment is now demonising young African migrants. Minister Dutton has threatened to lower the age at which someone can be deported from 18 to 16.

Payne pointed to the lack of social services for migrant communities. Instead of focusing so much hate on these African children, if there is a problem, why arent they offering help? she asked. I think that Australias white race policy is very much alive and there is a horrific amount of hate that comes from the government towards people from all sorts of nationalities. Its abusive and its inhumane.

Payne noted that A J Graham and Mehaka Lee Te Puia, members of the Rebels motorcycle gang, were deported to New Zealand last year despite Australias High Court ruling that their visa cancellations were invalid. Dutton issued new deportation orders, effectively overturning the courts decision.

Anyone who challenges a deportation order under section 501 can be detained, sometimes for years. Payne has visited New Zealanders in immigration detention centres throughout Australia, including on Christmas Island, a remote territory in the Indian Ocean.

She described the appalling conditions: Theres a whole lot of self-harming. People set fire to themselves, people sew their lips together. People ring me after they have seen someone slit their wrists. One person was asked to help someone hang themselves. I encourage people who have been in a detention centre to go and see a doctor and get a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Two New Zealanders died in 2015 and 2016 while awaiting deportation: Junior Togatuki and Rob Peihopa.

Iwi N Aus also works with New Zealanders in Australia who are unable to access social services, or have become homeless. Following legal changes in 2001, it became much harder to gain Australian citizenship and New Zealanders were barred from receiving unemployment and other benefits.

Two years ago, Payne met a mother forced to live with her children in a container storage unit near Perth, because they had no income. The horrible thing is that the New Zealand mother had an Australian partner, who was abusive. The children were Australian citizens but had to stay in a container because their mothers a Kiwi.

Successive New Zealand governments have ignored the plight of NZ migrants affected by Australias discriminatory policies. Deportees are left with virtually no resources and frequently subjected to parole conditions when they arrive in New Zealand, despite having been punished already.

Payne explained that in 2015 the then-opposition Labour Partys corrections spokesman Kelvin Davis joined her in visiting Australian detention centres and criticised the deportations. Since the Labour-led government took office in October 2017, however, theyve gone silent and I find it very disappointing.

The Australian government, Payne declared, should be denounced. Why is Australia on the Human Rights body of the United Nations, and why is the New Zealand government not opposing them? Why is trade more important than the hurt and abuse that is going on to New Zealand citizens, and children?

Australia is New Zealands biggest trading partner and closest military ally.

On January 15, responding to Vianes deportation, NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern opposed removal of New Zealanders with no links to the country, but told Newstalk ZB that Australia was within their rights to do what they are doing.

Like its Australian counterpart, NZ Labour has a long history of attacks on immigrants, particularly from the Pacific Islands and Asia. The party ran an anti-immigrant election campaign and formed a coalition with the New Zealand First Party, whose xenophobic positions parallel those of One Nation in Australia and President Donald Trump in the US. NZ First and Labour have led an anti-Chinese witch-hunt aimed at scapegoating foreigners for the housing crisis and bringing New Zealand into line with the US military-build up against China.

The Ardern governments tacit agreement with Canberras brutal treatment of immigrants and refugees is a clear indication that it is planning similar attacks on their basic democratic rights in New Zealand.

The author also recommends:

New Zealand PM visits Australia, affirms Labour governments support for war

[11 November 2017]

Death in custody highlights Australias brutal deportation of New Zealand citizens

[6 October 2015]
Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose and his deputy Marcel Ciolacu announced their resignation on Monday amid factional infighting within the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) and rising social tensions.

This is the second change at the head of the government within seven months, after the PSD brought down its own government in a vote of no confidence in June 2017. The PSD leadership is accusing sections of the deep state of working to undermine the government.

This comes in the context of reports which surfaced last year that the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and the CIA station in Bucharest had colluded to influence political decisions in the country.

The PSD national council adopted a resolution against the parallel and illegitimate state, accusing the DNA and sections of the secret services of attempting to take control of the state.

That the PSD is presenting itself as an opponent of the security services and proponent of democracy is a contemptible lie. The PSD is the party that built the edifice of a police state to shield itself from workers resistance to capitalist restoration.

The Social Democrats, who emerged from a section of the former Stalinist ruling party, have presided over a social catastrophe in Romania as the main party of capitalist restoration, leading governments in key moments when the bourgeois order was threatened. Having formed the first government after 1989 that led the drive to privatize and loot state property, it stabilized capitalism after the miners marches in 1999 and again after the conservative government of Emil Boc was brought down by mass anti-austerity protests in 2012.

It is by now openly recognized that army and secret service officers, promoted to high political offices and given virtual immunity from oversight during the PSDs terms in office, played the crucial role in the countrys accession to NATO and collaboration in the criminal CIA black sites program.

The NATO war drive to encircle Russia and the increasing militarization of the country have exacerbated these trends in recent years. A bloated military budget, weapon acquisitions and constant military drills have been accompanied by an increasing role of the secret services in combatting Russian influence in the region. The Romanian ambassador to the US and former head of the SRI, George Maior, recently boasted in an interview for The Cipher Brief that Romania has become the second largest provider of secret information in NATO.

These developments should be a stark warning to the working class, that war preparations and the drive to police state dictatorship are well advanced, and supported by the entire bourgeois political establishment.

At the same time, however, there is increasing militancy among Romanian workers.

Autoworkers at Ford are locked in a struggle against management, the union and the PSD government. The US-based company is attempting to force a rotten two-year contract on the workers, aided by the governments tax overhaul. The new law, which came into effect on January 1, shifts the tax burden completely onto the back of the workers by forcing them to bear the full cost of health care and social insurance. The new tax law represents an unprecedented attack on the historic and hard-fought gains of the working class.

The government has absurdly said that employers will raise salaries to compensate the workers loss of income. It is clear however that companies will see this for what it is: a signal from the government to increase the exploitation of workers. Companies have used it to blackmail workers into signing bad contracts, as in the case of Ford, outright lower workers incomes or grant temporary bonuses.

Health care and public sector workers are also protesting the new tax laws, with the PSD-linked unions holding token demonstrations in November. Family doctors are struggling against the government over mismanagement and lack of funding, with Sandra Alexiu, vice president of the National Society of Family Doctors accusing the government of trying to turn over primary medicine to private clinics. This is part of a cross-party drive to privatise health care.

Workers at the Dacia Renault Plant in Mioveni, who are constantly under the threat of production being completely moved to the companys plant in Morocco, organised a massive demonstration against the PSDs tax plans in November.

The ruthless exploitation of the working class has been a constant in Romania and across Eastern Europe ever since the region was transformed into a cheap labour platform after the restoration of capitalism in the 1990s. Corporations see the exploitation of the regions working class as critical in their efforts to extract superprofits and reduce labour costs in the West.

The creation of a corrupt local oligarchy was intimately bound up with the EUs eastern expansion, with fire-sale privatisations and the destruction of the welfare state being the only reforms prescribed by the EU and the IMF.

After the 2008 financial crash, Romania was again a staging ground for the EUs continent-wide attacks on workers. The country saw the imposition of the harshest austerity measures in the EU, including brutal social experiments, such as the overnight closing of half the countrys hospitals. Since then, incomes have remained essentially frozen, despite a purported economic recovery and the highest reported rate of economic growth in the EU.

The social impact of the restoration of capitalism and the EU expansion in Eastern Europe is impossible to fully quantify. Government statistics routinely lie about a social crisis whose extent stands as an indictment of capitalism and the EU apologists nostrums of a progressive and social bloc.

The latest Eurostat figures show that Romania is the poorest country in the EU, while the National Statistics Institute reveal that it is the most unequal. This is a pale reflection of a situation in which a handful of plutocrats rule over a social wasteland.

The Eurostat report shows half the population without proper access to basic human needs. Another telling report by the Centre for the Study of Democracy NGO shows over 20 percent of Romanian households live in energy poverty, unable to afford to pay for or are without proper access to electric energy.

Unemployment statistics are consistently false, skewed not only by the large number of those who have stopped looking for work or are working as day labourers, but also by the estimated 4 million workers who have been forced to look for work outside the country.

The government's National Authority for the Protection of Childrens Rights reported in 2017 almost 100,000 children left in the country whose parents went to work abroad, with the Save the Children NGO saying the number is probably closer to a quarter of a million. These children, completely ignored by the state, suffer from economic deprivation and the accompanying emotional and psychological problems.

Finally, workers are employed in precarious conditions, without safety regulations or protection from abuse. Three accidents in the space of a few months have shed light on the dramatic situation facing Romanias coal miners. Four workers died in October 2017 in accidents at the Lupeni and Uricani mines, both scheduled for closure, and another miner lost his life after an accident in December at the Livezeni mine.
An Iranian fuel tanker, which collided with a Hong-Kong registered cargo ship over a week ago and caught fire, exploded and sank in the East China Sea on Sunday. The sinking ended hopes of finding survivors from the tankers crew and caused a huge spill of petroleum condensate.

After a week of burning and leaking its volatile contents after the collision, the MV Sanchi experienced additional explosions around 3 p.m. (AEDT) on Sunday and suddenly ignited, China Central Television (CCTV) said. The tanker listed to its starboard side, emitting thick smoke approximately 1,000 metres high. By 5 p.m., the tanker had sunk, plunging whatever was left of its volatile cargo into the sea.

All the tankers crew members30 Iranians and 2 Bengalisare now presumed dead by authorities. One body had been found floating in the water near the ship on January 8.

The ships initially crashed on the night of January 6, roughly 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai, though the cause of the incident remains unclear and under investigation.

The Sanchi, owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), was carrying 136,000 metric tons of condensate, an ultra-light form of crude oil, from Iran to South Korea. It collided with the CF Crystal, which was travelling with a cargo of grain from the US to southern China. The Crystal experienced damage to its hull but was escorted to the nearby commercial port of Zhoushan with its 21 crew members rescued safely.

Attempts to rescue the mariners aboard the Sanchi last week were hampered by strong winds, heavy rain and a persistent plume of toxic smoke engulfing the tanker.

On Saturday a four-member Chinese salvage team successfully boarded the ship, retrieving two bodies encountered in a lifeboat. They also recovered the ships Voyage Data Recorder, a shipping vessels equivalent of an airliners Black Box, containing data that may relate to the cause of the collision.

Due to a change in wind direction, the salvage team was threatened with being surrounded in noxious smoke and had to beat a swift retreat, according to Xinhua news.

After recovering the black box, the rescuers tried to reach the living areas. But the temperature reached 89C (192F) and they could not enter, the Chinese Transport Ministry said in a statement.

CCTV reported that the fire on the waters surface was extinguished on Monday by two ships that doused the oil with chemical agents in an attempt to dissolve the substance.

Chinas State Oceanic Administration reported that several oil slicks remained, with one 15 kilometres long to the southwest of the sunken vessel and one stretching 18 km to the east. Both were likely to move northward, due to the wind and sea currents.

The Iranian government, rocked by a series of mass working class protests against inequality, attempted to contain outrage over the disaster by declaring a day of mourning on Monday. According to an official statement, the event honoured the brave mariners who died in the course of their mission to advance the countrys goals and suffered a terrible disaster and joined the martyrs.

Eshaq Jahangiri, Irans first vice president, said efforts by its commando task force to recover the remaining 29 crew members ceased when the tanker sank.

Families of the deceased were informed of the news at the NITC headquarters in Tehran, resulting in an upwelling of grief and anger. Some were so distressed they were taken by ambulance to nearby hospitals.

According to EuroNews, one angry woman cried: Thirty-two people died without funerals and without coffins and they burn into ashes while their families are wailing here. You, the government, have come out for 10 days to sympathise with them? What sympathy are you talking about?

The sinking of the Sanchi means that its cargo of condensate, which is virtually colourless and odourless, and does not form a typical oil slick, will likely leak into the surrounding waters. According to a safety data sheet issued by the crude oil supplier ConocoPhillips, condensate causes skin corrosion/irritation and is toxic to aquatic life with long-lasting effects.

The ships fuel tank may also be leaking. It has a capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes, according to Chinese media.

An oil spill expert, Richard Steiner, told Agence France-Presse the accident was the single largest environmental release of petroleum condensate in history.

Steiner said: Given the poor condition of the hull of the ship after a week of explosions and fire, it is my assumption that none of the cargo holds or fuel compartments remain intact, and thus all of the condensate and fuel has been released.

According to Greenpeace, the East China Sea contains important spawning grounds for fish, and a migratory route for three types of whales, including the humpback whale, right whale and gray whale. In addition, Greenpeace reported that the Zhoushan Islands, west of the crash site, harbour productive fishing grounds. In 2016, five million tonnes of fish were caught in the region.

Steiner warned that all kinds of marine life, as well as seabirds in contact with the crude oil, would either die quickly or develop sub-lethal injuries, such as physiological impairment, reproductive failure and chronic diseases, which could persist in the area over a longer period than regular oil spills.

Steiner indicated that corporate responsibility was being sidestepped. As no one has been conducting a scientific assessment of (the environmental impact), the governments and ship owners are likely to claim, erroneously, there was limited damage.
A Butte woman will be sentenced in March for conspiring with family members to bilk thousands of dollars from the Medicaid assistance program.

A Butte jury on Friday found Vera Gail Meeks, 65, guilty on three felony counts of conspiring to commit theft of public funds. The verdict followed a four-day trial.

District Judge Brad Newman set sentencing for March 15. Meeks remains free on bond until then.

Meeks son, Justin Meeks, is awaiting trial in the case while her daughter-in-law, Heatherlynn Meeks, earlier pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiring to commit theft of public funds and received a six-year deferred sentence. She was also ordered to pay more than $35,400 in restitution to the Medicaid program.

Meeks granddaughter, Samantha Lee Schroeder, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of Medicaid fraud. She received a six-month deferred sentence and was ordered to pay $828 in restitution.

The Montana Attorney Generals Office accused Meeks and her family members of submitting fraudulent time-sheet claims stating they provided care to Meeks and another relative identified only as C.M.

Meeks and C.M. were consumers with Montana Medicaid personal care services at A Plus Health Care in Butte, where the family members worked, according to court records.

Justin Meeks, who has since changed his name to Danielle Justice Meeks, worked at A Plus from April 2007 through August 2011. He allegedly conspired with his mother to receive or provide as much as $87,000 in public assistance by submitting false time claims. His trial is set for Feb. 26.

Heatherlynn worked for A Plus from November 2011 to April 2015 and was accused of receiving nearly $71,000 by submitting false time sheet claims. She was sentenced this past November after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Schroeder worked at A Plus from Jan. 28, 2015 to April 30, 2015. She also had an agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced in November 2016.
The State of Montana is seeking public input on a draft plan that priorities areas in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin for fish habitat protection and enhancement efforts that are funded by the Natural Resource Damage Program.

The draft plan, jointly developed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Montana Department of Justices NRDP, is an update to a 2011 plan that guides NRDP-funded fishery restoration efforts in the Upper Clark Fork. This updated plan considers progress and changes since the original plan was developed, additional information from ongoing fishery assessments, and new tributary needs and goals.

To review the draft, go to the NRDP website at doj.mt.gov/lands; call 406-444-0205; or email nrdp@mt.gov. The draft document can also be found on the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov under news and then recent public notices.

A public meeting to review and answer questions runs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at the DNRC Building, 1539 11th Ave., Room 110, in Helena.

Written comments are due by Wednesday, Feb. 14, and should be sent to NRDP, P.O. Box 201425, Helena, MT 59620-1425, faxed to 406-444-0236, or e-mailed to nrdp@mt.gov.
The Council of Commissioners are expected to decide if they want to take a more active approach to Buttes Superfund issues at Wednesdays Council of Commission meeting.

Commissioner Jim Fisher is asking the council to vote on taking a proactive approach on Superfund issues and start discussing these issues. The commission meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the County Courthouse, third floor.

Fisher is also requesting that the councils budget and finance committee, made up of six commissioners, start looking for a possible funding source to hire outside counsel if needed, to consider pursuing legal action against the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environmental Quality and Atlantic Richfield Company.

Atlantic Richfield Company had no comment. EPA did not comment. DEQ responded by saying the state takes its consultative role with EPA seriously.

The state supports remedial action in Butte leading to a protective cleanup and an appropriate restoration of the various waterways impacted by historic mining operations. We ... will continue to work with the agency toward a comprehensive and protective cleanup and restoration, DEQ spokesperson Karen Ogden said.

Fisher told The Montana Standard earlier this week that he requested the council vote on delving more deeply into Buttes Superfund because hes not sure the council knows enough and hes not sure were getting the environmental protection we deserve.

Fisher brought up West Side Soils, an area now vaguely defined as west and north of Uptown, as a reason why the council should consider becoming more knowledgeable about whats going on.

Last fall an internal government report said EPA, after a 34-year presence in Butte, doesnt know if residents living in an undefined area known as West Side Soils are exposed to heavy metals waste from historic mining and smelting.

After months of reporting that West Side Soils includes the Flat, a heavily populated neighborhood southeast of Uptown, The Montana Standard learned from EPA last month that the agency does not consider the Flat part of West Side Soils. Three local officials closely connected to Buttes Superfund believed that the Flat is part of West Side Soils.

Fisher also expressed concern about the black sidewalk in front of Columbus Plaza, a low-income apartment complex for senior citizens and disabled people at 1515 Oregon Ave.

Columbus Plaza Co-director Earl Sholey said the sidewalks been black for 20 years. The water comes from a groundwater well located on the property.

Sholey said the sidewalk has turned black where water from the sprinkler system hits it.

Natural Resource Damage Council began drilling wells to investigate the size and depth of the Parrot plume last fall. As part of that work, NRD Environmental Science Specialist Pat Cunneen said the state drilled two wells on Columbus Plazas grounds because the agency suspects the Parrot plume may be traveling underneath the Plazas property.

The mining and smelting waste buried behind the Civic Center from the long ago Parrot Smelter has been a bone of contention between the EPA and the state for over a decade. EPA says the slotted pipe buried five feet in the ground in the mid-2000s captures the contamination. The state has long argued that the contamination, 50 feet below ground, is headed toward Silver Bow Creek.

Gov. Steve Bullock ordered for the state to move forward on removing the Parrot tailings waste two years ago.

Cunneen said manganese is the likely reason for the discolored sidewalk.

Manganese turns everything black, Cunneen said.

Cunneen hopes to present results from the test wells in the Parrot corridor at an upcoming Butte Natural Resource Damage Council meeting in mid-February. Details of the meeting have yet to be announced.

EPA spokesperson Rich Mylott said, in writing from his Denver office that EPA, the county and Atlantic Richfield are currently investigating the staining.

It is EPAs understanding that the water is used for irrigation purposes only. At this time, the cause of the staining has not been determined, Mylott wrote.

Sholey said he isnt worried about the contaminated well water.

We only use it for watering grass, Sholey said.

But Columbus Plaza board member Tom Boyle said the board members plan to discuss the sidewalk issue at their next board meeting Thursday.

Sister Mary Jo McDonald, who sits on the BNRC board, is alarmed over the discoloration. She sees the issue as an environmental justice concern because the residents at Columbus Plaza are low-income.

Fisher also wants the commissioners to vote on whether the commissioners want to hear from Cunneen, members of the BNRC board, Montana Bureau of Mines Director John Metesh, as well as former Bureau of Mines geochemist and hydrogeologist Nick Tucci. Tucci authored studies in 2010 and 2012 that demonstrated the Parrot plume is moving toward the creek.

EPA said in 2006 that the contamination from the Parrot would take 200 years to get to the creek. The state found in 2012 that the contamination had moved 80 percent of the way to Blacktail Creek. Blacktail Creek meets Silver Bow Creek at George Street just east of South Montana Street.

EPA continues to hold firm on its position about the Parrot waste, Mylott said in writing.

EPAs remedy decision for these waste tailings is detailed in the 2006 (Butte Hill documents). EPA is working with other agencies, stakeholders, potentially responsible parties, and the local community to find solutions that promote the communitys vision for the upper Silver Bow Creek corridor, Mylott wrote.

Butte-Silver Bow County Superfund Coordinator Jon Sesso said he already offered at a recent council meeting to get any commissioners who want it up to speed on Superfund issues.

EPA Regional Administrator Doug Benevento is expected to arrive in Butte next week and make a major announcement  whether all the parties and agencies involved have reached a decision on the Butte Hill to finish the cleanup, or whether EPA will have to order Atlantic Richfield to do more work to move forward.

When The Montana Standard asked Sesso if it was too late for the commissioners to learn the complex moving parts of the nations largest Superfund complex just before Beneventos announcement, Sesso said its not too late.

Regardless of what decision Benevento reaches, its going to be a long haul, (with multiple steps and documents) and all those are public processes, Sesso said.

Fisher concurred.

Weve been waiting around for 30 years. I assume (an EPA decision) wont happen that quick, Fisher said.
Ray J. Dayton of Anaconda has filed for re-election seeking a third term as District Court judge in Montanas Third District covering Anaconda-Deer Lodge, Granite and Powell counties.

Meanwhile, Shawn Frederickson made his bid for a seat on the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners official Tuesday, filing for the District 1 seat now held by Cindy Perdue-Dolan. She is seeking a second term and filed last Thursday.

Dayton said it has been an honor and privilege to serve as judge in the Third District for the past 11 years. He won a contested race for the seat in 2006 and was retained without opposition in 2012.

With the consent of the electorate, it is my intention to utilize my 35 years of experience as a lawyer and judge to continue to provide firm, fair and prompt service to the citizens of the District and the State of Montana, he said in a statement.

Four people so far have filed to replace District 2 Judge Brad Newman of Butte, who is not seeking a third term. They are Butte attorneys Brad Belke, Tim Dick, Wayne Harper, and Robert J. Whalen.

Kurt Krueger, the other District Court judge in Butte, is seeking a fourth term and so far is unopposed. The filing period runs through March 12.
Ann Curry will return to morning TV for her first television interview since leaving NBC in 2015.

The former Today co-anchor is expected to make an appearance on CBS CBS This Morning on Wednesday. She is expected to be asked questions about the firing of former coworker Matt Lauer as well as Well Meet Again, a new documentary series she is about to launch on PBS.

Curry left NBC three years after being pushed from NBCs Today morning franchise after a year as co-anchor. Her awkward on-air departure from the program  NBC executives believed she and Lauer lacked on-screen chemistry  is believed to have been in a factor in the rise of ABCs Good Morning America, which eventually surpassed Today to become the nations most-watched morning program.

Lauer was fired from NBC in late November, with the network citing inappropriate behavior in the workplace. He is one of a number of prominent media executives to lose their position in the wake of a surge of interest in sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

Curry has in recent interviews declined to talk about Lauer, but has been open to talking about the movement known as #MeToo, in which women are speaking about mistreatment by powerful men.

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Kanye West couldnt be more excited about his third child with wife Kim Kardashian West  whom the couple welcomed via surrogate on Monday  and is texting his friends with the happy news.

A source close to the 40-year-old rapper tells PEOPLE that West is completely ready to be a dad for the third time. Hes so excited, says the insider. He said that being a dad is what he does best.

The insider says that West has always been a hands-on dad to son Saint, 2, and daughter North, 4.

He does everything that a dad does, explains the source. Even diaper duty. Kanye knows how to change a diaper 100 percent! Thats very important to him.

Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter.

Kanye and Kim Kardashian West

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The source, who previously told PEOPLE how the couple was in nesting mode, says that West credits his children with helping him through some difficult times.

The couple went through some dark days in 2016  she was robbed in Paris; he had a mental breakdown. But after learning they were expecting a daughter, they entered a happy time of their life.

Kanye says that his children have saved his life, says the source. This one in particular came along after a very dark time. Hes so in love with his kids.

Kanye and Kim Kardashian West with their kids North and Saint

FROM COINAGE: The Lavish Lifestyle of the Kardashian Kids



Kardashian West, 37, revealed Tuesday that the couples third child and second daughter had arrived, sharing the babys birth date, time and weight on her website.

We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care, she wrote.

North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister, added the new mom of three, noting that her baby girl was healthy and beautiful.
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When Patti Baker walked into her newly renovated Waco house on March 2 of last year, she thought shed found her forever home  but life had other plans.

The mom of two appeared on the Jan. 9, 2018 episode of Fixer Upper, settling down in a beautiful bungalow designed by Chip and Joanna Gaines to be a fresh start for Baker  who relocated to Waco to be closer to her adult sons, Keith and Karl, after losing her husband of 37 years, Robert, to cancer in 2013.

Just months after taping her Fixer Upper reveal, though, Baker reconnected with the familys former pastor. And during their first date  which included a tour of her new abode  Pastor Joe Finfrock, a fellow widower, took Baker by total surprise and popped the question.

Now married to Finfrock, Baker is reflecting on her life-changing 2017  including the parts not captured on television  to PEOPLE.

Welcome to Waco

Though a Pennsylvania native, Baker spent several years in Texas, where both her sons went to college. She was living in Albuquerque when her husband died in 2013, and afterward she moved to the east coast for a short time. But Texas was calling her back, so she relocated to Waco, taking a job for the local school district and eventually purchasing the bungalow in 2015 through Magnolia Realty.

The property needed some renovation work, and Bakers realtor suggested she apply online to have it remodeled on Fixer Upper.

Patti Baker

I was really reluctant, mainly because I thought theres not a chance in the world that I get picked,  says Baker. After a series of interviews with the production team through Sept. and Nov, 2016, Baker was determined a good fit  and demo day soon followed, in Dec. 2016.

Baker then moved in with her older son, and resisted the urge to drive past her house during the renovation months: I didnt see one shingle at all.

Throughout the process, Chip and Joanna couldnt have been more supportive, she says. They are exactly how you see them on TV, she is totally  when shes with you, shes with you. Cameras, sound people, any distractions, it doesnt matter  she is focused on you, gushes Baker of Joanna. She adds of the couple, Theyre so down to earth  what you see is what they are.

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After the March 2, 2017, reveal (It took my breath away to walk in the house, Baker says), the happy homeowner moved in seven days later.

A Surprise Proposal

Baker enjoyed her first months in the home, and was excited to share her experience with Pastor Finfrock, when they reconnected at a graduation party in early May 2017. Finfrock  who lost his own wife in 2015  had known Baker and her family since 2009, and in fact married her son Karl and his wife in 2014. There was a connection, she says.

A week following the reunion, Finfrock  who is based in Graham, about a three hour drive away  made a trip to visit Baker and see her new digs. He didnt even have a clue what Fixer Upper was, she laughs.

Admits Baker, I thought it was a pastoral visit, but I wanted it to be something more. And more it was: after a tour of the town  and Magnolia Markets famed silos  Finfrock sat down on Bakers sofa (carefully chosen by Joanna) and asked her to marry him. It was beautiful, says Baker.

Goodbye to a Dream Come True

In August, Baker and Finfrock tied the knot, with her sons walking her down the aisle.

Patti Baker and husband Joe Finfrock

Life as a Mrs. again meant relocating to Graham, and saying goodbye to her little Fixer Upper  which Baker just listed for sale for $349,900.

Shes still holding on to some of the decor and furniture pieces selected by Joanna  including a table crafted by Clint Harp  and will miss many aspects of the space (especially her favorite room, the kitchen).

Though her time in the home was short, Baker will cherish the experience always. I loved everything about it, she says of the reality TV remodel. Who else better could do that for a widow [than Chip and Joanna]? I walked in 12 weeks later to everything not only being done but it being beautiful.

Patti Baker (center) and her sons Karl (left) and Keith (right)

She praises the Fixer Upper family, and thanks all those involved for making her feel comfortable throughout the process and honoring Robert in the final design. Its daunting when you go in, you see these cameras and lights but when theyre there, its just all about making your dream come true.

And now, Baker says, Its happily ever after.
GOP Sen. Jeff Flake on Trump's attacks on the free press: "It is past time to stop excusing, or ignoring, or worse, endorsing these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost." https://t.co/pqMcna3ZMn https://t.co/9kI3mZZv11  CNN (@CNN) January 17, 2018

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) issued a long denunciation of President Donald Trump on the Senate floor Wednesday and defended the American free press.

It is past time to stop excusing, or ignoring, or worse, endorsing these attacks on the truth, said Flake. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.

Trump routinely attacks the media, who he has called the enemy of the people. Flake also said that Trump was channeling Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin when he made such statements.

Also Read: Joe Scarborough Slams Trump for 'Stalinist' Language About the Media (Video)

Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies, Flake said.

Sen. Jeff Flake: Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own President uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies https://t.co/ByDENxNNoF  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 17, 2018

Flake has been one of President Trumps biggest critics within the GOP. While he has been a reliable Republican vote for the presidents agenda, the two men spent much of 2017 criticizing each other.

On Twitter, Flakes speech was met with skepticism on both the left and the right. Pro-Trump Republicans blasted him as a traitor, while liberals dismissed Flake because of his conservative voting record.

Before you get all misty eyed about @JeffFlake and his scathing Trump speech, remember that he has voted 90 percent with the president, and his rare opposition includes being on the wrong side of disaster aid to Puerto Rico., said MSNBC anchor Joy Reid.

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Jeff Flake is no hero.

Before you get all misty eyed about @JeffFlake and his scathing Trump speech, remember that he has voted 90 percent with the president, and his rare opposition includes being on the wrong side of disaster aid to Puerto Rico. Jeff Flake is no hero. https://t.co/yj144te1eb  Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 17, 2018

And it pretty much went from there.

"Hi, I'm Jeff Flake. I'm really worried about our Stalinist President, which is why I voted less than 24 hours ago to increase his domestic spying powers and prevent any safeguards or checks on how Stalin can use those powers. I'm available for cable TV interviews and praise!" https://t.co/occJV9oIfi  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 17, 2018

Jeff Flake just voted to hand Trump more domestic surveillance power yesterday. His words are beyond meaningless https://t.co/Q9XPDoJCte  Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) January 17, 2018

Does anybody have a video of Jeff Flake's condemning despotism on the Senate floor when Obama admin hacked Sharyl Attkisson's laptop & cell phone?! Or when Obama tapped the phones of AP reporters? Or snooped on reporter James Rosen? Oh no, wait  Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) January 17, 2018

The suspicion that Jeff Flake is disingenuous shouldnt stem from his votes for conservative bills that Trump signs, but from his complete unwillingness to use his oversight power, and inherent powers as a senator, to rein in Trump and stop his unprecedented corruption.  Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) January 17, 2018

Flake speech was kinda anticlimactic, IMHO. Only two senators (both Democrats) attended. If Trump is smart he won't acknowledge it with a tweet.  David Martosko (@dmartosko) January 17, 2018

Flake is billed as a libertarian & says Trump is like Stalin. But this alleged libertarian Trump critic voted to give Trump more power to use the governments surveillance apparatus. There seems to be a gap between the libertarian brand, the anti-Trump rhetoric & the actions.  David Sirota (@davidsirota) January 17, 2018

One notable outlier was Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, a Flake friend who tweeted this helpful image of Joseph Stalin admiring his  very large crowd size.

Free press is the despots enemy.

~Jeff Flake pic.twitter.com/oWuStxmtm2  Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 17, 2018

Related stories from TheWrap:

'Morning Joe' Blasts 'Goons Over at Fox News' for Abandoning Jeff Flake (Video)

Sen. Jeff Flake Blasts Trump, Abandons 2018 Bid and Ignites Twitter: 'GOD BLESS YOU JEFF FLAKE'

7 Reasons Why Jeff Sessions as Donald Trump AG Is Freaking People Out

Donald Trump Picks Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
Police in Oklahoma are investigating the death of a 3-year-old girl, who was killed over the weekend by a dog her family had adopted only weeks earlier.

According to The Oklahoman, the little girl was attacked Sunday by the dog, which was part bulldog and part pit bull.

The dog dragged little Rylee Marie Dodge around the house after the attack, reports KFOR.

Officers were called to Rylees grandmothers home, and began performing CPR on her soon after arriving.

The dog, according to KFDX, was pinned to the ground by the grandmother, who threw her entire weight on the animal.

Police shot the animal dead at the scene, the reports say.

Rylee ultimately died from her injuries after being transported to a nearby hospital.

 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.

Officials said the dog had only been in the home for about two weeks, according to The Oklahoman.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help fund the little girls funeral.

PEOPLE was unable to reach Rylees father for comment, but he did speak to KSWO.

Dodge said the efforts of responding EMS workers was all for naught.

Theres nothing they could do  absolutely nothing, Dodge told the news station.

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The grieving dad said he will always remember his daughters exuberant spirit.

I miss her so much, he said, telling KSWO his daughter had a beautiful smile.

Dodge also said that before the attack, the dog showed no signs of aggression.

It loved [my son], gave him a hug and licked him on the face, everything, he said. I brought him here and my son would come outside all day long to play with him and didnt do nothing to him.

No charges have been filed in connection with Rylees death.
Actor Aziz Ansari, wearing a #TimesUp pin in solidarity with women in Hollywood, acknowledged an encounter with an anonymous accuser but insisted it was completely consensual. (Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

By now, youve surely read or heard about the Aziz Ansari takedown piece published on Babe, a lifestyle site targeting millennial women.

And if you spend any time at all on the internet, youve surely heard about or read the countless think pieces that popped up in the days following the published account.

(But just to make sure were all on the same page: A woman identified as Grace goes into detail about an upsetting date she had with the comedian, explaining that she has now come to understand his behavior as sexual assault. Babe published the story on Jan. 13, and has left it atop its homepage, now paired with related stories about the incidents aftermath.)

The Atlantic said that Grace and the writers at Babe wrongly destroyed Ansaris career and humiliated him, when Grace could have fought back at any point during her encounter with Ansari. A New York Times opinion piece said Grace didnt experience sexual violence, she just had bad sex  which is what happens when you expect someone to read your mind. The Guardian argued that the Ansari expose irresponsibly latched itself to the #MeToo movement, derailing a force for good. Vox said the Babe piece is justifiable because it encourages discussions about how men are encouraged to pursue sex.

The reason the story of Grace and Ansaris unsettling sexual encounter resonated with so many people isnt because of details more salacious or violent than those outlined in stories about Harvey Weinstein, Louis CK, or other notable men in Hollywood who are alleged to have repeatedly harassed and manipulated women within professional contexts.

Rather, its because of the murkiness between the two extremes on the continuum of sexual interaction  with healthy, enjoyable consensual sex at one end and rape at the other  and because people arent communicating well enough about what it is they want and what it is theyre agreeing to, according to Zoe Peterson, director of the Sexual Assault Research and Education Program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

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We often talk about wanting and consenting as the same thing, and theyre not, Peterson tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Wanting is an internal state, one that [the other person] can guess about only. But ideally, consent is something someone outwardly communicates. Peterson explains in dating and sex, instances of implied consent (an oxymoron, to be sure), such as agreeing to go to someones apartment after a date, lead to particularly messy instances of disappointing sexual encounters.

Theres some research to indicate that people make assumptions about things like agreeing to go to someones house or accepting a drink as being indicators of sexual consent, but thats problematic, because its not direct consent, she explains. One person might take that to be that the other person is interested in sex, but that doesnt mean the other person holds the same meaning of that signal. Taking those contextual cues as evidence of consent is a dangerous path.

Aside from the issue of explicitly consenting to sexual behavior, theres a larger conversation surrounding the systematic, gendered way that men and women pursue heterosexual experiences.

Theres the stereotype that men should always want sex, says Peterson, and so they are expected to prove it by initiating sex, and doing so enthusiastically and, sometimes, mildly aggressively. Women, meanwhile, are stereotypically not interested in sex  at least not to the level that men are. That leads to the stereotype that women say no but really want to be talked into it, as if its an invitation to push harder, she explains. Those gendered stereotypes set the stage for coercion in sexual interaction.

Its just another reason Graces interaction with Ansari resonated. Just like the recently viral New Yorker short story Cat Person, a woman acquiesced to a mans desire not because she wanted to have sex herself, but because she didnt want to disappoint the other person or confront the situation at hand. What Graces story highlights is the teaching that girls are to grow to be helpers and nurturers. They are taught to be accommodating. Unless a threat is imminent, women are subversively programmed to fulfill another persons desire. Nice girls do what guys want.

To that point, the Ansari story coincides with a Saturday Night Live Weekend Update skit in which Aidy Bryant, addressing the gender pay gap between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams, plays the part of the accommodating nice girl  the one who apologizes for anything and everything, afraid to upset anyone or put herself first. The skit may have been about womens right to equal pay, but the theme resonated with conversations about sexual equality too.

I just do that; its kind of my natural state, Bryant said in the skit about being overly apologetic. Because I, like most girls, have been taught to be accommodating and polite. Once, I felt bad about telling an Uber driver he made a wrong turn, so I just went with him to New Jersey!

Its as if the bit could have substituted the word money for orgasms in a conversation surrounding modern heterosexual encounters: Everyones talking about how women should negotiate harder and ask for more money, and thats true, and I really think women are ready to do that, Bryant said. But I feel like maybe, just maybe, men could be just this much more dece.'

Whether or not you think Graces story constitutes publicly shaming Ansari (many say it absolutely doesnt), you might acknowledge that within any given sexual experience, power imbalances are at play. A womans sexual agency is her own, meaning she must assert it without hesitation when something makes her uncomfortable (and, just so its clear: Its OK to be comfortable with something or someone at first, only later to change your mind.)

But its also important that we put the impetus not only on women, who have been taught that in traditional feminine ideology, sexual agency is diminished. The responsibility, too, is on men, who have been taught that sex  even consensual sex  is a conquest, one that is congratulated by peers if successful.

The people engaging in #MeToo conversations arent arguing that Ansaris aggressive behavior and Graces acceptance of it means Ansari committed sexual assault. What they are promulgating is a larger conversation about the lines between consensual and nonconsensual sex, meaning balanced sexual encounters that prioritize both people involved, transforming sex from a conquest to more of a metaphorical handshake.

So, yes, Grace is a victim, but we must be clear about what she is a victim of: It is not of sexual assault or sexual harassment. What Grace is  like so many women is a victim of unbalanced sexual experiences, in which sex and power belong to men, and in which women are now finding their footing.

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(Photo: PeopleImages via Getty Images)

Coughs and sneezes may spread diseases, but trying to hold your next sternutation completely in can cause trouble, too.

A previously fit and well 34-year-old man in England ruptured his throat after he pinched his nose and closed his mouth to contain a sneeze, according to a case study the British Medical Journal shared online Monday.

Halting sneeze via blocking nostrils and mouth is a dangerous manoeuvre and should be avoided, as it may lead to numerous complications, wrote the authors of the report, who described the damage as rare.

The unidentified man in the article developed a popping feeling in the back of his throat and swelling in his neck after the stifled sneeze. He also experienced difficulty swallowing and speaking.

The unidentified 34-year-old man reported a popping sensation in his neck after he attempted to stifle a sneeze. (Photo: BMJ)

Doctors at a hospital in Leicester discovered that air bubbles from the rupture were permeating the soft tissue of his neck and chest. He was hospitalized for seven days, administered antibiotics and fed via a tube so that the rupture could heal. He eventually made a full recovery.

Anthony Aymat, a consultant at University Hospital Lewisham in London, told Time magazine that the safest thing to do, although its not socially acceptable, is just to sneeze loud and catch the germ cloud in a tissue.

When you sneeze, air comes out of you at about 150 miles per hour, said Aymat, who was not involved in the reported case. If you retain all that pressure, it could do a lot of damage and you could end up like the Michelin Man with air trapped in your body.

Related Coverage

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MUSCATINE  An Illinois man has been charged with attempted murder and assault on a peace officer following last week's shooting incident in Atalissa, in which gunfire was exchanged with police.

Iowa State Patrol has identified the man accused of shooting a gun at motorists and an officer last Thursday along Interstate 80, near the Pilot gas station at the Atalissa exit. Charles Johnston, 60, of Belvidere, Ill., is being held in Cedar County Jail on two felony charges, according to a news release.

Around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 11, Iowa State Patrol and local law enforcement officers responded to a call of shots fired along Interstate 80 east of the 265 mile marker at the rest area. The suspect then drove westbound and exited at the 265 exit, where he fired rounds at motorists at the gas station, according to a news release. No one was injured.

Special Agent Ryan Herman said troopers encountered the suspect on County Road X46.

According to the criminal complaint, before 2:50 p.m., State Patrol Sgt. David Saldivar located Johnston in a vehicle, and when he approached, the suspect pointed a handgun at him. Johnston allegedly shot his weapon at Saldivar, who then returned fire.

After a brief stand-off, officers took the suspect into custody. Herman said no injuries were suffered by the suspect or law enforcement.

Johnston is charged with attempted murder, a class B felony, and assault on a peace officer with a dangerous weapon, a class D felony, according to Herman.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the Cedar County Courthouse. Cash bond has been set at $1 million, according to court documents.

The Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident. Along with the Iowa State Patrol, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Cedar County Sheriffs Office, Muscatine County Sheriffs Office, Scott County Sheriffs Office, West Branch Police Department, West Liberty Police Department, the Iowa Department of Transportation and Emergency Medical Services assisted in the incident, according to Herman.
Bat upside down on a branch. (Getty Images)

A 6-year-old boy has tragically died from rabies after being scratched by an infected bat in a wooded area near his home in Eustis, Fla. Ryker Roques scratch reportedly went untreated, and he started experiencing hallucinations and convulsions a few weeks after he was bitten.

His family rushed him to the emergency room.

The doctors explained that if it was rabies, he had a zero percent chance of survival, the familys GoFundMe page explained. A few days after he was hospitalized, tests showed that Ryker was, indeed, positive for rabies.

Desperate, the family opted for an experimental procedure to try to save the boys life. The therapy, dubbed the Milwaukee Protocol, requires a patient to be treated with antiviral drugs while in a medically induced coma.

In 2004, a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl underwent the therapy and became the first human ever to survive rabies without vaccination.

Unfortunately, the procedure didnt work on Ryker, and he died on Sunday.

In unvaccinated humans, rabies is almost always fatal after neurological symptoms have appeared, so its important to get vaccinated as soon as possible after exposure, preferably within six days. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tens of thousands of people each year are successfully protected from developing rabies through vaccination after being bitten.

One of the most common ways for humans to contract rabies is through a bat (they spread the disease through saliva), so its important to remind children not to touch wild animals.

When bitten by an unknown animal, the CDC recommends washing the wound thoroughly with soap and water and seeking immediate medical attention.

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Trump says hes the least racist person reporters have ever interviewed

On January 11th, President Donald Trump once again shocked the world with insensitive comments. But amid backlash over his declaration that Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations were shithole countries, Trump has defended himself. On January 14th, Trump told a reporter that he is the least racist person the reporter had ever spoken to.

Trump was questioned about his remarks on January 14th outside the home of House majority leader Kevin McCarthy. The president was reportedly asked if he was a racist, to which he replied that he wasnt.

No. Im not a racist, Trump said. Im the least racist person you have ever interviewed.

Trump made the shithole countries remark during a meeting to discuss replacing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on January 11th. When Congress began discussing protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations, the president reportedly said, Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?

The president was immediately slammed for the remark. CNN anchor Don Lemon opened his broadcast on January 11th by saying The president of the United States is racist. And leaders of the countries Trump had insulted universally condemned the president, saying the comment was racist, reprehensible, and offensive.

But Trump denied that he ever made the offending remark in a January 12th tweet.

The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018

On January 12th, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who was also at the DACA meeting, confirmed that Trump had made the comment. But Republican Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue later called Durbin a liar and supported Trumps claim that he never made the offensive statement.

Shithole countries comment aside, Trump has made numerous racist remarks throughout his tenure as president. After a white supremacist killed a counterprotester at an alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August, Trump failed to condemn white supremacy, saying that there had been violence on many sides. In June, the president said that all Haitian immigrants have AIDS. And in November, Trump referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas during a ceremony to honor Navajo veterans.

Trump may say hes not a racist, but if he wants us to believe him, he needs to do better.
A number of disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassars victims will face their alleged abuser in court today as they read victim impact statements at the former doctors sentencing over seven first degree sexual assault charges. This is the criminal sentencing for charges Nassar pled guilty to in November of last year.

Statements will continue over the next few days, allowing time for up to 125 potential women to read their statements to the court. The Michigan Department of Attorney General spokesperson told CNN that they expect 88 individuals to give victim impact statements, making this the most extreme case of sexual misconduct in sporting to date.

Victim impact statements can be both hard to hear and hard to prepare, but the National Center for Victims of Crime says that victims who are able to share their stories often feel satisfied with the legal proceedings after being able to share their statement.

Former and current Olympians including McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and, just yesterday, Simone Biles, have come forward to share their own stories of alleged abuse at the hands of their former doctor. Some or all of these athletes may be present to share their statements in court over the next few days, although there hasnt been any confirmation of who may appear.

Both Raisman and Maroney have accused USA Gymnastics of trying to cover up their abuse, with Maroney suing the governing body for their attempt at silencing her.

Nassar was already found guilty of seven counts of child pornography being sentenced in July to 60 years in prison.

Will you watch the victim impact statements against Nassar? Let us know @BritandCo!

(Photos via EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty + Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Along Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, cenotesnatural sinkholes where collapsed bedrock gives way to groundwater poolsprovide some of the world's best scuba diving. You've probably seen the Gran Cenote in Tulum all over Instagram: The turquoise water, craggy rock formations, and of course, "candid" shots of influencers exploring its depths. What you might not know, however, is just how far these cavernous systems stretch underwater.

As reported by The Telegraph, divers recently found that two of Mexico's longest submerged cave networksSac Actun (164 miles) and Dos Ojos (52 miles)are actually connected, creating an enormous flooded cave that's officially the largest in the world, at over 216 miles long. Grab your fins and get out your credit card: The combined length of these caverns dwarfs runner-up Sistema Ox Bel Ha (also in eastern Mexico), which only spans 168 miles, making it the ultimate scuba playground.

The discovery can be credited to the Gran Acuifero Maya, a project that studies and preserves subterranean water systems in the Yucatan. After years spent investigating the labyrinth of underwater caves, the team's divers confirmed the tunnels connected, something many had already suspected. However, in addition to new diving territory, their findings may also unearth history. Cenotes were holy sites to the Maya, used as portals to communicate with the gods. According to Guillermo de Anda, director of Gran Acuifero Maya and underwater archaeologist, the cave network could provide further insight into the Maya people, who populated the area prior to the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. "It allows us to appreciate much more clearly how the rituals, the pilgrimage sites and ultimately the great pre-Hispanic settlements that we know emerged," he said in an interview with Reuters.

If you're itching to explore this underwater maze, but aren't scuba-certified, fear not: We've got a guide for how (and why) you should do it. After all, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is oceanthat's practically a whole new world waiting to be explored.
A powerful former Afghan governor at the centre of a growing political crisis over his refusal to stand down permitted his appointed successor on Tuesday to set foot in his province for a funeral, sources have told AFP.

It is the first time Mohammad Daud has publicly visited Balkh since President Ashraf Ghani's office announced on December 18 that he would replace Atta Mohammad Noor as governor of the northern province.

Noor, nicknamed "King of the North", has refused to leave the post he has held since 2004, rejecting a claim by Ghani's office that he had resigned and throwing up a challenge to the president's authority.

The tussle with Noor -- which many fear could turn violent -- comes at a bad time for Ghani, whose government faces a deteriorating security situation with the Taliban and the Islamic State group stepping up attacks in recent months.

The crisis in Balkh has caused concern in Washington as well, and was on the agenda during a phone call between Vice President Mike Pence and President Ghani on Tuesday.

"The Vice President emphasized his support for the Afghan government to engage with Balkh Governor Atta and conduct a peacefully negotiated transition of leadership," said a readout of the call released by the White House.

Afghan and Western sources told AFP that Daud flew from Kabul, where he has been working during the dispute, to the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif to attend his father's funeral after Ghani's office struck a deal with Noor.

Under the agreement, Daud will return to the Afghan capital after the ceremony, highlighting the enormous power Noor still wields despite being officially stripped of his position.

Daud exited the airport near Mazar-i-Sharif surrounded by heavy security before and was whisked away in an armoured SUV on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said.

- Power struggle -

For the past month, Noor has made almost daily speeches to hundreds of supporters that have been broadcast live on television, highlighting the intense interest in the stand-off between the strongman and the president.

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His Jamiat-e-Islami party -- dominated by ethnic Tajiks -- has been locked in negotiations with the presidential palace as the government tries to end the dispute peacefully and avoid an outbreak of violence.

"I am the governor and will remain so unless there is an agreement reached in the ongoing talks between Jamiat and the Arg (presidential palace). I will agree to the decision by Jamiat," Noor said defiantly on Tuesday.

One of his close aides told AFP that Daud was allowed to have three bodyguards during his visit to Mazar-i-Sharif and could remain in the city as a private citizen. If the appointed governor engaged in any political activity, he would have to leave.

Noor has hinted that he may run for the presidency in Afghanistan's next election, expected in 2019.

While President Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, has not yet confirmed if he will run again, Western diplomats say he is trying to weaken or remove potential rivals ahead of the poll.

"Ghani believes the days of the warlords are over... (and) is trying to make an example of him (Noor)," a Western diplomat told AFP recently.

Noor has long been a thorn in the side of Ghani.

He recently called for the return of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek warlord who fled to Turkey in May after he was accused of arranging the rape and torture of a political rival in 2016. Dostum has denied the allegations.

Tensions between Afghanistan's ethnic groups can often dominate the country's politics.

Last year, Noor met the country's deputy chief executive Mohammad Mohaqiq, a senior figure in the mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic community, as well as Dostum in Turkey to form the "Coalition for the Salvation of Afghanistan".
(COPENHAGEN, Denmark)  Inventor Peter Madsen was charged Tuesday with killing Swedish journalist Kim Wall during a trip on his private submarine, with prosecutors saying he either cut her throat or strangled her before dismembering her body and dumping it into the sea.

Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen called the case very unusual and extremely disturbing.

Madsen, 47, is charged with murder, dismemberment and indecent handling of a corpse for the way he disposed of Walls body. He is also charged with having sexual relations with Wall, 30, of a particularly dangerous nature before she was killed.

The charges were made public by the Danish prosecution authority.

Buch-Jepsen said the killing was premeditated. Prosecutors will urge that Madsen be sentenced to life in prison, or be locked up in a secure mental facility if deemed necessary by psychiatrists for as long as hes considered sick and dangerous to others.

There is much technical evidence but I wont go into details right now, Buch-Jepsen told a brief news conference. He also declined to comment on Madsens motive.

Evidence must be presented in court and not in the media, he said, adding he also didnt want to comment out of respect for Walls family.

Madsens defense lawyer Betina Hald Engmark had no immediate comment in reaction to the charges, adding her client still denies murdering Wall.

Madsen and Wall had gone on a trip in Madsens submarine on Aug. 10. Wall, who was working on a story about Madsen, was last seen aboard the vessel as it left Copenhagen. The next day, Madsen  an entrepreneur who once dreamed of launching a manned space mission  was rescued from the sinking submarine without Wall.

Police believe he deliberately sank the vessel.

Madsen has offered a shifting variety of explanations for Walls death. Initially, he told authorities he had dropped Wall off on an island several hours after their voyage began. Then he claimed that Wall died accidentally inside the submarine while he was on deck during the excursion and he had buried her at sea. However, he later admitted throwing her body parts into the sea.

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Walls dismembered, naked torso was found on a southern Copenhagen shoreline in late August. Her head, legs and clothes were discovered in bags at sea in October, along with heavy metal objects designed to take them to the ocean floor.

Multiple knife wounds had been found on her torso and Buch-Jepsen said Tuesday Madsen had stabbed Wall several times while she was alive but declined to elaborate.

Authorities also want to destroy Madsens submarine.

Madsens trial starts March 8 and a verdict is expected on April 25.
Australia said Wednesday it was taking legal action against Canada at the WTO over "arbitrary and disadvantageous" restrictions against imported wine, expanding on a similar US complaint.

Canberra said the measures by several provinces hurt trade with Australia's fourth-largest export market for wine, valued at Aus$185 million (US$147 million).

The move comes amid concerns that Canada is seeking to curb access to its markets in the face of efforts to resuscitate the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal after the US pulled out.

"Australia has requested formal (World Trade Organisation) consultations on measures discriminating against Australian wine imports that we consider to be clearly inconsistent with Canada's WTO commitments," Australia Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said in a statement.

Ciobo said the measures included extra taxes, fees and mark-ups on imported wine, separate distribution channels reserved for local wine and restricting the sale of imported wine in grocery stores to a "store within a store".

This meant imported wine was sold in a separate section and cash register at a grocery store, unlike local varieties which retail openly on shop shelves.

Australia's complaint expands on a similar US argument filed one year ago against British Columbia, and encompasses other provinces including Ontario and Quebec.

WTO consultations are the first stage in a dispute-settlement action. If the issue is not resolved within 60 days, Australia could then request a WTO panel of experts to review the case.

The action came just months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threw a spanner in the works during efforts to resurrect TPP on the sidelines of the annual APEC summit in Vietnam in November when he pushed for some stronger protections.

But Ciobo said the Australian complaint was unrelated to Trudeau's actions at the summit, although he conceded it was "disappointing" the Canadian leader did not sign up to an agreement on the TPP, which now involves 11 countries after the United States withdrew last year.

"The fact is we have continued to see an erosion of, for lack of a better term, liberalised market access into Canada," he told ABC Radio Wednesday.

The trade dispute came a day before Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull meets with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, with the survival of the TPP one of the key items on their agenda.
By Ruma Paul and Yi-mou Lee DHAKA/YANGON (Reuters) - Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed on Tuesday to complete within two years the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled an army crackdown last year in Myanmar. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), responding to the plan, said they were concerned about forcibly repatriating over 650,000 Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a conflict erupted in western Rakhine state in August. Statements from the Myanmar and Bangladesh foreign ministries said Bangladesh would set up five transit camps on its side of the border. Those camps would send Rohingyas to two reception centers in Myanmar. The repatriation process would start next Tuesday, the statements said. Myanmar said it would build a transit camp that can house 30,000 returnees. The Bangladesh statement said: "Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to stop (the) outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh." Guterres said the UNHCR had not been involved directly in the agreement. "It will be very important to have UNHCR fully involved in the operation to guarantee that the operations abide by international standards," he said. "A huge effort of reconciliation is needed to allow it to take place properly," Guterres told reporters. "The worst would be to move these people from camps in Bangladesh to camps in Myanmar, keeping an artificial situation for a long time and not allowing for them to regain their normal lives." Myanmar stressed the need for both sides to take preventive measures against possible Rohingya attacks and said it gave Dhaka a list with the names of 1,000 alleged militants. The crisis erupted after Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts on Aug. 25 in Rakhine triggered a fierce military response that the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing. Some 650,000 people fled the violence. The military denies ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces mounted legitimate counter-insurgency clearance operations. The Bangladesh statement called for repatriating orphans and "children born out of unwarranted incidence," a reference to cases of rape resulting in pregnancy, said a Bangladesh foreign ministry official who declined to be identified. The rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar's security forces was widespread, according to interviews with women conducted at displacement camps by U.N. medics and activists. The military denies it was involved in any sexual assaults. VERIFICATION PROCESS A UNHCR spokesman said on Tuesday the Rohingya should return voluntarily only when they feel it is safe to do so. Major challenges have to be overcome, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a news briefing in Geneva. These include ensuring they are told about the situation in their areas of origin ... and are consulted on their wishes, that their safety is ensured. The United States expressed similar concerns. "The timeline is less important to us than the ability for people to safely and voluntarily go home," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Nauert, who visited the region last year, noted that it has only been a few months since large numbers of Rohingya fled their homes. "I can't imagine anyone would feel safe at this point in returning," she said, adding that the people she met were frail, scared and in no way ready to return. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay told Reuters last week the returnees could apply for citizenship "after they pass the verification process." Myanmar does not recognize its Rohingya minority as citizens, rendering them effectively stateless. Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary at Myanmar's Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, told Reuters this month that Myanmar would begin processing at least 150 people a day through each of the two camps by Jan. 23. The meeting that concluded on Tuesday in Myanmar's capital, Naypyitaw, was the first for a joint working group set up to hammer out the details of a November repatriation agreement. Left out of the talks were the fears and concerns of the refugees themselves, "as if they are an inert mass of people who will go where and when they are told," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters in an email. "LIVING LIKE PRISONERS" A group of refugees at the Kutupalong Rohingya camp near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh expressed doubt about the camps Myanmar has agreed to establish on its side of the border. Mohammad Farouk, 20, who arrived in Bangladesh following the Aug. 25 attacks, said exchanging one camp for another made little difference - except "the camps in Myanmar will be far worse, because we will be confined there and there will be a risk to our lives. Another resident of the Kutupalong camp compared the new transit camps to ones set up near the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe following bouts of violence in previous years "where people are living like prisoners. First, ask the military to give those Rohingya their homes and property back, then talk to us about returning, said the Rohingya refugee, who did not want to be identified. Some said the kind of violence they witnessed toward their community in Myanmar made it hard for them to trust the military. Even if I dont get food or anything else here, at least there is safety. I wont feel safe if I go back to Myanmar, said Rashid Ahmed, 33. Some young men in the camp worried they might be arrested on accusations of terrorism if they returned to Myanmar. Camp conditions in Bangladesh are dire enough, but more than 520,000 Rohingya children are at even greater risk ahead of the cyclone season that generally begins in April, the United Nations Children's Fund said on Tuesday. "They will face an even greater risk of disease, flooding, landslides and further displacement, said Edouard Beigbeder, the UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh. Nearly 1 million Rohingya live in Bangladesh, including those who came after previous displacements dating back to the 1990s. (Reporting by Ruma Paul and Yi-mou Lee; Additional reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Cox's Bazar, Shoon Naing and Serajul Quadir in Dhaka, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry, David Alexander and Leslie Adler)
WASHINGTON  One week after Senate Democrats warned that U.S. elections in 2018 and 2020 could still be vulnerable to meddling by Moscow, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on Wednesday detailed how a new bipartisan bill aims to deter Moscow by imposing punishing sanctions in retaliation for future mischief.

If youre Vladimir Putin, and youre thinking about interfering once again in the U.S. elections, youre going to have to think long and hard, Van Hollen said in an interview with Yahoo News on the SiriusXM show Politics of the United States.

Van Hollen and Sen. Marco Rubio, R.-Fla., co-authored the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines, or DETER Act, which requires the director of national intelligence to inform Congress, within 30 days after an election, of any foreign meddling. In the event of interference from Moscow, the administration would be required to impose new sanctions on Russian banks and the Russian oil industry.

The bill would automatically trigger very harsh economic sanctions to avoid the possibility that the White House, which has sought better relations with the Kremlin, might delay implementation of new sanctions, the Maryland Democrat said. This proposal would give no discretion to the administration in that area.

The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Russia tried to help President Trump in the 2016 election, by stealing and releasing Democratic emails and by flooding social media with propaganda designed to divide America and hurt Hillary Clinton. Trump has repeatedly called into question these findings, and condemned special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into whether the presidents campaign worked with Moscow as a witch hunt or a hoax. Putin has denied Washingtons accusations.

Asked how the legislation defines interference, Van Hollen laid out three main varieties: outright hacking of states elections systems to muck around with voter registration or results; paid advertising that targets U.S. voters; and efforts to flood social media with false information intended to influence the outcome of elections.

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Earlier this month, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said that Russia aimed to undermine future U.S. elections, including the November 2018 midterms, in which Republican congressional majorities are at risk. Pompeo also said Moscow had tried to undermine American democracy for decades, without spelling out how.

Van Hollen said he was not aware of such a years-long effort, and certainly not to the degree that we just saw.

Pompeos comment is a really blatant effort to minimize what happened in the last election, Van Hollen said. And, he added, whatever Moscow was doing was nothing on the scale of what we saw in 2016.

Read more from Yahoo News:
The Hague (AFP) - A group of British citizens living in the Netherlands launched a potentially far-reaching court challenge Wednesday over their rights as European citizens, currently being negotiated between Brussels and London in Brexit talks.

The five British claimants, including a director of a US firm who has lived in the lowlands country for the past 24 years, are arguing that they have independent rights as EU citizens over and above being citizens of any specific EU member country.

The group which has dragged the Dutch government before the court, insist their legal rights as EU citizens -- including freedom of movement -- should therefore remain and be protected by The Netherlands even after Brexit, which is scheduled for March 29 next year.

They are now asking an Amsterdam judge to refer the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg which deals with European legislation for clarity and an answer, their lawyer said.

"We've told the judge that Britons living in the Netherlands need clarity over their status as European citizens after Brexit," Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm told AFP.

"British Prime Minister Theresa May said 'Brexit means Brexit' only the problem is that nobody knows what that entails," he said.

Should the European Court indeed rule that Britons have separate implicit rights as EU citizens, it could potentially have massive implications for around a million British subjects living in member state countries, observers say.

"Part of the implication is that it could cause a serious delay or an issue" in the Brexit negotiations, said one of the plaintiffs, Stephen Huyton.

It could also guarantee that certain rights including the very important freedom of movement and residency will be upheld after Brexit, he said.

- 'Bewilderment, frustration' -

"For me personally, it's very much a question of wishing to have clarity," Huyton told AFP.

"Politicians are negotiating with people's lives. We have a right to have some clarity, not at the eleventh hour, but now, so that we can get on with our lives," said Huyton, 58, who moved to the Netherlands in 1993.

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"For a lot of us there's a sense of bewilderment, frustration -- especially because many of us were denied a vote during the Brexit referendum," he said, referring to the rule that bars Britons from voting if they lived outside the United Kingdom for longer than 15 years.

Huyton added there was also great uncertainty for his three children, aged 24, 22 and 19 over what will happen when Britain formally leaves the EU next year.

His two sons, aged 22 and 19 are studying in Britain, are British citizens, but have Dutch residencies and currently remain European citizens.

"Once the UK leaves, is their European residency still valid? That's one of the questions... not yet answered," he said.

An initial deal reached in December on Brexit divorce terms is clear on guaranteeing post-Brexit rights of Britons already living in the bloc and of their EU counterparts based in Britain with family members able to claim residence.

But the agreement gave Britons living in EU countries no guarantees for automatic residency rights -- and questions about free movement beyond any transition period remains.

The Amsterdam court is scheduled to hand down its written ruling on February 7, the group's lawyer Thijm said.
PERRIS, Calif. (Reuters) - The 13 people rescued from captivity in a Southern California home on Sunday were the biological children of their captors, police Captain Gregory Fellows told reporters on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Alan Devall; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Since President Trump took office a year ago, much ink has been spilled over his unprecedented war with the media. The incessant refrain of fake news, repeated every time a story displeases him (and promoted via Trumps own long-promised, long-delayed Fake News Awards, now scheduled for Wednesday night). The calls for boycotts, lawsuits and license challenges. The threat to open up libel laws. The descriptions of reporters and news organizations as pathetic, scum, disgusting, very dishonest, failing and even the enemy of the American people.

But while Trumps hostility toward the press may be unusual in its intensity, vulgarity and openness, pretty much every president since the dawn of the republic has expressed some form of frustration with the institution  and over the last few decades, politicians of every rank, particularly Republican politicians, have found that trashing the media can be a very useful way to rile up their voters.

In other words, were sort of used to it at this point.

Thats why it was remarkable when, shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican who has mostly supported Trumps agenda, if not his manners, rose on the floor of the Senate to deliver a blistering rebuke of the media critic in chief  and a passionate, unapologetic defense of a free press.

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government, Flake said. The impulses underlying the dissemination of such untruths are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.

Flakes speech was so out of the ordinary, in fact  so unfashionable in its praise of the press  that it raised a previously unthinkable question: Could we be seeing the beginnings of backlash? Has Trumps antimedia aggression forced at least some otherwise skeptical Americans to recognize that, despite its flaws, the media is more than just a political punching bag  that it actually has a vital role to play in our democracy?

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Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. (Photo: Senate TV via AP)

In his remarks, Flake  a longtime Trump critic who announced in October in a similarly stern floor speech that he would not be running for reelection  catalogued the most glaring of the presidents official untruths, from his bizarre contention regarding the crowd size at last years inaugural to his oft-repeated conspiracy about the birthplace of President Obama; from his pernicious fantasies about rigged elections and massive voter fraud to the supposed hoax at the heart of special counsel Robert Muellers Russian investigation.

Flake went on to note that, in their own attempts to delegitimize unflattering coverage, a rogues gallery of repressive autocrats  Syrian President Bashar Assad, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro  have now taken to parroting Trumps cry of fake news whenever the facts dont suit them.

This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr. President, Flake said. Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language. This is reprehensible.

Finally, Flake chastised his Senate colleagues for ignoring Trumps efforts to undermine the First Amendment  and demanded that they, too, speak out in the future.

No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence, Flake said. Together, my colleagues, we are powerful. Together, we have it within us to turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism. Together, united in the purpose to do our jobs under the Constitution, without regard to party or party loyalty, let us resolve to be allies of the truth  and not partners in its destruction.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP

In response to Flakes broadside, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that Flake was not criticizing the president because hes against oppression; hes criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers and is looking for some attention.

Its unlikely, of course, that Flakes fellow Republicans will echo his comparison of Trump to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who, as Flake pointed out, also applied the phrase enemy of the people to anyone he wanted to get rid of. After Flake spoke, two senators  Dick Durbin of Illinois and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota  stood to applaud and second his remarks. Both were Democrats.

Nor is it likely that Trumps base will desert him over an issue as abstract as the First Amendment. Our politics are too tribal for that; Trump voters love when he attacks elite East Coast institutions, the media chief among them.

But what about the millions of other Americans like Flake, uneasy with Trump but hardly liberal, wary of the medias biases but cognizant of its central constitutional role? Could Trumps rancor toward reporters backfire with that group?

The press itself is banking on it. As Voxs Matt Yglesias has pointed out, whats particularly striking about Trumps relationship with the mainstream press is the extent to which the pretense of an oppositional relationship with the White House has become a marketing tool.

Yglesias continues:

CNNs facts first branding campaign, rolled out last fall, was pitched to the press as an effort to blunt Trump attacks on the network.  The Washington Post, similarly, newly adopted the slogan Democracy Dies in Darkness last year, pitching reading the Post not only as a way to be informed or entertained but also as a form of civic duty and obligation. [And] The New York Times, a for-profit, publicly traded company, last year began soliciting money from readers with a quasi-charitable pitch, emphasizing the idea that buying gift subscriptions is a means of supporting the companys mission.

There are signs that the medias Trump-era rebranding campaign is working. Subscriptions and traffic at both the Times and the Post hit record highs in 2017, and Steven Spielbergs The Post, a movie that dramatizes that papers decision to defy another hostile administration by publishing the Pentagon Papers, has beat box-office expectations.

Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in The Post. (Photo: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox)

Yet if Flake truly intends to counter Trumps fake news onslaught, he still has a long way to go  especially if he wants the backlash to include members of his own party. According to a new Knight-Gallup poll, a majority of Americans consider fake news a very serious threat to our democracy, and 73 percent say the spread of inaccurate information on the internet is a major problem with news coverage today.

But the poll also showed that Republicans and Democrats disagree over what actually constitutes fake news. For Democrats, the term tends to mean untrue stories. For Republicans, it tends to mean unfriendly ones, with four in 10 claiming that accurate reports that nonetheless cast a politician or political group in a negative light can always be dismissed as fake news. As a result, trust in the press has sunk to an all-time low among Republicans.

In 1976  after Watergate and Vietnam; after the Pentagon Papers and All the Presidents Men  72 percent of Americans told Gallup that they had either a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media. Those days are almost certainly never coming back.

Still, on Wednesday, a sitting Republican senator took an unconventional step. He argued that restoring at least some of that trust is essential  and that his own partys president should stop working to further erode it. The question now is whether other Republicans bother to amplify Flakes message  or whether it gets simply gets drowned out by Trumps latest antics.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., after speaking in the Senate, Jan. 17, 2018. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

In the meantime, the media itself would be wise to follow the advice of the late Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, whom Tom Hanks is currently portraying on screen in The Post.

We hunker down and go about our business, Bradlee once told an interviewer who asked how he handled criticism. Which is not to be loved  but to go after the truth.

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Read more from Yahoo News:
Canadas Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, centre, poses for a photo with Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono, second from left, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, second from right, and South Koreas Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha, right, along with other foreign ministers on Jan. 16, 2018. Photo from The Canadian Press.

At the crossroads of war and peace, Canada is trying to assert itself as a global leader.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared Canada is back and here to help. The Liberal government has committed to re-engaging Canada in world affairs.

So it shouldnt come as a surprise that Canada thrusted itself into the North Korean nuclear crisis with an international conference Tuesday in Vancouver, which was co-hosted by the U.S.

The meeting featured foreign ministers from 20 countries, including South Korea and Japan. Most of the participants fought on the UN side of the 1950-53 Korean War. However, there were some notable omissions.

North Korea, Russia and China, countries that fought on the communist side of the war, did not have seats at the table, and that could be seen as a missed opportunity.

The other side is not represented at all, Carleton University history professor Jacob Kovalio told Yahoo Canada. And of course, this tells us something.

Before the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reportedly called the meeting destructive. On Wednesday, China condemned it as a continuation of Cold War thinking.





Progress made on Korean Peninsula

Kovalio says the best thing that couldve come out of the conference in Vancouver wouldve been a statement of support for continued dialogue between the two Koreas, which is what happened.

The meeting on North Korea vows to support progress in inter-Korean dialogue in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions, a joint statement that followed the meeting said. Participants at the North Korea meeting agreed that a diplomatic solution is both essential and possible.

The participants also agreed to explore new measures against the North Korean regime, which has refused to back down from developing its missile and nuclear programs in the face of tough sanctions.

There have been signs of hope in recent days.

North and South Korea began re-engaged in diplomatic talks on Jan. 9 after more than two years of disengagement. The negotiations resulted in North Koreas participation in the Olympic Games in Pyongchang, South Korea.

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On Wednesday, Seoul announced the two sides would form a joint team and march together in the opening ceremony.





Signs of the old China continuing

The real question is whether anything resulting from this conference will actually have an impact. And realistically, does Canada have a key role to play in the pursuit of peace in Korea?

In short, the answer is no, because according to Kovalio, this issue is all about China and their long game aimed at reducing U.S. influence in Asia.

The professor acknowledged how Canada, the U.S., China and others have agreed to UN sanctions, which have imposed even harsher sanctions against North Korea. But recently, there have been signs of the old China continuing, Kovalio said.

In other words, the Chinese voting in favour of sanctions at the UN Security Council, and then undermining them in two ways.

Beijing is facilitating the supplies of oil to the North Korean while pushing real heavy sanctions against Seoul, Kovalio explained.

For example, China banned tourists from travelling to South Korea as a retaliation for Seouls interest in expanding the U.S.-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defence system, the professor said.

Beijing is trying to force Seoul against having an anti-missile defence system on the Korean Peninsula while only going through the motions on UN sanctions against North Korea, Kovalio explained.

The professor told Yahoo Canada that Chinas long game is simple: gradually undermine the U.S. influence in southeast Asia by proving the U.S. to be a paper tiger, which is an entity that appears dangerous, but lacks real power.





Eyes on UN Security Council seat

As for Canada, it may be difficult for the Trudeau administration to appear as the broker of peace when they are supporting sanctions against North Korea. But there are some things the Canadians could do to show leadership.

Demonstrating support for allies in Washington, D.C., and Seoul to stop their massive military exercises on the Korean Peninsula could ease tensions. The two countries have already agreed to delay their joint maneuvers until after the Olympics, which have been known to infuriate the North.

Canada could also appeal to China for real, substantive action aimed at influencing North Korea. But that begins with bringing China to the table, which was not accomplished this week in Vancouver.

Trudeau has made it clear the Liberals have their eyes set on holding a seat on the UN Security Council. The election is set to take place in 2020 and Canada is currently competing against Norway and Ireland.

A spot on the council would be a nice feather in the cap for the Liberals, an accomplishment that eluded the country under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

But it might take more than co-hosting conferences with allies to get the world on board with Trudeaus intentions to help, especially regarding an issue like North Koreas nuclear program, where Canada doesnt wield much influence.

And if there is to be a meeting aimed at securing peace, that might be more attainable with the inclusion of parties with the power to make a difference.
Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West have announced that their third child, a daughter, was born on Monday via surrogate. We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give, Kardashian West said in a blog post sharing the news.

They are the latest celebrity couple to raise awareness about this method of having a child, in which a third party carries the pregnancy on behalf of the parents. Its an idea with extremely old origins  as TIME has noted previously, the Old Testament story of Abraham and Hagar conceiving a child with his wife Sarahs blessing is essentially a story of surrogacy  but it has only become more widely known and debated in the United States in the last three decades, thanks in large part to a controversial and headline-grabbing case that got the nation talking about the subject.

Heres what happened: In 1985, a biochemist named Bill Stern and his pediatrician wife Elizabeth Stern, faced with the fact that Elizabeths multiple sclerosis would prevent her from carrying a pregnancy, hired a woman named Mary Beth Whitehead to bear a child fathered by Bill Stern via artificial insemination. (Kardashian West reportedly also chose surrogacy because of health concerns.) As TIME explained to readers as the case developed, Whitehead had come forward to be a surrogate out of a desire to help a couple facing infertility, and underwent testing and counseling before being matched with the Sterns, who agreed to pay her $10,000 along with other fees and payment to the clinic that arranged the surrogacy. When the baby was born, he or she would be the Sterns child.

But when the time came, it became clear that things were not quite so straightforward. Because laws about surrogacy at the time were not well developed, the rights of those involved were unclear.

Whitehead began to have misgivings about handing over the girl she named Sara Elizabeth and the Sterns named Melissa Elizabeth, TIME reported. She refused the agreed-upon payment from the Sterns, so the money was put in an escrow account. A few days later the Sterns agreed to let Whitehead keep the baby for a short time. When the child was not returned after several weeks, the tug-of-war began.

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Whitehead and her husband eventually fled with the baby  known as Baby M  to Florida, where they were located months later by police so the baby could be returned to the Sterns. (Whitehead was granted visitation rights while the case was being decided.)

At issue was more than a fight between two families. As TIME summed up the decision a judge would have to make four months later, He could treat the case mainly as a contract dispute, rule that the contract is valid and award the child to the Sterns. Or he could opt to treat it basically as a custody battle; then the best interests of the child would be the guiding principle. The ethical questions would be harder for one judge to decide, as the story explained:

Has [society] imperiled its most venerable notions of kinship and the bond between mother and child? Has it opened the way to a dismal baby industry, in which well-to-do couples rent out the wombs of less affluent women, sometimes just to spare themselves the inconvenience of pregnancy? Yet if surrogacy is prohibited, has a promising way for childless couples to have families been denied them? And what if the truest answer to those questions is also the most problematical  yes to all the above?

In February 1988, the New Jersey Supreme Court ended up granting the Sterns custody, with Whitehead getting visitation rights that were expanded over time. But at the same time the justices voided the 1985 contract in which the Sterns agreed to pay Whitehead $10,000, concluding that paying women to be surrogate mothers was illegal, perhaps criminal, and potentially degrading to women. As Chief Justice Robert Wilentz wrote: There are, in a civilized society, some things that money cannot buy.

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The fact that it happened in New Jersey, with New York Citys media hub so close by, is a big reason why this case got so much attention, argues Susan Markens, author of Surrogate Motherhood and the Politics of Reproduction and professor of Sociology at Lehman College. But the moment in time mattered as well.

Its after the womens movement, a period of changing gender norms, she explains, which meant changing conceptions of how to be a mother as well as more awareness of a perceived sense of increased infertility. Part of that had to do with the growing number of women joining the labor force and putting off having kids until later in life, when they might have greater difficulties with infertility. As a result, more people were wondering about alternative options.

So, somewhat ironically, even as the Baby M case raised awareness of the potential thorniness of surrogacy, it also raised awareness of the process as an option for people struggling to have a baby. According to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, 2,807 babies were born through surrogacy in the U.S. in 2015, up from 738 in 2004.



In the years since, the concept  paid and unpaid alike  has become more accepted. In addition, in vitro fertilization also started to take off around then, with the first IVF baby born in 1978, Markens notes, which made surrogacy easier in some ways. As TIME reported in 2015, while the New York State Assembly considered legalizing paid surrogacy, Experts now recommend gestational surrogacy, where a surrogate fetus is implanted with an embryo made from donor sperm and egg  as opposed to traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate is inseminated with sperm. In the latter case, the carrier is genetically related to the child.

After Baby M, New Jersey banned paid surrogacy. It remains one of just a handful of states that ban it, while nearly two dozen states are thought to allow the practice. Across the board, even if paid surrogacy practice is not illegal, the laws are still unclear and vary on exactly who is protected. And in some cases, the contracts that surrogate mothers sign with the babys parents may not be legally binding, as one Pew Charitable Trusts article notes.

So Markens explains, in terms of meaningful laws, not too much has changed. After all, despite greater awareness, many of the deeper questions that floated around Baby M still persist. As Markens puts it, Theres no social cultural consensus on the issue, so its hard to get anything passed.

But, with the West family welcoming one of the new most famous faces of surrogacy, awareness of the option is only bound to increase.
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CT Attorney General George Jepsen[/caption] Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is among attorneys general from 21 states and the District of Columbia who have launched a legal battle challenging the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to repeal established net neutrality rules.Jepsen and AGs from states including California, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania filed a petition for review of the decision Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They argue that the FCC's controversial Jan. 4 order restoring the framework for regulating internet service providers to what it was in 2015 is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. The petition calls the FCC's order unconstitutional and in violation of the Communications Act of 1934, and asks the court to vacate the decision pending final review. "The Internet should always remain open and free," Jepsen said in a media release Tuesday. "In the face of the FCC's action, and the inaction of Congressional leadership to right this obvious wrong, state attorneys general are today taking this first step in asking the court to overturn the FCC's order. I'm proud to stand with my colleagues in strong support of net neutrality and opposed to the FCC's illegal action." Concurrently, New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman called an open internet "critical to our democratic process in a public statement supporting the petition. The repeal of net neutrality would turn internet service providers into gatekeepersallowing them to put profits over consumers while controlling what we see, what we do, and what we say online. This would be a disaster for New York consumers and businesses, and for everyone who cares about a free and open internet. The FCC voted in December to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which banned content blocking and throttling practices by internet service providers (ISPs). The FCC's new order would allow ISPs to favor or disfavor certain content or content providers and charge more for certain content. A spokesperson from the FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In defending the vote to repeal the rules last month, Republican FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the internet would remain open to all Americans.Following todays vote, Americans will still be able to access the websites they want to visit," Pai said. "They will still be able to enjoy the services they want to enjoy. There will still be cops on the beat guarding a free and open Internet. This is the way things were prior to 2015, and this is the way they will be once again.The states plan to argue the new rules unlawfully pre-empt state and local laws concerning net neutrality, and wrongly reclassify broadband internet as a Title I information service instead of a Title II telecommunications service, which would subject ISPs to certain regulations under the Communications Act.State AGs were not the only ones to go to court over the issue Tuesday. In a blog post, internet company Mozilla also said it would file a petition in the federal court in Washington, as did the nonprofit group Public Knowledge. In June 2016, the D.C. Circuit upheld President Barack Obama-era rules that barred internet service providers from blocking certain content or slowing down internet speed, after twice remanding the issue to the agency.
Boiling lobsters alive  a common practice for cooks transforming the popular crustaceans into a meal  will soon be illegal in Switzerland.

The Swiss government ruled last week that lobsters must be stunned before they are cooked and kept in a natural environment rather than on ice or in ice water. The new law, set to be enacted in March 2018, follows similar ones in Italy and New Zealand.

Live crustaceans, including the lobster, may no longer be transported on ice or in ice water, the new law says, according to SwissInfo. Aquatic species must always be kept in their natural environment. Crustaceans must now be stunned before they are killed.

There has long been a debate among scientists and researchers about whether lobsters feel pain at all. Initially, researchers have concluded animals like lobsters and insects feel no pain thanks to simple nervous systems.

More recent research has showed that crustaceans like lobsters may feel pain. A 2013 study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology found crabs choose to avoid an electric shock when exposed to it. Even if you are reluctant to believe the data as being suggestive [that the animals experience pain], is it worthwhile imposing this on billions of animals every year throughout the world? Bob Elwood of Queens University Belfast told BBC in 2013.

Switzerlands decision was lauded by the United Kingdom of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.). In 2013, the group created a video showing the slaughter of crustaceans like lobsters and crabs.
Scott Walker (right) warned the result was a 'wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin': (AP)

A Democrat has won a special election for a state senate seat which had been held by Republicans for the past 17 years.

Patty Schachtner beat Republican Adam Jarchow by nine points in Wisconsins rural 10th Senate District - yet another victory for Democrats in a district Donald Trump won by 17 points in the presidential election just over a year ago.

In 2016, former Republican incumbent Sheila Harsdorf took the seat with 63.2 per cent of the vote. She had held the post since 2001, but left in November to become Republican Governor Scott Walkers agriculture secretary, paving the way for Tuesday nights upset.

It is the 34th state district to flip from Republican red to Democrat blue since Mr Trumps election victory, according to the Democrat Legislative Campaign Committee.

Mr Walker warned the result was a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin", ahead of national midterm elections in November that will see all 435 seats in the House of Representatives contested, as well as 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate, including those in Wisconsin. It will also see the governors office up for grabs.

Senate District 10 special election win by a Democrat is a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin.  Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) January 17, 2018

Ms Schachtner, who is the chief medical examiner for St Croix County, said in a statement: This campaign was about investing in people and revitalizing our area, whether that is making sure that every Wisconsinite has access to affordable health care, funding our public schools, technical colleges and University of Wisconsin campuses, or investing in good-paying jobs.

She added: Tonight, voters showed that they share those priorities, and I am deeply grateful for their support.

Republican supporters appeared to fear the district was vulnerable. According to USA Today, a group backed by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity, spent at least $50,000 (36,268) on adverts for Mr Jarchow, the first time it backed a specific candidate.

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Despite the victory, Republicans still control the state legislature with an 18-14 majority.

Even in other special elections - held to fill a vacancy when a senator dies or resigns - that went against them, Democrats tended to fare better than in previous years.

Democrat Dennis Degenhardt won 43 per cent of the vote in Wisconsins 58th Assembly District  a seat the party failed to even contest in 2016.

In South Carolina, Cindy Boatwright also gained 43 per cent of the vote in a seat the party had not contested in a decade.

The fresh election blow to conservatives comes just a month after Democrat Doug Jones scored a stunning victory over Republican firebrand Roy Moore to win the vacant Senate seat in deep red Alabama.

Mr Trump ultimately endorsed Mr Moore, despite a series of women alleging he had made advances on them when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers, including multiple women who accused him of assault. Mr Moore denied the allegations and dismissed them as an attempt to undermine his campaign.
Derek Jeter might get his way and get rid of the Marlins Home Run Sculpture. (AP)

Thus far, Derek Jeters reign as Miami Marlins head honcho has been decidedly about following his own plan. Thats meant trading popular players, firing franchise fixtures and squeezing the teams payroll to the bare minimum  public perception be damned.

On Tuesday, Jeter set his sights on an altogether different pillar of the Marlins, the big colorful sculpture that sits in left-center field and goes off anytime a Marlins player homers. It had been reported back when Jeters ownership group took over, that he wanted to get rid of the home-run sculpture. Soon after, though, Jeter and his group were told they werent allowed to remove the sculpture because Marlins Park is public property and that decision doesnt fall under their jurisdiction.

Never a man to be denied, Jeter took the first steps Tuesday to getting rid of the sculpture. According to the Miami Herald, Jeter met with local elected officials who could help him ship the home-run sculpture out of Marlins Park just like he did Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez may turn out to be a powerful ally for Jeter in his quest. Gimenez was a vocal critic of previous Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and also doesnt like the sculpture  I just dont like it. I didnt like it from the get-go, he told The Herald  and now he seems to have gotten the countys cultural chief to change his mind about the sculpture too.

From The Heralds Douglas Hanks:

Until Tuesday, Miami-Dade was on record saying the sculpture could not be removed. The stadium itself is county property, and so is the sculpture  purchased as part of an Art in Public Places program that requires builders of county-owned buildings to install art works for the public. When word of Jeters reported distaste for the 72-foot sculpture leaked in August, the countys cultural chief, Michael Spring, said Homer was not moveable and was permanently installed after being designed specifically for Marlins Park.

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Spring had a different message Tuesday when he accompanied Gimenez to Marlins Park with the mayors chief of staff, Alex Ferro.

Anything is possible, said Spring, one of Gimenezs top deputies and an admirer of the sculpture. But it is pretty complicated. And I wanted the mayor and the Marlins to understand how complicated it really was. We got a good look at it today, and they saw how big it was. Theres hydraulics, theres plumbing, theres electricity. But anything is possible. We built it, Spring said. We can move it.

This afternoon @MayorGimenez toured @MarlinsPark with the team's new management. The mayor looks forward to working w/Mr. Jeter & @Marlins pic.twitter.com/43EbpyHO8L  Mike Hernandez (@HernandezMA5) January 16, 2018

To be clear, the home-run sculpture certainly isnt beloved by all Marlins fans. Some people enjoy it because its colorful and unique. Others look at it as a tacky, and a symbol of excess that represents Jeffrey Lorias reign as owner. Loria made his money as an art dealer, so the sculpture carries a pretty direct connection to Loria.

In that sense, removing it would be another way for the Marlins to demonstrate its a new era.

Besides, with Stanton and Ozuna gone, 96 of the Marlins 194 homers last season have been shipped out of town. Truth be told, the home-run sculpture might not get much work in the foreseeable future.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

     

Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
WASHINGTON  Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified under oath on Tuesday that she did not hear President Donald Trump refer to African nations as shithole countries during a meeting last week. However, she did not explicitly deny that Trump said something along those lines.

The conversation was very impassioned, Nielsen said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. I dont dispute that the president was using tough language. Others in the room were also using tough language.

When Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked her again whether Trump used vulgar language, she again declined to deny it.

The president used tough language in general as did other congressmen in the room, yes, sir, Nielsen said.

Nielsen went on to say that many individuals in the room used cuss words.

Since Thursday, various lawmakers and members of the Trump administration have been involved in a protracted he-said-she-said over whether Trump made racist comments during a meeting that day to discuss immigration. On Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) confirmed multiple reports that Trump had referred to African nations as shithole countries, lamented that the U.S. couldnt get more Norwegian immigrants instead and said Haitians should be sent out of the country.

The White House initially didnt deny the comments, but the president has since claimed that Durbin and others are lying, arguing that he is the least racist person despite a long history of remarks and actions that suggest otherwise. The latest White House spin is that Trump said shithouse and not shithole.

Nielsen said Tuesday that she did not hear the president say shithouse but said it was possible she missed it. Nielsen said she was more struck by hearing profanity from others in the room in front of the president.

The entire episode has illustrated one of the chief difficulties between the White House and lawmakers as some of them seek a solution to protect the hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who could lose deportation protections because Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Democrats and some Republicans want to secure those protections as a top priority, but theyre negotiating with a president who has continually derided immigrants and prioritized policies to either drive or keep them out.

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Thats true of what Trump wants as part of a DACA deal: border security and a wall; an end to the diversity visa lottery; and limits to family-based immigration, which he calls chain migration. Ending the diversity visa lottery  which Trump has falsely claimed involves other countries picking their worst people to come to the U.S.  would heavily affect Africans from the countries he reportedly dismissed.

Separately, his administration has ended temporary protected status for about 200,000 Salvadorans, 50,000 Haitians and 2,500 Nicaraguans, meaning that whether he said take them out or not, he has enacted policies that would have that effect.

Both Leahy and Durbin asked Nielsen about Trumps comments on Norwegians, whom he reportedly said he would like more of rather than immigrants from other countries.

Nielsen said Trump was alluding to his conversations with the Norwegian prime minister, explaining that people from the country work very hard and that Trump was giving compliments to Norway. She said Trump was simply using the country as an example to say he wanted an individual merit-based system.

Leahy, who had quipped that being from Norway is not a skill, asked: Norway is a predominantly white country, isnt it?

I actually do not know that, sir, but I imagine that is the case, Nielsen said.

Trump reportedly made his remarks about Norwegians around the same time he asked why the U.S. gets so many immigrants from African nations.

What I understood him to be saying is, lets move away from countries and lets look at the individual and make sure that those we bring here can contribute to our society, Nielsen said Tuesday.

Also on HuffPost

April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: Everythings coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. Its like a big mess. Blah. Its like vomit.

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": Were going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go."

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": Were rounding em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And theyre going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesnt sound nice. But not everything is nice.

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely."

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back  some will come back, the best, through a process.

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we dont. We either have a country or we dont. We have borders or we dont have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": Theyre going to go, and were going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... Theyre going to go, and then come back and come back legally.

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied  and every politician who has denied them  to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we dont have a country.

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldnt be in the country. They only come in the country legally.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Poor dog! As Gabriela C. drops her son off at school, the dog is not happy, she doesn't want her best buddy to leave, so sad! She tries with all her might to make her buddy stay but it isn't going to work. He has to go to school, he has no choice. When the kid finally is able to get out of the car, the dog is heart broken. Why is the back seat empty? How come her best buddy left him, it's not fair! Gabriela C. tries to calm her dog down but it doesn't seem to be working. She continues to whimper and move back and forth on the back seat. She is so sad, all she wants it to see her best friend again! When Gabriela tells her they will go back for him later, she starts to listen to her a little more, eventually she comes to the front seat with her. Great job! According to Gabriela C., this dog cries every morning after she drops off her son at school in Texas, USA. So adorable, they love each other so much! Is your kid getting ready to go back to school? Check out some of these super cool back packs

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Donald Trumps repulsive presidential statements on the media will be compared to the propaganda of Russian dictator Josef Stalin, according to a report, in a speech by a Republican senator this week.

Jeff Flake will take to the Senate floor on Wednesday to condemn the 71-year-olds presidency and his unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press, according to an excerpt obtained by The Washington Post.

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other time in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government," Mr Flake is expected to say.

He will continue: It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted.

He goes on to say Mr Trumps use of the phrase enemy of the people to describe the media was also infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies.

Mr Flake will note that Nikita Khrushchev, Stalins successor, banned the use of the term and told the Soviet Communist Party it was used by Stalin for the purpose of annihilating such individuals who disagreed with him.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the Presidents party, he will say. For they are shameful, repulsive statements.

Mr Flake, one of the few vocal critics of the President in the Republican party, will also insist a powerful figure who brands the press fake news should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

The speech will come just days after Mr Trump accused the Wall Street Journal of fake news after it reported the President as saying: I have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un.

Mr Trump insisted he said of the North Korean leader: Id have a relationship with Kim Jong-un.

Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters and they knew exactly what I said and meant, he added. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!

Story continues

Mr Flakes criticism comes despite his backing of almost all Mr Trumps positions in the Senate, including a failed attempt to repeal Obamacare and the successful overhaul of the US tax code, which was criticised as a tax cut for Americas wealthiest.

Excerpt of Jeff Flakes Wednesday Senate speech in full:

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other time in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine alternative facts into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods. It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. The enemy of the people, was what the President of the United States called the free press in 2017.

Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase enemy of the people," that even Nikita Khrushchev forbad its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of annihilating such individuals who disagreed with the supreme leader.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the presidents party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward  despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

I dare say that anyone who has the privilege and awesome responsibility to serve in this chamber knows that these reflexive slurs of fake news are dubious, at best. Those of us who travel overseas, especially at war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of US based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting the truth. To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to commitment and their sacrifice. Mr President, a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists documents that the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has reached 262, which is a new record. This total includes 21 reporters who are being held on false news charges.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan in the Oval Office: Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump did not cancel his visit to London over a bad deal, as he claimed, but out of fear that he would not be met with the adoring crowds he craved. Or so says the author of an explosive new book about the Trump White House.

Journalist Michael Wolff claims Mr Trump cancelled his trip because he felt he would come to the United Kingdom and he would not receive the love he believes he deserves.

"I think he was probably supported in this decision by the people around him, because they know bad things happen when this president does not receive the love he believes he deserves, Mr Wolff said.

He added: When he feels people are not according him proper respect, proper love, proper regard for him as a legitimate president, he goes crazy."

Mr Trump has repeatedly denounced Mr Wolff and his book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, as full of lies. He claims to have cancelled his visit to London  during which he planned to open the new US embassy  as payback for the bad deal his predecessor made in selling the old building.

Reason I cancelled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for peanuts, only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars, Mr Trump tweeted last week. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO.

The embassy deal was not inked during Mr Obama's tenure, but under his predecessor, George W Bush.

Mr Trumps visit has been a source of controversy since the day Prime Minister Theresa May suggested it, during her visit to the White House last January. Mr Trump has repeatedly stoked controversy in the country since then, retweeting far-right groups and accusing the government of failing to respond to terrorist attacks.

London Mayor Sadiq Kahn  one of Mr Trumps frequent targets  has also suggested that the President cancelled his state visit for fear of a less-than-warm reception.

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It appears that President Trump got the message from the many Londoners who love and admire America and Americans but find his policies and actions the polar opposite of our citys values of inclusion, diversity and tolerance, Mr Khan said. His visit next month would without doubt have been met by mass peaceful protests.

Numerous activist groups had pledged to take to the streets if Mr Trump visited, and MPs promised to bar the President from addressing Parliament. A petition against the visit garnered more than a million signatures last year.

Downing Street said only that an invitation for the visit "has been extended and accepted, but no date has been set.
Donald Trumps war with CNN continued yesterday after he unceremoniously kicked out a senior reporter from the Oval Office.

White House correspondent Jim Acosta was attempting to question the President about immigration policy but was failing to be heard.

Acosta yelled Mr President three times before Trump, who was meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan at the time, finally acknowledged him.

Donald Trump ordered CNN reporter Jim Acosta (far right) out of the Oval Office (Rex)

Trump was meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan when he was questioned about immigration (Getty)

Taking his chance, Acosta went in on the recent remarks that Trump is alleged to have made about what kind of immigrants he wants in the United States.

In chaotic scene, Acosta repeatedly shouted: Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr President?

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Trump responded: I want them to come in from everywhere everywhere. Thank you very much everybody.

Acosta was seemingly not happy with the response and attempted to push the President further, calling out: Just Caucasian or white countries, sir? Or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world people of colour?

Acosta claims he was later obstructed from questioning the President further (Getty)

When I tried to follow up on this in the Oval Office, Trump told me to get out. We then went to the Roosevelt Room where WH aides obstructed us from asking questions. https://t.co/vuEIv1jvso  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 16, 2018

As I attempted to ask questions in Roosevelt Room of Trump, WH press aides shouted in my face to drown out my questions. I have never encountered that before.  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 16, 2018

What occurred reminded me of something I would see in a different country. Certainly not at the WH. Certainly not in the U.S. https://t.co/hV6vPRe0p2  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 16, 2018

Look around the world and check out the countries that have government control over the media. They are not places where you want to live.  Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 27, 2017

Trump had apparently had enough at this point and simply pointed at Acosta and said: Out.

One of the Presidents team can then be heard saying Jim, thank you.

Acosta later took to Twitter to claim White House staffers obstructed him from asking questions at a meeting in the Roosevelt Room.
Donald Trump ordered a CNN reporter out of the Oval Office after he asked about the Presidents views on immigration.

Jim Acosta claimed aides shouted in my face after he tried to pin down Mr Trump on comments he allegedly made in a meeting with senators last week.

Mr Trump reportedly asked why people from s***hole countries wanted to come to the US, referring to El Salvador and unspecified African nations. He was also accused of saying we dont need more Haitians.

Reports of his comments provoked outrage, with Botswana hauling in the US ambassador to ask whether the President considered that country a s***hole.

During a question-and-answer session, as Mr Trump was thanking reporters for their time, Mr Acosta asked: Mr President, did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway?

Sitting next to President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Mr Trump continued to repeat, Thank you very much, before adding: I want them to come in from everywhere, everywhere.

At the same time, a female White House aide was heard thanking reporters for coming and apparently trying to end the session.

Mr Acosta then asked: Just Caucasian or white countries, sir, or you want people to come in from other parts of the world, people of colour?

The President fixed him with a stare, pointed and said: Out.

The aide then said: Jim, thank you.

Mr Acosta, CNNs chief White House correspondent, tweeted afterwards: In Oval Office pool spray, I asked why Trump wants more people to come in from Norway. He said he wants people to come in from everywhere.

When I tried to follow up on this in the Oval Office, Trump told me to get out. We then went to the Roosevelt Room where WH aides obstructed us from asking questions.

As I attempted to ask questions in Roosevelt Room of Trump, WH press aides shouted in my face to drown out my questions. I have never encountered that before.

What occurred reminded me of something I would see in a different country. Certainly not at the WH. Certainly not in the US.

Story continues

Mr Trump has denied using the term s***hole but admitted being tough during the meeting.

On Sunday, he told reporters he was the least racist person you have ever interviewed, adding: Im not a racist.
Donald Trump is yet to make a final decision but appears more likely to send only half of the planned first instalment to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Donald Trump has led the most unethical presidency in US history, according to a scathing report by a government ethics watchdog.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) accused the US President of conflating matters of public interest with decisions that benefit his bottom line.

Authors said a failure to address this crisis could cause lasting harm to the country, one year on from Mr Trumps inauguration.

It has long since become clear that our initial concerns  and those of so many Americans  were well founded. Indeed, in retrospect they were understated, the document states.

The Trump administration is confronted by an extraordinary scale and scope of legal and ethics scandals. It is unrivalled in the modern era, and perhaps in the history of the nation, for a first-year administration.

The conduct of this administration, from the president on down, threatens our centuries-old tradition of a government that functions to serve the interests of the American people, rather than to serve the interests of those in power.

The 36-page report also stated a president sets the tone for an administration, and the numerous scandals that have followed Mr Trump since his election campaign have spread like a cancer throughout his executive branch.

The result is a vast array of ethics problems and improper influence among White House staff, cabinet officials, and senior agency officials, the report said.

CREW has lodged 180 legal challenges against the former real estate mogul and his administration, often citing the emoluments clause in the US Constitution that forbids a president from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.

For virtually every decision President Trump makes, from taxes to environmental regulations to foreign policy, the American people cannot be sure whether he made his decision in the public interest or to benefit his bottom line, the report noted.

The watchdog is now calling on Congress to safeguard special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

After a full year of this administration, it is now abundantly clear that the executive branch under President Trump is characterised by contempt for ethics and conflicts of interest rules and for the rule of law, the report said. It is time for the American people to conclude that one year is enough and to demand an end to the culture of corruption that is gripping Washington.
Hello, Dow $26,000. Goodbye, Dow $26,000. Plus, a big reversal for the blue chips with a government shutdown looming. And Bitcoin is down in a sea of red. Whats dragging cryptocurrencies lower? Yahoo Finances Jen Rogers, Dan Roberts and Myles Udland discuss the big stories of the day. And Yahoo Finances Julia La Roche also sits down with value investor Whitney Tilson to discuss his latest business ventures.

Winners and Losers

Stocks in the green include Qualcomm after the chipmaker raised its profit forecast and said it might buy back stock if its $38 billion bid to buy NXP Semiconductors doesnt get approved. Citi is posting gains. The big bank reported better than expected adjusted earnings, despite taking a $22 billion hit from tax reform. And shares of H&R block are higher after announcing it will be the exclusive do-it-yourself desktop tax software provider at Walmart stores nationwide.

Stocks in the red include Fiat Chrysler after the CEO said he has no intention of breaking up the company. GE, the worst performer in the Dow today, took a hit after announcing a $6.2 billion charge related to its legacy reinsurance business. CEO John Flannery also said the companys re-evaluating its strategy and structure. And Under Armour is under pressure after Macquarie downgraded the stock to underperform and slashed its price target by 20%.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - An 81-year old American-Iranian imprisoned in Iran, Baquer Namazi, was hospitalised earlier this week due to a drop in blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

It was the fourth time that Namazi, who was detained in February 2016 and later convicted of espionage charges which he denied, had been taken to hospital in the past year, the statement by lawyer Jared Genser said.

Last September, Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor and ex-UNICEF official, underwent emergency heart surgery to install a pacemaker.

"(He) has undergone relentless interrogations and has been held in terrible conditions, including having spent extended periods in solitary confinement," Namazi's son, Babak, said in the same statement. "It is becoming more clear by the day that this will be a death sentence for him."

Namazi was hospitalised on Monday and is still undergoing tests though his health has stabilised, the statement added.

In October 2015, the elite Revolutionary Guards detained Namazi's son Siamak, a businessman in his mid-40s also with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship, as he was visiting family in Tehran.

Father and son were each sentenced in the autumn of 2016 to 10 years in prison for spying and cooperating with the U.S. government. They denied the charges.

Iran does not recognise dual citizenship and judiciary officials have said both men would be treated as Iranian citizens in the legal process.

Tehran has had no diplomatic relations with Washington since its 1979 Islamic Revolution and ties have deteriorated anew since U.S. President Donald Trump took office a year ago, after a modest detente under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Five other U.S. citizens and permanent U.S. residents have been arrested in Iran over the past two years - Princeton doctoral student Xiyue Wang; art gallery owner Karan Vafadari and his wife Afarin Niasari; Robin Reza Shahini, an Iranian-American from California; and Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national with U.S. permanent residency.

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Last July Trump warned that Iran would face "new and serious consequences" unless all unjustly detained American citizens were released and returned. Babak Namazi asked Trump to intervene in his family's case.

"My family desperately needs the president to redouble his efforts to bring Siamak and my dad home," Babak added.

(This version corrects fifth paragraph to say Namazi still undergoing tests)

(Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; editing by Mark Heinrich)
The first year of Donald Trumps presidency has been a disaster, policy-wise, for American women.

Donald Trump and the Republican Congress wasted no time going after the Affordable Care Act  and even though they failed at their attempt to repeal it, they still managed to gut key provisions of the law, practically dismantling the requirement to provide women with access to cost-free birth control and doing away with the individual mandate.

The Trump Administration also paused an Obama-era equal pay rule and dealt a devastating blow to American women and their families when President Trump signed the Republicans tax bill  which effectively does nothing but further line the pockets of billionaires at the expense of working families  into law.

And in the year of the #MeToo movement, and Times Up, Donald Trumps presidency means the White House is occupied by a man whos been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 18 women without ever being held accountable.

But, thanks to women, there was a lot more to the story of 2017.

And now, 2018 is already being called, The Year of the Woman, with women  as candidates and voters  poised to transform our politics. Since the 2016 election, more than 26,000 women have signed up at EMILYs List for more information on running for office up and down the ticket. Many of these women will start by running for office in their communities, at the state and local levels. Together, they represent an entire future generation of women leaders.

Last year we already saw many historic firsts for American women in politics, and it all began building in early 2017 with the historic Womens March around the world the day after Trump was inaugurated. We then saw the first African American woman elected as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina; we elected the first Latinas, Asian American women and transgender woman to the Virginia state legislature; and we elected the first African-American lieutenant governor of New Jersey to name a few.

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In the Alabama Senate election, African-American women voters made history, showing up in huge numbers to decide the election for Senator Doug Jones.

In 2018, well carry this momentum through to the ballot box once again, where women candidates and voters will be the key to enacting policies that benefit, instead of hurt, women. Like in Virginia, women will drive significant progress in taking back state legislatures. And a record number of women gubernatorial candidates will be on the ballot.

But its important to take a moment to recognize that all of these women whove signed up to run  and all of these new firsts that were starting to see arent just a wave  its a sea change. This transformation, however, wont be complete in 2018 and it wont be complete in 2020. Its just getting started.

As the president of EMILYs List, Im often asked what well do and who well endorse the first time we see more than one woman running for president at the same time. My answer is always that, first, well celebrate  because that will be a good problem to have. And hopefully one well have in every presidential election going forward. This is, after all, the entire point of the work that we do. Getting to the point where its normal to see multiple women running for office in every race, and at every level, is our end goal. Its also the key to putting forth and maintaining laws that promote equality. This is why we fight so hard for these firsts at EMILYs List. And its also why EMILYs List has never stopped fighting since we were founded to elect the first Democratic woman to the Senate in her own right: The point of electing the first woman to any office is always so we can elect the second, and the third and the fourth  until were so used to seeing a woman in a particular role that theres nothing new or out of the ordinary about it anymore.

And this is why I believe the story history will tell about the first year of Donald Trump wont be defined by his policies as much as by the women whove stood up to fight back against them.

Right now, the transformation thats starting in this Year of the Woman feels historic and exciting and new. But the best thing about it is that someday, this will be our new normal.
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The EU said Tuesday it is "carefully assessing" Donald Trump's statement on the Iran nuclear deal after the US leader set a 120-day deadline for fixing "disastrous flaws" in the landmark 2015 accord.

The European Union has staunchly defended the deal as the best way to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, but Trump has said Washington will abandon the deal and reimpose sanctions unless Tehran is subjected to tougher controls.

Washington is concerned the deal, thrashed out over 12 years of talks, does nothing to punish Iran's continuing ballistic missile programme, interference in conflicts around Middle East or its human rights abuses at home.

The EU's Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the bloc was consulting with Britain, France and Germany -- signatories to the deal known as the E3 -- on how to respond.

"You will have seen that last Friday the United States extended the sanctions waivers," Hahn told the European Parliament.

"We are now, together with the E3 and the other EU member states, carefully assessing the statement and its implications."

Trump on Friday agreed to waive US nuclear-related sanctions but warned it was the "last chance" to fix the Iran deal, demanding that US lawmakers and European allies draw up a new deal to curb Iran's ballistic programme, among other issues.

The EU has insisted the nuclear deal must remain separate from discussion of other matters, but officials have been keen to stress that they challenged Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during talks in Brussels last week.

"These issues include the tensions in the Middle East, Irans ballistic missiles program, as well as the protests that took place in Iran in recent weeks," Hahn said.

"Let us be clear: all these issues must be addressed, and must be addressed outside the scope of the nuclear deal," he said.

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"None of them would be easier to address if the JCPOA was not in place -- on the contrary," Hahn stressed, using the deal's technical name.

Iran has ruled out any change to the deal, which was signed with the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday warned Europe against compromising on the deal, saying it would be a "slippery slope in a very dangerous direction".
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The European Union has shelved a 3.6 billion shilling ($35 million) water conservation assistance scheme to Kenya after forest guards killed a member of a community indigenous to one of the forests involved in the project. The program was helping Kenya plant trees, restore degraded land and protect water catchment areas in highland forests, which are major sources of water that flows into Lake Victoria and the Nile basin. Stefano Dejak, the EU ambassador to Kenya, said Tuesday's killing of the man, and the shooting of another, in Embobut forest in the west of the country, came after the bloc had told the government it would reconsider financial support if the use of force against innocent locals persisted. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on its website that three UN Special Rapporteurs had expressed concerns about the recent reports of evictions of Sengwer inhabitants, the EU said in a statement. It said the dead man was a member of the Sengwer, an indigenous group in the area. "The conservation work on the water towers was never expected to involve any evictions or use of violence," it said in a statement. Judi Wakhungu, the Kenyan minister of environment and natural resources, said she did not have a formal report of the incident the EU referred to. There was a security operation led by the ministry of the interior in the area to flush out cattle rustlers, criminal elements and militias who hide in the forest, she said. "We are going to assess how exactly we can improve the prevailing security situation... Thereafter we will see how we can move the project forward once we are satisfied that normalcy has returned," she told Reuters, adding the EU would be involved. Kenya's economy relies heavily on farming and tourism. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by John Stonestreet)
Paris (AFP) - The European Space Agency (ESA) is drawing up contingency plans for projects, commercial deals, and staffing that may be adversely affected by Brexit, senior officials said Wednesday.

Programmes throw in flux by Britain's pending departure from the European Union (EU) include the Copernicus satellite constellation to monitor environmental damage, and the Galileo satellite navigation system.

"It is not an easy situation at all, I can tell you. We are going through the options," Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA's Earth observation activities, told journalists in Paris.

"What we have to do as ESA, we have to get ready for all these eventualities."

Britain's EU-linked participation in both programmes will come to an end after Brexit, unless it negotiates a specific deal, the ESA has said. When this would happen, is not clear.

But Britain will likely stay in the ESA, which is autonomous from the European Union.

The UK is one of 20 EU members of the agency, which also includes non-EU countries Norway and Switzerland.

The EU has forked out the bulk of Copernicus' budget of about seven billion euros ($8.5 billion) since 2002, though ESA also contributes.

So far, Europe has launched six satellites for Copernicus, which is designed to monitor Earth's atmosphere, forest cover changes, land and water pollution, and the aftermath of floods and earthquakes.

Copernicus will also improve emergency responses after natural disasters.

UK-based companies hold contracts worth tens of millions of euros from ESA to supply hardware for Copernicus and Galileo -- a rival to America's GPS which should be fully operational by 2020.

- What next? -

According to Philippe Michel of ESA's Galileo programme, Brexit has thrown up "several situations" for which solutions must be found.

These included "the issue of security" in a project that involves the sharing of military and other classified information between countries.

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"There are situations of contracts which have already been placed, there are situations of procurements which are ongoing, or future procurements... We are discussing of course all that with the European Commission," Michel added.

ESA director general Jan Woerner insisted the agency was not "directly affected" by the British withdrawal, though "indirectly, we have some things where we are working on."

They include visas, medical insurance, retirement plans and other complications that will arise for British staff in Europe, and continental workers in the UK, once the rules change under Brexit.

"We are also looking in the discussion with the European Union, the European Commission, what happens with industrial activities coming from the UK," said Woerner.

ESA's EU policy office head Jean Bruston has previously said Britain could contribute to Galileo and Copernicus if it negotiated a third-party agreement with the EU, as Norway and Switzerland have done.
By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at a U.S. airport on Monday night in connection with charges that he illegally retained highly classified information, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Hong Kong, used to maintain a top secret clearance and began working for the CIA in 1994. The Justice Department said that in 2012, FBI agents searched his hotel rooms during trips to Virginia and Hawaii. They discovered he had two small books containing handwritten information on details such as the true names and numbers of spy recruits and covert CIA employees. He was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. But Lee made his first court appearance on Tuesday before a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn. The judge ordered Lee held without bail. A federal public defender who represented Lee at Tuesday's hearing declined to comment. According to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent, Lee, 53, served in the U.S. Army from 1982 through 1986 and worked for the CIA from 1994 through 2007. The FBI agent wrote that Lee and his family left Hong Kong in August 2012 to travel to northern Virginia. Along the way, they stayed in hotels where the FBI found the books. The small books were discovered inside Lee's luggage, sealed in a small clear plastic travel pack. The handwritten information inside ranged in terms of classification, but the agent said at least one page contained top secret information, "the disclosure of which could cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States." The agent also noted that classified cables Lee wrote while he was a case officer describing his interactions with CIA assets were reflected in the two books. Lee was interviewed by the FBI five separate times in 2013 and never disclosed he had the books. He also met with former CIA colleagues around that time without returning the materials to the government, the Justice Department said. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Susan Thomas and Cynthia Osterman)
(Reuters) - The case of 13 starving siblings aged 2 to 29 who were rescued from their dark, foul-smelling Southern California home - where some were kept in shackles - after one of them called police, joined a short, but horrifying, list of similar cases.

Here is a selection of other recent high-profile U.S. incidents where people were held in captivity:

- Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight: Former school bus driver Ariel Castro of Cleveland was charged in 2013 with kidnapping three young women and keeping them captive as sex slaves in his Cleveland home for a decade. Neighbors rescued the three after Berry in May 2013 broke out of the room she had been locked in and screamed for help. Castro was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and rape; he killed himself in 2013 while behind bars.

- Elizabeth Smart: A homeless man named Brian Mitchell, who claimed to be a prophet, kidnapped Smart, then age 14, in 2002. He kept her captive for nine months, raping her repeatedly and forcing her to wear long robes and a veil. He did not keep Smart locked up constantly at home, and occasionally went out with her, which led to her rescue by a sharp-eyed police officer. In 2011, Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison. Smart has gone on to become an advocate for missing persons and victims of sexual assault.

- Texas elderly: Walter Jones, 31, was arrested and charged with elder abuse in 2013 after four elderly men were found living in squalor in a home in Houston where they told authorities they had been forced to hand over their government-issued checks, including veterans benefits. The men told police they had been enticed to the house with promises of beer and cigarettes.

* Massachusetts "House of Horrors": A 31-year-old Massachusetts mother, Erika Murray, was charged with murder after police in 2014 found the remains of three babies in her home in Blackstone just north of Rhode Island, where she was found residing with four living children, ranging in age from 5 months to 13 years, who never left the house. The home was infested with rodents and insects and piled high with dirty diapers. Murray is still awaiting trial on murder charges.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday signaled she may extend an order preventing the deportation of roughly 50 Indonesian Christians living illegally in New Hampshire, a process that immigration officials began after U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston expressed concern the Indonesians could be deported before their administrative appeals were finished, given their claims they could face religious persecution in the world's largest majority-Muslim nation.

The Indonesians' lawyers argued for an injunction that would give them time to file motions to reopen their immigration cases based on changed conditions in Indonesia.

"We don't want to put them on a ship back unless someone has had chance to look at if there's a really bad situation for them," Saris said. "That's my concern."

The case centers on a group of Indonesians who fled that country during violence two decades ago and had been allowed to live openly in New Hampshire under an informal deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

That changed after Trump ordered an end to that kind of program in his push to tighten immigration enforcement.

The Indonesians are part of an ethnic community of about 2,000 people clustered around Dover, New Hampshire. Most members of the group covered by the 2010 deal with ICE entered the county legally but overstayed their visas and failed to seek asylum on time.

Federal officials contend they have always had the authority to deport them at any time.

"There's no legal basis for them to ask for more time," Vinita Andrapalliyal, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer, argued in court on Wednesday.

Federal law gives authority over immigration matters to the executive branch, not the courts.

Over the Justice Department's objections, Saris last year ruled she had jurisdiction over the case. She entered a temporary order blocking the Indonesians' deportation until she could decide whether to impose a preliminary injunction.

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Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero, a lawyer for the Indonesians, argued they should have 90 days to move to reopen their cases after receiving copies of their administrative case files and time to appeal any decision rejecting those motions.

Saris in October ordered immigration officials to provide the immigrants' lawyers with the files so they could start their administrative appeals. The files are expected to be finished being turned over by next month, Saris said.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Matthew Testa proposes to Amy Munk in the snow. (Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Testa)

On Christmas morning, Amy Munk had her whole family over to open presents with her, her boyfriend Matthew Testa, and their three young sons. Testa had just left the house to run an errand when the carbon monoxide alarm went off, forcing them to evacuate.

My family and I were all outside, Munk tells Yahoo Lifestyle. I remember apologizing to them because I felt bad. I was like, Merry Christmas, guys  kind of sarcastic, because it was my house and I just ruined everyones Christmas.

She was pretty worried about what had caused the alarm, but then, when four fire trucks drove up, she thought it was a bit of overkill. After they stopped, she walked up to one of the trucks, and out stepped Testa, who got down on one knee and proposed.

Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Testa

Testa, a firefighter, his father James (the assistant fire chief), and fire chief Glen Thorman had orchestrated the whole thing.

I just wanted [my proposal] to be different than anybody elses, so we came up with using the fire department, Testa said.

They got the 911 dispatcher in on it, and a group of firefighters were waiting at the fire house for the signal. Testa told Munk he had to go fuel up his fire truck and left the house just before his dad set off the false alarm.

Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Testa

Carbon monoxide is odorless and tasteless, so realistically, nobody really knows whether its in your house or not, Testa said, inadvertently fitting a public safety announcement into his story. Thats a good reason to rush out of the house.

In a big city, some might question diverting emergency resources to use for a marriage proposal, but in the small town of East Jordan, Mich. (pop. 2,300), it wasnt too much of an issue.

Earlier in the morning, we had three calls in a row, back to back, Testa said. If there was a real emergency, we would have just left and gone to the call, and figured this out another day.

Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Testa

But no more calls interrupted Testas plan, which went forward without a hitch and certainly surprised Munk. She said yes, by the way.

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Days later, the newly engaged couple got another surprise, learning that Munk is pregnant. The new baby means theyll be pushing back their wedding plans until 2019, but when it happens, they will definitely involve their fire department once again.

Well involve the people, Testa clarified, but its not going to be a fire theme or anything like that.

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London (AFP) - The Bayeux Tapestry could be displayed in Britain after France agreed in principle to the historic artwork leaving the country for the first time in 950 years, according to British media.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to announced the proposed loan of the tapestry, which depicts the Norman Conquest of England, during a visit to Britain on Thursday, according to The Times.

The BBC and The Guardian also reported the proposed loan.

Preparations for the relocation are underway following months of discussions between cultural officials in both countries, but it is contingent on tests showing the 11th-century embroidery can be moved safely, The Times said.

However it could be five years before the tapestry -- which is nearly 70 metres (230 feet) long and 50 centimetre high -- actually arrives on British shores, the paper added.

No decision has been made about where it would be displayed during the loan, it said citing British officials.

The Bayeux tapestry, which dates from around 1077, depicts the story of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and is displayed in Bayeux, in Normandy.

While it has rarely been moved, it was displayed in Paris in 1804, and again briefly at the Louvre in 1945.

President Macron will hold talks with May at a Britain-France summit at Sandhurst, a British military academy, later this week, with co-operation on various issues set to be discussed.
Two men who ordered programs for their September wedding from a popular printing company but instead received a boxful of anti-gay pamphlets warning, Satan entices your flesh with evil desires, have filed a lawsuit claiming breach of contract and emotional pain.

At first we thought it was simply a mistake, and we had accidentally received someone elses order. But once we saw the images and actually read a bit of the pamphlet, we quickly realized this wasnt a simple or innocent error, Stephen Heasley, 31, and Andrew Borg, 39, who live in Australia, tell Yahoo Lifestyle via email. Both of our initial reactions were ones of shock  utter shock. The wording and imagery was aggressive, threatening, and deeply personally offensive.

The claim was filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the state where the company in question, Vistaprint, is based.

This was by far the most direct, personal, and aggressive act of homophobia either of us has experienced to date, they added, regarding the shipment of homophobic pamphlets, which the couple received on the eve of their ceremony and a party for 100 guests.

The anti-gay pamphlet sent to the grooms. (Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg)

The wedding programs ordered by the couple were to have listed the order of events, members of their wedding party, and lyrics to the Above & Beyond song Treasure, which played as they walked down the aisle. Instead, the fire-and-brimstone pamphlets they received warned that, among other notions, Satan knows our flesh is weak. He preys upon our weaknesses to tempt us to sin. Satan can only influence us to want to sin. He cannot make us sin.

Andrew Borg, left, and Stephen Heasley, are suing Vistaprint for sending them homophobic pamphlets instead of the wedding programs they ordered. (Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg)

The men did not immediately (or at any time since) contact Vistaprint to inquire about the bizarre mailing. Instead, they paid to have quick replacements printed up and went ahead with their wedding  though it was marred by anger and fear, they say.

The couples Pennsylvania wedding. (Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg)

We realized that whoever had sent this had our personal addresses, recalls Heasley, a portfolio manager for an educational publisher (Borg is a property manager for a retail facility). We were getting married on a family farm in what we understand to be a fairly conservative and rural part of Pennsylvania. If ill-intentioned people decided to target our wedding and guests, we would have very few options to escape or seek shelter.

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The couple then hired legal representation  Cetrullo in Boston and Wigdor in New York City  to go after Vistaprint, and are now seeking an award of unspecified damages and a trial by jury.

The newlyweds. (Photo: Courtesy of Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg)

When contacted by Yahoo Lifestyle, Vistaprint spokesperson Sara Nash offered the following response: Vistaprint would never discriminate against customers for their sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being a company that celebrates diversity and enables customers all over the world to customize products for their special events. We have just been made aware of this incident in the last few hours. We understand how upsetting it would be for anyone to receive materials such as these the night before their wedding and we have immediately launched an internal investigation. Until we have had the opportunity to complete our investigation, we cannot comment further.

Vistaprint is part of custom-print company Cimpress, founded in 1996, with manufacturing facilities around the globe and a network of more than 7,000 employees. Its orders are absolutely guaranteed, with the website, noting, We want our customers to be 100 percent happy with their order. If for any reason they are not, we will make it right.

Which will likely be good news to Heasley and Borg, who say the entire experience left the men feeling rattled by anger and fear  emotions that have not yet subsided.

After four months of being married, the pain from those memories has not faded, says Heasley. Andrew describes his hurt as though feeling like someone has completely robbed him of what would have turned out to be nothing short of a brilliant wedding.

Its why theyve gone the legal route, they say, noting, Our goal is to hold Vistaprint accountable for the harm they have caused, to give a voice to others who may have been similarly victimized, to help prevent this from happening to someone else, and to send a message that there will be consequences for acts of hate perpetrated against others.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will have to spend more than 1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) to meet even the lower end of the European Union's 2050 target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, according to a draft of a study commissioned by the BDI German industry group. The study, reviewed by Reuters, said it was technically feasible to achieve the lower end of the EU's target of eliminating 80 percent to 95 percent of emissions by 2050, given sufficient investments. But it raised questions about Germany's goal of meeting the upper end of the target, saying that would require huge but unspecified levels of additional spending. The draft, prepared by Boston Consulting and Prognos over many months, also said the EU targets should be implemented on a global basis to protect the competitiveness of German industry. BDI plans to release the study on Thursday. The study identified some options for achieving the climate targets, including expanding EU carbon dioxide pricing already in place for the energy and industrial sectors. It also called for increased support for CO2-neutral fuels through the use of alternative energy sources such as methane, and said it was imperative to develop underground systems to capture and store carbon. Germany's would-be coalition partners agreed last week to drop plans to lower CO2 emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, although they intend to keep a 55 percent target for 2030, sources familiar with the negotiations said. ($1 = 0.8176 euros) (Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Potter)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and Turkey on Wednesday resumed bilateral government consultations that had been suspended after Ankara's arrest of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel in February 2017, an issue that continues to divide the two NATO allies. State secretaries from both countries met at the German Interior Ministry for discussions about counterterrorism and other issues, ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said during a regular government briefing. He said common interests on fighting terrorism meant this was a good time to resume talks, but both sides remained at odds over issues such as the continued detention of Yucel. German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr added that German-Turkish relations still faced "significant challenges," but Berlin was ready to continue working to "improve relations bit by bit". German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier this month pledged to improve a relationship that soured amid disputes over Ankara's crackdown following the failed 2016 coup and the arrests of German citizens in Turkey. Germany, home to some 3 million people with a Turkish background, remains critical of Turkey's post-coup arrests of some 50,000 people, and the suspension or firing of 150,000 others, including teachers, judges and soldiers. Turkey says the crackdown on alleged supporters of a network of followers of a Muslim cleric it blames for the coup is needed to shore up security, and has criticized Germany's refusal to hand over asylum seekers it says were involved in the putsch. Differences remain over the fate of Yucel, a reporter for German newspaper Die Welt, whom Ankara accuses of spreading propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He denies the charge. Gabriel has vowed to block major arms sales to Turkey until Yucel's case is resolved. But the foreign minister signaled after his meeting with Cavusoglu that Berlin would consider whether to deliver mine protection gear for armored vehicles in Turkey, an issue not linked to arrests. Some members of Gabriel's own Social Democrats and the radical Left party have rejected any such move. Sevim Dagdalen, a Left party lawmaker, said Germany should immediately halt all weapons exports to Turkey, voicing concerns about recent Turkish warnings about imminent military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. "Plans by Foreign Minister Gabriel to conclude new weapons deals with Turkey are a slap in the face to the resistance against Islamic State," she said in a statement. Stern magazine reported on Wednesday that Gabriel had met last fall with officials from Rheinmetall about potential Turkish exports. Rheinmetall has a joint venture with the Turkish firm BMC, and hopes to set up a factory that would build tanks, trucks and buses in the city of Karasu, east of Istanbul, it said. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Peter Graff)
Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya made his late night American television debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he talked about meeting Oprah Winfrey at the Golden Globes, all thanks to Denzel Washington.

During the Golden Globes, Washington approached Kaluuya, using an English accent and saying Cheers, mate! Kaluuya said he couldnt believe that Washington even knew who he was.

Kaluuya said, Looking at Denzel is like being in a movie. Cuz Ive watched him in movies for so long, this is a movie that is happening to me.

He said Washington got a big kick out of his being so shocked. Kaluuya said, He went to his wife, He cant believe I know who he is!'

Apparently Washington wanted to introduce Kaluuya to a very famous woman. Kaluuya said, He goes, Come meet Oprah. And I was like, OK, lets. And I hugged Oprah. I just hugged her.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS

Oprah discusses forgiveness with #TimesUp celebrities:





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Congress and President Donald Trump were unable to agree on a stopgap spending measure by the Friday midnight deadline, forcing the federal government to shut down for the first time in five years.

Although essential government operations will remain open, many federal employees will be placed on furlough.

The first people hit will be those 800,000 government employees that wont be getting paid, says Marina Whitman, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigans Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

The shutdown isnt expected to have any immediate impact on most Americans, as long as it lasts only a few days. The Army will not lay down its weapons, and Social Security and Medicare payments will still go out.

But the longer the government remains closed, the more problematic it becomes, Whitman says. Heres how you could be affected:

Travel

As workers are furloughed, national parks and monuments may close. That means that if you plan to visit Yellowstone National Park or the Lincoln Memorial, for example, you may have to delay your trip.



The good news, though, is that the Interior Department has said that even if there is a shutdown, it will work to keep national parks and other public lands accessible. Even if some parks are closed, the impact will likely be less than if the shutdown happened during warmer months. Yellowstone National Park, for example, receives about 95 percent fewer visitors in the winter than it gets in the summer.

If the shutdown lasts for more than a few days and you need to renew or apply for a passport, you could run into problems. Without workers, the State Department would have to stop processing applications.

Foreign nationals should also expect delays when it comes to processing work and travel documents. Although the State Department will continue to process visas during a shutdown, that function is partially funded through appropriations, so it could suffer disruptions.

Story continues

Taxes

Although tax day is months away, tax season began in early January. For those already starting to review tax documents, the government shutdown could complicate the process because you may not be able to reach anyone at the Internal Revenue Service for assistance.

Taxpayers, however, may not notice the impact that much. IRS budget cuts in recent years have already reduced assistance consumers might get from the agency.

If you need to complete the W-4 Form, which determines your tax withholding allowance, or the W-9 Form, which you generally submit if you are self-employed, youll probably have to wait out the shutdown.

Healthcare

Though Medicare or Medicaid will continue to operate, the biggest concern is how the shutdown might affect the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

Funding for the program ran out in October, and though Congress provided $2.85 billion in December, that money is running out, says Don Taylor, a professor at Duke Universitys Sanford School of Public Policy. The government shutdown now makes it unlikely that states would be able to get their share of any funding, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

General Government Assistance

Depending on how long the shutdown lasts, Americans could run into other problems as well, such as getting up-to-date information from government websites. Applications for, say, grants would also halt as federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Education Association stop processing applications.

Home energy assistance programs, which help low-income Americans pay for heating during the cold winter weather, could start to run out of money. The same is true of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which administers federal grant programs.

If you need to sign up to get Social Security or Medicare or if you are applying for a mortgage, you may now have to be patient. By law, any mortgage loan approval is subject to review by the mortgage lender of the borrowers federal tax returns, says Tim Ross, CEO of Ross Mortgage, based in Troy, Mich. Because the lender depends on IRS employees to provide and confirm those tax returns, it will have to wait until they are back at work.





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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2018, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Department asks high court for direct review of ruling that temporarily blocks Trump administration from phasing out Daca

Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He tweeted: We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it is appealing against a federal judges ruling that temporarily blocked the Trump administration from phasing out the Obama-era program granting protections to young, undocumented immigrants  and asking the supreme court to intervene.



The department said it had filed an appeal in the ninth circuit court and intends to take the rare step later this week of seeking a fast track to the supreme court.



The announcement came as the fate of nearly 700,000 Dreamers, who were brought to the US as children, has raised the specter of a government shutdown with lawmakers in Washington at an impasse over immigration.



William Alsup, a US district judge in California, ordered the Trump administration last week to continue processing renewals for the 2012 program established by Barack Obama, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), which granted temporary legal status to Dreamers.



In announcing the administrations decision to appeal against the ruling on Tuesday, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, said: It defies both law and common sense for Daca  to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco.

We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the supreme court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.

Trump announced in September he was rescinding Daca and gave Congress until 5 March to pass a replacement.

The resulting debate on Capitol Hill over how to resolve the issue through legislation has rattled negotiations over funding for the government, which is due to expire on Friday. Absent a deal in the next four days, Congress looked increasingly poised for its first government shutdown since 2013.

The president pre-emptively cast blame on Democrats, who have demanded that any bill to fund the government be accompanied by protections for Dreamers.

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The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security, Trump tweeted Tuesday. 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.

During a shutdown, vital government services such as law enforcement and air traffic control would continue, as would benefit programs like social security, Medicare and Medicaid. But national parks would close, and many federal bureaucrats would be sent home.

When Congress fails to pass appropriate funding for government operations and agencies, a shutdown is triggered.

Most federal services are subsequently frozen, barring those that are deemed essential, such as the work of the Department of Homeland Security and FBI. As a result, most non-defense federal employees are placed on unpaid furlough and told not to report to work. Active duty military personnel are not furloughed.

At the height of the 2013 government shutdown, nearly 40% of the government workforce were furloughed. The employees were retroactively paid by Congress, consistent with previous shutdowns.

Airports remains open but service can be disrupted due to non-essential employee furloughs. National parks, monuments and museums, as well as passport offices, are typically closed. The IRS is also partially closed, prompting a slowdown of the processing of tax returns and the ability of banks to grant mortgage and other loans that rely on IRS verification.

The US Postal Service is funded separately and therefore mail continues to be delivered. Benefits such as social security, Medicare and food stamps also continue to be distributed.

Analysts have projected that the cost of furloughing federal employees could total $6.5bn a week and possibly snuff out any economic momentum.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said a shutdown would pose a serious threat to global stock markets, which have hit a series of record highs since Trumps inauguration, something the president has tried to associate himself with personally.

Uncertainty is bad for the global economy, said Stiglitz. And among the uncertainties are these government shutdowns, which would be probably very bad for the markets.

Democrats believe tying fixing Daca to a must-pass spending bill will coerce more lawmakers to vote in favor of a compromise, given the deep partisan divide over immigration.

Republicans have deemed them to be separate issues, but have privately expressed concern that a shutdown would call into question their ability to govern as the party that controls Washington.

There has never been a shutdown of the federal government with just one party in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

S&P Global said the impact of a shutdown would be felt throughout the US economy: A disruption in government spending means no government paychecks to spend; lost business and revenue to private contractors; lost sales at retail shops, particularly those that circle now-closed national parks; and less tax revenue for Uncle Sam. That means less economic activity and fewer jobs.

Almost 1 million people will not get regular paychecks if a shutdown happens, S&P said. With each day the shutdown drags on, federal workers may start to pull back on household spending at restaurants, childcare, or retail stores because of worries that they wont get paid anytime soon, it said.

Efforts to hash out an agreement were severely undermined last week when it was reported that Trump questioned the need to admit immigrants from shithole countries.

The presidents remarks reportedly came during a private meeting with lawmakers while discussing immigrants from Haiti and El Salvador, who have been provided temporary protected status by the US government. The Trump administration has moved to strip them of that status, potentially forcing out of the country as many as 200,000 Salvadorans and 60,000 Haitians.

The White House denied on Tuesday that Trumps comments might have paved the way for a shutdown.

No, I think hes worried that Democrats unwillingness to put country ahead of their party is whats stalling things, the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said.

Sanders said the White Houses position was that immigration and spending talks should be kept separate.

The growing discord has prompted Republican leaders to discuss a short-term stopgap measure to avert a shutdown by midnight on Friday. Members of Congress passed a similar resolution in December, kicking the deadline to 19 January.

Democrats earned criticism from immigration activists for failing to hold the line in December. They face mounting pressure not to stall on protections for Dreamers. Internal divisions remain within the party over whether a shutdown is necessary without a solution on Daca.

Trumps latest controversial remarks on immigrants nonetheless appeared to mark a turning point.

At a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Democrats grilled Kristjen Nielsen, Trumps homeland security secretary, on her bosss attitude toward immigrants.

Nielsen said she did not recall Trumps specific remark about African countries, prompting a swift rebuke from Cory Booker, one of just three black senators.

Your silence and your amnesia is complicity, he said.

She was also asked about Trumps alleged remarks backing immigration from countries like Norway, which as Senator Patrick Leahy pointed out is predominantly white.

I actually do not know that, sir, but I imagine that is the case, Nielsen replied.


James Gunn, director of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, is offering $100,000 if President Donald Trump will step on a scale.

Gunns unusual proposition came hours after White House doctor Ronny Jackson said on Tuesday that the president was 63 and weighed 239 pounds, or one pound shy of the level that would be considered obese.

The filmmaker and other Trump critics didnt buy it. Mocking Trumps involvement in the debunked birther conspiracy theory that claimed President Barack Obama wasnt born in the United States, Twitter users created the #Girther hashtag to question Jacksons claims.

Some even demanded to see Trumps #GirthCertificate.

I will give 100 thousand dollars to Trump's favorite charity if he will step on an accurate scale with an impartial medical professional, okayed by both of us. For real. #Girther #GirtherMovement  James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 17, 2018

Gunns bounty echoed Trumps 2012 offer of $5 million to charity if Obama would release his college transcripts. When asked what charity Trump might pick, Gunn replied:

I would be afraid that it's the Ku Klux Klan but there's no way in hell he's 239 pounds, so I don't have to worry about it.  James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 17, 2018

Gunn made it clear that his offer wasnt about body-shaming the president:

This has nothing to do with fat shaming. It has to do with a continuous pattern of fabricating facts by both Trump and his administration. https://t.co/88Jw1pGLfe  James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 17, 2018

For good measure, Gunn also shared images of others for comparison, including this one:

Story continues

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A picture of a 63 man standing next to a 61 man and their wives. pic.twitter.com/VmnLjHfvMq  James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 17, 2018

Not surprisingly, the #Girther hashtag began to trend on Twitter:

Clearly, we're going to need to see the long-form digital readout from the scale Dr. Ronny Jackson used #Girther https://t.co/fFAMopGxZ1  Richard Hine (@richardhine) January 17, 2018

For the record, @realDonaldTrump said he was 74 inches in 2012. Now his doctor says he's 75 inches. And that one inch makes is BMI "overweight" not "obese." I'm a #girther because old men don't GROW an inch! pic.twitter.com/ehNxF9PjPL  Gersh Kuntzman (@GershKuntzman) January 16, 2018

Has anyone coined "girther" for those who belive the president weighs more than his doctor reports?  Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 16, 2018

Yes, we're calling it the Girther Movement. @realDonaldTrump must step on a scale on live TV, and let beauty contestants judge the results. #GirtherMovement #Girther https://t.co/Mr90mTalOx  Janell8ItAll (@LiveLoveLifeDo) January 16, 2018

So Dr. Ronny Jackson says Trump is 6' 3" & 239lbs



That makes his BMI 29.9



These are the BMI classifications

Normal weight: BMI is 18.5 to 24.9

Overweight: BMI is 25 to 29.9

Obese: BMI is 30 or more



Seems to me like they lied just enough so Trump wouldn't be considered obese.  Alexander "Stable Genius" Hamilton (@AHamiltonSpirit) January 17, 2018

#Girther. I've got people in Hawaii looking into his weight, and you won't believe what they are finding.  james p cavanaugh (@rosedude1) January 17, 2018

Petition to make Trump release the long-form girth certificate. #girther  Eric D. Snider (@EricDSnider) January 16, 2018

I think the #girther movement is my new favorite thing the internet has ever done  Interim User Name (@iamnotkowalski) January 17, 2018

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.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Eric Bolling and Greta Van Susteren's Twitter accounts were temporarily hacked on Tuesday. (Photo: Getty Images/Twitter)

The Twitter accounts of two former Fox News hosts were hacked on Tuesday, resulting in both of their feeds being filled with Turkish propaganda supporting the countrys controversial president.

The hackers tweeted and sent direct messages from the accounts of Eric Bolling and Greta Van Susteren. Bolling left Fox News last year and Van Susteren left Fox News in 2016, going to MSNBC for a few months in 2017. Both are among the exclusive group of 45 accounts that President Donald Trump follows on Twitter.

During the breach, hackers shared a screenshot of what appeared to be Bollings direct messages. They also sent messages to Trump from Van Susterens account.

Both accounts were restored within several hours, but not before Twitter users and journalists saved the tweets.

It appears that pro Turkish President hackers have taken over Greta Van Susteren's Twitter account. pic.twitter.com/aLOSljf0yQ  Yashar Ali  (@yashar) January 16, 2018

The hackers are now tweeting pictures of Eric Bollings DMs. I have blacked out the DMs to respect his privacy (though it wont do much). pic.twitter.com/6WwijU0RzG  Eric Shaffer (@realEricShaffer) January 16, 2018

Van Susteren hosted the popular Fox News show On the Record for 14 years before she was booted from the network in September 2016 after a reported contract dispute. Her dismissal came months after former network CEO Roger Ailes resigned in light of numerous sexual harassment allegations.

Bolling, also a longtime Fox News host and co-anchor of The Five, was ousted from the network in September after HuffPost reported that he sent unsolicited photos of male genital to three of his colleagues.

The screenshot of Bollings direct messages show only a portion of the last message sent in an exchange with other Twitter users. At least one message featured a cellphone number.

Story continues

From Van Susterens account, hackers appeared to have sent a direct message to Trump asking him to share a propaganda video from his personal account.

.@realDonaldTrump follows both Greta Van Susteren and Eric Bolling  The hackers are now DMing the president!!! pic.twitter.com/GXp8ICtlkL  Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 17, 2018

While under the hackers control, Bolling and Van Susterens accounts shared messages in support of the Turkish government and President Tayyip Erdogan.

One such message, written in Turkish, read: You are hacked by the Turkish cyber army Ayyildiz Tim! We got your DM correspondence! We will show you the power of the Turk!

We love the Turks and Muslims in the world, another tweet, shared on Van Susterens account, read. We condemn those who persecute them, especially in the United States, and we share their suffering . We love turkish soldiers , we love Erdogan, we love Turkey.

Looks like Eric Bolling and Greta Van Sustren both got hacked by...Turkish hackers? pic.twitter.com/pFzyZgZTgo  William Turton (@WilliamTurton) January 16, 2018

Both Greta Van Susteren and Eric Bolling have been hacked



Screengrabs for posterity pic.twitter.com/H17JfFff7m  Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 16, 2018

Bolling and Van Susteren appeared to have regained access to their accounts by Tuesday evening.

Twitter did not immediately respond to HuffPosts requests for information about the hackers, but Bolling sent a tweet suggesting that the breach was done by Legit Turkish hackers.

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Legit Turkish hackers. But we are back in #maga mode again. pic.twitter.com/PfdFv6ctFb  Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) January 17, 2018

As many of you know, my twitter account was hacked...I think I have now handled the problem. What a waste of 3 hours to handle...but thank you @Twitter for helping me  Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 17, 2018

Van Susteren and Bolling did not return HuffPosts requests for comment.

Also on HuffPost

Heavy damage at the Grand National Assembly.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara.

Wreckage in Ankara.

People walk through rubble after the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was bombed by rebel jets.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

People inspect damage at the Grand National Assembly.

Workers inspect and clear debris at the Grand National Assembly.

A view of a building at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara.

A view of Gendarmerie General Command's building.

A view of Gendarmerie General Command's building.

A hole is seen in the backyard of the Grand National Assembly.

A damaged building is seen near Bosphorus Bridge.

Turkish Coast Guard Command Center.

Wreckage in Ankara.

Wreckage in Ankara.

Wreckage in Ankara.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
When you watch a stoner comedy like Half Baked, the Dave Chappelle potfest and cult classic that turned 20 Tuesday, one thought is bound to cross your mind: Was there actually weed being smoked on set? (There had to be, right? I mean, come on, just look at Jim Breuer.)

Director Tamra Davis dropped by Yahoo Studios on Tuesday to commemorate the films birthday on Facebook Live (watch highlight clip above, full interview below), and insisted that it had been an extremely professional, extremely sober film production.

Those actors were never stoned [during] the whole thing, Davis told us. But in those days, Dave used to think like, Wow, after I make this movie, Ill be able to smoke weed everywhere. Ill be able to do this walking into a restaurant. He thought this would give him carte blanche to smoke weed everywhere.

Thats not to say there werent times when Davis (who also directed the popular comedies CB4 and Billy Madison before taking a sabbatical to raise her sons) suspected that Chappelle and co-stars Breuer and Guillermo Diaz could be going Method.

The only time I think they were stoned was the day that we had to do the wires, where they had to fly, she said, referring to an effects sequence in which the trio smoke themselves into a state of levitation. I think thats the day that I kind of looked at them like, Hmm.

Davis will tell you which cast member was unabashed about lighting one up on set, and it should come to the surprise of absolutely no one: Snoop Dogg, who made one of several memorable cameos in the film (along with the likes of Willie Nelson, Jon Stewart, and Bob Saget) as the weed smoker archetype known as the Scavenger.

We shot on the lot at Universal  on the stoops there, Davis recalled. And so Snoop literally pulls out a real joint  the whole movie we had been filming fake weed, no real weed  so he pulls out a real joint and hes smoking a real joint on the steps there.

Im like, Oh no, Im going to get in trouble. Im on the lot And I start to see security coming, and Im so scared. And all the cops started surrounding us. And I was like, Oh no. And then as soon as we cut, they all surrounded him and wanted his autograph. They were so psyched to meet him.

Story continues

Watch our full Facebook Live interview:

Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is deploying military paramedics to carry food and vaccines to a remote part of its easternmost province of Papua, where reports say at least 61 infants died from malnutrition and diseases such as measles.

Papua is one of Indonesia's poorest provinces despite being rich in resources and President Joko Widodo pledged to speed its development when he came to power in 2014.

The situation in the remote Asmat regency was an "extraordinary incident", the health ministry said in a statement, adding that it was sending 39 health workers there.

The Indonesian military has sent 53 personnel including paramedics, besides medical equipment, vaccines and 11,100 packages of instant food, it added.

"We are handling the situation," Health Minister Nila Moeloek told Reuters, blaming similar previous incidents on several factors.

"There is a link between the malnutrition and (catching) other diseases," Moeloek added. "If you're undernourished, you will get those diseases."

The ministry said it was still trying to estimate the number of deaths but daily newspaper Kompas on Monday said at least 61 infants had died.

Many Papuans, who are predominantly Christian and a minority in the Muslim-majority country, criticise the government in Jakarta for neglecting Papua and instead being too focused on the densely-populated island of Java.

The province has also had a long-running and sometimes violent separatist movement since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.

Catholic priest and rights activist John Jonga, blamed the crisis on a lack of vaccinations and a switch from more nutritious tubers to rice as a staple food.

He said he had voiced questions over Widodo's policy of sending aid to Palestine and Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority, rather than to Papua at a recent seminar at the Indonesia Institute of Sciences in Jakarta, the capital.

Story continues

"We are lacking health facilities," Jonga said. "That's why in the seminar I asked why the president was busy with Myanmar and building a hospital in Gaza. Whereas in Papua, we have problems, difficulties with drugs and medical workers."

One minister denied the extent of the health crisis had taken the government by surprise.

"We have anticipated this since September 2017," Puan Maharani, the coordinating minister for human development, told reporters.

"The location in Asmat is not easy to monitor. We have asked the health ministry to coordinate for this (health crisis) to be evaluated."

(Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor, Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Maikel Jeffriando; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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 []
Rome (AFP) - Italy's parliament on Wednesday approved a ramped up military presence in Niger by agreeing to send an initial 120 troops with 350 more to follow as Rome looks to stem migration and people trafficking of African migrants.

"This is a training mission in response to a request from Niger, not a combat mission," said Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti, elaborating on comments Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni made on the issue last month.

"We are going to Niger following a request from the local government received in early December concerning an Italian contribution to do what we normally do in these countries, such as Libya, for example. That is, reinforce instruments of territorial and border control and reinforce local police forces," Gentiloni said in December.

Gentiloni said then that Niger is "the main transit country" for tens of thousands of people arriving in Libya, the launchpad for many Europe-bound African migrants, from where they attempt dangerous sea crossings to Europe.

Last year, some 115,000 landed in Italy, a figure down 32 percent year on year, taking arrivals since 2014 to around 600,000.

Gentiloni insisted last month his country could "hold its head high" over its treatment of migrants, after rights group Amnesty International accused Rome and other EU governments of being "knowingly complicit" in abuses of migrants in Libya.
TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government called on public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday to make sure a false alarm warning of a North Korean missile launch will not be repeated, with tensions still high because of the North's missile and nuclear programs. NHK issued an erroneous alarm on its website on Tuesday evening, saying North Korea appeared to have launched a missile and urging people to take shelter. A similar gaffe caused panic in the U.S. island state of Hawaii at the weekend. Japan's public broadcaster put out another message on its website within five minutes correcting itself and said no government warning, known as a "J-alert", had been issued. "The J-alert system is information of extreme importance in maintaining the security and safety of the people, so we've asked that they ensure this does not happen again," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference. There have been no reports of panic or other disruptions following the NHK report. NHK said the false alert was sent by mistake when it was trying to issue another news flash. The broadcaster declined to say what the other news flash was about, but some domestic news outlets issued bulletins at around the same time about the latest recipients of a Japanese literary award. NHK is looking into measures to prevent a recurrence but could not comment on specific details because the plan had not been firmed up yet, an NHK spokeswoman said. The false alert was also sent to mobile phone users of NHK's online news distribution service. It was not clear how many of its 300,000 users have a function to let news alerts pop up on the cellphone screen when activated, NHK said. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Olivier Fabre; Editing by Paul Tait)
WASHINGTON  Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) warned Republicans that they must stand up to President Donald Trumps attacks against the press or else risk being complicit in a dangerous slide to authoritarianism.

Flake delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Wednesday warning that Trumps repeated attacks on the U.S. media as fake news are hurting democracy, which he said depended on a shared set of facts.

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government, Flake said. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine alternative facts into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods.

Trump last week again suggested he would make it easier for people to sue news organizations and publishers for defamation by taking a strong look at the nations libel laws. In addition to his attacks against specific news organization and journalists, Trump has labeled the media the enemy of the people.

Flake said it would be a source of great shame in this body, especially for those of us in the presidents party, if Trumps unprecedented assault on the media went unchallenged. The presidents behavior this past year, he added, is reminiscent of similar tactics employed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

A free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press a guardian of democracy, Flake said.

If Republicans decide to stand together and stand up to Trump, Flake continued, they can prevent further moral vandalism and resolve to be allies of the truth  and not partners in its destruction.

Flake also commented on Trumps plans Wednesday to hand out something called the Fake News Awards. The prizes, the president said, would go to the most corrupt and biased news organizations. The White House on Tuesday called the awards a potential event, however.

Story continues

It beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle. But here we are, Flake said.

No Republicans were present in the chamber as Flake spoke, except for Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who presided as chair. Two Democrats  Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar  stood up to thank Flake for his remarks.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said later he wasnt surprised by Flakes speech.

He hates him, Inhofe said of Flakes attitude about Trump. Hes been doing that for a long time ... I think its not a good idea. I just disagree with him. I dont think it serves any purpose to criticize the president just because you dont like him.

Flakes speech didnt have the intended effect on the chair of the Republican National Committee. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel took particular issue with the Arizona Republican comparing Trumps attacks on the press to Stalin, tweeting that he had gone too far.

Sen. Flake, turn on the news. Its wall-to-wall with biased coverage against @POTUS. He has every right to push back. Comparing the leader of the free world to murderous dictators is absurd. Youve gone too far.  Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) January 17, 2018

This story has been been updated with Sen. Inhofes comments.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
U.S. Senator John McCain wants President Trump to stop attacking the American free press.

The Arizona Republican and Vietnam War veteran penned a critical op-ed in the Washington Post on Tuesday, one day before the U.S. leader's teased "Fake News Awards" were scheduled to take place.

"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," Trump wrote last week. "The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!"

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

McCain says the 45th president's assault on American media provides cover for oppressive global regimes to "follow suit."

"He [Trump] has threatened to continue his attempt to discredit the free press by bestowing 'fake news awards' upon reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with," McCain writes. "Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy."

RELATED: A running list of all the times Trump has attacked 'fake news' on Twitter



According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2017 was one of the most dangerous years for journalists with a documented 262 cases of journalists imprisoned for their work. Pointing to nations like Russia, Venezuela and Turkey with a history of censorship and media assault, McCain notes that a national leader directly opposed to its country's media is historically more common in non-democratic governments than in the United States.

"Trumps attempts to undermine the free press also make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable," McCain continued. "For decades, dissidents and human rights advocates have relied on independent investigations into government corruption to further their fight for freedom. But constant cries of 'fake news' undercut this type of reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent."

Although Trump had tweeted of the event last week, the "Fake News Awards" do not appear on the president's Wednesday schedule.
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison for his role in massive protests in 2014, dealing another blow to the pro-democratic youth movement in this semi-autonomous region of China.

Wong, 21, pleaded guilty to the charge of defying a court order to leave a demonstration site at the end of the mass democracy protests known as the Umbrella Movement, a 79-day occupation of the city demanding freer elections and greater political autonomy.

They can lock up our bodies, but they cannot lock up our minds, Wong told reporters outside the High Court before the ruling was handed down.

We will vote in prison in the March by-election. We will accept it with calmness. We hope the pro-democracy camp will unite.  Joshua Wong Chi-fung (@joshuawongcf) January 17, 2018

Wong and another activist, Raphael Wong Ho-ming, were remanded in custody while 14 other defendants were dealt suspended sentences, according to the South China Morning Post.

The sentences will have a chilling effect particularly on young people who want to play a more active role in ushering in real democracy in Hong Kong, says Willie Lam, Adjunct Professor of China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. But he added that the relatively tough sentences could serve to radicalize young people toward taking more extreme positions.

Read more: Facing Jail, Joshua Wong Tells TIME Hong Kong Is Under Threat

Along with fellow protest leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow, Wong was sentenced to several months in prison in August, in a revised ruling viewed by many as politically motivated. He was released on bail in October after serving more than two months in prison.
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday he would welcome any British attempt to rejoin the EU after Brexit, as Brussels jumped on speculation about a second referendum.

Juncker's comment about possible re-accession comes a day after European Council President Donald Tusk said that the bloc's "hearts were still open" if Britain decided to change its mind about leaving the EU.

Top EU officials have made a series of remarks about Britain reversing its decision since leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage floated the idea of a new vote following the June 2016 Brexit referendum.

Juncker, who heads the EU's powerful executive arm, said Brexit was a "catastrophe" and a "lose-lose situation both for the British and members of the European Union."

"Mr Tusk says our hands remain outstretched. If the British wish to find another way than Brexit, we are then ready to talk about it," Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"I did note that in London there was a rather irritated response to this proposal, but even if the British leave according to article 50 (of the EU's treaties), there is as well an article 49, which allows rejoining. I would like that," he added.

"And I would like that we treat each other now in a reasonable way and do not try to outmanoeuvre each other."

British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman on Tuesday ruled out a second vote.

Britain voted for Brexit by 52 percent to 48 percent in a referendum in June 2016, stunning the world and deeply worrying the EU as it confronted a series of other crises.

Britain and the EU reached a deal in principle on separation issues in December, and are due to start talks next month on a short transition period after Britain's departure in March 2019.

Talks on future relations -- including the all-important issue of a possible trade deal, and how closely Britain will stay allied to the EU's single market and customs union -- are not due to start until April.
By Fatos Bytyci and Ivana Sekularac

PRISTINA/BELGRADE (Reuters) - Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic, who was standing trial over the killings of ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war, was shot dead on Tuesday in what Serbia called an act of terrorism.

The killing increased tension between Kosovo and Serbia, and a round of European Union-sponsored dialogue on normalising relations that was due to take place in Brussels was suspended at Belgrade's request.

The European Union, NATO and the United States urged both sides to remain calm, and Kosovo's authorities to bring the killers to justice. They also urged Serbia and its former province, which won independence a decade ago, to recommit to establishing normal relations.

After an emergency session of Serbia's National Security Council, President Aleksandar Vucic called the killing "an act of terrorism" and said Belgrade must be included in the investigation. He declined to say whether he believed the killing was ethnically motivated.

Ivanovic, 64, was gunned down in front of his party office in Mitrovica, a town bitterly divided between ethnic Serbs and Albanians, shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT). Doctors in hospital failed to revive him.

There were no witnesses and no shots were heard, suggesting the weapon had been fitted with a silencer, Serbian media reported. Tanjug news agency quoted his lawyer as saying Ivanovic had been shot at least five times.

Police found a burnt-out Opel car in the town after the shooting and suspected it was linked to the attack. They offered 10,000 euros ($12,200) for significant information, and provided a secure phone line.

The Kosovo government, which includes former commanders of ethnic Albanian guerrillas who rose up against Belgrade's repressive rule in the late 1990s, also condemned the attack.

"The killing of Oliver Ivanovic challenges the law and any attempt to establish law and order throughout the entire territory of Kosovo," it said in a statement.

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Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj warned that the killing could be "misused" for political ends.

Kosovo's National Security Council also met, and said authorities might seek help from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

"BRIDGE-WATCHERS"

Known as a relative moderate among mainly ultra-nationalist Kosovo Serb politicians, Ivanovic became one of the chief interlocutors for NATO, U.N. and EU officials based in Kosovo to help steer it towards stable democracy and rule of law.

In 2016, he was convicted of war crimes linked to the killings of four ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war and jailed for nine years. But after a retrial was ordered last year, he was released.

Serbian officials dismissed the accusations against Ivanovic and said the process against him was staged.

Ivanovic came to prominence shortly after the war as one of the Mitrovica "bridge-watchers", Serbs who sought to prevent "infiltration" by Albanians over the Ibar River bridge into the northern half of the town.

The bridge-watchers were often involved in ethnic violence in the early post-war period, after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian forces accused of killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians in a counter-insurgency campaign.

The group later disbanded but many members moved into organised crime. Ivanovic entered politics and became known for advocating dialogue and compromise with Kosovo Albanians, while still rejecting Kosovo's sovereignty.

Some 40,000-50,000 ethnic Serbs live in northern Kosovo, resisting integration with the rest of the mainly ethnic Albanian country.

Relations between Serbia and Kosovo have been tense since 2008, but in 2013 both parties agreed to participate in EU-sponsored reconciliation talks, a condition for both to progress towards membership of the bloc.

Hundreds gathered in front of Belgrade's biggest church to light candles to Ivanovic.

"Ivanovic was an honest politician, which is a rare quality, and a great Serb. He was one the few who could bring Serbs and Albanians together," said 28-year-old carpenter Aleksandar Petrovic.

($1 = 0.8179 euros)

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Gabriela Baczynska and Robin Emmot in Brussels; writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Mark Heinrich)




Liam Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn, mentor to Ewan McGregors Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the first of the Star Wars prequels, 1999s The Phantom Menace. The Jedi, however, didnt make it out of Episode I alive.

But Disney and Lucasfilm have announced plans to make an Obi-Wan Kenobi solo movie, which could provide Neesons character an opportunity to come back to the franchise.

Yahoo Movies UK asked the actor  currently starring in The Commuter  whether he had discussed the possibility of reprising his role as Qui-Gon.

This is the first time Im hearing of this, the Irish actor said. No ones been in touch with me. I know in the Star Wars world, anything is possible.

Liam Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I  The Phantom Menace. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

In the first one, The Phantom Menace, I died, but we know, you know, Jedis come back and stuff, but no ones been in touch. Well see.

The actor is right that there could be potential for a comeback; he was actually meant to be in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III  Revenge of the Sith, but the scene where he speaks to Yoda from beyond the grave was cut.

Qui-Gon does get mentioned by Yoda though: An old friend has learned the path to immortality, he tells Obi-Wan. One who has returned from the netherworld of the Force Your old master.

However, the scene of Yoda and Jinn communing does take place in the novel version of the movie, so it wouldnt be too much of a push for Neeson to pop up as a Force ghost in the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie.

Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry is attached to direct the anthology film, and Disney has reportedly booked Pinewood Studios in January 2019 to begin shooting.

It would certainly be fun for Star Wars fans to see Jinn back in the franchise, especially if McGregor gets to reprise his prequel role as Obi-Wan.

Several Star Wars alumni have appeared in the latest episodes, so to see Jinn and Kenobi share the screen again would be rather nostalgic, even though their film series isnt as beloved as the original.

The Commuter is in theaters.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Skopje (AFP) - Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov vetoed Wednesday a law giving greater status to the Albanian language in the Balkan country, saying it could endanger its "unity and sovereignty".

Conservative Ivanov said that the law would block and make state administration disfunctional "risking jeopardising unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Macedonia."

"We are passing an unjust law that favours only Albanian language," Ivanov told reporters, adding that it was not in line with the constitution.

"Therefore... I decided not to sign the law into effect."

However, the bill will be sent back to the parliament for a new vote and if it is approved again the president has to sign it.

Macedonian government regretted the decision in a statement, saying the law was "in line with the constitution" and motivated by the "care for all citizens of Macedonia."

Ethnic Albanians make up around a quarter of Macedonia's two million people, and Albanian has until now been an official language only in areas where the minority makes up certain numbers.

Macedonian is the primary language used across the predominantly Slavic country.

The new law, passed last week by the Social-Democrats-led ruling coalition in parliament, anticipates that ethnic Albanians can request nationwide that their language be used in their administrative, health, judicial, police and other such official matters.

In parliament, it can be used by their elected representatives.

The adoption of the law was a demand of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian parties before they agreed to join a ruling coalition with the Social Democrats last year.

The deal ousted the nationalist rightwing VMRO-DPMNE party, in power since 2006.

Ivanov, who is close to now opposition VMRO-DPMNE, echoed their claims that the new law risks breaking up the fragile ex-Yugoslav republic.

In 2001 ethnic Albanian rebels waged an insurgency against Macedonian authorities, which left more than 100 people dead and ended with an agreement providing greater rights for the minority.
Matt Damon causes a stir over sexual harassment remarks while promoting Downsizing. (Photo: Getty Images)

Matt Damon is still recovering from Decembers foot-in-mouth incident. After the Downsizing star received a wave of backlash regarding his comments on Hollywoods sexual harassment scandals, the actor is now keeping quiet on the issue.

Damon, 47, visited the Today show to talk about the efforts of Water.org, and he was also asked to comment about the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.

I really wish Id listened a lot more before I weighed in on this, Damon told Kathie Lee Gifford about his previous statements the social media campaign #MeToo that saw women and men sharing their personal stories of abuse following the Harvey Weinstein revelations. I dont want to further anybodys pain with anything that I do or say. So for that I am really sorry.

As for #TimesUp, he added, A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what theyre doing and want to be a part of that change  but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while.

The actor was criticized for his remarks about #MeToo during his press tour last month. In one interview, Damon expressed that there were varying degrees of severity when it comes to sexual harassment. Theres a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? he told ABC News. Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated, without question, but they shouldnt be conflated, right?

In another interview, the actor also said people should also be paying attention to men who arent predators. Were in this watershed moment, and its great, but I think one thing thats not being talked about is there are a whole s***load of guys  the preponderance of men Ive worked with  who dont do this kind of thing and whose lives arent going to be affected, he told Business Insider. If I have to sign a sexual-harassment thing, I dont care, Ill sign it. I would have signed it before. I dont do that, and most of the people I know dont do that.

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Damon isnt the only leading man to face backlash when speaking about #MeToo and #TimesUp. Liam Neeson has also made some controversial remarks recently, saying the sexual harassment scandal has caused a bit of a witch hunt.

Liam Neeson at AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York City on Jan. 8. (Photo: Getty Images)

Theres some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girls knee or something and suddenly theyre being dropped from their program, the 67-year-old action star said on the Irish broadcaster RTE.

Neeson compared radio presenter and author Garrison Keillor, who was dropped by Minnesota Public Radio last year over an allegation of inappropriate behavior, with Weinstein, saying it wasnt the same. He also added that hes on the fence about sexual harassment allegations against Dustin Hoffman.

As for #TimesUp, the star of The Commuter applauded the initiative. Theres a lot of discussion about it, and a lot of healthy and necessary discussion about it because the disparity sometimes is f***ing disgraceful, Neeson told the Associated Press. Were starting, and its starting with these extraordinary actresses and brave ladies.  We, as men, have got to be part of it, you know? We started it, so we have to be part of the solution.

But when asked if he would take a pay cut to equal things out, the actor shunned the idea. No. Pay cut? No, no, no, no. Thats going too far, he said. No, there has to be parity. There just has to be.

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London (AFP) - Britain is set to send Royal Air Force helicopters to bolster a key French counter-terrorism operation in Mali, in a package of measures to be agreed at a bilateral summit near London on Thursday.

The commitment will come as Prime Minister Theresa May meets French President Emmanuel Macron at an army base near the British capital, with immigration and global aid also on their agenda.

The issue of Brexit is not scheduled for formal discussion but will likely be touched upon in talks on other topics, a British government spokesman said.

London is eager to develop stronger bilateral ties with nations on the continent as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in March 2019.

"Today's summit will underline that we remain committed to defending our people and upholding our values as liberal democracies in the face of any threat, whether at home or abroad," May said in a statement ahead of the summit.

"Our friendship has always gone far beyond defence and security and the scope of today's discussions represents its broad and unique nature," she added.

May is due to announce the deployment of three RAF Chinook helicopters to provide logistic support to French troops tackling Islamist terrorism in Africa's Sahel region.

The mission is focused on Mali, where the UN, EU and African Union all have military operations countering terrorism and illegal trade in people, drugs, weapons and wildlife.

May will also discuss with the French president their joint crackdown on online extremism "to ensure that the internet cannot be used as a safe space for terrorists and criminals," according to the government spokesman.

Meanwhile Macron, in a piece of diplomatic theatre on his first official trip across the Channel, is expected to confirm that France will loan Britain the Bayeux Tapestry, the famed embroidery recounting the 1066 Norman conquest.

The leaders will address the sensitive issue of immigration, with border arrangements in northern France likely to be scrutinised.

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The two countries currently abide by the 15-year-old Treaty of Le Touquet, which permits immigration checks within each other's borders.

May is set to agree to welcome more young refugees stuck in France and review financial aid.

"We have in the past contributed to security and if there are requests for further help we would look at those," said the spokesman.

Hundreds of people continue to camp out in the northern French town of Calais, hoping to stow away on trucks heading to Britain, a destination seen as an El Dorado by some migrants from Afghanistan and East Africa.

Britain is also expected to allocate A50 million (56 million euros, $69 million) of additional aid for those affected by epidemics, natural disasters and conflict across west Africa.
Kiev (AFP) - Two people, including a five-year-old child, have died this month in an outbreak of measles in Ukraine, where the vaccination rate is among the lowest in Europe, officials said Wednesday.

The health ministry reported the death of an adult in the Black Sea port of Odessa, while official figures of the public health centre showed a five-year-old child died of measles in the region last week.

School holidays have been extended in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.

Since the start of January authorities have recorded 1,275 cases of measles, compared with 4,782 cases in the whole of 2017, when five people died including three children -- all in the Odessa region.

The outbreak has prompted calls for parents to vaccinate their children and for schools to turn away non-vaccinated pupils.

Ukraine's measles vaccination rate for one-year-olds stands at 88 percent, far below the 95 percent rate recommended by the World Health Organization.

Measles has also struck in neighbouring Romania, as well as Italy, France, Germany and Greece.
Is she or isnt she? Weeks after Michelle Williams brushed off her heart-shaped diamond ring simply as beautiful jewelry, Us Weekly claims the actress is engaged to Andrew Youmans.

She wants a good guy and a stable family life, an insider alleges.

A rep for Williams would not comment to confirm or deny the report when contacted by Yahoo Lifestyle.

Michelle Williams and Andrew Youmans stroll around Rome in July 2017. (Photo: Mega Agency)

Williams, 37, and the 50-year-old New York financial consultant were first photographed showing PDA on the streets of Rome in July 2017. They have yet to make an official public appearance together, but they were recently spotted vacationing in the Bahamas over New Years Eve. The actress was wearing the same diamond ring. Williamss 12-year-old daughter with the late Heath Ledger, Matilda, was also on the trip.

The four-time Oscar nominee is notoriously private about her personal life, so its unsurprising that there is no official word on whether she and Youmans plan to walk down the aisle. Before dating the Harvard Business School grad, the actress was linked to novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. They were said to be seeing each other in 2015 but never publicly commented on a supposed romance.

Prior to Williamss recent low-key relationships, she was in more high-profile romances with Jason Segel, Spike Jonze, and most notably, Ledger.

Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger at the 2006 Vanity Fair Oscars party. (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)

Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2008, less than a year after splitting with Williams. The couple  who began dating in 2004 after meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain  never wed. They welcomed Matilda Rose in November 2005.

In all honesty, for pretty much everything else, I feel like Im a believer in not fighting circumstances, accepting where you are and where youve been, Williams told Porter magazine in 2016. In pretty much all senses but one. I would be able to go totally down that line of thinking were it not for Matilda not having her dad. You know thats just something that doesnt  I mean, it just wont ever be right.

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Seven months after Ledgers shocking death, Williams attempted to find love again. The actress began dating Spike Jonze, with whom she worked on the indie film Synecdoche, New York. They were in a relationship for about a year before breaking up.

Michelle Williams and Spike Jonze at Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City on Oct. 15, 2008. (Photo: Justin Campbell/BuzzFoto/FilmMagic)

The timing was impossible, she admitted to Vogue in September 2009. I thought falling in love again was the only thing that was going to save me from the pain. This erroneous idea: It just makes things more complicated.

Being a single mother didnt make dating again easier, as the actress told the magazine, I obviously dont know how to do it.

Williams didnt have a public romance again until 2012 when she got together with Segel. The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star was often photographed hanging out with both Williams and Matilda, and the public seemed to adore the Hollywood couple. If people are happy about it, that makes me feel good.  Any kind sentiment that the world can feed back, well, I wont turn it down, Williams told InStyle in February 2013.

Jason Segel and Michelle Williams stroll around Los Feliz, Calif. (Photo: Ramey Photos/BACKGRID)

After a year together, Segel and Williams split with distance being to blame. She cares a great deal for Jason but is not ready to make a commitment, a source told People at the time. Maybe if they were together day-to-day, she would have more confidence in a future. But not at this time.

Despite not finding the one, Williams was never discouraged. In January 2017, the actress told WSJ Magazine that while being a single parent had its challenges, she didnt feel pressured to get married just to do it.

Its a little bit difficult to contend with a feeling of failure for not living up to a standard of normal, she shared. Sometimes it can feel alienating; at school functions, theres only two of us single mothers. Everyone else has a partner, so we buddy up.  When youve been a parent for 11 years and youve done it alone, you dont have romantic ideals, because you have a practical understanding that you can do it by yourself. The romantic idea of meeting your person and having a storybook family life that looks like the model you grew up with  that doesnt really exist for me.

Williams added, Ive not gotten married because I have not had a person to whom I would  so I have not let my sense of conformity or duty override my instincts.

This will be Williamss first marriage, if the engagement report is true. While we dont know if Williams and Youmans plan to tie the knot, there is one thing we do know: The All the Money in the World actress deserves all the love in the world.

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Russell M. Nelson, 93, the new president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, greets family members after a press conference on Tuesday in Salt Lake City. (Photo: George Frey via Getty Images)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially named Russell M. Nelson as its 17th president.

Nelson, a former heart surgeon, was welcomed into the position during a live broadcast from Utahs Salt Lake Temple on Tuesday. It was the first time in the Mormon churchs history that the announcement of a new president was streamed live around the world, in 29 languages.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference, Nelson characterized his selection as sacred and humbling.

He also paid tribute to his predecessor, Thomas Monson, who died at the age of 90 on Jan. 2. He had served as president since 2008.

No words can do justice to the magnitude and magnificence of his life, Nelson said.

At 93, Nelson is the second-oldest person in the 187-year-old churchs history to become president.

Watch a recording of the announcement below.

Nelson has been temporarily presiding over the church since his predecessors death. He was ordained for his new position during a religious ceremony on Sunday.

The president of the Mormon church is believed to be a living prophet able to receive divine revelations from God. Succession is based strictly on seniority. Nelson was the longest-serving member of a church body known as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which meant that he was next in line for the role of president. He became part of the Quorum in 1984.

During the broadcast, Nelson announced that he had chosen two counselors to stand beside him in the First Presidency, the churchs highest governing body. As First Counselor, he chose Dallin H. Oaks, who has long been part of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and is next in line to be president. As Second Counselor, Nelson chose Henry B. Eyring, who served in the First Presidency under Monson.

President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with his wife, Wendy L. Watson Nelson. (Photo: George Frey via Getty Images)

Given the churchs succession process, its unlikely the arrival of a new president will mean changes in how it approaches topics that have caused it controversy in recent years, such as queer sexuality and women in leadership roles.

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This became apparent when, after the presidency announcement, Nelson and his counselors fielded questions from reporters about the churchs future and vision.

One reporter asked about outreach to queer Mormons, many of whom have said they feel ostracized by the church. In November 2015, the church adopted a policy that deemed same-sex couples apostates. It also prohibited children of these couples from getting blessed or baptized until they were 18 years old, at which point they need to disavow their parents marriage in order to join the church.

Nelson said that while God loves all his children and wants them to have joy, there are certain challenges associated with following Gods commandments  challenges to be worthy to enter his holy presence.

Oaks was a bit more explicit in his response, suggesting that believers need to follow Gods commandments in order to receive blessings.

As leaders of the church we have a responsibility to teach love and also to teach the commandments of God, Oaks said.

Russell M. Nelson (center), First Counselor Dallin H. Oaks (left), and Second Counselor Henry B. Eyring (right) answer press questions after Nelson was announced as the 17th president of the Mormon Church. (Photo: George Frey via Getty Images)

Jana Riess, a Mormon blogger, said that the subtext of both mens remarks seemed to be a reiteration of the Churchs position that homosexual behavior is in violation of Gods commandments, but that all people are loved.

She also suggested its unlikely that the First Presidencys traditional responses to concerns about womens leadership and minority representation in the church will be satisfactory to Mormons with questions about these issues.

These will be issues to watch in the months going forward, as the new First Presidency defines its mission and eventual legacy, Riess wrote in a blog for Religion News Service.

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From Afar

The exterior of the Kansas City Temple, as seen from a distance.

At Night

The exterior of the Kansas City Missouri Temple at night.

Celestial Room

The celestial room in the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

Sealing Room

A sealing room in the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

Ordinance Room

An ordinance room in the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

Ordinance Room

An ordinance room in the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

Baptismal Font

The baptismal font in the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

Oxen

Oxen under the baptismal font in the Kansas City Missouri Temple. All Latter-day Saint baptismal fonts are supported on the backs of 12 oxen statues that symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel.

Front Desk

The front desk area of the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
By Branko Filipovic MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - More than 2,000 people gathered in Kosovo's northern town of Mitrovica on Wednesday to pay respects to a Serb leader whose killing inflamed tensions between the neighbours. Oliver Ivanovic, 64, was shot dead with six bullets on Tuesday in front of his party office in Mitrovica, a town bitterly divided between ethnic Serbs and Albanians. He was facing a retrial over the killings of ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war. Serbia condemned the killing as an act of terrorism but the president declined to say whether he believed the killing was ethnically motivated. Ivanovic came to prominence shortly after the war as one of the Mitrovica "bridge-watchers", Serbs who sought to prevent "infiltration" by Albanians over the Ibar River bridge into the northern half of the town. Kosovo Serbs, mainly from Mitrovica, gathered at Ivanovic's party office on Wednesday, lighting candles before they escorted his coffin to the outskirts of the town, from where a car will take it to Belgrade where the funeral will take place. A Serbian Orthodox church bishop held a service before the procession left. A man holding a wooden cross with Ivanovic's name on it led the procession through the streets of Mitrovica. "Every single person who wants normalcy and the city to be without crime and political crime and pressure and insecurity came to bid farewell to Oliver," said Spomenka, 40, an office clerk, who declined to give her family name. An EU-sponsored dialogue on the normalisation of ties between Serbia and Kosovo was suspended on Belgrade's request after the killing. A Serbian official said they only would go back to negotiations once the perpetrator was brought to justice. The European Union, NATO and the United States urged Serbia and its former province, which won independence a decade ago, to recommit to establishing normal relations, key for both countries to progress towards EU accession. "Ivanovics murder yesterday was a tragedy for Kosovo," the U.S. ambassador to Kosovo, Greg Delawie, told journalists. "No one should take advantage of this crime for political ends." POLICE INVESTIGATION Kosovo police said they had tracked down the owners of a burned car believed to be linked to killers and were interviewing potential witnesses. No one heard shots as, according to investigators, the gunman likely used silencer. Autopsy results released on Wednesday showed he had been shot with six bullets. Bridge-watchers such as Ivanovic were often involved in ethnic violence in the early post-war period, after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian forces accused of killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians in a counter-insurgency campaign. After the group disbanded, Ivanovic entered politics and became known for advocating dialogue and compromise with Kosovo Albanians, while still rejecting Kosovo's sovereignty. In 2016 he was sentenced to nine years in prison for killing Albanians during the 1998-99 war, but was released last year after a retrial was ordered. The retrial was ongoing. Serbian officials dismissed the accusations against Ivanovic and said the process against him was staged. For years the north of Kosovo with up to 50,000 Serbs, functioned in a legal limbo, part of Kosovo but de facto under the control of Serbia in defiance of Kosovo's NATO and European Union overseers. Florian Bieber, Florian Bieber, a Balkans expert at the University of Graz, said the impact of Ivanovic's murder would "depend on how it will be instrumentalized and used". (Fixes spelling error in paragraph 8.) (Additional reporting by Alkesandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Fatos Bytyci in Pristina; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Alison Williams)
Amani Al-Khatahtbeh of MuslimGirl.com has declined an award Revlon, due to its brand ambassador Gal Gadot. (Photo: Getty Images)

Muslim beauty blogger Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, a.k.a., Muslim Girl, is rejecting a Revlon award because of its brand ambassador Gal Gadot, who she says supports the oppression of women and girls.

I cannot accept this award from Revlon with Gal Gadot as the ambassador, Amani wrote Tuesday on Instagram of the Changemaker award from Revlons new #LiveBoldly campaign, an initiative to celebrate diverse beauty.

Her vocal support of the Israeli Defense Forces action in Palestine goes against MuslimGirl.coms morals and values, Amani wrote. I cant, in good conscience, accept this award from the brand and celebrate Gals ambassadorship after the IDF imprisoned a 16-year-old girl named Ahed Tamimi last month, an activist who is currently still incarcerated. I think we are in a moment where we must persist that womens empowerment includes ALL women. From the bottom of my heart, I feel I would not embody the meaning of the Changemaker Award if I were to accept it in these circumstances.

A post shared by Amani (@amani) on Jan 16, 2018 at 8:29am PST

Amani captioned her post, .It means so much to me when @muslimgirls work is recognized and elevated in spaces from which weve been traditionally excluded. But thats what makes it even more important at this moment to elevate and stand up for ALL women and girls. This shouldnt have to be said, but we cant accept role models that support the oppression of women and girls in other parts of the world. Especially after we just celebrated MLK Jr. and as we approach the one year anniversary of the Womens March, we all have an URGENT obligation to talk back, speak our truths, and insist on the right side of history. The personal is political  yes, even, and ESPECIALLY, when it comes to beauty  and I dont know about you, but my feminism is inclusive of ALL women and nothing less. Thats what being a changemaker means to me.

Yahoo Lifestyle could not reach a rep for Gadot or a spokesperson from Revlon for comment, however, Amani tells Yahoo Lifestyle, Its always difficult to be placed in this position, but as women of color get increased visibility, we have to hold brands and celebrities to the standards of the consumers theyre trying to market to.

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Amani adds, Gal is the face of Wonder Woman, feminism, and empowerment. And yet, she doesnt stand for the empowerment of everyone and shes very vocal on matters that disproportionately oppress women and children. It doesnt add up.

Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadots choice to wear Lebanese designer Ellie Saab to the National Board of Review gala sparked controversy. (Photo: Getty Images)

Before starring in The Fast & The Furious and Wonder Woman, Gadot served for two years as a fitness instructor in the Israeli army. She was also named Miss Israel, competing in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant and participated in a sexy Maxim photoshoot called Women of Israel Defense Forces.

Gadot also sparked political controversy on January 9th when she wore a blue, one-shoulder gown by Lebanese designer Ellie Saab to the January 9th National Board of Review gala.

When photos of Gadot hit the internet, some on social media recoiled at the idea of a Lebanese designer dressing an Israeli actress, due to tensions between the two countries.

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By Christian Shepherd BEIJING (Reuters) - A mostly Muslim county in western China has banned children from attending religious events over a winter break, an education bureau said in a notice posted online, as authorities step up control of religious education. School students in Linxia county in Gansu province, home to many members of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority, are prohibited from entering religious buildings over their break, a district education bureau said, according to the notification. Students must also not read scriptures in classes or in religious buildings, the bureau said, adding that all students and teachers should heed the notice and work to strengthen political ideology and propaganda. Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the notice. A man who answered the telephone at the Linxia education bureau hung up when Reuters asked about the notice. A woman at the district education bureau declined to comment on the document's authenticity. Xi Wuyi, a Marxist scholar at the state-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an outspoken critic of rising Islamic influence in China, shared the picture and welcomed the apparent move by the authorities. With the notice, the county was taking concrete action to keep religion and education separate and sticking strictly to education law, she said on the Weibo social media platform. New regulations on religious affairs released in October last year, and due to take effect in February, aim to increase oversight of religious education, and provide for greater regulation of religious activities. Last summer, a Sunday School ban was introduced in the southeastern city of Wenzhou, sometimes known as "China's Jerusalem" due to its large Christian population, but Christian parents found ways to teach their children about their religion regardless. Chinese law officially grants religious freedom for all but regulations on education and protection of minors also say religion cannot be used to hinder state education or to "coerce" children to believe. Authorities in troubled parts of China, such as the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim minority, ban children from attending religious events. But religious communities elsewhere rarely face blanket restrictions. Fear of Muslims influence has grown in China in recent years, sparked in part by violence in Xinjiang. The Chinese-speaking Hui, who are culturally more similar to the Han Chinese majority than to Uighurs, have also come under scrutiny from some intellectuals who fear creeping Islamic influence on society. (This story has been refiled to change paragraph 6 reference to "sciences" in academy name) (Reporting by Christian Shepherd)
By Tife Owolabi and Alexis Akwagyiram YENAGOA/LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian militants threatened on Wednesday to attack off-shore oil facilities within days, raising fears of a repeat of a 2016 wave of violence that helped push Africa's biggest economy into recession. The Niger Delta Avengers - the fighters behind many of the 2016 attacks - said they had planned the assaults after giving up on talks to give their impoverished southern region a greater share of the oil revenue it produced. "This round of attacks will be the most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals," the group said in a statement in its website. It said its targets, in the seas off the swampland delta region, would include the Bonga Platform and the Agbami, EA and Akpo fields. The militants also said they would target the Nigerian oil company Brittania-U. Shell operates the Bonga and EA fields while Chevron is the operator of Agbami. Akpo stakeholders include Total, China's CNOOC, Brazil's Petrobras and Nigeria's Sapetro. Representatives of Shell and Chevron declined to comment and there was no immediate statement from the other companies. Attacks on pipelines and other facilities in the Niger Delta in 2016 cut Nigeria's crude production from a peak of 2.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to near 1 mbpd - the lowest level seen in Africa's top oil producer in at least 30 years. That, combined with low oil prices, pushed the OPEC member into its first recession in a quarter of a century - crude sales make up two-thirds of government revenue and most of its foreign exchange. The militants agreed to a ceasefire in August 2016 - a development that helped pull Nigeria back out of recession in the second quarter of last year. But they called off the truce in November. Any resumption of attacks would pile pressure on Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari who is also facing separatist groups in the southeast, Islamist militants in the northeast and elections in 2019. He has not said whether he will stand. The government has held talks to address grievances over poverty and oil pollution in the Delta for more than a year but community groups say no progress has been made. The militant group said talks "have not achieved any meaningful results". "While promising a brutal outpour of our wrath, which shall shake the coffers of the failed Nigerian nation, our demand unambiguously is for the government to restructure this country," said the group, calling for the Niger Delta to have direct control over its resources. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the minister of state for petroleum, declined to comment. The Niger Delta Avengers bombed the Forcados sub-sea pipeline in 2016, a strike which involved the use of divers. No substantial attacks have been carried out by any groups in the Delta region since January 2017. (Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Felix Onuah in Abuja; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)
The bridge in Guayabetal municipality is on the road that connects Bogota with the city of Villavicencio, Cundinamarca - AFP

At least nine construction workers were killed and five injured when a partially-constructed bridge collapsed in central Colombia on Monday, an official from the disaster response agency said.

The bridge, located in Chirajara on the border of Cundinamarca and Meta provinces, was to be part of the highway that connects the capital Bogota and the city of Villavicencio, and was not yet in public use.

The cause of the collapse, which sent pieces of the bridge down into a canyon below, is under investigation, Reinaldo Romero, head of disaster response for Meta province, told Reuters.

Half of the bridge fell into the valley in Chirajara near Bogot Credit: JAIME SALDARRIAGA/ REUTERS

Up to now there are nine dead and five injured, Romero said. We are doing a check to rule out other victims.

Transportation Minister German Cardona flew over the site of the collapse later on Monday and visited rescue staff on the ground with Dimitri Zaninovich, the head of the national infrastructure agency.
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea rejects as a "provocation" a U.S.-led meeting in Vancouver that discussed tougher sanctions that Pyongyang will fight, a senior North Korean diplomat told Reuters on Wednesday. Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang that it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations. Choe Myong Nam, North Korea's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said the Vancouver meeting was "harmful and dangerous." "We denounce that meeting in the strongest possible terms, that is really harmful. It will not be conducive to peace and security and to the ongoing process between North and South that is aimed at creating a peaceful environment, easing tensions and promoting reconciliation between the North and the South," Choe said in an interview. "We are truly committed and determined to do what we can to fight against sanctions," he said. Asked about the possibility of a U.S. strike against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Choe said: "We have all the capacity to deter such maneuvers on the part of the hostile forces. We are ready for dialogue and confrontation. We are ready for both." But he said that North Korea is also determined to make the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea a success. "EVENT OF KOREAN NATION" "We regard this as an event of the Korean nation, not just of South Korea, (something) which should be jointly and brilliantly demonstrated to the world," he said. A delegation of North Korean Olympic officials will arrive soon in Switzerland for talks scheduled at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne on Saturday, Choe added. North Korea has proposed that the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) send a mission to South Korea to interview North Korean restaurant workers "abducted" in April 2016, as well as their families in North Korea, Choe said. "Our proposal is to make sure OHCHR undertakes a mission to both sides and finally do what they can do to secure the repatriation of these women." A U.N. human rights spokeswoman was unable to confirm receipt of North Korea's Sept. 28 letter about the proposed visits, addressed to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. Choe, asked if the North Korean restaurant workers were an obstacle to family reunions of Koreans separated by the divided peninsula, said that for family reunions to go ahead, the restaurant workers would need to be repatriated. "We wouldn't say it is a condition. It is a principled matter. South Korea has no right or qualification to talk about reunions of separated families," he said. "We urge South Korea to repatriate the abducted DPRK women citizens immediately without any preconditions, if they are truly interested in improving inter-Korean relations and truly interested in moving things forward in the right direction." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Alan Devall and Bob Mezan

PERRIS, Calif. (Reuters) - The 13 California siblings kept in "horrific" conditions by their parents, including some who were shackled to furniture, others who were starved, were being treated after an ordeal that could leave them scarred for years, authorities said on Tuesday.

Police were investigating the circumstances under which the parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, had subjected their children to the abuse, Captain Greg Fellows of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.

The couple was arrested on Sunday and each charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment, the sheriff's office said. They were each held on $9 million bail, with a court hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Authorities were alerted after one of the children, an emaciated, 17-year-old girl, called police after escaping through a window of the house in Perris, about 70 miles (115 km) east of Los Angeles.

"I appreciate the courage this juvenile had to escape that house and get out there and report this to law enforcement," Fellows said.

Police said they found three of the couple's 13 children, who range in age from 2 to 29, shackled with chains and padlocks inside the dark, foul-smelling residence, located in a suburban housing tract.

"(Police) noticed the children were malnourished," Fellows said at a briefing. "It was very dirty, and the conditions were horrific."

Authorities were seeking court authorization to take custody of the children. Child Protective Services was assisting in an investigation.

Some of the children were being fed and in stable condition at a local hospital, officials said.

The family has lived at the house since 2014, where they home-schooled their children, Fellows said. Six of the couple's children are minors, while the other seven are over 18, according to neighbours.

Kimberly Milligan, 50, who lives across the street from the family, said she only saw the infant in the mother's arms and three other children since she moved in across the street two years ago, describing them as small and pale.

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"Why don't we ever see the kids?" Milligan said she asked herself. "In hindsight, we would have never thought this. But there were red flags. You never don't hear or see nine kids."

Two years ago, while walking around the neighbourhood admiring Christmas lights and decorations, Milligan said she had encountered three of the Turpin children and complimented them on the manger with a baby Jesus set up outside the house. She said the children froze, as if by doing so they could become invisible.

"Twenty-year-olds never act like that," she said. "They didn't want to have a social conversation."

Nicole Gooding, 35, who has lived in the neighbourhood for three years, said the first time she saw the family was two months ago when the mother and children were cleaning up the yard that was full of weeds and overflowing trash cans.

"I had never seen them at all until that day," she said.

MARRIAGE RENEWAL VOWS

The parents home-schooled the children strictly and required them to memorize long passages from the Bible, David Turpins parents, James and Betty Turpin of West Virginia, told ABC News.

The Turpin address was listed by the California Department of Education as the location of the Sandcastle Day School, with David Turpin as principal.

In 2010, David Turpin left his job at Lockheed Martin <LMT.N>, a company spokeswoman said. He also worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman <NOC.N>, the aeronautics and defence company.

Unable to keep up with the family's expenses, Ivan Trahan, a California attorney who represented him, told Reuters on Tuesday, that Turpin filed for bankruptcy in 2011. At the time, the lawyer said the couple spoke highly of their children.

A spokesman for Northrop declined to say if Turpin was currently employed there.

"We are deeply troubled by the nature of the allegations against Mr. Turpin," Northrop spokesman Mark Root said in a statement.

David and Louise Turpin appeared to have had marriage-renewal ceremonies at least three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2015, at an Elvis Presley-themed chapel in Las Vegas, according to the chapel's YouTube page. One video shows the couple exchanging renewal vows in front of an Elvis impersonator.

Another video showed 10 female children in matching purple plaid dresses walking down the aisle ahead of Louise towards David, who waited anxiously at the altar with two male children in suits.

A third male child dressed in a suit appeared later in the video during various dance performances with the Elvis impersonator and the family.

An Elvis Chapel representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A joint Facebook page that appeared to have been created by the parents showed the couple at the same chapel dressed in wedding clothes, surrounded by the 13 children.

David Turpin's parents, James and Betty Turpin of West Virginia, told ABC News they were "surprised and shocked" by the allegations, saying they could not understand "any of this."

(Additional reporting by Chris Kenning in Chicago, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Gina Cherelus in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Jonathan Oatis)
By Peter Szekely

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers at the market that supplies New York City with much of its fresh fruits and vegetables were prepared to go on strike as early as Wednesday for the first time since 1986 if negotiators failed to reach a pay deal before a contract expires at midnight, their union said.

Employers at the sprawling Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market said they were confident of an agreement, but the president of the union said he believed a strike was more likely than not after the current contract expires.

I'm not very optimistic that were going to get a settlement, lets put it that way," Dan Kane, president of Teamsters union Local 202, which represents the workers, said on Tuesday.

The two sides were still at the bargaining table late on Tuesday afternoon, but a union spokesman said no progress had been made.

The 1,100 workers who load and unload trucks and sort fruits and vegetables for 35 produce merchants operating at the South Bronx facility rejected a management offer of a pay raise of 30 cents an hour on Saturday and authorized union leaders to call a strike if necessary.

The union has not issued a strike deadline but left open the possibility of a work stoppage any time after midnight, Kane said.

Even though employers, who are represented by the New York Produce Trade Association, were optimistic about averting a strike, they have prepared contingency plans to keep the market open if the workers walk off the job, spokesman Robert Leonard said.

Leonard declined to elaborate on the contingency plans or say if they included hiring replacement workers.

"But rest assured that were going to be moving produce throughout the region if there were to be a job action, he said.

The Hunt's Point market says it supplies 60 percent of New York City's food. It is the city's central distribution point for fruits and vegetables that are shipped in from all over the world and delivered to restaurants, grocery stores, wholesalers and hotels.

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The union was seeking a raise of 75 cents an hour for workers, whose annual pay ranges from $45,000 to $55,000, depending on length of service, work schedules and overtime, Kane said.

A key goal for the union is to bridge a pay gap under which new workers make almost $2 an hour less than longer-serving workers, a provision that was agreed to during the 2009 recession, he said.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)
The Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg in 2011. (Photo: Daniel Shanken / Reuters)

HARRISBURG, Pa.  A plurality of state Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared open to the possibility that the Pennsylvania congressional map may violate the states constitution, but during oral argument seemed unclear as to how to remedy the situation.

The states map, which has been in place since 2012, gives Republicans a considerable advantage. The GOP consistently has been able to win 13 of the states 18 congressional seats despite winning just 50 percent of the vote. The Brennan Center for Justice describes the congressional map as one of the worst gerrymanders in the country, and analyses have found it to be responsible for at least three additional GOP seats in Congress.

During an oral argument that lasted about two and a half hours in a packed courtroom, the justices seemed resistant to the plaintiffs suggestion that any level of partisanship would be unacceptable in drawing district lines. Reaching such a conclusion would mean the court would be wading into redistricting more than any court had before, said Justice Debra McCloskey Todd.

But a plurality of the justices seemed more open to a map that took into consideration some partisan concerns as long as they were not given more importance than traditional, neutral redistricting requirements, such as those mandating districts be compact and contiguous. David Gersch, the lawyer for those challenging the congressional map, said such an approach would be acceptable as a fallback position.

Gersch argued that the case was a straightforward example of viewpoint discrimination. Republican lawmakers tasked with redrawing the states congressional districts sorted voters based on how they had voted in previous elections. Doing so, he said, threatens to undermine the essence of representative democracy.

Lawyers for the Republican defendants did not dispute that voters had been sorted into districts based on their past votes, but said that did not amount to impermissible viewpoint discrimination. They argued that social science could not necessarily predict how voters would cast their ballot, and that political parties were not a protected group the way racial groups are.

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The case was filed by the League of Women Voters on behalf of 18 Pennsylvania Democratic voters, one in each of the states congressional districts.

E. Mark Braden, a lawyer for House Speaker Michael Turzai (R), said it was inconceivable that the constitution would give the power to redraw districts to a legislature without anticipating it would take political considerations into effect. Brady warned the justices against wading into the political thicket, arguing the body would weaken its integrity as an independent judicial body by taking on the political process of redistricting.

Gersch and Daniel Jacobson, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were surprised at Bradys admission that Republicans used Pennsylvanians past votes to sort them into districts. Brady argued it was unsurprising politicians would take politics into account when shaping drawing the new maps.

They offered no substantive argument that this wasnt intentional discrimination, Jacobson told HuffPost.

Democrats have a 5-2 majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, onto which justices are elected. The court has the final say in this case because it involves a challenge under the free expression and equal protection clauses of the state constitution.

A ruling would be deeply significant, both because it could force lawmakers to draw new, more competitive congressional districts ahead of the 2018 elections, and because it could encourage people in other states to bring similar claims.

The lawyers for the Republicans faced sharp questioning from Justice David Wecht, who seemed strongly leaning toward throwing out the map. He suggested the Republican defense in the case hinted that they believed there was no permissible limit on how far a partisan gerrymander could go. Wecht at one point comparing the defense of the map to the defense in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court that said school segregation was unconstitutional.

Justice Max Baer also seemed leaning toward striking down the map, but appeared to wrestle with what a fix would look like. He repeatedly asked lawyers for both sides to give the court some kind of test to evaluate partisan gerrymanders. He wondered aloud if it would be constitutional to draw a district that was only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, cities on opposite sides of the state, that were joined only by a single highway. A lawyer for the plaintiffs responded that courts had upheld a similarly drawn districts in Illinois.

Constitutional issues aside, the justices also wrestled with the practical impact of throwing out the states congressional map weeks before the start of the election process for the 2018 midterm elections. Noting that technology had made it possible for computers to draw hundreds of maps in one day, Gersch said it would be possible to draw the maps in two weeks.

Mark Aronchick, a lawyer representing Gov. Thomas Wolf (D) and state election officials, argued in favor of throwing out the map and said it would be possible to run the 2018 congressional election smoothly if the court decided to do so.

With a few adjustments, he said, the state could hold its scheduled primary congressional elections on May 15 if a new map was in place by Feb. 20. If a map came later, he said the state could either postpone all of the primary elections scheduled for May 15 or delay just the congressional primary date. Aronchick suggested the court give the legislature two or three weeks to redraw the map, but also appoint an expert special master who could work on maps at the same time in case the legislature did not move quickly enough.

Todd expressed concern about the cost of an additional primary. Lawrence Tabas, a lawyer for Republican voters supporting the map, said it would amount to substantial changes on the eve on an election and would infringe on the constitutional rights of voters in the state. He suggested leaving in place the current map for the 2018 election, even if the court struck it down, and ordering a new one for 2020.

Wecht interjected to ask him if the convenience of Republican voters trumped constitutional rights.

Related Coverage

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Pennsylvania Could Be On The Verge Of Dealing Partisan Gerrymandering A Big Blow

The case is being closely watched as courts across the country grapple with whether they can set a standard to determine when lawmakers go too far to draw electoral boundaries for their partys benefit. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering two cases out of Maryland and Wisconsin this term that could help clarify that question. Observers are closely watching Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is seen as the deciding swing vote in the case and wrote in 2004 that such a standard may exist.

But regardless of what the Supreme Court does, experts say a ruling striking down the map could encourage groups to pursue lawsuits in state courts to challenge partisan gerrymandering. Conversely, a ruling upholding the map would increase the importance of the Supreme Courts decision.

The lower commonwealth court initially put the Pennsylvania lawsuit on hold while the U.S. Supreme Courts decisions were pending. The plaintiffs appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case on an emergency expedited basis. At the Pennsylvania Supreme Courts direction, Commonwealth Court Judge P. Kevin Brobson presided over a trial in December. In his recommendation to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which is nonbinding, Brobson noted partisan considerations were evident in the 2011 map and said it was possible to draw a fairer map using only neutral criteria. However, he also said the challengers had failed to offer a standard to evaluate partisan gerrymandering and failed to prove it violated the states constitution.

Drew Crompton, a lawyer for Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R), hinted that Republicans were considering how to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court should the Pennsylvania high court rule against them. He added that the League of Women Voters was using the lawsuit as a means to get more Democrats in Congress.

If they create new law and new policy, then were just going to see what they do and what the remedy is and then decide whether or not we go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Crompton told reporters. Regardless of the plaintiffs trying to say that this is all state Supreme Court law and state constitutional, in the world that we live in, the federal law and the state law are intertwined. Theres no getting around that. And we should highlight the fact that these are congressional issues, so federal issues. I think we have a right to an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, I hope it doesnt come to that.

R. Stanton Jones, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said such an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was absolutely not available, because the congressional map was only being challenged under the state constitution.

The gallery was mostly quiet during the hearing, but there were some moments of levity. How can it be so bad, Tabas wanted to know, if five Democrats are running for Congress in a district where Democrats allege a particularly egregious gerrymander for Republicans?

Hope springs eternal, Todd responded, prompting the courtroom to break out into laughter.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly described the reason the plaintiffs lawyers believe the case is not subject to U.S. Supreme Court review and misspelled the last name of David Gersch.

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Youve probably noticed that your friends are sharing photos of themselves and their painting doppelgangers  have you seen it? On the left side is a mug shot-style photo of your mom or co-worker, and on the right is artwork that supposedly looks likes the subject. Its strange  and it has taken over the internet.

Well, we all have Google to thank for this latest viral sensation. The company made an update to its Google Arts and Culture app with a brand-new feature: face match. The app prompts you to take a selfie, as it searches through thousands of historical paintings that look like you. Thousands have answered the question, Is your portrait in a museum?

The answer is not likely, but people certainly had a hilarious time discovering their painting look-alikes.

Special thanks to the google arts & culture apps doppelganger feature for keeping me humble. pic.twitter.com/dhTese3mE5  Susie Meister (@susie_meister) January 14, 2018

I dont think Id seen either of these pieces of work until Google matched me with them. pic.twitter.com/u2ZJoMlVVW  deray (@deray) January 14, 2018

While most people were pleased, or at least amused, by their results, others were outraged at the apps responses.

this is why i dont trust technology @Google pic.twitter.com/KbUpJTscAb  BoJack Horseman (@BoJackHorseman) January 15, 2018

Well, its time to accept this. Lots of selfies later and Im consistently matched with this painting of a corpse #GoogleArtsandCulture pic.twitter.com/XQNQAUEYdW  Hilary Gray (@HilaryLGray) January 13, 2018

Jimmy Kimmel even gave the app a try and of course cracked a few jokes about President Donald Trump while doing so.

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The celebrity reactions, though, may have been the best of the bunch. Gotta say, some of these results arent that far off. Well, except maybe Sarah Silvermans  but were gonna chalk that up to user error.

Portrait of a boy A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson) on Jan 14, 2018 at 4:55pm PST

Guys, this app is DEAD ON. A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell) on Jan 14, 2018 at 3:26pm PST

Huh. That was fun. A post shared by Jim Parsons (@therealjimparsons) on Jan 14, 2018 at 1:34pm PST

UnCANNY A post shared by @ sarahkatesilverman on Jan 14, 2018 at 4:12pm PST

Have you given Googles viral app a try?
Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson, who have been linked since October, enjoyed a touching beach walk in Malibu on Jan. 14  shortly after they were snapped on a dinner date. Martin is the king of low-key relationships. He never walked the red carpet with Gwyneth Paltrow when they were married  they were together for more than a decade!  and there are no official pix of him with Jennifer Lawrence either. So this barefoot stroll in the sun, days after his ex-wife confirmed her own relationship news  just seems too perfect. And dont tell us the Coldplay singer wouldnt do that: Well never forget that news broke about Gwyneths pregnancy with Apple when they pored over an ultrasound  and he kissed her belly  in too perfect photos outsife a doctors office ages ago. (Photo: Backgrid)

Its no secret that celebrities stage photos with paparazzi. Earlier this week, Hugh Jackman openly discussed it. The international superstar said that during trips home to Australia, he asks the paps what shots they need and gives them what they want. In exchange for the (typically shirtless) pix, they give him space for the rest of his vacay. The new photos of lovebirds Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin snuggling up during a beach walk in Malibu, Calif., on Jan. 14  their first public display of affection  had that same kind of a this is no accident vibe, especially when you consider the timing (his ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, just confirmed her engagement). But even more than that, the cozy pix also reminded us that celebrities especially love staging sandy snapshots. From Brangelina to Hiddleswift, travel back in time with to revisit a few
Berlin (AFP) - Warsaw on Wednesday played down a row with Germany over its demand for World War II reparations, with Poland's foreign minister saying the issue should not hinder good relations between neighbours.

"At the moment, there is no question of it becoming an obstacle standing between the relationship of our two countries," said Jacek Czaputowicz, in his first visit to Berlin since he was appointed Poland's foreign minister in a reshuffle last week.

"We are looking for solutions... This discussion should take place on the basis of experts," he said after talks with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel, adding that Warsaw is "open to discussions".

Poland's right-wing government ruffled feathers in Berlin when it revived in July the issue of reparations -- an issue that for years had been considered settled.

Germany has firmly rejected Poland's claims, pointing to a 1953 decision by the country's then communist regime to relinquish demands for compensation.

But Poland's nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government disputes the validity of Warsaw's 1953 deal, arguing that it was made under the diktat of the Soviet Union.

PiS lawmakers set up a parliamentary committee in September tasked with looking into the scale of reparations they claim Germany owes, but did not set a deadline to publish their findings.

Polish ministers have estimated a potential bill reaching as high as $1 trillion (810 billion euros).

"We want to have this debate in Poland, it's important," said Czaputowicz, adding that "we have the right to know recent history and the communist period when Polish leaders were not allowed to make their own decisions."

Gabriel stressed that there is a "clear judicial position of the government in which there is no reason to talk about reparations".

But given that debate is raging about it in Poland, "if we seek to not ignore it from each side... then an idea could be to deal with the question scientifically," said the German foreign minister, while stressing that there is no concrete plan to put the issue to experts or historians.

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During World War II, Poland suffered the brunt of a two-front attack by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Six million Polish citizens, including three million of Jewish origin, were killed under the Nazi occupation of 1939-45, and Warsaw was virtually razed.

The reparations controversy comes as relations between Berlin and Warsaw have been strained over a slew of justice reforms introduced by the PiS since it took power in 2015.

The European Commission last month launched unprecedented judiciary proceedings against the Polish changes, which Brussels says place courts under the control of the PiS government and threaten democracy.
Police in Alliance, Ohio, issued a warning to other law enforcement officials after a man's skin was eaten away when he allegedly injected heroin tainted with a substance called "Rizzy" into his arms, according to WEWS.

Narcotics officers who arrested the unnamed 25-year-old man last week said they immediately noticed his horrific injuries. WEWS reports that the man's forearm skin was blackened and peeling, and some of his flesh had been completely eaten away.

Photos of the injuries:

The man told officers that he bought heroin laced with Rizzy powder and injected it into his arms, which is believed to have caused the severe injuries.

According to a website that retails Rizzy powder, the substance is allegedly meant to be added to floral arrangements to dye flower pedals different colors.

"Rizzy powder is a Flower centerpiece maker," the site reads. "For white flower centerpiece add 1/2 teaspoon to water in vase. Cut the end off of a flower so that it has a fresh surface. Allow several hours for Rizzy to be incorporated into the petals of the flower. Place a black-light behind the flower to add effect."

The retailer also includes the following disclaimer: "TOXIC! Do not ingest. Keep out of reach of children. Call Doctor immediately if ingested."

Alliance Police Sergeant Michael Yarian told WEWS that he fears Rizzy-tainted heroin could become the latest dangerous drug trend.

"It's very, very disturbing," Sergeant Yarian said. "It's so new that we're not even sure what all the dangers are yet."

While police are trying to figure out where the man obtained the tainted heroin, Sergeant Yarian issued a staunch warning in light of the disturbing case.

"If you see something that you don't recognize or you don't know what it is, do not touch it because it could be deadly," he said.
By Philip Pullella and Dave Sherwood

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Pope Francis expressed "pain and shame" on Tuesday over a sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church in Chile, seeking forgiveness for a crisis that has scarred its credibility and left many faithful sceptical of reform.

Francis, on a trip that will also take in Peru, spoke after at least eight Catholic churches were attacked in Chile in the past week.

Police in riot gear dispersed some 200 demonstrators trying to make their way to a park in Chilean capital Santiago, where the pope - the first Latin American head of the Church - said Mass for some 400,000 people.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Argentine pontiff made his remarks about abuse in a speech at the presidential palace, La Moneda.

"Here I feel bound to express my pain and shame at the irreparable damage caused to children by some ministers of the Church," he said, drawing sustained applause, including from President Michelle Bachelet and diplomats.

"I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask for forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again," he said.

Catholics have been upset with Francis' appointment in 2015 of Bishop Juan Barros to head the small diocese of Osorno in south-central Chile.

Barros, who attended Tuesday's Mass, has been accused of protecting his former mentor, Father Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing teenage boys over many years. Karadima has denied the allegations and Barros said he was unaware of any wrongdoing.

"There have been many lies told about my situation," he told Reuters after the Mass.

But, along with growing secularization, the scandal has hurt the standing of a Church that defended human rights during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

A poll by Santiago-based thinktank Latinobarometro this month showed that the number of Chileans calling themselves Catholics fell to 45 percent last year, from 74 percent in 1995.

Story continues

Francis returned to the theme of abuse on Tuesday evening in an address to priests and nuns in Santiago's cathedral. He spoke of "this great and painful evil" which had led victims and their families to "see the trust they had placed in the Church's ministers betrayed."

But he said he also understood the pain of priests and nuns who had nothing to do with abuse and had been unfairly tainted, including being "insulted in the metro or walking on the street."

ANTI-POPE GRAFFITI

Hours after the pope arrived in Chile on Monday, two small wooden churches were burnt to the ground near Temuco, where Francis is due to visit on Wednesday.

The indigenous Mapuche in the area accuse the state and private companies of taking their ancestral lands. The Mapuche say the pope's ceremony will be held on seized land.

A church in the capital was attacked during the night, causing minor damage. Vandals burnt Chilean and Vatican flags at the site and tossed pamphlets with threats against the pope.

At one attack which involved a homemade bomb, a pamphlet was left that read: "Pope Francis, the next bomb will be in your robe."

Graffiti scrawled on one Santiago church read: "Burn the pope."

About 10 blocks from Tuesday's Mass, riot police clashed with people protesting against the sexual abuse scandal and the $17 million cost of the papal visit. "Complicit Pedophiles," read one of the banners.

But the welcome most Chileans have given Francis has been warm, with tens of thousands lining the streets.

At his speech in La Moneda, which Pinochet's forces bombed in September 1973 while democratically-elected President Salvador Allende was inside, Francis said the country had "faced moments of turmoil, at times painful." He praised Chile's consolidation of democracy but said more had to be done to help the unemployed and indigenous.

In the afternoon, Francis made an emotional visit to the San Joaquin prison for women.

The women, many of whose children live in the prison with them, cheered when the pope told them that their dignity could never be taken away from them.

"Society has an obligation to reintegrate each one of you," said the pope, who was clearly moved by stories the women told him of prison life.

(Additional reporting by Felipe Iturrieta; Editing by Frances Kerry and Rosalba O'Brien)
Kylie Jenner was reportedly photographed shopping at CVS. (Photo: Getty Images)

A woman who eerily resembles Kylie Jenner was spotted at CVS, sparking conspiracy theories about her identity and Kim Kardashian s surrogate mother.

The Jenner lookalike was photographed at the drugstore in Los Angeles Monday, holding a pink sippy cup in the diapers-and-baby formula aisle, wearing an olive-green sweatshirt, black leggings, and floral open-toe sandals.

Social media assessed the evidence.

Its a look alike purposely placed in a CVS near the hospital, who appears pregnant, because Kylie WAS the surrogate. Kylie will emerge sans belly in about a week, with no baby and no explanation. pic.twitter.com/BREGiFEuBX  Elissabeth (@chaostoheaven) January 16, 2018

She hasnt been seen in over 6 months and shes going to bust it all for a CVS run? I dont think so.  Sam Newton (@snnewton9) January 16, 2018

How interesting that the first baby bump shot of Kylie comes after Kim's baby was born. Almost like they're trying to make us believe Kylie DIDN'T JUST GIVE BIRTH TO IT https://t.co/YdInh7qDPQ  Jenna Guillaume (@JennaGuillaume) January 16, 2018

I feel like the fact that this *person* is shopping at the baby products aisle is a clear sign it's A PLANT. No pregnant person shops at the CVS baby aisle before the baby is born. Its a red herring https://t.co/xTBw02Rl3Q  Katie Notopoulos (@katienotopoulos) January 16, 2018

Jenner has stayed out of the spotlight since late 2017 when pregnancy rumors started, only posting photos of herself on social media from the chest up. And she was notably absent from the Kardashian Christmas card in December, an event that fans had hoped would confirm her pregnancy, once and for all.

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But the timing of the supposed sighting is curious  on Friday, rumors began swirling that Jenner was in labor and had checked herself into Cedars-Sinai hospital, where Kourtney and Kim had both given birth. However, TMZ discredited the story, writing, Multiple sources close to Kylie and Travis Scott tell us  Kylie isnt due this month, and she hasnt gone into premature labor.

And on Tuesday, Kim and Kanye West announced the birth of their daughter, born via surrogate. 7lbs 6oz, wrote the reality star on her website. Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl. We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care. North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister.





Whats more, on Sundays episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Khloe broke the news to her family that she was expecting her first child with boyfriend Tristan Thompson. Upon breaking the news to Jenner via Facetime, the makeup mogul said, Are you kidding because Im going to cry. Im so happy for you.

The odds of Jenner speaking up about the photo are decent  in November when she was photographed boarding a private jet wearing a large sweatshirt, Jenner claimed the photo was a fake, tweeting, First of all if youre going to photoshop my photos blogs/paps!! Check for the crooked lines in the background.2nd photo is clearly altered.

First of all if youre going to photoshop my photos blogs/paps!! Check for the crooked lines in the background.2nd photo is clearly altered pic.twitter.com/c9fi0EyhWB  Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) November 5, 2017

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The federal government is hurtling toward a shutdown in part due to floundering negotiations over the future of a group of young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

With a Jan. 19 government funding deadline rapidly approaching, attempts to pass a longer extension to avoid a shutdown have been caught up in a fight over the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program and President Donald Trumps comments on it.

That leaves two scenarios most likely: a government shutdown by this weekend, or another short-term stopgap measure to keep the government open while the fight continues. A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate are working on a stopgap proposal.

Over the long weekend, Trump attempted to shift blame on the impasse to Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress, but whose votes are needed on any deal. On Sunday, Trump said the DACA program was probably dead because of Democratic lawmakers, criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin for reports that the president called Haiti and other African nations shithole countries in a bipartisan meeting. (The president denies using that particular word.)

But tweets from Trump and other recent statements have included some proposals that have, so far, only made negotiations more difficult.

DACA is probably dead because the Democrats dont really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2018

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

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

Trumps comments could make a difference among members of his own party, who will be concerned about voting for a bill that he might veto. Sen. Lindsey Graham has said getting the president on board will be crucial to getting any deal through the majority-Republican Congress.

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What the White House wants on DACA

The President and Congress seemed to reach a bipartisan accord after a White House meeting last week. Both sides appeared to have agreed on some terms that made the path forward clearer. They were going to protect DACA recipients from deportation while providing funding for Trumps long-promised border wall, changing the approach to family migration, and reforming the diversity visa lottery program. The group of lawmakers also seemed to agree to address broader immigration in a separate bill.

But late last week, those hopes were all but thrown away after the President rebuffed a bipartisan plan that would have addressed those four main issues. At that meeting, the President reportedly asked why the U.S. was opening its doors to people from shithole countries  meaning Haiti and African nations  rather than people from countries like Norway.

The White House has also praised a conservative plan that many Democrats see as a non-starter. Republican Reps. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Raul Labrador of Idaho, Martha McSally of Arizona and Michael McCaul of Texas introduced a bill that would authorize construction of the border wall, boost the number of border officers, cut-off family migration, make E-verify mandatory and block funding to sanctuary cities. The bill would give DACA recipients a three-year renewable legal status, but no pathway to citizenship.

The President said he was grateful for the bill and in a statement, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said it reflects many of the policy principles and priorities identified by DHSs frontline personnel which the Administration has advocated for this past year. The bill aligns with many of the White House immigration principles that were outlined in an earlier memo, but is far from what Democrats are willing to accept when it comes to the so-called Dreamers.

Which ideas Democrats wont accept

Democrats are willing to agree to some border security measures in exchange for Dreamer protections, but, for most, the Goodlatte bill goes too far. And while their seemed to be some agreement on the four principles that the White House wanted addressed in the DACA bill, many on the left want issues like the diversity visa program and the ability of immigrants to benefit from a family members legal status off the negotiating table, too.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham has pushed back on the idea that family reunification  what the President calls chain migration  should be included in any Dreamer bill.

There seems to be much broader consensus that theres a variety of places to go on border security that would be fairly amenable to both parties, Lujan Grisham told reporters last week. When you start to deal with immigration reform issues, it gets a lot tougher which is why Im going to keep pushing  lets do the thing that makes sense, where theres broad agreement.

While the presidents shithole comments drew the ire of a broad swath of lawmakers, they garnered a particularly strong response from the Congressional Black Caucus, because the policy at the center of the remark  the Diversity Visa Lottery program  has benefitted migrants from Africa and other countries in the African diaspora.

Now that his true motivations are clear, the Congressional Black Caucus calls on all Members of Congress, including those negotiating on the immigration deal, to reject any and all efforts to end the Diversity Visa Program, CBC Chair Cedric Richmond said in a statement.

Meantime, some Republicans have dismissed any proposals that dont adequately deal with issues they say drive illegal immigration, such as family migration and border security.

How this could lead to a government shutdown

Timing has always been an issue, but this weeks spending deadline makes it all the more real. When the Administration announced that DACA would be winded down, the President gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix. But immigration is not a subject the Congress handles easily  see the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform package for proof  and Democratic leaders have suggested that the only way something will make it to Trumps desk is if it is attached to a must-pass bill, like a spending bill.

The divide between the White House and Congress on this issue that was exposed after the Presidents dismissal of a bipartisan deal dims any chances of a spending bill with DACA language passing this week. Some Republicans believe that they have more time to work out a deal, citing the March 5 end of the program, though immigration advocates note that every day until then more Dreamers lose protection from deportation as their paperwork expires.

President Trump has already begun to suggest that Democrats will be at fault if the government shuts down, but historically no one  and especially not the President, comes out unscathed when the federal government fails to avert a shutdown.
Queen Elizabeth IIs maid of honor still has the dress she wore at the monarch's 1953 coronation at London's Westminster Abbey.

The dress, which she keeps neatly inside a huge box, is beautifully embroidered with pearls, gold and zircon leaves. The same designer also created the queen's dress for the event.

It's very, very fragile, Lady Anne Glenconner told The Smithsonian Channel. And it was all hand-embroidered.

Glenconner said it was a dress fit for a queen, and the girls felt like royalty in the time leading up to the ceremony.

She'd never owned anything like it in her life.

We were rather like the Spice Girls," Glenconner said. "We were in all of the papers  the press followed us. We just felt like princesses.

The Queen ascended to the throne on Feb. 6, 1952 following the death of her father, King George VI. She was in Kenya at the time and became the first sovereign in more than 200 years to accede while abroad.

Many have pondered what role Queen Elizabeth II will play in her grandsons wedding to Meghan Markle in May.



Inside Editions Lest Trent interviewed Alastair Bruce, who spoke with the queen for "The Coronation" special on The Smithsonian Channel. The 65th anniversary of the Queens coronation is in June.

Bruce said she is likely to be a spectator like the rest of the world.

Marriage is between two people, and the queen will witness it like anybody else, and it's always a marriage between two people, Bruce said.

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Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump unveiled the winners of his much-touted "Fake News Awards" late Wednesday, hours after a maverick senator from the president's own Republican party accused him of employing Stalinist language to "slur" and undermine the free press.

Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake levelled the broadside in an address from the Senate floor earlier in the day, delivering a one-two punch after veteran Republican John McCain penned an op-ed assailing Trump's spoof awards.

The brash Republican president announced his top-ten list -- which included his regular targets CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post -- using his preferred medium of Twitter, linking to a list published on the Republican Party's website that crashed minutes after his big reveal.

Flake slammed what he called the president's dangerous disregard for the truth, and his designation of the mainstream news media as an "enemy of the people."

"Mr President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies," said the senator, an outspoken Trump critic who is not seeking re-election this year.

"When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that does not suit him 'fake news,' it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."

Turning the tables on the president, Flake accused him of leading an "unrelenting daily assault" on the free press, even as his White House coined the term "alternative facts" -- "as justification for what used to be called old fashioned falsehoods."

"2017 was a year which saw the truth -- objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and abused than any time in the history of our country, at the hands of the biggest figure in our government," Flake charged.

Of the "awards" Flake had said "it beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle yet here we are," -- and urged his fellow lawmakers to take a stand in support of the press.

Story continues

- 'Dishonest media' -

At loggerheads with much of the US news media since his election, Trump finally doled out his "Fake News Awards" after weeks of speculation, recognizing what he had called "the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media."

Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, who writes a regular opinion column -- not news articles -- for The New York Times, nabbed the number one spot.

The administration said he merited the award for writing "on the day of President Trump's historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover."

Following the former reality star's stunning rise to power, Krugman had written that Trump's inexperience on economic policy and unpredictability risked further damaging the weak global economy.

The list also pointed to an error from ABC's veteran reporter Brian Ross, who was suspended for four weeks without pay after he was forced to correct a bombshell report on ex-Trump aide Michael Flynn.

In follow-up tweets to his "Fake News" announcement, the commander-in-chief posted that "despite some very corrupt and dishonest media coverage, there are many great reporters I respect and lots of GOOD NEWS for the American people to be proud of!"

"Together there is nothing we can't overcome -- even a very biased media. We ARE Making America Great Again!"

- 'Reflexive slurs'

Quoting figures from the International Federation of Journalists which reported the deaths of more than 80 journalists last year, Flake said Trump's "reflexive slurs" were an affront to their sacrifice.

From his longtime questioning of Barack Obama's birth certificate, to his dismissal of what US intelligence agrees was a Russian effort to sway the 2016 election as a "hoax," Flake accused Trump of weakening trust in American institutions -- while emboldening despots around the world.

Citing the examples of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte or Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, who all employed the term "fake news" in recent months, he accused Trump of encouraging brutal and authoritarian regimes to persecute the press.

"This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr President," Flake said. "Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has now in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language."

Earlier in the day White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders had pushed back at Flake's criticism, suggesting the senator was simply "looking for some attention" -- and accusing him of defending the "oppressive Cuban government" during a recent trip to the communist-ruled island.

While Flake's combative stance was not echoed by the Republican mainstream, it was mirrored by his Arizona colleague and fellow Trump critic McCain, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post entitled "Mr. President, stop attacking the press."

"Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy," McCain warned.

Citing the Committee to Protect Journalists, McCain noted that 2017 was one of the most dangerous years on record for the profession, with 262 journalists jailed over their work -- 21 of them on charges of "fake news."
The Mayon volcano lies 210 miles southeast of Manila - STR

Glowing red lava rolled down the slopes of a Philippine volcano on Tuesday morning as authorities maintained a warning of a possible hazardous eruption.

The lava was quietly flowing in some places but at times Mount Mayon was erupting like a fountain, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. Lava had advanced up to 2km (1.24 miles) from the crater, and ash reached up to 2km and fell on nearby communities.

Nearly 15,000 people have fled the danger zone within 6 to 7km of Mayon, and the institute strongly advised people not to re-enter the area.

Several small pyroclastic flows were generated by fragments in the lava streams and not by an explosion from the crater vent, like occurred with Mount Pinatubo, said Renato Solidum, who heads the volcano institute.

Pyroclastic flows are superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down slopes and incinerate everything in their path, and are feared in a major eruption.

Lava cascades down the slopes of Mayon volcano, about 210 miles south-east of Manila, Philippines Credit: AP

"The pyroclastic flows, there were several, were not generated by an explosion from the crater with lava, molten rocks and steam, shooting up the volcano then rolling down," Solidum said. "These were generated by lava fragments breaking off from the lava flow in the upper slopes."

He also said Mayon has not seen enough volcanic earthquakes of the type that would prompt scientists to raise the alert level to four, which would indicate an explosive eruption may be imminent. Emergency response officials previously said they may have to undertake forced evacuations if the alert is raised to four.

Thousands have fled their homes Credit: AFP

After steam explosions Saturday and lava rising in the crater on Sunday, the alert was raised to three on a scale of five, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible "within weeks or even days."

Dark pyroclastic ash rises into the sky Credit: APTN

Mayon lies in coconut-growing Albay province about 340km southeast of Manila. With its near-perfect cone, Mayon is popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently.

Story continues

In 2013, an ash eruption killed five climbers who had ventured near the summit despite warnings. Mayon's first recorded eruption was in 1616 and the most destructive in 1814 killed 1,200 people and buried the town of Cagsawa in volcanic mud.

The Philippines lies in the so-called Ring of Fire, a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.
Rats have gotten a bad reputation as the catalyst behind the Black Death, the infamous medieval pandemic that originated in China in 1334. Its been popularly thought that rats infected with a bacterium called Yersinia pestis transmitted plague to humans through a bite, a horrific process that culminated in the death of 60 percent of the European population as it spread across continents.

However, while flea-invested rats do cause much of the plague that happens today, scientists now argue that its time to give rats a pass for the whole Black Death thing. In a paper released Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the University of Oslo argue that Yersinia pestis was more likely spread by body lice and human fleas.

While it is commonly assumed that rats and their fleas spread plague during the Second Pandemic [the Black Death] there is little historical and archeological support for such a claim, write the scientists. Many studies have suggested that human ectoparasites, like human fleas and body life, were more likely than rats to have caused the rapidly spreading epidemics.

A scanning electron micrograph of a mass of *Yersinia pestis* bacteria in the foregut of an infected flea.

Plague has caused numerous outbreaks and at least three pandemics during the course of history, and although the Black Death lasted from the 14th to the 19th century and killed between 75 million and 200 million people on the planet, it didnt end there. In fact, it was until the third pandemic began in the 1860s, killing millions around the world over the course of 20 years, that scientists determined that plague was spread by rats accidentally hosting infectious flea bites.

But that doesnt mean rats are to blame for every plague outbreak. The study authors write that its been difficult to assess how human ectoparasites have contributed to historical plagues because while theyve been found present during modern plague outbreaks, their role in these outbreaks are not clear. Scientists have established that its possible that bubonic plague, which manifests when the Yersinia pestis bacteria enter the skin of the host, can be transmitted to humans from rats and ectoparasites, but, the study states, the transmission from body lice and human fleas to humans has not yet been documented, and thus the importance of human ectoparasite transmission in current and historic settings remains an open question.

Story continues

Growing evidence casts doubt to the notion rats spread the Black Death: Theres a scarcity of rats in the archeological record; no masses of dead, infected rats found like there were discovered during the Third Pandemic; the climate of northern Europe could not have fostered their widespread distribution; and the high rate of household transmission of plague during this time suggests infection went from human to human.

The uniform of a plague doctor during the Black Death.

In this new study, the scientists decided to test out these human ectoparasite theories with mathematical modeling. They created a susceptible-infectious-recovered model for plague transmission comparing the spread of plague by either a human ectoparasite vector, rat-flea transmission, or bacterial lung infection. The model was applied to outbreaks across nine cities that happened during the Second Pandemic, and they observed how the different spreaders of plague affected the pattern of simulated disease.

They found that in seven out of the nine cities, the pattern that most resembled what actually happened was instigated by the human ectoparasites. This signified to the scientists that the dominant transmission mode for plague during the Black Death was the human ectoparasites.

The conclusion is very clear, co-author Nils Stenseth, Ph.D., told BBC News. The lice model fits best. It would be unlikely to spread as fast as it did if it was transmitted by rats.

Stenseth also said the findings suggest the best way to prevent future diseases is hygiene and staying away from people when youre sick  which is good advice, whether youre infected with plague or even just the flu.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3)

Photos via Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3)

Written by Sarah Sloat

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President Donald Trumps approval rating has ping-ponged between a low of 35% and a high of 45% during his first year in office  the worst record of any of the most recent seven presidents, according to Gallup.

Trump has incorrectly claimed that he has matched Obamas approval rating at the same point in his predecessors presidency. But our analysis of Gallup approval ratings for the first 365 days of every presidency back to Jimmy Carter indicates that Trump is almost always at the back of the pack in the race for support from fellow Americans. Press play on the graph below or click the timeline at any point to see exactly how Trumps approval rating stacks up:

If its any consolation to the White House, there appears to be a single moment in this head-to-head matchup in which Trump was not in last place. A 1993 poll conducted on June 5 and 6 rated President Bill Clinton at 37%  the lowest of his eight years in office, long before his impeachment  while Trumps commensurate approval rating in a poll from June 12 to 18, 2017 had him at 38%. While polls dont fall on the same exact dates for each presidency, this appears to be the only comparable window in which Trump was not the least popular recent president during his first year. (Of course, a one percentage point difference is well within the margin of error.)

While Trumps approval ratings have been low, theyve also been steady, leading one publication to refer to him as Teflon Don, a reference to an observation about President Reagan.

Other presidents have seen more dramatic first-year fluctuations. The clearest example is George W. Bushs quantum leap to 90% approval after the Sept. 11 attacks. His approval rating remained high, at 83%, by the end of his first year.

Of course, both pollsters and Americans adapt to the times when it comes to opinions of the president. As we have previously noted, approval ratings used to be largely guided by the economy, while the current environment lends itself to the phrase partisan cheerleading  which is to say, people are loathe to break with their own party affiliation when it comes to how they publicly express their support a president of one party or the other.

Story continues

Whether this means Trump will stay in his lane of 40%, plus or minus 5 percentage points, is not yet possible to say. Based on historical trends and contemporary patterns, we previously calculated that Trumps lowest possible approval rating is 22%.

Design by Robin Muccari

Correction: The original version of this article misstated the year when Bill Clintons approval rating reached 37%. It was June of 1993, not 1994.
Photo credit: Getty

From ELLE UK

In her own #MeToo statement on Twitter, American gymnast Simone Biles has accused her U.S. team doctor, Dr. Larry Nassar, of sexual assault.

Nassar has been accused of sexual misconduct by over 130 gymnasts that were in his care, including McKayla Maroney, Jamie Dantzcher, Aly Raisman and Jessica Howard.

Yesterday, the gold medalist penned an open letter, saying, 'I too am one of the many survivors that was sexually abused by Larry Nassar.'

Photo credit: Getty

She explained that she has experienced guilt and shame about the alleged abuse, and that is one of the reasons she has taken time to come forward with her claim.

It is not normal to receive any type of treatment from a trusted team physician and refer to it horrifyingly as the 'special' treatment. This behaviour is completely unacceptable, disgusting and abusive, especially coming from someone whom I was TOLD to trust.For too long I've asked myself, 'Was I too naive? Was it my fault?' I now know the answer to those questions. No. No, it was not my fault. No, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USAG, and others.

Photo credit: Getty

However she has come to realise that no fault lies with her, despite the difficulty of regularly returning to the training ground where the alleged abuse is said to have happened.

Last month Dr. Nassar, 54, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a conviction related to child pornography and he is awaiting additional sentencing after having pleaded guilty to seven counts of molestation charges against girls. In a statement regarding these charges he said he prays, 'every day for forgiveness.'

Dr. Nassar's lawyers Matthew Newburg and Shannon Smith said: 'The agreement which was placed on the record today was reached after extensive negotiations with the prosecution and with significant input from Larry Nassar. This agreement resolves all the charged and uncharged conduct for more than 125 cases currently under investigation by the Michigan Attorney General's office.'

Story continues

Photo credit: Getty

The U.S.A. Gymnastics (USAG) said in a statement, 'U.S.A. Gymnastics' support is unwavering for Simone and all athletes who courageously came forward to share their experiences. We are our athletes' advocates. U.S.A. Gymnastics will continue to listen to our athletes and our members in our efforts of creating a culture of empowerment with a relentless focus on athlete safety every single day.'

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Spain is set to replace the United States as the world's second tourism destination while France has retained the top spot, the UN World Tourism Organization said Monday.

"It is expected" that Spain will take the second position with some 82 million visitors last year, UNWTO chief Zurab Pololikashvili told reporters.

Definitive figures, however, will only be published in the spring.

Pololikashvili did not give any details about the United States, nor did he explain why Spain took the second spot despite a terror attack in August and a highly mediatised independence crisis in tourism magnet Catalonia, home to Barcelona and Costa Brava beaches.

John Kester, head of tourism trends at the UN agency, added that "everything indicates" that France would retain its top spot in 2017 -- a good year for the industry as the number of global tourists leapt seven percent on 2016, the biggest increase in seven years.

Europe was the star of the show as it attracted a large number of visitors, up eight percent from the previous year, lured in particular by the Mediterranean's sea and sun.

This contrasts with 2016 figures that saw security fears hit visitor arrivals in Europe.

"We do see that demand for European destinations has been very strong," said Kester.

"We also see important recovery in France," he added, without giving further details about a country that was hard hit by extremist attacks.

- Rise in earnings -

Spain also suffered a deadly jihadist attack in August in Catalonia, the same region whose leaders tried unsuccessfully to break away from Spain, triggering a major crisis that shook Europe.

And while the political crisis sparked a drop in visitor numbers to the northeastern region as massive demonstrations were staged following the independence bid, it does not appear to have dented overall tourist figures for Spain in 2017.

In 2016, Spain welcomed 75.3 million visitors, just behind the United States with 75.6 million, while France -- despite its own terror woes -- easily remained the world leader with 82.6 million visitors, according to the UNWTO.

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International tourism to the United States shrank during the first five months of Donald Trump's presidency, according to the US International Trade Administration.

Arrivals fell five percent in the first quarter and three percent in the second quarter, official figures show.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had already announced last week that tourism numbers had soared, saying total earnings in a sector that accounts for 11 percent of Spain's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 12 percent to 87 billion euros ($107 billion) in 2017.

He praised the Spanish tourism sector's "great effort" to become more competitive.
By Madeline Chambers and Tom Kackenhoff BERLIN/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) tried on Tuesday to quash a grassroots rebellion against a blueprint agreed with Angela Merkel's conservatives to enter formal talks on a "grand coalition" which could scupper her plan for a fourth term. After five days of talks, SPD leader Martin Schulz agreed a framework deal with Merkel and Bavarian conservatives on Friday. But before he can start official negotiations he needs the backing of his party in a vote at a conference on Sunday. Convincing them is proving difficult. Two regional branches have already said they do not back his deal. Many rank and file members accuse Schulz of selling out to Merkel and failing to win a signature policy to take to coalition talks, such as a major healthcare reform or tax hikes for the rich. Schulz is touring the country to convince his party base. Speaking to reporters before meeting SPD members in the western city of Duesseldorf, Schulz said the coalition blueprint had enough "political substance" to start detailed negotiations. "We want to put the SPD into a position ... in which it can make our country better," Schulz said. Two dozen young SPD members protested against another grand coalition, or "Groko", government with Merkel's conservatives, holding up placards reading "Groko is rubbish" and "Groko never again." In a live Facebook broadcast, Schulz said the party had a duty to look at how it could improve the life of people. "We are living in the world of (U.S. President Donald) Trump, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, (Turkish President Tayyip) Erdogan. We live in a world of dictators who make the world's breath pause with their crazed ideas ... And we have the chance to make Europe a bit more social, peaceful and just." If the SPD rejects entering talks on Sunday, the prospect looms of a new election or a minority government under Merkel, both unwelcome options for stability-loving Germans. Defeat would also almost certainly mean the end of Schulz's leadership of the SPD. Uncertainty over the shape of the government in Europe's biggest economy is worrying investors, nearly four months after an election in which the conservatives had their worst result since 1949 and the SPD their worst since World War Two. Both of the parties that have dominated Germany for generations bled support to the far right AfD, which joined parliament for the first time, becoming the third biggest bloc. Many in the SPD are wary of a re-run of the grand coalition which ruled under Merkel between 2013 and 2017. A junior role leaves them in her shadow, unable to win credit from voters. The SPD had vowed to go into opposition after its dismal election result but was forced to reconsider in the interest of national stability after Merkel was humiliated by the collapse of three-way talks on a coalition with other parties. Coalitions under Merkel - http://tmsnrt.rs/2AdhTpO STRONG FEELING Highlighting the strength of feeling, regional party branches in Berlin and the state of Saxony Anhalt have already signaled their opposition to the deal. "A renewed grand coalition cannot be the result of talks. We reject the start of coalition negotiations with the conservatives," said the motion by Berlin's SPD chief Michael Mueller which was passed. It said proposals on home building, rents and migration and integration were unsatisfactory, and expressed disappointment over the absence of plans to shake up the health system. The SPD's youth wing, Jusos, opposes the deal and its head, Kevin Kuehnert, is undertaking his own "NoGroKo Tour". However, it is difficult to predict the outcome of Sunday's vote as the regional results are not binding. At the Bonn congress 600 delegates are free to vote how they wish. Both states that have rejected the agreement so far are relatively small. Schulz is trying to woo delegates in the biggest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, which has more than a quarter of the votes, in a series of events this week. Trade unions, some other localities and the state of Brandenburg, have already said they back the deal. Some leading SPD members argue Sunday's vote is only on the blueprint for a final deal and details can still be negotiated. After any final coalition deal, the SPD's 443,000 members will be balloted. Some conservatives have expressed confidence that the SPD will back the blueprint. "I can only recommend moving at top speed," said Bavarian conservative Alexander Dobrindt. "I look forward to starting coalition negotiations on Monday," he said, adding his only concern was the "masochistic way" the SPD had of talking down its successes. Coaltion and election scenarios - http://tmsnrt.rs/2AjqF5m (Additional reporting by Holger Hansen, Thomas Escritt and Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams and Peter Graff)
Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Trump, arrives at a House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting: Getty

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has reportedly been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury as part of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The move marked a new tenor to the investigation  the first time a grand jury subpoena was used to compel a top member of the Trump team to testify  even as Mr Trumps lawyers insisted the special counsels probe was winding down.

The New York Times said Mr Mueller had summoned Mr Bannon last week, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter. It was unclear, however, whether Mr Bannon will be forced to testify.

The subpoena may have been a negotiating tactic to convince Mr Bannon to sit down with Mr Mueller for a less-formal interview in the special counsels offices, legal experts said. A grand jury testimony is usually more taxing for the witness, as the entire proceedings are transcribed and the witness is required to answer every question.

Mr Bannons attorney was not immediately available for comment.

News of the subpeona came as Mr Bannon, who served as the Trump campaign director before his seven-month stint as chief strategist, testified before the House Intelligence Committee, which is also probing the campaigns ties to Russia.

It also comes on the heels of a public rift between Mr Bannon and the President, after the former strategist criticised the Trump administration to the author of a tell-all book on the White House. Mr Bannon was quoted in the book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, as calling a meeting between Trump campaign staff and a Russian lawyer treasonous.

Mr Bannon was not present at the meeting, nor during the drafting of the Presidents misleading statement on this issue  both of which are reportedly of interest to Mr Mueller. He was also not present for the controversial firing of Mr Trumps former FBI director, James Comey.

Mr Trump responded to the book by distancing himself from Mr Bannon, claiming his former top adviser had little to do with the administration or the campaigns victory. Mr Bannon stepped down from his role as chief executive of Breitbart News shortly thereafter.

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Mr Bannon was present for several controversial moments in the Trump administration, including the firing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn after he misled the Vice President about his dealings with Russia. The special counsel previously issued a grand jury subpoena for documents related to Mr Flynns business dealings. Mr Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Other than Mr Bannon, no member of Mr Trumps inner circle has been called to testify before the grand jury, which was impanelled in August.

Mr Muellers team has already interviewed Mr Trumps son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, his former chief of staff, Reince Preibus, and his former press secretary, Sean Spicer. The special counsel is reportedly preparing to interview Mr Trump as well.

Asked last week if he would sit down for an interview with Mr Mueller, the President replied simply: Well see what happens.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon leaves a House Intelligence Committee meeting - AP

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, was subpoenaed by the investigation into Russian election meddling, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, shortly before he refused to answer questions at a separate panel on the same topic.

Mr Bannon will now be legally obliged to give testimony before a grand jury about the Trump campaigns links to Russia, according to the paper.

The move was taken by investigators led by Robert Mueller, the special counsel tasked with getting to the bottom of Russias involvement in the 2016 US election.

Last week a new book quoted Mr Bannon as saying a meeting attended by Donald Trumps son, Donald Jr, and Russian-linked figures was treasonous and "unpatriotic".

It is believed to be the first time Mr Mueller has used a subpoena  a legal device to force someone to give testimony  since taking over the investigation last year.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigation Russian election meddling Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File

The New York Times suggested the move could be a negotiating tactic, with it still possible that Mr Bannon will give evidence to investigators rather than before a grand jury.

Separately, Mr Bannon appeared before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday behind closed doors on the same topic.

He refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for the President, provoking a subpoena from the panel's Republican chairman.

Late on Tuesday, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said Mr Bannon's refusal to answer the questions came at the instruction of the White House.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon, left, leaves a House Intelligence Committee meeting Credit: AP

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House," Mr Schiff said shortly after Mr Bannon's interview concluded. Mr Schiff said the committee planned to callhim back for a second interview.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.

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At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "no one" had encouraged Mr Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but there's a "process of what that looks like."

"We witnessed today what I believe was the most aggressive effort by the White House thus far to obstruct our efforts to seek the truth."@RepSwalwell reacts to Steve Bannon's refusal to answer questions at the W.H.'s direction during his 9.5-hour under-oath testimony. #LastWordpic.twitter.com/TmUVKm3hXL  The Last Word (@TheLastWord) January 17, 2018

"As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognized process that goes back decades," Sanders told reporters.

A White House official said the president did not seek to formally exert executive privilege over Mr Bannon - a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions.

Mr Bannon, the former executive chairman at Breitbart News, the right-wing website, was Mr Trumps election campaign chief for the final few months before the vote.

Profile | Steve Bannon

He is credited with turning round Mr Trump's fortunes and securing an improbable victory by doubling down on Mr Trump's nationalistic campaign messages.

However the pair have fallen out spectacularly in the new year after Mr Bannon was quoted at length criticising Mr Trumps family members in the book Fire and Fury.

In particular, Mr Bannons criticism of a controversial Trump Tower meeting between senior campaign aides and Russian-linked figures before the election infuriated the president.

The meeting was set up after Mr Trumps son was told that the Russians may have dirt on Hillary Clinton, who was running as the Democratic presidential candidate at the time.

Mr Trump publicly attacked Mr Bannon after the comments came to light.

"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," he said.
Steve Bannon declined to answer questions about his time in the White House and refused to abide by a subpoena issued by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. (Photo: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon invoked executive privilege and refused to answer the House Intelligence Committees questions during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, according to several media accounts.

Bannon, who appeared voluntarily before the committee for about 10 hours, repeatedly declined to answer questions under advisement from the White House about his time as part of the presidential transition team or as a senior aide to President Donald Trump.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBCs Chris Hayes on Tuesday night that Bannon was effectively being gagged by the White House, even after the panel issued a subpoena to compel his testimony.

.@RepAdamSchiff: White House directed Steve Bannon not to answer House Intel Committee's questions about transition or his time in the administration #inners pic.twitter.com/V8Xy1y3ml5  All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) January 17, 2018

He quickly informed through his counsel to the committee that he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, etc., that took place either during the transition or while he was part of the administration, Schiff told Hayes. They went back to the White House and got the same instruction again, basically  effectively putting in place a gag rule.

There is no privilege that broad, obviously, he continued.

Executive privilege is a principle that allows the president, his aides and Cabinet officials to flout some subpoenas in order to protect confidentiality in the executive branch, according to The New York Times, although the definition has relatively narrow interpretations.

Story continues

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told CNN on Tuesday that Bannons refusal to answer the committees questions could place him in contempt of Congress.

While we were able to ask and answer a lot of different kinds of questions, there were an awful lot of questions we werent able to answer based on this very novel theory of executive privilege, Himes told CNN.

Despite Bannons invocation of privilege in front of the House committee, some say he will be more forthcoming with special counsel Robert Mueller. Bannon was issued a subpoena to appear in front of a grand jury as part of Muellers investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia last week, the Times reported.

The Daily Beasts Besty Woodruff, citing an unnamed source familiar with Bannons thinking, said the former aide wont abide by the terms of Trumps executive privilege as part of that inquiry.

New: A source familiar with Bannon's thinking tells me executive privilege will *not* impact what he tells Mueller https://t.co/xruplLvRAP  Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) January 17, 2018

The Times noted that Muellers subpoena, the first issued to one of Trumps close advisers, could be used as a means to negotiate and compel Bannon to answer questions in a direct interview with investigators.

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Swedish Armed Forces are reportedly dealing with the threat from Russia

Sweden is reportedly preparing to issue a public information manual on the best way to deal with the prospect of war, as talk rages over an apparent rise in the rest from Russia.

The brochure, which will be sent to 4.7 million households, will tell the public how they can take part in total defence during a war and secure food, water and heating.

It is titled If Crisis or War Comes and will also provide expert guidance on the best way to deal with threats from cyber attacks, climate change and terrorism.

The brochures comes after Russias annexation of Crimea and continued support for Ukrainian separatists, which has sparked deep concerns within Sweden.

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Despite being traditionally neutral, the country has reportedly begun to reverse deep-seated post war defence cuts, and discussions have began over whether to join Nato after Russian planes and submarines entered Swedish territory.

As well as holding War Games which involved 19,000 Swedish personnel, 2017 saw Sweden reintroducing conscription.

All of society needs to be prepared for conflict, not just the military. We havent been using words such as total defence or high alert for 25-30 years or more. So the knowledge among citizens is very low, claimed Christina Andersson, the leader of the project at the Swedish civil contingencies agency
Last year's Aurora-17 exercise was the biggest war game held in Sweden for 23 years - Swedish Armed Forces

Sweden is preparing to issue a public information manual on what to do in the event of war, as debate in the country grows over how to deal with the threat from Russia.

The brochure, due to be sent to 4.7m households, will inform the public how they can take part in total defence during a war and secure water, food and heating.

The booklet with the working title If Crisis or War Comes will also give guidance on dealing with threats from cyber attacks, terrorism and climate change, the FT reported.

Russias annexation of Crimea and military support for Ukrainian separatists, along with increased activity and exercises near the Baltics and Scandinavia have caused deep unease in Sweden.

The neutral country has begun to reverse deep post war defence cuts and incursions by Russian planes and submarines have sparked intense public debate over whether to join Nato.

Sweden has seen debate over whether to join Nato Credit: Victor Svedberg / Regeringskansliet

In September 2017, the country held its biggest military exercise in 23 years, with war games involving 19,000 Swedish personnel and allies from Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, France, Norway and America.

The country last year voted to reintroduce conscription.

All of society needs to be prepared for conflict, not just the military. We havent been using words such as total defence or high alert for 25-30 years or more. So the knowledge among citizens is very low, said Christina Andersson, leader of the project at the Swedish civil contingencies agency.
Beirut (AFP) - The head of a powerful Kurdish militia hit back on Tuesday at Turkish threats to attack its forces in northern Syria, pledging to "cleanse" the area of Ankara's "scourges".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed to soon launch an operation against towns in Syria held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers "terrorists".

The YPG, a key US ally in the fight against jihadists, controls key urban hubs in northern Syria including the towns of Afrin and Manbij.

In an interview published Tuesday with Kurdish news agency ANF, YPG chief Sipan Hemo said his forces stood "ready" to defend those towns against a Turkish assault.

"Our forces will be able to cleanse the area from Erdogan's scourges, just as we were able to cleanse it from Daesh," Hemo said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

"This is what the war in Afrin will be like," he said.

With US backing, the YPG has cleared swathes of territory in northern and eastern Syria from IS and has established semi-autonomous rule in those areas.

And at the weekend, the US-led coalition fighting IS said it was working to create a 30,000-strong border security force in northern Syria that would deploy along the Turkish frontier.

Ankara immediately objected to such a move out of fear the new force would be comprised of the YPG, which it accuses of being a branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

Erdogan has long threatened an operation against the YPG's enclave in Afrin but has stepped up his threats in recent days.

On Tuesday, he warned an assault on Afrin could take place "tomorrow, (or) the day after, (or) within a short period".

"We will foil Erdogan's filthy plans. We will turn those plans to major victories for the people of the region, the Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish people," Hemo pledged on Tuesday.

Erdogan has said the Afrin operation would be undertaken "together" with Syrian rebels, whom Ankara has backed in other operations against the YPG and IS.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's main Kurdish party appealed on Wednesday to world powers to stop Turkish bombardment of the Afrin region in northern Syria.

Ankara has warned in recent days of an imminent military operation in Afrin, one of three autonomous cantons under the control of Kurdish forces and their allies.

"Afrin will not be alone," the PYD said in a statement, vowing that all of northern and eastern Syria would stand with it.

Since the conflict began in 2011, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its allies have set up autonomous cantons in the north of the country. Their sphere of influence expanded after they joined forces with the United States to fight Islamic State - although Washington opposes their autonomy plans.

"We call on the international community...to take responsibility towards more than a million people living in Afrin," the PYD said.

The party - the YPG's political affiliate - urged the United Nations to take immediate action to turn Kurdish-led parts of northern and eastern Syria into a safe zone.

"The Turkish regime...has become a threat to any solution to the Syrian crisis," it added.

The YPG and Turkish forces inside Syria have accused each other of shelling around the Afrin region in recent days.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984.

The U.S.-led coalition said this week that it is building a new 30,000-strong border force with its Syrian militia allies in the north, a plan that has infuriated NATO ally Ankara.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged to crush the new force before it came into existence.

(Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Toby Chopra and Hugh Lawson)
(PERRIS, Calif.)  The mother of 13 malnourished children and young adults who were held in filthy conditions, some chained to furniture, was perplexed when deputies arrived at the familys Southern California home, a sheriffs official said Tuesday.

The deputies had been summoned by a 17-year-old daughter who jumped out a window and called 911.

Riverside County sheriffs Capt. Greg Fellows described the reaction of the mother, Louise Anna Turpin, 49, without elaborating. He said he did not know how the father, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, reacted.

The situation at the home in Perris, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles, was discovered when the daughter escaped early Sunday, Fellows said.

The teen, who was so small that deputies initially thought she was 10 years old, showed them photographs that led them to believe her story so they went to the home to check on the family, Fellows said.

The conditions were horrific, he said.

The children, ages 2 to 29, are all believed to be the Turpins biological offspring, authorities said.

Fellows said the investigation has so far found no indication of sexual abuse but that the conditions amounted to torture.

If you can imagine being a 10-year-old and being chained to a bed  I would call that torture, he said.

The family had lived in Perris since 2014, and deputies had never been to the residence previously for any reason, Fellows said.

Social workers had never visited either, said Susan von Zabern, director of the county Department of Public Social Services.

The seven adult children were being cared for at Corona Regional Medical Center, said CEO Mark Uffer. He described them as small and clearly malnourished. They were being fed and were listed in stable condition.

Theyre very friendly, he said. Theyre very cooperative, and I believe they are hopeful that life will get better for them.

The parents were each held on $9 million bail and could face charges including torture and child endangerment.

Story continues

It was not immediately known if they had attorneys. They were scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

State Department of Education records show the family home has the same address as Sandcastle Day School, where David Turpin is listed as principal. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

Neighbors in Perris, where modest but well maintained homes are tightly packed on suburban streets, said they were stunned by the arrests.

Andrew Santillan, who lives around the corner, heard about the case from a friend.

I had no idea this was going on, he told the Press-Enterprise newspaper of Riverside. I didnt know there were kids in the house.

Other neighbors described the family as intensely private.

A few years ago, Robert Perkins said, he and his mother saw a few family members constructing a nativity scene in the Turpins front yard. Perkins said he complimented them on it.

They didnt say a word, he said.

Social media photos show the family at Disneyland and Las Vegas. The most recent shots, from 2016, show the parents beaming after they apparently renewed their wedding vows and posed with an Elvis impersonator.

James Turpin, of Princeton, West Virginia, said Tuesday that he was surprised by the news reports about his son David. All 13 children are Davids biological children. None are adopted, he said.

Turpin said he first heard about the matter Monday night in a call from a reporter. He declined to talk further.

Were going to try to get to the bottom of it, he told The Associated Press.

He and his wife, Betty, told Ghent, West Virginia, television station WVNS that David grew up in southern West Virginia.

The family moved to Southern California in 2011 from Johnson County, Texas, near Dallas, according to property records.

The Turpins filed for bankruptcy that same year, stating in court documents that they owed between $100,000 and $500,000. At that time, Turpin worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman and earned $140,000 annually and his wife was a homemaker, records showed.

Their bankruptcy lawyer, Ivan Trahan, told the New York Times he never met the children but the couple spoke about them highly.

We remember them as a very nice couple, Trahan said, adding that Louise Turpin told him the family loved Disneyland and visited often.
Quentin Esme Brown and Peter Cary Peterson. (Photo: Instagram/quentinesmebrown)

When New York socialites Quentin Esme Brown and Peter Cary Peterson got hitched in Las Vegas over the weekend in front of a small group of friends  including Tiffany Trump, who acted as the flower girl  they knew that people would make some assumptions. Either they were madly in love or drunk, right? In reality, the best friends said they were neither. Theyre planning to make theirs a sexless, open marriage, they explained, and this actually sounds like a pretty wise idea to relationship experts.

He has always been my soulmate in every sense of the word and we felt mutually that Vegas was the place to finalize our commitment to partnership, Brown explained on Instagram. Peter and I are not romantically involved  in fact we are still dating others and will continue to seek love in all forms  we are just each others hearts and wish to begin our journey towards evolution, because the more we face reality, the more we can see that there is no right or wrong.

A post shared by Quentin Esme Brown (@quentinesmebrown) on Jan 13, 2018 at 8:14pm PST

Susan Pease Gadoua, a licensed therapist and co-author of The New I Do, has yet to meet anyone else with this kind of marriage, but she says it fits in with the way she sees many people deciding to change the rules to suit their relationship needs.

We dont need to get married for any of the reasons we used to, Gadoua tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Once youve got everything else in place, it is like the cherry on top.

In her writing and her practice, Gadoua suggests that there are several different types of marriage that can work for people. A parenting marriage, for instance, can be between two people who arent romantically involved but who want to start a family together, or it can be the next step in a marriage that was once romantic but isnt anymore.

Basically, rather than being an emotion-based marriage, its a purpose-driven marriage, which is kind of a throwback to how we used to marry before the industrial revolution, Gadoua explains.

Story continues

A post shared by Peter Cary Peterson (@pcpnyc) on Jan 15, 2018 at 1:03pm PST

But Brown and Peterson dont seem to have married for children. So why get married at all?

We did this because we wanted to finalize our commitment to each other as life partners and best friends, Peterson wrote on Instagram.

Brown also put a statement on Instagram, saying, I am confident my husband and I will break some walls down, she wrote.

A post shared by Quentin Esme Brown (@quentinesmebrown) on Jan 14, 2018 at 8:51pm PST

To me it seems like theyre creating a family out of two people; its a family member you can always count on, Maryland-based psychologist Samantha Rodman tells Yahoo Lifestyle. A lot of these sorts of marriages are in response to society getting increasingly isolated, and people want to create a kinship model. You either have to be married or you have to be blood relatives; otherwise, you can walk away from each other.

This kind of union may in fact last longer than a marriage based solely on intense romantic attraction, Gadoua surmises. The other advantage is that the friends can seek out those romances outside of this relationship. In this way, their setup resembles the kind of polyamorous arrangement that some couples have found to be a better alternative to divorce.

Where the complications are going to come in is when people outside their relationship look at it like, I dont want to get involved in that, Gadoua says. Its going to make it a little bit more complicated for them to find partners who understand.

Rodman also cautions that this wont work if one partner isnt being entirely honest about what he or she wants in this relationship.

If one person was secretly hoping that this would turn into something romantic or sexual, then that would be quite the disappointment, she says.

But if were to take Brown and Peterson at their word, theyre pretty happy with their decision so far.

We have one life, Brown wrote. Free yourself!

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
The world has eyed an increasing nuclear threat from North Korea for much of the past year: AFP/Getty

The Trump administration is considering developing two new sea-based nuclear weapons to combat the growing threats of China and Russia, according to new Department of Defence review of its nuclear strategy.

The planned change to strategy comes at a moment of intense debate over proliferation in the world, with much of the international attention focused on North Koreas pursuit of a nuclear deterrent.

Supporters of such a strategy change say that it is about time that the Defence Department come up with a new path forward, nearly three decades after the end of the Cold War, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which first noted the strategy change.

But others are concerned that the warheads  by all accounts, lighter and more agile tools of war  could lower the applicable threshold for using a nuclear warhead.

One of the weapons is a so-called low-wield warhead that could be used alongside American Trident missiles, which are currently stocked alongside larger nuclear weapons on submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles. That warhead could be developed in as little as two years, according to experts.

President Donald Trump hasnt signed off on the new strategy so far, and the plans arent expected to be unveiled until later this month. The Department of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment and confirmation from The Independent.

Mr Trump has frequently spoken highly of nuclear weapons  and wondered why the US doesnt employ the devices more frequently, according to reports.

The President has said that he would be the last person who would want to use nuclear weapons  and has backed that up with the dubious claim that he was openly against the Iraq War  but has said he wouldnt take anything off the table. That has included the open statement that he hasnt ruled out detonating a nuke in Europe, because its a big place.
A Palestinian woman walks past graffiti painted on the wall of the building of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City on 8 January 2018: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images

The US will give a United Nations agency $60m in aid for Palestinians but will withhold another $65m for future consideration.

US President Donald Trump had threatened in a tweet to cut millions in contributions in order to force Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas into coming to the negotiating table to hash out a peace deal with Israel.

"It is time other countries, some of them quite wealthy, step in and do their part to advance regional security and stability," an administration official told Reuters.

"This is not aimed at punishing" anyone, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said of the cut.

The US has been the largest donor - responsible for nearly a third of the budget - to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which works to help Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria providing food, health-related, and education aid.

The agency has been repeatedly criticised by Israel for being biased and allowing its facilities to be used by Palestinian militants.

In 2016, the US contributed $335m to the relief agency and a similar sum was planned for 2018.

"There is a need to undertake a fundamental re-examination of UNRWA, both in the way it operates and the way it is funded," the same official said about any possible future funds.

In cutting the aid package, the administration appeared to be in line with Mr Trump's 2 January tweet in which he wrote that Palestinians were receiving "hundreds of millions of dollars" but gave the US "no appreciation or respect."

...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

One of the sticking points in the peace process has been the control of Jerusalem and last month, the US President broke with 70 years of diplomatic procedures and announced the US would recognise the holy city as the capital of Israel.

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US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had actually advocated for cutting off funds going to UNRWA completely, echoing her sentiments that the world body had an anti-Israel bias.

She was talked down after Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated that if the relief agency's efforts are severely hampered it could cause further unrest in Jordan, an ally which hosts several million Palestinian refugees.

The decision to provide the $60m will allow the agency to operate at a minimum.

Riots in the region had already broken out in the wake of Mr Trump's recognition of Jerusalem and cutting off all aid would likely have escalated the violence.

In a humiliating blow for Mr Trump on the world stage, the UN General Assembly had voted by 128 to nine to declare his controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital null and void on 21 December 2017.

Just days after the US used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block a similar measure, the General Assembly resoundingly condemned the Americas unilateral action, which most observers said would hamper efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

While the vote had little practical impact  it is not legally binding  it was a considerable embarrassment for the US as it reflected global opinion.

Ahead of the vote, the USs ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had warned that the US would would be taking names of any countries who supported a resolution criticising Washingtons actions.

Speaking to members of his cabinet on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he liked what Ms Haley had spelled out. For all these nations, they take our money and then vote against us. They take hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars and then they vote against us, Mr Trump said.
Donald Trumps Secretary of Homeland Security has been accused of wilful amnesia over the Presidents alleged use of the term s***hole countries during an immigration meeting.

Kirstjen Nielsen told senators she did not recall the specific language used by Mr Trump in last weeks bipartisan meeting, where the billionaire was accused of having referred to Haiti, El Salvador and various African countries in a derogatory way.

What I was struck with frankly, as Im sure you were as well, was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone, she said.

Democratic senator Cory Booker responded angrily and said: When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power it is a dangerous force in our country.

Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.

It was unacceptable that Ms Nielsen could not remember Mr Trumps exact words, he said on Tuesday during a nearly-two-minute harangue.

The fallout has been widespread since Mr Trumps alleged comments were reported last week by The Washington Post.

African Union countries demanded an apology, with Ghana, Senegal, Botswana, South Africa and Nigeria hauling in US diplomats to give an explanation.

Haiti did the same and Haitians living in the US protested and called for Mr Trump to apologise.

Mr Trump has denied using the word s***hole but admitted being tough during the meeting. The White House, however, has not substantively disputed accounts of the episode.

Administration officials and other politicians who were present spent the weekend debating the precise vulgarity used, and tried to cast last Thursdays summit as a salty affair, with expletives flying in all directions.

The President hasnt said he didnt use strong language, and this is an important issue, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, Hes passionate about it, hes not going to apologise for trying to fix our immigration system.

Additional reporting by agencies
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Russia of undermining international sanctions against North Korea and weakening efforts to curb Kim Jong-Un's nuclear weapons program.

"Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump told the Reuters news agency.

"What China is helping us with, Russia is denting."

Last month, Trump had already denounced Russia for "not helping" global efforts to pressure Pyongyang to halt the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems that have increased tensions with Washington.

Trump has blamed the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election for hampering an improvement in US-Russian relations -- thereby limiting his influence over President Vladimir Putin.

"He can do a lot," Trump said of Putin. "But unfortunately we don't have much of a relationship with Russia, and in some cases it's probable that what China takes back, Russia gives. So the net result is not as good as it could be."

Separately, Trump denounced China's alleged theft of US intellectual property -- an issue under investigation since mid-August.

"We have a very big intellectual property potential fine going, which is going to come out soon," Trump told Reuters, without clarifying further.

Meanwhile, the US leader refused to say if he had directly communicated in any way with Kim Jong-Un, with whom he has traded public barbs and insults in recent months.

"I'd sit down, but I'm not sure that sitting down will solve the problem," he said.

"I'm not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful. They've talked for 25 years and they've taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents."

Trump said he believed the North Korean regime was getting closer to being able to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

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"They're not there yet, but they're close. And they get closer every day," he said.

Trump recently praised the resumption of talks between North and South Korea, and signaled his "openness" to US talks with North Korea "under the right circumstances."

The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to march together under a single flag at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February in a sign of easing tensions on the peninsula.
By Karen Freifeld and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has reached agreement with U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller to be interviewed by Mueller's investigators rather than appearing before a grand jury, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Bannon, who was a close adviser during President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign and in his first months in office, had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Mueller's probe of links between Russia and Trump's campaign. But the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mueller offered Bannon the option of being interviewed instead and Bannon accepted. It was unclear when the interview would take place. An interview with prosecutors would allow Bannon to have an attorney present during his appearance, as lawyers are not permitted in grand jury rooms. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on the agreement, first reported by CNN. A lawyer who represented Bannon in an appearance before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday could not be immediately reached. Bannon was fired from his White House job in August as the president sought to bring more order to his staff operations. Earlier this month, Trump attacked Bannon for comments he made to Michael Wolff, the author of a book highly critical of the president and his family. They included scathing remarks about Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, for meeting during the campaign with a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mueller is investigating any potential collusion by Trump's campaign with Moscow in alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Russia denies such interference and Trump has denied any collusion. According to a person familiar with the arrangement, the attorney who represented Bannon for Tuesday's House appearance, William Burck, is not representing him in connection with Mueller's investigation. The person said they did not believe Bannon had hired counsel for that yet. A House committee aide declined comment on media reports that Bannon could return to testify again as soon as Thursday. Two other Trump associates, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, appeared before the House panel behind closed doors on Wednesday, congressional sources said. Representative Adam Schiff, the panel's ranking Democrat, told reporters that Lewandowski refused to disclose information to the committee about events after he left Trump's campaign. He also declined to say whether he had spoken to Trump about his testimony, Schiff said. Schiff said Lewandowski was unprepared and would return to the panel another time. An attorney for Lewandowski did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The House Intelligence Committee is conducting one of three congressional investigations of the Russia issue, separate from Mueller's probe. (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Jonathan Landay; Writing by Tim Ahmann and Warren Strobel; Editing by Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)
President Trump leads a roundtable in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Jan. 11, 2018. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

When a pastor at my church in Washington, D.C., spoke up Sunday against President Trumps vulgar comments demeaning people from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa, it signaled to me that the president had debased his office in a way that many Christians found even more inexcusable than his personal lapses.

Because the church I attend is racially and politically diverse, the pastors tend to tread lightly around anything perceived to be politically partisan.

But Trumps alleged remarks were so egregious to the Rev. Joel Schmidgall at National Community Church that he felt compelled to speak out. Anecdotal reports from across the country suggest that my pastors reaction was not an isolated incident.

A Washington Post roundup from around the country included examples of pastors from many different denominations, and in conservative parts of the country, speaking out against Trumps language, and of even usually reserved congregations responding with applause.

Religious institutions also weighed in. Calvin College, an influential evangelical university in Grand Rapids, Mich., issued a scathing denunciation of the president.

These comments sow fear and hatred in our country, and they are wrong, said a joint statement issued by the presidents of Calvin College and Calvin Seminary. The statement called out the president specifically, and asserted that it is our Christian duty and responsibility to separate ourselves from racist and hateful remarks and sentiments.

The world cannot be confused about what we believe, Calvins leaders stated.

These responses from nonpolitical bodies demonstrated that the backlash to Trumps remarks was far more than cable news catnip. It has the potential to become a defining moment of the Trump presidency, similar to his both sides equivocation when asked to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.

Photos: Violent clashes erupt at Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. 

I think its like I am not a crook or depends on what the meaning of is is or the malaise speech. It sums up so much that it becomes a metaphor of its own, one influential evangelical leader told me.

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I spoke with others who were surprised at the extent of the backlash to Trumps comments. For many who closely follow the news, the presidents remark was simply the latest in a long and ongoing pattern of demeaning and abusive language.

But it led some who had tried to give Trump the benefit of the doubt to a conclusion they had hoped to avoid: that the president of the United States is a racist. He was openly described that way on one of the most popular daytime TV programs in the country.

I have said repeatedly, I cant look into Donald Trumps heart. I cant say he is a racist, said Sunny Hostin, on ABCs The View.

Hostin and co-host Whoopi Goldberg focused on Trumps reported comment that he wanted more people to come to the United States from Norway, rather than Africa or Haiti, as a last straw of sorts.

I can say now Donald Trump is a racist. I can say that now. I can say that now. And I hate saying it, but I can say that now, Hostin said.

CNNs Van Jones said Trump had shown his heart.

Even some members of Trumps own religious advisory council criticized him.

For people of faith in America, there was an added element tied to the churchs longstanding commitment to what is known among Christians as missions, or the mandate to go to other countries to share the Christian gospel along with material assistance.

Photos: After Trumps comments, a look back at Haitis devastating 2010 earthquake 

Haiti has been a particular focus for church missions since the catastrophic earthquake in 2010 that killed roughly 200,000 people.

This [Trump comment] is different because theres so many churches that have mission trips and mission relationships to folks in Haiti. So it cant be objectified, said Emilie M. Townes, dean of the divinity school at Vanderbilt University, in an interview.

So much of why Trump gets away with what he says is people dont have a relationship with people, they havent been to a country, they havent seen how hard people are trying to rebuild, Townes said. But in those mission relationships theyre building real human relationships. Folks I know who have been to Haiti have really been changed.  The thing that I hear most commonly is a kind of resilience theyve never seen themselves in this country.

When they hear comments like Trumps, theres a visceral response of, This isnt true, these are my brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Rev. Duke Kwon, pastor of Grace Meridian Hill Church in northeast D.C., wrote in a statement that he was not so naive as to think that this sort of coarse and insulting speech isnt exchanged among officials of all parties behind closed doors all the time.

Kwon added: But when such words  descending from the highest office in the land  become publicly known, absent any apology or accountability, they are baked into the moral platform of that office.

He said that any attempt to defend or excuse Trumps remarks by other Christians was an indefensible performance of pharisaical moral gymnastics.

But a Trump supporter, the Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said that apart from the vocabulary attributed to him, President Trump is right on target.

Though Kwon did not mention Jeffress by name, he said that when such excuses are made it becomes all the more right and proper for Christs followers to condemn those remarks publicly.

Read more from Yahoo News:
By Dominic Evans and Tuvan Gumrukcu HATAY, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey said on Wednesday it would not hesitate to take action in Syria's Afrin district and other areas unless the United States withdrew support for a Kurdish-led force there, as the Pentagon downplayed its plans to train the Syrian fighters. In recent days, Turkey's President Erdogan has repeatedly warned of an imminent incursion in Afrin after Washington said it would help the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish YPG militia, set up a new 30,000-strong border force. The plan has infuriated Turkey, which considers the Syrian YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group, which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, Turkey and the United States. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Government Spokesman Bekir Bozdag said the planned U.S.-backed force posed a threat to Turkey's national security, territorial integrity and the safety of its citizens. "We emphasized that such a step was very wrong," he said. "Turkey has reached the limits of its patience, nobody should expect Turkey to show more patience." In a statement, the Pentagon said it was training "internally focused" Syrian fighters with a goal of preventing Islamic State's resurgence and ensuring Syrians displaced by the war could return to their communities. "This is not a new 'army' or conventional 'border guard' force," the Pentagon said, adding it would be "completely transparent" with Turkey about its plans. "We are keenly aware of the security concerns of Turkey, our coalition partner and NATO ally. Turkey's security concerns are legitimate," it said. Some Turkish troops have been in Syria for three months after entering the northern Idlib province following an agreement with Russia and Iran to try to reduce fighting between pro-Syrian government forces and rebel fighters. The observation posts which the Turkish army says it has established are close to the dividing line between Arab rebel-held land and Kurdish-controlled Afrin. Earlier on Wednesday, Turkey's National Security Council said Turkey would not allow the formation of a "terrorist army" along its borders. As the council met, a Reuters reporter witnessed the Turkish army deploying nine tanks to a military base just outside the city of Hatay, near the border with Afrin, to the west of the area where the border force is planned. That followed earlier reports of a military buildup in the area. "When the Turkish people and Turkish state's safety is in question, when it is necessary to remove risks and destroy threats, Turkey will do so without hesitation," Bozdag said. On Monday, with relations between the United States and Turkey stretched close to breaking point, Erdogan threatened to "strangle" the planned U.S.-backed force in Syria "before it's even born". Turkey and the United States, both allies in NATO, were on the same side for much of Syria's civil war, both supporting rebels fighting to overthrow Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. But a decision by Washington to back Kurdish forces fighting against Islamic State in recent years has angered Ankara. Bozdag reiterated Ankara's demand that Washington cease its "inexplicable" and "unacceptable" support of the YPG. "In the case that Turkey's demands are not met, we will take determined steps in Afrin and other regions to protect our interests. We will take these steps without considering what anyone can say," Bozdag said. "When will this happen? Suddenly." The cabinet also agreed to extend a state of emergency imposed after a failed 2016 coup attempt from Jan. 18, Bozdag said, in a move likely to prolong a post-putsch crackdown that saw more than 50,000 people arrested and 150,000 others sacked or suspended from their jobs. (Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff and James Dalgleish)
The aunt of 13 children found malnourished in a filthy and darkened home said her sister never let us talk to her kids and admitted that something didnt seem right about her parenting.

Police rescued David and Louise Turpins children from a foul-smelling house, where some had been shackled to beds, after one of the siblings escaped and raised the alarm.

The children ranged in age from two to 29 but appeared much younger due to malnutrition, police said. The Turpins have been charged with torture and child endangerment.

Elizabeth Jane Flores, Louise Turpins younger sister, told Daily Mail TV: She never let us talk to her kids. She wouldnt even accept my Facebook request. We all wondered what was going on.

My parents booked several flights to go see them but when they got there they wouldnt tell them where to go and my parents left crying every time.

They died before they got to see them again. Its just heartbreaking and Im so embarrassed about all of this.

The mother-of-seven and Christian motivational speaker added: Something didnt seem right about her parenting but never would I have expected it to be like this.

The conditions inside the Turpins Perris, California home were revealed after their 17-year-old daughter escaped through a window and called police using a mobile phone she had found inside.

Officers responding on Sunday initially thought she was just 10 years old due to her slightly emaciated condition.

Greg Fellows, of the Riverside County Sheriffs Office, praised her courage and called the situation horrific.

He added: If you can imagine being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10-year-old, being chained to a bed, being malnourished, and injuries associated with that, I would call that torture.

Another of Louise Turpins sisters, Teresa Robinette, told NBC News: We always thought she was living the perfect life. She would tell us they went to Disneyland all the time. They would go to Vegas.

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Ms Turpin did not attend her parents funerals and had little contact with her family, Ms Robinette said.

David Turpins parents said they had not visited the family for at least four years, and were surprised and shocked by the allegations.

They said they believed the Turpins had been called by God to have so many children, who were given very strict homeschooling that included memorising long Bible passages.

When approached by neighbours the children reacted like they had never seen people before, one claimed.

David, 57, and Louise Turpin, 49, are due to appear in court on Thursday. They each face nine charges of torture and 10 of child endangerment, and are being held on $9m (6.5m) bail.
(WASHINGTON)  The Trump administration on Tuesday cut tens of millions of dollars in money for Palestinian refugees, demanding that the U.N. agency responsible for the programs undertake a fundamental re-examination, the State Department said.

In a letter, the State Department notified the U.N. Relief and Works Agency that the U.S. is withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment. The letter also makes clear that additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.

We would like to see some reforms be made, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed to the way the agency operates and is funded. This is not aimed at punishing anyone.

The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment  $60 million  to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.

The U.S. is UNWRAs largest donor, supplying nearly 30% of its budget. The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Given the long, trusted, and historic relationship between the United States and UNRWA, this reduced contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle-East, UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israels establishment in 1948. Today, there are an estimated 5 million refugees and their descendants, mostly scattered across the region.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization reacted angrily to the move, saying it is targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life.

It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent, the PLO leadership said in a statement.

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was not aware of the decision, but warned that UNRWA provides vital services.

I am very concerned and I strongly hope that in the end it will be possible for the United States to maintain the funding of UNRWA in which the U.S. has a very important share, he told reporters at the U.N.

Israels ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, praised the move, arguing that UNRWA misuses humanitarian aid to support propaganda against the Jewish state and perpetuate the Palestinians plight.

It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose: the welfare of refugees, Danon said in a statement.

The U.S. donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year, with the first installment to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.

Trumps tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians. We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect, he said. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?

Israelis accuse the U.N. agency of contributing to Palestinian militancy and allowing its facilities to be used by militants. They also complain that some of UNRWAs staff are biased against Israel.

Nauert said the United States believes there needs to be more burden-sharing, a regular Trump complaint about multilateral organizations dependent on significant contributions of U.S. cash.

We dont believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States responsibility, she said.

The U.S. plan to withhold some, but not all, of the money was backed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who offered it as a compromise to demands for more drastic measures by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, officials said.

Haley wanted a complete cutoff in U.S. money until the Palestinians resumed peace talks with Israel that have been frozen for years. But Tillerson, Mattis and others argued that ending all assistance would exacerbate instability in the Mideast, notably in Jordan, a host to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and a crucial U.S. strategic partner.

Eliminating or sharply reducing the U.S. contribution could hamstring the agency and severely curtail its work, putting great pressure on Jordan and Lebanon as well as the Palestinian Authority. Gaza would be particularly hard hit. Some officials, including Israelis, warn that it might push people closer to the militant Hamas movement, which controls Gaza.
By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday overturned an arbitrator's ruling allowing about 70,000 women to take part in a nationwide sex discrimination case against Sterling Jewelers Inc even though they had not opted to join.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan ruled that only women who had opted to join the case against Sterling under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when it was before the arbitrator could stay in the case.

David Bouffard, a spokesman for Sterling, said Rakoff's order left 254 women in the Title VII case.

A group of former Sterling employees sued the Akron, Ohio-based company in 2008, claiming it systematically discriminated against women in pay and promotions in violation of Title VII and the federal Equal Pay Act. Rakoff subsequently sent the case to private arbitration.

Sterling, a unit of Signet Jewelers Ltd, said Tuesday that the claims were without merit. The company in May settled a similar case brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission without agreeing to pay any money.

Bouffard said that close to 10,000 women had opted into the arbitration to bring claims as a class under the Equal Pay Act, but that the company was challenging the certification of that class.

Joseph Sellers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he intended to appeal Rakoff's order.

"We remain confident in the strength of our case and look forward to the trial scheduled in May, when at least 10,000 women who opted into the arbitration to participate in a class certified under the Equal Pay Act will have the opportunity to hold Sterling Jewelers accountable for its discriminatory conduct," he said in an emailed statement.

Signet's stock plunged in February 2017 after 1,300 pages of documents in the case were made public in which women claimed they were groped, demeaned and pressured to have sex with male managers in exchange for raises and promotions.

In March 2017, Signet shareholders sued the company, claiming it broke the law by failing to disclose the severity of the sex bias claims.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Additional reporting by Alison Frankel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - A UN envoy declared Wednesday he was "very hopeful" that a solution was within reach to end a 27-year dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the former Yugoslav republic's name.

During talks at the United Nations, UN envoy Matthew Nimetz presented a proposal for a compromise to envoys that will now be discussed in Athens and Skopje.

Nimetz said he will travel to Greece and Macedonia soon to discuss the proposed solution, which was not made public.

"I am very hopeful that this process is moving in a positive direction," Nimetz told reporters following the two-hour meeting at UN headquarters.

Greece's objections to the use of the name Macedonia since the Balkan country's independence in 1991 has hampered Skopje's bid to join the European Union and NATO.

Macedonia is known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) at the United Nations, but the Security Council acknowledged that this was a provisional name when it agreed to membership.

"I view this as a good set of ideas, a compromise, and a package that both sides should feel comfortable with and lead to a dignified and satisfactory solution," said Nimetz.

Some of the solutions floated include using the name New Macedonia or Northern Macedonia, but Greek nationalists argue that there should be no reference to Macedonia at all.

Greece maintains that the use of Macedonia suggests that Skopje has territorial claims to its own Macedonia -- a northern region that boasts the port cities of Thessaloniki and Kavala and was the center of Alexander the Great's ancient kingdom, a source of Greek pride.

- Leaders want a solution -

In a rebuke to Greek hardliners, Nimetz said it was "not realistic" to expect Macedonia not to have that name "in some form" in its official designation.

Several rounds of talks aimed at settling the dispute have failed, but the envoy said he believed the outcome would be different this time.

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"I do think so. I really believe that we have leadership in both Athens and Skopje that genuinely want a solution," he told reporters, flanked by Macedonia's US Ambassador Vasko Naumovski and Greek envoy Adamantios Vassilakis.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said this month that he believed a solution could be found by July, while his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras has said the issue should be settled this year.

Tsipras this week pushed back against the influential Greek Orthodox Church after it said any compromise with Skopje should not include the use of "Macedonia."

The proposed name is expected to be put to a referendum in Skopje and presented to the Greek parliament for endorsement, which could stoke nationalist fervor.

Church groups in Greece are already planning protests over the weekend.

Nimetz, an American who has been grappling with the name dispute for over 25 years, appealed to opposition leaders to be constructive in their response to the proposal.

"This dispute has gone on for 25 years. Should it go on for another 25 years? You know, is that going to be helpful to the people, to the young people in the area? I don't think so," he said.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Returning from a UN Security Council visit to Afghanistan, US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday stressed the Kabul government wants world powers to step up pressure on Pakistan.

Haley joined the 14 other council envoys for talks with top Afghan leaders in Kabul at the weekend as the government considers holding peace talks with the Taliban to end decades of insurgency.

"They feel confident that the Taliban will be coming to the table," Haley told reporters at UN headquarters.

While the peace talks will be Afghan-led, the Kabul government did request that the Security Council weigh in to bring Pakistan onboard.

"They did ask us for consensus to put further pressure on Pakistan to come to the table and change their behavior," Haley said.

The Afghan government is making strides towards stability, she said, and "continue to make ten steps forward and with Pakistan they feel like they continue to take steps backward."

"As long as they are supporting terrorism in Pakistan, the Afghan community is continuing to feel it is not safe," she said.

Haley did not specify what measures could be taken to pressure Pakistan, but the council does have the power to impose sanctions.

Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Taliban and various militant groups in Afghanistan -- charges it denies.

President Donald Trump has frozen US payments of military aid to Pakistan, worth $900 million, saying Pakistan is not doing enough to target Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani guerilla group.

A question mark also hangs over a further $1 billion of US military equipment for Pakistan.

US officials believe that Pakistan's intelligence agency and military have long helped fund and arm the Taliban to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, whose government is backed by the US.

The Afghan government also requested council help to address narcotics production and trafficking, looking at "every country that moves them," said Haley.

The council visit - the first since 2010 - comes as the government holds a conference next month to present its strategy for reaching a settlement with armed groups.

Kazakhstan's Ambassador Kairat Umarov, who led the council trip, said parliamentary elections must take place this year and be transparent "to ensure the credibility of the government" and "prevent further destabilization."
Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan. (Photo: Jeff Daly/FX)

On July 15, 1997, fashion designer Gianni Versace was just coming back to his Miami home after a morning walk when he was shot to death on the street by Andrew Cunanan, a petty thief, con man, and, it turned out, a serial killer  Versace was only his biggest-name victim. This is the subject of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the new miniseries that starts Wednesday night on FX. Its another big-canvas, pop-culture epic overseen by producer-director-writer Ryan Murphy, and features an exceptional performance by one of the performers Murphy made into a star on Glee: Darren Criss, as a chilling Cunanan.

At the start, the production goes back and forth between the story of Versace (played with skill and a notable physical resemblance by Edgar Ramirez), seen initially at the height of his worldwide fashion fame, and Cunanan, angry and miserable, living an impoverished street life. Its fun to see Penelope Cruz do such a good job of inhabiting the platinum-blond hair and pouty poker-face of Versaces sister, Donatella, and Ricky Martin exudes a lot of smooth charm as Antonio DAmico, Versaces significant other. As a fashion heathen, I appreciated the way Murphy and novelist Tom Rob Smith (adapting Maureen Orths book Vulgar Favors) vividly sketch the reasons Versace was considered such an innovative designer, and as the nine-part series proceeds, there are occasional jumps back in time for us to witness Versaces youth and the hard work that went into building his empire.

The real focus of Assassination, however, is on the assassin. The majority of this seasons American Crime Story (following the Emmy-winning The People v. O.J. Simpson) is a deep exploration of Cunanan. A charming gay man who used his sexuality to both attract and exploit, the Cunanan as presented by Murphy and Smith is a tortured soul for whom we cannot ultimately feel much sympathy. For long stretches, Versace disappears from the production so that we can meet some of Cunanans other victims, such as Cody Ferns fledgling architect David Madson, and Finn Wittrocks poignant take on Navy veteran Jeff Trail; their stories are told with nearly the same degree of thoroughness as Versaces.

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Along the way, Murphy and company tell a cultural and political history of gay strife, from the AIDS epidemic to the fight for gay marriage to the militarys dont ask, dont tell policy. The fractured narrative timeline  the story is told in reverse chronological order, jumping back and forth, here and there, across the trail of Cunanans various crimes  can sometimes seem gratuitously confusing, but once you get used to its rhythm, this American Crime Story has an irresistible pull.

Versace is filled with excellent smaller performances, such as New Girls Max Greenfield, so fine as a slimy South Beach hustler who briefly partners up with Cunanan, and M*A*S*Hs Mike Farrell, superb as Cunanans wealthy older victim Lee Miglin, portrayed here as man pathetically grateful for Andrews condescending attentions. With the Simpson miniseries and now Versace, it may be that Murphy has found his true metier: The true-crime genre anchors his sometimes wild flights of fancy to enough solid facts to give his lyricism weight  dramatic gravitas.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. on FX.

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Victims of disgraced U.S. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar faced him in court Tuesday as they detailed his abuse and the toll it took on them in emotional impact statements.

One-by-one, the women shared their stories inside a Michigan courtroom.

Kyle Stephens was the first of nearly 100 women to share her story. She wept as she told the former team doctor that little girls dont stay little forever.

"They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world."

As she spoke, Nassar put his head in his hands.

Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act," Stephens added. "It changes the trajectory of a victim's life, and that is something that nobody has the right to do."

Stephens described how Nassar began abusing her when she was just 6 years old in his basement. Her parents were friends with the doctor and his wife.

When she was 12, she said she told her parents of the abuse and they did not believe her.

You convinced my parents I was a liar, she told Nassar in court.

She said the situation split her family and her fathers deferred recognition of the truth drove him to suicide.

Other women came forward with their shocking stories.

"I often think of suicide," Annette Hill said in court. She saw Nassar for treatment of a knee injury 20 years ago when she was abused by him.

The victims each described how the 54-year-old violated them, sometimes while their parents were nearby.

"He molested me, Rebecca Mark said of a 1999 incident. He molested me while my mom was in the room."

Donna Markham, the mother of one victim, spoke on behalf of her daughter, Chelsea, who committed suicide in 2009 at age 23.

Markham said her daughter first saw Nassar when she was 10 and soon had a downward spiral, which she blames on the doctor.

Every day I miss her and it all started with him," she said. "It all started with him and it just became worse as the years went by until she just couldn't deal with it anymore."

Story continues

Nassar pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of criminal misconduct in Ingham County, Mich., and three other criminal counts in Eaton County. He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison in a child pornography case.

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Simone Biles Says She Was Abused by Ex-Team USA Gymnastics Doctor, Larry Nassar

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Gymnast Aly Raisman Comes Forward With Sexual Abuse Claims Against Team USA Doctor

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YAKIMA, Wash. -- An investigation into the shooting death of a 30-year-old Arizona man Monday and the wounding of two others continued Wednesd
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Details remain murky surrounding the fatal shooting of one man and wounding of two others in an investigation that spans two 
President Donald Trump was elected president after successfully detecting waves of hatred towards the "other," which keep sweeping through the country. He managed to instigate, divide and provide his white voters with precisely what they wanted: animosity towards anything that isnt pure white trash.

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Now its time to deal with the black people, who Trump wants to get rid of. His followers have taken it one step further: As far as some of them are concerned, Jews arent part of the white race either.

Over the weekend, Trump jumped deep into the gutter when he basically said he was interested in blonde immigrants. And, if possible, blue-eyed too. Like in Norway.

Trump. Pushing his racist supporters forward (Photo: AFP)

And thats exactly what the presidents followers want: A white America and racial purification. A little over 70 years ago, Germans wanted to get rid of the weird Jews. Now, Trump wants to get rid of the black and dark brown.

According to his followers, Jews are exploiting the economy and taking over the hostile media. Trump, in his racist comments, made them rear their head. Now, theyre no longer afraid to say, Jews, get out.

The president believes in America First, and his followers believe in a pure America. These desires merge very well and feed each other dangerously.

If the president were able to read more than one page, he may have been able to lay his hands on the study showing that African students in the United States have higher academic achievements than any other group of immigrants, including the Asians who he actually wants.

Anti-Semitism in America (Photo: Gregory Locke)

He may have also learned that in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his uncle was a renowned professor, most students are foreignand a considerable portion of them come from s**thole countries, as he defined them.

He merely said what his political base thinks, feels and wants: A country as white as snow. A blonde country.

When Barack Obama was elected president, that political base felt it had been robbed of its country, especially the older white men who see Trump as their supreme representative.

Now, he has pushed them forward, and the racists no longer need to hide, having one of their own in the Oval Office. Their president, in his own unique style, made them realize that only white is beautiful, and that blonde is the fairest of them all.
The United States will give United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, $60 million in aid but will withhold a further $65 million "for future consideration," a US official said on Tuesday.

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In keeping back some of the aid, Washington appeared to carry out a threat made by President Donald Trump in a Twitter post on January 2 in which he said, "It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others.

President Trump (L) and PA President Abbas (Photo: AFP)

"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 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?"

The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said UNRWA needed to be fundamentally reevaluated "in the way it operates and the way it is funded."

While the official did not link the US decision to Trump's tweet, he made a point often advanced by the US president by saying the United States had been UNRWA's single largest donor for decades and calling on other nations to do more.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was unaware of any cut in aid but he was "very concerned" about the possibility because it "is an important factor of stability."

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement that the reduced US contribution "threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East."

In 2016, the USA gave $368,429,712 to UNRWA. "It is time other countries, some of them quite wealthy, step in and do their part to advance regional security and stability," the official said.

Previously, Trump's recognition of Jerusaelm as Israel's capital prompted the Palestinians to freeze ties with the Trump administration, and Abbas is expected to shun Vice President Mike Pence when he visits the region next week.

On Sunday night, Abbas slammed the US ambassadors to Israel and the United Nations, David Friedman and Nikki Haley, calling them a "disgrace."

Both Trump appointees have been strong supporters of Israel, with Friedman having backed Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

An indignant Abbas also said that Trump had accused them of refusing to engage in peace negotiations.

"May your house come to ruin. When did we refuse?" he said, using a common Arabic curse.

He also said the Oslo accords that led to the creation of his Palestinian Authority and envisioned a final resolution to the conflict were in effect finished.

"I am saying that Oslo, there is no Oslo. Israel ended Oslo," Abbas said.

In response to Abbas's comments, the European Union said its position on the conflict remains "based on the Oslo accords."

Ambassador Friedamn (Photo: AFP)

"This decision confirms the U.S administration is continuing in wiping out the rights of the Palestinian people," Palestine Liberation Organization official Wasel Abu Youssef told Reuters. "First was declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and today the refugee issue," he said.

At the United Nations, Secretary Guterres told reporters that the services provided by UNRWA were "of extreme importance, not only for the wellbeing of these populations ... but also in my opinion and an opinion that is shared by most international observers, including some Israeli ones, it is an important factor of stability."

"So if UNRWA will not be in a position to provide the vital services and the emergency forms of support that UNRWA has been providing this will create a very, very serious problem and we will do everything we can to avoid this situation," he said.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon commented on the American decision saying: "It is time to end the absurdity of UNRWA. It has been exposed as an organization that takes advantage of funds by the international community for anti-Israel propaganda, eternalizing the Palestinian refugee's status and spreading hate.

"It was revealed this last year that senior members of the organization were selected to lead Hamas in Gaza. UNRWA schools deny the existence of Israel and terror tunnels were discovered below the organization's institutions It is time that the humanitarian assistance funds are directed strictly towards that cause," said Danon.
A 16th century book that belonged to Prague's Jewish community before World War II and surfaced at a New York City auction last year was brought back to the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

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Titled "Mikne Avram  Peculium Abrae," the recovered volume is a grammar book published in both Hebrew and Latin in 1523. It was written by Abraham Ben Meir de Balmes, an Italian Jew, and published in Italy.

It belonged to the library of Prague's Jewish community before the war, and it is not clear under what circumstances it disappeared.





Auctioneer Kestenbaum (L) examining the tome with Jewish Museum Director Pavlat (Photo: AP)

"It's an exceptional moment for us that such a rare book returns to Prague after such a long time," Leo Pavlat, director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, the legal successor to the Czech capital's pre-war Jewish community.

The book turned up last year at an auction organized by Kestenbaum & Company, a New York auction house that specializes in Judaica and rare books. The auction house withdrew it from the sale at the museum's request.

Auction house director Daniel Kestenbaum identified the book's most recent owner as a scholar in Jerusalem who had agreed to let the museum have it. Kestenbaum brought the book to Prague and read a message from the scholar, who wanted to remain anonymous.

The Jewish grammar book (Photo: AP)

The scholar said he was willing to return the book because a refusal would be "an active continuity of those terrible thefts committed against Jewish property and cultural treasures perpetrated by the German Nazis."

"I'm happy to grant my support to the course of historical justice," the message said.

The previous owner was Ze'ev Ben-Haim, a leading linguist and former president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Ben-Haim was born in 1907 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire when it including the territory of the modern Czech Republic and moved to Palestine in 1933.

It is not clear how and when he acquired the book, but the scholar in Israel acquired it after Ben-Haim's death in 2013.
Iran added its voice to criticism of a US plan to form a new border security force in Syria, saying Tuesday that it will cause more instability and "add flames" to the war-torn country.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the planned Kurdish-led force will further complicate the conflict in Syria and is a "blatant intervention" in that country's internal affairs. Ghasemi's comments were carried by Iran's official IRNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani later told the visiting Syrian parliament speaker that the US plan is a "plot" against Syria's territorial integrity and security, according to comments posted on the president's website.

The new force announced by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group also is exacerbating tensions between NATO member Turkey and the United States. And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Syria's deputy foreign minister also opposed it.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the US seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff with North Korea, but he's declining to comment on whether the White House is considering limited military action against Pyongyang.

Tillerson was responding to reports that some in the Trump administration advocate military action to give the North a "bloody nose." He was addressing a news conference in Vancouver Tuesday after a meeting of US allies.

The meeting of 20 nations stressed the need for diplomacy, but Tillerson said the North has yet to show itself to be a "credible negotiating partner." He said US-North Korea talks would require a "sustained cessation" of threatening behavior by Pyongyang.

Tillerson declined to say whether President Donald Trump has spoken directly to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Tuesday that if North Korea does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons that pose a growing threat to the United States it could trigger a military response.

After a meeting of US allies on how to beef up the sanctions pressure, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff, but he said the North has yet to show itself to be a "credible negotiating partner." He said US-North Korea talks would require a "sustained cessation" of threatening behavior.

"We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation," Tillerson said when he was asked whether Americans should be concerned about the possibility of a war. He said North Korea has continued to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons through the thermonuclear test and progress in its intercontinental missile systems.

"We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option," he said.
South Korea says North Korea will send a delegation to the Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in March.

Seoul's Unification Ministry says in a statement that the North informed it of such a plan during talks Wednesday at the border. The talks, the third round in less than 10 days, were arranged to discuss cooperation in next month's Pyeongchang Olympics.

The Unification Ministry says the two Korea will hold further talks on a detailed makeup of the North Korean Paralympics delegation.

North Korea agreed last week to send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics in a conciliatory gesture after a year of heightened animosities over its nuclear and missile programs.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Tuesday that if North Korea does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons that pose a growing threat to the United States it could trigger a military response.

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After a meeting of US allies on how to beef up the sanctions pressure, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff, but he said the North has yet to show itself to be a credible negotiating partner. He said US-North Korea talks would require a sustained cessation of threatening behavior.

Tillerson declined to comment on whether the White House is considering limited military action against Pyongyang, in response to reports that some in the Trump administration advocate military action to give the North a bloody nose.

US Secretary of State Tillerson (Photo: Reuters)

We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation, Tillerson said when he was asked whether Americans should be concerned about the possibility of a war. He said North Korea has continued to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons through the thermonuclear test and progress in its intercontinental missile systems.

We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option, he said.

His uncompromising message came after a gathering in Vancouver of 20 nations that were on Americas side during the Korean War, where there was skepticism among the allies over North Koreas sincerity in its recent diplomatic opening with the US-allied South. The meeting convened days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North.

Despite Washingtons tough stance and determination to keep up the pressure on North Korea, President Donald Trump has signaled openness to talks with the North under the right circumstances. After months of insults and blood-curdling threats traded with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump suggested in an interview last week that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland (L) and Tillerson conduct a press conference at the Vancouver Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Photo: AFP)

Tillerson declined to say Tuesday whether Trump has spoken directly to Kim.

I dont think its useful to comment he said. We are at a very tenuous stage in terms of how far North Korea has taken their program and what we can do to convince them to take an alternative path. And so when we get into whos talking to who and what was said, if we want that to be made know or made public we will announce it.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said its talks with North Korea, leading to the Norths participation in next months Olympics being hosted by the South, are a significant first step toward restoring inter-Korean relations.

But she conceded that despite the overtures, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its obligations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was blunter. He said the North wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs.

The meeting was attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the UN Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. Its a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Colombia.

The delegates were briefed Monday night by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. A senior State Department official described that as a chance to demonstrate that the US has an integrated strategy and to raise confidence that it definitely prefers a diplomatic solution over resorting to military action. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the briefing and requested anonymity.

The gathering, co-hosted by Canada and the US, had few concrete outcomes and was principally intended as a show of solidarity. But it alienated China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war and were not invited. US officials say those two nations, which are the Norths main economic and diplomatic partners, will be briefed afterward.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (3rd from R, front), Tillerson (C, front) and other top diplomats from 16 countries take a group photo during the Vancouver meeting (Photo: EPA)

Beijing and Moscow have supported UN Security Council resolutions to restrict export revenue for North Korean nuclear and missile development. They are more forward-leaning than Washington in their calls for negotiations with Kims government. The sanctions also limit imports by North Korea of oil and petroleum products, most of which are supplied by China.

Tillerson said all nations must work together to improve maritime interdiction operations and stop illicit ship-to-ship transfers that violate UN sanctions. He said the allies did not seek to interfere with legitimate maritime activities. He said most interdictions to date have taken place in ports and have not required military action.

The latest UN Security Council resolution, adopted in December in response to an ICBM test, calls on member states to impound vessels in their ports if there are reasonable grounds to suspect illicit trade with North Korea. It authorizes interdictions in a member states territorial waters.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of the prominent and influential leaders of religious Zionism, made yet another controversial comment on Tuesday when he declared that "until there is complete separation between men and women in the IDFit is forbidden to enlist."

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Young men and women in the religious Zionist sector are highly motivated to serve in the IDF, with record breaking numbers of both religious-Zionist men and women enlisting in recent years.

However, the issue of mixed-gender units has been controversial in the religious Zionist sector, with several rabbis coming out against women's service in general, and co-ed service in particular.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

In a recent question and answer session on the website Kippah, Rabbi Aviner received a query: "I am a yeshiva student, and I am uncertain whether to enlist or not, because of the mixing of men and women in the army."

"It is a great mitzvah to go to the army, but alongside that one must uphold the Torah's instruction that men and women should be as far away from each other as possible," Aviner answered. "You need to ask for a unit that has no women, such as proper combat units or Haredi units."

The yeshiva student pressed the matter, saying this was an unrealistic demand as the IDF is not obligated to place non-Haredi soldiers in Haredi battalions and adding not everyone is suitable for combat units.

"If that is the case, then unfortunately, for now, you must not go to the army," Aviner responded. "Either (serve in) a separate unit, or don't enlist for now. You cannot do the mitzvah of serving in the army by committing a transgression."

The rabbi rejected the claim that his comments urged "rebellion against the IDF," saying, "We deeply love the IDF, and we will certainly enlist when the problem is remedied."

Recording breaking numbers of religious-Zionist women enlisting

His answer to the yeshiva student, however, caused a storm in the religious-Zionist sector, with many criticizing his extremist message.

"Rabbi Aviner's call to dodge the IDF draft constitutes the crossing of a red line," the Neemanei Torah VaAvodah organization said. "Disagreements with the army must be resolved with respectful discourse, as has been done and agreed with rabbis of religious-Zionism, and not in manners that give us a bad name for no good reason and unwinds the delicate fabic of the people's army."

Rabbi Ohad Teharlev, a member of Beit Hillel's executive board and head of the Israeli program at Midreshet Lindenbaum, also came out against Rabbi Aviner. "Saying that it is forbidden to enlist because the army is mixed is in itself preventing a mitzvah. Our students will continue enlisting en masse," he stressed.

"The IDF and the chief of staff are doing all they can to allow young religious men and women to serve in the army, while still following Halacha (Jewish law). We recently saw it in the changes made to the Joint Service Ordinance ," Rabbi Teharlev continued. "Statements like that only give a bad name to the army and to Israel's male and female soldiers, who are elite unique people."

In response to the outrage over his comments, Rabbi Aviner told Yedioth Ahronoth: "I stand behind every word. I don't know all of those causing a storm."

Aviner, the rabbi of the settlement Beit El and the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva, is known for his controversial rulings , including his efforts to "convert" LGBTs calls on women not to run for political office because it is immodest, and barring use of some emojis because they constitute "idolatry."

He is considered an influential and popular rabbi, among other things because he holds question and answer sessions with students via cellphone or the internet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu estimated on Wednesday that the US embassy in Israel will be moved to Jerusalem within a year.

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"My assessment is that the embassy will be moved much faster than you think, certainly within a year," he told reporters during his diplomatic trip to India.

Netanyahu, who lauded US President Donald Trump for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, has backed many of Trump's other ambitions in the Middle East, such as his stance against the Iran nuclear deal and US plan to cut funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

PM Netanyahu, in New Delhi, India (Photo: AFP)

During the press conference, Netanyahu addressed these two pressing issues, reiterating his support of Trump's decision.

"(Trump) decided on a timeframe for the necessary change in relation to Iran's nuclear program, and the nuclear agreement," Netanyahu said, adding it is clear to all that the president will stick to it.

"Amendment to the agreement or cancellation of the agreement. These are very important things, because otherwise the Iranian train is going to one place," he stressed.

US President Trump (Photo: AFP)

Addressing the US's recent decision to cut funding to UNRWA by half, the Israeli leader claimed that the agency has "perpetuated Palestinian refugeehood and the narrative of the abolition of Zionism for the past 70 years," saying this was the "first time we stood up and challenged" their view, though he added that in every step taken, "there is always a certain amount of risk."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday he was unaware of any cut in aid to the agency, but he was "very concerned" about the possibility because it "is an important factor of stability."

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement that the reduced US contribution "threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East."

UNRWA Commissioner-General Krahenbuhl (Photo: Ido Erez)

The United States on Tuesday said it would withhold about half the initial aid it planned to give a UN agency that serves the Palestinians, two weeks after President Donald Trump questioned the value of such funding.

In announcing that it would provide $60 million to the UNRWA while withholding a further $65 million for now, the US State Department said the aid group needed to make unspecified reforms.

...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

Earlier this month, Trump said he would waive nuclear sanctions against Iran for the last time to give Washington and its European allies a chance to fix the "terrible flaws" of the 2015 nuclear deal.

A senior administration official said Trump wants the deal strengthened with a follow-on agreement in 120 days or the United States will unilaterally withdraw from the international pact.

In December, Trump announced that the US officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy there, breaking with longtime US policy and potentially threatening regional stability.
The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced the five perpetrators of the attack at Ichilov Hospital, who were convicted as part of a plea bargain signed with them.

Ruslan Misayev, 29, and Mor Biton, 23, were both sentenced to 17 months in prison; Hanan Alfasi, 50, will serve 19 months in prison; Avraham Yosefov, 29, will serve 22 months in jail; David Amouyal, 35, will serve 25 months in prison as he was deemed the perpetrator of the attack.

The sentence of Elya Kadosh, who is at the center of the affair, will be decided at another time.
The Israeli Navy's defense systems will soon get an unprecedented upgrade, allowing navy vessels to launch chaff rockets to mislead enemy missiles.

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The upgraded system would be able to deal with all kinds of threatsboth new and future onesat sea: From the most advanced anti-ship cruise missilessuch as the Russian P-800 Oniks, also known as Yakhontto shoulder-fired missilesincluding the Russian 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, the likes of which have already been fired at ships in the Middle East in recent years.

The system includes an algorithm that identifies and classifies any kind of projectile making its way towards the Israeli missile ship, and then programs a unique diversion plan: chaff rockets are launched from the front deck and create a "wall" over the water of hundreds of metal wires, which mislead the enemy missile into "thinking" this was the Israeli ship. This helps divert the enemy missile, only a minute or two before it was to hit the Israeli ship.

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The new system's advanced fire-control radar will know to classify such projectiles as a threat to the ship out of hundreds of other targets in the ship's immediate surroundings.

The first of the missile ships to receive the upgrade is INS Sufa. After a successful test of the system conducted two months ago off the coast of Haifa, the system is expected to be declared operational in the coming weeks.

"Past threats were relatively simple, and we knew them. The world was analog 20 years ago," a Navy officer in charge of the project told Ynet. "Nowadays, the enemy's munitions are digital, so if someone on the other side of the world makes a small change to the program of a missile that could reach our enemies, we immediately have to make adjustments and updates to our systems."

(Photo: IDF Spokesman's Office)

"When a missile ship goes out to sea, it is limited in the number of munitions it can carry, which is why the classification of the threats must be accurate, so we can effectively use our munitionsboth in defense and in offense," he added.

The system will join other defense system already on board the Navy's vessels or expected to be added in the foreseeable future, including a system to disrupt the frequencies of enemy missile radars, a naval version of Iron Dome , and Barak missiles

"In fact, we developed a system that can choose how to deal with each threat on its way to us, while it's in the air, in short time periods of a minute or two, and at times even in seconds," the officer said. "In this way, we can be more robust and generic in an effort to improve the 'defense score' by shooting less chaff rockets while reaching maximal neutralization of the threat. This is a dramatic leap forward that will provide us with solutions for the next 20 years."

Another senior naval officer added, "We're prepared for the fact the enemy is incorporating all of the latest technological solutions in the market right now, and the unbearable ease with which a civilian multicopter drone can become a remote-controlled bomb. Iran today doesn't have to develop inertial weapons systems, which could take 20 years, they can just buy technological products on the market."
The speech was loud and clear. It wasnt just the may your house be demolished curse that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fired at the leader of the strongest world power. It was the utterly delusional ideology, with false claims that only make the Palestinians sink deeper into a path of delusions and collapse.

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The reactions were predictable: We have to understand him. Hes under a lot of pressure. He has no political horizon. The Palestinians are desperate. He didnt really mean it.

We must admit that Abbas is simply a victim of the Palestinian propaganda machines amazing success. For decades, this machine is being promoted by a well-oiled system of propagandists who keep explaining that we must understand the Palestinians.

Abbas. A victim of Palestinian propagandas amazing success (Photo: AFP)

When rockets were fired from Gaza, Robert Fisk, who is considered one of Britains leading experts on the Middle East, rushed to explain that the Palestinians in Gaza can say in many cases, 'Well, my grandson is firing a rocket at my town because before 1948 these areas would have been Palestinian property.

Prof. Oren Yiftachel of Ben-Gurion University explained that the rocket fire must be seen as an attempt to remind the world, Israel, and also the Palestinian leadership, that the refugee problem is still alive and kicking.

They are against terrorism, but theyre providing justifications for terrorism. Germans have been expelled from many countries too. And Poles. And Hungarians. And Ukrainians. And Turks. And Greek. And many other people. Tens of millions. Yet we havent heard about rockets being launched, and we definitely havent heard justifications for the rocket terror. Because most of Europe would have turned into a show of fire and flames and fireworks. But thats the rationality that has taken over the progressive elites in the Israeli-Palestinian context. Irrationality, I mean.

And so it goes. They turned down the Partition Plan? Poor people. Why would anyone give up a room in their home just because someone invaded it? Thats a justification Ive heard about a thousand times.

Its true that when Zionism began, there was no Palestinian home. And its true that the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF), which produced the most accurate maps of the 19th century in the 1970s, discovered that the area had been poorly populated. And its true that most of todays Palestinians arrived as work migrants or refugees from nearby countries in the past few centuries (the Zoabi family, for example, arrived at the invitation of the Ottoman government in 1873). And its true that Hamas interior minister, Fathi Hamad, admitted that the Palestinians are actually Egyptians and Saudis.

But to hell with the facts, as long as Abbas can quote dozens of experts, journalists and academics who provide incitement and propaganda material for every delusional speech he makes.

When we understand the claims about the Nakba, instead of saying that what happened to the Palestinians happened to tens of millions of peoplewe perpetuate the right of return illusion (Photo: AFP)

Looking at a conflict, any conflict, requires us to understand the different sides. To understand the pain. But what applies to every conflict appears to be completely wrong when it comes to the Palestinians. The more we understand them, the more we bolster their rejectionism.

When we understand their claims about the Nakba, instead of telling them that what happened to them happened to tens of millions of people, and happened to Jews, even from Arab countrieswe perpetuate the delusion of the right of return.

For years, they have been hearing the same chant from the Fisks and the Yiftachels. And if thats what the worlds educated and enlightened people have to say, is there any chance that the Palestinians themselves give up the right of return fantasy? Does this understanding bring the chance for peace and reconciliation closer, or does it push it away?

When, for the sake of this understanding, they say we must understand what Jerusalem means to the Muslims in general and to the Palestinians in particularalthough Jerusalem remained marginal and neglected under Muslim rule for centuriesthey are helping inflate the lie. And when they spread the lie that the Palestinians are living under an oppression, which is similar to what happened at Auschwitzits blood libel. Because under Israeli rule, the Palestinians have experienced huge growth in every possible area.

And no, terrorism isnt justified, because the Palestinians have repeatedly received decent proposals for an agreement. They could have gained independence. They are the ones who have said no. And those who keep justifying them are justifying the continuation of violence and terror.

The public opinion in the free world is influential. It can and should have told the Palestinians and Israel: Get off your high horse. No more fantasies. There will be no return of Palestinians to Israel and no return of Jews to every hill in Judea and Samaria. But the understanding towards the Palestinians must stopnot to prevent an agreement, but on the contrary, to give it a chance.
The Tel Aviv District Court convicted Irena Waldberg, former director of the Entrepreneurs Association, of bribery in a plea bargain.

In the framework of the arrangement, Waldberg admitted that she had funded the association's travel to Serbia and Ukraine with the director of the organization's wing in the Yisrael Beiteinu party and the media adviser to former party secretary Faina Kirschenbaum.
The head of the UN agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees appealed on Wednesday for world donations after the United States withheld about half its planned funding for the organization, a move he said risks instability in the region.

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Washington said on Tuesday it would provide $60 million to the UN Relief and Welfare Agency while keeping back a further $65 million for now. The US State Department said UNRWA needed to make unspecified reforms.

Palestinians, already angered by US President Donald Trump's December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital , denounced the decision, which could deepen hardship in the Gaza Strip where UNRWA helps much of its population of 2 million.

UNRWA food distribution center in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

"At stake is the dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip," he said in a statement.

UNRWA food distribution center in Gaza (Photo: MCT)

Krahenbuh said 525,000 boys and girls in 700 UNRWA schools could be affected by the fund cut, as well as Palestinian access to primary health care, but he pledged to keep facilities open through 2018 and beyond.

"The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization," he said.

UNRWA food distribution center in Gaza (Photo: MCT)

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war that followed Israel's creation. It says it currently aids five million registered Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.

Trump threat

In a Twitter post in early January , Trump said that Washington gives the Palestinians "HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect." Trump added that "with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"

While US officials did not link the decision to Trump's tweet, they made a point often advanced by him, saying the United States had been UNRWA's single largest donor for decades.

UNRWA clinic in Gaza (Photo: AP)

Trump's aides initially debated whether to cut off all UNRWA aid, an unidentified US official said, but those opposed argued that could further destabilize the region.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the White House was "targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for a gradual cut in UNRWA funding and transferring its responsibilities to the UN global refugee agency, voiced measured support for the US step.

UNRWA center in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

But he appeared to acknowledge it could leave Israelwhich maintains tight restrictions on the movement of people and goods across its border with Hamas-controlled Gazawith a potential humanitarian crisis on its doorstep.

Netanyahu this month proposed gradually dismantling UNRWA, arguing it "perpetuates the Palestinian problem," and moving funds to the UNHCR agency. UNRWA said the Palestinian refugee crisis stems from the failure of Israel and the Palestinians to agree a solution for Palestinian refugees.

Asked on Wednesday by Israeli reporters accompanying him on a diplomatic trip to India whether he supports the US funding cut , Netanyahu said: "Of course, but I still suggest, because I think there are certain needs, to do what I have said ... every step taken also contains some risk."
Sgt. Abraham Ajami, 50, who was wounded while fighting in Lebanon 31 years ago and has since been in a vegetative state, was laid to rest on Wednesday, with dozens of family, friends and former comrades-in-arms coming to pay their respects.

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Ajami, who served in the Artillery Corps' Reshef Battalion, was hurt in 1987, when the IDF was in southern Lebanon to create a security buffer zone to protect Israeli communities near the border.

During a firefight in the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, a shell exploded near the back end of the cannon Ajami was operating. He suffered a critical head injury and spent the last 31 years in the hospital in a vegetative state.

Sgt. Abraham Ajami (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Over the past two weeks, he suffered from pneumonia and his medical conditioned worsened. He passed away on Tuesday night, surrounded by family and his many friends.

Ajami received a full military funeral at the Holon Military Cemetery with family, friends, and current soldiers from the Reshef Battalion in attendance.

His sister, Metuka Aspir, said "God had decided to free" her brother from his suffering.

"He was a man loved by allshy, introverted, and loved to help. Even a girlfriend he never got to have, because he was only 19 and remained 19," she lamented.

Abraham's sister Metuka (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

His brother Reuven Ajami said the family learned things it didn't know about Abraham from his friends after he was hurt. "He must have really been a special man," he said.

Ajami's commander, Dror Lipshitz, confirmed. "He was a very special man with a lot of strength, who always smiled. When I say he had a good heart, it's not a cliche, because he would always help everyone."

The commander said Ajami was a hard worker. "He wanted to hold the shells and put them into the canon. That's the hardest work there is, and he never complained or said no. As a commander, you want people like that near you," he said.

Sgt. Ajami laid to rest (Photo: Barel Efraim)

Rachel Kradi-Alush, the company secretary at Ajami's artillery battery, recounted in tears an act of chivalry. "We got on a bus from Kiryat Shmona to the outpost, and a swarm of bees came at me. Abraham took off his coat and wrapped it around me, so they won't sting me, and ran with me into the outpost," she said.

Rabbi Mordechai Cohen, who was the unit's rabbi while Ajami served in the Reshef Battalion, spoke of the soldier's family. "Your family's devotion hasn't diminished all of those years, and they always wrapped you in a lot of love throughout your difficult recovery and rehabilitation," Cohen said.

"You paid for Israel's security with your health. This is a lifelong sacrifice, because since your injury you only lived a partial life," the rabbi added.

Yigal Ben-Ari, Ajami's comrade-in-arms, spoke of "a young and strong man with a thunderous voice, who could be heard all over the battalion. Particularly kind, full of motivation, and never refused any task at the battery."

MK Michael Oren, who represented the government, also eulogized the soldier. "I can't remember another such tragic case of a soldier who falls in battle, but doesn't. Who returns home, but doesn't. Who reunites with his family, but doesn't. He remained in no man's land for over 30 years. It is too hard to bear," Oren said.
The Israel Prisons Service Parole Board decided Wednesday not to shorten the sentence of Yonatan Heilo, who has been sitting in prison for the past seven-and-a-half years for killing Yaron Atalin, who it was discovered had raped him.

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However, the committee noted in its decision its willingness to hold another hearing over the issue in six months' time.

"The Committee recommends that during this period, and as soon as possible, the prisoner will be integrated into a special support group for people with violent tendencies, with an emphasis on the offense for which he was convicted."

Yonatan Heilo (:  )

Heilo's attorney said he intends to appeal the decision, and that he believes "that the appeal could reverse (the board's) decision."

"Heilo was very disappointed," the attorney said. "The State Prosecutor's Office and the judges say he should not be released because further treatment is needed. I asked the committee, 'Where have you been in the last seven years when he needed a psychologist to talk to him about how he was raped twice?'

"I respect the committee's decision, but believe that the truth has its power, as we have proven until now. It changed the minds of all those who thought he should be in prison for life. I believe that this time, too, we will reach the District Court and the decision will be reversed."

The State Attorney's Office (SAO) opposed Heilo's early release in the absence of any rehabilitation plan, though noted that if a plan is presented, it will withdraw its objection.

President Reuven Rivlin announced in November that he has decided to commute Heilo's prison sentence, who was convicted in 2010 for Atalin's murder.

Rivlin ordered part of Heilo's prison term to be converted to a suspended sentence, to allow him to be eligible for parole.

Justice Minister Shaked (L) and President Rivlin (Photo: Motti Kimchi, Mark Nayman/GPO)

During Heilo's trial, it was found that he had been raped twice by Atalin, which led to a reduced sentence, of 20 years, in addition to Heilo being ordered to pay Atalin's family damages.

In 2016, the court changed his conviction to manslaughter and reduced his sentence further to 12 years. In their ruling, the judges accepted Heilo's claim that he was petrified of Atalin, and that he was suffering from severe distress due to experiencing prolonged and significant abuse.

Rivlin informed Heilo a year agorepresented by attorney Alon Eizenbergthat he would reconsider his position not to pardon him were he to submit another appeal after a substantial amount of time had passed, allowing the president to take into account the rehabilitation he had undergone during his incarceration.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also issued a recommendation to shorten Heilo's sentence, after accepting the Justice Ministry's position, thereby allowing him to present his case before a parole board sooner than planned.

In an interview following his request for a pardon, Heilo said, "I feel I've faced racism from the system. It's clear to me that were I a white man, they would have looked at me differently. They would never have dared speak to a white man who had been raped the way they spoke to me, or to a woman. A man who is raped gets laughed at."

Several dozen MKs signed Heilo's pardon request. His arrest pushed social activists to wage a campaign calling for his release.
A military court on Wednesday ordered Palestinian teen provocateur Ahed Tamimi , 17, and her mother Neriman to be held in custody until trial.

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The trial of the younger Tamimi, who stands accused of assaulting an IDF officer and soldier, will begin on January 31.

Her mother Nariman Tamimi stands accused of assault under aggravated circumstances, incitement and disruption of public order.

Ahed Tamimi (Photo: EPA)

In explaining its decision, the court cited "the initiative to carry out the acts, the scope of these acts, the intensity of the violence used and the timing they were carried out inwhile security forces were operating against clashes in the village," noting these "establish clear grounds to claim (Tamimi) is dangerous, and it is doubtful this can be disputed."

The judges went on to say that "the defendant (Ahed Tamimi) indicated in her behavior and words that her actions stem from the desire to promote an ideological goal, and this makes it very difficult to release her from detainment."

The court further noted the junior Tamimi's silence as being to her detriment.

Neriman Tamimi, in brown, and Nur Tamimi, in red (Photo: AFP)

With regards to Tamimi's age, the court said that "it has been determined more than once in matters concerning minors that the involvement of the parents and their influence over the children is an important consideration when it comes to examining their rehabilitation prospects and the prevention of future offenses.

"The defendant's age is a significant and important factor in assessing the level of danger she poses and examining whether the purpose of the arrest can be achieved in some other manner that does not hurt her freedom as much. However, despite clear considerations of the minor's best interest and of her rehabilitation prospects, age is not the most important thing."

Ahed Tamimi and her cousin Nur, 21, were filmed provoking soldiers stationed in Nabi Salih, pestering them and attempting to kick and punch them, while the soldiers maintained their composure and did not respond.

Ahed was charged with 12 different counts for six different incidents, including aggravated assault, hindering a soldier in the line of duty, incitement, threatening a soldier's life and stone-throwing.

Nur was charged with aggravated assault of a soldier and obstructing a soldier from carrying out his duty.
BEIRUT - Syria's dominant Kurdish party on Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to act quickly to ensure the safety of Kurdish-controlled territories in the country's north, including an enclave that Turkey has threatened to attack.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will launch a military offensive in the coming days against territories controlled by the dominant Syrian Kurdish militia in northwestern and eastern Syria, and in particular the enclave of Afrin, where an estimated 1 million people live.

Turkey views the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces as terrorists, and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast. It has criticized the US for extending support and arming the Kurdish forces as part of the campaign that drove the Islamic State group from large parts of Syria.

The Kurdish militia, which forms the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, now controls nearly 25 percent of Syrian territory. It is the US-led coalition's chief ally in the campaign against IS in Syria.

The US-led coalition recently said it is planning a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border force, further angering Turkey.
Germany's foreign minister suggested Wednesday that an experts group could be created to look into calls from some of Poland's nationalist leaders that the country should be paid World War II reparations from Berlin.

However, Sigmar Gabriel also made very clear during his meeting with new Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz that under international law and according to bilateral treaties between the two nations, the question of reparations has long been concluded.

"The German government has a clear position: for us there are no reasons for reparations," Gabriel said. "The issue has been resolved legally with the Polish government after the fall of communism in Poland."

Czaputowicz said he was also open to the idea of having experts look into the whole issue. He underlined that the public debate on reparations was an important one in Poland that needed to be discussed.
Messages of hate calling for death to Arabs, among other things, were found scrawled on vehicles and car tires were punctured in the Arab village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, Wednesday morning.

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"Death to Arabs" and "Arabs get out!" were among the messages graffitied onto the vehicles at the scene, prompting police to open an investigation into the hate crimes.

"Arabs get out"

Moreover, in the southern West bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, leaflets were distributed against the local branch of the Meuhedet health cooperative for the recent hiring of an Arab doctor at the clinic.

"Meuhedet for co-existence. The health fund apparently decided to educate the extreme and fanatical residents of Kiryat Arba. Enough with the racism, enough with hating the enemy," exclaimed the flyers cynically.

"The Kiryat Arba clinic is proud to present the new family doctor. Soon they will certainly replace the gynecologist with Doctor Ahmed Tibi," continued the flyers, in reference to the Joint List Arab MK.

Some residents have already begun attempting to organize campaigns for the swift dismissal of the Arab doctor from their local health branch.

Gopstein with Lehava members (Photo: Amit Shabi)

The flyers, which were inserted into local residents' mailboxes, are believed to be the work of local members of the radical right-wing anti-assimilation group Lehava directed by Benzion Gopstein . He has not confirmed or denied involvement.

Meuhedet declined to comment on the matter.

A few months ago, flyers were distributed in Kiryat Arba calling for the firing of Arab bus drivers recruited by the Egged bus company. Egged has since increased the number of Jewish drivers, but continues to employ Arab drivers in the area.

The latest hate crimes come a day after an IDF soldier was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of distributing pamphlets calling for "price tag" attacks against Arabs in revenge for last week's terror attack that claimed the life of Havat Gilad resident Rabbi Raziel Shevah. The IDF condemned the incitement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during his state visit to India that the Spike missiles deal is back on the table, after it was announced a few weeks ago that the deal, worth half a million dollars, was canceled.

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They are reauthorizing the Spike deal. We are going in a very positive direction," Netanyahu said during a press conference in India. "There is a process ahead. Before we came the deal was taken off the table and during this current visit we have returned it to the table.

PM Netanyah with his wife Sara and PM Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (Photo: Reuters)

Indian media first reported New Delhi's intentions to nix the $500 million deal with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in November 2017 for would have seen the Indian armys acquisition of the Spike anti-tank guided missiles

(Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

(Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

The lucrative deal was also regarded as further evidence of tightening Israeli ties with India and was supposed to be signed following a negotiation in 2016.

As part of the deal, the Indians were supposed to purchase some 8,000 Spike missiles and 300 launchers.

Spike missile

Rafael entered into a joint missile production project with the Indian-based Kalyani Group and the missile manufacturing facility, situated near Hyderabad, which was inaugurated this past August.

Earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu and his wife Sara, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met with young Indian entrepreneurs in Gujarat who presented innovate projects in the framework of a special exhibition in his honor.

(Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

In Ahmedabad, a city inside the state of Gujarat, thousands of Indian citizens poured into the streets to greet the two leaders, waving Israeli and Indian flags and displaying hundreds of signs bearing Netanyahus and Modis face accompanied by the caption: Welcome to Ahmedabad.

"I'm delighted to be here at iCreate. The world knows about iPod, they know about iPad, well there's one more 'I' that the world needs to know aboutiCreate, the Israeli premier said during his visit to the iCreate Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology, where 36 startups, 18 from Israel and India, that were chosen to participate in the "Bride to Innovation" plan aimed at finding joint responses to global water, agriculture and health challenges, exhibited their innovations.
London - Britain has banned a prominent American Holocaust denier from entering the United Kingdom, according to a copy of correspondence from the interior ministry.

Mark Weber, director of the California-based Institute for Historical Review, has questioned the scale of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed.

"You are the subject of an exclusion decision taken personally by the Home Secretary on 28 April 2015 on Unacceptable Behaviour ground," the letter to Weber dated Dec. 22 from Britain's Home Office said.

Weber said he learned he was banned from entering Britain while waiting at Madrid's airport to board a flight to London, where he intended to change planes for a flight to Los Angeles.
KADUNA, Nigeria - Kidnappers have abducted two Americans and two Canadians in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, killing two police officers, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Kidnappings are rife in Nigeria, where domestic security is weak, though they overwhelmingly target other Nigerians. However, abductions of foreigners are not uncommon.

The foreigners were ambushed by unknown gunmen on their way from the town of Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital Abuja, Mukhtar Aliyu, a spokesman for the Kaduna state police, said by telephone.

Kafanchan is about 3-1/2 hours' drive northeast of Abuja.

"The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, which resulted in the unfortunate death of the two police officers," Aliyu said.
More than a decade after he fled Israel, Yehoshua Elitzur was extradited Wednesday by Brazil to Israel where he is facing charges for the 2004 killing of a Palestinian.

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Elitzur, a Jewish convert from Germany living on a West Bank hilltop, was convicted of killing Sael Jabara al-Shatiya, a Palestinian from the village of Salem in the northern West Bank in 2004. Elitzur was driving towards the settlement of Alon Moreh when al-Shatiya was heading in the opposite direction with seven passengers.

Elitzur under arrest in 2004 (Photo: Tal Cohen/Yedioth Ahronot)

According to the indictment, when Elitzur noticed the van he decided to stop the driver by stopping his car in the middle of the road before alighting his vehicle carrying a fully-loaded M-16 rifle. Standing in the middle of the road, he instructed the van driver to stop. When the driver refused to obey his command and continued driving, Elitzur approached it and threatened al-Shatiya by pointing his weapon at him at close range.

The indictment claims that due to the road conditions the car could not stop, and al-Shatiya continued driving, turning right toward the shoulders of the road with the intention of stopping there. Elitzur then shot at him once, and the bullet penetrated the car window and killed al-Shatiya.

Victim's vehicle

In his initial investigation, Elitzur said that he had thought the van driven by al-Shatiya was trying to "pull him off the road," and that he had then shot at it in order to defend himself. Witnesses that were in the car rejected his claim.

Elitzur was convicted of murder in September of 2005, but he fled the country before sentencing.

Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Elitzur, who was tracked down by the efforts of the Israeli police's international division.

He was arrested in Sao Paulo in 2015 and after being cleared for extradition by the Brazilian Supreme Court, he was put on a plane to Israel this week.

During a remand hearing on Thursday, his arrest was extended until February 2.

Elitzurs defense attorney said that his client returned to Israel to try and prove his innocence  He acted during while in trouble and in self-defense. That is what he thinks, and he sincerely hopes that he will be able to prove his innocence, he said.
WASHINGTON- US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Russia is helping North Korea get supplies in violation of international sanctions and that Pyongyang is getting "closer every day" to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States.

"Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump said during an Oval Office interview with Reuters. "What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing."

China and Russia both signed onto the latest rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea imposed last year. There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy in Washington on Trump's remarks.
Infrastructure development and a recovering state economy have combined to lift Perths property market out of the doldrums. The governments investment in projects like Metronet and Elizabeth Quay, as well as upgrades to an array of shopping centres, are also projected to boost the appeal of surrounding Perth suburbs.

Terry Ryder, founder of Hotspotting, said 42 suburbs in Perth recorded sales growth in the December quarter, a stark contrast to the zero recorded in the final quarter of 2016.

We provide reports to clients right around Australia and what were saying is that Perth is the land of opportunity for savvy investors, Ryder told Perth Now. Jobs are being created and resources projects are being started, which is very positive for the WA economy and the property market.

As for housing affordability, Western Australia has emerged in the top ranks. According to the latest Housing Affordability Report, released by the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) and Adelaide Bank, WA is one of the most affordable states in the country for tenants and homebuyers. Only the Northern Territory and ACT are more affordable.

Hayden Groves, president of the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA), said WA homebuyers and tenants are in a fortunate position.

Whilst the Perth property market is showing signs of a recovery in 2018, buyers and tenants remain the beneficiaries of the current environment, with a good supply of housing and rental stock to choose from at the more affordable end of the property market, he said.

The proportion of income required for tenants to pay their rent has decreased, from 19.2% in the September quarter of 2016 to 17.4% in the September quarter of 2017, despite stagnant wage growth.

As for prospective homebuyers, the proportion of income required to meet home loan repayments has decreased, from 23.8% in the September quarter of 2016 to 22.4% in the September quarter of 2017.

Overall, affordability improved across the nation as red-hot markets in Sydney and Melbourne cool, although in New South Wales home owners still pay an average of 36.1 per cent of their family income on home loan repaymentssignificantly more than West Australians do, Groves said. While the dream of home ownership remains a challenge on the East Coast, its very much alive and well in WA.

With our local market on the cusp of recovering, now is the time for buyers to take advantage of favourable conditions to secure their home before our local WA market becomes less affordable.

Related Stories:

Perths Median House Price Remains Stable WA Excerpt From The 2018 January Market Report
Experienced Ugandan journalist Joy Doreen Biira has joined the ever-growing list of journalists leaving media for plum government jobs.

The former KTN news presenter has reportedly left the screen for a new job with Kenyas Ministry of Mining.

She reportedly took a new position as Advisor, Strategic Communications at the ministry towards the end of last year.

The media personality started her career as an unpaid volunteer/intern and was later employed as a weekday Morning Show co-host at NBS Television with Shawn Kimuli, broadcasting at the networks headquarters in Kampala, Uganda.

JDB worked for KTN for five years as a reporter and anchor. She joined the Mombasa Road-based media house from Capital FM where she worked for four years as the weekend Breakfast Show host.

Biira quietly made the transition from media to the ministry late last year but is yet to issue an official statement.
The Nairobi County government will soon be launching rubbish containers at the ward level, estates and in the central business district to ease garbage collection in the county.

The new plan comes in the wake of complaints from private contractors who are on a go-slow demanding over Sh150 million in arrears, accruing from Kideros administration and part of the new regime.

Governor Mike Sonko said on Tuesday that the garbage containers had already been procured and the process of distribution would soon start. The first phase will see 40 such containers dispersed, with youth groups in the county taking charge of the garbage bins at the ward and estate levels.

As we continue ensuring that we have a clean city, we are at the same time providing employment to our youths. The first phase of this initiative will see 40 garbage skips distributed in various wards and estates with high concentration of garbage, said Sonko.

The County boss added that waste management in Nairobi would be handled at estate and ward levels, with county staff taking charge of collecting the garbage from the bins and taking it to the official county dumpsites, adding that garbage collection is a duty of the county and not locals.

We will decide on where to erect them (the containers) but the containers will be placed at strategic areas. Collectors will be carrying out the duty on daily basis but during morning hours, he said.

Sonko noted that he is determined to ensure quality service delivery to the over two million Nairobi residents where he intends to deal with critical issues such as garbage management, hawkers menace, water shortages, and traffic congestion.

He said that since Monday, garbage trucks have been clearing waste from the famous Nairobi markets and estates besides venturing into areas such as Burma, Muthurwa and City markets, Sunken Car Park, Westlands, Makadara and other areas of the county.

Our biggest challenge has been county staff who are colluding with cartels to undermine our strategies in cleaning the city, Sonko said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday met Kenyan-born Australian Senator Lucy Muringo Gichuhi and urged her to use her position to boost bilateral ties between Kenya and Australia.

Gichuhi, who won the seat for South Australia in 2017, paid the President a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.

During the meeting, President Kenyatta said he was particularly keen to see a regular exchange programme that would facilitate sharing of ideas between Kenyan and Australian people.

I am keen to see the young people learn from each other through these exchange programmes, Kenyatta said.

The Head of State said the exchange of ideas should also apply at the professional and cultural levels among other areas of mutual benefit.

The President said Kenya could learn a lot from Australia which has been a democracy for 200 years.

He congratulated Senator Gichuhi on her election to Australias federal Parliament, saying it was no mean achievement.

The Kenya-born Senator commended Kenya, saying last years election process was a major milestone in terms of entrenching democracy.

She supported President Kenyattas position on the exchange programme, noting that she got into politics through an internship.

I joined politics through an internship programme and I would want young Kenyans to learn through the exchange programmes, Senator Gichuhi said.

She said there was also room for Australians to learn from Kenyas way of life renown for its hospitality, friendship and openness.

The Kenyan-born Australian Senator was accompanied by her husband Mr William Gichuhi and daughter Agnes.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, Principal Secretary Monica Juma and Kenyas High Commissioner to Australia, Amb. Isaiya Kabira.
Well, it appears gospel musician Ringtone is still his usual self in this new year. The controversial hitmaker, who is known for making audacious claims about his wealth, is at it again. This time, he plans to purchase a helicopter.

Five days ago, he took to his Instagram page to ask his followers about a Eurocopter model he has been eyeing.



While some of his followers brushed his impossible plans aside, it appears the Tenda Wema is dead serious about it.

He claims he has set aside a cool Sh 200 million to make his dream come true.

I have set aside Ksh200 million for the acquisition of a used chopper. Though, if I can get one which goes for Ksh150 million and it is in good condition, I wouldnt mind going for it, Ringtone told eDaily.

Besides my personal use, I will hire it out to willing people, who can afford it for few hours, added Ringtone.

When asked where he raised the money, Ringtone was coy with the full details saying he got it from his businesses.

My businesses helped me raise the Ksh200 million.

This country has a very conducive environment for one to do business. So, I am one of those people doing business in this country. I am not an idle musician; I am an entrepreneur, who engages in several trades. I wont disclose details about my businesses. When one does something good with his life, God blesses the work of his hands. I am blessed. Watu waache wivu. And you cannot judge a book by its cover. Just because I walk around the streets of Nairobi, it doesnt mean you know the amount of money stored in my bank account. It is only God who knows my worth. I have many businesses not registered under my name; I wont reveal their nature, he said.

Watu waache kujudge wengine kwa kuangalia sura na miaka, added Ringtone.

The gospel musician, who once claimed that he is the richest musician in the country, said he has already been approached by two people who wish to sell their helicopters to him.

So far, two foreigners willing to sell their helicopters have approached me. Though, I am still looking around for cheaper options. If I can get one going for very little amount of money, I will be happy, he said.

Ringtone also noted that he is aware of all the requirements from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority that would allow his to own and operate the Copter.

When I decided that I needed a chopper, I was aware of the required documents, which would allow me to legally own and operate the copter. I am following due process in the acquisition. Hopefully, I will buy one which is locally registered so that I dont go through a long and winding registration process. As soon as I get one, I will alert my fans, he said.

We will be watching quite closely for any developments.
The Nairobi County Government plans to hire 300 city officers to improve county operations.

Senior Inspector at City Hall Peter Mbaya said the County is facing a serious shortage of the officers.

We are overwhelmed.The number of city askaris working in the CBD is very small, Mbaya said during an interview with the Star.

The Inspector said the County currently has 97 askaris and in order to fully operate within CBD, they need about 300 city askaris.

The night operation team has only 15 askaris and it is almost impossible for them to handle all the traders within the city centre, he said.

Mbaya noted that during the day the city askaris arrest up to 150 city traders but at night, due to the diminished number, they only apprehend around 10 to 15 traders.

He added that the other challenge faced by the County Inspectorate department is aged officers.

The last time the County Government employed city askaris was in 1988. Majority of the city askaris are aged hence they cannot operate effectively, he said.

Another challenge identified by the Inspectorate department is Mama mbogas.

The greatest challenge is the mama mbogas. On our side male askaris cannot handle them and we have very few women askaris, Mbaya added.

He said some of the women hawkers hire children at a cost of Sh 200 per day to evade being arrested.

At times we attempt to arrest them but the public becomes aggressive and even threaten to beat up the askaris for harassing the mama mbogas with children, said Mbaya.

According to Mbaya, permanently relocating the traders from the city centre is almost impossible.

What we can do is controlling because all hawkers are on toes now and our askaris during the day are always on the lookout. But definitely, the number of hawkers will definitely reduce.

He urged Nairobi residents to be patient as change is coming within the city centre.
A man on Tuesday morning killed his wife and three children before committing suicide by setting their house ablaze in Witeithe, Kiambu county.

Patrick Nderitu Karuiru, who is a manager at a local quarry, is suspected to have clobbered the children, who are all below ten years old, and his wife Rosemary Kanina, who was found with visible injuries on the head.

The three children had head injuries and their bodies lay on the bed when police and villagers arrived at their house.

The body of Karuiru was found on the veranda with burn injuries.

Police said the incident occurred at Malaba area in Juja within Kiambu County.

Neighbours entered the house and found one burned body of a middle-aged man laying at the veranda door. In the bedroom were four bodies. Three children and their mother all aged below 10 years with visible head injuries and on the bed the body of the mother of the three kids also having visible injuries, the police report stated.

Neighbours told police they heard screams from the house on Monday, January 15 night before they saw smoke billowing from the house.

The neighbours further told the police that they found the house locked prompting them to break in, only to find to find the couple and their three children dead.

Juja police boss Patricia Nasio said the bodies of the victims had been moved to the mortuary as investigations continue.

We dont know what transpired to warrant this incident. We have launched investigations, said the police boss.

Neighbours told police that the couple has been having long-standing domestic quarrels in recent weeks.
19402018

Frank Boyd Baxter, passed away at Tuesday January 9th after a long battle with COPD; he was 78 years young.

Boyd was born in Paso Robles on September 20th, 1941 to Orville and Arlene Baxter. He attended Paso Robles Elementary, where he met and fell in love with his wife, Kaye Ferry. He then went on to Paso Robles High School where he achieved high grades and was student body president.

After graduation he attended CAL university and later graduated from Chico State with a Business Administration degree.

In 1959, he married his love since 1st grade, Kaye. Over the next several years they had two daughters, Shelly Dee and Stacy Dawn. Boyd went right to work for Pacific Bell right out of college, he quickly climbed the corporate ladder which brought him to Napa in 1968. Boyd retired from Pacific Bell in 1984, however he couldnt be idle just yet, he took pride in a Real Estate sales and investment career thereafter. After truly hanging up his hat, Boyd and Kaye moved to Placerville in 1990. After retirement he loved spending time with his three grandchildren, Danielle Kaye, Lexi Elizabeth and Bryson Boyd.

After 2003 the couple decided to downsize to a beautiful home in Tahoe, where Boyd was able to appreciate a lower maintenance life and a lake nearby. The two of them moved to the Sacramento area in 2010 for health reasons.

He was the most dedicated husband, father and papa. Boyd will be remembered by all as a strong, honorable man who never did anything half way. His friends will see him as a gracious host, unlucky fisherman and above all a loving family-man.

A celebration of Boyds life will be held at 7368 Whyte Avenue, Citrus Heights at 10:00am on Sunday, January 21st. In leu of flowers please share your favorite memories of Boyd with his family; send via mail to 228 Pua Huana Circle, Citrus Heights CA. 95621
1966-2017

Vivian Elizabeth Roberts de Blois passed away in her home on December 5, 2017 after a brave three-year battle with ovarian cancer, surrounded by her loved ones. An afternoon wake was held for close friends.

Vivian, called Beth by family and friends, was born October 10, 1966 in Atlanta, GA. She grew up on the San Francisco peninsula, graduating from Menlo-Atherton High School and the University of California at Santa Cruz. After college, Beth followed her dream of traveling extensively by becoming a flight attendant for United Airlines based in San Francisco. It was there, following the birth of her daughter, Isabel, that she followed her passion for American antiques and collectibles, opening her shop Present Past in San Franciscos Inner Sunset district. As her family grew and moved to Napa, Beth evolved her Present Past business online, eventually expanding into estate sales.

Beth touched many peoples lives with her extraordinary energy and open heart, and was a joyful and devoted mother to her daughter Isabel and son Guy. She particularly enjoyed her involvement with Stonebridge School that her children attended. She is survived by Guy and Isabel, their father Richard de Blois, her parents Paul and Cat Roberts of Napa, brother Paul Roberts Jr. and his family of Austin, Texas, in addition to loving friends and family in Napa and throughout California and Georgia.

There will be a memorial service at St Marys Episcopal Church, on 1917 3rd Street, at 11:00 AM on Saturday, January 27. A celebration will immediately follow at the members club house at the Silverado Country Club, 1600 Atlas Peak Road.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to Whiskers, Tails and Ferals (she ADORED her rescue animals) 1370 Trancas St, Napa 94558 or Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance PO Box 32141 New York, NY 10087
Napa Police responded to two shootings within two hours on Wednesday morning, which led to two people being transported to the hospital and prompting a two-hour lockdown at Napa High School.

Nicholas Angelo Zazzarino, 28, the suspect in both shootings, was arrested at the scene of the second shooting in the Linda Vista area.

The first shooting was reported about 8:20 a.m. at the Starbucks at Lincoln Avenue and Jefferson Street. Upon arrival, police found a 23-year-old Napa man with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was treated at the scene and taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

By 8:45 a.m., police had closed off Lincoln Avenue to traffic in front of the Starbucks and put yellow tape around the parking lot. Police issued a Nixle alert asking the public to avoid the area. The westbound lanes remained block into the afternoon.

A woman from Fairfield said she came to the Starbucks to buy coffee at about 8:20 a.m. She parked near a green Ford Expedition, which was later identified as the suspect vehicle and pursued by police. The woman said she saw the victim with several other people in the parking lot before she went inside the Starbucks and prior to the shooting.

Thats when I heard the shots. I came out. He was leaning on the car bleeding. I called 911, she said.

The woman, who did not want her name in the story, pointed out the red car she had seen the victim leaning against. Several drops of blood were easily visible against the black asphalt near the front left bumper.

The man was conscious and talking, the woman said.

I go there every morning, Dave Gaydon said as he looked onto the coffee shop. I guess I just missed it.

Gaydon said that there are a lot of regulars at the Starbucks and that he cant imagine how scary it must have been for the shops employees.

Just before 10 a.m., while police were still questioning witnesses at the taped-off coffee shop, another call came out about a shooting on the 3300 block of Macbeth Street in west Napa, sending several officers at the scene running to their vehicles.

A 66-year-old Napa man had been shot in the upper chest in the vicinity of Baywood Lane and Maclennan Street, Napa Police Capt. Pat Manzer said. The man was also treated at the scene and taken to the Queen with life-threatening injuries.

As officers were responding to the scene, someone had called 911 to report hat he was following a suspect that had just entered his home on the 3200 block of Baywood Lane.

Police responded and detained the suspect, later identified as Zazzarino, without incident. A 9mm semi-automatic handgun on him was recovered from his person, police said.

Zazzarino was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury. Zazzarino has listed addresses in Napa and Central Valley.

Police set up a perimeter around a home on the end of MacFadden Street and around streets near Sutherland Park trying to identify the exact location of the second shooting. They canvassed the area looking for shell casings and other evidence for several hours.

The second victim may have been shot in his vehicle at the corner of Baywood Lane and Sutherland Drive, near his residence, Manzer said.

The victim in the second shooting was driving away from his residence when he noticed Zazzarino acting suspiciously near a neighbors fence and confronted him, asking him what he was doing, police said. While the two were talking, Zazzarino shot the man once and fled on foot.

Police believe that after being shot, the victim was able to drive back to his residence on Baywood Lane and call 911.

The victim may have observed the suspect acting suspicious, made contact and, for whatever reason, the suspect shot him, Manzer said Wednesday afternoon. He may just be a very poor innocent victim.

Its possible that the suspect and the first victim knew each other, but police have not been able to confirm that yet, Manzer said.

The two men may have been part of a group of people talking in the parking lot of Starbucks, Manzer said. Police havent found any evidence that there was an exchange of gunfire. Police believe that the suspect was the only person armed.

Police said they dont know of a motive.

Neither victim has been identified. But, as of 5:40 p.m. Wednesday, both had undergone emergency surgery and remain at the hospital. The first victim was brought into surgery for his injuries around noon. Prior to surgery, Manzer said, he was talking and communicating.

The suspects vehicle  a early 2000s green Ford Expedition  was located parked on the street in the Sutherland area.

Zazzarino will be booked at the Napa County jail on suspicion of attempted murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury.

The lockdown of Napa High and the Napa Valley Unified School District Offices was lifted by 10 a.m.

West Park Elementary School and Pueblo Vista Elementary School were on lockdown for about 10 minutes, Manzer said.

Napa Police and the Napa County Sheriffs Office had all hands on deck for the two incidents, Manzer said. Napa Police notified off-duty officers to come in and help. American Canyon Police, The Napa County District Attorneys Office, California Highway Patrol, Department of Fish and Wildlife and volunteers from the Saint Helena Police Department also responded.

Obviously with two shooting scenes, we did get spread a little thin, Manzer said.

Anyone with additional information about this case is asked to contact Detective Garrett Smith at 707-257-9375 or gsmith@cityofnapa.org. Or contact the Napa Police Department at 707-257-9223.
Economies in California and Napa County may be thriving, but county government is looking at tightening its belt.

County officials say the 2014 earthquake, the 2017 storms, the 2017 fires, rising pension costs, worker raises, the need for a new jail and a state transfer of In Home Supportive Services costs are taking a toll. County expenses could rise $30 million to $35 million in three years.

Generally speaking, the countys budget is very finely balanced and any shift in cost pressures, even small ones, could prove difficult to mitigate in the immediate future, a county report said.

Napa County government provides such services as rural law enforcement, rural road maintenance, criminal justice, libraries, health and human services and rural planning for Wine Country development that now includes wildfire recovery.

One question is how much revenues might rise. For this current fiscal year, increases in the property tax, the transient occupancy tax and sales tax revenues are projected to bring an additional $9.3 million to the countys $205 million general fund.

Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza isnt counting on more of the same. The Board of Supervisors last week heard a financial presentation as a kind of opening round to figuring out the 2018-19 budget, with the fiscal year beginning on July 1.

A concern I have is were not going to experience the type of revenue growth weve experienced in the past five or 10 years, Pedroza said. I think were reaching a point where we dont have that type of capacity any more for growth. Consequently, our revenues arent going to grow that much.

For example, he noted new hotels that bring in more transient occupancy taxes are being built in the cities, not the unincorporated county.

Napa County is proposing a number of ways to deal with the situation. Among them is implementing a hiring freeze, with possible exceptions.

A major coming cost is the new $128 million, 304-bed jail that the county intends to build along Highway 221 near the Syar quarry. It would replace the 264-bed downtown jail that county officials say is aging, too small and not designed for todays inmate population that includes more gangs and mental health cases.

The plan to pay for a new jail includes taking out a $50 million loan, which would entail making annual debt payments of $4.2 million for 15 years. In addition, the bigger jail would cost an additional $3 million annually to run, a county report said.

In June, the county signed a deal with its largest labor union representing more than 1,000 employees that calls for raises totaling 10 percent over three years. That will add $6.7 million to the 2018-19 budget and $7 million to the 2019-2020 budget, a county report said.

Meanwhile, the countys emergency savings are $3.9 million below the level required by county policy. If the county spends another $8 million for wildfire recovery and receives a 75 percent reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it is still short another $2 million, the report said.

This is the type of information we need, Pedroza said. Its not always rosy.

The Board of Supervisors is to hold a 2018-19 budget study session on April 17. It is to hold budget hearing from June 11-13 and pass a budget on June 19.
Napa County Landmarks wants three county-owned buildings at the former Health and Human Services Agency campus recognized by the federal government as historic treasures, and Napa County is opposing the effort.

The vacant, county-owned, Mission-style buildings along a distinctive, crescent-shaped driveway at 2344 Old Sonoma Road were once part of the long-gone county infirmary. They sit on 8.6 acres that the county wants to devote to affordable housing.

Were not against housing, William Tuikka of Napa County Landmarks said last week. What we want is a blend.

He and other historic preservation advocates said the buildings could be part of a housing development, perhaps serving as a community center. The lawn within the crescent driveway could be a park.

The Board of Supervisors last week voted unanimously to oppose the effort to place the buildings and crescent driveway area on the National Register of Historic Places. Supervisors fear such status could complicate efforts to develop the site with affordable housing, which might or might not entail demolishing the buildings.

Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza said during the meeting that, given the communitys need, hes prioritizing affordable housing for the site. He still hopes a scenario exists where the historic preservation could also happen.

I appreciate all the voices that are here today, he told the audience. But there are a lot of voices who arent here today because they are commuting into Napa. Now what we can do is give them an opportunity to live here, to be part of the social fabric of our community.

The State Historic Resources Commission will decide on Feb. 2 whether to forward the Napa County Infirmary Historic District application to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places. The Board of Supervisors will send a letter to the state objecting to the proposed listing.

National Register of Historic Places status wouldnt guarantee the survival of the three buildings and crescent driveway. The county or a subsequent owner could still demolish the buildings, unless the property is involved in a project that is receiving federal funds or permitting.

Still, the county views possible historic listing as problematic.

The Board of Supervisors in 2013 approved an environmental impact report for the property that called the possible demolition of the three buildings a significant and unavoidable impact. It adopted a statement of overriding considerations to allow for possible demolition.

County Executive Officer Minh Tran said historical designation for the three buildings would cause confusion among the public, given the countys previous environmental impact report work. County silence on the issue could be interpreted as consent and give rise to false expectations, he said.

Last spring, the county released a possible development plan for the site that called for 172 apartments and townhouses and the demolition of the buildings. But the county then declared a pause in the planning effort and the Board of Supervisors never voted on the proposal.

Historian Kara Brunzell wrote a history of the proposed Napa County Infirmary Historic District for the National Register of Historic Places application.

Napa County established the infirmary in 1869. Two of the buildings proposed for the National Register of Historic Places were built in 1912 and designed by W. H. Corlett, a prominent Napa architect. The third was built in 1934 and incorporates part of an 1897 building.

The county stopped using the property as an infirmary in 1962. The application says the infirmary grounds retains the open quality that dates to the 19th century, with the crescent-shaped entrance lawn dating to the 1880s or earlier.

Chuck Shinnamon of the Napa Housing Coalition told supervisors the county needs a spectrum of housing, for teachers, education staff, hospitality workers, grocery clerks, doctors, nurses, the elderly.

We are also advocates of thoughtful historic preservation, he said. But to devote almost half of this site to save the three buildings is not our preference  weve offered to sit down with the small Landmarks design team and architect to see if theres some way to save at least one of the buildings.

The buildings need new foundations and substantial rehabilitation, Shinnamon said. Its important to understand what saving one of the buildings would cost, he added.

Bob Massaro is a local housing developer and member of the Napa Housing Coalition. He said keeping the three buildings and required setbacks would decrease the density of any future housing project by 20 to 30 units.

The decision to leave any historic buildings or buildings that are suspected to be historic is going to seriously impact the developability of this project, Massaro said.

Historic preservation advocate Jay Jacobson took a different view. He said properties can be developed with historic components.

There are many examples of that in California and throughout the country, he told supervisors.

Also at its Jan. 9 meeting, the Board of Supervisors set the minimum selling price for the 8.6-acre property at $7.5 million. The city of Napa and two nonprofit groups have each expressed interest in buying the site for affordable housing development.
While the 2016 election may have left our country divided on many issues, it exposed one critical problem that should unite all Americans: Our democratic process is vulnerable to attacks by hostile foreign powers.

As our intelligence community unanimously assessed, Russia used social media channels to influence and mislead voters. It also hacked political campaign committees and local elections boards in a brazen attempt to undermine and subvert our elections.

There is no reason to think this meddling will be an isolated incident. In fact, we expect the threat will grow in future years. The United States must do everything possible to prevent these attacks in the futureand lay out the consequences well in advance of our next elections. Tuesday, we are introducing bipartisan legislation to do just that.

Our bill, the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act, would send a powerful message to any foreign actor seeking to disrupt our elections: If you attack American candidates, campaigns or voting infrastructure, you will face severe consequences.

We believe that clearly outlining our deterrence strategy will send an important message to any adversary contemplating interfering in a future U.S. election. This legislation uses key national security tools to dissuade hostile foreign powers from meddling in our elections by ensuring the costs outweigh the benefits.

To start, we must ensure there is a system for continued monitoring and reporting on foreign threats to elections  and clear punishments if attacks occur. Our legislation would require the director of national intelligence to issue a determination to Congress, within one month after every federal election, on whether any foreign government had interfered in that election.

The Deter Act also spells out actions that would elicit retaliation. A foreign power cannot purchase advertisements to influence an election, including online ads, or use social and traditional media  such as the thousands of trolls and botnets deployed by the Kremlinto spread significant amounts of false information to Americans. They also cannot hack, leak or modify election and campaign infrastructure, including voter registration databases and campaign emails. Finally, no foreign power can block or otherwise hinder access to elections infrastructure, such as websites providing information on polling locations.

Because we know Russia has already employed many of these actions, the Deter Act would mandate a set of severe sanctions if the director of national intelligence should determine that the Kremlin had once again interfered in a U.S. federal election. Within 10 days of such a determination, our bill would require the administration to impose sanctions on major sectors of the Russian economy, including finance, energy, defense, metals and mining. It would also block the assets of every senior Russian political figure or oligarch and prevent them from entering the United States. We also would require the administration to work with the European Union to enlist its support in adopting a sanctions regime to broaden the impact.

These sanctions are far tougher than any action taken on Russia to date and would send an unequivocal message to the Kremlin: We will not tolerate an attack on our democracy.

But Russia is not our only concern. The director of national intelligence has identified China, Iran and North Korea as our other major foreign government cyberthreats, and they may also seek to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities in the next election cycle. That is why our legislation would require the administration to present Congress with a plan for preventing interference in our elections for each of these countries, plus any other foreign state of significant concern, within 90 days of the Deter Act becoming law.

We cannot underscore enough the urgency of this issue. In less than a year, Americans will head to the ballot box for the midterm elections. Our next presidential election will be here before we know it. It is unrealistic to think we can simply sit back and hope that we do not face another attack by a hostile foreign power.

We and other lawmakers stand willing to work with the administration to develop additional cybersecurity policies that will help protect our election infrastructure and develop a broad-based deterrence strategy. The United States must be fully prepared to defend our country, and the Deter Act would put in place a bipartisan, comprehensive strategy to prevent future attacks on our elections. We urge Congress to pass it without delay.
Will America's endless wars without victory be the next source fueling popular revolt against the political establishment?

In 2016, Washington pundits were shocked to discover the grim reality and anger of working people in "flyover country" that fueled the candidacies of Bernie Sanders on the left and Donald Trump on the right. The foreign policy establishment of both parties may soon discover that utterly ignoring popular discontent with America's wars may fuel a similar populist eruption.

Trump appealed to this skepticism during his campaign. He claimed - dishonestly - to have been an opponent of the Iraq invasion from the beginning. He scorned the "nonsense" wars without victory. He mocked the Libyan debacle that Hillary Clinton celebrated as secretary of state. Before the campaign, he tweeted regularly that we should get out of Afghanistan. He promised that the United States would start winning again, vowing to bomb the "(expletive)" out of the Islamic State.

Upon taking office, these populist postures were quickly abandoned. Trump, against his "original instinct," sent more troops to Afghanistan, sustaining the United States' longest war into its 17th year. He dispatched troops to Syria, with the Pentagon announcing that they would stay even after the Islamic State was defeated. He doubled down on U.S. support in Saudi Arabia's criminal assault on Yemen. He increased the pace of drone bombings. U.S. special operations forces have been dispatched to 149 countries in his first year in office, a bump up from the 138 countries of President Barack Obama's last year. With his promised infrastructure bill still not in sight, his only jobs program has been a call to boost the Pentagon's budget while striving to break Obama's record for arms sales abroad.

It is true on the surface level that voters broadly support the establishment consensus. Most Americans remain committed to U.S. alliances, think NATO essential to U.S. security and support U.S. military presence in regions such as Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The military remains the most popular institution in survey after survey. A Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll found for the first time that 62 percent of Americans expressed support for using military force to defend South Korea if North Korea attacked.

But all this masks discontent. Americans overwhelmingly supported the initial post-Sept. 11 invasion of Afghanistan - the "good war," as Obama dubbed it - yet by 2014 a growing majority thought it hadn't been worth the cost. Opinions turned against the Iraq invasion even faster.

And aside from the Korean peninsula, the public is worried about new ventures: While nearly 60 percent supported Trump's missile attack against Syria after allegations of chemical weapons use, 61 percent agreed that Trump had no "clear plan" for the situation in Syria. The Chicago Council poll found broad majorities opposed to U.S. military involvement in any confrontation between Japan and China over disputed islands or in opposition to Russia on behalf of Ukraine.

The unease reflects longstanding American attitudes. Unlike our foreign policy establishment, which revels in the United States' perpetual global engagement, Americans prefer peaceful pursuits. They are slow to anger and not eager for military engagement. Historically, Americans have been reluctant to go to war, and when called to fight, they want to go in big, win quickly and get out. Wars that continue for years with indefinite results - from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan - soon lose support.

That common-sense attitude is directly contradicted by current bipartisan U.S. policy. After the Iraq War debacle, U.S. policymakers moved to continue the wars at a lower cost, with fewer troops on the ground and lower visibility. That strategy may keep the United States from losing but virtually ensures that it will never win. Instead, "winning" is redefined to mean not losing, while staying permanently engaged. That commits the country to sacrificing lives and resources in unending conflicts of indefinite ends. Since the United States' volunteer military forces are drawn from what is primarily an economic draft - enlisting the sons and daughters of poor and working people looking for a way out - those sacrifices are rarely shared by the national security establishment that sets the policy.

Will this affect U.S. politics? Two scholars, Francis Shen and Douglas Kriner, suggest it may already have. In their recent study they found "a divide is emerging between communities whose young people are dying to defend the country and those communities whose young people are not." They dubbed this the "casualty gap" and suggested that it may have contributed to Trump's victory. After controlling for alternative explanations - including economic, class and race - the authors found a "significant and meaningful relationship between a community's rate of military sacrifice and its support for Trump."

In three successive elections - Obama over John McCain and Mitt Romney, and Trump over Hillary Clinton - Americans voted for the candidate most skeptical of the United States' wars. Yet the wars and the sacrifice of lives and resources continue. During the campaign, Trump charged that "the people opposing us are the same people - and think of this - who've wasted $6 trillion on wars in the Middle East - we could have rebuilt our country twice - that have produced only more terrorism, more death and more suffering. Imagine if that money had been spent at home." Yet now Trump is committed to spending trillions more on the same wars.

Will there be a reckoning for this folly? That will require political leaders or political movements willing to challenge the bipartisan establishment consensus that now exists. The policy makes no sense. The lives lost and money wasted are real. The only question is who has the courage to state that the emperor has no clothes.
It's with a sad heart that I write this letter having been born and raised in Napa some 77 years ago, along with four other siblings. As a young child, I remember hearing people talk about friends or relatives they lost in the war or had returned wounded. In school, we learned to salute the American flag with our hand over our heart or when the national anthem was played. We learned early in life to respect and love our country.

Thinking back to all who have lost their lives or suffered wounds through the actions this country has been involved in, it is impressive that we have not had a war on our soil. Is there a group in our society that would promote turmoil, animosity, dissension, and all other forms of hate? Just look around at events that are happening every day. I think that if one does not believe in our country or choose not to honor those who have given their lives for us, you should leave.

Not long ago, I lost my uncle who was a veteran and wounded in World War II. He had suffered gunshot wounds and shrapnel wounds during a landing in the Pacific. In all the years I was near him, he never complained or had a negative thing to say about our country. Finally, late in life, a piece of shrapnel traveled from where it had been lodged, ending his life. God rest his soul.

On a current note, this brings me to the sports' teams showing their dishonor. They disrespect our national anthem and the many who have given their all so these players could make millions; they use multi excuses for their behavior. Why do people support them? I, for one, will not.

Henry Durbin

Napa
Story Highlights 84% say news media "critical" or "very important" to our democracy

28% believe the news media supporting our democracy

Informing citizens, holding leaders accountable seen as top roles

WASHINGTON, D.C -- Americans believe the news media play an important role in democracy, particularly in terms of informing the public, yet they do not think the media are fulfilling that role well. Forty-four percent of Americans say the news media are "critical" to democracy, with another 40% saying they are "very important." At the same time, Americans are nearly twice as likely to say the media support our democracy "very poorly" or "poorly" (43%) as to say they support it "very well" or "well" (28%). Another 27% say the media do an acceptable job in this role.

These results are based on the Knight Foundation/Gallup survey on trust, media and democracy. The large-scale mail survey of more than 19,000 U.S. adults was conducted Aug. 4-Oct. 2, 2017.

In addition to assessing media importance and performance at a broad level, the survey explored Americans' views about several specific tasks the media play in a democracy.

A majority of Americans say the media are "critical" to accomplishing the specific democratic goals of keeping citizens informed about public affairs (54%) and holding leaders accountable (50%). Forty-seven percent also believe the media perform a critical function by providing objective news reports. Far fewer think the media are critical for connecting people to their community or the U.S. more broadly (30% and 38%, respectively), but at least three in four Americans say these functions are at least very important.

Importance of News Media in Accomplishing Democratic Goals How important is the role of the news media in accomplishing each of the following goals? Critical Very important Somewhat important Not that important % % % % Making sure Americans have the knowledge they need to be informed about public affairs 54 34 7 2 Holding leaders in politics, business and other institutions accountable for their actions 50 33 11 3 Providing objective news reports 47 38 10 2 Making residents feel connected to the U.S. as a whole 38 41 15 3 Making residents feel connected to their community 30 45 19 4 Aug. 4-Oct. 2, 2017 Knight-Gallup Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy

At the same time, U.S. adults do not believe the media are playing any of these roles particularly well, with little distinction in the ratings of the various tasks. Roughly three in 10 say the media are performing each task well, while about four in 10 say poorly. Americans are somewhat less critical in their evaluations of the job the media is doing in making residents feel connected to their community, for which 28% say the media are doing well and 29% poorly.

Ratings of How News Media Performs in Accomplishing Key Democratic Goals Very well/Well Acceptably Very poorly/Poorly Net ("well" minus "poorly") % % % pct. pts. Making sure Americans have the knowledge they need to be informed about public affairs 30 29 38 -8 Holding leaders in politics, business and other institutions accountable for their actions 30 26 42 -12 Providing objective news reports 30 26 40 -10 Making residents feel connected to their community 28 40 29 -1 Making residents feel connected to the U.S. as a whole 27 32 38 -11 Aug. 4-Oct. 2, 2017 Knight-Gallup Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy

These results suggest the media are doing relatively better on the item Americans see as least important -- connecting residents to their local community. On the most important media roles -- informing Americans and holding leaders accountable -- the scores are negative but not much different from ratings on less important functions.

Politics Related to Perceived Media Importance and, Especially, Performance

Democrats regard the media as more important to U.S. democracy than independents and Republicans do. A majority of Democrats, 54%, believe the media are critical to democracy, compared with 44% of independents and 33% of Republicans. But Republicans are not inclined to think the media are unimportant, given that 46% rate it as very important to democracy.

At the same time, party differences on the perceived importance of the specific democratic goals for the media tend to be modest. For example, 58% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans see informing the public as a critical media role. Also, 49% of Democrats and 45% of Republicans say providing objective news reports is a critical democratic function for the media to play. There is, however, a wider partisan gap in perceptions of how critical the media's role is in holding leaders accountable -- 58% of Democrats versus 41% of Republicans say it is critical, perhaps because a Republican president is in office. Full results by party on the importance ratings appear at the end of this article.

A majority of Republicans, 69%, believe the media are doing a poor job supporting democracy today, while half of Democrats say the media are doing their job well. Independents, like Republicans, are more pessimistic than optimistic in their evaluations.

There are also large partisan differences in perceptions of how the media are doing in achieving the specific democratic goals. Democrats are at least twice as likely to say the media are performing these tasks well rather than poorly, whereas on most dimensions Republicans' ratios of poor-to-good ratings exceed three-to-one. Full results are available at the end of this article.

Democrats' ratings on the two dimensions -- importance and performance -- show most items in the upper-right quadrant of the following graph, indicating the media are performing well on functions they believe are important. Republicans' ratings on these tasks place them in the lower-right quadrant of the graph given their belief the media are doing poorly on dimensions they see as important.

Implications

These findings align with the downward trend in Americans' trust in the media over the past few decades mostly because of increasing perceptions of bias in news reporting. Despite these trends, the vast majority of Americans still say the media play a very important role in our democracy. Many more Republicans than Democrats believe the news media are not delivering on their core democratic functions, but both party groups still largely agree that many of the media's roles are important. This provides some hope that at least a sliver of common ground remains between the two party groups on which broader confidence in the news media might be rebuilt.

Read the full Knight Foundation/Gallup report "Americans' Views: Trust, Media and Democracy."
SIU works toward sustainability while inviting Green Fund applications

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Southern Illinois University Carbondale just keeps getting greener.

As a new semester kicks off, proposals are being accepted for the newest round of Green Fund awards. The grants are given to projects that promote campus sustainability. Applications are due by March 1.

The Green Fund gives students, faculty and staff the resources to work on projects that they are passionate about, which will have an impact on the local ecosystems and reach out to both students and community members. The projects also enable students to build a network that includes community members, professors and professionals from a range of fields. Working together, we can instill in people the importance of raising awareness and designing for a sustainable future, Ashley Booth, a senior industrial design major from St. Joseph, Mich., said.

Booth is part of a team that is participating in the new Sustainable Eco-Recreation Program, funded by a Green Fund grant. The program is promoting recreational use of Campus Lake in various ways in order to support the health of the lake and its users. A cross-campus interdisciplinary team that includes faculty, staff and students, is working on the project that received a spring 2017 grant for $29,777.

The Green Fund is an innovative way for students, faculty and staff to collaborate and take a leading role in developing a more eco-friendly future, added Rachel Steiger, a masters zoology student from Crown Point, Ind. who is also working with the Sustainable Eco-Recreation Program. The Green Fund allows SIU to support the environment, improve the community and encourage the personal and professional development of individuals involved with the projects. Our ability to provide for future generations is dependent upon creating sustainable solutions to everyday problems. I am proud to say that my student fees and masters research contribute to SIUs dedication to improving this world by supporting sustainable research and development.

Seeking funding

SIU students, faculty or staff, working alone or in groups, are welcome to submit Green Fund grant proposals. Preference will be given to proposals that address all three pillars of sustainability (environmental health, social equity and economic prosperity) in one or more of these areas: energy, water, waste, buildings, transportation, grounds, food/dining, purchasing, outreach, research and social equity. Any proposal involving a campus unit or department should include a letter of unit/departmental support as part of the application. Many grant proposals also require written support or documentation from Plant and Service Operations due to the plans involved. Learn more by attending a Green Fund workshop.

Grant funding comes from a $10-per-semester student Green Fee, adopted in 2009 as the result of a student-led initiative. More than $2.1 million has been allocated in support of 169 diverse sustainability projects. This spring is the only time in 2018 that Green Fund awards will be presented.

It is exciting to see Salukis take ownership of their green ideas and collaborate with others across campus to bring the concepts to life, Geory Kurtzhals, sustainability coordinator, said. We are pleased that we have been receiving proposals that address a wide range of opportunities across campus. In the last few years, the Sustainability Council has awarded a growing number of grants to projects that exemplify cross-campus collaboration, especially those leveraging student ideas with faculty and staff expertise. The Morris Library mothers room project, the Campus Lake eco-recreation project and the compost facility are just a few models of the collaborative problem-solving that the Student Green Fund encourages.

Find the Green Fund grant application, rubric and additional information online.

Upcoming workshops for grant applications

A series of four upcoming workshops will provide more information and technical assistance to anyone interested in applying for this cycle. The workshop schedule is:

Jan. 18, noon, Morris Library, Room 480A

Jan. 22, 5 p.m., Innovation and Sustainability Hub, in the north end of the Student Center

Feb. 6, 5:30 p.m., Morris Library, Room 480A

Feb. 12, noon, Morris Library, Room 480A

Award recipients will be announced in April, which is Earth Month. At that time, SIUs environmental ambassadors and sustainability collaborators will also be announced.

Learn more about SIUs nationally recognized sustainability efforts at www.sustainability.siu.edu, by emailing sustainability@siu.edu or by calling 618/453-2846.
The government announced Tuesday an action plan focused on streamlining the process for residents to change their addresses with one-stop online access.

The plan was adopted during a ministerial meeting on making the government more efficient in the internet age held at the Prime Ministeras Office. In the new system, after residents complete paperwork for an address change with a local government, they can change online a in one go a their address at other governmental agencies as well as electric utilities and financial institutions.

Residents in the past have had to register changes independently with different entities. As the central government hopes to get the plan off the ground as soon as possible, relevant bureaus and ministries will now have to draw up mid- and long-term plans by June.

aThe government as a whole should thoroughly tacklea this, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, head of the minister-level meeting to digitize administrative procedures.

Under the plan, companies will be able to access, albeit partially, information managed by governmental agencies, and information technology firms and other entities will develop a website a and possibly an app a for online address changes.

This will allow residents to access the website and app to change addresses registered with utilities, banks, and health insurance and pension services at the same time.
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The race is on to introduce 5G services. And its not just the cellular service providers and their suppliers that are interested in leading on this front. Countries around the world are too. And many of them are doing their best to get a jump on their neighbors.





Being first to market with 5G will bring with it bragging rights, for sure. More importantly, however, it could provide a country, and the companies within it, with greater influence in 5G. And that could lead to larger market share and the ability to generate more wealth.

That's why regulators in the U.S. need to get busy and make new spectrum available for 5G, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel opines in this recent TechCrunch guest column.

The U.S. was first to deploy 4G, she notes. And now the country has 15 percent of global 4G connections, she says. U.S. companies run operating systems on nine out of 10 smartphones worldwide. And our wireless services tgenerate $400 billion in annual economic activity, she says.

While the United States can claim that it has been at the front of the pack in the past, its success in the future  especially when no spectrum auctions are scheduled  is far from secure, she warns.

We need to schedule our next auction now, the Democrat adds, suggesting that the FCC (News - Alert) start with the 28GHz band, and then do auctions of high-frequency bands.

Mobile World Live in October reported that Future spectrum auctions in the U.S. could be put on hold indefinitely if the FCC cant find a way to comply with a law related to how upfront payments from bidders are held.

AT&T (News - Alert) is among those that have been pushing for FCC 5G spectrum auctions sooner rather than later. It is seeking an auction, based on a voucher system, for millimeter wave spectrum  specifically 39GHz band spectrum.

While the U.S. tries to get its spectrum auction ducks in row, Rosenworcel says other countries are moving forward on 5G. She notes that:

 China is working on 5G standardization and has committed to invest more than $400 billion in 5G infrastructure.

 Europe Union members have signed an agreement for a common foundation for a 5G network.

 South Korea and Japan are pursuing early 5G deployments in time for the 2018 and 2020 Olympics, respectively. And South Korea is expected to have a 28GHz band auction in October.

 And last month, the United Arab Emirates authorized the use of 5G technologies paving the way for build-out this year.

Edited by Mandi Nowitz
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5G is just around the corner, according to ZTE (News - Alert) Corp. The Chinese smartphone producer announced its goal to launch a 5G smartphone in the U.S. by late 2018/early 2019, shared CEO Lixin Cheng.





Speaking with Bloomberg (News - Alert) News, Cheng explained the release is dependent upon availability of fifth-generation networks and chipset supply. Said chipsets will be sold by Qualcomm (News - Alert) to allow speedy and efficient wireless connections. Chengs focus is the 5G phones, and when asked about expanding to tablets and 5G for homes, while he is not dismissing it, timing is yet to be determined.

In October 2017, Wen Ku, director of Chinas telecom department shared the first 5G global standard would be released in June of 2018. 5G will change the face of technology as it will cut latency down from 50 to one millisecond. This means the possible development of driverless cars and robotic surgery, according to a recent article written by Paula Bernier.

By being the first company to release a 5G smartphone, ZTE would make a strong statement to the space. The faster, the better; greater bandwidth allows more advanced apps to be run on mobile devices. But, ZTE is not the first company to announce plans for a 2018 5G release; AT&T shared in early January plans for 5G phone service in roughly a dozen cities.

A year ago, Nokia (News - Alert) said it was working with a handful of international carriers and this month, Samsung and Apple announced a partnership to bring 5G internet into California households. Additionally, in 2017, Apple (News - Alert) was given permission by the United States government to start 5G network testing.

A global 5G roll-out means much for the next generation of communications and connectivity.

Are you 5G ready?

Edited by Maurice Nagle
Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio has denied reports of a rift between him and his successor, Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel.

He described such insinuations as the handiwork of political jobbers.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Anietie Ekong, said Akpabio is satisfied with the performance of Governor Emmanuel.

It added that he could not be engaged in a feud with an administration that Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District played a significant role in its emergence.

It is obvious that the concerns raised by the senator during the end-of-the-year stakeholders meeting organised by the deputy governor that all was not well was misunderstood and political jobbers sought to feast on it.

What the senator said was that their house should be put in order so that the votes from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District would be intact for Governor Emmanuel in the next election.

Senator Akpabio is satisfied that the areas of concern raised by the stakeholders, which were explained by the governor during the follow-up meeting with him to the satisfaction of the stakeholders present at the meeting, were receiving the attention of the government, the statement said.

Akpabio hailed the governor for working with security agencies to eliminate a notorious militant, Akaninyene Jumbo alias Iso Akpafid, who killed residents of Ukanafun Local Government and its environs and rendered many displaced in the last one year.

He said with the killing of the hoodlum, peace would return to that part of the senatorial district.

The statement said Senator Akpabio had pointed out that Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District would stand by Governor Emmanuel and pledged the support of the people towards the re-election of the governor with its over 500,000 votes.

He cautioned those making inciting statements to create a wedge between the senator and the governor to desist, as they were doing so for their personal benefit.

The lawmaker sued for peace and advised politicians to desist from politics of hatred and blackmail, which would not augur well for unity.
President Muhammadu Buharis kinsman, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Daura, has called on him to resign from the office of Petroleum Minister and concentrate on his duty as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

Daura who is also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Katsina State, while briefing newsmen in Kaduna, Tuesday, said the office of the President was very demanding and required full concentration of the President to chart forward the affairs of the nation

He explained that the petroleum ministry was a very sensitive one, adding that it was the mainstay of the nations economy that needed to be handled by professionals who were not distracted by any other demanding duty.

Alhaji Daura added that President Buhari, since assumption of office, had not toured all the refineries in the country to see how they were in order to map out a new policy that will rejuvenate the refineries.

It is also saddening that the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, is a lawyer by training and might not have the rudiment to manage the affairs of the ministry.

We all know that eighty percent of our revenue comes from the petroleum sector and if we dont take proper care of the ministry, the country might be thrown into chaos.

The recent fuel scarcity in the country might not be unconnected with the policy on ground where the president runs the ministry from the Aso Villa.

Yes, some will say that President Buhari decided to hold onto the ministry to checkmate some malpractices, but I can tell you that we have experts who can do same, remember Prof. Tam David West, Obaseki and Abubakar Yaradua, they are all experts in Petrochemical Engineering who have proved that they have what it takes to move the oil industry forward.

We also have thousands of graduates with PHD, and are roaming the streets. Some of which are Petrochemical Engineers who the president can engage.

I am a core supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, and I want him to succeed that is why Im coming out with this advice to help him move the country forward, he explained.

Speaking on the call that President Buhari should contest in 2019, Alhaji Daura said there was nothing bad in the call because according to him, he has started some good work and needs to be given some time to complete them, so if another four years is what it will take, then let it be.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of failing to protect Nigerians as enshrined in the constitution.

Reacting to the Benue killings and insecurity in the country at a news conference in Abuja, its

General Secretary Rev Musa Asake said: President Buhari was elected on a wave of unprecedented public approval in 2015. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of his election, he started creating the impression that he was in power to serve the interests of his Fulani ethnic group only. Discerning people were quick to note that contrary to his electoral promises, he actually meant to pursue core Islamist agenda. Almost every vital appointment in Security and Education went to Muslims from the North. He did not hide his disdain for the indigenous ethnic nationalities and, at every opportunity, showed preferential treatment to the Muslim North.

But the Presidency discountenanced the claim that the President violated the constitution.

Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu in a statement said Our attention has been drawn to reports of a press conference by General Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Dr. Musa Asake in which he passed a judgement on the constitutionality of certain actions of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Unfortunately, he could not cite any valid cases of constitutional violations. President Muhammadu government poses no threat to the countrys democracy and Constitution.

There are no cases of any violation of our sacred constitution and there will be none under this President.

The respected religious leader should stick to his religious duties and leave politics for politicians.

Asake said the government had not been able to come up with an efficient and enduring system that could overwhelm the resurgence of Boko Haram, gunmen and Fulani herdsmen who are prowling villages, shooting and killing innocent Christians. Instead the IG whenever there is killings going on his men on ground in that particular area will be looking the other way and if asked they will say they are waiting for order from above. The IG will always take sides and make statements that are provocative to the people of the affected area.

CAN alleges that Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism to the extent that the herdsmen treat Nigeria as a conquered territory. Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people. It is clear to the discerning that President Buhari is not running Nigeria according to the dictates of the Democratic values in the Constitution and has no respect for Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy. It is unfortunate that a President that was sworn into office to uphold and defend the Constitution has flagrantly violated the Constitution and adopted Sharia ideology as operational standard.
Chief Bisi Akande

He said that multi-party parliamentary democracy was the best form of government for Nigeria, if it wanted to catch up with the rest of the civilised world.

Mr. Akande, a former governor of Osun State, said that the American democracy system of multi-party presidentialism was too complicated and costly for a country of poor people with large illiteracy rate like Nigeria.

According to him, the Nigerian nation is currently running a difficult government under an unworkable set up.

President Buhari is my friend and I want him to succeed but he is running a difficult system of government.

Nigerias democracy is a military democracy of sharing and if we continue like this, there is no how we can succeed.

Up to this present age, evidence based analyses has proven parliamentary democracy to be the most accountable transparent form of government in the whole world, he said.

He said that parliamentary democracy had helped countries like the United Kingdom rich, stable and respectable globally and also made the very young Israel very strong economically and militarily.

It is also transforming India from acute poverty and hunger into self- sufficiency and reliability virtually in all fields.

Apart from being transparent and accountable, parliamentary democracy is absolutely inclusive.

It appears to be the best form of governmental structure for Nigeria now, he said.

Mr. Akande maintained that anything less accountable and transparent would not help the development of the country.
Senators met with the President last night on the security situation in the land.

They presented to him their resolution after a six-hour debate of the report of a committee that examined the Benue State killings and its aftermath.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, who led the delegation to the Villa, said that the President received the team and its briefs very well.

Also yesterday, the Senate mandated Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris to fish out perpetrators of the killings within 14 days.

Seventy-three bodies were buried last week in Makurdi  they were victims of the January 1 attacks on communities in Logo and Guma local government areas of Benue State.

Taraba State also said it lost 55 people to attacks by herdsmen, who are also claiming to have lost lives and cattle.

President Muhammadu Buhari, after a meeting with Benue State leaders on Monday, directed security agents to fish out the killers.

The resolutions followed the consideration of an interim report on the Benue killings submitted by an ad hoc committee headed by Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan.

Senate President Bukola Saraki said the Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris, must act on the resolution. The Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice should be prepared to prosecute the masterminds of the mayhem, the Senate said.

The police said yesterday they had accepted the challenge.

On behalf of the IG, police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said: We are very optimistic of making good progress even before 14 days.

Before now, the President had given firm directives and our investigation processes are moving expeditiously.

We had eight suspects and more have been brought in.

Saraki said: We took almost six hours to deliberate. It shows that it goes beyond religion and ethnicity. It shows that there is breakdown of law and order. If we fail to act, it will be an indictment. We want immediate action. One of the issues is justice. Without justice, there can be no peace.

I think that we owe to the President to tell him what we have discussed. This is a wake-up call on the President and on all of us. We must be seen to be doing something.

The President must act. Those responsible must be held accountable. Military all the time cannot be the solution. The military is being over stretched. That is not good for us. Most importantly action must begin to happen to show Nigerian that we are not just talking. We need to ensure that this never happens again. We need to restore hope.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu canvassed the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency to enable the government to deal decisively with what he called dangerous developments in parts of the country.

The Enugu West lawmaker said with the declaration of a state of emergency, the Federal Government will have the leeway to deploy troops to every part of the country, close borders as well as take drastic actions to tackle the degenerating situation.

Ekweremadu said: The failure of social contracts lead to impeachment, loss of elections, coups and other things. The government should look at Section 305 of the constitution to invoke a state of emergency.

The spate of killings in Nigeria is alarming. What is going on are situations of killings and retaliation. As a Senate, we must get up and do something. The Senate is not the only group that is upset. Nigerians are worried. Our leaders who kept mute are now speaking up.

It is important for us to have a rethink of creating a state police. Every state should have the kind of police that fits into their system. Nigeria is the only democracy that still has a central police. Those states who can provide for it financially should be allowed to do so.

Former Senate President David Mark put the blame squarely on the failure of intelligence.

Mark noted that the Government failed to be proactive in responding to national crises.

The Benue South lawmaker warned that if the prevailing security challenge was not tackled, Nigerians may be pushed to resort to self-help by taking up arms to defend themselves.

Mark who also asked the government to arrest the masterminds of the attacks to deterrent others, praised the Senate President for being proactive by sending a fact finding committee to Benue State for on the spot assessment of the situation.

Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio questioned why security agencies appeared to give preferences to some parts of the country more than others.

Akpabio noted that as long as governors do not control security apparatuses, insecurity will persist.

He said: Maybe the security agencies are overstretched or they think that some areas are more important than the others. How can we best provide security? As long as a governor is helpless, we will continue to have this loss of lives and properties. I urge that we revisit constitution amendment so that we can find a way to bring in community or state police.

As long as we have a centralised police, we will continue to have these issues. We maybe having mercenaries from other countries. But, I believe that a majority of them are from Nigeria. We are getting to that level of national emergency when we have to take a national decision.

Senator Dino Melaye decried what he called the level of injustice in the country.

Melaye asked President Buhari to be bold enough and take a decisive step to deal with the menace of herdsmen.

Former Kebbi State Governor Adamu Aliero, disagreed vehemently with Melaye and other contributors.

Aliero prayed the Senate to consider the proposal of the Federal Government for the establishment of cattle colonies in every part of the country.

The Kebbi central lawmaker defended herdsmen saying they are also Nigerians.

He insisted that herdsmen must be accorded their rights.

Aliero noted that herdsmen have the right to move their cows round and ply their trade without any hindrance in any part of the country.

He further prayed the Senate to reconsider a bill sponsored by Senator Rabiu Kwankawso on grazing.

The passage of the bill, he said, will solve the frequent clashes between herders and farmers.

Aliero said: We all know that the fall of Libya made it possible for arms to come here freely. We must control the proliferation of arms. Is one way the issue can be minimised. Cattle routes must be looked into. Fulani herdsmen have been living in peace. Cattle colonies suggested by the Federal Government must be looked into.

Fulani herdsmen are Nigerians and they have the right to live and move from one place to another. We must look into this. Kwankwaso brought a grazing bill here. I think this is the time to bring the issue up. We have to be nationalistic and we have to be patriotic.

Cattle colonies are the same with grazing reserves. It is unfortunate that governors are saying that they have no lands for cattle colonies. We have to find a solution. This is very important. Community policing can solve this problem we are having now.

Senator Samuel Anyanwu said: These herdsmen must be proscribed as terrorists. Let us not play politics with this. What we are doing is just talk show. If we cannot solve this problem, this blame game will continue. You must say the truth. People play politics with restructuring and this is the problem of this country.

If IPOB was tagged a terrorist group, why have they not tagged herdsmen as terrorists? I heard the government talking of cattle colonies. If I want to run a business in Kano, I will meet the people and get the land. Cattle rearing is a business and you cannot take my land by force. Why must you forcefully take somebodys land? This is economic sabotage. The issue of cattle rearing should not be considered, he said

Senator Shehu Sani who seemed to have been frustrated that contributors to the debate failed to heat the nail on the head by putting the blame on President Buhari, asked his colleagues to stop playing to the gallery.

He said,When you use a religious and ethno-ethnic lenses to view an issue, you will see a religious, ethnic or sectional image. This is not the time for diplomacy and courtesy. This is the time to provide leadership for a nation that is in a national emergency and national distrust.

There is something that I like with the presidency. When it comes to the issue of directing attacks to the National Assembly, they dont in anyway curtail, reduce or suppress any of the missiles. But when it comes to our turn to point the finger where the problem is, you will see some form of crowdies, escapism and people who try to water-down issues.

In the report that was presented to us, Federal Government was mentioned about seven times. The security of this country is under the direct control of the President. Why are you shying away from calling on the President to wake up and stand up to the challenge of protecting this country?

A few days ago, I saw leaders and elders from Benue state in the villa. What were you doing in the Villa? You are bereaved. Your people were killed. The villa should go to Benue and not Benue coming to Villa, for goodness sake.

Were in a country where there is no complicit reward for violence. The villages and victims are blamed. We must tell ourselves the truth.

Governors that supposed to be chief executives of their states leave their duty posts on daily and weekly basis to the Villa to endorse and re-endorse the President. Too much and over endorsement. We should tell ourselves the truth.

Things are not going right in this country and we are failing. People are dying in their thousands, kidnappings, bloodshed in their thousands from Zamfara to Kaduna to Taraba to Benue to Plateau to Nasarawa state.

About this report, it is: The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should rise up to the occasion

Were all here shifting blames and trying to evade the truth. We cant solve this problem. Nigerian political class and politicians are more interested in the 2019 general election than the lives of our people.

From the executive, legislature and state governors, people are more interested about the INEC timetable. We cant solve this problem if we see everything through ethno-religious lens.

There must be a clear distinction between armed herdsmen who must be confronted frontally and Fulani cattle rearers but were not doing that.

We have reached a point that people have lost hope in the government. Were here trying to massage egos; we dont want to confront the president because people want to come back to the 9th Senate. They do not want to lose their tickets while people are being killed in this country. Im very sorry, Thank you.

The Senator Ahmad Lawan-led committee on Review of National Security Infrastructure, which visited Benue State, made eleven recommendations.

Parts of the recommendations prescribed that security agencies must not leave any stone unturned in apprehending the perpetrators and sponsors of the heinous crimes.

The committee also recommended that the Federal Government convenes a national security summit to examine the recurring violence and mayhem visited on communities in the country.

It said security forces should be deployed in rural communities to tame any breakdown of laws and order.

Before the business of the day, the Senate had a closed door session, where lawmakers resolved to observe decorum during the debate. It was learnt that lawmakers, during the session, exchanged hot words.

After analysing the interactions, responses and physical observation in the IDP camp, the Committee observes as follows:

That the violence and mayhem in Benue is a manifestation of a larger national security crisis that if not attended to could result in detracting the unity and cohesion of the nation by destroying its rural economy and the means of the peoples livelihood.



The crisis which has its origin in competition for access to natural resources such as land, water and pasture has been aggravated and fuelled by proliferation and massive acquisition of tire arms and infiltration of trained armed bandits across international and national borders in the West African Sub-region. It is very clear from our interaction that some faceless people are sponsoring and harbouring the well trained foreign mercenary elements and using them to unleash violence and criminality in Nigerias rural space. These elements and their domestic acolytes of various ethnic nationalities could also be largely responsible for kidnappings, abductions, armed robberies and unresolved murders. That what happened in Benue State could happen in any part of the Country. This is borne out of the fact that similar incidences of violence have already engulfed neighbouring States such as Taraba, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Niger, Adamawa, etc. Failure to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of these gruesome acts could play into the hands of those ethnic entrepreneurs whose aim is to break the nation intoethnic principalities. It is deepening the countrys ethno-religious faultlines by entrenching the perception of the conflict in ethno-religious dimensions. The crisis has also created a regime of impunity thereby enticing innocent rural youth into criminality because of its perception as a safe and lucrative undertaking. The Committee observed that there have been various reports of panels and committees over the years whose recommendations were never implemented. These contributed to the failure of Government to nip the problem in the bud until it attained the present disastrous dimension. The Committee also observed a very serious decline in trust and cmperation between citizens and security forces for fear of incrimination and exploitation. Hence people do not volunteer any intelligence to security forces. More so, the organic linkage in intelligence gathering between security forces, traditional leaders and institutions seems to have broken down. In most of the rural communities in Benue State and elsewhere, the presence of security forces is very thin on the ground or completely absent. In the few places where they are deployed, they are undermanned and underequipped and easily over run by better trained and equipped militia and foreign marauding herdsmen.

Recommendation of the committee

The Senate condemns in the strongest possible terms the wanton criminal attacks that claimed the lives of more than 73 innocent citizen in Guma and Logo Local Government Area of Benue State. The Senate urges the security and intelligence agencies to leave no stone unturned in apprehending the perpetrators and the sponsors of these heinous crimes and similar crimes in Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Edo, Enugu and elsewhere, so that they are brought before the law to answer for their crimes. The days of indifference complacency, negligence and impunity must come to an end. The Federal Government should re-examine, revamp and reinvent the nations security architecture and infrastructure in order to ensure that no community or entity is left unsecured and unsafe.

4, The Senate should convene as a matter of utmost urgency a national security summit to examine the recurring violence and mayhem visited on our rural communities before they become an existential threat to the our national cohesion and national survival.

The Federal Government should examine the deployment of security personnel in our rural communities and borders to ensure that no one gets in or out of the country without proper documentation and regular surveillance. The Federal Government should ensure full compliance with the letter and spirit of the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of persons, cattle and goods with a view to ensuring that it is administered strictly to preserve the interests, safety and security of Nigeria and its people. In view of the emergence of several failed States and conflict zone around our borders and in the West African sub region, the Federal Government should sponsor and convene an international conference on the proliferation of weapons in Nigeria. The ways and means of stopping the proliferation, and ridding our communities of existing arms should also be proffered. The Federal Government should immediately re-examine the current deployment of security forces, particularly the Police, DSS and Civil Defence Corp, etc. in order to strengthen their presence in the rural areas, starting from the most conflict prone areas around Niger,Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Adamawa axis, Zamfara, Kaduna and in the entire North central zone. The Federal Government should beef up and re-strategise its deployment of security intelligence capabilities with a View to obtaining actionable intelligence about impending attacks and plots in order to forestall and prevent the recurrence of rural violence and inter-ethnic conflagrations.

10.The Federal and Benue State Government should ensure that all those living in IDP camps are properly catered for and the burnt infrastructure in their communities are properly rebuilt to enable the people return and resume their normal lives .

The Government through the Ministry of Agriculture should as a matter of urgency convene a special National Council on Agriculture meeting to deliberate on the development and modernisation of livestock and dairy industry.

The recommendations were adopted.
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US President Donald Trump has acted on his threats to slash aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) withholding $65 million while offering only $60 million.

A US official confirmed the news noting that the Trump administrations demands the UNRWA to carry out reforms to its system.

US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Palestinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets no appreciation or respect from the Palestinians.

Israel had urged the US to stop funding UNRWA, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying last week that the agency must disappear from the world.

The move was met with indignation by Palestinians. Palestine Liberation Organization official Wasel Abu Youssef immediately criticized the decision, casting it as a deliberate US effort to deny the Palestinians their rights and linking it to Trumps widely criticized Dec.6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital.

In a statement on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee, Hanan Ashrawi accused the White House of following Netanyahus instructions.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement that the reduced US contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle East.

More than 600,000 Palestinians were pushed out or forced to flee their homes before and during 1948 when the State of Israel was established.

Millions of Palestinian refugees, 1948 survivors and their descendants, are scattered in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and across neighboring Arab countries.

They largely depend on UNRWA aid for health care, education and other essential services.
President Alpha Conde has recalled Guineas Ambassador in Algiers in protest over the inhuman treatment endured by Sub-Saharan migrants in Algeria.

The decision by Conde, who is also Chairman of the African Union, will draw attention to the double speak of Algeria, which aspires to have a voice in Africa while mistreating Africans on its soil.

Guinean news outlets were all unanimous in citing the inhuman treatment by Algerian authorities to African migrants as a cause for the deterioration of relations between the two countries.

Guinean websites are awash with abhorrent stories by migrants who were abandoned in Algeria after being taken Manu military to the borders with Niger.

Algerian officials, including the Prime Minister, have uttered irresponsible statements blaming the economic hardships in Algeria on migrants. A close advisor to ailing President Boutefliqua went as far as accusing Sub-Saharan migrants of spreading diseases and HIV in Algeria.
French automaker PSA-Peugeot Citroen announced that it will reach a production capacity of 100,000 cars by 2019 in its Kenitra plant, that is a figure 10,000 higher than the previous expectations.

We have announced that 90,000 cars will be made in the first phase, but in reality we can reach an annual production capacity of 100,000 cars easily as we will adopt a new production model in our plant, North Africa and Middle East director at PSA-Peugeot Jean-Christophe Ouemard said.

The Kenitra plant output will increase two fold to stand at 200,000 cars annually in the second phase, he said, adding that the factorys mass production will be marketed by the end of this year.

He added that an ecosystem of part suppliers has already been set up. These include 43 factories that will supply car components to the Peugeot factory in Kenitra.

In 2017, the French car manufacturer Peugeot-Citroen launched construction works of its plant at the free zone of Kenitra (Atlantic free zone), located at some 40 km to the north of Rabat, Moroccos capital city.

The project is expected to generate 3500 direct jobs. The Kenitra plant will offer Peugeot a launching pad for regional expansion, following the footsteps of fellow French car manufacturer Renault, which has celebrated lately the export of 1 million vehicles made in its Moroccan plants of Tangier and Casablanca.

The Kenitra plant will also be Peugeots first wholly owned site in Africa. It will enable Peugeot to boost production capacity and hit its goal of selling 1 million vehicles in 2025 in the region.
Surfs up for California Democrats. Photo-Illustration: Elenarts/John Lund/Getty Images

Everyone knows how strongly Democratic California is, but its amazing how quickly and thoroughly the Donkey Party has monopolized political power in the Golden State.

As recently as 2010, Californias governor, lieutenant governor, and state treasurer were all Republicans. Now Democrats hold every statewide elected office. In 2010 there were 19 Republican U.S. House members in the state. Now there are 14. In 2010 there were 15 Republicans in the State Senate and 32 in the State Assembly. Those numbers are now down to 13 and 25. The losing Republican presidential nominees each won 37 percent of the popular vote in California, in 2008 and 2012. The winning Republican presidential nominee took 31 percent of the vote in California in 2016.

Bad as these trends look for the GOP, they are very likely to get worse this November  possibly a lot worse. In a thorough analysis of Californias political climate, Reid Wilson describes 2018 as a perfect storm for Democrats. The term we will soon begin to hear is tsunami, to distinguish California from the Democratic wave thats developing nationally.

As Wilson notes, the few assets Republicans carry into the midterms nationally probably wont help much in California. The GOPs signature piece of legislation, the tax bill, is viewed very negatively in California, where it will limit or deny state and local income and property deductions to an estimated 2.5 million taxpayers. And the humming economy is more likely to be credited to Californias own Democratic leadership than to Trump, partly because the state is so large and partly because state leaders have defied Trumps policies wherever possible.

Trump himself is extremely unpopular in the state:

In California, his numbers threaten to become an anchor that weighs down his own party: Just 28 percent of adults approve of Trumps job performance, according to a December survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. Just 30 percent told pollsters at the University of California, Berkeleys Institute of Governmental Studies they approve of Trump.

Two-thirds of independents disapproved of Trumps performance, and 57 percent of all voters said they strongly disapproved.

Aside from the tax bills unique unpopularity in California, Trump has definitely damaged his and his partys brand in the state with the Interior Departments recent announcement that the states coasts will probably be reopened to offshore drilling in federally controlled waters. There havent been any new federal leases for offshore drilling in California since 1984, and the very idea tends to produce strong bipartisan opposition. Inadequate or tardy federal response to Californias horrific wildfires by the Trump administration or the Republican Congress is another big potential problem for the GOP.

Most ominously for Republicans, the states top-two primary system, which places the top two finishers in a nonpartisan primary on the ballot in the general election, is very likely to produce a November ballot with no Republicans running for the top two positions, governor and U.S. senator. No prominent Republican appears likely to run against Dianne Feinstein and her Democratic challenger state senate leader Kevin de Leon. And Republicans are divided between Trumpist and moderate candidates for governor, neither of whom has much of a chance of getting more votes than Democratic front-runners Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa, and might finish behind Democrats John Chiang and Delaine Eastin as well. Having nothing but Democrats at the top of the ballot could be disastrous for Republican turnout, while contributing to what will probably be high levels of Democratic enthusiasm in the state.

The top-of-the-ballot vacuum will add to the many problems of Republican U.S. House members from marginal districts, seven of which were carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016. Two of them (Darrell Issa and Ed Royce) have already announced retirements. Another, Duncan Hunter, who has been fighting ethics allegations, is under pressure to hang it up, and Dana Rohrabacher is perceived as being in deep trouble. Other somewhat stronger incumbents like Mimi Walters and Jeff Denham are being endangered by demographic changes, as Wilson notes:

Walterss district has grown by 33,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. Of those new residents, 30,000 are nonwhite. The white population actually declined in Royces district while the overall population grew by 10,000 residents. In Denhams district, 17,000 of the 21,000 new residents are nonwhite.

In theory, the top-two system could benefit Republicans in some House races, particularly the open seats where many Democratic candidates could be shut out of the general election while two Republicans sneak into it. But on the other hand, having no incumbent eliminates the guarantee that even one Republican will survive the primary. So theres no particular reason to believe the election system will give Republicans a break they desperately need. Indeed, Californias move toward a system in which most voters automatically receive mail ballots could erode one remaining GOP advantage: the tendency of Republican-leaning voters to participate at higher rates in non-presidential elections than their Democratic counterparts.

If a Democratic tsunami does develop, it could also reinforce the partys supermajority control of both chambers of the State Legislature, which has been temporarily endangered by some resignations and one potential recall.

With all these problems, California Republicans are in real danger of becoming a marginal factor as voters become accustomed to Democrats as the natural governing party in the state  particularly if they succumb to the temptation of going Full Trump and spending their time lashing their fellow Californians for being godless hippie terrorist-coddling sanctuary city supporters. Republicans self-destructed in the state once before, in the 1990s, when Pete Wilson identified his party with anti-immigrant policies. If they now become the loud-and-proud deplorables, then their exile in the political wilderness could last for a long, long time.
Steve Bannon leaves after testifying before the House Intelligence Committee. Photo: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Tuesday night, House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff accused the White House of putting a gag order on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon after he stonewalled lawmakers during a ten-hour interview. Bannon refused to answer questions about his time with Trumps transition team, his tenure in the White House, and even his dealings with Trump since his firing.

Now a new AP report sheds light on the extent of that so-called gag order. Bannons lawyer, the AP reports, was in constant contact with the White House during the interview in an attempt to find out which questions Bannon should answer and which he should avoid.

As lawmakers probed Bannons time working for President Donald Trump, Bannons attorney Bill Burck was asking the White House counsels office by phone during the Tuesday session whether his client could answer the questions. He was told by that office not to discuss his work on the transition or in the White House.

Its not known who was on the other end of the phone with Burck, but he does have an existing relationship with White House counsel Don McGahn, whom Burck is representing in Robert Muellers investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

It was clear by Tuesday night that Bannon had invoked a remarkably broad definition of executive privilege, as one congressman put it, during the interview. The AP report adds the tantalizing nugget that his lawyers were relaying the questions in real time to the White House.

Thats not improper, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told Business Insider. His attorney did not need to be as vigilant as he was in ensuring that he was complying with the White Houses request  there is nothing legally Trump could do to Bannon if he ignored it. But it is revelatory, as it shows that even after the fallout over Fire and Fury, Bannon is very much on Trumps team, Mariotti said.
Maybe Scott Walker played this all wrong. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Thanks to predictions of a Democratic wave in 2018, a record number of House Republicans have announced theyre retiring, and some likely candidates have opted not to run. The years first contests, a handful of statehouse special elections held on Tuesday, seemed to confirm that they made the right call.

The biggest news is an upset in Wisconsins 10th Senate District, where Democrat Patty Schachtner, a medical examiner, beat Republican Adam Jarchow, a member of the State Assembly, by nine points.

The rural districts voting history did not suggest an easy win for Democrats. For the last 17 years, the seat was held by Republican state senator Sheila Harsdorf, who stepped down in November to serve as Governor Scott Walkers agriculture secretary. In the 2016 election, Harsdorf won by 26 points and Donald Trump won by 17 points; Romney easily took the district in 2012, though Wisconsin went to Obama.

Both sides poured large sums of money into the race: Americans for Prosperity spent at least $50,000 on ads for Jarchow, and together Greater Wisconsin and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee spent around $40,000 on Schachtner.

When asked whether she thought resistance to President Trump helped her win, Schachtner dodged the question.

Im just worried about western Wisconsin right now, she said. Right now, in western Wisconsin, Wisconsin values is what keeps us going.

All of Tuesdays results were encouraging for Democrats, though they only managed to flip Wisconsins 10th Senate District. The Washington Post reports:

In other Tuesday elections, Democrat Dennis Degenhardt won 43 percent of the vote in Wisconsins 58th Assembly District; in 2016, Hillary Clinton won just 28 percent of the vote there, and no Democrat contested the seat. In Iowas 6th House District, Democrat Rita DeJong won 44 percent of the vote; in 2016, the partys nominee won just 35 percent. In South Carolinas 99th House District, Democrat Cindy Boatwright lost with 43 percent of the vote; the party had not run a candidate for the seat in this decade.

As Decision Desk HQs Aaron Booth pointed out, Democrats made huge gains across the board:

Here is a breakdown of Democrats' over performance tonight in all 4 contested special elections:



SC #HD99: D+13.08%

WI #AD58: D+24.90%

WI #SD10: D+27.52%

IA #HD06: D+20.44%



That is an average Dem over performance tonight of D+21.49%



That's... significant.  Aaron Booth (@ActorAaronBooth) January 17, 2018

Since they tend to have low turnout, special elections arent necessarily indicative of wider electoral trends. But Tuesdays results caught the attention of at least one prominent Republican whos up for reelection in 2018.
Author Michael Wolff. Photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

In early February, Michael Wolff appeared on CNNs Reliable Sources to criticize the media and its constant state of apoplexy in the early days of the Trump administration.

He blasted the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, whom Wolff called quite a ridiculous figure. Wolff added that speaking to people in the White House is more important than bloviating from the outside. You got to meet these people. Youve got to talk to these people. You have to see whats going on, he said.

President Trump was watching, and soon Wolff got an invite to the White House to do just what he suggested, according to a new Bloomberg report.

Trump personally called Wolff to compliment him after watching the segment and, during their conversation, Wolff pitched a book on the inner workings of the new White House. Trump had him set up a meeting with aides Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks, who came away believing that Wolff would counter the medias unfair narrative of a Trump administration in turmoil, Bloombergs Jennifer Jacobs reports.

Soon, the writer was everywhere, visiting the White House around 17 times and having unmonitored conversations with top officials and aides. Months later, now that Wolffs Fire and Fury has been released, his unfettered access seems like a grave mistake. But at the time, the White House played along because they thought Wolffs book would be different. And how could they not, given what he said was the working title: The Great Transition: The First 100 Days of the Trump Administration.
Eric Greitenss shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later style of politics is really causing him problems as he looks for allies in the midst of a sex scandal. Photo: Eric Greitens for Governor

If you only look at the recent scandal involving Missouris Republican governor Eric Greitens from his point of view, it should be a private matter that everyone may note and then move on. Hes admitted he had an extramarital affair a few years ago  before he ran for governor in 2016  that his wife has known about for a good long while. Yes, there are tapes of the other woman confessing to her then-husband that Greitens both struck her and threatened to blackmail her. But the other woman is begging everyone in sight to drop the whole thing as a token of respect for her privacy. So thats it, right?

Not necessarily. Though weve all watched hundreds of TV dramas in which crime victims dropped charges or refused to press charges, thats not actually how it works. When there is evidence of a crime, its the prosecutor with jurisdiction over the case who decides whether charges are filed or pursued. Sometimes there is no evidence without the testimony of the victim. But in this case, with tapes floating around, its St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner who will decide whether there is probable cause that a crime against the law, not just against Greitenss claimed family values, has occurred. (For the record, Gardner is a Democrat, with the distinction of being the first African-American to hold her position in St. Louis.)

But theres another reason the freshman governor is in deep trouble. He made a lot of enemies during his successful 2016 campaign, particularly in his own party. He ran very much as a clean-cut outsider (a former Navy Seal, Rhodes scholar, and founder of a nonprofit group helping veterans) taking on a corrupt political Establishment, and he sure didnt mince words, as Missouri political journalist Tony Messenger recalls:

There is, obviously, something wrong with politics, and there is something particularly, deeply, disturbingly, wrong here in Missouri, he wrote in the message to backers. Ive never been in politics before, but even in the brief time that Ive been running for Governor, Ive been exposed to some of the worst people Ive ever known. Liars, cowards, sociopaths. They are often deeply broken and disturbed people, who  like criminals who prey on the innocent  take their pleasure and make their living by victimizing honest people. They are drawn to politics as vultures flock to rotting meat  and they feed off the carcasses of vice.

The future governor was just getting warmed up.

The targets of his self-righteous ire included his primary opponents and their backers, and his lack of popularity among Republicans didnt end with his nomination or election.

He doesnt make friends, he destroys enemies. He doesnt forge alliances; he takes hills. He won his race by smirking into the television camera while firing a machine gun into a forest. Now hes frowning and theres nothing but carnage surrounding him.

And theres particular bloody carnage in the legislature:

While the Legislature slogged through a tough and divisive 2017 session, including two special sessions called by Greitens supposedly to take care of unfinished business, the governor himself took advantage of his new position to travel the world.

His cumulative time outside Missouri: Seven weeks. Even as the governor implied in statements that legislators lacked focus on their jobs and forced lawmakers to come back to Jefferson City to work on abortion restrictions and jobs bills, the governor took off on jaunts to raise campaign money and burnish his national image.

So now that his supposedly sterling ethics are in question, he has few defenders in Jefferson City. One particularly bitter GOP enemy, State Senator Rob Schaaf, provided a terse comment when the scandal broke:

Stick a fork in him.  Rob Schaaf (@robschaaf) January 11, 2018

And now theres a growing drumbeat of Republican legislators calling for Greitenss resignation:

A longtime GOP operative in the state told TPM that, based on his conversations with sources in the State House, he expects the number of Republicans calling for the governor to step down will be up to 10 trickling in through the day.

Some Republicans want to launch their own investigation into Greitenss conduct, while others want GOP attorney general Josh Hawley to intervene in the case. Its worth noting that Hawley, a national Republican heartthrob who will likely be Senator Claire McCaskills opponent this fall, is already investigating the governor and his staff for potential destruction of public records via use of an app that automatically deletes text messages.

If all that wasnt enough, theres a weird subtext in the situation that goes back to the beginning of the election cycle that eventually lifted Greitens to the governorship. The initial GOP front-runner in that race, state auditor Tom Schweich, committed suicide in reaction to a whisper campaign that included (he said) attacks on him for being Jewish (which he actually was not). Whether or not that was true, or whether that was really what led a clearly troubled man to end his life, Schweich did make nearly as many GOP enemies as Greitens did. And unlike Schweich, Greitens really is Jewish. Indeed, one of the few GOP groups to rush to his defense in the last week was the national Republican Jewish Coalition, which referred to him as family. At the moment, the Missourian is Americas only Jewish governor.

Religious subcurrents aside, Greitens is probably already getting advice from friends or supporters who want him to think about whether an extended scandal that could even land him in the hoosegow is what he wants to risk, particularly at a time of heightened sensitivity about powerful men acting piggishly toward vulnerable women (the one in question was a hairdresser). If he decides to gut it out, hed better spend less time traveling and more time mending some seriously damaged fences in Missouri.
Zinke doesnt take kindly to advisory panels. Photo: George Frey/Getty Images

One of the many surprises of Donald Trumps presidency is that he managed to drive the National Park Service into the resistance.

It all started on Trumps first day in office, when the president called the acting director of the National Park Service seeking pictures that would prove his false claims about the size of his inauguration crowd. Relations with the agency never improved, as the Trump administration feuded with rogue NPS tweeters, slashed the size of two national monuments in Utah, authorized offshore drilling around the country (except in Florida), and prohibited NPS from sharing its objections to a bill that would reduce its ability to regulate hunting and fishing in parks, including the killing of bear cubs in Alaskan wildlife preserves.

On Monday night, 9 out of 12 members of the national Park System Advisory Board decided theyd had enough. In a one-page letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, board chairman Tony Knowles, a former Alaska governor, tendered their collective resignations. Their primary gripe: While they are required by law to meet twice per year, Zinke has refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting in the last year. Knowles explained:

For the last year we have stood by waiting for the chance to meet and continue the partnership between the NPSAB and the DOI as prescribed by law. We understand the complexity of transition but our requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of its agenda. I wish the National Park System and Service well and will always be dedicated to their success. However, from all of the events of this past year I have a profound concern that the mission of stewardship, protection, and advancement of our National Parks has been set aside. I hope that future actions of the Department of Interior demonstrate that this is not the case.

The bipartisan board was established in 1935, and in recent years it advised the secretary of the Interior on issues ranging from climate change to attracting younger visitors to the parks. Most of the current members have worked together for seven years, and the terms of all who resigned were set to expire in May. The Washington Post reports that while they knew Zinke would appoint new members in 2018, they were surprised that they werent even consulted on recent changes, like a steep increase in park visitor fees.

We resigned because we were deeply disappointed with the department and we were concerned, Knowles told the New York Times, adding that Zinke appears to have no interest in continuing the agenda of science, the effect of climate change, pursuing the protection of the ecosystem.

Until Zinke names new advisory board members, the U.S. will not have a body that can designate national historic or natural landmarks. In general, though, the Trump administration doesnt seem that concerned with the status of federal advisory panels. In May, Zinke suspended the work of more than 200 advisory boards, committees, and subcommittees, pending a department-wide review. Some appear to be operating again, but the status of others is unclear. When the Post reached out to Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift for an update, she replied, Boards have restarted, but offered no further details.

What could Zinke be up to thats preventing him from even determining whether these advisory panels still exist? Oh, right: all the taxpayer-funded trips and horseback rides with the vice-president.
California was once the land of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and John Birch socialites; a state that revolted against taxes and immigrants before it was cool. Now, its a stronghold of the #Resistance, replete with sanctuary cities, legal reefer, and equal-pay laws.

Understandably, many of the regions old-school reactionaries have started to feel like strangers in their own land. And so, these Golden State culture warriors have developed a plan to make California great again. As USA Today (oddly) reports:

The founders of New California took an early step toward statehood Monday with the reading of their own Declaration of Independence from California, a state they describe as ungovernable. Their solution: Take over most of current-day California  including many rural counties  and leave the coastal urban areas to themselves.

The current state of California has become governed by a tyranny, the group, led in part by vice chairman Robert Paul Preston, declared in a document published online.

 After years of over taxation, regulation, and mono-party politics the State of California and many of its 58 Counties have become ungovernable, the would-be founders of New California said in a statement this week, citing a decline in essential basic services including education, law enforcement, infrastructure and health care.

There are a lot of reasons to snicker at New Californias would-be Founding Fathers. The idea that rural Californians would have better education, infrastructure, and health-care services if only they had lower tax rates, and no access to state revenues generated in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, is delightfully delusional. And, as election analyst J. Miles Coleman points out, the conservative utopia of New California would almost certainly be dominated by liberal Democrats.

2016

New California: Clinton +14.8%, Harris +16.5%

California: Clinton +47.0%, Harris +30.2%.https://t.co/1a8MmGkSrB  J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) January 17, 2018

2012

New California: Obama +7.8%, Feinstein +9.4%

California: Obama +40.2%, Feinstein +42.6%https://t.co/1a8MmGkSrB  J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) January 17, 2018

More fundamentally, this is what we in the business call an Old Man Yells at Cloud story. There is approximately zero interest, among Californian elected officials from either major party, in breaking their state in two.

But there should be.

New California is a worthwhile project launched for the unworthiest of reasons. Rural Californians will not get better public schools by locking themselves into a much poorer, slightly less blue state. But their state would get a significantly fairer amount of representation in the U.S. Senate.

If I may engage in a hot take, large states like California should start preparing to split into separate polities to avoid making the Senate's malapportionment even worse  Robert Wheel LLC (@BobbyBigWheel) January 17, 2018

The upper chamber has become one of the most genuinely tyrannical institutions of our government. At the republics founding, the most populous state in the union was home to 11 times more people than the smallest; today, that disparity is more than six times as large: Californias 39 million residents have as much say in the Senate as Wyomings 585,500.

At present, about half the country lives in 40 of the nations states, with the other half packed into just ten. This population discrepancy doesnt just give voters in small states vastly disproportionate power in the Senate, but also in the Electoral College. And the disparity is likely to grow ever more severe in the coming decades, as more and more Americans migrate from the rural heartland to the high-density cities where economic growth is now concentrated.

The malapportionment of the Senate already has enormous influence on our politics. Small states leverage their disproportionate influence to secure themselves more federal aid per capita than large ones. More critically, while there are bastions of progressive overrepresentation (Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii), Americas least populous states, in the aggregate, lean firmly right. And the combination of the Senates bias toward conservatism and its use of the filibuster has killed many pieces of popular, progressive legislation in recent years. To take just one example, if the Senate were a democratic institution, President Trump would not have the power to hold 700,000 Dreamers hostage right now  because the Dream Act of 2010 would be law.

Todays Senate map is more biased in the GOPs favor than at any point in American history. And as the populations of small states in Middle America grow even smaller, older, and more racially unrepresentative of the broader country in the coming years, this bias could become a (more profound) threat to our governments democratic legitimacy.

As outlandish as it may sound, breaking up large states into smaller ones may be the most plausible means of addressing this growing crisis of responsive government. Abolishing the Senate would require drafting a new Constitution (which wouldnt be a bad idea, necessarily, but a pretty difficult one to pull off). By contrast, Congress can approve the addition of a new state by a simple majority vote in both chambers. Which is to say: The next time Democrats gain unified control of the government, they could use a razor-thin Senate majority to add new states that would likely expand that majority. The partys first priority on that front should be D.C. statehood  and then, should the people of Puerto Rico petition Congress for admission to the Union, Puerto Rican statehood.

But addressing the underrepresentation of Californians would be worthwhile, too  if a less wacky and reactionary New Californian vanguard ever unites a critical mass of their compatriots behind the cry, No taxation without slightly less absurd underrepresentation.
The penalty fees are issued to offending motorists and drivers. Over the last 10 years the money has accumulated to Shs 53 billion

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is struggling to collect over Shs 52.6 billion from traffic police, money accrued from express penalty fees over the last 10 years.

The money is owed in penalty fees issued to offending drivers and motorists across the country. Section 179 of the Traffic and Road safety Act empowers police through the Directorate of Traffic and Road safety to enforce the express penalty scheme (EPS) which is a revenue generator for police and government.

The auditor general, in his 2017 report released recently, indicates that despite the mandate of the police to enforce this scheme, it's impossible for them to demand this outstanding payments from drivers due to lack of a computerised system.

Some drivers and motorists once receipted disappear with the receipt and never pay for it.



"Tickets are currently issued manually to traffic offenders through out the country. Lack of computers with internet connectivity in almost all stations outside Kampala and issuing tickets to offenders manually makes it difficult for traffic officers to reconcile with URA EPS defaulters," reads the auditor general's report in part.



Traffic police has been trying to install a tracking system which can be used to track defaulters. The system is currently functioning at at different regions across the country. Last year police launched the EPS mobile app to track down offending motorists who default on payments.

However, the traffic police spokesperson, Charles Ssebambulidde says there is a lot that needs to be done about the system in order for it to effectively track defaulters and compel them to pay.



"We need to synchronize it with the URA EPS system but also to introduce electronic billing to the system. We are doing everything possible to ensure that this is done soon," Ssebambulidde told URN.



Out of the money collected through the EPS, a small percentage goes to the police for it's expenditure.
Frank Gashumba

Social critic Frank Gashumba and his brother have pleaded not guilty to charges read before them by Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate James Eremye Mawanda.

Gashumba, his brother, Innocent Kasumba alias Mutabazi and Ismail Kiyingi are charged with 16 counts including impersonating Dr John Tumwine, the director of Logistics at ministry of Defense, possession of narcotic drugs such as marijuana in Makindye division, conspiracy to commit a felony by obtaining money by false pretence when they offered contracts to Kolgvan M. Dirutop and Manu Meersogh to supply water tanks, trucks, heavy machines and troop carriers to Uganda government.

They are also accused of forging the stamps of ministry of Education and Sports, ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, ministry of Justice, ministry of Transport, ministry of Finance and ministry of Defense - all South Sudan government ministries. The trio pleaded not guilty to the charges.

During the court session, senior state prosecutor Nelly Asiku asked Chief Magistrate Eremye to remand the accused, saying their bail application didn't follow the right procedures.



"The bail was entertained before the accused took plea. If court cannot follow the right procedures, then Gashumba and the co-accused should apply for bail again," said Asiku. Eremye released the trio on bail on November 6, 2017 before they could plead to the charges due to the prosecutors strike.



However, the Defense lawyer, Denis Nyombi objected to the prayer, saying it was a misconception of the court procedure. The trio had spent almost a week on remand when they were released following their arrest in late October 2017.



In his ruling, Eremye declined to remand the suspect, saying prosecution had failed to present sufficient grounds to cause the cancellation of their bail.



"Having listened to both submissions of the defense and the prosecution, now that the accused have pleaded innocent against the charges, I shall not cancel the bail but instead I'm adjourning the matter to February 19th to allow prosecution to conclude its investigations," said Mawanda. Gashumba told URN that they were prepared to defeat the false accusations against them.



I will continue reporting to court as ordered by the chief magistrate, and I am very grateful to court and the magistrate that he stood his ground that theres no way he could cancel bail because he is the same person who issued it. I hear Tulip [Golden] hotel, I dont even know where Tulip hotel isThe interest of the state is to break me down, humiliate me, demean me but trust me Im prepared for everything and trust me Im back to speaking against the injustices, said Gashumba.



Gasahumba also criticized the submissions of the state prosecutor before court.



Something that you guys must know is these are not new charges. I took a plea this morning because I think the last time we appeared before a magistrate I think the prosecutors were on strike. But what shocked me today, the prosecutor wanted Gashumba remanded to Luzira that today I have pleaded innocent. It beats my understanding and sometimes I doubt these lawyers if they went to law school. Court granted us bail, it gave terms which we fulfilled and we have been reporting to court and I thin we need to pray for her. At times you see human beings in court but they are possessed, Gashumba added.
Kumi Woman MP Monicah Amoding makes the case in Parliament for maintaining the presidential age limit.

The 28 NRM MPs who voted against the bill to remove presidential age limits will write to the chief whip explaining why they voted against the party position, the party caucus has resolved. Parliament passed the bill on December 20 amid acrimony and controversy.

The dissident MPs include James Acidiri (Maracha East), Monicah Amoding (Kumi District), Norah Bigirwa (Buliisa District Woman), Johnson Muyanja Senyonga (Mukono South), Everlyn Chemutai (Bukwo District Woman), Hellen Kahunde (Kiryandongo District WOman), Justine Khainza (Bududa District Woman), Gaffa Mbwatekamwa (Kasambya) and Henry Kibalya (Bugabula South).

Speaking to The Observer on phone after the caucus meeting yesterday, NRM caucus vice chairperson Solomon Silwany said the response of the said MPs is necessary.

The caucus has agreed that the office of the government chief whip is going to officially write to the members and we shall need their responses because they have to answer, Silwany said.

Kassanda South MP Simeo Nsubuga said the MPs were advised that as per the NRM caucus rules of procedure, they should write to the chief whip to show cause as to why they acted contrary to the party position.

From there, the central executive committee will advise what action to be taken against these members, Nsubuga said.

Last week, NRM caucus chairperson Ruth Nankabirwa told The Observer that the 28 MPs would receive individual letters informing them of the caucus recommendations.

Nsubuga added that if the party culture must flourish, action should be taken against those who defy the NRM party rules.

If you decided to come and pick a ticket of the NRM party, please accept the rules and regulations of the party, he said.

But this did not go down well with Gaffa Mbwatekamwa.

Mbwatekamwa told us that he is not ready to explain why he didnt support the amendment.

President Museveni should not treat us as if we are students or pupils; and himself as a headmaster, said Mbwatekamwa. We presented what our electorates want and it was a big no. Why should I write; am I seeking for a vacancy?

Mbwatekamwa added that he would be extremely happy if it means chasing him from the party.

Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga said those who defied the party should be left free as they will reform by themselves.

These people are not human beings because you cant deny the family you belong to. If you go against your family, you are a fool, said Abiriga. It is now shame that is killing them; how will they associate with us because we feel they are against us.

This is not the first time NRM MPs defy their party.

On April 13, 2013, President Museveni presided over the expulsion of four NRM MPs on grounds of indiscipline because they voiced different opinions from the partys.

These included Vincent Kyamadidi (then Rwampara), Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West), Theodore Sekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) and Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central).

Later on February 21, 2014, the Constitutional Court ordered the four MPs out of Parliament and declared their seats vacant.

However, they appealed to the High Court, which ruled that an MP cannot lose their seat upon expulsion from their party.

Presided over by Benjamin Odoki, Galdino Okello, Esther Kisaakye, John Tsekooko, Jotham Tumwesigye and Christine Kitumba, the judges ruled that political parties cannot subvert the will of the people.

matsiko@observer.ug
A whistle-blower attached to the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) has raised a red flag on the on-going procurement process for a World Bank-funded internet connectivity infrastructure project.



According to the whistle-blower, government might get a raw deal from the $75 million (Shs 270 billion) Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP), since the project is most likely going to be awarded to the highest bidder.

The RCIP project is being implemented by National Information Technology Authority - Uganda (NITA-U), and is intended to improve governments efficiency and transparency through e-government applications as well as lower internet connectivity prices and extend the geographic reach of broadband networks.



The procurement was initiated on August 3, 2017 after NITA-U ran an advert in the New Vision inviting bids to implement the project. The bid attracted six companies: Wanainchi Telecom, ZTE, Camsat, Banwidth & Crown services + Wuhang Fibre Home, Raubex Infra (Pty) and Huawei.



While Huawei submitted the highest bid price of $15.8 million (about Shs 57.7 billion), it has since emerged as the favoured company for the project.



According to the whistle-blower, Hauwei had been shortlisted along with another Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE, whose bid price was $8.6m (Shs 31.3 billion). The whistle-blower says by the close of business on January 15, 2018, ZTE had been dropped.



Under normal bidding processes, the source said, Huawei would have been dropped by virtue of being the highest bidder. The lowest bidder was Camsat, pricing their bid at $8.2m (Shs 29.9 billion).



Interviewed, the chairman of the evaluation committee, Paul Ngabirano, declined to say much since the process is still ongoing.



The process is still on, and, under the procurement regulations, I am not supposed to comment until it is concluded, Ngabirano said.



ANXIETY



NITA-U executive director James Saaka, instead, blamed over-anxious bidders some of whom, he said, had leaked documents on the project to Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala-Mafabi.



I know there is a letter that has been written to Mafabi but the procurement process is not yet complete because even I, the accounting officer, havent seen the evaluation report yet, Saaka said.



Prospective bidders sometimes get over anxious but they should wait for the process to be concluded, he added.



The latest revelations come against a backdrop of fraudulent scandals that have rocked the body charged with regulating the ICT sector. According to the source, NITA-U bosses entered into multimillion dollar contracts with companies linked to some of the bosses at the IT regulatory agency.



Among such deals, is the contract to certify ICT companies that want to do business with government which was awarded to Comtel Africa. Comtel Africa, owned by a former NITA-U board member, was allowed to take 80 per cent of the revenue it collects and only remit 20 per cent to NITA-U.



While the whistle-blower cites some influence peddling in the deal, Saaka said that the former board member got the contract on merit.



It was an international competitive bidding process where no one can be accused of influence peddling, being a former board member doesnt stop anyone from doing business, and secondly, he is in partnership with another company, Saaka said.



NITA-U is also said to have conspicuously entered into another contract with SYBYL (Computer Point) to a build a data centre at $13m (Shs 45.5 billion)

NITA-U bosses are also accused of causing the government a monthly loss of more than Shs 30bn paid to Kenyan IT giants Soliton Telmec to offer internet services to government departments and ministries through the national backbone infrastructure.



The whistle-blower claims the $300 (Shs 1.08 million) that the ministries pay per mbps (megabits per second - data transfer speed) is too high compared to what is paid in neighbouring countries like Rwanda where government pays $50 (Shs 180,000) per mbps.



Government is also reported to be cheated in the procurement of Cisco switches, which NITA-U buys at $2,600 (Shs 9.3 million) as opposed to Shs 1.4 million on the open market. It also pays $1,200 (Shs 4.3 million) for manhole covers that the same supplier sells to MTN at Shs 400,000.



Saaka, however, says that the costs were previously high because of fewer users. For instance, he said, in 2011, when the national backbone infrastructure was implemented, government used to pay $1,200 (Shs 4.3 million) per mbps which has drastically fallen to current figure of $70 (Shs 252,000) with 280 government ministries and departments connected in addition to 186 free public Wi-Fi hotspots.

sadabkk@observer.ug
Nabilah Naggayi Sempala campaigning with Dr Kizza Besigye earlier

The Constitutional court has today upheld the election of Forum for Democratic Changes Nabilah Naggayi Sempala as the Kampala district Woman member of parliament after it dismissed a constitutional petition filed by a Kampala voter.

In giving Naggayi a political life line, the judges also settled the lingering legal question as to whether following the enactment of the Kampala Capital city Authority (KCCA), Kampala was no longer a district.

It was the finding of the five judges, that indeed, Kampala was still district, reasoning that the 2005 amendment of the Constitution, which instituted KCCA, did not expressly abolish Kampala as the district and neither did it abolish it having a Woman member of parliament.

Parliament had the power to do so under Article 78(2) of the Constitution but it did not do so which, in our view, reflects its intention to retain representation of Kampala regardless of it being referred to as capital city, the judgment partly reads.

The location, demarcation and people of Kampala remained the same. Mere change of descriptive name to city or district in the law should not be reason to disenfranchise the people of Kampala. Participation in the affairs of government individually or through his/her representatives is guaranteed by Article 38(1) of the Constitution.

The judgment stems from a 2016 petition filed by one Alex Oryang Odonga, in the Constitutional court, challenging the legality of Naggayis re-election asserting that, since 2005, Kampala stopped being a district after the 9th Parliament amended the 1995 Constitution and created Kampala as the capital city of Uganda.

The amendment according to Odonga stopped Kampala from being a district that required a Woman representative in the legislature. The petitioner contended that the Constitution of Uganda provides that there shall be one woman representative for every district in Parliament.

But, the Constitution does not provide for representation in parliament by a Woman representative for a city or cities in Uganda. Odongo further asserted when the Electoral Commission issued an election roadmap for the 2016 general elections, which calendar included the election of a Woman representative for Kampala city on February 18, 2016, declaration of Naggayi as winner of the parliamentary seat on February 19 contravened the Constitution.



Odonga sought for a declaration that section 8(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005 under which Naggayi was elected is inconsistent with and in contravention of Articles 2 (1) and 61 (1) (b) of the Constitution of Uganda.

In response, Josephine Kiyingi, Naggayis lawyer, asked court to dismiss the case on grounds that Odonga didnt disclose any cause of action against Naggayi.

Kiyingi, therefore, described the petition as so some sort of political prosecution of Naggayi since the right person to be sued was only the attorney general. Odonga, in his petition had listed the Attorney and Electoral Commission as the second and third respondents, respectively.

In their analysis of the case; justices; Steven Kavuma, Richard Buteera, Solomy Balungi Bossa, Cheborion Barishaki and Paul Mugamba faulted Odongas lawyer Naboth Muhairwe for not responding to Kiyingis contention that Naggayi was wrongly sued.

They said not rebutting that particular argument would ordinarily mean that Muhairwe conceded to the same. In his affidavit in the support of his petition, the five judges found that Odonga didnt show any wrong doing by Naggayi since her only role was participate in the election as a candidate.

We are therefore of the considered view that the first respondent [Naggayi] is not responsible for any alleged violation of the Constitution, they ruled, absolving Naggayi of any wrong doing in the circumstances, we agree with counsel for the first respondent that the petitioner had no cause against her but against the attorney general and the Electoral Commission.

KAMPALA A DISTRICT?

After, that the judges delved into Odongas ultimate argument that Kampala as it stands now is no longer district following the enactment Article 5 of the Constitution which had the effect of placing the administration of Ugandas capital in hands of the central government.

First in their 35 page judgment, the judges point out that the first schedule of the Constitution stipulates that Kampala and districts of Uganda for avoidance of doubt they clarify that Kampala in the Constitution is listed first and then other districts.

From the above, what is clear, the judges say, is that Kampala is a district and the capital of Uganda at the same time.

They also had the mandate to interpret Article 5 (2) of the Constitution which stipulates that Uganda shall consist of the districts specified in the first Schedule to this Constitution and such other districts as may be established in accordance with this Constitution or any other law consistent with it.

In particular, they took interest in the word and since Muhairwe had insisted that it means that Kampala is not district.

To clear this, the judges used the Merriam Webster dictionary, which states that, the word and is used as a function word to indicate connection or addition especially of items within the same class or type; and used to join sentence elements of the same grammatical rank or function.

From the foregoing, the judges held that use of the word and indicated the connection between Kampala city and the other districts in Uganda.

It [Kampala] appears under the same schedule with other districts in Uganda. It appears under the same schedule with other districts, albeit, it appears first, the judges ruled, We are of the view that Kampala city is in the same class as the districts of Uganda.

It was also the judges finding that Kampala was meant to be administered the same way as before the amendment of the Constitution in 2005 in which it was placed under the direct administration of government.

Kampala had 7 constituencies and one Woman of member of parliament before the amendment of the Constitution, they said, We therefore conclude that in accordance with section 84 of the Kampala Capital City Authority Act and Articles 63 and 293 of the Constitution, the status quo was maintained after the amendment though the Constitution does not mention the word city, its worth noting that Women members of parliament are of entire district.

In dismissing Odongas petition, it was pertinent to these five judges to highlight the rationale for creating the position of Women members of parliament.

It has been documented that women have been marginalized on grounds of gender in most spheres of life, the judges started, The state wanted to address such marginalization when they enacted the Constitution. This can be deduced from the preamble to the national objectives and directives principles of state policy and several provisions of the Constitution.

Accordingly, though the Electoral Commission had conceded through its lawyer Eric Sabiiti, that it illegally organized the election, the judges inevitably concluded that the election of Naggayi as the Kampala Woman member of parliament was consistent with the Constitution.

In conclusion, we decline to make the declarations sought by the petitioner [Odonga] and accordingly dismiss the petition, they adjudged, Each party shall bear its own costs.

dkiyonga@observer.ug
Exam papers being printed.

Labwor MP Michael Ayepa could not hide his anger with Uganda national examinations board after it with-held Primary Leaving Examination results for 2,559 candidates including his daughters over suspected examination malpractices.

The results were withheld pending completion of investigations and those cleared will have their results released, according to the examinations body.

However, some parents have not sat back to wait for investigations, including Ayepa, who went to Uneb today to seek and explanation from the executive secretary, Daniel Odongo, as to why his daughters results were withheld.

I went to Uneb offices; I was looking for Mr. Odongo. They told me he is here in Parliament. I had to rush here and I thank god I have got this opportunity, Ayepa said.

I feel like burning Uneb, I am telling you. The reason why somebody became Kony is this provocation. My daughter is totally innocent and she is suffering. A lame girl suffering, now again the results have been withheld, he told the parliamentary committee that was meeting with Uneb officials over the budget framework paper and other issues.

The legislator complained that Uneb had transferred its incompetence to innocent pupils after failing to hire trusted people that could manage examinations, demanding that the results be released unconditionally.

Its your own weaknesses. I met a UPDF [officer] there [at Uneb offices in Ntinda] also boiling, saying today he wants his [childs] results. My brother, [Odongo] why are you holding my daughters results? Ayepa demanded.

Ayepa says his daughter was supposed to sit for the exams three years ago but due to an accident, he chose to keep her at home, as she recovers and says that now that she has finally sat for the exams, Uneb withheld the results.

But Uneb executive secretary Odongo explained that the results were withheld after three different committees confirmed that the pupils could have engaged in activities of cheating.

According to Odongo, the pupils were found to have answered the questions in the same way and failed the same questions in the same manner, which is questionable.

At the third level, these scripts were subjected to a review by a committee of the board called examination security committee which is composed of eminent academics. We are an academic institution and so members of the board are selected rather carefully to reflect the different competence areas, Odongo said.

This committee looked through the scripts of Seeta Parents and other schools and they still confirmed the suspicion that the work of the candidates did not appear to be exactly theirs, Odongo added.



namuloki16@gmail.com
Dear Ambassador Deborah Malac,

Greetings from Raleigh, North Carolina. I am writing to you through this space in The Observer newspaper because the matter at hand is of public interest.

A small note about me. My name is Moses Khisa. I am a Ugandan. I teach political science and Africana studies at North Carolina State University where I am employed as a fulltime, tenure-track assistant professor. Before arriving here last fall, I served for one year as a lecturer at Northwestern University where I spent six years studying for a PhD in political science.

I am writing to you on the backdrop of a polluted atmosphere in the wake of incendiary and deeply disturbing coarse remarks attributed to President Donald J Trump. But before I get to this subject and the crux of the message I wish to convey, let me preface a small personal note.

I went to Northwestern University in pursuit of scholarly achievement and in a bid to join the global scientific community.

Earlier, I had left Calcutta, India where I was registered as a PhD student. The United States has been at the top of global scholarship and it was a great opportunity for me to benefit from the enormous intellectual and material resources of Northwestern University, including its world number-one-ranked library of Africana studies.

Upon completing my PhD, I had to think carefully about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I could have sought a faculty appointment at a South Korean university or a research position at a British institute.

In the end, I made a very crucial career decision: I accepted my current position at North Carolina State University and turned down an appointment that would have taken me back to my alma mater, Makerere University, Kampala.

I owe a special intellectual debt to Makerere University where I first learnt political science and gained the foundation for my subsequent scholarly achievements.

Last Thursday, the president of the United States stunned some citizens of this great nation and many around the world. The reprehensible remarks attributed to him have been all-over the media, it is unnecessary to rehash them here.

There have been denials that he said what he was reported to have said. But two senators, a Democrat and a Republican, have confirmed that the remarks as reported in the media are essentially accurate.

But from the ceaseless reactions flying around, one confronts a sobering realization: many Americans actually agree with Mr Trumps views. Apparently, he speaks the mind of his supporters. Tune in to cable television; the rationalizations and outright justifications by surrogates and supporters are bewildering. Or check online platforms and you get astonished.

I should also add, Madam Ambassador, that many across Africa, including in Uganda, too, cheerfully agree with your president  he is right to ridicule African countries because they deserve it.

I am writing this sad letter on Martin Luther King, Jr. day (January 15). This is instructive. As you know all too well, the US is yet to come to grips with its ugly and painful history of racial segregation, institutionalized racism, and the despicable humiliation of black and brown people.

It appears that the embers of this history are being fanned afresh in large part from the highest office in the land. By the time you read this letter on Wednesday January 17, I will be going to class to teach.

My students are more than 70 per cent American; so, when I next step in class, I will have to face up to one troubling question: how do I go about teaching students in a country whose president believes Norwegians are welcome but a Ugandan like me is not?

Put another way, how do I reconcile two facts that the US president seems to imply cannot be reconciled: a Ugandan immigrant providing a service at an American university?

Uganda is a poor country; that is a fact. The vast majority of Ugandans live in appalling conditions, no doubt. We have a government that is poorly run, a president keen on clinging onto power than being rugged in bringing about socioeconomic transformation. The USA is happy with him because he ably serves its geopolitical security interests.

But the bottom line is: Ugandans and all Africans, both on the continent and in the diaspora, are human beings. Their socioeconomic conditions cannot be the basis for judging their humanity and worth. Our endemic and intractable problems should not be used to pass big-brush judgment and to debase us.

Often, one encounters Western prejudices that cast African societies as hell and the Western world as some sort of heaven, complete with paternalistic refrains about Western aid that is saving Africa because Africans are incapable of saving themselves.

Madam Ambassador, let me end this letter by underlining this: the rich and prosperous do not hold the right to denigrate the poor and less fortunate. All human beings have the right to dignity despite their material conditions and social status.

If it is the fate of Africa to remain impoverished and misruled, so be it. But the US president, and the Americans who support him, have no right to call us names and deny us our humanity.

moses.khisa@gmail.com

The author is an assistant professor of political science at North Carolina State University.
Results from last years Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) were released last Friday by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb).

This being one of the ceremonies for which she doesnt delegate, our First Lady and Education minister Janet Museveni was the presiding officer.

Handing over voluminous copies containing results by Uneb to the minister is usually part of the ceremonies. I hope the First Lady, together with her dear husband, will sit down to read and analyze these results.

But if, because of their busy schedule, they fail to find time, statistics by Uneb should help them realise how bad both of them are at management.

Universal Primary Education (UPE), directly superintended by Ms Museveni, presented 466,235 candidates for PLE last year. Only 18,363 candidates passed in division one, representing four per cent.

Private schools, not directly managed by Ms Museveni, presented 179,955 candidates and 38,819 (22 per cent) passed in division one.

The total of UPE candidates who passed in division two is 199,222 (44 per cent) while candidates from private schools who passed in this division are 94,704 (53 per cent).

This simply means that 75 per cent of children who sit for PLE in private schools pass either in division one or two. The total in UPE schools is 48 per cent.

UPE candidates who scored zero in each of the four subjects and were, therefore, not graded at all are 49,647 (which is equivalent to half a million children in ten years).

Newspapers, which are our main source of information on such important statistics, have relegated this information to inner pages.

Maybe I am asking too much; but I would expect newspapers to also bring us pictures of parents and children mourning PLE results. For me, such children are the real story, not those who scored aggregate four and are at Serena busy munching chicken.

As a country, we must be discussing why private schools are at 75 per cent in terms of percentage performance (division one and two) while public schools are at 48 per cent. Some of the Asian Tigers such as Malaysia have developed because they prioritized education, especially science.

According to the Budget Framework Paper containing figures for next financial years budget, we will spend Shs 1.2 trillion on primary education. The bulk of this money (Shs 1 trillion) will be sent to districts to pay teachers.

The total amount of money government plans to spend on each pupil is Shs 10,000 annually or Shs 3,300 per term. Apart from paying teachers, government gives each school about Shs 1 million to buy chalk and other necessities.

I recently presided over an end-of-year concert at Kireka C/U primary school and was shocked that this school, with nearly 700 pupils, is given just about Shs 1 million to meet its operation costs.

As a result, I was asked and I accepted to meet the cost of supplying it with electricity because whenever it rains, some poorly-ventilated classrooms get dark and classes cannot be conducted.

I spent about Shs 4 million and, thank God, the school is now fairly lit. I am now looking for a volunteer to connect all classrooms. Mind you, this is a school in town, just 11 kilometers from the city centre.

I think Uganda is not poor, but those of us in leadership are extremely selfish and wasteful. At Kampala Parents School, requirements for a new primary one child  tuition, registration, and uniform fees  amount to about Shs 2.5 million.

That is why there are nearly 200 first grades at this school and only six in the whole of Buvuma district or five in Kitgum.

Kampala Parents probably performs better than 20 Museveni districts. Fighting this anomaly is what sane people must be exchanging blows for, not removal of age limits.

And PLE failures are a reflection of what goes on in all sectors. A lot of money is spent but there is very little or no output.

Today, all very important persons (VIPs) are seeking medical care at either of Nakasero, IHK, Case or Kampala hospitals. Why? Because our national referral hospital in Mulago has been deliberately run down by the regime.

Constructed almost 60 years ago by colonialists, we borrowed money five years ago to just refurbish it!

And I dont think Museveni, his wife and group are without brains. They are intelligent but selfish. How come Musevenis farms in Rwakitura and Kisozi are some of the most attractive in the country?

That is where Museveni takes every visitor to see how good he is as a manager, and not to Kyannamukaaka primary school. There could be two reasons for this.

Probably Uganda is too big to be run by Museveni who can only manage a farm at Rwakitura and Kisozi or, two, Museveni is deliberately failing our country.

Some people may be gifted and very good at running a kiosk but disastrous when entrusted with a supermarket. Maybe that is what befell our country.

The author is Kira Municipality MP and opposition chief whip in parliament.
Erma Bombeck, an American humorist, observes that the odds of going to the store [supermarket] for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.

Money available, chances are high that one will come out with a loaf of bread, plus margarine, newspapers, chocolate, crisps, yoghurt, soda, and Rock Boom. Consumerism is here with a bang!

Middle-class urbanites are increasingly defining wellbeing by consumption  not just consumption to satisfy needs, but shopping as a lifestyle or a hobby.

Do we realize that we may actually not really need over 50 per cent of the stuff we impulsively buy today, but that we are made to believe that we cant do without them? Our minds are on strings under the control of manufacturers, especially through their marketers that have keenly studied the motivation of the human psyche.

We are bombarded with all sorts of adverts everywhere we turn  in taxis, on TV, radio, newspapers, buildings, billboards, loudspeakers, electric poles, places of worship, and on human bodies (clothes).

This trend could be good for expanding our knowledge and improving choice in the market. But, in a highly-gullible society, the negative effects sink deep too.

Advertisers are becoming shrewder at the art of persuasion, lure, embellishment, and deceit. If one is not strongly restrained in their impulse to buy, every day you feel there is another thing missing in your life to complete the equation of happiness.

Just like a cigarette addict yearns for another stick, todays consumerist experiences a constant urge to visit the malls for no particular reason. The modern person is thus attuned to be forever unsatisfied with what they have and to be in perennial pursuit of more of what they are made to think they badly lack (perceived needs).

The more we acquire, the more we realize how much more we need to purchase. Annie Leonard, the environmentalist behind the famous Story of Stuff project, has called this manufactured demand. It may even sometimes involve buying what one already has.

For instance, all the mineral water we buy yet we can well boil water and move with it in water bottles! We are made to attach high class to sipping purchased bottled water and to feel odd about carrying our own.

Adverts of celebrities pretending to sip away their thirst are meant to drag us into buying in association with the celebrity feeling. In effect, we spend more on less while unnecessarily adding to the garbage burden.

Consider the jellies, creams, hair oils, and sprays that line our dressing tables and bathrooms. Before one is halfway into one oil, they are running for another with a new trending advert featuring nice-looking ladies/babies that may actually never have used whats being advertised.

We then get frustrated that our skins/hair do not get to look like in the adverts  thinking that something could be wrong with us. In the process, we are accumulating stuff and wasting resources!

One has all the clothes they need to be clothed and decent. But adverts keep screaming at you that you are behind fashion, that something new and stylish is on the market. A fashion sense of not accepting to be left behind is pumped into you, even when you know that all the other cloth will add is just a psycho-social feeling of being up-to-date.

In this fashion frenzy, perfectly fine clothes, shoes, bags, and gadgets are thus piled and abandoned in wardrobes and suitcases.

Up-to-date  but who sets the date that we are in constant pursuit of being up to? The manufacturer knows when we have bought enough of something and when the aura is going out of it. Thats the point at which they introduce a slight twist to keep the buyer in the chase.

It is crazy how some of us chase phone models even when the allegedly added functions are not anywhere within the functions we need. But we want to flash them to as well announce our arrival at the iPhone X rendezvous. Just before you even learn how to use it properly, another model is being announced!

In an ill-regulated market like ours where goods of any quality can find space, to keep us buying, some items are designed for quick dump. It is not simply by poor workmanship that some goods break down so fast. Neither is it merely because thats what we can afford. Even cheap goods used to last a little longer.

Its all part of the capitalistic scheme to keep us buying. The DVDs that get wasted at a slight scratch, flash disks that keep begging to be formatted to work, shoes that break before their heels tilt, radios and phones that wont allow to be repaired, ... Its all by design!

One would argue that only cheap goods of low quality break this easily, hence condemning their buyers to perennial shopping. But the high-end shopper is not exempted either because of the way technologies change. Look at the junk floppy disks, video decks, tapes, printers, cassette players, CDs, hatchback TVs, etc!

Some new technologies are deliberately made to be incompatible with old ones. New software refuses to install on older computers, requiring one to buy a new machine! An old good printer fails to install on a new computer, sometimes with no possibility of updating drivers.

You either stick to an old compatible computer or dump the fine printer that is forced into obsolescence! Whereas technological growth necessarily comes along with such hiccups, not all we are pushed/persuaded into dumping is due to inevitability.

And, most unfortunate, in the dumping chain, Africa is the final destination for most of the worlds junk produced both from genuine technological elimination and runaway consumerism.

jsssentongo@gmail.com

The author heads the Centre for African Studies at Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi.
The World Economic Forum has released Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) on most pressing risks that the world is facing, including persistent inequality and unfairness, domestic and international political tensions, environmental dangers and cyber vulnerabilities. One of the most striking findings of this year's GRPS is the reduced prominence of economic risks. The latest results come at a time of improvement in the global economy, albeit a relatively modest one - the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects global GDP growth of 3.6% for 2017, up from 3.2% in 2016.

Recovery is underway in all major economies, leading to a sharp improvement in sentiment, says the report. A majority of respondents said confrontation on economic and geopolitical front would worsen in years to come, and there's a greater chance of major powers going to war. On environment front, storms and other weather-related hazards are also a leading cause of displacement, with the latest data showing that 76% of the 31.1 million people displaced during 2016 were forced from homes as a result of weather-related events, says the report.

Territorial and maritime claims



Referring to contentious issues between various nations, the WEF report says China's determination to press territorial and maritime claims and its extension of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have triggered responses among neighbouring powers, with Japan and India exploring more structured forms of strategic cooperation in both economic and military affairs.

"This initiative could become more significant if additional partners -- such as Australia, the US, or even European states -- were to take part. However, most of these countries are currently cautious and would be wary of allowing such a hedging policy to cause tensions with China," it said.

However, the biggest risks in South Asia overall would be in areas like employment, governance and infrastructure, as per the survey that would be discussed in detail next week at Geneva-based WEF's annual summit, to be attended by 70 heads of states/governments including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. Globally, the environment-related risks top the charts, as per the survey of around 1,000 global leaders described by the WEF as members of its "multi-stakeholder communities".

Environmental risks



The report, which found environmental risks to be dominating the Global Risk Perception Survey for the second year running, said a deteriorating geopolitical landscape is partly to blame for the pessimistic outlook in 2018. As per the survey, 93 per cent of respondents said they expect political or economic confrontations between major powers to worsen, while nearly 80 per cent expect an increase in risks associated with war involving major powers.

Overall, 59 per cent of the respondents pointed to increased level of risks this year, the WEF said while hoping that a positive economic outlook would give leaders the opportunity to tackle systemic fragility affecting societies, economies, international relations and the environment. Only 7 per cent saw the risks declining in 2018.



National identity source of tension



The report further said that amid geopolitical flux, national identity becomes a growing source of tension around contested borders, while clashes related to identity and community continue to drive political dislocations in many countries and are increasingly fuelling cross-border tensions. Talking about 'major power tensions', WEF said relations between the world's major powers are changing, "mostly for worse", while shifting relations between global and regional powers is creating increased uncertainty for smaller states.

Listing examples, it referred to Bhutan last year finding itself "at the centre of a stand-off between India and China". It also talked about some countries planning to extend and deepen networks of economic corridors and spurring huge infrastructure investments, while naming China's BRI as the most ambitious one. Besides, it referred to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC); Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC); International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which links India, Iran and Russia; and Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), a joint initiative by India and Japan.

The report further said one potential trigger for disruption related to economic corridors might be push-back from a country that feels its sovereignty is being undermined and gave the example of the economic corridors crossing contested territory including of the CPEC running through Gilgit-Baltistan. The study highlighted numerous areas where systems are being pushed to the brink -- from extinction-level rates of biodiversity loss to mounting concerns about the possibility of new wars.

Extreme weather events, natural disasters



The top ten risks in terms of likelihood include extreme weather events, natural disasters, cyber attacks, data fraud or theft, climate change, involuntary migration, man-made environmental disasters, terrorist attacks, illicit trade and asset bubbles in major economies. The biggest risks in terms of impact would be weapons of mass destruction, extreme weather events, natural disasters, climate change, water crises, cyber attacks, food crises, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, involuntary migration and spread of infectious diseases.

"A widening economic recovery presents us with an opportunity that we cannot afford to squander, to tackle the fractures that we have allowed to weaken the world's institutions, societies and environment. We must take seriously the risk of a global systems breakdown," WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said. Economic risks feature less prominently this year but there are worries that the improvement in global GDP growth rates may lead to complacency about persistent structural risks in the global economic and financial systems.

The WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for public-private cooperation and hosts over 3,000 world leaders from politics, business and civil society every year in Swiss ski resort town Davos for an annual talkfest, said structural and interconnected nature of risks in 2018 threaten the very system on which societies, economies and international relations are based.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon head to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, with an aim to spell out the country's agenda as a 'new, young and innovative India'. The Prime Minister will also talk about 'cooperative federalism in India' in the 48th WEF apart from urging world powers to unite against terrorism, cyber threat and economic imbalances, and corner the nations harbouring terrorists and spreading their expansionist agenda.



With inputs from PTI
Gurugram-based Amber Enterprises is coming up with its initial public offer (IPO) today.

The room air-conditioner manufacturer has expertise in indoor, outdoor, split and window AC units and has reputed clients such as Daikin, Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Voltas and Whirlpool.

The company plans to raise Rs 475 crore via fresh issue of shares and Rs 125 crore through offer for sale by promoters Jasbir Singh and Daljit Singh. The shares are available in a price band of Rs 855 to Rs 859 per share. Retail investors will be allocated 35% of the issue.

The firm was incorporated in 1990 and started with a single manufacturing facility in Rajpura Punjab in 1994.

The room air-conditioner manufacturer also makes room air-conditioner (RAC) components such as heat exchangers, motors, inverter and non-inverter printed circuit boards.

On Tuesday, the firm raised Rs 179 crore from anchor investors. The company's IPO committee has finalised allocation of 20,80,459 equity shares to 15 anchor investors at Rs 859 apiece, also the upper price band for the offer, Amber Enterprises informed the stock exchanges. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority - Behave, Blackrock India Equities Mauritius, Goldman Sachs India and Kuwait Investment Authority Fund 225 are among the anchor investors.

Amber Enterprises' initial public offer (IPO) will close on January 19. The company plans to use the proceeds for repayment and advance payment of certain loans and other general corporate purposes. Edelweiss Financial Services, IDFC Bank, SBI Capital Markets and BNP Paribas will manage the company's IPO. The IPO has recived mixed ratings from brokerages and experts. Here are some of them.



Centrum Broking

Centrum Broking said the issue looks expensive with no clarity on growth in financial performance.

"At the higher end of the price band of Rs 859, the issue is valued at 96.8 times price to earnings (PE) on FY17 basis (post dilution) and 49.4 times on first half of FY18 (annualized) basis. While the company holds leadership position , it is difficult to justify its valuation due to lack of clarity of the growth trend in the financial performance," it said in a note on 16 January.

"Single digit earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin, average of 8% for last 5 years and return on equity of 10%, do not provide comfort," Centrum said.

Geojit



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Amber Enterprises India Ltd (AIEL) is one of the most prominent company in the manufacturing of air conditioners and its components. With a market share of 55.4%, Amber enjoys the leadership position as an outsourced manufacturer and designer of RAC (Room Air Conditioner). As a one-stop solution provider for major brands, Amber serves 8 out of top 10 brands in India.

Company's key customers include brands like Daikin, Hitachi, LG, Panasonic, Voltas and Whirlpool. During FY14-17, revenue grew at a CAGR of 19.1% higher than the industry average of listed consumer durables brands of 11.7%.

In FY17, EBITDA margins were healthy at 8.3% which is in line with the industry average. They have also managed to deleverage balance sheet and improve credit rating. The Indian RAC market has been witnessing robust growth trend in the past five years with a CAGR of 9.4% by volumes.

In the next five years, the market is expected to witness a CAGR of 12.8% reinforced by the surge in rural consumption, shorter replacement cycles, energy-efficient RACs and availability of multiple brands at various price points.

Moreover, with the current low penetration of 4%, the Indian RAC market presents huge opportunity for players to garner larger share of the market. Amber is perfectly aligned to take full advantage of this opportunity with its strong long standing relationships, widening customer base, range of additive manufacturing solutions, strengthening R&D capacity, strong revenue growth and continued market leadership position in the last few years. At an upper price band of Rs859, Amber is available at a valuation of 41x (non-diluted) on annualised HIFY18 EPS. We recommend 'Subscribe' to the issue, with a medium-to-long term perspective.

HEM Securities



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Amber Enterprises India is a market leader in the RAC OEM/ODM industry in India with a market share of 55.4% in terms of volume in Fiscal 2017 (Source: F&S Report). Co is a one-stop solutions provider for the major brands in the RAC industry and currently serves eight out of the 10 top RAC brands in India.

Valuation

The co is bringing the issue at p/e multiple of 49 on annualized H1FY18 eps at higher price band of Rs 855-859/share. Co be-ing market leader in RAC OEM/ODM industry in India have reputed clientele with strong track record of financial perfor-mance.Looking after strong future prospects of co with decent fundamentals, , we recommend "Subscribe" on issue.

Angel Broking



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Amber Enterprises India is the market leader in the room air conditioner (RAC) outsourced manufacturing space in India with a market share of 55.4%. It is a one-stop solutions provider for the major brands in the RAC industry and currently serves eight out of the ten top RAC brands in India including Panasonic, LG, Daikin, Hitachi, Whirlpool, Voltas, Blue Star and Godrej.

Outlook & Valuation: At the upper end of the price band, the P/E multiple works out be 80x (pre issue equity base) of FY17 EPS which prima-facie looks on the higher side. However, considering future earnings growth trajectory to be very robust (FY19 earnings expected to be 4x of FY17 earnings); we feel that the stock would trade at 22-25 times (post issue equity base) on our rough EPS for FY2020 which looks very attractive. Its closest peer - Dixon Technologies is trading at higher valuation of 30 times FY20 earnings. We recommend 'SUBSCRIBE' on the issue for a mid-to-long term period.
Mr Edem Elliot Agbenorwu, the Ketu South Municipal Chief Executive, has called on government to stop expanding settlements at Gakli Kologa and other communities along the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao for security reasons.



He described the communities as unapproved and haven for thousands of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries and must be watched.



The MCE said this when he briefed the Inspector General of Police, Mr David Asante-Apeatu on the security of the area, during the IGPs tour of the frontier.



Mr Agbenorwu said the development posed serious challenges to local governance and said an expanding black market and illegal activity made the situation a "time bomb".



He said buildings including a huge market complex had been constructed without permits and were dangerously sited along the buffer zone, creating difficulties in implementing regulatory policies.



Mr Agbenorwu therefore underscored the need for a police post along the border and other vantage points to beef up security along the stretch.



The MCE said the Republic of Togo had secured their side of the border and directed the Minisdtry of Roads and Highways to rebuild the broken border walls and enforce laws that prohibited trade in foreign currency in the country.



The IGP commended the MCE for efforts at ensuring security and said the Police Service would consider plans to establish a division at Aflao in view of recent industrial strife in the Municipality.



He reiterated the need for the people to be law abiding and cooperate with the security agencies.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
For Immediate Release

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today expressed concern over an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled brutal violence in Myanmar.

Dr. Homer Venters, PHRs director of programs, who traveled to Bangladesh last month with a team of doctors to document evidence of physical and sexual violence against the Rohingya, issued the following statement:

The agreement is eerily quiet on what actually happened to the Rohingya and does not address accountability for the wide-scale atrocities and terror inflicted upon them. Our team of physicians recently conducted forensic evaluations of Rohingya survivors in Bangladesh and we found that many women and children had sustained gunshots, stab wounds, burns, and other intentional injuries  including, reportedly, mass rape  that are inconsistent with any legitimate anti-terror operations. Its hard to imagine that in 2018, two national governments have reached an agreement to push almost 700,000 refugees  victims of an historic campaign of violence  back to their home country without a proper accounting of events and safeguards for the future.

Without investigation, transparency, and accountability for crimes against the Rohingya, any discussion of repatriation is a nonstarter. Our experiences on the ground tell us that it is unlikely that Rohingya refugees will leave camps in Bangladesh if they face uncertainty about whether they or their families will be subjected to violence, abuse, and rape back in Myanmar. In addition, the systematic persecution and denial of education, health care, and other basic human rights that have long been a daily reality for the Rohingya must be addressed. Anyone who fears persecution on return to Myanmar must be afforded the right to seek asylum in Bangladesh, consistent with international law.

The agreement stigmatizes the Rohingya people as would-be terrorists and includes unrealistic demands that these people, who fled for their lives with no possessions, show proof of residency to the very government that denied them of their citizenship, making it difficult for them to believe that they will be protected upon returning home. We call on the government of Myanmar to allow a full, impartial investigation by international bodies so that the truth can be established for all to see and guilty parties can be held accountable. This is the precursor to establishing any voluntary, safe, and dignified return.

On its recent visit to Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, a team of PHR doctors conducted forensic documentation following internationally accepted protocols to corroborate stories of violence and abuse, supported by physical examinations and x-rays. The team will be returning in February for a similar investigation.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
Gov. Andrew Cuomos budget address was more succinct and to the point in roughly 40 minutes then the 90-minute oratorical flourish of the State of the State.

Cuomo talked about changing the income tax structure to an employer-based payroll tax in order to offset the capping of the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000 in the new federal tax plan. He also suggested imposing new taxes on opioids and health care companies.

One thing was conspicuously absent from the speech  any mention of cutting state spending.

The budget plan comes in at more than $168 billion. There was no talk about perhaps reducing the size of the state workforce. There was no talk of lifting costly state mandates such as special education requirements that go well beyond those of the federal government; the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law, which preserves the annual salary increases for educators even when a contract has expired; or the Wicks Law, that requires separate bidding of the electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning components of a municipal or school capital project.

There was no talk of taking a closer look at where and how the state spends money.

Instead, Cuomo outlined a confusing and complex bureaucratic change that puts the onus on employers to pay the income tax and get a reimbursement.

E.J. McMahon, research director for the fiscally conservative think tank the Empire Center, criticized Cuomo for not proposing to change the state law to prevent the $10,000 cap from applying to people deducting property taxes on their state return. Currently, the state law has language that requires it to mirror federal law.

You got me backwards. Im not suggesting we go with the $10,000 cap. Im saying the exact opposite: we should decouple form the $10,000 cap, or otherwise we will be increasing taxes (a bad thing!) by $400 million.

Even Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, said in a statement that he wanted to hear more on the spending side of the equation.

We need to be mindful of unnecessary spending this year and focus on balancing our budget and making New York more affordable for middle-class families. Our state has continuously ranked among the worst states in the country when it comes to property taxes, this needs to change, he said in a news release.

I agree. Instead of focusing all the attention on revenues, the state must also look at the spending side of the equation.
QUEENSBURY  A woman from Florida who police believe was part of a ring that defrauded Wal-Mart stores around the country by using stolen credit cards has been sentenced to a year in jail for guilty pleas in two local counties.

Yenisleidi Pino-Quintana, 25, of Miami, pleaded guilty in Warren County Court in November to second-degree forgery for her use of stolen cards to buy gift cards at the store on Route 9 in Queensbury last January.

She also pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a forged instrument in Saratoga County Court for use of a stolen credit card at the Wal-Mart store in Wilton and was sentenced to time served in jail. Police said she was also tagged with charges for a similar crime in Schenectady County.

Pino-Quintana was arrested by State Police in Queensbury in April.

Warren County Judge John Hall warned her during her guilty plea that she likely faced deportation to her native Cuba for the conviction after her release from jail.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a nearly $800 million increase in school aid  about half of what school advocates say is needed to maintain existing programs.

Cuomo was heckled during his budget address by Assemblyman Charles Baron, D-Brooklyn, who stood up during the speech to call for higher taxes on millionaires to support public schools. Baron is among education advocates who say that the state has underfunded schools by about $4.2 billion.

Cuomo instructed him to listen to his speech and then continued.

Its never enough, Cuomo said, pointing out there has been a 35 percent increase in state financial support for education since 2012.

The governor is putting together this budget with the backdrop of a potential $4.4 billion deficit and a potential $2 billion in federal Medicaid cuts looming.

Cuomo is proposing an increase of $796 million in education funding, for a total of $26.4 billion.

Foundation Aid, which is the basic school grant, would increase by $338 million. Another $15 million would expand prekindergarten to serve another 3,000 to 4,000 students; $10 million would provide after-school programs for another 6,250 students; and $200 million would turn high-needs schools into community hubs.

This falls far short of what education officials had sought.

The Educational Conference Board, a coalition of organizations representing parents and teachers, had recommended the state increase education aid by $2 billion.

The Board of Regents had sought a $1.6 billion increase in funding. Of that, $1.25 billion would be for regular aid; $314 million for reimbursements, such as building aid; $25 million for expanding career and technical education programs; and $20 million for increasing the number of students attending prekindergarten.

Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia issued a joint statement on Cuomos budget proposal, stating they are pleased he has included additional funding to expand prekindergarten and after-school programs, but concerned the amount is less than half what the board recommended.

We need to invest in the education of all New York state students. The Regents State Aid request would ensure schools continue to improve and better prepare our children while also acknowledging the States fiscal realities, they said in a news release.

Queensbury Assistant Superintendent for Business Scott Whittemore said he is disappointed in the governors proposal.

School officials also want to make sure that the formula used to award aid to districts is using current poverty information, instead of old data.

Its great that theres more money, but it needs to be distributed based upon equity and current poverty needs, he said.

Whittemore had not seen specific aid figures, which were trickling out later in the afternoon. Queensbury would see an increase of about 2.1 percent in Foundation Aid to $15.16 million under the governors proposal.

In some other local districts, Glens Falls would see its Foundation Aid increase by 1.4 percent to $13.34 million; Hudson Falls would see a 1.5 percent increase to nearly $19.37 million; Fort Edward would go up 1.8 percent to $5.043 million; and South Glens Falls would see a 1.6 percent increase to nearly $17.63 million.

Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, had not seen the figures. She pointed out that, of the governors proposed increase, only about half is for Foundation Aid, which is the basic grant schools get for education. The other portion of the increase is for transportation and BOCES services, which are given to districts based upon the services they use.

She said the governor has talked about directing more money to high-poverty schools, which is a good thing.

Well have to see. You dont really know until you see a run how it actually plays out, she said.

The Alliance for Quality Education was sharply critical, saying that the state ranks 49th in the nation in equity in education spending.

Ever since he took office, Governor Cuomo has found excuse after excuse for why he cant prioritize education for black, brown, immigrant and low income students; this years excuse is the deficit, said Jasmine Gripper, legislative director for the alliance, in a news release.

New York State United Teachers issued a statement saying it is willing to work with the governor.

As New York faces threats from Washington and a difficult fiscal environment, we are appreciative of the governors support for students, educators and working families. We support his goal of building a stronger middle class, it said in a news release.
Warren County supervisors are looking into whether the county and its towns can team up to pay for animal control services after concerns were raised about the countys contract with the Warren County SPCA.

Supervisors and county Sheriff Bud York had a spirited discussion Wednesday about the SPCAs contract, and criticism of its bookkeeping and accountability as the contract came up for renewal.

County supervisors agreed to extend the contract for six months in order to look at the possibly of sharing services and restructuring the contract so that towns that use the SPCAs services and the county can potentially work together. The Board of Supervisors Finance Committee was initially considering a one-year contract as part of its annual renewal of outside contracts on Wednesday.

The discussion started with concerns about the documentation that the SPCA was providing for its $100,000 annual payment from the county. Glens Falls 3rd Ward Supervisor Claudia Braymer said the material being provided was not sufficient to back up its activities.

The SPCA also contracts with six towns in the county, and supervisors from several of those towns spoke up in defense of the program and the actions of the SPCA staff under the direction of senior humane officer Jim Fitzgerald.

Sheriff York offered an impassioned defense of the SPCA, saying some have spread misinformation about Fitzgerald and the organization. He said police, for years, have been left handling animal issues, because town-employed animal control officers wont respond to calls when asked.

Fitzgerald is the first person in the sheriffs 40-year law enforcement career who responds with no questions asked, even when its a call in frigid weather on New Years Eve to deal with a neglected bull, as he did a few weeks ago, York said.

He answers his doggone phone and does it, York said. In the law enforcement community, Jim Fitzgerald is respected by the Warren County Sheriffs Office and State Police because he comes when you call him.

Yorks office supervises the SPCA, and the sheriff said changes in the contract to make its payments for performance instead of for reimbursement of expenses would likely solve the contractual concerns.

Fitzgerald is a certified nuisance wildlife officer, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation has been happy with the SPCAs assistance to the state agency, the sheriff added.

Lake Luzerne Supervisor Gene Merlino and Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty said their towns recently renewed contracts for dog control with the organization, and were satisfied with the service.

The little towns need this, Merlino said.

Glens Falls 2nd ward Supervisor Peter McDevitt, whose son is on the SPCAs board of directors, pointed out that Warren County SPCA has handled calls in Glens Falls free of charge when the SPCA of Upstate New York, with which the city contracts, has not responded.

Queensbury at-Large Supervisor Doug Beaty, who chairs the county boards Shared Services Committee, said the situation could serve as a good opportunity for the towns and county to work together, share services and potentially save money.

We may be able to save a few bucks, Beaty said.

Warren County SPCA was largely dormant for years until a group led by Fitzgerald re-organized it three years ago, adding trained animal control officers who are certified peace officers to handle dog calls and neglect and abuse allegations.
Editor:

Sister Mary Anne Heenan, chairwoman of the board of trustees of The College of Saint Rose, (The College of Saint Rose is facing many challenges, Jan. 11) would have us downplay the colleges problems because they are similar to those experienced by many other private colleges. This is highly misleading.

Although many private colleges are facing heavy headwinds, some are responding effectively, some are not. Unfortunately, Saint Rose, where I have taught for over 40 years, has recently fallen into the latter category. The turning point came in 2014 with the boards hiring of an inexperienced and ineffectual president, Dr. Carolyn Stefanco.

Under this presidency, Saint Rose has experienced mounting budget deficits, declines in student enrollment and retention, and disturbingly large and unprecedented resignations of trustees, administrators at all levels, and faculty members, young and old. Recent protests, letters of resignation and news stories have revealed that President Stefanco has a troubled relationship with the board, has never really connected with students or faculty, and is not open to feedback or alternate opinions. Under this presidency, Saint Rose is in shambles.

For the college to respond effectively to its challenges will, as Sister Heenan recognizes, require unity: All of us will need to pull together. But after all that has happened in the last four years, it should be obvious that the required unity is not possible under our current president, and perhaps not even under our current board, some of whose remaining members misguidedly continue to publicly support her.

Frank T. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, The College of Saint Rose
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The Illinois Sheriffs Association announces that it will be awarding over $53,500 in college scholarships throughout the State of Illinois to students wishing to pursue higher education during the 2018-2019 academic year. The scholarships are to be applied to tuition, books and fees only. The student must be enrolled full-time at a certified institution of higher learning within the State of Illinois Henry County Sheriff, Kerry Loncka, will be awarding one scholarship in the amount of $500.

There will be no restriction on any applicant by reason of race, age, creed, color, sex or national origin. The only limitations are as follows:

- Applicants must be permanent Illinois residents

- Scholarships must be utilized at institutions of higher learning within the State of Illinois

- Students must be enrolled as a full time student during the 2018-2019 school year (excluding summer session).

Applications are now available at your local Sheriff's Office or on the internet @ www.ilsheriff.org. Students must complete the application; answer the essay question and return all documentation to the Sheriff's Office in their permanent county of residence by March 15, 2018 (must be postmarked by this date).

For more information, please contact your local Sheriff's Office, Illinois Sheriff's Association, high school advising center or college financial aid office.
SAVANNA Today, State Representative Tony McCombie (IL-71) announced over $16,000 will be awarded from IL Secretary of State Jesse Whites School Library Grant program to a dozen local school districts. School districts that applied for the grant are awarded at least $750 to improve their library.

As an avid reader, I am excited to announce this grant money to help our local school districts libraries. Libraries around the district are taking a new shape and this grant will mean so much to our schools who are looking to buy new books and technology for their library, said State Rep. Tony McCombie.

The School District Library Grant Program is designed to help provide more library books and materials for the students of public schools in Illinois. The state legislature has authorized up to a $.75 per pupil expenditure for qualifying schools. The grant award is based on funds appropriated by the General Assembly and the official enrollment as of the previous September 30th of a school district.

As a former public school teacher and administrator, I know our school libraries are very important in helping students learn and prepare themselves for the future, said Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian, Jesse White. Illinois was the first state to implement a school district grant program for libraries, and I am pleased that we can continue to provide them with some of the financial resources they need to produce well-educated students.

The awarded local School District Library Grants are as follows:

School

City

Amount

Colona Grade School District #190

Colona

$750.00

Erie CUSD #1

Erie

$750.00

River Bend Community Unit District #2

Fulton

$750.00

Morrison Community Unit School District #6

Morrison

$750.00

Riverdale Community Unit District #100

Port Byron

$822.00

Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico CUD 3

Prophetstown

$750.00

Rock Falls Township High School #301

Rock Falls

$750.00

Sterling CUSD #5

Sterling

$2,383.50

United Township High School District #30

East Moline

$1,251.00

East Moline School District #37

East Moline

$1,971.75

Rock Island/Milan School District #41

Rock Island

$4,533.75

Silvis School District #34

Silvis

$750.00

Total Awarded

$16,212.00
ROCK ISLAND, IL - The Quad Cities Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance) Committee announces a call for entries for the "Ida Kramer Children and the Holocaust Essay Contest" and the "Meyer and Frances Shnurman Holocaust Visual Arts Contest" which are open to all Quad City Area students in grades 7-12. The deadline for entries is February 1, 2018.

Both contests offer cash prizes as follows:

First Prize: $500, with a $100 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

Second Prize: $200, with a $50 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

Third Prize: $100, with a $50 gift card to the teacher who provided guidance

Details and applications for both contests are available online at www.jfqc.org or www.hecqc.org. For more information, contact the office of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cites at (309) 793-1300 or aross@jfqc.org.

The Quad Cites Yom Hashoah Committee is the sponsor of both contests, with Quad City Arts co-sponsoring the Visual Arts Contest.

Essay entries (Essay and Entry Form) may be mailed to the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, 2715 30th Street, Rock Island, IL 61201, or submitted electronically as an email attachment to aross@jfqc.org with "Yom Hashoah Essay" in the subject line.

 The First Prize essay will be read during the annual Yom Hashoah (Holocaust) Remembrance Program on Sunday, April 15, 2018 - 7:00 PM - at the Tri-City Jewish Center, 2715 30th Street, Rock Island,, Illinois, (309) 788-3426.

Visual Art entries (Artwork, Artist Statement, and Entry Form) should be delivered to Quad City Arts (1715 2nd Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois, 61201) for check in by Thursday, February 1, 2018. (Quad City Arts is open 10-5 Monday-Friday and Saturdays 11-5)

 The Visual Art entries will be displayed at the Annual Yom Hashoah Remembrance program. In addition, entries may be displayed in schools, libraries, etc. throughout the Quad Cites before April 15.

********************************************************

 Yom Hashoah, or Days of Remembrance, is observed as a day of commemoration each year for the six million Jews that perished during the Holocaust. While it is primarily observed by Jews, it is by no means an exclusive commemoration, as witnessed by the community-wide event held here in the Quad Cities.

 The Quad Cities Yom Hashoah Committee is made up of community leaders of various faiths and organizations, and is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, Temple Emanuel, Tri-City Jewish Center, Churches United, Augustana College, St. Ambrose University, Black Hawk College, and Scott Community College. The Committee helps us all remember the Holocaust not simply because it is a Jewish tragedy, but because we believe the world must not be allowed to forget that twelve million innocent human beings, six million of them Jews, were murdered by the Nazis. Yom Hashoah seeks to ensure that a crime of such proportions will never be allowed to happen again. We keep the memory of the Holocaust alive to guard against the wanton destruction of any people.

 The essay contest bears the name of Ida Kramer (above), former Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and a longtime Holocaust educator.

 The visual arts contest bears the name of Meyer and Frances Shnurman (above) who were both survivors of Nazi extermination camps.

 Quad City Arts (www.quadcityarts.com) is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to the growth and vitality of the Quad City region through the presentation, development and celebration of the arts and humanities.

 The Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities (www.jfqc.org) is a non-profit, 501 c (3) Illinois corporation whose mission is: Preserving, protecting, enriching and enhancing Jewish communal life and the well-being of Jews locally, in Israel and throughout the rest of the world, through the principles of Torah (Jewish learning), Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), Tzedakah (charity and justice), and Chesed (caring and compassion).
So, I voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.I can hear it now, Boo, hiss, and punches getting thrown in the air. But, Im proud of it. I have no regrets whatsoever.

Its strange how we deplorables, as Hillary Clinton called us, have to keep our enthusiasm for our president restrained or face the consequences from still angry progressives who relentlessly look for someone to blame or hate.

Look in the mirror. Ive been watching and really studying, U.S. presidents since Richard Nixon. There has never been anyone like Trump in the White House. Oh, I watch and listen as people at work rip him a new one every single day.

I stay silent. Not because I dont have an opinion. But their opinion is nothing new to me. Many of them are far left progressives and I know where they stand, because I used to be one of them.

The party has changed and the people have become like rabid dogs, only looking to destroy. Where are the real ideas? You had eight years. And why can you not get past the fact that Hillary Clinton lost? Bernie Sanders had a chance. Why didnt you go with the better candidate? But, again, why are we still talking about this?

When does the smooth transition start? Youve had a year to mourn. I knocked on doors in three states for Barack Obama in 2008. Bought, sold, and gave away boxes of Obama T-shirts to support his first term.

Where did Obama get us? Absolutely no place. He remains in my mind, as one of the finest speakers in the world. My gosh, when he started talking I listened. His oratory skills remain unmatched. But after eight years our country was not better off. Too much talky-talky, and the red line in the sand was crossed. So what changed for me?

How does someone who spent decades leaning left suddenly turn right? The moment I saw Donald Trump coming down the escalator back in 2015 I was ready to listen to someone different.

He gave a speech and some things stood out. He said he was going to build a wall. That stuck in my mind. After all, I believe in border security.

Then, he spoke of putting America first. That stuck as well. My head was nodding yes up and down like a bobblehead, and I knew he had me. We have to watch as the United States pays countries around the world to not fight each other.

We give Pakistan billions of dollars we dont have, and they were ones harboring Osama Bin laden. Why should we continue to borrow money from China to just give it away?

Donald Trump came along and says he wants to make America great again. He says he is tired of China manipulating their currency and us. He is sick of our policies on trade and the fact that we have such terrible one-sided trading with other countries. We let in millions of dollars of their goods into our country, but their countries are shuttered to us.

People really wonder why Donald Trump won the presidency? I think it is obvious. People are sick of our country operating the way it does. We had no one fighting for us that produced results.

You might laugh and say, Do you really think a billionaire cares about you? Well, we were angry enough to vote him in to find out. All the politicians and past U.S. presidents are rich to those of us in flyover country. Whats the difference?

Donald Trump is a racist, they say. They liken him to Hitler for dramatic effect. But his daughter and son-in-law are both Jewish. Wanna try a different game?

Martin Luther King Jr.s nephew was on TV the other night and said after he met our president he can say Donald Trump is not a racist. Thats good enough for me.

Tap, tap, tap, I can hear the angry fingertips of rabid progressives pounding their keyboards.

Bring it.

I knocked on doors in three states for Barack Obama in 2008. Bought, sold, and gave away boxes of Obama T-shirts to support his first term.
Family and friends of Jescie J. Armstrong cried as they recounted the 15-year-olds short life to a Rock Island County judge Wednesday.

They talked about his humor, his love of fishing and catching frogs, and his willingness to help anyone in need.

His grandmother, Debbie Armstrong, said the teens father had gotten him a car and that the two had been fixing it up together.

She and other family members said that Jescie Armstrong, who was fatally shot during a drug deal gone bad in April 2016, will never get his drivers license, graduate from high school, get married or start a family.

Jescies life was taken by a senseless crime by a person who calls herself a mother, Debbie Armstrong said at the sentencing hearing of Chelsea M. Raker, 23, who admitted to playing a role in his death.

How could a mother kill someone elses child?

Raker, of Columbus, Ohio, who pleaded guilty in October to armed robbery, was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison. She must serve 85 percent of the sentence before she can be considered for parole.

She also was given credit for time served and was ordered to serve three years of mandatory supervised release when she completes her prison sentence. As part of the plea, prosecutors dropped two counts of first degree murder, and one count of aiding a fugitive to flee.

Raker declined to make a statement in court during a lengthy hearing at the Rock Island County Justice Center. However, Judge Norma Kauzlarich read aloud a letter that Raker had written.

In the letter, she apologized and said my heart weeps for everyone involved, especially for the family of young Mr. Armstrong.

I cannot imagine the pain Jescies mother had endured, she said in the letter. For this, I am deeply sorry.

Rock Island police were dispatched just before 2 p.m. April 27, 2016, to the 500 block of 20th Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired inside a home.

Officers found Armstrong with a gunshot wound to the head. He later died at Trinity Rock Island.

According to prosecutors, Raker and co-defendants Kire G. Carr and Trey B. Gustafson went to Armstrongs home to buy about $150 worth of marijuana.

Gustafson went into a separate room of the home and could not provide an eyewitness account of the shooting, according to prosecutors.

During the drug deal, Carr pulled a handgun from inside his clothing, threatening the imminent use of force to take the marijuana without paying, according to prosecutors.

A physical fight ensued between Carr and Armstrong and they went to the floor. Raker was standing right next to where the two were fighting, according to prosecutors.

A teen who is friends with Carr had come along to Armstrongs house but remained in the car outside during the drug deal and shooting.

The teen said he saw Raker with a gun in her possession immediately before going into the house, according to prosecutors.

Armstrongs brother, Mark Snyder, was also at the house at the time of the shooting and was in close proximity to the fight.

He could not provide an eyewitness account of whether it was Raker or Carr who shot his brother, which created reasonable doubt as to who was the actual shooter, according to prosecutors.

Carr later provided a statement that Raker had a different firearm from him and that she fired it during the robbery. After the shooting, Raker, Carr and Gustafson left the home with the marijuana, according to prosecutors.

Raker, Carr and his teen friend drove to an apartment in Columbus, Ohio, where they were found the following day.

Police recovered two handguns from the apartment, according to prosecutors.

Carr, 19, of Rock Island, was immediately taken into custody. Raker was arrested in May 2016 in Georgia.

Gustafson was arrested in July 2016.

In a letter read aloud by court personnel Wednesday, Snyder said that he not only lost his brother, he lost himself that day.

I watched my 15-year-old brother get shot, Snyder said in the letter. I watched his lips turn cold, his eyes roll to the back of his head, and his last words to me were, Mark, I love you.

Rock Island County States Attorney John McGehee recommended a 45-year sentence and said that Raker was not on the periphery of this case.

She was highly responsible for this armed robbery, which resulted in this terrible tragedy, he said. This crime also involved planning. Bringing a gun to a robbery of a 15-year-old kid is premeditated.

Defense attorney Dora Villarreal asked for the minimum 26-year sentence and said that Raker did not think that she would walk out of the house that day and there would be a dead person in that house.

She also argued that Raker accepted responsibility for her actions, was remorseful and did not have a prior record.

There are many factors in mitigation, Villarreal said. All the factors and reasons behind them truly show that this was a one-time incident. It was a big cluster of stupid decisions that were made that led to one awful, awful mistake. But, they are not who she is.

Kauzlarich rejected the defenses claims that Raker did not contemplate that her actions would cause serious harm to Armstrong or that she acted under strong provocation.

You came to some place youre not even from and went along with whatever it was, and I refuse, I do not believe for second, that either of these two people, Kire Carr or Mr. Gustafson, or the juvenile that was in the car held any sort of influence or control over you, she said. I think it was the other way around.

The judge said that while she did not agree with Armstrongs choices that day, he didnt deserve to die.

I believe you are remorseful, but on that date, your choice was to enter a residence to rob somebody of a small amount of weed, $150 doesnt get you much, with a firearm and immediately upon it happening, instead of calling 911 or get help, you took off, she said. Flight is an indication of guilt, Ms. Raker.

Carr is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Armstrongs death. In August, he agreed to testify against Raker and will plead guilty to felony murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.

He will have to serve 100 percent of the sentence.

A formal plea hearing has not yet been set. Carr will be back in court Feb. 1 for a status hearing.

Gustafson, 20, of Rock Island, who was shot in the buttocks during the incident, is charged with one count of first-degree murder. He has a status hearing Feb. 2.
The woman accused of reckless homicide in the death of a Moline man known as The Can Man is scheduled to enter a plea in court next week.

Kristianna Granada, 26, is charged with two felony counts of reckless homicide by motor vehicle. Records in Rock Island County Circuit Court indicate that Ganada had a pre-trial hearing last week and her plea was scheduled for Jan. 25. She previously has pleaded not guilty.

The East Moline woman is accused of striking Robert Moldenhauer with her van as he crossed 6th Avenue in Moline with his bicycle. The homeless man used his bike to collect and cash in recyclables. He was well-known throughout the city, and he frequently stopped to talk to people in the neighborhoods that were part of his can-collecting routine.

Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 12, 2016, Moldenhauer was crossing 6th Avenue at 26th Street, which is a one-way, when he was hit by Granada's van, police said.

A witness said the driver did not apply brakes and drove for about a block with Moldenhauer on her windshield before striking a utility pole, throwing Moldenhauer from the vehicle.

The witness, Tom Normoyle, said the windshield on the van was covered in frost, and he later learned from police that Granada's heat and defrost were not working. According to a grand jury indictment, Granada is accused of recklessness, at least in part, because her visibility was obstructed as she drove.

She initially entered a not-guilty plea after her arrest in March, which followed a three-month investigation. She was being held on $30,000 bond but has been free on bail since shortly after her arrest.

Granada operated her vehicle at a time when her visibility was materially obstructed by ice on her vehicles windows, not allowing the driver, the defendant, to have a clear view of the roadway, the indictment reads.

Normoyle, who lived just a few houses from the intersection where the incident occurred, has said he does not look forward to testifying in the case and reliving the details of the crash. He also has concerns for his son, who was just 4 years old when he also witnessed part of it as he walked to the bus stop with his dad.

The boy continues to ask about The Can Man, Normoyle said.
A fifth person has been arrested in connection with a four-month conspiracy during which the grandparent of an Iowa prison inmate was bilked out of more than $35,000, Davenport police said Tuesday.

David John Ochoa Jr., 19, of 2804 Boise Ave., is charged with one count each of first-degree theft, on-going criminal conduct, and conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony.

On-going criminal activity is a Class B felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

First-degree theft is a Class C felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, while the conspiracy charge is a Class D felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The other alleged conspirators in the scheme whom authorities have charged in the case are Audrey Elaine Slyter, 30, of 1805 N. Elsie Ave., Davenport; Miranda Faye Patterson, 19, of 2417 N. Zenith Ave., Davenport; Faith Nicole McLaughlin, 22, of 1557 W. 14th St., Davenport; and Gavin Nathaniel Epping, 18, of 2709 Greenway Drive, Bettendorf.

Each of Ochoas co-defendants is charged with one count each of first-degree theft, on-going criminal conduct, and conspiracy to commit a non-forcible felony.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Detective Jason Gillaspie, between Feb. 14 and June 23, Ochoa and his co-defendants presented themselves as employees of a law firm representing a current inmate of the Iowa Department of Corrections.

The five made contact with the inmates grandparent alleging that money was needed to pay for attorneys fees, medical needs and other fees associated with the inmates incarceration, according to the arrest affidavit.

During the four months of the scam, the grandparent issued 20 checks to the conspirators totaling $35,857.87, according to the arrest affidavit.

Ochoa was booked into the Scott County Jail at 4:57 p.m. Tuesday. He was released at 5:21 p.m. after arranging bail through a bail bond company. Ochoas bond was $25,000 cash or surety.
Former Davenport Fire Chief Lynn Washburn will have to wait a little longer to find out if she can return to the fire department.

Washburn's attorney, Mike Carroll, and Richard Davidson, an attorney representing the city of Davenport, presented arguments Tuesday on the motions to dismiss an appeal of the Civil Service Commission order that would reinstate her to the department.

On Nov. 8, the Civil Service Commission issued an order to reinstate Washburn as a district chief. Washburn was placed on administrative leave July 24 before being terminated as fire chief three days later by City Administrator Corri Spiegel.

In a memorandum placed in Washburn's personnel file, Spiegel indicated Washburn was "unsuitable and unfit" to lead the department, but offered no other specifics as to why she was terminated.

While Washburn had no claim to remain fire chief, she successfully appealed her right to remain in the department through a civil service appeal.

Under Iowa Code, police and fire chiefs are allowed to remain in the department commensurate with their civil service status. The question in the case was whether civil service status is transferable as Washburn spent her career at the Rockford (Illinois) Fire Department before being named Davenport fire chief.

Davenport appealed the civil service order, but Washburn filed a motion to dismiss the case based on three points:

a notice of appeal was filed against Washburn, not the commission

there was no official record because a court reporter was not present and the recording of the civil service hearing was not certified

the city filed a notice of appeal, not a "petition"

Tuesday's hearing was held behind closed doors in Scott County District Court Judge Marlita Greve's chambers.

As Davidson and Carroll left chambers, in front of a Quad-City Times reporter, they began speaking about the next steps. It was in that conversation that Davidson discussed how he perceived the City Council was feeling during its executive session in December where it discussed the pending litigation.

"Their inclination was 'Let's see what happens. We certainly understand that if we lose, we'll have to reinstate her or buy her out,'" Davidson said to Carroll.
SIOUX CITY  The first test of Iowa's new voter ID law went smoothly Tuesday, the state's chief election official said.

"What I've seen is, it's seamless, we're not seeing lines, we're seeing the normal voting process," Secretary of State Paul Pate said during a news conference Tuesday at the Woodbury County Courthouse.

Pate traveled to Sioux City to observe a special election for a state House seat that includes parts of Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood. The Republican joined Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill at the news conference to promote the new voter ID law and later visited a precinct at the Morningside Branch of the Sioux City public library.

In the special election, Democrat Rita DeJong and Republican Jacob Bossman, both of Sioux City, competed for the House District 6 seat recently vacated by Jim Carlin, who won a special election for a state Senate seat last month.

House File 516, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by former Gov. Terry Branstad, requires voters to furnish a photo ID starting with elections in 2018. Democrats and civil rights groups objected to the law, arguing its a thinly veiled attempt to suppress turnout by Democratic-leaning voters.

Pate said a "soft roll-out" of the ID requirement occurred with Tuesday's special election and other elections this year. Voters can sign an affidavit affirming their identify if they cannot furnish a photo ID for some reason.

Though the roll-out was going well Tuesday, Pate said state officials are monitoring the Woodbury County election to see if the law has any impact on voting, and, if necessary, "make some adjustments."

"We're want to hear what's working well, so that we underscore that and keep building on it," he said.

Having a relatively small, special election to test out the new voter ID law is nice, Pate said, because this election can function like a "laboratory."

"We can kind of watch, and take notes, and try to improve what we need to," he said. "I think for a lot of us, it's really just what we thought would happen. It's going well."

Early on Tuesday, voter turnout had not slumped as a result of the ID law, he said.

"From what I'm hearing, I don't think it's affected it at all," Pate said.

Gill, a Democrat, said there have been a handful of individuals who've been impacted the requirement. Fortunately, they were able to sign an affidavit and cast a vote.

"We did have an elderly lady that did not have a voter ID, and she simply had to sign the oath that she was registered, and she was the person she said she was," Gill said. "Those are little issues that we'll have to work out throughout the year."

Some college students also may have been impacted, Gill said, because they may have less ability to prove their residency. House District 6 includes the campuses of Morningside College and Western Iowa Tech Community college.

Poll workers also haven't had much difficulty in adapting to the new rules, Gill said.

"It wasn't really that big of a change," he said.

Pate added that the state is looking forward to a repeat of this smooth process in the next elections -- about 30 local contest in February.
The Service Employees International Union and several of its affiliates around the country have donated more than $1.8 million to Cathy Glasson's campaign for Iowa governor, including $1.1 million since late December.

Glasson, the president of SEIU, Local 199, is one of seven Democrats seeking the party's primary nomination. And her affiliation with SEIU, one of the major players in Democratic politics, has been seen as an asset to her campaign.

Reports filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board bear that out. A range of SEIU organizations from across the country have contributed to her campaign.

The biggest donor has been the SEIU international's political committee, which has contributed about $1.5 million. Most of that came in donations of $600,000 and $500,000 on Dec. 28, 2017, and Jan. 3, respectively, according to the filings.

The figures were first reported Tuesday by the Iowa Starting Line blog.

Glasson's campaign manager said the contributions demonstrate the level of support for her proposals, as well as the contacts she has made with union leaders across the country.

"Cathy's been a leader for almost 20 years in the movement. She's built a lot of relationships," said Brian Shepherd, her campaign manager.

He said her push for a $15 per hour minimum wage and universal health care is drawing wide support and that SEIU unions "are very excited about one of their own members running."

Glasson has received contributions from SEIU organizations in states including California, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state.

The donations go back to last June.

After months on the campaign trail, the gubernatorial candidates face an important test this week. Friday is the deadline to report on their fundraising and spending activities.

Glasson's campaign hasn't filed her report yet. The SEIU contributions were detailed in separate filings by the unions, which face a different set of deadlines.

Shortly after announcing his campaign last year, Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell announced he had already raised $1 million.

The pace of the governor's campaign has picked up, with the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses approaching. The caucuses are the first step in picking delegates to the state convention.

On Thursday, the campaign for Iowa Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, unveiled his first television ad. It is running in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids markets and highlights his opposition to Republicans in the Legislature.

Hubbell, who has already been on television, also released a new TV ad last week.

Shepherd said that Glasson was finalizing a new television ad campaign and it would begin on Thursday.

The seven-person race also includes former Iowa Democratic Party Chair Andy McGuire, former U.S. Department of Agriculture chief of staff John Norris, former Iowa City Mayor Ross Wilburn and Jon Neiderbach, who used to be a member of the Des Moines School Board.
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst campaigned for Donald Trump. She gave, perhaps, the most substantive speech of the Republican National Convention's opening night. She stood alongside him on stages throughout Iowa making his case.

Ernst worked for this. And now, she doesn't want to take the heat.

Ernst isn't the only Republican member of Congress tired of defending the tweeter-in-chief. But her response during a town hall on Monday in Red Oak is nothing short of an attempt to shirk her responsibility for the chaos now masquerading as governance.

"I don't respond a lot to what the president's saying because, if I'm going to talk, I want to talk about the things I'm working on," Ernst told the crowd peppering her with questions about Trump's behavior, according to KETV.

That won't cut it, Senator. Trump's immense power means his words and actions define the political moment. Those things Ernst says she's "working on" do not exist in a vacuum.

Ernst, like a lot of Trump's supporters, promised Iowans that he would evolve once he entered the White House. The gravity of the job, the argument went, would force him to abandon the divisive, base-feeding rhetoric and grapple with the complexities of a socially and economically heterogeneous nation.

Instead, the American president's own staff grouse about his unwillingness to learn the basics about policy. He inflames global tensions 140 characters at a time. He attacks his own constituents -- more than half the country -- for simply disagreeing with him.

Trump is not the leader Ernst promised.

Iowa's junior senator made her bed. It's time she lie in it.

The U.S. is, by every account, in total chaos. The sweeping tax overhaul, the GOP lone legislative achievement in the Trump era, would have happened with any Republican residing in the White House. In the past week, Trump promised to "take the heat" if a bipartisan immigration compromise offended his base. Days later, senators brought him such a compromise and he rejected it, complete with some crass xenophobia. Trump's administration said it supported extending National Security Agency's controversial domestic spying program. But hours before the House was set to vote on the issue, Trump came out against it. Then, after a phone call from House leadership, Trump again did an about-face and, ultimately, supported the bill.

Trump's position is formed solely by with whom he last spoke. There's no rhyme, reason or political worldview from which he's operating. Trump desires only victory. And he's none too concerned with what that victory actually means for the country.

The president is an isolated, incurious man sitting atop an administration where pay-to-play, nepotism and palace intrigue are standard operating procedure.

On at least one occasion, Ernst did challenge the president's toxic drivel. She came out, carefully, against his attempt at booting transgender service members from the Armed Forces. It was a commendable moment. But, so far, it's also been an isolated incident.

Ernst isn't alone -- or even the worst offender -- among Iowa Republicans who carry Trump's water. Sen. Chuck Grassley has run an all-out deflection campaign for Trump from his seat atop the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rep. Steve King is, well, an embarrassment who gleefully champions the most nativist, racist components of Trump's rhetoric.

But King didn't play a substantial personal role in convincing Iowans to back Trump. Grassley worked quietly behind the scenes, urging GOP delegates that the Supreme Court was reason enough to support Trump regardless of his failings. Ernst, however, was Trump's in-state champion who, at one point, was among those discussed as potential vice presidential candidates.

Ernst made a lot of promises about the would-be president, pledges that have been exposed as hollow rhetoric. Iowans are right to want answers.
I would like to comment on statements made by Mr. David Hartsuch in his recent guest column. Contrary to his belief Davenport Community School District actually received more money per-pupil per year, according to the Iowa Department of Management, Davenport received the state minimum of $6,446 per student per year compared to Bettendorfs $6,520 and Pleasant Valleys $6,579 in 2016.

I agree a problem as complex as public education funding cannot simply be fixed by throwing money at it. However, as a former student of the Davenport Community School District, I can attest to the fact that Davenport has launched many efforts to increase fiscal efficiency. Davenport and many school districts have taken effective steps to save money, but theyre running on fumes at this point.

The next steps in this effort to bring equality to education might not be clear, but movement must be made. Let it be known that Superintendent Art Tate never paraded students around. I started the Worth-Less movement before I had ever met my superintendent. I did it because it was the right thing to do.

Each event that we attended, public forums and meetings with legislators, was done on our own. I will not stand for my peers to be valued less than any other student in the state of Iowa. Lets not play the political game with the children of our state. Our energy would be better spent finding a solution so all students have an equal opportunity to receive the quality education they deserve.

Anthony DeSalvo

Davenport
The reconfiguration of the Black Hills VA Healthcare system remains on hold while the federal government reviews its nationwide strategy.

We are in a holding pattern, said Sandra Horsman, director of the Black Hills VA during a town hall meeting in Chadron Jan. 10. The town hall meeting followed the first-ever Veterans Stand Down in the community.

The Stand Down offered services to 54 veterans and four spouses, according to VA records and was followed by the question and answer session with Horsman. During that session, she was questioned about the proposed reconfiguration status. The Department of Veterans Affairs approved a plan to reconfigure the Black Hills VA system in January 2017, a move strongly opposed by many veterans in Nebraska and in Hot Springs, S.D.

The plan calls for constructing a multi-specialty outpatient clinic and 100-bed rehabilitation facility in Rapid City, a community-based outpatient clinic in Hot Springs and discontinuing the use of most of the current VA campus in Hot Springs.

However, roughly a month after approval, new VA Secretary David Shulkin called for a review of the entire VA system and the development of a nationwide strategic plan. Horsman said there is no timeline as yet to when that plan will be completed. In the meantime, the only piece of the reconfiguration the Black Hills system can move forward with is the construction of an MSOC in Rapid City. That project, which will see the VA contract the construction in order to lease the space from the owner, is currently in the design phase. Horsman said it will likely take three to five years to have the MSOC in operation.

While the reconfiguration is stalled, operations continue as usual in Hot Springs, Horsman said, which is fully staffed with physicians and was recently approved to expand its laboratory staffing. The Hot Springs site also has telehealth opportunities available, allowing veterans to access expanded services, she continued. The VA is always looking to the future, and telehealth will play a large role in that, particularly in rural areas such as western Nebraska and South Dakota.

Were constantly looking for ways to expand services, Horsman said.

The Stand Down was designed as an outreach program, with the goal of connecting veterans with a variety of services.

We were able to help several veterans, Horsman said, including one who re-enrolled with the VA after realizing he is still eligible for benefits.

The complexity of the VA system and what veterans are eligible for was among the concerns expressed by the town hall audience.

Karl Storjohann of Chadron suggested the VA publish a document with step-by-step instructions for veterans. Referred to the Mayo Clinic for treatment, Storjohann said he didnt know that his follow-up appointment to Mayo required a second order from his VA doctor. Without that order, he was stuck paying the bill out of pocket. In another instance, facing an emergency, Storjohann was taken by ambulance to Rapid City and paid for the visit himself.

Horsman took the chance to clear up what she calls a misconception about veteran healthcare. Not everything is covered for every veteran. While some veterans are considered 100 percent disabled and have comprehensive coverage, others fall lower on the scale of disability. Those veterans are eligible for care only if it is directly related to their specific condition, no matter where that care is received.

There is a veterans manual that addresses those issues, she said, but noted it could be made easier to understand. Another option for veterans is to contact the VAs patient advocates, who can answer questions and help veterans navigate the system.

As a final reminder, Horsman said veterans need to remember that the Hot Springs facility is an urgent care facility and does not handle emergency situations. In the latter, its best to seek care at the most appropriate place rather than stopping in Hot Springs only to be referred elsewhere.

Do not waste time and your health and possibly life possibly. Go where the care is available, she said.

Editor's Note: This version corrects the spelling of Sandra Horsman's name. We apologize for the error.
When it comes to deciding whether or not to force property owners to construct sidewalks when they apply for building permits, the Rapid City Council needs some direction.

At their meeting Tuesday night, the council considered a local property owners request for the city to waive its requirement to build a sidewalk along the property line abutting Galt Court in northeast Rapid City.

Charles Gummo of BCD Investments made the request for the waiver for his property at 3535 Galt Court as he looks to construct a heating and air-conditioning shop. City ordinance requires the construction of a permanent sidewalk fronting or abutting all streets, highways and avenues, a stipulation that is typically required when the owner of a vacant lot applies for a building permit.

The council ultimately decided to deny the waiver request, 8-1, with Alderman John Roberts voting no. Alderwoman Darla Drew was not in attendance.

During discussion of the matter, Alderwomen Lisa Modrick acknowledged the discussion as familiar before saying that if the sidewalk were required in this case, it would be a sidewalk to nowhere on both ends.

The lot to the east of 3535 Galt Court remains undeveloped while the lot and structure just west, at 2231 Taggart Road, was constructed before the current sidewalk ordinance went into effect. Three lots on the north side of Galt Court directly opposite of the lot in question have approximately 450 feet of contiguous sidewalk before another 215 feet of sidewalk extends on the northwest side of Taggart Road.

Amanda Scott agreed with Modrick on the recurring sidewalk theme, calling it a continuing discussion.

Later, she opined that the problem with granting variances to avoid sidewalks to nowhere was that when development eventually came to the area and other lots were required to build sidewalks, the city had no way to force the lots with past variances  or lots that constructed buildings before the ordinance change like the lot at 2231 Taggart Road  to build the sidewalk and make it contiguous.

Mayor Steve Allender said he would direct staff in the citys Public Works department and Attorneys Office to discuss and present the council with the options for requiring properties without sidewalks  either vacant or constructed before the ordinance changed  to install them.

Rapid City Ordinance 12.08.060 states that properties with variances or buildings completed before the ordinance required sidewalks are exempt only until such time as a building permit is sought to construct an additional structure or parking lot on the property, to enlarge by 20 percent or more an existing structure or parking lot on the property, or to increase the occupant load by 20 percent or more. If such a building permit is sought, then sidewalks must be provided or a new variance must be approved.

In other action, the council:

 Confirmed the appointment of Rod Seals, a 22-year veteran of the Rapid City Fire Department, as Rapid Citys 18th fire chief. Seals had been serving as interim fire chief since December 2016.

 Authorized staff to begin advertising for a $1.5 million project to widen a 1.2-mile stretch of Catron Boulevard between U.S. Highway 16 and Nugget Gulch Road to five lanes. Currently, Catron Boulevard oscillates between two and three lanes in that section before opening into five lanes  two eastbound lanes, two westbound lanes and a center turning lane  as it approaches Nugget Gulch Road to the east and the Black Hills Energy offices to the west.

 Approved a resolution supporting additional mental health services in Western South Dakota following the approval of a similar resolution by the Pennington County Board of Commissioners at their Dec. 5 meeting. Both resolutions came after former state representative Al Scovel made impassioned pleas to the governing bodies for additional mental health services in the area, including the possibility of a new state-run mental health facility in western South Dakota. Currently, the closest state-run facility to Rapid City is in Yankton, about 350 miles away.

 Approved a resolution to write off about 6,200 parking tickets from 2014 worth more than $66,000. The unpaid tickets range from $5 to $110. Due to a new software system, however, the tickets will remain in the city's parking ticket system and will count toward the five tickets or $100 in total fines that lead to a car getting booted. In past years, old parking tickets that have remained unpaid for more than three years have been cleared from the city's ledger for accounting purposes through similar resolutions. The council passed a resolution last year forgiving more than $67,000 in fines and forgave around 10,000 tickets worth about $106,000 in 2016 from tickets dating to 2011 and 2012.

 Acknowledged the citys sales tax collections for the month of November, which came in at $2,046,512, a 3.5 percent increase compared with collections in November 2016. For the first 11 months of 2017, collections are up 2.5 percent compared with 2016, at $23,126,990.

 Authorized Mayor Steve Allender and Sumption to accept about $45,000 in federal funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service for the citys Retired Senior Volunteer Program. RSVP+, which offers adults  specifically those ages 55 and older  the chance to volunteer for a variety of area nonprofits, was put on the chopping block as part of Allenders 2017 budget proposal but eventually restored by the Rapid City Council in September. In 2017, RSVP+ received about $47,000 in federal funding, $28,500 in federal funds and a $35,000 cash influx from the citys general fund. According to city documents, the $45,000 in federal funding expected for 2018 will represent about 40 percent of the programs total operational costs.

 Approved an ordinance to supplement the 2018 budget with $6.8 million for the citys planned landfill expansion project this spring and summer. Of the $6.8 million, about $4.7 million will come from the Solid Waste Departments undesignated cash fund and the remaining $2.1 million will come from the departments collection fund. In 2016, the landfill ended with a $345,457 surplus after it collected $6,708,840 against $6,363,383 in expenses, according to figures provided by Sumption.

 Approved the second reading of an ordinance requiring local security companies to conspicuously display the word security on both sides and the rear of their vehicles to avoid confusion between the companys vehicles and local law enforcement vehicles. In particular, Black Hills Patrol vehicles have been identified as appearing overly similar to law enforcement vehicles and causing confusion amid the general public.
PIERRE | Some small but important changes to South Dakota election laws won approval Tuesday from the state House of Representatives.

The three bills head next to the Senate for consideration.

Rep. Julie Bartling, D-Gregory, said HB 1003 simply corrects an oversight in a rewrite of campaign-finance requirements passed during the 2017 session. The word entity was left out last year from the list of organizations that must report political contributions.

The pending change would put entity back into state law and the change would be effective July 1 of last year.

We certainly want them to be compliant with the law in itemizing those contributions, Bartling said.

An emergency clause would make the legislation take effect immediately after receiving the governors signature.

The measure passed 66-0.

Rep. Tim Reed, R-Brookings, said HB 1004 ensures the state Board of Elections has authority to set the font and size of the type and overall size of the petition form for ballot measures being circulated for voters signatures.

He said there was concern about sizes in some of the measures in past election cycles. It passed 60-6.

HB 1006 would change the period for the Legislative Research Council director to make comments on proposed ballot measures, Rep. Kent Peterson, R-Salem, said.

One change would allow 15 working days. Currently, the law says 15 days. Another change states the director's written comments shall include assistance regarding the substantive content of the initiated measure or initiated amendment in order to minimize any conflict with existing law and to ensure the measure's or amendment's effective administration.

A third change would affect the period for comments. The period from Dec. 1 through the final day of the legislative session would become in effect a blackout period.

The LRC director would have 15 days after the end of the session to report comments back to sponsors of measures.

We thought this was a very good way to offer some clarity as they go through this process, Peterson said.

Bartling proposed an amendment to change the time frame from Dec. 15 to March 10 and allow the director the latitude to have 30 working days.

Otherwise, she said, it could easily be the end of June or July before measures cleared the attorney general and secretary of state and then go to circulators to start collecting signatures.

Peterson countered. I think weve done a very clear job when we met this summer setting a parameter for them to work through, he said.

Peterson noted the busiest time for the Legislatures staff is Dec. 1 through the middle of March.

Rep. Susan Wismer, D-Britton, spoke in favor of Bartlings amendment. She described the bill as a good piece of work but said it needed further change.

More hoops to jump through, more exact time frame. The amendment loosens that up, Wismer said.

House Speaker Mark Mickelson, R-Sioux Falls, called for a voice vote. No was very loud from the Republican side of the chamber, killing the amendment.

The final vote was 64-2. Bartling and Wismer cast the nays.
Lea Patterson vividly remembers days when her children were young and food and money were in short supply. Sometimes, Patterson would drink a cup of hot water, tell her children she wasn't hungry and give them the last food in the house.

It's an experience she wants to spare other families from encountering. Patterson now oversees Lamb Chop Ministries, which serves working families and people on fixed incomes who struggle to make ends meet.

Lamb Chop Ministries is an outreach program of Freedom Motorcycle Church in Rapid City. Patterson, 71, has run the program for four years. Every month, it assists as many as 20 families and individuals by providing fresh and canned food for at least three meals. Currently, most families who turn to Lamb Chop have pre-teen and teenage children. The ministry also serves an increasing number of single elderly or disabled adults who, too often, choose between spending their Social Security income on medicine or food, Patterson said.

"It's kind of word of mouth. ... They call me, and I find out how many people are in the family. ... I make sure you've got enough food to get you through a few days until you get your paycheck or your Social Security," she said.

The food boxes vary depending on each individual's or family's needs but typically include milk, eggs, bread, butter, meat, lunch meat, canned vegetables, potatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, tuna and soup.

An avid home cook and former caterer, Patterson sometimes provides simple, hearty recipes for recipients with limited cooking skills.

"I'll give them two pounds of hamburger and say, 'You can make a really good hamburger gravy with mashed potatoes and vegetables and a salad,' and I give them all that stuff to make a meal, so they have a complete meal," Patterson said. "I like to make sure there isn't a lot of nonhealthy foods."

Lamb Chop Ministries obtains meat, bread and sometimes other food from Feeding South Dakota. However, the ministry relies heavily on donations of food and money year-round, said Linda Hilgemann, associate pastor of Freedom Motorcycle Church. Her husband, Brett Hilgemann, is the lead pastor. The church provides a designated room stocked with two freezers and shelving where meat and canned goods for Lamb Chop Ministries are stored.

Freedom Motorcycle Church members have a passion for giving to the community and actively contribute to Lamb Chop Ministries, Hilgemann said. Community support helps as well. Requests for food rise at Easter, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Patterson said. In November, Patterson's insurance agent, Doug Markworth Jr., and his wife, Shelby, bought turkeys, yams, stuffing and pies so Lamb Chop Ministries could provide Thanksgiving dinner for 68 people in 16 families.

Patterson empathizes with the people she helps. For three years after she and her husband divorced, Patterson was a single working mother who was going to school and raising two children. Those were the years she sometimes went without food so her children could eat.

"I was working two jobs, and I just didn't have enough to feed my kids," Patterson said. "I understand what it's like to work and not have enough."

According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 38 percent of families in South Dakota are considered low income; 17 percent of those are considered poor, having an income lower than the poverty threshold. In 2017, the federal poverty threshold for a family of four with two children was $24,600.

A family that runs out of money  and potentially food  before their next paycheck arrives is considered "food insecure," meaning their access to nutritious food is limited or uncertain. They might be able to feed themselves and their families adequately sometimes, but not all the time. And according to Feeding South Dakota, individuals and families who suffer from food insecurity don't always meet the requirements for state or federal programs that could assist them.

Lamb Chop Ministries helps bridge the gap for people in need who perhaps can't or won't seek help elsewhere. The community has services to help the homeless, Patterson said, but other people in the area who face food insecurity can be harder to reach.

"People are proud here, and I understand that. Word gets around, and I have people that call me," Patterson said. "The dynamics here in the Hills are different. People are more self-sufficient. They're not as visibly needy, and it's harder to feed people here. ... So many elderly can't get around, and they're too proud to say anything."

Lamb Chop Ministries, like many charitable programs, sees a drop in donations in January after the holidays are over. Patterson welcomes donations, especially of food. "I would rather have canned goods or meat than money," she said.

Chicken, roasts, hamburger, ham steaks, lunch meat and even venison that can be frozen can be donated. Canned goods also are needed, including canned fruit in light or unsweetened syrup, Spam, tuna, vegetables, soups, spaghetti sauce and ravioli. To donate food, or if you need food, contact Freedom Motorcycle Church or Lamb Chop Ministries' Facebook page.

The Hilgemanns say Patterson embodies the joy of the Lord when she has the opportunity to give away food.

"She just gets so happy. She's an example to all of us on giving," Linda Hilgemann said. "She just makes things happen. She's always unloading food or packing food up. But because it's such a passion, she's just constantly moving the food through."

For Patterson, who also volunteers at Meals on Wheels, making sure people are well-fed is simply fun. "The Lord has really blessed it. I love it because it's more fun to give than anything else," she said, laughing.
Airbnb guests spent more than $1 million in 2017 in Rapid City, according to a new report from the home-sharing website.

The report lists the ten areas in South Dakota with the highest number of guest rentals last year  nine are in the Black Hills.

Rapid City, with approximately 11,500 guest paying hosts around $1.2 million, topped the list. Sioux Falls was second with about 7,000 guests paying $445,000. Lead, Spearfish, Custer, Deadwood, Whitewood, Hot Springs, Sturgis and Hill City rounded out the top ten.

Overall, the state's Airbnb sites received $4.1 million and hosted approximately 41,000 guests, a 141 percent rise from 2016, according to Airbnbs report. On average, a South Dakota host earned $5,700 in 2017, with 24 percent of the hosts being 60 years or older and 65 percent being female.

Founded in 2008, Airbnb currently has more than 3 million properties available for short- and long-term rentals. More than 200 million guests have used the site to book rooms or entire properties in nearly 200 countries.

Airbnb's report comes as Rapid City officials again consider asking the City Council to approve a home-sharing ordinance.

In October 2016, the Rapid City Council first considered a proposal to regulate the industry that would require homeowners to pay a $250 permit fee, get a state license and submit site and other plans to city government. Property owners renting rooms for fewer than 14 days per year or for more than 30 days consecutively to the same tenant would be exempt. Others, however, would be required to file a permit application to the citys Community Planning and Development Services Department and pay the $250 fee within 90 days of the ordinance going into effect.

A site plan, operations plan, contact information and evidence of the hosts compliance with state laws, such as a license from the state Department of Health and Department of Revenue, would be required as part of the application. In addition, the permit expires on Dec. 31 each year with a renewal permit costing $100.

The proposed ordinance failed by a 6-4 vote at an Oct. 3, 2016, meeting.

In October 2017, the city hired Ken Young as director of the citys Community Planning and Development department following an 18-month search. City spokesman Darrell Shoemaker said that with necessary leadership now in place, the city would likely make another attempt this year at regulating the home-sharing industry.

Shoemaker said the city has received two complaints related to Airbnb properties since 2016.
PIERRE | A political love fest between several lawyers for South Dakotas permanent task force on financial trusts and nine of the legislators on the House Judiciary Committee suddenly went off the rails Wednesday.

The crash came when the tenth, Rep. Susan Wismer, D-Britton, intensely criticized the favorable conditions the Legislature has offered trusts to locate in South Dakota.

Ninety-four private trusts made their home in the state as of Dec. 31 with $234 billion in assets and more than 500 people employed.

But Wismer flipped back the calendar to 1997, the year she said South Dakota broke the social contract when Gov. Bill Janklow first appointed a trust task force.

Since then, lawmakers have repeatedly passed statutes encouraging trusts to come to South Dakota. Wismer said they previously werent allowed in the same fashion anywhere else in the nation.

She said trusts and video lottery are comparable, except trusts provide better-paying jobs. South Dakota has become a haven for fiefdoms from generation to generation, according to Wismer.

Its really nothing to be proud of, she told other committee members and a room with many financial professionals.

Its the way South Dakota has struggled to find alternative sources of revenue that, really, in the long run are not good for democracy as a whole, she said.

Her speech came during the commentary time prior to the vote on HB 1072. Rep. David Lust, a lawyer whos been a past chairman of the task force, fired a counter-attack back at Wismer.

Video lottery is gambling, while trusts employed hundreds of people in positions higher than those commonly available to many working people, according to Lust, R-Rapid City.

Theyre intellectual-property jobs, he said.

Lust said it was incredibly naive that anyone could think for an instant the trusts wouldnt be off-shore somewhere if they werent in South Dakota.

He described Wismers remarks as a screed.

Its just a jaded and biased opinion, he said.

Wismer was the Democratic challenger to Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard in the 2014 general election. Daugaard won with 195,477 votes to Wismers 70,549.

Terry Prendergast, a lawyer from Sioux Falls, explained the opening 20 sections of the legislation Wednesday. Pat Goetzinger, a lawyer from Rapid City and a law partner of Lust, took the second group of 19 sections.

This is the seventh year theyve presented legislation from the task force.

Prendergast said South Dakota now is considered the premier state in the nation for placing trusts.

He cited a financial journals rankings that put South Dakota number-one in the top tier of states in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. Rankings come every two years.

Goetzinger said the legislation is intended to keep South Dakota at the leading edge and top of the rankings.

He said South Dakota was attractive because there isnt any state or local tax that affect trusts and the Legislature repealed the perpetuities ban in 1983 for Homestake Mining Co.

That led trust experts to approach Janklow and suggest South Dakota could become a popular site, according to Goetzinger.

Were the envy of the nation in regard to our trust statutes.

Judiciary members recommended on a 9-1 vote the House of Representatives approve HB 1072. House members could debate it as soon as Thursday afternoon.

They also unanimously backed HB 1028, a bill from the state Department of Labor and Regulation that revises some regulations on trust companies.

The committee put HB 1028 on the consent calendar. That means lawmakers can ask questions but cant debate it when it comes up Thursday.
One of the bigger and more heartening surprises of the past year was how fervently it turned out Americans supported health care for low-income people.

Republican politicians had been running against Obamacare  including its Medicaid expansion and income-based subsidies for buying insurance  from the moment the law passed. And the public appeared to back this agenda: The Affordable Care Act polled terribly.

Yet when push came to shove and Republicans actually tried to dismantle the health-care law last year, Americans fought back. Hard.

They marched in the streets. They showed up en masse to town halls, shaming and shouting down lawmakers. They jammed congressional offices and phone lines.

Even Trump voters, in focus groups, said they didn't want to roll back Medicaid or other health coverage for lower-income people. Mostly, they just wanted in on that sweet, sweet Medicaid deal themselves.

Likewise, in broader polling, a majority of Republicans held favorable views of Medicaid and wanted its funding to hold steady or increase. Sizable minorities even said they supported single-payer or a public option.

Clearly "Obamacare" itself had a branding problem all these years, but on the more substantive question  whether it was government's role to make sure Americans had health-care coverage  Democrats had won the fight.

Or so it seemed. Republican officials have, a bit less conspicuously, fought on.

Unable to roll back Obamacare's health-care expansion legislatively, they're now doing so administratively, through a series of technical regulatory changes.

This GOP effort ramped up last week when the Trump administration began allowing states to erect new barriers to Medicaid eligibility.

In the half-century since Medicaid was created, eligibility has always been based almost entirely on financial circumstances such as income and assets; the program's goal was to help less-well-off Americans obtain medical care. Last week, though, the Trump administration announced that it would start allowing states to impose other requirements on Medicaid recipients, including proof they are working, looking for work, volunteering or in school.

"I was raised with a mind-set to work, give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay," Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said at a news conference announcing that his state was the first to receive a waiver allowing Medicaid work requirements. "It's the very same thinking that we want to bring to people here in Kentucky that are able to participate."

But there's no reason to think, in Kentucky or other states itching to add work requirements, that there are legions of Medicaid loafers. Nearly 8 in 10 Medicaid-enrolled non-elderly adults already live in working families and most (60 percent) are working themselves, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most who are not working report major impediments to their ability to get a job, such as illness, disability, school enrollment or caregiving responsibilities.

But that won't necessarily protect eligible low-income people from being kicked off Medicaid rolls anyway.

Verifying that beneficiaries meet work requirements will impose a huge and costly new administrative burden on states and the working poor. As the Trump administration letter approving Kentucky's work requirements acknowledged, the state's Medicaid phone lines are overwhelmed. If working Kentuckians are unable to cut through the red tape, they can get locked out of the system for six months.

The Trump administration argues, somewhat confusingly, that the new work requirements will actually improve public health. Why? Because they'll encourage more poor people to find jobs and employed people tend to have fewer health problems.

This likely gets the causality backward, though, given how many Americans report illness as a barrier to getting or keeping a job.

Focus groups and state-level studies have found that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion helped lower-income people gain work or remain employed; inversely, reducing long-term access to physical, mental and substance-abuse treatment is likely to hurt both health and employment prospects.

If the Trump administration truly wants to help more Americans find jobs there are far more effective tools than taking away health care. Investing in skills, apprenticeships and job-matching services, for instance. Or expanding the earned-income tax credit, a historically bipartisan program curiously absent from the recent tax bill.

Instead, they're still fixated on dismantling Obamacare, through this backdoor regulatory repeal.

Republicans are counting on the notion that a raft of wonkish-sounding waivers will inspire no riots in the streets, no rowdy town halls, no phone-line-jamming and no mass mobilization to protect health care for the nation's most vulnerable.

Who wants to prove them wrong?
Agricultural futures markets have trended downward since President Trump gave a speech last week to the American Farm Bureau convention in Nashville. The trade is apprehensive and with good reason.

It wasn't long into the speech before it became clear that Trump hasn't got much of a clue about what's going on in farm and ranch country. He promised, "I will take the first steps to expand access to broadband internet in rural America so you can compete."

Trump's braggadocio seems gratuitous. When I was trading and brokering cattle and grain (both in physical and futures markets) in the '90s every producer I knew in South Dakota had access to real-time news and pricing information via satellite or hardwired internet. They were in a position to compete with the best of 'em when it came to market access and information  and that was 20 years ago.

Trump's promise of better access to industry news wasn't the only distraction from addressing real problems in farm and ranch belts. He added to this diversion by crowing about the estate tax. On this one he outright lied, saying that "most family farms" would be spared "the punishment of the deeply unfair estate tax."

No, most family farms  in fact, about 98 percent per USDA  would not have had to file estate tax returns in 2016. Where Trump comes up with that "most family farms" bit is incomprehensible, but many people continue to buy the fiction. Compounded by Rep. Kristi Noem's confusing and contradictory account of how estate taxes negatively affected her family's farm after the death of her father, it remains a talking point that won't die.

Then there's NAFTA. Trump said he is "working very hard to get a better deal for our country and our farmers." This while he tweets about trashing the trade deal altogether. It's little wonder the ag industry is apprehensive. North American ag sales by U.S. farmers have grown exponentially as a result of the existing set-up.

Last November, South Dakota's Department of Agriculture sent out a news release saying the state ships 62 percent of its foreign ag exports to Mexico and Canada. Trump may be trying to get a "better deal" for U.S. farmers, but the initiative from an ag producers perspective looks more like an effort to fix something that isn't broken.

Meantime, there's that most pressing issue in the ag industry  money. Ag producers have seen a steady drop in income since 2013, and the widely followed USDA's Farm Futures site is looking for an income drop off in 2018.

Trump's silence on sliding farm incomes reflects his lack of understanding of how global markets are essential to the health of U.S. farms and ranches. Exports represent about a 20 percent share of ag sales and consistently account for a balance of trade surplus within their category.

Bashing global trade is anathema to farmers and ranchers and given the steady decline of farm income in recent years, Trump should be aggressively seeking out foreign markets to prop up sales for Americans. Now, he's doing the exact opposite.
The run-up to the Womens March on Washington on Jan. 21, 2017, was full of commentary doubting the organizers, the likely attendance, and the usefulness of generalized anger. A December piece in the New York Times described the march as an apt metaphor for the moment: movement as primal scream, but wondered whether it would become movement as something more than fury.

As we prepare to march again on Saturday in Washington, in Rapid City, in hundreds of cities all over the country and around the world, it is apt to follow the call of the national organizing banner: Look back, march forward.

Looking back on correspondence with my family, friends, and women colleagues in late 2016, we whipsawed from raging anger to despair. My daughter buoyed me up with feminist blogs and plans to meet and march together in Washington. As we made our way to the Metro, I shared with our carload of women a blessing from a friend in Concord, Mass., prepared for their marchers in Boston and D.C., including these lines, which proved to be true:

Whether the faces in the crowd number in the dozens, hundreds, or thousands,

may you not only recognize yourself,

but may you also witness a dazzling tapestry of colors, languages, genders, ages, and bodies:

proud testament to and humbling display of our human family.

The Womens March on Washington was all that, and more. So many turned out to march that we couldnt march. We filled the east-west avenues, we crammed the north-south streets from 3rd to 20th, we overflowed the alphabet from C to K Streets. No one shoved. The crowd parted for emergencies. The young steadied the elder. We sang and chanted together, we laughed, cried, and screamed our solidarity.

And then marching morphed into action. While 2017 was an unending, pounding barrage of policies aimed directly at hurting women, children, LGBTQ persons, the poor, people of color, immigrants, elders, and the land and water that supports us all, it was also a year of resistance.

Immigration restrictions were met with crowds of protesters and punishing litigation by attorneys general. Resistance to tar sands and oil pipelines continues in the courts and in local communities lead by women water protectors. States are winning in court against proposed restrictions on access to birth control, a health care basic for tens of millions of American women.

The silence of women who put up with it for decades was broken by #MeToo.

Women rising: not only in Hollywood, in the streets, on Standing Rock, and in the courts. They turned out to run and to vote.

The number of women candidates and campaign organizers has exploded, according to Emilys List, the largest national organization devoted to electing women. Not only running  winning. In elections around the country, at federal, state and local levels, barrier-breaking challengers ran and won: women, LGBTQ candidates, people of color.

Ongoing activism between elections manifested at town halls and congressional offices, using phone calls, visits, and letter writing to inform elected officials where female constituents stand on issues. The day after this years march, a Power to the Polls rally in Las Vegas will celebrate strides made in 2017, mobilize women to vote and run for office, and kick off a swing-state voter registration tour. Locally, groups such as Indivisible 605, Indivisible in Rapid City and the Northern Hills, Rapid City Community Conversations, Democracy in Action, and others have organized events and actions, including Saturdays march.

Looking back, the Womens March on Washington was inspirational and intersectional. Looking forward, it will be a continuing invocation to action.
BOZEMAN  Dennis Aig had just been hired as a film professor at Montana State University when a friend of his from graduate school called in 1991 to ask if Aig and his students might be interested in making an electronic press kit for a tightly budgeted film that would be made the next summer in Montana.

The film was A River Runs Through It, and because of Aigs involvement, the films fans got a front row seat to the making of the film, which caught Americas imagination and boosted fly fishing as a sport.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Aigs Shadow Casting: The Making of A River Runs Through It. Aig still clearly remembers the call from graduate school friend Patrick Markey, a producer of A River Runs Through It, the Robert Redford film based on Norman Macleans novella.

We met at the Holiday Inn, and as Patrick told me the actors who were in the film, it was a bunch of people I hadnt heard of before except Tom Skerritt, Aig recalled. One of those no-name actors was Brad Pitt, whose career skyrocketed after his role in River.

Now the director of the MSU College of Arts and Architectures MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking, Aig said that special circumstances in the filmmaking industry also contributed to MSUs unusual involvement in a feature film. Hollywood was undergoing technological changes, and the industry was then in an era of financial recession. River was an independent film that had no studio support at the time, so Markey and Redford, the moving forces behind the film, were looking for ways to keep within a tight budget. They asked if Aig and MSU could shoot some video for an electronic press kit, which was a new approach to publicity in those days.

Because all MSU film and television professors then also had an appointment to produce content at KUSM, Montanas public television station, Aig asked if the MSU team could expand the idea into a documentary for MontanaPBS, and the producers agreed

It soon occurred to me that I had just made a Hollywood deal to make the documentary, Aig said. He called the documentary Shadow Casting: The Making of A River Runs Through It, after a fly fishing term in the original novella and the film.

A few months later, in the summer of 1991, Aig and students Andy Froemke and Robert Wilder were on set with full access to Redford, Oscar-winning cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, Oscar-nominated screen-writer Richard Friedenberg, Pitt, Skerritt and actors Craig Sheffer, Emily Lloyd and Brenda Blethyn, among others. Other MSU film students jumped in and out of the Shadow Casting project, including Collin Phillips and Froemkes brother, David, who was not a student.

While the novella A River Runs Through It was set in Macleans hometown of Missoula and on the Blackfoot River, much of the movie of the same name was shot in Park and Gallatin counties.

Aig said that 1991 was a busy summer for MSU film students wanting experience on films. Not only was Redford shooting River, but Ron Howard was shooting Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Far and Away near Billings. Both movies provided opportunities for MSU film and television students, resulting in a local run on film equipment, Aig said.

Aig said one of the early decisions that paid off was his decision to make a real documentary (which was Redfords term) about the film rather than a public relations film, even including interviews of Macleans surviving relatives. While Aig has scores of stories about the filming and the collaboration of local outfitters, suppliers and crew, the memory that resonates the most for him was his interview with Redford.

Aig said several previous attempts to interview the star had been canceled, and the documentary crew knew Redford would be leaving town as soon as filming wrapped. The final day of filming River, Aig and the MSU crew were on the set near Big Sky shooting the scene with the actor playing the older Norman fly fishing in the Gallatin River when, literally, in the last hour of the shoot, with the sun going down, out of the forest comes Bob down to the river in his waders, saying, Im ready for my interview.

Aig recalled the borrowed equipment that his crew was using that day was primitive, and Aig had no headset. Because of the noise from the river, Aig couldnt hear Redfords answers to his questions.

I smiled and nodded and kept asking questions, hoping that my questions were coherent and there would be something we could use because we would have no chance to reshoot. Aig said. The crew raced back to KUSM, put the tape in to see if there was anything they could use.

Fortunately, it was a great interview, Aig said of what he still calls the most important interview of my career up to that point. In fact, (Redfords) publicist, Lois Smith, who was one of the grand doyennes of Hollywood publicists, said it was the best interview (Redford) had given up to that point.

The hurdles didnt end there. Aig enlisted Andy and David Froemke along with Phillips to edit the film. Because at the time KUSM didnt have the necessary equipment to put the film online, which was the final stage of the film, Aig solicited other PBS stations across the country for help. KBYU in Provo, Utah, responded. Redford put up the MSU crew in his nearby Sundance Resort.

Finances were another problem. Shadow Casting had been made on a shoestring  national PBS rules only allowed the production to accept up to $8,000 from the A River Runs Through It production as a licensing fee in exchange for the footage that would be used for publicity purposes. Any larger payment would have been considered an unfair influencing of PBS content, Aig said.

The rest we had to finance ourselves on credit cards, Aig said. He said it wasnt until Shadow Casting was nearly done with post-production and the buzz from River began to build that underwriting came in from the Grand Marnier Foundation, Eddie Bauer, Field and Stream, and other companies that enabled them to finish the production, Aig said.

A River Runs Through It, which came out in 1992, was a hit, winning an Academy Award for cinematography. The film launched Bozeman as a popular tourist destination and contributed to 25 years of population growth. Aig said he doubts that anyone involved in the production had any idea of the impact the film would have on the sport of fly fishing or the state of Montana.

Shadow Casting came out in January 1993, winning several national awards, including best documentary at the Chicago Film Festival. The most important affirmation of Aigs work came from Redford, who asked Aig to make Visions of Grace: Robert Redford and The Horse Whisperer, a behind-the-scenes documentary for the Lifetime Channel, when the actor and Markey returned to Montana in 1997 to make that movie, which also starred a 12-year-old Scarlett Johansson.

Aig said Shadow Casting was resurrected this fall for a few A River Runs Through It anniversary celebrations, including a Norman Maclean Festival in Missoula.

Shadow Casting set a very high standard for using students on films, Aig said. It was a great experience for everyone involved.
Three things are guaranteed in Montana: Death, taxes and game damage hunts in the winter. And not always in that order.

The current cold and snowy weather has ranchers concerned and hunters eager. In tough winter conditions mostly deer, but also elk, often head en masse to the nearest haystack for a bite to eat.

Game damage hunts are not the same as Montanas elk shoulder seasons, which attempt to ease a statewide elk problem.

Nor are game damage hunts the first step Fish, Wildlife & Parks takes to help a landowner to alleviate a wildlife issue. In anticipation of deer and elk paying a visit to a haystack, FWP often provides stack-yard fencing material, offers scare tactics and may even issue a kill permit for a landowner to remove a couple of animals.

Game damage hunts are the next steps employed when fencing and such are not adequate due to the severity of the weather and the number of animals moving in.

Where 8 to 12 inches of snow may force deer to move, elk are much bigger and not threatened by a little snow. Elk move because of deep, crusted snow and bitter cold.

Guess what? Most of those conditions are on the ground now in north central Montana.

State law requires FWP to respond within 48 hours to all game damage complaints. The complaint starts locally with the landowner contacting the area biologist or game warden.

A landowner may be eligible for game damage assistance if he, or she, allowed the public to hunt during established hunting seasons or at least did not significantly restrict public hunting.

Public hunting must have been allowed during the five-week general season in October and November to aid in managing area game populations efficiently.

And those landowner-imposed restrictions? They could include: the species or sex of animals that hunters were allowed to hunt; what portion of the land was open to hunting; the time period the land was open to hunting; whether fees were charged; and any other restrictions that rendered harvestable animals inaccessible.

If the landowner complaint is deemed acceptable by the local warden and wildlife biologist, and is approved up the chain of command, a hunt can take several different paths. Heres a rundown:

Supplemental game damage license hunt  In this hunt, the target is to remove a few, maybe a dozen, animals, antlerless only and the landowner gets to pick from 75 to 100 percent of the hunters. Its all about a quick, localized action.

Game damage hunt  Here the goal is to remove more animals, say a dozen up to 100. Still, its typically a single landowner who has the problem. The animals are usually antlerless, and the landowner can pick up to 25 percent of the hunters.

Management season hunt  This happens when multiple adjacent landowners have a problem, though the hunt area is treated as one big unit. Each landowner can pick up to 25 percent of the hunters. The land involved can be private and public.

Whereas the first hunt is about a quick reaction, allowing the landowner to select most of the hunters, the last two hunts are bigger and allow the public to take a greater role.

More information is available on the FWP website: http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/landowners/

Hunters who want a chance to be randomly selected for such hunts must sign up each year on the FWP website from June 15 to July 15, to pick a hunting district and species. Hunters selected are notified by mail.

Thats all there is to it.

So all hunters should pay their taxes, worry about the Great Beyond and wait by the mailbox. Definitely in that order.
Jordan Schmitt stood face-to-face on Tuesday with Scott DuPuis, who lost his brother to a DUI crash in 2009.

Two years ago in Miles City, Schmitt had caused a wreck that killed her passenger and close friend. She had a blood-alcohol-content of 0.192, more than twice the legal limit, and a THC level of 14 ng/mL, nearly three times the limit for marijuana use.

Schmitt and DuPuis were participating in a victim impact panel at Passages, a prerelease center in Billings. The panels bring together a group of two to four victims to share their stories with a small audience of convicts with the goal of laying bare the consequences of crimes.

DuPuis told the audience Tuesday the pain of his brothers death would never go away, but hell continue to share his experiences.

Hopefully, though, by coming out and telling the stories and stuff, itll put you guys into the position of what weve gone through and understand what your victims went through, DuPuis said.

DuPuis was joined by three other panelists. The eight women in the audience were asked to stand, describe the crime that landed them in the program, say how old they were when they first offended, and tell whether they had children.

Each panelist then spoke about how they had been impacted by crime.

For DuPuis, that meant waking up one morning to a news story about a 42-year-old Livingston man who had died in a highway wreck the night before, and getting a call 20 minutes later telling him the man was his brother. The victim had been the passenger, and a friend, who survived, had been driving drunk.

DuPuis had to be the one to notify his brothers three children. Years later, he is still trying to help one get back on her feet after spiraling into drugs and alcohol.

Youll never forget this. The hurts never going to go away, he said. It might get better.

DuPuis visited the stretch of highway, near the small town of McLeod, where his brother Michael died. He learned that Michael and his friend had been drinking at a bar called Hollys Road Kill Saloon shortly before the wreck, and that the friend who drove that night had three prior DUIs. He would later rack up another drunken driving charge, DuPuis said.

When DuPuis returned to the site a year later, a white cross had been installed where his brother died.

For her negligent homicide charge, Schmitt, the audience member, was sentenced to seven years partially suspended and is currently completing residential drug and alcohol treatment at Passages. Wiping away tears, she thanked DuPuis for speaking.

Youre paying your dues for it, DuPuis said, but dont let it define you.

The panels have been conducted in Montana for years but were expanded in 2015 from three sites to 11. Dozens take place each year.

To prepare for the panels, offenders must complete a weeks-long course on crime and victimization, using curriculum from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Victims are vetted by the state and typically reimbursed for transportation costs.

At Passages, the panels are geared toward those offenders deemed at a higher risk for reoffending, according to Chelsey Duenow, who helps coordinate the panels for Passages. But if the women dont show enough empathy during the course, they are moved to a different class before the panel.

Duenow said the panels often have a big impact on the women at Passages.

Because you cant hide from a real person, she said.
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Guwahati: Journalists Forum Assam (JFA) appreciates the united strength shown by the Chennai based journalists against a politicians unprincipled demand and urged the media fraternity of the country to stand behind them.





It may be noted that Jignesh Mevani, a newly elected legislator from Gujarat in a press meet on Tuesday in Chennai objected the presence of Republic Television reporter and then put condition that even if the reporter stay there, he must not ask questions. Angered with the condition, the television journalists decided to walk out of it as a show of solidarity.





The young legislator commented that he would not to speak to the Republic, the news channel led by Arnab Goswami as a policy. However, a Times Now reporter Shabbir Ahmed firmly encountered him saying that the legislator must not demand which channel should be there or which not in a press meet.








Guwahati, January 17 : Over 100 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) would be deployed in Meghalaya during upcoming assembly polls.





A top official of Meghalaya home development said that, the Union Home Ministry has already approved to deploy 100 CAPF companies in the state during assembly elections.





"The state home department has been sought 107 CAPF companies from the centre," the top official said.





Meanwhile, Meghalaya Additional DGP B L Buam said that, the sanctioned forces would be deployed in the state before the polls.





"18 CAPF companies have been already engaged in the state to maintain law and order," the top Meghalaya cop said.





The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the poll dates, but the polls are likely to be held next month.





As per the electoral roll published recently, a total of 18,30,104 voters will exercise their franchise at 3,082 polling booths in Meghalaya in the upcoming assembly polls.








Guwahati: At least 9 oil tankers were set ablaze by an armed militant group of banned outfit NSCN-K and ULFA (I) in Upper Assams Tinsukia district along with Arunachal Pradesh border on Tuesday evening.





According to the reports, the incident was took place at Namsik area near Namphai Reserve Forest in Jagun in the Upper Assam district around 532 km from Guwahati at around 4-55 pm.





The oil tankers laden with oil and natural gas were coming from Kharsang in Arunachal Pradesh heading towards Digboi.





Following the incident, troops of Assam police and Assam Rifles had rushed to the area and launched massive operation against the militants.





Tinsukia district SP Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta said that, suspected militants of NSCN-K and ULFA (I) had torched the oil tankers.





Meanwhile, Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay said that, security has been beefed up across the state ahead of Republic Day celebration.








Guwahati, January 17 : Security forces had apprehended two Naga militants in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in past 24 hours.





Kohima based Defence PRO Colonel Chiranjeet Konwer said that, based on intelligence input, the troops of Assam Rifless Changlang battalion had launched operation at Namtok village in Arunachal Pradeshs Changlang district in the wee hours of Wednesday and apprehended a hardcore NSCN (IM) militant from the area.





The nabbed militant was identified as Kejen Ngongpa and security personnel had recovered a pistol, ammunition in possession from him.





The nabbed militant is an active member of the outfit since December 2016 and had under gone training at NSCN(IM) training camp at Myanmar, Colonel Konwer said.





Earlier, troops of Assam Rifles had apprehended a NSCN (K) militant from Ledo area in upper Assams Tinsukia district along with Arunachla Pradesh border on Tuesday.





Security personnel had recovered one pistol, ammunition and other incriminating documents in possession from him.




Kathmandu, Nepal: Following the cabinet decision of appointment of provincial chief and the capitals of the federal states, the Election Commission (EC) has on Wednesday announced the members of the provincial assemblies under Proportional Representation (PR) category.

Earlier on Wednesday the government had appointed the governors and the fixed the capitals of the federal states.





With the decision total 220 candidates are elected under PR electoral system from all seven provinces. The governments decision regarding the provincial heads ad provincial capitals paved the way to announce the members of the provincial assemblies.




Kathmandu, Nepal: The government has appointed the provincial chiefs and provincial capitals. A cabinet meeting held on Wednesday has appointed the governors and fixed the temporary headquarters of the provinces.





The cabinet meeting held at Prime Ministers official residence in Baluwatar fixed Biratnagar as the capital of Province 1, Janakpur as the capital of Province 2, Hetauda as the capital of Province 3 and Pokhara as the capital of Province 4, Rupandehi as the capital of province 5, Surkhet as the capital of province 6 and Dhangadhi as the capitals of Province 7.





Likewise, the meeting has also appointed the governors. As per the cabinet decision, Govinda Subba has been appointed as the Governor of Province 1, Ratneshwor Lal Kayasta as the Governor of Province 2, Anuradha Koirala as the Governor of Province 3, Baburam Kunwar as the Governor of Province 4, Umakanta Jha as the Governor of Province 5, Durga Khanal as the Governor of Province 6 and Mohan Raj Malla as the Governor of Province 7.




SA Competition Tribunal Okays Implats buyout of RBPlat The Competition Tribunal has approved the proposed buyout of Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) by Impala Platinum (Implats), subject to a package of competition and public interest conditions. The move follows an announcement by Northam...

Lucara extends diamond sales agreement with HB Lucara Diamond has extended its diamond sales agreement with HB Trading to sell +10.8 carat rough diamonds produced from its wholly owned Karowe mine until December 31, 2032. The diamond company first partnered with HB in 2020 to sell Karowe's...

Senators assess the course of Norilsk renovation Norilsk benefited from its renovation program. This was noted by members of the Federation Council who visited the polar capital of the Krasnoyarsk Territory on a working trip. Vice Speakers of the Federation Council Galina Karelova and Nikolai Zhuravlev...

Fancy color diamond prices up 1% in Q3 2022, yellow showed highest increase The Fancy Color Research Foundation's (FCRF) results of the Fancy Color Diamond Index (FCDI) for the third quarter of 2022 demonstrate that after an increase of 0.8% in Q2 2022, the average price of all colors and sizes of fancy...
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The three-day event is expected to lure more than 200 international and local cosmetics exhibitors, including those from the EU, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan.



According to IMF Forecast, as an emerging market for cosmetic products, the sub-Mekong region with four countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar has experienced a growth of 30 percent in cosmetic product consumption in recent years.



The show will serve as a venue to link businesses in the sub-Mekong region.



At a press conference held on January 16 to introduce the show, Claudia Bonfiglioli, General Manager of Informa Beauty, said that Vietnam has huge potential to develop natural and organic cosmetic products.



However, the country still lacks programmes to connect enterprises in the sector, she noticed, adding that Informa Beauty has set up clubs for Vietnamese distributors and retailers and build connection with the Vietnam Essential Oil Association.



Meanwhile, Bui Ngoc Quynh Giao, Brand Manager of Illahui Vietnam, underlined that Illahui has developed convenience stores in the country to sell its organic beauty products.



Many local firms have paid due attention to branching out natural cosmetic products as they believe that the products will help the Vietnamese cosmetic sector to create breakthrough in the future.

Vietnamplus
SIOUX CITY | Sioux City police have arrested two male juveniles for alleged vandalism that destroyed more than a half million bees at a Sioux City honey business last month.

The minors, who were not identified by police, have been charged with three felonies -- criminal mischief in the first degree, agricultural animal facilities offenses and burglary in the third degree, as well as an aggravated misdemeanor, possession of burglars tools.

The juveniles, who are 12 and 13 years old, are accused of destroying all of Wild Hill Honey's hives on Sioux City's west side. The company's losses were estimated at $60,000.

The damage was not covered by insurance. But the public, outraged by the senseless act of vandalism, raised tens of thousands of dollars online for the owners, Justin and Tori Englehardt.

The Englehardts said they plan to rebuild their business, and restock their hives as early as this spring in light of the public's generosity.
ORANGE CITY, Iowa | Northwestern College graduate Martha Draayer has a master's degree from the University of South Dakota. She and husband, Dan Draayer, have three children. Martha has two loving parents, two supportive sisters.

Martha has a job at the Northwest Area Education Agency, where she serves as a bilingual early childhood special education teacher and consultant. She's also an instructor in Northwestern's Master of Education degree program.

Martha Draayer's future, however, remains shrouded in mystery, for she's also a "dreamer," a newcomer covered in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program instituted by President Barack Obama's executive order in 2012.

She is not a U.S. citizen, and remains living, working and waiting, enduring her ninth year of a 10-year bar on citizenship.

While some lawmakers lead you to believe that all illegal aliens from Mexico are rapists, murderers and drug runners, Martha Draayer and millions like her, represent kinder, gentler newcomers, mothers and fathers, students and workers bent on making life in the one country they largely know a better place for themselves and those they love.

Draayer spoke to Northwestern staff members and the student body on Tuesday, sharing details of her faith and complicated life journey as part of Justice Week, which began with the observance of the holiday honoring the legacy of justice seeker Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Draayer was 3 years old when she crossed from Mexico into the U.S. the first time, following her mother, Martha Perez, and joining little sister, Angelica, as they headed north to Sibley, Iowa, to reunite with her father, Andres Perez, who traveled north in March 1991 to fill a job on the kill floor at Monfort Foods, then a pork processing plant at Worthington, Minnesota.

The family left home carrying border-crossing visas, a type of long-term tourist visa that, according to Martha Draayer, no longer exists. "We overstayed our welcome," she said.

The economy in Mexico wobbled at the time. Work was plentiful in Northwest Iowa for Martha and Andres Perez, who worked in the packing plant, then at local farms, then for a Sioux Center industry for a decade before settling back to handle cattle and hogs for a farm outside Orange City, where Andres currently works.

The couple had another daughter while living in Iowa. All three girls were educated in Sioux County. Martha earned a 3.8 grade-point average before graduating from Boyden-Hull High School in 2005.

And while she had a Social Security number for education purposes only, young Martha couldn't qualify for financial aid beyond academic and music scholarships. She didn't even have a driver's license, an outcome of being unable to produce a birth certificate required to take driver's education courses. At age 16, she recalled, an officer pulled her over for having an expired license plate. Upon learning Martha didn't have a license, the officer drove her home and gave her a warning.

Prompted by an admissions counselor, Northwestern College officials met with Martha and her parents and they took a chance on the Comet graduate. She majored in psychology and K-12 education and minored in Spanish. She didn't earn a major in Spanish because she would have been required to study abroad. Knowing she couldn't travel outside the U.S. -- and have assurance of returning -- she settled for a minor. It's the same reason she eschewed the chance to participate in NWC music groups, as bands and choirs often travel to perform outside the U.S.

As a junior at Northwestern in 2007, Martha wed Dan Draayer, a U.S. citizen who works as produce manager for Fareway in Sioux Center. The newlyweds embarked on the naturalization process immediately, one that took the couple back to Mexico for a meeting before the U.S. Consulate in Martha's hometown, Ciudad Juarez.

"I went before the consulate for an interview. He had my papers and asked if I had entered the U.S. illegally," she remembered. She had, twice. The first took place when she was 3. The second when her parents returned the family to Mexico for a 5-month period during Martha's junior year at Boyden-Hull. Her parents found Mexico's economy in a shambles and life uncertain, if not unsafe, for their daughters. So, they returned to Hull and their work on Sioux County farms.

"I knew I had committed a violation and I expected a fine," Martha said.

The official turned her down and said she wasn't available for a waiver. He imposed a 10-year bar on Martha from entering the U.S.

Said Martha, "I was in shock, numb."

She was forced to stay in Mexico as Dan and his mother, Brenda Draayer, returned to Iowa. Martha went to live with her grandmother in Coahuila, Mexico, as family members implored leaders at Northwestern to write letters on Martha's behalf. Letters were sent by Iowa Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin as well.

"Nothing changed," said Martha, who finished her senior year by emailing assignments and papers back to professors at Northwestern.

As her case stalled over a 13-month time frame, Martha was contacted by her lawyer in the U.S. She learned changes could be coming in immigration, changes that may force her to remain thousands of miles from her husband and the way of life she knew in Northwest Iowa. She came to the realization her best option would be risky: It would involve hiring a "coyote" to help her cross again, illegally, into the U.S.

"It was hard to put myself in that situation," she said. "But I really didn't think I had other options. Thankfully, I saw God's hand in it."

At the risk of being raped, murdered or exploited, the lone woman in a group of five to 10 men, Martha set out and made the crossing, floating in an inner tube across the Rio Grande River and joining a man she didn't know in sneaking into the U.S. in the dead of night. She passed within 50 feet of a border patrol officer.

A relative met her at a park and transported her to a motel, whereupon she was reunited with her husband and mother-in-law, and, together, the three of them drove north, back to Iowa.

Two years later, Martha qualified for protection under Obama's executive order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, a program the Trump administration seeks to end, beginning in March.

"And now, I wait," she said. "I don't know what the president is going to do."

As Martha Draayer spoke in Christ Chapel on Tuesday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill girded for a showdown involving the program and immigration as a whole. Draayer talked about the fallacy of newcomers who are directed to "get in line."

"There is no line," she contended. "I was petitioned by my husband and I still can't get in line."

At 31, this educated mother of three works each day to educate children in Sioux Center and beyond. She's now sharing her personal story in the hopes young and old are motivated out of empathy, or love, or justice to persuade legislators to address a broken immigration system.

"My status is still pending," she said. "I have a whole year to wait before I can apply for citizenship. I do not know what that process will bring. [Tweet this]

"Moving forward there needs to be a pathway to citizenship," she concluded. "It must be passed as a bill, a law. Not as an executive order that can come and go. We need a pathway, not just for 'dreamers' but their parents as this can still break families apart."
DAKOTA CITY -- Authorities have released the identity of a body found inside a house that burned down in Dakota City last week.

The victim was identified as Calvin C. Clark, 29, of Macy, Nebraska. Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg said in a news release that the identity was all the information that was currently available.

In a news release Friday, the sheriff's office said that an autopsy and investigation determined Clark had died of smoke inhalation, and foul play was not suspected.

The Dakota City Fire Department responded to the fire at 1906 U.S. Highway 77 around 10:18 a.m. Thursday. Authorities made contact with the homeowner, who was in Arizona at the time and said no one was supposed to be in the house.

While fighting the fire, firefighters located the body inside, and it was transported to Sioux City for an autopsy.

The home was a total loss in the fire.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | A suspect in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, double homicide was arrested Tuesday night in South Sioux City.

Ed Mahon, the South Sioux City police chief, said the department was notified around 6:30 p.m. that Manuel Frias was in the South Sioux City area.

Frias was wanted for the Jan. 5 murder of 28-year-old Samuel Crockett and 30-year-old Corey Zephier in an apparent drug-related killing outside a Sioux Falls apartment building.

The South Sioux City police department, with assistance from the Dakota County Sheriff's Department as well as the U.S. Marshals Service, began its attempt to extract Frias from a house near East 20th and B streets around 9:30 p.m.

At first, negotiations to get Frias out did not go well.

"We confirmed the person was in there, but he wouldn't talk to us," Mahon said.

So the department activated its SRT (special response team), which Mahon said is "kind of like a SWAT team," shared between Dakota County and South Sioux City.

Officers learned there was a 10-year-old in the house along with Frias, who was able to escape safely. The SRT was able to place a "throw phone," which Mahon described as a device used to communicate in a standoff, into the house.

Around 10 p.m., Frias emerged from the house on his own and was arrested. As of Wednesday morning, he was being held in the Dakota County Jail, and is expected to be extradited to South Dakota.

Mahon said that Frias did have connections in South Sioux City and had at some point resided there. He could not comment on Frias' relationship to the home he was in at the time of the standoff.
SIOUX CITY | A former East High School teacher has pleaded not guilty to taking nearly $3,000 from school accounts for Special Olympics and another program.

Melissa Dickerson, 48, of Sioux City, entered her written plea Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court to one count of second-degree theft. Her trial has been scheduled for March 6.

According to court documents, Dickerson, an East High special education teacher, opened bank accounts in 2013 under the names of East High Special Olympics and the Friendship Connection in violation of Sioux City Community School District policies aimed at preventing financial abuse of those types of funds.

District officials were contacted by a bank in December and told that one of the accounts was overdrawn because of a bill in Dickerson's name, court documents said. A subsequent district investigation discovered numerous previously unknown accounts with suspicious charges and withdrawals.

When confronted by district officials, court documents say, Dickerson admitted that she used $2,960 raised by East High Special Olympics and the Friendship Connection for her own benefit from August 2016 through June.

Dickerson has resigned from her teaching position.
SPENCER, Iowa | Criminal charges will not be filed in connection with a Sept. 1 fatal shooting in Spencer.

An investigation concluded that Andre Ramos, 26 of Sibley, Iowa, was justified in using deadly force when he shot Nicolas Bandomo, who was breaking into a residence in the 800 block of East 12th Street, the Clay County Attorney's Office said in a news release Wednesday.

Bandomo, 30, of Albert City, Iowa, was prohibited by multiple protection orders from making contact with the residents at the home, the county attorney's office said.

An investigation conducted by the Spencer Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Clay County Attorney's Office found that Ramos fired a single shot that struck Bandomo while Bandomo was inside the residence. After he was shot, Bandomo fled down the street to a residence at 819 E. 12th St., where emergency personnel found him.

Bandomo was taken to Spencer Hospital and later transferred to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, where he died.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to the armed robbery of a Kum & Go convenience store.

Mark Everett, 28, entered his written plea Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to single counts of first-degree robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, Everett, entered the Kum & Go store at 1401 Court St. at about 12:18 a.m. Jan. 5 and pointed a .32-caliber handgun at the clerk and demanded money. He then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Officers later found Everett in the 900 block of 15th Street. Police also found the gun believed to have been used in the robbery. During police questioning, Everett admitted to robbing the store, court documents said.
SIOUX CITY | Cyndi Hanson, who is running to oust fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King, is beginning her first series of public campaign events as she seeks the Iowa 4th Congressional District seat.

Hanson is a college administrator who lives in Sioux City, and has set many Siouxland events into early February. Most will be held as meet-and-greets in Pizza Ranch restaurants.

The events begin at noon Sunday at Pizza Ranch at 3116 Floyd Blvd., in Sioux City, followed by Hanson meeting people at 2 p.m. at Pizza Ranch at 204 First St., in Sergeant Bluff.

Hanson will hold an event at 8 a.m. Jan. 27 at the Howard Center, 5145 N. 13th St., in Sac City, Iowa.

She has set events for Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Pizza Ranch at 205 S. Union St., in Rock Rapids, and at 8 p.m. at Pizza Ranch at 316 Ninth St., in Sibley.

Hanson events on Feb. 3 include stops at noon at Pizza Ranch at 2003 18th St., in Spirit Lake, at 2 p.m. at Pizza Ranch at 528 Grand Ave., in Spencer, and at 6 p.m. at Pizza Ranch at 517 W. Milwaukee Ave., in Storm Lake.

The releases for Hanson's events describe her as an authentic Iowan who is agriculturally connected, family focused, fiscally responsible and hard working. Hanson announced her candidacy in December, and a Republican Party primary election on June 5 will determine the nominee.
SIOUX CITY | A few financial trial balloons quickly fell flat, but many mayors in Woodbury County like the new plan to raise taxes to add more paramedics serving in rural areas.

Several existing rural volunteer ambulance and emergency workers also supported the plan Tuesday, since they said there is a need for more paramedics than are now available in the county Emergency Services Department.

"I could give you a long list of people who were dying in my hands, then a paramedic comes along," said Nick Lahrs, who lives in Bronson and works for EMS crews in both Bronson and Lawton.

Lahrs and the mayors spoke in a meeting of the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. Near the end of a 45-minute discussion, Board Chairman Rocky De Witt asked if any of the roughly 15 people in the room opposed the proposal to raise property taxes to obtain $288,365, in order to hire nearly four paramedics, which would give 24/7 paramedic service to rural areas and towns.

No one voiced opposition. But among the board members, Supervisor Jeremy Taylor said he preferred making cuts to personnel in other county departments or finding other spending cuts rather than raising a county-wide property tax.

No decision was made Tuesday, and a vote on the proposed tax increase by the supervisors will take place on Jan. 30. That will come as the supervisors work toward setting a 2018-19 fiscal year budget, and any approved spending for paramedics would come July 1 at the soonest.

If passed, the plan would also help Sioux City cover a substantial amount of the expected subsidy required to fund its new Emergency Medical Services Division. All the recent discussions have been held to find a way to address the gap in county paramedic care, after Siouxland Paramedics stopped responding to 911 calls on Jan. 1.

Under the proposal, the county would designate a tax of 19 cents per $1,000 of property valuation in its General Basic Fund to generate the funding source for 3 paramedic positions and associated medical supplies.

In all, the taxation plan would raise $812,831, and of that amount, $288,365 would go for the new county paramedics. The remaining amount, or $524,466, would be given back to the city of Sioux City, as a rebate back to the city to help finance Sioux City Fire Rescue's EMS division, County Finance Director Dennis Butler said.

The city's 27-employee division started Jan. 1 and is expected to operate with a budget from $600,000 to $1 million over the next six months, and have additional ongoing expenses in years ahead.

Taylor said the plan to rebate revenues to Sioux City "convolutes" taxation policy. Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott agreed it is unorthodox, but he likes the plan, so long as the rebate occurs.

"I hope you vote for it," Scott said, adding the plan would "not leave the county naked" in terms of EMS coverage.

Other mayors stepped forward to endorse the plan, including those from Pierson, Correctionville, Sloan and Lawton.

"This is the best solution to date. The others just weren't going to work in our budget," said Dale Erickson, the mayor of Lawton, population 908.

Woodbury County's Emergency Services Division, based in Climbing Hill, currently staffs one paramedic from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and every other Friday. Until Jan. 1, the county had used paramedics from Siouxland Paramedics to assist with calls outside those hours in which advanced life support services were needed.

Butler said if the plan passes, the county would also consider entering a sharing agreement with Sioux City that would allow the city to respond to the county with paramedic assistance in cases where a paramedic is needed in two places at the same time.

The proposal comes just over a week after the county laid out a separate plan in which cities and rural townships would proportionally help foot the cost of the paramedics. The Sergeant Bluff City Council voted Thursday against allocating the requested $62,528 of its budget for the plan, which moved Butler to air the latest proposal Tuesday.

Butler had also previously shared two other funding options in January.
SIOUX CITY | The first test of Iowa's new voter ID law went smoothly Tuesday, the state's chief election official said.

"What I've seen is, it's seamless, we're not seeing lines, we're seeing the normal voting process," Secretary of State Paul Pate said during a 2 p.m. news conference at the Woodbury County Courthouse.

Pate traveled to Sioux City to observe a special election for a state House seat that includes parts of Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood. The Republican joined Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill at the news conference to promote the new voter ID law and later visited a polling place at the Morningside library.

In the special election, Democrat Rita DeJong and Republican Jacob Bossman, both of Sioux City, competed for the House District 6 seat recently vacated by Jim Carlin, who won a special election for a state Senate seat last month.

House File 516, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by former Gov. Terry Branstad, requires voters to furnish a photo ID starting with elections in 2018. Democrats and civil rights groups objected to the law, arguing it's a thinly veiled attempt to suppress turnout by Democratic-leaning voters.

Pate said a "soft roll-out" of the ID requirement occurred with Tuesday's special election and other elections this year. Voters can sign an affidavit affirming their identify if they cannot furnish an photo ID for some reason.

Though the roll-out was going well Tuesday, Pate said state officials are monitoring the Woodbury County election to see if the law has any impact on voting, and, if necessary, "make some adjustments."

"We want to hear what's working well, so that we underscore that and keep building on it," he said.

Having a relatively small, special election to test out the new voter ID law is nice, Pate said, because this election can function like a "laboratory."

"We can kind of watch, and take notes, and try to improve what we need to," he said. "I think for a lot of us, it's really just what we thought would happen. It's going well."

Early on Tuesday, voter turnout had not slumped as a result of the ID law, he said.

"From what I'm hearing, I don't think it's affected it at all," Pate said.

Gill, a Democrat, said there have been a small handful of individuals who've been impacted by the requirement. Fortunately, they were able to sign an affidavit and cast a vote.

"We did have an elderly lady that did not have a voter ID, and she simply had to sign the oath that she was registered, and she was the person she said she was," Gill said. "Those are little issues that we'll have to work out throughout the year."

Some college students also may have been impacted, Gill said, because they may have less ability to prove their residency. House District 6 includes the campuses of Morningside College and Western Iowa Tech Community College.

Poll workers also haven't had much difficulty in adapting to the new rules, Gill said.

"It wasn't really that big of a change," he said.

Pate added that the state is looking forward to a repeat of this smooth process in the next elections -- about 30 local contests in February.
SIOUX CITY | The full implementation remains hazy, but the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday officially asked a judge to allow weapons on the floors of the Woodbury County Courthouse that dont have court functions.

The supervisors voted 3-1-1 to send the letter, which will change the dynamic of how courthouse security is handled in the courthouse.

"It is reasonable," said Supervisor Jeremy Taylor, who joined Matthew Ung and Keith Radig in voting affirmatively to send the letter.

Supervisor Marty Pottebaum voted against the measure, and Rocky De Witt abstained, because he is a county worker among the several who handle security screening under the direction of Sheriff Dave Drew.

Sheriff's office Maj. Todd Wieck said there will be unknown "significant" costs to try to keep the building secure, due to people potentially with guns moving on various floors.

A supervisory order by the Iowa Supreme Court in December enables individual counties to seek to allow weapons in public areas of floors of a courthouse that are not totally occupied by the court system. According to the order by Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady, judges shall approve the requests.

The letter to Judge Duane Hoffmeyer, who is the chief judge of the Iowa Third Judicial District, requests that weapons be allowed on five of the eight floors, excepting floors 2, 3 and 4, which have court functions.

Whether guns would be allowed in the Woodbury County Courthouse has been a contentious issue since the gun law passed in the spring of 2017.

The new law, among other things, broadens the states so-called stand-your-ground provision, so a law-abiding citizen does not have a duty to retreat in a public place before using deadly force when confronted with danger to life or property.

In a release to the Journal, the Iowa Firearms Coalition applauded the supervisors' action. The IFC has announced it would "lead the charge to give private citizens the right to sue local governments that violate Iowas firearms preemption law."

Implementing a new reality of having guns on some floors in the Woodbury County Courthouse could be complicated. People use elevators to pass floors once above second floor, and some of those floors will be areas where guns can be taken and other floors will still have the weapon prohibition.

Pottebaum asked what would prevent a person with a gun permit from entering the courthouse with a gun, saying they were going to an upper level department, then coming back down to a courtroom on the second floor.

Wieck said he could not discuss some security specifics. He added that Drew will draft a security proposal, then discuss needs with the Woodbury County Security Committee.

De Witt on Monday said the county courthouse "is a difficult building to secure."

County Auditor Pat Gill spoke against the change, sharing that three people from the public "in very colorful language" on Tuesday voiced opposition. Gill said county employees have felt much safer since courthouse security began in 2014.

The short, two-sentence letter to Hoffmeyer says, "Please eliminate the weapons prohibition in the public area of the Woodbury County Courthouse, upholding the ban for floors 2, 3, and 4, which are considered Court controlled areas."

Cady issued the latest supervisory order last month, to update his weapons prohibition order of June 2017.

Cady's new order says the other elements of the June order remain, but after consultation with chief judges, sheriffs and other county officials, there can be a way for weapons to be taken in floors without court system elements.

"Upon written request of a county board of supervisors, or other controlling entity, the chief judge shall modify the weapons prohibition imposed by the supervisory order by eliminating the prohibition in public areas on those floors of a courthouse not totally occupied by the court system," Cady wrote.

Once a chief judge grants the modification, Cady wrote, "the court relinquishes to the requesting entity any authority over the regulation of weapons in the public areas on a floor of a courthouse not totally occupied by the court system."

The Woodbury County Courthouse added security technology and personnel for the first time in late 2014. At that time, the former entrances to the building were limited to one door on the north side of the building, and a security station with a metal detector for people to walk through was added.

Currently, people who enter the courthouse with a weapon can place it in a lock box. After handling their county business, then people get the weapons back by use of a key, on exiting the courthouse.

In late June, a majority of the supervisors voted to rescind a prior ban on weapons on county property, including the Woodbury County Courthouse. The supervisors said that was necessary to comply with the new state law expanding gun rights. However, Drew said he would keep enforcing the security program in the courthouse, saying he must enforce judicial branch orders.
Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar.

Mahin Family Band

The Mahin Family Band performs live in the loft 7 to 9 p.m. at The Barn at Okoboji, 2325 41st St., Spirit Lake, Iowa. Papa's Smokin Meat & Catering will be on hand serving up their brand of deliciousness.

Chili Social

Join us for a Chili Social 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Health Center at Sunrise Retirement Community, 5501 Gordon Drive. We will be serving chili & cinnamon rolls for $4 per person. Proceeds will benefit the Bernstein Center Renovation.

Farm & Equipment Show

Northeast and North Central Nebraska is rich farming country. The Northeast Nebraska Farm & Equipment Show involves approximately 4,000 farmers and potential buyers, during the two-day show held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Northeast Community College Ag Complex, 2301 E. Benjamin Ave., Norfolk, Neb. Visit www.nebraskafarmshow.com for more information.
SIOUX CITY | Temperatures will finally take a turn to the mild side at the end of the week, after a few days of chilly temperatures and sub-zero wind chills.

Wednesday's high temperature, according to the Sioux Falls National Weather Service, should be 31 degrees, with sunny skies. Clear skies remain tonight, with a low temperature of 14 degrees.

The sunny weather will continue on Thursday, and the high temperature is expected to be around 42 degrees. Thursday night, the low temperature will be 22 degrees -- a warmer temperature than the daytime high of recent days.

On Friday, the high will be around 53 degrees, with a low Friday night around 25 degrees.

Matt Dux, a meterologist with the Sioux Falls National Weather Service, said the rest of the week should be free of snow and rain.

"Nothing coming here through the next four or five days," Dux said.

However, snow is likely on Saturday night into Sunday morning, but Dux said it's still too early to estimate how much or what it will look like.

"Some sort of rain or snow will fall the second half of this weekend," he said.
DES MOINES  Community activists and organizers flooded the Capitol rotunda Tuesday demanding more regulation and a halt to construction of large-scale livestock projects that are threatening Iowas air, water and quality of life, especially in rural areas.

Enough is enough, said Bill Stowe, CEO and general manager of the Des Moines Water Works, which spent $1.5 million in 2015 to removed nitrates from the citys water supply.

Stowe joined a coalition of 27 state, community and national groups in calling on state lawmakers to cap the growth of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) until Iowa has fewer than 100 water impairments and the states water quality has improved significantly.

Members of the Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture rallied at the Statehouse in favor of 15 bills introduced by Ocheyedan independent Sen. David Johnson.

The legislation seeks a moratorium on building or expanding CAFOs and proposals to review and repair Iowas master matrix law used in the permitting and siting of large-scale livestock feeding facilities. The proposals are supported by officials in about 20 Iowa counties, organizers said.

Johnson, who introduced himself as a recovering local control denier, said the legislative changes he is seeking are in response to concerns he has heard from Iowans facing a rapid and  in many cases  unwanted rapid increase in the construction of livestock buildings.

They say its time to get tough on poor siting of hog confinements, including those being built in environmentally sensitive areas, and locating CAFOs where the smell and sound of someone elses money is in your bedroom every night, he said. Its happening in all four corners of the state and everywhere in between.

Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, who has filed several companion pieces in the House to Johnsons bills, said Iowa has more impaired waterways than ever before, at a time when water is the new liquid gold in our communities and in our country.

Sue George, a Howard County resident, expressed concern that livestock facilities are being built on environmentally fragile terrain in northeast Iowa.

Livestock producer Chris Peterson lamented the loss of 94 percent of Iowas independent pig farmers due to the explosive growth of industrial hog-feeding operations moving in, which have caused massive health, environmental and quality-of-life issues across the state.

Johnson said alliance members were not just pointing out problems but were offering solutions.

At a time when the DNR livestock compliance division has been literally cut to the bone, its time for the Legislature act, he said.

Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee, met with alliance representatives Tuesday but did not give favorable chances for a moratorium bill to move through the legislative process this session.

I think thats very unlikely, Rozenboom said in the interview. Were trying to grow Iowa and make Iowa prosperous for our citizens. and I dont think a moratorium is an answer. We have rules on livestock sites and facilities, and I think as long as we keep an eye on that, I think theyre doing what theyre supposed to be doing, and I just dont think a moratorium is a good answer.
An Omaha man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to making threats against U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst.

Court documents show Robert W. Simet, 64, believed the senator was involved with Islamic State terrorists, and he told others last July that he might kill her at a motorcycle shop during a Pacific Junction, Iowa, event.

Simet was identified as a suspect by employees and others at Loess Hills Harley-Davidson in Pacific Junction, an affidavit shows. Ernst was scheduled to speak July 8 at the shop and lead a ride to Hamburg, Iowa.

Evan York, a deputy with the Mills County Sheriffs Office, contacted an FBI agent after he received a complaint about the threats.

Special Agent Jonathan Robitaille talked to motorcycle shop employees, who told him Simet knew Ernst was going to make an appearance there, the record shows.

Simet made alarming statements that caused employees to fear for the senators safety.

Robitaille also interviewed another employee who stated Simet said he didnt know if he should come to the Pacific Junction event because he would be arrested, the affidavit shows. Simet said if he did go, he would take everybody with him.

The affidavit shows another witness told the agent that Simet also talked about a conspiracy regarding President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Islamic State. The suspect said everyone in the government needs to be killed off.

The FBI tracked Simet to his home in Nebraska by using a credit card receipt and copy of his drivers license.

The affidavit states when Robitaille went to Simets house, he found many of the windows covered by aluminum foil and a security camera on the exterior.

According to the affidavit, Simet registered a firearm in 2007. He was convicted of felony burglary in Nebraska in 1975 but received a full pardon in 2000 with restoration of gun rights. He also was convicted of assault and battery, a misdemeanor, in 2013.

Court records dont indicate what penalty or prison time Simet faces for the conviction, of threatening to assault a U.S. official.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of Iowas Southern District set his sentencing for May 23 and ordered Simets conditions of release pending sentencing be modified as requested by the prosecution. Court documents dont show details of those conditions.
WASHINGTON -- Political leaders in democracies have a few core obligations. They are charged with solving today's problems and preparing their nations for the future. They are responsible for creating some sense of shared purpose and mutual respect among their citizens -- above all a common commitment to preserving the very freedoms on which democracy depends.

Within this context, citizens exercise their right to argue about how to define the public interest, how to identify the central problems, and how to choose among competing values.

Given my social democratic leanings I would assert, for example, that equal opportunity -- including the opportunity to participate fully in self-government -- demands a far greater degree of economic security and equality than we currently enjoy. This is particularly true when it comes to access to health care, education, family time away from paid labor, and the chance to accumulate wealth.

You might push back and say that my proposals toward these ends impinge more than they should on individual freedom and require higher levels of taxation than you are willing to put up with. Or you might insist that I am focusing too much on economics and that promoting better personal values society-wide is more conducive to the nation's well-being than any of my programs for greater equity.

And, yes, we might quarrel about who has a right to join our political community and become part of our nation. We should not pretend that our current battles about immigration are unique to our time. In the United States, we have been wrangling over immigration since at least the 1840s. I suspect (and may God preserve our republic) we will be having at least some contention around this subject in the 2140s as well.

Such debates can be bitter, but democracy's health depends on our ability to hold our passions against each other in check and to offer each other at least some benefits of the doubt.

As the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt emphasize in their timely new book, "How Democracies Die," democracy requires "mutual toleration," which is "the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals," and "forbearance," which means that politicians "exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives."

Which, alas, brings us yet again to President Trump, who (no matter how much we want to) cannot be avoided at this moment because he threatens the conditions under which democracy can flourish.

Our current debate is frustrating and not only because Trump doesn't understand what "mutual toleration" and "forbearance" even mean. By persistently making himself, his personality, his needs, his prejudices and his stability the central topics of our political conversation, Trump is blocking the public conversation we ought to be having about how to move forward.

And while Trump's enablers in the Republican Party will do all they can to avoid the issue, there should now be no doubt (even if this was clear long ago) that we have a blatant racist as our president. His reference to immigrants from "s---hole countries" and his expressed preference for Norwegians over Haitians, Salvadorans and new arrivals from Africa make this abundantly clear. Racist leaders do not help us reach mutual toleration. His semi-denial 15 hours after his comment was first reported lacked credibility, especially since he called around first to see how his original words would play with his base.

But notice also what Trump's outburst did to our capacity to govern ourselves and make progress. Democrats and Republicans sympathetic to the plight of the Dreamers worked out an immigration compromise designed carefully to give Trump what he had said he needed.

There were many concessions by Democrats on border security, "chain migration" based on family re-unification, and the diversity visa lottery that Trump had criticized. GOP senators such as Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., bargained in good faith and were given ample reason by Trump to think they had hit his sweet spot.

Trump blew them away with a torrent of bigotry. In the process, he shifted the onus for avoiding a government shutdown squarely on his own shoulders and those of Republican leaders who were shamefully slow in condemning the president's racism.

There are so many issues both more important and more interesting than the psyche of a deeply damaged man. We are capable of being a far better nation. But we need leaders who call us to our obligations to each other as free citizens. Instead, we have a president who knows only how to foster division and hatred.
ANNAPOLIS

(January 16, 2018)Maryland Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. and Speaker Michael Busch, both Democrats, on Tuesday in Annapolis laid out three points to offset changes in the recently passed Republican federal tax bill.State lawmakers, in addition to the majority leaders, spoke of decoupling from new federal estate tax rates; restoring personal exemptions; and of deductions for charitable contributions.The federal bill, they said, takes away income tax reductions for 92 percent of Marylanders while giving additional tax breaks to 0.1 percent of residents. Their plan aims to restore and offset those changes."We're going to flesh this out over the next 85 days to make sure that Marylanders are protected in this system, that has been put upon them by the federal government," Busch said.Busch, who represents Anne Arundel, said they'll seek counsel from accountants and members of Congress from Maryland as they hash out details. They'll also work with states like New York and New Jersey, which were affected similarly.Lawmakers did not include many details; Busch said they fully intend to have a solution before the end of the session.Miller, who represents Calvert, Charles and Prince George's, displayed a letter signed by Maryland's nine Democratic members of Congress calling for relief from "double taxation."He said the state's new tax plan for personal exemptionscut under the GOP tax planis one per person. A family of five, he explained, would be able to claim five exemptions.Miller also railed against the federal bill's "so-called" relief to the middle class, which he said phases out in seven years."(Our plan) is going to have a billion dollars in tax relief to the people in the state of Maryland," Miller said.In a Democratic-controlled General Assembly, Miller and Busch have the votes to pass legislation along party lines if necessary.They also have some leverage over Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republican incumbent who's running for reelection in a traditionally Democratic stronghold.Senate and House Democrats have already overriden two vetoes in the 90-day session's very early days: paid sick leave and the Maryland Fair Access to Education Act.Under the former law, which Hogan vetoed last spring, any business with 15 or more full-time employees will now be required to give workers at least five days of earned sick and safe leave. It's expected to extend to over 500,000 Marylanders.The Education Act, nicknamed "Ban the Box," prohibits colleges and universities in Maryland from requesting information about the criminal history of applicants on initial admissions forms.Hogan on Jan. 9 announced some of his own priority legislation, including a Government Accountability Act, which would establish term limits for legislators equal to that of the governor, and a Legislative Transparency Act, which would require all sessions of the Maryland General Assembly to be livestreamed on video.Both bills are aimed at holding those in the legislature accountable. Hogan said the founding fathers envisioned "citizen representatives," not "professional politicians," who would represent their constituents before returning home to their "real jobs."Hogan said transparency of live video will allow the public to stay engaged on debates over issues that affect them."Legislators should be deliberating out in the open, in the light of day, instead of behind closed doors," Hogan said.For their plans on counteracting the federal tax bill, Democrats said Tuesday morning they'd welcome Republican support but haven't yet heard from Hogan about his budget, which must be released by Wednesday.
Brian Hill, 37, of Benedict Brittany Rainbolt, 30, of Owings Joseph Bateman, 41, of Charlotte Hall Taylor Schreiber, 23, of Lovettsville, Virginia Previous Next

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme.

(January 16, 2018)The Calvert County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.WEEKLY SUMMARY: During the week of January 8 through January 14, deputies responded to 1,214 calls for service throughout the community.CDS: On January 9, Deputy Mohler responded to the Walmart in Prince Frederick for the report of a CDS violation. Upon arrival to the Walmart, Deputy Mohler located the vehicle matching the description given by Emergency Communications. Deputy Mohler entered Walmart to attempt to locate the subjects the vehicle belonged too. The subjects were located and later identified as, and. A search of the vehicle was conducted resulting in narcotics and paraphernalia. Both Bateman and Schreiber were placed under arrest and transported to the Calvert County Detention Center and charged with CDS: Possession-not marijuana (crack cocaine) and CDS: Possession of Paraphernalia.MALICIOUS DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY: On January 10, Deputy Ridgely responded to the Calvert County Detention Center for the report of damaged property. Deputy Ridgely made contact with the Correctional Officer who advised they noticed a foam object appear from under the cell. After investigation it was determined the inmate in the cell later identified as, had torn apart his mattress. Hill was charged with Malicious Destruction of Property/ Value less $1,000.CDS: On January 14, Deputy Williamson was on routine patrol in the area of North Solomons Island Road and Dalrymple Road when he observed a vehicle that failed to stop at the red light. Deputy Williamson conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and made contact with the driver later identified as. A K9 sniff was conducted on the vehicle resulting in a positive alert. A search of the vehicle was performed resulting in narcotics and paraphernalia. Rainbolt was placed under arrest and transported to the Calvert County Detention Center where she was charged with CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana (Oxycodone Hydrochloride, Oxymorphone Hydochloride) and CDS: Possession of Paraphernalia.BURGLARY 18-1790: On January 12, Deputy R. Evans responded to Long Beach Road, Saint Leonard for the report of a burglary. The victim stated that sometime between January 5th at 12:00pm and January 12th at 11:00am an unknown suspect(s) gained entry into the residence by breaking the lock box from the door. The victim also noticed the wooden trim to the door frame to be damaged. It was determined there was no items stolen from inside the residence. The total value of stolen and damaged property is $550.BURGLARY 18-2193: On January 14, Deputy Wood responded to Deer Trail Drive, Dunkirk for the report of a burglary. The victim stated that sometime between 3:30pm and 4:30pm on January 14th an unknown suspect(s) stole their black and lime green Mongoose mountain bike from their garage. The value of the stolen property is $120.DAMAGED PROPERTY 18-2181: On January 14, Deputy Locke responded to Hall Court, Owings for the report of damaged property. The victim stated that an unknown suspect(s) had entered his backyard and knocked over several of their Christmas lights.THEFT 18-1448: On January 10, Deputy Callison responded to the Country Plaza Liquor Store, Dunkirk for the report of a theft. The victim stated sometime between January 9th at 9:00pm and January 10th at 8:45am an unknown suspect(s) stole the rear registration plate from their vehicle. The value of the stolen property is $150.
WASHINGTON

(January 16, 2018)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awarded afirm-fixed-price contract to provide depot level maintenance for one AS-61 Helicopter in support of the government of Egypt. Work will be performed in Peachtree City, Georgia, and is expected to be completed in March 2019. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $7,685,795 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-18-C-0012).No applicable data, is being awardedfor modification P00024 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee term contract (N00421-17-C-0028). This modification exercises an option for an estimated 313,632 hours of technical services for the rapid design, development, customization, fabrication, integration, test and evaluation, installation, certification, maintenance and upgrade, logistic, and life cycle support of new and/or existing communication-electronic platforms, equipment/systems and subsystems. These efforts are in support of the Naval Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (30 percent); Lexington Park, Maryland (25 percent); Chesapeake, Virginia (25 percent); Spring Lake, North Carolina (15 percent); and California, Maryland (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018. Fiscal 2018 working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,000,000 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity, is being awardedfor modification P00060 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee term contract (N00421-15-C-0021). This modification exercises an option for an estimated 224,761 hours of technical services for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) in support of the Naval Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (50 percent); Lexington Park, Maryland (43 percent); Fayetteville, North Carolina (5 percent) and New Bern, North Carolina (2 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2018. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00039 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee term contract (N00421-16-C-0035). This modification exercises an option for an estimated 181,876 hours of life cycle support services and incidental materials for fielded communications-electronics equipment/systems and subsystems, including maintenance, logistic, and lifecycle sustainment. These services are in support of the Naval Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Special Communications Mission Solutions Division. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia (30 percent); San Diego, California (19 percent); St. Inigoes, Maryland (15 percent); Panzer Kaserne, Germany (15 percent); Fayetteville, North Carolina (10 percent); Afghanistan (6 percent); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (3 percent); Fort Bliss, Texas (1 percent); and Homestead, Florida (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2018. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N0001918F1673 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-17-G-0011). This delivery order provides for the non-recurring engineering for the design, development, and qualification of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) anti-radiation homing (ARH) and millimeter wave (MMW) executive processor circuit card assembly as a form, fit, and functional replacement of the existing AARGM ARH and MMW in support of the Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Program Office. This non-recurring engineering effort will mitigate existing cost and production issues associated with the existing AARGM ARH and MMW, as well as incorporate hardware for future expansion of capabilities. Work will be performed in North Ridge, California (94 percent); Monterey, California (3 percent); and Moorpark, California (3 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,506,874 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity.
Dr. Janice Walthour. (Submitted photo)

LEONARDTOWN, Md.

(January 16, 2018)The St. Mary's County Commission for Women has named Dr. Janice Walthour as the recipient of the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is presented annually to an outstanding woman in St. Mary's County who has exemplified continual dedication and support of the community. Dr. Walthour will be honored at the annual Women's History Month Banquet on March 15, 2018.The theme of the banquet, "Nevertheless She Persisted: Honoring Women Who Fight All Forms of Discrimination Against Women," is a perfect fit for Dr. Walthour. A life-long resident of St. Mary's County, Dr. Walthour is well known for her hard work and support of the community. She is a retired educator who worked in St. Mary's County Public Schools (SMCPS) for 36 years as a teacher, resource teacher, assistant principal, principal and coordinator of academic intervention programs. Dr. Walthour currently serves as the President of the St. Mary's County Branch NAACP #7025 and chairs the education committee.Dr. Walthour's more than 40 years of involvement with the NAACP includes facilitating bi-annual meetings with the SMCPS Superintendent of Schools and speaking at Board of Education meetings and public hearings on topics such as eliminating the disparities in achievement and behavior consequences which exist between races and socio-economic levels in the school system. Under her leadership, the NAACP persistently advocates for diversity in staffing in SMCPS. She also takes an active role in facilitating the NAACP's annual Southern Maryland College and Career Fair featuring Historically Black Colleges, universities and local colleges.Dr. Walthour is passionate about standing up against discrimination. S he is a strong woman who refuses to be silenced. She has fought for and succeeded in bringing positive change to the lives of women in St. Mary's County through her active engagement in St. Mary's County. Her other notable contributions of service include serving on the St. Mary's County Library Board of Trustees and the Southern Maryland Regional Library Association Board of Directors. She previously served on the College of Southern Maryland Board of Trustees for nine years.Dr. Walthour is Past President and currently a member of the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions (UCAC) whose mission is to document, increase the understanding of, and foster African American contributions to the history and development of St. Mary's County, while advocating for improvements in health, education, and community building for all citizens. The Commission for Women previously recognized Dr. Walthour as Woman of the Year in 2014.In addition to honoring Dr. Walthour, the Commission for Women will also present awards to the Woman of the Year and the Woman of Tomorrow at the Women's History Month Banquet in March. Nominations are now being accepted for these honors. To access nomination forms, go to the St. Mary's County Commission for Women website at www.co.saint-marys.md.us/voluntr/women.asp . The banquet is open to the public.
Craig Jungwirth, the man once accused of making threats against the LGBT community in South Florida, claims hes planning on organizing another Beach Bear Weekend, now also named Fort Lauderdale Bear Week.

In 2016 after the murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Jungwirth was accused of making Pulse-style threats of violence on social media. But federal prosecutors dropped the charges in January of last year because of a lack of evidence. In June of 2017, he was arrested again for violating the terms of his probation stemming from his vandalization of Rumors Bar & Grill and walking out on a check at Courtyard Cafe.

Multiple individuals and publications have accused Jungwirth of being a scam artist.

A phone message left with Jungwirth was not returned in time for publication. When SFGN reached out to attorney Ron Baum, he said he no longer represents Jungwirth. Jungwirth emailed SFGN in November promoting the event, which is scheduled for March 26 to April 1. But theres another bear-themed event also scheduled that same week  Bearsurrection.

The same dates are not the only thing the two events have in common. The Beach Bear Weekend site is laid out in such a way that it appears the two events are associated. Manuel Barrios, who co-owns Bearsurrection with Gene ward and Marcos Sanchez, said Jungwirth is using Bearsurrections name and logo without permission.

On BeachBearWeekend.com, the Bearsurrection logo is used. Above the logo, an S has been added to Bearsurrection. It reads Bearsurrections Presents Fort Lauderdale Bear Week.

Also, visitors on Beach Bear Weekends site who click on Events Every Day are redirected to Bearsurrection.com.

As soon as we started promoting, he started promoting as well. We have nothing to do with Beach Bear Weekend and never have. We created Bearsurrection as an alternative to Beach Bear Weekend. Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors are international destinations and we didnt have an event for the bear community. We have all the conditions to have an event like that in our city, Barrios said.

Barrios said Bearsurrection is in talks with the logos owner to get the legal rights to the logo. Until then, he said, theres nothing that he and his partners can legally do to stop Jungwirth from using it.

So, for now, he said, theyve decided to just ignore Jungwirth. We cannot give him the chance to reply to us.

As for the event itself, Barrios said hes very optimistic about how Bearsurrection will turn out. For more information on Bearsurrection, visit Bearsurrection.com.
Although the races for mayor and the Dist. 2 commission seat werent won outright Tuesday, the citys gay candidates came out as the nights clear winners and strongly positioned to win in March.

Dist. 2 Commissioner Dean Trantalis won 46 percent of the vote in his bid to be the citys first openly-gay mayor. Vice Mayor Bruce Roberts got 31 percent of the vote. Former commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom got 21.9 percent of the vote. Because Roberts and Trantalis failed to get 50 percent plus one of the vote, a runoff will be held between the two men on March 13.

In the race for Dist. 2, Steve Glassman, a gay man, won 34 percent of the vote compared to 25 percent for former commissioner Tim Smith. The two will also face off in the March 13 runoff.

Gay candidate George Castrataro, the other gay candidate, won 20 percent of the vote. Chad Maxey got 18 percent, and Lester Zalewski got 1 percent.

Im very excited for our community and our city. It shows people are really engaging in this process, said Trantalis. Trantalis said Roberts should concede. Hes 19 points away. Im only three points away. If we get Charlottes votes, were in. SFGN was unable to speak with Roberts by press time Tuesday night.

Many members of the LGBT community in attendance at Trantalis election night party, held at Thasos Greek Taverna, were optimistic about Trantalis chances since before the first returns were posted by the Broward Supervisor of Elections.

When Dean announced his candidacy, right away we knew this would be a horizon race for the LGBT community. Its a breath of fresh air. This is what we need, said Joe Saunders, senior political director for Equality Florida.

I think its amazing we have two candidates from the LGBT community in the race, said Wilton Manors Commissioner Tom Green.

Dist. 3 candidate Robert McKinzie, who got 51 percent of the vote, and faced off against Donna Guthrie, and Marie Huntley, is the only candidate who wont have to compete in a runoff.

Benjamin Sorensen, who got 42 percent, and Warren Sturman, who got 31 percent, will face off in the runoff for the Dist. 4 seat. Walter Duke III got 26 percent.
I was just put in handcuffs! Henry Williams  better known for his drag persona Tiffany Fantasia  screamed to his followers on a Facebook live video Monday evening, as he recounted the story of how he had just been stopped by Miami Beach police and placed in handcuffs because he matched the description of a black male of interest in possession of a knife.

The incident happened at the intersection of Espanola Way and Euclid Avenue in front of Williams apartment building on Martin Luther King Day.

Williams said he parked his car around the corner of his apartment building, in between drag gigs. He had just left Palace Bar on Ocean Drive and was on his way to Hotel Gaythering on Lincoln Road, where he hosts Karaoke Mondays, when he went home to change out of his boy clothes, his face still painted.

Williams stepped out of the car with a McDonalds bag in one hand and a cell phone and keys in the other. Then, police came out of nowhere, asking Williams for his picture ID, eventually placing him in handcuffs.

No positive description, no height, no weight. Just a black man with a grey shirt and blue jeans. Fucking ridiculous, an emotionally-charged Williams said on Facebook live. Then they wonder why we [African American males] feel the way we do towards the police department... because we all go through this shit! My dad went through this shit, Im going through this shit. Many African American males go through this shit and get treated like shit in the process.

Williams went on to say that its so fucking aggravating, so annoying when all youre trying to do is be a good person. And the sad part is that this isnt the first time this ever happens to me. Its always a vague ass description from the police department...no where near what you look like but youre a suspect! Because of the color of your fucking skin. Dont make any fucking sense.

Williams said he was eventually let go when officers realized they had the wrong man. The real culprit, according to an incident report, was a black male fitting Williams description who had threatened a white female at a store on 14th Street and Washington Avenue, then followed her to 14th Street and Pennsylvania Court and attacked her, punching her in the chest. The victim then flagged down a police officer at the corner of 14th Place and Euclid Avenue and reported the attack.

Officers detained Williams at the 700 block of Espanola Way because he fit the physical description and clothing description of the culprit. According to the report, Williams was momentarily handcuffed for his safety and the safety of the officers. When the victim was transported to the scene where Williams was being detained, she confirmed he was not her attacker. Williams was immediately un-handcuffed and released, but not before an officer on the scene told him to pick up his trash (the McDonalds bag), or else hed be cited for littering.

Williams was none too pleased with the treatment or lack of an apology from the officers.

I have never been so disgusted with Miami Beach Police Department. The way they handled the situation was horrible, Williams said in a separate Facebook post Monday evening. They handcuffed me out of nowhere while walking down my own block with a McDonald's bag, cell phone and keys saying that I matched the description of somebody with a knife. And then when I asked why [they were] handcuffing me, they're telling me to be quiet and listen with my ears.... I did nothing wrong! Obviously, from a mile away, you could tell I wasn't the person! And some of you wonder why black people have a problem with yall.

As upset as Williams was after the incident, he still changed into his drag clothes to host the karaoke night at Hotel Gaythering. Yes, I did. The show must go on. I was taught that at as a young entertainer, he said.

Williams met with Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation and then posted the outcome of the meeting on his Facebook page, along with a group picture with Oates and fellow officers.

Growth comes from understanding both sides of the coin. Thank you, Police Chief Daniel Oates, for explaining what was going on that night, hearing me and my side of the story and trying to come up with a solution to the problem, Williams said. He and his team heard me as a citizen and as an African American male. I hope this can lead to a better understanding and growth.

Ernesto Rodriguez, Public Information Officer for the Miami Beach Police Department, provided South Florida Gay News the following statement via email:

Chief Oates, Deputy Chief Clements, Major Guerrero and I met with Mr. Williams this afternoon. This was a private conversation where we all openly discussed our concerns and the incident. We feel the meeting was very positive and Chief Oates reassured Mr. Williams that he and the Miami Beach PD is always available should he have any questions or concerns, we even took a group photo at the end.
In the past two weeks, SFGN has made it clear our award winners for 2017 celebrate individuals who have achieved success over the test of time.

This weeks recipient of our Achievements in Excellence Award goes to attorney George Castrataro, first written up in SFGN in our very first issue, on January 25, 2010.

It was the beginning of a series of articles featuring his pro bono representation of a gay Hollywood cop who was unjustly fired from the citys police department. George would ensure the officer kept his state license.

Eight years later, Castrataro continues to make news as an attorney standing up for his clients and LGBT rights. Already well known for developing a promising legal career in the field of bankruptcy law, Castrataro is now attempting to carve out a new career as a public servant, offering his name up as a candidate for City commission in Fort Lauderdale.

Win or lose that particular race, he has cultivated a reputation for decency, serving on and underwriting charitable boards, undertaking civic minded cases, and sponsoring LGBT issues and candidates for office. Our community has been well served by his conscientiousness and commitment to causes that matter to us.

Castrataro grew up in Amityville, New York. He was an out high schooler with an atypically understanding and supportive Italian Catholic family. "I was the popular nerd. The homecoming king who would leave the party early and sneak into a gay bar with a fake ID."

A family move to Florida meant an undergraduate degree followed by an MA in Public Health from University of South Florida. George had considered becoming a doctor, and became involved in the public health field first with the Tampa Bay Red Cross, followed by a move to DC to become National Manager for the Red Cross Disease Prevention Program.

This was followed by a stint with the Miami Behavioral Health Center, and a year as Assistant Director of the Broward County Health Department. Concurrently, he founded his own consultancy, Non-Profit Capacity Builders, Inc.

"I began to think that becoming a lawyer would make me a better epidemiologist."



Back in Florida, George began law school at night and graduated in the inaugural class of Florida International University (FIU). He began working at Legal Aid of Broward, leading the HIV legal program. There, he established the Broward Human Rights Initiative, protecting the civil rights of the LGBT community through legal representation, education and mobilization.

With this in mind, George became a lawyer in 2005, and was Supervising Attorney of Legal Aid Service of Broward County for two years before starting his own practice in 2008 specializing in litigation and bankruptcy, now expanded to foreclosure with more attorneys and a social conscience making him worthy of this award.



Over ten years, George has devoted a sizable amount of time to pro bono work and community service, exposing predatory lending, lack of protections for LGBT couples, and workplace injustice. Along the way, he has broken new ground, like a year ago when he convinced a bankruptcy court to write off a federal student loan.

A big techno geek into the most modern computer equipment, he now wants to bring that technical savvy and expertise to city hall as a commissioner representing District 2. His office features software platforms for all practice areas, and his skill set is highly rated by a host of legal evaluators, including a Super Lawyers Rising Star ranking from Westlaw.

This is Georges first foray into politics, and his candidacy challenged a qualified, popular gay opponent, a former city commissioner, along with a young West Point graduate. George wants to champion causes and people he thinks the city is forgetting. His past performance, ethics and advocacy makes him a worthy candidate. The top two vote getters in last nights elections will move into the second round of the race if none achieve 50 percent of the vote.

George is used to handling clients whose lives are in crisis in an orderly and professional manner. Our SFGN award recognizes not the votes in a particular race, but the values expressed and shared over time. As a volunteer and spokesperson, George has represented our community honorably.

Having been a spokesperson for the LGBT community for the past eight years, acting with dignity, decorum, and distinction, SFGN honors him with its Annual Achievements in Excellence Award, to be presented January 25 at Hunters Nightclub in Wilton Manors.
As the #metoo movement continues to open space for women to speak out about assault and harassment, a tidal wave of men from various industries have found themselves suddenly accountable for unprofessional and often illegal behavior. In the months since #metoo went viral, the specialty coffee community has waited for its own first allegations to break, and in the first week of 2018, due to the courage of several women in the Bay Area, they did. On January 5, two former employees of Four Barrel Coffee filed suit against the company itself, as well as one of its three owners, Jeremy Tooker. The response has been astonishing: within a week, multiple wholesale accounts ended their relationship with Four Barrel, the company itself declared intent to change its name and move to an employee-owned model, and the specialty coffee community spoke a loud, clear #timesup, widely condemning sexual assault and harassment. The lawsuit itself, which settled after just a week, and the dramatic response from the specialty coffee community stand as a powerful example of the cultural shift taking place nationwide, in coffee and in other industries, and the change that comes next.

The Lawsuit

The lawsuit against Tooker and Four Barrel went live on January 5th, the first Friday of 2018. The 19-page suitwhich details allegations from eight former employeesruns the full spectrum from casual sexism in the workplace to silencing complaints to attempted rape. Reporter Justin Phillips of the SF Chronicle coordinated reportage as part of a wider Chronicle investigation into harassment in the Bay Areas food, beverage, and tech industries. According to the allegations in the suit, the acts of sexual assault were not actions in a vacuum by a single person, but rather one element of a company culture where baristas were placed in a setting that encouraged sexual humor and objectificationa toxic workplace is referenced in the suit, as per CBS Bay Area. The suit also alleges that employees who brought up their discomfort with the environment at Four Barrel, and with specific incidents, were told not to start drama and talk shit. According to the suit, several employees who defied those mores were fired.

Four Barrels Initial Response

After the lawsuit, Four Barrel closed its doors for the weekend of January 6th and 7th. Following a short silence, co-owners Jodi Geren and Tal Mor issued a statement in response to the suit. While the owners expressed sadness and concern over the contents of the suit, they also took issue with certain claims, specifically the mischaracterization of our current culture. They announced that Tooker had stepped down as CEO in November and was divesting his remaining ownership in the company; they also stated that they had retained an outside HR firm to investigate and allow extant employees to report concerns. We will continue to take prompt action to address any and all employee concerns, as we have done in the past, wrote Geren and Mor, who did not directly address the allegations that they had discouraged previous employee complaints.

The Specialty Coffee Community Reacts

In the wake of the lawsuit and Four Barrels initial response statement, multiple wholesale clients made the decision to sever their partnerships with the company, including Socola Chocolatier and Barista, Red Rock Coffee, Le Marais Bakery, Spiller Park Coffee, Strange Matter Coffee Co., Boba Guys, and several more.

Social media presented a central hub for the specialty coffee community to voice their anger, frustration, and disgust with the allegations laid out in the lawsuit, as well as with sexual assault and harassment in the larger industry in general. Prominent activist voices in coffee spoke out against the company and called for broader change and real accountability, including Jasper Wilde of Ritual Coffee Roasters and Boss Barista Podcast, Liz Dean of The Wing, and WINCC founder Becky Reeves.

The Tide

Three days after the suit was filed, Four Barrel put out a second statement declaring intentions toward several next steps. First, they said, they intend to allocate Tookers 50% shares to Four Barrel employees; second, they changed their name to The Tide and retire the Four Barrel brand; third, Mor & Geren intend to make available increasing shares of their remaining ownership, until theyve completely divested and the new business is 100% employee-owned. At the end of the statement, they asked customers, both retail and wholesale, to keep purchasing coffee from them so they can have a chance to execute that change.

As reported in Eater SF, while some responses gave the company credit for their accountability and positive intentions, others felt that the statements emphasis on Tookers actions were a deflection from the fact that Four Barrel itself was being sued as well, and that specific allegations detailed harassment and silencing from Geren and Mor, not just Tooker. Some also criticized the lack of a direct action plan, and pointed out that if the same people were involved in The Tide as Four Barrel, then a name change felt more like a PR move, as per Eater.

We reached out to Geren and Mor for comment on a variety of questions pertaining to this article, including the point of divestment. At what point would Geren and Mor turn over their shares in the company? All of our time and energy right now is going into our customers, employees and stabilizing our business, they told Sprudge in a joint email. Weve lost 50-60% of our wholesale business in the last week and for us to have a viable business to offer employee ownership, we need to first stabilize and then figure out the best model for our new structure.

As for the name change, Four Barrels remaining owners have re-evaluated this decision since announcing The Tide on January 8th. We realized that in the emotion and shock of this past week that changing our name was a mistake, Geren and Mor tell Sprudge. Our customers have been vocal about us keeping the name Four Barrel and we want to own it and make it right, rather than walking away. This is a company that we and all of our employees built ourselves and although this past week has been heartbreaking, we have put everything into Four Barrel and stand by not only our coffees, but our ability to change and make things right.

The Coffee Community Responds

From the announcement of the lawsuit through its swift settlement, several groups within the specialty coffee community have come together to show their support.

Bay Area Coffee Community compiled a list of companies that were hiring, with Jasper Wilde leading the charge to get workers placed in new companies if they wanted to leave Four Barrel. Molly Flynn, creator of anti-harassment and discrimination group Coffee Too, joined the effort and is working with Wilde and others to cover all vulnerable parties needs through this difficult time. Several businesses stepped up to voice support, both for the ex-employees who filed the lawsuit, and for current Four Barrel employees who wish to leave the company and wish to continue working in the Bay Area specialty coffee industry.

I was so relieved to see the community reaching out to support folks who needed or were looking for other work, Umeko Motoyoshi, one of the former employees involved in the lawsuit, told Sprudge. We all had a lot of concern for Four Barrels current employees, and it was good to see people step up. While the offers of material support were crucial, what Motoyoshi appreciated even more deeply was just being believed.

Back To Work

As of press time all three Four Barrel Coffee locations in San Francisco are open for business, and the company currently employs some sixty-one total employees, as per Geren and Mor. Numerous wholesale accounts have severed ties with the brand, and Mor and Geren have yet to divest, though they stress that this is the goal theyre working towards now. Its an ongoing conversation, they told Sprudge. We first need to stabilize and will then work out a new structure that benefits everyone. Our employees will then be able to decide on an individual basis if the new structure is the right fit for them.

We asked Mor and Geren if they could comment on the outcome of the settlement. They did not discuss specifics, but did offer comment on the current state of the company. Were glad to have resolved the lawsuit quickly but none of this has been easy for any of the parties involved, Geren and Mor tell Sprudge. Tal [Mor] has met with the women involved in the lawsuit and some very helpful dialogue has come from it. A few have even expressed their support and belief in our ability to change, which means everything to us. Above all, we commend them for coming forward.

We also asked Mor and Geren about charges, outlined in the original lawsuit and elsewhere, that the ownership and management at Four Barrel were complicit in silencing victims. We can see now how the systems that we had in place failed to create an environment where women were heard or felt that they could talk to us directly and we take full responsibility for that, they said, adding: The most important thing for us moving forward is ensuring that nothing like this will ever happen again.

Coffee Too and Coffees Future

On January 8th, Coffee Too teamed up with Boss Barista to launch a GoFundMe to fight sexual harassment and discrimination in the coffee industry, pointing to the tremendous power found in speaking up and collectively organizing. Faced with evidence and multiple witnesses, Tooker immediately divested his shares and left the company. Geren and Morpublicly apologized, and announced that they too would leave the company[and] they announced a plan to relinquish their shares in the business to their employees, wrote Ashley Rodriguez of Boss Barista, who created the GoFundMe page. This is the power of talking shit. This is the power of starting drama. In support of these eight women, #coffeetoo is fundraising to continue this work.

The fund is nearing its original $5000 goal as of press time. Im moved to tears by the generosity of our community, says Flynn, founder of Coffee Too, who has been quoted widely in ongoing press coverage of the lawsuit. Originally conceived with the idea of supporting current and past Four Barrel employees affected by the suit, Flynn found from talking to them that their greatest desire was to raise money not for themselves, but to create support systems and educational resources for fighting harassment and discrimination in the coffee industry. Going forward, Coffee Too wants to create a legal fund for workers who need to file suit against employers.

If the rapid saga of Four Barrel/The Tide has shown anything, its that many in the coffee community are no longer willing to overlook harassment. In the wake of these events, coffee companies will need to look with fresh eyes at their company culture and policy structures, and the greater coffee community will need to look at itself and root out complicity to bring real, structural change. I know as a community we can continue this work, says Umeko Motoyoshi. Continue to grow, to look at ourselves and lend our voices where they have the most impact. Continue to do better.

RJ Joseph (@RJ_Sproseph) is a Sprudge staff writer, publisher of Queer Cup, and coffee professional based in the Bay Area. Read more RJ Joseph on Sprudge Media Network.

Top image by Bruce Damonte via We Interview Boor Bridges Architecture, San Franciscos Cafe Design Masters by Noah Sanders.

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Former Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) Director of Racing Terry Stone passed away suddenly on January 15, 2018.

After an exemplary career in the public service - including 14 years with the OPP and 27 years with the ORC -- Terry retired in 2007. In his time with the ORC, Terry was an active participant and witness to change in the horse racing community  not only in the legislative mandate of the regulator but also in the very nature and challenges facing horse racing.

He will be fondly remembered in the hearts of his many relatives, friends, and members of the horse racing community.

Beloved husband of Maureen and the late Doris. Loving father of Brent and his wife Lori, Andrea and her husband Jason Bellar and stepfather of Peter Seney and his wife Angela and Christopher Seney and his wife Jennifer. Cherished Papa of Mitch, Owen, Blake, Russell, Ryan, Peter Jr., Joseph, Brett, Jack and Samantha. Dear brother of Judy and her husband Terry Vestby and Kathy and her husband Larry Newton. Terry will be fondly remembered in the hearts of his many relatives and friends.

Visitation will be held at the Thompson Funeral Home, 530 Industrial Parkway South, Aurora, 905-727-5421 on Thursday, January 18 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. and on Friday, January 19 from 10:00 a.m. until the time of the service at 11:00. Memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Terry Stone.
Abortion Facility in Oakland Closed

Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- Life Legal is pleased to report that Family Planning Specialists shuttered its Oakland abortion facility this week. Life Legal has represented a number of prolife advocates who peacefully protested the facility over the past decade, most notably Rev. Walter Hoye.Photo: Rev. Walter Hoye and his wife Lori together with LLDF attorneys that represented Rev. HoyeRev. Hoye made national news when he was arrested for simply holding a sign on the sidewalk in front of the facility that read, "God loves you and your baby. Let us help."Even though not a single patient ever filed a complaint and even though volunteers testified that Rev. Hoye never threatened them or obstructed access to the facility, the District Attorney found Hoye's mere presence to be "unlawful and intimidating."In truth, the facility's "escorts" regularly bullied Rev. Hoye by surrounding him with large placards and blaring raucous music to drown out his message.Rev. Hoye faced a two-year jail term, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 days. Although the judge ordered Hoye to stay away from the Oakland abortion facility, Hoye, determined to continue his fight for the lives of unborn children, refused to agree to the order. Life Legal appealed the conviction and won. We then secured the dismissal of all charges against Hoye.Life Legal challenged the constitutionality of the city ordinance under which Rev. Hoye was charged. That case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Oakland discriminated against Hoye in its application of the ordinance, holding that the city's "enforcement policy is a constitutionally invalid, content-based regulation of speech."Family Planning Specialists in Oakland is a member of the National Abortion Federation, which sued David Daleiden after he exposed the abortion industry's trade in the body parts of aborted babies. Life Legal is defending David Daleiden in two civil cases.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org
When People from the Bible did the Unthinkable, They Experienced the Miraculous

Contact: Rachel Sammons, 407-333-0600LAKE MARY, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- When Mia K. Wright read the Bible, she noticed a pattern: the people who experienced the extraordinary did unordinary things. In her book Unthinkable (March 6, 2018) Wright challenges readers to push past the limitations placed on them by society, culture, and themselves to reach their next level with God.Raised in a single-parent home on the wrong side of town, Wright never thought she would beat the odds. "God did the unthinkable... when I decided not to settle for life as I had known it. I wanted more out of life than I had seen growing up, and as I placed my desire before God, He showed me how to break out of poverty and a self-limiting mind-set. He began to open my eyes to what He had in store for me, and His plans were beyond what I would have dreamed," Wright says.Joni Lamb, host of Joni Table Talk on Daystar Television Network, says, "Mia Wright challenges us to understand that although we may view ourselves as ordinary, God's view is quite different. She encourages us to do the unthinkable and walk outside the boundaries of ordinary and join hands with our Creator to do the extraordinary."Wright takes inspiration from the godly examples of individuals in the Bible, among them Abigail, and Rahab. These individuals took bold steps of faith and at times defied cultural norms. Mary should have been in the kitchen with Martha, but she sat at the feet of Jesus. When Naomi commanded her daughters-in-law to go back home, Ruth vowed to stay with her and thus played a central role in God's plan to bring Jesus into the world. "I believe that embedded in the spirit and psyche of every individual is the desire to break out, to improve and be better. The problem is many of us don't know where we need to be or how to get there. To experience the change you seek, you may just have to do the unthinkable," Wright says.Wright is co-pastor and director of ministry at The Fountain of Praise in Houston, Texas. Host of the popular Metamorphosis women's conference, Wright is a noted community influencer. She has been a host on TBN's Praise the Lord and a guest on Daystar's Joni Table Talk and Celebration programs.About Charisma HouseCharisma House empowers people through Spirit-inspired resources. It is the leading publisher of diversified Christian resources motivating people to fulfill God's purpose. For more than twenty years Charisma House has published books, including fourteen New York Times bestsellers, that challenge, encourage, teach, and equip Christians.Other Media Contact: Kayla Adams- info@kaylatuckeradams.com
Yunnan Christians Receive Lengthy Sentences for Falsified Cult Involvement Charge

Contact: ChinaAid.org,

432-689-6985,

432-553-1080,

media@chinaaid.org



LINCANG, Yunnan, China, Jan. 16, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- A court in Lincang, located in China's southern Yunnan province, handed a group of church attendees lengthy prison sentences for supposed cult activity, despite their denials of belonging to the sect.



Upon hearing their verdict, Ju Dianhong and Liang Qin expressed their dissatisfaction with their respective 13 and 10-year sentences and vowed to appeal with the help of their lawyer, Xiao Yunyang. Ju emphasized that she had never heard of the Three Grades of Servants, the religious sect under which the authorities accused her of leading, recruiting members, doing missionary work, and spreading news of the apocalypse; nor did she know the definition of the word "cult." She said she only believed in and preached about Jesus, never harming anyone or acting contrary to biblical principles.



Their fellow church members Zhang Hongyan, Zi Huimei, Yang Shunxiang, and Zhang Shaocai, received sentences varying from four to eight years in length for the same charges.



However, this case is not an isolated event. In March 2016, the Yunnan government formulated an investigative team that eventually carried out a coordinated attack against the Three Grades of Servants organization, which it views as a dangerous cult, on Oct. 21, 2016. Officials then utilized this campaign to round up an estimated 200 Christians across the province, falsely accusing them of participating in the cult. Many of them are still in custody, some serving similarly lengthy sentences and others awaiting prosecution. Just recently, Yunnan authorities notified their lawyers that they were suspected of "illegally" defending their clients and that their qualifications would come under official review.



One of the still-imprisoned Christians, Tu Yan (pictured above), awaits her trial from a prison cell in Dali, Yunnan. She and her Christian friend, Su Min, ran a hotel in Dali before they were both arrested. Tu was indicted for "utilizing cults to undermine law enforcement," a charge commonly given to the Christians caught up in the crackdown. Her case is currently at the local court, which is expected to schedule a trial.



Her sister, Tu Kui, said, "I panicked after hearing [about the sentencing of the Lincang Christians]. What is going on? They were sentenced so harshly. They neither robbed nor stole."



"This is a historical, massive case of pure religious persecution against peaceful, independent house church Christians," said ChinaAid President Bob Fu. "The large number of arbitrary arrests and extremely harsh, long sentences imposed on these young church leaders under the guise of being 'anti-evil cult' shows that [Chinese President] Xi's regime has no interest in respecting its citizens' freedom of religion or belief. The threat against these accused church leaders' lawyers denies the basic elements of rule of law. We call upon the Chinese leaders to immediately release these leaders and make proper amends to those who have been arbitrarily detained and tortured."



ChinaAid exposes abuses, such as those enacted against Christians in Yunnan, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted church members and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.


Life Legal Files U.S. Supreme Court Brief on Behalf of Priests for Life and Justice Foundation

Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- Life Legal filed an amicus brief this morning with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Priests for Life and the Justice Foundation's Operation Outcry in a legal challenge to a California statute that suppresses the speech of pregnancy resource centers. Priests for Life supports the work of pregnancy centers across the nation and Operation Outcry has collected over 5,000 legally admissible testimonies from women who have been hurt by abortion.In 2015, California legislators bowed to the abortion lobby by passing the Reproductive "FACT" Act. The Act, which was written by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), imposes draconian requirements on speech by pregnancy resource centers, including forcing medically-licensed centers to provide referrals for state-funded abortions.Life Legal's brief addresses the Act's provisions that apply to non-medical pregnancy centers, which are required to post large disclaimers that they are "not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California and [have] no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services."The disclaimer must be included on all print and digital advertising in every "threshold language" of the county where the center offers services. There are 13 threshold languages in Los Angeles county, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Tagalog, Cambodian and Arabic, in addition to English and Spanish. This requirement alone would make it cost-prohibitive for centers to advertise their services. And the centers' core message would be drowned out by the sheer volume of text in the translations.Laws that implicate speech are subject to the highest standard of judicial review, known as "strict scrutiny," that requires such laws to further a compelling state interest and be narrowly tailored to serve that interest. However, the lower courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated the "FACT" Act in a manner that was anything but strictor even scrutiny."The state has no legitimate interest in forcing non-medical pregnancy centers to post the disclaimer, as the centers do not provide services that require them to be licensed in the first place," said Alexandra Snyder, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "No other provider of goods and services is subject to a mandate of this kind. No other provider has to postin 13 languages no lesswhat it is not."Imagine churches having to post large signs stating that they have no licensed psychotherapists. Or, imagine food banks having to state in multiple languages on their websites and social media platforms that they are not licensed to provide gastroenterological procedures.California already has regulations to address the unlawful practice of medicine without a license. Non-medical pregnancy centers that offer over-the-counter, self-administered pregnancy tests, information about pregnancy options, maternity clothes, and diapers do not provide any services that could be construed as medical.California's "FACT" Act is anything but factual. Pregnancy centers give back millions of dollars in goods and services each year to the communities they serve. They provide tangible support for women who choose not to abort their unborn children and they offer post-abortion healing for women who have had abortions. Their success makes them a threat to the abortion lobby's financial and political interests.We trust that the Supreme Court will recognize the "FACT" Act for what it is: a lie designed to stifle the message that women have alternatives to abortion.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org
Three people escaped death when their car plunged into a giant, 70-meter-long sinkhole and 15-meter-deep sinkhole that swallowed up half of the road they were driving on near Mersing, Malaysia. The cave-in occurred at about 2.30am on January 15, 2018 due to the continuous rainfall of the past several days. For safety reasons, Jalan Jemaluang which connects Mersing and Johor Baru is temporary closed off to traffic. However, the 3 passengers escaped unhurt. Meanwhile, in the Pennsylvania, 7 houses were evacuated after finding a deep sinkhole beneath.

Meanwhile in the USA, a building comprising seven townhouses was condemned in Bethlehem, PA, after a sinkhole opened up beneath the structure. More than a dozen residents were ordered out of their homes after the dramatic discovery. A total of 80 homes in the complex are without water. ANother building is also without natural gas service, leaving those occupants without heat.

Our earth is moving, groaning and swallowing up houses, roads and cars.

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The Malay Mail Online, The Star
A man suffering from dementia is yet to be found after being reported missing in the Hamilton area.

Raymond Stirling was reported missing yesterday afternoon and police believe he could be hitchhiking.

He is described as being of slim and frail build, says Sergeant Vince Ranger.

Police and Mr Stirlings family are very concerned for his well-being as he suffers from mild dementia and may have become confused and lost.

After searching yesterday from where Raymond was last seen, Police have not yet been able to locate him.

Several sightings were received by Police yesterday but these have been discounted after inquiries made. The 84-year-old was last seen in the Halcione Close area at about 7.30pm on January 15, but he was noticed missing yesterday 11am.

Vince says its not known what he was last wearing, but possibly blue track pants and white/red sneakers type shoes.

He should have a black walking stick with him. Police need help to locate him.

We are really concerned that we cant locate Raymond. Our search today for him will take part in the suburban areas nearby he was last seen.

Police will be visiting properties in this area and asking residents to check their sections, inside and out, plus external buildings such as sheds and garages. We will be using Police staff and LandSAR volunteers in our search today.

If anyone has seen Mr Stirling they are asked to call 111 immediately.
Attorneys representing five students who lost a $17.6 million isolation booth lawsuit against the Longview School District earlier this month filed an appeal Wednesday, arguing key evidence and important testimony were excluded from the three-week trial.

The suit is now headed for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

An eight-member jury on Jan. 3 dismissed 12 different claims against the district and Jerry Stein, a former special education teacher at Mint Valley Elementary School.

Stein oversaw the use of a controversial 4-by-4-foot windowless isolation booth while he supervised a program for the districts most behaviorally challenged students from 2005 to 2016.

Five former Mint Valley Elementary students and their parents had accused Stein of depriving them of their Constitutional right to freedom from illegal seizure under the Fourth Amendment by placing them inside inside the booth for mild misbehavior between 2009 and 2012. Their lawyers also argued that placement in the booth aggravated the childrens pre-existing mental disabilities and caused psychological damage.

After a day and a half of deliberations, the jury rejected all of the plaintiffs claims.

Plaintiffs lawyers are appealing on five ground different grounds.

We respect the court just like we respect the jury, Roger Davidheiser, an attorney for the families, said in an interview Wednesday. We just think there were errors committed that had a material impact on the outcome.

One of the central issues in the case, according to the plaintiffs, was whether the booth could be locked from the outside without being manually held shut.

Plaintiffs are specifically appealing U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Bryans decision to exclude the sworn depositions of two former Mint Valley students who testified that they were locked inside the booth.

Plaintiffs attorneys had intended to introduce evidence that Stein regularly locked children in the booth  a violation of state law and accepted best practices for the safe use of isolation at the time. The defense team had argued it was impossible to lock the booth without the constant presence of an adult.

One of the students, identified as J.B. in court records, testified that he was locked in the booth roughly 10 different times during his third- and fourth-grade years, according to court records.

Another student, called as a witness by the districts defense team, testified that the booth held therapeutic benefits and helped him get to where I am today. However, that student also testified that teachers would use a piece of wood to keep the booth shut.

The additional grounds for appeal include:

Plaintiffs are appealing the judges decision to prohibit the jury from inferring that the booth violated state regulations because the district destroyed it five days after photos of it were posted to Faceook.

Plaintiffs are asking the appeals court to reconsider the judges order to exclude evidence related to prior, unproven allegations of misconduct against Stein, according to court records.

In light of the allegations against Stein, plaintiffs argue the claims against former Mint Valley Principal Patrick Kelley and former Superintendent Suzanne Cusick should not have been dismissed.

Plaintiffs argue that they are entitled to the underlying materials a law firm hired by the district in 2012 used to produce a report on whether the booth was used appropriately. The report was admitted into the court record under seal, but the districts defense team argued the related documents were protected by attorney-client privilege.

The Ninth Circuit will hear oral arguments after it receives all documents and evidence in the lawsuit, including thousands of pages of transcripts produced during the trial. It could take up to two years to get a ruling, Davidheiser said.

If a panel of judges rules in the plaintiffs favor, a new trial would be held or the parties could negotiate a settlement.

Attorneys representing the district were unavailable for comment Wednesday. In a statement to The Daily News, district spokeswoman Sandy Catt said Wednesday the district was not surprised the families have appealed.

We understand that this is part of the process, and we remain confident that the outcome in the districts favor will stand, she said.
Statewide Running Start enrollment has steadily increased since the program was first introduced more than two decades ago, but its popularity among local high school students has exploded recently.

The growing number of students seeking free college credit isnt limited to Running Start, though. Advanced Placement enrollment at local high schools is up as well, and districts are working to add even more college-level offerings.

Local educators are reluctant to frame the growth of college-level options as a competition for students. But Running Start, at least, creates fiscal tension between high school and community college budgets. State and local education funding follows the student: So for its full-time Running Start students, Lower Columbia College gets 93 percent of the roughly $11,500 local districts normally spend per pupil.

The Kelso School District, for example, budgeted for 110 Running Start students this year. Instead, 150 entered Running Start at LCC. That represents more than $1.5 million lost to the district.

Over the past five years, the number of Kelso Running Start students has more than doubled.

In the Longview School District, Running Start participation increased 8 percent from last year.

Participation has nearly doubled in the last decade, from 71 students in 2007-2008 to 137 students this year.

Lower Columbia College has felt a corresponding surge. The school saw a 15 percent jump in Running Start enrollment in 2016-2017 and another 10 percent gain in September. It now has just short of 500 Running Start students, or nearly 10 percent of its total student enrollment.

The influx of high schoolers has even prompted LCC to hire a new education planner for winter quarter.

While students from the Longview and Kelso school districts make up nearly two-thirds of LCCs Running Start population, the college collaborates with 23 different area high schools from Battle Ground to Toutle  each with its own unique graduation requirements.

So whats driving the increase?

Free credit

Kelso High School Principal John Gummell said the school recently conducted a survey to find out why. A key finding: Students enroll in Running Start mostly to save money, he said.

It wasnt about the rigor or the challenge. It was about getting free college, Gummell said in a recent interview. And I can certainly understand that.

A year of full-time tuition at LCC costs $4,273, while a year of undergraduate tuition at the University of Washington costs $10,974.

Many Running Start students still need to pay for books and fees, but the state picks up the tab for their community college tuition. Course and book fees are also are waived for low-income students.

I think more and more students are realizing the benefits of the program itself, Lupe Rodriguez, LCCs Running Start manager, said in a recent interview. Theyre discussing it with their friends and family, and teachers and counselors are being more supportive.

That was true for Abri Alba-Estrada, a junior at R.A. Long High School whos also a full-time Running Start student at LCC. She first heard about the program from her mother and two older sisters.

I figured it was for me because it was a really great option financially, she said in an interview.

As a full-time student pursuing an associates degree, Alba-Estrada fits the typical Running Start student profile. Last year, almost all of LCCs Running Start students shouldered a full-time course load. Many do so to earn a two-year associate degree, which increases their chances that LCC credits will transfer to a four-year university.

Out of 440 total Running Start students at LCC last year, 194 were seniors. Of those, 98 graduated from high school with a college associate degree  a record.

But not all Running Start students are university-bound. Roughly 32 percent of students also took at least one technical or vocational course.

Running Start vs. Advanced Placement

Participation in Advanced Placement enrollment  which similarly allows high schoolers to earn college credit  also is on the rise. The number of students taking AP classes in the Longview School District, for example, has increased 18 percent over the past four years, from 306 to 371 students.

This rise is one reason the district recently was recognized by the College Board, a non-profit rating organization, as one of eight districts in the state for increasing access to AP courses and improving test scores.

Meanwhile, Kelso High School has partnered with the University of Washington to introduce more ways for students to earn college credit on campus.

In addition to its traditional AP courses, the school now offers five different college-level introductory courses taught by teachers certified through the university. The courses  which follow the University of Washingtons curriculum  include English, math and world languages. The school also is adding a university-level chemistry class next fall.

More than 130 students are enrolled throughout the offerings this year.

The Kelso School District has also allocated funds to ensure the classes are free to all students.

Weve been methodically adding new classes every year, Gummel said.

The Longview School District also offers two University of Washington courses: calculus and French.

AP courses are generally taught over an entire year. At the end, students pay $80 to take an exam and generally need to attain a score of 3 out of 5 or higher to qualify for college credit. Unlike community college credits, AP credits are almost universally recognized throughout the country.

Participation in AP exams also varies greatly across subjects; for example, 100 percent of Longview students in AP calculus took the final test last year, but only 48 percent of students decided to take the AP U.S. history exam. (Students who dont take or pass the final exam still get high school credit for taking the class.)

In addition, just 37 percent of Longview students passed their AP exams last year, although that number is up from two years ago.

After taking an AP class in her sophomore year at R.A. Long, Alba-Estrada said she prefers earning credit at LCC.

I feel like I get just as much in 10 weeks as I get in 40 weeks at the high school, Alba-Estrada said. I feel like its just as great as an AP class, but I get it in a shorter amount of time and I can take more throughout the year.

But Bob Gustin, a Kelso High School teacher, said hes spoken with many students over his 15 years teaching AP English who told him they appreciate the academic rigor his course entails.

Kelsos AP and University of Washington courses focus on skills such as rhetorical and literary analysis along with research and writing.

Unlike some LCC courses, Kelsos AP English classes require students to write dozens of college-level essays.

Kelso High School also boasts a 94 percent AP English passage rate over the past 15 years, Gustin said.

The credits are icing on the cake, so to speak, Gustin said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect current undergraduate tuition costs at the University of Washington.
With mobile data traffic surging by eight times and 1 billion 5G subscriptions expected by the end of 2023, mobile operators must meet consumer and enterprise demand for applications such as 4K/8K video streaming, virtual reality/augmented reality, and immersive media. This puts out a strong call for indoor coverage, which cannot be easily addressed by outdoor radio deployments as modern building materials can block outdoor radio signals.

Ericsson is meeting this challenge by introducing the 5G Radio Dot, a small cell radio designed to satisfy the advanced indoor mobile broadband performance requirements demanded by 5G.

Building on the elegant design of previous generations, the 5G Radio Dot takes less than half the time to install compared to other indoor solutions, and will support the new 5G mid-bands (3-6GHz) with speeds up to 2Gbps.

Nishant Batra, Head of Product Area Network Infrastructure at Ericsson, says: Adding small cell solutions to our 5G portfolio is a natural part of the network evolution. Enterprises have been asking for first-rate connectivity indoors, as well as higher speeds and capacity to serve advanced use cases that cannot be addressed by traditional indoor systems. Our 5G portfolio, bolstered by small cells, will enable operators to meet these demands.

Daryl Schoolar, Practice Leader, Ovum, said Now that first 5G standards are here, vendors are going to need multiple radio solutions to help operators roll out their new 5G networks. Ericsson takes an important initial step in this direction by adding indoor small cell 5G solutions to its already existing outdoor 5G RAN portfolio. This new indoor solution from Ericsson is going to be attractive for operators wanting to offer enterprises good indoor performance for enhanced mobile broadband and new industrial applications that cant be met by Wi-Fi or 5G base stations deployed outdoors.

Huang Yuhong, Deputy Head of China Mobile Research Institute, says: The Ericsson Radio Dot System is already widely deployed in our 4G networks. As an innovative small cell solution, it further enhances our indoor solutions and will continue to play a key role in the 5G era. Were happy to see Ericsson evolving the Radio Dot to 5G technology.

As a natural evolution of the Ericsson Radio Dot System, operators will be able to deploy 5G Radio Dot next to 4G solutions using the same cabling infrastructure, same network architecture and dot locations. This innovative small cell solution provides a simple upgrade path for existing Radio Dot System deployments, adding 5G technology capabilities. It is easy to add frequency, capacity, and technologies.

Feng Yi, Director of Wireless Technology Department, China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute, says: Our users enjoy excellent indoor coverage in thousands of buildings in China, including shopping malls, thanks to Ericsson Radio Dot solution. As a scalable system, it enables us to meet the growing demand for seamless indoor connectivity. It is great to see Ericsson evolve the solution to 5G as we prepare for the next-generation mobile technology.

The Radio Dot System has been successfully deployed for many indoor applications used in large areas such as office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, and airports. Over time, the small cell solution will also support 5G industrial applications from connected factories to more extreme cases such as connected mining. Ericsson is a pioneer on this front. Its collaboration with Boliden shows how Radio Dot technology can improve safety and efficiency through the remote control of machines that keep people out of the most dangerous areas of the mine at the most dangerous times.

The 5G Radio Dot will undergo trials in late 2018 and will be commercially available in 2019.

@Technuter.com News Service
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Livestock Service Week begins Jan 20

The Livestock Service Week-2018 will begin across the country on January 20 to reach the services to doorsteps of the people.

"The Department of Livestock Services (DLS) is organizing the service week for the second time from January 20 to 25 to reach the services to doorstep of the people," said Fisheries and Livestock Minister Narayon Chandra Chanda at a press briefing at his ministry in the Secretariat here on Wednesday.
Lawmakers urge people to re-elect AL for continued dev

Lawmakers on Wednesday urged the people to re- elect Awami League(AL) government in the upcoming general election for building a prosperous country dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangladesh is moving forward under the bold and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, they said.

Taking part in the discussion on the thanksgiving motion on the President's address to the House, they hailed the present government of Sheikh Hasina for taking forward the country towards development.

The country has moved to the highway of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said treasury bench lawmaker Abdul Maleque of Naogaon- 5 at the Jatiya Sangsad here.

The lawmakers observed that Bangladesh has already achieved tremendous development in various sectors including education, health, agriculture, and development of infrastructure, electricity, rules of law, good governance, women empowerment and digitization.

The lawmakers also thanked the President for giving a timely speech highlighting the success stories of the government and guiding the nation towards peace, progress and prosperity.

Earlier, they paid a rich tribute to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his contribution to establishing an independent Bangladesh.

Treasury bench members Abu Zahir , Illias Uddin Mollah and Enamul Haque took part in the discussion.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressing the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF)-2018 as Chief Guest at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel yesterday morning. Photo BSS
Illicit trade undermining global efforts on tobacco control

Jenny Lei Ravelo :

Illicit trade in tobacco products is costing governments billions of dollars, and is undermining global efforts toward tobacco control. A protocol aimed at eliminating tobacco illicit trade aims to address this, but five years since its adoption, it has yet to gather enough support to come into force.

The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade on Tobacco is the first protocol under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and was adopted in November 2012 by parties to the convention. The protocol is seen as a tool to help curb tobacco consumption, whose low price rates - particularly if purchased through illegal means - has become attractive and affordable to tobacco users in low- and middle-income countries. They comprise nearly 80 percent of the more than 1 billion tobacco users worldwide, contributing largely to the more than 6 million people deaths annually from tobacco-related causes.

Addressing illicit tobacco trade will also help funnel revenues back to governments, creating fiscal space to invest in causes such as better health care for their population.

But to date, only 34 countries party to the convention have ratified it. And in Asia Pacific, where billions of dollars are lost to government revenues from illicit tobacco trade, only one country, Mongolia, has ratified the protocol.

"We need 40 parties before the protocol can become an international treaty," Austin Rowan, an expert on tobacco illicit trade, said during a roundtable meeting on the subject at the World Health Organization's regional office in Western Pacific.

And this needs to happen by July 2, 2018, 90 days before the start of the eighth session of the parties to the FCTC taking place in October 2018 in Geneva. If not, parties to the protocol will have to wait until 2020 to commence a meeting.

"We cannot have a standalone meeting of the parties. It should be back to back with the conference of parties," Patrick Musavuli, technical officer at the WHO FCTC secretariat and present at the roundtable meeting, said.

'No guarantees'

The secretariat has been trying to get countries to sign to the protocol since it was introduced in 2012, but multiple challenges have prevented them from doing so. Among them is the challenge of getting support for its ratification and implementation across government department and ministries, as well as raising the costs required to implement a tracking and tracing system that will be an essential tool toward tobacco illicit trade elimination.

There's also the challenge of tobacco industry interference. While tobacco companies often position themselves as one with governments in battling illicit trade, several reports have revealed they are complicit in the smuggling of cigarettes to boost sales while evading tax duties.

Some countries may have intentions, but have failed to follow the process.

"There've been countries that have completed the process at national level, and then sent [the document] to their permanent missions in New York that [should] be sending it to the United Nations treaty section, but instead sent it to a WHO office [or the FCTC Secretariat]," Musavuli said. "So it's not taken as valid."

Others meanwhile need only to understand the benefits of the protocol.

"We've seen in some countries they just need an explanation to the parliament to really understand what are the benefits if the country ratifies the protocol, so that's why we have a panel of experts [who can provide] this kind of technical explanation [when requested]," he said said.

What the protocol does

Illicit trade on tobacco is costing governments a "fortune." European Union countries lose about 10 million euros ($11.8 million) in revenue to illicit tobacco trade every year, said Rowan.

"Some countries and regions tackle them very well, but it's like a chain with the risk on the weakest link," he said. "The problem is, you can have all the legislation and all the best customs that you have, but your real problem is your neighbors. If they are not doing any enforcement, then you can still suffer from illicit trade."

The protocol aims to address this by applying measures toward supply chain control, but also in promoting international cooperation. Supply chain control includes rigorous licensing of those involved in tobacco, from manufacturers to importers. It also includes application of due diligence in tracking and tracing where tobacco products "fall off the legal trail," including in free economic zones.

"Free zones are an area which worldwide causes problems in relation to illicit trade. One of the things they do [here] is they tend to mingle cheap products, for example textiles, with cigarettes. So when [an order from a free zone] arrives in the recipient country, it shows 1000 containers of packages of textiles," Rowan said.

But "intermingling will be prohibited, and will be called a criminal offense under the protocol," he added.

Through international cooperation meanwhile, countries will have a legal base to exchange information, including on best practices on how to address particular illicit tobacco trade activities, and cooperate on investigations.

This is why, Rowan said, the more countries ratify the protocol, the stronger it gets and the "closer we are to elimination."



(Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific).
Be careful about corruption over the big projects

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said the China Harbour Engineering Company Limited that got the contract for expansion of Dhaka-Sylhet Highway had bribed government officials. So, the government "blacklisted" the firm and decided to fund the expansion work of the 226km Dhaka-Sylhet road to a four-lane highway on its own, as per a report of local dailies.





'The firm offered Tk 5 million in bribes to the Communication Secretary. The secretary informed us about the matter. That's why we've blacklisted it. It won't be able to work anymore,' the Minister clarified the reason behind the action while briefing newsmen at the Secretariat on Tuesday.







Bangladesh and China signed a memorandum of understanding during the Chinese president's visit to Bangladesh in 2016. Under the deal, China had promised to give soft loans of $21.5 billion for 26 projects, including the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane highway project. The estimated Chinese finance was $1.6 billion for this project.





Earlier, the government on October 9, 2016, signed a primary deal with China Harbor. On September 21, 2016, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved RHD's proposal, allowing China Harbour to carry out the project. China also selected China Harbor Engineering Company Limited for Dhaka-Sylhet Highway project and asked Bangladesh to sign a commercial contract with the company. Negotiation process also started between the company and the Roads and Highways Department of Bangladesh, Finance Ministry sources said.





Why did it take the government over a year to find out that the company had paid bribes? Blacklisting the firm is fine if indeed it gave any bribes - but is there any guarantee that the next firm to do the project won't give any to get it - especially as this is a billion dollar project? Any construction company would move heaven and earth to get the contract -- who would ensure that they got the work in a transparent manner.





But some have accused Beijing of using mega project deals like the ones signed in Bangladesh to increase its regional political power. The case cited is the incident where Sri Lanka has formally handed over its southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, which government critics have denounced as an erosion of the country's sovereignty -- noting the length of the lease agreed by Sri Lanka is the same as that which gave Britain control over Hong Kong in the 19th century. It was done because the port was running under heavy losses and Sri Lanka could not pay back its debt to China.





In recent months, however, there have been signs that China's partners are starting to become wary over the terms being dictated to build projects under the One Road banner. Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar have all recently cancelled or sidelined major hydroelectricity projects planned by Chinese companies. The projects would have been worth a total of $20bn. So Bangladesh too has to be careful to ensure that we are not saddled with a mountain of debt. But at the same time we must also ensure that the next firm who gets the contract does not do so in a corrupt manner.






Nations to consider more North Korea sanctions, US warns on military option

Japan\'s Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono, Canada\'s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha pose for a photo during the Foreign Ministers\' Meetin

Reuters, Vancouver :



Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.

A U.S.-hosted meeting of countries that backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korea War also vowed to support renewed dialogue between the two Koreas "in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions" and agreed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis was both essential and possible.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. The United States and Canada co-hosted the day-long meeting in Vancouver to discuss ways to increase pressure on Kim.

U.S. officials have reported a debate within the Trump administration over whether to give more active consideration to military options, such as a pre-emptive strike on a North Korean nuclear or missile site.

Tillerson brushed off a question about such a "bloody nose" strike, telling a closing news conference: "I'm a not going to comment on issues that have yet to be decided among the National Security Council or the president." However, he said the threat posed by North Korea was growing. "We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation ... We have to recognize that the threat is growing and if North Korea does not chose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option," Tillerson said.
No beef import: Minister

Economic Reporetr :

The government will not allow beef imports for the sake of the local industry and will amend the existing law, if needed, says Livestock Minister Narayon Chandra Chanda.

"I discussed the matter with the commerce minister and he agreed. We are determined not to import beef," he said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

Bangladesh's annual demand for beef is some 7.9 million tonnes and the production last year stood at 7.1 million tonnes, according to Chanda.

"Local farmers as well as the whole industry will be ruined if the import is allowed."

Citing data from the Tariff Commission, the media reported that almost 20 tonnes of beef were imported in fiscal 2016-17.

Frozen beef from India, Australia and Malaysia costs almost half the price of the locally-produced meat, according to media reports.

Replying to a query on the Tariff Commission report, the minister said he was not aware of the matter.

In a media briefing last year, the association of Dhaka-based meat traders opposed a plan to import beef from neighbouring India.

They said Indian beef may cost less in the beginning, but gradually it will control the whole market, just like the case of onion.

Selling beef is banned in several states of Hindu-majority India, where cows are considered holy.

India, however, is the second largest beef exporter, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

India does not export cattle and any cross-border cattle trade between India and its neighbouring countries is considered illegal.

However, an estimated two million cows are smuggled into Bangladesh from India annually.
BARISAL: Thirty eight members of three dacoit gangs of Sundarbans surrendered with arms ammunitions to RAB in Barisal in presence of Home Minister Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal recently.
MPO-listed teachers fasting for 3rd day

Private institute teachers continuing their hunger strike for indefinite period for 4th day on Wednesday in front of Jatiya Press Club demanding nationalisation of their jobs.

An indefinite hunger strike called by the teachers and employees of Monthly Pay Order (MPO)-listed educational institutions rolled onto third day on Wednesday.

Several hundred people, representing some five lakh teachers and employees of 37,000 MPO-listed academic institutions, have been fasting in front of the National Press Club since Monday demanding nationalisation of their schools. The teachers and employees went on the hunger strike under the banner of Beshorkari Sikkha Jatiyakoron Liaison Forum. The joint secretary of the Forum, Md. Rofiqul Islam told UNB that MPO-listed non-government educational intuitions' employees are being deprived of proper increment of salary and allowances in spite of their workload as much as their peers in the government institutions.

He also said the students of these institutions have to pay more than the government educational institutions, and that's why many students dropout. Md. Robiul Islam, a teacher of Kamalla D. R. S. High School of Muradnagar upazila of Comilla, came to express his solidarity with other demonstrating teachers. He said, "We are fasting not for our (teachers and employees) benefits only but for the students in the rural areas who have to spend relatively more comparing to those study in government institutions." Rofiqul claimed around 5 lakhs teachers and employees and 2.5 crore students of 37,000 MPO-listed institutions will be benefited if the institutions are nationalised as it will help lower the educational cost and increase the quality of education. They started the demonstration from January 10 with a sit-in programme and subsequently turned the movement into an indefinite hunger strike from January 15.
HC stays DNCC polls for three months

Staff Reporter :

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday stayed for three months the effectiveness of the schedule declared for holding the mayoral by-elections in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) on February 26.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order and issued a rule after holding hearing on two writ petitions filed challenging the election schedule.

In the rule, the court wanted to know as to why the declared schedule for holding election to DNCC Mayor and Councillors Posts for new 18 Wards and reserved posts under DNCC should not be declared without lawful authority.

The DNCC mayoral post fell vacant after Annisul Huq passed away on November 30 last year. On December 1, the Local Government Division declared the post vacant.

On January 9, the Election Commission (EC) announced the election schedule. Deadline for filing nomination was set for January 18, while January 21 and 22 were set for scrutinising the nominations submitted. Deadline to withdraw candidacy is January 29.

Jahangir Alam, Chairman of Berait Union Parishad and Md Ataur Rahman, Chairman of Bhatara Union Parishad, filed the two petitions on Tuesday challenging the legality of the schedule fixed by the EC for holding the polls to the DNCC Mayor post and the Councillors of 18 new Wards under the City Corporation.

The stay comes at a time when the Awami League and the BNP have already picked their mayor candidates-Atiqul Islam and Tabith Awal respectively-for the by-elections scheduled for February 26. Possible candidates from other parties have already started wooing voters.

Advocate Mostafizur Rahman Khan and Barrister Ahsan Habib Bhuiyan appeared for Ataur Rahman in the court while Advocate Kamrul Huq Siddiquee and Advocate Mokarramus Saqlan appeared for Jahangir Alam.

Deputy Attorney General Mukhlesur Rahman stood for the State.

After the HC order Advocate Mostafizur Rahman told the journalists that HC stayed the election process for mayor post of DNCC and councillors for new 18 Wards for three months. It also stayed election to six reserved posts for the same period. Advocate Touhidul Islam, lawyer for the Election Commission, said that he had informed the message to the Commission. "The Commission will take further decision after discussion on the HC order. The next legal steps will be taken according to the Commission's decision," he added.

Jahangir Alam in his petition said that the EC is yet to provide him the CD containing the voter list, although the commission has fixed January 18 for submitting the nomination papers. "If I do not get the CD, I can't submit the nomination paper and contest the election," he added in the petition. On the other hand, Ataur Rahman filed petition on a separate legal ground.

Advocate Mokarramus Saqlan said, Jahangir Alam wants to be a candidate in the DNCC election. But the voter list of newly included wards is not yet published. In this circumstance, the writ petition was filed with the HC to stay the polls. Barrister Ahsan Habib Bhuiyan said, the election schedule issued by the EC is without lawful authority and of no legal effect inasmuch as in view of the provisions of Section 5(3) of the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009.
JS puts last nail in ailing bank sector`s coffin

Despite a number of Jatiya Party and independent lawmakers walking out of the house, the much controversial bill to amend the Bank Company Act 1991 was passed in the Parliament on Tuesday. The lawmakers who had objected to the passing of the bill were not even allowed to speak on the bill soon after a speech by Finance Minister AMA Muhith was delivered on it. We fail to understand why the protesting lawmakers were not given floor? Are we to assume the Parliament has gone into the grips of the ruling party completely?





However, the controversial bill, pursued by Bangladesh Association of Banks, an organisation of the private bank owners since 2016, would enable four members of a family to be directors of a bank - up from the previous two. The passage of the bill will also enable the directors to hold the post of directors for three consecutive terms or nine years - an increase from two-terms or six years. Understandably, it is another dubious mechanism for a private bank's owners to practice unbridled and unchallenged authority over the bank's management and finances.







The point, however, the owner of the banks are not actually the directors, it's actually the depositors who collectively owns a bank. If we calculate the ratio, we come to see that in the case of most privately owned banks in the country - a bank is merely 10% of total risk weighted asset, while it would be hardly 3-4% of the total liability. So, if someone contributing 3-4% fund, could control over on 100%, it will be definitely discriminatory. And this is exactly what's happening in the country's most of the private banks. Most significantly, it is perhaps only in Bangladesh where Board of Directors continuously interferes with the management board, and surprisingly, they do it for disbursing bad loans appointing personally preferred employees and get indulged in illicit money related issues.





Be as it may, until November last year three MDs of The National Bank resigned in less than a year. The bank was until very recently functioning without a managing director for more than nine months. Also managing director of Meghna Bank has also allegedly been forced to resign.





Now with the passing of the bill, the last nail in the country's ailing banking sector has been hammered. The objective behind passing of the bill is rather simple: quickly taking over the banks' total control by exerting undue political influence. And it's all happening with barely 11 months remaining for the country to go to the national polls.







For the innocent depositors we have only one thing to say - draw lessons from the actual causes behind the crumbling banking sector before depositing your hard earned money. The sector is on the brink of collapse.
World's biggest flooded cave found in Mexico

Reuters, Mexico City :

A group of divers has connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believed to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet, a discovery that could help shed new light on the ancient Maya civilisation.

The Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to the study and preservation of the subterranean waters of the Yucatan peninsula, said the 347-km (216-mile) cave was identified after months of exploring a maze of underwater channels.

Near the beach resort of Tulum, the group found that the cave system known as Sac Actun, once measured at 263 km, communicated with the 83-km Dos Ojos system, the GAM said in a statement.


Protesters demand BCL-men's punishment for harassing DU students

Students of Dhaka University turn violent while staging protest in front of Proctor office on Wednesday demanding cancellation of affiliation of seven colleges and punishment of miscreants who assaulted female students during their demonstration in front

UNB, Dhaka :

A group of Dhaka University (DU) students on Wednesday formed a human chain at the foot of Aparajeyo Bangla on the campus demanding punishment of leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) who, they claimed, have harassed female students during an ongoing movement at DU.

Under the banner of 'Anti-harassment student's movement' the human chain participants alleged that at the dictate of BCL central leaders, some leaders and activists of the pro-government student body harassed some female students, who were staging protest against DU's affiliating seven colleges.

"BCL leaders harassed female students in front of the Vice-Chancellor office and the university authority has been totally informed about the incident. Yet, they didn't take any step for ensuring punishment," said a student, Masud al Mahadi.

Masud suggested the people in the DU administration should quit if they fail to deliver justice in the case of female students being harassed on the campus.

"Though the authorities succeed foiling our movement by harassing and hurting students, they will not be able to stop our protest in future," said another student, Saiful Islam Khan.

After the human chain they marched towards the proctor's office to meet him at around 1 pm. But the gate of the office was locked from inside. Then they chanted slogans for punishing the BCL leaders involved harassing the female students.

At a stage the protesters broke the lock of the gate of the proctor's office and took position in front of his room.

After sometime Proctor Prof AKM Golam Rabbani came out of his office to assure the protestors that DU will form a probe body to find out the actual incident and make its report published in seven days.
Myanmar sends 1300 names of ARSA "terrorist members" to BD

Myanmar has sent a list containing names of more than 1,300 Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) "terrorist members" to Bangladesh.

It was done at the 4th Myanmar-Bangladesh Central-Level Meeting on Border Security and Law Enforcement Cooperation held in Nay Pyi Taw on 14 November 2017, Myanmar information ministry said on Wednesday.

In addition, Bangladesh was also informed to extradite the ARSA extremists according to the 1980 Myanmar-Bangladesh Border Agreement so that action can be taken against them according to the law, it said quoting ministry of foreign affairs.
Proceedings of Zia Trust case next week

Court Correspondent :

The Special Judge Court-5 of Dhaka yesterday rejected a petition filed on behalf of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to defer today's proceedings of the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case anyday of next week.

Judge Dr Md Akhteruzzaman, however, exempted Khaleda Zia from her personal appearance for today. The court also extended Khaleda Zia's bail till next date of the hearing. It will set the date after today's proceedings of the case. Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia's lawyer Zainul Abedin Mesba told the newsmen that she will appear before the court today as it rejected her petition to defer today's proceedings.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Sanaullah Mia, another lawyer of Khaleda Zia, appealed to the court that Thursday's proceedings should be deferred as today (Thursday) is the death anniversary of the BNP Chief.

Public Prosecutor Mosharraf did not oppose the petition likely on humanitarian ground while the judge of the special court exempted Khaleda Zia from the proceedings scheduled to be held today. However, he asked the defence lawyers of other accused to place their argument today.

On Wednesday, defence counsel for Sharfuddin Ahmed, Ahsan Ullah placed arguments and will resume his submission today.


ACC arrests Sefatul for grafting Tk 5 cr govt money

Staff Reporter :

A special team of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested land acquisition officer (LAO) of Pirojpur Md. Sateful Islam (former Kishoreganj LAO) on Wednesday.

He was arrested in presence of Kishoreganj district land acquisition officer from in front of Pirojpur Circuit House.

He was accused of embezzling Taka 5 crore government money through cheating, forgery and misuse of power.

ACC sources said, the special team members of ACC Barisal divisional office and officials of the Barisal integrated district office arrested him for allegedly misappropriating Tk 5 crore.

Before the arrest, the ACC's Assistant Director of Mymensingh Ram Prasad Mondol filed a case against the accused at Kishoreganj Sadar Model Police Station.
AL warns Ivy, Shamim over N'ganj mayhem

Locals astonish as admin 'permits hawker markets', Probe body formed: Armed JL leader Niazul not yet arrested

Md Joynal Abedin Khan :

Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday warned Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Mayor Dr Selina Hayat Ivy and lawmaker AKM Shamim Osman for engaging in a clash centering hawkers eviction.

As per direction of the Premier, the minister also called the AL backed both public representatives to take part in an arbitration in the city where the party chief is likely to give them necessary instruction, the Minister said.

Obaidul Quader warned of taking AL's organisational action against those who were behind the mayhem in Narayanganj city.

"I have talked to the Prime Minister in this regard. She (prime minister) said that organisational steps would be taken against those who were involved in the incident," said Quader.

He was addressing a press conference at Awami League President's political office in Dhanmondi of Dhaka on Wednesday. He did not give details.

Describing it as a "very bad example", Quader said, the Home Minister has been asked to take steps against the guilty.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Wednesday "An inquiry has been opened and those who were responsible for damaging the party's image publicly would not be spared. I will also meet the two leaders."

The Minister ordered Ivy and Osman to restore peace in Narayanganj, adding that he had phoned both of them today (Wednesday) to find a peaceful solution, he added.

He said, 'I phoned both of them (Ivy Rahman and Shamim Osman) to stop any untoward incident any more after getting information from Narayanganj Police Super (SP). We'll call both and investigate into the matter.'

Local Government Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said that it was 'beyond their imagination' that the feud between the two Awami League leaders would result into a street battle.

"We would have intervened if we had guessed before," the Minister said.

Meanwhile, local administration has permitted hawkers to set up their vendors from Chashara to Metro Cinema Hall area from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, said Rabbi Mia, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Naryanganj.

The decision was taken in the interest of people after discussing with the mayor and local lawmaker though the decision surprised the local people, mainly Ivy and her followers as well as city corporation staff.

On Wednesday, a meeting also was held with the hawkers where superintendent of Police and some NNC officials were present, the DC said.

He also claimed that Mayor Ivy and local MP Seliam Osman gave their note to permit the hawkers market in the area.

But the local administration will never allow any vendor on the Bangbandhu Road in the city.

On December 25, the city corporation and local administration evicted the hawkers marker at Chashara.

A three-member investigation committee led by Jasim Uddin Haider, Additional Commissioner (Revenue) was formed to investigate the Chashara incident. The other members are Additional Police Superintendent Mostafizur Rahman and RAB-11' Assistant Director Babul Akhtar, The committee was asked to submit the report within seven days, the DC added.

Besides, Police also remained in relax mood to arrest Jubo League leader Niazul Islam, who threatened Ivy's supporters brandishing a firearm, local sources said.

At this, Ivy's supporters got agitated and roughed him up, they said.

Ivy said, "We were attacked without any provocation. From the Rifles Club, Shamim Osman gave the order to shoot. His men fired shots one after another.

She said, Jubo League leader Niazul, who was spotted brandishing a firearm, is reportedly Osman's follower.

Shamim Osman refuted the allegations against him. He, however, said he knows Niazul, who is the owner of a big market.

"Even though he was seen brandishing a pistol, it is to be ascertained whether he fired any shot or not," he said.

Niazul, a resident of the city's Chadmari area, worked as a contractor from 1996 to 2001.

According to police, he had been accused in a case over the murder of a local BNP leader in 1988. But the case was withdrawn later.

Niazul, who introduces himself as a Jubo League leader, is brother of Jubo League activist Nazrul Islam alias Sweet, who was killed in a shootout with law enforcers.

Asked about Ivy's allegation, Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police (administration) Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman said, "We did not take any side. We tried to prevent the feuding groups from attacking each other. We performed our duties".

"We are trying to arrest the culprits," he said.




The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.
CARBONDALE  The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation Board of Directors approved grants totaling more than $2.4 million to 34 Illinois civil legal aid providers in December.

Several of those funds went to Carbondale nonprofit organizations.

Grants were made possible with funding from state appropriation for legal aids as well as settlement funds awarded to the foundation by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

First, starting with the grant funds from state appropriation:

 The Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation received $369,690. The foundation provides low-income people in 65 counties with representation on family housing and consumer law cases.

 Equip for Equality received $50,000. The service provides legal advice, information and referrals on special education legal issues through a stateside telephone helpline.

 The Dispute Resolution Institute received $40,000. The institute helps low-income families and children resolve custody and visitation issues by providing mediation services in the First Judicial Circuit.

 The Southern Illinois University School of Law Foundation received $2,310. The foundation educates immigrant detainees in Southern Illinois on their legal rights.

Also, through settlement funds, The Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation received and additional $105,000 and Equip for Equality received an additional $50,000.
CARBONDALE  Green Earth Director Stephanie Eichholz was in high spirits Wednesday morning as work began to re-establish the prairie near the Maurice Webb Trail in the Chautauqua Bottoms Nature Preserve.

Long Forestry, a local forestry consultation group, had a chance to play with its new toy  a forestry mulcher. Its a land clearing method that uses a single machine to cut, grind, and clear vegetation. It uses a rotary drum equipped with steel chipper tools to shred vegetation.

Bracing themselves from the frigid temperatures in the low teens, consultants Chris and Mike Long warmed up the machine and went to work. Soon after, large and small trees throughout the prairie began to splinter into wood chips.

Green Earth will come in behind the work and do some cleanup, but Mike Long said the vegetation left from the mulch gives the ground cover and is, overall, beneficial for the prairie.

Eichholz said a little more than two and a half acres need to be mulched, admitting that's more of an eye test than an official measurement. Long said most of the work  if not all of it  could be done Wednesday.

Over time, Eichholz said, there has been a natural succession that has filled in the prairie with trees. She said if constant maintenance is performed on the land, the seeds from existing trees are spread across the land, causing additional growth.

Green Earth begins work to restore prairie on Chautauqua Bottoms Nature Preserve CARBONDALE  There could be a bit more noise coming from the Chautauqua Bottoms Nature Preserve in the next week as local land conservation gr

In 2008, Eichholz said Green Earth switched from mowing the prairie to burning, which she says is a more natural maintenance system. She said the organization knew it would have to burn every two years, but it doesnt have the resources to conduct its own burn. Green Earth had been relying on the Saluki Fire Dawgs, an SIU student group specializing in ecological research and maintenance, to donate its time as it did in 2008 and 2011, but it hasnt been able to since.

Now, Eichholz said Green Earth has missed its burn date, meaning it is now too wet to conduct a proper burn.

It has really started to fill in, she said. There are trees that are too large to be affected by fire. And hand clearing would be too labor-intensive.

Chris Long said he has used Green Earth trails several times and called it a wonderful asset for Carbondale. The consultant group did the work at no charge. He said it's something he took pleasure in doing.

I love it out here, he said.

Other projects

In 2017, Green Earth was awarded a $102,000 grant under the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Recreational Trails Program to upgrade one of the trails at the site to ADA-friendly standards.

In addition, the funds will allow the nonprofit to make improvements to trail surfaces, install a new pedestrian bridge and expand the parking lot, which is located on Chautauqua Street on the west side of Carbondale.

The David Kenney Trail, located on the west side of Little Crab Orchard Creek, will be upgraded to meet the U.S. Forest Service guidelines for ADA-friendly standards. The trail will be widened to 5 feet to accommodate wheelchairs, and it will have a hard-packed, smooth surface with ramped elevation changes.

Carbondale is known as a very ADA-friendly town  so we decided it would be wonderful to become a part of that and really allow access to people to come out and enjoy nature, Eichholz said in September.

The project will also connect the westernmost David Kenney Trail to the Maurice Webb Trail and Woodland Spur Trail with a pedestrian bridge over Little Crab Orchard Creek. The nature preserves sole parking lot is located by the Maurice Webb Trail, and the trailhead for the David Kenney Trail can only be accessed by walking along Chautauqua Street, where cars go by at high speeds.

Green Earth also plans to improve trail surfaces, as the area frequently becomes waterlogged. The IDNR grant will fund 80 percent of the Chautauqua Bottoms project. Green Earth had to raise the remaining 20 percent, or $25,500.

Eichholz said she is hopeful work can begin on the trails sometime in the spring or summer.
The end is near! This is not a drill! President Donald Trump may or may not have uttered a dirty word!

So what was the unthinkable word that the President may or may not have spoken? The politically correct version is of the sullied utterance is privy deposit-ingress portal. (Note: As a courtesy to The Southerns editor, the expletive will be referred to as an x-hole.)

Not unexpectedly, he medias uber-eager talking heads joyfully and breathlessly repeated the suspected salty word over and over again. In one afternoon of watching CNN, I counted seven x-hole dittos. Did I mention that the x-hole word has been rebranded and is now also a (gasp!) racial slur?

In an Oval Office meeting with congressional representatives, while discussing immigration reform, President Trump, according to some accounts, referred to several countries whose citizens are systemically abused, as x-hole countries. Other attendees denied hearing such language.

So what if the x-word was used?

As one who lived two x-hole countries, Ill sum my experiences. Life in an x-hole stinks. To retain power, leaders of x-hole countries share a commonality to control their citizenry. Their tools are brutality, torture, murder, theft, humiliation, deprivation and imprisonment. All result in the total and absolute disparity between the ruling thugs and their victims.

A hint  identifying x-hole countries is simple. Just look at what such regimes call themselves. Some examples: Peoples Republic of , Democratic Republic of , Democratic Peoples Republic of , Socialist Republic of , or the Islamic Republic of .... These dictatorships are neither Democratic nor do they resemble a Republic. Think Venezuela, Angola, Nicaragua, Iran, Haiti, Botswana, Chad, North Korea, etc.

As to the racist label  baloney! Is it racist to call countries whose ruling punks abuse their people, x-holes? Is it racist for the tormented to call out their tormentors? Should I bite my tongue about what the x-hole criminals did to my family?

Until the advent of identity politics, the racist label was on par with pedophile. No more. For some, calling their fellow Americans racist has been so deluded to mean I disagree with you.

As an expatriate from two x-hole countries, I applaud our President for speaking truth about corrupt countries that abuse their people. He calls em as he sees em  and good for him.

To be fair, Mr. Trump did blunder mightily by not recording the immigration-fix meeting  especially in the presence of our state's very own Sen. Dick Durbin. Lets not forget, it was Mr. Durbin who once compared U.S. soldiers to Nazis and gulag guards and parroted the keep your doctor, your plan, save $2,500 Obamacare untruths on the Senate floor.

A Senator who sometimes struggles with the truth, Mr. Durbin has anointed himself as the Senates version of the grammar school snitch. Believing that he heard a pejorative, he could barely contain himself. As the meetings concluded, he rushed in front of the cameras, and like a second-grader shouted, Miss Jones! Miss Jones! Donald said a very bad word.

So there it is. Should presidents avoid salty language in the Oval Office? Should presidents avoid staining little blue dresses in that same Oval Office? Hey, its an imperfect world.
While recently perusing unread books gathering dust on my shelves, one tome caught my eye and, upon being loosed from the grip of neglect, fell open to a random page from which leapt the following sentence: "The ancestors of a critical and growing mass of present-day Americans existed in dung heaps of humanity amidst rotting vegetables."

Naturally, the line seemed providential  if you happen to be a columnist.

Did he say dung heap?

Of course, the difference between "dung heap of humanity" and "s---hole," as Donald Trump recently described countries of origin for unacceptable immigrants, is about the width of a sheet of bathroom tissue. Trump's comment has been analyzed to within an inch of its life, with most commentators concluding that this was simply another example of the president's racist attitudes.

The book in question, "The Idiocy of Assent," was written by F. Reid Buckley, youngest brother of William F. Buckley. As a friend for 30 years before his death in 2014, I never heard or witnessed any suggestion of racism, though he did observe cultural differences among nations and peoples as any seeing-eye human, or anthropologist, would. On the subject of cultural equivalence, he'd bat away the notion with a flick of his wrist and utter, "The Aztec pyramids were dripping with the blood of human sacrifice."

It is only because of Buckley's "dung heap" and Trump's "s---hole" that I noticed the similarities in their immigration views. Buckley would surely never use Trump's word, partly because he thought insults should be more artful.

For those who slept: At an immigration meeting last week, Trump reportedly said that he didn't know why we were accepting people from "s---hole countries" such as Haiti, El Salvador and all the ones in Africa, where people coincidentally tend to have darker skin than Trump. He cited mostly white Norway as a better place from which to cull new citizens.

The inference, of course, is that Trump is pigmentation averse.

Or, racist, if you prefer. This conclusion is a low hurdle to leap given Trump's history spearheading the birther movement against Barack Obama, as well as his having tossed racial chum to his base throughout the campaign.

When Trump's ratings go low, his race baiting goes high.

Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, it isn't necessarily racist to concern oneself at all with the qualities and characteristics of people one invites to join the American experiment. Or, is it? Shouldn't we care about job skills, education, economic mobility, or, if you're Buckley, a deep understanding of what it means to be a free people?

Perhaps, we are becoming culturalists rather than racists.

Buckley's proposition, which I'm not endorsing, is that when a critical mass of people, if not yet a majority, comes to the U.S. from countries that don't have a "heritage of doctrines of personal freedom ... along with the desire to stand tall on our [sic] own two feet," we might easily revert to the status of "serf dependent on the lord" or, in contemporary America's case, on Big Daddy.

Loose translation for the Trump crowd: Bring in people looking for a handout and Democrats will ruin the country.

Buckley, who spent the last third of his life running the Buckley School of Public Speaking, a modest think tank (still operating) where conferees are taught to think and therefore to speak more clearly, enjoyed debating the proposition that Americans unconsciously hanker for a king, a strongman, or a ruling elite.

He wrote: "It seems to elude us that a nation is great not because of its government but because of its people, and that there is an inverse relationship in that maxim: The greater the government, the weaker the people."

Do you suppose this is what President Trump meant to say with his blurt?

But I jest. Such a presumption would be a charitable stretch. It may be charitable as well to presume Buckley's better angels were at work. For within his own arguments  and in Trump's febrile mind  is an implicit lack of faith in another American idea articulated by George W. Bush. Freedom isn't a gift from us, he said, but rather God's gift to humanity, which can be understood to mean that the yearning for liberty, independent of all other concerns, is entwined in the hearts and souls of all people, regardless of which "s---hole" they were born in or from which dung heap amidst rotting vegetables America's earliest immigrants escaped.
To the Editor:

In the holy Bible, in the book of Zechariah, Chapter 1 and verses 1 thru 17, it was fulfilled when President Donald Trump, alias Trump for God, recognized Jerusalem as eternal capital of Israel.

Twelve presidents never went to the Wailing Wall of Solomons Temple in Jerusalem, Israel, to pray or recognize Jerusalem as eternal capital of Israel.

President Trump is the first president to go to the Wailing Wall to pray and recognize Jerusalem as eternal capital of Israel.

When President Trump declared Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel, it had been 70 years since Israel became a state in 1948.

The 12 presidents before President Trump was like the 12 Tribes of Israel.

As soon as President Trump declared Jerusalem as eternal capital of Israel, the New World Order, One World Government, One World Religion  the United Nations  took a vote against him. The U.N. General Assembly voted 128-9 with 35 abstentions against President Trump's Jerusalem eternal capital of Israel.

President Trump will sound in the White House and the Trump of God will sound, then Jesus will return.

George Culley

Pinckneyville
Brigadier General Twanda Young will deliver the keynote address at Claflin Universitys annual Spring Convocation.

The event will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in Tullis Arena at the Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Physical Education Center.

The convocation signals the start of the 2018 spring semester. Classes will be suspended at the university from 10:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. to allow campus-wide attendance. Admission is free and open to the public.

Young graduated from Claflin in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in English. She participated in the Army ROTC program at Claflin University through the cross-enrollment agreement with South Carolina State University.

She was the first female commissioned from the ROTC program to earn the rank of brigadier general.

Young earned a master's degree in adult education and a master's in executive development from Ball State University. She also holds a master's degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

Young has served in command and staff positions in the continental United States and Hawaii with First Army, Joint Forces Command, U.S. Army Reserve Command, and in Afghanistan with NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (NTM-A/CSTC-A). Among her other key assignments were G1, U.S. Army Reserve Command; commander, Theater Support Group-Pacific; Army Reserve Warrior Transition Liaison Program manager; CJ1, Chief Strategic Initiatives (Kabul, Afghanistan); and executive training officer, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Division.

Young was the recipient of the 2010 Order of the Saint Maurice presented by the 197th Infantry Brigade and the 2011 Horatio Gates Bronze medal by the Adjutant General Regiment.

Her military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service.
Emirates NBD Asset Management (AM) has announced that the value of its assets under management (AUM) grew 10 per cent in 2017 to $ 4.8 billion.



The firm recorded nflows of over $1 billion in segregated mandates from top tier clients across the region. Among the funds, greatest asset growth was achieved by the Emirates Global Sukuk Fund, which grew by 62 per cent, while the Emirates Mena Fixed Income Fund grew by 31 per cent, reaching $194 million.



In addition to strong inflows across the portfolio, Emirates NBD Asset Managements multi-asset funds delivered stellar performances. The Emirates Active Managed Fund delivered returns of 18.50 per cent, while the Emirates Balanced Managed Fund and Emirates Global Quarterly Income Fund returned 14.08 per cent and 10.38 per cent respectively. Managed by Jupiter Asset Management since September 2014, all three funds are in the top quartile of their respective peer group and are outperforming their composite benchmarks.



Salman Bajwa, senior executive officer at Emirates NBD Asset Management, commented: We are very pleased to announce another strong year for our business, which has not only continued to grow in size but also in terms of the profile of investors coming to our platform.



This year we have expanded our footprint across the GCC by adding some of the largest regional institutions as clients and increased our penetration across international investors, particularly in Europe. Its also rewarding to see new strategies, such as the Emirates Islamic India Equity Fund, deliver such impressive returns and asset growth, confirming the validity of the investment call and identification of investor needs.



For 2018 we see clear areas of growth for our investor base. For international clients, we will continue discussions around increasing exposure to the Mena Fixed Income asset class as a consistent yield provider, with low volatility and sound underlying fundamentals. We remain positive on the prospects of the Saudi equity market being upgraded to Emerging Market status by FTSE Russell in March and MSCI in June, and are preparing investors for that. At the same time, we are in active discussions with our international partners to bring products and opportunities to GCC investors to diversify their exposure, he added.



Usman Ahmed, managing director, Investments, at Emirates NBD Asset Management, said: Our investment strategies have continued to deliver superior returns to clients, due to the hard work of a team of trusted, experienced and specialised portfolio managers, who take pride in long-term relationships with investors.



On the Fixed Income side, we have worked on delivering strong returns with reduced volatility. For Q4 the Emirates Emerging Market Corporate Bond Absolute Return Fund ranked in the first quartile of the Morningstar Global Emerging Markets Corporate Bond peer group on both an absolute and risk adjusted return basis. Similarly, the Emirates Mena Fixed Income Fund outperformed the Middle East and North Africa average peer group by 1.56 per cent returning 5.75 per cent to investors.  TradeArabia News Service
US-based Emerson, a global technology and engineering company, today (January 17) inaugurated its new technology and innovation centre, worth SR94 million ($25 million), at Dhahran Techno Valley, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.



The inauguration ceremony was held under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Governor of the Eastern Province, and Suliman Abdulrhman Al-Thunayan, Governor of Al Khobar.



The ceremony was held with the participation of Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco; Dr Sahel N Abduljauwad, vice rector for graduate studies and scientific research, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM); David Farr, Emersons chairman and CEO; and Mike Train, executive president of Emerson Automation Solutions.



The 11,370-sq-m built area facility, enables the company to host Saudi students, entrepreneurs, researchers and industry stakeholders to collaborate with Emersons technical experts to develop process automation technologies and design innovative products and solutions that meet the countrys goals as well as ensure global access to Emersons research and development (R&D) expertise, said a statement.



The facility houses a collaboration centre, educational classrooms, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) laboratory for R&D, and concept test laboratories, it said.



The technology and collaboration focus of Emersons new facility aligns with Saudi Arabias National Transformation Plan and the Saudi Vision 2030 development agenda which looks at technology as a key enabler to boost job creation and economic activities in the non-oil sector, it added.



The project is also in alignment with the in-kingdom total value add (IKTVA) programme, the initiative created by Saudi Aramco to baseline, measure, and support increased levels of localisation in the kingdom.



During the inauguration of the facility, Emerson signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Aramco, in the presence of Nasser of Saudi Aramco and Farr of Emerson, said a statement.



Farr said: The opening of this facility marks the beginning of a new era for our operations in Saudi Arabia. This project is part of Emersons long-term commitment to Saudi Arabias growth and to make our technology expertise easily accessible for stakeholders.



The state-of-the-art systems in this facility will facilitate our education and collaborative research activities with our partners and customers, he said.



We also look forward to helping develop the knowledge and skills of industry stakeholders, university students, and entrepreneurs, as well as providing opportunities for local small to medium-size enterprises to participate in our supply chain for our innovative products and solutions, he added.



Emerson has made a significant additional investment to equip the collaboration centre with modern technology-enabled capabilities including five research pods (for individual and team initiatives) fully equipped with a distributed control system and simulation panels, a collaboration and brainstorming space for creativity and idea sharing, a solutions theatre for exploring a wide range of solutions in the process automation field with full 3D capabilities, and an advanced teleconferencing room for connecting to Emersons network of centres, experts and consultants or any external site.



Dr Abduljauwad added: We welcome the opening of Emersons centre as a strategic initiative which underscores Dhahran Techno Valleys role as an ideal location to advance the kingdoms digital transformation goals in its quest to fulfill its mandate towards vision 2030.



This is a new milestone in Dhahran Techno Valleys efforts to advance Saudi Arabias objective of building a knowledge-based economy and promoting growth in the non-oil sector. We are positive that Emersons facility will attract huge interest for collaboration from universities and research institutions in the country and the region, he added.



Emerson is one of the leading technology providers in the Middle East and Africa, helping businesses achieve Top Quartile performance in capital projects and ongoing operations in the chemical, oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, power, water and wastewater treatment, mining and metals, food and beverage, life sciences and other industries.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi-based Economic Cities Authority (ECA) has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi's future energy company Masdar to cooperate on projects and services to progress the Saudi Economic Cities initiative and in turn advance the strategic objectives of both parties.



The agreement aims to establish cooperation and knowledge exchange between both parties in planning future sustainable cities and will enable the economic cities to play their role in the kingdoms development.



"This MoU will definitely support Eca and Masdar in achieving their goals by cooperating in a number of vital fields that are essential to the future of the national economy," remarked Mohanud Helal, the secretary general of ECA, after signing the deal with Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, the chief executive of Masdar in the presence of Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and chairman of Masdar.



He pointed out that ECA will continue to build fruitful and constructive relationships with parties that can help the authority fulfil its role in realising the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to create a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation.



"ECA is determined to make an effective contribution to achieving the goals of our wise leadership and the ambitions of Saudi citizens," he noted.



On the new deal, Al Ramahi said: "We are delighted to sign this MoU with the Saudi Eca, through which we aim to exchange knowledge and expertise in the sustainable cities field."



Additionally, the MoU covers cooperation on modern infrastructure design for smart cities, economic feasibility reports, developing services in the economic cities, attracting value-adding investments to diversify the economy, and providing quality job opportunities for Saudi youth.



Both parties will utilise their relations with relevant authorities to achieve the desired objectives of the agreement, which include consulting services, mutual development, and knowledge exchange in any sustainable development field, in addition to urban development, transportation, economic development, smart cities and renewable energy.



"We also aim to share our successful experience in developing Masdar City  one of the most sustainable cities in the world  with our brothers in ECA and we look forward to promoting and maintaining this cooperation so we can advance sustainable urban development and expand its reach using commercially viable methods," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Al Rajhi Capital, one of the leading providers of financial services in Saudi Arabia, said it had successfully closed the initial public offering (IPO) of its REIT (real estate investment trust) fund raising SR740 million ($197.2 million).



Apart from being the first REIT IPO in 2018, Al Rajhis issue is also the largest REIT fund to be offered till date in the kingdom.



The fund has a size of SR1.62 billion, of which about SR427 million were offered in the IPO (42.7 million units at a par value of SR10) during January 1 to January 14 this year.



The fund was oversubscribed 174 per cent thus taking it to newer heights in terms of number of subscribers from the general public with 90,561 individual and institutional subscribers participating in the IPO.



In accordance with the terms and conditions of the fund, each subscriber will be allocated a minimum of 100 units, and the remaining units will be allocated on a pro-rata basis to those who have subscribed for more than the minimum 100 units at a rate of 52 per cent.



Refund of excess funds will be within five business days from the IPO closing date, he stated.



Al Rajhi Capital CEO Gaurav Shah said: "We are pleased to announce the successful closing of Al Rajhi REIT IPO with record subscriber participation. This milestone supports our aim to broaden the retail investor base by achieving greater inclusion in investment products such as REITs."



"The investor acceptance of our REIT reinforces that ARCs robust real estate investment process has resonated well with investors. We will continue to focus on real estate assets with long term fixed contracts occupied by solid tenants in attractive sectors to deliver predictable returns in the years to come," noted Shah.



Al Rajhi REIT Fund, he stated, aims to ensure sustainable income stream for investors over the medium to long-term from its high-quality portfolio of diversified income generating assets.



According to him, the proceeds from the IPO will be used to acquire new assets to further expand the REIT Funds investment portfolio.



Al Rajhi Capital has around 10 per cent ownership in Al Rajhi REIT Fund post the IPO, and the company has voluntarily committed not to sell any units for the next two years post listing, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
SR Technics, a leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider with major presence in the UAE, has opened its new Manchester Line Station in the UK.



The new operations, which are part of a larger growth strategy in line maintenance, started already in November 2017 and are off to an excellent start, having received visits by several prospective customers, said a statement from the company, which has Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala as a minority shareholder.



Additionally, the station is fully European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-approved, it said.



The stations initial capability covers the Airbus A330 and the Boeing 787, it added.



The new SR Technics line station is the first to offer Boeing 787 services in the UK and is expected to add other aircraft types, like the Airbus A350 and other standard Airbus and Boeing aircraft types, in the near future.



Jakob Straub, head of aircraft services and line maintenance, SR Technics, said: Our new operations strengthen the line maintenance network and help us grow our business.



Thanks go to the local teams in the UK and in Zurich that both put in six months of hard work to make this a reality, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
The GCCs demand for iron and steel casting is expected to grow by 5 per cent over the next five years, according to a report from Frost & Sullivan, a business consulting firm involved in market research and analysis.



The growth is mainly driven by demand in valves, pumps, cement, mining, and aluminium smelts, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE driving the market in terms of local production and consumption, said the Frost & Sullivans industry docket, Ferrous Castings Market Outlook in GCC, 2017.



Companies that cater to high-end engineering castings at a reasonable price will gain a competitive advantage, it added.



The report explores drivers, challenges, opportunities, value chain dynamics, and application segments within the GCC countries. Cement and mining, pumps and valves, aluminium smelts, producers and production, consumption patterns, capacities, and import-export needs and challenges are also assessed.



Vikram Rajeev, metals and minerals program manager, Frost & Sullivan, said: Application engineering and working directly with end customers will ensure better quality and higher touch points.



Companies should look toward adopting a process-oriented business model to reap higher returns, he said.



As buyers have several producer options to choose from, their bargaining power increases, revealed the report.



Machining facilities producers have a clear edge over sole raw casting producers. Companies should look toward value-addition to secure business by: lowering inventory carrying costs; developing operational efficiencies; implementing just-in-time delivery; providing flexible commercial terms; and adopting product customisation with technical services.



Foreign direct investment in the mining industry, housing infrastructure development, and growth in industrial sectors are factors fuelling strong demand uptake for ferrous casting parts, noted Rajeev.  TradeArabia News Service
Box Makers, a leading provider of print and paper-based packaging company in the Middle East, will be taking part in the upcoming Gulf Industry Fair in Bahrain.

Gulf Industry Fair, the Northern Gulfs leading annual industrial expo, takes place from February 6 to 8 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Box Makers director Janak Govind said: Gulf Industry Fair is a valued exhibition in GCC for business promotion for those in the industrial sector. Our support for Gulf Industry Fair is based on the business value that it provides our company and products.

Box Makers has expanded its product line to service clients in different sectors including Industrial Packaging, Food Packaging, Retail Packaging, Tissue Boxes.

Box Makers has a team of knowledgeable people focused on the needs of the customer. We specialise in providing various packaging solutions to industries all over Bahrain and across the GCC driven by our passion to help our clients design the best looking and highest quality print products, added Govind.

Gulf Industry Fair 2018 is strategically sponsored by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) in association with NOGA, Bahrain Industrial Wharf and Aluminium Bahrain (Alba). The Industrial Facilities Sector Sponsor is Majaal.

Box Makers support of Gulf Industry Fair is a welcome testimony to the value of the exhibition for one of the leading industrial providers in Bahrain for premium quality labels and packaging, said Jubran Abdulrahman, managing director of Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE), organiser of the event.

Supporting organisations for the Gulf Industry Fair include: AHK Saudi Arabia, the German Saudi Arabian Liaison for Economic Affairs, PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and the Bahrain Industrial Association.  TradeArabia News Service
US-based Chevron Shipping Company (CSC) has further cemented its long-standing relationship with the Dubai-based GAC Group, a leading provider of shipping, logistics and marine services, by awarding it a global three-year ship agency contract for both crude and LNG vessels.



The new agreement secures GACs status as Chevrons exclusive global agent in a partnership that spans more than 20 years, more than 15 of which have seen GAC as its sole global agent, said a statement.



Operations will be overseen by GAC Hub Agency offices in Dubai (UAE), Houston (US) and Singapore with support from GACs network of offices and approved agents worldwide, it said.



GACs dedicated CSC Alliance Representative in Houston will continue to supervise and drive the relationship between the two companies, it added.



Lars Heisselberg, GACs advanced supplier relationship sponsor for CSC, and GACs Group vice president  Americas, said: This contract represents an important milestone for our company as it solidifies our affiliation with CSC and allows us to further strengthen our service offerings and long-term relationship with them.  TradeArabia News Service
Global leaders from business, government and academia recently met in Abu Dhabi for the third annual Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) conference focusing on the impact on women advancement through renewable energy and sustainability initiatives.



Held under the theme Women of Easternisation, the event was organised by Masdar in partnership with the Zayed Future Energy Prize.



The rise of Easternisation due to rapid growth of domestic economies, particularly in India and China, has seen heavy investments in renewables. Chinas announcement of the The Silk Road Economic Belt initiative sees a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan and ample opportunities arising in efforts to shift trade flows towards Asia and revitalise the old Silk Road stretching from Asia and the Middle East, to the Mediterranean.



This shift in geopolitical and economic power from the west to the east also presents unparalleled opportunities for women to enter the clean energy industry and support the global energy transition to new, clean forms of energy.



Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Mehairi, Minister of State for Food Security, United Arab Emirates delivered a keynote address focusing on the crucial role of women in transforming the worlds food, energy and water systems and the role Easternisation has to play in achieving women empowerment and a sustainable future for all.



Dr Nawal Al-Hosany, WiSER programme director, deputy director General Emirates Diplomatic Academy, and director of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, said: Easternisation will involve major economies investing and the opening trade routes that spans several regions extending beyond 65 countries. Chinas progress in solar power plants development and its export of its skills and capacity, especially to Central Asia and Africa, not only presents energy access but will stimulate growth opportunities in these regions. It is essential that policy makers and corporations leverage this growth opportunity to overcome the barriers that have historically prevented womens participation and leadership in clean energy-related fields.



Specifically, the existing strategic energy-focused partnership between the UAE and China, which is anchored on research and development of renewable energy sources, supports the UAEs move towards achieving a competitive knowledge economy, and has created many advancement opportunities for women.



We foresee more growth opportunities for women and girls arising from Easternisation. It will have a ripple effect on social and economic development for women; but its extent also depends on breaking down gender roles and biasness that may already be part of the fabric of local cultures and existing glass ceilings, Dr Al Hosany added.



The WiSER conference, a key event at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, also convened women leaders at a panel to discuss the impact of Easternisation on women advancement. The panellists discussed opportunities and barriers for womens entry into education, science and knowledge industries, and the critical importance of having policies that not only protect womens rights but ensure the inclusion of women at the beginning of any opportunities that arise from Easternisation.



Reflecting on the opportunities for women in Asia, Dr Wandee Khunchornyakong, founder, Solar Power Company Group, Thailand, said: Opportunities have risen for women in Asia with the deployment of Easternisation and the renewable energy industry. Education and self-belief amongst women are two crucial elements in their advancements. With two thirds of bachelor and masters graduates being women, we see women pursuing higher education and advancing themselves now more than ever.



Today, 40 per cent of CEOs in Thailands listed companies are women. Beyond this, we hope to ensure that women are better represented in boards of directors in companies too. For this to happen we need to collectively ensure policies and organisations focus on women inclusivity and equality.



Presenting the youths perspective, Fatima Al Kaabi, the UAEs youngest inventor, said: It is essential that children, regardless of gender, receive the support they need to pursue their passion  access to the right tools, education and opportunities to explore their full potential. Easternisation will see accelerated development for many parts of the world, more professional options, and hopefully better education to support ambitions of the youth.



Beyond the support of my family and friends, Ive been fortunate to have received tremendous support from the UAE government, encouraging me to develop my skills and interest in the field of technology and science to invent practical solutions that would make a positive impact in our world.  TradeArabia News Service
Experts are preparing for another year of heightened risk, said a new report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), cautioning that people are struggling to keep up with the accelerating pace of change.



The prospect of strong economic growth in 2018 presents leaders with a golden opportunity to address signs of severe weakness in many of the complex systems that underpin our world, such as societies, economies, international relations and the environment, added the Global Risks Report 2018.



The report  which every January shares the perspectives of global experts and decision-makers on the most significant risks that face the world  highlights numerous areas where we are pushing systems to the brink, from extinction-level rates of biodiversity loss to mounting concerns about the possibility of new wars.



Fifty-nine per cent of those surveyed in WEFs annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) pointed to an intensification of risks, compared with 7 per cent pointing to declining risks.



A deteriorating geopolitical landscape is partly to blame for the pessimistic outlook in 2018, with 93 per cent of respondents saying they expect political or economic confrontations between major powers to worsen and nearly 80 per cent expecting an increase in risks associated with war involving major powers.



However, as in 2017, the environment was by far the greatest concern raised by experts. Among the 30 global risks the experts were asked to prioritize in terms of likelihood and impact, all five environmental risks  extreme weather; biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; major natural disasters; man-made environmental disasters; and failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation  were ranked highly on both dimensions. Extreme weather events were seen as the single most prominent risk.



A widening economic recovery presents us with an opportunity that we cannot afford to squander, to tackle the fractures that we have allowed to weaken the worlds institutions, societies and environment. We must take seriously the risk of a global systems breakdown. Together we have the resources and the new scientific and technological knowledge to prevent this. Above all, the challenge is to find the will and momentum to work together for a shared future, said Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum.



According to the GRPS, cyber threats are growing in prominence, with large-scale cyberattacks now ranked third in terms of likelihood, while rising cyber-dependency is ranked as the second most significant driver shaping the global risks landscape over the next 10 years.



Economic risks, on the other hand, feature less prominently this year, leading some experts to worry that the improvement in global GDP growth rates may lead to complacency about persistent structural risks in the global economic and financial systems. Even so, inequality is ranked third among the underlying risk drivers, and the most frequently cited interconnection of risks is that between adverse consequences of technological advances and high structural unemployment or under-employment.



John Drzik, president of Global Risk and Digital, Marsh said: Geopolitical friction is contributing to a surge in the scale and sophistication of cyber-attacks. At the same time cyber exposure is growing as firms are becoming more dependent on technology. While cyber risk management is improving, business and government need to invest far more in resilience efforts if we are to prevent the same bulging protection gap between economic and insured losses that we see for natural catastrophes.



Future Shocks



The growing complexity and interconnectedness of our global systems can lead to feedback loops, threshold effects and cascading disruptions. Sudden and dramatic breakdowns  future shocks  become more likely. In this years Global Risks Report we present 10 short what-if scenarios, not as predictions but as food for thought to encourage world leaders to assess the potential future shocks that might rapidly and radically disrupt their worlds:



 Grim reaping: Simultaneous breadbasket failures threaten sufficiency of global food supply



 A tangled web: Artificial intelligence weeds proliferate, choking performance of the internet



 The death of trade: Trade wars cascade and multilateral institutions are too weak to respond



 Democracy buckles: New waves of populism threaten social order in one or more mature democracies



 Precision extinction: AI-piloted drone ships take illegal fishing to new  and even more unsustainable  levels



 Into the abyss: Another financial crisis overwhelms policy responses and triggers period of chaos



 Inequality ingested: Bioengineering and cognition-enhancing drugs entrench gulf between haves and have-nots



 War without rules: State-on-state conflict escalates unpredictably in the absence of agreed cyber warfare rules



 Identity geopolitics: Amid geopolitical flux, national identity becomes a growing source of tension around contested borders



 Walled off: Cyberattacks, protectionism and regulatory divergence leads to balkanization of the internet



Alison Martin, group chief risk officer, Zurich Insurance Group said: "Extreme weather events were ranked again as the number one global risk by likelihood and impact. Environmental risks, together with a growing vulnerability to other risks, are now seriously threatening the foundation of most of our commons.



Unfortunately we currently observe a too-little-too-late response by governments and organisations to key trends such as climate change. Its not yet too late to build a more resilient tomorrow, but we need to act with a stronger sense of urgency in order to avoid potential system collapse."  TradeArabia News Service
Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) has unveiled a new era of smartphone development with the launch of Huawei Mate 10 lite, the worlds first smartphone with four cameras and a ground-breaking FullView Display in Bahrain.

Featuring industrys first 16-Megapixel + 2-Megapixel dual rear cameras, and 13-Megapixel + 2-Megapixel dual front cameras, the cameras work together to give an "unmatchable" higher quality photos and amazing bokeh.

The new Mate10 lite is set to deliver an ultimate user experience with its incredible features and functionality allowing users to capture, share and connect with the world around them, the company said.

Huawei Mate10 lite demonstrates Huaweis commitment in providing consumers with the most innovative technology, said Gene Jiao, president of Huawei CBG, Middle East & Africa.

Mate10 lite captures everything todays dynamic, young consumers crave for: a sleek, industrial-designed device that is efficient and features a quad-camera lens set-up. This combination of cutting edge features allow users to capture images with unmatched clarity, richness and authenticity cameras."

Besides the dual-lenses cameras on both the front and back of the device, the Mate10 lite is Huawei's first phone with Selfie Toning Flash (studio-level lights that produce an effect closer to that of natural light to create a more realistic feel). This is done by adding just the right filter and covers to the LED flash to find the best balance between brightness and softness. This ensure the right intensity of light without being too harsh on the eyes, creating a soft, silky light.

The Mate10 lite also enable users to readjust its focus even after a picture is taken and adjust the aperture size based on your preference. The phone is also equipped with the latest beauty 4.0 algorithm. Based on the previous 3.0 version, beauty 4.0 has additional features such as 3D face recognition, gender recognition, fun facial filters, and more. - TradeArabia News Service
Samsung Electronics unveiled a first look into its vision for a Workplace of the Future with the unveiling of its new Samsung Flip digital flip chart display at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, USA.



Introduced at the companys First Look event, the Samsung Flip WM55H promotes more collaborative digital engagement by alleviating the most prominent challenges businesses face when organizing, facilitating and recapping meetings.



An upgrade on both standard paper flip charts and analog boards, the Samsung Flip display expands opportunities to generate game-changing ideas while maintaining the familiar feel of traditional writing. However, unlike its predecessors, Samsung Flip allows easy sharing, annotation, movement and even searching, as well as the ability for multiple users to create content at once.



Additionally, the Flips portable, wheel-based stand transforms any location into a huddle room, meaning added flexibility to businesses with limited conference space. Finally, the Flip displays intuitive interface was specifically designed to be user-friendly and allow for timely, uninterrupted conversation.



The often-flawed logistics of the modern meeting make it easy for participants to feel disengaged and for vital ideas and discoveries to become lost, said Seog-gi Kim, executive vice president of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.



Todays workers require more powerful and flexible technologies, and we truly believe that our new Samsung Flip display offers endless possibilities for driving impactful collaboration. We are excited to debut the Samsung Flip at CES 2018, and we look forward to building upon this technology to help businesses work better, smarter and faster.



Productive and interactive collaboration



Through simultaneous multi-user engagement, the Samsung Flip ensures that all voices and ideas are heard during a given meeting. Up to four different participants can introduce content or annotate directly on screen at the same time using either their fingers or a dual-sided pen. In doing so, each user can customize his or her own writing style, size and colour, with each notation made clear and visible by viewer-friendly UHD resolution.



For added interactivity, the Samsung Flip display also offers extensive device compatibility through both wireless connectivity and USB, PC and mobile ports. An integrated screen-sharing functionality makes Flip content available on connected PCs, smartphones and tablets without interruption or reduced visual quality. Likewise, users also can import personally-stored content onto the Flip displays screen and introduce fresh ideas to the discussion.



Customized and comfortable creativity



The Samsung Flip display delivers unprecedented collaboration efficiency by condensing the multiple tools and processes required for a traditional meeting into a sleek, stylish all-in-one design. Participants do not need a specialized touch pen to interact with the screen, and can erase notes through a quick palm swipe.



Flip users also can access up to 20 pages of writing space, with embedded search functionalities available to instantly direct participants to specific content. This continuous, rolling stream avoids the lost time and interruptions that often result as participants have to search through multiple sheets of paper or lines of notes to locate a specific detail.



Each Flip display is customizable and can configure to portrait or landscape orientations to suit unique meeting needs. When coupled with its height-adjustable stand, the Flip also maximizes available writing space at users preferred positions. Should a meeting require more centralized, roundtable-style discussion, users can remove and connect the Flip display to a compatible wall mount.



Convenient and secure conclusion



As meetings wrap up, the Samsung Flip display securely stores all content within a central database, eliminating the need for cumbersome recaps or handwritten transcription. An airtight, password-based protection system safeguards meeting details and ensures that only approved users can access the information. Once logged in, meeting facilitators and participants can download and share featured content through email or traditional printing. Users additionally can save meeting notes to a USB drive or other external sources.



Following its CES 2018 launch and ensuing availability in the US and Europe, Samsung plans to introduce the Flip display to global professional users later this month. The Samsung Flip display also will be available for purchase through online and brick-and-mortar furniture retailers, as well as traditional professional B2B display channels.  TradeArabia News Service
New technologies are changing the airport security landscape across the world. The global airport security market is projected to grow seven per cent a year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) until 2024, reaching a value of $16 billion, according to a report by Global Market Insights.



The constantly changing face of illegal migration trends, terrorism threats and transnational organised crime methodologies have made airports look at new methods and solutions to tackle these extraordinary security challenges and risks.



Security continues to play an increasingly important role as airports remain keen to accelerate their outputs, minimise disruption and ensure better customer experience. Airports in the Middle East, especially the UAE, have been at the forefront when it comes to adopting the latest security technologies.



More than US$100 billion worth of airport-related projects are planned and underway across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as governments look to update and expand their infrastructure.



The International Air Transport Association (Iata) expects 7.8 billion passengers to travel in 2036, a time when the Middle East air passengers would reach the 517 million mark.



The UAE is projected to handle approximately 1.85 million flights in 2030 per annum. The Arabian Gulf airports are to handle 450 million passengers by 2020.



Given such growth on the horizon, the demand for latest innovations in airport security is burgeoning. The scenario is likely to remain unchanged for years if not decades to come.



Technology plays a key role in enhancing our ability to grow, innovate and sustainably improve the experience of airport travellers, said Major General Pilot Ahmed Bin Thani, deputy commander-in-chief for Ports Affairs, Dubai Police. New technologies, smart solutions and new trends have already began to reshape the airport experience, he added.



The senior Dubai Police official said: A raft of new technologies like biometrics, robotics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) are redefining the airport experience and security. Biometric verification of passports and contactless entryway checkpoints are two examples that have enhanced the security.



Airports, visited by millions of people, are particularly susceptible to security challenges and risks. Airport security has become an unavoidable reality of the aviation. Therefore, technology is a crucial factor in enhancing the safety of these essential facilities and facilitating the safe travel of millions of travellers whose numbers are expected to double to more than seven billion by 2036 according to the Iata expectations, he said.



The most future proof airport security products and services from around the world will be on display at an exhibition being organised as part of Airport Show in Dubai in May.



One of four co-located events at the 18th edition of the worlds largest annual airport exhibition, it is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group.



The three-day business to business (B2B) event will take place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), a cutting-edge facility offering more than one million square feet of multipurpose halls. The Airport Show, organised by Reed Exhibitions, occupies three halls with a gross space of over 15,000-sq-m.



With 7,500 attendees from over 90 countries, the Airport Show is as an ideal platform for the Middle East, Africa and South Asias aviation authorities to get first-hand knowledge on emerging aviation trends and technologies.



Airport Security Middle East will highlight the latest technology from biometrics, scanning, face recognition, border control, access control, CCTV and other security solutions from across the world.



The event will also include a dedicated conference with international and regional experts sharing the latest studies in a series of high-level presentations and panel discussions. Over 150 officials from airport security, immigration, customs and homeland security will be attending the conference, including senior security officials from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.



Meanwhile, Business Connect, a digital matchmaking service for the event will host top officials from regional Airport Security departments and will facilitate over 500 pre-scheduled meetings for Airport Security exhibitors and visitors at the event.



Leading global security solution providers exhibiting at the event include Nuctech Middle East, Sinocloud Wisdom (Beijing) Technology Company, Smiths Detection, Technical Square Group, Accura Scan, Al Fajer Trading, CEIA S.p.A., CEM Systems, and Data Capture Systems, amongst many others.



Daniyal Qureshi, group exhibitions director, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said: The aviation industrys growth brings its own set of threats which airports need to effectively handle. Smart Technology plays a major role in helping airports stay ahead of the constantly evolving threats. We are entering a challenging period as machines become better at threat detection and so it is important to understand where human interaction is still needed and how we maintain their vigilance and engagement in systems that require less intervention.



The Airport Show in Dubai will take place at the DICEC from May 7 to 9.- TradeArabia News Service
Marriott International has announced an agreement with Maverick International Private Limited -an associate of Maverick Hotels of USA- to open a 300-room Marriott Hotel in Lahore, Pakistan.



Scheduled to open in 2023, Lahore Marriott Hotel will be built on a 46,000-sq-f site in the new downtown area of Gulberg in Lahore.



Commenting on the signing, Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International, said: We are delighted to work with Maverick International to open the Lahore Marriott Hotel. We continue to see a demand for our brands in Pakistan and are excited to announce our third property in the country under our flagship brand, Marriott Hotels. The site is an ideal location for our first Marriott Hotel in Lahore as it offers a convenient location with outstanding accessibility to key commercial, cultural and historical attractions in the city.



Haroon Khawaja, president and CEO of Maverick International Private Limited, was pleased to welcome the Marriott Hotels brand to Lahore. With a rapidly expanding portfolio of major hotels in US and Pakistan, Maverick International is excited at the opportunity of bringing a true internationally branded five star hotel to the second largest city of Pakistan, said Khawaja.



Lahore Marriott Hotel will feature 300 well-appointed guestrooms, including 40 suites, and comprise five food and beverage outlets, including three specialty restaurants. The hotel will also offer a fitness center, spa and ultra-modern meeting facilities including a 1,161 square-meter ballroom, seven meeting rooms and four boardrooms.



Lahore, known as the heart of Pakistan, is strategically located as a key trade route that links South Asia to West and Central Asia. The city is also home to the recently renovated Allama Iqbal International Airport  one of the countrys largest and busiest airports. - TradeArabia News Service


The Rezidor Hotel Group is pleased to announce the signing of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Timisoara, taking the group's portfolio in Romania to four hotels.



Radisson Blu and Mulberry Development will create an international upper upscale hotel in Timisoara, the main social, economic and cultural hub in western Romania  and the European Capital of Culture for 2021.



Elie Younes, executive vice president and chief development officer of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, said: "We are pleased to continue boosting our presence in Romania, and strengthening our South-Eastern Europe development in secondary cities. We appreciate the local business fundamentals and thank our respected partner, Mulberry Development, for its commitment. Timisoara is a very attractive destination for us; it has significant development potential, and there are major investments with attractive new concepts."



The Radisson Blu Hotel, Timisoara is expected to be completed in 2020 and will feature 160 rooms, a signature restaurant and bar concept, 1,000-sq-m of meeting space (including a ballroom), and a 24/7 fitness center. The property will be an integral part of the ambitious development of the most important combined real estate project in the ISHO neighborhood of Timisoara.



The hotel will be located within walking distance of the old town, which retains much of the ornate 19th Century architecture from when the city was a key part of the Hapsburg Empire.



The Radisson Blu Hotel, Timisoara will be managed and operated by The Rezidor Hotel Group. - TradeArabia News Service
Minor Hotels, a hotel owner, operator and investor, has announced plans to debut its Oaks brand in Lebanon later this year.



The group has signed a management agreement with Allied Investment Group to operate Oaks Beirut.



Scheduled to launch in mid 2018, the 110-key hotel will be located in Sodeco, a commercial area of Beirut, approximately five minutes drive from the vibrant central downtown area and 15 minutes from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport. Previously operating as Hotel de Ville Beirut, the hotel is currently closed for a full refurbishment and will relaunch as Oaks.



Bringing Oaks smart simplicity to a new destination, the property will provide modern accommodation with a selection of guest rooms and suites, with facilities including an all-day dining restaurant, a Lounge Bar & cafe, a rooftop pool and bar, plus dedicated conference facilities.



Providing the luxury of space, Oaks Hotels & Resorts offers a range of contemporary accommodation, from hotel and resort rooms and suites, to furnished serviced apartments, in central city locations and resort destinations. The brands growing portfolio currently comprises 56 properties across five countries  Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, India and the UAE, with more than 6,000 guest rooms under its management.



We are very excited to announce the forthcoming debut of our Oaks brand in Lebanon later this year, said Dillip Rajakarier, CEO Minor Hotels. For Minor Hotels adding Lebanon to our footprint has considerable strategic value and we are very pleased to be partnering with Allied Investment Group to launch our first hotel in the country. Beirut is a dynamic city with so much to offer and is widely regarded as one of the most influential trendsetters in the region.



Joseph Nemer, owner and CEO of Allied Investment Group, said: Allied Investment Group is delighted to be partnering with Minor Hotels to bring their Australian-rooted Oaks brand to Lebanon, which Im confident will be a success in this vibrant market. The refurbishment of the property is well underway and we look forward to launching Oaks Beirut later this year.



Minor Hotels currently operates two Oaks properties in the UAE  the 165-room Oaks Liwa Heights in Dubai and the 54-room Oaks Liwa Executive Suites in Abu Dhabi. In total across the Middle East region, Minor Hotels operates 13 properties across four of its brands  Anantara, Avani, Tivoli and Oaks  and has a further strong pipeline in the region across these four brands. - TradeArabia News Service
Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has signed a new property in Manila, expanding its portfolio in the Philippines to three properties strong and marking another milestone in the companys Asian expansion strategy.



Due to open in Q4 2021, Movenpick Hotel & Residences Quezon City will feature a combination of 350 contemporary hotel rooms and suites and 250 stylish residences. All 600 units will offer state-of-the-art technology and upscale amenities, making the hotel ideal for both short and extended stays in Quezon City.



Located in Metro Manila, and featuring a business centre and extensive meeting space, the modern hotel is expected to appeal to leisure and corporate guests, as well as groups.



"The Philippines, which is emerging as one of the worlds fastest-growing economies, is a target development market as we continue our expansion drive across Asia," said Andrew Langdon, global chief development officer, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts.



"Manila has been on our radar for some time and Movenpick Hotel & Residences Quezon City, located in one of the countrys more important commercial centres, affords us the perfect opportunity to leverage the capitals growing prosperity while showcasing our Swiss hospitality style and exceptional facilities.



Movenpick Hotel & Residences Quezon City will feature two upscale restaurants serving Chinese and international cuisine respectively, plus a chic rooftop restaurant and bar boasting panoramic views, which is tipped to become one of Quezon Citys most popular nightspots.



Property highlights also include a swimming pool and fitness centre, plus four function rooms and a large pillar-free ballroom, all fitted with the latest audio-visual technology and designed to host sucessful conferences, conventions, product launches or social events.



The hotel is just 17km from Manilas Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Philippines' main international gateway, offering direct connections to and from major cities including London, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney.



Movenpick Hotels & Resorts currently operates two upscale hotels in the Philippines: Movenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu and the recently opened Movenpick Resort & Spa Boracay. - TradeArabia News Service
Wyomings oil and gas firms, recently strapped by the sudden downturn in the price of crude, are operating in a better price environment this year. For some, that means selling Cowboy State assets and focusing elsewhere. For others, it means buying local and expanding at home.

SM Energy Company, a Denver-based oil and gas firm, announced recently that it was selling about 80 percent of its Powder River Basin acreage to focus on opportunities in Texas.

The sale of 112,000 net acres in Converse, Johnson and Campbell counties will bring the firm $500 million, subject to closing cost adjustments.

The buyer is not mentioned in SM Energys press release on the agreement.

The SM assets produced about 51 percent oil, 18 percent natural gas liquids and 31 percent natural gas, as of December 2017 production, according to the company.

Other firms in Wyoming have also expanded operations, or let go of assets, in key areas in recent months.

QEP Resources has continued to let go of its Wyoming position, including the sale of more than 100 wells in the gas fields of the southwest of the state to Hilcorp Energy in December. Hilcorp, a Houston-based firm, acquired 1,379 wells from Anadarko on Dec. 4, also in the western gas fields, as reported by the Uinta County Herald.

Meanwhile, a firm that emerged from bankruptcy last spring, Samson Resources II, is focusing more exclusively on the Powder River Basin. It announced a sale agreement in mid-December to unload $34 million worth of Wamsutter assets to an undisclosed buyer.

The cash from the Wamsutter divestment will fund the Tulsa-based companys drilling plan for the coming year, which will focus on the Green River and Powder River basins.

Wyoming continues to face a budget deficit due to the gap in revenue during the slide in crude prices, which caused a slate of bankruptcies and diminished drilling activities in the state. However, the increase in oil and gas activity has already handed state budget planners a number of surprises, including a recent boost of $140 million over the next two years due to better oil prices, announced in a state revenue update Monday.

Though Wyoming operators are facing lower prices than boom years, applications to drill for oil and gas shot up throughout 2017. Oil and gas lease sales in Wyoming, where firms shore up acres for future drilling, have also experienced a boost this year.

State revenue from leasing to drill increased by 800 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year.
 pOWELL  SATURDAY

Presentation tells of winter at Heart Mountain

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Centers 2018 Winter Program Series begins with Winter Inside Heart Mountain. Visitors will learn about experiences of the those incarcerated during the hardest season at the camp: winter.

Thin barracks walls and meager coal rations provided incarcerees little protection against the Wyoming weather, according to the events Facebook page. Even so, winter was a time when Heart Mountain residents pulled together for strength, celebrated their makeshift community, and even managed to have a little fun.

The series continues in February and March.

Where: Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, 1539 Road 19, Powell

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Cost: Included in admission cost of $7, $5 for senior/students and free for those younger than 12
Elvis tribute artist Joseph Hall made the top 10 on NBCs Americas Got Talent and has performed the King's hits around the world. His many accolades include the Spirit of Elvis award, and he's recognized as one of the top Elvis tribute artists in the world, according to the WYO Theater website.

My goal is to capture the essence of Elvis Presley, to pay tribute to him with the utmost respect to his legacy, his music, his image and above all else his fans," Hall said.

Hall's "Elvis - Rock n Remember Tribute" Wyoming stops include Sheridan and the Casper area.

Where: The Hangar, 1410 Prairie Lane, Bar Nunn

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Tickets & info: $20, $25 for VIP at (307) 237-1999

Where: WYO Theater, 42 North Main St., Sheridan

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Tickets & info: $27.50, $24.50 for seniors/militar and $17 for students at

Box Office: wyotheater.com or (307) 672-9084
Like most people, Horacio Franco first played the recorder in a junior high music class.

He learned to read music while rehearsing simple songs. He practiced counting a beat and moving his fingers to form different notes.

Unlike most middle schoolers, however, Franco never stopped playing his recorder. He knew, soon after picking up the instrument, that he wanted to be a musician.

At 14, Franco performed as a soloist at Mexico Citys Palacio de Bellas Artes, one of the most prominent cultural centers in the country. Decades later, Franco now tours the world performing on his recorder. Hes written concertos for the instrument and performed with symphonies on nearly every continent.

I absolutely loved the music, Franco said. I found what my passion was.

On Saturday, Franco will perform with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in Casper. It will be his first trip to Wyoming, where the cold is sure to be a shock to the Mexico City native. His tour in the West will also include performances in Montana and Oregon as well.

In Casper, Franco will perform a mix of classic and contemporary music. After a Beethoven symphony and a Vivaldi concerto, Franco will pivot to Michael Wolpes Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra.

(The concerto) is remarkable, beautiful music, he said. One of the most beautiful recorder concertos ever written.

Many people have questioned his choice of instrument in his 40 years as a professional recorder player, he said. People dismiss the instrument as easy or for children, but Franco sees it differently.

The recorder can be intense, he said.

Franco studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City and at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. He learned to play a variety of instruments, including the violin and the harpsichord, but the recorder has always been his main focus. Along with performing, Franco works as a composer and director and is well known in Mexico and around the world. He has also taught the instrument in a variety of Mexico City musical institutions.

The 54-year-old musician still works to dispel stereotypes about the recorder: that its only for amateurs or is obsolete in the world of professional music.

Franco also uses his fame to work with the youth of Mexico City. He performs at benefit concerts throughout the country and teaches music to underprivileged students. He encourages them to find their passion and to pursue it, even in the face of adversity.

Im now trying to improve the daily lives of Mexicans, he said. To show them the beauty of music.
More than 50 Yellowstone National Park bison have escaped through a cut fence at a containment area where the animals were being prepared for transfer to the Fort Peck Tribes in northeastern Montana.

National Park Service officials confirmed the release Tuesday afternoon, but were still gathering details about the breach of two pens at the Stevens Creek facility.

The animals had been in containment for nearly two years to assure that before being transferred to the tribes the bison were free of brucellosis, a disease that can cause livestock to miscarry.

The National Park Service has initiated a criminal investigation at Yellowstone National Park to investigate a trespass and tampering incident at the Stephens Creek facility, Morgan Warthin, Yellowstones public affairs specialist, said in an emailed statement Tuesday. Bison being held at the facility for possible quarantine are no longer in the pens.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called the release devastating, possibly delaying the delivery of bison to the Fort Peck Tribes for another two years. The Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service must decide whether the quarantine period will have be restarted, or whether the bison bulls that wandered away can still be considered a minimal risk for brucellosis.

At the least we suspect its going to delay it, whether it restarts the clock to zero or not we have to wait and see, Zinke said. We were within days of actually moving the buffalo to another facility to begin the process of repatriation.

The Fort Peck Tribal chairman was notified Tuesday night. Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk told Zinke that it appeared someone cut through the containment area with bolt cutters. The 54 bulls began traveling toward Gardiner, Montana. Not all of the bison had been accounted for Tuesday night.

The Stevens Creek facility was only recently converted for quarantine use. The site was previously a bison trap, but last April National Park Service officials and APHIS, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, began working with Montana livestock officials to create a new quarantine area.

There, bison were to be tested for brucellosis, with disease-free animals held for up to two years in order to be certified disease free.

Brucellosis is thought to infect half the bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Cost savings was the primary objective for the site conversion. The bison had previously been transported further north to Corwin Springs for containment, which cost more. Immediately after the site conversion, 24 bulls committed to the Fort Peck Tribes were located there. Male bison must be quarantined without incident for at least a year before being certified.

Tuesdays breach took place as four different tribes participated in a scheduled bison harvest of unquarantined bison outside of Yellowstone, Zinke said. There was a concern that some of the released animals could be shot accidentally by members of the Confederated Salish Kootenai, Nez Perce, Yakima and Umatilla tribes.

The transfer of the bison to American Indian tribes is part of a 17-year plan to cull the Yellowstone bison population to about 3,000. Hunting is also part of that plan.
Theres no doubt that Evanstons economy needs help given the current state of energy development in Wyoming. And we applaud officials there for looking to diversify their economy and bring in more jobs.

But the proposed immigration jail would be a Trojan horse  instead of bringing jobs and revenue to Uinta County and the 20,000 people that live there, it would bring with it a private prison companys baggage and the potential for legal trouble. And the economic boon that the county is expecting may turn out to be a disappointment itself. In fact, if history is to repeat itself, the facility could end up costing Uinta County.

The company that wants to run the jail in Evanston, Management and Training Corporation, has left a trail of lawsuits in its wake, from Texas to New Mexico, and even one in Wyoming already. Its troubled history should be enough to give the county pause.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor gave MTC a contract to operate the Wind River Job Corps Center, a program that offers free technical training to young people. An ongoing lawsuit filed by a former employee alleges that MTC hired a local Native American man in exchange for his help establishing a relationship with the Northern Arapaho Tribe, but then fired him shortly after a public ceremony, when his presence was no longer needed, according to the suit.

The suit also alleges that he was subjected to unfair treatment including ridicule and harassment due to his Native American ancestry. Other Native American employees also complained to program leadership about a hostile work environment, and some even quit.

Thats not the only concerning episode in the companys past.

In New Mexico, MTC ran one of the four companies determined by the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General to not be meeting federal requirements for the safety of detainees. The inmates were given moldy food and left in solitary confinement with no explanation or opportunity to appeal. They were subjected to verbal and physical abuse.

And in Texas, more of the same. Willacy County, similar to Uinta in many ways, a rural and economically struggling area, contracted MTC to run an immigration jail in 2006. The issues there abound: Human rights groups found the facility understaffed, the detainees underfed; over a dozen reports of sexual abuse by the guards resulted in at least one convicted of sexually assaulting a female inmate.

The county terminated its contract with MTC in 2011. MTC then contracted with the Bureau of Prisons to continue management of the facility. Following a 2015 riot in protest of the conditions, Bureau of Prisons canceled its contract, closed the buildings and left the entire staff unemployed.

In December of 2016, Willacy County sued MTC for the millions of dollars in damages the companys mismanagement of the facility cost the county.

And now MTC is looking at Evanston. Its naive to imagine that the company has turned over a new leaf and will properly manage the facility in Uinta County. Thats because MTC is in the business of privatized prisons, an inherently flawed concept that prioritizes the bottom dollar over the safety of both the inmates and the guards.

Its also distressing that Uinta County officials were only made aware of MTCs history when told by a reporter. And that even after learning about it, they still endorsed the facility in Evanston.

In the long run, the proposed immigration jail will bring little more than more lawsuits to the state, along with a slew of human rights violations. ICE is considering whether Uinta County is right for the facility; but Uinta County officials should be thinking long and hard about whether the facility is right for them.
Six former nuclear launch control officers who served at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne have called on Congress to reign in President Donald Trumps ability to fire nuclear missiles.

In an open letter sent last week, a total of seventeen former officers highlighted the singular authority that Trump, like any president, has to launch nuclear weapons and argued for the need to impose some checks on that power.

There is no act of greater consequence, and it should not rest in the hands of any one person, the letter reads.

Retired Capt. Peter Hefley worked as a nuclear launch officer at F.E. Warren from 2005 until 2007, beginning when he was 25 years old.

He said it was always somewhat alarming that a single individual had the power to launch nuclear weapons but that Trumps comments on social media, in which he has taunted nuclear-armed North Korea, motivated him to speak out.

Trump tweeted on Jan. 3 that his nuclear button was much bigger & more powerful than North Korean leader Kim Jung Uns. He went on to threaten that the U.S. arsenal works.

Cheney backs Trump's aggressive stance on North Korea Wyomings lone U.S. House Rep. Liz Cheney is backing the aggressive statements made by Presi

North Korean state media referred to the tweet Tuesday as the spasm of a lunatic.

I dont think its necessarily a partisan issue at all, Hefley said. When you look at the threats, the saber rattling on Twitter, those things suggest theres a hairpin trigger.

F.E. Warren is one of three air force bases in the United States that has nuclear-armed ICBMs.The other former officers from F.E. Warren to sign the letter are Timothy J. Allen, Frank G. Goldman, Michael Miller, Ryan William Schmoll and David C.W. Wagner.

The same group of officers signed an open letter in the weeks before the 2016 election criticizing Trumps fitness to serve as commander-and-chief. Both letters were released through Global Zero, an organization dedicated to nuclear non-proliferation and their elimination.

But Wyoming State Senator Brian Boner, R-Douglas, pushed back against the notion that Trump was unfit and said that there were already checks in place to block an inappropriate nuclear strike.

Boner worked also worked as a missileer at F.E. Warren, from 2008 until 2013, and said there were already checks in place on a presidents power to use nuclear weapons. The generals advising the president, Boner said, would step in to block an order that was not proportional or lawfully ordered.

Ultimately the president is the only person who can give the order but its not going to happening vacuum, Boner said.

Hefley said that he believes many Americans dont realize how easy it is for a president to launch nuclear missiles.

At F.E. Warren, two officers each work in two separate capsules overseeing the intercontinental ballistic missiles held on site, Hefley said. If the president decides to fire the nuclear missiles, an encrypted code is sent to the capsules and is then decoded to ensure it is valid. Once that is done, all four officers must agree to launch the missiles.

The entire process takes about two to five minutes, Hefley said.

While in theory one of the four officers could block the decision to launch, that is an unlikely scenario in part because the individuals must agree that they will follow a launch order when they are assigned to that post.

At the time, I was comfortable with the idea that if a command were to come down there would be a really good reason for it and I would do it, Hefley said.

He assumed that any order to use nuclear weapons would follow a clear path of escalation, in which diplomatic efforts would be made first, followed by economic sanctions and perhaps conventional war before resorting to nuclear weapons.

I just dont feel like that escalation is the order in which things are going to go now, Hefley said.

Boner said that when he oversaw training exercises at F.E. Warren, missileers never trained for a nuclear first-strike and that one would only take place after a war or conflict abroad had clearly escalated.

We would have at least some warning, Boner said. It wouldnt just be all of the sudden, Oh the president is offended by a tweet lets launch a nuclear strike.

The rhetoric between Trump and Kim has been escalating for months. In April, Trump told Reuters a major, major conflict with North Korea was possible but he still sought diplomacy. The next month, Kim celebrated the test of a ballistic missile and said if the U.S. provoked his country it will not escape from the biggest disaster in the history. Later that month, Trump called Kim a madman with nuclear weapons and upped the ante in August by saying continued threats would be met with fire and fury.

The open letter references several proposals being considered by Congress to rein in Trumps ability to launch nuclear weapons without any outside approval. Some of those options include requiring the sign-off of the defense secretary of attorney general, requiring a Congressional declaration of war or banning the United States from using nuclear weapons except in self-defense.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
GILLETTE -- A Campbell County legislator has picked up where the Legislatures transportation committee left off, proposing a bill that he believes will save money and keep air service in communities that struggle to fill seats.

Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, has sponsored a bill proposing that the state set up a council that would work on a capacity purchase agreement, selecting a regional carrier to enter into a 10-year contract with the state. The airline would provide up to three daily flights to Denver from cities and towns in Wyoming that join the agreement.

Airports in Sheridan, Riverton and Rock Springs currently offer airlines minimum-revenue guarantees, meaning state and local governments subsidize commercial air service to those communities.

The full transportation committee, which Von Flatern is on, considered a similar bill but declined to move forward. Several lawmakers on the committee said they were still open to the idea of a state-run program, but that the issue needed more study.

But Von Flatern said that this is the time to act. The state has $1.2 million for the program and the airports in Sheridan, Riverton and Rock Springs need about $1 million each.

We have enough money to keep everything rolling until June 30, 2019, he said.

Von Flatern said if the bill passes, the council will have until then to come to an agreement with an airline. If not, Well have to say to two of (the cities), you no longer have air service.

The council overseeing the state airline agreement would be comprised of 15 members, 11 of whom would be voting members. It would include a state senator, a state representative, two people from the aeronautics commission, two people from ENDOW, someone from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, one from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, a commercial air service representative from the Wyoming airport operators association and two people from the public.

It also would include the governor, the WYDOT director and the executive director of the office of tourism, all of whom would be non-voting members.

If the bill passes and an airline agrees to contract with the state, the communities can join the agreement on a voluntary basis. Von Flatern said Gillette doesnt have to join because it isnt losing money on its flights. Still, it would offer some advantages.

SkyWest flies up here on their own dollar. If they make a profit, great. If theyre not making money, they cut one of our flights, he said.

If Gillette joined the agreement, the biggest advantage would be that the airline would be contracted to show up here for up to three flights a day, he said. They cant steal a flight or change the schedule on us.

The agreement does not prevent airports from trying to add other flights, Von Flatern said.

Campbell County Commission Chairman Mark Christensen said he and his fellow commissioners support the bill.

I support it and I support what you do, Commissioner Micky Shober told Von Flatern last week. Otherwise, Wyomings going to be left in the dust and lose their airports.

Christensen agreed.

If were not going to reduce the number of communities we have air service in, then this solution is by far the best, Christensen said.
The Joint Appropriations Committee voted last week to sponsor a bill making permanent a temporary merger of the Wyoming Department of Health and the Department of Family Services.

The Department of Family Services was placed under the control of Department of Health director Tom Forslund in June, when the DFS director resigned. At the time, Forslund told the Star-Tribune he would look at whether a permanent merger of the two agencies made sense. His staff has decided it does, he told lawmakers last week.

The merger would create opportunities for savings by combining the support staff behind the two agencies. There was no discussion of whether jobs would be reduced through the merger. Nor is there any current estimate of how much taxpayer money could be saved, House Appropriations Chairman Bob Nicholas told WyoFile.

Forslund also said he believed the two agencies clients would benefit because many people are served by both departments. He estimated the overlap in clients at more than 80 percent, as both agencies frequently focus on assisting low-income Wyoming residents. For example, someone receiving services from DFS is probably also a Medicaid client, Forslund said.

The JAC voted nearly unanimously to support the bill, but some lawmakers outside the committee may not back the endeavor. While the JAC approached the bill from a financial perspective, two other committees  the Joint Judiciary Committee and the Joint Labor and Health Committee  oversee the two agencies effectiveness. The judiciary committee focuses on some of the enforcement policies DFS must deal with.

There could be concerns from those committee members, the House Labor and Health Committee Chairman Eric Barlow told JAC. Barlow said his co-chairman, Sen. Charles Scott, disliked the idea. One worry he and Scott shared was proper support for DFS caseworkers, who must engage with people on child custody and other difficult family issues, Barlow said.

Its the toughest job in state government, he said.

Trimming government

The Department of Health is a giant in state government and has the highest cost of any agency. Forslund argued that the state has too many agencies, which makes oversight more difficult than if agencies were centralized under fewer directors. Forslund has run WDH for seven years but his tenure will end in January 2019 when Gov. Matt Meads term expires, he told the lawmakers.

Forslund said both agencies will continue to function regardless of what route lawmakers take.

At the end of the day, its a policy call, he said. Itll work either way. But I think right now the structure of the state government is large and for a small state weve got a lot of agencies.

The Legislature has been pursuing an efficiency study to reduce the size and cost of Wyomings government. The Legislatures Management Council, made up of top lawmakers from both parties and houses, is considering a bill to act on the preliminary recommendations of the Wyoming Government Spending and Efficiency Commission. That commission, of lawmakers and private citizens, was formed at the end of the 2017 legislative session. Their report included a recommendation to consider merging WDH and DFS.
If House Bill 0039 (HB 0039) is not on your radar, it should be. This is the Wildlife Conservation/Connectivity specialty license plate bill that will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session, sponsored by Rep. Stan Blake from Green River and co-sponsored by Reps. Allen, Brown, Crank, Gierau, Haley, Pelkey and Sens. Hastert and Emerich .

This license plate bill is very similar to the University of Wyoming specialty plate, where you make the choice of paying an additional $130 fee when you purchase your motor vehicle registration through your local county treasurers office. If purchased, $30 will be retained by the state of Wyoming for creating the license plate, the other $100 will go to a special account within the Wyoming Department of Transportation specifically earmarked for wildlife overpass, underpass, fencing and signage projects targeting wildlife and roadway safety.

In April of 2017, a Wildlife and Roadway Safety Summit was held in Pinedale, Wyoming. This summit was attended by nearly 200 people from entities such as the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Wyoming Game and Fish, law enforcement, elected officials, conservation groups and citizens. The goal of this summit was to identify means that could be accomplished to lower the amount of wildlife/vehicle collisions around the state of Wyoming. Given everyones love of Wyomings wildlife and wild spaces, it is recognized that the losses experienced around the state of our wildlife and the losses involving motor vehicle damages and lives, was unacceptable. The result of this summit was clear and given projects that have already been completed, such as Trappers Point overpass/underpasses, Nugget Canyon and Baggs; these projects work well. Conversely, these overpass/underpass and fencing projects are costly, and an alternative funding source for WYDOT would need to be established, given the current economic situation the state if facing. One idea, a specialty wildlife license plate, was born.

Another important item that came out of the summit was that this problem was, perhaps, larger than many knew. In a five-year period, from 2012-2017, a staggering 23,379 big game animal carcasses were removed from roadways and right-of-ways by WYDOT maintenance crews, with mule deer accounting for 17,608 of those animals. That does not take into account what is assumed to be many animals that made it past the roadway fencing and died or later died of injuries sustained during collisions. Also, a large concern is the safety of the general motoring public that travel all the roadways of the state. As stated by WYDOT Director Bill Panos, One in fifteen highway deaths that occurred last year (2016) involved a wildlife crash. He added, this is unacceptable.

On average, 2600-2800 wildlife-vehicle crashes are reported in the state of Wyoming each year. This is only what is reported to a law enforcement agency, with many going unreported. In 2016, 2,874 such crashes occurred. Wyoming Game and Fish places a value on each big game species. Antelope are valued at $3,000, deer at $4,000, elk at $6,000, moose at $7,500 and big horn sheep at $15,000. With estimated damages, according to State Farm, being $4,000 per wildlife related crash, this damage amount is $11,496,000.

In Nugget Canyon, on a 13 mile section of US 30 between Kemmerer and Sage Junction, wildlife-vehicle crashes have been reduced by 81% after the construction of the seven underpasses. In that area, WYDOT also installed 8 ft. high fencing to funnel wildlife into the underpasses and prevent them from getting onto the roadway. The underpasses are most effective for mule deer. A 3-year post construction study has shown that 49,146 mule deer have used the underpasses.

At Trappers Point, which is between Pinedale and Daniel Junction, collisions have been reduced after WYDOT installed two overpasses and six underpasses. Three years after construction, the crashes involving mule deer reduced by 79%. The crashes involving pronghorn, which prefer to use overpasses, were eliminated entirely.

With the 2018 legislative session quickly approaching, what is needed is action by all Wyoming residents that care about wildlife and their traveling safety. To make this bill a reality, people need to email and preferably call all of the Wyoming legislative members. Ask them to make a commitment to our world-renowned wildlife and give everyone an opportunity to make their own decision to help make a difference with our roadway safety. This is not just another specialty license plate bill, but one that can make a difference in the years to come. This generates revenue and, while not a fix-all for all the funding needed for some of the larger overpass/underpass projects, it allows for a revenue stream to potentially leverage this funding to obtain other grants or funding sources.

Legislators of this state need to allow this to happen on their watch, to be champions for wildlife and highway safety. Let this be a win-win for all of Wyoming.
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Music and a food truck will help kick off the Arizona Charter Schools

Association open house, which will begin at 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22 at

the association offices. Newly approved charter schools will be honored

and recognized at the event. About 100 school leaders, lawmakers,

education organization partners, and community members are expected to

attend.

This event is planned to coincide with the history-making celebration of

National School Choice Week 2018, which will feature more than 32,000

school choice events across all 50 states.

Charter schools have been part of the fabric of Arizonas school choice

landscape for over 20 years. Through the hard work and dedication of our

teachers, administrators and students, Arizona charter schools are

outperforming nearly every state in the country, said Eileen B.

Sigmund, president and CEO of the Arizona Charter Schools Association.

Of course, school choice is no choice at all without quality options.

We remain committed to ensure the choices available to this generation

of Arizona students, and the next, are good ones.

The charter school association offices are located at 12439 North 32nd

Street, Phoenix, AZ 85032.

For more information, contact Daniel Duran at Daniel@schoolchoiceweek.com

or (602) 695-5750.

As a nonpartisan, nonpolitical public awareness effort, National School

Choice Week shines a positive spotlight on effective education options

for students, families, and communities around the country.

For more information, visit www.schoolchoiceweek.com,

or visit www.facebook.com/schoolchoiceweek.

Contacts

Arizona Charter Schools Association
The West River Road building that housed restaurants for the past dozen years is about to become a medical marijuana dispensary.

Earth's Healing, which operates a dispensary at 2075 E. Benson Highway, will open its second location at 78 W. River Road this spring once renovations to the space are completed, said Vicky Puchi-Saavedra, one of the owners of Earth's Healing parent EH2 Inc.

EH2 officials on Wednesday closed on the purchase of the River Road building, which had housed Stray Dogs restaurant for the past two years. Stray Dogs, known for its crazy milkshake concoctions, closed at the end of business Tuesday after owner Tom Firth and his partners were notified that the sale to EH2 was final.

Before Stray Dogs, the building had housed Firth's pizzeria Zona 78, which opened a second location on East Tanque Verde about 10 years ago. That restaurant is not affected by the sale, Firth said.

The city early this month notified Puchi-Saavedra that based on the information provided to city planning officials, the River Road building "is in general compliance" with city ordinances governing medical marijuana dispensaries," according to city documents. The OK was contingent on the owners meeting Arizona Department of Health Services requirements.
Tucson Electric Power Co. is making its biggest move yet to add more wind energy, as it ramps up its renewable-energy resources.

TEP said Monday it plans to issue a request for proposals this week for the design and construction of new wind-energy resources that could power up to 31,000 homes annually.

Because Arizona has a relatively weak wind resource, theres a good chance that the project will be outside the state, TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said.

TEP now has contractual rights to 30 megawatts of operating wind power in Arizona, at the Red Horse combined solar and wind project near Willcox, and 50 MW of power from a wind farm in western New Mexico. The utility also has agreed to buy power from a 100 MW wind project under development, also in western New Mexico.

It could be located outside of Arizona, but it has to be able to interconnect to our system or delivered to us through a reliable long-term transmission agreement, Barrios said of the new wind farm, noting that transmission costs and line losses increase over distance.

The utility says it will solicit cost-competitive bids for a wind farm to provide up to 150 MW of wind energy from resources that interconnect with TEPs system or deliver power through a third-party transmission service.

TEP also said it will consider proposals that include ancillary services or supporting energy-storage systems.

The new wind energy will help TEP work toward its goal of delivering at least 30 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2030, double the states 2025 goal, the company said.

Overall, TEP expects to add 800 MW of new renewable capacity by the end of 2030, boosting its total renewable energy portfolio to approximately 1,200 MW.

Under TEPs new wind plan, the company expects to sign a contract with the successful bidder this year and begin receiving power from the new wind resource by 2021.

TEP said its looking to buy more wind now to capitalize on current market conditions, and bidders for the new project will have to compete on price.

The markets favorable for wind projects like these, which is good for us and our customers as we look to get the biggest bang for the buck, Barrios said.

Last May, TEP announced it would pay 3 cents per kilowatt- hour for solar energy from a 100 MW array being built by Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources near South Wilmot Road and Interstate 10. That project will include 30 MW of energy storage.

In August, the U.S. Department of Energy said the average cost of wind power provided through power purchase agreements had fallen to just 2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Were obviously looking for the most cost-effective projects, including energy storage, Barrios said.

WILDLIFE IMPACT

Wildlife conservation groups will likely be watching the progress of TEPs big wind project closely amid concerns over the impact of large, utility-scale wind turbines on birds and other flying creatures.

Though the developer of the Red Horse wind project near Willcox agreed to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on bird counts and surveys, some conservationists opposed the project because of its proximity to the Willcox Playa, a major stopover for sandhill cranes and other migrating birds.

The American Bird Conservancy estimated that wind turbines caused more than 573,000 bird kills in 2012, and with more wind coming online the group projects wind-farm bird deaths could reach 1.4 million by 2020 or sooner.

Obviously, its an issue that raises concerns, based on the data and statistics, said Christina McVie, a former conservation chair of the Tucson Audubon Society who stills consults for the group.

And while bird deaths get the most attention, wind turbines can also kill bats and insects like butterflies, which are important plant pollinators, McVie said.

McVie said that while wind-farm operators can do some things to lessen the lethal impact on wildlife, like adjusting blade speeds, the time to address wildlife concerns is when such projects are planned.

Were not picking on TEP  its a national and international issue, she said.

Barrios said TEP is aware of the wildlife concerns and will address them based on specific proposals.

Its certainly a consideration, Barrios said. Were aware of those types of concerns, and how much they factor into this project will depend on where its located and what type of systems are used.

TEP said its bid request will seek proposals for both long-term power-purchase agreements and build-transfer agreements, in which TEP would purchase the system after construction.

The process is being managed by New Hampshire-based Accion Group.
Leonard Bernsteins daughter Jamie is joining the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend to perform the narrator role in her fathers Kaddish Symphony.

But if youve heard the piece before, you might be a little confused. Bernstein, the oldest of the composers three children, wont be reciting the text her father wrote in his 1963 symphony.

The very first line of his narration is Oh my father and he is addressing God. But I cant speak those words without it being altogether embarrassing and weird, right? Bernstein said during a phone call from New York City last week. I cant bear the idea of spending a second with the audience wondering what father Im referring to. Thats too embarrassing.

Bernstein penned her own narration for the work, which has never been performed by the TSO in its nearly 90-year history; its one of the cornerstones of the Tucson Desert Song Festival Bernstein At 100, now through Feb. 4.

Leonard Bernsteins narration is an argument with God, questioning why he hasnt kept his promise with mankind: Lord God of Hosts, I call You to account! / You let this happen, Lord of Hosts! / You with Your manna, Your pillar of fire! / You ask for faith, where is Your own? Jamie Bernsteins is an argument with her father, asking why he didnt follow his heart and write the music that was in his soul.

I wrote another layer to the argument, she explained. My dads narration is an argument with his spiritual creator; my argument is with my biological creator. In my narration I take my father to task for making his music so complicated and why doesnt he just write that tune that we all know he wants to write.

Bernstein dedicated his 1963 Kaddish Symphony to John F. Kennedy and performed it for the first time weeks after the presidents assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. His daughter says the world then  still on edge from the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the uncertain tempers as a result of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the increasing unpopularity of the Vietnam War  mirrors the world today with the nuclear tensions between the United States and North Korea and terrorism around the world.

Its one of the many reasons why this symphony kind of speaks to us in this very urgent and relevant way, she said, recalling a performance with the New York Philharmonic in November featuring Jeremy Irons as the narrator.

The audience response was unprecedented. It was like everybody related to this symphony in a way that had never happened before, she said. All of a sudden there were reviews and standing ovations. Suddenly it was a work that really spoke to everyones emotions about the world right now because we all are going through such a tough time. Suddenly this somewhat neglected symphony of my dads is speaking to all of us on this very emotional level.  Its very exciting. This symphony is having a new life so Im very excited to bring it to Tucson.

During our conversation, Bernstein also talked about her father and the way the world first reacted to his music.

Misunderstood and unappreciated: Bernstein composed classical music at a time when his contemporaries were stuck on atonal music. If you didnt write in that way, you were not taken seriously in the halls of academe. My dad would not give up on writing tonal music. That was what came out of him. Sometimes he would write 12-tone music, but not exclusively. And as a result his music was never accepted by the so-called serious musicians who were kind of the tastemakers in the halls of academe. He never got a Pulitzer Prize and all these things that he didnt quite qualify for at the time.

Then the world changed: The world of so-called serious musicians eventually got over itself and got out of that 12-tone straightjacket. And these days, composers write in all kinds of styles and theres no rule about which one youre supposed to use, so everybody is quite used to mixing up different styles. And because of that now my dads music sounds amazing to contemporary ears. It sounds really modern and it really speaks to us.

Dad was dad: Bernstein will release a memoir of her father this summer. My dad was a wonderful father and he was very warm as you might guess from the way he conducted and the way he spoke to children on television. He was just a completely accessible and exuberant person. He was wonderful to have as a dad. He also was a compulsive teacher so he was always telling us things and explaining things and imparting information and sharing his own excitement about all the subjects he loved.
PHOENIX  A Senate panel endorsed increasing the amount of liability insurance motorists must purchase to drive on Arizona roads, rebuffing claims it would harm some low-income people.

The 6-1 vote Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Transportation and Technology came over the objections of state Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa.

A lot of folks live paycheck to paycheck, he said. There are people out there right now that are faced with either a permanent or probably a temporary situation where they have to choose between paying the electric bill or paying their mandatory insurance.

Farnsworth said the result of the legislation, SB 1075, would be more people choosing to flout the legal requirement to have liability insurance. And that, he said, would mean more motorists on state roads who have no insurance at all to compensate those they kill, injure or whose property they damage.

But bill sponsor Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, said it is precisely those at the bottom of the income scale her measure is designed to help. She said these are the people with the least amount of personal resources to call on when they are injured or their car is totaled by someone else who doesnt have enough insurance to cover the damages they caused.

Tuesdays vote in no way assures the measure will become law. Similar legislation was approved by the full Senate last year, only to be held up when Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, refused to give it a hearing in the House Banking and Insurance Committee he chairs.

Current law requires motorists to carry so-called 15/30/10 liability insurance: $15,000 to cover injuries to any one person in an accident, $30,000 for all injuries from the same mishap, and $10,000 for property/vehicle damage.

Brophy McGee said those limits were enacted in 1972. There was a presumption they would be adjusted to keep pace with the cost of medical care and even the increasing price of vehicles, she said.

That, however, has not happened, with the insurance industry in opposition amid concerns that the higher premiums will equal fewer people buying coverage.

Her measure would boost the minimum to $25,000 for injuries to one person, $50,000 for all injuries, and $25,000 for property damage.

David Childers, who lobbies for the Property and Casualty Insurance Association of America, argued theres no reason to believe the higher limits are necessary. He said the average liability claim for injuries is about $13,700 and for property damage, in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

But attorney Geoff Trachtenberg told lawmakers the figures are misleading.

He said they represent the amounts for which a claim was settled. And, by definition, if someone has only $15,000 worth of insurance, the claim will settle within those limits.

Brophy McGee said figures gathered by the state Department of Transportation put the actual losses in a motor vehicle accident resulting in death in excess of $1.5 million. For other injuries, she said, the figure approaches $93,000.

She said the typical property damage done exceeds $11,500.

Trachtenberg acknowledged the cost of increasing liability coverage to the proposed new limits is expected to be about $91 a year for motorists who now buy the minimum.
PHOENIX  With no primary rival and 10 months to go to the general election, Gov. Doug Ducey already has collected more than $3 million for his re-election campaign.

Newly filed campaign finance documents show the governor brought in close to $2.5 million in the past 12 months. That got added to more than $561,000 he had in the bank at the end of 2016.

With expenses of less than $400,000 this past year, that still leaves him with close to $2.7 million in the bank.

The report gives the Republican incumbent a huge running start over either of the most-likely Democrats who hope to unseat him.

State Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, has collected about $513,000 so far.

But theres less there than meets the eye: His total includes $59,000 left over from Farleys Senate campaign committee. And Farley reports expenses to date of almost $277,000.

Still, Farley is outraising David Garcia, whose new report listed contributions of $300,000 against expenses of more than $205,000.

Duceys edge also doesnt count what benefit the governor may get through independent expenditures. In 2014, supporters, including some from outside of Arizona, spent $1.8 million on his behalf and another $6.4 million against Democrat Fred DuVal, above and beyond the money raised by Ducey himself.

The question is whether Ducey needs that running financial start in a state where Republicans outnumber Democrats.

In a year where the national generic ballot favors Democrats by 17 points, anything is possible, said Democrat campaign consultant Andy Barr. That includes not only the fact that presidential mid-term elections tend to favor the party out of power, but also the controversies swirling around President Trump.

But Barr conceded that edge for Democrats may be more helpful for congressional candidates than state or local officials.

People tend to think of their governor or mayor than they do like a member of Congress, he said.

So is Ducey vulnerable?

There are plenty of well-executed, well-run campaigns that go down in wave years, Barr said.

GOP consultant Chuck Couglin concedes the point.

You never take anything for granted, he said.

But Coughlin said everything Ducey is doing points to his conclusion the governor is not presuming he will coast to an easy re-election.

That starts with Duceys State of the State speech and the time the governor spent on the issue of K-12 education. Coughlin said that is the No. 1 concern of voters.

Whether you agree with him or not, he did a good job of narrating an agenda that he can run on, he said.

And what of any Trump effect?

Coughlin said Democrats believe they can recruit scores of new voters who normally do not turn out for off-cycle elections.

Personally, I dont see that, he said. Until it shows up, its mythology.

But Coughlin said even if Democrats can motivate some new voters, hes not convinced it ultimately will make any difference at all.

It starts with the fact that Republicans outnumber Democrats in Arizona by about 162,000 out of more than 3.6 million registered voters. Republicans also are higher-propensity voters, more likely to turn out than Democrats.

So lets say you turn out 50,000 more voters, Coughlin said. Guess what? Youre still going to lose.

Barr, for his part, said it remains to be seen whether Ducey can sufficiently distance himself from what are likely to be the broader national trends that are linked to Trump.

I think none of us are going to know that until November, he said.

But Barr said he doesnt believe money will be the deciding issue.

The path to winning in Arizona is run a better race and get lucky, he said. And I think a lot of our candidates are going to get lucky this time.

Theres something else thats different this year than in 2014 when Ducey outpolled Fred DuVal by 178,000 votes: the primary.

In 2014 Ducey found himself in a six-way race for the Republican nomination. While that campaign cost him money, it also provided some name ID and media attention that DuVal, facing no primary opposition, did not start to get until after the primary was over in late August.

Barr believes having a primary between Garcia and Farley will provide whoever emerges from that primary some needed free publicity.

And theres something else: What Barr calls pressure testing the campaign organization ahead of the general election.

You have these sort of untested campaigns getting to the general, he said, which are suddenly hit with negative advertising.

If they dont have a strong organization, it takes them 10 days to sort of figure out what theyre doing, Barr said.

And then the race is over, with early ballots going out Oct. 10 and a majority of Arizonans casting early ballots up to a month before the Nov. 6 general election.
A Phoenix lawyer will now be reviewing all of the Pima County Attorneys Office requests for funds from its own anti-racketeering account.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to hire J. Arthur Eaves as outside counsel, two months after the board stripped Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall of her ability to make recommendations to the board regarding use of the accounts funds.

A 2017 change to state law says the board of supervisors must review and approve the county attorneys requests from the Anti-Racketeering Revolving Fund, which LaWall previously had the discretion to approve on her own.

The federal money, which comes from funds seized from individuals accused of crimes, is meant to be used by the County Attorneys Office and local law-enforcement agencies for crime-fighting and crime-prevention purposes.

Eaves will be responsible for reviewing each request and making a recommendation to the board on whether to approve or deny the funding request.

Prior to the November decision to to remove LaWalls office as the decision-making authority for anti-racketeering funds, Chief Civil Deputy Andrew Flagg acted as counsel to the board on such issues, which supervisors said was a conflict of interest.

Eaves created and implemented a program for the Maricopa Board of Supervisors to use for review of the Maricopa County Attorneys RICO expenditures.

In a December email to Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, Eaves wrote that while some of the work he did for Maricopa would benefit Pima County, each county has its own unique issues which will need to be addressed in implementing a program like this.

In the email, Eaves also recommended that LaWall submit budgets to him for initial analysis so that he can analyze whether or not he believes the expenditures are appropriate.

While LaWall no longer has the final word in use of her offices RICO funds, she is still required to approve requests and in December, denied the supervisors request to use the anti-racketeering fund to pay to employ Eaves.

In a Dec. 22 memo to the board, LaWall declined to authorize the use of funds, deferring to the Maricopa County Attorneys Offices previous decision that the statute doesnt allow for such an expenditure.

After LaWalls action, Eaves compensation will be absorbed by Pima Countys general fund.

Huckelberry previously recommended that supervisors retain Eaves on a case-by-case basis to review whether the request for RICO funds falls into permissible use.
On a party-line vote, the county Board of Supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday urging Congress to renew a program protecting young immigrants from deportation and move forward on a broader immigration reform effort.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was created by executive order by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and rescinded by President Donald Trump last September.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors hereby calls for the U.S. Congress to act swiftly to renew the DACA program to lift the cloud of fear and uncertainty from its participants so they can continue their great contributions to the public good, the resolution, which was put on the agenda by Supervisor Richard Elias, reads.

The program covers migrants brought to the United States illegally as children.

Its time for this board to take a stand on DACA, Elias said before the vote.

More than 2,000 of the roughly 800,000 participants nationwide live in Pima County, according to the resolution.

Republican Supervisors Ally Miller and Steve Christy voted against the resolution.

Christy has regularly criticized resolutions that address national issues he feels are outside of the boards purview.

While not supportive of a continuation of DACA, Miller said, Its time for Congress to get off their butts to get something done on comprehensive immigration reform, addressing these 800,000 people, adding: These people have been in limbo.

In response to Miller, Elias said I know you have a good heart on this issue.

Trump and congressional leaders have been working to come up with a new agreement to protect DACA recipients from deportation.

A proposed agreement last week was rejected by Trump.

In other board business, the supervisors voted in a new chair. Elias will be the new chairman, and Ramon Valadez will be the vice chairman.

Contact: mwoodhouse@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @murphywoodhouse
Southern Arizona humanitarian-aid workers blame Border Patrol agents for the destruction of water jugs left for border crossers.

Nearly 3,600 water jugs No More Deaths aid workers placed on migration trails near Arivaca from 2012 to 2015 were slashed, stomped on, poured out, dyed, or tampered with, according to a report released Wednesday by the Tucson-based group.

All told, the volunteer aid workers placed 31,600 one-gallon water jugs on remote trails during that period to help border crossers survive the extreme heat and rugged terrain in Southern Arizona.

The group attributed the majority of the destroyed jugs to Border Patrol agents, saying "the culture and policies of the US Border Patrol as a law-enforcement agency both authorize and normalize acts of cruelty against border crossers."

No More Deaths based their conclusion on videos, taken by motion-sensor cameras and an aid worker, of agents kicking water jugs and pouring them onto the ground. The report also said a geographic analysis pointed to Border Patrol agents, as did personal experiences of border crossers and long-term volunteers.

The Border Patrol's policy is to leave humanitarian aid untouched, said Agent Chris Sullivan, a spokesman for the agency's Tucson Sector.

"We do not condone or support the destruction or tampering with humanitarian provisions," Sullivan said.

Agents who violate that policy face corrective action ranging from a verbal reprimand to termination, he said. After an incident more than six years ago, agents were told destroying humanitarian provisions was not condoned. Sullivan said he did not know what corrective action was taken against the agent or whether any other agents had violated the policy since then.

Sullivan said agents "value human life" and dozens of agents are trained as paramedics to help people they find in distress.

The No More Deaths report said aid workers found water jugs destroyed 415 times from 2012 to 2015, which "cannot be dismissed as the misguided behavior of a few bad apples." The report also quoted an unnamed former Border Patrol agent who said agents smashed water bottles and ransacked food caches to expedite the apprehension of border crossers.

The report noted that hunters, hikers, militia groups, local residents, and others could be responsible for destroying water jugs, but the rate of destruction was only slightly higher during hunting season and agents are the only ones besides aid workers and border crossers who regularly access sites where water jugs are placed.

In the Arivaca area, No More Deaths volunteers place water jugs in the Coronado National Forest, Arizona state trust land, and private property. Across those jurisdictions, there was no significant difference in the rate of destruction of water jugs, according to the report.

More than 500 water jugs, not included in the 3,600 tally, showed signs of animal damage.

The new report is the second in a series from No More Deaths and the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos describing deaths and disappearances of border crossers, which the groups say resulted from the Border Patrol's policy of "prevention through deterrence," in reference to the agency's long-standing goal of pushing border crossers into remote and dangerous areas to discourage them from crossing the border illegally.

More than 600 remains of border crossers were received by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner from 2012 to 2015, according to medical examiner records compiled by the Arizona Daily Star.

Due to the heat and terrain of the Sonoran Desert, it is impossible to carry enough water for the cross-border trek, which can last days or weeks, the No More Deaths report said. Border crossers used 86 percent of the water placed on trails by aid workers.

Last year, aid workers were banned from the Barry M. Goldwater bombing range and nearby Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge after leaving water jugs for border crossers on the bombing range, the Arizona Republic reported in December.

A humanitarian aid worker was sentenced in 2009 to one year of probation and after placing water jugs on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, which authorities said was littering. The 2008 conviction of another aid worker on similar charges on the wildlife refuge was overturned on appeal in 2010.
A 25-year-old carjacking suspect who was shot during an October confrontation with sheriff's deputies was booked into jail Tuesday, officials said.

Elijah Lawrence is facing four charges of aggravated assault, one charge of armed robbery and two charges of kidnapping in connection with the Oct. 4 incident, Deputy Cody Gress, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman, wrote in a news release.

Lawrence has been in a medical rehabilitation facility recovering from his gunshot wound and related surgeries, Gress wrote.

The incident began with a carjacking report at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 5000 block of East Valencia Road at a Chevron gas station, which turned into a chase involving DPS troopers on Interstate 10.

A man pulled out a handgun and carjacked a victim at the Chevron who was pumping gas, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. He said the armed man took off in the car and he dumped it on the highway and ran away.

Gress gave the following account:

About 15 minutes later, there was a report of another carjacking at a house in the 4100 block of East Dover Stravanue, which is in the county outside city limits. Failing to get a car there, the man went to another home on the street, held a man at gunpoint and stole his car while taking him hostage.

At some point, deputies caught up to the vehicle at South Catalina Avenue and East Drexel Road and a chase began.

There were two men inside the car, the gunman and the hostage. The gunman was driving and pointing a gun at the other man and also pointing the gun at law-enforcement officers.

The vehicle stopped on East Aviation Parkway near East 34th Street when the gunmans car veered into a concrete median. The gunman pointed a gun at the hostage again, at which point shots were fired. A deputy fired one round, Gress said. No law-enforcement officers were injured.

The suspect, later identified as Lawrence, was taken by ambulance to Banner-University Medical Center Tucson.

The hostage was also taken to a hospital to be checked out by doctors as a precaution.
WASHINGTON (AP)  For all his errant swings at the facts, President Donald Trump sometimes gets it just right.

"There's been no first year like this," he told a Florida rally last month.

Were truer words ever spoken?

This Department of Corrections has certainly never seen a first year like this. Falsehoods and exaggerations have tumbled relentlessly out of Trump's Twitter account, speeches and interviews, the vast majority in service of his ego.

Other presidents have skewered the truth  George W. Bush on the pretext for the Iraq war, Barack Obama on the benefits of "Obamacare"  but Trump is of a different order of magnitude.

The president routinely presents his intended actions as achievements ("Obamacare" is dead, money is "pouring" into NATO), and inflates the significance of what he's done (calling his tax cuts the biggest ever and his accomplishments unrivaled in history  neither true). He exaggerates the problems he inherited (roads and bridges are in "total disrepair and disarray," the border was "wide open"), lays out fanciful goals (6 percent economic growth), and doesn't learn from mistakes. Instead he repeats them.

Moreover, Trump often bypasses the vast information-gathering apparatus that reports to him in favor of getting his reality from TV, or just his gut.

Some trends and highlights in his misstatements since taking office:

THE ART OF THE BIGGEST BESTEST

Trump doesn't do big tax cuts. He does the biggest ever. He doesn't win an election. He scores a "landslide." He doesn't just make the Veterans Affairs Department run better. He drives out the "sadists."

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

In fact:

The December tax overhaul ranks behind Ronald Reagan's in the early 1980s, post-World War II tax cuts and at least several more.

His 2016 win ranks as the 13th closest of the 58 presidential elections in U.S. history, according to a tally by Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney. It was no landslide. His winning percentage in the Electoral College was just under 57 percent, narrower than both of Obama's wins (61 percent in 2008 and 62 percent in 2012) and all but two of the last 10 presidential elections. Also, he lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Despite his boasts that incompetent VA employees are being swiftly removed  and enactment of a mid-year law that expedites that process  more VA employees were fired in Obama's last budget year than in Trump's first.

MISSIONS UNACCOMPLISHED

Trump sees things the way he wants them to be and presents them as if that's how they are.

"You know, we have factories pouring back into our country. Did you ever think you would hear that?" "I urged our NATO allies to do more to strengthen our crucial alliance and set the stage for significant increases in member contributions. Billions and billions of dollars are pouring in because of that initiative." "Jobs are pouring back into our country."

Jobs are kicking in and companies are coming back to the U.S. Unnecessary regulations and high taxes are being dramatically Cut, and it will only get better. MUCH MORE TO COME!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2017

In fact:

Factories are not pouring "back" into the country, nor are they sprouting up domestically in big numbers. When he made his claim, in December, spending on the construction of factories had dropped 14 percent over the past year, continuing a steady decline since the middle of 2015. As for jobs "pouring back into our country," Trump hopes his tax overhaul will make that happen, but it hasn't yet. The economy added about 170,000 new jobs a month during Trump's first year. That was slightly below the average of 185,000 in 2016.

Manufacturers stepped up hiring, adding 196,000 jobs in 2017, but they added more in 2011 and 2014.

Money isn't pouring into the NATO organization and it won't be. What Trump really means is that he's pushing NATO members to increase their own military budgets so the U.S. won't carry such a heavy load. NATO members agreed during Obama's presidency to increase their military spending in the years ahead. Whether Trump has accelerated that remains to be seen.

THE APOCALYPSE

Trump makes the state of the union look better under his watch by making the past look as dark as can be. Before him, the U.S. "left our own border wide open. Anybody can come in." The U.S. armed forces were all but in ruins. The health law he inherited and has tried to dismantle is a disaster that "covers very few people," and is essentially "dead." Previous presidents "put American energy under lock and key."

Actually:

The U.S. border was far from porous before Trump took office. The number of arrests of illegal border crossers  the best measure of how many people are trying to cross illegally  was at a 40-year low before Trump's influence on border policy was felt. The government under presidents George W. Bush and Obama roughly doubled the ranks of the Border Patrol in the past decade or so. Obama was derided by pro-immigrant advocates as "deporter in chief" for the hefty numbers of people he sent home before easing deportations of certain groups later in his presidency.

Obamacare was covering about 20 million people when Trump described the numbers as "very few." The majority is from the law's Medicaid expansion. The other driver of coverage, plans sold in the subsidized individual insurance market, drew roughly 9 million signups for 2018 despite a much shorter enrollment season, and cuts in the ad budget and federal payments to insurers. The new tax law ends the Obamacare fine for lacking insurance, starting in 2019. That repeals a major component of Obama's law, but other critical parts of the law remain in place.

Energy production was not imprisoned under previous administrations. It was unleashed, particularly during Obama's presidency, largely because of advances in hydraulic fracturing that made it economical to tap vast reserves of natural gas. Oil production also greatly increased, reducing imports. Before the 2016 presidential election, the U.S. for the first time in decades was getting more energy domestically than it imports. Before Obama, Bush was no adversary of the energy industry.

Despite Trump's rhetoric about U.S. energy production, one of his most consequential actions as president has been to open the U.S. to another source of foreign oil, with his approval of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.

GOING WITH HIS GUT (and TV)

Trump forms instant impressions about what he sees on TV or otherwise hears about and shares those views, just as the average person does on social media or over coffee. The difference is that a president stands at a bully pulpit and his visceral reactions can change the world.

Trump strained relations with Britain by retweeting videos spread by a far-right British fringe group that purported to show Muslim extremism. "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!" said the introduction to one video, which showed a young man attacking another who was on crutches. The attacker was not a Muslim migrant. He was a Dutch-born citizen who was arrested and sentenced for the crime. "Facts do matter," the Dutch Embassy in Washington said in a tweet directed at Trump.

.@realDonaldTrump Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law.  Netherlands Embassy  (@NLintheUSA) November 29, 2017

The president puzzled plenty of people in February when he told a rally that immigration is spreading violence and extremism in Sweden, pointing to "what's happening last night in Sweden." Nothing extraordinary happened in Sweden the previous night, Feb. 17. It happened to be when Trump saw an analyst talking about the subject on Fox News.

But he soon claimed vindication of his statement anyway, telling Time magazine the next month: "I make the statement, everyone goes crazy. The next day they have a massive riot, and death, and problems."

That wasn't right, either. Two days after his rally, a riot broke out in a largely immigrant neighborhood after police arrested a drug crime suspect. Cars were set on fire and shops looted, but no one was killed. Attacks in the country related to extremism remain rare; the biggest surprise for many Swedes was that a police officer found it necessary to fire his gun.

When an Amtrak train hurtled off the tracks in Washington state in December, killing three people and injuring dozens, Trump's first impulse was to make a plug for his infrastructure plan. Only after that did he offer thoughts and prayers for the victims and thanks for rescuers. His opening tweet: "The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!"

The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2017

Although he jumped to his conclusion within a few hours of the crash, it's taking investigators months to reach a conclusion that is informed by the facts. But this much was obvious right away: The train was making its inaugural run along a fast, new route, not a crumbling line of the type that would be a priority of a national infrastructure plan. And the train was going over twice the speed limit.

IT'S WHO YOU KNOW, AND DON'T

Trump has claimed to know certain people well, only to circle back to say he hardly knew them all. His familiarity with them has varied according to political circumstance.

So it was when George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, pleaded guilty in October to lying about his Russian interactions. "Few people knew the young, low level volunteer," Trump tweeted in response. After naming Papadopoulos to his campaign's foreign policy advisory council in March 2016, Trump called him an "excellent guy" and tweeted a photo of his council meeting with Papadopoulos among several advisers.

....came to the campaign. Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar. Check the DEMS!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2017

Steve Bannon got such treatment months before his ouster as White House strategist last year.

Trump said he had known him for "many years" when Bannon became his campaign chief in August 2016. When Bannon's tenure as White House strategist was getting dicey in April, Trump said "I didn't know him" when Bannon was named campaign CEO.

Trump and Bannon had known each other for five years when the Republican candidate, a month after accepting the nomination, made him campaign chief.

David Bossie, who was deputy campaign manager, told AP he introduced them in 2011 at Trump Tower and they grew to know each well, as Trump appeared multiple times on Bannon's Breitbart radio show. Bannon interviewed Trump at least nine times in 2015 and 2016 and members of his family and campaign on many other occasions. "They believe in each other's agendas, which is why they have grown so close," Bossie said.

___
CHANDLER  Chandler police say a 59-year-old woman called 911 to report that she had strangled her mother.

Detective Seth Tyler says Elizabeth Ann Ramirez was home when officers responded Tuesday and found her 80-year-old mother dead in her bed.

Tyler says Ramirez was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.

No additional information is immediately available.
Help India!

By TwoCircles.net Staff reporter

Raigarh: Amnesty International India on Sunday, January 14 said that the local authorities in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, should respect and protect the right of Adivasi villagers opposing the activities of private companies.

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Residents of six villages in Gharghoda block, Raigarh are protesting against the unlawful construction of an ash pond by TRN Energy Limited in Nawapara Tenda village and the establishment of a coal washery by Mahavir Coal Washery Private Limited in Benghari village.

Adivasi villagers have a right to peaceful protest under the Constitution of India and international law, said Karthik Navayan, Manager, Business and Human Rights, Amnesty International India. Authorities have a duty to uphold this right, and ensure that protesters are protected from threats and attacks.

Local human rights defenders told Amnesty International India that agents acting on behalf of private companies had threatened them against mobilizing villagers and conducting protests. A local human rights defender told Amnesty India, A company official, some men who had covered their faces, and three policemen threatened us on the main road in Benghari. The official said he would throw us under a vehicle, and put us in jail.

Local Adivasis have been campaigning for years for their rights over land that they say was unlawfully purchased  through threats, coercion, intimidation, and misinformation- by agents acting on behalf of two private companies  TRN Energy Limited and Mahavir Energy and Coal Benefication Limited. In 2016, Adivasi villagers filed civil cases for the restoration of their lands. In June 2017, they also filed criminal complaints under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, alleging that they had been forced into selling their land.

In October 2017, TRN Energy began constructing an ash pond in Nawapara Tenda. Several local villagers told Amnesty International India that they had not been informed or consulted about the construction of the ash pond, or been told about the effects it could have on their rights to clean air, water, health, and livelihood.

On 11 January, local villagers wrote to authorities alleging that a scheduled environmental public hearing on 16 January for the establishment of a coal washery in Benghari had not followed required procedures.
Help India!

By Ras Siddiqui for TwoCircles.net

The year 2017 was significant for the Alumni of Aligarh Muslim University and their many friends as it marked the bicentennial of the founder of this esteemed institution, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. To mark his 200 years, numerous celebrations were held worldwide, this time going beyond the usual meeting of Aligarh Old Boys (which today includes Girls too) holding their customary Mushairas (Urdu poetry recitals) and holding fundraisers for educating some less privileged students in India. The Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association (AMUAA) of Northern California has been holding this program in the San Francisco Bay Area for about 20 years now along with the more recent addition of the Aligarh Education Endowment Fund (AEEF) Benefit Dinner and these events have usually been well attended.

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There was greater zeal and enthusiasm here this year as the event sold out and additional tables had to be added at the ICC in Milpitas.

The evening started with a fine dinner in the Mughlai tradition. The formalities began with the customary recitation from the Holy Quran or Tilawat by Mr. Mohammad Ali Sarodi keeping with the original culture and tradition of Aligarh Muslim University which today also prides itself on being open to all faiths and is religiously inclusive. Emcee for the evening was Mrs. Shahla Khan who made the necessary introductions at the beginning of the event. This was followed by AMUAA President Mr. Suhail Farrukh who officially welcomed everyone in Saqeel Urdu on behalf of the organization and highlighted the extra significance the event this year. He also thanked Congressman Ro Khanna for accepting the organizations invitation to be here today and all the main sponsors who helped to make this event possible. Farrukh also ended his speech with some Urdu poetry in striking Tarannum. He was followed by Dr. Shaheer Khan who invited newly elected Foster City Mayor Sam Hindi to the stage. Hindi presented a certificate of recognition to the AMUAA in honor of Sir Syed which was accepted by bay area entrepreneur and AMU alumni Kamil Hasan. Incidentally, this AMUAA of Northern California was started in Foster City around 21 years ago as stated by Shaheer Khan.

Next up was the AEEF annual update provided on the activities of the Aligarh Education Endowment Fund presented by Shaheer Khan who gave details on how the donations from our community have impacted the lives of many children and young people in and around Aligarh, and several other places across India. This effort incorporates scholarships, supporting students at Aligarh Modern School, Hamara School, Saiema Mansoor Public School and Hira Public School. Also included in the AEEF mission is supporting vocational training for women, a mentorship program, development grant and helping students at premier institutions of higher education. Aided by video material, Shaheer Bhai made his point quite well as the AEEF Call For Action (Fundraiser) followed which tapped into the generosity of the participants.

Congressman Ro Khanna, the keynote speaker was introduced by Dr. Kamil Hasan who supported his candidacy and had reached out to the community on his behalf. Khanna thanked the Hasans for their support during his attempts at becoming the area Congressman (he ran twice and succeeded the second time). He said that he did not know much about Sir Syed (or Aligarh) till Kamils email to him but then he started reading and was fascinated by his life and his work especially his focus on Islam, science, and rationality. The mixing of the east with the best of the west to see if there could be a new identity, culture, and vision. It was not just about the future of India and Muslims but the future of humanity added Khanna. The Congressmans keynote was very well received and he was certainly amongst friends here this evening.

The first segment of Sir Syed Day is usually reserved for the more scholarly projection of Aligarh Muslim University and pays tribute to its founder. As always this segment also always concludes on a high note, that being the singing of the Tarana-e-Aligarh or Aligarh Anthem written by Majaz by many AMU alumni present along with anyone else that wants to join in. Once again the fervor and enthusiasm were well-preserved here in its singing, setting the stage for the poets or magicians of the Urdu language to come to the stage. But before we leave this part of the evening it would be prudent to mention the fine Sir Syed Day Aligarh Magazine 2017 which was available at this event.

From this magazine, this scribe discovered that Professor Akbar S. Ahmed was this years recipient of the Sir Syed Day Lifetime Achievement Award given by AMU alumni association of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and for that, he deserves our congratulations.

Now to the Mushaira segment of Sir Syed Day. This year once again the line of Urdu poets gathered was formidable both from the local talent pool and overseas guests. From the San Francisco Bay area, the panel consisted of Arshad Rasheed, Misum Samar, Mahnaz Naqvi and the amazing Ahmar Shehwaar. And from the international guests Aqeel Nomani and Rajesh Reddy from India, Basir Kazmi from England and Ambareen Haseeb from Pakistan lit us the evening to the delight of the audience. This is where the word magicians can be applied with ease. The language that is Urdu is still alive today mainly due to the strength of its poetry. Where politics divided it, Urdus poetic tradition still unites the Desi Diaspora worldwide in spite of geographic obstacles. Space constraints limit a more detailed synopsis of the Mushaira segment in this report but let us leave here with some poignant lines from Ambareen Haseeb: Aag lagane walon ka kuch deen dharam hota hi nahin. Mandir Majid, andar bahar aag lagaate phirte hain (People setting fires in our lives have no religion. Temple, Mosque, inside or out, they do not care about what they burn).

To conclude, this event as mentioned earlier marked the bicentennial of a great man who was once opposed tooth and nail by his own community while he built a college that was later to become Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) whose alumni went on to make numerous contributions to the entire South Asian region. And as we celebrate his life and accomplishments today it would be important to ponder over this question: Where would we all be today had not AMU touched our lives in some way?
Gloucester City Council is under fire after posters emerged around the city urging the public not to give money to homeless people. The sign read:

Are you really helping Homeless people? In some cases, the people you see sleeping rough are not homeless. They are in accommodation, receiving support and benefits.

It also read:

Think before you give - change is more than coins.

The Tories take blunt cruelty to new heights!



New #Tory strategy for dealing with #homelessness: demonise vulnerable people!



The people of Gloucester will be disgusted by this. #NotInOurName #ToriesOut pic.twitter.com/NSpd5kObVN  Gloucester Labour (@Glos_Labour) January 12, 2018

The poster, which shows a man begging for change, instead encourages the public to call a local Streetlink team or give money to an established homeless charity.

These posters have angered many in the community, with the local Labour branch calling for the posters to be taken down. A statement by the local Labour party read:

"We are absolutely disgusted by these posters and the Tories should be ashamed they have allowed them to go up the posters imply that homeless people are not genuine but trying to con people out of money.

The statement also believed these posters are effectively demonising one of the most vulnerable groups of people in British society.

Members of the public also took to social media to hit out against the posters, with many feeling that it stigmatises homeless people.

The nasty party

The Tories have been trying hard to get rid of their 'nasty party' image ever since the 2002 Conservative Party conference.

However, in the statement released by Labour, it said, clearly the nasty party is alive and kicking in Gloucester.

This backlash comes shortly after a separate incident in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Tory council leader Simon Dudley wrote to Thames Valley police, asking them to use their police powers to outlaw aggressive begging in the town centre before the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 19 May 2018.

Facing mounting opposition Mr Dudley later withdrew his comments, stating on BBC Radio Berkshire that he was referring to anti-social behaviour instead of homelessness.

A wider problem

Instead of being isolated incidents, these recent events are proving there is a bigger problem at hand: the attitude towards homelessness, perceived not only within the Conservative Party but also wider society.

It is clear there is suspicion of homeless people, with some believing they are not genuinely 'homeless' or may be begging for drugs and alcohol instead of basic necessities.

However, statistics from the UK national charity for single homeless people Crisis shows that rough sleeping is forecast to rise by 76 percent in the next decade unless the government takes action to tackle it.

Therefore, it is clear that conversations around how we treat our homeless people need to be addressed, as well as the underlying issues that cause people to become homeless in the first place. Surely this is a much better, long-term solution than simply ignoring them or clearing then on?
Police and residents of Perris, California are still trying to come to terms with the horror that came with the discovery of 13 Siblings held in captivity by their parents in their own home, in deplorable conditions, according to a New York Times reports.

According to the Riverside County Sherrif's Department, the shocking discovery was made after one of the siblings, a 17-year-old girl, managed to escape through the home's window on Sunday (Jan. 14). She then used a deactivated cell phone and called 911, alerting authorities of her sibling's status.

The home where the siblings were being held is located in Perris California, 70 miles Southeast of Los Angeles, belonging to David Allen Turpin, 59, and Louise Anna Turpin, 47. The parents of the 13 siblings in captivity.

Prolonged abuse and neglect

A spokesman for the Riverside County Sherriff's Office, Capt. Greg Fellows, revealed in a press briefing on Tuesday (Jan. 16) that the 13 siblings, aged between two and 29 years old were rescued from the Turpin home. This was after the 911 call, made just before dawn on Sunday.

Although Capt. Fellows did not give the full details, he mentioned that when police arrived at the home, they found the siblings locked up, with three of them chained to furniture inside the house.

The siblings were so malnourished, that the adults appeared much smaller than their actual age. The six children and seven adults were found kept under filthy, foul-smelling, dark, and deplorable conditions, Capt. Fellows observed.

The abuse and neglect appeared to have taken place over a long period of time according to authorities, who are still baffled as to why parents turned into their children's tormentors.

Parents arrested and charged

The parents will be charged with nine counts each of torture and child endangerment, and are currently in jail.

Riverside County Department of Public Social Services Director, Susan Von Zabern, said her office would apply for court approval to provide over-sight care for the children, including the adults if necessary.

Currently, the seven adult siblings are undergoing treatment at the Corona Regional Medical Centre, and have been placed together in a secure area. According to the hospital's Chief Executive, Mark Uffer, they are in stable condition and are friendly and cooperative.

When asked about their condition when they were admitted, Uffer said he had never seen anything like it.

The six children are receiving medical attention at the child abuse and neglect unit of the Riverside University Health System. The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Sofia Grant, said she could not give specific details on the children's condition, but mentioned their treatment had begun and would be a long grueling journey.
Over the last year, one of the biggest struggles for the White House has been to win over support from women in the country. In one his most recent tweets, Donald Trump Jr. promoted an op-ed article that declared his father's first year in office as the "year of the woman."

Trump Jr. on women

Even before Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president he had a reputation as a womanizer and sexist. These terms stuck with the former host of "The Apprentice" throughout his campaign, which reached a peak after the release of the now infamous "Access Hollywood" tape where Trump was caught on an audio recording bragging about using his celebrity to touch women.

In the weeks that followed, a dozen women came forward to accuse Trump of various forms of sexual assault and harassment. As expected, Trump denied the allegations and has continued to do so through his entire duration as commander in chief. After one year in office, Trump's approval numbers have reached record lows, including with female voters. Despite this, Donald Jr. has decided to promote the idea that his father's time in office has helped launch the "Year of the woman."

Trump's first year in office was the year of the woman https://t.co/ZBcZT2aP9K  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 17, 2018

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump Jr. posted an op-ed article from The Hill that detailed the number of women that the president has hired to senior level positions in his administration, including Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"Trump's first year in office was the year of the woman," Don Jr. proudly tweeted out. Despite this, the president's son didn't get the best response on social media.

Twitter reacts

The response to Donald Trump Jr's post wasn't as positive as the administration would have liked. "Did you really just say that with a straight face?" one tweet asked.

are you referring to the women he sexually assaulted or other women?. . .  McGruffster2 (@McGruffster2) January 17, 2018

Ive never seen anyone with less self awareness. You are truly amazing.   Vanessa  (@vanessahealy21) January 17, 2018

How many and what color are they? Do any come from internationally recognized shitholes?  lofi chatter (@PrimitiveMeme) January 17, 2018

"One woman on his cabinet, one to the UN and after two men, a woman as press secretary, who makes us all miss Spicer.

Your sister doesn't count. Oh, I almost forgot. The woman hired to lie on TV news coverage," a Twitter user posted. "Only in YOUR #alternativefacts universe... Bless your heart. LOL #pathetic," a follow-up tweet stated.

Only in YOUR #alternativefacts universe... Bless your heart. LOL #pathetic  Pam Massey (@purplepam58) January 17, 2018

Oh, I almost forgot. The woman hired to lie on TV news coverages.  Sylvie Parris (@SylvieDParris) January 17, 2018

Did you really just say that with a straight face?  evy (@QuadDraw) January 17, 2018

"How many and what color are they? Do any come from internationally recognized sh*tholes?" a tweet noted. "Are you referring to the women he sexually assaulted or other women?" yet another tweet wondered. The backlash poured in as Donald Trump, his family and administration continued to clash with the opposition.
Jerry Chung Shing Lee, a naturalized US citizen, and former Cia Officer was arrested on Monday and charged with being in unlawful possession of national defense information. Lee is also suspected of a more serious crime of spying for the Chinese government according to NBC News reports.

According to Federal authorities, Lee was arrested after landing in the US from his home in Hong Kong where he currently resides. The unlawful possession of classified information charge emanates from a 2012 investigation where Lee was found with two notebooks containing the true identities of CIA assets and covert facilities in China.

CIA assets and covert facilities are the most highly guarded secrets of the Intelligence Agency.

No espionage charges

Despite the fact that Lee is suspected of a more serious crime of espionage, which carries the death penalty, authorities preferred a lesser charge of unlawful possession of classified information.

According to NBC News sources familiar with the case, the reason for the reduced charge could be due to the fact that the US government does not have enough evidence to carry an espionage charge, or is avoiding spilling of classified and sensitive information in open court.

The FBI task force that investigated Lee's case in 2012, went to great lengths which included searching his hotel room and finding two notebooks, of 21 pages each, which contained operational phone numbers, names of assets, meeting locations and covert facilities, according to a filed court affidavit.

CIA operations compromised

The CIA believes the classified information was given to the Chinese government by Lee, leading to arrests and deaths of several active CIA agents stationed in China in 2010.

At the time, the CIA watched in disbelief as some of its best agents were either jailed or executed in China, mystified by the source of the leakage.

Some investigators at the time believed China had hacked into the CIA database and accessed the information. But it was only a matter of time before 53-year-old Lee became the focus of the investigation.

According to NBC News sources, it was one of the worst intelligence breaches since two former CIA and FBI agents leaked classified information to the Russian government in the 90's.

The leaked information also led to the deaths of several US agents active in Russia at the time.

The two US agents responsible for the act of espionage, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hansen, are currently serving life sentences in jail.
Donald Trump has sent out over 36,800 tweets since creating his account in March 2009, many of which were posted since he kicked off his presidential campaign back in 2015. As his Twitter use has increased, one host on MSNBC decided to compare the president to a child.

MSNBC on Trump

It started early on during the 2016 presidential election when Donald Trump would clash with the majority of the mainstream media. With each controversial policy proposal and questionable remark, the former host of "The Apprentice" decided that he could no longer count on the press to look the other way at his agenda.

In response, Trump took to social media, most notably Twitter, to push his policies and lash out at anyone who didn't agree with him. Whether it was the media, which he refers to as "fake news," critics in Hollywood, the Democratic Party, and even some Republicans, Trump has made it a habit to attack with his tweets. The president has even caused global concern with tweets directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who he has since given the nickname of "Rocket Man." These issues and more were highlighted during the January 15 edition of "Deadline: White House" on MSNBC.

(Wallace's remarks start at 4:40 in the above video.)

On the Monday edition of "Deadline: White House," host Nicolle Wallace was joined by Bret Stephens, a conservative columnist for the New York Times who has expressed his disdain for Donald Trump on more than one occasion.

Stephens blamed Trump for the lack of progress being made in Washington, citing his attacks on the media, as well as his "obscenities offered with respect to immigrants" and the president's "bizarre language about the size of his nuclear button." Stephens then pointed out Trump's "bigotry" and "obsessions," which Wallace was quick to agree with.

Doubling down was Nicolle Wallace, who ripped into Donald Trump over his childish use of social media. "We seemed to have glossed over the fight he is having the Wall Street Journal," Wallace said, in reference to the paper quoting the president for claiming he has a "good relationship" with Kim Jong-un. Trump denies he ever said that, but the Wall Street Journal was able to provide an audio recording.

"He thinks that the Twitter taunts constitute a relationship," Wallace continued. "He's like a 12-year-old Commander In Chief," she said, before stating, "I dont know what other kind of relationship they have unless hes suggesting there are talks we dont know about."

Moving forward

While many in the press continue to hold the president's feet to the fire. Donald Trump is not letting up on his attacks against the so-called "fake news" media. As 2018 kicks into high gear, only time will tell how Trump's relationship with the media and his use of Twitter evolves.
The sound and fury over what President Donald Trump is alleged to have said during a meeting with congressional leaders over immigration over the nature of certain developing world countries continue unabated. The media narrative has shifted somewhat due to disputes over what the president actually said and about which countries he said it. Trump, by the way, has changed into denial mode and is threatening to tape every meeting for now on so that there can be no disputing what words were used. Then, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, had some interesting perspective on Trumps real attitude toward people in some of the not so nice parts of the world.

President Trump cannot be a racist because

Sen. Paul sat down on Meet the Press and, of course, the question of the presidents objectionable language came up. Paul made a little news that, naturally, is not being widely reported.

Sen. Paul, who is a practicing ophthalmologist, occasionally takes the time when the Senate is not in session and travels to poorer countries with a group of surgeons and performs procedures pro bono. His last trip, in 2015, was to Haiti and Central America where he restored sight to hundreds of people. Paul mentioned in passing that significant financial backing for the trip came from none other than Donald J. Trump, then a private citizen. How can a man who pays good money to restore the vision of people in the developing world be a racist?

Virtue signally by pointing fingers

To be sure, Paul agreed with the consensus that the presidents remarks, whatever they actually were, did not help matters. Any kind of compromise on the immigration question is now moribund, though mainly because many people in Congress of both parties think a great deal consists of them getting everything that they want.

Nevertheless, there is something noxious about all of the virtue signaling through finger pointing and accusations of racism and worst. Then the controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation and the tens of millions raised for Haiti relief that somehow never made it to the troubled island continues to fester. WikiLeaks published a private email that suggested that Chelsea Clinton used Foundation funds to pay for her wedding and to finance her lifestyle, something that her father took to Twitter and denied.

No Clinton Foundation fundsdedicated to Haiti or otherwisewere used to pay for Chelseas wedding. Its not only untrue, its a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc.https://t.co/YEHqqYrsxW  Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) January 13, 2018

Even so, Sen. Pauls revelation suggests that the president is a far more complicated man than the caricature that Trump has played a role in creating would suggest. Can a mad be rhetorically obnoxious while still doing good deeds in private? President Trump would appear to be a case in point.
The latest updates and spoilers for "Avengers: Infinity War" reveal new details of Peter Parker's Iron Spider armor in the movie. New LEGO playsets for the movie featured the Iron Spider having four mechanical spider arms similar to its comic book counterpart. Peter will use the new site to fight Thanos and his forces as they invaded earth to haunt the remaining Infinity Stones.

The LEGO playset also revealed Thor's new weapon in the sequel, and its appearance and structure are similar to the Ultimate Mjolnir. Comic book fans have debated whether the latter's new arsenal could be a reforge Mjolnir or his enchanted battle axe, Jarnbjorn.

Comic book accurate Iron Spider?

Imgur username Hansolodies365 posted several photos of the new "Avengers: Infinity War" LEGO playsets that featured several Marvel characters fighting Thanos's forces on different locations from the movie. One of the LEGO figurines that caught everyone's eyes is Spider-Man wearing the Iron Spider armor complete with four mechanical arms.

In the comics, the Iron Spider was given to Peter Parker by Tony Stark as a way support the Superhero Registration Act during the "Marvel Civil War." The original suit had three mechanical arms, but the aftermath of the war revealed three new Iron Spiders with four arms that were worn by Michael van Patrick's clones.

The Iron Spider suit was featured in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" as Tony's way of making Peter an official member of the Avengers, but he turned it down as Peter felt that he was not ready.

The web-slinger will use the suit to fight Thanos during "Infinity War" alongside Iron Man, Doctor Stephen Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

A new hammer

Hansolodies360's photos also revealed that Thor will wield a new weapon that is similar to the Ultimate Mjolnir. Thor's new hammer will be created by an intergalactic weapon forge that was shown in the film's teaser, and he is joined by Rocket and Groot.

Mjolnir was destroyed by the Goddess of Death, Hela, during the events of "Thor: Ragnarok." Thor's ship was attacked by Thanos and he has captured his people including his brother, Loki. The Trickster God joined Thanos by offering him the Tesseract from the Asgard's weapons vault to spare his life.

The God of Thunder was saved by the Guardians as they headed to earth to stop the Mad Titan and his forces from completing the remaining stones. Iron Man and Captain America must also put aside their differences and unite Earth's Mightiest Heroes to defend the universe.
"Real Housewives of New York" fans knew that Jill Zarin's time with her husband Bobby was running short prior to his death. She shared updates about her husband's cancer battle from time to time and let everyone know when it had spread. Still, that didn't make his death any easier. Jill and Bobby Zarin celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary on January 4, just days before he passed away. Soon after, Jill paid tribute to her late husband, lamenting the "hole in her heart" and praising him for teaching her what love truly is.

Bobby Zarin has been battling cancer for a long time

It turns out that there is a surprise in all of this. According to an Us Weekly insider, Bobby Zarin had cancer when Jill met him. Jill feels lucky she had as many years as she did because he had prostate cancer when she met him," the Us Weekly source said. "RHONY" fans were already aware of Bobby Zarin's battle with thyroid cancer. It was reported that he beat that back in 2009 only to have the cancer return. We learned in 2013 that it had spread to his lungs. In November 2016, Jill updated everyone again, reporting that she and Bobby would "remain strong" despite learning that cancer had spread to his brain. Learning that Bobby was dealing with cancer the entire time he knew Jill is definitely shocking.

Not only is he one of the nicest and most respected men to grace the "Real Housewives" screen, but he is a fighter, who battled cancer for the better part of two decades.

Bravo says goodbye to Jill Zarin's husband

It was on January 13 that Bobby Zarin died. In the days since, it seems that everyone from Bravo has reached out or offered up their condolences.

Even Andy Cohen, who has nothing less than a contentious relationship with Jill, made sure to say goodbye to her husband, even though he wasn't present at Bobby's funeral.

Bethenny Frankel, another Bravo star who didn't get along with Jill, was able to put aside their differences and pay her respects at Bobby's funeral. Even though Bethenny and Jill have been at odds for years, she made sure to go say goodbye.

She also revealed that it was Bobby who recommended that she be cast on "Real Housewives of New York." Hopefully, the two women will be able to mend their friendship now.

Even though she's dealing with her own problems right now, even Luann de Lesseps paid tribute to Bobby Zarin after his death. In a touching Instagram post, she wrote that "Bobby will never be forgotten" and that he had the biggest heart. It seems that Bobby managed to make friends with everyone he met and he made an impression that would last a lifetime.
scheana marie can't stop talking about her certain future with actor Robert Parks-Valletta, who she is no longer dating. During a new interview with Page Six on January 16, the "Vanderpump Rules" star stated yet again that she and Parks-Valletta will one day end up back together.

Im sure we will [get back together] but not while Im here," Scheana Marie said of her current residence in Las Vegas, where she is starring in "Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man." The reality star went on to reveal that she and Robert Parks-Valletta also won't be getting back together while she's still working at SUR Restaurant as a waitress and appearing on "Vanderpump Rules."

Scheana Marie's former boyfriend did kiss another woman

During the currently airing sixth season of the Bravo Tv reality series, Robert was accused of cheating on his now-ex-girlfriend with someone he used to date at a club in Los Angeles.

However, after Scheana spoke to him about it, she learned that he had actually picked up the woman, twirled her around, and gave her a peck. For some reason, this wasn't offensive to Scheana, despite the fact that her fellow SUR Restaurant waitress Jen Bush claimed that the encounter between them was more than a girlfriend would want to see out of their boyfriend.

Scheana Marie split from Robert Parks-Valletta in August

As the "Vanderpump Rules" star recently revealed to her fans and followers on Instagram, she and Parks-Valletta have been broken up for the past several months and split during production on season six. In her interview with Page Six, Scheana said that because of everything that happened last summer with her co-stars, Parks-Valletta decided he did not want to be involved with the group.

Still, despite their split, Scheana Marie claims she and her former boyfriend have done their best to maintain a friendship with one another since they've known each other for 11 years. "It hasnt been easy at times," she explained, "but we have a lot of love and respect for each other and well always be involved in each others lives in some way.

To see more of Scheana Marie, her ex-boyfriend, actor Robert-Parks-Valletta, and their co-stars, including James Kennedy, Brittany Cartwright, Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Sandoval, Katie Maloney, Jax Taylor, Stassi Schroeder, Lala Kent, Kristen Doute, and Tom Schwartz, don't miss new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" season six on Monday nights on Bravo TV at 9 p.m.
If you want to get back to nature, few places in America are better than Wyoming. The state offers excellent hiking, stunning mountain views, and some of the best skiing in the country. Wyoming is also a great destination for people interested in discovering the spirit and the history of the Old West. Attractions include unique museums, natural hot springs, and beautiful botanic gardens. Here are the best things to do in Wyoming.

We recommend that you call the attractions and restaurants ahead of your visit to confirm current opening times.

1. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort  Courtesy of oldmn - Fotolia.com

Offering spectacular views of the Teton Range, the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is consistently rated as one of the best ski resorts in North America. The resort is best known for its extreme, steep terrain and its 4,139-foot vertical drop, and it is a popular destination for adventurous backcountry skiers and free skiers. However, there are several options for beginner and intermediate skiers as well. Accommodation is available at the base of the resort, and there are also a number of on-mountain dining options. The resort is typically open from the end of November until the beginning of April. 3395 Cody Ln, Teton Village, WY 83025, Phone: 307-733-2292

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2. Old Trail Town  Courtesy of Brad Pict - Fotolia.com

Based on the town that Buffalo Bill and his associates established in 1895, the Old Trail Town is made up of a number of historical Western buildings that date back to between 1879 and 1901. The site is home to 26 buildings filled with historical artifacts, most of which were collected within 150 miles of Buffalo Bill's original settlement. Several gravesites have been relocated to the site as well, including that of mountain man 'Liver-Eating' Johnson. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, and the museum is open from mid-May until the end of September. 1831 Demaris Dr, Cody, WY 82414, Phone: 307-587-5302

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3. Cheyenne Botanic Gardens  Courtesy of Oleksii Sergieiev - Fotolia.com

The beautiful Cheyenne Botanic Gardens are made up of 27 different landscapes spread out over 9 acres. In addition to a wide range of plants and flowers, the gardens include a specially designed garden labyrinth, a wetland area with a zig-zag boardwalk, and one of the first greenhouses in America to be heated entirely by solar power. There is also a three-quarter-acre interactive garden village designed for children. The main grounds are open every day from dawn until dusk, while the children's area is open 6 days a week. General admission to both sections is free of charge. 710 S Lions Park Dr, Cheyenne, WY 82001, Phone: 307-637-6458



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4. National Museum of Wildlife Art, Wyoming  National Museum of Wildlife Art



The National Museum of Wildlife Art is a world-class museum located on the side of a bluff overlooking the National Elk Refuge. It holds more than 5,000 pieces of art depicting various wild animals from every corner of the world. In addition to the permanent and temporary collections inside the museum, there is also a three-quarter-mile long trail outside that offers breathtaking views and various works of fine art. Other amenities include a museum shop, a cafe, and an interactive children's gallery. Free self-guided audio tours can be borrowed, and guided tours are available for groups of 10 or more people. 2820 Rungius Rd, Jackson, WY 83001, Phone: 307-733-5771

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5. The Historic Occidental Hotel Museum  The Historic Occidental Hotel Museum



Originally founded in 1880, The Historic Occidental Hotel allows visitors to step back in time to the days of the Old West. The hotel is located near the Bozeman Trail, and it has been associated with famous people like Buffalo Bill, Ernest Hemingway, and Theodore Roosevelt. The hotel shut down in 1986, but was purchased by new owners in 1997 and restored to its former glory. Today, visitors to the hotel can get a drink and relax in the famous saloon, enjoy a meal at the Virginian Restaurant, or stay in one of the authentically Old West-style rooms. 10 N Main St, Buffalo, WY 82834, Phone: 307-684-0451

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6. Activities Near Me: Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center  NPS Photo



Located in Grand Teton National Park, the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center is a 22,000-square-foot facility that was created to welcome and orient visitors to the park. Highlights of the discovery center include a raised relief map of the park, a collection of Native American artifacts, and streaming video footage of the park that is projected onto the floor. A variety of educational programs are offered throughout the year, and anyone wishing to go backpacking or boating in the park can purchase a permit here. The center is open all year round, but hours vary according to the season. Grand Teton National Park, 1 Teton Park Rd, Moose, WY 83012, Phone: 307-739-3300

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7. Things to Do in Wyoming: Old Faithful Visitor Education Center  Courtesy of f11 photo - Fotolia.com

Old Faithful is the best-known sight in Yellowstone National Park, and the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center provides information about the incredible geyser as well as about the rest of the hydrothermal features in the park. Exhibits cover topics such as the volcano underneath the park, life in the extreme environments of the park's hydrothermal features, and the most recent scientific research taking place in the area. Two educational films are shown several times daily in the state-of-the-art theater; admission is free. Plenty of parking is available, and the center is open between April and early November. Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful Rd, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, Phone: 307-344-2751



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8. Fun Things to Do in Wyoming: Grand Targhee Ski Resort  Courtesy of Jaimie Tuchman - Fotolia.com

Located in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, the Grand Targhee Ski Resort is known for having spectacular scenery and deep powder. Lessons are available for both adults and children, and there are runs to suit skiers and snowboarders of every skill level. Thrill-seekers can also take advantage of the resort's two terrain parks. During the summer, visitors can enjoy scenic chairlift rides, a variety of music festivals, or a round of golf at the 9-hole Targhee Village Golf Course. In addition to a variety of accommodation options, the resort boasts a cafe, a restaurant, and a full-service bar. 3300 Ski Hill Rd, Alta, WY 83414, Phone: 307-353-2300



9. What to Do in Wyoming: The Star Plunge  The Star Plunge

Located in Hot Springs State Park, Star Plunge Water Park is a year-round attraction that offers a variety of indoor and outdoor hot and cold pools. The pools are naturally heated, and some have water or air jets. One of the other highlights of the water park is the "Vapor Cave", a naturally created sauna cut into the side of the mountain and heated by hot mineral water. There are also three water slides, a diving board, a basketball hoop, and a weight room. The park is open every day from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., and season passes are available. 115 Big Springs Dr., Thermopolis, WY 82443, Phone: 307-864-3771

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10. Things to Do in Wyoming: Buffalo Bill Dam  Courtesy of macfly 68 - Fotolia.com

Started in 1905 and completed in 1910, the Buffalo Bill Dam is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The dam was the highest in the world when it was built, and it still stands as an impressive feat of engineering. Educational exhibits and a short film can be seen in the Buffalo Bill Visitor Center, and visitors can also walk to the top of the dam for excellent views. Self-guided audio tours are available for rent, and the visitor center is open every day from the beginning of May through to the end of September 4808 N Fork Hwy, Cody, WY 82414, Phone: 307-527-6076



11. Wyoming Things to Do: Cody Firearms Research  Cody Firearms Research

Located in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, the Cody Firearms Museum is the most complete collection of American firearms on the planet. There are more than 7,000 different firearms and 30,000 firearms-related artifacts for visitors to admire, and almost every major gun manufacturer in the world is represented here. The museum is also home to a records office where, for a fee, gun enthusiasts can obtain information about specific firearms made by Winchester, Marlin, and L.C. Smith. Museum memberships are available, and they come with benefits like unlimited admission and free serial number searches. 720 Sheridan Ave, Cody, WY 82414, Phone: 307-587-4771

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12. Activities Near Me: National Historic Trails Interpretive Center  National Historic Trails Interpretive Center

Open since 2002, the National Historic Trails and Interpretive Center is a nonprofit 11,000-square-foot center that provides visitors with information about some of Wyoming's most important National Historic Trails. There are four permanent exhibits, which cover the history of the Oregon, California, Mormon, and Pony Express trails between the years of 1841 and 1868. The center also often hosts special events like living history presentations, film screenings, and holiday celebrations. Temporary traveling exhibits can often be seen as well. Admission is always free, and the center is open from Tuesday to Saturday, excluding select holidays. 1501 N Poplar St, Casper, WY 82601, Phone: 307-261-7700



13. Places of Interest in Wyoming: Mormon Row Historic District  Courtesy of srong krod - Fotolia.com

Located in the southeastern section of Grand Teton National Park, Mormon Row is made up of six different historical homestead complexes. The homesteads were established by Mormon settlers in the late 1900s, and they built an intricate system of ditches and dikes to irrigate their crops. Other features of the site include two picturesque barns, a windmill built in 1946, and excellent views of the Teton Range. A trail brochure can be obtained in the parking lot, and an interpretive sign here will provide visitors with the information they need to understand the historical importance of the site. Grand Teton National Park, 83012 Kelly Ave, East Liverpool, OH 43920, Phone: 307-739-3300



14. Wyoming Vacation: Fort Laramie National Historic Site  Courtesy of Zack Frank - Fotolia.com

Before being abandoned in 1890, Fort Laramie was the biggest and most well-known military post on the Northern Plains. Today, the Fort Laramie National Historic Site seeks to preserve the site and share its history with the world. The visitor center offers a variety of educational displays, and visitors can also view a number of ruins and restored buildings. Visitors should allow approximately 2 hours to tour the site, and 30-minute-long interpretive talks are open daily during the summer months. The park is open 365 days a year, and the visitor center is open every day except for Thanksgiving, New Years, and Christmas. 965 Grey Rocks Road, Fort Laramie, WY 82212, Phone: 307-837-2221



15. Wyoming Attractions: The Wyoming Dinosaur Center  The Wyoming Dinosaur Center



The Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Dig Sites was constructed after dinosaur remains were found at the nearby Warm Springs Ranch, and it is one of the only dinosaur museums in the world that has a real excavation site within driving distance. The museum boasts more than 30 mounted dinosaur skeletons, including the only archaeopteryx available to the public in North America, a display of a 35-foot Tyrannosaurus rex charging a triceratops, and a supersaurus known as "Jimbo". There are plenty of educational exhibits as well, and visitors will also have the opportunity to visit a working dig site if they wish. 110 Carter Ranch Rd, Thermopolis, WY 82443, Phone: 307-864-2997

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16. Wyoming Tourist Attractions: Fossil Butte National Monument  Courtesy of rossforsyth - Fotolia.com



Encompassing more than 8,000 acres, the Fossil Butte National Monument was created to preserve the rich paleontological history of the ancient lake bed of Fossil Lake. Visitors can get out and explore the area thanks to two hiking trails and a 7.5-mile-long scenic drive complete with interpretative signage; there is also a shaded picnic area furnished with tables and charcoal grills. The visitor center has more than 300 fossils on display, including birds, fish, and a 13-foot crocodile. Other exhibits here include an educational video, an interactive computer program, and a 'rubbing table' where visitors can create a fossil imprint to take home. Kemmerer, WY 83101, Phone: 307-877-4455



17. Things to Do in Wyoming: Cody Dug Up Gun Museum  Cody Dug Up Gun Museum



The Cody Dug Up Gun Museum offers visitors the unique chance to view a variety of historic guns and weapons that have been found in various conditions and at various locations throughout the country. There are more than 1,000 guns on display, representing a wide range of historical periods including Americas War of Independence, the Gold Rush era, the Old West, and World Wars I and II. The museum is open 7 days a week from May through September, and admission is free. Financial donations are gladly accepted, as are donations of relic guns and other weapons. 1020 12th St, Cody, WY 82414, Phone: 307-587-3344

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18. Wyoming Activities: Buffalo Bill Center of the West  Buffalo Bill Center of the West



The Buffalo Bill Center of the West comprises five different museum buildings and a research library. Highlights include works of art depicting the American West, interactive natural history exhibits, a large collection of American firearms, and various artifacts of the Plains Indian people. There is also an entire building dedicated to showcasing the life and times of William F. Cody, the creator of the Buffalo Bill character. Hours vary according to the season, and the museum is closed Thanksgiving, New Year's, and Christmas days. 720 Sheridan Ave, Cody, WY 82414, Phone: 307-587-4771



19. Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum  Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum



Created to celebrate the history and the heritage of the American West, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum is a non-profit organization that offers visitors the chance to step back in time. There are more than 60,000 artifacts in the museum collection, including authentic clothing from the mid-1800s, various pieces of folk art, and one of the largest historic collections of horse-drawn carriages in America. The museum also offers an interactive children's learning center, educational programs for all ages, and a variety of events, including the popular Cheyenne Frontier Days Western Art Show held every summer. 4610 Carey Ave, Cheyenne, WY 82001, Phone: 307-778-7290

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20. Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, Wyoming  Heart Mountain Interpretive Center



The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center was one of ten camps in which Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II, and the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center was set up to preserve and share the history of the camp. The museum offers a number of interactive exhibits as well as photographs and various artifacts. Exhibits cover topics such as the forced wartime relocation of Japanese Americans and the factors and events leading up to their confinement. A paved walking trail runs around the site; it is 1,000 feet long and typically takes visitors approximately 30 minutes. Museum hours vary according to the season. 1539 Rd 19, Powell, WY 82435, Phone: 307-754-8000



21. University of Wyoming Geological Museum  University of Wyoming Geological Museum



The University of Wyoming Geological Museum is dedicated to both scientific research and public education, and it features a number of exhibits that introduce visitors to the past environments of the state of Wyoming. The museum is proud to display a number of dinosaur skeletons, including those of a Tyrannosaurus rex, a triceratops, and a stegosaurus. Visitors can also marvel at "Big Al", the most complete allosaurus fossil ever found, or check out the working fossil preparation lab. No admission fee is charged, and the museum is open every day except Sundays and selected holidays. 200 N 9th St, Laramie, WY 82072, Phone: 307-766-6622



22. Things to See Near Me: Trail End  Trail End



Completed in 1913, Trail End is a lavish 13,748-square-foot mansion built in the Flemish Revival style. It functioned as former Governor John B. Kendrick's summer home between the years of 1913-1933, and his wife and son resided here for 28 years after he passed away. The building became a state museum in 1982, and today it is a beautifully furnished example of life in the early 20th century. Most visitors opt for self-guided tours, but group tours can be arranged if booked 3 weeks in advance. The museum is open from April 1 until December 14 and there is a small admission fee. 400 Clarendon Ave, Sheridan, WY 82801, Phone: 307-674-4589

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23. Things to Do in Wyoming: Tate Geological Museum  Tate Geological Museum Located on the campus of Casper College, the Tate Geological Museum is home to a collection of more than 3000 fossil and mineral specimens that span a geological time from the Precambrian to the Holocene Epoch. Highlights include a 11,600-year-old Columbian mammoth known as Dee, a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton named Stan, and fossilized footprints of flying pterosaurs. Visitors can also observe the working fossil prep lab or visit the interactive 'Dino Den' filled with hands-on activities designed for children of all ages. There is no admission fee, and the museum is open 6 days a week throughout the year. 2332 Lisco Dr, Casper, WY 82601, Phone: 307-268-2447



24. Things to Do Around Me: Museum of the Mountain Man  Museum of the Mountain Man Established to preserve the important historical sites of the fur trade in Wyoming, the Museum of the Mountain Man is named after the men who dedicated their lives to the fur trade and to exploring the American wilderness. In addition to occasional temporary exhibits that cover various topics relating to the Old West, the museum is home to a number of permanent exhibits, including Jim Bridger's rifle, a collection of Winchester arms, an authentic Shoshone sheephorn bow, and an elaborately furnished buffalo-hide tipi. The museum is open during the warmer months. 700 E Hennick, Pinedale, WY 82941, Phone: 307-367-4101



25. A-OK Corral  A-OK Corral Located only 15 minutes away from the town of Jackson, the A-OK Corral offers scenic horseback rides through the beautiful Wyoming wilderness. A number of options are available, including short rides lasting one to three hours and full or half day tours that include lunch. Wildlife sightings are common, and some tours give guests the opportunity to splash through a creek on horseback. Riders of all abilities are welcome, but most tours have a minimum age requirement of 8 years old. The ranch is open 6 days a week between May 15th and Labor Day, and reservations are recommended. 9600 US-89, Jackson, WY 83001, Phone: 307-733-6556



25 Best Things to Do in Wyoming

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Have you e-met my grandma before? If not, you need to read this hilarious post about my grandma. I dont know what it is about the members of my family  on both sides  but I find them to have an impeccable sense of humor. Even little Ada Verastic is starting to show her funny bone.

Anyway, years ago, my grandma fell ill  and I use the word ill loosely. She was taken to the hospital where tests and tests and more tests were run on her. No actual illness was discovered, but grandma insisted that something was doing her.

In the middle of this something doing grandma, my mom  a medical doctor  walked into the room. She proceeded to pull the doctor to the side while they discussed grandmas diagnosis (or lack of one). The doctor explained to mom again that there was nothing wrong with grandma. and that she was perfectly healthy  especially for her age.

When my grandma saw that my mom and the doctor were talking and that she could not understand what was being said, she reached the only natural conclusion she could think of: she had cancer and they were hiding it from her.

So, my people, that was how grandma started crying. No, not crying. She was wailing and lamenting. Screaming. Wailing. Tears running down. Nurses and staff came running, wondering who was slicing the throat of their patient. Alas, it was just my grandma diagnosing herself again. They stood and watched her in amazement.

But grandma didnt stop there. In the middle of the wailing, she started sounding like she was mourning. Have you heard an Igbo woman wailing? They cry loudly and talk in between. My grandma was crying loudly and saying that she had cancer, that everyone was hiding it from her, that she did not want to be buried in America, that she wanted to be buried in Nigeria, and is this how her own journey will go? She only came to do omugwo, she said, so how come she was now dying of cancer? Who did she offend, and what will her children do after she dies of cancer?

About thirty minutes later  after the entire hospital staff had gathered around grandmas room and after we (her family) were all simultaneously and collectively amused and humiliated  grandma managed to calm down, believing that maybe the cancer wasnt as bad as she initially thought it was.

Its been years since this happened. My grandma is still healthy and cancer-free. Her birthday is on the 24th of this month, and by His grace, she will celebrate many, many more after this.

P.S. If you find this post funny, then you should read this other post about my grandma. Its even funnier.
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HA NOI  The fisheries sector is targeting an export turnover of US$9 billion in 2018 while achieving a production growth rate of 5.3-5.8 per cent compared to the previous year.

This was announced on January 16 at a conference hosted by the Directorate of Fisheries in the capital city.

The total seafood output is expected to reach 7-7.5 million tonnes, up 3.8 per cent year-on-year. Of this, shrimp output is expected to hit 750,000 tonnes, up 3.6 per cent, while that of tra fish is expected to go up to 1.3 million tonnes, or 3.9 per cent.

In his speech at the event, Deputy Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development Vu VanTam hailed the efforts of the fisheries sector in 2017. He believed the $9 billion target of export earning was within reach.

To this end, the deputy minister urged the sector to accelerate technical appliance in shrimp and tra fish farming and processing, and said ensuring quality of seafood varieties and expanding export outlets were also necessary.

Earlier on Sunday, exporters shipped abroad the first batch of seafood products from Cat Lai Port in HCM City.

The batch, which included three containers of frozen shrimps, seafood and tra fish fillets worth nearly $600,000, were exported to Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom --- three major traditional markets of Vietnamese seafood.  VNS
Fierce public objections about its proposal to impose value-added tax (VAT) on the transfer of land-use rights have forced the Ministry of Finance to shelve the move. Photo thanhnien.vn

HA NOI  Fierce public objections about its proposal to impose value-added tax (VAT) on the transfer of land-use rights have forced the Ministry of Finance to shelve the move.

In August last year, the ministry drafted a bill to amend and supplement articles of the tax law. Regarding VAT on land-use rights transfer, it proposed to tax it at the standard VAT rate of 10 per cent.

This proposal immediately faced adverse reactions from the real estate sector. According to many experts, the increase of VAT will increase the price of properties and significantly affect the absorption rate of the market by putting a damper on housing demand.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association, told Phap Luat (HCM City Law) newspaper that imposing VAT could cause double taxation, which would push up land prices. Current taxes and fees applied to the transfer of land-use rights already include taxes on transfer of these rights, registration fees and personal income tax on sellers.

The real-estate market ultilises thousands of products from more than 90 sectors, such as the manufacturing, construction and service sectors. Therefore, the imposition of VAT will lead to higher prices of raw materials and labour, lifting the price of houses, Chau added.

Sharing the same idea, economist Ngo Tri Long said the newly-proposed VAT would put a massive burden on home buyers and the whole real estate market.

Nguyen Duy Minh, director of the L&L Group, agreed, saying that applying VAT would put real-estate businesses in difficulties, forcing them to increase house prices.

Therefore, he said the abolishment of the VAT would help stabilise the real-estate market. Stable tax policies help prevent houses price from fluctuating, encouraging people to invest more, Minh said.

Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that applying VAT on the transfer of land-use rights would result in market fluctuations, indirectly affecting other sectors.

Houses price increases would make people tighten spending. Real-estate companies would find it difficult to sell houses, would lose profits and the State would lose tax, Hieu said.  VNS
HCM CITY  From the many cooking oils on a shelf at Co.opmart inh Tien Hoang supermarket, Nguyen Thanh Truc of District 1 has picked a 2l bottle of Co.opmart soya cooking oil.

I started using this cooking oil a few months ago, and saw its quality was ok while its price is good compared to other products, she says.

In her trolley are also some other Co.opmart-label products such as box tissues and a floor cleaning liquid.

A research by Kantar Worldpanel Vietnam showed that 39 per cent of Vietnamese shoppers at modern outlets prefer private-label products.

The top 10 common products are toilet paper, box tissues, table napkins, loose leaf teas, floor cleaners, liquid detergents, frozen foods, dishwashing liquids, detergent powders and cooking oils, it said.

According to industry experts, the development of private-label products is an inevitable trend.

Developing such products benefits consumers, retailers and manufacturers, they said. Consumers can get quality products at lower prices, retailers can offer more choices and thus retain customers, while manufacturers earn more from making these products.

After developing private labels since 2007, Saigon Co.op, the countrys leading retailer, now has nearly 3,000 products, including essential products, household utensils, students uniforms, office fashion, rice paper and others.

Development potential

Vo Hoang Anh, private-label director at Saigon Co.op, said: There is huge potential for private-label development in Viet Nam. Consumers are growing fond of private-label products since they are quality products at good prices.

Through development of private-label products, Saigon Co.op wants to attract and retain customers better, he said.

With its advantages of having the largest retail market share in fast moving consumer goods in the country, a diversified retail model, and understanding of consumers needs, we have a clear product development direction when co-operating with manufacturers in making private-label products."

The co-operation would help the manufacturers fully utilise their production capacity, promote their brands to consumers since their information is also available on the packaging as well as in Saigon Co.ops promotions, he said.

So we want manufacturers to have peace of mind when producing products based on Saigon Co.op standards.

Many foreign retailers such as LOTTE Mart too have private-label products manufactured by enterprises in Viet Nam not only for selling in the domestic market but also to export to other markets.

oan Diep Binh, head of PR and events at LOTTE Mart Vietnam, said the supermarket started to develop private-label products over a year ago and has more than 1,000 of them.

In 2017 LOTTE also exported to Myanmar and Laos nearly VN2 billion (US$88,105) worth of Choice L private-label products, including foodstuff, consumer goods, household plastics.

Kantar Worldpanels research also found that private labels are still limited in Viet Nam, accounting for a mere 2.4 per cent of sales at supermarkets compared to 20-30 per cent in the US and EU.

The low rate is mainly due to the underdeveloped modern trade channel, lack of a diverse range of products and poor communication, it said.

However, with the strong development of modern retail channel, the market for private label products is projected to grow further, according to experts.

Binh said: The LOTTE private-label products are meant to increase choices for customers, so [we] choose to invest slowly but surely. We will expand certain private-label products, with a focus on essential food items serving consumers daily needs.

Anh said: Saigon Co.op would continue looking for capable partners with the same sense of purpose to develop specific featured products to bring a better shopping experience to customers coming to shop at our retail systems.

According to Le Thanh Lam, deputy general director of Saigon Food JSC, a company that makes private-label products for supermarkets and has a contract to supply nearly 50 dishes to 7-Eleven convenience stores, there is a steady outlet for private-label products.

Thanks to that, her company has been able to optimise the capacity utilisation of machinery, equipment and factories besides saving distribution costs.  VNS
Viet Nam News

by Mai Huong and Hoang Son

Five big State-owned corporations will conduct initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first quarter  Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical (BSR) on January 17, PV Oil on January 25, PV Power on January 31, Viet Nam Rubber Group on February 2 and EVN Power Generation Corporation 3 (EVN Genco 3) on February 9.

Market insiders give their forecast on the IPO prospects, market-absorption capacity and impact on the Governments equitisation process this year.

In focus: Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu says the Government should focus on essential sectors.

Nguyen Tri Hieu  economist

I have an optimistic outlook for these five IPOs. The sentiment on the securities market is now strong with the VN-Index reaching more than 1,000 points. In addition, three energy companies  BSR, PV Oil and PV Power  play an important role in Viet Nams energy sector.

In fact, five companies floating a mammoth volume of shares in the short term could affect sales success and create lower selling prices, but this may not be an obstacle thanks to the attractiveness of these five corporations to foreign investors keen on investment in Viet Nam, especially those from South Korea interested in oil and gas.

Before making a decision, foreign investors often conduct due diligence activities to study the target companys financial state, performance and development prospects. This is an important process. The second most important factor is the price. In any market, price will determine the attractiveness of the goods. Viet Nams overall P/E market is about 20x while P/E of BSRs shares stand at about 10x, which values its shares at VN23,000-25,000 (more than US$1) each. BSR is offering shares at the initial price of VN14,6400 per share, lower than the price the market may accept.

I think five companies will offer prices lower than the market, which is favourable for the IPOs. Among five corporations, Viet Nam Rubber Group will likely be less eye-catching due to poor profits. However, this can be offset by the potential growth of the rubber sector. Rubber is an essential material for the car industry and Viet Nam has the advantage of growing and processing rubber.

The success of these five IPOs would create a big impetus for the Governments equitisation process this year. This process should be accelerated as soon as possible. In principle, the Government should withdraw investments and focus on sectors that are very essential to national security and social welfare. What the private sector does is its own business.

Prospects are good: Andy Ho  VinaCapital Chief Investment Officer, says Viet Nam is now on foreign business radars.

Andy Ho  VinaCapital chief investment officer

We believe that the prospects for these five IPOs will be good. Some will be oversubscribed (there is already some indication that BSR is oversubscribed by 3x) while others might be slightly undersubscribed. With oil prices rebounding, the two companies in the oil and gas sector (BSR and PV Oil) should attract a fair amount of interest. Obviously, if the Government can sell its shares at prices significantly higher than the minimum price, then the IPOs will be even more successful.

We dont think there will be a problem with absorption as Viet Nam is now on the radar of many foreign investors, who bought $1 billion in stocks last year. Institutional demand, whether strategic or financial, is solid as seen with Sabeco and Vinamilk. There are also indications that institutional financial investors continue to be bullish on Viet Nam, with high subscriptions for a couple of the IPOs scheduled for January. Retail investors are also optimistic about the market as recent IPOs have done well and they think the new IPOs could do the same. Moreover, these IPOs are each in the hundreds of millions dollar, not billions, and in the context of the stock market, these are not too large, given that liquidity is now more than $200 million a day. Good companies will always get absorbed.

These will set the tone for the rest of the year. If they are successful, then other upcoming IPOs will be more likely to be successful, and vice versa. Also from the Governments perspective, if these IPOs go well, it may give them the impetus and motivation to push harder on equitisation plans (that is, doing more IPOs) because the momentum and pricing are good.

Nguyen Minh Ngoc  director, Corporate Finance Division, Bao Viet Securities

Nguyen Minh Ngoc

Considering the number of State-owned enterprises that have been equitised, the period 2003-06 could be seen as a boom period when more than 2,600 SOEs were equitised. However, in terms of quality, we saw only medium and small-sized enterprises, even micro-sized ones, equitised. After a nearly 30-year period of equitisation, the remaining SOEs that need equitising have changed in quality. There may not be many of them, but they are mainly the core businesses of the economy with large scales of capital and total assets.

Therefore, I think that the upcoming five IPOs will draw the attention from domestic and foreign investors and improve the local market sentiment. Both foreign and domestic investors will see these IPOs as golden opportunities to own big core businesses, so they definitely will not miss these chances. In addition, the foreign money flowing into Viet Nam in 2017 that helped the countrys foreign exchange reserves last year reach a record level of $50 billion, mean a large amount of Vietnamese currency has been pumped into the financial market by the State Bank of Viet Nam absorbing that amount of foreign currencies, creating large spillover effects for the Vietnamese economy.

These are the IPOs of industry-led companies that have good fundamentals and positive business prospects. With total market capitalisation amounting to about $7.8 billion based on their initial IPO prices and the post-IPO share listing in accordance with Circular 115/2017/TT-BTC, these five companies will be among the top largest companies by market capitalisation. Their listing will help increase the amount of high-quality goods for the market and draw more foreign capital into the Vietnamese securities market.

So far, the volume of pre-order share purchases for BSR and PV Oil has exceeded by two to three times the number of shares offered for sale, proving that both domestic and foreign investors are highly interested in the upcoming IPOs. In addition, after the Governments recent successful divestments of Vinamilk and Sabeco and positive investor sentiment in the securities market, we believe that these IPOs will be successful.

In recent years, IPO, listing and divestment of SOEs have been sped up. Such movement has attracted capital from both domestic and foreign investors, increased high-quality goods for the securities market and contributed to the growth of the Vietnamese securities market. Based on our market observation, after large-cap companies undertake their IPOs and list shares on the stock market, they will move positively and create good impacts to drive the market up.

Although the upcoming IPOs are large in scale compared to the history of SOE equitisation, they are still small compared to other deals in the world and are absolutely affordable to foreign investors. This is not a big concern for them as they are highly attracted to large-scale core businesses that have great roles and impacts on the economy. I am optimistic that foreign investors are very interested in these opportunities.

Investors, however, should be cautious with large-cap stocks pumped into the market in 2018 that would require a large amount of capital to absorb. As a result, a large number of stocks would become less favourable by investors and no longer on the priority lists of large funds. They would be sold out and their prices would fall.

But I think there would be more positive than negative impacts on the securities market from those deals because stocks whose share prices could fall do not account for a large part of the market capitalisation. And more importantly, the economy and the market are still in the growth stage, thus, the investment funds will still be able to mobilise more financial resources to go after those deals.

As we know, Viet Nams foreign exchange reserves have reached a record high of more than US$54 billion, including a significant increase of foreign capital flowing into the securities market. By the end of November 2017, foreign indirect investment flowing into the country had reached $5.29 billion, an increase of 58 per cent over the same period in 2016, not to mention the $5 billion earned from the Sabeco share sale.

The success of the upcoming five IPOs will bolster the equitisation of the remaining SOEs in 2018. Big investors, both foreign and domestic, will see this as a golden opportunity to dominate the Vietnamese economy. In addition, strategic investors will have favourable policies if they make investment in SOEs whose equitisation plans for 2018 have been approved, than taking part in these five IPOs and previous deals.

According to Decree 126/2017 on SOE equitisation, strategic investors will be able to sell purchased shares three years after the deal is completed instead of five years as before. The quality of strategic investors will also improve as a strategic investor is required to have operated for more than two years as an organisation and have no accumulated losses. These requirements will create strategic investors with higher financial capability, improve the performance of the equitised SOEs and reduce risks for minor investors.

However, the signal of improvement is not likely to come from equitised SOEs and from those that the Government wants to continue divesting. It is the internal and external factors that make business attractive to investors.  VNS
HA NOI  The PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) will offer 20 per cent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on January 31.

PV Power is a subsidiary of the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

At a roadshow, held in Ha Noi on Tuesday, to introduce the investment opportunity in the company, PV Power Chairman Ho Cong Ky said the sale was part of the PV Power equitisation plan approved by the Prime Minister on December 8, 2017, under which the State would reduce its stake in PV Power to 51 per cent after PV Power became a joint-stock company.

More than 676 million shares, equivalent to 28.88 per cent of PV Powers chartered capital, would be sold to strategic investors, while the remaining shares, equivalent to 0.11 per cent of its chartered capital, would be sold to PV Powers staff, he said.

PV Power prioritised strategic investors who owned oil and gas fields and coal mines as they could provide fuel for the corporations electricity plants for a long term, Ky said.

PV Power General Director Nguyen Xuan Hoa said the priority enabled strategic investors to gain over 36 per cent of PV Powers chartered capital and have veto power in the council of shareholders.

The States capital in PV Power might decrease to below 51 per cent after 2019 once the corporation has successfully concluded its negotiations with international investors over the restructuring of loans for the Vung Ang 1 thermal power plant, Hoa said.

He also said the equitisation of PV Power had attracted attention from hundreds of investors, including electricity development investors that were more powerful than PV Power in terms of finance, human resources and capacity.

Owners of oil and gas fields and coal mines from Indonesia, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have also been interested in the corporations shares.

Hoa said at the workshop that PV Power had selected 30 qualified domestic and foreign investors for cooperation over the next 5-10 years.

According to Decree No 126/2017/N-CP, strategic investors are required to make profits in the last two years and hold on to PV Power shares for at least five years.

PV Power has given priority to strategic investors who can allocate capital for the corporation to implement an array of thermal power projects in future, as well as those who can improve its financial, personnel and technological management capacity, and operate in electricity generation. This is aimed at ensuring the supply of gas and coal for PV Powers projects, once domestic natural resources decrease.

In this regard, Ky said PV Power prioritised those investors who promised to operate and maintain a number of coal-fuelled power projects invested by PetroVietnam.

PV Power was established in 2007. The company operates one coal-based thermal power plant, three gas-based thermal power plants and three hydropower plants. Its annual production is more than 4,208MW, equivalent to 10 per cent of the countrys total power output.  VNS
New Zealand-based student Tang Huyen Thu released her first book in HCM City early this month. The book, entitled How Much Is Too Much for Remembering, includes the poem of the same name that won 2nd prize at the New Zealand National Schools Poetry Award in 2016.

Born in the northern province of Thai Binh, Thu went to New Zealand at the age of 13. During her teenage years she had to overcome cultural and linguistic barriers. The book sold out its initial run of 1,000 copies in about a week. Publisher Saigon Books will print 1,500 more.

Nguyen Thuy Binh interviews Thu about the first book and her passion for poetry.

You just release your very first book, How Much Is Too Much for Remembering, including your poem of the same name that won 2nd prize at New Zealand National Schools Poetry Award in 2016. Could you talk more about the book?

This book was written in the last two years while I was in New Zealand studying my last year of high school and first year at university. More than 60 poems from this book were selected from my body of work of approximately 200 poems.

The book was divided into five different parts: Part 1 Starting from the Pain Itself, Part 2  If You Come back to Ha Noi, Part 3  Waiting for the Gentleness in Oceania, Part 4  Inside Babys Eyes, Mother and Hometown and the Last, and Part 5  Country. Throughout the whole book, I want to convey a message of love between human beings, their families and also the country.

I write to release my inner emotion which is very hard to say. When I began to write poems I didnt think about printing a book. After reading the draft I arranged the poems by theme.

The book launch was held successfully in HCM City by Saigon Books. Were you surprised?

It was such an amazing day which surprised me a lot because the event attracted many people from different ages and different backgrounds. I am very happy that most of the people who turned up on the day showed their interest in poetry and the book itself. Hopefully, all the events at Saigon Book Street will be successful like that.

Was it difficult for you to release the book in Viet Nam while you are studying in New Zealand ? How did you do it?

As you know, distance is sometimes troubling us but thanks to the internet we can communicate with people around the world very well. I could say it was such a huge step for me to complete the book and bring it to readers.

Luckily, after I finished the draft, a friend of mine, a famous female writer Hoa Binh, helped me to send the draft to an editor. Thankfully, the draft got accepted for publication after six months. Over that time, I communicated with the company mostly via email and other social media.

What do you think about the place of poetry in young peoples lives in the era of digital technology?

I myself think the role of poetry is different for different people. Some young people love to read and write poems these days, even though they can spend time using all the new technologies. Some dont. It is understandable that each of us has different interests in things. But in this busy world, poetry is such a gift that gives our soul some peaceful moments and keep us thinking about what is happening around us even more.

How did you become a contributor for several newspapers and magazines in Viet Nam while you are studying abroad ?

I first posted most of my writing on social media. Then, lots of editors and writers from newspapers and magazines in Viet Nam saw them and asked to use for their daily post. After that, I contacted them and sent poems to their newspapers more often. This has worked really well since I started and I like to do this.

Writing has always been my passion. I love to write for newspapers and magazines so I did that in the last few years. Before enrolling in Urban Planning, I thought I would become a journalist but then I changed my mind for some personal reasons. Besides writing, I also enjoy drawing, creation and also taking care of the environment and managing things, which are all included in Urban Planning.

Even though most people think there is no relation between Urban Planning and writing poems, I think they are related somehow. Perhaps having an interest in poems helps to balance my normal routine and get me out of all busy thinking after a tiring day of looking at designs and remembering all the laws in planning.

Like other people, I think that I write about everything that is needful and closed to me. I write about my country and difficulties which I have overcome. I want to have a peaceful life after things I have experienced. That is my true emotion which inspires me to write. Absolutely I dont set out to try to write poems.

When do you want to write most? When you are sad or happy?

I cant actually write anything when I am in a good mood. So most of my poems are written when I am alone or thinking deeply about things around me.  VNS
HA NOI  Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi has made the Conde Nast Travellers list of the best hotels in the world for 2018.

Viet Nams highest hotel was hailed as number one in Ha Noi by the editors of the prestigious US travel publication.

Spanning six continents and 54 countries, the annual Conde Nast Traveler Gold List recognises hotels around the world that editors and contributors of the bestselling magazine visit time and time again..

The 2018 Gold List Awards were announced in the January issue of Conde Nast Traveller as well as on the publications official website.

"This years Gold List is a love letter to hotels, resorts, and cruises that stay with us long after we have returned home, wrote editor-in-chief Pilar Guzman. We are interested in the way a place, in all of its ineffable complexity, beauty, and sometimes darkness, tugs at us and calls us back, much like human relationships do.

William Haandrikman, manager of the winning hotel, said that being able to stay remembered among prominent hotels in established destinations shows that the Metropole is a trusted choice.

In October, the hotel emerged from the voting of more than 300,000 Conde Nast Traveler readers as the 21st best hotel in Asia. (Readers Choice Awards, RCA).

The magazine hailed the hotel for its spacious and richly appointed rooms, as a peaceful refuge and for service that goes above and beyond.

The magazines Gold Awards are more selective than the RCA. While eight hotels and resorts in Viet Nam were recognised in the RCAs, only two hotels in the country won placement on the Gold List  the Metropole and Park Hyatt Saigon.  VNS
The 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) will serve as a boost for cooperation in the framework of the Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the parliamentary arena.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong uc

HA NOI  The 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) will serve as a boost for cooperation in the framework of the Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the parliamentary arena, National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said.

Ngan, who is also APPF Chair for 2017  2018, told the media in an interview before the event that the Vietnamese NAs hosting of APPF-26 reflects its increasing role and prestige in regional and international parliamentary diplomatic activities.

The event, slated to open tomorrow in Ha Noi, is an opportunity for the NA to enhance diplomatic relations with its regional counterparts and to promote its innovative, dynamic and reliable image among international friends, she added.

In an article on the upcoming event, Vice Chairman of the NA Office and head of the information section for APPF-26, o Manh Hung, highlighted the meetings mission of defining the direction for member parliaments in building an APPF vision of a common future for all and practical benefits to all nations and people.

The APPF-26, under the theme Parliamentary partnership for peace, innovation and sustainable development, will focus on several key topics, one of which is how to boost parliamentary diplomacy for peace, security, and prosperity in the region and around the world. Participants will discuss pressing issues related to peace and security in Asia-Pacific, such as the Korean Peninsula, maritime security, cyber security, international terrorism, and trans-national crime.

The meeting will hear reports on outcomes of the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders Meeting and discuss economic cooperation for Asia  Pacific. Member parliaments will share their views on and contribute to regional efforts toward expansion of trade-investment engagement and sustainable development.

They are set to mull over parliaments role in boosting inclusive and extensive economic links, food security and green farming, and the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age. These sub-topics are closely related to the APEC meetings agenda.

Delegates will delve into the promotion of joint actions for climate change adaptation, mobilisation of resources for sustainable growth, and culture-tourism collaboration across the region.

They will also examine initiatives on improving APPFs performance toward effectiveness and APPFs role in regional peace and cooperation. In this regard, the meeting will examine amendments to the New APPF Rules of Procedure and to the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians. The Meeting of Women Parliamentarians is set to focus on promoting gender equality for sustainable development and shared prosperity.

According to Hung, the Vietnamese NA will propose a draft of the Hanoi Declaration: A New Vision for Asia  Pacific Parliamentary Partnership, which stresses commitments by member parliaments to common goals and benefits based on mutual respect for each others independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, diversity in political institutions, culture and religion; upholding of the rule of law and international law. It aims at enhancing the APPFs role as a partner of APEC and helping APEC to realise its commitments via parliaments main functions of law making, supervision and budget decisions.

The APPF meeting will take place in Ha Noi from January 18-21. Viet Nam first hosted an APPF annual meeting in 2005.

The APPF, now gathering 27 members, was officially formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 1993.

It is a mechanism that enables parliamentarians to discuss issues of common concern, and to deepen their understanding of the region and the interests and experience of its diverse members. The forums proceedings address political, security, economic, social and cultural issues, thus furthering regional cooperation and building relations between and among parliamentarians from the Asia-Pacific region.  VNS
Minister of National Defence Ngo Xuan Lich (L) meets Lao Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Vorachith on Tuesday.  VNA/VNS Photo Pham Kien

VIENTIANE  The Vietnamese Party, State and army always attach much importance to relations with Laos, said Minister of National Defence Ngo Xuan Lich, who is visiting Laos from January 15-17.

In a meeting with Lao Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Vorachith on Tuesday, Lich informed the host of bilateral defence co-operation in 2017, saying the two sides gained more than expected, especially in the areas of communication work, training collaboration, delegation exchanges and border management.

On Monday, Lich held talks with his Lao counterpart Chansamone Chanyalath.

At the meeting, the two affirmed that defence cooperation is an important pillar in the bilateral relations.

The two ministers reached consensus on enhancing exchange of experience and information to prevent and vanquish conspiracies of hostile forces while paying due attention to exchanges at provincial level.

After the talks, they inked a defence co-operation plan between the two defence ministries for 2018.  VNS
President Tran ai Quang recevies Zambian Ambassador Walubita Imakando (R) in Ha Noi on Tuesday.  VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang

HA NOI  President Tran ai Quang hosted separate receptions in Ha Noi on Tuesday for newly-appointed ambassadors of Sudan, Peru, Zambia, Afghanistan, Namibia and Bolivia.

At his meeting with Sudanese Ambassador Mohamed Elmurtada Mubarak Ismail Siraq, Quang congratulated Sudan on the lifting of the embargo, thus gaining opportunities to expand trade and boost its socio-economic development in the future.

Welcoming Peruvian Ambassador Augusto Morelli Salgado, Quang said that in the coming time, the two nations should promote existing co-operation mechanisms while expanding co-operative ties in new areas.

Speaking at the reception for Zambian Ambassador Walubita Imakando, the President said that the two countries should sign co-operation deals and increase delegation exchanges to improve mutual understanding and fully tap each others potential.

Viet Nam is willing to share experiences in national development, especially in agriculture, to assist Zambia in ensuring food security, he said.

In the meeting with Afghan Ambassador Janan Mosazai, the Vietnamese leader lauded Afghanistan for its efforts to overcome many difficulties to notch achievements in national development. He affirmed Viet Nams policy of supporting the international communitys efforts to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan.

Meeting Namibian Ambassador Elia George Kaiyamo, Quang appraised the countrys national development strategy, which focuses on speeding up industrialisation and boosting the development of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in order to diversify the economy and create jobs.

At the reception for Bolivian Ambassador Heriberto Quispe Charca, the State leader proposed that Viet Nam and Bolivia should increase delegation exchanges to reinforce political trust, while negotiating new co-operation deals in all fields and improving the efficiency of economic and trade partnerships.  VNS
HA NOI  Defendants in the first-instance trial on several charges of wrongdoings at the State-owned oil PetroVietnam (PVN) group made final statements at the court on Wednesday, expressing regrets and asking for leniency from the judges.

The speeches are delivered before the judge panel deliberates the verdict which is expected to be delivered on January 21, following two weeks of procedures that draw widespread public attention.

Among the 22 defendants on trial in the high-profile corruption case, 12 were charged with deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences. Eight others were accused of misappropriating property, while two executives of PVNs subsidiary PetroVietnam Construction JSC (PVC) face indictments on both offences.The malfeasances in question took place during the construction of national key projects, including the US$1.6 billion Thai Binh 2 power plant and Vung Ang  Quang Trach power project.

Defendant inh La Thang, former PVN chairman and the highest ranking Communist Party member to be put on trial, charged with economic mismanagement, was the first up to deliver his speech.

Thang said during 35 years of working in different positions, he had always strived to complete assigned tasks.

He had never thought that there would be one day hed had to stand in the dock like this. He said this is an anguish and misfortune for him and his family.

Facing 13-14 years of imprisonment, Thang said he still owes the people many unfinished projects that he had promised during his stint as the transport minister, including the North-South expressway, the thousands of bridges for people in remote areas for safe passing. He also expressed his regret for having not able to follow through the promise to return Ho Chi Minh City to its former glory during the time it is known as Pearl of the Orient or transform Can Gio District into a Singapore right in Viet Nam.

Facing the strict sentence, Thang would want to bow and apologise to the Communist Party, the State, Vietnamese people, and people working in the oil sector. He voiced his hope that the judging council will fairly assess each defendants actions and the nature of the case. He also expressed his absolute loyalty to the Party and the State and his belief in the judging councils impartial, fair and humane settlement.

Former chairman of PVC Trinh Xuan Thanh is charged with both economic mismanagement and misappropriating assets, for which prosecutors are seeking life sentence.

In his final speech, he said he hopes that the judging council will make careful, just, and evidence-based consideration. Thanh also said he wants to send his apology to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who is considered the chief of the robust anti-corruption campaign that has claimed many high ranking officials and executives.

Thanh also requested to be allowed to return to Germany to be close to and take care of his wife and children one last time before serving his sentence.

Meanwhile, Phung inh Thuc, former director-general of PVN, charged with economic mismanagement, said he did not knowingly committed wrongdoings but admitted oversight and that failure to perform his duties.

Other defendants have all expressed remorse, asked for leniency from the judge panel in order to redeem their life and continue to contribute to the society.  VNS
HA NOI - At the corner of Bach Mai Hospital s lobby in Ha Noi, relatives of patients shiver with every gust of wind, even under their thick blankets. The recent chill is making their time as hospital visitors even more difficult.

The strong cold snap hitting Ha Noi and northern provinces over the past few days pulled the temperatures down to around ten degrees Celsius. Mountainous areas have witnessed frost.

As a result, the number of patients, especially the elderly and children, admitted to hospitals for winter diseases has surged. Many hospitals have experienced overcrowding.

Old patients mostly contract heart, bone-related and respiratory diseases. The number of old patients suffering from stroke has increased by 15 per cent since the cold snap began, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper reported.

Associate Professor Tran Minh ien, deputy director of National Paediatrics Hospital , told the newspaper that over the past few days, nearly 4,000 children have been sent to his hospital everyday, most of them infected with respiratory system illnesses and diarrhea caused by virus. The Paediatrics Department of Bach Mai Hospital and Saint Paul Hospital admitted significantly more children (10 to 20 per cent) than normal. Some children were rushed to the hospital with serious pneumonia.

Waiting for his health check up at the National Geriatric Hospital , a patient named Tuan, 67, told Sai Gon Giai Phong, I am infected with chronic bronchitis. Whenever the weather changes, especially when it is rainy and cold, I feel tightness in the chest, find it difficult to breathe and cough all day long. I am deprived of sleep

I have been here for nearly two hours waiting for my health examination, he said.

Professor Ngo Quy Chau, deputy director of Bach Mai Hospital and director of the hospitals Respiratory Centre, told Lao ong (Labor) newspaper that respiratory illnesses are a leading cause of other illnesses and even death. Cold weather can also make chronic diseases such as asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) flare up.

Cold weather not only overcrowds central-level hospitals but also crowds local hospitals in northern mountainous provinces including Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Cao Bang and Lang Son.

Hospitals have made preparation to accommodate patients and their relatives.

Hospital K, Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Viet Nam-Germany Hospital have prepared heaters and air-conditioners at the medical checkup areas, treatment rooms and operation spaces. More blankets are being supplied for patients.

The Emergency and Medical Checkup departments of hospitals provide meals at the patients rooms for heavily infected patients, those with disadvantaged conditions and those who do not have relatives.

Bach Mai Hospital has mobilised 30 heaters for areas serving out-patients.

Tran Thi Nhi Ha, deputy director of Ha Nois Health Department, said that the department has required hospitals to mobilise heating equipment and blankets for in-patients, ensure warmth for patients in waiting areas and pay attention to the elderly, newborns and children.

Medical treatment facilities must ensure medicine, beds and emergency equipment to respond to serious conditions caused by abnormal weather conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke, influenza, acute respiratory diseases.

The Paediatrics Department of Lao Cai Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has brought in an additional 40 beds, increasing the number of beds to 100.

Doctors of National Hospital for Tropical Diseases said that cold weather poses risks to patients with high blood pressure and to old patients. The risks of stroke may be reduced by keeping patients warm in a windproof room.

Parents should keep their children warm and provide them with nutritious meals to increase their resistance to disease. Children face a high risk of flu, diarrhea, measles, whooping cough and chicken pox during winter and spring. Parents are advised to ensure their children receive vaccines. - VNS
HCM CITY- A minimally invasive technique called Tateru Shiraishi cervical laminoplasty is the best choice for treating patients with cervical myelopathy as it reduces the need for long postoperative care, according to doctors.

Cervical myelopathy is caused by a narrowing of the spinal canal, leading to cord dysfunction.

Laminoplasty is a surgical procedure that creates more space for the spinal cord and nerve roots to relieve abnormal pressure on the spinal cord, according to the Virginia Spine Institute in the US.

Dr Vo Van Thanh, a consultant for HCM Citys Trung Vuong Hospital, said that cervical myelopathy was more frequent in Asia Pacific, including Viet Nam, than in other areas of the world.

However, as advanced diagnosis techniques such as MRIs are now available in the country, the number of patients with cervical myelopathy has increased because of early detection, Thanh said.

Earlier this month, Trung Vuong Hospital admitted a 76-year-old man from HCM City with cervical myelopathy caused by cervical stenosis and spondylosis. Degenerative changes due to ageing narrowed the necks protective spinal canal, leading to cervical spinal stenosis.

For at least a year, the man had weakness in the muscles of his arms, leading to problems in grasping and holding items. He also had coordination problems, which affected his walking.

He has lost fine motor skills, leading to difficulty with handwriting, buttoning his clothes, and feeding himself.

Dr Ho Nhut Tam, head of the hospitals spinal unit, said that surgery should be performed but there would be risks because the patient suffers from hypertension, diabetes, gout and chronic kidney failure. The patient currently receives dialysis.

If the surgery is not performed, the spinal cord could become more compressed and paralysis could occur, Tam said.

After consultation with Dr Thanh, doctors decided to use the Tateru Shiraishi cervical laminoplasty to limit risks, he added. The hospitals doctors worked with Dr Vo Ngoc Thien An from the Hospital for Traumatology and Orthopaedics to conduct the operation 13 days ago.

The patients motor skills improved three to four days after surgery. He is expected to completely recover after three months of physical therapy, Tam said.

Dr An of the Hospital for Traumatology and Orthopaedics said that doctors who perform this technique must be well-trained and have practice as it requires high precision. The aim is to prevent postoperative complications such as damage of blood vessels that connect to the spinal cord.

Cervical myelopathy tends to get worse slowly over time, An said.

Dr Thanh said that if patients are diagnosed in time, the success of surgery is high.

Dr An said that symptoms include numbness in one or two arms from the shoulder to the hand.

In Viet Nam, research on cervical myelopathy has been limited, An said, adding that in Japan, studies showed that it was more common among men than women because of certain jobs that affected cord dysfunction. The average age of patients affected is 40-60 years old.- VNS
HCM CITY  The Helmets for Families programme will donate more than 4,000 helmets to schools in HCM Citys outlying districts of Cu Chi and Hoc Mon during the 2017-18 school year.

The programme is expanding its road-safety education efforts to include engagement with health professionals for teachers, parents, and students.

The programme aims to raise awareness about helmet use and road safety to encourage behavior change among students, parents and the community.

In addition, parents can exchange their low-quality helmets for high-quality standard helmets for 69 per cent of the original price through a subsidised exchange programme.

The programme is organised by the National Traffic Safety Committee, Ministry of Education and Training, Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation and the global healthcare company Abbott.

At Tan Thanh ong Primary School in the Cu Chi District, a doctor from Cho Ray Hospital onTuesday spoke to students and teachers about the harm caused by wearing substandard helmets.

This year, Helmets for Families is incorporating a new component and will engage school staff, parents and students on a deeper level.

Health professionals will give talks at schools about road-safety messages based on their experience working with traffic accident victims.  VNS
HA NOI  President Tran ai Quang highlighted the huge potential for Viet Nam-Japan cooperation across all fields, noting that the extensive strategic partnership between the two nations is flourishing.

In a recent interview granted to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the Vietnamese President affirmed Viet Nam and Japan have become important partners across many fields.

Since the two nations upgraded their ties to the Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia in 2014, bilateral relations have witnessed strong and comprehensive development, according to the President.

Regarding political ties, the two sides have maintained high-level meetings, with the highlights being visits to Viet Nam in 2017 by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The year also marked a new step in the development of relations as the two countries issued a joint statement on deepening the extensive strategic relationship during the official visit to Japan by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Viet Nam and Japan have closely and effectively coordinated in multilateral forums such the UN, ASEAN, APEC and ASEM. In particular, Japans active involvement contributed to Viet Nams successful hosting of the 25th APEC Summit during the year.

In the field of economics, Japan is the largest source of ODA for Viet Nam, and the fourth biggest trade partner of the country. In 2017, Japan became the leading foreign investor in Viet Nam, with over 2,500 Japanese companies operating in the Southeast Asian country. The two countries are working together on many large-scale infrastructure and energy projects in Viet Nam.

Japans ODA provision has significantly contributed to Viet Nams socio-economic development.

Collaboration in terms of security-defence, agriculture, education-training and labour have also recorded practical results.

Cooperative links between localities of the two countries have been fostered with 37 pairs of localities setting up twinning relations. People-to-people exchange activities and cultural and tourism cooperation have been expanded, with 230,000 Vietnamese now living and working in Japan and 16,000 Japanese in Viet Nam. Japan is the third largest source of tourists to Viet Nam.

President Quang said he discussed with PM Shinzo Abe major orientations and specific measures to further bolster bilateral ties on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in a Nang last November.

He noted that the two sides agreed to enhance political trust via maintaining visits and meetings at all levels, and dialogue mechanisms among their ministries, sectors and localities.

They will take advantage of their respective strengths to promote win-win cooperation and economic links. Viet Nam will closely cooperate with Japan for the more effective use of ODA capital, while continuing to improve its investment environment to facilitate Japanese firms operation in the country.

The two sides would also forge links in the fields of good cooperative potential such as labour, clean agriculture and hi-technology, he added.

The President stressed that with its policy on proactive international integration, Viet Nam has been and will be a sincere friend, reliable partner and responsible member of the international community. In that spirit, the country will maintain its close and effective collaboration with Japan at international and regional forums in issues of common concern for peace, stability and development in the region and the world as a whole.

He expressed his belief that the Viet Nam-Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership will continue developing for the sake of the two people.

President Quang said in the future, Viet Nam hopes for Japanese investment and technology transfer in six priority sectors in Viet Nams industrialisation strategy, including electronics, agricultural machinery, farm and aquatic product processing, shipbuilding, environmental protection and energy saving, and the automobile industry.

Viet Nam also wants to benefit from Japans investment and technology in fields of its strengths such as support industry, manufacturing, infrastructure development, energy, clean agriculture, waste and waste water treatment.

The President also reaffirmed Viet Nams consistent policy to create favourable conditions for foreign investors, including those from Japan to operate business and production activities in Viet Nam.

Japanese direct investment in Viet Nam totaled almost US$9 billion during January-November, 2017, a four-fold increase from the figure of the entire 2016.  VNA/VNS
HCM CITY  More universities in Viet Nam should open programmes to foreign students as demand for study-abroad courses has increased, according to education experts.

At the American Abroad Conference 2018 held yesterday in HCM City, Edwina Rowell, adjunct professor of Campbellsville University in the US, said that 325,229 US students studied abroad for academic credit in the 2016-17 academic year, representing 11.1 per cent of all US college and university students, citing data from an Open Doors 2017 study.

Of these, 11 per cent studied in Asia, including in Viet Nam.

Open Doors 2017 is a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the United States, and for US students studying abroad for academic credit at their home institutions.

Viet Nam is becoming a more popular destination for American students, according to Open Doors. In the 2016-2017 academic year, Viet Nam welcomed 1,012 students from the US.

Megan Ames, international outreach and recruitment specialist at Institute of International Education, said the number had increased from 922 in the 2014-2015 academic year.

Universities should change their perceptions of studying abroad, and realise that every student expects study abroad to be an essential part of a university education, she said.

Many countries have incentives for US students. For instance, New Zealand provides merit-based and travel awards for US students.

According to the Kaya Responsible Travel and World Internships, Viet Nam has great potential and interest from the US market.

Viet Nam is a low-cost option, has good English-language levels in many organisations, and is perceived as an important business region and is safe and welcoming.

Rowell of Campbellsville University said that students study abroad to see the world, enjoy different education styles and new cultures, hone language skills, find career opportunities, and make lifelong friends.

US Consul General Mary Tarnowka said: Through study abroad programmes, the people of Vietnam and the US can develop stronger and closer ties.

Dr Hoang Gia Thu, dean of Finance Management and Tourism at Ha Noi University, has organised a number of study tour programmes in Viet Nam for universities from the US, the UK, Singapore and Germany.

He suggested that universities target specific groups of students to attract more people from the US.

They should also focus on practical learning experiences and outcomes, and link the experience with future careers, Thu said.

A community of alumni to share and discuss experiences should also be created, he added.

Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, country director of Arizona State Universitys representative office in Viet Nam, told Viet Nam News that university leaders should take advantage of their strong points to attract international students.

Nguyen Mo, director of Student Exchange Viet Nam, said that universities in Viet Nam should attend international education fairs.

They should also identify the majors they want to promote, such as those related to culture, entrepreneurship and agriculture, and include short courses as well, she added.

However, barriers at Vietnamese universities continue to exist, including limited faculty interest, no promotion criteria, and lack of Government support.

In addition, there is no website about study in Viet Nam for foreign students, Mo said.

The American Abroad Conference 2018 was held by the US Consulate in HCM City in co-operation with Student Exchange Vietnam.  VNS
Representatives of a Nangs Transport Department and Seoul Metro Corporation of South Korea sign a Memorandum of Understanding on urban railway development and research in a Nang yesterday.  VNS Photo Cong Thanh

A NANG  The central citys transport department and South Koreas Seoul Metro corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in urban railway development and public traffic research at a ceremony yesterday.

The MoU will help the central city boost smart and green transport measures and build a Nang as a smart and green city by 2025.

As planned, the two sides will start pre-feasibility studies of some projects including subway, tramway, sky road and metro system for the citys internal traffic in the coming years.

Chairman and CEO of Seoul Metro Kim Tae-ho said development of an urban railway system would help cement a Nangs status as a favourite beach destination in central Viet Nam . It will also develop a connection with the East-West Economic Corridors (EWEC) that links Thailand , Myanmar , Laos and Viet Nam .

Kim said the urban rail system developed by Seoul Metro company in South Korea provides major daily transport for 6 million commuters.

A section of the first road tunnel in a Nang. The city plans to develop a metro and urban railway system in the future.  VNS Photo Cong Thanh

Director of the citys transport department, Le Van Trung said the urban railway, subway and tramway would help meet the transit needs of the rapidly urbanising city in the near future.

He said the development of mass public transit aimed to reduce carbon emissions as well as overcrowding and traffic congestion in the tourism hub.

According to the citys Master Plan, a Nang will develop five Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes, 14 regular bus routes, three metro routes and two tramways by 2020.

With a population of 900,000, a Nang has outgrown its current public transit system, which has only 48 buses traveling along five routes.

Local people make 2.1 million journeys each day, of which 80 per cent are via motorbike, according to the citys transport department.

In 2013, the World Bank agreed to provide US$202 million for a US$272-million sustainable development project to help improve the citys Bus Rapid Transit network, build new roads and revamp the existing drainage system.

The WB also funded a five-year priority infrastructure project of the city, funding 70 per cent of the total investment of US$218.4 million in 2008-13.  VNS
HA NOI  Deputy Minister of Construction Le Quang Hung said 2017 has been a breakthrough year for the construction industry as it has met or surpassed almost all development targets.

He was addressing a conference to review 2017 and set out new goals for 2018, with the attendance of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Hung said in 2017 the industry witnessed a relatively high growth rate of 8.7 per cent.

It contributed 0.54 per cent to the nations overall GDP growth rate of 6.81 per cent, ranking third among all industries in terms of contributions to GDP.

The countrys urbanisation rate reached 37.5 per cent last year, increasing by 0.9 per cent year on year. The country currently has 813 urban areas, 11 more than in 2016.

A report by the ministry said that last year, the average floor area per person increased by 0.6 sq.m compared to 2016, to reach 23.4 sq.m per person.

A further 190,000 sq.m of social housing was added in urban areas, lifting the total area of social housing in urban areas to 3.49 million sq.m. About 220,000 accommodations for students were put into use.

A total of 3,077 real estate projects are being implemented with investment capital of VN3.3 quadrillion (US$144.9 billion), covering nearly 78,000 ha.

Of these, about 300 projects are big projects, each of which has total investment of over VN3 trillion and provide over 1,500 apartments.

On tourism property, as of July 2017, there were 77 projects providing 16,437 hotel rooms, 11,174 villas and 12,056 condotels developed or being developed.

Without revealing the number of condotels which had been sold to secondary investors, the deputy minister warned about the hot development of this type of property.

"The supply of condotels has been abundant and more measures are needed to control it in the future," Hung said.

Hung said some shortcomings had still not been solved during the past year, including rampant construction violations, which in some cases kept occurring even after punishments were handed out.

The structure of products in the real estate market was still a problem, with an abundance of high-end apartments and deficiency of low-cost housing.

He also admitted the slow pace of renewing old apartment buildings.

Currently there are about 2,500 old apartment buildings nationwide, most of which were built before 1994. Of these, 600 buildings have seriously deteriorated and pose dangers to residents.

The implementation of some social housing programmes shared the same fate due to the ending of the VN30 trillion housing stimulus package, while the capital allocated to support social housing projects in the 2016-2020 mid-term public investment plan was not much.

In 2018, the ministry will implement a project to conduct assessment and forecasting work, based on which it would propose solutions and policies to ensure the healthy and stable development of the real estate market.

The ministry will also work to devise a project on economic security in the housing and real estate market to ensure social welfare and complete a database on the housing and real estate market.

Another major goal will be cooperating with related ministries and agencies to solve difficulties in State budget allocation to effectively implement major housing projects.

Looking to the coming year, Prime Minister Phuc demanded the construction authorities decisively carry out solutions, aiming to achieve an annual growth rate of 9.2 per cent.

The ministry should increase the proportion of private investment, especially to encourage the public private partnership (PPP) model in order to utilise sufficient resources as well as improve the constructions quality, Phuc said.  VNS




HA NOI  Three workers died after a scaffolding collapsed at a construction site in Ha Nois Nam Tu Liem District on Wednesday morning.

The incident occurred at some 2am at the construction site of Toyota Mo Lao Ltd Co on To Huu Street, according to an official from the districts Peoples Committee.

The victims are all from northern Yen Bai Province.

Local authorities, police and firefighters rushed to the scene and rescue work was completed at around 7am the same day.

Three other workers were injured and were rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

The case is under investigation.  VNS
A NANG  A crew member on the Liberian-flagged Maribor was rescued after suffering a stroke on the way from Singapore to China on Tuesday. He was treated at International VinMec Hospital in a Nang.

The a Nang-based Maritime Co-ordination and Rescue Centre No 2 confirmed that Eliseo Jr. Burton Estrabon, 62, was paralised on his left side after a stroke in the early morning.

A rescue ship and a team of doctors were sent to give first aid to the victim before carrying him to port of a Nang and to hospital at midnight on Tuesday.

It was the fourth rescue of a foreigner by the rescue service in the last two years.

In 2016, the centre also saved Wang Xiaogang, a Chinese seaman, off the coast of Quang Ngai Province after he suffered stomach pains on a cargo ship.

In 2015, an Indian cargo ship captain, Chatterjee Tuhindra Nath, was taken ashore off the coast of a Nang after a heart attack.  VNS
HA NOI  The Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam has asked investors of road projects under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts to ban cars from parking for over five minutes at toll stations.

Road signs with white letters saying No Parking over 5 minutes on a red background will be placed some 50m before toll collection cabins at toll stations and be effective for some 100-200m depending on different toll stations.

The ban signs are expected to help ensure smooth traffic via BOT toll stations, especially during the biggest festival in Viet Nam, the Tet holiday.

In the last few months, drivers reportedly protested at BOT toll stations because of high or unreasonable toll fees. The drivers drive slowly, park for long at toll stations or pay in small notes, causing traffic blocks at many BOT roads.

At present, there are 88 BOT toll stations on National Highways in Viet Nam, of which, 73 stations are overseen by the Transport Ministry, while the remaining 15 stations are overseen by provinces Peoples Committees.  VNS
HCM CITY A nine month shortage of Glivec cancer medicine produced by the Novartis Pharma Service  AG Company (Switzerland) has eased for hundreds of patients following a Government move to allow hospitals to stock the pharmaceutical product using old import dossiers.

The drugs are used by patients suffering from cancer, including chronic myelogenous leukemia and gastro-intestinal stromal tumours.

However, according to hospitals, the stock of donated Glivec and Tasigna ran out in December, putting cancer patients under pressure.

The shortage was due to Resolution No. 54 issued in May last year which said that permits for the importation of medicines under humanitarian aid programmes must be completed in a special manner.

Novartis recently said in a petition to the ministry that it faced many obstacles preparing and completing the dossiers called for in Resolution No. 54. This brought the importation of Glivec to Viet Nam to a halt.

This included a Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), ASEAN Common Technical Dossier (ACTD), proposed labels and actual circulation labels in the host countries.

Phu Chi Dung, director of HCM City Hospital of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, said a resolution passed on January 12 approved the use of the drug at four hospitals - the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Cho Ray Hosptial, HCM City Oncology Hospital and HCM City Hospital of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

The resolution has lifted up cancer treatment at hospitals. We are completing procedures to stock Glivec and expect to receive it in one week, said Dung.

A programme to assist patients by distributing two types of cancer medicines, Glivec 100mg and Tasigna 200mg, was implemented by Novartis in 2015 at seven medical facilities - the National Cancer Hospital, Bach Mai Hospital, Hue Central Hospital, the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Cho Ray Hospital, HCM City Oncology Hospital and HCM City Hospital of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

Cancer patients who participate in social insurance for more than 36 months can take part in a Patient Assistance Programme in which the social insurance fund pays 40 per cent of the Glivec or Tasigna costs and the rest is sponsored by Novartis. Those who participate for less than 36 months, will have the cost of the drugs fully funded by the company.

According to Tuoi tre (Youth) Newspaper, the lowest dose of Glivec prescribed by doctors is two tablets a day, while the highest dose is eight tablets a day. The price of commercial Glivec in HCM City is VN442,000 (US$19.4) per tablet. If a patient is resistant to or intolerant of Glivec, a doctor may provide a treatment with two tablets of Tasigna a day. The price of commercial Tasigna in HCM City is VN707,000 (US$31) per a tablet. VNS
BOGOTA  Ten people were killed when a military helicopter crashed in a remote area of northwestern Colombia on Tuesday, the military said.

The Russian-made MI-17 aircraft was carrying six passengers and four crew when it came down, according to a military statement.

"For us, it is very painful to confirm at this time that the 10 occupants of the aircraft have died," Army commander General Ricardo Gomez said on Twitter.

The authorities had earlier put the toll at seven dead and three missing, but confirmed after rescuers reached the scene that all aboard had perished.

"Our troops are in the area carrying out work to recover the crew and passengers, and investigators have begun to determine the cause" Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said on social media.

President Juan Manuel Santos said he was pained by the deaths as he sent his condolences to the families in a message on his Twitter account.Authorities gave no cause for the crash.

The helicopter was overflying a region used by narcotraffickers and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, though there were no suggestions the crash had been caused deliberately.

Santos has suspended peace talks with the ELN in response to what he said were recent guerrilla attacks.

Talks had been set to resume in neighboring Ecuador, but a more than three-month ceasefire expired without immediate agreement to extend it.

"Most likely it was due to bad weather," a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity, saying the weather was squally and cloudy at the time.

The army said two of the passengers were part of a military aviation fuel maintenance team flying between Caucasia and Segovia in the northern Antioquia department.

In October, 10 people aboard a US-made Huey II helicopter were injured when it came down in Bello, Antioquia.

In June 2016, another military helicopter crash killed 17 soldiers in an accident in central Colombia attributed to bad weather.  AFP
In this 84th edition of our blog, we go behind the scenes at RAF Museum Cosford in order to pay a fascinating visit to the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre during their latest public open week and report on the aviation delights within this hangar which is usually restricted from public access. We will see how work is progressing on two significant Bomber Command projects, relish a tantalising glimpse of an extremely rare Great War aviation classic and enjoy a final look at a former Red Arrows jet which has already left for a new home.

Before we get started, could I please just thank everyone who kindly sent in messages over the past few days, to say how much they enjoyed the previous edition of Aerodrome and our latest Readers Pictures feature. Some readers were a little disappointed that their images had not made it into this latest selection and as a result, we have decided to have two Readers Pictures editions for next years RAF Centenary commemorations and will also feature particularly interesting images throughout the year, as part of our usual blog format. Importantly, please do keep sending us your images, as our growing readership love to see them and our audience is now a global band of aviation brothers and sisters. Right then, its time we set a course for RAF Cosford and some very rare aeroplane action.

Historic Aviation TLC in Shropshire

Original tail section from rare Handley Page Hampden P1344

With the RAF Centenary preparations in full swing at the Royal Air Force Museums Hendon site, a number of recent aviation rearrangements has seen Cosford benefit from the addition of some extremely high profile new exhibits, transforming this already impressive museum into something of a must visit destination for aviation enthusiasts. I have to say that these new arrivals have certainly encouraged me to visit Cosford more times in the past year than I had over the previous seven and a recent aviation viewing opportunity had me travelling down the M6 yet again. The Michael Beetham Conservation Centre is based in a large hangar at the top end of the museum and is usually restricted from public access  it also happens to be home to some of the most interesting historic aircraft in the country. For these reasons, news that the centre was allowing public access for just six days in November had enthusiasts flocking to secure one of the limited places available, hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare aircraft and fascinating work taking place in this usually inaccessible building. Fortunately, Aerodrome managed to secure one of the tickets and we can bring you this report from the slightly less than three hours we were allowed to spend in the hangar.

A conservation headache. View looking towards the cockpit of Vickers Wellington MF628

The Michael Beetham Conservation Centre performs an essential service in the preservation and renovation of some of the countrys best loved historic aircraft. As well as dealing with the regular maintenance of the impressive exhibits at the RAF Museum Cosford, the engineering staff at the centre also engage in longer term projects, including full restorations of extremely rare aircraft. They also perform similar tasks for exhibits from the Hendon site, as well as being expert in the dismantling, transportation and assembly of historic aircraft, some of which can be as large as a WWII bomber. Significantly though, the centre provides a haven for some rapidly disappearing engineering and technical skills, expertise which was once commonplace on RAF airfields all over the world, but are now not needed with todays computer driven, throw-away approach. With skilled professionals and experienced former RAF engineers and technicians either employed or volunteering at the centre, a vibrant apprenticeship scheme is helping to ensure that a new breed of experts are being trained in the skills of a bygone era. This helps to maintain an enduring link to the men and women who worked on Britains military and civilian aircraft over the past 100 years and ensures our beloved museum exhibits will continue to receive first class maintenance support. These young engineers will also carry their skills forward, hopefully training future generations of apprentices and preserving the valuable knowledge passed on to them.

Preserving aviation history

For most people attending the latest Conservation Centre Open Week, the opportunity to inspect the latest developments in the restoration of two of the Centres highest profile projects would have been the main purpose of their visit, which usually dictated that both the Hampden and Wellington had sizeable crowds around them most of the time. For this reason, we will begin our review with something a little smaller and a little faster as far as former aircraft of the RAF are concerned.

Hawker Siddeley Gnat T.1 XR977

Cosfords famous Red Arrows Gnat has now made the journey down to Hendon to become the centrepiece of a new exhibition

As far as iconic aircraft of the Royal Air Force are concerned, the distinctive jets of the Red Arrows are arguably without equal, serving as airborne international ambassadors and much loved Airshow performers since 1965. Although most readers will be extremely familiar with the British Aerospace Hawk T.1s operated by the team since the 1980 display season, those of us who are a little longer in the tooth can remember the first aircraft the team used, the diminutive Folland (Hawker Siddeley) Gnat. Possessing exceptional manoeuvrability, the Gnat entered RAF service as a subsonic training jet in the late 1950s, although it was originally conceived as a cost effective, lightweight fighter. Perhaps the most striking feature of the aircraft is its small size  if you are ever fortunate enough to get close to a Gnat, you will probably be able to see over its fuselage and left wondering how they managed to squeeze two airmen into such a diminutive little jet.

This particular Gnat (XR977) made its first flight on 1st January 1964, before being delivered to No.4 FTS at RAF Valley the following month. After several eventful years providing RAF student pilots with an effective training platform, the aircraft joined the Red Arrows in April 1976 as Red 3, instantly becoming one of the highest profile aircraft in the Royal Air Force. The aircraft was still a member of the team when they performed their final public display using Gnats at RAF Valley in September 1979, before the Red Arrows re-equipped with their new Hawk jets the following year. Her final flight was to RAF Cosford in October the same year, when she was assigned to No.2 School of Technical Training for ground instructional use, before being transferred to the Aerospace Museum for public display, still wearing her iconic Red Arrows livery.

The Gnat has been undergoing a period of maintenance at Cosford in preparation for an exciting new future as a centrepiece attraction of next years RAF Centenary commemorations. Taking pride of place in a new Innovation display, sponsored by Rolls-Royce, the aircraft is intended to be mounted on an impressive plinth high above visitors at the Hendon site, with these famous flying colours destined to thrill thousands of future visitors. Marking the development of the jet engine and how Rolls-Royce have helped to power the RAF over the past 100 years, this new exhibition is scheduled to be a major attraction in the centenary year of the RAF. We were fortunate to catch the Gnat during our visit to Cosford, as it has now been transported by road to its new home at Hendon.

Westland Lysander Mk.III R9125

It is fascinating to see these historic aeroplanes in various states of renovation

One aircraft I was particularly hoping to see during my visit was Westland Lysander Mk.III R9125, an example of one of the Allies most distinctive reconnaissance and Army co-operation aircraft of WWII. One of several aircraft to make the recent trip from Hendon to Cosford, the Lysander had many enthusiasts scratching their heads, as she was the only one of the aircraft not to eventually go back on public display, despite being a popular exhibit whilst down at Hendon. It is now clear that the museum has taken the opportunity to conduct an in-depth inspection of the Lizzie, preparing her for future public display and ensuring she can be enjoyed by enthusiasts for many years to come.

In her current condition, the aircraft can be seen with her wings and undercarriage removed, large areas of interior fuselage exposed as well as open access to the engine. This is truly fascinating and helps to give visitors a better understanding of how talented the people are who originally built the aircraft, as well as the ones now charged with maintaining these magnificent machines. This particular Lysander was delivered to No.225 (Army co-operation) Squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain and was tasked with flying reconnaissance patrols along the south coast of England, searching for any signs of the expected German invasion. During its time with the Squadron, the aircraft flew 36 such sorties, in the hands of several different crews, but was later sent back to Westlands following the discovery of fatigue cracks on the engine mounting struts.

There was a lot of waiting around to get pictures of the Lysander without a crowd of admiring enthusiasts surrounding it

Hopefully R9125 will be back on public display very soon

Perhaps the most inspiring missions flown by RAF Lysanders were those engaged in clandestine Special Operations in support of agent deployment and recovery, along with flying supply missions to resistance fighters in France. It is known that this aircraft was on charge with No.161 (Special Duties) Squadron from the Autumn of 1944 and whilst it is likely she was involved in such flights, there is no definitive evidence to support this. She is, however, the only surviving Special Duties variant of the Lysander, having been equipped with a 150-gallon long-range fuel tank, extra oil tank, rear bench seat and fuselage mounted ladder, which allowed quick access to the rear cockpit area. After the war, this aircraft avoided the fate of so many former wartime aircraft and despite being passed around various RAF establishments, remained in relatively good condition. She arrived at the RAF Museum at Hendon for display in 1971, where she remained until making her recent northern trip. Hopefully, it will not be too long before we see her on display once more.

Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft (LVG) C.VI (7198/18)

When this aircraft was flying, it was the oldest original Great War German aircraft in Europe

From a much earlier era of aviation and indeed qualifying as one of the most historic aircraft in Britain today, this magnificent LVG C.VI was spotted at the far end of the hangar, with the area being restricted from public access. These majestic machines were reconnaissance and artillery spotting aircraft for the Imperial German Air Service from the final year of WWI and were highly regarded by crews due to their high rate of climb, excellent speed and manoeuvrability. This particular example (7198/18) was acquired by the RAF at the end of WWI and after being used in a series of performance trials, was handed to the Imperial War Museum for storage. Rediscovered in 1936, the aircraft was made airworthy to take part in the 1937 Hendon Air Pageant, only to spend the next few years once again in long term storage at several RAF stations around the country.

In 1959, the LVG was delivered to the Shuttleworth Collection on loan from the RAF Museum and began another lengthy period of restoration. This took longer that was originally anticipated and the aircraft would not make its first post restoration flight until September 1972, however this was the start of a glorious period in the history of this stunning aeroplane, as it would be the star of many Old Warden shows to come, often engaging in mock dogfights with the Collections Bristol Fighter. For many years, this was the only genuine original aircraft flying in Europe which had previously seen service with the Luftstreitkrafte in WWI and a jewel in the crown of the UK Airshow scene.

The beautiful LVG was hidden away in a workshop at the back of the Conservation Centre

Unfortunately, all good aviation things must come to an end and the agreement which saw this genuine WWI aircraft gracing Britains skies for many years was terminated in 2003. The final scheduled display was cancelled for insurance reasons and the aircraft was transported by road to the Conservation Centre at Cosford, where it would again undergo a period of restoration. This will not see the aircraft returned to airworthy condition, primarily as initial investigations revealed components had been used from two or three different machines in the structure of the aircraft, which was also now deemed too valuable to fly. Having never been fortunate enough to see this aircraft fly, I glad to have the opportunity to see the LVG during my latest visit to Cosford and will be excited to chart the progress of this significant project in the years to come.

Wellington Wonder  Vickers Wellington Mk.X MF628

The massive Vickers Wellington was a popular exhibit during my visit

Arguably the most impressive restoration project currently being undertaken by the staff and volunteer force at the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre, involves another former RAF Hendon resident, in the form of Vickers Wellington Mk.X MF628. One of only two complete examples of this important British bomber found anywhere in the world, this aircraft was built by Vickers Armstrong at their Squires Gate, Blackpool factory, making its first flight in 1944. Delivered to No.18 Maintenance Unit at RAF Tinwald Downs for storage just 3 days before D-Day, this Wellington would not see operational wartime service, but would be used as a crew trainer and navigational instruction aircraft following conversion to T.MK.X standard. This involved the removal of the front turret, replacing it with a painted over fairing and specialist navigational training equipment.

Before taking its place on display in the new RAF Museum at Hendon (which opened in November 1972), Wellington MF628 was used as a camera ship during the filming of the classic Dambusters movie. Following this, museum technicians re-installed the front Frazer-Nash turret, returning the aircraft at least visually to its original Mk.X configuration. After many years on display at Hendon, it was decided the Wellington should benefit from full long-term restoration, which required its disassembly and transportation by road to RAF Cosford. The massive fuselage of the aircraft arrived in Shropshire at the beginning of July 2010, with the wings, engines and propellers following on about ten days later. Corrosion found in the intricate geodetic construction of the wings and fuselage ensured this would be a complex and time-consuming project, but at this time, the corrosion issue has been resolved and one of the newly preserved wings has been re-covered in Irish linen, doped and painted in Bomber Command scheme. The engineers just have to repeat the process for the other wing, before starting on that massive fuselage  the Wellington could be in here for some time to come.

The Wellington is one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by the Conservation Centre

It was interesting to see the complexity of the Wellingtons geodetic construction

Although looking quite magnificent, there is still much work to do on the Wellington

Such an imposing sight  the mighty Wellington bomber

Even though there is a plethora of aviation delights currently in the Conservation Centre, the imposing sight of this stripped down Wellington fuselage is without doubt the most striking feature of any visit. In this state, it is fascinating to see how this important early war RAF bomber was constructed using the geodetic method invented by Barnes Wallis and it certainly leaves you with a great deal of admiration for the young men who took these machines to war. It is also clear to see just how much work the renovation team still have ahead of them, but when they have finished, they will have been involved in one of the most ambitious and impressive projects undertaken in the UK. I am sure that many Aerodrome readers will be keen to admire their handiwork once the mighty Wellington returns to public display.

Cosfords impressive Flying Suitcase  Handley Page Hampden TB Mk.I P1344

Looking absolutely magnificent, Cosfords extremely rare Handley Page Hampden

For many people attending the latest Conservation Centre open week, the chance to see the current progress on the long term restoration of Handley Page Hampden TB. Mk.I P1344 was the undoubted highlight of their visit. The most complete example of this unusual looking medium bomber/torpedo bomber in the world, the team at Cosford have worked wonders with this airframe, essentially undertaking a new build of the aircraft from original production drawings, using original parts wherever possible. As you can see from the pictures taken during our visit, the forward section of the Hampden is looking particularly impressive and certainly leaves everyone lucky enough to see it with the feeling that there is actually a chance we could see a complete example of this distinctive aircraft at some point in the future. It looks absolutely magnificent and was made all the more impressive by the fact that the museum staff had laid all the fuselage components in-line with each other, allowing an exciting representation of what the aircraft may look like once the restoration work is complete.

Tail section from the Hampden wreckage, showing the original paintwork and combat damage

The Hampdens tail section has been beautifully restored in preparation for its triumphant future roll out

Another early war British medium bomber type, Hampden P1344 entered RAF service at the end of 1939 with No.14 Operational Training Unit, but soon found itself back with the manufacturers undergoing modification to torpedo bomber standard. Now designated a TB Mk.I, the aircraft joined RAF Coastal Command and No.144 Squadron based at Leuchars on the east Scottish coast operating against enemy shipping in the North Sea. In September 1942, P1344 and the rest of 144 Squadron were transferred to a new operating base on the Kola Peninsula, near Murmansk, charged with protecting the Arctic convoy route from enemy attack. Carrying an increased crew of five on the outward journey and suffering from icing on-route, P1344 could not make sufficient height to clear high ground on their flightpath, so an alternative route had to be flown. Unfortunately, this took the aircraft perilously close to a Luftwaffe airfield and through a combination of ground fire and the attentions of two attacking Messerschmitt fighters, the Hampden crashed in a wooded area of the remote Kola Peninsula.

The Hampden team have done a magnificent job with this extremely rare aircraft

The restored cockpit section is a credit to the professionalism of the Conservation Centre staff and volunteers

Tragically, three of the aircrafts crew were killed during this incident, with the other two becoming German prisoners for the duration of the war. The aircraft itself lay undisturbed on the boggy ground for many years, until salvaged and purchased by a Warbird collector, later coming into the hands of the RAF Museum. The wreckage eventually arrived at Cosford in 2003, and after an extensive period of survey and catalogue work, the serious business of restoring this rare aircraft began in earnest. Interestingly, when looking at the original fuselage components, you can clearly see the bullet and shrapnel damage sustained by the aircraft during combat with the Luftwaffe on 4th September 1942. Once complete, this will be a magnificent tribute to the men of Bomber Command and the brave Hampden crews who fought so valiantly during the yearly years of WWII  it will also be one of only two complete examples in existence from a total production run of 1,430 aircraft produced. A massive undertaking, when this project eventually comes to fruition, it will be testament to the vision, hard work and determination of a relatively small number of people, but what they will have achieved will be nothing short of miraculous and a significant component in preserving Britains aviation heritage.

WarbirdsNews is really happy to have been able to share Michael Cleggs article with our own readers, and wish to thank him greatly for allowing us to do so. For anyone interested in Airfix model kits and other aspects of model building, Michael Clegg suggests the following

All the latest social media discussions regarding Aerodrome and aviation related matters in general are taking place on both the Airfix Aerodrome Forum and Corgi Aerodrome Forum, so why not consider contributing  as always, if you have any specific comments, questions or suggestions for future editions of Aerodrome, please do feel free to drop us a line and let us know. We also have our vibrant Airfix Facebook and Corgi Facebook pages, along with Airfix Twitter or Corgi Twitter accounts  please use #aerodrome when posting about an aerodrome topic.
CEDAR FALLS  Theres a new neighbor in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park  a 153,000-square-foot neighbor.

Furniture Mart USA of Sioux Falls, S.D., has opened its new $7.2 million Ashley Furniture distribution center at 2615 Capital Way, between Bossard-IIP and the Target Distribution Center.

The building will serve Ashley Furniture stores throughout Iowa, company officials said. The building isnt full of merchandise yet, but that will change as the company plans to add several new stores in the region, including one in Cedar Falls at a site yet to be determined.

Local online orders also are being served out of the warehouse.

Were excited to be there and looking toward the future, said Tom Kovash, vice president of the Ashley HomeStore Division of Furniture Mart USA.

The company also plans to construct a 20,000-square-foot outlet store within the warehouse, said local manager Todd Stewart. Work is anticipated to begin soon for an April opening.

It kinda starts things up until we get another brick and mortar store, Stewart said.

The warehouse will serve pretty much our whole state of Iowa, a little bit of Wisconsin, possible southern Minnesota. And theres room for expanding to the north on the 18-acre site. The company has stores in Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Dubuque, Davenport, Sioux City, Spirit Lake and a new store in Burlington.

The 25-bay warehouse, with four customer pickup doors, employs about 25 employees, and that could increase to more than 50, Stewart said. I wouldnt even say were 25 percent full, he said. Theres a lot of room for growth.

The project, approved by the city of Cedar Falls in the summer of 2016, has attracted a lot of interest.

Lot of traffic through the area here, Stewart said. Its going to be exciting once that (outlet) store finally opens, as well as the retail store. Anything you could probably imagine, we carry out here.

Stewart said city officials have been very responsive with assistance through the start-up process, and the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber has assisted in recruiting employees.

The transportation access is ideal, with U.S. Highway 20 and Interstate 380 close by, Stewart said.

The warehouse opened for business Nov. 27. A ribbon cutting will be 4 p.m. Thursday. More than 20 twin size mattress sets will be donated to local families as part of the companys Hope to Dream program, in which a portion of sales are devoted to providing beds for children in disadvantaged families.

The company received a partial property tax exemption under a development agreement with the city. The exemptions are expected to total $463,208 over six years, while the amount paid would be $772,012 during that time. The city also provided land for the warehouse. No incentives were extended for the proposed 25,000-square-foot Cedar Falls retail store.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo police officer who was demoted after an off-duty road rage encounter in 2016 will get his rank back.

In a decision released Friday, Arbitrator Hugh Perry ruled Corbin Payne should be reinstated as a lieutenant, turning what had been a two-rank demotion into a temporary one-year demotion.

Payne, 46, will be returned to the rank of lieutenant -- with full salary and benefits --- on Feb. 20, the one-year anniversary of his demotion.

Its the system we work within. I may not agree with the decision, but I abide by it, said Police Chief Daniel Trelka, who demoted Payne.

Waterloo officer appeals demotion in road rage incident WATERLOO  A Waterloo police officer who was acquitted in a 2016 road rage incident is appea

Payne was acquitted of criminal charges in a January 2017 trial, but a month later Trelka demoted Payne, who had been the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Forces lieutenant, down to the rank of patrol officer for violating rules regarding unbecoming conduct, unsatisfactory performance and use of force in connection with the incident.

Payne appealed the demotion to arbitration, and there was a two-day closed door hearing in May 2017. The police union, AFSCME Local 1195, argued the city overreacted considering Payne had about two decades of service with only one prior disciplinary action. The demotion meant a $24,000 pay difference per year, according to the ruling.

The arbitrator ruled the city had cause to demote Payne but concluded the permanent demotion was too harsh under the circumstances in light of his long and exemplary service.

Rather than a two rank demotion, a more appropriate and effective corrective remedy would be a temporary demotion to police officer for a set period with an appropriate reduction of pay and benefits followed by reinstatement to the rank of lieutenant, Perry wrote in his ruling.

Officers testify about off-duty actions in assault trial WATERLOO  A Waterloo police officer said he would never try to confront a reckless driver w

The incident that sparked the demotion happened June 12, 2016, when Payne was a passenger in a car driven by his wife, and a restaurant delivery driver sped up behind them, almost striking them.

Payne confronted the driver in the parking lot at Kimball and Ridgeway avenues, during which time the driver alleged Payne banged on the hood of his car and pulled him from the vehicle. Payne would later testify he had put out his hand to stop the driver, who was approached him aggressively.

A passerby shouted he was going to call the police, and Payne responded that he was the police and then left the scene, according to testimony in court.

Payne later called dispatch and used police databases to obtain information about the delivery driver, Trelka stated in his disciplinary report.

Payne was charged with misdemeanor assault in August 2016 and found not guilty at trial.
OSAGE -- Felony criminal mischief charges have been dropped against an Osage man and his mother accused of trashing a mobile home they rented.

Christopher Scott Arfman, 34, and his mother, Theresa Ann Becker, 56, were initially charged with felony second-degree criminal mischief for allegedly trashing a rented mobile home they shared, according to court documents.

According to an Osage Police Department criminal complaint, garbage was found throughout the home in the Triangle Trailer court, and an estimated cost of the cleanup was $8,955.90, which didn't include repairs to the property.

Charges against Becker were dropped in November 2017, and against Arfman earlier this month. No reason for why the charges were dropped was listed in court documents.
WATERLOO  Cost overruns on repairs to the Fourth Street bridge pedestrian canopy drove a lengthy debate over city policies on construction projects.

Waterloo City Council members ultimately voted 6-1 Tuesday to approve adding more than $91,000 to the original $1.48 million contract with Minturn Inc. of Brooklyn, Iowa, to refurbish the iconic 40-year-old structure.

Despite approving the payment, several council members questioned why they werent consulted before additional work was done, driving the price beyond what was approved in April.

Weve already paid out the money, and now were trying to get council approval, said Councilman Bruce Jacobs. Now we dont have a choice but to vote yes because  we of course want to keep our word.

Mayor Quentin Hart said he would work with staff on ways to keep council members in the loop on similar projects going forward.

He noted council members are routinely asked ahead of time to approve work changing the original scope of a project. But quantity adjustments, which are common in road and bridge construction projects, are usually tallied at the end of a project.

The increased expense on the canopy was due primarily to additional concrete repairs on the walls supporting the canopy. The contractor bid a price per square foot on the quantities estimated by the city, but square feet were more than expected.

Unfortunately you just cant see inside those concrete walls, said City Engineer Eric Thorson. We have bid items and unit prices so that if things go up or down, we can adjust accordingly and only pay for what actually gets done.

The project was funded by a $750,000 grant from the Black Hawk County Gaming Association, with the remainder coming from city general obligation bonds. There was a public debate last year over whether the project was worth the price.

Council members Margaret Klein, Sharon Juon and Chris Shimp were not on the council when the original project was approved but voted to approve the quantity adjustment and finalize the contract.

I never supported the canopy or the bridge repair in that way, Klein said. I thought it was more economical to pretty up the bridge in other ways. But now that the work has been done I feel it would be unfair to the contractor to let him sit holding the bag on this.

Juon added, Regardless of all this, the bridge looks wonderful.

Councilman Steve Schmitt voted against approving the change order.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items of interest for Jan. 16, 2018:

17 GUNS: The first week of the legislative session attracted big crowds to the Iowa Capitol for the Condition of the State, Judiciary and Guard speeches by Gov. Kim Reynolds, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady and Iowa Army National Guard Adjutant Tim Orr, respectively.

However, few people were carrying concealed weapons. Dave Garrison, who oversees security at the Capitol entrances, said 17 people passed through security gates carrying concealed weapons.

Under a law the Legislature approved in 2017, Iowa has joined 20 other states in allowing some form of legal firearm carry for either visitors, legislators, employees or all of the above.

Visitors to the Capitol can carry their weapons as long as they have concealed carry permits and their weapons are not visible.

TEXT TO FINE: House Study Bill 508, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ba=HSB508, would give Iowans the option of using a mobile payment system to pay fines for traffic violations, simple misdemeanor and other violations not requiring a court appearance.

People choosing to use the mobile payment system would pay a 6 percent fee on top of fines and court costs for the convenience, explained Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Marion, who chaired a three-member subcommittee that sent the bill to the full House Transportation Committee.

The mobile payment could result in more people paying their fines more quickly, which would help reduce the outstanding debt owed Iowas court system, according to Christopher Rants, who represents TextGov, which operates in several Georgia counties.

The total outstanding court debt owed to the state is $731.9 million, according to the Legislative Services Agency. Nearly $169 million, 23 percent, of that is traffic debt.

Current Iowa law requires the citations and complaints or information be delivered in person or by mail to the appropriate county office.

DEER HARVEST: Hunters reported harvesting 105,544 deer in Iowa for 2017, according to the state Department of Natural Resources data released after the deer seasons closed Jan. 10.

The 2017 total was up more than 4,100 from the previous year, an increase of about 4 percent.

DNR officials said the most deer were harvested during the shotgun seasons.

The 2017 total included 57,522 antlerless deer, a 3 percent increase, and 47,992 antlered deer, which was up about 6 percent from 2016, according to DNR officials.

NET NEUTRALITY: Attorney General Tom Miller has joined attorneys general in 21 states and the District of Columbia in a federal lawsuit challenging the Federal Communications Commissions decision last month to repeal net neutrality regulations.

Net neutrality rules the FCC passed in 2015 barred internet service providers from slowing or blocking the digital flow of content and applications, and from offering paid faster data channels, or lanes.

The repeal enables ISPs to give preferential treatment to some sites while blocking or reducing data speeds for others. It also enables ISPs to charge users to access specific content.

By repealing these rules, the FCC changed the so-called Internet of Things to the internet of kings, Miller said. Consumers and small businesses alike should expect no less than equal access to internet content. Unfettered data access shouldnt be a luxury  its a necessity thats vital to our nations economy and our states economy.
DECORAH  Power to the Polls, the second annual Decorah Womens March, will be Saturday, beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Mary Christopher Park in Decorah.

Participants will meet for an opening ceremony at the park before marching west through downtown Decorah to the Winneshiek County Courthouse. Everyone is welcome, and participants are encouraged to wear pink and/or red.

The year 2018 is a mission-critical year to get out the vote and support Iowa progressives, said organizers.

The gathering at the courthouse will include several speakers, including clergy and local candidates for state offices.

Speakers include Cerissa Snethen, a mother, writer and activist living in Decorah; Guy Nave , a professor of religion at Luther College in Decorah; Asha Aden of Rochester, Minn., a sophomore studying political science at Luther College; Tiwonge Chirwa, a Luther biology major originally from Malawi; Lori Egan, a candidate for Iowa House District 56; and Pranav Caton, a student from Decorah.

Voter registration volunteer/educator Carol Birkland will be on hand to provide information about voter registration. Forms and information will be available for the public regarding how to register to vote and what to take to the polls when they go to vote in November.
Reprinted from the Quad City Times Jan. 14.

The legal status of so-called dreamers, young illegal immigrants raised in the U.S., must be faced in a near vacuum. And congressional Democrats would be foolish if they refuse to give a little to get a deal done.Business and agriculture organizations in Iowa and Illinois have, for years, pined for sweeping changes to the American immigration system. Undocumented migrants comprise a massive percentage of the work force in dairy heavy states, such as Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and California. And theyre well represented in the pork industry in Iowa and Illinois, too, industry officials told us.

But, after the hard rights years-long campaign to demonize what they call amnesty, President Donald Trumps dream of accomplishing what his predecessors could not is little more than fantasy, a punji pit where the lives of recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) get impaled.

As with efforts to overturn Obamacare, Trumps total disengagement from the policy issues  and his desire to sign basically anything  means Congress would have to pull off a miracle without leadership from the top. Jan. 8, Trump, a man who campaigned on sweeping roundups and a massive border wall, contradicted himself. Speaking at a national meeting of farm bureaus in Nashville, Trump reverted to his campaign talking points. Only days later, in a truly bizarre, reality television-style negotiation with members of Congress, Trump then said hed sign legislation that included a pathway to citizenship and, in a moment of obvious confusion, even supported a clean DACA fix pitched by Senate Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Trumps inconsistency and abject lack of understanding have sowed widespread confusion among all interested parties.

(Trump) told us it was all about the wall. Were going to get that wall, said Adam Nielsen, chief lobbyist for Illinois Farm Bureau, who attended the Nashville conference. OK. Well, thats not what you just told those other people.

Illinois ranks third among the states for DACA recipients, with about 42,000 enrolled in the program, according to federal reports. Less than 3,000 young migrants in Iowa are enrolled in the program. Regardless of scale, however, DACA is a moral imperative. These are people who, for all practical purposes, know only an American way of life. They enrolled in college. They enlisted in the military. They work and pay taxes. They trusted a promise, made by the U.S. government that, by enrolling, they were not simply providing information that would be used, ultimately, to expel them.

Already, commingling DACA with sweeping immigration reform has had a negative effect. Late last week, the hardline House Freedom Caucus dug in its heels and proposed draconian legislation that would be a non-starter in the Senate. Trump further complicated things on Thursday when he reportedly went ballistic in a meeting with senators and, yet again, moved the goal posts.

Dreamers have until March, when Trumps decision late last year to rescind DACA takes effect. In practical terms, Democrats hold enough sway in the Senate to force the issue to a head in the coming days. A budget stalemate and a potential government shutdown are at stake.

But congressional Democrats would be foolish to play hardball here. Trump doesnt actually need his border wall, a solution no serious analyst or politician supports. He simply wants the ability to tell his base that he built a border wall, even if its more metaphorical than physical and funded by the American taxpayer instead of Mexico.

Trumps earlier pledge to rubber stamp almost anything and the looming DACA deadline presents an opportunity for legitimate bipartisan compromise on Capitol Hill. Legislation drafted this past week by a bipartisan group of senators would provide a DACA fix while also giving conservatives the cash for security they want. Senate Democrats would be wise to take seriously bills, such as this, as the alternatives in the House are intended solely to scuttle the entire endeavor. Lawmakers in the House could, for once, dodge the freedom caucus all together and meet in the middle for a DACA fix, too.

Anything more, in this moment, is dead on arrival and only detracts from the real issue at hand.
The Alianza de Oposicion in Honduras says it will accept Juan Orlando Hernandez's offer of dialogue if there is an international mediator. Further, it called for protests and blocking highways on January 20, which is inauguration day, that would go almost a week.



In an open letter addressed to both Hernandez and Nasralla, the Honduran episcopate stressed the importance of transparent communication between the parties and all sectors of society. The religious delegation stated the absence of dialogue was the actual cause of the nations current political crisis.

...

The congregation of bishops suggested a respectful, earnest and fair exchange between the two politicians to give proof to their love of the Honduran people. This meeting should avoid awarding concessions to either party in order to quell the region's anxiety and settle on a solution which best suits the society.

But where does this go? A statement from the Honduran Bishops' Conference helps explain the dilemma.This does not bear much resemblance to reality. A lawless elite power grab was the actual cause of the crisis, not absence of dialogue. And dialogue that never involves concessionsmeans favoring Juan Orlando Hernandez and the status quo.So what is the point of the dialogue? The protests apply pressure, but for what? The Alianza says that in the short term, it is about examining all the election evidence. In the long term, however, it is the creation of an "Asamblea Nacional Constituyente Originaria" and specifically that JOH is removed from power.It stands to reason that the dialogue will focus on the election itself. This is an uphill battle since the government and the army currently have no interest in revisiting it. The army claims the protesters aren't even Honduran!Inevitably, JOH will be looking for signals from the United States, where he will see John Kelly winking at him in approval (I doubt Kelly is a winking person, but whatever). There is no public regional pressure that I have discerned, and Mexico has already congratulated JOH. The OAS has been loud but it has no leverage.All the Alianza has right now is protest so it's primary challenge is to avoid protest fatigue. It will be hard enough to convince the army that it should pressure the government, and it will be impossible if the protests fizzle out. Honduras is not Venezuela but it's poor and people cannot afford simply not to work for days on end. Convincing them that real change is possible is tough--that's just not what Honduran political history has taught them.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 17, 2018 | 11:23 AM | PADUCAH, KY

A local welcome center could see its state funding eliminated under Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's proposed budget.

The governor is proposing spending cuts of more than six percent across most of state government and one of the many programs proposed for elimination is funding for Whitehaven.

Bevin's office announced the cuts in a news release Tuesday as he began giving a speech to a joint session of the General Assembly. Bevin called the cuts "significant yet strategic" and said they include the elimination of 70 programs. However, per pupil funding for public education was not cut.



Whitehaven, located along I-24 in Paducah, is the only historic house in America to be restored as an interstate tourist welcome center. Rescued from possible destruction in 1981 by Paducah Community College, the estate home survived and in March 1984 was listed on the National Register of Historic Placed by the United States Department of Interior.

Bevin said during an interview Wednesday morning on the Greg Dunker Show that budget cuts are necessary to shore up the state's ailing pension and education systems. He stressed that his primary concern is eliminating extraneous costs in order to maintain the core responsibilities of state government.





Bevin continued by saying, "It's not pretty, it's not fun. You don't get to cut ribbons by doing these things, but it's the right thing to do. The people of Kentucky deserve this and this is exactly what we're going to focus on."







"It's time to be financially responsible in Kentucky, and that means focusing on the real role of government," Bevin said. "Government is here to protect the vulnerable, it is here to provide infrastructure, and it's here to educate our young people, that's it. Everything else is extra. Those are the primary foundational points. That's what we're gonna focus on."
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jan. 10, 2018 | FRANKFORT, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 10, 2018 | 06:05 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A Kentucky House committee on Wednesday approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Gerald Watkins that would toughen the penalty for people who attempt to murder a police officer or firefighter.



Watkins posted a Facebook photo of himself Wednesday afternoon with two Covington Police Dept. detectives, the President of the Kentucky Sheriffs Association, and the President of the Kentucky Firefighters. The photo was taken after the bill passed through committee on a unanimous vote.



The measure would require suspects to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before being eligible for probation or parole. Watkins said if there is no serious injury, current law requires the suspect to serve only a minimum of 20 percent of the sentence.



Several police officers and firefighters testified on behalf of the bill,



Pendleton County Sheriff Craig Peoples said, "We believe that this bill is important for law enforcement across the Commonwealth, due to the day and age of the attacks that we're getting from citizens or criminals across the state. We feel that this is important to set a precedence, and let criminals know that it's not time to have open season on law enforcement officers."



The bill now goes to the full House.
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Putin tells an old yarn from the Soviet era about bureaucratic unpredictability: Just one variation of transcript below. Video is actually Putin



An American spy goes to Lubyanka (the headquarters of the Soviet secret police in Moscow) and says:

 Im a spy, I want to turn myself in.

 Who do you work for?

 America.

 OK, go to room 5.

He goes to room 5 and says:

 Im an American spy. I want to turn myself in.

 Are you armed?

 Yes, Im armed.

 Go to room 7, please.

He goes to room 7 and says:

 I am an American spy, Im armed, I want to turn myself in.

 Go to room 10.

He goes to room 10 and says:

 Im a spy, I want to turn myself in!

 Do you have any communication with the Americans?

 Yes.

 Go to room 20.

He goes to room 20 and says:

 Im a spy, Im armed, Im in communication with America and I want to turn myself in.

 Have you been sent on a mission?

 Yes.

 Well? Get out and go do it! Stop bothering people while theyre working!
Steam generators installed at second Belarus unit

16 January 2018

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All four steam generators have been installed at unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Ostrovets in Belarus, the plant owner, Belarus NPP, announced today. The large items of equipment have been placed in their designated positions inside the reactor building, it said.

One of the four steam generators being lifted into place at second Belarus unit

(Image: Belarus NPP)

Each 330-tonne steam generator was lifted onto the ramp extension and moved on rails via the equipment airlock into the reactor building, news agency BelTA said. Then a polar crane placed the steam generators into position.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant is being built using the Russian VVER-1200 AES-2006 design. The first unit is scheduled for commissioning next year, with the second unit to be brought online in 2020.

The Ostrovets plant - the first nuclear power plant to be built in Belarus - consists of two VVER-1200 type reactors to give 2340 MWe net capacity on line.

An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Belarus specifically on cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus was signed in March 2011.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Arcadia Lithium Project identified as a priority project by New Zimbabwe Government under its Rapid Results Initiative



New Zimbabwe Government gives Priority Status to Arcadia

Perth, Jan 17, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Prospect Resources Ltd ( ASX:PSC ) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's Arcadia Lithium Deposit has been identified as a priority mining development project by the Office of the President and Cabinet of Zimbabwe.



By way of background, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has been tasked to identify certain projects to be implemented under the new Zimbabwe Government's first 100 days programme using the Rapid Results Initiative.



The Company's Arcadia Lithium project has been identified as one of those key projects within Zimbabwe that can help turnaround the economy.



The board is encouraged by the strong support being offered by the Government of Zimbabwe to fast track Arcadia. Prospect will be represented by members of the Zimbabwe and Australian team at the Mining Indaba Conference in Capetown, where we look forward to promoting Prospect Resources and its Arcadia Lithium Deposit. We will also be working in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to highlight the new business friendly environment of Zimbabwe.





About Prospect Resources Ltd





Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC) is based in Australasia with operations in Zimbabwe and is a publicly listed company. We are committed to creating value for Prospect's shareholders and the communities in which our company operates. Our vision is to build a Southern African based mining company of international scale.
Thousands of Muslims who go on Haj pilgrimage each year will no longer get subsidised or cheaper air tickets. The Union government finally has withdrawn Haj Subsidy being given to Muslims annually. Every year, the Central government will save around Rs 700 crore in subsidy and the same funds would be used for Muslim girl child education. The big move would help empower Muslims with dignity. One should believe in empowerment without appeasement.

The Haj subsidy traces its origins to the British colonial era. In 1932, the British colonial government enacted The Port Haj Committees Act, which provided for government funded Haj Committee and named Bombay and Calcutta as two embarkation points for Haj by Muslims in British India. Along with Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, the Haj Committees Act was one of a series of laws passed by the British colonial government to address Muslim demands in a riot torn, pre-partition South Asia. Then the colonial government also granted a monopoly for sea-based Haj pilgrimage by South Asian Muslims to Mogul Line ships, owned by the British company Turner Morrison & Co. Ltd.

In 1959, Indian government repealed and replaced the 1932 Act, enacting Haj Committee Act, to establish a Committee in the Port of Bombay for assisting Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan and for matters connected therewith. The purpose of this Act was to manage all affairs of pilgrims like disseminating information, to negotiate travel arrangements, arranging guides, helping the needy and to address grievances of pilgrims.

The Haj subsidy was modified in 1973, when the Indian government abolished sea travel as a means of making the Haj for two reasons  rising oil prices after formation of OPEC and a ship accident that killed 39 pilgrims in June 1973 during the government managed Haj trip. The government of India replaced the means of travel to Saudi Arabia from ships to aircraft. The government simultaneously increased the subsidy to cover the difference between sea and airfares.

With the changing time and many amendments, the Ministry of Civil Aviation started providing subsidy for air travel to the pilgrims through the Haj Committee of India. The amount on air travel charged per pilgrim during Haj 2014 was Rs 35,000 whereas the actual air fare ranged from Rs 63,750 to Rs 1,63,350 depending on the embarkation point in India which were always higher than normal charges of air tickets. For Haj-2015, an amount of Rs 42,000 was charged as airfare from each pilgrim performing Haj through HCOI. The subsidy amount was Rs 836.56 crores in 2012 to Rs 680.03 crores in 2013. In 2014, it had further reduced to Rs 533 crores.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of India ordered that Haj subsidy must end by 2022. The Supreme Court found that Haj by Indian Muslims is funded to a substantial extent by the Indian Government. The Court ruled that this subsidy is not only unconstitutional but also inconsistent with the teachings of Quran. The Court cited Quran verse 97 in Surah 3, Al-e-Imran ordains as under: In it are manifest signs (for example), the Maqam (place) of Ibrahim (Abraham); whosoever enters it, he attains security. And Haj (pilgrimage to Makkah) to the House (Kabah) is a duty that mankind owes to Allah, those who can afford the expenses (for ones conveyance, provision and residence); and whoever disbelieves [i.e. denies Haj (pilgrimage to Makkah), then he is a disbeliever of Allah], then Allah stands not in need of any of the Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists).

The Supreme Court, in its 2012 order, said that the Centre should invest that amount in education and other development measures for the minority community, also directed the Indian government to stop providing Haj subsidies to Muslims identified by central government as very important person (VIP), very very important person (VVIP), and the special dignitaries and eminent persons nominations of 3,000 Muslims per year under so-called Goodwill Delegation to Saudi Arabia.

In August 2010, the Minority Affairs Ministry formally opposed providing subsidy for Haj pilgrimage, saying the scheme, was contrary to the teachings of Islam. The Government of India has proposed that starting from 2011, the amount of government subsidy per person will be decreased and by 2017, it will be eliminated completely.

Since 2000, over 1.5 million Muslims have used the subsidy; since 2008, over 120,000 Indian Muslim every year make use of the subsidy. The Haj subsidy includes an airfare subsidy as well as assistance to Muslim pilgrims for domestic travel to reach specially designed Haj departure airport terminals, meal, medical care and lodging assistance provided by the Government of India. In a Central Haj Committee meeting in November 2017, it was decided that Haj subsidy will be completely phased out in 2018 and funds will be utilised on educational programmes especially for girl children of the minority community. On January 16, 2018 Union minister for minority affairs said that the Haj subsidy has been completely taken off (Rs 700 crore) and this amount will be made used for educational purposes of the children belonging to minority. After Triple Talaq, indeed this was another strong move to say no to appeasement and move towards progress.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Actor Kareena Kapoor Khan will be the showstopper for fashion designer Anamika Khanna at Lakme Fashion Week Summer-Resort 2018.

Anamika will bring down the curtains to the upcoming fashion week with her collection Reinventing Nudes.

The designer, who has often dressed Bollywood celebrities, said choosing the actor was an easy choice.

For this one its simple, its Kareena Kapoor. Shes the face of Lakme, Anamika told PTI.

The designer, known for her work with rich craftsmanship that blends Indian colours with global contours, said there is a need to look at the nude palette from a different perspective, especially in a country where there are diverse skin tones.

When the rest of the world has it all why should we lag behind? For India, nudes is an absolutely new phenomenon. When we talk about reinvention, we need to see that we live in a country so vast that has so many complexions  from the very whites to extreme darks.

What is interesting to see is that there is something for everybody (in this collection), which I feel is actually reinvention.

Its not the same for everyone. So, every skin tone will have a nude shade for them, Anamika said.

The fashion gala runs from January 31 to February 4.
The Modi governments decision to withdraw Haj subsidy has received flak from the Muslim community. Though, a big part of Muslim population appeared to be positive about the govt decision as they favoured the welfare of community over Haj subsidy. But, according to many, Haj pilgrims didnt receive any benefit from the subsidy and it was meant for bailing out Air India which is incurring heavy losses. They questioned the timing of the governments decision to abolish the subsidy when Supreme Court had asked the government to withdraw it in a phased manner by 2022. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said that the government was merely deceiving Muslims as they were not granted any concession while travelling for Haj pilgrimage. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Party president Asaduddin Owaisi stated that the government was only trying to appease Hindus prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by abolishing the subsidy. Some outfits asked that will government stop offering financial grant for pilgrimage undertaken by people belonging to other religions. Lump sum amount is spent by the centre for organising four Kumbh melas held in Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. The centre had incurred an expenditure of Rs 11.5 billion on the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad whereas the Maharashtra government had spent 25 million for the Nashik kumbh.

Abu Azmi, Samajwadi Party MLA asked why the government took this decision in haste when the deadline for ending Haj subsidy is 2022. He said, The grant for subsidy was around Rs 700 crore initially which has now been reduced to Rs 200 crore in 2017. According to Islam, Haj is compulsory for those who can afford to go for it so that they need not borrow money from anyone.

Azmi further stated that the subsidy was just an eyewash and it was meant for bailing out Air India. Why should the government decide about which airline people will travel for Haj pilgrimage? Muslims should have the liberty to book air tickets at cheap rates for undertaking the pilgrimage. The government must scrap subsidy offered to other religions and utilise the amount for the welfare of farmers and development work, he added.

Alhaj Shaikh Ebrahim Gulam Nabi, Former Chairman of Maharashtra State Haj Committee said that despite the Haj Committee urging the government to refrain from ending Haj subsidy this year, the government had gone ahead with its decision to eliminate it. He said, The government has abolished Haj subsidy this year itself when it had received orders from the Supreme Court to gradually end it by 2022. The expected Haj subsidy for pilgrims in 2017 was Rs 380 crore but the government had allotted only Rs 200 crore. Haj pilgrims had derived benefit from the subsidy granted to them. Haj Committee had requested the government to float global tender allowing other airlines to carry Haj pilgrims but they turned a blind eye towards it.

When asked about the governments plan to use the money saved through abolition of Haj subsidy for development work he replied, The government already have enough funds for carrying out welfare activities. According to me the government should continue to offer subsidies to pilgrimage activities of every religion. The government has allocated huge funds for the construction of Shivaji memorial in Arabian Sea. The Haj Committee had sought governments permission for buying a chartered plane. We had planned to use the plane on lease for 10 months and for undertaking Haj pilgrimage for two months but we received no feedback from the government.

Nawab Malik, NCP spokesperson said, After the Supreme Court order Haj subsidy was definitely going to be scrapped by 2022. Haj pilgrims never benefitted out of the subsidy and it was meant to keep the Air India afloat. I dont think Muslims will face any hardship due to the withdrawal of the subsidy. If the government is really concerned about the welfare of Muslims then the government must first offer reservation to them as per the directive issued by the Bombay High Court.

On the other hand, the government defended the stand taken by it on Haj subsidy and said that it was meant for empowering the Muslim community without appeasement. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the money saved will be utilised for providing education to minorities. Naqvi added that despite the abolishment of subsidy, 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake pilgrimage this year. The minister also said that efforts are being taken by government to reduce the cost of travel by Haj pilgrims. He said the Saudi government has permitted Indians to go to Haj via sea route.
Former Test paceman Mitchell Johnson, who was set to make debut for the Karachi Kings in the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL), has been ruled out of the tournament because of personal reasons.

Johnson took to his Twitter account and confirmed that he is making himself available for the upcoming PSL.

Yes I am making myself unavailable this PSL18 for personal reasons and also for me to schedule myself the way I feel works best for me this year for 20/20 tournaments. These are the only reasons for me not playing.

I wish KK the best for the season, he tweeted.

The 36-year-old had a successful Big Bash League (BBL) last time and he continued to display impressive performance this season as well for Perth Scorchers, finishing as the joint second-highest wicket-taker for the team by picking up seven wickets in the tournament so far at an economy rate of 5.67.

Johnsons absence might come as a major blow to Karachi Kings bowling attack, which could also miss the services of Pakistans Usman Khan, who was sidelined for six months due to back injury, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The third edition of the PSL is set to begin on February 22. All matches will be played at four venues  Dubai, Sharjah, Lahore, and Karachi.

Karachi Kings will begin their campaign against Quetta Gladiators on February 23 in Dubai.
Two days after Pravin Togadias mysterious disappearance and subsequent hospitalisation in an unconscious condition, Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday expressed his concerns over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working presidents safety in the Bharatiya Janata Partys rule.

Patel took to his Twitter page and said, Pravin Togadia was safe during Congress reign, but today, under BJP rule, he feels unsafe and insecure.

On Tuesday, Patidar leader and Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia met Togadia in the hospital.

Togadia alleged that attempts were being made to frame him in different cases.

Meanwhile, on addressing the media, Togadia moved to tears, claiming that efforts have been made to silence his voice and not let him speak on the issues like the Ram temple, welfare schemes for farmers and the law on cow slaughter.

Togadias remark came a day after he had reportedly gone missing and was later found admitted in a hospital in Gandhinagar.

He said that someone might be trying to get him killed in a fake encounter.

Earlier in the week, Togadia, who was traced to Chandramani Hospital in Shahibuag area in Gandhinagar, was detected with low blood sugar.

Lack of knowledge regarding Togadias whereabouts created a ruckus in the state, as the VHP workers laid a siege on the Sola police station, shouted slogans, and blocked traffic on the main Sarkehj-Gandhinagar highway.

On a related note, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court earlier in January had issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against Togadia and 38 others, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Daskroi (Ahmedabad), Babu Jamnadas Patel, in a 1996 attempt to murder case.
India started vaccinating children against Hepatitis-B in 2011. It is given at birth to babies born in hospitals. However, because many babies are delivered at home, outside of healthcare settings, the government introduced the pragmatic programme schedule of HBV vaccination, wherein the vaccine is given starting at six weeks to children born outside such health-care settings.

Most babies are naturally immune to Hepatitis-B infection due to passive transfer of antibodies from the mother.

Hepatitis-B virus (HBV) can cause chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and lead to hepato-cellular carcinoma (HCC) in susceptible persons.

"We found birth dose was not needed as infection rates were the same regardless of birth dose," says Jacob Puliyel the study's primary author and a pediatrician at St. Stephens Hospital in Delhi.

The study, whose findings have been published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics, was done to look at whether Hepatitis-B vaccination at birth was crucial for India.

The study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) lends support to the government's pragmatic approach to vaccinate babies born at home starting at six weeks instead of at birth.

By Jacob Puliyel MD MRCP M Phil A large multi-centre study done in North India shows that many newborns are protected at birth by natural antibodies to Hepatitis-B and so Hep-B vaccination at birth is not necessary.

The ICMR had launched this study to look at hepatitis-B infection rates in children vaccinated at birth compared to those vaccinated starting at six weeks.

The study involved 2671 children from participating centres in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Gujarat of whom 880 were fully immunised starting at birth and 686 were fully immunised but without the birth dose.

The study found that infection rate was similar even in those babies not given the birth dose thereby supporting the Government's pragmatic programme.

The researchers also found high protective antibodies in children before vaccination indicating that missing the birth dose does not cause much problem. "These natural antibodies may also be the reason why the hepatocellular cancer (HCC) rate in India is very low," says Puliyel who is also a member of the government's technical advisory board on immunization.

The conclusions of the study in North India support that of another large ICMR study conducted in Andhra Pradesh in South India reported in 2014 which also reported the presence of Hepatitis-B antibodies in children before vaccination.

The fact that a good number of unvaccinated babies had high levels of antibody suggest it could be protecting some babies early in life, at a time when they are vulnerable to develop chronic hepatitis.

However mothers in highly immunized communities have lower Hepatitis-B antibody levels as vaccine induces lower antibody levels than natural infection and the antibody levels of vaccinated cohorts are no longer boosted by exposure to wild-type infection. Babies born to these mothers will correspondingly have lower levels of antibodies, says Puliyel. "Therefore, paradoxically, nation-wide Hepatitis-B vaccination may reduce natural antibody transfer to newborns and there is a possibility it may increase incidence of HCC instead of reducing it."

He however cautions that more studies are needed to confirm this before changes in immunization practice can be recommended.

[This press release has been written with help from an experienced science reporter]

The article can be accessed here. The Abstract is below.

http://rdcu.be/EpEZ

Ab str ac t

Object ive In Ind ia, Hep atitis B vacc inati on is recomm ended at 6 wk except for hos pit al-del iverie s. The author s exa mined

pr otec tion af fo rded by the bi rt h do se .



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a subs et of 14 13 ch ildr en. V ac cina tion hi stor y wa s reco rded . Case s w ere HB sA g ca rr iers . In anot he r anal ys is , ch ildr en wh o go t

in fect ed (H BsAg an d/or HBc Ab po siti ve ) we re cons ider ed as ca ses. Exp os ed w ere th e un vacc in at ed. In an othe r an alys is , ex po sed we re th os e va ccin ated wi thou t th e bi rth dose .








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U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland made the announcement of Vancouver dialogue to take place on 16 January to deal with North Korean (DPRK) nuclear crisis. Countries like South Korea and Japan are also participating as they are directly under threat from DPRK. Astonishingly, India is pitching in the conference discussing ways to improve the effectiveness of the current pressure campaign against the reclusive nation. India however in the dialogue would also be going to hold China and Pakistanboth nuclear power nationsresponsible for the rise of DPRKs nuclear tests and ballistic missile programmes.

As, DPRK continues to push forward with its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme. One needs to unfold some pages from the past where reports found the embarrassing India-North Korean connection.

From the past few weeks, the banner headlines in every international newspaper are oddly enough propagating against Pakistan by linking it with DPRK. Of such stupidities, the only benefit one can have is to create a wrong linkage by such slow poisoning. Its neither impossible to know, neither hard to guess that Pakistan has a very clean chit of handling the nuclear business in a safe and sound environment.

Lest you missed it, International media off and on and India especially on a number of occasions has been forcing to seek probe into nuclear proliferation links between Pakistan, DPRK. There is no real secret to what happened where interestingly, Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mr Khan, who has been described as a serious proliferation risk by the United States after being accused of passing on his knowledge to countries  like North Korea  which Washington regards as a rogue state, said: I have nothing to do with it and Pakistan has nothing to do with it. All the western countries you see the nuclear technology Pakistan did not develop. Pakistan also acquired it from the western countries. They [North Korea] are also getting it from the western countries.

Now pulling back, the excitement would be dismaying, and its a hot mess to worry about India and DPRK connections. India has been one of the biggest trading partners of North Korea and their bilateral trade continues to grow. Both India and DPRK share a long history of trade links and cordial diplomatic ties. Not only has this stopped India, where UN Security Council Resolution 1874,passed in 2009, prohibited financial transactions with North Korea, which could contribute to DPRKs nuclear. India was DPRKs third largest trade partner in 2015-16.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1718, passed in 2006 clearly prohibits all UN Member States to stop any collaboration with DPRK in any form that can lead to its missile development and nuclear completion program. May it be by their nationals or from their territories, or from the DPRK by its nationals or from its territory, of technical training, advice, services or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of missiles, missile systems or other items, materials, equipment, goods and technology, ballistic missile or other weapons of mass destruction related program.

WELL, weve got round to admit the obvious, India was the only country thatprovided technical training for DPRK students in their institute, Center for Space Science and Technology in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP) located in Dehradun after the UN issued its first set of sanctions against DPRKs nuclear program in 2006.

But the episode is more revealing.

Before the UN discovered this disclosure of relation in 2016, DPRK students were getting training it marked a disturbing fact that 30 students already got assistance on matters related to training courses that could greatly assist the development of Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programs, satellite communications training and instructions for launch vehicle testing.

It remains no secret where one wonders how the country acquired its scientific know-how that has allowed it to progress so quickly. But importantly India must acknowledge the error they have committed in training DPRK scientists and publicly commit that they were the pioneer in enabling DPRK nuclear programme thenceforth.

Furthermore, there are number of occasions where Indian entities have been placed under nonproliferation sanctions. Initially, in 1992 the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was sanctioned, the last entity, as of April 2017, to be placed under these sanctions was Balaji Amines in 2006 (sanctions lifted in 2008) under the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000.

Hence withal, there are number of events that are easy to found where India has been a culprit. International community must questions the credentials India has on non-proliferation rather than ignoring this real business. And one must also scrutinise the nuclear related activities India has with number of countries around the world. This is imperatively important to ponder upon as New Delhi is striving hard to get in to Nuclear Supplier Group cartel that was also a creation of its own deeds.

Indias credentials on non-proliferation must be questioned, and the international community should scrutinise the countrys nuclear related activities further. This is imperative because New Delhi is striving hard to gain membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a cartel that was created in 1975 owing to Indian proliferation that led to its first nuclear weapons test in 1974.

About the writer:

Usman Ali Khan

Pursuing M.Phil degree at the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad



Freelance writer and blogger


The United Nations' Shameful Treatment of Persecuted Christians

Discriminatory policies and negligence within the United Nations are aggravating a crisis among Christians in the Middle East. Over one million Iraqi and Syrian Christians have fled their homes and remain displaced as a result of radical Islamic terrorism and the bloody Syrian civil war. Unknown to most, Christians across the Middle East regularly face persecution and violence for their faith. UN refugee camps remain unsafe for Syrian Christians to enter, and most Iraqi Christians who have fled their country have yet to gain official refugee status. This failure to recognize and reform these problems is disgraceful. The Trump administration should force the United Nations to take all necessary steps to ensure that persecuted Christians are treated with dignity. These reforms should include formally granting displaced Iraqi Christians an expedited refugee status, creating refugee camps specifically for persecuted Christian minorities from Iraq and Syria, and cracking down on radical Islamic extremism within existing refugee camps.

Christians in Iraq and Syria fled in record numbers as over one million individuals sought safety from the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 and the bloody Syrian Civil War in 2011. Families who fled both countries have been confronted with new problems after barely escaping total war and radical Islamic terrorism. For starters, Syrian Christian refugees who arrived at UN refugee camps discovered that these camps were not safe for them to enter. Nowhere is this better illustrated than with the Zaatari Refugee camp in Jordan. Zaatari, the largest Syrian refugee camp in the Middle East with over 80,000 residents, does not host a single Christian family. Christians are not technically barred from these camps but face violence and persecution from Islamic radicals if they dare enter. Worse, the United Nations does not offer any additional protection for Christians despite this danger being a known fact. Since Christians do not reside in camps, they often struggle to obtain the basic necessities granted to refugees such as food and aid. This inaction is shameful. The situation for Iraqi Christians remains just as bleak. ISIS combatants began to flood across the border to Iraq as the Syrian Civil War began to spill over in July 2014. Iraqi security forces put up little fight as less than 1,500 ISIS fighters easily defeated over 30,000 Iraqi troops during the fall of Mosul. These radical Islamic fighters began gobbling up historically Christian towns and territories at rapid speed. Chaos ensued as over 100,000 Iraqi Christians fled their homes virtually overnight. Families who were forced to stay were given a brutal ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay heavy religious taxes, or perish. Worse, Mosul, which hosted one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, was obliterated and remains scattered to this day. To this point, the United Nations has refused to allow displaced Iraqi Christians to obtain expedited refugee status. This is the case even as foreign policy experts and humanitarian activists sounded the alarm on ISIS' genocidal campaign against Christians. The blockade at the UN is largely due to Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime, who refuse to allow any resolution through the UN Security Council that would subject Syria to international intervention (as it was with several resolutions that Russia blocked with its veto right). Official UN recognition of "being subject to genocide" is what displaced Iraqi Christians need to be considered refugees. Without this designation, the United Nations can continue to refuse them support. This situation can also be attributed to the previous administration's failed foreign policy agenda. President Obama embraced a "leading from behind" approach to foreign policy throughout his eight-year tenure. This approach had severe consequences for Iraq and Syrian Christians as radical Islamic groups rampaged across the region. Furthermore, the Obama administration took no action in helping displaced Christians and allowed the United Nations' status quo to remain. Thankfully, the Trump administration has made helping displaced Christians a top priority. President Trump has taken aggressive action to combat radical Islamic terrorist groups and hold regimes accountable who persecute Christians such as Iran. What's more, Vice President Mike Pence made the historic declaration that the U.S. will bypass the United Nations and give aid directly to Christians. "We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups," Pence noted during the speech. While these actions are refreshing, there is still more to be done. Islamic extremists continue to control significant areas of the region, and Christians face persecution, violence, and death. Christians from Iraq and Syria who have been forced to flee their homes remain in hiding and have no safe place to settle. Christians must continue to lobby the Trump administration to take further actions and force the United Nations to help displaced Christians. The future of Middle Eastern Christianity depends on it.

Alexander W. Titus is a Fellow with The Public Interest Fellowship in Washington, DC.
China Southern Cargo Airlines has put online the airside operations section of its tracking system, which is based primarily on bar-code technology.

The 38 sections of the system now cover all the air transport processes in cargo and mail, with the cargo information instantaneously trackable said a spokesperson for the carrier. The system has been updated more than 40 times since going live in May 2015.

Zhao Fengsheng, head of China Southern Cargo, said: With this system we can track the status of the cargo real-time during all processes of transport. It makes our ground operation safer and more efficient, thus playing an important role in enhancing our competitiveness.

Currently, the system covers various processes such as consignment, security check, and loading improving the efficiency of ground operation "by at least 10% said the spokesperson.

He added: With the adaptation of this system, China Southern Cargo can track and manage the status of every [item of ] freight and feed back to the customers in real time.

The tracking and management system is currently used in the Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Haikou, Urumqi, Harbin, Guiyang, and Changchun self-operated freight stations.

Throughout 2018, China Southern Cargo Airlines will continue to widen use of the system to other self-operated freight stations.

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Daily Report Edited by Brian W. Everstine with Gideon Grudo, Steve Hirsch and Amy Hudson

USAF Deploys All Three Bomber Variants to Guam

Six B-52s and about 300 airmen are deploying to Andersen AFB, Guam, to take over the continuous bomber presence mission in the Pacific. The B-52s, from Barksdale AFB, La., will replace six B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., as they wrap up their deployment later this month, according to a Pacific Air Forces release. Additionally, three B-2 Spirits deployed to Guam last week to support the Pacific deterrence mission. With a B-52 touching down at Andersen on Jan. 16, according to a PACAF photograph accompanying the announcement, all three bomber variants are at the base for the first time since August 2016 and for just the second time in USAF history. While at Andersen, the B-52s will provide a credible, strategic power projection platform, according to a Pacific Air Forces release. During their deployment, the Ellsworth B-1s flew multiple deterrence flights to the Korean Peninsula, along with participating in training exercises with Australia, South Korea, and Japan. Since 2004, the Air Force has kept a constant deployment of strategic bombers at Andersen. Brian Everstine

Thornberry Urges Congress to Pass a Defense Budget Not Weighed Down by Other Issues

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) Tuesday criticized members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who acknowledge the need for more defense spending, but tie it to other issues, such as continuing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program. If your sister or brother is a pilot who needs to be trained for a major military engagement on the Korean Peninsula, you are telling that person, you cant have the training you need, you cant have the planes fixed until we get a DACA deal, he said. Read the full story by Steve Hirsch.

Ohio Guard F-16s Deploy to Estonia

Twelve F-16s and about 300 airmen from the Ohio National Guard, along with 75 airmen from Shangdahlem AB, Germany, deployed to Estonia as a theater security package. While at Amari AB, the F-16s will fly about 60 missions per week training with regional allied nations, according to US Air Forces in Europe. Deploying our F-16s to Estonia shows our ability to fly missions out of different locations around the world, Lt. Col. Greg Barasch, commander of the 112th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, said in the release. It also increases our capabilities and readiness by flying air-to-air and air-to-ground missions with our local and regional partners. The Air Force has sent theater security packages of fighter aircraft to Europe under Operation Atlantic Resolve for about two years, according to USAFE. Recent rotations to Estonia have included visits by A-10s, F-22s and F-35s. Brian Everstine

USAF Wants to Own and Make Upgradeable Ground-Based SBIRS Segment

This week, USAF will chat one-on-one with vendors about undoing the closed system it relies on for ground-based detection of space-faring missiles, part of its larger Space Based Infrared Surveillance (SBIRS) upgrade, reported SpaceNews. The discussions will focus on the future operationally resilient ground evolution (FORGE) effort, supporting the space warfighting construct, according to the event site. The aim is to place the ground control part of SBIRScomprising mission management, telemetry, tracking, and commandonto one common platform instead of the stovepiped and closed system it exists in now. Built in an open architecture and without the traditional proprietary model leaving upgrades solely possible by initial industry partners, SpaceNews reported the plan is to allow for future upgrades the service can solicit freely. The Tuesday meetings in El Segundo, Calif., are part of an official Space Enterprise Consortium Industry Day, led by USAFs Space and Missile Systems Center. Later this week, the Air Force plans to launch its SBIRS GEO-4 satellite from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. Gideon Grudo

RAF Intercepts Russian Bombers Over North Sea

The Royal Air Force confirmed it scrambled two Typhoon aircraft Monday to intercept Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjacks, according to The Guardian. The Blackjacks, which flew over Norway and Denmark, were intercepted about 30 miles from British airspace, according to the article, in which an RAF spokesperson noted several friendly nations were watching the bombers as the intercept unfolded. At no point did the Russian aircraft enter sovereign UK airspace, stated the official. After unveiling its upgraded Tu-160M2 in late 2017, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the new bombers test flight would take place in February 2018, according to Russian government-run media outlet Tass. You can see the current Tu-160 fleet in this Air Force Magazine photo essay about the bomber. Gideon Grudo

Coalition: Remaining ISIS Cells Fighting for Some Recognition

Remnants of ISIS in Iraq and Syria are largely separated from each other, and are faced with dire choices of either being captured or killed, the deputy commander of special operations for the anti-ISIS coalition said Tuesday. The so-called caliphate has been dismantled, said US Marine Corps Brig. Gen. James Glynn, the deputy commanding general of special operations for Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. ISIS has no recognizable structure of the bureaucracy that they had previously sought to achieve. US-backed forces, both in Iraq and Syria, are trying to locate these remaining ISIS factions. While Glynn said it is too early to say if ISIS has become an insurgency, he said they are moving forward with desperate acts, such as the Monday suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed 35 and injured 90. Although ISIS has been militarily defeated, we recognize the post-conflict challenges they present, he said. There is no evidence of coordination between remaining ISIS groups, but instead they are disparate cellular structures trying to have some legitimacy, some recognition. And frankly, at this point, to be disruptive. Brian Everstine

NATO Military Leaders Reviewing Changes to Leadership, Force Structure

NATO military leaders are discussing ways to overhaul the organizations command and force structure to improve flexibility and response in times of conflict. The NATO Military Committee, including US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, met in Brussels on Tuesday and said changes are possible in light of ongoing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with tensions between NATO countries and Russia. NATO military leaders will recommend changes to the NATO military structure in advance of a meeting of member nations defense ministers next month. A key component to NATOs adaptation is a robust and agile command structure, said Chairman of the Military Committee Czech Gen. Petr Pavel, according to a Pentagon news release on the meeting. US European Command head and NATO Supreme Allied Commander-Europe US Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti and Supreme Allied Command Transformation French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier are putting forward changes to find the right mix of force structure and command structure, according to the release. Dunford said he wants this capability to include a permanent warm start to be able to build upon in the time of war. The military chiefs also discussed the way forward in Afghanistan and ways to improve stability across the Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Middle East, and Central Asia, Pavel said.

Correction

A headline to an entry in the Jan. 16 Daily Report misidentified the Guard unit that is receiving an upgraded C-130H. It is the Wyoming Air National Guard. We have updated the entry.

RADAR SWEEP

The 365th Training Squadron at Sheppard AFB, Texas, is working Charles River Analytics, a Massachusetts-based technology company, to develop a game-based virtual environment trainer for F-15E Strike Eagle maintainers, which officials say will enhance training and be much more efficient: Sheppard release.

Resiliency will be a key focus area for CMSAF Kaleth Wright this year: USAF release.

Eight transgender individuals have applied to join the Air Force Active Duty. They are among the first known military applicants since the federal court required the Defense Department last year to accept applications from transgender volunteers: USA Today.
The questions continue in North Carolina following its second place finish to Alabama in attracting the $1.6 billion Toyota-Mazda factory.

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper told the Triad Business Journal on Tuesday said he felt the two motor companies looked at proximity and profit margin to make their choice.

Published reports last week stated that Toyota and Mazda opted for Alabama due to its location amid an already-running automotive supply chain. The Limestone County site for the plant, to be operational in 2021, is near Toyota's existing Huntsville engine factory and in the middle of suppliers that stretch from Alabama to Kentucky.

But Cooper also said Toyota's decision means it is looking to the future, which involves electric vehicles. Toyota reportedly plans to build the Corolla in Huntsville using the Toyota New Global Architecture, which features more advanced powertrains and lighter weight vehicles.

"I do think that with Toyota particularly ... that was the main reason that they looked at going to Alabama and the small margin of profit they had on the electric cars," Cooper said. "And they wanted to go where they were comfortable. But I believe that it's wide open for advanced manufacturing, still including auto manufacturers, and we're going to continue to work to attract companies to that megasite and others across the state."

Asked if there was anything more the state could have done to attract the project, Cooper said, "I guess we could have picked up North Carolina and moved it to the Mississippi River. That was about the only thing that kept us from being the final choice for Toyota. It was being in that middle U.S. auto supply-chain."

North Carolina reportedly offered $1.5 billion in incentives in its bid.
If you build it, will they come?

More importantly - if you build them, will they sell?

Immediately after Toyota and Mazda announced their $1.6 billion manufacturing plant for Huntsville last week, questions began about whether the joint auto venture would have a large enough labor pool to supply the approximately 4,000 workers needed.

Another concern dealt with a slumping U.S. auto sales market. Will there be enough buyers for the vehicles rolling off the assembly line?

Alabama is currently at a historic low for unemployment. In November, the last month for which figures are currently available, Alabama's preliminary, seasonally adjusted rate was 3.5 percent. That's down from 6.2 percent just a year before.

In Limestone and Madison County, the unemployment rates are among the state's lowest, at 3.2 and 3.1, respectively. Does that mean there will be enough workers for the plant?

For starters, Toyota-Mazda isn't expected to begin pumping out vehicles until 2021. State officials feel that will be time enough to draw interested workers to the area, as well as for job training programs to get that workforce ready.

And it isn't like Toyota and Mazda didn't take those factors into consideration. For example, Indiana was among the 11 states contending for the plant, but reportedly failed to make the cut because of a "tapped out labor force." It's unemployment rate is currently 4 percent, its lowest point since 2001.

State officials said they are unconcerned.

"I don't know where that speculation has come from," Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said last week. "It's not what we've been concerned with. We've got a plan that addresses workforce availability short-term, medium and long-term."

Making sure there's an available pool of workers is something that Alabama's automakers have focused on in recent years. For example, Honda and Mercedes-Benz both host events with local schools to encourage students in pursuing technical training and careers in manufacturing.

But what about market concerns? Auto sales dipped slightly last year in the U.S. market, but that was after a record year. The current market favors the kind of crossover that Mazda reportedly has planned for the Huntsville factory. Mazda plans to make about 150,000 of them a year. Toyota will build Corollas, its popular sedan, at a time when enthusiasm for sedans is down.

But then, the Corolla is the bestselling vehicle in the world over the last 21 years.

Automotive News reported that Toyota needs more Corollas. By building in Huntsville, Toyota can rely on suppliers to its other U.S. Corolla assembly plant in Blue Springs, Miss.

"We need the Corolla capacity," Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz said. "We sold about 330,000 Corollas last year, and 50,000 in Canada. This plant, with our other Corolla plant in Mississippi, will give us capacity of 310,000. So yes, even in this soft market, we need this capacity."

In addition, the Corolla to be built here will be the first example of the Toyota New Global Architecture, which features more advanced powertrains and lighter weight vehicles.
In the last week before his mandatory retirement as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Birmingham in 1997, the Rev. William Maurice Branscomb Jr. washed the feet of a drug addict with AIDS whose disruptive behavior kept him out of homeless shelters.

That gesture summed up Branscomb's ministry of practical service.

"Maurice was always hands-on with the poor," the Rev. Francis X. Walter, former rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church and now retired in Tennessee, said at the time.

Branscomb downplayed it.

"His feet were in absolutely terrible shape," Branscomb said in an interview with The Birmingham News. "That was something that I did because it needed to be done. We made him a bed on the church porch. We're known in the city as a place where people could come when they had no place to go."

Branscomb, who served as rector of Grace Episcopal Church in the Woodlawn neighborhood from 1988-1997, died on Saturday, Jan. 13. He was 92.

"He was always thinking of community needs," said the Rev. Bill King, chaplain to retired priests for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama.

The Rev. Maurice Branscomb

"He was a great man with an unbelievable servant mindset and attitude," said Randy Yarbrough, interim director of the Community Kitchens of Birmingham, a ministry founded by Branscomb. "Anyone in need, he was there for them."

King recalled that Branscomb founded Community Kitchens as a true soup kitchen with no money, because the hungry needed to be fed. "He liked to say he started it with a pot with a rock and some broth in it," King said.

The Community Kitchens continue to serve lunch daily, year-round, at the Grace Episcopal Church location, with breakfast there Monday through Friday. Lunch is served Monday through Saturday at the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church location in Birmingham's Southside.

Branscomb was a decorated combat infantryman during World War II prior to entering the seminary.

From 1971-84, Branscomb served as rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Birmingham, where he founded the Red Door Community Kitchen in 1980. That became Community Kitchens of Birmingham. He was chairman of the liturgics and arts commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama from 1972 to 1984.

"He was a great liturgist," King said. "The liturgy was the highlight of his week."

King recalled that Branscomb lowered the high pulpit at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Southside when he was priest there. "He said, 'I don't like to be above the people.'"

After retiring in Birmingham, Branscomb moved to Foley and continued to serve as a priest part-time at several congregations including Immanuel Episcopal Church in Bay Minette.

At Grace Church, he oversaw a variety of ministries to serve the needy: the Community Kitchen, which serves hot meals daily; Interfaith Hospitality House for homeless families; Community Thrift Shop, also known as "55th Place," where leftovers of clothes and furnishings were given to the needy; Woodlawn Christian Center, which provided emergency food parcels, and Grace-By-Day, a program for street people.

"It's been gratifying and frustrating, too, sometimes because there are so many needs," Branscomb said when he retired.

The 55th Place Community Thrift Shop continues to fund ministry for the homeless at Grace Church, King said.

Branscomb said he always believed in the generosity of people.

"People will see the need and rise to it," he said. "There's a lot of generosity around."

In 1983, the Women's Committee of 100 gave Branscomb its Brother Bryan Award for elevation of humanity. In 1997, he was given the Golden Rule Award by J.C. Penney and the United Way. He was honored as a lifetime director of Community Kitchens to recognize his role as a founder of Birmingham's soup kitchen programs.

"I was greatly honored," Branscomb said of the awards. "I never felt they belonged to me. I felt they belonged to the people of the church. They are the people who support the ministry and provide."

Christianity is a religion of service, Branscomb said.

"It's not a matter of just saying your prayers and doing good," he said. "It's a matter of translating that into service."

Branscomb also developed a reputation for liturgy and worship; he has played a major role in the Anglo-Catholic movement, advocating a return to traditional "High-Church" liturgy.

"I stress the Catholic and ceremonial aspects of worship," Branscomb said.

"They teach and they give a sense of the presence and mystery of God."

Branscomb said the smallness of his congregations never affected the size of his dreams. "Things get done, resources come," he said. "We shouldn't do too much planning. We should say, 'Here's a need, let's see what we can do about it.' You have to go out and do it rather than worrying and fretting about it."

Branscomb said he felt that his work to help the poor has made a difference.

"I feel like I made a dent," he said.

Branscomb had been a resident at an assisted-living facility in Spanish Fort at the time of his death, King said.

A memorial service for Branscomb will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church in Mobile at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18, with visitation at 10 a.m. An inurnment service will be held Saturday, Jan. 20, at 11 a.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn.
King's Home, a Birmingham-area women and children's shelter, is attempting to increase its donations by introducing bright coral bins and trucks.

The shelter is asking for donations of gently used shoes, pants, shirts, jackets and other items through the "The Better Bin" Initiative. A new website provides information on the program and how to donate.

"The bright coral The Better Bins will now replace the former blue receptacles that are many times confused with other worthy donation services in the Birmingham area," the agency said in a press release.

King's Home trademarked blue brand, however, won't change.

"With the launch of The Better Bin initiative, we are asking that people not only think about King's Home when they clean out their used items at home, but we are asking them to think about their donations in terms of what they actually are - one person donating hope to another," said Lew Burdette, president. "The color beckons individuals to give with intent and to purposefully select The Better Bin for their all-important donations."

In addition to bins, King's Home trucks will also be branded in coral with 'The Better Truck' emblazoned on the exterior.

According to the agency, this new initiative is designed to take the 45-year-old King's Home into a secure future and "signals its ongoing commitment to quality donation care."

Several of the bins are located throughout the Birmingham area. Click here for locations.

Burdette said he anticipates the new bins and truck design will be an exciting new chapter in King's Home's rich history as 2018 unfolds.

"Our formal relationship with Alabama Thrift Stores ended on December 31, 2017, and we want the donating public to know that items donated to King's Home will no longer be sold at Alabama Thrift Store Locations," added Burdette. "Nonetheless, for the last 45 years, King's Home has worked to serve Christ by providing area youth, women and mothers with children fleeing domestic violence a place to call home. And as we look to the future, this bold, new look signals an even greater promise to deliver hope to those we serve."
Activists say President Sirisenas decision to reverse decision to lift ban on women buying alcohol is discriminatory.

Colombo, Sri Lanka  In what many see as a discriminatory move towards women, President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka has reversed a decision by his finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, to allow women to buy alcohol for the first time since 1955.

The presidents office also ordered the cancellation of the gazette notifications from the ministry of finance that would have allowed women to work in bars without a permit and paved the way for licensed alcohol shops to operate for longer hours.

Why there is any interest in 2018 to impose on women laws that don't apply to men. It is patriarchy at its best... by Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, a Human Rights Activist

The presidents intervention came after an apparent backlash from a sector of the Buddhist population.

But womens rights activists and many Sri Lankans on social media have criticised the move that they say is discriminatory to women.

Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, a human rights activist based in Colombo, asked why there is any interest in 2018 to impose on women laws that dont apply to men.

It is patriarchy at its best, implying that women are unfit to make decisions for themselves, she said.

Against the equality principle

The issue has also highlighted fissures within the ruling coalition.

I am against the discrimination of women in Sri Lanka. This whole alcohol ban is unfair and against the equality principle. Ban men too then, Deputy Minister for the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs Harsha De Silva tweeted.

These developments take place ahead of crucial local elections scheduled to take place next month under a new voting system that combines both the first past the post and proportional representation systems.

The new electoral method also makes it mandatory for the first time that all parties include at least 25 percent women on their list of nominated candidates.

The mayoral candidate of the United National Party (UNP)  the coalition partner of Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)  for Colombo is a woman.

Sri Lankas social media landscape is predominantly occupied by urban populations who are more sensitive to gender issues, but the majority of the presidents desired voter base are rural Sinhalese Buddhists who reside outside of Colombo.

The president will not be unpopular because of these specific decisions across the country, possibly as a reflection of the fact that sensitivity to gender issues is not felt right across the country as it is felt in major cities like Colombo, Kalana Senaratne, a senior lecturer at the Department of Law, University of Peradeniya, said.

Consolidating Buddhist values

Kalana asserted that this electoral demographic would be inclined to see these acts pertaining to alcohol as the president consolidating Buddhist values.

A World Health Organization report shows that of Sri Lankans above the age of 15, 80 percent of women were lifetime teetotallers in comparison to men, of whom 56 percent were lifetime abstainers.

Critics have pointed out the presidents misplaced priorities as Sri Lankan women continue to face far more pressing gender issues.

The presidents moves preceded by days an incident where a 14-year-old girl from Tissamaharama, a southern town, died in hospital after she attempted suicide after allegedly being raped by three youths.

Many feel that the existential issue to do with female inequality has now been reduced in the public imagination to a single issue, the inability to buy alcohol.

Many of those who took to social media have focussed solely on this issue without using this as a platform to highlight the larger issues facing women in Sri Lanka, eg the gender pay gap, inability for women to rise up to board level, and being looked at negatively when it comes to recruitment among many other issues, said Selyna Pieris, a lawyer and director of a handloom company.

A frivolous, dormant law got significantly more publicity in local and international media than these larger issues, said Selyna whose company has hired more than a thousand women.

And as a collective, I feel like we missed a big opportunity to highlight other more pertinent discriminatory issues faced by Sri Lankan women.
Is the white working class really responsible for the rise of right-wing populism in the US?

For those of the centre-left around the world, the election of Donald Trump was the inauguration of a political dark age. The besuited directors of a more humane, liberalised and inclusive capitalism  a Democratic Party type of capitalism  were being usurped in favour of the rabid irrationality and apocalyptic bluster of the far right.

A monster was birthed. And all at the behest of a population whose frustration and ignorance, especially that of the poorer elements, had bubbled over, yielding a toxic age of unreason.

Specifically, the notion of a white working class became de rigueur. Liberals at dinner parties described this entity in terms which were both sorrowful and condescending. Having seen a decline in their economic level, white workers, it was argued, had sought solace in the catharsis provided by hatred of the other  of minority groups  and thus afforded themselves a form of cultural compensation, a sense of social superiority, as a palliative to political and economic despair.

The mainstream media proliferated the same image. The rise of Trump had been facilitated by a white working class who lacked the education and agency to see they were being manipulated for demagogic ends.

The white working class became a stand-in for the age-old concept of the mob, the legions of people at the bottom whose irascibility, irrationality and ignorance could be whipped up, unleashing the maelstrom; or, to say the same, the white working class became the perfect placeholder for the anxiety and prejudice of the middle classes towards the people at the bottom.

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A 2016 article from National Review captured the sneering, fearful mentality to a tee: The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trumps speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin.

Without delving into the dubious sociological merits of the concept of the white working class  i.e. a group of workers on a nationwide scale who have a social basis and a set of interests fundamentally at odds with the working classes as a whole  one should note that the purveyors and peddlers of such a fiction have a hard time coming to grips with the notion of class per se.

Indeed, most of the polls that took place in 2016 relating to the presidential election defined class, specifically the working class, in purely cosmetic terms. The methodological criteria did not depend on information about how people earned their living but rather revolved around more superficial considerations like whether they had college degrees or not  without taking into account that many such people, who supported Trump, were affluent despite their lack of a university education.

The concept of a 'white working class' who voted in droves for Trump, allows a more mundane truth to be masked. by

However, the biggest survey to take the measure of the 2016 election carried out by the American National Election Study revealed that, among people who said they voted for Trump in the general election, 35 percent had household incomes under $50,000 per year.

A similar statistic came out of a March 2016 NBC survey which showed that only a third of Trump supporters had household incomes at or below the national median of about $50,000. Another third made $50,000 to $100,000, and another third made $100,000 or more, and that was true even when we limited the analysis to only non-Hispanic whites. If one assumes that working class jobs tend to fall at the lower end of the economic spectrum, then one has to conclude that the vast majority of Trump supporters in the run-up to the 2016 election were simply not of the working class.

But the concept of a white working class who voted in droves for Trump, allows a more mundane truth to be masked. In 2008, when Barack Obama swept into the White House on the heady promise of change, 61.6 percent of those eligible to vote in the population did so. Yet in 2016, when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic candidate that number had fallen drastically to 58.1 percent  millions of those who turned out before now chose to stay at home. What had changed?

During his eight years in office, Obama failed to deliver on the alternative and transformative politics voters had been encouraged to expect. He promised to close the prison camp and torture hotbed of Guantanamo. He didnt.

He swore to recall all US troops from the bloody quagmire of Iraq, but US forces were still being sent there during the final year of his presidency. He helped create a more militarised police force and under his watch the slaying of unarmed blacks, including children, became epidemic.

And while Trumps toxic anti-immigration policies are sufficiently well known, what is not common knowledge is how under Obamas tenure more than 2.5 million people were deported, a figure which exceeds that of any previous president.

Obama broke his pledge on introducing card checks  a system that would have made access to union membership for workers easier. At the same time, he fortified the rapacious and corrupt cabal of bankers and financiers who had helped facilitate the global economic crisis by barring the justice department from prosecuting those at the top of the largest banks. And, of course, he bailed out the banks.

A deteriorating, increasingly defunct form of managerial capitalism established by slick corporate figures rang more and more hollow, and swaths of people lost the impetus and motivation to vote for Clinton in 2016  precisely because she offered much of the same. The concept of the white working class, however, helps rescue this rather jaundiced liberalism from the mire, for it allows the pro-Clintonite liberal to perform a rather neat reversal.

The move from Obama to Trump is no longer conceived of in terms of the shattered promises made by those at the top of the Democratic Party as they endeavour to better grease the neoliberal machine through the promotion of a glittering financial elite and the prosaic, murderous routines of empire.

Rather it is recast in a melancholy lament for a more rational age, whereby a more humane set of political actors are eventually and tragically consumed by a political barbarism which has been foisted upon the nation courtesy of those at the bottom, the spectre of Trump issuing out of the seething, furious tumult of the white working class.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Thousands of protesters held anti-government rally in Lahore in rare show of unity by Pakistans political opposition.

Islamabad, Pakistan  In a rare show of unity, major opposition groups in Pakistan have brought thousands of people into the streets of Lahore in a massive rally to increase pressure on the countrys government.

Wednesdays demonstration in the eastern city, considered the political heartland of the ruling PML-N party, was called by Tahir-ul-Qadri, a religious scholar and founder of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

Senior figures from the PPP and PTI opposition parties, the two major political forces rivalling the PML-N, also joined, as did politicians representing other groups.

Qadri called the protest with the explicit demand for Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab province, to resign, following the release of an inquiry report that implicates his government in the killings of 14 of the scholars political workers less than four years ago.

Sharif is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who leads the PML-N party and was removed as prime minister in late July by Pakistans Supreme Court, over corruption allegations. The Sharifs party has remained under considerable pressure since then, with several family members facing corruption cases.

Qadris political workers were shot dead outside his political headquarters in Lahore, after police opened fire on them for resisting a bid to dismantle barriers erected outside the building.

In December, the commissions report was made public after the Lahore High Court ordered authorities to release it.

The inquiry, carried out by a sitting high court judge, held that the authorities had acted with disproportionate force in a manner that was planned, and that officials deliberately withheld information on who had ordered them to fire.

Fractured unity

At the protest on Wednesday, Qadri was joined by, among others, PPP co-chairman and former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, as well as opposition PTI chief Imran Khan.

This show of political strength is an illustration not of my power, but of the power of the martyrs of Model Town, said Qadri, addressing the crowd.

All of the countrys political and religious parties leadership is here  to help the oppressed.

The show of unity was somewhat marred, however, by the refusal of Zardari and Khan to share the stage with one another. As a result, Zardari addressed the crowd and left shortly afterwards, with Khan then arriving at the site of the protest.

Zardaris exit saw many PPP supporters leave the protest. Supporters of Qadris PAT, Khans PTI and the PML-Q, Sunni Tehreek and other parties remained, however.

The differences between PPP and PTI suggest there will be no grand alliance between the opposition parties to topple the government.

The PML-N, elected in 2013, insists it will complete its term in mid-2018 and hold a general election on time.

In 2018, only those who the people vote in will come into power, Marriyum Aurangzeb, the countrys information minister, had told reporters in the capital, Islamabad, earlier on Wednesday.

Qadri and Khan have led calls for the government to resign in the past. In 2014, they staged a joint sit-in outside parliament that lasted four months and brought the government quarter of Islamabad to a standstill.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras Web Correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim
Body of girl named as Asma found in sugarcane field in northwest as country reels from rape and murder of Zainab Ansari.

A four-year-old girl was raped before being strangled to death in northwest Pakistan, a district mayor and doctors have said.

The body of the victim, who is being named as Asma, was found in a sugarcane field on Sunday in the Jandarpar Gujjar Garhi district of Mardan city, a day after she went missing.

I have seen the autopsy report of Asma and it clearly says that she was raped before being strangled to death, district mayor Himayatullah Mayar told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

She comes from a very poor family, her father is a labour worker in Saudi Arabia. Asma was just playing outside of her house when she was kidnapped.

Doctors also told local media that the child had been raped.

Police confirmed that the child died of asphyxiation and were investigating the claim of rape.

According to the forensic report, the girl was subjected to violence, district police officer Mian Saeed told local media. However, we cannot confirm if she was raped or not until we get the complete report.

The incident comes as the country reels from the recent rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari, a case which ignited widespread protests and stirred uneasy conversations about the sexual abuse of children in a country where the issue is taboo.

Zainabs body was discovered in a heap of rubbish last week in the northeastern city of Kasur. She had disappeared on January 4 after leaving her house to go to a tuition centre.

Protests calling for justice in various parts of Kasur turned violent, resulting in at least two deaths and several injuries.

Local TV footage showed police officers shooting at protesters to disperse crowds.

In 2017, at least 12 similar incidents were reported in the Kasur district alone, local media reported.

In the first half of 2017, more than 1,750 cases of child abuse were reported across Pakistan, according to Sahil, a non-governmental organisation that works on the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Of the cases in the first six months of last year, 65 percent took place in Pakistans Punjab province.
Former leader Carles Puigdemont is preferred choice for separatist parties who form a ruling majority in parliament.

For the first time since Catalonias unsuccessful bid to break away from Spain, the northeastern regions parliament has met for the first time in a step towards establishing a new government.

With the separatist parties forming a slim majority after an election last month, the outcome of the first session on Wednesday saw MPs elect Roger Torrent, a pro-secession politician, as the new parliamentary speaker.

At the end of this month, parliament is also expected to elect a new head of government, with separatist parties, who occupy 75 seats out of 130, looking in the direction of ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont as their preferred candidate.

However, Puigdemont risks being arrested if he is to come back from his self-imposed exile in the Belgian capital, Brussels, following the rebellion and sedition charges the Spanish government and judges levied upon him.

Al Jazeeras Karl Penhaul, reporting from Barcelona, said that while Puigdemonts supporters have suggested the former president could rule Catalonia via video link, the central government in Madrid has dismissed the idea.

Furthermore, the Catalan parliaments own legal experts ruled that any president must be physically present in parliament.

There are opposition parties in the Catalan parliament who say that they would accept a virtual first minister, Penhaul said.

[However,] the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy himself has said that he will not allow Puigdemont to come back and be the first minister of the Catalan government.

That effectively sets both sides  the Spanish central government and the Catalan regional government  once again back on a collision course, he continued, adding that this is expected to play out in the course of the next two weeks.

Across the parliamentary arena, a number of yellow ribbons were placed on empty seats, to represent absent politicians.

That was to symbolise those politicians, a handful of whom are in jail in Spanish jails, and others who fled into self-imposed exile in Belgium, said Penhaul.

They were trying to evade rebellion charges, Penhaul added, that have been imposed against them by Spanish judges last November because of the way they held the referendum back in October trying to push for Catalonias secession.

Secession crisis

The Catalan crisis began on October 1, when the Catalan regional government held a disputed referendum on breaking away from Spain.

The banned referendum was repressed by police trying to stop people from voting, with rights groups calling the tactics used by law enforcement excessive.

The dismissed Catalan government said 90 percent of voters chose independence that day, though turnout was less than 50 percent.

After a weeks-long political back-and-forth between Puigdemont and Rajoy, the Catalan parliament voted for independence on October 27.

In response, the Spanish government enacted Article 155 of the Constitution the following day, a previously unused measure allowing Madrid to administer the breakaway region.
Foreign Minister Cavusoglu warns US counterpart Tillerson over moves to form a 30,000-strong army in the north of Syria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said relations between Turkey and the United States would be irreversibly harmed if Washington moves to form a 30,000-strong army in the north of Syria.

According to media reports, Washington is working to establish the border security force with the involvement of Kurdish militias, seen by Ankara as terrorist groups.

Cavusoglu met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defence James Mattis in the Canadian city of Vancouver on the sidelines of a meeting over sanctions on North Korea.

The Turkish foreign minister told reporters there late on Tuesday that he was advised by both secretaries not to believe media reports suggesting that the US intends to form the army in question.

The Pentagon acknowledged Turkeys concern over its plans for the security force. We have regular close communication with our NATO ally Turkey, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Turkeys Anadolu news agency.

Citing several other US officials, media reports published earlier this week said that the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group would recruit around half of the new force from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an umbrella group of fighters dominated by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG).

YPG is considered by Turkey to be a terrorist group with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long fight inside the country. The US views the YPG as a highly effective fighting force against ISIL.

The PKK is outlawed in Turkey and considered a terrorist group by the EU and the US. More than 40,000 people in Turkey have been killed since the 1980s after the PKK launched its rebellion.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on several occasions recently that Turkeys armed forces had completed preparations for an operation against the Kurdish-controlled region of Afrin in northwest Syria.

He added that the operation would be carried out in cooperation with moderate Syrian rebels supported by Ankara.

Cavusoglu said in Vancouver that different opinions among the Pentagon and US Central Command, as well as different institutions and ministries in the US, over support for the SDF and the PYD/PKK have been causing the problem.

He said that Turkey may expand its operations after Afrin has been cleared.

Turkeys precautions against YPG/PKK cannot be limited to only Afrin. There is also Manbij and east of the Euphrates River, Cavusoglu said.

Ankara reinforcing border

US President Donald Trump decided to arm YPG fighters despite Turkeys objections and a direct appeal from Erdogan at a White House meeting in May 2017.

The US arms shipments began before the launch of a months-long offensive to remove ISIL from the Syrian city of Raqqa. The YPG played a prominent role in the eventual defeat of the group later in 2017.

Tensions between US and Turkey  two NATO allies  remain high, despite Trump saying last November that Washington would no longer supply weapons to the YPG.

Ankara has been reinforcing its southern border by sending armoured vehicles, tanks, and heavy machine guns, according to local media.

Turkey has been working closely with Russia and Iran to end the long-running Syrian war, despite Moscow and Tehran supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad  and Ankara backing the anti-Assad opposition.

Syria and Russia made statements in line with Turkey earlier in the week, opposing the reported US plans to establish a border force in the north of Syria.

In 2016, Turkey began a military campaign called Euphrates Shield Operation, which targeted ISIL and the YPG. That eight-month battle officially ended in March 2017.
Chinese government authorities have banned Muslim children from attending religious events during winter break, in a county in western China that is mostly populated by Muslims.

The notification for the ban has been posted online by the education bureau, as authorities step up their suppression of religious freedoms.

School students in Linxia county in Gansu province, home to many members of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority, are prohibited from entering religious buildings over their break, a district education bureau said, according to the notification.

Students must also not read scriptures in classes or in religious buildings, the bureau said, adding that all students and teachers should heed the notice and work to strengthen political ideology and propaganda. China is an atheist, communist state.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the notice.

The Linxia education bureau has declined to comment on the documents validity.

Xi Wuyi, a Marxist scholar at the state-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an outspoken critic of rising Islamic influence in China, shared the picture and welcomed the apparent move by the authorities.

With the notice, the county was taking concrete action to keep religion and education separate, and sticking strictly to education law, she said on the Weibo social media platform.

New regulations on religious affairs released in October last year, and due to take effect in February, aim to increase oversight of religious education and limit religious activities.

Last summer, a Sunday School ban was introduced in the southeastern city of Wenzhou, sometimes known as Chinas Jerusalem due to its large Christian population, but Christian parents found ways to teach their children about their religion, regardless.

Chinese law formally grants religious freedom for all, but regulations on education and protection of minors also say religion cannot be used to hinder state education, or children taught to believe in a religion, rather than communism.

Authorities in troubled parts of China, such as the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim minority, ban children from attending religious events.

But religious communities elsewhere rarely face blanket restrictions.

Fear of Muslim influence has grown in China in recent years, sparked in part by violence in Xinjiang.

The Chinese-speaking Hui, who are culturally more similar to the Han Chinese majority than to Uighurs, have also come under scrutiny from some intellectuals, who fear creeping Islamic influence on society.
Celebrations as Merera Gudina among more than 400 others released from prison as part of a wider government amnesty.

Prominent Ethiopian opposition leader Merera Gudina has been released from prison after more than a year in detention.

The move on Wednesday came two weeks after Prime Minister Desalegn Hailemariam had announced that jailed politicians would have their cases annulled or pardoned in order to improve the national consensus and widen the democratic space.

The government has so far pardoned more than 500 people arrested in the wake of widespread deadly protests that erupted in Ethiopias central Oromia province in November 2015.

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Merera, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), was released along with more than 100 others from the Kilinto federal prison on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. Some 360 others were also reportedly freed in the south of the country.

Speaking to reporters following his release, Merera said it felt good to be out of prison and called on the government to hold honest negotiations with political organisations to create a democratic Ethiopia that accommodates everyone equally.

He added: I have never violated the law. I was a former member of parliament. I know the constitution and the law. I have been always respecting that.

More than 1,000 supporters gathered in Mereras hometown of Burayu to welcome him.

https://twitter.com/addisgazetta/status/953644277199986688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

They held banners that read Incarceration and intrigue will not reverse the Oromo struggle, according to pictures posted on Twitter by the Addis Standard publication.

In Burayu town, some 23 km in the western outskirt of #AddisAbeba, the youth are waiting for Dr. #MereraGudina with banners that read (rough translation): "Incarceration & intrigue will not reverse the #Oromo struggle" & "When oppressed, even milk bursts out of its container." pic.twitter.com/SmY9KvC9Mp  Addis Standard (@addisstandard) January 17, 2018

Rufael Disasa, a lecturer at Wollega University, was also released, the Ethiosun reported. But Bekele Gerba, the deputy chairman of the OFC, who has been detained for more than two years, is yet to be freed.

Security forces have arrested tens of thousands of people and killed more than 900 protesters since the protests by the countrys Oromo people began.

Anger over allegations of land grabs widened into protests over political restrictions and rights abuses, and spread to the northern Amhara region, prompting the government to impose a state of emergency that was only lifted in April last year.

Ethiopia denies that any of the detainees are political prisoners.

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Merera was arrested in December 2016 shortly after he returned from Brussels, where he met members of the European Parliament and criticised the governments crackdown on protesters and the state of emergency.

He was later charged with various criminal acts, inciting riots and plotting a coup.

The Addis Standard posted an image of a letter announcing Ambayes decision to drop charges against Merera. It said the move was for the benefit of the public and the government.

A letter announcing to discontinue the multiple criminal charges brought by federal prosecutors against Dr. #MereraGudina has been issued by the attorney general Getachew Ambaye. It stated charges were dropped "for the benefit of the public and the government." cc: @Belay_Ma pic.twitter.com/3gcM4n379N  Addis Standard (@addisstandard) January 17, 2018

Awol K Allo, a lecturer at Keele University and an expert on Ethiopia, said he was very glad about Mereras release, but this freedom is incomplete and meaningless if it does not include the freedom of his OFC colleagues and other opposition politicians locked up for speaking their mind.

Very glad that Merara Gudina has been freed but this freedom is incomplete and meaningless if it does not include the freedom of his OFC colleagues and other opposition politicians locked up for speaking their mind.  Awol Allo (@awolallo) January 17, 2018

Hassan Hussain, an Ethiopian writer, called Mereras release a great victory for the Oromo and the Ethiopian people.

However, this is just a start, he told Al Jazeera. The regime has to do more.

The laws that were used to jail Merera are still in force  The anti-terrorism law is still there. The electoral system is still in shambles. The judiciary makes a mockery of justice. Without reforms, I dont think the country will be able to contain the protests.

Amnesty International also welcomed the opposition leaders release, and called on Ethiopian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all remaining prisoners of conscience.

Hundreds of prisoners of conscience continue to languish in jail, accused or prosecuted for legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression or simply for standing up for human rights, Amnestys Africa director Netsanet Belay said in a statement.

To continue holding them is to perpetuate the gross injustice that they have already bravely endured for too long, he added.
Climate change might kill the worlds coral reefs by the end of the century, affecting about one billion people.

Savusavu, Fiji  Coral reefs that sustain about one billion people worldwide will be gone by the end of the century unless urgent international action is taken to mitigate climate change, scientists say.

The world is at a make or break point when it comes to saving the oceans reefs, Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Programme, said at an event to mark the start of the International Year of the Reef in Fiji on Wednesday.

We see globally a very, very, steep decline in the corals. A lot of bleaching incidents, a lot of dying [of reefs]  and we need to change, Solheim told Al Jazeera.

[Losing the reefs] would be a shame morally for humans. We would be the one generation destroying some of the most beautiful, most important ecosystems we have.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told the conference on present indications, we are losing the battle.

It is a shocking fact that our generation could be among the last to witness the beauty of our reefs and benefit from their bounty, Bainimarama said.

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Covering less than 0.1 percent of the seabed, coral reefs support about 25 percent of global marine life.

But manmade factors including rising water temperatures caused by climate change, ocean acidification, and destructive fishing practices have led to the demise of many of the worlds coral reefs.

Between 2015 and 2017, a global bleaching event affected all but three of the 29 coral reefs listed by UNESCO as world heritage sites. Coral bleaching is a potentially lethal stress response to overly warm water in which the coral expels symbiotic microalgae feeding it, turning it white.

The bleaching event that ended in 2017 alone is believed to have killed as much as half the coral in Australias Great Barrier Reef.

With the intervals between bleaching events decreasing dramatically, scientists have warned the worlds reefs could be gone by the end of the century.

An estimated one billion people are thought to depend on coral reefs for food and income.

Organisations including the UN, the WWF and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) designated 2018 the International Year of the Reef in a bid to raise awareness and spur nations to take action to protect reefs.

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The campaign was launched during a two-day event on Fijis northern island of Vanua Levu, which is flanked by the worlds third-largest barrier reef. Fijians rely on the Great Sea Reef for food security as well as income from fishing and tourism.

For us, reef is basically life. If we lose the reefs, we lose the ability to sustain ourselves, Fijis acting Environment Minister Jone Usamate told Al Jazeera.

In early January, the Fijian government banned the sale of live corals. Local media reported the move came as a surprise to people working in the aquarium industry and led to job losses.

Such local policies to minimise stress on coral reefs might reduce their decline but will do little to halt or reverse rising sea temperatures caused by global warming.

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A study published on January 4 in the journal Science found bleaching events increased fivefold between 1980 and 2016. With bleaching now taking place about once every six years on average, corals have insufficient time to recover before they are hit again.

Australian government scientists last year said even if the world warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels  which is what signatories of the Paris Agreement are aspiring to  the Great Barrier Reef could experience a bleaching event once every two years.

A lot of the things that are impacting us we dont have much control over here in Fiji, because its being done in other countries, Usamate said.

The bigger countries that are contributing more of the carbon emission through usage of fossil fuel, theyll have to come on board.

If not, were sunk in the Pacific.
US withholds $65m out of $125m aid package earmarked for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, prompting condemnation.

International NGOs have condemned the US governments decision to cut more than half of its planned funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a Twitter post late on Tuesday that Washington was holding Palestinian kids humanitarian needs hostage to political agendas.

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, urged the US government to reverse its decision announced on Tuesday to withhold $65m out of $125m aid package earmarked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

The move will have devastating consequences for vulnerable Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including hundreds of thousands of refugee children in the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria who depend on the agency for their education, he said in a statement on Tuesday.

It will also deny their parents a social safety net that helps them to survive, and undermine the UN agencys ability to respond in the event of another flare-up in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict.

Cutting aid to innocent refugee children due to political disagreements among well-fed grown men and women is a really bad politization of humanitarian aid. by Jan Egeland - Norwegian Refugee Council

On Twitter, Egeland said: Cutting aid to innocent refugee children due to political disagreements among well-fed grown men and women is a really bad politization of humanitarian aid. US holds back $65m aid to Palestinians.

The Turkish Mnistry of Foreign Affairs said cuts to UNRWA would hamper the efforts towards a two-state political solution and regional stability. It also said that Ankara would increase its contributions to the agency.

Yazan Muhammad Sabri, an 18-year-old Palestinian refugee in Dheisheh camp in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, told Al Jazeera last week that if the wakala [UNRWA] goes away, there will be no education, no healthcare, no sanitation.

There will be nothing  everything will disappear, he said.

Salah Ajarmeh, a 44-year-old refugee living in West Banks Aida camp, told Al Jazeera that if the services stop, there will be a revolution.

Palestinian uprisings began in the refugee camps in Jordan and Syria, and this will happen again.

Not a bargaining chip

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisations delegation to the US, said in a statement on Wednesday that Palestinian refugees and childrens access to basic humanitarian services was not a bargaining chip but a US and international obligation.

Taking away food and education from vulnerable refugees does not bring a lasting and comprehensive peace, the statement said.

Heeding Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahus zero-sum game to take Jerusalem off the table and now attempting to dismantle UNRWA, thinking that it would relinquish the rights of Palestinian refugees is a fallacy.

Zomlot was referring to the earlier US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital, a move that prompted widespread international condemnation and led Palestinian leaders to say that they would no longer accept any peace plan put forward by the US.

Tuesdays announcement on UNRWA came after US President Donald Trump had threatened on January 2 to cut aid to Palestinians.

In a series of tweets, Trump had said:  We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect.

 With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?
Hong Kong pro-democracy activists jailed for contempt of court for their role in the countrys 2014 Umbrella protests.

A Hong Kong court has jailed activist Joshua Wong for the second time over his role in the countrys pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests.

The countrys High Court found Wong guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with an order to leave the 2014 protest, and sentenced him to three months in prison on Wednesday, the Hong Kong Free Press website reported.

Wong, 21, had pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Umbrella Movement, which drew hundreds of thousands of protesters at its peak, was formed after Wong and other demonstrators stormed into a courtyard fronting the citys government headquarters in September 2014, demanding an end to Chinas prescreening of candidates for election of the regions leader.

The name of the movement arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for peaceful resistance to the Hong Kong police during the protests.

The demonstrations, which continued for almost three months, brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill.

Andrew Chan Hing-wai, the High Court judge presiding over the case, told the court Wong had played a leading role in the demonstrations and added the only appropriate punishment  is immediate imprisonment, the report said.

Wong had previously been jailed for six months under the charge of unlawful assembly, in August 2017, for taking part in the Umbrella Movement.

Fellow activist Raphael Wong, 29, also received a jail sentence  totalling four and a half months  on Wednesday for contempt of court, according to the Hong Kong Free Press. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Neither men were granted bail during Wednesdays sentencing, but a second hearing is scheduled for later on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of their release. Both are already on bail related to separate cases.

Several others involved in the 2014 demonstrations received suspended sentences, according to the South China Morning Post, with the sentences ranging in length from one to two months.

Following his court appearance, Joshua Wong said on Twitter that he will vote in upcoming by-elections for Hong Kongs Legislative Council, due to be held on March 11.

We will vote in prison in the March by-election. We will accept it with calmness. We hope the pro-democracy camp will unite.  Joshua Wong   (@joshuawongcf) January 17, 2018

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997 under a one country, two systems agreement that ensured its freedoms, including a separate legal system.

But Beijing has ultimate control, and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong contest it is increasingly clamping down on the citys constitutionally enshrined freedoms.
Khamenei accuses Riyadh of betrayal by aligning with Washington despite its recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital.

Irans supreme leader has said Saudi Arabias alignment with the United States and Israel is certainly a betrayal of the Muslims.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the remark at a conference attended by parliamentary representatives from Islamic countries on Tuesday in Tehran, according to a statement published on his official website.

Discussing the recent US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, he said the Holy City was undoubtedly the capital of Palestine, adding that Washingtons move wont bear results.

According to the statement, Khamenei also accused Saudi Arabia of helping the US and the Zionists.

This is certainly a betrayal of the Islamic Ummah and the Muslim World, he said.

In another part of his speech, he said: Were ready to act brotherly even with those among the Muslims who were once openly hostile to Iran.

The world of Islam, with such a large population and plenty of facilities, can certainly create a great power within the world and become influential through unity.

Such warmongering among the world of Islam must be stopped and we should not allow that a safe haven be created for the Zionist regime.

Regional rivals

Iran, the leading Shia Muslim power, and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, are rivals for influence in the Middle East where they support opposing sides in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

US President Donald Trump said on a visit to Jerusalem last year that a shared concern about Iran was driving many Arab states closer to Israel.

An Israeli cabinet minister said in November that Israel had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran.

Iran does not recognise the state of Israel.
At least 450 civilians were killed in Yemen during December, according to a new report by a human rights monitor.

The Geneva-based SAM Organisation for Right and Liberties, in its report published on Wednesday, said the killings were part of 1,937 violations committed throughout the country in December, including physical assaults, violation to press freedom, torture and arbitrary detention.

The violations were perpetrated by Houthis militia, Arab Coalition air force, military formations and groups loyal to the legitimate government, it said.

SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties condemn all crimes included in this report which are considered as gross violations of the international humanitarian law and human rights law, it added.

Some 279 civilians died as a result of Saudi Arabia-led coalition air raids, in addition to the 121 killed by Iranian-backed Houthi fighters, the report noted.

Saudi Arabia has been at war in Yemen since March 2015, when a coalition led by the oil-rich kingdom launched a campaign of aerial bombardment, aimed at countering Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and reinstating the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The rights monitor urged the Saudi-led coalition to avoid targeting civilians and to review its rules of combat in accordance with the international laws and conventions.

A recent UN report on human rights abuses related to foreign intervention in Yemen documented a number of civilian casualties inflicted by Saudi-led coalition bombing.

The panel examined 10 air attacks in 2017 that killed 157 people and found that the targets included a migrant boat, a motel and five residential buildings, according to a copy of the report shown to Al Jazeera.

Even if, in some cases, the Saudi-led coalition had targeted legitimate military objectives, the panel finds it highly unlikely that the IHL (International Humanitarian Law) principles of proportionality, and precautions in attack were met, the report stated.

To date, more than 10,000 people have died in the war in Yemen, according to the UN.

Yemens cholera outbreak, a direct consequence of the conflict, has claimed about 2,000 lives and affected more than one million people since April 2017.

More than two million people have been displaced since the war began.








Seven people have been killed and 12 injured by Myanmar police when it opened fire on demonstrators with live bullets in Rakhine State.

The incident occurred when a local gathering celebrating an ancient Buddhist Arakan kingdom turned violent.

The demonstrators gathered late on Tuesday in Mrauk U township in the northern part of Rakhine to mark the end of the Arakan kingdom, the secretary of the Rakhine state government, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters.

Some 4,000 people surrounded a government building after the annual ceremony marking the demise of the Arakan kingdom over 200 years ago, Tin Maung Swe said. Organizers did not seek approval from local authorities for the gathering, he said.

The police used rubber bullets initially but the crowd didnt leave. Finally, the security members had to shoot. The conflict happened when some people tried to seize guns from the police, he said.

Tun Ther Sein, regional MP from Mrauk U, said some of the critically injured protesters were taken to the state capital of Sittwe, a three-hour drive south of the ancient town studded with Buddhist temples.

The Rakhine, also known as Arakanese, are one of the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar. Their identity is closely connected to the once powerful Arakanese kingdom along the Bay of Bengal, which was conquered by the Burmese kingdom in 1784. The kingdom was once an important stop on the old silk trade route.

Tensions in Rakhine State have risen since a sweeping Myanmar army operation in August inflamed communal clashes where Muslims villages were attacked, it triggered an exodus of over 650,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh.
Ahed Tamimi was indicted on 12 charges, including alleged assault, incitement and past instances of stone-throwing.

An Israeli court has ruled to keep a prominent Palestinian teen activist and her mother in custody until the end of their trial.

Ahed Tamimi, 16, was detained last month during an overnight raid on her home in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh after a video of the teen slapping and hitting Israeli soldiers went viral. Shortly before, her 15-year-old cousin was severely wounded after Israeli forces shot him point-blank in the face with a rubber bullet.

Her mother, Nariman, and her 20-year-old cousin Nour were arrested soon after.

Earlier in January, Ahed was indicted on 12 charges, including alleged assault, incitement and past instances of stone-throwing. Nariman was also indicted on an assault charge and incitement for uploading the video on social media.

Nour is charged with allegedly assaulting a soldier and interfering with a soldiers duties. However, she has since been released on bail.

Aheds next hearing is on January 31, the day she turns 17. Nariman and Nours next court session will be in February.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from the military appeals court in Israels Ofer detention center, Gabi Laski, Ahed and Narimans lawyer, said she did not know how long their trials would last.

Destroy Palestinians childhood

The Tamimi family are well-known activists in Nabi Saleh, and have led the villages non-violent resistance for nearly a decade.

Bassem Tamimi, Aheds father, has been arrested numerous times by Israeli forces and has spent at least four years in prison. Nariman has also been detained five times before her most recent detention.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said that he did not expect any justice from Israels legal system.

The system is set up to oppress Palestinians, he said.





No one will be surprised when they sentence Ahed to prison. This is Israels goal: destroy Palestinians childhood.

According to rights groups, Palestinians face an almost 100 percent conviction rate in Israeli military courts, while a Palestinian who files a complaint with the Israeli police only has a 1.9 percent chance that the Israeli perpetrator will be convicted.

Part of Aheds charges reference her insulting Israeli soldiers  she has allegedly called them child murderers, Nazis and thieves during altercations.

These charges highlight that these court proceedings have nothing to do with seeking justice or enforcing their laws, Mariam Barghouti, a local journalist and activist told Al Jazeera.

Its about targeting a 16-year-old girl who has been vocal as Israel attempts to pacify the Palestinian population.

Israel is the only country in the world that automatically and systematically prosecutes children in military courts that lack fundamental fair trial rights and protections, according to the Defense for Children International  Palestine (DCIP) rights group.

Although Ahed is facing an Israeli military court, the Israeli settlers in the illegal Halamish settlement adjacent to her home are tried in an Israeli civilian court  part of Israels dual legal system for Israelis and Palestinians.

Aheds case is highlighting the difference between a settler youth and a Palestinian youth, and how they live under different legal realities because of their nationalities, Laski, the lawyer, told Al Jazeera.

According to Bill Van Esveld, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, Israeli civilian courts deny bail to Israeli children in only 18 percent of cases. In contrast, Israels military courts refuse bail to Palestinian children in 70 percent of cases.

Barghouti noted that this disparity between the sentencing of Israelis and Palestinians was emblematic of an apartheid state.

But Barghouti was quick to point out that the entire court system is a farce, despite the disparities of sentencing. Its not a legitimate legal system in the first place, she said.

According to Palestinian prisoners rights group Addameer, 350 Palestinian minors were being held in Israeli prisons as of December. DCIP has reported that at least 8,000 Palestinian children have been arrested and prosecuted in Israels military courts since 2000.
Mt Mayon has erupted at least 50 times in the last 500 years and appears ready to blow again at any time.

Albay, Philippines  A restive volcano on the brink of a major explosion has forced more than 37,000 people to flee their homes.

Mount Mayon, about 500km southeast of the capital, Manila, has spewed ash and streamed lava since Sunday, and authorities are bracing for a major eruption.

The local volcanology agency has hoisted the third of a five-tier alert warning system, which means the volcano may be ripe for a magmatic eruption in a matter of weeks, or even days.

Mt Mayon  famous for its majestic, near-perfect cone shape  is among the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, having erupted at least 50 times in the last 500 years. In 1841, a blast buried an entire town and killed at least 1,200 people.

People living within Mayons six-kilometre radius  the so-called permanent danger zone  have been ordered to evacuate. Those living within 8km of the volcano are strongly urged to leave as well. Villagers 10km out are told to prepare to flee in case the volcanos activity intensifies.

But some residents were unconcerned by the danger.

We have done this so many times, we have gotten used to it, said Divina Miranda while evacuating. She and her family are taking shelter in a schoolhouse in the town of Camalig. We have nowhere else to go, so we just live with it.

A matter of poverty

The Mirandas fled their village at the foot of Mt Mayon on Friday, after volcanologists detected increased activity and sent out a warning. Divina and her husband, Rommel, have lived all their lives in that village, even before the government demarcated a permanent danger zone.

Why there are people still living on the volcanos slopes is a matter of poverty.

The government has housing projects for many of them, but they insist on returning to their homes near Mayon, said Camalig Mayor Maria Ahrdail Baldo. They prefer to stick to the way of life they have known.

Land near, or on, the volcano is relatively inexpensive and extremely fertile. Trees and shrubbery are in abundance for peoples livestock, and the ground yields a bountiful harvest of rice and vegetables. That is why people keep coming back  even when the volcano is erupting.

In Anoling village, Camalig Police Chief Inspector Darwin Asejo leads patrols to ensure villagers stay away. He told Al Jazeera, some people sneak into the danger zone to check on their livestock and guard their homes against looters.

We aim for zero casualties. That means keeping people out of here, even if we have to forcibly extricate them, Asejo said.

Albay province lies along the Philippines Pacific coast and the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to both typhoons and volcanic eruptions.

Despite its precarious situation, Albay boasts of a low casualty count from natural disasters, owing to the local governments focus on preparation and mitigating their effect.

In 2014, authorities managed to house thousands of people in evacuation centres for three months during Mayons prolonged eruption. Evacuees were clamouring to return to their homes but authorities strictly prohibited them from doing so.

Not a single death was recorded then.

Tough situation

The moment the Mirandas were told to evacuate, they took heed instantly, despite knowing the difficulty that lay before them. At the schoolhouse, Divina, Rommel and their four children have only a corner of a classroom to themselves. They are not allowed to cook their own food or take livestock with them.

We have very little money to buy food in the town. We have no jobs here. Back home, no one is minding our chickens. The ash from the volcano will ruin our vegetable plot, Rommel said while lulling his 6-month-old son, Aaron, to sleep.

But they are not complaining, even if their ordeal can drag on for a long time. Mt Mayon has been known to erupt continually for months before losing steam.

It is a tough situation. We are cramped and we inhale ash from the volcano, said Divina, her tone despondent. Of course, we will only go home when it is really safe. So until then, we just have to bear with it.

The local government has declared the province to be in a state of calamity, which authorises the release and use of 90 million pesos ($1.8m) for relief efforts. For evacuees, that means rations of food, toiletries, and other basic needs, which they hope will last until the volcano quiets down.
Latest rallies comes after parliament, including some opposition politicians, rejected bill to liberalise abortion.

Krakow, Poland  On Wednesday, women across Poland plan to protest against attempts to further restrict access to abortion.

Polish Womens Strike, the organiser, is a coalition of womens rights groups, pro-democracy initiatives and individuals mobilising through social media, and expects thousands to join in at least 50 cities.

In what has become something of a symbol of such protests in Poland, which is ruled by the anti-abortion Law and Justice party, the women plan to march dressed in black clothing.

Deja Vu Polish Women on Strike, the banner under which the current wave of protests is taking place, is the result of a January 10 vote in the lower chamber of the parliament.

Then, legislators chose to send a bill, introduced by the Life and Family Foundation group to ban the abortion of sick fetuses, for more work by parliamentary commissions.

On the same day, parliament rejected a bill titled Save Women, proposed by womens rights groups, to liberalise abortion.

That measure advocated legalising abortion until the twelveth week of pregnancy and introducing sex education in schools, access to free contraception and prescription-free emergency contraception. It also included a ban on picket protests by the so-called pro-life movement displaying graphic images of fetuses, near hospitals and schools.

Abortion in Poland is illegal except in cases of rape, when there is irreparable damage to the fetus and if the pregnancy jeopardises the mothers life.

The current law was introduced in 1993 following the fall of communism.

Some members of the liberal opposition voted against the recent bill to liberalise abortion; nine more votes in favour would have helped the measure enter the committee stage.

Aleksandra is among the women who will protest on Wednesday.

Until recently, I rarely participated in such demonstrations, she told Al Jazeera. But the situation has changed, as the discussion about womens rights has shifted right and the old-fashioned vision of womens role in society is gaining ground.

We have to act

Many women feel betrayed by the opposition.

Were showing that we know that a complete abortion ban is on the table in Poland, Marta Lempart of the Polish Womens Strike told Al Jazeera. After the rejection of the Save Women bill, we feel that we are on our own and we have to act.

The demonstrations are part of a wider womens rights movement, which grew out of Black Protest  a series of rallies against a ban on abortion in September 2016 proposed in a bill by the Ordo Iuris foundation, a Christian NGO.

Then, demonstrators wore black clothes and some carried black umbrellas, metal hangers or red gloves.

When in 2015, the [right-wing] Law and Justice [party] came to power and began  quickly and brutally  to change the institutional landscape, destroying democracy, a mass grassroots mobilisation began, said Elzbieta Korolczuk, a Polish sociologist from Sodertorn University in Sweden.

From the beginning, it was clear that women constitute a large part of this movement, as they realised that the quality of democracy will have an impact on their rights, she told Al Jazeera.

The decision by Law and Justice to cut state subsidies for IVF and the fact that pro-life movements have support among the ruling party have spurred activism.

In 2016, Ordo Iuris gathered signatures under a citizen initiative for a bill which would ban abortion in all the cases it was currently allowed. The group backed five-year prison sentences for women who decided to end their pregnancy.

Importantly, the [Ordo Iuris] bill referred to the murder of an unborn child which would have effectively eliminated prenatal diagnosis, as some methods it uses may cause miscarriage, Korolczuk said.

The percentage of such cases is small  between one and three  but the danger exists. Thus, many doctors stated that if the bill is voted through, they would not continue with prenatal tests as they would risk up to three years of imprisonment.

The Ordo Iuris bill replicated laws in El Salvador and Nicaragua where women who miscarry often serve prison sentences, charged with murder.

This caused a huge outrage of women, including those who were not in favour of legalisation, but felt that the bill violated their dignity and agency, Korolczuk said.

Mass mobilisation

A womens strike on October 3, 2016, in response to Ordo Iuris proposal  which was rejected in the end  was supported by the opposition who saw the bill as part of a wider attack against progressive forces.

Almost 100,000 people rallied, according to police statistics, with attendance also high in small towns where people are less likely to express their political views due to fear of exclusion.

When it comes to the scale of women's involvement and the power of the movement, Poland is a positive exception. Maybe because we have something to fight for, the movement is very diverse, strong and capable of large-scale mobilisation. by Elzbieta Korolczuk, sociologist

In neighbouring countries, women face fewer constraints in terms of reproductive rights.

In Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine and the Baltic states, abortion is legal, although not infrequently politicised.

When it comes to the scale of womens involvement and the power of the movement, Poland is a positive exception, said Korolczuk, the sociologist. Maybe because we have something to fight for, the movement is very diverse, strong and capable of large-scale mobilisation.
Authorities of El Salvador seeking to reach an agreement with Qatar to allow Salvadorans to work in the Gulf country.

El Salvador is seeking to reach an agreement with Qatar to allow Salvadoran migrants who are forced to leave the United States to work temporarily in the Gulf country, a spokesperson for the Salvadoran presidency said on Tuesday.

Last week, US President Donald Trumps administration said that as of September 2019, it would eliminate the temporary protected status, or TPS, that allows about 200,000 Salvadorans to live in the United States without fear of deportation.

Presidential communications chief Eugenio Chicas said El Salvador was in talks to see how Salvadorans could be employed in Qatar.

The kingdom of Qatar  has held out the possibility of an agreement with El Salvador whereby Salvadoran workers could be brought across in phases (to Qatar), Chicas told reporters.

After an unspecified period, the Salvadorans would return home, Chicas added, without saying how many workers the programme would encompass.

Hugo Martinez, the Salvadoran foreign minister, said during a visit to Qatar that his country had very, very skilled workers to offer the Gulf nation.

Martinez, who is visiting Qatar until Friday, asserted that workers from the Central American country could excel in areas such as engineering, construction and agriculture.

We are negotiating [the possibility of bringing] temporary workers, very, very qualified people, engineers who work in the maintenance of aircraft and mechanics, Martinez told reporters at a local ceremony.

Martinez also noted that Qatar had offered to provide health services to the Central American country, which is struggling with a weak economy and gang violence.

Qatars foreign ministry said in a statement that the two countries are interested in developing bilateral relations, especially in the fields of economy and culture.

But some Salvadorans have expressed discontent with the move.

Translation:They are now offering Salvadorans to #Qatar at 21. Some [as a consquence] of the TPS cancelled and others [that are] without work in [the country],We are treated as goods, the twitter account of a Salvadoran blog, Caiga quien Caiga, wrote on January 16.

https://twitter.com/CQCSV/status/953428261719166977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Air routes

Earlier this week, El Salvador and Qatar also signed an agreement that opens the possibility of creating an air route between the two nations, as the Arab country seeks to expand its flights to Latin America, the Salvadoran foreign ministry reported.

President of the Civil Aviation of Qatar told Foreign Minister @HugoMartinezSV that the country provides connectivity and airport conditions to open a route between two nations and to Latin America. This raised the interest of Qatar Airlines for explorations and possibilities of beginning operations with authorities, the Salvadoran foreign ministry said on its Twitter account.

Pdte Aviacion Civil de Qatar dijo a Min @HugoMartinezSV que ESA brinda condiciones de conectividad y aeroportuarias p/abrir ruta entre dos naciones y hacia Latinoamerica, planteo interes de Qatar Airlines p/exploraciones s/posibilidades de inicio operaciones con autoridades ESA pic.twitter.com/XnGXetiY3m  RREE El Salvador (@cancilleriasv) January 15, 2018

Issa Saad Al Jafali al-Nuaimi, the Qatari labour minister, participated in the meeting, during which they finalised details to materialise the next agreement that would give temporary work status to Salvadorans in the Gulf state.
Sheikh Abdullahs health deteriorated due to pressure from the UAE authorities, according to his family.

A member of the Qatari royal family, who was allegedly detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has been transferred to a hospital shortly after his arrival to Kuwait.

Sources told Al Jazeera that Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani was seen in a wheelchair when arrived in Kuwait from the UAE.

Abdullahs brother, Sheikh Khalid, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that his siblings health deteriorated due to exhaustion and pressure he was exposed to under Emirati authorities.

Sheikh Khalid added that his brother is now in stable condition and should be leaving the hospital soon.

On January 14, Sheikh Abdullah released a video statement, saying he was a prisoner in the UAE, and that if anything happened to him, Sheikh Mohammed is responsible.

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While he did not specify, Abdullah appeared to be referring to Abu Dhabis Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

I am currently in Abu Dhabi. I was a guest of Sheikh Mohammed. I am no longer a guest; I am a prisoner, he said in the video, which was widely circulated on social media.

They told me not to leave. I am afraid that anything could happen to me, and the people of Qatar would be blamed. So I just wanted to inform you that if anything happens to me, the people of Qatar are innocent, he added.

Sheikh Abdullah rose to prominence suddenly last summer, when a major diplomatic crisis broke out in the Gulf.

After Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar in June, Sheikh Abdullah appeared frequently on Saudi and UAE television programmes expressing his views in support of the measures against Doha.

At an Arab League meeting in Cairo in September, Qatars Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad al-Muraikhi said Saudi Arabia was looking to depose Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and replace him with Sheikh Abdullah.

Qatars response

The UAEs foreign ministry denied that Sheikh Abdullah was being held against his will.

A statement published by the official Emirati news agency (WAM) cited a source at the ministry as saying that Qatars Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani has come as a guest to the UAE, at his own behest.

Sheikh Abdullah enjoyed the warm welcome and gracious hospitality during his stay in the UAE, after he was harassed by Qatari Government. The source added that Sheikh Abdullah has had unrestrained mobility and freedom of movement during his stay in the UAE, the statement added.

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However, Qatar News Agency (QNA) released a statement on Sunday saying Sheikh Abdullah appeared to be speaking of his detention.

Lolwa al-Khater, a spokesperson for Qatars foreign ministry, said in remarks to QNA that the State of Qatar is closely monitoring the situation, but due to the total severance of ties with the UAE, it is difficult to clearly establish the circumstances surrounding the situation.

The National Human Rights Committee in Qatar (NHRC) said in a statement on Tuesday that it received a complaint from Sheikh Abdullahs family about his restriction of movement by the Emirati authorities.

The National Human Rights Committee in the State of Qatar affirms the illegality of this measure and its violation of all international and regional human rights conventions, instruments and understandings, the statement said.

It holds the Emirati authorities responsible for the safety and security of this Qatari citizen and demands his immediate release.

The group also called on the international community and NGOs to intervene and ensure the safety and release of Sheikh Abdullah, as well as hold the Emirati authorities responsible for the violation.
Irans President Hassan Rouhani has expressed support for Qatar, dismissing any unjust and unfair pressures on Doha by its Arab neighbours, as he urged the Gulf countries to resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations.

His comments on Tuesday came as a regional diplomatic dispute has entered its eighth month.

The Iranian leader made the remarks during a meeting with the speaker of Qatars Advisory Council, Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Mahmoud, in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

We believe that any pressure on the Qatari government and people is unacceptable, and if there are differences between the countries of the region, especially the neighbour countries, they should only be resolved through dialogue, Rouhani said on the sidelines of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) Conference.

The Gulf dispute began on June 5 last year when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East and fostering ties with their rival Iran. Doha has vehemently refuted the charges.

Rouhani reiterated Irans cooperation with Qatar amid the dispute.

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Iran and Qatar have always been friend and brother, he said. Based on its political will, Iran tends to develop all-out cooperation with Qatar.

For his part, Al Mahmoud appreciated Irans support for Qatars government and its people.

Were happy that Doha-Tehran ties are based on friendship, brotherliness and good neighbourliness, he said.

Thanks to the help and support of its friends, especially Iran, Qatar today is firmly standing against allegations and conspiracies, the Qatari delegate added.

Iran is currently hosting parliamentary delegations from 44 Islamic countries in its capital for an annual OIC conference, which got under way on Saturday.

Gulf tensions

Tensions have been rising in the Gulf region after Qatar filed two complaints at the United Nations over alleged violations of its airspace by Emirati military aircraft.

On Monday, the UAE alleged that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two Emirati passenger flights to Bahrain  claims which were denied by Doha as completely false.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the family of a Qatari royal family member confirmed that he was being held against his will in Abu Dhabi.

A video released on Sunday showed Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani saying that he was a prisoner in the UAE capital. On Wednesday, he was hospitalised in Kuwait.

Qatar is seeking international arbitration in an attempt to end the blockade imposed on by the Saudi-led group.
The attack took place on the outskirts of a displacement camp in Nigerias north-eastern state of Borno.

At least 10 people have been killed and dozens others wounded in a suicide bomb attack at a market in Nigerias northeastern Borno state, officials said.

The incident took place on Wednesday in Muna Garage, a camp for displaced people on the outskirts the state capital of Maiduguri.

Preliminary reports indicate that four female suicide bombers were responsible for the blast, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said in a statement.

The Emergency Response Team [from NEMA] has responded to 65 injured people who were given first aid and transported to hospitals while 10 others lost their lives, added Ibrahim.

News Agency of Nigeria, however, reported that the attack had been carried out by two male suicide bombers, giving a toll of 12 dead and 48 wounded.

Daminian Chukwu, police commissioner, said one attacker detonated an explosive device at the crowded market outside of Muna Garage.

One other suicide bomber out of panic detonated his own explosive and blew himself alone into pieces, added Chukwu.

The bodies of the victims were taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Wednesdays attack marked the first suicide bomb attack in Maiduguri in 2018.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the Boko Haram group  which launched an armed campaign in the northeast almost a decade ago  has targeted Muna Garage in the past few years.

People should be vigilant because Boko Haram insurgents have not surrendered, said Chukwu.

The state government has imposed a curfew on the capital between 8pm and 6am (19:00 GMT and 07:00 GMT).
The UN says the situation will worsen unless it receives $1.6bn in extra funds.

The United Nations says more than half of Somalias population is in need of emergency aid due to a major drought and worsening conflict.

Millions have been forced from their homes and hundreds of thousands of children have been left malnourished.

The UN says the situation will worsen unless it receives $1.6bn in extra funds.

Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith reports.
The talks, which did not include Russia or China, are not expected to be a venue for resolving the conflict with North Korea, but rather a coordination of efforts.

The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on the world to step up pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear programme.

Hes joined a summit in Canada discussing how to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang.

Russia and China were excluded from the meeting, only countries that had supported Seoul during the Korean War were invited to the summit.

Moscow and Beijing said this one-sided gathering could aggravate tensions.

Twenty nations have agreed to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.

A US-hosted meeting of countries that backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korea War also vowed to support renewed dialogue between the two Koreas in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions and agreed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis was both essential and possible on Tuesday.

North Korean maintains that it has the right to advance its missile technology and does not agree to stop developing its nuclear missiles capability, which it says is a deterrent against possible foreign aggression.

UN has placed sanctions on North Korea in order to force Pyongyang to give up its missile and nuclear technologies.

The United States and Canada co-hosted the day-long meeting in Vancouver to discuss ways to increase pressure on Kim.

US officials have reported a debate within the Trump administration over whether to give more active consideration to military options, such as a pre-emptive strike on a North Korean nuclear or missile site.

Tillerson brushed off a question about such a bloody nose strike, telling a closing news conference: Im a not going to comment on issues that have yet to be decided among the National Security Council or the president.

However, he said the threat posed by North Korea was growing.

We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation  We have to recognise that the threat is growing and if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option, Tillerson said.

Our approach is, in terms of having North Korea chose the correct step, is to present them with what is the best option  talks are the best option; that when they look at the military situation, thats not a good outcome for them.

It is time to talk, but they have to take the step to say they want to talk.

The Vancouver meeting pledged to ensure that UN sanctions already in place were fully implemented and the participants said in a joint statement they agreed to consider and take steps to impose unilateral sanctions and further diplomatic actions that go beyond those required by UN Security Council resolutions. They gave no details.

Tillerson said all countries needed to work together to improve interdiction of ships attempting to skirt sanctions and said there must be new consequences for North Korea whenever new aggression occurs.

He said the meeting had agreed that China and Russia, which did not attend the Vancouver talks and sharply criticized them, must fully implement UN sanctions.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Canada and the US were demonstrating a Cold War mentality that would divide the international community and damage chances of an appropriate settlement on the peninsula.

Only through dialogue, equally addressing the reasonable concerns of all parties, can a way to an effective and peaceful resolution be found, Lu added.

US officials say discussion of a military strike option has lost some momentum since North and South Korea held formal talks for the first time in two years this month and Pyongyang said it would send athletes to the Winter Olympics that South Korea will host next month.
The mysterious killing of Fathi Shaqaqi, the founder of the armed Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

A film by Suhaib Abu Doulah

The moment the first bomb exploded, Dr Fathi Shaqaqis fate was sealed.

On January 22, 1995, months of planning came to fruition when two members of Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian separatist group, disguised themselves as Israeli soldiers and headed to a busy crossroads between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

It was Sunday and Beit Lid junction was full of Israeli soldiers returning to duty after the weekend. At 9:30am, the first bomber walked into a group of soldiers and set off his explosive belt.

Three minutes later, as rescuers arrived, a second suicide bomb was detonated.

An estimated 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in the attack, along with the two bombers.

Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, allegedly ordered that Shaqaqi, Islamic Jihads founder, and general secretary, be killed immediately.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin went to Beit Lid to view the situation, Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman told Al Jazeera.

He saw the bodies. He saw the protesters who were demonstrating against his control of the situation, demanding him to do something.

Nine months later Shaqaqi would be assassinated outside a hotel in Malta  but the circumstances surrounding his death, and who was responsible, remain something of a mystery.

Born in Gaza in 1951, Shaqaqis family had fled their home in Ramla before Israel was founded in 1948. He was never able to visit his refugee familys old home.

As an adult, Shaqaqi became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, which advocated reforming Arab political systems by creating a society governed by Islamic laws and morals. He went to university and worked as a maths teacher, before going on to study medicine in Egypt.

But by 1981, Shaqaqi had become increasingly frustrated by the Muslim Brotherhoods rejection of violence as a means to combat Israeli occupation of Palestine. He left to form his own organisation, Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad was the first Islamic resistance group to be founded in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. The groups aim was  and still is  to fight the existence of Israel and to form an Islamic, Palestinian state within the pre-1948 borders of Palestine.

The groups activities made Shaqaqi the subject of frequent interrogation and eventually imprisonment by Israeli authorities in 1986.





The following year six Islamic Jihad members escaped from a prison in Gaza, leading to a fierce battle with Israeli forces, which helped to spark the mass protest movement now known as the first Palestinian Intifada.

Surprisingly, Shaqaqi was released only two years into his four year jail sentence.

He was then deported to Lebanon before moving to Syria as a guest of then-president Hafez al-Assad.

It was from Damascus that Shaqaqi plotted the Beit Lid attack.

A Mossad assassin being caught in Damascus - the only outcome is death. by Ronen Bergman, Israeli journalist

The Beit Lid attack was the most devastating after the signing of the Oslo Accords, says Nafed Azzam, a current Islamic Jihad member.

According to Ronen Bergman, the task of assassinating Shaqaqi fell to Kidon, a department of the Israeli national security agency, Mossad, thought to be responsible for executing opponents  but the challenge was how to do so in Syria.

Damascus is a very risky arena for Mossad to work. A Mossad assassin being caught in Damascus  the only outcome is death, he says.

Bergman says that at the time, secretive political negotiations were also taking place between Syria and Israel that could not be put at risk.

An opportunity presented itself in September 1995 when Shaqaqi was returning from a trip to visit Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi.

Shaqaqi travelled via Malta. He checked into the Diplomat Hotel at 10:20 in the morning but in less than five hours, he was dead, shot in the head five times at close range by two men on a motorcycle.

Even now, the Maltese officials who investigated the case at the time are reluctant to state categorically who was responsible for Shaqaqis death.

Mossad might be the one who killed him, but we did not rule out a role from the Libyan secret services, said Dr Anthony Abela Medici, former director of the Malta Polices Forensic Science Laboratory.

We had information about a tense relationship between Islamic Jihad and Gaddafi during this period. We cannot confirm which foreign side killed him, he told Al Jazeera.

More than two decades after Shaqaqis death, Islamic Jihad maintains its presence in the occupied territories, continuing its campaign against Israel outside the political process.

Over the years it has claimed responsibility for more than 30 suicide bombings of both military and civilian targets and continues to be supported by Palestinians angered by the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank, illegal Israeli settlements, intransigence over the peace process  indeed Israels very existence.

Despite Maltese prevarication over how he died, Ronen Bergman seems very clear that he was assassinated by Israeli intelligence and, as such, his death must be ascribed to Mossad as a further extra-judicial killing.
Weapons sales are booming and the number of dead from wars, gun battles and gang crime is rising.

Whether it is warplanes and warships, missiles, tanks and guns of all sizes, the international arms trade is big business in every sense.

Amnesty International says military expenditure for countries worldwide was $1.7 trillion in 2016  $375bn of that specifically on small arms.

The United States, China, France, Russia and the UK sell more than 70 percent of all weapons. And they are all permanent members of the UN Security Council  the world body charged with maintaining international peace and security.

So, with thousands killed every day, is it possible for governments to control powerful companies that dominate the global weapons market?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Lloyd Russell-Moyle  British member of parliament

Tim Ripley  Defence and security analyst

Ben Moores  Defence and aviation analyst
Alachua County commissioners are reaching out to the public to find creative ways to use the space where the McConnell YMCA once stood.

The 212-acre lot is just south of Paynes Prairie in Micanopy on Southeast 134 Avenue, said Mark Sexton, the countys communications and legislative affairs director. Profit, nonprofit, governmental organizations and individuals are welcome to submit ideas.

All ideas regarding how the property should be used and managed must be received by the County Purchasing Department by 2 p.m. on Feb. 14, Sexton said. People who are interested in seeing the property can come to an open house at 10 a.m. on Jan. 26.

The commission reached out to citizens, so this could be an inclusive project, he said.

The county purchased the land for about $1.03 million during an auction in July, Sexton said.

No award will be given for the idea chosen, Sexton said. The statements of interest will be used to help decide whether the county should retain ownership of the property.

The commission has already received about a dozen statements from citizens with ideas, Sexton said.

Julia Salt, a 20-year-old sustainability studies senior, said she would be in favor of using the space in an environmentally friendly way.

The more land that is kept natural and cleaner, the healthier the community would be, she said.

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After the Senate Pro-Tempore resigned, citing a lack of respect for minorities, UFs Senate elected a new officer Tuesday night.

In a 54-20 vote, Trevor Schaettle (Impact, District B) will begin his 4-week term as Senate President Pro-Tempore, effective immediately. Schaettle formerly held the position in Spring 2017.

Im really excited for the opportunity to bring as many qualified, passionate senators into the chamber, he said.

The special election between Zachariah Chou (Inspire, Murphree) and Schaettle, Impact majority party leader, comes a week after the resignation of previous Senate President Pro-Tempore Janae Moodie. Moodie said her party and Student Government tokenize minorities.

Schaettle said he knew about Moodies plans to resign but disagreed with her, and said SG is diverse.

I try to stay as unbiased and look more at qualifications and passion when we chose senators, Schaettle said. Thats not to say we dont pick diverse senators. As a committee, we shouldnt have diversity be the only thing that we look for.

Senator Mackintosh Joachim (Inspire, Graham) said diversity is an issue that needs to be addressed in the Senate and asked both senators their approach.

Schaettle said the issue will not be fixed overnight. He hopes to meet with multicultural groups on campus to learn about their needs.

This is something that I, and Student Government have to work on, he said. Really voicing [multicultural groups] concerns, seeing what parts we could do better on and seeing what parts we could meet halfway on.

Before Chous loss, he proposed the idea of exit interviews for all departing Senators. He said he got the idea from a point made in Moodies speech about how many senators have left.

Student Government is pretty numb about when people leave Senate, Chou said. Its important to make Senate more inclusive and thoughtful.

The Senate also voted down an amendment proposed by Austin Young, a UF political science and religion senior, in committee. The amendment would change how future constitutional amendments are ratified by not including abstention votes in the three-fifths required to pass. The opportunity for the bill to be debated was voted down 50-24 when amending the agenda.

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The bottom line is that its simply not right that the judiciary committee would withhold it [the bill] from the rest of the Senate, the 22-year-old said. I think its wrong for a small committee to decide arbitrarily for the Senate not to vote on it.

Contact Christina Morales at cmorales@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Christina_M18.

Trevor Schaettle, a 21-year-old history senior, was elected Senate President Pro-Tempore at Tuesday evening's senate meeting. The Impact Party senator won 54-20 against Senator Zachariah Chou.
UF students receiving a Bright Futures Scholarship may see more money in their bank accounts if this Florida senate bill passes in the House.

The Florida Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 4, also known as the Florida Excellence in Higher Education Act of 2018, on Thursday. The bill, which now awaits consideration in the Florida House, would permanently expand the Bright Futures Scholarships Program for the top two tiers of scholars and require all state universities to adopt a block tuition system. UF spokesperson Janine Sikes said the bill addresses several of UFs highest priorities, but they are still in the early stages of working with the legislators to create the best proposal.

Theres some very very positive pieces of that legislation that would very much benefit our students, she said.

The bill provides a permanent expansion of the Bright Futures Programs from the change that was made in the 2017 to 2018 school year. The change was promised to be one year, but this bill would permanently expand the program for the Academic and Medallion scholars  the top two tiers of Bright Futures.

Under this bill, students who receive the top Bright Futures scholarship, referred to as Academic scholars, will have 100 percent of their tuition and fees covered and receive $300 for textbooks.

Students who receive the second-tier award, known as Medallion scholars, will have 75 percent of their tuition and fees covered by their Bright Futures scholarship.

Both Academic and Medallion scholars would be able to use Bright Futures scholarships for summer term enrollment if the bill passes.

Anthony Leonardi, a UF political science sophomore, currently receives the Academic scholar award. Although, he wouldve liked to see the permanent expansion sooner, he is glad the state government is willing to reward students who perform well.

Right now were in a situation where smart kids are not rewarded like they should be, the 20-year-old said.

The bill would also require that all state universities switch to a block tuition method by Fall 2018. Under block tuition, students would pay a flat rate each semester rather than per-credit-hour. The block tuition method is meant to improve on-time graduation rates by incentivizing students to take on a larger course load without bearing the extra financial cost.

Students at UF protested the implementation of block tuition in the 2010 to 2011 school year, which the administration later postponed indefinitely, citing rising graduation rates, according to Alligator archives.

Leonardi doesnt believe students should be pushed to take on more credit hours through the block tuition, because it could hinder their involvement outside the classroom.

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I think that there are a lot of extracurricular programs that we also need to incentivize people to take part in, he said. This is one of the things that the University of Florida has pushed. They want us to be involved in the Gator community.

Contact Jessica Giles at jgiles@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_giles_.
After three stores windows were found smashed and products or cash missing early Wednesday, police are investigating if the burglaries are connected, Gainesville Police said.

An AT&T store, located at 6110 NW Fourth Place, was burglarized at about 3:30 a.m. by three suspects, who police said were young males wearing masks and gloves. Officers responded to an alarm when the suspects threw a rock in the stores window and took an unknown amount of display items and merchandise, GPD spokesperson Officer Ben Tobias wrote in an email.

About 30 minutes later, while police were investigating the scene of the AT&T burglary, another burglary was reported at the Sprint store in Butler Plaza. The alarm company told police they were watching the burglary through the stores security cameras, Tobias said. The suspect was wearing a hoodie, grey sweatpants, red sandals, black socks and gloves and smashed the front door before stealing two display items.

Next to the Sprint store, officers discovered the Gainesville Running & Walking stores window was smashed, and the cash register was on the sidewalk outside, missing cash, police said.

We do know that other jurisdictions in Florida have reported similar burglaries in their areas, Tobias said.

Anyone with information should call GPDs Detective Bureau at 352-393-7670, Tobias said.

Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @merylkornfield.
UF researchers will be working with Stanford University to improve healthcare access to Type 1 diabetes patients who dont have access to hospitals.

UF Diabetes Institute received a $1.6 million donation on Jan. 9 for the collaborative project. Type 1 diabetics can find it difficult to go to recommended endocrinologist appointments every three to four months because of the cost and distance to travel to health care, said Dr. Michael Haller, UF professor and chief in the department of pediatrics.

Its an opportunity to provide better care for patients living with a chronic disease that requires 24/7 management, Haller said. Type 1 diabetes is tough even for the patients that have great access to great care.

The money was given to the UF Diabetes Institute by the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to fund a state-wide, 18-month pilot project with Stanford University. Haller said more funds could be donated again if the project is successful. The project is aimed at training primary care physicians across the state to treat patients who live far away in innovative ways.

The research does not emphasize the direct treatment of patients, but instead focuses on increasing their access to care through tools such as telemedicine, or video conferencing, which would not require a physical hospital visit. Haller said telemedicine is more economic and efficient for both patients and healthcare providers.

The telemedicine project is based on a model of care called Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, which is being piloted in Florida and California due to high rates of diabetes within the states populations of underserved patients. Haller said UF is where research will stem.

The idea of an ECHO is places with expertise, like us, serve as a hub, Haller said. If we can prove that this works, theoretically, this would be something that would be used nationwide.

Contact Elliott Nasby at enasby@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_ElohEl.

Adam Carter, a first year medical student, speaks with diabetes patient Katrina Thomas during the free medical clinic hours at the UF Family Practice Medical Group on Thursday.

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Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Jose Javier Navas Heredia was arrested after allegedly cutting the tip of a bouncer's thumb, not cutting off the bouncer's thumb as previously reported. This story has also been updated to reflect that Heredia was not released to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, as originally told to Alligator reporters by jail staff. The magistrate's report does not include that information.

A Florida Gulf Coast University student is accused of getting in a fight in front of a midtown bar and cutting the tip of a bouncers thumb with a knife early Monday, Gainesville Police said.

Jose Javier Navas Heredia, 23, was part of a fight in front of a midtown bar at 1702 W. University Ave. after midnight, according to an arrest report. When a bouncer from the bar came and grabbed Navas Heredia by the shoulders to stop the fight, he turned around and pulled a pocket knife from his back pocket, according to the report.

Navas Heredia opened the knife and held the blade to the bouncers chest, police said.

Two off-duty bouncers from the bar saw Navas Heredia had a knife and tried to disarm him, according to the report. He resisted and cut the tip of one of the two mens right thumb in the struggle, police said.

The manager of the bar came outside and was finally able to disarm Navas Heredia, according to the report.

Police said he tried to leave the scene, but a witness pointed him out to officers and he was detained.

After his arrest, Navas Heredia told police he did not own the knife but may have touched it during the fight.

He was taken to Alachua County Jail where he was released Monday on his own recognizance.

Contact Robert Lewis at rlewis@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @Lewis__Robert.

Jose Javier Navas Heredia

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Russell Anderson remembers the countless nights that he only got four hours of sleep to fit in an extra 90 credit hours in two years at UF.

During his time, Anderson, 32, of Gainesville, broke the universitys Graduate Certificate program record with six certificates, doubling the prior record. He discovered the achievement through his program administrators.

To do this, Anderson said he took full course loads for nine consecutive semesters. He took 18 hours during both fall and spring and nine per summer. He finished his six certificates in the fall of 2017.

I'll be honest, coupling that commitment and the coursework along with working 20 hours per week and sustaining a small business was not easy, Anderson said.

The majority of certificate programs, which is a grouping of classes offered by a specific field of study, range from 12 to 18 hours of coursework. Despite the workload, Anderson said he managed to meet his obligations and sustained a 3.64 GPA.

Anderson did not start out with the motivation of earning six certificates, but he considers himself to have always been an interdisciplinary and experiential student. He said he felt there was more to learn than what his sustainable development practice masters program offered.

When I learned about the certificates and started reading about what was available, I felt like a kid in a candy store, Anderson said.

Anderson earned his certificates in ecological restoration, natural resource policy administration, Latin American studies, tropical conservation and development, leadership in agricultural education and communication and emergency services and disaster management.

I was often running from one commitment to another and sacrificing social engagements, Anderson said. More than once I found myself double-booked, overwhelmed or crashing against deadlines.

He currently works as the chief operating officer for a transnational development corporation aimed at advancing long-term sustainable solutions for global problems.

Many of his professors inspired him during his academic career, which helped lead him to his overall success, Anderson said. Two of them, UF professors Paul Monaghan and Glenn Galloway recognized Andersons distinct work ethic.

Galloway said that this accomplishment takes a person who has diverse interests, a passionate desire to learn and commitment to taking on challenges and seeing them to completion.

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It has been a great pleasure to have Russell in our program, and we are proud of his accomplishments, he said.

Monaghan said Andersons intellectual curiosity gave him the motivation to seek out the extra programs.

I think Russ just has a thirst for knowledge, experiences and challenging himself," Monaghan said. I honestly dont know how he actually did complete them.

Russell Anderson
Anti-abortion folks never cease to amaze in the tactics they use to prevent access to this entirely lawful procedure. From protesters harassing women and workers at abortion clinics, to state-sponsored fake medical centers that attempt to trick and shame women out of abortions, our access is also obstructed by laws leading to too few abortion clinics in our state  resulting in women traveling long distances and taking off multiple days of work  and abortions themselves costing hundreds of dollars. To make access to abortion a reality for all women, we need free abortion on demand. To make that a reality, women must fight back.

This Saturday, National Womens Liberation, (NWL) will celebrate the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized a womans right to an abortion, as well as the organizing that led to that decision and all the organizing efforts since then to protect it.

Gainesville is the birthplace of second-wave feminism organizing in the south, and here, feminist organizers have been fighting for decades. Most recently, on Jan. 9 a local abortion provider won against the state in Gainesville Woman Care, LLC v. State of Florida, when a Florida court struck down a 24-hour waiting period for abortions. This recent win was legally possible because Florida Constitution grants a right to privacy that is similar to the federal level protection, but stronger. This right to privacy is the primary reason Floridians arent subjected to even more extreme regulations other states face, such as 72-hour waiting periods in North Carolina, verbal counseling that life begins at conception in Indiana, or informational pamphlets in Texas which tell lies about abortions causing breast cancer.

Our Florida constitutional right to privacy gives a womans right to an abortion more protection, but that protection is still under attack. This year, the Constitutional Revision Commission is meeting and is considering changes to Floridas right to privacy that would weaken our right to abortion. Its proposed changes will be placed on the November 2018 election ballot. The CRC only meets once every 20 years, and its public hearings are held during the work day. NWL organizers will go to the CRC hearing in Jacksonville on Feb. 20 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., to put on record our support for a strong right to privacy provision and protection for our right to abortion. If you want to join us, email us at nwl@womensliberation.org.

In the meantime, celebrate feminists organizing wins for reproductive rights. Saturday Jan. 20 at 7 p.m., join NWL at The Wooly, 20 N. Main St., for the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Enjoy amazing feminist bands, meet tireless social justice groups from around Gainesville, see our guerilla theater and raise money for NWL to continue our organizing. The show event is open to all ages. More information is available at www.womensliberation.org.

The only way to protect and expand our reproductive rights is to fight for them and support movement groups. NWL hopes youll join us  or another social justice group  and find your own place in the movement.

Jennifer C. Boylan is a UF postdoctoral scholar and a Steering Committee Member of National Womens Liberation (NWL).
For the first time ever, First Magnitude Brewing Companys popular 7.2K Springs Run, which raises money for springs protection Saturday, will be followed by Springs Fest, a fun day full of activities. After breaking a sweat for water preservation, Gainesville residents will be able to relax, enjoy some art, have a beer and listen to live music.

According to a facebook post, artists and craft vendors Curtis Whitwam, Jenna Horner Art and Crooked Path Forge will be in attendance in addition to family friendly workshops. The Florida Springs Institute will also show a documentary teaching about springs conservation.

The annual Springs Run benefits the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute, an educational non-profit in High Springs dedicated to ensuring the restoration of the Florida springs.

Amelia Cecilia, a 24-year-old Gainesville resident, praised the importance of the Florida Springs Institute and how having events like this can help strengthen our community.

Its important to get together as a community for this event, because we all share this planet, and we all share the water, Cecilia said. It is all of our responsibilities to maintain our local ecology and do our best to leave the planet better than it was when we got here.

Cecilia owns a small business called The Comfort Zone, an event service geared toward creating a safe and comfortable environment for children and families at large events. She will be at Springs Fest painting faces and facilitating arts and crafts to ensure a kid-friendly vibe at First Magnitude.

Cecilia said she will provide the kids with crayons and markers for coloring and that she had planned on making sun-catchers and spirit flags as well.

Other amenities I plan on providing include a reading corner and kid friendly beverages and, of course, face painting, said Cecilia. It should be fun.

The party will continue after the sun goes down. There will be live music from popular bands Aquanova, Locochino, Observatory, Noah Mac Music, The Funky Miracle and a new Gainesville band Headstash.

I think I am most excited to see Headstash, Cecilia said. Theyre a fairly new band that is full of talent and heart. Im also excited for the Funky Miracle because I just saw The Meters in St. Pete last weekend, and Im still ready to boogie down.

Similar to the Springs Run, a $10 donation at the Springs Fest will account for discounts on beer and art while supporting the Florida Springs Institute.

They are doing a great job of educating people on the importance of protecting our water sources, and they are doing the best they can to combat overpopulation and climate change through education and awareness, said Cecilia.

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Springs Fest 2018 will be at First Magnitude from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. directly after the annual 7.2k Springs Run.

First Magnitude Brewing Companys popular 7.2K Springs Run, which raises money for springs protection Saturday, will be followed by Springs Fest, a fun day full of activities.
Steven Spielbergs The Post serves as a timely reminder that the press must hold their government accountable no matter how much those in power wish to silence them. The film chronicles the papers pivotal decision to publish the infamous Pentagon Papers, a study of classified documents that examined U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

In 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) commissioned the study, which discovered that four presidential administrations  Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson  knew the Vietnam War was unwinnable. Despite this, the U.S. escalated involvement in Vietnam to avoid the humiliation of defeat. The information and revelations found in the study were to remain classified until the wars end.

But in 1969, Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys), a contributor to the study, became opposed to the war and felt the public deserved to know the studys results. Ellsberg secretly began photocopying thousands of pages from the study. He then leaked the documents to several newspaper publications in 1971.

This preface is summed up within the first five minutes of the movie, which speaks on the earnestness of The Post. The dynamism and pace of the film, rather fittingly, resembles a newsroom scrambling to meet its midnight deadline.

Once The Post settles down, the narrative focuses on executive editor Ben Bradlees (Tom Hanks) and publisher Katharine Kay Grahams (Meryl Streep) decision on whether to expose the duplicity of the government.

When The New York Times begins publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, Bradlee becomes frustrated that The Washington Post is yet again having to rewrite The Times exclusive coverage.

When Nixons White House obtains an injunction, forcing The Times to stop printing, Ellsberg contacts The Washington Post and gives national editor Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) a copy of the Pentagon Papers to ensure the study continues to be published.

With a copy in hand, Bradlee wishes to establish The Washington Post as a contender to the newspaper of record. However, the question of whether to publish or wait for the Supreme Courts ruling on the constitutionality of the injunction is complicated by a number of factors  one being potential jail time.

The Post is not only a story about the importance of protecting the Fourth Estate but also a story of a woman finding her voice. At first, Streep portrays Graham as a woman still coming to terms with the amount of power she holds. While sitting in a room discussing the details of The Posts impending initial public offering, Streep nervously fidgets and searches for an opportunity to get a word in with her all-male board of directors.

When Kay is forced to make the decision of whether to publish the Pentagon Papers, Streep asserts Kays voice when its needed most. She sticks by her choice to publish the papers even when all the men around her, albeit Bradlee, insist it will destroy the company.

Hanks truly captures Bradlees swashbuckling, endearing nature as the commander of a freewheeling newsroom. Nevertheless, his performance is no match to that of Streeps layered, vulnerable and subtle portrayal of Graham.

The cast is rounded out by fantastic support including David Cross, Carrie Coon, Pat Healy, Bradley Whitford, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson and Alison Brie.

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The Post serves as a quasi-prequel to All the Presidents Men (1976) and ends with a closing shot of the Watergate burglary that is indistinguishable from the opening shot of All the Presidents Men. It seems Spielberg is paying homage to what many agree is one of the best journalism movies to date.

The Post is now creating a huge amount of Oscar buzz, but more important than the awards the movie might garner are the messages it delivers.

In this era of fake news and alternative facts, the notion that the press was meant to serve the governed, not the governors is being challenged. The Post encourages todays journalists to continue their work and to deliver the objective truth no matter the cost.

In this image released by 20th Century Fox, Tom Hanks portrays Ben Bradlee, left, and Meryl Streep portrays Katharine Graham in a scene from "The Post." (Niko Tavernise/20th Century Fox via AP)
This weekend at the Depot Event Space, you can find beers and briskets that will give hope to the homeless.

Local restaurant The Top is hosting a winter barbecue at 201 SE Depot Ave. on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. to benefit Grace Marketplace, a local homeless shelter.

Admission to the event grants you full access to an all-you-can-eat barbecue, including Texas-style brisket and St. Louis cut ribs, along with bottomless beer provided by a handful of local breweries, like First Magnitude Brewing Company and Cigar City, according to the events website.

Bailey Bruce, the events director for The Top, said there are a limited number of tickets.

Were not trying to do, you know, this massive festival for the entire northeast of Florida, Bruce said. This is something wed like for it to be intimate.

People interested in attending are encouraged to buy pre-sale tickets, available online at depotwinterbbq.brownpapertickets.com for $35 before fees until Thursday at 2 p.m.

Bruce said that the vision for the winter barbecue was not to make a profit, but to provide the community with a quality experience while giving back to a local nonprofit organization.

We wanted the money coming from this event to go into someone elses pockets, Bruce said.

Grace Marketplace is a nonprofit homeless assistance shelter in northeast Gainesville that is completely funded by local sources, state and federal grants and private donations.

We definitely see a homeless population in Gainesville that is not getting enough support, Bruce said. We visually see it every day.

Bruce said theyre excited to support Grace Marketplace because they have a great mission.

It just felt right, Bruce said. They do something really important for our community  these are human beings that deserve help.

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Jon DeCarmine, the director of Grace Marketplace, said everything they do is a community effort.

Anytime folks from the community recognize the value of what we do and are willing to use their resources to help us end homelessness  it makes everything we do easier to achieve, DeCarmine said.

DeCarmine has been with Grace Marketplace since it opened in 2014, but was involved with its planning stages as far back as 2005.

I think about when my kids ask me why people are homeless when there are so many empty houses in our community, DeCarmine said. Theres really no good answer for that.

DeCarmine said Grace Marketplace is a one-stop homeless assistance shelter and emergency center on a 25-acre campus.

The organization and its partnering agencies provide Gainesvilles homeless population with a variety of services every day, from laundry and showers to legal service and health care, according to the organizations website.

DeCarmine said that every night Grace Marketplace offers 113 beds in what is known as a low-barrier setting.

That means we provide services to anybody wherever they are  we dont have requirements for people doing chores or having income, or any of the other restrictions that some other shelters have in place that prevent people from getting the help they need, he said. Instead, we focus entirely on how we can move someone from the streets into permanent housing as quickly as possible.

Since opening four years ago, Grace Marketplace has moved 400 people into permanent housing, 80 percent of whom have remained housed a year later, he said.

And so that tells us that not only are we having an immediate impact, but also a long-term, sustainable impact, he said.

DeCarmine said The Top has been a huge supporter of Grace Marketplace in the past and hes excited to continue the relationship.

Theyre a model of what downtown business relationships with organizations working to end homelessness could be, DeCarmine said.

DeCarmine is attending the barbecue himself and he expects most people attending to walk away with a better understanding of what our local homeless population looks like.

Right now there are about 800 men and women on the street in Alachua County, DeCarmine said. And unfortunately the folks who are out panhandling tend to be 100 percent of who people see and recognize as homeless.

DeCarmine said events like this provide the Gainesville community with an opportunity to contribute in a way they can feel great about.

If any community can end homelessness, Gainesville is the one that can do it, he said.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that DeCarmine said recognition of Grace Marketplace's value by those in the community helps them end homelessness. A quote from him previously read Anytime folks from the community recognize the value of what we do and are willing to use their resources to help us and homelessness  it makes everything we do easier to achieve.

The Top is hosting a winter barbecue at 201 SE Depot Ave. on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. to benefit GRACE Marketplace, a local homeless shelter.
Having just read Matt Purple's comments on The American Conservative as to why "Bannonism will live on," I thought I'd weigh in as a critical observer of what now passes for the "conservative movement."

Like Bannon, I have generally chastised that movement from the right. But like Mr. Purple, I find President Trump's erstwhile adviser downright inept in selling his conservative populist message. Bannon has behaved like an egomaniac, who viciously turned on the president he was supposed to be assisting. He couldn't even serve the populist cause he purports to believe in without making it entirely about himself. Some of Bannon's more widely publicized political choices, such as favoring Judge Roy Moore for the vacant senatorial seat in Alabama, are a case in point. His involvement in that race gave him ample opportunity to exhibit himself on camera, in his bag man attire and four-o'clock shadow. But we know how disastrous that race turned out. Despite his supposedly persuasive rhetoric, moreover, I don't think I've ever heard Bannon say anything memorable or notably coherent.

My criticism goes beyond Bannon's demeanor and extends to the populist brand that he's selling. Although I'm not categorically against the right embracing populist tactics, I just don't think these tools can work well in the U.S.

Populism assumes a high degree of homogeneity, cultural, historic, and ethnic, among the "majority" to whom a populist leader appeals. The white working-class base that Bannon and Trump have targeted includes no more than about 35% of the voting population, and at least that number of voters and probably more are allied to the cultural and social left.

Bannon, Stephen Miller, and the American Greatness crowd are always claiming they'll bring American blacks into their populist alliance. But in Alabama and Virginia, black turnout for Democratic statewide candidates, in what was at least partly an expression of anti-Trump sentiment, was over 95%. It doesn't matter that Trump's policies have helped blacks and hispanics economically. There's no indication that help is even minimally appreciated, and even less that racial minorities are running to join an expanding populist alliance. Ditto for college-educated, upwardly mobile women, who are running toward the social-cultural left in droves. Despite the continuing protests of pro-Trump populist websites against the legalization of DACA DREAMers, 69% of American adults polled in favor this measure. Although there may be good reasons to oppose the legalization, "the people" and the democratic will are not among them.

Much of what Bannon has advocated as populist nationalism seems to be a grab-bag of his own preferences, combining tough trade deals with the Pacific Rim, increased solidarity with the Israeli government, and a general relaxation of relations with Russia. Although Bannon may be able to defend his individual positions, I'm not sure they amount to a populist posture. And while I fully share Bannon's traditionalist views on social moral questions, I doubt they represent what a majority of the American population believe about any of them. When the Trump administration ordered the firing of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat air base in Syria in April 2017, Bannon opposed that move as not being in America's interest. Are we supposed to think that Bannon was taking a "populist" position because it was he who took it? If so, would his stance have been equally "populist" if it had been the opposite of the position he took, by virtue of the fact that he took it? In contrast to our situation, leaders of the populist right in Hungary, Poland, and Serbia usually speak for the views of most of their citizenry. They don't have to fabricate their "people."

Allow me to offer a much less exuberant description than Bannon's of what the American right might be reduced to if present demographic and cultural trends in the U.S. continue. And please note that I'm referring to the "real right," as opposed to GOP deal-makers and centrists who are eager to compromise in order to stay in the political game. A moment of disenchantment for this right is bound to come sooner or later. At that point, it will have to stop deluding itself that "the people are behind us," when most of them are not. The wisest strategy may be for cultural and social traditionalists (and those are the ones I'm addressing) to protect themselves against the "popular will," as more and more of that will is likely to be found on the enemy side.

The right must limit immigration if for no other reason than because it increases the electoral power of a well organized left, and it must decentralize administration in order to allow non-leftist minorities to have influence over their political fate. Least of all should the right (as opposed to neoconservatives) be interested in having the U.S. play the role of global policewoman or try to impose what it considers "human rights" on societies that have no interest in them.

One might wish that "conservative" foundations devoted the same energy and resources to these stands as they do to promoting the purchase of new weaponry by the Pentagon. But that may be more than one has a right to expect.
Lynch mobs are not a pretty sight. But what is a pretty sight, even a beautiful one, is someone standing by the side of the road trying to call halt.

"As we came down the steps of the Palais de Justice, we found ourselves surrounded by the roaring crowd. And then I saw the hero [Zola], more beautiful than the imagination of mankind ever pictured him[.] ... He was clumsy, shortsighted, and awkwardly carried his umbrella under his arm[.] ... But as he descended the steps one by one, in the midst of the roars of hatred, among the crowd that clamored for his death, he walked under the arch of uplifted clubs and canes like a king descending the palace stairs beneath an arch of naked swords unsheathed in his honor. ... It was a triumph of conscience, of truth, and of an individual." Mme. Severine during the Dreyfus affair

In 2006, we saw the thronging of another lynch mob, this time in Durham, North Carolina. Three Duke University students were falsely accused of rape, in a case so flimsy that it should have been dismissed in five minutes. But this was an era of politically correct minefields, and a media storm erupted. The local paper, the Herald-Sun, eventually ran over 300 articles about what became known as the Duke Lacrosse Case, almost without exception assuming the guilt of the accused and stirring the city's readership to moral outrage.

The fires having been lit, the national press took up the theme. Newsweek automatically branded the accused with adjectives like "raunchy," "strutting," "macho," and "entitled," with the noun "thugs" thrown in ("What Happened at Duke," May 1, 2006). The magazine's cover for that issue featured mug shots of the arrested students, which could hardly have done more to infer their guilt and convict them in the mind of the public.

The New York Times, which printed more than 100 pieces on the case, was later judged by some observers to have bent over backward to support the prosecution. In one editorial, Selena Roberts wrote of "a group of privileged players of fine pedigree entangled in a night that threatens to belie their social standing as human beings" ("When Peer Pressure, Not Your Conscience, is Your Guide," March 31, 2006).

Who can manage to stay upright when a storm is blowing? On some days, network television coverage of the case exceeded that of the Iraq war.

The result was predictable:

"It was like a gauntlet of people just swarmed us everywhere ... all the trucks that you see outside with satellite dishes on our front yard and they were ... going after every single person they could ... and while we were walking [to the court] the Black Panthers started screaming out, "Justice will be done, rapist!" They said, "You're going to get yours, rapist!" ... I mean, that was, I was terrified[.] ... [O]nce we got in the courtroom ... there were people yelling, there were people shouting all different things, and ... I felt I was going to be real safe because once you walk in a courtroom you know then you're safe ... and we sat down ... and there was a guy behind him me in the first row that kept leaning up[.] ... [H]e said, "You're a dead man walking!" ... Mr. Nifong [the prosecutor] sort of smirked to himself at the other table ... at that point I think we understood where we were heading." Testimony at Nifong's Bar hearing, June 15, 2007

Even the clergy sang in harmony. In the single church rally about the case, a packed congregation consisting of Durham's pastors, civic and civil rights leaders, patiently sat as keynote speakers from the New Black Panther Party denounced the accused, whites in general, and Jews. The listeners held books in their hands written by Jews. Portraits of Jews adorned their houses of worship. Yet when speakers from an organization whose leaders have called for the death of Jews took the pulpit and proceeded to attack Jews, no one got up and walked out. Not one preacher, white or black, bishop or humble deacon, then or later, ever raised his voice against the immorality of sacrificing the innocent to slake the thirst of a mob.

Clemenceau said of Zola, "There have always been people strong enough to resist the most powerful kings, to refuse to bow before them; there have been very few to resist the masses, to stand up alone against the misled multitude."

Steve Miller, then a student-columnist for the Duke University newspaper, stood up virtually alone against the 300 articles of the Herald-Sun. He stood up against the satellite trucks parked bumper to bumper on Duke's campus. He stood against the national networks:

[A]s a student body we have a moral duty to act with dignity and to demand fair and just treatment for our peers  no slander, no abuse, no prejudice tolerated. ("Persecution," August 28, 2006) We live in a society where a single accusation can lead to ruin. ("Paranoia," September 25, 2006) There are few greater evils a person can suffer than to face trial for a heinous crime he did not commit. ("Duke Lacrosse: A Call to Action," November 6, 2006)

The rest of the media pack never quite got around to admitting that. The muffled apologies that came later were measured and qualified.

Like Zola, Miller found himself trying to yell above a hurricane. He may not have been the perfect embodiment of every virtue society seeks. But at the required time, he was there. And how proud should the rest of the media  who like to posture as the guardians of civic morality  be of their response?

It was his moment by default.

We owe Steve Miller a debt and an acknowledgement. Journalism owes him a debt. Justice owes him a debt. France was fortunate to have had a Zola. For America  or at least certainly for Durham and Duke University  Miller was cast in the part and played it admirably.

I would not have agreed with everything Zola wrote about France, socialism, or religion. But he will be forever honored for his stand against the inflamed masses.

I may not agree with everything Miller does with regard to future politics, but nothing should detract from the honor he is due for opposing mob justice during what would have been a blot on America's escutcheon, a Scottsboro II, imbued with all the passions and prejudices of the original version.

Thank you, Mr. Miller, for that.

Randolph Parrish is the author of The Duke Lacrosse Case: A Documentary History and Analysis of the Modern Scottsboro (2009).
Three weeks after college, I flew to Senegal, West Africa, to run a community center in a rural town. Life was placid, with no danger, except to your health. That danger was considerable, because it was, in the words of the Peace Corps doctor, "a fecalized environment."

In plain English: s--- is everywhere. People defecate on the open ground, and the feces is blown with the dust  onto you, your clothes, your food, the water. He warned us the first day of training: do not even touch water. Human feces carries parasites that bore through your skin and cause organ failure.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a few decades later, liberals would be pushing the lie that Western civilization is no better than a third-world country. Or would teach two generations of our kids that loving your own culture and wanting to preserve it are racism.

Last time I was in Paris, I saw a beautiful African woman in a grand boubou have her child defecate on the sidewalk next to Notre Dame Cathedral. The French police officer, ten steps from her, turned his head not to see.

I have seen. I am not turning my head and pretending unpleasant things are not true.

Senegal was not a hellhole. Very poor people can lead happy, meaningful lives in their own cultures' terms. But they are not our terms. The excrement is the least of it. Our basic ideas of human relations, right and wrong, are incompatible.

As a twenty-one-year-old starting out in the Peace Corps, I loved Senegal. In fact, I was euphoric. I quickly made friends and had an adopted family. I relished the feeling of the brotherhood of man. People were open, willing to share their lives and, after they knew you, their innermost thoughts.

The longer I lived there, the more I understood: it became blindingly obvious that the Senegalese are not the same as us. The truths we hold to be self-evident are not evident to the Senegalese. How could they be? Their reality is totally different. You can't understand anything in Senegal using American terms.

Take something as basic as family. Family was a few hundred people, extending out to second and third cousins. All the men in one generation were called "father." Senegalese are Muslim, with up to four wives. Girls had their clitorises cut off at puberty. (I witnessed this, at what I thought was going to be a nice coming-of-age ceremony, like a bat mitzvah or confirmation.) Sex, I was told, did not include kissing. Love and friendship in marriage were Western ideas. Fidelity was not a thing. Married women would have sex for a few cents to have cash for the market.

What I did witness every day was that women were worked half to death. Wives raised the food and fed their own children, did the heavy labor of walking miles to gather wood for the fire, drew water from the well or public faucet, pounded grain with heavy hand-held pestles, lived in their own huts, and had conjugal visits from their husbands on a rotating basis with their co-wives. Their husbands lazed in the shade of the trees.

Yet family was crucial to people there in a way Americans cannot comprehend.

The Ten Commandments were not disobeyed  they were unknown. The value system was the exact opposite. You were supposed to steal everything you can to give to your own relatives. There are some Westernized Africans who try to rebel against the system. They fail.

We hear a lot about the kleptocratic elites of Africa. The kleptocracy extends through the whole society. My town had a medical clinic donated by international agencies. The medicine was stolen by the medical workers and sold to the local store. If you were sick and didn't have money, drop dead. That was normal.

So here in the States, when we discovered that my 98-year-old father's Muslim health aide from Nigeria had stolen his clothes and wasn't bathing him, I wasn't surprised. It was familiar.

In Senegal, corruption ruled, from top to bottom. Go to the post office, and the clerk would name an outrageous price for a stamp. After paying the bribe, you still didn't know it if it would be mailed or thrown out. That was normal.

One of my most vivid memories was from the clinic. One day, as the wait grew hotter in the 110-degree heat, an old woman two feet from the medical aides  who were chatting in the shade of a mango tree instead of working  collapsed to the ground. They turned their heads so as not to see her and kept talking. She lay there in the dirt. Callousness to the sick was normal.

Americans think it is a universal human instinct to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It's not. It seems natural to us because we live in a Bible-based Judeo-Christian culture.

We think the Protestant work ethic is universal. It's not. My town was full of young men doing nothing. They were waiting for a government job. There was no private enterprise. Private business was not illegal, just impossible, given the nightmare of a third-world bureaucratic kleptocracy. It is also incompatible with Senegalese insistence on taking care of relatives.

All the little stores in Senegal were owned by Mauritanians. If a Senegalese wanted to run a little store, he'd go to another country. The reason? Your friends and relatives would ask you for stuff for free, and you would have to say yes. End of your business. You are not allowed to be a selfish individual and say no to relatives. The result: Everyone has nothing.

The more I worked there and visited government officials doing absolutely nothing, the more I realized that no one in Senegal had the idea that a job means work. A job is something given to you by a relative. It provides the place where you steal everything to give back to your family.

I couldn't wait to get home. So why would I want to bring Africa here? Non-Westerners do not magically become American by arriving on our shores with a visa.

For the rest of my life, I enjoyed the greatest gift of the Peace Corps: I love and treasure America more than ever. I take seriously my responsibility to defend our culture and our country and pass on the American heritage to the next generation.

African problems are made worse by our aid efforts. Senegal is full of smart, capable people. They will eventually solve their own country's problems. They will do it on their terms, not ours. The solution is not to bring Africans here.

We are lectured by Democrats that we must privilege third-world immigration by the hundred million with chain migration. They tell us we must end America as a white, Western, Judeo-Christian, capitalist nation  to prove we are not racist. I don't need to prove a thing. Leftists want open borders because they resent whites, resent Western achievements, and hate America. They want to destroy America as we know it.

As President Trump asked, why would we do that?

We have the right to choose what kind of country to live in. I was happy to donate a year of my life as a young woman to help the poor Senegalese. I am not willing to donate my country.
The latest black support numbers for President Trump are interesting but not surprising:

Two new polls show President Donald Trump's rising support among black voters, highlighting his political gains from pushing employers to hire Americans instead of lower-wage migrants.

The growing support from blacks  despite furious Democratic claims of racism  could become a shocking political validation in November when Trump will face millions of upper-income Democratic voters who are angry at his "Buy American, Hire American" policies.

Among black men, Trump's "2017 average approval rating significantly exceeds his 2016 vote share," admitted a January 11 article in the Atlantic by author Ronald Brownstein. "[Twenty-three] percent of black men approved of Trump's performance versus 11 percent of black women," said the article.

That score averages out to 17 percent, or twice the 8 percent score he was given in the 2016 exit polls.

In November 2016, Trump got 13 percent support among black men and 4 percent support among black women, according to the exit polls. That very low support was critical to his victory in the Democrats' now[] demolished "Blue Wall" states.

The poll was "a cumulative analysis of 605,172 interviews SurveyMonkey conducted with Americans in 2017," according to the Atlantic.
A crazed, bug-eyed Cory Booker, junior senator from New Jersey, blasted Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristjen Nielsen during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday on immigration.

Booker became so unhinged in his staged outrage that he repeatedly threatened Nielsen, with clenched fists pointed in her direction.

Equal to Booker's overt violation of Nielsen's right to be treated without hostility and intimidation was the deranged content of his tirade.

Nielsen had stated earlier she did not hear the president say the "s-hole" word at last week's White House meeting on DACA.

Booker went ballistic and accused Nielsen of covering up for the real target of his outburst: President Trump.

From YouTube:

The commander in chief in an Oval Office meeting referring to people from African countries and Haitians with the most vile and vulgar language, that language festers. When ignorance and bigotry is [sic] allied with power it is a dangerous force in our country. Your silence and your amnesia is [sic] complicit in it.

The senator then proclaimed that "tens of millions" of Americans are "hurting" over the word. Booker said he himself experienced "tears of rage" when Durbin called him to report the president's alleged vulgarity.

Booker's feigned emotional breakdown over a word he has heard many times as mayor of Newark was laughable.

Booker then rolled out the "white supremacy" charge, with examples of white criminals and their crimes, as if Nielsen, by the fact of her skin color, had committed them.

The senator's fake outrage and predictable race-baiting do not lessen the seriousness of threatening and harassing a female Cabinet member.

Booker's lunatic bellowing requires a mental health examination.
As a resident of Illinois, I always thought Dick Durbin was supposed to work for us, along with the citizens of the United States, but I was obviously wrong. I also thought he was supposed to follow his oath of office and the laws of the land, but here he is, saying he is working full-time for illegal aliens and to comply with an executive order that Barack Obama himself said he'd implemented without constitutional authority.

Since he is currently not working for the people he is supposed to work for, Durbin should turn over his paycheck and have the people he works for pay his salary and benefits.

In comments on Monday, Durbin said it is illegal aliens, not his Illinois constituents, whom he is working "full time" and around the clock for.

Durbin said (emphasis added):

Listen, politics ain't beanbag. When you get into tough, complicated, contentious issues, sometimes rhetoric gets very fiery. If you don't have a tough skin, this is not a good business to get into. I know what happened. I stand behind every word that I said in terms of that meeting. I'm focused on one thing  not that meeting  but on making sure that those who are being protected by DACA and eligible for the DREAM Act have a future in America. I am focused on that full time.
We should all demand that Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Al Sharpton, and others who claim that Trump is a racist prove they are not themselves racists, because everything I see with Democrat policies is an attempt to keep minorities dependent on government.

It has been clear for a long time that the greatest indication of who will end up in poverty is single-parent households. And the Great Society-type anti-poverty programs essentially encouraged the breakup of families.

Democrats have continually raised regressive taxes like sales, motor fuel, sugar, cigarettes, telecommunications, utilities, etc. All these taxes harm the poor and middle class much more than the rich. It takes money out of the peoples pockets that they could spend on other wants and needs or to build a nest egg.

Democrats have continued to support prevailing wage laws like the Davis-Bacon Act, which has oppressed minorities and taxpayers for over 80 years. If we actually had an open bidding process instead of government dictates, there would be more jobs, especially for minorities, and more building projects completed.

Obama and other Democrats have sought to destroy and bankrupt coal companies and other fossil fuel energy jobs. They have not cared about the lost jobs or the increased costs to consumers  not the poor, not the middle class, not minorities.

Democrats have not cared about securing the borders, which allows illegal aliens to take jobs that may have gone to other minorities and allowed more gangs, crime, and drugs. This especially hurts the inner-city poor, and especially minorities.

It appears that Obama allowed a terrorist group to run drugs in the United States to appease Iran and work on his legacy, which especially harms inner cities and minorities.

Obama, Durbin, and other Democrats killed off the education voucher program in D.C. which was especially helping minorities.

Obama and the Democrats stacked regulation after regulation on the economy, especially on health care and this unnecessarily increased costs on everyone which especially hurt the poor and middle class, especially minorities.

Democrats support abortion on demand, which kills off minority babies at a much higher degree than their proportion of the population. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was certainly a racist.

Democrats are glad to require photo IDs for many things but say that somehow, minorities arent able to get ID to vote. That sounds like a racist comment to me.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, is reducing regulations and taxes as fast as he can on 100% of the people. Not once have I seen race referred to. When millions have gotten raises and bonuses through companies like Walmart and waste management, not once have I seen a reference to race, sex, sexual orientation, or religion. These bonuses, raises, and tax cuts have been colorblind, just as Martin Luther King envisioned. Trump wants to lift up everyone in the private sector.

Under Trump, black and other minority unemployment is hitting all-time lows, which certainly doesnt sound like racism to me.

I would like the media and Democrats to list their economic policies meant to lift minorities up instead of making them dependent on their masters, the government. They should prove that they are not racist before they demand that of others.

While they are at it, I would like Obama, Durbin, and the media to show proof that humans are causing climate change and global warming, which they use as an excuse to establish policies to destroy industries and jobs and raise costs...which greatly harms the poor and the middle class, and especially minorities.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has earned a deserved reputation as a no-nonsense opponent of appeasement. His expansion of the India-Israel relationship and personal affinity with President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have strengthened that perception. The latest evidence that it is more than a perception came this week, when Modi's government discontinued half-century-old government subsidies provided to Muslim pilgrims going on the Hajj. The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims must carry out at least once, so long as they are physically and financially able  artificial conditions that the subsidy is intended to create.

That's right: the government of India has been spending badly needed funds for one religious community's annual pilgrimage. (There is even a special terminal in New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport exclusively for Hajj pilgrims, which is closed for most of the year.) Since 2008, about 120,000 Muslims have utilized the government money to go on the Hajj, according to the Indian government, costing the Indian people almost a half-billion dollars in the last five years alone. This money now will be used for educational purposes, especially for girls who have been particularly underserved in accordance with community practice.

According to minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, "[t]his is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement." Putting an end to Modi's predecessors' policies not only does that, but also reduces the role of big government in India, which has been another major element in the prime minister's actions thus far. As he promised to do both during and since the 2013 election that brought him his landslide victory, Modi's conservative government is eliminating the wasteful spending by leftist opponents, which they often carried out to garner the large and largely united Indian Muslim vote.
Is the pope pro-life?

Is the pope Catholic?

At one time, the second question was a rhetorical retort meant to elicit a cheap laugh.

Currently, it's a topic open for serious debate, sad to say.

So is Pope Francis specifically pro-life? Well, I suppose so  if you come to that conclusion strictly by believing the following remarks (and similar remarks made occasionally in recent years) he gave to diplomats Jan. 8, as reported by the National Catholic Register:

I think primarily of innocent children discarded even before they are born, unwanted at times simply because they are ill or malformed or as a result of the selfishness of adults.

I'm glad he made those remarks, but what about the recent report "that Lilianne Ploumen, a Dutch politician and international abortion activist, received the Order of St. Gregory award from the Vatican in 2017  a pontifical award given for 'meritorious service to the Church'"?

And what about Francis's praise of Italian abortion activist and abortionist Emma Bonino, who, according to this report, "is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of approximately six million Italian babies between 1968 and [2017]"?

And what about Francis's "reform" (read: dismantling) of the Pontifical Academy for Life and his decision to name pro-abortion Professor Nigel Biggar to the academy, according to this report?

And, alas, we can't forget about notorious population control advocate Paul Ehrlich, who last year was invited to speak at a Vatican conference on "how to save the natural world," according to this report.

As the old adage goes, actions speak louder than words.

Dare I say that President Trump is friendlier to the pro-life movement than Pope Francis?
In 2013, Obama and the Democrats shut down the government because they didn't get their way on the budget. The media blamed Ted Cruz and the Republicans.

In 2015, Obama and the Democrats threatened to shut down all of the government because a non-government agency that is a Democrat special interest group, Planned Parenthood, wasn't going to get its annual $500-million allowance. The media supported the Democrats.

Now Democrats are threatening to shut down the government if they don't get their way on DACA, an unconstitutional act by Obama, and the media again are supporting the Democrats and blaming Trump and the Republicans.

It is so hard to spot the bias in the media every day as they essentially regurgitate Democrat talking points.

In 2017, 90% of evening news coverage was negative toward Trump, and a significant amount was about the fictional "Russian collusion with Trump" story.

It really should be easy to report positive stories on Trump. The economy is growing much faster than projected. ISIS is crippled in Iraq and Syria. The South Korean leader says the discussions with North Korea came because of Trump. NATO members are paying more of their obligations. Black unemployment and hispanic unemployment are rapidly improving. Manufacturing jobs are coming back. Bonuses and wages are going out to lower- and middle-class workers of all races after middle-class income has been stagnant for years.

Yet the story is that Trump is mentally incompetent and a racist and colluded with the Russians.

(By the way, Trump is even beating Obama on the latter's godlike weather-changing predictions! He has reduced global warming and brought back record cold temperatures in the U.S. Obama said he was going to stop the sea levels from rising, but it took Trump to bring back record cold.

It couldn't be that the climate is and has always been cyclical could it? No, of course not.)
Muchas gracias, Senor Presidente!

That's the phrase that must be on the tips of the tongues of all the mobs of so-called "DREAMers" who are renewing their legal status thanks to President Trump.

A federal judge in San Francisco ordered Trump to restart the DACA program, which lets illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children legally avoid deportation. Trump is appealing the order to the Supreme Court, but has voluntarily restarted DACA and pointedly failed to ask the Court for immediate relief, as he could have. In other words, Trump is appealing the decision but hasn't asked the Court for permission to immediately ignore the lower court's order to restart the program.

Until the Justice Department files its specific request with the Supreme Court, it is hard to predict how quickly the justices [will] act. The department did not ask the Supreme Court for a stay of [Judge] Alsup's ruling [to restart the DACA program], which would have prompted quicker action on the part of the court. Trump has expressed sympathy for the [aliens], who were brought to the United States by their parents as minors and did not knowingly break the law.

Illegal aliens have rushed to take advantage of Trump's generosity in restarting the amnesty program.

In Los Angeles, people started lining up at 2:30 in the morning on Tuesday for appointments to renew DACA applications at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The group ... had [only] 20 slots available, and by 8 [A.M.], staffers had to start turning people away and begin scheduling them for Thursday.

There's no hurry  since President Trump didn't ask for immediate relief from the judge's order, appointment slots will be available for some time.

[A]nother legal services group in Houston said it had received 50 to 100 emails, calls[,] and walk-in consultations since the federal judge's injunction last week. According to the immigration agency, 132,000 out of the 154,000 people eligible to renew applied in the fall. But this time, anyone whose permit had expired since Sept. 5, 2016 or was canceled at any time could apply.

President Trump has always had a mixed record when it comes to immigration. He has clearly called for more border security measures but has also repeatedly said he wants the DACA-eligible to stay.

What's surprising is that his restarting of the DACA program reduces his leverage to get Democrats to agree to border security measures and a reduction in chain migration. Now that Democrats see that Trump has resurrected the DACA program himself, they feel less need to make concessions. A great negotiator would know this; so would a person of average intelligence.

The saddest part of this whole spectacle is some Trump supporters, who, if Obama had done this, would be outraged. But as Trump is the initiator this time, certain people feel that it is part of some grand plan that mere mortals cannot comprehend.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
Those of you (most of you) who haven't been watching the new Star Trek series, Star Trek Discovery, are missing out on a entirely new level of political correctness. The show features a black female protagonist named Michael; her boyfriend, a Klingon disguised as a Muslim-Arab security officer; an obese female cadet who is a genius in all areas of science; and a gay couple, one of whom is black and possibly also hispanic.

But that isn't enough for SJWs. They actually worry that the black gay character, who is also hispanic, is not visibly hispanic.

This is Michael, the star of the show.

This is Dr. Culber, the gay, black, and evidently insufficiently hispanic doctor, with his boyfriend, the chief engineer, to the right. They have put Culber in a white uniform so tight that nothing is left to the imagination. He's basically dressed like a gay sex toy, and on the show, he speaks with an effeminate lisp.

He's gay, and he's black, but maybe he's not sufficiently hispanic:

Although Culber is played by Wilson Cruz, who is Puerto Rican, his heritage has never been established on screen. With a couple [of] lines of dialogue, Hugh Culber could become the first major Star Trek [italics added; likewise elsewhere ed.] character to be explicitly [l]atino, according to the rules of canon. [Cruz said,] "I think it's a powerful message to send that in the future we will have same[-]sex couples and little brown people in space who are doctors and scientists discovering the universe."

What if Donald Trump had made a remark about "little brown people"? Would it have been received as lovingly?

To move a step forward past what Star Trek has already done, Discovery would need to acknowledge in the show that Culber is [l]atino. It needn't be much  a signature dish he cooks for Lt. Stamets, passed on from Culber's abuela, or a family story told in an endearing moment, would do the trick.

If we're going to go all the way with stereotypes, why don't they show what happens when Dr. Culber tries to illegally immigrate into Klingon space and claims "DREAMer" status?

Star Trek has actually had Hispanic characters before. Star Trek Voyager had B'Elanna Torres, a hispanic Klingon, but she "acted white," and that was not good enough for the diversity police. Voyager had another hispanic actor named Robert Beltran, but he was playing an American Indian, so I guess he didn't count.



A Hispanic playing an American Indian doesn't count.



Neither does a Hispanic Klingon.

Getting back to Dr. Culber, recently, the show killed him off (sort of). Aware that the loss of a gay character might cause anguish in the gay community, the writers of the show asked for permission from the homosexual mafia group GLAAD before they killed him. But don't worry: he's coming back, as the show-runner reassures us:

Some really phenomenal stuff is coming, and if you think that the out gay show[-]runner and his more[] than[] supportive writing partner and friend of more than 20 years are just going to kill a gay character to be done with a gay character, you're wrong[.]

Currently, the show features Michael, the black female protagonist, fighting the emperor of the universe, played by Michelle Yeoh, a Chinese lady, while Cadet Sylvia Tilly, the obese female science genius, cures Lt. Stamets, the gay chief engineer, of a mushroom-related illness. The show does have one token white guy, the captain, but he's a minor character in most stories.

The show can be viewed in America only on CBS's pay-to-subscribe cable channel, so most of you are missing this politically correct goodness.

Exit question: Where is there left to go? Where can political correctness go after this?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
There is a great deal of worry in California that the state could be "under-counted" in the next census if officials go ahead with a proposal to ask people on the Census if they are U.S. citizens. The theory is that if illegal aliens see the question, they will run away into the night, screaming with terror, and not be counted for purposes of the Census. If illegals are under-counted, then places where they live  like California  will be deemed to have a smaller population and be allocated fewer congressmen (or congresswomen or congressthems or congress-its) in Congress.

Fear is rising among Democrats over the prospect that President Donald Trump's hard line on immigration might ultimately cost California a seat in Congress during the upcoming round of reapportionment.

I love when they call enforcing the law a "hard line." Don't you?

Top Democrats here are increasingly worried the administration's restrictive policies  and the potential inclusion of a question about citizenship on the next U.S. census  could scare whole swaths of California's large immigrant population away from participating in the decennial count, resulting in an under[-]count that could cost the state billions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade and, perhaps, the loss of one of its 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Have you ever seen a "swath" of immigrants? "Swath" must be the most overused and misused word by journalists.

And if "swath" is the most overused word, the second most overused word is "immigrants." Do you think immigrants will be scared by the Census...or merely illegal aliens?

The fears are well[] founded: [a]ccording to the population formula used by Congress to distribute House seats every 10 years, California is currently on the bubble in 2020, on the verge of losing a seat for the first time in its history. "The citizenship question is just the latest red flag  maybe one of the biggest  but just the latest red flag," [Calif. secretary of state Alex] Padilla said.

A red flag? Is that a racist slur against Chinese people? What is Padilla trying to say, that China is some kind of s-hole?

"If millions of non-citizens refuse to participate in the [U.S.] Census, the Democrats will take [a] massive political beating," Tony Quinn, a political analyst and former Republican legislative aide, wrote in the Fox & Hounds political blog last week. "That's because electoral districts must be drawn based on population. The non-citizen population resides in heavily Democratic areas; if they are not counted, those areas will not have sufficient population to support Democratic congressional and legislative districts, especially in the big cities."

Would you like to see Democrats take a beating? Or how about just a political beating?

I see what is worrying Democrats. Census workers are typically poorly trained temporary employees who go door to door. I can easily see why they could inadvertently scare illegal aliens into not answering questions.

That's why I think Democrats' concerns would be allayed if the taking of the Census were turned over to a more professional organization, like the Immigrations and Custom Service. ICE is experienced at dealing with members of the public, especially in the "immigrant" community. I think when immigrants see people wearing ICE jackets knocking on their front doors, they will realize that these are professional law enforcement officials, and they have nothing to be concerned about.

Participation in the Census will skyrocket if ICE takes over. In fact, I suspect that massive cooperation with the Census could even cause California to gain a congressional seat.

Questions for discussion:

1) What do you think would happen if ICE went door to door conducting the Census in "immigrant communities"?

2) Why is it that we always have a discussion about the fears of under-counting "immigrants" and no discussion of whether immigrants (and illegals) should be counted for purposes of determining congressional districts at all? After all, we don't count tourists in the United States for the purposes of determining congressional districts; what entitles other non-citizens to have greater representational rights than tourists, Alpacas, or fire hydrants?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
(ANSA) - Rome, January 17 - One man died as high winds swept Italy Wednesday.

The man fell to his death from the roof of a building that had been blown off by high winds. Giuseppe Talarico had climbed up to check on the damage with his brother and fell off as gales continued to sweep the building, local sources said. His condition immediately appeared critical and he was rushed to hospital but died just before arrival, sources said. The accident happened at Mesoraca near Crotone in Calabria. Talarico's brother was slightly injured.

High winds brought trees down onto two cars on the outskirts of Rome, hurting the occupants.

In Sardinia a gale also felled a tree, injuring a 28-year-old woman.

Ferry services were interrupted by windswept seas around Italy and the Tirrenica rail line was also interrupted north of the Italian capital.

High winds and rain caused flooding in Catanzaro.

In Rome a roof tile was blown off a high school hurting a 17-year-old girl student.

A school near cagliari in Sardinia was closed after the roof was blown off.

Winds of up to 200 km/h were recorded in many Italian towns.

Metres-high waves battered coasts, flooding costal areas.


(ANSA) -Naples, January 16 - Interior Minister Marco Minniti said after chairing a meeting in Naples on a spate of attacks by youth gangs known as 'baby gangs' that they used "terror methods". He said that all the perpetrators of the latest attacks had been apprehended. Minniti vowed a crackdown on the gangs.

The interior ministry will "immediately" send 100 police units to patrol the streets in the area, Minniti said.

"These are acts of unacceptable violence," he said.

Minniti said Camorra gang members would have their parents' rights rescinded in such cases.

He also said there would be a zero-tolerance policy on illegal motor scooters.

Minniti said the ministry had hatched the idea of having police offices in each single municipality in order to fight the crime wave.

Carabinieri police said earlier they had nabbed seven members of a gang of youths that allegedly conducted 17 robberies near Naples in October and November last year, including four minors.

Most of the victims of the robberies were the same age as the youths who allegedly staged the heists at bars and railway stations in the province of Naples.

They allegedly used toys guns to threaten the victims and force them to hand over their cell phones. Two members of the gang were arrested late in November.

The four minors have been taken to a detention centre, while the other three are in Poggioreale prison, the sources said.

Interior Minister Minniti chaired the security meeting at the Naples prefect's office following the recent escalation of attacks by gangs of youths in the area.

A minor was insulted and punched in the face near to Naples' Policlinico metro station late on Sunday, in the latest in the string of attacks by so-called 'baby gangs' of teenagers.

The victim, a 16-year-old who said he did not know the attackers, suffered a broken nose.

On Saturday two pupils aged 14 and 15 suffered an unprovoked assault from a gang of around 10 youths armed with chains at the province of Naples town on Pomigliano d'Arco.

The teens' mobile telephones and money were stolen, but investigators suspect that thirst for violence, rather than theft, was the prime motive.

"We are going through difficult days that can only be successfully addressed if we are united," said Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris.

"Naples will get through it and everyone must do their part.

"I'm sure we will win this challenge because naples is a city of life, not of death".

Another case was that of Arturo, a 17-year-old stabbed in the throat in the southern city a week before Christmas.

Around 800 students took to the streets of Naples, along with de Magistris and Justice Undersecretary Gennaro Migliore, to protest against crime and violence after that attack.

The boy returned to Naples Cuoco high school on Monday and was greeted by a big banner reading "Welcome back Arturo".

"I'm embarrassed because I didn't expect so many journalists at my return to school or this reception from my school mates," he said.

"Now it's my teachers who are waiting for me, more than my companions.

"I'm excited. This place was one of the things I missed.

"I want to hurry. I have a lesson".

There are also reports a gang of youths of North African origin mugged a group of four minors in Turin on the night between Saturday and Sunday.


TUNIS - Algerian state hydrocarbon company Sonatrach on Monday signed a contract with an Italian oil refinery that will allow the Algerian group to convert part of its crude oil to fuels, according to Sonatrach CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, cited by Algerian news agency APS.

He said the company will rent equipment from the Italian refinery and import the finished product at lower prices.

Kaddour said the contract was signed following an international call for tenders.

Each year in Algeria, 11.5 million tons of fuels are refined to meet the country's 15-million-ton need.

Sonatrach's choice to refine abroad comes due to a lack of local refining capacity.

New refinery projects in the country won't be complete until 2019.

Sonatrach said it increased its natural gas exports in 2017, with 55 billion cubic metres exported last year, an increase of one billion cubic metres on 2016 exports, which totaled 54 billion cubic metres.
Algeria to refine part of its crude oil in Italy Sonatrach increased natural gas exports in 2017

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JANUARY 17 - Algerian state hydrocarbon company Sonatrach on Monday signed a contract with an Italian oil refinery that will allow the Algerian group to convert part of its crude oil to fuels, according to Sonatrach CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, cited by Algerian news agency APS.



He said the company will rent equipment from the Italian refinery and import the finished product at lower prices.



Kaddour said the contract was signed following an international call for tenders.



Each year in Algeria, 11.5 million tons of fuels are refined to meet the country's 15-million-ton need.



Sonatrach's choice to refine abroad comes due to a lack of local refining capacity.



New refinery projects in the country won't be complete until 2019.



Sonatrach said it increased its natural gas exports in 2017, with 55 billion cubic metres exported last year, an increase of one billion cubic metres on 2016 exports, which totaled 54 billion cubic metres.(ANSAmed).




AMMAN - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) said it will finance a major solar power plant worth $188 million to boost renewable energy investments as the refugee influx takes its toll on the kingdom's resources, the organization said today.



The financing package for the 248-megawatt Baynouna facility developed by Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) includes $54 million from IFC's own account and $134 million mobilised from other senior lenders including a parallel loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said a statement made available to ANSAmed.



Dutch development bank FMO and Europe Arab Bank are taking part as B lenders, and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and German development bank DEG are also taking part in the lending process, said the statement. The plant will supply power well below Jordan's average cost of electricity, thus further lowering the cost of long-term electricity generation in the country, the statement said. "Renewable energy is a pillar of IFC's work, in the region and beyond. We have already financed several major projects, encouraging private investment in the sector and pioneering innovative financing models," said Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC director for the Middle East and North Africa, in the statement.



"We stand ready to support Jordan in meeting its growing energy needs and becoming a model for renewable energy investments," he said. So far, IFC has invested over $300 million in aggregate across 13 projects, enabling well over $1 billion in private sector investments in Jordan's power distribution and generation sectors.


Tlc: EU asks West Balkans companies to cut roaming prices Meeting in Brussels

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, 17 JANUARY - The European Commission has organized a meeting of Telecommunication operators from the Western Balkans in Brussels and asked regional companies to explore the possibility of decreasing roaming prices in the Western Balkans, European Commission spokesperson Nathalie Vandystad, said.



Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov, whose country now presides over the EU Council, said that, to begin with, efforts will be made to decrease roaming prices in the Western Balkans, with the ultimate aim of abolishing roaming according to EU model.



Related plans will be presented at the next EU summit for the Western Balkans, which will be held in Sofia In May. (ANSAmed)
Drought alarm in Israel, special measures may be needed Water Authority director fears regional repercussions

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JANUARY 17 - Israel may be facing its fifth consecutive year of drought if the currently scarce rain levels don't increase by the end of March, according to Israeli Water Authority Director Giora Shaham, who spoke to Hebrew-language business daily TheMarker.



Shaham said the authorities will have to make drastic decisions if the situation doesn't improve.



He said another year of drought in 2019 would constitute a "natural disaster" with possible repercussions - in addition to farming - on running water in homes. Shaham said these possible scenarios weren't predictable five years ago, and they come from a general process of global warming.



He said an awareness campaign will be launched to convince people to reduce their water consumption by five to seven percent.



In western Galilee, a new 100-million-cubic-metre seawater desalination plant is being planned, which will take at least five years to build.



It will require significant investments that will have an impact on consumer water prices, as well as have an environmental impact with heavy pollution.



Shaham also expressed apprehension about the effects of the drought on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as well as Jordan.(ANSAmed).




Netanyahu says US embassy to open in Jerusalem within year Says US decision to cut funds to UNRWA 'good thing'

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JANUARY 17 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is confident that US President Donald Trump will move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "much faster than people think, probably within a year".



Netanyahu called the US's decision to cut funds to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, a "good thing".



While on an official visit in India, Netanyahu told members of the Israeli press that the US decision "is the first time UNRWA has had a challenge, after 70 years".



"The agency perpetuates the Palestinian narrative and the cancellation of Zionism," he said.



"It's a good thing that (the US) moved ahead and that they challenged this institution," he said.(ANSAmed).




Saudi prince's holding company sells stake in Four Seasons Al-Waleed bin Talal arrested in November on corruption charges

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 17 - Kingdom Holding Company, whose chairman is Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, has sold a majority of its shares in the Beirut Four Seasons Hotel for 120 million dollars, according to Lebanese newspaper Daily Star, citing a "source with knowledge of the agreement".



Prince Talal, one of the richest men in the world, was arrested on corruption charges last November with about a dozen other princes, former ministers and businessmen in Saudi Arabia.



While the majority of those arrested were released after agreements were reached with Riyadh authorities in which they gave up part of their property, Al-Waleed is allegedly still in negotiations over his assets.



Some members of the Arab media said the prince, who up until now has been held with others at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, was transferred in recent days to the maximum-security Al Hair prison.



 The Daily Star said Kingdom Holding ceded 57.8% of its shares in the Beirut Four Seasons for 120 million dollars to a group of Lebanese and Arab investors, which also agreed to repay bank loans totaling 60 million dollars.



One of the major investors in the group is said to be Ali bin Hassan Dayekh, who oversees the Saudi Group for Construction Materials.(ANSAmed).




Trainee lawyer ejected over Muslim veil in Bologna Judge criticised, defended for enforcing covered head norm

(ANSAmed) - BOLOGNA, JANUARY 17 - A Moroccan-born trainee lawyer was ejected from an Emilia-Romagna regional administrative court (TAR) hearing because she was wearing the Muslim veil Wednesday. Twenty-five-year-old Asmae Belfakir was asked by the judge either to remove the hijab or leave the courtroom. Belkafir, the legal representative of Bologna's Islamic community, chose to leave.



A note pinned up outside the room said "anyone who takes part in or attends the hearing cannot carry weapons or sticks and must have an uncovered head and keep silent." The Bologna Islamic community said "it is urgent that the competent authorities clear up this case".



Community coordinator Yassine Lafram said "there are no laws banning the veil in a courtroom" and said the judge had voiced an "arbitrary position".



The organisation of young Italian lawyers (AIGA) said the judge's action had been "inconceivable" and "against constitutional principles".



It voiced solidarity with the young trainee.



The leftwing Free and Equal (LeU) party urged the judiciary's self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM), to overrule the judge, saying "freedom to express one's religion should be upheld".



But Galeazzo Bignami of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party said those who criticised the judge "evidently don't know Article 129 of the code of civil procedure which lays down that those who take part in hearings must have their heads uncovered". The Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court, said it would ask the TAR judge to explain why he ejected the trainee. Belkafir, the trainee who was ejected, has a degree in law from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with a thesis on women's bodies and Islamic law.



She was chosen as a trainee by the legal office of the Emilian university.



Some of her statements on these issues can be found on the Internet. (ANSAmed).




Palestinian president calls Trump decision a 'sin' In talk at Al Azhar University, says US can no longer mediate

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JANUARY 17 - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, along with the eventual transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, "a sin", speaking at Al Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most prestigious university.



Abbas said "the American administration is no longer trustworthy for mediating between us and the Israelis".



"Trump's sinful decision contradicts all the previous American positions on Jerusalem," he said.



"The conspiracy against Jerusalem is one of a colonial and American nature and it contradicts international law and challenges the will of the international community," he said during the speech, which was broadcast on Egyptian state television.(ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - NEW YORK - Peace talks for Syria will resume in Vienna on January 25-26, UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura said on Wednesday. The UN envoy has sent separate invitations to the Damascus government and the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), an umbrella group of opposition forces, for a UN meeting as part of the Geneva political process. De Mistura said he was expecting both sides to take part.



(ANSAmed).


The Advanced Hawk demonstrator made its maiden flight in its new configuration from the companys Warton, Lancashire site on June 7 2017, after being unveiled at the Aero India show at Bengaluru on February 14 2017.

The availability of this enhanced model could lead to new orders from Gulf and Middle Eastern air forces.

The new variant will be a faster, more agile Hawk that can also carry smart weapons, and the programme aims to give the aircraft an edge in fast-jet pilot training, as well as offering increased operational utility, according to Dave Corfield, BAE Systems head of Hawk India.

The Advanced Hawk is intended to be closer in performance and capability  both real and synthetic  to the frontline aircraft that the pilots are training to use.

The original BAE Systems Hawk advanced trainer is still going strong 43 years after its maiden flight, not least in the Middle East, where the type remains in service in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Though they look very similar to the original Hawk, a new generation of Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) and Lead-In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) Hawk variants was introduced in the late 1990s. These aircraft had only 10% commonality with their forebears, introducing a new airframe with four times the fatigue life, and with advanced embedded training systems that made them arguably the most effective advanced pilot training aircraft in service today.

Production of the latest batches of Hawks for Oman (eight Hawk Mk 166) and Saudi Arabia (22 Hawk Mk 165) is now complete, and most of these have now been delivered.

BAE Systems confirmed that it had signed a contract to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) with a second batch of Hawk 165s in February 2015 and, more recently, the company confirmed that it was to establish a Hawk aircraft final assembly line in Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 programme. This is the economic diversification strategy pioneered and led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, deputy premier and interior minister.

First deliveries from the Saudi Hawk production line are expected in the third quarter of 2018.

But the Hawk has been facing increasingly tough competition from newer designs like the Leonardo Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master and KAI T-50 Golden Eagle. And, in the US T-X trainer competition, the Hawk was dropped by Northrop-Grumman in favour of a new airframe design.

There was reportedly concern that, while the Hawks embedded training systems, emulation and simulation were second-to-none, its airframe/engine combination was unable to meet some T-X key performance parameters.

It is understood that, following the failure of Northrops clean sheet of paper T-X, serious consideration was given to submitting a new Hawk-based bid. Indeed, some of the improvements on todays Advanced Hawk may have originated from work undertaken to allow it to fully meet T-X requirements, as well as to meet Indian and other requirements for a higher-performance, combat-capable Hawk light attack aircraft.

But, according to BAE Systems, the Advanced Hawk was developed after listening to its customers views on where fast-jet pilot training would go in the future and how the aircraft could be upgraded to ensure that it continues to meet their requirements.

The Advanced Hawk features a modified wing with an almost full-span active leading-edge slat (using the slat actuation system from the Tejas light combat aircraft) and an upgraded combat flap. The leading-edge slat has three manually selectable positions (0, 6 and 16) on the demonstrator, but would be fully variable (and automatically actuated) in production models.

The new wing confers significant improvements in take-off and landing performance, a 17% improvement in climb performance, a 20% reduction in turn radius, and a 25% improvement in turn rate, as well as giving much better high-alpha (angle-of-attack) capability, with wind-tunnel testing and simulation indicating that the Advanced Hawk should be able to achieve 22-23 units of Alpha, about ten units more than the current Hawk.

All in all, the Advanced Hawk should be comparable to current frontline fighters like the F-16 in terms of manoeuvrability.

To cope with the increase in angle of attack (AoA), the height of the vertical stabiliser will be increased by nine inches, and a yaw-axis stability augmentation system will be provided to cope with any adverse yaw.

The Advanced Hawk will be powered by the 6,500lb Rolls Royce Adour Mk.951 turbofan, and not the 6,000lb Adour Mk.871 used on many in-service Hawks. Some consideration has been given to providing even greater thrust.

The Advanced Hawk has an all-new cockpit with a large area display, similar to that used on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but capable of replicating the cockpit configurations of older aircraft, including those with analogue instruments or with smaller multifunction LCD displays.

The aircraft incorporates BAEs LiteHUD, a low-profile digital head-up display, and is also fitted with ground proximity warning system, traffic collision avoidance system, and a datalink.

With these cockpit systems, the Advanced Hawk can simulate or emulate the latest frontline sensors and weapons, including those of the F-35.

The Advanced Hawk is also fitted for air-to-air refuelling and has a radar warning receiver and countermeasures dispensers, as well as provision for a laser designator pod and full smart weapons capability  making it suitable for use as a frontline light attack aircraft, as well as for realistic weapons training.

It is the first Hawk platform with a full frontline combat capability, (the aircraft has been referred to as the Combat Hawk), and has both beyond-visual-range and precision-strike capabilities

The Advanced Hawk is the result of a cooperative, jointly funded 24-month programme with Indias Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), and it will be jointly marketed by BAE Systems and HAL.

The aircraft will be offered to new customers, and also to existing Hawk operators, and the companies have projected a market for at least 300 airframes over the next 10 years.

Most Advanced Hawk features and capabilities, including the large area display and new wing, could be retrofitted into older in-service Hawks, either as modules, or as a whole. Depending on the customer, BAE and HAL will jointly decide where such upgrades will take place.

As a new-build aircraft, it is anticipated that most Advanced Hawks would be built in and exported from India, which already has a low-cost production line and an existing Indian supply chain, though the aircraft could also be built at BAEs Warton plant.

The related HAL Hawk-i adds Indian-developed embedded training system, mission computer, communications, datalink and countermeasures systems.


The seats will be available for installation on new airplanes and as retrofit configurations for aircraft produced by Boeing and other commercial airplane manufacturers.



The joint venture between Boeing and Adient addresses the aviation industry's needs for more capacity in the seating category, superior quality and reliable on-time performance. Adient Aerospace will benefit from the world-class engineering teams and innovative cultures at both companies, as well as shared expertise in managing complex, global supply chains.



"Seats have been a persistent challenge for our customers, the industry and Boeing, and we are taking action to help address constraints in the market. Adient Aerospace will leverage Boeing's industry leadership and deep understanding of customer needs and technical requirements, to provide a superior seating product for airlines and passengers around the world," said Kevin Schemm, senior vice president of Supply Chain Management, Finance & Business Operations and chief financial officer for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This joint venture supports Boeing's vertical integration strategy to develop in-house capabilities and depth in key areas to offer better products, grow services and generate higher lifecycle value."



"Adient has a strong set of transferable competencies that will offer a unique opportunity to create value for our company and for Boeing, our shareholders and the broader commercial aircraft market," said Adient chairman and CEO Bruce McDonald. "To enhance the customer experience for passengers, airlines and commercial airplane manufacturers, we will apply our unmatched expertise for comfort and craftsmanship along with our reputation for operational excellence."
The additional security measures- which include security interviews with every passenger at check-in or the boarding gate- are applicable on all international airlines operating direct flights to the US, and include all nationalities flying to the US, with no exception.

While they were required in October 26, 2017, the US authorities granted all airlines the option of delaying the implementation process for a limited period of time.

RJ passengers are still required to be at the airport three hours prior to their scheduled US-bound flights, in order to avoid delays and allow more time for the implementation of the new security procedures.




Talent acquisition is aimed at bolstering Paytm Mall operations, and is in line with its long-term strategy.

By hiring top talent from India's leading educational institutions, we will take our disruptive offline-to-online model to more brands and retailers across the country.

New Delhi: Paytm Mall, owned by Paytm e-commerce on Wednesday said it plans to recruit 150 engineering and management graduates from premier technology and management institutions.

For its technology and business teams the company will recruit from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), BITS Pilani, National Institutes of Technology, XLRI Jamshedpur, ISB -Hyderabad, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi among others.

"By hiring top talent from India's leading educational institutions, we will take our disruptive offline-to-online model to more brands and retailers across the country and make them ready for the digital-first paradigm," said Amit Sinha, Chief Operating Officer Paytm Mall.

The talent acquisition is aimed at bolstering Paytm Mall operations, and is in line with its long-term strategy to acquire top professionals to continue with its growth momentum and drive greater scale, a company statement said.
Joshi's lack of response to a representation moved by a petitioner on November 13, 2017, got him in trouble.

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to censor board chairman Prasoon Joshi in connection with the release of the film 'Padmaavat' on January 25.

The Lucknow bench of the court granted three weeks' time to Joshi for filing his response to the contempt notice.

It fixed next hearing of the matter in the week commencing February 12.

A bench of Justice Mahendra Dayal passed the order on a petition filed by Kamta Prasad Singhal, who had submitted that he had earlier filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking a ban on the release of the movie because it promoted Sati, which is an offence.

After hearing the PIL, the court had on November 9, 2017 dismissed the petition but, simultaneously, it had permitted the petitioner to move his grievance through a representation to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Accordingly, he moved the representation before the chairman of the board on November 13, 2017, but Joshi is yet to decide on it, and three weeks time given to him by the high court has expired.

At this, the high court issued contempt notice to Joshi.
The petitioners said that the Aadhaar data base 'tends to terrorise citizens with the country becoming a totalitarian regime.'

The SC has also received petitions regarding the linkage of this 12-digit number with mobile phones, bank accounts and with other services, the last date for which was extended to March 31, 2018. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday started the hearing of a petition challenging the validity of the Aadhaar system.

The petitioners told the five-judge Constitution bench in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the Aadhaar data base "tends to terrorise citizens with the country becoming a totalitarian regime" as there is "no free consent in furnishing biometric information for Aadhaar."

The petitioners also said that Aadhaar is transforming the country into a "surveillance state."

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, said that Aadhaar will cause the death of civil rights of the citizens and transform a people's Constitution into a State's Constitution."

Former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani, however, again defended the system, saying that India's achievement with the Aadhaar is in itself a revolution.

What India has already achieved with #Aadhaar is nothing short of a revolution! We must remember, however, that systems are not born through Immaculate Conception, they get there through constant improvements. https://t.co/Oh4Y71VcxC  Nandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) January 17, 2018

"We must remember, however, that systems are not born through Immaculate conception, they get there through constant improvements," he tweeted.

"Aadhaar does not exclude or compromise privacy. It is an assertion of individual identity vis-a-vis the state. Were all in this together to achieve opportunity, development and empowerment of our billion people!" Nilekani added.

In August, 2017, a nine-judge bench of SC had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had also claimed it violated privacy rights.

The issue regarding the validity of Aadhaar and possible leakage of data has surfaced time and again since the inception of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number.

Besides, a recent report in The Tribune had exposed the fact that the Aadhaar database could be essentially bought on the internet only for Rs 500. UIDAI then filed an FIR against Tribune reporter Rachna Khaira for her report that unknown agents had provided her access to Aadhaars demographic database for Rs 500.

The Supreme Court has also received petitions regarding the linkage of this 12-digit number with mobile phones, bank accounts and with other services, the last date for which was extended to March 31, 2018.
PM Modi and his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu dedicated International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology to the nation.

Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a public-private partnership venture has been set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities. (Photo: ANI)

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his government is making efforts to create systems that are innovation-friendly to build an innovation-driven new India.

Modi was speaking after he and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated a centre for entrepreneurship and technology in Deo Dholera village near Ahmedabad to the nation.

Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture has been set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

"When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation," Modi said.

"We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas and new India is formed from innovations," the Prime Minister said.

Also Read: Guj: After roadshow, PM, Netanyahu visit Sabarmati Ashram

The Israeli prime minister said he was delighted to be there.

"The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate."

Netanyahu ended his speech with "Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi".
The 8-kilometer-long road show which began from the airport ended at the Sabarmati Ashram.

PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu at Sabarmati Ashram (Photo: ANI)

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu who arrived in Ahmedabad on Wednesday undertook their eight-kilometer-long road show, which ended at the Sabarmati Ashram.

The road show began from the Ahmedabad airport with the deployment of heavy security along the route.

PM Modi, Netanyahu and his wife Sara also paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram.

Netanyahu and his wife also left a message at the ashram.

(Photo: ANI)

Both the prime ministers will attend the inauguration of the iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad later on Wednesday.

The iCreate Center has been created with the objective of facilitating entrepreneurship through blending creativity, innovation, engineering, product design and leveraging emerging technologies to deal with major issues such as food security, water, connectivity, cyber security, IT and electronics, non-conventional energy, bio-medical equipment and devices.

The prime ministers will then take a tour of the facility and visit various stalls that highlight latest technologies and innovations across various fields.

Following the tour, the leaders will also award six category winners of the India-Israel Innovation Challenge 2017.

The leaders will then address the assembled gathering.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will also gift his Indian counterpart the Gal-Mobile (Mobile Filtration Vehicle).

This will take place through a video link from Banaskantha district where the vehicle has already arrived from Israel.

Following this, leaders will visit the Centre for Excellence -Vegetables in Vadrad where they will be briefed on the progress in the India-Israel Agriculture Work Plan.

They will also e-inaugurate the Centre for Excellence - Date Palm, through a video link in Kukama.

The leaders will witness the signing of an Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between COE Vadrad and Farmer's Producer Organization for the establishment of hi-tech vegetable seedling production unit.
The minister said that the media turned the issue into a majopr controversy.

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has removed the secretary of the UP Haj Committee, R.P. Singh, over the controversy over the saffron paint on the Haj office boundary wall.

The state government had earlier issued a notice to Mr R.P. Singh, asking him to explain why the boundary wall was painted saffron and then repainted too.

UP minister of state for Muslim Waqf and Haj Mohsin Raza had earlier asked the departments principal secretary to seek the explanation on this issue from Mr Singh.

The minister said that the media turned the issue into a majopr controversy.
Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector level officers have also been transferred.

Khattar's remarks came after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Amid outrage over the alleged rape and killing of two minor Dalit girls in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday assured that strict action would be taken against those involved in such crimes.

Khattar also said that Haryana is in the process of establishing special courts for speedy trial in such cases to ensure timely justice to the victims.

"Such incidents are very unfortunate and I am myself deeply hurt. We will take strict action against all those involved (in committing such crimes)," he told reporters in Delhi during a visit.

His remarks came after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana, barely a month after a similar case involving a six-year-old girl shook the state.

One of the girls, a 15-year-old school student, had been brutally assaulted and her private parts mutilated.

Also read: Haryana: 15-yr-old Dalit girl raped, mutilated body found in canal

Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector General-level officers have also been transferred.

Appealing to opposition parties, Khattar said he himself has never done politics over such incidents and the opposition also should refrain from politicising such sensitive issues.

"The state has already started a Dial 100 project. Soon we will also begin 1090 service, a dedicated helpline service for women," he said.

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.
The body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Chandigarh: The Haryana Police on Wednesday said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been found in a canal near Jyotisar.

The body was found late Tuesday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra.

The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found Tueasday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra SP, Abhishek Garg informed.

The Class X student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, the police had said earlier.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery, the Congress had also asked the ML Khattar led BJP government to resign on moral grounds.

Police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," he said.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gangraped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu on Tueasday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to cases.
He claimed he then fell unsconscious, and on regaining consciousness, found himself in a hospital.

Ahmedabad: Rabble-rouser VHP leader Pravin Togadia today created a storm with his claim that there was a plot to get him killed in an encounter by the police of Gujarat and Rajasthan, states ruled by the BJP, setting off calls by the Congress for an inquiry into his allegation.

Mr Togadia, who is convalescing in a hospital here after having gone missing for some time Monday and found unconscious, told journalists that some people were trying to stifle his voice and not allowed to speak on issues like Ram temple, farmers issues and cow slaughter.

Yesterday morning, I was performing pooja, when messages came that a large contingent of the Rajasthan police, along with the Gujarat police, was coming to encounter me (kill me in an encounter), a teary eyed Mr Togadia claimed.

After informing my sec-urity guards, I, along with a VHP worker, took an auto-rickshaw, and went to Theltej area of the city. I called up Rajasthan chief minister (Vasundhara Raje) and home minister (Gulabchand Kataria), but they denied their police had come to Gujarat to arrest me. This raised more suspicion and I switched off my mobile phones, he said.

Mr Togadia, a Z plus category protectee, and one of the most vocal Muslim baiters in organisations linked to the RSS, said he then contacted his lawyers in Rajasthan to get the warrant against him issued in an old case cancelled.

On being told that it cannot be done, Mr Togadia said he decided to take a flight to Jaipur and appe-ar before the court in Gangapur. He claimed when he was on way to the airport on an autoricksh-aw, he felt dizzy, and asked the driver to take him to a hospital. He claimed he then fell unsconscious, and on regaining consciousness, found himself in a hospital.

A team of Rajasthan police had approached their Gujarat counterparts for help to execute an arrest warrant against Mr Togadia under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC, but could not find him at his residence.

I do not fear death, I do not fear encounter. But I had to protect myself while following the law of the land, he said.
After a close door interaction with students and academicians, Mewani had agreed to a short media meet.

The video released later by the TV channel showed Mewani saying he will not speak if there was a question from that particular channel.

Chennai: In a show of solidarity, journalists on Tuesday boycotted a press meet to be addressed by Gujarat MLA and dalit leader Jignesh Mewani here after he refused to talk in the presence of an English news channel.

After a close door interaction with students and academicians, Mewani had agreed to a short media meet.

As soon as the newsmen started getting ready for the event by arranging the microphones, Mr Mewani asked the reporter of an English news channel to remove his equipment.

The legislator made it clear that he will not talk in the presence of that TV channel since it was his policy.

We were arranging the microphone. As soon as he saw microphone that had our logo, he asked us to remove it. I told him we want a general byte and not an exclusive. But he refused, the reporter of that particular channel covering the event said.

We felt like he was dictating terms. We just sought a byte from him on issues relating to the State (Tamil Nadu), he said.

The video released later by the TV channel showed Mewani saying he will not speak if there was a question from that particular channel.

If a question comes (from that channel) I will stop speaking to anyone. Let the mic be removed, Mewani said.

Reacting to Mewanis rider, another TV channel reporter told him: You cannot demand like that. If you do not want to talk then it is up to you. Thank You. Following the incident, social media was flooded with comments supporting Chennai media for boycotting the event.
The Army Chief also listed the importance of biological chemical weapons and the threat that comes with it.

New Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, on Wednesday, said that it was important to put checks and curbs on the internet and social media to counter terrorism.

I understand that in a democratic country people might have issues when we put curbs in place. But it is important to restrict the use of social media to tackle terrorism, the Army Chief said in his address at the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital.

Terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. Need to identify nations who are sponsors, General Rawat added.

The Army Chief also said the threat of nuclear and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists could spell disaster for humanity.

Terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. We need to identify nations who are sponsors. the Army Chief said.

The Army Chief further said terrorism had two sides to it - militant and political.

It is important to tackle both. Many may argue that there is no point in banning political outfits since they dont indulge in terror activities directly, but we should not forget that they support it, he added.

Commenting on ways to counter terrorism, General Rawat said it was imperative to identify who terrorists were and which are the nations that support terrorism.

Anyone who uses violence as a means to an end is a terrorist. We need to identify the nations that have a state-sponsored policy to support terrorism, he said. Once they are identified, General Rawat added, The nations had to do their own job. While there should be international support, the nation still needs to work on countering its own terrorists.

The Army chief also said it was important to identify where the terrorists get funds from. General Rawat added that one must look at where poppy and cannabis grows.

The Army Chief also listed the importance of biological chemical weapons and the threat that comes with it.

Terrorism is here to stay. Unless all countries come together. Terrorism cannot be the new warfare. It has been seen that those nations that support terrorism often become victims of it eventually. So if you want a safe home, then we need to work towards ending it, General Rawat said.

On Kashmir, General Rawat claimed that the people have realised that what they desired for cannot be achieved. People of Kashmir in general are getting tired of terrorism. It has not given them what they desired for. You cannot cede away from India. People have realised that. Some have got radicalised I feel most of them want to join the mainstream,

The Army Chief added that the deradicalisation campaign needs to continue. If that continues, we will soon be able to put an end to terrorism in Kashmir.

Commenting on the media coverage of terrorism, the Army Chief said it was important that terrorists should not be made into heroes. The more you give coverage to terrorist activities, the more you give them popularity. But can we control the media? We must ensure that terrorists are not made into heroes, he said.

Former Pakistan Diplomat Husain Haqqani also addressed the Raisina Dialogue 2018.

Speaking at the event Haqqani said: Good terrorist or bad terrorist basically means when you actually allow somebody who is continuously engaged in terror and its not to secure end of their activity but to justify it you say this is a good terrorist, that is where terminology comes in.
Mr Gandhi faced protests by BJP supporters who shouted slogans against him in Musafirkhana and blocked his convoy.

Lucknow: Clashes between BJP and Congress workers were seen in Amethi on Tuesday when BJP supporters tried to protest against Congress president Rahul Gandhi who was visiting his constituency.

Mr Gandhi faced protests by BJP supporters who shouted slogans against him in Musafirkhana and blocked his convoy. The protestors held placards with anti-Rahul slogans written on them.

As Congressmen accompanying the leader tried to clear the road, the police resorted to lathi-charge on Congress workers.

Mr Rahul Gandhi got down from his car and walked up to Gauriganj chowk, giving tense moments to his security personnel.

Similar protests by BJP workers were seen in Jais and Jagdishpur too.

A case was registered against Congress MLC Deepak Singh and 15 others in Salon Kotwali for allegedly thrashing BJP workers during protest against Congress president Rahul Gandhis visit on Monday.

ASP Shashi Shekhar Singh said here on Tuesday that the case was filed against the Congress MLC Deepak Singh and 15 others on complaint of BJP worker Ram Sajivan under sections 147, 323, 352, 427, 504 and 506 of IPC.

BJP leader Surya Prakash Tiwari has also lodged a case against Congress leader Rama Shankar Shukla for allegedly putting up posters in which Mr Rahul Gandhi has been shown as Lord Ram and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been depicted as Ravana.

Earlier in the day, the Congress president held a Janata Durbar at the Munshiganj guest house where he heard peoples grievances.

He met more than a 100 people, including a mother who sought treatment for her ailing son.
The minister added that the thrust areas are Quality, Autonomy, Research and Innovation.

New Delhi: The 65th Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) concluded on Tuesday with the meet calling for an all out efforts to increase GER by opening new universities, colleges, using infrastructure more productively and using online education.

Held under the chairmanship of Union human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar, the meet also sought positive action to plug regional disparities and will prepare perspective plan.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr Javedekar highlighted the need for reforms in education so that existing mismatches between education and employment and societal relevance can be addressed.

He said the critical action agenda are perform, reform and transform in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision for the nation. The minister added that the thrust areas are Quality, Autonomy, Research and Innovation. The regulatory bodies will be reformed for ease in procedures and processes. He said graded autonomy of higher education institutions is being implemented based on laid down criteria. IIMs have been accorded full autonomy and this will be done for IITs too as well as colleges. The mantra is let us fund and forget. The minister also informed about setting up 20 World class Universities /Institutes of Eminence mainly to promote greater research freedom and encourage a research culture. Expressing his concern that our higher education institutions lack in promoting innovation, the minister said this is being changed through new initiatives like Hackathon, curriculum reform, anytime anywhere learning through SWAYAM, teacher training are all aimed at improving quality, the minister added.
Within a span of three months, Telangana Prisons Department has picked up two thousand beggars from various places.

Till now eight people have claimed the cash after spotting beggars and handed them over to concerned department staff. (Photo: AP/Representational)

Hyderabad: The Telangana Prisons Department on Tuesday announced that "if you spot a beggar in the city and inform officials, you can pocket Rs. 500".

Till now eight people have claimed the cash after spotting beggars and handed them over to concerned department staff.

Telangana Prisons Department, Inspector General (IG), A Narsimha said, "We started a home for the beggars on October 28, 2017. Two structures were made one to confine male beggars in Chanchalguda and the other Charlapalli for female beggars."

"Within a span of three months we have picked up two thousand beggars from various places. Out of them, 1500 are male and 500 female. Many have also been released to their homes after further intervention and investigation. Only after stern warning there are being sent home and if they come across the second time on the streets then would be put in jail and a case would be registered," he added.
In the desert state where drought is a frequent phenomenon, the PM linked it with the Congress.

Jaipur: PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress, saying that Garibi Hatao was merely a slogan for it. He was speaking at a function organised to commence work on the oil refinery in Barmer district. In the desert state where drought is a frequent phenomenon, the PM linked it with the Congress.

For them, Garibi Hatao was an attractive slogan. They nationalised the banks, but the doors of the banks never opened for the poor. Jan Dhan Yojana changed this and the poor got access to banking facilities, Mr Modi said, adding that he has not given money to anyone that belongs to poor people. It is Congress character to cheat the nation, he alleged. Taking a dig at the Congress, he said wherever Rahul Gandhi led the party, droughts followed. Congress aur aakaal judwa bhai hain, jahan Congress jayegi wahan aakaal jayega (Congress and drought walk hand-in-hand, wherever Congress goes, droughts follow), he said while praising chief minister Vasundhara Raje for tackling the drought situation in the state.

The way Vasundharaji tackled drought crisis during both her terms, and helped people is praiseworthy. It is in contrast to the Opposition in the state, whose poor drought management in Rajasthan is widely known, he said.
Chouhan was also seen grabbing the youth by his hand and pushing him back before resuming his march.

Bhopal: A video showing Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan slapping a youth surfaced on Tuesday, landing him in an unsavoury controversy.

The purported incident occurred when the chief minister was leading a roadshow in Dhar districts Sardarpur Nagar on Sunday to canvass for ruling BJP candidates in the local civic body polls, scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

Dhar district superintendent of police (SP) Virendra Kumar Singh, however, said he was not aware of any such incident. I am not aware of any such incident. Also, no one has reported such an incident to the police. I was present at the chief ministers event that took place in Sardarpur on January 14, Mr Singh told this newspaper on Tuesday.

The undated video clip, however, showed the chief minister suddenly losing cool and giving the unidentified youth tight slaps twice when the latter pushed him repeatedly during the roadshow.

Mr Chouhan was also seen grabbing the youth by his hand and pushing him back before resuming his march.

Unconfirmed reports said that the youth was part of his personal security accompanying him on the occasion.

Sources said the incident took place when the youth was pushed by the BJP workers who were surging ahead to take a selfie with the CM.

Mr Chouhan, never known to lose his cool even in adverse situations, had reportedly taken the police and party workers by surprise.
Designer Giovanna Temellini says fashionable dog clothes arent just an indulgence.

Milan has long been the worlds ready-to-wear fashion leader. Now, dogs are getting in on the Italian citys sartorial scene with a new line of haute couture for canines.

Dog a Porter, by the Milan brand Temellini, offers clothing custom-fit for different breeds, ranging from the tiny Chihuahua to the stately greyhound. The line includes cashmere knits, nylon bomber jackets with tiny arms, Sherlock Holmes-style capes and lined raincoats.

The capes cost 170 euros ($208) and synthetically filled hooded parkas go for 210 euros ($256) to reflect the extra time it takes to get the fine stitching on the elasticized sleeves just right.

Designer Giovanna Temellini says fashionable dog clothes arent just an indulgence. Her luxury outerwear not only protects pooches accustomed to being indoors when they are brought outside, but take into account the builds of various types of dogs, she said.

For me, a dog is well-dressed only when it has freedom of movement, when it is not constrained, Temellini said. It is OK to dress a dog when it is cold, but a dog needs to live his live as a dog. This is important.

Speaking from personal experience, the designer notes that Ulysses, her long-haired Afghan Hound, requires five hours of grooming if he gets wet in the rain. A raincoat prevents the hassle, she said.

Temellini launched Dog a Porter a year ago alongside her 20-year-old eponymous clothing line for women. She opened a boutique in Milans chic Brera neighborhood this week, selling womens ready-to-wear and canine couture side-by-side.

In fact, many of the dog garments have corresponding numbers for women, such as the long, flowing black cotton skirt a pet owner could wear while walking her dog outfitted in a black chenille jacket.

The market appears ripe for such a venture in fashion-conscious Italy, where some 7 million dogs are registered as pets, or one for every 3.7 families, according to statistics from ASSALCO, an association of producers of pet food and other pet items.

The money Italians lavished on dogs and cats grew 10 percent during 2013-2016 to nearly 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion), the association said in a 2017 report.

Temellini said the toughest part about designing for dogs was the sizing. The long bodies and stout thoraxes of dachshunds, for example, had to be taken into account. In all, the Dog a Porter line has five basic shapes.



But the Temellini atelier also does made-to-order items, applying the experience it gained over decades making samples for some of Milans top fashion houses, including Ermanno Scervino, Bottega Veneta and Max Mara.

Something that made me laugh was to see a professional, a lawyer, come in with his Saluki, and he wanted a made-to-measure coat for his dog, Temellini said. He said all his clothes were made-to-measure, and he wanted the same for his dog.

Patrizia Radaelli is a happy Dog a Porter customer. She couldnt find anything to warm Eddie, her 14-year-old Yorkshire terrier-Volpino Italiano mix.

Hes a little old and gets very cold in the winter, Radaelli said. Usually, he would get very fussy when I dressed him with other items. But never with Giovannas fabrics.

Now, Eddie turns heads when he does his evening business wearing a striped cashmere sweater under a navy blue parka, Radaelli said.
The painful accident was caught on camera as Mr Hyde suffered a neck injury due to the crash.

Not being careful while being adventurous can land you in serious trouble (Photo: YouTube)

Getting adventurous while on a holiday is a great thing but not being careful while you are at it can lead to grave consequences. Diving may seem like a perfectly harmless and thrilling activity, but lack of precaution can make it dangerous.

Graham Hyde was vacationing in Barcelona when he shot off the end of a slide into a swimming pool. But his jump coincided with that of a boy who launched himself in front of the slide leading to a collision.

The painful accident was caught on camera as Mr Hyde suffered a neck injury due to the crash.
It will take pride of place in a house he built in the coastal town of Mersing inspired by the Flintstone's home from the 1960s cartoon.

Pictures showed the car on the back of a flatbed truck as it was handed over to the sultan (Photo: YouTube)

A Malaysian sultan has been given a life-size replica of Fred Flintstone's car from the classic cartoon, although the modern update has an engine so he won't tire out his regal feet.

Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar of Johor, one of Malaysia's most powerful and wealthiest state rulers, received the belated birthday gift from a fellow high-ranking royal this week.

The model of the car from "The Flintstones", the sultan's favourite cartoon, is an accurate likeness of the original, with a wood-like finish on the sides, stone-like finish on the wheels and cloth roof.

It will take pride of place in a house he built in the southern coastal town of Mersing inspired by the Flintstone's home from the 1960s cartoon.

"Yabba, dabba, doo," said a post on the sultan's Facebook page Monday, using Fred's favourite catchphrase to announce the arrival of the gift from the crown prince of Pahang state.

In the Hanna-Barbera animated series, which follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbours the Rubbles in the Stone Age, the wooden and stone cars were powered by drivers running along the ground.

But the Facebook post said that "unlike the original, this working version of Fred Flintstone's car has its own motor, meaning the driver and passenger won't have to rely on their feet to power the prehistoric ride".

Pictures showed the car on the back of a flatbed truck as it was handed over to the sultan.

Manjit Abdullah, a representative of the Pahang crown prince who delivered the vehicle, said it was a late gift for his birthday, which falls in November.

It adds to the sultan's eclectic collection of vehicles, which includes Rolls-Royces and vintage three-wheelers.

Last year the sultan and his family used the three-wheelers to tour Johor state and meet his subjects.

Johor and eight other states in Malaysia are still headed by Islamic royalty. The Muslim-majority country has a unique arrangement in which the national throne changes hands every five years between the rulers.
Married couple on Caribbean island of Martinique notice "burning" red rash spread over their behinds.

Things took a bad turn for a married couple sitting on a beautiful Caribbean beach when they were left with a nasty infestation of worms.

The pair were left with burning, red and itchy backsides, after the hookworm larvae burrowed into their skin.

The unnamed couple was on a cruise that had stopped on the island of Martinique.

It was shortly after their beach visit that the wife, 52, first noticed an "initial burning sensation" all over her bum.

The next day she woke up to find her behind was covered by an "eruption" of red pinprick marks.

Doctors on the cruise ship prescribed the patient antibiotics, as well as antifungal treatments and steroid creams, however, nothing seemed to be working.

Ten days after first noticing her symptoms, the rash had spread further and it was then the woman's husband revealed he was plagued by similar symptoms.

Medics led by Dr Douglas Maslin at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, wrote in a case report in the BMJ that the patient's husband was noted to be itching and examination revealed a rash with equivalent distribution and morphology.

Doctors diagnosed the pair with cutaneous larva migrans, a parasitic skin infection caused by hookworm larvae.

They typically infest dogs, cats and other animals.

But humans can become infected after walking barefoot on beaches, or coming into contact with soil that's contaminated with animal poo.

The condition is known as a creeping infection, because once infected the larvae burrow under the skin's surface and cause itchy red lines or tracks.

Both patients were treated, and given a drug used to combat parasitic infections, including head lice and scabies.

Unfortunately, five days later the woman was rushed to A&E with a dry cough, shortness of breath and a chest infection, and later her husband suffered the same symptoms and were found to be suffering hypersensitivity pneumonitis, inflammation of the lungs, which doctors said could have been caused by the worms infiltrating their lungs.

Both were treated and are doing better.
He was staying in the apartment with two others and the trio had dinner around 11:30 pm on Tuesday night, the police said.

Police said an injection, the contents of which will have to be examined, was found in the room of the deceased. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: A 28-year-old doctor hailing from Tamil Nadu was found dead at his rented apartment in northeast Delhi's Shahdara on Wednesday, the police said.

The deceased, Sharath Prabhu, was a student of PG medicine at GTB Hospital.

He was staying in the apartment with two others and around 11.30 pm on Tuesday night the trio had dinner, police said.

Prabhu was found unconscious outside the washroom of the apartment around 7 am by his flatmates, who rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Police said an injection, the contents of which will have to be examined, was found in the room of the deceased.

His flatmates are being questioned.

He belongs to Coimbatore and was staying in Delhi since May 2017.
An Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) constable on Tuesday afternoon opened fire on three people in Pune districts Daund city, killing them.

Pune: An Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) constable on Tuesday afternoon opened fire on three people in Pune districts Daund city, killing them. The Pune (rural) police arrested the accused, Sanjay Shinde, at Ahmednagar Road in the evening. According to the police, two of the victims, Parashu Pawar and Gopal Shinde, were Shindes relatives with whom he allegedly had a monetary dispute. Shinde is suspected of having had a feud with the third victim, Anil Jadhav. The police is looking into whether Shinde has psychological problems.

Ramkrishna Patil, public relation officer, Pune (rural) police, said, Shinde, a head constable of the IRB who serves the State Reserve Police Force, opened fire at Borawake Nagar and Morinagar Chowk, in Daund, which is 80km from Pune. He immediately fled to his house in Daund before the police could reach the spot.

A team of Pune (rural) police and a quick response team immediately surrounded his house. Shinde was asked repeatedly to come out and surrender, but he refused to do so.

After waiting outside the building for an hour waiting, the police entered only to learn that Shinde had escaped. However, another police team caught him while he was en route to Ahmednagar and arrested him.
Mumbai Fire Brigade nominated 34 fire officers, one each in 24 administrative wards and 10 in reserved ones.

The setting up of the fire compliance cells by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) comes in the wake of the ghastly blaze at a pub in the Kamala Mills Compound in December 2017 that killed 14 people. (Representational Image)

Mumbai: The Mumbai civic body has set up 34 cells to monitor fire compliance norms at commercial establishments and other buildings, and act against them if

they violate safety rules, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The setting up of the fire compliance cells by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) comes in the wake of the ghastly blaze at a pub in the Kamala Mills Compound in December 2017 that killed 14 people.

"Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta gave the direction for setting up fire compliance cells in the city to prevent incidents of fire at commercial establishments and act against them if they violate safety norms," the civic official said.

Following Mehta's direction, the Mumbai Fire Brigade on Tuesday nominated 34 fire officers, one each in 24 administrative wards and 10 in reserved ones, to ensure fire safety compliance by buildings and establishments, he said.

"After the Kamala Mills Compound incident and a spate of fire mishaps subsequently, the commissioner issued strict orders to ensure compliance with fire safety norms," the official added.

Mumbai fire brigade chief P S Rahangdale said, "So far we did not have dedicated fire officers in our pool. Now these officials, in coordination with local ward officers, will conduct routine inspections and ensure fire safety compliance as per guidelines under the the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act."

He said the designated fire officers will conduct inspection of buildings, cinema halls, malls, godowns, hospitals and nursing homes.

"If any negligence is found in an establishment, the officer will inform the local ward officer and initiate suitable action against it," Rahangdale said.

Meanwhile, the BMC in a statement, said its team conducted inspection of 619 eateries and other establishments in the last two days and sealed three of them for violation of norms.

Besides, illegal constructions were demolished at 49 places and 369 establishments were asked to comply with the fire prevention and safety rules, the BMC said.
Mumbaikars will have to pay 20 per cent more that the current price for treatment at civic hospitals.

Mumbai: Seeking treatment at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospitals is set to get costlier. Mumbaikars will have to pay 20 per cent more that the current price for treatment at civic hospitals, whereas people living outside the city will have to shell 30 per cent more. However, senior citizens will now be offered treatment free of cost.

The decision to hike municipal hospital charges was approved in the BMC group leaders meeting on Tuesday. The new rates will be implemented after getting the approval in the civic House.

According to the civic officials, the BMC spends over Rs 3,600 crore on health and gives quality service at low costs. Of them Rs 600 to 700 crore is spent on three major hospitals  KEM, Nair and Sion Hospitals. However, not even 10 per cent of this is collected in the form of revenue from these hospitals.

There is a huge discrepancy (1:20) in the ratio of revenue and expenditure of KEM, Nair and Sion. In the year 2014-15, deposits from these hospitals accounted for a mere Rs 31.69 crore, whereas the expenditure was Rs 639.29 crore. By creasing the hospital charges, the BMC will get additional revenue of Rs 92 crore, which will bring down the ratio to 1:8, said a senior civic official.

The civic body has decided to levy 30 per cent health service charges on patients from outside Mumbai. About 45 percent of the total patients treated by the BMC hospitals are the residents of areas other than Mumbai.

In June 2016, the BMC had proposed a 75 to 100 per cent rise in the rates of various treatments in municipal hospitals. However, the proposal was not approved owing to the impending municipal elections.
Lawyer claims he wasnt absconding and had already given statement to police.

Mumbai: After hiding from the police and the media for a fortnight, co-owner of Mojos Bistro, Yug Tuli on Tuesday surrendered himself at the N.M. Joshi Marg police station at 7 am. Tuli was the only accused in the Kamala Mills fire tragedy, who was yet to be arrested. Fourteen people had died and 31 others were injured in the blaze on December 29, 2017. Later in the day, the Bhoiwada court remanded Tuli to police custody till Saturday.

Special public prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Shetty told the court that Tuli is the main accused, who had collected all the licences and permissions for the restopub and had carried out illegal constructions there.

A police source said that Tuli walked into the N.M. Joshi Marg police station along with his lawyer Shyam Devani, approac-hed a constable and surrendered himself. The constable then informed the duty officers present in the morning shift, following which the arrest was made. S. Jaykumar, additional commissioner of police (central region) said, We will enquire about Tulis whereabouts after he fled the city on January 6, and where he went after he was spotted at Hyderabad airport.

Tuli allegedly went into hiding soon after the fire. His anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the sessions court. Mr Shetty told the court that the police wanted to investigate who had helped him serve illegal hookah and allowed him to do illegal construction in the pub. The prosecution argued that Tuli was aware of the fire hazards posed by hookah and the illegal construction, yet he was doing business. Hence, section 304 of the IPC, culpable homicide not amounting to murder had been invoked against him and maximum days custody was sought.

Mr Devani argued that on January 4 he had given his statement before the police. All the licences and documents were submitted to the police. Nothing remains to be recovered from the accused, hence minimum custody should be granted, he said.

Mr Devani informed the court that on January 4, Tulli had given his statement to the police, so police cant allege he was absconding. The copy of the rejection of ABA was made available on Monday therefore Tuli surrendered today, said Mr Devani.
Passengers on a commercial flight witnessed a N Korean missile launch while 9 other flights were in that range at the time.

The Secretary of State also said that North Korea is not expected to be considerate of what comes in the way of one its missiles or a broken part thereof. (Photo: AP)

Vancouver: Passengers on a San Francisco-to-Hong Kong commercial flight witnessed a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile launch (ICBM) in November, reflecting the "recklessness" of Kim Jong-Un's regime, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday in Vancouver.

"According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the flight was 280 nautical miles from point of impact, and at the time there were nine other flights within that range," Tillerson said addressing press officials from allied nations to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang.

"Over the course of that day, according to the Department of Defense, an estimated 716 flights were due to pass within that same range," he added.

Tillerson, however, did not say which airlines the passengers were travelling by, or whether the plane changed route as a result.

The launch flew for 53 minutes on a lofted trajectory and may have reached an altitude of more than 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) before landing in waters about 155 miles (250 kilometers) from Japan's northwest coast, Japanese officials said at the time.

According to U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, this launch was higher than any previous missile launch by North Korea.

Tillerson also said that North Korea's willingness to launch missiles is a threat to people of all nationalities as the airspace is not safe, adding, "threat to commercial aviation is not the "likeliest" threat posed by the regime's weapons program."

The Secretary of State also said that North Korea is not expected to be considerate of what comes in the way of one its missiles or a broken part thereof.

Crew of Hong Kong-based airlines Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Korean Air Lines Co. said they saw the test missile while flying towards Asia.

Cathay's flight 893 from San Francisco reported the sighting and advised Japanese air traffic control, the carrier said in an emailed statement at the time.

Korean air crew departing from Los Angeles and San Francisco saw a "flash" in the air, according to a company spokesperson.

Neither of the companies, however, plan to change route because of the sighting.
The US is UNWRA's largest donor, supplying nearly 30 percent of its budget.

Trump in his Jan 2 tweet had expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians. (photo: AP/File)

Washington: The Trump administration has cut tens of millions of dollars in money for Palestinian refugees, demanding that the UN agency responsible for the programs

undertake a "fundamental re-examination," the State Department said.

In a letter on Tuesday, the State Department notified the UN Relief and Works Agency that the US is withholding USD 65 million of a planned USD 125 million funding installment to the body. The letter also makes clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.

"We would like to see some reforms be made," said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded.

"This is not aimed at punishing anyone."

The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment -- USD 60 million -- to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing

down.

The US is UNWRA's largest donor, supplying nearly 30 percent of its budget. The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel's establishment in 1948. Today, there are an estimated 5 million refugees and their descendants, mostly scattered across the region.

The US donated USD 355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year; the first installment was to have sent this month. But after a highly critical January 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.

Trump's tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the

Palestinians.

"We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," he said. "But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"

Israelis accuse the UN agency of contributing to Palestinian militancy and allowing its facilities to be used by militants. They also complain that some of UNRWA's staff are biased against Israel.

Nauert said the United States believes there need to be more "burden-sharing," a regular Trump complaint about multilateral organizations dependent on significant

contributions of US cash.

"We don't believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States' responsibility," she said.

The US plan to withhold some, but not all, of the money was backed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who offered it as a compromise to demands for more drastic measures by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, officials said.

Haley wanted a complete cutoff in US money until the Palestinians resumed peace talks with Israel that have been frozen for years. But Tillerson, Mattis and others argued that

ending all assistance would exacerbate instability in the Mideast, notably in Jordan, a host to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and a crucial US strategic partner.

Eliminating or sharply reducing the US contribution could hamstring the agency and severely curtail its work, putting great pressure on Jordan and Lebanon as well as the

Palestinian Authority. Gaza would be particularly hard hit.

Some officials, including Israelis, warn that it might push people closer to the militant Hamas movement, which controls Gaza.
The minister said India had been involved in grave human rights violations in Kashmir.

Islamabad: Pakistan defence minister Khuram Dastgir Khan has said that convicted Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav was a proof of Indian interference in Pakistan.

He said Jadhav was proof of Indian attempts for unrest in other countries. The minister said India had been involved in grave human rights violations in Kashmir.

Mr Khan was Pakistan was a responsible nuclear state and it would continue with its policy of full spectrum deterrence in line with the policy of credible minimum deterrence and avoidance of armed race.

In a policy statement in the National Assembly, he said the Indian forces committed more than 1,300 cease fire violations in 2017 at Line of Control which resulted in 52 deaths and injuries to 175 persons.

The minister said that Indian government had accelerated Pakistan bashing as a highly militarized and belligerent neighbour. He said the government would meet with vigor and commitment the growing challenges to Pakistans security and towards maintaining strategic stability in the region. Mr Khan said Pakistans defence was robust and countrys vigilant and highly trained armed forces continue to protect and defend our land, sea and air borders. He said Pakistan had paid huge price in the war against terrorism and cleared its territory of terrorists. Mr Khan said Afghan war could not be fought on Pakistani soil, adding that Pakistan respected the sovereignty of Afghanistan and wished to see its neighbour as a prosperous state.
Saeed was released from house arrest after a Pakistani court cited lack of evidence against him in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case.

India has, time and again, protested against Pakistan for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for plotting the Mumbai attacks. (Photo: AFP)

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday referred to 26/11 Mumbai terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed as 'sahib', or 'sir' and said that there is no case registered against him in Islamabad and therefore no action can be initiated against him.

"Action is taken when there is a case registered [against someone]," said Abbasi in an interview, quoted Geo TV.

Earlier in November, the Pakistan Prime Minister had claimed that India has provided "no evidence" against Saeed on the basis of which he can be prosecuted.

"The court, a three-judge bench, has released him (Saeed) saying there are no charges against him, the country has a law you know," said Abbasi.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief is also looking to contest the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and has, thereby, formed a party by the name of Milli Muslim League (MML).

Pakistan has recently prohibited Saeed's JuD and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations.

Saeed was released from house arrest after a Pakistani court cited lack of evidence against him in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case.

India has, time and again, protested against Pakistan for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for plotting the Mumbai attacks.
Australian food delivery experiencing rapid growth, Morgan Stanley





Online takeaway food delivers like UberEats and Deliveroo are experiencing rapid growth in Australia says financial service provider Morgan Stanley.

In a new report, Morgan Stanley has attributed the growth to the convenience and choice provided by Australias food delivery players.

According to the report, Morgan Stanley estimates Menulog, Uber Eats, Foodora and Deliveroo generate more than AUD $600 million in total transaction value in Australia today.

Demographics, increasing population coverage and greater restaurant adoption should see delivery total transaction value expand to AUD $2.4 billion by the 2025 Australian financial year Morgan Stanley predicts.

Menulog currently leads in terms of total transaction value with c.AUD $500 million generated across 9, 000 restaurants.

UberEats is however catching up and now has more app downloads than Menulog, 2.5 million compared to Menulogs 1.6 million.

More room for growth

Morgan Stanley says Australia is relatively underdeveloped when it comes to online food delivery, with a 10 per cent penetration rate. Comparatively, the UK is currently sitting at 34 per cent.

We think the online aggregator market remains fragmented in Australia, unlike other industries such as online classifieds, which tend to be winner takes most, Morgan Stanley commented in its report.

More dark kitchens likely to come and the economics of food delivery

Morgan Stanley said it expects more dark kitchens (kitchens which only produce food for online deliveries) to emerge and compete with existing traditional food service providers.

Morgan Stanley also said food delivery providers need to consider the finances of a number of parties  food service providers, delivery drivers and customers.

Our analysis of the economics shows that restaurants need more than 50% of sales to be incremental or else suffer lower profits after signing up with an aggregator, Morgan Stanley wrote.

Restaurants that sign on with aggregators  even chain operators like Pizza Hut 

risk losing control over pricing, delivery quality and customer data longer term.

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Darrell Lea sold to Australian private equity firm





The family that brought Darrell Lea confectionery back from the brink has sold the business to a private equity fund.

Christina and Tony Quinn acquired Darrell Lea in 2012 after the business went into voluntary administration. It is believed the pair has now sold Darrell Lea to Sydney-based Quadrant Private Equity for approximately AUD $200 million.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Quadrant has plans to now expand Darrell Lea both in Australia and overseas.

Darrell Lea is most well-known for its liquorice and rocky road confectionery. It does however sell a variety of confectionery products and partnered with Streets in 2016 to release a line of Darrell Lea inspired ice cream.

Darrell Lea had its start in 1927 when its founder, a man called Darrell Lea, opened a confectionery shop and milk bar in inner-city Sydney.

The business was placed into voluntary administration in 2012 when its directors were concerned it could no longer meet its ongoing financial obligations. At the time, half of Darrell Leas company-run stores were closed, resulting in a loss of nearly 200 jobs.

The business was however acquired by Christina and Tony Quinn who also owned VIP Petfoods at the time (another brand that they have since sold to Quadrant).

After acquiring Darrell Lea, the Quinns restructured the business, resulting in further job losses and only 83 employees left. The last company owned store was closed in September 2012 with the Quinns deciding to sell Darrell Lea confectionery through licenced retailers.

It is believed since acquiring Darrel Lea, the Quinns have invested AUD $30 million into turning the business around which has recently seen increased profits.

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IGA sponsors Australian film THE BBQ



The cast of THE BBQ

IGA has announced its latest marketing move, revealing it is the major partner of a soon-to-released Australian film called THE BBQ.

THE BBQ tells the story of Darren Dazza Cook, a man who finds his passion for cooking BBQs pulled into the spotlight when he competes at an international barbecue festival.

Darren Dazza Cook is played by long-time IGA ambassador, Shane Jacobson. The film also includes characters play by Australian actor Magda Szubanski, media personality Julia Zemiro and celebrity chef, Manu Feidel.

An IGA store in the Melbourne suburb of Mt Waverley features heavily in the movie.

IGAs partnership with THE BBQ includes a shopper competition, giving customers the chance to win a BBQ for up to 50 people hosted by Shane Jacobson.

IGA customers will also have the opportunity to win one of a 1, 000 Webber BBQs and one of 2, 000 double passes to see the movie.

Steven Cain, Chief Executive Officer of Metcash, IGAs parent company, said Metcash was excited to be a part of THE BBQ.

Having Shane Jacobson as IGAs brand ambassador and Julia Zemiro feature as an IGA Store Manager in the movie feels like a natural partnership for the IGA brand, Cain said.

Co-Producer of the film, Deb Fryers, said THE BBQ team was delighted to have IGA as a partner.

The Aussie barbie is a cornerstone of our culture, Fryers said.

Its the place where family, friends and the local community come together and as IGA is renowned for supporting its local communities, its a perfect fit.

THE BBQ will be released into more than 150 cinemas Australia-wide on Thursday 22 February 2018.

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Nestle confirms sale of US confectionery business to Ferrero





Nestle has confirmed it has sold its US confectionery business to Ferrero for US $2.8 billion (AUD $3.5 billion).

The acquisition sees Italy-based Ferrero acquire a number of US confectionery brands including Crunch, Butterfinger, BabyRuth and Raisinets.

Ferrero is already responsible for a number of confectionery brands including Ferrero Rocher, Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread, Kinder Surprise and Tic Tac.

Nestle Chief Executive Officer, Mark Schneider, said Nestle has found an exceptional home for its US confectionery with Ferrero.

At the same time, this move allows Nestle to invest and innovate across a range of categories where we see strong future growth and hold leadership positions, such as pet care, bottled water, coffee, frozen meals and infant nutrition, Schneider said.

Nestles US confectionery business only accounted for approximately 3 per cent of US Nestles group sales annually.

The sale does not include Nestles Toll House baking products. Nestle says its Toll House brand is a strategic growth brand which it will continue to develop.

Nestle remains fully committed to growing its leading international confectionery activities around the world, particularly its global brand KitKat, Nestle stated.

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The Fair Work Ombudsman in Australia is reminding overseas workers, especially students and backpackers who have part time employment, that there have been a number of changes which could affect their pay.In some sectors such as food and hospitality they are now entitled to overtime pay and if working less than a 38-hour week the number of hours and time worked needs to be agreed in advance.In addition, a part time employee who regularly works additional hours for 12 months may ask to increase their guaranteed hours. Employers may only refuse on reasonable business grounds.The FWO is concerned that people arriving from overseas may not be aware of the changes and even some employers may not have taken them on board.The latest figures show that in the 2016/2017 year the FWO achieved penalties of more than $4.42 million in litigations where it was held one or more of the employees was a visa holderThe figures also reveal that while overseas workers make up 6% of the workforce in Australia they were in involved in 18% of the workplace disputes the FWO assisted with in the last financial year and 49% of the litigations filed last year.In the latest case the former manager of a cafe on the Gold Coast has been penalised $27,200 after admitting the underpayment of 12 employees at the Oliver Brown cafe at Surfers Paradise.The employees were underpaid a total of $24,575 between January and September 2015 and seven of them were from overseas. Four were on 417 working holiday visas, with the others on a 457 skilled worker visa, 444 special category visa and a partner visa.There were also four juniors among the 12 underpaid workers, including two aged 18, one aged 19 and another aged 20.Judge Salvatore Vasta said the cafe owner discriminated against a number of the employees, on, it would seem, the basis either of coming from a non-English speaking background, having a visa or their youth.'There doesn't appear to be any other explanation as to why there were some rates given to some people and other rates to others, except when one looks at the personal and cultural background of the workers,' Judge Vasta said.'It would seem that a worker on a visa who came from a non-English speaking background was certainly underpaid more than a person who is a permanent resident of this country from an English speaking background,' he added.The underpaid workers performed duties including washing dishes, taking orders and making drinks and desserts. Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors discovered the underpayments when they conducted an audit after a worker made underpayment allegations. The workers were back-paid in full late last year.Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says the targeting of vulnerable workers with low discount flat rates was a particularly concerning feature of the case. 'We treat exploitation of overseas and young workers particularly seriously because they can be especially vulnerable if they are not aware of their rights, have language barriers or are reluctant to complain,' she explained.
Thank you for your advice. I informed DIBP at the end of November that my relationship had ended, and my visa will not be refused, I withdrew it (it was slightly longer than 28 days by the time they replied etc). I have just moved cities to move in together, we spent the holiday period together overseas, and we lodged an intention to marry, which we will do before the 28 day period in which I must lodge another visa application. I understand that the application will be viewed with scrutiny, but if we do everything we can - share a bank account, get married, live together, go on holidays together, have phone and email evidence etc, do you think the visa will be ok? My other option is to go through work as a sponsor now and get married in a few months and apply for the partnership visa a bit later (the only way to PR), but then it will cost me $5k more, and it's money I don't have (but of course if it's the only option I have no choice).



Thank you very much!
This was Ubers third attempt at approving the $1-per-driver settlement. Photo via Mark Warner/Flickr.

A Los Angeles state judge indicated she's comfortable approving a $7.75 million settlement against Uber Technologies Inc., one of several lawsuits brought against the San Francisco ride-hailing service for its contractor-based business model, Bloomberg reported.

The lawsuit was brought against the company for alleged labor-code violations. According to the 2004 Private Attorneys General Act, the state will keep 75% of any penalties won, and the remaining 25% will go to the workers who brought the case.

The settlement would offer about 1.6 million California Uber drivers an average of $1.08 each. This was Ubers third attempt at approving the $1-per-driver settlement.

The tech giant is also facing a similar lawsuit in New York, and was recently ruled to be classified as a taxi service by the European Court of Justice, allowing for tighter regulation in the E.U.
During CES, Lyft and Aptiv collaborated to provide rides to more than 20 locations along the Las Vegas strip. Photo courtesy of Aptiv.

Ride-hailing startup Lyft and autonomous vehicle technology company Aptiv are extending their stay in Las Vegas, following the CES 2018, Fortune reported.

During the annual tech convention, Lyft and Aptiv collaborated to provide rides to more than 20 locations on the strip in semi-autonomous BMW 5 Series. The vehicles included a safety driver in case of any system failures and an in-car host to educate riders on the vehicle and the self-driving tech.

At the North American International Auto Show, Aptiv CTO Glen De Vos hinted that the two tech companies are looking to bring the pilot program to a second market.
Auto Rental News has discontinued the print edition of the magazine, according to its publisher, Bobit Business Media. The magazine will continue to print and mail its annual Fact Book.



The brand will shift publication of news, feature stories, analyses, and market statistics to an online format through its website, www.autorentalnews.com, and two email newsletters, Reporter and Global Reporter.





Auto Rental News will continue to reach the full spectrum of the auto rental industry, in addition to expanding into new mobility models, said Chris Brown, executive editor. Our readership has expanded exponentially online, and at the same time, the car rental industry has experienced dramatic growth globally, which is not possible to cover through a print edition.



Our move to an online-only format allows us to be immediately responsive to news and trends, instead of waiting for a bi-monthly or quarterly print edition, Brown said. We are allocating our resources accordingly.



From 2014 to 2017, online users and sessions on www.autorentalnews.com grew 65.4% and 67.8% respectively, while non-U.S. users grew 59%. Users on mobile devices have grown 155% in that time.



To take advantage of this online growth, were excited to offer our print advertisers new digital marketing opportunities, including new opportunities with our growing custom publishing division, said Joni Owens, associate publisher.



Auto Rental News invites the industry to attend the 2018 International Car Rental Show, convening April 15-17 at Ballys Las Vegas. For a full schedule and information, visit here.



As well, Bobit Business Media will soon announce dates, location, and a call for papers for the second annual Fleet Forward Conference, which covers new mobility solutions for fleet stakeholders.
KNOW THE SYMPTOMS

Valley fever, an insidious respiratory disease endemic to Kern County, is commonly misdiagnosed and mistaken for the flu or pneumonia. Protect yourself by knowing the most common symptoms:

Fever

Cough

Extreme fatigue

Shortness of breath

Skin lesions

Chills

Night sweats

Muscle and joint pain

Lack of appetite

Weight loss

If you think you have valley fever, insist your doctor test you.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
A quiet Tuesday morning quickly turned to chaos at a trailer home on Delia Street in Wimauma.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigating Tuesday incident

Culprits made off with $1,500, cell phones

Green 2001 Ford Focus was stolen



Carlos Daniel Lopez says he was startled awake around 5:40 a.m. when he heard the glass on his back door smash. Moments later, he says he could hear a group of men yelling inside of his roommate's bedroom.

Inside the home at the time were Lopez's four adult roommates and three young children.

"He have the gun. He said, 'Yo, I need the money.' But he said it in Spanish. I need dinero, give me your dinero," Lopez said.

That's when he said the suspects opened his bedroom door and pointed a gun his way. Lopez said he gave up his cash quickly.

But one of his roommates resisted and was pistol whipped by one of the men. He was transported to a local hospital and released hours later.

In all, the suspects took off with $1,500 in cash and cell phones.

When they got outside, they approached a man sitting in a green Ford Focus, smashed the window and pulled the man out before taking off with the car, police said.

Each of the residents say they didn't recognize the suspects.

"I've never seen him. I don't know what happened," Lopez said.

The stolen car is a green 2001 Ford Focus with Tennessee License plates.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
This week the City of St. Petersburg announced an enhancement to its popular reporting app, "See Click Fix." Users will now be able to track all things reported in the city by other app user via the "Stat Map."

Nearly 8,000 resident-reported items addressed through See Click Fix

Stat Map will consolidate reports from residents, city government agencies

Part of "Transparency in Government" program



Since St. Pete initially launched its popular reporting app, See Click Fix has been been well used by residents. Nearly 8,000 resident-reported items have been addressed.

This week the City announced an enhancement to the app: the 'Stat Map.' Think of it as a one-stop-shopping for all things "reported" in the City.

Here's how it works: The St Petersburg Stat Map consolidates See Click Fix reports, code enforcement reports and police calls onto one map. Users navigate through the map, find their street or neighborhood and can see what's been reported, the status of the call and any notes from the city department responsible.

Debbie Volk, Stats Analyst for the City says, the Stat Map is part of Mayor Kriseman's "Transparency in Government" Program.

"You get a bigger, broader picture rather than those asks of See Click Fix."

From the City's perspective, Volk says this is about accountability -- helping each city department do their job faster and more efficiently in order to better serve the people of St Petersburg.

The next version of the Stat Map will include Fire and Rescue Calls. To see the Stat Map, visit the Mayor's Action Center Page of the City's website.


While a school in San Juan is celebrating the return of power since Hurricane Maria, hundreds of thousands are still without electricity.

TECO crews heading to Puerto Rico to help restore power

25 lineman, support staff to help restore power for 6 weeks

RELATED: Duke Energy workers head to Puerto Rico to help restore power

Officials say the complexity of damage to the island's grid is the reason why--and crews continue to find more unexpected damage.

"After 112 days, THE LIGHT IS BACK! "



Staff and students rejoice as the lights at this Puerto Rico school were turned back on last week. The school had gone 112 days without electricity. pic.twitter.com/e45ReRhmew  CNN International (@cnni) January 17, 2018

Wednesday morning, 25 TECO lineman and support staff flew out to help restore power in Puerto Rico for almost two months.

Many said this was an assignment they couldn't pass up because of how badly the people in Puerto Rico need their help.

"By going, I'm helping people who can't help themselves," Michael Davis, TECO employee, said.

Crews flew out from Tampa International Airport Wednesday morning to join crews from other electrical companies. TECO already has two dozen bucket trucks and other vehicles on the island.

Crews will be Puerto Rico for the next 6 weeks, and while many say it will be hard to be away from their families, they know their help is greatly needed.

Ronald Wright, a TECO employee, said he'll know just how grateful people in Puerto Rico will be once they get their power restored.

"To help people out who've been in need. They've been out [of power] for almost half a year, and it's just hard to imagine how long they've been out of power," Wright said.

Bay News 9 asked TECO why it has taken so long to send help, and they said they can't just send crews to the island, but that help needs to be requested first. And this is the first request they've received for help from the Edison Electric Institute, who put out a call for 1500 lineman across the country.
It's the biggest AKC dog show in the Southeast -- more than 15,000 canines are competing at the Gulf Coast Clusters Dog Show between January 11 and January 21 at Florida Classic Park in Brooksville.

They are looking to be the best in best in breed, group and show. They are looking to gain points needed to become Champions.

Dog Show held between Jan. 11-21 in Brooksville

More than 15,000 canines competing

Link: Florida Gulf Coast Cluster 2018



They are looking to dominate in Rally, Obedience and Lure Coursing (think Jason Statham and Brad Pitt in the "Snatch" betting scene for the Caravan, but with a mechanical version of a hare).

Here are the observations of this reporter and photojournalist Bobby Collins after spending an afternoon in the park.

Keeping silky locks performance ready is tricky in the best weather conditions.

We showed up when a healthy wind was sweeping through the confirmation rings.

It was there Bobby spotted a tight line-up of Shih Tzus.

These dogs are roundabouts 10 pounds and that many inches off the ground.

And, their hair grows as long as there are tall, their locks just sweeping the ground like an evening gown.

In this Shih Tzu line-up, it was all blowing long locks  so much so that you couldnt see where one dog ended and the other began except for when their handlers frantically brushes their dogs side hair down down down.

And the wind would blow it out of place in the same moment.



Shih Tzus long flowing hair blows in the wind as handlers try in vain to keep their locks in perfect show condition.

It's the Shih Tzu's struggle.

And the struggle is real.

Quick Fun Facts

Boston Terriers are not terriers - they compete in the non-sporting group of canines.

Australian Shepherds are not from Down Under  more like Out West  in the U.S.

Shelties are not mini Collies.

And Great Danes are not some kind of miniature horse hybrid.



One of the Dog show lessons learned -- Boston Terriers are not considered Terriers. They compete in the non-sporting breed.

Something Special

While walking between rings with Borzois on parade, and Cocker Spaniels running out one by one, we spot an animal unfamiliar to us.

I mean its a dog as tall as a Great Dane, with build of a sprinterthe way a greyhound or a cheetahs body rises up under their ribcages toward their back hips? And they have with sort of wolfish, wiry hair hanging off of a shorter coatsort of like an Irish Wolfhound.

That was our final guess  we were close.

Our new buddy Fergus is a champion Scottish Deerhound. His humanSandy Eubank. They live in Chapel Hill, N.C.

"They were originally bred to hunt down deer," explained Eubank. "So he can chase and run down a deer singlehandedly. They can run up to 45 miles an hour."

How do you catch him if he runs?

"You don't -- you make him love you, and you call him," said Eubanks, laughing.

Say My Name

Calling some of these canines can be complicated.

Even the tiniest of toy poodles have pretty complicated names.

We found such a specimen.

"He is Champion, International Champion Ziegfeld Harten Rock Me Amadeus," says owner Suzanne Grande. Of Spring Hill.

Thankfully hes got a nickname  Ammo.

Pre-Show Rituals

Ammo's back stage in the grooming tent, where hair and fur are blown out and fluffed up right before the ring.

Just a few feet away on his own much, much bigger grooming table we see a breed that's all about the hairthe Old English Sheepdog.

We spoke with Potter's human Allison Sohn, both of whom traveled from Atlanta.

"Im gonna tease some of this his butt up make it nice and fluffy," said Sohn, using hair tools you might find in my own bag.

Sohn smooths down Potter's middle area and tries to create the perfect look  pear-shaped from one angle and square from another.

But for Potter  and the more than 175 dog breeds here  the judges look for the substance beneath the style.

"They are not picking one over the other because it's cuter or it's fluffier," said organizer Dan Dahlberg of the judges, "she is attempting to find the dog that best fits its breed standard."

Sohn explains the Sisyphus-like routine of every dog show.

"I'm gonna brush all this up," she said referring to the Potters backside, "and the judge -- theyre smooth all this down, theyre gonna get their hands in there and check his body and make sure the body is square under the hair. But we still do it because its what you do!"

The Mutts are Coming

Finally, we learned that the AKC does have a place for mixed breed dogs. They are being allowed to compete in the Rally and Obedience contests, as well are Lure Coursing.
Gi-normous Waves for Oregon Coast This Week, Flood Warning

Published 01/16/2018 at 6:42 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast)  The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland has issued a flood warning for the upper half of the Oregon coast, and some warnings about even being on the beaches as wave height will be 27 to 32 feet. The warning is in effect from Wednesday night to midnight on Thursday, with the highest tides on the northern third of the coastline. (Above: flooding in Lincoln City, courtesy the Coho Inn).

Mariners and beach-goers should be prepared for large waves along the Oregon and Washington coasts as an incoming westerly swell arrives late Wednesday night and Thursday, the NWS said. Similar scenarios in the past have produced large sneaker waves that have resulted in fatalities along the Pacific Northwest coast.

Large waves will actually stick around the bulk of the week, starting even today. Wednesday during the day will see waves around 19 feet, rising to 22 or more later at night. By Thursday, wave height will be up around 30 feet or more in some areas of the Oregon coast.

The NWS said high tide is forecast to be 8.5 to 9.5 feet between 12 to 2 a.m. Thursday and 9.5 to 10.5 feet between 12 to 2 p.m. Thursday. The highest tidal values will be found north.

Luckily, river flows are still rather low at this time, which may assist in keeping flooding down.

Higher than normal tides and large seas will likely result in beach erosion and some flooding of low lying locations along the coast, including areas around Willapa Bay, Seaside, Nehalem, Tillamook and Florence, particularly during the high tide midday Thursday, the NWS said. Sneaker waves will occasionally run much farther up beaches and onto jetties, which can easily catch unsuspecting beachgoers off-guard.

This means stay off all beaches during this and keep a good distance from any jetties. Some larger beaches may be acceptable, like those at Seaside, northern Cannon Beach or Newport's Agate Beach. Keep clear of any smaller beaches like at Gleneden Beach, the pocket beaches south of Yachats, the Waldport area, Oceanside, Pacific City, all of Lincoln City and any part of Newport south of Agate Beach. These areas are guaranteed to have potentially deadly sneaker waves if not raging tides on a continual basis.

The safest spots to watch this will also provide the best show: from vantage points above rocky shelf areas like the parking lots at Oceanside and Pacific City, the seawall at Depoe Bay, and the higher edges of Yachats' 804 Trail or the parking lot above Yachats' main beach access behind downtown.

From Friday through Sunday, huge waves will still be marauding along the Oregon coast, clocking in at around 24 feet then lessening closer to 20 feet over the weekend. Oregon Coast Lodgings for this event - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours ------ See full Oregon Coast Weather























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Expect a bullish 2018 for the nation, Texas and Southeast Texas, said M. Ray Perryman today, the state's unofficial "state economist" at the annual Economic Forecast conference in Beaumont with regional leaders also commenting on challenges ahead that remain from Tropical Storm Harvey.

Perryman, who has created economic models for areas like New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, said that city was in decline before Katrina struck in 2008 as was the area along the New Jersey coast when Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012.
While almost all of Southeast Texas was closed Wednesday morning due to icy roads and freezing temperatures, Saturday's high is expected to reach 70 degrees around Beaumont.

No, really. (See the detailed forecast below.)
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U.S. Rep Ted Poe, R-Humble, announced on Facebook Tuesday that he has requested a Nederland man killed in a terrorist attack in January 2013 be recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Victor Lovelady, 57, was killed by terrorists during a siege on an Algerian gas plant where he'd recently become employed.

>>>Airstrike targets al-Qaida leader who led attack that killed Nederland man

Lovelady and his co-workers were in the Ain Amenas' cantina eating breakfast when members of the Signatories in Blood (or Signers in Blood), an al-Qaida splinter group, burst in shooting, hitting a man who made his way to the dining area. Having first aid skills, Lovelady quickly tended to the wounded man, stopping the bleeding.

The gas plant's employees decided to run and hide from the terrorists, and Lovelady helped people climb up through an opening in the ceiling.

When it was his turn to go, he fell backwards and broke his ankle.

Lovelady and another man hadn't made it into the attic hiding space before terrorists found them, taking both hostage at gunpoint.

>>>Lovelady's daughter said he took job to have more time with family

They held the men overnight at the plant, tied up and wired with explosives.

The next day the terrorists forced them into a vehicle and tried to make their way across the massive plant property to meet up with other members of their group.

The FBI believed they intended to kidnap the oil workers for ransom, to exchange them for money or prisoners.

But when Algerian soldiers cut them off, they aborted the mission in the most violent way - by detonating bombs wrapped around the hostages, killing Lovelady and two other Americans, Frederick Buttaccio of Katy and Gordon Lee Rowan of Sumpter, Ore.

>>>'I can't grasp terrorism,' says Lovelady's brother

The men who hid in the attic, including the man Lovelady tended to, survived, with the hostages careful not to betray their presence to their captors.

In his post, Poe said Lovelady "epitomized the very best of America" and is deserving of our nation's highest civilian honor.

"May we continue to honor the sacrifice that Victor Lovelady made as a courageous husband, father, and American," he wrote.

>>>Loved ones bid farewell to Victor Lovelady
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1 p.m.

TxDOT: There are no current ice-related road closures in Southeast Texas, but continue to drive with caution.

12:07 p.m.

The Rainbow Bridge and Veterans Memorial Bridge have reopened.

The only closure in Beaumont is Cardinal Drive, TxDOT reports. However, some roadways still have ice.

11:15 a.m.

US 96 at FM 105 in Evadale has reopened.

10:45 a.m.

Lamar University, LIT, Lamar State College-Port Arthur and Lamar State College-Orange will remain closed Wednesday.

9:40 a.m.

The MLK Bridge between Port Arthur and Pleasure Island is now open, TxDOT announced.

The Rainbow and Veterans Memorial Bridges are still closed.

Lamar University, which previously announced a delay, is now closed for the day.

FEMA's Disaster Recovery Centers are closed again today.

Sam Houston Electric Cooperative customers may have power interruptions this morning due to increased demand. The Cooperative is asking people to delay doing laundry, turn off unnecessary lights, not use stoves or ovens and lowering their thermostats by a few degrees to conserve power until the demand declines this afternoon as temperatures rise.

9 a.m.

Overpasses on Eastex Freeway are iced over but passable with extreme caution, BPD reports.

PAPD: If you see homeless or displaced people exposed to the weather in Port Arthur, call the police department at 409-983-8600 to have them transported to a warm area.

8:30 a.m.

More than 1800 Entergy customers are currently without power, according to the company, including more than 1,500 near North Major Drive in Beaumont and 105 near Orangefield. The estimated restoration time is 10 a.m.

Wednesday 6:40 a.m.

The MLK Bridge between Port Arthur and Pleasure Island is closed, TxDOT reports.

Drivers license offices in Jefferson and Orange Counties will be closed today; those in Jasper and San Jacinto Counties will open at 10 a.m.

The Beaumont Police Department is reporting more than 90 wrecks Tuesday due to hazardous driving conditions - 79 minor wrecks, 13 major wrecks and one fatal wreck. Several patrol units were also struck as officers investigated wrecks, the department said.

Tuesday 7:50 p.m.

The Purple Heart Memorial Bridge (Interstate 10) across the Neches River is open, according to the Texas Department of Transportiona. The advised speed is 30 mph.

7:15 p.m.

Parkdale Mall will open at noon on Wednesday because of predicted inclement weather, according to an email from the mall.

5:15 p.m.

The Martin Luther King Bridge from Port Arthur to Pleasure Island is closed, and ice has been reported on the Taylor's Bayou Bridge, the city of Port Arthur announced. "Please stay off the roads," the city said.

4:15 p.m.

The Rainbow Bridge and Veterans Memorial Bridge have both been closed until future notice, DPS announced.

4:10 p.m.

Port Arthur Transit has shut down for the day "due to hazardous weather and road conditions," the City announced.

Beaumont Police are responding to an eight-car crash on the westbound lanes of the Neches River Bridge, Officer Carol Riley said.

BPD has closed Cardinal Drive due to ice and "numerous crashes." All traffic has been diverted to frontage roads, TXDOT said.

Riley said ice is now an issue on most elevated roads in the city.

3:55 p.m.

The Beaumont Police Department is encouraging residents to stay off Cardinal Drive. "Roads are icing and we have several ice-related crashes," the department posted on Facebook. "Traffic is being diverted off Cardinal Drive to the service roads."

3:50 p.m.

Entergy Texas reports there are a couple dozen outages in Southeast Texas, including around 14 customers in China and outages in parts of Beaumont's Old Town.

3:15 p.m.

A winter weather advisory will continue until p.m. tonight, the National Weather Service-Lake Charles announced in an email.

"Light snow, sleet and freezing rain will diminish during the late afternoon and early evening. Any additional accumulations should be well below 1 inch," the email said. "Because temperatures are expected to be well below freezing tonight through much of Wednesday morning, some icy areas may develop on bridges, overpasses and elevated roads."

A wind chill and hard freeze advisory will remain in effect through Wednesday morning.

2:55 p.m.

As a precaution, Orange County offices will open Wednesday at 1 p.m., the county announced in an email.

2:40 p.m.

Enterprise reporters and photographers are reporting pretty good snowfall in Hardin County.

2:30 p.m.

U.S. 96 at F.M.105 in Evadale is closed due to the accumulation of ice, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

2:20 p.m.

The Beaumont Police Department said it has closed two overpasses, Lindbergh overpass and the Dowlen Road overpass.

12:50 p.m.

All Diocesan schools will be closed Wednesday.

The Jefferson County and Hardin County courthouses will open at noon Wednesday.

> > MORE: School, government offices closed today

11:45 a.m.

All Jefferson County offices will close at 12 p.m. today and reopen at noon on Wednesday, Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Fountain announced. The 1:30 p.m. Commissioner's Court meeting will be held as scheduled, and the building will be closed after the meeting ends.

All Jasper County offices will close at noon.

11:40 a.m.

As a result of the inclement winter weather expected this afternoon and tomorrow morning, the Hardin County Courthouse and all County Offices will close today at 1 p.m. and will re-open tomorrow at noon, Judge Wayne McDaniel said in an email.

10:30 a.m.

All FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers will be closed Tuesday, the agency announced.

10:15 a.m.

The Texas Department of Transportation said "crews began pretreating all bridges and overpasses throughout Southeast Texas yesterday and will continue monitoring and treating where needed today."

No roads are closed at this time, the state agency said.

10 a.m.

Up to an inch of snow is possible today mainly north of the U.S. 190 corridor, according to the Orange County Office Emergency Management.

"While lighter accumulations of snow and ice are expected further south, bridges, overpasses and elevated roads areawide could become icy later today and early tonight," the county said in an email.

"The precipitation should end by early this evening. However, with the onset of temperatures well below freezing forecasted, the potential exists for black ice especially along bridges and overpasses."

The county said a wind chill advisory and hard freeze warning will be in effect tonight.

---

Citing deteriorating weather, the City of Bridge City has canceled tonight's council meeting scheduled for 6 p.m.

---

The Texas Department of Public Safety said it is encouraging Southeast Texans to minimize travel today because of deteriorating weather conditions.

"During freezing conditions, roads, bridges and elevated structures will be impacted and can make

driving dangerous," the DPS said in a 10 a.m. email. "DPS urges motorists to pay attention to worsening road conditions and to avoid elevated structures that are prone to freeze in our area."
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A 32-year-old man was arrested Monday after he was allegedly caught hiding in his ex-girlfriend's bathtub.

Nicolas Ambros Cagal now faces a third-degree felony charge of stalking. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on Tuesday, and he's being held on an immigration detainer.

According to his arrest affidavit, Cagal's ex-girlfriend had recently broken off a three year relationship with him. Since the breakup, he has allegedly "placed the victim in fear of bodily injury or death" on multiple occasions.

RELATED: 230 crashes, 2 involving police, reported in San Antonio as major highways, roads iced over Tuesday

Now Playing: A Colorado woman reported missing days after receiving a protection order against a man she alleged was harassing her was found dead Saturday in a wooded area north of Denver, PEOPLE confirms Video: People

On one of those occasions, he's accused of breaking down her front door and beating her over the head with a two-by-four, causing brain bleeding.

He was allegedly caught stalking the victim on Jan. 12. The victim had gone out all day with her mother and when she returned they heard a noise from the victim's room but saw nothing unusual. Later that night, the victim found Cagal hiding in the bathtub.

"The victim said she panicked and froze," reads the arrest affidavit.

RELATED: SAPD: Suspect shot man in the groin after contentious round of pool

She tried to remain calm, asking Cagal to leave, but he refused. After about two hours, she fled to a local corner store and called her mother.

Police later obtained an arrest affidavit for Cagal and booked him into jail.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Demonstrators in New Delhi protest the release from prison of the youngest person convicted in the 2012 rape and killing of a 23-year-old medical student, Dec. 20, 2015.

More than three days after the brutalized body of a missing teenage girl was found in the northern Indian state of Haryana, police had yet to identify her alleged rapists and killers, an official said Tuesday.

The 15-year-old victim went missing on Jan. 9 after she left her home in Kurukshetra town for private tutoring, police said, adding that her body, which bore signs of sexual abuse and torture, was discovered about 100 km (62 miles) away in Jind on Saturday.

We have rounded up many people for questioning, but havent yet zeroed down on the culprits. No arrests so far. But one person from the girls village has been missing since she disappeared last week. We are trying to trace him to ascertain the identities of the accused, Jinds Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Dheeraj Kumar Singh, told BenarNews.

The victims liver and lungs were ruptured because a blunt object was inserted in her body, a doctor who conducted the autopsy said, rekindling memories of the infamous Delhi gang-rape in which a 23-year-old medical student died after being tortured on a moving bus in 2012.

The body had many injury marks. The private parts were mutilated and there were lot of internal injuries. Signs of sexual assault are visible and it looks like three-four people were responsible. A hard and blunt thing was inserted inside her, NDTV quoted Dr. S.K. Dattarwal of the government hospital in Rohtak as saying.

Namrata Gaur, of the Haryana Women Commission, said that the victim and the missing youth from her village knew one another.

The commission is closely monitoring the case and we have assured the victims family of all assistance in the case, Gaur told reporters.

Both the victim and the youth left their homes together. It is now a matter of police investigation how the brutally mutilated body of the girl has been found while the youth is yet to be traced, she said.

Police said they were investigating the case, which has provoked nationwide outrage, with utmost urgency and seriousness.

We have formed several teams to identify and nab the accused. It wont be long before they are caught, DSP Singh said.

He said the girl belonged to the historically marginalized Dalit community, which is at the bottom of Hinduisms rigid caste hierarchy and is often at the receiving end of violent caste-based discrimination.

Singh, however, said it was unlikely that this was a caste-motivated assault.

Fourth case in a month

The case is the fourth incident of sexual violence over the last month in Haryana, where the government recently hailed its Save our Daughters campaign, citing an improvement in the states gender ratio.

A 22-year-old woman was allegedly abducted and gang-raped for two hours in a moving vehicle in Faridabad, situated on the outskirts of Delhi, on Sunday, before being dumped on the highway.

An 11-year-old girl was allegedly raped and strangled to death when she went to dispose of garbage in Panipat town on Saturday.

And last month, a 6-year-old was allegedly raped and tortured to death in the states Hisar district.

Such horrific incidents have brought shame to Haryana. The state government needs to do more to ensure safety for women. The state has to translate its words into action. Separate police teams should be constituted in each district of the state especially for the safety of women, Anita Parashar, a Haryana-based womens rights activist, told BenarNews.
President Joko Jokowi Widodo shakes hands with Idrus Marham, who was sworn in as Minister of Social Affairs during a ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta, Jan. 17, 2018.

Updated at 9:40 a.m. EDT, 18 January 2018

President Joko Jokowi Widodo appointed a top official of Indonesias second largest political party and retired military leaders to his cabinet Wednesday, a shake-up that analysts see as a move to strengthen support ahead of coming elections, including presidential polls next year.

It was the third time Jokowi reshuffled his cabinet since he took office in October 2014, and the first time since July 2016, when the Golkar party left the opposition bloc and joined a ruling alliance led by his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

On Wednesday, Jokowi appointed Golkar Secretary-General Idrus Marham, 55, to replace Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, 52. Khofifah resigned so she could contest the June 2018 gubernatorial election in East Java province, which will be among regional polls taking place across Indonesia this year.

This is a technical reshuffle, besides it is a necessity. However, the nomination of Idrus is quite surprising because the allocation fell to Golkar again, not to the Islamic-based National Awakening Party (PKB) even though there are many candidates in PKB and NU (Nahdlatul Ulama) who are capable of handling social issues, Tobias Basuki, a researcher with the Jakarta-based Center For Strategic and International Studies, told BenarNews.

NU, Indonesias largest moderate Muslim organization, is the National Awakening Partys main supporter.

Jokowi also appointed retired Indonesian National Armed Force (TNI) chief Moeldoko, 60, to replace Teten Masduki, as his chief of staff (KSP).

In addition, Jowoki swore in Air Marshal Yuyu Sutisna, 55, as Air Force Chief of Staff. Yuyu replaces Chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto who was appointed in December as chief of the armed forces following the early retirement of Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo.

Agum Gumelar, 72, another retired military leader, was sworn in as a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee. He fills a position that has been open since Hasyim Muzadi, a former NU chairman, died in March 2017.

Teten, 54, a former activist with Indonesia Corruption Watch, a local NGO, and a key member of his campaign team in 2014, will have a new role.

Pak Teten now will always be near me, as the special staff coordinator. Every day he has to be near me, Jokowi told journalists after the swearing-in of Idrus and Moeldoko.

Honeymoon with Golkar

Idrus is the second Golkar member to hold ministerial positions in Jokowis administration, joining Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who was appointed in July 2016.

In the 2014 election, Golkar backed the losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. Two years later, the party gave its support to Jokowi, when it switched to the ruling coalition.

This reshuffle is a honeymoon moment for Jokowi and Golkar and adds to Jokowis strategy of increasing Golkars bargaining position against the PDI-P, Syamsuddin Haris, a political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told BenarNews.

Another political analyst, Burhanudin Muhtadi, said the latest reshuffle of Jokowis cabinet represented a victory for Golkar and the president.

Since Golkar entered the cabinet, political stability has proven to be improving and maintained, he told BenarNews.

Unlike, PDI-P, which has not revealed who it will endorse in 2019, Golkar has expressed support for Jokowi.

Military support

Analysts said the addition of two retired generals to Jokowis administration is a tactic to get military support for the 2019 presidential election.

The opposition coalitions main party, Gerakan Indonesia Raya (Gerindra), endorsed Prabowo Subianto, a former army general, for president.

Tobias Basuki expects that Moeldoko will be supporting Jokowi in 2019.

The public has the perception that TNI still has an important role in maintaining stability, especially toward the 2018 regional elections and the 2019 presidential election, Tobias said.

Right activists, however, questioned Moeldokos appointment.

We are concerned about the agenda of dealing with past human rights violations that had been initiated by KSP. In the hands of Moeldoko, will the human rights violation problem be an important priority? said Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute, a Jakarta-based human rights group.

Although Moeldoko is not directly linked to past rights violations, Hendardi said, his military background casts doubt on his independence in addressing the problem.

Meanwhile, Leonard Simanjuntak, executive director of Greenpeace Indonesia, expressed doubt that a military background was well suited for the job of the presidents chief of staff. That person should have a background focusing on socio-economic development issues, he said.

We are concerned that this reshuffle gives a false signal that a military person is more capable than a civilian person, and we believe that even if Teten had to be replaced, there are more than enough capable civilian candidates, Leonard told BenarNews.

We are quite concerned that Mr. Moeldokos military background is generally closer to the corporate community, while the role of KSP is crucial to channel the voice of the people who become victims to the president, he said.
Members of Malaysias Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) speak with lawyers and relatives of Pastor Raymond Koh during a field trip to the place where he was kidnapped, Nov. 11, 2017.

Malaysian police announced Tuesday they had filed charges in the case of missing Pastor Raymond Koh Keng Joo, and a human rights fact-finding panel said it had suspended its inquiry into the kidnapping.

Surveillance cameras recorded the 62-year-old priest being snatched in broad daylight from a road in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017, when SUVs and motorcycles forced his car to stop and men in black face masks whisked him away. Kohs kidnapping took less than a minute and was witnessed by several other drivers who reported it to police.

Malaysian national Lam Chang Nam was charged Monday under section 365 of the countrys penal code at a court in Petaling Jaya, Malaysias police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement. Section 365 concerns kidnapping and abduction.

He is suspected of involvement with seven others who are still at large, in kidnapping Pastor Raymond Koh Keng Joo early last year, the statement said.

The investigation into the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh is still ongoing and police have found a new lead linking Lam Chang Nam with the case.

The statement did not say what the new evidence was or whether Koh had been found.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) announced it had halted a public inquiry into Kohs kidnapping after receiving instructions from police to do so.

The agency had launched its probe due to an apparent lack of progress in the case, which, some witnesses said, bore the hallmarks of a police operation.

We were surprised by this development. We had not heard anything about this until yesterday, Commissioner Mah Weng Kwai said at Suhakams offices on Tuesday, when the 12th hearing of the inquiry had been scheduled to take place.

A letter from Fuzi on Monday called for the hearing to be halted due to the arrest of a suspect, he said. The charter of the government rights body requires it to stop inquiries on cases that are being prosecuted.

We decided to stop the investigation until further notice, Mah said.

A suspect was charged at Petaling Jaya Court on January 15. He was arrested on Jan. 12. We dont know whether he was remanded or released on bail.

Suhakams decision questioned

According to the media outlet MalaysiaKini, the charge sheet said Lam was a 31-year-old part- time Uber driver, who carried out the kidnapping along with seven other people still at-large at about 10:25 a.m. on Feb. 13 last year.

If convicted, he could face up to seven years in jail, and a fine.

Lams lawyer, Aaron Mark Pius, confirmed that his client had been charged but said he had pleaded not guilty, according to media reports.

In March 2017, Lam had entered the same plea to a charge of attempting to extort 30,000 Malaysian ringgit (U.S. $7,575) from Kohs son to free his father.

At an earlier court hearing, the head of the Selangor State criminal investigations department, Fadzil Ahmat, said Lim had nothing to do with the Kohs kidnapping but had taken advantage of it to commit extortion.

A three-member inquiry panel set up by Suhakam had already subpoenaed about 15 people, including former national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, and it planned to question 35 others.

Koh family lawyer Gurdial Singh questioned Suhakams decision. Even if its true there is a suspect involved in the case, our question is broader, concerning whether authorities are telling the truth in the disappearance of Pastor Koh, he said.

Kohs wife, Susanna Liew, said police had not informed her of the new development in the case.

Its very surprising for our family. We didnt expect it to happen because our hope was for Suhakam to find the answers, she said.

We have to be realistic

Lawyer Andrew Koh of the Malaysian Bar Association said all concerned parties had to accept the latest turn of events in the case.

We have to be realistic about the requirements of the law, which place the jurisdiction of the commission lower than the jurisdiction of the courts, he said.

But he stressed that the probe into other disappearances should be continued, and Mah said Suhakam would keep investigating the cases of activist Amri Che Mat and Pastor Joshua Hilmi and his wife Ruth Sitepu.

Kohs disappearance at first looked like an isolated case, but as it gained attention, other cases of missing Malaysians came to light.

Amri, co-founder of a local NGO and resident of the state of Perlis, was last seen on Nov. 24, 2016. His disappearance may have been religiously motivated based on allegations he was spreading Shia Muslim teachings, which are frowned upon in the Sunni Muslim-majority country, according to local media reports.

On Nov. 30, 2016, Hilmi and his wife, Ruth, both Christian preachers, were last seen at their home in Selangor state. A missing-person report, however, was not filed until March 6, officials said.

Blog postings claimed the couple had been Muslims before becoming Christians and converted others to the religion.

More than 60 percent of Malaysias 19.5 million citizens are Muslims.
Wilma Austria Tiamzon (left), her husband, Benito, and Jose Maria Sison, exiled chief of the National Democratic Front, raise fists during a meeting on peace negotiations between the Philippine government and communist rebels in Oslo, Norway, Aug. 22, 2016.

A Philippine court issued arrest warrants Wednesday for three senior consultants of the communist rebel movement, two months after President Rodrigo Duterte shut off peace negotiations aimed at ending one of Asias longest-running insurgencies.

The court in Manila recommended no bail for Benito Tiamzon and his wife, Wilma, as well as Adelberto Silva, who are being sought on charges related to 15 counts of murder.

All three are consultants of the National Democratic Front, the political wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and were among dozens of rebel leaders released by Duterte shortly after he assumed the presidency in 2016.

The court issued the warrants on Jan. 11 at the governments request to cancel the trios bail bonds. It released the decision publicly on Wednesday.

Their lawyer, Edre Olalia, said they would appeal the ruling, even if it was seemingly a long shot under the present circumstances.

We maintain that the peace negotiations have not yet been terminated properly and in accordance with the solemn and binding protocol mutually agreed upon by the parties, Olalia said in a statement, noting that Duterte could not unilaterally end the talks.

Olalia said official notification of talks was warranted by fairness, practicality and principle.

No one in his right mind will participate in any peace negotiations if the protections and guarantees of safety and immunity for such involvement can easily be brushed aside, even under the colorable legal theater of one party, Olalia argued.

In November, Duterte called off talks aimed at ending the CPPs Maoist rebellion, which began in 1969. Tens of thousands have been killed in the insurgency, one of the longest rebellions in the world that has also stunted growth in the Philippine countryside.

The government accused the rebels of treachery by launching a series of attacks that left several civilians killed, including a young girl. Military estimates have placed the strength of the CPPs armed unit, the New Peoples Army (NPA), at about 5,000 fighters.

Fascist dictatorship

The exiled founder of the communist party, Jose Maria Sison, said he had been willing to meet with Duterte, his one-time student, at a mutually accepted neutral venue outside the Philippines.

He said he considered this after the local press quoted Duterte as saying that he might be willing to meet with Sison.

But now, with the arrest of rebel negotiators, Sison said it had become too difficult or impossible to have any kind of serious conversation or negotiations anywhere with someone already crazed by power. He also accused Duterte of descending quickly into fascist dictatorship.

His main interest now in the CPP and the NPA is to make them the scapegoats to justify martial rule and military campaigns of mass murder, Sison said in a statement. He stressed that Duterte had used the threat of communist rebellion as a reason to extend martial law in the south.

There was something terribly wrong with Dutertes mentality and behavior, Sison said.

Still, he said, the rebels were grateful to the president for making it absolutely clear that Duterte was responsible for the collapse of talks.

They are responsible for the termination of the peace negotiations and for the rising intensity of the peoples armed revolution for national and social liberation against the oppressive and exploitative state, Sison said.
A woman sits on a dike as lava cascades down the slopes of the Mayon volcano near Busay village in Albay province, Philippines, Jan. 16, 2018.

Philippine government officials declared a state of calamity on Wednesday as the number of people evacuating the erupting Mayon volcano swelled to more than 5,000 families.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said evacuees from villages and towns within a 7-km (4.3-mile) danger zone around the volcano, located in Albay province on Luzon island, kept pouring in and were staying in some 20 temporary shelters, including schools.

The third level of a five-step alert remains over Mayon, which means the volcano is exhibiting an increased tendency to explode in a matter of days or weeks.

We are still on alert level 3 and very closely, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology is monitoring Mayons volcanic activity, national disaster relief agency spokeswoman Mina Marasigan said.

Provincial crisis and emergency management chief Joseph Philip Lee said the state of calamity was declared to allow the release of much-needed emergency funds. The funds  U.S. $1.8 million (91.3 million pesos)  would be used for relief assistance and supplies.

The number of affected families has reached nearly 5,000 in the towns of Daraga, Guinobatan, Malilipot, and Santo Domingo and the cities of Liao and Tabaco, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported. In addition, about 1,184 families are staying with relatives and friends.

Meanwhile, chief government volcanologist Renato Solidum told a local radio station that the volcanos crater was showing a nonexplosive magmatic eruption or lava effusion.

Its nonexplosive because it does not throw out volcanic materials, he said, adding that scientists were discussing the possibility of raising the alert level by a notch if the trend continued.

Ed Laguerta, a resident volcanologist with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said he and others were waiting for results of geodetic and geochemistry surveys to determine the measure of gas content and earthquake strength emanating from the volcano.

Social agency on standby

Elsewhere, social welfare officer Emmanuel Leyco said the agency was prepared to send supplies quickly should local government units in the affected municipalities run short.

We are on active standby as we are in close coordination with local government units regarding the needs of their constituents during this period of emergency, he said.

We also appeal to the public to give support to all government efforts as well as to the efforts of the private sector to assist affected families and communities.

At 2,462 meters (8,077 feet) tall and almost perfectly shaped like a cone, Mayon, in the central province of Albaya, began spewing ash, rocks and mud last weekend.

Lava has been spewing from its crater, in a spectacular scene that has attracted droves of tourists.

In 2014, at least 63,000 people were evacuated when lava flowed from the crater of Mayon. A year earlier, it erupted killing five hikers, including three Germans who strayed near its summit.

More than 70 people were killed when it erupted in 1993 while in 1841, a massive eruption buried an entire town and killed 1,200 people.
The Bible has been under attack in the western world for over 200 years but never more intensely than today. These attacks have taken different forms and have come from many different corners of the academic world, from philosophers, to scientists, to textual critics. In the specialized world of archaeology the attacks have increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Once a specialization filled with Bible believing individuals, the field of archaeology is now overrun with atheists and skeptics, agnostics and those committed to the destruction of the Bible as a source of true historical information.

These attacks on the Bible are a part of a sweeping movement in western culture. Spearheaded by academic elitists in the university and the public educational system, the news and popular media, and the entertainment industry, these revisionists cloak themselves with supposed objectivity, purity of motives, and the superiority of science over the "uninformed", "unscientific", religious community.

They regularly mock those who question their world-view and their conclusions by name-calling and the worst forms of anti-Bible and anti-Christian propaganda. They have powerfully infected the church by turning Bible believing Christians against the very Scripture which is the foundation of truth and life in this world. Instead of contending for the Bible, Christian academics, pastors, and lay-persons are making egregious accommodations to these destroyers of faith and truth.

In these days of intense spiritual battle, God has called ABR to step into the gap to contend for the truth and to assist the church in this critical hour. ABR is a non-profit ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible and to give answers to questions being asked by believers and non-believers alike. We do this by using original archaeological fieldwork and research along with studies in other apologetic disciplines. We take on the bold claims of skeptics and critics. We challenge the bizarre anti-biblical propaganda that is purveyed upon the public as gospel through television and print media. We uphold the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God's message for the salvation of all mankind!
For Immediate Release, January 16, 2018 Contact: Vera Pardee, (858) 717-1448, vpardee@biologicaldiversity.org Report: Wide Fuel-efficiency Gap Among Transpacific Airlines Climate-pollution Reductions Possible With Existing Technology, Findings Show SAN FRANCISCO Hainan Airlines and All Nippon Airways ranked first in fuel efficiency among transpacific carriers in 2016, according to a report released today by the International Council on Clean Transportation. The new report analyzed 20 airlines operating nonstop flights between the mainland United States and East Asia and Oceania. The difference in efficiency performance between the most and least fuel-efficient carriers was 64 percent. The colossal gap between the most and least fuel-efficient airlines shows that dramatic pollution reductions are easily within reach using existing technologies, said Vera Pardee, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversitys Climate Law Institute. By flying less-polluting carriers like Hainan and All Nippon, we can all reduce our carbon footprint while giving delinquent airlines an incentive to adopt their competitors more climate-friendly practices. Airlines analyzed in the study cut fuel use and carbon pollution through a number of strategies, including buying new aircraft, increasing passenger density, and optimizing freight load. Aviation already accounts for at least 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas pollution, and the industrys emissions are rising steeply. If commercial aviation were considered a country, it would rank seventh after Germany in terms of carbon emissions. Airplanes could generate 43 metric gigatons of planet-warming pollution through 2050, consuming more than 4 percent of the worlds remaining carbon budget, according to a Center report. The first international standards for carbon pollution from airplanes were adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization in early 2017. But these standards will reduce emissions from new planes less than business as usual and do not apply to any in-service aircraft. Aviation emissions continue to skyrocket, yet international fuel-efficiency standards are disturbingly weak, Pardee said. We need to push for stronger policies to reduce the climate harms of airline travel. But in the meantime, consumer demand is a powerful tool to pressure the industry to curb its dangerous pollution.
Despite 2017 being a tough year for business and consumers, South Africa has remained a desirable destination for global brands looking to expand their businesses. none show this more than franchising in South Africa. According to Morne Cronje, head of franchising at FNB Business, this is most visible in South Africa's franchising sector.

Brandon Alms via 123RF

A recent example of a global franchise brand coming into South Africa is Popeyes, an American brand best known for its spicy chicken. They launched here in July 2017. That is on the back of Krispy Kreme and Burger King having recently launched too  even with our challenges, we still offer growth opportunities to global entities.

Cronje shares key takeouts from the year that was in franchising:

More clothing and fast-food brands: Retail franchising continued to grow in 2017. Over the past few years, we have seen more global brands like Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, Krispy Kreme, Dominos, Starbucks and clothing brand Cotton On opening their stores in South Africa.

Growth in quick-service restaurant segment: People still value a restaurant experience. Consumers, though looking for convenience and reasonable options, still value the idea of sitting and enjoying a meal in the traditional sense. More businesses have now jumped on this bandwagon and we are starting to see more and more that fast food spaces are also playing in the sit-and-serve space.

Use of online and digital channels: More franchises have embraced online and mobile technology to reach their customers faster, easier and relatively cheaper than the usual above the line approach. We are also seeing businesses receiving online orders from their own or third party apps which enable the consumer to order from wherever they are and whenever they want to.

Value for money: In these tough economic times, consumers will continue to ask why they should spend money in your business. If businesses ignore this, consumers are likely to shift their attention to competitors.

As we wrapped up 2017, it is important for the franchising sector to reflect on the trends that shaped the year that was. In my view, franchising remains one of the key sectors that will continue to grow steadily despite the slow growth environment. This is a trend that we have been monitoring without fail over the past years, concludes Cronje.
Rooibos ice tea maker Bos Brands aims to double its retail market share in SA after announcing a sales and distribution deal with JSE-listed Rhodes Food Group (RFG) on Tuesday.

From left is Will Battersby, MD of BOS Brands, and Bruce Henderson, CEO of RFG.

The deal might raise a few eyebrows since Stellenbosch-based investment behemoth Remgro - via venture capital subsidiary Invenfin - is a significant shareholder in Bos. Remgro is the controlling shareholder in food brands conglomerate RCL Foods and the largest shareholder in liquor group Distell. Both RCL and Distell have significant sales and distribution platforms.

Bos SA CEO Will Battersby said the sales and distribution agreement followed 2016's deal that saw RFG, which has carved a lucrative niche in the local juice segment, taking over packaging of part of the Bos's portfolio. "We did investigate all sales and distribution options in the South African context. But we were drawn to RFG's aggressive growth strategy - especially in the juice market. Like us, RFG is an underdog with a huge appetite and energy," he said.

Rhodes CEO Bruce Henderson said the agreement strengthened the company's position in the Southern African beverages segment. "We now have our own powerful Rhodes juice brand alongside the premium market leader in ice tea."

Battersby said the agreement meant Rhodes would manage all sales and distribution of the Bos range of products in sub-Saharan Africa from March. "Together with RFG, Bos will now be able to tap into over 10,000 outlets - double of what our current reach allows."

Battersby said the ice tea market was valued at about R900m with Bos holding about 12% of the retail segment. "However, we believe that along with the partnership with RFG a long-term target of 25% share is achievable."

Bos ranks as the fourth-biggest ice tea firm in SA behind Lipton, Fuse and Clover's Manhattan. Bos would look to developing new products with Rhodes, with some set to launch later in 2018, Battersby said.

Asked whether the acquisitive Rhodes might push to snag an equity stake in Bos, Battersby said that nothing was on the table at the moment.

BOS expanded into western Europe in 2014 when it secured listings in retailers Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Carrefour as well as by opening offices in Amsterdam and Paris. Bos opened its doors in San Diego in 2017.

Source: Business Day
It's 2018 and if your company is not thinking about embracing the global paradigm towards customer centricity, then you should spend your remaining profits on building a time machine. You'll need it to review all the moments that lead to your demise.

In order to remain relevant, companies need to innovate their value proposition at a rate of change greater than or equal to the rate of change of their customers needs and expectations, which is fueled by the exponential growth in technology (which, at this rate, Elon Musk suggests we are in a simulation).

To retain customers from hungry new entrants and progressive competitors, companies need to transition their thinking from how they can extract the most profit from their "historically loyal customers" to how they can better satisfy their customers needs and provide them with a world-class customer experience.

In short, to remain relevant and competitive in this paradigm companies need to become customer centric.

South African companies have been slow to realise this paradigm with almost two thirds of companies (63.4%) in South Africa believing disruption and innovation will have little to no impact on their operations. Either they did not hear what happened to the likes of Kodak and BlackBerry or they are comforted by the scary statistic stating that 80% of new businesses fail within their first year, therefore posing no threat.

However, those that have embraced the paradigm and gravitated towards customer centricity have reaped the benefits and expanded their market share. Two local examples are Yoco and Capitec, which have disrupted the banking industry. Yoco is currently the fastest growing independent mobile point of sale player in South Africa. In under ten minutes anyone can sign up to accept card payments. Capitec has recently eclipsed ABSA as the second largest bank in South Africa. A colleague recently shared their experience of signing up for an account at Capitec; 14 minutes after walking in the door they left with a fully registered bank account. By placing the customer at the heart of their organisations they have continuously exceeded their customers expectations.

Transitioning a company towards customer centricity involves adopting a new way of thinking premised in the new paradigm. Unfortunately, traditional consulting methods remain focused on the bottom line and cannot successfully convert a company towards customer centricity.

In order to transition into the new paradigm South African companies need not break the bank.

Here are two simple ways companies can transition to customer centricity:

1. Starting with why

Few businesses know why they do what they do. However, as discovered by Simon Sinek, all great leaders and companies know exactly why they do what they do and they communicate it thoroughly. They do so because they know that people buy why they do things and not necessarily what they do. Therefore, if people believe in why you do things, they'll be far more open to any future products you offer. Watch his Ted Talk here.

A classic local example is Discovery. They do what they do because they believe people should live healthier, enhanced and protected lives. This has allowed them to diversify their value propositions and expand their market share horizontally from healthcare to banking, without altering the identity of their brand. Whereas their competitors who focus on what they sell (medical aid) have struggled to offer their customers anything else.

2. Embrace design principles

In 2004, a Design Value Index was created comprising of 16 public companies (these included Apple, Coca Cola, P&G, Walt Disney and Starbucks to name a few) to track how they performed relative to the S&P 500 Index (SPX).

What these companies had in common was that they were considered to be customer centric and have design principles, such as empathy, teamwork or collaboration and testing new ideas at the core of their operations.

The results show that over the past 10 years customer centric companies have maintained a significant advantage, outperforming the S&P by an extraordinary 211%.

The most recent addition to the Design Value Index is the previously engineering-centric company SAP whose co-founder Hasso Plattner, after reading on article on IDEO in 2004, became convinced that a customer-centric approach was the best way to tackle complex challenges and make his software more intuitive and easy to use.

However, embedding design principles is not without its challenges. Traditional companies are notorious for having siloed structures where departments operate independently to minimise risk. These companies also have heavily layered governance structures and strict methods of ensuring accountability.

As a result the key design principles of collaboration, empathy and testing new ideas are challenged because collaboration between business units is not facilitated; customer insights are often disregarded by decision makers because they never engage with customers; and few employees are willing to support new ideas out of fear for being criticised if the idea fails.

These challenges are the reasons why traditional companies and their internal innovation teams struggle to successfully develop innovative value propositions faster than their customer-centric peers.

To embrace design principles and become customer centric I believe companies should:

Embrace the 70:20:10 rule  made famous by the ex-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt  which states that companies should spend 70% of their time on their core business and satisfying existing customer needs, 20% on testing new ideas and 10% on exploring new markets. Unsurprisingly, spending most of your time on delivering an existing value proposition with excellent customer service is often enough to secure your market share and prevent disruption.

Entrust the remaining 30% of innovation to an external innovation partner who can develop and test new value propositions without being slowed down by the aforementioned challenges. (Preferably an innovation partner whose teams have been trained in the principles of design thinking by a reputable institution. One such institution in South Africa, which also does executive training in design thinking, is the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town, commonly known as the 'd-school'.)

"Design thinking" can prepare graduates for the real working world By Rael Futerman 16 Feb 2017 Encourage their employees to become vocal about customer challenges and be empowered to tackle these challenges themselves through using the design thinking methodology in sessions facilitated by the innovation partner. These sessions will ingrain design-led innovation principles in all employees, thus slowly transitioning the company one employee at a time.

(c) Denis Ismagilov - 123RF.com Encourage decision makers to go on customer immersions to listen to their customers and understand their needs first hand. Since this is not always possible, one can follow in Amazon's footsteps whereby CEO George Bizos insists on keeping an empty chair in every board meeting to represent the customer.

Finally, when it comes to implementing solutions, South African corporates looking to make a difference can do so by turning to small businesses, in their enterprise and supplier development programmes, that are eager, underutilised and looking to remain relevant in the supply chain. For those solutions that do not make it to fruition, corporates can make them open source so that other companies with similar customer challenges may implement them. After all, wouldn't it be great to contribute to a world where all customer needs are satisfied?
Bongani Chinkanda, CEO of HDI Youth Marketeers, has been announced as one of the speakers at the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Conference 2018 to be held at Vodaworld on 8 February. He shares his insights on connecting with township youth.

With 50% of the South African population comprising under 24s, it remains glaringly clear that no brand can afford to alienate the youth market. It may be slightly depressing to read that South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world, (with a Gini Coefficient of 0.63%) and that our youth remain the poorest of the poor; but lets try to look at this with an alternative set of goggles.

Lets take a moment to explore what it is that brands can do to raise the narrative of these young disenfranchised youth, whilst concurrently propelling the business objective of their own brands. Were talking about a mutually beneficial strategy that is not to be confused with ticking corporate social investment boxes (I say this without diminishing the important role of CSI).

Combing through historical data from the annual Sunday Times Generation Next study, a couple of very interesting patterns stand out. The Sunday Times Generation Next Survey celebrates 15 years of polling thousands of youth (aged 8-24) to find out what makes them tick every year.

Seventeen years ago, in March, a new brand was born in Stellenbosch. This brand, which is now rated the Worlds Best Bank in 2017 is Capitec Bank. Capitec Bank is the only bank in the world to achieve five stars, beating local contenders Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank and Standard Bank as well as global leaders such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.

The bank operates as a retail bank that serves both individuals and businesses, but doesnt provide business banking for close corporations, companies, partnerships or trusts. Simplifying the banking experience is the focus, and this resonates with youth across the board, more so when we refer to lower income groups.

Capitec's business model is focused on providing value for its clients. Curiously, youth perception around Capitec is that they offer the lowest banking fees, despite this not being factually correct.

Our research tells us that some of the reasons behind the banks success amongst the youth (it leapfrogged from fourth in the Coolest Bank category to second place in just three years) include the value perception that they are so good at creating, recruiting great staff who are young, relatable and friendly, ubiquity which means accessibility; and providing tailor-made bank experiences for consumers. Capitec took first place for the Coolest Bank category amongst African youth, and the majority of youth across kids, teens and young adults reported to banking with Capitec Bank.

Another brand that comes to mind, is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the political party thats become synonymous with parliamentary disruptions, and making headlines  the latest of which is related to the largely divisive #FeesMustFall campaign, after controversially advocating students be allowed to walk-in and apply for university acceptance for the current academic year.

Whether one agrees with the EFFs tactics or motives, the one thing this fledgling political party is getting right is that they advocate for the youth interests. The party has been lauded for their youthful reflection. They tout education and apparently lead this conversation by example. In 2017, EFF leader Julius Malema graduated with a BA-Honours Degree in Philosophy at University of South Africa (UNISA), whilst the National Spokesperson for the party, Ndlozi, was awarded his PhD student in Political Sociology at the University of Witwatersrand.

The take-away is that what these two brands share, is that they are not waiting for youth to come to them, in order for them to provide some sort of service. They are engaging youth and having these key conversations in the space that youth occupy.

It appears that creating the correct perception is potentially more important than functional benefits. Of course these are key, but what matters most, is meeting your brands target audience in their need space. Look for quick wins like refreshing the face of your staff, moving away from all things generic when engaging with your consumer, remembering the importance of a brands agility.

What tools might your brand use to accomplish this? We look forward to unpacking some of these at the Integrated Marketing Communications Conference 2018 and to assisting you in finding the next part of your disruptive brand story.

Integrated Marketing Communications Conference 2018

Bongani Chinkanda will speak at the Integrated Marketing Communications Conference 2018 on 8 February 2018, Vodaworld, Midrand. Twenty-seven of the industrys top minds will present across three stages, tackling nine topical themes in interactive sessions under the theme Evaluate, Consolidate, Integrate. Heated debates, networking platforms and learning content will be packed into one exhilarating day as big brands, top agencies and media owners come together to examine how the local and continental marketing industry is embracing new and exciting trends in the emerging market space.

Register here: http://imcconference.com/conference/johannesburg-2018/home/.




The long-awaited amendments to the Financial, Agricultural and Construction Sector Codes were announced by Department of Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies, recently - but what changes do these codes mean for companies in 2018?

Jaco Posthumus, head of operations for LFP Training

Jaco Posthumus, head of operations for LFP Training described the amendments in brief per sector and how relevant skills development really is at a time such as this.

Operating in the finance sector? Heres what to expect

Transformation within this sector is always at the forefront and while there has been speculation in the past as to whether the implemented codes truly promote transformation, the amended codes look to do exactly this.

Posthumus explained that the initial process to develop a Charter emanated from the 2002 NEDLAC Summit where stakeholders committed to a sector charter. The Amended Charter for this industry has unique features and deviations which address transformation peculiarities which have existed in the past.

The aim of the amended codes is for empowerment financing to ensure that black-owned entities are adequately supported. Here, black agriculture funding is necessary to assist with the land reform process, and transformational infrastructure financing (which was previously neglected in townships and rural areas) comes to the fore. Its important to note that this is a key upliftment and transformation mouthpiece for South Africa with a required spend of no less than R122 Billion by the sector under Empowerment Financing to investment.

While Posthumus believes that the industry is well prepared for the changes, the implementation of priority elements and weightings are once again harder to reach. Here, skills development and upskilling of disabled and unemployed individuals is a key initiative to achieve maximum points whilst promoting education, he said.

Access to financial services will be affected, these include: inclusive banking, access to affordable and understandable long term insurance risk cover, and access to affordable and understandable short term insurance risk cover. Posthumus continued, saying: The measurement of this element will be based on whether there is penetration of products, development of appropriate products, densification of service points, electronic access, and geographic access amongst the LSM 1-5 beneficiaries.

Operating in the construction sector? Heres what to expect in a nutshell

With the last codes for this sector gazette in 2009, the amended codes implemented in 2017 looks to introduce priority elements to the construction codes. While companies may find these are now harder to reach based on the new codes, we feel that these should be embraced. Companies will be required to meet at least the sub-minimum on the three priority elements, said Posthumus.

He elaborated, saying that in the past, the industry has come under the spotlight and these codes look to once again promote fairness, best practice and compliance. The recent amended codes are rigid and require companies to meet the priority elements  this is probably the most critical amendment. In failing to do so, companies will be forced to make some changes within their organisations  from both a skills development and a ownership/ management point of view.

The second most critical amendment to your business is, of course, that the codes are much stricter to reach the desired level and here, a company cannot for example be a level 3 without having the correct ownership structures in place, Posthumus continued.

The code furthermore promotes small business enterprises and the growth thereof, with companies being required to do business with QSEs and EMEs to once again promote small business growth and ensure that B-BBEE creates equal opportunities for all.

Changes to the B-BBEE scorecard rating for the construction sector indicate that companies, which in the past would have possibly reached a level 3 without necessarily having ownership, would now reach a level 5. They would also be discounted a level for not meeting the priority element and the same would apply to Skills Development, Preferential Procurement and Supplier Development.

In closing on this sector, Posthumus concluded: There is also a requirement for companies to meet EAP targets to ensure maximum points. Failing to do so will mean that companies are overstaffed and underscored. The scorecard elements have changed from seven to five elements.

We really do see this sector as a critical one to help bridge unemployment and ensure equal opportunities. We believe that amended codes coupled with skills development can do just that.

Operating in the agricultural sector? Heres what to expect

Agriculture is the bedrock of our economy and a very important contributor to its development. This is evident by the latest 2017 third quarter Statistics on Gross Domestic Product which shows that agriculture production has risen by 44.2% and was the main driver of the 2% GDP growth of the third quarter, Posthumus explained.

Concerns have been expressed in the past calling for more flexibility relating to AgriBEE Sector Codes. Today, the amended codes look to strengthen a drive towards job creation and equal opportunities for black suppliers, black commercial farmers and black industrialists.

Enhanced recognition is given to initiatives which result in Greenfield ventures, job creation and beneficiation of primary products. In addition, they support land reform projects, localisation of goods and services which are not produced in South Africa currently, said Posthumus.

The sector code makes provision for current owners of land to transfer at least 30% of productive agricultural land under the ownership element. This is, however, not static and will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

One of the key highlights of the Amended AgriBEE Sector code is an increase of the target for supplier development to 3% of Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) (which is higher than 2% of NPAT of the Generic Codes). The aim is to create a pipeline of black suppliers and black industrialists within the value chain of the South African agricultural industry, Posthumus concluded.
Let's face it, the term 'timeshare' all too often conjures up images of late-night phone calls and promises of freebies if you can endure the persuasive sales pitch. Despite this poor reputation, timeshare in South Africa has been growing in stature over recent years as locals are pushed to seek affordable alternative holiday options with an increasingly unfavourable rand exchange rate.

Brent Dickson, Director, Dream Hotels & Resorts

The international timeshare industry features over 5,300 resorts in 121 countries and supports nearly 1.3 million jobs, according to the latest global omnibus survey conducted by Oxford Economics and Leger and released by the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) International Foundation.

Interestingly, according to the report, vacation owners spent 20.6 days on holiday per annum in 2016, while non-owners spent a shorter 14.6 days on holiday. This is certainly due to the financial affordability of the timeshare model, by virtue of owners holidays being prepaid.

Whats more, in the USA, millennials and younger adults are more likely to be vacation owners. The 18 to 34 year age group makes up 69% of owners, 35 to 49-year-olds 21% and the 50+ group a smaller 10%. This is not the trend in South Africa but is one the industry in South Africa should address as younger consumers become more educated about the product and the product is sold ethically.

South Africa ranks among the top eight countries worldwide where timeshare acquisitions continue to be strong. The survey also indicates that our country ranks fifth in the world in terms of timeshare ownership and fourth in terms of future purchase interest.

Regulatory overhaul welcome

This positive interest is despite a recent public enquiry by the National Consumer Commission (NCC) into the Vacation Ownership Industry to address consumer complaints, which resulted in NCC Commissioner Ebrahim Mohamed ruling that a regulatory overhaul would be the best remedy for the industry.

Clear regulation within the industry will benefit the end consumer, ensuring the professionalism of the industry and helping to clear up any misconceptions that are held around timeshare, which is actually still an affordable holiday alternative for South Africans.

Perhaps useful here would be to unpack the concept of timeshare which, simply put, is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. With timeshare, multiple parties hold the rights to use the property, with each owner given a certain period of time to use it.

Unscrupulous practices

The concept of fractional holiday ownership in itself is attractive to the South African consumer. Frustration arises when salespeople overpromise and under-deliver. Its the way that timeshare is sometimes sold that tarnishes its reputation, not the actual timeshare itself.

One of the key criticisms of timeshare lies in the unscrupulous practice by some of over-selling limited accommodation, which in turn leads to accommodation not being available when consumers attempt to make bookings. This is unethical and consumers should check that their timeshare provider offers a delivery promise that guarantees they will receive the accommodation of their choice when they book in advance.

A home away from home

Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA) spokesperson, Alex Bosch, recently explained that consumers like the physical product associated with timeshare. They enjoy and appreciate the larger home-away-from-home accommodation with self-catering facilities including kitchen, laundry and separate bedrooms.

Travel providers confirm that in the current South African environment, travellers are increasingly leaving their travel booking to the last minute because they are not sure if they can afford it, and dont want to over-commit. There is also a great deal of shopping around for the most affordable deals and a renewed interest in self-catering accommodation.

Scam or opportunity?

Despite its reputation, timeshare remains an affordable option for South African travellers who are committed to enjoying a holiday at least once annually. It is important, however, for travellers to do their homework and ask the right questions before embarking on any timeshare purchase.

VOASA has compiled a number of useful guidelines to empower consumers prior to purchasing timeshare.
Learners attending the newly constructed Everest Primary School in Newclare, Westbury, were full of smiles as they entered their school on the first day of the academic year.

Everest Primary Principal, Brian Barry, at the opening of the new school this morning.Source: Gauteng Education on Twitter @EducationGP

To mark the first day of school, Gauteng Premier David Makhura will be joined by MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi and MEC for Infrastructure Development Jacob Mamabolo to hand over the new school.

This is an important landmark as this new school replaces an old asbestos school, thereby reducing the number of schools built of inappropriate materials, further committing ourselves to work towards the eradication of these inappropriate structures.

We believe that all has been done to ensure a smooth start to the first day of school  that learning and teaching starts without any hindrance, the Gauteng provincial government said in a statement.

In addition, Members of the Executive Council (MECs) will be deployed to various schools across the province to oversee the smooth running of the first day of schools.

They will assess conditions in each of the schools to which they are deployed as well as consult with communities.

Admissions placement

The provincial department of education hosted an Admission Open Day this past weekend at various decentralised venues (in districts) to address the backlog of the 31,000 unplaced learners and to attend to all other admissions related queries.

We appreciate parents who visited the centres for assistance and assure them that the department is doing everything possible to place all unplaced learners. We appeal for patience and cooperation in the interest of learners, the provincial government said.

As total of 2,565 of the 31,000 learners have been placed. Additionally a total of 4,500 new applications have been received since Saturday.

Unplanned financial implications of admitting late applicants are substantial. Additional funding will have to be found to finance educator salaries, additional classrooms, learning and teaching support materials and school furniture. Procurement processes are also not instant but can take weeks to complete, the provincial government said.

Parents that still have admission queries in relation to Grade 1 and 8 are advised to visit the admission centres. The centres will continue to operate until the end of January.

Preparations for National Senior Certificate 2018

The Gauteng Department of Education has opted to begin early with preparations for the National Senior Certificate in order to improve overall performance compared to 2017. The following interventions will be implemented by the department:

Ensure an uninterrupted teaching and learning so that most of the curriculum can be covered during normal contact time.



Supplementary lessons and tuition will be offered as part of the Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP).



Implementation of special interventions such Litnum (Literacy Numeracy Strategy); Maths and science, among others.



The Head of Department (HOD) will conduct a series of meetings to support schools performing below 60%, as part of our ongoing effort to provide support and uplift poor performing schools.



All districts are required to submit intervention plans to monitor and support all schools across the province.



Tracking and monitoring of progress on a weekly basis by MEC, HOD and Districts.

The Department will also ensure that all these interventions are replicated for all the grades.
According to Theresa Szejwallo, the MD of The Travel Corporation (TTC) in South Africa, the positive strides the rand has taken recently bodes well for travellers in 2018. Expecting travel to enjoy an upwards bounce, Szejwallo shares her top trends predictions that will influence those with a sense of wanderlust in 2018.

Gavin Tollman, Theresa Szejwallo and Brett Tollman May 2016

Destinations trending for 2018

Travellers continue to have a love for Western Europe and Italy takes the top spot. It has always been incredibly popular followed closely by the United Kingdom and Ireland. I put this down to a big heritage pull with many South Africans who have family connections as well as London being the perfect springboard to start their onward European travels. France is making a good comeback. Their tourism numbers dipped somewhat after the recent incidents but it is resurging in popularity, says Szejwallo.

Interestingly there is a huge upswing in requests for holidays to Russia and going behind the old Iron Curtain is now an easy and attractive prospect. The reason is two-fold says Szejwallo: The Russian authorities have dropped the need for South African passport holders to have a visa and the nature of guided holidays makes travel to Russia easier. However, Russia is not a country that can be enjoyed as an independent traveller, the language barrier alone (and the Cyrillic signage) doesnt allow for hassle-free travel. Local experts and English speaking travel directors not only bring the destination to life but make all travel arrangements trouble-free and comfortable.

Other European destinations that will be in the top eight in 2018 include Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Their proximity to one another makes it worthwhile to visit all three countries in one holiday.

Buying habits

Travellers are booking closer to departure. In 2017, we picked up on the trend of travellers booking later for travel closer to the departure date. With the economy taking a little strain many retailers started releasing last minute deals that offered savings of up to 30% and this has resulted in a big change in buyer behaviour. I foresee that this trend will continue in 2018, says Szejwallo.

Experiential travel

More and more travellers are looking for authentic experiences on their journeys. Theresa explains: Its no longer enough to have a list of sights to tick off. Todays traveller wants to have an experiential, hands-on encounter that exposes them to the locals and the way they truly live. Travellers want to come home from their holiday with stories to tell about the dinner they had, after hours, in the Vatican. Or the experience of learning, first hand, how the art of Perugian weaving is being kept alive through local artisans.

The rise and rise of technology

Technology is only useful if it makes ones life easier, says Theresa, and were finding a great need to provide our travel agents and clients with facilities to provide seamless, easy transactions. Online bookings and payments plus intuitive websites are solutions to the age-old problem most people have  that there is simply not enough time in the day.

Wellness travel

Wellness tourism, which affects a travellers emotional, physical and social connections, taking in spiritual, occupational and environmental factors, is a faster-growing form of travel than the more typical medical tourism or popular spa tourism. Wellness travel is not about flying somewhere and having some sort of procedure done and having five days recuperation, says Szejwallo. Wellness is about doing something that is good for you and your familys overall well-being. This can be spiritual, physical or emotional.

Bleisure travel

Those who regularly travel for work know only too well the depressing feeling of yet another windowless meeting room followed by countless dinners spent in the company of one. The next big trend will be to tap into the opportunity for combining business with pleasure - bleisure travel.

The recent global study by Visa shows that as much as 20% of all business travellers start or end their trips on a Saturday or a Sunday. This trend indicates that business travellers are increasingly incorporating some leisure time into their business commitments. I believe the scope for solo travel or uniting with partners and/or family is an emerging trend that will continue to grow.

Travel today and sustain tomorrow

Modern-day travellers have a social conscience and prefer to spend their hard earned money with companies who share their desire to protect and preserve the environment they will travel through. Its simply not enough to come home with a story to tell and a few selfies. Travellers want to know that theyve made a positive impact.

Szejwallo says there are shifts in what global travellers are looking for from their holidays. Sustainable travel is not just a desire anymore, its almost a prerequisite its economic, cultural, and its about connecting with locals. Its not just about offsetting your flight, its about doing things that actually matter.
E-commerce has changed the way the world conducts business, and the rise in technology has made it easier to interact with customers quickly and across borders. With economies becoming more interconnected, companies large and small are now able to access markets that were previously unattainable.

kittaya mangruan via 123RF

With a growing shift in retail industry trends, driven by technology and access to the internet, consumers are now accessing most stores and brands through online platforms. This shift provides entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand with new opportunities to sell their products or services to a much bigger international market.

According to the PayPal and Ipsos third annual cross-border commerce report, South Africas online spend is forecasted to grow to over R53bn by 2018. In 2016, 43% of adults in South Africa shopped cross-border. The US is the most popular cross-border online shopping destination for South African online shoppers, followed by China and the UK.

It is essential that e-commerce business owners address the entire value chain of the online shopping process to make sure that they cater to their customers needs and deliver on their expectations, says Mike Higley, vice president operations, FedEx Express Southern Africa. Businesses that manage to combine innovative products and services with a seamless online experience and quality customer care will be the ones who attract and retain their online customers.

Customer service, customer experience and price are the three main ways for e-commerce retailers to distinguish themselves from the competition. In 'Seizing the Cross-Border Opportunity', a study commissioned on behalf of FedEx, Forrester Consulting surveyed online merchants and thousands of online consumers across 17 countries and markets to understand their concerns, their priorities, and what smart SMEs are doing to bridge that gap and remain competitive.

Below are some of the key research findings highlighting best practices for cross-border businesses in the digital age.

Understand your customer

Many of the merchants Forrester Consulting surveyed initiated global exporting without a solid strategy. The companies only became a global company after international customers came to them through search engines or online adverts and placed orders. It is important that a business knows and understands who is buying their products in order to cater to the consumers needs.

Broadly speaking, online shopping behaviours are similar all over the world, but paying attention to those regional nuances can help a business understand their customers better.

With high rates of mobile penetration in South Africa, online shoppers are increasingly opting to make purchases on their mobile devices  resulting in an estimated 65% growth in online spend via mobile device (smartphone or tablet) between 2015 and 2016, to reach an estimated R9.5bn, with momentum expected to continue. This provides an immense opportunity for online retailers, as mobile spend is projected to increase by 123% by 2018. In the last 12 months, 43% of cross-border shoppers stated that they shopped cross-border via smartphone while 21% stated they used a tablet for their cross-border purchases, states a Fin24 report.

Highlight what makes your products special

The differentiator for any business from its competitors is that no other company is quite like yours. Think about what you are offering or bringing to the table. Is there something you can offer that nobody else can? Use this as your selling point to customers.

Cost is also a concern to the global e-commerce customer. Cheaper prices and lower duties or taxes were two of the main reasons given for seeking items across borders. However, at 75%, the factor most frequently rated influential or very influential was availability. More and more consumers are using their computers and smartphones to find goods that arent available where they live. For instance, 68% of respondents in Europe, the Middle East and Africa considered uniqueness to be influential or very influential when it came time to clicking buy.

Put global consumers at ease

One major hurdle for SMEs is that most cross-border shoppers prefer multi-brand retailers or marketplaces. In fact, in a survey asking consumers to rank preferred online shopping destinations for foreign goods, small or medium-size independent retailers were rated fourth out of five. This was mostly due to the limited seller reputation information. For example, for shoppers in another country, most small businesses are seen as an unknown entity, which makes it harder to establish trust since they may be viewed as not being established.

However, in order to leverage the multi-brand marketplaces for your business, SMEs should consider selling their goods through a popular selling platform. Basically, your homegrown venture can build off another companys global reach, language, localization and country-focused marketing. Skittish shoppers get buyer protection, and on-site customer reviews provide an unbiased demonstration of just how good your goods are.

Build your brand on excellent service

Besides your reputation, logistics are key for many cross-border consumers. Key deciding factors for choosing a particular store included delivery times, package tracking as well as a simple return or exchange process.

When it comes to international shipping for SMEs, delivery features that boost transparency and eliminate guesswork also go a long way to levelling the playing field.

Many of the successful merchants from the study worked closely with at least one major global logistics provider which provided guidance and assistance. This approach allowed businesses to easily offer those all-important add-ons like guaranteed delivery. However, the top merchants made life easier for business owners, offering services like calculating taxes and duties, paperwork support, and streamlining cross-border returns.

The Forrester study shows that savvy online retailers can compete on the global stage. Small businesses create new businesses, drive and shape innovation, speed up structural changes in the economy, and introduce new competition  thereby contributing to productivity. In order to continue to grow and expand their markets, small businesses need to focus on their strengths while building on the expertise of established services.
E-commerce and fintech are Africa's biggest opportunities for growth

DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has announced that the company has signed on as title sponsor for the 2018 DHL eCommerce Money Africa Conference & Exhibition (Confex), which will be hosted at the new East Wing of the Cape Town International Convention Center on the 14th and 15th of March 2018.

The DHL eCommerce Money Africa Confex has established itself as one of Africas biggest opportunities to bring stakeholders in the fintech and e-commerce sectors together. Next years event will feature presentations and knowledge sharing from an array of African and international thought leaders, geared at enabling participants to formulate innovative strategies to unlock more opportunities on the continent. Delegates from some of the continents biggest tech, retail, banking and legal firms will also be in attendance.

Steve Burd, Vice President of Sales for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, explains that the partnership between DHL and eCommerce Money Africa stemmed from great synergy in their objectives. As the market leaders in international express logistics in Africa, we have extensive first-hand experience of the positive impact that e-commerce has on the continent. Brand Africahas become increasingly popular across the globe and were thrilled to work with thousands of customers across the continent, helping them expand their brand across borders. The evolution of the DHL eCommerce Money Africa is a wonderful platform for DHL to further connect and support the industry.

He adds that the development of e-commerce in Africa continues to unlock major opportunities for growth. Historically, international trade was often overlooked or ignored by start-ups and SMEs, due to perceived complexities. But if you have the right partner, international trade can be hassle free. The world is so well connected that customers now have access to any product, irrespective of their location. This means that even small businesses can now compete on a level playing field.

PwC recently released a report which shows that mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 174 million in 2007 to around 772 million by 2016. This amounts to 344% growth in under 10 years, over three times the rate at which mobile phone usage grew in the rest of the world. This presents a huge opportunity for Intra-Africa trade too.

Burd points to data collected by market research portal, Statista, which reports that e-commerce revenue in Africa and the Middle East amounted to $16,651m in 2017, and is expected to grow by 11.7% per year in both these regions. Its a truly exciting time for e-commerce in Africa!

"Through this new partnership, we would like to help businesses understand key logistics considerations, but more importantly, advise them how to plan for and overcome any logistical challenges. DHL is working in collaboration with the organisers of DHL eCommerce Money Africa Confex to ensure that next years event is the best one yet. The event is considered the meeting place for the African e-commerce industry and we look forward to supporting this very important growth market with our global expertise and over 40 years experience in Africa," adds Burd.

Shannon Mackrill, Joint Managing Director at Kinetic Events, the organisers of the DHL eCcommerce Money Africa Confex adds, "Accelerating e-commerce in Africa is Kinetics vision for the show in 2018, and partnering with industry giant DHL brings us one step closer to realising this vision. A commitment of this level from DHL to the e-commerce sector in Africa is indicative of the direction the industry is moving towards and this, coupled with increased attendance and sponsorship in 2018, bodes well for the future of Africas e-commerce economy."

Also included in this years Confex is a selection of master classes designed for SMEs looking to advance their e-commerce capabilities. The courses will provide practical, immediately applicable guidance from industry experts within the e-commerce ecosystem.




Investment into African tech startups hit the highest levels since records began in 2017, with 159 startups raising in excess of $195 million.

The Disrupt Africa Tech Startups Funding Report 2017, released on 16 January 2018, reveals a record amount of funding was secured over the course of 2017, by the highest number of startups to date.

Total funding of African tech ventures grew by 51% as compared to 2016, while the number of funded startups also increased by 8.9%.

South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya remained the top three investment destinations for the third year running. For the first time since tracking began, the amount of funding secured by Nigerian startups overtook South Africa in 2017, although significantly more South African ventures raised.

Signs of increasing investor interest across less developed markets

There are signs of increasing investor interest across less developed markets also, with the total percentage of funding received by these top three ecosystems declining to 74.7% from 81.7% in 2015. Ghana, Egypt and Uganda are unequivocally emerging as hotspots.

Fintech proved by far the most attractive sector for investors, with 45 fintech startups raising almost one-third of the total funding going to African tech ventures in 2017. Interest in e-commerce rebounded  spiking 350% on the previous year to see startups raise over US$16.7 million. Meanwhile, agri-tech raced to the front of the stage, with funding of the sector growing 203% in 2016.

Were very excited to present this data on what has been a record-breaking year for African tech startups. More startups were given more funding than ever before, and the number of multi-million dollar rounds also shot up. There can be no clearer validation of the quality of innovation and businesses being built from within Africa. Were extremely proud to document the story of our incredible ecosystem, said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.

Through this annual report, which has established itself as the benchmark study of funding for African tech startups, we have been able to closely monitor the growth of the continents tech scene, said Disrupt Africa co-founder Tom Jackson. It is tremendously exciting to be able to report record investment figures, and see funding for African tech startups close on $200 million. With investment also spreading to every corner of the continent, the future looks bright.

For more information, or to order the report, please visit disrupt-africa.com/funding-report, or email Gabriella on , or Tom on .

This article was originally published on www.disrupt-africa.com.
After almost a decade of researching, ranking and showcasing SA's titans of industry in prestige publication, B2B networking and recognition leader Top Media & Communications (Pty) Ltd decided to take theof them from the page to the stage, with the launch of thein March 2017. Winners included Mercedes-Benz, Discovery Health Medical Scheme and Anglo American South Africa. Given that such established titans of industry tend to evidence steady and sustained growth over several years, it's no surprise that all three are back to duel for top honours once again, when the second annual awards take place on

Joining them will be Ogilvy & Mather SA, EOH Holdings, Adcorp Holdings, Avis and a host of other blue-blooded contenders. In line to take the evenings headline award, Best Managed Company of the Year, are Old Mutual Investment Group SA; Truworths International Limited; Naspers Limited; Adcorp Holdings Limited and Anglo American South Africa Limited - current holder of the title from the 2017 awards. Click here to view all 2018 finalists.

A champions journey from page to stage

Every year, Top Media measures 1,000+ top South African companies against stringent people-, policies- and performance-based criteria, drawn up together with the University of Cape Towns Development Policy Research Unit. 500 companies meeting these criteria qualify to list as the top five companies across 100 sectors, in the Top 500 publication. From there roughly 10% - the absolute elite among the best - go on to become awards finalists following a second round of even more intensive research, weighing heavily on growth and turnover. For more on the research process, contact Top Media Research Head az.oc.ocpoT@kcoB.ardnaS.

Custodians of outstanding corporate management

As at the time of writing, four companies have thrown their weight behind the awards manifesto (good business is great for the economy) as official Top 500 Sponsors. They are Award Sponsors TagIt, which shuttles jet-setting executives into the digital age through pioneering technology; Public Sector Manager magazine, which showcases excellence in public sector service delivery, and 52-years-strong BestMed - which is sponsoring a brand new category, The Workplace Wellness Award. Unlike the other qualification-based categories, finalists for this category will be selected through an entry and adjudication process. Entering companies must be listed in the latest Top 500 publication and submit a motivation detailing visionary workplace health and wellbeing initiatives. Entries are open - click here for more details.

Turfside tables going fast

This years Top 500 Awards will be hosted at the prestigious Inanda Club which, with its grand surroundings, makes a fitting venue to field South Africa's titans of industry on 7 March. Watch the video preview here and visit www.inandaclub.co.za for more on the venue. For Awards Gala Dinner table bookings, contact az.oc.005poT@retseF.ailedO.




LONDON, UK: Virgin boss Richard Branson on Monday said he would resume offering the right-wing tabloid the Daily Mail on his trains after a decision not to stock them sparked accusations of censorship last week.

Branson, who supports Britain staying in the European Union, had come under fire after Virgin Trains decided to stop offering the pro-Brexit paper.

"Freedom of speech, freedom of choice and tolerance for differing views are the core principles of any free and open society," Branson said in a statement.

"While Virgin Trains has always said that their passengers are free to read whatever newspaper they choose on board West Coast trains, it is clear that on this occasion the decision to no longer sell The Mail has not been seen to live up to these principles.

"We must not ever be seen to be censoring what our customers read and influencing their freedom of choice. Nor must we be seen to be moralising on behalf of others," he wrote on the company website.

Virgin Trains had told staff in a memo that it would no longer stock the Daily Mail because of the paper's "editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights and unemployment".

It said the paper was "not at all compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs".

The Daily Mail responded that it had been informed that the company was restricting sales to just three newspapers -- the Daily Mirror, Financial Times and the Times -- "to save space".

It added: "They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-Remain," meaning they all opposed Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner, had also weighed into the row, tweeting: "Absurd ban on Daily Mail by Virgin! Pompous, censorious and wrong #virginontheridiculous".
The Gilded Age, a fascinating new documentary from PBSs American Experience, premieres in early February. But weve got your ticket to the premiere on Thursday, January 25! The Bowery Boys are hosting a panel discussion about the film at the New-York Historical Society, and wed love to see you there.

A 

In collaboration with PBSas AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, the New-York Historical Society is proud to present a first glimpse of the eagerly anticipated documentary,A The Gilded Age. (Watch the trailer here.) The preview will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmas production team and experts on the era.

The Gilded AgeA presents a compelling and complex story of one of the most convulsive and transformative eras in American history. In the closing decades of theA 19thA century, the U.S. population doubled in the span of a single generation, national wealth expanded, and two classes rose simultaneously, separated by a gulf of experience and circumstance that was unprecedented in American life.A Join us for an exciting evening of exploration and reflection on this historic era.

The panel

Steve Fraser, historian and author,A Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power

Sylvia Hoffert, Professor of History Emerita, Texas A&M University and author,A Alva Vanderbilt Belmont: Unlikely Champion of Womenas Rights

Mark Zwonitzer, writer ofA The Gilded Age

The Bowery Boys: Greg Young and Tom Meyers

The Gilded Age Screening and Panel Discussion

Free but RSVP is strongly recommendedA as seating is limited. Those without an RSVP cannot be guaranteed a seat.

RSVP toA koconnor@nyhistory.org

7pm on Thursday, January 25

The Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New-York Historical Society

170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024

More information on The Gilded Age which makes its PBS debut on Tuesday, February 6.
Medieval Times(LYNDHURST, N.J.) -- Long live the queen!



After 34 years of casting a king as the lead, the Medieval Times has featured a queen in charge.



Erin Zapcic, who has performed with Medieval Times for seven years, most recently as the princess, debuted as the inaugural queen in New Jersey last week.



"I was feeling prepared, but nothing prepares you for how the audience is going to respond when you first make that entrance on the horse," Zapcic told ABC News of her grand entrance. "But it's a good nervous. I feel a sense of responsibility to the audience and like a role model now more than ever."



Jaci Hernandez, the marketing and sales manager at the Lyndhurst, New Jersey, Medieval Times location, told ABC News that the plan to feature a matriarch was 18 months in the making.



The fresh storyline first debuted at the Dallas location in October, followed by Chicago and Lyndhurst.



"In a major break from Medieval Times 34-year tradition of casting a king as the shows lead role, the company will launch a new production ... which features a queen now in charge and sole ruler of the land," the company wrote in a press release.



"Where previously our female characters played in more supportive roles, we are now showing a woman fully in charge, a woman whose authority is sometimes challenged, but she quickly rises to the occasion as a strong leader, squelching opposition," Ingrid Hunt, Medieval Times senior general manager said in a press release.



"She is cast as a firm but kind ruler respected throughout the kingdom who inherited the throne at the passing of her father, the previous king," the statement continued.



Zapcic said her male cast of knights and former kings have been "really supportive" of her new role and she enjoys sharing the same energy from the crowd that those roles have felt for so many years.



"It's really humbling to be a part of and what we're going to see is a generation of young women who can look up to this," Zapcic said.



The change to a woman lead comes as the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have gained steam in the wake of numerous allegations of sexual assaults and harassments across different industries.



The decision to put a strong female at the helm of the show came in response to audience feedback.



"We were really ahead of the curve in that sense," Zapcic said.



Hernandez added that they listened very closely to reviews and other forms of feedback requesting a greater female presence in the last year.



"Customers were saying that they wanted to see a woman more involved in the show," Hernandez said.



So far, Hernandez and Zapcic said the response has been overwhelmingly positive across the board.



"The energy from folks coming through has been really exciting," Zapcic said, adding that her social media accounts have drawn scores of new followers.



The remaining six Medieval Times locations will change their scripts in the coming months and weeks, Hernandez said.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.


Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onboard the Su-30MKI fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force at the Jodhpur air base on Wednesday. A DPR photo/Twitter

JODHPUR (PTI): In an olive green pilot's G-suit and a helmet on her head, Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday soared high on a Sukhoi-30MKI jet, the first Indian woman Defence Minister to go on a sortie on the all-weather, long-range fighter.



The supersonic jet took off from the Air Force station at Jodhpur, where one of the Sukhoi squadrons is based, at 1 pm, rose to a height of 8000 metres and broke the sound barrier.



After a 45-minute flight on the India Air Force (IAF)s frontline jet over the Western sector of Rajasthan bordering Pakistan, Sitharaman was back at the Air Force station.



"It was a memorable experience ... and a smooth ride," the 58-year-old Minister told reporters later.



Sitharaman had earlier landed at the air force station on a bright and sunny day in an IAF aircraft, ready for the sortie by the Jodhpur-based Sukhoi squadron.



After being greeted and welcomed by senior IAF officers and a brief meeting with the air warriors, she donned the fighter pilots G-suit  which can withstand high acceleration and sharp manoeuvres, preventing loss of consciousness  and was then briefed about the planes operations and functioning.



The Minister entered the cockpit and sat on the seat behind the pilot, Group Captain Sumit Garg.



She was then familiarised with the supersonic jet, which forms an integral part of the nations air power.



Looking calm, the country's first woman Defence Minister waved from inside the cockpit and showed a thumbs up sign as the aircraft moved for the much awaited take off.



Within seconds, the fighter jet was flying high with the countrys first full-time woman Defence Minister on it.



After the 45-minute sortie towards the south-west region, the jet returned to the base, and she thanked the pilot for a "wonderful" experience.



"It was a memorable experience," she later said, adding that the "smooth ride" underlined the pilot's expertise.



"I had a very memorable and great experience in the SU-30MKI which is a made in India fighter. It was a smooth ride and the Group Captain made me feel absolutely at ease but showed his excellence in the flying," the minister told reporters after returning from the sortie.



The plane crossed the speed of Mach 1 and rose to an altitude of 8000 metres, she pointed out.



"So, in a way, (it went) higher than Mount Everest and crossed the speed of sound. It just shows the excellence in our fighter pilots' training," she said.



Mount Everest is at a height of 8,848 metres.



The Defence Minister said the level of preparation and alertness exhibited by the pilots was an "eye opener".



"I am very proud and thankful that I have gone through this experience because it tells me the rigour in practice and the level of readiness and how quickly they have to respond to situations," Sitharaman said.



During her visit to the Jodhpur air base, she reviewed operational and combat preparations and was also briefed on the employment of air power in the defence of the country.



The Minister has been visiting various establishments of the Armed Forces to gauge their operational capabilities and preparedness.



She is the second Defence Minister and second Indian woman leader to fly in a Sukhoi-30MKI after then President Pratibha Patil did so in 2009. When he was the president, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam had also flown in the fighter jet, an Air Force official said.



In 2003, then Defence Minister George Fernandes had also taken a sortie aboard an SU-30 jet, the official said.



The Sukhoi-30MKI is capable of carrying nuclear arms and can penetrate deep into enemy territory.



The BRAHMOS supersonic Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) was successfully test fired from the formidable fighter jet against a sea-based target in the Bay of Bengal in November last year.



The IAF has also successfully fired the Astra Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-to-Air missile from the combat jet.



The SU-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russias Sukhoi and built under licence by Indias Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force.


Apple plans to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers in the next five years as part of a $350bn (286bn) commitment to the US economy.

The pledge announced on Wednesday is an offshoot from the sweeping overhaul of US taxes championed by President Donald Trump and approved by Congress last month.
Companies that have seen their fortunes and share prices soar with the crypto-craze are now facing a little bit of a reality check.

As Bitcoin slumped up to 20% to almost $11,000 (8,990m), and its biggest rival Ethereum dropping 23%, and Ripple tumbling up to 33%, firms that touted their links to the burgeoning blockchain industry, including Riot Blockchain, Overstock.com and DPW Holdings, have seen their shares tumble.

Cryptocurrencies fell as investors speculated about the prospect of regulatory crackdowns for the decentralised market.

DPW Holdings Coolisys Technologies unit is working on advanced technology power systems for digital mining of cryptocurrencies.

Riot Blockchain, which rebranded as a blockchain company in October, fell up to 13% while Overstock.com, exposed to the craze through a subsidiary called Medici Ventures, fell 8%.

Eastman Kodak, which saw its shares jump almost 200% last week after the company said it is working with Wenn Digital to offer a blockchain-based service for paying photographers, declined up to 13%, while Metropolitan Bank  the issuing bank for a bitcoin debit card called Shift Card  was also down at one stage in the latest session.

Still, not all bitcoin-linked companies are falling. Long Blockchain, the unprofitable iced-tea company formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea, is little changed after earlier rising as up to 9.2%.

Its mainly been regulatory issues which are haunting the cryptocurrency, with news around South Koreas further crackdown on trading the driver today, said Think Markets chief strategist Naeem Aslam.

But we maintain our stance. We do not think that the complete banning of cryptocurrencies is possible, he said.

Professor Daniele Bianchi, who researches cryptocurrencies at Warwick Business School, said the increasing value of cryptocurrencies is not only good for investors, but also brings attention from regulators and policymakers.

The situation is not the same across countries, however. While the South Korean and the Chinese governments are planning to take decisive steps in monitoring and limiting trading in cryptos, the Russian government has drafted a new bill for the legalisation of cryptos trading in authorised platforms, he said.

Meanwhile, figures show that although Bank of America may not be willing to help customers invest in Bitcoin, it has applied for or received at least 43 patents for blockchain, the ledger technology used for verifying and recording transactions.

Bloomberg, Reuters, Irish Examiner
Global sales at French carmaker PSA which includes Peugeot and Citroen jumped 15% last year as strong growth in Iran and Latin America helped to offset difficulties in the UK and China.

The owner of the Peugeot brand sold 3,632,300 vehicles in 2017, it said, a day after its domestic rival Renault announced a similarly robust performance. Shares in PSA climbed almost 2%, valuing the manufacturer at 16.4bn.

Having resumed Iran operations in 2016 after the lifting of international sanctions over Tehrans nuclear activities, PSA sold 444,600 vehicles there last year.

There was no year-on-year comparison for Iran, but sales in Latin America jumped 12% from 2016. Sales in China fell sharply, though PSA said sales have shown signs of stabilising in recent months. Chief executive Jean-Philippe Imparato said he was far more confident on China than a year ago.

PSA said it increased market share in all of its main European countries apart from the UK, where the company is grappling with difficulties at the Opel- Vauxhall business acquired last year.

The group also reported solid sales for Peugeot and Citroen light commercial vehicles in overseas markets in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

In 2016 the company unveiled a strategic plan that built on a previous two-year recovery that hauled the company back from near-bankruptcy to its highest profitability in 14 years, helped by a government-led bailout.

We currently hold Peugeot shares in our portfolio. The quality of the company has improved, with returns on capital coming back to a level above that of the automobile sector, said fund manager Roche Brune Asset Management.

Reuters
Property firm Savills Ireland has said current housing requirement estimates are exaggerated, warning that too many houses may be built if more realistic targets arent considered.

While accepting the current acute shortage of housing accommodation and the likelihood of it taking a number of years before supply can better meet demand, Savills Irelands director of research John McCartney said current requirement estimates ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 new houses per year are not realistic.

He said population growth expectations are largely based on the recent baby boom, which is unlikely to be repeated. If the higher build estimates are adhered to there is a risk of over-building in 10 years, he said.

The estimates are predicated on some pretty shaky data and pretty heroic assumptions. I see no cogent evidence of the need for 40,000 new houses per year, Mr McCartney said, likening the rush to increase build estimates to an arms race.

He said despite ESB connection figures throwing doubt over the true level of annual house completions, about 19,000 to 22,000 new houses per year should still be sufficient to meet demand over the long-term.

On a group basis, Savills has said that underlying results for 2017 will be better-than-expected on the back of a strong finish to the year.

In an end-of-year trading statement, the group said that strong results from a number of countries including Ireland had offset a decline in its US operations.

However, another leading housing expert said that the latest figures from new-builds-insurer Homebond on housing starts in 2017 showed that there werent enough homes under construction to make up for pent-up demand and the needs of a growing population.

Dermot OLeary, chief economist at Goodbody, said the Homebond figures chime with those he collects from the Building Energy Rating certificates to show that many more houses will be required before the housing crisis is addressed.

Homebond figures showed it insured 9,466 house starts last year, a large increase from 2016, but well short of the 35,000 that some analysts believe is required each year for the next few years.

According to the figures, 5,063 homes in Co Dublin; 1,122 in Co Meath; and 997 homes in Co Cork were started under the Homebond insurance scheme in 2017.

Mr OLeary said the latest employment figures underlined the needs of a growing economy and workforce for housing.

The CSO figures from its new Labour Force Survey showed the number of jobs in the third quarter last year had reached over 2.2 million, up 48,100 from a year earlier.

At 6.7%, unemployment in the quarter compared with 3% and 3.8% in the Czech Republic and Germany, the lowest rates in the EU. Irish unemployment last month was revised to 6.2%.

Of late, some have warned that Irelands economy may be in danger of overheating as the unemployment rate looks likely to fall below 6% in 2018.

Todays data though highlight that Irelands labour market is exceptionally open, said Conall Mac Coille, chief economist at Davy.

Meanwhile, at a presentation in Dublin Moodys Investors Service said Ireland was more exposed than most in Europe to growth and fiscal shocks, and Brexit and US tax cuts were key risks.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says he believes those affected by the tracker mortgage scandal will rise above the current 33,000 but will be incremental rather than substantial in number.

Mr Donohoe appeared before TDs and senators at the Oireachtas Finance Committee, where he would not say if the final bill for the tracker scandal would reach 1bn as previously estimated, but said that he understood how such a figure was extrapolated.

He said about 250m has now been paid to just under 13,000 victims of the scandal, which happened when thousands of tracker mortgage holders were wrongly put on more expensive loans. The Central Bank is reviewing two million mortgages in the biggest review of its kind in the history of the State.

Mr Donohoe said that he expected new cases on top of the 33,000 to be in the hundreds rather than thousands more, but that such a number was still hundreds too many. He said he would be gravely disappointed if the magnitude was much higher.

He said he expected a further update from the Central Bank at the end of March, warning that if sufficient progress had not been made, the Government would be prepared to consider further possible actions against the five major banks  AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and KBC Ireland  and other culpable lenders.

Mr Donohoe urged those who felt redress and compensation from the banks was inadequate to appeal their case, saying their original payout would not be reduced even if the appeal was unsuccessful.

He said the scandal was gigantic and life-changing for many of those affected, and that he regretted only calling in the heads of the major banks last October rather than the previous January to impress the need for it to be resolved.

When pressed by committee members on if he felt individuals should be held accountable in law, Mr Donohoe said: We can only prosecute people in accordance with the law available. If I offered my personal view now, it would be detrimental to the work of the Central Bank.

Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said if such a scandal had happened in the US, some bankers would be taken out in handcuffs, adding that compensation offered in many cases was pathetic.

When asked if the culture of banking had played its part in the scandal, Mr Donohoe said he believed some organisations had operated an internal system that had a harrowing effect on some citizens.

He said in light of the appalling behaviour, the Central Bank was preparing a report on behaviour and culture within banks.
Shares in Dublin-based exploration company United Oil and Gas jumped more than 12% on the news of it buying into three licences in the south of England.

The company, established by former Tullow Oil executives, has taken a 10% share of three licences operated by privately-owned British explorer Corallian, and has an option to buy a further 10% of them.

In return, United will cover over 13% of the costs associated with drilling one of the prospects, the Colter well, in the second quarter of this year.

The Colter discovery lies adjacent to the Wytch Farm field, on Englands south coast, which has produced more than 450 million barrels of oil.

Wytch Farm is currently ranked as the largest oil field in Europe.

The total costs of the drill will be around 7m (7.87m), of which Uniteds share will be around 933,100 (1.05m).

The new licences give United both an onshore and offshore presence in the UK, where it already has one licence.

In addition, United and Corallian have agreed to jointly identify and target further opportunities in the same area.

This, our second cluster of UK licences and fourth in total, gives Uniteds shareholders access to a near-term, drill-ready target in a highly prospective region, said United Oils chief executive Brian Larkin. United has stated its plan is to build a presence in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

It recently bought into one of Tullow Oils prospects in Jamaica and saw initial positive results from its maiden drill in Italy.
Update 9.45pm: TDs and Senators have been setting out their arguments for and against abortion.

Legislators will continue the debate on the Oireachtas committee recommendations tomorrow evening.

Health Minister Simon Harris said this was a potentially historic moment and called for a calm and measured debate.

Health Minister Simon Harris said this was a potentially historic moment and called for a calm and measured debate.

Kerry TD Michael Healy Rae was one of the TDs to speak against repealing Article 40.3.3.

He said: "The Eighth Amendment is an excellent lesson on how we can debate things today.

"The lesson is...we don't debate things at all.

"Too many people in this house and in the media simply attack what they don't like.

"Everybody in politics and the media knows that the pro-life side has been largely shut out from the process and that has been the fact."

He continued: "People voted for the Eighth Amendment in huge numbers, it saved many lives - it could be 100,000 lives, it could be 50,000, it could be 5,000.

"It means that there are thousands of people, who are living in this world today, walking the streets today, thanks to that amendment, and we are talking about repealing it."

Simon Harris says proposals will be brought in the coming weeks for a referendum on the issue in late May or early June.

And Minister Harris has outlined his view that women should have the right to choose.

He said: "I hope, I really do, that as a country, we can no longer tolerate a law which denies care and understanding to women who are our friends, our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our wives."

Fianna Fail's Health Spokesperson Billy Kelleher says the issue of abortion can only be dealt with by repealing the Eighth.

He said: "170,000 women plus have left this state for a termination.

"We have been exporting our problem for a very long time and it is our duty I believe to address this particular issue."

Fianna Fail's Health Spokesperson Billy Kelleher.

Meanwhile Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is understood to have told his parliamentary party a referendum is needed on the Eighth.

He did not express a personal view on the matter but said it should be out to the people.

Around 20 TDs and Senators spoke on the issue at their parliamentary party meeting earlier.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is understood to have told his parliamentary party a referendum is needed on the Eighth.

Update 5.40pm: Health Minister Simon Harris has said Ireland is now coming face-to-face with its past as it prepares for debate and campaigning around the upcoming abortion referendum, writes Juno McEnroe.

Opening a Dail debate this evening on recommended changes the abortion laws, he pledged voters will get details of what will happen if abortion restrictions are removed from the Constitution.

"I am working with my Chief Medical Officer and officials, and the Attorney General to consider how best to translate these recommendations into legislation should that be the wish of the Irish people. It is my intention that in the event of a referendum as much information as possible would be available to people.

Minister Simon Harris reiterates to Dail there are different personal views on abortion but that it will be possible to have a respectful debate.

"Name-calling, pigeon-holing, stereotyping  these tactics need to be consigned to history." #iestaff  Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) January 17, 2018

But the Fine Gael minister went through the numbers or women who had travelled abroad for terminations fro different counties, the complex and personal cases for women but also the more recent use of abortion pills.

He went through the numbers from individual counties who sought terminations abroad, adding:

 It is estimated that at least 170,000 Irish women have travelled to other countries for abortions since 1980.

These are not faceless women. They are our friends and neighbours, sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts, wives. Each woman is dealing with her own personal situation and making what is a deeply difficult decision.

He praised the work of the Oireachtas Committee which has recommended repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution and allowing for unrestricted abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks.

Simon Harris says an estimated 170,000 Irish women have travelled abroad for abortions since 1980, as he goes through numbers from different counties  Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) January 17, 2018

Several senior members of government have yet to give their opinion on the recommendations but a referendum is now expected to go ahead in either May or June on the contentious issue.

Minister Harris called for respectful debate in the weeks and months ahead:

Ultimately, there is always a deeply personal, private story behind each individual case which I believe is a matter for a woman and her doctor. I believe the Irish people trust women and they trust doctors to make these difficult decisions.

The Dail and country was now coming face-to-face with its past, he also said, adding:

"A history that continues to unfold and continues to hold up a mirror in which we sometimes dont like what we see.

"Whether it is the damp cold of the Magdalene Laundries creeping into our bones, or the sundered silence of Mother & Baby Homes being broken, or the glimpses of what was an all-too-acceptable culture exposed by the Kerry Babies case  all of these things are connected.

"Connected by the way we as a country have treated women, particularly pregnant women."

The Dail debate will continue this evening as well as this evening with TDs from all parties debating the issue.

4pm: The debate comes as opposition TD Ruth Coppinger said this afternoon she may propose the wording of an abortion referendum in the Dail next week if the Government does not.

Ms Coppinger says the Government need to get a move on and publish the wording of a referendum on the 8th Amendment.

The Government is currently getting legal advice on the proposals from the Oireachtas committee before calling a vote.

Coppinger has said the government must also need stick to their word and reveal the laws that would come in if the 8th Amendment is repealed.

Opposition TD Ruth Coppinger

She said: "I have no confidence, that this Dail with its current make up, could actually be trusted to enact that legislation unless it gets a public endorsement in this referendum.

I think people should know what they are voting for and I am actually confident that they will accept."
Asylum seekers who have not had a decision on their status within nine months of applying will be allowed to work.

The Minister for Justice has announced sweeping reforms of the immigration system on foot of a Supreme Court ruling.

Last year it was found the banning of asylum seekers from seeking employment was unconstitutional.

When the Supreme Court gave its judgment in the N.V.H. case on 30 May last, the outcome was that the Court declared Section 16(3)(b) of the International Protection Act, which prohibits access to employment without any temporal limit for applicants, to be unconstitutional in a protection process," said Charlie Flanagan TD.

"The Government could have chosen to interpret this decision narrowly. It could have simply amended the provision prohibiting access to the labour market in the Act by way of primary legislation.

"Instead, the Government listened to the calls from Deputies and Senators, the McMahon group and NGOs that Ireland should align its bespoke system with European norms.

"It decided that the State would give effect to the judgment by way of opting into the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive. In doing so, the Government has chosen to be ambitious and to enhance and protect the rights of international protection applicants and their families.

"We are using the opportunity afforded to us by the Supreme Court decision to continue our programme of reforms undertaken since 2014.

"The Directive not only provides a framework for effective access to the labour force, but reaches into many other areas, which the Government feels it is timely to have validated by the European Commission that we do reach and comply with European standards."

- Digital Desk
The chairman of the Disclosures Tribunal has warned journalists and members of the public against posting photographs taken on mobile phones at the inquiry, writes Gerard Cunningham.

Mr Justice Peter Charleton was speaking after a photo taken on a mobile phone of a document which was shown on a computer screen was posted online on Monday. The document made a derogatory reference to former garda John Wilson.

"I have no reason to believe that John Wilson is anything other than a person of exemplary character," Mr Justice Charleton said at the tribunal.

He said that although the reference to Mr Wilson had appeared on a screen, tribunal counsel had not referred to it and there was no mention of Mr Wilson in the transcripts. Mr Wilson is not a subject of the tribunals terms of reference.

Mr Justice Charleton said that images should not be posted online, and mobile phones should not be used to record them at the tribunal.

In the current module the tribunal is looking at whether false allegations of sexual abuse or any other unjustified grounds were inappropriately relied upon by then Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan to discredit whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe at the Commission of Investigation chaired by Mr Justice Kevin OHiggins in 2015.

Solicitor Annmarie Ryan from the Chief State Solicitors Office told the tribunal that the phrase "Political Dynamite!!" in a memo she recorded on the second day of the Commissions hearings on 15 May 2015 were her words.

At the 2015 inquiry, counsel for the garda commissioner Colm Smyth SC said his instructions were to challenge Sgt McCabes credibility and motivation.

Ms Ryan said that during a break while Mr Smyth sought confirmation of his instructions, Chief Supt Fergus Healy told her that Commissioner OSullivan was aware of the instructions and had given the go-ahead.

Ms Ryan said she was conscious that she had not spoken to the garda commissioner, and did not have instructions in writing from her on the issue.

Six months later on 20 October 2015, when Commissioner OSullivan was due to give evidence before the commission of inquiry, a meeting was held in the Bridewell. Ms Ryan said that it was expected that the commissioner would be questioned about her instructions to challenge Sgt McCabes motivation, but in the event, this did not happen.

"We were actually surprised in the end there was no questioning in relation to motivation when Commissioner OSullivan took the stand to give evidence," Ms Ryan said.

"We anticipated that Sgt McCabes legal team were going to raise this during Commissioner OSullivans evidence, and it did not happen."

The tribunal continues.
Convicted paedophile Eamon Cooke died of lung cancer that had spread, an inquest has heard.

Cooke was an inmate at Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin 7 when his health deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospice for palliative care.

Dublin Coroners Court heard evidence of medical records at an inquest into his death. An inquest is a legal obligation for any prisoners death.

Mr Cooke was seen at the Mater Hospital in May 2016 and was transferred for palliative care to St Francis Hospice in Raheny.

Gardai spoke to Cooke at the hospice before his death in relation to Phillip Cairns, the 13-year-old who disappeared 30 years ago while walking to school in Dublin.

Cooke died at the hospice on June 5 2016.

The former radio DJ was a serial paedophile who gained minor celebrity status in Dublin in the 1970s.

The cause of his death was cancer of the lung which had spread, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said. The jury at his inquest returned the verdict of death due to natural causes.
The driver of a tour bus where a woman claims she was raped has told the jury that someone from within the bus closed his cab door cutting him off from the lounge area.

The bus was hired as part of a Jason Derulo tour that visited Cork in June 2014.

A woman claims she was raped by two men on the upper deck of the tour bus. She was 19 at the time.

She told the jury she was invited on after attending an aftershow party for the American musician and his crew in the Savoy nightclub in Cork.

She claimed the first accused man slipped his hand inside her jumpsuit before blocking her from getting off and forcing her upstairs by the arm.

The driver Patrick Bushby said he noticed a girl wearing a jumpsuit sitting on a sofa in the lounge area speaking to this man.

He said she got off some time later and was making her way to another bus when he followed her out and seemed to say something to change her mind.

He said they came back onto the bus together and he said someone from within closed his cab door, cutting him off from the lounge area.

Both men deny charges of rape and false imprisonment. Mr. Derulo is not facing any charges.

Mr Bushby went on to describe to Tim O'Leary SC, prosecuting, how Jason Derulo's manager told him there was an after gig party taking place at a Cork city nightclub, following the US singer's concert at The Marquee.

At 1:40am I got a call asking me to come pick the band up. It's a nightmare. Individuals who have been drinking after a concert are like bees to honey when they see a tour bus, he said.

Mr Bushby said it was absolutely chaotic outside the nightclub, with the area flooded with people, taxis, buses and cars.

The bus was literally swamped with girls as soon as I opened the doors when I stopped, he said.

He said 15-20 merry people on the bus were cleared by the tour manager, with the exception of one man and one girl.

He told the jury that from the driver's cab he could see a girl in an olive jumpsuit, sitting on a couch in the lounge area, talking to the 35-year-old accused. This defendant has previously being referred to as cap guy.

Mr Bushby said he observed the girl get off the bus and make her way towards another tour bus before she changed her mind after speaking to cap guy.

So this girl was still on my bus and I was conscious of this as I wanted to head to the ferry. The bus was shaking about, as if there was a disco upstairs but I couldn't hear any music, he said.

He told Mr O'Leary that this worried him and it continued for about 20 minutes.

He said that gardai arrived at his bus ten minutes later, and informed him that there had been a report of an incident on his bus. Mr Bushby said the bus had a CCTV system, but the cameras only monitored the doors of the vehicle.

The jury also heard from a young woman who was attended the after-gig party at the nightclub.

She said she had previously worked in the nightclub as a hostess and knew its layout.

I was 18 so meeting Jason Derulo was a huge thing. I was mad about him, and to meet someone so famous. My goal was to get a picture with him, but his bouncers said none were allowed, she said.

She said there was boisterous behaviour and drink being poured everywhere in the VIP area of the nightclub.

They were definitely smoking weed. It was crazy, because they're famous they were smoking inside and they definitely weren't allowed to do that, she said.

The woman said she saw the complainant in the crammed, box-room VIP area, wearing a special wrist band. She said loads of people ran out of the nightclub to try to get onto the tour buses.

The complainant in this case alleges that a man identified as cap guy blocked her from getting off the tour bus. She claims he brought her upstairs, where he raped her, orally and vaginally, while they were half in, half out of a bunk bed.

She claims another larger man came over at one point and also raped her. The woman said she was terrified and asked them to stop, but they didn't. She said she managed to make her escape after a third man came over and said I'm next.

It is the prosecution case that cap guy is the 35-year-old accused and the larger man is the 44-year-old accused man.

Earlier in the trial, during cross examination, Sean Guerin SC, who is defending the 35-year-old accused, said his client accepts he had sex with the complainant, and accepts she performed oral sex on him, but doesn't accept consent was absent.

The defendants, aged 35 and 44 years old, deny the offences which are alleged to have occurred in a hired tour bus at an unknown location in Cork city on June 27, 2014.

The 35-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to rape, oral rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment of the then 19-year-old woman.

The 44-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to anal rape and false imprisonment of the woman on the same occasion. The accused men can not be identified for legal reasons.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of ten men and two women.

- Digital Desk and Sarah-Jane Murphy (CCC)
By Declan Brennan

A Laois man who injured two Gardai by driving dangerously while trying to get away from a drugs bust has been jailed for five years.

A garda pursuit last January involving Patrick McDonnell (28) ended when McDonnell lost control of his car and crashed into a garda car.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard how McDonnell got out of the car and fled into the countryside.

Sergeant Brian Farrell told the court that Gardai were unable to locate him in what is a very rural area but that the Gardai knew they were chasing McDonnell.

McDonnell of New Line Close, Mountrath pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of cocaine for sale or supply, dangerous driving and reckless endangerment at Castlecomer on January 27, 2017.

He also admitted possession of cannabis and cocaine at Ballyroan, Co Laois on January 16, 2016.

Judge Martin Nolan said that McDonnell was well known to Gardai and noted how he had said to one Garda, David Montgomery I didnt do anything Monty, when the Garda tried to arrest him.

The court heard that Gardai were acting on information that drugs were being prepared at a location near the Kilkenny/Laois border.

During a search Gardai found a tupperware container with 300grammes of cocaine in a clearing.

They set up a surveillance operation and were hiding in the woods when McDonnell returned two days later to get the drugs. When armed Gardai told him to stop McDonnell ran to his car.

He drove the car as a Garda tried to pull him out, causing the open car door to hit the Garda and knock him to the ground. The door also also struck another Garda in the hand and both Gardai were injured and had to take months off work

A spiked strip was thrown across the road but McDonnell just drove across this bursting all four tyres and drove onto the main road. He drove erratically and at speeds of up to 100km/hr.

At one point his car rammed the side of a car coming out of a driveway, sending that car into hedge before driving off.

Judge Nolan said McDonnell drove recklessly and endangered the life and safety of Gardai and a civilian reckless and dangerous manner.

In the earlier incident McDonnell was in a car which was stopped at a garda checkpoint. Gardai searched the car and found 1,170 worth of cocaine and 2,568 worth of cannabis.

Judge Nolan said that unlike many cases, the drugs in this instance belonged to the accused and he was going to deal these drugs for profit. He said the amount of drugs were at the lower level.

He imposed a sentence of five years.

Seamus Clarke SC, defending, said his client was a father of three with significant health issues, including myofascial pain syndrome juvenile fibromyalgia.
Update 12.58pm: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has insisted the creation of the new PESCO EU military defence pact does not threaten Ireland's neutrality - despite saying new threats must be dealt with in "an inclusive way" and that Europe is "worth defending", writes Fiachra O Cionnaith in Strasbourg.

During a detailed speech on the EU's future in Strasbourg, France, Mr Varadkar said while there is concern over the PESCO group he and the Government continues to hold neutrality in high esteem and that this will not change.

However, he risked sparking fresh questions over Ireland's exact role in the new PESCO organisation by saying it is time all parties in European "come together to deal with new threats in an inclusive way".

"A Europe worth building is a Europe worth defending. With the launch of PESCO in December, which Ireland was pleased to join, we are coming together to deal with new threats in an inclusive way.

"The threats we face in the 21st century include cyber terrorism, cyber attacks, international terrorism, uncontrolled mass migration, natural disasters, and drug and human trafficking. We want to be involved in European actions against all of these.

"Ireland also has a proud history of military neutrality, participation in UN peacekeeping operations, EU common security defence policy operations and non-membership of NATO.

"So, we will participate in PESCO in ways consistent with those traditions," Mr Varadkar said.

In early December, the Dail voted in favour of Ireland joining PESCO by 75 votes to 42, with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail backing the plan.

Several political parties warned at the time the vote was being "rammed" through in the days before Christmas, and that PESCO will undermine Ireland's neutrality over time.

The concern was increased by European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker, who in a message on Twitter published a military-style video about PESCO and described the defence plan as the "sleeping beauty of the Lisbon treaty" which is now "awake".

Update 12.46pm: Taoiseach dismisses suggestions of role in anti-Brexit plots

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has denied he is involved in a "plot" to undermine and cancel Britain's departure from the EU, saying any decision to u-turn on Brexit can only be made by the British public, writes Fiachra O Cionnaith in Strasbourg.

Mr Varadkar was responding to claims by high-profile Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage that he, former British prime minister Tony Blair and others are trying to "force the Brits to do it again" because "you know others" will leave if Brexit goes ahead.

Speaking at a special debate on the future of the EU at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Varadkar - who was the first national leader to attend the new debates system - thanked the EU for its "solidarity" with Ireland over Brexit, and stressed there can be "no back-sliding" on a soft border.

While acknowledging difficulties in the existing EU, Mr Varadkar said the rise of "populism" and extremism shows the need to ensure "the European ideal has been tested but not broken".

Mr Varadkar's comments were widely welcomed by European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and European Parliament chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, the latter of whom said simply that "we are all Irish" when it comes to Brexit.

However, they were rounded on by former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who provoked cheers and boos in equal measure in the parliament by attacking the Taoiseach's views.

After labelling Mr Varadkar as "a European unionist, whatever the cost to Ireland" and only being "popular" in the European Parliament because "you're useful because you've helped with the delay of Brexit", Mr Farage accused Mr Varadkar of being involved in a "plot" to undermine Britain's departure from the EU.

"You are part of course of a bigger attempt to prevent Brexit. You don't want Britain to leave because you know others will too.

"I don't want a second referendum on Brexit, absolutely not, but I fear you're all working together with [Tony] Blair and [former Liberal Democrats leader, Nick] Clegg. If you force the Brits to do it again, there'll be a different outcome," he said.

The claim has been repeatedly made by hardline Brexit supporters in recent months due to the ongoing difficulties in agreeing a deal between Britain and the EU.

However, speaking to reporters after the debate alongside European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, Mr Varadkar insisted no "plot" exists.

"I've never met Tony Blair and I'm certainly not involved in any plot for a second referendum.

"I dont think it would be constructive or helpful for the leader of another country to be advising that other country on whether they should or should not have a second vote. It has to be a matter for the UK parliament and the people of the United Kingdom.

"A decision on a second referendum must only be one made by parliament or UK people it may be counter-productive," Mr Varadkar said, adding it is "entirely up to them".

Asked about the possibility of a second referendum during the same press conference, European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said: "If the British want to change their position, fine, I agree."

On Tuesday, both European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk said "our door is still open" if Britain wants to u-turn on Brexit and hold a second referendum.

A poll in Britain yesterday found while 38% of people want a second referendum compared to 51% who do not, the split narrows to 40%-42% when it comes to a referendum on the eventual Brexit deal.

Earlier 10.27am: 'There can be no backsliding' in Brexit negotiations, Taoiseach tells European Parliament

The Taoiseach has told the European Parliament that we are at a decisive point for Europe.

Leo Varadkar is addressing MEPs on the future of Europe.

He said it is hard to imagine the Good Friday Agreement being made without Irelands membership of the EU.

"In Ireland we are now having to contemplate our future without the foundation that underpinned it," he said.

Leo Varadkar addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the future of Europe. Photos: The European Parliament/PA Wire

"That is why the Irish Government has been so determined to protect the Good Friday Agreement, in all its parts, and in all that flows from it.

"It is why we have insisted that there can be no return to a hard border on our island, no new barriers to the movement of people or to trade.

"The EU has consistently recognised the unique position of Northern Ireland, and the unique situation in which it has been put by the decision of the UK to leave the EU."

He added: "The majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU; the majority of its representatives elected to the Northern Ireland assembly want to remain in the Customs Union and the Single Market; and it is likely that the majority of people living in Northern Ireland will remain European citizens after Brexit, because of their unique status as dual Irish/British citizens under the Good Friday Agreement."

Leo Varadkar made it clear that commitments in the Brexit negotiations so far need to be upheld.

"As the negotiations move forward, we will continue to rely on your support and solidarity as we work to ensure that what has been promised in theory is delivered in practice. There can be no backsliding.

"So, it is important that these commitments in the legal text of the Withdrawal Agreement, and firmly embedded in the UKs future relationship with the EU, whatever shape that ultimately takes.

"For my part, I hope that it will be as close and deep as possible and consistent with the need for the Union to protect our internal market and the Customs Union."

"The European ideal has always been inspired by a spirit of optimism and a belief in a better future. That ideal has been tested, but has not been broken. We have a renewed appetite to face the challenges of the future," Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on #FutureofEurope pic.twitter.com/JVGuzIBREQ  European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) January 17, 2018

- Digital Desk
By Joe Leogue

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) has signed off on an 85m loan to fund the development of an employment campus in Limerick capable of hosting 3,000 people.

The 200m Opera Site project is part of the Limerick Twenty Thirty programme. It will see 555,000 sq ft of commercial, office, retail and cultural space built at the northern part of the citys commercial area.

The CEB financing, along with a commitment by the European Investment Bank, brings to 170m announced for the project, which will kick-start a whole new era of economic development in Limerick, said Mayor Stephen Keary.

This is the single most important development for Limerick, as it will raise the entire economic and social standing of the city, with significant knock-on benefits for the region also. It will revitalise city-centre trade, stimulate our property market and attract further investment, he said.

Limerick City and County Council chief executive Conn Murray said the project will deliver an unprecedented social dividend for Limerick, which in 10 years or so will stand out as a European model for how to rebuild urban economies.

From the moment we sat down with the CEB, we knew we were in a good place. Not alone has it become a key source of funding for a project that is going to play a pivotal role in regenerating our city, it is an institution that has the same social priorities as we have, said Mr Murray.

The plan represents the opportunity of a lifetime for Limerick, said governor of the Council of Europe Bank, Dr Rolf Wenzel.

As a development bank with an exclusively social mandate, we are eager to partner on projects that will deliver transformational benefits for cities.

"The Opera Site project ticked every box for us in that regard. Given the numbers that will work there, it will be a catalyst for economic growth across Limerick, lifting all areas of the city, particularly those with higher levels of unemployment, said Dr Wenzel.

The project is expected to begin following public consultation in spring.

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) has signed off on an 85m loan to fund the development of an employment campus in Limerick capable of hosting 3,000 people.
By Ann OLoughlin

Four cases in which motorists insured by the collapsed firm Setanta may be personally liable for 13 per cent of any awards made against them over traffic accidents will go ahead in April instead of February, the High Court has heard.

This was so the court could first determine issues over whether lawyers who have been representing both the drivers and Setanta, as their insurer, can cease representing them because of what the lawyers says is now a conflict of interest.

High Court President Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he was prepared to grant an adjournment in four cases in which liability for the accidents had already been conceded and which will only be before the court for assessment of damages. They were due to be heard in February but will now take place in April.

In the meantime, the court will consider the applications by lawyers for the Setanta clients to "come off record" because of the conflict of interest in representing both named individual clients and the insurer itself in the context of the expected shortfall between the companys assets and the amount of claims.

As those solicitors are effectively defending the cases on behalf of the insurer, that raises issues for the defendant motorists, some of whom have consulted their own solicitors.

The liquidator of Setanta, who has estimated the cost of an estimated 1,750 claims could be 90m, had earlier this month said it was likely the insured motorists could have to meet some 22 per cent of any award made against them. This was based on an actuarial analysis of Setanta reserves last June.

This was because the States Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) will only pay 65 per cent of awards. It follows a Supreme Court ruling last year in which it was found that the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland, which compensates victims of uninsured driving, would not be liable for 100 per cent of the Setanta awards.

The outstanding 35 per cent would fall to the insured motorist but, taking Setantas reserves into account and the costs of dealing with the claims, this dropped to 22 per cent.

Mr Justice Kelly was told to dat that the liquidator now believes the amount which Setanta-insured motorists could be as low as 13 per cent, although this was still not clear due to a number of factors, including whether claimants were prepared to accept lower settlement figures in cases which did not go to trial.

After asking whether there was any likelihood that the State, through the ICF, would fund the shortfall, Emily Egan McGrath BL, for the liquidator, said her client did not have any information about that or whether it might happen.

Ms Egan McGrath urged the judge to adjourn the hearing of the cases so that the representation issue could be dealt with first.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the four cases opposed the adjournment pointing out the accidents, in which their clients were injured, dated back to 2010 and 2011. They were anxious to get their cases on.

Mr Justice Kelly said he had sympathy for the plight of the plaintiffs but the question over representation should first be dealt with. He also said in other cases - there are some 350 Setanta-related claims before the High Court - defendants should be notified of the application by solicitors to cease representing Setanta.

Those defendants, who had lawfully taken out insurance policies with Setanta, were blameless in all this but they should be given the opportunity of being heard by the court in circumstances where they could be made personally liable for part of any awards in the cases against them, he said.
A protest has been held outside Leinster House to highlight the amount of plastic that is wasted in Ireland.

It is estimated we throw away half a million coffee cups and 2.5 million plastic bottles every day.
New statistics reveal that 20% of people in Ireland have less sympathy for someone with lung cancer compared to those with other forms of cancer.

In 2017, the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC) commissioned a study in 25 of its member countries, including Ireland, to understand attitudes towards lung cancer.

The Irish Cancer Society released these findings to coincide with its annual Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

The Irish attitudes are in line with their global counterparts as 21% of people surveyed worldwide agreed that they have less sympathy for people with lung cancer than other forms of cancer.

The study also revealed that men are generally less sympathetic than women towards people with lung cancer, and younger people are less sympathetic than older people.

"No one should ever feel blamed for having cancer," said Aoife McNamara, cancer information manager at the Irish Cancer Society.

"Sadly, though, these new statistics would suggest that lung cancer patients are treated differently by the public, compared to people with other types of cancer.

"Any sense of shame can hold someone back from seeking medical help, so its hugely important that we change our attitudes towards lung cancer."

Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Ireland. It is estimated that around 2,500 people in Ireland were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017.

The study revealed a strong correlation between those countries with a lower incidence of smoking and a higher proportion of people agreeing that they have less sympathy for people with lung cancer.

The figures are revealed as the Irish Cancer Society announces the beginning of new research into how to best address the needs of lung cancer patients and their families.

The Lung Cancer Needs Assessment research will be carried out by Pamela Gallagher, Professor of Psychology at DCU.

"Living with lung cancer and its effects can be difficult for patients and caregivers, often requiring support to meet a range of physical and emotional needs. In Ireland, we dont know enough about what needs patients and their caregivers have," said Prof Gallagher.

"Our research will identify what these needs are and how services from the Irish Cancer Society can support them. We will do this by talking to people with lung cancer in Ireland and their carers so as to understand more about their individual experiences and see where current supports can be improved.

"Already research has shown higher levels of psychological distress among people with lung cancer compared to other cancer types.

"This is unsurprising as many may face issues of stigma, shame and blame, poor prognosis, debilitating symptoms and being diagnosed with a cancer that has a lower than average survival rate."
An apprentice carpenter charged over a fatal one punch assault in Tallaght in Dublin was remanded on continuing bail today pending directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Jack Hall Ellis drank 20 measures of Captain Morgan rum before allegedly attacking 20-year-old student Luke OReilly in the early hours of November 1 last, Dublin District Court heard earlier.

Mr OReilly, from Kiltipper, Dublin 24 was discovered on the Old Blessington Rd, Tallaght at about 3am on November 1 with serious head injuries. He was rushed to Tallaght Hospital and then moved to Beaumont Hospital but died there on November 13 last.

Jack Hall Ellis, 20, from Old Court Mill, Tallaght, was charged two days later with assault causing harm to Mr OReilly. Bail had been granted in November and faced his second hearing on Wednesday when he appeared again at Dublin District Court.

Garda David Morris told Judge Brian OShea the incident related to an assault where the injured party died as a result of his injuries. A post-mortem report was awaited, he said as he applied for an adjournment for directions from the DPP to be obtained.

Defence counsel John Griffin said that on the next date it was expected a different charge would be put to him.

Judge OShea ordered him to appear again on March 7 next. The assault charge carries a five-year however, the garda had also said earlier a more serious charge could be brought.

At a bail hearing in November, he said it was alleged Luke OReilly had just left the Metro pub after he had been socialising with friends for Halloween night.

He was walking along Old Blessington Road with friends when a male approached him from behind, Garda Morris alleged.

Garda Morris had said the man proceeded to punch him to the side of the head, unaware to him, he did not know what was coming.

He alleged that Luke OReilly fell to the concrete footpath and he hit his head off the ground. He was attended to by his friends immediately.

He was taken to Tallaght hospital but his condition became more serious and he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Beaumont Hospital and passed away there on November 13 last.

The Garda had agreed with the defence that Jack Hall Ellis had indicated he had 10 double shots of Captain Morgan on the date of the incident.

As part of his bail he must reside with a relative in Ratoath, Co. Meath and sign on twice weekly at Ashbourne Garda station and stay out of Tallaght except for meetings with his solicitor or family occasions once he gives notice to Gardai.

He has also been directed to be of sober habits, to abide by a 12pm to 7am curfew and be available when Gardai call to his current address.

He has also been warned that he must not contact witnesses directly or indirectly.
Catalonias new parliament has convened amid looming questions about the role fugitive and jailed politicians will play in the chambers separatist majority as well as the future regional government.

Belgium,

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October to avoid a Spanish judicial probe over a foiled secession attempt, wants to be reinstated in his old job.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain, as well as a number of legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

Seven more empty seats in the parliament belong to four former cabinet members sought by Spains Supreme Court who are with Mr Puigdemont and three more elected MPs - including former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras who are being held on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of the north-eastern region following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist MPs on October 27.

Triggering special powers, Spain sacked Mr Puigdemonts government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on December 21 in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrids hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes. In a first for Catalonia, a party that fiercely opposes independence was the most voted and gained the most seats.

In the inaugural session, there were yellow ribbons symbolising the protest against the judicial process in the seats of the absent MPs, while several hundred people rallied outside the parliament, waving pro-independence flags.

The newly-elected MPs will first choose a speaker and the chambers governing committee, a key group that could interpret procedural rules to allow Mr Puigdemonts candidacy from exile.

The two main separatist parliamentary groups said they would elect a leftist, pro-independence speaker and would back Mr Puigdemonts candidacy to form a government.

However, parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week that Mr Puigdemont cannot be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in the parliament.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 of the regional chambers 135 seats and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the regions future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.

- PA
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said US president Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital was "sinful".

Mr Abbas, who has openly lambasted Mr Trump over his policies, told a news conference in Egypt that the US has disqualified itself from continuing as a broker in the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
A pilot who once smuggled tonnes of drugs for Colombian cartels during Miamis "cocaine cowboys" era in the 1980s has been convicted of playing a key role in a fraud ring that stole at least 150 cars using a fake paper trail.

Mickey Munday, 72, was found guilty by a federal jury of mail fraud and conspiracy charges, each of which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Several others in the fraud ring previously pleaded guilty and testified against Munday, saying his role was transporting the cars and hiding them until they could be sold.

Munday showed no emotion when the verdict was read and he was taken immediately into custody.

US district judge Robert Scola set a date of March 29 for sentencing. Mundays defence team maintain that he was not aware of the car fraud.

Munday spent most of the 1990s in prison after pleading guilty to drug smuggling charges involving tonnes of cocaine from Pablo Escobars Medellin cartel and also the Cali cartel during the 1980s.

He frequently bragged about his exploits in media interviews and social media posts, and had a starring role in the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

"If it flies, rolls or floats, I can drive it," Munday has frequently said.

Assistant US Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Munday told investigators in an interview that the fraud operation was called the "hokey-doke scheme" and he was in charge of getting the vehicles to Florida from around the country.

"He was the head of the transportation division of the hokey-doke scheme," Mr Rothstein said. "It was a scheme that stole cars with paper."

According to trial evidence, the scam involved obtaining cars that were about to be repossessed by a bank or other financial institution or through purchases at dealerships by straw buyers.

Using tow truck and car wholesale businesses as fronts, the group created a false paper trail that ended with them having clear ownership of the vehicles, which they then sold at a profit.

All told, testimony showed the group stole about 1.7 million dollars (1.2 million) from banks and other lenders between 2008 and 2015.

Some in the ring said Mundays colourful past as a big-time drug smuggler made him a natural fit for the operation.

Munday did not testify in his own defence. His attorney, Rick Yabor, insisted that prosecutors had not proven that Munday knew the operation was fraudulent and that Munday was simply transporting the vehicles.

PA
What are they talking about in Middletown Township? The ADA-accessible playground at Cobalt Ridge Park, home-improvement projects, climate change or the towns female police officer? Actually, all those topics -- and more on the townships own podcast, Middletown Township Talks. It recently celebrated its first anniversary and is doing quite well, say show organizers. Middletown Township Talks provides residents the...
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UB spinoff Cytocybernetics receives $1.5 million to advance drug-screening technology

The NIH award will enable the company to add jobs, develop high throughput techniques for conducting multiple screenings quickly and efficiently

Cytocybernetics is well on its way to positively impact cardiac research, and that is validated by the team receiving the highly competitive STTR award to advance their product development and commercialization efforts. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Cytocybernetics, a University at Buffalo spinoff, has been awarded $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop an enhanced version of the Cybercyte  the companys device that integrates electronics with heart muscle cells to test how new drugs affect the hearts electrical activity.

Such screenings could save pharmaceutical companies hundreds of millions of dollars by enabling early identification of compounds that cause serious, potentially fatal side effects.

The number of drugs that can interfere with the function of the heart is astounding, says Cytocybernetics CEO Glenna Bett, PhD, vice chair for research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. Our system tests all kinds of pharmaceuticals, from allergy medications to antidepressants, for unwanted side effects such as heart attacks or arrhythmia.

Drug discovery is an expensive process, Bett adds. By getting drugs that arent viable out of the pipeline quickly, you can save millions of dollars. As they say, if youre going to fail, fail fast.

Bett co-founded Cytocybernetics with Randall Rasmusson, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics in the Jacobs School. The company is headquartered at UB and has nine employees including the founders.

The new NIH funding  a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute  will enable the startup to hire more scientists and develop a high throughput version of its technology that can run numerous tests in quick succession.

Technological innovation has the potential to improve all facets of our lives  everything from our health and wellbeing, to the creation of new industries, companies and jobs. Cytocybernetics is well on its way to positively impact cardiac research, and that is validated by the team receiving the highly competitive STTR award to advance their product development and commercialization efforts. I extend my sincerest congratulations to Cytocybernetics and the University at Buffalo, says SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson.

The work of Dr. Bett and Dr. Rasmusson exemplifies how university research benefits society, says Venu Govindaraju, PhD, UB vice president for research and economic development. Cytocybernetics innovations have the potential to greatly improve the drug discovery process. The company is also creating jobs in Western New York, contributing to the regions economic development. Cytocybernetics exemplifies how the university is working to commercialize UB technologies, driving growth and helping to transform the region into a national health sciences hub.
With local elections in all London Boroughs in May, political parties should remember that housing is not built, nor are homes improved, without Londons builders, plumbers and timber merchants, says Lords Builders Merchant to Rupa Huq MP when she visited the 33-year old business in Park Royal, Ealing.

Dr Huq was welcomed by Shanker Patel, Lords Chief Executive, to learn more on how merchants deliver for their communities - and to discuss issues affecting the supply chain and the wider London economy. The MP toured the business with Mr Patel and John Murphy, Branch Manager, who outlined the role, value and importance of merchants in creating local jobs and growth.

Dr Huq heard how merchants like Lords have evolved since the Credit Crunch of nearly ten years ago - and how the building materials supply chain is responding to todays housing challenges.

Several issues aimed at narrowing the gap between housing demand and supply were discussed in the context of the Mayor of Londons Housing Strategy and the new draft London Plan. If Londoners are to see the 66,000 new homes a year they need, one solution is a stronger emphasis on developing small sites that SME builders can undertake. According to Shanker Patel, better use has to be made of existing buildings and building upwards to add extra storeys must also be part of the package to deliver more homes in the capital.

Rupa Huq MP said: I was delighted to visit Lords here in the constituency and see for myself their contribution to Ealing and the wider London economy. I pay tribute to Branch Manager, John Murphy and his team in helping customers with their building projects.

Housing is central to my Partys thinking and we want to see better quality and more affordable housing in London if we are to improve the lives of constituents. This week, we saw another new Housing Minister appointed, meaning that there has been seven Housing Ministers in the last seven years, and three in the last seven months. This is not helpful to firms like Lords that want certainty and stability in housing and planning policy to be able to invest confidently in people and products.

Shanker Patel, Chief Executive of Lords Group, said: I was grateful to Dr Huq for taking time to come today and gain further insight into our supply chain. We wanted to show her that builders merchants like Lords offer good jobs and rewarding careers, to people of all ages, and serve local communities in helping to improve their homes.

Lords and the BMF are pleased that housing remains at the top of the political agenda and that MPs like Rupa Huq recognise the urgent need to build many more new homes. Merchants want to see unstinting efforts by both national government in Whitehall and local authorities in London to narrow the gap between housing demand and supply.
Festool has grown its UK team as a response to increased sales over the past year  and to prepare for an even busier year in 2018.

Seven new team members have recently joined its HQ in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Jamie Bunting is now Logistics Team Leader and joins the Festool team after 13 years at Kuehne + Nagle where he ran a logistics team that supported the servicing of the MODs fleet of Apache helicopters.

Holly Hyde-Smith is the Marketing Communications Executive and brings with her a wealth of experience having been the marketing manager for global SaaS company EMEA and part of the marketing team for the retail sector of a technology consultancy.

Two new starters have been taken on in the sales team: Martin Ive and Daryl Herbert-Smith are new Territory Sales Managers.

Daryl gained several years of experience at various flooring businesses including his last role as Contracts Area Sales Manager at SIG Group Carpet and Flooring, where he supplied flooring to contractors and end users including Bovis Homes and Vinci and Bam.

Three new positions have been created in the Finance team too: Business Administrator Elaine Phillips, Olga Snitsarenko, Management Accountant Assistant, and Emma Butler, General Administration Assistant.

Festools Marketing Manager Jon Burcham said: The quality and innovation of Festools products is renowned and the team that support the cutting-edge technology is also second to none. We are thrilled that our ranks have been increased by top-notch experts in their fields. This is as a response to a brilliant year that weve seen  we expect that 2018 is going to be just as buoyant.

Festool has been experiencing incredible growth in the UK market. The new recruits each bring impressive expertise and were excited to continue expanding our market presence.
Five employees from across Travis Perkins plc have secured a prestigious Gold Duke of Edinburghs Award (DofE). All five completed the programme in 2017 and were presented with their certificates on 17 January 2018 at St Jamess Palace on behalf of HRH The Earl of Wessex.

Sadie Garland-Kenny from Travis Perkins who received her certificate said: The DofE Award is important to me because this is will mark the completion of a journey which has changed my life. It has given me a confidence I never thought I would have which is proving to bring me lots of opportunities.

Travis Perkins is a great supporter of The Duke of Edinburghs Award and recognises how the programme allows individuals to develop the practical and social skills the organisation is looking for. As such, the company offers 15 places a year to women (under the age of 23) to start their DofE. The rationale behind this is to help support the personal development of ambitious women starting their careers with Travis Perkins and to accelerate their progression in the construction industry.

Helen Smith, HR Director from Travis Perkins, said: At Travis Perkins we are really proud to offer our young female employees the chance to undertake The Duke of Edinburghs Award. We truly believe that it equips our staff with a huge array of transferable skills that will help them have a productive and prosperous future.

Achieving a Gold Duke of Edinburghs Award is no easy task and shows that young people have the skills, determination and attitude to really thrive in the work environment. To achieve a Gold Award, participants must complete a 12-month volunteering section, a 12-month physical and skills section, a four day/three night expedition and a five day away from home residential activity section. Once all the above is completed, a participant will complete and achieve their Gold Award.

Peter Westgarth, Chief Executive of The Duke of Edinburghs Award, said: The Award is a springboard for young people to a positive and productive future, for both life and work. Companies have told us that employees who do their DofE go on a life-changing journey as the experience breeds confidence, strengthens character, develops skills they never thought they were capable of and transports them out of their comfort zones. Its only then that real personal growth happens and shapes a young persons prospects for life. The achievement of the Travis Perkins apprentices today should not be overlooked  its an honour to congratulate them and wish them well for an exciting time ahead.
Adani Group today said it would invest Rs 7.5 billion to double the capacity of the company's edible oil refinery at Haldia in West Bengal.

Announcing this at the second and last day of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) here, Pranav Adani of the Adani Group expressed interest to invest in port, agri and power sectors.

Adani said Rs 7.5 billion would be pumped in to double the capacity of the edible oil refinery at Haldia from 1600 tonne per day in the next five years.

Packaging would also be expanded from 1200 tonne to 1800 tonne.

Stating that they will also be exploring in the business of agri-logistics and warehousing in the state, Adani said the group wants to replicate Mundra port of Kutch in Bengal, given the opportunity.

The state government has been planning to develop two deep sea ports.

In power sector, Adani said, they are keen on offering their expertise in transmission and renewable energy.

West Bengal received investment proposals worth Rs 170 billion on the first day of BGBS from leading industrialists of the country.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 50 billion in retail and petroleum outlets, while JSW Group Chief Sajjan Jindal said the state would receive investments worth Rs 100 billion in cement capacity expansion, steel, paints and power over the next 3-4 years.
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Mumbais billionaire stock brokers, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Radhakishan Damani have made aggressive bids for Binani Cements as both see long-term prospects in the company which owns and operates 11 mtpa of cement capacity in India. The duo have offered to match any competing bid for the cement company which once featured Amitabh Bachchan as its brand ambassador.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev told Mint newspaper that he intends to turn Ayurved Ltd into a 'non-profitable' firm to enable reinvestment of the firm's profit back to the society. On Tuesday, the Haridwar-based company also announced its foray into e-commerce for its FMCG items, partnering major players in the space, including Amazon and Flipkart, and targeting over Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) this year itself.
The life insurance stocks, though not many in number, were considered the best option for investors to tap Indias booming equity market, thanks to unit-linked insurance policy products or Ulips. This changed to some extent with the listing of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management or RNLAM last year in November. The public issue was well-received by investors and they have nothing to compliant considering the post-listing gains of 25 per cent, over the initial public offering (IPO) price.
French carmaker Renault had an envious volume growth of 146 per cent in 2016, riding on the success of Kwid. But, 2017 has been a different story. The three-digit growth of 2016 and a bigger base made it challenging to sustain growth. Data shows, the automaker sold 112,492 units in 2017, 15 per cent lower than the previous year.

The decline in volume is directly linked to a drop in sales of the Kwid, a SUV-styled small car, which triggered the spectacular growth in 2016. The car, once seen as a strong competitor to Maruti Suzuki Alto, brings 81 per cent of volume for Renault. Kwids sales have contracted by 20 per cent during the April-December period of FY18 to 65,572 units.

The Alto, which has ruled the domestic entry segment for years, registered a high single-digit growth in the same period and Hyundai Eon has also seen some expansion. Tata Motors Tiago, launched in April 2016, may have also hit the Kwid with its monthly volume of over 6,000 units. The Kwids monthly average is now less than 7,300 units from over 9,100 units a year ago.

Renaults performance is in contrast to the industry. If we take the first nine months of FY17-18, Renault has managed to grow in just one month (May). The industry by comparison has grown in seven months with a cumulative growth of 8 per cent while Renault declined by 22 per cent, becoming the only company to see a double digit dip. Accordingly, the firms share in domestic passenger vehicle market is down to 3.31 per cent from its peak of 4.58 per cent in first nine months of FY17.

When the going was strong in 2016, the company had set an aspiration to reach a market share of 5 per cent by 2017. However, Sumit Sawhney, country chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director at Renault India, said in November that the company was still building a runway in India. I wont say that we have arrived. Our target is to reach 5 per cent and consistently sell at 5 per cent in the mid-term, he said without specifying a timeline.



Renaults latest launch, the Captur SUV and a product on which the company was banking for some growth, is yet to make a mark. The vehicle was launched at a price of Rs 1 million in November though bookings were opened in September to take advantage of the festive season demand. But of the 1,582 Capturs manufactured in November, the first month of launch, only 1,119 units were dispatched to dealers.

Globally, Captur has clocked a volume of over a million units since its debut in 2013. But India volumes are not known. A Renault dealer from Uttar Pradesh said that he lifted two units of Captur and is still sitting with one in his inventory. There is limited push from the company on the Captur. Renault believes the car will pick up at its own pace, the dealer said. Renault did not respond to a questionnaire from Business Standard.



Industry watchers have said buyers are not excited about the pricing even though Captur claims to offer many industry-first features. While the entry-level petrol variant begins at Rs1 million, the top-end diesel version comes at an ex-showroom price of Rs 1.4 million. Hyundais popular SUV Creta begins at Rs 0.92 million and goes up to Rs 1.55 million for the diesel top-end variant. Maruti Suzukis S-Cross begins at Rs 0.84 million and goes up to Rs 1.12 million.



The Duster SUV is also feeling the heat. The company sold almost 9,800 units in the April-November period, down 26 per cent, and is now learnt to be contemplating a price cut. Many of the 320-plus dealerships of Renault are also sitting on large unsold inventory.

Dealers have carried large unsold stocks of previous year into 2018 compared to the levels in 2017. There is a large stock at the plant too, said another dealer, who is sitting on an inventory of over hundred Kwids. A number of dealers are learnt to have requested the company to give them only retail sales targets for the months of January and February. These dealers have asked for no billing and sales from the company to their showrooms in these two months to enable them exhaust the inventory.
In a major decision, the central government on Tuesday decided to end the subsidy given to thousands of Muslims for the annual Haj pilgrimage -- an issue which the BJP had always called a means of appeasement.
As the cold wave continues to intensify across Northern India, train services on Wednesday have been hampered due to operational reasons, thus disrupting normal routine.

As per the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Northern Railway, 21 trains have been delayed, 13 cancelled and four rescheduled.

The Meteorological Department has predicted a maximum temperature of 25 degree Celsius with lows of eight degrees.

Furthermore, dense fog is expected to be seen in the capital.





Delhi air worsens

The capital and regions around it saw the best air-quality of this year on Tuesday.

Still rated "poor", considered an improvement from "very poor", the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Tuesday was 256 for Delhi against 330 or very poor on Monday.

The AQI was 224 for Faridabad (Monday 313), 114 for Gurugram, considered moderate (241 on Monday), 329 in Ghaziabad (390 on Monday) and 214 in Noida (315 on Monday).

The AQI is measured on the scale of 0 to 500, with values above 300 considered very poor.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the wind speed of Delhi on Tuesday was 15 kmph and the humidity further dipped -- oscillating between 41 and 73 per cent, leading to a rise in temperature and better dispersal of pollutants.

At 7.00 p.m, the major pollutant PM2.5 (particles with diameter less than 2.5 micrometers) was recorded 132 units in Delhi and 122 units across Capital Region (NCR) -- both considered very poor.

However, none of the 24 monitored region across NCR fell into either "Severe" or "Severe-plus" category for the first time in the month.

Earlier this month, Delhi saw "poor" air quality on January 8, with AQI at 289 and on January 12 at 297.

However, the wind speed and directions are likely to change towards today, which may push the pollution levels in the NCR.

"There is cyclonic circulation over central Pakistan and western Rajashtan, which will change the present north-westerly winds to south-westerly. This will increase the pollution levels here," Mahesh Palawat, Director of private weather forecasting agency Skymet told IANS.

Palawat also saw a possible rise in the minimum and maximum temperatures as "the south-westerly winds are moist and dry".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today, saying the latter is changing India through innovation and trying to make it a global power.

Emphasising that Israel seeks to form partnership with India in "every field", Netanyahu said he wants young Israelis to come to India, "not just with the backpack, but with a laptop".

Modi also lauded Israel for its innovations and said he was making efforts for creating innovation-friendly systems for a new India that is driven by innovation.

Both the leaders were addressing young entrepreneurs and businessmen here after dedicating International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

Netanyahu urged innovators from India and Israel to work together.

"Prime Minister Modi is changing India, by the force in vision of his leadership. He is revolutionising India. He is catapulting it into the future, and as one of the world's great power. And he is doing it through the power of innovation," Netanyahu said.

He was speaking after dedicating 'iCreate' to the nation. 'iCreate' was launched in 2011 by Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. It mentors budding entrepreneurs and helps them to set up their own start-ups based on innovations.

"I want young Israelis to come to India, not just with the backpack, but with a laptop. This is essentially a boundless potential and that's why I have come here, to encourage young innovators from our two countries to work together," he said.

"I thank Modi for his vision and for his friendship, and for recognising the immense potential of our partnership" the Israeli PM added.

Impressed by some of the innovations put on display at iCreate, Netanyahu said, "The world knows about iPods, they know about iPads, but there is one more 'i' the the world needs to know about - iCreate."



When Netanyahu said he and the Indian prime minister are young, Modi was seen laughing heartily.

"As you all know, I am sure you have noticed, Prime Minister Modi and I are both very young and very optimistic. We are young in our thinking and we are optimistic about the future," he said.

"Today, I have a simple message. I want young Indians to know that Israel wants to form partnership with you, in technology, in water, in agriculture, in cyber, in drones, in health, in life sciences, in every field. We are your partner," he said.

Modi said that he was happy that iCreate was being inaugurated in the presence of Netanyahu.

"When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have stronger relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation," Modi said.

"We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly. Curiousity produced intent, whose power leads to innovation that will make new India," he added.

Innovation, he said, plays a major role in bringing together the people of India and Israel.

"People of Israel have proved that it is not the size and shape of a country but the determination of its citizens which takes it ahead," he said.

Modi expressed hope that iCreate will boost innovation and enterprise in the country.

"No institution can be evaluated at the time of its birth. Gujarat is renowned in pharmaceutical sector. But the reason behind it is that 50-60 years ago one pharmacy college was established by a visionary businessman," he said.

The two prime ministers also gave away awards to 38 entrepreneurial projects from the two countries -- 18 from India and 20 from Israel --.
Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district today, injuring an Army Captain, officials said.

"There was a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army. They resorted to firing along the LoC in Chakan Da Bagh area in Poonch this evening," a security force official said.

The injured Army Captain has been hospitalised, they said.

The Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire continued till late night, they said.

The latest violation of the ceasefire came a day after seven Pakistani Army men, including a Major, were killed and four others injured in retaliatory action by the Indian Army in Poonch.

Authorities had on Monday suspended the cross-LoC bus service between Chakan Da Bagh and Rawalakot, following heightened tension on the LoC.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday said despite plenty of evidence against 26/11 terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Pakistan has turned a blind eye.

"Plenty of evidence against terror activities of Hafiz Saeed has been collected by countries, it's all available to Pakistan government but they want to turn a blind eye. For a Prime Minister for whom Hafiz Saeed is 'saheb' what evidence can anyone supply to him?" Madhav told ANI, on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in the capital.

Madhav further said, "The world should realize that there is a country which is brazenly out to promote such destructive forces in the world."

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said that there is no case registered against Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad and without it, action cannot be initiated against anyone.

"Action is taken when there is a case registered [against someone]," said Abbasi in an interview, quoted Geo TV.

Earlier in November, the Pakistan Prime Minister had claimed that India has provided "no evidence" against Saeed on the basis of which he can be prosecuted.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief is also looking to contest the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and has, thereby, formed a party by the name of Milli Muslim League (MML).

Saeed was released from house arrest after a Pakistani court cited lack of evidence against him in the 26/11 Mumbai attack case.

India has, time and again, protested against Pakistan for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for plotting the Mumbai attacks.
Efforts to resolve the unprecedented crisis that rocked the Supreme Court made no headway today as Justice Chelameswar, one of the four dissenting judges, did not turn up at the court as he was reported to be unwell.

As the impasse over the crisis after the virtual revolt by the four judges against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra last Friday continued, sources said Justice Chelameswar had a brief meeting with another dissenting judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi at his residence.

"Their meeting lasted for 15 minutes," the sources said.

The CJI briefly met the other three judges --Justices Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Jospeh in the judges lounge before starting the court proceedings.

Later, during the lunch break also, the CJI along with other judges had a chat with them but sources said not much progress has been made and the impasse continues.

"Crisis has not yet been resolved," sources close to one of the four judges said.

With just two more working days left this week, sources said the impasse is not likely to be resolved till next week as some judges including one of the four dissenting judges will be out of station as per their scheduled programme.

The sources said hectic parleys were underway and that Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud also had a meeting with Justice Chelameswar, who is the senior most judge after the CJI, late last evening.

"Justice Chelameswar is on leave today as he is unwell," sources said, adding that he is expected to hold court tomorrow.

Justice Misra yesterday reached out to the four senior most judges holding a 15-minute meeting with them in a bid to defuse the unprecedented row over allocation of cases and other judicial issues.

It was expected that the CJI would have a morning meeting with all the four senior most judges today but that did not fructify due to Chelameswar's absence.

Later in the day, following an apex court tradition, the CJI and all the judges sat together for a lunch. Besides Chelameswar, two more judges -- Justices S A Bobde and A K Goel were not present as they were also on leave due to illness.

In a charming tradition, the apex court judges meet for lunch on Wednesday every week, with each of them taking turns to bring 'ghar ka khana'(home food) from his or her home state.

Justice Bobde, who in future will don the role of the CJI, had met Justice Chelameswar at his residence on Saturday, a day after the January 12 press conference during which the dissenting judges mounted a fierce criticism of the CJI over a range of issues afflicting the top court.

The four judges had also met at Justice Chelameswar's residence last evening.
lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday said he had filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court Judges, including the four rebel Judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

As a convenor of Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, Bhushan demanded in-house inquiry against Justice Misra saying that "the CJI has apparently committed several acts of serious misconduct that should be inquired into by a committee of three/five Judges of this court".

Bhushan levelled four charges against the Chief Justice in his complaint addressed to Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- who held a presser last week complaining against the CJI -- and Justice A.K. Sikri.

"The facts and circumstances relating to the Prasad Education Trust case show prima facie evidence suggesting that CJI Misra may have been involved in the conspiracy of paying illegal gratification in the case, which at least warrants a thorough investigation," Bhushan said.

In his complaint, Bhushan also mentioned tapped conversations purportedly between I.M. Quddusi, a retired Judge of the Orissa High Court arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation and later granted bail, Biswanath Agarwala, a middleman, and B.P. Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust, the institution which was barred by the Medical Council of India from admitting medical students and subsequently appealed before the Allahabad High Court and .

The complaint also questioned Justice Misra's denial of permission to the CBI to register a case against Justice Narayan Shukla of the Allahabad High Court in the Prasad Education Trust matter.

Bhushan's second charge against Justice Misra dealt with the "alleged misuse of his administrative powers by ignoring the clear principle of conflict of interest and proceeding with hearing of a petition for an independent inquiry by a former CJI into the irregularities in the Prasad Education Trust matter".

After hearing the petition himself, Justice Misra nullified the order of another bench of Justice Chelameswar who had ordered the matter to be listed before five senior Judges of the . The CJI constituted a three-Judge bench to hear the petition which later dismissed the plea filed by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms.

Bhushan alleged that Justice Misra "conducted a serious act of forgery by ante-dating an administrative order dated November 6, 2017".

The Supreme Court advocate also alleged that "Justice Misra as lawyer acquired land for a fodder farm in Odisha by furnishing a false affidavit". Later, the land deal was cancelled by a local Magistrate in 1985 but Justice Misra surrendered the land in 2012 after he was elevated to the Supreme Court.

The 24-page complaint read: "The abovementioned matters have tarnished the reputation of the court and have brought the judiciary into disrepute. It is a matter which needs to be swiftly dealt with."

"The inquiry must be swiftly done so that the reputation of the judiciary is not damaged further and its integrity and independence remains intact."
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Tuesday reached out to the four senior-most judges of the in a bid to defuse the unprecedented row over the allocation of cases and other issues amid fresh hopes of a resolution by the weekend.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the implementation of information technology for the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has raised concerns over the increase in shortfall in average revenue for states under the GST regime. This, coupled with subdued collections under the composition scheme, indicated that traders may be continuing to evade taxes or under-report revenues.
By May, when the present government enters the last year of its current tenure, the countrys oil and gas sector will be seeing new policies fructifying on the ground.
Those hiding unaccounted income in banks in Singapore will come under the scanner of Indian authorities, with New Delhi soon getting information of all accounts opened in the country since 2008.
The Union government is holding talks to increase foreign investment limits in private sector banks to 100%, from 74% at present. It is also considering a hike in the foreign investment cap for public sector banks (PSBs), from 20% to 49%, a top government official said.
Gujarat International Finance Tec-City Company Limited (Gift) said on Wednesday that a host of regulatory changes will bring Indias first international financial services centre on a par with such well-established centres in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The government has announced that it is reducing additional borrowing to Rs 200.00 billion from Rs 500.00 billion earlier, in the current financial year (FY18), signalling to markets and experts about the Centres commitment to fiscal consolidation.
The government expects Indus Food  an international food and beverage trade show starting Thursday to generate $1.5-$2 billion worth of business, help in doubling farmers income by 2022 and generating captive markets for Indian food exports.
Online retail giant Amazon says it has been able to grow the base of sellers on its platform by a little over 130,000 in the past one year, thanks to the success of its seasonal sales and roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST).
Accompanying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his ongoing visit to India, Foreign Trade Administration Head Ohad Cohen, Israel, tells Subhayan Chakraborty that a bilateral investment pact may be concluded soon. He says Israel has no issues with the current rules of allowing international arbitration to companies only after exhausting all domestic legal options. However, the talks on the trade pact are stuck on market access issues. Edited Excerpts:
The of India was thrown in a crisis when four senior Justices of the SC addressed a press conference and expressed apprehensions about how the SC was run. The main issue raised by the four judges was about the allocation of cases in the SC. In this Business Standard Special, Sanjay Hegde and Pranjal Kishore take a closer look at the issue.

On May 7, 1997, the of India adopted a Charter called the Restatement of Values of Judicial Life. This was to serve as a guide to be observed by Judges and was considered essential for an independent, strong and respected judiciary. The charter advises Judges to be aloof, and not enter public debate or give interviews to the media.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard.
Fourteenth Meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-Linking of Rivers held today Shri Nitin Gadkari calls upon states to cooperate with one another and with the centre to expedite projects for interlinking of rivers Also says rehabilitation of displaced persons must be fully ensured

Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has called upon state govenments to cooperate with one another and with the centre to expedite the projects for interlinking of rivers. He was addressing the fourteenth meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers in New Delhi today. Shri Gadkari stressed upon the need to design better technical models that aimed at bringing down construction cost while maintaining quality, so that projects do not languish for want of funds. He also called upon state governments to explore new financing models including low-interest loans from foreign agencies.

Shri Gadkari said that inter-linking of rivers will bring a big social economic change in the country, and usher in prosperity in many regions that are poorly developed today. He said if we are able to save the enormous amounts of river water that gets lost to the seas as run-off, and are able to divert this to water deficit regions, we can solve the problem of water scarcity that exists in several states today.

The Minister however added that while implementing the river interlinking projects the rehabilitation of displaced persons must be fully ensured. He said he is pained to see a large number of DPs still awaiting rehabilitation at various project sites which have been completed long back.

In order to resolve issues related to various projects Shri Gadkari said that clusters of states will be made and MoS Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal will soon visit states and hold meetings for on the spot discussion with the concerned state government on the various pending issues. Referring to the funding of various ILR projects Shri Gadkari said the time has come when we have look for innovative funding mechanisms for these projects. He urged state governments to come forward with definite funding proposals which can be taken up with foreign funding agencies. Shri Gadkari said his Ministry will provide all help to the states for this.

Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Dharam Pal Singh, Irrigation Minister of UP, Shri T Harish Rao, Irrigation Minister of Telangana and Senior officials from the centre and state governments attended the meeting.

The meeting confirmed the minutes of the 13th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers held on July 27, 2017 at New Delhi. It also reviewed the follow-up action on the decisions taken during the last meeting.

The other issues taken up included the status of clearance of Ken-Betwa Link Project, Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Projects. The meeting was informed that the clearances for Ken-Betwa Link Project have been given and MoU is likely to be signed soon. For the other two projects also all major issues have been resolved. Other topics that were discussed include Surplus Water in River Basin for Interlinking of Rivers, Status of Intra-State link proposals, Restructuring of National Water Development Agency, Constitution of Group of Financial Aspects under TFILR, Consideration of inter-linking of rivers (ILR) projects as National project and Alternative proposal of Diversion of Godavari water upto Cauvery basin (Phase-I).
Modi Govt brought Space technology to every Indian household: Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh delivered the Keynote address at the International Space Conference of Geospatial World Forum" in Hyderabad today. Addressing the conference he complemented Team ISRO for having placed India as a front-line leader in the community of world nations while in the last three years, the use of diverse applications of space technology to carry forward the Modi Government's infrastructural and transformational programmes has brought space technology to the doorstep of every Indian household.

The minister said that it is primarily the personal indulgence, intervention and patronage provided by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi which has made space technology an essential part of Modis Transforming India" mission, which will finally culminate in the building of New India". It was at the behest of Prime Minister that perhaps, the first-of-its-kind, extended brain-storming interaction was held between space scientists and the representatives of different Ministries and Departments in Government of India, in order to understand the areas where space technology could be put into use.

In the last 3 years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Team ISRO and the Department of Space have finalised effective MoUs with a host of Ministries, including Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare etc.

Space Technology today is playing a crucial role in carrying forward a number of flagship programmes of the Modi Government, including Smart City programme, Urban and Housing schemes, guarding of unmanned railway crossings, Geo-tagging of MNREGA, procurement of Utilization Certificates of roads and other projects, agricultural soil testing, he added.
MoS, Textiles inaugurates 60th edition of India International Garment Fair

The 60th edition of India International Garment Fair (IIGF) was inaugurated today by Minister of State for Textiles, Shri Ajay Tamta, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Addressing the audience, the Minister said that garment sector is one of the largest providers of employment. He said that IIGF is a big platform which brings together overseas garment buyers and garment exporters, with almost half of Indian states participating in the fair. Shri Tamta said that the textile package announced by the Honble Prime Minister has been benefitting the sector immensely. Recalling that business worth US $200 million was conducted in the previous edition, the Minister extended his best wishes to all participating buyers and exporters.

The three-day international fair is being held at Hall Nos. 11, 12 & 12A at Pragati Maidan; the current edition caters primarily to the Autumn/Winter season of European Union, USA and other Western markets.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman, AEPC, Mr. H. K.

L Magu expressed satisfaction at the huge transformation the fair and the industry has witnessed in recent years. He said that the fair has grown in scale and scope and has emerged as one of the largest and most popular platforms in Asia, where overseas garment buyers can source products and forge business relationships with Indias finest players in Apparel and Fashion Accessories.
Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today dedicated to the nation, the iCREATE facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. iCreate is an independent Centre created with the objective of facilitating entrepreneurship through a blend of creativity, innovation, engineering, product design and leveraging emerging technologies to deal with major issues such as food security, water, connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics, energy, bio-medical equipment and devices etc. iCreate aims to develop an ecosystem in India to generate quality entrepreneurs.

The two leaders visited various stalls that highlighted technologies and innovations across diverse fields.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said that innovation has a key role to play in bringing the people of India and Israel, closer to each other. He said the entire world has taken note of the technological prowess and creativity of Israel.

He said the youth of India has energy and enthusiasm. What the youth needs is a bit of encouragement and institutional support, he added.

The Prime Minister said that the Government is working to make the entire system innovation-friendly, so that intent can generate ideas; ideas lead to innovation; and innovation helps create a New India.

He said that the first pre-requisite of success is courage.

He congratulated the courageous youth who are engaged in innovative activities at iCreate.
PM Modi, Israeli PM Netanyahu visit Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad

Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today visited the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Vadrad in Sabarkantha District of Gujarat.

They were briefed on various achievements of the Centre. They also inaugurated through video link, the Centre of Excellence for date palms at Kukama in Kutch district. They interacted with farmers from Kutch district.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi said that Israel has shown the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core. He said it is important to use technology in the agriculture sector. He outlined how India is working towards doubling farmers' incomes by 2022. He said it is important to devote attention to irrigation and innovative methods of farming.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Raksha Mantri takes to Skies in an IAF Su-30 MKI

After her recent visit to INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, on her visit to Air Force Station Jodhpur, took to the skies in the formidable Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft of 31 Squadron. In her 45 minutes of sortie, she was demonstrated some of the unique characteristics and strengths of this mighty twin engine Air Superiority Fighter (ASF). She is the first woman Defence Minister of India to fly a sortie in an IAF Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft.

To gauge the operational capability and preparedness of the defence forces, the Raksha Mantri has been visiting various establishments of the Armed Forces.

These visits go a long way in enhancing the motivation of the defence personnel as they get an opportunity to personally interact with the RM herself.
Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is leading the Indian delegation to 10th Global Forum for Food & Agriculture, Berlin, Germany from 18th -20th January 2018

Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is leading the Indian delegation to 10th Global Forum for Food & Agriculture from 18-20 January, 2018 which includes the 10th Berlin Agriculture Ministers Conference.

The theme of this years event is Shaping the future of livestock sustainably, responsibly, efficiently". The discussions will focus on sustainable and productive animal production among other issues.

Bilateral meetings with counterparts of Germany, Uzbekistan and Argentina are proposed on the sideline of GFFA to discuss issues to further enhance cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.

About Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA)

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is an international conference that focuses on central questions concerning the future of the global agri-food industry. It is held during International Green Week (IGW) and will be taking place in its current shape for the eighth time. The forum gives representatives from the worlds of politics, business, science and civil society an opportunity to share ideas and enhance understanding on a selected topic of current agricultural policy. The GFFA is organised by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMEL) in cooperation with GFFA Berlin e. V., the Senate of Berlin and Messe Berlin GmbH.

Specific aspects of the GFFAs main theme will be explored in more detail in different event formats. The opening event in 2018 will outline the key issue and explain how it will be addressed by the various GFFA events.

The main events are the Berlin Agriculture Ministers Conference hosted by the BMEL, and the International Business Panel Discussion hosted by GFFA Berlin e. V.
Simplified Make-II: Major Steps Towards Make in India in Defence Production

As a major boost to Make in India in Defence, the Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, in its meeting on 16 January 2018, has cleared a simplified Make-II procedure which will enable greater participation of industry in acquisition of defence equipment. This process will greatly help import substitution and promote innovative solutions. This simplified Make-II procedure will amend the existing Make Procedure in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016.

The revised procedure has been finalized after a series of consultations held with industry. The salient features of the new Make-II procedure include the following:

The industry can suggest projects, especially among those items which are currently being imported. Start-ups or individuals can also suggest proposals. Service Headquarters will also list out a series of projects which can be undertaken as Make-II projects under the new procedure.

The potential Make-II projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising of DRDO, HQ (IDS), Department of Defence under a committee chaired by Secretary (Defence Production). Based on the in-principle approval agreed by this committee, the projects will be hosted on Ministry of Defence/Department of Defence Productions website inviting industry to participate.

There will be no limit to the number of industry who may respond to the EoI for development of the prototype subject to meeting the minimum qualification criteria. The design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks is granted to industry to offer the prototypes.

There is no limit to the number of industry players who may show interest and offer prototype.

After this period, a commercial RFP will be issued. Once the RFP is issued, it shall not be retracted. The industry who wins the bid, is assured of an order.

Service Headquarter (SHQ) will constitute a Project Facilitation Team for facilitating the process under this procedure.

The case will be progressed even if there is single entity offering an innovative solution.

The industry who develops the product will retain the title and ownership and all other rights in intellectual property. However, for some specified reasons like National Security, Government shall have March-in rights.

Normally, there shall be no negotiations by Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) in multi-vendor contracts.

Make-II procedure reduces the total time from in-principle approval to placing of order by 50 percent. The estimated time to finish the whole process has come down to 69 to 103 weeks.

Projects involving developmental cost of less than three crores will be reserved for MSME.

NAo/Rajib
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh releases the coffee table book on mass embryo transfer Shri Radha Mohan Singh today launched a Coffee table book on mass embryo transfer by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries. Shri Singh also launched software to collect data for 20th Livestock Census. A Vision-2022 document, prepared on the basis of National Action Plan on Dairy Development, was also released by the Agriculture Minister.

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that India has 30 crore Bovines, which is 18 percent of the Bovine population of the world. He further said that through traditional and scientific knowledge, and after years of hard work, today we have 42 breeds of cattle, along with Yak and Mithun, and 13 breeds of buffaloes. The Minister was speaking at release function of coffee table book on Mass embryo transfer by Department Of Animal Husbandry, Dairy, and Fisheries (DADF) in Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

The Minister also launched software to collect data for 20th livestock Census and said as the part of Honble Prime Ministers Digital India initiative, computer tablets will be used for 20th Livestock Census. This software will have all the tools to prepare analytical reports and real-time monitoring of census operation.

He said that central government has set the target of doubling farmers income in the next 5 years and dairy sector will play a significant role in achieving the same. DADF has prepared an Action Plan on Dairy Development to achieve this target. A Vision 2022 document, prepared on the basis of National Action Plan, was also launched by the Minister. The document includes an outline for dairy development, recommends measures to double the farmers income, and also focuses on ways and means of making milk and milk products pure and safe.

The Minister said that for the conservation and enhancement, a new scheme called Rashtriya Gokul Mission was launched in December 2014.

Also, National Mission on Bovine Productivity was started in November 2016 to increase production and productivity of bovine population in the country. He said DADF started many collective schemes for the growth of Indigenous breeds under Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not chose negotiations.
The threat of large-scale cyberattacks and a deteriorating geopolitical landscape since the election of US President Donald Trump have jumped to the top of the global elites list of concerns, the said ahead of its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered a sobering assessment about the possibility of war with North Korea, saying advances in that countrys nuclear program meant the situation was very tenuous.
Leading economists from France and Germany on Wednesday weighed into the politically heated debate about making the more resilient against future crises by calling for new fiscal rules and the creation of a virtual euro area "safe asset".

The proposals are meant to bridge German demands for more fiscal discipline and France's insistence on more risk-sharing as Paris and Berlin try to inject new momentum into their stalled European Union reform efforts.

The question of how to improve governance of the 19-member single currency bloc will also be discussed when Germany's acting Finance Minister Peter Altmaier welcomes the Eurogroup's new president, Mario Centeno, for talks in Berlin on Wednesday.

Altmaier, one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's closest allies, will then travel to Paris for talks with his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire on Thursday.

In their 33-page reform paper, the 14 economists from France and Germany call for an overhaul of euro area fiscal rules, the creation of an independent fiscal watchdog and a joint fund as well as a new synthetic euro area "safe asset" that offers investors an alternative to sovereign bonds.

It would effectively be a derivative of weighted sovereigns.

"Implementing these reforms would be a game-changer for the euro zone, significantly improving its financial stability, political cohesion and potential for delivering prosperity to its citizens, all while addressing the priorities and concerns of the participating countries," the economists said.

"Our leaders should not settle for less," said the experts, including Ifo institute president Clemens Fuest and Jean Pisani-Ferry, a former adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron.

The economists want to replace current fiscal rules, focused on the structural deficit and a three percent limit, by an expenditure rule and a long-term debt-reduction target.

"A rule of this type is both less error-prone than the present rules and more effective in stabilising economic cycles, since cyclical changes in revenue do not need to be offset by changes in expenditure," the group said.

They recommended that compliance with the new fiscal rules should be monitored by national watchdogs which would be supervised by an independent institution.

The idea of a synthetic euro zone bond is likely to draw a rebuff from Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives who are sceptical about creating new tools for more risk-sharing.

But the economists insisted that introducing such assets in parallel with a regulation on limiting sovereign concentration risk would help "smooth the transition away from excessive concentration on home-country government bonds".

Merkel's conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats last week agreed on the blueprint for a governing coalition. The draft raises the prospect of an "investment budget" for the single currency bloc, a nod to Macron's call for a budget to help the euro zone cope with external economic shocks.

It also calls for the ESM bailout mechanism to be turned into a full-blown European Monetary Fund under parliamentary control and anchored in EU law.
President Donald Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon declined on Tuesday to comply with a subpoena ordering him to answer questions from a House intelligence panel about his time at the White House as part of its investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election.
A Hong Kong court on Wednesday sentenced an activist to three months in prison for obstruction of justice during pro-democracy protests in 2014.

Joshua Wong, the youngest and best known leader of the so-called "Umbrella Revolution", would be going back to prison for failing to clear an area in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district that had been taken over by protesters in November 2014, Efe news reported.

"They can lock up our bodies, but they can't lock up our minds," said Wong, moments before appearing in court.

The 21-year-old activist, along with 15 others, had admitted to disobeying the judicial order which asked them to lift the blockade of streets which had lasted 79 days.

Another activist, Raphael Wong, was sentenced to four and a half months in prison for the protests which opposed China's policies in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the country.

After the sentence, both activists had sought a suspension of the sentence, hoping to file an appeal against it.

The verdict in Joshua Wong's case came a day after the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal postponed its decision in another case against Wong and other leaders over protests.

The court extended the bail of Wong, along with two others, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, in the case and postponed its verdict on appeals filed by them against prison sentences imposed last year for their role in the widespread protests.

All three were sentenced to community service in 2016 for their role in the demonstrations and for clashing with the police in front of the Chief Executive's office and the Parliament during the Umbrella Revolution.

A petition by the Hong Kong government, which considered the punishments "too lenient", led to a new ruling on August 17, which sentenced the leaders to between six and eight months in prison.

The protests were one of the biggest expressions of dissent against China's policies in the region in the last few decades.
The Trump administration has no qualms admitting immigrants who are skilled, employed and can speak English, a top official has said, while giving insight into what its merit-based system would look like.

Such individuals could be from any part of the world given that they fulfil the requirements, the official said.

If such a policy is developed and implemented, it could benefit individuals from countries like India, the majority of whom meet the criterion.

The Trump administration wants to reform the immigration system to serve the US' national interest, the official said.

"..And so, our position, is that a system that prioritise individuals based on their individual skills and merit will certainly produce better results than the system we have now," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"We want to bring in individuals, wherever they may be from, who love this country, who love its people, who have skills, who have talent, who have -- who speak English, who are committed to supporting our values and our very way of life," said the official.

The official said some of the existing programmes for immigrants ignored such requirements which are important for individuals to succeed in the US.

"So, what we have with the Diversity Lottery Program or through chain migration is that in these cases there are identified examples of individuals who were not selected to come to the US based on their love of this country, skills, merit, and individual attributes that will lead them to their success," the official said.

"We would like to admit individuals from all backgrounds or any place in the world, based on their own individual merit and their likelihood of success, into the US," the official said.

The admission of any foreign national who goes on to commit a terrorism-related offense or who conspires to support terrorists is simply an unacceptable outcome for the US, no matter what, the official said.

"Our goal is to eliminate terrorism in all of its forms, wherever it may emanate from," the official said.
1. This person a scientist who served both at Carnegie Mellon and Stanford said, Speech is something that is ubiquitous to humankind, what I didnt know was that it was going to be a lifetime problem. I thought it was a class project. He launched the __ project which according to the tech world is essentially Apples Siri in its most embryonic form. Name him and the project he began.



The Indian computer scientist D Raj Reddy started the Hearsay project in the late 60s that dealt with artificial intelligence (AI). He is a winner of the Turing Award and is considered one of the early pioneers of AI and has served on the faculty of Stanford and Carnegie Mellon for over 40 years





2. This consumer brand is the first one to feature a recipe on its packaging. Name the brand and what was the recipe for.
The is not able to utilise increased order enquiries due to a 30-40 per cent rise in the cost of iron ore in the last few months. This comes at a time when the industry is trying to recover from the effects of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax.
While most of the worlds institutional investors watched from the sidelines as cryptocurrencies surged last year, a small group of hedge fund managers piled in.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) hit a 52-week low of Rs 846, down 6% on BSE in intra-day trade after the company reported 45% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 188 million in December 2017 quarter (Q3FY18). It had a profit of Rs 340 million in the same quarter last fiscal.
A sharp rally in banking stocks saw the benchmark top the 35,000-mark for the first time, while the 50-share Nifty inched towards 10,800 on Wednesday. Benchmark indices gained close to one per cent as investor sentiment got a boost amid cooling of bond yields after the government announced a cut in additional market borrowing for the current financial year.
hits a 52-week high of Rs 166, up 7%, extending its Tuesdays 9% surge on BSE, after the company said that it awarded a multiyear technical support contract by African Regional lntellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) Harare, Zimbabwe.
Heavy firing is underway here in RS Pura sector since 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the sector said on Thursday.

"The firing was initiated by Pakistan since 11 p.m. on Wednesday, in which one Border Security Force (BSF) personnel was killed and another one injured. The firing is still underway," RS Pura sector SDM Naresh Kumar told ANI.

Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) here on Wednesday night.

This comes less than two days after four Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Indian Army in the cross-border firing initiated by the former in Poonch sector.

On a related note, three civilians have been reportedly been injured in the fresh round of firing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday seized demonetised currency notes estimated to be worth Rs 1 billion in Kanpur.

However, the counting is on to ascertain the exact amount of money.

The raid was conducted in Kanpur's Seesamau pocket.

"We received information of the presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur. A raid was conducted by teams of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Income Tax (IT) department officials. A final amount has not been ascertained as search and counting is underway. We are interrogating the people involved," A.K. Meena, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) told ANI.

The police refused to disclose details about the accused involved.

An interrogation is underway by the IT department officials.

Further details are awaited.
Four more Chinese nationals were recently arrested for their alleged involvement in the ATM skimming frauds in Karachi.

The police arrested the Chinese nationals in two separate raids in Defence Housing Authority and Bahadurabad after they were caught red-handed on Sunday withdrawing cash from the ATMs with forged cards.

Several blank ATM cards and millions of cash were also seized during the raids.

The News International quoted Clifton Division SP Dr Assad Malhi as saying that a mobile patrol team, in the pre-dawn hours, spotted five foreigners involved in suspicious activities around DHA Phase-II area's ATMs.

He added that the foreigners attempted to flee when the police tried to question them but officers managed to detain three of them.

The senior police official further said that the police found nearly 350 master ATM cards and Rs 2.3 million in cash from the school bags the arrested Chinese nationals were carrying.

Another Chinese national was also arrested by the police in Bahadurabad for ATM skimming fraud.

The ATM hacking through installed skimmers, devices that steal ATM card data has been reported in the country.

Last week, two Chinese nationals were also arrested for the ATM skimming fraud.

According to an estimate, there are nearly 400,000 Chinese people living in Pakistan, with a large number of professionals involved in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 15 terrorists hailing from Tajikistan have been killed and 11 others injured in a series of airstrikes carried out in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.

The Khaama Press quoted the 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan Military, as saying, in a statement on Tuesday that the Afghan Air Force conducted the airstrikes against the terrorists' hideouts in Jurm district using the A-29 planes.

No group has commented on the incident so far.

Earlier in August last year, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah had said that terrorists will be eliminated from Badakhshan province in the near future after he held a meeting with senior security officials.

He had also called on insurgents to join the peace process and said that they will be eliminated if they refused to join the peace process.

The meeting was attended by the Defense and Interior ministers, the NDS chief, the deputy head of NATO's Resolute Support mission and MPs from Badakhshan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin came to Woody Allen's defense on Twitter after several actors expressed regret for working with the iconic filmmaker.

In a string of tweets, the 'Saturday Night Live' star shared his thoughts about actors speaking out about allegations that Allen molested his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow.

The actor, who has worked with Woody in 'Blue Jasmine' and 'To Rome With Love,' slammed the re-emergence of sexual-abuse allegations against the director, writing, "accusing people of such crimes should be treated carefully."

He wrote, "Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed. The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But it's unfair and sad to me. I worked with WA 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career."

Baldwin argues that sexual abuse complaints should never be dismissed, but he said accusations should also be "treated carefully."

"Is it possible to support survivors of pedophilia and sexual assault/abuse and also believe that WA is innocent? I think so. The intention is not to dismiss or ignore such complaints. But accusing people of such crimes should be treated carefully. On behalf of the victims, as well," noted Baldwin.

Baldwin's comments arrive after more actors have expressed regret over working with Allen.

Timothee Chalamet announced on Instagram that he will be donating his salary from his work on the upcoming Allen film A Rainy Day in New York to three charities - Time's Up, the LGBT Center in New York and RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Hall also announced she would donate her salary from the film to Time's Up last week.

Allen's estranged daughter, Dylan Farrow, renewed molestation allegations against him in 2014, claiming that the filmmaker sexually assaulted her after he and actress Mia Farrow adopted her when she was 7.

Allen, vehemently denied the claims, was investigated but never prosecuted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
AxisRooms, the leading hotel channel manager and full suite hotel technology provider, has completed integration with Goomo, an online travel agent for ramping up its hotel .

The two way XML interface allows mutual customer hotels to update rate and availability on the online booking channel and receive reservations in their PMS in real-time.

Goomo is the latest addition to the AxisRooms Distribution Ecosystem that connects hotels to over 50 online distribution channels. Recent player in Indian OTA space, Goomo has already ramped up its position in top five for airlines and looking to make a impact in the hotels too.

"We have many firsts in AxisRooms partnerships and again we are the first partner to Goomo on the Hotel Supply connect, a continuation of our effort to offer quality connections to diverse range of distribution options through the AxisRooms Distribution Ecosystem," said co-founder and COO, AxisRooms, Ravi Taneja.

"We are happy to have completed our integration with AxisRooms which is one of the most established hotel channel management and Hotel technology suite in the industry. This partnership provides us the opportunity to expand our visibility to the wider network of accommodation offering through AxisRooms's hotel ecosystem while at the same time provide hotels with connected solutions," said CEO Goomo, Varun Gupta.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The police arrested a doctor of Bhopal's Kasturba Hospital for allegedly molesting a trainee nurse.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Sunil Kumar was arrested on Tuesday, wherein the nurse alleged that he forced her to get intimate with him in order to get her trainee letter sanctioned.

She also alleged that the accused used to send her lewd messages on WhatsApp and call her to his cabin and touch her inappropriately.

Kumar has been arrested under Section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the wake of the recent ceasefire violation that has taken place along the Line of Control (LoC), cross-border trade has been hampered, thus detrimentally impacting traders here.

Following the constant mortar shelling in the region, traders say gates have not been opened for trade for two days, thus causing fresh produce to go stale due to lack of adequate storage facility.

"Both yesterday and today, gates have not been opened for trade following the ceasefire violation and mortar shelling which took place. Due to this, our products, which are stored in the trucks, is rotting. We have not been provided any parking space for our vehicles either. All this has led to our sales being badly affected," Kamaljeet, a trader, told ANI.

While the purpose of this temporary trade halt is to ensure the security of the citizens, traders suggest that with sales being hampered, proportional reimbursement should be provided to them.

"Security of our people is most important. For this, we have temporarily suspended trade. We are hopeful of trade to resume tomorrow," said Tariq Ahmed Zargar, Nodal Officer of Cross LoC Trade and Travel.

On Tuesday, at least four Pakistani soldiers were killed by the army in the cross-border firing initiated by the former.

In lieu of this, the transport authorities suspended the scheduled run of the cross LoC bus services between Poonch and Rawalakot due to the ceasefire violation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday assured to provide broadband connectivity at all time in just Rs. 149.

Naidu was speaking in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnership summit 2018 in Taj Mahal Hotel in the capital.

"Now I can say proudly that in every home I can give broadband connectivity. 300 channels, video, free telephones and WiFi can be connected in Rs. 149. This kind of facility isn't available anywhere in the world," Naidu said while addressing the CII Partnership Summit.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu was also part of the event.

Naidu is also scheduled to meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later in the day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will reach Delhi today at 2.30 pm.

Naidu will participate in the curtain raiser ceremony of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnership summit 2018 along with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu at 3.00 pm to 5:00 pm in Taj Mahal Hotel in the capital.

The Chief Minister is also scheduled to meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later in the day.

Visakhapatnam too is getting ready to host the third successive CII partnership summit next month and the State Government is confident of a very enthusiastic response to the summit from Indian investors and those from abroad.

The summit is to be held for three days from February 24.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is on a 10-day visit to Australia, met with the businessmen and investors in Melbourne on Wednesday.

During his meet, Raman Singh briefed the investors about the possible business and industrial opportunities in Chhattisgarh, adding that the state is rich in mineral wealth.

Companies like BlueScope Steel and Worley Parsons have expressed their desire to invest in the state, said Chief Minister Raman Singh in a series of tweets.

"Discussed avenues of potential partnership between core sector players of Chhattisgarh & @WorleyParsons , Australia's leading Engineering Company. Convinced Mr John Schepis, their Global Sector Leader Infrastructure, to plan a visit to Chhattisgarh to explore synergy. Today met Mr Ian Cummin & Mr Alec Highnam, the leadership team of BlueScope Steel in Melbourne and explained to them the investment opportunities in steel sector of Chhattisgarh. Mr Ian agreed to visit Chhattisgarh to first hand explore the core sector ecosystem of our state," read his tweets.

Raman Singh, during his visit, met Bruce Atkinson, President, Legislative Council of Victoria, Indian High Commissioner A M Gondane and other officials. His visit ends on January 24.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday urged the opposition parties not to politicise the recent rape cases in Haryana.

"The incidents that took place over the last few days are condemnable. We will take strict actions in these cases. We have directed the police to investigate the matter as soon as possible. We have changed Jhansa village's SHO and three high-level officers. I appeal all the opposition parties not to do in such cases," Khattar told ANI.

The chief minister also said that his government runs centralised police control rooms so that women can reach out to police in emergency situations.

"We started 'Dial 100 Project', will also begin '1090 Project' so women in danger can immediately contact police. We will look into matters, take help of counseling or legal action as the need be. We've set up special courts for speedy trials of such cases," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, former Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had said that 'lawlessness' and lack of 'leadership' are the foremost reasons for the spike in crime in the state.

Haryana has witnessed four brutal rape cases in January so far.
With mobile data traffic surging by eight times and one billion 5G subscriptions expected by the end of 2023, it has become imperative for mobile operators to meet consumer and enterprise demand for applications such as 4K/8K video streaming, virtual reality/augmented reality, and immersive media.

This expected growth puts out a strong call for indoor coverage, which cannot be easily addressed by outdoor radio deployments, as modern building materials can block outdoor radio signals.

World leader in communications technology, Ericsson is meeting this challenge by introducing the 5G Radio Dot, a small cell radio designed to satisfy the advanced indoor mobile broadband performance requirements demanded by 5G.

Building on the elegant design of previous generations, the 5G Radio Dot takes less than half the time to install compared to other indoor solutions, and will support the new 5G mid-bands (3-6GHz) with speeds up to 2Gbps.

"Adding small cell solutions to our 5G portfolio is a natural part of the network evolution. Enterprises have been asking for first-rate connectivity indoors, as well as higher speeds and capacity to serve advanced use cases that cannot be addressed by traditional indoor systems. Our 5G portfolio, bolstered by small cells, will enable operators to meet these demands," said head of product area network infrastructure, Ericsson, Nishant Batra.

"Now that first 5G standards are here, vendors are going to need multiple radio solutions to help operators roll out their new 5G networks. Ericsson takes an important initial step in this direction by adding indoor small cell 5G solutions to its already existing outdoor 5G RAN portfolio. This new indoor solution from Ericsson is going to be attractive for operators wanting to offer enterprises good indoor performance for enhanced mobile broadband and new industrial applications that can't be met by Wi-Fi or 5G base stations deployed outdoors," said practice leader Ovum, Daryl Schoolar.

As a natural evolution of the Ericsson Radio Dot System, operators will be able to deploy 5G Radio Dot next to 4G solutions using the same cabling infrastructure, same network architecture and dot locations.

This innovative small cell solution provides a simple upgrade path for existing Radio Dot System deployments, adding 5G capabilities. It is easy to add frequency, capacity, and technologies.

"The Ericsson Radio Dot System is already widely deployed in our 4G networks. As an innovative small cell solution, it further enhances our indoor solutions and will continue to play a key role in the 5G era. We're happy to see Ericsson evolving the Radio Dot to 5G technology," said deputy head of China Mobile Research Institute, Huang Yuhong.

"Our users enjoy excellent indoor coverage in thousands of buildings in China, including shopping malls, thanks to Ericsson Radio Dot solution. As a scalable system, it enables us to meet the growing demand for seamless indoor connectivity. It is great to see Ericsson evolve the solution to 5G as we prepare for the next-generation mobile technology," said director of wireless department, China Unicom Network Research Institute, Feng Yi.

The Radio Dot System has been successfully deployed for many indoor applications used in large areas such as office buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, and airports.

Over time, the small cell solution will also support 5G industrial applications from connected factories to more extreme cases such as connected mining.

Ericsson is a pioneer on this front.

Its collaboration with Boliden shows how Radio Dot technology can improve safety and efficiency through the remote control of machines that keep people out of the most dangerous areas of the mine at the most dangerous times.

The 5G Radio Dot will undergo trials in late 2018 and will be commercially available in 2019.

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A former United States diplomat has called for designating Pakistan as a "state sponsor of terrorism" and said Islamabad's status as a major non-NATO ally for the U.S. should also be taken way.

"We should begin the process of designating Pakistan as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' and to take away its status as a major non-NATO ally for us," former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad told ANI here.

He also said the Trump administration was open for more cooperation with India on fighting the terrorism.

"India is an important rising power .It is good for the India is becoming powerful. We should support them and get others to cooperate on the cause," he said.

Khalilzad, who has also been the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, termed Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's statement over Mumbai attack mastermind and global terrorist Hafiz Saeed as very alarming.

Abbasi had earlier said that there was no case registered against Saeed in Islamabad and without it, action cannot be initiated against anyone.

"The time has come for the to cooperate and India needs to take a leading role with us in orchestrating a global response on Pakistan to take concrete actions," he added.

The former diplomat also asserted the on the need to impose travel and financial restrictions on individuals and states who support and have connections with terrorism.

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The Bhoiwada Court on Wednesday has sent four of the accused in Kamala Mills fire case - co-owner of Mojo's Bistro Yug Pathak and owners of 1Above pub Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar - to judicial custody till January 31.

The decision was taken by the court as their police custody was getting over today.

During the hearing, a defence lawyer objected to the police custody of the accused, saying that all grounds to seek police custody are identical to the previous remand application.

The lawyer of Pathak said: "They were already in police custody since the last 11 days, so the court should consider to not send them to the police custody anymore".

Another defence lawyer, representing the owners of 1 Above restro-bar argued that every issue had been investigated from all angles and that the extension of police custody was not required.

"All the reports related to the incident are already in public domain. All our premises have been already sealed. There is nothing required to be seized. No statement of concerned persons remains to be recorded, so why the police custody is needed", said the 1 Above defence lawyer.

In addition, the four accused filed their respective bail applications, which will be heard on January 22.

However, a victim in the Kamala Mill fire, named Rakesh Lakdawala, opposed the bail pleas of the accused.

Earlier, Mumbai police had arrested one of the owners of 1Above resto bar, Abhijeet Mankar.

On January 6, 1Above was found to have flouted the fire safety measures issued by the Mumbai Fire Brigade, which led to the fire on December 29.

Yug Pathak, one of the owners of Mojo's Bistro and the son of former Pune police commissioner K.K Pathak, has also been arrested in the case.

Around 14 people were killed and 12 suffered critical injuries in the massive fire that broke out at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel locality here in the wee hours of December 29, 2017.

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The Haryana Police on Wednesday assured of strict and rapid action on the murder a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district.

The boy went missing from Jhansa village under mysterious circumstances on January 9. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar.

"We're investigating and scanning all CCTV cameras in the area. All people related to the case are being interrogated. After we receive Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, we can make a further comment," R.C. Mishra, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Ambala Range told ANI.

"It's part of society. Such incidents have been taking place since forever. Role of police is to probe, nab criminal and prove things. We're leaving no stone unturned to do that. We must work to stop such incidents from recurring," he added.

Earlier in the day, one of the suspected accused in Jind rape and murder case was found dead in Kurukshetra, following which two Special Investigation Team (SITs) were constituted to trace the culprits and investigate the matter.

The 15-year-old girl, who was missing since last Tuesday after she left home for tuition classes, was found near a canal at Budha Khera village in Jind district's Safidon town.

Meanwhile, Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police (SP), Abhishek Garg told media, "On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death".

Last week, the 15-year-old girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday asserted that India could not be a mere spectator of China's rise, adding under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, India was seeking a bigger role at the world stage.

"India cannot be a spectator or mere participant when China is marching ahead. New Marshall plans are being drawn up for resources. India has given up its strategic reticence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to emerge as a major global power. India can no longer remain a reticent nation in regional and global politics," he said while addressing a gathering at third annual Raisina Dialogue in Delhi.

In his address, he also said the nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was emerging as a global power by shedding its strategic reticence over playing on the world stage.

"India has to reorient its strategy from west-ward thinking to east-ward approach, from continental thinking to maritime outlook. India has given up its strategic reticence under Prime Minister Modi to emerge as a major global power. We believe we have all the qualities of being a world power," he said.

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A group of 14 Indian pilgrims met with a road accident wherein one died and others suffered injuries, in Nawalparasi district of Nepal on Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, the tractor they were travelling in met with an accident on the Binayi Triveni Village Municipality-6 near the Tatiya River.

The tractor was coming from Gorakhpur, in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was hosting a group of Indian pilgrims to Tribeni Dham of Nepal for the "Maghe Aunsi".

District Traffic Police Inspector Lakshman Bahadur Shahi told ANI, "The deceased was driving the tractor. He has been identified as Sadhu Kebat, a resident of Gorakhpur."

"Out of the injured, the condition of two people is critical. All the injured are residents of Gorakhpur," he informed over the phone.

Thousands of Indian pilgrims come to Nepal's Tribeni Dham on the day of Maghe Aunsi every year.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that with the help of technology and advanced Science, Israel has brought revolution in the agriculture sector.

"With the help of technology and advanced Science, Israel has brought revolution in the sector of agriculture. We are all aware of the strides, Israel has made in agriculture, including when it comes to managing water resources and irrigation. Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing the gathering at Vadrad in the presence of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Prime Minister stated the Centre was working towards doubling farmer incomes by 2022.

"We are working towards doubling farmer incomes by 2022. For this, optimum utilisation of land resources, ensuring minimum wastage and understanding the needs of the market assume importance," he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "I know something about Mashav (Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation). We operate in many countries but the biggest project that Mashav has is here in India because India has a leader, has a vision."

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi and Netanyahu along with his wife Sara paid their tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

The two leaders reached the ashram after completing their 8-km-long roadshow from Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel International Airport.

Netanyahu from here will depart for Mumbai, where he will he meet business leaders, pay homage to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.
Jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for scrapping the Haj subsidy.

"There is lot of hatred for Muslim Community in the mind of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I really do not understand what problem does he have with this community (Muslim) in particular," the former Bihar Chief Minister told media outside a special Central Bureau of Investigation court, where he had appeared in connection with a case of fodder scam.

He also said that prime minister has become too arrogant that he was barring the Muslims to visit their holy site in Mecca.

On January 16, the Union Government scrapped the Haj subsidy for pilgrims and said the fund would instead be used for the empowerment of minorities from this year. However, there is an exception to the rules for the poor and people over 70 years of age.

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Credit Agricole CIB on Wednesday appointed Atul Sodhi as the global head of Debt Capital Markets (DCM) Corporates.

Atul has been with Credit Agricole CIB since 1997. He has a strong expertise in corporate banking, client coverage, and debt origination, with over 25 years of working experience.

Prior to this role, Sodhi was Credit Agricole CIB's head of Debt Origination and Advisory (DOA) in Asia.

Sodhi will relocate to Paris as part of his new responsibilities, and will report globally to global head of DCM, Sebastien Domanico; and locally to head of global markets Europe, Pierre Gay.

"Over the past few years, Atul successfully established a strong DCM franchise in Asia by leveraging on a solution driven model and integrating expertise across the bank. His knowledge of the bank and long experience with coverage and other relevant lines will help further develop our DCM global corporate footprint," said global head of DCM at the bank, Sebastien Domanico.

Credit Agricole CIB is the corporate and investment banking arm of the Credit Agricole Group. The bank offers its clients a comprehensive range of products and services structured around six major divisions, namely, client coverage and international network, global investment banking, structured finance, global markets, debt optimisation and distribution, and international trade and transaction banking.

The bank, further, provides support to clients in large international markets through its network with a presence in major countries in Europe, America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

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Member of Parliament (MP) from Madhya Pradesh, CP Joshi, on Wednesday said if people do not want the controversial movie 'Padmaavat' to be release, then state governments should ban the film to maintain law and order situation.

"Earlier as well we raised this topic in Lok Sabha. We wrote several letters to the Censor Board and Smriti Irani. We always demanded that the distorted history or facts should not be presented in the front of the people of India. If the people do not want any movie to be released then the respective state government should ban the film to maintain law and order," Joshi told ANI.

Despite the clearance from Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), 'Padmaavat' won't be released in Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Joshi had earlier requested Home Minister Rajnath Singh to allow the release of 'Padmavati' only after obtaining approval of Mewar's royal family and historians.

In the letter, Rajasthan's Chittorgarh MP had stated that the film could be banned if members of Mewar's royal family and historians object to it after the screening.

The flick, based on the legend of Rani Padmini, a 13th century Hindu Rajput queen, mentioned in Padmavat, an Avadhi poem written by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540, has been facing protests from various groups, particularly the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, for allegedly tampering with historical facts.

The CBFC has suggested five modifications in 'Padmavati', which included changing the film's title to 'Padmavat', in December last year.

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Marg ERP Ltd., the country's fastest growing solution software provider is moving forward towards expansion plans in Sri Lanka.

The company has started their functioning two years back and has grown strongly since then. Marg ERP's international development team is traveling to Colombo, to meet existing partners, the Sri Lanka Pharma Association and various IT hardware and software vendors and other trade specific clients in Sri Lanka.

These meetings and activities have been planned keeping in mind that Sri Lanka is emerging as a global IT destination of choice in a number of key areas. Marg ERP who is the top priority for pharma industry for software solutions to their inventory and accounting management, can add a lot of value to the similar sectors in Sri Lanka.

A number of meetings are slated between January 15 to 25, 2018, to discuss strengthening of business partner networking and making it more proficient. Adding new business partners and skilling of existing ones is high on the agenda. Marg will be meeting Sri Lankan government representatives in this regard.

Marg along with their partners will be meeting relevant authorities to explore new business prospects. They will discuss with potential clients/business associates Marg product, capabilities and USP. The aim is also to understand industry requirement in Srilanka and to come up with solutions. The company also wants to appoint more local representatives as Marg's employees in Colombo to provide support to its partners.

The company also plans to explore opportunities of increasing Marg's presence in the Sri Lankan market. To increase their visibility Marg ERP also plans to organize road shows and media blitzkrieg (including engagement with the social media) in the Sri Lankan capital.

"Marg ERP is now set on a path of expansion. With its dedicated approach towards customers, technology and innovation, Marg wants to strengthen its existing network outside India and capture new opportunities for profitable business growth abroad," said managing director sales and marketing, Marg ERP, Sudhir Singh.

It is worth pointing out that Marg has 900,000+ users, 5000 professionals, 700+ offices and does business with 20+ countries globally.

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A Delhi court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking its reply till January 22 in connection with the alleged Medical Council of India (MCI) bribery case.

Earlier on December 1, the apex court dismissed a petition by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms (CJAR) in the same case.

The top court did not find any merit in the petition filed by CJAR.

A similar petition filed by Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal was also dismissed by the apex court in the same case.

The case pertains to the medical college bribery scam against I M Quddusi, retired Orissa High Court judge, who was arrested along with middleman Vishwanath Agarwala and B.P. Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust, by the CBI under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Quddusi allegedly used his influence to help the Uttar Pradesh-based Prasad Education Trust in "settling" a matter involving their plea to set up medical colleges.

The Trust owned one of the 46 medical colleges barred by the Central government from admitting students.

The accused were subsequently granted bail, but the same was not challenged by the CBI.

Following granting of the bail, the CJAR filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a SIT to investigate the allegations, with a retired judge monitoring the same.

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A Delhi court on Wednesday sought a reply from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the matter of leaking transcripts of phone conversations involving three accused persons in Lucknow medical college scam.

The court asked the CBI to reply by January 22.

The accused includes retired Odisha high Court Judge I.M Qudussi, middleman Vishwanath Agarwala and B.P Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust.

Earlier, the court granted bail to Quddusi after the latter deposited personal security of Rs. 1 lakh.

A court had earlier sent Quddusi and five other people to the CBI custody over allegations of bribery to settle the case in the Supreme Court.

The arrests were made in September last year after a search operation was carried out at various locations, including the residence of Quddusi in Delhi. Searches were also conducted in Bhubaneswar and Lucknow.

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United States former first lady Michelle Obama, who apparently was overwhelmed with the birthday greetings received, expressed gratitude to her husband and former US President Barack Obama and the public.

Michelle, who celebrated her 54th birthday on Wednesday, jotted in a caption on Instagram, "Thank you @BarackObama for the beautiful flowers waiting for me in the office this morning."

The caption further raid, "You're my best friend, biggest fan, and getting notes and flowers from you will never get old."

Barack and Michelle married in 1992 and have two daughters.

The former first lady also used the occasion to express gratitude to people around the country who sent her cards and posted birthday greetings for her social media.

"And to the many people from around the country who sent cards and posted on social media, you have no idea how much we love hearing from you," she said.

"I know birthdays can sometimes be bittersweet (54!), but your messages of hope, generosity, and warmth have always reminded me how lucky and blessed we are."

Michelle Obama is a South Side of Chicago-born, Princeton and Harvard-educated lawyer, associate dean and public servant.

At the 2013 Academy Awards, she became the first First Lady to present an Oscar when she announced the winner for best picture.

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The team owners of the Mumbai Maharathi announced that they have decided to pull out of the third edition of the Pro Wrestling League with immediate effect.

While the team management has taken in its stride several instances of mismanagement and operational glitches by the league organisers, they reacted strongly to the incident that occurred at the toss between Mumbai Maharathi and their opponents.

After Sakshi Malik won the toss, she opted to block the wrestler in the 74 kg category but was prevented to do so by the organisers in a clear violation of the rules. Sakshi then had no option but to block a wrestler in another weight category, which subsequently proved vital in the final outcome of the match, as Mumbai Maharathi lost the tie 3-4 to Veer Maratha.

According to the rules, one weight category cannot be blocked for consecutive matches and for a total of two out of the five league matches. Mumbai Maharathi had blocked the 74 kg category in their first encounter and now sought to do so in their third encounter, adhering to the rules, but the league organisers stepped in to twist the rules and thwart Mumbai Maharathi.

Due to this, the team in an official release announced that they would withdraw their participation.

On a related note, Mumbai Maharathi is the sixth team to have walked out of the league in three years.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu have called their visit to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad as an 'inspiring visit'.

"An inspiring visit to the heart of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration -Mahatma Gandhi," said Netanyahu and his wife in a message at the Sabarmati Ashram.

Sabarmati Ashram was one of the residences of Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who lived here for about twelve years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netanyahu along with his wife paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi here.

The two leaders reached Sabarmati Ashram after completing their 8km long roadshow from Ahmedabad's Sardar Patel International Airport.

Netanyahu and his wife also tried their hands at the charkha and took a round in the Ashram along with Prime Minister Modi.

Prime Minister Modi and Netanyahu also flew a kite at the Sabarmati Ashram.

Earlier, Netanyahu was received by Prime Minister Modi at the Sardar Patel International Airport.

People from different states performed and welcomed the two leaders along the 8km way which the two leaders took to reach the Sabarmati Ashram.

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The Nigerian army has announced that it has released 244 Boko Haram suspects who have renounced their membership in the terrorist group.

According to the Washington Post, the army said that all these people have been de-radicalised and are in a frame of mind that they can enter the society again.

The people released on Monday included 118 adult males, 56 women, 19 teens and 51 children, according to operation commander Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas.

He said they were only freed after participating in a de-radicalisation programme.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima commended the military its ongoing efforts against Haram.

Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency. The army released the suspects as part of activities marking Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

There have been mass releases of Boko Haram suspects in the past, but this is the largest following a de-radicalisation programme.

Nigeria's government set up a de-radicalisation programme in 2016 for arrested Boko Haram fighters who wanted to quit the group.

In 2017, more than 800 Haram fighters participated in the de-radicalisation programme.

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Nirmala Sitharaman became the first full-time Defence Minister to fly a Sukhoi 30 MKI of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Defence Minister undertook a sortie in the Indian Air Force (IAF) frontline combat jet Sukhoi 30 MKI from the air base in Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

Sitharaman arrived at the Air Force Station at around 11:00 am in the morning.

Dressed in the pilot's G-suit, the country's first woman Defence Minister sat in the rear seat behind the pilot.

She is reportedly reviewing the operational preparedness and combat capabilities.

Sukoi-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable aircraft which can penetrate deep into enemy territory.

Defence Minister also met the Air Warriors at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur before her sortie on the Sukhoi-30 MKI. She was received by Air Marshal R K Dhir Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), VM, ADC Air Officer Commanding in Chief South Western Air Command and Air Commodore N Tiwari VM Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Jodhpur.

Initially, Sitharaman was given an overview of the role of the frontline IAF base by the Air officer commanding (AOC).

This sortie comes soon after she visited INS Vikramaditya last week to witness the naval operations and maritime prowess of the Indian Navy.

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A recent study suggests that small no-fishing zones around colonies of penguins can help in conserving the struggling species.

Researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Cape Town tested bans on catching "forage fish" such as sardines and anchovies - key prey for the endangered penguins - from 20km around their breeding islands.

The body condition and survival of chicks improved when the no-fishing zones were in place.

Study author Dr. Richard Sherley from the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall said, "The amount of forage fish caught worldwide is increasing and - although the effects are disputed - the impact on marine ecosystems could be severe".

Forage fish are a key link in the food chain as they eat plankton and are preyed on by numerous species including tuna, dolphins, whales and penguins.

"We need to do more to understand the circumstances in which small no-fishing zones will improve the food available to predators, but our research shows this is a promising way to help African penguins", Sherley added.

The test areas were on a small scale compared to some no-fishing zones worldwide, which can cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometres.

They examined colonies at Dassen Island, Robben Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island and compared fishing bans of about three years with similar periods when fishing was allowed.

They stated that overall effects was "subtle and inconsistent", with clear benefits for penguin populations at only two of the four islands.

Dr Sherley said it was difficult to discover the full effects of the no-fishing zones because many other factors also affect the birds.

"Decades of research may be needed to be absolutely certain of the impact on the penguins' population size," he said.

However, the researchers used a statistical method called Bayesian inference to demonstrate beyond doubt that the zones improved the health and survival rates of penguin chicks.

Senior study author Dr Stephen Votier said, "This is an excellent example of how a collaboration between government, fisheries and scientists can lead to positive outcomes for conservation.

"Statistics have played an important role here - only by using the approach we adopted was it possible to understand fully that these fisheries closures do indeed work."

The research appeared in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday condemned the Opposition's criticism of the Centre's move to end the Haj subsidy, saying that it's their habit to find fault in every decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Naqvi further said that the decision has been taken for the welfare of the people and the government doesn't have any political agenda behind it.

"Almost everyone from the Muslim community has welcomed this move including many organisations. Some people have a habit of criticising every decision of Prime Minister Modi government. If they don't do it they get the stomach ache", Naqvi said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the government scrapped the Haj subsidy for pilgrims as the fund will instead be used for the empowerment of minorities from this year.

Naqvi said that the Haj subsidy funds will now be used for the education of girls and women of the minority communities.

However, there is an exception to the rules for the poor and people over 70 years of age.

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Growing extremism and religious intolerance is leading to thousands of Christians, Ahmadis and Hindus reportedly fleeing Pakistan.

Government inaction in countering religious harassment by Islamic groups has caused considerable heartburn. Even atheists are being targeted.

The Ahmadiyya community is an endangered community in Pakistan in spite of being an Islamic sect, and has been a target of death threats openly.

Excommunicated by the second amendment to Pakistan's Constitution in 1974, the Ahmadiyyas have faced a severe backlash over the initial changes made regarding Khatm-e-Nabuwat (finality of prophethood) in the Elections Reforms Bill passed in October. According to the Pakistan Penal Code, an Ahmadi can be imprisoned for reading the Koran or even using Islamic titles, says a report published in the Asia Times.

The daily quotes Ahmadiyya spokesperson Saleem Uddin, as saying that the Ahmadis have been made scapegoats since the state of Pakistan was created in 1947, and added that people have forgotten the community's contribution in creating the country post-partition.

Atheists are another category of Pakistani citizens who are at huge risk, so much so that many of them have now deactivated their profiles over fears of being abducted. They also do not see their homes or the internet as safe spaces where they can share ideas.

Local atheists can pass off as Muslims, but Hindus and Christians are visible targets, as can be seen by the recent suicide bomb attack inside the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta.

Threats by Muslim radicals have prompted innumerable Christians to flee Pakistan and look for asylum elsewhere.

The fate of Hindus is no different according to the Asia Times article. They too are seeking shelter abroad.

PML-N Senator Ramesh Kumar was quoted, as saying, "around 5,000 Hindus leave Pakistan every year" because of the extensive persecution. This includes forced marriages and kidnapping for ransom, as well as attacks on Hindu temples.

"Hatred against Hindus, primarily driven from the ideology of Two-Nation Theory, is deeply injected in the veins of raw minds through distorted history and fabricated tales taught in books," the daily quotes Pakistani human rights activist Kapil Dev, as saying.

Calls for filtering out religion and distorted versions of history promoting hatred against Hindus are being made more frequently.

Activists want to counter radical Islamist perspectives with a secular narrative, but Ibn Abdur Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, doesn't see it happening anytime soon.

He told Asia Times. "The state has surrendered to the radical Islamists and plans on gradually taking away every last bit of freedom from its citizens.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu along with his wife Sara paid their tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

The two leaders reached the ashram after completing their 8-km long roadshow from the airport.

Netanyahu and his wife also tried their hands at the charkha and took a round of the Ashram along with Prime Minister Modi. Both the leaders together flew a kite.

Earlier, Netanyahu was received by Prime Minister Modi at the Sardar Patel International Airport.

People from different states performed various songs and dance as they welcomed the two leaders along the 8-km road.

Both Prime Minister Modi and Netanyahu will attend the inauguration of the iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.

They will take a tour of the facility and visit various stalls that highlight the latest technologies and innovations across various fields.

Following the tour, the leaders will also award six category winners of the India-Israel Innovation Challenge 2017.

Both the leaders will visit the Centre for Excellence- Vegetables in Vadrad today where they will be briefed on the progress in the India-Israel Agriculture Work Plan.

They will also e-inaugurate the Centre for Excellence - Date Palm, through a video link in Kukama.

Netanyahu and his wife will later depart for Mumbai.

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Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed on a two-year timeframe for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

The repatriation process is expected to start on January 22.

"The repatriation would be completed preferably within two years from the commencement of repatriation," said Bangladesh foreign ministry in a statement yesterday, following the first joint working group meeting (JWG) in Naypyitaw on January 15-16.

The two countries agreed that the verification of the refugees will be based on the family as a unit.

Earlier in December last year, Myanmar Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye said a group of 450 Hindu refugees will be allowed back across the border to Burma on 22 January as the first step in the repatriation process.

Two camps have been set up by the Myanmar authorities, one at Taungpyoleiwei in northwestern Rakhine State for those who will return overland and second in Ngakhuya, Maungdaw Township, for those returning by sea or waterways on January 22.

The decision was taken by the minister following a meeting with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC).

A Bangladeshi official said the first list for repatriation of Rohingya refugees who entered into Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State, will contain 100,000 names.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) also urged Myanmar to end the military campaign against Muslim Rohingyas.

Myanmar and Bangladesh had earlier in December last year, formed Joint Working Group (JWG) to handle the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

The crucial JWG with 15 each from Bangladesh and Myanmar will oversee the repatriation of over 6,00,000 Rohingya refugees who have taken shelter in Bangladesh to escape ethnic violence in the latter.

More than 655,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25, 2017, escaping a military crackdown in Rakhine state, which many countries and human rights bodies have described as ethnic cleansing.

The military action, which was triggered after their posts became targets of terrorist attacks, invited ire of the international community.

On October 12, a United Nations' report based on interviews conducted in Bangladesh found that brutal attacks against Rohingyas in the northern Rakhine state have been well-organised, coordinated and systematic, with the intent of not only driving the population out of Myanmar but preventing them from returning to their homes.

The Rakhine state is home to a majority of Muslims in Myanmar, who have been denied citizenship and long faced persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, especially from the extremists.

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Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) nominated Member of European Parliament (MEP) leader Viorica Dancila as the new Prime Minister after the sudden resignation of former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.

"Mrs. Dancila has been an MEP since 2009, she is respected in Brussels, she doesn't seek conflict. She is communicative and has good relations with the (European) Commission," PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said after a party meeting in Bucharest.

However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is a bitter critic of the government is unlikely to recognise Dancila's name proposed by the PSD due to political differences, the Euro News reported.

Former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose resigned on Monday after only seven months in the office. He was allegedly involved in a plagiarism scandal after some media reports had surfaced that he plagiarised some parts of other people's doctoral work when he was practising.

Subsequently, he lost the no-confidence motion and the support from the PSD.

The PSD has been riven by internal differences and has struggled to win public confidence after ballot-rigging and other corruption scandals have plagued the country in the last few years.

Dancila was a local councillor and a county councillor, prior to her engagements in the European Parliament. She is a two-time member of the European Parliament since 2009.

She is also the president of the Social Democratic Women's Organization (OFSD) since 2015.

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In an effort to familiarise surgeons and hospital administrators in Jaipur with computer-assisted surgeries, the da Vinci surgical robot drove into the city this week for a live demonstration to several hundred of surgeons attending the 51st Annual Conference of the Urological Society of India, USICON 2018, being organized by the national body of Urologists and Jaipur Urology Society at BM Birla Science and Technology Centre between January 18 and 21, 2018.

Robotic Surgeries, where a robot assists the surgeon, scores over conventional surgery by minimising blood loss, dramatically reducing post-operative recovery time, and bringing precision in executing the procedure, thus saving healthy tissue from damage.

The 'Roving Robot' project has been instituted by Vattikuti Technologies, distributor of da Vinci surgical robots and Vattikuti Foundation, evangelist for robotic surgery and Intuitive Surgical Inc., USA, makers of da Vinci Robot.

"A three-dimensional high definition vision system and 10 times magnification gives the surgeons to work with tiny wristed instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human hand enabling superior outcomes, quick recovery and much shorter hospital stays," said CEO, Vattikuti Technologies, Gopal Chakravarthy.

A da Vinci surgical robot brings in human wrist-like movement with its instruments and offers 10 times enlarged three-dimensional view.

And that is exactly what a tour of a da Vinci surgical robot across India is trying to demonstrate.

Surgeons in the state capital will get a first-hand look at how a surgical robot works and understand the situations in which its benefits unfold.

On January 19, several hundred surgeons will be able to watch live a complex prostate removal procedure - prostatectomy - to be carried out by Dr. Sudhir Rawal, Medical Director and Chief of Uro-Gynae Surgical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi using a da Vinci surgical robot.

Dr Rawal is among a handful of surgeons to have performed over 1000 robot assisted surgeries in the country.

Dr. NP Gupta, Chairman, Kidney and Urology Institute, Medanta The Medicity, Gurgaon and Dr. Anup Kumar, Professor and Head of Department Urology and Renal Transplant, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi will moderate discussions on the surgical procedure from the conference venue.

Dr. C Mallikarjuna, Senior Consultant Urologist, Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology, Hyderabad in his session on 'Why a Robot' at USICON 2018 will dwell on his experience and answer questions from the participants.

With multi-disciplinary robotic surgery proving its efficacy in India in the last seven years, the road show's goal is to highlight computer-assisted surgeries ability to vanquish various forms of cancers, particularly in the medical disciplines of Urology, Gynaecology, Thoracic, Gastro-intestinal and Head and Neck.

Vattikuti Technologies, Vattikuti Foundation and Intuitive Surgical Inc. have an ambitious plan to spread the use of Robotic surgery in India.

Vattikuti Technologies has partnered with scores of hospitals in India since 2011 in drawing a roadmap for success of the robotic program as well as supporting training of surgeons. So far, the number of da Vinci Surgical robots in India stands at nearly 60 installations, manned by 360 trained robotic surgeons in 20 cities.

As cancer spreads relentlessly across India, with 15 lakh new cancer cases every year according to the National Cancer Registry, computer-assisted surgery will help in fighting it aggressively and effectively.

Surgical Robots to become more accessible to hospitals in non-metros

To address the scarcity of trained surgeons and the cost of computer-assisted procedures and equipment Vattikuti Technologies and Intuitive Surgical Inc. USA and Vattikuti Foundation is showcasing the technology by mounting the surgical robot on a mobile vehicle to simulate an operation theatre setting as it educates doctors and surgeons about the benefits.

Vattikuti Technologies and Surgical Robot makers Intuitive Surgical Inc., USA will offer hospitals the da Vinci Robot along with instruments required for the next three years at a special price point.

"The four-armed Roving Robot will help surgeons in smaller towns experience the capabilities of a da Vinci Surgical Robot in removing affected tissue while retaining healthy tissue," Chakravarthy added.

The da Vinci surgical system enables surgeons to operate minimally invasively through a few small incisions while controlling the robotic instruments from a nearby console. It allows surgeons to operate with enhanced vision and precision.

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Saudi Arabia has shot down a missile fired by Yemen's armed Houthi group towards southern Jizan region, the local media reported.

According to the Saudi state TV Ekhbariya, there were no reports of casualties or damage.

The Iranian-aligned Houthis have fired several missiles at Saudi Arabia, which has not caused much harm or serious damage. However, this has escalated tension between Riyadh and Tehran.

Earlier on Jan 5, Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile over the kingdom's southern province of Najran, bordering Yemen.

According to Al Masirah, a TV network run by the Houthi rebels stated that the group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"This hostile act by Iran-backed Houthis proves the Iranian regime remains implicated in supporting the armed Houthis," the local media quoted spokesperson of the Arab Coalition, Col. Turki Al-Malki, as saying.

The Saudi-led coalition has previously accused Iran of helping arm the Houthis, accusing Iran of "flagrant military aggression," according to the reports.

Earlier in November, Yemen's Houthi rebels launched a missile targetting King Khalid International Airport.

The Saudi air defence intercepted the missile and shot it down without causing any damage.

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A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing the matter related to the constitutional validity of linking Aadhaar card to a number of government schemes.

The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four other judges Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Adarsh Kumar Sikri, D.Y.Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan will hear a number of petitions filed challenging the validity of the identification number.

Since inception, the validity of the Aadhaar and possible leakage of data has cropped up time and again. The top court has also received petitions regarding the linkage of this 12-digit number with mobile phones, bank accounts and so on, the last date for which was extended to March 31 this year.

While data breach has been widely debated in the recent past, the government had refuted all claims of the same.

Most recently, The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) decided to enable 'Face Authentication' infusion mode on registered devices by July 1, so that people facing difficulty in other existing modes of verification such as fingerprints, iris, and one-time-password (OTP) could easily authenticate.

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Security deployments are all in place ahead of the roadshow to be held jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two leaders are scheduled to arrive at the airport around 10:30 a.m., from where they will proceed to Sabarmati Ashram to pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi.

The 14-km-long roadshow will be heavily guarded by security forces including Israeli snipers 12 teams from 'Chetak commandos', Quick Response Teams, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and police, who will be guarding the venues.

Furthermore, special squads are reportedly being deployed at high-rise buildings along the route and also on the Sabarmati river in speedboats when both the dignitaries are in the Ashram.

In lieu of the roadshow, many roads along the route have been temporarily closed by civic authorities to ensure seamless travel for the two leaders. However, this may hamper normal life in the city.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi and Netanyahu will inaugurate the iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad, following which they will visit a startup exhibition and interact with innovators and CEOs.

The two Prime Ministers will then dedicate a mobile water desalination van to Suigam Taluka, of Sabarkantha district, through a video link. Both leaders will also address the gathering. They will also visit the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad in Banaskantha district, where they will be briefed on work plan of the Centre.

Prime Minister Modi and Netanyahu will also inaugurate the Centre of Excellence for Date Palms at Kukama, Kutch District, through a video link, and interact with farmers.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will then depart for Mumbai.

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Paying tribute to scholar ideologue, and founder of Sindhudesh Movement Ghulam Murtaza Shah Syed, also known as G. M. Syed on his 114th birth anniversary, the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) organised a massive rally where they demanded freedom of Sindh from Pakistani occupation, the abolition of human rights abuses and religious fundamentalism.

Syed's birth anniversary is being observed in his hometown Sann.

The Pakistan state forces tried to sabotage the event.

Banners and flags of the Sindhudesh Movement were removed from Sann and surrounding villages and towns were raided. Political activists were asked to stop their activities.

The masses, however, defied the order and came out to celebrate Syed's anniversary.

The protestors also chanted slogans against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

They said Pakistani forces were involved in enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings, rape and other atrocities.

"Pakistan is fooling China by dragging it into its strategic design for the makeup of Greater Punjabistan by promising China fulfillment of its long-sought strategic military aggression in the Indian Ocean. The CPEC project is the veil of this nefarious bilateral design," he said.

JSMM activists led by Senior Vice Chairman Lala Aslam Pathan, Vice Chairman Shabir Mallah, Secretary General Dr. Zain Bhutto visited the mausoleum of G.M. Syed and killed JSMM leaders Muzafar Bhutto, Rooplo Cholyani, Muneer Cholyani, Afzal Panhwer and Anees Soomro, laid floral wreaths and recited anthem of Sindhudesh.

The families of missing and killed JSMM activists also participated in the rally.

Exiled JSMM Chairman Shafi Burfat delivered an audio message to the gathering

He saluted the contribution of Syed and highlighted the ongoing brutal operation of Pakistan security forces in Sindh.

He condemned Pakistani designs of radicalising the secular Sindhi society by establishing wide web of religious schools patronised by the Pakistani military, forced exodus of Sindhi Hindus, forced conversions and marriages of Sindhi Hindu girls, economic exploitation and political subjugation of Sindh.

He criticised Pakistani military establishment for patronising religious extremism and terrorism and sponsoring in India and Afghanistan.

"Pakistan is the womb and vector of Islamic extremism. Its unnatural existence is a serious threat to world peace. This irresponsible and fragile theocratic state is developing nuclear arsenals which are no less dangerous than North Korean nukes and will eventually lead to the destruction of the world one day. The world should take serious notice of Pakistani sponsorship of global jihadism and persecution/genocide of secular Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun people" Burfat added.

He appealed to the Sindhi nation to act seriously and responsibly and to stand up for their freedom from this "filthy theocratic state".

He also appealed the UNO, International community, especially USA, Germany, France, UK and India to demolish Pakistan for the sake of humanity, regional and global peace.

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The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the apex industry association representing the country's major telecom, internet, technology and digital services companies, on Wednesday released the latest telecom subscriber numbers, for the month ending December 2017.

As per the data, India's private telecom service providers have a total of 981.65 million subscribers.

The figures include Reliance Jio Infocomm and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) by the end of November 2017, reported the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Amongst the individual companies, Idea Cellular Ltd had the highest subscriptions over previous month, the report stated.

Further, Bharti Airtel Ltd continues to hold the top position, with 29.55 percent market share, adding another half a million subscribers during December, to take its total subscriber base to 290.11 million subscribers.

Airtel is closely followed by Vodafone India Ltd, which ended December with 212.53 million subscribers, while Idea Cellular Ltd stood at 196.50 million subscribers at the end of the year.

The report, which also provides mobile subscriber numbers for individual circles, showed that UP (East) circle remained at the top with total 85.23 million subscribers.

Maharashtra remained at second position with a total of 82.19 million mobile subscribers.

"Mobile connectivity in every corner of the country has been our primary vision for long. It is extremely encouraging to see sizeable growth in the customer base in various cities. We are optimistic about our journey towards a fully connected and empowered Digital India, and it seems that we are rapidly marching towards it," said Director General, COAI, Rajan S Mathews.

"The telecom industry plays an essential role by way of its contribution to the Indian economy, and is a key driver of its growth. The industry has also ensured progress towards the realisation of government's policy and plans, such as its vision for Digital India, in a manner that connectivity reaches the farthest corners of the country and benefits all citizens. With consistent growth, it is easy for us to envision an enabled and empowered society where every individual gets a chance to partake in the economic growth of the country," he added.

Mobile connectivity and data services have played a pivotal role in bridging the digital divide and supports the democratic foundation of the country.

However, it is important to ensure that the industry has a stable policy environment to thrive in.

It requires intervention to encourage policy and regulatory stability, and facilitate growth, innovation and investment in the sector in view of the mounting financial debt and debilitating financial health that the industry is currently suffering.

"We remain hopeful that we will see tangible relief in the Budget 2018 and the NTP 2018 will also move the industry forward in this direction. The industry remains committed towards working for a fully connected and digitally empowered India and, furthering the Prime Minister's vision of Digital India," Mathews concluded.

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The White House doctor has declared that the United States President Donald Trump was in 'excellent health' after Trump underwent his first medical check-up as the U.S. President.

The news on Trump's health has put speculations to rest when he came under intense scrutiny on his mental fitness.

According to the White House, the US president spent three hours on his check-up with the doctor Ronny Jackson and military doctors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Jackson described the check-up went 'exceptionally well'.

"The President is in excellent health and I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday," said Jackson.

The White House will determine what information will be released, to the public regarding the check-up, since Trump is not compelled to release any information soon.

Former US presidents have undergone at least one medical check-up which is considered compulsory.

The White House had made it clear that Trump's examination would not include a psychiatric test. The general check-up results of former US presidents have included basic information such as weight, blood pressure, heartbeat and cholesterol levels.

Barbara Perry, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center said, "There is a long history of the White House picking and choosing what to reveal about the commander in chief's health. For example, John F. Kennedy disclosed war injuries but not the fact he suffered from Addison's disease, a degenerative condition."

Before Trump assumed the presidency, he had released a report from his personal doctor in New York, saying that he would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to be the President.

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The U.S. State Department has announced that it was withholding USD 65 million out of a USD 125 million aid package earmarked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

According to the Al Jazeera, in a letter that the department said additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA.

Those funds are "frozen for future consideration", Heather Nauert, State Department spokeswoman, told reporters.

Earlier this month, Palestine rebuked Trump's claims of not providing financial aid to the country in the future, if they did not resume their negotiations with Israel.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, told Palestine's WAFA news agency that 'Jerusalem and its holy places were not for sale.'

Abu Rudineh also said that Palestine was not against returning to negotiations with Israel, but said 'the real peace and negotiations should be based on Arab and international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative leading to the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.'

"If the United States has any concern for its interests in the Middle East, it must abide by the principles and references of the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly, otherwise the U.S. will push the region to the abyss," he said.

Trump and his United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley threatened Palestine with cutting of financial funds to the Palestinians and the UNRWA to ensure that the Palestinians would return to the negotiating table with Israel.

In a strongly-worded tweet, Trump had said: "We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don't even want to negotiate a long overdue 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.

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A Delhi court on Wedneday reserved its order for February 3 on bail plea of Rajeev Saxena, a director of a Dubai-based firm.

On January 5, Saxena moved the court seeking cancellation of Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against him in money laundering case related to the VVIP chopper deal.

In his plea, Saxena had sought the cancellation of the NBW, claiming that he was not an absconder and had already given related documents and details to the ED.

The court had, on October 6 last year, issued an NBW against Saxena after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court he had not joined the investigation despite repeated summons against him.

Rajeev's name was mentioned on a charge sheet filed against his wife Shivani Saxena, who is out on bail after being arrested by the ED.

On July 29, a Delhi court had reserved its order on the bail plea of Shivani Saxena, an accused in the case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested Saxena, Director of Matrix Holdings Dubai, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in connection with the case.

The investigation conducted and various documents collected so far revealed that Agusta Westland International Ltd, UK paid an amount of Euro 58 million as kickbacks through Gordian Services Sarl, Tunisia and IDS Sarl, Tunisia.

These companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to the Interstellar Technologies Ltd, Mauritius and others, which were further transferred to UHY Saxena, Dubai, Matrix Holdings Ltd Dubai and others.

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Mitsu Chavda, a women biker on her solo pan-India 'Ride for soldiers' quest met Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his residence here on Tuesday.

Mitsu, who is in the midst of her mission, aims to travel to more than 102 cities spread across 17,000 kilometers.

The 23-year old rider from Surat started her nationwide ride on November 26, 2017, to create awareness for paraplegic soldiers, drawing inspiration from two of her soldier friends who were grievously injured on the battlefield.

Speaking about her journey so far, Mitsu claimed that the government has made India safe for women riders, and said she was 'lucky to get support wherever she went'.

"It is a great sense of pride for me that I have taken up this for our soldiers. My journey so far has been very safe and friendly. Wherever I traveled, people would approach me, asking if I needed any help. Even when my GPS didn't work, I faced no issue as locals helped me out a lot with directions. I believe women are safe, and that is due to the efforts of the government," she told ANI.

Meanwhile, the Home Minister lauded the efforts of the young biker on Twitter.

"Met Ms Mitsu Chavda who is on a bike journey of 102 cities across India. Her mission is to spread awareness among the people about the difficulties faced by paraplegic soldiers. I laud her efforts and wish success for her mission," he tweeted.

So far, Mitsu has covered a distance of 11,000 kilometers.

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Ipca Laboratories rose 1.63% to Rs 582.85 at 9:48 IST on BSE after the company announced acquisition of US-based Pisgah Labs Inc.

The announcement was made during trading hours today, 17 January 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 58.19 points, or 0.17% to 34,829.24.

On the BSE, 11,000 shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 29,000 shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 594.70 and a low of Rs 575 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 656 on 5 April 2017. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 400 on 11 August 2017.

Ipca Laboratories announced the acquisition of 100% share capital of Pisgah Labs Inc., a North Carolina Corporation, Old Hendersonville Highway, Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, USA (Pisgah) by Ipca Pharmaceutical Inc., USA (the company's wholly owned subsidiary) and Onyx Scientific, UK (Onyx) (the company's wholly owned step down subsidiary) for $9.65 millions free of debt.

Pisgah Labs Inc., North Carolina, USA was originally founded in the year 1981 as a contract manufacturer and developer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APls) and intermediates.

Pisgah Labs Inc. has been a chemistry solutions provider for over three decades and will continue to operate out of its North Carolina manufacturing facility under the Pisgah trade name. Onyx and Pisgah's capabilities in chemistry services will dovetail effectively with the company's capabilities in supporting Phase II to commercial scale programmes and also enable the company to manufacture small volume APls for US market.

For the financial year ended 30 April 2017, Pisgah had a total income of $2.89 millions and EBIDTA of $1.14 million.

Ipca Laboratories is a vertically integrated pharmaceutical company with a strong thrust on exports, which now account for nearly 47% of the company's income.

Net profit of Ipca Laboratories rose 75.56% to Rs 96.47 crore on 2.3% decline in net sales to Rs 864.29 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016.

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Key benchmark indices continued to trade with modest gains in early afternoon trade. At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 144.98 points or 0.42% at 34,916.03. The Nifty 50 index advanced 38.35 points or 0.36% at 10,738.80. The announcement of reduction in additional borrowing by the government allaying fiscal deficit concerns and expectation of big ticket changes in the Goods and Services Tax in the GST council's next meet boosted sentiment. Indices bucked weak trend in Asian stocks.

Indices opened slightly lower and swung between the gains and losses in early trade. Stocks extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade and held firm later during the session.

Among the secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.04%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex. The side indices recovered after witnessing sharp fall earlier in the day.

The market breadth indicating health of the market was negative. On the BSE, 1, 580 shares declined and 1,129 shares rose. A total of 136 shares were unchanged.

Capital goods stocks were mixed. Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) (down 0.71%), ABB India (down 0.56%), and Siemens (down 0.9%) declined. Havells India (up 0.55%), Thermax (up 2.23%), Bharat Electronics (up 0.92%), and L&T (up 0.4%) gained.

Auto stocks were also mixed. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) (down 0.53%), Eicher Motors (down 0.2%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.55%), and Tata Motors (down 1.38%) declined. TVS Motor Company (up 0.87%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.35%), and Bajaj Auto (up 0.85%) gained.

The automobile industry has largely sought rationalization of tax slabs and removal or reduction of cess by the government in Union Budget 2018-19. The government also needs to create an effective and tax-friendly framework for smooth implementation of electrification of India's huge transport fleet.

Ashok Leyland rose 1.06% after the company said it signed a pact with Israel-based firm for high energy electric-powered commercial vehicle solutions. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 17 January 2018. Ashok Leyland said it took the next step to secure long-term arrangements for its electric vehicle (EV) commercial vehicles by signing a letter of intent (Lol) with Phinergy of Israel.

With the intention of providing varying energy management solutions to the customers, Ashok Leyland and Phinergy will work towards the adaptation of unique, competitive and sustainable solutions for high-energy applications in the commercial vehicles space.

Som Distilleries & Breweries rose 0.32% after the company announced that its subsidiary company, Woodpecker Distilleries and Breweries, has got the requisite approvals for consent to operate, from Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 17 January 2018.

On the macro front, Ministry of Finance said that upon a review of trends of revenue receipts and expenditure pattern, it has been assessed that additional borrowing of only Rs 20000 crore of government securities would be adequate to meet financing needs. Government did not accept borrowings of Rs 15000 crore in last three auctions. Remaining Rs 15000 crore would be reduced from the notified borrowing programme of ensuing weeks. Vide the Press Release dated 27 December 2017, government had stated that it will raise additional market borrowing of Rs 50000 crore through dated government securities in the current financial year, 2017-18.

Meanwhile, country's six-month old revamped indirect tax system is reportedly set to undergo significant changes, which will include simplification of return filing process, amendment in laws and rules to simplify procedures, along with rate cuts of around 70 goods and services. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Councilthe apex body for decision making headed by finance minister Arun Jaitleyis reportedly likely to consider the big bang recommendations from states and various officers' panel in its next meeting tomorrow, 18 January 2018.

Overseas, Asian stocks stepped back from a record high as the region's resource shares were dented by falling oil and commodity prices while digital currencies tumbled on worries about tighter regulations.

Japanese orders for machinery surged to their highest level in a decade in November. Cabinet Office data showed core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, grew 5.7% in November from the previous month.

US benchmark indices pulled back from lifetime highs set earlier in the session to end mostly lower yesterday, 16 January 2018, on likely profit booking amid concerns over the possibility of a government shutdown. On the data front, the Empire State manufacturing survey slipped to 17.7 in January from a revised 19.6 in December, the New York Fed said.

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Key benchmark indices extended gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade bucking weak trend in Asian stocks. At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 132.88 points or 0.39% at 34,905.10. The Nifty 50 index advanced 29.15 points or 0.27% at 10,729.60. Gains were led by the spurt in IT stocks for the second day in a row.

Among the secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.34%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.78%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

Broad market depicted weakness. There were more than two losers for every gainer on BSE. 1,753 shares declined and 703 shares rose. A total of 105 shares were unchanged.

IT stocks gained for the second straight day. Tech Mahindra (up 0.41%), HCL Technologies (up 1.08%), TCS (up 1.99%), and Infosys (up 2.15%) edged higher. Wipro fell 0.45%.

Euphoria in large cap IT stocks was mostly led by foreign brokerage's prediction that Indian IT services stocks could be set for a turnaround in 2018. An improving global economy could spur tech spending, which could lead to a re-rating of IT stocks.

From the upcoming union budget on 1 February 2018, the IT industry has been reportedly seeking that adjustments to past years' income emanating from advance price agreements (APAs) should be recognised as income of those years itself. Besides, equalisation levy should be treated as tax on income and be eligible for tax credit in a foreign country to the overseas online ad businesses. The industry is also seeking an extension in the exemptions granted to STP units in relation to procurements, as it used to be before the GST rollout.

Telecom stocks were mixed. Reliance Communications (down 0.64%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 4.96%) and Idea Cellular (down 0.73%) declined. Bharti Airtel rose 0.24%.

Shares of Bharti Infratel gained 1.38%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Ipca Laboratories rose 2.36% after the company announced acquisition of US-based Pisgah Labs Inc. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 17 January 2018.

Ipca Laboratories announced the acquisition of 100% share capital of Pisgah Labs Inc., a North Carolina Corporation, Old Hendersonville Highway, Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, USA (Pisgah). The acquisition was done by Ipca Pharmaceutical Inc., USA (the company's wholly owned subsidiary) and Onyx Scientific, UK (Onyx) (the company's wholly owned step down subsidiary) for $9.65 million free of debt.

Pisgah Labs Inc., North Carolina, USA was originally founded in the year 1981 as a contract manufacturer and developer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APls) and intermediates.

Gravita India rose 1.59% after the company said that it has received orders worth Rs 250 crore from Luminous Power Technologies. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 17 January 2018. Gravita India said that the order will help the company to strengthen its top line and bottom line in financial year ending March 2019. The said order will be executed during 2018.

Overseas, Asian stocks stepped back from a record high as the region's resource shares were dented by falling oil and commodity prices while digital currencies tumbled on worries about tighter regulations.

Japanese orders for machinery surged to their highest level in a decade in November. Cabinet Office data showed core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, grew 5.7% in November from the previous month.

US benchmark indices pulled back from lifetime highs set earlier in the session to end mostly lower yesterday, 16 January 2018, on likely profit booking amid concerns over the possibility of a government shutdown. On the data front, the Empire State manufacturing survey slipped to 17.7 in January from a revised 19.6 in December, the New York Fed said.

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Executive Committee of Board to meet on 19 January 2018 to decide on terms of issue

Tata Steel announced that the Board of Directors of the Company , at its meeting held on 18 -19 December 2017, approved the issuance of equity and equity linked instruments including ordinary shares of the Company of face value of Rs. 10 each by way of a rights issue to the existing shareholders of the Company as on the record date for an amount not exceeding Rs. 12,800 crore in accordance with the SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2009, as amended and other applicable laws.

Further, for the purpose of giving effect to the Issue, the Board authorized the Executive Committee of the Board to, inter alia, decide the terms of the Issue including the rights entitlement ratio, total number, issue price, instrument options and other terms and conditions for the Issue.

The meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board will be held on 19 January 2018 to consider the above stated matters including, to determine the issue price and the record date for the issuance of Ordinary Shares to be offered in the Issue.

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At least nine people were killed and 12 others injured during overnight clashes with police trying to clear a protest in restive southwest Myanmar, from where hundreds of thousands of members of the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority have fled an Army campaign.

The police fired on the crowd on Tuesday night when the protesters surrounded a police station in Mrauk-U after authorities had banned the public gathering, Efe news reported.

The demonstrators were commemorating the loss of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Mrauk-U, in Rakhine, which in 1785 was occupied by troops from Mandalay, the seat of Myanmar monarchy at the time.

The injured were taken to a hospital in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state.

Rakhine, one of the poorest states in Myanmar, is also home to the Rohingya community, the victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign led by the Myanmar Army, according to the UN.

The alleged persecution has forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee in the last year and a half to neighbouring Bangladesh as refugees.

--IANS

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The on Wednesday was told that was "an electronic leash" to which every resident of India was tethered, and was violative of the Constitution as it reduces the recognition of an individual to a number.

Asserting that reduces the individual identity to a numerical, the five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was told the "government has rolled out a little-understood programme that seeks to tether every resident of India to an electronic leash".

The court was told this by the senior counsel Shyam Divan as the Constitution Bench, also comprising Justice A K Sikri, Justice A K Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justice Ashok Bhushan, commenced hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Act on the grounds of its being violative of the right to privacy.





"If the Aadhaar Act and programme is allowed to operate unimpeded it will hollow out the Constitution, particularly the great rights and liberties it assures to citizens," said Divan appearing for the petitioners challenging Aadhaar Act.

Telling the constitution bench that "A People's Constitution will transform into a State Constitution", Divan said that the Aadhaar "electronic leash" is "connected to a central database that is designed to track transactions across the life of the citizen".

Brushing aside the Centre's contention that challenge to Aadhaar was "elitist", Divan said the question is "whether the Constitution of India allows the State to embrace this new programme or whether the Constitution repudiates this giant electronic mesh".

He referred to the judgment of the nine-judge Constitution Bench that had upheld the right to privacy and said that challenge to Aadhaar was not elitist.





In a spate of questions from the Bench, Justice Chandrachud asked Divan if the State could not compel the citizens to part with their biometric profile in larger public interest. State could ask for the biometric identification of teachers and students for the implementation of Right to Education Act or for mid-day meal scheme for which hundreds of crores of rupees are spent.

As Justice Chandrachud asked if the Centre says that it will use the data for the limited purposes for which it was collected, would it satisfy the petitioners, Divan said, "Certainly not".

Divan said that the Aadhaar Act was brought as a money Bill and pointed to "irregularity of the procedure in passing the law".





At this, the Chief Justice said that the "larger question that emerges here is that once a Bill is introduced as money Bill, can the court question the wisdom of the Speaker".

"Once Speaker says that it is a money Bill, then the court should not question the wisdom of the Speaker," said Chief Justice Misra.

At this, senior counsel P Chidambaram said that Lok Sabha members can't question it. But that does not mean the Speaker can certify any Bill as a money Bill.

The hearing will continue on Thursday.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain called the four BJP members in the assembly "blanket thieves" in the House here on Wednesday.

Hearing his remark, the four legislators walked out.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader made the remark while replying to Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta's demand for a government report into the death of 44 people allegedly due to cold in the city.

"These people (from the BJP) distribute blankets at one end and collect it back at the other end (of the line)," Jain said, terming them "blanket thieves".

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs had protested in front of the Speaker's podium with blankets, demanding an inquiry into the deaths.

--IANS

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"Suggestions" on Air India's strategic divestment are welcome but the proposed stake sale in the debt-ridden national carrier will go on, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju has said.

On recent reports that a Parliamentary Panel might recommend to scuttle the divestment process, Raju said: "Members of Parliament are free to suggest. Whatever suggestion they give us, we will look at them. Recommendations, discussions on the issue are always welcome.

"However, I don't think that anything will be called back. That's not the way how government can work," Raju told IANS in an interview at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, here.

Recently, reports have pointed out that a Parliamentary Standing Committee might ask the government to suspend the divestment process and to give Air India at least five years to get back to its feet.

Currently, a ministerial panel is firming up the contours of the strategic divestment -- of at least 51 per cent stake -- in Air India and its subsidiaries.

"The (process) is going on, guided by the Alternative Mechanism, but I will not fix any timelines to it, especially for the decisions made on such levels, Raju said.

The ministerial group -- Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism -- headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is looking into the modalities to divest Air India.

Apart from modalities, the ministerial group has been mandated to decide on key issues such as treatment of Air India's debt and hiving-off of its assets.

Last month, green Shakshuka had been appointed as transaction adviser to aid the government in the strategic divestment process.

The airline group is under a massive debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, had posted an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16, and is expected to report an improved operating profit margin for the last fiscal.

The national carrier got a new lease of life in April 2012, when the then UPA government approved a Rs 30,000-crore turnaround and financial restructuring package spanning up to 2021.

Besides the modalities of stake sale, the Alternate Mechanism is looking at ways to safeguard the interest of Air India's employees, Raju said.

"Government will not like its employees to be at a disadvantageous position. Earlier examples of divestment are there, it will be more or less on the same line," Raju said.

At present, Air India and its subsidiaries have nearly 20,000 employees with 11,500 being on the airline's payroll.

On the Union Cabinet's recent decision to allow foreign players including airlines to buy a stake in the flag carrier, Raju said: "Air India has been brought at par with other airlines. All Indian players are now equal."

Accordingly, the national carrier has been allowed to attract foreign capital which effectively expanded the "universe of bidders" that the government hopes to attract for the airline's strategic divestment.

Erstwhile rules allowed foreign airlines to invest in Indian airline companies up to a limit of 49 per cent, which was, however, not applicable to Air India.

Till now budget passenger carrier IndiGo has evinced interest in buying the airline's international operations and its subsidiary Air India Express.

In addition, aviation industry majors SATS, Bird Group and Celebi have shown interest in buying Air India's ground handling unit.

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)

--IANS

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Better technology may not end the pollution crisis. Rather, it would allow one to monitor even finer particles which would become new health threats.

While currently particle effluents in air -- PM10 and PM2.5, or particles with diameter less than 10 and 2.5 micrometers -- are the cause of major health crisis, sharper effluents like PM1 may become the next enemy, say environmental and health experts.

"Finer the particles, more dangerous they are -- but there are no current thoughts on that. We don't have standards on PM1 because of the lack of evidence. It is supposed to be much more dangerous for health," Dr Gufran Beig, Project Director, System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), told IANS. He said the focus may shift to the finer particles a few years from now.

To curb vehicular emissions, India expects implementation of the Bharat Standard-VI (Euro-VI equivalent) compliant cleaner transport fuels across the nation by April 2020 and in Delhi by April 2018.

"As each technology improves other problems will arise. BS-VI and beyond, the particles also get sharper," Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and (CSE), told IANS on the sideline of a panel discussion held here by the European Union.

She, however, said that while "we have no doubt about the effect of PM2.5", there is no evidence against PM1 at present.

PM2.5, though, is deemed to be dangerous to human health. In September 2017, a study released by the Energy Policy Institute at The University of Chicago stated that long-term exposure to PM2.5 had direct effect on life-expectancy, with average life of an Indian dropping by four years. The study said that people in Delhi could live nine years longer if particle pollutant meet the standards.

According to Anumita Roychowdhury, who heads the air pollution and clean transportation programme at CSE, as both fuel and technology improve, the particle emissions become smaller as observed in Europe, where Euro-VI standard fuel is being used. For this, she added, new emission standards would have to be set.

Even as little is known about the effect of PM1, and the World Health Organisation safety standards are yet to emerge, it is being monitored in India as a potential future threat.

"We have been monitoring PM1 at one location each in Delhi and Ahmedabad, and across 10 locations in Mumbai. Their inclining and declining trends are helping us understand a lot," said Dr Beig. He said once the pollutant criteria for the fine particles is set, standards would come.

(Kushagra Dixit can be reached atkushagra.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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The Jammu and administration on Wednesday issued avalanche warning in seven districts of the Valley, an official said.

"Avalanche warning has been issued for avalanche-prone areas in Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Anantnag and Badgam districts.

"The warning shall be valid from 5 p.m. today (Wednesday) till 5 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). People living in avalanche-prone areas in these districts have been advised to move about with extreme caution if such movement becomes unavoidable," said the official, adding that officials of these districts have been advised to take precautionary measures.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The two-day " 2018" organised by the state government has so far received new investment proposals worth Rs 2.19 trillion, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Wednesday.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, Banerjee said 50 per cent of last year's business proposals and those of previous years were "in the process" of implementation.

"The new investment proposals for this year that we have received is about Rs 2.19 trillion. It may go up also," she said.

The opposition parties in the state -- the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) -- had on Tuesday demanded a white paper from the government on the number of proposals the state had received in the earlier summits and those that had fructified.

The Chief Minister said: "Whatever we discussed about the business summit... you cannot say that we only discuss or give hopes. We talk less, work more.

"Even last year, of what we discussed, 50 per cent of the businesses (proposals) are in the process... Earlier also, the situation was like this," she said.

According to the state government, the 2015 summit fetched investment proposals worth Rs 2.43 trillion and the 2016 edition over Rs 2.5 trillion.

Business announcements worth over Rs 2.35 trillion were received by the state in the last edition of the summit.

Terming the fourth edition of the business summit a "successful event", she said 1,040 B2B and 40 B2G meetings were held in the summit and, in all, 110 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) would be signed.

The next year's summit will be held on February 7 and 8. "Next year, one day will be dedicated to the world business summit and the other day for conclaves," she said.

Thanking Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani for his Rs 50 billion investment proposals, she said the investments would create a large number of employment opportunities in the state.

"If you calculate all together, with whatever business proposals we have received, employment for more than 20 lakh people will be created," Banerjee said, adding that industries and agriculture were growing hand-in-hand in the state.

According to her, more than 32 countries and over 4,000 delegates participated in the 2018 edition.

"Your kind presence made the summit successful. Your kind presence is our inspiration and strength. You are our great assets. We are delighted to know about your vision," Banerjee said.

She described the state as "the investment destination", as it had political stability and labour, talent and a business-friendly environment.

According to her, West Bengal is strategically placed for businesses for Asean countries, including neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and the northeastern states of India.

"Bengal deserves to be a global industrial hub," she told delegates at the summit.

"We are a united and cosmopolitan family. There are no differences on caste and creed. Tolerance is the key. If you don't tolerate people, you would not get the results," she said.

Banerjee also announced that national carrier Air India would commence its services from the Greenfield airport at Andal near Durgapur in the state to Delhi from January 28.

Foreign delegates from South Korea, China, Germany, Italy and other countries have shown interest in the manufacturing sector.
The two-day "Bengal Global Business Summit 2018" organised by the state government has received new investment proposals worth Rs 2,19,925 crore, which is less than last year by about Rs 15,000 crore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, she said 50 per cent of last year's business proposals and those of previous years were "in the process" of implementation.

"The new investment proposals for this year that we have received is about Rs 2, 19,925 crore. It may go up also," she said.

The state's opposition parties - the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) - had on Tuesday demanded a white paper from the government on the number of proposals the state had received in the earlier summits and those that had fructified.

Banerjee on Wednesday said: "Whatever we discussed about the business summit... you cannot say that we only discuss or give hopes. We talk less, work more.

"Even last year, of what we discussed, 50 per cent of the businesses (proposals) are in process... Earlier also, the situation was like this."

State Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra told reporters that of the total investment proposals, the manufacturing and infrastructure sector netted investment commitments of Rs 1,56,811 crore, "which is significant".

Among other major sectors, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and textiles attracted business proposals of Rs 52,952 crore, hospitality and tourism got Rs 1,483 crore, IT &ITes Rs 1,146 crore, animal resource, food processing, fisheries and agribusiness Rs 1,518 crore and health, education and skill development got Rs 6,015 crore worth of proposals.

According to the state government, the 2015 summit fetched investment proposals worth Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Business announcements worth over Rs 2.35 lakh crore were received by the state in the last edition of the summit.

Terming the fourth edition of the business summit a "successful event", Mitra said 1,046 B2B and 40 B2G meetings were held in the summit and, in all, 110 MoUs was signed.

"The perceptional change about Bengal was visible from the participation of delegates from India and abroad who expressed their business interest in the state," he said.

As many as 350 international delegations from 32 countries including Japan, Italy, Poland, Korea, Czech Republic, Germany, Britain, France and UAE and over 4,000 delegates participated in the fourth edition of Bengal Global Business Summit held at the sprawling Biswa Bangla International Convention Centre at New Town, Rajarhat here.

Foreign delegates from Korea, China, Germany, Italy and other countries have shown interest in the manufacturing sector, Banerjee said.

"Your kind presence made the summit successful. Your kind presence is our inspiration and strength. You are our great assets. We are delighted to know about your vision," she said.

Thanking Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani for his Rs 5,000 crore investment proposals, she said the investments would create a large number of employment opportunities in the state.

"If you calculate all together, with whatever business proposals we have received, employment for more than 20 lakh people will be created," Banerjee said, adding that industries and agriculture were growing hand-in-hand in the state.

Mitra said new policies - Logistic Park Development and Promotion Policy, Export Promotion Policy, RoRo Operation policy - were unveiled during the summit to provide an enabling framework.

According to him, Dassault Systems signed off with Indian Chamber of Commerce for setting up a design centre while Apparel Export Promotion Council announced the setting up a skill development centre.

Uber and Ola signed pacts with the state Transport Department to increase employment opportunities for the youth.

Among big ticket MoUs is signing of pact between state government and Poland's Silesian region and state Power Department inked agreement with GIZ (Germany) towards an Energy Action Plan for the state.

State-run Jadavpur University signed three MoUs for collaboration in various fields with Exeter University, Edinburgh University and Eotvos Lorand University. City-based Presidency University too inked pact with Edinburgh University in the area of higher education and Life Sciences.

The Chief Minister described the state as "the investment destination", as it had political stability and labour, talent and a business-friendly environment.

According to her, West Bengal is strategically placed for businesses for Asean countries, including neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and the northeastern states of India.

"Bengal deserves to be a global industrial hub," she told delegates at the summit.

"We are a united and cosmopolitan family. There are no differences on caste and creed. Tolerance is the key. If you don't tolerate people, you would not get the results," she said.

Banerjee also announced that national carrier Air India would commence its services from the Greenfield airport at Andal near Durgapur in the state to Delhi from January 28.

The next year's summit will be held on February 7 and 8. "Next year, one day will be dedicated to the world business summit and the other day for conclaves," Banerjee said.

--IANS

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DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the death of a Tamil Nadu doctor who was found dead in his flat in Delhi earlier in the day.

S. Sharath Prabhu, a postgraduate student of University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) under Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Delhi, hailed from Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur.

Stalin said a similar incident was reported in 2016 when Saravanan, also from Tamil Nadu and a student of the AIIMS, was found dead in his flat in Delhi.

In a statement, he said in order to prevent such murders of Tamil Nadu students in future, a Central Bureau of Investigation probe should be ordered immediately.

Stalin, referring to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami's statement that students going to other states for studies should register themselves with the state government, said the Chief Minister was washing his hands of the matter.

Former Union Health Minister and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss also demanded a probe into Prabhu's death.

Ramadoss said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences tried to hush up the murder of Saravanan, saying he had committed suicide but subsequently it was proved that he was murdered.

He said that similarly the UCMS authorities said Prabhu had committed suicide by injecting a large dose of insulin.

--IANS

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Countries which support terrorism need to be "tackled" and terrorism is here to stay unless the world joins hands to end it, Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday.

He also said that a country which is victim of terror has to fight on its own war.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue here, Gen Rawat stressed on cutting terrorism funding and raised concerns over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

He advocated curbs on Internet to control terror propaganda.

The Army chief said terror cannot be accepted as a new form of war and urged the global community to tackle it head on.

Without naming Pakistan which India accuses of supporting terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir, he said: "Nation states that support terror to achieve their ends need to be tackled first.

"Terrorism is here to stay, unless the entire international community joins hands, comes together and fights this menace. Only then we can see peace... Terrorism cannot be a new form of warfare.

"This is what nations believe, this is going to be a new form of warfare. It has been seen that nations which spread terrorism invariably become victims of terrorist activities. If they want a safe home, it is better to stop this and let the global community work together."

He, however, added that no country will fight a war for another.

"...You have to do your own job, no nation is coming to your help. International community support is required to support your action.

"A nation suffering from terrorist activity has to do its own job, take its own action and deal with the terrorists on its own," he said.

Gen Rawat said that after identifying countries that support terror, the next step must be to address the source of funding.

"...where does the money come from. After all terror organisations have huge sums of money."

Gen Rawat pointed out that drugs trade was a major source of such funding. He suggested that all weapon manufacturers should mark each weapon they sell.

"Whatever weapons are found with the terrorists, at least the origin of the weapon can be traced. As of now, very sophisticated weapons are landing in the hands of terrorists but it is difficult to find the source of that weapon," Gen Rawat said.

"If that can happen, funding can stop, and source of weapon can be identified. I think that to an extent would put a check on the activities of the terrorists."

According to him, the biggest threat was that terrorists may get hold of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. This, he said, "can spell disaster for humanity".

"While weapons is only one issue, the bigger issue is keeping a check on biological and chemical weapons. How do we keep a check on that? This can only happen if countries unite."

Stating that all terror groups had a militant and a political front, the Army chief called for targeting both.

He said even when a militant outfit was curbed, its political front continued to unleash propaganda.

He also called for putting "some checks and curbs" on the "population, Internet and social media and social communication which the terrorist organisations resort to".

"I do appreciate that in a democratic country people would not want this kind of restriction to be put on them. But I think we have to take a call whether we want a safe and secure environment or we are willing to accept some kinds of curbs at least temporarily so that the menace of terrorism can be dealt with in a holistic manner."

--IANS

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Fashion stalwarts like Manish Arora, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Sanjay Garg will participate in "Rediscovering Culture: Transforming Fashion", an international conference here organised by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).

The conference, which will also have Suket Dhir, is being organised with the aim of initiating a conversation on fashion, culture, textiles, crafts and sustainability.

To be held from January 31 to February 2 at the India Habitat Centre, the event will also feature the work of celebrated designers and NIFT alumni including Sunita Shanker, Swati Kalsi, Payal Pratap and Pratima Pandey.

Karl Fletcher, Research Professor, Centre For Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion; David Abraham, Creative Director of the designer brand Abraham & Thakore; Narendra Kumar, Creative Director, Amazon India, and Radha Chadha, writer and luxury brand expert will also be part of the event.

"NIFT has been working with both ends of the fashion spectrum - the legacy of centuries of honed knowledge on crafts and textiles on the one hand, and modern design consciousness and global trends on the other, and believes that this is a seamless continuum of knowledge, practice and sensibility, where each end can be enhanced through understanding and interface with the other," said Sarada Muraleedharan, Director General, NIFT.

--IANS

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A 65-year-old doctor was found dead at his home here on Monday, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Aslam Khan said the victim, Mukim Ullah, was alone in the house when the crime took place. His daughter, a guest teacher, had left for school at 7.30 a.m.

An almirah at his house was found ransacked.

"There were no injury marks on the body. The door was open. It seems to be a friendly entry," the officer said, adding that the cause of death was yet to be ascertained.

--IANS

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After a three day hiatus, cold wave has returned to most parts of Uttar Pradesh and a thick blanket of fog enveloped the state capital and other parts on Wednesday morning, affecting normal life.

The man has predicted that the intense cold wave will persist for few more days. There is also likelihood of rains at some places.

Director of the Regional Met Office JP Gupta informed that the will remain as such for the next one week and the fog will also remain.

The minimum temperature recorded in the state capital was 7 degrees Celsius while the maximum is likely to be 17 degrees on Wednesday.

The minimum temperature recorded in Kanpur was 6.7 degrees Celsius, Allahabad (7) and Gorakhpur (8.4). Varanasi was the coldest with 5.8 degrees Celsius.

Fog has disrupted vehicular traffic at various places while more than a dozen trains are running behind schedule due to poor visibility, railway officials informed.

--IANS

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Refreshing its budget segment, Samsung India on Wednesday launched Galaxy On7 Prime -- the first smartphone from the South Korean tech giant that comes with a "Make for India" feature named Samsung Mall.

The 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant is priced at Rs 14,990 while the 3GB RAM and 32GB of onboard storage variant will cost Rs 12,990. Both the variants come with microSD card slots to expand memory up to 256GB.

The device will be available on Amazon.in and Samsung Shop. The first sale of the device will go live on January 21 during the Amazon "Great Indian Sale".

"Samsung Mall does all the smart work and exactly finds out the product within five seconds. It makes use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for doing this," Sanjay Razdan, Director (Product Planning), Samsung India told reporters at the event, also attended by Bollywood actor Kriti Sanon.

The feature allows users to shop by shooting a product on the smartphone, finding out the best online deals and pay-as-you-go.

Available in graphite black and champagne gold, the device comes with a 5.5-inch screen with 2.5D Gorilla Glass in an 8-mm full metal unibody design.

The smartphone features a 13MP (f/1.9) rear camera with LED flash and a 13MP (f/1.9) front shooter.

It is powered by a 1.6 GHz Exynos Octa-Core processor coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage.

Users can also do "One-stop Shop" that lets them search and shop across multiple online shopping sites.

"Samsung Mall is the perfect companion for today's consumers," said Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Samsung India.

The feature let's users do "Visual Search" that is, click a picture of any product and then Samsung Mall shows search results of similar products from across online shopping sites.

Meanwhile, "Universal Cart" lets users add items from multiple online shopping sites and review them in a single cart.

Reliance Jio users will get an exclusive cashback of Rs 2,000 in their JioMoney account after recharging with a denomination of Rs 299 for 24 months.

Users will get Rs 800 after the first 12 months and Rs 1,200 after the subsequent 12 months in their JioMoney account after 13 recharges worth Rs 299 every 12 months.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Goa government on Wednesday declared as illegal a day-long strike called by tourist taxi operators on Friday even as the Transport Minister warned of strict action if the operators took law and order in their hands.

"The government has supported tourist taxi operators fully over the last few years but they are still going on strike without giving notice to the government. Therefore, we are considering the strike as illegal," Minister Sudin Dhavalikar told reporters.

The strike has been called by tourist taxi associations in North Goa and South Goa districts protesting against the implementation of speed governors on tourist taxis, harassment by transport department and police officials.

As a result of the strike, nearly 2,000 taxis are expected to be off roads on Friday. Dhavalikar claims that additional buses would be pressed into service to ensure that tourists and locals were not put to discomfort.

"We warn taxi operators to not take law in their hands during the strike or we will take strict action against them," he said.

--IANS

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Based on a committee report on corruption in the Delhi Waqf Board, the AAP on Wednesday urged Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to appoint a Chairman for the board to prevent graft.

On Tuesday, the Delhi Assembly-appointed committee found that a part of the land belonging to Hazrat Naseeruddin Aulia Dargah in the national capital was sold illegally in connivance with some Delhi Waqf Board officials in 2016.

The Delhi Assembly's Questions and Reference Committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, had tabled the report in the House.

As per the report, a part of the land of Dargah, located in Chirag Delhi area, was sold by the officials of Waqf Board.

The Committee recommended to Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash to initiate criminal and privilege proceedings against a section officer for sale of the property and also for giving "misleading" and "manipulated" deposition during investigation of the case.

It also asked the Chief Secretary to submit an action taken report in the House within a month's time.

During a discussion on the report on Wednesday, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said the high court had ordered to stop appointment of one of the members of the Waqf Board, but Baijal had stopped the formation of the board instead.

Gahlot urged Baijal to take the "process forward so that the Waqf Board will have a chairman", saying that Imams were not getting salaries for the past six months as there was no chairman.

Minister Imran Hussain and other Aam Aadmi Party legislators also backed Gahlot's views.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said that police did not file an FIR into the Dargha land complaint for two years.

He said that the Dargah officials who had earlier said that the land which was sold belonged to them had gone back on their statement and later said that they were not sure whether the land belonged to the Dargah.

Bharadwaj said that the Waqf Board had lost 36 cases as advocates had not appeared in the high court. The Committee report also recommended a magistrate inquiry into the 36 cases and the report was adopted by the Assembly.

--IANS

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The India-China "bonhomie" before the Doklam standoff has returned, Army chief Bipin Rawat said, but added that one should be "prepared for anything".

In a Facebook Live session during the ongoing Raisina Dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), he said: "I think the bonhomie (between India and China) has returned to what it was prior to the Dolam (Doklam standoff). I don't visualise very serious trouble, but then one has to be prepared for anything."

Gen Rawat said troops were still there in the northern part of the plateau, which is a part of Chinese territory.

"As far as Doklam is concerned PLA soldiers are there in a part of the area, although not in numbers that we saw them in initially. They have carried out some infrastructure development which is mostly temporary in nature.

"While troops (PLA) may have returned and infrastructure remains, it is anybody's guess whether they would come back there or is it because of the winters that they could not take their equipment, but we are also there, so in case they come, we will face them," he said.

Rawat however added that the mechanisms established between India and China are working "very well".

"But mechanisms that we have of defusing tensions between our two countries are working very well and after Doklam, we've started our Border Personnel Meeting, we are meeting regularly, exchanges are taking place, communication between commanders at ground level is on," he said.

At the annual pres conference of India Army recently, the Army chief had said focus should shift to the northern border with China, adding that while China had emerged as a "powerful nation", India was not a weak nation.

He said road construction had been on in Doklam since 2000, but the Chinese soldiers had come close to Tosa Nala -- which divides north and south Doklam -- with a large number of manpower and equipment in June last year, just before the India-China standoff started.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday became the second woman politician to fly in a Su-30 fighter jet. Here is a list of political leaders who earlier flew in the Sukhoi 30 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam -- When then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam flew in a Su-30 in June 2003, he became the first head of state in India to fly in a fighter aircraft. Kalam, who was an eminent scientist, had flown the plane along with his co-pilot, and later said he became a scientist only because he could not become a pilot. He was 74 years old at the time.

George Fernandes -- In June 2003, then Defence Minister George Fernandes put on the flying suit and took off in a Su-30 fighter jet from Lohegaon Air Force Station near Pune. He was 73 years old at the time.

Pratibha Devisingh Patil -- Then President Pratibha Patil flew in a Su-30 in November 2009 from the Indian Air Force Base in Lohegaon.

Rao Inderjit Singh -- Then Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh flew in a Su-30 from Hindon air base, near Delhi, in August 2015.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy -- The BJP leader, who is a trained pilot, flew a Su-30 in February 2015 at the Aero India show in Bengaluru.

Kiren Rijiju -- The Minister of State for Home flew in a Su-30 from Halwara airbase in Punjab in May 2016.

--IANS

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The seventh edition of the International Coffee Festival began here on Wednesday after a four-year gap.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was to inaugurate the four-day event, was however absent due to prior engagements in New Delhi, said an official.

Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda unveiled the festival in which stakeholders of the coffee industry from across the country and overseas, policy makers, manufacturers, exporters and traders are participating in a big way.

"Coffee is one of the most appreciated beverages in the world. As Karnataka is the largest coffee growing state in the country, producing 71 per cent of the beans, it is a great opportunity for the fraternity to promote their brands, showcase new technologies and grow distribution network the world over," he said.

Organised jointly by the Indian Coffee Trust and the Coffee Board of the Commerce Ministry, the festival has chosen "Express Yourself with Coffee" as its theme.

Earlier in the day, German-based coffee roasting machine maker Probat's trainer Marchel Knitter conducted a skill-building workshop on modern profile roasting in shop roasters.

Switzerland-based Buhler AG's head of business unit Stefan Schenker and Brazil-based Lilla Roasters head Fernando Fernandes made presentations on profile roasting of single estate coffees and assessment of roasting loss and cupping quality.

Special workshops were also conducted on coffee brewing, extracting a perfect cup of espresso using Indian and international beans and the art of making a perfect cup of cappuccino.

International Coffee Organisation Executive Director Jose Dauster Sette, Coffee Board Secretary Srivatsa Krishna, Hindustan Unilever Ltd Executive Director Sudhir Sitapati, India Coffee Trust President Anil Kumar Bhandari and Coffee Lab Chief Executive Sunalini Menon also participated in the inaugural event.

"The objective of the festival is to capture the changes taking place in the coffee sector and to discuss broader issues faced by the industry, growers, consumers and start-ups for building an eco-system," said Bhandari.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied that Tehran has agreed to negotiate over its missile programme, media reports said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi called the reports "unfounded" and said his country's "policy and stance concerning its defensive missile programme are completely clear and transparent, and that other countries are well aware of that position", Xinhua news reported, quoting Press TV.

A Financial Times report on Tuesday said that Iran has agreed to enter negotiations over its missile programme as well as its regional role during a recent meeting in Brussels with the EU representatives.

According to the report, Europeans have stepped up pressure on Iran over such issues as they struggle to respond to US President Donald Trump's latest threat that he would pull Washington out of the nuclear deal if some "disastrous flaws" were not fixed.

Everyone knows that Iran's defence programme is not up for negotiation, Qasemi said, stressing that Tehran's position has not undergone any changes.

The Iranian missile work is of completely "defensive and deterrent nature" and is not targeted against any country, Qasemi said, adding that no hollow and baseless claims would change this "principled and substantive" position of the Islamic Republic.

"The Islamic Republic does not allow any interference in its domestic affairs and defensive policies, especially its missile programme," he was quoted as saying.

Besides, Iran's regional policy is "constructive" and "in line with the promotion of peace and stability in the region and the entire world", he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Iranian President said on Tuesday that the US government's initiative to create a largely Kurdish border force in northeastern Syria is aimed at undermining the country's territorial integrity.

Hassan Rouhani made the comment during a meeting in Tehran with Syrian parliament speaker Hammouda Sabbagh, Efe reported.

"The plot that the Americans recently have in mind for Syria is against international regulations and a conspiracy (against) the territorial integrity and the security of Syria and the region," Rouhani said, according to a statement released by his office.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Washington hope to create a force of 30,000 fighters that will be deployed along the borders of the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomous region in Syria.

Iran's foreign ministry labelled the US/Kurdish plan as a "clear intervention" in the internal affairs of Syria.

The initiative "makes the Syrian crisis more complicated, creates more instability and fans the flames in that country," ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

Qasemi pointed out Iran, Russia and Turkey are pursuing a solution to the Syrian conflict through peace talks in Astana and the creation of de-escalation zones.

Russia and Turkey, along with the government in Damascus, have also criticized the US/Kurdish plan.

Iran has backed President Bashar al-Assad's government since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, providing military advisers and militiamen for the Syrian army's struggle against terrorists and the armed opposition.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive here from Ahmedabad around 6.15 p.m. on Wednesday on a two-day visit, officials said.

On Thursday, Netanyahu will have a packed schedule. He will interact with the best of both the worlds Mumbai has to offer - business and glamour.

His official day will start with a power-breakfast with top Indian CEOs and head honchos plus attending a business forum of Israeli and Indian business persons.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace opposite the Gateway of India and a visit to the Chabad House in Nariman House, in nearby Colaba - both in south Mumbai.

Both these places - the heritage hotel and the once non-descript Nariman House - were the targets of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by 10 Pakistani gunmen who sneaked in from the Arabian Sea.

Netanyahu is expected to declare the Chabad House as a Living Memorial in which the orphaned toddler Moshe Holtzberg, now an 11-year-old boy, was saved by his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel from the terrorist mayhem.

However, his young parents Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka lost their lives along with seven others in the attack, after which little Moshe and Samuel were taken to Israel.

Later, he will attend a gathering with the members of the small but prosperous Jewish community living in different parts of Mumbai.

The evening is reserved for a gala glamour-filled engagement with Bollywood personalities, his final engagement before returning home on Friday morning.

--IANS

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As top diplomats from 20 countries met in the Canadian city of Vancouver to discuss the North Korea crisis, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono pushed for continued pressure on Pyongyang, saying that the world should not be blinded by Pyongyang's recent "charm offensive".

The meeting on Korean peninsula security was held on Tuesday and co-hosted by the US and Canada. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland were present, the BBC reported.

China and Russia, two of Pyongyang's biggest allies, were not invited. Both countries have been accused of not putting enough pressure on North Korea to stop it from developing its nuclear ambitions.

The two Koreas recently held formal bilateral talks for the first time in more than two years, using the opening offered by next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Kono called the North's newfound receptiveness to dialogue an attempt to gain time for weapons development, asserting that the country's relentless pursuit of its nuclear and missile programmes must not be ignored.

He warned against being swayed by North Korea's "charm offensive".

"The international community should unite behind the goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula", Kono said.

North Korea has in the past two years rapidly advanced its nuclear and conventional weapons programmes, despite increasing international sanctions.

Its latest ballistic test, on November 28, sparked a new series of fresh sanctions from the UN, which targeted petrol shipments and travel.

The US echoed Kono remarks, with Tillerson calling for an increase in pressure on Pyongyang to the point where it "must come to the table for credible negotiations".

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the meeting she believed recent sanctions and pressure had a part to play in North Korea's recent willingness for talks.

"Indeed the concerted efforts of the international community has begun to bear fruit," she said.

In their final joint statement, the 20 nations said they would consider imposing tougher sanctions on Pyongyang going beyond those required by UN Security Council resolutions.

Beijing dismissed the meeting as "illegitimate". Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: "The most important relevant parties of the Korean peninsula issue haven't taken part in the meeting so I don't think the meeting is legal or representative."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Japanese state broadcaster NHK apologized for mistakenly issuing a news alert claiming that North Korea had launched a missile and citizens should seek refuge, only a few days after a similar incident in Hawaii.

NHK sent the message around 7 p.m. on Tuesday citing "J-Alert", a centralized satellite system used by the government to issue warnings to its citizens about emergencies such as missile launches or earthquakes, although the broadcaster corrected itself five minutes later.

The broadcaster apologized for issuing a false alert in a written statement which stated, however, that there were no reports of problems caused by the mistake.

The false missile alert was the second in a matter of days. Last week, an emergency alert notification sent out to residents of Hawaii warning of an incoming "ballistic missile threat" turned out to be a false alarm. The error was blamed on an employee who "pushed the wrong button", CNN reported.

A NHK spokesperson said that staff had mistakenly operated the equipment to deliver news alerts over the Internet, although the reactions expressing concern and criticism soon hit social .

NHK's quick rectification of its error stands in contrast to the 40-minute delay by authorities in Hawaii in cancelling the false warning.

Japan conducted several citizen evacuation drills using its "J-Alert" system in the face of an eventual missile attack. The next evacuation drill is set to be conducted in Tokyo on January 22, in response to the repeated missile launches by North Korea, some of which flew over Japan's territory in 2017.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The police has arrested a man resembling the prime suspect in the kidnapping, rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Pakistan.

The man was held from Lahore's Bhatta Chowk earlier this week and was handed over to the Kasur authorities for his DNA test, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

Zainab was kidnapped on January 4 from near her aunt's house in Kasur city. Her body was discovered five days later from a garbage pile. The post-mortem report revealed that the minor had been raped and murdered.

The authorities said that the suspect's mobile phone location showed that he was in Kasur.

The brutal murder of Zainab has incited anger among residents as it is the 12th such case to occur within a two kilometre radius in the city in the last year. Kasur made international headlines in 2015 when a gang of paedophiles running a child sex ring was busted.

The gang allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted at least 280 children in the area, had blackmailed the families of the victims since 2009 and even sold video clips and images of the assault.

A Supreme Court bench on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the lack of progress by the Punjab government and police on the Zainab case.

According to the authorities, around 1,100 suspects have been questioned in the case.

"If the issue isn't solved then it'll be a failure of the government and police," the Chief Justice observed during the proceedings, adding that the same mistakes are made in every case after which suspects are exonerated due to shoddy investigations.

The Chief Justice also said that the accused in the Zainab case was a serial killer.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Myanmar's Foreign Ministry has informed Bangladesh of its possible extradition of some members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremists, media reports on Wednesday said.

According to the ministry, a list of more than 1,300 ARSA members had been sent to Bangladesh at the fourth Myanmar-Bangladesh Central Level Meeting on Border Security and Law Enforcement Cooperation held in Nay Pyi Taw on November 14, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, the first meeting of the joint working group of foreign ministries of the two countries on repatriation of displaced Myanmar residents from Bangladesh was also held in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday, agreeing on a repatriation plan starting from January 23.

The ARSA extremist terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine on August 25 last year, displacing residents to Bangladesh from a number of areas in Maungtaw district, Myanmar officials said.

--IANS

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A chargesheet against seven Kashmiri separatists and a businessman in a case of funding terror in the Kashmir Valley will be filed by the NIA on Thursday, the day their judicial custody ends, officials said.

According to National Investigation Agency (NIA) sources, the agency will file the chargesheet against the arrested separatist leaders and a businessman under various sections of money laundering and waging war against country as the judicial custody ends on January 18.

A Delhi court on January 12 extended the judicial custody of the eight accused till January 18.

The eight have been charged with receiving funds from Pakistan to sponsor terror activities and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir was rocked by violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces on July 8, 2016.

An official of the agency said that they will be charged under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAP Act of 1967) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 121 Waging, or attempting to wage war against the state and Section 120 B entering into criminal conspiracy.

According to a senior official of the agency, the main chargesheet prepared by the NIA contains close to 50 pages and the annexure attached to the chargesheet, may run into nearly 5,000 pages.

On July 24, 2017, the NIA arrested seven of them -- Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah -- on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against India.

Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan. Islam is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.

Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, accused of acting as a conduit for channelling funds for separatists and terror activities in the Kashmir Valley, was arrested on August 17 last year.

He was allegedly collecting funds from Pakistan and banned terrorist organisations and transferring the same to Hurriyat leaders.

Watali is known to be friends with Pakistani leaders as well as separatists, besides leading politicians in Kashmir, the NIA said.

The NIA has filed a case against the separatist leaders on May 30 following a sting operation by a television channel after the Geelani-led Hurriyat suspended Nayeem Khan confessed that Hurriyat leaders had been receiving funds from Pakistan for subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley.

Hafeez Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ul Dawah, the front of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), has been named in the FIR as an accused besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Dukhtaran-e-Milat.

The NIA had questioned the arrested persons after the May 2017 expose. The counter-terror probe agency had also conducted raids in Srinagar, Jammu, Delhi and Haryana and reportedly seized incriminating evidence against those involved in receiving, acting as intermediaries and final beneficiaries of funds coming from Pakistan.

India has for decades accused Pakistan of arming, financing and training militants fighting to end Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad says it provides only political and diplomatic support.

--IANS

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Refuting the allegations of the CPI's Tripura unit, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday clarified that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was not present in any political meeting at the Home Minister Rajnath Singh's house on January 14.

"There is a well-established practice of Home Ministry holding regular morning meetings to review national security and public order," said the Ministry statement, adding that these meetings are attended by senior members of the internal security establishment.

It said Doval and a few other officials were a part of one such meeting on January 14 at Rajnath Singh's house, but "didn't participate in any other meeting at Home Minister's residence on that day".

The statement came after the Communist Party of India-Marxist asked the Election Commission on Monday to look into why Doval attented a Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) meeting where poll strategies were strategies, citing media reports.

The Indian Express had reported that Doval attended a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders to discuss the forthcoming elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

"If correct, this is a shocking violation of norms and serious misconduct," the party had said in a statement.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday a plea by the producers of "Padmaavat" challenging the ban on the controversial movie in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.

When the producers' counsel Mahesh Agrawal, mentioned the matter on Wednesday before a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and sought an expeditious hearing, the Chief Justice nodded but did not say anything.

Mahesh Agrawal was flanked by senior counsel Harish Salve, who is likely to argue the petition when it is listed before the court.

"Padmaavat" has been caught in a row over alleged distortion of facts -- a contention over which some Rajput organisations including Karni Sena have demanded a nationwide ban on the film. The Central Board of Film Certification had approved the film with some modifications in December.

Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana are among the states that have announced they will not let the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial hit the screens. It is slated to release on January 25.

In November last year, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea against release of the movie -- earlier titled "Padmavati" -- outside India.

The top court had on November 28, 2017 deprecated the people discussing the issue in public and critically commenting on "Padmavati".

"When the matter is pending before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for grant of a certificate, nobody holding a responsible position should comment as it would amount to violation of the principle of the rule of law", the court had said on November 28.

Taking exception to comments by the political leaders cutting across the political spectrum, the court had said: "When a matter is pending for consideration before CBFC, how can persons in public authority comment on whether CBFC should issue certificate or not? It will prejudice the decision of CBFC," the court had added.

The top court had earlier rejected a plea for blocking the release of "Padmavati" -- as it was titled before the CBFC asked its producer to drop "i" in the title.

In the past, the top court has not appreciated the banning of the film by the states. These included Prakash Jha's "Aarakshan" based on caste reservation, "Dam 999" by the Tamil Nadu government and "Sadda Haq" allegedly for glorifying the extremism and its leader during the turbulent days in Punjab in the 1990s

"Aarakshan" was banned by the Uttar Pradesh government and "Sadda Haq" by the Punjab and Delhi governments and also by the Chandigarh administration.

--IANS

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Actor Rahul Kapoor, who featured in television show "Suryaputra Karn" and "Veera", is joining the Bollywood brigade with his first feature film "Vodka Diaries". He says patience is key to survival in showbiz.

On his struggle in the world of showbiz, Rahul said: "I belong to Patiala, Punjab, so it is very difficult to reach at this level without anyone's support. Therefore, I think being patient is the key to survive in the film industry.

"There are statistics that everyday, there are 10,000 people who come to Mumbai to become an actor and around 20,000 people return to their city. So if you don't have patience, you shouldn't make a decision to enter in this industry.

"I am an engineer by profession but I left my job because of my passion for acting and I knew that I will get an opportunity to show my skills".

Rahul became a familiar face with commercial advertisements for TV and music videos.

On his character in "Vodka Diaries", he said: "I have earlier worked in 'D-Day', in which I played a small role. But in 'Vodka Diaries', I have a very strong role that is indispensable to the story and leads the film to the climax. I am playing character of Nikhil who is flirty and stylish.

"I want to thank Kushal Srivastava who gave me an opportunity to work in his movie. I have tried my best to do justice to my character."

The film also features acclaimed actor Kay Kay Menon.

For Rahul, "the whole shooting was like a dream to me (as I was) working alongside Kay Kay Menon who is one of my favourite actors".

"I was nervous while working with him. He helped and encouraged me while shooting of the film. I was observing his acting and tried to follow that. I really got inspired from his performance," he said.

"Vodka Diaries" also stars Raima Sen, Mandira Bedi and Sharib Hashmi. The movie is a contemporary murder mystery releasing on January 19.

--IANS

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More than 34,000 people from a danger zone around Mayon volcano have been evacuated due to the threat of hazardous eruption, Philippine authorities said on Wednesday.

Romina Marasigan, spokesperson from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told media that the evacuation figure due to the eruption of Mayon volcano was brought to 34,003 on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Marasigan said now the evacuees are staying in 30 evacuation centers provided by the local government.

"We want to be sure of their safety because intermittent rain showers are being experienced by the people in that region."

Mayon Volcano continues to ooze lava and shoot up plumes of hot ash, sending fear to affected residents but also a joy to tourists who started to flock Albay, a province on the island of Luzon about 330 km southeast of Manila, to witness the "silent eruptions".

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in its Wednesday bulletin that it had recorded 143 "lava collapse events" and a tremor in the past 24 hours.

The volcano's alert Level 3 remains in place, meaning there is a threat of the hazardous eruption in weeks or even days.

--IANS

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A controversial member of Qatar's royal family has flown to Kuwait after his alleged detention by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), local media reported on Wednesday.

"My father is on his plane to Kuwait with his two daughters," said Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al Thani, the son of Sheikh Abdullah, who emerged as a negotiator and one of the most prominent figures speaking out against Qatar in the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Qatar and other Gulf nations.

Asked about the possibility of his father returning to Doha, Sheikh Ali did not give a definite answer, Xinhua news agency reported.

"After arriving in Kuwait and checking his health, he will decide to return to Qatar or travel abroad for treatment," he said.

Sheikh Ali also said his father's health was "not stable" as he was suffering from heart disease and diabetes.

On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah posted a video saying he was detained in the UAE.

"I am afraid something could happen to me that will be blamed on Qatar," he said.

The UAE, however, denied that Sheikh Abdullah was being held against his will and said he was "free to leave."

Last June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and transport links to gas-rich Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and establishing close ties with Iran against Arab interests, which Doha has repeatedly denied.

--IANS

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Retired Odisha High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi, accused of graft, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court to seek a court-monitored probe into leak of transcripts of his alleged telephonic conversation in a corruption case.

The case involved help extended to an Uttar Pradesh-based educational trust that had been barred from admitting students in its medical course for two years.

Qudussi's counsel Vijay Aggarwal told Special Judge Manoj Jain that the transcripts as well as the confidential report on the preliminary inquiry into the case were leaked to the media.

The petitioner also claimed that while the confidential report had not been supplied to the accused, it was in the hands of people outside the investigating agency.

He urged the court to monitor case investigations and pass necessary orders for an inquiry as to whether the Central Bureau of Investigation had committed criminal misconduct by leaking documents in the case.

"... whether theft of documents has been committed... these documents are confidential in nature, and as to who are the erring persons," his application read.

The counsel urged the court to direct for an inquiry as to whether any document or conversations have been tampered with or not.

"Such things raise grave suspicion and apprehension of interference of third parties in the investigation," the counsel told the court.

The counsel also pointed out that the CBI is outside the Right to Information Act's ambit, but still the documents are in possession of outsiders.

The court listed the matter for January 22.

Quddusi, B.P. Yadav, Palash Yadav, Bishwanath Agrawala, and Ram Dev Saraswat were arrested on September 20, 2017, by the CBI on charge of helping the educational trust. Sixth accused Bhawana Pandey was arrested on September 21, 2017.

All accused were granted bail in the case.

The agency had registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused on September 19, 2017, and conducted raids at eight locations in Delhi, Lucknow, and Bhubaneswar.

The CBI FIR said B.P. Yadav and Palash Yadav were managing the Lucknow-based Prasad Educational Trust, which runs the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences.

The institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical course students for two years (till 2019) because of substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of criteria.

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Monday filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court Judges, including the four rebel Judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

In his complaint, Bhushan also mentioned tapped conversations purportedly between Quddusi, Biswanath Agarwala, a middleman, and B.P. Yadav.

--IANS

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Rajasthan Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria said on Wednesday that the Vasundhara Raje government had withdrawn the case registered against VHP leader Pravin Togadia three years ago, but the police could not get the case withdrawn from the court which led to the present crisis.

Kataria said the state government has no role in the issue of Rajasthan Police reaching Gujarat to arrest Togadia. "We have already withdrawn the case in 2015. However, this letter failed to reach the court owing to some technical errors," he added.

Kataria confirmed that an ASI and a constable went to Gujarat, but not with an intention to arrest Togadia.

Now senior officials in the Rajasthan government are busy searching for the letter which can prove that the Rajasthan government has taken the case back.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for January 20.

If they get the letter by then, it will be submitted in the court or else the state government will have to reissue the letter.

Meanwhile, Congress veteran leader Archana Sharma held the state government responsible for the situation.

A case was registered on April 3, 2002 against Togadia for flouting norms of Section 144 in Sri Ganganagar where he called a public gathering at a time when the administration had clamped curfew in the town.

--IANS

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Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh will soon held a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the expeditious development in the state's eight most backward districts, an official said on Wednesday.

The Minister also said to visit all the districts in the Uttar Pradesh to review the implementation of the district action plan.

Rajnath Singh's assurance came during at a high-level meeting of officers of the Home Ministry, NITI Aayog and delegated senior officers of the respective districts at his North block office.

"The Union Home Minister has assured he will convene a meeting with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to accelerate development in eight most backward districts of the state. He will also visit all the districts in Uttar Pradesh to review the implementation of the district action plan," the Home Ministry official said.

Bahraich, Balrampur, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar and Sonbhadra are the eight districts in Uttar Pradesh among those 115 backward districts across the country picked up by the NITI Aayog for rapid transformation by 2022.

The 115 backward districts have been allotted to various nodal Central Ministries for real-time monitoring and ranking, the official said, adding the Union Home Ministry has been delegated responsibility in respect of 35 Maoist-affected districts.

For each of the districts, a senior official in the rank of Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary has been nominated as 'Prabhari' Officer, he said.

Prabhari officers, who have undertaken a visit to their respective districts, said in the meeting that the districts fared poorly in health and nutrition and primary .

Most districts lacked infrastructure and there was an acute shortage of doctors and paramedics in government hospitals and clinics, they said, while proposing localised recruitment to overcome the shortage of teachers in schools.

--IANS

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Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Wednesday ordered the transfer of $2 billion to the Central Bank of Yemen to alleviate the suffering of Yemeni people, media reports said.

The contribution aims to help the Yemeni people cope with the economic burdens imposed by Iran-backed Houthi militias, the Saudi authorities said in a statement.

The Saudis also accused Houthis of looting the state by seizing government revenues, Xinhua news reported, quoting the Saudi Press Agency.

Their actions have resulted in a steady devaluation of the currency, which has significantly damaged the lives of Yemenis for years, the statement said.

With the current financial aid, the total contribution of Saudi Arabia to the Central Bank of Yemen will reach $3 billion.

--IANS

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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday flew in an Indian Air Force frontline aircraft Sukhoi Su-30 MKI -- an indigenously-built twin-engine fighter jet capable of carrying nuclear strikes.

Wearing an olive green flight suit, Sitharaman, the first woman Defence Minister of India, flew from the Air Force Station here in Rajasthan. She was seen seated in the cockpit.

The Minister tweeted her pictures familiarizing herself with the fighter aircraft before taking off. The Sukhoi SU -30 MKI is a multi-role fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

--IANS

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Sri Lanka's Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously decided to withdraw two gazette notifications which would enable women to buy alcohol and work in shops selling or manufacturing alcohol beverages, and extending the business hours of liquor shops across the island, a minister said.

Minister of Ports and Shipping, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said the decision was reached when the Cabinet met for its weekly meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.

The decision comes after President Maithripala Sirisena said last week that he would call for a reversal of the two gazette notifications issued by the Finance Ministry.

The President said he had only found out about the move from the newspapers.

Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry last week lifted the ban on selling alcohol to women and prohibiting women from working in places where alcohol is manufactured or sold, for the first time in nearly 60 years.

The Finance Ministry later also announced that it would also allow liquor shops to stay open for business till 11 at night. Currently all liquor establishments in the island have to close at 10 p.m.

--IANS

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Three persons wanted in the national capital for shooting at Delhi Police personnel during a routine check last week have been arrested in the beach village of Calangute in North Goa, police said on Wednesday.

Vipin Sunil Dagar, 24, Praveen Surjay Dagar, 23, both residents of Jharoda Kalan in Delhi, and Ajay Kumar Ahlawat, 22, from Jhajjar in Haryana were arrested when they were buying liquor at a wine store in the village located 20 km from Panaji.

The accused had been booked under the Arms Act and for various other offences at the Delhi Cantonment police station after they shot at police personnel during a 'nakabandi' in Delhi on January 11, Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Chandan Choudury told reporters.

--IANS

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The Haryana Police has been left baffled after recovering the body of a 19-year-old youth who was until now the prime suspect in the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Dalit girl in Kurukshetra district.

Police said on Wednesday that the body of Gulshan, who was considered the prime suspect in the killing of the Class 10 student, was found on Tuesday night from the Bhakra irrigation canal near Jyotisar in Kurukshetra district, about 110 km from here.

The body was in a decomposed state.

Gulshan's name was mentioned in the FIR as an accused.

Family members of the deceased youth on Wednesday started a protest outside the office of the Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg demanding justice.

Garg confirmed the recovery of Gulshan's body. "We are investigating the murders," he said.

Police sources said they could not rule out "honour killing" as a reason behind the twin murders.

The Haryana Police, based on the complaint of the victim girl's family, had listed Gulshan, a Class 12 student, as the prime suspect in the kidnapping, rape and murder of the girl.

Some people were even detained for questioning and raids were conducted to nab Gulshan.

The girl had gone for her tuition class on January 9 and went missing. Her half-naked body was found near a canal in Jind district on Saturday.

Police and forensic officials said the girl was brutally raped and inflicted wounds on her private parts and internal organs. She was murdered by her tormentors.

Haryana has been rocked with five incidents of rape and gang-rape in the past four days. These were reported from Kurukshetra/Jind, Panipat, Pinjore and Faridabad (two). In three of these, the victims were brutally murdered.

--IANS

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The President of the European Commission on Wednesday said he would like Britain to re-join the EU after Brexit -- using the little-known treaty clause "Article 49".

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Jean-Claude Juncker said "the exit of Britain is a catastrophe" and suggested that he would like Britain to stay, the Independent reported.

But Juncker added for the first time in public that even once Britain had left, it could still change its mind and return to the bloc by invoking another treaty clause.

"Even if the British leave according to Article 50, then Article 49 would allow them to accede again. And I would be happy to facilitate that. I would not want to push anyone into a corner," he said.

Juncker had endorsed a statement by European Council President Donald Tusk suggesting that Britain could still "change its mind" to leave, telling the British people that "our hearts are open to you".

"Tusk and I once again reached out to the British government and said that if the British people, the British Parliament, the British government, wish for another way than Brexit, we would be prepared to discuss it. We are not throwing out the British, we want them to stay," he said.

Calls for a second referendum on the country's imminent departure from the EU have grown and even Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and primary standard-bearer for Brexit, said that a new vote would be useful.

Farage said that another Brexit referendum would reinforce the pro-Leave position in a country split in half, but Remain backers said support for their position had grown and welcomed a call they believed could halt Brexit.

The lower chamber of the UK Parliament was due to vote late in the day on the Great Repeal Bill, which seeks to transfer EU laws into British legislation.

In March 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of the EU, formally beginning the two-year legal process of Britain's exit, which is set to conclude in March 2019.

Article 49 is the normal way for a European country to join the union -- a process that normally takes years. Any new member state requires the unanimous consent of the 27 member states on the European Council, the consent of the European Parliament and consultation with the Commission.

--IANS

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Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that protests against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has left 30 people dead, 7,000 wounded and some 1,000 imprisoned.

Abbas made his remarks on the opening day of al-Azhar International Conference in Support of Jerusalem held in Cairo, stressing that Palestinians will continue to defend their demands peacefully, Efe news agency reported.

"We will adhere to peace, but peace shall not be at any cost, and we will seek all options but not terrorism and violence," he said, asserting that the day of liberation will come.

"We will not trust the American administration which is no longer suitable for the role of mediator of the peace process," he reiterated, according to Palestinian News and Info Agency WAFA.

Abbas said the decision taken by US President Donald Trump blatantly challenged the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians and was a flagrant alignment with Israeli "crimes".

The Palestinian President also criticized the inability of the international community to implement any resolutions approved by the United Nations in favor of the Palestinian cause.

He recalled that there have been 705 resolutions of the General Assembly and 86 passed by the UN Security Council since 1947.

Abbas pointed out that the Palestinians have reduced their demands and they now ask for only 22 percent of historic Palestine's original territory. Yet, this reduced claim is not accepted either.

The Palestinian leader reiterated that Jerusalem was the eternal capital of Palestine and without this recognition, he stressed, there will be no peace in the region or in the world.

The conference, organized by al-Azhar, the world's largest Sunni Islamic center of learning, was also attended by the Arab League's Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and hundreds of representatives from a variety of religious backgrounds.

--IANS

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The US has announced that it will withhold more than half of the funding it provides for a UN agency that supports Palestinians, about two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to pull funding for the group.

Washington will withhold $65 million out of its scheduled $125 million payment to the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides humanitarian aid, education, social services and medical care to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, CNN reported.

Trump had said that the US could cut aid if Palestinians rejected peace efforts with Israel.

The decision drew condemnation from Palestinians and praise from Israel. The UN officials expressed deep concern and refugee groups worried about the humanitarian impact, particularly the potential for further destabilisation of a region already reeling from conflict in Syria.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday that the move had nothing to do with "punishing" the Palestinians for their refusal to enter into negotiations with Israel, or their decision to push for a UN vote that resulted in global condemnation of the US decision to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"This is not aimed at punishing anyone," Nauert said on Tuesday as she outlined the Trump administration's decision to release $60 million in funding for the agency, while indefinitely withholding another $65 million.

The decision came two weeks after Trump complained that Washington receives "no appreciation or respect" in return for its aid.

"The move will have devastating consequences for vulnerable Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including hundreds of thousands of refugee children in the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria," said Jan Egeland, former Norwegian Foreign Minister and former UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "very concerned" about the impact on the region.

Nauert said the money was being withheld because the US would like to see reforms at UNRWA and added that Washington would also like to see other countries contribute more to the relief agency, which was founded in 1949 after the Arab-Israeli war, to deal specifically with Palestinian refugees.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi slammed the decision to withhold the funds, saying it targeted "the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people", adding that it "will generate further instability throughout the region".

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, praising the move said: "UNRWA has proven time and again to be an agency that misuses the humanitarian aid of the international community and instead supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Palestinian refugees and encourages hate."

--IANS

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The US is not present in South Asia for peace and stability but to create chaos in the region, Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said.

"As George Friedman states in his book 'The Next 100 Years', the US is present there to create chaos in the region so that Russia, China, Iran and other regional countries can be contained," Khar told CNN in an interview.

While discussing the New Year tweet of US President Donald Trump, Khar said that if she was in Foreign Office, she would have "ignored the tweet" and be "more concerned about tweeter than the tweet".

Pakistan is still reeling from the after-effects of Trump's first tweet of 2018 in which he announced cutting all further aid to Islamabad on charges of harbouring terrorists.

In the tweet, Trump said "the US had foolishly given Pakistan over $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years" and accused Pakistan of thinking "US leaders to be fools".

"They give safe havens to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" he said.

Asked what was her reaction after the aid cut announcement, Khar said: "The US is currently the superpower, but if you're going to tweet away your foreign policy, then clearly frankly if I was in the Foreign Office of Pakistan, I would totally ignore this tweet."

"This person is a habitual tweeter who tweets rather flippantly, almost like which side of the bed you woke up on. After all the other tweets, I think we should be more concerned about the tweeter than the tweet," she said.

Khar said that Trump's belief about Pakistan's dependence on US aid was "exaggerated", the Nation daily reported citing CNN.

"I don't think we're dependent on it at all. As someone who managed Pakistan's portfolios for almost five years, I can tell you that our reliance on them is vastly exaggerated."

Taking a jibe at Trump, Khar said one doesn't need to be a "stable genius" to do some basic mathematics.

"He talked about a $33 billion that Pakistan received from US. The fact is, since 2001 Pakistan has received somewhere around $4.8 billion under the head of security assistance, and $5.3 billion in the realm of civilian assistance."

The former Foreign Minister claimed that "Pakistan has been happily scapegoated for the immense failure in Afghanistan for which Islamabad is an equal victim to Kabul".

"We can't afford to be flippant about the realities on the ground in Afghanistan. Warlord-ism all over the place in Afghanistan, where Taliban have taken over," Khar said.

Talking about Pakistan's ties with China, she said: "China is a regional strategic partner, perhaps the only real strategic partner we've had... not from today or the past five years but for the last four decades. With them (China), we have complete alignment of interests."

--IANS

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While warning about the risk of "potential nuclear catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that a "window of opportunity" was still open to avoid war over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

The "window of opportunity will, in my opinion, hopefully, make the war avoidable, but it is important that we don't miss the opportunities that windows can provide," he told reporters on Tuesday when asked if he thought that war was avoidable.

For the first time in more than two years, Pyongyang has made peace overtures to the South in recent weeks by holding formal talks and re-establishing a military hotline. North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un has also agreed to send a team to participate in the Winter Olympics to be held next month in South Korea.

"What I believe is extremely important is to take profit of these signals of hope to make sure that a serious process leading to the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula takes place," Guterres said.

He said that he would be attending the Olympics to be held at Pyeongchang.

Last month when Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman visited Pyongyang to meet with North Korean officials he conveyed "our belief that direct talks between those that are the key interlocutors in this process are absolutely essential," Guterres said.

Asked abut the recent Bangladesh-Myanmar agreement for Rohingya refugees to return home, Guterres said that the UN High Comissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should be involved in the repatriation "to guarantee that the operations abide by international standards."

He said that it "is essential on this is to make sure that the return is voluntary" and done with safety and dignity.

The refugees should be allowed to return to their place of origin and this would require a huge investment for reconstruction of what had been lost, he said.

"The worst would be to move these people from camps in Bangladesh to camps in Myanmar, keeping an artificial situation for a long time and not allowing for them to regain their normal lives," he added.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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Founder and Chief Executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab on Tuesday said after decades of prosperity, the global social contract is endangered.

Acknowledging an "unprecedented" global interest in the 48th WEF in Davos, Schwab said some 70 heads of state and government and 38 heads of international organisations would debate "creating a shared future in a fractured world" -- the theme of this year's forum from January 23-26.

"Governments, business and civil society can't alone address the multifold challenges we have on the global agenda. We need collaboration," said Schwab.

"In my opening speech I will call for a qualitative easing," said Schwab, noting that at the time of the financial crisis ten years ago he said it would be followed by an economic crisis and then a "social crisis".

"We are moving out of the financial and economic crisis, but we are stuck in the social crisis," he added.

This year Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the forum, while US President Donald Trump will close it, according to organisers.

Borge Brende, the President of the WEF, said: "The world is faced with some real systemic changes. In a multi-polar world the regions are important. Challenges can only be dealt with in a collaborative and multi-stakeholder way."

The forum will have 400 sessions with 3,000 participants and 12 Nobel laureates coming.

--IANS

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Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Wednesday fended off two match points to defeat Croatia's Jana Fett 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Wozniacki saw her bid for her first Grand Slam title nearly vanish in the third set when she faced two-match points while trailing 5-1 to Fett, who was making her debut in the Australian Open main draw, reports Efe.

However, Wozniacki, World No.2, rallied back against world No.119, winning six games in a row. The 21-year-old Fett committed 58 unforced errors in 2 hours and 31 minutes.

The 27-year-old Dane is set to play against either American Nicole Gibbs or the Netherlands' Kiki Bertens.

Fresh off winning Brisbane International, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina also had to rally back from a set down to defeat Katerina Siniakova of Czech Republic 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The fourth seed is scheduled to take on compatriot qualifier Marta Kostyuk, who defeated Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska.

--IANS

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Zimbabwe has denounced US President Donald Trump's alleged utterances describing African states as "s**thole" countries.

In a statement published by The Herald on Wednesday, the Zimbabwean Foreign Ministry said such comments were hurtful and prejudicial and did not have a place in modern times.

It said the comments attributed to Trump earlier this month have "shocked and dismayed us", Xinhua news agency reported.

"The US is a prominent country of which the world expects the best example in its projections of democratic values, commitment to the fight against bigotry, upholding the civil rights of all of its people and generosity towards the less fortunate countries in the world."

The Zimbabwean government said it joined fellow African countries and others in rejecting "this unfortunate characterization of our peoples and countries".

The US media reported that during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, Trump described Africa, together with Haiti and El Salvador, as "shithole countries" supplying undesirable immigrants to the US.

The demeaning comments, which Trump has since denied, have received broad condemnation from across the globe.

--IANS

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The uptick in exports is gratifying, Union Minister of Commerce, Suresh Prabhu should be complimented. However, efforts should be continued to keep this pace in the months to come to achieve $300 billion export target for the current year 2017-18. With the exports restrictions imposed by EU, exports of agro-products is expected to show dismal performance.
At an event in Salboni, West Bengal, on the eve of the Bengal Global Business Summit 2018, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had explained to her audience the formula to attract investment to the state. "The more love and affection we show to our investors, the more they will invest here," she had said. As things stood at the end of the two-day summit in Kolkata, that "love and affection" appears to be worth Rs 2.19 trillion  that's the value of investment committed to the state by some participants at the event.
Banaswadi is an established residential precinct in Bengaluru which has seen rapid residential and commercial growth as it is strategically located near Tech Parks. It is divided into two main regions  Chikka and Dodda. The locality is well connected to the core city along the 7th Main Road, which further connects it to the Outer Ring Road. This gives residents easy access to prominent areas like Hebbal, HBR Layout, Nagawara, Sanjay Nagar and Hennur in the North; CV Raman Nagar and Kaggadasapura in the East; and Sarjapur Road in the South. It is also close to Bengaluru airport and the railway station.
In the midst of hype over their political entry, the top two actors of Tamil film industry, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, on Wednesday shared the dais at a function here.

Rajinikanth, who had announced on December 31 that he would form his party before the next state assembly polls, snapped the clapboard and Haasan, set to embark on a political tour next month, inaugurated the shoot.

The pooja for the film, "Kizhakku Africavil Raju," (Raju in East Africa), is being planned as a sequel in motion capture technology to AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran starrer, the 1973 super hit 'Ulagam Sutrum Valiban,' film industry sources said.

The sequel to the movie could not be done at that time as MGR got fully engaged in .

State Ministers C Vijayabaskar and Kadambur C Raju, participated.

Rajinikanth and Haasan had shared the dais in Malaysia earlier this month for a fund-raising event held by the 'Nadigar Sangam' here, known officially as the Indian Film Artistes Association.

Haasan has said he will announce his political party's name on February 21 at Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram and begin a state-wide tour the same day.

"At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by," Haasan said in a statement yesterday.
Taking yet another austere step, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is getting into the consolidation mode to disband hordes of government schemes, which have outlived their utility and relevance.
As many as 16 people, including a noted builder, were arrested in connection with the seizure of over Rs 97 crore in demonetised currency notes from the builder's ancestral house here.

The UP government said prima facie no terror link had been established.

"In Kanpur, raids are going on at various places and till noon Rs 97 crore in old currency notes have been recovered. More old currency notes may be found and more arrests are likely on the basis of interrogation," principal secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar told reporters in Lucknow.

To a question as to whether there could be any terror link, Kumar said, "Prima facie, there is no terror link."



The Centre had banned currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in November, 2016 to flush out black money, eliminate fake notes and stop terror-funding.

Senior Superintendent of Police of Kanpur Akhilesh Kumar Meena today said Rs 95 crore belonged to Anand Khatri, the builder, and over a dozen others owned the remaining amount. They were arrested along with the builder.

Meena said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gathered inputs about some companies and individuals involved in converting illegal currency into legal money and shared the information with Inspector General of Police, Kanpur, Alok Singh.

The IG collected more information about those running the money conversion racket and briefed the SSP Kanpur, directing him to carry out raids discreetly.

Following a tip-off, the SSP Kanpur formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover.

They nabbed four men involved in conversion of illegal money from the Swaroop Nagar area.

Initially they tried to mislead police, but later during intensive interrogation they broke down and confessed their crime, SSP Kanpur said.

They divulged information about the builder involved in converting black money into white by exchanging the old currency notes.

It was revealed that a huge amount of demonetised currency was stored in guny bags in the builder's ancestral house near Gole Chauraha in Swaroop Nagar.

Police later nabbed the builder, who led the team to the site where the currency was stashed, SP (East) Anurag Arya told PTI.

Police also raided three hotels from where 11 people including Santosh Yadav, a professor, were arrested, he said.

Preliminary probe indicated that the cash was hidden with an intention of converting it into legal currency, the SP said, but he too discounted the possibility of any terror angle.

The arrested were identified as Anand Khatri, builder, Santosh Yadav, professor, key liasioner Mohit Dhingra, Sanjay Agarwal, Manish Agarwal - all residents of Kanpur, Koteshwar Rao from Andhra Pardesh, Sanjay Kumar from Varanasi and Anil Yadav from Saharanpur.

Others arrested were Santosh Pathak and Sanjay Rai both from Mirzapur, Ram Asrey, Dhirendra, Sanjeev Agarwal, Omkar Yadav, Ali Husain, and a woman from Andhar Pardesh, whose identity was not immediately known.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jammu Kashmir government today said 195 security personnel lost their lives in the last three years in terror incidents in the Kashmir Valley.

In a written reply to a question of BJP's Ramesh Arora,Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told the Legislative Council that 195 security personnel were killed in "terrorist- related violence" in the last three years in the valley.

Of these, 78 were killed in 2017, 74 in 2016 and 43 in 2015, she said.

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Over 379 acres of land have been encroached by land grabbers in four villages in the outskirts of Jammu city, the Jammu and Kashmir government said today.

In a written reply to a question by BJP MLC Vikram Randhawa in Legislative Council, Minister for Revenue Abdul Rehman Veeri said that over 379 acres of land in Sunjwan, Kanachak, Laliyal and Panjore villages of Jammu district have been encroached.

"An area measuring 217 acres of the total encroached land have been retrieved," he said.

Veeri added that there was no information of any influential person or politician occupying large chunk of land unauthorisedly.

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A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped and strangled to death in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said today, days after another minor was brutally raped and murdered in the country, triggering a national outrage.

The medico-legal report of the four-year-old girl whose body was found on Sunday evening in Mardan district suggests she might have been raped before being murdered, Inspector General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Salahuddin Mehsood was quoted as saying by the Dawn .

The report also said the girl died by strangulation, Mehsood said.

However, he said the police was still awaiting a forensic report of the crime as medico-legal report has left certain things unclear.

The body of the girl was found in sugarcane fields a day after she went missing.

An eight-member committee under the regional police officer, Mardan, which also included the superintendent police (investigation), had been constituted on January 14.

He also said that another informal committee comprising family members of the victim, members of the provincial Dispute Resolution Council and local political leaders has been formed to overlook the police investigation.

Mehsood said that all evidence for the case, including DNA samples, has been collected and expressed hope that the culprits will be caught soon.

The police had earlier been accused by members of the family and the district nazim of trying to hush up the matter and hide the sexual assault.

Cases of sexual assault against minors have come under greater scrutiny in the country following the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Kasur, whose body was found from a dump in the city last week.

The girl in Kasur district was abducted outside her home earlier this month.

She had gone to a religious tuition centre near her house in Kasur city, some 50 km from Lahore, on January 5 from where a man said to be a 'serial killer' abducted her, police said.

The horrific incident shocked the entire country and drew national and international condemnation.

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At least six persons were killed and 25 others injured when a bus they were travelling fell into a roadside ditch at Satki in West Midnapore district today, police said.

The mishap happened at around 3.15 PM when the bus, travelling from Mohanpur to Sabang, fell into a ditch on the roadside, West Midnapore Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoria told PTI.

The SP said the mishap took place when the driver tried to save a motorcycle that suddenly came in front of the bus.

"Six persons have died in the accident. And as per our information at least 25 others are treated at a nearby hospital," Rajoria said.

Ironically, this week India is celebrating Road safety week from January 11 to January 17.

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Six tourists from Madhya Pradesh were killed and five others seriously injured when a van carrying them rammed into railings of a four-lane highway in Tuticorin district early today, police said.

All the six, including two women, died on the spot in the accident which occurred near Kayathaaru, about 140 km from here, when the tourists were on their way to Kanyakumari.

Quoting preliminary investigation, police said the driver dozed off and lost control when the van was speeding, resulting in the accident.

The tourists had arrived here by train and left for Kanyakumari by van late last evening.

Police, on being alerted about the accident by drivers of vehicles which passed by the spot, rushed and rescued five injured persons with the help of employees of a nearby toll plaza.

The injured had been admitted to the government hospital in Tirunelveli.

The deceased were identified as Rekha, Vindhya, Rameskumar, Kanayalal, Deekam and Lalchand.

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Myanmar police opened fire on a crowd of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as they tried to seize a government office, in unrest that left seven dead and injured around a dozen more, police said.

Several thousand Buddhist protesters had gathered yesterday for a ceremony in Mrauk U, an ancient temple complex that has so far remained unscathed by the military's crackdown on the region's minority Rohingya Muslim community.

It was not immediately clear why the rally descended into violence.

But the clashes came on the same day as a repatriation agreement was signed between Myanmar and Bangladesh to start the return of some 655,000 Rohingya refugees from squalid camps back over the border.

A police spokesman blamed the crowd for "starting the violence" after barging into a district administrative office and hoisting the Rakhine State flag.

"Security forces asked them to disperse and fired warning shots with rubber bullets... but they didn't stop, so police had to use real bullets," Myanmar police spokesman Colonel Myo Soe told AFP.

"Seven people were killed and 13 injured during last night's violence in Mrauk U," he said adding more than 20 police were wounded by sling shots and stones hurled by the crowd.

Mrauk U lies only a few dozen kilometres from the epicentre of violence that saw Rohingya driven in their hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh last August.

Rakhine state is bisected by divisions and communal hatreds.

Poor and marginalised, the ethnic Rakhine have a long- standing emnity with the Bamar-majority Burmese state.

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Terming Aadhaar as "an electronic leash", a senior lawyer today told the Supreme Court that the government could completely destroy an individual by "switching off" the 12-digit unique identifier number.

The argument was made before a five-judge Constititution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which commenced hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the government's flagship Aadhaar programme and its enabling Act of 2016.

However, the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, countered senior advocate Shyam Divan, asking whether the state "cannot say that it has every right to find out the number of schools, children or the real beneficiaries of a welfare scheme and verify the real beneficiaries of huge funds which it is spending, it needs Aadhaar number. This is a valid argument."



It posed whether the government does not have the right to say that it was spending crores of rupees on welfare schemes and needed to verify whether benefits reached the needy and the leakages or pilferages of resources stopped.

The bench also asked what will happen to the biometric data collected before the Aadhaar Act, 2016 -- whether they will be destroyed if the petitioners challenging the validity of the Aadhaar programme succeeded.

Divan, who opened arguments on behalf of petitioners, said that through a succession of "marketing stratagems" and by employing "smoke and mirrors", the government has rolled out a "little understood" programme that seeks to "tether every resident of India to an electronic leash".

"This leash is connected to a central database that is designed to track transactions across the life of the citizen. This record will enable the State to profile citizens, track their movements, assess their habits and silently influence their behaviour. Over time, the profiling enables the State to stifle dissent and influence political decision making," he argued.

Divan said "the State is empowered with a 'switch' by which it can cause the civil death of an individual. Where every basic facility is linked to Aadhaar and one cannot live in society without an Aadhaar number, the switching off of Aadhaar completely destroys the individual."



He said the petitioners are certain that if the Aadhaar Act and the programme were allowed to operate "unimpeded", it would "hollow out" the Constitution, particularly the great rights and liberties it has assured to its citizens.

Divan is representing several petitioners like former Karnataka High Court judge Justice K S Puttaswamy, several activists Aruna Roy, Shantha Sinha and veteran CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan.

Divan, who argued through the day and would continue his submissions tomorrow, said "a person cannot avail the facility of a welfare scheme, if the finger prints do not match the templates set by UIDAI," he said, adding that for seven years, biometric data of individuals were collected without any legal framework but only on executive orders.

Moreover, over three crore citizens have not been able to register their biometric data, he said and asked how can the government exclude such a big part of the population who could not be registered without any fault on their part, from availing benefits.

Divan contended that at its core, Aadhaar alters the relationship between the citizen and the State and diminishes the status of the citizen.

Observing that the case at hand was unique as the programme was itself without any precedent, the senior lawyer said "no democratic society has adopted a programme that is similar in its command and sweep. There are few judicial precedents to guide us.

"The closest foreign cases have all been decided in favour of the citizens, repelling the invasive programmes by the State."



He said this case was about a new technology that the government has sought to deploy and a new architecture of governance has been built on this technology.

A people's Constitution will transform into a State Constitution, Divan said and asked whether the Constitution allowed the State to embrace this new programme or whether the key document repudiates "the giant electronic mesh that Aadhaar was creating."



He also expressed concern over extending the Aadhaar platform to private corporations, the degree of tracking and extent of profiling will "exponentially increase".

"Rights freely exercised, liberties freely enjoyed, entitlements granted by the Constitution and laws are all made conditional. Conditional on a compulsory barter. The barter compels the citizen to give up her biometrics 'voluntarily', allow her biometrics and demographic information to be stored by the State and private operators and then used for a process termed as 'authentication'," he said.

Divan said the Constitution balances rights of an individual against the State interest and "Aadhaar completely upsets this balance and skews the relationship between the citizen and the State...".

"The Constitution is not a charter of servitude. Aadhaar, if allowed to roll out unimpeded reduces citizens to servitude," Divan said.

At the fag end of the hearing, he said if Aadhaar Act is upheld, then in the alternative, no citizen should be deprived of any right or benefit for lack of an Aadhaar card.

The apex court had on December 15 last year extended till March 31 the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes of all ministries and departments of the Centre, states and union territories.

A nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had last year, held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.

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The plight of the homeless today took centrestage in the Delhi Assembly with the BJP seeking to corner the ruling AAP over alleged deaths due to cold even as the government claimed the city's night shelters can house at least 30,000 people.

According to the Delhi Urban Shelter Development Board (DUSIB), the nodal agency in charge of the night shelters, under the existing arrangements, not more than 21,000 people can use the facilities.

Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain's claim that 23,000 people were staying at the shelters also ran counter to available records as the DUSIB says the peak occupancy this season has been 13,937.

"There are arrangements for 30,000 persons at night shelters, where 23,000 are staying presently. So, we can accommodate 7,000 more persons," Jain said on the floor of the House.

He made the statement after BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, raised the matter soon after the House assembled, demanding a discussion.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel turned down their demand, but the four MLAs kept on disrupting the agenda listed for the day.

Later, Gupta was allowed to raise the matter.

He quoted a tweet by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week when he had targeted DUSIB CEO Shurbir Singh over the alleged deaths of 44 homeless people in the first week of January.

"The government should present a detailed report over the issue. They should also tell if any notice has been issued to DUSIB which was mentioned by the CM in his tweet," Gupta said.

Jain hit back at the BJP dubbing the party a "kambal chor" (blanket thieves).

"They enact drama. First they distribute blankets and then collect them back," Jain said.

The BJP legislators, including Gupta, staged a walk out then.

Last week, when the issue of alleged deaths of the homeless had emerged, the DUSIB had issued a statement rejecting the claim made by an NGO.

According to the agency's occupancy report, its 263 night shelters, run through NGOs on contract basis, have a capacity to house 20,934 people.

Of the 261 shelters, 83 are concrete structures, 115 are porta cabins, while the rest, save one, are tents.

Every night, a subway near AIIMS is thrown open for the families of outstation patients thronging the premier hospital to take shelter.

Meanwhile, in a counter attack, AAP legislators tried to shout down BJP legislators by raising the issue of atrocities against Dalits and the alleged foul play behind the death of special CBI judge B H Loya.

Earlier, Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra, who was suspended from the AAP and removed as a minister last year, was marshalled out for the second consecutive day as he alleged "financial dealings" behind AAP's Rajya Sabha choices.

He entered the House wrapping his mouth with a piece of cloth and carrying a banner with a list of allegations against the AAP and Chief Minister Kejriwal, who was not present in the House for the third day on the trot.

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Adani Power today said its consolidated loss doubled to Rs 1,290.7 crore in the October- December quarter of this fiscal against that of Rs 667.8 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Total consolidated revenue dropped to Rs 4,916 crore during the October-December quarter from Rs 5,491 crore in the same quarter of last year, the Adani group company said in a regulatory filing.

The units sold during the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal were lower at 12,633 million units (MUs) as compared to 14,897 MUs during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal, a company statement said.

Average Plant Load Factor (PLF) achieved during the third quarter of FY2017-18 was 58 per cent, lower as compared to 69 per cent achieved in the corresponding quarter of FY2016-17.

"Lower PLF during Q3 FY18 was as a result of lower domestic coal availability at Tiroda and Kawai and forced outage at Udupi, as well as scheduled maintenance," the statement said.

The company said that its EBIDTA during the third quarter was at Rs 800 crore, against Rs 1,364 crore in the year-ago period.

"EBITDA during the quarter was lower due to arrears of transmission charges of Rs 287 crore not pertaining to the quarter, and lower fixed capacity charge revenue due to lower billed availability," the statement said.

"We expect to receive coal linkages under the SHAKTI scheme for the Tiroda and Kawai plants in the near future, which will help reduce fuel costs and improve profitability of these projects," Adani Power Chairman Gautam Adani said.

Under-recovery of fuel costs for Mundra project has impacted its financial viability, Adani said, and the company is in dialogue with key stakeholders for an early solution.

"Adani Power continues to progress steadily in pursuit of its future growth plans, while emphasising on efforts to improve efficiencies to build a robust and agile organisation," he said.

The company said that its board has approved setting up of a 1600 mw ultra-supercritical thermal power project at Godda, Jharkhand, by the its arm Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd, at the estimated project cost of Rs 13,450 crore approximately.

The project is likely to achieve commercial operation date by May 2022, and supply power to the Bangladesh Power Development Board under a power purchase agreement (PPA) for net capacity of 1,496 mw for 25 years, the company said adding that all major statutory clearances have been obtained for the project.

The company has received all the requisite approvals as required under the Scheme of Arrangement approved by NCLT.

"As a result, the Scheme of Arrangement for the transfer of the 4,620 MW Mundra Power Generation Undertaking to Adani Power (Mundra) Ltd, a subsidiary of the Company, has been made effective during the quarter," the statement said.

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The Andhra Pradesh government has been encouraging women entrepreneurs in a big way as they are a key to economic development of the state, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said today.

"Women entrepreneurs are a key to economic development. It is everyone responsibility to encourage women for their economic development," he said.

Naidu was speaking after inaugurating a three-day international conference on "Innovation, incubation and industrialisation" organised by the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India here.

The Chief Minister said his government had encouraged women entrepreneurs in the state two decades ago by establishing self-help groups (SHGs).

Naidu served as the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh from 1994 to 2004.

There were 90 lakh women members in these SHGs who are working with confidence and determination to improve the financial condition of their families, he said.

Women are doing extremely well in the field of information technology, where their productivity is more than that of their male counterparts, Naidu said.

Naidu said his government has taken a slew of steps for the industrial development in the state.

Andhra Pradesh is No. 1 in the ease of doing business ranking. Industrial proposals are being cleared within 21 days, the Chief Minister said.

He said the government has decided to establish industrial hubs in all the 175 Assembly segments in the state with a view to encourage entrepreneurship.

Naidu said the government had sanctioned 5 acres of land for setting up an industrial park for women entrepreneurs in Visakhapatnam.

Andhra Pradesh enjoys a lot of advantages like a long coastline, good rail, road and air connectivity, which are important for industrial growth.

The state has seven to eight ports and the government has decided to develop another six ports and two new airports, he said.

Binoy Kumar, Special Secretary (logistics and world expo), at the Union Ministry of Commence and Industry, said the Centre has been encouraging the logistics sector in a big way as it has the potential to generate large-scale jobs.

Delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan besides representatives from the Andhra Pradesh government and women entrepreneurs are attending the conference.

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The Kerala High Court today said it would be appropriate to direct the state government to take suitable action after an apt enquiry into charges of illegal land reclamation by a resort owned by former minister Thomas Chandy.

A division bench comprising justices A M Shaffique and P Somarajan said this while disposing writ petitions seeking registration of an FIR against Chandy into alleged illegal reclamation of property by his 'Water World Tourism Private Limited' at Kainakari in Alappuzha district.

The petitioners, Kainakary grama panchayat member Vinod and CPI leader Mukundan, alleged that Chandy had illegally reclaimed paddy fields to construct a private road leading to his resort.

The court said it did not think there was a necessity to issue any direction to register an FIR until the government took a final decision, based on the ongoing land survey there.

"When the allegations now raised are disputed by the private respondents (Chandy and his company) and they have clearly indicated that they have no intention to trespass upon government land, there is no reason, why, as matters stand now, any penal provision need be invoked," the court said.

However if it was found that despite directions issued by the government, encroachments if any was not removed within the specified time, "nothing prevents the government from taking any action U/S 7 of the Land Conservancy Act as well."



The court directed that after completion of the survey, which may be done within three months, appropriate action be taken by as per law within a further period of three months.

It also directed the local level monitoring committee to conduct an appropriate enquiry into the charges and said the data bank particulars may be finalised and corrected, subject to the outcome of such an enquiry.

Chandy, accused of land encroachment for his luxury resort, had resigned as transport minister on November 15.

He had challenged a report by the Alappuzha district collector in this regard.

The minister's resignation came in the wake of the court rapping him for filing a plea against his own government.

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Actor Alec Baldwin has expressed support for Woody Allen after a number of Hollywood stars distanced themselves from the veteran director.

In recent days, actors such as Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Hall and Mira Sorvino had expressed regret over starring in Allen's films.

Chalamet and Hall have announced that they will donate their salaries from Allen's upcoming film "A Rainy Day in New York".

Baldwin, who starred in three of Allen's films, tweeted his support for the director.

"Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed. The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose," Baldwin wrote.

"But it's unfair and sad to me. I worked with WA (Woody Allen) 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career," he added.

Baldwin also said that sexual abuse complaints should never be dismissed but he argued that accusations should also be "treated carefully".

"Is it possible to support survivors of pedophilia and sexual assault/abuse and also believe that WA (Woody Allen) is innocent? I think so," Baldwin tweeted.

"The intention is not to dismiss or ignore such complaints. But accusing people of such crimes should be treated carefully. On behalf of the victims, as well," he added.

Dylan Farrow, Allen's adopted daughter, accused the director of sexually abusing her in the early 1990s while she was a child.

She reiterated her allegations in a 2014 New York Times op-ed and other articles. She has often criticised Hollywood actors for not taking her claims seriously.

Dylan's allegations have picked up steam in wake of the #MeToo movement following her brother Ronan Farrow's expose of Harvey Weinstein. Ronan is Allen and Mia Farrow's biological child.

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Bangladesh has blacklisted a top Chinese construction firm for allegedly trying to bribe a senior government official and stopped its work in the country.

The state-backed China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) was in negotiations with the Bangladesh government to expand a major highway from the capital Dhaka to the northeastern city of Sylhet, a top government official told AFP.

The country's road transport minister Obaidul Quader said Wednesday that the blacklisted company's work in Bangladesh has been stopped, but declined to identify the firm or its projects.

Finance minister A.M.A. Muhith had confirmed the ban late Tuesday when he was asked by a reporter about CHEC allegedly trying to bribe an official.

Muhith told reporters that the firm was blacklisted and could no longer work in Bangladesh after it offered the top bureaucrat in the road transport ministry around 5 million taka ($60,000) as a bribe.

CHEC could not be reached for comment. The company has undertaken several large infrastructure projects around the world and operates in over 80 countries, according to its website.

"I have taken action," Quader, the road transport minister, told AFP on Wednesday. "If I did not take any action, then why was the work of the company halted?"



He declined to comment further, but said the affair would not dampen Bangladesh's growing ties with China.

Beijing has been Dhaka's main lender in recent years for major infrastructure projects, including highways and power plants.

"We don't want to strain ties with a country due to one company," Quader said.

The finance minister said Tuesday that Bangladesh will fund the $2.1 billion Dhaka-Sylhet highway expansion project itself.

Ties between Bangladesh and China got a huge boost in October 2016 when Xi Jinping became the first Chinese president to visit Dhaka in more than three decades.

During his visit, the two countries signed a raft of deals worth more than $20 billion.

Xi called it a "historical turning point" in relations with Bangladesh after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is seen as close to New Delhi.

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A Bangladeshi national was caught by locals in border belt of Jammu district and handed over to security forces, officials said today.

A man was moving suspiciously in Garkhal border belt of Akhnoor, when he was questioned by locals about his credentials, police officials said.

Suspecting him, he was caught and handed over to security forces, they said, adding he was identified as Mohammad Moazzem.

He was then handed over to police, officials said, adding he was later arrested for illegal entry into India.

A currency note of US Dollar 100, passport, and other documents were recovered from him, the officials said.

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The National Green Tribunal has lifted its stay on the construction of a waste treatment plant in the catchment area of the Basai wetland at Gurgaon in Haryana.

A bench headed by acting Chairperson Justice U D Salvi passed the order after perusing the revenue records and noting that the land in question has not been identified as a wetland by the Haryana government.

The order came after the project proponent assured the bench that it would not to carry out construction on the site without obtaining the consent from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board.

The project proponent gave an undertaking that it would not set up any machinery or equipment to run the construction without an authorisation from the state pollution board.

"The record reveals that the land in question has not been identified as a wetland by the State of Haryana. In view of this fact and the undertaking given by the Project Proponent we vacate the injunction order dated July 27, 2017," the bench, also comprising expert member Nagin Nanda, said. The matter will now be heard on February 28.

The tribunal in July last year had ordered status quo after noting its adverse impact on the water body.

The green panel had earlier said the applicant has made out a prima facie case for directing preservation of land in question till further order of this tribunal in this regard.

The tribunal was earlier informed that the boundary wall of the plant, being developed by IL and FS Environmental Infrastructure and Services Ltd, was adjacent to the area known for rich biodiversity of bird species.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by NGO Delhi Bird Foundation seeking a stay on the project contending that the Basai wetland, though not declared as a wetland under the 2010 Wetland (Conservation & Management) Rules, was a valuable water body.

"The construction and debris plant which is under process of establishment shall have an adverse impact on the water body due to various activities connected with the plant," the plea had said.

The plant, according to the Gurgaon municipal corporation, will be spread over 3.5 acres of land and process 500 tonnes of waste a day.

The NGT had earlier issued notices to the the ministry, the Haryana government, the municipal corporation and the IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure and Services Ltd after the NGO alleged that the Basai wetland was in a critical condition due to the project.

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The Congress today described as "unnatural" the BJP's opposition to its demand for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of special CBI judge B H Loya in Nagpur about three years ago.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters his party has been demanding a probe into judge Loya's death, but the BJP is opposing the demand, "which is unnatural".

Singhvi said a few people are of the view that the matter is sub-judice and should not be politicised.

"The mysterious death of a judge is a serious matter and we just want a probe through independent agencies," Singhvi said. He said the Congress was not levelling allegations on anybody but the party only wants the truth to come out.

Singhvi claimed judge Loya's family was under pressure and hence was making different statements.

Judge Loya died allegedly of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

At the time, judge Loya was hearing the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in which BJP president Amit Shah was named one of the accused.

Shah was later discharged in the case.

Separate petitions have been pending before the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court demanding a probe into his death.

A magazine report last year raised suspicions over the circumstances surrounding judge Loya's death.

However, judge Loya's son Anuj on Sunday said he had no doubts about the death of his father.

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Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Ram Gobind Chaudhary today accused the BJP of suppressing the Muslims and said all the facilities being stopped by the BJP government, will be resumed by the SP, once it comes to power.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi yesterday announced in Delhi that there will be no subsidy for Haj from this year and had said the move was part of the government's efforts to "empower minorities" without appeasement.

Chaudhary said, "The recent move by the Centre to end Haj subsidy for Muslims is 'daman' (an act of suppression)... In Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre, since the formation of the BJP-led governments, facilities being given to Muslims are being snatched one after the other."



The senior Samajwadi Party leader also claimed that the BJP government is trying to terrorise the Muslims in order to bring them (Muslims) to support the party.

"After ending the Haj subsidy, the BJP government may take a decision to stop the funds given to the madrassas," Chaudhary said.

He said, "The SP is with the Muslims, and once it comes back to power, it will restore all the facilities to the Muslims, which were stopped by the BJP government."



Chaudhary also told the BJP that Muslims will not be feared by their (BJP's) antics.

A record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage this year from India, Naqvi had said, adding the government had spent over Rs 250 crore last year on subsidising the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Saudi Arabia.

The decision is in line with a 2012 Supreme Court order, asking the government to do away with the subsidy, which had long been sought by the BJP.

The BJP had cited the subsidy as an example of "Muslim appeasement" by parties such as the Congress.

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BJP workers today took out a march to the CPI(M) Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's residence here, protesting against his alleged remarks that an "axis of countries like US, Japan, Australia and India has taken shape for attacking China from all sides."



The protesters demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against the politburo member for the alleged remarks made by him at a recent meeting of the CPI(M) Alappuzha district committee.

The activists, including women, were led by BJP Thiruvananthapuram district president Suresh Kumar.

They were stopped by police near the CPI(M) leader's house.

The workers later dispersed, the police said.

"An axis of countries like US, Japan, Australia and India has taken shape for attacking China from all sides," the CPI(M) leader reportedly told the party conference.

BJP has in a complaint to the DGP stated that a case should be registered against Balakrishnan for "constitutional violation and sedition."



Balakrishnan's statement would hurt the country's unity and integrity and was "serious," it has said.

The CPI(M) leader's remarks amounted to "challenging" and "insulting" the Indian Army, who are trying to check the Chinese threat in the Doklam region, it added.

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The Bar Association of Calcutta High Court today threatened to go on an indefinite strike if immediate steps are not taken to appoint judges to fill up vacant posts at the high court, which is at present working at less than half of its sanctioned strength of 72 judges.

Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said lawyers of the 156-year old high court will go on an indefinite strike if the strength of judges are not increased to 50 at least within a month.

"We have written to the President of India, Chief Justice of India and the Union Law minister seeking immediate steps to fill up the vacant posts of judges," he told reporters here.

Majumdar said that lawyers would wear black badges to protest delay in appointment of judges, which will be followed by sit-in dharnas and half-day strike. If the protests fail, they would go for the indefinite strike.

The first high court in the country now has only 31 judges, of whom three will retire by February and another judge is scheduled to go to Delhi High Court as its chief justice. This will further reduce the working strength of judges at the high court to 27.

The huge number of vacancies is severely affecting justice delivery system, he claimed.

"While the judges are overburdened with pending cases, lawyers and litigants are also facing huge problems owing to delay in hearings and pronouncement of orders," the bar association president said.

According to official data, around 2.22 lakh cases are pending before the Calcutta High Court.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today hit out at the Centre for not acting on its plea seeking Cauvery water release from Karnataka, and said that steps would be taken "in a day or two" to release the available water to delta farmers to save their standing crops.

Palaniswami said while the Supreme Court has said its judgment on Cauvery issue will be given soon, there was no adequate water to be provided to delta farmers.

In view of insufficient seasonal rainfall, water required could not be given to the farmers, he told reporters after taking part in the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran.

"Still, in view of non-availability of adequate water, we sent a letter to the Centre, (but) they did not take any action," he said in response to a question on delta farmers vis-a-vis the Cauvery judgement.

Palaniswami said letters were later sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking water. Additionally, an interim petition was filed in the apex court seeking water.

However, they said the plea could not be accepted in view of the verdict which was to be delivered soon.

A letter was again written to Siddaramaiah, urging him to save the standing paddy crops of delta farmers, he said, adding, "you all know what was the reply to it."



Siddaramaiah has reportedly said it was not possible to release water to Tamil Nadu.

As far as the state government was concerned, steps were being taken to provide available water to farmers so that they could harvest and get full yield of the standing paddy crops, Palaniswami said.

"We will take steps for the release of available water to the extent possible in a day or two," Palaniswami said.

About the valedictory of the centenary celebrations of M G Ramachandran, Palaniswami said a letter has been written to the prime minister and as soon as he gives a date, it will be held in a grand manner in Chennai.

On the arrest of 16 Tamil Nadu fishermen, including one suffering from kidney ailment, by the Sri Lankan navy yesterday, he said the government was taking appropriate action for their release.

The prime minister's intervention will be sought in this regard, he said.

Asked about the death of a Tamil Nadu medical PG student in Delhi University College of Medical Sciences recently, he said the government was taking all steps to provide security to its students pursuing education in other states.

Students from the state pursuing higher studies in other states have already been urged to register themselves with the Tamil Nadu government.

"Students going to other states to pursue higher education do not register with the state government and that is why there is so much confusion," he said.

On sidelined AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran's reported move to launch a party, Palaniswami said "there will be no impact... For 10 years, he was not at all in the party, was there any impact?"



People do not even think of him and it is only the media which was "magnifying" his stature, he said.

Responding to reporters' question in this regard at Udhagamandalam, Dhinakaran said today there was no immediate necessity for him to float a new party and said he would move the court seeking permission to function as a member of the AIADMK (Amma).

About a letter written by party senior leader and unsuccessful R K Nagar party candidate E Madhusudanan, blaming another leader for his defeat, Palaniswami said it was an "internal party matter...will anybody discuss it outside."



To a question, he said the AIADMK was ready to face the local body polls.

On the continuing strike of firecracker units seeking exemption from the ambit of the Environment Protection Act, he said lawyers will be engaged to represent the units to protect them.

Palaniswami said the Centre is being urged to protect the units.

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With security challenges increasing in the eastern seaboard and to check illegal movement of people across borders along waterways and the Bay of Bengal, the Coast Guard will educate fishermen about it and act as its eyes and ears, an official spokesman said here today.

The Coast Guard will hold a five-day motorcycle rally and free medical camps from tomorrow along the West Bengal and Odisha coasts to sensitise the fishermen, spokesman Avinandan Mitra said.

As part of the Coast Guard Day celebrations, its regional headquarter (North-East) will conduct the rally and medical camps where fishermen will be given training on dealing with situations in high seas and life-saving techniques, he said.

The rally will cover nearly 1400 kms in five days, Mitra said.

Twenty riders on 10 motorbikes will participate in the rally, that will be flagged off by West Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi from the Raj Bhavan lawns here.

The participants will be from the Coast Guard, Marine Police and Department of Fisheries of West Bengal.

The team will be accompanied by Coast Guard ambulance and a team of doctors which will conduct free medical camps in the fishing villages of West Bengal and Odhisa enroute, the spokesman said.

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Fast bowler Tendai Chatara claimed four wickets to help Zimbabwe edge Sri Lanka by 12 runs in the second one-day international of the tri-nation tournament in Dhaka today.

Chasing 291 for victory, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 278 in 48.1 overs despite a fighting 37-ball 64 by Thisara Perera. Opener Kusal Perera top-scored with 80.

Zimbabwe batsmen Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza set up the win with half-centuries that took the team's total to 290-6 after being put into bat first.

In reply, Thisara Perera, hitting five fours and three sixes, fought a lonely battle after Sri Lanka slipped to 181- 5, but his departure spelt doom for the islanders.

Chatara, who returned impressive figures of 4-33 in 8.1 overs, ran through the Sri Lankan tail including the prized wicket of Thisara Perera.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews made 42 and Dinesh Chandimal added 34 runs to show some fight but Zimbabwe bowlers made regular breakthroughs to keep them in the contest.

Earlier, opener Masakadza gave Zimbabwe a solid start with his 73-run knock before middle-order batsman Raza added an unbeaten 81 off 67 balls -- his second successive ODI fifty.

Raza, who hit eight fours and a six during his innings, also took one wicket after opening the attack with his off- spin bowling for Zimbabwe. He was named man of the match.

Skipper and leg-spin bowler Graeme Cremer and paceman Kyle Jarvis took two wickets each to contribute to Zimbabwe's comeback win after losing the opener to Bangladesh.

It was Zimbabwe's fourth win over Sri Lanka in their last six matches. Sri Lanka now face hosts Bangladesh in the third ODI in Dhaka on Friday.

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China's ruling CPC has proclaimed President Xi Jinping as a "lingxiu" - a leader with the highest prestige, equating him with party founder Mao Zedong.

The People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) flagship newspaper, published an article swearing allegiance to Xi - who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC) - and called on the people to grasp a historic opportunity facing China.

It is the first time that the daily has referred to 64- year-old Xi as "lingxiu".

The CPC identified Xi as the core of the party in 2016.

"We are fully aware of our responsibilities. We should resolutely support the core, faithfully follow the lingxiu, use our courage and morale...and make strides towards a brighter future," the article said.

Lingxiu means "leader" with a positive political connotation and refers to highly revered state leaders.

"The word lingxiu means more than just a leader. It is often bestowed on a leader who enjoys the highest prestige, who is the most capable and who is widely recognised by the entire party," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing, told state-run Global Times.

Since he took power in 2013, Xi has emerged as the most powerful Chinese leader in recent times as he now heads the party, the military and the presidency, unlike his predecessor Hu Jintao, who only got the coveted post of head of the military two years after taking power.

Also, Xi's name was included in the constitution of the CPC, making him the only leader after Mao and his successor Deng Xiaoping to get this honour, at the once-in-five-years congress of the CPC held in October which also approved a second five-year term for him.

Since then, all organs of the party have declared Xi as the topmost leader of the party setting aside the principle of collective party leadership that was followed in the last three decades.

Su said the emergence of a "lingxiu" is the symbol of a mature political party, adding that in the last five years Xi's achievements in various fields, especially the anti- corruption drive, have been widely acknowledged.

The military's official PLA Daily also referred to Xi as "lingxiu" in January last year, quoting PLA Navy sailors and military officers from aircraft carrier Liaoning as saying that "we are sailing in the sight of lingxiu".

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Nawabganj Nagar Palika chairperson Shehla Tahir, who was absconding in connection with a treason case, was today arrested immediately after taking oath at Vikas Bhawan here.

Tahir, was arrested after the oath in connection with the pending case, Senior Superintendent of Police Jogendra Singh said.

She was produced in the court and has been sent to jail in 14-day judicial custody.

A case of treason was registered against Tahir, her husband and 500 others on January 9 after pro-Pakistan slogans were allegedly raised in her victory procession.

A complaint in this regard was filed by VHP Nawabganj unit head Akhilesh Gangwar.

He had alleged that Shehla, her husband Mohd Tahir and 500 unidentified persons raised 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans during the victory procession on December 23.

The CD of the procession, which had gone viral, has been sent for forensic examination to Lucknow in which the charges were found to be true, and a case was lodged with the Nawabganj police, the SSP had said.

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A Class 1 student was injured when he was allegedly attacked with a sharp-edged weapon in the toilet of a private school here, an incident similar to the killing of a Ryan school student in Gurgaon.

The incident took place last morning in the toilet of Brightland School in Triveni Nagar locality in which six- year-old Ritik was injured, police said.

"I was informed by the school that my son is injured. He has been attacked with knife by a girl," said the victim's distraught father Rajesh, a class four employee in the high court here.

The boy has been admitted to the Trauma Centre. His condition was stated to be out of danger, officials said.

Dr Sandeep Tewari, who was treating the boy, said the victim had deep wounds on chest and stomach that "seem to have been inflicted with a knife-like sharp object".

Panic gripped the school today when other parents came to know about the incident and charged the school administration with trying to hush up the case.

When contacted, director of the school Veena Vyas, said, "I am taking all the precautions in view of Ryan International school case. We are also looking at whether it is due to the deadly game 'Blue Whale Challenge'."



"We have 70 CCTV cameras installed in the school and we are going through the footage," she said.

Police are probing the matter and are yet to identify the student who attacked the boy.

A seven-year-old boy, Pradyuman Thakur, studying in class II in Gurgaon's Ryan International School, was found dead with his throat slit by a sharp-edged weapon in the school's washroom in September last year in which a 16-year-old student has been charged with committing the crime.

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The Congress today held a silent sit-in protest at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai demanding a detailed probe into the 2014 death of special CBI judge B H Loya who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh "fake encounter" case.

On the occasion, Mumbai Congress unit president Sanjay Nirupam alleged that an attempt was being made to "cover up the mysterious death of judge Loya".

"People should know who was responsible for the judge's death. A detailed probe should take place to inquire about his death. If a judge gets no justice what will happen to the common man," he questionned.

Judge Loya allegedly died of a cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.

Separate petitions have been pending before the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court demanding a probe into judge Loya's death.

A magazine had last year raised suspicion over the circumstances surrounding judge Loya's death at a time when he was hearing the politically sensitive alleged fake encounter case in which BJP president Amit Shah was named one of the accused. He was discharged later.

However, judge Loya's son Anuj on Sunday said he had no doubts about the death of his father.

Referring to a rift between the four judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Nirupam said that everyone needs to come together to save democracy.

"For the first time, four senior judges of the supreme court addressed a press conference saying all is not well in the judicial system. Even VHP leader Pravin Togadia fears that he would be killed in an encounter. Nobody is safe under the BJP rule," the Congress leader said.

Togadia yesterday told reporters in Ahmedabad that he had information that a plan was being made to kill him in an encounter.

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In another jolt to Pakistan's former finance minister Ishaq Dar, the Islamabad High Court today dismissed his plea to set aside an anti-graft court's order declaring him a proclaimed offender in a corruption case linked to the Panama Papers scandal.

Dar is accused of possessing assets disproportionate to his declared sources of income. A case against him was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) following the Supreme Court's July 28 verdict in the Panama Papers case.

Dar, 67, is in London since October and has been seeking treatment of an undefined heart complication at a UK hospital, according to Pakistani media reports.

The division bench, comprising of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, has upheld the accountability court's order to declare Dar a proclaimed offender. The dismissal has also vacated stay granted earlier.

Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb observed in the short order that it seems that Dar's medical report was drafted on his wishes, Geo TV reported.

When Dar's counsel stated that his client had the right to get treatment from a doctor of his choice, Justice Minallah questioned if Dar does not have faith in local doctors. Pakistan has good medical facilities, the judge said.

The NAB had submitted its response to the IHC yesterday on Dar's plea and stated that a proclaimed offender has to present himself before the court to get relief.

The anti-graft body had accused Dar of being "guilty of playing hide and seek with the court of competent jurisdiction".

The NAB had also requested the court to allow the continuation of corruption proceedings against Dar.

In December, the IHC, after hearing Dar's petitions against the accountability court's order declaring him a proclaimed offender and issuing non-bailable arrest warrants for him, barred the anti-graft court from proceedings against the former finance minister till January 17, 2018.

Dar had been earlier declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court due to his continuous absence from the proceedings.

Dar's son is married to a daughter of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

In its case against Dar, the NAB has alleged that the accused has acquired assets in his own name or in the name of his dependants of an approximate amount of Pakistani Rs 831.678 million.

The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of over 11 million files from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca, reportedly showing how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.

On July 28, a five-member Supreme Court bench had ordered the NAB to file three corruption cases against former prime minister Sharif and one against Dar.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi withdrew the portfolio of finance minister from Dar after the latter sought medical leave.

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A CRPF ASI, a resident of Gazipur, was shot dead by constable today at the CRPF camp in Sutyana village here, police said.

"The deceased, ASI Manoj Kumar Rai, and accused, constable Sanjiv Kumar, both belonging 177 Battalion of the CRPF, were posted at the Suthiana camp. There was a fight between the two during the morning parade, but others intervened and pacified them. However, they got into a tussle again in the mess later, following which the constable shot the ASI twice with his rifle and killed him," Ecotech 3 Police Station SHO K K Rana said.

Accused Sanjiv Kumar was arrested and the body sent for postmortem, he said, adding that an investigation was underway.

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Expressing displeasure over the delay in filing response to a PIL, the Allahabad High Court has imposed Rs 5,000 cost on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Law Ministry.

A bench of Justice Sudhir Agrawal and Justice Abdul Moin of the Lucknow bench of the high court passed the order on the PIL moved by Sunil Kandu.

The petitioner has claimed that the central government takes cognisance of barely 10 reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), whereas about five thousand reports are submitted to it by the federal auditor every year.

The PIL also sought reform in the CAG. Apart from it, the PIL further questioned the role of the central government in not taking any action on audit objections raised by the CAG in the past 10 years.

Hearing the PIL, the high court had on August 1, 2017 given the PMO and the Law Ministry a month's time to file their response.

When the matter came up again before the bench, Assistant Solicitor General S B Pandey sought more time to file response on behalf of the PMO and the Law Ministry.

Expressing displeasure at this, the bench though granted one more opportunity to Pandey to file reply, imposed Rs 5,000 cost on the PMO and Law Ministry for their lethargy in responding to the high court's direction. The court has fixed the matter for next hearing after three weeks.

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The Jammu and Kashmir government today said details regarding Bilal Ahmad Kawa, who was arrested in Delhi last week on charges of involvement in the 2000 Red Fort attack, were being collected.

Minister for Agriculture Ghulam Nabi Lone (Hanjura) made a statement in the Legislative Assembly today in this regard.

The House had witnessed uproarious scenes yesterday after the opposition National Conference (NC) and Independent MLA Sheikh Rashid raised the issue of the Kawa's arrest and demanded a statement from the government.

Responding to a question of NC MLA Ali Mohammad Sagar in the House today, Lone said that Kawa, a resident of Qutubuddin Pora locality of Ali Kadal in downtown Srinagar, was arrested by the Gujarat ATS and Special Cell Delhi Police at Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport on January 10 at about 6 PM when he arrived from Srinagar by a Jet Airways flight.

"Further details in this regard are being collected by the government," he said in a brief statement.

Delhi Police had said the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad informed them that Kawa was travelling from Srinagar to Delhi follwing which he was arrested at the airport.

Kawa was on the run since 2000 and was hiding in Kashmir, they had said.

A Delhi Police officer had said that money to the tune of Rs 29.50 lakh was transferred through hawala in various bank accounts, including those of Kawa, to fund the attack.

However, Kawa's family members, following his arrest, had claimed that he was innocent and had been framed.

"He was ill. His brother asked him to undergo a health check-up in Delhi. He was not involved in anything... He has been framed," Fatima, Kawa's mother, had told reporters at the Press Enclave in Srinagar last Wednesday.

Three people, including two Army jawans, were killed in the December 22, 2000 Red Fort attack.

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A 28-year-old doctor, hailing from Tamil Nadu, was today found dead at his rented flat in northeast Delhi's Shahdara area, police said.

The deceased, Sharath Prabhu, was a first-year post graduate medicine student at the University College of Medical Sciences, affiliated to the Delhi University, they said.

He was staying in the flat with two others and around 11.30 pm last night the trio had dinner, the police said.

Prabhu was found unconscious outside the washroom of the apartment around 7 am by his flatmates, who took him to the GTB Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, they said.

Prasad said some syringes, the contents of which will have to be examined, were found near his body. Two vials containing potassium and insulin were also found from the room, the police said.

The police was probing whether he died due to drug overdose, they said.

His flatmates, who were also his classmates, were questioned. They told the police that he was depressed over some personal and professional issues, the police said.

They said that he found the work monotonous and was not happy with it. He had moved from Coimbatore to Delhi in May 2017. It was suspected that it was his deliberate decision to move to Delhi, away from his family, they said.

His father and relatives arrived today from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu after receiving the . The forensic and crime team visited the spot and no suicide note was found, the police said.

Medical Superintendent of the GTB Hospital, Sunil Kumar, when contacted said, "The family of the deceased has arrived, but it is already late for today, so the post-mortem would be done tomorrow."



Asked about some syringes being found near the spot, where he was found dead, Kumar said, "Too early to say anything, right now, let the autopsy be done first and the report come."



The post-mortem will be conducted tomorrow and the cause of the death will be known after that, Nupur Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara), said.

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"Kailash", a documentary on Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, will have its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in the US.

Directed by debutante Derek Doneen, the documentary will feature in the 'US Documentary Competition' section at the prestigious festival.

The 92 minute-film traces Satyarthi's journey and his efforts to rid child trafficking and child labour, the Nobel laureate's office in New Delhi told PTI.

The film has been produced by Davis Guggenheim and Sarah Anthony, while it has been co-produced by Purnima Raghunath.

Guggenheim won the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award for "Truth" and was Oscar-shortlisted for his most recent docu-feature, "He Named Me Malala", about Satyarthi's joint 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.

The film premieres as one of this year's day one screenings tomorrow.

Work is also on for "Jhalki", a biopic on Satyarthi. The film, scheduled to be released later this year, features Boman Irani essaying the protagonist.

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The foot over-bridges (FOB) being constructed by the Army at the Elphinstone Road and Currey Road railway stations will miss the January 31 deadline due to some technical issues, railway officials said today.

It may take another fortnight to complete the FOB construction work at these two stations, they said.

"The construction of the Elphinstone station bridge may get delayed by a fortnight. The Army has sought a railway block for the launch of the girder on the bridge," the senior Western Railway (WR) official said.

"We have given our go-ahead for the railway block at the end of this month," he said.

According to the official, after the railway block gets over, it will take another 15 days for the Army to complete the construction of the bridge or may take some more days.

However, the Army engineers at the Elphinstone Road station bridge site refused to comment on the revised deadline.

Talking about the Currey Road station FOB, a senior Central Railway official said that due to the delay in the acquisition of private land the Army may miss the deadline there.

However, the FOB being constructed by the Army at Ambivili station on the CR will be completed within the stipulated time-frame.

"There was a delay in the acquisition of a private land at Currey Road station that caused a little bit of delay. But the work at Ambivili station has been going as per the plan. We are very much hopeful that it (Ambivili FOB) will be open for use by January 31," the CR official said.

A stampede on a narrow foot over-bridge linking Parel and Elphinstone Road suburban train stations had left 23 dead and many more injured on September 29 last year.

Over a month after the tragedy, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal along with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced that Indian Army will construct one railway bridge each at Elphinstone Road, Currey Road and Ambivili stations by January 31, 2018.

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The European Union today accused Russia of pumping out thousands of pieces of disinformation in an "orchestrated strategy" aimed at destabilising the bloc.

Russia faces a barrage of accusations of interfering in a string of seismic political events, including the British vote to leave the European Union, the US election of President Donald Trump and the Catalan independence crisis.

EU Security Commissioner Julian King gave the European Parliament an unusually blunt assessment of the scale of the Kremlin's propaganda efforts.

"There seems frankly little doubt that the pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign is an orchestrated strategy, delivering the same disinformation stories in as many languages as possible, through as many channels as possible, as often as possible," he said.

"This conclusion is based on two years' work by the EU's East Stratcom Task Force, which has gathered more than 3,500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation, contradicting publicly available facts, repeated in many languages on many occasions."



The Stratcom East team was set up in 2015 to counter inaccurate and malicious reports about the EU in its eastern neighbourhood -- countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia -- to promote the bloc's policies.

The task force runs a "mythbusters" website and social media feeds to debunk false media reports, most of them promoting Russian government agendas.

Recent fake reports include claims that France was banning Christmas symbols, Denmark was using unwanted family pets to feed carnivores in zoos and Sweden was introducing a law requiring written consent before sex.

King told MEPs that Moscow was "not exactly shy about the goals of this disinformation campaign and disinformation activity".

"In Russia's official military doctrine, as well as statements by top Russian generals, they describe the use of 'false data' and 'destabilising propaganda' as legitimate tools; and information as 'another type of armed force'," he said.

In a sign of how seriously the EU takes the Russian disinformation threat, late last year the bloc agreed to fund Stratcom East directly from its main budget for the first time, to the tune of 1.1 million euros a year for the next three years -- up from 200,000 euros.

"If we look at opinion polls measuring how many people accept obvious disinformation planted in pro-Kremlin media, then unfortunately we have to conclude that Russian disinformation can be extremely successful," King warned.

"So that's why we need to redouble our efforts to debunk this propaganda."



On Monday the EU launched a task force of around 40 experts, including a representative from AFP, to draw up ways to tackle the broader phenomenon of fake .

Britain, which is in the process of leaving the EU, has taken a tough line on Russian propaganda, with Prime Minister Theresa May accusing Moscow of attempts to "weaponise information".

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GST evasion by dealers by suppressing turnover has caused a revenue slump under the composition scheme in the last two months, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and GST network panel head Sushil Kumar Modi said here today.

"We are surprised to find out that the total revenue collected was just Rs 310 crore in the last two months, despite 7.5 lakh composition dealers having filed returns,"he told reporters after a Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting here.

"This slump only means there is suppression of turnover by composition dealers who are evading taxes. The amount was not large enough, but it was not in good taste", Modi said.

GST Network (GSTN) was analysing possible interventions to check this malady and it would be discussed at the GST Council meeting in New Delhi tomorrow, he said.

Under the composition scheme, tax payers with a turnover of upto Rs 1.5 crore have the option of paying a minimal rate of tax and filing a simplified tax return, he said.

The average revenue shortfall of all states for August was 28.3 per cent and it slumped to 17.5 per per cent in October.

Again it rose to 20.9 per cent and minutely dipped to 20.7 per cent in November and December, he said.

If the average monthly compensation cess collection from August to December went below Rs 7,615 crore, the Centre would have to shell out money from its kitty, he said.

Modi, however, said GoM was confident of plugging the loopholes and disruptions in terms of revenue slump.

Going by past experience, the GSTN platform has been able to reduce the glitches because the technology was designed in such a manner that it would be difficult to evade taxes, he said.

The number of returns filed till date was 5.25 crore and 154 crore invoices had been processed by GSTN.

"As of today, the due registration and migrated tax payers have reached a figure of one crore," he said.

The GSTN-related glitches were coming down and the system was able to handle complaints pouring in.

As much as 93 per cent of 47 assigned functionalities of GSTN have been operationalised and the remaining would be operationalised in the coming days, he said.

The GoM also was happy with Infosys as they have kept up their word to address the glitches, he said.

On the drop in GST collections in general, Karnataka Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, a member of the GST council, said the concern was about the revenues going down.

"The idea is not to get compensation.... idea is to raise our own resources. Surprisingly, in the last two months, revenues have taken an alarming dip and that is a major concern. So we all discuss at various levels - why it is happening and how to overcome that", he said.

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A former CIA officer has been arrested on charges of unlawful retention of national defence information following an intensive investigation after a number of US informants were identified by China.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, aka Zhen Cheng Li, 53, was arrested on Monday night after arriving at John F Kennedy Airport in New York, the Department of Justice said.

A naturalised US citizen, Lee is currently residing in Hong Kong. He worked for the CIA between 1994 and 2007.

Lee, who made his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York, is charged with unlawful retention of national defence information and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted.

According to court documents, in August 2012, Lee and his family left Hong Kong to return to the United States to live in northern Virginia.

While travelling back to the United States, Lee and his family had hotel stays in Hawaii and Virginia.

During his hotel stays, FBI agents conducted court- authorised searches of Lee's room and luggage, and found that Lee was in unauthorised possession of materials relating to the national defence, the Department of Justice said.

"Specifically, agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities," the Department of Justice said.

The New York Times said Lee helped China dismantle United States spying operations and identify informants.

"The collapse of the spy network was one of the American government's worst intelligence failures in recent years," the daily said.

Lee's arrest capped an intense FBI inquiry that began around 2012, two years after the CIA began losing its informants in China, the daily said.

According to court papers, Lee's datebook contained handwritten information pertaining to, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations, operational phone numbers, true names of assets, and covert facilities.

The address book contained true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, as well as the addresses of CIA facilities.

"The CIA classification authority determined that the books contained classified information, up to and including secret information and, in at least one instance," the federal complaint said.

The New York Times reported that more than a dozen CIA informants were killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government which was a major set back for its operations in China.
A former veteran CIA officer has been arrested and charged with retaining detailed information about undercover agents and assets after he left his job, amidst an intensive investigation into how China nearly dismantled US intelligence operations in the Communist nation.

Zhen Cheng Li, 53, was arrested on Monday night after arriving at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Department of Justice said.

A naturalised US citizen, Lee is currently residing in Hong Kong. He worked for the CIA between 1994 and 2007.

Lee, who made his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York, is charged with unlawful retention of national defence information and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Lee has been a suspect in a long-running probe to determine if a mole inside the US intelligence community had led to the deaths of a number of CIA assets in China, according to people with knowledge of the probe, which was first reported by the New York Times. He has not been charged with any crimes in connection with those deaths.

According to court documents, in August 2012, Lee and his family left Hong Kong to return to the United States to live in northern Virginia.

While travelling back to the United States, Lee and his family had hotel stays in Hawaii and Virginia.

During his hotel stays, FBI agents conducted court- authorised searches of Lee's room and luggage, and found that Lee was in unauthorised possession of materials relating to the national defence, the Department of Justice said.

"Specifically, agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities," the Department of Justice said.

The New York Times said Lee helped China dismantle United States spying operations and identify informants.

"The collapse of the spy network was one of the American government's worst intelligence failures in recent years," the daily said.

Lee's arrest capped an intense FBI inquiry that began around 2012, two years after the CIA began losing its informants in China, the daily said.

According to court papers, Lee's datebook contained handwritten information pertaining to, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations, operational phone numbers, true names of assets, and covert facilities.

The address book contained true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, as well as the addresses of CIA facilities.

"The CIA classification authority determined that the books contained classified information, up to and including secret information and, in at least one instance," the federal complaint said.

The New York Times reported that more than a dozen C



IA informants were killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government which was a major set back for its operations in China.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to exempt the fireworks manufacturing industry in the state from protection rules to save the livelihood of eight lakh families.

"I urge you to direct the Ministry of to carry out necessary amendment to (Protection) Rules, 1986," he said in a letter to Modi.

Stating that 850 fireworks manufacturing units are functioning in Tamil Nadu, he said these units were mostly in Virudhunagar district, which contribute 90 per cent of the fireworks produced in the country.

Since use of fireworks is attached to our socio-cultural traditions,any ban on production, sale and its use would adversely affect sentiments of the people of India, he said.

Even developed countries, including America and Japan, allow massive display of fireworks, he said.

Firecracker units provide employment to "more than eight lakh people mostly women, directly or indirectly," he said, adding that a ban would push them further into poverty.

The manufacturers observe very high safety standards, he said, adding the industry was however facing a major setback due to Public Interest Litigations in the Supreme Court to ban the manufacture, sale and use of fireworks.

"This has created fear and uncertainty in the minds of firework manufacturers, leading to disruption of production as they are unsure about the outcome of the pending PILs."



The firecracker manufacturers have suffered severe financial losses and there has also been loss of employment due to the ban on sale of fireworks in Delhi NCR region during the last Deepavali season, he said.

Though the ban was subsequently lifted by the Supreme Court, some more PILs were filed and these have been admitted, he noted.

With improvements in chemical technology, better quality fireworks which lead to lesser pollution are constantly being evolved. Almost all reported scientific data has revealed reversal of pollution level within 24 hours of being used.

Manufacturers of fireworks in Tamil Nadu use nitrate salts for production, which is much less polluting than chloride salts, the chief minister said.

Further, no firework manufacturer in Tamil Nadu use the chemicals prohibited under various pollution control rules or by the Supreme Court.

These manufacturers use safe and environment friendly products and there are no recorded long-term effects on the environment, the Chief Minister said.

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Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were pressed in Congress today over their reliance on artificial intelligence and algorithms to keep their powerful platforms clear of violent extremist posts.

In a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, executives of the world's top social media companies were praised for their efforts so far to eliminate Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and other jihadist content from the internet.

But critics say that extremist groups continue to get their propaganda out to followers via those platforms, and call for tougher action.

Another concern is that the continued ability to use anonymous accounts, while benefiting pro-democracy activists battling repressive governments, will also continue to empower extremists.

"These platforms have created a new and stunningly effective way for nefarious actors to attack and to harm," said Senator Ben Nelson.

The current efforts by the companies to remove content and cooperate with each other in doing so are strong but "not enough," he said.

YouTube is automatically removing 98 percent of videos promoting violent extremism using algorithms, said Public Policy Director Juniper Downs.

But Senator John Thune, Chairman of the Commerce Committee, asked Downs why a video which showed the man who bombed the Manchester Arena in June 2017 how to build his bomb has repeatedly been uploaded to its website every time YouTube deletes it, as recently as this month.

"We are catching re-uploads of this video quickly and removing it as soon as those uploads are detected," said Downs.

Carlos Monje, director of Public Policy and Philanthropy for Twitter, said that even with all their efforts to fight terror- and hate-related content, "It is a cat-and-mouse game and we are constantly evolving to face the challenge."



"Social media companies continue to get beat in part because they rely too heavily on technologists and technical detection to catch bad actors," said Clint Watts, an expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in the use of the internet by terror groups.

"Artificial intelligence and machine learning will greatly assist in cleaning up nefarious activity, but will for the near future fail to detect that which hasn't been seen before."



Last year Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft banded together to share information on groups and posts related to violent extremism, to help keep it off their sites.

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The Delhi High Court has upheld the life imprisonment awarded to a man for repeatedly raping and sodomising his nine-year-old daughter, saying instead of protecting her, he had indulged in a "dehumanising act".

The division bench held that the man does not deserve any leniency as he has violated the privacy and sanctity of his own daughter, who was of a tender age.

The court, which relied on the testimony of the child, said no ulterior motive was assigned to the child witness to make a false statement against her father and it was not an easy task for her to implicate him for the heinous offence.

It said she did not dare to lodge any complaint against him for long and suffered in silence.

The bench dismissed the man's appeal challenging his conviction and sentence, saying the trial court judgment was based on fair appreciation of evidence and warranted no intervention.

"Regarding sentence, the man does not deserve any leniency. Being the father of the child of tender age, it was his duty to secure her welfare and to protect her from the evil eyes of others. Contrary to that, he himself indulged in a dehumanising act and violated the privacy and sanctity of his own daughter. Sentence order needs no modification," Justices S P Garg and C Hari Shankar said.

The child, who was ravished several times by her father when her mother was not at home, did not inform her mother as she was threatened by him.

Later, when the girl's teacher noticed injury marks on her body and inquired about it, she came to know that she was being physically abused by her father.

A complaint was lodged by the child's mother with the police in 2012 and he was sentenced to life term in 2013.

During the trial, the man had denied his complicity in the crime and pleaded false implication.

The high court, however, said the man had not divulged as to what had forced the girl and her mother to level serious allegations of sexual assault against him.

"In the absence of any prior dispute or quarrel in the family, the child was not expected to involve her own father to bring herself in disrepute. Her statement is consistent throughout and her evidence inspires complete confidence," it said.

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The Delhi Assembly today passed a resolution against FDI in retail with AAP legislators stressing that the move launched by the BJP-led central government would "break the back" of traders.

The resolution, moved by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti, stated that 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail would only lead to "economic slavery".

"(It) resolves to oppose the decision of the union Cabinet to allow 100 per cent FDI in retail as it leads to breaking the back of small and medium traders and ultimately to economic slavery of the country, the resolution read.

Participating in the discussion on the issue, Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain said the BJP's claim that FDI in retail had noting to do with small traders was incorrect.

"FDI (in retail) will destroy the business of traders. The country will move towards economic slavery," Jain said.

Labour Minister Gopal Rai said this was an anti-trader decision which would only lead to unemployment.

The Union government on Wednesday allowed 100 per cent FDI by foreign investors in single-brand retail trading and construction development.

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Senior CPI(M) leader and MLA M Y Tarigami today asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to formulate a policy to regularise the National Health Mission (NHM) employees who are on an indefinite strike for over a month.

"The strike of NHM staff has affected the health services to a large extent with patients facing a lot of inconvenience in rural as well as urban areas. The government must immediately formulate a policy to regularise them," he said.

Tarigami said there was a "dire need" to chalk out a regularisation mechanism for the employees, including doctors, paramedical and management staff working under the NHM.

He said the NHM should be made a permanent health programme of the government with universal application and adequate financial allocation.

"The government must initiate a serious dialogue with NHM representatives to settle their issues instead of using force and adopting dally-delaying tactics," the CPI(M) leader said.

He also raised the issue of 'scheme workers', including anganwadi, mini anganwadi workers and helpers under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), mid-day meal workers under the MDM scheme and ASHA workers under the NHM in the legislative assembly.

They were not recognised and are not paid minimum wages nor do they have any social security benefits, Tarigami said.

"In the name of 'honorarium' or 'incentive' they are paid a pittance as low as Rs 1,000 per month for 10 months a year (in the case of mid-day meal workers)," he said.

He said Finance minister Haseeb Drabu, during his reply on budget, had claimed that he has done very much for the welfare of employees.

"Then why is the government silent on the issues of anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHA workers, mid-day meal workers? Why isn't government treating them as workers and fulfilling their genuine demands? Why is government silent on regularisation of these workers and enhancing their wages?" he asked.

The MLA said the government must consider the genuine demands of ASHAs which includes minimum wages of Rs 15,000 per month and all social security benefits like pension and gratuity.

Tarigami urged the government to implement the recommendations of the 45th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) on scheme workers - recognition as workers, minimum wages not less than Rs 18,000 per month and social security, including monthly pension not less than Rs 3,000 to all scheme workers, give coverage of EPF and ESI to scheme workers.

"The Contingency Paid Workers (CPWs) in education have been neglected so far. Their demands must be considered on priority. Not mere assurances but concrete measures need to be taken in this regard," he said.

The CPI(M) leader said the government must take serious note of the brewing discontentment among these workers and take necessary action for the immediate fulfillment of their demands, failing which the NHM may get affected badly.

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Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested four suspected drug peddlers in separate incidents here and seized large quantity of contraband substances from their possession.

Acting on a tip off about movement of banned substances by drug peddlers, police yesterday set up temporary check posts at Noorbagh and Soura area of the city, a police spokesman said.

He said during search of a load carrier at Noorbagh, 400 units of codeine phosphate packed in two cardboard boxes were recovered.

The driver was arrested and the vehicle seized, he said.

"During questioning, the accused driver led the police to more contraband substances including 483 units of codeine phosphate and 11520 tablets of spasmoproxyvan, which were recovered from the Parimpora area," the spokesman added.

In another incident, police intercepted a car at Soura and recovered 1019 bottles of Codeine Phosphate.

Three persons, identified as Mudasir Sultan Bhat alias Majid, Feroz Ahmad Khanday and Faisal Ayoub Sheikh -- who were on board the vehicle -- were arrested, the spokesman said.

"Preliminary investigations have revealed that this huge consignment of contraband substances was meant for supply to the drug peddlers who would then sell these drugs to the youth of the area," the spokesman said.

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A special CBI court here has awarded three years' rigorous imprisonment to two bank officials for duping the State Bank of Mysore to the tune of Rs 2.40 crore.

Acting on a complaint of the State Bank of Mysore's chief vigilance officer (CVO), T Thomas Mathew, the CBI had registered a case against bank's Bhopal branch's then branch manager A S Hegde, assistant manager Ravinder Kumar, Tanu Shree Homes proprietor Ravi Sahu and another person Raj Kumar Rai of Silwani village in Raisen disrict for cheating the bank, a CBI official said today.

The bank officials, in collusion with a builder, had disbursed 21 housing loans to different borrowers and later cheated the bank.

After investigations, the CBI had filed a charge sheet against these people following which the special court on January 15 sentenced them to three years' imprisonment.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.30 lakh against Hegde and Kumar and Rs 1.20 lakh against Sahu and Rai, the official said, adding that if they failed to pay the fine, they will have to undergo an additional 3 months imprisonment.

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Writer-director duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are in negotiations with Warner Bros to helm "Flashpoint" based on DC superhero Flash.

Ezra Miller will reprise his role of Barry Allen/The Flash in the film. He last portrayed the superhero in "Justice League".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Spider-Man: Homecoming" scribes, who are known for writing and directing big comedies such as "Vacation" and "Game Night", might give a comedic tone to the film.

Warner Bros has yet to comment on the status of "Flashpoint" and its incoming directors.

Rick Famuyiwa was previously attached to helm the project. Warner Bros has been looking for a replacement ever since his exit.

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Union minister Nitin Gadkari today urged states to cooperate with each other and also with the Centre to expedite projects for interlinking of rivers, according to an official statement.

Addressing the 14th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers here, Gadkari stressed on the need to design better technical models that are aimed at bringing down construction cost while maintaining quality.

Gadkari, who is the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, also called on state governments to explore new financing models, including low-interest loans from foreign agencies.

Seeking to underscore the importance of linking rivers, Gadkari said such efforts will bring a big social economic change and usher in prosperity in many regions that are poorly developed.

"If we are able to save the enormous amounts of river water that gets lost to the seas as run-off, and are able to divert this to water deficit regions, we can solve the problem of water scarcity that exists in several states today," Gadkari was quoted as saying in the statement.

During the meeting, it was informed that the clearances for Ken-Betwa Link Project have been given and an MoU is likely to be signed soon, the statement said.

The minister said that while implementing the river interlinking projects, the rehabilitation of displaced persons must be fully ensured.

Gadkari also said that he is "pained" to see a large number of displaced persons still awaiting rehabilitation at various project sites, where work has been completed long back.

In order to resolve issues related to various projects, Gadkari said that clusters of states will be formed and Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Ram Meghwal "will soon" visit the states and hold meetings with governments there to deal with the problems.

Referring to the funding of various interlinking of rivers projects, Gadkari said the time has come to look for innovative funding mechanisms for these projects.

He urged state governments to come forward with definite funding proposals which can be taken up with foreign funding agencies. Gadkari said his ministry will provide all help to the states for this.

Meghwal, Uttar Pradesh's irrigation minister Dharam Pal Singh, his Telangana counterpart T Harish Rao and senior officials from the Centre and state governments also attended the meeting.

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Senior BJP leader and state Urban Development Minister Francis DSouza today predicted the possibility of early assembly elections in Goa.

Speaking to reporters, DSouza said, "There could be a possibility of early assembly election and such a situation cannot be ruled out in Goa. Even Vice President Venkaiah Naidu had told us that Goa should go for polls in 2019 along with Lok Sabha. This itself is a hint," he said.

He said that running a coalition government was difficult as there were "too many pulls and pressures."



"It is difficult for a coalition government to last long. An alliance always comes with adjustments and compromises. So its better to end and have our own government," he commented.

DSouzas statement comes hours after Goa Forward Party (GFP) leaders Vijai Sardesai and Jayesh Salgaoncar during a rally held to commemorate Opinion Poll Day in Margao yesterday criticized the BJP for ignoring such an important day in the past.

The two leaders had said that they would not mind pulling out of the current government if it (government) compromised on the issue of "Goenkarponn" (Goanness).

When contacted today, Sardesai said that his statements during the Opinion Poll Day should not be "politically misinterpreted".

"I am not to be blamed if my statement was politically misinterpreted. I was clear in my views. I had said Goanness which is our unique identity should be protected, he stated.

He added that the GFP was demanding that a statue of Dr Jack Sequeira to be installed at Assembly Complex.

"There is a strong demand to install his statue in the Assembly complex and I am pressing for it. It is part of Goenkarponn. If it is not met I am ready to come out of the government and be just as MLA or not even an MLA," he said.

Sardesai added that it did not mean he was asking for early polls.

Another coalition partner, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has opposed the statue demand.

"It is not just Sequeira, but several other leaders had fought to keep Goa as a separate entity. There is no need for the statue," MGP leader and Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar told reporters today.

The Manohar Parrikar-led government was formed in March last year after the GFP, MGP and three Independents lent support to the BJP.

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Taxi operators in Goa will observe a strike on January 19 with unions claiming it has been called to protest the installation of speed governors in their vehicles as well as harassment by police and transport authorities.

"Taxi operations at the airport, railway stations, bus stations and tourist spots would be severely affected. Not a single taxi will ply on January 19," said Vinayak Nanoskar, General Secretary, North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association.

He added that taxi operators are not willing to install speed governors in their vehicles and alleged that a lobby within the state government is insisting on these governors at the behest of the company supplying it.

Meanwhile Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has warned of stern action, including suspension of licences, against those resorting to violence during the strike.

Transport minister Sudin Dhavalikar said the strike call by the taxi operators was illegal as the unions had not given the government a proper notice.

He added that 1,000 buses would be deployed to tide over the strike. There are 18,000 registered taxis operating in the state.

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Expressing concern over the open sale of army apparel and gear, the Delhi High Court today pulled up the Centre for not taking the issue seriously and asked the Delhi government to take steps to curb the sale and manufacture of such items.

The bench said the Centre does not seem to be interested in doing anything despite seriousness of the issue which has its implications on "state security and public safety".

The court made the observations in the backdrop of recent terror strikes, including the one of the Pathankot airforce base in January 2016 by terrorists dressed in Indian Army fatigues, leading to the death of seven security personnel including a Lieutenant Colonel and a civilian.

In November 2016 too, terrorists dressed in police uniform had attacked the army's XVI Corps headquarters at Nagrota in Jammu district, killing seven security personnel including two officers.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and C Hari Shankar directed the Delhi government to take immediate steps to curb private manufacturing, stocking and sale of military apparel and gear used by the armed forces.

It asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to forthwith take action to comply with several government communications in this regard, dating back to 1986-99.

The court directed the authorities to file a report in this regard in eight weeks, noting that despite there being a penal provision to punish those wearing or carrying tokens used by soldiers, not a single action has been taken.

The bench passed the order while deciding the plea of an NGO, which had raised the issue citing the terror attacks and submitted that private sale of military apparel and gear was a cause for concern.

Advocate K R Chitra, appearing for NGO Fight for Human Rights, had told the court that after the Pathankot incident, the petition was filed and a subsequent representation was made before the competent authority, but no action was taken.

During the day's hearing, after perusing the response of MoD, the bench said the matter was of a serious nature and despite earlier orders, it has not been taken up seriously.

The Centre's counsel submitted that they have asked the states to take this issue seriously.

The court on July 20, 2016, had asked the ministry to treat the issue raised as a representation and take a decision in three months.

The counsel said that subsequent to the July 20 order, she had again made a representation to the government but there was no response. Hence, she has again moved the court.

She said that a January 8, 2016, notification issued by the Indian Army, prohibits civilians and private shopkeepers from wearing or selling military apparel and gear.

The NGO had sought steps to curb private sale and manufacture of military apparel like uniforms, shoes, badges and other gear used by the armed forces which were being made by private industries in Ludhiana and Amritsar in Punjab and sold all over the country.

One place where such articles are sold is at the Railway Market at Pathankot, it had claimed.

The PIL had also sought that MoD be directed to handle with immediate effect the responsibility of manufacturing, stocking and sale of military apparel and gear used by the armed forces, saying private shops do not check to whom they sell such articles.

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The H-1B work visa, which is highly popular among Indian technology professionals, puts American workers at risk, a top Republican Senator has alleged.

The H-1B program offers temporary US visas that allow companies 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.

"The H-1B visa is one programme that really puts American workers at risk," Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, said during a Congressional hearing on homeland security yesterday.

Noting that the population of H-1B workers in the US has been growing for decades, Grassely said, with that growth, comes an increased possibility for fraud or abuse.

"..both of which I have seen and called on the Department of Homeland Security, with the help of Department of Justice, to investigate and prosecute," he said.

Grassely even looked to put blame on the H-1B workers for "stagnation" of salaries in the technology sector.

"The vast majority of these H-1B workers are employed in the technology sector, and we've seen salaries in that industry stagnate for decades, at the same time the number of foreign tech workers keeps growing," he said.

The senator said he was encouraged that Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced several H-1B initiatives "designed to protect American workers".

"I hope that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would continue with its efforts to reign in abuses in a variety of foreign worker immigration categories," said Grassley.

Participating in the Congressional hearing, Senator Orrin Hatch asked Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen on reports of doing away with work authorisation of spouses of H-1B visa holders.

Nielsen did not give a direct answer to this. But did say the Department was looking into all of the visa categories.

Hatch also asked Nielsen about news reports on cancelling three-year extensions for H-1B visa holders who are being sponsored for green cards -- which can be a time-consuming process due to per-country green card limits.

"I believe that Congress previously addressed this issue in 2000, and indicated its intent to allow such extensions. Can you tell me if the department is, in fact, considering ways to stop granting these three-year extensions? And, if so, why? And I'd also be interested in hearing the department's explanation of how ending these extensions squares with the 2000 law," Hatch asked.

"I'm not familiar with the very specific example on H-1B, but I will get back to you immediately after this," replied the Secretary of Homeland Secretary.

The curb on H-1B visa extensions could result in self- deportation of an estimated 500,000-750,000 Indian Americans.
In a sensational twist to the rape and murder case of a minor Dalit girl in Haryana, the body of the alleged perpetrator was found from a canal, police said today.

The half-naked body of the girl, a Class 10 student, was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday. The bloated and decomposed body of the alleged perpetrator police identified as Gulshan, a 19-year-old, was recovered yesterday.

The girl was alleged to have been brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated, and some of the vital organs ruptured, the police had said.

The police had launhed a hunt to apprehend the accused, who were alleged to have abducted the victim when she had gone to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg told PTI over phone.

Meanwhile, yet another case of rape rocked Haryana, where a 14-year-old boy allegedly raped a three-year-old girl in Hisar, police said.

The boy, who lived in the victim's neighbourhood, allegedly committed the crime yesterday when the girl's labourer parents were away for work, Hisar SP, Manisha Choudhary said.

An 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

Referring to the case in Kurukshetra district, the police said the body of the boy, a Class 12 student, was found in a decomposed condition from the Bhakra Canal and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

As the incident triggered outrage due to its ghastly similarity with the 'Nirbhaya' rape and murder case where a nursing student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted in the national capital, leading to her death in a Singapore hospital, the Congress demanded the dismissal of the BJP government in Haryana for its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

A Congress delegation, led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a memorandum to the Governor and sought imposition of President's rule in Haryana.

As the mystery over the rape victim's death deepened following recovery of the alleged perpetrator's body, the Kurukshetra police chief said a few people have been detained as part of the ongoing investigation.

The incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

A 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gang-raped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu yesterday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to investigating the cases.

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State-run Ltd said on Wednesday that it has fulfilled all its commitments for the acquisition of land for its 1,600 MW Gadarwara power project.

The public sector power utility said it will continue to work towards the local area development and betterment of the affected people even after the project goes on stream.

"We have fulfilled all our commitments, in line with the order of the Madhya Pradesh government's rehabilitation department and the tripartite agreement signed with the land owners and administration," a spokesperson of the said.

"We appeal to the local people to support the project of national importance from which half of the electricity generated will be for the state of Madhya Pradesh," he said.

The project-affected farmers have been agitating at Gadarwara in Narsinghpur district, demanding jobs in the central PSU.

Former Union minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha also took part in the agitation in support of the demands of the project-affected people last week.

The spokesperson clarified that the payment for the land is as per the rate decided by the government.

According to the agreement, paid Rs 140,5000 lakh per acre for the irrigated land and Rs 10.5 lakh for the non-irrigated land as a package, he said.

The corporation also paid Rs 3.5 lakh per acre (minimum Rs 3 lakh) as one-time payment in lieu of employment as rehabilitation grant and the agreement made it clear that any additional money or employment will neither be demanded nor accepted, he further said.

However, the agitation by the local villagers affected the project work as about 3,000 specialised workers left the site and the work came to a standstill from December 22.

"This is likely to adversely impact the project commissioning schedule which is targeted by the end of the current financial year," the spokesperson said.

The project management has approached the district and the state administration for safety of the project site and workers for resuming the work as heavy machines and equipment at the site are lying idle.
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Union leaders should increase pressure on President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran to return to talks to end Syrias civil war, Syrias chief opposition negotiator said on Monday.

January 17, 2018, 10:46 Syrian opposition calls on Trump and EU to put pressure on Russia and Iran

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS:Nasr Hariri said that unless the West forced Assad and his big power allies to seek peace then Syrian civilians would continue to be killed, Reuters reported.

The chief negotiator for Syrias main opposition grouping, Hariri called for Trump and EU leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May to get tougher with Assad.

All diplomatic initiatives have so far failed to yield progress in ending the war, which is now entering its eighth year having killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million from their homes.

The map of Syrias conflict has been decisively redrawn in favor of Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies during the past two years. They have recaptured major population centres in western Syria from rebels seeking to overthrow him and pushed back Islamic State in the east.

In the face of the collapse of rebel-held territory, most Western countries have quietly softened their positions that Assad must leave power as part of any peace deal. But the opposition entered the last formal talks last month without softening its demand Assad go, prompting the government to declare the talks pointless.

Nevertheless, Hariri suggested Western powers still had enough influence to push the government to negotiate.
The Delhi High Court today asked Aga Khan Foundation to develop and carry out landscaping at the historic Amir Khusro Park in south Delhi, from where the authorities have recently removed illegal encroachers.

The court also turned down the submission of the Delhi Waqf Board counsel opposing the idea of allowing the foundation to beautify the park, claiming that the land belonged to the board which can take care of its property.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar accepted the proposal of the foundation for landscaping and beautifying the park and asked it to consult the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

The Aga Khan Foundation is a private, non-profit international development agency founded in 1967, which seeks to provide long-term solutions to problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill health in various parts of the world.

It asked the DDA to ensure protection of the land and calculate the expenses incurred by the police and other authorities in demolishing illegal construction, removing the encroachers and rehabilitating persons occupying the area.

The Waqf Board, which claims to be the owner of the land where the park exists, submitted a draft policy before the court to manage the property as a 'model green graveyard' while addressing the concerns of graveyard and space crunch.

The bench was hearing a plea by an NGO which had moved the court against the removal of a night shelter inside the Amir Khusro Park near Sundar Nagar in South Delhi. However, the shelter was demolished as the court had not granted it any interim protection.

The bench had earlier asked the authorities to demolish the illegal construction inside the park and restore it to its original position.

It had also said law was the same for everyone and it has to be complied with and no illegal construction would be spared. It had said that old structures, which comply with the law, will be preserved while the remaining ones will go.

The NGO in its plea had said the shelter housed 50-60 children and around 60 women who were left homeless after the demolition in pursuance to a high court order.

The court had refused to stay the demolition and directed the authorities to ensure that all the homeless were accommodated in another shelter home located in the vicinity.

The high court had in April last year issued directions to the authorities to remove encroachments inside and around the 12.8-acre historic park.

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The Madras High Court today issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a plea filed by the DMK challenging the appointment of Mohan Pyare as commissioner of the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption (DVAC).

When the petition from R S Bharathy, DMK organisation secretary and Rajya Sabha member, came up before Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose, his senior counsel P Wilson submitted that the state government has of late been nominating chief secretaries or officers in the rank of additional chief secretaries as vigilance commissioner.

"This has resulted in the entire State Vigilance Commission losing its character as an independent, objective, transparent and autonomous body. It has become another wing of the state government, thereby, defeating the very purpose of its constitution," he submitted.

The vigilance commission is an institution known for its integrity, he said, and noted that the Supreme Court in several cases had held that the office of the vigilance commissioner should be insulated from the executive and political bosses.

Wilson submitted that the government was treating this post as one of "mere transfer", thereby meaning that the person holding it could be transferred at any time if he does not "toe the line of the ruling party".

He pointed out that the government order based on which the post was created itself stipulated that the vigilance commissioner was to be appointed by the governor and that the appointment is for a five-year fixed tenure.

Advocate-General Vijay Narayan told the bench he would get instructions from the government why the previous state vigilance commissioner was transferred and why the new one has not been given a fixed tenure.

The bench then adjourned the matter to January 29 with a direction to the parties concerned to file their counter affidavits by January 24.

The DMK moved the court on January 11 against the government order, appointing Pyare as state vigilance commissioner, alleging that it was a move aimed at making its pending petition on methodology of selection for the post infructuous.

Bharathi submitted that the government by its January 8 order, had replaced V K Jayakodi with Mohan Pyare.

He had said his earlier petition was not only against the person, but also against the method of appointment and the selection process adopted by the government and the Governor's Secretariat.

If the State Vigilance Commission was really to be an objective, impartial and autonomous body to check corruption in administration, the vigilance commissioner cannot be the chief secretary or any other secretary to government, he said.

The person selected must be an independent officer appointed especially to the post with a secured tenure as done in the case of CBI director or central vigilance commissioner.

Wilson had submitted that the government's act in appointing Jayakodi as commissioner was "arbitrary, illegal and unreasonable" as he was a junior in rank to several officers, including the chief secretary.

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The Delhi High Court today sought details of a case relating to 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy which was being heard by a trial court, after the victims' body moved a plea for speedy trial in the matter.

Justice Anu Malhotra sought to know the status and number of witnesses being cross-examined in a case emanating out of alleged tampering of documents during trial of the main case involving real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal.

It sought to know the details of pending matters before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House court here, who is hearing Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on January 29.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, representing Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy, sought day-to-day trial in a case related to tampering of evidence in the case.

He contended that despite charges being framed and upheld by the high court, not a single prosecution witness has been examined.

Delhi Police standing counsel, Rahul Mehra was also in favour of speedy trial in the matter.

A trial court had on January 31, 2003, ordered an inquiry after some documents related to the case had gone missing from the court's record room. After an inquiry, a court employee was dismissed from service.

The case is related to the tampering of a judicial file pertaining to a letter written by Vice President of Ansal Properties Industries Ltd, V K Nagpal, to the Delhi Fire Service. An FIR was registered in this regard.

"It is important to note, that even in the main Uphaar fire tragedy case, the entire trial was concluded within a period of 10 years with the intervention of this court...

"However, in the instant case, which arises out tampering with the original court records of the Uphaar fire tragedy case, despite 10 years from the date of registration of FIR, not a single prosecution witness has been able to complete their deposition," the plea by association president Neelam Krishnamoorthy said.

The Delhi High Court had on May 12 last year, upheld a trial court order framing charges of tampering of evidence against Ansals.

On June 13, 1997, a fire had broken out at the theatre during the screening of Bollywood film 'Border', killing 59 people and injuring over 100.

A magisterial court had on May 31, 2014 ordered framing of charges against seven accused for abatement of offence, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal breach of trust by public servant and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

Theatre owners Gopal Ansal and his brother Sushil Ansal, Anoop Singh, Prem Prakash Batra, Harswaroop Panwar, Dharamveer Malhotra and Dinesh Chandra Sharma were accused of tampering with evidence in the case, pending since 2006.

All the accused have denied the allegations against them.

On February 9, the Supreme Court in the curative petition had sentenced Gopal Ansal to jail for a year in connection with the blaze. However, the bench had spared 77-year-old Sushil Ansal because of his age. It had also upheld the fine of Rs 30 crore each imposed on the duo and had said the money should be utilised to set up up a trauma centre.

Following this, Gopal Ansal had approached the Supreme Court seeking modification of its order on the grounds of parity, saying he was 69 years old and would suffer irreparable damage to his health if sent to prison which was dismissed and Gopal Ansal surrendered before the Tihar Jail authorities on March 20.

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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was jailed for three months today for obstructing clearance of a major encampment during mass pro-democracy protests in 2014, the second time he has been imprisoned over the rallies.

Wong, 21, who had pleaded guilty to the contempt charge, was already on bail pending an appeal over a six- month sentence for another offence related to the Umbrella Movement.

It comes as some fear prison terms for leading campaigners are discouraging young people from expressing their views and muzzling freedom of speech in the semi- autonomous city, where there are growing signs that China is increasing its control.

Fellow activist Raphel Wong was jailed for four months and 15 days today over the same incident.

Ahead of the hearing, Joshua Wong -- who became the teenage face of the Umbrella Movement -- said he had "no regrets" about his involvement.

"They can lock up our bodies but they can't lock up our minds," he told reporters.

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the High Court, chanting: "Civil disobedience, no fear!" and "I'm a Hong Konger, I want universal suffrage!"



The Umbrella Movement was an unprecedented rebuke to Beijing as tens of thousands of protesters brought parts of the city to a standstill demanding fully free leadership elections to replace a system where the chief executive is selected by a pro-Beijing committee.

They failed to win concessions and since then leading activists have been charged over their involvement.

Beijing has been further incensed by the emergence of some activists calling for independence for Hong Kong since the failure of the Umbrella Movement to win reform.

Wong's party Demosisto wants self-determination for the city.

Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal since 1997, when Britain handed the territory back to China.

The agreement allows citizens rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and a partially directly elected parliament, as well as an independent judiciary.

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Smartphone maker Huawei aims to garner 10 per cent market share in India by 2019 and meet around 80 per cent of the sales demand in the country from local manufacturing.

"India is a top priority market for us and we are making product strategies aligned to meet needs of Indian market.

"Honor 9 Lite launched today is an example of our India first strategy. We are expecting to have 10 per cent market share by 2019," said Allen Wang, Director Product Centre, Honor India.

He said the company recorded three times more sales of Honor 7X and Honor View 10 that were launched last month in India compared to the previous version of the same series that was sold in 2016.

Huawei mainly sells its online brand smartphone Honor in India.

The company today unveiled two variants of the first smartphone with four cameras, Honor 9 Lite, for Rs 10,999 (32GB internal storage) and Rs 14,999 (64 GB). The new devices will go on sale from of January 21 on e-commerce platform Flipkart.

Built on Android 8.0 platform, it comes with a 5.65-inch display, 13 megapixel dual cameras (on both the front and rear) and supports Indian languages.

"Right now China accounts for 80 per cent of Honor device sales. Honor led China market in January-November 2017. We have set target that in next three years 50 per cent of total sales come from outside China and India is a key market for us.

"The EMUI 8.0 (Huawei's smartphone interface) of Honor 9 Lite has been developed in India as part of strategy to focus on India," Wang said.

EMUI 8.0 has artificial intelligence technology, including enhanced F2FS file system -- a technology that will prevent slowing down of the smartphone over time, he said.

The company has launched Honor 9 Lite first in India and will gradually launch it in other countries.

Wang said that Honor makes 70-80 per cent smartphones at Huawei's facility in Chennai.

"We will maintain this level of production. We may increase the production level next year and not reduce it. The production level will be around 80 per cent of the smartphones that will be sold in India. The demand for Honor 7X was so high that we started making in India immediately," Wang said.

He said that company has an "India first" strategy to meet its target of achieving number 5 position globally for Honor devices.

"We expect Honor, which is sold in 74 countries, to be fifth largest selling brand globally and India is a key market for us to achieve this growth," Wang said.

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There is a huge opportunity for the US to export LNG to India and China in the next five years as they push to replace coal, the head of the International Energy Agency has said as he highlighted the growing importance of the two nations in the energy market.

Fatih Birol, executive director for the agency, said both India and China use gas at a minimum level.

Globally, the share of gas in the global energy mix is about 25 per cent, and in both these countries, it is less than or around 5 per cent only.

"So, there's a big gap between the world average and them," Birol told US lawmakers during a hearing on domestic and global energy outlook held by Senate Committee on Energy and natural Resources.

"And both of them are facing major challenges in terms of environment, namely, local pollution in the cities. And this is an issue for both of these countries and others -- a reason for social unrest, in fact," he said, insisting that there is a huge opportunity to export Liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India and China in the next five years.

"I am sure Asian region will be the primary destination for the US LNG," he said.

China, Birol said, will overtake the US as the largest oil consumer around 2030.

"But stringent fuel-efficiency measures for cars and trucks, and a shift which sees one-in-four cars being electric by 2040, means that China is no longer the main driving force behind global oil use demand growth is larger in India post-2025," he said.

"In fact, India is the largest contributor to demand growth to 2040 almost 30 per cent of total growth as its share of global energy use rises to 11 per cent," Birol said.

India, he said, is pushing natural gas strongly to replace coal.

"But coal is also growing because, in India, as people having no access to electricity in India," he said.

India has to build some power plants from coal, but also more and more natural gas, renewable energy and nuclear, he said.

"India is also very important, because their economic growth is very strong and they have a very, in my view, wise, sound energy policy," Birol said.

"To be very frank, the Modi government is pursuing an energy policy which is very good for their people because, in a very short period of time, almost 11 years, they are bringing electricity to about 500 million people. That's a big, big, big achievement," Birol said.

"And they are using gas, they are using coal, they are using renewables -- all of these technologies -- much more diverse. And I expect the share of gas will increase significantly in India in the next years to come," Birol said.
India today "reiterated" its commitment to support Bangladesh's efforts to repatriate the Rohingya refugees who have taken shelter in the country fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

The assurance came during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali here where the two sides discussed issues of common interest.

"She (Swaraj) also reiterated India's commitment to support the rehabilitation programme to ensure sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine state," a Bangladesh High Commission statement said.

"With the policy of "neighbourhood first", EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and leaders discussed bilateral issues of common interest," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Earlier this week, Myanmar and Bangladesh reached a deal on the return of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas. Ali briefed Swaraj about the deal, the statement said.

According to the agreement, which was finalised in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, a two-year deadline has been set for the repatriation of the Rohingyas.

"Indian minister also briefed her counterpart about Indian engagement in northern Rakhine state, including construction of pre-fabricated houses for the returnees. Both the ministers discussed the modalities and physical arrangements for early repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar," the statement added.

Ali is visiting New Delhi for the ongoing third edition of the geo-political conference, 'Raisina Dialogue', scheduled to be inaugurated here tomorrow.

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Commerce and Industries Minister Suresh Prabhu today said India is expected to become a $5 trillion economy in the next 8-9 years with the manufacturing sector contributing 20 per cent to that.

"India is going to be a $5 trillion economy in 8-9 years $1 trillion will come from manufacturing. Therefore we are preparing a detailed plan what will be going in that manufacturing," Prabhu said at an event organised by internet firms body IAMAI.

He said that experts who are involved in manufacturing are preparing the roadmap and including all sectors where manufacturing can be promoted.

The minister said if manufacturing alone is digitised it would create a huge opportunity for technology firms.

"60 per cent of the $5 trillion will come from services. This includes various services which are not being even thought of at present. Like home care services have tremendous scope," he saiunderstatement



r said that $3 trillion may be understatement as per the plan being worked out and there are empirical evidences to back it.

Prabhu said as commerce and industries minister, he is working on a strategy for international trade which will contribute $2 trillion to the economy where contribution can come from both manufacturing and services.

International trade should become a driving factor for the growth of GDP, he said.

"India is not only bridging digital divide but also helping people scale up their income," Prabhu said.

He said that another revenue contribution to the economy will be the farming sector where lot of transformation can be done.
Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has announced that she would skip President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, in protest against his policies and rhetoric against immigrants.

Jayapal, 52, joins more than half a dozen Democratic lawmakers, including the legendary Congressman John Lewis, who will give a miss to the January 30 event.

Other lawmakers who have announced to boycott the event include Frederica Wilson, Maxine Waters, and Earl Blumenauer.

"I would not be attending the State of the Union this year. I join other distinguished members, including Rep. John Lewis, in refusing to dignify a president who has used the platform of the Oval Office to fan the flames of racism, sexism, and hatred most recently with his vulgar condemnation of Haiti and other African countries," Jayapal said in a statement.

ANNOUNCEMENT: With all the racism coming from the White House, I will NOT be attending @realDonaldTrump's State of the Union. Instead, we'll focus on the State of OUR Union, our opposition to his agenda, and we will lift up a progressive and inclusive vision of our country. pic.twitter.com/dcAWMIkZZV  Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) January 15, 2018

Jayapal said she disagrees with Trump's approach which is "narrow and self-serving".

"This president has consistently indicated that he has no interest in leading a unified country. He has gone out of his way to play to a small and shrinking base of voters by using language that diminishes and demeans vast swaths of people in our own country and around the world," Jayapal said.

"His path is dangerous. His path is destructive. His path cannot be normalised. I will not normalise it. This is our own form of non-violent resistance," she said.

According to Jayapal, her constituents and people across the country are "heartbroken, terrified and demoralised".

"He does and says things that none of us, as parents, would condone for our children. He consistently uses language that is outright racist. He actively uses the highest office of the land to promote hatred as a political tool for his own benefit," said Jayapal.

"As a brown immigrant female member of Congress, I feel the impact of these words personally, as well as collectively," she said.

Jayapal is the only Indian-American lawmaker to have announced boycotting Trump's State of the Union Address, which is a customary annual address of the US President to a joint session of the Congress.

Other Indian American Congressmen are Dr Ami Bera, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi. Senator Kamala Harris from California is of mixed African and American heritage.
Iran added its voice to criticism of a US plan to form a new border security force in Syria, saying today that it will cause more instability and "add flames" to the war-torn country.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the planned Kurdish-led force will further complicate the conflict in Syria and is a "blatant intervention" in that country's internal affairs. Ghasemi's comments were carried by Iran's official IRNA agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani later told the visiting Syrian parliament speaker that the US plan is a "plot" against Syria's territorial integrity and security, according to comments posted on the president's website.

The new force announced by the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group also is exacerbating tensions between NATO member Turkey and the United States. And UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres and Syria's deputy foreign minister also opposed it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday vowed to "drown this army of terror before it is born." He warned US troops against coming between Turkish troops and the Kurdish forces in Syria that Ankara views as an extension of Turkey's own Kurdish insurgency.

Turkey has threatened to launch a new military operation against the main Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the People's Defense Units, or YPG, in the Kurdish-held Afrin enclave in northern Syria.

The YPG is the backbone of a Syrian force that drove the Islamic State group from much of northern and eastern Syria with the help of US-led airstrikes.

UN chief Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that "too many countries have had troops in Syria."



"I think if the Syrian people could be able to solve alone its (cq) problems, it would probably be much better," he said.

Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faysal Mekdad, denounced the nascent US force and said anyone who cooperates with it is a "traitor" who would meet defeat and death. Russia has criticized the plan as well, saying it could fuel tensions around Afrin.

The US-led coalition says the force, expected to reach 30,000 in the next several years, is a key element of its strategy to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State group in Syria and would be deployed along Syria's borders with Turkey and Iraq.

Some 230 cadets have already been recruited to the new border force, according to the coalition.

Elsewhere in Syria, two civilians were killed and three others were wounded by insurgent shelling of Aleppo city, the state-run agency SANA reported.

It quoted the Aleppo Police Command as saying that "terrorists" in the western outskirts of Aleppo fired a number of shells, one of which fell on a kindergarten bus, killing the driver and a two-year-old child and wounding three teachers.

SANA also said a woman was killed and five civilians were wounded by two projectiles that fell on the town of al-Saan in central Syria.

The media office of the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission said Tuesday that the next round of Syria peace talks will take place in Vienna later this month.

A Vienna venue for the indirect talks between the Syrian government and the opposition would be a first under the mediation of UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

His office declined to comment. De Mistura's team has hosted eight rounds of largely unproductive talks over the past two years in Geneva.

UN secretary-general Guterres told reporters a new round of talks will be held in Geneva "or probably ... another location close to Geneva, and we hope that this time it will be possible to have constructive dialogue between government and opposition."



The UN has asked both sides not to impose any preconditions for talks and he said in light of that he will not impose a precondition on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad should remain in power or step down.

The UN said yesterday that fighting between government forces and insurgents in northwestern Syria has displaced more than 200,000 people since mid-December, including some who had already fled fighting elsewhere. Most are heading for safer areas near the Turkish border.

Government forces launched an offensive last month on the southern edge of the northwestern Idlib province, which is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and home to more than 2.6 million Syrians, including more than a million displaced from other areas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Russian airline had to postpone a scheduled flight from a Mexican city due to the migration authorities' unexpected demand for deporting four citizens of Armenia.

January 17, 2018, 14:44 Russian flight from Mexico postponed due to 'order to deport four Armenians'

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS:According to RIA Novosti, the aviation authorities in Cancun did not permit the aircraft, belonging to Rossiya Airlines, to fly from the local airport after four hours of waiting.

The flight has been rescheduled for January 17.

A company representative said they may be granted permission to fly no earlier than 8:00pm Moscow time.
Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta today said he would talk to independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid who yesterday announced his decision to boycott the remaining assembly session to protest against alleged assault by marshals.

"Nothing like that (assault on Rashid) had happened. I will personally talk to him," Gupta said after several members, including CPI(M) MLA M Y Tarigami and Congress legislator G A Saroori, raised the issue of alleged assault on the MLA by watch and ward staff.

Rashid, who represents Langate constituency of Kupwara district, yesterday had alleged that he was assaulted by marshals and a person in civvies after being marshalled out of the House. He later announced that he would boycott the remaining budget session until the incident was probed.

Soon after the House met today, the members expressed displeasure over the treatment meted out to Rashid yesterday but pacified on the assurance of the speaker.

Earlier, Congress legislator Usman Majeed Wani raised the issue of alleged baton charge on the party workers in Lal Chowk in the summer capital Srianagar yesterday, protesting against the erratic power supply.

"It is the duty of the political activists to highlight the problems of the public but it is unfortunate that they were treated with batons. We demand suspension of the police officer who led the lathicharge," he said.

Gupta told Wani that he has taken note of the issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jammu and Kashmir government today admitted encroachment of the Industrial Estate at Lassipora in Kashmir and said it has asked the officials concerned to take action against the encroachers.

Replying to a question of BJP legislator Surinder Mohan Ambardar in the Legislative Council, minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash Ganga said that there were 252 units functional at the industrial estate.

He said the government had earmarked 6,193 kanal land for it in 1984, of which 3,675 kanal was handed over to the Jammu and Kashmir State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO).

Replying to a supplementary question of Surinder Ambardar and Showkat Hussain Ganaie, the minister said that a major portion of the earmarked area for the estate was encroached and the divisional commissioner, Kashmir and deputy commissioner of the area concerned have been asked to take action against the encroachers.

Intervening during the reply, Legislative Council chairman Haji Anayat Ali directed the minister to furnish the details of encroachers and action taken by the department to the member.

Responding to supplementary of Saif-Ud-Din Bhat regarding the delay in making the Ompura Industrial Estate in Budgam functional, Ganga said the allotments at the estate were halted after Army raised objection over construction in the vicinity of its ammunition depot located in the area.

He further informed that the department has now approached the Forest Department to provide land in exchange of the land at Ompura for the estate.

Ganga also welcomed the offer of the legislator to provide land for the industrial estate at Bandarpura free of cost.

He said the department has already decided to develop industrial estates in rural areas and the land offered by the legislator would be used for the same.

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As the independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid today boycotted the assembly proceedings over an alleged assault by marshals, Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmad Gurezi requested him to return to the House, while speaker Kavinder Gupta assured that he would personally talk to the aggrieved legislator.

"I request Rashid sahib to return to the house. We are here to highlight the public issues and it would not be good to stay out of the House for him, and for his people," Gurezi said immediately after taking the chair from the speaker this afternoon.

He said he was "compelled" to request marshalling out of the legislator from the House yesterday after the latter did not listen to the chair despite being asked to do so repeatedly and continued with the disruption.

Earlier, Gupta said he would personally talk to Rashid to ensure his return to the House.

"Nothing like that (assault on Rashid) had happened. I will personally talk to him," Gupta said after several members, including CPI(M) M Y Tarigami and Congress legislator G A Saroori, raised the issue of alleged roughing up of Rashid by watch and ward staff.

Rashid, who represents the Langate constituency of Kupwara district, yesterday had alleged that he was assaulted by marshals and a person in civvies after being marshalled out of the House. He had announced to boycott the remaining budget session until the incident was probed.

Soon after the House met today, the members expressed displeasure over the treatment meted out to Rashid but pacified on the assurance of the speaker.

Earlier, Congress legislator Usman Majeed Wani raised the issue of alleged baton charge on the party workers in Lal Chowk in the summer capital Srianagar yesterday, protesting against the erratic power supply.

"It is the duty of the political activists to highlight the problems of the public but it is unfortunate that they were treated with batons. We demand suspension of the police officer who led the lathicharge," he said and demanded a statement from the government on the issue.

Gupta told Wani that he has taken note of the matter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition National and Congress members today staged a brief walkout from the assembly as MLAs, cutting across party lines, raised the issue of breach of privileges and protocol of speaker Kavinder Gupta and demanded government's intervention.

National Conference and Congress MLAs walked out of the House for a few minutes after Gupta revealed how his security protocol was breached and was still waiting for a report from the authorities concerned.

"We walked out in support of the speaker and for our rights," Congress legislature party leader Nawag Rigzin Jora said.

Amid sloganeering against the government and in support of the speaker, the opposition took the decision after several members, including both from the PDP and BJP, speaking on the discussion of grants, raised the issue of breach of privileges and protocol by government officials and sought the intervention of the government.

When independent MLA Pawan Gupta was speaking on the issue, the speaker intervened and said he had written to the SSP Jammu as how can the vehicles of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh break his protocol and sought a report.

"I have not received the response till date," he said.

"The speaker is the custodian of the MLA's rights and if he himself is disappointed for breach of his own protocol, then god save this assembly and the state," Jora said.

Parliamentary Affairs minister A R Veeri assured the House that the matter would be probed.

Earlier, CPI(M) legislator M Y Tarigami raised the issue of non-cooperation of ministers and various government officials to the communications for redressal of issues.

"I am heading the house panel on but officials are not taking our queries seriously. They are not responding to our communications," he said.

He alleged that the ministers feel it below their dignity to communicate directly with the members and instead personal assistants are being tasked for the same.

The demand for setting up of an house committee was raised by rulingPDP MLA Mohammad Ashraf Mir and was supported by opposition members,including Tarigami and Congress and National Conferencelegislators.

"I am not satisfied with the reply of the minister concerned. The desilting of river Jhelum is taking place in bits and pieces, especially from Sonawar (in Srinagar) to Pampore (in Pulwama).

"Therefore, I propose setting up ofan house committee to supervise and speed up the project," Mir said.

Supporting Mir's demand, Tarigami said, "it is a very serious issue andwe want a concrete action plan."



The lone CPI(M) MLA in the state accused the government of casual approach on the issue which, according to him,is directly linked to the safety and security of the people. He cited the example of the devastating 2014 floods.

Earlier, replying to the question of Mir, Irrigation and Flood Control minister Sham Lal Choudhary said to further augment the dredging in river Jhelum, the department has outsourced the work -- in Baramulla and Srinagar -- to a Kolkata-based company which has dredged out 5.06 lakh cum and 5.084 lakh cum, respectively till December last year.

"The desilting or dreding work in outfall channel was restarted in Sopore and Baramulla in 2012 where in two departmental dredgers have been operating continuously. The quantity dredged outtill December last year is 5.40 lakh cum," he said.

In response to Mir's another question, Choudhary said there was no proposal for seeking financial assistance from the World Bank for desilting the water bodies falling under the control of Forest, and Ecology department.

However, he said the Irrigation and Flood Control Department in collaboration with Department of Disaster Management and Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction has floated theexpression of interest for "consultancy services for conducting surveys, studies, formulation of comprehensive plan and preparation ofdetailed project report for flood management works of river Jhelum andits tributaries" through project management unit of Jhelum-Tawi floodrecovery project funded by the World Bank which includes thestudy of desilting of water bodies of the Jhelum basin.

The Forest, and Ecology Department through its subordinate wings the Wildlife Protection Department and Wullar Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) - carry out desilting of various water bodies on regular basis, he said.

Choudhary said the Wildlife Protection Department was managing 20 notified wetlands and water bodies under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.

He said the desilting of these water bodies is carried out every year as part of the management practices.

The minister said so far 1.5 square kilometre area of the Wullar lake has been dredged out of the 27 square kilometre of the critically siled area.

Moreover, dredging to the extent of 1.80 kms has been carried out in the Naz Nallah (stream), tributary of Wullar, to restore the connectivity with the marshes, he said.

In addition, he said, the Jammu and Kashmir Lakes and Waterways DevelopmentAuthority is looking after conservation and management of Dal andNageen lakes in Srinagar as detailed project report approved by the Centrefor an amount of Rs 298.76 crore in which one of the component isdreding and desilting of shore-line of Dal-Nageen lake.

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Justice J Chelameswar, one of the four Supreme Court judges who had openly castigated the functioning of the top court headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, is on leave today as he is unwell, sources said.

It is confirmed that Justice Chelameswar will not hold the court today, said the sources.

It was expected that the CJI would have a morning meeting with all the four senior-most judges after he had a 15 minute deliberations with them yesterday.

Besides Justice Chelameswar, other three judges who held the controversial press conference on January 12 are Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

These four judges had yesterday met in the evening at Justice Chelameswar's residence.

Two other judges, Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud, had also visited the residence of Justice Chelameswar late in the evening, the sources said.

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NDMC Standing Committee Chairman Tilak Raj Kataria today appealed to the Centre, Lt Governor and the head of a Supreme Court-appointed panel to give relief to traders from the ongoing sealing drive till June 30 next year, officials said.

The chairman of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation panel had recently called a special meeting of the standing committee to discuss the issue, they added.

Chairman of the NDMC panel wrote to the Union Urban Development minister, Delhi Lt Governor and the chairman of the monitoring committee seeking relief for traders, a senior official said.

In a partial relief to traders in Delhi, the government had last December reduced the rate of conversion charge for commercial use of upper residential floors of various markets, including Sarojini Nagar Market and Khan Market.

The reduced rate structures for conversion charge is now Rs 22,274 per square metre of built-up area. However, the reduced rates will remain in force "only till June 2018".

Kataria appealed to the monitoring committee to "provide relief to traders from sealing action till June 30, 2018, as it is a matter of their livelihood," the NDMC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kataria also said people found littering the streets after a 'bhandara' (religious community meal) may be penalised.

Also, South Delhi Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat today, in a statement said, "An amount of Rs 10,000 will be sanctioned to the family for the last rites of deceased employees, whereas an amount of Rs 50,000 each will be given as help for the marriage of two daughters, if the family has not obtained similar assistance from any other organisation.

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Kerala -- declared the first complete literate state in the country over two decades ago -- is now gearing up for a second mass literacy movement to eradicate illiteracy totally by covering all left over sections.

The southern state had achieved the full literate tag on April 18, 1991 as per the norms of UNESCO, which says attaining literacy by 90 per cent of the population would be considered as complete literate.

Even though the state is known for its high literacy index and low school drop out rate, still 18 lakh people in Kerala are illiterate, revealed the 2011 Census.

Under the new drive, the authorities are targeting to achieve 100 per cent literacy covering each and every person in all strata of society, official sources here said.

The state-run Kerala State Literacy Mission is launching the programme, under the title "Aksharalaksham", on January 26, the Republic Day, to achieve the goal.

Eradicating illiteracy among marginalised groups like tribals, fisher folks and slum-dwellers would be given thrust in the drive, a top official said.

The mission has already completed a ward-level survey as an initial phase of the programme and those identified as illiterates would be started with study classes on the Republic Day, she said.

"Our motto is to eradicate illiteracy completely and achieve 100 per cent literacy in the state by all means," Literacy Mission director P S Sreekala told PTI.

There are some technical differences between the complete eradication of illiteracy and achieving total literacy, she said.

"As per the UNESCO norms, 90 per cent of the population should be literate to declare a state as complete literate. That's how Kerala was declared so in 1990s. But, the present figures show that there are still a large number of illiterates in the state," she said.

According to the 2011 census, the literacy rate of the state is 94 per cent which was 90.86 per cent in 2001.

The "Aksharalaksham" initiative is planned to be implemented in 2,086 wards out of the total 20,000 wards across the state in the initial phase, Sreekala said.

The survey to identify illiterates was carried out under the aegis of respective ward members and 'saksharatha pracharaks' under the Mission, she said adding a total of 44,667 volunteers, of them 37,012 women, had taken part in it.

Besides the details of illiterates, those of school dropouts in these wards had also been collected.

"Thousands of people have participated in the survey. We are planning to codify the results and declare it on January 20," she said.

Later, classes would be started for them on January 26 at the respective learning centres of the mission in each ward.

A total of 100 hours of instruction is planned and examinations will be held for them in April, she said adding learners from the age of 15 years are the target group.

"We hope that we can declare these wards as complete literate by April 18 this year. In the next phase, rest of the wards will be brought under the initiative."



The literacy mission has also started programmes to educate the illiterate migrant population, who come to the state seeking greener pastures.

Kerala had become the first state in the country to achieve total primary education last year.

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The 7th edition of Kolkata International Children's Film Festival, set to begin on January 19, will showcase films from 33 countries.

The nine-day fest will have films in 'wildlife', 'friendship' and 'coming-of-age' categories to foster the spirit of quest and adventure in young minds, a spokesperson of the Shishu Kishore Akademi, an institute funded by the state government, said today.

Over 200 films from 32 countries, including the US, France, Germany, Iran and Kazakhstan, will be screened alongside Indian productions at Nandan, Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Tirtha, Ahindra Manch and Star Theatre, she said.

The fest will open to Amole Gupte's action-adventure film 'Sniff'. Sagnik Chatterjee's documentary 'Feluda: 50 years of Ray's Detectives' will be screened on the concluding day.

An initiative by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Shishu Kishore Akademi has been organizing children's film festivals every year since 2011.

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena stormed out of a Cabinet meeting on Monday over personal attacks by some members of his unity governments dominant partner UNP, media reports said today.

However, the government spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that Sirisena was only answering a call of nature when he walked out of the Cabinet meeting and was not piqued by the action of some UNP members.

According to local media reports, Sirisena walked out of the Cabinet meeting over "personal attacks" against him by some UNP parliamentarians and said that it was not possible for him to stay anymore in the unity government.

UNP MP from Colombo, S M Marikkar, had recently called the president a "pickpocket" who is robbing the UNP of its dues when actually Sirisena should be grateful to the UNP for getting him elected as president.

The UNP backbencher in an election campaign rally had targeted Sirisena saying he was trying to politically harm the UNP in the run up to the February 10 local election by alleging that UNP was a corrupt party.

Sirisena in a 30-minute address which he recorded himself at the Cabinet had said that the UNPers were attacking him due to his action to curb corruption in government.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and several other ministers had gone after Sirisena to convince him to return to the Cabinet meeting.

The UNPers claim that Sirisena loyalists in the government were publicly attacking Wickremesinghe and the president had done nothing to stop them.

The internal differences between the coalition partners who were arch rivals have surfaced ahead of the February 10 local council election.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe instructed UNP Ministers and MPs not to make controversial statements dragging Sirisena anymore.

Party sources said the prime minister had also informed the UNP MPs and ministers to take on the SLFP Ministers directly and settle whatever issues which they may have with the other main ally of the Government.

Marikar told the prime minister that his statement with regard to president was misinterpreted or misreported.

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A cleric in a Nanded madrasa allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl and molested another minor, police said today.

Shockingly, three local politicians from Majalgaon village, from where the girl who was allegedly raped hailed, tried to pressurise her mother not to file a case against the cleric, identified as Maulavi Saber Farooqui, who is at large, a Nanded police official said today.

On the complaint lodged by the girl's mother in Itwara police station in Nanded, the three leaders were arrested from Majalgaon today, he said.

They are identified as Khalil Patel, Nawab Patel, and Ibrish Bagwan.

While Nawab Patel is said to be former Nanded city unit president of the NCP, Bagwan is Majalgaon taluka president of the AIMIM. Khalil Patel is a former councillor.

The alleged incident occurred at Islamia Arabia seminary located in Deglur Naka area of Nanded a few days back, according to police.

Many girl students from Marathwada region take Islamic studies at the madrasa.

According to the police official, Farooqui allegedly raped the 12-year-old girl after showing her a pornographic clip on his mobile phone and molested another girl (8).

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the incident.

SIT head Sunita Borgaonkar said more complaints could be filed against the accused.

"Police have seized documents from the madrassa and teams have been fanned out to trace the cleric," she said.

According to unconfirmed reports, Farooqui had approached the girl's mother in Majalgaon to settle the matter, but was allegedly thrashed by local youths.

However, police refused to confirm the reports.

Police have registered a case against the cleric on charges of rape and molestation of the IPC and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

However, it is not known which sections were slapped on the three leaders.

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The Maharashtra cabinet approved one per cent reservation for orphans in government jobs under general category today.

"The decision will help orphans overcome problems faced by them while applying for jobs since they don't know their caste," an official said here today.

With the help of one per cent reservation in the general category, they can get jobs and avail other facilities, he added.

Speaking on the development, Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde said, "It will help rehabilitate orphan children and secure their future. Once they step out of the orphanage, they have to face a number of difficulties."



"Since their caste is not known, they cannot be included in a specific category, due to which they are deprived of educational, economic and social concessions," she said.

The cabinet, in order to give a boost to social and economic development, also approved the Maharashtra State Innovation and Startup policy, which aims to attract investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

An official in the chief minister's office (CMO) said the policy will be an ideal platform for innovative ideas.

With the help of educational and industrial sector, 15 start-up incubators will be set up. The policy will help launch 10,000 start-ups with employment opportunities to all the sections of the society.

"Employment opportunities will be created for five lakh people directly and indirectly," the official added.

The policy will help create a start-up ecosystem, he said.

In another decision, the cabinet also approved an MoU with Mekorot, the national water company of Israel for setting up water grids in the drought-prone Marathwada region.

The cabinet also decided to rename the Kolhapur airport after Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to give financial assistance to gram panchayats, which do not have office building of their own.

For the gram panchayat of villages with population less than one thousand, Rs 12 lakh will be given. For population in the range of 1,000 to 2,000, the gram panchayat will get Rs 18 lakh.

For villages with over 2,000 population, office building can be constructed with own funds or through public private partnership (PPP).

"This decision will benefit about 4,252 gram panchayats," the official said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today his government is making efforts to create systems that are innovation-friendly to build an innovation-driven new India.

Modi was speaking after he and his Israeli counterpart Benjaman Netanyahu dedicated to the nation a centre for entrepreneurship and technology in Deo Dholera village near Ahmedabad.

Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

"When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation," Modi said.

"We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas and new India is formed from innovations," the Prime Minister said.

The Israeli prime minister said he was delighted to be there.

"The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is on more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate."



Netanyahu ended his speech with "Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi".

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A 31-year-old man was today arrested for allegedly killing his wife on suspicion of infidelity and their minor son in northwest Delhi's Jahangirpuri area, police said.

They said that the accused thought that his youngest son, over one years of age, was fathered by someone else.

The man, who worked as a house painter, was arrested from the Khera Kalan Railway Station following a tip-off. He was planning to go to a distant location to evade arrest, the police said.

Yesterday, the bodies of the woman and her son were found with multiple stab wounds on the first floor of their shanty, they said.

The woman's two elder children, aged seven and four, were in trauma since they had seen their father killing their mother and younger brother, the police said.

The woman had got married to the man on May 11, 2005 and the couple was having strained relationship since then, they said.

The man doubted her and the couple had regular fights. She had even left him and moved to her parents' house in Haiderpur, the police said.

The woman had also filed a case of dowry harassment against her husband but the couple had reached an out-of-court settlement, they added.

The police said that the man was fond of his two elder children but did not love his youngest son, the police said.

It was around a week back that he asked his wife to return home with the children on the insistence of his family members, they said.

The police said that the accused had made a plan to get rid of his wife and son five-six days ago.

The man had stolen a dagger from the house where he was employed five-six days ago, the police said.

On the night of January 15 when the woman and her children were sleeping inside their room, the man allegedly stabbed the two with the dagger and also hit them with a hammer, they said.

"After committing the crime, he slept through the night along with the dead bodies of his wife and son," Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (Northwest), said.

He left his shanty and fled early morning, leaving behind his dead wife and the youngest son and two other children who were sleeping in the same room, she added.

Eight teams were formed under the leadership of A K Lall, additional deputy commissioner of police (Northwest) to nab the accused, Khan said.

The police raided several locations around Delhi which included railway stations, bus stations, and other possible hideouts of the accused.

His close relatives and friends were also questioned about his whereabouts, the official said.

The police said that the accused did not have a cell phone and it was difficult to trace his location, she said.

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A 29-year-old man, who was allegedly involved in a mobile phone snatching case in southeast Delhi's Okhla, has been arrested, police said today.

On January 12, two motorcycle-borne men snatched the mobile phone of a 17-year-old boy. The victim caught hold of the motorcycle from the back and was dragged along with it, the police.

At a traffic intersection, the pillion rider snatched the phone and tried to run away but was hit by an unidentified vehicle, following which he died on the spot, they said.

He was later identified as Sandeep, 21, a resident of Govindpuri area. His co-accused fled the spot, the police said.

Neither did the police have any details about the absconding accused nor about the motorcycle that was used in the snatching, they said.

After some efforts, the police zeroed down on one Yogesh Gupta alias Bihari and raids were conducted at his rented accommodation in Govindpuri, Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (Southeast), said.

On January 15, Gupta was nabbed from his house. After the accident of his associate, Gupta went to his native place in Aligarh to escape from the police, he added.

He stayed there for a couple of days and returned to Delhi on January 15 and was nabbed, Biswal said.

After his father died in 2009, Gupta had started driving an e-rickshaw but the money earned was not enough to fulfill his desires, he said.

He left the job and purchased a motorcycle with an aim to work as a courier or delivery boy, the official said.

However, he could not find any job.

During that time, he met Sandeep and lured him to commit robbery and snatching. The duo used to go out early in the morning to rob passersby, he said.

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A 26-year-old man was injured in a blast in the jungles of southern Mizoram's Lawngtlai district, along the India-Myanmar border, on Monday, an official statement of the Assam Rifles said today.

Lawngtlai district police identified the injured as Jitua Tongchangya, a Chakma community member of Bangdukbanga hamlet near Parva village along the India-Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

The blast, reportedly caused by an IED, blew off the man's left ankle and 'gravely' injured his right leg, the statement said.

"As soon as the information reached the Assam Rifles post at Simnasura village, the troops moved a team with a doctor to assist the injured," it said.

The team provided him with basic medical aid at the spot. The troops along with other villagers then carried the injured on their shoulders to Parva, where he boarded a vehicle to reach the local hospital at Lawngtlai.

Police suspect that the blast was caused by a landmine that was possibly planted in the jungle by Myanmar Army personnel or the insurgents of the Arakan Army (AA).

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A Pakistani man bearing resemblance to the suspect accused of raping and murdering a seven-year- old girl in Pakistan's Punjab province has been detained and a DNA test would be conducted on him, police said today.

The girl in Kasur district was abducted outside her home earlier this month.

Her body was later found in a rubbish dump, triggering a nationwide outcry against the crime.

She had gone to a religious tuition centre near her house in Kasur city, some 50 km from Lahore, on January 5 from where a man said to be a 'serial killer' abducted her, police said.

The police had last week issued a footage of the unidentified man whose involvement they suspect in the case.

Police believe the suspect has assaulted nine girls, ages five to 10 years, and killed seven of them.

The two girls, who survived the attack, have been put under enhanced security. In the last one year, 13 minors have been killed after being abused in Kasur city.

District Police Officer Zahid Ali Marwat said they had examined 20 video footages, and of them, only footage, where the minor girl was seen walking with the suspect, was real.

The man was arrested due to his resemblance to the prime suspect appearing on the CCTV video with the girl has been handed over to the Kasur authorities, Lahore police officials were quoted as saying by Geo .

The man was held from Bhatta Chowk in Lahore, the report said.

The authorities said that the suspect's mobile phone location shows he was in Kasur. The suspect has been handed over to Kasur police for his DNA test, the report said.

A police official, who is part of the joint investigation team (JIT), requesting anonymity, said the suspect had targeted the children of the families with the strong social background which triggered public outcry, Dawn reported.

Some police officials said in all cases, the suspected killer had left the belongings of the deceased children with their bodies in a careful manner, which suggested they did not want to eliminate the evidence.

Earlier, on January 16, a Supreme Court bench expressed its displeasure over the lack of progress by the Punjab government and police on the case.

The girl's murder was the 12th such incident reported in Kasur district in a year.

Kasur had made headlines in 2015 as well when it was revealed that a gang of paedophiles was busted for running a child sex ring in the city.

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State-owned Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) has filed preliminary papers with markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offering.

The public issue will see sale of up to 46,835,000 equity shares, or 25 per cent stake, by the company's promoter, draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed with Sebi showed.

The initial public offer (IPO) will help in achieving the benefits of listing the equity shares on the stock exchanges.

Mishra Dhatu Nigam is engaged in the production of metals and alloys as part of an import substitution strategy, which is designed to reduce India's reliance on foreign suppliers and achieve self-sufficiency.

The company earned a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 27.3 crore and a total revenue of Rs 220.66 crore for the six months period ended September 30, 2017.

SBI Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd will manage the company's public issue.

Earlier in April, the Cabinet had cleared the disinvestment of this PSU under the defence ministry and thereafter DIPAM had invited bids from merchant bankers and legal advisors for managing the stake sales.

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Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu flew kites, led a roadshow and spoke effusively about their friendship during a day-long visit to Gujarat in a public show of top-level backing for the fast-growing ties between India and Israel.

Netanyahu said his country seeks to cooperate with India "in every field" and praised Modi for "revolutionising" his country. In turn, the Indian leader said he waited for "my friend" to visit India so they could together inaugurate an entrepreneur incubation centre for start-ups.

The bonding between the two leaders notwithstanding India voting in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution rejecting the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was on full display at the very start of Netanyahu's visit to Modi's home state.

Modi received Netanyahu, who was accompanied by his wife Sara, at the airport with a bearhug, and then the three set off on an 8-km roadshow to the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for many years.

The road to Sabarmati Ashram was lined with people on both sides, with some carrying Indian and Israeli flags, as folk artists from several states sang and danced on stages erected at vantage points.

However, unlike last year's roadshow that Modi held with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe where they travelled in an open jeep, clicking pictures and waving at cheering crowds, Wednesday's event was a heavily guarded affair, with the leaders seated in SUVs, apparently due to security reasons.

Once at the Ashram, the prime minister was in the role of a guide, showing the visiting couple around the place where they tried their hands at Gandhi's spinning wheel, wearing garlands of handspun cotton yarn. The wheel had become emblematic of Gandhi's non-violent resistance to the colonial rule and underpinned his vision of self-reliance.

Later, the two leaders addressed young entrepreneurs at Deo Dholera after dedicating the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

"Prime Minister Modi is changing India, by the force in vision of his leadership. He is revolutionising India. He is catapulting it into the future and as one of the world's great powers. And he is doing it through the power of innovation," Netanyahu said.

"I want young Israelis to come to India, not just with the backpack, but with a laptop. This is essentially a boundless potential and that's why I have come here, to encourage young innovators from our two countries to work together," he said, adding that Israel seeks cooperation with India in every field.

Friendship was the constant theme as the two leaders acknowledged the immense potential for further cementing the bonds between the two nations.

"I thank Modi for his vision and for his friendship, and for recognising the immense potential of our partnership" the Israeli leader said.

Underscoring the vast scope of pertnership between the two countries, Netanyahu said he wanted cooperation in areas as diverse as water conservation and agriculture to cyberspace and life sciences.

"Today, I have a simple message. I want young Indians to know that Israel wants to form a partnership with you in technology, in water, in agriculture, in cyber, in drones, in health, in life sciences, in every field. We are your partner," he said.

Modi voiced happiness over the inauguration of iCreate in the presence of Netanyahu.

"When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have stronger relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation," Modi said.

The work for setting up iCreate was launched in 2011 by Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

"We are working towards making the entire system in our country innovation-friendly. Curiousity produces intent, whose power leads to innovation that will make new India," he added.

Innovation, he said, plays a major role in bringing together the people of India and Israel.

"People of Israel have proved that it is not the size and shape of a country but the determination of its citizens which takes it ahead," he said.

Impressed by some of the innovations put on display at iCreate, Netanyahu said, "The world knows about iPods, they know about iPads, but there is one more 'i' the world needs to know about - iCreate."





As cordiality punctuated the engagement of the two leaders, the entire house burst into guffaw when Netanyau called both himself and Modi young.

"As you all know, I am sure you have noticed, Prime Minister Modi and I are both very young and very optimistic. We are young in our thinking and we are optimistic about the future," he said, as Modi was seen breaking into a hearty laugh.

The Israeli leader wrapped up his speech with a chant of 'Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel' (victory be to India and Israel).

Netanyahu also gifted a Gal-Mobile water desalination and purification jeep to Modi, which the latter dedicated to the people of Suigam village in Banaskantha district.

The two also visited the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad village of Sabarkantha district set up in 2015 with Israeli collaboration.
Six months after a 27- year-old man was killed in an accident in Saudi Arabia, his mother, a resident of a village here, is still waiting for the body to arrive despite assurances by the authorities.

The deceased went to Saudi Arabia four years ago to take up a job opportunity, Shakuntala Devi said.

She added that she was assured by District Magistrate Virendra Kumar Singh that the needful would be done to bring her son back.

"My son has two children but they do not know that their father will never return. His wife is shocked. In last six month we went to Lucknow several times and also to Delhi twice but still we are waiting for his body.

"We want to perform his last rites here. I met the district magistrate in this regard and he has given us assurance. My entire family is waiting for the body and I appeal to the government to help me," Shakuntala Devi said.

Asked about the issue, the district magistrate said the Ministry of External Affairs had sought certain information in this regard, adding that efforts were being made to bring the body fast and hand it over to the family.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a 3 percent state school increase in his 2018-19 executive budget released Tuesday, including a small hike for nine school districts in the Cayuga County area.

Under Cuomo's spending plan, the Auburn school district's foundation aid would increase by 1.38 percent to $30,194,277. While Auburn's total aid level is the highest in the area, the percentage increase is the third-lowest among the nine districts in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES system.

Union Springs Central School District would get the largest percentage increase. The executive budget would increase aid by 1.75 percent to $6,887,477 in the 2018-19 school year.

The percentage increases for the 2018-19 fiscal year would range from 0.25 percent to 1.75 percent. For the current 2017-18 school year, the percentage increases ranged from 2.74 to 4.40 percent.

Foundation aid is the base aid provided to school districts. It excludes other funding for programs, such as the state's Smart Schools Initiative, and capital investments.

Cuomo's budget proposal would increase total school aid statewide by $769 million, including $338 million more in foundation aid. He touted his record on education funding, which he says has increased by $6.8 billion, or 35 percent, since 2012.

One of Cuomo's main objectives this year is to provide more targeted aid to support poorer school districts. He said 70 percent of the aid would go to poorer districts.

"It's not enough to give funding to the poor districts," he said Tuesday. "You have to make sure the money goes to the poorest schools in the poorer districts. And right now we have no idea where the money is going ... And we should mandate that they have a formula that also mirrors our formula sending the money to the poorer schools."

Cuomo's budget proposal received mixed reviews from education stakeholders, including the state Department of Education and Board of Regents.

In December, the Board of Regents requested a $1.6 billion aid increase, including $1.25 billion more in foundation aid. The executive budget falls well short of the Regents' proposal.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said they are "concerned" with the governor's state aid proposal.

"We need to invest in the education of all New York students," Elia and Rosa said in a joint statement. "The Regents state aid request would ensure schools continue to improve and better prepare our children while also acknowledging the state's fiscal realities."

Jasmine Gripper, legislative director of the Alliance for Quality Education, called Cuomo's aid request "pitiful."

"This would not even be enough to prevent classroom cuts across the state and totally fails to address equity," Gripper said.

State school aid levels will be determined in the final state budget. State legislators typically advocate for more state aid, especially for schools in their districts.

Cuomo and legislators hope to finalize the 2018-19 state budget before April 1, which is the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The Mumbai civic body has set up 34 cells to monitor fire compliance norms at commercial establishments and other buildings, and act against them if they violate safety rules, a senior official said today.

The setting up of the fire compliance cells by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) comes in the wake of the ghastly blaze at a pub in the Kamala Mills Compound last month that killed 14 people.

"Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta gave the direction for setting up fire compliance cells in the city to prevent incidents of fire at commercial establishments and act against them if they violate safety norms," the civic official said.

Following Mehta's direction, the Mumbai Fire Brigade yesterday nominated 34 fire officers, one each in 24 administrative wards and 10 in reserved ones, to ensure fire safety compliance by buildings and establishments, he said.

"After the Kamala Mills Compound incident and a spate of fire mishaps subsequently, the commissioner issued strict orders to ensure compliance with fire safety norms," the official added.

Mumbai fire brigade chief P S Rahangdale said, "So far we did not have dedicated fire officers in our pool. Now these officials, in coordination with local ward officers, will conduct routine inspections and ensure fire safety compliance as per guidelines under the the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act."



He said the designated fire officers will conduct inspection of buildings, cinema halls, malls, godowns, hospitals and nursing homes.

"If any negligence is found in an establishment, the officer will inform the local ward officer and initiate suitable action against it," Rahangdale said.

Meanwhile, the BMC in a statement, said its team conducted inspection of 619 eateries and other establishments in the last two days and sealed three of them for violation of norms.

Besides, illegal constructions were demolished at 49 places and 369 establishments were asked to comply with the fire prevention and safety rules, the BMC said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) today projected an overall credit potential for Odisha under priority sector at Rs 71,419.85 crore for 2018-19.

The projection was made in the State Focus Paper for Odisha released by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the the annual State Credit Seminar of NABARD for 2018-19 here today.

The chief minister, who also unveiled the Area Development Scheme for 2018-2023, expressed happiness for efforts of NABARD in preparation of the credit plan of Rs 71,419.85 crore for the state by taking into account the available and planned infrastructure, existing policies and schemes of government demand and supply conditions.

Patnaik urged banks and other stakeholders to refer the credit plan documents prepared by NABARD and play a pro-active role in achieving the credit targets.

He applauded NABARD for the developmental financial assistance provided to the state in last financial year. He also appreciated NABARD for its initiative in implementing 51 Tribal Development Projects and 108 Watershed Development Projects in the state, benefiting about 94,000 poor families.

In his address, Dr K C Panigrahi, chief general manager, NABARD explained the process of preparation of District level Potential Linked Credit Plans (PLPs), state level credit potential and the significance of the documents in credit planning of the state.

Panigrahi highlighted the developmental financial assistance to the tune of Rs 14,715 crore provided by NABARD in the state during last year and target of NABARD for the current financial year.

During the current year, NABARD has extended financial support of more than Rs 11,000 crore to the state government for creation of rural infrastructure, to the banks as refinance for short term production loans and long term investment loans and to the State Civil Supplies Corporation for procurement of paddy from the farmers, he said.

He said the credit projections for Odisha for 2018-19 at Rs 71,419.85 crore is based on the potential assessed under various sectors and sub sectors in allagro climatic zones of the state. He solicited cooperation of state government, banks and other stake holders for achieving the potential.

Odisha's Finance Minister Sashi Bhushan Behera exhorted all stakeholders to focus on agricultural and rural development addressing the areas where improvement is required. He said urged the banking network in the State to realise the planned credit potential.

A P Padhi, Odisha chief secretary called for optimum exploitation of the credit potential, while expressing concern about negative growth in credit flow for agriculture and MSME sectors during 2016-17. He requested banks to reverse the trend and ensure better inclusive growth.

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Dominant Rafael Nadal swept into the Australian Open third round to keep his Grand Slam title hunt on track today, as Caroline Wozniacki pulled off a great escape to stay in contention.

The world number one Spaniard's march towards a 17th Grand Slam crown was never threatened by Argentina's Leonardo Mayer, who took him to a third set tiebreak before being swatted aside 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Rod Laver Arena.

"Playing this court is always a big motivation for me," said Nadal, who lost last year's final to Roger Federer.

"He was a dangerous opponent and I'm happy to be in the third round.

"For my team and my family, this is our favourite tournament of the year, so I hope to stay around a bit longer," he added.

Nadal, showing no signs of the troublesome knee that bothered him late last season and interrupted his Melbourne lead-up, next plays Bosnian 28th seed Damir Dzumhur.

Surprisingly, Nadal was not the prime time men's night match on centre court, with that honour going to third seed Grigor Dimitrov, who takes on American Mackenzie McDonald later.

In contrast to Nadal's easy progress, world number two Wozniacki survived a huge scare against little-known Croat Jana Fett.

The Dane saved two match points and rallied from 5-1 down in an epic third set to keep her dream of a first Grand Slam title alive.

She looked out for the count, and was struggling afterwards to work out how she survived 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 against a player ranked 119.

"That was crazy, I don't how I got back the in the match," said Wozniacki, adding that "experience was crucial".

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina also came from a set down to overcome spirited Czech Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Ukrainian is now on a seven-match win streak after winning the lead-up Brisbane International.

She picked up five WTA Tour titles last year, more than any other woman, making her a serious Grand Slam contender.

- 'I'm talented' -



==================



Her next task is tackling 15-year-old sensation Marta Kostyuk, who became the youngest woman to reach the third round since Martina Hingis got to the quarter-finals in 1996.

Also Ukrainian, she beat local wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-3, 7-5.

Her win streak at Melbourne Park is now 11 straight matches after claiming the Australian Open girls' title in 2017 and coming through qualifying this year.

"I heard a lot of times that I'm talented, and I know that," said the confident teen. "But I know that only talent will not help me to play good. So I'm working pretty hard."



Svitolina said she knew little about the youngster, and was preparing for a no-holds barred fight.

"She has nothing to lose, so that's why I know she goes just for everything. You know, a little bit like a headless chicken," she said.

French Open champion and seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko also progressed, but she too needed three sets to get past China's Duan Yingying.

On a hot Melbourne day, Croatia's sixth seed Marin Cilic advanced, with last year's Wimbledon finalist easily beating Joao Sousa.

US Open semi-finalist and 10th seed Pablo Carreno-Busta also went through after French veteran Gilles Simon retired injured when trailing 6-2, 3-0.

And fighting former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saw off rising Canadian youngster Denis Shapovalov in a five-set thriller.

But Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a quarter-finalist last year, became the latest seed to slump out in the women's draw, which has been shorn of leading names over the first two rounds.

Seeded 15, she lost to Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.

Venus Williams' conqueror Belinda Bencic also ran out of steam, having no answers against Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum, slumping out 6-1, 6-3.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The NCP today accused the Devendra Fadnavis government of lacking the will to help farmers who have been bearing the brunt of natural calamities for the last many years.

Addressing a gathering in Bhoom village in Osmanabad district on the occasion of the launch of the second phase of the NCP's "Hallabol (attack) Yatra", senior leader Ajit Pawar referred to the last year's unprecedented strike by farmers for various demands including a loan waiver.

"The Congress-led UPA government had given a loan waiver of Rs 71,000 crore to farmers, but the present government in Maharashtra and Centre has not done so. There should be a will to help farmers. However, the state government lacked any such will," the former deputy chief minister said.

The Maharashtra government had last June announced a farm loan waiver of Rs 34,000 crore following wide-scale protests by farmers across the state.

"For the first time during the tenure of this government, farmers went on a strike," Pawar said.

He said farmers in the drought-prone areas of the state would be allotted solar agriculture pumps should the NCP return to power in 2019.

Besides Pawar, senior NCP leaders, including state unit president Sunil Tatkare, Supriya Sule and Dhananjay Munde, were present at the inauguration of the second phase of the stir in the temple town of Tuljapur in Marathwada.

The agitation will cover the entire Marathwada region and conclude at Aurangabad on February 3 when NCP chief Sharad Pawar is expected to participate in a rally. The first phase of the stir was organised last December in Vidarbha.

Ajit Pawar said the Hallabol yatra was not organised with an eye on elections.

"Today there are no elections and still we have come together to fight for farmers of the state because they are suffering," he added.

Pawar alleged the state government was planning to shut down 80,000 schools across Maharashtra.

Dhananjay Munde, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, said the loan waiver announced by the government remained restricted to the online platform only, as "not a single farmer could avail any benefit of the measure because of irregularities".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today described Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity.

Netanyahu arrived here this morning and held a grand roadshow along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before visiting the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for a long time.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their "visit was inspiring".

"An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration- Mahatma Gandhi-," Netanyahu wrote in the book.

Earlier, the Israeli PM and his wife spent around 20 minutes in the ashram premises, where they visited 'Hriday Kunj', the home of Mahatma Gandhi.

The two dignitaries also tried their hands at the 'charkha', the hand spinning wheel which was emblematic of India's quest for self-reliance during the freedom struggle.

They also flew kites for a couple of minutes, as their visit comes just a few days after 'Uttarayana' (or Makar Sankranti), the Gujarat's popular kite festival.

Gandhi had spent a large part of his life in the Sabarmati Ashram after he returned to India from South Africa to lead India's non-violent freedom struggle.

He left the ashram in 1930 when he took out the Dandi March from here, with a vow not to return to the place till India got Independence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit on Thursday, when he will have breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu landed at the airport on Wednesday night for the Mumbai leg of his six-day India visit, a senior official told PTI.

He will have a 'power breakfast' with select business personalities, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj Hotel in South Mumbai. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources here said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu, after which the chief minister will host a lunch for the Israeli premier and his delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House during the 2008 attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai on Tuesday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj Hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities - Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj Hotel.
Three out of every four persons convicted of terrorism-related charges in the US over the past decade and a half were foreign-born, the Trump administration has said in a report to push for tough immigration laws.

The joint report - released by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security yesterday - does not give a country-wise breakup of these foreign-born individuals involved in terrorism related cases inside the US.

But the report lists out at least one India-born individual Khaleel Ahmed, who was sentenced in 2010 to more than eight years in prison for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

The report is as per the direction of President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in this regard last year.

Section 11 of his Executive Order 13780, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the US had directed a series of actions to enhance the security and safety of the American people. Trump has been seeking an end to diversity visa and chain migration and immigration based on merit.

According to the report, between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed approximately 1,716 aliens with national security concerns. Further, in 2017 alone DHS had 2,554 encounters with individuals on the terrorist watch list (also known as the FBIs Terrorist Screening Database) traveling to the US.

"This report reveals an indisputable sobering realityour immigration system has undermined our national security and public safety," said Attorney General Jefferson Sessions.

The information in this report is only the tip of the iceberg, he said.

"We currently have terrorism-related investigations against thousands of people in the United States, including hundreds of people who came here as refugees," he said.

Sessions said it is simply not reasonable to keep asking them to risk their lives to enforce the law while the US admit thousands every year without sufficient knowledge about their backgrounds.

"The pillars of President Trump's immigration policy



securing our porous borders, moving to a merit-based immigration system that ends the use of diversity visas and chain migration, and enforcing our nations laws will make their jobs easier and make the US a safer place," he said.

The report reveals that at least 549 individuals were convicted of international terrorism-related charges in US federal courts between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2016.

An analysis conducted by DHS determined that approximately 73 per cent (402 of these 549 individuals) were foreign-born.

Breaking down the 549 individuals by citizenship status at the time of their respective convictions reveals that 254 were not US citizens; 148 were foreign-born, naturalised and received US citizenship; and 147 were US citizens by birth.

Of those individuals, 335 were attempting to enter by land, 2,170 were attempting to enter by air, and 49 were attempting to enter by sea, the report said.

From October 1, 2011, to September 30, 2017, a total of 355,345 non-US citizen offenders, were administratively arrested after previously being convicted of an aggravated felony, it said.

During that same period, a total of 372,098 non-US citizen offenders were removed from the United States after conviction of an aggravated felony or two or more felonies.

Between fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2016, CBP identified and prevented the boarding of 73,261 foreign travelers on flights destined for the United States, who may have presented an immigration or security risk, the report said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the report is a clear reminder of why the US cannot continue to rely on immigration policy based on pre-9/11 thinking that leaves it woefully vulnerable to foreign-born terrorists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal has asked the Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India to explain the details about the tests carried out on diesel cars produced by German auto major Volkswagen.

A bench headed by acting Chairperson Justice U D Salvi summoned ARAI Director Rashmi Urdhwareshe to appear before it on February 2 and explain the technical aspects of the examination which was carried out on these vehicles in 2015.

"It appears from the report placed before us by ARAI that instructions to examine the said vehicles were given by the Ministry to ARAI along with the liberty to interact with Volkswagen India officers.

"To evaluate the worth of the said report of ARAI dated October 30, 2015, it is necessary to get certain inputs from the Director of ARAI, Pune. We therefore direct Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, ARAI to remain present before us on the next date with all the factual and technical inputs regarding the examination and testing carried out by ARAI," the bench, also comprising expert member Nagin Nanda, said.

The order came after the tribunal was informed that ARAI carried out tests at the instance of Ministry of Heavy Industries and examined 11 BS-IV compliant diesel vehicles of the German company under different conditions.

The automobile giant had earlier submitted a roadmap before the tribunal to recall over 3.23 lakh vehicles in the country fitted with a 'defeat device' meant to fudge emission tests.

A 'cheat' or 'defeat device' is a software in diesel engines to manipulate emission tests by changing the performance of the cars.

Volkswagen India had in December 2015 announced the recall of 3,23,700 lakh vehicles in India to fix the emission software after ARAI conducted tests on some models and found that their on-road emissions were 1.1 times to 2.6 times higher than the applicable BS-IV norms.

The automobile giant had admitted to the use of 'defeat device' in 11 million diesel engine cars sold in the US, Europe and other global markets that allowed manipulation of emissions tests by changing the performance of vehicles to improve results.

After the tests by ARAI, Volkswagen India had undertaken to rejig the software by recalling around 3.23 lakh vehicles fitted with EA 189 diesel engines which were in alleged violation of emission norms.

The company, however, had said that the recall in India was purely voluntary in nature as it did not face any charges regarding violating emission norms in India unlike in the US.

The counsel for the car manufacturer had told the NGT that ARAI, which is being consulted on the redesign of the software, had approved it for only 70 per cent of the 3.23 lakh vehicles.

ARAI, however, had said the Volkswagen had submitted redesigned software for only 70 per cent and was yet to do so for the remaining 30 per cent.

The tribunal was hearing pleas filed by a school teacher Saloni Ailawadi and a few others seeking ban on sale of its vehicles for alleged violation of emission norms.

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State-owned NHPC today said it has discussed with the Uttar Pradesh government the future prospects of mutual interest in the energy sector.

In a statement, the company said that NHPC CMD Balraj Joshi and company's Director Finance M K Mittal held a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar and state Principal Secretary (Energy) Alok Kumar in Lucknow on yesterday.

"In the meeting, future business prospects of mutual interest in the energy sector were discussed," the statement said.

NHPC was incorporated with an objective to plan, promote and organise an integrated and efficient development of hydroelectric power in all aspects.

Presently, NHPC is engaged in the construction of 5 projects aggregating to a total installed capacity of 4,290 MW, according to company's website.

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Set up as India's first sovereign wealth fund, NIIF today said it has raised plenty of capital and will be signing its first investment proposal in the next few days.

The government had set up the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in December 2016 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects. It was envisioned as a mother fund with several sectoral feeder funds.

"We have been at this for about a year and we are actually quite pleased that we had first closure of our fund. We have plenty of capital to invest and we are about to sign our first investment in next few days," NIIF CEO Sujoy Bose said.

He was speaking at the third edition of the geo-political conference, 'Raisina Dialogue' here.

The corpus of NIIF is proposed to be Rs 40,000 crore wherein the government will invest 49 per cent.

It will raise third party capital for the remaining Rs 20,000 crore from long-term international investors, such as a sovereign wealth funds, insurance and pension funds, and endowments.

Bose said that international investors usually look at macro economic parameters, stable political scenario and growth potential before making investment commitments.

He said investors feel that investments into private instruments are risky. NIIF investors can find comfort in the fact that the government is also investing in the same project.

"We believe that there is substantial investment going to come into India. Once you have a situation where there is familiarity from political standpoint, there is economics and market that companies from certain country are seeking, investment follows," Bose said.

He said bulk of funds would move into infrastructure investments into India over the next few decades and NIIF would play a role in channelising the investments.

Bose further said that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is a huge reform and would provide clarity to investors wishing to invest in India's infrastructure sector.

The corpus of the NIIF is proposed to be Rs 40,000 crore (USD 6 billion) wherein the government will invest 49 per cent.

It will raise third party capital for the remaining Rs 20,000 crore (USD 3 billion), from long-term international investors, such as a sovereign wealth funds, insurance and pension funds, and endowments.

In October 2017, Russia also agreed to pump in USD 500 million NIIF. In November 2017, India-UK sub-fund under NIIF will initially raise 500 million pound (about Rs 4,150 crore) and also seek to leverage private investments from London for funding infrastructure projects in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is backing up his plan to institute early voting in New York by including it in his budget proposal.

The governor's 2018-19 executive budget, which was released Tuesday, would allow early voting and same-day voter registration. Before same-day voter registration is adopted, a constitutional amendment is required.

It's the second time Cuomo's budget included the early voting proposal. Early voting was in the 2017-18 executive budget, but was not included in the final state budget agreement.

What Cuomo's executive budget lacks is funding for the adoption of early voting. According to budget documents, it would cost counties $6.4 million to implement early voting.

Counties have expressed concern in the past that early voting would be another unfunded mandate.

New York is one of 13 states that lacks some form of early voting. Cuomo's plan would change that be requiring counties to offer at least one early voting polling location for every 50,000 residents during a 12-day period before Election Day. The polling sites would be open at least eight hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends.

Cuomo's proposal would also permit same-day voter registration. New York's current laws require voter registration weeks or months before an election. This change would allow New Yorkers to register to vote on Election Day.

"At this time of citizen alienation and outrage, the best thing we can do is let people know that their voice is heard, that they matter and that they can and they should vote," Cuomo said in his State of the State address earlier this month. "And we should make voting easier, not harder, with same-day registration, no-fault absentee ballots and early voting."

There is strong support for early voting among voters, according to a new Siena College poll. The poll found 65 percent support the governor's proposal to allow early voting in New York.

But the proposal is subject to the state Legislature's approval. It should have no problem receiving support in the Democratic-led state Assembly, but state Senate Republicans have been skeptical of the plan in the past. One concern for the Senate GOP is the cost, especially if the state would mandate early voting without providing funding to the counties.

For advocates of early voting, Cuomo's decision to include it in his budget is an encouraging sign. The Let NY Vote Coalition, which has advocated for early voting and other voter reforms, praised the governor for funding early voting in his spending plan.

"This is a bipartisan no-brainer: New Yorkers should be able to exercise their basic democratic rights without necessary barriers," the coalition said in a statement. "We are looking forward to negotiating with the state Legislature to ensure early voting receives adequate funding."
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today inaugurated and laid foundation stones for more than 600 schemes worth over Rs 200 crore in the district during his state-wide "Vikas Samiksha Yatra".

The Chief Minister arrived here by air from Patna and drove straight to Udadih village under Sultanganj block where he visited the house of slain Indian Air Force commando Nilesh Nayan, who was killed in an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in October last year.

Later, Kumar addressed a public meeting where he said "this village has the distinction of being the place of birth of a martyr who laid down his life fighting for the country. It is a matter of pride".

The Chief Minister also flagged off 660 schemes worth Rs 223 crore and said his government was committed to bringing the fruits of development to every doorstep.

Kumar appealed to the people to wholeheartedly take part in the state-wide human chain on Sunday and send across a strong message against dowry and child marriage - social evils against which his government had launched a campaign on October 2 last.

Kumar lauded the role played by "Jeevika" self-help groups in empowering and promoting welfare of rural women and hoped that the SHGs would have "more than one crore members in the near future".

"We have always realized the power of women. It was at their request that we banned sale and consumption of liquor in the state. The radical step is yielding positive results. We have also created a post of Inspector General of Police (Prohibition) so that the crackdown on illicit liquor traders became more effective", Kumar said.

He also said "every household will get an electricity connection by the end of this year and every street will have pucca roads and drains in four years".

The Chief Minister was accompanied by state water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Rajya Sabha member Kehkeshan Parveen and Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh among others.

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Not a single restaurant or pub in south Delhi's Hauz Khas Village have taken a sanctioned building plan from the municipal authorities to run their businesses, the Delhi High Court has observed.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar made the observation after the south Delhi municipal corporation (SDMC) replied in the negative to a court query whether it had sanctioned a single building plan for an eatery or a pub in the area.

"Have you sanctioned even a single building plan for a restaurant," it had asked the SDMC and said, "not one (restaurant) has taken a sanctioned building plan".

The court also said the municipal corporation "does not apply its mind" on whether sufficient space and other facilities for the public are in place when it permits such establishments to come up.

The corporation in its defence said it was not the only one to be blamed for the situation and it was a collective failure of all authorities concerned.

The observations by the bench came during the hearing of arguments in the PILs filed by social activist Pankaj Sharma and advocate Anuja Kapur, who have also alleged that over 120 pubs and restaurants were running in the Hauz Khas Village without any approved building plans or no objection certificate (NOC) from the authorities including the fire department.

The arguments will continue on January 19.

The petitioners in their pleas have also alleged that the streets in the village were not wide enough for a fire tender to move easily in case of an emergency.

The court had earlier termed the Hauz Khas Village as "a ticking time bomb".

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Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran today said there was no immediate necessity for him to float a new political party and said he would move the court seeking permission to function as AIADMK (Amma).

He had already moved the Madras High Court challenging the validity of AIADMK general council meeting, which had annulled the appointment of his aunt V K Sasikala as party interim general secretary, and it was pending, Dhinakaran said.

Legal sanction would be sought for functioning as AIADMK (Amma) and a decision would be taken later, he told reporters at nearby Kothagiri here.

He was responding to questions about reports that he was planning to float a new party.

Following a revolt against jailed leader Sasikala by now deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam early last year, the Election Commission had in an interim order frozen the AIADMK two-leaves symbol.

It alloted AIADMK (Amma) name to the group led by Sasikala and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) to the erstwhile faction led by Panneerselvam.

In its final order last year, the EC had alloted the two-leaves symbol to the unified AIADMK led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, dealing a blow to the Sasikala faction.

Palaniswami led group, which had earlier rebelled against Sasikala, and Panneerselvam group merged in August last year.

Dhinakaran, who won the RK Nagar assembly byelection in December last as an independent, said he had many options, including floating a new party.

Claiming that Paneerselvam and Palaniswami were using the name AIADMK and Two leaves symbol only temporarily, he said there were four options, including starting a new party, before his consideration.

"In view of this, there is no immediate necessity to start a party and if we are barred to use the AIADMK (Amma) name, there is no no other way but to float a new party which will be to retrieve the AIADMK and symbol," he said.

Dhinakaran said his "sleeper cells" (in AIADMK) will come out during the test of strength in the assembly.

He had been claiming that several MLAs in the ruling camp were his supporters and would vote against the government when the occasion arose.

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A court in Kushingar today issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi in a 24-year-old case.

The court directed the police to attach Shahi's property for his failure to appear before it in a case filed against him in 1994.

Shahi has not appeared before the court since 2007.

The case against Shahi was filed under section 35 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at Kasya police station in 1994 based on a complaint lodged by Land Revenue Department employee Chandrika Singh.

The trial began in 2004 and Shahi, now MLA from Pathardeva assembly constituency in Deoria, appeared before the court till May 2007. In the past 11 years, however, he has not appeared for any hearing.

Hearing the case, additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Chandra Mohan Chaturvedi said the minister's non-appearance was a serious offence and ordered Kushinagar police to attach his property.

The minister was not immediately available for comment.

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A notorious criminal, wanted in connection with several cases of murder, extortion and abduction, was killed today in an encounter with UP police's special task force team, officials said.

Bagga Singh, who carried a bounty of Rs 50,000 over his head, was killed in the encounter with the STF team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Vishal Vikram Singh near Bairiya village here, police said.

Kheri SP S Channappa and STP ASP Singh said the encounter took place in the wee hours when Bagga Singh and an accomplice were going on his bike along the canal road near the Dulhi siphon and several rounds of fire were exchanged.

While Bagga Singh received bullet injuries, his aide managed to escape through the dense sugarcane fields.

A pistol, some ammunition and the bike were recovered from the encounter spot.

Bagga Singh was rushed to a health centre but was declared brought dead.

Channappa said police teams were combing the area to nab the absconding accomplice.

Bagga Singh had been operating in areas such as Nighasan, Dhaurahra, Lakhimpur, Tikonia and other police station areas since 2009. He was accused of carrying out killings, loot, extortion and abductions.

The Kheri police had nabbed him in 2013, but he escaped from police custody on his way to court. He had allegedly shot dead a police constable while fleeing.

Since then, Bagga Singh had been evading arrest. The Kheri police had killed his close aide Sachin Gupta in an encounter in 2015.

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Over eight lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at thecave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayasin the last three years, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was informed today.

In a written reply to a question raised by National Conference MLA MianAltaf Ahmad, Health Minister Bali Bhagat said while the highestnumber of 3,52,771 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2015, the number fell to 2,20,490 in 2016, the year which witnessed unrest in the valley followingkilling of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

However, he said the number rose to 2,60,003 last year.

Last year in July, a terror attack on a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims in Anantnag district of south Kashmir left seven pilgrims dead and 15 others injured.

The nearly two month annual pilgrimage usually starts in the last week of June from the twin routes of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.

While Pahalgam is the traditional 45-km route to the cave shrine, majority of the pilgrims prefer the shortest 16- km route from Baltal to pay their obeisance at the shrine, which houses the naturally formed ice-lingam.

The minister said the pilgrims are being provided adequate medical facilities at various places en route the shrine.

Large number of pilgrims availed medical facilities, he said adding while 1,97,000 were treated in OPDs in Kashmir last year, the number stood at 1,24,000 in 2016 and 1,74,000 in 2015.

In Jammu, 89,823 pilgrims were treated in various district health facilities last year against 89,311 in the previous year, he said.

He said 16,984 availed the facility of in-patient department in Kashmir valley last year, while the number of such patients was 8,651 in 2016 and 14,686 in 2015.

A total of 8,125 pilgrims had suffered injuries during the pilgrimage last year against 6,348 in 2016 and 12,528 in 2015, the minister said.

A huge number of pilgrims also availed the AYUSH facility made available by the government at various camps en route the shrine, the minister said.

He said while 23,161 pilgrims attended AYUSH camps last year, the number was 49,640 in 2016.

The minister said the department has over the years vigorously propagated the need for pilgrims to visit medical facilities while travelling in this high altitude area.

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The Supreme Court today agreed to hear tomorrow a plea of the producers of the controversial Deepika Padukone-starrer movie 'Padmaavat' opposing the ban imposed on its screening by various state governments.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of the counsel of Viacom 18 and other producers of the film that the plea be heard urgently as the movie was set for all- India release on January 25.

Governments of Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have declared that they will not allow screening of the movie, which also stars Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in lead roles.

The Haryana government, at a recent cabinet meeting, decided to ban the movie in the state.

The producers moved the top court through senior lawyer Harish Salve and advocate Mahesh Agarwal and submitted, in a petition, that the movie has undergone changes including in its title as suggested by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Asserting that the film has been cleared by the CBFC, the plea said the states cannot impose a blanket ban on a film and its screening can be suspended in a particular area or areas on account of law and order problem, not across the states.

Earlier on two occasions, the apex court had thwarted attempts to stall release of the film, saying it cannot pre-judge a movie before the authorised body CBFC takes a decision.

The top court had on November 28 expressed unhappiness over remarks made by politicians over the movie and asked them to desist from reacting as they could prejudice censor board's decision.

"When a matter is pending for consideration before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), how can persons in public authority comment on whether the CBFC should issue certificate or not? It will prejudice the decision of CBFC," the bench had then said.

Politicians of all hues, including some chief ministers, recently made public statements on the film, with many of them being against it.

The film is based on the saga of the historic battle of 13th century between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi.

The set of the movie was vandalised twice -- in Jaipur and Kolhapur, while its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was roughed up by members of Karni Sena earlier last year.

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Pakistan's top court today sought details of all serving judges and senior government servants having dual nationalities.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo moto notice of reports that thousands of senior officials and some judges were having nationalities of western countries.

The chief justice issued orders to registrars of all five high courts and secretary Establishment Division, which is administrative head of civil servants, to provide names of dual nationals, a court official said.

The court had already banned dual nationals from contesting elections in the country.

Officials said that exact number of dual nationals serving in high positions was not known but the number run into thousands.

Presently, there is no legal bar on dual nationals on joining civil service or judiciary under The Citizen Act of 1951 or civil service rules.

But concerns have been expressed quite often about the integrity of dual nationals who may come in contact with sensitive information while being in service.

It is not clear what action the chief justice would take against dual nationals.

In the past, at least two prime ministers of Pakistan were dual nationals.

Moin Qureshi was caretaker prime minister from July to October in 1993 while Shaukat Aziz served as premier from 2004 to 2007 under military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

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Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today said he will take part in a pre-union budget meet to be held in New Delhi tomorrow.

Panneerselvam said he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, if needed, during his Delhi visit.

He said the Centre has already been urged to constitute the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority.

Speaking to reporters here, Panneerselvam said he would reiterate the state's plea if he met the Prime Minister tomorrow.

To a question, he said a newspaper for the party would be launched soon.

He later left for Delhi by an evening flight.

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Rana Inder Partap Singh, son of Punjab cabinet minister Rana Gurjit Singh, who had tendered his resignation, today appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in Jalandhar in connection with a case of alleged violations in raising funds abroad by one of his companies.

The ED, this month, had issued summons to Inder Partap Singh, who is MD of Rana Sugars Limited, for allegedly raising Rs 81 crore abroad by floating global depository receipts for one of the family-owned companies without the mandatory permission of the Reserve Bank of India.

"I have submitted the required information including company's balance sheet to the ED officials," Inder Pratap Singh said over phone today.

Inder Pratap Singh, who was grilled for about five hours, denied committing any wrongdoing and said that he would fully cooperate with the ED.

"We have also submitted information pertaining to the utilisation of money raised abroad in 2006," Inder Pratap Singh said, adding the money so raised was utilised in the sugar mill located in Uttar Pradesh.

To a question, he claimed that there was no requirement for the RBI permission for raising money through global depositary receipt (GDR) as it was done under automatic route.

Notably, Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh had submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who was yet to act on it.

Rana Gurjit had yesterday said that he resigned on moral grounds as the opposition had been trying to corner the chief minister by making false allegations against him (Rana) and was demanding his resignation.

The opposition, particularly Leader of the Opposition and AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, had been demanding Rana Gurjit Singh's resignation for his alleged involvement in sand mining auctions and ED summons to his son.

"The opposition again made a hue and cry that the ED has issued summons. They issued such notices several times and the reply will again be given this time also," the minister had said yesterday, denying any violation of any norm.

Rana Gurjit Singh, whose family has business interests in sugar, power and distillery, had also said that he had not been handling family businesses since 2000.

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To close a $4.4 billion budget deficit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a series of "revenue raisers" in his 2018-19 budget address Tuesday.

Translation: He wants to create new taxes and fees that could help raise close to $1 billion in the next fiscal year.

Democrats are open to the plan. Republicans, however, believe it's the wrong approach to close the budget gap by raising taxes and fees.

One way Cuomo wants to boost the state's revenue is through merging or selling state-funded, not-for-profit health care companies to for-profit corporations. In his budget presentation, Cuomo said this would help raise $750 million. The budget briefing book says it would raise $500 million annually over a four-year period.

The executive budget also proposes a health insurance windfall profit fee that would be paid for by health insurance companies. The federal tax plan adopted in December cuts the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent. This will benefit many businesses, including health insurance companies.

"They weren't expecting it," Cuomo said. "The health care costs wind up getting shifted to us. I think it's totally justifiable to have a tax to recoup part of their windfall benefit."

The fee would amount to a 14 percent surcharge on health insurer gains. It will raise an estimated $140 million for the state.

Cuomo also proposed deferring business tax credits for three years. The deferrals would apply to companies receiving at least $2 million in credits annually. This would generate $300 million in revenue for state.

An opioid surcharge was included in Cuomo's executive budget. The fee of 2 cents per milligram of active opioid ingredients in prescription drugs would be paid for by the manufacturers. It is expected to raise $170 million for state. The revenue would be used to support the state's new Opioid Prevention and Rehabilitation Fund. The fund will support prevention and treatment initiatives.

Other notable taxes and fees in the governor's budget plan:

 An excise tax of 10 cents per fluid milliliter on vapor products that would be paid for by distributors.

 A new $120 vehicle safety inspection fee that would apply to for-hire and for-profit passenger carriers, such as buses, large passenger vans and limousines. School buses and public transit buses would be exempt from the fee.

 The internet conformity tax requiring Amazon, eBay and other online marketplaces to collect sales taxes on third-party sales to New York residents. The state's existing law requires online marketplaces to collect the tax on sales to New York residents if the seller is based in New York. The new tax would apply to vendors outside of New York that sell products to state residents.

 The governor's budget also includes a pilot pre-licensing course for new drivers. Participants would be charged an $8 fee.
It is good for photographers, both amateur and professional, for they can now contribute towards documenting India's diverse cultural heritage and traditions.

Sahapedia, an online encyclopedic resource on South Asian art and culture has instituted a photography grant for photographers willing to work with the organization to create a rich, high-quality repository of images, that will populate Sahapedia Frames.

The website, dedicated to photo essays, currently hosts over half a dozen excellent works ranging from glimpses of life in Jammu and Kashmir's Lolab valley, to an exploration of the domes of Delhi, and a study of Manipuri Ponies and the origins of Polo.

The Sahapedia Frames Photography Grant, sponsored by IndusInd Bank will be awarded to 25 photographers selected by a panel led by noted lensman Dinesh Khanna.

It includes a cash reward of Rs 20,000 and limited reimbursement of travel expenses.

Participating photographers are required to identify themes of cultural and creative relevance to India and South Asia that they would like to document through images, and can also fit into Sahapedia's areas of work.

They must submit a 300-500 word concept note outlining their proposed theme, a copy of their resume and a portfolio of their existing or published work.

"We think of this grant as an exciting focused opportunity for photographers to explore the cultural landscape of India. Storytelling is such an important part of life, and we would like to encourage people to narrate stories through their photo essays," Neha Paliwal, Director, Projects, said.

"We want to encourage people to do this through photography because photographs contain the humanity of the moment, as Ansel Adams once said," she added.

The organisation will be accepting applications till February 18, and will notify the selected candidates within a month's time.

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Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani today said he, along with other like-minded people, was planning to launch a nationwide alliance for the upliftment of Dalits.

Speaking to reporters after visiting Manda Krishna Madiga, a Dalit leader who is currently lodged in a prison here, Mevani also demanded that every Dalit be given five acres of land.

Madiga, founder of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi, was arrested recently during a protest for Scheduled Caste categorisation.

Mevani said, "In the coming days, I, along with Krishna Madiga and other Dalit, progressive, like-minded groups, want to launch a broad alliance for the upliftment of Dalits."



Calling land a major issue, Mevani said that 70 out of 100 Dalits are landless and said that every Dalit should be given five acres of land.

The newly-elected Gujarat MLA termed the death of University of Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula as "an institutional murder" and said that Vemula, had he been alive, would have joined him to meet Madiga.

Vemula had committed suicide in a hostel room on the varsity campus on January 16, 2016.

Mevani appealed to the Telangana government to release Madiga and termed his arrest as the curtailing of a person's fundamental rights.

"I appeal to the state government ( Telangana) and police to release him immediately. He is struggling for the fundamental rights of his community. Individual liberty should not be curtailed this way," he said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting carries great significance as he will spread the word about India's progress globally, thereby increasing investments into the country, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said today.

The minister said Modi will throw a grand reception and hold a separate meeting with select CEOs, adding that "everybody is keen to meet our Prime Minister".

On measures being taken to draw investors, the commerce and industry minister said a panel has been appointed, chaired by the Secretary, DIPP, to ensure there is minimum regulation with a view to attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) and spur domestic investments.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Switzerland on January 22 for a two-day visit during which he will deliver the keynote address at the plenary session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

This will be the first participation by an Indian prime minister in the WEF in over two decades. In 1997, the then prime minister H D Deve Gowda had attended the Davos summit.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to Davos to spread awareness on India's progress worldwide and to increase investments into the country. New companies will come thereby increasing employment opportunities here. The farmers' income will rise if new agricultural technological knowhow comes.

"If fresh investments come to the services and manufacturing sectors that will also benefit the countrymen, especially the working class," Prabhu told reporters here.

According to the minister, the atmosphere in Davos is "very good" and several requests have been received from various industries and CEOs from different nations to meet the Prime Minister.

"The PM is throwing a big reception where everyone will meet him. He will also hold a meeting with select CEOs.

"I feel that after (the PM) telling them about various schemes in India, the investment opportunities in the country will increase further, therefore the Prime Minister going there (to Davos) is really significant," Prabhu said.

He pointed out that for the first time, six ministers are also going to Davos, besides officials from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and a strong delegation comprising Indian industrialists.

"For India to progress, investments are needed. People in the country should also invest, for that various measures are being taken.

"I have appointed a committee chaired by the DIPP Secretary to ensure there is minimum regulation, so that by doing away with regulation investment increases. Therefore, measures are being taken not only to increase domestic investment but also to attract more (FDI) as it opens fresh avenues for India's progress," he said.

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A group of prisoners today attacked jail staff and set fire to some furniture inside the prison premises in West Bengal's Hooghly district, police said.

Some prisoners led by Nepu Giri first started abusing the prison staff of Hooghly jail and then attacked them in which one jail staff was injured, they said.

They prisoners also set fire to furniture in the Hooghly jail, the police said.

A police team led by Commissioner of Chandennagarore Police Commissionerate, Ajay Kumar rushed to the Hooghly jail and brought the situation under control, the sources added.

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The Jammu and Kashmir government today said that the process of acquisition of land for the establishment of Border Out Post (BoPs) and bund along the Indo-Pak border was underway.

In a written reply to a question of BJP's Ramesh Arora, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told the Legislative Council that an amount of Rs 33.50 crore have been received from the Centre for disbursement as compensation.

Out of Rs 29.84 crore received as compensation, Rs 4.32 crore have been disbursed among those from whose land have been acquired for the construction of 135 feet-wide composite bund along the Indo-Pak border, she said.

Similarly, out of Rs 3.66 crore received, Rs 2.13 crore have been disbursed among those from whose land was acquired for the establishment of the BoPs.

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There was trouble in three prominent private hospitals in the city today over the death of three patients, including a child, as their families demonstrated blaming them for medical negligence.

Police said the family members of a two-year-old girl demonstrated at the Mukundapur unit of a private hospital following her death this morning alleging maltreatment and negligence and demanding action against those responsible.

They also had a heated exchange with the hospital CEO and the paediatric unit head.

The child had been admitted with acute respiratory distress with cough and hoarseness and high fever, Jadavpur police, to whom the family complained, said.

"She was admitted to the paediatric ward of the hospital on Monday and her condition improved this morning. But she was injected some medicine following which her condition deteriorated. We were told that she needed oxygen but no oxygen cylinder was provided following which our baby died," a family member of the girl said.

Countering the charges, an AMRI, Mukundapur, spokesperson said that proper treatment had been undertaken and there was no medical negligence on the part of the hospital. "We demand an autopsy of the deceased to examine the exact cause of death or any latent congenital defect which was not mentioned by the patient party at the time of admission."



The hospital also lodged a complaint with the police alleging physical harassment of paediatric unit head who is a woman and attempted vandalism of the hospital premises by the child's family members.

There was agitation at another private hospital in the city following the death of a middle aged man who had been taken to it with respiratory complaints and was not allowed admission.

The man's family alleging medical negligence said they had reached the hospital with the patient in an ambulance around 6.45 am but he was left waiting unattended despite repeated requests to the hospital authorities for admission.

"No doctor came to see the patient. And when one doctor came at around 8 am he was declared dead. Who will be held responsible for his death ? We want justice," a relative said.

The man's relatives lodged a complaint with Phoolbagan police station.

A spokesperson of Apollo Gleneagles denied the allegations and said that doctors attended the patient but "the examination of pulse showed no heart beat and no lung sound was audible".

"Accordingly, at 8.12 am the patient was declared dead due to sudden cardio respiratory arrest," he said.

The spokesperson said the hospital was experiencing very heavy emergency load since yesterday and it was immediately communicated to the patient's relatives that no beds were available and the emergency was full with all the doctors being extremely busy.

In the third incident family members of a road accident victim put up road blockade in Alipore area of the city alleging medical negligence by a private hospital in which he died and demanding investigation.

The man died last night at the hospital, where he was under treatment since Monday.

His family members alleged that the hospital authorities had not mentioned the cause of his death in any document issued by it.

"How can the hospital authorities be so casual despite the chief minister's instructions to be a bit sensitive. "We want a probe against the hospital authority's negligent attitude," a kin of the dead man said.

No statement was given by the hsopital.

The West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Act, 2017 was passed last year to bring in transparency, end patients' harassment and medical negligence and regulate functioning of private hospitals and nursing homes.

The Act provides for up to three years of imprisonment and trials under the IPC for offenders and fines up to Rs 50 lakh in case of death of patients because of medical negligence.

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A large number of people from different sub-sects of Hindu religion today staged a protest demonstration here demanding unconditional apology from lyricist Vairamuthu for his alleged controversial remarks against Goddess Andal.

The protesters, including Vaishnavites, devotees of Lord Vishnu and members of Brahmin Association, gathered near South Taluk office here and raised slogans against Vairamuthu and sought his unconditional apology for his alleged remarks against the Goddess.

Meanwhile, another group of persons, including women, owing allegiance to Hindu Makkal Katchi also joined demonstrators and sang stanzas of 'Thiruppaavai' written by Andal.

Hindu Makkal Katchi president, Arjun Sampath said that Vairauthu should apologise for his denigrating remarks against Andal, who is held in high esteem across the state.

Andal, the only woman among the 12 revered Vaishnavite saints hailed as 'Alwars' in Tamil, is also venerated as a Goddess and a gifted poet in view of her classic Tamil work 'Thiruppavai,' in praise of Lord Krishna.

According to spiritual texts, she lived in the eighth century AD in Srivilliputhur.

Thiruppavai is a celebrated work in spiritual Tamil literature and is also part of the Vaishnavite "Divya Prabhantham (a collection of verses respected as sacred and in praise of Lord Narayana)



In his address at a literary event at Rajapalayam in Tamil Nadu, Vairamuthu recently spoke about Andal and it was also published in a Tamil daily.

It led to outrage among devotees, who alleged that the lyricist had offended the Goddess and them conversely by making inappropriate and objectionable references to her.

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Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy paid floral tributes to former Chief Minister of neighbouring Tamil Nadu, M G Ramachandran on his 101st birth anniversary today.

Welfare Minister M Kandasamy and functionaries of different wings of ruling Congress were also present.

AIADMK Legislature wing leader A Anbalagan led his party men to pay homage at the statue of the party's founder on the premises of the party headquarters in Uppalam.

Scores of volunteers of AIADMK came in a procession to garland the statue of MGR in the vicinity of municipal bus terminal here.

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Security agencies today conducted a mock drill at a Delhi Metro station in the national capital region as part of counter-terror preparations in view of the forthcoming Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

The drill was organised by the CISF, which is tasked with the security of the Delhi Metro, at Vaishali station in Ghaziabad near here.

A terrorist attack-like situation was simulated at the station and multiple agencies such as the CISF, the National Security Guard, Delhi Metro, the National Disaster Response Force, civil defence, Uttar Pradesh Polices' anti-terror squad and fire department participated, a senior security official said.

Bomb disposal teams, dog squads, traffic police and medical reinforcements were part of the drill, he said.

A total of 167 personnel were involved in the mock drill conducted to check the preparedness of the security agencies, who protect vital public spaces, in the run up to the Republic Day celebrations, he said.

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Amid hype over their political entry, the Tamil film industry's top two actors, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, today shared the dais at a function here with the former saying only time will tell whether he will forge an alliance with the latter.

Asked about forging ties with Haasan, who is set to embark on a political tour next month, Rajinikanth said, "only time will be able to tell that. Let us see in due course of time."



The veteran actors were at a function where the pooja for the film 'Kizhakku Africavil Raju' (Raju in East Africa) was being conducted.

The movie is being planned as a sequel "in motion capture technology" to AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran starrer, the 1973 superhit 'Ulagam Sutrum Valiban,' film industry sources said.

Rajinikanth, who had announced on December 31 that he would form his party before the next state assembly polls, snapped the clapboard and Haasan inaugurated the shoot.

The sequel to the movie could not be done at that time as MGR got fully engaged in politics.

Asked what would be his stand in case state assembly polls were held in six months, Rajinikanth told reporters: "I will face it definitely."



He extended his greetings to Haasan on announcing his political entry.

To a question if parties in the state followed the principles of late AIADMK founder and former chief minister M G Ramachandran, he said "yes definitely, to some extent."



State Ministers C Vijayabaskar and Kadambur C Raju, were present at the function.

Rajinikanth and Haasan had shared the dais in Malaysia earlier this month for a fund-raising event held by the 'Nadigar Sangam' here, known officially as the South Indian Film Artistes Association.

Haasan has said he will announce his political party's name on February 21 at Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram and begin a state-wide tour the same day.

"At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by," Haasan said in a statement yesterday.

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Rajput community members today held protest in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's controversial film 'Padmaavat', demanding a complete ban on its release.

The Rajputs, along with other community members, staged a sit-in protest near Rithola crossing on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway by blocking it for nearly half-an-hour, police said.

Traffic had to be diverted due to long snarls of vehicles on the highway, they said.

However, no untoward incident was reported due to the security steps taken by the police administration as a precautionary measure to deal with the protesters, the police said.

The highway resumed to normal after protesters discussed their future course of action on the 'Padmaavat' release issue, they said.

In a social media post, patron of Shree Rajput Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi gave a call to gather in masses on January 21 in Samrau in Jodhpur to show solidarity of the community.

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

Decision on banning the movie by Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana governments has failed to pacify the anger of certain communities, including the Rajputs.

Featuring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji, the film was given a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) recently.

Last month, during the certification process of the film, Bhansali appeared before a parliamentary panel where he said that the film is an adaptation of Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi's "Padmavat".

The film, slated to be released on January 25, was given the go-ahead by the CBFC, which asked the makers to change the title from 'Padmavati' to 'Padmaavat' and suggested some other modifications.

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The opposition Congress today demanded the dismissal of the M L Khattar government in Haryana, alleging a complete breakdown of law and order in the state after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and murdered in separate incidents.

A Congress delegation, led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a memorandum to the Governor today and sought the imposition of President's Rule in the state.

Alleging that lawlessness prevails in the state and there was a complete breakdown of the law and order machinery, the Congress urged the Governor to recommend to the Centre to dismiss the Khattar government.

Besides Hooda and most of the party legislators from the state, the delegation comprised senior leaders Selja, state CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and Mahila Congress's national president Sushmita Dev.

The Congress leaders expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of rape-and-murder and "rising crime graph" in the state.

A 15-year-old girl's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday from her village in Kurukshetra district.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

In a separate incident, an 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

After meeting the Governor, Dev said they also demanded job for the next of kin of the victims.

She said the 15-year-old girl's family has demanded a CBI probe into the case.

On the allegations of the 15-year-old girl's family that local police in Kurukshetra delayed action on their complaint, Dev said, "The Governor assured us that he will definitely take it up with the chief minister. He also assured us that he will seek a report from the chief minister on why such incidents were taking place."



In the memorandum, the Congress alleged that the citizens are feeling insecure.

"Law and order has collapsed in the state and criminals have neither fear of government nor law. This government is directionless and has failed to ensure safety and security of its citizens. A progressive state is fast turning into crime hub," according to the memorandum.

It further said, "..many gangsters from UP are now turning to Haryana considering it as safe zone."



The Congress delegation also cited figures to back their claim that crime graph has gone up in Haryana during the past three years.

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that on an average, a rape and a murder happen in Haryana every eight hours.

"I think it is time that crime prevention and crime control is taken seriously by the chief minister, who is also the Home Minister of the state," he said.

"It is an issue about the safety of the girl child and women. People in Delhi are as much affected by the growing crime incidents in Haryana as anywhere else, so I think Government of India should also take stock of this deteriorating situation and call the chief minister and reprimand him, if necessary," Surjewala said.

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

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Amid outrage over the alleged rape and killing of two minor Dalit girls in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today assured that strict action would be taken against those involved in such crimes.

Khattar also said that Haryana is in the process of establishing special courts for speedy trial in such cases to ensure timely justice to the victims.

"Such incidents are very unfortunate and I am myself deeply hurt. We will take strict action against all those involved (in committing such crimes)," he told reporters here during a visit.

His remarks came after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana, barely a month after a similar case involving a six-year-old girl shook the state.

One of the girls, a 15-year-old school student, had been brutally assaulted and her private parts mutilated.

Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector General-level officers have also been transferred.

Appealing to opposition parties, Khattar said he himself has never done politics over such incidents and the opposition also should refrain from politicising such sensitive issues.

"The state has already started a Dial 100 project. Soon we will also begin 1090 service, a dedicate helpline service for women," he said.

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

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South Korea's trade deficit in kimchi, its proud traditional side dish of fermented cabbage, reached an all-time high last year as low-priced Chinese imports flooded the market, statistics showed today.

The spicy foodstuff is emblematic of Korean cuisine and accompanies almost every meal served in the country, whatever its culinary origins, with kimchi-making still an important annual ritual for many families.

But the commercial market has been deluged by Chinese producers in recent years, resulting in what has been dubbed the "kimchi deficit".

South Korea imported more than 275,000 tonnes of kimchi last year, 99 percent of it from China, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said, and exported just over 24,000 tonnes.

The deficit stood at $47.3 million by value, up 11 percent year-on-year and the largest since the KCS began tracking the data in 2000.

Price is a major factor in the trade, with imports costing just $0.50 per kilogram in 2016 according to Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., while exports -- primarily destined for Japan -- averaged $3.36 per kilogram.

According to South Korea's World Institute of Kimchi, 89.9 per cent of the kimchi purchased by South Korean restaurants in 2016 was imported from China.

The kimchi trade first went into deficit in 2006, triggering soul-searching and a headline-grabbing scandal.

UNESCO inscribed South Korean kimchi on its intangible cultural heritage list in 2013, saying: "It forms an essential part of Korean meals, transcending class and regional differences.

Kimchi-making "reaffirms Korean identity and is an excellent opportunity for strengthening family cooperation", it added, and a reminder that human communities need to live in harmony with nature.

There are regional differences in the product, UNESCO added, and the specific methods and ingredients are considered an important family heritage, typically transmitted from a mother-in-law to her newly married daughter-in-law.

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Price Waterhouse today moved the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) challenging Sebi's order against the audit major and its network entities in the multi-crore Satyam scam.

After finding the audit major guilty in the Satyam fraud, the markets regulator last week barred Price Waterhouse's network entities from issuing audit certificates to any listed company in India for two years.

A Price Waterhouse confirmed that it has moved the tribunal against the Sebi order.

In a detailed order, dated January 10, Sebi also directed disgorgement of over Rs 13 crore wrongful gains by the audit major and its two erstwhile partners who worked on the IT company's accounts.

On January 11, Price Waterhouse said there has been no intentional wrongdoing by its firms in the Satyam case and expressed confidence of getting a stay on the Sebi order.

Sebi has imposed a two-year ban on entities/ firms practising as chartered accountants in India under the brand and banner of PW from directly or indirectly issuing any certificate of audit of listed companies, compliance of obligations of listed companies and intermediaries registered with the regulator.

According to the regulator, the order would not impact audit assignments relating to the financial year 2017-18 undertaken by the firms forming part of the PW network.

Further, the two erstwhile partners -- S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri -- were restrained from directly or indirectly issuing any certificate of audit of listed companies, compliance of obligations of listed companies and intermediaries registered with Sebi for three years.

The scam came to light in January 2009 after Satyam Computer's then chairman B Ramalinga Raju admitted to large scale financial manipulations in the company's books of accounts.

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A key witness in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case today told a sessions court here that he had seen senior police officer Praful Bhosale, now retired, and another officer assaulting Yunus in police lock-up.

Four police officials - Sachin Waze, Rajendra Tiwari, Rajaram Nikam and Sunil Desai - are facing trial on the charges of murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession, fabricating evidence and criminal conspiracy in the case.

Twenty-seven-year-old Yunus was allegedly detained soon after the December 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case.

While the police claimed that he escaped when he was being taken to Aurangabad for questioning, a CID inquiry ordered by the high court on a petition filed by his father revealed that he had died in police custody.

The inquiry had indicted 14 policemen, but the government sanctioned prosecution for only four, who are on trial.

Trial in the case began in May last year.

The court today recorded the evidence of the prosecution's prime witness Mohammed Abdul Mateen.

Mateen told the court that he was detained by the city police for his alleged involvement in the 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case along with Yunus and one other.

"Yunus was kept in a lock-up and I was made to sit near the passage way. I heard Yunus screaming and crying and I could hear him being hit with a belt," Mateen said in his evidence.

He added that when he was taken inside the lock up later, he saw two police officers sitting near Yunus, whose hands were tied and was stripped to his underwear.

"I know the police officers, who assaulted Khwaja Yunus. They are - Praful Bhosale and Hemant Desai. They assaulted Yunus on his chest and abdomen," Mateen said in his deposition today.

He told the court that he came to know the names of these officers when they used to come to court earlier during his trial.

Bhosale was the senior inspector of Ghatkopar police at that time and was also indicted by the CID in its inquiry. The government had refused permission to prosecute him.

The court will continue recording Mateen's evidence on February 12.

While Mateen was accused in the Ghatkopar blast case, a special court acquitted him in 2005.

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The Supreme Court today said it would examine whether the courts can scrutinise the decision of the Lok Sabha Speaker to specify a Bill as a Money Bill, as was done in the passage of the 2016 Aadhaar Act.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing a clutch of pleas challenging the validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling law, however, said there was a Supreme Court judgement which said the Speaker's decision on terming a Bill as a money bill cannot be questioned in a court of law.

"Once the speaker says that a Bill is a money Bill, then the courts should not question," the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said while referring to the 2014 judgement.

Senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for his party colleague Jairam Ramesh, said though objections were raised on the Aadhaar bill in the Rajya Sabha, nothing could be done as it was held as money bill by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The senior lawyer was responding to a query raised by the bench in the hearing of main Aadhaar case as to whether a parliamentary panel was formed to examine the Aadhaar Bill.

He said that members cannot question the decision of the speaker outside the house, but the courts are empowered to examine the validity of the decision.

The apex court, on December 15 last year, had sought a response from the Centre on the plea of Jairam Ramesh challenging the government's decision to treat Aadhaar bill as a money bill and pass it in the budget session last year after rejecting amendments to it by the Rajya Sabha.

After issuing notice to the Centre, the top court had tagged the plea with the clutch of petitions against the Aadhaar scheme itself for hearing today by the constitution bench.

Prior to this, it had said that it was "tentatively not convinced" about the grounds cited by the Congress leader to challenge Lok Sabha Speaker's decision to certify a bill to amend Aadhaar law as a money bill.

The observation had come after the government had contended that it fulfilled the criteria for certification as money bill as funds for welfare schemes for which the biometric identification number (Aadhaar) was necessary has to be drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India.

The Centre took the stand that the decision of the Speaker cannot be brought under judicial scrutiny.

The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 11 last year.

It was then taken up in Rajya Sabha on March 16, where several amendments were made to it. The bill was then returned the same evening to Lok Sabha which rejected all the amendments proposed by the Upper House and passed it.

A money bill contains provisions for various taxes and appropriation of funds and can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha cannot make amendments to such bills after passage by the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha can suggest amendments but it depends on the Lok Sabha to accept or reject them.

The NDA government chose to categorise the bill as a money bill as it lacked a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

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The Madhya Pradesh Transport Department has proposed that arranging transportation facility for students should be one of the conditions for opening a school.

School bus operations in the state had come under the scanner after an accident in Indore on January 5 in which four students of Delhi Public School (DPS) were killed.

"We have sent a proposal to the School Department asking it to include school bus operations or the transportation of students in the conditions laid down for opening a school. At present, school buses come under the purview of the Transport Department," Minister for Home and Transport Bhupendra Singh told reporters here today.

Singh added, "We will not compromise with the safety of children. In some states, ten year old buses are allowed to be operated as school buses while in Madhya Pradesh, buses that are up to 15 years old are allowed as school buses."



In another development, an association of school bus drivers today announced that their strike here, which started yesterday, had been called off.

Shiv Kumar Soni, president of the MP School Bus Vahan Sewa Samiti, an organisation of school bus drivers, said bus operators would join work from tomorrow adding that the state government had accepted their demands.

One of the demands was that buses employed for transporting students should not be fined when the transport department checks them, he said.

The strike was called yesterday after a drive was started by the administration against school buses that were not following mandatory state government guidelines.

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A Scottish university today announced an agreement with the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) to collaborate on a new satellite city in West Bengal.

The agreement will see academics from the Institute for Future Cities (IFC) at University of Strathclyde work with officials at the NKDA on research and the sustainable development of the smart city dubbed New Town Kolkata.

"India will be the world's second-largest source of urban growth in the next 30 years with hundreds of millions more Indians moving to cities. We need to ensure the cities of the future are sustainable both economically and environmentally and are good places to live," said Richard Bellingham, director of IFC.

"New Town Kolkata is a major initiative which is a good match for the skills at the University of Strathclyde, which places an emphasis on 'useful learning'. We want to make a difference; this is the kind of collaboration where our research and expertise can be put into practice in the real world," he added.

New Town is a rapidly-expanding planned residential and information technology hub to the north-east of Kolkata, covering 11 square miles with a current population of 30,000.

Its leaders have a strong interest in deploying and testing innovative solutions that work in a Kolkata context, the university noted.

The Strathclyde researchers will share expertise, data and identify issues for joint action, with a focus on key issues for Kolkata including sustainable energy, reducing pollution, increasing resilience and optimising transport systems.

The agreement, signed by Bellingham, was exchanged with Debashi Sen, Additional Chief Secretary, IT, West Bengal, by Bruce Bucknell, the British Deputy High Commissioner.

Sen noted: "New Town is already approved as one of the 100 smart cities of India. It is also an IT and Educational Hub. It aspires to be a future-ready, green and happy city. The collaboration with the Institute of Future Cities will help New Town to move in that direction at an accelerating pace."



The pact follows a business delegation led byWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeto Scotland in November.

University of Strathclyde said its agreement with NKDA follows two separate collaboration agreements signed between Strathclyde and Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and The Energy Research Institute (TERI), Delhi.

The Institute for Future Cities at the University of Strathclyde brings together governments, businesses, academics and citizens to imagine and engage with the future of our cities, and explore how to make cities more successful, healthier, safer and more sustainable for us all.

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India will buy Israel's Spike anti-tank guided missiles, Israeli media today quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying, weeks after New Delhi scrapped the USD 500 million lucrative defence deal.

The deal was cancelled a few weeks ahead of Netanyahu's visit to India and its renewal is considered to be a "major strategic achievement", the Jerusalem Post reported.

"India will buy Israel's anti-tank spike missiles," the paper quoted Prime Minister Netanyahu as saying after spending the day with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Netanyahu, who is on a six-day visit to India, said the final details and scope of the deal are still in the process of being worked out, the paper said.

Another leading Israeli daily 'Haaretz' reported that the deal is "back on the table".

Quoting Israel's National Security Adviser Meir Ben- Shabbat, the paper said that current talks are trending in a positive direction, and more details will be disclosed later.

The Israeli arms firm, Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd, had earlier this month confirmed that India cancelled the deal and expressed "regret" over the decision.

As per the original proposal, India had planned to acquire the ATGMs for the Army at a cost of USD 500 million.

The Indian defence ministry has been strongly pushing for transfer of technology in procuring various weapons and other platforms from foreign defence majors as part of its broad policy initiative to encourage domestic defence industry.

Official sources in New Delhi had earlier indicated that the proposal to acquire the missile system faced hurdles when Israeli side apparently expressed reservations in ensuring full transfer of technology as per the provisions of the 'Make in India' initiative.

The company had recently inaugurated its facilities in Hyderabad where the project was to be executed.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo presented his $168.2 billion executive budget proposal Tuesday. The spending plan includes so-called "revenue raisers"  $1 billion in new taxes and fees  and a proposal to revamp the state's tax code in response to the new federal tax law.

Here is what other elected officials, business groups and other stakeholders are saying about Cuomo's 2018-19 executive budget:

Fighting for Children PAC Founder Gary Greenberg

"Today is an historic moment for all victims of child sexual abuse in New York. Victims' persistence and courage has persuaded Governor Cuomo to include the Child Victims Act in his 2018 budget. We thank the governor and his administration for taking this bold action. It is a first step in seeing Governor Cuomo sign a Child Victims Act. In the weeks ahead, I urge all parties to work together to pass a Child Victims Act that will bring justice to victims and protect New York kids from ever being sexually abused in New York state."

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli

"The Governor put forth an Executive Budget proposal to tackle the serious, unprecedented issues facing New York state over the coming year, including multiple threats to the states financial picture. There is no doubt that New York state faces many challenges ahead. While personal income tax collections were strong in December, the future is clouded with uncertainty. The federal tax bills impact on New Yorks budget is yet to be fully determined, but we know it will force tough decisions. The level of cuts in federal aid for health care and other programs remains in question. Out-year budget gaps and shrinking statutory debt capacity are also growing concerns.

"In the coming weeks, my office will thoroughly review the Executive Budget, examine both the near-term and long-term impact of these proposals and provide a detailed analysis.

National Federation of Independent Business New York State Director Mike Durant

The executive budget proposed today by Governor Cuomo offers little to help New Yorks struggling small businesses and looks to impose a complicated and potentially unworkable new payroll tax. New Yorks lack of economic competitiveness and high tax status is solely the result of Albanys tax and spend culture, not the recently enacted federal tax reform.

Small business in New York continues to face increased costs across the board. Finger pointing and denial is not going to solve the economic and financial problems our state faces. Reigning in state spending, sensible regulatory reform and further reducing costs in health care and workers compensation will bolster small employers. This executive budget proposal, yet again, fails in this regard.

NFIB/NY will be reviewing the Governors budget proposal over the next few days and will weigh in accordingly.

Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle

For the past seven years, my partners in the legislature and I have remained committed to enacting fiscally responsible, on-time budgets that advance policies and proposals which support the needs of all New Yorkers. Though there are many challenges currently facing our state, I look forward to reviewing the Governors proposals and working with my colleagues to find creative ways to address these challenges and ensure that New Yorks legacy remains one of strong educational opportunity, of social equality, and of vibrant economic promise.

A great deal of work lies ahead of us; however, I remain committed to ensuring that this budget meets the needs of our community and all people who call New York State home.

Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi

We face many challenges this year putting together a state budget, not the least of which is a $4.4 billion budget deficit, and $2 billion in federal cuts to health care. Last year, New York taxpayers sent about $48 billion dollars more to Washington than we received back in federal spending, and the recent federal tax bill further complicates this. This needs to change. Under the tax bill, the sizeable tax cuts the wealthiest Americans are receiving are being placed on the backs of middle class New Yorkers. I certainly will take a look at the Governors proposals to reduce the burden this plan places on average taxpayerswho should not be the cash cows for the rest of the country. I am encouraged by the Governors statements to increase aid to our high needs school districts. I have sponsored legislation to close the Carried Interest Loophole that benefits hedge fund managers, so I support his proposal to take this long-needed action, which will bring about $1.1 billion dollars in revenue to the state to fund health care, education, and our infrastructure needs. This budget will be a work in progress in the coming weeks, but I look forward to working together with my colleagues and with those I represent to pass a budget in the best interests of New York State working families.

State Sen. Jim Seward

As we confront the serious fiscal challenges before us this year, we need to focus on two key fundamentals  new job opportunities and affordability for families and businesses. Those priorities are first on my mind as I closely review the details of the governors budget proposal.

To contend with the states budget deficit we must cap state spending, cut taxes, and generate economic growth. We can grow our way out of this hole, but it will take fiscal discipline and policies that will help boost our states business climate.

A good budget is one that controls spending, cuts taxes, creates jobs, and promotes key principles like affordability, opportunity, and security.

A state spending cap and a permanent tax cap are first steps. From there we need to end burdensome regulations on job creators, fund infrastructure improvements, and stop spending on failing economic programs.

When I hear the governor talk about raising taxes, new surcharges, and deferring credits that businesses expect, I cringe. Those steps will not help grow our economy and will only have further negative effects that will make New York State even less competitive. We need to make a commitment not to raise taxes, and in fact, I will be proposing tax cuts  for families, senior citizens, and businesses.

Now the real work begins. We will delve into the governors proposal and conduct a line by line review along with public budget hearings, as we work toward an agreed upon, fiscally sound budget prior to April 1.

Unshackle Upstate Executive Director Greg Biryla

The budget proposal advanced by Governor Cuomo sends exactly the wrong message to Upstate taxpayers and employers.

Rather than putting forth sensible spending reductions and real tax relief, the Executive Budget proposal seeks to expand state spending and increase taxes by $1 billion. This is irresponsible and ill advised.

This reckless tax-and-spend proposal will not protect taxpayers, but push them over the edge in search of more prosperous economic climates.

A million New Yorkers have fled to other states in the last decade due to New Yorks massive spending habit and overwhelming tax burden. The State simply cant afford for this trend to continue.

Governor Cuomo once stated, New York has no future as the tax capital of the nation. Those words are as true today as they were then. We need our leaders in Albany to develop a responsible budget that rejects tax increases and reins in spending. Its not an easy task but its vital to the future of our State.

Auburn Mayor Michael Quill

Protecting our waterbodies and ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water is critical to the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers. Under Governor Cuomos leadership, New York State has already taken comprehensive steps to address the growing threat of harmful algal blooms in waterbodies across the state. Now with this $65 million initiative, New York will be even better positioned to aggressively combat harmful algal blooms in Upstate. I thank Governor Cuomo for his continued commitment to solving this growing problem.

Assemblyman Gary Finch

Im pleased that the governor reiterated his commitment to eradicating the harmful algal blooms that threaten our water supply. Its a necessary investment in economic development, in tourism and, most importantly, in the health and safety of our residents.

Im disappointed, though, that the governor continues to blame Washington for his economic record. Washington has nothing to do with our $4 billion budget gap. Washington didnt riddle the administrations development programs with corruption and waste. Washington didnt burden our manufacturers with escalating state energy taxes, our farmers with job-killing mandates or our middle-class families with the highest property taxes in the country. I was hopeful for a budget presentation that would chart a new course. Unfortunately, this sounded like more of the same.

1199SEIU President George Gresham and GNYHA President Kenneth E. Raske

The Governors proposed budget is an essential first step toward ensuring that New Yorks hospitals, nursing homes, and home care workers can continue to deliver high-quality care in the face of enormous Beltway threatsincluding Affordable Care Act cuts that will swell the ranks of the States uninsured (leaving providers to cover the cost of their care) and astronomical Medicare and Medicaid cuts that directly target New Yorks struggling safety net hospitals, their workforce, and the patients they serve.

New York State United Teachers

As New York faces threats from Washington and a difficult fiscal environment, we are appreciative of the governors support for students, educators and working families. We support his goal of building a stronger middle class. As part of that effort, we urge increased funding for SUNY, CUNY, community colleges and public hospitals. We look forward to working with the governor and legislative leaders toward a final state budget that ensures the needs of our schools and vital public institutions are fully met.

Let NY Vote Coalition

"The Let NY Vote coalition applauds Governor Cuomo for including funding for early voting in his 2018-19 budget, and bringing New York one step closer to the 37 other states that already offer some form of it. This is a bi-partisan, no brainer: New Yorkers should be able to exercise their basic democratic rights without unnecessary barriers. We are looking forward to negotiating with the state legislature to ensure early voting receives adequate funding."

Alliance for Quality Education Legislative Director Jasmine Gripper

Governor Cuomo is attempting to appear generous while perpetuating educational racism and economic inequality, at a time when nearly half of New Yorks children are living in poverty. Sound bites about equity will not educate our children; that requires closing the massive educational opportunity gap for Black, Brown and poor students. Disturbingly, Governor Cuomos budget proposal, a pitiful $338 million in Foundation Aid, is an example of education justice denied. This would not even be enough to prevent classroom cuts across the state and totally fails to address equity.

New York State Republican Chairman Ed Cox

"Governor Cuomo's budget address was filled with outright lies designed to scare New Yorkers and distract from his own massive failures running this state into the ground with the highest taxes in the nation, the highest debt burden, the worst business climate, and now, at least a $4 billion deficit.

"The truth is that more than 85% of New Yorkers and small businesses will get the benefit of a tax cut under the new federal tax plan, and if the Governor actually cut state taxes instead of raising them, New York could experience the kind of economic resurgence happening at the national level. Instead, he is proposing $1 billion in new taxes, doubling down on wasting billions in failed corporate welfare projects, and a ridiculous and unrealistic payroll tax that will only harm the state's economy further, which is barely growing at one third of the national economy. The only "economic missile" New Yorkers are facing is due to his mismanagement."

Amudim Director Rabbi Zvi Gluck

We have seen time and time again how opioid use leads to suicide and with 370 young lives lost in the Jewish community over the past two years it is painfully clear that this problem is getting worse, not better, said Gluck. While it has been an uphill battle getting the world to wake up and realize how severe this is, it is a breath of fresh air to see Governor Cuomo joining us on the front lines, fighting this epidemic that is destroying families and entire communities.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb

The governor continued his familiar theme of blaming Washington D.C. for problems that have been evident in New York for years. Oppressive taxes, a high cost of living, and financial pressures that drive residents away are not new issues. Unfortunately, todays Executive Budget presentation was long on finger-pointing, yet short on financial details.

Despite the fiscal peril the governor insists we face, todays presentation failed to make a commitment to actually reduce spending. There was no plan to lower the costs Albany places on local governments. Corrupted and underperforming economic development programs, which cost taxpayers billions, remain untouched. Families and businesses across New York should be wary of the term revenue raisers  which are unlikely to help their bottom line.

The proposed overhaul of New Yorks tax system outlined by the governor is complicated and cumbersome, with an endless list of unanswered questions to go along with it. The true impact on employees  who may be forced to take a salary cut  and businesses may not be known for years.

There are certainly encouraging elements of the budget proposal: spending stays within the 2 percent cap; direct-care workers are provided a living wage; middle class tax cuts are preserved; and we sustain investment in the Environmental Protection Fund.

We need more specifics on the governors spending plan for a complete assessment of its potential. The presentation we heard today was more about political positioning rather than policy solutions that directly address the states longstanding problems.

Reclaim New York Initiative Executive Director Brandon Muir

The Governors rhetoric is more empty than taxpayers wallets would be under his unaffordable budget.

"This budget is a giveaway to Albany insiders at the expense of hard-working taxpayers, families, and businesses.

"Rather than responsibly reducing burdens on New Yorkers who pay the worst tax burden in the country, this plan desperately turns to risky tax policy to pass blame to Washington.

"It makes online shopping and healthcare more expensive to grab for revenue. It puts billions for wasteful, scandal-plagued economic development programs before the best interests of the people.

The Governor largely ignores overdue unfunded mandate reforms that would lower the tax burden for everyone, especially downstate taxpayers who face some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Instead, we get gimmicks like his shared services publicity stunt that has never provided meaningful savings.

"After Governor Cuomo's ranting about federal missile attacks, and lies about New York's tax burden, he can't hide the facts. It is Albany, not Washington that has made the state tax hell. New Yorkers must take responsibility for our government and push reforms that make New York competitive, instead of allowing public officials to dodge blame.

"This is the moment New Yorkers most need Albany to listen to their priorities, but this budget is completely tone deaf."

Teach Advocacy Network Executive Director Maury Litwack

"In this difficult budgetary climate we are thankful for the Governor's leadership. We appreciate the proposed funding included in the 2018 budget and the Governors recognition of the role over 1600 nonpublic schools play in educating approximately 400,000 children in New York State. Most significantly, we thank the Governor for continuing the STEM instructional funding program, which he mentioned in his speech today. We are also encouraged by his support for important programs like mandated services, the comprehensive attendance policy and security funding. We look forward to working with the Governor and our partners in the state legislature as the budget process develops."

New York League of Conservation Voters President Marcia Bystryn

Although expectations are lower in this challenging budget year than in the past two budget cycles, there is a great deal for environmentalists to like in Governor Cuomo's 2018-2019 Executive Budget. Previously, the Environmental Protection Fund was one of the first targets for austerity cuts. This year, Governor Cuomo has left it at its historic level of $300 million. Similarly, the spend down of the $2.5 billion promised for clean water promised last year will remain in place. While it is easy to take these funding levels for granted, they are important to applaud. We sincerely look forward to spending the next ten weeks pushing for progress rather than trying to undo painful cuts. We are also pleased to see funding for fixing our parks, building the Empire State Trail, finally finishing Hudson River Park, combatting algal blooms in our waterways, and remediating the Grumman contamination in Bethpage.

Two long-discussed new programs made it into the Governor's budget and they rank high on our priority list. For the second consecutive year, Governor Cuomo included a proposal requiring large generators of food waste to donate edible food and recycle the rest. Similarly, after years of behind-the-scenes efforts, a plan to reform the forestry tax credit to encourage owners of private forests not to develop the land was included for the first time. Both of these proposals have well-resourced opponents and it will take significant advocacy for them to reach the finish line. Along with our partners, we are gearing up for a serious push. We hope that both the Governor and our legislative allies join us in this effort.

We are also pleased to see the Governor include a proposed compromise solution to the expansion of the Pine Barrens he vetoed in December. The Governor's version would not include the Mastic Woods, allowing a solar farm to move forward, and replaces this land with state and county lands not in the original plan. We hope that all parties come to the table to agree on a reasonable solution that does not pit land preservation against renewable energy.

The Governor's embracing of a fee on all vehicles entering the central business district in his speech today is a step in the right direction on congestion pricing. We need to hear more details and look forward to the report of the Fix NYC panel later this week. Time is short for such a major proposal and we are concerned it is already starting from behind by not being included in the Executive Budget. Inaction, however, is not an option since the long-term consequences pose a major threat to our climate goals and to the Downstate economy. We are hopeful that the unusually high stakes will bring all of the relevant players to the table to get something done before April.

Of course, we cannot agree with the Governor on everything and we strongly believe that leaving a solution to single-use bag waste out of the budget was a serious oversight. Last year, when Governor Cuomo overturned New York City's attempt to deal with the problem, he promised a statewide solution. We are still waiting for it after a disappointing Plastic Bag Taskforce report was released on Saturday night over the holiday weekend. Instead what we are left with is an inconsistent and inadequate patchwork of local laws. When Governor Cuomo wants to get something done, few can rival his rate of success. If he is serious about making good on his pledge, we expect that he will include a plan to either institute a ban on plastic bags and a fee on paper bags, or a fee on both in his 30 Day Amendments or through a program bill.

U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney

Once again, Governor Cuomos Executive Budget Proposal is a disaster for New York citizens. The Governors tax-and-spend regime shows a complete lack of respect for the taxpayers of our state. Cuomo is continuing his addiction to spending by hiking taxes to fund more failed cronyism policies and corporate welfare schemes. Meanwhile, Cuomos budget plan refuses to cut spending to address our states dangerously high debtthe second highest in the nation. Cuomos bloated budget proposal will continue to drive people and jobs out of our state in record numbers. New York leads the nation in outmigration of its citizens.

Instead of providing tax and regulatory relief to struggling families, the Governors budget will punish small businesses, our most important job creators. Small businesses create nearly 70 percent of new jobs.

The solution is simple. The Governor and the Legislature should cut wasteful spending, reduce tax rates, prioritize programs that New Yorkers rely on and stop using hard-earned taxpayer money for personal political advancement. Its time for the Governor to put New York citizens ahead of his political ambitions for a change, or our economy and the well-being of our communities will be in serious jeopardy.

Assemblyman Bob Oaks

In his budget presentation to the Legislature this afternoon, the governor put forward a grim fiscal outlook. I agree with him that this is not going to be an easy budget, but I do not agree with his solutions of raising taxes, increasing borrowing and relying on one-time revenues to get him through an election year.

We should concentrate on spending more efficiently, assuring that we are getting the best value for our tax dollars, and providing mandate relief to our municipalities and our school districts to ease the burden on our property taxes.

The governor's budget presentation included numerous policy initiatives that have little fiscal impact. I recently introduced a bill that would exclude such policy proposals from the budget. Last year's budget was adopted late over issues that should have been discussed as separate measures, not used as bargaining chips during budget negotiations.

With this governor, I have learned to read the fine print. We will be reviewing the budget bills closely during the next few days in preparation for the budget hearing process that will begin next week.

Terry Gipson, Democratic gubernatorial candidate

New York's governor should be a better advocate for the people of New York. He's had seven years.

Governor Cuomos proposed budget for fiscal year 2018-19 repeats a disturbing pattern of delivering budgets that include more than enough support for his wealthy corporate donors, but nowhere near enough to meet the needs of New York's families.

Once again, this governor is proposing a budget that is not enough to reduce our cost of living. There's not enough to adequately fund public education, and New York State still owes public schools $4.2 billion in Foundation Aid. This means that children in poor communities will continue to be denied the education they need to thrive. This budget is not enough to implement single-payer health care or fund urgently needed improvements to our mass transit systems, and it's not enough to support a transition to 100% clean energy.

New York needs a governor that puts the needs of the people first and asks millionaires and billionaires to pay their fare share. This budget does neither. It's just not enough.

Harlem United

As the federal government continues to lose sight of the values and ideals that make this country great, Governor Cuomo has once again put forth an aggressive, common sense agenda to keep our state on course for a bright future for all New Yorkers. Whether it be combatting homelessness, advancing significant criminal justice reforms, continuing the assault on the opioid epidemic or introducing a progressive womens agenda, the Governor continues to show the unwavering leadership needed to lead our state and set an example for the nation. Governor Cuomos bold 2018 agenda maintains his commitment to fiscal discipline while moving our state in the right direction. We support the Governors proposals, and look forward to partnering with him to serve those in need.

State University of New York Student Assembly

"Investing in public higher education in New York is an investment in the future of our great state. While we understand the financial burden placed on the state by the recent revisions to the federal tax code and spending cuts in Washington, New Yorks budget should not be balanced on the backs of the 1.1 million students enrolled in SUNY and CUNY institutions.

"The 600,000 students of the State University of New York are encouraged by, and grateful for, the Governors continued commitment to initiatives held dear by SUNY students including the DREAM Act, food security, funding for Open Educational Resources, and the expansion of the Excelsior Scholarship. We look forward to working with him and advocating for the enactment of these provisions by the Legislature.

"We are disappointed by cuts to mental health services on campuses, the lack of a true maintenance of effort by the state in SUNY funding, and cuts to opportunity programs which help so many disadvantaged students in New York achieve a college education. We would like to see the Legislature restore funding for mental health services and opportunity programs, and push for a greater state commitment to SUNY through a true maintenance of effort."

Bring It Home Campaign

In his State of the State address earlier this month, Governor Cuomo made a commitment to protect New Yorkers with mental illnesses, declaring that our collective obligation as a caring people  a compassionate society  to reach out, to provide whatever social services or address whatever needs the individual presents. It is our job. Unfortunately, the poetry of the governors annual address does not match the prose of this weeks budget proposal.

Under the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo  and previously under the leadership of Mario Cuomo  New York developed the most comprehensive community-based mental health housing system in the country. But yesterdays proposal was a missed opportunity for Governor Cuomo to uphold his legacy as a national leader in creating and protecting this system.

The Bring It Home campaign calls for Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature to protect our most vulnerable New Yorkers by substantially adding to the Governor's proposal for mental health housing in this year's final budget. Mental health housing providers have not seen necessary funding levels in many years and we are now stretched untenably thin. The system is at a financial breaking pointas many providers have notified the stateand this budget proposal does little to prevent a potential financial crisis for providers caring for New Yorkers with severe psychiatric illnesses.

Ultimately, if Governor Cuomo wants to provide whatever social services or needs homeless New Yorkers present, he must fund mental health housing programs adequately. Without it, he risks adding to the homelessness crisis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit tomorrow, as he will breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select captains of the industry, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj hotel in south Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu after which the Maharashtra chief minister will be hosting a lunch for the Israeli premier and the visiting delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House, during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai yesterday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city earlier had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities -- Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj hotel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is leading the Indian delegation to 10th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) being held in Berlin from tomorrow.

The theme of this year's three-day event is "Shaping the future of livestock - sustainably, responsibly, efficiently". The discussions will focus on sustainable and productive animal production, among other issues.

"Bilateral meetings with counterparts of Germany, Uzbekistan and Argentina are proposed on the sideline of GFFA to discuss issues to further enhance cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors," an official statement said.

The GFFA is an international conference that focuses on central questions concerning the future of the global agri- food industry.

It is held during International Green Week (IGW) and will be taking place in its current shape for the eighth time. The forum gives representatives from the worlds of politics, business, science and civil society an opportunity to share ideas and enhance understanding on a selected topic of current agricultural policy.

The GFFA is organised by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMEL) in cooperation with GFFA Berlin, the Senate of Berlin and Messe Berlin GmbH.

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Shia and Sunni clerics today unitedly filed an FIR against the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chief for allegedly spreading hatred against the Muslim community and its educational institutions.

At a press conference here, they lashed out at Wasim Rizvi for stating that madrassas are breeding grounds for terrorists.

"The remarks of Rizvi are patently false and have been deliberately and dishonestly made as part of a conspiracy. This is part of a larger conspiracy to create a rift and animosity between the Hindus and the Muslims and also between Shia and Sunni communities. We are filing an FIR against him," Shia cleric Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi said.

The clerics then went to the Lodhi Road police station and filed the FIR.

Rizvi had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in which he said, "How many madrassas have produced engineers, doctors, IAS officers? Yes, but some madrassas have produced terrorists."



The clerics also accused Rizvi of being involved in selling off Waqf properties and other corruption cases.

"He is a person with criminal bent of mind and has many FIRs against him in Lucknow, Saharanpur, Meerut and many other cities of Uttar Pradesh. He is saying all these to save himself from these cases," alleged Maulana Arif Kasim, chairman of All India Imam Foundation.

"He is trying to please the RSS and the BJP by saying that our madrassas are breeding terrorists. Till today there has not been a single case where it has been proved that students have been given any kind of training in madrassas to become terrorists or go against our own country," Naqvi emphasised.

The leaders urged the prime minister to look into the matter and take strong legal action against Rizvi.

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Dubbing simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the "mother of all reforms", a BJP-linked institution today announced a first-of- its-kind national seminar on the issue of 'one nation, one election".

The idea of simultaneous elections is being keenly pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP MP and party vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said that the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP) would organise a two-day conference in Mumbai on January 20-21, stressing that holding simultaneous Lok Sabbha and state polls can address many challenges facing the country.

Sahasrabuddhe, who is also the RMP vice-chairperson, said the conference would help take the debate to the masses after the Niti Aayog and a parliamentary body spoke favourably about holding elections at once.

Most political parties have supported the exercise in theory and questions raised by them is confined to its implementation, he told reporters, adding that the two-day conference would see discussion on a host of issues related to its execution and benefits.

A statement later said "one nation, one election will prove to be mother of all reforms" for Indian democracy.

The BJP leader said Indian democracy had seen a number of reforms over the years and claimed that simultaneous elections is the major democratic reform that the nation has been waiting for decades.

Building nationwide discourse and building consensus was the need of hour, he said.

Exploring the possibility of holding simultaneous polls remains a difficult yet probable solution to all the challenges which are a direct outcome of multiplicity of elections, he said, adding that an almost permanent election cycle stalls development work and also result in massive additional expenditure.

Holding polls together will also save thousands of crores of rupees, he said.

The BJP leader also emphasised that the conference was not being organised on the behalf of the central government.

While all political parties, including the Congress, have been invited to attend the conference, those who have confirmed their participation include K C Tyagi of the JD(U), a BJP ally, and Baijayant Panda, a BJD MP.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Niti Aayog vice-chairperson Rajiv Kumar, besides several legal and constitutional experts, will also attend the event, he said.

To questions about how simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls can be held if the central government falls and no other party was in a position to offer an alternative, Sahasrabuddhe said one of the suggestions offered was that a positive vote of confidence for an alternative government should take place before the incumbent dispensation is brought down.

He, however, added that he would not like to speculate and it was for all stakeholders to envisage future probabilities and come out with an outcome.

The report of the conference would be presented to the government, he said.

This "massive democratic reform" would free the nation from permanent election mode and enhance the pace of good governance for development, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The development of villages is essential for the overall progress of the country and to have smart cities, said woman sarpanch Chhavi Rajawat.

Rajawat, who shot to fame when she quit a cushy corporate job to contest for the post of sarpanch, said the panchayats, dependent on the bureaucracy for approval of funds, should be given financial powers to deliver results.

"Smart cities are not possible without smart villages first... We live in the comforts of cities and often forget that a majority of people in our country live in villages. Everyone is directly or indirectly affected by villages," she said.

The MBA graduate-turned-sarpanch of Soda village in Rajasthan was addressing the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, on the topic, 'Women who have paved their own path', here last evening.

The village-level elected representatives are not able to deliver results as they lack financial autonomy, she said.

"The panchayats should be given funds for use at their discretion. Right now they are dependent on the bureaucracy for approvals," Rajawat said.

On the occasion, Dalit entrepreneur Kalpana Saroj spoke about her trials and tribulations - from struggling to earn earn Rs 2 a day to now running companies doing business of thousands of crores.

Born in a small village in Maharashtra, she narrated her inspiring tale of rising from poverty to becoming a successful entrepreneur and winning the coveted Padma Shri award.

"The path to success was difficult but not impossible," Saroj said.

JetSetGo founder and CEO Kanika Tekriwal shared her challenges in setting up the online marketplace for chartered jets.

Coming from a traditional orthodox family, the 29-year old spoke about how she had to convince her parents to allow her to pursue higher studies and then start her business.

Tekriwal recounted the days when she was afflicted by cancer and how her successful fight with the deadly disease made her strong.

"Cancer was the best thing that happened to me. It is when I was fighting cancer that I got the resolve to do what I wanted," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Some private colleges allure students with misleading advertisements, the apex consumer commission said, asking a Rajasthan-based pharmacy institute to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to a student for admitting him to an unrecognised course and awarding an invalid degree.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has asked the Goyanka College of Pharmacy in Rajasthan to refund the fees paid by Anil Kumar Kumawat and asked it to pay Rs 5,000 as legal cost apart from the compensation.

"It is quite often observed in our country that some of the professional institutes run by private organisations allure students by misleading advertisements and promises and collect huge fees or donations.

"Most of the aspirants are kept in dark about the legality of the course," the bench comprising presiding member B C Gupta and member S M Kantikar said.

While pointing out that a few institutes even admit the students without proper infrastructure and statutory permissions, the commission said innocent students become victim of such colorful assurances and take admission in the hope of bright future.

It also termed the conduct of the institute as an unfair trade practice.

"In the instant case, the institute was not recognised by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). The complainant, a young budding graduate, even though, after completion of the course and acquiring B.Pharmacy degree, was refused (job) by two pharmaceutical companies only because of non-recognition of the degree by the PCI.

"Thus, in our view, it was unfair trade practice by the institute," the bench said.

According to the complaint, Kumawat, a resident of Sikar district, had joined the college in 2006-07 batch after depositing Rs 36,000 and a hostel fee of Rs 24,000.

He completed the course in 2009-10 and got a job in a pharma company in Mumbai. On the second day of the job, he was removed from the office on the ground that his degree was forged and his college was not recognised by the PCI.

He also alleged that after interview, he was selected in another company but after verification of marksheets, he was denied appointment due to non-recognition of the college.

The institute had claimed that they were not at fault as the complainant himself took admission after knowing all the rules.

It claimed that it had already on June 14, 2006 filed an application for registration of institute under PCI and the inspection had been carried out, but due to some formalities to be completed by the institution, the permission was kept pending.

Though the institute had made several representations to PCI office, the permission of registration was delayed, it had claimed.

The district forum had allowed the complaint and asked the institute to refund the fees and to pay Rs 50,000 towards compensation and Rs 5,000 as costs of litigation to the complainant which the state commission had upheld.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today directed officials to start installing CCTV cameras in all classes of Delhi government schools within three months, and said it will ensure the safety of children.

The parents will be able to watch their children studying in classes on real-time basis on their mobile phones, he said.

The progress of the project - to install CCTV cameras in schools - was reviewed by Kejriwal along with his deputy, Manish Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio, PWD minister Satyendar Jain, chief secretary Anshu Prakash and other government officials.

"Each parent will be given access to see his child studying in class on real-time basis on his phone. This will make the whole system transparent and accountable. It will ensure safety of kids," Kejriwal tweeted after the meeting.

He said the process to install CCTV cameras in schools should start within three months, a government official said.

In September last year, Kejriwal had directed the department to study the CCTV system in schools run by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to check if it could be implemented in government-run schools.

The move was spurred following the rape of a five-year- old girl at her school in Shahdara and the killing of a seven-year-old boy in a private school in Gurugram.

The minister, secretary (education) and director (education) will have the rights to view any classroom of any Delhi government school through an app at any point of time, once the project starts, said the official.

An auto-complaint system will be put in place that will lodge complaints about the non-functioning of CCTV cameras.

The complaints will be automatically forwarded to the system integrator who will rectify it, he said.

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Clad in an olive green pilot's G- suit, Nirmala Sitharaman today took to the skies in a Sukhoi- 30 MKI, the first Indian woman defence minister to go on a sortie on the IAF's frontline combat jet.

The 58-year-old leader sat in the rear seat behind the pilot in the cockpit of the two-seater fighter jet, which took off from the Jodhpur air base.

Sitharaman later described the experience as "memorable".

Looking calm, the country's first woman defence minister waved from inside the cockpit and also could be seen showing a thumbs up sign as the aircraft moved for take off.

The plane flew west of Jodhpur, sources said.

With the 45-minute sortie aboard the supersonic jet, she also became the second Indian woman leader to fly in a Sukhoi-30 MKI after then president Pratibha Patil did so in 2009. When he was the president, A P J Abdul Kalam had also flown in the fighter jet, an Air Force official said.

Sitharaman is the first defence minister to fly in a Sukhoi-30 MKI, the official said.

In 2003, then defence minister George Fernandes had also taken a sortie aboard a MiG-21, the official said.

Prior to the sortie, Sitharaman was briefed by the pilot. She also familiarised herself with the formidable fighter jet and its cockpit.

Earlier, Sitharaman met IAF personnel at the air force station here and reviewed the operational and combat preparedness of the force, the sources said.

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About 200 protesters marched Wednesday in the Sudanese capital's twin city of Omdurman against rising food prices, with anti-riot police firing tear gas to disperse the rally.

Prices of food items but mainly bread have surged in past weeks across Sudan after a jump in the cost of flour due to a shortage of wheat supplies.

Sporadic protests have since erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, with demonstrators coming out onto the streets in their hundreds.

"No, no to hunger! No, no to high prices!" protesters shouted as they marched towards a square in central Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on the west bank of the Nile River.

Anti-riot police moved in swiftly to stop their march and fired tear gas, an AFP correspondent reported.

Authorities had poured water into the streets leading to the square in an attempt to prevent protesters from reaching the site, he said.

Today's rally was called by the main opposition Umma Party, a day after a similar demonstration held near the presidential palace in Khartoum following a call issued by the Communist Party.

Yesterday's protest was also broken up by police using tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service early on Wednesday arrested the Communist Party chief, Mokhtar al-Khatib, from his home, his party spokesman told AFP.

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began earlier this month.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 (USD 9 to USD 25), as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. But a student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ten people were killed and dozens injured today in a double suicide-bomb attack in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a civilian militia leader and a resident said.

The blasts happened in the Muna Garage area of the Borno state capital, in a market used mainly by internally displaced people (IDPs) from a nearby camp.

"I can confirm that 10 people have died in the attack," said Ibrahim Liman, of the Civilian Joint Taskforce (CJTF), which assists the military with security against Boko Haram.

Liman initially gave the death toll as three but he added: "Seven more bodies were brought in from the UMTH (University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital).

"Now the number of injured is 52," he said.

"Two under-aged girls, aged about 13, struck at the market at about 4:10 pm (1510 GMT) -- a peak hour. The first bomber set off her explosives in a sparsely populated part of the market.

"Moments later, the second bomber set off her explosives in the crowded part of the market. That was where most of the casualties were recorded."



Liman's account was supported by local resident Dahiru Bulama, who said soldiers had cordoned off the area as the injured were evacuated to hospital for treatment.

"The attack was really bad. The casualty toll could be high. We were not allowed to go near," he added.

"But I saw one car parked across the road that was splattered with blood and flesh."



There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Boko Haram has repeatedly used young girls and women as suicide bombers to attack civilian "soft targets".

IDP camps, including the one at Muna Garage, markets and mosques have been hit. Army and CJTF security posts have also been targeted.

Twelve people were killed on November 15 when four suicide bombers -- two men and two women -- blew themselves up in the Muna area of Maiduguri.

Wednesday's attacks comes after Boko Haram jihadists killed nine people on Monday in two separate attacks -- one in the Ngala area of Borno and the second in neighbouring Adamawa.

The attack in Ngala saw six people shot dead as they collected firewood to sell to IDPs.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the casualties in the nearly conflict, with at least 20,000 killed and more than 2.6 million others made homeless since 2009.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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The Afghan leaders have told members of the UN Security Council that the existence of the Taliban safe haven across the border is one of the main obstacles to the peace process, the UNSC president said today.

Fresh from a just concluded visit of a UNSC delegation to Kabul, its president for the month of January Kairat Umarov of Kazakhstan told reporters there was unanimity that the conflict has to end and that it takes more than a purely military solution.

The Kabul visit of UN Security Council members came ahead of the Kabul Process meeting next month where the Afghan government is expected to present its strategy for reaching a settlement with the armed opposition.

"There was unanimity that the conflict has to end and that it takes more than a purely military solution. Only comprehensive efforts would defeat the armed opposition. There is no military solution in Afghanistan in the absence of a political process," Kairat said.

"The main obstacle to peace, according to a number of interlocutors within the government and the parliament, is the existences of 'safe havens' and sanctuaries for the Taliban abroad. The Government reiterated its readiness to engage constructively with neighboring countries to curb terrorism and negotiate," said the president of the UN Security Council.

During its visit, the UN Security Council mission was briefed about the structure and work of the High Peace Council and its plans for 2017 to 2020.

Building on the positive experience of the 2016 peace agreement with Hizb-i Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Peace Council plans to initiate talks with Taliban, he said.

"Yet, some interlocutress were not too optimistic, claiming that there was no significant steps towards establishing a peace process by the Taliban despite overtures by the government. At the same time, working with the Taliban as a fragmented movement and not as a political party complicates prospects for constructive dialogue," Kairat said.

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The Haryana Police today said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been in a canal near Jyotisar.

The body was found late yesterday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra when she went to attend a tuition class.

The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra SP, Abhishek Garg told PTI over phone.

The Class X student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery, the Congress had also asked the M L Khattar led BJP government to resign on moral grounds.

Police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," he said.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gang-raped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu yesterday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to cases.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The body of a 19-year-old youth, named as the alleged abductor in the rape and murder case of a Dalit girl in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, has been found from a canal, the police said today.

Earlier, a hunt was launched by the police to nab the accused, who allegedly abducted the 15-year-old girl when she had gone to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg told PTI over phone.

In yet another incident of rape in Haryana, a 14-year-old boy allegedly raped a three-year-old girl in a colony in Hisar, the police said today.

The boy, who lived in her neighbourhood, allegedly committed the crime yesterday when the girl's parents, who were labourers, were away for work, Hisar SP, Manisha Choudhary said.

An 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

Referring to the case in Kurukshetra district, the police said the body of the boy, a Class 12 student, was found in a decomposed condition from the Bhakra Canal and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

The half-naked body of the girl, who was a Class 10 student, was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, the police had said.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Manohar Lal Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

The Congress today demanded the dismissal of the Khattar government, alleging a complete breakdown of law and order in the state.

A Congress delegation, led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a memorandum to the Governor and sought imposition of President's rule in Haryana.

Asked about the allegation levelled by the girl's family that the local police did not immediately act on the complaint lodged when the Class 10 girl went missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The police had earlier said they believed the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found, has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," the Kurukshetra SP said.

The incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

A 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gang raped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu yesterday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to the cases.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Telangana Fiber Grid Corporation and Hewlett Packard Enterprise today signed an MoU for deploying "Digital Villages" pilot project in Maheshwaram mandal in neighbouring Rangareddy district.

Under the T-Fiber project, the state government envisages to provide broadband internet to every household in rural and urban areas for various citizen services, an official release said.

For the T-Fiber Project, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has come forward with the initiative of Digital Village (DV) under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), it said.

Under DV concept, information technology will be used in sectors such as healthcare, education, skill development and in common service centres.

"These three Digital Village will be deployed as mutually agreed in phases between Hewlett Packard enterprise and T-Fibre," it added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tension prevailed in a village in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh today after a Dalit man was allegedly beaten up by a group of people, who recorded the assault and circulated the video online, police said today.

The 22-year-old man was allegedly beaten up by the group of men, who are said to be associated with a Hindu outfit, in Kalyanpur village in the district on January 14, they said.

Tension ran high as Dalits in the area protested following the incident and warned of starting an agitation.

SP (City) Ombir Singh told PTI that security has been tightened and additional police force has been deployed in the area.

One of the four accused in the case has been arrested, Singh said, adding the remaining three would be arrested soon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terming terrorism as the "mother of all disruptions", External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today that the menace was even more dangerous when actively supported and sponsored by states, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

Addressing the the geo-political conference 'Raisina Dialogue' here, Swaraj said ensuring zero-tolerance towards terrorism was a must.

The menace of terrorism can threaten societies everywhere and the challenge is even more serious in a digital age, with greater propensity for radicalisation, she said.

Terrorism, the "mother of all disruptions", and nuclear proliferation cannot be addressed effectively in a segmented manner, she said.

"What is even more dangerous is terrorism from governed spaces; in fact, terrorism actively supported and sponsored by states," Swaraj said, without naming Pakistan.

She said it would be wrong to expect that fanaticism, crime, bloodshed and illegal trade will not have a corrosive impact beyond its intended arena.

"Nor will it spare its originators and practitioners. Ensuring zero-tolerance towards terrorism is the call of the day," the minister said.

The Third Raisina Dialogue, which was inaugurated yesterday by visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation.

The attitude towards terrorism has evolved in the last few decades, Swaraj opined.

"There was a time when it was seen as other people's problem or a law and order situation. Not just that, it was also actively utilised as an instrument of statecraft. That time has long gone by," she said.

Swaraj said many contemporary developments have their roots in "longstanding proliferation linkages that the world deliberately chose to overlook".

"Like terrorism, nuclear proliferation cannot be addressed effectively in a segmented manner. Fuller disclosure and greater accountability are a must," Swaraj said.

Swaraj also talked about the importance of connectivity, saying that, while the focus in the past was essentially on comparative advantage and market access, there is now a growing realisation about the critical importance of connectivity.

In an oblique reference to China's One Belt One Road initiative, Swaraj said the role of multilateral institutions in building connectivity is also important.

"Again, establishing and implementing global norms in this regard is of utmost priority," she said.

Swaraj also highlighted the crucial connectivity projects undertaken by India, including the Chabahar Port and air corridor for Afghanistan, the Trilateral Highway cutting through India, Myanmar and Thailand and the International North-South Corridor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Goa Police today arrested three persons from Calangute beach village in the state, days after they allegedly opened fire on Delhi Police personnel on Airport Road before fleeing.

The trio were arrested when they came to buy liquor at a shop, said a senior police officer.

The alleged incident occurred on the Airport Road in Delhi on January 11 when police personnel tried to stop a car during routine check-up when the three occupants of the vehicle allegedly opened fire and fled.

It is not known whether anybody was injured in the incident.

"The trio are identified as Vipin Dagar (24), Praveen Dagar (23) and Ajay Kumar Ahlawat (22)," Superintendent of Police (North) Chandran Chaudhury said.

While Vipin Dagar and Praveen Dagar are residents of Jharoda Kalan in Delhi, Ahlawat lives in Jhajjar in Haryana.

Chaudhury said a team of Calangute police led by Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi arrested the trio near the beach.

"After opening fire on police constables in Delhi, the trio had abandoned the car in the national capital and travelled to Goa on the same day," Chaudhury said.

A case under Arms Act and various sections of the IPC was registered against them at Delhi Cantonment Police Station.

The SP said Delhi Police traced the location of the trio after they swiped an ATM card at a hotel and at a shopping centre in Calangute area.

"Police waited at the wine shop in civil clothes for the accused when one of them arrived there. He was taken into custody and during investigation he disclosed the location of two others who were also picked up immediately," the SP said.

Chaudhury said the police inspector arrested the trio at a gun point as it was suspected that they were carrying firearms.

"One of the accused, Praveen Dagar has cases registered against him in Leh police station in Jammu and Kashmir. He was earlier arrested by the Special Task Force of Uttarakhand," the SP said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As many as two state-owned companies -- RITES Ltd and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd -- have filed draft papers with markets regulator Sebi to float initial public offerings so far this week.

Incorporated by the railways ministry, RITES provides transport consultancy and engineering services, while Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) comes under the defence ministry.

The move comes after another state-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) approached the markets regulator last month with its IPO papers.

The proposed initial public offers (IPOs) would help the government to meet its ambitious disinvestment target of Rs 72,500 crore for the current fiscal.

RITES has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi on Monday, while MIDHANI has approached the markets regulator on Tuesday.

The public issues will help the companies in achieving the benefits of listing, enhance visibility as well as brand image and provide liquidity to shareholders.

Going by the draft papers, RITES' IPO will see sale of 2.4 crore equity shares, amounting to 12 per cent, by the promoter.

According to merchant banking sources, the public issue is expected to fetch around Rs 600 crore.

Elara Capital (India) Pvt Ltd, IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd, IDFC Bank Ltd and SBI Capital Markets Ltd will manage the company's IPO.

RITES had a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 362 crore in 2016-17 and a revenue from operations was at Rs 1,354 crore.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in the Union Budget in February last year the government's plan to list rail PSUs.

RITES, RVNL, IRCON, Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) are the public sector undertakings into the railways.

The public issue of MIDHANI will see sale of up to 46,835,000 equity shares, or 25 per cent stake, by the company's promoter.

It is engaged in the production of metals and alloys as part of an import substitution strategy, which is designed to reduce India's reliance on foreign suppliers and achieve self-sufficiency.

During 2016-17, the firm had posted a profit after tax of Rs 126.31 crore and a total revenue of Rs 833.09 crore.

SBI Capital Markets and IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd will be the merchant bankers for the issue.

In April last year, the Cabinet had cleared the disinvestment of the PSU and thereafter DIPAM had invited bids from merchant bankers and legal advisors for managing the stake sales.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Prime Minister Theresa May today appointed the country's first-ever minister in charge of tackling loneliness and combating social isolation.

Tracey Crouch, currently minister for sport and civil society in the UK government, will take on the additional role created in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing fanatic in June, 2016.

"Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected," May said in a statement.

The new ministerial role will take forward the recommendations of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, with the post holder working with the commission, businesses and charities to create a government-wide strategy.

According to research, more than 9 million people always or often feel lonely, around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month, and up to 85 per cent of young disabled adults 18-34 year olds feel lonely.

"For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with," May said.

Crouch, Tory MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said she was determined to make significant progress in "defeating loneliness".

"This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness," she said.

Loneliness can be triggered by a life event, such as a bereavement or becoming a parent, with certain groups, such as the elderly, young people and carers, particularly at risk.

Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen who was stabbed to death outside her parliamentary office in West Yorkshire, had campaigned to combat the problem.

"One of the awful things about losing Jo is knowing how much difference she would have made in the world," her husband Brendan tweeted.

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, has spent the last year considering what the government and can do to help.

They have been working with 13 charities, including Age UK and Action for Children to develop ideas for change.

"We are really pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that, young or old, loneliness doesn't discriminate," said Reeves.

An estimated half the people aged 75 and over live alone in Britain, with many saying they can go days, even weeks, with no social interaction at all.

The UK government has also announced that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) will devise a method of measuring loneliness, and a fund will be set up to help tackle the problem through activities which connect people.
A British delegation of 13 food and beverages companies has embarked on a major trade mission to India to showcase some of Britain's popular exports such as Scotch whisky.

The mission, which arrived in Mumbai today, is designed to grow and develop the local markets awareness of British whisky, gin, craft beer, meat, fish, gourmet food and drink, health food and dairy at a time when the UK feels the Indian market's appetite for these products is expanding.

The delegation is led by the UK governments Department for International Trade.

"We are excited to build upon the existing connection that India and the UK share for quality food and drink. As gourmet brands continue to grow and succeed in India, we are confident that there is room for some of the best UK products to be a part of that expanding appetite," said Crispin Simon, British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India and Director General, Department for International Trade, India and South Asia.

"By bringing UK companies to India and facilitating face-to-face interactions, we aim to create an environment where relationships can be built, he said.

The delegation, which includes representatives from Amber Glen Scotch Whisky, Arbikie Highland Estate Distillery Ltd, DeVine Distillates Group Ltd and the English Cheesecake Company Ltd among others, will participate in the 11th India Food Forum in Mumbai before travelling to Bengaluru to attend the British Food and Drinks Symposium on Friday.

In Mumbai, the delegation will also meet withAmit Lohani of the Food and Drink Importers Association (FIFI) and a representative from Santander bank to discuss food and drink opportunities in India.

Ian Wright, Director General, Food and Drink Federation, said, "Food and drink is the UK's largest manufacturing sector and our delegation represents the diversity and excellence of our top-class industry."



"The UK and India enjoy a vibrant and dynamic trading relationship, which is thriving as new opportunities unfold.

We are keen to strengthen existing ties, make new contacts, explore business opportunities and build prosperous and long-lasting commercial relationships.

The UK delegates will also be taken on a tour of top Indian gourmet and beverage producing sites in Bengaluru, including the likes ofBig Basket, Phoenix Market City, Amruth Distillery and UB city.

The delegation's primary objective is to connect with local companies, explore market opportunities and build lasting relationships in India.

The visit comes just three weeks before the India-UK Createch Summit in Mumbai on February 6 and is part of a wider month of interaction between the two countries, celebrating commercial and creative links.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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A UN envoy declared today he was "very hopeful" that a solution was within reach to end a 27-year dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the former Yugoslav republic's name.

During talks at the United Nations, UN envoy Matthew Nimetz presented a proposal for a compromise to envoys that will now be discussed in Athens and Skopje.

Nimetz said he will travel to Greece and Macedonia soon to discuss the proposed solution, which was not made public.

"I am very hopeful that this process is moving in a positive direction," Nimetz told reporters following the two- hour meeting at UN headquarters.

Greece's objections to the use of the name Macedonia since the Balkan country's independence in 1991 has hampered Skopje's bid to join the European Union and NATO.

Macedonia is known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) at the United Nations, but the Security Council acknowledged that this was a provisional name when it agreed to membership.

"I view this as a good set of ideas, a compromise, and a package that both sides should feel comfortable with and lead to a dignified and satisfactory solution," said Nimetz.

Some of the solutions floated include using the name New Macedonia or Northern Macedonia, but Greek nationalists argue that there should be no reference to Macedonia at all.

Greece maintains that the use of Macedonia suggests that Skopje has territorial claims to its own Macedonia -- a northern region that boasts the port cities of Thessaloniki and Kavala and was the center of Alexander the Great's ancient kingdom, a source of Greek pride.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Returning from a UN Security Council visit to Afghanistan, US Ambassador Nikki Haley today stressed the Kabul government wants world powers to step up pressure on Pakistan.

Haley joined the 14 other council envoys for talks with top Afghan leaders in Kabul at the weekend as the government considers holding peace talks with the Taliban to end decades of insurgency.

"They feel confident that the Taliban will be coming to the table," Haley told reporters at UN headquarters.

While the peace talks will be Afghan-led, the Kabul government did request that the Security Council weigh in to bring Pakistan onboard.

"They did ask us for consensus to put further pressure on Pakistan to come to the table and change their behavior," Haley said.

The Afghan government is making strides towards stability, she said, and "continue to make ten steps forward and with Pakistan they feel like they continue to take steps backward."



"As long as they are supporting terrorism in Pakistan, the Afghan community is continuing to feel it is not safe," she said.

Haley did not specify what measures could be taken to pressure Pakistan, but the council does have the power to impose sanctions.

Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Taliban and various militant groups in Afghanistan -- charges it denies.

President Donald Trump has frozen US payments of military aid to Pakistan, worth USD 900 million, saying Pakistan is not doing enough to target Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani guerilla group.

A question mark also hangs over a further USD 1 billion of US military equipment for Pakistan.

US officials believe that Pakistan's intelligence agency and military have long helped fund and arm the Taliban to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, whose government is backed by the US.

The Afghan government also requested council help to address narcotics production and trafficking, looking at "every country that moves them," said Haley.

The council visit - the first since 2010 - comes as the government holds a conference next month to present its strategy for reaching a settlement with armed groups.

Kazakhstan's Ambassador Kairat Umarov, who led the council trip, said parliamentary elections must take place this year and be transparent "to ensure the credibility of the government" and "prevent further destabilization.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As many as 16 people, including a noted builder, were arrested by the Kanpur police in connection with the seizure of over Rs 96 crore in demonetised currency notes from the builder's ancestral house in Swaroop Nagar here.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Meena said today that Rs 95 crore belonged to Anand Khatri, the builder, and over a dozen others owned the remaining amount. They were arrested along with the builder.

This is the biggest seizure since old currency notes in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were banned in November, 2016.

Meena said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gathered inputs about some companies and individuals involved in converting illegal currency into legal money and shared the information with Inspector General of Police, Kanpur, Alok Singh.

The IG collected more information about those running the money conversion racket and briefed the SSP Kanpur, directing him to carry out raids discreetly.

Following a tip-off, the SSP formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover.

They nabbed four men involved in conversion of illegal money from the Swaroop Nagar area.

Initially they tried to mislead police, but later during intensive interrogation they broke down and confessed their crime, the SSP said.

They divulged information about the builder involved in converting black money into white by exchanging the old currency notes.

It was revealed that huge amount of demonetised currency was stored in guny bags in the builder's ancestral house near Gole Chauraha in Swaroop Nagar.

Police later nabbed the builder, who led the team to the site where the currency was stashed, SP (East) Anurag Arya told PTI.

Police also raided three hotels from where 11 people including Santosh Yadav, a professor, were arrested, he said.

Preliminary probe indicated that the cash was hidden with an intention of converting it into legal currency, the SP said, but discounted the possibility of any terror angle.

The arrested were identified as Anand Khatri, builder, Santosh Yadav, professor, key liasioner Mohit Dhingra, Sanjay Agarwal, Manish Agarwal - all residents of Kanpur, Koteshwar Rao from Andhra Pardesh, Sanjay Kumar from Varanasi, Anil Yadav from Saharanpur.

Santosh Pathak and Sanjay Rai both from Mirzapur, Ram Asrey, Dhirendra, Sanjeev Agarwal, Omkar Yadav, Ali Husain, and a woman from Andhar Pardesh whose identity was not immediately known.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh government today decided to start metro services in Agra, Kanpur and Meerut cities by 2024 at a total estimated cost of Rs 43,800 crore, state cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh said here today.

"Metro services will be started in Agra, Kanpur and Meerut cities. The entire project will be completed by 2024," Singh, also the UP government spokesperson, told reporters.

He said the decision to start the services was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Singh said there would be two metro corridors in Agra, the Taj city, and the project will cost more than Rs 13,000 crore.

"The Kanpur project will have 31 stations and it will be 30-km-long costing over Rs 17,000 crore, while Meerut metro project will be of 33 km costing over Rs 13,800 crore," he said.

The decision comes close on the heels of the Adityanath government giving its approval for the setting up of the Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation, which will be set up on the lines of the Maharashtra Rail Corporation.

The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation will be restructured and will be given the shape of a 'single special purpose vehicle'.

The cabinet also decided to establish 24 Lok Adalats in various districts of the state. It decided to shift all slaughter houses outside city limits and amend existing laws in this regards.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A four-month long digital interactive exhibition showcasing the life and achievements of Mahatma Gandhi will be held in Australia's Victoria state in April to build a cultural understanding about India among the residents, state Premier Daniel Andrews said today.

More than 1,000 archival photographs, over 130 minutes of footage, 60 minutes of film clips and 20 voice recordings of Gandhi's speeches would be shown in the exhibition, which will run between April and July at the Victoria's Immigration Museum.

Andrews, who is currently on his first official visit to India, announced this after touring the Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition in Delhi.

"Mahatma Gandhi was an inspirational leader and I am thrilled that Victorians will be able to enjoy this incredible exhibition at the Immigration Museum," he said.

Stressing that Victoria is home to Australia's largest Indian population, the premier said, "This exhibition is an important way to acknowledge their cultural heritage and build the cultural understanding of India among the wider Victorian community."



"Showing the Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition in Victoria will help celebrate Indian culture in our state, and will bring visitors from interstate and overseas alike to our great city," Andrews was quoted as saying in an official statement.

The exhibition is currently on display at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Delhi, where it was launched in October 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The exhibition celebrates the success of the Indian diaspora internationally. It recognises that Gandhi was a member of the diaspora who migrated from India to England and then to South Africa before returning to India.

It is curated from over1,000 archival photographs, 130 minutes of footage, 60 minutes of film clips and 20 voice recordings of Gandhi's speeches, the statement said.

The period of Gandhi's life in which he migrated from India to England and then South Africa as well as the change he helped bring about in India on his return are featured, with his identity as a successful member of the Indian diaspora central to the exhibition, it added.

The exhibition is a part of the state government's efforts to generate awareness of the special bonds itshares with India.

The announcement came following the release of the new Victoria's India Strategy: Our Shared Future, which aims to boost tourism and double exports in next ten years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Completing 20 years of its operations in the country, Volvo Group in India today said it is looking at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent to 15per cent over the next seven to ten years.

The company also said it will continue to invest in technology and talent in the days to come.

"The last two years have been phenomenal for us; wehave grown by 40 per cent in our top line and also in rofits,which is very good," Volvo Group India Pvt Ltd President and MD Kamal Bali said.

Speaking to PTI here, he said "...I can say that we are looking at between 10 to15 per cent growth rate CAGR over the next seven to ten years,and that is the rate at which this industry will comfortably grow."



Pointing out that all the segments that the company caters to were connected with the real economy, whether it is urbanisation which needs buses, constructing roads which need construction equipment or transportation of cargo which needs trucks, he said "all of these are going to grow."



In 2018, the company should grow between 10 and 12 per cent, he said, adding, that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been "very positive."



Volvo Group in India includes multiple business areasand brands such as Volvo Buses, Volvo Penta Engines, Volvo Construction Equipment, UD Buses, Volvo Trucks and Eicher Trucks and Buses, among others.

Eicher and Volvo trucks are sold via a joint venture company - VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd.

The company said it has already invested in its facilities and capacity for the next 5 years, and would continue to invest in technology and headcount addition.

"Over the last twenty years we have invested close toRs 2,500 crores between us and our joint venture withEicher... in the last two to three years we have investedanother about Rs 300 crore in India," he said in response to aquestion about investment.

Stating that as far as investments are concerned in plant, machinery and capacity, they are already there for the next five years, he said "but, of course there will be investments in technology and hiring new people."



More than 400 people were added last year by Volvo, which will raise its headcount close to 4,000 excluding the joint venture company.

"We will continue to hire...similar number; about 400 people will be added this year as well," Bali said.

Asked about technology related investment, he said it could be on embedded electronics, telematics or connected solutions at the company's group technology center here where about 1000 engineers are working on design of bus and trucks for the global organization.

Stating that India will become a major hub for medium duty engines, he said, "we will build all engines which are 8 liter and medium duty and supply it across the world."



"We have already setup the plant and have started to supply these engines to Sweden and France. These are Euro VI engines," he added.

Stating that between electric and hybrid there were about 5000 Volvo buses that are plying globally, Bali said in India they had brought in two hybrid buses in Navi Mumbaitwo years ago and "they are doing exceedingly well."



He said "We are already observing between 30-35 per cent lower fuel consumption compared to standard diesel bus. This is a process which will happen....we are looking at next stepsin this journey."



"Our strategy was to start with hybrid which does notneed much infrastructure around" whereas government'sstated approach is to go straight away electric. "...we are ready for both."



Bali said the company exports buses and construction equipment from India to South East Asia, ASEAN countries, Latin America, South Africa, Middle East and also France.

Noting that the company has two brands Volvo and Eicher, one top end and the other mainstream brand, he said, "we are trying to bring in UD brand for buses, which you will see very soon. UD comes under semi luxury category.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it will mobilise USD 1 billion by 2023 for financing solar energy projects in India.

The announcement was made at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) conference at Abu Dhabi.

In a release, the bank said it made an announcement for "mobilising USD 1 billion till 2023 and USD 5 billion till 2030 towards financing solar energy projects in India".

Yes Bank signed five solar energy co-financing Letters of Intent with Tata Power Delhi Distribution, Hero Future Energy, Greenko Group, Amplus Solar and Jakson Group for their solar projects in India to be completed by 2023.

The ISA was jointly launched in November 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then President of France Francois Hollande, on the sidelines of UNFCCC COP21 at Paris.

It is a treaty-based alliance of 121 prospective solar rich member nations and aims at accelerating development and deployment of solar energy globally.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
TOKYO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Bitcoin extended its sharp tumble of the past 24 hours, skidding more than seven percent on Wednesday in a rapid downturn in fortunes as investors were spooked by fears regulators might clamp down on an asset whose value has skyrocketed in the past year.

The price of the world's biggest and best known cryptocurrency fell to as low as $10,567 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, not far from its six-week nadir of $10,162 touched the previous day. The session's high was $11,794.07.

It led the fall in cryptocurrencies, although others such as Ethereum and Ripple, have also slid sharply this week after reports South Korea and China could ban trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.

"Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations," said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

At its lows on Tuesday, bitcoin had fallen 25 percent in the session, its biggest daily decline in four months. It was a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December, when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2000 percent over the year.

Tuesday's decline followed reports that South Korea's finance minister had said banning trading in cryptocurrencies was still an option and that the government plans a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

"Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn," said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.

"My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them."

Makoto Sakuma, analyst at Tokyo-based NLI Research Institute, said trading volumes had been low despite the volatility.

"I would say the strong rally in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies we saw last year is over," he said.

"But while the rally phase is over, I don't think it is right to say bitcoin is finished."

Bitcoin futures maturing on Wednesday on the Cboe Global Markets Inc's Cboe Futures Exchange were at $10,740, with 1,586 contracts traded, after having opened at $10,850. The open interest was 2,895 contracts. The Cboe 14 March 2018 contract was quoted at $11,130.

The futures are cash-settled contracts based on the auction price of bitcoin in U.S. dollars on the Gemini Exchange, which is owned and operated by virtual currency entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The MVIS CryptoCompare Ripple Index, which covers the performance of a digital assets portfolio which invests in Ripple (XRP), a cryptocurrency developed by Ripple Labs, dropped 15 percent to $7,298 on Wednesday.

That equity index has seen a 66 percent slide in its value since the start of the year. Ripple itself was quoted at $1.15 on website CoinMarketCap, down from a high of $3.81 on Jan 4.

"The run-up in bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand," Englander wrote.

"This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics."

(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano in TOKYO; Writing by Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

(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.)
By Jemima Kelly and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin slid as much as 18 percent on Tuesday to a four-week low, as worries about a regulatory crackdown on the market spread after reports suggested it was still possible that South Korea could ban trading in cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin's slide triggered a selloff across the broader cryptocurrency market, with biggest rival Ethereum down 23 percent on the day at one point, according to trade website Coinmarketcap, and the next biggest, Ripple, plunging by as much as a third.

Bitcoin traded as low as $11,191.59 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. In New York trading, it edged up to $12,078, but that was still down 11.2 percent, leaving it on track for its biggest one-day fall since September.

"With reports on a renewed crackdown on the cryptocurrency in China fueling anxiety over future restrictions, further losses could be on the cards (for bitcoin) in the near term," said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM in the UK.

"The sharp depreciation witnessed in bitcoin today should remind investors on how explosively volatile and unpredictable the cryptocurrency can be," he added.

South Korean website Yonhap reported that Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon had told a local radio station that the government would be coming up with a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

South Korea said on Monday its plans to ban virtual coin exchanges had not yet been finalised, as government agencies were still in talks to decide how to regulate the market.

FURTHER CHINA CRACKDOWN

That came amid that a senior Chinese central banker had said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies and prohibit individuals and businesses from providing related services.

China shut down exchanges operating on the mainland last year - a move that also sparked a selloff, though the market later recovered.

"It's mainly been regulatory issues which are haunting (bitcoin), with around South Korea's further crackdown on trading the driver today," said Think Markets chief strategist Naeem Aslam, who holds what he described as "substantial" amounts of bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

"But we maintain our stance. We do not think that the complete banning of cryptocurrencies is possible," he said.

Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a bumper year in 2017 as mainstream investors entered the market and as an explosion in so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) - digital token-based fundraising rounds - drove demand for bitcoin and Ethereum.

The latest tumble leaves bitcoin down around 40 percent from a record high near $20,000 hit in mid-December, wiping about $130 billion off its total market value - the unit price multiplied by the number of bitcoins that have been released into the market.

"From a technical standpoint, bitcoin is under pressure on the daily charts," said Otunuga. "The breakdown below $12,000 may encourage a further decline towards $11,000 and $10,000, respectively."

A director at Germany's central bank said on Monday that any attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies must be on a global scale as national or regional rules would be hard to enforce on a virtual, borderless community.

The latest plunge in the market came as wealth management firm deVere Group, which has $12 billion under advisement, said it was launching a cryptocurrency app that would allow users to store, transfer and exchange five of the biggest digital coins, citing "soaring global demand."

(Reporting by Jemima Kelly in London and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Frances Kerry)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain's Informa struck a deal to buy conference organiser UBM for 3.8 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) in cash and stock on Wednesday, forming a world-leading business events and exhibitions group worth 8 billion pounds.

The deal, which comes almost a decade after UBM tried to buy Informa, will give it greater scale and specialisation in events, the fastest growing part of its business, Informa said.

Informa owns the Lloyds List shipping newspaper and runs around 200 exhibitions a year, including Arab Health and Agrishow, while UBM counts Black Hat computer security events and Game Developers Conference among its 300-strong portfolio.

Informa's Chief Executive Stephen A. Carter said in an interview that such opportunities "don't come along very often".

Shareholders will receive 1.083 Informa shares for each UBM share and 163 pence in cash, valuing UBM at 964 pence a share, a 30 percent premium to the Jan. 15, closing price, Informa said.

The deal terms were outlined after the groups confirmed talks on Tuesday. Informa has until Feb. 13 to make a firm offer.

Shares in UBM were trading up 10 percent at 866.5 pence, while Informa was down 10 percent at 674 pence at 1100 GMT. At that price, its offer is worth 893 pence per UBM share.

Analysts at Citi said the proposed deal would increase Informa's organic growth rate and margins, assuming even modest synergies, as its exposure to events increases from around 35 percent of group revenue to almost 60 percent.

"One of the reasons that we have been less positive on Informa versus UBM is due to the business mix, with concerns over areas such as academic publishing and knowledge and networking."

Investec said it was a good deal for UBM, but it looked like Informa was paying a very full price, excluding synergies, and there were execution risks for its mid-term growth and margins.

UBM, which once had interests in newspapers and television, has focused in recent years on events, buying Advanstar Communications in 2014 and selling PR Newswire in 2016.

Informa, which also has academic publishing and business intelligence operations, has also built its events business in recent years. Global exhibitions revenue has grown from 160 million pounds in 2013 to more than 550 million pounds in 2017.

Carter, who will be chief executive of the new group, said the fit was better than in 2008 when UBM tried to buy Informa.

"We are now the bigger business by size, but the complementarity if anything has gone up," he said.
PHOENIX -- Rebuffing claims it will harm some low-income individuals, a Senate panel agreed Tuesday to increase the amount of liability insurance that motorists must purchase to drive on Arizona roads.

The 6-1 vote by members of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Technology came over the objections of Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, who said the more extensive coverage will increase costs.

"There are a lot of folks live paycheck to paycheck,'' he said. "There are people out there right now that are faced with either a permanent or probably a temporary situation where they have to choose between paying the electric bill or paying their mandatory insurance.''

The result of SB 1075, Farnsworth said, would be that more people would simply choose to flout the legal requirement to have liability insurance. And that, he said, would mean more motorists on state roads who have no insurance at all to compensate those they injure or whose property they damage.

But Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, said it is precisely those at the bottom of the income scale her measure is designed to help. She said these are the people with the least amount of personal resources to call on when they are injured or their car is totaled by someone else who does not have sufficient insurance to cover any damage.

Wednesday's vote in no way assures the measure will become law. Similar legislation was approved by the full Senate last year, only to be held up when Rep. David Livingston, R-Peoria, refused to give it a hearing in the House Banking and Insurance Committee that he chairs.

Current law requires motorists to carry so-called 15/30/10 liability insurance: $15,000 to cover injuries to any one person in an accident, $30,000 for all injuries from the same mishap, and $10,000 for property damage--normally what happens to the other motorist's vehicle.

Brophy McGee said those limits were enacted in 1972. She also said there was a presumption that they would be adjusted to keep pace with the cost of medical care and even the increasing price of vehicles.

That, however, has not happened, with the insurance industry in opposition amid concerns that the higher premiums will equal fewer people buying coverage.

Her measure would boost the minimum to $25,000 for injuries to one person, $50,000 for all injuries, and $25,000 for property damage.

David Childers, who lobbies for the Property and Casualty Insurance Association of America, argued that there's no reason to believe the higher limits are necessary. He cited figures showing that the average liability claim for injuries is about $13,700, as for property damage, Childers said the figure is in the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

But attorney Geoff Trachtenberg told lawmakers that said figure is misleading.

He said it represents the amounts for which a claim was settled. And, by definition, if someone has only $15,000 worth of insurance, the claim will settle within those limits.

Brophy McGee said actual figures gathered by the state Department of Transportation put the actual losses in a motor vehicle accident resulting in death in excess of $1.5 million. For other injuries, she said, the figure approaches $93,000.

And Brophy McGee said the typical property damage done exceeds $11,500 -- all more than what motorists need to carry.

Trachtenberg acknowledged the cost of increasing liability coverage to the new limits should be in the range of about $91 a year for motorists who now buy the minimum. But he said lawmakers should consider the trade-offs.

For example, he said, if at-fault motorists have more insurance, that will enable the health insurance companies of those they injure to recoup some of their costs from the at-fault motorist -- or at least that person's insurer. That includes the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which provides health coverage for those earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $28,700 for a family of three.

And Trachtenberg said if people have more insurance, it should lower the premiums for underinsured motorist coverage. That is optional insurance that motorists can buy to protect themselves if they are in an accident with someone whose coverage does not cover their full medical costs.

The measure now goes to the full Senate.
(Reuters) - Hindustan Unilever Ltd posted a 28 percent rise in its third-quarter profit on Wednesday, underpinned by higher sales from its personal care business.

Profit came in at 13.26 billion rupees ($207.64 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from 10.38 billion rupees a year ago, the diversified consumer goods maker said. http://bit.ly/2rl6Bw7

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 11.58 billion rupees, according to Thomson Eikon data.

Revenue from the company's personal care segment, which houses brands such as Vaseline and Dove, rose 2.8 percent to 4.09 billion rupees.

($1 = 63.8600 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jessica Kuruthukulangara in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian sugar processors have undermined their own margins in order to meet government mandates on when to pay cane farmers, which required them to sell supply onto the market at the same time they agreed to pay more for sugar cane.

India, the world's second-biggest sugar producer, requires the processors to pay cane farmers within two weeks of harvest. The mills agreed in May to pay the farmers 11 percent more for their cane for the 2017/18 marketing year, which started on Oct. 1.

Many mills struggled to raise funds from local banks to make the payments, said a senior official at the Sahyadri co-operative sugar factory based in Maharashtra.

This has caused some mills to have fallen behind on the payments by an estimated 20 billion rupees ($312 million), said a government official who declined to be named.

To meet the funding shortfall, mills boosted sugar sales which has caused the refined sugar market to drop by 13.1 percent to 3,189.50 rupees ($49.77) per 100 kg.

"The liquidity crunch forced a few mills to make distress sales. Sensing mills problems, traders also tried to bring down prices," said B.B. Thombre, president of the Western India Sugar Mills Association (WISMA).

The rapid decline in sugar prices means margins in the current year are likely to be lower than the previous year, said Narendra Murkumbi, managing director of Shree Renuka Sugars , the country's biggest refiner.

The mills agreed to pay the higher cane prices expecting stable refined sugar prices, but have been caught out by the slump.

The fall could slash profits for companies like Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, Shree Renuka, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries and Simbhaoli Sugars by at least 15 percent from a year ago, said a Mumbai-based sector analyst with a brokerage.

"Mills raw material cost has gone up, but prices of the finished product, sugar, are falling," said the analyst, who was not authorised to speak to media.

Simbhaoli Sugars said "it is difficult to comment on margins now", while Dwarikesh and Balrampur declined to comment, citing regulations that limit communications before quarterly results, due in the next few weeks.

Sugar prices may remain under pressure as the country's sugar output in the next season could rise above the record 28.3 million tonnes produced in 2014/15, said Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association.

"It is now difficult to pay the assured price to farmers unless government intervenes to support prices," said WISMA's Thombre.

The central government fixes the price that mills must pay growers annually, but some cane growing areas, especially the state of Uttar Pradesh, raise the price further to satisfy the demands of cane growers, a key voting bloc.

($1 = 64.09 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By John Revill and John Miller

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss secrecy could be rolled back further under a plan to eliminate a class of company share that can be used to help owners dodge taxes by hiding their identities.

The Swiss government, wary of being branded a tax avoidance pariah, said on Wednesday it was launching a public consultation on measures to convert anonymous bearer shares in private companies into registered shares which have owners' names attached.

Long seen as a haven for the wealthy to stash their money, Switzerland has already dismantled banking secrecy by agreeing to send information about customers' accounts to foreign tax agencies.

The new bearer share proposal, recommended by an OECD panel, aims to clamp down on tax avoidance by people using shell-companies to hold bearer shares. As those shares have no name attached, ownership can be concealed and even transferred with no documentation.

There are no estimates for how much tax income is lost this way. A global crack down on illegal tax avoidance has allowed tax authorities around the world to recover more than $85 billion over the last eight years, the OECD estimates.

The Swiss proposal would only apply to non publicly listed companies and not groups such as pharmaceutical company Roche or lift-maker Schindler that have historically used voting bearer shares to keep companies under the control of their founding families.

The proposed rules would carry financial penalties for companies that do not comply.

In 2015, Britain banned companies from issuing bearer shares and ordered companies that already had them to convert them into securities whose ownership can be documented. Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Austria and the United States have also passed laws restricting bearer shares in recent years.

An earlier Swiss attempt to tighten rules on bearer shares was judged inadequate by the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

"If Switzerland does not follow the recommendation, it can expect to be labelled 'non-conforming' in this area," according to a government report issued on Wednesday.

"That means Switzerland could achieve only a total rating of 'partial compliance' during the next review of whether it meets international standards of financial transparency."

In recent years, Switzerland says bearer shares have dwindled as companies voluntarily convert them into registered shares. Bearer shares now represent only 12 percent of the share capital of companies, down from 27 percent in 2014.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co said on Wednesday Chief Risk Officer Mike Loughlin will retire, and a successor will be appointed in the next few months.

Loughlin, a 36-year veteran at Wells Fargo, has been the chief risk officer since 2008 and had helped the bank navigate through the financial crisis.

He was one of the top executives at Wells Fargo whose 2016 bonus was withheld, as the lender looked to rebuild its reputation hurt by a sales scandal.

In September 2016, Wells Fargo reached a $190 million settlement with regulators for its employees creating phony bank and credit card accounts in customers' names without their permission.

The San Francisco-based company said last week it was not certain it had uncovered and fixed all problems related to the sales scandal.

Loughlin will remain in his current role through the transition, Wells Fargo said on Wednesday. http://reut.rs/2BaggFn

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

(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.)
On 21 September 2016, Government of India approved the merger of the Railway Budget with the Union budget of India, and thus came to end  a 92-year-old practice of separate rail and general budgets. The decision of merger was taken along with advancing the date of the Union Budget in the Parliament under the process of budgetary reforms taken up by the government.
A day after Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani committed Rs 5000 crore investment in West Bengal, Adani Group today said it would invest Rs 750 crore to double the capacity of the company's edible oil refinery at Haldia in West Bengal.

Announcing this at the second and last day of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) here, Pranav Adani of the Adani Group expressed interest to invest in port, agri and power sectors.

Adani said Rs 750 crore would be pumped in to double the capacity of the edible oil refinery at Haldia from 1600 tonne per day in the next five years.

Packaging would also be expanded from 1200 tonne to 1800 tonne.

Stating that they will also be exploring in the business of agri-logistics and warehousing in the state, Adani said the group wants to replicate Mundra port of Kutch in Bengal, given the opportunity.

The state government has been planning to develop two deep sea ports.

In power sector, Adani said, they are keen in offering their expertise in transmission and renewable energy.

West Bengal received investment proposals worth Rs 17,000 crore on the first day of BGBS from leading industrialists of the country.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in retail and petroleum outlets, while JSW Group Chief Sajjan Jindal said the state would receive investments worth Rs 10,000 crore in cement capacity expansion, steel, paints and power over the next 3-4 years.



with PTI inputs
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday lavished praise on the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying, "Didi, under your leadership, West Bengal is becoming the best Bengal." Ambani also unveiled an ambitious plan for his telecom company Reliance Jio in the eastern state.

"Our current Jio network covers 1,000 towns and nearly 39,000 villages in the state. Jio will reach 100 per cent of West Bengal's population by December 2018. Every last village will be covered by 4G technology. We are embarking on an ambitious project of connecting Bengal with optical fibre," Ambani said at the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit.

RIL Chairman also committed investments to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore in the state for non-Jio businesses in the next three years. The investment will be in businesses such as petroleum and retail.

Jio is aiming to connect every education institution and hospital in the state by December 2019. The group will launch the digital service centre in five districts of the state to facilitate digital entrepreneurs. Ambani said the group has prioritised the availability of 4G Jio phone in the state with effective zero cost.

The investment will also promote electronic industry by manufacturing mobile phones and set top boxes, Ambani said.

He said RIL has already pumped in Rs 15,000 crore in the telecom business in the state although it had earlier committed to invest Rs 4,500 crore.

"Didi, we could make this large investment only because you have created a friendly climate and an enabling policy infrastructure," he said, adding that RIL has emerged as one of the largest investors in Bengal.

Most of the investment has been made in creating fourth-generation high-speed mobile and internet network for Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of RIL.

Also, Reliance will work with "multiple partners to explore setting up next generation state-of-the-art electronics manufacturing facilities and make West Bengal the hub for innovation and hi-tech technologies for consumer devices such as mobile phones, set-top boxes, and other devices", he said.

Starting in 2015 through a public Wi-Fi Experience Zone in Park Street, Jio has enmassed over 1.2 crore customers in the state, Ambani said.

He said the digital economy will bring prosperity at more than double the speed of the traditional economy.

While Jio will reach 100 per cent of state population before the end of 2018, it is "embarking on an ambitious project of connecting Bengal with Optic Fibre", he said.

Also, Reliance is setting up Digital Service Centres across India to bring Government to Citizen (G2C) services within easy reach of every citizen, particularly in the rural hinterland.

It will give birth to digital entrepreneurs in villages and small towns, kick-start e-commerce and support agriculture as well as small and medium enterprises.

Ambani said Bengal has said goodbye to the slow growth rate of the past and today is the fourth largest state economy in India, growing at 15.64 per cent, much higher than the national average.

"Investments in infrastructure have been unprecedented. A global think-tank ranked Kolkata second among the Indian metros on overall economic performance, even ahead of Mumbai," he said. "Today, the state is famous for the ease of doing business! A miracle has happened."

Stating that Bengal today means business, he said the state has adopted "a positive mind-set that can make the impossible possible."

The business summit is being attended by a host of prominent industrialists including L N Mittal of Arcelor Mittal, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, Kishor Biyani of Future group, Uday Kotak, the head of Kotak group and Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka group.

with PTI inputs


This morning, Bitcoin was down 17 per cent , Ethereum was down 21 per cent, Litecoin had dropped 20 per cent and Ripple a whopping 30 per cent. And that's just in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency market has been in the red for a few days now, following news reports of regulatory crackdown in South Korea and China.

The price of the world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency fell to as low as $10,567 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, not far from its six-week nadir of $10,162 touched the previous day. At its lows on Tuesday, Bitcoin had fallen 25 per cent in the session, its biggest daily decline in four months. That's a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December, when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2000per cent over the year.

"Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations," said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design. The latest tumble in digital currency prices came about after South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a radio program interview that "the shutdown of virtual currency exchanges is still one of the options" open to the government, which is planning a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze. Given that South Korea is the world's third largest market for cryptocurrencies after the US and Japan, anything that happens there is sure to have global repercussions.

China, the first to start clamping down on the cryptocurrency market, meanwhile is reportedly planning to tighten screws further. Last year, Chinese regulators banned initial coin offerings, shut down local cryptocurrency trading exchanges and limited bitcoin mining. But activity in the cryptocurrency and bitcoin space has continued through alternative channels in China despite the crackdown. China is, in fact, one of the world's biggest sources of cryptocurrency mining.

According to a memo outlining details of discussions at a meeting of internet regulators and other policymakers last week, People's Bank of China Vice-Governor Pan Gongsheng has said that national and local authorities should ban venues that provide centralized trading of virtual currencies, of which bitcoin is the biggest. They also need to ban individuals or institutions that provide market-making activities, guarantees, or settlement services for centralized trading of the currencies, such as online "wallet" service providers. The senior banker further proposed that authorities should work to end the practice of cryptocurrency mining. Local governments could use regulations around electricity prices, land use, tax and environmental protection to guide businesses involved in such activities "toward an orderly exit".

This does not bode well for the cryptocurrency market, in the near future at least. However, is it reason enough to panic?

Analysts point out that the pullback seems to be coming from a lack of buyers in Asia, particularly the main markets of Japan and South Korea, which last year were reportedly accountable for approximately 74per cent of global bitcoin trades. Due to high local demand, cryptocurrencies trade at a significant premium in these countries-20 per cent-30 per cent more per coin. Perhaps the buyers have wisened up and are biding their time to buy in once the market evens out.

However, Indian investors need to remember that Bitcoin is not considered a legal tender in India. The government has made it clear that it has not given license to any agency for working as exchange, and has already set up a committee to formally suggest ways to regulate trade of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

with Reuters inputs
Chicago Tribune

In 2001, following massive earthquakes that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million in El Salvador, the United States made room for people who had come here illegally fleeing the catastrophe. It was an act of generosity taken by President George W. Bush under a federal program known as temporary protected status. Some 200,000 people took advantage of the offer to live and work legally in this country.

On Monday, 17 years later, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen announced that the Salvadorans who were accommodated will be required to end their stays in the U.S. The original conditions caused by the 2001 earthquakes no longer exist, the Department of Homeland Security said. Thus, under the applicable statute, the current TPS designation must be terminated.

Put simply, she understands that temporary is not a synonym for permanent. The change follows similar determinations on people who have come here from Haiti (after a 2010 earthquake) and Nicaragua (after a 1998 hurricane). In each case, the emergency that precipitated mass flight has abated, but the status has been repeatedly renewed.

Critics of the latest decision regard it as cruel. Kevin Appleby of the Center for Migration Studies said it will uproot families and children who have lived here for years. Adrian Reyna of United We Dream said these people will be forced from the place theyve called home for nearly two decades.

These complaints confirm the proverb that no good deed goes unpunished. The United States had no obligation to take in these unfortunates, but it did so  on the understanding, made clear both to the people of El Salvador and the people of America, that they would eventually return home. Eventually, in this case, turns out to be far longer than anyone could have anticipated.

Panic is not in order. Under the terms announced by DHS, no one would have to leave until next year. And Mark Silverman, a lawyer for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, told The New York Times that anyone arrested after losing TPS is entitled to a deportation hearing  which gives them at least seven to 10 years because immigration courts are so overloaded.

We dont blame anyone who would prefer to live in this country rather than the places they left. But TPS was not meant to be, and shouldnt be, a way to admit immigrants or refugees who are covered by other programs. It was meant to allow the rescue of foreigners in dire, immediate need until the emergency has passed. The nature of that trade-off is that people who have made homes here will be obligated to leave them in due course.

Those denouncing the decision have a point when they warn that many of the beneficiaries will not go home but will stay in the United States, becoming unauthorized immigrants. If thats the case, it will provide fuel to anti-immigration advocates who would rather scrap TPS entirely. But we expect that many if not most of those who lose their protected status will comply with the law.

Those who oppose the change have a point in saying that, even though these countries have largely overcome the original disasters that caused the U.S. to offer help, they remain poor, chaotic and dangerous. Thats not a reason to extend TPS forever, but its a reason for Congress to take a close look at whether these foreigners should be allowed to stay.

The controversy is a reminder that our elected leaders should be hard at work on a comprehensive measure to reform our laws to balance the American tradition of accepting immigrants with the need for reasonable controls on the volume and type. If Congress favors permanent legal status for the people affected by DHS decisions, it can pass legislation to accomplish that.

Stretching the TPS program far beyond its primary purpose has been a convenient alternative to hammering out a sound consensus on policy. But it has gone on long enough.
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Mukesh Ambani to invest Rs 5000 cr in West Bengal

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani lavished praise on the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, unveiling an ambitious plan for his telecom company Reliance Jio in the eastern state. He hopes that Jio will reach 100 per cent of West Bengal's population by December 2018. RIL Chairman also committed investments to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore in the state for non-Jio businesses in the next three years. The investment will be in businesses such as petroleum and retail. Ambani was speaking at the Global Business Summit in Kolkata yesterday

Patanjali ties up with 8 leading e-tailers

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's company will be signing agreements with eight leading e-tailers and aggregators - Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, 1MG, Bigbasket, Grofers, Shopclues and Snapdeal. The brand already reaches nearly 53% households in personal care and 26% in food products - up nearly 100% from a year ago - online shoppers have often been left disappointed with various products being "out of stock". All this will change with the new online partners coming on board. Ramdev has also said that Patanjali Ayurved Ltd will be turned into a non-profit entity and will not be listed on the stock exchanges.

Unrefined gold imports rise to a record high in 2017, up 80% to 213 tonnes

India's import of unrefined gold rose in 2017 by 80 per cent from the previous year to 213 tonnes. This has been the highest ever according to GFMS Thomson Reuters. Unrefined gold import began six years earlier, after a rise in the import duty on gold. Half the new capacities were built in states which announced excise tax exemptions like Uttarakhand and Himachal. GFMS data shows much of the total import in 2017 happened three to four months ahead of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was expected to take away state-specific excise exemptions.



Bitcoin sees highest one-day fall in 3 years

Bitcoin faced the biggest one-day fall in three years with 18 per cent drop in selloffs across the market amid reports of the South Korean government launching a series of measures to regulate the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin's competitor cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Ripple also tumbled 23 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively. Reuters reported the Bitcoin took the dip after South Korea's Finance Minister Kim Dong-yong said his government was planning to clamp down on the "irrational" virtual currency.

HUL served notice by anti-profiteering body

Government's anti-profiteering body, set up to monitor whether or not firms were passing on benefits of the goods and services tax (GST) to consumers, has sent a notice to HUL. The notice to HUL is the sixth such notice issued by the Directorate General of Safeguards. The development comes even as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and information technology (IT) sectors have decided to move the high courts in Delhi and Mumbai seeking more clarity on the clause under the GST.



Centre ends Haj subsidy, says will use funds to empower minorities

Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that there will be no Haj subsidy from this year. The minister added that the funds will now be used for educational empowerment of women and girls from the minority community. Naqvi told reporters that despite this withdrawal, a record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage from India this year. Naqvi had said a while back that Centre would abolish this subsidy in accordance to a Supreme Court order. The Centre had formed a six-member committee to look into the issue of reducing and abolishing the subsidy by 2022.

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The GST Council is scheduled to meet today for the 25th time. Ahead of the meet, it has been reported that the Council may bring down taxes on as many as 70 goods. According to a report in the Business Standard, the GST Council is likely to rationalise the tax rates of about 70 items, of which at least 40 are services. "Around 40 to 50 services will be taken up for a rate revision in the Council meeting. These are services that were earlier exempt but were taxed under the GST regime," the business daily quoted an official as saying.

Apart from this, the Council is also expected to rationalise taxes of agriculture implements and unconventional fuel buses. The report suggests that the agriculture implements that are currently taxed up to 18 per cent may come under 12 or 5 per cent bracket.

This will be the second biggest tax rationalisation after GST roll out. In November, the Council had brought down taxes on over 200 goods. As many as 178 items of daily use were shifted from the top tax bracket of 28 per cent to 18 per cent. The move, however, cost the exchequer dearly as following months GST collections declined.

Last year in August, the Council had slashed the tax on some tractor parts from 28 per cent to 18 per cent. In tomorrow's meeting, the Council may take up compliance issue and could come up with a single stage return filing to smoothen the procedures for small and medium enterprises. After the introduction of single form filing, the traders/firms will have to file just 12, down from 37. Currently, there are three return forms: GSTR1, GSTR2 and GSTR3.

The Council could also discuss the inclusion of real estate under GST. According to reports, the Council could put real estate sector under 12 per cent bracket and it may also subsume stamp duty and registration charges. "Discussion of real estate inclusion in GST is the key agenda of the GST Council which is scheduled to meet on January 18th," news agency ANI quoted an official as saying.

The Confederation of Indian Industry or CII in a statement issued on Tuesday urged the government to bring oil and natural gas under the GST. As of now, crude oil, natural gas, diesel, petrol and aviation turbine fuel have not been included in the new taxation system.

Last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Rajya Sabha that the Centre was ready to bring petroleum products under GST but it would want a consensus with the states before taking such a step. Days after Jaitley's statement, industry body Assocham said that the consensus with states on inclusion of petroleum would never emerge as they and the Centre were over-dependent on the sector for revenue collection.

"Realistically speaking both the Centre and States have been over-depending on petroleum sector for their revenue collection. Collectively, they impose over 100-130 per cent taxes on petrol and diesel," Assocham said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit tomorrow, as he will breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select captains of the industry, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj hotel in south Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu after which the Maharashtra chief minister will be hosting a lunch for the Israeli premier and the visiting delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House, during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai yesterday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city earlier had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities -- Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj hotel.
In line with Anil Ambani's plan for making the new Reliance Communications (Rcom) "India's largest B2B business", his company is betting big on submarine cables. Yesterday, RCom's wholly-owned subsidiary Global Cloud XChange (GCX) announced plans to build a 68,000-km undersea cable network at a cost of $600 million to carry data to Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Called Eagle, this will reportedly be the company's sixth submarine cable system, and is expected to treble GCX's revenue in five years. It will also increase its total capacity by 10 times as against the current capacity.

"We will be building the world's largest submarine cable, replacing our existing cable system," said Bill Barney, GCX chairman and CEO, who is also RCom's CEO. The proposed cable system, which will connect Mumbai with Italy to the West and Hong Kong in the East, is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2020 and will have a revenue potential of $1 billion per year from 2025. According to media reports, the project's European leg will be completed first.

According to Barney, like previous GCX systems, the new cable will be financed by partners-possibly as many as 30-and the company expects to get over $700 million through such pre-sales, which is more than the project's cost. It has already tied up with six partners, including Alibaba, for the cable and raised $300 million in commitments, he added.

"The Cloud and Fiber initiative is our response to the key requirements in the global marketplace, driven by the explosive growth in Cloud and infrastructure programs by enterprises around the world," said Barney. The company expects a spurt in IT and telecom activity in the country over the next five to 10 years, which is why it is betting on the cable business.

Though RCom's enterprise business, including GCX, is still small-"only 10-15 per cent of the overall business"-it has done "very well in the past three-four years". The CEO added that "It will match up to not only with players in the Indian market but with overseas players as well...The challenge was we were actually setting up an enterprise business while we were taking down our wireless company...it's not easy." To remind you, late last month, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd bought RCom's wireless assets for reportedly Rs 23,000 crore.

The Eagle express cable system will create a NextGeneration IP and Cloud environment across the emerging markets corridor that encompasses the Middle East into Europe, as well as the large economies of China, India and Indonesia. Based on state-of-the-art 100G technology, the new cable network will be four/six fiber pair systems, with an initial design capacity of 12-24Tbps per fiber pair, using Next-Generation coherent submarine fiber.

GCX had first announced its "Cloud and Fiber Initiative" and plans for Eagle in November 2017. "Nearly half the world's population is reachable within a short distance from India's borders, giving India a strategic edge in the new digital era," Barney had said at the time. "The Cloud and Fiber Initiative levels the playing field for India's tech companies to compete in the new digital order and to play a pivotal role in the anticipated hyper growth of technology expansion across the Emerging Markets Corridor." He had also claimed that the Eagle would not only be the fastest Mumbai to Hong Kong route, avoiding the outage-prone Malacca Strait, but also the fastest submarine route between India and key technology centres across the Middle East and Europe.

RCom's latest move is certainly well-timed. According to Alan Mauldin, Research Director, TeleGeography, "Demand for international bandwidth connected to Asian countries is expected to increase over 10-fold between 2017 and 2023 and bandwidth linking Europe to Middle East and Asian countries is forecasted to increase seven-fold during the same period."

With PTI inputs
Four hundred and thirty four days after demonetisation, Rs 97 crore in banned notes were unearthed in a joint raid by the UP police and National Investigation Agency (NIA). There was a bed of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were demonetised on November 8, 2016. This is the biggest confiscation of old notes since the currency ban in 2016.

"Kanpur police has unearthed huge amount of old currency notes from a locked house. Negotiators who promised to get it exchanged were also arrested. As per the estimate, the seized currency is expected to be in the range of Rs 80 crore," a police officer had initially told PTI.

#WATCH Police seized demonetized currency worth crores from a residential premises in Kanpur. pic.twitter.com/Hh7sLrWwoG - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

"Received information of presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur. Raid was conducted, RBI and I-T dept officials informed, final amount not ascertained as search and counting underway, questioning on," AK Meena, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kanpur told ANI.

"We are looking if there was any involvement of government officers," police sources told PTI.

Sixteen people were arrested, including a noted builder, and a professor. Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Meena said today that Rs 95 crore belonged to Anand Khatri, the builder, and over a dozen others owned the remaining amount.

Following a tip-off, the SSP formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover. They caught four men involved in conversion of illegal money, who tried to mislead the police, before breaking down and confessing.

Once the builder was caught, he led to the site where the notes were stored. They had stores huge amounts of demonetised notes in gunny bags and kept them at the builder's ancestral home.

Police also raided three hotels from where 11 people were arrested.

The arrested were identified as Anand Khatri, builder, Santosh Yadav, professor, key liasioner Mohit Dhingra, Sanjay Agarwal, Manish Agarwal - all residents of Kanpur, Koteshwar Rao from Andhra Pardesh, Sanjay Kumar from Varanasi, Anil Yadav from Saharanpur, Santosh Pathak and Sanjay Rai both from Mirzapur, Ram Asrey, Dhirendra, Sanjeev Agarwal, Omkar Yadav, Ali Husain, and a woman from Andhar Pardesh whose identity was not immediately known.

(With agency inputs)
India is at the crossroad of a big change in the mobility market and Maruti Suzuki is the front runner. As concerns over climate change grow, the focus has also shifted towards an environment friendly solution that's in sync with changing trend in the auto industry. India, one of the biggest polluters in the world, is aiming for 100 per cent electric mobility in the country by 2030. And being an industry leader, Maruti Suzuki, which revolutionised the auto industry in India in 80s, has big plans to retain its dominance over the Indian auto market. The company is gearing up to launch its first electric car in India by 2020, besides working on hybrid and premium category vehicles. Challenges are there but company CEO Kenichi Ayukawa says it's time to bring a change, which is not possible without the support of people and government of India.

Ayukawa, during an interview with Business Today, said the company would gradually proceed towards hybrid and micro-hybrid cars in India. "Things don't change in one day, it's not possible. But we need to continuously keep on improving efficiency by bringing in technology that's environment friendly. One idea we are focusing on is hybrid."

On asking how long will it take for the company to have at least an electric variant just like petrol and diesel cars, Ayukawa says: "Though there's no demand right now, it may take 10 or 20 years, depending on how people adopt the technology."

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman RC Bhargava last month had said affordability was a major challenge that EVs would face and for them to be successful, focus had to be on manufacturing of batteries and other components within the country to bring down cost. So can this disruption stunt India's growth as a car market? "That will depend on market because the government is not forcing this on people, they have decide whether to adopt electric cars or not," says Ayukawa, acknowledging that setting up the lithium ion battery plant in Gujarat is a step in right direction.

Will the company ever focus on premium category cars for India? Ayukawa says as the demand for higher segment cars are increasing, the company is also coming up with products like Maruti Suzuki Nexa and Arena. Interestingly, auto major Toyota and Suzuki signed a partnership in November 2017 to work in areas of new technology and component sharing. On what roles Toyota and Suzuki are going to play under this new deal, Ayukawa says the company is working on a strategy to work with Toyota on building future cars for India.

Despite being in an impregnable position, Maruti and Ayukawa are not taking things for granted. The advent of electric mobility is set to challenge industry norms. Maruti cannot remain insulated from the potential disruption. In fact, as a market leader, it may be more vulnerable than others. Ayukawa admits that Suzuki is relatively weak in this area than many other global manufacturers. But he says the company will do all it takes to find a solution.

Currently, the carmaker accounts for about half of all cars sold in India. Maruti Suzuki, with stock price of over Rs 9,300, is only behind market heavyweights like Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC Bank and ITC when it comes to market capitalization.
Indian auto enthusiasts have high hopes from the Auto Expo 2018 on account of the new launches the event promises. Premium carmakers are expected to turn up at the car show, including names which have already garnered substantial attention. Considering there are many budget offerings, it is a good event for buyers to track.

Not only popular companies like Maruti Suzuki, who is planning to showcase 18 cars, there are new entrants in the industry that can bring a serious competition in the automobile sector. Kia being one of them is expected to showcase an extensive line-up of cars ranging from practical hatchbacks to flamboyant, high performance cars like the Stinger.

Kia is still one year away from launching thier first commercial car in India. Indian buyers, on the other hand, will be on the look out for cars launching this year.

Below are the cars under Rs 10 lakh that are likely to be showcased at the Auto Expo 2018:

New Maruti Suzuki Swift

Probably the most awaited car this year, the next-generation Maruti Suzuki Swift will be introduced in the Indian markets at the Auto Expo 2018. The most notable change with the car is a new design language, and a reformed face. Also, the new Swift is based on the HEARTECT platform which makes the car lighter and stronger.

The engine options will be kept unchanged, though. The new Swift will be powered by the same 1.2-litre K-series petrol engine, and 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine, seen on the outgoing model. Both the engines on the new Maruti Suzuki Swift are expected to be coupled with a five-speed manual gearbox. The company might even launch other variants with CVT automatic transmission.

A sportier RS variant of the new Swift is also on the cards, with the 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine, which currently runs the Baleno.

Maruti Suzuki Ciaz facelift

The Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is expected to show up at the Auto Expo 2018 in a new avatar. This will be the mid-life facelift for the sole offering from the market leader in the mid-size sedan segment. The test mules spotted by far indicate substantial cosmetic changes in the car.

The new Ciaz, however, is likely to keep the existing 1.4-litre K-series VVT petrol and 1.3-litre SHVS diesel engine options. Maruti Suzuki will reportedly keep the interiors unchanged too. The suspension and steering might be tweaked, without changing rest of the mechanicals.

The new Maruti Suzuki Ciaz will be pitted against the Hyundai Verna, which recently got a cheaper variant, and Honda City.

Maruti Suzuki ConceptFutureS

Maruti Suzuki is planning to introduce its ConceptFutureS at the Auto Expo 2018 to cater to the growing love of Indians for SUVs, and introduce an aggressive look to its hatchbacks. The new design language brings SUV-like design to hatchback cars 'to delight customers in the compact car space'. The design language will deviate from the usual proportions of a compact car, Maruti Suzuki has claimed.

Design elements revealed so far show an upright stance, higher seating and ground clearance, and a horizontal hood, similar to what is usually seen on SUVs.

Maruti Suzuki Ertiga

Maruti Suzuki could bring out the facelift for Ertiga in the Auto Expo 2018. The test mules spotted on Indian raods suggets that the car will be based on the new HEARTECT platform which promises lighter yet stronger body. The new Swift will also be based on the same platform.

While changes in the looks of the car are to be expected, the engine and transmission options are likely to remain the same as the outgoing model.

Hyundai Elite i20

Hyundai will be coming to the Auto Expo 2018 with a facelift version of the Elite i20. The test mules spotted so far reveal an updated front end with a changed bumper, single-piece cascading grille, and new fog lamp enclosures that will get LED DRLs. The rear end of the car has been tweaked too with new LED taillights.

The engine options are likely to be kept unchanged, with the same 1.2-litre and 1.4-litre petrol engines, or the 1.4-litre diesel engine powering the Elite i20 facelift. Hyundai, however, might offer a CVT variant with 1.2-litre petrol engine to challenge the Maruti Suzuki Baleno.

Hyundai Santro!?

Hyundai is planning to replace its budget offering Eon this year, and the substitute could be unveiled at the Auto Expo 2018. Now, this could either be an Eon facelift, or the Hyundai Santro might be making a comeback. Test mules of a small Hyundai car were spotted recently, which might make its way to the Auto Expo 2018.

The spotted test vehicle showed a few Santro-like design elements, like the familiar 'tallboy' design, featuring large rear and side windows and more space inside. The body dimensions might also have been increased.

While there is no official confirmation, reports suggest that it will be an 800cc, 1.0-litre petrol engine will run the Hyundai Santro reboot. The smaller engine might be coupled with the segment-first full automatic transmission, and an AMT option.

Tata X451

With the premium hatchback segment heating up, Tata Motors will be introducing a car in the category at the Auto Expo 2018. Codenamed X451, the car will be placed above Tiago, and compete against market favourites Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Hyundai Elite i20.

The Tata X451 will be the first car to be based on company's Advanced Modular Platform (AMP). Tata intends to use this platform for all its small cars in the future. It will be designed around next-stage of Impact design language. The Tiago, Tigor and Nexon, that allowed Tata's auto sales to bounce back, were designed on the first level of the same design language.

Next-gen Honda Amaze

Honda will stake its claim in the bustling compact sedan segment with the global launch of the next-generation Honda Amaze at the Auto Expo 2018. Reports suggest that the new Honda Amaze will borrow design elements from the Honda City, and come with a revised platform conforming to the stringent safety regulations.

The engines driving the new Honda Amaze will be same 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel motors, which does duty on the outgoing model, coupled with the same five-speed manual transmission and CVT. Changes in the central console and the interiors are to be expected, with extra space. Its direct competitor will be the new Swift Dzire, which has replaced Alto as the top-selling car last year.

Renault Kwid-based compact SUV

The aggressive styling of the Renault Kwid will be put to better use with a SUV based on the same design language as the hatchback. The compact SUV will be based on Common Module Platform A (CMF-A) which has been seen on the Kwid, and will be seen on several upcoming cars from the French carmaker.

Apart from the compact SUV, Renault plans to launch compact sedan and station wagons on the CMF-A platform. The sub-four meter car will compete against the likes of Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Hyundai Creta and Tata Nexon.

Mahindra S201

Known for its full size SUVs, Mahindra has been trying for some time to venture into the growing compact SUV segment. The carmaker might showcase a car based on the Ssangyong Tivoli at the Auto Expo 2018. Codenamed S201, Mahindra is reportedly planning to launch a compact and a stretched variant of the car.

The smaller version will compete against the Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Hyundai Creta and Tata Nexon, whereas the longer one will be pitted against the Renault Duster and the like. The expected engine options are a 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The company may even bring the bigger 1.6-litre mFalcon engine to the compact SUV in coming days.
The following statement was recently posted on the Logan City School Districts <a href=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2012995458983895&id=1603501973266581 target=_blank>Facebook page</a>. The statement is a response to the ongoing debate regarding the districts decision to sell valuable pieces of original art. The 11 pieces of historic art are scheduled to be <a href=http://www.davidericson-fineart.com/current-exhibition/ target=_blank>auctioned off on January 31, 2018</a>.

<em>The recent news coverage of the Logan City School District Board of Education decision to auction a number of paintings has resulted in several questions that have been directed to the District. Here is some background information that we hope clarifies the Districts current course of action.</em>

<em>When the remodel of Logan High School began the Board of Education secured all artwork in the building that the district was aware of. This was done in order to prevent damage and loss during construction. The artwork was stored in multiple locations at the high school and District Office.</em>

<em>In January of 2017 the Board and District Administration were attempting to determine how to appropriately care for a large Minerva Teichert painting the District owns. Due to the size and value of the painting, it was determined that there was a not a location in the District to appropriately display it. The costs of repair and conservation of the painting were also cost prohibitive for the District. It was at that time that we began conversations with the Utah Capitol Preservation Board to determine whether they could help with the preservation of the artwork. It was through those conversations that it was decided to place the painting on loan at the state capitol, and the Capitol Preservation Board would assume the significant cost of restoring and conserving the painting.</em>

<em>At the same time, the District commissioned an appraisal of the artwork we had at Logan High. It was through this process that we became aware of the monetary value of several of the paintings. Many of the paintings in the Districts collection were of comparatively little monetary value when they were originally acquired by the district. Over time, the value of several paintings has increased to the point where the character of the collection has changed from what it originally was. It has transformed into a collection that includes some work by artists who have become renowned with time.</em>

<em>An inventory of the artwork had been conducted in 2000, but that inventory did not include an appraisal of value of the artwork. After receiving the appraisal report, the District reached out to a number of individuals in the fine art community to seek feedback on possible approaches to caring for the artwork. Some of the paintings in question have been damaged over time due to inappropriate display and storage, and vandalism. Many of these pieces of art are museum quality pieces, and because of their historical and monetary value, the Board of Education believes the paintings merit conservation and secure display options. Over the course of multiple conversations it was determined that the cost of providing these options made the ongoing possession by the District impractical.</em>

<em>Once that decision was made the District Administration began investigating how that process would be managed. Our conversations with individuals in the art community led us to believe it was unlikely that an individual museum would willing to purchase all of the paintings in question, although a number of philanthropic foundations in the state were in the habit of purchasing art collections with the intent of preserving public access to the artwork. It has been suggested that the District could donate the artwork to a museum. The District Administration determined that although that would preserve the integrity of the collection, the donation of the entire collection to an outside entity would provide no benefit to the current students of the District. After thoughtfully considering the input received from the individuals the District consulted, the decision was made to sell some of the highest-value paintings at auction. Out of forty-two paintings, eleven were selected to be sold. The remaining thirty-one paintings would be displayed in our schools and continue to represent the artistic heritage of the Cache Valley community.</em>

<em>The District has never authorized the release of artwork to local goodwill organizations, including Desert Industries.</em>

<em>The course of action taken by the District allows the artwork to be preserved, and ensures it is placed in the care of individuals and organizations who are able and willing to care for it appropriately. The District is in the process of creating high quality reproductions of these paintings for display in our schools, which will allow students to still become familiar with the artwork and artists in question.</em>

<em>Selling these selected pieces of art provides funds that may be used in two possible ways. First, the funds allow the District to restore and conserve the other pieces of art that remain in the Districts possession. Secondly, the funds will be used to create an endowment to provide supplemental education and cultural experiences for students who would be otherwise unable to access those experiences. Participation in national art competitions, scholarships to allow students to travel to Washington D.C. and participate in the Close Up program, and travel to national music festivals can all be supported through an endowment, based on proceeds from the sale of these paintings. These funds will be accessed through an application process overseen by our District Foundation.</em>

<em>The potential sale of the artwork was discussed in multiple open Board meetings, and each of those meetings, including the agenda, was advertised in accordance with our standard practices.</em>

<em>The Logan City School District administration and Board of Education appreciate the historical and monetary value of the artwork that is currently in the Districts possession. We recognize it is the result of the effort and care of several individuals who acquired the artwork over time. The District will continue to proceed in a manner that allows us to demonstrate appreciation for the artwork, appropriately care for the paintings, and fulfill our stewardship to the students of the Logan City School District.</em>

<em>We appreciate the feedback that has been shared with us, both in favor of and in opposition to the Boards current course of action. Our communitys engagement is a source of strength to our schools, and we value the ongoing conversations between the Board of Education, District Administration, and our patrons.</em>
Chicago Tribune

In 1938, Orson Welles panicked the nation with a false alarm about a Martian invasion in the radio broadcast The War of the Worlds. That was far-fetched, of course. But what happened on Saturday, sadly, was not so hard to imagine  or believe.

Authorities sent an emergency alert to cellphones in Hawaii: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

The possibility that a missile or missiles would land hung in the air for 38 minutes. Thats 38 long minutes while people sought shelter and reached out to relatives. We imagine some wondered if theyd ever hear the voices of their loved ones again.

Thankfully, it was a false alarm.

In calmer times, such an alert might have been shrugged off by many people as a relic of the Cold War. Someone pushed the wrong button. No biggie.

Many Americans may believe this nation is 50 years past such dire alerts. When a cellphone blares with an alert, people brace for bad weather. A tornado. A thunderstorm. Not a nuclear attack.

But a new nuclear threat looms. This time, from a North Korean dictator trading threats and insults with President Donald Trump. Whats real? Whats political theater? Whats empty bluster for domestic audiences? We dont know.

We do know that Hawaiians arent the only ones in range of a potential North Korea strike. Washington, D.C., is also likely in range, or soon will be. New York, too. And of course, Chicago.

In December, for the first time in more than three decades, a warning siren sounded across Hawaii as officials tested a system that could alert residents that a nuclear missile launched by North Korea was headed their way. Hawaiians now watch TV ads to prepare them for the worst, warning them to get inside, stay inside if an attack seems imminent. Shades of the 1950s-60s duck-and-cover drills in American classrooms.

Saturdays false alarm may be quickly forgotten. But a terrible thought lingers: The next warning could be real.
| BY Ricki Green |

BMFs executive planning director on her many passions, the agencys recent successes and her hopes for the year ahead.

Christina Aventi has a contagious fascination with branding and marketing. That much is clear to anyone whos seen her analyse commercials on advertising-focused comedy panel show Gruen. Its clear to anyone whos watched her acceptance speech from the 2017 Effie Awards, where BMF won Effective Agency of the Year, and its clear to anyone whos taken a moment to appreciate the strategic insights that drove some of BMFs most successful campaigns since she became the agencys Executive Planning Director in 2015.

LBBs Alex Reeves caught up with Christina to indulge her nerdy passion for the industry she works in and find out what else motivates her.

LBB: How did you end up as a planner? Was advertising an interest of yours growing up? Or did you learn to love it?
| BY Ricki Green |

Dentsu Aegis Network agencies, The Story Lab and Carat have partnered with Pedestrian.TV to unlock instant rewards for beachgoers in a series of pop-up activations for Mastercard Debit Rewards.

Designed to spread the word and drive awareness of Mastercards Australian-first debit rewards program amongst their Millennial audience in a unique and authentic way, the distinctive, personalised beachside activations have injected a bit of fun into the punters everyday.

Against the striking backdrops of Sydneys Cronulla Beach and Melbournes St Kilda Beach, and incorporating the larger-than-life vision of artist George Rose, beachgoers were given the opportunity to physically unlock a wealth of instant rewards from one of four vintage school lockers.

From beach games and sunnies, to Event Cinema tickets, Crust Pizza vouchers and Xbox gaming codes, each reward was guaranteed to make the recipients day just a little bit better, whilst directing them to access even more rewards and offers through the Mastercard Debit Rewards program online.

The activations are a part of a broader campaign with Pedestrian.TV, including video content and an editorial series that marries the passions of the audience with the exclusive rewards anchored to these.

Says Namita Sopal, group business director, The Story Lab: Mastercards new and innovative debit rewards program is designed with the Millennial audience in mind; for which experiences of being rewarded can seem few and far between. In order to excite them about the product, we needed to inject that joyful feeling in their everyday  and their Instagram feeds. Our beachside activations have done just that.

Says Sarah Pike, head of marketing and communications, Mastercard Australasia: This campaign was built with our audiences key passions in mind. This gave us the licence to have a lot of fun. Together, with our agency partners The Story Lab and Carat, and media partner Pedestrian.TV, were getting Mastercard Debit Rewards on their radar in a really exciting way.

Says James McManus, head of creative projects, Pedestrian.TV: These pop-ups are all about mobilising and gamifying Mastercard Debit Rewards, stretching out to unexpected summer hubs and giving young beach goers a big smile and a taste of the ultimate freebies they can score for sticking with Mastercard.

Mastercard Debit Rewards is the first rewards program in Australia giving Debit Mastercard cardholders access to special offers and experiences just for doing what they are already doing  making purchases with their Debit Mastercard.

Client Brand  Mastercard

Franziska Pranke, Manager Consumer Marketing, Mastercard

Sarah Pike, Head of Marketing & Comms, Australasia, Mastercard

The Story Lab

Claire Booth, Content Partnerships Senior Manager, The Story Lab

Namita Sopal, Group Business Director, The Story Lab

Carat & Amplifi

Anna Fraser- Snr Ecosystem Planning Executive

Laura Boatman  Media Investment Director

Pedestrian.TV

Kylie OConnell, Creative Projects Manager, Pedestrian.TV
| BY Lynchy |

BBDO Asia has appointed Andrew Chu as Executive Creative Director of BBDO Vietnam.

Chu (pictured right) joins BBDO from GREYnJ United in Bangkok where he was instrumental in growing the agencys business and reputation locally and globally. He is the first and only creative in the agencys history to bring in three Cannes Lions in under three years, and is passionate about delivering campaigns that are highly creative and effective.

With a career spanning over 12 years at some of Australias and Thailands best agencies, Chus work has been recognised in major industry award shows such as Cannes, CLIOs, One Show, LIAs, the New York Festival, Spikes Asia, Adfest and Ad Stars.

During his time at GREYnJ, he was the creative lead on global and local clients including P&Gs Head & Shoulders, Volvo, Tic Tac, Bar-B-Q Plaza, to name a few.

Chu returns to the BBDO Network, having been part of the highly effective creative team at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, where he worked on major clients including Virgin Australia, Toshiba, Mars Foods, PepsiCo, Foxtel, and Tourism Australia. While at Clemenger BBDO, he was part of the team responsible for winning the agencys first Gold Cannes Lion in over 20 years, among other local and international accolades.

Were very excited to welcome Andrew to BBDO Vietnam. His proven leadership, endless energy, award winning pedigree, and extensive experience working in multiple markets regionally, will set a new standard for our creative work benefiting both our clients and the Agency as a whole, said Giao Phan, Managing Director, BBDO Vietnam (pictured above left).
| BY Lynchy |

Iris Singapore has made four appointments in its creative department and two senior promotions.

Iris welcomes Diego Barboza, Zi Wei Tan, Jenson Lee and Dominic Ho into the creative family as the agency gloves up for 2018. Barboza and Tan, both appointed as senior creatives will be reporting to Cheng Shu Yau, Deputy Creative Director to continue to raise the creative bar of Starbucks, Shell and other accounts .

Lee and Ho, Senior Visual Designer and Creative respectively will be reporting to Shawn Foo, Deputy Creative Director and will be responsible for pushing high standards of creative excellence on MBS, Chang and other accounts.

Coming from different backgrounds, Diego, Zi Wei, Jenson and Dominic will bring to the party different ideas and ideals. Its evident by the good stuff they have done in their past lives. I cant wait to see them outdoing themselves, said Ed Cheong, Executive Creative Director.

Tasmin Vosloo steps up to head the agencys production arm as Executive Producer, which also sees Jenni Stiebel being promoted to Senior Producer. The duo has been instrumental in the development of the production department over the last 12 months and has established the agencys specialist production prowess. They will continue to deliver and ensure thatIris production lives up to the brand promise, especially with a diverse portfolio of accounts.

Im thrilled to have Tasmin and Jenni in their new roles leading the production team. Two of them are the real stars that make the creatives tick. During the first 12 months of setting up the internal production team, these ladies would always go above and beyond the call of duty even though lots of their fantastic work went on behind the scenes. They have contributed massively to the success of the agency, Cheong added.
| BY Lynchy |

Saad Hussein is leaving TBWA\Malaysia to return to Singapore after spending close to 20 years in Malaysia.

Hussein co-founded and managed the creative shop Sil Malaysia in 1996 and in 2006 TBWA\Group acquired the agency naming it Creative Juice. Hussein was the executive creative director and managing director of the unit, before assuming the TBWA Group CCO position in 2013, which saw Hussein oversee both TBWA and Creative Juices portfolio of clients.

Hussein leaves his current role as Chairman, TBWA\Malaysia Group and returns to Singapore to join his family. Hussein will also join TBWA\Singapore as a creative consultant, helping support and nurture the young creative talent at the agency.

Over the years Hussein has achieved Agency of the Year awards in the creative effectiveness and digital agency categories, plus a slew of international award metals in Cannes Lions, One Show, New York Festival, Spikes Asia, LIA and Epica.

His body of work transformed the marketing landscape in Malaysia as they celebrated the local lifestyle, culture and language. This is exemplified by successful campaigns for Nandos, Packet One (P1), Nissan, Sony, RHB and Unilever.

I have worked with Saad for almost 10 years. One thing I have learnt from him is the value of perseverance. The man sticks by what he believes in no matter what. With Saad returning to Singapore, there is one less brilliant creative mind in the Malaysian Ad industry, said Aaron Cowie, CEO of TBWA\Malaysia.

Whilst were sad to lose Saad from Malaysia, were overjoyed we will continue to benefit from his talents in Singapore, added Ian Pearman, President of TBWA\Asia.

My best memory of Saad is his impeccable ability to remain calm and collected when faced with resistance. His demeanour and well thought out comments are usually able to permeate through noise and clutter and people quieten down and listen when he speaks. For a relatively quiet person, he commands attention every time he makes a point. Saads creativity and ideas are exceptional as they are not only appealing, relevant and believable but results oriented as well, indicating his focus on the end game  objectivity and performance above all else, said Kenny Wong, ex-Packet One CMO

I had the privilege to work with Saad during his Sil Ad days on the Sony brand in the 2000s. Saad wisdom and magic of skillfully merging the brands proposition and Malaysian consumer behaviours produced countless award-winning campaigns and winning market share for Sony. Above all, he is a true gentleman and a remarkably decent man who keeps to his words. Lim Teong Seng, ex-Sony client.
That lack of knowledge may have contributed to a lack of warnings and, perhaps, complacency among the authorities and in the community, a nerve that is still raw to the touch for many involved in the fire itself, and all that followed.
"All of a sudden it just exploded and the fire and the flames just came in. Still to this day I've got a recollection of going past Gemma's bedroom and her bed was alight. She had these little toys on her bed, and these flames were dancing on her doona and that's when we knew it was time to get out of the house."
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Designating individuals to become confidential advisers and liaisons for students who report being sexually assaulted at colleges and universities in Nebraska is an idea each institution said it could get behind on Tuesday.

But representatives from the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State College System and the Nebraska Community Colleges Association said they worried how a bill (LB857) by Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln would interfere with federal requirements to report sexual misconduct.

Morfeld said he introduced the bill for deeply personal reasons. Growing up, he told the Legislatures Education Committee, he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a family friend who lived nearby, leaving a trauma he continues to grapple with.

That does not have to be the case for countless young Nebraska women and men on our college campuses, he said. We must provide a safe space and trusted individuals to those who are grappling with their assault to confidentially report and receive advice before going to mandatory reporting.

Under his proposal, Nebraskas colleges and universities would be required to adopt policies beginning in 2019 to designate and train confidential advisers to whom students could report sexual and dating violence.

The advisers would be trained to inform the students of their rights under federal and state law, their reporting options -- including to notify the institution or local law enforcement -- and the processes for investigating and disciplining misconduct.

They would also be required to share information with students about local hospitals or medical clinics where examination or treatment could be sought, and could then report the alleged crime to the institution or law enforcement, accompany the victim to interviews or disciplinary hearings, and make accommodations in class schedules, living arrangements or other services for the student.

Morfeld said the bill, modeled on legislation that passed the Utah House last year, would also provide amnesty to students who report sexual or dating violence from being disciplined for unrelated infractions like alcohol or drug use.

It is imperative we continue to make our campuses safer for our students and to provide additional help for victims and survivors, and to encourage reporting of these crimes, Morfeld said.

Morgan Beal, the campus services coordinator for Voices of Hope, said confidential advocacy services like those included in Morfelds bill help survivors of sexual assault recover, potentially preventing serious consequences for those victims.

Beal cited statistics from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center that found roughly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men will become victims of sexual assault during their college careers. An estimated 90 percent of cases are never reported to law enforcement, she added.

She read a letter from a UNL student who said LB857 would ensure that no survivor is left without the help they so desperately need.

Committee members questioned how the provisions of Morfelds bill would conflict with reporting requirements in federal legislation, which testifiers from all three systems addressed.

According to a 2011 Dear Colleague letter published by the U.S. Department of Education -- which has since been rescinded by Secretary Betsy DeVos, who said it relied on too low of a standard of evidence to determine guilt in on-campus incidents -- colleges and universities were required to immediately address reported instances of sexual harassment and violence.

Until the department enacts new rules, however, those institutions can continue current practices outlined in both the 2011 and a 2014 memo.

Tami Strickman, UNLs Title IX coordinator, said while the university supported the concept underlying Morfelds bill, NU opposed the legislation because it could violate a 1977 Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that found the Legislature cannot set policy or practices for the Board of Regents.

Strickman said NU already does many of the things prescribed in LB857 to provide resources and support to students who have been victim to sexual violence, providing training and communication to students, faculty and staff on their reporting options.

At the university, we have designated confidential advisers on campus and in the community, she said. As professionals with legal privilege -- counselors, psychologists, legal services employees and victim advocates on campus -- those individuals cannot disclose their conversations without a students consent absent exigent circumstances.

NU, like many other colleges and universities, also employs responsible employees who are required to report instances of sexual abuse or misconduct on campus to the Title IX coordinator and provide services to the victims, Strickman said.

Much of whats (in the bill) is already there, she told the committee during the period for opposing testimony.

Testifying in a neutral capacity, the Nebraska State College System and the states community colleges echoed Strickman, saying while they supported the ideas behind Morfelds bill, they saw conflicts with existing federal reporting requirements.

Kristin Petersen, vice chancellor for employee relations for the state college system, said all three campuses employ licensed student counselors who are available to provide confidential counseling to victims and direct them to other resources.

LB857 would duplicate efforts and add operational costs at Peru State, Wayne State and Chadron State, Petersen said, and it would complicate our current ability to support students while complying with Title IX responsibilities.

In his closing, Morfeld said he was thoroughly confused by the testimony offered by NU, state colleges and community college systems, but planned to work with those agencies to address their concerns.
Honoring all who served Delphi Community High School hosted an extensive Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11 beginning at 9 a.m. The program included...

Doing business at the courthouse may change Richard Allen, 50, of Delphi was arrested Oct. 26 in connection with the 2017 double homicide of Liberty German and...

Former judge goes on Delphi City Council The Delphi City Council has undergone a change in elected officials. Council member Gayle Conner resigned her elected seat recently...
Said Al Barumi is following in the footsteps of his father, an engineer at a petroleum company in Oman, a Middle Eastern country on the Arabian Peninsula at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The 25th-largest oil-producing country in the world, Oman, which is roughly 10 percent larger in geographic size than Nebraska, needs engineers who understand the inner workings of the rigs bobbing above the desert sands.

But Al Barumis path to become a mechanical engineer is dramatically different than that of his father. A junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincolns College of Engineering, Al Barumi is the first in his family to seek a college degree in the United States.

I love my life here, said Al Barumi, 22. Ive become more independent, Im socializing more, the people on campus are friendly and helpful. This feels like home. If Im going to graduate and go back home, an engineering degree is the best way to go.

Al Barumi is among a growing community of Omanis at NU, which now make up the third-largest population of international students enrolled across the university system.

Only China and India  traditional anchors for international students in Nebraska, as well as the U.S. at large  enrolled more students at NU this year, said Steven Duke, the university's assistant vice president for global strategy and international initiatives.

Last semester, there were 319 Omani students, roughly two-thirds of them male, enrolled across the university system, including 192 at UNL. That outpaces the numbers of students from Vietnam (142), Rwanda (112), Iran (95), South Korea (85) and Mexico (70).

Another 99 Omani students are enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Omaha this year, Duke said, while 25 mostly freshmen and sophomores are studying at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

NU leaders reached out to the Omani sultanate earlier this decade to partner on projects centered on water, agriculture and education. Around the same time as the so-called "Omani spring" in 2011, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said began offering tuition subsidies for the country's best students to attend U.S. universities.

The sultan also agreed to provide students with funds to pay for a year of English language immersion, Duke said.

The blossoming relationship is evident in the data. No Omani students were reported in UNL's 2011 census, but by 2012, 14 students were enrolled in Lincoln.

By 2013, there were 58 Omani students at UNL. Over the next three years, that number grew to 85, then 142 and finally 173 at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, UNL reported.

Duke said the Omani students view an American education, particularly at NU, as a privilege.

They have gone through a very competitive process in Oman to apply for this scholarship, so there is a lot of pressure to do well and go back to help build their country," he said.

Abdulmajeed Al Naabi, 21, a sophomore chemical engineering major who like Al Barumi wants to work in Omans oil and gas industry, said UNL has made him a better English speaker while also allowing him to work toward his career goals.

Where once the difference between his Arabic and English was as far as the earth and the moon, Al Naabi said he was able to get a job working in his dormitorys convenience store as a cashier. Getting outside of his comfort zone helped him bridge the language gap, meet new people, and begin to feel more at home in Lincoln.

Al Naabi has also worked to help mentor other students at UNL while also participating in Omani Night, an event put on by Omani students to show off their countrys culture and cuisine to Lincoln.

This is a good place to live, its a good place to study, he said. Its not expensive, its safe and there are solid educational offerings.

Duke said like Al Barumi and Al Naabi, most of the Omani students enrolled at NU are pursuing engineering degrees. Others are pursuing degrees in business, computer science, or geology and earth science  practical experiences in order to land steady jobs back home. The scholarship does not require them to return to their home country.

Musallam Mohammed Said Almashali is something of an outlier.

The UNO student is majoring in international studies  a passion he developed as a boy listening to family and friends discuss and argue politics and international news, despite his engineer fathers efforts to get him to follow suit.

I thought a lot about that, and finally, I found each person should do what he or she loves, he said. When you do something you love, you will succeed and inspire people.

Almashali said he hopes to one day return to Oman, which borders Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, as a policy analyst or adviser. He said he believes the skills hes learning in Nebraska will put him in a unique position to find employment.

Each of the three Omani students are the first in their families to attend college in the U.S., but each of them said they are also passing on word to friends and family back home about the state with roughly half the population as their home country.

At a college fair in the capital city of Muscat last year, Duke said NU recruiters spoke to more than 2,000 interested Omani students over a three-day period. Other American universities attracted only a trickle of students during that time, he added.

We were easily the most important American university there in terms of the number of students who wanted to speak with us, he said. Nebraska has brand recognition in Oman.
Elon Musk has made audacious claims about the next-generation Roadster but FCA boss Sergio Marchionne isnt worried. In fact, he believes Ferrari can create an even more remarkable electric supercar.



While attending the Detroit Auto Show, Marchionne divulged details about Ferraris new-found willingness to venture into the all-electric vehicle realm, revealing that FCAs hand has been forced by Tesla, Bloomberg reports.

If there is an electric supercar to be built, then Ferrari will be the first. People are amazed at what Tesla did with a supercar: Im not trying to minimize what Elon did but I think its doable by all of us.

We do it because we have to do it, Marchionne said of the electric Ferrari supercar.

However, an EV from Ferrari is still many years away. In the meantime, the Italian manufacturer will start producing a greater number of hybrid vehicles, before transitioning to electric propulsion.

Marchionnes openness to an electric Ferrari supercar is a remarkable about-face for the outspoken executive who previously shot down the possibility of such a vehicle. Whats more, he denied the possibility of Ferrari ever producing an SUV but lo and behold, such a vehicle is edging closer to the market.

In the first half of this year, Marchionne will reveal a new strategy plan for Ferrari, one of his final acts as Ferrari boss before he leaves his FCA post in 2019.

PHOTO GALLERY
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne has denied reports that the company is considering selling Jeep to a Chinese carmaker.



Back in April, Marchionne fueled speculation that FCA was considering parting ways Jeep brand after claiming that the company is strong enough to stand on its own. Then, in August 2017, Great Wall president Wang Fengyiang revealed that the Chinese manufacturer was deeply interested in the Jeep brand and pondering an acquisition of the off-road specialist.

However, during a discussion with Autocar at the ongoing Detroit Auto Show, Marchionne said there are no plans to break up the FCA family, including a possible sale of Jeep to FCAs Chinese partner, GAC.

We have no intention of breaking up the company or giving it to the Chinese. We have a very good partner in GAC. They have global ambitions, they want to come to the US and were talking to them about if and how they can accomplish that. None of that is designed to impact on the independence of FCA, Marchionne confirmed.

Although FCA has no plans to sell Jeep, Marchionne has previously confirmed FCAs interest in off-loading automotive components supplier Magneti Marelli to FCA shareholders by the end of the year.

PHOTO GALLERY
McLaren Racing has succeeded in overcoming initial packaging headaches caused by Renaults fundamentally different engine architecture.



According to the British teams technical director Tim Goss, McLaren managed to integrate the new engine architecture into the new car without compromising the chassis design.

The Renault architecture is very different, said Goss in an interview with Autosport. You have to fundamental engine architectures out there. You have the Mercedes/Honda approach, and you have got the Ferrari/Renault approach.

The difference between the two comes down to the positioning of the turbocharger, where Mercedes and Honda engines have the compressor out in front, the turbo in the back and the MGU-H in the middle, while Ferrari and Renault position the compressor in the back, the MGU-H behind it and the turbo behind that.

We had to reconfigure the chassis, change the cooling system and reconfigure the gearbox to make it fit, added Goss, before explaining that the Renault engine will sit further forward in the chassis.

With the Honda you had the air intake that had to come down into the front of the engine, and that volume came out of your fuel cell. So as a result, the chassis was longer. But then what you hadnt got was a turbocharger sat off the back of the engine, which then gets in the way of your inboard suspension.

When you move to a Renault, suddenly the front of the engine becomes a lot simpler and as a result we win back a substantial amount of fuel volume. You can push the engine forwards and the aerodynamic blockage of the engine and exhaust is considerably better, because that has moved forwards behind the chassis.

Having all these issues sorted is most definitely a huge positive for McLaren, who will be looking to challenge the likes of Red Bull and Force India this year.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: My Paramedic Blog

Numbers on BC Emergency Health Services' website give an idea what the province's paramedics are up against when they put on their uniforms.

517,309 patients treated or transported in 2017.

23,570 patients treated or transported this year.

1,402 patients treated or transported yesterday.

Glenn Braithwaite has been an emergency paramedic for 40 years, a decade of that as B.C. Ambulance Service district operations supervisor for the Okanagan.

"At the end of the day, everyone that puts on the uniform is professional. We understand there is an expectation from the public for us to provide the service they are literally paying us to do," he says.

Dr. Jeff Morley says "paramedics are probably exposed to some of the most trauma of any of the first-responder groups ... and, they are often not as celebrated or honoured in the media or the culture as some of the other first responders."

It's a point that sticks with Braithwaite.

Rates of PTSD, mental health disorders and suicide are extremely high for paramedics. Research shared in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry in 2017 showed that "paramedics report experiencing very high rates of exposure to human suffering, for which they often feel responsible."

"At the end of the day, it can be a little bit difficult to disconnect after everything you've witnessed through your shift," said Braithwaite. "We see so many things that happen out there."

"It's the accumulated effects," says Morley. "Paramedics have attended dozens or perhaps hundreds of traumatic calls; whether it is a fatality, a suicide, an unexpected sudden death ... they are dealing with the effects of it."

"Those types of things pile on after a while," says Braithwaite.

"Most people will drive down the road and see an accident and think, oh my gosh, that looks absolutely horrible.... They are not getting close to the front line.... I'm walking right into the passenger compartment of the vehicle, and this is where my term unimaginable comes into play."

Compassion Fatigue

With respect to the stress, Braithwaite says "years ago, it was pull up your big boy socks and get on with the next call." That has changed.

The B.C. Ambulance Service developed a resiliency program that has proven to be an effective tool in helping first responders recognize and deal with catastrophic calls.

Today, there is a much better awareness of the psychological impact.

"We encourage them to reach out to their friends and family or the support services and programs we have in place for them," says Braithwaite.

Those services range from a critical incident stress program to more than 115 counsellors available 24/7.

However, Braithwaite added, "before it gets to that level, you have to have a very robust awareness of yourself, and what it is you are dealing with, and be able to put it into the context of what it is."



The Delta Nine

"Our critical-care paramedics are some of the highest trained pre-hospital professionals anywhere," according to Braithwaite. "Their skill set is the highest level of medical care available outside of a hospital."

Braithwaite shared the story of how nine young adults were saved in one horrible night.

In September 2016, a group of "kids" as Braithwaite put it, were having a party in Tsawwassen. "Of course, they didn't know that the cocaine they had bought had been laced with fentanyl."

Calls of multiple suspected overdoses started coming in in the early hours of the morning.

"One person got their cocaine and left and did it a couple of blocks from the party scene, and was found in full cardiac arrest." Braithwaite said the person was essentially dead. "The heart had stopped, and breathing had stopped."

Then, another person was found around the corner in a similar situation, not breathing. And shortly after that, they received a call at the party that there were more people unconscious, not breathing.

"We responded to all of those situations, and just as we were finishing, we received another call."

There was one male missing from the party. With the help of Delta Police, they tracked down the man, unconscious in his own backyard. They were able to resuscitate him.

"This was all at 4 o'clock in the morning. By the time his family woke up, they would have found him dead."

Everybody survived that night. And Braithwaite says that's just one of the 500,000 stories each year that ambulance paramedics are part of in B.C.

Paramedics have a term they like to use: "The emergency stops when we arrive."

"When we come to your front door, you have an expectation that we are going to help you. And sometimes you have to dig down really deep-down to do that. You do need to go through each shift prepared to meet the expectations, but also the responsibilities of the licence that you carry in your pocket."

"After 40 years," Braithwaite said, "I consider it a privilege to have been given that responsibility."

In part four of Front-line Frequencies, we talk to firefighters in "Do not use the term hero."
Photo: RCMP

A snowmobile was stolen from the owner's driveway in Revelstoke.

RCMP said the theft happened from a residence on Sanderson Drive in Columbia Park on Monday.

The owner believes the theft occurred between 7 p.m. on Sunday and 5 p.m. on Monday.

Police said the sled was not started to move it when it was stolen.

The sled is described as a 2012 Polaris RMK Pro, Black in colour. VIN # SN1CH8GSXCC487154 and the sled has bright red RMK lettering on the side of the black body.

Stolen at the same time were two superclamps, used to secure a snow machine on a trailer or sled deck, said Staff Sgt. Kurt Grabinsky.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact RCMP.

Police are currently reviewing security footage from surrounding areas.
Photo: Contributed

Police in Kamloops are asking for the public's help tracking down the suspect of a break and enter with a weapon that occurred in the early hours on Tuesday.

Kamloops RCMP responded to a report of a break and enter at 2:15 a.m. in an apartment on Arrowstone Drive.

Police said the male suspect broke the window of the ground-floor unit and entered the male victim's bedroom, before threatening him with a knife to hand over valuables.

A laptop, cell phone and the victim's wallet were stolen by the suspect. The victim was not physically hurt.

The suspect is described by police as being about 25 years old. He is about six feet tall with a thin build and dark skin. His weapon was described as a Bowie knife with a wooden handle.

Those with information are asked to contact Kamloops RCMP or CrimeStoppers.
Photo: RCMP

A thief is posing as a police officer in Surrey.

RCMP are warning the public to beware people claiming to be police officers who are not wearing a full uniform.

A man purporting to be a police officer stole from victims on Dec. 2 and again Dec. 19.

In both cases, a South Asian male entered the victims home with consent. When the opportunity presented itself, the suspect stole cash and credit cards, and then fled.

The suspect is described as a South Asian male, 20 to 40 years old, six feet tall, clean shaven, wearing all black clothing.

It is perfectly acceptable to ask someone identifying themselves as a police officer for their credentials, like a badge and photo ID card, says Cpl. Scotty Schumann. If youre not satisfied with the information provided, you can contact the police of jurisdiction to confirm the officers attendance. Dispatchers will be able to tell you if an officer is at your door.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca.
Photo: The Canadian Press

If North Korea wants freedom from sanctions and acceptance from the international community, it must end its nuclear weapons program, Canada and some of its closest partners insisted Tuesday as they kicked off a major international meeting aimed at ending Pyongyang's ongoing "nuclearization."

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and her counterparts from 20 countries  including the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Britain  began the meeting in Vancouver with a unanimous missive to the North Korean government: give up your nuclear weapons.

"Our message is clear," Freeland said. "The pursuit of nuclearization will bring you neither security nor prosperity. Investing in nuclear weapons will lead only to more sanctions and to perpetual instability on the peninsula."

Canada and the U.S. are co-hosting the one-day meeting, which was called in response to concerns about North Korea's growing nuclear and ballistic-missile capabilities.

The purpose, said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was to increase the "maximum-pressure campaign" on North Korea by clamping down on its efforts to evade sanctions through smuggling and other illicit activity.

Tillerson was expected to push participating countries, all of whom were invited because of their support for South Korea during the Korean War, to help stop North Korean smuggling by sea.

Yet he also delivered a warning to China and Russia, neither of which were invited to participate in the Vancouver meeting, and both of which have been accused of helping Kim Jong-Un's regime skirt international sanctions.

"We all must insist on a full enforcement of UN Security Council sanctions, as this is the letter of law. We especially urge Russia and China in this matter," Tillerson said.

"Full implementation is an essential measure for the security of their people, and a clear indication of their willingness to honour their international commitments. We cannot abide lapses or sanctions evasions."
Photo: CTV

A special prosecutor says a former government communications director for the BC Liberals should serve a community sentence of 12 to 23 months after he pleaded guilty to breach of trust.

Brian Bonney was charged in May 2016 for his involvement in a strategy to win ethnic votes for then-premier Christy Clark's Liberals in the 2013 election.

Bonney pleaded guilty to the charge last October ahead of a trial that was scheduled to begin.

Special prosecutor David Butcher told a sentencing hearing Tuesday that Bonney provided confidential information to seven people he supervised as they worked to gain support from ethnic communities ahead of the election.

"The court should send a strong and clear message to those involved in politics that breach of trust will be treated in a serious manner," Butcher said.

Bonneys lawyer, Ian Donaldson, said the information his client shared "could be called confidential but was available to others. He shared that in appropriate circumstances for people to do their jobs properly."

Donaldson said Bonney did not aim to benefit financially and his actions were not based on dishonesty or corruption.

A report into the so-called quick wins strategy by the deputy minister to the premier at the time said there were two instances of misuse of government resources, including that Bonney was being paid as a government employee while he worked for the caucus and Liberal party.

The report, released in March 2013, said at least half of Bonney's time was spent doing work for the Liberal party.

The party later reimbursed the government $70,000 as part of Bonney's salary.

Clark, who left politics last year after the NDP formed a government, apologized for the plan in the legislature and John Yap, the multiculturalism minister, resigned his post.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Premier John Horgan says he has plans to tone down speculation in British Columbia's real estate market, but banning foreign buyers is not one of them.

Horgan says he rejects recent calls by Green party Leader Andrew Weaver to implement a New Zealand-style law that restricts the purchase of existing homes to residents of New Zealand and Australia.

Horgan says the government's February budget will include measures to dampen speculation and increase housing supply, but not a prohibition on foreign buyers.

He says he is prepared to face questions about B.C.'s real estate market during his trade visit to China, Korea and Japan that starts Saturday.

The former Liberal government introduced a 15-per-cent tax on foreign buyers purchasing real estate in Metro Vancouver in an effort to allow more B.C. residents to buy homes.

Horgan says a ban on foreign buyers sends the wrong signals to investors about B.C.'s open economy.
Photo: The Canadian Press

After months of battling controversies, Bill Morneau's spring budget has the potential to blunt some criticism by showing that a return to balanced books could be within striking distance in just a few years.

However, it will likely be up to the finance minister himself whether his next spending blueprint includes a long-awaited federal timeline to eliminate the deficit.

Despite Canada's more robust economy of late, the governing Liberals have long said they prefer to remain focused on lifting Canada's long-term growth rather than rushing to balance the budget  even though they shattered their campaign promise to keep annual shortfalls below $10 billion.

The government's latest forecast projected a $14.3-billion deficit for 2019-20. But experts say a lot has changed since that October prediction, which was based on private-sector projections taken in September.

Thanks in large part to the stronger-than-expected economy, forecasters are expecting Morneau's budget  typically tabled in February or March  to show smaller deficits across the outlook than Ottawa had forecasted just a few months ago.

Economic momentum since September could shave deficits by about $4 billion in 2017-18, more than $1 billion in 2018-19 and by almost $4 billion in 2019-20, the Conference Board of Canada's latest outlook predicts. It projects the 2019-20 shortfall to be just over $10 billion.

"They're in a significantly better position than they were in the (fall) fiscal update," said Matthew Stewart, the Conference Board's director of economics.

Scotiabank's latest forecast says the improved economy will lower the combined deficits this year and next by almost $10 billion.

None of the recent projections, however, take into account another fiscal boost to be laid out and factored in to the next federal budget: the windfall from a controversial new tax change that limits on the use of passive investment income by the top three per cent of the wealthiest incorporated individuals.

The passive-income change, once fully implemented, is expected to bring in a significant amount of revenue.

Last fall, the parliamentary budget officer estimated the measure would generate about $1 billion for the government in each of the first two years before gradually expanding to up to $4 billion after five years and as much as $6 billion after 20 years.

Randall Bartlett, the chief economist for the University of Ottawa's Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, said his estimate after five years is also close to $4 billion.

The government, however, insists the tax change wasn't a revenue-generating exercise.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Police say an Ottawa man has been charged after an Air Canada flight was diverted to Thunder Bay, Ont., because of an unruly passenger.

Thunder Bay police say officers were sent to Thunder Bay International Airport last Friday and boarded the plane just after 4 p.m.

They say the man complied when asked to leave the plane and was arrested once he was off the aircraft.

Police say a 31-year-old man is charged with assault in an aircraft in flight.

An Air Canada spokesperson says the flight from Edmonton to Toronto had 120 passengers and five crew on board.

The man was remanded in custody after a court appearance on Saturday and was to return to court on Tuesday.
Photo: Google Maps

A former Correctional Service Canada worker has admitted he helped an inmate escape from a federal prison in Central Alberta.

Peter Edgar pleaded guilty in Red Deer provincial court to permitting or assisting escape. He was charged following the 2015 escape of Sylvain Martin from Bowden Institution.

Court heard Martin was serving a 10-year sentence for fraud when he fled from the prison's minimum-security wing. Martin made his way to Calgary and then on to Quebec, where he was taken into custody.

Following his arrest, Martin told police that while he was an inmate he developed a relationship with Edgar, who is 61.

At the time, Edgar was working as a production supervisor with a Correctional Service Canada program that provides incarcerated offenders with job-skills training.

Court heard that Edgar provided Martin with a phone and $5,000 prior to his escape.

While admitting to giving Martin the items, Edgar was adamant that he did not know Martin was planning to flee.

Martin used the cash to get to Calgary using a taxi. Edgar later gave Martin $7,000 to get to Quebec.

During their relationship, Edgar provided Martin with $100,000, court heard.

Edgar was in the Caribbean at the time of the prison break and failed to notify authorities after learning about it through a phone call.

He later flew to Quebec where he partied with Martin.

Edgar took leave from his job in 2015 and never returned to work.
Photo: UBCO

The B.C. government is making more money available for tech programs at UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark.

"Okanagan students have exciting opportunities to access tech-related programs, from animation to engineering and computer science," said Mark.

The government is making $600,000 in startup funding available to UBCO to support, in part, new manufacturing-engineering and expanded computer-science degree programs.

The funding is expected to open up as many as 96 seats per year by 2022, and produce 24 additional graduates each year by 2023.

In addition to the one-time funding of $250,000 to launch the animation diploma program at Okanagan College, further annual funding for 30 spaces will also be provided.

The next intake for the animation program is planned for September.
Photo: Contributed Kerry Klonteig

It could be months before a judgment is made in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit involving a former West Kelowna assistant fire chief and the District of West Kelowna.

Kerry Klonteig is seeking more than $150,000 after he was fired for drinking and driving in the chiefs truck in 2013.

The trial concluded on Friday, but defence lawyer Barry Anderson said the judge didn't give any sense of how long it might be until a decision is made.

Could be a month, or a few months, he said.

Klonteig and his wife went to dinner at Kelownas Lake City Casino on the evening of Oct. 6, 2013.

He describes drinking 12 ounces of wine, half an ounce of liquor, half an ounce of rum and 36 ounces of beer during dinner and while gambling.

Klonteig then made the decision to drive in Fire Chief Wayne Schnitzlers truck, which was owned by the municipality.

I had felt OK, I had a meeting the next day, and we didn't have a vehicle of our own and I didnt feel comfortable leaving the chief's truck, that particular vehicle, downtown, court heard on Jan. 9. So we made the decision to drive home.

He was pulled over by an RCMP officer while crossing the William R. Bennet bridge and failed two breathalyzer tests.

Two days later, he was handed a 90-day driving suspension, a 30-day impoundment of Schnitzlers truck and was fired.

Klonteig argued his employer failed to implement alternative disciplinary actions and says they should have given him 18 months of notice prior to his firing.

He filed a civil claim against the district in May 2014, seeking more than $152,000 in damages plus other special damages to be determined by the court.

Klonteig admitted he made a mistake and said this was an individual incident that happened as a mistake on my personal off-duty time,

Schnitzler described him as a strong leader, who brought a wealth of knowledge and understanding of fire service when he was hired in 2008.

Klonteig worked as a firefighter and assistant fire chief at the Kelowna Fire Department for 13 years before taking on the role of assistant fire chief position with West Kelowna in 2008.
Photo: Facebook Cindy Masters is the 2017 JCI Good Citizen of the Year.

Cindy Masters is the 2017 JCI Good Citizen of the Year.

Masters, who is the development officer for Kindale Developmental Association, was nominated by Theresa Beach.

Beach wrote and extensive list of all the activities outside of Kindale Masters is involved with.

They include: Funtastic director, Vernon Vipers Boosters Club, Vernon Toastmasters, 100+ Women Who Care, IPE volunteer and she attends so many community fundraising events including United Way Drive-thru Breakfast, Valentines for Mexico, JCI Vernon Gala, Womens Transition House Fundraisers and A Night to remember Dance for Alzheimers.

Just in this past year, Cindy volunteered endlessly with sandbagging during the floods, attended a birthday party for a young man she didnt know to make sure he knew people cared, helped struggling families have the Christmas they deserve and coming to the aid of friends in all and any way she can to support them during hard times, wrote Beach.

Masters will be honoured in the Vernon Winter Carnival Parade on Feb. 3 and at the Vernon Winter Carnival Winter Break Out at Schubert Centre on Feb. 7.

Any businesses wishing to contribute to a community gift basket for Masters is asked to contact Sarah Moorhouse at 250-309-4257, or [email protected]
Photo: RCMP Trail RCMP are confirming a body was located inside the trunk of a car similar to the one shown here.

Trail RCMP are confirming a body was located inside the trunk of a burned vehicle that was abandoned and set ablaze on Highway 22 last weekend.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said the death is being treated as suspicious.

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday, the Trail and Greater Regional Fire Department responded to a report of a vehicle fire near Genelle Flats on the southbound shoulder of Highway 22, about 11 kilometres north of the community.

RCMP investigators also attended the scene. The discovery caused a closure of the highway to permit investigators to process the scene on Sunday. Given the circumstances, the Southeast District Major Crime Unit has taken (control) of the investigation, said Moskaluk.

The burned vehicle is described as a grey 1999 Honda Civic, four-door sedan.

Police are seeking the assistance of the public with this investigation. In particular, investigators seek to speak with anyone who was in this area during the weekend of Jan. 13 and 14. Members of the public with information are asked to call the Trail and Greater District RCMP Detachment at 250-364-2566, said Moskaluk.

Anyone wishing to provide information anonymously can do so by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or leave a tip online at bccrimestoppers.com.
Photo: Contributed

UPDATE 9:56 p.m.

DriveBC is reporting Highway 1 is now open.

Highway 1 is closed near Revelstoke because of an accident.

According to DriveBC, the highway is closed in both directions 16 km west of Revelstoke.

No detour is available and an assessment of the situation is ongoing.
Photo: Contributed

A search warrant carried out in a Kamloops home led to authorities neutralizing a suspecting explosive device on Monday night.

The home on Badger Drive was the site of a home invasion just after midnight on Monday when neighbours reported to police that a group of people were yelling and kicked in the door.

Suspects fled upon Kamloops RCMP arriving, and one of two residents inside the home sustained minor injuries.

Evidence of other criminal activity was noticed by police while they were in the home, which led officers to secure the residence and request a search warrant. One person was also arrested.

The suspected explosive device was then discovered on Monday night, when the search warrant was granted.

The RCMP bomb squad in the Lower Mainland then attended and disarmed the device.

"We are very early in this investigation and understand the concern the community will have when hearing that a potential explosive device has been located," Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said in a news release.

"We felt it prudent at this time to rely on the experts from our explosive disposal unit to examine this scene and remedy any potential threat that may exist."

The RCMP's search of the home will continue once it is deemed safe to do so.


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ISTANBUL, Turkey  Former French international midfielder Samir Nasri is set to leave Turkish top flight side Antalyaspor after a disappointing half year spell, the club said on Tuesday.

Nasri joined the the team from Turkey's Mediterranean resort city in August following six years at Manchester City, saying he was relishing the chance of a new start at the ambitious side.

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But the dream collapsed as Antalyaspor suffered a woeful first half season to sit only just above the relegation zone. Their chairman Ali Safak Ozturk, who brought Nasri to Turkey, resigned.

A further complication for Nasri came over a possible suspension after losing an appeal for UEFA to grant him a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for a vitamin booster.

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"A clear decision has been made for a parting of the ways with Nasri," said board member Cumhur Arici, who is in charge of public relations at the club.

"His manager will come and negotiations will be made on the subject of money owed and we will part company," he said, quoted by the Dogan news agency.

Arici said that Antalyaspor were keen to hold onto captain and former Cameroon international striker Samuel Eto'o, but admitted they had financial issues.

"Eto'o wants to stay in Antalya. We want him to stay. We want to extend his 3.5 million euro ($4.3 million) annual contract for another two years.

"But the club has economic troubles and we will discuss this with Eto'o. Depending on the economic situation, we will continue with Eto'o," he said.

Nasri, 30, was earning an annual salary of four million euros ($4.9 million) plus bonuses at the club, according to Turkish news reports.
Villarreal has announced the transfer of French-Congolese striker Cedric Bakambu to Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan after activating the players release clause.

Despite the deal being closed two weeks ago, Villarreal had not sealed the transfer until the last errand was run, which was the deposit of the transfer fee in its entirety.

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Villarreal has not announced the fee, but sources close to the negotiation have appraised the fee at approximately 40 million euros.

The sale is one of the most important in Villarreal history, as well as one of the most profitable ones, having acquired Bakambu three season ago from Bursaspor for 7.5 million.

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Bakambu has been one of the most prolific scorers since his arrival in La Liga, having scored 21 goals in his first season, 12 in the next one, and 14 in half of the current season.
SHANGHAI, China  Prolific Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo will not be leaving Changchun Yatai and reports linking him with a return to the Premier League are "fake news", the Chinese club says.

The forward was a regular goal scorer in the first half of his spell at English side Watford before moving to the Chinese Super League (CSL) with Changchun a year ago for a reported 20.9 million pounds ($29 million).

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The 28-year-old went on to hit 15 goals in 27 CSL games, sparking speculation in European media that he could return to England's top flight, with West Brom reportedly among those interested in him.

But Changchun chairman Liu Yuming has angrily quashed those claims, saying in quotes published on the club's website: "I'm here to offer a piece of advice to whoever has bad intentions toward Yatai -- we will take legal action when it is necessary and we will pursue their legal responsibilities for making up fake news."

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"We have excellent forwards such as Ighalo, is there any need to bring in another forward? Even if we do get someone in, it will be a midfielder," Liu added, also denying that the CSL club are in for CSKA Sofia's Brazilian striker Fernando Karanga.

"We don't even know his name, let alone be interested," said Liu.
A screenshot from the Google Arts & Culture app that lets users match their photos with famous works of art. The feature is not available in Illinois, likely because of its strict laws on biometrics. (Google Arts & Culture)

The Google Arts & Culture apps new feature seems to be everywhere as social media streams are flooded with photos of friends and the great works of art that resemble them  that is, nearly everywhere but Illinois.

The state is one of two in the country where the Google apps art selfie feature  which matches users uploaded selfies with portraits or faces depicted in works of art  is not available. Google wont say why. But its likely because Illinois has one of the nations most strict laws on the use of biometrics, which include facial, fingerprint and iris scans.

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Theyre being overly cautious by keeping the feature out of Illinois, said Christopher Dore, a partner at Chicago law firm Edelson, which has brought biometrics suits against tech companies including Facebook.

Some Illinois residents are finding workarounds to discover their artwork look-alikes, sending selfies to out-of-state friends who will run their photo through the feature. Chicago resident Dominic Garascia was in Omaha, Neb., over the weekend for work and used the feature with no problem.

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His face was matched with an early 17th-century mural of a haloed and bearded St. Paul by artist Annibale Carracci at the Museu Nacional dArt de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. But when he returned to Chicago and wanted to look for another doppelganger, the option to upload a selfie wasnt part of the app.

Its very odd. I just kept scrolling and scrolling and it was gone, Garascia said. I wish it would work.

The feature did work for Lakeview resident Laura Wagner over the weekend, and she spent time sending screenshots to a local friend, who then couldnt get it to work for herself.

Wagners look-alike was a peasant woman on a stroll with a dog that Nicolae Grigorescu painted in the late 19th century. Wagner deleted the app in a space-saving effort, and when she downloaded the app again Tuesday morning, the feature was gone.

Texas is the only other state without access to the art selfies, and it, too, has a biometrics law. Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act mandates that companies collecting such information obtain prior consent from consumers, detailing how theyll use it and how long it will be kept. It also allows private citizens to sue, while other states have laws that let only the attorney general bring a lawsuit.

As a result, Illinois has become a hotbed of legal activity surrounding uses of biometric data, which include biological or physical characteristics. It can be gleaned by mapping someones face from a photo or taking their fingerprints, and it is commonly deployed to tag photos. Employers are increasingly using biometric timekeeping devices for accuracy and touting the scanning of certain body parts as an additional security measure.

Numerous companies of varying sizes have faced allegations involving biometrics, from tech giants such as Facebook, Snapchat and Shutterfly to United Airlines, grocery company Roundys and InterContinental Hotels Kimpton chain. Google has been sued over alleged violations of Illinois biometrics law after allegedly failing to notify users that it created a face template based off their photos.

Some companies appear to be taking note. Nest, a maker of smart thermostats and doorbells, sells a doorbell with a camera that can recognize a visitor. However, Nest, owned by Google parent Alphabet, does not offer that feature in Illinois because of the biometrics law.

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People should be concerned about the privacy of that data because those characteristics are permanent, said Adam Schwartz, a senior lawyer at San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. The digital rights group supports laws like Illinois.

If someone gets my credit card number, I can change it. I can change my Social Security number with some headaches, he said. But without extraordinary science-fiction intervention, our faces and our fingerprints and our DNA, were born with it and were going to die with it.

That information could be used for nefarious purposes if it fell into the wrong hands, said Dore, from Edelson.

However, its hard to know how much a persons privacy is harmed by allowing companies to collect biometric data like a map of his or her face, said Matthew Kugler, an assistant professor at Northwestern Universitys Pritzker School of Law who has published work on privacy policies related to biometrics.

(Maybe) people would much rather have their selfie feature than this privacy protection, he said. Thats something well have to see.

It is unclear whether the Google apps art selfie feature even uses facial recognition. There are less advanced technologies that simply detect a face is on the screen so the app could, for example, add cat ears or a flower crown.

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Google released its Arts & Culture app, which includes collections from more than 1,000 museums worldwide, in November 2015. The art selfie feature came out about a month ago, Google spokesman Patrick Lenihan said. He declined to comment on why its not offered in Illinois.

Were thrilled that people are enjoying this feature and exploring and finding art and artworks from around the world, he said. Were always working to do more to connect users with art.

The app has the ability to make art accessible, said Lakeview resident and artist Julia Guettler. Finding a look-alike in a piece of art can teach people to see themselves in paintings, potentially sparking a new interest, Guettler said, and Illinois residents are missing out.

It disadvantages a huge population of people that could be opening up to this, she said.

amarotti@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @AllyMarotti
All patients filling new opioid prescriptions at Walmart will receive a packet of DisposeRx, which when combined with leftover medications and warm water in a pill bottle forms a biodegradable gel that can be safely tossed in the trash. (Handout)

Walmart and Jewel-Osco are joining the list of retailers making efforts to address the nations opioid epidemic.

The worlds largest retailer said it wants to limit abuse of prescription opioids by making it easier for patients to dispose of leftover drugs. Meanwhile, Jewel-Osco is making opioid overdose antidote Narcan available to purchase over the counter, the company announced Tuesday.

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Walmart pharmacies will provide patients free packets of a product that when combined with leftover medications and warm water in a pill bottle forms a biodegradable gel that can be safely tossed in the trash since the drugs cant be extracted for abuse, according to manufacturer DisposeRx.

All patients filling new opioid prescriptions at Walmart will receive a packet of DisposeRx when picking up their medications, Walmart said. Patients with chronic prescriptions will be offered one every six months, and existing patients can request a packet at any time at Walmart and Sams Club pharmacies.

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To reduce the risk of misuse or accidental exposure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends patients dispose of unneeded medications through official take-back programs. When thats not an option, the agency recommends flushing certain medicines, including opioids, down the toilet, saying the benefits of getting rid of the drugs outweigh any potential environmental risks.

Walmart believes its solution is easier since it can all happen responsibly at home, said Marybeth Hays, executive vice president of consumables and health and wellness at Walmart U.S.

At Jewel-Osco, Narcan, the brand name for nasal spray naloxone, can be purchased without a prescription for $157.69 to reverse the effects of opioid overdose.

The drug will be dispensed by pharmacists at the patients request.

Walmart said it will have naloxone for behind the counter sale or dispensing by a pharmacist in all states where its legally able to do so, including Illinois, by the end of the month.

Walgreens and CVS began stocking naloxone in the fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association have recommended doctors consider co-prescribing opioids and naloxone under certain circumstances, such as when patients have a history of substance abuse or also use certain other sedatives.

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Narcan is a concentrated naloxone nasal spray that competes with opioids to bind with the same receptors in the brain. It normally reverses the effects of opioid overdose in two to three minutes.

Some Chicago-area health care providers, including Edward-Elmhurst Health and Amita Healths primary care doctors group, are also considering giving some patients with opioid prescriptions an additional prescription for naloxone, in a bid to fight an epidemic of opioid abuse in Illinois and across the country.

In 2016, 1,946 people died after overdosing on opioids in Illinois, up nearly 82 percent from 2013, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. More than half those deaths involved heroin, and many others involved painkillers often prescribed by doctors, such as morphine, hydrocodone and oxycodone. Nationwide, opioids were involved in the deaths of a record-high 33,000 people in 2015, according to the CDC.

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As the legal marijuana industry navigates uncertainty on the federal level, state attorneys general are asking Congress to pass a law allowing banks to work with cannabis companies.

Along with Illinois, 28 other states, Washington, D.C., and several U.S. territories have legalized medicinal cannabis, and eight states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. But in the eyes of federal law, weed is still illegal, and the cash earned selling it is drug money.

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Illinois highly regulated medical cannabis industry, operating under a state pilot program, has been fighting to expand. Earlier this week, a judge ordered the state to add intractable pain  pain thats resistant to treatment  to the list of 41 conditions that qualify patients to use medical marijuana.

The state Department of Public Health plans to appeal, but if the court ruling stands it could greatly expand access to the drug. Without banks, though, operations and growth could be hindered.

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The federal government has issued guidance for how banks can work with with cannabis companies, but without a law, banks hesitate to enter the growing industry. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and 18 other attorneys general  from 16 states, the District of Columbia and Guam  signed a letter this week saying they want that to change. Madigan was not available Wednesday for further comment.

Passing a law would bring billions of dollars into the banking sector, and give law enforcement the ability to monitor these transactions, according to the letter. Moreover, compliance with tax requirements would be simpler and easier to enforce with a better-defined tracking of funds. This would, in turn, result in higher tax revenue.

In Illinois, there are a handful of financial institutions that provide banking services to medical marijuana growers and sellers. Operators in the state say having that stability has helped the industry grow.

Banking here has been smooth for the most part, but its very tenuous, said Ross Morreale, co-founder of Ataraxia, which owns a cultivation facility in southern Illinois and co-owns three dispensaries. If something were to happen to (the few banks that work with us), it would be a bad situation.

Marijuana companies in some states have learned to operate without banks, paying bills with duffel bags full of cash and finding other workarounds. But all-cash businesses can become targets for criminals. Losing banks also would take away one factor that legitimizes the industry, said Mark de Souza, CEO of Revolution Enterprises, which owns cultivation facilities in downstate Delavan and Barry.

Even with banking relationships that allow Illinois cannabis businesses to deposit and distribute funds, there are still limitations, said Charles Bachtell, CEO and co-founder of Cresco Labs, which operates three cultivation facilities in Illinois.

We still dont have access to lines of credit or any of those other financial mechanisms that traditional industries have access to, he said.

Banks that have ventured into the cannabis industry took guidance from an Obama-era policy that discouraged prosecution of those operating under state marijuana laws. But U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded that policy earlier this month.

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Now its even more urgent to get the cash the industry generates into traditional banks, according to the letter from the state attorneys general.

Illinois medical marijuana businesses maintain that existing laws will protect them, but Sessions recent announcement led one of the main financial institutions that works with the industry to re-evaluate its position.

Bank of Springfield recently told some of its cannabis clients that it is reviewing the recent Justice Department decision, sources said. The bank also is waiting to see whether Congress takes action to preserve a federal law that prohibits the department from using federal funds to prevent states from implementing medical marijuana programs, the sources said. That law is set to expire Friday.

The bank declined to comment.

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Banks that work with the cannabis industry can take further guidance from the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. But, again, thats just guidance.

Thats not enough for the national and international banks, said Crescos Bachtell, who has a background in mortgage banking. Theyre not comfortable with guidance; they want real regulation.

The letter from the state attorneys general asks Congress for legislation that would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that work with cannabis companies in states where the drug is legal in some capacity. It points to a bill that was introduced in the Senate in May that would do just that.

More banks would likely expand operations into the marijuana industry if such a law were instituted, though it might take time for financial institutions to become comfortable with it, said John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution.

It would absolutely, without a doubt, be a game-changer, he said.

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Twitter @AllyMarotti
There are many approaches to avoid paying a fee for excess luggage when traveling by air these days.

You could pack light, cramming all your belongings in an approved carry-on bag.

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You could book with an airline that doesn't charge for baggage.

Or, in the case of one man flying out of Iceland last week, you could try boarding the plane donning, say, 10 shirts and eight pairs of pants.

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That was the approach of a traveler identified by the Iceland Monitor as Ryan Carney Williams, who claims he was booted from a British Airways flight from Keflavik International Airport to England on Wednesday for wearing too many clothes.

In a pair of videos posted to Twitter, where Williams goes by the alias "Ryan Hawaii," he filmed himself at the Keflavik airport, practically swallowed in layers of clothing. At least two sweaters - or are they pants? - were draped on his shoulders and tied around his neck.

On Twitter, Williams said he couldn't afford the excess baggage fee, about $125, "as a result of being left homeless in Iceland for over a week." He also claimed British Airways had told him he could board the flight if he wore all of his clothes at once but then rejected him anyway.

"They're really having me dress like this to go on, and they won't even let me go on," he said in the Jan. 10 video, with a disapproving look at the camera.

In the video, Williams called the airline "despicable" and openly wondered if he was the victim of racial profiling.

"Is it 'cause of what I look like?" he asked.

In a subsequent video, Williams is seen asking gate agents to explain to him why he couldn't get on the flight. One agent holds up a finger and threatens to call the police, telling Williams he wasn't allowed to film them.

Williams told the Iceland Monitor that British Airways agents denied him a boarding pass because he was rude, then called a security guard on him. Police allegedly used pepper spray on Williams and arrested him, the Monitor reported.

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Williams did not immediately respond to requests from The Washington Post for comment sent Tuesday by email and through his social-media accounts.

A British Airways spokeswoman told The Washington Post that customers who book "hand baggage only fares" can choose to pay a fee at the airport if they end up needing an extra bag.

"We give our customers a wide range of fares to choose from to meet their needs," the airline spokeswoman said. "We explained our policy to our customer, and offered him an alternative flight to London."

Williams' travel woes didn't end with the British Airways flight, apparently. The following day, he posted a video of himself back at Keflavik airport and said he had been turned away from a second flight back to England, this time on easyJet.

"I was disruptive yesterday, apparently," Williams said. "I can't board this flight again to go home. Trying to call my mom. Trying to call my dad. Trying to call my stepdad. Trying to call my brother."

Williams later posted images of a direct message exchange with an easyJet representative, who told him the captain had decided to "offload" him based on the British Airways incident from the day before. The representative told him he would not be eligible for a refund - a decision the airline later reversed.

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"The Captain and the ground crew were concerned about reports from the previous day so we provided a refund and he traveled with another airline," easyJet spokeswoman Ruth Bishop told The Post in an email.

Williams eventually flew home on a third airline. It was unclear if all his clothes made it.
Despite an automated phone message saying that Honeys was closed for renovation and remodeling, a former employee said Wednesday that the entire staff was actually let go last week and that the restaurant, and attached bar concept, The Hive, are closed.

Calling the restaurant yields a message that says the restaurant is closed Jan. 9-31. Owner Justin Furman referred the Tribune to just-posted Facebook and Instagram postings, which read:

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Thank You. We have made the very difficult decision to close Honeys. We are proud of what our team has accomplished as a restaurant and are extremely grateful to all that have supported and enjoyed Honeys. We could not have gotten this far through all the ups and downs without our amazing team, our family, and your loyalty. While Honeys will not last forever, the memories we shared will. Thank you for allowing Honeys to be part of those memories. Cheers, Team Honeys.

Claire Smyth, former executive pastry chef at Honeys, said Honeys staff members were called into a meeting Jan. 9 and told by Furman that they could just no longer do it anymore and that, as of that day, Honeys was done for business.

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I mean, its a little bit of a shock, Smyth said. Its really, really hard to let go of 30 people in January after Christmas, but I mean, its the industry.

All staff members were given their final checks and sent home that day, she said. Smyth remembers feeling fortunate because shed driven her own car that day, so she could take her things home.

It was very, very abrupt, she said.

Smyth had only been at Honeys for about a month, about the same time as executive chef Johnny Anderes. Anderes, formerly of Avec, Reno, Telegraph Wine Bar and The Kitchen, was brought on in December after chef Charles Welch and pastry chef Alison Cates left.

Welch and business partner Andrew Miller left Honeys last July to create their own hospitality concept, Out to Lunch, which is expected to launch a series of restaurants and bars this year.

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Honeys, opened in 2016, quickly garnered praise for its raw bar, craft cocktails and globally inspired dishes, including three stars from Tribune critic Phil Vettel.

But Smyth said she wonders if predictions about the imminent restaurant crash in Chicago are true, citing the recently closed GreenRiver restaurant in Streeterville.

I think there are too many restaurants in Chicago, and its hard to stay open when everyone is doing the same thing in the same area, Smyth said.

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Smyth said she plans to take some time to herself before looking for a new job.

Honey's, 1111 W. Lake St., 312-877-5929, www.honeyschicago.com

gwong@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GraceWong630

[ Chicago restaurant owners see correction, a lot more closings, coming in 2018 ]

[ Johnny Anderes takes chef reins at three-star Honey's restaurant ]

[ Honey's partners form new restaurant group, announce pop-up concept ]
Its taken some time, but Red & White Wine Bar is finally open.

Quietly opened to the public on Jan. 4, the spacious, European-style wine bar adjoins the 10-year-old retail space of the same name. Dont expect to see the same bottles, though.

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Nathan has cellared and stocked cases of precious, allocated and interesting wines since opening in 2008, says Cub Dimling, who co-owns the bar with Nathan Adams. These are wines that youll only find if you sit at the bar to drink.

Opening the bar was a natural evolution to the work being done in the retail space, Adams said. Ive always had it in my mind to open this space, to serve wines that we love, that Ive been squirreling away. Focused on natural, biodynamic and small-production wines  real wines of nature, said Dimling  Red & White differentiates itself from box stores with wines that tell stories. Our motivation has always been to showcase producers, the families who grow the grapes and make the wines. Theyre who we serve.

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A cross-section of current by-the-glass bottles and some recent offerings, including 3-liter bottles from acclaimed producers Frank Cornelissen and Sebastien Riffault. (Joseph Hernandez / Chicago Tribune)

Unlike more common wine labels found in big box stores, natural wines can be most closely compared to sour beers in flavor, though thats a disservice to the complex range of styles in the category. Hallmarks of natural wine include fermentation from wild and ambient yeast, minimal intervention on the part of the winemakers and in many cases, estate-grown grapes. For the uninitiated, the wines are unique, with savory flavors, comparable to cider, unique textures and, most distinctly, wines that taste of a place, or terroir. The moniker, natural, can be contentious, but it refers to practitioners eschewing additives such as sulfur or fining and filtering agents, in favor of traditionally made wines that taste nothing like, say, Yellow Tail. These wines taste wild, and vibrantly so.

The bars menu reads like a whos who of natural winemaking. Several vintages of Domaine La Louvetrie, made in Frances Loire Valley by famed vigneron Jo Landron, plus various vineyard selections from Sebastien Riffault and three vintage offerings from Lebanons most storied winery, Chateau Musar  theres a lot to explore on the 200-bottle wine list, and itll only grow, Adams says.

Weve been here for a minute, says Adams, and Im excited to pull things out that weve been sitting on.

While the bottle selection is deep and varied, with particular focus on Frances Loire Valley, Beaujolais and Rhone regions, Germany, Italy and the U.S. get some play too. Wines by the glass are ever-changing, ranging from $10 to $15, like Jean-Marie Berruxs Le Tetu Bourgogne Blanc, poured from a dramatic large-format magnum, on the pricier end of the scale.

Speaking to his wines quality, Adams said, theyre drinking as racy today as they were when I first tasted them  super vibrant, and real crazy. The current wine list features selections like Scholium Projects 1MN, from philosophy professor-turned-winemaker Abe Schoener, Albahra from Spanish winemaking outfit Envinate and riesling from Brooks, in Oregons Willamette Valley.

You can talk to someone at the retail level, and send them out with a bottle to have their own experience, said Dimling, but to be able to tell the story as you put the glass down in front of them, thats the draw of the bar.

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The space, inspired by Parisian wine bars like Septime La Cave, long considered one of the worlds best destinations for natural wine, is airy and industrial, yet inviting. Large windows open the space to the street and the adjoining retail shop, with 34 seats for diners and imbibers plus spillover. In the summer, the team plans to open a patio, effectively doubling the seating capacity.

Red & White has also tapped chef Colin McCormick, most recently of Giant, to craft a small-food menu. Anchored by charcuterie ($20) and cheese ($22) boards, the list features wine-friendly bar bites and weekly specials driven by the chef. The current offerings include duck confit, Arctic char and anchovy toasts, ranging from $10 to $18. And while a small selection of beers and spirits are available (particularly Japanese whiskey), Adams wants to de-emphasize cocktails.

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We want to be a hospitable introduction to natural wines, he said, but also offer people familiar with the style a chance to really dive deep.

For now, Red & White is open only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 4 p.m. to midnight. Hours will be adjusted soon, say Dimling and Adams.

1861 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-486-4769, www.redandwhitewineschicago.com

jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joeybear85

[ Wine buzz is one of its charms  but we don't talk about it a lot ]

[ How to get the most out of your wine-drinking experiences in 2018 ]

[ Italian wine bar opening in Lakeview, plus other restaurant news ]
To understand Edra Sotos current exhibition at the MCA, Open 24 Hours, youve got to understand her two dogs, Foster and Sol.

Sol, like Soto, is from Puerto Rico, while Foster was found in the artists current neighborhood, Chicagos East Garfield Park. Both dogs were abandoned and in bad shape when Soto took them in, but as rows and rows of photos on Sotos phone show, thats not the case anymore  these pets are totally babied and doing quite well for themselves.

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They might be the best example of what I do, Soto says. Artists think about things like that  that you can take something old and transform it. They see beauty where other people don't see a use.

Such is the case with Sotos show, which inaugurates the MCAs new Commons space, a community area rounding out the museums recent nips and tucks. Sotos installation showcases her predilection for nurturing the abandoned and her deep connection to her neighborhood. Inside tall, custom cases are glass booze bottles scrubbed clean of their labels and stylistically arranged to invite audiences closer. The curatorial notes say the cases are also meant to evoke public spaces of gathering, such as a gazebo or porch. Throughout the project, Soto has invited visitors to submit their own content, which she has incorporated into talks, performances and workshops also taking place in the Commons.

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She began to collect the bottles on her daily walks with Sol and Foster, noticing the distinct shape and color belonging to each brand.

My impulse was to pick them up. The littering was so conspicuous and weird, and I found that the bottles themselves were pretty eye-catching, Soto recounts. I collected a bunch of them, though I really didn't know what their significance was at first.

She did, however, take note of Franklin Food and Liquor, which she says is the only business in the area. Shed been going there to pick up beer for her backyard art space, The Franklin, and found that the stores loud music made it a festive part of the neighborhoods environment. She wagers that the shop is the source of most of the bottles she collects.

I started seeing all kinds of bottles: beer, tequila, malt liquor, vodka, cognac, but never any whiskey, Soto describes. A hip-hop fan, she says she immediately recognized Hennessys significance from its presence in rap videos and lyrics. Thats what made me want to understand the connection between the bottles and this place. I kept hearing Hennessy in the music I was listening to and hearing in the neighborhood, so I went online and looked for the historic connection.

East Garfield Parks role as a historic black neighborhood led her to look into the relationship between African-American communities and cognac.

During the world wars, black soldiers were introduced to cognac, which is made in France, Soto says. While black people back in the U.S. were being oppressed, their music  jazz, blues, Josephine Baker  was being celebrated by the French.

She now looks at songs like Pass the Courvoisier as descendants of that history and believes the omnipresence of these bottles tells part of that story.

I see it as a way of exercising pride, of choosing how you decide to celebrate yourself and your culture, Soto says. There isnt consumption of whiskey, but all this consumption of cognac  I think it means that, yeah, this is something with a meaningful, specific history.

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Now that the bottles are in the museum, Soto feels that she is bridging her own Puerto Rican background with her life in Chicago.

Shells are a house for an organism, and I started thinking about creating new houses for these bottles, she says. Soto connects the sand found in shells to the materiality of glass, finding compatibility in the two. In Puerto Rico, you can pick up shells the same way you find bottles here. Its something from my past manifesting in my neighborhood.

Edra Soto: Open 24 Hours, through Feb. 25, The Commons at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; www.mcachicago.org

khawbaker@tronc.com

Twitter @kthawbaker

[ RELATED: Oscar nominations: Will 'Wonder Woman' finally break the anti-superhero streak? ]

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At the Music Box in Chicago, the 70MM presentation of 'Phantom Thread' is proving to be a solid box-office draw. Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps star. (Focus Features)

Continuing its sporadic but notable string of new releases shown in the rare format of 70 millimeter film, which begun with The Hateful Eight and continued with Dunkirk, the Music Box Theatre on Jan. 11 opened a four-week engagement of Paul Thomas Andersons luxuriously weird romance Phantom Thread.

Its doing well. The Chicago areas sole 70MM Phantom Thread presentation, one of eight nationally, took in nearly $65,000 across five days, Jan. 11 through Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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Set in the 1950s, the picture stars Daniel Day-Lewis as an obsessive London fashion designer and Vicky Krieps as his latest muse and lover is also playing in the customary digital projection format at the AMC River East downtown and the Evanston Century 12.

The film broadens its limited release to 500 screens nationally this weekend.

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Its thrilling for us to run a new movie on film, projectionist and technical director Julian Antos told me by phone, mid-screening, from the noisy Music Box projection booth. Feels like the old days.

Antos noted that 70mm prints arent guarantees of a worthwhile theatrical experience. Warner Brothers, for example, struck a handful of 70MM prints of Justice League for limited exhibition, to little notice.

It helps to have a filmmaker like Paul Thomas Anderson, or Christopher Nolan with Dunkirk, who really believes the format is important. And who knows how to make a movie.

The 70MM Phantom Thread continues at the Music Box through Feb. 8.

Michael Phillips is the Chicago Tribune film critic.

[ RELATED: Michael Phillips talks to Paul Thomas Anderson about the flu, and how it led to his latest film ]

[ Review: 'Phantom Thread,' a rom-com with a difference ]

[ The Music Box's annual 70MM film festival is a sight, all right ]
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Three years ago, Jeffrey Marin saw a TV segment asking for help to feed hungry children in Africa. Moved by the images, the little boy, who at the time was 7 years old, expressed his desire to help those in need.

"I told my mom that I wanted to help people so that they wouldn't be hungry anymore," said the 10-year-old. A few months later, under the guidance of his mother, Fatima Reyes, and with the help of friends and family, the organization "Jeffrey Bringing Peace to the World" was born.

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Since then, the child's family, with the support of their neighbors in the city of Lombard, prepare hot meals and distribute them to the homeless in Chicago on Sunday mornings.

Year-round, the volunteers, including Jeffrey, wake up at around 4:30 am, prepare the meals and load their cars to then travel to Chicago from Lombard and set up their table in front of the shelter located at 1458 S. Canal St.

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Me hace feliz venir y ver que comen y no se quedan con hambre, dice Jeffrey Marin, fundador de Jeffrey Trayendo Paz al Mundo. (ALONDRA VALLE/HOY)

"On Saturdays, we decide who is going to bring what," Reyes explained. "We then set the table with food no later than 9:15 am.," she added.

Reyes said that all the food is prepared from donations and made by those who believe in Jeffrey's mission. She added that their goal is not to ask for help, money or donations because she wants people to be a part of it by choice.

"What Jeffrey wants and what we want is for the community to come on their own will to help and be part of what we are doing," Reyes said.

Jeffrey never misses a Sunday. Regardless of the weather, the 10-year-old boy quickly approaches the table and begins to distribute the food with a smile, his mother said.

"There are times I don't want him to come because it's very cold, but he always wants to come and see that the food is being distributed," said Reyes.

It is estimated that in the 2014-15 school year there were more than 125,000 homeless in Chicago and many have a bad idea of what kind of people the homeless are, a report from ReyEye revealed.

"Not everyone is bad, not all of them are people who don't do anything with their lives. There are people who unfortunately lose their homes or have an accident and they end up on the streets," said Reyes.

"There are also children who come to pick up food with their parents, and it's sad that a child is going through that situation."

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Jeffreys urges the community to remove the stereotype that all homeless are "bad, thieves or that do not like to work."

Charles Mobley approached the table for some food on a cold December Sunday. He said he lost his home in November after losing his job and that seeing people like Jeffrey and his family give him hope that his life will be normal again.

"What they do here is a blessing," Mobley said. "Living on the street is a hard blow emotionally and coming here and being treated with such affection and respect raises my spirits," he added.

For now, there are only four families involved in providing food each week and from time to time they have donations from the community.

Jeffrey hopes that as people learn about his goal, more people will join the initiative either in Chicago or be inspired to do something on their own.

"I'm not afraid of the homeless. It makes me happy to come and see what they eat and that they are no longer hungry," said the boy. "Anyone can do it, no matter how old they are, if more people help us we can help more homeless people," Jeffrey said.

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For activists in Chicago, Jeffrey is considered a young boy with a big heart.

"He thinks like an adult, with social responsibility," said Hilda Burgos, an activist who has collected some donations for the boy's project.

For more information on how to help, visit Jeffrey's page on Facebook 'Jeffrey Trayendo Paz al Mundo.'
Dear Answer Angel Ellen: I'm wondering if you have an opinion or information about using coconut oil or olive oil as facial and body moisturizers. I have environmental and animal-rights concerns, and I'm also extremely frugal. Even the more expensive moisturizers list water as the main ingredient, and I'm not sure I want to moisturize with water during the winter. I already keep coconut and olive oil in the house for cooking. The downside of using oils on the skin is that they are greasy. Are you aware of any other issues with using coconut and olive oil on the skin?

Tonia L.

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Dear Tonia: You asked if I had an opinion or information. I have both.

First, the info: Dermatologist Patricia Ceballos says, Both coconut oil and olive oil are excellent natural options to use as moisturizers for dry skin on face and body. Ceballos (schweigerderm.com) cautions that those oils can clog pores and lead to breakouts, and she doesnt recommend them for the acne-prone who should consider natural Moroccan argan oil instead.

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Ceballos says coconut oil isnt that great as a heavy-duty moisturizer. If your skin is excessively dry and irritated, consider olive oil or argan oil as more effective emollients, she advises.

Good Housekeeping tested grape seed, sunflower, coconut and extra virgin olive oils and found they can increase skin moisture by up to 12 percent.

As for my opinion: Unless you want to smell like a freshly dressed salad, I wouldnt use the olive oil. Try smelling and doing a small skin test with whatever kitchen oil youre considering before you slather it on. Like you, Id worry about the greasiness.

And a related dry skin question 

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: We're in the middle of dry itchy skin weather. Any suggestions for help! I'm so dry and itching like crazy.

 Jessie R.

Dear Jessie: As a general rule, dermatologist Michele Farber says that when youre shopping, look for these ingredients to seal in moisture: ceramides, hyaluronic acid and glycerin. Also, coconut oil for body and squalene and rose hip oil, which are lighter, for the face. As for specific products, for the face, she likes CeraVe Moisturizing Cream and Neutrogena Hydro Boost. For hands: Neutrogena Norwegian Hand Cream. For washing: CeraVe Hydrating Body Wash.

You can find those products in drugstores, Walmart, Target and Amazon. Ive tested numerous CeraVe products and find them frugal and fabulous.

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Farbers New York colleague Rachel Nazarian points out that in winter, forced air heaters can trigger dry skin. Try a humidifier to replace moisture in the air. Also, hot water strips the natural oils from skin and can cause red, dry, irritated skin patches. Wash with water thats lukewarm not hot, Nazarian says.

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: Do you have any suggestions for teeth whitening products? My daughter is getting married in a few months, and Id really like to have whiter teeth by then without spending a fortune at the dentist!

 Marie D.

Dear Marie: My dentist recommended I try Crest Whitestrips as the most effective over-the-counter product (available at drugstores). They helped but certainly werent miraculous. Those of us who drink gallons of coffee every day (or red wine) have a lot of trouble retaining the whiteness. Ive also used Paulas Choice Brighten Up 2-minute Teeth Whitener (paulaschoice.com, $15), which helped a little. While professional whitening is superior (and lots more expensive), it wont last if you dont drink your stain-causing beverages with a straw (as if).

Angelic readers

Whoa, did readers come up with some useful info for Marie W.s question on how to rid shoes of a musty odor! I recommended lavender oil or citrus peels, but Paula K. writes, Ellen, ditch all those frou-frou remedies (lavender, lemon, etc.) for odors, and get Fresh Wave. They have pods for shoes and other nooks and crannies and a jar with gel crystals for rooms or cars. Its made of natural ingredients and actually captures the smell rather than disguising it. Fabulous! (freshwaveworks.com, $9.99 for six).

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Doug C. likes Fresh Wave too and also suggests fresh apple slices. Another natural remedy comes from Fran R.: When a house fire left all my shoes stinking of smoke, the insurance company told me I had to throw them all out. Nooo! My shoes??? Instead I put them on a south-facing windowsill with the window open. The sunlight and air totally revived them!

Pam E. said sunlight did the trick for her too. Ardyth J. says, Try wiping them out with a cloth soaked in artificial (not real) vanilla. I discovered this when I had to rescue an ignored refrigerator from rotted meat. Surely it will work on shoes! Kay R. recommends vanilla too, in an open dish with the shoes in an airtight box until the vanilla has totally evaporated.

Very pragmatic Loretta F. says, My guess is Marie is sticking her nose in the shoe to check out the smell. I would leave them in a room and ask a friend if he or she notices anything. If not, I would not worry about it unless people are routinely putting their faces next to her shoes.

From Rich K.: Take an old nylon stocking, cut it down to about 5 or 6 inches long. Put three or four scoops of coffee grounds (fresh) in the stocking; tie it off, and put in the box with shoes for a few days. This should get rid of the smell. It also works in the car after the little one or the dog upchucks.

And Susan H. recommends Windex, which she uses on smelly scuba booties.

Now its your turn

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Send your questions, rants, tips, favorite finds  on style, shopping, makeup, fashion and beauty  to answerangelellen@gmail.com.

Ellen Warren is a freelance writer.

[ In the depths of winter, treat yourself to a spa day at home ]

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This undated image provided by Bluesmart shows Bluesmart luggage, a new high-tech brand of smart luggage with pockets that hold and charge electronic devices and an app with real-time tracking information so you can track the bag if it gets lost. The new bags are being sold for the first time this season, both online and in select retailers like the Museum of Modern Art design store. (Bluesmart via AP) (AP)

If you own smart luggage, you should test its intelligence as soon as possible. The IQ exam that matters - if you can take out its lithium battery.

Starting Monday, airlines including American, Alaska, Hawaiian, Delta, United and Southwest no longer allowed passengers to fly with smart bags that contain nonremovable lithium batteries. The policy change applies to checked and carry-on bags that require lithium batteries to power high-tech features such as a USB charging station and a location tracker.

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"Customers who travel with a smart bag must be able to remove the battery in case the bag has to be checked at any point in the customer's journey," American Airlines said in a statement. "If the battery cannot be removed, the bag will not be allowed."

The rule springs from safety concerns. Lithium metal and lithium ion/polymer batteries are susceptible to emitting smoke, catching fire and even exploding. Between March 1991 and May 2017, the Federal Aviation Administration documented 160 incidents involving lithium batteries that were being transported as cargo or baggage. The agency already prohibits passengers from checking spare lithium batteries used for personal electronic devices and portable rechargers, as well as several lithium-powered items such as e-cigarettes and vape pens. The FAA permits the items inside the cabin. (For information on flying with hazardous materials, see the FAA's Pack Safe guidelines.)

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The airlines are not snubbing all smart bags: Luggage with extractable batteries is permitted, with some oversight. Passengers who check their smart carriers must remove the battery and tote it onboard. As carry-on, the battery can stay put but must be turned off, per FAA protocol. However, if a flight attendant decides to gate-check the bag, you must remove the battery before it goes into the belly of the plane.

Smart luggage performs more than beast-of-burden duties. Depending on the model, the brainy bag might come with USB ports for charging gadgets, GPS tracking, electronic locks and built-in digital scales. One company called Modobag allows travelers to zoom around on their luggage like a scooter, which tops out at 8 mph. Many manufacturers, such as Away, Barracuda, G-Ro, Raden, Arlo Skye, Travelpro and Heys (the only maker to use AAA batteries), sell smart luggage that complies with the new rule. The ones that do not are rethinking their designs.

"Luggage manufacturers are already responding to airlines' safety concerns," said Michele Marini Pittenger, president of the Travel Goods Association. "The recent attention surrounding lithium ion batteries will surely lead to action by manufacturers to make new iterations of smart luggage as safe as possible."

The rule came earlier than expected. The International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N. agency that sets aviation safety standards and recommends practices for more than 190 countries, had decided to start restricting smart luggage next January. However, the International Air Transport Association, which represents about 275 airlines worldwide, instituted the ban a year early. An IATA spokesman said the organization's members will follow its recommendations starting Monday. Participants include major carriers such as United, JetBlue, KLM and Virgin Atlantic, as well as many smaller airlines, including Slovenia's Adria Airways, Egypt's Nile Air and Iran's Kish Airlines.

Consider yourself warned: If you arrive at the airport with the luggage non grata, the airline will not permit the piece onboard. You will have to repack your belongings in your secondary bags or purchase new luggage at the airport - a costly solution for a careless mistake.
In the month when crucial midwinter bald eagle counts are taken across the U.S., a bald eagle researcher in northwest Illinois is disputing the widespread belief that the majestic national symbol's population is on the rise. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

APPLE RIVER, ILL.  In this very important month for the bald eagle, Terrence Ingram is trying to upend conventional wisdom about our majestic national symbol.

He may lack the academic background of many ornithologists, but has spent nearly 60 years researching and advocating for bald eagles; he is even credited with saving more than 6,000 acres of eagle habitat along the Mississippi River. In 1995, Ingram established the Eagle Nature Foundation as the successor to a similar organization hed started nearly three decades earlier.

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His point is simple: The bald eagle population is declining.

It is an astonishing conclusion that flies in the face  so to speak  of the narrative that presents the bald eagle as a great American comeback story. And Ingrams theory is particularly noteworthy this month, when federal agencies and about 100 volunteers affiliated with his foundation conduct separate, crucial midwinter bald eagle counts.

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I know, Im out in left field, huh? Ingram, 78, said recently from the headquarters of the Eagle Nature Foundation, in a creaky, nearly 150-year-old house that doubles as his insurance office in this tiny town 140 miles northwest of Chicago. Thats OK. Ive known that for years.

Nearly extinct in the early 1960s from the widespread use of the pesticide DDT, habitat destruction and illegal shooting, the bald eagle population reportedly has become so robust since the 1980s that its starting to threaten other species, including some rare birds.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services best estimate places the bald eagle population at nearly 143,000, a significant jump from 30 years ago, when the service estimated that only 2,475 breeding pairs existed in the entire country.

Sightings of bald eagles and nests have occurred in unusual spots, too. Last summer, an eagle crashed into a Gold Coast hotel window. In the spring of 2016, several were seen soaring and landing in a wide-open park near a landfill on Chicagos South Side.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 16 A bald eagle perches on a tree on the Mississippi River near LeClaire, Iowa, Jan. 13, 2018. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Theres also the North American Breeding Bird Survey, taken during summer, that places recent growth at more than 12 percent a year for the U.S. and a whopping 37 percent per year in Illinois. An Illinois Audubon Society count last winter found 2,002 eagles  more than double the number of the birds counted here in 2016.

So how can Ingram justify his conclusion?

He relies on 57 years of midwinter bald eagle counts his organization has conducted along and around the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to southern Illinois. Some years, his volunteer counters reach as far south as Louisiana.

Uneven as the counts are, they show a drop of nearly 400 bald eagles, or 25 percent, from 2010 until last years survey through the region stretching from northern Wisconsin to southern Illinois. Ingram also is concerned about a drop in the counts of young eagles, known as immatures.

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Experts who know of Ingrams work treat it with respect but skepticism.

I dont question Terrys numbers showing decline, said Illinois Audubon Society Executive Director James Herkert. The question for Terry would be what effort has been made to tease out weather and effort? How deep did they go in their analysis?

Counting birds, as one might imagine, can be extremely complicated. Duplication is a serious concern, particularly in sweeping endeavors like regional or national bald eagle counts in unpredictable winter conditions. So is the experience and commitment of the person counting the birds.

Bald eagles are especially challenging. The easily spooked birds can fly 75 mph. Experts say a 10-mile trip is relatively common, and they have been known to fly as far as 200 miles in a day.

Those factors  as well as climate change, winter weather variances from year to year, abundance of prey and the distance the birds have to fly south to find open, unfrozen water  make every organizations winter count vary wildly.

For this reason, it is virtually impossible to tell if downward trends in winter counts are due to declines in bald eagle population size or due to shifts in distribution in response to warmer winters, Brian Millsap, national raptor coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in an email. Several studies show that warmer winters are prompting many raptors to shift their winter distribution, he added.

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Midwinter surveys of the Eagle Nature Foundation and Illinois Audubon Society show those wide swings. In 2008, for example, the foundations total bald eagle count was 4,052. The next year that number dropped to 2,830. The societys midwinter count reached an all-time high of 5,597 birds in 2014. Two years later, the count was 946.

We do not believe that trends in counts of wintering bald eagles indicate overall populations are declining, Millsap said. We do value the citizen science contribution of the midwinter survey and recognize it provides important information for management of local bald eagle wintering areas.

Ingrams main criticism is that the conventional counts go on for two weeks, which allows for widespread duplication. His organizations counts run for two hours on one day, usually around Jan. 26.

But Wade Eakle, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ecologist in San Francisco, said many raptor count researchers know that a certain percentage of individual birds are counted more than once. In response, the counts include appropriate analytical methods, such as an eagle-observed-per-hour format, to reconcile for those results.

Still, curious signs are out there: A 2015 Journal of Raptor Research article noted that the increase in bald eagle counts has slowed to less than 1 percent in recent years, and that the number of eagles counted in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas are declining.

In addition, Ingrams theory for why the eagle counts are dropping is that glyphosate, the active ingredient in a widely used pesticide, is making its way through the food chain. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys ecological risk assessment on the compound, released in December, indicates that there is potential for effects on birds, mammals and terrestrial and aquatic plants.

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And, although eagles are on a great trend right now, Illinois Audubon Societys Herkert said, the counter to that is that there is a truckload of pesticides out there now. I do have a little bit of concern that were not on a great environmental trajectory right now.

Herkert also said monitoring of eagles is not as vigilant as it was before the bird was taken off the endangered species list in 2007.

Added Kevin McGowan, an ornithologist at Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Everything peaks. The population of bald eagles has to level off sometime, he said.

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Maybe your guy is the first evidence of it leveling off, McGowan said.

On a recent Friday when temperatures were below freezing and strong winds blew, Ingram was on an informal eagle census, weaving his van across the rolling landscape where Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa merge. If the eagles population is growing while it expands its territory as ornithologists say, he asked, why are the birds not seen in places where theyve been feeding for decades?

At stop after stop, Ingram said hes found much smaller numbers than he had a few years earlier.

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Thats not one community, he said. Thats every single  community weve got. Im worried. I really am. Im worked up about it.

tgregory@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @tgregoryreports

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Tierney Darden, second from left, is joined by her parents Trudy Darden, far left and father David Darden, at the Alise hotel Thursday Aug. 24, 2017, attending a news conference with attorney Patrick Salvi, seated at center. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

A young dancer left partially paralyzed when a shelter at OHare International Airport collapsed on her has received a record $115 million settlement from Chicago and its insurer, her attorney announced Tuesday.

The settlement comes after a Cook County jury in August deliberated just four hours before awarding Tierney Darden, now 26, a record $148 million in damages. The city had admitted it was liable five months before trial. Jurors lined up to hug Darden, who lives with her father in Vernon Hills, before leaving the Daley Center courtroom.

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After the city argued in court the verdict was excessive Dardens lawyers ultimately settled this week for $115 million  still a state record in an individual personal injury case, her lawyers said. Such post-verdict settlements are not uncommon in civil cases with large damage awards against municipalities and other deep-pocketed defendants.

Although we believed the verdict would have been upheld on appeal, when weighing the risks and benefits, we felt this was a fair compromise, Patrick Salvi, one of Dardens lawyers, said in a statement. Tierney has a long, difficult life ahead of her; these funds will help her obtain all the necessary medical care for the remaining decades of her life.

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AIG Aviation, one of the citys insurance companies paid out the entire settlement, which was structured in a $15 million annuity to cover Dardens living expenses and $100 million in cash, Salvi said in a phone interview. A spokesman for the New-York-based insurance giant declined to comment.

The city itself already pays out hundreds of millions of dollars a year in settlements, judgments and workers compensation claims, according to a 2016 inspector generals report. In 2013 and 2014 those figures totaled nearly $460 million including $200 million for workers comp and $146 million for police misconduct and public safety claims, the report stated.

Dardens settlement matches what has been paid out  at least $115 million  by the city so far in claims related to disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

In his clients case, Salvi said the funds will not only pay for round-the-clock care for Darden, who had been studying modern dance when her spinal cord was severed, but also underwrite her quest to end chronic daily pain she described as torture during the 7-day trial. Darden is paralyzed from the waist down.

Shell have a team of caregivers so her parents dont have to be her caregivers any longer, Salvi said. She's going to do everything possible under medical science to reduce her pain to a level where she can function better  function at least like many paraplegics do.

On the afternoon of Aug. 2, 2015, Darden, then a dance student, was standing with her mother and 19-year-old sister outside the airport on a lower-level street that accesses Terminal 2, according to the law firm.

The women had just returned to Chicago from Minneapolis, where they were shopping for bridesmaid dresses for an upcoming wedding, Darden's lawyers said. A storm rolled through the area as the women were waiting to be picked up, and a 750-pound pedestrian shelter came loose and fell onto Darden.

Before the incident, Darden had lived independently in Chicago and was attending Truman College.

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It was determined the shelter that injured Tierney had missing bolts, Darden's lawyers said. An investigation later found other shelters at O'Hare were poorly maintained, with missing bolts, corroded parts or broken brackets, her lawyers said.The city has since removed all the shelters at OHare, Salvi said.

Darden wasnt available for comment Tuesday, but told reporters at a news conference after the jury verdict last year: It didn't have to happen to me. I was more upset than anything and kind of heartbroken because my legs were taken away and those were the two things I needed to do the one thing that I love, which is dance.

The city of Chicago, which was insured up to $500 million, had offered $30 million to settle during the trial.

Attorneys for the city did not immediately comment.

sschmadeke@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @SteveSchmadeke

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[ Jury awards her $148M, but woman says O'Hare bus shelter collapse took away 'my life' ]

[ Jury awards $148 million to woman paralyzed after O'Hare bus shelter collapse ]
Ariana Romero, 29, poses for a photo at Northwestern University's campus in Evanston on Jan. 9, 2018, before heading to Chicago to her second job. She did not renew her DACA application and is feeling uncertain about her future. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Ariana Romeros immigration protections expired in August, a week before President Donald Trump moved to end DACA, the program that shields young people who came to the country illegally as minors.

But now, the 29-year-old is scrambling to collect $495 to renew her two-year work permit. A federal judge in California ordered the White House to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in place while a lawsuit goes forward, and on Saturday the federal government resumed accepting renewal applications.

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Romero, of Avondale, said she wants to apply as soon as possible.

Im kind of struggling financially, so I will have to search for help, she said. I have to hurry because everything could change tomorrow.

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The Trump administration previously announced that DACA would end in March. But now, with the window re-opening, local so-called Dreamers are rushing to submit claims as soon as possible before they lose their chance.

The application fee can be a big hurdle, but people are working to get the money together, said Vanessa Esparza-Lopez, a managing attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center.

At any moments notice, there could be a decision from a higher court that could overturn the preliminary injunction, so were just giving them as much information as possible to move forward, she said.

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced plans to appeal the ruling and is seeking direct review of the case at the Supreme Court.

We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Illinois has the nations fourth-largest number of DACA recipients, with more than 35,600 beneficiaries living in the state as of September.

Trump has previously expressed sympathy for the Dreamers  a nickname that came from the DREAM Act, first proposed in 2001 to create a path to permanent residency for the young people. Still, Sessions announced in September that DACA would end by March 5, giving Congress six months to enact a legislative fix. If the program is phased out as planned, about 1,000 people will lose their protections per day.

The federal government resumed accepting applications Saturday until further notice, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

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Young immigrants who previously were protected by DACA may file renewal applications, but the order does not cover first-time applicants.

Romero was unable to pay the application fee before her permit expired. Then, under the timeline laid out by Sessions, DACA recipients whose status expired before Sept. 5 were no longer eligible to renew.

She postponed plans to attend college to focus on saving as much money as possible.

Im pretty excited that Im able to renew, but everything is still up in the air, she said. This will cover two more years, but then what?

Its unclear how many people have applied for renewal. Immigration advocates are urging people to immediately consult a lawyer to determine whether they should reapply.

Laura Garcia, 28, of La Grange, had enough money in her savings account to renew her status the day after a federal judge ordered the government to resume accepting applications.

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Garcia said she applied to renew her DACA status in September but was rejected after officials said she missed a deadline. Her immigration protections expired Monday.

Garcia, a mother and library worker, has lived in the U.S. since she was 6 months old. She said she will continue to work and save money in case her family is forced to leave Illinois. Still, shes hoping for the best.

We dont like to talk about it, especially if my daughter is present, Garcia said. But I think everything is going to be fine as long as were together.

Laura Mendoza, an organizer with The Resurrection Project, said the Heart of Chicago-based organization was flooded with calls from people who wanted updates on the DACA renewal process.

We did let them know that there was going to be a risk, Mendoza said. But people are jumping on board and moving forward with the renewals.

Mendoza, a DACA recipient, said she came to Chicago when she was 7. She applied to renew her status in September, shortly after the Trump administration announced it was moving to end the program.

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Immigration activists are calling on Congress to pass the 2017 Dream Act by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. The bill would grant "conditional permanent residency" to an estimated 1.8 million immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 18 and can meet requirements similar to those under DACA.

Students, high school or GED course graduates, and veterans are eligible for the program. Immigrants who have committed a serious crime, have more than two misdemeanor convictions or are deemed to be a threat to national security are automatically disqualified.

People who are eligible should move forward with the renewal process, rather than waiting for a potential legislative fix, Esparza-Lopez said.

Were really stressing to folks that the sooner you can get in, the better because we just dont know how long this window will be open, she said. Its uncharted territory. We have to take it step by step and work with what we know.

nmoreno@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @nereidamorenos

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Michael Pelko, 37, of the 8100 block of Rosemere Court in Willow Springs, is accused of killing Izat Morrar, 37, and dumping his body in the 5300 block of South Calumet Avenue on July 20, 2017. (Chicago police photo / )

A man who fatally shot a friend in the Washington Park neighborhood in July owed the friend money, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Wednesday .

Michael Pelko, 37, of the 8100 block of Rosemere Court in Willow Springs, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 20, 2017, slaying of Izat Morrar, who was found shot in the head in the 5300 block of Calumet Avenue, prosecutors said.

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Shortly before 4 p.m. that day, officers responded to the call of a person shot in the alley. When they arrived, they found Morrar lying on the ground with two close-range wounds to the head, prosecutors said.

Both bullets were lodged in the left side of his head; one behind the ear and the second below it.

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An investigation revealed that Morrar would talk daily to Pelko, who he considered a longtime friend. But in the time leading up to his death, Morrar had been complaining to friends and family that Pelko owed him money, prosecutors said.

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Investigators also learned Pelko owned a silver/gray Hyundai Santa Fe, prosecutors said at a hearing.

Video surveillance showed Morrar leaving work near the 100 block of West Adams Street not long after noon the day of the shooting. He later entered his apartment and later left with a backpack, prosecutors said.

A surveillance recording from the Chicago Board of Trade showed Morrar getting into the passenger seat of Pelkos car soon after Morrar left his apartment with the bag, prosecutors said.

Pelkos and Morrars cell phone records showed the two were communicating with each other before the shooting, and Morrars phone was last used about 1:3 p.m. July 20, with an incoming call from Pelko, prosecutors said.

Detectives also found video recordings of the alley where Morrar was found shot dead. A surveillance camera at Edmund Burke Elementary School captured Pelkos Hyundai in the same area of the shooting. A search of his car revealed the front-passenger seat had been cleaned, but a tests showed the presence of blood on the exterior and interior of the seat, prosecutors said.

It was not clear where Morrar was shot because he was not found with the vehicle, however samples of blood taken from the Hyundai matched Morrars DNA.

Pelko was denied bail at a hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Jackie Wilson listens to a taped deposition of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge at a hearing on Jan. 16, 2018, to determine whether Wilson was beaten into confessing his role in a the fatal shooting of two officers in 1982. Burge repeatedly declined to answer questions. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Wearing a gray and white prison jumpsuit, Jackie Wilson sat in a Cook County courtroom Tuesday and watched video of disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge  the man he accuses of taking part in his torture  repeatedly decline to answer questions about how he handled Wilsons interrogation in 1982.

Burge, an oxygen tube hooked to his nose, looked directly into the camera and answered repeatedly in a gravelly voice: I exercise my Fifth Amendment right.

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Video of the 2016 deposition was played in court Tuesday at an ongoing hearing to determine whether Wilson was beaten into confessing over his role in the fatal shooting of two Chicago police officers in 1982. Wilson's lawyers argue he should be given a new trial and his confession tossed  a development that would likely make it difficult for prosecutors to retry him.

Wilson, 57, who is serving a life sentence for the killings of Officers Richard O'Brien and William Fahey, sat next to his lawyers with his chin in his hand, eyes fixed on Burges image.

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Clips from three depositions of Burge were played in Judge William Hooks courtroom. At the most recent deposition in 2016, G. Flint Taylor, one of Wilsons attorneys, asked Burge a litany of questions about his alleged role in Wilsons interrogation.

Did you witness or participate or order the kicking, poking in the chest or other beating that Jackie Wilson was subjected to? Taylor asked. ... Were you present for or participate in or direct that any of the detectives put a revolver in Jackie Wilsons mouth and cock it backwards and forwards? ... Did you come in with a black box and put a clip on Jackie Wilsons wrist area and crank the box a couple of times, giving him a shock?

Burge  by turns frustrated, deadpan and defiant  answered each the same way: invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not incriminate himself.

At times during the video, Burge seemed amused, including when Taylor asked him if he had communicated with former Mayor Richard M. Daley, formerly the Cook County states attorney, about the torture and abuse of Wilsons brother, Andrew. He laughed quietly, then again declined to answer.

You seem to be chuckling, Taylor responded. Is that because you think its funny that I would ask you that, whether Richie Daley was involved or had any knowledge?

I think its very stupid, sir, Burge answered.

Hooks called special prosecutors to task later Tuesday for declining to ask Burge any questions during the 2016 deposition even though a representative of the office was present for the questioning.

Jackie Wilson listens to a taped deposition of Jon Burge, a former Chicago police detective and commander. Wilson is seeking a new trial after being found found guilty of killing two police officers. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

Michael ORourke, the special prosecutor on the Wilson case, said he did not personally attend but understood that Burge would have declined to answer questions from anyone present.

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But Hooks continued to press ORourke.



Why, as the states attorney in this matter, did you all just (go) along with the assertion of the Fifth Amendment and basically just sit there and let this go on and on? asked Hooks, hinting that in such cases a judge can infer that a witness remained silent so as not to testify about wrongdoing. Do you understand how dangerous that is?

Scores of African-American men have accused Burge, who is white, and detectives working under him of torturing or abusing them during the 1970s and 1980s on the South Side. The scandal has stained the city's reputation and so far cost taxpayers at least $115 million in lawsuit settlements, judgments and other compensation to victims.

Wilson himself took the stand Tuesday, the second time in three weeks that he testified about enduring violence at the hands of police: punching, kicking, beatings with a phone book, electrical shocks.

This is upsetting, Judge, Wilson said in the midst of cross-examination, his voice raised. Im reliving this, and its upsetting.

On Tuesday prosecutors highlighted inconsistencies in Wilsons recent testimony compared with statements he made in the 1980s.

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Hooks continued the hearing until late this month. The hearing was ordered after the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission found "credible evidence" that Wilson was tortured after his arrest.

Wilson confessed in 1982 to being present when his brother, Andrew, shot and killed OBrien and Fahey.

Disciplinary authorities fired Burge in 1993 after determining he had tortured Andrew Wilson, who died in 2007.

Burge was convicted in federal court of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2010 after jurors found he lied when he denied witnessing torture or abusing suspects in connection with a lawsuit. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @crepeau

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Honorio Perez, 49, of Chicago, is charged in a fatal shooting at North Riverside Park Mall, officials said. (North Riverside Police Department.)

A Chicago man has been charged with a weekend shooting at a mall in North Riverside that killed a woman with whom he had been in a relationship and injured the couples teenage daughter, authorities said.

Honorio Perez, 49, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in Saturdays shooting at the North Riverside Park Mall in the western suburbs, according to police and prosecutors. Perez lives in the 2500 block of South Trumbull Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, police said.

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Maria Ruiz, 42, was found inside her vehicle with gunshot wounds to her body. She was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she was pronounced dead.

Perez was ordered held without bail at a hearing Wednesday afternoon at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood.

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In denying bail, Judge Geary Kull said Perez was arrested trying to flee to Mexico, demonstrating he is a flight risk.

According to prosecutors, Perez was arrested at a bus stop, where he was planning to board a bus to Mexico. He also had a fake ID card.

Public Defender Rodney Carr said Perez is a U.S. citizen and worked for a roofing company for the last four to five years. He has eight children, including the teen who was injured.

The shooting happened just after 5:45 p.m. at the mall in the 7500 block of West Cermak Road, police said.

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According to prosecutors, Perez and Ruiz had been in a dating relationship. Ruiz left Perez, and Perez began stalking her and threatened to kill her and himself. Perez, who obtained a gun in December, followed the mother and daughter to a church on Saturday, and later learned they were going shopping.

Prosecutors said he followed them to the mall. Later, when Ruiz and the girl got into Ruizs van outside the mall, Perez approached the vehicle and began firing several shots into it, striking Ruiz several times, prosecutors said. The teen was grazed by a bullet and also injured by flying glass. After the teen realized who the shooter was, she said she was going to call police. Perez then fled from the area.

Authorities said the girl's injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Ruiz also lived in Little Village, according to information from the Cook County medical examiners office.

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Family members declined to speak to a reporter as they left the courthouse.

Honorio Perezs first name was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.

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Passengers with measles arrived at O'Hare's international terminal Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, 2018, in unrelated cases, officials say. (Nam Y. Huh / AP)

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that a second case of measles has been reported at OHare International Airport.

The affected individual was a passenger on a flight that arrived at the international terminal (Terminal 5) between 8:30 a.m. and noon Jan. 9, health officials said, the day before another passenger with measles landed at the same terminal.

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The cases are unrelated, a health department spokeswoman said, and officials maintain that there is not an outbreak of measles at OHare. Both individuals had already contracted measles before arriving at the airport, according to the health department. Citing patient confidentiality, a spokeswoman declined to say where the travelers were coming from or whether they had come from the same country.

The patient in the Jan. 9 case visited an office plaza in Skokie on Jan. 10, as well as emergency rooms at NorthShore Evanston Hospital, NorthShore Skokie Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Park Ridge at various times between Jan. 10 and Jan. 13. Officials did not say why this patient visited multiple emergency departments.

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Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, in an emailed statement from a spokeswoman at its childrens hospital, said protocols for notifying patients and caregivers of possible exposure have been initiated.

The hospital did not release further details about the patient.

In the Jan. 10 case, after arrival, the affected individual did not leave the airport and departed on a domestic flight several hours later.

Most individuals have been vaccinated for measles as children and are not at high risk. Very few people, about 3 percent, who receive two doses of measles vaccine will contract the virus if exposed to it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, adding that travelers can bring measles into the U.S. from common travel destinations like England, France, Germany, the Philippines, Vietnam and India.

If infected, individuals could develop symptoms as late as Feb. 1.

At highest risk are people who have not been vaccinated, state officials said.

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It is important for everyone who can be vaccinated to get vaccinated, if they arent already, Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer of the health department, said in a Wednesday statement. Getting vaccinated not only protects you, it protects others around you who are too young to get the vaccine or cant receive it for medical reasons.

The measles virus can cause complications like pneumonia and swelling of the brain, called encephalitis. The virus can be spread easily through coughing and sneezing, and can remain on surfaces hours after an infected individual leaves an area, officials said.

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Symptoms of measles infection include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. If these develop, the department advises calling a health care provider before going to a medical office or emergency department, which ensures special arrangements can be made for evaluation while protecting other patients and medical staff from possible infection.

There were 120 reported cases of measles nationally in 2017, CDC preliminary data show, up from 86 cases the year before. There were no reported cases of measles in the state in 2017.

eolumhense@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @essayolumhense

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SPRINGFIELD  Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners campaign on Tuesday clarified the governor believes former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke is a racist, amid Democratic criticism that Rauner failed to take such a stand a day earlier.

The kerfuffle started after Rauner appeared on WVON-AM 1690 to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. Rauner was first asked if President Donald Trump was racist following reports that he used vulgar language to refer to African nations and questioned why America would want to accept more immigrants from Haiti. Rauner repeatedly declined to directly answer, repeating his line from last week that language has no place in our political conversation.

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But you wont call him a racist, said host Charles Thomas. Is David Duke a racist? I mean, what about Donald Trump?

Rauner responded that we have racism in our society.

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We have got to come together to change our system, Rauner said. And Illinois, Illinois is broken. Our system is broken. African-American families are suffering in Illinois, worse than anywhere, with unemployment. We have got to change our system.

On Tuesday, Rauner campaign spokesman Justin Giorgio sought to clarify those comments.

The governor believes that David Duke is a racist, Giorgio said in a statement. As he stated in his interview yesterday, the governor is working to bring all Illinoisans together to overcome the racism that exists in our society.

Its not the first time Rauner has been criticized for attempting to brush aside questions about racism. Last summer, he resisted denouncing a political cartoon amid complaints that its message was racist. He also was slow to label a deadly incident in Charlottesville, Va. involving white supremacists as domestic terrorism.

Whether its because hes being cautious or isnt prepared for such questions, Rauners responses sometimes end up making the issues bigger than they otherwise might have been. Facing a primary challenge from his right flank and looking ahead to a potentially tough general election, Rauner's political calculation has been to avoid further alienating his conservative base, even if that means allowing a narrative to emerge that calls into question his willingness to denounce the fringe elements from his party.

On Tuesday, Democrats were quick to seize on what they characterized as Rauners attempt to mince words, as governor hopeful J.B. Pritzkers campaigns put it.

"Instead of having a spine and standing up for whats right, Rauner dodges even the most basic of questions to avoid giving Illinoisans the answers they deserve, Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.

Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat running for attorney general, paraphrased the civil rights leader in a statement.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter and Bruce Rauners inability to clearly state that David Duke is a racist is pretty damning, said Raoul, the son of Haitian immigrants.

Also Tuesday, Duke spoke about Rauners initial failure to call him a racist on his radio show.

Sometimes the truth kind of is blurted out, or the truth is stated, sometimes, in absentia. Because he wouldn't call Trump a racist and he wouldn't call me a racist, specifically. The quotation is pretty amazing about what happened here, Duke said. "He didn't answer. He answered in general terms, 'Well, we have racism in this country. 

Probably at some point, he's heard about David Duke, and deep down in his soul, somethings happened inside of him and he knows that I am not really a racist in the sense that I want to oppress and oppose other people, Duke said.

Dukes website featured a photo of Rauner giving a thumbs up with the made-up quote David Duke is not a racist.

Rauners campaign said it was shameful Duke was using a fake quote, and criticized Pritzkers campaign for distributing the image in an attack email.

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J.B. Pritzker should be ashamed that he is providing David Duke a platform by promoting his lies, Giorgio said.

mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @moniquegarcia

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Shonda Rhimes, who grew up in suburban Chicago and created TV hits such as Greys Anatomy and Scandal, contributed at least $1 million to former President Barack Obama's future center in Chicago. (Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic)

Washington  Hollywood is opening its wallet for the Obama Foundation, which Tuesday reported 31 new donors who have contributed $1 million or more to the former presidents future center in Chicago.

Donors in the million-dollar-or-more circle include a foundation tied to Shonda Rhimes, who grew up in suburban Chicago and created TV hits such as Greys Anatomy and Scandal. A foundation affiliated with Philip Rosenthal, creator of televisions Everybody Loves Raymond, also has given at least $1 million.

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And the Lucas Family Foundation started by Star Wars creator George Lucas gave an unspecified new gift, after the organization already had given the Obama Foundation at least $1 million as of last April. Lucas wife, Mellody Hobson, is a Chicago native and president of Ariel Investments. It was founded by John Rogers Jr., who sits on the Obama Foundation board.

Other recent donors to give at least a million: the Chicago-based Exelon Corporation; the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Microsoft Corporation. Others to give at least $1 million include the Ford Foundation; The Steans Family Foundation, which focuses on Chicagos North Lawndale neighborhood; and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

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The latest list represents donors who made new cash contributions during the last three months of 2017 and made written commitments last year after Obama left office, the foundation said. The money will help pay for Barack Obamas presidential center in Jackson Park, which is set to break ground this year and open in 2021.

Altogether, 56 donors whose new gifts pushed them into the range of $10,000 were identified. The foundation reports the value of donations in a broad dollar range.

The new release brings to 46 the number of individuals, couples or entities to kick in or pledge at least $1 million recently or in years past.

Other donors who gave again in the last quarter of 2017 had already had given gifts of at least seven figures, including the Hutchins Family Foundation; Mel Heifetz, a real estate investor and philanthropist who supports gay rights; and the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Gift Fund. Griffin is the chief executive of the Chicago-based Citadel investment firm and has given millions in contributions to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

In addition to Rogers, Obama Foundation board members Robert Wolf and Penny Pritzker were among donors who on their own or through a foundation have now given gifts of at least $1 million.

Wolf gave through the Robert and Carol Wolf Family Foundation. Rogers gave his gift with a daughter, Victoria. Pritzker, who was Commerce secretary under Obama, gave through the Pritzker Traubert Foundation.

Jeffrey Zients, another former Obama administration official, and his wife gave a donation of at least seven figures. He wore several hats while Obama was president including directing the National Economic Council. Zients is president of Cranemere, a holding company. And Susan Sher, who was a White House chief of staff to Michelle Obama, gave in the range of $10,000 to $100,000 through a fund she has with her husband Neil Cohen.

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[ Revised Obama center design seeks better fit with park and answer to critics ]

[ After community uproar, Obama Foundation moves parking garage underground ]

[ Collective of diverse construction firms hired to manage Obama center construction ]
Mayor Emanuel speaks at City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Emanuel says opponents of a deal for Presence Health were motivated by politics. (John Byrne / Chicago Tribune) (John Byrne / Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago City Council, long known for its liberal worldview and 50-0 votes, found itself bitterly divided Wednesday when support for health care in African-American neighborhoods ran into concerns about abortion rights for women.

For more than an hour, aldermen held an unusually frank discussion about the citys racial politics and the ethics of providing public money to a private institution that opposes abortion and contraception.

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With Mayor Rahm Emanuel looking on from his perch at the front of council chambers, aldermen criticized and cajoled, trying to build support or stoke opposition among colleagues on the issue of giving Presence Health a $5.6 million tax subsidy to help pay for its downtown corporate headquarters.

Supporters noted that Presence also has pledged to build four community care centers in neighborhoods where local health services are scarce. Opponents ripped Presence for the Catholic institutions stance on reproductive health.

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Emanuel, whos been trying to rebuild his standing among black voters ahead of a 2019 re-election bid, backed the tax subsidy. Even as the meeting was underway, his aides arm-twisted aldermen, trying to keep down the number of no votes.

In the end, the mayor won, as has been the norm at City Hall in the decades since then-Mayor Richard M. Daley consolidated power on the fifth floor. But the 31-18 tally proved to be one of the closest margins Emanuel has faced during his nearly seven years as mayor, and following the roll call he took to the microphone and launched into an animated lecture.

Sweeping his arms out toward the aldermen and jabbing his finger on his desk, Emanuel admonished those who opposed the deal for applying what he termed a sudden litmus test on abortion.

We never raised a question on (money for hospitals like) St. Anthony, Norwegian, Mercy, Swedish Covenant, said Emanuel, his voice rising as he listed earlier city financial help for private health care companies.

Not a peep, not a sound about a litmus test, he added.

Still, even as he scolded aldermen who opposed him, Emanuel dedicated several minutes of his speech to bolstering his own bona fides on health care.

The mayor dipped back into his political history to mention his role as President Barack Obamas chief of staff in helping get the Affordable Care Act passed, though Emanuel had cautioned the president against pursuing what became Obamacare, warning he would lose the 2012 election if he pursued it.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel holds a press conference after presiding over a Chicago City Council meeting on Jan. 17, 2018. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

Emanuel also touted his work to expand health care for children as an adviser in the Clinton White House. And he recalled his family history as the son of a pediatrician who he said never, ever turned away anyone who couldnt pay.

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In addition, the mayor pointed to his own 100 percent record on voting on reproductive rights while he was in Congress. Emanuel said supporting Presence wasnt an either-or vote on abortion rights but rather a question of giving people access to health care.

Ald. Ameya Pawar, however, said Emanuel portrayed the issue as exactly that.

What I think the mayor and his team did successfully is that they muddled the debate and made it about, If youre against this, then youre against healthcare, Pawar said. And thats offensive.

The 47th Ward alderman said Emanuels argument that council members were hypocritical on the matter was disingenuous. The other votes the mayor cited, Pawar said, did not involve taxpayer funding for a corporate office in the Loop. The Swedish Covenant example was not relevant because that hospital does not have the same abortion policy as Presence, the alderman added.

Asked about the relatively tight vote, Emanuel replied that the measure passed by nearly 2 to 1.

Beyond Wednesdays controversy, possible political land mines loom next year from an issue that morphed in recent days from a straightforward question of property tax allocation to a fraught debate over abortion and race.

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At a post-meeting news conference, Emanuel said he thinks Presence opponents suddenly started complaining about the companys abortion policies to make political hay out of the issue in the February 2019 municipal elections, when all 50 City Council seats and the mayors office will be on the ballot.

All of a sudden, looming on the short horizon is an election, all of a sudden we change the rules, the mayor said.

Ald. George Cardenas voted against the money for Presence, saying the city needs to look at the directions we go and the example we set for the new generation.

The 12th Ward alderman said the mayors office tried to convince him this was a health care vote, that it was about health.

I respectfully disagree, Cardenas said.

Ald. Pat Dowell said she was called by Emanuel aides who tried to convince her to change her position after she voted against the subsidy at the Finance Committee meeting last week. I was not swayed by those arguments, said the 3rd Ward alderman.

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Council members who backed the tax subsidy largely focused on Presences pledge to build or redevelop four community care centers in underserved neighborhoods in exchange for the $5.6 million in tax increment financing for its already-built headquarters at 200 S. Wacker Drive.

Ald. Michelle Harris urged colleagues not to be blinded by a fight over reproductive health.

"Women on the South and West sides are not dying from lack of access to abortions" but rather lack access to better health care, said Harris, 8th.

Ald. Anthony Beale said it aggravates him that the council starts debating moral issues when it comes to making improvements in African-American neighborhoods.

Our people are paying taxes just like everybody else, said Beale, 9th. Quit making issues when it comes to our community.

Ald. Brian Hopkins said backing the Presence deal doesnt mean he supports the companys practices when it comes to abortion. "I do support bringing cancer treatment to an underserved community," said Hopkins, 2nd.

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Opponents said public money shouldnt go to an institution that adheres to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops directives that elective abortions are never permitted and direct sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution, unless it is the only available option to a medical malady.

Ald. Deb Mell, 33rd, a lesbian, said she would possibly get discriminated against if she walked into a Presence clinic because of the Catholic Churchs position on gay rights. Im not here saying these institutions cant exist, obviously, but Im just saying that we shouldnt be using public funds to support them, she said.

And Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, said it isnt right for men to brush aside womens concerns about their access to abortion and contraception. One of the most important decisions a woman will ever make in her lifetime is whether or not to have a child, she said. Access to health care means all aspects, including a womans reproductive rights and reproductive health.

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[ Abortion rights, race at center of City Hall fight on hospital subsidy ]

[ Aldermen approve $5.6M subsidy for Presence Health despite flap over abortion services, birth control ]

[ Moody's downgrades Presence Health to edge of junk status ]
Mayor Rahm Emanuels administration on Tuesday pushed to lock down City Council support for a $5.6 million taxpayer subsidy to a Catholic health care provider, even as some aldermen and the American Civil Liberties Union ripped the deal because of the health organizations opposition to abortion and contraception.

On the eve of a planned Wednesday vote on whether the payment should be made to Presence Health, the fight at City Hall had less to do with the money than with the hot button issues of race and womens right to choose.

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The mayors office and aldermen who back the agreement characterized it as a way to improve health care in minority neighborhoods. They questioned why opponents are trying to make it harder for Presence to operate clinics in those areas.

Aldermen who are against the deal were joined by the ACLU in saying it isnt right for public money to go to Presence because the organization follows U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' directives that "elective abortions are never permitted" and "direct sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution," unless it is the only available option to a medical malady.

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Theres more than just Wednesdays vote at stake. With aldermanic elections and Emanuels re-election bid coming up in 2019, critics and political opponents could try to paint the mayor and other supporters of the special property tax agreement as anti-choice because of Presences policies.

On the other side, aldermen who vote against it could get hit with political ads accusing them of blocking the expansion of health care clinics in underserved neighborhoods.

The Emanuel administration drew a comparison between the Presence tax increment financing proposal and a 2014 payment that passed without controversy, $4.6 million in TIF funding to Swedish Covenant Hospital in the affluent North Side Ravenswood neighborhood.

The two institutions are not exactly alike, however. Swedish Covenant does not follow U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' directives.

Still, South Side Ald. Michelle Harris suggested Tuesday that theres a double standard at play in some aldermens support of Swedish Covenant and opposition to Presence.

Maybe its a difference that a brown community is getting some help over a white community, said Harris, 8th.

The proposed $5.6 million property tax subsidy is for Presence Health's $13.3 million headquarters thats already been built at 200 S. Wacker Drive. The city money would come out of a downtown tax increment financing district fund, from which property taxes are set aside to spur development and create jobs.

As part of the deal, Presence has pledged to spend $15.5 million to build or redevelop four community care centers in neighborhoods where local health services are scarce.

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Feelings were running high Tuesday at City Hall, as both sides tried to shore up their positions before a potentially contentious floor debate at Wednesdays City Council meeting. North Side Ald. Patrick OConnor, Emanuels council floor leader, likened those standing against the Presence payment to the National Rifle Association in their refusal to agree to common-sense legislation that will improve health care for people who need it.

The NRA wont allow any legislation that relates to gun control whatsoever, and theres a lot of common-sense things out there that the average person could agree to, said OConnor, 40th. And youre talking about health care in underserved areas. Youre talking about health care for people of color. Youre talking about health care in an area where, quite frankly, the mortality rates among women of color for delivering babies is significantly higher than for those that are not black or brown.

Northwest Side Ald. John Arena countered that its inappropriate to use TIF money for a downtown headquarters project and hypocritical for Emanuel to present himself as an abortion rights supporter while backing giving public money to a health organization with such restrictive reproductive health rules.

Either stand with us and oppose this and get right with TIFs, or be a hypocrite when it comes down to womens health care, said Arena, 45th.

Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins released a statement Tuesday afternoon that said the mayor personally has a sterling record when it comes to reproductive rights.

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[ Aldermen approve $5.6M subsidy for Presence Health despite flap over abortion services, birth control ]

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Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and several public interest groups filed the first major lawsuits Tuesday to block the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, marking the start of a high-stakes legal battle over the future of the Internet.

The FCC's rules had prohibited Internet providers from slowing down or blocking websites. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is leading the states' suit, said that the FCC's repeal of the net neutrality rules was "arbitrary" and "capricious" and violates federal law.

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The suit comes just a day after Democrats in the Senate said they were inching closer to the votes needed for a legislative measure to help overturn the FCC's rule change. Their resolution aims to reverse the FCC's decision and block the agency from passing similar measures in the future. It has garnered the support of all 49 Democratic senators as well as one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Tuesday's lawsuits seized on that momentum and represent another avenue for supporters of the net neutrality rules to undo the repeal.

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The net neutrality rules were dismantled in a December vote led by Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Republicans had argued that the existing rules stymied industry investment, while Democrats maintained that they served as a vital consumer protection.

In Tuesday's filing, the attorneys general requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit review the FCC's new policy to determine whether it is illegal and unconstitutional.

Schneiderman argued in a statement that the FCC failed to justify its net neutrality reversal while dismissing evidence of harm to consumers and businesses. He also claimed that the FCC erroneously and unreasonably interpreted the Communications Act, the federal law at the heart of the net neutrality rules. In addition, Pai's move to repeal the rules included an unlawful preemption of state and local regulations, Schneiderman said.

The FCC is expected to defend its decision by pointing to prior cases in which the agency had changed its mind on how to regulate businesses under its jurisdiction. Lawyers representing the broadband industry have said the FCC will have a strong case if it can demonstrate solid reasoning.

The FCC declined to comment.

The FCC gets a "significant amount of discretion" to switch directions on policy, said Matthew Brill, a partner at the firm Latham and Watkins who represents NCTA - The Internet and Television Association, a major cable industry trade group, in a recent interview.

"When the court ruled [last time]," said Brill, "it emphasized it wasn't assessing the wisdom of that policy - it was just upholding the agency's decision-making under the broad leeway it gets."

Until the FCC's decision is published in the Federal Register - a process that could take days or weeks - appeals courts may reject any lawsuits submitted on net neutrality, on the grounds that it is too soon to file. But those filing the suits Tuesday said they issued their challenges to ensure their suits are included in the judicial lottery, the process that determines which court will hear the case.

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In filing with the D.C. Circuit, the state attorneys general hope to "win" the lottery by having that court hear the case. It was the D.C. Circuit that upheld the FCC's net neutrality rules in 2016, handing the telecom industry a major defeat.

Outside defenders of the FCC, meanwhile, could launch their own court petition to have the rules reviewed. Doing so would allow industry groups to try to win the judicial lottery by having the case heard in a court that is considered friendlier to business interests.

All 22 attorneys general listed in the lawsuit are Democrats. In addition to the District of Columbia and New York, California, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington are all part of the suit.

Other supporters of the net neutrality rules, including The New America Foundation, Mozilla, and consumer group Public Knowledge, also filed suits in the same court Tuesday, out of an abundance of caution.

"We filed in the event a court determines the appropriate date is today," said Mozilla in a blog post. "The FCC or a court may accept this order or require us and others to refile at a later date."
Reporting from Las Vegas  Attorneys for the Las Vegas police said in district court Tuesday that there still could be criminal charges filed in relation to the mass shooting at a concert on the Las Vegas Strip that left 58 dead.

The revelation came as Nick Crosby, a lawyer representing the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, argued to keep search warrants, affidavits and findings sealed as charges were being investigated. Police have said Stephen Paddock was the lone gunman in the Oct. 1 massacre.

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Crosby said that because the investigation was ongoing, he couldnt reveal who those charges might be aimed at or what they might entail.

He said the charges could emerge within the next 60 days.

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Lawyers for media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, sought to have search warrants and affidavits unsealed after Paddock killed 58 and wounded hundreds at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival from his 32nd floor room at the Mandalay Bay. After the rampage, Paddock shot and killed himself in the room.

Paddocks girlfriend, Marilou Danley, has not been charged in the assault but has been called a person of interest by authorities. She was out of the country when the massacre occurred.

District Court Judge Elissa Cadish chose to keep the warrants, affidavits and findings under seal pending arguments made by police that would show why opening them to the public would hamper the investigation.

The hearing to unseal the search warrants in state court came days after a federal judge unsealed 315 pages of search warrants and affidavits that revealed Paddock had amassed an arsenal of weapons and explosives in his room and vehicle and that also sought to trace the planning of the attack through email and social media accounts.
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort will face trial no sooner than September, the judge hearing his case indicated after an hourlong hearing Tuesday in which prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred over his continuing house arrest and a separate lawsuit challenging the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Prosecutors told the court Friday that they intended to ask for a May 14 trial date for Manafort, 68, and his former business partner, Rick Gates, 45, whose Oct. 30 indictments on fraud, conspiracy and money laundering counts were the first disclosed in Mueller's probe of Russian influence in U.S. political affairs.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which arose out of Manafort's secret lobbying for a Russia-friendly political party in Ukraine.

Attorneys for the defendants said they have been swamped by the government's handoff of more than 590,000 pieces of evidence, plus an additional 46,000 records turned over Tuesday.

"They can't possibly be ready for trial if they don't have what you have," U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of Washington reminded prosecutors. "I don't have a problem with a trial in September or October," she added. "I don't want [to set a date] that we have to continue."

Prosecutor Kyle Freeny said that the handoff is mostly done but that investigators are still scouring the products of at least 19 search warrants, including 87 electronic devices and thousands of domestic and foreign business records. She also said the government continues to mine "pockets of discoverable material in less-obvious places."

Jackson called the hearing to discuss the status of the criminal case, which has become bogged down by the lawsuit. She noted what she called "a fairly unique situation," saying court rules "don't contemplate the potential that people would sue civilly to forestall a criminal prosecution.

Manafort attorneys Kevin M. Downing and Thomas E. Zehnle on Jan. 3 filed a 17-page lawsuit asking to void Mueller's appointment and dismiss the case against Manafort as government overreach in using the special counsel legislation.

Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said in court Tuesday that the government by Feb. 2 will ask a different federal judge in Washington overseeing the lawsuit to toss it, arguing that, among other reasons, the criminal case is the proper venue to seek dismissal of the indictment.

Downing briefly appeared to forget Tuesday that his lawsuit included the request to dismiss the criminal case, before deferring to Jackson and saying, "I don't have it in front me."

Jackson ordered both sides to tell her by Friday if they want to have her decide both cases, and she told the defendants to file by Feb. 23 any motions seeking to dismiss charges or the indictment.

Gates was released on a nearly $5 million bond Tuesday afternoon after agreeing to forfeit three properties and financial and other assets if he fails to appear in court. Under a bail deal, Gates also agreed to abide by a nighttime curfew, electronic monitoring, and a ban on international travel as well as travel outside the Richmond area for anything but court appearances without permission.

Jackson expressed impatience that Manafort has yet to finalize a similar $10 million secured bond deal. In one of several sharp exchanges with Downing, the judge asked, "As for Mr. Manafort's bond, what are we waiting for?," adding that the defendant "held the keys" to his freedom.

Downing disagreed, saying: "You actually set another $7 million security. You set a $17 million bond; we didn't agree to that."

"You had a month to point that out to me. ... I get bond motions all the time ... [and] I'm happy to hear them," the judge replied.

Late Tuesday, Manafort asked to file a sealed motion urging the judge to revisit his bond deal and to provide "an analysis of sensitive financial information" focusing on his net asset statements and those of family members who pledged to secure his bond, "including the names of financial institutions where deposits are located and details about the types and amounts of assets and liabilities."

On Manafort's request for a temporary health-related modification of his detention that she did not detail, Jackson in court said tartly: "While he is subject to home confinement, he is not confined to his couch. He has plenty of opportunities to exercise."

Downing said he would respond in a court filing.

Finally, Jackson again rebuked but declined to punish one of the defendants, this time Gates, for appearing to violate a court's gag order on making public statements about the criminal case that could bias potential jurors.

The judge cited Gates' video greeting thanking supporters and lobbyist Jack Burkman for hosting a Dec. 19 fundraiser for Gates' legal defense at an Arlington, Virginia, hotel. The judge noted that members of the media were invited and reported that Burkman attacked what he said was Mueller's "unfair prosecution" after Gates thanked him for assuring that supporters "hear our message and stand with us."

Jackson said that if surrogates attack the prosecution at a fundraiser to which the press is invited, "I suggest that that's a pretty big red flag."
U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, shown in 1999, was known for his intellect and independent streak, experts say. (Charles Osgood / Chicago Tribune)

U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur wrote more than 11,000 opinions during 37 years on the federal bench, an output Chief District Judge Ruben Castillo called a small reflection of his dedication to the rule of law.

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In addition to this work, Judge Shadur has mentored a number of judges throughout his career, including me, Castillo said in a statement Tuesday. Judge Shadur will be remembered for his passion  his passion for his wife and his family, the law and the Northern District of Illinois.

Shadur, 93, who presided over a pivotal Chicago school desegregation case and a long-running lawsuit over severe overcrowding at Cook County Jail, died Monday after complications from surgery at JourneyCare hospice in Glenview, according to his daughter Beth. He was a resident of Glencoe.

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Judge Milton Shadur devoted his life to upholding justice, to his country, and to his family, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. He served the country bravely in uniform in World War II, honorably for 37 years on the bench, and will long be remembered for his sharp legal mind, independence and integrity.

After a long career in private practice, Shadur was nominated to the bench in 1980 by then-President Jimmy Carter. Not long after that, he oversaw the court-ordered desegregation plan for Chicago Public Schools. Also during the 1980s, he approved a consent decree ordering the county to improve conditions at Cook County Jail, calling for the release of prisoners to curtail severe overcrowding.

Shadur was among the first federal judges to explicitly acknowledge abuse by Chicago police, using strong language to describe allegations of torture by officers in the 1990s.

It is now common knowledge, Shadur wrote in 1999, that in the early- to mid-1980s, Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and many officers working under him regularly engaged in the physical abuse and torture of prisoners to extract confessions.

Shadur continued to oversee significant litigation, including a class-action lawsuit filed by the Chicago Teachers Union against Chicago Public Schools, which alleged discrimination against black teachers.

He was truly a titan of fairness and decency on the bench, and ruled on a number of cases that materially advanced the cause of educational justice for our students, and fairness and dignity for our members, CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement Tuesday. While our union has not always agreed with Judge Shadur, we knew that we could always count on his fairness, his integrity and his decency in the courtroom.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 69 Claire Bataille, a founding member of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and director of the Lou Conte Dance Studio, died on Dec. 30, 2018. She was 66. Read more. (Todd Rosenberg photo)

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Shadur grew up one of four brothers in Milwaukee, where he lived on the same block as former congressman, presidential adviser and federal Judge Abner Mikva, according to Shadurs daughter Beth. At 18, he graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics.

He went on to serve as radar officer in the Navy during World War II and eventually earned the rank of lieutenant. While on leave, he was introduced to a friends cousin, Eleanor. He purposely left a pair of opera glasses at the familys home to speak with her again.

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The second day he saw her, he told her, Im going to marry you, Shadur said.

Though she dismissed it at the time, Shadur made good on the promise, and the couple were married for 72 years. She survives him.

After his military service, Shadur, who was convinced he would be a math teacher, was encouraged by a relative to enroll in law school. He returned to the U. of C. and obtained a law degree before working at a private firm from 1949 to 1980.

After he was recommended for a federal judgeship, Shadur made the move to the bench even though he was taking a substantial pay cut. "I thought it was something you could contribute to society on, he told the Tribune last year.

Shadur, who described himself as a child of the Great Depression and compulsive worker, would joke that his version of a half day was 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Even after he became ill in June, he couldnt shake his work ethic as he issued numerous opinions and orders from home.

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After complications from surgery last year, he announced he would step aside in September, but he never officially retired. Instead, he continued to work on cases from his hospital bed. In the last two weeks of his life, he continued to work on a class-action lawsuit, only recently passing it off to another judge, his daughter said.

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He left a legacy of public service and justice for all, his daughter said. He would say it doesnt matter if someone was disenfranchised or poor or didnt have opportunities, he wanted them to have the same legal representation.

He taught our whole family the importance of taking care of others and taking a stand on things.

Shadur also is survived by a son, Robert; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Karen.

A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Congregation Am Shalom, 840 Vernon Ave. in Glencoe.

tbriscoe@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_tonybriscoe
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, pictured earlier this month, said Tuesday she "did not hear that word used" when asked during a Senate hearing about a vulgarity attributed to President Donald Trump. (Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post)

In Tuesdays testimony by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, all the attention was on whether she had heard President Donald Trump use a derogatory scatological phrase at a meeting with senators. Overlooked in the coverage of the Senate Judiciary Committee testimony was new evidence that when it comes to his favorite proposal, Trump is full of something.

In reference to a border wall, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Nielsen about funding: Have we opened an account that Mexico can put the money in to pay for it? He persisted in asking whether Mexico would bear the cost as Trump repeatedly pledged. Nielsen had several unhelpful answers, including, I am not aware and How do you mean pay, sir?

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If Mexico had agreed to provide the money, evasive replies would not be needed. But the promise was a fraud, as just about everyone knows by now.

When he talks about the wall, it has never been entirely clear whether Trump is fooling voters, being fooled or both. Never has a politician promised something so emphatically that he has no chance of delivering.

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The wall is a bad idea from almost any vantage point. And even if his plan werent a bad idea, its an unattainable one. In pushing for it over and over, Trump invites ridicule from critics and disappointment from admirers. Shutting down the government if he doesnt get it, which is a real possibility, would be a perfect way to compound the self-inflicted damage.

His wall fixation is one reason that his stock of admirers has shrunk so much. A new Quinnipiac poll reports that 63 percent of Americans oppose erecting a wall on our southern border.

Republicans are the only group that supports it. White voters with no college degree are divided with 47 percent supporting The Wall and 49 percent opposed, says Quinnipiac. Every other party, gender, education, age and racial group opposes The Wall.

Why does Trump continue his Ahab-like quest in spite of the serious political drawbacks? One reason is that he promised it, and he fears that his most loyal supporters will abandon him if he reneges.

Thats how he ended up, in a phone call with the president of Mexico last year, practically begging him to play along. I have to have Mexico pay for the wall, he pleaded. I have to. I have been talking about it for a two-year period.

What he had been talking about, of course, was that we would build a wall and  this was the cue for thunderous ovations  Mexico would pay for it. But there is no chance that Mexican leaders would ever agree.

A CBS News survey in August found that only 10 percent of Americans think Mexico would pay for the barrier  and only 21 percent of Republicans believe it. His followers know his promise isnt worth a centavo, and they dont seem to care.

Trump has already implicitly admitted defeat. The reason for the impasse over immigration policy is that he demands funding for the wall that Democrats (and some Republicans) are loath to provide. But if Mexico could be coerced into footing the bill, this appropriation would not be needed.

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Trumps folly is a boon to economics professors looking for ways to illustrate basic insights. One is the law of diminishing returns. If you own no shoes, acquiring a pair would make your life much better. If you own 20 pairs of shoes, getting a 21st would not. If you have no fencing on the border, putting up 700 miles of it prevents some illegal crossing. But adding another 900 wouldnt make as much of a difference, and the 1,600th mile might have zero additional effect.

As the value of each additional mile falls, the cost would rise, because the most heavily traveled and accessible sites have already been covered. Constructing a high, impenetrable barrier in more remote spots would be more expensive.

Another important economic concept is opportunity cost. If you spend $1,000 on a cruise, you cant spend it on rent. To pay for the wall, Trumps budget proposes to take money from programs that are more useful.

Among the budget items that would get shorted are customs officers, surveillance cameras, coastal interceptor vessels and canine units. The wall wouldnt stop visitors from overstaying visas or prevent drugs from coming via cars, tractor-trailers, tunnels, drones and boats.

What Trump proposes to do is spend $18 billion to erect a giant symbol. What he would really be doing is shoveling money down a  whats the term?  rathole.

Steve Chapman, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/chapman.

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The husband-and-wife team Marc Breitman and Nada Breitman-Jakov of Paris are the winners of the 2018 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for architecture. (Photo provided by the University of Notre Dame)

Two French architects are the winners of the 2018 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for traditional architecture, the University of Notre Dame, which administers the prize, announced Wednesday.

Marc Breitman and Nada Breitman-Jakov, whose designs range from homes to neighborhoods, will receive the $200,000 award in a March 24 ceremony in Chicago.

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In its citation, the jury for the prize praised the Breitmans for breathing new life into beloved and time-tested architectural and urban patterns. The husband-and-wife team work out of Paris as Breitman & Breitman architects.

Sponsored by Chicago investor Richard H. Driehaus and awarded annually to a living architect, the Driehaus Prize was established in 2003 to honor traditional and classical architecture. Previous recipients include the American architects Robert A.M. Stern and Michael Graves.

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Blair Kamin is a Tribune critic.

bkamin@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @BlairKamin

[ Golden Lady statue in Jackson Park would be 'liberated' by Obama center ]

[ The illusion of architectural permanence ]

[ Read all of Blair Kamin's Cityscapes columns in the Tribune ]
Attention is like oxygen for our narcissistic president. He craves the limelight, hungers for approval and cannot stop congratulating himself for just about everything (no airline crashes!). He won the primaries and arguably the general election by doing what he does best: Monopolizing media coverage. A year into his presidency, however, viewers  er, voters  are tuning out.

The Brookings Institution is out with an interesting "big data" study tracking Google searches:

"There were a number of important trends in internet searches relevant to President Trump in 2017. Data show interest in Trump plummeting over the course of the year; variations in interest in economic, domestic, and foreign policy, depending on the time of year; spikes in interest in Russia, terrorism, taxes, and inequality as those topics were in the news; significant differences across states and cities as various topics surfaced nationally; and interest in impeachment surging during May and November."

There is one topic that really has grabbed the public's imagination, however. "Impeachment interest has surged during Trump's first year. In May and November, there were major spikes in public interest in that topic as Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May and saw leading advisors face federal indictment in November."

The study comes with a number of caveats:

"First, [search data] are highly aggregated and it is not possible to break down the overall numbers by age, gender, race, or other important demographic categories. Second, they measure interest in a topic, but not the direction of sentiment. Third, search data are sensitive to the terms being queried. The word 'race,' for example, can generate different results than the word 'minorities.' "

Still, it is fair to say that in a year after arguably the weirdest election in most voters' lifetimes (yes, weirder than 2000), political interest is going to tail off. Remember, a good deal of the electorate ignores even midterms and perks up only a few months before the presidential election. The challenge for each party is to keep its voters engaged. And in that regard, Democrats may have the upper hand. Breaking down the data by progressives, conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, it seems that among Trump's base, interest waned:

"Reflecting the polarized nature of American politics and the contentiousness surrounding the start of the Trump administration, public interest in all four groupings was very high in January and February. It dropped during the summer, but then rose again for progressives in the weeks leading up to the off-year November elections. Searches for progressives were much higher in September, October, and November than any of the other political groups. Democrats made major gains then in Virginia, New Jersey, and Alabama."

We don't know if interest waned because Republicans were heading for losses (i.e. Trumpkins tuned out bad news for their guy) or if Republicans got slammed because their base has lost interest in politics. Perhaps for some, electing Trump was all they needed to do to "show those elites" what's what.

This should not be all that surprising. It's often easier to whip up opposition  particularly against a chaotic and outlandish leader  than it is to slog through the day-to-day ordeal of rationalizing his behavior. At some points, the loyalists get discouraged or just bored. This is especially the case with Trump, who has the uncanny ability to undercut his own agenda and reveal his worst qualities. He's not very good, in other words, at concealing his ignorance, racism and contempt for democracy. The Post's Dan Balz recently reported, "None of his opponents  not the Democrats, not the Never Trumpers, not any of the others  can damage him as badly as he hurts himself."

When that happens over and over, the understandable reaction for Republicans is to bury their heads in the sand. As Balz noted:

"His response to events that go against him is to lash out by declaring that the processes of our democratic system are rigged or broken. His perspective on democratic governance is viewed almost entirely through the lens of whether he, personally, is winning or losing."

For some Trump advisers and for many Republican elected officials, there is an almost automatic reaction to turn away when things like this occur, either to pretend what happened did not happen or to dismiss them as a president blowing off steam, like somebody ranting in a bar.

Mind you, Democrats fear their own base will tire as well. Watching outrage after outrage is exhausting. On the other hand, victories in 2017 have whetted the appetite of Democrats, and grass-roots enthusiasm remains high, as we've seen in marches, political donations and candidates running for office. Fueled by #MeToo (not tracked in the Brookings study) and Trump's regular racist outbursts, Democrats surely have the edge in maintaining interest. If anything, their difficulty will be in deciding which outrage to focus upon most as we get closer to the midterms.
The National Security Administration (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md., is shown in June 2013. Democrats and Republicans in Congress cooperated with each other to advance a surveillance bill. (Patrick Semansky / AP)

If these were the old days of newspapering, wed love to shout: Stop the Presses! Thats a phrase normally reserved for late-breaking, jaw-dropping news.

What shocking event has inspired our outburst in the digital age? Only that Congressional Democrats and Republicans have worked together to advance a vital surveillance bill that helps keep America safe.

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Under the program, U.S. authorities work with telecom companies to secretly gather phone and electronic communications of foreigners outside the United States. In doing so, some emails, phone calls and texts of American citizens may also be incidentally swept into the net.

That possibility upsets privacy hawks in both parties, who sought tough new limits on American surveillance. But more moderate lawmakers on both sides stiff-armed opponents because they feared, rightly, that weakening the program would hobble terror investigations.

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Yes, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate cooperated with each other to achieve an important goal. Bravo.

Lets slow this down and savor what is likely to be a fleeting moment of bipartisanship.

Last week the House voted 256-164 to renew this vital program with an unwieldy moniker: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act.

House lawmakers did so even after President Donald Trump issued a series of contradictory and monumentally uninformed tweets about the program that could have jeopardized passage of the bill.

In one tweet, Trump appeared to question his own administrations support for the program. He finally made himself clear:  today's vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!"

They did.

On Tuesday, the Senate overcame the threat of a filibuster, 60-38. Thats 18 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 1 independent. Fittingly, a bipartisan duo  Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisana and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri  provided the final votes to proceed. A final Senate vote to reauthorize Section 702 is expected soon, perhaps Thursday.

Americans seeking signs that lawmakers from both parties can cooperate to advance Americas national security interests now have one strong piece of evidence. For some members of Congress, particularly Democrats buffeted by the left wing of their party, this was a gutsy vote.

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Washington isnt known for getting things done. The atmosphere is toxic, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago tells us. But Section 702 transcended political turf fights because it is a vital tool for our intel community, says Quigley, a Democrat on the House intelligence committee. I can list specific examples of people and threats that were thwarted by 702. One case previously highlighted: Intelligence collected under Section 702 helped prevent al-Qaida's Najibullah Zazi from launching a suicide bombing on a New York City subway.

Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia also reminded lawmakers before the Tuesday vote that U.S. intelligence has used the surveillance law to track down terrorists abroad. Case in point: the 2016 killing of Islamic States second-ranking leader, Abdul-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Haji Imam, in a U.S.-backed military raid in Syria.

Those are just the successes weve heard about. We dont know what other violent plots have been thwarted but remain secret.

Six years from now, the law comes up for renewal. We wish it a stellar record of success  and continued bipartisan support.
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, made up of US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters, ride in an armored vehicle near the village of Bir Fawaz during their offensive towards the Islamic State's Syrian stronghold in February 2017. (DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP/Getty Images)

Raqqa in northern Syria is a broken city in the midst of a long, arduous rebuild. But its no longer the nerve center for the Islamic States mission of carnage. Syrians, the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world can thank Syrian Kurdish fighters for that.

Syrian Kurdish forces led offensive to retake Raqqa, and were instrumental in routing Islamic State militants from much of the rest of northern Syria. Now, the U.S. has a new assignment for Kurdish fighters: Police Syrias borders with Turkey and Iraq, to ensure that remnants of Islamic State dont coalesce into any kind of comeback.

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The Pentagon was right to train and arm Syrian Kurds ahead of the offensive to retake Raqqa. Syrian Kurdish fighters had amassed an admirable track record against Islamic State across northern Syria. Their deployment as a border security presence makes just as much sense.

As a builder of Sharia-ruled strongholds, Islamic State is absent. But the group isnt entirely gone: Its militants continue to inspire, through their online capabilities and through attacks on Western targets with knives and trucks. And while they no longer maintain a hold on urban centers, pockets of Islamic State fighters remain along the Euphrates River Valley, near the border of Iraq and Syria, as well as in desert stretches of both countries.

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A Syrian Kurdish-led force would stabilize the porous, no-mans land along the Syrian border. The U.S. has begun training Syrian Kurds for their new task, and the goal is to, over the next few years, build up a force of up to 30,000 fighters.

That has incensed Turkey, which regards the Kurdish force in Syria as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist group in Turkey that Ankara labels as a terror organization.

Turkey, a NATO member and an increasingly difficult Western ally, is talking tough about Syrian Kurds as border troops. Our duty is to drown this army of terror before it is born, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week. Turkish troops along the border have begun shelling Syrian Kurdish fighters in the Syrian town of Afrin, and Ankara says its beginning preparations for an assault on the Kurdish contingent there.

This isnt the first time Turkey has been rankled by Americas reliance on Syrian Kurd fighters in Syria. Turkey angrily denounced the U.S. bid to train and arm the Syrian Kurd-led offensive on Raqqa, the Islamic States self-proclaimed capital. Nevertheless, the Trump administration should stand its ground. The Euphrates River Valley is an expanse of nearly 4,000 square miles that Islamic State still controls. The militant groups top leaders are believed to be hiding there. Neither the U.S. nor any other country with a stake in the Middle East can afford to ignore that.

Theres another reason why keeping Kurdish forces engaged in Syria is the right tack to take. They serve as an important counterpoint to the influence imposed by Russia and Iran  two governments that back Syrian strongman Bashar Assad and his bid to eventually retake territory Damascus lost after years of civil war. Like Turkey, Russia and Iran oppose a Syrian Kurdish border force.

Turkey, Iran and Russia, however, need a little memory jogging. Each country has been hit hard by Islamic State terror attacks. If the Syrian Kurds can help keep Islamic State from re-emerging in eastern and northern Syria, thats good for all parties. And if a Kurdish security presence in Syria keeps Assad from regaining complete control over a country he helped wreck, then thats good for Syrians, and for the U.S.
Haitian community members protest near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Jan. 15, 2018, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is defending himself anew against accusations that he is racist, this time after recent disparaging comments about Haiti and African nations. (Damon Higgins / Palm Beach Post)

It seems our current political leadership has adopted an immigration approach that aims to let in only people of a certain caliber.

On Tuesday on Fox News, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: What good does it do to bring in somebody who's illiterate in their own country, has no skills and is going to struggle in our country and not be successful? That is not what a good nation should do, and we need to get away from it.

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That comes on the heels of President Donald Trump dismissing immigrants from what he reportedly called shithole countries, like some in Africa, and recommending we get more immigrants from Norway.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen explained that the president referenced Norway because the countrys prime minster had told him that the people of Norway work very hard and that they are industrious.

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They are also predominantly white, unlike the populations of the shithole countries, but Im sure thats just a coincidence. Besides, if you suggest that this view on immigration has a white people = good/brown people = bad vibe, youll be told each person in the administration is the least racist person to ever breathe air and you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting otherwise.

So, if the entirely non-racist goal of this immigration approach is to keep out the riff-raff, it stands to reason that the standard should be applied retroactively. In other words, we shouldnt just want to keep the non-industrious immigrants from coming in, we should also want to rid ourselves of any immigrants from undesirable countries who once managed to slip in under the watch of less patriotic presidents.

Ive done some research and concluded that, to start with, all Italian, Irish, German and Polish immigrants, as well as the descendants of immigrants from those shithole countries, must leave immediately and be replaced by industrious Norwegians.

Lets start with the Italians. In 1891, the New York Times printed an editorial about Italian immigrants that read, in part: These sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins, who have transported to this country the lawless passions, the cut-throat practices, and the oath-bound societies of their native country, are to us a pest without mitigation. Our own rattlesnakes are as good citizens as they.

Nothing Norwegian about those folks.

Public Radio International reported this about the Italian immigrants that arrived in America between the 1880s and early 1920s: About 80 percent of them were from the impoverished south of Italy or from Sicily. Only about 50 percent were literate.

As our present-day, non-racist attorney general told Fox News: What good does it do to bring in somebody who's illiterate in their own country?

The Irish have to go because Pope Alexander III, in 1172, described Ireland as a barbarous nation of filthy practices.

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And in 1855, this very paper wrote of Chicagos Irish immigrants: Who does not know that the most depraved, debased, worthless and irredeemable drunkards and sots which curse the community are Irish Catholics?

Clearly, people of Irish descent do not meet the Trump-era standards of immigration. Off they go.

The Germans are next, and here I run into a mild conflict of interest, given my German heritage.

In 1753, none other than Benjamin Franklin discussed German immigrants in a letter, writing: Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation, and as Ignorance is often attended with Credulity when Knavery would mislead it, and with Suspicion when Honesty would set it right; and as few of the English understand the German Language, and so cannot address them either from the Press or Pulpit, tis almost impossible to remove any prejudices they once entertain.  Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it; and as Kolben says of the young Hottentots, that they are not esteemed men till they have shewn their manhood by beating their mothers, so these seem to think themselves not free, till they can feel their liberty in abusing and insulting their Teachers.

What heathens we Germans are. Clearly there is no place for us in this country. I will self-deport as soon as possible, and encourage all others like me to do the same.

Lastly, the Polish immigrants.

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In his 1902 book History of the American People, Woodrow Wilson described immigrants from Poland and other countries like Italy and Hungary as men of the lowest class who came out of the ranks where there was neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence.

In 1923, psychologist Carl Brigham published A Study of Human Intelligence and concluded that Polish people were inferior to Nordic Americans.

Others said Polish people have inherently unstable personalities and an extremeness in temperament.

Adios, Polish immigrants.

And, come to think of it, adios to anyone who uses the word adios.

America is becoming, as Sessions described, a good nation. And that means everybody has to go.

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Except for the Norwegians. And, of course, the decidedly non-racist people now deciding whos fit to be an American.

rhuppke@chicagotribune.com
Isnt the solution to the Illinois state financial crisis pretty clear, even for politicians who do not agree on much? We have to fix the funding of union pensions.

There are two steps to getting it done. The first is figuring out whats fair. This should be done by comparison with police officers, firefighters and teachers, etc., in similar roles in other cities and states. We should aim for something in the middle of the range for similar cities. Something fair and reasonable that doesnt shortchange these good people and doesnt gouge the taxpayers.

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And the second step is paying for it. We just have to ante up and pay for it. Yes, it will mean higher taxes for a while. It is a bitter pill to swallow. But we have to do whats right by the workers and the taxpayers. The uncertainty is killing us.

 Gary Smith, Glenview
Lois Arbanas, 110, blows out the candles on her cake during her 110th birthday party at The Moorings in Arlington Heights on Dec. 1, 2017. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Weeks after celebrating her 110th birthday and earning the rare distinction of becoming an official supercentenarian, an Arlington Heights woman died.

Lois Arbanas, 110, died Dec. 26, just weeks after being treated to a slice of chocolate cake and a glass of cabernet sauvignon during a birthday party Dec. 1 at the Moorings retirement community, where she had lived for the past 25 years.

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"I'm so happy that mother was able to have such a great time at her 110th birthday party with everyone there to celebrate," said Arbanas' daughter, Anne Feichter.

Although Arbanas had not been ill, she had recently become disinterested in food and had started sleeping throughout much of the day, Feichter said.

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At the time of her birthday party in early December, area researchers noted how Arbanas joined an estimated 60 to 75 people who are 110 years old or older in the nation.

When Feichter and other relatives visited Arbanas in her apartment at the Moorings on Christmas Eve, the family matriarch still was able to enjoy the holiday, complimenting her daughters on their clothing and opening her presents, Feichter said.

"She said, 'I like that jacket,' and 'I like that scarf,'" Feichter recalled. "But by the next day, she wasn't eating or drinking much."

On Jan. 6, Arbanas' family and friends gathered to honor a woman whose life story spanned more than a century and seemed to come straight from the pages of a U.S. history textbook.

Born Dec. 1, 1907, when U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt ruled the White House, Arbanas was raised on a farm in rural Michigan during the so-called Progressive era.

One of nine daughters in the family, Arbanas attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse and later boarded with a family in a neighboring town to attend high school.

After moving to Detroit to take a job in the burgeoning auto industry, she met her future husband, Joseph Arbanas, who worked as an attorney.

The couple married in 1935. Joseph Arbanas ultimately died in 1992, shortly before the couple's 60th wedding anniversary, Feichter said.

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Delivering her mother's eulogy during the recent memorial ceremony, Feichter reflected on how Lois Arbanas raised two daughters in the Chicago area.

"Mom was patient with us, especially me as I was the wilder one. ... At 5, I walked three blocks with a 3-year-old friend, crossing Sheridan Road and went wading in Lake Michigan," Feichter said. "Well, mom got a break with (daughter) Marybeth. She was the good girl and never did the wild things I did."

kcullotta@tribpub.com

Twitter @kcullotta
Sentencing proceedings have been pushed to March for a 26-year-old Aurora man who pleaded guilty last year to driving drunk and high on marijuana in a 2016 crash that killed a 9-year-old girl.

Anthony Potochney, of the 900 block of North Avenue, could get a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for the crash that killed Katie Jonak, 9. Potochney had been scheduled for a sentencing hearing Tuesday with Kane County Circuit Judge Linda Abrahamson, but at the defense's request, that was canceled and rescheduled to March 29.

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Abrahamson accepted Potochney's guilty plea in October to three counts of aggravated driving under the influence, including one class 2 felony and two class 4 felonies, and failure to stop after an accident involving personal injury or death, a class 4 felony.

On Oct. 7, 2016, Katie Jonak's mother was driving Katie and two of her friends home from a play rehearsal, Kane County prosecutors have said. They were northbound on Broadway, south of Pierce Street. Potochney was driving a Cadillac Deville southbound on Broadway. About 9:12 p.m., his Cadillac crossed into the northbound lane, prosecutors said. Katie's mother swerved to avoid it, but Potochney struck the minivan's left side, according to prosecutors.

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Once his car stopped, Potochney ran away from the scene. When medics arrived, Katie was unresponsive, prosecutors said. Aurora Fire Department paramedics took Katie and the other girls to Presence Mercy Medical Center, where Katie was pronounced dead at 9:44 p.m.

Both of the other girls were hospitalized, one for injuries including a bruised lung and the other with a hip injury, prosecutors said.

Aurora police found and arrested Potochney the night of the crash near the High Street bridge. Potochney was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, where an Aurora police officer noted that he refused to submit to testing that would determine his blood alcohol level, The Beacon-News reported. However, prosecutors said his blood was drawn 4.5 hours after the crash, revealing a blood alcohol concentration of 0.193, more than twice the legal limit.

Potochney has been in the Kane County Jail since his arrest. Bail had been reduced from the initial $750,000 to $300,000, but after he pleaded guilty, Abrahamson revoked his right to post bond.

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
An Aurora man who did time in prison for killing his girlfriend in 1997 has now been charged with attempted murder in connection with a Christmas weekend shooting in the city.

Ernesto Sanchez, 37, of the 800 block of Fifth Avenue, is also charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

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Sanchez is in custody at the Kane County Correctional Center, where his total bail is $1.65 million. He's next due in court Jan. 31 on pending charges in at least three felony cases.

Sanchez is accused of critically injuring another 37-year-old Aurora man around 11:15 p.m. Dec. 23 inside the man's home in the 1100 block of Superior as the two engaged in a verbal altercation, police said in a Facebook post.

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In the course of the argument, Sanchez fired several shots that hit the other man and then fled the scene, police said. While the wounds appeared to be non-life threatening, the man was airlifted to a suburban hospital after receiving initial treatment at an Aurora hospital.

A definite motive for the shooting is unclear, police said in the post.

Sanchez was taken into custody without incident in the 2300 block of North Farnsworth Avenue around 12:15 a.m. Jan. 8 after allegedly battering a 40-year-old woman he knew. He was charged with aggravated domestic battery and two counts of domestic battery in that incident, police said. The woman declined medical treatment.

Sanchez also has pending felony weapons charges in connection with a June 2016 traffic stop he fled on Aurora's East Side, police said. Aurora police said they stopped Sanchez for alleged traffic violations near Fourth Street and Hinman Avenue, learned he was on parole, and they searched him and the car he was driving, the Beacon-News reported.

During the course of the search, Sanchez took off running northbound, and officers searched but couldn't find him, police spokesman Dan Ferrelli previously told the newspaper. Meanwhile, police discovered a loaded handgun in the engine compartment of his car, Ferrelli said.

Through the Kane County State's Attorney's Office, police secured two counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon charges against Sanchez. They also secured a parole violation warrant through the Illinois Department of Corrections.

In September 2016, Aurora police and agents form the U.S. Marshals' Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force took Sanchez into custody at his home without incident, Ferrelli said.

Records show a November 2017 motion to increase or revoke Sanchez's bond in that case was denied.

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State records show that Sanchez is a convicted murderer, required to register as such, for a crime he committed when he was 17.

Sanchez pleaded guilty to murder in 2003, when he was 23, for the shooting that killed his estranged girlfriend, 18-year-old Devora Chavez. A single bullet broke a window and struck Chavez in the back while she was standing in a friend's kitchen on the 800 block of Kane Street in Aurora, according to Beacon-News archives.

In June 2003, Sanchez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder.
Local officials say stalking is an ongoing issue in the suburbs, and social media is playing its part in the problem.

"Stalking has become one of the top crimes" in the area, said Betsy Carlson, a certified domestic violence professional at Wheaton-based Family Shelter Service.

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January is National Stalking Awareness Month, a designation set in 2004. More than a decade earlier, the state of California enacted the first stalking law in 1990, with Illinois following two years later, officials said.

Maureen McGuire, who handles media relations and advocacy for Family Shelter Service, said the Illinois law was launched following the murder of Karen Erjavec and boyfriend Glenn Beach, both of Elmhurst, in 1992.

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"Statistics show that 76 percent of female homicide victims are stalked before they are murdered," McGuire said. "Back in 1992, John Millner, who went on to become a state representative and senator, was the police chief in Elmhurst and he had a lot to do with getting that state law passed."

Carlson said the numbers show how routine stalking is in America.

"Statistics show that one in six women will experience stalking sometime in their lives as well as one out of 18 to 19 men," Carlson said. "It's certainly one of the top crimes throughout the state, including Chicago where they also have to deal with gang violence."

Carlson said that social media has increased the amount of stalking and that people "become victims without their stalker even being present."

"Social media has become more of a tactic used by stalkers, and because people can create a false identity or use GPS, on-line sources, and email  they don't even have to present and these tools have emboldened stalkers," Carlson said.

Tikiya Young, a senior prevention educator for Family Shelter Service, said presentations were given last year at Metea and Neuqua Valley high schools in District 204 on social media and stalking. She said the events "produced a lot of questions."

"We started offering these programs back in the 2013-14 school year, and at the time, it was just me making the presentations," Young said. "Since then, we've had to hire two more people and we're planning to add Waubonsie (Valley) High School to the mix this year and then begin moving on down into the middle schools."

Like Carlson, Young said social media "plays a big part" regarding stalking issues and that students are particularly vulnerable at schools "once things are posted and the rumor mills start."

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"This can affect students both now and down the road with issues like self-esteem, social anxiety and other levels of trauma they might not even realize until they are out of control," Young said.

Domestic violence and stalking survivor and former Family Shelter Service client Brigette, 45, of Naperville, agreed that technology and social media "have made things more dangerous than they were 10 or 15 years ago" but that stalkers can always find ways to be physically present.

"My former husband used to come by where I worked cutting hair and would sit outside the window and time how long it took me to do a haircut," she said. "I would show up to work with black eyes and bruises and there was only so much I could cover with makeup. In spite of the technology, people still have physical ways to get to their victims  it's just that now, they have more tools."

Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said victims like Brigette are often part of a complex problem that falls under the umbrella of domestic violence.

"We don't see as many cases of stalking as we do domestic violence, where there are cases every day," McMahon said. "Generally in cases of domestic violence, you have other factors that include alcohol, illegal drug use and stalking. People use social media to punish those who are trying to get away and intimidate them through a sort of blackmail, which is a weird thought process."

In terms of prevention, Young advises students not to share personal information including passwords, know the signs of abuse, and report any suspicions of it to a trusted adult.

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McMahon said never to share information on the internet or with people "that you wouldn't be comfortable having your mother see" and to never isolate oneself in a relationship.

"For a young adult, not sharing information about a relationship with friends and family means you should be wary of it and maybe that person isn't interested in you but how to control you," he said.

Brigette said she has worked hard to not project her fears and experiences on her daughter and become "hyper-vigilant."

"I advise people to protect their privacy and not share call logs and passwords and someone that is asking you for that is a problem," she said. "I also say you should follow your instincts. If it feels wrong, it is. If you're scared or have reservations, believe in yourself  have trust in that."

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
A familiar face is overseeing the daily operations at Barrington Hills Village Hall while a search happens to find a full-time replacement to former Village Administrator Robert Kosin.

Anna Paul recently left her position as Barrington Hills village clerk to take over as interim village administrator after Kosin retired in late December following a 30-year career with the village.

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A personnel committee, including village trustees Colleen Konicek Hannigan, Bryan Croll and Michelle Nagy Maison, also has been formed to lead the search for Kosin's permanent replacement, said Village President Martin McLaughlin.

Kosin also won't be too far away after agreeing to work as a village consultant for the next two years, he said.

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"(Kosin) has a lot of history with the village, and Anna Paul has been shadowing him for two years," McLaughlin said.

Paul, a Chicago resident who has worked as village clerk since 2015, said she also has applied to be Barrington Hills' full-time village administrator.

From 2012 to 2015, she also worked as the planning and zoning information specialist for Barrington Hills.

"I applied for village administrator because it's something I think I can excel at," Paul said. "I'd really love to have the opportunity to be in the internal workings of Barrington Hills."

While acting as interim village administrator, Paul will earn a base salary of $88,000, village officials said.

When working as village clerk, communications director and Freedom of Information coordinator, Paul earned a salary of $68,000, officials said.

Nikki Panos was selected to take over Paul's former job duties, earning a combined salary of $67,000 to act as village clerk, as well as communications director and Freedom of Information coordinator, officials said.

McLaughlin said he was aware that Paul had applied for the full-time village administrator position, explaining how numerous village staffers are equipped to handle many positions at Barrington Hills Village Hall.

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"The village clerk is aware of the building department's duties and the building department works with our village treasurer on billing," McLaughlin said. "So, we don't have to use outsourcing if we need replacements."

tshields@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @tshields19
A home decorator chooses books to fill a client's bookshelves from the bargain section at the Frugal Muse bookstore in Darien. (Kimberly Fornek / Pioneer Press )

Paul and Robyn Garrison hope the Frugal Muse, a Darien store where gently used books, music recordings, movies and games are resold, can also be a gathering place for avid readers and new performers.

The couple, who bought the business in June 2014, plan to host trivia games, movie nights and open mic performances.

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The store already attracts people who like a bargain and those who would rather recycle books and compacts discs than throw them away.

The Frugal Muse, which has been in the shopping center on the corner of 75th and Lemont Road since 2000, carries more than 200,000 movies on DVD and VHS, music on compact discs and cassettes, audiobooks, music memorabilia, greeting cards and collectibles, Paul Garrison said.

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In a busy month, like November or December, the store sells or trades 15,000 items, he said.

At nearly 7,000 square feet, the store also has room for overstuffed armchairs where customers can relax and look through books.

"It's a chill place to be," said employee Laura Bednarczyk.

The Garrisons want it to be a hub, too, for book and music lovers and creative people. They plan to resume open mic nights on Tuesday or Wednesdays in February, Paul Garrison said. People can sing, tell jokes, read poetry, almost anything that is family friendly and not dangerous, he said.

"We wouldn't have fire-eaters, for example," Garrison said.

He is booking authors for the spring, too. Last year, best-selling fiction writer Elizabeth Berg appeared at the store, and the Frugal Muse partnered with nearby Hollywood Boulevard Cinema to host Chicago author Scott Turow for a question-and-answer session. Turow was promoting his latest book, "Testimony."

The store orders new books for customers and sells them at a discounted price. But the vast majority of its merchandise comes from people who bring in books and other items for store credit, or a lesser amount in cash.

Eric Krause of Downers Grove brought in a couple of boxes of books recently.

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"Our kids have moved out and we're in the process of cleaning out the house," Krause said.

His offerings included several children's books, such as a pop-up book about ocean animals and Little Golden Book Classics, that Robyn Garrison expected would sell quickly.

The store also carries more expensive collector items and memorabilia, such as ticket stubs signed by Paul McCartney and Luciano Pavarotti.

"We have ways to keep the product fresh," said Garrison, who has a master's degree in English and has taught at Elmhurst College, Columbia College in Chicago and College of DuPage.

Items that do not sell in a reasonable amount of time are discounted or donated to another organization.

On a snowy Monday in January, Matt Mazur of Willowbrook found two vinyl records, John Denver's Greatest Hits and Christopher Cross' debut album.

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"I'm a big fan (of vinyl)," Mazur said. "It has a better atmosphere."

His record player is not vintage, "but it does its job," Mazur said.

David Kokiong of Westmont ran into the store to look for a Chinese language book.

"I like the selection," Kokiong said. "I can buy things on Amazon, but sometime I come in here and look first."

Amy Cable, who has a decorating business, filled her arms with hardcover books from the bargain section. She needed them to fill newly installed bookshelves in her client's Glen Ellyn home. She chose the books based on their size and the color of their bindings, so they would complement the house's color scheme.

"It's likely no one will ever read them," Cable said.

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The Frugal Muse in Darien was opened by four partners, who had several Frugal Muse stores in Madison, Wisconsin, Garrison said. He started working there in 2002 and became the manager. When the owners were thinking of closing the Darien location, the Garrisons offered to buy it.

Robyn Garrison, who was working at the Hinsdale Humane Society, admits she had no idea what all was involved in owning your own business. One big challenge is marketing.

"How to get people to come in to a brick and mortar store," she said.

kfornek@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @kfDoings

Frugal Muse Books Music Movies

Where: 7511 Lemont Road, Darien (in the shopping center on the southeast corner of Lemont and 75th Street).

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Phone: 630-427-1140

Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

Website: frugalmusebooks.com
Police departments in Oak Brook and Burr Ridge are among 22 in Illinois and more than 300 nationally to commit to a program aimed at ensuring successful interactions between police and persons with mental illness.

The One Mind Campaign was rolled out in October 2017 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police with the intent to unite local communities, public safety organizations, and mental health organizations, said Oak Brook chief James Kruger, who also is president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police

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"Mental health strategies have been a major concern for law enforcement over the past several years, as we train our officers on responding to people who may be in crisis, and is a major component of de-escalation techniques," Kruger said.

Burr Ridge police chief John Madden said incidents involving mental health usually are very time consuming, and the department deals with such issues on calls once or twice a month.

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"Sometimes, it simply helping a family member know what they can do," he said.

Kruger said Oak Brook officers generally deal weekly or bi-weekly with situations in which the mental health of a person is relevant.

He said on Jan. 12, police responded to someone threatening suicide in a business by attempting to light himself on fire after dousing himself and surrounding area with a flammable liquid.

On Jan. 1, a 20-year-old woman knocked on a neighbor's door, carrying a laptop, claiming that someone was controlling her laptop and that radiation was being pumped into her house. She came back later with a potted plant. Months prior, she had brought items to the home and left things in the mailbox, Kruger said.

"We're recognizing now that a mental health issue is sometimes a factor, and it's something that needs to be considered," Kruger said. "The only tool we've had in our tool box was arrest, but that's not always the best way to deal with a situation.

Kruger said the program will help officers recognize when something could be mental-health related.

To join the One Mind Campaign, departments must commit to implement four practices over a 12 to 36 month time frame:

 Establish a clearly defined and sustainable partnership with one or more community mental health organizations

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 Develop and implement a model policy addressing police response to persons affected by mental illness

 Train and certify all sworn officers, along with selected non-sworn staff, such as dispatchers, in mental health first aid for public safety

 Provide crisis intervention team training to a minimum of 20 percent of the agency's sworn officers and to selected non-sworn staff.

When mental health issues are considered by police to an issue, Oak Brook police will work with family members to get needed help and possibly take someone to the hospital, rather than to jail, Kruger said.

"There have been use of force issues across the country," he said. "It's not a matter of being soft on crime, but mental health issues are important, and we want our officers to be as prepared as possible to deal with these situations."
A 35-year-old Palatine man was sentenced Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court to 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting a young girl.

Barnassey Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of predatory criminal sexual assault in a case that Judge Joel Greenblatt described as a horrific crime.

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Assistant States Attorney Shilpa Patel said Thomas began molesting the girl when she was 10. Thomas, who was a friend of the girls family, was arrested in 2016 after her mother caught Thomas in the act of molesting the girl, Patel said. The mother called police and Thomas was arrested after fleeing the residence, Patel said. The girl was 12 at the time.

Thomas apologized for his actions, but Greenblatt told him he had abused the girl for more than two years.

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You imposed great harm upon this girl, Greenblatt said.

Thomas, of the 600 block of Constitution Drive, also will have to register as a sex offender for life.

George Houde is freelance reporter.
The off-leash dog area is shown at the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Bremen Grove preserve on Tuesday. The district recently investigated reports of coyotes at the dog park and discovered someone left out food that likely attracted the animals, an official said. (Ted Slowik/Daily Southtown )

Authorities have a stern message for people intentionally leaving out food for coyotes and other wild animals. Simply put: Stop it.

Some people with good intentions and kindness in their hearts may think they're doing a good deed by leaving out dog food or scraps for animals suffering in the winter cold.

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I was alerted to this practice by Tricia Nowak, of Tinley Park, who recently had a scary encounter when she took her new puppy to the off-leash area at the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Bremen Grove preserve located east of Oak Park Avenue just south of 159th Street.

Nowak said when she arrived at the park with her dog in early January, she encountered a menacing coyote staring her down.

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"I threw up my arms in an attempt to look bigger and he came closer," she said. "It was scary."

She reported the incident via a form on the forest preserve district's website. The district quickly responded and an official said they checked out her report.

A coyote is seen on a road near the entrance to the Forest Preserve District of Cook County's Bremen Grove preserve near Tinley Park in early January. A district official warned people to stop leaving out dog food because it was attracting coyotes and making them less afraid of people. (Tricia Nowak)

"I directed our wildlife team to investigate the off-leash dog area to ascertain what might be causing this unusual behavior," John McCabe, the district's director of resource management, said in an email to Nowak.

"We discovered areas adjacent to the off-leash dog area where people are putting food on the ground, including dog food, which will attract coyotes to the area," McCabe wrote. "Additionally, this may cause the coyotes to associate this food with humans and thus (we believe) the reason this coyote was not afraid of you."

I spoke by phone Tuesday with McCabe, who said leaving out food is a practice that must be discouraged.

"(Coyotes are) wild animals, you want them to stay that way," McCabe told me.

Coyotes accustomed to associating humans with food are more likely to approach people and expecting to be fed, he said.

Nowak was impressed with the district's response. McCabe noted that the district's ordinances prohibit leaving food out or feeding wildlife. He said he alerted the district's police department to increase patrols at the preserve, located a short distance from the Tinley Park Village Hall.

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I stopped by the off-leash area at the Bremen Grove preserve on Tuesday and saw an officer in a forest preserve district vehicle monitoring the park. I saw several people with their dogs enjoying a sunny late morning following a few inches of fresh snowfall.

I asked a man with two large dogs if he ever saw coyotes at the park.

"Sure, all the time," he said. He never had a problem, he said, because his dogs were at least as big as a typical coyote. I mentioned the woman and her puppy, and he said he understood how encounters could be particularly problematic for people with smaller pets.

Coyote encounters are nothing new, but they seem to be getting more attention lately. In mid-December, a family in Northfield shared surveillance video of a coyote attacking their cairn terrier named Boozer in their backyard.

At about the same time, an Orland Park couple shared the story of how a coyote killed their 12-year-old Yorkie named Ziggy. When I was looking up details of the incident, I spotted an archived news release from Orland Park police warning people that, "Feeding Coyotes in Orland Park is Illegal."

"The Police Department knows of Orland Park residents who  despite our repeated warnings  have been feeding coyotes," animal control officer Steve Stronk was quoted as saying in the release. "This is one of the reasons coyotes are losing their fear of humans."

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People should never leave their pets unattended outdoors, Stronk said in the release. I left a message for Stronk on Tuesday but did not immediately receive a response.

Orland Park's prohibition on feeding wildlife includes birdfeeders. The forest preserve district offers similar advice on a page with responses to frequently asked questions about coyotes.

"The best thing you can do to keep your property coyote-free is to not feed them for any reason," the district said. "Remove any food source that might attract them, such as bags or bowls of pet food. Clean up around or remove messy bird feeders and keep trash secured and unavailable."

The district said the population of coyotes in Cook County was "in the low thousands" as of 2012. The animals originally populated the area sometime after 1700 but were all but wiped out due to loss of habitat until they returned during the late 20th century, the district said.

"The 'clever coyote' proved adaptable to the urbanizing landscape, and by 1990 occupied the entire landscape," the district said.

Coyotes are everywhere  in urban, suburban and rural parts of the county, the district said. Generally, coyotes prefer open areas and avoid contact with humans. But between 1960 and 2006, there were 159 reported incidents of coyote bites to humans nationwide, the district said.

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"In most attacks, coyotes were believed to have been fed by humans prior to the confrontation," the district said. "This is when the greatest amount of conflict can occur."

The district referred readers seeking more information to an organization called the Urban Coyote Research Project. The organization reinforces messages shared by authorities about the best ways to avoid confrontations with coyotes.

"The number one most effective way to prevent coyote attacks in your neighborhood is to eliminate wildlife feeding," the organization says on its website.

"Many people unintentionally feed coyotes by leaving pet food or garbage out at night or having large bird feeders," the Urban Coyote Research Project said. "Coyotes are usually not interested in bird food, but bird feeders often attract rodents, especially squirrels, which then attract coyotes."

The message is clear: Leaving out food for wild animals is a bad idea.

tslowik@tronc.com

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Chick-fil-A development manager Jason Hill explains his companys proposed Deerfield restaurant to the Deerfield Plan Commission on Jan. 11, 2018 at Village Hall. (Steve Sadin / Pioneer Press )

The Deerfield Plan Commission unanimously recommended Jan. 11 that the Village Board of Trustees grant developers a special use permit for a Chick-fil-A, as well as multiple use unified development status for the project.

Two buildings housing the restaurant, and as many as four other new businesses, would be located near the southeast corner of Lake Cook and Waukegan roads.

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Developers plan to demolish the former Office Depot building on Waukegan Road and replace it with a 5,000-square-foot structure housing Chick-fil-A, and another 8,000-square-foot building to the south housing as many as four businesses, according to Richard Klawiter, an attorney for the developers.

At this point, only Chick-fil-A requires a special use permit because it is a restaurant, according to developer Josh Levy. He said after the meeting that he will seek special use permits for other tenants if needed after their leases are signed.

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Levy said it will take approximately four months to finish the building if the board approves the project. Once construction is complete, Chick-fil-A will need four to five months to get the restaurant ready to open, according to Jason Hill, the company's development manager.

Levy and Brett Katz, a Northbrook resident and the other developer, said they are making progress with a number of potential tenants but cannot disclose who they are until leases are signed.

Michael G. Fitzgerald of OKW Architects, Inc., the developers' architect, said the building's footprint has been reduced from 25,000 square feet to 13,000 square feet.

Commissioner Al Bromberg wanted to know more about Chick-fil-A's franchisee, including whether the person will be a local operator. Hill said the franchise holder has not been selected yet.

Bromberg also expressed concerns over the number of deliveries that will be made by large trucks, since the area immediately to the east is residential. Hill said he anticipates three to six deliveries a week.

Hill said the restaurant will have a children's play area and an outdoor patio. He said hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and closed Sunday.

The Village Board will consider the commission's recommendation on Feb. 5.

Steve Sadin is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
Attorneys representing Mark A. Owens are joined by the plaintiff's father at a news conference in Chicago to discuss a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Human Services and others regarding alleged abuse by a former social worker at Elgin Mental Health Center. Jan. 17, 2017. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune) (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

For the second time in recent months, a former Elgin Mental Health Center patient alleged in a federal lawsuit that he was coerced into a sexual relationship with a staff member who abused her position of authority.

Mark A. Owens said his licensed social worker made sexual advances toward him shortly after he arrived at the state-run facility in early 2012. After Owens suggested their counseling sessions take place somewhere other than her private office, the woman retaliated by suggesting to his treatment team that he was paranoid, suffering from a major mental illness and in need of stronger medication, the complaint alleges.

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The 27-year-old University Park man said he reported the inappropriate conduct to his psychiatrist, but the professional failed to take action, allowing the abuse to escalate and include sexual contact on at least three occasions, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court names as defendants the Illinois Department of Human Services, the social worker and six other state medical professionals who oversaw the man's care. Owens is the second former patient to accuse the woman in a public complaint of sexual misconduct.

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She resigned Aug. 23, state officials confirmed. The woman, in her 50s, had a long career and a nearly $90,000 annual salary, according to state payroll records. The social worker did not respond to requests for comment. Her professional license remains in good standing, according to state licensing officials.

Mark Owens, father of Mark Owens, Jr. listens at a press conference announcing a lawsuit against the Elgin Mental Health Center on behalf of his son. Jan. 17, 2018. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

In response to a question about the allegations, the Illinois State Police confirmed it is investigating an alleged incident at the Elgin facility involving a former employee, but it declined to name the person or give details about the nature of the probe.

This is still an active and ongoing investigation, state police Master Sgt. Mike Link said in an email to the Tribune.

Authorities with the state human services department declined to comment on the pending litigation.

Owens was involuntarily committed for treatment after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in Will County for felony disarming a police officer in 2010.

He remains under treatment at Chicago Read Mental Health Center.

His father, Mark Owens Sr., joined his attorneys, Randy Kretchmar and Joe Cecala, at a news conference Wednesday in Chicago. The attorneys filed a similar federal complaint in November against the former state employee and facility, alleging a three-year sexual relationship between the woman and a 24-year-old Aurora man who is now free. The first suit is pending.

Both lawsuits seek $10 million in damages.

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Her behavior was the equivalent of extortion, Kretchmar said. She had an enormous amount of power over his short- and long-term future and, in this case, she used it coercively.

Kretchmar said leadership at the state facility turned a blind eye to the sexual assault and battery of a disabled adult and should be held accountable for an alleged systemic pattern of abuse that has long existed at the facility because of a lack of training, supervision and proper investigative procedures.

cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @christygutowsk1

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[ Lawsuit: Elgin mental hospital patient became 'sex slave' of worker who abused her position of trust ]
Four Chicago teenagers were charged this month  two of them accused of attacking police officers  after Elmwood Park police reported they discovered a stolen BMW at a gas station in the village.

Police said the four  two boys and two girls  were involved in the Jan. 5 theft of a 2012 BMW X5 from the 4900 block of Jackson Boulevard on Chicago's west side. On Jan. 10, the car turned up in Elmwood Park, where an officer on patrol spotted the four standing next to the vehicle after it pulled into the BP station at 7600 W. North Ave., police said.

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According to police, the officer ran the vehicle's plate information. Police said just as the four began walking away from the car, the officer got confirmation the car had been stolen.

The four were caught one block east, in the 1600 block of 75th Court, and a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were taken into custody, police said. However, police said a 17-year-old boy punched Elmwood Park Police Cmdr. Michael Kmiecik in the left eye as he was being arrested. Also, police said a 15-year-old girl bit the left hand of Elmwood Park Police Chief Frank Fagiano. According to police, those two teens then ran off.

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Police said the 17-year-old boy ran across North Avenue into River Forest. Elmwood Park police, with assistance from River Forest, Oak Park and Cook County sheriff's police, arrested him in the backyard of a home in the 1500 block of William Street. The 17-year-old boy, who police said was the driver of the car, was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, criminal trespass to a motor vehicle, obstruction of justice and resisting arrest. He has been taken to a juvenile temporary detention center at 1100 S. Hamilton Ave., Chicago, police said.

The 15-year-old girl was taken into custody five blocks away in the 1900 block of 73rd Court, and police said she has been charged with trespass to a motor vehicle, aggravated battery to a police officer, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. She was petitioned to juvenile court and later released to the custody of her parents, police said.

Police said the other two were charged with criminal trespass to a motor vehicle and obstruction of justice. The 17-year-old girl was released to the custody of her parents; the 15-year-old boy was turned over to juvenile authorities, police said.

Elmwood Park police said the teens were charged with obstruction of justice because they initially gave false names to police.

Police said Fagiano and Kmiecik were treated and released at an immediate care facility. Detectives and evidence technicians from Chicago's 14th District came to Elmwood Park to process the car and are continuing their investigation, Elmwood Park police said.

Deborah Kadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
This artist's rendering shows a Target store planned for the Shops at Sherman Plaza in downtown Evanston. The retailer is hosting a hiring event starting Jan. 18, 2018 for the store, which is scheduled to open in the spring. (Target/HANDOUT )

Employment seekers looking for a job at the Target store coming soon to downtown Evanston can attend a three-day job fair that starts Thursday, city officials announced.

The fair will take place at the new store location, 1616 Sherman St., in the Shops at Sherman Plaza, according to a city of Evanston newsletter.

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Target is expected to open there in the spring, and store management said in a news release that the plan is to hire 70 people.

"We are building a talented team to serve the students and residents of Evanston. Whether guests are stopping in to choose some of our grab-and-go food items and fresh produce or students are outfitting their dorms and apartments, this store in the heart of Evanston will will offer a customized shopping experience for the community," said store team leader Krysanna Bowery said in the release.

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The downtown Target is planned as one of the retailer's new, small-scale stores and should cover about 27,400 square feet, Minneapolis-based Target officials told the Chicago Tribune when plans for the new store were announced last May. It will be geared toward downtown residents and workers, as well as students on the nearby Northwestern University campus.

The store is expected to include a CVS pharmacy, a grocery department, health and beauty items, clothing, toys, and household necessities for dorms and apartments, according to the Tribune report.

The store is expected to be Target's ninth smaller model in the Chicago area.

Target opened a similarly laid-out store in the 4900 block of West Dempster Street in Skokie in October. That store is 33,000 square feet, about half the size of traditional big box Target stores.

The new Skokie Target opened adjacent to the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line Skokie Swift train station.

gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GenevieveBook
Lexie Bailey first saw the show "Peter Pan" when gymnast Cathy Rigby appeared in the starring role, flying through the air more than a decade ago.

"I was discovering theater and watching her fly around was just magical to me," recalled Bailey. She's now directing the musical for Christian Youth Theater, which opens Feb. 1 at the Lumber Center in Grayslake.

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At press time, tickets were available for performances at 11:45 a.m. Feb. 1, 7 p.m. Feb. 2, 2 and 6 p.m. Feb. 3 and 2 p.m. Feb. 4.

She's excited to be directing a show in which she performed as a lost boy and another time as a pirate when she was younger.

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"There are many roles for many different ages. It's absolutely for the whole family. All ages can identify with at least one of our characters," Bailey said.

"This is my first time head directing. I normally do choreography. When (artistic director) Ryan Simpson offered it to me, I was excited because it's a story that's so close to my heart."

While directing the more than 50 actors between the ages of 8 and 18, Bailey said she's stressing a theme she hopes the audience will embrace: "Have fun and live in the moment. In the blink of an eye it can pass.

"My favorite line in a song that Peter sings is: 'Just think of lovely things and your heart will fly on wings.' That's what we're trying to get across you can hold on to that forever."

Bailey also views the musical as a way to remind people of the three stages of life  being young and not wanting to grow up, being young and wanting to be an adult and being an adult and trying to hold on to the things you loved as a child.

"Overall, for me, it's getting to give the audience a chance to remember for two hours what it's like to be a child again," Bailey said.

The show opens when siblings Wendy, Michael and John are getting ready for bed and their mother, Mrs. Darling, mentions she notices a boy in the window. After she leaves, the boy, Peter Pan, enters the nursey. "We find out that he comes every night to listen to Mr. and Mrs. Darling tell stories to their children," Bailey said.

Wendy takes her brothers with Peter to Neverland where they meet lost boys, pirates and other characters, including Tinkerbell and Captain Hook.

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Playing Peter Pan is Katrina Rautanen of Beach Park. When Katrina auditioned, Bailey said the youngster from Lake County "just seemed to naturally grasp the role of Peter Pan. That's something we saw in call back. Watching her this weekend during rehearsal, it just took my breath way. She sounds incredible. She just understands the role of Peter Pan."

More than anything, the lead actors are excited about the opportunity to fly, Bailey said. "They feel ready and comfortable. We've really blocked it out so we know what we want."

Bailey is working with choreographer Elle Sprague and vocal director Jonathan Cramer, who's helping the actors use their voices to fit their character, Bailey said.

"Something I have been loving so far is that the kids are so smart. They really seem to think about everything they're doing on stage as characters. They really feel their role. That has been very special to watch," Bailey said.

Christian Youth Theater produces 30 musical productions annually including several in Lake County. An auditioned cast is chosen from students enrolled in performing arts classes.

Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.

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Christian Youth Theater's 'Peter Pan'

When: Feb. 1-4

Where: James Lumber Center, 19351 Washington St., Grayslake

Tickets: $12-$14
A screen shot Saturday morning from the cell phone of State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, who is in Hawaii visiting family. (Photo by Melinda Bush)

State Sen. Melinda Bush of Grayslake joined an exclusive club over the weekend of which no one wants to be part  she had legitimate reason to believe she might die in a nuclear attack.

Bush and her husband, Andy, were on the Hawaiian island of Kauai visiting family, and she was standing on a balcony early Saturday morning when the mistaken ballistic missile alert message went out, throwing Hawaii into chaos.

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"My husband and brother both came out with their cellphones out and said, 'You've got to get in here now,'" the longtime Democratic senator said in a phone interview Monday from Hawaii.

After seeing the emergency missile warning on her phone, Bush said she rushed inside and checked the television, which was beginning to give the emergency warning, along with a screen crawl issuing a similar alert.

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"I went through the 'is this real?' thing first," Bush said, adding that she was given some hope that the alert was not legitimate because Hawaii's recently reinstated nuclear attack sirens were not going off.

State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, and her husband Andy in Kauai, Hawaii. (Photo by Melinda Bush)

"I seriously thought this could be the end of my life," she said. "It was terrifying."

Bush said she considered calling her adult son to say goodbye and tell him that she loves him, but decided to wait until she was sure the event was real and never had to make that call.

After attempting to reach the Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency without success, Bush called Washington and found out in 20 minutes that the alert was believed to be false.

Most of the population was not formally notified of the false alarm until 38 minutes after the alert went out.

"People were leaving their cars on the highway and running with their children," Bush said.

Although she was scared, Bush said her primary feeling was anger toward President Donald Trump for creating a political climate that would make the threat of a nuclear attack believable.

Bush said she thinks Trump's comments regarding North Korea have edged the nations closer to the possibility of such an event. If the launch had been real, she said, she has no doubt it would have resulted in widespread nuclear war.

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A screen shot, from the cell phone of State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, of the false missile alert that caused panic in Hawaii Saturday morning. Bush is in Hawaii visiting family. (Photo by Melinda Bush)

She said it is also clear that the Emergency Management Agency in Hawaii "has to be looked at."

According to The Washington Post, shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday an employee at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency was supposed to initiate an internal test of the emergency missile warning system to practice sending an emergency alert to the public without actually sending it to the public, according to a timeline released by the state.

From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: "Test missile alert" and "Missile alert." He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter  an initiation of a real-life missile alert.

Around 8:07 a.m., the errant alert went out to scores of Hawaii residents and tourists on their cellphones: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

jrnewton@tribpub.com

Twitter @jimnewton5
Claire VanLandingham, 27, and Ryan Zike, 33, were both found dead with gunshot wounds in Lake Forest on Jan. 3, 2018. (University of Louisville; Park District of Highland Park)

A co-worker of Navy officer Claire VanLandingham tried to run over her ex-boyfriend after he fatally shot her this month in Lake Forest, but the gunman killed himself before he was struck by the co-workers SUV, police said Wednesday.

The new information comes in the wake of an autopsy report by the Lake County coroners office, which determined that the gunman, Ryan Zike, 33, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and suffered only minor injuries from being struck by the vehicle.

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About 6:20 a.m. Jan. 3, a 37-year-old man who is in the Navy and worked with VanLandingham pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex in the 600 block of North Western Avenue to pick her up for work, according to a news release from the Lake Forest Police Department.

The witness, who lives in Highland Park, parked in a position that had the headlights of his SUV illuminating Zike and VanLandingham as they spoke to each other outside the building, according to the release. Zike then shot VanLandingham multiple times with a handgun, authorities said.

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The witness told investigators he felt Zike was going to turn the gun on him, and made the decision to ram the man with his vehicle to avoid being shot himself, the release stated. After striking Zike, the witness attempted to administer first-aid on VanLandingham. He also summoned help by running to a nearby business and asking the staff and patrons to dial 911.

Lake Forest police Deputy Chief Robert Copeland said in an interview Wednesday that the witness was just a few car lengths away and Zike bounced off the front of his vehicle.

I thank God he was there, Copeland said. If he hadnt been, it would have been potentially much worse for the police investigation.

Copeland said people usually fight, flight or freeze in those situations, but he believes the witness fought because of a military background.

Those are the three things the animal brain tells you what to do, Copeland said. He just saw a horrible crime committed against his friend. He defended himself.

Authorities said they were not releasing the name of the witness. Copeland said the witness was having a hard time" with the experience.

Zike and VanLandingham had dated until they broke up last fall. The two met in Louisville, Ky., where he was a recreation supervisor for Louisvilles parks and recreation department and she was a student at the University of Louisville.

VanLandingham, a lieutenant in the Navy, received her dentistry degree and took a position at Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, where she provided dental care to recruits at nearby Naval Station Great Lakes. Zike joined her in Lake Forest, where they shared an apartment before they broke up in October and he returned to Louisville to be with his family.

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On Jan. 2, Zike traveled to Illinois and stayed overnight at an unknown location before he confronted VanLandingham the next morning, police said in the news release. He had a valid Kentucky concealed carry gun permit and was carrying a second gun and a knife in addition to the gun he used to shoot the victim, authorities said.

While VanLandingham was a dental student at the University of Louisville, she appeared in a video supporting a Take Back the Night march against domestic violence and sexual abuse.

In the video, VanLandingham spoke out against the prevalence of domestic violence, saying, In a society so violent, have you ever been afraid to walk alone at night? We dont think you should have to.

We seek to create healthier relationships and safe communities, she said. To our neighbors in Louisville, we invite you to join us  for our Take Back the Night march and rally where we will rise up as a community and say that violence against anyone is unacceptable.

Lake County News-Suns Frank Abderholden contributed.

mwalberg@chicagotribune.com

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The Lake County Board of Commissioners vetoed a parental leave program but not because they disagree with giving county employees access to that benefit.

The board vetoed the policy unanimously Wednesday, saying the county is in the process of hiring a new human resources director and should wait to make changes until that person can review it. The Lake County Council last week created a new paid parental leave program for its employees, allowing mothers and fathers to take up to two weeks after a new baby is born or they've adopted a child.

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"It is important that the incoming human resources director weigh in," said Commissioner Kyle Allen Sr., D-Gary.

Commissioner Jerry Tippy, R-Schererville, said he thought it would be best if the human resources director has input on any new policies the county enacts.

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The commissioners did not take issue with the substance of the paternity leave program.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, who sponsored the parental leave program.

Cid said she doesn't understand why the county's current human resources operation can't implement the policy and why the commissioners want to wait.

The new policy gives employees up to two weeks of paid parental leave. The initial proposal sought six weeks of paid paternity leave, but it was later amended.

The council's policy change came on the heels of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's executive order that created a parental leave program for state employees. Holcomb's order would give state employees up to four weeks of leave and it took effect on Jan. 1.

Cid said she thinks the council has the votes to override the veto. The parental leave program was approved by a 6-1 vote.

"I'm confident that the council will move forward with it," Cid said.

The commissioners were tasked with staffing a human resources department the county council created in November.

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Since the commissioners began soliciting resumes, Tippy said the field of candidates was narrowed to 16 people and then to eight. Tippy said those eight candidates will be brought in for interviews during the next few weeks.

Tippy said the commissioners are hoping to have a human resources director hired in February.

clyons@post-trib.com

Twitter @craigalyons
A man asking for dismissal of charges against him in the 1980 killing of a Hammond police officer was denied Wednesday.

James Hill, 55, claimed his constitutional rights were violated when prosecutors took more than 30 years to bring charges against him in the death of Lawrence Pucalik on Nov. 14, 1980.

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"While we agree the state's reason for delay was tenuous at best, we conclude Hill has not demonstrated prejudice," according to the decision from the state court of appeals.

Scott King, Hill's attorney, said he respected the decision but thought it was "erroneous in saying there was no prejudice."

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"We're going to take steps to ask the (state) supreme court to review this decision," said King.

The state court of appeals heard oral arguments last month over Hill's claims that his charges should be dismissed.

King argued Hill's due process rights were violated by the delay, making him unable to call his relatives as an alibi defense.

The night of the attempted robbery, Hill was a 17-year-old high school student living with his great-grandmother and great-uncle, according to King.

"All three were home the entire evening and Mr. Hill did not leave the residence," King said.

Hill's relatives could have testified to that, but they died in 1996 and 2008, he said. To still use that alibi, King would have to give up his Fifth Amendment right and testify himself, King said.

In their decision, the court ruled Hill "must do more than show that a particular witness is unavailable" but "must also show that the witness would have testified and withstood cross-examination."

Hill failed to do that, according to the decision. He also "did not present an alibi defense" when he was first indicted in 2012, the decision states.

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Hill has been charged two times in the case, the first in 2012 and again in 2016, with murder, murder in perpetuation of robbery and attempted robbery.

On Nov. 14, 1980, Pucalik was working an off-duty security job at a Holiday Inn hotel in Hammond when two men came in with handguns, demanding money from the register, according to court records.

Pucalik walked into the lobby and "as he attempted to access his firearm, the officer was shot by one of the suspects," records state.

Hammond police then "received an anonymous phone call from a person who stated, 'Pierre Catlett killed your cop,'" according to a court document.

Hill was arrested Nov. 18, 1980, "on an unrelated charge," records show, and "made the spontaneous utterance 'I know you guys think I shot that Hammond cop.'" He confessed that he drove the vehicle used in the attempted robbery, the decision states.

Charges weren't filed because the investigation "stymied in 1992 or 1993" and "we had substantial evidence, but we did not have enough evidence," investigators said in court records.

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Attorney Justin Roebel, who represented the state at oral arguments, said a crucial piece of information didn't come until 2009 from a man who said he saw Hill with one of his original co-defendants, Larry Mayes, before the 1980 attempted robbery. Before then, there "had been a strong denial from both Mayes and Hill that they even knew each other," records state.

The Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force reopened the case in 2011, and the next year, Hill, Catlett, 67, and Mayes, 68, were charged with the murder. Those were dismissed against all three in 2014; Catlett was already serving a lengthy sentence in Illinois, and Mayes had suffered a stroke, making him incompetent to stand trial, attorneys said.

Charges were dismissed against Hill because the evidence against him "was tied to Mr. Mayes" and prosecutors had to "make sure we had the evidence that we could use against Mr. Hill," the decision shows.

Hill was recharged in 2016 and filed his motion to dismiss. After he was denied by a Lake County judge last year, he presented his case before the state court of appeals.

Hill is scheduled to appear in Lake Superior Court again on the charges Friday morning.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

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The sun sets on the Federal Courthouse in Hammond during John Buncich's trial last summer. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune)

The Lake County Sheriff's department launched an internal investigation Wednesday into a jail contract employee in light of testimony Tuesday at John Buncich's sentencing, an official said.

The testimony revealed that the employee "may have inappropriately used" the department's information system "to gather information on people related to the federal case against the former sheriff," said Emiliano Perez, sheriff's department spokesman, in a release.

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"The unauthorized or inappropriate access may be a violation of both department policy and state law," Perez said.

A person was ordered to return all department credentials and was suspended "any access to the facility pending the outcome of the investigation," according to Perez.

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The name of the employee was not released.

Sheriff Oscar Martinez declined comment until the investigation is complete.

Judge James Moody sentenced Buncich Tuesday in Hammond's federal court to 15 years and 8 months in prison.

During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson asked Deborah Back, the director of nursing at Correctional Health Indiana and Buncich's "significant other," about her use of the Spillman system to find information on a confidential source.

"Yes, I viewed it," Back said, but denied doing it at the direction of the former sheriff.

"I don't routinely run people. Period," she said. "I know that it was wrong."

Benson said there's a warning in the Spillman that "unauthorized access is a violation of law."

The FBI spoke with a Sheriff's Department employee who searched the records of the medical staff member's use of the Spillman and found several occasions where information outside the normal scope was sought.

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FBI special agent Nathan Holbrook said, during testimony, the employee searched for two people tied to the Buncich trial: the confidential source and Benson.

At the end of the sentencing hearing, Buncich was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to immediately begin serving his sentence.

Buncich was indicted in November 2016 in a towing scheme where he accepted bribes in the form of thousands of dollars in cash and donations to his campaign fund, Buncich Boosters, according to court records.

He was convicted in August for bribery and wire fraud, among other charges, for soliciting bribes from county tow operators in his public corruption trial.

Post-Tribune reporter Craig Lyons contributed to this report.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

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Kristy Wesselman was raped and killed July 21, 1985, while walking home from a grocery store near Glen Ellyn. Decades later, Michael R. Jones, 62, of Champaign, has been charged with her murder. (Family photo; DuPage County sheriff's office)

A DuPage County judge ruled Tuesday that defense attorneys can probe the employment history of a crime lab technician at next weeks trial of a Champaign man accused in the 1985 stabbing death of a teenage girl near Glen Ellyn.

Over the objection of DuPage prosecutors, Judge George Bakalis said he would allow attorneys for Michael R. Jones to ask the technician about a disciplinary incident that occurred years after the technician handled DNA in the case against Jones.

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It was the final pretrial ruling in the case against Jones, 64, who will stand trial beginning Jan. 23, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kristy Wesselman, 15. She was stabbed and sexually assaulted in July 1985 in a field near her Glen Ellyn-area home.

No arrest was made until 2015, when Jones, a convicted sex offender and Champaign resident, was ordered to submit his DNA to a national database after his conviction on a domestic violence charge. His DNA is alleged to match that recovered in the Wesselman investigation, and authorities charged him with the girls killing.

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Years earlier, around 2000, a DuPage crime lab forensic scientist named Doug Saul created two DNA profiles from swabs taken in the Wesselman case. In 2013, Saul left DuPage and took a job as a DNA specialist and supervisor in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., crime lab. However, he faced a disciplinary proceeding there for alleged insubordination and record-keeping violations and was fired in 2015, according to court records.

His supervisors, according to court files, alleged that he failed to conform to department policies and certain laws. Prosecutors in the Jones case, though, asked the judge to bar the defense from questioning Saul about his time in North Carolina when Saul testifies at the Jones trial. The North Carolina incident has no bearing on Sauls work in the Wesselman case, which took place almost 15 years earlier, prosecutors argued.

But Assistant Public Defender Mark Lyon said the DNA experts work history in North Carolina should be open to questioning.

This kind of conduct goes to his competence and his performance in his field, Lyon argued.

The judge agreed to allow some questions, but Bakalis said he would keep them to a minimum.

In another matter, prosecutors will offer as evidence at trial a Styrofoam cup on which Jones reportedly scratched a message of apology to his family while he was on suicide watch in the first days of his incarceration in 2015. But they will not seek to admit a jail medical report that includes statements from Jones, including answers to questions about the cup.

His attorneys objected to the report, saying it had been offered very late in the discovery process and Jones was not apprised of his Miranda rights before he was questioned about the cup.

Michael Jones was arrested in 2015 in the killing of 15-year-old Kristy Wesselman near Glen Ellyn in 1985. Here's some background on the case against him. (Jonathon Berlin and Christy Gutowski / Chicago Tribune) (Jonathon Berlin And Christy Gutowski/Chicago Tribune)

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.

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RELATED

[ Lawyers for man accused in 85 slaying of DuPage teen suggest convicted killer may have had role ]

[ Man headed for trial in '85 slaying of 15-year-old Kristy Wesselman could face life sentence ]

[ After three decades, DNA leads to arrest in killing of girl, 15, near Glen Ellyn ]
Things to Do in Pueblo this week: The holiday fanfare has arrived
China's second-largest e-commerce player JD announced on Tuesday a strategic investment in Tiki.vn, Vietnam's leading business-to-consumer e-commerce platform, expanding its presence in the Southeast Asia market amid fierce competition from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Amazon.com Inc.

JD co-led the Series C round of financing of Tiki with Vietnamese online gaming and messaging firm VNG Corp. The company did not disclose the amount involved, but it will become one of Tiki's largest shareholders upon the completion of the investment.

The Chinese e-commerce giant will partner with Tiki in a range of areas, including merchandising, cross-border trade, logistics and fulfillment, technology, financing and operational capabilities.

The partners said they will also cooperate to offer consumers a wider, more authentic selection of global brands, while helping Vietnamese local brands to expand internationally via JD's global platform.

"With JD's expertise in leveraging social media for e-commerce, Tiki's partnership with VNG in social networks and mobile payments is a natural fit as we aim to provide differentiated services to suppliers and consumers in Vietnam," said Winston Cheng, president of JD's international business.

"We believe JD, with its proven track record in superior user experience, procurement, logistics and technology, will be an invaluable asset for Tiki as we work to become Vietnam's top e-commerce platform," said Son Tran, Tiki's founder and CEO.

JD launched its Indonesia business in 2015 and formed its joint venture with Thai conglomerate Central Group to enter Thailand in 2017. With its investment in Tiki, it has added Vietnam to its growing Southeast Asia presence.

Founded in 2010, Tiki is the fastest-growing B2C e-commerce company in Vietnam.

It initially sold e-books, but has since diversified to become an all-encompassing marketplace, selling goods such as toys, digital devices, and lifestyle and beauty products.

"The investment in a Vietnamese e-commerce firm will enhance JD's competitiveness and widen its presence in Southeast Asia by leveraging its advantages in global logistics, supply chains, and experience and technology in platform operation," said Lyu Haoze, an analyst at China E-Commerce Research Center.

Lyu said the move will further expand JD's influence and brand awareness in the global market, as well as intensify competition among major e-commerce players.

Alibaba has invested heavily in payment and e-commerce ventures in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Amazon has launched its subscription-based Prime service in Singapore.
Sky Train, a type of suspension railway system involving the use of lithium-battery powered trains, is being developed for commercial use, according to its manufacturer in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Zhongtang Sky Railway Group, based in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, developed the trains with state-run firms in 2016.

Over 18,000 kilometers of tests have been carried out, said Tang Tong, chairman of the company.

According to Tang, his company is compiling technical standards and working toward commercial use in the future.

On Monday, a delegation from Cambodia visited Chengdu. Seang Bunleang, a member of the delegation, said they hoped that the new mode of transport could be brought to Phenom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

Tang said he is working with Cambodian partners on exporting the suspension rail system. Business people from other countries including the United States and Italy have also showed great interest or intent of cooperation in the project.

Sky Train, which is operated five meters above the ground, can run at speeds up to 65 kilometers per hour. It is considered as a good option of transport capable of helping address traffic jam and pollution at scenic areas.
2017 witnessed an increasingly complicated environment for the international tax system. Many economies began implementing the Action Plan on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) while some countries enacted tax reform bills, said Lucy Wang, co-leader of the China Tax Outbound Center of EY, a global leader in insurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, in Beijing on January 15.

Wang warned Chinese enterprises of possible tax-related dispute risks in their overseas investments as well as acknowledging the opportunities in the new tax environment.

The U.S. newly-approvedTax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduces the top corporate tax rate to 21% and reduces or limits many corporate tax deductions and preferences, might change many international tax provisions, according to Wang.

"US tax reform will positively affect the manufacturing industry in the long run as it will generate an increased American market and more capital flight into the country," said He Lipeng, partner in EY's Transaction Tax Services. "It will be a good time for Chinese enterprises to further increase overseas direct investment and mergers," he added.

Yet, He also predicted there won't be a large number of Chinese enterprises fleeing to the US for lower tax preferences. This may be the case for a few firms, but is not likely to be widespread, as this is not the only factor of concern for Chinese investors in their overseas strategy, especially Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Industry chains, infrastructure, labor costs and skills and closeness to market are also at play in their choice of investment.

In addition to the U.S., China's neighbor India also upgraded its tax environment to lure more foreign investment, said Gagan Malik, international director of EY's Asia Pacific Tax Center.

India's federal and local governments offer substantial subsidies and have adopted tax cuts or abatement policies concerning their foreign investors in addition to simplifying government approval procedures and digitalizing taxation processes.
You are here: China

A leading Chinese science-technology institution announced Tuesday that it was going to establish a deep-space lab in Luxembourg.





The lab will focus on the coordinated design and analysis of deep-space probes, as well as the development of key technologies in exploring and utilizing space resources in the solar system, according to a press release from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.





A memorandum of the cooperation was signed by the NSSC and the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy Tuesday.





The memorandum also made arrangements on the operation of the lab and intellectual property rights.





Luxembourg launched a government initiative in 2016 to support the utilization of space resources.




Senior Party members at the rank of military corps and above will be overseen by full-time inspection teams, said a military regulation made public Tuesday.

Regular inspection teams will supervise Party committees of the Central Military Commission, the army, navy, air force, rocket force, and strategic support troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the armed police, according to the regulation, which took effect Monday.

The document regulates principles, powers and duties of inspection teams and their staff and protocols they should follow.

Inspection teams are expected to expose flaws and weakness concerning Party leadership, management of Party organizations, and implementation of disciplines within the armed forces, said the military source.

The regulation also includes articles on how military inspectors should exercise their duty according to Party rules and how they should be held accountable.
Police seized fake bank notes with a total face value of more than 214 million yuan ($33.2 million) after cracking the biggest counterfeiting case in the nation's modern history late last year, a senior police official said.

Lin Weixiong, deputy director general of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security, said 14 suspects thought to belong to a criminal gang were detained while a large number of semifinished fake bills and printing equipment were seized after a production site and warehouse were raided.

"The case is regarded by the Ministry of Public Security as the country's largest counterfeiting case since the founding of New China in 1949," Lin said at a news conference on Tuesday in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

Wu Yilai, deputy director of the provincial department's Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, said the busts were a heavy blow to counterfeiters.

"Guangdong comes first in terms of both the incidence and the clearance rate of counterfeiting cases in the country," Wu said.

"Big profits from counterfeiting have encouraged criminals to risk it," he added.

A fake bank note with a face value of 100 yuan now sells for 6 yuan, compared with only 2 to 3 yuan about 3 years ago, according to the officer in charge of the case.

The officer, who declined to be named, said a special task force was set up after police learned that a gang headed by a resident surnamed Hu had leased a warehouse as a printing facility in Zhongshan in March.

After several months of investigation, police raided the site in the second half of 2017, detaining five suspects in addition to Hu, 40, of Shanwei.

The clandestine workshop in Zhongshan's Shaxi township, of about 200 square meters, was equipped with sound-deadening equipment, the officer said. Plenty of partially finished bills, materials and equipment were seized, he said.

Police detained another eight suspects and seized a huge cache of fake bills at a warehouse in Shanwei at the same time. The suspects were negotiating the sale of their merchandise when police broke in.

None of the finished counterfeit bank notes had reached the public at the time of the busts, he added.

Police across Guangdong detained more than 15,000 suspects in 49 special operations launched in 2017.

Also seized were 16.4 metric tons of different kinds of drugs, 9,300 stolen mobile phones and other property.
A giant panda is transferred to a vehicle in the Dujiangyan base, Sichuan province, Jan 17, 2018. [Photo provided to www.chinadaily.com.cn]

A pair of giant pandas from Southwest China's Sichuan province will reach Helsinki, Finland on Thursday for a 15-year joint research program.

At 9:24 am on Wednesday, Hua Bao and Jin Baobao were transferred from their dens in the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan to a vehicle that was to leave for Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, at 11 am.

They will leave the Chengdu airport at 6 am on Thursday and are expected to arrive in Helsinki at 10 am on Thursday, local time.

During President Xi Jinping's visit to Finland in April 2017, China and Finland signed an agreement for joint research on giant pandas, and to send a pair of pandas to Finland to live in the Ahtari zoo for 15 years.
The city's High Court on Wednesday ordered imprisonment and fines for 16 protesters in the illegal Occupy movement in 2014, including the student activist leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung, for refusing to obey a court order to clear the occupied areas.

They were all sentenced to terms ranging from one month to four and a half months, with some fined HK$10,000 or HK$15,000, the court ordered. Wong was sentenced to three months in jail.

All of them refused to leave the occupied area despite a court injunction sought by local taxi groups. Consequently, they were all guilty of criminal contempt of court.

The 79-day illegal mass occupation led to a community outcry after the protesters took over major business thoroughfares in the city's Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok areas.
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China disputed claims Tuesday about inadequate efforts to save the crew of tanker Sanchi, saying they are "untrue and irresponsible."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing that China mobilized nine vessels on the day the accident happened and there had been more than 13 rescue vessels at the scene from the second day.

Rescue forces from Shanghai and Jiangsu worked with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the rescue operations, said Lu.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday that it is "not true" to say that China had not made adequate efforts when faced with such a complex accident and that China had provided the utmost cooperation to Iran during the process.

"The remarks from the Iranian side shows that claims of an inadequate rescue are untrue and irresponsible," said Lu.

The Panama-registered oil tanker Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 kilometers east of the Yangtze estuary on Jan. 6. Thirty-two crew members of the tanker, 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, were lost.

The entire ship sank Sunday afternoon. No burning was seen on sea surface from a marine surveillance plane at about 1 p.m. Monday and the oil spill could be easily seen from the air.

Lu said China welcomes Iran to join in the investigation of the accident, and will facilitate visas for the families of the crew.


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The third kidnapped official of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been freed two days after the successful rescue of her two colleagues, a Libyan security official revealed on Tuesday.

The official was released by the gunmen who kidnapped her to a farm near Sabha in southern Libya, after the security services managed to locate the place, said Sa'adi Emhemmed, Director of the Security Directorate of the southern Libyan city Sabha.

"After the location was identified, tribal elders were contacted and informed that those involved in the kidnapping were identified. We asked them to release her or we would be forced to raid the farm," Emhemmed added.

The kidnappers then responded to the tribal elders and released the hostage without confrontation with security forces.

"Investigation revealed that the motive of the kidnapping was ransom," Emhemmed said, pointing out that the kidnappers had criminal records and are being prosecuted by the Security Directorate.

Gunmen kidnapped three IOM officials, two Libyans and one Spanish of Palestinian origin, in southern Libya a few days ago. Libyan security on Saturday rescued the two Libyans.

The IOM in Libya is carrying out a number of field visits to southern Libya, as a part of the organization's voluntary repatriation program for illegal immigrants from Libya to their countries of origin.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos, following the uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.




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The Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union on Tuesday issued a statement against U.S. President Trump's "shithole" remarks.

The council said it received with utter shock the news of the uncouth words used by Trump in reference to African people and people of African descent.

"We note that this language is wrong and does not reflect the stature of the President of the United States," the council said, adding "In Africa we do deeply respect elders and the language that elders use should be respectful and one that befits the position that they hold. The President of the United States is an elder and should always remember and act as one."

The council has called upon all citizen groups, religious organizations, academics and civic actors to condemn the language.

"Citizens across the world should be respected for what they are and referred to in appropriate and respectful language. To continue to propagate racism through language in the world is to fuel other types of violent behaviors that we see around the world.

"We ask that the U.S. President seriously considers withdrawing this statement and issue a public apology to all Africans and people of African descent in the world," the statement read.

The council noted that the president should "remember that the social, economic and cultural contributions of Africans in the United States is one of the highest. The United States has a big number of professional Africans who cannot fit the description that he used."

One of the Agenda 2063 Aspirations developed by African people and leaders is: An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics, it said.

ECOSOCC as an organ that promotes and popularizes the Agenda 2063 strives to build an Africa and world that is ethical and value-based, and we call upon the U.S. President to embrace this aspiration, said the statement.

"ECOSOCC joins the rest of the world to condemn the language of the President of the United States of America.

"We therefore call for the President of the United States to restrain himself and ensure that he espouses the values that the United States people have been known for," the statement read.




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The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning on Tuesday to foreign travelers headed to Sao Paulo state, the most populated in Brazil, cautioning the state was at risk for yellow fever.

The warning was issued after an unusually large outbreak of the disease, which is spread by the same mosquito that transmits other tropical diseases, including Zika, in much of Brazil last year.

According to the Brazilian Health Ministry, 470 suspected cases of yellow fever have been reported in Brazil since July 2017, with 35 of the cases confirmed, including 20 in Sao Paulo state.

Last week, the ministry reported 11 confirmed cases, a significant rise in only one week, but the ministry denied an outbreak.

The Brazilian government has said that it is acting with excess care in order to prevent an outbreak and is vaccinating people in affected areas. In southeastern states, residents spend hours in long lines to be vaccinated.

"We have enough vaccines to inoculate the entire population if necessary," said Antonio Carlos Nardi, executive secretary of the Health Ministry.

According to the ministry, so far no confirmed cases originated in urban areas; all cases occurred among residents of rural regions or tourists who had access to those areas.

Brazil eradicated urban transmission of yellow fever in the 1940s.
DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates has claimed that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain, allegations denied by Qatar.

Monday's claims could further escalate tensions between Qatar and the four Arab nations that have been boycotting it for months, among them the UAE, home to the world's busiest international airport in Dubai.

They also could affect long-haul airline travel, as the region's carriers are a crucial link between the East and West.
Sao Tome and Principe will be welcomed when attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation's Beijing Summit this year as a new member of the panel, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said.

Wang made the remarks when meeting with Urbino Botelho, foreign minister of the western African country, on Monday in the nation's capital Sao Tome.

The Chinese top diplomat was on the last stop of his first trip abroad in 2018 after his stays in Rwanda, Angola and Gabon. The forum has made a major topic item at each leg of the trip.

China and Africa have agreed to upgrade this year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be held in China to a leaders' summit.

Botelho told Wang his country is ready for proactive participation in building the Belt and Road Initiative and it will fully support Beijing to ensure the forum's summit this year is a success.

Li Xinfeng, an African researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the summit "will give a major boost" to the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the African Union's Agenda 2063 blueprint.

Wang arrived in Sao Tome shortly after the first anniversary of the two countries' resuming diplomatic relations in December, 2016.

The two ministers were part of that historic moment as they held talks at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in Beijing and signed a joint communique to resume diplomatic relations.

On Monday, Wang said he still remember the moment, and he referred to Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada's visit to China in April and meeting with President Xi Jinping.

The bilateral ties have achieved a leap forward in the past year, as bilateral exchanges in various fields have been carried out in an all-around way, Wang noted.

Wang mentioned a rapid increase in personnel exchanges and the remarkable progress in experts groups working on electricity, antimalarial medicine and medical services.

China will offer necessary support at the request of Sao Tome and Principe to boost its economic and social development, Wang said, adding that China is ready to further champion the common interests of both nations as well as various developing countries.

Botelho said resuming diplomatic ties with China is the most correct decision made by his government, and the country will unswervingly uphold the one-China policy.

The country welcomes Chinese companies' greater involvement in those areas of cooperation, such as infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries, Botelho said.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/17/2018 page12)
Western politicians must stop meddling Updated: 2018-01-17 06:57 (HK Edition)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday dismissed as "groundless and unfair" a report published by a United Kingdom-based political group called "Hong Kong Watch". The report paints a rather scary political picture of Hong Kong by repeating stories the opposition camp here has been telling for years without any proof of their wild accusations.

The Hong Kong Watch report is yet another example of certain Western hostile forces' refusal to accept the reality that Hong Kong is no longer one of their playgrounds or a means to whatever end they can think of. Indeed the report goes to great lengths to accuse the central government of "eroding Hong Kong's autonomy" but offers no evidence whatsoever. It lists some separatists being denied eligibility to run for Legislative Council seats in 2016 and a few lawmakers-elect being disqualified because they broke relevant laws during their swearing-in as proof of Beijing "encroaching" on judicial independence, freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong.

Some Western politicians who are hostile to China have made it a habit to take a swipe at Beijing every now and then to score some brownie points, making collateral damage to Hong Kong in the process. It is not the first report of this nature to make such accusations and Lam is absolutely right in calling it "groundless and unfair", because it amounts to declaring without proof that Hong Kong courts had no statutory basis for disqualifying those rogue politicians, but did so under political pressure. The author(s) of the report either assumed Hong Kong does not have those laws or the disqualified parties concerned should have been exempt from justice. Does that mean Hong Kong's judicial independence really depends on political preference in their book, and they can decide who in Hong Kong is above the law or how local courts interpret certain laws?

It should be noted that the Hong Kong Watch also posted a similar article by Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, with the same unfounded accusations seen in the report. Maybe Hui is taken as an eyewitness for the organization in this case, but he has failed to provide any solid evidence to support those groundless claims, too. The truth is all those individuals cited by the report and Hui as "victims" of Beijing's so-called eroding Hong Kong's judicial independence deliberately violated one Hong Kong law or another and were duly disqualified as lawmakers by local courts.

Hui's joining in the Beijing-bashing chorus has raised a valid question: Why are members of the opposition like Hui fond of accusing Beijing of interference while they keep on inviting foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs?

The Central People's Government has always followed the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, a national law derived from the country's Constitution. The Basic Law stipulates the HKSAR maintains its capitalist system for 50 years under the "one country, two systems" principle. However, all that is because the HKSAR is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China, a fact enshrined in the very first sentence of the Basic Law. There is no need for the central government to encroach on any rights in Hong Kong. It enjoys overall jurisdiction over the SAR.

(HK Edition 01/17/2018 page12)
Alibaba, Chongqing work on smart city Updated: 2018-01-17

Alibaba Group announced its cooperation with Liangjiang New Area on Jan 11, to further push forward the construction of "smart Liangjiang".

According to the agreement, major focus will be put on digital economy. Both parties will deepen cooperation in finance, logistics, and cross-border electronic commerce, to jointly build Liangjiang New Area into a core and pilot zone of "smart Chongqing".

Alibaba will also settle its high-level regional center in the Liangjiang Digital Economy Industrial Park to boost Liangjiang's economic development.

It is estimated that by the end of 2018, there will be 300 people in the operation team of the regional center, helping Chongqing build one of the most intelligent megapolis.

Alibaba will ally with its partners to build an innovation center and mass entrepreneurship and innovation base in Liangjiang, as well as a digital application exhibition hall.

Chongqing Municipal government signs strategic cooperation agreement with Alibaba Group on Jan 11. [Photo provided to chinaaily.com.cn]

A digital service platform will be applied in local urban security system, healthcare service, food safety and government affairs service.

By 2020, the GDP of Liangjiang Digital Economy Industrial Park will exceed 40 billion yuan ($6.17 billion), with more than 3,000 companies settling in. About 30 leading enterprises will be introduced and cultivated, helping Chongqing build its modern industry.

In addition, Alibaba will strengthen cooperation with auto companies including Changan, Lifan and Jinkang in intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) and build platforms for research and development of ICV, and testing of ICV.

Furthermore, both parties will deepen cooperation in building platforms for retail, foreign trade and mass entrepreneurship and innovation service.

Pand Auto will cooperate with Alibaba on an intelligent platform. [Photo provided to chinaaily.com.cn]

In the future, the cooperation will expand to areas including public security, municipal administration, tourism and environmental protection and expand further to relevant areas of urban management and social governance.

Alibaba will also help build smart information infrastructure including platforms for smart healthcare system, smart education system, smart traffic system and "Internet + government administration" service.
Limbless Evangelist Nick Vujicic: I've Seen 10-Foot Tall Demons in My Hotel Room Christian Post Contributor | 17 January, 2018 by Stoyan Zaimov

Nick Vujicic, known as the "limbless evangelist," has said that one of the reasons why he's not an atheist is because he has seen things that science can't explain, such as 10-foot-tall demons in his hotel room.

Vujicic, who was born with no arms and no legs and has been inspiring millions throughout the world with his story of overcoming the odds, answered a few questions about his faith in a Facebook video on Friday.

In one of the questions he was asked, "How can we know God's love is real, and how do you know it?"

To which he responded, "I can't show you God, I can't show you an angel, but one of the reasons I am not an atheist, and one of the reasons why I don't believe science explains everything, is because I have seen miracles, and I have seen demons."

Vujicic continued, "I've seen 10-foot-tall demons, 5-foot wide walk in through my San Francisco hotel room. And I felt the demon's presence, the demonic presence, before the demon actually walked through the wall."

He suggested that the existence of things like voodoo and witchcraft, which he said are real, also show that science can't explain everything.

"There is a spiritual realm," the evangelist insisted.

Read more about the spiritual realm on The Christian Post.
The Untold Story of Global Human TraffickingForgotten Victims Christian Post Contributor | 17 January, 2018 by Elizabeth Yore

With much fanfare and publicity, January is declared as Human Trafficking Prevention month, flush with hip hashtag campaigns, slick YouTube videos and modern marketing materials. Missing from all the global human rights seminars, celebrity public service announcements, blue ribbon campaigns and Hollywood events is any mention of the hideous growing global human trafficking and persecution of Christians around the world. Christian victims of human trafficking and violence seldom merit a mention in the hype and hoopla.

Yet the recently released and highly touted annual World Watch List 2018 generated by Open Doors USA powerfully and demonstrably highlights the global persecution of Christians. The World Watch List is an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith.

The 2018 Open Doors report reveals shocking and disturbing data about the rise in abduction and rape of Christian women around the world. According to the report, 3,066 Christians were killed in 2017; 1,252 were abducted; and 1,020 were raped or sexually harassed. These growing, brutal and verifiable statistics demonstrate the increased threat to Christians around the world. Abduction and rape are the weapons human traffickers deploy against helpless Christian women.

Criminal traffickers target Christian women and girls for the crime of living their Christian religion.

Professing the Christian faith is often a death sentence around the world. Has the world conveniently forgotten the April 2014 crisis where nearly 300 Nigerian Chibok Christian school girls were abducted, raped and killed by the Islamic Boko Haram terrorists? The world stood by helpless while their violent abduction and kidnapping enfolded at the hands of Islamic terrorists.

The #Bringbackourgirls campaign faded into oblivion as the Christian school girls endured unimaginable torture and brutality. They were taken deep into the Sambisa Forest to Boko Haram's stronghold, where these young Christian schoolgirls were offered a choice: join the Islamic militants or become their sex slaves. Since 2011, Boko Haram has killed nearly 54,000 people in its deadly rage. These innocent Christian girls were subjected to forced Islamic conversion, forced marriages, rape, servitude and, for some, death.

Read more about human trafficking on The Christian Post.
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.
Yunnan Christians Receive Lengthy Sentences for Falsified Cult Involvement Charge Contact: ChinaAid.org,

432-689-6985,

432-553-1080,

media@chinaaid.org



LINCANG, Yunnan, China, Jan. 16, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- A court in Lincang, located in China's southern Yunnan province, handed a group of church attendees lengthy prison sentences for supposed cult activity, despite their denials of belonging to the sect.



Upon hearing their verdict, Ju Dianhong and Liang Qin expressed their dissatisfaction with their respective 13 and 10-year sentences and vowed to appeal with the help of their lawyer, Xiao Yunyang. Ju emphasized that she had never heard of the Three Grades of Servants, the religious sect under which the authorities accused her of leading, recruiting members, doing missionary work, and spreading news of the apocalypse; nor did she know the definition of the word "cult." She said she only believed in and preached about Jesus, never harming anyone or acting contrary to biblical principles.



Their fellow church members Zhang Hongyan, Zi Huimei, Yang Shunxiang, and Zhang Shaocai, received sentences varying from four to eight years in length for the same charges.



However, this case is not an isolated event. In March 2016, the Yunnan government formulated an investigative team that eventually carried out a coordinated attack against the Three Grades of Servants organization, which it views as a dangerous cult, on Oct. 21, 2016. Officials then utilized this campaign to round up an estimated 200 Christians across the province, falsely accusing them of participating in the cult. Many of them are still in custody, some serving similarly lengthy sentences and others awaiting prosecution. Just recently, Yunnan authorities notified their lawyers that they were suspected of "illegally" defending their clients and that their qualifications would come under official review.



One of the still-imprisoned Christians, Tu Yan (pictured above), awaits her trial from a prison cell in Dali, Yunnan. She and her Christian friend, Su Min, ran a hotel in Dali before they were both arrested. Tu was indicted for "utilizing cults to undermine law enforcement," a charge commonly given to the Christians caught up in the crackdown. Her case is currently at the local court, which is expected to schedule a trial.



Her sister, Tu Kui, said, "I panicked after hearing [about the sentencing of the Lincang Christians]. What is going on? They were sentenced so harshly. They neither robbed nor stole."



"This is a historical, massive case of pure religious persecution against peaceful, independent house church Christians," said ChinaAid President Bob Fu. "The large number of arbitrary arrests and extremely harsh, long sentences imposed on these young church leaders under the guise of being 'anti-evil cult' shows that [Chinese President] Xi's regime has no interest in respecting its citizens' freedom of religion or belief. The threat against these accused church leaders' lawyers denies the basic elements of rule of law. We call upon the Chinese leaders to immediately release these leaders and make proper amends to those who have been arbitrarily detained and tortured."



ChinaAid exposes abuses, such as those enacted against Christians in Yunnan, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted church members and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.



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Liberty Counsel Challenges CA Forced Abortion Speech Law

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief today in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, one of four cases brought before the Supreme Court by crisis pregnancy centers challenging the law as a violation of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free exercise of religion.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the California Reproductive FACT Act, which compels pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to post notices regarding the availability of free and low-cost abortions in their physical clinics, printed material and online. The Court agreed to review the NIFLA case on the limited question of "whether the disclosures required by the California Reproductive FACT Act violate the protections set forth in the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment."



Liberty Counsel's case, Mountain Right to Life v. Becerra, will be held at the Court until it resolves the NIFLA case, likely this spring. 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.



All of the centers are faith-based and will not refer women for abortions. Under the California law, Pregnancy and Family Resource Center (San Bernardino), and all other licensed pregnancy counseling centers in the state are required to post the following government-prescribed message in their facilities and in their advertising or be fined $500 for the first violation and $1,000 for each additional violation:

California has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services (including all FDA-approved methods of contraception), prenatal care and abortion for eligible women. To determine whether you qualify, contact the county social services office at [insert the telephone number].

His Nesting Place (Long Beach), Birth Choice of the Desert (La Quinta), and other centers not licensed by the State of California must post a notice that they are not a licensed medical facility in all print and online advertising and in their physical facilities or face the same fines. The notice for unlicensed clinics consists of an announcement that the clinic is a not a medical facility and has no doctor on staff. It must be written in 48-point type in up to 12 languages, depending on the county. His Nesting Place has to post notices in 12 languages and Birth Choice of the Desert has to post in two languages.

Liberty Counsel challenged the law in federal court on behalf of the three pro-life pregnancy centers because the law violates the United States Constitution's guarantees of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion in the First Amendment. In that case, a federal district court judge and a three- judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Liberty Counsel's request for a preliminary injunction, finding that it was not likely that the law violates the First Amendment.

"We are hopeful this forced speech law will be overturned by the Supreme Court," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The California law forces crisis pregnancy centers to speak a message that goes directly against their religious beliefs and mission to save lives. The First Amendment protects the right to speak and the right not to speak," 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.


Life Legal Files U.S. Supreme Court Brief on Behalf of Priests for Life and Justice Foundation



WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /



In 2015, California legislators bowed to the abortion lobby by passing the Reproductive "FACT" Act. The Act, which was written by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), imposes draconian requirements on speech by pregnancy resource centers, including forcing medically-licensed centers to provide referrals for state-funded abortions.



Life Legal's brief addresses the Act's provisions that apply to non-medical pregnancy centers, which are required to post large disclaimers that they are "not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California and [have] no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services."



The disclaimer must be included on all print and digital advertising in every "threshold language" of the county where the center offers services. There are 13 threshold languages in Los Angeles county, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Tagalog, Cambodian and Arabic, in addition to English and Spanish. This requirement alone would make it cost-prohibitive for centers to advertise their services. And the centers' core message would be drowned out by the sheer volume of text in the translations.



Laws that implicate speech are subject to the highest standard of judicial review, known as "strict scrutiny," that requires such laws to further a compelling state interest and be narrowly tailored to serve that interest. However, the lower courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated the "FACT" Act in a manner that was anything but strictor even scrutiny.



"The state has no legitimate interest in forcing non-medical pregnancy centers to post the disclaimer, as the centers do not provide services that require them to be licensed in the first place," said Alexandra Snyder, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "No other provider of goods and services is subject to a mandate of this kind. No other provider has to postin 13 languages no lesswhat it is not."



Imagine churches having to post large signs stating that they have no licensed psychotherapists. Or, imagine food banks having to state in multiple languages on their websites and social media platforms that they are not licensed to provide gastroenterological procedures.



California already has regulations to address the unlawful practice of medicine without a license. Non-medical pregnancy centers that offer over-the-counter, self-administered pregnancy tests, information about pregnancy options, maternity clothes, and diapers do not provide any services that could be construed as medical.



California's "FACT" Act is anything but factual. Pregnancy centers give back millions of dollars in goods and services each year to the communities they serve. They provide tangible support for women who choose not to abort their unborn children and they offer post-abortion healing for women who have had abortions. Their success makes them a threat to the abortion lobby's financial and political interests.



We trust that the Supreme Court will recognize the "FACT" Act for what it is: a lie designed to stifle the message that women have alternatives to abortion.



About Life Legal Defense Foundation

Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit



Share Tweet Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Life Legal filed an amicus brief this morning with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Priests for Life and the Justice Foundation's Operation Outcry in a legal challenge to a California statute that suppresses the speech of pregnancy resource centers. Priests for Life supports the work of pregnancy centers across the nation and Operation Outcry has collected over 5,000 legally admissible testimonies from women who have been hurt by abortion.In 2015, California legislators bowed to the abortion lobby by passing the Reproductive "FACT" Act. The Act, which was written by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), imposes draconian requirements on speech by pregnancy resource centers, including forcing medically-licensed centers to provide referrals for state-funded abortions.Life Legal's brief addresses the Act's provisions that apply to non-medical pregnancy centers, which are required to post large disclaimers that they are "not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California and [have] no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services."The disclaimer must be included on all print and digital advertising in every "threshold language" of the county where the center offers services. There are 13 threshold languages in Los Angeles county, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Tagalog, Cambodian and Arabic, in addition to English and Spanish. This requirement alone would make it cost-prohibitive for centers to advertise their services. And the centers' core message would be drowned out by the sheer volume of text in the translations.Laws that implicate speech are subject to the highest standard of judicial review, known as "strict scrutiny," that requires such laws to further a compelling state interest and be narrowly tailored to serve that interest. However, the lower courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated the "FACT" Act in a manner that was anything but strictor even scrutiny."The state has no legitimate interest in forcing non-medical pregnancy centers to post the disclaimer, as the centers do not provide services that require them to be licensed in the first place," said Alexandra Snyder, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "No other provider of goods and services is subject to a mandate of this kind. No other provider has to postin 13 languages no lesswhat it is not."Imagine churches having to post large signs stating that they have no licensed psychotherapists. Or, imagine food banks having to state in multiple languages on their websites and social media platforms that they are not licensed to provide gastroenterological procedures.California already has regulations to address the unlawful practice of medicine without a license. Non-medical pregnancy centers that offer over-the-counter, self-administered pregnancy tests, information about pregnancy options, maternity clothes, and diapers do not provide any services that could be construed as medical.California's "FACT" Act is anything but factual. Pregnancy centers give back millions of dollars in goods and services each year to the communities they serve. They provide tangible support for women who choose not to abort their unborn children and they offer post-abortion healing for women who have had abortions. Their success makes them a threat to the abortion lobby's financial and political interests.We trust that the Supreme Court will recognize the "FACT" Act for what it is: a lie designed to stifle the message that women have alternatives to abortion.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org
Foundation for Moral Law Defends California Crisis Pregnancy Centers Contact: John Eidsmoe, Foundation for Moral Law, 334-262-1245, info@morallaw.org MONTGOMERY, Ala., Jan. 16, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Moral Law, a nonprofit dedicated to the defense of religious liberty, filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of crisis pregnancy centers that are required by California law to post notices telling patients where they may obtain abortions and abortion referrals.



Foundation President Kayla Moore observed that the First Amendment prohibits the state from forcing people to say what they do not want to say. "These pro-life crisis pregnancy centers believe abortion is murder," she said. "Forcing them to display signs telling their patients where they may obtain abortions makes them complicit in abortion and violates their deeply-held moral and religious beliefs."



Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe explained that "Compelled speech is even more odious under the Constitution than prohibited speech. California seems to think the court-created 'right' to abortion supersedes even the constitutionally-guaranteed right of free speech. Furthermore, the law applies only to crisis pregnancy centers that do not perform abortions or refer patients for abortions. Abortion providers are not required to post signs telling patients where to find abortion alternatives."



Eidsmoe added, "Our brief pointed out that, early in January, the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of crisis pregnancy centers in a very similar case. That ruling strengthens our position considerably."



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Abortion Facility in Oakland Closed Contact: Alexandra Snyder,



OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018 /



Photo: Rev. Walter Hoye and his wife Lori together with LLDF attorneys that represented Rev. Hoye



Rev. Hoye made national news when he was arrested for simply holding a sign on the sidewalk in front of the facility that read, "God loves you and your baby. Let us help."



Even though not a single patient ever filed a complaint and even though volunteers testified that Rev. Hoye never threatened them or obstructed access to the facility, the District Attorney found Hoye's mere presence to be "unlawful and intimidating."



In truth, the facility's "escorts" regularly bullied Rev. Hoye by surrounding him with large placards and blaring raucous music to drown out his message.



Rev. Hoye faced a two-year jail term, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 days. Although the judge ordered Hoye to stay away from the Oakland abortion facility, Hoye, determined to continue his fight for the lives of unborn children, refused to agree to the order. Life Legal appealed the conviction and won. We then secured the dismissal of all charges against Hoye.



Life Legal challenged the constitutionality of the city ordinance under which Rev. Hoye was charged. That case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Oakland discriminated against Hoye in its application of the ordinance, holding that the city's "enforcement policy is a constitutionally invalid, content-based regulation of speech."



Family Planning Specialists in Oakland is a member of the National Abortion Federation, which sued David Daleiden after he exposed the abortion industry's trade in the body parts of aborted babies. Life Legal is defending David Daleiden in two civil cases.



About Life Legal Defense Foundation

Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit



Share Tweet Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation , 202-717-7371OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Life Legal is pleased to report that Family Planning Specialists shuttered its Oakland abortion facility this week. Life Legal has represented a number of prolife advocates who peacefully protested the facility over the past decade, most notably Rev. Walter Hoye.Photo: Rev. Walter Hoye and his wife Lori together with LLDF attorneys that represented Rev. HoyeRev. Hoye made national news when he was arrested for simply holding a sign on the sidewalk in front of the facility that read, "God loves you and your baby. Let us help."Even though not a single patient ever filed a complaint and even though volunteers testified that Rev. Hoye never threatened them or obstructed access to the facility, the District Attorney found Hoye's mere presence to be "unlawful and intimidating."In truth, the facility's "escorts" regularly bullied Rev. Hoye by surrounding him with large placards and blaring raucous music to drown out his message.Rev. Hoye faced a two-year jail term, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 days. Although the judge ordered Hoye to stay away from the Oakland abortion facility, Hoye, determined to continue his fight for the lives of unborn children, refused to agree to the order. Life Legal appealed the conviction and won. We then secured the dismissal of all charges against Hoye.Life Legal challenged the constitutionality of the city ordinance under which Rev. Hoye was charged. That case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Oakland discriminated against Hoye in its application of the ordinance, holding that the city's "enforcement policy is a constitutionally invalid, content-based regulation of speech."Family Planning Specialists in Oakland is a member of the National Abortion Federation, which sued David Daleiden after he exposed the abortion industry's trade in the body parts of aborted babies. Life Legal is defending David Daleiden in two civil cases.About Life Legal Defense FoundationLife Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, joining with other state attorneys general, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure that utilities pass along savings from the recently enacted tax overhaul to their customers.

There's only one problem. FERC doesn't have jurisdiction over most of the state's utilities, including the largest.

Texas is unique in the national electric system because its main grid is not connected to other states through traditional transmission. That means utilities in the system managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas -- about 90 percent of the state's power grid -- fall outside of FERC's jurisdiction.

This includes the utilities that serve Texas major population centers: CenterPoint Energy in the Houston area, Oncor in Dallas and West Texas, and AEP Texas in the south and the north. (Oncor is subject to limited FERC jurisdiction because the company owns a small percentage of a transmission asset that is regulated by federal government, a spokesman said.)

It's unclear how Paxton missed this. His office did not return repeated requests for comment.

In a Jan. 9 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates utilities, Paxton and 17 other attorney generals asked the commission to require that utilities adjust their revenue requirements to account for tax savings and possibly lower rate for customers around the country.

RELATED: CenterPoint wins rate hikes even as profits rise past state cap

Some utilities around the country have pledged to lower rates for customers as a result, but it is unclear in if utilities in Texas will be required to follow suit, or do so of their own volition. The Public Utility Commission of Texas ordered the state's utilities to fill out a questionnaire by Jan. 18 detailing their income tax savings, anticipated returns on revenue and other tax details.

CenterPoint said it is calculating its tax savings, but the company is not certain how those will trickle down to consumers -- most of whom had their gas and electric delivery bills go up last year. A spokesman for Oncor said the company is in the process of calculating its savings but that it is not sure how those savings will be used.

Another utility in the Houston area, Entergy, has no immediate plans to pass savings directly to customers, a spokeswoman said. Entergy, which has about 440,000 customers north of Houston, does not fall within ERCOT and is regulated by FERC.






If Google's incredibly popular art selfies app were a high school house party, Texas would be one of those few uninvited kids standing in the street jealously gazing in.

The Google Arts & Culture app, which was technically released in 2015 for iOS and Android, is available for download but a new feature which allows people to have their selfies matched with famous works of art has been banned in Texas and Illinois.
Dear Abby:

I'm 28 and have been dating my boyfriend, "Spencer," for 21/2 years. We have talked a lot about getting married. We know where we want it to be, who will be in our wedding party and what the theme will be.

A year ago, we discussed getting engaged. Spencer said he'd propose "sometime within the next year," and last spring, it seemed like he was working up the courage to do it. (He was talking about how happy he was and what he was seeing for our future). Then his best friend got his girlfriend pregnant and told Spencer he was thinking about proposing to her. After that, the idea of us getting married went on the back burner. Spencer stopped talking about us, and I think the reason was he didn't want to step on anyone's toes. (It's why he said he didn't want to get engaged when his sister was getting married.)

How do I bring up the subject without coming off as pushy or selfish? A lot of our friends are in committed relationships. If we put our lives on hold every time one of them gets engaged, we'll be waiting years before it's our turn and we can start a family. I'd appreciate any advice you might have.

Ready to Move Forward

Dear Ready:

Not knowing your boyfriend, I can't guess why you haven't received the official proposal. It's time to talk turkey with Spencer and ask him exactly why he seems to be stuck at the starting gate. It was considerate of him to postpone your engagement so it wouldn't distract from his sister's wedding plans. But for him to do it again because of his friend's impending fatherhood doesn't seem like a legitimate reason to me.

DearAbby.comDear Abby P.O. Box 69440 Los Angeles, CA 90069 Andrews McMeel Syndication
Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle

Houston's first new Chick-fil-A of 2018 will open at 1900 Nasa Parkway next Thursday, Jan. 25, with the chain's signature "First 100" campout scheduled for 6 a.m. the day before.

Local franchise owner Ummara Sajid invites area residents to camp out in the parking lot of the Nassau Bay location 24 hours before the grand opening. The first 100 adults through the door will win a card loaded with a year of free Chick-fil-A meals. The tradition, which goes back more than 14 years.
The last of the former Compaq Computer property is being sold, positioning the northwest Houston site for a new tenant or perhaps a full-scale redevelopment.

Property broker JLL is marketing the 74-acre tract for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a company that spun off from Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP Inc. in 2015. HP predecessor, Hewlett-Packard, purchased Houston's Compaq in 2002, taking over the campus and downsizing over the years.

Located along Texas 249 at 11445 Compaq Center West Dr. near Cypress Creek, the property for sale includes 2 million square feet of office, manufacturing and laboratory space.

RELATED: Hewlett Packard Enterprise to cut jobs, move manufacturing after Harvey flooding

"The site is situated in a desirable and fast growing area with strong school districts, an established retail base and surrounding master planned communities," JLL said in a statement. Rudy Hubbard, Kevin McConn and Rick Goings of JLL have the listing.

The property has an estimated valued of $55 million, or $28 per square foot, industry publication Real Estate Alert reported this week.

After Hurricane Harvey flooded the northwest Houston property last year, HPE said it would move its manufacturing operations and 290 related jobs to sites in either Chippewa Falls, Wis., or Austin, and that more than 3,000 non-manufacturing workers would relocate to a yet unidentified new campus "in the Houston area."

LOOPED IN: A podcast all about Houston real estate

HPE plans to lease the facility back until moving into new space.

HP Inc. said last year that it would move into a two-building, 378,000-square-foot development being built in Springwoods Village, the master-planned community west of Interstate 45 near the Grand Parkway. The company is expected to move about 2,400 employees to the new development.

In 2009, another large piece of the HP campus was sold to Lone Star College System, which acquired eight buildings totaling 1.2 million square feet. The technology company was divesting the property amid cost cutting and consolidation.
Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play "A Raisin in the Sun" is a classic of the American canon, a groundbreaking production that was the first Broadway show to make a serious exploration of African-American life.

Yet, as well-known as it is, its author's tumultuous life - which ended too soon at the age of 34 - has sunk into the haze of history.

Tracy Heather Strain's beautifully melancholic two-hour documentary, "Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart," the kick-off for the 32nd season of "American Masters" on PBS at 8 p.m. Friday, lifts the cloud to spotlight the writer who alternatively felt empowered and entrapped by being a gay black woman in midcentury America.

Hansberry was born to relative privilege in Chicago, where her father owned many apartment buildings on the city's black south side. He tried to use what power he had to influence Chicago's segregated housing patterns - the family's move to the all-white Washington Park neighborhood led to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Hansberry v. Lee.

More Information 'Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart' When: 8 p.m. Friday Where: PBS, KUHT/channel 8 in Houston 5 stars out of 5 See More Collapse

In their new neighborhood, the Hansberrys found themselves subjected to taunts and attacks. For all of his fight, the elder Hansberry died disillusioned and heartbroken in self-imposed exile in Mexico City.

It's against this backdrop that Lorraine came of age as a writer. She dropped out of the University to Wisconsin to move to New York City, where she fell in with a bohemian, leftist crowd, wrote for a radical newspaper, and ultimately met her husband, Robert Nemiroff.

Then, before she had even turned 30, she tapped into her experiences in Chicago to pen "A Raisin in the Sun," the story of a black family divided over whether to move to a white neighborhood. It debuted to general acclaim and became a movie starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Louis Gossett Jr.

From the outside, Hansberry's life might have seemed wonderfully charmed in a romanticized, beatnik way. On the inside, Hansberry was tormented by both questions of race and her own growing acknowledgment of her homosexuality.

Strain weaves standard documentary techniques - talking heads, historical photos, news footage, old TV interviews with Mike Wallace and David Susskind - with a haunting jazz score and smart use of music from the era, including Eartha Kitt's "C'est Si Bon" and Oscar Brown Jr.'s "Brown Baby." The interviews with those who knew her - Poitier, Gossett, Hansberry's sisters - are revealing and enlightening.

By the end, Strain has painted a picture of a woman who was far more than just a one-hit play. And how much more could she have done if she had lived? That realization for the work unwritten makes "Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart" all the sadder.
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A Houston man police said was fatally stabbed by his girlfriend at a Westchase apartment complex had a history of family violence, according to court records.

Michael Simmons, 27, died just before midnight Sunday, according to the Harris County medical examiner.

Houston police have said the girlfriend stabbed him multiple times after he forced his way inside an apartment she refused to let him enter.

A grand jury will review the case.

Police responded to a call at the Hudson at Westchase apartments at 3131 Hayes Road, where they found Simmons dead with multiple stab wounds outside an upstairs apartment.

Police say he had forced his way into an apartment after his girlfriend refused to let him in. Once inside, Simmons got into a physical altercation with someone who was visiting. In the middle of that altercation, police say, his girlfriend stabbed him several times.

Simmons left the apartment and fell near the top of the stairs, police said.

Simmons had two criminal charges for the assault of a family member. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend. He was charged with assault of a family member again in 2016 and his wife at the time filed for an emergency protective order. That assault case, a felony, was dismissed when Simmons pleaded guilty to another, unrelated felony.
Authorities believe frigid temperatures may be to blame in the death of an elderly woman with dementia, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday afternoon.

Family members reported the 82-year-old woman missing Wednesday morning after discovering she wasn't at her east Harris County home when they went to check on her. Because of her dementia, the woman needed daily care, according to deputies.
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A Dallas model and bartender is in police custody and is suspected of stealing multiple packages from her area.

Kelli Russell, 33, was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 11 for several traffic violations, including driving without a license plate, according to CBS Dallas.

A FEW TIPS: Here's how consumers can sidestep package thieves

According to the article, a neighbor recognized Russell 's car on a surveillance video circulating online and notified police, who were able to apprehend her.

Now Playing: FOX 26 News anchor Kaitlin Monte Video: Fox 26 Houston

Upon searching Russell's apartment, officials found "a large amount of stolen packages," that according to the neighbor, took two squad cars to remove from the premises.

Social media posts showed that Russell frequently documents her travel adventures online and even started a GoFundMe so people could help her buy a new car, which raised $335.

Dallas police are working to track down Russell's victims to help find out how much all the stolen items are worth, and will then charge her with a more serious theft charge using the combined value of all the item.

Russell was released from jail on Friday, Jan 12.

Take a look through the gallery above to see other items that have been stolen from people's homes.

Daniela Sternitzky-Di Napoli is a digital producer at Chron.com. You can read more of her stories here and follow her on twitter at @Dani_DiNapoli.
AUSTIN - Texans will feel little to no immediate impact if the federal government shuts down Friday, according to several state and federal agencies.

Funding to keep the federal government running is set to run out midnight Friday unless Congress passes a new spending bill. Republicans expressed optimism Wednesday that they have a deal on a temporary spending bill that will keep the lights on until mid February, but it was unclear whether they had the votes to pass it.

If negotiations fall through, nonessential federal employees will be sent home after midnight Friday, but Texas officials say the shutdown won't change much for the average Texan - at least not immediately. Core functions will not be affected, officials insist, but there could be some closures in national parks and it may take longer to get a new passport.

The Texas General Land Office say the shutdown is not expected to impact Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. Brittany Eck, a spokeswoman for the land office, said the agency and FEMA will continue to help families impacted by the storm get back into homes by deploying travel trailers, manufactured hosing units and finding contractors for repairs.

"These programs had funds allocated through the federal Disaster Relief Fund, which is not dependent on passage of the budget process," Eck said.

Texans will continue to receive their Social Security and Veterans benefits. Maureen Dyman, a spokeswoman with the Houston VA, said the health care system operates on advance appropriations.

"We will not be impacted by a government shutdown and will continue to provide health care to our Veterans," Dyman said in a written statement.

The Texas Education Agency also receives federal funding up front, and a spokeswoman said previous shutdowns had little impact on the agency.

"In the event of a temporary shutdown of the federal government, TEA's first priority has always been continued operation of federal grant programs in school districts, charter schools and regional education centers," Lauren Callahan, the spokeswoman said.

In previous shutdowns, including one which lasted 16 days in 2013, processing of applications for visas and passports typically stops if the shutdown lasts more than a couple days. National parks and monuments are usually the first to completely close. The National Park Service maintains over a dozen parks, preserves and monuments in Texas.

But Jennette Jurado, a spokeswoman for Big Bend National Park, one of the largest national parks in Texas, said staff has not yet received any specific guidance.

In 2013, Big Bend received guidance on shutdown procedures a day before the government was on the verge of shutting down.

"This time we have not been given anything specific on what a shutdown would look like under this administration," said Jurado, adding she remains hopeful it will be avoided this time.
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A Waco police officer has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor prostitution.

Willy Rafael Lopez, 35, was arrested Monday by McLennan County Sheriff's Office deputies, sheriff Parnell McNamara told Chron.com Wednesday afternoon. He was apprehended in a restaurant parking lot near Baylor University's campus soliciting a prostitute, McNamara added.

Lopez was off duty at the time. He has been with the Waco Police Department five years and worked on undercover prostitution operations. Lopez was released from McLennan County Jail Monday after posting $1,000 bond, the Tribune-Herald added.

READ MORE: Houston police officer arrested in massive prostitution sting identified

It is unclear what Lopez's status is in the department following his arrest. A request for comment was placed with Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.

Lopez's arrest follows a very similar one in Houston three months ago.

Longtime Houston police officer Robert Teweleit, 54, was arrested Oct. 4 during a 10-day sting at a massage parlor turned brothel that was taken over that month by the department. The sting resulted in 139 arrests total.

Now Playing: Almost 140 men, including a Houston police officer, were arrested during a 10-day sting at former massage parlor turned brothel that was taken over earlier this month by the Houston Police Department, officials announced Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. Video: Houston Chronicle

Teweleit was sworn into the department September 1986 and worked recently as an undercover officer.

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso.
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As temperatures fell below 30 degrees, businesses in Pasadena, like much of the region were forced to close early on Tuesday.

As of 4 p.m., the National Weather Service in Houston reported that the Houston region could experience 20-year low temperatures. The street's of Harris County's second largest city were mostly deserted as the mercury dropped.

Still, some in Pasadena looked on the bright side in an otherwise bleak day.

"I don't mind a little change once in a while," said Sergio Ybarra, a United States Postal Service carrier accustomed to working in the heat. Mail carriers are "so used to it being hot" in Texas, he added.

Because of the inclement weather, Ybarra said he expected Tuesday's workday, which began at 8 a.m., to extend from the typical eight hours into 10 and end at 6:30 p.m.

Ybarra has been delivering the mail for 13 years and he described this as his coldest winter yet on his route. Working his route off of Texas Street and Main Street in north Pasadena, he said he prefers the heat.

In north Pasadena, Francisco Ponce, chief baker, at El Bolillo Bakery, located at the intersection of Southmore Avenue and Pasadena Boulevard, said the weather helped increase customer traffic. Despite a better-than-usual business day, Ponce said the bakery, which is regularly open until 10 p.m. daily, would be closing at 4 o'clock so employees could make it home safely.

On the heavily commercialized Fairmont Parkway in south Pasadena, many businesses were closed for the day. These included J.C. Penney, Chase Bank, Starbucks and Shell Federal Credit Union on the 5100 block of Fairmont Parkway.

Few vehicles were out on some of Pasadena's busier streets including Fairmont, Southmore and Spencer Highway.

Memorial Park, facing Highway 225 in the northeastern part of the city, had no visitors during the afternoon, a usually busy time of day for the public green space. Ducks waddled freely with an icy pedestrian bridge unused nearby.
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The Houston bar scene is full of personalities  bar stars, if you will. Each week in Preview, we'll feature one of these mixologists. Get to know the person behind the pour.

Know a bartender who deserves the spotlight? Email joey.guerra@chron.com.

Length of time working at current place?

More Information Edwin Hui Find him behind the bar at: Roka Akor, 2929 Weslayan Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5-11 p.m. daily See More Collapse

We opened in mid-July, so about six months.

Nickname?

Nowadays, most people just call me Ed. It's easier to remember Ed the Bartender if you're on the other side of the bar. My pre-2012 homies call me Ragz, a name from my old B-boy days.

Lamest pickup line you've heard at the bar?

It wasn't insanely lame per se, but I had a guy tell a lady he wanted to sponsor her one night. To be honest, I'm not really sure if it entirely failed or worked.

Most famous person you've ever served a drink to?

One of the coolest guest I've ever had the chance to serve a drink to would be the veteran Asian-American actor James Hong. He's the old dude in "Big Trouble Little China." Super nice guy. I think he was 80 years old when I met him. He had a Lychee Martini.

Becoming friends with customers: yes or no?

Hell yeah, why not? People are not just customers, they are my guests when they visit my place of work. You meet some of the most interesting people at the bar, and if you're cool, it'd be good to build a stronger relationship. They could impact my life and vise versa in more ways than just money.

Most common customer complaint?

"This drink doesn't taste strong enough." You hear this a lot as a bartender. I came from dive bars, but I specialize in craft cocktails, so I have to tell them the drinks are made to be balanced. Its like, "Ma'am chill out, that's a Fog Cutter. Its like a tiki-style Long Island."

Song you've gotten sick of at work?

Anything extra-electro-experimental. Sometimes in these hip restaurants, you have a few strange songs that are supposed to fit the ambiance. I just start having flashbacks of my stranger days.

What's the sloppiest, drunkest thing you've ever seen on the job?

I got a Marine pretty drunk one night at a wedding. He was the brother of the bride. He was fun and crunk the whole night, until the last half, when he just sat on a bench with a 10,000 mile stare. The guy threw up an impressive amount of unchewed spaghetti and was surrounded by a few family members that were looking out for the soldier that hadn't been home in more than a year. His mother thought it was cute that she finally had her son back, and caring for him drunk reminded her of him when he was child. The most gangster thing was when the Marine would routinely scream war cries in between passing out to regain what consciousness he had left. It freaked out half the crowd, but I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

What's the most outrageous request you've ever gotten?

This wasn't a drink but moreso a customized dish. I work in a nice restaurant, so if we sell a pricey plate of mushroom skewers, it's because we make it real nice and tasty. I had a guest literally ask me for our cremini mushroom skewers with no soy garlic paste, no salt, no chili spice. "So you want mushrooms on a stick?"

What's something your customers may not know about you?

I'm a pretty churchgoing and family-oriented man. I've grown up quite a bit since I started in the business. If there's any Godliness in me, I hope for it to show in my work and how I treat those around me.
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Here is your chance to possibly meet two of the most famous Georges in the state of Texas.

Set for Feb. 1 at the NRG Arena, The Ultimate Wealth & Achievement Summit put on by the National Achievers Congress is set to feature some heavy-hitters.

RELATED: George Springer says the Astros made a drinking funnel out of the World Series trophy

Former President George W. Bush, Astros star George Springer, and TV host Mike Rowe are all set to appear at the February motivational seminar.

Entrepreneurs Barbara Corcoran and Robert Herjavec (both from TV's "Shark Tank") and Vaynor Media CEO Gary Vaynerchuk are also slated to appear.

Now Playing: Our past presidents have chosen vastly different towns to live in after the end of their terms. Video: ELLEDecor

Each of the guests will speak in front a crowd about various topics, including winning, sales, business, and marketing.

Tickets for the event range from $67.50 to $5,000 depending on experience packages.

For instance, those wanting a meet and greet with the former leader of the world, Rowe, Corcoran, and the Astros MVP can shell out up to $1,500 for the privilege.

RELATED: Houston couple names baby girl after Astros MVP George Springer

The price is cut in half in the package without Bush included.

Getting a selfie with Dubya isn't so hard to get, according to some folks, especially if you live near his Crawford ranch and frequent any of the local diners.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth.
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Ask any teacher: strong fundamentals are the building block to a successful college student.

That's why a solid early education is just as important, if not more than schooling received later on in life.

Children at Risk, a nonprofit organization that studies Texas' public education system, recently released its annual rankings for the Lone Star State's best high schools.

RELATED: Houston's top 20 middle schools

Now Playing: Jesse J. Rodriguez, superintendent of Proviso Township High Schools District 209, speaks about the new competency-based learning program they are piloting. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Video: Chicago Tribune

Their data show that schools within the same district can vastly differ in their quality of education.

The rankings can serve as a handy evidence-based tool to narrow down the cream of the crop in public education.

In order to rank the schools, researchers examined standardized test scores and student achievement.

RELATED: Houston's top 20 elementary schools

In addition, researchers compared campuses across the state with similar levels of poverty to eliminate bias against economically disadvantaged schools.

Dozens of school districts in the Houston area were ranked against each other, as well as schools around the state.

Above: See the Houston-area's best high schools.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.
If you need another reason to stay home tonight and drink hot chocolate, just take a peek at a live traffic map of Houston.

The online TranStar map shows how drivers are losing out against icy road conditions caused by Tuesday's snowstorm. The result is widespread road closures and accidents throughout the Houston area.
A suspected drunken driver crashed into Houston police SUVs that were parked on the North Loop early Wednesday directing traffic off the highway onto the service road.

The four officers inside the two SUVs were not injured, according to police, but DWI charges are pending for the driver.
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San Antonio police on Tuesday arrested a man accused of wrapping the body of a missing person in a tarp and leaving it in an apartment.

Reid Shizuo Kamitono, 47, was taken into custody on suspicion of tampering with physical evidence by altering or concealing a corpse, a second-degree felony.

The arrest comes nearly one month after police found Mario Martinez's body inside a Northeast Side apartment and six weeks after he was reported missing.

READ MORE: SAPD calls man's sudden disappearance 'suspicious'

Now Playing: S.A. ranked first out of 15 largest U.S. cities in 2016. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Martinez, 24, was last seen alive on Dec. 6 in the 8000 block of Bentley Drive. Police previously said he disappeared under "suspicious circumstances."

He wasn't found until Dec. 20, when police received a tip his body could be found in an apartment in the 9300 block of Perrin Beitel Road.

When officers arrived, they found property management had entered the unit after smelling a foul odor coming from inside.

Martinez's decomposing body was found rolled up in a tarp on the living room floor, according to an arrest affidavit. The medical examiner's office determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

During the subsequent investigation, a witness told police that Kamitono reached out to him and asked for help in removing Martinez's body from the apartment, the affidavit says. The witness, who said he previously lived with Kamitono, said he refused to help him.

RELATED: Suspect shot man in the groin after contentious round of pool

Police said they believe Kamitono instead wrapped the body in a tarp, which constitutes tampering with evidence.

A police spokesperson said Kamitono is also considered a person of interest in Martinez's death.

He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $25,000 bond. Records show Kamitono also has a pending fraud case against him.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
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.
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Fundatia de Binefacere Caritas Moldova solicita oferte de pret de la companii cu privire la dezvoltarea designului pentru Sala Events & Sufragerie
COLUMBUS, Ohio - State Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, an Akron-area Democrat, wants to hear from area constituents to start out the new year.

Sykes is asking area residents to share their thoughts on the direction of the state through an online survey available here.

"What we as legislators do at the Statehouse has a direct impact on the people of the 34th House District, and I want to hear their concerns and ideas on what is important to them," Sykes stated in a news release. "I encourage everyone who can to complete the online survey, and together we will fight to pass meaningful legislation that helps protect and grow our families."



Sykes represents Ohio's 34th House district, which includes Akron, parts of Cuyahoga Falls and Bath Township.

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AKRON, Ohio - Summit County Council will consider a proposal by the county engineer's office to increase county motor registration fees by $5. Over the next two weeks, county officials will host public hearings to listen to input and view a presentation from the engineer's office on the higher fee.

This would be the third vehicle registration fee increase since the late 1960s, and, if approved by council, would go into effect in January 2019.

Summit County residents currently pay $15 or $20 for the motor vehicle tax depending on their municipality. That's in addition to state fees, which for cars now run $34.50. Other types of vehicles, such as motorcycles, trucks and motor homes, pay varying state rates.

The new $5 fee would generate an additional $2.6 million for the engineer's office and would go toward construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges, said Heidi Swindell, spokeswoman for the county engineer.

Revenue for county roads and bridge projects has been stagnant, and some years declined, since the Great Recession in 2008, as fewer cars are sold and fewer people drive, she said.

In the meantime, construction costs and materials have escalated since the last county license increase in 1987. Key construction materials that increased from 2005 to 2016 include:

steel

hot-mix asphalt

concrete

If the rate hike is approved, the engineer's office will work with Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's office to develop a competitive grant program that will extend to all cities, villages and townships in Summit County.

Under the new the program, officials would set aside $250,000, which localities could apply for to complete various road and bridge projects, Swindell said. The projects do not have to focus on county roads and bridges, but would have to meet certain criteria and generate or retain jobs in Summit County.

Public hearings on the license fee increase will be Monday, Jan. 22, and Monday, Jan. 29, at 4:30 p.m. in Summit County Council Chambers, 175 S. Main St. 7th floor, in downtown Akron.

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LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 16, 2018--The Ferrero Group and its affiliated companies ("Ferrero"), a global confectionary group, today announced a definitive agreement pursuant to which it will acquire the U.S. confectionary business from Nestle for $2.8 billion in cash. Nestle's U.S. confectionary business generated sales of approximately $900 million in 2016.

Ferrero will acquire more than 20 American brands with a rich heritage and strong awareness, including iconic chocolate brands such as Butterfinger(r), BabyRuth(r), 100Grand(r), Raisinets(r), Wonka(r) and the exclusive right to the Crunch(r) brand for confectionary and certain categories in the U.S. , as well as sugar brands such as SweeTarts(r), LaffyTaffy(r), and Nerds(r).

With this transaction, Ferrero will become the third-largest confectionary company in the U.S. market where it is best known for Tic Tac(r) breath mints, Ferrero Rocher(r) pralines, Nutella(r) hazelnut spreads, the Fannie May and Harry London chocolate brands, and the Ferrara Candy Company, which was recently acquired by a Ferrero affiliated company and whose portfolio of brands includes Trolli(r), Brach's(r) and Black Forest(r) Gummies.

Ferrero will acquire Nestle's U.S. manufacturing facilities in Bloomington, Franklin Park and Itasca, Illinois, and the confectionary-related employees, and will continue to operate through the offices in Glendale, California, as well as from its other current locations in Illinois and in New Jersey.

Giovanni Ferrero, Executive Chairman of the Ferrero Group, said, "We are very excited about the acquisition of Nestle's U.S. confectionary business, which has an outstanding portfolio of iconic brands with rich histories and tremendous awareness. In combination with Ferrero's existing U.S. presence, including the recently acquired Fannie May Confections Brands and the Ferrara Candy Company, we will have substantially greater scale, a broader offering of high-quality products to customers across the chocolate snack, sugar confectionary and seasonal categories, and exciting new growth opportunities in the world's largest confectionary market. We look forward to welcoming the talented team from Nestle to Ferrero and to continuing to invest in and grow all of our products and brands in this key strategic and attractive market."

"Our commitment to deliver value to the North American consumers and customers will be strongly enhanced by the arrival in our portfolio of such powerful confectionary and chocolate brands," said Lapo Civiletti, CEO of the Ferrero Group.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close around the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Credit Suisse, Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP and Lazard served as advisors to Ferrero.

About Ferrero

Founded as a family business in Alba, Italy in 1946, Ferrero is the third-largest company in the global chocolate confectionary market, with global sales of over $12 billion, distribution across over 170 countries, and a workforce of more than 30,000 people across 55 countries.

Ferrero entered the U.S. in 1969 with Tic Tac(r) breath mints, which have become an icon in the breath mint market, and subsequently introduced Ferrero Rocher(r) pralines and Nutella(r) hazelnut spread to the U.S. market. Ferrero recently acquired U.S. chocolate company Fannie May Confections Brands, which through its Fannie May and Harry London brands provides offerings across key categories including chocolate bars, pralines and other snacks, as well as Ferrara Candy Company, a leader in gummy and seasonal confectionary with brands such as Trolli, Brach's and Black Forest.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County paid one employee $272.25 as reimbursement for a $2.75 toll, auditors report, while other employees sought and received reimbursements for meals they received for free at conferences.

The county's internal auditors have cited the overpayments as examples of problems they discovered in the way employees seek reimbursements for travel and the way supervisors review requests for reimbursement.

In some cases supervisors approve expenses without reviewing them, according to preliminary findings that the auditors presented to the county's Audit Committee last month. In other cases, travel is taken without prior approval or receipts are not submitted.

The county's Internal Audit Department's employee-reimbursement audit covering 2016 is expected to be released this spring.

The county's Fiscal Office is recovering overpayments as they are discovered, officials said.

The county has revised its 11-year-old travel policy and it will be submitted to County Council, county spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said Tuesday.

The final document will be followed by all county departments and workers, she said.

The county's travel policy was last revised in 2007. At that time the county was overseen by three commissioners and elected department heads.

Although there was an overall travel policy, each department had its own rules, procedures and expense forms, according to the state auditor's office, which has recommended in its last two yearly financial audits that the county update and create one policy.

"The policy should address all county travel, including the meal reimbursement amounts, whether or not tips may be included, the mileage rate for personal-vehicle use, and requiring original detailed receipts be submitted," the auditors office wrote in a management letter to the county in 2017 following the 2016 audit.

The county's internal auditors agreed there are issues with the travel policies.

"Each department chooses to report their expenses in their own way using their own information and format," Rose Karam, internal audit manager, told the Audit Committee. "It does not always lend itself to consistent data."

Karam said that as auditors reviewed samples of travel reimbursements they discovered several areas of concern.

"The first is travel policy violations and gaps," she said. Issues included employees getting reimbursed for meals that were included in conferences.

Employees were also reimbursed for personal telephone use, including having their cell phone bill paid, she said.

"We found that supervisors appear to be signing but not necessarily reviewing expense reports," she said. "There are multiple inaccuracies in the calculations of funds. We are looking into that."

Reports also did not include supporting documents, such as conference agendas, to determine if meals were provided or allowed during travel, she said.

"When fiscal asks for support for these things there is pushback from the departments, which say they are not required in the policy," she said.

Karam said the Department of Children and Family Services has the highest travel budget, mainly due to work-related driving for social workers.

She said one employee put in for 680 miles of travel in one work day and two others had more than 500 miles in a day. That also creates overtime.

The county has a new contract with Professional Travel, a travel-management company, that has clearer guidelines, she said.

"People would just call and say they needed to travel and they [the company] did not see if there was prior authorization and funds encumbered," she said. Plane tickets that were not used were not tracked to see if they expired or were used toward other flights.

The county is also now participating in a frequent-flier program through the travel agency, which will save money, she said.

Expense forms included requests for airfare reimbursement that had been paid for by the county, transposed numbers - leading to someone being reimbursed for 91 miles instead of 19 miles - and misplaced decimal points.

That led to the $272.25 payment for the $2.75 toll.

"No one noticed the decimal," she said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County will ask voters to renew a health and human services tax for two years instead of four, as originally proposed.

County Council on Jan. 23 is expected to place a renewal of the 3.9 mill tax on the May 8 ballot.

Legislation for a four-year tax renewal was introduced in council on Jan. 9. On Tuesday, council's Health and Human Services Committee amended the legislation. County Executive Armond Budish approved the move, Council President Dan Brady said.

The tax is one of two that fund health and human services, including foster care, services at the MetroHealth System, support services for those suffering from mental illness and programs for senior citizens.

A 4.8-mill tax, renewed by voters in 2016 for eight years, expires in 2024.

If voters approve the renewal of the 3.9-mill tax, they will be asked in 2020 to renew or increase the tax for eight years, which would place a human services tax before voters every four years, officials said.

Officials said an eight-year cycle would decrease the number of times the county would have a human services tax before voters and reduce the chances the tax would be competing with other countywide tax issues.

The 3.9-mill tax was last approved by voters in November 2013 for five years. It generates $104 million a year and costs the owner of a $100,000 home $136.50 per year.

County properties are being reappraised this year and the new values will help the county determine what should be done in 2020, officials said.

To get both taxes on an eight-year cycle, the 3.9-mill tax either had to be renewed for two or 10 years, Brady said.

"I am not comfortable projecting what the need is for the next 10 years," he said. "I'd rather go for two."

It is not known what the county will face in future years as it confronts the opioid crisis, increases in foster care, homelessness and other health and human services issues.

Last November, voters in a dozen Ohio counties agreed to pay more taxes for children's services and health and human services to fight the fallout from the opioid epidemic. Lake County voters approved a 0.7-mill renewal and an 0.4-mill increase by a wide margin.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County's Justice Center poses the most expensive challenge officials will ever face - and County Council members don't want a renovation or the construction of a new complex to mirror the debacle of the Juvenile Justice Center.

A decision is expected by the end of this year on whether to repair the current complex or build at the same site or on another site, Public Works Director Michael Dever told council's Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

The future will be determined by a committee assisted by Project Management Consultants of Cleveland, which will be paid $800,000 to provide services over two years.

The council committee members agreed to recommend that council approve the consultant contract. But they are concerned that they will encounter additional consulting expenses on a project that is expected to cost between $300 million and $800 million.

"I think we are going down a multi-million trail," said council member Michael Gallagher.

Dever agreed the $800,000 was an initial request. He said council will be asked this year to approve about $500,000 to hire a planning firm to determine the space needed in the new or renovated complex.

What is unknown is the cost for general capital repairs to the current buildings.

"There will be some kind of significant capital expenditure by the county in the near future," Dever said. "The physical building is going to need some significant repair."

For four years, county officials have considered the future of the 41-year-old complex, which sits on prime-development land downtown. They have commissioned reports and met with judges and other tenants of the building.

The complex, which takes up a city block between St. Clair Avenue and Lakeside Avenue, includes a 25-story court tower, 10-story jail, 11-story jail addition, nine-story Cleveland police department headquarters and 432,500 square feet of underground parking. The complex is connected by a sky-lit central atrium, which serves as the secure public entrance.

Dever said a subcommittee that will make the final recommendation will be named within two weeks. The subcommittee will have 12 to 15 members, including representatives from council, the prosecutor's office, clerk of courts, Common Pleas Court, the sheriff's department and Cleveland Municipal Court.

Committee members said the size of the subcommittee was too large. Gallagher said the number of people who make the decision should be limited to no more than six.

If not, the project "will turn into a nightmare," he said. "When everyone gets invited to the party, the neighborhood falls apart."

Gallagher also said the meetings should be opened to the public.

"I'm just looking at the sensitivity of the public to view this," he said. "We weren't responsible for the Juvenile Justice Center and saw the mess that turned out to be and the problems that exist now."

First envisioned as a $50 million detention center, the Juvenile Justice Center project became a courthouse complex in 2006 when a settlement between judges and then-county commissioners mandated that the county spend at least $80 million on a court tower and include a cafeteria and two courtrooms with jury boxes.

By the time it opened in October 2011, the bill for the detention center and nine-story court tower came to $189 million.
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After their 24-hour lock-in art challenge on Dec. 27, Central High art students will be premiering their created pieces during the Feb. 2 ArtWalk at Clark Marten Photography, 2606 Montana Ave.

Blank frames will be hung, saving the space for the 25 pieces of artwork that will be unveiled at 6 p.m. when the art students make their dramatic entrance displaying their work for the first time.

This is the second annual 24-hour art challenge, collaborated by Clark Marten Photography and the Central High art teacher Lisa Fine.

These kids worked hard on this and Im proud of them," Fine said. "This is a level most have never been challenged to. This has become the favorite event of the year for many of my students.

Students were challenged to create a piece of art worthy of hanging in a museum. They could be paintings, drawings, mosaics, digital works or 3-dimension pieces. The two rules are that works had to be created within 24 hours, and they had to fit within a 24-inch-by-30-inch frame.

Each student recruited a friend or media student to record their process and their feelings throughout the period. These videos will accompany each piece via the students school iPad.

I was first inspired to do this challenge for myself in photography, said Rudi Marten, of Clark Marten Photography. As we brainstormed how we could make it bigger than ourselves, we all landed on local art students. Its important that we excite investment in youth art.

Following ArtWalk, the 24-hour art challenge pieces will be celebrated with a black-tie gala at Yellowstone Art Museum on Friday, Feb. 9. All are welcome.

Each piece will be for sale starting at $100. All money raised will go towards each students art travels. Many are raising money for an art trip to Greece this summer.
Security News

Spectre, Meltdown Update: VMware Retracts Faulty Intel Firmware Patches For Chip Vulnerabilities

Joseph Tsidulko

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A bug in Intel's firmware update for Meltdown and Spectre that manifests itself when running virtual machines has prompted VMware to rollback a recently issued security patching recommendation. This adds yet another wrinkle of complexity for solution providers looking to protect their customers from the two side-channel vulnerabilities.

Customers alerted Intel that upgraded systems powered by some older Intel Haswell and Broadwell processors were experiencing unexpected reboots when running the Intel firmware upgrade.

VMware had recently pushed out the Intel microcode upgrades for the physical hardware, as a courtesy to its customers, alongside its own patches for ESX hypervisorsa mitigation framework the virtualization vendor recommended in its latest security advisory on the side-channel vulnerabilities.

[Related: Red Hat Researchers: Spectre Chip Vulnerability Likely Worse For VMs Than Containers]

On Monday, once Intel alerted VMware of the problem discovered in the field, VMware advised partners to no longer install those patches in tandem. VMware instead referred them to an earlier security advisory document that referenced patch releases not including the code from Intel.

For customers that already implemented both sets of patches, VMware shared a config line shutting off Intel's speculative execution control mechanism which implements the functionality at the heart of the problem.

"The issue can occur when the speculative execution control is actually used within a virtual machine by a patched OS," said the knowledge base article from VMware alerting users of the new problem.

VMware told customers the Intel upgrade shouldn't be installed at all for vSphere environments until the chipmaker fixes the problem.

"At this point, it has been recommended that VMware remove exposure of the speculative-execution mechanism to virtual machines on ESXi hosts using the affected Intel processors until Intel provides new microcode at a later date," the statement said.

VMware has released a single hypervisor patch that addresses variant 2 of Spectrean attack mechanism called branch target injection. The other Spectre variant and the Meltdown vulnerability unique to Intel chips don't pose risks through the hypervisor. VMware intended the microcode patch to allow guest operating systems running in virtual machines to also mitigate against the Spectre variant.

The reboot issue stemming from running Intel's microcode went unnoticed when those updates were developed and tested in the lab. But once released, "sightings"an Intel term for anomalous chip behavior observed in the fieldtriggered closer examination, leading to the rollback for systems with affected processors.

"VMware is working closely with Intel and the industry to come to a quick resolution of this Intel microcode issue and provide an update to our customers as soon as possible," the VMware article said.

The latest bug illustrates the complex challenges faced by solution providers trying to protect their customers from the chip vulnerabilities that are causing turmoil across the industry. It suggests headaches associated with Meltdown and Spectre are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

Jason Malacko, the manager for security practice relationships and offerings at Logicalis, a global VMware partner, has been experimenting with patch combinations in a lab environment as his firm prepares to deploy those mitigations into production vSphere environments, both in its own data centers and those of customers.

"As an MSP, it's frustrating," he said of the complex issues around security and performance caused by the chip vulnerabilities and their fixes. "But this is an industry-wide issue. It's a microcode issue, hypervisor issue, on top of that its a guest [OS] issue. You have to look at this from so many aspects."

Large solution providers like Logicalis won't throw patches into production environments, even when pushed out by prestigious software vendors before they put them through extensive testing. Customer workloads are often highly customized, and partners cannot assume patches will work as the vendors' intend, Malacko told CRN.

While he hasn't seen the latest Intel microcode bug manifest itself in the lab setting, the document from VMware provides a useful warning as Logicalis explores how the tapestry of patches will fare in real-world environments, he said.

Meltdown and Spectre represent "one of the most complex scenarios" as far as updating systems, he said. But all the anxiety around those potential attacks shouldn't distract attention from the 14,000 other documented vulnerabilities.

As to VMware's release and then retraction of the Intel patches, that kind of back-and-forth isn't uncommon in scenarios like the one the industry is currently facing.

"There are all kinds of vulnerabilities, and it takes time to work through them, and the first fix isn't always the final fix," he said. That's all part of the job of being a solution provider, he said.
A $784,271 grant will help the Billings Clinic establish a new level of care for people who arrive at the hospital with a mental health crisis.

The grant, awarded by the Leona M. And Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, will allow the hospital to complete work on its new Psychiatric Stabilization Unit.

The unit, located in a remodeled space at the Billings Clinic Psychiatric Center, will include space for up to 12 adults and five youths, said Dr. Eric Arzubi, chair of the Billings Clinic Psychiatric Department and a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Work on the center is expected to be completed by the end of January.

Ten to 20 people a day with psychiatric issues seek help at the Billings Clinic emergency department, Arzubi said. In 2017, that totaled 5,000 visits, both adults and youth, and soared to 32 on one record-breaking day this fall.

Until now, patients in the ED have been assessed medically. Then, if the physician believes a psychiatric assessment clinician evaluation is warranted, the patient must wait hours more, which can be difficult for someone in an agitated state.

We see patients for psychiatry in 95 percent of Montanas counties and 45 percent of Wyoming counties, Arzubi said. We work very hard to try to provide quality care in a timely way, but were not able to handle these volumes sometimes and provide timely care.

With the introduction of the stabilization unit, the goal is to more effectively help people in crisis, he said. Once a person has undergone a medical exam in the ED, a patient can be immediately taken to the stabilization unit for a psych evaluation.

They can stay up to 24 hours before we have to decide whether to admit them to the hospital or discharge them back to the community and the appropriate level of services they need, Arzubi said.

If someone comes in struggling, saying theyre hearing voices, and if theyre not obviously high risk to hurt themselves or others, they could be taken to the stabilization unit. The psych team could restart them on medication, watch them overnight and the next morning if theyre better and dont need hospitalization, they could be released, he said.

In a news release, Walter Panzirer, a trustee for the Helmsley Charitable Trust, said providing the best care possible to patients is important, especially when that person is in crisis.

Billings Clinic serves a broad geographic area, and this new Psychiatric Stabilization Unit will provide immediate, essential services to patients from across the region facing psychiatric emergencies, Panzirer said.

In addition to the grant, the Billings Clinic Foundation raised $1 million in 2016 that it designated for urgent mental health needs in Billings and the region. Of that amount, $750,000 will be set aside as an endowment to support the units work.
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Et tu, Brute?

Thats right; Brutus, too. Back in November, three State Police K9s received body armor  and now K9 Brutus makes four.

Connecticut State Police announced Tuesday that State Police K9 Brutus will receive a bullet- and stab-protective vest from Vested Interest in K9s, Inc.  a non-profit organization based in East Taunton, Massachusetts.

K9 Brutus vest was sponsored by a fundraiser. The dog is a 4-year-old German Shepherd trained in all aspects of patrol, including evidence recovery, handler protection, tracking, criminal apprehension and obedience. Trooper First Class Derek Smitt of Troop F in Westbrook is K9 Brutus handler.

Vested Interested in K9, Inc.  which was established in 2009  has provided more than 2,800 protective vests to law enforcement agencies across the nation. The mission is to provide protective vests and other assistance to law enforcement dogs throughout the county.

More Information To learn about volunteer opportunities with Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., call 508-824-6978. The organization provides information, lists events and accepts donations of any denominatin at www.vik9s.org. Donations can also be mailed to P.O. Box 9, East Taunton, Massachusetts, 02718. See More Collapse

This program is open to all dogs actively employed in the U.S. with law enforcement or any related agency. The dogs must be certified and at least 20-months-old. New K9 graduates and K9s with expired vests are eligible to participate.

The suggested donation to provide one protective vest for a K9 is $950. Each vest weighs roughly four to five pounds and is valued between $1,795 and $2,283. The vests come with a five-year warranty.
You dont have to be a civil engineer to know Connecticuts infrastructure is, in more ways than one, the pits. The grim facts compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers are out there: Bad roads cost drivers $864 a year, 8 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, drinking-water needs total $3.6 billion, wastewater needs are $4.6 billion.

President Trump promised a $1 trillion infrastructure investment, with $200 billion in federal money supposedly leveraging the balance from state, local and (mostly) private sources. Sounds good, but it raises some scary prospects, like $30-$40 tolls to use premium highway stretches at peak hours. (Dont laugh, its actually happened here in the D.C. area.)

But Rep. Elizabeth Esty is here to tell you it doesnt have to be this way. Her co-authored report on behalf of the bipartisan congressional Problem Solvers Caucus, Rebuilding Americas Infrastructure, calls for an all-of-the-above approach, including a beef-up of the Highway Trust Fund, public-private partnerships (P3 in the infrastructure business) and private activity bonds, which narrowly dodged a bullet in the new tax law.

There are roles for P3s, but they address maybe 10-20 percent of what we need to do, Esty said.

How do you get to the $3-4 trillion Esty estimates is necessary to put U.S. infrastructure in a good state of repair and pave the way for a future of driverless cars and other innovations?

There is no one-size-fits-all, but upping the gas tax is an obvious step. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon, same as in 1993.

Even so, Esty said, the tax itself will need overhauling as we head into an era of electric vehicles that pay nothing and hybrids that pay little.

Asked for comment, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said: We are encouraged to see the Problem Solvers Caucus echo the presidents priorities of increasing infrastructure investment, streamlining the permitting process, making government more efficient  We hope to continue to work through any potential differences in order to achieve our shared goal of rebuilding our countrys crumbling infrastructure.

The dream continues

I had the honor of following a group of Connecticut Dreamers around the halls of two Senate office buildings on Tuesday. They werent bashful about risking arrest, temporarily seizing the waiting rooms of several senators and holding impromptu sit-ins.

Their aim: Pushing forward the DREAM Act, which would assure them a future in the U.S. after having been brought here as young children illegally.

One of their responsive chants: Cuando? Cuando? Cuando? Ahora! Ahora! Ahora! (When? When? When? Now! Now! Now!)

I asked the young immigrant Dreamers from Bridgeport, New Haven and elsewhere to talk to me about their own stories. No one put their hands up to volunteer  understandable, given the feelings of vulnerability they have with their future legal status on the line.

One who would talk was Julio Reinoso, of Bridgeport, who at age 62 is more than a bit beyond the median age of Dreamers mostly in their 20s and 30s.

I came to support these people, said Reinoso, who is from Peru and is in the country legally. They are the victims of this situation.

Reinoso works with the public library system to help distribute books to those who need them most. But learning is difficult without legal status.

Dreamers, he said, are only looking for a better future.

dan@hearstdc.com
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BRIDGEPORT  The school board hasnt given up on the Catholic Center as a new home for Classical Studies Magnet Academy, but the panel has directed staff to shop around for alternatives.

We need to cast a net and see what comes back, Board of Education Chairman John Weldon said, as the board voted in a special session this week to keep the project high on its capital projects wish list.

First on the list is replacing Bassick High School, a $125 million project already in the application process, with an architect to be sought next month.

Finding a new spot for Classical Studies, now in two buildings, blocks apart, on the citys West End comes below a request for a new Marin School roof and tied for third on the list with with a Curiale School roof replacement.

The school district has wanted to move Classical Studies into the 60,000-square-foot Catholic Center for more than a year. The 5-acre property is on Jewett Avenue, in the citys North End. The main building, once a high school, is now headquarters for the Diocese of Bridgeport. There is a separate 10,000-square-foot building the district would like to turn into a special education facility.

Because the plan is to renovate an existing school building, officials say the project, which could cost $50 million, would be eligible for 80 percent reimbursement from the state.

Last year, city officials seemed on board with the plan, until the City Council voted 14-6 last spring against the purchase. Councilwoman Michelle Lyons, D-134, who lives down the block from the Catholic Center, spearheaded the opposition.

In November, nine seats on the 20 member council changed hands.

Some school board members say the Catholic Center remains the best option for Classical Studies Magnet Academy, since it was built as a school, is on clean land and is big enough to support growth.

We did look at other places, said Alan Wallack, the school construction coordinator for the district.

Another site considered was the former Salvation Army property on Connecticut Avenue near the Stratford town line, which Wallack described as dilapidated and cost-prohibitive to renovate.

He said the Catholic Center property was a potential game-changer for the district, and that we can never go wrong with 5 clean acres.

Board member Ben Walker said he feared that if the district waited too long, the Catholic Center would be sold to a charter school or a private school.

This particular building makes sense, he said.

Board member Maria Pereira said the site is ideal not just for a magnet school of 500 students, but for a special education program that would go into the auxiliary building, enabling students to return from out of district placements at a significant cost savings. Done right, Pereira said, the program might even generate income if other districts were to place students there.

I think we need to move on this, she said. The longer we wait, the (greater) the chance of losing the building.

Board member Hernan Illingworth wondered if there were internal possibilities within the district.

I think there are options, he said, that wouldnt necessitate a three- to five-year wait.

Weldon pushed for a broader search that involved more than staff driving around to figure out what is available. If the council voted the plan down again, the district would be without options if it did not continue to look for an alternative, he said.

The motion approved by the board was changed to specify the Jewett Avenue property or another appropriate facility as a new home for Classical Studies Magnet Academy.
BRIDGEPORT  By the time the homicide rate doubled in September, violence in the Park City showed a clear trend: a spike in gun violence and an increased rate of gang-related deaths.

Data obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media detail the trend, and map each injurious shooting across the city, including fatal and non-fatal shootings.

An online map of the data, accessible at ctpost.com or http://bit.ly/2DroZo2, gives the public the opportunity to see the same detailed information that police officers do to understand shootings across the city.

Select the box to the left of the map header to add data from 2015 and 2016. The default view shows data from 2017.

If you cant measure it and track it, you cant understand it and you cant fight it, said Capt. Roderick Porter, who oversees Bridgeports Detective Bureau.

Mapping shootings and tracking their relationship with gangs is a crucial tactic in the citys larger strategy to combat gun violence, an effort complimented by the state-funded Project Longevity program.

When homicides reached a record low of 10 in the 2016 calendar year, police and community groups credited Project Longevity for much of the drop. An academic study of the program in New Haven demonstrated that it had been effective there in recent years.

Shootings went slightly up in 2017, and were way more deadly.

More News Bridgeport has 1st homicide of 2018

Fatal shootings increase

While non-fatal shootings increased by only seven citywide from January to October  up to 73 from 66 during the same period in 2016  fatal shootings during that period nearly tripled, from six to 16.

Four of the fatal shootings in 2017 took place within blocks of each other on the East End. Three of them are suspected to involve gunmen affiliated with violent groups, according to police records. A fourth led to the arrest of an alleged Norwalk drug dealer, who shot an innocent bystander, police said.

The data tracks the location of every injurious shooting in the city, broken down by fatal and non-fatal shootings, as well as whether police believe that they were Group Member Involved, or GMI, meaning they involved gangs and even more groups with few formal ties or organization.

Police began collecting the data in 2012 or 2013, and improved collection methods significantly in 2015, according to officials familiar with the process. Bridgeport police and state anti-gang officials review the data along with members of The National Network for Safe Communities, New York-based academic think tank.

NNSC President David Kennedy has been credited for leading successful anti-gang initiatives in dozens of U.S. cities, starting with the Boston Miracle in the 1980s drop to zero over just a few years.

One part of the message is telling felons not to pick up a gun. Another part is to promise to protect them from rival gangs who havent given up violence yet.

We tend to think of them as offenders, but their rate of victimization is incredibly high, Kennedy told Hearst in an interview last year. Violence prevention means making them safer.

Collecting gang violence data is part of a larger strategy that employs carrots sticks and carrots against members of violent criminal groups, along with what Kennedy refers to as the moral voice of the communitypastors, NGO leaders and families of gun violence victims.

Project Longevity

At a call-in in May, Project Longevity organizers delivered a series of lectures to some two-dozen parolees with ties to local gangs. It started with a stern warning: if your group shoots anybody, a prosecutor said, hed look at the cases pending against anyone in the group, and and take them federalmeaning longer prison terms in facilities further away from family.

Were tired of watching you go away, were tired of watching you get shot and end up in a wheelchair, Harold Dimbo, a retired police detective, told the men. Dimbo is Bridgeports Project Longevity coordinator.

Speakers also also offered hope, including testimonials from convicted criminals (one was recently charged with fraud), and opportunities for job training and social services to help them get on their feet.

But on July 1, at the peak of normal summer violence, Project Longevitys budget was frozen along with the state budget. Employees worked without pay, and some eventually quit. Resources to support felon re-entry dried up, and organizers scrambled to keep their pledges of support for the felons at the call-in.

With their budget restored, Project Longevity is trying to get back on track.

We have enhanced our partnership with the Bridgeport Police department and the mayor's office, said statewide coordinator Brent Peterkin, in October. We are looking to increase our custom notifications in DOC facilities as well,individual check-ins credited with preventing violence in the New Haven study.

Deciphering the map

Hearst Connecticut Media mapped the shootings to let readers by neighborhood using the most available data, which runs to Oct. 14, 2017 and was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request.

To make the data comparable across years, data from 2016 and 2015 were limited to that date in the calendar year. Because most shootings occur in summer months, relatively few shootings were omitted.

That means that it doesnt include the most recent murder of Jawuan Green, 21, shot dead on January 16, 2017.

He was killed on Newfield Avenue, a few feet away from where his friend Eric Diaz, then 19, was killed on September 16, 2016. Diazs death is marked on the map.

Some shootings may not have been reported, even if they caused injury. Police-involved shootings, such as the death of Jayson Negron, are not included in the data.

Most points on the map approximate the place where the shooting, usually a nearby street address. Between 1 and 3 percent of the non-fatal shooting data are incomplete or contained errors  the most common were addresses listed as intersections but with only one street listed. When the street was less than six blocks long, the center of the path was chosen.

In other words, all shootings at intersections are accurate to three blocks.

cattanasio@ctpost.com / @viacedar
Contributed / Contributed photo

FAIRFIELD  An argument over whether an infant needed to be wearing a hat led to the arrest of the babys father Tuesday.

A witness called police about a couple fighting in front of the Circle Inn lobby around 4:30 p.m. According to police, the baby was dressed in a winter parka with a hood and there was a blanket over the childs car seat. Michael Singleton, 44, the babys father, felt the child should have had a hat on, the report stated.
Yellowstone County commissioners on Tuesday interviewed three candidates nominated by the local GOP to fill a vacancy in State House District 51, which includes south Billings.

The commissioners took turns asking candidates Frank Fleming, Rodney Garcia and Jake Hanson a series of questions in a public interview Tuesday morning.

The commission will vote on a candidate at its Jan. 23 board meeting at 9:30 a.m. The successful candidate will fill a seat vacated by Republican Adam Rosendale, who moved to Great Falls and is no longer eligible to represent the district.

Fleming already has filed to run as a 2018 candidate for the seat. Garcia told commissioners he was filing later in the day for election. Hanson said if he is not appointed, he will not seek election, but would run if appointed.

State law allows the party of the vacating seat holder to submit three names to county commissioners for appointment. The Montana Legislature convenes for the first four months of odd-numbered years, which means that unless there is a special session, Rosendales replacement will have a limited role. All 100 House seats are up for election in November.

HD51 includes south Billings north of the Yellowstone River and portions of the South Side and West End to Shiloh Road.

Commissioners asked the candidates about their background, why they were seeking the position, their experience and to identify their issues of concern.

Frank Fleming

Fleming, 64, is retired and worked both in state and federal probation and parole offices, including almost eight years as chief of the U.S. Probation and Parole Office, and for the Montana Department of Labor.

Fleming said he first retired in 2005 from his federal probation and parole career, got bored and went back to work with the Montana Department of Labor. He became the manager of the Billings Job Service and worked to bring new jobs to the community, he said. He retired again after five years with DOL.

Fleming said he loves politics, enjoys working with people and has lived in the district for 10 years. He also said he worked as campaign manager on the successful election of his friend and former colleague in the federal probation office, Rep. Jimmy Patelis, R-Billings, who represents HD52.

Fleming told commissioners he has the time and energy to campaign and identified the states budget problems and cuts to Medicaid as issues to work on.

Cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income people, will affect the most vulnerable, he said. Theyre going to have to turn somewhere, he said.

Fleming said if he could carry a bill it would be to make Montana State University Billings a standalone college with its own identity and control of its own programs rather than being linked to MSU Bozeman. He said MSU Billings is in a downward spiral with declining enrollment.

Rodney Garcia

Garcia, 63, touted his experience as a former state legislator and lifelong public service as a South Side resident who has started neighborhood task forces and worked on numerous boards and committees. Garcia has most recently run unsuccessfully in 2016 and 2014 as a Republican for different Billings Senate seats. He served as a Democratic representative in the house for HD93 in the 1980s.

Retired from oil field work, Garcia said hes a good fund-raiser, loves helping people and is a problem solver.

Garcia identified balancing the state budget as an issue and not necessarily through raising taxes. He also said he would like to carry legislation to encourage better jobs.

After the interview ended, Commission Chairman John Ostlund asked if the candidates had any questions or comments.

Garcia volunteered that years ago, he and his ex-wife had a domestic dispute in which he got arrested and was convicted. Garcia said he made a phone call to his ex-wife, but that he didnt do anything wrong.

Jake Hanson

Hanson, 23, born and raised in Billings, said he got interested in politics when he served as a page in the Montana House of Representatives when he was in high school. The experience made a lasting impression and sparked a desire to return to Helena as a legislator, he said.

Hanson said he recently graduated from Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, with a degree in psychology, and had an internship working with youth at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch in Billings.

What he may lack in experience, Hanson said, he makes up for with youthful ambition.

Hanson said he enjoys people, loves Billings and wants to represent the people. While he said the state budget is an issue, Hanson also said no issue is worth ignoring and that everything needs to be thought of equally.

As a freshman legislator, Hanson said he would not expect to carry a bill but that hes interested in creating jobs.
Heading into CES, I expected an overwhelming experience: long security lines at entrances, huge crowds clogging aisles of booths and expo floors so expansive that itd take an entire day to cover just one venue.

While there is a lot to see at CES, I thought it was organized fairly well. Mind you, this is an account of my personal experience, and I cant speak for the other 180,000 or so attendees.

Security guards often let me walk in without checking my bag, which was unnerving but efficient, and I never waited in a line to get inside. (Thats possibly because I never arrived right at 9 a.m. when it opened, thanks to my writing schedule.) Traffic wasnt too crazy, except for on the day it rained, which is a rarity in the desert.

Another aspect that surprised me was the lack of Wi-Fi on the expo floors. Id assumed itd be spotty at best due to volume (despite it being a tech conference in 2018), but on the first morning, after asking fellow attendees who explained theyd found it wasnt free or that they were using their phones at mobile hotspots, I started using the jetpack I brought and never looked back.

I highly recommend anyone who needs an internet connection at next years CES brings their own, even as a backup. Same goes for power. Bring external chargers for your phone. I had three which I charged nightly at my hotel, and my phone didnt die all week.

Image credit: Lydia Belanger

On Tuesday, the first full day, I felt my best (and most rested). This was the day I explored parts of two different venues, moderated a panel on crowdfunding, sat in a Byton concept car and documented it on Entrepreneurs Instagram story and walked around the expo hall that featured the biggest car companies. I think I enjoyed this day the most because I was extremely focused -- panel, cars, Byton, more cars -- which helped me not to get overwhelmed. This should go for anyone going to these huge events: Have a plan, but also give yourself a bit of flexibility to explore.

One of the major selling points for CES was Eureka Park, an area where up-and-coming startups were showing off the latest innovations to change the world. While, it was supposed to be a highlight, it was a bit underwhelming. The booths at Eureka Park were often not very elaborate given their small size, which left the products, signage and company representatives to speak for themselves. Sometimes, it wasnt clear what the product even was.

Image credit: Lydia Belanger

Given that there were about 900 startups in Eureka Park, if I couldnt determine what the startup was all about in about 10 seconds and no representatives engaged me during that time (which surprisingly happened often), chances are I was going to walk past. Plus, some companies seemed to have B2B solutions, which, while supplier and vendor connections are a key networking opportunity at CES, I couldnt help but think they shouldnt have been among fully fledged consumer products on expo floors.

There is always the one company we spot at CES that is a bit of a head scratcher. Last year, it was card company American Greetings (which ended up being our news directors favorite booth). This year, it was the United States Postal Service. One of the representatives manning it even wore a pin that said something along the lines of, Want to know why were here? Ask me! Turns out, the USPS is invested in some of its biggest clients (such as banks that send out a ton of mailers) using technologies such as augmented reality to make their paper products come to life and be more engaging to recipients. Lesson learned: Even the most old-school organizations can make a splash at CES -- even if their strategy isnt clear at first.

Image credit: Lydia Belanger

If your exhibition is counterintuitive, chances are youll get more attention. Skincare company Foreo put on a performance with aliens and hostages to generate intrigue. They called it a PR stunt, and, well, it worked. On the first day of CES, Foreo raised $500,000 in pre-orders for its skincare mask product, the UFO.

Related: CES 2018 Photo Gallery: Our Favorite Things We've Seen (So Far)

This goes for companies of all sizes: The people you have manning your booth should try to chat with passersby. Especially if those passersby are lingering, looking interested. I know CES is a weeklong slog of repeating yourself, but representatives should be acting as enthusiastically on Friday as they were Tuesday morning, not on their smartphones ignoring attendees. This was an easy way to whittle down which companies were worth my time -- whether I was worth theirs!

CES provides a lot of resources to attendees, including the ability for them to build a plan of which booths and venues they want to hit using floor maps. I did not use this, and wish I would have tried it out before I got there. While I had a good idea of which companies were on display in the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo & Convention Center and visited each of those venues multiple times, given what I wanted to cover, it was not immediately clear what I was missing in some of the other buildings. I just wished it was easier to determine what I wasnt seeing -- perhaps from a list of companies exhibiting at each venue and whether they were in appointment-only suites or drop-in booths.

Image credit: Lydia Belanger

The biggest advice I have for anyone who goes to CES is, seize the moment: If theres something interesting in front of you, dont plan on coming back tomorrow. You may not have the chance.

Same goes for taking care of yourself: If you see a water fountain, fill up your water bottle. If the line for coffee is short or nonexistent and you need caffeine, grab a cup. And grab a muffin, even if you dont have time to eat it for a couple of hours. If youre hailing a rideshare car, dont wait until you get outside. The wait time will probably tick up as you make your way toward a buildings exit and the designated pickup area.

Don't be like me. Image credit: Lydia Belanger

I felt my worst on Friday, and that was less because Id done too much walking or was mentally exhausted and more because I put working and game-planning ahead of eating, sleeping and hydrating all week. I also advise bringing as much nonperishable food as possible with in your backpack or tote or to keep in your hotel room.

Related: Check Out the Coolest Cars and Concept Vehicles at CES 2018

If I go to CES in the future, I will plan more in advance so I have a clear idea of what there is to see at every venue and dont have to spend any time while Im there trying to figure that out. While I feel like I didnt miss anything I planned to see and feel content with my experience, I know I could have seen even more that I didnt plan to. If theres anything you can do far outside of expo hours, such as email someone, test equipment, shower, etc., do it then. CES is brief and flies by. Again, seize the moment.

Related:

How to Survive CES: Reflections From a First-Timer

What This Ping-Pong Robot Tells Us About the Next Phase of Human-Robot Interaction

3 Crowdfunding Tips Every Company Forgets From a Brand That Raised $800,000 and Got Acquired



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Ever since 2016, when 71 percent of Florida voters approved legalized medical marijuana, people have waited to see if marijuana proponents would immediately push for legalization of adult-use marijuana.

As both California and Massachusetts begin legalized recreational sales this month, Florida looms as the next big market. Sales of medical marijuana alone are projected to pass $1 billion by 2020.

It seemed 2018 could be the year for the Sunshine State to put the recreational marijuana issue before voters. However, that now seems like a very long shot. As with everything political in Florida - one of the biggest melting pot states in the union - its complicated.

All Eyes On 2020

Advocates, faced with trying to get an initiative on the ballot that would legalize recreational marijuana, now are talking 2020 as the earliest year to get it done.

Thats because the odds of getting the 766,000 petition signatures needed to get the issue on the midterm election ballot this coming November are next to nothing. The signatures would be needed by Feb. 1.

Related: A California Company Believes It Has Invented a Viable Marijuana Breathalyzer

Michael Minardi, a Tampa attorney who heads up a group that advocates legalization, told the Naples Daily News he doesnt expect to get the signatures. However, he does expect it on the ballot in 2020. Were excited about 2020. We know we have the people on our side, he said.

The numbers indicate less certainty. Legalized medical marijuana won in all 67 Florida counties in November 2016. But a Quinnipiac University poll that same year found 56 percent of Floridians favored recreational marijuana - less than the 60 percent needed to pass a referendum.

Unique State

Many see Florida as a booming market for marijuana. The states population has reached almost 21 million. Florida surpassed New York this decade to become the third most populated state in the nation, behind only California and Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

But the states demographics are among the most diverse in the country, and hard to pin down politically. They range from liberal bastions in South Florida, more politically mixed areas in the middle of the state and very conservative areas to the north. Residents joke its the only part of the U.S. where politics get more liberal the farther south you travel.

Related: Hawaii Sees Legalizing Adult Use Marijuana As Huge Boon to Island Economy

Even the advocates have differing approaches. Based in Tampa, Minardi leads an organization called Regulate Florida. That group wants those over the age of 21 to have the right to buy, possess and cultivate cannabis.

Regulate Florida works with the Florida Cannabis Coalition. The groups co-founder, Pete Sessa, told a Tampa TV station he believes the business opportunities for legalized recreational marijuana will drive acceptance of the legalization effort.

Yet another group, Floridians For Freedom, wants to amend Article 1 of the state Constitution and make adult possession and use of marijuana a basic right under state law, not just a regulated product as it is in other states. The group has its own separate petition to get the issue on the ballot - also likely in 2020.

How it all shakes out is anyones guess. But the potential rewards for a Florida legal recreational market are likely second only to California.

To stay up to date on the latest marijuana related news make sure to like dispensaries.com on Facebook

Related:

Marijuana Legalization Advocates Look to 2020 for Referendum in Florida

Researchers Recognize an International 'Tide Effect' Driving Worldwide Cannabis Reform

Guess Which Indian Companies are Sailing High On Hemp



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FAIRFIELD  Police were waiting outside Home Depot, 541 Kings Highway Cutoff, Jan. 12 for two man suspected of shoplifting.

The loss prevention officer at the store called police after spotting two men that were suspects in shoplifting incidents at the chains Stratford and Bridgeport stores. He began to follow the two men as they each put expensive items in their carts, and placed less expensive items on top. They were both talking on their cell phones, and employees believed they were talking to each other.

When they realized they were being watched, the two allegedly abandoned their shopping carts and walked out, and thats where they were stopped by police.

One of the men, Richard Jones, 46, had Massachusetts identification and was clutching a car key in his hand. Police found a car with a Massachusetts plate and said two partially-smoked marijuana cigarettes could be seen on one of the cars armrests. A police canine was brought to the scene and alerted on the car, prompting a police search of the vehicle.

Under the seat they found two nail guns, still in their plastic wrappers, and a Milwaukee combo tool kit, a Milwaukee rotary hammer, a smart garage door opener, two mop refills, a Kwik Set entry door kit, and five circuit interrupters. The items recovered in the car were valued at a total of $2,429.

Neither could produce receipts for the items, and several of the items were confirmed stolen from the Stratford and Bridgeport Home Depot stores.

The second man, later identified as Bert Molino, had no identification and was taken to St. Vincents Medical Center after complaining of chest pains. He was later admitted to the hospital, and police said they will apply for a warrant for his arrest.

Jones, of Winthrop, Mass., was charged with third-degree larceny by possession and conspiracy to commit third-degree larceny. He was released on a promise to appear in state Superior Court in Bridgeport Jan. 22 and was also given a ticket for possession of marijuana.
A Bridgeport man has been sentenced for his role in two schemes, including one using blank money orders stolen from the Old Greenwich post office.

On Tuesday, Bernard Harris, 33, was given a 30-month jail sentence by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven.

According to the U.S. Attorneys office, Marc Anthony Alexander, formerly of Stratford and Oxford, and his wife, Rachael Alexander, also known as Rachael Vierling, devised a scheme to steal blocks of blank postal money orders from the U.S. Post Office in Old Greenwich.

The Alexanders and others then imprinted the money orders with various denominations using a computer font designed to make them appear to be authentic.

The Alexanders recruited Harris into the scheme to organize others to cash the money orders, or deposit them into numerous bank accounts, either at an ATM or at a teller window. the U.S. Attorneys office said in a release.

Harris recruited at least five individuals and paid them a portion of the proceeds. He then turned the bulk of the money over to the Alexanders. The Alexanders compensated Harris by giving him additional money orders that he cashed and converted to his own use.

The loss from this scheme was $313,570, according to court documents.

Harris, Marc and Rachael Alexander were indicted and arrested on April 26, 2016.

On Sept. 8, 2016, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

While Harris was released on bond, he went to a Waterbury check cashing business and presented a $3,860 check that was allegedly issued by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Harris provided his drivers license as identification and provided two references, including the name of his federal pretrial services officer and his federal public defender. He also cashed a second check from DCF, according to prosecutors.

Last may, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from the fraudulent check scheme and held in custody.

Marc and Rachael Alexander pleaded guilty to charges related to the postal money order scheme and a separate scheme that involved the fraudulent sale of financed vehicles.

On April 11, 2017, Marc Alexander was sentenced to 96 months of imprisonment. Rachael Alexander awaits sentencing.
One day in November, Amy Lambert of Butte stopped at the Town Pump convenience store at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Dewey Boulevard in Butte and bought a single Montana Millionaire ticket.

She later told lottery officials, I thought, Im here. Im just going to buy a ticket.'

On Dec. 29, the Montana Lottery announced the winning Montana Millionaire ticket numbers.

A few days later, Lambert checked her number online and discovered she had purchased a $1 million ticket that day.

I was shocked, Lambert told the lottery. I kept thinking, Are these really the numbers?

On Tuesday, Lambert claimed her take-home winnings, after taxes, of $681,000, at lottery headquarters in Helena.

Lottery spokeswoman Jennifer McKee said she did not have an age for Lambert and could not provide additional identifying information.

Separately, on Jan. 2, Butte residents Hans and Sandy Loch drove to Helena to claim the winnings from the $100,000 Montana Millionaire ticket actually sold to Hans by Sandy, a clerk/cashier at the Thriftway Super Stop convenience store on South Montana Street in Butte. After taxes, Hans, 66, and Sandy, 59, took home $68,100.

Among other plans for the money, the Lochs said they it will enable them to travel to visit their son and his family in Gulfport, Mississippi. Sandy and Hans had never met their younger grandson, who is 3 years old. Hans said the couple will spring for some new luggage because their current bags require binding to stay shut.
Rene Elena Carter, a former teacher at Capital High School in Helena, is accused of felony statutory rape for her alleged sexual relationship with a minor student.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, Helena police detective Kent Anderson alleges that Carter had repeated sexual intercourse between February 2015 and June 2015 with a minor male who was legally incapable of giving consent. Carter must appear in justice court by Jan. 30 on a charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

Helena Public Schools Superintendent Jack Copps confirmed the victim was a student and said Carter resigned on July 14, 2015.

Copps noted that he was not the superintendent at the time and is still getting up to speed on what happened. He said school district officials were aware of rumors that Carter was involved with a student "within the 2014-2015 school year."

"It would be wrong to say we weren't aware of it, because we were," Copps said.

However, Copps said no evidence of misbehavior between a teacher and a student was presented to the school district.

"The district didn't just turn its back and ignore its comments," he said. "The district did in fact try to understand if there was some basis to the rumors out there."

Copps also said it isn't clear whether the alleged relationship had anything to do with Carter's resignation.

"Everything I've seen doesn't indicate that this teacher resigned because she was going to be fired," he said.

The Montana State Educator Information System shows Carter still has her teaching license.

Copps said the school district has a responsibility under state law to report to the Montana Board of Public Education if a teacher engages in immoral conduct. The board would then hold a hearing on whether to suspend or revoke the teacher's license. That information is reported to a national database. But Copps said there wasn't enough evidence to do so.

According to a Helena Independent Record story published in May 2015, Carter was nominated for Helena Educator of the Year that year.

A call to a phone number listed for Carter was not answered Wednesday.

Independent Record reporter Thomas Plank contributed to this story.

Editor's Note: This story has been corrected. Although charging documents describe the victim as a minor who was legally incapable of giving his consent, they do not specifically say whether the victim could not consent because of his age or as a result of other factors.
Six former nuclear launch control officers who served at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne have called on Congress to reign in President Donald Trumps ability to fire nuclear missiles.

In an open letter sent last week, a total of seventeen former officers highlighted the singular authority that Trump, like any president, has to launch nuclear weapons and argued for the need to impose some checks on that power.

The Air Force may pump $5b into Cheyenne for a new generation of nuclear weapons The United States military is expected to spend between $4 billion and $5 billion over the next 10 to 20 years in Cheyenne to modernize F.E. Warren Air Force Bases intercontinental ballistic missiles system. That kind of money would be significant anywhere, but especially so in Cheyenne where it could more than quadruple the typical amount of construction spending in the city.

There is no act of greater consequence, and it should not rest in the hands of any one person, the letter reads.

Retired Capt. Peter Hefley worked as a nuclear launch officer at F.E. Warren from 2005 until 2007, beginning when he was 25 years old.

He said it was always somewhat alarming that a single individual had the power to launch nuclear weapons but that Trumps comments on social media, in which he has taunted nuclear-armed North Korea, motivated him to speak out.

Trump tweeted on Jan. 3 that his "nuclear button" was "much bigger & more powerful" than North Korean leader Kim Jung Un's. He went on to threaten that the U.S. arsenal "works."

Cheney backs Trump's aggressive stance on North Korea Wyomings lone U.S. House Rep. Liz Cheney is backing the aggressive statements made by President Donald Trump and other administration officials threatening North Korea with destruction over its nuclear weapons program, while the states U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi are taking more measured stances.

North Korean state media referred to the tweet Tuesday as "the spasm of a lunatic."

I don't think it's necessarily a partisan issue at all, Hefley said. When you look at the threats, the saber rattling on Twitter, those things suggest theres a hairpin trigger.

F.E. Warren is one of three air force bases in the United States that has nuclear-armed ICBMs.The other former officers from F.E. Warren to sign the letter are Timothy J. Allen, Frank G. Goldman, Michael Miller, Ryan William Schmoll and David C.W. Wagner.

The same group of officers signed an open letter in the weeks before the 2016 election criticizing Trumps fitness to serve as commander-and-chief. Both letters were released through Global Zero, an organization dedicated to nuclear non-proliferation and their elimination.

But Wyoming State Senator Brian Boner, R-Douglas, pushed back against the notion that Trump was unfit and said that there were already checks in place to block an inappropriate nuclear strike.

Boner worked also worked as a missileer at F.E. Warren, from 2008 until 2013, and said there were already checks in place on a president's power to use nuclear weapons. The generals advising the president, Boner said, would step in to block an order that was not "proportional" or lawfully ordered.

"Ultimately the president is the only person who can give the order but it's not going to happening vacuum," Boner said.

Hefley said that he believes many Americans dont realize how easy it is for a president to launch nuclear missiles.

At F.E. Warren, two officers each work in two separate capsules overseeing the intercontinental ballistic missiles held on site, Hefley said. If the president decides to fire the nuclear missiles, an encrypted code is sent to the capsules and is then decoded to ensure it is valid. Once that is done, all four officers must agree to launch the missiles.

The entire process takes about two to five minutes, Hefley said.

While in theory one of the four officers could block the decision to launch, that is an unlikely scenario in part because the individuals must agree that they will follow a launch order when they are assigned to that post.

At the time, I was comfortable with the idea that if a command were to come down there would be a really good reason for it and I would do it, Hefley said.

He assumed that any order to use nuclear weapons would follow a clear path of escalation, in which diplomatic efforts would be made first, followed by economic sanctions and perhaps conventional war before resorting to nuclear weapons.

In defense bill, Cheney pushes for more deterrence overseas  including nuclear weapons A longtime advocate for a more powerful American presence overseas, Wyomings U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney successfully advocated for taking a tough line with both Russia and North Korea, along with investing in the United States nuclear weapons program, in a major military spending bill.

I just dont feel like that escalation is the order in which things are going to go now, Hefley said.

Boner said that when he oversaw training exercises at F.E. Warren, missileers never trained for a nuclear first-strike and that one would only take place after a war or conflict abroad had clearly escalated.

"We would have at least some warning," Boner said. "It wouldn't just be all of the sudden, 'Oh the president is offended by a tweet let's launch a nuclear strike."

The rhetoric between Trump and Kim has been escalating for months. In April, Trump told Reuters a "major, major" conflict with North Korea was possible but he still sought diplomacy. The next month, Kim celebrated the test of a ballistic missile and said if the U.S. provoked his country "it will not escape from the biggest disaster in the history." Later that month, Trump called Kim a "madman with nuclear weapons" and upped the ante in August by saying continued threats would be met with "fire and fury."

The open letter references several proposals being considered by Congress to rein in Trump's ability to launch nuclear weapons without any outside approval. Some of those options include requiring the sign-off of the defense secretary of attorney general, requiring a Congressional declaration of war or banning the United States from using nuclear weapons except in self-defense.
What has groping got to do with Britains most magnificent stately homes?

Not much, you might think. Except if youre a big cheese at the National Trust, the organisation obsessed with turning our heritage into an excuse for achingly PC campaigns.

After a chaotic 12 months in which it attracted widespread criticism for its gay rights season, while reducing the great Christian festival of Easter to little more than a commercial egg hunt, it seems the Trust has learned nothing.

This month, it unveiled its Women And Power campaign to mark 100 years since women got the vote.

In the magazines article on an exhibition at Winston Churchills house, Chartwell in Kent, Britains wartime leader is criticised for opposing womens suffrage

In the National Trust Magazines spring issue, Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism Project  a website documenting sexism worldwide  kicks off the campaign with an article that begins: In early 2012, a man followed me home, aggressively propositioning me and refusing to take no for an answer.

Later that week, another man groped me on a bus and, a few days later, two men in the street made graphic comments about my body . . .

Harangued

Horrible incidents  and I feel very sorry for Ms Bates. But is this what Trust members really want to read?

Or to be harangued by Ms Batess views on gender equality, including the fact that 54,000 women lose their jobs every year as a result of maternity discrimination, and an average of two women are killed by a current or former partner every week . . .

Its hardly relevant to those seeking a stroll in elegant grounds or a slice of carrot cake against a Palladian backdrop.

The article continues: Appointed Home Secretary in 1910, Churchill was tasked with ending the suffragettes militancy, ordering arrests after the Black Friday demonstration in Parliament Square

It gets worse: when the dust sheets are lifted in some of the Trusts country houses over the coming months, visitors will be confronted with an agenda that has little to do with their interest in our heritage.

In the magazines article on an exhibition at Winston Churchills house, Chartwell in Kent, Britains wartime leader is criticised for opposing womens suffrage: Appointed Home Secretary in 1910, Churchill was tasked with ending the suffragettes militancy, ordering arrests after the Black Friday demonstration in Parliament Square.

Praising Churchills wife Clementine for being supportive of votes for women, the author cant resist sniping that few couples with opposing views on suffrage were as high-profile as the Churchills.

Next in the firing line is Lord Curzon, Tory Foreign Secretary and nearly Prime Minister. This important 20th-century figure is singled out for his shameful gender politics.

There were few who opposed suffrage . . . more staunchly than Lord Curzon, co-president of the National League For Opposing Woman Suffrage from 1912-1918. He maintained women lacked the balance of mind to use the vote.

Next in the firing line is Lord Curzon (left with Sir Robert Vansittart), Tory Foreign Secretary and nearly Prime Minister

As a tiny postscript to this hatchet job, it is acknowledged that Curzon gave two of its finest properties  Bodiam Castle in East Sussex and Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire  to the Trust.

The Trust has no qualms about belittling benefactors.

Last year, in its Prejudice And Pride pro-gay rights campaign, it outed as homosexual Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, a distinguished writer who bequeathed his home, Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, to the Trust.

The late Ketton-Cremer was an intensely private man, and the outing deeply upset friends and relatives.

Volunteers at Felbrigg were forced to wear rainbow- coloured lanyards to celebrate 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality. After 50 refused to do so, they were told they would be banned from interacting with visitors.

When the National Trust Magazine isnt banging the drum for gender equality, its declaring class war.

An article on George Bernard Shaws house, Shaws Corner in Hertfordshire, crowed: The Shaws were committed socialists and part of the Fabian Society, whose members believed that capitalism produced an unequal society . . . They fully supported the [suffrage] cause and also felt strongly about social equality more broadly across gender, race and class.

Im all for the womens vote, gay rights and a more equal society, but as a Trust member for some 30 years, Im also for our greatest conservation body doing just that  conserving houses and landscapes, rather than pushing an overtly political agenda.

In the National Trust Act of 1937, the Trusts duties are declared to be the preservation of buildings of national interest and beautiful landscapes.

Five million people havent become members of the Trust because they want to be told about sex crimes or be bombarded with PC messages.

What they want is a peaceful and historically inspirational break from lifes grim realities. But the Trusts senior management has long since given up caring what members think.

This week, it emerged that chairman Tim Parker has dismissed claims that the Trust had become a bit too politically correct for its own good as goofy.

Hijacked

In an internal email, he said the Trusts actions had been misconstrued as part of a silly season in rows over sexuality and faith.

And he defended director general Dame Helen Ghosh, who was criticised for allowing Easter to be hijacked by a confectioner when Trust properties were plastered with purple posters urging people to Join the Cadbury Egg Hunt  deleting the name of the religious festival.

Tim Parker (left) defended director general Dame Helen Ghosh (right), who was criticised for allowing Easter to be hijacked by a confectioner when Trust properties were plastered with purple posters urging people to Join the Cadbury Egg Hunt  deleting the name of the religious festival

I can assure Mr Parker the Trusts actions havent been misconstrued, and the only silly season is the one that has blighted the Trust since 2001  largely thanks to Dame Helen, and her predecessor Fiona Reynolds.

Together, they presided over a Trust so Left-leaning, it prompted Sir Roy Strong, former director of the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A, to describe it as the Blair government in exile.

As political campaigns took priority, so the Trusts mission  of conserving our heritage  was given a back seat.

Last year, in preparation for a public lecture entitled Betrayal Of Trust: How The National Trust Is Losing Its Way, I visited dozens of its properties and was astonished by the dumbing down of an institution I once adored.

Alienate

It was clear that the Trusts scholarly role in explaining its fabulous properties  one of our greatest contributions to world culture  and their contents had been devalued.

Dame Helen even ordered the removal of antique furniture from the Regency library at Ickworth House in Suffolk, temporarily replacing it with bean bags. There was so much stuff in Trust houses, it put visitors, other than the middle-class, off visiting, she decreed.

Under Dame Helens leadership, which thankfully ends this year, another trendy issue has been given prominence  global warming, because extreme weather is the single largest threat to our conservation work, apparently.

Last October, at the Trusts AGM, I heard senior management bemoan the white, elderly middle-classes who make up a huge proportion of the Trusts volunteers and visitors.

Most organisations would be thrilled with five million members of any age, class or skin colour.

Only the National Trust is crazy  and rude  enough to attack the background and interests of its members, and to alienate them with relentless campaigns that have little to do with its raison detre  preserving this nations beauty and heritage.
A serial killer who murdered seven victims was so desperate for notoriety he let slip incriminating details of his crimes in police interviews, a new documentary claims.

Peter Manuel, dubbed The Beast of Birkenshaw, was sentenced to death for the murder of seven people, including an entire family, in Scotland in the 1950s.

Once arrested, his desire to join the ranks of Britain's most notorious killers meant he couldn't resist giving detectives detailed descriptions of the crimes, even as he claimed his innocence.

The theory was posed by a criminal expert following fresh analysis of Manuel's police interview tapes, which are being aired as part of a new TV documentary.

The programme also analyses the police recordings of triple murderer and criminology student Stephen Griffiths, who took the lives of three sex workers in 2010 after being inspired by Manuel and other serial killers.

Peter Manuel, nicknamed The Beast of Birkenshaw, murdered eight people, including an entire family in the 1950s.

Some 50 years later Stephen Griffiths murdered three prostitutes in Bradford, and was said to have been inspired by Manuel

In CBS Reality's Voice of a Serial Killer, experts analysed Manuel's taped police interviews to reveal how he used them as an opportunity to brag about his crimes, while still trying to distance himself from them.

Manuel told detectives about his own crimes but pretended he was recalling a conversation with the 'real' murderer.

On one occasion he spoke about a man shooting a defective gun, but gave such a high level of detail about the weapon that police knew it must be him.

Criminal psychologist Dr Donna Youngs explained: 'It's akin to the ways in which we know when somebody's lying or when somebody's telling the truth, it's the details, it's in the details, it's always the details that give people away one way or the other.

'Here, because he really did it and he really experienced it, and he's reliving it now, we get the description of the details.

He had killed Marion Watt, her daughter Vivienne Watt and her sister Margaret Brown in 1956

Manuel also raped and strangled 17-year-old Isabelle Cooke on her way to a dance (pictured right; pictured left is Margaret Brown)

'It's the kind of details that you only know if you'd actually been there, and had the sensory experiences of having been there, and experienced and actually carried out these murders.'

Manuel's victims Anne Kneilands: Aged just 17, Anne was raped and bludgeoned to death with iron on a gold course in January 1956 Marion Watt and Vivienne Watt and Margaret Brown: Marion, her daughter Vivienne, and her sister Margaret were shot dead at home in September 1956 Sydney Dunn: Manuel is believed to have shot and killed Dunn in December 1957, but wasn't found guilty until after his execution Isabelle Cooke: Also 17, Isabelle was raped and strangled before Manuel buried her in a field in December 1957 Peter, Doris and Michael Smart: Manuel murdered the entire Smart family in 1958 and lived in their house with their bodies for a week Advertisement

Manuel, Scotland's worst serial killer, first murdered Anne Kneilands, 17, who was beaten to death with an iron bar in a field in East Kilbride on 1 January 1956. Although he confessed to this killing, he was cleared by the jury after pleading not guilty because of lack of evidence.

The spree for which he was hung, however, began in September 1956 when he broke into the home of the Watt family in High Burnside, near Glasgow, killing mother Marion, 45, her sister Margaret Brown, 41, and her daughter Vivienne, 16. All three women were shot at close range. Marion's wife William Watt was away at the time.

It later emerged Manuel helped himself to food before fleeing the house with stolen jewellery.

After a stint in jail for breaking into a canteen, Manuel returned to killing on 28 December 1957 when he murdered Isabelle Cooke as she walked to a dance school in Lanarkshire.

On New Year's Day 1958 Manuel shot dead Peter Smart, 45, his wife Doris and their son Michael, 10, as they lay in bed at the family home in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire.

Manuel murdered an entire family including ten-year-old Michael Smart (seen left) and his parents Peter and Doris (seen right) in 1958. He then lived in their house for a week with their bodies

He was arrested two weeks' later and was found guilty following trial. Manuel was executed by hanging later that year.

Infamy: Peter Mauel was hanged in 1958

The public interest and notoriety that Manuel garnered is part of what inspired Griffiths some 60 years later.

Griffiths was a criminology student who was desperate to join the ranks of the murderers he spent so long studying.

Clinical forensic psychologist Mike Berry Berry said: 'One of the things you find with serial killers is they do like to establish their record, they do like to establish what they've done, how they've done it because there's almost like a pecking order of serial killers.

'We think of the Yorkshire ripper, we think of Ian Brady, we think of Black - there is a pecking order of serial killers and the new guy on the block wants to establish his role.'

Analysis of Griffiths' police interviews revealed a similar approach when it came to police. They both also wanted to use the police interviews to create a record of their crimes.

He tried to outsmart the police to convince them of his innocence, despite being caught on camera chasing a victim with an axe.

Griffiths murdered Susan Rushworth (left) and Shelley Armitage (right) in Bradford

He also spoke about hiding the evidence in a computer, and made baffling admissions like being tired of the 'human race' as if he wasn't human.

Victim: Griffiths also killed Suzanne Blamires

It is believed that he talked in this way because he believed it impressed the police, which allowed him withhold information from them.

Berry explained: 'Serial killing is quite rare, most officers don't have the experience so therefore the serial killer is in control right from the beginning, he knows, and it's nearly always a he, that he knows more than they do.'

In his trial he pleaded guilty to murdering three prostitutes, achieving his grotesque ambition to join the ranks of the country's most notorious convicted serial killers with the killings of Shelley Armitage, Susan Rushworth and Suzanne Blamires.

Blamires was brutally murdered live on CCTV footage, with Griffiths waving the crossbow at the camera after he'd chased her out of his flat and shot her.

He is currently serving a life sentence in prison with a whole life order.

Voice of a Serial Killer continues on Wednesday on CBS Reality.
A woman who struggled with infertility has taken to YouTube to reveal the real cost of IUI infertility treatment.

Britt Hanlon, a lifestyle vlogger from San Francisco, has been married to her husband, Ben, since September 2015 and although the couple are in their mid-twenties, they struggled to conceive naturally.

When Britt decided to come off birth control in October 2015 after being on it for nine years, she said the couple weren't trying to start a family right away, but knew that by not taking birth control, there was every possibility Britt could conceive.

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Brave: Britt Hanlon, a lifestyle vlogger from San Francisco, has revealed the real cost of IUI infertility treatment

Problems: Although Britt is in her mid-twenties, she didn't get a regular period after she came off birth control in October 2015, a month after she got married, because of her PCOS

A couple of months went by and Britt didn't have a period, but from everything she had researched made this seemed normal.

And when she eventually got a period in January 2016, she thought her cycle would regulate as her period had always been regular.

When she didn't get a period for months afterwards, she still presumed her body was just trying to regulate itself, however, in June 2016, she went to see her OBGY who started her on a medication called Provera to try and kick start her period.

She said it was at this point that she wanted to figure out what was going on and when nothing happend, she took another round of Privera and got blood work done.

By this time, it was November 2016, over a year since she had come off birth control.

When her blood work all checked out, Britt was told she would need to look into fertility treatment, starting with a trans-vaginal ultrasound to inspect her uterus and ovaries.

She was then diagnosed with PCOS, a condition she suspected she had after her skin went 'haywire' after she came off birth control.

Working as a wedding planner at the time, the stress of infertility treatments also led to Britt leaving her job as she couldn't take a sick day during the busy wedding season, or leave an event if she happened to ovulate that day.

Open about her infertility journey, Britt has made several YouTube videos about the process.

Worth it: Because of Britt's diagnosis, which came in November 2016, she was unable to conceive naturally, and had to use infertility treatment in order to get pregnant - which she did

'I think it's really important to speak up about infertility. For whatever reason it's one of those taboo subjects and I don't really think it should be,' she said.

And revealing the financial cost of IUI, Britt explained: 'Everything we did was kind of spread out so I didn't really ever see the costs all lined up and honestly, once I just did this it hurt my soul a little bit because I am so frugal.

'I knew each time I gave them my credit card it was another big expense but seeing it all together is a lot and it makes me even more so thankful that we wound up having it work on our first try.

'We saw a specialist so there was a consultation fee for that first appointment  we couldnt have done the IUI without her. This was $375 for a meeting with the doctor and an ultrasound,' she explained.

Once the couple decided to go through with IUI, Britt had to have another ultrasound as she doesnt have periods naturally. This was to check if she needed medication to start a period and it cost $330.

She also had to take four medications  Provera, Femara, a trigger shot to make her ovulate and progesterone which had to be taken after the IUI implantation took place. Her insurance did help with some oral medications so this cost $180.

Once Britt's period started, she needed to have another ultrasound costing $330, before having one more to see how her follicles were maturing, amounting to another $330.

Cost: As Britt needed several tests and medication before the IUI implantation, the treatment cost the couple $2,766

Happy ending: Now pregnant, the couple are expecting their first child in June 2018

As the success of the medication varies from person to person, Britt explained that she had to wait two days to see how her follicles had developed before having yet another ultrasound, which cost $330.

At this point Britt's doctors administered the trigger shot to stimulate ovulation and warned that she might have to go in for another one to five scans.

However, this wasn't needed and Britt's final ultrasounds count amounted to five  one initial consultation and four during the IUI process.

Initially, her insurance said the procedure part of the IUI treatment would be covered however this turned out to be incorrect, so the couple were forced to fork out another $475 for the actual IUI implantation.

This all amounted to $2,350.

The couple also had to commute into the city for each appointment, so Britt also detailed how much their travel costs were.

Bridge tolls amounted to $36 and they spent $72 on parking. This brought their overall spend up to $2,458.

Thankfully, Britt and her husband Ben found out their IUI treatment was successful in October 2017.

However, this also meant more tests at seven weeks rather than waiting to see a regular doctor, so another ultrasound cost $290, plus parking and bridge toll which brought the grand total to $2,766.

'We would have paid to do it again. Its not what we had intended on putting our savings towards. Long story short, its not cheap but its so worth it.'
The Billings City Council has an important piece of old business on its agenda Monday night: Hiring a city administrator.

There are five crucial and obvious reasons why this old business must become new: Bill Cole, Frank Ewalt, Denise Joy, Penny Ronning and the person who will be appointed in February to finish Ryan Sullivans term. (Sullivan announced plans to resign after Tuesday's work session because he is moving to Texas for work.) Five of the 11 decision makers were not on the council when it failed to complete the hiring process as planned in December. Its time to start over.

The city administrator position opened up with the retirement in September of Tina Volek, Billings longest-serving leader who worked in City Hall for 13  years. Volek gave the council ample notice of her retirement plans in late 2016. Longtime assistant city administrator Bruce McCandless is serving ably as the interim city administrator, but has said he doesnt want the permanent job. The city also has an interim finance director and interim fire chief with the permanent hires waiting on the appointment of the new administrator.

So there are reasons to act expeditiously, with some sense of urgency  but not with haste.

The first order of business is for the entire council to reach consensus on what skills, experience and background they want most in a city administrator. The council must find consensus on what they will offer their top candidate in a compensation package. They should be clear on what salary range they will consider so potential candidates will know what to expect. The 2017 search was unsuccessful largely because some council members on a five-member negotiating committee had a different view of what the advertised term competitive salary meant. They defined it differently from their own consultants research. Furthermore, the council that voted unanimously to negotiate a contract with Great Falls City Administrator Greg Doyon didnt demonstrate that unanimity in subsequent negotiations.

The 2018 council can learn from last years experience. Rather than having five council members vetting a compensation offer before all 11 do, bring the discussion to the full council so all can participate equally in the decision. Rely on the citys highly competent human resources director to assist in communications with candidates, search consultant and professional contract negotiator.

The importance of recruiting an excellent administrator for Billings can hardly be overstated. Under the Billings City Charter, the council is responsible for hiring the administrator, who hires and supervises all other city employees while running day-to-day operations of Montanas largest city.

The council must get this decision right. Council members must unify to attract excellent candidates, seal a good deal with the best and provide a foundation for a positive working relationship.

We call on all council members  newbies and veterans  to start fresh and help recruit a highly qualified city administrator in 2018.
Kombucha drinks are popular beverages in a range of cafes and health food stores.

Now, Australian pubs have introduced kombucha cocktails, but they're not as healthy as they may seem.

Sports nutritionist and dieititan, Peta Carige, told whimn.com.au that the hospitality industry is simply 'cashing in' on the craze.

'People like to justify a negative health behaviour,' she said, telling the website that smokers are more likely to take a multi-vitamin than those that don't smoke.

Australian pubs have introduced kombucha cocktails, but they're not as healthy as they may seem

A simple google of 'kombucha cocktails' will bring up multiple websites branding the drink as 'healthy'.

They are being marketed as 'organic' and 'refined sugar-free' with many people hoping the kombucha will counteract the alcohol.

Bondi's Hotel Ravesis is one of the many Australian venues trying to tap into this market.

Their new cocktail, The New Guard, has apparently 'exploded' in popularity according to manager Tayla Hamill, who spoke to The Daily Telegraph.

A simple google of 'kombucha cocktails' will bring up multiple websites branding the drink as 'healthy'

'The focus is on healthy and organic ingredients, which is the direction that everyone is going in these days,' she said.

They use ingredients such as organic hibiscus, agave instead of sugar and liqueurs made from acai and goji berries.

Peta said that although these foods have taken over the well being sector, sugar is still sugar.

Peta said that although these foods have taken over the well being sector, sugar is still sugar

'I always tell people one shot is equivalent to a slice of white bread. So a cocktail with two shots and extra sugar is like having two slices of bread with butter on it,' Peta said.

Although these cocktails are packed with natural sweeteners she believes that they are still going to give you a high amount of energy.

Luckily for us all Peta isn't suggesting we all put down our drinks and never pick them back up but to enjoy them in moderation.
While many think it's expensive creams and pricey treatments that keep you young, one woman begs to differ.

Di Westaway, from Sydney, pushes herself to the limits for a living, and swears that's the key to staying fit and healthy.

Describing herself as a 'professional adventurer', the 57-year-old is the CEO of Wild Women On Top - which means she spends her time planning, promoting and carrying out various challenges including Coastrek.

Here, the mother-of-three reveals how a 'midwife crisis' led her to swap her life for something less ordinary - and how we can all benefit from doing a handstand in the wild every once in a while.

Di Westaway (pictured), 57, from Sydney, pushes herself to the limits for a living, and swears that's the key to staying fit and healthy

The mother-of-three (picutred) revealed how a 'midwife crisis' led her to swap her life for something less ordinary - and how we can all benefit from doing a handstand in the wild

While Di (pictured) always had an adventurous streak, she originally worked as a radio producer - it wasn't until around the age of 40 that her life changed dramatically

According to Di, while she's always had an adventurous streak, it hasn't permanently been a fixture in her day-to-day existence:

'I was working as a radio producer when I had my midwife crisis,' she told FEMAIL.

'I was approaching 40, I was well and truly entrenched on the working mum treadmill and I was miserable.'

However, when a friend approached her to ask Di whether she would climb a mountain in South America with her - the highest in the southern hemisphere - something dawned on the mum-of-three.

'I've always been quite impulsive - so I just thought I'd do it,' Di explained.

After she got divorced, a friend approached her and suggested they did a hike together in South America - the experience was transformative for Di (pictured hiking)

'An adventure might make you get fit, but it also takes your life to a new place,' Di (pictured) told FEMAIL

The gruelling trek proved to be transformative, insfoar as when Di got back, she couldn't wait to do more walking:

Now, she spends her time planning, promoting and carrying out various challenges

'An adventure might make you get fit, but it also takes your life to a new place,' she said.

'After doing that, I realised life would never be the same and that I needed to find out if there were other mums like that.'

Several months later, Wild Women On Top was born.

While it started as a 'little hiking group of us mums who would go out with head torches into the bush while our kids were asleep', it soon became a 'movement':

'I think what people like about it is that it gives them an opportunity to connect with nature and other women,' Di said.

'When you're a mum, it's easy to feel quite isolated. Walking with others provides a great opportunity to re-centre.'

Speaking about her personal highlights, Di said what stands out is when she set the world record for the world's highest handstand, seven kilometres up on Mount Ama Dablam in Nepal (pictured at Mount Everest)

The handstand has become Di's symbol of stepping outside her comfort zone - she does it both on cliff edges (right), and when she set the world record in Nepal (left)

Speaking about her personal highlights, Di said what stands out is when she set the world record for the world's highest handstand, seven kilometres up on Mount Ama Dablam in Nepal:

'I remember having this moment thinking: "What the f**k am I doing? I'm a mother",' Di told FEMAIL.

'Even the challenge to get there - both physical and emotional - was quite extreme. We were melting snow for fluids, it took four weeks to even get to the high camp and then we had to get to the summit.

'I sent a message to a friend asking: "Why am I doing this?". She told me to control my mind and so I did it and did the handstand.

'Since then, it's become my symbol I do in all sorts of places on hikes - to depict me stepping outside my comfort zone.'

These days, Di takes whatever opportunity she can to adventure and get out into nature - whether it's hiking, kayaking, yoga (pictured) or just walking

'The secret to staying healthy is to do something every single day, no matter how small, Di said - it's about frequency, not intensity

Di revealed that more and more women should get off the sofa and get moving - revealing it's easier than you think (pictured in Nepal)

These days, Di takes whatever opportunity she can to adventure and get out into nature.

Whether it's a hike around the Sydney bushland, a 'wild weekend' with friends in which she goes away with friends for night hikes or kayaking in the morning before work, she will always try to be on the move as often as possible.

'The secret to staying healthy is to do something every single day, no matter how small, Di said.

'It's not about intensity, it's frequency that matters.'

'Get into a routine whereby you go for a walk every day, even if it's short and you're busy,' she explained (pictured)

Di also recommends swapping the pub for walking as often as possible with other people or by yourself

Lastly, Di shared her tips for time-poor women who want to get off the sofa and get active, but just don't know how:

'Get into a routine whereby you go for a walk every day, even if it's short and you're busy,' she explained.

'Go out before the kids wake up and get your exercise out of the way before the day starts.

'Then, once a week get your partner or some friends involved and go for a hike instead of to the pub. There is so much research around the importance of green space for our minds.

'Later this month, I'm going on a girls' weekend to Tasmania whereby I'm going to aim to do a handstand on a seastack at the Three Capes.

'My advice is for women to get out there, whenever they can and just do it. You might enjoy it - and hiking is a great hobby that's ideal for catching up with friends and getting some exercise.'

For more information about Wild Women On Top, please click here. You can also find out more about Coastrek here.
In the beauty world, there has been a term floating around for a little while now that not all are familiar with - sulphate-free shampoo.

And while overseas this product is gaining traction, in Australia it has enjoyed a relatively slow start.

It is said that sulphate-free shampoo won't dry your hair out as much as a sulphate shampoo, is gentler and less likely to wash away your hair dye.

To see the results for ourselves, FEMAIL road tested five different shampoos on natural hair and dyed, to really put the products through their paces.

There has been a term floating around for a little while that not many know of and that's sulphate-free shampoo

WHAT ARE SULPHATES?

First things first, what are sulphates?

Sulphates are cleansing agents, and you can find them in anything from your shampoo and toothpaste to car wash soaps and floor cleaners.

Shampoos include this ingredient to create that lather-up effect that we all know so well and it is designed to rinse away product build-up and excess oil in your hair.

It's a go-to for companies because it's cheap and many believe they work, but it isn't a natural ingredient.

Advocates of natural beauty have long been voicing their concerns over the use of sulphates in shampoos as some believe it is linked to cancer.

It is said that sulphate-free shampoo won't dry your hair out as much as a sulphate shampoo would, is gentle and less likely to wash away your hair dye

'Sulphates have been used for personal care preparations for decades, and are incredibly safe and gentle,' Mark Gariglio, director of muk hair care told FEMAIL.

'There is no evidence that sulphates are a carcinogen and there is no evidence that it causes cancer, they are not harsh and nor do they strip the hair of colour or natural oils.'

Contrastingly, Dane Wakefield, a hairdresser from Edwards and Co in Surry Hills, said the opposite.

'Sulphate free shampoos all the way! Sulphates are not good for your hair as they can damage it and strip out colour,' he told FEMAIL.

'Not only is sulphate-free better for your hair it's softer on your skin and can really help those who have scalp conditions.'

To find out which is better once and for all, here is what FEMAIL found.

STANDARD SULPHATE SHAMPOO

Standard sulphate shampoo: I've had hairdressers telling me for years to invest in a good shampoo and conditioner (pictured after using standard sulphate shampoo)

Standard sulphate shampoo: Most of the time I didn't think I had any major problem using shampoo with sulphate

Standard sulphate shampoo: Although in the photos my hair looks fine, it felt like it had a lacquered coating

BILLIE

CELEBRITY STYLIST, ANTHONY NADER Its a touchy subject and there's always going to be the argument of the do's and the don'ts. Sulfates allow grime and dead skin cells to be removed from your skin and scalp and washed away with water The downside is that they can also strip natural oils from the scalp and hair. That can make hair dry and brittle. I think there's always a time and place for an ingredient like sulphate and not to rule it out completely. Advertisement

I've had hairdressers telling me for years to invest in a good shampoo and conditioner instead of simply buying one from the supermarket - but the stingy side of me hasn't heeded their advice.

Most of the time I didn't think I had any major problem using shampoo with sulphate but every so often I would get product build up, which is one of the catalysts of this road test.

Although in the photos my hair looks fine, it felt like it had a lacquered coating and rather a lot of product build up.

I thought I was okay using whatever shampoo I could get my hands on, but after this road test my opinion has changed completely.

Standard sulphate shampoo: 'Before I began this experiment, I didnt even know what sulphate was,' Anneta said

When Anneta used her standard sulphate shampoo that she had stored in her shower she was left with noticeably frizzier hair

ANNETA

'Before I began this experiment, I didnt even know what sulphate was,' Anneta said.

'I blindly chose shampoo based on how much I liked what the front label said, without ever paying attention to the ingredients on the back.'

When Anneta used her standard sulphate shampoo that she had stored in her shower she was left with noticeably frizzier hair than when she used the other shampoos.

MOROCCAN OIL SHAMPOO - $35.95

Moroccan Oil shampoo: This was by far my favourite as it didn't weigh down my thick hair

Moroccan Oil shampoo: I received the most compliments about my hair when I used this shampoo as it looked bouncier, cleaner and healthier

BILLIE

The shampoo from Moroccan Oil was by far my favourite, although by the time I got around to using it, my hair colour had faded noticeably.

I have really thick hair and lots of it so occasionally hair products really weigh it down, which this didn't at all.

After going through a period of product buildup my hair felt like it was back to its normal self.

I also received the most compliments about my hair when I used the Moroccan Oil shampoo as it looked bouncier, cleaner and healthier.

BILLIE'S FAVOURITE SHAMPOOS, RANKED 1. Moroccan 2. muk 3. Aveda 4. Mineral Fusion 5. Standard sulphate shampoo Advertisement

ANNETA'S FAVOURITE SHAMPOOS, RANKED 1. Moroccan 2. Aveda 3. 100 per cent natural 4. muk 5. Standard sulphate shampoo Advertisement

Moroccan Oil shampoo: This was also Anneta's favourite out of all the ones we tried

Moroccan Oil shampoo: 'I figured the flat hair on the top of my head was my own fault, that I was just not predisposed to voluminous hair,' Anneta said

Morrocan Oil shampoo: 'Everything felt shinier, softer, and more voluminous. I didnt even know my hair could look like that without a proper blowout at a salon,' she said

ANNETA

'I figured the flat hair on the top of my head was my own fault, that I was just not predisposed to voluminous hair,' Anneta said.

'That changed when I got the Moroccan shampoo and conditioner, the first combination I tried and easily the best of the bunch for my hair.

'Everything felt shinier, softer, and more voluminous. I didn't even know my hair could look like that without a proper blowout at a salon!'.

With repeated uses Anneta said her hair just seemed to get better and better.

AVEDA - $49

Aveda shampoo: Aveda really brought back the waviness to my hair, which some products somehow manage to take away with their heaviness

Aveda shampoo: It didn't leave any product residue in my hair, which is great, but it did make my hair a little bit clumpy

Aveda shampoo: This would definitely be a product that I would use again as I loved how it treated my hair

BILLIE

Aveda really brought back the waviness to my hair, which some products somehow manage to take away with their heaviness.

Although my hair wasn't as smooth, silky and bouncy as when I used the Moroccan Oil shampoo, I definitely noticed a massive difference.

It didn't leave any product residue in my hair, which is great, but it did make my hair a little bit clumpy, which can be noticed in the photographs.

This would definitely be a product that I would use again as I loved how it treated my hair.

Aveda shampoo: 'I liked the Aveda shampoo as well, which I found gave the me the softest hair of the shampoos we tried,' Anneta said

Anneta said she received comments on how nice her hair looked from her co-workers

Aveda made Anneta's hair silky and smooth

ANNETA

'I liked the Aveda shampoo as well, which I found gave the me the softest hair of the shampoos we tried,' Anneta said.

'I got comments on how nice my hair looked from co-workers and I loved the natural smell of it.'

You can tell from the photos that the shampoo from Aveda has made Anneta's hair look silky and smooth.

This can be particularly be noticed from behind as the light catches her locks.

This result moved Aveda shampoo into second place for Anneta out of all of the ones we tried.

100% NATURAL - $24.95, AND MINERAL FUSION - $14.95

Mineral Fusion shampoo: I used the shampoo from Mineral Fusion, which I'm sad to say was my least favourite

Mineral Fusion shampoo: It did make my hair look thicker and fuller but it made it rougher and knottier

Mineral Fusions shampoo: After my first use I didn't use it again

BILLIE

This time Anneta and I used two different shampoos from Nourished Life as mine was meant to suit coloured hair and hers was meant to be perfect for her brown locks.

I used the shampoo from Mineral Fusion, which I'm sad to say was my least favourite, not including my standard sulphate shampoo.

Although it managed to make my hair look thicker and fuller I found it made it feel rougher and knottier.

I found myself using the other shampoos on multiple occasions but after one use of this product I never went near it again as I didn't want to spend ages raking a brush through my hair throughout the day.

The photos show that although I had brushed my hair twice before the photos being taken it looked messy and unkempt.

100% Natural shampoo: 'The 100% natural products have been great everyday shampoo and conditioners as they leave my hair nice and soft,' Anneta said

100% Natural shampoo: 'But it didn't give my hair as much shine as I can now rely on with the Moroccan products'

100% Natural shampoo: Although in the photos it looked incredibly smooth and shiny, in real life it didn't look as impressive as other products she tried

ANNETA

'The 100 per cent natural products have been great everyday shampoo and conditioners as they leave my hair nice and soft,' Anneta explained.

'But it didn't give my hair as much shine as I can now rely on with the Moroccan products'.

Although in the photos it looked incredibly smooth and shiny, in real life it didn't look as impressive as other products she tried.

MUK - $21.21

muk: I really loved the muk shampoo that I used as I felt that it restored my hair back to it's normal self

muk: I wasn't able to decide whether muk or Aveda would take second place but muk left my hair that little bit more bouncy and treated my thick hair well

muk: On top of feeling as if it completely nourished my hair it also smelled amazing, adding to the experience

BILLIE

I really loved the muk shampoo that I used as I felt that it restored my hair back to its normal self.

I wasn't able to decide whether muk or Aveda would take second place but muk left my hair that little bit more bouncy and treated my thick hair well.

I was shocked to then learn that the muk shampoo I used contained sulphate as I haven't had such a good experience with shampoo containing the ingredient before.

muk: The shampoo Anneta used from muk didn't contain sulphate

On top of feeling as if it completely nourished my hair it also smelled amazing, adding to the experience.

ANNETA

On the other hand, the shampoo that Anneta used from muk didn't contain any sulphate at all and she wasn't blown away by the product.

'Washing with muk definitely still kept my hair nice and bouncy, although I found myself less impressed with the results compared to the previous products,' Anneta explained.

'But all four easily made me far more confident in my hair than any wash with sulphate had previously'.

Anneta has made the decision to only use sulphate-free shampoo on her hair from now on.

muk: 'Washing with muk definitely still kept my hair nice and bouncy,' Anneta said

muk: 'I found myself less impressed with the results compared to the previous products,' Anneta explained

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day, both Anneta and I found that different brands worked better for our different hair types but the products from Moroccan Oil were the clear winners as we were both blown away by how they left our hair.

Although I was pleasantly surprised by the product from muk that had sulphate in it, I was overall more impressed with the sulphate-free shampoos and tend to prefer more natural products.

Both of us noticed that when we used products that cost a little bit more money and were better quality, our hair responded well accordingly.

When trying to choose a shampoo it is best to try a variety to see what works best for your hair.
Forget Vegemite-flavoured chips, icy poles and chocolates, there are now lamb sausages that taste like the popular Australian breakfast spread.

Supermarket giant Coles have launched their lamb, cheese and Vegemite-infused sausages ahead of Australia Day.

Perfect for barbecues over summer, the lamb sausages offers a savoury taste with a hint of the iconic salty yeast.

Coles are selling lamb, cheese and Vegemite infused sausages (pictured) ahead of Australia Day

Perfect for barbecues over summer, the lamb sausages (left) offer a savoury taste with a hint of the iconic breakfast spread (right)

'We see demand increase for both lamb and sausages in the summer months as everyone looks to enjoy the warm weather by having a barbecue at home, the park or the beach,' a Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'That's why we've given the humble snag an Aussie makeover to bring our customers something new to try this summer with these sausages a great combination of the much-loved flavours of Vegemite, cheese and 100 per cent Aussie lamb.'

The sausages are sold in a pack of 10, which will set you back just $7.

But it isn't the first time the humble Vegemite was used in snags.

Shoppers took to social media to reveal local butchers around Australia have been selling Vegemite infused sausages for 'years'.

Local butchers around Australia have been selling Vegemite infused sausages for 'years' (file image)

From Vegemite-flavoured chocolates (left) and ice poles (right), the company has previously released a line of controversial treats filled with the iconic salty yeast

A young woman celebrating Australia Day last year at the Australian Open tennis tournament

Last Australia Day, Sydney's Tender Gourmet Butchery created 'the most Australian things ever' by making 'lambington' sausages.

Adding a classic take on the Australian sweet, the lambington sausages included a combination of lamb, chocolate and coconut.

And it's not just sausages we've seen the iconic salty yeast in. Last month, Vegemite came under fire for releasing a recipe online for 'Vegemite Icy Poles'.

Fans were far from impressed, with one asking: 'It's not April 1st so why have you posted this? I refuse to believe it's real.'

And another wrote: 'For god's sake no it goes on toast you don't put it on a roast you don't put it on pizza you put it on toast and only toast.'
A Married at First Sight couple left a telltale clue that they may have consummated their marriage on their wedding night after the show's cameras revealed a tossed condom on the floor of their hotel room.

On Tuesday night's episode of the Lifetime reality show, Ryan Buckley and Jaclyn Schwartzberg, both 29, had instant chemistry when they met for the first time at the altar, and it looks like that connection helped them sail through their wedding night with ease.

Although neither of them confirmed that they had sex, they didn't really need to. When they woke up together the next day, Ryan turned to Jaclyn and whispered: 'There's a condom on the floor still.'

Scroll down for video

Did they or didn't they? Ryan Buckley and Jaclyn Schwartzberg, both 29, hinted that they had consummated their marriage on their wedding night

Next step? The newlyweds were very affectionate in their hotel room after their wedding

The cameras panned to the ground, and, sure enough, there was an open condom wrapper and a condom on the floor.

When they arrived in their room on their wedding night, Ryan was undoubtedly affectionate, and he did his best Prince Charming impression when he offered to take his new wife's shoes off for her.

The two cuddled in bed in their wedding clothes, and Ryan insisted that he really wanted to get to know her. He asked her to name her favorite movie, the first one she wants to watch with him, and Jaclyn said it was P.S. I Love You.

Although she didn't elaborate, the film about a woman who receives a series of letters from her late husband starting on her 30th birthday is undoubtedly one that she could relate to.

Jaclyn tragically lost the love of her life to an undiagnosed autoimmune disease nearly two years before, but Ryan is still unaware that her last boyfriend had died.

Her thoughts: 'I feel like our chemistry right now is really well aligned,' she said. 'I would like to have sex with him, but at the same time I am not sure how he feels'

True romance: Ryan proved to be quite the charmer when he offered to take Jaclyn's shoes off for her

The two couldn't stop laughing and smiling, so it's no surprise that they both felt ready to take their relationship to the next level.

'I feel like our chemistry right now is really well aligned,' she said. 'I would like to have sex with him, but at the same time I am not sure how he feels.'

In the morning, Jaclyn told the camera that they 'took a bath to celebrate and finally relax,' saying: 'It was beautiful.'

'Ryan talks in his sleep so I have a feeling I might get to know him a little quicker than I thought,' she added.

Meanwhile, Ryan pointed out that Jaclyn hogged the covers, but he was so happy to be married to her, he didn't care.

Whoops: The next morning Ryan turned over and whispered to Jaclyn that they had left a condom on the floor

Awkward: The cameras panned to the ground, and, sure enough, there was an open condom wrapper and a condom on the floor

After Ryan pointed out the condom on the floor, Jaclyn coyly suggested that they had consummated their marriage.

'So I tested it out and I can confirm that Ryan is a cuddler and that's great because that was one of my biggest fears that he wouldn't be a cuddler,' she said.

With a bright smile on his face, Ryan added: 'Of course everyone has had one night stands but this is my wife. I'm very proud of her and I don't kiss and tell.'

Later that day, they had a post-wedding brunch with their families, and while Jaclyn's parents admitted they were apprehensive about their daughter marrying a stranger, they said they were now happy for the newlyweds.

Unlike past seasons of Married at First Sight, all three of the couples headed to the same destination on their honeymoons and would be staying at Moon Palace, a luxury all-inclusive property in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Hmm... Neither of them confirmed that they had consummated their marriage, but Jaclyn said she 'tested it out' and can 'confirm that Ryan is a cuddler'

Another hint? 'Of course everyone has had one night stands but this is my wife. I'm very proud of her and I don't kiss and tell,' Ryan said.

But before their flight, each couple had a meeting with Dr. Jessica Griffin, one of the show's relationship experts.

Jessica was quick to notice how touchy-feely Ryan and Jaclyn were, but there still wasn't any confirmation that they had taken their relationship to the next level.

Ryan noted that their honeymoon was going to be a time to get to know each other and share everything, even the uncomfortable parts of their pasts.

Jaclyn looked a little nervous at this point, and it seemed like Jessica was speaking to her when she stressed that their pasts are nothing to be embarrassed about.

On their way to their flight, the two once again hinted that they had sex when they started talking about their preferred methods of birth control.

Look of love: Jaclyn had her hand on Ryan's thigh while meeting with the show's relationship expert Dr. Jessica Griffin.

Compromise: On their way to their honeymoon, Jaclyn stated that Ryan isn't used to wearing condoms, and he admitted that he hasn't in the past

While speaking about how they have to come to a compromise, she said: 'You are not used to wearing condoms, and I'm not used to being on birth control.'

'I'm not used to wearing condoms, but I've only had certain partners for that reason,' he said awkwardly. Ryan started claiming that it felt like it was getting hot in the car, which made Jaclyn laugh.

Meanwhile, it appeared as though Shawniece Jackson, 29, was looking to consummating her marriage with her new husband, Jephte Pierre, 26, but he kept calling her a stranger.

'He's handsome. I got some eye candy to look at, but I am very nervous because I haven't had sex in life 14 months,' she told the camera.

Jephte admitted that there was definitely some chemistry there, but he stressed that they had just met that day.

Excited: Shawniece Jackson, 29, was looking to consummating her marriage with her new husband

Not ready: While Shawniece seemed ready to take the next step, her new husband Jephte Pierre, 26, still considered her a stranger

Shawniece seemed thrilled when she found some condoms in the room, asking Jephte: 'Do you see this? Safe sex. That's what I'm talking about.'

She added: 'We're married though, but, still, that's important.'

Jephte couldn't help shake is head at her, and he quickly told her that they wouldn't be using them that night.

'I don't want to jeopardize anything with anything too crazy, so I feel like the best thing for tonight is to just go to sleep,' he told the cameras.

Shawniece was clearly a little disappointed, and she noted that sex is an important part of marriage. She was also feeling a bit nervous about letting Jephte see her without make-up for the first time on their wedding night.

Nudge in the right direction? Shawniece seemed thrilled when she found some condoms in the room, asking Jephte: 'Do you see this? Safe sex. That's what I'm talking about'

Shut down: Jephte couldn't help shake is head at her, and he quickly told her that they wouldn't be using them that night

Boundaries: Despite the awkwardness, the two shared some laughs in bed, but that was all

However, it wasn't the lack of make-up that bothered him. Jephte was more concerned with her getting a little too comfortable on their first night together.

'My wife's adorable, but it turns out she pees with the door open. I don't like that,' he said with laugh.

The two were moving at two different paces, and Shawniece got upset when Jephte insisted on putting her first and last name in his phone when he was storing her number.

'It hurts me that Jephte isn't committed enough to put me in his phone as his wife,' she said.

When they met with Jessica, and he bluntly stated that he would have slept on the couch the night out of respect the night before if there was another blanket.

Uncomfortable: During their meeting with the show's relationship expert, Jephte bluntly stated he would have slept on the couch the night the night before if there was another blanket

Unhappy: Shawniece looked miserable when Jephte said it takes him a long time to open up

He admitted that he has trouble opening up to strangers, and he had no problem calling his new wife a stranger.

Thing went from bad to worse when they finally arrived in Jamaica without their luggage after their flights were delayed.

The two were in somewhat good spirits when they shared a toast in honor of Jephte's first trip out of the country, but things quickly turned sour when his lack of enthusiasm over the travel rubbed his new wife the wrong way.

'Your first time out of the country  and it's with me,' she said. At the same time, Jephte griped: 'And traveling sucked.'

Jephte's words clearly bothered her, and she made a face, prompting her new husband to ask: 'What?'

Already trouble in paradise? Their honeymoon got off to a rocky start when he kept calling her a stranger

'You just disregard the part when I say it's with me,' she said quietly.

Instead of jumping to apologize, Jephte puts his hand on his face and said: 'Here we go.'

Jephte couldn't stop pointing out that they were strangers, which continued to upset Shawniece to the point that they were bickering. The night ended with him proving his point by asking her to name his favorite color, which, of course, she couldn't.'

Finally, Jonathan Francetic, 28, and Molly Duff, 25, couldn't be happier with their pairing. They both found each other to be very attractive, and their personalities meshed well.

Unsurprisingly, Jonathan was already eager to have sex with his wife, and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

Look of love? Jonathan Francetic, 28, and Molly Duff, 25, couldn't be happier with their pairing

Happy camper: 'My wife is dead sexy. Let's be real. So I'll go as far as she lets me,' he said of having sex with his wife

Waiting for the right moment: The two shared a kiss before bed, but that was all

'My wife is dead sexy. Let's be real. So I'll go as far as she lets me,' he said.

Jonathan noted that he could really see himself falling in love with her, which made losing his job to be on the show seem worth it.

He did freak his new wife out a bit when he told her he sleeps naked, but he ended up keeping his shorts on. She also admitted that she was attracted to his muscular physique.

Molly told the camera she does want to have sex with her husband, but she pointed out that they had just me each other.

The next morning Jonathan made it seem like they might have consummated their marriage when he joked about her waking him up in the middle of the night for 'a few hours.'

Not yet: Jonathan joked that Molly had woken him up in the middle of the night, but they didn't consummate their marriage

Umm... Jonathan shocked Molly when he pulled out a sex toy his friends bought him, but she wasn't impressed with the ball gag

Molly took note that Jonathan sweats in his sleep; however, luckily for him, she still thought he was cute. When they were packing for their honeymoon, the Army veteran shocked his new wife when he pulled out a sex toy.

'Look what my boys got us! A ball gag,' he said. 'Just in case you get a little tipsy, [well] just bring it.'

Although he appeared to be joking, Molly looked uncomfortable with the kinky gift.

'Theres no amount of tipsy where that would be a good idea in my mind. Absolutely not,' she said. However, she lightened the mood a bit when she asked her new husband if he was 'someone with fetishes.'

'Is this why youre pushing this gag ball? Or are you just trying to make me as uncomfortable as possible? Are you trying to push me until I snap on you?' she asked.

Molly went on to say that she doesn't have an issue with 'that stuff in general,' it was just the ball gag that she wasn't a fan of.

After arriving at their hotel and knowing each other for just two days, Jonathan made it clear that he was hoping that would be the night that they consummated their marriage.
A 30-year-old mother has shared a candid photograph of her body just months after giving birth to her fourth child.

Mel Watts, from the Central Coast in New South Wales, welcomed her baby son Sonny George into the world in June last year.

But since giving birth to him via a caesarean section, the mother-of-four said bouncing back into shape was simply not realistic.

Taking to Instagram, Ms Watts, who blogs under The Modern Mumma, said she was left with excess skin after losing some weight.

Mother Mel Watts, 30, (pictured) has shared a candid photograph of the scars and stretch marks on her post-partum body six months after giving birth to her fourth child

The 30-year-old welcomed her son Sonny, now seven-months-old, into the world last year

'I wish filtering this would make it look better. But it doesn't,' she said in an honest account about her body.

The unedited photograph shows the mother slightly pulling down her pants to show the scars and stretch marks over her stomach.

'Forever a battle I'm battling, though the most insignificant battle for most,' she said.

'I'm not missing a limb, I have all of my children and I have all of my loved ones healthy and living under one roof.

'Though a battle with my mind. Always battling my mind. Revolting, disgusting, unflattering, repulsive just to make a few words I've often used on myself.

'But what for.... something that happened because I brought my small people into the world. I never bounced back, I didn't even slowly drag back to my old self.

'Truth be told I don't want to be old me.'

Family time! From left: daughter Ivie, aged four, son Ayden 11, Ms Watts holding her two-year-old daughter Indie and her husband Nolan, 38, with their seven-month-old baby son Sonny

The mother (pictured with daughter Indie) cheekily showing off her baby bump when she was pregnant with her fourth child Sonny

She admitted her battle with body image 'doesn't get better, it gets worse'.

'The more weight I lose, the more skin appears,' she said.

'I use to measure my looks based on something I hated so much. But I'm actually a great person in many other ways.'

But despite her insecurities, Ms Watts said she's just grateful for the children she welcomed into her life.

'If this is what I have to remind me of the most precious gifts I was given then I'll wear my battle wounds,' she said.

'Bringing up another generation of people who will lead, create change and empower others in the future it is vital to teach them to accept themselves for who they are.'

By sharing her powerful post, she wanted other mothers to draw confidence from her story

By sharing her powerful post, she wanted other mothers to draw confidence from her story.

'I can guarantee majority of the people on my accounts wouldn't have a clue what was hidden under my clothing,' she said.

'Though I bet they liked me beforehand (or didn't and just like to tag along to make fun of me) and I'd assume that there are a few other women out there who feel as though they worth is measured by something so similar.

'If you are like me, be kind to yourself. And thank the lord for high-waisted pants and one pieces - or embrace the f*** out of it and bikini it. We only have this one life.'

Ms Watts has since been praised for 'being real' after she proudly shared her candid photograph as mothers described her as 'amazing' and 'beautiful'.
The actress Helen George, who plays nurse Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife, is a very brave woman

The actress Helen George, who plays nurse Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife, is a very brave woman.

This week she revealed that her daughter Wren  now four months old  was delivered by elective C-section.

Not only that, she said her decision had been influenced by the fact that her work on Call The Midwife meant that she had heard more than a few horror stories about natural birth  and she decided that it just wasnt for her.

Its about what I think my body is capable of. Im not good with pain . . . I faint when I stub my toe, she said, in a Trixie sort of way.

Such candour is not only refreshing in the dishonest, virtue-signalling world of celebrity.

It is virtually unheard of in the hyper-judgmental, hyper-critical world of childbirth where too many midwives seem obsessed with notions a medieval pope might have considered arcane.

Namely that a woman has to suffer the punishments of Hell in order to call herself a proper mum. And that the role of the midwife is to act as some kind of pagan fertility shaman driven by airy-fairy notions of the body knowing what it is doing and not, as should be the case, a serious medical professional intent on ensuring the best outcome for both mother and child.

Hence my admiration for Helen George. Most famous women in her position would have said something like: I was totally committed to having Wren naturally  Ive always believed giving birth is an integral part of becoming a mother. But the doctors told me I had no choice, and now I shall never know what it feels like to experience that elemental pain that binds us all as women. Or some such claptrap.

Hence my admiration for Helen George for being upfront about her childbirth

Instead, here we have a woman who cheerfully admits she knows her own limitations  and is not ashamed to say so. She deserves a medal for that. For showing not only is there no shame in having a Caesarean section; there is no shame in WANTING one either.

The natural childbirth lobby waxes lyrical about how empowering it is to give birth the way nature intended. But, if you ask me, real female empowerment is knowing what you want  and not being afraid to ask for it.

Were natural childbirth a flawlessly efficient process, I would be the first to say why do it any other way. But its not. Before antibiotics and modern surgical techniques, women  and babies  were always dying in childbirth.

Wealthy pregnant women used to have themselves immortalised in paint as one last act before they undertook the perilous business of delivering the next generation.

The natural childbirth lobby waxes lyrical about how empowering it is to give birth the way nature intended. But, if you ask me, real female empowerment is knowing what you want  and not being afraid to ask for it

The Church of England used to have a specific prayer for The safe deliverance and preservation from the great dangers of childbirth.

So thinking about it, the National Childbirth Trusts right-on obsession with promoting the inherent superiority of natural birth over C-sections borders on the perverse.

I know pregnancy is not an illness. I know the NHS is strapped for cash. I know some women have perfectly successful natural labours and Im delighted for them. But this is not about those women. This is about the countless others sold the myth of a beautiful natural birth, who instead suffered something frighteningly different, and who as a result find themselves labelled second-class mothers.

For them, as for me, the idea that a woman can be free to choose the best way to have her baby feels hugely empowering. Well done, Helen George. Now can you persuade the NCT?

HRT really can save you life

Further proof that taking HRT is good for a woman: new research has found that going through an early menopause is linked to a frankly terrifying 29 per cent increase in the likelihood of a heart attack and a 42 per cent rise in the risk of a stroke.

This is because oestrogen, which helps blood vessels relax, has a beneficial effect on the heart. And its a subject close to mine: I was 48 when I discovered I was in full menopause, suffering from an array of symptoms, including depression and exhaustion. But perhaps the most notable was the onset of hypertension, or high blood pressure, something I had never once experienced.

Further proof that taking HRT is good for a woman: new research has found that going through an early menopause is linked to a frankly terrifying 29 per cent increase in the likelihood of a heart attack and a 42 per cent rise in the risk of a stroke

Despite embarking on a successful weight-loss regime (Ive lost two and a half stone), my blood pressure remains stubbornly high.

I still have a stone to lose, so we shall see if that improves it.

But meanwhile, I urge you: dont bury your head in the sand. If you think you may be peri-menopausal (and if you are over 45 there is a very high chance you are), do see your doctor. It might just save your life.

Victoria Beckham finds herself in the dock for employing malnourished looking models.

Once again Victoria Beckham quite rightly finds herself in the dock for employing the services of malnourished looking models.

I dont suppose she much cares what the world thinks  after all, there seems to be no shortage of stupid thin women willing to pay for her vapid sartorial creations.

And in any case, the last thing Beckham wants is for ordinary-shaped women to start wearing her clothes.

Because then it would become clear that she has none of the qualities or skills traditionally associated with dressmaking, simply a relent-less talent for self-publicity.

Anyone can pin a few handkerchiefs together on a rake and make them look pretty  but it takes years of training and practice to dress a real woman.

Beckham is to fashion what Tracey Emin is to art: a triumph of hype over substance.

Good riddance, Gwynnie!

Hes the author of some of the best love songs ever written; she is the delectable star of Fifty Shades Of Grey.

Now Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson are officially an item it feels like the birth of a new Brangelina. But what should we call them? Chrisda? Bit happy clappy. Dakris?

Now Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson are officially an item it feels like the birth of a new Brangelina

Like a character from Game Of Thrones. Marjohn? That old Chinese board game. Either way, it doesnt matter. The best news is that we  like Chris  dont have to put up with Gwyneth Paltrow any more.

Woman can't be bullied into supporting MeToo

No! No! No! Catherine Deneuve has rowed back on that letter to Le Monde last week, which denounced the spread of sexual puritanism in the wake of allegations against Harvey Weinstein and others.

It made me so happy that someone like her had come out on the side of reason and attempted to address a complex argument in a grown-up way instead of simply caving in to the virtue-signallers.

But clearly the #MeToo thought police got to her, and now shes capitulated, apologising if her sentiments offended any woman who has been a victim of hideous acts.

This is the whole problem with the #MeToo bandwagon: it lumps victims of rape and serious sexual violence together with someone trying it on  and in so doing trivialises real victims. That is why I dont support it and why no woman should be bullied into doing so, either.

Its all very well our Armed Forces investing millions in touchy-feely new ads to attract recruits. But perhaps if they spent less time talking about feelings and more money looking after those who served in combat, men like ex-squaddie Darren Greenfield, 47, who had to beg for money after falling on hard times, would not be left to freeze to death on the streets of Britain.

Sometimes I despair of my own sex. Yet another woman who accused a man of sexual assault has been exposed as a liar. The 35-year-old told police Samson Makele, 28, raped her after they met at the Notting Hill Carnival in 2016.

He was charged and spent 18 months on bail  until pictures of them cuddling clearly consensually in bed were found, and the case dropped. Rape is rape; buyers regret is buyers regret. We all make mistakes, but dont put an innocent man through hell to assuage your guilt.

And while his name was dragged through the mud, she retains her anonymity. It is high time that right was lifted in such cases.
Australian blogger Constance Hall has revealed a harrowing sexual experience which she said left her feeling 'too ashamed' to tell anyone about.

The Perth author recounted details of the encounter in a candid online post where she said she woke up to a man who was having sex with her.

The outspoken writer, who is a mother-of-four, said she wanted to share her experience as a part of the #MeToo movement and as a way to draw attention to ongoing issues of sexual consent and respect.

Outspoken blogger Constance Hall (pictured) has shared details of a harrowing sexual experience which she said left her to 'ashamed' to speak about

The Perth-based author said she wanted contribute her story as a way of highlighting ongoing issues of consent and respect

She shared that she didn't remember how she had ended up in bed with the man and that because she had been drinking the night before she felt this negated her right to say anything.

'I didn't tell anyone. Gathered my things, even thanked him for a fun night and ran,' Ms Hall wrote.

'I felt that my reputation as a party girl cancelled put my ability to be a victim. How stupid is that?'

Ms Hall recalled details of a sexual encounter in a candid online post where she said she woke up to a man who was having sex with her

Ms Hall said she felt compelled to share her story in support of the 'spotlight on consent'.

'In my day of casual sex we didn't ever use that word, there were signals to read and hints and words that gave consent without using the words "I consent to this shag".

'However, in my day of having casual sex a lot of misconduct/rape was overlooked.'

The blogger said the issue of respect was one that also needed to be considered.

Ms Hall said 'in my day of having casual sex a lot of misconduct/rape was overlooked.'

To illustrate her point, Ms Hall described an incident involving a girl who had a threesome with two "cool guys" who then 'told everyone every detail and never spoke to her again.'

The writer noted that while there was consent to the threesome 'there was no respect at all.'

She continued: 'Consent is a huge topic that can't nearly be summed up in one facebook post, but I know that the first thing I'll teach my children about it when the time comes will be respect.'

Ms Hall's post has resonated with many of her readers, with many sharing their experiences

Ms Hall is revered among her more than one million social media followers for her willingness to reveal intimate details about her life.

Her latest post has clearly struck a chord with her fans, and at the time of writing has been liked nearly 3,500 times.

Many commenting have agreed with Ms Hall's stance on the issue of consent, with some also recalling times where they too experienced similarly harrowing situations.

One wrote: 'I too now realise that a lot of my sexual encounters as a young teen were not consensual. But the guys would convince me or overpower me even though I wasn't keen. I just gave in. And that's not right. But back then I felt powerless.'

While another added: 'Casual sex is one thing.. let's face it we all need it from time to time, but men need to realise if someone is good enough to be in their bed (and regularly) then that isn't a given right for them to treat you less than you deserve. It's not a power game.. and let me tell you, this mans world has to stop!!!'
Piers Morgan clashed with a woman who said Britain's national anthem should be replaced on GMB.

Ash Sarkar, a journalist, said on the show that she would prefer a 'grime banger' by Wiley to God Save the Queen, which she said was not representative of the nation as a whole.

The panellists were discussing an MP's calls for the anthem to be taught to and performed by children in schools.

Piers vehemently disagreed with the journalist's remarks, and insisted there is 'nothing wrong' with being proud of your country.

Viewers watching at home branded her argument 'idiotic' on social media, with one accusing her of 'talking utter s***' on Twitter.

Piers Morgan clashed with journalist Ash Sarkar, who argued against calls for the national anthem to be taught in schools

Sarkar was on the morning chat show following calls from the Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell for the anthem to be taught in schools.

The journalist said the song isn't representative of the whole nation because of its mentions of God and the Queen, and suggested it should be changed to something catchier.

Sarkar also argued that the focus on the national anthem over children's performance rates demonstrated 'topsy turvy' priorities from the MP proposing the plan.

She said: 'I just think it's not the catchiest of national anthems. I would much prefer Wearing My Rolex by Wiley - grime banger.'

Sarkar even jokingly suggested the new anthem should mention 'crisp sandwiches', because it is unique to British culture.

Her suggestions were met broadly with disdain from viewers, with one posting online: 'She is embarrassing.'

Viewers were shocked with her arguments, with one calling her an 'idiotic' woman

Piers appeared outraged by her comments and said that just as American and French children are taught their respective national anthems, it's right that British children should know theirs.

The presenter said he was 'proud' to be British, and went on to say national pride was neither 'ugly' nor something to be ashamed of.

'It actually makes me feel pride in my country and actually that's not an ugly thing,' he said.

'That's not embarrassing. It doesn't make me a nationalist, it makes me somebody proud of my nation.'

Viewers called Sarkar a 'horrible woman' and questioned why the show was airing her views.

Sarkar suggested that the song be replaced with grime song Wearing My Rolex by Wiley

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell said children should respect traditions by learning the national anthem

One tweeted: 'Love Piers Morgan telling it as it is on the national anthem. What is that woman's point anyway?. She's talking utter s****.'

'This woman should be embarrassed by herself... not by the policy to sing our national anthem in schools. Bore off you melt,' another tweeted.

A third said: 'This woman on GMB constantly slagging off our national anthem is infuriating me!!!!!!'

Rosindell argued that children should respect Britain's traditions by learning the national anthem.

Piers said that he feels proud when he listens to the anthem, which he doesn't think is 'embarrassing'

She explained that the suggested policy is a distraction from the poor performance of some schools

He said: 'If we don't love our own country, if we don't respect our traditions and our history what future do we have? You create a vacuum when no one believes in anything.'

Sarkar argued that the government should focus on poor performance in schools, not the national anthem.

She said: ''For me the issue here is that it portrays an absolutely topsy turvy set of priorities from Andrew Rosindell. Romford has got the second worst performance of schools in London and I think that is a cause for real concern.

'Schools need funding, teachers and I think, parents, need real support.'
A recovering anorexic whose weight plummeted to just five stone in the throes of her illness has revealed her incredible progress.

Liv Karpinski, 19, from Swindon developed obsessive eating habits as a coping mechanism after her mother died when she was just seven-years-old.

Following her death the shop assistant found herself struggling to fit in at school and took on much of the cooking and cleaning at home to help her dad.

When she was eight, she started to obsess over housework and would get up early in to run in secret and would force herself to do up to 1,000 star jumps.

Liv Karpinski developed anorexia following the death of her mother but after a stint in hospital she is finally on the road to recovery. Pictured: In recovery (left) and now

She said: 'At about eight I started using food and exercise as a control coping mechanism.

'My grades suffered as cleaning and looking after my dad's expectations were more important. I began to become obsessed with hovering in order to over exercise and keep the house clean. OCD kicked in.'

At 11, Liv was hospitalised and was given just two weeks to live as her condition worsened.

She continued: 'Over time, my eating and health deteriorated to a point that I became hospitalised and very unwell.

Liv (pictured today) was admitted to hospital when she was just 11 where she was given just two weeks to live, but is now maintaining a healthier weight

Liv shares her journey of recovery on Instagram where she has 14.7K followers

'I'd do anything and everything to lose weight whether it meant sitting at the table refusing to eat for the whole day or hiding food in my knickers.

At her lowest point, she would restrict herself to just 120-calories-a-day and weighed weighing just five stone.

Liv added: 'Anorexia made me feel like I was in control of something and good at something.

'The constant hunger numbed me and stopped me from grieving for my mum. When in reality, I was killing myself, I had to be wheeled around because my blood pressure was so low.'

Following her stint in hospital as a child, Liv (pictured when younger) says her condition only worsened and she saw her grades affected

She was eventually transferred to an eating disorder unit and her condition began to improve

It wasn't until she was transferred to a residential eating disorder unit that Liv's condition began to improve, gaining her GCSEs, AS Levels and a job she enjoys.

Now weighing 6st 10lbs and a UK size six to eight, Liv dreams of writing a book and starting a YouTube channel to inspire others.

'I now work part time at Waitrose. I've made friends and I'm a lot happier. I still get fortnightly support from the community in the form of weigh ins, therapy and chats.

'Seven years on and I'm finally experiencing life. I'd like to potentially write a book and start a YouTube in the hope of inspiring others.'

Liv says that her relationship with her father (pictured) has improved as she recovers

Liv shares her journey under the Instagram handle @nourishingliv where she has 14.7K followers.

She says that being discharged and recovering has helped her relationship with her dad and has allowed her to make new friends.

'Being discharged into the community, getting a job and making new friends made me realise what life was all about. It's been tough as the temptation to relapse is there but I'm in a better place to never want to go back,' she added.

'Recovering has strengthened mine and my dad's relationship too. He trusts me. He's so proud and constantly says that my mum would be proud of me and everything I've overcome. So is my brother too. He says it's nice to have the old Liv back who can just have a laugh with as opposed to being miserable lost and snappy.

'Plus, I've learnt to drive and have my own car independence. I can enjoy food without feeling guilty or obliged to over exercise.'

Liv wants to speak out to those who are struggling with eating disorders, encouraging them that they can recover.

She said: 'To anyone who is looking to recover or doesn't know what to do. You have to want to recover, no one can recover for you.

'Yes, by being hospitalised they can force feed you up to a healthy weight but that's not going to be sustainable if you don't want it.

'If you want to recover you can. You just have to persevere no matter what doubts you might have.'

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, visit beat for free help and advice.
When it comes to quality control, you would hope that children's toys are at the very top of the list - but it seems that some manufacturers didn't get the memo.

In a hilarious gallery of images from around the world, Bored Panda has revealed some of the most dubious design fails that should never have made it out of the factory.

Unfortunately, awkward design has lent some toys such as a Winnie The Pooh stacking rings set and a Spiderman balloon a rather phallic appearance.

One parent was baffled to discover a duck with four legs, and a truck decorated with kangaroos from Austria.

From an embellished noose in a box labelled 'pretty death' to a pair of fluffy handcuffs aimed at three-year-olds and a bright blue Harry Potter you'd definitely think twice before adding any of these to your child's toybox.

In a hilarious gallery of dubious fails from around the world, Bored Panda has revealed some of the worst children's toy designs including these rather rude Wonder Woman scissors

Not what you want in the toybox! This absolutely baffling embellished noose surely did not fly off the shelves

Unfortunately the design of this Winnie the Pooh stacking rings set lent the character a rather phallic appearance

'Elmo hugs back and so much more', according to the packaging. The only fear is that the 'much more' involves strangling

It's clear that the person who designed this has never actually seen a duck in real life

All kids like a game of cops and robbers, but these probably aren't the kind of handcuffs you want them playing with

Cinderella looks like she went straight from the ball to a plastic surgery clinic for a bad nose job

Night lights are supposed to ease children's fear of the dark, not leave them more terrified

This toy was so close to looking perfect innocent, except for the flesh-coloured bottle

Who knew that there were so many kangaroos and desert landscapes in Austria?

This toy from China looked perfectly fine from the outside, but opened to reveal the head of a dismembered doll

This Batman squirter gun has all sorts of rude connotations that it's probably best not to dwell on for too long

Balloon designers need to have a serious rethink of their products if these two offerings are anything to go by
Earlier this week she attended the Victims of Terrorism Foundation Awards to help hand out trophies for those affected by the Barcelona terror attacks.

And Queen Letizia of Spain continued to show her support for her country as she attended the FITUR International Tourism Fair in Madrid on Wednesday.

The glamorous royal was joined by husband King Felipe VI as they walked the red carpet at the event in the heart of the Spanish capital.

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Queen Letizia of Spain continued to show her support for her country as she attended the FITUR International Tourism Fair in Madrid on Wednesday

Dressed in a beige and black colour block jacket, a crisp white shirt and smart black trousers, Letizia put on an glamorous yet understated display.

The former journalist and news anchor, 45, gave her outfit an edgy touch by adding a pair of black killer heels embellished with gold spikes.

Meanwhile King Felipe, 49, opted for a grey pinstripe suit, injecting a splash of colour with a red polka dot tie.

The couple were seen exploring the attractions on offer at the fair, before walking the red carpet.

Letizia was joined by husband King Felipe VI of Spain as they walked the red carpet at the event

Dressed in a beige and black colour block jacket, a crisp white shirt and smart black trousers, the Queen put on an understated display

Admiring a robot on display, they soon continued onto admiring a religious offering, stopping to light a candle.

Posing for pictures later on at the event, it was clear to see why Letizia opted for sky scraper heels, with her husband towering above her.

The tourism fair offers an array of activities and will run from Wednesday until Sunday 21st January.

The former journalist, 45, jazzed up her outfit with a pair of black killer heels embellished with gold spikes

Meanwhile King Felipe, 49, opted for a grey pinstripe suit, injecting a splash of colour with a red polka dot tie

The couple continued onto admiring a religious offering, stopping to light a candle

The King and Queen's appearance comes just days after they attended the Victims of Terrorism Foundation Awards to hand out trophies for those affected by the Barcelona terror attacks in August 2017.

On the morning of August 17, Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, drove a van into the busy La Rambla in the Spanish city killing 14 people and injuring 130 others.

Hours later, a car attack in the seaside town of Cambrils killed another person early Friday

Just hours after the attack Letizia and Felipe travelled to the city where lead tributes to the victims as well as visiting survivors in hospital.
Queen Maxima was back to her polished best as she opened a trade fair on Wednesday afternoon - just hours after she was spotted going make-up free to her morning meetings.

The Dutch queen consort, 47, looked a tad dishevelled when she stepped out in Amsterdam the morning after she hosted a traditional New Year reception. She was spotted looking unusually low-key as she joined husband King Willem-Alexander.

However just hours later Maxima was the epitome of royal glamour in a dazzling emerald and blue ensemble as she opened a trade fair in the city.

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Polished perfection: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands opens a trade fair in Amsterdam this afternoon

Late night? Normally preened to perfection, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands looked a tad dishevelled when she stepped out in Amsterdam the morning after she hosted a lavish New Year reception

Maxima wore a brilliant satin frock, which she accessorised with a glittering butterfly brooch.

Never one to shy away from a bold colour combination, the Dutch royal paired the look with a striking electric blue coat, which she wore draped over her shoulders.

She was on hand to open the Bio-fair, which attracts more than 10,000 visitors annually.

She appeared happy to pose and smiled at well-wishers as she was given a bouquet of flowers on her way into the event.

Maxima wore a brilliant satin frock, which she accessorised with a glittering butterfly broach

She completed the look with a dazzling pair of drop emerald and diamond earrings

Queen Maxima smiled at well-wishers as she made her way into the event

This morning the mother-of-three was just as gracious when she was spotted, despite being caught without her full hair and make-up.

The mother-of-three wore a tan coat with stylish a pair of wide-legged trousers and chocolate brown suede boots, while her husband looked dapper in an electric blue blazer.

It was a far cry from Maxima's perfectly-preened appearance on Tuesday evening, when she donned a structured cerise coat and towering stilettos to join the Royal family at the annual reception for the country's diplomatic corps.

The queen wore an electric blue coat over the satin emerald dress for the occasion

The bold colour combination made a statement and stood out on a cold winter's day

Politicians, government executives and members of the Dutch police force all attended the reception at the city's Royal Palace.

They joined a host of royals including former queen Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet and her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven.

It is not known whether Maxima and Williem-Alexander's daughters, Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane, were in attendance.

Maxima was born in Argentina and married into the Dutch royal family in 2002, three years after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville, Spain.

Despite reportedly having no inkling that Willem-Alexander was heir to the throne when the pair first met, she eventually became queen consort when her husband ascended to the throne.

Blooming lovely: The Dutch queen consort was handed a bunch of vibrant blooms later on as she visited an organic trade fair in the city

All smiles: Despite a busy few days of engagements, the royal appeared to be in excellent spirits

No cobwebs here! Despite being caught off-guard, the glamorous royal, wrapped in a cosy camel coat, looked to be in good spirits as she waved and grinned to onlookers earlier

Queen of style: The mother-of-three paired her coat with stylish a pair of wide-legged trousers and chocolate brown suede boots, while her husband looked dapper in an electric blue blazer

Busy week: Last night, the couple joined a host of well-heeled guests including former queen Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet and her husband Pieter van Vollenhoven

Willem-Alexander became king when his mother, Beatrix, abdicated in April 2013 after 33 years as reigning monarch.

This week's celebrations come after the illegitimate son of a Dutch prince won a lengthy legal battle to become an official member of the Netherlands' royal family.

Hugo Klynstra, 21, will be named Royal Highness Prince Carlos Hugo Roderik Sybren de Bourbon de Parme, it was announced on Monday.

Royal watchers in the Netherlands were keenly awaiting the outcome of the four-year court battle between Willem-Alexander's cousin Prince Carlos and his son.
A woman has revealed how her fun-loving late mother played a hilarious prank on her father from beyond the grave.

Before Phedre Nicol lost her battle with cancer in November 2013 she made her husband Nigel promise to water her plants after she was gone.

The doting husband, 79, kept his promise by keeping them alive and healthy, only realising that they were plastic years later.

Antonia Nicol, 46, a firefighter from London, shared her parents hilarious story on Twitter, and said she could still hear her mum 'chuckling' about it now.

Antonia Nicol, a firefighter from London, shared a story about a prank her mother played on her father from beyond the grave

She shared a picture of the plant looking very healthy, explaining that her dad had watered it 'religiously'.

Nicol told FEMAIL: 'My dad continued to water the plants as per her instructions for a few years until he sold the house and moved into a retirement home.'

It was during the move that the family realised the plants had been fake all along.

Nicol tweeted: 'He's been religiously watering them and keeping them alive.

'They look so amazing he decided to take them to his new home, only to discover they are plastic!'

Phedre Nicol, who passed away in November 2013, asked her husband Nigel to water her plants after she died

Her mother asked her dad to keep watering the plants after she was gone, which he did until he realised they were plastic

She said she can imagine her mum 'chuckling about it' about it now Nigel has cottoned on.

Nicol added: 'It made us laugh years later, so it is nice in the end.'

Her post has now gone viral, with over 19,000 people liking and retweeting it since it was tweeted on Tuesday.

Many responded to say they loved her mother's sense of humour, with one calling her a 'legend'.

It wasn't until he moved into his retirement home that Nigel realised the plants were actually plastic

One tweeted: 'Fantastic. Your mum sounds hilarious.'

'Your mum sounds like a scream! Sorry for your loss but happy you had such a wonderful parent,' another posted.

A third said: 'This has made me giggle before bed. She sounds awesome. And so does your dad. Sorry for your loss.'
The partner of a man diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 30 broke down as she discussed the devastating possibility that their 18-month-old twins will suffer the same fate.

Jordan Evans, whose boyfriend Daniel Bradbury became one of the youngest people in the country to be diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in September, told how the couple is also struggling to absorb the fact their children have a 50 per cent chance of developing the same hereditary condition.

Daniel, 30, lost his own father to the disease when he was aged just 36.

The mother-of-two, from Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, dissolved into tears on ITV's Loose Women on Tuesday as she said thinking about the twins' future made her 'feel sick'.

The couple revealed that their coping mechanism was to take their life 'day by day', and will speak to their children about the condition when they are older.

Emotional viewers said they were 'sobbing' at the interview, during which Jordan had to be comforted by panellists on the show.

Jordan Evans broke down in tears on Loose Women as she opened up about her family's struggle with Alzheimer's

The children will have to wait until they are 18 years old to take the test to see if they have Alzheimer's.

Jordan and Daniel found out about his condition in September last year after his father died from it, and later realised that it could be passed on to the next generation.

Jordan said: 'It makes you feel sick. It's kind of like a double shock of bad news, you can lose your entire family - it's a lot to deal with.'

Jordan admitted that they try not to think about the possibility of the children's diagnosis.

The pair have been told that their 18-month-old twins have a 50% chance of getting the same condition as their father

Daniel inherited dementia from his father Adrian (pictured), who died at just 36 from the condition

WHAT IS EARLY-ONSET ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE? Early-onset Alzheimer's disease affects people under 65 and makes up around 4% of the condition's sufferers. It occurs due to a single gene, which affects around 600 families worldwide. Symptoms include memory problems that interfere with everyday life, confusion, disorientation, personality changes, language problems and sight difficulties. These symptoms get worse over time. Most cases are not inherited but are thought to be brought on by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. There is no cure. Treatment focuses on managing symptoms. Source: Alzheimer's Research UK & Alzheimer's Society Advertisement

She continued: 'They're at a really nice age at the moment where they don't quite understand. There will come a time in the future when I have to sit down with them and have this chat.

'I think the main thing [we do] to cope as a family, our coping mechanism, is to live day by day because if we think too much about what's going to happen in the future it will bog us down.

'We try to make every day fun, try and do something different, that gives us strength to try and move past this as well.'

Daniel, who said described his diagnosis 'unfair', says he focuses on spending time with his girlfriend and children and creating happy family memories.

He said on the show: 'I think it's unfair what's happened, obviously we can't changed it, but I love seeing the kids, the family, doing new things. Doing what we want to do rather than what we need to do all the time.'

He inherited the condition from his father Adrian, who died at just 36 from the disease. People with this type of Alzheimer's generally have the same life expectancy as the person they inherited it from.

He noticed symptoms when Jordan was four months pregnant but was not tested at the time

The couple want to create lasting memories of him for their children and are taking life 'day by day'

He was told he may have the condition when Jordan was four months pregnant in early 2016, but decided not to get tested at the time.

Yet, shortly after the twins' first birthday, his symptoms started getting more severe, prompting him to get diagnosed.

He had suffered from the condition for more than a year before his diagnosis.

Jordan says she knows she will have to talk to the twins about a possible diagnosis when they are old enough

She was an NHS worker but now cares for Mr Branbury full time, and says the family try to do something different every day to make memories
A mother who faced life-threatening heart and lung conditions after the birth of her youngest daughter is now opening up about her eldest's battle against leukemia in a series of heartbreaking online posts.

Veronica Crowfoot, 28, welcomed her second daughter, Vyla, in November 2017. She and her husband Noble, also 28, have a four-year-old daughter named Hazel.

Not long after Vyla's birth, Veronica and Noble, who are based in Lehi, Utah, were devastated to learn that Hazel has cancer, while Veronica was still processing news relating to her own health.

Message: Veronica Crowfoot, 28, has opened up about her four-year-old daughter's battle against leukemia in a series of heartbreaking online posts

Family: The mother, based in Lehi, Utah, welcomed her youngest daughter Vyla (pictured with Veronica and Hazel) in November last year

After Vyla's birth, the mother began having significant trouble breathing, something which was particularly surprising because she is an athlete and a Crossfit athlete who continued competing even in her 39th week of pregnancy.

Yet, after giving birth, Veronica found herself getting out of breath after walking up the stairs or making her own food.

Eventually, her mother convinced Veronica to call her doctor, who in torn told her to go to the E.R. immediately.

There, doctors found that the new mother had blood clots in both of her lungs, and told her that the embolisms could have been fatal if she had not come right away.

Veronica, who detailed the experience on Instagram, started taking blood thinners, and has since said that her husband became her 'rock' during that difficult time.

But she later shared another post explaining that, while looking into her pulmonary embolisms, doctors also scanned her heart and discovered another, unrelated condition.

Coping: Veronica was still processing news about her own health when Hazel (pictured in the hospital receiving a visit from Vyla) was diagnosed with cancer

Recovering: After Vyla's birth, the mother suffered from pulmonary embolism as well as a heart condition that prevents her from having other children

Support: Veronica, who now has 19,800 followers on Instagram, has been documenting her family's battle against the illness on her account

The mother learned she also suffers from mitral valve regurgitation, meaning one of the valves in her heart doesn't close tightly, causing a backflow of blood.

As the result of the condition, which can cause complications during pregnancy when severe, Veronica was told she wouldn't be able to carry more children.

'Thanksgiving day, the cardiologist came to my bed side in the hospital looked me in the eye and said "I never like to look a new mom in the eyes and tell her she can't have anymore kids,"' Veronica recounted.

The news left her feeling 'defeated'. At first, doctors thought Veronica would need heart surgery, and told her to make sure her will was taken care of and her finances in order, 'just in case'.

However, the following week, after taking a closer look at Veronica's heart, they determined that the condition wasn't as serious as they thought and, while the mother might still need surgery in the future, it wasn't necessary to perform it immediately.

Veronica and Noble then enjoyed their first Christmas as parents of two, but a few days later, on December 28, received more heart-wrenching news when Hazel was diagnosed with leukemia.

A Go Fund Me campaign has now been created to help the family pay medical bills.

The little girl had been suffering from a fever along with a headache and pain in her ear, at which point her parents took her to the doctor's.

First, the practitioners said Hazel had an ear infection and sent the family home with a 10-day treatment.

When Hazel's temperature failed to return to normal, Veronica brought her back and voiced more concerns about her daughter's health.

'Her leg hurt, and not like a muscle pain, it ached. I figured it was from playing or perhaps just body aches from the fever,' the mother wrote.

'I was also concerned because her arms and legs were bruised. Not just like a normal four-year-old old play bruising. It was everywhere.'

Opening up: In one updated, Veronica asked her followers for prayers, adding: 'We have a very long road ahead of us. Hazel is strong, she is brave, and she will beat this. She is my hero'

Symptoms: Hazel was suffering from a fever and had pain in her leg as well as bruises on her arms and legs, which alerted the doctor that she might have leukemia

Donations: A Go Fund Me campaign set up for Hazel's family has now raised almost $23,000 out of a goal of $30,000

As she started listing the symptoms, Veronica saw the doctor's facial expressions change. The doctor eventually told the mother she was concerned Hazel might have leukemia, and asked her to go straight to the hospital.

'I thought, "No way in hell does MY child have leukemia. No way,"' Veronica wrote. 'But something deep down told me that she did. I fought that feeling with everything in me. "No, it's not happening. She is healthy. She is perfect. Not my kid. It's not going to happen. Heavenly Father wouldn't do this after everything we have gone through. She's just got a bug," I told myself over and over again.'

But the diagnosis was confirmed, and Veronica, who now has 19,800 followers on Instagram, has been documenting her family's battle against the illness on her account.

'The worst words you can hear as a parent, "Your child has cancer", it's become our reality. We are living my worst nightmare,' she wrote. 'How do you tell your four-year-old she has cancer, her beautiful long hair will fall out in two weeks, she will be in the hospital for a long time, she can't go back to school, can't be around other kids, that she will be on chemo for three years, and that throwing up is "normal"?

'Our sweet Hazel has been diagnosed with leukemia. Please pray for our little girl. We have a very long road ahead of us. Hazel is strong, she is brave, and she will beat this. She is my hero.'

Hazel has been suffering from complications and side effects from her treatment, and yesterday had to undergo an emergency procedure to treat a condition that saw part of her intestine folding into an adjacent section of the intestine.

'Tomorrow is a new day, we have surgery tomorrow for her lungs, and if, IF this comes back they will operate on her stomach also,' the mother wrote in an update.

'We are on our knees more then ever now. WHEN we get over these hurdles, I know things will start to look up.'

She has been signing off her messages with the words 'We will Fight. Together. Always' as a reminder of her and her family's resolve.

The Go Fund Me campaign for Hazel's family has now raised almost $23,000 out of a goal of $30,000.
Forget the little black one-piece - the little white bikini is having a moment.

After Jesinta Franklin (nee Campbell) stunned in a white two-piece on Sydney harbour earlier in the month and was swiftly followed by pop star, Miley Cyrus, who opted for a skimpy white bikini while frolicking with Liam Hemsworth in Byron Bay, there was only one question on the lips of women the world over.

How can I get the look?

To save you the hard yards, FEMAIL has rounded up the best in little white bikinis. It might be time to get out your self tan...

Miley Cyrus (pictured with boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth in Byron Bay) plumped for a white bikini recently, sending people into overdrive

Australian model, Jesinta Franklin (nee Campbell) also recently opted for a white bikini - here, FEMAIL rounds up how you can get the look

There are options on sale at the Iconic right now, including this bikini (left), which retails for $102 - you can also buy Jesinta's Zulu & Zephyr top (right) for $96

GET JESINTA'S LOOK

If your budget is on the reasonable end, it's worth heading over to online retailer, The Iconic, who sell several white two piece suits - including one Jesinta lookalike, which retails for AUD $102 for the top and bottoms.

For those who want to get their hands on the real Jesinta deal, head to ASOS - where the Zulu & Zephyr Etheral White Bralette Bikini Top, retailing for $96, is the exact suit the model opted for.

Australian high fashion label, Zimmermann, also has a two-piece appliqued bikini on sale right now.

But while the high-waisted bottoms are perfect for nailing Jesinta's laidback riviera chic, it's worth bearing in mind that the entire outfit will set you back an eye-watering $450.

Australian high fashion label, Zimmermann, also have a two-piece appliqued bikini (pictured) - however, at $450 - this is at the pricey end of things

GET MILEY'S LOOK

Over on the Miley Cyrus side of things, there are plenty of purse-friendly options to tempt the would-be swimwear buyer.

Aussie label, White Fox Boutique, currently have a high-cut Palermo bikini top and bottoms available - which costs $44.95 for the bottoms and $54.95 for the top.

Meanwhile, fellow boho favourite, Ete Swimwear, are also selling a Matilda bikini top with gold drawstring for $72. The matching bikini bottoms cost $66, should you want to complete the set.

In order to replicate Miley's look, you can either buy an Ete Swimwear top (left) for $72 - you can also go to White Fox boutique where you can pay $100 for this set (right)

Seafolly have this bikini set for $119.95 (left) on sale, while Tigerlily have a Tara bikini top for $90 - which can be paired with any plain white bottoms (right)

Seafolly remains popular with women around Australia, thanks to their flattering cuts and prints.

Their Quilted Fix white bikini will set you back $119.95 - but will be worth its weight in gold, thanks to its quilted fabrication, clean lines and classic details.

Lastly, Tigerlily's Tara bikini top, which costs $90, is ideal for replicating Miley's chic coastal look - and can be paired with any white bottoms from a high street store.

For those with a budget to match the American pop stars, worldwide swimwear giant, Melissa Odabash, also has a Perth cut-out bikini top, for $127.98 on sale on Net-a-Porter.

For those with a budget to match the American pop stars, worldwide swimwear giant, Melissa Odabash, also has a Perth cut-out bikini top, for $127.98 (pictured)

Miley Cyrus is spending some time in Australia with her Australian boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, after reports have surfaced that the pair have 'secretly married'.

An insider recently reportedly told NW magazine of the alleged nuptials: 'It's such a special place for them [Byron Bay]. It felt right.'

While swimming in the Gold Coast with Liam, Miley plumped for a white two-piece by affordable swim label, Tee Ink.
The classic Ugg boot has gotten a high-fashion makeover, resulting in multi-layered shoes and bizarre thigh-high shoes.

Ugg, which is based in Goleta, California, partnered with the French brand Y/Project for a new collection.

The collaboration was revealed today in the French capital when models walked the runway during the Y/Project men's show at Paris Fashion Week, wearing the various models created by the designer Glenn Martens for the occasion.

New and... improved? Ugg, which is based in Goleta, California, partnered with the French brand Y/Project for a new collection reinventing its classic boot

Big debut: The collaboration was revealed today in the French capital when models walked the runway during the Y/Project men's show at Paris Fashion Week

Martens kept the trademark elements of the iconic, love-it-or-hate-it boot, including sheepskin and the shoes' famous chestnut color.

For the rest of the shoes, though, he completely departed from the classic bootie's shape, and instead created several extravagant models.

One of them consists in a multi-layered shoe with three rinds of fur going up the model's leg.

Another is a thigh-high, droopy boot with a flat sole, engulfing the model's lower body.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Martens also created a pair of open-toe slip-ons lined with fur, with Ugg and Y/Project's names on top.

Martens explained that he wanted to 'trigger' people with his designs, by giving the classic Ugg boot an 'unexpected' makeover.

'The Ugg Classic boot is one of the most recognizable shoes in history. It's timeless and challenging design made it a worldwide statement.

Arresting: Designer Glenn Martens completely departed from the classic bootie's shape, and instead created several extravagant models such as this three-tiered shoe

Eye-catching: The collection also includes a thigh-high, droopy boot with a flat sole, engulfing the model's lower body

Mission accomplished: Martens explained that he wanted to 'trigger' people with his designs, by giving the classic Ugg boot an 'unexpected' makeover

DNA: The designer kept the trademark elements of the iconic, love-it-or-hate-it boot, including sheepskin and the shoes' famous chestnut color

'Y/Project is about challenges. Since launch we've been twisting the grounded codes, we challenged the acceptable and triggered people by putting focus on the unexpected,' he said.

'By reworking the Classic boot with a typical Y/Project twist such as the triple overlaps and the extra-long legs we want to celebrate the Ugg brand's unique history.'

The capsule collection was presented by both male and female models, reflecting Martens' focus on creating pieces that can be worn regardless of gender.

'You'll see the exact same piece on a man as on a woman, just styled differently,' he added.

Ugg, meanwhile, was delighted with the way Martens reinvented its classic shoe.

'It has been a real pleasure working with Glenn and the team,' Andrea O'Donnell, the president of fashion and lifestyle at Ugg's parent company Deckers, said.

Something for everyone! At the opposite end of the spectrum, Martens also created a pair of open-toe slip-ons lined with fur, with Ugg and Y/Project's names on top

Rustic chic? The eye-catching Ugg boots were styled along with plaid shorts and bulky coats

Satisfied: Ugg, meanwhile, was pleased by the way Martens reinvented its classic shoe

Please clap: Martens (pictured) stepped out for a round of applause at the end of the show during which he presented his new designs

'He designs conceptual and thought-provoking collections and footwear, we knew he would do something unexpected with our Ugg classic boot.

'Re-interpreting our DNA in new and exciting wayswe love the results!'

Ugg's new releases come just a month after it debuted a heeled version of its classic sheepskin boot.

Christened the Kasen, the shoe comes in two different versions: a low boot, which is priced at $150, and a tall one, which retails for $250.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, an ambassador for Ugg, was spotted wearing the new shoes ahead of their release, styling them with jeans and a beige coat, however not everyone appeared convinced that adding heels to Ugg boots, which are favored by many for their comfort, was a good idea.

'Who is out there putting heels on UGGs?! MAKE THEM STOP. Immediately,' one Twitter user wrote after photos of the new Kasen boots emerged.
She recently welcomed her second son Prince Gabriel into the world.

But Princess Sofia of Sweden enjoyed a night away from her children on Wednesday as she attended a glitzy state banquet held at the Stockholm Palace in honour of Icelandic President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson.

Sofia, 33, looked elegant in a stunning black lace gown as she joined husband Prince Carl Philip, brother-in-law Prince Daniel and her mother-in-law Queen Silvia at the reception.

She finished off her dramatic night-time look with a glittering tiara and pearl drop earrings, adding a splash of colour with a red jewel-encrusted clutch bag.

Princess Sofia looked stunning in a black lace gown as she joined husband Prince Carl Philip and brother-in-law Prince Daniel at a state banquet at the Stockholm Palace

Queen Silvia of Sweden, 74, meanwhile looked resplendent in a full-length red gown, accessorised with a sapphire tiara and stunning necklace.

Carl Philip, 38, and Daniel, 44, both looked dashing in their tailcoats and bow ties.

The Swedish royals were welcoming President Johannesson to the palace, along with his wife Eliza Jean Reid, who wore a stunning silver frock for the occasion.

The Icelandic president is currently on a three-day state visit in Sweden in order to strengthen relations between the two countries.

Sofia, 33, finished off her dramatic night-time look with pearl earrings and a red clutch bag

The mother-of-two wore her brunette tresses in an elegant up-do, while displaying a flawless make-up look

Sofia and Carl Philip welcomed their second son Gabriel into the world last August, who is the sixth in line the throne.

The couple recently celebrated the young prince's christening at Drottingholm Palace Chapel in the Swedish town of Drottingholm at the beginning of December.

They already have one-year-old son Prince Alexander, who was born in April 2016.

The Swedish royals are set to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the country later this month.

Kate, 36, and William, 35, will be joined on many of their engagements by Crown Princess Victoria, 40, and her husband Prince Daniel.

Queen Silvia of Sweden also attended the banquet, welcoming Icelandic President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson (right) to the palace
Chris Pratt has broken his one-month social media hiatus to reveal he has turned to farming in the months since his shocking split from Anna Faris last year.

But his vegan followers were far from happy to see the Guardians of the Galaxy star, 38, return to Instagram yesterday after he posted a photo of several joints of lamb meat on a kitchen counter.

The comedian turned action hero, who was married to Faris for eight years, revealed in the caption that he raises lambs on his farm and then kills them for meat to feed himself and his five-year-old son Jack.

The comment has angered his vegan followers, who have accused him of 'murdering' the animal - and a few even compared the slaughter to the Holocaust.

Chris Pratt returned to social media yesterday after a one-month hiatus to reveal he has a farm and raises lambs for slaughter

Vegans sent Chris angry messages in the comments of a photo he posted yesterday of a counter covered in meat from a lamb from his farm

Chris's first Instagram post in more than a month was a video for his mini food series, 'What's My Snack?' in which the Jurassic World star revealed he has been eating lamb from his own farm.

He then posted a photo of 10 different joints of lamb on a wooden board, which Chris revealed all came from the same sheep that he had raised on his farm.

In the caption, the keen hunter told his followers that the lamb had a happy life before it was killed.

The muscly Hollywood star wrote: 'Look at all this glorious food! We will eat off him for a month.

'His wool is becoming yarn as we speak. He lived a very good life. He was groomed and shorn, his hooves medicated, de wormed, no antibiotics necessary. Surrounded by laughing loving humans, including children to whom they provided such joy.

'Nuzzled, pet and loved every day. No stressful travel to his final destination. Trauma Free.

Chris has two major blockbusters out this year: Avengers: Infinity War, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

His Instagram photo, which has been liked more than 441,000 times, was commented on by hundreds of angry vegans and vegetarians

'Just a touch of a usda certified wand to his head and he goes to sleep. The other sheep dont even notice. Its like unplugging a tv.'

Chris's comments have prompted vegetarian and vegan followers to launch a backlash. Some have accused him of murder, and other blasted him as 'arrogant' or 'disgusting'.

One commenter told the star: 'This is awful. You murdered someone [referring to the lamb] and now you are bragging about it on social media.'

Another wrote: 'Do better Chris'.

A handful even compared the killing of lambs on Chris's farm as mass murder akin to Hitler's genocide of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Chris also posted this photo of a hen in a chicken coop on his farm. He keeps chickens for their eggs, he explained in the caption

The angry comments continued on Chris's third photo from yesterday's social media spree of one of his hens, which he keeps for eggs.

However some defended him, saying that Chris is feeding off the land.

It is not known exactly where Chris's farm is, but the actor said he and Anna dreamed of one day owning a farm when they were still together.

On Instagram, Chris reveals that he has a butcher who carves up the meat for him.

Chris says he then gives the meat to family, friends and as gifts, but said he may start testing out recipes and 'opening it out' to his Instagram followers.

Chris called his new farming lifestyle his 'new passion' - and even said it's where he'd like his ashes to be sprinkled when he dies.

It comes on the same day that his ex-wife Anna revealed that she remains friends with Chris and they work hard together to co-parent their son, Jack.

The Passengers star has an impressive roster of declared projects in the works, including new entries in two massive global franchises.

He will be reprising his Guardians Of The Galaxy role of Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, in Avengers: Infinity War, which is slated for release May 4.

The next month will see the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which will reunite him with his co-star from the original, Bryce Dallas Howard.

Chris Pratt's agents have been contacted for comment.
Footprints in snow helped investigators confirm a suspect in an attempted robbery in Bismarck on Christmas Eve.

Fifty-year-old Jerry Holmes, of Bismarck, was arrested Friday and charged with felony counts of robbery, theft and two counts of attempted simple assault on a peace officer.

Holmes is accused of brandishing a knife at a cashier Christmas Eve night at a gas station on East Rosser Avenue. After the cashier was unable to open the till, Holmes allegedly fled. The cashier also hit a silent alarm.

Court documents say a Bismarck police detective found footprints nearby in the snow and noted the tracks' tread and description.

Police later recovered a bandanna, sunglasses and gloves reportedly used in the robbery, found in a portable toilet. Surveillance footage allowed them to follow the suspect's movements, which led them to the area of Holmes' apartment.

While executing a search warrant on Holmes' apartment, detectives reportedly found shoes matching the footprints in the snow the night of the attempted robbery. Holmes reportedly claimed the footwear.

Court documents say Holmes admitted to committing the robbery in a police interview. A probationary GPS tracker also placed Holmes at the gas station during the robbery, the case's affidavit said.

Following the interview, Holmes allegedly became combative and detectives took him to the floor. He also allegedly lunged to headbutt another officer after a DNA swab.

Bismarck Police say Holmes' intent was to rob the gas station for money for drug trafficking. Holmes has a lengthy North Dakota criminal record, including other theft-related crimes. He also is a registered sex offender.

He is held at the Burleigh-Morton County Detention Center, pending $50,000 cash bond.
A one-year-old girl who had a stroke in the womb that caused several life-threatening health conditions is experiencing small victories by talking, scooting and clapping.

Naomi Kretschmer suffers from epilepsy, cerebral palsy and is partially paralyzed on the right side of her body due to a brain hemorrhage that caused permanent damage to the parts of the brain that control language and reasoning.

At 36 weeks pregnant, her mother Melanie, 28, had not felt Naomi kick in more than a day and went to a nearby hospital in Wisconsin where an ultrasound revealed the baby was in distress.

Within an hour the now-mother-of-two was under general anesthesia for an emergency c-section to deliver the baby who was seizing and needed to be resuscitated.

Nineteen months later, despite her conditions, Naomi is defying doctors expectations by reaching 'inchstones', as her mother put it to Daily Mail Online, such as speaking, scooting down stairs and even crawling on occasion.

Naomi Kretschmer had a stroke in the womb and was born not breathing and having seizures but now the one-year-old can sit up, talk and crawl on occasion

The family from Wisconsin now 'lives day by day' while mother Melanie, 28, cares for their daughter full-time

Fetal strokes occur in one in every 2,800 births, and babies who survive have a 60 percent risk of permanent brain damage.

Strokes either before birth or within days after birth are the most common causes of paralysis and cerebral palsy in children.

In May 2016, at four days old doctors confirmed Naomi had a stroke in the left side of her brain in utero, causing paralysis on the right side of her body.

Melanie and her husband Joe, 38, a National Guard recruiter and veteran, were left wondering if their daughter would ever walk, talk or live an average life.

'I asked all of those questions but nobody was able to give those answers,' Melanie, who formerly worked in pediatric medical support but now cares for Naomi full-time, said.

Melanie was having a normal pregnancy with Naomi except that she rarely felt the baby kick.

'I only had a very active little boy to compare her to so I was concerned,' Melanie said of her eight-year-old son Dominic.

Doctors assured the parents it was normal and suggested tracking the kicks by doing regimes to induce movement.

For two weeks Melanie would drink orange juice to raise the baby's blood sugar and get her active before laying down to feel for a kick - which usually came within 20 minutes.

However, one night she and Joe could not feel a kick for hours.

'It was a mother's instinct and I couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right,' she said.

Right before midnight Melanie went to Marshfield Medical Center where nurses hooked her up to monitors and conducted a fetal stress test.

Naomi was moving but she wasn't 'liking' it, doctors told her mother. The baby was in distress but it was unclear why.

'They just told me she needed to be born and born urgently,' Melanie said.

She was placed under general anesthesia and delivered their baby girl.

When the new mother woke up in her hospital room, she had no idea that her baby had seizures for eight minutes after birth and was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit fighting for her life.

'It was about four or five hours later when doctors came in and told me that she had not been breathing and they had to resuscitate her,' she recalled.

The couple said the news was 'mind-blowing'.

They recall being fearful after the diagnosis because they thought their new baby was so fragile and they had never dealt with the cocktail of medications they would have to give.

Naomi was born in an emergency c-section after her mother could no longer feel her moving in the womb

Melanie said Naomi loves to play with her eight-year-old brother Dominic

Doctors are still unclear about how Naomi will develop but neurologists said she will likely never outgrow seizures.

At two months old Naomi was having seizures three to four times a day. Now at 19 months old she still experiences several seizures a month.

She began occupational therapy at two months followed by physical and speech therapies.

Naomi wears leg braces to stabilize her due to her cerebral palsy that affects her muscle movement and coordination.

She says several words including 'mama' and 'dada' which her parents call 'inchstones' instead of milestones.

'She is sitting up by herself, scoots all around the house and goes down the stairs and recently started clapping,' Melanie said.

Melanie added that her daughter brings her right hand to meet her left when clapping - a big victory that shows she is gaining movement in her right side.

'She just has to work harder and think harder to move,' she said.

The diagnosis has been 'a life changer' for the family, Melanie explained.

Along with taking care of her daughter full-time, she has started a non-profit organization to raise money for families with children who have disabilities.

She said the insurance the family has covers all of Naomi's medical costs, but knows that other families are not as lucky.

That inspired her to start Naomi's Need for Peds last year which has hosted 5k runs, silent auctions, dinners and raffles to provide assistive medical devices for families whose insurance doesn't cover them.

The family does not know what the future holds as far as Naomi's development and to that Melanie said: 'We're learning to live life day by day.'


The prostate-reducing drug that Donald Trump uses to treat hair loss has been linked to an increased risk of depression, self-harm and erectile dysfunction.

Finasteride is a widely-used drug that reduces the size of prostate glands and stimulates hair growth - and is widely believed to be a significant factor affecting the president's low PSA (prostate) levels and thick mane.

However, it has been tied to many severe and uncomfortable side effects.

A research paper published in March 2017 by Western University in Ontario offered the first concrete evidence showing the pills' mental health risks, and appeared to confirm many medics' fears that it increases a risk of suicidal tendencies.

The same week, a study by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine found most study participants were left impotent for four years after taking Propecia (the brand name for finasteride).

Finasteride, a widely-used drug that reduces prostate glands and stimulates hair growth, increased risk of depression by 94 percent in the first 18 months, a study by Western University found. Another study by Northwestern University found it causes erectile issues

Finasteride belongs to a class of medications known as 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5ARIs).

5ARIs have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years by regulators in the United States and Canada because of a possible link to mental health issues, according to the researchers.

Finasteride was originally developed to treat urinary problems in men.

Studies showed the drug made prostate glands smaller by reducing the levels of the hormone dihydrotestosterone in participants.

But during the clinical trials, scientists saw an unexpected side effect - hair growth.

And so in 1997, the FDA approved the steroid inhibitor as the first ever drug to treat male pattern baldness.

Taken once a day, the drug is mainly sold under the brand name Propecia. Millions of American adults use the pills, which are proven to be 90 percent effective.

In February 2017, Donald Trump's doctor Harold Bornstein revealed the president takes a small dose of finasteride to stimulate hair growth.

Bornstein told the New York Times that he, too, takes the drug, saying it helped him keep his shoulder-length locks and helped Trump keep his own hair.

The doctor said: 'He has all his hair. I have all my hair.'

The news that Trump takes finasteride explained why his PSA (prostate specific antigen, produced for the cells by the prostate) is so low.

Finasteride reduces PSA levels to reduce swelling of prostate glands.

Men aged 60-69 normally have between 4.0 and 5.0ng/ml. That is higher than younger men since PSA and testosterone levels rise with age.

The number may be lower than usual if a man has prostate cancer or inflammation, causing more PSA to seep into the bloodstream.

Trump's PSA level was 0.15, Bornstein said in two letters he'd written about Trump's health. The first letter came out in December 2015, followed by the other letter in September 2016.

The level prompted urologists - who weren't linked to Trump - to say he had to have received care for an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer.

Bornstein told the Times that the commander-in-chief hasn't had an enlarged prostate nor prostate cancer, and attributed Trump's PSA level to Propecia.

LINKS TO MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

The researchers at Western University examined finasteride and dutasteride, another 5ARI.

'There wasn't a lot of good studies in this area, and it's a very common medication for urologists to use,' said lead author Dr Blayne Welk.

Welk's team analyzed data from 93,197 men who were at least 66 years old when they received prescriptions for 5ARIs between 2003 and 2013, plus another 93,197 similar men who had never filled a prescription for a 5ARI.

Overall, 5ARIs were not linked with an increased risk of suicide, the researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

During the first 18 months, however, the men using 5ARIs had an 88 percent higher risk of harming themselves. That risk did not extend beyond 18 months.

Men in the 5ARI group also had a 94 percent higher risk of depression in the first 18 months, compared to men not using these drugs. Beyond 18 months, the increased risk of depression fell to 22 percent.

The type of 5ARI did not appear to significantly alter the results.

Welk cautions that the actual risk of depression and self-harm is very low.

If the drugs were actually causing these side effects - which this study wasn't design to prove - 'you'd need 470 men to take this medication for a full year to have a new case of depression,' Welk said.

That number would have to be even higher to cause a new case of self-harm, since self-harm is less common than depression.

'It is a risk potentially and patients and physicians should be aware of it,' Welk said.

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION RISKS

A separate study in the journal PeerJ evaluated another concern about 5ARIs - erectile dysfunction.

Drs Tina Kiguradze and William Temps of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and colleagues found that when erectile dysfunction occurred in men taking 5ARIs for at least 180 days, the dysfunction was more likely to last at least 90 days after stopping the medication.

Erectile dysfunction, when it occurred, resolved faster in men who took the medications for shorter periods.

The proportion of men taking 5ARIs and experiencing erectile dysfunction is likely around 5 percent, according to Dr. Landon Trost, who is head of andrology and male infertility at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

But it's not clear how many men suffer persistent erectile dysfunction after stopping 5ARIs, said Trost, who was not involved with either of the new studies.

'I think it's important to be educated about the potential side effects,' he said.

Men who are already at increased risk for these potential side effects must weigh the risks and benefits of the drugs, Trost said.

He said older men taking 5ARIs for prostate problems might come to different conclusions than young men taking the pills for hair loss.

Additionally, he said, men should tell their doctors if they experience these symptoms.
A first-time mother who was amazed when she lost two stone of baby weight in a week was shocked to discover it was caused by bowel cancer  which has led to her vagina, colon and rectum being removed.

Caroline Dick initially thought she was just 'lucky' and had no idea her pregnancy was masking the disease, which is now incurable.

Despite having a normal pregnancy and gaining weight throughout with Maxx, now three, the 42-year-old had noticed her arms and legs getting thinner  but didn't dwell on it.

Then after he was born and her weight loss continued, she put the pain in her coccyx, tiredness and blood in her stools she was experiencing down to having just had a baby.

It was only when her son was almost a year old that tests showed she had stage four bowel cancer.

Caroline Dick, from West Lothian, Scotland, pictured with her son Maxx, shed two stone in a week after giving birth

She had no idea her pregnancy was masking the disease, which is now incurable

Ms Dick, from Uphall, West Lothian, Scotland, said the diagnosis, in December 2015, has turned her world upside down.

She said: 'It's been really difficult and the stress of everything led to the breakdown of my relationship with Maxx's dad.

'I've had to take ill health retirement from my job as a carer at residential care home for adults with learning disabilities. It's changed everything. We live life at a completely different pace now.'

'I'd always seen it as an older person's disease'

When Maxx was born on January 2015 weighing 6lb 5oz, after a three-hour-long labour, it was a happy occasion for his delighted parents.

Despite her rapid weight loss and other symptoms, Ms Dick's GP did not see any cause for concern and told her her tiredness was anaemia.

She said: 'I also had pain in my coccyx and blood in my stools, but my GP put it down to piles  they were all perfectly normal things that happen to women after they give birth.'

The 42-year-old put her tiredness and blood in her stools down to having just had a baby

SYMPTOMS OF BOWEL CANCER The symptoms of bowel cancer can be subtle and don't necessarily make you feel ill. However, it's worth trying simple treatments for a short time to see if they get better. More than 90% of people with bowel cancer have one of the following combinations of symptoms: A persistent change in bowel habit  going more often, with looser stools and sometimes tummy (abdominal) pain

Blood in the stools without other piles (haemorrhoids) symptoms  this makes it unlikely the cause is haemorrhoids

Abdominal pain, discomfort or bloating always brought on by eating  sometimes resulting in a reduction in the amount of food eaten and weight loss Constipation, where you pass harder stools less often, is rarely caused by serious bowel conditions. Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal or colon cancer, is the third most common cancer worldwide, with around 1.4 million new cases diagnosed each year. In the UK 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year. Advertisement

Despite taking iron tablets, she felt no better and returned to her GP for a second time, when Maxx was eight months old, when she was referred to Western General hospital in Edinburgh for a colonoscopy.

While waiting for her appointment, her pain intensified, so she went to her doctor's for a third time, and he pushed for her to be seen urgently.

She was sent for a colonoscopy on November 29 and it was then that medics gave her the devastating news.

She said: 'I think, by that stage, I knew it was something quite serious, but I was thinking something like irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disorder.

'I had no idea that all these things were because of bowel cancer. I'd always seen it as an older person's disease.

'I was shocked, but I knew I had to concentrate on treatment.'

'I'd never have more children'

In December 2015, Caroline had a three-hour-long operation at Western General hospital, to remove the large tumour on her bowel. She was also told it had spread to her lungs.

She then had eight rounds of chemotherapy, during which she luckily didn't suffer too many side effects other than nausea but she decided to have her hair shaved for charity.

Initially, the surgery and chemotherapy seemed to have worked but a year later, she discovered that the disease had spread to her vaginal and rectal areas and she would need more surgery.

Told she would need a full hysterectomy, vaginectomy and removal of her colon and rectum, Caroline had to come to terms with the fact she would not be able to have any more children.

The mother-of-one endured eight rounds of chemotherapy and decided to have her hair shaved for charity

'An older mum, I had been trying for a second child with my then partner,' she said. 'I knew the radiotherapy could affect my fertility, so I had made my peace with that, but having the surgery made it very final.'

Devastating blow

After the operation at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in June 2017, Ms Dick hoped that further chemotherapy and surgery on her lungs would leave her cancer-free.

Instead, just weeks later doctors told her that the tumour on her lungs was too dangerous to remove and her cancer was now incurable.

She said: 'It was heartbreaking. I still had my little boy and we had already gone through too much.

Ms Dick is speaking out to raise awareness of bowel cancer in younger people

She is having chemotherapy treatment every fortnight over three days as palliative care

'They told me I would have a few years left, but all they could offer was palliative chemotherapy, to give me as long as possible.

'Since then, I have been having chemotherapy treatment every fortnight over three days.'

Now Ms Dick is speaking out to raise awareness of bowel cancer in younger people  with 2,500 under 50s being diagnosed with the disease annually in the UK  as part of Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer Never Too Young campaign.

She said: 'I think it's difficult for younger people, as it is much rarer to get a diagnosis under 50, but it does happen.

'People need to be aware to the symptoms and I think doctors need to be more aware that it can happen.

'Quite a lot of younger people are diagnosed much later, because there aren't the same screening tests and it's much too late.'

For more information about the charity, visit here.
One UK couple discovered they had brought home a nasty holiday souvenir no one wants: parasitic worms.

The unnamed husband and wife were left with a nasty burning, red rash on their buttocks after sunbathing on a beach in the Caribbean while on a cruise.

The wife initially noticed an 'initial burning sensation' after their trip and the next day woke up to find her backside was covered by an 'eruption' of red pinprick marks.

Her husband developed similar symptoms 10 days later.

Doctors diagnosed the pair with a parasitic infection known as cutaneous larva migrans.

But the source of it was extremely rare: it came from a kind of worm species that normally only infects dogs or cats.

Both also developed pneumonitis  inflammation of the lungs  which doctors said could have been caused by the hookworms infiltrating their lungs.

The wife woke up the day after her beach trip to find her backside was covered by an 'eruption' of red pinprick marks

Shortness of breath

When the woman first noticed the rash, a doctor on the cruise ship prescribed her antibiotics, as well as antifungal treatments and steroid creams  but nothing seemed to work.

Ten days later, the rash had spread further, when her husband also noticed he wa affected, according BMJ Case Reports.

Medics wrote: 'The patient's husband was noted to be itching and examination revealed a rash with equivalent distribution and morphology.'

Both pair were given medication used to treat parasitic infections, including head lice and scabies.

Five days later the wife was rushed to A&E with shortness of breath and a chest infection, and later her husband developed the same symptoms.

After another dose of treatment for the pneumonitis they both began to recover.

The husband who developed similar symptoms to his wife 10 days later

Typically, hookworms, which thrive in warm climates, bury themselves into the host's skin and make their way to the large intestine.

There, they lay their eggs, then pass out of the body in the stool.

But humans are not a natural host for Ancylostoma braziliense or Ancylostoma caninum.

However, they can become infected after walking barefoot on beaches, or coming into contact with soil that's contaminated with animal faeces.

They stay under the skin, trying to find their way. The rash is a reaction as the immune system tries to attack the parasite.

The doctor and his colleagues explained: 'The hookworm larvae are excreted in the faeces of the infected animal host (usually a dog or cat) on to sandy beaches or moist soil, where they can penetrate into the epidermis of human skin on contact.'

They said that symptoms to watch out for are the burning red spots at the site of entry.

Typically, a itchy rash will follow, which slowly creeps along a patch of skin over the next days or weeks.

They tend to infect the soles of a person's feet but can strike anywhere, the medics team warned.
Bicarbonate of soda helps women avoid Caesarean-sections, research reveals.

When dissolved in water, the kitchen staple enables between 17 and 20 per cent of women having slow or difficult labours to give birth naturally, without harming their babies, a study found.

Speaking on the BBC's Today show this morning, study author Professor Susan Wray from the University of Liverpool explained bicarb neutralises acids in the uterus, which increases women's likelihood of giving birth vaginally.

The bicarbonate used is the standard type available in supermarkets.

Around one-in-four births in the UK is carried out via c-section. Although usually safe, the procedure can cause blood clots, excessive bleeding and womb infections.

Bicarbonate of soda helps women avoid Caesarean-sections, research reveals (stock)

The kitchen staple enables between 17 and 20 per cent of women having slow or difficult labours to give birth naturally, without harming their babies (stock)

BREASTFEEDING REDUCES WOMEN'S RISK OF PAIN AFTER A C-SECTION BY THREE TIMES Breastfeeding reduces the discomfort of painful Caesarean sections, research revealed in June last year. Mothers who breastfeed for at least two months after a c-section are three times less likely to experience persistent pain than those who do so for a shorter period of time, the study found. Some 23 per cent of women who breastfeed for less than two months report pain at the site of their c-section versus just eight per cent who breastfeed for longer, the research adds. Anxiety significantly increases a woman's risk of suffering discomfort after the operation, the study also revealed. Caesarean sections make up around 25 per cent of all births in the UK and US. One in five mothers undergoing the procedure suffer pain that lasts beyond three months. Advertisement

How the research was carried out

The researchers, which included scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, analysed 200 women who had difficult or slow labours.

Some of the women then drank water containing bicarbonate of soda.

One hour later, they were given the hormone oxytocin, which is the standard-of-care during slow deliveries and causes the uterus to contract.

Those not given bicarb were administered oxytocin immediately.

'You can buy bicarb - it's really low rent'

The researchers believe consuming bicarb is a simple, cost-effective way to improve the wellbeing of mothers during labour all over the world.

Professor Wray told the Today show: 'You can buy bicarb as an antacid.

'Its really low rent. You can buy it if you feel a little bit hungover, heaven forbid, or if you feel youve got indigestion.'

The findings were published in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine.
The NHS is 'haemorrhaging' nurses as 33,000 quit in one year.

One in 10 nurses are leaving their position in England every 12 months, which is enough to staff more than 20 hospitals and means quitters outnumbered joiners by 3,000 last year.

Nurses leaving the profession are up by 20 per cent since 2012 to 2013, which adds extra pressure to already strained hospitals and requires staff be pulled off special research projects to help out.

Of those quitting, more than half are under 40, with many citing stress and rising workloads for being behind their decision to leave.

Although the Government is increasing the number of nurse training places by 25 per cent this year, it will be three years before they graduate, with one in nine nursing positions currently being vacant.

The NHS is 'haemorrhaging' nurses as 33,000 quit in one year, with many citing stress and rising workloads for being behind their decision to leave (stock)

THREE GPS A DAY ARE SEEKING HELP FOR 'MELTDOWNS' AS THEY STRUGGLE WITH THE WORKLOADS OF GROWING DOCTOR VACANCIES Three GPs a day are seeking help for 'meltdowns' as they struggle to take on the workloads of growing doctor vacancies. Some 981 GPs referred themselves to the GP Health Service, which was set up to help doctors suffering from stress or burnout, between the end of November and the service's launch on January 30 2017. 'Practice meltdown' is the most common reason for self-referral, according to the service's chief executive Lucy Warner. GPs are making themselves ill by being too eager to take on the workloads of unfilled positions, causing them to buckle under the pressure, General Practitioners Committee chairman Dr Richard Vautrey said, describing the situation as a 'baptism of fire'. Research carried out last year revealed nearly 12 per cent of GP positions are vacant in the UK, up from 6.4 per cent in 2014. Advertisement

'Dangerous and downward spiral'

Mary Trevelyan left her job as a nurse at a London hospital after she was often reduced to tears at the end of her shift by the stress of her working day.

Ms Trevelyan, who only worked for the NHS for two-and-a-half years, was signed off for three months due to stress and depression, and doubts she will be able to work for the health service again.

Janet Davies, head of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'The government must lift the NHS out of this dangerous and downward spiral.

'We are haemorrhaging nurses at precisely the time when demand has never been higher.

'The next generation of British nurses aren't coming through just as the most experienced nurses are becoming demoralised and leaving,' the BBC reported.

She adds that in order to motivate nurses to stay, they need to be paid more and offered greater support.

In Northern Ireland and Scotland 7.5 per cent and 7.2 per cent of nurses, respectively, left the profession in recent years, however, unlike in Wales, there are more joiners than leavers.

Most ex-nurses are thought to be working at drug firms or other roles within hospitals, while others are moving abroad or pursuing new careers altogether.

This is up by 20 per cent since 2012-2013, which adds pressure to strained hospitals (stock)

Nurses offered gym membership discounts as an incentive

NHS Improvement, which oversees trusts, is introducing a programme that offers more support to hospitals, as well as mentoring schemes for newly-qualified staff and 'itchy feet' interviews, which involves encouraged nurses to talk to their bosses if they are thinking of leaving.

Other initiatives included working with local business to provide incentives, such as gym membership discounts.

Nurses decrease as A&E visits rise

According to The Department of Health and Social Care in England, the number of NHS nurses being employed has risen, however, across the entire workforce, this is only by one per cent since 2010.

The population will have risen by five per cent during this period, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A&E visits have also increased by up to 20 per cent in this time frame.
Health chiefs ordered GPs to order cheap flu vaccines which are ineffective against the strain of flu causing most havoc in the UK, leaked files show.

NHS England asked doctors to purchase the trivalent jab - which offers no protection against the B Yamagata strain, referred to as 'Japanese flu'.

In guidance sent to local bosses, they warned that buying the quadrivalent jab would add 'significant cost pressures' amid concerns over funding.

The vaccine costs the NHS 2.75 more per dose, but it would have protected against Japanese flu - responsible for half of flu hospitalisations this winter.

Doctors fear the controversial decision may have fueled the severity of this year's outbreak, considered one of the worst to hit the UK in recent decades.

The known death toll across the home nations currently sits at 97 - but is likely to be much higher. More fatalities are expected in the coming weeks.

Thousands have been left hospitalised by flu - with nearly half caused by Japanese flu and a fifth from H3N2 - commonly referred to as 'Aussie flu'.

NHS England asked doctors to purchase the trivalent jab - which offers no protection against the B Yamagata strain, referred to as 'Japanese flu' (stock)

Nick Scriven, president of the Society of Acute Medicine, told HSJ: 'Not using the quadrivalent vaccine has increased the risk of flu admissions [this year].

'Half of the flu cases we are getting are the A strain, half are the B. Its probably about half the cases that are coming into hospital that may have been prevented.'

It comes after private GPs were yesterday accused of cashing in on the flu crisis by charging 45 for a vaccine that costs the NHS just 8.

And just two weeks after health chiefs admitted the current flu jab is ineffective for over-75s and ordered doctors to switch to a new version next winter.

Latest figures show that the flu outbreak in the UK shows no signs of letting up, with cases rocketing by 35 per cent in a week.

Projections also state the four home nations are on the brink of an epidemic in the coming few weeks, with Scotland being hit the hardest.

The most recent in-depth breakdown shows 1,938 people have been hospitalised by the flu in England so far this winter.

WHAT FLU STRAINS ARE IN THE UK? There are many different types of flu circulating around the world, but four main types are being seen in Britain this winter. H3N2 - Dubbed Aussie flu after it struck Australia hard last winter, this strain is more likely to affect the elderly, who do not respond well to the current vaccine. This is one of the most common strains seen so far this winter, with 63 confirmed cases seen in official laboratories. H1N1 - This strain  known as swine flu - is generally more likely to hit children, who respond well to vaccination. This has been seen nearly as often as H3N2 so far this year, with 50 cases confirmed in labs. In the past it was only commonly caught from pigs, but that changed in 2009 when it started spreading rapidly among humans in a major global pandemic. B / Yamagata - This is known as 'Japanese flu'. Only people who received the four strain vaccine - which is being slowly rolled out after it was introduced for the first time this winter - are protected against the Yamagata strain. Those who received the normal three strain vaccine are not protected, and it has been seen in 63 lab cases so far this winter. B / Victoria - This strain is vaccinated against in the normal three strain vaccine, but has hardly appeared so far this winter, with just four confirmed cases. Advertisement

Some 199 were caused by H1N1, which triggered the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that killed 50 million.

A further 448 strains of influenza A were unidentified while 432 have been caused by H3N2, which rocked Australia during the country's winter.

The remaining 859 cases were caused by strains of influenza B, including 'Japanese flu', which usually produces less side effects, according to PHE data.

The HSJ investigation suggests a large chunk of those latter cases could have been avoided had GPs been advised to purchase the quadrivalent jab.

One NHS England regional team, which is responsible for commissioning advice in its area, urged GPs to choose trivalent vaccines for this winter's flu season.

The advice was seen in documents from last year sent to three CCGs, responsible for commissioning services, that were obtained by HSJ.

Trivalent vaccines protect against two influenza A strains, H1N1 and H3N2, and one influenza B strain - but not Yamagata. Doses are believed to cost the NHS 5.25.

The quadrivalent flu vaccine protects against the same strains the trivalent vaccine does, as well as the extra influenza B virus. Doses are believed to cost the NHS 8.

Figures show 11 million people deemed at risk, including pregnant women, the over-65s and children under the age of two, received the flu jab in 2016.

NHS England South was shown to have emphasised the 'cost effectiveness' of the trivalent vaccine in governing body papers published by West Kent CCG.

The document read: 'The quadrivalent vaccine is "preferable" all things being equal, but it is not mandated for the adult programme.

'The quadrivalent vaccine has a higher cost than the trivalent vaccine and this would add significant cost pressures to the prescribing budget across the South East.'

MOTHER'S HEARTACHE AS HER 18-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER DIES FROM FLU An 18-year-old girl has become the tragic victim of the flu, her heartbroken mother has revealed. Bethany Walker, from Applecross, died after taking ill at home - initially from flu symptoms which later developed into pneumonia. Miss Walker was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness but died later last Friday. Tributes have poured in on social media. Bethany Walker, from Applecross, died after taking ill at home - initially from flu symptoms which later developed into pneumonia Her mother Heather Teale wrote on Facebook: 'My beautiful Daughter Bethany Walker was taken from me yesterday (Jan 5). 'She had been suffering from a flu virus, which became pneumonia. 'She was airlifted to Raigmore with me by her side yesterday morning (Jan 5), where she rapidly deteriorated. 'The staff in Intensive Care could not have done more, she was given the best possible treatment from a team of eight people for over two hours, they tried everything possible but sadly despite their best efforts she didn't make it.' She added: 'I am broken, the bottom has fallen out of my world. I have my mum with me, and my wonderful son Danny Walker who are both feeling the same loss as I am. Miss Walker was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness but died later last Friday. Tributes have poured in on social media 'Life will never be the same again. Bethany, I love you to the moon and back, I always have and I always will, you were the best daughter I could have ever wished for and I will always be the proudest mum in the world. 'I have no more words. I'm truly devastated. Sleep tight my beautiful girl, your brother and I will love you forever, you will never be out of my thoughts as long as I live.' Among those paying his respects was TV adventurer Monty Halls, who lived on the Applecross peninsula in 2008 for his Great Escapes series. He wrote: 'Heather, I am so, so sorry to hear this news - it is beyond comprehension. Words seem so completely inadequate. 'Every member of the film crew for Great Escapes remembers her so fondly, a total delight. 'My deepest condolences to you, and your family. I know the entire team send their best wishes, their thoughts, and their love. Monty xxx' The Applecross Inn Facebook also paid its own special tribute: 'Farewell to dear Bethany another fantastic member of our team who we sadly lost last Friday after a short illness, you were the 'belle of the ball' at Hogmanay......and indeed everywhere. 'Such a tragic loss of someone so perfect in every way, so polite, such beauty, humour, fun, music and studies. 'You were pure pleasure as an employee.....loved by every member of our team, so much devotion and dedication to all you did.' Miss Walker wanted to study midwifery and was due to head for Aberdeen University later this year. Advertisement

It said chiefs 'should select the product with the lowest purchase price to the NHS and not purchase the quadrivalent vaccine for adults'.

The HSJ investigation found the same was published by Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge CCGs and North Hampshire CCG.

Papers from nine separate CCGs show NHS regional teams also advised GPs not to order the more expensive vaccine.

NHS England told the website it had not sent out any national advice to GPs, as regional teams have the final say on what instructions are dished out.

The flu vaccine is available on the NHS for over-65s, children between two to eight, pregnant women and patients with long-term conditions.

Some patients entitled to an NHS jab have decided to pay privately for the more powerful four-strain vaccine amid fears the trivalent is ineffective.

Several Boots stores in the Midlands, East Anglia, South and South West said they had run out of the flu jab at the weekend.
Wedding snub? Carillion Chairman Philip Green at a polo tournament with Prince Harry

Will Carillions discredited chairman Philip Green, 64, be invited to the royal wedding?

As chairman of Prince Harrys charity Sentebale, hed be a shoo-in under normal circumstances.

But current events mean his invitation has more than likely gone up in smoke. As have any hopes of upgrading his CBE to a K. An acquaintance predicts: Philip will be crestfallen.

Toadying up to establishment types is his lifeblood.

Carillions collapse has got the opposition benches crowing over the outsourcing firms links to the Government, but it enjoys strong Labour connections too.

Tony Blairs former political secretary Sally Morgan, 58, joined the board last June, just when its problems were unfurling.

She was also a 53,000-a-year director of Southern Cross when the care home went bust. Now Baroness Morgan of Huyton, theres no danger of her being confused with Sally Morgan, the famous television psychic.

Royal Bank of Scotlands 748,000-a-year chairman Sir Howard Davies, 66, refused to rule himself out of the Bank of England governorship when Skys Ian King asked if hed like the job, responding: I was deputy governor a number of years ago.

Things have moved on quite a bit since then, but well have to see. Sir Howards got no chance of course. I suspect the vain boobys secretly delighted hes even being mooted.

JP Morgans 20million-a-year chief Jamie Dimon has rowed back on his view Donald Trump was unlikely to win a second term as President, admitting: I wish I hadnt said that.

Last week, Dimon, 61, performed a similar volte-face on Bitcoin, saying he regretted describing the crypto-currency as a fraud. Perhaps hell now express remorse for slagging off Brexit, which he predicted would be terrible for the British economy.

Asked how many books he reads a year, ex-London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet, 58, replies: Not that much, maybe 150 or so. Not that much? Self-assured Xaviers never been one to blow his own trumpet . . .
I'm alright: Carillion chairman Philip Green can resume his search for honours

Greg Clarks announcement of a fast-track Insolvency Service probe into the collapse of Carillion and its current and former directors should be treated with contempt.

Carillion chairman Philip Green can resume his search for honours, former chief executive Richard Howson can retreat to his Swiss chalet and serial non-executive director and former Tony Blair acolyte Dame Sally Morgan can look for the next job. There is little to fear.

We have been here before. After the outcry over the collapse of BHS, then Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced a similar fast-track inquiry by the Insolvency Service on May 3, 2016. Since then the world has moved on.

Former BHS proprietor and namesake Sir Philip Green made good on the pension fund. Dominic Chappell has had his first days in court and been found guilty of failing to provide the Pensions Regulator with timely information.

And the new Qatari owners of BHS are making an international success of the brand on the web.

That is more than can be said about the snail-like response of the Insolvency Service. The last heard from it was a guarded letter to Frank Field MP in February 2017 informing his committee that the issues were complex, the volume of evidence great and it planned to be in a position to pursue proceedings against former directors earlier than April 2019.

In other words, the 11,000 former BHS employees, its suppliers, retirees and everyone else connected to the company will have waited up to three years to see justice done, if at all.

What is equally frustrating is that the work of the Insolvency Service is so opaque. In the more complex Carillion failure, which reaches deep into government and involves a byzantine collection of joint ventures and a complicated supply chain, all those involved deserve proper answers quickly.

A judge-led probe, with directors required to give evidence in public and under oath, would be ideal. One thinks back to the late Lord Justice Binghams inquiry into the collapse of BCCI in 1992 which was completed and published within a year.

As for the Financial Reporting Council probe into KPMG and the accountants working for Carillion, there can be no hope for a definitive or speedy response.

Hedge funds and short traders could see that Carillion was racing towards the buffers by careful reading of the accounts and monitoring of the construction media.

But the audit report gave no clues. If HBOS is any guide, however, KPMG will sail magnificently on with partners collecting average salaries of 722,000.

Not bad money for a lousy job.

GKN alert

Too often pension scheme members are the last thing on the minds of those involved in takeover battles. How attentive was the board of Carillion as it swallowed up construction firms Wimpey, Mowlem and Alfred McAlpine and three years ago had an unsuccessful tilt at Balfour Beatty?

So it is fascinating that the pension fund trustees are rippling their muscles as quoted predator Melrose, private equity group Carlyle and activists Elliott Partners put the engineer GKN under siege.

The GKN pension fund trustees note that after a cash injection of 250million into the pension fund in the last year, the retirement schemes are still in deficit to the tune of 1.1billion or potentially 1.8billion depending on how the computations are done. Indeed, with 32,337 members the GKN schemes are larger than BHS and Carillion.

Not surprisingly, given the recent history of firms seeking to ditch pension funds, making sure the covenant is strong enough and the pension scheme properly funded is a key piece of any takeover. As the trustees point out, they are significant stakeholders and if the company were to be reshaped (by doing the splits) or bought they need to be part of the deal and have a say in the strategic future.

As far as the predators are concerned pension liabilities are a poison pill.

Obama legacy

Former president Barack Obamas war on British Petroleum, as he deliberately called it after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, is still costing UK savers and pensioners dearly.

BP has announced that it is setting aside a further 1.2billion to cover environmental damage claims, bringing the total cost of the incident to a whopping 45billion.

No one ever suggested that Obama should be banned from these shores.
I bought a Sony TV from Currys for 689 and my son fitted it to the wall. Seven months later, a white line about 8in wide appeared on the screen. I went back to Currys and was told I had to deal directly with Sony.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone with someone who told me to set up the TV again and send a photo. They said an engineer would come by the next day to arrange a replacement, so I waited in  but no one turned up.

I then received an email saying Sony had been trying to make contact, but I'd heard nothing. I called again and was then refused a refund.

At Sony's request, I paid 66 for an engineer to visit. They said this type of TV was vulnerable at the side. I am very upset by Sony's attitude and refusal to listen.

B. G., by email.

Snubbed: One reader's Sony television developed a fault after just seven months but neither the retailer or the manufacturer were keen to help

Your case highlights an issue often faced by consumers who buy faulty goods: retailers referring purchasers to the manufacturer  but your contract is with the shop that sold the goods.

The Consumer Rights Act states you can reject faulty goods and claim a full refund within 30 days of a purchase (relevant to goods bought after October 1, 2015).

After 30 days, you must give the manufacturer one opportunity to repair or replace the item. If this is unsuccessful, you can then claim a refund or discount.

Your right to make a claim in the small claims court if the retailer refuses to repair or replace a product lasts for six years. However, after the first six months, the onus is on you to prove a fault was present at the time of purchase.

This does not mean a product must last six years; a lot rests on what is considered a 'reasonable' amount of time. But I think everyone would agree that a TV should function for longer than seven months.

You tell me Sony said you should not have used a bracket to fix it to a wall. Sorry, but if that's the case, it doesn't sound fit for purpose.

The good news is when I took your problem to Currys, it leapt into action. As this issue had occurred in July and we were by then into November, you'd already bought a new TV, so it gave you a refund for this of 698 and 66 to cover the engineer's visit.

Sony was rather more defensive. Of the supposed weakness, it said: 'It is not a problem we have found with our televisions and is not our official position...An approved service centre would not have offered this advice.'

It says it cannot reassess the damage because the TV has now been recycled. It adds: 'We value our customers and their feedback and are reviewing this case.'

YOU HAVE YOUR SAY Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from our article about how a reporters battle at a traffic tribunal could help you overturn an unfair penalty: What an excellent result. I was fined for using a bus lane at 3am, long after the buses had stopped running. Councils are milking motorists for huge sums without any fairness. K. B., South Shields, Tyne & Wear. How much money did the council spend collecting and defending this fine? After you add in the high salaries, its no wonder there is very little left for public services. M. N., Portadown, N. Ireland. Its good to see this reporters claim was successful, but I think she got lucky. I think the council had a strong case, but didnt defend it properly. M. D., London. The problem is that the burden of proof is on the driver  you are guilty until you are proven otherwise. Bullying councils need to look at the way they enforce traffic offences such as this. Its clearly unfair. D. N., Southampton. Its simple: you must not drive in bus lanes  the signs looked pretty clear to me. Nobody likes getting a fine, but sometimes, youve just got to accept it and pay when you do wrong. N. C., London. I had the same issue when riding my motorcycle in a bus lane near Kings Cross in London. I couldnt see the signage, so thought I was allowed to ride there. I appealed the fine, but it was rejected. I could have gone to a tribunal, but thought it wasnt worth it and paid the 60 fine. F. D., Chatham, Kent. I find it astounding that councils can set fines at levels which, for some people, amount to a weeks wages. Other countries levy fines based on a percentage of your earnings  thats how it should be. T. S., Essex.

We left Virgin Media because we had received appalling customer service. Our last bill was on June 12 for 134.28. This covered payment up to July 12, but Virgin cut off our broadband on July 3, which meant we had no internet for ten days.

Now we have received a bill for 147.63 dated August 17.

T. D., Kent.

Media companies that can't communicate properly with customers are a regular irritation in this column. On August 30, you wrote to Virgin Media disputing your bill and you explained that it should contact you on your landline, not your mobile phone.

Five weeks later, it wrote back acknowledging your letters and saying that it had been trying to call you on your mobile phone.

Such unmitigated daftness is hard to explain  unless it hadn't bothered to read your letters. Virgin argued that a bill was outstanding because there was a 30-day notice period from June 21. It said the final balance was made up of charges from June 22 to July 21.

No mention was made of the fact it cut off your service earlier. The good news is that it has now cleared the balance and apologises for any distress.

It admits it did not follow the disconnection process correctly when you called to cancel in May  and says the 30-day notice period should have started then.

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT I have old American Express travellers cheques which I want to convert back into money. Where can I do this? S. S., Burscough, Lancs. American Express has a tool on its website that lists the places you can exchange travellers cheques. Visit aetclocator.com and type in your postcode or call 0800 587 6023, or try your local Post Office. *** I was locked out of my iPhone due to a fault and couldnt remember my Apple ID. Apple said I had to wait for three days for an account recovery to take place. But, when I logged in online three days later, the wait had changed to 11 days. Why? J. H., Birmingham. Apple says for your security, recovery might take several days, depending on the verification information you can provide. The three-day warning was the length of time it took to initiate the recovery process. Then the system was able to determine the actual length of the account recovery. In your case, this was 11 days. SEARCH FOR CHEAPER CAR INSURANCE IN MINUTES *** A recent Money Mail article mentioned two websites you can use to check a vehicles MOT and sales history, and another site to check which bank a sort code and account number belong to. What are the web addresses? R. P., Birmingham. You can check a vehicles MOT details at cazana.com/uk or carnapper.co.uk. If you do not use the internet, call the AA, which charges 14.99, on 0800 316 3564. To find out where bank branches are based, try sort codes.co.uk. Never pay for a vehicle with a bank transfer until you have inspected it. *** I tried to cash in 1,950 of my Premium Bonds last week, but I couldnt remember my password. Instead, the person at National Savings & Investments (NS&I) asked me a security question about a store card I took out ten years ago  how am I meant to remember that? Now I cant get access to my money. Please help. M. M., Woking, Surrey. NS&I says it has contacted you and asked you further security questions, which you answered correctly. It is now processing your request and says your money should be with you soon.

In January last year, I sold a bangle for 1,299 online. I shipped it to America using Parcelforce Global Priority at a total cost of 99.15, including 55.80 enhanced insurance.

The item never arrived, so I put in a claim. When I dispatched it, I was not informed the package would not be covered for the full insurance.

I have been sent cheques to the value of 100.15 in compensation, but nothing regarding the value of the item, and I have had to refund the buyer.

L. P., Hampshire.

Enhanced cover provides for loss or damage of items worth up to 2,500 per consignment  but this excludes certain items, such as jewellery.

Royal Mail, which owns Parcelforce, says this is made very clear in its terms and conditions before the cover is bought. On this occasion, it is offering a one-off payment of 300 as a goodwill gesture. I think this is the best offer you are going to get under the circumstances and suggest that you accept it.
The North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives is holding its 75th annual meeting at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Bismarck.

This years theme is Grounded Through the Roots of Cooperation. The general session, which concludes on Thursday, is open to the public and will include an annual report, presentations on industry issues and panel discussions.

The story of 75 years of success for NDAREC is best understood through the commitment that cooperatives have to their members. It is a shared commitment to a reliable and affordable power supply, to a skilled and accountable workforce and to heroic dedication to keeping power flowing to members," said Josh Kramer, NDAREC, executive vice president and general manager.

A breakfast will begin at 7 a.m. Bismarck Police Chief Dan Donlin and addiction counselor Tyler Auck will share their story, The Cop and the (Ex) Criminal: An Unlikely Friendship. At 8:15 a.m. there will be a greeting from PSC Commissioner Brian Kroshus and a panel discussion with local magazine and newspaper publishers. Later, Steve Collier, vice president of business development at Milsoft Utility Solutions, will moderate a panel with electric cooperative leaders.
Bitcoin plunged into double-digit losses as fears grew of crackdowns.

The digital currency and others, including ethereum, ripple, bitcoin cash and cardano, tanked yesterday after officials in South Korea and China suggested they could try to block trading.

A massive sell-off sent Bitcoin down by as much as 20 per cent. It has fallen from touching $20,000 a coin on 16 December 2017, to dipping under $10,000 today.

Bitcoin bloodbath: Bitcoin and others tanked after officials in South Korea and China suggested they could try to block trading

The next biggest rival currency, ethereum, was also down by more than 20 per cent. Today it sits at $890 a coin after reaching a high of $1,350 at the weekend.

Ripple, the third biggest, plunged by 33 per cent. Today, it sits at $1.04 a coin after reaching a record high of $3.84 on 4 January.

It means many investors tempted into the crypto craze before Christmas may have seen some serious losses.

Measures being considered by China include targeting online trading platforms and mobile apps.

South Korean ministers said the government was plotting a clampdown on the 'irrational' cryptocurrency craze.

But Joachim Wuermeling, a director at Germany's central bank, said any attempt to regulate crypto currencies would require global cooperation.

Yesterday, we ran a round-up for digital currency alternatives to bitcoin and ethereum, warning over the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies.

You can read the full round-up here: The cryptocurrencies that could boom in 2018: Ripple, litecoin and five more upstarts hoping to follow in bitcoin's footsteps (and why buyers must beware)
Barclays has been accused of endangering 250,000 workers' nest eggs after dumping responsibility for its pension fund onto its casino banking arm.

As part of an industry-wide shake-up to make finance safer, the lender is splitting its retail section off from its more risky investment bank.

The aim is to keep ordinary customers sheltered from any problems which blow up in times of economic turmoil  and prevent future bailouts by the taxpayer.

But as part of the so-called ring-fencing arrangement, Barclays has lumped its pension fund in with the investment bank.

Risky business: Barclays is splitting its retail section off from its more investment bank

Critics claim it means the scheme  which has 250,000 members and a 7.9billion funding black hole  will depend for its survival on the strength of risky bets made on global markets.

The alternative would have been to give responsibility for the pension pot to the retail bank, which will have its own separate board and cash reserves to protect it during times of trouble.

Experts last night said they were shocked at the bank's decision, and even the scheme's own chairman has admitted it seems strange at first glance.

Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: 'It's very important that the pension scheme isn't just jettisoned into a risky business without proper funding.

There would normally be a requirement for the rest of the bank to stand behind the scheme.

DOORSTEP LENDER WRITES OFF 115 Ailing Provident Financial lost 115million after a disastrous IT shake-up intended to boost profits. The doorstep lender was last year forced to admit a new booking system for debt collectors had backfired badly  sending them to the wrong houses at the wrong times and playing havoc with the business. The firm haemorrhaged staff and customers as a result and has now said the debacle cost 115million, at the top end of what markets were expecting. Bosses said the company has 530,000 active doorstep lending borrowers, up 6 per cent since the end of September. But in a sign of the damage done, this is down from 755,000 in March last year. Separately, the City watchdog is probing possible mis-selling at Providents Vanquis Bank credit card and Moneybarn car finance divisions, which both target hard-up customers. The firm, which is also looking for a chief executive, said it is working with Financial Conduct Authority investigators to find a solution.

If I were a trustee, I would want the scheme to be properly funded and have the backing of the full strength of Barclays.' Altmann called for action by The Pensions Regulator, which oversees retirement schemes.

However, the watchdog has no power to intervene in ring-fencing cases unless the banks themselves ask it to because they judge a plan to pose a possible risk.

The Mail understands Barclays considers its arrangement to be financially sound and did not ask TPR for extra guidance.

The regulator could decide to step in at a later date after the change has been made  although critics warned this is only likely to happen when disaster has struck and it is already too late.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister who is policy director at Royal London, said: 'Instinctively, this feels wrong.

'It would be incredibly difficult to unpick later on, and the last thing you want is for the regulator to have to pick up the pieces after things have gone wrong. As a member of a pension scheme you want to know your employer will be there in 50 years' time.'

Several retired senior bankers have attacked the change.

Andrew Fox, the 70-year-old former head of industrial economics at Barclays, said the move is 'scandalous'. Peter Goshawk, head of the trustees, said that 'emotionally, it looks odd' but added the decision makes sense for savers.

Barclays has agreed with the trustees that if the investment bank runs into any problems in the next seven years, the pension scheme will be kept afloat by the retail arm.

The lender has also pledged to keep 9billion of reserves on stand-by to plug gaps in a crisis. And it is closing the pension gap by 2025.

Sources said it would have been expensive and time-consuming to put the scheme into the ring-fenced bank, and added the investment division is well-funded and does not take any unnecessary risks.

It is understood that only 16 pensioners complained about the proposals during a consultation over the summer.

A spokesman for TPR said: 'We are aware of this plan and have discussed it with Barclays and the scheme's trustees.

'However we will not be commenting further on this particular case unless it becomes appropriate to do so.'

Barclays and the bank's pension trustees declined to comment.

The bank's shares rose 2 per cent, or 3.86p, to 199.4p.
A major revolution in banking took place at the weekend  but you probably won't have noticed.

Under new laws, you can now ask your current account provider to share details of your income, spending habits and debts with third-party internet companies.

You are also now allowed to hand over your password and log-in details to these firms.

The idea is that the third party can save you money by helping you budget or shop around for cheap deals.

All change: Under new laws, you can now ask your current account provider to share details of your income, spending habits and debts with third-party internet companies

But banks are already warning that some customers could be left out of pocket if they fall victim to fraud.

Our guide to this new system, which is called Open Banking, explains everything you need to know about the shake-up  and shows the dangers of handing over the keys to your banking secrets.

WHAT'S THIS REVOLUTION ABOUT?

Under new rules introduced at the weekend, banks can share information about your current account and spending habits with other companies.

This includes whether you pay for your bank account, the size of your overdraft and details of any transactions and direct debits.

Who gets access to this information is completely up to you.

It might be that you want a price comparison website to help you find a new bank account with a better overdraft, or a budgeting app to track your spending.

But whatever it is, you must give explicit permission to your bank to share your details  and you can withdraw consent at any time.

Over the next 18 months, the rules will be extended to allow firms to share information about credit cards, prepaid cards and 'e-wallets' such as PayPal and Apple Pay.

WHY SHOULD I HAND OVER MY DETAILS?

The competition watchdog wants banks to do more to fight for our business. Its research shows that just 3 per cent of people switch current accounts in a year.

By forcing banks to share your data in a standardised, secure way, it hopes it will be easier for customers to see better deals and boost competition in the market.

Only the largest nine current account providers  Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, RBS Group and Santander  are required to share your data when asked, but others are expected to sign up voluntarily.

However, despite the new rules taking effect last Saturday, only three of the nine  Allied Irish Bank, Danske Bank and Lloyds  are ready to start sharing data.

The rest have been given an extension to update their systems. Most should be ready by March.

HOW WILL AN APP TRACK MY MONEY?

If you are on a company's mailing list you may soon get requests for you to share information.

Or when signing up for a new mobile phone app or applying for a new account or loan there may be a box to tick allowing access.

Only customers with an online banking account will be able to share details.

If you bank online and you give a third party permission to access your account information, they should spell out how they intend to use the details and how long they need access to them.

When taking out a loan, the company would likely need to see a snapshot of your current account only once to assess if you can afford the repayments. But if you sign up to a budgeting app, it will need ongoing access to your data to monitor your spending.

Appy days: Only customers with an online banking account will be able to share details

If you decide to go ahead, you will be directed to your bank or building society's online banking log-in page, where you will need to sign in and confirm that you are giving your permission.

Your encrypted data will then be sent to the company. You do not need to share your online banking log-in details or passwords.

You will have to give permission to each company with which you want to share your information  it is not a matter of turning on a general data-sharing button.

As long as you don't give permission via your online banking, your data will not be shared. If you get unsolicited requests, you should report them.

After 90 days, each firm will need to request permission again to continue using your data.

You can change your mind at any time and tell your bank to stop sharing your information, or you can cancel with the firm directly.

Only firms registered with the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, (or the European equivalent) can use the Open Banking system to access your data like this.

ARE THERE ANY PERKS TO IT?

Experts hope there will be a wave of clever new budgeting apps which let you see all your financial information  current accounts, credit cards and savings accounts  in one place.

With access to your transaction information they could tell you where to make savings by reducing your overdraft charges, credit card interest or loan repayments.

They could alert you when you're about to go into the red and move money from a savings account.

Price comparison websites could use the information to help you find cheaper broadband and energy deals and give a more accurate idea of potential savings.

Three banks, one of which is First Direct, are understood to be developing similar tools to advertise deals on household bills that should appeal specifically to you.

Some firms, such as lender Zopa, plan to use the new rules to speed up loan applications.

Instead of having to send off bank statements in the post to prove your income, you'll be able to simply click a button to share your current account information.

In this way it could also speed up affordability checks for mortgage applications.

Retailers are expected to work with banks so that when shopping online you may be able to see your bank account balance on screen at the checkout.

You can also ask an app to take a payment directly from your account  so you may no longer need a debit or credit card when spending online.

But none of it can be tested as the banks and technology firms have yet to launch their new apps and services.

With access to your transaction information apps could tell you where to make savings by reducing your overdraft charges, credit card interest or loan repayments

CAN I KEEP MY PASSWORDS SAFE?

Under separate EU rules, called the Payment Services Directive, you are now also allowed to share online banking log-in details and passwords with third parties such as money management apps  that are not registered under the UK's Open Banking.

Previously, banks considered sharing usernames and passwords to be a breach of their terms and conditions, so you struggled to get your money back if you fell victim to fraud.

Yet even though it is no longer prohibited, banks say it is still risky and they still will not be responsible for any losses you suffer as a result.

On its website, Lloyds says sharing log-on details with firms working outside of Open Banking is 'less safe' and makes you more vulnerable to fraud.

This is because under Open Banking you don't need to disclose log-in details, the company formally requests encrypted data from your bank.

If the firm is not part of Open Banking, it will log in to your account posing as you and copy whatever data it finds  this is known as 'screen scraping'.

Banks have updated their terms and conditions to spell out that they may not reimburse you should something go wrong in this instance.

Nationwide says that if you give your details to an unregistered firm it will 'not be responsible for any losses you suffer as a result of misuse or disclosure of information about your account by that third party'.

Brian Brown, head of insight at data analysts Defaqto, says: 'Anyone thinking of sharing their log-in details with an unregistered third party needs to read the terms and conditions very carefully.

'Banks will not take responsibility if something goes wrong when you gave the third party permission to take funds from your account.

'As far as they'll be concerned, they will have just done as you've told them to, so if something goes wrong you could be left seriously out of pocket.'

If the company is registered by the FCA and you notice a payment you didn't authorise, you should be able to claim back the money from your bank  providing you haven't been negligent with your account details.

If the third party was at fault, your bank will reclaim the money from that organisation.

Risk: On its website, Lloyds says sharing log-on details with firms working outside of Open Banking is 'less safe' and makes you more vulnerable to fraud

Some banks are also suggesting to customers that it is up to you to check the firm is registered before handing over your details.

You can check this on the Financial Services Register, at fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services- register. However, it may take up to 18 months for some firms to register  and you will not be protected in the meantime.

If you have a problem with a registered third party that will not rectify the issue, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman by calling 0800 023 4567.

If you are concerned by how the firm uses your data, you can report the incident to the Information Commissioners Office.

A spokeswoman for Lloyds Banking Group says: 'Open Banking is safest where your log-in details won't be shared with third parties. If our customers have been victims of fraud we always review the specific circumstances, looking at each on a case-by-case basis.'

WILL MY DATA STAY PROTECTED?

This so-called banking revolution has already been described as a fraudster's charter.

Your bank account transactions alone can tell someone where you live, work, shop, whether you are religious, if you belong to a trade union, what political party you support, who provides your mortgage, credit card and utilities . . . the list goes on.

If all  or any  of this information falls into the wrong hands, it could be used to steal your identity or raid your account. By knowing so much about you it will also be far easier for fraudsters to trick you into handing over more information at a later date or to carry out a scam.

Experts are concerned that with so many firms contacting customers about changes to their terms and conditions and offering new services, fraudsters will seize the opportunity to try to trick you into handing over your details.

They have also warned that fraudsters may set up fake open webpages that mirror legitimate sites. Others fear dishonest firms could bury traps in the small print, leaving customers more exposed than they realise.

Mr Brown, of Defaqto, says: 'We will pore over the terms and conditions of any new app or service launched to ensure there are no hidden catches in the small print.

'Customers must be careful to keep track of to whom they have given access to their information.'

Then there is the question of how secure your data will be once you've handed it over.

Even major firms such as Equifax and TalkTalk are not immune to cyber attacks. So if you're sharing your sensitive data, you need to be sure you trust the firm to guard it well.

Howard Davies, chairman of RBS, has said the bank is not confident its customers' data will be protected from hackers when shared with third parties.

You should also be sure that the service offered merits the risk of handing over your details  and isn't just a money-making scheme for the company.

Gareth Shaw, money expert at Which?, says: 'Open Banking has the potential to offer consumers more control of their finances and boost choice, but it also comes with potential risks around data privacy and security.

'Regulators and industry must ensure that customers are properly protected from data breaches and scams, which is vital if consumers are to use these services with confidence and trust.'

Imran Gulamhuseinwala of the Open Banking Implementation Entity, which was set up by the Competitions And Markets Authority to oversee the Open Banking roll-out, says: 'This is a remarkable project.

If we get it right, we will, for the first time anywhere in the world, put the customer in control of their data, their privacy and their finances.

'The Open Banking system is built with rigorously tested software and security systems that enable customers to share access safely and securely.

'This can only happen with a customer's explicit permission (and with full understanding of how, for how long and for what purpose this data will be used).

'In the event of fraudulent payments, banks are required to reimburse the customer. They are further protected by data protection laws and have full recourse to the Financial Ombudsman.'

A spokeswoman for the FCA says: 'Before you use one of these services be alert, and make sure you are confident that any organisations you share your information with are who they say they are. You should make sure that you understand the service and that you are happy with who will be providing it to you.'

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
A quick-thinking Florida sea captain is being hailed as a hero after he grounded a burning ship on a sand bar, allowing his 49 passengers, many of them elderly, to wade through knee-deep water to safety on Sunday.

Captain Mike Batten, 37, ran through the burning boat to make sure no one else was on-board before jumping into the water as 50-foot flames shot up behind him.

By the time the vessel burned to the waterline, every one of the passengers were accounted for, with most saying they owed their lives to Batten.

And that's something that makes him cringe.

'I was just doing my job,' the seaman said in an exclusive interview with Dailymail.com. 'And someone eventually died. I can't put that out of my head.'

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Captain Mike Batten, 37, (pictured) saved 49 passengers after a boat burst into flames in waters off the coast of Tampa, Florida, on Sunday. Batten told DailyMail.com: 'I was just doing my job. And someone eventually died. I can't put that out of my head'

The captain made a quick decision to steer the boat towards a sand bar, instead of having passengers jump into deeper waters, so that they could wade to shore. Pictured: Passengers jumping off the burning boat

By the time the vessel burned to the waterline, every one of the 49 people on-board were accounted for, with most saying they owed their lives to Batten

However, Carrie Dempsey, a 42-year-old mother-of-two, later died on Sunday night. According to other passengers, she had refused treatment after making it to shore alive but was admitted to a hospital several hours later

Indeed a woman, 42-year-old mother-of-two Carrie Dempsey, died after the incident.

According to other passengers, she had refused treatment after making it to shore alive. But she was admitted to a hospital several hours later, feeling ill and died shortly before 11pm on Sunday.

Autopsy results for the widow are pending.

Batten admits more people could've died if he had made different decisions, and says he's still processing the tragic event.

'I'd like to go meet her family,' Batten said. 'I do not feel anything I did caused her death. But the people I may have saved don't outweigh the fact I know the woman's family is in pain.'

Batten started his workday on Sunday at the helm of Island Lady, the 72-foot boat, with expectations it would be an uneventful day - just a little chilly with temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Batten's job was to shuttle casino cruise passengers from the dock to a larger ship, the Tropical Breeze, in international waters where gambling is legal.

Batten, a father of two teenagers, left the dock for the hour-long ride to the larger ship by 3.30pm with 49 passengers: two crew members, 12 casino employees and dozens of would-be gamblers.

Nearly half of the gamblers, Batten said, were elderly people.

'Some of them come every day,' Batten said. 'So I've [gotten] to know them.'

Batten (left and right) says he has worked on the water since he was 15 years old. He is properly licensed to operate any vessel under 100 tons and also captains the larger casino ship

Batten told DailyMail.com: 'There was no time for anything. Each second counted. I'll be back on the water. I just need a little time'

Batten said the shift started off as normal, doing his routine checks. The two Caterpillar diesel engines were in fine shape. Life jackets were hung throughout the boat. There was no gauge in his wheelhouse that showed any problem.

Five minutes after leaving land and as he finished up his routine passenger safety announcement over the loud-speaker, Batten said an alarm sounded on his dash panel.

'One of the engines was running really hot,' he said as he sipped on coffee in a Port Richey, Florida, diner. 'As soon as I saw the gauge needle all the way up, I turned the boat around to go back to the dock, left a crew member to steer and I went to the engine room.'

There, Batten said, he didn't like what he saw.

'There was something wrong with the waterline of one of the engines,' he said, describing it as a line that brings water into the engine to cool it down. 'Water was spouting all over the place and turning into steam.

'I think the engine could've been affected by the colder temperatures. I don't know what was wrong.'

All he knew, Batten said, was that he needed to get back to the dock.

Batten added: 'I idled the engine that was overheating. The boat is designed to be operated on just one engine. I told the passengers to all get upstairs to the upper deck.'

With thick smoke shooting out of the engine room, Batten made a bet that would eventually pay off: Instead of instructing his passengers to grab life jackets and jump in deeper waters, he started heading towards a sand bar

Batten said: 'I idled the engine that was overheating. The boat is designed to be operated on just one engine. I told the passengers to all get upstairs to the upper deck'

Coastline residents waited on the beach with blankets and warm drinks for the passengers who had a murky walk through water, mud, soft sand and algae towards the beach

Temperatures in the afternoon fell to as low as 43 degrees. The temperature of the water at the time was about 59 degrees - which is cold enough to cause hypothermia if a human being stayed in the water long enough

Soon, flames started shooting out of the engine room.

'I sent the two crew members with fire extinguishers but it didn't help,' Batten said. 'The boat went up [in flames] like a Christmas tree.'

With thick smoke now shooting out of the engine room, Batten made a bet that would eventually pay off: Instead of instructing his passengers to grab life jackets and jump in deeper waters, he started heading towards a sand bar.

From there, he knew passengers would be able to climb down emergency stairs and wade in water to the shore.

'I know every sand bar in the area,' Batten said. 'But things were going very fast. There was maybe four minutes from the time the engine started overheating until we reached the sand bar.'

Passengers, he said, were calm throughout the ordeal and followed his instructions. As soon as the boat was grounded, with flames now reaching 50 feet high by some accounts, and moving to the bow, stairs were lowered into eight inches of water and one-by-one, passengers climbed down.

Batten said he had to escort most of the passengers down into the water because the smoke made visibility nearly impossible.

With coastline residents waiting on the beach with blankets and warm drinks, passengers then undertook a murky walk through water, mud, soft sand and algae towards the beach.

'The boat came to a rest about 50 yards from the shore,' Batten said. 'Everybody was sinking in the mud trying to hurry.'

Once he escorted the last passenger down the stairs, Batten says he went back to the wheelhouse and upstairs deck to make sure he hadn't forgotten anyone and dove into the water from the upper deck.

Batten's job was to shuttle casino cruise passengers from the dock to a larger ship, the Tropical Breeze, in international waters where gambling is legal

SunCruz Casinos is a privately owned company that operates boats that sail at least three miles off shore in order to allow gamblers to legally play while avoiding federal and state laws against gaming

Batten said he had to escort most of the passengers down into the water because the smoke made visibility nearly impossible. Pictured: A sign advertising for the water gambling cruise

'The flames were getting too close for me to walk out,' the captain said.

Once on the beach, the chaos started, Batten recalled.

'People had been really disciplined, but now they were watching the boat fully engulfed and figuring out they'd just escaped death,' Batten said. 'There was a lot of crying and shaking from the cold and fear. A couple people looked like they were going into shock.'

Most, including Batten, had left cellphones, purses, clothes, wallets and personal effects on the boat while it burned.

Authorities took all passengers to the emergency room where about 15 complained of chest pain, smoke inhalation and hypothermia. They were treated and released.

Batten says he has worked on the water since he was 15 years old. He is properly licensed to operate any vessel under 100 tons and also captains the larger casino ship.

'I was the captain on shrimp boats for more than 10 years,' he said. 'We'd be out at sea, for weeks at a time along the coasts of Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

'But when I had a family, I wanted something a little more stable and I started worked for Sun Cruz three years ago.'

Casino company Sun Cruz bought Island Lady three years ago in Maine, said Mark Falcone, son-in-law of owner Alex Kolokithas.

Built in 1994, the boat was highly unusual because it was made entirely of wood, according to U.S. Coast Guard records,

'It was a whale watching boat in Maine when we bought it,' Falcone told DailyMail.com. 'It's a beautifully built boat. The Coast Guard actually used it in their training. Wooden boats don't have the greatest reputation and are not in use so much any more, so they used to train recruits on our boat because it was perfect.'

While Batten is reluctant to call himself a hero, 74-year-old passenger Sandra Czerwinski (pictured), a retired JC Penney's clerk, didn't hesitate to bestow the title on him

The Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board and Pasco County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident (pictured)

Tropical Breeze Casino Cruise shuttle boat fire. Coast guard and the companies insurance inspector are seen coming back from the burnt out boat

While Batten is reluctant to call himself a hero, 74-year-old Sandra Czerwinski, a retired JC Penney's clerk, didn't hesitate to bestow the title on him.

She was one of the older passengers on the Island Lady.

'I've been going on the casino cruise practically every day since I became a widow nine years ago,' says the Port Richey resident. 'I won $1,900 at slots a couple years ago. It's $8 per cruise but I get $3-coupons all the time.

'If it wasn't for Captain Mike, I'd be dead. He was so smart to go to a sand bar. Can you imagine old people floating in deeper water?'

Still, Czerwinski said it was tough for her arthritis-ridden body to make it to shore.

'I kept falling in the water,' she said. 'We were scared the boat was going to explode behind us, even if it didn't happen. I ended up getting to the beach on all fours.'

Once she made it, Czerwinski says she started shaking uncontrollably until local residents put blankets on her.

Batten, meanwhile, says he expects to be second-guessed for weeks to come. And the Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board and Pasco County Sheriff's Office are investigating.

However, that won't change Batten's conviction he did the right thing.

'The procedure book doesn't apply here,' he said. 'Some people will say I should've passed around life jackets. I disagree. There was no time for anything. Each second counted.'

Batten said he will take a few days off to process the tragic day and try to get over the woman's death.

'I'll be back on the water,' he said. 'I just need a little time.'
The computer menu design behind the accidental missile alert that caused chaos across Hawaii Saturday has been revealed.

In the initial photo released by the Honolulu Civil Beat late Monday, ten links placed close together in a column are shown.

The Civil Beat previously reported that the emergency operator intended to click on the 'DRILL - PACOM (CDW) -STATE ONLY' link, but instead, clicked on the 'PACOM (CDW) - STATE ONLY' link, which was placed just two lines above.

Government officials revealed late Tuesday that the below screen grab represents an 'inaccurate image' of the computer screen the emergency official had been using at the time of the statewide alert.

In this initial photo from the Governor's Office/State of Hawaii, the screen that set off the ballistic missile alert Saturday is shown. The operator was said to have clicked the PACOM (CDW) State Only link instead of the drill link

Below, officials say is the new screen grab which 'better represents' the design, according to the Civil Beat.

The above image released Tuesday night is a screen grab officials say 'better represents' the computer design the employee was looking at Saturday

The mistake led to the faulty alert which was sent to cellphones around the state, warning of an incoming missile attack last weekend.

Gov. David Ige has announced his plans to appoint a state Army National Guard official to oversee a review of Hawaii's emergency management process.

Ige appointed state Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Kenneth Hara on Monday and said he will provide a report in two months.

Some changes have already been made, including requiring two people to approve emergency alerts.

Officials said a state employee clicked the wrong link and activated a real alert instead of an internal test. There was no system for retracting the false alarm.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Tuesday the agency will work with states to follow proper protocols when issuing safety alerts and quickly retracting incorrect alerts like Hawaii's warning of a ballistic missile.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige and Maj. Gen. Joe Logan were on hand for a press conference at Civil Defense at Diamond Head Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, following the false alarm

Brigadier General Kenneth S. Hara was appointed by Ige to oversee a review of Hawaii's emergency management process

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said it's clear that human error initiated the false alert.

But she worries that system failures allowed it to go uncorrected for too long, nearly 40 minutes.

'This had the potential for being totally catastrophic,' Hirono said.

Nielsen told a Senate panel the department had been unaware that Hawaii officials did not have a mechanism in place to address false alarms and retract them.

She also said the Department of Homeland Security is examining how the U.S. government can quickly verify the accuracy of alerts with agencies such as the Department of Defense.

Hawaii officials said they had to wait for approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send the missile alert retraction.

Ige also said that he had requested the ability to test the mobile alert system, but that the effort had been 'blocked nationwide.'

The smartphone screen capture shows the retraction of a false incoming ballistic missile emergency alert sent from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency
Pressure on North Korea must be kept up despite the tentative truce with Seoul, Boris Johnson has insisted.

Harsh economic sanctions agreed in a United Nations resolution in December must be strictly enforced by the international community, the Foreign Secretary said.

Tensions between North and South Korea appeared to thaw a little after Pyongyang agreed to take part in talks in the demilitarised zone of the peninsula.

Pressure on North Korea must be kept up despite the tentative truce with Seoul, Boris Johnson has insisted. Pictured: Boris Johnson, United Kingdom Secretary addresses the Vancouver Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, in Vancouver

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visiting the newly-renovated Pyongyang Teachers' University in Pyongyang on Wednesday

Kim Jong-un has agreed to send a delegation to the Winter Olympic Games being staged in South Korea in February.

But international leaders fear the move is a strategy to drive a wedge between Seoul and the rest of the UN.

At a two-day summit in Vancouver, Canada, Mr Johnson said that while it was 'great' there is an Olympic truce, there should be no doubt the missile-testing crisis is intensifying.

He said: 'There can be no doubt that the crisis is intensifying, we had 20 tests within the last year, 20 missiles, two of which flew over Japan, and one testing of a nuclear device.

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, right, greets UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

Ballistic rocket launching drill of Hwasong artillery units of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army

'It's very important and encouraging that the world is not being intimidated or divided by the threat from North Korea, and actually we have come together, and in Resolution 2397 there was an unprecedented measure of global consensus about what to do and to intensify the political and economic pressure on the regime.

'It's great that conversations are taking place between North Korea and South Korea and great there is an Olympic truce, but I hope people will recognise that the programme is continuing in North Korea and that Kim Jong-un continues with his illegal programme.

'He can continue on the path of provocation and equipping his country with nuclear weapons that will lead to further escalation, further economic pain and hardship of his people or else he has an opportunity to go down a path that will lead to greater well-being for his people and a chance to emulate the astonishing achievements of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).'
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Sydney is set for another sweltering heatwave this weekend, with temperatures in some parts of the city expected to reach 45C for five consecutive days from Thursday.

Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide will also be affected by the scorching temperatures which are predicted to last until Tuesday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast 'an intense burst of heat' as a high-pressure system makes its way across the country from Western Australia.

Sydneysiders are expected to flock to the beach in droves as the January temperature skyrockets once again

Bondi Beach in Sydney will likely be more busy than usual this weekend as people look to cool off in the intense heat

'We will see very hot conditions building from today, and tomorrow we'll see the heat really intensify,' meteorologist Jonathan How said.

'Temperatures will be in the low to mid-40s for a very broad area.'

A light cold front is expected to bring some relief to Victoria and South Australia on Friday, but New South Wales will not receive any respite from searing temperatures.

'The temperature will be in the low to mid 40s in western Sydney from Thursday, and will stick around until early next week.'

Wentworth in south-west New South Wales is forecast to reach 42C on Thursday and Broken Hill in the far west is set to hit 40C.

Penrith in western Sydney will reach 42C on Friday and Saturday, while Ivanhoe in central New South Wales will reach 44C on Saturday.

Temperatures will reach into the mid-40s in Australia on Friday as shown by the dark red areas of this graphic

West of Sydney is expected to be scorching hot this weekend, with temperatures reaching more than 40C in Penrith, Wentworth and Broken Hill

Northerly winds will drag the high-pressure system from the outback towards the coast creating nightmare conditions for firefighters who are urging residents to prepare for the worst.

'The forecast heatwave will elevate the risk of fire and total fire bans are likely to be declared for some areas, so I urge residents to consider how they will be impacted and begin making their preparations today,' Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.

'We have seen in the past few days fires, like the one at Port Stephens, spread quickly and threaten communities with little warning.'

A bushfire in Port Stephens, NSW, burned through 1900 hectares of land and forced the closure of Newcastle airport on Sunday.

The winds are not expected to be as strong as they were during the extremely hot start to January.

Penrith experienced the highest temperature ever record in a Sydney suburb on January 7, as the mercury reached 47.3C.

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Further south in Melbourne the heat was so strong it melted part of the Hume Highway, causing traffic jams as drivers dodged the sticky mess.

South Australia and Victoria experienced their worst fire weather in more than two years as hot and dry air was dragged across southern Australia by northwesterly winds.

Mid-week to weekend weather forecast SYDNEY WEDNESDAY: Max 25, cloud clearing THURSDAY: Min 17, Max 27, partly cloudy FRIDAY: Min 17, Max 30, sunny SATURDAY: Min 19, Max 31, sunny SUNDAY: Min 22, Max 30, shower or two CANBERRA WEDNESDAY: Max 30, sunny THURSDAY: Min 10, Max 35, partly cloudy FRIDAY: Min 13, Max 38, hot and sunny SATURDAY: Min 17, Max 39, hot, partly cloudy SUNDAY: Min 17, Max 33, possible shower PERTH WEDNESDAY: Max 25, drizzle at times THURSDAY: Min 19, Max 28, possible morning drizzle FRIDAY: Min 16, Max 30, sunny SATURDAY: Min 20, Max 33, mostly sunny SUNDAY: Min 21, Max 32, sunny BRISBANE WEDNESDAY: Max 30, mostly sunny THURSDAY: Min 19, Max 31, sunny FRIDAY: Min 19, Max 33, sunny SATURDAY: Min 19, Max 32, sunny SUNDAY: Min 22, Max 32, partly cloudy MELBOURNE WEDNESDAY: Max 31, sunny THURSDAY: Min 16, Max 38, hot and sunny FRIDAY: Min 24, Max 39, hot and sunny, late cool change SATURDAY: Min 19, Max 26, partly cloudy SUNDAY: Min 18, Max 29, partly cloudy ADELAIDE WEDNESDAY: Max 37, sunny THURSDAY: Min 25, Max 41, very hot and sunny FRIDAY: Min 25, Max 41, very hot and sunny SATURDAY: Min 20, Max 32, partly cloudy SUNDAY: Min 19, Max 32, partly cloudy HOBART WEDNESDAY: Max 23, partly cloudy THURSDAY: Min 13, Max 30, hot and mostly sunny FRIDAY: Min 21, Max 27, partly cloudy SATURDAY: Min 14, Max 19, cloudy SUNDAY: Min 14, Max 23, cloudy DARWIN WEDNESDAY: Max 33, shower or two, possible storm THURSDAY: Min 25, Max 32, shower or two, possible storm FRIDAY: Min 24, Max 31, shower or two, possible storm SATURDAY: Min 24, Max 32, shower or two, possible storm SUNDAY: Min 25, Max 32, shower or two, possible storm Source: Bureau of Meteorology Advertisement




Toughness was combined with versatility, as illustrated by the fact that the Hurricane was the only RAF fighter to see action in every British theatre across the globe during the war.

During the evacuation from the failed Norway campaign of 1940, one squadron demonstrated the Hurricanes remarkable adaptability by landing safely on the deck of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, even though the plane was not built for maritime operations. A sandbag at the rear of the fuselage to weigh the aircraft down was the only innovation needed.

Hurricanes were used as bombers and tankbusters outside Europe, some even dropping the deadly new chemical weapon napalm on the Japanese in the Far East. More than 2,000 Hurricanes served in the Russian campaign against Germany, while converted fighters, known as Hurricats, were catapulted from merchant ships during the Battle of the Atlantic to defend the Allied convoys from aerial attack.

Throughout its years of wartime endeavour, the Hurricane represented a paradox. For the plane managed to be simultaneously both modern and dated, revolutionary and conventional.

When it first entered service with the RAF in 1937, it was hailed as the fastest fighter in the world, yet its part-wooden, part-fabric construction was based on methods that the Hawker company had devised more than a decade earlier.

Its creation was the work of Hawkers chief designer Sydney Camm, a man who combined a fertile mind with a volcanic temper. He was wonderful at motivating people, more by fear than anything else, said one of his Hawker subordinates.

The eldest of 12 children born to a working-class carpenter from Windsor, Berkshire, Camm had been captivated by aviation in his youth and, at the start of World War I, when he was just 21, he had gone to work for Martin & Handasyde, a pioneering British aircraft and motorbike manufacturer.

The firm went bust in 1922 but the talented Camm soon found another job as a senior draughtsman with the much bigger Hawker company. There, he was to enjoy a uniquely fruitful career until his death in 1966, designing no fewer than 52 types of aircraft, among them the Hawker Harrier, the worlds first vertical take-off and landing fighter.
A man who was caught on camera allegedly groping a stranger has been charged with two counts of sexual assault - but one was for allegedly groping another female jogger a year ago.

The 40-year-old Gold Coast man was arrested by police on Tuesday, accused of repeatedly grabbing 24-year-old Jesse Ratu's backside as she unlocked the door to her Southport apartment on Sunday morning.

In the previous incident the man allegedly groped another woman in nearby Hollywell on January 17, 2017.

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A 40-year-old Gold Coast man has been charged with two counts of sexual assault after he allegedly groped 24-year-old Jesse Ratu's backside outside her home

Ms Ratu (pictured) was returning to her apartment in Southport, on the Gold Coast, about 7.30am on Sunday

His arrest came almost exactly one year after he allegedly groped another female jogger in nearby Hollywell on January 17, 2017.

The man is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on February 6.

Charges were laid after CCTV footage emerged on Monday showing Ms Ratu being approached by a man from behind before allegedly being grabbed on her backside five-times.

The man was then seen smiling into cameras after performing the alleged 'disgusting' assault.

'He said: "Sorry, I just had to do it, you have the best a***",' the mother-of-two told Nine News.

The terrified woman allegedly told the man 'don't f***ing touch me' before running inside and telling her partner Brendan Wilson what happened.

The sales assistant said despite Mr Wilson running outside to confront the man, the offender had already fled the area.

Charges were laid after CCTV footage (pictured) emerged on Monday, showing Ms Ratu being approached by a man from behind

'He said: "Sorry, I just had to do it, you have the best a***",' the mother-of-two (pictured) said

The terrified woman allegedly told the man 'don't f***ing touch me' before running inside and telling her partner Brendan Wilson what happened

Ms Ratu remembered feeling too scared to turn back out of fear she would be picked up and 'stolen', and said she now felt too traumatised to walk outside alone.

'We've only been here for six months,' Ms Ratu said.

'We're now thinking about moving. I've always lived in Southport but never lived down this end.'

An image of the man, who is described to be of African descent, about 1.8m with facial hair and short black hair, was sent out by police in the area.
A tank valve failure caused about 150 barrels, or 6,300 gallons, of produced water to spill at an exploratory well site in Mercer County being used in a study by the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center.

Produced water, or brine, that was used in the drilling of the well was being removed from the site when the failure occurred, said Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Health.

A majority of the spill was contained on the pad. Less than five barrels, or 210 gallons, contaminated an area about 10 feet by 10 feet, according to a spill report. Health department personnel are monitoring cleanup of the area, which is a hay field.

The study, nicknamed Project CarbonSAFE, aims to determine the feasibility of underground storage of carbon dioxide. The well, which will provide researchers more information about the geology of the area, is north of Golden Valley. Its believed to be the first brine spill in Mercer County, Suess said.
Adelaide grandmother Annapuranee 'Anna' Jenkins (pictured), 65, vanished on December 13 after a dental appointment in George Town in Penang, Malaysia

The family of a missing Adelaide grandmother has hired a group of former military and police veterans to investigate the 65-year-old's 'odd' disappearance.

Annapuranee 'Anna' Jenkins vanished on December 13 after a dental appointment in George Town in Penang, Malaysia, according to the Adelaide Advertiser.

The churchgoing grandmother was last seen travelling alone in an Uber to visit her 101-year-old mother, but asked the driver to drop her off 4km away from her destination.

Mrs Jenkins was visiting Penang with her husband of 40 years, Frank Jenkins, at the time.

CCTV footage shows Mrs Jenkins leaving the hotel where the pair were staying for her appointment. Her husband can be seen standing nearby.

Mr Jenkins told the publication his wife's disappearance is 'out of character' but noted she had been showing signs of mental health problems over the last year.

The 78-year-old said Mrs Jenkins told him she believed people were 'out to get her'.

CCTV footage shows Mrs Jenkins (circled) leaving the hotel where she was staying as her husband looked on (far left)

Panoptic Solutions founder Troy Claydon (pictured) said the company will investigate if Mrs Jenkins suffered a mental breakdown or was abducted

Mrs Jenkins' family have hired Panoptic Solutions, a group of former military and police veterans based on the Gold Coast, to investigate her 'odd' disappearance

After several unconfirmed sightings, Mrs Jenkin's son hired Gold Coast security firm Panoptic Solutions to help track down the 65-year-old.

Panoptic Solutions founder Troy Claydon told the Adelaide Advertiser the company will investigate if Mrs Jenkins suffered a mental breakdown or was abducted.

'It's an odd case,' he said.

Mrs Jenkins' daughter Jen Bowen said she is worried about the 65-year-old's safety.

'I'm really concerned about her having a breakdown because she's had to witness her mother slowing dying and my dad had a fall just a week before,' she said.

'I think the worrying part is that she's incredibly close to dad, she would never leave [him].'

Ms Bowen said the last possible sighting of her mother was on January 7 at a KFC in the suburb of Batu Ferringhi - almost 13km from George Town.

Panoptic Solutions Operations Manager Ben Hosking is seen searching for clues in her disappearance
Passengers headed to Hawaii had to make an unscheduled stop in California after the bathrooms on a United Airlines flight reached full capacity.

Flight 1219 was supposed to be a direct flight Sunday morning from Denver, Colorado to Kauai, but about five hours into the trip the pilot announced that they were being diverted to San Francisco.

The issue was apparently because the toilets were not serviced in Denver before takeoff.

A United Airlines flight from Denver to Hawaii was diverted to San Francisco on Sunday because of issues with the bathrooms (file image)

Passengers were told that the toilets had not been serviced in Denver and they were full to capacity (file image)

'Everyone was disgusted,' passenger Rich Anderson told Fox 31.

Anderson, who was heading to Hawaii to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife Kristin, said they were halfway over the Pacific Ocean when the announcement was made.

'We were probably three hours from Hawaii and they announced that the toilets were all full,' Kristin Anderson said.

Once the plane landed in San Francisco, passengers were put on another aircraft. What was supposed to be an eight-hour flight turned into a 16 hour one.

'The pilots failed,' Anderson told the outlet. 'They didn't do their job. This should not have happened. This was human error. There was no act of God. There was no weather. This was just human error.'

Anderson said the bathrooms were a problem early into the flight. He told Fox 31 that when he first tried to use one, it was locked.

'I had gone back partway through to the bathroom and one of them was locked,' he said. 'The flight attendant said that one is not working. I think they were locking them as they were filling up.'

United Airlines apologized for the inconvenience by offering travelers 10,000 bonus miles or a $200 travel voucher.

United Airlines apologized by offering passengers 10,000 bonus miles or a $200 travel voucher (file image)

'I am very sorry that our lavatories had reached capacity while Flight 1219 was en route to Lihue,' the airline said. 'A decision was made to turn back and land in San Francisco where arrangements were made to to change planes. I can appreciate that this experience was disappointing and unpleasant.'

Anderson, however, isn't happy with the company's apology and said United Airlines ruined vacations for a lot of people.

'They gave us a really crummy start. There were a lot of elderly people and people with little tiny kids,' he said.

The airline did not say why the planes weren't serviced before takeoff.
Police are investigating charges against others in connection with the Las Vegas massacre despite gunman Stephen Paddock (pictured) who killed 58 people being dead

Police are investigating charges against others in connection with the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, even though the gunman responsible for killing 58 people is dead, a lawyer for Las Vegas police told a judge Tuesday.

Attorney Nicholas Crosby did not identify new evidence or suspects but said charges might be possible depending on the results of an ongoing investigation.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the FBI have said they believe Stephen Paddock acted alone to carry out the October 1 shooting that also injured hundreds before killing himself.

'Without naming names, there are potential charges against others as a result of the ongoing investigation?' Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish asked Crosby as he argued to keep police search-warrant records sealed.

'Yes,' said Crosby, who represents the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which Lombardo leads. 'There are charges being investigated.'

Crosby told the judge he had no information that the charges pertained to the 'actual murders'.

The attorney declined outside court to say whom he referred to.

Officer Laura Meltzer, a Las Vegas police spokeswoman, said the department is 'investigating possible criminal charges related to items discovered during the service of search warrants.'

She did not name a suspect and said she could not specify the type of charges or what was found without compromising the investigation.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the FBI have said they believe Stephen Paddock acted alone to carry out the October 1 shooting that also injured hundreds before killing himself

Attorney Nicholas Crosby did not identify new evidence or suspects but said charges might be possible depending on the results of an ongoing investigation. Paddock opened fire from the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault in Las Vegas declined to comment.

Federal court documents made public Friday showed that as of October 6, the FBI considered Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, 'the most likely person who aided or abetted Stephen Paddock'.

Danley, who was in the Philippines during the shooting, was questioned by the FBI after returning to the US Lombardo and Aaron Rouse, FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said in October that Danley was not a suspect.

Federal court documents made public Friday showed that as of October 6, the FBI considered Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, 'the most likely person who aided or abetted Stephen Paddock'

An FBI spokeswoman said last week that she could not comment about Danley.

Danley's lawyer, Matthew Lombard in Los Angeles, did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the judge did not order the Vegas police records released as requested by a lawyer for media organizations, including The Associated Press.

Cadish said she might review the documents privately before making them public.

'It only makes sense that a party who is arguing that something has to be kept secret can't fully explain in public why it has to be kept secret,' she said.

Media companies want the judge to release affidavits showing what police told state judges to obtain search warrants immediately after identifying Paddock as the man who opened fire from a 32nd-floor suite of a casino-hotel into a country music festival crowd below.

Officials have not said and records released so far don't show what motivated the 64-year-old high-stakes gambler to kill.

'Paddock planned the attack meticulously and took many methodical steps to avoid detection of his plot and to thwart the eventual law enforcement investigation that would follow' the shooting, one federal document said.

A US judge on Friday unsealed more than 300 pages of FBI warrant records justifying searches of Paddock's properties in Reno and Mesquite, Nevada, along with vehicles and multiple email, Facebook and other internet accounts belonging to Paddock and Danley.

Danley told investigators that they would find her fingerprints on bullets used during the attack because she would sometimes help Paddock load high-volume ammunition magazines, according to the FBI records.

Other records showed that Danley received a wire transfer of money from Paddock while she was in the Philippines and that Danley deleted her Facebook account in the hours immediately after the shooting.

Concertgoers run for their lives on the night of the horrific shooting during the Route 91 Harvest country music festival
The Pentagon is planning on developing two new sea-based nuclear weapons in response to Chinese and Russian military threats, according to a new Defense Department strategy.

The strategy, which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal, calls for a readjustment from the prior strategy to de-emphasize nuclear weapons and was ordered by President Trump a year ago.

One of the weapons is a warhead that can be used with a Trident Missile, which is a rocket deployed on naval submarines that would take roughly two years to develop.

The second is a nuclear-tipped cruise missile, a version of which has been used in the past but was dropped from the arsenal in 2010.

The Pentagon is planning on developing two new sea-based nuclear weapons in response to Chinese and Russian military threats, according to a new Defense Department strategy

One of the weapons is a warhead that could be used with a Trident Missile, which is a rocket deployed on naval submarines that would take roughly two years to develop. Pictured is an undated photo of a Trident II being tested

The second is a nuclear-tipped cruise missile, a version of which has been used in the past but was dropped from the arsenal in 2010, Pictured is an undated photo of a cruise missile without a nuclear warhead

The Pentagon says rationale behind the new weapons is that Russia and China haven't followed in the United States' footsteps and moved away from nuclear weapons, so the US mustn't either.

'While the United States has continued to reduce the number and salience of nuclear weapons, others, including Russia and China, have moved in the opposite direction,' the plan says, according to the Journal.

The report also mentions that new weapons will help to deter against North Korea's nuclear aggression. The country has been building new weapons at a much faster rate than military experts previously anticipated.

The proposals have broad support within the Pentagon despite some criticisms from weapons experts.

Another preliminary draft of this administration's Nuclear Posture review show the final version is set to be released in February.

That draft version, published by the Huffington Post, emphasizes the proposed new weapons are 'low yield' compared to standard nuclear weapons. However they can still cause significant damage.

The new defense strategy hasn't been approved by President Trump yet, but he has previously expressed interest in significantly increasing the country's arsenal.

The Pentagon says rationale behind the new weapons is that Russia and China haven't followed in the United States' footsteps and moved away from nuclear weapons, so the US mustn't either. Trump is pictured shaking China's President Xi Jinping on November 9

The report also mentions that new weapons will help to deter against North Korea's nuclear aggression. The country has been building new weapons at a much faster rate than military experts previously anticipated. Pictured is an undated photo released by North Korean officials

His attitude is the polar opposite of President Obama's, who spoke multiple times about a nuclear-weapon-free world and signed a denuclearization treaty with Russia in 2010.

But regardless of the new plan's support, Trump may run into obstacles getting the program passed.

A full nuclear modernization could cost 6.4 per cent of the Defense Department's budget. That is more than double what the Department of Defense currently spends on nuclear weapons, according to the Journal.

'If the Pentagon doesn't secure the spending increases it anticipates, this could heighten the competition between nuclear and nonnuclear programs for budgetary resources,' the Journal said.

On Tuesday, President Trump tweeted that the Democrats want to shut down the government over proposed budgetary changes. He also said that the Democrats want to take money out of the military, clearly indicating his distress about the situation.

President Trump is setting Democrats up to take the blame if the government does go into free fall

The federal government could shut down as soon as Friday morning if the budget isn't finalized - and Trump claims this will happen if the opposition party refuses his demands on immigration.

'The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security,' he claimed. '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.'

Democrats are demanding real progress on immigration to vote to stave off a shutdown. What happens if the pressure is really cranked up isn't necessarily clear - either for GOP holdouts or House Democrats. It's more than likely that if a stopgap bill passes the House, it would again glide through the Senate.

Both sides say they want a deal to increase spending caps that limit money for both the military and domestic programs. A 2015 budget agreement negotiated by then-Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has expired, bringing the return of stringent limits imposed by a 2011 fiscal deal.

Talks to increase these caps have proceeded behind the scenes toward a two-year deal that could increase spending by more than $200 billion over that span when compared with the legal cap. An agreement could snap into place quickly once immigration is resolved, however GOP defense hawks are increasingly anxious.
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The M25 could be moved into a tunnel below a third Heathrow runway, under plans published today.

They would see the motorway shifted 150 metres west  and lowered by seven metres.

The runway would be raised between three and five metres, and pass overhead.

The consultation document also suggests the runway could be cut by 300 metres to 3,200 metres long.

The motorway could be moved into a tunnel below a proposed third runway at Heathrow Airport. The artist's impression above shows how the airport would look after the mammoth project is completed

However, it does not set out exact flight paths informing residents where noise will be concentrated.

MPs are expected to vote on the plans  first proposed as long ago as 2003  later this year.

The airport expects the total cost to be around 14billion, some 2.8billion less than originally suggested.

Work would begin in 2021 and the runway open in 2025. The new plans would, for the most part, allow the motorway to remain open as the new section is being built, reducing congestion, airport officials said.

Previous reports had suggested the runway would merely form a bridge over the motorway.

Under the plans, Terminal 2 could be extended to the east, Terminal 5 to the west or a new 'satellite' could be built close to the runway. If the scheme is approved, Heathrow will submit a planning application after consulting local communities

Heathrow Airport as it is today. The third runway was due to cost about 16.8 billion, but Heathrow claims it can complete the project for 14 billion

Planners have also set out suggestions for changes to terminals. Terminal 2 could be extended to the east, Terminal 5 to the west or a new satellite could be built near the runway.

Heathrow said it wanted to hear the publics views.

Emma Gilthorpe, its executive director of expansion said: We need feedback to help deliver this opportunity responsibly and to create a long-term legacy both at a local and national level.

If the scheme is approved, Heathrow will submit a planning application after consulting local communities.

John Stewart, chairman of anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, said: We welcome the chance to shape the new flight paths rather than have them imposed.

The airport has insisted that landing charges, which are currently around 22 per passenger, will remain 'close to today's levels', after airlines expressed concerns the fees could be increased to fund works

After years of setbacks, the Department for Transport says it is on track to publish final proposals in the first half of the year ready for a vote in Parliament. Pictured: The airport as it is today

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger said he will scrutinise proposals to ensure they enable more competition and do not prioritise the airports largest carrier, British Airways.

The third runway was due to cost about 16.8 billion, but Heathrow claims it can complete the project for 14 billion.

The airport insists that landing charges  currently around 22 per passenger  will remain close to todays levels.

Airlines had expressed concerns that the fees could be hiked to fund works.

Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways parent company IAG, has urged the Government to make Heathrow provide a detailed breakdown of its costs to ensure passengers are not ripped off.

After years of setbacks, the Department for Transport says it is on track to publish final proposals in the first half of the year ready for a vote in Parliament.
French locals are revolting over plans to lend the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain with three quarters of Normandy residents insisting it should not be moved.

The tapestry is set to come to Britain after French president Emmanuel Macron agreed to allow the artwork to leave France for the first time.

The piece, which dates from around 1077, depicts the story of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and is displayed in Bayeux, Normandy.

However, a poll on local website En Normandie found 75 per cent of people  most of whom would be Normandy residents - were against moving the tapestry to Britain.

French locals are revolting over plans to lend the Bayeux Tapestry (pictured today) to Britain

Preparations are under way to move the fabric (pictured) - which shows the conquest of England by Norman invaders - across the Channel

Theresa May leaves Downing Street in London for Prime Minister Questions today where she praised the idea of a loan. Right: Emmanuel Macron

Marie-Therese Tribout posted on the Facebook page: 'It is Norman and must stay there. This is crazy. There are more urgent things to deal with.'

Bruno Robert des Douets said: 'It is far too fragile. It will will surely need care soon. Also, can you imagine the touristic disaster for the city of Bayeux?'

Nicole Djama Merlaton added: 'I hope that this trip will not cause any damage to this beautiful 'comic' embroidery. It might be better if it stays with us.'

Pascal Tanguy wrote on Facebook: 'And the museum of Bayeux? It will close because its major work will no longer there and the staff will be unemployed.'

Two previous attempts to see the tapestry brought to Britain have failed, raising questions over whether it will ever make it across the English Channel.

The failed efforts to bring it over were during the Queen's coronation in 1953 and to mark the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966.

Preparations are under way to move the fabric (pictured) - which shows the conquest of England by Norman invaders - across the Channel in a bid to show the strength of the British-French relationship in the wake of the Brexit vote

This close up of the Bayeux tapestry shows Harold (left) being struck by an arrow to the eye

Bruno Robert des Douets said on the En Normandie Facebook page: 'It is far too fragile. It will will surely need care soon. Also, can you imagine the touristic disaster for the city of Bayeux?'

Nicole Djama Merlaton added: 'I hope that this trip will not cause any damage to this beautiful 'comic' embroidery. It might be better if it stays with us.'

Pascal Tanguy wrote on Facebook: 'And the museum of Bayeux? It will close because its major work will no longer there and the staff will be unemployed'

Marie-Therese Tribout posted on the Facebook page: 'It is Norman and must stay there. This is crazy. There are more urgent things to deal with'

And today an official in Mr Macron's office said the loan is still 'under consideration', with the tapestry not travelling before 2020 because of required restoration work.

Could Britain send the Rosetta Stone to France in return? Britain should lend the Rosetta Stone to France in return for the tapestry, a senior Tory MP has claimed. Tom Tugendhat, Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said the UK should hand over a relic of similar historic importance to the Frence. The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum The artefact dates from 196BC and carries Greek and Egyptian inscriptions that first helped to decipher hieroglyphics. Mr Tugendhat told the Daily Telegraph: 'I think that this is an opportunity for us to cement the relationship. 'Actually one of the interesting items that we might perhaps think about lending - we would have to get the British Museum's permission for it - is the Rosetta Stone which was discovered in Egypt by a French researcher, a French archaeologist, in the late 1700s, I think it was 1799. 'It was captured, I'm delighted to say, at the Battle of the Nile when we captured quite a lot of other Egyptian items including the Cleopatra's Needle that is on the Embankment.' Advertisement

The official said: 'This loan is under consideration, because there will be several months of restoration work at the Museum of Bayeux.

'It will not be before 2020 because it is an extremely fragile cultural treasure which will be subject to major restoration work before being transported anywhere.'

Preparations are under way to move the fabric across the Channel in a bid to show the strength of the British-French relationship in the wake of the Brexit vote.

French President Mr Macron is expected to make the announcement of the momentous loan tomorrow when he meets with Theresa May at Sandhurst.

Dr Levi Roach, medieval historian at the University of Exeter, said it would take time for conservationists to ensure the work could be moved and displayed safely.

He told MailOnline: 'I suspect one of the things that's being raised now, beyond its iconic status, is the issue of preservation and whether this can be moved safely.

'It's not going to be something that you'll want to completely roll up, so there'll need to be a great deal of care in how it will be packaged, so as not to damage the fabric.'

Dr Roach added: 'This has not been moved since 1944, and we're increasingly aware of the damage that can be done to such artefacts.'

He said the temperature, light exposure and air humidity for its transport and display would be investigated before the tapestry can be moved.

Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed the plans as 'very significant', saying it was important that 'the maximum number of people' will be able to see the work.

But at Prime Minister's Questions, she received rival bids for a site to host it.

A section of the Bayeux Tapestry on display at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, France

The length of the loan - and the location of its display - has not been decided. Pictured: A section of the tapestry showing the Escort of Count Guy of Ponthieu (who captured Duke Harold)

Bexhill and Battle MP Huw Merriman said Battle Abbey would be an appropriate location, on the site where the 1066 clash took place.

How the tapestry is stitched with ten shades of woolen yarn With the Bayeux Tapestry set to be displayed in Britain, here are some facts about the masterpiece: It is nearly 70 metres (230ft) long, 50cm (1.6ft) high and made of nine panels of linen cloth.

Although it is called a tapestry it is in fact an embroidery stitched with 10 shades of woollen yarn.

Over a succession of scenes, it chronicles events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror and culminates in the Battle of Hastings and the defeat of Harold in 1066.

Nothing is known for certain about its origins, with the first written record appearing in the Bayeux Cathedral's inventory of treasures in 1476.

Napoleon put it on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the city's Louvre in 1944.

The work is currently exhibited in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy. Advertisement

Home Secretary Amber Rudd also suggested her Hastings and Rye constituency should be in contention for the honour.

But Mrs May said: 'I am sure we will be looking very carefully to ensure that the maximum number of people can take the benefit of seeing this tapestry.'

Returning the 230ft-long tapestry to the UK could allow British historians to finally study the back of the work.

It depicts events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror against Harold, Earl of Wessex, and culminates in the Battle of Hastings.

The famous arrow-in-the-eye scene apparently depicting the death of Harold at Hastings in 1066 is believed to have been added in Victorian times.

Scholar of early medieval embroidery Dr Alexandra Makin said moving the tapestry will be a real challenge for curators.

'You can move it if it's got specially constructed containers, and curators on both sides of the Channel will be looking to see if it's viable to do that,' she said.

'Although it's massive, it's in a fragile state. It's natural fibres - wool and linen - and obviously it was made in the early 11th century. So the curators will be investigating all the options to see if it's possible.'

President Macron is expected to make the announcement of the momentous loan on Thursday when he meets with Theresa May at Sandhurst. Pictured: The tapestry in Bayeux

The loan of the tapestry will give British historians the chance to study the tapestry in a lot more detail and perhaps identify any later additions to the piece.

Dr Makin said: 'You can actually see the 19th century restoration work because it's not nearly as neat as the original work.

'You can see the embroiderers were not looking at it as a design - they were looking at it as an area that had to be completed, so the threads are carried over from one motif to the next.'

Dr Makin thinks the famous arrow-in-the-eye scene could have been a 19th-century invention because there are tiny needle holes stretching from beyond the arrow design.

'The original thread might have continued on to perhaps create a lance or something,' she said.

Historians believe that the tapestry was the work of professional female embroiderers, probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, in the Canterbury area.

'Their work was very well thought of and very well known. They were commissioned by Norman aristocrats to make things for them,' Dr Makin said.

'That's not to say that they weren't embroidering on the continent, but in the case of the Bayeux Tapestry, that was probably made by Anglo-Saxon workers who would have been female.'

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, scholar Maggie Kneen said until now, experts have only been provided with footage and photographs of the back of the piece.

She said: 'When you get to know it as I have been able to do you realise what a treasure house of information it is about what was going on at the time.

'It was made in Canterbury, it's more or less been proven by art historical means - it's such a marvellous piece of news. It's just going to be so important for children to learn from it.'

Although called a tapestry, it is an embroidery stitched in nine different panels.

The first record of the piece is in Bayeux Cathedral's inventory of treasures in 1476, but it is believed it was stitched in England by nuns at St Augustine's Abbey.

'The stitching is as beautiful on the back as it is on the front,' Ms Kneen said. 'From what I believe, the actual arrow was a Victorian addition.

'The actual arrow that was stitched on to the tapestry was added on later on. Really to see the back of it rather than a CD of images would be tremendous for scholars.'

Ironically, it is considered most likely the historic cloth was created in England after being commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

The director of the Bayeux Museum (pictured) in Normandy - where the tapestry has been through most of its history, barring two displays in Paris - confirmed the move

Odo was the half-brother of William the Conqueror - leader of the Norman imperialists - and is thought to have requested the work in the 1070s.

What does the tapestry show? The huge tapestry is a masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon art. It depicts Edward the Confessor, a weak king of England, dispatching one of his kingdom's magnates, Harold Godwinson, to Normandy. While there Harold is taken prisoner until William the Bastard - later Conqueror - rescues him. Harold pledges an unexplained oath (though it is presumed to be regarding Harold's support for William's claim on the English throne) to William before returning to England. Following the death of Edward, Harold is made king. After showing Halley's Comet - a bad Medieval omen - William is shown receiving the news and ordering the construction of a fleet to invade England. The invading army is then shown arriving in England before engaging in the Battle of Hastings, in which Odo is given a starring role. King Harold then perishes on the battlefield after taking an arrow in the eye - the sole source claiming that he died in this manner - before the Normans seize victory. The final segments of the tapestry are missing, but they are thought to have depicted the invaders' celebratory feast and William's coronation. Advertisement

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs committee, told BBC radio: 'This is huge.

'This is an extraordinary diplomatic outreach by the president of France and a fantastic gesture of goodwill from one of our nearest and closest allies.

'It's a fantastic opportunity for the British people to see one of the seminal works in our national history.'

The tapestry is currently on display in a darkened room in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.

Napoleon put it on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the city's Louvre in 1944.

The Times reported that tests would need to be carried out to make sure the tapestry could be moved without being damaged.

The location for the display in Britain is not thought to have been decided, but staff at the British Museum are hopeful it might be chosen.

Hartwig Fischer, director of the museum, said: 'This would be a major loan, probably the most significant ever from France to the UK.

'It is a gesture of extraordinary generosity and proof of the deep ties that link our countries.

'The Bayeux Tapestry is of huge importance, as it recounts a crucial moment in British and French history, 1066.

'We would be honoured and delighted to display it at the British Museum, the UK's most visited and internationally respected institution.

After showing Halley's Comet - a bad Medieval omen - William is shown receiving the news and ordering the construction of a fleet to invade England. Pictured: The fleet en route to England

Mrs May and Mr Macron (pictured together last month) are also expected to announce heightened defence co-operation

'Here it would be seen by the widest UK and international audience in the context of a museum of world cultures.'

The French President will hold talks with Mrs May at the UK-France summit, which a spokesman said would highlight cross-Channel co-operation on issues such as climate change, air pollution, cyber threats and the human genome.

Dr Alex Woolf, from the school of history at the University of St Andrews, said: 'The Bayeux Tapestry was stitched by Englishwomen within a few years of the Norman conquest at the behest of either Queen Edith, the widow of Edward the Confessor, or more likely, William the Conqueror's brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who had been made Earl of Kent after the Conquest.

'It is far and away the largest and most famous example of English art surviving from the eleventh century and has been of unparalleled importance to historians and art historians of the period.

'To have it back in its country of origin, accessible to a far wider public, is a wonderful opportunity.'

The final segments of the tapestry are missing, but they are thought to have depicted the invaders' celebratory feast and William's coronation. Pictured: A cart carrying wine and other supplies for William's England-bound ships

One British government official - rejecting the suggestion the violent tapestry simply reaffirms ancient Anglo-French hostility - told the Times: '[It] underlines both governments' recognition of the depth of a relationship rooted in our shared history.'

The Times's cartoonist Peter Brookes linked Bayeux and Brexit in his offering in Wednesday's edition, which was drawn in the style of the tapestry.

It depicted Mr Macron as 'Emmanuel the Conqueror' riding forth with a confident smile as Mrs May, brandishing a Brexit banner, received an arrow in the eye - the fate that befell King Harold according to the tapestry.

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson was depicted slumped forward on a horse with two arrows in his bottom.

Previous attempts to see the tapestry brought to the UK - during the Queen's coronation in 1953 and to mark the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966 - ended in failure.

Royston's big brother: Epic history of the Bayeux Tapestry, which inspired the three-decade long effort Nazi connections: Heinrich Himmler (pictured) coveted the Bayeux Tapestry because it is a part of Germanic history 1066: Between seven and twelve thousand Norman soldiers defeat an English army of a similar size at what is now Battle, East Sussex 1476: The embroidered cloth depicting the battle is referred to for the first time in an inventory of Bayeux Cathedral 1732-3: Antiquarian Smart Lethieullier writes the first detailed English account of the tapestry while living in Paris - but it is not published till 1767 1792: During the French Revolution, the precious artwork was declared public property and confiscated to be used as a covering for wagons - but it was saved by a lawyer who hid it in his home 1804: In a move dripping in symbolism, Napoleon - under the impression France was about to invade and conquer Britain - had the tapestry temporarily moved to Paris for display 1870: The tapestry is removed from Bayeux once again during the Franco-Prussian War - but it is moved back two years later 1944: The Gestapo removed the tapestry to the Louvre in Paris - just days before the German withdrawal. A message from Heinrich Himmler - who coveted the cloth because it is a part of Germanic history - is believed to imply the Nazis planned to take it to Berlin 1945: It was returned to Bayeux, where it has been ever since Advertisement

Weave brought it up-to-date! Internet celebrates Bayeux Tapestry coming to the UK by imagining what its modern-day equivalent would look like

It's a valuable historical document that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066.

But more than 950 years later, social media jokers are trying to imagine the Bayeux Tapestry in the present-day with a series of tongue-in-cheek memes today.

The joke pictures were posted online after it was revealed French officials are considering loaning the treasured piece of medieval art to Britain for the first time.

Among the captions are 'pictorals, else it did not occur', 'does anyone knoweth the wifi code' and 'hast thou been injured in an accident at work?'.

One made reference to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, with the quote: 'Luketh, I am thy father'.

Another said 'verily doth this look tapestryshopp'd', while a further one said 'two wenches, one gobley' in a reference to a crude internet video.

Meanwhile The Times newspaper's cartoonist Peter Brookes linked Bayeux and Brexit in his offering today, which was drawn in the style of the tapestry.

One of the joke Bayeux Tapestry scenes made reference to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, with the quote: 'Luketh, I am thy father'

More than 950 years after the scenes it depicts, social media jokers are trying to imagine the Bayeux Tapestry in the present-day with a series of tongue-in-cheek memes today

The joke pictures were posted online after it was revealed French officials are considering loaning the treasured piece of medieval art to Britain for the first time

This meme recalled a well-known ad, saying: 'Hast thou been injured in an accident at work?'

Another meme pointed out, in medieval fashion, 'verily doth this look tapestryshopp'd'

The joke pictures make fun of the valuable historical document that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066

This meme had the tagline 'two wenches, one gobley' in a reference to a crude internet video

My cartoon Wednesday on the #BayeuxTapestry: it's one in the eye for #TheresaMay (and two in the arse for #Boris)..... #Brexit pic.twitter.com/oBPoCNCbvA  Peter Brookes (@BrookesTimes) January 17, 2018

The Times newspaper's cartoonist Peter Brookes linked Bayeux and Brexit in his offering in today's edition, which was drawn in the style of the tapestry
A teenage entrepreneur who runs his own coffee cart and manages a number of staff has had his business temporarily shut down by council, leaving his mother furious.

Dante Valentinis might only be 15 but already he's become something of a veteran of small business, doing everything from selling snow cones to breeding chickens.

But the young businessman's most recent idea took a hit after the local council forced him to shut down the coffee cart he'd erected by the beach at Newcastle, north of Sydney.

The decision has outraged Dante's mother, who told Daily Mail Australia she doesn't understand why her son is being punished when there are far worse things he could be doing.

Dante Valentis (pictured) has had his coffee cart business shut down by local council much to the anger of his mother

'He's not on the streets spray painting logos or doing drugs': Suzanne Valentis (right) said her son (left) was following in the footsteps of his grandfather as he tried to become a self-made businessman

Suzanne Valentis said there had been enormous support for her son since his coffee cart was temporarily shut down, but she didn't see why it was necessary.

'It's just ridiculous, I just think give the kid a go,' Ms Valentis told Daily Mail Australia.

'He's not on the streets spray painting logos or doing drugs... all his cousins look up to him because they think: "What is Dante going to do next?".'

Beginning with part-time work at a pet shop, he spent time at a local butcher before walking neighbours' dogs and later buying and fitting out a trailer for his coffee cart.

Ms Valentis said Dante had dreamed of running businesses since he was young and had taken inspiration from his grandfather, himself a self made multi-millionaire.

'It comes from my father, he's very driven too and Dante has seen him build up a big empire with more than 100 properties around the country,' she said.

'From a very young age he's said he wants to own a house like you Mum. He just likes to do things and he's a very hands on kid.

'He's got a couple of thousand in his bank from all his jobs... my father's pretty blown away by it all.'

'It comes from my father (right), he's very driven too and Dante has seen him build a big empire with more than 100 properties around the country,' Ms Valentis said of her son's (left) ambition

After a meeting with Newcastle City Council the young entrepreneur will be allowed to set up his coffee cart at private functions and certain locations

Showing maturity beyond his years Dante, fronted up to discuss his coffee cart with Newcastle City Council on Tuesday.

The result was him being allowed to operate at private functions and needing up to date food handling certificates - something the young entrepreneur was fine with.

'I've just got to meet their requirements in health and safety which I don't mind doing because I may as well learn it sooner rather,' Dante told Daily Mail Australia.

'I want to have my own franchise with the coffee cart spread out across Australia and maybe even the world, so it's good to start now.

'I also want to get into property like my grandfather. Hes just inspired me and shown how you can come from so little but still do so much.'
Police released surveillance photos of two people suspected in the execution of a Texas couple.

In chilling footage captured from outside Bao and Jenny Lam's home in Spring last Thursday evening, two males are seen parking a black Lincoln Navigator SUV in the pair's driveway as they peer around the property.

The two suspects are then seen crawling underneath the gate before entering the home.

Bao, a Subway franchisee, and his wife, both 61, had not been seen or heard from since Thursday - which prompted concern from their children.

Scroll down for video

The the footage, two men are seen parking an SUV in the couple's driveway as they peer around the property before entering through underneath the gate

The couple's adult son, Richard, called police Saturday to conduct a welfare check on his parents when he hadn't heard from them in two days.

Police broke into the two-story home around 9pm and found the couple bound and shot dead on the first floor.

The surveillance footage proved the pair arrived home less than a half hour after the two men entered, and ambushed the Lams in their garage before they were bound and murdered.

The home - located in the gated Northgate Country Club community - was ransacked, with firearms, jewels and other valuable items missing.

'Everything was disturbed,' said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told KTRK.

Bao and Jenny Lam, both 61, were found executed in their Spring, Texas home on Saturday

Police say the couple were found bound and shot on the first floor of their home (pictured) in a gated community late Saturday night

'Furniture was overturned, drawers were opened. It will take some time to process the scene.'

Police also found the couple's gray Porsche Panamera Sunday in a barren parking area on FM 1960 Road.

A source told KTRK the double murder does not appear to be random, and that the couple was likely targeted.

Police also believe there may be other suspects involved in the deadly attack.

The couple's adult son Richard (pictured) called police to conduct a welfare check on his parents after not hearing from them in two days

Richard shared these pictures of him and his parents after their bodies were found this weekend

It's unclear if the crime was perhaps motivated by money; Mr Lam was the owner of six Subway sandwich shops in the Houston area.

'It's very scary. That's why I am worried right now,' one neighbor said. 'You don't know what is going on next door.'

Police are hopeful that surveillance photos from in the neighborhood will help them nab the persons responsible.

Both pictured suspects appeared to be wearing sweats, while the man who got out of the passenger's seat was 'unusually tall,' police said.

Anyone with information on the double murder is being asked to call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-274-9100 or CrimeStoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
The federal government announced plans on Tuesday to crack down on leaders of so-called sanctuary cities that provide a safe haven for illegal immigrants to the US.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told lawmakers that her agency has asked federal prosecutors to examine ways criminal charges can be brought up against officials who protect immigrants from deportation.

'The Department of Justice is reviewing what avenues may be available,' Nielsen told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Department of Justice is reviewing what avenues may be available, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen (pictured) told lawmakers on Tuesday

Sanctuary cities such as San Francisco (pictured), Chicago and Philadelphia severely limit their cooperation with the national government to enforce immigration law

The secretary added that sanctuary policies were 'putting my [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers at risk,' according to The Washington Times.

It's unclear how the new policy would affect states like California, which just passed a new sanctuary law on January 1 that severely restricts cooperation the state or any of its localities could offer.

The Trump administration has promised to withhold federal funding from municipalities that refuse to give immigration authorities access to jails and provide proper notice when a detained illegal immigrant is about to be released.

It's unclear how the new policy would affect states like California, which just passed a new sanctuary law on January 1 ( Picturde: Protesters at a pro-immigration rally Los Angeles January 25, 2017)

Sanctuary cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia severely limit their cooperation with the national government to enforce immigration law.

Leaders of sanctuary cities want to reduce the fear of deportation and possible family break-up among people who are in the country illegally so that such people will be more willing to report crimes, use health and social services, and enroll their children in school.

A spokesperson for The States Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California, which covers San Francisco, declined to comment on the development, saying the terms Nielsen used during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing were 'vague' and 'undefined.'

Asked if the new proposed policy would lead to arrests of mayors or other elected city officials, the spokesperson told the DailyMail.com the attorney's office would need time to review the plan.

Tom Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told Fox News' earlier this month that politicians should be held 'personally accountable' for crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

'We've got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes,' Homan said in the January 2 appearance with host Neil Cavuto.

Homan made similar comments to The Washington Times last July, believing that local officials were complicit in human smuggling if they shielded illegal immigrants through sanctuary policies.
Tens of thousands of small firms may get less than a penny back for each pound they are owed by Carillion.

The collapse of the construction giant leaves up to 30,000 traders facing combined losses running to hundreds of millions of pounds.

Contractors and suppliers undertake almost 1billion of work for the firm each year. They are now at risk of having to slash staff or going under.

Philip Green (left) has been chairman of Carillion since May 2014 while former chief executive Richard Howson (right) was getting paid a 660,000 salary until October, even though he quit in September

Carillion, which was Britains second biggest construction firm, went into liquidation on Monday after running up losses on contracts and huge debts

A report by accountants before Carillion went bust showed that creditors would get between 0.8p and 6.6p in the pound if it went in to liquidation.

It has just 29million in the bank  having paid out 458million in dividends to shareholders between 2011 and 2016.

Its directors  past and present  are to investigated by the Official Receiver.

Many sub-contractors would be owed money going back months, according to Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses.

He said: It is vital that Carillions small business suppliers are paid what they are owed, or some of those firms could themselves be put in jeopardy, putting even more jobs at risk besides those of Carillions own employees.

As the fallout intensified over Britains largest corporate failure since the financial crash:

Ministers ordered a fast-track investigation into the companys directors;

False tweets from radio host A radio host refused to delete false tweets he made about the Tories and Carillion. LBCs James OBrien posted a message on Monday saying Carillion chairman Philip Green was an adviser to Theresa May. However the Cabinet Office pointed out his appointment had ended. Mr OBrien retweeted the response  but refused to delete his original post which has been retweeted 9,000 times. Advertisement

They said staff working on public sector contracts would continue to be paid;

State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland was accused of undermining Carillions attempts to avoid collapse;

Jeremy Corbyn said the firms directors should pay back their bonuses;

It emerged that Carillion went bust carrying up to 3billion of financial liabilities.

Carillion, which was Britains second biggest construction firm, went into liquidation on Monday after running up losses on contracts and huge debts.

Its business is in the hands of the Official Receiver, which is reviewing all of its contracts.

Yesterday the sites of major multi-million-pound developments in Manchester, Birmingham, London and Sunderland were deserted. And it appears that work on the Royal Liverpool Hospital could also be delayed.

Business Secretary Greg Clark yesterday demanded the probe be broadened and fast-tracked. The conduct of current and former directors will be examined.

Two people in high-visibility jackets next to the S2 building, a Carillion construction project in King's Cross, London

A foreman at the Angel Gardens development in Manchester(pictured yesterday) said that all the sub-contractors employed at the site had packed up their tools yesterday and left

It also emerged that taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland tightened the terms of its funding to Carillion three days before it was forced to call in liquidators. In a witness statement filed in the High Court, Carillions interim chief executive Keith Cochrane accused the lender of taking unilateral action which in the companys view undermined the groups efforts to conserve cash.

On Saturday, it submitted a final plea to ministers for funding, but the next day the request was refused in favour of liquidation.

Mr Cochranes statement revealed the firm has debts and liabilities of 3billion  including a 587million pension deficit.

The price? Job losses and debt An engineering sub-contractor owed 1.6million by Carillion issued a warning to shareholders yesterday. Van Elles share price slumped 8 per cent when it revealed it had not been paid for Decembers work with Network Rail, and that it faced an adverse financial impact if no cash was forthcoming. The Nottinghamshire-based firm was also due to carry out projects worth 2.5million for Carillion over the next year. Chief executive Jon Fenton said: It is too early to say whether there will be any effect on the commencement or completion dates. Another small firm hit by the collapse of Carillion is Cambridge-based horticultural services company Flora-tec, which has already laid off ten staff after being left 800,000 out of pocket. Managing director Andy Bradley, pictured, said the Governments continued support for Carillion as its financial troubles deepened was an absolute disgrace, as it had encouraged small companies to believe its future was secure. Managing director Andy Bradley, pictured, said the Governments continued support for Carillion as its financial troubles deepened was an absolute disgrace He said: The Government actively encouraged businesses like mine to get involved in public sector contracts, to make sure the little guy got a slice of the pie. 'When Carillion started to get into trouble last year, we were considering that we would scale back our involvement with them. 'However, the Government continued to give them billion-pound contract after billion-pound contract, and that said to me, as a small supplier, that the Government had done its due diligence. We were following the Governments lead, only to be given a sucker punch. The owner of north Londons K&M McLoughlin Decorating claimed the collapse had cost his firm about 200,000. Kevin McLoughlin said it was not just losing money that hurt his firm, but the loss of future contracts they had expected to receive. He added: People dont always realise that when something like this happens you lose the forward order book, and for us that couldve been half a million pounds. Advertisement

Carillion employed 43,000 people worldwide, including almost 20,000 in the UK, and had 450 contracts with the Government. Ministers said staff and contractors working on public sector service contracts would continue to be paid. But there was no such guarantee for firms tied into private work. The Pension Protection Fund is expected to take on Carillions pensions deficit.

The firm spent 952million with small firms in 2016 and ministers said companies working on the firms private contracts would be paid for another 48 hours. But some are already losing out  and laying off staff. Mr Cherry said unpaid bills could go back several months, with some suppliers saying they waited 120 days to be paid.

Sadly these kind of poor payment practices are all too common among some big corporations, he said. When the dust settles on this sorry saga, there is also a wider lesson to learn about the concentration of public contracts in the hands of a small number of very big businesses.

Public procurement must be much more small-business friendly, in which it is easier for small firms to navigate the system and the Government should prioritise meeting its target of at least one third of taxpayer-funded contracts going to smaller firms.

Sarah McCann-Bartlett, of the British Constructional Steelwork Association, said thousands of sub-contractors would be out of pocket. There is always a long trail of sub-contractors that go under in these situations, she added. A lot were working for Carillion and were not insured, and so thats devastating.

Labour leader Mr Corbyn said: When there are people who are sub-contractors or small firms that are contracted into Carillion that are not getting paid, workers being made redundant at 48 hours notice, and less in some cases, the directors, for all the bonuses they have had, should pay them back.

Labour peer Lord Adonis said a senior government official had told him the Government might be hit for 600million paying through the nose for new private contractors to take on the work.
FARGO  When the North Dakota Legislature in 2009 enacted a law allowing breast-feeding in public, it did something that only one other state did  it specified the circumstances under which breast-feeding is allowed.

North Dakota allows breast-feeding in public if the woman acts in a discreet and modest manner. The law, however, does not define discreet or modest.

Since that time, breast-feeding advocates in the state have been fighting to have those two words removed from the states law. Maureen Oakley, who wrote a book on breast-feeding, said that because of that language, North Dakotas law actually provides less protection than no law at all.

The potential problems caused by the ambiguities in the law became clear on Saturday night, Jan. 13, when the owner of Fargos new Chick-fil-A restaurant told a breast-feeding mother she had to cover her breast. When she wouldnt do it, she was told to leave.

In the view of the mother, she was abiding by the states law. The actions of the franchises owner suggest that she believed, at least at the time, that the woman was not.

Although the restaurants owner has since apologized, the incident raises the question of what is actually allowed in North Dakota and whether women are protected in situations like the one a Fargo mom faced on Saturday night.

Most states have no mention of modest or discreet  breast-feeding is legal in any place, said Jaci Kulish, a leader for the La Leche League of Fargo-Moorhead, a breast-feeding advocacy and training organization. The law leaves it open to interpretation what is modest and discreet.

Minnesota law, in contrast, allows a mother to breast-feed in any location irrespective of whether the nipples breast is uncovered.

Macy Hornung, of Fargo, experienced firsthand the issues with the North Dakota laws interpretation when she and her husband, Casey, took their two children  Silas, 3, and Ziggy, 7 months  to a pre-opening event at the new Chick-fil-A near West Acres Shopping Center on Saturday night.

When they arrived at the restaurant, it was crowded. Hornung ordered a chicken sandwich, while her husband and son ordered chicken nuggets. They were nearly finished eating when her daughter decided she wanted to nurse.

I figure its a public place, but I have my rights behind me, Hornung said. I have breast-fed all over Fargo-Moorhead without incident. I didnt even think about it.

Hornung says her daughter will not tolerate being covered by a blanket while nursing. She will claw her. She will flail around. Instead, Hornung positions her daughters head so that it hides her breast from view. Hornung said no nipple was visible and that her daughters head covered most of her breast.

I wasnt showing as much as you see in a normal bathing suit, she said.

Hornung said Ziggy had been breast-feeding for about five minutes when the franchise owner, Kimberly Flamm, came to their table and told her she had to cover her breast. Hornung said she began to explain to Flamm that she was allowed by state law to breast-feed, but was interrupted.

According to Hornung, Flamm then told her she had to cover her breast or leave.

It was a very short encounter, but it was very cross and rude, Hornung said. It wasnt nice at all. It was confrontational.

Hornung and her family left the restaurant immediately, but she was angry. When she got home, she posted a negative review on the Facebook page of the Fargo Chick-fil-A and described what happened on her own Facebook page. Her story quickly spread on social media.

The incident spurred a social media firestorm. Hundreds of people have posted critical reviews on the Fargo Chick-fil-As Facebook page based on the incident. Many people also posted supportive messages on Hornungs Facebook page. They chastised the restaurants owner and encouraged people to boycott the restaurant. But many others have attacked Hornung online, claiming her behavior was inappropriate, and defended the restaurant.

On Sunday, Flamm posted an apology on the restaurants Facebook page.

I would like to publicly apologize to Macy Hornung for the way I handled the situation on Saturday, she wrote. I ask for your forgiveness on this matter as I learn from it. My goal is to provide a warm and welcoming environment for all my guests.

Flamm did not return phone calls on Monday. A Chick-fil-A spokesperson, Natalie Giddens, said, Chick-fil-A encourages franchise owners to abide by state law.

Hornung thanked Flamm for her apology on the restaurants Facebook page, but she said on Monday that she was disappointed by the restaurants response. She said neither Flamm nor anybody else from Chick-fil-A had contacted her directly.

I feel it was more of a media apology, she said. I dont know how sincere it is. I was hoping she would at least respond to my comment, private message me or something, to initiate a conversation rather than just make a public apology. She hasnt responded at all.
A crash victim has saved his two-year-old niece from the wreckage of a pile up that killed two and injured ten near Dubbo.

Among the victims was a two-year-old girl named Jalirah who was travelling with her family.

Her uncle managed to free Jalirah only moments after being pulled from the wreckage himself, 9 News reported.

Her uncle (pictured) managed to free Jalirah, two, (pictured) only moments from being pulled from the wreckage himself

A crash victim (pictured) has saved his two-year-old niece from the wreckage of a pile up that killed two and injured ten

Two people are dead and eight have been taken to hospital hours after a horror crash in Central West New South Wales (scene pictured)

'I was pulled out by a passer-by. As I got out I heard bub crying,' her uncle told 9 News on Wednesday.

'I grabbed her out, then tried to get the other passenger and the driver. But I wasn't able to grab them because they needed to be cut out.'

Her mother is in Dubbo Base hospital in a stable condition. Her sister suffered critical spine injures and remains in Royal North Shore Hospital.

The tragic accident happened just after midday on Tuesday on the Newell Highway, north of Dubbo.

A B-Double truck is believed to have slammed into a queue of cars stopped at roadworks. The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle.

Police said they did not yet know what caused the crashed, but urged motorists not to drive tired. Investigations will continue on Tuesday.

Hannah Ferguson, 19, is the first victim of the horror Dubbo crash to be identified

Ms Ferguson was travelling in the car with her boyfriend when the accident happened

Hannah Ferguson, 19, and a 19-year-old man, travelling together in one car, died at the scene, NSW Police have said.

An 18-year-old man in another car suffered burns and was taken to Concord Hospital.

In a third car were the driver, a 43-year-old woman who suffered a broken arm, and two passengers, a 52-year-old woman and 25-year-old man who suffered minor injuries. They were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital.

In a fourth car were the driver, a 26-year-old woman who suffered facial injuries and was taken to Dubbo Hospital, a 24-year-woman who was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital with a suspected spinal injury, a two-year-old girl and a 19-year-old who were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital with minor injuries.

The driver of a utility, a 39-year-old man, and the driver of a B-double, a 27-year-old man, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital.

The driver of the semi-trailer, a 50-year-old man, suffered leg fractures and suspected internal injuries and was taken to Westmead Hospital.

Seven cars, including two trucks, were involved in the horror smash, and 12 people in total were inside the vehicles.

A B-Double truck is believed to have slammed into a queue of cars stopped at roadworks. The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle
Quentin Letts is surprised by the suddenly vocal Conservative MP for Southampton, Itchen Royston Smith (pictured with his George Medal at Buckingham Palace) who unusually spoke up in the House of Commons twice this week

Suddenly its all go from Royston Smith (Con, Southampton Itchen).

He spoke in the Commons both on Monday and yesterday.

Good grief. Its an eruption.

Royston  does the Christian name not convey unspoken stolidity?  had since his election in 2015 become the near-silent man of the Commons.

Other MPs blethered and bored, boinging to their feet to orate and prate.

Our Royston kept his counsel.

Let the Bryants and Fabricants, the ghastly Cherry, boring Brake and insufferable Bercow jabber as much as they liked.

Verbal diarrhoea was not for Smith, R., thank ye.

The man from Itchen sat silently on the green leather benches.

He would listen intently, cocking his head sometimes like an inquisitive spaniel.

I swear that once or twice I saw him on the verge of speech, quivering, like a night-blooming cactus about to flower  only for him to reconsider such rashness and subside again to his habitual sedentary constipation, hand to chin or brow as within himself he grappled the issues of the day.

This former RAF engineer, 53, did not waste words. Where was the sense in that?

Some backbenchers regard it as their lifes work to be quoted in the local newspaper, howsoever witlessly.

Local MP demands League of Nations intervene in Mesopotamia war or Tsar of Russia torn off a strip by town man in Commons adjournment debate.

Mr Smith preferred to keep his powder dry.

He did not offer low-hanging fruit to those hungry scamps of the Southern Daily Echo and its newsdesk.

Let them, like him, crouch in the slips for hours  months!  as they awaited their moment.

Between the general election and Christmas, Mr Smiths yeoman voice was heard in just six debates, although in one of those  a Westminster Hall debate on balancing the public finances  his effort was in vain because a Labour MP, the cur, declined to accept an intervention from our hero.

In July Mr Smith contributed to a discussion on Grenfell Tower.

In October he asked a health question about oesophageal cancer, a defence question about Daesh and he ventured out of his tortoise shell to make a point on income tax thresholds.

Just before Christmas he spoke in a debate about slavery in Libya. And that was it.

Labour MP Jared OMara (Sheffield Hallam) may have been more mute but that has been down to political difficulties.

Sinn Fein MPs never say anything because they never turn up.

Mr Smiths reticence was of a different kidney and can, I hope, be interpreted as the preference of an honourable man not to waste the Houses time unless he had something pressing to utter.

Some criticised his economy of oratory.

They claimed that because Mr Smith did not speak regularly in the Commons Chamber, he was a duffer.

This seemed unfair.

Duffers more often advertise their duffness by dribbling away interminably in the Commons (exhibits shown to the jury at this point by learned counsel: Huddersfields voluble Barry Sheerman and the Strangford burbler Jim Shannon).

'Between the general election and Christmas, Mr Smiths yeoman voice was heard in just six debates,' he writes

Is there not honour in silence?

To the hall of acclaim that already includes Harpo Marx, Mrs Columbo and Chief from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest could be added the noble moniker of the Hon Royston Smith, the man who did not witter.

But suddenly, as I say, he is all gas. Two contributions in two days. Theres no corking the man!

At Defence Questions on Monday he leapt to his feet to ask about the well-being of the RAF personnel who carry out remote drone strikes against Daesh.

And yesterday, in Treasury Questions, he invited Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to confirm that income inequality was worse in the years of New Labour.

Mr Hammond said that yes, this was indeed the case.

A planted question? From Royston Smith? Are the Whips desperate? Or has the quiet man of Itchen decided to join the 21st century? If so, is this an improvement?

Discuss. But not too much, please.
A teenage university student and her boyfriend have been identified as the victims of a horror seven-vehicle crash in central New South Wales.

Hannah Ferguson, 19, died after a semi-trailer slammed into her car on the Newell Highway, north of Dubbo, about 12.30pm Tuesday.

The Charles Sturt University student's 19-year-old boyfriend was also killed in the crash and has now been identified as Reagan Skinner, 9 News reported.

Charles Sturt University student Hannah Ferguson (pictured), 19, died after a semi-trailer slammed into her car on the Newell Highway, in central New South Wales

The student's 19-year-old boyfriend, identified in reports as Reagan Skinner, was also killed in the crash

Hannah Ferguson (pictured) was one of the victims of the tragedy near the NSW town of Dubbo

A total of 11 others were harmed - including a two-year-old girl - with injuries ranging from broken limbs to suspected spinal injuries.

Authorities described the crash scene as 'absolute carnage' on Tuesday, after the truck slammed into the queue of cars believed to be stopped at roadworks.

The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle.

Emergency crews were still trying to free two people from the wreckage more than three hours after the incident, but the final victim was released about 4pm.

Authorities described the crash scene (pictured) as 'absolute carnage' on Tuesday, after the truck slammed into the queue of cars believed to be stopped at roadworks

A semi-trailer is believed to have slammed into a queue of cars stopped at roadworks. The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle

The 50-year-old man who drove the semi-trailer was taken to Sydney's Westmead Hospital with leg fractures and suspected internal injuries, police said.

An 18-year-old man in another car suffered burns and was taken to Concord Hospital.

In a third car were the driver - a 43-year-old woman who suffered a broken arm - a 52-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man who suffered minor injuries.

The fourth car contained a 26-year-old woman who suffered facial injuries, a 24-year-woman who was taken to hospital with a suspected spinal injury, a two-year-old girl and a 19-year-old who suffered minor injuries.

A two-year-old girl named Jalirah was travelling with her family and was freed from the wreck by her uncle (pictured)

A 39-year-old man driving a utility, and the driver of a B-double, a 27-year-old man, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital.

The two-year-old girl named Jalirah was travelling with her family and was freed from the wreck by her uncle, 9 News reported.

'I was pulled out by a passer-by. As I got out I heard bub crying,' her uncle told 9 News on Wednesday.

'I grabbed her out, then tried to get the other passenger and the driver. But I wasn't able to grab them because they needed to be cut out.'

Police said it's too early to say what caused the crash, but urged people to rest when they need to, and avoid using drugs or alcohol when driving.

Tuesday's horror smash happened near the town of Dubbo - about 400km north-west of Sydney

Earlier, Ambulance NSW Superintendent Kathy Golledge described the scene as 'absolute carnage'.

'One car is believed to be completely crushed under a truck,' she said.

'We are treating multiple patients, some are still trapped by compression at this stage.'

NSW roads minister Melinda Pavey told the ABC a road worker collapsed after witnessing the crash.

'It is an absolute horror... We had a worker collapse with shock. This is a terrible, terrible crash,' she said.

The Newell Highway remained closed overnight to allow crash investigators to examine the scene.

Police reopened the road on Wednesday morning, however investigations are ongoing.
Advertisement

Despite the tech world's movers and shakers flocking to New Zealand for the tranquil way of life, the Land of the Long White Cloud isn't all farms, entrepreneurs and rolling hills.

Out of the public eye is one of the nation's most infamous gangs Black Power, whose members operate in a lawless and hyper-violent world.

Despite being underground, Sydney photographer Casey Morton managed to pry open a window into the lives of member with a set of candid portraits.

Morton earned the trust of the notorious mob - made up of mainly Maori and Polynesian members - in order to shed light on their story.

What followed was a striking glimpse into the gang.

Sydney photographer Casey Morton captured candid photos of members of Black Power, one of New Zealand's most infamous gangs

Bearing full-face tattoos, the gang's appearance lives up to their brutal reputation

Photographer Casey Morton's desire to capture gang members was to 'show them for who they really are'

'I have some relatives who are associates, so I used them to bridge the divide,' Morton told Daily Mail Australia.

'I wanted to show another side to what Black Power is about. The idea was to show them for who they really are and let people make up their own mind.'

He jetted to Christchurch to meet with members of the local chapter and shoot them in a clubhouse.

Wearing blue and black gang colours and bearing full-face tattoos, the gang's appearance matches their fearsome reputation. But Morton said he felt safe.

'Beforehand they laid the ground rules. At times I felt very intimidated by them, but I never felt unsafe,' Morton said.

The tech moguls hot-footing it to New Zealand PayPal co-founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel has gushed about his great pride in his New Zealand citizenship and how he has found no other country that aligns more with my view of the future. Perhaps what he really meant was exposed, after one of his Silicon Valley chums, the venture capitalist Sam Altman, revealed that, at the first sign of global disaster, he and Thiel would fly to New Zealand. Other uber-rich Americans who have recently bought homes there include the billionaire hedge-fund pioneer Julian Robertson and the Hollywood film director James Cameron. Local estate agents say their U.S. clients rarely intend to live in New Zealand, but cite reasons for their purchases such as the toxic presidential election and the spate of mass shootings in America. In the first ten months of last year, foreigners  mainly Australians and Americans  bought nearly 1,400 square miles of land there, more than four times what they bought in the same period the previous year. Advertisement

The photos offer a striking glimpse into members of the notorious Black Power gang

Who are the bikie gangs of New Zealand? Gangs in New Zealand have been blasted as a severe social problem, with reports of violent brawls, murders and rapes sparking fear in local communities, since the 1960s. The three largest gangs are Black Power, the Mongrel Mob, and the Nomads - and there is fierce rivalry between them. The groups first formed in the 1950s and by the 1960s even the countrys then prime minister, Rob Muldoon, had partied at a Black Power residence. Muldoon formed a close bond with Black Power, encouraging them to form work trusts and assisting them to find accommodation. A 'Maori urban drift' in the 1960s and the rapid immigration of Pacific Peoples in the 1970s is said to have bolstered their membership - joining a gang was often seen as a solution to the problems people faced. By the 1970s, the gangs had turned further towards organised crime and now they have stringent codes against outsiders. As well as donning menacing face tattoos, some of the Mongrel Mobs, for example, use reviled Nazi symbols as an act of rebellion towards authority. The gangs are influenced by their American counterparts, such as Hells Angels, but also have their own unique codes. Advertisement

The patched vests, in the same way as outlaw bikie gangs in the US, signal the members' status. In order to earn them they must endure a gruelling initiation period that can span a year before they are officially welcomed.

The Black Power was founded in the 1970s to counter the Mongrel Mob, with whom they have a bitter and decades-long rivalry.

Tensions boiled over last month, when shots were fired at a Mongrel Mob member's funeral stormed by Black Power members in Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand.

But Morton believes BlackPower are not as violent as they once were, and says there is more to the group than meets the eye.

'The gang is not as violent as they once were, and what I saw on the day felt a lot more like a brotherhood than anything else.'

'At times I felt like I was just hanging out with family, uncles and brothers, but at the same time you also knew and could feel that there was a dark side to them.'

The members are reminiscent of characters portrayed in the 1994 New Zealand film, Once Were Warriors, about life in the slums of Auckland, including an eldest son who leaves his family to join a gang with facial tattoos.

Black Power members are shown wearing blue and black, the colours of the gang

The Black Power gang is made up primarily of Maori and Polynesian men

A patched vest shows the status of members within the Black Power gang, in the same ways as outlaw bikie clubs

Photographer Casey Morton managed to pry open a window into the secretive lives of Black Power members

The photos shed light on the secretive lives of Black Power gang members

Photographer Casey Morton flew to Christchurch to take photos of members of the local Black Power chapter in a clubhouse

The Black Power gang has been described as 'more like a brotherhood than anything else'

Black Power members were photographed over a day and a half to portray their story

The aim of the photos was not to portray the gang members in a positive light, but to photograph them for who they really are and let people make up their own mind
A 27-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to punching and biting a police officer after she was arrested for drink-driving.

Tiffany Justine Sara Courtenay was stopped by police last year in Mackay, in central Queensland, after an officer watched her park her car unevenly, according to the Tweed Daily News.

Courtenay, an aspiring nurse with no prior criminal history, had a blood-alcohol level of .183  almost four times over the limit.

Tiffany Justine Sara Courtenay, 27, was stopped by police last year in Mackay, in central Queensland, after an officer watched her park her car unevenly

When a male constable told the 27-year-old she was headed to the city's watch-house, Courtenay sunk her teeth into his arm, Prosecutor Sheena Hayes told the Mackay Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

'She has become hysterical and frustrated ... and with two closed fists, in a hammerfist style, has proceeded to strike [the officer] to the chest, causing him to stumble backwards,' she said.

'The defendant has escalated in her behaviour towards police, causing them to restrain her by grabbing both of her arms. A struggle has then commenced and it was at this time the defendant has bitten [the officer] on the forearm...'

On December 3, Courtenay pleaded guilty to serious assault of an officer and driving under the influence, according to the publication.

She was ordered to pay $1,250 in compensation and a $3,500 fine.
Police in Washington's Virginia suburbs say two would-be carjackers fled when a splash of hot cocoa and a dash of resourcefulness entered the mix.

Prince William County police said in a statement that a 50-year-old woman exited a 7-Eleven convenience store at 15052 Cardinal Drive in Woodbridge on Saturday night with some purchased items.

That's when two men, one with a handgun, approached and demanded her vehicle.

Prince William County police say in a statement that a 50-year-old woman fended off an armed suspect with her purse while exiting a 7-11 convenient store

The incident occurred at 15052 Cardinal Drive in Woodbridge (pictured) on Saturday, according to police

Police say the woman struck one man with her bag before her 22-year-old daughter threw her hot chocolate toward both men, who then fled on foot.

No one was injured and no property was taken.

A police K-9 unit combed the area for suspects but neither were found, according to ABC affiliate WJLA 7.

Police describe the men as 5-foot-10 African-American males with thin builds. The ages of the suspects are unknown.

The armed suspect was wearing a black coat with a fur-trimmed hood, while the other was wearing dark-colored clothing and red gloves, WJLA 7 reported.
Britain's corner shops are in danger of dying out as future generations increasingly snub their local convenience stores, analysts have warned.

Although elderly shoppers still use them almost daily with almost half (45 per cent) of the over-75s going to their neighbourhood supplier at least five times a week, the same is not true of younger adults.

Among those aged 18-24, only 28 per cent go to a convenience store daily but this is likely to fall to 19 per cent over the next two decades, according to industry experts.

Britain's corner shops are in danger of dying out as future generations increasingly snub their local convenience stores

And that could spell the end of Britain's 'Open All Hours' stores who serve the local community, warned specialist research company Him at their 'Future of Convenience' conference this week.

Generations who have relied on such retailers for topping up on groceries to getting their daily paper, cigarettes or snacks, are dying out and not being replaced by tech savvy youngsters, they added.

Young adults are working longer hours or commuting further so they don't pop in before and after work.

Instead, they order what they want online and want places where they can sit down on their devices.

This has led to the rise of coffee shops and sandwich shops but a decline in using convenience stores with no seated areas.

Young adults also want more locally sourced goods, not just big name brands, more organic produce and more ethically sourced food and drink.

They see convenience stores at outdated - both in what they sell and the layout - the conference was told.

There is also the lack of technology in some, where purchases below a certain amount - such as 5 or 10 - cannot be paid for by contactless card without an additional fee.

Young adults are working longer hours or commuting further so they don't pop in before and after work. Instead, they order what they want online and want places where they can sit down on their devices

Him client development manager, John Clifton, said: 'There is probably a bit of a disconnect between a younger demographic and convenience stores, who don't necessarily see convenience stores as integral to their life like the older demographic.

'If we were to push everyone in this age bracket forward 20 years, it paints a pretty bleak picture if we don't change anything or address this problem now.'

He suggested more digital displays, self service tills, contactless payments and personalised offers.

Being constantly online has taught younger consumers how to be alerted to bargains when they appear so convenience stores could cash in on this by having special price promotions at certain times of day, for instance, when those potential customers are most likely to be around.

Louise McWhirter, head of insights at Him, told trade site Conveniencestore.co.uk: 'With the rise in consumers as 'experts', shopper expectation is rising.

'Retailers and suppliers should be maximising meal time day parts and on the go pack sizes to fit the need of the modern shopper.'
Car companies are able to trace drivers' habits and glean personal information from their observations using technology in their vehicles, an investigation by the Washington Post has found.

A consumer, when buying a car, can agree or not agree to a stipulation in a buyer's contract allowing a car company to do so.

The Washington Post's investigation alleges that such agreements are often buried in a contract.

Car companies can glean driver habits such as speed, frequent destinations and the use of seat belts using technology in the cars (stock photo of traffic)

Car manufacturers - along with third party data companies that analyze the data - say the information can be used to alleviate traffic and help alert authorities to car crashes quicker (stock photo of surveillance)

Car companies such as Honda, for example, are able to figure out a driver's speed, frequent and occasional destinations and the use of a vehicle's seat belts among other pieces of information.

At least 10million cars are under such surveillance and that that number is on the rise, the Washington Post figures.

'The thing that car manufacturers realize now is that they're not only hardware companies anymore. They're software companies,' the chief marketing officer of a car data company told the Washington Post.

Honda said in a statement to the Washington Post that it 'cannot provide specifics at this time'.

General Motors said it 'does not collect or use any personally identifiable customer data without a customers consent'.

Ford, another heavyweight car company, replied with a similar comment to that of General Motors, the Washington Post stated.

Privacy experts worry that car companies may now be able to access too much personal information (stock photo of traffic)

Toyota states that it may share customer data with 'companies affiliated with Toyota' provided it has permission from the customer.

Some experts worry that the amount and type of data that car companies can glean about customer habits may constitute a breach of privacy.

But what the car companies are doing is not, technically speaking, illegal.

A law professor told the Washington Post: 'Theres no car privacy statute that car companies have to abide by.'

But car companies - along with third parties that work with them to mine the data - insist they use the information for altruistic purposes such as alleviating traffic by monitoring road usage or helping to alert authorities who can then provide rapid support in the event of car crashes.
A former CIA officer accused of spying for China and helping dismantle US spy operations in that country has been arrested and charged after he was allegedly found with two notebooks full of classified information, including details about US informants and locations of covert facilities.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, also known as Zheng Cheng, was arrested Monday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Department of Justice announced.

He's been charged with illegally retaining classified records, but sources familiar with the situation told the New York Times that the 53-year-old ex-CIA employee is suspected of helping the Chinese government identify US informants in that country.

A former CIA officer allegedly had two notebooks containing classified CIA information, including the real names and phone numbers of informants and the locations of covert facilities.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested at JFK International Airport on Monday and was charged with illegally retaining classified records

Lee worked for the CIA from 1994 to 2007 as a case officer.

According to a court affidavit, the FBI seized two small notebooks from Lee in 2012 while he was traveling from Hong Kong to Virginia with his family.

During a search of Lee's possessions, the FBI found that the books contained handwritten notes of the real names and phone numbers of covert CIA informants and agents, as well as the addresses of covert CIA facilities, it is claimed.

Many of the US informants were either imprisoned or killed after the Chinese government took down the CIA's spying operation starting in 2010.

Over a two year period, nearly 20 CIA sources were executed or jailed, the New York Times reports.

Lee made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in New York, but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located. Pictured is an aerial view of the CIA building

The tragedy was labeled as one of the government's worst intelligence breaches in recent years, and unraveled the informant network in China.

Lee was suspected of being at the center of it, although he previously denied being a spy during an interview with the FBI.

Lee, a resident of Hong Kong and naturalized US citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in New York, but will face charges in northern Virginia, where the CIA is located.
Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell is the UK's highest paid vice-chancellor, reportedly receiving 475,000 in salary and benefits last year

The University of Bath's Court has passed a motion calling for the immediate departure of its vice-chancellor following a row about her pay.

Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell is the UK's highest paid vice-chancellor, reportedly receiving 475,000 in salary and benefits last year.

She will step down from the university in August, remaining living in her university-provided accommodation in Bath until then, then take a sabbatical on full pay until February.

A car loan worth 31,500 will also be written off.

The Court is a statutory body with around 200 members, providing a forum that represents the interests of the university's internal and external concerns.

At a meeting on Tuesday evening, it passed a motion expressing no confidence in Dame Glynis, the chair of the university's Council and the remuneration committee.

It called for all to stand down immediately, as well as expressing that the council went beyond its powers by granting Dame Glynis a six-month sabbatical.

Dame Glynis's university-provided accommodation should be counted in her pay, it agreed.

A spokesman for the University of Bath said: 'At its meeting today, the Court of the University of Bath agreed Standing Orders as part of steps taken to implement recommendations made in the report by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) into governance relating to remuneration.

'A full and open discussion took place around the previous meeting of Court in February 2017 and the HEFCE report and two Motions were passed.'

A motion calling for a 'visitor' as part of an institutional checks and balances system was agreed and will be implemented, the spokesman said.

Students previously marched through the University of Bath protesting against the retirement arrangements of their vice-chancellor

'A Motion relating to the HEFCE report was agreed and will be considered at the next meeting of Council, the University's governing body,' he added.

'The University's Council has already accepted all the recommendations contained in the HEFCE report.'

Hundreds of students, accompanied by members of staff, marched at the university in November in protest at Dame Glynis' retirement terms.

Last year, HEFCA announced they were making inquiries into Dame Glynis's retirement terms, following a letter from Labour councillor Joe Rayment.

Thomas Sheppard, chair of the university's council, said at the time that he believed the complaint had 'no substance whatsoever'.

By the time of her retirement on August 31, Dame Glynis will have been in post for 17 years - a third of the university's lifetime. Above, protesters call for change

In a previous report, the watchdog severely criticised the university's handling of senior pay.

By the time of her retirement on August 31, Dame Glynis will have been in post for 17 years - a third of the university's lifetime.

Dame Glynis made 471,000 in 2016/17 including benefits, a Freedom of Information request by the Bath Chronicle found.

The request also showed that a 1.7 per cent increase on her base salary had been approved by the remuneration committee - totalling an additional 4,510, the paper revealed.

Four MPs previously resigned from roles at the university in protest at her salary.
FARGO  Police here recovered several stolen vehicles last year, found one tied to a drug case and nabbed several drivers with arrest warrants using two squad cars equipped to scan license plates.

Now, the department is equipping four more.

Police Chief David Todd told city leaders Tuesday, Jan. 16, that hes found the system very helpful for solving crimes and finding missing persons, usually seniors with dementia.

Metro-area police have had squad cars equipped with automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, since around 2010, starting with the West Fargo Police Department. Fargo police soon got their own.

Today, West Fargo has two equipped squad cars, and Moorhead has one.

The Fargo Police Department will pay Pips Technology $60,000 for four new ALPRs, which includes a discount negotiated by the department to afford four instead of three, and $28,000 to upgrade the current two devices to new standards.

An ALPR consists of several camera units, each with a color and an infrared camera, hooked to computer processors that can read license plates of passing vehicles and match them to a list of targeted vehicles. For squad cars scanning traffic, a typical configuration includes four cameras pointed in different directions mounted to the light bar.

Police departments across the country have used them for everything from solving crimes to tracking down people with a lot of unpaid parking tickets, according to Police magazine.

But the readers have also raised concern among privacy advocates. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for example, has said the data vacuumed up by ALPR systems allows police to potentially track the movement of innocent people and know which doctor they see or protest they attend. It calls for police to purge data that involve people who arent part of an investigation.

Todd said his officers use their ALPR systems as part of their daily patrols. We try to make sure those squad cars are out there all the time, he said.

Each of those cars is loaded with a hot list of license plates that include stolen vehicles as well as vehicles owned by people with warrants for their arrest or by missing persons, he said. When a crime occurs, police will also scan cars in the vicinity so they can see who was in the area and who was leaving, he said.

Parking enforcement is not done by police, but by a private firm that has its own ALPR-equipped scooters, he said.

In Moorhead, police Sgt. Clint Stephenson said the ALPR system is used when a crime occurs, but not every day. In West Fargo, city spokeswoman Melissa Richard said the ALPR system is used for various investigative purposes.

According to Todd, data gathered by the cameras are purged after 90 days unless considered evidence in an investigation. Once the investigation is over, that data would also be purged.

License plates on the hot list are purged every 30 days unless a lieutenant overseeing intelligence determines they need to stay longer, he said.
Prosecutors have pledged to look again at the case against Poppi Worthington's father after a coroner urged them to reopen it following his ruling that the 13-month-old died in his bed.

The 'fit and active' toddler was probably sexually assaulted in the double bed where Paul Worthington, 50, slept hours before she suffocated to death, senior coroner David Roberts said on Monday.

It was the third court judgment to conclude that Poppi was subjected to a brutal attack before she died on December 12, 2012.

Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service said it would go over the evidence again and consider formally reviewing the case. It has already been reviewed three times, but the CPS said there had never been enough evidence to put Worthington before a jury.

Prosecutors have pledged to look again at the case against Poppi Worthington's father after senior coroner David Roberts (right) urged them to reopen it

This was because of a bungled police investigation, which meant key items of evidence were never collected.

Mr Justice Jackson ruled in a family hearing in 2014 that Poppi had probably been assaulted by her father, coming to the same conclusion at appeal in 2016.

Poppi's mother has pleaded for the case to be reviewed, while Nazir Afzal, former chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said: 'I would encourage the CPS to look again.'

Mr Roberts formally referred a copy of his decision, made on the balance of probabilities, to the CPS on Tuesday.

The CPS say they have received Mr Roberts decision and will review it along with Cumbria Police.

A judge made public the conclusion that Paul Worthington (pictured) sexually abused 13-month-old Poppi hours before her death

A spokesman for the CPS said: 'We have received a copy of the coroner's decision and will now consider this carefully in liaison with Cumbria Constabulary.'

It comes after it was revealed Poppi Worthington's father is still getting 50,000-a-year police protection despite a coroner ruling he sexually abused his daughter before she died.

Cumbria Police confirmed that 'security arrangements have been put in place due to threats having been made' to Paul Worthington, from Barrow-in-Furness.

But John Woodcock, the local MP for Poppi's family, has condemned the 'absurd and expensive' protection for the father of the tragic 13-month-old girl.

The Labour MP for Barrow spoke out as it was revealed that former supermarket worker Worthington, 49, may have to live the rest of his life with a new identity.

He has been living in hiding after a judge made public the conclusion that he abused Poppi hours before her death.

Today, Mr Woodcock told MailOnline: 'Our community will resent this daily reminder of the abject failure of the police to do their job in the first place.

'We have to try every avenue and hope that the coroner's verdict gives us a chance at getting a trial that would end this absurd and expensive situation - but the chances are slim, which is why I am calling for a public inquiry.'

A Cumbria Police spokesman told MailOnline today of the protection for Poppi's father: 'We will not comment on the specific details, but security arrangements have been put in place due to threats having been made to Mr Worthington.'

Yesterday, the senior coroner for Cumbria concluded that Poppi suffered a serious sexual assault in her father's double bed at the family home in the early hours of December 12 2012.

Poppi Worthington woke up screaming at about 5.30am in 2012 at the family home

The ruling on the balance of probabilities effectively mirrored two earlier fact-finding judgments by a High Court family judge in 2014 and 2016 that Worthington abused his daughter shortly before her death.

Mr Woodcock said yesterday that Poppi will never get justice, as he called for a public inquiry into the 'grotesque failing' by police.

He said: 'This is the verdict we all feared - Poppi was probably assaulted by her father before she died. That little girl will probably never get justice because of grotesque failings into the police investigation into her death.

'But we owe it to her to campaign for a public inquiry that can expose all that is rotten in the system that has led us to this terrible day.'

Worthington appears to have escaped prosecution over the sexual abuse of his daughter, but his protection could cost the taxpayer as much as 50,000 a year.

He appeared before the fresh inquest into Poppi's death at Kendal Coroner's Court last November  but had to be accompanied by two police officers armed with Tasers.

Paul Worthington arrives at Kendal County Hall in Cumbria for the inquest last November

Worthington was also allowed to give evidence while shielded from the public.

The father appeared to make every effort to avoid saying anything that could help reveal how and why Poppi died.

During the hearing, he declined to answer questions 252 times, routinely responding: 'I rely on the right not to answer under Rule 22.'

John Woodcock, the local MP for Poppi's family, has condemned the 'absurd and expensive' police protection for the father

This allows witnesses at inquests to avoid saying anything that could incriminate them. But coroner David Roberts still found flaws in the father's evidence.

For example, Worthington  who denies any wrongdoing  had misled medical workers at Furness General Hospital into thinking that constipation may have contributed to Poppi's death.

Mr Roberts said the accounts Worthington had given since the tragedy 'differ and raise concerning questions'.

Among these were elements of Worthington's account of Poppi's final hours which he said were 'not credible'.

He found of Worthington: 'Whilst parts of his previous accounts may be true, I cannot rely upon any one of them as providing a complete and truthful history of what took place between his taking Poppi from her cot and her death.'

Worthington may once have believed he would escape unscathed from Poppi's death.

It was not until eight months after the day she died that Worthington was arrested and questioned by police.

Forensic faults, no reconstruction and not analysing phones: 12 basic errors in the initial police probe A dozen police findings outlined by High Court judge Mr Justice Jackson: 1) Items at the hospital Poppi was taken to were not preserved for forensic analysis 2) Items at the family home were not preserved for forensic analysis 3) The scene at the family home was not secured, with Poppi's last nappy being lost despite the presence of police officers 4) The detective inspector and another officer not visiting the home. According to national protocol, a senior officer should immediately attend the home to take charge of the investigation and ensure that evidence is intelligently preserved 5) No reconstruction with the parents at home so that their accounts could be understood and investigations focused 6) No forensic medical examination at the time of death. Swabs were not taken until post-mortem despite delays meaning forensic analysis can be prejudiced 7) No engagement of a paediatrician with specialist knowledge of investigating sexual abuse for there to be a physical examination of the child, a viewing of the home and a report for the pathologist 8) Dr Armour's initial views were not clearly passed on to the local authority for safeguarding purposes 9) The parents were not formally interviewed until August 2013 10) Neither parent's mobile telephone or Facebook accounts were analysed 11) Samples were not sent for analysis until after receipt of Dr Armour's full report 12) No statements taken from any witnesses (paramedics, nurses, doctors, family members) until September 2013. Advertisement

And, after errors in the police investigation, there was not enough evidence to charge him.

In autumn 2014, Cumbria council was still trying to keep everything about the death  including Poppi's name, the town she lived in and all public agencies involved  secret.

Only in January 2016 was a damning fact-finding ruling by High Court judge Mr Justice Jackson made public. It concluded that Worthington had perpetrated a brutal assault on Poppi before she died.

The only clue to Worthington's life was given by his barrister Paul Clark, who said: 'He has been in a long-term position of great vulnerability and risk and as a result has been in a long-term position of witness protection whereby his current appearance and location are not known.'

Witness protection is usually provided for those giving evidence against criminals at great risk to themselves, rather than those needing protection from vigilante attacks.

Worthington's lawyers, Farley Solicitors, said: 'Mr Worthington is considering his options following the coroner's conclusion today and we are advising him not to say anything further at this point.'

Cumbria Police's chief constable, Jeremy Graham, has again apologised to Poppi's family for the force's failings, but said police would now look at 'possible courses of action' with lawyers following the coroner's findings.

Lead detective on the police inquiry, Detective Inspector Amanda Sadler, a former Miss Great Britain, was subjected to a disciplinary hearing last year where gross incompetency was proven and she was demoted in rank.

She has since retired along with her boss, former Detective Chief Inspector Mike Forrester. No further action was taken against either of the former officers.

In 2015, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) concluded that both Mrs Sadler and Mr Forrester had cases to answer for gross misconduct.

Mr Woodcock said: 'It is hard to overstate our community's anger at seeing an officer found responsible for gross incompetence able to keep a job in the force before retiring. This is not accountability.'

Paul Worthington is helped into Kendal County Hall for the second inquest last November

He said a public inquiry should look at preventing negligent officers from retiring to escape scrutiny and the decision by Cumbria Police to offer an officer found guilty of gross incompetence an alternative senior role in the force rather than dismissal.

He added: 'Police officers work so hard to keep our community safe but they need leaders now who are prepared to recognise the damage that has been done by this tragedy and campaign for real change to restore public confidence.'

Mr Graham said the inquest detailing the catalogue of failures by officers had been 'uncomfortable listening'.

He added: 'I will consider the detail of the coroner's conclusion and his comments today and we will be having an early discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service in order to determine possible courses of action.'

Cumbria's police and crime commissioner Peter McCall declined to comment to MailOnline today on the protection for Worthington.
Furious female BBC staff have claimed that the corporations long-awaited report into pay inequality between the sexes will be a whitewash  before it is even published.

The broadcaster has been in chaos since the summer when it was forced to publish the salaries of its highest earners, which exposed a yawning gap between pay for its male and female presenters.

The BBC has been trying to stave off a full-scale rebellion by female staff by promising to fix inequalities when the comprehensive analysis of salaries is complete.

However, BBC Women  a group of 130 female producers and broadcasters backed by star presenters Mishal Husain, Victoria Derbyshire and Jane Garvey  has written to director general Lord Hall distancing themselves from its findings.

However, BBC Women  a group of 130 female producers and broadcasters backed by star presenters Mishal Husain, Victoria Derbyshire (left) and Jane Garvey (right)

The presenters have written to director general Lord Hall distancing themselves from its findings. Pictured: Mishal Husain

They claim the review being carried out by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers has not consulted female staff and so will not represent their views when it is published at the end of the month.

In a letter seen by the Mail, one well-known BBC newsreader said: The lack of transparency and the narrow scope mean staff are not likely to trust the findings. We cannot find anyone covered by the review whom PwC has spoken to.

Members of BBC Women are due to meet Lord Hall and deputy director general Anne Bulford this week to set out their position.

A previous audit of BBC salaries compiled by PwC and the law firm Eversheds, which was published in October, found that it pays men an average of 9.3 per cent more than women, and that they are far more likely to occupy senior positions.

Earlier this month, Carrie Gracie  who earned 135,000 a year  resigned as the BBCs China editor in protest at what she called a secretive and illegal pay regime.

But last week the BBCs female staff were said to be close to walking out when an off-air recording was leaked of Radio 4s Today programme presenter John Humphrys mocking Miss Gracies pay row to North America editor Jon Sopel.

Humphrys earns between 600,000 and 649,000 while Sopel is paid between 200,000 and 249,999.

The BBC commissioned PwC in September to conduct the major study of presenter pay at all levels  not just the 96 highest-paid revealed in the summer.

Just last week, director of news Fran Unsworth defended the review, saying: We are conducting a comprehensive analysis of presenter pay.

Members of BBC Women are due to meet Lord Hall and deputy director general Anne Bulford this week to set out their position. They are pictured answering questions in front of the Education and Culture Committee at the Scottish Parliament in 2016

Everyone at the BBC has wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but equally, we need to get it right. PwC are working with us to ensure an objective external assessment.

However, female staff at the BBC expect the final report to paint an overly flattering picture of the gender pay divide.

The newsreader  who the Mail has decided not to name  wrote: All of the various reviews and audits seem to have been selective about which roles they include and too broad to highlight pay inequalities between men and women doing the same work.

A BBC spokesman said last night: This is a complex and detailed piece of work and were determined to get it right.

'Weve held meetings with unions and others and engaged with female presenters with more meetings scheduled.

'People should judge us on the quality of the report, and PwCs work, alongside the quality of our response and the actions that we will take as a result.

Official sources added that PwCs study was not about talking with staff but that it had nonetheless been running forums for presenters and other staff and feeding reports from those into the final review.
Keira Knightley says she shuns roles in modern-day films because she notes that the female characters are often raped or treated disrespectfully, which is why she chooses to star in more history-based movies.

I dont really do films set in the modern-day because the female characters nearly always get raped, says the 32-year-old actress.

I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas Ive always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces.

Keira Knightley, 32, says she finds the way women are portrayed in modern-day films 'distasteful'

Knightley shot to fame in Pirates Of The Caribbean and went on to star in Pride & Prejudice and The Imitation Game, about the life of Alan Turing, and the Duchess in which she played the 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire.

Her next film is historical drama Colette, based on the French novelist of the same name.

While she does not single out any contemporary films herself, Brie Larson won the Best Actress Oscar in 2016 for her portrayal of a woman held captive and repeatedly raped in the film Room.

Instead the actress finds characters offered to her in historical pieces much more inspiring

Other films featuring similarly disturbing scenes include The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the 2009 Oscar-winning Precious.

Knightley admits that theres been some progress with the writing of more current films.

Theres been some improvement, she tells Hollywoods Variety magazine. Im suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who arent raped in the first five pages and arent simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife.

The star played Anna Karenina in 2012 alongside Aaron Johnson as Count Vronsky (pictured together)

Knightley, who is married to musician James Righton, formerly of the Klaxons, admits shes missed out on earning big money in Hollywood by not being pushy enough.

For the first time recently I got paid a little bit more than my male co-stars, she says.

I havent tried to push back on it much. I think I probably should have.

My approach has been not to ask because I would have been really angry, which is stupid.

Ive been putting my head in the sand, Im afraid.

Perhaps Keira should sign the BBCs Carrie Gracie as her new agent.
The Jungle camp at Calais is a squalid monument to Europes failed border policies.

In all its lawlessness, chaos and spirit of entitlement, it shows the political class in France lacks any real determination to sort out the problem.

Over recent years there have been several attempts, but none have been implemented with sufficient rigour or willpower to stop the return of the camp dwellers.

There was a much-trumpeted clearout in 2016, but, all too predictably, many are back, in swelling numbers.

In all its lawlessness, chaos and spirit of entitlement, it shows the political class in France lacks any real determination to sort out the problem

It is estimated that there are now anything between 400 and 1,000 migrants around Calais in makeshift settlements, all eager to make their way to the promised land of Britain.

In the absence of anything like a sufficiently resolute approach, French politicians have resorted to their traditional strategy of heaping the blame on Britain.

The air around the Channel is thick with Gallic demands for more support and more cash from our Government.

Yesterday, before a British-French summit at Sandhurst, President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais to highlight his administrations call for the UK both to take in more refugees and to dish out more money for security at the port.

This French pressure comes laced with two forms of political blackmail. One is the far from subtle hint that, if Britain does not agree, then France will refuse to support a beneficial trade deal in the Brexit negotiations.

President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais to highlight his administrations call for the UK both to take in more refugees and to dish out more money for security at the port

The other is the threat to tear up the 2003 Le Touquet bilateral treaty  whereby British border controls were effectively moved to Calais to facilitate cross-Channel traffic  and move the border back to Britain.

But the French governments demands are not only profoundly unjust, they are also unworkable. Britain has poured a fortune into beefing up security at Calais  more than 120million in the past three years.

Moreover, any transfer of the border to southern England would do nothing to stop the migrant problem at Calais.

Indeed, it would almost certainly encourage migrants, bringing anarchy to north-eastern France and the entire cross-Channel system.

It is absurd of Macron and his allies to try to pass the buck. Calais is on French soil. The ports security is the responsibility of French authorities, just as Dover is the responsibility of the British.

French politicians complain that the generosity of our welfare state to newcomers is a key factor in encouraging so many of the Calais migrants  most of them from Africa or Asia  to seek a new life in England.

The beleaguered Calais mayor has even referred to the UK as El Dorado because of the appeal of our social security system.

There was a much-trumpeted clearout in 2016, but, all too predictably, many are back, in swelling numbers. Pictured: The camp after it was largely cleared of migrants

But this is double-speak. For the European Union, so beloved of the French ruling class, has made a fetish of the concept that no countrys welfare should discriminate against migrants.

When David Cameron, in his forlorn pre-referendum quest to establish a new relationship between the EU and Britain, urged a degree of reform in benefit rules, his request was dismissed by Europes leaders.

The truth is that the Calais nightmare has been allowed to fester because of Frances political cowardice.

There has never been a shred of justification for the camp dwellers to hang around the port, spreading misery and intimidation. None of them are genuine asylum seekers in flight from persecution.

If they were, they would be grateful to settle in France. They are, in reality, economic migrants, cynically exploiting Western guilt for their own ends.

The Calais farce is a metaphor for a wider lack of political will to defend Europes borders or the traditional concept of nationhood. The result is that ordinary people throughout Europe are becoming deeply worried about migrations effect on their culture, heritage and nationhood.

By focusing on the British over Calais, Macron is indulging in the politics of distraction.

Immigration and a burgeoning migrant population are a source of deep discontentment and growing disunity in intensely nationalistic France, and he should put his own house in order before he points the finger at London.

The trouble is that he is too deeply marinated in the twin ideologies of globalism and EU integration, clinging to his emotive belief in open borders.

If Macron wanted to act, he could start by cracking down at Calais, rather than trying to palm it off as a British problem.

He openly admires German Chancellor Angela Merkels decision to open the floodgates in 2015 and welcome 1.5million incomers into her country. We have to welcome refugees. It is our duty and our honour, he has declared.

Last July, when he proclaimed a clear-out of tented camps, he said he wanted people off the streets and out of the woods.

But, crucially, he added: I want emergency shelters everywhere. Inevitably those shelters soon become new magnets for economic migrants.

The migration-fixated, diversity-obsessed cadre of the EU, epitomised by Macron, have no answers to the problem of migrants.

That is why the people of Europe are so fed up, and why one French opinion poll found that 61 per cent of the population wants to suspend immigration from Muslim countries.

If Macron wanted to act, he could start by cracking down at Calais, rather than trying to palm it off as a British problem.
Boris Johnson wants Theresa May to counter the threat of Jeremy Corbyn by pledging to give the NHS an extra 100million a week after Brexit.

The Foreign Secretary has told colleagues he believes the government must adopt a Vote Leave pledge and give billions that would have been handed to Brussels on the health service.

The Telegraph said he is likely to have the support of Environment Secretary Michael Gove, the leading Leave campaigner.

Labour's attempts to stop Donald Trump visiting Britain are 'extremely odd' as the country's relationship with the United States is 'crucial', Boris Johnson has said

The Foreign Secretary, is attending a two day summit on North Korea in Vancouver

An ally of Mr Johnson told the paper: 'Boris thinks that for the Tories to beat Corbyn it is fundamental that the government delivers on NHS funding and he will continue to make this argument until it happens.

'Every poll conducted shows the NHS is top of swing voter concerns and every expert says it needs more money - the Cabinet will have to act and the sooner the better.

'This isn't about the referendum, it's about listening to the public's priorities and beating Corbyn - colleagues should move on from the referendum debate and start to focus on the future.'

During the EU referendum Vote Leave emblazoned the side of Mr Johnson's bus with the slogan: 'We send the EU 350million a week, let's fund our NHS instead.'

Mr Johnson criticised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, arguing they were risking the UKs relationship with the US

During the EU referendum Vote Leave emblazoned the side of Mr Johnson's bus with the slogan: 'We send the EU 350million a week, let's fund our NHS instead'

Another senior Cabinet source said: 'Boris is absolutely right, we must take the fight to Labour on the NHS. Remain or Leave it won't matter at the next election, it's what we deliver on the core issues like the NHS that will count at the ballot box. The sooner we realise that the better.'

The Foreign Secretary was also supported by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was last night expected to be elected as head of the influential European Reform Group of eurosceptic Tory MPs.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: 'It is clear the NHS is under strain, the chief executive of NHS England has asked for this. It is important that implied promises are delivered on by politicians. I strongly support what Boris is saying.

'It became clear to me campaigning during the General Election that if we didn' t have a good case to make on 2022 on the health service we will be in real trouble.'
A fisherman's joy at hooking the big one quickly turned to terror as a monster crocodile burst out of the water to snatch his catch.

Luke Robertson was at Cahills Crossing in the Northern Territory - a notorious crocodile-infested waterway - when he decided to go for a fish.

'I went to my ute and grabbed out my rod and line and stood up on the rocks,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Luke Robertson was at Cahills Crossing in the Northern Territory - a notorious crocodile-infested waterway - when he decided to go for a fish

A crocodile then burst out of the water and lunged towards Mr Robertson's catch

The spot is popular with tourists who want to catch a glimpse of a crocodile, and Mr Robertson said there were about 50 people gathered there on September 12.

'There were about 10 to 15 crocodiles sitting there in the water.'

After hooking a fish, Mr Robertson ran down from the rocks to get closer to the water's edge to inspect his prize.

As he was pulling in his catch, a crocodile stalked the fish before suddenly lunging towards the fish, snatching it from Mr Robertson's line.

'The croc came up and just took off with it,' Mr Robertson said.

He has travelled across Australia and has had sharks steal fish from his line before, but Mr Robertson said it was the first time a crocodile had taken his lunch.

'At the end of it all the knees were a bit shaky and the heart rate was definitely up a bit.'

Footage of the stolen catch shows spectators gasping as the crocodile approaches Mr Robertson.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has refused to answer questions about working for President Trump during a grilling by the House Intelligence Committee.

According to lawmakers in the closed-door session, Bannon declined to answer questions about the presidential transition and his time working in the White House.

The Committee then took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing Bannon during the session, but he still refused to answer their queries.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California said Bannon's silence was 'effectively a gag order by the White House'.

A White House source, however, said the Trump administration had not told given the former staffer the right to refuse questions under executive privilege.

Despite not answering Congress' questions on Tuesday, Bannon will reveal everything he knows about possible Russian collusion to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Daily Beast reported.

Donald Trump's former White House chief strategist refused to answer questions about working for the president during a grilling by the House Intelligence Committee

Bannon is seen leaving the House Intelligence Committee meeting on Tuesday evening

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon, second from left, is escorted from a House Intelligence Committee meeting where he was interviewed behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Tuesday

'The scope of this assertion of privilege - if that's what it is - is breathtaking,' Schiff said.

'It goes well beyond anything we've seen in this investigation.'

Schiff says that was the first time Republicans on the committee had issued a subpoena in response to a witness refusing to answer questions at the instruction of the White House.

Schiff says that the committee plans to bring Bannon back for another round of questioning.

Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat on the committee, told CNN that Bannon could face contempt of Congress charges if he continues to refuse to answer questions.

The former White House staffer is not believed to have any right to invoke executive privilege as he is no longer part of the Trump administration.

A White House source told the New York Times that Bannon had not been told to invoke executive privilege.

Earlier Tuesday, a White House official said the president did not invoke executive privilege to prevent Bannon from answering the committee's questions. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Bannon is the first member of President Trump's inner circle to be ordered to appear.

The former top advisor to the president added to his growing collection of subpoenas during hours-long testimony before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California says that was the first time Republicans on the committee had issued a subpoena in response to a witness refusing to answer questions at the instruction of the White House

Nunes issued a subpoena to compel Bannon to answer the committee's questions. It's unclear whether Bannon was more forthcoming afterward

Lawmakers were forced to subpoena Bannon after he declined to take questions on his work during the presidential transition or his time working in Trump's White House

STORY TO TELL?: Bannon's appearance comes after his public break with President Trump, and published comments where he called a Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous'

Bannon was appearing there to answer questions for the panel's Russia investigation. But his lawyer told lawmakers the White House told him not to answer questions about his time at the White House or during the presidential transition  both key timeframes in the Mueller probe.

He then got served immediate subpoenas in connection with things the panel wanted answered, Fox News reported.

He did not invoke a formal executive privilege, according to the report.

'I certainly think that when the committee expects an executive privilege, when does that attach is the question that is sort of dominating the day. You know, at what time does it attach? During the transition or during the actual swearing in?' asked Rep. Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, the Hill reported.

Republican panel chair Rep. Devin Nunes of California authorized the subpoenas, as he has the power to do. 'That's how the rules work,' he said.

It is possible Bannon's lawyers would be able remove the Mueller subpoena and have him appear voluntarily in exchange for cooperation.

Word of the subpoena, which was delivered last week according to the paper, comes after revelations that Bannon called a Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous' in interviews in a new book, 'Fire and Fury.'

Such sentiments, and any foundation for them, are the kind of information Mueller's investigators will want to probe in their examination of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Following the book's publication, Trump said Bannon had 'lost his mind' as they went through an extraordinary public break. Bannon also was pushed out of the Brietbart News conservative web site.

The split with Trump is also an opportunity for Mueller to try to exploit.

Bannon arrived in the Capitol complex Tuesday to face investigators in a House Intelligence Committee probe. His appearance at a closed door committee meeting comes just days after he suffered an extraordinary public break with President Trump.

Bannon was cast out of the president's circle after he gave slashing interviews in the new book, 'Fire and Fury,' including a comment where he called a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous.'

That meeting, which included Donald Trump Jr., Trump son in law Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is of prime interest to special counsel Robert Mueller as well as to Democrats on the Intelligence panel.

Bannon was spotted entering a congressional office building for the meeting. White House Communications Director Hope Hicks is expected to testify later this week.

Former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee this week

Bannon said afterward he did not mean to be referring to Donald Trump Jr., but was speaking of Manafort, a seasoned political player who has since been charged with money laundering and conspiracy.

Bannon and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski are each scheduled to testify the committee, which is probing Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Amid partisan clashes on the panel, the GOP majority is also probing the conduct of FBI agents involved in probes of Hillary Clinton's emails as well as of Donald Trump and his associates during the campaign.

That meeting has proven central to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of any collusion or obstruction of justice.

Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Trump, arrives at a House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting, on January 16, 2018 in Washington, DC

Last week, Bannon has hired Bill Burck of the law firm Quinn Emanuel to represent him.

The panel has fallen into partisan camps, as Republicans, led by chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, dig for information to muddy the FBI and the golden showers dossier, while Democrats push to call back witnesses to grill them on Russian election interference and ties between Trump associates and Russia.

Bannon's lawyer, who participated in the Martha Stewart prosecution and is a former Special Counsel and Deputy Counsel to President George W. Bush, also represents ex-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and current White House counsel Don McGahn.

President Donald Trump (L) congratulates Senior Counselor to the President Stephen Bannon during the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC

In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, Steve Bannon, speaks during an event in Manchester, N.H. Breitbart News Network announced Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, that Bannon is stepping down as chairman of the conservative news site

Corey Lewandowski, original campaign manager for Donald Trump for President, also is expected to appear

Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell arrives at Federal Court with her attorney William Burck in Richmond, Va., Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. Bannon reportedly hired Burck as he prepared for the House Intelligence Committee

Bannon reportedly will appear next week before investigators for the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes of California

Following the release of 'Fire and Fury,' the president tweeted that Bannon had 'lost his mind,' which included numerous disparaging quotes from Bannon about the Trump family, the president tweeted that Bannon had 'lost his mind.'

White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller in an appearance on CNN on Sunday, calling him an 'angry, vindictive person' whose 'grotesque comments are so out of touch with reality.'

Bannon apologized for his comments and was pushed out of his job running Breitbart News within days of publication.

Although he was pushed out from his post atop the Trump campaign, Lewandowski has maintained contact with Trump and his network.
An Aboriginal Labor MP has called for the Queen's Birthday to be replaced with a public holiday recognising indigenous Australians.

Senior federal Opposition frontbencher Linda Burney, the first indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives, said she accepted Australia Day would not be moved from January 26 'any time soon'.

As an alternative, the Sydney-based MP suggested the Queen's Birthday public holiday, which will fall on June 11 this year, be replaced with a new public holiday recognising the first Australians.

Aboriginal Labor frontbencher Linda Burney wants the Queen's Birthday replaced with a new public holiday recognising indigenous Australians

'Australia should have a national public holiday that celebrates, that lifts up, that recognises our first nation's peoples, first nation's stories,' she told ABC radio on Wednesday. 'That would be a day that everyone could absolutely get behind.

'A public holiday, where all Australians can celebrate first Australians and the extraordinary, wonderful, unique history we have in this country of human occupation which is over 60,000 years.'

Ms Burney, a first-term federal MP, compared the idea of a special holiday recognising indigenous people with Martin Luther King Jr Day in the United States, which has been held every January 15 since 1986 to recognise the assassinated civil rights leader.

The Queen's Birthday long weekend will be observed on June 11 this year in all states except Western Australia and Queensland, which will give workers a Monday off on September 24 and October 1 respectively.

The United Kingdom doesn't have a public holiday for the Queen's birthday.

Queen Elizabeth II, who has been Australia's head of state since 1952, will turn 92 on April 21.

Several Labor figures say the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June should be replaced

Ms Burney said she would advocating within the Labor Party for the Queen's Birthday to be replaced by a new national holiday recognising indigenous people, after NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley raised the idea in August last year.

Her intervention into the debate about celebrating indigenous Australians comes as the Greens and left-wing activists call for Australia Day to be moved from January 26.

They regard the 1788 arrival of the British First Fleet in Sydney Harbour as an 'Invasion Day' that is akin to 'genocide'.
A woman has had a lucky escape after her car smashed through a concrete railway barrier.

Her car was left dangling precariously seven metres over the train tracks at Sefton Station in Sydney's west after the Wednesday morning crash.

Trains on the T3 Bankstown Line were stopped while the New South Wales Fire and Rescue removed the car from over the railway lines.

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A woman's car was left dangling precariously over the train tracks at Sefton Station in Sydney's west after the Wednesday morning crash (pictured)

Trains on the T3 Bankstown Line were stopped while New South Wales Fire and Rescue removed the car from over the railway lines (pictured)

The woman, aged in her 60s, suffered minor back pain and was treated at the scene by paramedics, Nine News reported.

She was able to make her own way out of the vehicle before emergency services arrived and stopped the car from falling onto the tracks.

The car was left halfway through the barrier - made of concrete panels - after hitting it from Wellington Road.

A woman has escaped without serious injury after her car smashed through a concrete railway barrier (pictured)

The woman, aged in her 60s, suffered minor back pain and was treated at the scene by paramedics

She was able to make her own way out of the vehicle (pictured) before emergency services arrived and stopped the car from falling onto the tracks

Some of the panels landed on the tracks and needed to be removed before train traffic could resume (pictured are emergency services at the scene)

Some of the panels landed on the tracks and needed to be removed before train traffic could resume.

A NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia police attended the Wellington Road scene and are investigating the incident.

There are no current delays reported on the T3 Line.
A GoPro camera that was lost at sea five years ago has been claimed by its Norwegian owner after it washed up ashore.

Lina Skjelstad was on an exchange program in 2012 when she lost her brother's expensive action camera while bodyboarding off Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

The camera was miraculously found by two young children aged four and two, who picked it up while walking along the beach with their mother in Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

Norwegian Lina Skjelstad (pictured) was on an exchange program in 2012 when she a GoPro camera, which was found on Queensland's Sunshine Coast five years later by two young children

Ms Skjelstad (pictured) said on Wednesday the find was a 'miracle', after she lost the GoPro on her 'most expensive' day in Australia

'I broke my phone, lost the GoPro and then broke my surfboard in half,' she (left) said on Wednesday

Ms Skjelstad said on Wednesday the find was a 'miracle', after she lost the GoPro on her 'most expensive' day in Australia.

'I broke my phone, lost the GoPro and then broke my surfboard in half,' she told the publication.

'But other than that I had a great time here.'

The mother of the two young children who made the discovery, Cara Ryan, said the family was holidaying on the Sunshine Coast when they stumbled across the GoPro.

Ms Ryan then removed the memory card from the back of the camera and found the 2012 photos and videos of Ms Skjelstad bodyboarding.

The camera was claimed after five-year-old photos from the GoPro - showing Ms Skjelstad paddling - were posted online (pictured)

The Australian family of Ms Skjelstad saw the pictures and contacted Sunshine Coast Daily to claim the GoPro on behalf of their Norwegian relative

Ms Skjelstad's (pictured) GoPro was mouldy and in poor condition when it was finally found

'Judging by the photos, it could have been lost at Alex Heads, I'm not too sure. But it somehow made its way to where we were,' Ms Ryan said.

'Its case was all mouldy and pretty gross. It was in poor condition, really deteriorated by the ocean.'

The five-year-old pictures were then posted online by the Sunshine Coast Daily, calling for readers to help solve the mystery.

The Australian family of Ms Skjelstad saw the pictures and contacted the publication to claim the GoPro on behalf of their Norwegian relative.
FARGO  The trial of William Henry Hoehn, charged in the murder of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind and the abduction of her newborn baby, has been postponed until May.

The trial was originally scheduled to start March 20, but Judge Tom Olson and attorneys in the case agreed at a status conference on Tuesday, Jan. 16, that the date was unrealistic because of information that still needs to be obtained and the desire to send a questionnaire to prospective jurors. After the conference, a new trial start date of May 15 was set.

Olson met with prosecutor Leah Viste and defense attorney Daniel Borgen in the conference, which was held Tuesday in Cass County District Court. Hoehn attended the conference but did not speak, nor was he asked any questions.

Hoehn has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and providing false information to police in the case. LaFontaine-Greywind, 22, disappeared from her north Fargo apartment in August while eight months pregnant. Her body was found eight days later in the Red River.

Hoehn, 32, lived with his girlfriend, Brooke Lynn Crews, in the same apartment building as LaFontaine-Greywind. LaFontaine-Greywinds newborn baby was found in the possession of Crews when police raided their apartment five days after the woman disappeared. Crews in December pleaded guilty to the same charges Hoehn faces.

Borgen told Judge Olson at Tuesdays conference that the March 20 trial date was overly ambitious because information needed by the defense isnt yet available. Judge Olson agreed. To say that the March 20 date is ambitious, Olson said, is probably an understatement.

Prosecutor Viste said some lab results in the case still have not been returned from an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., and are not expected until mid-February. In addition, Borgen said he intends to depose Crews, but cannot do that until after she is sentenced. Her sentencing is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 2.

All parties agreed at the conference to create a juror questionnaire that will be distributed by mail to potential jurors in order to reduce the time spent in the courtroom on jury selection. That also made postponement necessary, since it would have been difficult to complete the questionnaire process by March 20.

Borgen said he believed a questionnaire would be valuable because of the high publicity  and the large community involvement. He also raised the issue of a possible change in venue for the trial because the publicity in the case may make it difficult to form a jury in Cass County. The questionnaire would be appropriate to assess whether there would be a need for that, he said.

Judge Olson also ordered that a pretrial conference be held in February to consider questions to be included on the questionnaire and other procedural matters. The pretrial conference was later scheduled for Friday, Feb. 9.
'Take a picture in the shower': Sean Price lured the girl from Sydney, Australia to Queens, New York, for sex

The shocking texts - and promises of marriage and US citizenship - that a convicted killer used to lure a Sydney schoolgirl to New York for sex can now be revealed.

Sean Price, 39, faces life behind bars after a US jury found him guilty of transporting a minor for the purpose of sexual activity and attempted sexual exploitation offences.

Price gave the 16-year-old private school girl from Sydney's upper north shore more than $USD900 to flee her Australian home for his mother's basement in Queens, New York, last year.

She jumped on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles in April 2017 and Price then drove her across the country to his home.

US court documents have revealed new details of the bizarre saga - and the months of conversations where Price gradually lured her some 16,000km from home.

'Take a picture in the shower,' Price told her, in one conversation on social media. 'I want to see your (private parts)'.

'Take a picture in the shower': One of the lurid exchanges sent between the girl - known as 'Jane Doe' in court documents - and Sean Price, who faces life in prison for his crimes

'This is horrifying,' said Price's former wife, Rhyse (pictured with Price), when she spoke to Daily Mail Australia last year

The girl, left, travelled to Los Angeles to meet Price

Price told police the pair first met on Snapchat in October 2016, court documents said.

In their conversations, Price called her 'my princess' and after learning she didn't need her parents' permission to fly internationally, said: 'So you coming to papa?'

Price promised the girl 'marriage, a family and the hope of US citizenship' in their chats, a prosecution letter to the court said.

He encouraged her to find people who could get her a fake passport and they exchanged sexual pictures.

Price - whose lengthy criminal record includes a criminally negligent homicide conviction for a passenger's death in a car crash - wired her money and gave her suggestions on how to cover her tracks and destroy their communications.

In court documents, the prosecution argued that the trial evidence would show '(the girl) believed that she was in a romantic relationship with the defendant'.

'(Price) had agreed to help her run away from home notwithstanding the fact that he knew she was 16 years old and suffering from mental illness.'

The girl was a prolific user of social media - with more than 40,000 followers on Instagram, a defence letter to the court said.

Investigators were told the Australian often used social media to speak to American men aged between 20 and 40.

Friends said she generally only followed one person on Instagram - the man she was speaking to at the time.

Far away from home: This is the double-storey property in Jamaica, New York, where Sean Price was living with the 16-year-old girl in May 2017

Pictured is room inside the property which NYPD officers stormed to rescue the girl in May 2017

'He might drive me': In one exchange, contained within court documents, the girl said an Uber driver who followed her on social media might transport her on the 4,500km trip from LA to NY

Messages contained in a defence letter show the girl talking about plans for the 4500km leg of the trip from LA to New York.

'good news. some uber driver follows me. and (h)e might drive me to NY,' she said.

'From where?' Price asked.

The girl said: 'LA'

'I don't know about that we'll talk about it later,' Price said.

In the same letter, the defence pointed to a lengthy diatribe where she accused him of ignoring her three days before she was due to travel to the United States.

'Baby I can see your (sic) online ... WHY THE F*** ARE YOU IGNORING ME ... I wake up to u IGNORING ME.

'Baby I'm gonna start login off I was sleeping wyd (what you doing),' Price said. 'Relax yourself'.

Three days before she fled Australia for the United States, the girl and the convicted criminal had this exchange on Facebook messenger, according to court documents

Price, 39, faces life behind bars or his crimes. He will be sentenced in March

The girl flew to LA on April 11, 2017. Price met her there, hiring a rental car and driving her across the country to his mother's home in New York, the court heard.

She texted a friend on April 14 to say: 'I am happy for once', Price's defence lawyer claimed in a court filing.

In the weeks that followed, Australian police searched the girl's laptop and spoke to her friends, court papers claimed.

In May - a month after she left Australia - NYPD officers raided Price's home and recovered the girl and she was brought home to her parents.

Price was last month was found guilty of interstate and foreign transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity and attempted sexual exploitation of a child.

He was found not guilty of child porn charges.

In a statement, US Immigration official Angel Melendez said: 'Price lured a teenage girl across the globe to satisfy his own sordid desires, taking advantage of her youth and preying on her vulnerability.'

The local US Attorney said Price had been 'held ... accountable for his predatory conduct'.

Price will be sentenced in March. The girl's parents were approached for comment.
Nine men are facing hazing charges in connection with the death of a Florida State University fraternity pledge, Andrew Coffey

Nine men are facing hazing charges in connection with the death of a Florida State University fraternity pledge.

The Tallahassee Police Department on Tuesday said in an emailed release that arrest warrants were signed earlier in the day by a Leon County judge for Luke E. Klutz, Clayton M. Muehlstein, Anthony Oppenheimer, John B. Ray, Kyle J. Bauer, Christopher M. Hamlin, Conner R. Ravelo, Brett A. Birmingham and Anthony Petagine.

All nine, who range in age from 20 to 22, will be charged with 'College Hazing-Cause Injury or Death,' according to WCTV.

Andrew Coffey, 22, was a junior and a pledge at Pi Kappa Phi.

He died November 3 after he was found unresponsive after a party. The cause of death was later determined to be alcohol poisoning.

Coffey was found with a blood alcohol level of .447, which is more than five times the legal limit to drive.

He drank the alcohol at a fraternity event known as 'Big Brother Night,' when older pledges get acquainted with the younger pledges.

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He died November 3 after he was found unresponsive after a party. The cause of death was later determined to be alcohol poisoning. Coffey was found with a blood alcohol level of .447, which is more than five times the legal limit to drive

Florida State quickly responded by indefinitely suspending its fraternities and sororities.

Pi Kappa Phi's national office in Charlotte, North Carolina shut down its Florida State branch.

Klutz, Muehlstein, Petagine, Oppenheimer and Ray all held leadership positions in the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity Coffey was trying to join, the Tallahassee Democrat reported on Wednesday.

The chief of the Tallahassee Police Department, Michael DeLeo, released a statement announcing that his charges had concluded their investigation.

Clayton M. Muehlstein is one of the nine individuals whose name appears in the arrest warrant

Five of those who face charges - Muehlstein, Luke E. Klutz, Anthony Petagine, Anthony Oppenheimer, and John B. Ray - held leadership positions at Pi Kappa Phi (whose frat house is seen above in Tallahassee)

'This collaborative investigation was critical to finding answers for Andrew Coffey's family and our community,' DeLeo said.

'Hopefully this investigation and its outcome will prevent another tragedy from occurring.'

Two grand juries were convened in the case. The grand juries left the decision whether to prosecute the fraternity members to State Attorney Jack Campbell.

On Tuesday afternoon, Campbell sent emails to eight defense lawyers representing the suspects.

Campbell informed the lawyers that he intended to file charges.

'The media has extensively requested notice of these decisions as have you. I am trying to strike a balance,' Campbell wrote in the emails.

'If I file I will immediately notify you, likely first thing in the morning, via this email and you will be able to have your client surrender and arrange bond before any cameras arrive at the jail.

Christopher M. Hamlin is also facing arrest and prosecution for his alleged role in Coffey's death

Conner R. Ravelo is also named in an arrest warrant. None of the nine students facing charges have yet to be arrested and booked into jail

FSU joins a growing list of college campuses that have suspended Greek activities on campus due to tragedy that was caused by suspected hazing. Its campus in Tallahassee is seen in the above stock image

'I will plan to notify the media that afternoon but will not lie if I get a specific question after filing so if it leaks otherwise I am sorry and have tried to avoid that.'

None of the nine students facing charges have yet to be arrested and booked into jail.

After Coffey's death, police conducted a search of the fraternity's home.

During the search, they discovered that Garrett John Marcy, a member of Phi Delta Theta, was allegedly dealing cocaine.

Marcy, 20, was arrested on November 6 and charged with trafficking cocaine. He is not suspected of involvement in Coffey's death.

Garrett John Marcy, a member of Phi Delta Theta, was arrested in November for allegedly dealing cocaine. He has no known connection to Coffey's death

FSU joins a growing list of college campuses that have suspended Greek activities on campus due to tragedy that was caused by suspected hazing.

Penn State suspended fraternities and sororities from holding social activities during the spring semester after the February hazing death of 19-year old Timothy Piazza.

Louisiana State had a one-month suspension and continues to ban alcohol at Greek parties after the hazing death of 18-year old Maxwell Gruver in September.

Just two weeks after Coffey's death at FSU, Texas State University suspended all fraternity and sorority chapter activities following the death of a fraternity pledge after an initiation ritual.

University officials said Matt Ellis was found unresponsive on the morning of November 13 at an off-campus apartment.

The 20-year-old sophomore from Humble, Texas, had attended a party that Phi Kappa Psi fraternity members hosted Sunday night at the apartment.
A man has been stung by a potentially deadly Irukandji jellyfish, just days after authorities found the highly-venomous species lurking in the same waters.

The victim is understood to have been on a diving expedition in the Whitsundays when he was stung near Fraser Island on Wednesday, The Courier Mail reported.

Emergency crews are said to be preparing to treat the man on shore once the diving boat arrives.

Initial reports suggest that he was stung on his hands but, but that is yet to be confirmed.

A man has been stung by a potentially deadly Irukandji jellyfish, just days after authorities were shocked to find the highly-venomous species in the same waters

Experts say Irukandji jellyfish stings leave people with '10 out of 10 pain' that would last 'probably six to 12 hours'.

The incident comes after Surf Life Saving Queensland [SLSQ] last week confirmed an Irukandji had been found at Fraser Island.

SLSQ regional manager Craig Holden told swimmers and divers to be extra cautious following the discovery.

'We're urging everyone to stay out of the water entirely on that western side of the island while conditions are hot and humid,' he said.

'If anyone is stung on Fraser Island they should douse the area with vinegar as soon as possible and immediately call triple zero to seek emergency medical assistance.

'We don't want to cause widespread panic, but it is really important for people to exercise caution and put safety first at all times.'

Irukandji are a highly venomous species of jellyfish, making them potentially deadly for those who have been stung (stock image)
Two gay men were crushed when they discovered 80 pamphlets about sin inside a package that was supposed to be full of their wedding programs.

Andrew Borg, 31, and Stephen Heasley, 39, sued Vistaprint after their September 2017 wedding in Butler County, Pennsylvania - where they received the religious bulletins titled: 'Understanding Temptation: Fight the good fight of the faith,' just one day before their ceremony.

In the lawsuit, the couple said the printing company discriminated against them because of their sexual orientation, according to the New York Daily News.

The now-married pair, who live in Australia but returned to the US to wed in front of their friends, also never received the 100 pack of programs they paid nearly $80 for.

Andrew Borg and Stephen Heasley sued Vistaprint months after their September 2017 wedding after they received religious bulletins instead of their wedding programs

Their programs were customized with the lyrics from 'Treasure' by Above and Beyond, which was the song played during their wedding ceremony

Instead, they received the above pamphlets titled: 'Understanding Temptation: Fight the good fight of the faith,'

The programs were initially customized with the lyrics from 'Treasure' by Above and Beyond - which was the song that played during their ceremony, the New York Post reports.

Instead, they received the pamphlets that read in part: 'Satan entices your flesh with evil desires and sin is the result of your failure to resist the temptation. It is an act of rebellion against God's holiness.'

They were then forced to print new programs, adding to the cost of the order that was not received.

The couple argue in the lawsuit that although the pamphlets did not include any anti-gay messages, they were clearly intended to be hateful, and also equated their 'relationship to Satan's temptation.'

The now-married pair also never received the 100 pack of programs they paid nearly $80 for

Lawyer for the couple, Michael J. Willemin, said the case 'presents a particularly egregious example of a company refusing to provide equal services to members of the LBGTQ community.'

The company has since launched an internal investigation, a spokesperson for Vistaprint confirmed in a statement.

'We have just been made aware of this incident in the last few hours,' the spokesperson said this week.

'We understand how upsetting it would be for anyone to receive materials such as these the night before their wedding.'
David Harbor, of Stranger Things fame, may officiate an Illinois couple's September wedding. If the bride-to-be's request for him to do so receives 125k retweets, he said that he would officiate

Stranger Things actor David Harbour may once again make a fan's dream come true via Twitter.

The Netflix actor was asked by Ericka Millholland, 23, if he would be the officiant at her wedding this upcoming September to Daniel Rockwood, 27.

'What would it take to get @DavidKHarbour to be the Officiant at my wedding in September?!' she tweeted.

Harbour, 42, replied on Tuesday evening: '125k retweets. Provided date works with s3 shooting schedule, I will get ordained and perform ceremony. I get to read an esteemed love letter of my choosing, and after the cake is officially cut, I get the very first piece. #allthecakes'

As of Tuesday night, the tweet had garnered around 25,000 retweets.

Millholland, of Springfield, Illinois, told DailyMail.com: 'My sister, Courtney is actually the one that told me to tweet him. We had read the story about how he did the senior pictures with that other girl and thought it was hilarious and amazing.

'We are both big fans of the show, and Hopper is our favorite character, so we thought it would just be funny to tweet at him, thinking it would be completely ignored!'

Ericka Millholland, pictured with her fiance Daniel Rockwood, asked the actor via Twitter: ''What would it take to get @DavidKHarbour to be the Officiant at my wedding in September?!' He replied: '125k retweets. Provided date works with s3 shooting schedule, I will get ordained and perform ceremony. I get to read an esteemed love letter of my choosing, and after the cake is officially cut, I get the very first piece. #allthecakes'

Millholland told DailyMail.com: 'My sister, Courtney is actually the one that told me to tweet him. We had read the story about how he did the senior pictures with that other girl and thought it was hilarious and amazing'

The post has around 25,000 retweets as of Tuesday night. Millholland needs 100,000 more

Millholland, who met Rockwood while they were working at a local grocery store called County Market, said she would be 'extremely happy and overjoyed' if Harbour officiated at her wedding.

The couple is due to tie the knot on September 15.

It appears that the Stranger Things star has decided to increase the number of retweets needed from his fans for him to take action.

Harbour's move comes after he posed with a California high school student for her senior pictures - after her Twitter request garnered his requisite 25,000 retweets.

Damaris Fregoso, a senior at Orestimba High School in Newman, California, reached out to him back on October.

Millholland added to DailyMail.com that she would be 'extremely happy and overjoyed' if the Stranger Things star, who plays Police Chief Jim Hopper on the streaming show, officiated at her wedding

Harbour (next to Winona Ryder) is pictured in a still from the Netflix show

Millholland and Rockwood met while they were both working at a local grocery store called County Market

The student, 17, said she was about to hop in the shower when she decided to send a casual message to the actor, which simply read: '@DavidKHarbour how many retweets for you take my senior photos with me?'

Harbour, who plays Police Chief Jim Hopper on the streaming show, replied with '25K'.

He added: 'And I get to wear the school sweatshirt and hold a trombone.'

'I realized it was my own tweet and once I saw that I started shaking really bad,' Fregoso told Fox40. 'I could not control my shaking. And I thought, "Is this real?" Like, what the heck?'

Her initial message has now been shared more than 30,000 times.

David asked Fregoso to send him a direct message, and planning began for the photo session.

She posted photos from the session last week.

Harbour made a California fan's dream come true when he posed with her in an amazing set of senior photos
Two prison officers have been taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation after an inmate allegedly set a blanket on fire in his cell.

Emergency services were called to Parklea Correctional Centre in northwest Sydney just before 12.30pm on Wednesday after reports of a fire.

Paramedics are assessing more than 100 inmates and staff members.

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Two prison officers have been taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation after an inmate apparently set a blanket on fire in his cell

Emergency services were called to Parklea Correctional Centre in northwest Sydney just before 12.30pm on Wednesday after reports of a fire

Two officers have been taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, according to a statement from centre operator The GEO Group.

'The officers quickly evacuated a unit of the centre to safeguard the inmates from any risk from the fire.'

An inmate has been segregated in the prison and police are set to investigate the incident.

Security staff found the cell of a 28-year-old man on fire after he allegedly set a blanket on fire, according to a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman.

An inmate has been segregated in the prison and police are set to investigate the incident

The fire was extinguished quickly and it is understood no-one was seriously injured.

Parklea Correctional Centre houses maximum-security inmates, according to Corrective Services NSW.

It has been privately operated by the GEO Group since 2009, and was the second prison in New South Wales to be privately owned.
The adopted daughter of an Australian filmmaker fears the man who saved her life will die in a Cambodian prison where he is being held without trial on spying charges.

James Ricketson, 68, has been locked up inside Phnom Penh's squalid Prey Sar prison since June, when he was arrested and accused of espionage for flying a drone over an opposition political rally.

His adopted daughter Roxanne Holmes fears the man who took her off the streets, after filming a documentary, will die in the Cambodian capital.

The Sydney woman's plea for help was made as the Cambodian Supreme Court on Wednesday delayed Mr Ricketson's bail application until January 31.

James Ricketson, pictured on Wednesday outside the Cambodian Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, faces 10 years in jail for spying on behalf of a foreign state or agency

Roxanne Holmes fears her adopted father will die in a Cambodian jail

He faces 10 year in jail for the charge of spying for a foreign state or agency, after being linked with Cambodia's new outlawed opposition party, the ABC reported.

'Unless the Australian government responds quickly, my innocent dad could die in jail. I'm petrified - every day matters now as he gets sicker,' Ms Holmes said on a change.org petition that will be delivered to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

'I'm so worried for dad's rapidly deteriorating health - he's 68, frail and squashed in a tiny cell with 27 others. It's so cramped, they have to take it in turns to lie down.

'Body lice are eating him alive.'

Ms Holmes said her adopted father had saved her life when she was a troubled teenager.

Roxanne Holmes credits James Ricketson for saving her life when she was still a street kid

'Dad was making a documentary about Australia's abused street kids when he adopted me and loved me as his own daughter. He saved my life,' she said.

'He was one of the first men in my life to show me kindness but now the Australian government has turned their back on him.'

She said her adopted father would be the 'worst spy ever'.

'He is not a spy and never would be. James is my hero, he is the man who saved my life,' Ms Holmes told 9News on Wednesday.

James Ricketson, pictured on Wednesday in Phnom Penh, had his bail decision delayed

'But more importantly than saving me he has gone on to save so many other children and adults in Cambodia.

'He does not deserve to be languishing in that prison. It's gut wrenching and heart wrenching and I will move heaven and earth to bring him home.'

In her petition to the Australian government, Ms Holmes said her adopted father's only crime was 'kindness and using his award winning documentaries to portray the truth'.

On Wednesday, Mr Ricketson greeted reporters outside Cambodia's Supreme Court in Phnom Penh.

'Which country am I supposed to be spying for?,' he asked as he walked in, handcuffed to another prisoner.

His lawyer Peung Hok Hiep said judges were busy with other cases when asked about the delay in his bail application, the ABC reported.
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Crowds of women applauded Kim Jong-un as he visited the newly remodeled Teacher Training College in Pyongyang at the start of the New Year.

His fans took the opportunity to oggle their beloved leader as he strode in front of them in a jaunty fedora and black peacoat, beaming widely at his band of merry followers.

Photos show the swarm of young women smiling, clapping and waving excitedly, and some even sobbing with joy as Kim walks past proudly.

The volatile North Korean leader was seen checking up on a women's swimming lesson, looking into classrooms, examining desks and even looking in desks, examining classrooms and even assessing lesson plans.

Crowds of women applauded Kim Jong-un as he visited the newly remodeled Teacher Training College in Pyongyang at the start of the New Year

The undated photos, released by North Korea's foficial Korean Central news Agency, show Kim Jong-un visiting the newly renovated school and checking up on its students. Above he watches a women's swim lesson

Kim also went into a number of classrooms, all of which had a similar white and green color scheme, to check up on lesson plans

While in the classrooms he looked in the desks, seemingly to check that their manufacturing was adequate before moving on

The photos of the North Korean leader were released on the same day US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the country about the possibility of a military response if the state does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons.

After a meeting of US allies on how to beef up the campaign of sanctions, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff.

But, he said the country has yet to show itself to be a 'credible negotiating partner,' and explained that any peace talks would require a 'sustained cessation' of threatening behavior.

Tillerson declined to comment on whether the White House is considering limited military action against Pyongyang, in response to reports that some in the Trump administration advocate military action to give the North a 'bloody nose'.

'We all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation,' Tillerson said when he was asked whether Americans should be concerned about the possibility of a war.

He said North Korea has continued to make significant advances in its nuclear weapons through the thermonuclear test and progress in its intercontinental missile systems.

'We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option,' he said.

He also walked past several classrooms full of students who were in the middle of their lessons, flanked by his security officials

The photos of the North Korean leader were released on the same day US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the country about the possibility of a military response if the state does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons

After a meeting of US allies on how to beef up the campaign of sanctions, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration seeks a diplomatic resolution in the nuclear standoff. Tillerson is pictured at the press conference in Vancouver at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula

Tillerson declined to comment on whether the White House is considering limited military action against Pyongyang, in response to reports that some in the Trump administration advocate military action to give the North a 'bloody nose'. Kim Jong-un is pictured admiring an ICBM test-launched on July 4, 2017

His uncompromising message came after a gathering in Vancouver of 20 nations that were on America's side during the Korean War, where there was skepticism among the allies over North Korea's sincerity in its recent diplomatic opening with the US-allied South.

Despite Washington's tough stance and determination to keep up the pressure on North Korea, president Donald Trump has signaled openness to talks with the North under the right circumstances.

After months of insults and blood-curdling threats which he has traded with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Mr Trump suggested in an interview last week that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

Tillerson declined to say on Tuesday whether Trump has spoken directly to Kim.

'I don't think it's useful to comment' he said.

'We are at a very tenuous stage in terms of how far North Korea has taken their program and what we can do to convince them to take an alternative path.

'And so when we get into who's talking to who and what was said, if we want that to be made known or made public we will announce it.'
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The young driver who survived 30 hours trapped in his crashed car at Lake Macquarie has undergone surgery on a fractured leg and will need weeks to recover from his injuries.

Sam Lethbridge, whose father Tony hired a helicopter to find his son a day after he went missing last Sunday, has barely been conscious since he was taken to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital.

The 17-year-old suffered three fractures to an arm, three fractures to an elbow and a dislocated elbow. All injuries are on his right side.

The worst injury is a compound fracture to Sam's thighbone which left bone protruding 5 centimetres through the skin, his father said.

Skyline Aviation Group pilot Lee Mitchell with the Robinson R44 he flew to locate where Sam Lethbridge had crashed

Sam Lethbridge (left) was discovered about 10am on Monday when his uncle and a helicopter pilot spotted the wreckage of his crashed car in bushland off the Pacific Highway south of Newcastle. His sister Megan and father Tony are pictured right

Sam Lethbridge's vehicle after he was cut free from the wreckage at Crangan Bay, south of Newcastle, on Monday

'Hes getting there,' Mr Lethbridge told Daily Mail Australia. 'Hes just recovering very, very slowly.

'Were not rushing anything with him. Theres going to be a lot of rehab. It will be a minimum of four weeks.'

Mr Lethbridge also revealed Skyline Aviation Group had returned the $1000 he paid for the flight to find his son when he went to thank pilot Lee Mitchell on Wednesday morning.

' I would have paid 10 times more than that if I had to,' Mr Lethbridge said. 'I'ts good to see there's people like that. I cannot speak highly enough of them.'

Supporters including Sam's 19-year-old sister Megan have started a mycause fundraising page appealing for donations to go towards his medical bills.

'Sam is now fighting in hospital with various medical issues and needs your help,' the appeal states.

'We are trying to raise enough money to help Sam and his family fight through this hard time, by making a small donation to the Lethbridge family it will contribute to Sam's recovery as he has a long road ahead of him.'

Sam Lethbridge, 17, is taken by paramedics and NSW Fire and Rescue officers from the crash site south of Newcastle

Map showing where Sam Lethbridge's vehicle was found at Crangan Bay on Lake Macquarie and where he was heading

Mr Lethbridge hired a helicopter to search for his son on Monday morning due to a gut feeling Sam had been involved in a car accident. The teenager had not been seen since before 6am on Sunday.

The pilot and Mr Lethbridge's brother Michael found Sam's crashed car in bushland off the Pacific Highway at Crangan Bay on Lake Macquarie after just 10 minutes' flying.

Mr Lethbridge had recalled a fatal car accident which occurred at a spot nearby about five years ago and directed the pilot to search off that stretch of road.

The postman was grateful to everyone who had helped find his son.

' It could have been a lot, lot worse,' he said. 'If the car didnt land on its wheels we'd have been all sorts of strife.

'Just so many things that went the right way for us.'

Sam's sister Megan was the first person to contact police fearing him missing, about 8pm on Sunday.

Sam Lethbridge, 17, survived the night with a bone sticking out of his leg after his car left the Pacific Highway and slammed into an embankment at Crangan Bay

Sam Lethbridge, 17, was trapped for about 30 hours in his crashed car near Newcastle; he was found on Monday morning

'I asked if there had been any accidents,' Ms Lethbridge told Daily Mail Australia. 'I asked "is there anything you can do?".

'They told me Sam had probably just run away. I said "that's not him. Something is really wrong".'

Ms Lethbridge had last been in contact with her brother about 12.30am on Sunday after she finished her bar job and had been unable to find him after contacting his friends that afternoon.

Ms Lethbridge's parents were on a weekend away in Canberra, so she initially took on the responsibility of finding her brother.

Her parents arrived home about 1am Monday and also went to police but were not satisfied with what was being done searching for their son.

'Dad said as soon as he walked out 'we're gong to hire a helicopter and find him',' Ms Lethbridge said.

'He said "I'm not going to just sit here and lose him".'

Sam was believed to have been driving from Gosford, on the Central Coast, to the Lethbridge family home at Blacksmiths, on Lake Macquarie, when he left the road after 6am on Sunday.

Paramedics and NSW Fire and Rescue officers work to free Sam Lethbridge from his car after its discovery on Monday

NSW Fire and Rescue officers at Sam Lethbridge's vehicle after the 17-year-old was cut free late on Monday morning

Sam Lethbridge's car had travelled at least 20 metres off the Pacific Highway on Sunday morning; it was found on Monday

On Monday, Mr Lethbridge went to Skyline Aviation Group at Lake Macquarie Airport and hired Mr Mitchell and his Robinson R44 helicopter to search for his son.

'My job as far as being a pilot and looking for a car is the easy job,' Mr Mitchell said.

'The father had the insight to hire the helicopter in the first place and go looking for his son.

'It was fortunate he had an idea where to start looking. He was fairly adamant it was somewhere between the Doyalson turnoff on the M1 and Swansea.'

He was right. Mr Mitchell and Michael Lethbridge spotted Sam's vehicle after about 10 minutes in the air.

'It was fairly obvious from the air and invisible from the road,' Mr Mitchell said.

Helicopter pilot Lee Mitchell said he was in the air for only about 10 minutes before he and Michael Lethbridge found the car

The pilot called 000 and the helicopter hovered over the crash site.

'It was a bit of a mission accomplished for me to be able to find the vehicle and at that point it's important to remain composed in all the excitement,' Mr Mitchell said.

At 10.01am Michael Lethbridge sent a text message to his brother to say he had spotted Sam's crashed car off the Pacific Highway at Crangan Bay.

When Michael Lethbridge was able to reach the crashed vehicle he could see that Sam had survived the night.

Emergency services including ambulance and fire crews were called to the scene.

Sam was trapped in the driver's seat. He was freed about midday, his sister said.

Ms Lethbridge wanted to thank Mr Mitchell and motorist Billy Creanor who stopped to render first aid.

The rescue operation took a painstaking 45 minutes, during which time Sam was given pain medication and stabilised by paramedics

Tyre marks from Sam Lethbridge's car can be seen leaving the Pacific Highway and leading into bushland south of Newcastle

Sam was given pain medication during the rescue operation and was stabilised by paramedics.

NSW Ambulance superintendent Jeff Atkins said: 'When we got to him he was pretty dehydrated. But his clinical observations were quite good which was amazing.'

'He then had to be carried back to the highway.'

Superintendent Atkins said the teenager would need to undergo a 'world of physio' to regain full use of his injured leg.

A NSW police spokesperson said Sam Lethbridge was formally reported missing about 11pm on Sunday and an investigation began.

'As part of that investigation a missing person report was tabled at the police Monday morning crime review and provided to senior management and supervisors with the contents then disseminated to all staff,' the spokesperson said.

'Police had also broadcast a "Keep a lookout for" message regarding the missing individual and vehicle which was issued statewide. This is in line with normal procedures for incidents such as this.'

The teenager needed to be cut from the wreckage (pictured) when he was discovered badly injured on the side of the Pacific Highway south of Newcastle
CCTV footage has captured the moment brazen thieves steal a Good Samaritan's Ute while he's helping to rescue a lost autistic boy from a busy road.

Melbourne man Aaron, 39, was driving on Rosamond Road at Maidstone in the city's inner-west on Tuesday night about 7.15pm when he saw the 14-year-old boy walking into oncoming traffic.

'He was running quite erratically and then he was smack-bank in the middle of the road I thought he was going to get hit by a car,' Aaron told Nine News on Wednesday.

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Melbourne man Aaron, 39, (pictured) was driving on Rosamond Road at Maidstone in the city's inner-west on Tuesday night about 7.15pm when he saw the 14-year-old boy walking into oncoming traffic

In the CCTV footage, Aaron can be seen pulling his Ute onto the side of the road, getting out and walking towards the boy.

'I said 'hey mate, do you want to come off to the side of the road and just walk with me for a minute', and calm him down,' Aaron said.

Aaron, together with another driver, spoke to the boy and coaxed him away from the road.

They stayed with him until the police came.

CCTV footage shows Aaron speaking to the boy and coaxing him away from the road

CCTV footage captured of the event, shows two men approaching Aaron's vehicle before it is stolen moments later

The man's black 2017 Ford Ranger (pictured) was stolen, along with his his house keys, wallet and laptop computer

Meanwhile, Aaron's brand new 2017 Ford Ranger was being stolen.

CCTV footage captured of the event, shows two men approaching Aaron's vehicle before it is stolen moments later.

The black ute contained his house keys, wallet and laptop when it was stolen.

Victoria Police have arrested two men over the incident, a 52-year-old West Melbourne man and a 41-year-old Maidstone man.

The pair were reportedly driving a stolen yellow car when they discovered the Ford Ranger.

Two men have been arrested after a good Samaritan's car, wallet and computer was stolen as he rescued a young child trapped on a busy road. These images were previously released showing two men police believed may be able to assist with their enquiries

Police believe the man's accomplice fled in this yellow Ford, displaying plates UAG799 on the front and UDY124 on the back

The two men were questioned by the police on Wednesday night but the man's ute remains missing.

The young autistic boy's mother said she was indebted to Aaron, and said she was devastated his car was stolen.

Aaron said he didn't regret helping the 14-year-old boy, but the incident highlighted the fact there were a few 'bad eggs' in the world.

'There are people who want to do the right thing and put themselves on the line, including the police officers. Then there are bad eggs that want to take advantage of the situation,' he said.
David Allen Turpin/ Facebook(PERRIS, Calif.) -- Thirteen siblings who were rescued Sunday after they were allegedly tortured, held captive and, in some cases, shackled in their parents' home are "hopeful that life will get better for them," one official said Tuesday.



The investigation began early Sunday morning when a 17-year-old girl allegedly escaped from the Southern California home through a window and called 911, claiming that her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive there, the sheriff's office said. Responding officers said the teen was slightly emaciated and "appeared to be only 10 years old."



"They have gone through a very traumatic ordeal, I can tell you they are very friendly, they are very cooperative and I believe they are hopeful that life will get better for them after this event," Mark Uffer, CEO of Corona Regional Medical Center, said Tuesday.



Inside the home in Perris, some of the siblings -- who are ages 2 to 29 -- were allegedly "shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the sheriff's office said. "The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty."



An official said Tuesday the scene inside the home was "horrific," adding several of the victims were chained to furniture.



Perris Mayor Michael Vargas said he was devastated by what he described as an act of cruelty.



The 13 victims are all believed to be the biological children of 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, authorities said. The Turpins were arrested on charges of torture and child endangerment, the sheriff's office said, and are being held on $9 million bail each. The couple is expected to be arraigned Thursday.



An official said Tuesday that on Sunday Louise Turpin appeared "perplexed" as to why authorities were at her home.



Law enforcement had no prior contact at that home, officials said.



The siblings were home-schooled, authorities said, adding there is no indication there were any other children at the home, but the investigation is ongoing.



The California Department of Education said in a statement, We are sickened by this tragedy and relieved the children are now safe and authorities are investigating. Private schools are required to register with the state to record their students exemption from compulsory attendance at public schools. Under current California law, the CDE does not approve, monitor, inspect, or oversee private schools."



The family had lived at the home in Perris since about 2014, authorities said, and had previously lived in Marietta, California, and Texas.



Seven of the victims were adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29, the sheriff's office said. The others were children as young as 2. The victims -- who authorities say claimed to be starving on Sunday -- were given food and drinks and interviewed, the sheriff's office said. They were then hospitalized for treatment, the authorities said.



It's unclear how long the victims were held inside the home, authorities said. One official said their conditions indicated it was a prolonged period.



Neighbor Julie Olha told ABC News, "I never met this family, but knowing this was going on in this environment, where you think it's supposed to be safe for your own children and your own families. ... How can two parents even fathom doing that to your children?"



She said she once saw children -- who looked to be around 10 years old -- planting grass around 11 p.m.



And Olha noted that the family's Christmas decorations once stayed up long after Christmas.



"Last Christmas, they had their nativity scene, and it stayed up for months and months, to the point where I wanted to knock on the door and say, Listen, do you need help?' Past Easter, it was up," she said.



Kent Ripley, an Elvis impersonator who performed a vow renewal for David and Louise Turpin at the Elvis chapel in Las Vegas, told ABC affiliate KTNV-TV in Las Vegas, "They sang with me. They had fun. They seemed to be happy -- all of them."



Authorities said Tuesday they are working with Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services and medical professionals to get the children the help they need.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Trump administration has muddied the waters on how states enforce their marijuana laws.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said recently that prosecutors should "follow the well-established principles that govern all federal prosecutions" and rescinded a 2013 memo from then-Deputy Attorney General James Cole that provided guidance on marijuana enforcement. North Dakota officials have used the "Cole Memo" in creating the state's medical marijuana program, keeping in mind that marijuana remains an illegal drug on the federal level.

North Dakota has been working to develop a medical marijuana program since voters approved a measure in November 2016 to allow medical marijuana. First the Legislature took a stab at the program, establishing a process for providing medical marijuana. Legislators directed the North Dakota Department of Health to develop administrative rules for the program. The department just announced eight regions for medical marijuana dispensaries in an effort to provide qualifying patients with easy access to the drug.

The regions are focused on the state's largest cities  Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot, Devils Lake, Jamestown, Williston and Dickinson  though the dispensaries can be located anywhere within a 50-mile radius of the cities.

North Dakota supporters of the medical marijuana program have been critical of legislators and state officials for taking so much time in establishing the program. However, other states that set up marijuana programs also have gone through lengthy processes. Sessions announcement didnt make it clear what the federal government intends to do.

Chris Myers, the U.S. Attorney for North Dakota, indicated he doesnt know how Sessions' memo might affect North Dakota's law. Gov. Doug Burgum, who supported Donald Trump in the presidential election, made clear his position. "We support states' rights when deciding whether medical marijuana should be legalized, and North Dakota voters have spoken," Burgum said in a statement. The marijuana measure passed with nearly 64 percent approval.

The states congressional delegation also voiced support for state control of marijuana programs. "States are really determining how this issue will be handled now and going forward, and I don't think this policy decision will change that," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., also cited the voters support for medical marijuana.

Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Sessions memo forces "the bigger issue, and that is Congress should act on this and make it clear that ... this a states' rights issue, that it should be up to states to determine whether they want to allow marijuana."

The Tribune Editorial Board agrees with the governor and the delegation. Voters left no doubt they support medical marijuana. While some legislators were grudging in allowing the medical marijuana program to go forward, they recognized the strong voter support for the program. At the same time, the state is being very careful in implementing the program. They are working on safeguards to make sure the marijuana goes to the people its intended to help. This isnt a program that allows everyone to grow marijuana in the backyard. It will be regulated and the state will be in charge.

Theres no reason for the federal government to interfere unless the state should lose control of the program. That doesnt appear likely. Federal law enforcement has a lot of challenges, but the medical marijuana program in North Dakota isnt one of them. The state has the situation under control.
The 36-year-old stole over $5,000 in property after smashing through a window

A man who left a 'roll your own' cigarette at a crime scene has been sentenced over the $5,000 theft.

Robert Tutaki Kemp appeared at the New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday where he received home detention for the robbery of a Bell Block residence on New Zealand's west coast in September.

The 36-year-old stole more than $5,000 in property after smashing through a window to get into the home, according to Stuff.

Robert Tutaki Kemp (pictured) appeared at the New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday

He ransacked each room of the house, throwing items from drawers and cupboards to gather his loot.

After the unsmoked cigarette was forensically analysed and found to have his DNA on it, he was arrested.

At the time of his offence a number of other houses in the same area had been targeted by thieves, prompting police to issue a warning to the neighbourhood.

Judge Chris Sygrove described Kemp as a 'recidivist burglar who had pages of criminal charges'.

Police clearly have their suspicions of your involvement with burglaries in the Bell Block area.'

The summary of facts referenced a number of similarly styled robberies and insinuated police suspect they were committed by the same person.

The 36-year-old stole over $5000 in property after smashing through a window

'One crucial aspect is that in many of these burglaries the burglar removes drawers in bedrooms and searches the drawers thoroughly and takes specific items of jewellery,' it said.

Kemp was sentenced to two years jail however that was transferred to 12 months home detention.

An element of that would be spent at a rehab facility in Auckland, and he was also ordered to pay $200 reparation to the victims to cover insurance excess.

'I believe that people need an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves,' Sygrove said.
An employee who sent an erroneous alert warning that a North Korean missile had been fired at Japan meant to file a different news flash, the country's public broadcaster has said.

The news flash issued by Japanese public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday said North Korea appeared to have fired a missile at Japan and that the government was warning people to take shelter.

NHK retracted the mistake within minutes and apologized on air and on other formats.

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Japanese public broadcaster NHK has said its erroneous alert of a North Korean missile fired at Japan was sent by a staff member who meant to file a different news flash

It put out another message on its website within five minutes correcting itself and said no government warning, known as a 'J-alert', had been issued.

On Wednesday, the Japanese government called on NHK to make sure a false alarm warning of a North Korean missile launch will not be repeated, with tensions still high because of the North's missile and nuclear programmes.

'The J-alert system is information of extreme importance in maintaining the security and safety of the people, so we've asked that they ensure this does not happen again,' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference.

NHK denied any mechanical flaw and said it is studying preventive measures.

The broadcaster isn't sure how many of its 300,000 social media followers saw the alert or notification and it's unknown if anyone followed the instructions.

There have been no reports of panic or other disruptions following the NHK report.

The news flash on Tuesday said North Korea appeared to have fired a missile at Japan and that the government was warning people to take shelter. Above, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

NHK said the false alert was sent by mistake when it was trying to issue another news flash.

The broadcaster declined to say what the other news flash was about, but some domestic news outlets issued bulletins at around the same time about the latest recipients of a Japanese literary award.

Days earlier, Hawaii's emergency authorities sent a mistaken warning of a missile attack to mobile phones across the state, triggering mass panic.

Authorities blamed human error on the false alarm on Saturday that remained uncorrected for 38 minutes.

It comes as 20 nations meeting in the Canadian city of Vancouver agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Days earlier, Hawaii's emergency authorities sent a mistaken warning of a missile attack to mobile phones across the state, triggering mass panic. Above, a sign on the H-1 Freeway in Honolulu, Hawaii, informing the public that the alert was false

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the world should not be naive about North's 'charm offensive' over the Winter Olympics in Seoul next month.

'It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea,' Kono said.

'The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working.'

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula. The North has fired test-fired missiles over Japan.

In state media this week, the North warned the South of spoiling inter-Korean ties by insisting it gives up its nuclear weapons.

'We will work actively to improve North-South Korean relations but will not stand still to actions that are against unification,' the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.
This is the horrific moment a disabled girl had her head smashed into a table during a brutal bashing at the hands of three teenage girls.

The 17-year-old victim was lead to a picnic spot in the Gippsland town of Moe, Victoria, in the early hours of Monday morning, where she was tortured and repeatedly bashed.

The disgusting attack was filmed on one of the offender's mobile phones and shared to Facebook, Ten Eyewitness News reported.

The girl's hands were burnt on a hot barbecue, her head was repeatedly slammed into a wooden picnic table and she was kicked in the face (pictured)

During the attack, the intellectually disabled victim was forced to inhale glass, believed to be from her smashed iPhone.

Her hands were burnt on a hot barbecue, her head was repeatedly slammed into a wooden picnic table and she was kicked in the face.

The girl's devastated mother said her daughter was tricked into going to the park, believing she was meeting up with her boyfriend.

The mother, who cannot be named, said her daughter was left 'black and blue'.

'She's unrecognisable. She can't put her glasses on because her cheekbones are so swollen,' she told Ten News.

She said her daughter would 'never be the same again' after the horrific bashing.

The victim was taken to hospital after the attack, where she was treated for serious injuries to her face.

This is the horrific moment a disabled girl has her head smashed into a table during a brutal bashing at the hands of three teenage girls

The 17-year-old victim (pictured) is recovering at home after the vicious Monday morning attack

The victim (pictured) was taken to hospital after the attack, where she was treated for serious injuries to her face

She is now recovering from the vicious attack at home.

The alleged offenders were three teenage girls, two 15-year-olds and one 12-year-old.

The girls have since been charged with assault and robbery.

The 12-year-old was released on bail, but the two 15-year-old girls were not, Ten News reported.

Detective Senior Constable Michael Thek said the assault was extremely serious.

'The footage is pretty graphic and a lot of senior police officers here say it's one of the worst assaults they've seen in 30 years or so,' he told Ten.

'She's unrecognisable. She can't put her glasses on because her cheekbones are so swollen,' the victim's mother (pictured) said
The terrifying moment a little girl fell into the water after getting off a Sydney ferry has been caught on camera.

The eight-year-old can be seen running off the ferry among a busy crowd at Barangaroo, before she turns back towards the ferry and falls into the harbour.

Ferry worker Jean-Pierre Lombard told 7 News the accident could have turned deadly.

The terrifying moment a girl fell into the water after getting off a Sydney ferry was caught on camera (pictured)

Quick-thinking ferry workers and relatives scoop the eight-year-old out of the water quickly

'We were able to retrieve her quickly... but it could have been much worse,' he said.

Quick-thinking relatives and ferry workers rushed to the child's aid, quickly scooping her from the water.

As the ferry was still running, a whirlpool was created between the vessel and the wharf, which could have sucked the youngster under the boat.

Mr Lombard said the girl could have been sucked through the propeller and behind the boat.

The whole incident lasted about 15 seconds, leaving the little girl shaken but uninjured.

Heart-stopping moments like these happen about once a month, with reportedly 13 ferry falls in the past year.

The young girl can be seen running off the ferry among a busy crowd of passengers at Barangaroo before she turns back towards the craft and falls into the water (pictured)
Gary Goldsmith and wife Julie-Ann have been spotted together for the first time since he was fined for punching her in the face in a drunken row.

The pair looked relaxed and happy as they laughed and lunched with friends on the Spanish party island of Ibiza, where he has a home.

Goldsmith, 52, who is Kate Middleton's uncle, was described as a 'mean drunk' in November as he was given a 5,000 fine and community order for hitting 48-year-old Julie-Ann outside their London home.

Gary Goldsmith (left) and wife Julie-Ann (right, sitting down) have been seen together for the first time since he was fined for hitting her in the face

Goldsmith and Julie-Ann were seen having lunch with friends on the Spanish party island of Ibiza, where he has a property nicknamed Maison de Bang Bang

Goldsmith and Julie-Ann lived apart for a time after the punch-up outside their London penthouse in October last year, but are now back together

A court heard how the pair had argued during a taxi ride home from a charity event in the early hours of October 13.

Julie-Ann had accused Goldsmith of taking drugs and abandoning her all night, while he responded by calling her 'a nothing' and 'a whore', the court was told.

After getting out of the taxi Goldsmith threw what was described by the driver as a 'left hook' which knocked her to the ground.

Goldsmith was subsequently kicked out of the London property he shared with his wife, and was banned from seeing or talking to her while on bail.

Before the fight Julie-Ann had accused Goldsmith of taking drugs and ignoring her all night at a charity event while he had called her 'a nothing' and 'a whore', a court heard

The pair reconciled over the festive period and during a New Year party ended up in each other's arms while sharing a kiss

Asked earlier this month whether he was back together with his wife, Goldsmith responded: 'We've had a great New Year. It's been really good fun, so yes'

But following his conviction the pair reconciled and spent the festive season together on Ibiza at his property, dubbed Maison de Bang Bang, which has played host to Prince William in the past.

During the New Year's Eve party Julie-Ann ended up back in her husband's arms and the pair shared a kiss.

When asked if they were together again, millionaire Gary told The Mail on Sunday: 'We've had a great New Year. It's been really good fun, so yes.

'But we'd prefer to be left to get on with things.'

Before leaving Ibiza, he tweeted: 'When two people really care about each other they will always look for a way to make it work, no matter how hard it is.'

Goldsmith is the younger brother of the Duchess of Cambridge's mother, Carole Middleton, and attended the weddings of both Kate and her sister Pippa.
This is the moment a vehicle is captured T-boning another car at a busy intersection after rushing through a red light.

In footage posted to Dash Cam Owners Australia on Wednesday, the driver of a blue VW is seen moving forward after their traffic light turns green.

Just moments after the motorist accelerates forward, a white vehicle slams into the left side of the car after ignoring their red stop light.

The driver of a blue VW is seen moving forward after their traffic light turns green

The blue car does a 180 degree spin as a result of the impact from the devastating smash.

Footage goes on to reveal the white car's destruction which includes a torn off front bumper and a smashed bonnet.

Glass and debris is spotted littered the road from the shattered headlights and tiny piece of plastic from each car.

Moments later a white vehicle slams at speed into the left side of the car leaving devastating damage on both cars

The blue VW took a hard hit and was damaged severely on its side

On Facebook, comments under the video flooded in with more than 113 sharing their views in five hours.

'How?' one person asked. 'How can you be so lost to go through a red that late... Should have their licence taken away...'

Another said: 'How do they manage this, red lights, cars stopped and another car crossing your path, wrecking your ride.'
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He was dropped off at the rescue centre after his owner lost their home and was unable to look after him.

But there is a happy update on ten-week-old mongrel Ronnie, who has now found a new home after being inundated with adoption offers at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in South London.

The pup, who was the first to be left at the rescue home in 2018 on January 2 after being given as a Christmas present, attracted a huge following on social media after the rescue centre posted about him online.

And he is now settling in with mother-of-two Joanne Taylor, 27, her mobile mechanic partner Daniel, 29, and their two sons Alfie, eight, and Archie, five, who live in Orpington, South East London.

Happy ending: Ronnie is now settling in with mother-of-two Joanne Taylor, 27, her mobile mechanic partner Daniel, 29, and their two sons Alfie, eight, and Archie, five, who live in Orpington, South East London

Sad start: Ronnie was the first puppy to be handed in to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in South London this year on January 2 (above, Ronnie relaxes in his new surroundings)

Ms Taylor told MailOnline today how the 'excitement was unreal' in her house after bringing him home on January 7, with her sons left ecstatic at their new friend  although it did take Ronnie a few days to settle in.

She said: 'The first couple of nights he was crying and a bit all over the place, but he's settled in nicely now. He likes exploring every room - he's really close with my eldest son. He sleeps in his bed; he knows when it's bedtime.

'Alfie is the one who trains him, tells him right from wrong, and feeds him. Archie is more "let's go and play". Ronnie knows that if Alfie's around, he's got to abide by the rules, but with Archie he knows it's play time.'

Sad start: He was dropped off at the rescue centre after owner lost their home and was unable to look after him (above, Ronnie plays with a toy in his new home)

Ms Taylor told MailOnline today how the 'excitement was unreal' in her house after bringing him home on January 7, with her sons left ecstatic at their new friend  although it did take Ronnie a few days to settle in

In the process of rehoming Ronnie, the team at Battersea searched through every applicant who registered to adopt him

Ronnie was vaccinated and microchipped before he was sent to his loving new home by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

Ms Taylor said she initially saw pictures of Ronnie on Facebook and asked her partner if they could rescue a dog from Battersea. They went over to the rescue centre but initially did not find any dogs they could take home.

However, they were later told by staff at Battersea that Ronnie was a '100 per cent match'. Ms Taylor added: 'We didn't realise till we'd got to London that it was the dog on Facebook that we saw.'

She continued; 'It only really sank in when I got to meet him. It was amazing, it was brilliant, but he looked really sad. It's mad, out of all those people it was a bit overwhelming that this has actually happened.'

Ronnie only had his injections on Monday so he has not yet been out on a proper walk, although the family have taken him to a field near their house.

He underwent medical checks after initially arriving at the centre and was staying with staff member Alice Holt ahead of him being rehomed, with Battersea sifting through a long list of potential future homes.

Ronnie had medical checks after arriving at the home and was staying with a staff member ahead of him being rehomed

Playful: The pup's owners said the little dog had a playful attitude and enjoyed chasing after the ball

In the process of rehoming Ronnie, the team at Battersea searched through every applicant who registered to adopt him to ensure the dog and the home are a perfect match.

They looked into matters such as the personality of Ronnie, whether or not the home has any other animals and if his personality will clash with their pets, and if they have any children.

After they matched Ronnie with a home, Battersea organised for the owners to meet the pooch. Ronnie was also vaccinated and microchipped before he was sent to his loving new home.

A fortnight ago, Battersea home intake manager Steven Craddock said: 'It doesn't shock any of us that the first dog through our doors in 2018 was bought online.

'Ronnie is just one of many thousands of dogs who will be bought off an unregulated website in the coming months and end up in a home where the owner is unprepared and unable to take proper care of them.

The pup attracted a huge following on social media after the rescue centre posted about him online earlier this month

'His new owner did the right thing by bringing him into us where we can look after him and find him a loving new home, which we doubt will take long as he's such a lovely boy.

'However, this doesn't change the fact that he never should have been sold online in the first place. He may have been taken from his mother far too young and likely sold by a breeder with absolutely no regard for his welfare.'

Many Twitter users tweeting about Ronnie were using the hashtag #AdoptDontShop to encourage others to consider adopting some of the other animals left at rescue centres rather than buying online.

Battersea has itself launched an In From The Cold fundraising campaign to help stray pets this winter. More than 20,000 pets in the UK are expected to be abandoned over the course of this winter.

The rescue centre looks after 550 dogs at any given time. Mr Craddock added: 'I'd encourage anyone thinking of welcoming a new pet into their lives to consider rescue over shopping online.'
A father-of-one is suing travel firm Jet2Holidays after he and another holidaymaker collided in a dive bomb gone wrong, leaving him in hospital in agony.

Graham Hyde, 44, was left with neck injuries after the accident in a Barcelona swimming pool and now now launched legal action against the travel firm after ending up in hospital wearing a neck brace during the 1,800 break with his family.

Footage shows a teenage boy launching himself into the pool directly in front of a slide moments before the accident which left Mr Hyde with 'cervical neck concussion'.

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This is the moment British two holidaymakers collided with one another in a dive-bomb gone wrong. Graham Hyde, 44, was left with neck injuries after the accident in a Barcelona swimming pool and now now launched legal action against travel firm Jet2Holidays

The father-of-one ended up in hospital during an 1,800 break with his family - and spending a week in a neck brace. Footage shows a teenage boy launching himself into the pool directly in front of a slide moment before the collision

Just as he is about to hit the waves, Mr Hyde can be seen shooting out of the end of the slide - directly into the boy's path.

Mr Hyde lands directly beneath the diver, who was then seen crashing down onto the swimmer.

Mr Hyde said: 'I saw something massive coming towards me and only realised later that it was a young lad and he literally landed with his backside on my head.

'I heard a massive crunch and can honestly say I thought my neck had snapped.

'The impact had such force, I was rotated 360 degrees underwater.'

Following a struggle to get out of the pool, Mr Hyde went into shock after lifeguards applied a combination of deep heat and ice packs to his neck, which burnt his skin.

Mr Hyde said: 'Then the pain really started to take hold and I was shaking like a leaf. I felt sick and my neck was on fire.

'Everything went tight and rigid. I couldn't lift my arms up and any sort of movement hurt my neck.'

The boy can be seen launching himself at the water after deciding to dive-bomb directly in front of the slide

The father-of-one waited two 'agonising' hours for treatment after he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. He had to pay for a taxi for his wife and daughter to follow him

The father-of-one waited two 'agonising' hours for treatment after he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. He had to pay for a taxi for his wife and daughter to follow him.

'It was quite scary as my toes and fingers were tingling and I had no real idea of what damage had been done,' he said.

But he added that matters were made 'even worse' when the family had to find their own way back to the hotel during a taxi strike, which meant he was 'stumbling around in a neck brace in the boiling heat and horrible pain' for at least an hour.

Mr Hyde, who would cycle an average of 10 miles a day before the accident, still experiences pain and stiffness months later, despite undergoing physiotherapy.

The incident is being investigated by Plexus Law, solicitors for Jet2holidays.

Graham Hyde can be seen exiting the slide as the boy jumps up into the air, unaware of the danger

Mr Hyde says he has been ignored by the package holiday company ever since.

Magdalena Knez, a specialist personal injury lawyer at Slater and Gordon who is representing the business owner, said: 'Although this was an accident and Graham places no blame on the young man involved in the incident, the question is why there appears to have been no signs or barriers in place to section off the area where guests exit the water slide.

'Graham has been left with ongoing neck pain after spending just a few hours on a family holiday and has since been ignored by the holiday company.'

Mr Hyde said: 'Our holiday was completely ruined and we have been ignored by the company ever since. It's not too much to ask for some form of response or apology.'

This is the moment the teenager came crashing down onto Graham Hyde, leaving him with neck injuries

A spokeswoman for Jet2holidays told the Press Association: 'The health and safety of our customers is extremely important to us and we are exploring Mr Hyde's claim fully.

'Unfortunately, as this is part of an ongoing legal process, we are unable to comment any further at this time.'

The accident at the Alegria Pineda Splash Hotel was captured in footage shot on a mobile phone.

The five-second clip appears to have been filmed by a British woman, who can be heard saying 'for God's sake' at the end of the video.

A slow-motion version of the clip shows how Mr Hyde begins to emerge from the slide, feet-first, almost at the exact moment the boy's feet leave the poolside.

His legs jerk upwards as the teenager comes crashing down on him.
Aamair Patel, 25, had been downing vodka and Fanta when he crashed into the Naz curry house in Bolton, Greater Manchester

An aircraft engineer who smashed his car into a crowded Indian takeaway before racing off has avoided jail after he apologised for bringing shame on his Muslim family.

Aamair Patel, 25, had been downing vodka and Fanta when he crashed into the Naz curry house in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Despite the smash, which sent customers diving for cover, he then reversed his 22,000 Mercedes and sped away from the scene.

But as he drove off he hit another vehicle from behind before ploughing head on into a Vauxhall Astra.

When breathalysed he was found to be three times the drink-drive limit, but later claimed he was giving a lift to a homeless man who caused the accident by making a grab for a cola bottle inside the vehicle.

When confronted with CCTV of the crash at the takeaway he said: 'For f*** sake, Jesus can I see that one more time. I was completely out of control I don't know how that happened. I didn't do this to myself.'.

Patel admitted drink driving and dangerous driving and sobbed as he was give a 12-month suspended sentence at Bolton Crown Court.

He was also banned from the road for three years and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that Patel, who works for Airbus Group in Chester, had been spotted by an off duty police officer as he hurtled through the streets of Bolton at around 8pm on November 9.

Prosecuting, Yousaf Haseeb said: 'The police officer noted the vehicle appeared to be driving extremely fast for the road conditions as it was dark and traffic was still reasonably heavy.

Despite the smash, which sent customers diving for cover, he then reversed his 22,000 Mercedes (pictured, Patel posing in the car) and sped away from the scene

'The vehicle then turned into the junction and he saw the Mercedes had mounted the kerb by a takeaway and had gone into the shop causing damage to the front shop window.

'There were around seven to eight people in the takeaway and numerous people on the pavement - fortunately no one was hurt.

'The car then reversed off the pavement and made its way out of Bolton town centre and was driving on the wrong side of the road, swerving and snaking all over the road, causing several vehicles on the other side of the road swerved out of the way.

'He followed the vehicle until it hit the rear of a Honda Civic and the bumper of his vehicle came off, but he continued driving against the traffic.

'It then had a head on collision with a Vauxhall Astra on the wrong side of the read. The driver of the Mercedes tried to drive off but the vehicle was too badly damaged.'

Patel was arrested soon afterwards and Mr Haseeb added: 'He said that he had finished work in Chester about 1.30pm and then drove to Bolton.

Patel was three times the drink-drive limit when he crashed into Naz takeaway (pictured)

'At 6.15pm he said he had ordered a takeaway from a steakhouse and went to collect it but as he was driving he saw a homeless man he thought he recognised.

'He stopped and spoke to the man but although, it wasn't who he thought it was, he gave the man a lift anyway. As they were driving the homeless man took a coke bottle out of his bag.'

Patel was breathalysed and had a reading of 94 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit being 35mg.

The cost of the damage was estimated at up 2,000 pounds.

An earlier hearing was told Patel had started drinking socially at college and the fact he had an alcohol problem 'brought shame' on his family who have shop in the area of the crash.

But in mitigation Patel's lawyer Russell Davies said his client had since sought help for his drinking problem, by attending AA meetings and a local drug and alcohol group.

Mr Davies added: 'Of course there are emotions involved in this case, emotions of guilt and remorse that something in his upbringing cause this young man to act completely to the contrary, obviously culturally but also to his family values. But immediate custody for this man would be devastating for him and others who support him.

Patel (pictured) sobbed as he admitted drink driving and dangerous driving and was banned from the road for three years, at Bolton Crown Court

'But he has a very successful future to look forward to. I concede that this has crossed the custody threshold but it is my application that it can be suspended. He has looked for help with his alcohol issues and as far as I'm concerned it is genuine. He works for an international and possibly global aeronautical engineering company and they support him.

'He has been open to his employers about the circumstances of this offence, and they have offered him support. He has supported himself at a new home in Cheshire, and he has moved from Bolton to Cheshire.

'He has a house where he lives with his young wife and he has moved there in the last year paying rent of 650 a month. His employers are fully aware of the situation. He has full insight into how serious what happened is but also how serious it could have been and he knows that.

'He is genuinely remorseful and knows how serious this case is and how serious his position is. There is a letter from his family and they are a family with a good reputation and a strong family. There is his father and uncles and his younger brother here to support him today. I do not want the court to be confused - his family do not in any way condone his actions. It is quite the contrary.

'The damage to the car was 22,000 and it was effectively written off. His father is determined that he will pay back every penny, as he was in a privileged position as the car was given to him by his parents, who worked long and hard for it and he will have to pay that back. He previously lived in a home in Bolton with his young wife paid for by his parents.

'That has been taken away and he now rents his own home in Cheshire. They take their responsibility very seriously as parents.'

Patel must undertake an extended driving test when his driving ban is over, and pay 500 cost.

Sentencing Judge Timothy Clayson told him: 'It is a miracle that nobody was hurt or worse. Your blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit.

'But you have taken steps which I consider to be honest and not cynical to address your alcohol problem. You also have very good prospects and the support of a good family and that is a wonderful thing.'
An auction house is expected the spark fevered excitement when it puts Lord Lucan's personal belongings under the hammer.

Items including an ermine gown, customised top hat and a portrait are set to be snapped up by curious buyers at Holloway's Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Considered one of the greatest murder mysteries in British history, the disappearance of notorious aristocrat Lord Lucan following the death of his nanny in 1974 continues to be shrouded in intrigue and speculation.

The auction comes some four months after the death of his widow Lady Lucan who left her multi-million pound fortune to the homeless charity Shelter, before taking her own life with a lethal cocktail of alcohol and drugs.

A portrait of the notorious aristocrat Lord Lucan is among the lots set to go under the hammer

The top hat made by one of the best milliners in the world features an L stitched inside it

Lord and Lady Lucan - in his top hat - and their son George Bingham in a photograph taken from Lady Lucan's photo album

Other lots in the auction include a portrait of Lucan, a champagne bucket, a family coat of arms, walking sticks and an umbrella, photos of Lady Lucan and their children, a red robe, and a flag from his boat.

Also up for sale is a chair which Lord Lucan's grandmother sat on at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.

The top hat made by one of the best milliners in the world features an L stitched inside it.

Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead at her 2.9million home in Belgravia, London, in September and the items were taken from her home shortly after.



Auctioneer James Lees is uncertain how much the items will sell for, but said they are sure to capture the imagination of those curious about the disappearance of the mysterious earl.

Also up for sale is a chair which Lord Lucan's grandmother sat on at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902

Lord and Lady Lucan pictured together in 1963 - before his disappearance sparked decades of fevered speculation

An ice bucket is included in the sale at Holloway's Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxon

Lady Lucan pictured with a portrait of her husband in November 1976

Lady Lucan, in front of her portrait of her husband, Lord Lucan at her Belgravia home

Mr Lees said: 'We're happy to have [the lot] and there are only a couple of pieces that have any value without the Lord Lucan link.

'If it wasn't of the Lucan estate, it wouldn't be worth that much, but what gives it that added zest is his notoriety and I think there's an element of being a bad boy about him.

'His infamy is what I'm selling here and the mystery, but I have absolutely no idea how much it will go for.'

The collection will go under the hammer at Holloway's on February 13. See www.hollowaysauctioneers.co.uk.

In happier times: Lady Lucan, pictured, with children Camilla, Frances and George at Christmas 1974

Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead at her 2.9million home in Belgravia, London , in September and the items were taken from her home shortly after. Police smashed a window (circled) to break into her terraced townhouse

An inquest revealed 80-year-old Lady Lucan killed herself in September after wrongly believing she was suffering from Parkinson's disease.

The aristocrat was estranged from her three children George, Frances and Camilla and chose to remove them from her will, leaving all her possessions to Shelter, an organisation which helps the homeless.

Speaking after the hearing, Camilla Bingham, QC, told the Mail On Sunday: 'Mummy left her estate to the homeless charity, Shelter.'

The total figure of Lady Lucan's inheritance is unknown but the sale of her Belgravia property alone is thought to run into the millions.

The reasons behind her decision to select Shelter as a charity were not made clear during the hearing a coroner heard how towards the end of her life, Lady Lucan became increasingly reclusive.

John Richard Bingham, Earl of Lucan, and Veronica Duncan on their wedding day in November 1963
Sir Mike Penning voiced fears about UK forces' fighting capabilities and an exodus of highly trained personnel

A former defence minister today delivered a damning verdict on the state of the millitary - warning that the army is 'down to the bone'.

Sir Mike Penning voiced fears about UK forces' fighting capabilities and an exodus of highly trained personnel.

The intervention comes amid growing concern about the pressures facing the military, with equipment costs rising and troop numbers falling.

There are claims that full-time army strength could fall to 70,000 - well below the government's target of 82,000.

Tory MP Sir Mike, who left his post in a reshuffle last June, said he had decided to speak out because 'enough is enough'.

He told the Sun that the SAS was exhausted from continuous deployments and troops were leaving as a result.

Royal Navy frigates tracking Russian submarines were unable to stay at sea for longer than six days because they were short of crew. He said Russian vessels 'pass through the Channel not just for fun, but to test us'.

Sir Mike also claimed light desert vehicles were having to be used in eastern Europe because moving tanks was too slow.

Sir Mike appealed for Theresa May to shift the burden of paying for renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent to the Treasury.

Sir Mike, who served eight years as a Grenadier Guard, said: 'Someone has to stand up and say, enough is enough. We're down to the bone now.

'An army of 82,000 does not give us enough ready troops to deploy.

HMS Illustrious and HMS Westminster anchored in the Suez Canal. Sir Mike warned that Royal Navy frigates tracking Russian submarines were unable to stay at sea for longer than six days

'If numbers go down any more, we are simply not going to be able to do what the British public expect of us, from our NATO and UN commitments to humanitarian missions.'

The criticism has been levelled on the eve of the PM hosting French president Emmanuel Macron for military talks at Sandhurst.

Earlier this week Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson claimed 'hard work' is taking place across Government to give the 'right resources' to the armed forces.

Another Tory former minister Mark Francois said Mr Williamson would receive support from his colleagues to rebuff the 'pinstripe warriors' of the Treasury in an ongoing defence and security review.

Julian Lewis, chairman of the Defence Committee, also said defence is the UK's national insurance policy, adding: 'It's time for the Treasury to pay the premiums.'
Dramatic footage captures the moment a village in India came together to rescue a baby elephant that had fallen into a 30ft deep well.

The frightened calf, who had plunged into the well after getting detached from its herd, was eventually rescued after an operation that lasted many hours in the sweltering heat.

Distressed at the bottom of the well, the three-and-a-half month old elephant was helped by the villagers in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state.

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Dramatic footage captures the moment a village in India came together to rescue a baby elephant that had fallen into a 30ft deep well. The frightened calf, who had plunged into the well after getting detached from its herd, was rescued after an operation lasting hours

Distressed at the bottom of the well, the three-and-a-half month old elephant was helped by the villagers in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state

The elephants had come out of the Udedurgam reserve forest on Monday night, apparently in search of food and water in the village, situated on the fringes of the reserve forest.

Dramatic video of the rescue operation shows people throwing ropes into the well and trying to pull the calf out.

The initial rescue where villagers tied a rope around the elephants body and tried to haul it out failed when the frightened calf wriggled out of the constraints.

The elephants had come out of the Udedurgam reserve forest on Monday night, apparently in search of food and water in the village, situated on the fringes of the reserve forest

Dramatic video of the rescue operation shows people throwing ropes into the well and trying to pull the calf out. The initial rescue where villagers tied a rope around the elephants body and tried to haul it out failed when the frightened calf wriggled out of the constraints

Distressing footage shows the elephants falling back into the well multiple times.

Eventually the villagers and rescue team change tact by throwing down a large net and ushering the elephant towards it.

Finally, helped by dozens of villagers, the elephant was hauled out to safety.

Once away from the well, villagers and rescue officials ushered the calf back into the jungle where they hoped his herd was waiting for him.
A teacher has quit the profession because she is sick of children 'pumped up and high on energy drinks' ruining lessons and swearing at her.

Laura Douglas, 38, described how she had seen 'big, strong hormonal lads' pushing teachers around in corridors and threatening other pupils.

The fed up former teacher said children were using the drinks to elevate their mood, causing huge problems in British schools.

Laura Douglas, 38, described how she had seen 'big, strong hormonal lads' pushing teachers around in corridors and threatening other pupils

'This is a genuinely massive problem for teachers,' she told The Mirror.

'They pump them up and make them high when they might already be sleep-deprived, hungry and grumpy.

'I have seen big, strong hormonal lads shoving teachers in corridors, threatening other pupils and staff. They're tanked-up with bravado, raring to go.'

Earlier this month Jamie Oliver launched a campaign for the sale of 'addictive' energy drinks to children to be banned.

The fed up former teacher said children were using the drinks to elevate their mood, causing huge problems in British schools. File photo of energy drinks at a convenience store

The father-of-five claims teachers across the country are forced to change their lesson plans every day as youngsters are unable to concentrate while suffering the 'highs' of energy drink consumption.

Jamie, who successfully campaigned for healthier school dinners and a sugar tax, believes this is affecting other students, which impacts the grades and future career prospects of the younger generation.

He is urging people to tweet Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt supporting a ban with the hashtag #notforchildren.

Energy drinks, which have previously been linked to headaches, abdominal pain and insomnia, can contain around 160mg of caffeine, despite 105mg being the safe daily limit for 11 year olds.

Jamie Oliver(seen out and about in London on October 5, 2017) launched a campaign for the sale of 'addictive' energy drinks to children to be banned

Professor Steven Lipshultz, pediatric cardiologist at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit previously said a 10-year-old could get caffeine poisoning after consuming 80mg of caffeine, while a 12-year-old may suffer symptoms, including hallucinations and convulsions, after 100mg.

Sales of the energy drinks, such as Red Bull and Monster, in the UK increased by 185 per cent between 2006 and 2015, making the market worth more than 2 billion.

Referencing a school in Norwood, South East London, Jamie told the Mirror: 'If you're still in any doubt about a ban you just have to look at a generation of underpaid, underloved teachers who're sitting there with a plan A, B and C for a lesson  and if two or three kids turn up having had an energy drink, then it's straight to plan B  to know this is wrong.

'These drinks are turning our kids into addicts. Their use is, in my mind, akin to drugs.'

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT  said: 'The NASUWT is concerned about the very high levels of caffeine and sugar these drinks contain and their impact on pupil behaviour in schools.

'The ready availability of many of these drinks are undoubtedly part of the reason why so many pupils are consuming them before and during the school day.

'Action is needed to regulate the sale of these drinks, which are effectively readily available legal highs at dinner money prices. The Government needs to act.'
A confirmed bachelor who never married, Larkin's personal life and attitude towards monogamy and family has long fascinated both fans and academics

Philip Larkin is one of Britain's best loved poets, best known for his darkly humorous prose and tangled relationships with women - once juggling three at the same time.

A confirmed bachelor who never married, although he did once propose to a girlfriend, Larkin's personal life and attitude towards monogamy and family has long fascinated fans and academics.

His most famous line of poetry, from This Be The Verse, begins: 'They f*** you up, your mum and dad.'

Now, previously unpublished letters reveal that his mother, Eva Larkin, repeatedly warned her son off off marriage, because it 'kills the heart'.

The letters are to be published in a new book, Writers and Their Mothers, which looks at the maternal influence on famous poets, playwrights and authors.

The pair wrote to each other twice a week for 35 years from 1940, when Larkin entered Oxford University, and he visited her every two weeks.

In 1952 Mrs Larkin wrote to her son: 'Marriage would be no certain guarantee as to socks being always mended, or meals ready when they are wanted.

'Neither would it be wise to marry just for those comforts. There are other things just as important.'

A year later she sent him a quote from a George Bernard Shaw novel, and said: 'I have just finished reading Love Among the Artists in which occurs this passage "No: it is marriage that kills the heart and keeps it dead. Better starve the heart than overfeed it. Better still to feed it only on fine food, like music." In a way, I agree with him... Better to have lived a full life, I think.'

Larkin biographer James Booth told The Guardian: 'There is a lazy assumption by a lot of people that he did have a negative attitude to his parents.'

He said that the letters are 'very significant' and 'show that the relationship was deeper and more valuable to Larkin than anybody might have thought', adding: 'It's rather surprising to hear Eva trying to put her son off marriage.'

Larkin's three 'main' mistresses each appealed to different aspects of his nature.

There was Monica Jones, a brilliant academic whom Larkin met at Leicester University, where he worked as librarian prior to moving to Hull.

She was his mistress from 1947 until his death and has been described as Larkin's 'soul mate'.

There was also Maeve Brennan, a devout and deeply romantic Roman Catholic, who was one of Larkin's library staff in Hull. They were together from 1961, on and off, for about 17 years.

Betty Mackereth, his secretary, was his third mistress and the relationship lasted for five years.

Together with Betty the different aspects of the personalities of all three women added to Larkin's life in different ways. Astonishingly, all three remained unfailingly loyal to him, despite his infidelities.

Significantly, Betty knew all about Monica and Maeve - Larkin even asked her advice on juggling his arrangements - but neither of them knew about her.

Monica and Maeve were also both devastated when they found out about each other, but met only when Larkin was on his deathbed.
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He might be the King of the Jungle, but a lion was left in no doubt as to who's boss after getting an earful from a furious lioness.

The rare moment, which was captured on camera, shows the angry lioness roaring into the face of the lion as he hilariously cowers away and covers his face with his paw.

The fierce lovers' tiff took place in the Central Serengeti, Tanzania and was spotted by wildlife photographer, George Hart, during his first ever African safari.

The lioness gave as good as the she got after initially being roared at, leaving the male lion in no doubt who was the boss

According to wildlife photographer George Hart the pair were definitely 'having a go at each other' and the argument appears to have begun with the lion roaring

The male lion then hilariously cowered behind his paw after the ticking off from the lioness

After the row, the male appears to get the silent treatment from the lioness. The pair had just finished mating when the argument began

Photographer George Hart says the images resonate with humans, who can relate them to their own domestic quarrels

The 58-year-old from Toronto, Canada, said: 'They were definitely having a go at each other.

'She was clearly responding to him. Whether that was in anger or in passion is the question.

'They were a mating pair and had just finished mating as we pulled up to get some shots.

'I do recall feeling pretty pleased to catch the male roaring and was just about to put my camera down when the female responded.

'I was very fortunate to catch that last frame.

'The images never cease to get a laugh, they're so easily anthropomorphized and immediately resonate with whoever I've shown them to.'
Fox News had the story of an alleged extramarital affair between President Donald Trump and a porn star, but chose not to publish it.

Porn star Stormy Daniels told reporters from several news outlets that she had a sexual relationship with a married Donald Trump throughout 2006 and 2007.

The story had been filed by a Fox News reporter during the final weeks of the presidential elections in October 2016, but editors stopped it.

Hushed up: A Fox News story of President Trump's alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, was stopped by editors

Reporter Diana Falzone had on-record statements from the manager of Stormy Daniels - real name Stephanie Clifford - confirming a sexual relationship, CNN reports.

'She had the story and Fox killed it,' one of the four sources familiar with the matter told the news network.

Fox News has denied shelving the story on purpose, with former head of Fox News digital Ken LaCorte saying that Stormy's manager, while on the record, refused to be named.

Editor-in-chief Noah Kotch told DailyMail.com in a statement: 'Like many other outlets, we were working to report the story of Stephanie Cliffords account in October 2016 about then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump and a possible payment by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

'In doing our due diligence, we were unable to verify all of the facts and publish a story.'

Yesterday, Slate's Jacob Weisberg revealed that he too had pursued the story between August and October of 2016, shortly before the presidential election.

Storm in a G-cup: Stormy Daniels told reporters from several news outlets of an alleged affair with a married Donald Trump throughout 2006 and 2007 in the run-up to the 2016 elections

Weisberg articulated a handful of times Daniels said she was with Trump, including at a hotel in Nevada, where the affair began, as well as in New York and Los Angeles.

He wrote that Daniels had personally confirmed the rumor and set him up with associates who corroborated her account as well.

For his story, Weisberg said Daniels produced 'corroborating evidence,' including the phone numbers of Trump associates Keith Schiller and Rhona Graff, and also alleged that Trump, through intermediaries, was trying to buy her silence.

The porn star claimed that her lawyer, along with Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had worked out a six-figure fee, though the presidential candidate was dragging his feet on the final details, which is seemingly why she confirmed the relationship to a reporter, using it as an insurance policy.

Staying silent: Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 by Trump's lawyer, but he denies it was to keep quiet about an affair

'And then, about a week before the election, Daniels stopped responding to calls and text messages,' Weisberg wrote. 'A friend of hers told me Daniels had said she'd taken the money from Trump after all.'

Weisberg never published what he knew from Daniels until today.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen had paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter.

Cohen denied the sexual encounter, but not the Journal's report about the hush money.

The Journal reports that the money was paid out a month before the 2016 election, the same time Daniels was in contact with both Weisberg and Fox News' Falzone.
German prosecutors today said an 11th hour plea for clemency by a former SS guard dubbed the Bookkeeper of Auschwitz has failed and that he is headed to jail.

Oskar Groening, 94, had been fighting against his four-year sentence for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 camp detainees on the ground that he was too unwell to serve it.

But prosecutors in Luneburg now say his last appeal for clemency has failed and they expect him to be behind bars by the end of January.

Oskar Groening, 94, a former bookkeeper at the Auschwitz death camp, has been told he will go to prison after a mercy plea to avoid jail was turned down

He was first sentenced in July 2015 for his part in running the death camp, where he was involved collating and shipping back to Berlin the possessions of the dead.

Groening never denied being at Auschwitz in Nazi occupied Poland and admitted it was an extermination centre where inmates were not expected to survive.

In 1942, when he was 21, Groening was sent to Auschwitz. He saw the horrors that took place there almost immediately.

'I was standing at the ramp,' he says, 'and my task was to be part of the group supervising the luggage from an incoming transport.

'Sick people were lifted on to lorries. Red Cross lorriesthey always tried to create the impression that people had nothing to fear.

'This process of selection proceeded in a relatively orderly fashion but when it was over it was just like a fairground. There was a load of rubbish, and next to this rubbish were ill people, unable to walk, perhaps a child that had lost its mother, or perhaps during searching the train somebody had hiddenand these people were simply killed with a shot through the head.

'And the kind of way in which these people were treated brought me doubt and outrage. A child was simply pulled on the leg and thrown on a lorry  then when it cried like a sick chicken, they chucked it against the edge of the lorry.

'I couldn't understand that an SS man would take a child and throw its head against the side of a lorry, or kill them by shooting them and then throw them on a lorry like a sack of wheat.'

Groening, a former SS guard, was found guilty of being accessory to the murder of 300,000 camp detainees back in 2015

Groening, who spent a year in Britain after the war as a prisoner, sang with a YMCA choir in the Midlands and Scotland, keeping quiet about what he had done.

Later, when pressed about the murder of children, he said: 'The children are not the enemy at the moment. The enemy is the blood in them. The enemy is their growing up to become a Jew who could be dangerous.'

He was born in 1921 in Lower Saxony, son of a skilled textile worker. Groening's father was a traditional conservative, 'proud of what Germany had achieved.'

His father became an ultra-nationalist after Germany's defeat in WW1 and he went bankrupt in 1929. The young Oskar, like millions of others, became intoxicated by the message of the rising Nazi party and he joined the Hitler Youth in 1933.

'I thought the Nazis were the people who wanted the best for Germany and who did something about it,' he said.

As a member of the Hitler Youth he took part in the burning of books written by 'Jews or others who were degenerate.'

'Within six months of the Nazis coming to power the five million unemployed had vanished from the streets and so everybody had work,' he said.

'Then in 1936 Hitler marched into the Rhineland and simply occupied itnobody tried to stop him.

'We were terribly happy about thismy father opened a bottle of wine.'

At 17 he began an apprenticeship as a bank clerk. But news of Germany's swift victories over Poland in 1939 and France the following year made him yearn for glory.

He set his heart on joining the S.S. because it was an 'elite unit and I wanted to be part of the elite.'

But instead of battlefield honours, the accomplished pen-pusher was sent to an office where he processed the wages of his comrades.

He has been fighting his four-year jail term on the basis that he is too frail to serve it (pictured during his trial, left and right)

It didn't displease him. He later said: 'I'm a desk person. I wanted to work in a job that had both the soldier's life and also the bureaucratic aspect.'

In 1942 jobs like his were given to men disabled at the front. He was told to report to Berlin where high ranking officers told him and some colleagues that they were being sent off for vital and secret work.

The destination: Auschwitz. The work: the destruction of human beings.

'We were reminded that we had sworn an oath with the motto "My loyalty is my honor," and that we could prove this loyalty by doing this task which was now given to usthe details of which we would find out later,' he said.

He found out soon after arrival. Although his main job was collating and sending back to Berlin the posessions of those murdered in the gas chambers, he serced on 'ramp duty' - the place where the doomed Jews were sorted after arrival into those who would live to work and those who would be immediately gassed.

He heard a baby crying. 'I saw another SS soldier grab the baby by the legs...' he said. 'He smashed the baby's head against the iron side of a truck until it was silent.'

He added: 'Every night and every day I remember it for the nightmare it was. It was in 1942 that my SS chiefs in Berlin ordered me there.

'The Jews had diamonds and gold worth millions and it was my duty to make sure all of it got to Berlin.

Groening has never denied working at Auschwitz and admitted it was a death camp, saying he witnessed Jews and other detainees being shot and gassed there

'Down the years I have heard the cries of the dead in my dreams and in every waking moment. I will never be free of them.

'It was completely understood by all that the majority were going straight to the gas chamber, although some believed they were only going to be showered before going to work. Many Jews knew they were going to die.

'On one night in January 1943 I saw for the first time how the Jews were actually gassed. It was in a half-built farmyard near to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

'A gas chamber was built there. We were searching the wood nearby for prisoners who had escaped.

'There were more than 100 prisoners and soon there were panic-filled cries as they were herded into the chamber and the door was shut.

'Then a sergeant with a gas mask went to a hole in the wall and from a tin shook Zyklon B gas pellets inside. In that moment the cries of the people inside rose to a crescendo, a choir of madness.

'These cries I have ringing in my ears to this day. This guilt will never leave me. I can only plead for forgiveness and pray for atonement.'

Once, shortly after his return to Germany after being in the UK, he was sitting at the dinner table with his father and his parents-in-law and 'they made a silly remark about Auschwitz,' insinuating he was a murderer.

'I exploded.' says Groening. 'I banged my fist on the table and said, "This word and this connection are never, ever, to be mentioned again in my presence, otherwise I'll move out!"

'I was quite loud, and this was respected and it was never mentioned again.'

Groening forgot the war, settled down to climb the management ladder at a glass factory, and kept quiet about his past.

It was only the prosecution of death camp guard John Demjanjuk in 2011 that paved the way for him to be charged.

Demjanjuk was found guilty without a single eyewitness left alive to say what his duties at the extermination camp of Sobibor had been: he was found guilty by dint of the fact he was there.

The same rule applied to Groening. He never killed anyone, but Auschwitz functioned because of men like him.
The British ex-wife of a top US ISIS member has stunned Piers Morgan during a tense TV interview by admitting she still loves the jihadist and insisting he 'has a good side'.

Tania Joya became radicalised while growing up in Harrow, London, but now lives in Dallas, Texas after fleeing from the terror group and rejecting extremism.

But during a grilling on ITV's Good Morning Britain today, presenter Piers Morgan said he was 'struggling to understand' why she should not be considered a 'potentially dangerous person'.

The interview came to an abrupt end with the DailyMail.com US Editor-in-Chief and co-presenter Susanna Reid shaking their heads as the former jihadi bride admitted still loving ex-husband John Georgelas - an American-born convert to Islam with whom she has four children.

Joya said she was 'pretty sure' Georgelas was still fighting for ISIS in Syria but that he had given her 'four beautiful, lovely children' and insisted 'everybody has a good side, everybody has a bad side'.

Tania Joya (pictured) the British ex-wife of a top US ISIS member has said she still loves her former husband - but now believes the Koran is a 'terrible book'

In a tense interview on Good Morning Britain this morning, the 33-year-old said she still loved her former husband John Georgelas, an American-born convert to Islam with whom she has four children

In a tense interview this morning, Tania Joya (left) said she still loved her former husband John Georgelas (right), an American-born convert to Islam with whom she has four children

Morgan then says: 'You know what, I'm afraid ISIS terrorists don't have a good side so I'm afraid we're going to end the interview right there.'

The 33-year-old had earlier told the pair how she turned to extremism in her troubled youth - and claimed that 'every time we try to assimilate to Western society we are shamed for it and then we think God hates us.'

The former jihadi bride has previously explained how she once dreamed of having seven children who would become assassins and conquer every continent on earth for ISIS.

Although she travelled to Syria with Georgelas and her children, she later escaped back to Turkey and rejected extremism before becoming a suburban mother in Dallas where she says she has shared custody over her children with her former in-laws.

This morning, she was pressed on her religious beliefs and asked what she now thought of the Koran.

She replied: 'I think the Koran is a terrible book. I think the Koran was written by a man who believed he was a prophet, he had an older wife who was 15 years older that pushed the idea on to him.

Joya said she was 'pretty sure' her ex-husband was still fighting for ISIS in Syria but that he had given her 'four beautiful, lovely children' and insisted 'everybody has a good side, everybody has a bad side'

Tania had three children with husband John Georgelas and was pregnant with a fourth when the family went to Syria to join ISIS in 2013

'He probably had epilepsy because he had a lot of seizures. He was a merchant and he interacted with neighbouring religions from all over the region of the Middle East from India to Rome. He took ideas from all these people.

When asked whether she thought her views would be offensive to millions of Muslims, she replied: 'Does it matter that they are offended by me stating the truth?'

Joya, who said she had not been in touch with her husband for over a year, claimed that she had been 'deceived from a child'.

'When I was young I was deceived like so many Muslims, held back because of their religion. Not just women are held back but even the Sunni-Shia conflict. Islam holds them back to the point where they are still arguing about the Sunni-Shia argument 1,400 years ago and they can't move on and they can't assimilate.

'Even when I was a child I wanted to grow up and be a good English woman but that was seen as Haram (forbidden by Islamic law) because anything Western is Haram and then we're pushed to have a lot of guilt every time we try to assimilate to Western society - we are shamed for it and then we think God hates us.'

Joya is seen with her three youngest children. She said her former husband had given her 'four beautiful, lovely children' and insisted 'everybody has a good side, everybody has a bad side'. But she added that he should go to prison if caught

Joya said that this meant 'we just fall into this dark trap - like falling through the cracks of society.'

Earlier in the interview, she had claimed that she was had been a 'blind follower' in her youth and was afraid of questioning Islam 'because I was afraid I would become a disbeliever.'

'I don't have that same fear (now). After coming to America and removing myself from the Muslim community I was able to think and question and read philosophy and psychology and put pieces together as to why, what made me and what makes other people go join extremist groups.

At one point, Morgan said that the former jihadi 'makes it all sound very glib and very kind of obvious to understand' and said that he was 'struggling to understand why you should not be considered right now to be a very dangerous, potentially dangerous person'.

She replied: 'Yes I was an extremist. I was one of them and I am a former extremist.

'I understand the minds of extremists and I understand how to deradicalise too. I can help these people. Just like they get indoctrinated you can get undoctrinated. It just takes some re-education and a little bit of empathy goes a long way.'

Joya once explained how she dreamed of her children becoming assassins one day. She is pictured with one of her children

However, the interview ended in tense fashion as she revealed that she still loved Georgelas.

'I don't love him like I'm in love with him, I love him because he gave me four beautiful, lovely children,' she said.

When asked to clarify that she was not rejecting someone 'who is part of a murderous cult', she insisted that 'if he's caught he needs to go to prison, of course.'

But she then added: I love him like I love people - he was my friend for 10 years. Even though he has his ups and downs. Everybody has a good side everybody has a bad side.'

The two presenters could then be seen shaking their heads in apparent disbelief before ending the interview with Reid saying: 'ISIS doesn't have a good side.'

Joya was born in Harrow as one of five children of British-Bangladeshi couple Nural, who worked as a senior postmaster, and Jahanara Choudhury.

Her birth name is Joya, but she was known as Tania to her family and friends.

She has said in the past that the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 were a turning point for her radicalisation.

While her siblings worked hard at school and went off to university, she is said to have smoked cannabis and shown little interest in academia until she began studying for A-levels at a new sixth form college in East London.

Her family believes it was here that she fell under the influence of a group of ultra-conservative Algerian students, after which she began wearing a full-body veil and espousing the views of gender segregation.

She was at a protest against the Iraq war when she says Muslim men were handing out slips of paper, with the address of a Muslim matchmaking website written on them.

Through the website she met John Georgelas, the youngest child and only son of former US military doctor Colonel Timothy Georgelas and his wife Martha.

Growing up in Plano, Texas, John is said to have rebelled as a teenager, becoming a prolific drug user, dropping out of school and converting to Islam shortly after 9/11.

The couple fell in love over discussions of jihad and dreams of a caliphate: a match made made in hell.

The pair began speaking in March 2003 and a month later he flew from the United States to London. Three days after meeting in person they married in a Muslim ceremony and flew together to the city of College Station in Texas.

Joya was born in Harrow as one of five children of British-Bangladeshi couple Nural, who worked as a senior postmaster, and Jahanara Choudhury

From College Station, the pair travelled to Damascus in Syria, where their beliefs became more conservative, returning briefly to the UK in 2004 to legally marry.

Tania was was heavily pregnant when the pair wed in a civil ceremony in October at the Gothic town hall in Rochdale, England.

The pair then moved back to Texas where George was jailed in 2006 for providing IT assistance to jihadi websites.

Tania waited for him to make parole in 2011, and the pair immediately flew to London and then to Cairo.

They'd had three children and another on the way when, in 2013, they began discussing joining ISIS in Syria.

Tania was some five months pregnant, and they brought along their young children.

In August 2013, the family traveled to Syria by bus, setting up home in the abandoned villa of a Syrian general in the town of A'zaz.

Weeks later, in September, Tania convinced John to take her back to Turkey. Having picked her way through a minefield with her youngest child in a buggy, John gave her several hundreds dollars, handed her to a people smuggler, and was gone.

With the help of John's parents, she made her way back to Texas with the children, and sought and obtained a divorce from him. He remains in Syria to this day, where he has become the highest ranking American in ISIS.
Speaking in Strasbourg today, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he would 'facilitate' the UK if there was a change in Brexit policy

Jean-Claude Juncker today ramped up Brussels' bid to derail Brexit - urging Remainers to find a 'way out' of leaving the EU.

The European Commission president said he would 'facilitate' the UK if there was a change in policy about cutting ties with the bloc.

Admitting that he felt personally responsible for the looming 'catastrophe', he also vowed to keep making the point that Brexit could be reversed despite admitting it was causing 'irritation' inLondon.

The comments, in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning, are the latest stage in a concerted effort by top Eurocrats to avert Britain's departure.

Yesterday European Council president Donald Tusk told Britain there was still time for a 'change of heart', adding: 'Our hearts are still open to you'.

The appeal follows debate in the UK about the possibility of a second referendum.

The prospect of halting Brexit was fuelled last week when Nigel Farage seemingly endorsed the prospect of another referendum - although he later backtracked.

Brexiteers condemned the idea of a rethink as 'absurd' and warned Brussels was trying to destabilise Theresa May ahead of crucial trade talks.

Taking to his feet in the European parliament after Mr Juncker today, Mr Farage stormed: 'I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure that we get the worst possible deal.

'I say that because Ive seen it all before. The difference is, if you force the Brits to do it again, there will be a different outcome.'

Senior Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg, newly appointed chair of the powerful European Research Group, told MailOnline: 'Mr Juncker does not seem to realise that the Remainers are a minority and that most people want to leave the EU as soon as possible.'

Last night, the PM used talks with Austrian president Sebastian Kurz to send a message to the EU that she had no intention of reopening the question.

No10 said she told Mr Kurz, who is due to hold the rotating presidency of the EU, that 'the Government will respect the decision taken by the British public to leave the EU'.

Taking to his feet in the European parliament after Mr Juncker today, Mr Farage stormed: 'I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure that we get the worst possible deal.'

Downing Street also rejected suggestions that the free movement of people could stay until a possible transition period ends in 2021.

Speaking in Strasbourg today, Mr Juncker suggested that the UK would be allowed to reverse the Article 50 process of leaving the EU.

He also said that even after the formal departure date in March next year Britain would be allowed to rejoin.

'Our hand remains outstretched. The UK people, the UK government, may wish to find a different way out,' Mr Juncker said.

'We're very much willing to deal with them. We are not throwing the British out. We would like the British to stay. And if they so wish, they should be allowed to do so.'

He added: 'I did note that in London there was a rather irritated response to this proposal.

'But, note that even if the British leave according to article 50, then article 49 would allow them to accede again.

European Council president Donald Tusk made clear yesterday that he had not given up on reversing the historic referendum decision as he addressed MEPs in Strasbourg (pictured)

No10 said Theresa May told Austrian president Sebastia Kurz that 'the Government will respect the decision taken by the British public to leave the EU'. Mrs May is pictured leaving Downing Street for PMQs today

'And I would be happy to facilitate that. I would not want to push anyone into a corner.'

Responding to a written question from an MEP about whether he felt personally responsible for Brexit, Mr Juncker said 'I still feel the exit of Britain is a catastrophe, yes, a defeat we all have to take responsibility for.

'But the reasons for the British exit lie deeper. As Prime Minister May has said, the British never felt at ease in the EU and for 40 years they haven't been given the chance to feel more at ease. That is why the blame is on many.'

French president Emmanuel Macron also added his voice to the charm offensive.

A spokesman for Mr Macron said: 'If tomorrow, or the day after, the United Kingdom decided to change its mind, its clear that we would look at this with kindness. But its not up to us if the United Kingdom wants to change its mind.'

During a debate at the European Parliament yesterday, senior figures lined up to berate Mrs May and the UK government over Brexit.

German MEP Manfred Weber, a key ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the only 'real thing' the PM had managed to do over the past 18 months was announce British passports were turning blue.

And he said that was a 'scam' because there were no EU rules dictating the colour of identity documents.
A young woman was violently attacked at a nightclub and later went to hospital to be treated for her injuries - only to be stunned to discover the doctor was the same man who she alleged had assaulted her.

The medic is seen in a shocking video battering Anastasia Dmitrieva for a second time in the treatment room of the hospital in Neryungri, eastern Russia.

The first attack happened late at night in the club and she went to hospital for treatment the next day, when she encountered the doctor for a second time.

The same doctor who the woman claimed assaulted her in the nightclub, then treated her for her injuries

In the video, the medic begins hitting the woman, telling her witnesses will prove she attacked him first

In the footage the doctor can be heard saying: 'Many witnesses will prove that you were the first to attack me.'

He threatened her that she faced 'jail' if she pursued a complaint against him.

A bespectacled middle-aged nurse appears to be embarrassed by his violent behaviour yet tries unsuccessfully to block the camera shooting the horrific incident.

The senior doctor named as Vladimir Naumov has been fired for his violent attacks by the regional health ministry.

Ms Dmitrieva, believed to be aged 20, went to the hospital so that her injuries could be registered, allowing her to make a complaint to police over the nightclub incident, as well as to get treatment for her wounds.

The senior doctor was named as Vladimir Naumov and he claimed he was defending a midwife who was attacked in the nightclub

He admitted he was 'angry and full of adrenaline' but the decision was made to fire him

Health chiefs rejected the doctor's explanation that at the nightclub he had been defending a midwife who was attacked by a gang of women.

Naumov said: 'I couldn't stand there and watch this massacre. Any man would have tried to stop such a fight.'

He admitted that at the hospital he had been 'angry and full of adrenaline' seeing the woman again but a decision was made too fire him over his behaviour.

'I was provoked for the sake of filming this video,' he claimed.

'I have been working here for one and a half years.

'During that time, I saved many people and now everything I did is ruined by this video.'

His unnamed chief doctor is facing an investigation over employing a man unsuited to be a doctor.
On January 3, during his first press event of the new year, French President Emmanuel Macron presented a proposal intended to protect the democratic life of France from fake news, writes Marcin Rzegocki in this weeks Acton Commentary. Macron would make it possible for judges to remove fake news stories, delete the links to them, block the sites, or close the offending users accounts.

The French president is not alone with his ideas to limit foreign information in his country. On Monday, the EU assembled a 29-person panel to investigate the problem of fake news and present a plan for a coordinated response to the European Commission by April. On Tuesday, the British Parliament held a hearing on fake news. Some nations have already taken action.

But in this context, an important question arises  Who will decide what is truth?

The full text of the essay can be found here. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton Commentary and other publications here.

(Photo credit: Raul Mee, EU2017EE. This photo has been cropped. CC BY 2.0.)
The White House's press secretary has insisted claims Donald Trump is a racist are 'outrageous', citing the fact a national broadcaster ran his show for 13 years.

His time at the White House has been shrouded in controversy with his critics claiming his indifference towards foreign nations crosses the border of what can be considered racism.

From his constant references to building a wall between Mexico and the US to 'keep out rapists and drug dealers' to his travel ban on Muslim countries - those who oppose him have had plenty of ammunition.

This week he appeared to put his foot in it once more when the President made crass comments during immigration talks with lawmakers during which he called African nations and Haiti 's***holes'.

But Sarah Huckabee Sanders has defended her boss, saying NBC wouldn't have run The Apprentice for so long if Trump was racist.

Donald Trump's time at the White House has been shrouded in controversy with his critics claiming his indifference towards foreign nations crosses the border of what can be considered racism

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has defended her boss, saying NBC wouldn't have run The Apprentice for so long if Trump was racist

The White House's press secretary has insisted claims Donald Trump is a racist are 'outrageous', citing the fact a national broadcaster ran his show The Apprentice (pictured) for 13 years

She was asked by Fox News why Trump wouldn't come and prove he's not a racist, which provoked a spiky reaction.

'I think that is an outrageous claim,' Sanders said.

'Why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV?

'I think it is just an outrageous and ludicrous excuse and they need to get on board and start doing what they were elected to do.'

Talking about the controversy caused over the comments made about African countries and Haiti on The Late Show, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Trump.

He said: 'His comments over and over and over again can be described as nothing but racist and obnoxious.'

But Sanders hit back: 'Why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg for money?

'Why did they want to be with him for years and years, whether it was various activities and fundraisers, and other sorts of things?'

The saga landed Trump's vice president Mike Pence in an awkward position over the weekend.

He had to sit through a sermon by a pastor who condemned Donald Trump as dehumanizing and ugly.

Mike Pence pictured in the center of this picture leaving the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo

Pastor Maurice Watson addressed the congregation at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo on Sunday and people could be heard cheering and applauding in the background.

In it, he said: 'Whoever used such a visceral, disrespectful, dehumanizing adjective to characterize the nations of Africa.

'Whoever said it is wrong and they ought to be held accountable.

'To my friends in Haiti and Africa - you are owed an apology, but you probably won't get one.

'But we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder, heart-to-heart and breast-to-breast with you.'
A selfie helped convict a killer who strangled her best friend to death - because it shows her wearing the belt she used in the deadly attack.

Brittney Gargol, 18, was strangled to death by Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in March, 2015.

Antoine has now been found guilty of manslaughter thanks to the image of the pair together.

Killer: Cheyenne Rose Antoine, 21,left, has been convicted of manslaughter thanks to this selfie of her with Brittney Gargol, 18, right, in which she wears the belt used to strangle Gargol

Antoine initially told police that the pair had been out drinking on the eve of Gargol's (above) death. She later admitted they got into an argument

The teenager's body was found dumped by a road south of Saskatoon on March 25, 2015 with a belt discovered nearby.

A photo of Gargol and Antoine - her best friend - had been posted to Facebook six hour before the body was discovered.

The photo shows Antoine wearing a belt that matched the one found near the body, The Star Phoenix reports.

Convicted: Antoine has been sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter

Antoine also posted on Gargol's Facebook, writing 'Where are you? Haven't heard from you. Hope you made it home safe,' in an alleged attempt to cover her tracks.

Antoine initially told police that the pair had been out drinking on the eve of Gargol's death but that she had gone home with an unknown man at the end of the night and did not know what had happened to her friend.

However, police later received a tip-off that Antoine had made a drunken confession to the killing, CBC reports.

Antoine later admitted to the court that the pair had gotten into an argument, but that she does not remember killing Gargol.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday.

In a statement released through her legal representative, Antoine said: 'I will never forgive myself.

'Nothing I say or do will ever bring her back. I am very, very sorry...It shouldn't have ever happened.'
Kitchen bench clutter is something familiar across many households, but one nifty mother found a cheap storage hack.

After using everything from jars to boxes to solve coffee pod mess, Gina Baynham said she first spotted the innovative idea in a Facebook group.

The mother-of-three turned to using a cheap storage solution from Bunnings Warehouse, ultimately changing her life.

The nifty kitchen hack keeps coffee pods off the kitchen counter, decreasing clutter (pictured)

One clever NSW mother found a cheap storage hack (pictured) which left her benches clean

Gina Baynham (pictured) used a strip of plastic, usually used to join two fibre board sheets, and some double sided tape to bring order to her kitchen

Using a strip of plastic, usually used to join two fibre board sheets, and some double sided tape, Ms Baynham told Kidspot she cut the plastic to 30 centimeter lengths.

The NSW mother stuck the eight strips of plastic, which cost $1.80 for 1.4 metres, to the underside of her cupboard.

Sitting neatly above the coffee machine, each strip holds about eight coffee pods.

'The kitchen looks so uncluttered it has cleared up my bench surfaces,' Ms Baynham told the publication.

'The only skill involved was getting the gap wide enough to slide the capsule in without it being so loose that it would fall out.'

Hundreds of people took to social media saying it was something to 'add to the Bunnings list'.

The mother stuck the eight strips of plastic, which cost $1.80 for 1.4 metres (pictured), to the underside of her cupboard
Tenants in London face the highest rents in Europe with bills for professional workers running at almost 3,700 a month more than on the continent.

Research suggests a mid-market three bedroom property in central London costs 5,398 a month.

However, London has fallen in the global league table as prices have not risen dramatically in the past year - unlike other major UK cities.

The study, by consultants ECA International, said London was the fifth most expensive city to rent in the world - with Hong Kong topping the world wide list.

Research suggests a mid market three bedroom apart in central London (such as in West Hampstead, file image) costs 5,398 a year

Moscow ranks second among major European cities according to the survey of where it is most expensive to rent

Dublin (left) has entered the top ten for the first time while Paris (right) ranks seventh of major cities across the continent

Stockholm (left) ends the list as the tenth most expensive place to rent in Europe, with a mid-market three bed costing around 2,303 - almost a 1,000 a month less than Geneva (right)

Amsterdam (left) and Istanbul (right) are both expensive enough to make the top ten list of most expensive in Europe

Alec Smith, Accommodation Services Manager, ECA International, said: 'In London there is still a large amount of uncertainty in the financial sector in light of the Brexit vote.

'It remains to be seen whether financial regulation in the City is likely to change much post-Brexit.

'Changes to stamp duty in 2016 led to a rush from landlords to purchase buy-to-let properties, which increased the supply of rental accommodation across prime areas of London.

EUROPE'S MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES TO RENT IN London Moscow Zurich Geneva Istanbul Kiev Paris Dublin Amsterdam Stockholm Advertisement

'This increased competition among landlords contributed to the modest falls in average rent in the UK's capital, although it is still the most expensive in Europe.'

Mr Smith said the biggest increases in Britain had come in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow as demand rose.

Rents slumped in Aberdeen amid a dramatic slow down in the oil industry.

London is dramatically more expensive than other European cities. ECA converted local currencies to dollars for its global comparison.

It found London, at 6,648 dollars for an apartment beat Moscow at 5,081 dollars, and Zurich at 4,673 dollars a month.

Dublin has moved into the top ten most expensive cities to rent, with costs for a three bedroom mid market apartment averaging more than 3,300 dollars a month.

London (file image) has fallen in the global league table as prices have not risen dramatically in the past year - unlike other major UK cities.

Eastern Europe has also seen major increases in prices, the study found.

Mr Smith said: 'The local economies of Prague, Warsaw and similar major Eastern European cities have strengthened relative to the Eurozone as a whole in recent years.

'International companies are setting up or expanding their operations in these economies, bolstering demand for quality accommodation.

In the US, New York remains the most expensive place for expatriate rental, despite rental prices falling in the last year.

This is in contrast to other popular US cities such as San Francisco and Miami where rents, and their place in the cost rankings, have continued to rise.
A modern day treasure hunter has pulled thousands of dollars worth of electronics from the depths of lakes and rivers.

Scuba diver Dallas Vega, 28, found a distinct lack of precious gold and silver coins on his searches, so instead set his sights on a more contemporary booty - scouring for iPhones, GoPros and purses.

The Arizonian has managed to pull over 100 phones and multiple Go Pros and cameras from the bottoms of the rivers he combs - even once finding a gun.

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Scuba diver Dallas Vega, 28, found a distinct lack of precious gold and silver coins on his dives, so instead set his sights on a more contemporary booty - scouring for iPhones, GoPros and purses

The modern day treasure hunter has pulled thousands of dollars worth of electronics from the depths of lakes and rivers

But white most treasure hunters choose to keep all of their finds - Good Samaritan Dallas tries his best to return electronics to their owners.

In one scene, he filmed himself handing back two iPhones to a grateful owner and her friend.

The diver recorded himself swimming to the waters' murky depths and sieving for 'gold'.

The Arizonian has managed to pull over 100 phones and multiple Go Pros and cameras from the bottoms of the rivers he combs - even once finding a gun

But white most treasure hunters choose to keep all of their finds - Good Samaritan Dallas tries his best to return electronics to their owners. Some of his finds have had a more sinister edge however, with Vega finding a knife and a cocked and loaded gun

In one scene, he filmed himself handing back two iPhones to a grateful owner and her friend. The diver recorded himself swimming to the waters' murky depths and sieving for 'gold'

After finding a treasure, he stores it in his pack and takes it to shore for to be examined.

The footage of Dallas shows him finding picturesque spots to dive into before swimming to the bottom and searching for lost treasures.

Although not all of his finds are high value. Many of the items he hauls in are cheap sunglasses, divers' goggles and even the odd pair of scissors.

Although not all of his finds are high value. Many of the items he hauls in are cheap sunglasses, divers' goggles and even the odd pair of scissors

Since finding his first GoPro camera in 2014, hes been filming his exploits and putting them on his YouTube channel Man + River - which now has a fan base of over 200,000

Some of his finds have had a more sinister edge however, with Vega finding a knife and a cocked and loaded gun.

But most of his finds have proven far more mundane, with phones, purses, credit cards and glasses making up the bulk of his hauls.

Since finding his first GoPro camera in 2014, hes been filming his exploits and putting them on his YouTube channel Man + River - which now has a fan base of over 200,000.
Joanne Jones, 41, from Canterbury, Kent, has been convicted of more than ten offences a year and spent her adult life in and out of prison. Pictured in an undated mugshot

One of Britain's most prolific offenders who said she 'enjoyed shoplifting' is back behind bars - after racking up her 278th conviction.

Joanne Jones, 41, from Canterbury, Kent, has been convicted of more than ten offences a year and spent her adult life in and out of prison.

For her latest offence, she stole coats worth 70 from an 11-year-old schoolgirl, swiping the bag from her in a Wilko store in November.

Canterbury Crown Court also heard she targeted Cath Kidston in The Parade four times between March and December, stealing a total of 713 worth of items, including handbags, speakers, a wallet and a backpack.

Jones, who is now on a heroin substitute, admitted five charges of theft and was sentenced to 34 weeks behind bars on Friday.

She is now banned from every shop in Canterbury.

Jones committed the majority of her most recent crimes in breach of a suspended prison sentence for stealing goods from Poundland.

As with most of her offending, Jones' solicitor, Simon Taylor, said the thefts were caused by her long-term addiction to drugs, which affect her 'ability to make rational decisions'.

He said: 'This is typical shambolic acquisitive offending at the lowest level possible in order to secure funding for her drug addiction.'

When Jones was jailed for three months at Margate JPs in March last year, her lawyer Ian Bond told the court that she effectively had her 'own cell' at HMP Bronzefield.

He told the court: 'She almost had her own private cell at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.'

Judge Heather Norton told her she had a 25-year criminal record comprising 278 offences.

Jones first appeared at youth court when she was just 16 and had cost the taxpayer more than 700,000 by between 1992 and 2008, the court heard.

Now, 10 years on, she has added another 103 convictions for shoplifting and theft and has now cost the taxpayer more than 1m.

Judge Norton said: 'You have an appalling record no matter what trouble you have had in your life. You make the decisions to commit these offences.'

Jones, whose children were all born addicted to heroin and are in care, once even stole a chocolate bar worth less than a pound from a WHSmith store - before eating the chocolate in front of shocked shop staff.

She said her addiction was a major cause of her prolific shoplifting, but conceded she also received a buzz from stealing.

She added: 'I must be a kleptomaniac as well, I just do it for the rush. I'll nick anything. If I see it and like it, I'll nick it. I have stolen anything I've felt like.

'I've nicked from pound shops, places where there is no chance of selling anything on to make money. I enjoy shoplifting.'
Danielle Bowyer, 40, (pictured outside court yesterday) smashed her Jaguar XF into a parked car in Needham Market, Suffolk

A former solicitor who ran away after she ploughed her Jaguar into a car while more than four times the drink drive limit has avoided jail.

Danielle Bowyer, 40, smashed her Jaguar XF into a parked car in Needham Market, Suffolk, just before 10.30am on December 10, before fleeing the scene.

But the divorcee, who is an Australian national, was pursued by another angry motorist in to the nearby Co-op car park, where she was confronted about the collision.

A court heard yesterday Bowyer then strolled into the busy shop before returning to her car and driving home, where she was arrested after police tracked her down.

Bowyer was breath-tested and found to have a staggering 151 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Bowyer admitted drink driving and failing to stop at the scene of a collision on December 12, when her case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports.

Yesterday South East Suffolk magistrates' court in Ipswich heard how the former lawyer was battling a serious alcohol problem.

Helen Korfanty, defending, insisted Bowyer had only driven away from the Co-op because she was 'frightened' by the confrontation.

Ms Korfanty said she has now slashed her alcohol intake by half and is going to weekly meetings with a case worker in a bid to tackle her problem.

She was fined 500 for failing to stop and ordered to pay 300 compensation for the damage she caused

She said remorseful Bowyer now aims to return to Australia after getting divorced from her husband here.

JPs warned her that she was facing jail, thanks to the amount of alcohol in her system and the fact she fled the scene, but was was spared being thrown behind bars.

She was handed a 12-week jail term, suspended for one year, and instructed to attend up to 25 days of rehabilitation activity.

Disgraced Bowyer was also banned from driving for three years.

She was fined 500 for failing to stop and ordered to pay 300 compensation for the damage she caused.

On top of that Bowyer was told to pay 85 costs and a 50 statutory fee to victim support services.
The price of Bitcoin could reach $100,000 in 2018, according to analyst Kay Van-Petersen (pictured)

The price of Bitcoin could reach $100,000 in 2018, according to an analyst who forecast last year's rise.

Kay Van-Petersen, an analyst at Saxo Bank, said the digital currency could hit between $50,000 and $100,000 this year.

Mr Van-Petersen also told CNBC on Tuesday that he believes other cryptocurrencies, like ethereum, could perform better than expected.

'First off, you could argue we have had a proper correction in Bitcoin, it has had a 50 per cent pullback at one point, which is healthy,' he told the network.

'But we have still not seen the full effect of the futures contracts.'

Although Bitcoin has been trading sideways this month, Mr Van-Petersen is confident that it won't be long before the value skyrockets.

'I wouldn't be surprised if it's something we are seeing,' he said.

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Although Bitcoin has been trading sideways this month, Van-Petersen is confident that it won't be long before the value skyrockets

'It's kind of building a foundation, then will re-rate a bit higher.'

Mr Van Petersen predicted in December 2016 that Bitcoin would rise above $2,000 in 2017.

At the time of his forecast, the digital currency was trading below $900 but blew past $2,000 in May last year.

Previously, he had said it could take a decade for Bitcoin to hit the $100,000 mark.

His forecast came as Bitcoin fell to a six-week low of $10,162.

A number of digital currencies tumbled after reports said China and South Korea could ban trading, intensifying gears of a wider regulatory crackdown.

South Korea's top financial policymaker said Tuesday that a crackdown on trading of crypto currencies was still possible.

A man walks past an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies at Bithumb cryptocurrencies exchange in Seoul, South Korea, on January 11

South Korea's Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon (above) said banning trading in digital currencies was 'a live option'

Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said banning trading in digital currencies was 'a live option.' He said the decision was subject to a thorough government review.

'There are no disagreements over regulating speculation,' such as using real-name accounts and levying taxes on crypto currency trading, Kim said in an interview with local radio station TBS.

Shutting down digital currency exchanges is 'a live option but government ministries need to very seriously review it,' he said.

Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design, said: 'Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations.'

Bitcoin traded at $10,968, down 3.7 percent in Asia, after a fall of 16.3 percent on Tuesday - its biggest daily decline in four months.

Bitcoin traded at $10,968, down 3.7 percent in Asia, after a fall of 16.3 percent on Tuesday - its biggest daily decline in four months
A builder ordered his 20-year-old niece to get into a freezer as part of a plan to freeze her to death after raping her in the vacant 1.5m home of a client where he later slit her throat, a court heard today.

Mujahid Arshid, 33, planned to abduct and kill 'attractive' Celine Dookhran, 20, and another woman, 21, for weeks after becoming enraged they had boyfriends, the Old Bailey heard.

Opening his trial at the Old Bailey, prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said it was a 'simply horrific' case.

He said Arshid kidnapped the women from London on Wednesday 19 July and took them to a house in the boot of a pick up truck.

When he got there he allegedly opened the boot and said 'time to co-operate.'

Mujahid Arshid, 33, (left) is charged with the kidnap and murder of his niece Celine Dookhran, 20, while accomplice Vincent Tappu, 28, (right) is charged with kidnap

Mujahid Arshid (right) and alleged accomplice Vincent Tappu (left) are depicted here in a court sketch at from the Old Bailey today

The body of make-up artist Celine Dookhran was discovered in a 1.5million property just miles from her home in South West London

It is said both were then taken inside and tied to the pipes in the utility room before Arshid raped them by playing out 'a number of his sexual fantasies.'

Jurors were told that the 21-year-old could 'hear screams that had gone on for at least 10 minutes' as she was tied up.

'And so we come to that deep freezer. The defendant told Celine to climb into the deep freeze in the kitchen, she refused, she said it was too cold.

'Arshid went and fetched a large towel and wrapped her in it. Celine, who must have been beside herself with fear - she had already been kidnapped and raped - climbed into the freezer.'

Arshid had even carried out an internet search looking for information about what temperature the human body freezes at.

Mr Aylett said he searched for the phrase 'at what temperature does the human body freeze at'.

He said: 'It would seem that Arshid must have intended that Celine should freeze to death.'

The other girl, he said, convinced Arshid to untie her and let Celine get out after telling him 'what they thought he wanted to hear.'

She is said to have pleaded with him that they would 'never say a word' to anyone.

But Arshid is said to have 'snapped back into action' and continued with his 'murderous plan.'

Left, Celine Dookhran and right, her family arrive at the Old Bailey on Monday afternoon

He took Celine back upstairs, Mr Aylett said, and the girl heard screams, several thuds and the sound of tape being unrolled.

'And then there was silence,' he said.

Minutes later, he said, the girl was taken into the bathroom where she 'saw a container which had something in it.'

'She did know what was in the container, at first she thought it contained human organs.

'Although no such item was found and it is apparent from the post mortem examination that Celine was not disembowelled.'

Mr Aylett continued: 'It may be that what she saw was the lid of the container that was later recovered by the police from the kitchen table.

'Also recovered from the dustbin outside were a number of heavily blood-stained tissues.'

Mr Aylett said Arshid had become 'sexually fixated' with the women, and resolved 'if he cannot have them no-one could'.

On the evening of Tuesday July 18, Ms Dookhran, who worked at Barclays Bank in Mitcham, south west London, was put under pressure to split up with her boyfriend Omar because he was from Libya, and not Pakistan.

The next morning, Arshid put his plan into action to kidnap both women, taking clothes so it might appear they had simply run away, the court heard.

Wearing balaclavas and gloves and armed with a taser, Arshid and his accomplice Vincent Tappu allegedly snatched and bundled them into a pick-up truck, bound and gagged.

Arshid drove them to a six-bedroom house he was renovating in south west London between Wimbledon and Kingston where he had already installed a chest-height freezer in preparation, the court heard.

Arshid allegedly drove the women to the house, and tied them to the pipes in the utility room while he was armed with a lock knife, before raping them in turn

He then raped both terrified women and slashed them with a lock knife, having abandoned his earlier plan to let them freeze to death, jurors were told.

The surviving woman, who cannot be identified, had pleaded with him to let them go, saying: 'We know you're hurting, you can leave us two right now, walk out of that door.'

But according to her account, Ms Dookhran screamed as she was killed by Arshid in the bathroom of the house.

Afterwards, Arshid allegedly told her: 'I'm this close to slitting your wrist and getting this rope and tying it round your neck and just killing you here right now.'

The woman described how Arshid initially told her Ms Dookhran was 'sleeping', before he attacked her too, slashing her neck, chest and stomach, the court heard.

As she lay seriously injured, Arshid sexually assaulted her again and said: 'How are you still breathing? You should have seen Celine when I cut her neck, there was so much blood, oh my God,' the court heard.

The woman eventually managed to talk Arshid around and he confessed to being a 'nasty, horrible, evil person', the court heard.

She also raised the alarm by texting her boyfriend and mother, saying 'He's going to kill me. Don't reply,' the court heard.

Mr Aylett told jurors: 'As extraordinary and appalling as the defendant's behaviour had been, it appears that he now came to his senses.'

Having decided against killing her, Arshid took her to meet his brother, telling him them were going to be 'running away together', the court heard.

Instead, the brother took her straight to hospital, as she looked like a 'ghost' and had been 'brutally cut', jurors were told.

Officers went to the house and discovered the body of Ms Dookhran in a padlocked freezer in a utility room.

Her mouth was stuffed with a sock and she had died from the combined effect of restricted airways and loss of blood.

The second woman had her throat cut but duped him into believing they could be together in a desperate bid for survival.

Mujahid Arshid, 33, was said to have bound and gagged kidnapped two victims and had sex with them both in a 1.5 million house he was working on. Pictured, police at the scene

She escaped and raised the alarm from hospital which led to the discovery of Miss Dookhran's body.

Opening the prosecution case, Crispin Aylett QC warned jurors they would have to 'steel themselves' for the 'simply horrific' evidence in the case.

He said Arshid became 'obsessed' with Barclay's bank worker Miss Dookhran but knew that she was having a sexual relationship with her boyfriend, a Libyan Muslim.

He said the defendant had become 'sexually fixated' with the women, but resolved Miss Dookhran was 'beyond his clutches' and 'if he could not have them no-one could'.

Arshid plotted to kidnap both women and hatched his murderous plan about three weeks earlier, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor told the court: 'Thereafter, and it is as bizarre as it is terrible, he intended to rape them before murdering them and disposing of their bodies.

'He considered either putting them in acid, in order that their bodies might dissolve, or else concealing them in a deep freezer.'

The night before the murder, Arshid allegedly armed himself with an axe at a family showdown to discuss Celine's relationship.

The court heard her family did not agree with Celine, an Indian Muslim, having a sexual relationship with her boyfriend Omar, a Libyan Muslim.

After the meeting, Tappu who had been working for Arshid on a part-time basis, was drafted in as an accomplice.

They made an arrangement the day before and early on July 19 Tappu drove to a side street near where Miss Dookhran lived, it was said.

The two men, wearing balaclavas and gloves, burst into her room and Ashrid scooped up clothes and phones to give the 'entirely false' impression Miss Dookhran had run away.

He also grabbed large quantities of underwear, 'no doubt consistent with his sexual fascination' with her, the court was told.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett, QC, warned the jury that they would have to prepare themselves to deal with the terrible facts of the case surrounding Ms Dookhran's murder

They then bundled the girls into a car but Tappu played no further part, jurors were told.

Describing what happened when they arrived at the scene of the crime, Mr Aylett said the boot was opened and Arshid told them: 'Time to co-operate.'

Jurors were told that the 21-year-old could 'hear screams that had gone on for at least 10 minutes' as she was tied up.

Mr Aylett told the court Celine was ordered to climb inside the freezer having 'already been raped'.

He added: 'It would seem that Arshid must have intended that Celine should freeze to death.'

The other girl, he said, convinced Arshid to untie her and let Celine get out after telling him 'what they thought he wanted to hear.'

She is said to have pleaded with him that they would 'never say a word' to anyone.

But Arshid 'snapped back into action' and continued with his 'murderous plan.'

He took Celine back upstairs, Mr Aylett said, and the girl heard screams, several thuds and the sound of tape being unrolled.

'And then there was silence,' he said.

A court drawing from an earlier hearing of Mujahid Arshid (left) and Vincent Tappu (right)

Mr Aylett added: 'In the bathroom of that house, he cut Celine's throat, most likely with the lock knife.

'With her mouth still stuffed with a sock, Celine died from the combined effect of the restriction of her airwaves and the blood that she lost.'

The court heard Arshid then took the second woman who is in her 20s, upstairs and cut her throat and told her 'she would be dead within ten minutes'.

But she managed to convince him to let her go after telling him: 'We know you're hurting, you can leave us two right now, walk out of that door.'

Arshid then left the property with the badly wounded woman who was later taken to hospital by his brother, the court heard.

Eventually she got hold of a phone to ring her mother, even though she did not know where she was.

Meanwhile, Arshid had fled to the Kent coast and was arrested at a hotel in Folkestone still possessing the padlock key, the court heard.

Mr Aylett said: 'A police officer arrived with a crowbar. The lock was broken and inside was the body of Celine Dookhran. She had obviously been dead for some considerable time.'

Meanwhile, Arshid fled to the Kent coast and was arrested at a hotel in Folkestone, the court heard.

Arshid, of no fixed address, and Tappu, 28, of Spencer Road, Acton, west London, deny the charges against them.

Arshid is accused of murder, attempted murder, rape of both women and the previous sexual assault and assault by penetration of the surviving woman when she was about 13.

He is jointly charged with Tappu of both women's kidnap and false imprisonment, and possession of a firearm with intent.

The trial continues.
A body has been found close to where a married British father-of-two disappeared while on holiday in Thailand with his family last month.

The human remains were discovered on Wednesday near the town of Cha-Am and police are now conducting an autopsy to identify the person.

The spot is close to the Dream Boutiques Hotel where Martin Wood, 48, from Devon, was last seen before vanishing on December 30.

Martin Wood, 48, a married father-of-two from Devon, went missing in Thailand on December 30. Remains have now been found a short distance from where he was last seen

The remains were discovered in a wooded area around 300m inland in Phetchaburi province.

Investigators say it appears the man had been dead for around 18 days, though could not give a cause of death.

Wood was known to have medical problems and suffered from alcoholism, according to hotel staff.

A GoFundMe account set up to raise money for search efforts described him as being in a 'vulnerable state' at the time he disappeared.

When he vanished he was in the third week of a month-long stay at the hotel with his father, Colin.

His passport and bank cards were discovered in his room after he vanished, according to Devon Live.

He was well-known in his home town of Crediton for running the Woods Group, a scrap metal merchant.
 AFP Last To Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation | Main | NBC's Andrea Mitchell Takes Heat for Inaccurate Knesset Tweet 

January 17, 2018

Updated: AFP Photo Captions Mislead on Gaza 'Smuggling Tunnels'

Update Appended to Bottom of Post: AFP Removes Misleading Reference to 'Smuggling' Tunnels

A series of Agence France Presse photo captions earlier this week misleadingly identified the tunnel discovered under the Kerem Shalom crossing, extending from Gaza into Israeli territory, as "smuggling tunnels" [sic], despite the fact that the Israeli army has said it is an offensive attack tunnel.

According to Haaretz:

In contrast to Hamas' claims that the tunnel was used for smuggling goods, the IDF unequivocally stated that it was an attack tunnel used to smuggle in weapons, terrorists and other operatives into Israel in order to carry out terror attacks.

A sampling of the captions with the misleading reference to "smuggling tunnels," as if the tunnel was intended to illegally move flour, livestock or other harmless goods across the border, follows.

Palestinian security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority (L), walk at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018. SAID KHATIB / AFP

A Palestinian security man closes the gate of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after it was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

Palestinians ride a donkey and cart near the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of smuggling tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018. SAID KHATIB / AFP

But as AFP itself reported ("Israel destroys tunnel from Gaza it says intended for attacks"):





Israel said Sunday it used a combination of air strikes and other means to destroy a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the country and continuing into Egypt. Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the tunnel belonged to Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, and was intended for attacks as opposed to smuggling. Such tunnels have been used to carry out attacks in the past.

In particular, in 2014, Hamas used a similar tunnel to infiltrate into Israeli territory and kill five soldiers.

As of this writing, AFP has failed to clarify its captions which echo Hamas' dubious claim that the tunnel's purpose was to smuggle goods.

See also: AFP Last to Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation

Update, 6:20 a.m. EST: AFP Removes Misleading Reference to 'Smuggling' Tunnels

AFP has amended all of the captions, removing the misleading reference to "smuggling tunnels." The captions still erroneously refer to the discovery of tunnels (in plural), though the discovery of just one tunnel was announced this week.

Palestinian security forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority (L), walk at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

A Palestinian security man closes the gate of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after it was closed by Israel following the discovery of tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

Palestinians ride a donkey and cart near the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main passage point for goods entering Gaza, after is was closed by Israel following the discovery of tunnels underneath the crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafat on January 14, 2018.

Posted by TS at January 17, 2018 02:11 AM

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People from a county in eastern China apparently believe that three ancient stones in the area could help infertile women fall pregnant.

Footage has emerged online showing a massive phallic rock and the other odd-shaped stones which could probably work the wonder.

One villager said in the video: 'If they ride on them, they would get pregnant.'

Footage shows s few odd-shaped stones scattered in the wild in Changle county of east China

The stones are found in Changle county, Weifang of Shandong Province .

A local villager told Pear Video that he believed the stones had been there since ancient times.

'There are three phallic stones and some small ones around,' the man said.

'People said infertile women can pregnant after climbing up the penis-shaped stone and sit on it,' he added.

Villagers claim the tall phallic stone can cure infertility and get women pregnant

Women only have to climb on top of the stone and ride on it, it can help them to have babies

The stones scattered in the wild and no one can be sure how and why are the stones here.

By far, there are no any scientific research that claimed the phallic stones can cure infertility.

There are also no reports of women saying they get pregnant after riding on the stones.

Web users on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media site, doubted there were any myths related to help infertile women get pregnant.

'People living there have too much imagination,' said 'h77177'.

'liliuqiuk9' wondered if the stone carried any sperm at the top to cure infertile women.
The Ukip leader's ex-girlfriend has tweeted that she can't be racist because she likes black music.

Model Jo Marney, 25, was suspended from the party for sending 'vile' messages claiming Meghan Markle's 'seed' would taint the Royal Family.

Today she sent a string of tweets from Disneyland Paris where she is on holiday in which she insisted: 'I don't hate black people'.

She added: 'I love black music and black artists' before listing some of her favourites including Chuck Berry and James Brown.

Marney also tweeted an image of her luggage label with the caption 'hanging out with Mickey Mouse'.

Marney also tweeted an image of her luggage label with the caption 'hanging out with Mickey Mouse'

Today she sent a string of tweets from Disneyland Paris where she is on holiday in which she insisted: 'I don't hate black people'

Earlier today she broke her silence by posting a snap of herself relaxing in a hot tub.

Marney from Maidstone, Kent, is holidaying in Disneyland Paris for two weeks following the saga, according to her mother, Jayne.

Ms Marney posted a black-and-white image of her legs dangling in the tub just after 2am today, three days after Mr Bolton announced he had dumped her.

Jo Marney, 25, from Maidstone, Kent, who is thought to now be on holiday at Disneyland Paris, posted this black-and-white image of her two legs dangling in the tub just after 2am today, three days after Mr Bolton announced he had dumped her

In a comment under the picture she was asked what her favourite Rolling Stones song is to which she replied 'Wild Horses'.

Ms Marney was suspended by Ukip after vile messages claiming Meghan Markle's 'seed' would taint the Royal Family.

She also said she would never have sex with a 'negro' because they were 'ugly'.

In social media posts she branded Grenfell tower a 'nest of illegal immigrants' and also criticised the victims of Harvey Weinstein.

In a statement earlier this week Jo Marney said: 'I apologise unreservedly for the shocking language I used.

'The opinions I expressed were deliberately exaggerated in order to make a point and have, to an extent, been taken out of context. Yet I fully recognise the offence they have caused.

Ms Marney was suspended by Ukip and then dumped by Mr Bolton on Monday after vile messages claiming Meghan Markle's 'seed' would taint the Royal Family. She is pictured in an undated modelling shot (left) and with her ex-boyfriend in December 2017

These are the disgusting texts referring to Meghan Markle that forced Ukip to suspend Ms Marney

'No offence was intended and, again, I apologise unreservedly for any such offence or hurt that my messages have caused to members of the public, members of Ukip my friends, family and loved ones.'

Bolton, 54, has managed to cling onto the leadership despite mounting questions over the decision to leave his wife for the 25-year-old model.

In an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, Mr Bolton said: 'I don't defend these comments whatsoever and indeed Jo has been suspended pending an investigation under the normal rules of the party for such things, and it is against the constitution for the party to be racist in any way.'

Mr Bolton's estranged wife Tatiana Smurnova is reported to be pleased Bolton has dumped the controversial model.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Monday Mr Bolton revealed he dumped Ms Marney the previous night, but refused to resign

Mr Bolton and Ms Marney were seen at the Eurostar terminal in Ashford, Kent, on Sunday

She told MailOnline: 'I must say I was quite relieved because I was extremely worried for my children being in contact with their father in the future while he is in that damaging relationship.'

She said there was 'little basis' to speak of a reconciliation. My husband left us, his family with two little ones,' she said.

'Not only was he disloyal, he was also dishonest about how it all happened. I am still deeply hurt and believe a sincere apology should have come from him.'

Tatiana Smurova, the mother of two of Mr Bolton's children, said his relationship with the much younger model was 'damaging' and his talk of 'supporting' the young model is 'astonishing'. She is pictured with her young baby Victoria in May 2016
The NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight prompted an angry response from the trucking industry after proposing truck drivers suffering from fatigue should be shocked with electricity.

While appearing on ABC Radio, Minister Melinda Pavey put forward that technology capable of jolting truck drivers may benefit road safety.

'The technology now is so advanced, a driver can be driving and get an electric shock if they look away from the windscreen for more than two seconds,' Minister Pavey said on Wednesday morning.

NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey (pictured) suggested fatigued truck drivers could be shocked with electricity

Richard Olsen (pictured), State Secretary of the Transport Workers' Union of NSW, says TWU members know that that the responsibility for safety on NSW roads is a shared one

However, the union argued that the cause of most truck-related accidents is not due to drivers, but extreme and unfair working conditions.

Richard Olsen, State Secretary of the Transport Workers' Union of NSW, says TWU members know that that the responsibility for safety on NSW roads is a shared one.

'The necessary shared responsibility isn't being demonstrated by companies and government. Instead of blaming drivers, the Minister must ensure that all levels of the supply chain take responsibility. Her continued lack of leadership on this issue, while people continue to die on our roads, is shameful.'

Later Ms Pavey clarified that the conversation was not intended to cause debate, but rather to bring to light the new forms of technology being used to increase road safety.

'New technology for fatigue management are currently in place in Australia and being rolled out across fleets by our most responsible operators, and further research continues to highlight new measures.

Hannah Ferguson (pictured) was one of the victims of the tragedy near the NSW town of Dubbo

The student's 19-year-old boyfriend, identified in reports as Reagan Skinner, was also killed in the crash

'Despite these advancements, and the possibility of measures which will save both truck drivers' lives and protect the whole community, the TWU want to make headlines about themselves,' she said.

NSW's roads minister also said earlier she was worried about the number of heavy vehicle crashes on state roads, with six trucks involved in deadly crashes within 24 hours.

Two people were killed on Tuesday when a B-Double truck ploughed into cars stopped at roadworks, injuring at least 10 others near Dubbo.

The crash came less than a day after two separate fatal crashes involving trucks on NSW roads.

A semi-trailer is believed to have slammed into a queue of cars stopped at roadworks. The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle

Authorities described the crash scene (pictured) as 'absolute carnage' on Tuesday, after the truck slammed into the queue of cars believed to be stopped at roadworks

Tuesday's horror smash happened near the town of Dubbo - about 400km north-west of Sydney

The minister described the latest truck crash as 'an absolute horror'.

'I am just so concerned and disturbed about the level of accidents involving heavy vehicles in NSW at the moment,' Ms Pavey told ABC News.

'We've had six heavy vehicles involved in accidents in the past 24 hours which are going to destroy lives, destroy families.'

Meanwhile, one truck driver was killed and one other injured in a fiery crash south of Newcastle involving three heavy vehicles on Monday.

Two other truck drivers were killed near Grafton when their trucks collided on the same day.

Ms Pavey said she was worried about the 45 per cent increase in heavy vehicle accidents on the state's roads between 2016 and 2017, adding that increased activity on NSW roads was not enough to explain the jump.

She said speed was still the leading contributor in fatal crashes on NSW roads, while fatigue, drugs and alcohol also played significant roles.

NSW Police Superintendent Peter McKenna urged drivers to rest when they needed to and not use drugs or drink alcohol when driving.

'We need people to adhere to the messages police are putting forward about road safety,' he told reporters near Dubbo.
Workers at a massive Chinese factory which produces parts for Apple have to work 10-hour shifts under harsh conditions and are not given proper overtime pay or adequate safety protections, a labour rights group has claimed.

Migrant workers, paid as little as 1,950 yuan (210) a month, are exposed to toxic chemicals at their workshops before returning to filthy eight-person dormitories with cold showers, said the same report.

Catcher, the Apple supplier located in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, has denied the allegations; while Apple said its investigation team 'found no evidence that Catcher was violating our standards'.

A picture released by China Labor Watch shows workers, said to be from Catcher Technology in China, napping in the canteen. The rights group said workers work for 10 hours a day there

Another picture released by China Labor Watch shows a group of newly arrived workers at Catcher Technology being trained in the factory situated in Suqian, eastern China's Jiangsu

The New York-based rights group published photos of the workers' filthy eight-person dormitories. Li Qiang, the founder of the group, said some workers had to take cold showers

The allegations have been made by New York-based China Labor Watch, a not-for-profit organization which conducts assessments on the labour conditions of factories in China.

It came 10 days after a worker from another Chinese factory producing Apple's iPhone allegedly died after jumping from a 12-storey window.

The charges highlight the difficulty of managing complex global supply chains - even for companies like Apple that have publicly embraced ethical sourcing as a business priority.

The two pictures show the washing area in the dormitory of Catcher Technology and a group of workers who were resting in the factory's smoking area, according to China Labor Watch

China Labor Watch released a report on January 16, claiming how workers at Catcher had to work under harsh conditions and without proper overtime payment or safety protections. The picture which comes with the report shows workers signing contract at Catcher

Most of the staff in Catcher are apparently migrant workers and have moved to Suqian for work. The picture provided by China Labor Watch shows them arriving with their luggage

Li Qiang, the founder and executive director of the group, said he sent an undercover investigator to work as a regular worker in 60,000-member Catcher Technology from October 2017 to January 2018.

The factory is said to produce parts for Macbook, iPhone and iPad.

The report, published on January 16, was apparently written based on the findings of the undercover investigator.

The report said workers without proper gloves had irritated, peeling skin on their hands. Others had machine oil splashed in their eyes. The main door of the workshop opened only 30 centimeters (12 inches) and dormitories lacked emergency exits - clear fire hazards, China Labor Watch said.

The report also said that workers at Catcher couldn't resign easily and they are likely to face owed wages if their resignation application gets approved.

Besides, the report included photographs of cramped, slovenly dormitories and photos of foamy wastewater that China Labor Watch said was overflowing onto sidewalks.

The labour rights group also claimed that waste from the factory has polluted the local environment.

A group of workers are seen resting outside the factory building of Catcher Technology in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China. The Apple supplier has denied all of the allegations

In a statement on January 17, Taiwanese-run Catcher Technology said that it had investigated China Labor Watch's report and had 'verified that none of the claims are accurate'

A banner outside the Catcher Technology says that workers could receive 3,900 to 4,600 yuan (439-517) a month and the factory is in need of a great number of skillful workers

Catcher Technology makes parts for Macbook, iPhone and iPad. Apple Inc. has said that its investigation team 'found no evidence that Catcher was violating our standards'

In May, 2017, more than 80 workers from Catcher were hospitalised after being exposed to toxic gas, reportedly the local Jiangsu Television Station.

The workers told Jiangsu Television Station that they had to work as long as 12 hours a day and were paid about 3,000 yuan (337) a month.

A local official in charge of social welfare told the reporter that it was common for workers to work this many hours, and that they volunteered to work the extra hours so they could earn more money.

According to China Labor Watch's report, workers could receive around 4,000 RMB a month (450) if overtime pay and relevant bonuses are counted.

Catcher Technology Co. Ltd., which runs the factory in Suqian, about 500 kilometers (311 miles) northwest of Shanghai, said Wednesday in a statement that it had investigated and 'verified that none of the claims are accurate.'

China Labor Watch claimed workers at Catcher receive a base salary of 1,950 yuan (210) a month. They are also exposed to toxic chemicals, the report said. The above two pictures, provided by the rights group, apparently show the factory's dorm and training room

The labour rights group also accused the factory of polluting the local environment. The report included photos of foamy wastewater that the group said was overflowing onto sidewalks

China Labor Watch also claimed that the fish caught in the local water couldn't be eaten due to pollution. It said its investigator had talked to the locals who regularly fishes near a bridge

Catcher, a Taiwanese firm, also said it was about to acquire land near the factory to build new dormitories because it was 'driven to enhance the living standard for our employees'.

'Apple needs to uphold their claim of honoring Chinese law,' China Labor Watch executive director Li Qiang said in a statement. Back in 2013 and 2014, China Labor Watch investigated the same factory and flagged similar safety and labor rights violations.

Apple Inc. said it maintains a monitoring team onsite at the Catcher factory, which has made 'significant progress' in raising standards since 2012.

In response to China Labor Watch's allegations, Apple said it sent an investigative team to Suqian to interview over 150 workers but 'found no evidence that Catcher was violating our standards.'

'We know our work is never done and we investigate each and every allegation that's made,' an Apple spokesperson said Wednesday. 'We remain dedicated to doing all we can to protect the workers in our supply chain and make a positive impact on the environment.
North and South Korea have agreed to form their first joint Olympic team and will march together under a unified flag during the opening ceremony, South Korea has announced.

The two Koreas agreed to form a combined women's ice hockey team to take part in next month's Winter Olympics in PyeongChang in the South next month.

Seoul's Unification Ministry says the agreement was during talks on Wednesday at the border village of Panmunjom.

It said athletes from the two Koreas will march together under a 'unification flag' depicting their peninsula during the opening ceremony.

Pictures of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are seen on a sign during a rally for a peaceful Winter Olympics in Seoul on Tuesday

The measures require approval by the International Olympic Committee.

The South Korean ministry added the two Koreas will consult with the IOC this weekend.

North Korea will send a delegation of about 550, including 230 cheerleaders, 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration, the statement added.

The delegation is scheduled to begin arriving in South Korea on January 25.

North Korea plans to send a spotlight-stealing delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Above, Korea flag-bearer's Bora Lee and Jong-In Lee, carrying a unification flag during the 2006 Winter Olympics

North and South Korea have agreed to form their first joint Olympic team, South Korea said

North and South Korea have been talking since last week - for the first time in more than two years - about the Olympics.

It has offered a respite from a months-long standoff over the North's missile and nuclear programmes, which it conducts in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

Kim Jong-Un's ex-girlfriend helps negotiate Olympic agreement Kim Jong-Un's ex-girlfriend has been spotted helping to negotiate North and South Korea's Olympics unification team - nearly four years after she was rumoured to have been executed. Hyon Song-wol, leader of the popular Moranbong Band, was photographed alongside head of South Korea's delegation Kwon Hook Bong and the head of the North's team, Lee Woo-sung. Negotiators from the two Koreas, fighting against the clock ahead of the games' February 9 start date, have been discussing North's role at the games. Hyon Song-wol (centre), leader of the popular Moranbong Band, was photographed alongside head of South Korea's delegation Kwon Hook Bong and the head of the North's team, Lee Woo-sung (right) Negotiators from the two Koreas, fighting against the clock ahead of the games' February 9 start date, have been discussing North's role at the games It was previously rumoured that Hyon had been executed on the orders of Kim Jong-Il in 2013 after appearing in pornographic videos with dozens of other singers and dancers. Kim Jong-Un later married another woman, Ri Sol-ju, but it is thought his former lover - believed to be in her 40s - still has his trust. Her appearance at the negotiations has fuelled speculation that the 10-member Moranbong Band - which was handpicked by Kim - will attend the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea next month. She was previously spotted in China two years ago (pictured), making it the second sighting of the mysterious figure since her rumoured execution in September 2013 'It's certain the Moranbong Band would come given Hyon Song Wol was among the North Korean delegates,' said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea's private Sejong Institute. She was previously spotted in China two years ago, making it the second sighting of the mysterious figure since her rumoured execution in September 2013. On a six-day tour in Beijing, Hyon was asked about the rumours of her death. She replied with grin and simply asked: 'Where do you come from?' Advertisement

The two Koreas have been pressing ahead with a flurry of projects to cooperate in the Olympics since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un abruptly said in a New Year's speech that he was willing to send a delegation to the games.

Critics say Kim's overture is an attempt to use improved ties with Seoul to weaken U.S.-led international sanctions on the North while buying time to perfect his nuclear weapons program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (above) abruptly said in a New Year's speech that he was willing to send a delegation to the games

But the moves nevertheless have provided a temporary thaw in the Koreas' long-strained ties and fostered optimism that he North won't launch any new provocations, at least during the Olympics.

South Korea's president previously announced his support of a proposal for the rivals' first unified Olympic team.

The North's participation in the Olympics 'will serve as a chance to warm solidly frozen South-North ties,' President Moon Jae-in said during a visit with South Korean Olympic athletes.

'But if we march together (during the opening ceremony) or field a single team, I think that can be a further step in developing South-North relations.'


The devastated best friend of a British backpacker who died in a suspected murder-suicide in Sydney says the tragedy has broken his heart 'into a million pieces'.

Amelia Blake, 22, was found dead inside her Newtown flat in the city's inner-west on Friday, alongside the body of her Nepalese boyfriend.

Police believe Ms Blake was killed by her partner, aged in his 30s, who she had only recently started dating.

Tributes have poured in for the 22-year-old, who has been described by loved ones as 'an angel taken too soon'.

Her best friend, Rhys James Collington, said Ms Blake died while 'living the dream travelling round Australia'.

'She was a beautiful, kind woman with a big heart full of kindness,' Mr Collington told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.

Rhys Collington, the best friend of British backpacker Amelia Blake, who died in a suspected murder-suicide in Sydney, has spoken of his tragic loss. The pair are pictured together

Mr Collington said Ms Blake (pictured together left and right) died while 'living the dream travelling round Australia'

Mr Collington posted this heartfelt tribute to his friend following the news of her tragic death

Earlier taking to Facebook, the heartbroken Englishman spoke of his anguish.

'It's almost unimaginable that I'll never see you again, my dear friend. Until we meet again. I love you to the moon and back. My Love always. Rhysie Boy,' he wrote.

Another friend, Ellie Mackness, remembered Ms Blake for her infectious smile and down-to-earth attitude.

'She was the most warm-hearted, bubbly, loving and down to earth woman I knew,' she wrote.

The British backpacker was identified as 22-year-old Amelia Blake (left) on Wednesday night

Ms Blake (front) was found dead in her tiny Newtown flat in Sydney's inner-west on Friday, alongside the body of her older Nepalese boyfriend

The bodies were found by the couple's landlord above a Persian restaurant in the inner-west suburb

Another friend, Ellie Mackness, remembered Ms Blake for her infectious smile and down-to-earth attitude

'The way she has been taken from this world was unthinkable and breaks my heart every time I think about it. An angel taken to early.'

The bodies of Ms Blake and her boyfriend were discovered by their landlord who visited the small flat, above a Persian restaurant, to collect his mail on Friday night.

The British woman's body was reportedly riddled with injuries, including wounds to her head, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Ms Blake is believed to have made plans to move overseas in the lead up to her death.

Police believe Ms Blake (centre front) was killed by her Nepalese boyfriend, aged in his 30s, who she only recently started dating

Ms Blake (pictured in a social media post) had been in Australia for eight months before she was found dead on Friday

The apartment that was the scene of the suspected murder-suicide is pictured on Thursday

This image shows a view inside the apartment were the couple had been staying

NSW Police Inspector Chad Deegenaars said the tragedy was being treated as a murder-suicide, but post-mortem results would confirm the causes of death.

Ms Blake is believed to have been in Australia for eight months before she was found dead.

She spent most of her time in Australia working on a farm at Colignan, near Mildura in Victoria's north-west.

On her Instagram page, she spoke fondly about her desire to travel.

'I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it,' Ms Blake said.

Ms Blake (second from left) spent most of her time in Australia working on a farm at Colignan, near Mildura in Victoria's northwest

The English backer is believed to have lived at the apartment (pictured) for three months

The bodies of Ms Blake and her Nepalese boyfriend were found above this Persian restaurant

'I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it,' Ms Blake wrote on her Instagram page

Detectives have established Strike Force Tenisonwood to investigate the deaths.

They said the crime scene would be maintained until results from the post-mortem came back.

Ms Blake's family reportedly boarded a flight from the UK to Sydney on Tuesday.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said consular assistance was being provided to the family.

Neighbour Scott Haggarty said his heart stopped when the police told him his neighbours had been found dead.

The scene of the suspected murder-suicide in the Sydney suburb of Newtown is pictured

A neighbour said the pair moved into the Newtown flat (pictured) about three months ago

Ms Blake spent most of her time in Australia working on a farm at Colignan, near Mildura in Victoria's northwest (pictured on the map)

He said the couple 'looked happy' when he saw them arrive home on Wednesday afternoon.

'They kept to themselves. They just looked like a regular couple, I never heard an argument or anything,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

'They looked like a couple who worked in the bars and were on holidays here.'

Mr Haggarty said the pair moved into the flat about three months ago.

Another neighbour of the young couple, Jason You, said he heard a loud 'boom' about 5pm on Friday - shortly before the bodies were discovered.

A police van is pictured at the rear of the Newtown property where the two bodies were found

A neighbour said the couple 'looked happy' when they arrived at their flat (pictured) a few days before they were found dead

Ms Blake's body was discovered in the Newtown flat (pictured) she shared with her boyfriend
A lawyer for Steve Bannon communicated with the White House in real time as the former chief strategist to the president was grilled on Tuesday by a congressional panel.

Tuesday, when Bannon appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, he told lawmakers in the closed-door meetings that President Trump had invoked executive privilege, compelling him to keep many details about his time working on the Trump transition team and the White House a secret.

The Associated Press revealed today that Bannon attorney Bill Burck phoned the White House counsels office while his client was testifying.

According to sources familiar with the events, Burck asked the White House what Bannon was allowed to say, and he was informed that the ex-aide shouldn't say anything about his service to Trump after the presidential election.

In another revelation about Bannon's closed door testimony, it was reported that he gave up information about conversations with White House staff about an infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians he has called 'treasonous.'

A lawyer for Steve Bannon communicated with the White House in real time as the former chief strategist to the president was grilled on Tuesday by a congressional panel

Bannon 'slipped up' when he revealed the information, Axios reported, since it was part of his time as chief White House strategist, and exactly the period White House lawyers are maintaining is off limits.

He admitted to talking to former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, and Mark Corallo, the former spokesman for Trump's legal team who left his post.

Bannon then took heat during his testimony for having made the revelation, but then refusing to answer further questions about his time in the White House or even during the presidential transition.

Burck spoke to a member of the White House counsel's office. White House counsel Don McGahn is also a client of his.

Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Trump, arrives at a House Intelligence Committee closed door meeting, on January 16, 2018 in Washington, DC

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to answer a questions about the exchange and whether privilege was being asserted in her daily briefing, other than to say that 'standard procedure' was followed.

An official told AP that the White House was under the impression that the interview with lawmakers would be about Bannon's time serving as a CEO of Trump's campaign. Committee counsel indicated that it did not need to send someone from counsel's office to the Bannon session.

When the questions moved beyond the campaign, Burck called the White House to ask what his client should do, AP reported.

Bannon was served a subpoena on the spot, which was signed by Rep. Devin Nunes, the committee's top Republican, who has recused himself from the Russia probe, according to NBC News.

Wednesday the White House insisted it was 'following the same practice' as previous administrations as it deflected questions on executive privilege and whether it directed Bannon to claim it.

'There is a process that you go through any time you have congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, that Congress should consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material,' Sanders said. 'We've been fully cooperative with the ongoing investigations, and we're gonna continue to do so, and we encourage the committees to work with us to find the appropriate accommodation in order to ensure Congress obtains all the information that they're looking for.'

Sanders confirmed that a call took place while the session was taking place, but she cast it as ordinary.

'It's the same process that is typically followed, sometimes they actually have a White House attorney present in the room. This time it was something that was relayed via phone,' she said, 'and again was following standard procedure for an instance like this and something that will likely happen again on any other number of occasions, not just within this administration but future administrations.'

The Trump spokeswoman went on to suggest that the White House was in fact relying on privilege.

'Executive privilege is something that goes back decades because its something that needs to be protected,' she said. 'Whether its during this administration or one 20 years from now, we want to make sure that we follow the process and the precedent and that's all that's taking place here.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to answer a questions about the exchange and whether privilege was being asserted in her daily briefing, other than to say that 'standard procedure' was followed

Regardless of whether the White House is formally invoking the privilege, a legal strategy used by White House's to keep conversations with the president private, Bannon refused to answer questions about his work for Trump after the election during the 11 hours he spent on Capitol Hill.

'He quickly informed, through his counsel, the committee he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, etc., that took place wither during the transition or while he was part of the administration,' said Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat. 'And, what's more, we would later learn that would be extended to even after he left the White House.'

Democrat Jim Himes said on CNN that he had not heard of privilege being extended to the time before a president has taken office before.

This raises some very serious issues about whether well get straight answers from anybody who is or was associated with the administration or is or was associated with the transition,' the congressman said.

Himes said that Bannon used a 'remarkably broad definition of executive privilege' to wiggle out of questioning. The Connecticut lawmaker said that Bannon risks being held in contempt of Congress if he doesn't comply with legislators' requests.

Rep. Mike Conway, the Republican lawmaker now leading the probe, told NBC the committee expects further testimony from Bannon after talking to the White House about what members of Congress on both sides of the aisle viewed as an overly-broad executive privilege claim.

It was a rare joint effort by committee members, as the House's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been plagued by partisan infighting.

'If the White House is permitted to maintain that kind of a gag rule on a witness, no Congressional investigation could ever be effective,' Schiff pointed out. 'So this obviously can't stand.'

Special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to have better luck as his probe, which started out as the FBI's effort to look into Russian interference and any collusion with the Trump campaign, fits under the umbrella of the executive branch.

The White House was under the impression that the interview with lawmakers would be about Bannon's time serving as a CEO of Trump's campaign

Bannon plans to 'fully cooperate' with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, according to Axios, after frustrating lawmakers by invoking executive privilege on Capitol Hill.

'Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,' a source familiar with the situation told the Daily Beast.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Bannon was subpoenaed by Mueller last week to testify before a grand jury, with FBI agents coming to his house, NBC News said.

Who told Bannon to exert privilege is unclear. It may have been White House counsel Don McGahn

Experts told the newspaper that the subpoena signaled a number of things, including that Bannon is likely not the target of the Russia investigation, because Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena a probe's targets only in rare cases, the Times noted.

The White House said Wednesday in response that it still intends to be 'fully cooperative' with the special counsel probe 'and encourage everybody involved with the process to be fully cooperative.'

Mueller's tactic may have been a negotiating tool, as Bannon is now expected to speak to special counsel investigators in a closed-door setting.

This is the first time Mueller has used a grand jury subpoena on a member of the president's inner circle.

It was prompted by comments Bannon made to Michael Wolff in the author's new book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.'

In the tome, Bannon calls Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a group of Russians 'treasonous' and 'unpatriotic' and speculates that Trump's son likely took the group to meet the GOP presidential hopeful while at Trump Tower.

Bannon's quotes took a toll on his relationship with the president, who nicknamed him 'Sloppy Steve' and publicly lashed out of him, and poisoned his position at Breitbart News.

He resigned from the right-wing news site last week, after returning to its helm in August after his eight-month White House stint.

Bannon could be interviewed by Mueller's team by the end of the month, NBC News learned.
Rebecca Jenkins is suing her former employer, Essex Police, after she fell from a desk during an 'office prank' in which her phone was hidden in a ceiling cavity

A young detective is suing the police claiming a her career was wrecked when she fell off a desk due to an office prank.

Rebecca Jenkins says she was the butt of a 'culture of pranking' at Grays Police Station, in Essex, which ended in disaster.

Her lawyers told Central London County Court that her sergeant hid her phone in a ceiling void above her desk during an office joke.

She had clambered onto a desk to retrieve the phone after she heard it ringing above her head, but fell to the ground, damaging her left knee.

She has since suffered depression, pain and an ongoing 'adjustment disorder', for which she is claiming 500,000 damages, the court heard.

Her barrister, Andy Roy, said she had to give up her role as a 'front line' officer and the July 2012 incident ultimately wrecked her 'dream' career.

Ms Jenkins told the court 'banter' and 'tricks' were all part of a day's work at the police station.

Although she tried to 'give as good as she got', she said she was targeted as the newest arrival.

'There were always tricks being played by team members on each other,' she told Judge Simon Freeland.

The pranks were mostly 'good-humoured' and harmless, and intended to 'boost morale' in a stressful workplace, she added.

Common japes included daubing ink on phones to smudge users' faces, and writing 'listen' and 'speak' on mobiles.

Central London County Court heard Sergeant Alan Blakesley hid the phone for an office joke

Ms Jenkins, 33, accepts that Sergeant Alan Blakesley hid her phone in the ceiling to 'raise the spirits of the team'.

Describing her as 'quite a petite woman', Mr Roy said she had to climb onto her desk to retrieve it.

'She then went to climb down and, in so doing, she slipped and suffered a blow to her left knee,' he added.

Although she tried to rebuild her career after the accident, she was dismissed from Essex Police in October last year, the court heard.

Mr Roy argued that, as the team's most junior member, she was 'under pressure' to buy into the station's 'culture of practical joking'.

Rejecting claims that she was 'foolhardy' in climbing onto the desk, he added: 'She was under pressure to conform'.

The incident happened at Grays Police Station in 2012 but the case has just reached court

Ms Jenkins, of Wickford, Essex, had been on the force for eight years but always wanted to be a detective, the court heard.

Although she now hopes to work as a teacher, Mr Roy added: 'This had been her dream job since childhood'.

Lawyers representing Essex Chief Constable, Stephen Kavanagh, are fighting Ms Jenkins' damages bid.

As well as disputing the extent of her injuries, they argue that what Sergeant Blakesley did was no more than a 'good-hearted workplace prank'.

They also claim that he told her not to climb onto her desk and offered to retrieve the phone for her himself.

'It was obviously foolhardy to climb on the desk to remove the telephone,' said barrister, Laura Johnson.

The hearing continues.
A homeless man who was handed a sandwich by a schoolgirl despite a Starbucks barista cruelly telling her to 'let nature take its course' has praised the 14-year-old for her 'overwhelming' generosity - and slammed the coffee chain.

Liam Anderson, 20, from the Pollok area of Glasgow, said he felt 'very thankful' to Amy McIlroy for the food but 'shocked' by the attitude of the staff member at the cafe in Exchange Place.

He told MailOnline: 'When the girl bought me a Starbucks, it was quite overwhelming, to be honest. I thought, 'Wow, people do care!'

Liam Anderson, 20,(left, pictured today) from the Pollok area of Glasgow, said he felt 'very thankful' to Amy McIlroy(right, undated photo) for the food but 'shocked' by the attitude of the staff member at the cafe in Exchange Place

Undaunted, Amy went ahead and bought the sandwich to give to the boy, and complained to the coffee giant on Twitter

Amy wrote after the incident: 'So f****** disgusted. @StarbucksUK went in to one of your Glasgow branches to get some food for a homeless boy who was physically shaking from the cold and was told off a worker that I'd be better 'saving my money and letting nature take its course'. I'm at a loss for words.'

Mr Anderson wanted to go into Starbucks but he was not allowed in. 'I was quite dirty and other customers get to go in no matter their circumstances,' he said.

'I was very shocked. It's unfair that I've been discriminated by the way I look. It's bang out.'

Mr Anderson explained that he became homeless after being neglected by his mother and falling out with his sister after going through the care system.

'I became homeless because my mum neglected me since I was about 14,' he said. Me and my sister went through care... I tried to leave care and now I'm waiting until social work gets me a house.

Speaking today, Amy said: 'I was really taken aback when the barista said that because I've never experienced that type of hatred or ignorance towards a stranger who hasn't done anything to merit such vile behaviour.'

Liam Anderson, 20, from the Pollok area of Glasgow, said he felt 'very thankful' to Amy McIlroy for the food

Mr Anderson (pictured) said he was 'shocked' by the attitude of the staff member at the cafe in Exchange Place

Mr Anderson had been staying at a homeless night shelter but says he regularly finds it is fully booked.

'At times I go grab a sleeping bag somewhere, get under an air vent then go to sleep,' he said.

'It is quite scary at times but once you get to know a few faces it's not too bad. People talking to me gives me comfort because they ask if I'm okay and that.

'My wee sister has her own house now but we fell out in care. They had to separate us because we weren't talking to each other. I've lost contact with her through Facebook and the whole lot. She's blocked me and everything.'

Speaking today, Amy (pic in an undated Facebook photo) said: 'I was really taken aback when the barista said that because I've never experienced that type of hatred or ignorance towards a stranger'

Mr Anderson eventually hopes to get back on his feet, get a flat and go to college.

He said: 'I now would love to be like a football manager and go to college. Not professional but over 35's or something.'

Amy added: 'My friend was with me at the time and she was saying that the barista was not worth responding to but I told him that it was a disgusting thing to say and that I hoped he didn't speak for Glasgow.

'There are a million circumstances that could lead to someone becoming homeless. Starbucks should be held accountable for clearly not training their staff well enough in customer service.'

Starbucks are now on the receiving end of a customer backlash.

Marianne Gallagher tweeted: 'I bought a young boy (likely the same one) a coffee from that Starbucks on Friday. I'll take my money elsewhere in future.'

Bethany Scott added: 'Wow. Bye Starbucks. I'll spend my money at Pret instead.'

Another Twitter user added: 'What kind of heartless b****** could say this about any human? Hear so many horror stories about Starbucks, you wonder what their teaching/training process is.'

Amy's mother, Liz, has praised her daughter for her handling of the situation and thoughtfulness.

The callous comment was made by a customer at the Starbucks store in Exchange Place, Glasgow

Undaunted, Amy went ahead and bought the sandwich to give to the boy, and complained to the coffee giant on Twitter. She is pictured in an undated social media image

Dozens of people hit out at the barista's behaviour with one Twitter user vowing to take their money elsewhere

Mrs McIlroy, 52, said: 'She's very soft-hearted and has never had that boy out of her head since.

'I'm proud of her. She's that sort of person who is always thinking of others.'

There has been mounting concern for the plight of the homeless during the spells of extreme cold weather this month.

A homeless veteran died in Edinburgh a week before Christmas while sleeping rough.

Darren Greenfield, 47, who sat at the top of the Waverley Steps on Princes Street, died after he was admitted to hospital.

A spokeswoman for Starbucks UK said today: 'We're urgently investigating what has happened here and have been in touch with the customer directly to apologise.

'We believe in creating a place that is welcoming for all and we are disappointed that this incident does not represent the values we expect in our stores.'

Starbucks have regularly been the subject of tax avoidance allegations and in 2015 were ordered to pay back Euro 30m in Holland.

Last year it was reported that their UK profits had dropped by 60%, although they still turned over 13.4m. They blamed the drop on Brexit and a slowing economy.

Mr Anderson told MailOnline: 'When the girl bought me a Starbucks, it was quite overwhelming, to be honest. I thought, 'Wow, people do care!'
Labour moderates fear Ken Livingstone and George Galloway could make a return to the party after the hard-left seized control of the disciplinary body.

Christine Shawcroft, a Momentum activist who said Britain should 'have tea' with ISIS terrorists, was elected to the powerful post yesterday.

And centrists in the party fear she will use the post to readmit Jeremy Corbyn's old friends and hard-left allies to firm up his grip on the party.

A senior Labour source said there was a serious danger Mr Livingstone and Mr Galloway would be brought back into the fold.

Mr Livingstone was suspended from representing Labour after he said Hitler was a 'Zionist', plunging the party into a fresh anti-Semitism row.

The former Mayor of London, dubbed 'Red Ken' because of his hard left views, remains under investigation for making the incendiary comments.

While Mr Galloway, who once memorably impersonated a cat on Celebrity Big Brother, was booted out in 2015 for running against Labour in the election.

Ken Livingstone (pictured after his suspension in 2016) was stopped from representing Labour after he said Hitler was a 'Zionist', plunging the party into a fresh anti-Semitism row.

But rumours have swirled around Westminster that the firebrand MP - who set up the anti war party Respect - could make a controversial return despite still having half of his five year ban to return.

A senior Labour source said: Ken has already been referred to the NCC so they would have to clear him again.'

If the controversial duo do make a return it will expose deep splits within Labour's ranks.

Mr Livingstone sparked outrage among his party colleagues when he repeatedly went on air to say that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was actually a 'Zionist'.

He was suspended from the party for a year after making the incendiary remarks in April 2016, but within minutes of having the suspension lifted in April last year he repeated the claims again.

George Galloway ( pictured memorably impersonating a cat on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006) was booted out in 2015 for running against Labour in the election

He was handed another 12 month ban from representing the party.

John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, has previously branded the ex London Mayor a 'Nazi apologist', while other MPs said the comments were 'hideous' and 'weird'.

Mr Galloway was an MP for Labour for 18 years but split from it to ally himself with members of the Socialist Workers Party and founded the Respect Party in 2004 in opposition to the Iraq War.

After some fleeting electoral success the party has now been abandoned and Mr Galloway lost his Bradford seat in the 2015 election.

He is a long-time ally of Corbyn and is thought to have been eyeing a return to the party since his old friend was elected leader.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: 'If you stand against the Labour Party in the last five years you are banned from being a member. That can only be overturned by the NEC, no application has been received.'

He would not comment on if the Labour leader would support Mr Livingtsone's return as a full and active member.
A 35-year-old woman has been charged with assaulting a fellow prisoner in an alleged early-morning New Year's Day 'hot water' attack.

The woman, who hasn't been named by police, allegedly poured boiling water from a kettle over 43-year-old 'thrill killer' Trudi Lenon, who is waiting to be sentenced for the murder of autistic boy Aaron Pajich-Sweetman.

According to Perth Now the alleged attack occurred as Lenon waited in an early-morning queue on January one  and left her in hospital with serious burns to 30 percent of her body.

A woman has been charged after allegedly poured boiling water from a kettle over 43-year-old 'thrill killer' Trudi Lenon, pictured

Trudi Lenon is waiting to be sentenced for the murder of autistic boy Aaron Pajich-Sweetman, pictured

Another prisoner, 47, was also injured in the alleged attack.

Midland detectives have charged the woman with multiple counts of omission causing bodily harm or danger over the alleged attack.

Lenon was due to be sentenced for the 17-year-old boy's murder next month, alongside her former housemate and partner in crime Jemma Lilley.

The boy'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.

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.

Midland detectives have charged the woman with multiple counts of omission causing bodily harm or danger over the alleged attack on Lenon - which allegedly left her with burns to 30 percent of her body

Jemma Lilley, pictured, was Lenon's housemate at the time of the murder and is the co-accused

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

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'.

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.

The alleged hot water attacker will face court on February 2.

Lenon was due to be sentenced for the 17-year-old boy's murder next month, alongside her former housemate and partner in crime Jemma Lilley




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A retired businessman is putting the finishing touches to a dream 60ft yacht he has spent 12 years building from scratch after selling two homes and his health food company to fund the project.

Mike Ludgrove, 63, has built the classic sailing yacht called 'Helena' using timber imported from Canada and India, and lead from Exeter cathedral.

He has devoted tens of thousands of hours to the yacht which he has worked on full-time since its inception.

'Helena' is due for launch this spring and Mr Ludgrove is hoping his boat will be used to help inspire young people who would not ordinarily have a chance to sail.

Mike Ludgrove, 63, has sold two homes and his health food company to build this dream 60ft yacht. The decking is made out of teak from an 1850s cotton mill in Mumbai which was salvaged before it was due to be burnt down

Mr Ludgrove's vision is for the yacht, Helena, to be used to help inspire young people who would not ordinarily get an opportunity to sail. The lead in the yacht's keel has been sourced from the roof of the 13th century Exeter Cathedral which has undergone recent renovations

The sailor had expected the project to cost 500,000 and take around three years to complete but he soon realised that was overly ambitious.

Realising he needed more money Mr Ludgrove and his wife Elaine sold their flat in London and main home in Exeter, Devon. The couple now live in a rented ex-council house.

The couple also sold their health food business five years ago to help fund the project.

The hull is fashioned from Douglas Fir imported from Canada and the decking is made out of teak from an 1850s cotton mill in Mumbai which was salvaged before it was due to be burnt down.

The lead in the yacht's keel has been sourced from the roof of the 13th century Exeter Cathedral which has undergone recent renovations.

The 30 tonne yacht, which is coated with fibreglass to protect the wood, has a captain's quarters and two large cabins which can sleep six people.

Mr Ludgrove, who started work on the boat in 2006, is now hoping that it will be fully operational by this spring. The hull is fashioned from Douglas Fir imported from Canada

The retired businessman thought the boat would be finished inside three years but it's taken 12 years to complete

The 30 tonne yacht, which is coated with fibreglass to protect the wood, has a captain's quarters and two large cabins which can sleep six people

Mr Ludgrove, who started work on the boat in 2006, said: 'Helena has been my dream for almost 40 years. Every part of her has been personally fashioned, assembled, spoke-shaved, and brought into position.

'It has taken 12 years and I have enjoyed most of it, although there have been some low points when I've wondered whether we were going to make it.

'Everything that I am has gone into Helena, from my home to my business. I have nothing left in my pocket to give her.'

The yacht was designed with the help of the late naval architect Ed Burnett, who was also responsible for the Queen's Jubilee barge.

Mr Ludgrove's wife of 30 years, Elaine, 59, said she was 'incredibly proud' of her husband's boat.

She said: 'Mike was looking to buy a boat but couldn't find one he liked so I suggested to him he build one himself.

'We expected it would take two or three years, but it has taken considerably longer!

'We've all helped out with it, our sons Henry and Tom have been involved and I've done sanding and painting.

'The boat has cost more than we expected and we have had to sell the business and home but we have not gone without anything.

'Mike's boat is absolutely beautiful and I'm incredibly proud of him.

'When it makes its first voyage all the hard work will have been worth it.'

The aim is for Helena to become self-funding through chartering it out to businesses.

They will also offer it to charities to encourage disadvantaged people to try sailing.

Mr Ludgrove said: 'I first sailed aged 12 with a charity which offered the opportunity to young people from urban, often deprived areas the chance to go out to sea, something which they otherwise may never have got the chance to experience.

'It changed my life and everything in my life since has revolved around sailing.

'The ultimate pleasure for me would be for people, young and old, to get to sail the seas for the first time, to get the thrill of cutting through the waves and harnessing the wind.'
A couple from Milwaukee have tied the knot at in a surprise wedding in front of their family and friends at the departure gate of at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.

Jim and Sue Marino were traveling to Sedona, Arizona with 30 people but decided to have the ceremony at the gate before boarding.

It is something the pair had been planning for several months.

Jim and Sue Marino were traveling to Sedona, Arizona with 30 people but decided to have the ceremony on board the Southwest Airlines plane

The couple had planned the ceremony for several months but had managed to keep it secret

The ceremony took part in front of family, friends and frequent fliers who were about to travel!

'It took a lot of lies to keep things a secret,' the groom said.

The bride told how she managed to keep her wedding dress from wrinkling by keeping it in her carry-on bag the entire time.

'My mom wasn't going to go with us, so when she decided she would go with us, we decided to get everyone together,' Jim said to TMJ4.

The flight attendant carried out the ceremony which saw a pair of Southwest Airline wings being pinned onto the couple

The ceremony appeared to be impromptu with even the airline not knowing in advance

Meanwhile, in a second ceremony, cellphone footage captured the moment a flight attendant on board a different Southwest plane conducted a ceremony for a couple over the PA system before handing the newlyweds a pair of ceremonial wings.

'With these wings, I thee wed, Pin of honor, right over her heart,' the employee said to the pair before finally pronouncing the couple husband and wife.

'By the power vested in me by Southwest airlines, you may now kiss the bride.'
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An aunt of the 13 siblings found locked up in the California house of horrors has revealed how the children's father would creepily watch her in the shower when she lived with the family for a short time.

Elizabeth Jane Flores, now aged 41, said she lived with her sister Louise Turpin and her husband David in Texas briefly more than 20 years ago.

Flores said her brother-in-law David often made her feel uncomfortable.

'If I was to get in the shower, he would come in while I was in there and watch me - it was like a joke,' Flores told Good Morning America on Wednesday.

'He never touched me or anything. I was young, I was scared. I was in Texas where I knew nobody. I was treated like one of the kids, I had rules.'

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Elizabeth Jane Flores, now aged 41, said she lived with her sister Louise Turpin and her husband David in Texas briefly more than 20 years ago

David and Louise Turpin, seen renewing their vows at an Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas in 2015, have been arrested after locking up their 13 children inside their home in Perris, California on Sunday

Sister of California mom accused of holding her 13 children captive: "I don't agree with what she did and her actions have made the whole family suffer. And I want her to know that I'm praying for her salvation." https://t.co/uXh0y8nGLf pic.twitter.com/zcufPmYRcV  Good Morning America (@GMA) January 17, 2018

Flores said Louise and David ran a strict household but at the time she didn't see any signs of abuse.

'Now looking back, I see things that I didn't see then,' she said.

The Turpins have been charged with torturing and keeping their 13 biological children - ranging from 2 to 29 years of age - captive in their Perris, California home.

The children were rescued by police on Sunday after the couple's 17-year-old daughter escaped through a window and called police saying her siblings were being chained up inside the home.

Louise Turpin's other sister, Teresa Robinette, told NBC's Today that the mother-of-13 would laugh off the fact that her children were so skinny when family commented on it.

'I always made comments to Louise, when I did talk to her about, 'Gosh they're so skinny', and she would laugh it off saying 'Well, David's so tall and lanky. They're going to be like him',' Robinette said.

'(The children) weren't allowed to date, or they didn't have a social life,' she said. 'They weren't allowed to watch TV. They weren't allowed to talk on the phone, have friends over, stuff like that. Normal things that kids do.'

Louise Turpin's other sister, Teresa Robinette, told NBC's Today that the mother-of-13 would laugh off the fact that her children were so skinny when family commented on it

Parents David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were arrested and charged with torture and child endangerment on Sunday

Police found the siblings inside their family home (above) after the 17-year-old girl managed to escape through a window and call 911 with a cell phone she had found in the house

Police said the 17-year-old girl bravely managed to escape through a window of the home and notify authorities. She told police she was scared her parents would kill her if they caught her escaping

Through a screen erected in front of the French windows, clutter, including what appear to be books, could be seen inside the home

Flores told DailyMailTV on Tuesday that she had not seen her sister in 19 years, and while she still kept in touch with her by telephone, Turpin refused to invite her over to her home and never let her speak to her nieces and nephews.

She said their parents had bought tickets to visit the family but Turpin would not give them an address.

When asked why no one in the family thought to report the Turpins to authorities, Flores told GMA that their behavior didn't seem abnormal to them.

'When this happens for 20 years and before the kids are even there, you don't think it's abnormal,' she said.

'If it had been two years ago, we would have thought something is not right. Even before children, they were real private.'

Robinette also echoed that the family had lost touch with Louise several years ago.

'My parents before they died in 2016 begged to see her. Even on their on their deathbed they asked to see her,' Robinette told NBC. 'She didn't even show up to either of their funerals. So we have really no connection with Louise in a long, long time since we were young.'

Flores broke down in tears when she said that while she did not agree with her sister's actions, she still loved her and would pray for her salvation.

'I want her to know that she's my blood and I love her. Her actions has made the whole family suffer,' Flores said.

'I want to reach out to the kids. For years we begged to see them, I've asked for 20 years to be able to Skype them. I want them to know they have family that love them, whether they know us or not.'

She also added that she thought the 17-year-old who had escaped was the same child named after her.

Meanwhile, David's brother Dr Randy Turpin is taking leave from his job as president of Valor Christian College in Ohio as he deals with 'revelations about estranged family members,' the New York Post reports.

Police originally thought all of the victims were children but soon discovered seven of them were adults. The family are pictured above in a photo taken around 2015

'Things 1 to 13': The family are seen in Dr Seuss-style shirts, and all in blue jeans, in a family photo posted in April 2016

The revelations from Louise's siblings comes a day after police hailed the teenager a hero for managing to escape the horror home and help rescue her 12 brothers and sisters.

The girl, who was so malnourished officers initially believed she was only 10, managed to escape through a window and call 911 with a deactivated cell phone she had found in the home. When officers interviewed the girl, she provided photos of the conditions and abuse suffered by her and the rest of her siblings.

Authorities found at least three of the Turpin children - aged 2 to 29 - shackled to their beds and furniture with chains and padlocks in a dark, foul-smelling room inside the family home.

The victims, including six children and seven adults, were 'malnourished and very dirty'. It is not clear how long some of them were chained, padlocked and shackled before they were discovered.

'We do need to acknowledge the courage of that young girl who escaped,' Riverside County sheriff's Capt. Greg Fellows said on Tuesday.

Police confirmed that all 13 victims are the biological children of David and Louise Turpin. They were both arrested and charged with nine counts of torture and 10 of child endangerment. They are being held on $9million bail pending a court appearance.

According to The Mirror, the 17-year-old who finally broke free thought her parents would kill her if they caught her trying to escape.

'In her mind, she was risking her life,' a source told the paper, describing the teen as 'so intelligent' despite alleged limited access to the outside world during her childhood.

The couple are pictured above on a neighbor's surveillance cameras being arrested on Sunday morning

More than once: The family are gathered for yet another vow-renewal ceremony in 2013, with the children dressed in the outfits which were then re-used three years later

David and Louise are pictured in front of Disneyland's iconic castle appearing to hold Tinker Bell. The photo appeared on Facebook in October 2010 and was one of multiple trips to the theme park

Owners of two Texas homes where California house of horror couple lived with their children before relocating reveal horror conditions The current owners of the two Texas homes where a California couple charged with torturing their 13 children once lived claim to have found scratch marks on doors, as well as closets that may have been used to keep the siblings. David and Louise Turpin had lived in a home in Fort Worth, Texas from around 1992 to 1999 before they lost it in a foreclosure. The owners who moved in after them claim the home was left in complete squalor. They say they found scratch marks on the back of doors and that the carpet was covered in disgusting dirt stains and filth. The people who moved into David and Louise Turpin's home in Fort Worth, Texas in 1999 took photos of the filthy carpets caked in dirt The people who bought the Fort Worth home initially thought scratch marks on doors were caused by animals, but now believe it could be something more sinister following the arrest of the parents The people who bought the home initially thought the scratch marks were caused by animals, but now believe it could be something more sinister following the arrest of the parents, according to CBS. They took photos of the dirt covered floor, walls and doors. The Turpin family then moved to Rio Vista, south of Fort Worth, where they lived for the next decade. The current owner of the Rio Vista home, who didn't want to be identified, told WFAA that she found unusual vents in the master bedroom closet when she moved in after the Turpins left in 2010. 'There are two vents in the closet and they are covered up now,' she said. The current owner of the Rio Vista home, who didn't want to be identified, believes the couple's children may have been locked in this closet in the bedroom. This image was taken on Tuesday and shows the new owner's belongings The woman described finding two strange vents in the closet that are now closed up. She believes they may indicate the children were held there She believes the couple's children may have been locked in there. The Turpins lived in Rio Vista from around 1999 to 2010 when they relocated to California. Louise gave birth to at least one child, who is now aged two, after moving to California. 'She never allowed her children to go outside and play. They homeschooled every one of them and one day they just up and left,' the woman said. She described the Turpins as hoarders and said they left everything when the suddenly moved. They had so many belongings in the home it was difficult to walk around. Neighbors have also revealed the children were not allowed to tell people their names and described the home in Rio Vista as a 'religious compound'. Advertisement

The malnourished siblings, who were taken to hospital still dressed in their pajamas, continue to undergo treatment. Child's services will now seek a court order to have oversight over the 13 children, including those over the age of 18.

Police confirmed that both David and Louise Turpin were religious but were unable to say if that played a role in holding their children captive.

While still early in the investigation, police said there were no signs that any of the siblings were sexually abused or that the parents were suffering from mental illness.

The sheriff's captain said the conditions were horrific and amounted to torture. It wasn't yet clear how long they had been held in such conditions in the filthy home but it appeared to have been a 'prolonged' period.

'If you can imagine being a 10-year-old and being chained to a bed ... I would call that torture,' he said.

He added that Louise seemed 'perplexed' about why police came to their home, but it was unclear how the children's father reacted.

Deputies had never been called to the home and neither had social service workers.

Corona Regional Medical Center CEO Mark Uffer said his facility is treating seven of the adult children.

'It's hard to think of them as adults, they are so small,' Uffer said, adding that they clearly malnourished but stable and very friendly.

'I believe they are hopeful life will get better for them after this event.'

They have had marriage-renewal ceremonies in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator at least three times in 2011 (pictured above), 2013 and 2015

The couple's joint Facebook page features several photos of the youngest child when she was a baby in late 2015. She was often pictured posing with her mother outside the house, including dressed as Disney Princess Snow White (left)

HOW DID THE TURPIN FAMILY GO UNNOTICED? Police said on Tuesday they wished they had an answer as to how the Turpin children ended up in the situation they did. The family had lived in Perris, California since 2014 but deputies had never been called to the residence previously for any reason. Social workers had also never visited the home. State Department of Education records show the family home has the same address as Sandcastle Day School, where David Turpin is listed as principal. Six of the children were homeschooled. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades. As a private school, there are no laws that require it to be inspected. Family have said they were never invited over to their home, but thought they were living the dream life based on Facebook photos of their trips to Disneyland and Las Vegas. Neighbors have described the family as intensely private, with some saying they did not even know children lived in the home. Advertisement

The shocking allegations provide a stark contrast to the life shown on David and Louise's joint Facebook page. They appear to have had marriage-renewal ceremonies in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator at least three times in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Their children were present at the ceremonies and are seeing posing for photos in 2015 in matching outfits for the boys and the girls. The 10 girls are all dressed in pink dresses with white tights and white shoes, while the boys are seen in suits with purple ties - and bowl haircuts like their father.

Footage of the ceremony posted online showed the smiling children awkwardly dancing and clicking their fingers behind their parents.

Another ceremony with the same Elvis impersonator in 2013 - prior to their youngest child being born - shows the children wearing the same outfits. Photographs from 2011 show the couple by themselves, but impersonator Kent Ripley said the children were in attendance that time as well.

'I'm still disturbed. This is a sad day for everybody, especially the children, I mean they were sitting right around here three different times,' Ripley told Fox5Vegas. He added on Today: 'Nothing seemed to be unusual apart from the fact there was a lot of them. They were well behaved and smiled a lot'.

Other pictures show the family smiling on several trips to Disneyland, while another shows them wearing Dr Seuss-style shirts, with each child's top emblazoned with 'Thing 1' to 'Thing 13'.

It also features several photos of the youngest child when she was a baby in late 2015. She was often pictured posing with her mother, including in a Snow White costume, inside a Krispy Kreme store and at a lake.

The last public images that appeared on the Facebook page were posted in July 2016.

Speaking to CNN, grandmother Betty Turpin said the parents made the children dress alike for safety reasons. She describes how the children would line up according to age and the mother and father would walk in front and back of the line.

'They were very protective of the kids. This is a highly respectable family.'

Tradition: The couple are seen in a picture from 2011, renewing their vows in front of the same Elvis impersonator

Playing happy families: The Turpins are pictured smiling at the most recent of their vow renewals, which was conducted by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas

Loved-up: Pictures on Facebook show the Turpins renewing their vows in 2015, with their children next to them at the altar

The Turpins were believed to have been dogged by debt and filed for bankruptcy twice - once in Texas and again in 2011 after moving to California.

They were between $100,000 and $500,000 in debt when they filed for bankruptcy in August 2011 . At the time of the filing, David Turpin was earning a $140,000 salary as an engineer at defense firm Northrop Grumman where he had been working for eight months. His wife was listed as a stay-at-home mom.

Records show the large family's expenses exceed Turpin's pay by just over $1,000 a month. He previously worked for Lockheed Martin but left the job in 2010.

Court documents show that David had tried to keep his 2010 Ford Mustang in the bankruptcy proceedings but a judge eventually ordered for him to give it up.

The family are believed to have moved to California from Texas around 2010. The Turpins lived in Murrieta first before purchasing their current four-bedroom home in Perris in August 2014 for $351,000.

Their house in Perris is also the address of Sandcastle Day School - a private school registered in 2014-15 so David Turpin could home-school six of his children. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six students - one each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades. As a private school, there are no laws that require it to be inspected.

David Turpin's parents, James and Betty Turpin, told ABC News they were 'surprised and shocked' at the allegations.

The couple, who live in West Virginia, said they had not visited the family for four or five years but had spoken to them on the phone, although not with their grandchildren.

The grandparents described the family as very religious and said they were Pentecostal Christian.

They said the parents had so many children because they believed 'God called on them' to do so. They added that the 'very strict homeschooling' would involve the children memorizing long Bible passages and even attempting to memorize the entire book.

The children also all appear to have been given names beginning with a J, perhaps a tribute to Jesus or maybe even to the Old Testament's Joseph, who is believed to have had 12 siblings.
The FBI is warning against 'virtual kidnappers' who are scamming vulnerable parents out of thousands of dollars by phoning them and pretending to have snacthed their children.

The scam is decades-old but has been reprised by the popularity of social media which allows the con artists to stalk families online and learn details about their lives to make the ruse more believable.

In the past year, a handful of families across the country have spoken out after being targeted.

In one case, a mother wired more than $9,000 to criminals who said they had kidnapped her college student daughter.

They kept her on the phone as she drove around to Western Unions and banks near her Virginia home, threatening throughout that they would shoot her daughter if she did not comply.

On Wednesday, a California mother told how she was targeted by virtual kidnappers who threatened to have stolen her son and demanded a ransom

A South Carolina mother told a similar story about being contacted by scammers who said they had her daughter. Neither woman wanted to be named

On Wednesday, security expert Evy Poumpouras told ABC that scammers had begun targeting families who are busy and open on social media.

'You have to be very very thoughtful about what you put out there when you post your kids.

'What are you sharing? Are you sharing their names, where they go to school, whether they like sports.

'It's something you really have to think about.

'You may just post one picture and say "oh I just shared this little piece of information," but what they do is they build a profile on you, so they go through everything.

'They use these details against you and you think "this could be true".

One California mother and her husband received a phone call from a scammer pretending to be part of the Mexican cartel.

They chose to remain anonymous but shared a recording of the phone call they received.

Maty Montoya received similar threats about her brother. She refused to pay the ransom

Last year, Illinois mother Tina Pelinski received a call to say her daughter Hannah had been kidnapped. She wired the scammers $6,000 before learning that Hannah had been safe all along

'You try and f*** with me? I won't f*** around, I'll kill your son. '

'As long as you cooperate with my cartel, I promise you your son's gonna be fine and I'm gonna release him.

'I need you to get a f**** Western Union or MoneyGram, stop wasting time,' the scammer said.

They did not say whether they transferred them any money. Another woman in South Carolina, who also chose to remain anonymous, received similar threats.

Maty Montoya, another woman, received a similar call about her brother. She refused to send the scammers the money.

In November last year, mother Tina Pelinski from South Elgin, Illinois, was told her daughter Hannah had been kidnapped.

She was asked to give them all the money she had. She wired them $6,000 before she learned her daughter was safe.

At the same time, Hannah was asked by different scammers to send them money or face going to jail because she had missed jury duty.

Last year, Wendy Mueller from Loudon, Virginia, gave the con artists $9,100 before she realised it was a hoax.

In October last year, FBI agents told how the scam had spread from being carried out by scammers based in Mexico and the southern states to across the entire country.

In some cases, the scams are being carried out by prisoners who want to use the ransom money to buy their way out of jail in Mexico or pay off debts.

FBI agents advise people not to answer the phone unless they recognize the number and to call 911 if they receive threats that a loved one has been kidnapped and they cannot locate them.
A majority of Australians would support a change to the date of Australia Day from January 26, according to a new poll.

A Research Now survey asked 1417 people their thoughts on the country's day of celebration, as a national debate to 'change the date' once again intensifies.

Only 37 per cent of Australians realise the date is deeply offensive to many Indigenous people because it marks the beginning of British colonisation and violence towards Indigenous Australians.

A majority of Australians would support a change to the date of Australia Day from January 26, according to a new poll

The poll suggests nearly all Australians - 84 per cent - believe the country needs a national day of celebration, The Age reports.

However, 56 per cent said they don't mind when the day falls.

The data also showed 77 per cent of voters believe Australia Day was always celebrated on January 26, which is not the case.

The date is significant as it's the day the First Fleet arrived in Australia, at Sydney Cove, in 1788.

However, the date was not adopted by all states as a national day of celebration until 1935 and has only been celebrated as it is from 1994.

When asked to nominate a preferred date to celebrate Australia Day, 70 per cent of voters chose a date not associated with the First Fleet.

Only 37 per cent of Australians realise the date is deeply offensive to many Indigenous people

And only 23 per cent selected the landing in Sydney Cove as the best of a range of options.

Just 37 per cent of people agreed celebrating on January 26 was offensive to Indigenous people.

Nearly half of participants - 46 per cent - disagreed the date was problematic.

Just 49 per cent agreed that Australia Day should not be celebrated on the current date, as it's hurtful to Aboriginal people, while 36 per cent disagreed.

'This polling shows that while Australia Day is important to most Australians, most people are laid back about the date we celebrate on,' Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the polling company, told The Age.
A porn star is speaking out to accuse a well-known sex and relationship expert of sexual misconduct.

Reid Mihalko, 49, has made a living preaching about the importance of consent at universities across the country.

He first got his start in sex education back in the early aughts, when he started the cuddle party movement in New York City - non-sexual intimacy parties where attendees are required to ask permission before touching anyone.

But porn star Kelly Shibari, 45, says that Mihalko didn't practice what he preached when the two met about eight years ago.

Reid Mihalko (right) has made a career out of teaching the importance of consent. But porn star Kelly Shibari (left) is speaking out to detail a troubling sexual encounter she had with the 'sex and relationship expert'

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Shibari says she was invited to take one of Mihalko's workshops in downtown LA, and was so excited by the lecture that she offered to drive Mihalko home.

While she hoped to talk more about Mihalko's work on the car ride, she says he instead used the time to try and have sex with her.

'As I drove him back to his friends place, he spent the entire time trying to figure out how to have sex with me. I kept telling him, well, Im a sex worker and a porn performer, you cant get this unless you pay for this and I wasnt doing any private sessions,' Shibari said.

She continued: 'He kept hammering at it, even after we parked and I said no. Hed come up with scenarios, like what if we did a video together, or different kinds of workshops. It felt like he was coming up with workshop ideas just so he could have sex.'

Shibari said she attended one of Mihalko's (pictured) workshops in LA about eight years ago, and offered to give him a ride back to where he was staying afterwards

During the car ride, Shibari says Mihalko (pictured) kept trying to figure out a way to have sex with her. Eventually, she says she agreed to give him a hand job to get rid of him

Eventually Shibari said she agreed to give him a hand job to get rid of him.

'He was doing the puppy dog thing. He said, "Well if we cant have sex is there something else we can do? Youre so pretty, etc." I stood my ground and he tried to come up with all these different scenarios and so I was like, "Would a handjob work?"

'It was like he didnt understand he was pushing too far and I was like, fine, I will give you a handjob if youll just leave. I dont think he understood what he did was wrong, especially because a couple of months later he hired me for a hand sex workshop. I accepted and in a weird way that probably negated any uncomfortable scenario that happened before,' she said.

While she continued a working relationship with Mihalko after the incident, she says she was infuriated last year when he approached her and invited her to one of his play parties.

'I said no and stormed off. He obviously doesnt get it,' Shibari said. 'Maybe you should think about your prior interactions with someone before you approach them and apologize.'

Mihalko said he recalls receiving a hand job the first time that he met Shibari (left and right). However, he seemed surprised that Shibari had been uncomfortable

When contacted by the Daily Beast, Mihalko said he remembers receiving a hand job the first time he met Shibari.

However, he appeared to be unaware that she was uncomfortable.

He said he first learned Shibari had a grievance with him when she put his name on a list of 'bad' industry people.

Mihalko admits that he was less 'savvy about sexism' when he first met Shibari, a time when he was transitioning from cuddle parties to the sex business.

'Back then I had a lot less unexamined privilege and was very extroverted,' he said.

Mihalko said that back then, he also had a different understanding of how porn actors operated.

'I saw porn performers as excellent in communicating their boundaries because they communicate as part of their profession. Now all these years later, knowing what I do now, all I can say is that we are all human and just because someone is a performer or sex educator doesnt mean they are amazing about speaking up,' he said.

Mihalko doesn't appear to be mad that Shibari is speaking out.

'When somebody comes forward with any information, my advice is to thank them for speaking up and ask them to tell you more,' he said. 'Treat the situation like it happened yesterday, even if it was 15 years ago. Its not about why didnt they speak up sooner, its huge that they are speaking up at all. Ask them what they need, ask how to clean up the mistakes, and how you can help to start the process of healing.'
The elections watchdog was accused of 'double standards' today after it rejected claims of collusion by Remain campaigners while probing similar allegations against Vote Leave.

Priti Patel, the disgraced former Cabinet minister, filed a complaint to the Electoral Commission about the behaviour of different Remain campaigns.

Her complaint was based on books written by senior figures at Britain Stronger in Europe, including David Cameron's ex communications director Craig Oliver, discussing conference calls and campaign coordination.

Ms Patel's claim this amounted to illegal collaboration and joint spending was dismissed without a full investigation by the watchdog.

Priti Patel (file image), the disgraced former Cabinet minister, filed a complaint to the Electoral Commission about the behaviour of different Remain campaigns

The Electoral Commission has several open investigations into Vote Leave, including particular claims it donated money to small campaigns with instructions on how to spend it - something that would breach election laws.

Vote Leave is specifically accused of giving activist Darren Grimes money and telling it be spent with obscure marketing firm Aggregate IQ.

In a new letter to the watchdog, Ms Patel said: 'Despite the fact that there is no evidence of Vote Leave Limited or Mr Grimes engaging in joint planning (even of an advisory nature) - you have been persuaded of the need for a full investigation.

'However, when clear documented evidence of the Remain campaigns coordinating specific messaging is presented to you, this is dismissed as ''advisory''.

'This would appear to be a clear case of double standards.'

complaint was based on books written by senior figures at Britain Stronger in Europe (file image of campaign activists), including David Cameron's ex communications director Craig Oliver, discussing conference calls and campaign coordination.

Labour ran its own Remain campaign (pictured is Jeremy Corbyn at a rally) and the campaigns held conference calls on their respective efforts - prompting allegations of joint spending

The Electoral Commission said it received Ms Patel's latest letter and would 'respond in due course'.

In its first reply on Monday,head of regulation Louise Edwards said the watchdog did not have 'reasonable grounds' to investigate the Remain campaign.

Responding to the claim of collusion, Ms Edwards said: 'Following examination we are satisfied that while liaison took place there is no evidence of joint spending as a result.

'The evidence indicates that the meetings were advisory in nature, focussed on communications and did not involve or result in decisions on referendum spending, or the coordination of campaign activities across campaigners, as part of a common plan or other arrangement.'

She added: 'While we appreciate that you felt that an investigation was justified, our decision has been taken after careful examination of the evidence.

'As with any regulatory matter, should new evidence come to light that makes it appropriate for us to look again at this matter, we would do so.'
A female inmate's death has been ruled a suicide after several objects including nail clippers, Styrofoam, milk cartons and a cookie wrapper were found in her stomach.

Jennifer Towle, 48, was just two days away from being released from her six month DWI sentence at Hudson County jail when she was found unresponsive on the floor of her cell on July 14, 2017.

The cause of death was a perforated ulcer in her stomach from ingesting non-food items, the autopsy report states, according to NJ.com.

Medical examiners later ruled her death a suicide after they found an 'abundant amount of foreign material' inside her stomach.

Jennifer Towle, 48, was just two days away from being released from her six month DWI sentence at Hudson County jail (pictured) when she was found unresponsive on the floor of her cell on July 14, 2017

Items included a nail clipper, an examination glove, condiment packages, milk cartons, drink cartons, paper, a band-aid, a plastic bag, a cookie wrapper and plastic and Styrofoam, the autopsy report reveals.

Examiners also found a inedible item inside her esophagus.

In total, examiners found three liters of inedible material in her stomach, and very little food. The average person's stomach can only take one liter of material at any time.

Prison reports reveal that Towle, who was serving six months at the jail for a DWI, spent her entire stay on suicide watch after being diagnosed with depression.

A report revealed that she was not allowed any clothes because she was on suicide watch.

In extreme cases, certain jails will strip a prisoner off their clothes, although this practice has been denounced as demeaning and having a damaging effect on the inmate's mental health.

Another inmate, Rolando Meza Espinoza, 35, (pictured) an immigrant detainee, collapsed and died at the jail on June 10 last year

The Medical Examiner Investigative Data Sheet also noted that Towle stayed in an isolated cell because she often refused to leave.

A county spokesman told The Jersey Journal that Towle was initially being constantly monitored but the observation was 'stepped down' on a mental health professional's orders, who said constant observation could be more damaging to Towle's health.

Towle was moved to a room with a glass window where she could be seen by nursing staff at the jail. Yet, doctors from Jersey City Medical Center, assessed her and ruled that she didn't need to be moved to a mental health care facility.

County spokesman Jim Kennelly said in September that they planned to review whether Towle received the correct care.

Details about Towle's death comes just days after a 38-year-old woman was found hanging at the jail.

The unnamed woman, who survived, has been in extremely critical condition since the attempt, sources told NJ.com.

Another inmate, Rolando Meza Espinoza, 35, an immigrant detainee, collapsed and died at the jail on June 10 last year.

Espinoza, who suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, anemia and diabetes according to his family, was arrested by ICE agents at his worksite on Long Island in March, and was in jail until June 8 when he was sent to Jersey City Medical Center's intensive care unit because of "gastrointestinal bleeding".

He died two days later but his family was only informed on June 12.

An autopsy was never performed.

A $70,000 medical review board was established by the county in August to investigate their deaths.

Hudson County Freeholder Bill O'Dea, who sits on the board, conceded in September that Towle likely should not have remained at the jail and said the county is improving the mental health ward for female inmates.
A doctor has been found guilty of committing 10 sex offences against four female patients, including victims who complained of stomach pain, back pain and hay fever.

Jaswant Rathore was convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court after a seven-week trial which heard he conducted unnecessary massage 'treatment' to satisfy his sexual desires.

The 60-year-old general practitioner, who was the primary care lead for the Dudley clinical commissioning group, had denied touching eight women inappropriately on different occasions between late 2008 and the summer of 2015.

Dr Jaswant Rathore, pictured, has been found guilty of committing 10 sex offences against six female patients between 2008 and 2015

Jurors were told Rathore - who was acquitted of eight counts relating to four patients - stroked the side of the breasts of one victim.

One of the patients Rathore was cleared of assaulting claimed he offered to put her prescription for eczema on her son's prescription so she could get it free after he got the 'wrong end of the stick'.

The court was told the GP was initially arrested in relation to three complainants but five more contacted police after seeing reports in the press.

Opening the case against Rathore at the start of the trial, Prosecutor Heidi Kubik told the jury: 'You will see that his actions went far beyond that of legitimate medical treatment.

'It was an excuse to touch these complainants in a way that was sexually motivated on his part.'

Ms Kubik said Rathore had a 'special interest' in the massage therapy he was giving to his patients and 'read various articles over the internet.'

She added: 'We say this was an interest fuelled by his own illicit sexual desires.'

The jury was also told that the prosecution did not accept that Rathore even had 'the appropriate training' to carry out the massage procedures.

Rathore was the lead GP at the Castle Meadow surgery in Dudley, West Midlands, pictured

Rathore, pictured centre, was remanded in custody following his conviction today and was warned he faced a significant jail term following his conviction for assaulting four patients

Rathore, of Wall Heath, Kingswinford, West Midlands, was convicted of eight charges of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration.

According to sentencing guidelines, the sexual assault convictions carry a maximum jail term of ten years while the assault by penetration attracts a maximum prison sentence of life.

The Indian-born doctor, who came to Britain aged three with his family, qualified as a GP in 1985 after studying medicine at the University of Manchester.

He also worked as a house officer in the spinal surgery section at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham in the 1980s.

He has been suspended by the General Medical Council following his arrest.

Judge Michael Challinor rejected a plea to continue Rathore's bail overnight before sentencing on Thursday.

Dr Rathore, pictured outside Wolverhampton Crown Court, had denied the allegations

Rathore's medical licence has been suspended by the General Medical Council

The judge told the doctor: 'We know the nature of the sentence and don't want there to be any difficulties.

'Following your conviction, you must expect a significant prison sentence.'

Detectives reacted to the conviction of disgraced doctor Jaswant Rathore by urging any other patients with concerns about his conduct to contact police.

Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, of West Midlands Police, said: 'Dr Rathore was a trusted GP.

'Many of the patients that have come forward to us have gone to him for years - their lifetime - so are absolutely traumatised and devastated that he has abused that position of trust by carrying out these acts against them.

'I commend their bravery and courage in coming forward.'

Describing how the inquiry developed, the detective added: 'The first patient came forward in May 2015, very closely followed by two other patients who came forward.'

After Rathore was charged, a further five patients made contact with detectives.

Det Insp Thurgood said: 'I am so grateful to all of them for having the bravery to come forward in the first place, but even more so to actually go through the court process - it's very traumatic and it's very difficult.

'The door is clearly always open. There may be people who are sat at home who have seen this in the press who now realise that what happened to them was in fact a sexual assault - if that is you, please come forward.

'We will put you in touch with specially trained officers and give you the support you need.'
For the British historian, see Anne Curry

Ann Curry (born November 19, 1956) is an American television personality, journalist, and photojournalist. [1] Curry has been a reporter for more than 30 years, focused on human suffering in war zones and natural disasters. Curry has reported from the wars in Syria, Darfur, Congo, the Central African Republic, Kosovo, Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan, and Iraq. [2] Curry has covered numerous disasters, including the tsunamis in Southeast Asia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where her appeal via Twitter topped Twitter's 'most powerful' list, credited for helping speed the arrival of humanitarian planes. [3]

In June 2012, she became the national and international correspondent-anchor for NBC News and the anchor at large for the Today show. She was co-anchor of Today from June 9, 2011, to June 28, 2012, and the program's news anchor from March 1997 until becoming co-anchor. She was also the anchor of Dateline NBC from 2005 to 2011. [4]

On January 13, 2015, it was announced that Curry would be leaving NBC News after nearly 25 years. [5]

In January 2015, Curry founded her own multi-platform media startup. [6] She continues to conduct major news interviews on network television, most recently securing an exclusive interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the Iran nuclear talks. [7]

Early life and education [ edit ]

Curry was born in Guam to Bob Curry, an American from Pueblo, Colorado, who is of Cherokee, French, German, Scottish and Irish descent; and Hiroe Nagase, who is of Japanese descent. [8] Her father, a career navy sailor, [9] met her mother during the United States occupation of Japan following the Second World War. [10] Although he was transferred out of Japan, he returned two years later to marry Nagase. [10] Curry is the eldest of five children. [10]

Curry lived in Japan for several years as a child, attending the Ernest J. King School on the United States Fleet Activities Sasebo naval base in Sasebo, Nagasaki. Later she moved to Ashland, Oregon, where she graduated from Ashland High School. She graduated with a B.A. in journalism at the University of Oregon in 1978. [11]

Career [ edit ]

Curry began her broadcasting career in 1978 as an intern at then NBC-affiliate (now CBS-affiliate) KTVL in Medford, Oregon. There she rose to become the station's first female news reporter. In 1980, Curry moved to NBC-affiliate KGW [12] in Portland, where she was a reporter and anchor.

Four years later, Curry moved to Los Angeles as a reporter for KCBS-TV and received two Emmy Awards while working as a reporter from 1984 to 1990.

In 1990, Curry joined NBC News, first as the NBC News Chicago correspondent then as the anchor of NBC News at Sunrise from 1991 to 1996. Curry also served as a substitute news anchor for Matt Lauer from 1994 to 1997 at Today. From 1997 to 2011, she served as news anchor at Today, becoming the show's second-longest serving news anchor, behind Frank Blair, who served in that capacity from 1953 to 1975. During this time, she also served as a substitute anchor for Today. In May 2005, Curry was named co-anchor of Dateline NBC with Stone Phillips; she remained as the primary anchor when Phillips left in June 2007, until she replaced Meredith Vieira on Today in 2011. She was the primary substitute on NBC Nightly News from 2005 to 2011.

Curry has reported on major international stories, filing stories from places such as Baghdad, Sri Lanka, Congo, Rwanda, Albania, and Darfur. Curry hosted NBC's primetime coverage and highlights of the Live Earth concerts on July 7, 2007, and also contributed with interviews for the special with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Al Gore. Curry reported from the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, and had an exclusive interview with General Tommy Franks. She reported from Baghdad in early 2003, and then from the USS Constellation as the war in Iraq began. Curry was also the first network news anchor to report from inside the Southeast Asian tsunami zone in late 2004. [citation needed ]

On December 17, 2007, Curry bungee-jumped off the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough, England, to raise money for charity. Her jump was shown live on the Today show.

In 2009, Curry traveled to Iran where she interviewed then-President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad days before Ahmadinejad traveled to America to speak in front of the United Nations General Assembly.

In 2011, Curry appeared in the first PBS Kids Sprout "Kindness Counts" PSA.

2018 - Present [ edit ]

In January 2018, Curry returns to television with her six-part PBS series, Well Meet Again, developed by her own production company, focuses on 12 stories of people searching for individuals who changed their lives. [13]

Departure from Today [ edit ]

It was widely reported in June 2012 that Curry would be replaced as co-host of Today. Curry hired attorney Robert Barnett to represent her in her discussions with NBC. [14] [15] [16]

On June 28, 2012, Curry announced in an emotional broadcast on the show that she was leaving Today. She signed a new multi-year contract with the network as NBC News National and International Correspondent/Anchor and Today Anchor at Large. For a time, she led a seven-person unit producing content and reporting for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, for which she also is a regular substitute anchor, Dateline NBC, Rock Center with Brian Williams until it was canceled before the end of its first season, Today, and MSNBC. Curry also anchored multiple NBC News primetime specials. [17] [18]

On August 9, 2012, Curry made her first post-departure appearance on Today, when she reported a story during the show's coverage at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The reunion with her former co-anchor, Matt Lauer, was described in the media as "tense", "awkward", and "chilly". [19] [20] In September 2013, Lauer said he was disappointed in the way the media reported Curry's departure. [21]

It was announced in January 2015 that Curry was officially leaving NBC News. [22]

Career timeline [ edit ]

Personal life [ edit ]

Curry was raised Catholic by her mother, who was a convert to the religion. [10] Curry is married to Brian Ross, a software executive, whom she met in college. They have a daughter, McKenzie, and a son, William Walker Curry Ross. The family lives in New Canaan, Connecticut. [24]

Charitable work [ edit ]
The husband of a British woman found dead on a Marbella beach was allegedly exporting cannabis e-cigarettes from his Spanish hideaway, police say.

Investigators believe that Paul Muldoon, 33, who is on the run from authorities in Britain accused of fraud, was selling the cigarettes to cannabis clubs.

Video shows police marching Muldoon into the office before confronting him with boxes of what appear to be electronic smoking devices.

Paul Muldoon, 33 (pictured in the tracksuit), has been hit with drug charges in Spain after investigators accused him of smuggling e-cigarettes containing cannabis oil

Video released by Spanish police shows Muldoon being taken to an office which is filled with the electronic smoking devices

Muldoon was discovered to be on the run from authorities in Britain after wife Rebecca disappeared on January 2.

Her body washed up on a beach near their penthouse apartment in the Costa del Sol on Sunday.

Her husband had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting her shortly before she vanished- but is not being linked to her death which is not regarded as suspicious.

However her disappearance led to the discovery he was on the run from authorities in the UK over a six-figure 'boiler room'-style fraud.

He is suspected of conning OAPS into investing in dodgy 'green energy bundles.'

One customer, an 83-year-old widow, claimed she handed over 235,000 for precious metals, diamond and even plots of land in Brazil.

He appeared in court on Wednesday for an extradition hearing where he agreed to be sent back to Britain.

He also faced questioning over the 425 e-cigarettes found at an office he rented in Marbella.

Spanish police confirmed he faced additional drugs charges in a statement issued after he was hauled to court.

They said the cigarettes seized were filled with 'weed oil' containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and had been imported from the States.

A spokesman for Spain's National Police confirmed: 'On Monday, Spanish officers arrested a 33-year-old British man on a European Arrest Warrant issued the same day for economic and financial crimes.

Officers say the e-cigarettes were filled with a liquid containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, which were smuggled from the US

Muldoon came to the attention of police in Spain after wife Rebecca (right) disappeared the day after he was held for domestic violence

'He was also arrested for a drugs offence committed in Spain after 425 e-cigarettes used to vaporise cannabis were found in an office he had rented in Marbella.

'The cigarettes were of three different types and had a high quantity of THC.

'They had been manufactured in California and imported into Spain without any sanitary control.

'Our investigations have led us to believe that the cigarettes were ready to be sent and sold to cannabis clubs and exported to England.'

A source at the Audiencia Nacional, the court in Madrid dealing with the extradition request, confirmed Muldoon had agreed to be extradited via video-link from the court in Marbella.

He was remanded in prison and is expected to be flown back to Britain within days.

Muldoon went on the run to Ireland with Rebecca and her children aged 11 and eight before moving to LA where they married, then left the States for Spain last year.

He vanished after being initially arrested and interviewed by Surrey Police in 2013.

He was held the day before Rebecca, from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, went missing on suspicion of domestic violence but released without charge when she failed to show in court on January 3 to give evidence against him.

Rebecca's body was found on Sunday, and while police say her death is not suspicious, their investigation revealed Muldoon is wanted in the UK over a fraud allegation

Spanish detectives subsequently discovered he was wanted by Surrey Police and rearrested him on Monday evening on an European Arrest Warrant issued the same day which replaced an outstanding UK-only arrest warrant.

Rebecca is known to have been deeply unhappy with Muldoon and had tried to leave him last year. She was described as 'vulnerable' after her disappearance.

Rebecca's two children from a previous relationship are now being cared for in the UK by her mum.

Her family have launched a JustGiving appeal to help pay for the repatriation of her body and her funeral.

It has already raised more than 3,000 of its 8,000 target.

Referring to Rebecca as Twinx, sister Sabrina wrote on the appeal page: 'We were sadly informed as a family that Twinx had been taken from us on January 14, leaving behind her beautiful children Mustie 11, and Matilda, eight.

'Twinx always did right by her children and that's what she did even until the very end. She was an easy going girl, who everyone loved. Everyone has their own memory of her and that will live on.

'We as a family ask for the support of everyone that knew her, to help raise funds of repatriation and giving her the send off she deserves, and the final farewell from her children, family and friends.'

One friend who donated money to the appeal said: 'Such sad news. Thoughts are with you all.'

Another added: 'Hope this helps bring you home where you belong.'
Thailand's junta number two has been photographed with 25 different luxury watches worth $1.2million since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths say.

Prawit Wongsuwan has been under pressure since December when the 'CSI LA' Facebook page began to catalogue timepieces worn by the deputy prime minister.

Over the years, he has been seen in various news reports and photos wearing 11 different Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Milles, it has been claimed.

The social media campaign is urging the kingdom's anti-graft body to probe how the watches came into Prawit's possession - and is hugely embarrassing to Thailand's military government.

Thailand's junta number two, Prawit Wongsuwan (left) has been photographed with 25 different luxury watches worth $1.2 million since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths say. One of them was said to be a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 40mm in Ever Rose (pictured) costing some 21,050

Watches worn by Prawit included this Patek Philippe Gold Perpetual Calendar, which CSI LA said is priced at 3,600,000 baht (81,600)

The deputy prime minister has also been pictured in this Patek Philippe Complications Code 5396/1G-001 watch costing around 52,000

The group also said he has been seen wering an A. Lange and Sohne 1815 Chronograph Silver Dial in 18K Rose Gold, believed to cost up to 34,000

The watches include a Patek Philippe Complications Annual Calendar - a self winding model made of 18 karat white gold that the group estimates having cost 32,000.

Another picture shows him in a GMT Master II made from 18K white gold worth up to 28,150.

Yesterday, he vowed to resign if the graft panel finds him guilty of wrongdoing.

The military government toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinwatra in 2014 vowing to purge the country of graft, a scourge it blamed on Thailand's civilian rulers. Prawit was one of the architects of the coup.

On Wednesday the Thai-language 'CSI LA' page raised the watch tally after finding a fresh photo of him wearing a Patek Phillipe model at a temple ceremony in 2014.

He has been seen in various news reports and photos wearing a total of 11 Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Millies, it has been claimed. In this photo, online sleuths say he is wearing a Patek Philippe Complications Annual Calendar Model 5396G-011 - a self winding model made of 18 karat white gold and costing some 32,000

The watches include this Rolex Day-Date 36 in 18K Rose Gold that CSI LA says is priced at 25,950

Prawit was also said to have been pictured wearing a Patek Philippe Classic Chronograph which CSI LA said was priced at more than 50,000

Another photo shows Prawit wearing a Rolex Daytona 116523 WINNER in stainless steel with 18K gold. CSI LA said it is priced at 980,000 baht (22,200)

One picture shows Prawit wearing a Rolex Yacht-Master Automatic Black Dial watch. The price guide on the example it provides shows a price tag of more than $21,500

A second Rolex Yacht-Master was seen on Prawit's wrist, this time in steel and gold and priced at 460,000 baht (10,400)

'We have found 25 luxury watches worth more than $1.24 million, including 11 Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Millies,' a post said, urging its near-750,000 followers to unearth more photos.

Prawit has so far not disputed the number of watches.

But on Tuesday he told reporters his 'friends lent' him watches which he duly returned.

Thailand's National Anti-Coruption Commission (NACC) has let a deadline for Prawit to issue a formal explanation over the watches slip several times.

The NACC is headed by one of the junta top brass' former subordinates, raising fears of a whitewash.

If the NACC rules 'that I am wrong, I will quit,' Prawit told reporters.

Prawit was also seen with this Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Chronograph 5960P, said to cost more than 70,000

The online sleuths posted this image of Prawit apparently wearing another Rolex - this time, a Pro Hunter Deepsea Blue

The watches also included this Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5167R-001 in 18K Rose Gold. The price on the watchmaker's website is 23,500

Prawit was seen at one function wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Stainless Steel Dial Black - a watch CSI LA says costs more than 13,000

At one event, the Deputy Prime Minister was seen wearing a Rolex Datejust Oyster 41 - said to cost 9,350

Prawit has so far not disputed the number of watches. But on Tuesday he told reporters his 'friends lent' him watches which he duly returned. He was pictured at one function wearing this Rolex Daytona in 18K gold, believed to cost 14,500

Prawit was seen on this occasion in a Rolex GMT Master II and believed to cost around 30,000

He was also seen in this Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, in 18K yellow gold and Stainless Steel, which comes with a 12,500 price tag, CSI LA claims

Prawit is seen here in a Patek Philippe 5135R Calendario Annual Calendar. CSI LA puts its price tag at the equivalent of 34,000

The slew of bad headlines engulfing Prawit comes as his main ally, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha remodels himself from a strongman general into a politician ahead of elections slated for the end of this year.

But the watch issue has angered both junta critics and erstwhile supporters in a divided country where politics is usually a strictly partisan affair.

Observers say that outrage represents fatigue with junta rule, which is widely seen as top-heavy and ineffective, and a wider yearning for a return to elections.

'The watch issue is a sign that a new political proposition is emerging,' Sirote Klampaiboon, a political commentator told AFP.

'This is the first time since the junta took over in 2014 that political groups of different sides have come together, leaving their conflicts in the past.'
An unmanned tuk tuk was recorded speeding down a highway in India at speeds of nearly 20mph.

The rogue tuk tuk - an automatic rickshaw - was able to travel for a few hundred metres without a driver before colliding with the kerb, a lorry and then an oil tanker.

It it not known exactly how the tuk tuk was able to begin its journey although it appears from the video that those recording had a role in it.

Scroll down for video

An unmanned tuk tuk was recorded speeding down a highway in India at speeds of nearly 20mph. The rogue tuk tuk was able to travel more than a kilometre without a driver before hitting a lorry

Footage shows the tuk tuk swerving around the busy road, first into the kerb and then into traffic.

Pushing on unsteadily after veering into barriers, the tuk tuk then bangs into a lorry causing it to shudder and seemingly stop.

But the rickshaw continued moving forward picking up speed again before finally crashing into an oil tanker.

The rogue tuk tuk - an automatic rickshaw - was able to travel for a few hundred metres without a driver before colliding with the kerb, a lorry and then an oil tanker. It it not known exactly how the tuk tuk was able to begin its journey although it appears from the video that those recording had a role in it

The incident, captured on a smartphone, took place in Ankleshwar in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

The tuk tuk started from a busy Ansar market and finally stopped a kilometre away at Tapi Loj near National Highway 8.

Meanwhile, a road rage incident in India in March turned deadly when a milkman killed a tuk tuk driver by smashing his head with a slab of pavement.

Footage shows the tuk tuk swerving around the busy road, first into the kerb and then into traffic. Pushing on unsteadily after veering into barriers, the tuk tuk then bangs into a lorry causing it to shudder and seemingly stop. But the rickshaw continued moving forward picking up speed again before finally crashing into an oil tanker

Two men began arguing after Mushtaq Niwaraia, 36, tried to overtake on a busy road and scratched the second man's bike.

The motorbiker, known only as Hiralal, 40, who was approaching from the opposite direction, collided with Mr Niwaraia.

CCTV captures the moment a scuffle breaks out and a crowd forms around the two men in a crowded market in Churu in Rajasthan in western India.

One of the men, in response to being threatened with a knife, hurled the large slab of concrete at his victim, killing him instantly.
Lady Lucan's son has been seen for the first time since he applauded his mother's decision to cut him and his siblings out of her will.

George Bingham stepped out in St John's Wood in London after he spoke out about his mother cutting off all contact with him and his siblings.

Veronica Lucan, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead at her 2.9million home in Belgravia, London, in September.

The 80-year-old had killed herself after taking a cocktail of alcohol and drugs after wrongly believing she was suffering from Parkinson's disease, an inquest found.

Her son, who had been estranged from Lady Lucan along with his two siblings, has welcomed his mother's decision to leave her children out of her estate.

George Bingham stepped out in St John's Wood in London after he spoke out about his mother cutting off all contact with him and his siblings

Lord Lucan (pictured with Victoria Lucan in 1963) was finally declared dead in 2016 after disappearing in 1974 after the murder of their nanny

'I applaud the decision by mother to make a legacy to Shelter, a fantastic and worthwhile charity,' he told The Londoner.

'I would also like it noted that the property in which Lady Lucan lived in Belgravia was made available to her rent-free for the latter part of her life under an arrangement with the family trust and does not form part of her personal estate.

'This arrangement was put in place by my sisters and I.'

For 40 years Lady Lucan was the subject of countless stories and documentaries as the search for her husband, Lord Lucan, rumbled on.

Lady Lucan's son, George Bingham (pictured left arriving at the High Court in December 2015 to obtain a death certificate for his late father) said his mother (pictured right) rent-free at a property in Belgravia, London, for the latter years of her life

Her son, who had been estranged from Lady Lucan along with his two siblings, has welcomed his mother's decision to leave her children out of her estate

He was finally declared dead in 2016 after disappearing in 1974 after the murder of their nanny.

The couple also had daughters, Frances and Camilla.

Mr Bingham added: 'We felt it was the least we could do even though Lady Lucan wanted no contact with us.'

It is not known why Shelter was chosen by Lady Lucan, who died in a grand, albeit dilapidated, property in Belgravia.

Shelter said: The proceeds will help us to continue fighting bad housing and homelessness.

Lady Lucan, 80, killed herself after taking a the property by taking cocktail of alcohol and drugs after wrongly believing she was suffering from Parkinson's disease, an inquest found

In happier times: Lady Lucan, pictured, with children Camilla, Frances and George at Christmas 1974

Lord Lucan's ermine gown and top hat are up for sale as hundreds of the missing earl's belongings head to auction after the death of his wife

An auction house is expected the spark fevered excitement when it puts Lord Lucan's personal belongings under the hammer.

Items including an ermine gown, customised top hat and a portrait are set to be snapped up by curious buyers at Holloway's Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Considered one of the greatest murder mysteries in British history, the disappearance of notorious aristocrat Lord Lucan following the death of his nanny in 1974 continues to be shrouded in intrigue and speculation.

A portrait of the notorious aristocrat Lord Lucan is among the lots set to go under the hammer

The top hat made by one of the best milliners in the world features an L stitched inside it

Other lots in the auction include a portrait of Lucan, a champagne bucket, a family coat of arms, walking sticks and an umbrella, photos of Lady Lucan and their children, a red robe, and a flag from his boat.

Also up for sale is a chair which Lord Lucan's grandmother sat on at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.

The top hat made by one of the best milliners in the world features an L stitched inside it.

Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, was found dead at her 2.9million home in Belgravia, London, in September and the items were taken from her home shortly after.

Auctioneer James Lees is uncertain how much the items will sell for, but said they are sure to capture the imagination of those curious about the disappearance of the mysterious earl.

An ice bucket is included in the sale at Holloway's Auctioneers in Banbury, Oxon

Also up for sale is a chair which Lord Lucan's grandmother sat on at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902

Lady Lucan pictured with a portrait of her husband in November 1976

Lady Lucan, in front of her portrait of her husband, Lord Lucan at her Belgravia home

Mr Lees said: 'We're happy to have [the lot] and there are only a couple of pieces that have any value without the Lord Lucan link.

'If it wasn't of the Lucan estate, it wouldn't be worth that much, but what gives it that added zest is his notoriety and I think there's an element of being a bad boy about him.

'His infamy is what I'm selling here and the mystery, but I have absolutely no idea how much it will go for.'

The collection will go under the hammer at Holloway's on February 13. See www.hollowaysauctioneers.co.uk.
White House aides gave a columnist writing a book on the first year of Donald Trump's presidency more access to the West Wing than they're saying publicly after he pitched them on a title that suggested he would write a friendly narrative.

The writer, Michael Wolff, told staff the working title of his project was 'The Great Transition: The First 100 Days of the Trump Administration,' according to Bloomberg.

Wolff ended up calling his book 'Fire and Fury' - a play on Trump's threat to North Korea in August.

His portrait of Trump in the book, which centers of the first six months of the Republican's presidency, sparked serious concern that the 71-year-old president is in mental decline.

White House aides gave a columnist writing a book on the first year of Donald Trump 's presidency more access to the West Wing than they're saying publicly after he pitched them on a title that suggested he would write a friendly narrative

His portrait of Trump in the book, which centers of the first six months of the Republican's presidency, sparked serious concern that the 71-year-old president is in mental decline

Former chief strategist Steve Bannon was responsible for waiving in Wolff, the White House claims, but it has been assumed that other aides also talked to him

It was up to the White House physician to tell the world that Trump was mentally acute after thoroughly examining him last Friday.

The White House and Trump have claimed that the anecdotes in Wolff's book are pure fiction and the 'Fire and Fury' author did not have the access he says that he did.

Trump Counselor Kellyanne Conway is said to be one of the aides who heard a pitch on the book early on

Former chief strategist Steve Bannon was responsible for waiving in Wolff 95 percent of the time, White House spokeswoman Sarah Hucakbee Sanders has claimed, and the author otherwise had limited interactions with staff.

President Trump has said that Wolff did not have his permission to pen the book that he had 'zero access' to him or the building.

It had already been assumed that senior aides other than Bannon had spoken to Michael Wolff for the salacious book, although he is the only one quoted.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and other senior White House staffers participated book before the appointment of current Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Wolff visited the West Wing roughly 17 times, a source told Bloomberg. The White House visitor logs are not public, so the information cannot be verified.

Bloomberg says that Wolff did speak to Trump about the book he planned to write in a February call. Hicks and Conway heard the pitch in a West Wing meeting the next day.

The White House and Trump have claimed that the anecdotes in Wolff's book are pure fiction and the 'Fire and Fury' author did not have the access he says that he did

Michael Wolff arrives at 'The View' to promote his new controversial book 'Fire and Fury : Inside The Trump White House' with girlfriend Victoria Floethe

Hicks reportedly gave Wolff's book her tacit approval, saying that aides could speak to him as long as they stuck to positive comments about the president.

She also authorized an interview with the president for Wolff only to cancel it several weeks later, Bloomberg reported.

It wasn't until August of last year, Bloomberg says, that Hicks and other senior aides such as Jared Kushner came to the understanding that their foes within the building, like Bannon, may have been dishing to Wolff about them.

It was about that time, in late July, that the White House underwent a major staff shake-up, with Sanders taking the podium and Kelly replacing Reince Priebus as chief of staff.

Kelly, a retired general, immediately began to crackdown on Oval Office walk-ins and create a sense of discipline within the leaky West Wing.

But, as Bloomberg writes, it was already too late. Wolff's book was nearly finished.
Fillipo Corsini, 21, (pictured, with his father Duccio) was dragged 30 yards by a 50ft lorry across a box junction in Knightsbridge, west London

An Italian prince died from 'catastrophic injuries' when his illegal fixie bike with no front brake was hit by a lorry because he could not stop it in time.

Fillipo Corsini, 21, who is from a aristocratic Florence family, was dragged 30 yards by a 50ft lorry across a box junction in Knightsbridge, west London.

Mr Corsini, a business student at Regents University, went into cardiac arrest due to massive internal bleeding and died at the scene, in October last year.

The fatal accident occurred when he swerved to avoid a pedestrian island in the middle of the road, an inquest at Westminster Coroners Court heard.

Mr Corsini was unable to stop or slow down, coming close to a lorry that was stationary at traffic lights.

As the traffic light went green the German lorry pulled away at the junction of Sloane Square, Knightsbridge and Brompton Road, known as Scotch Corner, and Mr Corsini overtook the vehicle on the offside.

He was just an arms length from the lorry at the time of the manouvere, police said.

The left-hand drive HGV was accelerating faster than Mr Corsini and caught the back of his bicycle just seconds after it had been overtaken.

The bike was thrown under the lorry and Mr Corsini over the handlebars into the road, where he was run over, the inquest heard.

Mr Corsini was heard to cry out help, help me as members of the public raced to his aide.

Lorry driver Thomas Dose was forced to reverse the lorry to free Mr Corsini from the wheels.

Emergency services arrived within minutes but were unable to save the Italian national.

Black cab driver Brian Morey said: He was coming along and seemed to be pedaling extra fast.

'I didnt think there was a reason he was doing it at the time. He was on the off-side of the lorry.

Mr Corsini, a business student at Regents University, is a member of an aristocratic family from Florence

He made a left turn across the front which really shocked me.

He only just got in front of the lorry when he turned left. Thats what I couldnt believe.

To me [the lorry driver] was just driving in a normal manner and heading the way he was heading.

He [Mr Corsini] was thrown onto the road and the bike disappeared under the front of the lorry.

PC David Keen, a collision investigator who was called to the scene, said he had analysed CCTV from hotels, a taxi dash cam and from a bystanders mobile phone.

He told the inquest: On the westbound junction where the lorry has come to a stop there is a raised curve.

The vehicle in front was stopping at a traffic light, from the rear of Mr Doses trailer there was a gap of about two metres.

Due to that centre island Mr Corsini has not been able to position himself further to the offside to be able to be seen in the mirrors of the vehicles driver.

Mr Corsini was hit by the lorry outside a branch of Harvey Nichols in London's Knightsbridge yesterday and pronounced dead at the scene about over half an hour later

From the CCTV they were able to analyse that Mr Corsini has passed through that gap at about the same time as the HGV was held forwards. He wouldnt have been able to be seen prior to the HGV doing his mirror checks and pulling away.

Mr Corsini swerves left in front of the vehicle. The bicycle has a fixed gear and no front brake and to slow he has to use resistance in his legs to slow the back wheel.

The nature of the cycle could have made it more difficult for him to either slow or speed up than if he had been on a more conventional cycle.

PC Keen said Mr Dose had checked his mirrors before moving off at the green light but was overtaken by Mr Corsini shortly afterwards.

He said: He would not expect a fresh hazard to appear in the bottom of the windscreen.

I wouldnt expect the driver, having checked his mirrors and moved off, to check again.

I dont see how the driver could have behaved in a different way.

The inquest heard Mr Corsini had been travelling at around 10 to 16 mph on the bicycle as it overtook the lorry.

His custom built bike, which had no conventional brake, did not meet UK road regulations, the court heard.

The HGV was shown to be travelling slightly faster than Mr Corsini at around 16 to 20 mph as it accelerated after the green light, and hit the back of his bike.

Of the fixed gear bike, PC Keen said: I believe a second brake is required as per regulations.

POPES, BISHOPS & SAINTS: THE CORSINI FAMILY TREE The Corsinis family tree includes Pope Clemente XII, who was the pontiff from 1730 to 1740, and they have a wine and olive oil production business in Italy. The Corsinis, who were among the richest families in Florence by the 17th century, built much of their fortune in merchant banking in the century before. They have had a prominent status for 1,000 years, having come to Florence from Poggibonsi and developing close business ties with England in the Middle Ages. Mr Corsini's father Duccio moved with his mother Clotilde to the 14th century Villa le Corti in 1992, where they turned the cellars into a restaurant and shop. Speaking to the New York Times in May, Duccio Corsini said his son was traveling abroad and it was hoped he would return to help run the family business. Famous ancestors include the 14th century Saint Andrew Corsini, while a Filippo Corsini was created count palatine by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in 1371. In addition, two Corsinis were bishops of Fiesole - Andrea and Neri - and two were bishops of Florence, Piero and Amerigo, all in the 14th and 15th centuries. Some of the Corsinis were known to have opposed the famed Medici family, but the family still succeeded in business and politics under the Medici rule. Advertisement

In a statement read to the court, lorry driver Thomas Dose said that he did not see Mr Corsini at any time.

He said: I was devastated to hear about Mr Corsinis death and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

The inquest heard it was the first time he had driven the German lorry in the UK and had arrived on the ferry six hours before.

But the coroner concluded this was not a relevant fact in what had happened as Mr Dose was an experienced driver.

Delivering her verdict, Senior Coroner Fiona Wilcox said: Mr Corsinis bike was a custom made fixie, as such was in the court of condition which is against regulations.

The only way of riding this bike was a fixed gear back so its pedals were directly linked to the back wheel. The only way it could be slowed was applying resistance.

I make a finding fact this will have reduced Mr Corsinis ability to negotiate the traffic and the conditions on this approach and it may have made a contribution to this incident.

This incident is sadly a one-off in this area of London. He overtook Mr Dose driving the HGC as he approached him he would have been very close to him due to the raised curb in a pedestrian area in the middle of the road.

Mr Dose had stopped his vehicle in the traffic on the approach to the traffic lights and then pulled off in line with the traffic at a completely appropriate speed and as he was pulling off Mr Corsini overtook him on the outside.

'This would not have been visible to Mr Dose because of the close proximity to his vehicle.

Mr Corsini for some reason known only to himself overtook the reasonably accelerating HGC, passed directly in front of him. Sadly Mr Dose was accelerating faster than Mr Corsini.

Mr Corsini suffered catastrophic injuries and despite almost immediate first aid given to him followed by expert resuscitation by paramedics his life could not be saved.

Mr Dose was concentrating on what was directly in front of him. He should have been looking at that, therefore Mr Corsini would have been a completely unexpected hazard and out would not have been reasonable for him to be detected by Mr Dose.

Theres no doubt this is a tragic death, what a waste of a young man.

Mr Dose was stopped at the scene and arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving but he has been cleared of any charges against him.

In September last year Charlie Alliston, 20, was jailed for 18 months after he hit and HR executive Kim Briggs, 44, on his fixie as she tried to cross a busy road in East London.

Ms Briggs died of her injuries but Alliston was cleared of manslaughter, prompting calls for changes in the law governing cyclists.

Mr Corsinis family can be traced back to the Middle Ages and made its fortune in merchant banking in the 16th century.

Their family tree includes Pope Clemente XII, who ruled from 1730 to 1740, founding Romes Capitoline Museums and commissioning the Trevi Fountain.

Ms Wilcox recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Crucial Brexit laws finally cleared the Commons tonight after a marathon series of debates that saw Theresa May suffer her first defeat on legislation.

The final vote was a formality after Tory rebels abandoned their efforts to frustrate ministers after peers in the House of Lords vowed to keep up the fight.

Brexit Secretary David Davis tonight hailed the passing of critical new laws and promised to work with peers during the next round of debates.

But despite the latest milestone, Justine Greening issued a warning to the Prime Minister as she made her first intervention since quitting Cabinet.

The ex-education secretary allied herself to Tory rebels by using the final round of debates to warn Brexit could be undone if it does not work for young people.

Following tonights vote, the legislation will undergo a new round of scrutiny in the House of Lords. The first debate will take place on January 30 and the process will take months.

Further defeats for the Government are almost inevitable as the Government does not have a majority in the House of Lords.

Justine Greening (pictured in the Commons today) warned the Brexit deal must 'work for young people' or in future they will 'undo' it in her first speech since quitting the Cabinet

Ministers will also have to write their own concessions into the legislation to meet promises to rebel MPs.

Following the final vote, Brexit Secretary David Davis said: We are pleased that the Bill has successfully completed this stage of its passage through Parliament.

From the beginning our approach has been to work constructively with MPs from across the House wherever possible to improve the Bill.

This is a critical piece of legislation that aims to maximise certainty for individuals and businesses after our exit.

We are looking forward to working with peers as the Bill enters its next stage of scrutiny in the House of Lords at the end of this month.

Getting the Bill through the Commons has taken more than four months.

Mrs May was embarrassed by a defeat on rebel calls for a meaningful vote on the final deal just before Christmas.

Ms Greening told the Commons that when today's young people become the next generation of politicians they would not hesitate to amend an unsustainable Brexit.

The Putney MP said: 'I represent a very young constituency here in London. And the bottom line is that, looking ahead, if Brexit doesn't work for young people in our country, in the end it will not be sustainable.

'When they take their place here, they will seek to improve or undo what we have done and make it work for them.

Tory grandee Ken Clarke (in the Commons today) endorsed Ms Greening's warning and added the UK would inevitably take an 'economic blow' in such a scenario

'So we do absolutely have a duty in this House to look ahead and ensure that whatever we get is sustainable and works for them.'

Asked about Ms Greening's comment, Theresa May's official spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister is clear that she is determined to deliver a Brexit which works for all sections of society. Of course that would include young people.'

In the Commons, Tory grandee Mr Clarke endorsed Ms Greening's warning and added the UK would inevitably take an 'economic blow' in such a scenario, which could have a knock-on effect.

Mr Clarke said: 'On whatever basis we come out, there are bound to be adverse effects on the British economy if we create new barriers between ourselves and the biggest free market in the world.

'There is no other government, I think, that would remotely contemplate moving out of such a completely open and free market and actually deliberately raise barriers by way of tariffs, customs processes or the regulatory divergences between themselves and such a hugely valuable market.

'Of course it's particularly valuable to us because it's not only a huge market, it's on our doorstep and we have played a very major part in creating this totally open trade.

'If in fact we proceed to a deal in which we withdraw then we'll find ourselves - to some degree or another - inevitably taking an economic blow and probably making future generations less prosperous than they would otherwise have been.'

Mr Clarke added it is a 'great pity' the Commons has not received the necessary information to make a 'really informed judgment'.

Theresa May (pictured at PMQs today) will see her flagship laws clear the Commons tonight after a marathon series of debates comes to an end at 7pm

Fellow rebel Anna Soubry told ministers the Government had 'made a mistake' in ruling out membership of the single market.

BREXIT BILL: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT The flagship Brexit legislation will clear the Commons tonight, clearing a major hurdle on its way to the statute book. What happens next? 7pm tonight: Third reading vote. The Government will win comfortably after Tory rebels ended revolt for now. January 30: Second reading in the House of Lords begins. Mid-February: Committee stage begins in the House of Lords begins. Debates will last for at least a month and will likely run until Easter recess at the end of March. Late spring: Legislation should clear the Lords but is certain to have been amended. Early summer: Any amendments made by the Lords must be accepted or deleted by the Commons. The draft will 'ping pong' between both Houses until an agreed version is finalised. Advertisement

She said: 'Perhaps it could very well be argued that the Government made a mistake in rushing to say no to the customs union, no to the single market without fully understanding the implications.

'Not just on our economy but also how it has meant that a whole range of options has now been taken off the table by the United Kingdom Government when the European Union has made it very clear all options as far as they are concerned remain on the table.'

Yesterday Mr Clarke signalled the end of the Tory revolt in the Commons. Rebel MPs inflicted an embarrassing defeat on Theresa May before Christmas.

But the Father of the House, a long-standing champion of the EU, said he hopes the peers make an 'enormous' number of changes when the Bill goes before them at the end of January.

But prominent Tory Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg warned peers the upper chamber faces the prospect of fundamental reform if it attempts to hamper Brexit.

Peers would be left looking 'ridiculous' if they tried to force a second referendum on the British public and the institution will 'get into difficulties', he said.
A video blogger from YouTube's hugely popular 'Singing Lesbian Duo' has won a huge compensation payout after her ex-boyfriend put revenge pornography of her online.

LA-based Chrissy Chambers was horrified when she discovered her former partner had posted videos of them having sex on pornographic website Redtube.com.

In the first civil case of its kind to be brought in England and Wales, the 26-year-old sued her UK-based former partner for harassment, breach of confidence and misuse of private information at Londons High Court.

Ms Chambers, who runs a successful blog and YouTube channel with her girlfriend Bria Kam, only found out about the films more than a year later after receiving messages accusing her of being a porn star.

And she celebrated winning the first-of-its-kind case today by proposing to Ms Kam on the steps of the famous London court building. The couple are now looking forward to planning their wedding.

Chrissy Chambers (right), who runs a successful blog with her girlfriend Bria Kam, has won a landmark court case against her ex-boyfriend over 'revenge porn' he posted online

Ms Chambers celebrated today's victory by proposing to her girlfriend outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London. She wrote online that she 'could not be more elated'

The couple have fought a long campaign to fund and bring the first-of-its-kind legal case

She posted a photo of them kissing on Instagram, with the caption: 'I could not be more elated to announce today that I won my revenge porn case and also asked the most incredible girl to marry me. That's right - we won and Bria and I are engaged!!!!!'

Ms Kam tweeted: 'WE ARE ENGAGED! I could not be happier to call this woman my fiance. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I love you so much Chrissy.'

Ms Chambers later released a statement hitting out at 'insidious, toxic' revenge porn and telling fellow victims: 'You CAN fight back, and win. You will heal and move on.'

The court victory will set a legal precedent that could see other high-profile victims of so-called 'revenge porn' sue their former lovers under privacy laws.

Ms Chambers's lawyer had told the High Court she had a romantic relationship with the British man - who was not named in court - from 2008 to 2009.

But two years after they split up, he posted six films onto RedTube, without her knowledge or consent.

In June 2013, Ms Chambers was alerted to the films and immediately contacted the website to have them removed.

By then, she had received numerous comments and messages from YouTube users who wrongly believed she had been intentionally involved in the pornography, the court heard.

The couple's videos have been viewed more than 300million times on YouTube, but viewers threatened to boycott the channel after wrongly believing she had taken part in pornography

Ms Chambers had launched a crowd-funded campaign to bring the case against her ex

Her lawyer said Ms Chambers had since suffered serious emotional and psychological difficulties resulting, for a time, in substance abuse and relationship difficulties.

She had been diagnosed with PTSD and undergone specialised trauma therapy but continued to have flashbacks and nightmares relating to the disclosure of the films.

In response, she set up a crowd-funding campaign on the internet to raise money to bring the legal case and raise awareness of the issue of revenge porn.

The successful online fundraising campaign drew in 26,000 ($36,000) to pay for the legal costs, which will now be repaid by her ex-boyfriend.

Ms Chambers's barrister Alex Marzec said the man accepted he posted the videos online and regretted the impact it had caused.

The couple celebrated their court win by announcing they are planning to get married

She posted this jubilant message to her thousands of followers after winning the case today

The man agreed to pay Ms Chambers's substantial undisclosed damages and her legal costs, the High Court heard.

The couple run the popular briaandchrissy.com and a YouTube channel in which they describe themselves as a 'singing duo, lesbian couple, making videos that inspire... and promote equality'.

On her crowdfunding page to bring the case, she had written: 'My girlfriend, Bria, and I have been involved in our pursuit of justice for over two years now.

'We have faced mountains of red tape and numerous dead ends. The police have turned us away.'
Arrested: Giuseppe Garibaldi, 30, sent intimate photos of his victim to the Facebook page of the school where she works

A Florida man has been arrested after sending sexually explicit photos of a woman to her boss in revenge for being rejected by her.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, 30, had been in a short-lived non-committed relationship with the his victim, during which he had taken intimate photographs of her without her knowledge.

When she ended their liaison and spurred his attempts to meet up again, he sent the images to the Facebook page of the pre-school in Seminole County where she works.

The pair had met on an online dating site and embarked on a casual sexual relationship, ClickOrlando reports.

According to the victim they met up a handful of times, and Garibaldi took several sexually explicit photos of her.

He allegedly told her about the photos and used them to blackmail her into committing to an exclusive relationship.

When she refused, she discovered that her car had been scratched with what appears to have been a key.

Garibaldi then threatened to come to her house and break her door down, according to an affidavit quoted by local news-websites.

Revenge porn: Garibaldi had taken the photos without his victim's knowledge and sent them to the school's Facebook page when she ended their casual sexual relationship

The following day, he sent the photos in a message to the school's Facebook page where they were seen by the victim's boss, claiming that the images were 'all over' the internet.

'This is someone who couldn't take no for an answer,' Seminole County Sheriff Officespokesperson Bob Kealing told ClickOrlando.

'This is someone who was told, "I want this relationship to be over with" and he wouldn't take no for an answer, and then the threats started coming.'

Garibaldi was identified as the man in the photos thanks to a tattoo.

He has been charged with stalking - sexually cyber harassing a person, extortion and stalking - cyberstalking.
A video captured the terrifying moment an 18-wheeler slides backwards down an icy hill and crashes into a stoplight in Texas.

The driver of a semi truck believed they could make it to the top of a frozen hill.

However, just before reaching the peak of the hill, the wheels on the truck spin out and it begins to slide backwards.

A video captured the terrifying moment an 18-wheeler slides backwards down an icy hill and crashes into a stoplight in Texas

The vehicle accelerates backwards and collides with a stoplight, knocking it to the ground and sending snow flying.

It does not appear that anyone was injured during the incident on January 16.

Longview, Texas is currently under a hard freeze warning after a snowstorm swept through the southeast.

Multiple roads were closed on Tuesday and many schools were canceled.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled in Texas, where frigid temperatures have left runways - and roads - dangerously icy.

Ice and snow also shut down interstates in Louisiana and caused highway crashes in Kentucky as the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Houston area and for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.

The vehicle accelerates backwards and collides with a stoplight, knocking it to the ground and sending snow flying

A winter storm is currently battering the East Coast, from southeast Texas all the way up to western Massachusetts

Dangerous wind chills also prompted school systems to close on Tuesday across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri.

At least 38 flights scheduled to depart or arrive at the San Antonio International Airport on Tuesday were canceled.

Meanwhile, in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental Airport announced 528 cancellations and 59 cancellations were made at William P Hobby Airport.

Winter Storm Inga has sent freezing temperatures into Texas with Houston 21F and San Antonio standing at 30F.

Police in Austin say highways in the capital are iced over and several counties opened emergency operation centers to coordinate the emergency response.

Public safety authorities are asking residents to avoid driving unless it's an emergency.

'Winter Storm Warnings' were in place in San Antonio and Houston while the rest of the corridor received a 'Winter Storm Watch'
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approved 11 state ESSA plans on Tuesday: Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.



Here are some highlights of each plan, as submitted for approval:

Arkansas : The state proposed to assign schools letter grade on an A through F scale in the ESSA plan it submitted to the department. In its feedback to the state, the department told Arkansas it needed to do a better job of explaining its indicator of school quality or student success.

Maryland: Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, refused to sign the states plan because he felt it wasnt strong on enough on accountablity. Hogans allies warned that the department might not approve the plan. State law prohibits Marylands education department from taking certain dramatic steps to turnaround low-performing schools. The state is planning to use chronic absenteeism, school climate, and access to a well-rounded curriculum as its school quality indicators.

Missouri: The state is planning to use attendance as its indicator of school quality or student success. In its feedback letter from the department, Missouri was dinged for its plans to identify and help districts fix struggling schools.

New York : The Empire State sought to include science and social studies alongside reading and math in its accountability system. It also sought to have use an n-size of 30the minimum number of students from a particular group that a school must have for that group to be included in accountability measuresfor most parts of its accountability system. But the state choose a larger n-size, of 40 for test participation purposes (the state has had a relatively large share of parental opt-outs). In feedback to the state, the department asked for more information about how these different n-sizes would be used to gauge school performance. New York is also seeking flexibility on testing students in special education; it was not immediatly clear if the department granted that leeway.

Ohio: The Buckeye State plans to use an A through F grading system to rate its schools. It is considering chronic absenteeism and school discipline data, as well as a prepartion for success indicator for high schools that incorporates dual enrollment and AP and IB tests.

Pennsylvania: The Keystone State is looking at chronic absenteeism and career-readiness alongside test scores in gauging school performance. In its feedback letter to the state, the department told Pennsylvania it was unclear if its plans for calucating school grades and for identifying schools where particular groups of students are struggling met ESSAs requirements.

South Dakota : The Mount Rushmore State was dinged in it feedback letter from the department for including a so-called super subgroup that combined different groups of students for accountability purposes. South Dakotas draft plan also called for rating schools on a 100-point scale.

Washington : Washington is shooting to get 90 percent of its students to proficiency by the 2026-27 school year. It also wants to get the graduation rate up to 90 percent by the sae year. The state will look at chronic absenteeism, a 9th grade on track measure, and dual enrollment in rating its schools. It will rate schools on a 1 to 10 scale.

Wisconsin : Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, refused to sign off on the states plan, which was written by Tony Evers, the Democratic state chief . Walker said the plan was buercratic and not as innovative as Tennessees. Wisconsin plans to grade its schools on a 100-point scale, and will use chronic absenteeism as its measure of school quality or student success.

Wyoming: The Equality State will look at student growth, as well as post-secondary readiness as its measure of school quality or student success. In its feedback letter to Wyoming, the department raised questions about whether the states accountability plan met ESSAs requirements.

The department also approved a plan for Puerto Rico, which is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria.

Where do ESSA plans stand? Sixteen states and the District of Columbia submitted their plans in the spring. All but one of those statesColorado&madsh;has been approved. Another 34 states turned in plans this fall. DeVos has now given the green light to 13 of those plans from the second round, including those listed above plus Minnesota and West Virginia. Every state, except for South Carolina, which turned in its plan late for weather-related reasons, has gotten feedback from the department. In some cases, DeVos and company have given the thumbs-up to plans even when states didnt make changes requested by the department.

Want to learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act? Heres some useful information:

Photo: Swikar Patel for Education Week

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
An American man has been detained by police in Peru after a woman fell from the fourth floor window of her hotel room.

CCTV captured the moment the woman was found writhing in pain on the pavement after plummeting to the ground.

She is seen clutching her body as she rolls around from side to side, but incredibly she survived largely unharmed.

It happened last week at the San Pedro Inn hotel located in the district of Surquillo in the Peruvian capital, Lima.

Perla Reategui, 22, was seen entering the hotel with Bruce Bradshaw, right just after 1:30am

The pair were caught on CCTV as they went up to a hotel room together

American tourist Bruce Bradshaw has been arrested but not yet charged in the incident

One hour earlier, Perla Reategui, 22, was seen entering the hotel with American tourist Bruce Bradshaw who had been staying at the hotel for three days.

Reategui and Bradshaw went to room 408 at 1.39am and but then returned to the reception after 20 minutes where they reportedly had a heated discussion about a missing $100 bill.

Reategui is seen heading down the stairs at 2am but Bradshaw quickly followers her looking like he is doing up his blue shirt in the process.

They are then seen arguing in the lobby.

The 22-year-old, dressed in a floral top and black trousers, originally from Loreto in northern Peru, wanted to leave the hotel premises during the row but Bradshaw insisted that she stay and stood in her way as she tried to leave.

20 minutes later, Reategui decided to leave but she was quickly followed by Bradshaw, right

Downstairs by the reception desk, Reategui, tried to leave and crawl under Bradshaws arm

Bradshaw appeared agitated as he stood in the way of Reategui as she tried to make a getaway

Security cameras recorded the couple's earlier comings and goings in the reception.

The couple then returned to Bradshaw's room just after 2am but less than an hour later, at 2.41am, the woman's screams could be heard as she was found laying on the pavement directly below room 408.

Incredibly, the young woman survived the fall from a fourth floor window but appeared to be in complete and utter agony.

She was taken by ambulance to Hospital Casimiro Ulloa where she was treated for a broken left leg and fractured right ankle.

Police are investigating the case and have detained Bradshaw at the Surquillo police station. He has not yet been charged.

It's believed the pair were arguing over a missing American $100 bill

Reategui went back up to the room with Bradshaw. 30 minutes she was on the ground

Reategui had fallen from the fourth floor of he building. Her agonizing screams could be heard all around
The US Air Force has deployed six nuclear-capable B52 bombers to Guam as North Korea derides President Donald Trump as a 'lunatic'.

The B-52H Stratofortress bombers and approximately 300 airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana arrived in Guam on Tuesday, in 'routine' support of US Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence mission, said the Air Force.

The B-52 is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance.

Pacific Command has conducted continuous bomber presence missions since 2004, and the Stratofortress bombers will take over operations in Guam for the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancers, deployed from Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota.

A B-52H Stratofortress bomber is seen landing at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Tuesday

The Stratofortress bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana arrived in Guam on Tuesday, in 'routine' support of US Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence mission

The B-52 is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance

Though the show of force came as Winter Olympics talks between North and South Korea signaled improving relations on the peninsula, the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington DC continued to heat up.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned the country about the possibility of a military response if the state does not choose to negotiate on giving up its nuclear weapons.

'We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option,' he said.

Meanwhile, North Korea's state-run media said Trump's infamous tweet about having a bigger nuclear button than leader Kim Jong Un's is the 'spasm of a lunatic'.

Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party newspaper, lashed out at Trump in a commentary on Tuesday that took issue with the US president's January 3 tweet that 'I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!'

'The spasm of Trump in the new year reflects the desperate mental state of a loser who failed to check the vigorous advance of the army and people of the DPRK,' the Rodong Sinmun commentary said, using the acronym for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea's state-run media said Trump's infamous tweet about having a bigger nuclear button than leader Kim Jong Un's is the 'spasm of a lunatic'

Kim Jong-un's regime has opened up talks with South Korea over the Winter Olympics, but has remained hostile in rhetoric towards the US

'He is making (a) bluff only to be diagnosed as a psychopath,' the commentary continued, using a tone typical for the country's media.

Rodong Sinmun also recently ran a story about the book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,' which casts the president as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of his office and whose competence is questioned by aides. Trump and other White House officials have blasted it as inaccurate.

The title of the book comes from a Trump quote about North Korea.

Last summer, Trump threatened North Korea with 'fire and fury like the world has never seen' in an exchange of taunts with the North, which claimed it was examining plans to launch missiles toward the American territory of Guam.

The book's sales reflect 'rapidly surging anti-Trump sentiments in the international community,' the article said. 'The anti-Trump book is sweeping all over the world so Trump is being massively humiliated worldwide.'

The book's popularity 'foretells Trump's political demise,' it concluded.
An extreme British kayaker is celebrating a new record after descending a terrifying 128ft high waterfall in Mexico.

Bren Orton, 23, completed the daring descent of Big Banana Falls in Mexico - believed to be the second highest ever descended following weeks of planning in December.

Incredible video footage shows the kayaker in the final tense moments at the top of the waterfall before the rapid fall into the abyss below.

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Extreme British kayaker Bren Orton, 23, is celebrating a new record after descending a terrifying 128ft high waterfall in Mexico

Incredible video footage shows the kayaker in the final tense moments at the top of the waterfall before the rapid fall into the abyss below

The adrenaline fueled video begins with Orton high-fiving his friends as they wish him good luck.

After leaving him to climb the waterfall using ropes to carry his kayak, the extreme sportsman records himself getting into his vessel and positioning himself for cast off.

Pushing himself into the water, Orton rows rapidly to control the kayak and stop himself capsizing at the last minute.

The adrenaline fueled video begins with Orton high-fiving his friends as they wish him good luck

After leaving him to climb the waterfall using ropes to carry his kayak, the extreme sportsman records himself getting into his vessel and positioning himself for cast off

Rowing off the edge and into the water, footage captures the heart stopping moment his falls through the air surrounded by a hail of water.

His support team are filmed paddling to him as quick as possible while trying to work out whether the jump has been a success or not.

Thankfully the young daredevil succeeds and emerges above the water soon after his jump, while his relieved team cheer him on.

Pushing himself into the water, Orton rows rapidly to control the kayak and stop himself capsizing at the last minute.Rowing off the edge and into the water, footage captures the heart stopping moment his falls through the air surrounded by a hail of water

His support team are filmed paddling to him as quick as possible while trying to work out whether the jump has been a success or not. Thankfully the young daredevil succeeds and emerges above the water soon after his jump, while his relieved team cheer him on

Elsewhere, a man out for an early morning kayak near Coffs Harbour, Australia on Christmas morning had a surprising interaction with a huge Hammerhead shark.

Stunning footage captured the shark cutting gracefully through crystal blue waters near Sawtell as the man paddled through the calm waves.

Channel 9 reported that the man was hoping to catch some fish just after dawn when he filmed the amazing encounter with the slow-moving, four-metre monster.
The heartbroken mother of the travel agent killed in a TUI shop has paid tribute to her 'incredible, amazing' daughter saying her death felt 'like a bad dream'.

Cassie Hayes, 28, was killed on Saturday in Southport, Merseyside, at the branch of Tui where she was assistant manager.

Andrew Burke, 30, from St Helens, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday charged with her murder.

Miss Hayes' devastated mother, Tracy, 53, has now spoken about her tragic loss for the first time.

Tracy Hayes (right), pictured with Cassie (left) and Nadine (centre) has paid tribute to her 'amazing, incredible' daughter

Tracy (centre), pictured with Nadine (left) and Cassie (right) said she 'wanted to wake up from this bad dream'

Andrew Burke, (left) has been charged with the murder of Southport travel agent Cassie Hayes

Speaking today she said: 'I just want to wake up, this is like a bad dream.

'Cassie always had a cheeky little grin on her face. She was crazy, but the most lovable girl. She was incredible, amazing, she was the best and I don't know how we will come to terms with her death.

'The last time I saw her was just after Christmas, she came up to visit with her daughter Ruby and we had the most lovely day.

'I am thankful at least that my last memories of Cassie are happy.'

She added: 'I am still in a state of disbelief, you see this kind of thing in the news, but you never in a million years think it is going to happen to your family.

'Cassie was a fantastic mum to her daughter. Ruby has been waking up in the night, asking where she is. She's too young to understand what has happened, all she knows is that is her mum is no longer here.

'I spoke to Cassie the day before she died and she seemed a bit down, but wouldn't elaborate. We had planned to chat again on Saturday evening, but by that time she'd been killed.'

Cassie (navy top) is pictured as a child with her mother Tracy, sister Nadine and father Michael

Cassie pictured as a baby with her father Michael. She was killed on Saturday when her 'throat was slit' at her workplace

Recalling the moment she received the devastating news from her daughter's best friend around 2pm on Saturday, she said: 'I felt sick, I just completely shut down.

'I was completely heartbroken, and I did not know what to do, or how I would carry on. I was in a state of complete shock.

'Cassie had always thought of me before herself and I still don't feel as though she is truly gone.

'Her dad died in 2004 and Cassie was very close to him, his death hit her really hard. I am comforted by the thought the two of them are together now.'

Miss Hayes' sister, Nadine, said: 'This truly is a living nightmare and the pain is indescribable. I stand here as a big sister for my Cass, for my family, for all those who loved and cared for her.

'She was truly one in a million and the way she has been taken from us is just heartbreaking.'

Miss Hayes, pictured here with her daughter, was killed on Saturday in Southport, Merseyside, at the branch of TUI where she was assistant manager

Leah McDonald, right, shared her heartbreak over the death of Cassie Hayes, left, whose throat was allegedly slit

Miss Hayes and Leah McDonald had a daughter Ruby, now four, but split after her birth because they 'lost the connection', although the youngster stayed with Miss Hayes three nights a week

Miss Hayes' former partner, Leah McDonald, said their four-year-old Ruby broke down crying when she told her that Miss Hayes had 'gone to the angels'.

Miss Hayes met Miss McDonald on an online dating site in 2007 and moved from her native Alnwick, Northumberland, to be with her. They remained close friends despite splitting up after Ruby's birth.

Writing on Facebook, Miss McDonald said: 'As if my heart couldn't break any more having to watch my little girl break down crying as I tell her that mammy has gone with her nana to the angels, telling her she's never going to see her again.

'Ruby asking why did she go without her? 'Mammy was my best friend, mummy, I love her so much'. What me and Ruby are gunna [sic] do now I have no idea, our little world is shattered  like she said, me, you and mammy were best friends!'

She added: 'Cassie was the most amazing thing to enter my life back in 2007. I'm so lucky to have had the pleasure to be her first girlfriend and her first love and best friend  the one person who stood by my side.

'Even when we split, we were there for each other. What's happened has torn her family's world apart. My heart is breaking for her mam and sister.

'I loved her from the moment we met till this day.'

Her brother Ryan McDonald added: 'Ruby has lost a huge part of her future. She doted on Cassie, as did Cassie on her  they were two peas in a pod.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with anyone connected to Cassie in any way.'

Witnesses claimed Miss Hayes had her throat slit and Andrew Burke, 30, has been charged with murder

A murder probe has been launched after travel agent Cassie Hayes (right) allegedly had her throat slit. Her partner Laura Williams (left) has paid tribute following her death

Miss Hayes later began a relationship with mother-of-two Laura Williams, 28, who is understood to have previously been engaged to marry Burke.

Miss Williams paid tribute to 'my future wife and my forever', adding: 'Words will not explain my sorrow and loss...she is the most amazing, gorgeous, selfless and strong person I know.'

Miss Hayes' family said: 'Our whole lives have been shattered. This has torn our hearts from our bodies. Cassie was an amazing, kind human being who would do anything for anyone. She doted on all her family and our loss is beyond calculation.'

On Monday relatives of Miss Hayes watched as Burke, from St Helens, appeared before a judge at Liverpool Crown Court charged with murder and possessing an offensive weapon, a black-handled knife.

Burke spoke only to confirm his name, age, address and nationality.

No bail application was made and Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC remanded Burke in custody until February 19, when he is expected to enter a plea.

A provisional trial date was set for July 2.
Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake compared Donald Trump to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on Wednesday, delivering a blistering attack on the president to a nearly empty U.S. Senate chamber.

The Republican has become one of Trump's favorite targets, earning a presidential nickname  'Jeff Flakey'  since his impending retirement has freed him to openly castigate the White House on several fronts.

'It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies,' Flake said, citing a Trump tweet in which he branded five news outlets 'the enemy of the American people.'

Flake said that 'so fraught with malice was the phrase "enemy of the people" that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of "annihilating such individuals" who disagreed with the supreme leader.'

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Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, said Wednesday on the Senate floor that President Donald Trump's attacks on the media put him in the same category as Soviet despot Joseph Stalin

Flake says Trump 'uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies'  referring to his description of five news outlets as the 'enemy of the American people'

'We are in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself,' Flake claimed.

Only two senators, Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, attended the 15-minute speech that was highly anticipated by reporters and editors.

But Flake let his disdain for the Trump White House show, saying that 'the free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy.'

The White House fired back hours later, noting that Flake had visited Cuba this month for a trip in which he defended the communist government there over accusations that it had made American diplomats ill with an unspecified 'sonic weapon.'

'He's the one who was recently defending an actually oppressive regime,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said during a briefing on Wednesday. 'He went to Cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive Cuban government.'

'He's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression,' Sanders insisted. 'He's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention.'

'He's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said of Flake

Flake spoke to a handful of reporters who followed him out of the Senate chamber on Wednesday

Flake's speech came on the day the White House has promised to bestow 'Fake News Awards' on reporters the president loves to hate.

'The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!,' Trump said last week on Twitter.

But the White House said Tuesday that it was merely a 'potential event.'

By Wednesday, Trump officials were saying the awards were back on.

'We are very excited about the Fake News Awards. ... There'll be an announcement a little bit later,' deputy press secretary Raj Shah told Fox News in the early afternoon.

'We'll keep you guys posted,' Sanders added. 'It'll be something later today.'

Trump has promised to hand out 'Fake News Awards' on Wednesday, hours after Flake blasted his use of the term

Trump said last year that five media outlets are not his enemy, but 'the enemy of the American people'

Flake said 'it beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle, but here we are.'

'When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn't suit him "fake news",' he added, 'it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.'

Flake announced in October that he would not run for re-election, citing the 'alarming and dangerous state of affairs' under the Trump administration and blaming fellow Republicans for their 'complicity.'

The senator had no practical chance of winning another term, according to most political analysts.

But he upbraided his fellow lawmakers for failing to stand in Trump's way.

Senators Dick Durbin and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats, were the only lawmakers who attended Flake's speech

'An American president who cannot take criticism, who must constantly deflect and distort and distract, who must find someone else to blame is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger,' Flake declared.

On Tuesday night The Washington Post published an op-ed by John McCain, Flake's fellow Arizona senator, complaining about Trump's treatment of the political press and saying the president is setting a dangerous tone for despots 'who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.'

'While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets,' he wrote.

'The phrase "fake news"  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens,' McCain added.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was branded 'pretty weird' tonight and warned to brush up on history after he claimed British war veterans fought for Europe.

Brexiteers said the Taoiseach was 'talking rubbish' at the European Parliament today as he made a bizarre plea for Britain to change its mind on Brexit.

He reeled off a long list of people he insisted will suffer from Britain quitting the Brussels club - including businesses and students.

And he singled out Second World War heroes saying they had 'fought on the beaches of France' not just for Britain but to protect and further 'European values'.

The remarks were warmly welcomed in Brussels but were mocked in Britain by Tory MP James Gray - who has served in the Territorial Army - who pointed out that D-Day happened in 1944, before the EU 'was a twinkle in anyone's eye'.

And Tory darling Jacob Rees-Mogg told MailOnline the Irish Prime Minister should spend some time reflecting on Ireland's 'undistinguished' war time record.

Leo Varadkar (pictured at the European Parliament today) reeled off a long list of people he insisted will suffer from Britain quitting the Brussels club - including businesses and students. And he singled out Second World War heroes saying they had 'fought on the beaches of France' not just for Britain but to protect and further 'European values'.

Tory darling Jacob Rees-Mogg (left) told MailOnline Mr Varadkar should reflect on Ireland's 'undistinguished' war time history while James Gray (right) said the Taoiseach was 'talking rubbish'

Mr Varadkar, a vocal critic of Brexit, told MEPs that 'I really regret the decision on Brexit, because so much will be lost'.

He added: 'Young people will lose their right to live, work and study anywhere in the European Union - losing those rights as European citizens.

'My niece and nephew wont because they are entitled to Irish passports, but other kids in their class will and I think that's a real shame.'

'British businesses could lose their access to the biggest market in the world, farmers, food producers, even the beer makers that you and I are so fond of, could lose the subsidies they currently benefit from which are not guaranteed beyond this Parliament.

'And also I'm conscious of British veterans, very brave people, who fought on the beaches of France not just for Britain but also for European democracy and for European values - and people like that are always on my mind.'

But Mr Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, told Mail Online the comments are 'pretty weird' because the fight against Hitler was nothing to do with the EU project.

Leo Varadkar's comments mocked in Britain by Tory MP James Gray - who has served in the Territorial Army - who pointed out that D-Day happened in 1944, before the EU 'was a twinkle in anyone's eye' (pictured, veterans at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings in 2014)

He said: 'If he was talking about D Day it's patently obvious that the troops were of course not fighting for the EU because it didn't exist at the time.

'I just think it's wrong, he is talking a lot of rubbish isn't he?

'I have met a great many of veterans of the Second World War in my time and I've never met one who thought they were fighting for the European Union.

'And if that is what the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland thinks then he doesn't know what he is talking about.

'The EU wasn't even a twinkle in anyone's eye at that time.

'Charles de Gaulle of course went to lengths to ensure that Britain didn't form part of any link at all.'

Mr Rees-Mogg said: 'Mr Varadkar forgets that Ireland was neutral during the war which implies it had no interest in Europe and Eamon de Valera (the former Irish PM) signed a book of condolence at the German Embassy in Dublin on the death of Hitler.

'Perhaps if Mr Varadkar knew his own country's undistinguished wartime history better his views on our history would be more informed.'

During the European Parliament debate in Brussels, Nigel Farage (pictured today) accused Mr Varadkar of being a 'European Unionist whatever the cost to Ireland may be'

During the European Parliament debate in Brussels, Nigel Farage accused Mr Varadkar of being a 'European Unionist whatever the cost to Ireland may be', who is helping with the 'obstructionism and the delay of Brexit' despite Dublin's economic interests in ensuring a good UK-EU trade deal.

'It seems to me that you're prepared to put your devotion to the European project above the interest of Irish farmers and other companies too,' the former Ukip leader told MEPs.

'You are part, of course, of a big attempt here and elsewhere to frustrate and attempt to overturn Brexit.

'You don't want Britain to leave because you know if they do, others will leave too, and I would just say this to you - I don't want a second referendum on Brexit, absolutely not, but I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure we get the worst possible deal.

'I say that because I've seen it all before, the difference is, if you force the Brits to do it again, there will be a different outcome.'
U.S. Border Patrol has been accused of causing the deaths of hundreds of migrants a year by destroying food and water supplies left for them in the brutal Arizona desert by humanitarian groups.

On Wednesday, two humanitarian groups released a report, detailing how they've distributed more than 31,000 gallons of water along dangerous migrant paths in the Arizona desert between 2012 and 2015.

In that time frame, they say volunteers have found these stashes of food and water destroyed 415 times - or about two times a week on average.

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U.S. Border Patrol has been accused of destroying food and water left in the Arizona desert for migrants. Above, a still from a video of an agent pouring water bottles out

Between 2012-2015, The Tucson-based group No More Deaths said they distributed more than 31,000 gallons of water along migration trails. In that time span, they found water gallons vandalized 415 times

'Through statistical analysis, video evidence, and personal experience, our team has uncovered a disturbing reality. In the majority of cases, US Border Patrol agents are responsible for the widespread interference with essential humanitarian efforts,' the report reads.

They said that the Border Patrol is guilty of human rights violations.

'The practice of destruction of and interference with aid is not the deviant behavior of a few rogue border patrol agents, it is a systemic feature of enforcement practices in the borderlands,' the report adds.

The groups - No More Deaths and La Coalicion de Derechos Humanos - say ramped up border security in the past few years has led migrants to take even more risky trails into the U.S. - through tall mountains and deserts where temperatures regularly reach over 100 degrees in the summer.

In order to survive the journey, which can take anywhere between three days and nearly a month, doctors recommend drinking between 1.3 to 3.1 gallons of water a day.

So it's practically impossible to rely off the water supplies that they travel with, typically no more than two gallons.

Humanitarian groups have been leaving water and food supplies along the trail to prevent deaths, which have become a regular occurance.

Over the last two decades, some 7,000 human remains have been recovered from the U.S. borderlands. In Pima County alone, hundreds of migrants die each year making the crossing.

The two groups say that the U.S. Border Patrol is making the problem worse by compromising the water supplies they leave out in the desert.

The report says that wild animals, hunters, hikers and vigilante groups are also to blame for destroying these water and food supplies, but that they found that in most cases the Border Patrol was responsible.

The report even includes video showing multiple cases where Border Patrol agents kicking water gallons and pouring them out.

When contacted by The Guardian, a Border Patrol spokesman said 'he could not rebut accusations before seeing the report' before pointing out that agents regularly save migrants' lives.

A former agent who spoke to the two humanitarian groups said that destroying water supplies was a way to make migrants weaker and easier to find.

'Yes, I remember people smashing and stepping on water bottles, I remember that being imparted onto us in one way or another,' one former Border Patrol agent told the groups. 'I also remember that the logic behind that, the logic that was imparted to us with that action, was that you stomp on their water, and ransack their food cache, in order to expedite their apprehension.'

The groups commented: 'This is the logic of the US Border Patrols policy of Prevention Through Deterrence, which in theory prioritizes threats of arrest and physical violence, while in reality kills and disappears people.'

The report finishes by calling for the Border Patrol to be disbanded and reparations paid to the families of victims.

'We demand that US Customs and Border Protection permanently dismantles the US Border Patrol and establishes a reparations program for the families of all persons disappeared and deceased as a result of the US border policy of Prevention Through Deterrence,' the report reads.

That's unlikely. In addition to working to fulfill his campaign promise to build a new Mexican border wall, President Trump is also pushing to hire 5,000 more Border Patrol agents.
The pregnant wife of a church caretaker killed herself by lying down in front of a speeding train.

Zdenka Yabani, 39, had walked just half-a-mile from her church home and onto tracks at Slough station, when she took her own life.

Mother-of-two Mrs Yabani was killed by a non-stop intercity train as it sped through the station.

Zdenka Yabani, 39, and her Ghanaian husband Jude, with their two children

An inquest was opened into her tragic death today, but it was adjourned by senior Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford so that further investigations could be carried out by British Transport Police (BTP).

Mr Yabani's Ghanaian husband Jude refused to speak about his wife's tragic death today.

Asked if he wanted to comment, he said simply: 'I've told the police everything. Please go away or the police will come.'

Opening the inquest in Reading, Berkshire, coroner Mr Bedford heard that emergency services were called to Slough train station on January 8 after the train screeched to a halt.

Mr Bedford said he accepted jurisdiction over the death after being presented with evidence by Police Sergeant David Keir.

Mother-of-two Mrs Yabani, pictured, with her family, was killed by a non-stop intercity train as sped through the station

He said: 'This is the opening of the inquest into the death of Mrs Zdenka Yabani, aged 39 years, of Merton Road, Slough.

'I have been given preliminary evidence, which still needs to be formalised, provided by BTP's Sgt. Keir that Zdenka Yabani attended Slough railway station on January 8 this year, earlier than 9.30am when the police attended.

'She purchased a ticket from a machine in the booking hall and then made her way to platform 2. From her position after walking along the platform, she then climbs down from the platform onto the tracks and lays herself across the tracks and was struck by a high speed train.

'It is confirmed as part of the investigation that she was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.

'Confirmation of her identity was given by her husband Jude Yabani of the same address.

'So as I have assessed jurisdiction and that it is an unnatural death with the cause of being preliminarily assessed as being multiple injuries, it is appropriate for me to open and adjourn the inquest into the death of Zdenka Yabani until 10am on June 21 this year.'
An art dealer couple have been awarded 7 million after they were stiffed in a 'gentleman's agreement' that saw a Gauguin portrait sold to the Qatari royal family for 152million.

Simon de Pury and his wife Michaela were finally awarded their commission from Ruedi Staechelin, known as 'the Mick Jagger of art auctions', by the High Court.

Mr de Pury, 66, had made the gentleman's agreement with Mr Staechelin, son of the original Swiss buyer, that he would be handed the hefty commission once the painting was sold.

The High Court ruled that Simon de Pury and his wife Michaela should receive a 7.2 million commission for arranging the sale of his painting by impressionist French artist Paul Gauguin, When Will You Marry, to the Qatari Royal Family for some 152 million

Simon de Pury, pictured with his wife Michaela have been awarded 7.2m commission by the High Court in London for arranging the sale of the painting to the Qatari Royal family

Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani , pictured, and his family agreed to pay $210m for the painting which will be exhibited at a new gallery in the Gulf state

But Mr Staechelin contested the claim and argued that Mr de Pury, a former chariman of Sotheby's Europe, forfeited his right to a commission, if he ever had one, over alleged deceptions about possible higher offers for the painting.

Mr de Pury's lawyers told the High Court that the pair reached a 'gentlemanly' agreement over the commission after he put Mr Staechelin in touch with Guy Bennett, who handles the Qatari's art interests.

When Will You Marry?, a portrait by Gauguin, was sold after two years of negotiations to be displayed at a new gallery in Qatar.

It was the second most expensive painting in the world to be sold at that time.

On Tuesday the de Pury couple were awarded $10 million - approximately 7.2m - in commission from their work by Mr Justice Morgan following a High Court case.

In his judgement Mr Justice Morgan said: 'There was clearly a consensus that if the sale went through, Mr De Pury would receive $10 million,' and ordered the trust to pay the couple.

The painting, pictured, was owned by Swiss businessman and art collector Rudolf Staechelin, right, who did not want to pay the 7.2million commission to his former friend

The High Court in London ruled Mr de Pury and his wife were entitled to the commission

Mr De Pury, who was advised by the London lawyers Grosvenor Law, said after the judgment that he was delighted that 'justice has prevailed'.

'It is regrettable that for the first time in over 45 years in the art market I was forced to issue legal proceedings,' he said.

'Michaela and I had to wait for more than three years for our role in this transaction to be recognised. We both greatly look forward to our continued activities in the art world.'

The Gauguin masterpiece was sold to the Emir of Qatar by the family trust of Rudolf Staechelin-Finkbeiner, a renowned Swiss collector who bought the painting for 18,000 Swiss francs in 1917.

Mr de Pury left Sotheby's in 1997 and founded his own art consultancy which later merged with Phillips auction house.

Mrs De Pury, 47, who has a PhD in medieval and renaissance art, had been a senior partner at Phillips de Pury.

The couple married in 2009 and later moved into a 12 million home whose walls are lined with valuable art.

In his judgement, Mr Justice Morgan said it was clear that Mr de Pury and Mr Staechelin are no longer friends despite attending school together.

He said: 'In July 2014 Mr Staechelin believed, wrongly, that Mr de Pury had told him a lie about the negotiations for the sale.

'Mr Staechelin then decided that neither he nor the trustees would pay any commission to Mr and Mrs de Pury.

'This claim for commission was then brought and it has been strenuously defended.'
Kailem Jones, 18,(pic in an undated social media image) from Briton Ferry in South Wales, was on a summer holiday when he took the narcotics at a house party

A 'bright and clever' chemistry student died after experimenting with a 'cocktail of drugs' on a break from his university studies.

Kailem Jones, 18, from Briton Ferry in South Wales, was on a summer holiday when he took the narcotics at a house party.

The Cardiff University student was found dead by his father at home.

A hearing was told he had been at a house party where people were taking drugs in the days before his death.

The night before he died Mr Jones had gone to work at his part-time job in a bar and was picked up later that night.

But on August 8 last year he was found unresponsive.

An inquest heard the cause of death was a fatal multiple combination of a variety of drugs at the party.

Assistant coroner for Swansea Aled Gruffydd recorded a conclusion of drug-related death.

In a tribute Mr Jones' devastated former girlfriend Kara Thomas(who he is pictured with in this undated image) said he made her 'so happy'

In a tribute Mr Jones' devastated former girlfriend Kara Thomas said he made her 'so happy'.

She wrote: 'From the age of 15 years old you were a major part of my life, my first love, my first boyfriend and my everything.

Assistant coroner for Swansea Aled Gruffydd recorded a conclusion of drug-related death. Pictured: An undated image of Mr Jones

'I just can't believe you're actually gone. You were loved by so many and cheered up everyone around you.

'The conversations and memories we've shared I will cherish forever especially the ones about the future and you were so optimistic that everything would work out.

'You made me so happy for the three years we spent together and although we have been split up for a year we've always remained in contact and cared about each other and you've always been a phone call away.

'No one knows or understands me like you do. So heartbroken and devastated, totally lost without you, I love you so much Kailem, always have and always will.'
Washington

The past decade of federal K-12 education redesigns have not worked out as hoped, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a wide-ranging speech at the American Enterprise Institute Tuesday. Federally mandated assessments. Federal money. Federal standards. All originated in Washington, and none solved the problem. Too many of Americas students are still unprepared.

The Education Department, she said, needs to take a different tack.

Educators dont need engineering from Washington. Parents dont need prescriptions from Washington. Students dont need standards from Washington. ... What I propose is not another top-down, federal government policy that promises to be a silver bullet. No. We need a paradigm shift, a fundamental reorientation ... a rethink, DeVos said, according to prepared remarks.

Rethink means we question everything to ensure nothing limits a student from pursuing his or her passion, and achieving his or her potential. So each student is prepared at every turn for what comes next, DeVos said.

DeVos sought to challenge the education community to ask itself a series of fundamental questions about the structure of K-12 systems.

Its past time to ask some of the questions that often get labeled as non-negotiable or just dont get asked at all, she said. Why do we group students by age? Why do schools close for the summer? Why must the school day start with the rise of the sun? Why are schools assigned by your address? Why do students have to go to a school building in the first place? Why is choice only available to those who can buy their way out? Or buy their way in? Why cant a student learn at his or her own pace? Why isnt technology more widely embraced in schools? Why do we limit what a student can learn based upon the faculty and facilities available? Why? We must answer these questions. We must acknowledge what is and what is not working for students.

DeVos remarks are one more signal that she intends to use the bully pulpit of her office to call for big changes in K-12 schools. But its unclear if she is seeking federal resources to help school districts think through a major reworking of their systems. Congress has already rejected her budget proposals on school choice.

DeVos speech capped off a day of panels delving into the K-12 reforms associated with the President Geoge W. Bush and Barack Obama eras. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which for the first time required states to test their students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. And Obama approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion program that included some $100 billion for K-12 education.

ARRA laid the groundwork for Race to the Top, which rewarded a dozen states that pledged to evaluate teachers based in part on student test scores, adopt the Common Core State Standards , and put in place ambitious new student data systems.

Thanks to Race to the Top, Unsurprisingly, nearly every state accepted common-core standards and applied for hundreds of millions of dollars in Race to the Top funds, DeVos said. But despite this change, the United States PISA performance did not improve in reading and science, and it dropped in math from 2012 to 2015. She also noted that scores in 8th grade reading on the National Education have slipped.

DeVos added that common core is dead at the Education Department. The two-year-old Every Student Succeeds Act , which replaced NCLB, bars the secretary from telling states what standards they can or cant use. Most states have continued to stick with the common core, or similar standards.

But people who worked on education policy in the Obama and Bush eras saw some clear game-changing wins. For instance, Nina Rees, the executive director of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and a former Bush administration official, pointed to NCLBs requirement to disaggregate student test scores by subgroup, so that parents, policymakers, and the public can see how students in special education, English-language learners, minorities, and children from low-income families are doing relative to their peers.

And Rees noted that states including Massachusetts raised the caps on charter schools in order to be competitive for Race to the Top.

Joanne Weiss, who served as chief of staff to ">Arne Duncan , Obamas longest-serving education secretary, noted that most states are still using the common-core standards, even if they call them by another name.

Having a set of standards that are shared has allowed for higher quality curriculum and professional development. I think this is just hugely important, she said.

Read DeVos full remarks here .

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
The Chinese public have donated over 500,000 yuan (56,335) to help an impoverished boy whose hair became frozen after having to walk 2.8 miles to school.

However, the handling of the donations by a government-run charity has sparked controversy in China as the boy was given just a fraction of the funds.

Eight-year-old Wang Fuman, from Ludian County, has received 8,000 yuan (900) despite people donated over six times more money through the local Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation after seeing a picture of Wang and his icy hair.

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Wang Fuman's hair turned into icicles after he walked to school on a sub-zero morning in China

The public have donated over 56,335 to help little Fuman (pictured) who lives in rural Yunnan

The child's hands are cracked up as he has to study in a classroom without heating in cold weather. Eight-year-old Fuman walked for an hour in minus nine degree weather to his school

It's said that the rest of the funds would be used to help more less-fortunate pupils in the region like Fuman, according to a statement released by Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation on January 16.

Previously, the government charity said each student at the Zhuanshanbao Primary School, where Fuman studies, would individually receive 500 yuan (57).

The authority's decision has sparked discussions among the Chinese public.

Some agree with the government's solution because - as one web user put - 'this way the amount of money could benefit the future of more children'.

While other people disagreed as they argued the authority shouldn't re-distribute the donations because they were meant for Wang Fuman.

Chen Furong, the head of Ludian Education Bureau, said the authority didn't give too much money to Fuman because it wanted to protect him and help him grow up more healthily, according to China National Radio.

Mr Chen said getting rich overnight is a 'twisted manner of charity', and it would not help Fuman grow up healthily and disappoint all the benefactors.

The boy has been named Wang Fuman and he is eight years old. In an interview with Pear Video, Fuman said he was wearing his thickest coat yesterday when he braved snow

Fuman lives in a bare mud house with his grandmother and his elder sister. The eight-year-old said his father works as a migrant worker in another city and his mother had abandoned them

Little Fuman shot to fame last week after a picture showing his hair and eyebrows coated in frost was shared online.

Wearing a thin coat, eight-year-old Fuman had walked for an hour in minus nine degree weather to his school. He then had to sit an exam in a classroom without heating.

His story moved millions of people in China, who started donating money to him and his school.

Students at the Zhuanshanbao Primary School receive winter clothes donated to them

Yunnan Youth Development Foundation and the affiliated Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation were appointed by the government to manage all incoming funds.

The two organisations said they would publish the details on how they use the donations through their websites.

The school has had heating installed, according to reports, and the local authority has arranged work for Fuman's father.

Donations have poured in as the Chinese public have teamed up to help Fuman (pictured)

This photo taken on January 11, 2018 shows Wang Fuman (centre), also known as "Frost Boy", with his family in Ludian in China's southwestern Yunnan province. Apparently, Fuman's father (right) is a migrant worker in another city and he lives with his sister (left) and his grandmother

Some people voiced strong opposition to the fact that the government-run charity were looking after the money, reported Radio Free Asia.

Critics concerned that people were donating money to Fuman, but the funds would end up being used to help other children - or even worse ending up in the hands of corrupted officials.

In response, a member of staff from Zhaotong Youth Development Foundation told MailOnline last week that not all of the donations had been sent to Fuman, and that the charity campaign was aimed to help children like Fuman in general.
Facebook has told the Government's fake news inquiry it will expand its investigation into whether Russian agents attempted to influence the Brexit vote.

The social media giant previously said it found just three Brexit-related ads linked to the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA), and they were viewed by just 200 people.

But MP Damian Collins, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, responded by accusing Facebook of not properly investigating alleged Russian meddling.

Today, he revealed the company is now expanding its probe to look for other 'coordinated activity around the Brexit referendum'.

The EU referendum was an political earthquake in British politics. Facebook have today announced they are expanding their probe into alleged Russian meddling the campaign

Simon Milner, Facebooks UK policy director, wrote to the committee: 'You expressed a view that there may be other similar co-ordinated activity from Russia that we had not yet identified through our investigation and asked us to continue our investigatory work.

'We have considered your request and can confirm that our investigatory team is now looking to see if we can identify other similar clusters engaged in co-ordinated activity around the Brexit referendum that was not identified previously.

'This work requires detailed analysis of historic data by our security experts, who are also engaged in preventing live threats to our service.

'We are committed to making all reasonable efforts to establish whether or not there was co-ordinated activity similar to that which was found in the US and will report back to you as soon as the work has been completed.'

Mr Collins said today: 'I welcome the fact that Facebook have now responded to the committee's request for information regarding the abuse of their platform during the Brexit Referendum. I look forward to reviewing their findings.'

Some have claimed Russia used the social network to influence the EU referendum

Theresa May has previously accused Russia of spreading fake news and misinformation online as part of a campaign to 'sow discord in the West'.

But Facebook's previously statement on the matter had cast doubt over assertions by pro Remain MPs that Moscow-based propaganda groups were trying to sway the vote by posting ads online.

It follows an investigation in the US earlier this year which ruled hundreds of Russia-linked Facebook accounts had attempted to influence the US presidential election.

Investigating that issue, Facebook found approximately 470 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency agency had spent around 100,000 dollars (75,000) on more than 3,000 adverts.
Angela Merkel and Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz have clashed over immigration in their meeting today (pictured)

Angela Merkel and Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz have clashed over immigration in their first meeting today.

The German chancellor said her counterpart was 'wrong' to resist the sharing out of migrants across the EU.

Kurz, at 31 the world's youngest leader after forming a government with the rightwing last month, said after talks with Merkel that the debate about mandatory migrant quotas 'took up too much space'.

'I'm convinced that the solution to the migrant problem lies with decent border protection and stronger help in countries of origin,' Kurz told reporters after he was received in Berlin with military honours.

While Merkel echoed those priorities, she also chided the member states that have refused to take in their share of migrants under the European Union's quota system.

When external border protection fails, 'it cannot be, in my view, that there are some countries that say "we don't want to participate in European solidarity",' she said.

Austria has sided with countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic that reject the scheme, agreed by a majority of EU leaders in 2015, to share 160,000 migrants around the bloc to help frontline states like Greece and Italy. Pictured: Migrants crossing the Austrian-German border in 2015

Kurz, who was foreign minister at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, was one of the fiercest critics of Merkel's contentious decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to those fleeing conflict

'I believe that's wrong.'

Austria has sided with countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic that reject the scheme, agreed by a majority of EU leaders in 2015, to share 160,000 migrants around the bloc to help frontline states like Greece and Italy.

Just some 32,000 were relocated by the end of 2017.

Kurz, who was foreign minister at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, was one of the fiercest critics of Merkel's contentious decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to those fleeing conflict.

The move prompted an influx of nearly 900,000 migrants to Germany that year alone, although arrivals have slowed significantly since then.

Kurz came to power after taking over the conservative People's Party (OeVP) last year and moving it to the right, with a hardline stance on immigration.

Kurz, who was foreign minister at the height of Europe's migrant crisis, was one of the fiercest critics of Merkel's contentious decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to those fleeing conflict. Pictured: One of the most recent arrivals of migrants, off the coast of Libya, on Monday

His government is the only one in Western Europe to feature the far-right after he struck an alliance with the controversial Freedom Party (FPOe).

Merkel stressed the 'close cooperation' between Germany and Austria and their shared positions on many issues.

She said she would judge the new government in Vienna 'by its actions', but added that she would be watching closely.

'We will keep an eye on everything else - perhaps I will a bit more than I would have otherwise done. But what matters are actions,' she said.
A sexual abuse victim who bravely brought her abuser stepfather to justice was found dead at the bottom of cliffs, an inquest heard.

Leyna Ann Tucker was molested by Andrew Fulcher when she was aged between 11 and 13.

She later found the courage to report him and after he was jailed for four years in 2015 she waived her right to anonymity to speak out to help others.

Mrs Tucker was found in the sea at the base of cliffs in Porthleven, Cornwall, in May last year.

Leyna Tucker bravely brought her abuser stepfather to justice in 2015. But last year she was found dead at the bottom of cliffs, an inquest heard

Leyna Ann Tucker (left) texted her husband John (shown on their wedding day, right) to tell him that she was going to drive off the cliff at Porthleven

An inquest heard the 47-year-old had gone missing after a night out with friends in Helston.

Her car was found wedged on top of a hedge at the car park on Loe Bar Road the following morning.

Tests showed she was nearly six times the legal drink-drive limit when she died.

She sent text messages in which she said she was going to take her life by driving her car off the cliff, but a coroner said it was unclear whether she intended to kill herself.

The coroner concluded that the amount of alcohol in her system would have had a serious effect on her judgment.

In a statement to the inquest, her husband John Tucker said: 'The abuse and subsequent court hearings took all her strength and it hit her really hard.

'Her life appeared to be on the up. I can't understand what would have made her do such a thing and I feel I'll never come to terms with her death.'

He said his wife struggled for years to cope with the abuse she received as a child and she admitted she was drinking too much alcohol.

Leyna Ann Tucker (left) was molested by her stepfather Andrew Fulcher (right, outside court) when she was aged between 11 and 13

He added that she had cut back in recent years but was still prone to binge-drinking at times.

Detective Constable Martin Hearn told the inquest that Mrs Tucker had stayed at her friend's house on the night she died and no-one had any idea that anything was wrong.

But when her friend awoke at 5.20am on May 13, Mrs Tucker was missing.

DC Hearn said her Ford Focus car was found stuck on a Cornish hedge in front of the cliffs at Porthleven at 6.50am by a member of the public, prompting a search of the coastline by coastguards and an RNLI lifeboat.

Her body was later discovered by the lifeboat crew at 8am and the hearing was told that she had died as a result of multiple injuries from falling from the cliff.

The body of Mrs Tucker was discovered in the sea at the base of cliffs in Porthleven, Cornwall, in May last year (stock image)

DC Hearn added: 'It looks like on her phone she made two messages, one to a friend and the other to her husband. In both she gave the indication she was going to attempt to drive off the cliff.'

Assistant coroner Barrie van den Berg said: 'For a conclusion of suicide, you have to be sure about that and in this case I am not, because of the incredibly high alcohol reading which would make anyone's subjective view of things difficult and the fact her husband says this was not a deliberate suicide.

'She had a lot to live for. I think we are left with nothing really, accept noting what's happened and with the background that she was so upset and worried by the abuse she received in the past.'

He recorded an open verdict.
An Old Harrovian tech entrepreneur who tried to smother his model girlfriend with a bedcover and made her think she was 'going to die' was today spared jail.

Justin Beckett, 32, attended the 38,000-a-year public school in north west London and pushed Aubrey Fernandez down a flight of stairs before banging her head against a wall.

A court heard he would not let her out of her flat in Marylebone and she feared for her life during the heated argument.

He describes himself online as a 'seasoned entrepreneur' and admitted assaulting the model at her home.

Justin Beckett, 32, attended the 38,000-a-year public school in north west London and pushed Aubrey Fernandez down a flight of stairs (pictured together)

A court heard Fernandez would not let Miss Fernandez (pictured) out of her flat in Marylebone and she feared for her life during the heated argument

Jonathan Bryan, prosecuting, told the court: 'The defendant placed the bedcover over her head and she felt she could not breathe.

'She said: "I thought I was going to die" and he would not let her out of the flat.

'He grabbed her again and pushed her back and she banged her head against the wall and then pushed her down the stairs.

'It was a sustained serious incident and there are previous unreported incidents she refers to, but there were no reports to the police at the time.'

The model (pictured) thought that she was 'going to die' during the attack at her London flat

She uses her home in Marylebone to run her eyelash en tension business, called SpecialEyes

Beckett is the co-founder of JAV Digital Solutions Ltd and founder of Just B Digital, which advises on software and technology.

Westminster Magistrates Court made an indefinite restraining order, prohibiting Beckett contacting Aubrey or visiting her home.

Her property doubles as the address for SpecialEyes, Aubrey's eyelash extension business, for which she charges up to 90 per fitting.

She previously studied hospitality and tourism at Harrow International Business School.

Beckett, who lives at a 1.6million flat nearby, was also ordered to pay 85 costs and an 85 victim surcharge.
A dying five-year-old girl was dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast by her 'precious' hospice nurse just days before the sweet girl lost her battle to an aggressive form of cancer.

In a Facebook post Monday night on the Braylynn's Battalion Facebook page, the Florida family sadly announced that five-year-old Braylynn Lawhon had 'earned her sparkly pink angel wings'.

'And though she be but little, she is fierce,' the post read.

'Our sweet Braylynn, our warrior princess, earned her sparkly pink angel wings this evening. Her nickname was Princess Bel and she could light up any room'.

But just days before the little girl passed away, a hospice nurse dressed her in a beautiful yellow gown, just like Belle's.

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Five-year-old Braylynn Lawhon was dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast by her 'precious' hospice nurse just days before the sweet girl died

Braylynn's story quickly spread across social media last week and tugged on the heartstrings of many people after her mother shared a Facebook photo of her terminally-ill father Sean Peterson (right) saying goodbye to her young daughter

On January 13, her mother, Ally Parker, posted the photo of Braylynn in the dress with the caption: 'One of her precious hospice nurses dressed her in a beautiful Belle gown this week and a photographer spent some private time taking photos for us last weekend.

'We will cherish these photos of our warrior princess for our lifetime.

Braylynn's story quickly spread across social media last week and tugged on the heartstrings of many people after her mother shared a Facebook photo of her terminally-ill father Sean Peterson saying goodbye to her young daughter.

Peterson, 49, was diagnosed with ALS in 2016 and found out he had bone marrow cancer shortly after.

On December 6, Braylynn was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a deadly form of brain cancer that has no cure or survival rate.

On December 6, Braylynn was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a deadly form of brain cancer that has no cure or survival rate. She's pictured with her mother Ally Parker

The family announced in a Facebook post on the Braylynn's Battalion page that she died Monday night

The Pensacola family had documented Braylynn's battle with cancer on a GoFundMe page that was initially set up to help fund experimental treatment in Mexico

On Sunday, Peterson went to visit his granddaughter in a Florida hospice and was overcome with grief.

Parker is trying to raise awareness in hopes doctors can soon find a cure for the disease

The heart-breaking moment was captured on camera and showed Peterson crying as he said goodbye to the child.

'We all thought that they would outlive the rest of us... and we certainly never thought that my precious little Braylynn would be the first to go,' Parker, who shared the photo, wrote in her Facebook post.

'Last year was hard for us, but I can't even begin to explain how difficult this year will be and has already been.

'In a few days I will have to bury this beautiful little girl. Months, maybe even weeks, later, I will have to bury my father,' Parked continued.

'Both of my heroes, gone, within the same year,' she continues. 'How could this happen to us? What did any of us do to deserve THIS?

'Why do they have to leave us? What are we supposed to do? I refuse to believe that there is a reason for this. This world is a terrible place.'

'We all thought that they would outlive the rest of us... and we certainly never thought that my precious little Braylynn would be the first to go,' Parker wrote on Facebook. Pictured is an older photo of Braylynn (right) with Peterson (left)

Parker said in a Facebook post last week that her father is terminally ill and not expected to live much longer. Pictured on the left is Braylynn and on the right is her grandfather, Sean Peterson

The family will use donations raised through GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses for Braylynn as well as research for the disease

The Pensacola family had documented Braylynn's battle with cancer on a GoFundMe page that was initially set up to help fund experimental treatment in Mexico.

The money will now go towards the little girl's funeral expenses and research.

'We lost our beloved Braylynn on Monday to this treacherous disease. The donations will go to planning her funeral and to other families fighting this disease and some of it will be going to research to help find a cure,' the family posted on GoFundMe.

'We do not wish this pain upon anyone. We may not be able to bring her back, but she may be able to help other babies from dying in the future. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.'

The family is hoping to raise $300,000. So far, they have received more than $77,000 in donations.

The family is hoping to raise $300,000. So far, they have received more than $77,000 in donations
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has cut a deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team to avoid testifying before a grand jury, sources told CNN on Wednesday.

Instead, like other members of President Trump's inner circle, Bannon will be interviewed by the special counsel's team. The network's sources didn't say if the subpoena would be withdrawn.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Bannon was subpoenaed by Mueller last week to testify before a grand jury, with FBI agents coming to his house, NBC News said.

President Trump's former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will be more forthcoming with investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller than he was with lawmakers yesterday when he claimed executive privilege and refused to answer their questions

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's (pictured) team etched out a deal with Steve Bannon. Bannon will sit down and talk with investigators instead of testifying before a grand jury, which he was subpoenaed to do

Experts told the newspaper that the subpoena signaled a number of things, including that Bannon is likely not the target of the Russia investigation, because Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena a probe's targets only in rare cases, the Times noted.

Mueller's tactic was also viewed as a negotiating tool, which might prompt Bannon to agree to speak to investigators freely, instead of having to go on-the-record before a grand jury.

CNN's reporting seems to indicate that the special counsel's strategy worked.

The Daily Beast previously reported that Bannon had planned to fully cooperate with Mueller's Russia probe.

'Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say,' a source told the publication.

Bannon's cooperation with Mueller's stands in contrast to his display on Capitol Hill yesterday, when he was summoned to testify before the House Intelligence Committee.

There, Bannon told lawmakers at the closed-door meetings that President Trump had invoked executive privilege and thus he could not disclose details about his time working on the Trump transition team nor in the White House.

He was served a subpoena on the spot, which was signed by Rep. Devin Nunes, the committee's top Republican, who has recused himself from the Russia probe, according to details from NBC News.

Even so, Bannon still refused to answer questions during his 11 hours on the Hill.

'He quickly informed, through his counsel, the committee he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, etc., that took place wither during the transition or while he was part of the administration,' said Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat. 'And, what's more, we would later learn that would be extended to even after he left the White House.'

Rep. Mike Conway, the Republican lawmaker now leading the probe, told NBC the committee expects further testimony from Bannon after talking to the White House about what members of Congress on both sides of the aisle viewed as an overly-broad executive privilege claim.

It was a rare joint effort by committee members, as the House's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been plagued by partisan infighting.

'If the White House is permitted to maintain that kind of a gag rule on a witness, no Congressional investigation could ever be effective,' Schiff pointed out. 'So this obviously can't stand.'

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Bannon's lawyer was communicating with the White House in real time and getting instructions on what the former chief strategist could say.

The White House replied that Bannon should say nothing.

The White House had been under the impression, a source told the AP, that the questions would strictly be about the time Bannon served on Trump's presidential campaign, not about Bannon's role in the transition or at the White House.

Mueller is expected to have better luck with Bannon because his probe  which originated as the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling and Trump campaign collusion  fits under the umbrella of the executive branch and so executive privilege doesn't apply, a source told CNN.

Interest in Bannon was prompted by comments the ex-chief strategist made to Michael Wolff in the author's new book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.'

In the tome, Bannon calls Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a group of Russians 'treasonous' and 'unpatriotic' and speculates that Trump's son likely took the group to meet the GOP presidential hopeful while at Trump Tower.

Bannon's quotes took a toll on his relationship with the president, who nicknamed him 'Sloppy Steve' and publicly lashed out of him, and poisoned his position at Breitbart News.

He resigned from the right-wing news site last week, after returning to its helm in August after his eight-month White House stint.

Bannon could be interviewed by Mueller's team by the end of the month, NBC News said.
About 40 per cent of the island is still without power with hopes to have most of the grid restored by March

The US territory was devastated by Hurricane Maria in late September

In emotional video elated students and teachers cheer as the school gets electricity back on for the first time in almost four months

Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan has been without power for 112 days but has continued to educate students since the storm left them in the dark

Students at a school in Puerto Rico erupted into cheers when power returned after 112 days since Hurricane Maria left the island in the dark - and the touching moment was caught on video.

The students and teachers at Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan were elated to have the lights back on after being forced to teach and learn for close to four months without power.

The video, which was posted to the school's Facebook page, was captioned: 'After 112 days, THE LIGHT IS BACK! We are grateful to all the parents, students and staff who have stayed with us and continued to support us in this situation.'

Still, about 40 per cent of the island remains in the dark, with most of the island projected to have power restored by March.

Students jump for sheer joy when the power is restored to their school, Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan, after learning without power for over three months

Teachers shared in the excitement as the lights finally returned at their beloved school

Just this week power crews across the United States traveled to the island to assist in the ongoing restoration.

The Army Corps of Engineers believes power will be restored for most Puerto Ricans by next month.

Meanwhile in Florida, Leslie Campbell, director of special programs for the Osceola County School District, is helping to enroll students fleeing the storm-ravaged US territory.

Her job has been a busy one. Since hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the Caribbean in September, over 2,400 new students have arrived in the district. That is enough to fill more than two typical-sized elementary schools. Dozens more youngsters show up weekly.

'Were just inundated, from the minute we come in, to the minute we leave,' said Campbell, who helps families obtain transportation, meals and clothing.

Across the country, state and local officials are scrambling to manage an influx of Puerto Ricans, a migration that is impacting education budgets, housing, demographics and voter rolls in communities where these newcomers are landing.

The school was happy to report the fantastic news that everyone can begin to enjoy a proper education again at the Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo

Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo in San Juan is one of many schools in the US territory who has been educating students in the dark for well over three months

Buildings stand on a mostly darkened street on October 14, 2017 in Yauco, Puerto Rico where 40 per cent of the island is still without power

Florida, already home to more than 1 million Puerto Ricans, is on the front lines.

About 300,000 island residents have arrived in the state since early October, according to Florida's Division of Emergency Management.

Some Puerto Rican arrivals have passed through Florida on their way to New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states. Some may eventually return home. But many will not.

The island is still reeling months after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm, wreaked catastrophic damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, and with the nearly 40 per cent of residents still without electricity, the economy has been devastated.

For Florida, the inflow of Puerto Ricans is altering public budgets and perhaps the political calculus in a state that President Donald Trump won by a slim margin in 2016.

Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, are on pace to overtake Cuban-Americans within a few years as the state's largest Latino voting bloc.

Many criticized the Trump administration's hurricane response as inadequate.
A couple face trial in Russia after being accused of raping their own 12-year-old daughter.

The child's mother told police: 'Better us than some maniac.'

The married couple - both 34 - are accused of paedophilia after turning their child into a 'sex slave', law enforcement sources say.

They have been remanded in custody in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and, if convicted, face up to 20 years in jail.

The couple (pictured) - both 34 - are accused of paedophilia after turning their child into a 'sex slave', law enforcement sources say

They have been remanded in custody in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and, if convicted, face up to 20 years in jail. Pictured: Their home in the city

The girl was subjected to horrific and frequent sexual abuse from December 2016 to March 2017, it is alleged.

The unnamed father is accused of raping the girl - often with the mother in the same bed - 'every other day'

She is separately accused of sexually 'torturing' the child with an 'artificial penis'.

Ahead of the criminal trial, the parents have been stripped of their parental rights, meaning they will never raise their child.

The girl has been put into care.

The mother told police she was herself raped as a 13-year-old.

She claimed to officers that she and her husband agreed to 'train their daughter in advance for adult life'.

The girl's horrific ordeal was spotted after she went to a doctor with 'problems concerning her periods'.

The medics discovered that she was 'not a virgin'.

The child told investigators about the sexual abuse she suffered, it was reported.

Ahead of the criminal trial, the parents have been stripped of their parental rights, meaning they will never raise their child. Pictured: A general view of Volgograd

The girl's horrific ordeal was spotted after she went to a doctor with 'problems concerning her periods'. Pictured: A general view of Volgograd

The couple then allegedly confessed to the horrific abuse they inflicted on their child.

They believed 'it was better for the child to lose her virginity with her own father' than learn details of sexual life in other ways, reports added.

She was forced to sleep in the same bed as her parents where she was subjected to sexual attacks.

Her mother admitted her daughter was made to take part in 'threesomes' with her parents.

The girl's grandmother and great grandmother lived in the same flat but had no idea of the sexual abuse, police explained.
An SAS hero who led the Iranian Embassy siege was forced on to the streets because the council failed to offer him a suitable home, it was claimed last night.

Bob Curry, 64, who served for 16 years in the Special Air Service and had a 17-year military career, is now said to be living in a B&B paid for by his old regiment.

He asked Herefordshire Council for accommodation on five occasions, but was only offered a hostel full of drug users and a home four miles away from a shop, it was alleged.

This meant he was forced to live on the streets until the SAS regimental association decided to pick up the bill for him to stay in a B&B.

SAS hero Bob Curry is pictured in his SAS days, during which he saw action in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland

Bob Curry, 64, was forced to ask for help from the SAS after Herefordshire Council failed to provide any accommodation

Mr Curry, who helped to save 19 hostages during the embassy seige, has now warned that the same could happen 'to any veteran'.

He told The Sun: 'It was as if the society I had fought for all my life had turned its back on me.

'I've been in tough spots through my career but with my health now I wouldnt have survived long on the streets  SAS training or not.

'I was sat in the council offices explaining my life to someone who looked at me as though I was nothing. I hated it but I had no choice.'

The former sergeant, who has had two heart attacks and is registered disabled and a diabetic, saw action during the Falklands War and also served in Northern Ireland.

He became penniless after the breakdown of his marriage and the loss of his home following the collapse of his business in July.

Former sergeant Trevor Coult, who was awarded the Military Cross in 2006 for his bravery in a machine-gun ambush involving suicide bombers and gunmen in Baghdad, was made aware of his plight.

Last night, Mr Coult, who has spoken to the homeless veteran, told the Mail: This hero abseiled in and went through one of the windows with a charge and cleared rooms.

He eliminated targets in the Iranian embassy.

It is a disgrace this veteran is not being looked after. If we cant sort out these veterans in Hereford, where they lived, then what hope is there for other heroes?

It is understood the regiment had been paying for the B&B for around a month.

In 2015 the SAS veteran put his medals up for sale for 25,000 so they could be enjoyed by collectors.

Mr Curry stormed the Iranian Embassy during the iconic 1980 raid but is now living in a B&B because the council cannot find him a home

Fellow veteran Trevor Coult, a recipient of the Military Cross, revealed the soldier's plight in a tweet today, provoking the anger or many other social media users

He was one of the first to break into the besieged London building in May 1980 after 26 people were held hostage by six armed Iranian dissidents.

The special forces soldier, aged 27 at the time, was watched by millions of TV news viewers as he smashed open a window with a sledgehammer, allowing his colleagues to sensationally storm the building.

The 11-minute mission, which became a seminal moment in SAS history, was ordered by home secretary William Whitelaw on the sixth day of the siege after the terrorists shot dead a member of staff before dumping his body outside the embassy.

As millions of Britons watched the drama unfold, Curry ran towards the building, despite the risk that a failed explosive which was due to blow open a way into the embassy could still go off.

He then kicked the charge out of the way, smashed the window and was the first to climb inside.

According to Mr Coult (pictured), the regiment is currently paying for the veteran to stay in a local B&B for several months.

The Iranian embassy siege: The day the SAS emerged from the shadows The siege began when a group of six gunmen stormed into the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, London, on April 30th 1980. They took mostly embassy staff hostage but among them was BBC sound recordist Sim Harris who was at the embassy to get a visa. PC Trevor Locke, a member of the diplomatic protection squad and on duty at the building, was also among those held at gunpoint. The terrorists demanded the release of prisoners in Khuzestan Province in southern Iran during a series of tense negotiations with the police who sealed off the embassy and surrounding streets. The gunmen also demanded safe passage out of the Britain. The veteran was among those who took part in the famous SAS raid of the Iranian embassy in 1980 After becoming frustrated with the lack of progress over five days they shot one of the hostages and threw his body out of the embassy. The death was the signal for the SAS - motto Who Dares Wins  to be sent in. The SAS teams, who had arrived secretly in London from their Hereford base, were given permission by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to carry out a rescue mission given the code name Operation Nimrod. On the evening of May 5th TV news cut into normal programming to broadcast the beginning of the end of the siege as the SAS soldiers all clad in black abseiled down the front of the building. Millions watched in awe as they tossed stun grenades into the building to begin their assault. BBC cameraman Sim Harris was captured scurrying to safety, jumping over a balcony, while smoke billowed from the building after a curtain caught fire. What was unseen by cameras were the other teams  including Horsfall and Firmin - sweeping through the building in a race to free the hostages before they were shot. The raid lasted just 17 minutes and all but one of the six gunmen were shot and killed. A second hostage was shot dead by the gunmen and two others seriously wounded. The televised raid was the first time the British public had ever seen the Special Forces soldiers in action and elevated them to superstar status. Fawsi Najad, the surviving gunman, was jailed for life and freed in 2008 after serving 27 years. He was granted leave to remain in the UK. Advertisement

His heroic actions allowed a crack squad of four SAS soldiers to enter the rear of the building in South Kensington and clear the ground floor and the cellar.

Five gunmen were killed and one was arrested. Although one hostage died, 19 were freed.

Afterwards, one SAS hero was awarded the George Medal and four others were given the Queens Gallantry Medal but Curry was not one of them.

He did however earn campaign medals for his service in Northern Ireland and the Falklands War.

It is understood he was made homeless after he split from his wife last year and contacted the council asking for accommodation.

He asked five times, it was claimed, but they offered him two homes which allegedly he claims were not suitable.

Curry was born in Cambridgeshire in 1953 and enlisted in the Royal Anglian Regiment as a 15 year-old junior soldier in 1968.

After serving in Northern Ireland, he passed the tough selection course for the SAS in 1979, training as an assault team member specialising in storming buildings held by terrorists.

The televised raid was the first time the British public had ever seen the Special Forces soldiers in action and elevated them to superstar status

After the Iranian Embassy siege he served with the SAS in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland.

Discharged in 1985, he spent three years working for the Al Fayed family, including one year as the personal bodyguard of Dodi Al Fayed, later killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash.

A spokesman for Herefordshire Council confirmed an agreement was yet to be reached on a home for the veteran, but said two offers had been made.

A statement read: Herefordshire Council can confirm that it is actively working with this individual to secure accommodation within the county.

Unfortunately, to date the individual has not provided all the documentation needed to legally register for housing.

However, regardless of this, the councils housing team has found and offered two different forms of accommodation, in areas which were agreeable to the individual, but which have subsequently been turned down.

We are continuing to work with the individual to help them secure appropriate housing.
Hawaiians and tourists rushed to take shelter and contact loved ones Saturday after an emergency alert sent to cell phones and broadcast on televisions warned of the threat of an inbound ballistic missile headed toward the island state.

After a second message, sent 38 minutes later, informed recipients that the first alert was sent in error, the questions started. What could have prevented this? Is the state ready for such a threat? Are its schools ready?

Hawaiis Department of Education sent a letter to parents Tuesday , assuring them that schools would be prepared to secure and shelter children should they receive such a warning on a school day. A spokesperson for the agency directed me to that letter when I asked about guidance it had provided to schools about such a scenario.

Rest assured the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) schools hold emergency drills to educate and prepare students and staff of situations that threaten the safety and security of our campuses, the letter says.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency advocates that, in response to a ballistic missile threat, residents should Get Inside, Stay Inside, and Stay Tuned. So, if schools received an alert like Saturdays, they would respond by asking students to shelter in place, which is one of five drills schools practice annually, the letter says.

Amid heightened concerns about North Koreas nuclear program, Hawaii resumed in December monthly tests of a Cold War-era early warning siren , tests it hasnt done since the 1990s, the New York Times reported. State officials believe an attack is extremely unlikely, but theyve met with multiple agencies to prepare a response.

State education officials have met with emergency personnel to discuss such plans, the letter to parents says.

In addition to concerns about physical safety, schools are prepared to help children process the emotions related to Saturdays false alarm, providing additional counseling services to schools if needed, the department says.

And the Hawaii Association of School Psychologists provided guidance on discussing the event with children .

Although the events were considered an accident and there was no real threat to the state of Hawaii, the threat of war and terrorism is increasingly discussed in the local and national media and our schools practice shelter in place drills and have emergency preparedness plans for attacks, the guidance says. As a result, Hawaiis keiki (children) may be more aware of events that could be considered frightening or upsetting.

Among other things, the guidance recommends that adults should tailor explanations of the false alarm to make them developmentally appropriate and model a sense of calm and control.

Children take their emotional cues from the significant adults in their lives, the guidance says. Avoid appearing anxious or frightened. How adults express their emotions will influence the reactions of children.

Photo: Caleb Jones/AP
Samuel Lincoln Woodward appears in court on Wednesday

A former high school classmate of the University of Pennsylvania student found stabbed and buried in a Southern California park has been charged with his murder, according to a criminal complaint.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, was charged on Wednesday with murdering 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein with a knife while Bernstein was visiting his parents in Orange County on winter break.

Orange County prosecutors also filed a sentencing enhancement for use of a knife, which would allow them to seek more jail time for Woodward if he is convicted.

Prosecutors also revealed that Woodward returned to the scene of the crime while under police surveillance.

Authorities have said Bernstein went to Borrego Ranch Park with Woodward on January 2. His body was found in a shallow grave at the park a week later.

Woodward was arrested and told investigators he became angry after Bernstein kissed him the night they went to the park.

Bernstein's parents say the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son.

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Blaze Bernstein (left), 19, disappeared on January 2 and was found dead with over 20 stab wounds a week later, in a shallow grave in Borrego Ranch Park. Samuel Lincoln Woodward is pictured right

Gideon and Jeanne Bernstein speak on January 10 during a news conference. They say the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son

Woodward, in a previous interview with police, said he had sustained scratches while participating in a fight club

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus told reporters on Wednesday that investigators are looking for evidence that would support making the legal case a hate crime.

Asked specifically about hate crime evidence, Rackauckus said, 'We're looking for that evidence and if and when we find it we will amend the charges and file that.'

Rackauckus says both young men had attended the Orange County School of the Arts.

The district attorney says Woodward communicated with Bernstein by Snapchat on January 2 and then picked him up at his parents' house.

Bernstein was visiting his family in Foothill Ranch during winter break from the Ivy League school when Woodward picked him up and drove with him to several places before winding up at Borrego Park in Lake Forest, police say.

Bernstein's body was found in brush at the park on January 9 after recent rains partially exposed it.

Investigators say the college sophomore was stabbed more than 20 times.

Authorities say Woodward told them he had left Bernstein at the park alive, claiming he left the park to go see his girlfriend, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The body of Bernstein (pictured), a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, was found dead on January 9. Bernstein was home for winter break when he went missing

The park where Bernstein was found dead is seen. His father had said his son had a passion for cooking and was a creative writer

Woodward could remember neither the name nor address of his 'girlfriend', police said.

He also had scratches on his hands, which police say he told them he had sustained while participating in a fight club.

Woodward also had dirt under his fingernails, which he told authorities was due to falling into a 'dirty puddle' while sparring.

Woodward was arrested on Friday after crime lab technicians determined that blood found on a sleeping bag in his possession belonged to Bernstein.

Woodward and Bernstein had attended the Orange County School of the Arts together.

Tension between the two friends may have dated back at least to June, when Bernstein texted with two female friends about their friendship, according to a warrant affidavit reported by the OC Register.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes, left, takes a questions as District Attorney Tony Rackauckas looks on during a news conference about the death

Bernstein claimed in the messages that Woodward 'hit on me', adding 'he made me promise not to tell anyone  but I have texted every one, uh oh.'

On January 2, cops believe the two young men parked outside a Hobby Lobby.

Woodward told investigators that Bernstein kissed him on the lips, and that he pushed Bernstein away.

Police told a judge that Woodward clenched his fists while recounting this part of the story, saying 'he wanted to tell Blaze to get off of him'.

Woodward was known for his conservative religious and political beliefs in high school, police said.

He had posted online defending the Confederate flag and expressing interest in guns, the Bible and 'waterboarding', according to published reports.

Bernstein was planning to major in psychology and later study medicine, his father Gideon Bernstein told the local press last week.

His dad said that he had a passion for cooking and was a creative writer. He had recently been named to the staff of Penn Appetit magazine at school.

Woodward, who is from Newport Beach, was due to appear in court later Wednesday.

Prosecutors said they don't want him released but he may be eligible for bail. No attorney was listed for him on the court's website.
As New Jersey's new governor Phil Murphy was being sworn in at his inauguration, his son was busy using the spotlight to play the infamous circle game.

When all eyes were on the Murphy family on Tuesday night, the Democrat's eldest son Josh flashed the OK hand signal below his waist as his father finished taking the oath.

Josh, who is a sophomore at Tufts University, was standing on stage at the time alongside his father, mother Tammy and his three younger siblings.

When all eyes were on Phil Murphy and his family in New Jersey on Tuesday, the Democrat's son Josh flashed the OK hand signal below his waist as his father finished taking the oath

He was in prime position just behind state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner as the new governor took the oath on the same Bible that John F. Kennedy used when he was sworn in as president.

The subtle circle game move was made famous by the 2000s hit show Malcolm In The Middle.

If a person successfully manages to get people to look at the hand gesture, it generally means they can then punch them.

Josh could be seen clasping his hands in front of him moments before he made his move.

He momentarily, but very clearly, held the OK signal next to his leg before he joined the crowd's applause for his father.

Josh, who is a sophomore at Tufts University, was standing on stage at the time alongside his father, mother Tammy and his three younger siblings

Josh was in prime position behind state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner as his father took the oath on the Bible

Murphy, a former Wall Street executive and political newcomer, replaces Republican Chris Christie as governor.

His election places the governor's office in Democratic hands for the first time since 2009. Democrats also control both houses of the Legislature.

Murphy's running mate, former Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, was sworn in as lieutenant governor. Oliver also will head of the state's Community Affairs Department and will become acting governor whenever Murphy is out of state.

Murphy hosted his inaugural ball under a tent at MetLife Stadium later on Tuesday night.

Josh, who is a sophomore at Tufts University, was standing on stage at the time alongside his father, mother Tammy and his three younger siblings

Former White House intern Jack Breuer held up a 'white power' sign during a photo-op with President Trump and fellow interns in the East Room in November. The Emory University alum clearly bucked orders  personally given by the president  to give a thumbs-up

The cartoon character Pepe the Frog (left), a meme among the alt-right has also used the signal. The gesture only works if made with the right hand and is said to depict the letter 'W' and a 'P'. Together 'WP' stands for White Power (right)

The symbol if inverted is similar to the 'white power' gesture which has become identified with the 'alt right' after being first suggested as a joke in internet forums.

In December a White House intern was revealed by DailyMail.com to have flashed the symbol in a group shot with Donald Trump.

Jack Breur, the intern, then released a statement saying that he had intended to make the OK gesture used by the president and would not associate himself with alt-right groups.

However at least one other intern felt he had been using the gesture, even if only jokingly.

'Context is everything,' one fellow intern told DailyMail.com. 'Jack is pictured with President Trump, one of the most controversial leaders we've had.

'It is a distinct symbol known in alt-right circles and what makes it worse is that he is doing it in the East Room just below the portrait of George Washington.'
Apple employees are apparently being targeted on their morning commute.

On Tuesday, the company emailed employees, announcing plans to re-route shuttles between San Francisco and their campus in Cupertino because several buses have had their windows shattered driving on Interstate 280.

At least four buses have had their windows shattered in incidents on January 12 and 16, according to Mashable.

Apple shuttle buses are being re-routed because several have been hit with unknown objects while driving on Interstate 280 in California recently. Above, an image of an Apple commuter bus in 2014

Mashable reached out to Apple and local police, who still don't know who is responsible or what they are using to target the buses.

In an internal email thread obtained by Mashable, one Apple employee speculated that the culprit may be using 'rubber rounds'.

Thousands of employees use the shuttle every day to get from their homes in San Francisco to the company's head quarters in Cupertino.

The shuttles haven't been popular among many born-and-bred San Franciscans, who say they have driven up rent prices in the neighborhoods where the shuttle stops.

San Francisco already has the highest rent in the nation.

Two of the incidents happened in Los Altos Hills and Woodside, neighborhoods along I-280, closer to Cupertino.

While the buses are being re-routed, the company said staff should expect to add 30 to 45 minutes to their daily commute.
Jamil Jabbie launched the ferocious attack on his mother Marie Annor-

A heavy skunk user stabbed his mother 23 times after biting and throttling her in a cannabis-induced psychotic frenzy.

Jamil Jabbie launched the ferocious attack on his nurse mother Marie Annor-Pobee after accusing her of 'lying'.

She had considered sectioning him a week before because of his unbalanced mind caused by his drug use.

The 19-year-old throttled her, pulled out her hair, then knifed her in the stomach, leg and chest leaving the 51-year-old fighting for her life.

He then fled the family home in Peckham, south London covered in blood on May 17 last year and then hid in a care home the next morning.

When found in a resident's room he told staff at the facility in Lewisham he had been chased outside a KFC and attacked.

Today the teenager was given an indefinite hospital order as a leading psychiatrist said treatment was important so Jabbie could 'understand there is a relationship between cannabinoid use and psychosis.'

He had pleaded guilty to wounding with intent at Southwark Crown Court on Monday and a charge of attempted murder was dropped.

Jabbie sat in the dock wearing a black hoodie flanked by two hospital staff and gave no reaction to the proceedings while Jabbie's father sat in the public gallery.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said: 'A week before this offence your mother, herself a nurse, thought you were acting strangely and considered taking you to the Maudsley Hospital, but she didn't do so.

The teenager was given an indefinite hospital order as a leading psychiatrist said treatment was important so Jabbie could 'understand there is a relationship between cannabinoid use and psychosis'. (Stock image)

'Then on May 17 you showed signs of behaving oddly. You left the house, went to church and left the service early then returned home.

'Almost immediately you launched a frenzied attack on your mother.

'You punched her to the head, pushed her to the ground, put your hands around her neck and squeezed, pulled lumps of her hair out and bit her on the cheek.

'You then went to the kitchen to get a knife and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest, abdomen and thigh.

'There were 23 wounds and two bite marks.

'It's remarkable that she didn't die from the wounds she received, which although were life threatening, were thankfully not physically life-changing.

'What you did after was very telling. You removed the battery from her phone, presumably to stop her from calling the police.

'You removed her house keys and left her lying there in a perilous state.

'Then you went to a nursing home, in which you have no relationship and no reason to be there and were found in a resident's room.

'You told staff that people had tried to kill you and you did have blood on your clothes and on your hands.

'You gave an account of how you came out of a KFC and were chased by two unknown men and attacked, one saying 'remember me'.

'But that was false and you were arrested.

Jabbie pleaded guilty to wounding with intent at Southwark Crown Court on Monday and a charge of attempted murder was dropped

'Your mother described you as being loving to her and what happened that evening has had a terrible effect on her.

'She says in her statement she had forgiven you totally.

'So why did this happen? Dr Ian Cummings diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, that illness has not been helped by cannabis use.

'I'm satisfied all the relevant condition have been proved a hospital order is necessary for the protection of the public.'

Dr Bradley Hillier, who was one of three forensic psychiatrists to assess Jabbie after the attack said skunk was one of the contributing factors behind his psychosis.

He told the court: 'In my view he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time, that disorder being schizophrenia - a severe and enduring mental disorder characterised by episodes of psychosis, disorders of thought, hallucinations and delusional beliefs at times.

'At the time of the offence he was suffering a psychotic episode, all the doctors are in agreement.

'It's my recommendation to the court that Mr Jabbie should be under a hospital order with restrictions.

'He should get further treatment. It's is very important Mr Jabbie is able to understand there is a relationship between cannabinoid use and psychosis.

Jabbie will be kept in a secure hospital wing at Bethlam Hospital in south London (pictured) for psychiatric treatment and will have to apply to a mental health tribunal in order to be released

'Skunk in this case exacerbated the underlying psychotic condition.

'I think going forward his risk to relapse could be high, but providing he refrains from misuse of substances and cannabis in particular, his prognosis could be positive.'

Jabbie's criminal history includes a handbag snatch in 2013, having cannabis in 2015 as well as a conviction for dealing heroin and cocaine in which he was handed a youth rehabilitation order.

In June 2015, Jabbie was arrested in Wiltshire at a house raided by police with 11 0.4g of crack cocaine, a BB gun, a mobile phone and 610 cash.

Jabbie will be kept in a secure hospital wing at Bethlam Hospital in south London for psychiatric treatment and will have to apply to a mental health tribunal in order to be released.
A fisherman is suing a speedboat driver after he crashed into his vessel, forcing him and his passengers to dive into the river.

A GoPro camera captured the dramatic moment Marlin Lee Larsen's 31-foot motorboat plowed into Bryan Maess' 20-foot fishing boat near the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon, and the Pacific Ocean on August 12.

Footage shows Maess, who had been fishing with passengers Christopher McMahon and Roni Durham, frantically waving his arms and shouting 'Hey!' to try and get the attention of the boat bearing down on them.

This is the dramatic moment a fisherman and his passengers were forced to jump overboard to escape an approaching ship

Seconds later, Marlin Lee Larsen's 31-foot motorboat plowed into Bryan Maess' 20-foot fishing boat near the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon

A picture uploaded to Facebook with the caption: 'Well we at least got a piece of the other guy's boat. Part of his propeller. All those slice are from the propeller'

The wrecked boat is seen in this picture which is at the center of a massive $372,500 lawsuit

'Oh my God,' screamed one of his passengers as the realization sunk in that the boat wasn't going to stop.

All three jumped into the icy river with seconds to spare. The next moment, Larsen's boat crashed into the fishing vessel, causing serious damage.

Maess, 47, an off-duty Hermiston police officer and part time salmon fisherman, says he suffered injuries to his ankle, leg and arm during the incident, while McMahon, 46, and Durham, 57, also suffered injuries.

Bryan Maess had been fishing with friends Christopher McMahon and Roni Durham when they spotted the boat coming towards them

Footage shows them frantically waving his arms and shouting 'Hey!' to try and get the attention of the boat bearing down on them

All three jumped into the icy river with seconds to spare, suffering injuries in the process

The next moment, Larsen's boat crashed into the fishing vessel, causing serious damage

The motorboat plowed right on through the fishing boat and past the GoPro camera before its driver knew what was happening

Larsen, 75, who uses a motorized scooter on land, told investigators he crashed because he was unable to see the other boat from his sitting position.

But one of Maess' passengers claims he saw Larsen using his cell phone while driving the boat.

Larsen insisted that he'd only used phone on the morning of the crash, telling Oregon Live such claims were 'fake news.'

Police say neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor in the crash but cited Larsen for reckless operation, three counts of reckless endangerment and three counts of fourth-degree assault.

Larsen has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Maess, 47, an off-duty Hermiston police officer (left), and passengers Roni Durham (right) and Christopher McMahon were forced to leap to safety

The wreckage left behind after Larsen's motorboat plowed into the fishing vessel, crushing it

Maess' boat had to be towed back to shore after the collision in August

Now Maess has filed a $372,500 lawsuit against Larsen.

In it, he claims he suffered vision problems and is still wearing a knee brace six months later.

McMahon and Durham, who suffered cuts and hypothermia, have hired attorneys and plan to file their own lawsuits.

Durham also reportedly suffered psychological trauma and has not been able to go back out on a boat since.
There are no records that fire officials ever conducted the required annual inspections at the California house that doubled as a private school where 13 siblings were tortured by their parents.

The home in Perris where the children - aged 2 to 29 years - were rescued on Sunday doubled as a private school headed by their parents David and Louise Turpin.

No state agency regulates or oversees private schools in California, but they are, however, subject to an annual inspection by the state or local fire marshal.

The home in Perris, California where the children - aged 2 to 29 years - were rescued from on Sunday doubled as a private school headed by their parents David and Louise Turpin

In response to a public records request by The Associated Press, Perris assistant city clerk Judy Haughney said Wednesday there were no records of any fire inspections conducted at the home.

The city's fire marshal, Dave Martinez, did not return repeated phone messages seeking comment.

Questions are being asked after the Turpin children were found severely malnourished inside the family home on Sunday.

Authorities are trying to piece together how the children went unnoticed after some were found shackled to their beds and furniture with chains and padlocks in a dark, foul-smelling room.

David and Louise have both been charged with torturing their children.

Authorities are trying to piece together how the 13 children went unnoticed after some were found shackled to their beds and furniture with chains on Sunday

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were charged with torture and child endangerment. They headed the private home school for their children

David and Louise Turpin, seen renewing their vows at an Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas in 2015, have been arrested after 13 of their children were found shackled to beds inside their home in Perris, California on Sunday

Police said on Tuesday they wished they had an answer as to how the children ended up in the situation they did.

The family has lived in Perris since 2014, when the school was first registered, but deputies had never been called to the residence.

Social workers had also never visited the home.

State Department of Education records show the family home has the same address as Sandcastle Day School, where David Turpin is listed as principal.

Six of the children were homeschooled. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

A California state lawmaker spoke out on Wednesday saying there should be greater accountability for private home schools like the one run by the Turpins.

The family had lived in Perris since 2014 but deputies had never been called to the residence (pictured above) previously for any reason. Social workers had also never visited the home

Police said the couple's 17-year-old daughter managed to escape through a window of the home and notify authorities about their plight

David and Louise are pictured above on a neighbor's surveillance cameras being arrested on Sunday morning

Democratic Assemblyman Jose Medina, who represents the city of Perris, said he would introduce legislation aimed at adding inspections.

One idea is requiring a once-a-year walk through of such schools by officials.

He said he has been talking with the community's superintendent and the state superintendent of schools.

Medina said he was disturbed to learn about allegations of what he characterized as 'horrific violence' in the home.

Rachel Coleman, the executive director of non-profit group the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, has called for mandatory check-ups, performance reviews and police background checks.

'We know that many home-schooling parents provide their children with a safe and child-centred home environment,' she told the LA Times.

'Unfortunately, current law provides nothing to stop families like the Turpins from using home-schooling to isolate and imprison their children.'
One of Paul Haggis' accusers says Leah Remini should be ashamed of herself for suggesting that the sexual assault allegations against him are part of a Scientology conspiracy.

The woman, who authored her own post on the Hollywood Reporter, says allegations that she or the other three woman who have accused the Crash director of sexual assault, are part of some Scientology funded conspiracy against Haggis, are flat out wrong.

'I have no connection with Scientology or its practitioners. For those people  including actress Leah Remini  who have stated publicly that all of Haggis' accusers are part of a Scientology conspiracy, shame on you,' the woman wrote.

Leah Remini penned an open letter Monday defending Crash director Paul Haggis (pictured together) alleging the four women who have accused him of sexual assault are part of a Scientology conspiracy against him

Shame on you: One of the women who is accusing Haggis says that people who allege the Haggis accusers are part of a conspiracy perpetrated by the church, should be ashamed (Leah Remini with Mike Rinder who together penned an open-letter defending Haggis)

She says the Oscar winning director has also attempted to discredit his accusers by 'alleging we are working together to profit from him and are acting on behalf of the Church of Scientology, of which Haggis is a prominent defector. This is offensive and false.'

'I do not know and have not spoken or met with any of his other accusers. I do not stand to make anything. I want nothing from Haggis other than that the truth be known,' she added.

The woman also explains why she has decided to remain anonymous with her allegations that Haggis forcefully kissed her while she was working with him.

She says she felt she the need to support fellow accuser, Haleigh Breest, who filed a civil suit against the director claiming she had been raped by him while working for him as his publicist.

She also believes she needs to remain anonymous to protect herself.

After speaking with people in the communications industry the woman was advised to keep her identity concealed, since Haggis filed a counter defamation suit against Breest.

Leah Remini and Mike Rinder have come out in support of Paul Haggis (pictured), who has been accused of rape and sexual assault by four women; Haggis is seen here in New York City on Monday

The Church of Scientology Building is shown here at 4810 Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles

'They said my job would be affected and asked whether I wanted my name forever linked to his. They warned me that Haggis would use his powerful friends to denounce us, which is precisely what he has done' the woman wrote.

'I decided using my name would be too much. By speaking anonymously, I could help protect other women and still protect myself.'

She adds that although her name and face are not attached to her allegations, they don't make them less true, and she explains the exhaustive editorial check she went through when she first gave her account to the Associated Press earlier this month.

'From my experience, editors will not print workplace sexual assault stories without extensive research and confirmation. I had to collect documentation and answer detailed questions reliving every aspect of my story.'

Both Remini and her co-host on A&E's Scientology and the Aftermath's Mike Rinder shared an open letter on Monday, claiming they believe the Church of Scientology is behind the allegations Haggis now faces.

'Those who accuse without going to law enforcement, those who seek hush money to keep their stories secret, those who make accusations to the media anonymously  they are suspect,' the letter reads.

'And when the target of these tactics is someone who is a prominent critic of scientology, it is very suspect.'

Haggis has denied the claims, and all four women have denied being involved with the Church of Scientology.

Haggis currently faces sexual assault and misconduct claims from the four women, with only Breest being identified.

Breest filed a civil lawsuit against Haggis in Manhattan on December 15, alleging rape, according to the Associated Press.

Her suit has since been amended to include allegations brought forward by the three anonymous women, one of which is also publicist who has also claimed being raped by Haggis.

Remini and Rinder believe this lawsuit has been funded by the Church of Scientology.

'We expect the next "revelations" about Paul Haggis in this campaign to destroy him to be based on information culled from his scientology files in the form of more "anonymous" accusers, hiding behind a lawyer who will never have to disclose who is paying their bill,' the two wrote.

Haggis (pictured), Remini and Rinder are all prominent defectors from the Church of Scientology. Haggis is seen here at 55th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on October 5

The Church of Scientology International Building is shown here on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 10

Haggis responded to Breest's initial complaint with his own civil lawsuit against Breest, alleging she attempted to extort him for $9 million in exchange for not taking legal action against him.

Breest's attorney responded to Haggis' counter-complaint in a statement on January 4.

'We view Mr Haggiss claims against Haleigh Breest as ludicrous, and a further act of aggression. In our system of justice, those who have been wronged have the clear right to seek redress and hold those responsible accountable for their misconduct, said Jonathan Abady of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP.

'In an act of remarkable hubris, Mr. Haggis has the temerity to claim that he, not her, was the victim. It is a preposterous and transparent PR stunt that will not succeed. Ms. Breest will not be intimidated or deterred from seeking justice.'

Haleigh Breest (pictured) filed a civil suit against Haggis in New York, claiming he raped her when she was his publicist, he filed a counter suit alleging defamation

Haggis has denied all rape claims.

Remini, Rinder and Haggis are all prominent defectors from the Church of Scientology, who have gone on to speak their minds about the practices of the group.

Haggis left the group in 2009, after being a members for 35 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Remini left in 2013, and Rinder left in 2007.

His departure was perhaps the most surprising of all, as he was Senior Executive of the Church of Scientology and a spokesperson for the organization at the time.

Remini is also known for her role as Carrie Heffernan on King of Queens.

Remino (left) extricated from the Church of Scientology in 2013; Rinder (right) removed himself in 2007; Haggis ended his relationship with the group in 2009 after 35 years

The two wrote that they realized they were placing themselves at risk of public condemnation for coming out in support of Haggis during a time when Hollywood and the rest of the country are reckoning with pervasive sexual assault and abuse of power, but that they felt couldn't remain silent.

'In this time of heightened awareness of sexual predators, it is easy to remain quiet when an injustice is being perpetrated for fear of being tarred as politically incorrect,' Remini and Rinder wrote.

'But more important to us than being politically correct is standing up for what we believe is right.'

Remini and Rinder cite Scientology's well-documented practice of keeping extensive records of confessions by their members as evidence that the religious group facilitated accusations against Haggis.

This process is known as auditing.

'Like those of us who were scientologists, we trusted and confided in our church to seek resolution for our shortcomings. What is different about scientology is the detailed records they maintain of everything you tell them,' the letter read.

'And beyond that, they conduct intense interrogations based on the idea that only when all specifics and details are disclosed can one find relief. The names, dates, and minute details of any indiscretions, and even thoughts, are all recorded.'

The two go on to say that members of the Church of Scientology feel an 'intense pressure' to divulge even the slightest detail that may be considered a transgression to the group.

'With the name of everyone one might have thought of, flirted with or taken on a date, it takes little imagination to conjure a string of accusers being contacted and suddenly appearing out of the woodwork.'
Serbian police have dramatically arrested three Australians suspected of being part of an international drug-smuggling syndicate linked to a $500million cocaine haul.

Heavily armed police stormed into the lobby of a Belgrade hotel and threw the men to the ground during what they say was a 'money handover' on Wednesday night.

Dramatic footage released by Serbian police shows a bag filled with various forms of currency, including about $600,000 Euros and $10,000 in Australian cash.

Serbian police have arrested three Australians suspected of being part of an international drug-smuggling syndicate. Footage shows a bag filled with various forms of currency

Police said the arrested men are linked to a $500million cocaine haul seized in Sydney last year

Police said the men 'are linked to' the discovery of 1,280 kilograms of cocaine that was seized last April on a Chinese boat docked in Sydney.

They said the drugs were worth (AUD)$500 million.

A Lebanese citizen was also detained and charged with having forged identity documents.

Serbian authorities said the arrests were made in cooperation with Australian police.

Heavily armed police stormed into the lobby of a Belgrade hotel and threw the men to the ground
Jerusalem has been a contested site for centuries, and today three major world religions  Judaism, Islam and Christianity  lay claim to various holy sites and monuments there.

Jews see the Temple Mount as their holiest site. Christians see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as theirs  because they believe it was where Christ rose from the dead. Muslims see the Al-Aqsa Mosque as their third holiest site after the two largest mosques in Saudi Arabia.

Three faiths, one city: Jews, Muslims and Christians have contested parts of Jerusalem for many hundreds of years

The importance of each has echoed down through history. Medieval maps put Jerusalem in the center of the world, the Crusades tried to capture the city for Christians and the sites changed hands repeatedly during the Middle Ages.

By the 1800s Jerusalem had a population of just 8,000 people and was a backwater in the Ottoman Empire  but that was to change rapidly as colonial powers fought over the Middle East, Christian revivalists moved into the city and Zionism became a significant political movement among the world's Jews.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire left Britain in charge of the heterogeneous city and its growing New Jerusalem as settlement spread beyond the city walls.

Jewish immigration boomed and tensions grew, with a pogrom in 1920, then growing attacks from Zionist groups on British forces. It was to presage a bloody aftermath of World War II as Jewish militias steppes up attacks on the British.

But the immediate roots of Trump's dramatic announcement lie in the messy history of the Middle East after World War II.

The U.N. plan which set up separate Jewish and Israeli states in what had been British-controlled Palestine in 947 said Jerusalem was to be a 'separated body' administered by the United Nations.

The State of Israel was declared in 1948 and over the next year recognized by countries including the U.S.  but crucially on the basis of the U.N. plan, meaning Jerusalem could not be the capital.

Israeli soldiers after capturing East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967

Conflict which rolled into 1949 ended in an armistice which left Israel controlling the west of the city and Jordan the east, and Israel's president called the city Israel's 'eternal capital'.

But the world largely did not follow. The U.S., which wanted a negotiated settlement to replace the armistice of 1949, built its embassy in Tel Aviv, and most other countries followed.

The situation was upended in 1967 when the Six Day War's spectacular victories gave Israel control of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

That ushered in a new era for Israel, which took control of East Jerusalem and made it separate legally from the West Bank, and over the years repeatedly rejecting the 1947 U.N. position of the city's special status.

Repeated efforts to settle the issue have involved the final status of Jerusalem being part of the negotiations towards a deal.

The U.S., which has been in support of the major past efforts, kept its embassy in Tel Aviv as a result, and other major countries did the same.

Tel Aviv is the undoubted economic capital of Israel but the country's parliament and president are in Jerusalem and diplomats have to go there to be officially recognized and for many meetings with the country's government.

A handful of smaller countries have from time to time recognized Jerusalem as capital and even had embassies there, but no major country has until now made that declaration.

In Israel and Palestine both sides appear determined to have Jerusalem as their capital and no peace plan has ever got far enough to test whether potential compromises which have been offered  such as an international trust administering the holy sites, and the creation of a Palestinian capital in the suburbs  would actually happen.

Currently the city is roughly two-thirds Jewish and one-third Muslim, and the historic Christian community makes up just two per cent of the population.
A newlywed couple from Missouri say their honeymoon cruise was spoiled by unsanitary conditions on board Carnival Triumph, including foul-smelling sludge oozing from their shower drain.

Christine Parker and John Shoemaker got marred on November 4, 2017, in their hometown of St Louis and booked a five-day cruise aboard Carnival's 14-deck, 893-fot vessel, sailing from New Orleans.

But instead of a romantic getaway, the couple say they were left exhausted, angry and 'smelling of poop.'

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Couple's honeymoon nightmare: Christine Parker and John Shoemaker got marred on November 4, 2017, and booked a five-day cruise aboard Carnival Triumph, which ended up marred by foul conditions in the bathroom

The couple recorded a cellphone video showing a staffer inspecting their faulty drain and saying, 'This is very bad and it smells very bad'

Love boat: The pair said they were left smelling of poop thanks to nasty black slime bubbling from the shower drain in their cabin on board the mega-ship (pictured)

Parker, who has a young daughter, accused crew members of trying to minimize the seriousness of the situation, even as they witnessed the stomach-turning spectacle of black liquid reeking of excrement rising out of the drain.

But what if that stuff had gotten into a cut on our feet and we would have gotten an infection? wondered the bride in an interview with the Miami Herald.

The disgruntled passengers recorded a cellphone video showing a staffer inspecting their faulty drain and saying, 'This is very bad and it smells very bad.'

Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Line, said in an email to DailyMail.com that the substance in the couple's shower was not sewage, bur rather water that had become trapped in a backed-up drain.

The plumbing systems for sewage and showers are separate. When water sits in pipes it can develop an odor and when drains back up sometimes there is debris, she explained.

Unable to safely use the facilities in their cabin, the newly married couple were forced to bathe in the ship's spa facility.

When Parker and Shoemaker complained to Carnival officials about their unsavory experience, the cruise line offered them a $300 credit to be used on the ship, plus 15 per cent discount off their next cruise booking, which they do not intend to use anytime soon.

The Carnival spokesperson stressed in her statement to DailyMail.com that Parker and Shoemaker received multiple follow-up calls and apologies during their trip, and that they were repeatedly told by staff that the liquid in their shower did not contain sewage.

Carnival Triumph, which was launched in 1999, returned from the voyage on November 11, and upon docking in south Florida failed an inspection carried out by officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program.

Newlyweds' woes: Unable to safely use the facilities in their cabin, the newly married couple were forced to bathe in the ship's spa facility

Damage control: The cruise line offered Parker (left and right) a $300 credit to be used on the ship, plus 15 per cent discount off her next cruise booking

Unsanitary conditions cited by the CDC inspectors included flies in the food preparation areas; dairy products and eggs not stored in proper temperatures and clogged dishwashers 'extremely soiled with debris.'

The 2,754-passenger vessel received a score of 78 out of 100. Grades below 86 are considered failing. In December, Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista also failed CDC inspections.

Carnival officials said the Triumph has since been reinspected and received a passing grade of 98.

'We voluntarily commit to the U.S. Public Health inspection program, which operates under the auspices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and we fund the program, along with other cruise operators -- to ensure that we are continuously auditing our shipboard operations,' said Carnival's De La Cruz. 'We take these inspections very seriously and share lessons learned and best practices with every ship in our fleet.'

The Triumph gained notoriety in 2013, earning the moniker the poop cruise, after a fire in the engine room caused it to lose propulsion and left passengers with an insufficient number of working bathrooms and no air conditioning.
The meteor that lit up the night sky over Michigan on Tuesday didn't actually cause the earthquake that was reported at the exact same time.

Footage of the meteor falling from the sky was captured by a number of residents throughout Michigan and was even seen by some in Chicago and Canada.

At the same time, the US Geological Survey said a 2.0-magnitude earthquake struck the area, leading several people to believe the earthquake was caused by the meteor.

However, William Yeck, a research geophysicist at the US Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said that meteors do not cause earthquakes to rupture along a fault.

The meteor that lit up the night sky over Michigan on Tuesday didn't actually cause the earthquake that was reported at the exact same time

'While the event was reported as a magnitude 2, the magnitude scale is used to estimate the size of earthquakes and therefore is not an accurate representation of the observations from a meteor,' Yeck told ABC News.

The bright light, understood to be the soaring fireball exploding above Michigan, appeared to suggest the meteor came crashing down to earth, but Yeck said that's not the case.

Yeck said the magnitude cannot be directly used to compare the meteor's size to an earthquake because the source of the seismic signals are different.

Although researchers are still investigating the phenomenon, the seismic waves observed from these events are typically not from an impact but instead are sound waves generated in the atmosphere.

Bill Cooke, the lead of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told ABC that the meteor, measuring about two yards in diameter and traveling at about 28,000mph, entered the Earth's atmosphere over Michigan.

Video of the rock showed it explode, and according to Cooke, the explosion generated shock waves that traveled down to the ground in Detroit.

Footage of a meteor falling from the sky was captured by a man in Michigan Tuesday evening. The clip initially shows a street view of a dark and snowy residential neighborhood located just outside of Detroit

Seconds later, the sky lit up and some residents reported hearing a loud boom and felt the groung beneath them tremble

That's where residents heard a loud boom and felt the ground beneath them tremble.

The meteor would not have landed intact, Cooke said, but rather tiny pieces weighing only a few ounces would have scattered over the area.

Hundreds of people reported the extraordinary astronomical event, and some captured it on video.

The American Meteor Society said it received hundreds of reports of a fireball Tuesday night over the state, including many in the Detroit area.

Reports also came in from several other states and Ontario, Canada. Some Michigan residents reported their homes shaking.

The society said the reports suggest a space rock penetrated deep into the Earth's atmosphere before it broke apart.

Other states where people reported seeing a fireball included Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.

Ingham County Emergency Management Update sent out a text message to residents Tuesday night that read: 'Multiple sources report that a fireball meteor was seen over the county earlier this evening.

'While many also reported an explosion, there is no indication that anything landed on the ground or caused damage.

'Most likely it was the boom of the meteor breaking apart. And that there is no need to call 911.'

Mike Narlock, head of astronomy at Cranbrook Institute of Science, told the Detroit Metro Time s the flash of light was seen as far away as Chicago.

The Windy City sits 200 miles away from where the meteor is said to have exploded above Michigan.

Mr Narlock said: 'I have heard people saw it as far Chicago, which if that's true that tells me it happened pretty high up in the atmosphere if they're seeing it from that distance.'

He estimated the meteor - believed to be a bolide meteor - exploded between six to 10 miles from the ground.

A bolide, also known as a fireball, is a special type of meteor that explodes in a bright terminal flash.

Fragmentation is often seen as a result of the explosion, which occurs at the end of the fireball's lifespan.

William Yeck, a research geophysicist at the US Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said that meteors do not cause earthquakes to rupture along a fault. This clip was captured by another Michigan resident

Researchers said they are still investigating the phenomenon. Pictured is a porch camera that shows the sky lit up in an eerie blue during the meteor siting

Narlock said the chances of the meteor making it to earth intact is rare.

America's National Weather Service (NWS) put out a statement on the extraordinary climate conditions saying: 'After reviewing several observational datasets, the NWS can confirm the flash and boom was not thunder or lightning, but instead a likely meteor.

'We continue to monitor feeds from astronomical agencies for official confirmation of a meteor.'

Michigan man Chris Laine caught the rare sight and later posted the clip to Instagram.

'My WiFi camera finally caught something cool #metrodetroitmeteor,' Laine wrote on the social media site.

His clip shows a street view of a quiet, snowy residential neighborhood located just outside of Detroit.

As the camera focuses on cars going by, the night sky increasingly turns a cosmic green.

At the top of the screen a small object can be seen plummeting towards earth, remarkably lighting up the surrounding area as if its the early afternoon.

Another clip shows the unidentified flying object slicing across the winter sky as a car's dash cam races down the highway.
Footage has revealed the horrifying moment a man was set upon by a group of carjackers armed with an iron bar.

Student Thomas Ellis, 20, was refuelling his car at a service station in Forestdale, in Brisbane's southern suburbs, about 2pm Tuesday when he was approached by two men and a woman.

The group circled around Mr Ellis before one of then men closed in while brandishing the blunt weapon,7 News reported.

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Student Thomas Ellis, 20, was refuelling his car at a service station in Forestdale, in Logan City's north, about 2pm Tuesday, when the carjackers circled around him and one brandished the weapon

He attempted to snatch the keys from Mr Ellis' hand, but the Brisbane student resisted while fending him off with his right arm.

Desperate to find safety, Mr Ellis ran for the service station entrance while the group attempted to corner him outside.

He evaded his would-be carjackers and made his way inside, forcing the group to search for an alternate mode of transport.

'He tried to box me in near the door, trap me to get my car keys,' Mr Ellis told the publication.

He added: 'It's rubbish, people work hard for what they've got and they just try to take it.'

Desperate to reach safety, Mr Ellis ran for the service station entrance while the group attempted to corner him outside

Moments earlier, the group were joyriding in an allegedly stolen red car (pictured) when they travelled onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into a ute at approximately 80km/h

The group - joined by two more members - approached another service station customer and asked them for a lift to the nearest train station, but they refused, 7 News reported.

Moments earlier, the group were joyriding in a red car that was allegedly stolen from a home 20kms away in Daisy Hill about 2.30am.

They travelled onto the wrong side of the road and crashed the car into a ute at approximately 80km/h.

Police said on Thursday morning no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.
A man has died and two others are in a serious condition after two separate stabbings in Melbourne.

A passerby discovered the unidentified man with stab wounds at the entrance to a block of flats on Courtney Street in North Melbourne around 4.45am on Thursday.

He was rushed to hospital, but died a short time later.

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A man has died and two others are in serious condition after two separate stabbings in Melbourne (pictured is the scene on Courtney Street)

Four hours earlier, two men were stabbed during an altercation with a group of 'five or six' men, who are of Asian appearance, on a suburban Melbourne street, according to the Herald Sun.

Police say the pair were attacked when they refused to hand over money to a group of thugs who confronted them in Noble Park about 1am on Thursday.

The wounded men are in hospital in a serious condition, while police search for the gang that fled the scene with cash.

It is unknown if the incidents are related.

Four hours earlier, two men were stabbed during an altercation with a group of 'five or six' men, who are of Asian appearance in Noble Park
Pictured: Ann Maguire, 61, was stabbed while teaching a class in Leeds in 2014

The Court of Appeal has backed the coroner who decided not to hear evidence from pupils who spoke to teacher Ann Maguire's killer before her murder.

Mrs Maguire, 61, was stabbed in the back by 15-year-old Will Cornick as she taught a Spanish class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds in April 2014.

Cornick was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years last year but at an inquest into her death, his classmates were not called for questioning.

Mrs Maguire's husband Don and children went to court before the inquest, saying they were anxious 'all lessons' should be learned from her tragic death.

At a hearing in London in October, which followed an earlier defeat for the family at the High Court, their lawyer told the three Court of Appeal judges they believed the inquest would not provide any 'meaningful' public airing of the circumstances of her murder.

At the High Court the family had urged Mr Justice Holroyde to order the decision taken by assistant West Yorkshire coroner Kevin McLoughlin to be reconsidered. But the judge dismissed their application for judicial review.

Announcing the Court of Appeal's reasons for rejecting the family's challenge brought after the earlier ruling, Lord Burnett said the issue was whether it was open to the coroner 'to decide not to question further, or call as witnesses at the inquest, approximately nine fellow pupils with whom the assailant had contact that morning'.

Pictured: Will Cornick (left) was jailed for killing Ann Maguire. At an inquest into her death, coroner Kevin McLoughlin (right) did not call on his classmates as witnesses

Lord Burnett said the issue was whether it was open to the coroner to decide not to question witnesses at the inquest

Pictured: Mr Justice Treacy (left) and Sir Ian Duncan Burnett (right) assisted Lord Burnett in judging the case

He said Mrs Maguire's husband and other family members 'brought judicial review proceedings in which they argued that no reasonable coroner considering this tragic case, and the scope of the inquest he had determined, could lawfully conclude that he should not call them'.

Lord Burnett said: 'The background to the broad issue was that a small number of pupils were aware that William Cornick had a knife on him that morning and he had told some of them of his hatred of Mrs Maguire and desire to kill her.

'Each of the pupils was interviewed by specialist police officers in the immediate aftermath of the murder ... '

He ruled that there was 'in truth very little, if anything, to place in the balance against the potential harm to the interviewed pupils of giving evidence'.

Lord Burnett concluded: 'In my judgment, the decision not to call these witnesses was plainly rational.

'The absence of further evidence from them would do nothing to imperil the statutory function of the inquest or of a full, fair and fearless investigation . . . '

The appeal judges ruled that the High Court judge was right to conclude that it was reasonably open to the coroner not to call the interviewed pupils.
Gloria Wesley, the Dowager Countess Bathurst, has lost a bitter legal battle with her estranged stepson the 9th Earl Bathurst

In a saga more suited to Downton Abbey, a countess has lost a High Court case against her estranged stepson over whether she can inspect the familys 15million collection of treasures.

Gloria Wesley, the Dowager Countess Bathurst, had tried to assert what she believed was her right to enter the 9th Earl Bathursts home and spend days making an inventory of its contents.

These include a 6million, almost life-size painting of the Duke of Wellington on his horse by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

The Earl, son of the countesss late husband, the 8th Earl, Henry Barmy Bathurst, objected and the matter went to court.

Yesterday, a judge ruled against the 89-year-old Dowager Countess.

The judgment is unlikely to improve relations between the feuding aristocrats at the 15,000-acre, 45million Bathurst Estate.

The Earls side claimed that the US-born Dowager Countess had tried to gain entry to his Gloucestershire home, Cirencester Park, on the flimsy pretext of making an inventory of its contents, really intending to trample her way into his personal life.

The Earl, pictured here with a Lady Bathhurst, is son of the countesss late husband, the 8th Earl, Henry Barmy Bathurst. His stepmother had battle to be allowed to inspect the familys 15million collection of treasures

The judgment is unlikely to improve relations between the feuding aristocrats at the 15,000-acre, 45million Bathurst Estate (pictured)

The dispute dates back to 1963, when the 8th Earl split the estate, with the current Earls half in trust. The other half, also in trust, went to the Dowager Countess for the rest of her life after her husband died.

She was granted Manor Farm on the estate, a home in 3,000 acres on which she has the sporting rights for game and deer, along with the use and enjoyment of the contents of Cirencester Park.

But this became problematic after the 8th Earls death in 2011 when the main house became his sons home and she no longer lived in it.

Her half of the estate will revert to the family after she dies.

The Earl, 56, said the trust fund of which his stepmother is the beneficiary has rent paid in exchange for the chattels  meaning she is being paid by him to let him enjoy the family heirlooms in peace.

But things came to a head when her trust made an extensive inventory of all the goods in the house.

The Earl, 56, said the trust fund of which his stepmother is the beneficiary has rent paid in exchange for the chattels  meaning she is being paid by him to let him enjoy the family heirlooms in peace

Treasures at the home include this 6million, almost life-size painting of the Duke of Wellington on his horse by Sir Thomas Lawrence

It was very intrusive, the Earl said last year. They opened every drawer and cupboard, and it took days. The Earl, a friend of Prince Charles, who lives with his second wife Sara, said he did not want to let his stepmother in to catalogue the estates antiques collection.

A report by Christies said it contained 326 valuable pictures drawings and prints, miniatures, furniture, sculpture, porcelain and glass, and books and manuscripts.

But in the legal case between the trusts that run the two halves of the estate, High Court Judge Simon Barker has now said that the Dowager Countess has no right to inspect the treasures in the house.

Instead she will have to make do with the artworks worth 3million in her own home  and she will only be able to see valuables in the main house on video if the Earl allows it. Judge Barker said: The barrier to personal inspection or involvement by Lady Bathurst is the strained relationship between herself and the 9th Earl and the Earls refusal to allow Lady Bathurst to cross the threshold of Cirencester Park.

If Lady Bathursts case is correct, her life interest would confer on her the power to remove all chattels owned by the 8th Earl at his death from Cirencester Park for the remainder of her lifetime.

It is common ground that Lady Bathurst could not house and enjoy anything like all the chattels.

The 9th Earls position can perhaps best be summed up by a comment he made after the court case started last year, insisting: She cant just barge in and turn the place upside down again.
Pictured: Chloe Rosenberg, 10, was last seen at 5.55pm tonight

Police are growing concerned for a missing ten-year-old girl who disappeared after leaving her home earlier tonight.

Chloe Rosenberg was described as being 'upset' when she left her house in Poole, Dorset at 5.55pm.

She said she was going to Iford in Bournemouth, approximately ten miles away, but left without taking her mobile phone.

Specialist officers are carrying out searches but have appealed to the public for help tracking her down.

Chief Inspector Steve White, of Dorset Police, said: 'Due to Chloe's age and the fact she does not have a mobile phone we are clearly very concerned for her and need to find her. We have officers searching various known areas that Chloe may have gone to.

'I would urge anyone who has seen Chloe or a girl matching the description given to please call Dorset Police immediately.

'Finally, if Chloe is able to see this appeal I would ask her to please contact us. We are all very worried about you and just want to know that you are ok. You are not in any trouble.'

Chloe is described as white, 4ft 2in tall, with long mousey-brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a long navy jacket with a fluffy hood, pink jumper, jeans and white Adidas trainers.
Kevin Spacey (pictured) is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police

Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police over a third alleged sexual assault.

The latest accusation against the 58-year-old star relates to an incident in Westminster in 2005.

It has brought the total number of Metropolitan Police investigations involving the American Beauty actor to three.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: 'On 13 December we received an allegation that the man sexually assaulted a man (Victim 3) in 2005 in Westminster.

'Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating.'

The Metropolitan Police have also investigated two other allegations made against Spacey from 2005 and 2008.

Spacey, who has won two Oscars awards, has been accused of sexual assault by a number of men both in the UK and in the US.

The two-time Oscar-winning actor has been accused of sexual assault by numerous men in the U.S. and England.

He was one of the first Hollywood stars to face accusations in the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The actor was dumped by Netflix's House Of Cards and Sir Ridley Scott erased him from his completed film, All The Money In The World, in re-shoots costing millions.

Anthony Rapp, who starred in Star Trek: Discover was the first man to come forward and claimed Spacey assaulted him when he was 14 years old.

It comes after security company boss accused Spacey of racism and claimed the actor refused to shake hands with his predominantly black employees while on the set of House of Cards.

Earl Blue, 51, the head of VIP Protective Services, was hired by Knight Takes King Productions to manage on-set security during season one filming of the Netflix series in 2012.

The latest accusation against the 58-year-old star relates to an incident in Westminster in 2005

He claims Spacey, who played lead character Frank Underwood in House of Cards, refused to acknowledge the black team members and even made racial slurs.

In relation to the two other alleged incidents, a Met Police spokesman said: 'On 1 November City of London Police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police Service.

'It is alleged a man assaulted another man (Victim 1) in 2008 in Lambeth. On 17 November we received allegations that the same man sexually assaulted a man (Victim 2) in 2005 in Lambeth.'

MailOnline has contacted Spacey's representatives for comment.
Murders committed by white supremacist groups doubled in 2017 compared to 2016, according to a new report by the Anti Defamation League.

The report, cited by the Jerusalem Post, says homicides by white supremacists have become more rampant than those by domestic Islamic extremists, and, that white supremacists and other far-right extremists were responsible for 59 per cent of all extremist-related fatalities in the US in 2017.

That is up from just 20 per cent of murders committed by far right extremists last year.

In addition, over the past 10 years, the report says, 71 per cent of the extremist fatalities were linked to domestic right-wing extremists, while 26 per cent were slain by Islamic extremists.

James Alex Fields Jr. (left) is accused of the deadly car ramming incident during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville (left) in August of 2017

Sayfullo Saipov (right) is accused of the largest extremist attack in the US in 2017 in a car ramming incident in NYC (left) that killed eight- but the overall murders by all extremist groups in the US last year show murders by far right groups far ahead of Islamic extremists

The largest single deadly extremist attack in the US in 2017 however was the alleged attack by Islamic extremist Sayfullo Saipov whose car ramming incident in New York City killed eight people in late October.

The other alleged car-ramming attack was by a 'white supremacist in Charlottesville [in Virginia]' by James Alex Fields Jr. in August.

The report, titled 'Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2017' and published by the ADL's Center on Extremism, says this is the fifth deadliest year for US extremist violence since 1970.

'These findings are a stark reminder that domestic extremism is a serious threat to our safety and security,' said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the ADL's CEO.

'The number of deaths attributed to white supremacists increased substantially. The bottom line is we cannot ignore one form of extremism over another. We must tackle them all,' he said.

One of the key findings in the report is that of 18 murders committed by white supremacists, several of them were linked to the 'alt right as that movement expanded its operations in 2017 from the Internet into the physical world  raising the likely possibility of more such violent acts in the future.'

'We cannot ignore the fact that white supremacists are emboldened, and as a society we need to keep a close watch on recruitment and rallies such as [that in] Charlottesville, which have the greatest potential to provoke and inspire violence.'

File photo of white supremacists in Charlottsville: Over the past 10 years white supremacists and far right extremists were responsible for 71 per cent of all extremist murders in the US, while Islamic extremists were responsible for 26 per cent

The ADL suggests all leaders from the president on down to small municipalities, use their power to stop the spread of hate.

'All civic leaders, from the president to mayors and police chiefs, must use their bully pulpit to speak out against racism, antisemitism and all forms of bigotry at every opportunity,' the ADL said.

'In addition, federal and state officials should support properly crafted programs to counter all forms of violent extremism, including that stemming from both international terrorist organizations and domestic extremist movements, or to facilitate people interested in leaving extremist movements.

'This includes programs to thwart recruitment of disaffected or alienated Americans. And all law enforcement agencies should comprehensively collect and report hate crimes data to the FBI,' the ADL said.
Former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has won an 'unreserved' apology from the government after a man who stalked her for 25 years was able to contact her from prison.

Edward Vines, 47, studied at Cambridge University with the BBC journalist and wrote to her while he was serving time in HMP Bullingdon.

He was jailed by a judge at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday for 45 months after admitting two breaches of an indefinite restraining order banning him from contacting her.

She revealed yesterday how her marriage suffered during the stalking campaign and said she felt 'scared and let down'.

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has revealed how being stalked for more than 20 years by Edward Vines (right) affected her marriage with husband Mark Gwynne (left)

The BBC Newsnight presenter said she felt 'let down' that Edward Vines could send her letters from prison

But Maitlis has received an apology from the Ministry of Justice for the 'distress' it caused her after she was sent the letter.

A court heard Vines briefly became friends with Ms Maitlis while they both studied at Cambridge University in 1989.

He had written letters to her while serving a previous prison sentence for earlier breaches of the restraining order.

Vines had then written again while out on licence and under the supervision of probation services.

Ms Maitlis said: 'It has affected my relationship with my husband who is frustrated we cannot get to the bottom of the problem even though we have been tackling it through the courts and CPS for over twenty years and it has scared my children who thought the threat had gone way - albeit temporarily while he was behind bars.'

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis said she had been let down by the criminal justice system

Vines was jailed in 2016 for three years at Oxford Crown Court for breaching an order initially imposed after he was convicted in 2002 (pictured during that year) of harassing Ms Maitlis where he was jailed for four months

Oxford Crown Court heard a letter ended with Vines saying 'I will not relent until you talk to me.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We apologise unreservedly for this error and for the distress caused to the victim.

'We have significantly strengthened our monitoring procedures to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

'We would like to reassure the victim that any future correspondence involving this offender will be carefully checked, with staff reminded of the sensitivities of this particular case.'
The birther movement started in 2008 when Barack Obama first expressed his interest in running for president.

It refers to claims by some critics that the president wasn't born in the United States.

Throughout Obama's first term Trump fanned the flames of conspiracy theorists who believed Obama to be born in Kenya, forcing the White House's hand to release President Obama's long-form birth certificate in 2011.
Constant surveillance may sound like an Orwellian vision of the future, but it could become reality in a 'smart city' district being planned by Google's parent company.

Alphabet is turning a disused area of Toronto's waterfront into the first of its high tech neighbourhoods, as a pilot project for bigger things to come.

Everything from rubbish bins to traffic lights could be equipped with hardware designed to gather data and monitor changing conditions in the area.

If successful, the scheme could one day lead to entire cities where citizens every move is scrutinised by technology.

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Constant surveillance may sound like an Orwellian vision of the future but it could become reality in a 'smart city' district being planned by Google's parent company. If successful, the scheme could lead to entire cities where citizens every move is scrutinised by technology

WHAT SIDEWALK LABS IS PLANNING FOR ITS SMART CITIES Sidewalk Toronto will house 5,000 people and host another 5,000 workers within three to four years, according to creators Sidewalk Labs. Among the areas for innovation targeted by the New York based subsidiary of Alphabet, Google's parent company, is urban mobility. Self-driving technology and digital navigation tools giving rise to a next-generation, point-to-point transit system. New construction methods and flexible building designs will enable radical mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods that reduce the cost of housing and retail space, the firm says. It claims a suite of design and infrastructure innovations will dramatically reduce building energy consumption, landfill waste, and carbon emissions. In a written statement, a company spokesman said: 'At the core of a future city is a layer of digital infrastructure that provides ubiquitous connectivity for all, offers new insights on the urban environment, and encourages creation and collaboration to address local challenges.' Advertisement

The plans, being developed at Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs, will start with the construction of an area called Quayside, located just southeast of Downtown Toronto.

Technology tested in this first stage will then be brought in across the Eastern Waterfront in an area known as Port Lands, one of North Americas largest areas of underdeveloped urban land at more than 325 hectares (800 acres).

Sidewalk Toronto, which will be home to Google's Canadian headquarters and some 300 employees once complete, aims to integrate technology wherever possible to create a more efficient and heavily automated urban environment.

The company expects the area will house 5,000 people and host another 5,000 workers within three to four years.

But the sheer scale of data gathering required to make it a reality are a cause of concern to some industry experts.

David Murakami Wood, an associate professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, who studies surveillance in cities, is worried that our ability to give consent to trade our privacy for convenience 'goes out the window straight away' under the scheme.

Speaking to CBC News, he said: 'I think in some ways what we're facing here is a situation where none of this is very much like anything we've seen before.

'I think maybe we're putting too much emphasis on privacy as a defence against this kind of surveillance capitalism.

'And I think we're going to find out the limitations of that approach pretty soon, because it doesn't deal with a lot of other issues around human rights and forms of inequality that are generated through these systems.'

Dr Wood is not the only academic concerned over the implications of the plans.

Andrew Clement is a Professor Emeritus and surveillance researcher in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where he co-founded the Identity, Privacy and Security Institute.

Speaking to the Toronto Star, he said: 'Sidewalk Labs proposal to build Quayside as an experimental urban neighbourhood from the internet up should raise red flags for those who care about privacy and democracy.

'These concerns can be allayed only if Sidewalks internet is much more respecting of our rights than the one that its parent, Google/Alphabet, is busily shaping.

'It would be impractical for individual residents of Quayside to be able to consent, on an adequately informed basis, to the myriad forms of data collection and use proposed.'

Among the areas for innovation targeted by Sidewalk Labs is urban mobility, with self-driving technology and digital navigation tools giving rise to a next-generation, point-to-point transit system.

Plans being developed at the Alphabet's New York based Sidewalk Labs subsidiary will see with a disused area of Toronto's waterfront turned into the first of its high tech neighbourhoods, as a pilot project for bigger things to come

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PROTECT PRIVACY IN SMART CITIES? Andrew Clement is a Professor Emeritus and surveillance researcher in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where he co-founded the Identity, Privacy and Security Institute. He believes that plans to build the experimental Sidewalk Toronto neighbourhood 'from the internet up' should raise red flags over privacy and democracy. Speaking to the Toronto Star, he outlined a five point plan to ensure that privacy and other rights are respected in the smart cities of the future: 1. Any data collected should be anonymous by default 2. Any data handled by smart city firms must comply with privacy laws 3. Software that accesses data gathered should be publicly available under an open source license 4. Basic digital services should be accessible and affordable for all 5. Data, software and physical infrastructure should be secure and any breaches should be reported immediately Advertisement

New construction methods and flexible building designs will enable radical mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods that reduce the cost of housing and retail space, the firm says.

It claims a suite of design and infrastructure innovations will dramatically reduce building energy consumption, landfill waste, and carbon emissions.

In a written statement, a company spokesman said: 'Sidewalk Toronto will blend people-centered urban design with cutting-edge technology to achieve new standards of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity.

'At the core of a future city is a layer of digital infrastructure that provides ubiquitous connectivity for all, offers new insights on the urban environment, and encourages creation and collaboration to address local challenges.

'All-weather infrastructure and data-driven management tools enable cities to make parks and public plazas more comfortable, lively, and safe, and self-driving vehicles enable communities to reclaim streets for public space and social connections.'

Google parent Alphabet announced its plans to invest $50 million (36 million) in the initial planning and testing phase of the project in October 2017.

Sidewalk Toronto will be home to Google's Canadian headquarters and some 300 employees once complete. It aims to integrate technology wherever possible to create a more efficient and heavily automated urban environment (artist's impression)

One of the first projects Sidewalk Labs will take on is a sensor-based technology to manage crowds on a nearby street often filled with a potent mix of pedestrians, cyclists and motorised traffic

'For the foreseeable future this will be the primary focus of what we do,' Dan Doctoroff, chief executive of Sidewalk Labs, said in an interview at the time.

One of the first projects Sidewalk Labs will take on is a sensor-based technology to manage crowds on a nearby street often filled with a potent mix of pedestrians, cyclists and motorised traffic, which Mr Doctoroff said could be tested as early as the first quarter of 2018.

He said the company was also looking to integrate self-driving technology into the project over the longer term.

Assuming initial success, Sidewalk Labs could expand its partnership with Waterfront Toronto, the public agency funded by federal, provincial and city governments with a mandate to develop a much larger area nearby of industrial wasteland.

Mr Doctoroff said the company had looked at more than 50 metropolitan areas in North America and sites in western Europe and Australia before settling on Toronto as the prime location for its future city test bed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced the partnership with Google, said he hoped that Quayside would become 'a thriving hub for innovation and a community for tens of thousands of people to live, work and play.'

The company expects the area will house 5,000 people and host another 5,000 workers within three to four years. But the sheer scale of data gathering required to make it a reality are a cause of concern to some industry experts (stock image)

A new neighbourhood called Quayside, located just southeast of Downtown Toronto, will be a tested for technology to be brought in across the Eastern Waterfront in an area known as Port Lands, one of North Americas largest regions of underdeveloped urban land

The Google unit has previously worked with Qualcomm Inc and Civiq Smartscapes to retrofit New York City phone booths into digital billboards that serve as WiFi hotspots.

Intersection, the Sidewalk Labs subsidiary behind the effort, recently launched similar kiosks in London.

Another division, Flow, has held talks with cities such as Columbus, Ohio, about providing software to evaluate transit programs.

Mr Doctoroff said he expects the project to lower the cost of living, including by reducing commutes, and for it to be the world's first urban development to reduce a city's carbon footprint.
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An extraordinary labyrinth of ice tunnels built in the Russian Arctic deep in the Cold War is melting.

Incredible new footage reveals that the natural freezer, designed to store fish in the 1950s, is falling apart.

Nicknamed 'Stalin's ice palace', the structure is larger in area than the White House, but is now in danger of collapse due to warming Arctic waters eroding its entrances.

STALIN'S ICE PALACE Stalin's ice palace was built to store mountains of Arctic fish before processing and export to Europe. The 75,000-square-foot (7,000 sq m) maze of tunnels and chambers maintain a constant temperature of -14C to -12C (6F to 10F) all year round. Still in use, it remains the world's largest permafrost storage facility built by manual labour. The structure is larger in area than the White House, but is now in danger of collapse due to warming Arctic waters eroding its entrances. Advertisement

Funds to save the monument are now 'urgent' as some passageways are severely weakened.

But authorities in northern Siberia lack the cash to rescue the icy labyrinth, even though it is listed as a regional monument.

Stalin's Palace is hailed as the creation of a German engineer banished to Siberia by Stalin during the Second World War.

Gustav Backmann and other exiled labourers spent years digging through the rock-solid permafrost soil in Novy Port to build a vast natural freezer, finishing their work in 1956.

Its purpose was to store mountains of Arctic fish before processing and export to Europe.

The 75,000-square-foot (7,000 sq m) maze of tunnels and chambers maintain a constant temperature of -14C to -12C (6F to 10F) all year round.

Still in use today, it remains the world's largest permafrost storage facility built by manual labour.

Tunnels in the complex - with permafrost walls, floors and ceilings - are up to 460 ft (140 m) long.

An extraordinary labyrinth of ice tunnels built in the Russian Arctic deep in the Cold War is in danger of melting. Incredible new footage reveals that the natural freezer (pictured), designed to store fish in the 1950s, is falling apart

Nicknamed 'Stalin's ice palace', the structure is larger in area than the White House, but is in danger of collapse due to warming Arctic waters eroding its entrances. Pictured is one of the palace's tunnels

Stalin's ice palace was built to store mountains of Arctic fish before processing and export to Europe. It is still in use today (pictured)

BUILDING STALIN'S ICE PALACE Gustav Backmann (pictured) spent years building a vast ice freezer in Siberia, now known as Stalin's ice palace' Stalin's ice palace is hailed as the creation of a German engineer banished to Siberia by Stalin during the Second World War. Gustav Backmann and other exiled labourers spent years digging through the rock-solid permafrost soil in Novy Port to build a vast natural freezer. After he was exiled along with other ethnic Germans during the Siege of Leningrad, Mr Backmann worked on a fish plant. Later his brains were deployed by the communists as the architect and chief builder of this vast subterranean ice palace in the 1950s. Under Backmann's 'watchful eye, day and night shifts of 15 to 20 men carved spacious horizontal shafts in permafrost soil as tough as rock,' reported The Siberian Times. 'Ice picks went blunt from constantly hammering the hard permafrost.' Local historian Andrey Ogorodnikov said: 'People worked in three shifts and spent ten years pecking through permafrost. 'Everyone was involved, women and men alike.' The work was completed in 1956, three years after Stalin's death, while Mr Backmann went to live in Ukraine after he was finally permitted to leave the Arctic in 1967. The ice palace was completed in 1956, three years after Stalin's death. Mr Backmann went to live in Ukraine after he was finally permitted to leave the Arctic in 1967. Pictured are workers after completion of the first storage tunnel Advertisement

Local TV broadcaster Vesti Yamal has warned that the icy warren at the mouth of the Ob River - the seventh longest - 'will either be washed away, or it'll melt.

'The unique permafrost storage unit in on the verge of destruction.'

Local officials have vowed for a decade that funds would be found to save the local monument.

The 75,000-square-foot (7,000 sq m) maze of tunnels and chambers maintain a constant temperature of -14C to -12C (6F to 10F) all year round

Stalin's Palace is hailed as the creation of a German engineer banished to Siberia by Stalin during the Second World War. Exiled labourers spent years digging through rock-solid permafrost soil, finishing their work in 1956. Pictured are bags of food stored in the freezer

Still in use today, Stalin's ice palace remains the world's largest permafrost storage facility built by manual labour. Pictured are sacks of food stored at the facility

Tunnels in the icy complex - with permafrost walls, floors and ceilings (pictured) - are up to 460 ft (140 m) long. Local cash-strapped budgets can afford no more than annual cleaning of the tunnels

But local cash-strapped budgets can afford no more than annual cleaning of the tunnels.

After he was exiled to Siberia along with other ethnic Germans during the Siege of Leningrad, the palace's chief engineer Gustav Backmann worked on a fish plant.

Later his brains were deployed by the communists as the architect and chief builder of this vast subterranean ice palace in the 1950s.

Local TV broadcaster Vesti Yamal has warned that the icy warren at the mouth of the Ob River - the seventh longest - 'will either be washed away, or it'll melt. Pictured is an outside view of one of the complex's tunnel entrances

After he was exiled to Siberia along with other ethnic Germans during the Siege of Leningrad, the palace's chief engineer Gustav Backmann worked on a fish plant in Siberia before he was recruited for the project. Pictured is the floor plan for the ice palace

Local officials have vowed for a decade that funds would be found to save the local monument, but cash-strapped authorities can only afford to clean it once per year

Under Mr Backmann's 'watchful eye, day and night shifts of 15 to 20 men carved spacious horizontal shafts in permafrost soil as tough as rock,' reported The Siberian Times.

'Ice picks went blunt from constantly hammering the hard permafrost.'

Local historian Andrey Ogorodnikov said: 'People worked in three shifts and spent ten years pecking through permafrost.

'Everyone was involved, women and men alike.'

The work was completed in 1956, three years after Stalin's death, while Mr Backmann went to live in Ukraine after he was finally permitted to leave the Arctic in 1967.

Authorities in northern Siberia lack the cash to rescue the labyrinth, even though it is listed as a regional monument. Pictured is an external view of one of the structure's entrances

Local historian Andrey Ogorodnikov said: 'People worked in three shifts and spent ten years pecking through permafrost'. Pictured is a storage chamber at the palace
A devastating 'text bomb' that crashes Apple devices has been uncovered by researchers.

It works by sending iPhones, iPads and Macs into a frenzy after a malicious web address is opened in Apple's Message app.

The ChaiOS hack, which causes devices to crash and can delete all your messages, affects any device running iOS and Mac OS.

A fix for the issue, which is not the first text bomb to hit Apple, has not yet been created but is expected in future updates.

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The flaw was discovered by software developer Abraham Masri, based in Chicago, who shared a link which can be used to crash the app on social media. He wrote a warning to accompany his post on Twitter: 'Do not use it for bad stuff'

EFFECTIVE POWER The latest text bomb vulnerability is similar to a bug called Effective Power which was first reported in May 2015. Malicious messages containing the word 'Power' as well as Arabic and Marathi characters and the Chinese character meaning 'redundant', were sent out. They also crashed the Messages app, and if an iOS user received the text while their handset was locked the bug would force their phone to reboot. Social media users at the time complained of being repeatedly sent the message by mischievous friends. Technology experts are calling on anyone who comes across the new link, which contains the flaw discovered by software developer Abraham Masri, to refrain from sending it to friends. Advertisement

The flaw was discovered by software developer Abraham Masri, based in Chicago, who shared a link which can be used to crash the app on social media.

This redirects the Messages app to a page stored on Github, a hosting service ford computer code, which exploits the bug.

It does so through massively long strings of text information, which overloads the system.

Reported effects include freezing, crashes, restarts and resprings, a process which takes about 10 seconds and returns you to the Lock Screen.

Mr Masri wrote a warning to accompany the link he shared on Twitter, 'do not use it for bad stuff,' but it seems likely that pranksters and others will make use of the code for malicious purposes.

Technology experts are calling on anyone who comes across the link to refrain from sending it to friends.

Writing on his blog, award-winning computer security expert Graham Cluley said: Something about the so-called ChaiOS bugs code gives your Apple device a brainstorm.

'Ashamed about the mess it gets itself in, Messages decides the least embarrassing thing to do is to crash.

Nasty. But, thankfully, more of a nuisance than something that will lead to data being stolen from your computer or a malicious hacker being able to access your files.

Apple fans should be careful the next time they receive a message containing links, after a 'text bomb' flaw was found by a computer security expert. It works by sending iPhones, iPads and Macs into a frenzy, after a malicious web address is opened in Apple's iMessage app

'Please don't be tempted to try the text bomb attack out on anyone else - you're not being funny, you're just being a jerk.'

The vulnerability is similar to a bug called Effective Power which was first reported in May 2015.

Malicious messages containing the word 'Power' as well as Arabic and Marathi characters and the Chinese character meaning 'redundant', were sent out.

They also crashed the Messages app, and if an iOS user received the text while their handset was locked the bug would force their phone to reboot.
An ancient comb and plate engraved with mysterious early runic inscriptions by Vikings more than 1,200 years ago have been discovered by researchers.

The comb was discovered during excavations of a Viking Age market place in Denmark's oldest town Ribe.

The comb had an inscription of the runic word for 'comb,' while the plate, made of bone or antler, may have been inscribed with a Viking name: Tobi.

The findings are significant because few runic texts from this period exist, when runes changed drastically and a new alphabet began to be used.

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The comb was discovered during excavations of a Viking Age market place in Denmark's oldest town Ribe. The findings are significant because few runic texts from this period exists, and runes changed drastically at the start of the Viking Age

WHAT ARE RUNES? Runes were the first systems of writing developed and used by the Germanic peoples. The symbols functioned as letters, but also held a significance beyond being a simple alphabet. Each rune was an ideographic or pictographic symbol of some cosmological principle or power. In Germanic languages, the word rune means both 'letter' and 'holding a secret'. To write a rune was to invoke and direct the force for which it stood, and they held the power to unleash magical properties according to Norse mythology. Advertisement

The archaeologists who made the discovery are keen to find out whether the runes on the comb and plate were the new alphabet, which began to be used at the the beginning of the viking age in AD 800 (1,200 years ago).

The discovery of the two new artifacts double the number of runes from Ribe.

'These are the runes we've been missing,' Sren Sindbk, an archaeologist and the excavation leader from Aarhus University, Denmark, told ScienceNordic.

'We've waited generations to be able to dig into this.'

Archaeologists do not have the evidence to know how written and spoken language was during this time, and what Vikings used the runes for.

According to Sindbk, the artifacts are from a period where runes changed a lot, and the discovery expands researchers' understanding of the different uses they had.

A magnified view of the runes etched on one part of the comb. Both sides contain the word 'comb.' On one side it is the verb (to comb) and the other the subject, comb. It was possibly inscribed by two different people

It could have been used as a tool to label property for traders, or for sending messages over long distance or even to summon gods.

Sindbk first discovered the plate when he was excavating a small house, but he could not figure out what the markings were at first.

An ancient comb and plate engraved by vikings more than 1,200 years ago have been discovered by researchers. The comb was discovered during excavations of a Viking Age market place in Denmark's oldest town Ribe

It was difficult to decipher the marking in the beginning because both ends were missing.

In addition, the text lacked certain features which mark the beginning and end of a word.

Before the new runic came into use, the Vikings used a more complicated alphabet called the 24 character futhark - a combination of the first six letters of its alphabet.

This bone plate was burnt and had degraded after more than 1,000 years in the ground. It measures just 3.8 by 1.8 centimetres

According to the researchers, the alphabet was built up so each rune had its own name and indicated the sound, however, as the language developed, these names and sounds changed too, and it became too difficult to remember the sound of each rune and there was too much uncertainty in the message conveyed.

Eventually, the Vikings decided not to use the old system anymore, and a new alphabet came into use, as revealed by Viking rune stones.
A gigantic asteroid which is larger than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, will hurtle past our planet in around two weeks time.

The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a 'potentially hazardous' by Nasa and will fly past at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh).

This makes it nearly 15 times faster than the world's quickest manned aircraft - the hypersonic North American X-15, which travelled at 4,520mph (7,300kmh).

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The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a 'potentially hazardous' by Nasa and will fly past Earth on 4th February at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh) (stock image)

The asteroid is around 0.7 miles (1.1km) wide - making it longer than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at 0.5 miles high (0.8km).

It is set to pass by our planet on the 4th February at a distance of around 2,615,128 miles (4,208,641km) away - which is relatively close in space terms.

For reference, the distance between the Earth and the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km).

Nasa describes asteroids as 'hazardous' if they come within 4,600,000 miles (7,403,00km) of our planet.

It is the largest space rock to brush past our planet this year and previous research has found a rock of this size could plunge Earth into a mini-ice age if it hit.

WHAT IS THE 2002 AJ129 ASTEROID AND IS IT A THREAT? The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a 'potentially hazardous' by Nasa and will fly past at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh). This makes it nearly 15 times faster than the world's quickest manned aircraft - the hypersonic North American X-15, which travelled at 4,520mph (7,300kmh). The asteroid is around 0.7 miles (1.1km) wide - making it only slightly smaller than Hyde Park which is around 0.9 miles (1.4km) across. It is set to pass by our planet on the 4th February at a distance of around 2,615,128 miles (4,208,641km) away - which is relatively close in space terms. For reference, the distance between the Earth and the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km). Nasa describes asteroids as 'hazardous' if they come within 4,600,000 miles (7,403,00km) of our planet. However, it does not pose an actual threat of colliding with our planet for the foreseeable future, Nasa says. 'We have been tracking this asteroid for over 14 years and know its orbit very accurately,' said Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. 'Our calculations indicate that asteroid 2002 AJ129 has no chance - zero - of colliding with Earth on Feb. 4 or any time over the next 100 years.' Advertisement

The impact would cause average temperatures around the world to fall by as much as 8C, according to a 2016 study on the effects of a collision with a 0.6-mile-wide (1km) asteroid.

Scientists warned the 'very severe global impact' would last several years, causing the world to become a much darker, colder and drier place.

'These would not be pleasant times,' Charles Bardeen, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said during a presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) at the time.

The asteroid is around 0.7 miles (1.1km) wide - making it longer than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (pictured), which stands at 0.5 miles high (0.8km)

In the 'worst case scenario', soot would remain in the atmosphere for around 10 years, while dust take six years to settle back on Earth.

Fortunately Nasa does not think this asteroid will collide with Earth.

PLANETARY DEFENCE Anything that flies closer than six million miles of our planet is a near earth asteroid and could cause severe damage were it ever to crash into Earth. Deflecting an asteroid that is on an impact course with Earth requires changing the velocity of the object by less than an inch per second years in advance of the predicted impact. Nasa is currently moving forward with a refrigerator-sized spacecraft capable of preventing asteroids from colliding with Earth. A test with a small, nonthreatening asteroid is planned for 2024. This is the first-ever mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique for planetary defence. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) would use what is known as a kinetic impactor techniquestriking the asteroid to shift its orbit. Advertisement

Currently Nasa would not be able to deflect an asteroid if it were heading for Earth but it could mitigate the impact and take measures that would protect lives and property.

This would include evacuating the impact area and moving key infrastructure.

Finding out about the orbit trajectory, size, shape, mass, composition and rotational dynamics would help experts determine the severity of a potential impact.

However, the key to mitigating damage is to find any potential threat as early as possible.

'As of December 24, there are 17,495 known Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) around our planet; 17,389 are asteroids', a Nasa spokesperson told the Express last month.

'This year, we discovered 1,985 new near Earth asteroids. There were 1888 such objects discovered in 2016 and 1,571 in 2015'.

Nasa is currently moving forward with a refrigerator-sized spacecraft capable of preventing asteroids from colliding with Earth. A test with a small, nonthreatening asteroid is planned for 2024.

This is the first-ever mission to demonstrate an asteroid deflection technique for planetary defence.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) would use what is known as a kinetic impactor techniquestriking the asteroid to shift its orbit.

The impact would change the speed of a threatening asteroid by a small fraction of its total velocity, but by doing so well before the predicted impact, this small nudge will add up over time to a big shift of the asteroid's path away from Earth.

In February 2013 a 19-metre meter (62-feet) meteor exploded in the skies above Chelyabinsk in Russia.

The energy - which was equivalent to 500,000 tonnes of TNT - and injured more than 1,000 people.
Stunning drone footage has revealed the incredible progress on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope  a massive instrument that will one day produce the deepest, widest image of the universe ever captured.

Construction on the telescope in Chile began in 2015, with plans for it to begin operations around 2022.

Now, nearly three years later, the new video shows how the enormous mountaintop facility has begun to take shape.

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Stunning drone footage has revealed the incredible progress on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope  a massive instrument that will one day produce the deepest, widest image of the universe ever captured

The video, published this week by the LSST team, was submitted by Assembly Integration Verification Manager Jacques Sebag, who captured the amazing view using a drone.

At the time, the team was working with subcontractor Besalco to move the facilitys mobile roof to a flatter area on the north side of the building.

According to a timeline of the projects construction plan, it will achieve engineering first light around 2019-2020.

Then, operations are set to begin around 2022-2023.

Construction on the telescope in Chile began in 2015, with plans for it to begin operations around 2022. Now, nearly three years later, the new video shows how the enormous mountaintop facility has begun to take shape

The LSST will capture more than 800 images every night, to capture the entire visible sky twice a week, the team says.

It will be equipped with a 3.2-gigapixel camera  a powerful instrument that would require 1500 high-definitions screens to display just one of its images.

The vast camera will then be blasted into space, forming the heart of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

Each patch of sky it images will be visited 1000 times during the survey, according to the LSST team.

The LSST will be equipped with a 3.2-gigapixel camera  a powerful instrument that would require 1500 high-definitions screens to display just one of its images

NOW THAT'S WIDESCREEN: MEET THE INCREDIBLE LSST Starting in 2022, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will take digital images of the entire visible southern sky every few nights from atop a mountain called Cerro Pachon in Chile. It will produce a wide, deep and fast survey of the night sky, cataloguing by far the largest number of stars and galaxies ever observed. The telescope will be equipped with a 3.2-gigapixel camera  a powerful instrument that would require 1500 high-definitions screens to display just one of its images. During a 10-year time frame, LSST will detect tens of billions of objectsthe first time a telescope will observe more galaxies than there are people on Earth  and will create movies of the sky with unprecedented details. The LSST's camera will include a filter-changing mechanism and shutter, which allows the camera to view different wavelengths; the camera is capable of viewing light from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared (0.3-1 m) wavelengths

With a light-gathering power equal to 6.7-m diameter primary mirror, each of its 30-second observations will be able to detect objects 10 million times fainter than visible with the human eye.

A powerful data system will compare new with previous images to detect changes in brightness and position of the objects as big as far-distant galaxy clusters and as small as near-by asteroids.

Assembled at the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the camera will be the eye of LSST, revealing unprecedented details of the universe and helping unravel some of its greatest mysteries.

The Department of Energy approved the start of construction in September 2015.

According to a timeline of the projects construction plan, it will achieve engineering first light around 2019-2020. Then, operations are set to begin around 2022-2023

The vast camera will then be blasted into space, forming the heart of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Each patch of sky it images will be visited 1000 times during the survey, according to the LSST team

At the time the video was captured, the team was working with subcontractor Besalco to move the facilitys mobile roof to a flatter area on the north side of the building

The construction milestone, known as Critical Decision 3, marked the last major approval decision before the acceptance of the finished camera, said LSST Director Steven Kahn at the time: 'Now we can go ahead and procure components and start building it.'

Starting in 2022, LSST will take digital images of the entire visible southern sky every few nights from atop a mountain called Cerro Pachon in Chile.

It will produce a wide, deep and fast survey of the night sky, cataloguing by far the largest number of stars and galaxies ever observed.

During a 10-year time frame, LSST will detect tens of billions of objectsthe first time a telescope will observe more galaxies than there are people on Earth  and will create movies of the sky with unprecedented details

Assembled at the DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the camera will be the eye of LSST, revealing unprecedented details of the universe and helping unravel some of its greatest mysteries

During a 10-year time frame, LSST will detect tens of billions of objectsthe first time a telescope will observe more galaxies than there are people on Earth  and will create movies of the sky with unprecedented details.

The telescope's camera  the size of a small car and weighing more than three tons  will capture full-sky images at such high resolution that it would take 1,500 high-definition television screens to display just one of them.
The 2002 AJ129 asteroid has been classed a 'potentially hazardous' by Nasa and will fly past at speeds of 67,000mph (107,826kmh).

This makes it nearly 15 times faster than the world's quickest manned aircraft - the hypersonic North American X-15, which travelled at 4,520mph (7,300kmh).

The asteroid is around 0.7 miles (1.1km) wide - making it only slightly smaller than Hyde Park which is around 0.9 miles (1.4km) across.

It is set to pass by our planet on the 4th February at a distance of around 2,615,128 miles (4,208,641km) away - which is relatively close in space terms.

For reference, the distance between the Earth and the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km).

Nasa describes asteroids as 'hazardous' if they come within 4,600,000 miles (7,403,00km) of our planet.

However, it does not pose an actual threat of colliding with our planet for the foreseeable future, Nasa says.

'We have been tracking this asteroid for over 14 years and know its orbit very accurately,' said Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

'Our calculations indicate that asteroid 2002 AJ129 has no chance - zero - of colliding with Earth on Feb. 4 or any time over the next 100 years.'
'Over there, said our driver gesturing to a smudge of land barely discernible in the gathering dusk, is Ithaca: the home of brave Ulysses.

He put the stress on brave as if there might have been another Ulysses around who had less of an appetite for man-to-man combat.

Nikos, our driver, was a man of the classics, it appeared. According to legend, Ulysses spent ten years fighting the Trojans in the Trojan War and then it took him ten years to get home after the war. This journey home is the story of The Odyssey.

The island is almost untouched by big tourism unlike its neighbouring islands. Pictured is the village of Assos

A boat is pictured at anchor by Antisamos Beach, in beautiful deep-blue waters

Picture perfect: The village of Agia Efimia on Kefalonia, the sixth largest of the Greek islands

We were on Kefalonia, the sixth largest of the Greek islands, which sits between Ithaca and Zakynthos  far to the south of Corfu.

Unlike Corfu and other tourist-savvy islands such as Rhodes and Crete, Kefalonia still has the look of a place surprised to find itself in the holiday business.

If Ithaca has Ulysses, Kefalonia has heroes of a more recent vintage. The island was the setting for Louis de Bernieres modern classic Captain Corellis Mandolin.

And, surprisingly  as Hollywood almost never seems to shoot films in their authentic setting  this was where Penelope Cruz, Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale came to star in the film of the book when it was made here in 2001.

The locals are ambivalent about the film as it makes narrative capital out of the two worst events to affect the island in living memory. The ill-fated occupation by the Germans during the Second World War (which resulted in the massacre of more than 5,000 Italian troops as portrayed in Captain Corellis Mandolin); and the terrible earthquake which destroyed large parts of the island in August 1953, killing 600 people and making thousands homeless.

Driving across the island today, however, there is little to suggest recent troubles. Kefalonia radiates a quiet contentment, perfect for someone who has arrived, like us, searching for utter peace and quiet.

Tragic tale: Actors Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz filmed scenes for Captain Corelli's Mandolin on Kefalonia

Thomas Cooks Manos features traditional, family-run hotels and self-catering places it describes as perfect for couples. I think what its quietly pointing out is that Kefalonia has wisely turned its back on the clubbing scene  eschewing the bar-crawling crowd who have disfigured so many other once-glorious Greek islands (such as neighbouring Zakynthos).

It wasnt hard to settle on the Myrto self-catering apartments in the village of Agia Efimia, a traditional fishing village on the east coast of the island.

From the start it was clear this property suited us down to the ground. Situated slightly up a hill it offered glorious sea views and it was just a few minutes walk from an excellent beach.

What quickly endeared us to Kefalonia was that this was a real place where the locals clearly have a life beyond tourism. The capital, Argostoli, for example, is charming, with a substantial fruit market near the harbour. Of particular interest in the harbour are the turtles, who have become something of a tourist attraction.

Another endearing factor is that there are few must-see sights. Our only outing was to take a drive round the island to the harbour town of Fiskardo 30 miles north of Argostoli.

If you were given a pen and paper and asked to design the perfect Greek fishing village, you would end with Fiskardo. It has become popular with the rich and famous as the perfect place to tie up their luxury yachts as they make their way around the Mediterranean.

We had a fabulous lunch at a harbourside restaurant where our waiter confided that Tom Hanks and his wife were on a yacht nearby and were expected to arrive for lunch imminently.

We strung out dessert as long as we possibly could, but Mr Hanks didnt put in an appearance (or perhaps he is so good at disguises that we didnt recognise him).

Fiskardo is one of the few villages on Kefalonia that were left undamaged by the 1953 earthquake: its handsome Venetian buildings are an impressive sight.

Where to stay: The Myrto self-catering apartments in the village of Agia Efimia, a traditional fishing village on the east coast of the island

Kefalonia is home to some truly eye-catching homes, as this dazzling picture shows

What was also impressive is that while the place is probably the nearest thing that Kefalonia has to a major resort, it didnt really feel like a tourist honey pot  it certainly wasnt crowded. And, best of all perhaps, the excellent meal was very reasonably priced.

The island has only recently begun seeking to attract tourists and doesnt seem to have been alerted to the possibilities of ripping off visitors.

If you come here in the height of summer, you have to be aware that the heat can be terrific. We took our trip to Fiskardo in the evening when the heat was tempered by a cooling breeze from the sea.

For most of the time we stayed close to our apartment. There were plenty of good tavernas and bars where we could enjoy a reasonably priced meal in the evening; breakfast and lunch we were happy to make for ourselves in the apartment.

It may have taken Ulysses 20 years to return to Ithaca, we shall be heading back to Kefalonia much sooner than that
Every day, more than 10 million people take a flight somewhere in the world.

While flying is relatively safe, the unique environmental conditions can put passengers at risk if theyre taking certain medications.

Here Nial Wheate, associate professor and programme director of undergraduate pharmacy at the University of Sydney, writing for The Conversation, reveals which medications are harmful to take when flying.

Passengers who take medication such as hormone medicines and sedating antihistamines are being warned to take care when flying

What makes flying different from other forms of travel?

While flying is one of the safest forms of travel, there are specific risks that come with air travel, regardless of the length of the flight.

Passenger planes are typically pressurised to the same atmospheric conditions that are found at 10,000 feet altitude. At that level, the effective oxygen level is only 14.3 per cent, which is much lower than the 20.9 per cent found at ground level.

An additional risk is reduced blood flow from a lack of movement and sitting in cramped conditions, unless of course youre fortunate enough to be in business or first class. And finally, dehydration is also a common side effect of flying due to the lack of humidity in the air.

When these conditions are combined, it results in an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is also known as DVT. This is a type of blood clot that occurs in the veins deep in the body and occurs most often in the legs. The development of a blood clot can result in blocked blood flow to the lungs, heart, or brain, which in turn can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Contraceptive pill and other hormone-based medicines

Given the inherent risk of a blood clot when flying, a passenger should use with caution any medication that can further increase the risk of a clot.

Some brands of contraceptive for women (tablet or implant formulation) are known to increase the chances of a blood clot, although the overall increase in risk is small. While its thought the major risk comes from the hormone estrogen, a review of all the medical evidence in 2014 showed theres a risk of blood clot from all contraceptive medicines.

Likewise, hormone replacement therapy, particularly those that include estrogen, or some fertility medicines, such as gonadotrophins, can increase the risk of a blood clot.

If you take one of these medicines, it does not mean you cannot fly, nor that you should necessarily stop taking the drug. Many millions of women fly while taking these medicines and suffer no ill effects.

But the risk is also increased if you have an underlying health condition that includes type II diabetes, heart disease, and prior heart attacks or strokes. As such, passengers who also take medications to help prevent heart attacks and strokes should consult their doctor or pharmacist before flying.

If youre at increased risk of a blood clot, then an anti-platelet medication may be suitable for you. These medicines act by stopping the blood cells from sticking together and include prescription medicines such as warfarin and clopidogrel, and over-the-counter medicines such as low dose aspirin.

Before you fly, if youre taking any form of medication, its recommended you meet with your doctor or pharmacist to discuss the suitability of your medicines

Antihistamines

Many passengers can have trouble sleeping when flying, especially on long-haul flights. Parents flying with young children can also be concerned about them not sleeping or being unsettled and annoying other passengers.

In these instances, many will turn to sedating antihistamines, like promethazine to try to induce sleep. But this is a bad option.

During your flight, dont take antihistamines, and reduce your chance of a blood clot by drinking lots of water, stretching in your seat, and moving about the cabin as much as is appropriate.

The Australian Medical Association specifically recommends parents do not do this, as sometimes it can have the reverse effect and make children less sleepy and more active. These types of antihistamines are also known to depress breathing, and in the low oxygen environment of the aircraft this can be especially dangerous.

If you feel you or another family member will need sedation when flying, dont use an antihistamine. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for a more suitable medication. Examples include prescription sleeping tablets, such as melatonin, or natural remedies, such as valerian.

What to do before and during your flight

Before you fly, if youre taking any form of medication, its recommended you meet with your doctor or pharmacist to discuss the suitability of your medicines. They may advise you theres little risk for you, or if there is a risk, they may recommend a different medicine for the trip or recommend a new medicine to reduce the risk of blood clots.

During your flight, dont take antihistamines, and reduce your chance of a blood clot by drinking lots of water, stretching in your seat, and moving about the cabin as much as is appropriate.

Finally, the effects of alcohol can be increased when flying  so drink in moderation, and try to avoid tea, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks as these can have dehydrating effects and make it harder to sleep.
German airline Air Berlin is auctioning off its entire inventory from aeroplane seats to branded chocolate after filing for bankruptcy.

The carrier was once Germany's second biggest airline after Lufthansa and was even a member of the OneWorld airline alliance spearheaded by British Airways.

But after years of losses, Air Berlin was forced to declare insolvency in August before it ceased operations at the end of October with almost 700million of debt.

Business class seats that used to be on Air Berlin planes that are now being auctioned off. Some sets have bids of over 1,000

As well as business class seats being for sale, economy cabin chairs are also in the auction

A scale model of an Air Berlin branded Airbus A320, which has bids of 5,000. The airline ceased operations in October after filing for bankruptcy in August

And now, to try and recoup some of the cash owed, German authorities instructed auction house Dechow to sell off as much of the Air Berlin stock as possible for the highest price.

Until February 2, items such as life jackets, blankets, aeroplane models and even trolleys used by the flight attendants are being sold to the highest bidder.

They are currently being held in a giant hall in the city of Essen where people can come and browse the stock.

Anyone can place a bid on any of the lots, with the auction house saying it recorded 2,000 bids for items in the first half hour alone.

Even one of the trolleys used by the flight attendants to serve food and drinks is up for sale

Entire batches of Air Berlin chocolate hearts, made by Lindt, are going for 195 for two kilos

Among the lots is a double business class seat made out of blue leather, which had a reserve price of 133 but now has bids as high as 1,333.

Entire batches of Air Berlin chocolate hearts, which were traditionally handed out to passengers at the end of a flight, are also being auctioned.

Those with a sweet tooth can buy two kilos of the confectionery made by Lindt and Spruengli, with current bids at the 195 mark.

A batch of 10 Air Berlin branded metal suitcases full of children's toys are going for 134

A smart car that has Air Berlin branding on the doors. The car currently has a bid of over 3,000

Meanwhile a batch of 10 metal suitcases full of children's toys are going for 134 and a Smart cat in the Air Berlin colours already has a bid for 3,377.

However, one of the most expensive items is a giant Air Berlin branded Airbus A320 scale model, which has bids topping 5,333.

Toke Bransky of Dechow Auction House said: 'We are very content. The rush on the first day has surprised us.'
Orton in Cambridgeshire.

It's an innocent-enough sounding place name, but one of many in Britain that sounds positively rude or alarming to foreign visitors.

Orton, to an Argentinian, is slang for 'big a***hole'.

In German, wix is pronounced identically to wichs  a slang term meaning I masturbate

Orton (left), to an Argentinian, is slang for 'big a***hole'. Todmorden (right) translates as 'death-murder' in German

Then there's Lorton in Cumbria, which may well raise eyebrows among Danes, to whom it means 'the s***'.

Do you live in Todmorden, West Yorkshire? If you do and you see any alarmed Germans in the vicinity, it could be because the name of your place of residence translates to 'death-murder'.

Germans in Wix, Essex, meanwhile, are more likely to be found giggling than looking shocked, because the word 'wix' is pronounced identically to 'wichs'  a slang term meaning 'I masturbate'.

The word Pett may prompt some sniggers among French people - because it means 'fart'

These revelations come courtesy of travel search platform HolidayPirates, which is offering financial reimbursement to travellers who fly from the country where the place-name is rude-sounding to the corresponding UK location on its list.

Travellers who tweet @holidaypirates in January 2018 with a photo of themselves in front of a sign showing the relevant place with a double meaning will have their flight cost refunded  as long as they can offer proof of flights and nationality.

Other towns with double meanings that the company unearthed include Speen in Buckinghamshire, which to Dutch speakers translates to 'teat', which can also refer to a haemorrhoid.

Japanese holidaymakers, meanwhile, may be wary about dipping a toe in the River Garry in Perthshire, because 'Garry' sounds to Japanese ears very much like 'geri', meaning 'diarrhoea'.

Lancashire also has a river that's rude to certain foreigners. The Hodder is very similar in pronunciation to the Spanish verb 'joder', meaning 'to f***'.

And French visitors driving into the town of Sale would be forgiven for reading Welcome to Dirty.

Niamh Walsh, Chief Editor at HolidayPirates, comments: 'Language and travel of course go hand-in-hand, and we love when holiday-makers spot the humour of home in new locations across the globe.

'From speaking to our own international team, and through other conversations from our market research, it's great to see that those visiting the UK can also share a joke with their fellow travellers too.'
Senior citizens who thought their last chance to see the world had gone will be pleased to hear that a globetrotting opportunity is up for grabs.

That's because a company is searching for the perfect OAP to blog their way around the globe - for free.

Price comparison site Compare the Market has launched a competition to find a lucky retired person to go on a 'Senior Gap Year'.

Price comparison website Compare the Market is searching for a pensioner to travel the world for free as part of its Senior Gap Year contest

The successful candidate, who will be chosen in mid-March, will be whisked around the world where they will have to take pictures and videos as well as write a monthly blog post for Compare the Market's website.

To apply, hopeful candidates just need to be a current and retired UK citizen, and submit a 200-word personal statement on why they would be the best person for the experience.

Each shortlisted candidate will be challenged with submitting a short video explaining why they should earn a Senior Gap Year, and the person with the highest number of votes will be packing their bags for the trip of a lifetime.

Stephanie Corbett, Head of Travel Insurance of comparethemarket.com, said: 'With Brits focussing on their careers more than ever, many have forgone the chance to take time off purely for themselves, to travel and explore the world.

'The launch of the Senior Gap Year competition is an opportunity for those retired to regain some of that travel time back  particularly since results showed that a quarter of the population regret the decision of not taking a gap year.

The successful candidate, who will be chosen in mid-March, will be whisked around the world where they will have to take pictures and videos as well as write a monthly blog post for Compare the Market's website

'Following on the success of our student gap year initiative last year, we wanted to open it up to those who are now retired, and have perhaps never been given the opportunity to explore the world care-free.'

It comes as research commissioned by Compare the Market revealed that over a quarter of Brits admit that they regret never having taken a gap year.

The top reason why Brits often havent taken a gap year is the fact that they were unheard of' in days gone by.

Other reasons included being unable to afford to take one or being too scared to travel alone.
She's the Australian beauty who first came to fame on season 17 of Big Brother UK.

And Evelyn Ellis has flaunted her bikini body in a sultry night time photo shoot in Phuket, Thailand.

The 22-year-old took to Instagram on Wednesday to share raunchy snaps of herself suggestively posing in a sun lounge chair by a pool, wearing a risque beige bikini by Agent Provocateur.

Turning up the heat! Australian Big Brother star Evelyn Ellis strips down to her barely-there bikini in a sultry photo shoot in Thailand

In her first snap the reality TV star stares down the camera, letting her raven locks cascading down her delicate shoulders and leading to her cleavage.

The London-based model's trim and taut figure appears to glisten against the light of the camera.

Her following snap looks to be slightly candid with the stunner seeming to change position.

Raunchy: The London-based model's trim and taut figure appears to glisten against the light of the camera

Bikini babe: Fans of the Sydney-raised beauty, with Chinese and British background, showered her with compliments including one who wrote: 'Sun kissed beauty'

She captioned her post: 'Heres a photo of me trying really hard...,' along with the hashtags #ineedsun #everyoneintheukrightnow.'

Fans of the Sydney-raised beauty, with Chinese and British background, showered her with compliments including one who wrote: 'Sun kissed beauty.'

While another commented: 'Love the picture.'

Risque TV: In 2016, she gained notoriety on Big Brother in the UK after passionately making out with glamour model Lauren Carter. The exotic beauty didn't hold back during the steamy tryst, french-kissing Laura as she groping her bare breasts

In 2016, she gained notoriety on Big Brother in the UK after passionately making out with glamour model Lauren Carter, who was ten years her senior during filming.

The exotic beauty didn't hold back during the steamy tryst, french-kissing Laura as she enthusiastically groped her bare breasts.

As the soaking wet contestants gave into temptation, three of their male housemates - including one of Laura's conquests, male model Marco Pierre White Jr. surrounded them and cheered on.
She announced she's expecting her first child, due this month, in August last year.

And fashion designer Camilla Franks looked ready to pop during a beach date with fiance JP Jones at Sydney's Bondi on Saturday.

The 41-year-old showed off her large baby bump in one of her signature skimpy patterned bikinis.

Any day now! Heavily pregnant fashion designer Camilla Franks, 41, showed off her baby bump in one of her own skimpy bikinis, on a beach date at Sydney's Bondi on Saturday

Camilla drew attention to her tummy in a jewelled abstract two-piece from her own iconic label.

Showing off her penchant for style, the kaftan queen accessorised with delicate jewels and her sparkling engagement ring.

Sweeping her brunette locks into an effortless topknot, Camilla went makeup-free for the occasion.

Beach attire: Accompanied by fiance JP, the Welsh artist and musician sported a pair of abstract board shorts, that hung low on his hips

Affectionate: Walking hand-in-hand, the couple appeared carefree and relaxed

Content: Engaging in conversation, Camilla was seen letting out a smile

Sun-smart, the fashionista later shielded her eyes behind a pair of designer sunglasses.

Accompanied by fiance JP, the Welsh artist and musician wore a pair of abstract board shorts that hung low on his hips.

His shaggy hair blew in the wind and he concealed his gaze behind tinted sunglasses.

On full display: Camilla drew attention to her baby bump in the skimpy two-piece bikini

Effortless style: The fashionista swept her brunette locks into an effortless topknot and concealed her gaze behind a pair of designer sunglasses

Protective: Camilla was seen caressing her belly in a protective manner

Giving his future bride his full attention, JP doted on Camila, holding hands and assisting her over a rocky ledge.

Taking in her surroundings, the expectant mother caressed her belly in a protective manner.

After enjoying quality one-on-one time in shallow water, the pair were pictured on the boardwalk catching up with Bachelor couple Matty Johnson and Laura Byrne.

Doting: JP made Camilla his top priority, assisting her over a rocky ledge

Beaming broadly: Camilla could not wipe the smile off her face as she soaked up the sun

Can't be too careful! The creative carefully made her way over a rocky ledge

The reality stars dressed casually, with Laura, 30, who brought along her dog Buster, revealing her trim pins in denim cut-offs.

Meanwhile Matty, 30, opted to cover up his muscular frame in a white T-shirt and patterned board shorts.

Camilla, who postponed her wedding to JP until after the birth, spoke to 9Honey last October, about discovering she was pregnant with her first child, at age 41.

'It started off as an unpredictable emotional rollercoaster of happy, excited, terrified and everything in between,' she said.

Enjoying a quick dip: Camilla cooled off from Sydney's soaring temperatures

Furry friend: The businesswoman patted a cute dog on the outing

Familiar faces: After enjoying quality one-on-one time in shallow water, the pair were pictured on the boardwalk catching up with Bachelor couple Matty Johnson and Laura Byrne

'But as January comes closer, I'm beginning to learn how to relax and enjoy this sacred time.'

'I've always said my business was my first love child. She has been the centre of my everything for nearly 15 years - it was time to bring her a sibling.'

Camilla and JP met over 20 years ago, before an expired visa forced the pair to separate, however they reunited in 2015.

'We met and fell in love at first sight when I was 19 or 20. We were together for three years, living in the UK, but my visa ran out and I had to go back to Australia,' the businesswoman told news.com.au in May 2016.

Bondi local: The reality stars dressed casually, with Laura revealing her trim pins in denim cut-offs

Cool and casual: Meanwhile Matty, 30, opted to cover up his muscular frame in a white T-shirt and patterned board shorts
She's reprising one of cinema's most iconic roles.

And Emily Blunt, 34, seemed to be having the time of her life on the set of upcoming Disney film Mary Poppins Returns, in a new still from the upcoming movie.

Blunt is playing the titular singing nanny, while Lin Manuel Miranda, 38, plays a new character, street lamplighter Jack, and Emily Mortimer, 46, reprises the role of Jane Banks.

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Let's go ride a bike: Emily Blunt, 34, seemed to be having the time of her life on the set of upcoming Disney film Mary Poppins Returns, in a new still from the upcoming movie

In the still, Mary and Jack ride a bike with the next generation of Banks children, played by Pixie Davies (The White Queen), Nathanael Saleh (Game Of Thrones) and newcomer Joel Dawson.

Meanwhile a grown-up Jane Banks (played by Mortimer) watches on in apparent shock.

Blunt recently spoke to Walt Disney Studios D23 Expo in July about the prospect of living up to the iconic part.

Iconic role: Blunt is playing the titular singing nanny, while Lin Manuel Miranda, 38, plays a new character, street lamplighter Jack

Emily explained that following in Julie Andrews' footsteps was a daunting but exciting prospect.

'I found that I watched about 15 minutes of the original and then just stopped watching it because I needed to kind of try and pay homage to what Julie did but carve out new space for myself,' she said on stage, continuing: 'No one is ever going to out-Julie Julie Andrews. Shes just unbelievable.

'There will never be anyone else like her. So I just had to do my version of her and I think we were very loyal to the books. I think she is a little more sort of acerbic and odd and vain and weird in the books. And so we went that direction a little more. So its my version of her!'

Emily explained that following in Julie Andrews' footsteps was a daunting but exciting prospect. Seen here in September 2018

The sequel to the 1964 Disney classic sees Jane and Michael Banks (played by Ben Wishaw) from the original musical visited by the titular nanny following a personal loss.

But while the children are much older now, it seems the enigmatic Mary Poppins has hardly aged at all.

Originally played by Julie Andrews in her first film role at 29, the role of the flying babysitter will be reprised in the new movie by Blunt, 34.

Mary Poppins Returns hits US screens on December 25, 2018.
She used to hide from her criminal past, but now Nene Leakes is embracing how far she's come.

The reality star, 50, posted a photo of herself wearing an off the shoulder sweatshirt emblazoned with her arrest photo from 1992.

'From Mugshots to MILLIONS,' she captioned the image she shared with her followers.

She announced she will be selling similar shirts starting this week.

No shame: NeNe Leakes is no longer hiding from her past by wearing her first mugshot from 1992 on a sweater on Tuesday

My past: She will begin sharing similar shirts to her fans this week

Leakes included a variety of hastags including #growingpains, #embraceyou and #speakyourtruth.

She paired the custom sweatshirt with a pair of black tights with her hair combed up into a bun.

A peace sign she was throwing up in the air could signify that the Real Housewives of Atlanta star has made peace with her tumultuous past.

Growing pains: 'MUGSHOTS to MILLIONS t-shirts go on sale this week so look out for that.' she posted on Instagram

More t-shirts? No word if the clothing items will only feature her first mugshot or if she will branch out and include any of her others

The queen of gifs, who at the time went by her given name Linnethia Johnson, was charged with three felony and one misdemeanor counts of 'theft of services' from a phone company.

Radar reported that in a plea agreement, NeNe pled guilty to 'all four counts and was put on two years probation and ordered to pay repay $2,650.

However, the reality television personality was then arrested a further three more times for violating her probation.

NeNe has spoken about her initial arrest in her 2009 autobiography Never Make The Same Mistake Twice. She said she and a friend had shoplifted at a shopping mall.

Booked: The Real Housewives of Atlanta star has been arrested at least three times

She's come a long way since those days. It was reported by Life & Style that the New York native was offered $2.5 million to return to the Bravo series that put her on the map in 2017.

A production insider told Radar at the time, 'Along with a lucrative seven-figure salary, NeNe has a most favored nations clause which allows her to have preferential treatment when it comes to scheduling filming events around her personal and business schedule.

She also is able to keep her side gigs like hosting Fashion Police on E! and include her HSN Clothing Line and her SWAGG Boutique on the show as promotion.'

In 2012, she was reportedly making the most of all the Atlanta franchise women at $1 million per season.
A domestic battery charge against Naya Rivera stemming from an alleged assault on her husband at Thanksgiving has been dropped.

The actress will not face prosecution in West Virginia, TMZ reported Tuesday, after her estranged husband Ryan Dorsey told prosecutors he didn't want to proceed with pressing charges.

The case was formally dismissed last Friday by the Kanawha County Magistrate Court's office in West Virginia.

Glowing: Naya Rivera, pictured Saturday in Pasadena, California, has had a domestic battery charge against her dropped by prosecutos in West Virginia

The former Glee star, 31, had been arraigned following her November arrest in Chesapeake, WV, after Dorsey, 34, called cops to report she had hit him during an argument.

Law enforcement said at the time that alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Since then, Rivera has filed for divorce for a second time from Dorsey and the former couple have agreed to temporarily share joint custody of their two-year-old son Josey.

Rivera first filed for divorce in 2016 after two years of marriage, but had ended the legal proceedings in October.

Mug shot: The former Glee star, 31, had been arrested after her hiusband Ryan Dorsey called cops to report tshe had hit him during an argument over Thanksgiving weekend

Big news: Her arraignment was covered by local TV news stations with photos and video shared on Twitter

TMZ reported Dorsey, 34, told prosecutors he no longer wanted to proceed with pressing charges. Rivera filed for divorce a week after the incident. They're pictured in January 2016

On Saturday, Rivera made her first public appearance since the arrest at the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, California, to promote her new YouTube show.

The actress wore a blue miniskirt with black knee-high boots and a colorful floral print T-shirt.

She is starring in the dance themed drama series Step Up: High Water, the pilot for which was shot by director Adam Shankman.
She gushed that she's feeling 'toned and confident' with her slim physique after amping up her fitness amid a devastating split from husband Matthew Robertson.

And Davina McCall certainly appeared to be in good spirits as she shared raucous snaps from her star-studded 50th birthday party at Cafe de Paris in London.

The giddy presenter threw some shapes in the middle of the dancefloor at the West End nightclub in one Instagram shot, which she captioned: 'Good times' followed by a heart emoji.

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Bust a move: Davina McCall was seen throwing off her dance moves at her star-studded 50th birthday party at Cafe de Paris in London

Davina was seen kneeling in front of the DJ in another snap, having changed into a short dress and her beloved light-up trainers.

In the lengthy post, she gushed over her trainer for allowing her to feel 'toned and confident' in her skimpy attire.

She wrote: 'Here I am worshipping the DJs... and yes i know only one of my shoes is lit up... but what I wanted to draw your attention to is my arms. Am I bragging ?

'Hell yeah ... joking apart ... thank you sarah ... thanks to you I pranced around last night in a short skirt and short sleeves feeling toned and confident x I never take it for granted x.'

In the company of presenter pals Emma Willis, Holly Willoughby, Fearne Cotton and Laura Whitmore, Davina made it easy to party until late in eccentric gold light-up trainers, and was seen leaving Cafe de Paris after 2am.

Loving life: She also kneeled in front of the DJ in a short leather dress and beloved light-up trainers

Dancing queen: Davina posted a video of her light-up trainers on Instagram on Monday night

The TV host reportedly danced along to house track Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) by Crystal Walters onstage after changing into a short leather dsress at 11pm.

'Davina was having a right laugh being around all her friends,' a source told The Sun.

'She paid for a free bar all night which her guests got stuck into, apart from herself as she kept to the waters.

'When she took to the stage after changing her outfit she was met with rapturous applause and her dancing on her own brought the house down.'

Davina then thanked her celebrity friends for celebrating the night with her and vowed to have a party on Blue Monday every year, according to the site.

Keith Lemon, real name Leigh Francis then gave Davina a framed sketch of The Rock with her name tattooed on his arm - in a nod to her recent admission that she wants to marry the US actor.

Great gift: Keith Lemon, real name Leigh Francis then gave Davina a framed sketch of The Rock with her name tattooed on his arm - in a nod to her recent admission that she wants to marry the US actor

Party girl: She was seen leaving Cafe de Paris on Monday night, following celebrations for her 50th birthday

He shared the present on Instagram and wrote: 'This is the 50th birthday gift I drew for Davina. Of course it was it was Framed and big as chuff!

'That was fun carrying that about yesterday but got it to her in one piece! Gonna be some sore heads this morning, especially on this morning! Good luck Willoughby!'

Youthful Davina certainly had a spring in her step, as she showcased her metallic footwear in a black cape coat.

She posted a Boomerang video to Instagram showing her dancing in her kooky light-up shoes.

Beneath her chic top layer, Davina flashed her lean legs and an equally kooky pair of satin pink fingerless gloves that capped off her birthday outfit.

Excitable: The brunette looked like she'd had a terrific night out, and beamed on leaving the venue

Famous pals: Davina's famous presenter pal Emma Willis was also spotted at the event

Famous friends: Fearne Cotton and her husband Jesse Wood were among the guests

Hanging out: Holly Willoughby and her work husband Phillip Schofield were also turning out on a Monday night

Davina turned 50 in October but delayed her star-studded birthday party until the new year.

The past few months have been overshadowed by her separation from her husband Matthew Robertson, which was announced in December after 17 years of marriage.

Though she has agreed not to talk about it publicly, for the sake of their three children Holly, 16, Tilly, 14, and Chester, 11, Davina recently admitted that the festive season has been more lonely this Christmas.

In a video posted on social media, Davina sent everyone a 'big Christmassy hug', a day that she later admitted she'd spent with her estranged husband and their three children.

Showing their support: Claudia Winkleman and husband Kris Thykier were seen on a rare night with the group

Looking cool: The mum-of-three rocked gold light-up trainers with her all-black outfit

With the girls: It was a late night out when Davina and her girlfriends departed the venue after 2am

But Davina looked less than lonely on Monday, flanked by girlfriends as she left in a taxi, flashing peace signs and giggling.

A host of presenters, including Claudia Winkleman with her husband Kris Thykier, Fearne Cotton with her husband Jesse Wood and Phillip Schofield with work wife Holly Willoughby turned out in support of Davina on a Monday night.

Former Big Brother presenter Davina was joined by Emma Willis on a rare night off from her own CBB duties.

Emma looked characteristically cool in a sharp suit, under which she wore a casual white T-shirt.

Like Davina, the presenter wore trainers with her get up as she was seen leaving with a producer friend.

Also joining the festivities was Laura Whitmore looking glam in a burgundy fluffy coat and winter boots.

Laura was in the company of her boyfriend Iain Sterling, who found fame this summer as the popular voiceover for breakout dating show, Love Island.

Wild ones: Following her high profile split, Davina was surrounded by girlfriends
She's making the most of her free schedule following an intense few months hosting Strictly Come Dancing.

And Tess Daly was enjoying a night out at the IWC Schaffhausen Gala in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday night, looking elegant in a blue silk dress.

The presenter beamed as she made her grand arrival at the bash, celebrating the Maison's 150th anniversary and the launch of its Jubilee Collection at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie.

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Glamorous: Tess Daly was enjoying a night out at the IWC Schaffhausen Gala in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday night, looking elegant in a blue silk dress

Tess' slinky number clung to her tiny waist and highlighted her toned upper arms thanks to the halterneck cut.

The classic gown skimmed the floor and was set off with a statement watch from the luxury brand.

She styled her blonde locks in tumbling curls and kept her make-up simple and natural for the occasion.

In great shape: Tess' slinky number clung to her tiny waist and highlighted her toned upper arms thanks to the halterneck cut

Terrific trio: Tess joined forces with Ronan Keating and his wife Storm inside the bash, posing for snaps together

Hot mesh: Storm showed off her amazing figure in a sheer mesh number

Tess joined forces with Ronan Keating and his wife Storm inside the bash, posing for snaps together.

Last month, Tess opened up about the status of her relationship with husband Vernon Kay's following his past 'sexting' scandal with glamour model Rhian Sugden.

She was left heartbroken after the radio DJ's betrayal in 2010 - and again in 2015 - admitting that it was 'still a work in progress.'

'All marriages have their moments' the Strictly Come Dancing host, 48, told The Times before adding: 'Marriage is a work in progress. Vernon and I are just people, at the end of the day.'

Centre stage: Tess was on hosting duties as she took to the stage on Tuesday night

Joining forces: She was joined by IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr as they addressed the crowd

'It's still a work in progress': Last month, Tess opened up about the status of her relationship with husband Vernon Kay's following his past 'sexting' scandal with glamour model Rhian Sugden

Vernon was famously forced to make a public apology to his wife Tess Daly on Radio 1 back in 2010 after a set of saucy messages to Rhian emerged.

The father-of-two went on to promise live on air that he would no longer contact Rhian or the four other women he had been caught messaging at the time.

It was then revealed the pair had got back in touch in 2015 with Vernon sending hundreds of texts asking to 'reconnect' with the model.

After a break of six years, the busty blonde admitted after her confession that his reaching out to her had felt like an 'old friendship coming back'.

Infidelity: Tess was left heartbroken after her husband's 'sexting' scandal with Rhian came to light

Speaking more of her marriage with Vernon, the Strictly Come Dancing host admitted: Marriage is a work in progress. Vernon and I are just people, at the end of the day'

However, Vernon claimed that his WhatsApp messages asking Rhian to meet had been taken out of context, that he had done 'nothing wrong' and that his wife was completely aware of all contact.

The blonde beauty - who is engaged to Oliver Mellor - recently claimed however that she had been treated as 'the villain' in the light of the sexting scandal, while the radio host has had a career boost.

Speaking on Celebrity Sex Pod earlier this year, the beauty reasoned: 'He got drunk and sent inappropriate text messages to me. And Im the one people would pour drinks on.'

On both occasions, Tess forgave her husband and it was said at the time that despite her 'humiliation' she was not likely to leave Kay.

Sorry: Vernon was famously forced to make a public apology to his wife Tess Daly on Radio 1 back in 2010 after a set of saucy messages to Rhian emerged

At it again: It was revealed that Vernon and Rhian had got back in touch in 2015 with Vernon sending hundreds of texts asking to 'reconnect' with the model

'People pour drinks on me': The blonde beauty recently claimed that she had been treated as 'the villain' in the light of the sexting scandal, while the radio host has had a career boost

She added: 'Im the one people would spit on. My career didnt go anywhere but his went up. I even lost contracts. I was just known as a sex-texter.'

Rhian has been happily engaged to ex Coronation Street star Oliver Mellor since 2014.

He proposed to her by getting down on one knee in front of a packed audience at the Manchester Opera House after performing his stage show Black Coffee at the venue.
She grew up on the silver screen playing Sally Fletcher.

And as she celebrated Home And Away's 30th birthday on Wednesday, Kate Ritchie shared a sweet throwback photo of herself with the late Heath Ledger.

The photo saw the 39-year-old actress as a Summer Bay High teenager while bad-boy Scott Irwin placed his hands over her shoulder.

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'Miss him so much': Kate Ritchie shares sweet throwback photo of herself with the late Heath Ledger on set of Home And Away as she celebrates the 30th anniversary of the show

'Thank you @aacta. Launched, maintained and fed many careers on and off screen,' she wrote.

'Happy 30th Birthday @homeandaway and thank you!'

And Kate's fans seemed to also appreciate the tribute post with one writing; 'it was only the beginning of a long running career for heath, miss him so much.'

Celebrating Home And Away's 30th Anniversary: And Kate's fans seemed to also appreciate the tribute post with one writing; 'it was only the beginning of a long running career for heath, miss him so much'

It wasn't the first time Kate thanked the show who also launched the careers of Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fischer, Tammin Sursok and Melissa George.

Seemingly nostalgic of her time on the show, earlier in the day Kate posted another throwback photo from her first day on set.

'First official day of shooting on a show no one had yet heard of...1987...Balmain backstreets,' she captioned.

Adorable eight-year-old: 'First official day of shooting on a show no one had yet heard of...1987...Balmain backstreets'

The adorable eight-year-old was seen in a mid-length tunic dress with a purple scarf over the top.

Kate's hair was styled into two braids and secured with matching pink clips.

After holding the role of Sally Fletcher for 20 years, in 2008, the actress-turned-radio star left the soap to further broaden her career.

In 2014, she began hosting the Nova 96.9's drive time program with Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold, which she is still at the helm of.

Aside from her professional career, Kate's personal has evolved and blossomed after marrying former NRL star Stuart Webb in 2010, and giving birth to their daughter Mae four years later.
Australia's Today show has aired a commercial bearing several similarities to one aired by UK program BBC Breakfast.

The ad starred Karl Stefanovic and Georgie Gardner and was aired by Channel Nine over the summer holidays.

It features visuals and lines either very similar, or identical to a 2016 spot starring BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker and Louise Minchin.

Spot the difference: Australia's Today show has aired a commercial bearing several similarities to one aired by UK program BBC Breakfast

Both commercials begin in the kitchen of a typical family home and depict a mother and teenage son watching a breakfast show on television.

In Today's spot, the mother and son are seen going about their morning routines, while Karl and Georgie chat away on the television set.

'A brand new day! Morning Georgie,' Karl said, adding: 'morning Karen!'

The mother in the kitchen reveals herself as Karen by smiling and waving at the hosts on television, who appeared to be aware of the family's presence.

Today show: Both commercials begin in the kitchen of a typical family home and depict a mother and teenage son watching a breakfast show on television

BBC Breakfast: Both make the same joke, in which the hosts on television say 'good morning' to parent watching in the kitchen. She smiles and waves back after hearing them say her name

While surreal in its concept, the scene's underlying message seems to be that the family enjoys a strong and personal connection with the Today show hosts.

'The headlines are coming up,' Georgie continued on television, as a look of concern washes over Karl.

'Jack, your toast is burning mate!' Karl Stefanovic says at one point, prompting the teenage son to turn around and witness his breakfast being charred in the toaster

Saving breakfast from disaster: 'Jack, your toast is burning mate!' Karl Stefanovic says at one point, prompting the teenage son to turn around and witness his breakfast being charred in the toaster

Same joke: The burnt toast joke originally appeared in the BBC ad

Meanwhile, BBC Breakfast's 2016 television advertisement features a slew of suspiciously familiar jokes.

Like the Today ad, BBC hosts Dan and Louise are seen on television saying good morning to a British mother in the kitchen.

The burnt toast joke is also used in the scene, as well as the announcement that UK heartthrob Daniel Radcliffe would join them for a live interview.

Star swap: As the ad continued, Karl and Georgie promoted an upcoming live interview with Chris Hemsworth, whereas Dan and Louise did the same with Daniel Radcliffe

The BBC ad goes on to use the exact same petrol prices line that appeared in Today's ad, although the visual gag shows a man leaving his car keys at home after hearing about the price surge.

Both BBC's 2016 ad and Today's 2017 spot continued by featuring several more takes on the 'host's speak directly to viewers and address them by name' gag.

Rising petrol prices: In Today's ad, a man is seen on the bus, watching the show on his phone as Georgie is heard saying: 'Rising petrol prices, how it will effect your commute'

Take the bus instead! BBC Breakfast's spot features the exact same petrol prices line, although the visual gag shows a man leaving his car keys at home after hearing about the price surge

When contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment, a Today representative said the show would 'not be commenting further' on the similarities.

A Nine spokesperson previously told News Corp: 'The promo ran for a short period over the summer period and hasnt been on air for more than two weeks.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to BBC Breakfast representatives for comment.

No comment: When contacted by Daily Mail Australia for comment, a Today representative said the show would 'not be commenting further' on the similarities
She confirmed her new relationship with DJ Chris Martinez during a PDA-filled trip to Madrid before Christmas.

And Demi Rose Mawby displayed what caught the millionaire's attention on Tuesday, as she shared a sizzling Instagram snap of her showstopping curves.

Flaunting her pert posterior in a backless sheer dress, the 22-year-old certainly took centre-stage on her first night during her sun-drenched trip to Santorini, Greece.

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Looking good: Demi Rose Mawby shared a sizzling Instagram snap of her showstopping curves during her sun-drenched Greek getaway on Tuesday

The brunette beauty, who shot to fame after being linked to Kylie Jenner's rapper ex Tyga, showed off her toned behind in a tiny thong.

Styling her glossy raven tresses in tumbling waves, Demi framed her striking features with a sweep of mascara and dewy lipgloss.

She captioned the smouldering snap: 'The prettiest thing you can wear is a smile.'

The star has been sending her social media followers wild of late, taking to Instagram last week to share some very revealing selfies.

The curvy pin-up posed up a storm in her latest mirror selfie, flaunting her enviable physique and eye-popping cleavage in a skimpy Bardot crop top.

Revealing: Demi has been sending her social media followers wild of late, taking to Instagram last week to share some very revealing selfies

Her saucy social media post comes after Demi confirmed her new relationship with beau Chris Martinez before Christmas.

They were seen packing on the PDA while preparing to jet out of Madrid airport and didn't hold back as they enjoyed a smooch in front of onlookers.

Millionaire star Martinez is usually seen performing alongside his brother Stevie as part of the house DJ'ing duo.

MailOnline have contacted representatives for both Demi and Chris.

Chris and his brother Stevie are best known for their long-term residencies in Ibiza and were previously dubbed the 'crown princes of DC10' while being named Mixmag's DJs of the Year in 2014.

New romance: She is now dating new beau Chris Martinez - who is know for being one half of DJ'ing duo The Martinez Brothers

The duo started out on the New York club scene, as they're originally from The Bronx, and were later mentored by DJ Dennis Ferrer, who then signed the pair to his label. They are often touring internationally.

Chris was spotted getting close to Demi at the airport in Madrid, while the couple were waiting in line ahead of their flight. Seemingly besotted, the pair held hands as they proved inseparable when they strolled through the terminal.

The curvy stunner enjoyed a brief love affair with Tyga in May 2016 when the US rapper was on a break from seeing his on/off girlfriend at the time Kylie.

Birmingham born beauty Demi gave a rare glimpse into their whirlwind romance but she admitted she wasn't left heartbroken when it came to an end in an interview with The Sun.

Curvy queen: Another sultry post from the Birmingham born beauty shows her posing in a red bra, showing off her voluptuous chest to the max

She told the publication in 2016: 'It was interesting, it just happened really fast. He had been messaging me then I went to a party in Cannes and bumped into him. He was nice and we got along. And I spent some time with him.

'We ended up spending the rest of our time there together. We really liked each other but logistically it didn't work out in the end.

'But you know, everything happens for a reason. Im not heartbroken though. For now Im just doing me!'
She might be married to one of the worlds most lusted after men, but that doesn't mean Elsa Pataky can't turn up the heat in her own right.

The wife of Chris Hemsworth left onlookers a little hot-under-the-collar while attending the premiere of her and husband's new film 12 Strong in New York.

Proving that age is just a number, the 41-year-old showcased her supremely toned figure in a floor-length black cut-out gown.

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Hot mama! Elsa Pataky left photographers a little hot-under-the-collar while attending the premiere of her and husband's new film '12 Strong' in New York

Peek-a-boo: Protecting the star's modesty was a barely-there nude slip that only sat on the top part of her gown

Protecting the star's modesty was a barely-there nude slip that only sat on the top part of her gown.

The mother-of-three completed her look with a darling slick of red-lipstick and kept her blonde locks off her face in a tight ponytail.

Her best accessory came in the form of her husband, Chris, who kept a protective arm around his wife as the pair walked the red-carpet.

The 34-year-old handsome Thor star wore a simple navy blue suit without a tie.

Stand by your man: Elsa's best accessory came in the form of husband, Chris, who kept a protective e arm around his wife as the pair walked the red-carpet

Red hot: The mother-of-three completed her look with a darling slick of red-lipstick and kept her blond locks off her face in a tight ponytail

Later that night Elsa donned a classic long black coat as she braved the chilly weather.

In the movie the pair play husband and wife and have spoken about the hope that their real-life chemistry will translate on-screen.

12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team that's deployed to Afghanistan following the events of 9/11.

Bundle up! Later that night Elsa donned a classic long black coat as she braved the chilly weather

In the film, Chris plays the role of Captain Mitch Nelson, who has the task of leading his team of 12 soldiers to take down the Taliban.

Elsa plays the part of the captain's dutiful wife, who looks after their daughter while he is at war.

Chris and Elsa married in 2010, later welcoming three children, daughter India Rose, five, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, three.

Reel life chemistry: In 12 Strong the pair play husband and wife and have spoken about the hope that their real-life chemistry will translate on-screen
Hours after discussing the Me Too Movement, Matt Damon suited up in black alongside his wife Luciana at the world premiere of 12 Strong in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter and the Argentine 41-year-old celebrated their 12th anniversary December 9 after meeting on the 2003 set of Stuck On You.

The Downsizing actor and the former bartender have four daughters - Isabella, 11; Gia, 9; Stella, 7; as well as Alexia, 18, from her previous marriage.

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Red carpet: Hours after discussing the Me Too Movement, Matt Damon suited up in black alongside his wife Luciana at the world premiere of 12 Strong in Manhattan on Tuesday

Matt and Luciana (born Barroso) follow the two-week rule to keep their enviably long marriage on track.

Earlier that morning, Damon vowed to keep his mouth shut after receiving flack about his controversial 'case-by-case' comments regarding sexual harassment in Hollywood.

'Boy, I really wish I'd listened a lot more before I weighed in on this,' the Suburbicon star admitted on the TODAY show.

'I don't want to further anybody's pain with anything that I do or say and so for that I'm really sorry. And you know this whole like Time's Up [movement].

Taking the plunge! The 47-year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter and the Argentine 41-year-old celebrated their 12th anniversary December 9 after meeting on the 2003 set of Stuck On You

Surrounded by females: The Downsizing actor and the former bartender have four daughters - Isabella, 11; Gia, 9; Stella, 7; as well as Alexia, 18, from her previous marriage

Frozen Big Apple: Matt and Luciana (born Barroso) follow the two-week rule to keep their enviably long marriage on track

Cleavage: The lovely Latina took the plunge in a sheer, bell-sleeved pleated LBD, which revealed a hint of her lingerie underneath

'I mean a lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they're doing and want to be a part of that change and want to go along for the ride, but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while.'

The Harvard drop-out next plugs the Water.org organization he co-founded in 2009 for a 30-second Stella Artois 'Taps' Super Bowl LII spot airing February 4.

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch tweeted Thursday that the NBC network has charged more than $5M, on average, for a 30-second spot this year.

'I'm really sorry': Earlier that morning, Damon vowed to keep his mouth shut after receiving flack about his 'case-by-case' comments regarding sexual harassment in Hollywood

Damon - seen carrying his wife's purse earlier - added: 'I don't want to further anybody's pain with anything that I do or say and so for that I'm really sorry...A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they're doing and want to be a part of that change'

Beer commercial: Matt next plugs the Water.org organization he co-founded in 2009 for a 30-second Stella Artois 'Taps' Super Bowl LII spot airing February 4

Wow! Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch tweeted Thursday that the NBC network has charged more than $5M, on average, for a 30-second spot this year

Donning a similar black look at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Tuesday were Chris Hemsworth and his Spanish bride Elsa Pataky.

In 12 Strong, the Australian 34-year-old and his 41-year-old wife - who celebrated their seventh anniversary last month - play Captain Mitch Nelson and his wife Jean.

'7 years of rehearsals to play this part on @12strongmovie!' the Fate of the Furious stunner tweeted Sunday. 'Hope you will feel the chemistry!'

Black-clad duo: Donning a similar black look at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Tuesday were Chris Hemsworth and his Spanish bride Elsa Pataky

Celebrated their seventh anniversary last month! In 12 Strong, the Australian 34-year-old and his 41-year-old wife play Captain Mitch Nelson and his wife Jean

The Fate of the Furious stunner tweeted Sunday: '7 years of rehearsals to play this part on @12strongmovie! Hope you will feel the chemistry!'

Date night: Elsa and the Thor: Ragnarok heartthrob are the proud parents of five-year-old daughter India as well as twin sons Sasha & Tristan, 3

LBD: With a tidy updo and red lips, Pataky showcased her taut 5ft3in figure in a black brocaded lacy cocktail dress and matching stilettos

Elsa and the Thor: Ragnarok heartthrob are the proud parents of five-year-old daughter India as well as twin sons Sasha & Tristan, 3.

With a tidy updo and red lips, Pataky showcased her taut 5ft3in figure in a black brocaded lacy cocktail dress and matching stilettos.

Original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter looked sharp in her androgynous black tuxedo over a turtleneck for the glitzy red carpet event.

She's a wonder! Original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter looked sharp in her androgynous black tuxedo over a turtleneck for the glitzy red carpet event

Carter Girls: The Supergirl actress easily defied her 66 years alongside her midriff-baring 27-year-old daughter Jessica (R, with second husband Robert A. Altman)

Singers: The mother-daughter duo will likely perform together March 17 during Lynda's cabaret act at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC

Three-piece blue suit: The Carters cozied up to 12 Strong's handsome Geoff Stults, who plays the Taliban-fighting soldier Sean Coffers

The Supergirl actress easily defied her 66 years alongside her midriff-baring 27-year-old daughter Jessica (with second husband Robert A. Altman).

The mother-daughter duo will likely perform together March 17 during Lynda's cabaret act at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC.

The Carters cozied up to 12 Strong's handsome Geoff Stults, who plays the Taliban-fighting soldier Sean Coffers.

Goateed Michael Shannon - who plays Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer - opted for a bold blue suit like Stults but with a grey-patterned button-down.

Goatee alert! Michael Shannon - who plays Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer - opted for a bold blue suit like Stults but with a grey-patterned button-down

Daddy-daughter date: Talk show host Harry Connick Jr. sported a navy suit sans tie alongside his LBD-clad 20-year-old daughter Sarah (with wife Jill Goodacre)

11 years strong! Michael Pena - who plays Sergeant First Class Sam Diller - attended the premiere in a grey-patterned suit with his towering wife, Brie Shaffer

Dapper dudes: Also celebrating 12 Strong on Tuesday were Rob Riggle (L) - who plays Colonel Max Bowers - and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (R)

Talk show host Harry Connick Jr. sported a navy suit sans tie alongside his LBD-clad 20-year-old daughter Sarah (with wife Jill Goodacre).

Michael Pena - who plays Sergeant First Class Sam Diller - attended the premiere in a grey-patterned suit with his towering wife of 11 years, Brie Shaffer.

Also celebrating 12 Strong on Tuesday were Rob Riggle - who plays Colonel Max Bowers - and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Nicolai Fuglsig's Afghanistan war drama about Taliban-fighting Task Force Dagger hits US theaters Friday and UK theaters January 26.

Based on Doug Stanton's 2010 book Horse Soldiers: Nicolai Fuglsig's Afghanistan war drama about Taliban-fighting Task Force Dagger hits US theaters Friday and UK theaters January 26

Next up: The Harvard drop-out next plugs the Water.org organization he co-founded in 2009 for a 30-second Stella Artois 'Taps' Super Bowl LII spot airing February 4

Tag team: Matt joined Water.org co-founder Gary White to talk about their 'Make Your Super Bowl Party Matter' campaign

Environmentally friendly: Americans can help end the global water crisis and make their Super Bowl party matter this year by choosing Stella Artois as their beer of choice for the big game

Giving back: Every purchase of a Stella Artois 12-pack helps Water.org provide 12 months of clean water to one person in the developing world

Helping out: Matt smiled as he heloed hand out glasses of Stella

Talking points: Matt and Gary handed each other the microphone to give speeches
Alicia Vikander put on a stylish show as she headed to lunch in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

The Swedish actress, 29, stepped out in skinny black jeans and a black sweater that had tiered sleeves.

The pretty star wore her brunette hair in braids and a bun and sported oversized sunglasses.

Casual: Alicia Vikander put on a stylish show as she headed to lunch in Beverly Hills on Tuesday wearing skinny black jeans and a black sweater that had tiered sleeves

Alicia opted for comfort when it came to her shoes, wearing a pair of tan flats.

She carried an eye-catching pale pink and silver clutch purse on a long black shoulder strap.

The Oscar winner, who is married to actor Michael Fassbender, was accompanied to the restaurant by a female companion.

Natural bueaty: The pretty Swedish actress, 29, wore her brunette hair in braids and a bun and sported oversized sunglasses

Out to lunch: Alicia opted for comfort when it came to her shoes, wearing a pair of tan flats. She carried an eye-catching pale pink and silver clutch purse on a long black shoulder strap

Keeping across things: The Danish Girl Oscar winner checked her phone for messages outside the eatery

Alicia is gearing up for the release in March of her Tomb Raider reboot.

She's also getting ready for a royal dinner date with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in her home country of Sweden,

Prince William and Catherine are due to visit Sweden and then Norway on their first official visit to the two Scandinavian countries, Kensington Palace announced Tuesday.

And on January 30, The Danish Girl star will be among the famous Swedes at a black tie dinner at the residence of the British ambassador in Stockholm.

Next big role: Alicia is gearing up for the release in March of her Tomb Raider reboot

Had company: The actress, who is married to actor Michael Fassbender, was accompanied to the restaurant by a female companion

Alicia wed German-Irish actor Michael, 40, in Ibiza in October.

They had been together for three years since falling in love while making the drama The Light Between Oceans in 2014.
She is set to walk down the aisle with her fiancee Maegan Luxa.

But Alex Nation's wedding budget may be a little trimmer after the reality star was slapped with a parking ticket on Tuesday.

Taking to Instagram Stories, the 26-year-old Bachelor star posted a photo of her car with the pesky ticket pinned onto her windshield.

That's coming off the wedding budget! The Bachelor's Alex Nation slapped with a $160 parking fine ahead of her nuptials with fiancee Maegan Luxa

Too slow: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia about the infringement, Alex confessed that she didn't return to her car within the allocated time frame

'Devastating scenes,' she captioned.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia about the infringement, Alex confessed that she didn't return to her car within the allocated time frame.

'I overstayed my welcome in that car park apparently,' she said.

And when asked if she would dispute the ticket, the blonde beauty said she'd be taking full responsibility for her actions and pay the fine which according to The City Of Melbourne, will be up to $159.

'No, I won't dispute it,' she added.

'It was my own fault so I'll cop it on the chin!'

No do': Alex's setback comes after she debuted her new shorter hairstyle, right, ahead of her nuptials with fiancee Maegan Luxa

Alex's setback comes after she debuted her new shorter hairstyle whilst sitting in the driver's seat of her vehicle last week.

'New hair, who dis?' she captioned the sultry selfie.

And showcasing a more natural side of herself, earlier on Wednesday, the reality-turned-radio star posted a makeup free photo of herself with her short locks slightly disheveled.

'My hair does what it wants now that it's short,' she wrote.
She enjoyed a well-earned break in Byron Bay on the New South Wales coast.

And in an Instagram post on Wednesday, Fiona Falkiner revealed she's back into the daily grind, having hit the gym hard.

A clip that saw the 34-year-old pulling down on resistance ropes in quick succession, was captioned in part: 'She's back! First time in the gym in 6 weeks!'

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Back to the grind! Fiona Falkiner hits the gym HARD after enjoying the holiday season in Byron Bay

The short video shared with Fiona's 76,000 followers, saw the model making use of a a state-of-the-art machine in a local gym.

Revealing her toned frame in a sleeveless blue tank top and black leggings, Fiona was seen pulling down on two resistance ropes furiously.

Her blonde locks swept into an effortless topknot and well and truly breaking out into a sweat, she captioned the post: 'She's back! First time in the gym in 6 weeks!'

Making reference to her own activewear line, the television presenter added: 'Getting back into my intervals! Feeling awesome head to toe in my #ActiveByFionaFalkiner.'

Breaking a sweat: Revealing her toned frame in a sleeveless blue tank top and black leggings, Fiona was seen pulling down on two resistance ropes furiously

Hardcore: Her blonde locks swept into an effortless topknot and well and truly breaking out into a sweat, the red carpet regular captioned the post: 'She's back! First time in the gym in 6 weeks!'

The intense workout comes after Fiona's luxurious getaway in Byron Bay, on the New South Wales coast during the holiday season.

Sure to document her trip with her online fans, the blonde beauty shared a series of sizzling snaps that saw her stripping down to skimpy bikinis.

One in particular saw Fiona highlighting her ample bust and slender waist in a skimpy black two-piece, after a morning swim.

She showed off her sensational physique as she stood underneath an outdoor shower.

Dripping wet! The intense workout comes after Fiona's luxurious getaway in Byron Bay on the New South Wales coast

Meanwhile, Fiona certainly has a lot to smile about, enjoying a romance with girlfriend Lara Creber.

The fitness enthusiast confirmed she was in her first same-sex relationship in October, after photos emerged of her kissing Lara.

Fiona told Cosmopolitan at the time: 'There's nothing 'scandalous' about it. Lara and I met on a trip to South America and I'm all about falling in a love with a person and yes, I've fallen in love with Lara.'

The Channel Ten personality said her relationship with Lara was the start of a new happier chapter.
She first shot to fame on the seventh season of Australia's Next Top Model.

And on Wednesday, the star shared a series of cute throwback photos from when she first received a contract with a modelling agency at the tender age of 15.

On Wednesday, the now 24-year-old shared a video of herself looking through her first portfolio and captioned it: 'Um wow 2009?'

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Guess who! She shot to fame on the seventh season of Australia's Next Top Model and later appeared in Playboy... but do YOU recognise this woman from her first modelling portfolio?

The opening page showed a monochrome shot of the blonde beauty, who wore her hair up in a ballerina bun and, posing side on, displayed her shoulder blades in a scoop back top.

In another picture the Guess model wears a skimpy corset and strikes a pose while sitting on a bar stool.

'Going through some things with my mum, and I just found my first portfolio from nine years ago. Oh My God, how embarrassing,' she said.

'Going through some things with my mum, and I just found my first portfolio from nine years ago. Oh My God, how embarrassing,' she said as she flicked through the photographs

It's Simone! In another video Simone looked through a box of things from her childhood, at one point she branded her her mum a 'sicko' as she discovered she had held onto Simone's baby teeth

And the person in the photos are of course Simone Holtznagel.

In another video she looked through an old box of items from her childhood and at one point brandished her mother a 'sicko' and a 'freak' as she discovered she had held onto Simone's baby teeth.

Simone may have been taking a trip down memory lane but her future looks bright.

Working hard: Speaking to news.com.au last year, Simone revealed her goal is to work with the prestigious Victoria's Secret brand, however, it's pasta which is holding her back

Now based in the US, last year Simone revealed that her ultimate goal is to work with one of the world;'s most famous lingerie brands.

'I would love to work with Victoria's Secret, it's very competitive,' she said.

'I don't think I am there yet, body wise, because those girls are like athletes.'

'I know a couple of girls who have done it and they train like all day everyday and I really like a glass of wine and spaghetti. I would need to set aside a good five months of my life and lock myself in a gym if that's what I was going to do'.
They have been enjoying an extended holiday in Australia over the Christmas break, spending time in sunny Byron Bay.

And Miley Cyrus and her beau Liam Hemsworth showed off their summer bodies during an outing in the NSW coastal town recently.

The sighting came at the height of their marriage rumours, after a magazine claimed that the couple 'secretly tied the knot' in a ceremony held in the popular hippie enclave.

Byron babes! Miley Cyrus flaunts her slender figure in a bikini and tiny denim shorts as she continues Australian getaway with beau Liam Hemsworth... as his brother Chris breaks silence on their 'secret wedding'

On Tuesday, Liam's big brother Chris broke his silence on the reported nuptials, insisting his younger sibling and the popstar had not 'officially married.'

Cutting a stunning figure, Miley, 25, wore a skimpy white bikini top during the couple's recent Byron Bay outing.

The songstress' belly button piercing peaked above her tiny denim shorts as she stepped out of the car the pair arrived in.

Hot, hot, hot: Cutting a stunning figure, Miley, 25, wore a skimpy white bikini top during the couple's recent Byron Bay outing

Daisy Dukes: The songstress teamed her swimwear with tiny denim shorts as she stepped out of the car the pair arrived in

Looking good! Passers-by were treated to a leggy display as the beauty waited for Liam to unpack their blue SUV

Pretty in pink: The star player in her effortless outfit was a bright pink kimono with floral prints,

Passers-by were treated to a leggy display as the beauty waited for Liam to unpack their blue SUV.

The star player in her effortless outfit was a bright pink kimono with floral prints, and she finished off the ensemble with a cap and slides.

In board shorts and a T-shirt, Liam, 28, could have easily blended-in with the locals.

Flowing florals: The star player in her effortless outfit was a bright pink kimono with floral prints, and she finished off the ensemble with a cap and slides

Blending in: In board shorts and a T-shirt, Liam, 28, could have easily blended-in with the locals

Just a sec darl! He was seen grabbing some belongings from the boot of his car

He was seen grabbing some belongings from the boot of his car, which also appeared to still contain one of their luggage bags.

On Wednesday, Liam's brother Chris spoke out after reports his brother and Miley 'secretly tied the knot' in the New South Wales coastal town, earlier this year.

Luggage lover: The car appeared to still contain one of the Hollywood-based couple's luggage bags

When asked about the recent reports during an interview with Sirius XM radio in New York, he said 'no' but proceeded to giggle awkwardly.

'They're not officially married,' he insisted, creating further intrigue with his very specific choice of words.

However, Chris did not deny a wedding ceremony of sorts did in fact take place between Miley in Liam in Byron Bay this year.

Lock it or lose it! It was just a few short seconds before he joined Miley

His comments come after NW magazine claimed that Miley and Liam had married in a secret ceremony in Australia after they were spotted wearing bands on their ring fingers.

According to the publication, an insider reportedly said of the alleged nuptials: 'It's such a special place for them (in Byron Bay). It felt right.'

The A-list couple called off their first engagement in 2013, but rekindled their romance in January 2016 while ringing in the New Year in the seaside town.
She just welcomed a new baby girl via surrogate.

And Kim Kardashian could not help but share her excitement as she posted a flashback snap of herself flaunting her slim waist with the caption '#momofthree'.

The 37-year-old and her husband Kanye West welcomed their third child on Tuesday.

Grateful: Kim Kardashian just welcomed a new baby girl via surrogate on Tuesday and shared a flashback snap of herself with the hashtag #momofthree

While her own mother Kris Jenner sent a pink cake which Kim documented on her Instagram stories with a caption, 'Thank You Mom'.

Their surrogate gave birth to a 'healthy' baby girl at 12:47am on January 15 weighing 7lb 6oz. They have not yet revealed the name of their daughter.

The 37-year-old announced the news in a message on her website titled, 'She's here! We're so in love.'

While her own mother Kris Jenner sent a pink cake which Kim documented on her Instagram stories with a caption, 'Thank You Mom'

Baby number three: Kim and Kanye West, pictured here over the weekend, have welcomed a girl

Message to fans: Kim shared the news on her website

She wrote: 'Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl.

'We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care. North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister. Love, Kim Kardashian West.'

On Tuesday Kanye was seen in Los Angeles looking like a proud father as he entered a building. The Paranoid rapper held onto a laptop and his cell phone as he wore a dark brown sweat outfit.

Kim and Kanye were both in the delivery room with the surrogate, although the rapper was behind a curtain until after the baby was born, according to TMZ.

Proud daddy: Kanye was spotted out in LA on Tuesday following the arrival of his third child

His look: The Paranoid rapper held onto a laptop and his cell phone as he wore a dark brown sweat outfit

Getting a push present for Kim? He was seen getting out of a silver sedan as he was seen in a parking lot as well

Kim was the first person to hold the baby girl for skin-to-skin bonding, but the surrogate was allowed some contact with the child after the birth.

Her sisters Kourtney, Khloe and mother Kris were also at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A., where the family's doctor Dr. Paul Crane oversaw the delivery.

Kanye was spotted in LA on Tuesday in high spirits while out solo.

Their decision to go through a surrogate for their third child came after Kim suffered complications with her two pregnancies, experiencing early-onset preeclampsia with North, two, and further troubles during labor with Saint, two.

'Incredibly grateful': The couple thanked their surrogate - pictured here in San Diego in October - for making their 'dreams come true'

Kim previously admitted that she's found the surrogacy experience to be very stressful.

She shared: 'Anyone that says or thinks it is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control.

'And, you know, obviously you pick someone that you completely trust and that you have a good bond and relationship with, but ... knowing that I was able to carry my first two babies and not my baby now, it's hard for me.

'So, it's definitely a harder experience than I anticipated just in the control area.'

She also admitted she had trouble explaining the process to her children.

She chose not to invite the surrogate to her lavish baby shower in November to avoid confusing her little ones.

Kim said at the time: 'I, um, I did not [invite the surrogate]. I did introduce her to my family. I introduced her to my family earlier that day. And, you know, I just thought, I don't know, it was like a weird decision to have to make.

'Of course, I would've wanted her to be there and be a part of it, but I hadn't really gone that far in explaining it to my kids yet.

Emoji love: Kim's sister Khloe reacted to the news on Twitter with a series of hearts

'Thrilled': Kim said her children Saint and North are delighted to have a little sister

'So I have to figure that out first before they really see and then if we're celebrating, you know, her, I just want to celebrate the baby. I think I have to explain it to my kids first and figure out how I'm going to explain it to them.'

Kim and Kanye started dating in 2012 shortly after the end of her 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries. They wed in 2014 in a lavish ceremony in Italy.

Their relationship hit a rough patch after they both endured a traumatic end to 2016, with Kim being robbed at gunpoint in Paris, France, in October, and the Famous rapper being hospitalized after suffering a breakdown just one month later.
She has one of the most distinct voices in pop music.

But Christina Aguilera let her lips do all the talking on her latest red carpet.

The 37-year-old showed off a plump pucker while arriving a the Stella McCartney presentation in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

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Genie In A Bottle: Christina Aguilera showed off a plump pucker while arriving a the Stella McCartney presentation in Los Angeles on Tuesday night

No doubt she brought her fashion A-game as she rocked all black for the star-studded occasion.

She wore a robe dress featuring a large tie-up bow along with leather knee-high boots.

The What A Girl Wants hitmaker accessorized with a black leather cap along with matching designer shades and a gold necklace.

Stunning: The 37-year-old singer wore a robe dress featuring a large tie-up bow along with leather knee-high boots

Dynamic duo: She was joined on the outing by fiance Matthew Rutler who looked dapper in a grey suit

Her platinum blonde locks were worn down under the fashionable headwear as she accentuated her lips with a swipe of pink lipstick.

She was joined on the outing by fiance Matthew Rutler who looked dapper in a grey suit.

Loved up: She posted this snap with her man on Instagram

In a snap: She also shared this photo from the event with photographer Luke Gilford

The fashion gala was quite the event as several stars were in attendance including Olivia Munn, Paris Jackson, and Emma Roberts.

Olivia, 37, looked in fine form as she flaunted her toned abs in a white bralette along with flowy white trousers.

She completed the look with a white jacket with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and a pair of matching strappy stilettos.

Wonder in white: Olivia Munn looked in fine form as she flaunted her toned abs in a white bralette along with flowy white trousers

Beautiful in blue: Paris Jackson, 19, looked fashionable as always in a knit blue and red mini dress along with black leather slip-on boots

Paris, 19, looked fashionable as always in a knit blue and red mini dress along with black leather slip-on boots.

Her ombre locks were worn down flowing over her shoulder as she wore striking evening make-up including smokey eye and plenty of highlighter.

No doubt a good time was had by all as they attended the event thrown by the British fashion designer.

Pretty in purple: Emma Roberts looked gorgeous in a purple number

The 46-year-old entrepreneur is the daughter of former Beatles member Paul McCartney and American photographer Linda McCartney.

Stella launched the line under her name in 2001 as it was a joint venture with the Gucci Group, which is now known a Kering.

The label has grown exponentially with 17 flagship stores across the globe and has even spun off from women's wear to kid's and men's wear.
After seven years of marital bliss Chris Hemsworth, 34, and wife Elsa Pataky, 41, proved their romance is as strong as ever at the premiere of their first film together 12 Strong, in New York on Tuesday.

The Australian actor was ever the gentleman by opening the door and helping his Spanish sweetheart out of the car as they arrived at the event.

The mother-of-three gripped onto her husband's bulging bicep as she carefully shimmied out of the vehicle and on to the uneven road.

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What a gentleman! Chris Hemsworth helps his wife Elsa Pataky out of a car as she emerges in a revealing dress at the premiere for their film 12 Strong in New York on Tuesday evening

She looked incredible in a black cut-out frock that hugged her trim and taut body, and accentuated her cleavage.

Chris even lent the blonde beauty his blazer jacket to cover up against the city's winter chill.

What a dress! Elsa looked elegant in the black cut-out frock that hugged her trim and taut body, and accentuated her cleavage

Chivalrous: The mother-of-three gripped onto her husband's bulging bicep as she carefully shimmied out of the vehicle and on to the uneven road. Chris even lent the blonde beauty his blazer jacket to cover up against the city's winter chill

On the red carpet, onlookers were left a little hot-under-the-collar when she strutted her stuff at the premiere.

She proved that age is just a number as she showcased her supremely toned figure in a floor-length gown.

Protecting the star's modesty was a barely-there nude slip that only sat on the top part of her gown.

Hot mama! Elsa left photographers a little hot-under-the-collar while attending the premiere of her and husband's new film '12 Strong' in New York

Peek-a-boo: Protecting the star's modesty was a barely-there nude slip that only sat on the top part of her gown

The mother-of-three completed her look with a darling slick of red-lipstick and kept her blonde locks off her face in a tight ponytail.

Her best accessory came in the form of her husband, Chris, who kept a protective arm around his wife as the pair walked the red-carpet.

The 34-year-old handsome Thor star wore a simple navy blue suit without a tie.

Stand by your man: Elsa's best accessory came in the form of husband, Chris, who kept a protective e arm around his wife as the pair walked the red-carpet

Red hot: The mother-of-three completed her look with a darling slick of red-lipstick and kept her blond locks off her face in a tight ponytail

Later that night Elsa donned a classic long black coat as she braved the chilly weather.

In the movie the pair play husband and wife and have spoken about the hope that their real-life chemistry will translate on-screen.

12 Strong tells the story of the first Special Forces team that's deployed to Afghanistan following the events of 9/11.

Bundle up! Later that night Elsa donned a classic long black coat as she braved the chilly weather

In the film, Chris plays the role of Captain Mitch Nelson, who has the task of leading his team of 12 soldiers to take down the Taliban.

Elsa plays the part of the captain's dutiful wife, who looks after their daughter while he is at war.

Chris and Elsa married in 2010, later welcoming three children, daughter India Rose, five, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, three.

Reel life chemistry: In 12 Strong the pair play husband and wife and have spoken about the hope that their real-life chemistry will translate on-screen
She just had to hand over nearly half a million dollars to her ex husband in a divorce settlement in addition to property and a portion of future earnings.

But the hefty financial loss seemed far from Morena Baccarin's mind as she attended Producer's Guild event at the New York Players Club on Tuesday evening.

The 38-year-old looked gorgeous as she smiled for the photographers at the event.

Not keeping her down! Morena Baccarin looked gorgeous in black gown at New York Players Club on Tuesday...after forking over $400k to ex-husband in divorce settlement

Morena, who plays Ryan Reynolds' love interest in the Deadpool film series, wore a black dress with a sheer panel over her chest.

Completing the beauty's attire was a blazer with cut out arms as she dabbed her lips with a dark rouge.

Morena and ex-husband Austin Chick have divided up their property following their divorce.

Simply stunning: Morena, who plays Ryan Reynolds' love interest in the Deadpool film series, wore a black dress with a sheer panel over her chest

The Gotham star kept their homes in Brazil and Los Angeles, but handed over their home in New York, according toTMZ.

The former couple recently settled on a custody agreement over their four-year-old son Julius, after Chick agreed to move to NY where Baccarin and her new husband and co-star Ben McKenzie live.

The 38-year-old actress agreed to split her future residuals, which include Gotham, Homeland and Deadpool, with him, as well as handing over a once-off check for $406,000.

She got to keep their 2001 Lexus, the site reported.

According to the court documents, Morena currently makes more than $90k a month, compared to Austin's $1,375 a month.

The agreement also stipulates neither can bad mouth the other in front of their child, while they will split custody.

In their custody settlement, Baccarin had already agreed to pay an extra year of $5,000 a month spousal support, in addition to the $3,500 she pays in child support.

Initially Chick had demanded their son remain in Los Angeles, where he and Baccarin lived during their failed marriage.

Moved on: The former couple recently settled on a custody agreement over their four-year-old son Julius, after Chick agreed to move to NY where Baccarin and her new husband and co-star Ben McKenzie live

Baccarin married Chick in November 2011 and gave birth to their only child in October 2013.

He filed for divorce in July 2015, around the time she fell pregnant with Gotham co-star McKenzie's daughter, the now one-year-old Frances.

Baccarin wed McKenzie in the summer of 2016.

Brazilian-born, Baccarin was raised in New York where she attended the famed LaGuardia High School, before the Juilliard-grad relocated to Los Angeles in 2001.

Agreement: Baccarin married Austin Chick in November 2011 and gave birth to their only child in October 2013; the two are pictured in 2014

The actress has worked steadily since being cast in a recurring role in Josh Whedon's TV series Firefly in the early 2000s and has had recurring roles in TV series Stargate SG-1, Heartland and The Good Wife.

But it was her role as Jessica Brody, the wife of Marine and POW Nicholas Brody (Lewis), in Showtime's Homeland that brought her to prominence.

The part earned her an Emmy nomination and led to her being cast in the TV series Gotham and in the movie Deadpool opposite Ryan Reynolds.
Kate Ritchie shot to fame on Home and Away when she was just a child.

And to celebrate the Australian soap's 30th anniversary, the 39-year-old took to Instagram to share a number of throwback snaps from its set.

'The day the British press came all the way to Summer Bay to see what all the fuss was about... 1998,' she captioned one image.

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Flashback! Kate Ritchie took to social media to share some throwback photos from the set of Home and Away to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary

In another photo, which showed her posing next to Isla Fischer and Tempany Deckert, the star wrote: 'The best days.'

Earlier in the day, Kate posted an image of herself with the late Heath Ledger.

The photo saw the actress-turned-radio host as a Summer Bay High teenager while bad-boy Scott Irwin placed his hands over her shoulder.

In another photo, which showed her posing next to Isla Fischer and Tempany Deckert, the star wrote: 'The best days'

'The rehearsal room. Eastwood Masonic Hall and my favourite face from #danielamalm,' wrote the 39-year-old

'Thank you @aacta. Launched, maintained and fed many careers on and off screen,' she wrote.

'Happy 30th Birthday @homeandaway and thank you!'

Kate's fans seemed to also appreciate the tribute post with one writing; 'it was only the beginning of a long running career for heath, miss him so much.'

All grown up! The actress-turned-radio host shared a single shot of herself as a little girl

It wasn't the first time Kate thanked the show who also launched the careers of Chris Hemsworth, Isla Fischer, Tammin Sursok and Melissa George.

Seemingly nostalgic of her time on the show, earlier in the day Kate posted another throwback photo from her first day on set.

'First official day of shooting on a show no one had yet heard of...1987...Balmain backstreets,' she captioned.
The Australian actress was spotted passionately embracing a new toyboy last week, just three months after announcing her split from NFL husband Kerry Rhodes.

And on Wednesday, Nicky Whelan looked as glamorous as ever as she happily treated herself to an indulgent sweet.

The former Neighbours star, 36, posed for a stunning boomerang as she delicately chewed for the camera, writing: 'I'm serious about my chocolate.'

Treating herself! Nicky Whelan indulges in chocolate after steamy beach shots reveal relationship with toyboy American actor Kelly Blatz... just THREE months after split with ex-husband Kerry Rhodes

Her makeup appeared flawlessly applied, while her blonde locks were slicked back with her fringe stylishly framing her face.

The guilty pleasure follows Nicky's break-up from ex-husband Kerry, who she was only married to for six months.

Last week, she publicly paraded a new romance with American actor Kelly Blatz, 30, on a Gold Coast beach.

Moving on? The Australian actress was spotted passionately embracing and kissing new toyboy and American actor Kelly Blatz (pictured) last week on the Gold Coast

The pair, who share the same US management, couldn't keep their hands off each other during the outing.

Passionately kissing, wrestling on the sand and sharing laughter with friends, the new couple appeared smitten with one another.

Daily Mail Australia have reached out to the pair's management for comment.

Beach babe! Nicky stunned in a floral bikini during the outing, which was also shared with two female friends

Nicky's new relationship comes after she revealed to the Daily Telegraph in late October last year that she had split from her NRL husband.

'I can confirm that I have left him,' she told the publication.

The shock split came after the pair had tied the knot in a luxurious Beverly Hills Hotel ceremony in mid April 2017.
Back when he was known primarily for his role on Home And Away, Chris Hemsworth made a foray into the world of reality TV.

Appearing on Dancing With The Stars in 2006 with dancer Abbey Ross as his partner, Chris tried his best to bust some moves as the nation watched.

And more than a decade on, Abbey divulged to Mamamia that her short-lived stint on the arm of the Thor star is a topic that resurfaces in her world regularly.

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'His name is mentioned to me daily': Chris Hemsworth's (right) Dancing With The Stars partner Abbey Ross (left) reveals she's STILL quizzed about the heartthrob a DECADE after competing on the show

'Id have thought by now it would be old news. Its been over 10 years!' she mused in the piece published on Wednesday.

'But Hemsys career, profile and public adoration continues to grow. Im constantly tagged in social media posts of him, usually shirtless.'

The brunette explained that she is often quizzed about the Ghostbusters actor, particularly when friends or acquaintance come across snaps of Chris on the show with Abbey by his side.

'Im not exaggerating when I say his name is mentioned to me daily,' Abbey spilled.

'Id have thought by now it would be old news. Its been over 10 years!' Abbey mused that their stint on the reality show was over a long time ago

Not friends with Thor: Abbey admitted she hadn't kept in touch with the A-Lister

However, Abbey added that while they may have come sixth on DWTS while working together, she sadly hasn't kept in touch with the A-list hunk.

The blogger said that she regularly has to answer questions from those intrigued by her brush with the buff Australian star.

Abbey described having to always mention that she hasn't been to his Byron Bay mansion or met Miley Cyrus and being forced critique his dancing skills (she insists they aren't great).

A different time! Back in 2006, Chris was best known for his role in Home And Away

In 2011, Chris was left red-faced during an interview on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno when his stint on the show was revealed.

Jay Leno surprised him by airing footage in which Chris could be seen wiggling and gyrating his way around the dancefloor, while wearing a fetching blue shirt and tight black trousers.

At the time, Chris reflected about his lack of dancing skills, stating: 'I wasn't much of a dancer. You know, down at the pubs with your mates and a few beers having a dance is a little different than the ballroom. It doesn't really translate.'
Production on Mission: Impossible 6 was ground to a halt last summer when he broke his ankle performing his own stunts.

Yet Tom Cruise didn't let his old injury stop him from throwing himself into action as he resumed filming the action flick in London on Sunday.

Strapped into a body harness, the 55-year-old Hollywood hunk was seen gearing himself up to jump out of a window in Blackfriars - but fell at the first hurdle.

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Cruising: Tom Cruise didn't let his old injury stop him from throwing himself into action as he resumed filming the action flick in London on Sunday

The father-of-three was seen attempting to jump out of a window, but instead tripped on the run-up, seemingly stubbing his toe against the wall.

Dressed in his typical Ethan Hunt garb of black jeans and a dark top and jacket, the hunky star was seen being checked over by staff.

Despite the stubbed toe, Tom seemed to have fully recovered from his earlier accident, which halted the movie's production for seven weeks, in order to allow time for his ankle to heal.

Famous for performing his own stunts, he seemed chomping at the bit to get on with it, larking around with the crew as they harnessed him in for the scene.

Back on it: Production on Mission: Impossible 6 was ground to a halt last summer when he broke his ankle performing his own stunts, but Tom was moving on from the injury

Tom's stunt involved him being strapped into a body harness, with a rope attached to it, creating a bouyancy for the jump, as well as a safety measure.

In contrast to the sequence they shot in the summer, Tom simply had to leap from the window onto the surface below; while previously he had jumped across a gap, from one surface to another, ultimately tripping up and smashing his foot into the building's brickwork.

In August, Tom hurt himself as he shot a sequence in which he jumped off the top of a building and careened into a neighboring wall at an awkward angle, causing the injury.

Jumping out: Strapped into a body harness, the 55-year-old Hollywood hunk was seen throwing himself out of a window as he was suspended out of a building in Blackfriars

Ouch: The father-of-three was seen attempting to jump out of a window, but instead tripped on the run-up, seemingly stubbing his toe against the wall

Taking the leap: Tom hurtled out of the window at speed but was supported by the harness

M:I6 director Christopher McQuarrie told Empire about the incident and detailed to the film magazine how the leading man suffered the injury after three previous jumps for the stunt.

'On the fourth try, he hit the building at a slightly different angle and he broke his ankle,' the filmmaker said. 'He knew the instant that he hit the building that his ankle was broken. You can see it on his face... he knew in that instant: "Well, we're not coming back here. We're not doing this again today".'

Paramount, the studio making the film, issued a statement in the wake of the injury indicating that 'production will go on hiatus while Tom makes a full recovery'.

The film's production was put behind after the injury happened at the end of the summer. But the star seemed eager to get back into the swing of the physical scenes on Sunday.

Undeterred: Looking to have fully recovered from the accident, which halted the movie's production for seven weeks, the star performed stunts similar to the one that injured him

Leaping: Famous for performing his own stunts, he seemed chomping at the bit to get on with it, larking around with the crew as they harnessed him in for the scene

TMZ reported back in August that Tom failed a building stunt jump at least twice and came up short while trying to clear a building's ledge with one hop 'The hit against the side of the building sounds crushing,' the article said.

Tom was seen leaping through the air for the sequence, as the chopper took off above him, his steeling action star glint in his eyes.

The scenes were being shot near the Thames, with Tom running across an industrial-looking building. Tom was spotted on the Essex set of Mission: Impossible 6 in October, for the first time since his injury.

Jumping out: Dressed in his typical Ethan Hunt garb of black jeans and a dark top and jacket, the hunky star was seen leaping from an office window

Ouch: Tom was seen staring at his foot and shaking his head after seemingly stubbing his toe

Paramount Pictures announced in August that Tom had been involved in a serious injury while filming Mission: Impossible 6 - breaking his ankle.

The Hollywood Reporter claimed at the time that it would take eight to nine weeks for him to heal but it took only seven. At the time of injury Paramount insisted that the release date of the film, July 27, 2018, will not change - and it looks to still be on track to meet this deadline.

Paramount's full statement read: 'During production on the latest Mission: Impossible film, Tom Cruise broke his ankle while performing a stunt.

'Production will go on hiatus while Tom makes a full recovery, and the film remains on schedule to open July 27, 2018. Tom wants to thank you all for your concern and support and cant wait to share the film with everyone next summer.'

Checking it over: Ensuring safety came first, Tom was eager to asses the risk involved

Stepping back: Tom was seen chatting with the staff as they looked at his injured foot

Known for his adrenaline fueled set-pieces, the star has been snapped in Paris as well as London for the upcoming flick.

While most of the details of the plot of the latest film have been kept tightly under wraps, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison revealed that Tom will be performing the biggest stunt sequence of his career in the film.

Over the years, he has taken part in many dramatic scenes, including submerging himself in water for six minutes to film an underwater scene of him breaking into a vault for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, being flung around an airplane cabin in zero-gravity for The Mummy and many high-speed car chases.

Falling: Tom was suspended in the air as he made a run towards the building window

In one scene for 2004 flick Collateral, Jamie Foxx had to drive his car into one driven by Cruise, but misjudging the speed, Tom was sent flying into the air as his car was flung off set.

Despite suffering a slew of minor injuries - such as hurting his ankle in a scene where fish tanks exploded for the first Mission Impossible movie back in 1996 - and facing a number of near-death moments while carrying out stunts, it hasn't put Tom off doing them himself.

Prior to MI:6 came Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible  Ghost Protocol (2011) and Mission: Impossible  Rogue Nation (2015).
She is the eldest daughter of two of Hollywood's biggest stars.

And Ava Phillippe cut a stylish figure as she arrived to the Stella McCartney presentation in Los Angeles on Tuesday, looking the spitting image of her Oscar-winner mother Reese Witherspoon.

The 18-year-old beauty - who counts actor Ryan Phillippe as her father - showcased her signature style in a striking fuchsia pink bardot blouse with statement peplum-detailed sleeves.

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Pretty in pink: Ava Phillippe cut a stylish figure as she arrived to the Stella McCartney presentation in Los Angeles on Tuesday

Her sweetheart-neckline garment cascaded into a loose-fitting ruffle which drew attention to her chic light wash denims.

Ava's choice of jeans oozed seventies vibes with their statement front pockets while she delivered a modern twist by rolling up the hem to display her patent black stilettos.

Appearing to paid tribute to her mother's Legally Blonde character Elle Woods, she continued her pink theme while carrying a glittering pink Stella McCartney handbag in her manicured hand.

Like mother, like daughter: The 18-year-old looked the spitting image of her Oscar-winner mother Reese Witherspoon (R) (Pictured at the MET Gala in 2014)

Style savvy: Her sweetheart-necklined garment cascaded into a loose-fitting ruffle which highlighted her lightwash denims

Fashion inspiration: She appeared to take style inspiration from her mother's much-loved 2001 flick Legally Blonde in her hot pink look

The teenager worked her blonde locks into voluminous style which fell into a loose wave down her shoulder which complemented her soft pink lip and smokey eye.

Ava happily posed for photos at the star-studded event and caught up with fellow celebrity offspring Paris Jackson, 19, and actress Chloe Bennet, 25.

Noticeably absent from the festivities was her mother Reese - who recently won big at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for her series Big Little Lies.

Reese welcomed her eldest daughter Ava with ex husband Ryan - who she co-starred in film classic Cruel Intentions.

Doppleganger: Looking every inch her mother's doppleganger, Ava was joined by fellow celebrity offspring Paris Jackson and actress Chloe Bennet (Pictured L-R)

In the past: Her parents Ryan and Reese - who co-starred in the camp classic film Cruel Intentions - were married from 1999 to 2007 and also share 14-year-old son Deacon (Pictured in 2001)

The pair were married from 1999 to 2007 and also share 14-year-old son Deacon together.

Since 2011, Reese has been married to her talent agent second husband Jim Toth, by whom she has a five-year-old son called Tennessee.

Late last year, Reese and Jim attended the Bal des debutantes to support Ava when she was introduced into high society over Thanksgiving weekend at the iconic Peninsula Hotel in Paris, France.

In previous years, le Bal has according to its website introduced a stunning variety of debutantes ranging from Princess Fawzia-Latifa, daughter of the deposed last King Of Egypt, to Scout and Tallulah Willis, daughters of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
Iconic Australian soap Home and Away is marking its 30th anniversary this week.

And with the show long been well-regarded as a training ground for the country's most talented actors, it's not surprising the Channel Seven series has launched the careers of many Aussie superstars.

From the late Heath Ledger to acclaimed actress Naomi Watts and buff Thor hunk Chris Hemsworth, Daily Mail Australia reflects on the celebrities who soared to great heights after appearing on Home and Away.

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Chris Hemsworth

From Summer Bay to LA! Chris Hemsworth (pictured) is just one of many Hollywood superstars whose careers were kick-started on Home and Away

He's now one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, but Thor star Chris Hemsworth had humble beginnings.

Playing Summer Bay High student Kim Hyde from 2004 to 2007, Chris went through it all - father-son disputes, plane crashes, love triangles and paternity scandals.

Since making the move to the States, the 34-year-old has nabbed a number of high-profile roles including in The Avengers franchise, Star Trek and Snow White and the Huntsmen.

Isla Fisher

Making her mark: Isla Fisher played Shannon Reed from 1994 to 1997 before moving on to bigger things in Hollywood such as Wedding Crashers, Scooby-Doo, Bachelorette and Now You See Me

Red-haired bombshell Isla Fisher shot to fame in her native Australia as Summer Bay stunner, Shannon Reed.

After playing the character from 1994 to 1997, Isla left the soap for bigger things overseas and had memorable roles in films such as Wedding Crashers, Scooby-Doo, Bachelorette and Now You See Me.

She was also successful on the personal front, tying the knot with UK comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in 2010.

Heath Ledger

So young! Before his tragic death in 2008, at just 28 years old, Heath Ledger was one of Hollywood's leading men but got his start on the soap portraying rebel Scott Irwin

Before his tragic death in 2008, at just 28 years old, Heath Ledger was one of Hollywood's leading men.

After his stint on Home and Away, where he played rebel Scott Irwin, Heath went on to star as The Joker in The Dark Knight, a film released after his death, and have lead roles in 10 Things I Hate About You, Brokeback Mountain and Casanova.

Melissa George

Stellar career: Though she's tried hard to put distance between herself and her 90s stint on Home And Away, Melissa George will always be known to some fans as the feisty Angel Parrish

Though she's tried hard to put distance between herself and her 90s stint on Home And Away, Melissa George will always be known to some fans as the feisty Angel Parrish.

Since calling it quits in 1996, Melissa has cultivated quite the impressive resume, with roles on Grey's Anatomy, The Slap, Hunted and Friends among the jobs on her CV.

Dannii Minogue

Changing it up! After playing Emma Jackson on Home and Away, Dannii Minogue set her sights on a music career and was a judge on both the UK and Australian versions of The X Factor

From 1989 to 1990, a young Dannii Minogue could be seen on screens as rebellious teenager Emma Jackson before she set her sights on a music career.

Dannii now has string of hit records under her belt thanks to an illustrious music career and has been a judge on both the UK and Australian versions of The X Factor.

Naomi Watts

Not looking back! Acclaimed actress Naomi Watts has gone from strength to strength in her Hollywood career after appearing on Home And Away in 1991 for 19 episodes

Acclaimed actress Naomi Watts has gone from strength to strength in her Hollywood career after appearing on Home And Away in 1991 for 19 episodes.

She been nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes and AACTA Awards and starred in films such as Mulholland Drive and Diana as well as TV series like the Twin Peaks reboot.

Simon Baker

Hasn't aged a day! Photography teacher James Hudson (played by blond babe Simon Baker) was breaking hearts all over Summer Bay in 1993, while his portrayer is better known these days for roles in The Mentalist, The Guardian and The Devil Wears Prada

Photography teacher James Hudson (played by blond babe Simon Baker) was breaking hearts all over Summer Bay in 1993.

After jetting off to America, Simon's profile has reached lofty new heights, with the actor making a name for himself in The Mentalist, The Guardian and The Devil Wears Prada.

Isabel Lucas

Taking the leap: Blonde bombshell Isabel Lucas debuted on Home And Away as Tasha Andrews in 2003 and later starred in 2009 offering Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Blonde bombshell Isabel Lucas debuted on Home And Away as Tasha Andrews in 2003 and stayed for three years.

The passionate wildlife warrior since made headlines for her animal rights protests and has starred in big budget blockbusters such as 2009 offering Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Tammin Sursok

Impressive career: Tammin played Dani Sutherland and later found success on The Young and the Restless and Pretty Little Liars

Tammin Sursok was beloved as the Sutherland's eldest daughter Dani, but the soap star packed it all in to try her luck in Tinseltown.

It was a risk that ultimately paid off, with the stunner finding gigs on iconic US soap The Young and the Restless and teen hit Pretty Little Liars.

Julian McMahon

Early days: Julian McMahon headed up the Home and Away cast as Ben Lucini from 1989 to 1991

Heading up the Home and Away cast as Ben Lucini from 1989 to 1991, Julian McMahon was part of the series' early days.

When he took to Hollywood route, he was able to find success with roles on Charmed, Nip/Tuck, the Fantastic Four franchise as well as starring alongside Sandra Bullock in Premonition.
He was beloved by fans as the hilarious Alfie Moon, forming an unforgettable partnership with wife Kat, and even generating a spin-off after leaving Albert Square to head to Ireland.

But EastEnders' Shane Richie has disappointed fans by revealing he has no plans to return to the BBC soap, as his on-screen wife Jessie Wallace prepares to reprise her role.

The actor, 53, told Radio City that he plans to 'take a break from television', but admitted it has nothing to do with money.

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Not coming back: EastEnders' Shane Richie has revealed he will not be returning to the soap, saying he needs to 'take a break' from showbusiness

He said: 'I'm in a fortunate position where I can pick and choose what I want to do and EastEnders at the moment I said no to it.

'I just need to take a break from television and a little break away from showbiz.

'Trust me, it's not because I've got loads of money because that is far from the truth. But I just need to pick and choose.'

Shane was last seen on screen as Alfie in the Irish-based spin-off Redwater, which saw the Moons leave Walford so Kat could track down some elements of her past.

Leading man: The actor, 54, said he has no plans to return to Eastenders at the moment, admitting he just needed to 'pick and choose'

Back on screen: Kat and Alfie Moon were last seen on screen together in the Irish spin-off Redwater, which ended on a jaw-dropping cliffhanger

The drama ended on a heart-stopping cliffhanger, as Alfie flat-lined on the operating table and Kat almost drowned.

An EastEnders insider said: 'Alfie's still a much-loved character on the Square and bosses will always keep the door open.

'Producers know that the filming schedules can be exhausting and they'll always be willing to wait until he's ready.'

Shane's announcement came as his on-screen wife Jessie revealed she would be returning to the soap, tweeting a snap of her Kat necklace with the caption: 'I'm home.'

Leading lady: Jessie is set to reprise her role as popular Kat in the BBC One soap this year

Fans will have to wait and see why she has decided to return to Albert Square, though it appears the character is now single if she has left Ireland without her husband.

A show source told The Mirror: 'Kat Slater was a huge and popular character in EastEnders and John was in charge when the Slaters first came into the soap.

'Her marriage to Alfie Moon was one of the biggest relationships in the soap.

'Now John [Yorke] is back in charge again he has managed to persuade Jessie to come back to with a host of new storylines.

'He knows millions will be excited to see what he has in store for the character.'

Back on screen: Jessie tweeted a snap of her Kat necklace, confirming she was returning to EastEnders
They are known for keeping their relationship notoriously private.

But enjoying a rare date night together, Benedict Cumberbatch, 41, and Sophie Hunter, 39, stepped out together to attend the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Gala evening held in Switzerland on Monday night.

The married couple looked picture perfect on their arrival, as Sherlock actor Benedict cut a dapper figure in a three-piece suit, while his wife Sophie stunned in a floor-length gown.

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Picture perfect: Benedict Cumberbatch, 41, and Sophie Hunter, 39, stepped out together to attend the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Gala evening held in Switzerland on Tuesday night

All eyes were on the pair at the bash, with Benedict cutting a suave figure in his tailored all-black ensemble. He made sure to wrap an arm around his partner as they posed for photographs together, while Sophie looked simply sensational in her red carpet attire.

The brunette beauty, who gave birth just ten months ago, slipped into a floor-length lace gown that skimmed over her slender frame and billowed out around her legs.

The ice grey number boasted a demure high neckline and letting her frock take centre stage, Sophie swept her tresses back from her face into a chic up-do, leaving her fringe down to frame her face.

She completed her look with subtle make-up that made sure to accentuate her natural beauty, including blusher-swept cheeks and a dark pink lipstick across her lips.

Suave: The married couple looked picture perfect on their arrival, as Sherlock actor Benedict cut a dapper figure in a three-piece suit, while his wife Sophie stunned in a floor-length gown

Sophie finished off her look with a glitzy pair of diamond drop earrings and flashed a a smile in the direction of waiting photographers as she cuddled up to her beau.

She and Benedict are proud parents to two children sons, Christopher, two, and Hal, but enjoyed a night away from their parenting duties to rub shoulders with some of Hollywood's elite, including Ellie Bamber, Diego Luna and the Deputy CEO of Jaeger Geoffroy Lefebvre.

Their appearance at the gala comes after Benedict was recently announced as the new president of LAMDA, the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, the school which he graduated from back in 2000.

Speaking of the honour, Benedict said in a statement: 'Having trained at LAMDA, I am thrilled to have been appointed as its new President and would like to thank my predecessor, the great Timothy West for his remarkable and steadfast tenure.

VIP: The actor enjoyed a night away from his parenting duties - he shares two sons with Sophie - to rub shoulders with Diego Luna and the Deputy CEO of Jaeger Geoffroy Lefebvre (L_R)

Honour: His appearance at the gala comes after Benedict was recently announced as the new president of LAMDA, the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, the school which he graduated from back in 2000

'It will be an honour to watch the next generation of actors, directors and technicians blossom and grow into outstanding creative artists and theatre professionals through the exceptional training provided by LAMDA.'

Benedict has been busy filming for new Sky Atlantic mini-series Patrick Melrose that is set to air this year.

Patrick Melrose follows the fictional and infamous playboy based on the novel series penned by Edward St. Aubyn. It details the character's deterioration into substance abuse after a difficult childhood.

Each book will play out in one episode of the five-part series, set to air some time next year in 2018, and, framed around several intense days in Melrose's life, the series will jump from 1960s South France to 1980s New York to early 2000s Britain.

As well as starring in the series, Cumberbatch is also an executive producer and had previously expressed his desire to take on the role of Melrose.

Cumberbatch has enjoyed a number of major roles throughout his career including Marvel's Doctor Strange and Sherlock Holmes in the hit BBC series Sherlock.

The Oscar-nominated acting talent also has a stellar career in theatre to his name, but he has insisted in a recent chat with Interview magazine that while he is fully focused on any role he takes on, he makes sure to separate his work from his home life.

Asked whether he brings his work home, Benedict replied: 'When I walk through that door, it's about home. If I didn't do that, I'd become consumed by one thing only and damage the people who love me... and it would damage the work.
It's set to be another dramatic week on the Coronation Street cobbles, as Toyah Battersby receives heartbreaking news, and Anna's exit is finally revealed.

10 new spoilers reveal Toyah Windass struggling to contain her emotions after hearing her surrogate suffered a miscarriage, and fans will discover whether Anna will leave Weatherfield of her own accord, or be sent down for a crime she didn't commit.

Also next week, Pat Phelan's luck has changed, Bethany Platt is left furious by her family's interfering, and Summer Spellman returns to the street leaving Billy Mayhew struggling to cope.

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Emotional: Coronation Street's Toyah Battersby will be left devastated next week after discovering her surrogate has suffered a miscarriage

After years of yearning to become a mum, Toyah is left devastated next week when she discovers her surrogate Jacqui has suffered a miscarriage, with her sister Eva discovering her in floods of tears.

Toyah will struggle to tell her boyfriend Peter the news, as he gets back on the track after a near-relapse into his alcoholism.

Eva, meanwhile, will fail to tell Aidan that she could be expecting his baby, unsure of the father after a relationship with Adam Barlow.

Struggling: Toyah finds herself unable to tell her boyfriend Peter the news, after he gets back on track following a near-relapse in his alcoholism

Unhappy: Meanwhile Eva fails to tell Aidan the news that she may be expecting his baby, despite her actually being unsure who the father is

The beauty will prepare to tell her ex the news, until Peter informs her he saw Aidan getting cosy with former flame Maria, despite the whole thing being a misunderstanding.

The barmaid will be left feeling guilty that she is pregnant with a child she does not want, while her sister is unable to have a child of their own.

But fans will have to wait and see if this is leading to Eva choosing to give her child to Toyah.

Misunderstanding: After Peter tells Eva he saw Aidan with his former flame Maria, the barmaid will decide to keep her pregnancy a secret

Meanwhile, Anna Windass prepares to say goodbye to the street, but viewers will have to wait and see whether she is sent down or will walk free.

Anna will go on trial next week after being framed by the sinister Pat Phelan, but her day in court starts off badly after Roy admits on the stand he saw her hit the teenage Seb.

The eventual verdict of the trial remains a closely-guarded secret, but it doesn't seem like it was put a dampener on Pat's day, as he finally reconciles with his estranged daughter Nicola.

Verdict: Ahead of Anna Windass' exit, she will discover her verdict in court, but will she be sent down?

Alone: Summer Spellman also returns to the Street next week, though the schoolgirl will reveal that Todd was finally caught by police

Nicola will apologise to her dad later in the week, clueless that he was responsible for the deaths of three men.

Newcomer Josh will also arrive on the cobbles looking for a job in the garage, setting the stage for a dark storyline, when David Platt is the victim of a horrific male rape.

Also this week, troubled vicar Billy Mayhew is pushed to the edge after foster daughter Summer Spellman returns to the street.

Summer will reveal that Todd was finally caught by police after going on the run, but Billy struggles to return to parenting duties due to the horrific pain after his accident.

Scheming: Billy Mayhew also struggles to cope with the agonising pain after his accident, as Adam Barlow plots to make him suffer in a twisted revenge scheme

Charming: Newcomer Josh will also arrive on the street, ahead of a dark storyline which will see David Platt be the victim of a male rape

Despite Adam Barlow 'kindly' offering to get Billy stronger painkillers, in reality the lawyer is doing the opposite as part of a twisted revenge scheme.

Also this week, Bethany Platt will go one step further in her bid to keep Gary Windass away from her mum Sarah, accusing him of groping.

Unfortunately this only leads to her entire family discovering her secret job as a lap dancer, and she is left mortified when she arrives for work to discover the Platts watching on in the audience.

Bethany then lashes out at her family after the club sack her, leading Sarah to make a drastic decision.

Also on the Street this week, Tracy is left underwhelmed by Steve's anniversary present, unaware he has a bigger surprise up his sleeve, and Gemma throws a birthday party for her new boyfriend Henry, leaving him touched.

Accused: Gary Windass will also be accused of groping Bethany Platt next week, as the teen goes out of her way to make sure he does not reunite with her mum Sarah
The weeknight soap opera debuted on Australian screens in 1988.

And Home And Away has been entertaining Channel Seven viewers (and the world) with drama-packed story lines for the past 30 years.

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, Daily Mail Australia revisited Summer bay's most memorable moments. But do YOU remember these?

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From weddings and births, to a mystery stalker and a VERY raunchy pole dancing scene: Relive Home And Aways most memorable moments as the TV soap turns 30

While it's the second-longest running drama series in Australia, the iconic show is the most awarded program at the Logie Awards, with more than 45 wins.

The stars have taken fans on numerous emotional journeys over the past three decades, with many of the Summer Bay favourites going on to Hollywood success.

Here's a look at 15 of the most memorable moments since the 90-minute pilot episode aired on January 17, 1988:

Roo Becomes A Runaway Bride - 1988

Runaway bride! In 1988, Roo (played by Justine Clarke) and husband-to-be Frank (Alex Papps) were headed for a 'shot-gun wedding' after Roo revealed she was pregnant, but at the last moment she revealed Frank wasn't the real father of the unborn child and called the wedding off

While it was the series' first full-blown wedding, it didn't end well for the expectant newlyweds.

In 1988, Roo (played by Justine Clarke) and husband-to-be Frank (Alex Papps) were headed for a 'shot-gun wedding' after Roo revealed she was pregnant.

The soap star, who is still a resident of Summer Bay, became a runaway bride after coming clean to Frank about who the real father of her unborn child was.

Angel Surprises With A Wedding Day Miracle - 1995

A wedding day miracle! Angel (played by Melissa George), who was paralysed and wheelchair-bound after being hit by Alf's car while crossing the road, surprised viewers when she walked down the aisle

Already a special moment, the wedding between high school sweethearts Shane and Angel surprised fans with a tear-inducing miracle.

Angel (played by Melissa George) was paralysed and wheelchair-bound during the scene, after she had been hit by Alf's car while crossing the road

The blonde actress shocked viewers when she rose from her chair in her lace gown and WALKED down the church aisle during the ceremony.

A Big Fat Great Wedding - 2001

Big fat Greek (and Scottish) wedding! Leah made an honest man out of lifeguard and part-time stripper Vinnie after tying the knot in a blended wedding with Greek and Scottish traditions

Leah (played by Ada Nicodemou) originally met Vinnie (Ryan Kwantan) when she arrived in Summer Bay after running away from a previous wedding.

The pair soon became smitten with each other and Leah made an honest man out of the lifeguard and part-time stripper after tying the knot in a blended wedding with Greek and Scottish traditions.

They later shared a son called VJ, but after Vinnie was revealed dead in 2010, Leah went on to remarry teacher Zac (Charlie Clausen) in 2015.

Dani Goes To Jail - 2003

Behind bars: Dani (played by Tammin Sursok) accidentally hit Kane (who raped her) with her car and left him for dead, thinking it was an animal, and was charged and found guilty for attempted murder

Schoolgirl Dani (Tammin Sursok) was dealt a tough hand while living in Summer Bay.

Bad boy Kane Phillips (Sam Atwell) raped Dani, but when the young student took the case to court, Kane was found not guilty.

He later took an interest in her younger sister, with the family unable to convince Kirsty (Christie Hayes) to leave him.

One evening Dani hit Kane with her car and left him for dead, thinking it was an animal, and was charged and found guilty for attempted murder.

Noah and Hayley's wedding - 2004

Touching moment! During Hayley (Bec Hewitt- nee Cartwright) and Noah's (Beau Brady) emotional wedding, Hayley was reunited with her dead father Ken who walked her down the aisle

It wouldn't be a soap opera without ghosts!

During Hayley (Bec Hewitt- nee Cartwright) and Noah's (Beau Brady) emotional wedding, Hayley was reunited with her dead father Ken who walked her down the aisle.

Ken Smith (Anthony Phelan) died in an accident while working on a car in a garage and appeared several times as a ghost after his death.

Leah births surrogate child for Sally - 2004

Baby joy! And in 2004, Leah offered to be bestie Sally's surrogate after she became infertile from having ovarian cancer

The friendship bonds are strong on Home And Away.

And in 2004, Leah offered to be bestie Sally's surrogate after she became infertile from having ovarian cancer.

Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) and husband Flynn (Joel McIlroy) name the sweet newborn Pippa, after Sally's adoptive mother.

The Summer Bay Stalker Mystery - 2005

Mystery stalker! Nurse Eve (Emily Perry) was revealed as the stalker who burned down a house, arranged a plane crash and kidnapped Sally while seeking revenge for a friend

A stalker was on the loose in Summer Bay in 2005 and the mystery left viewers scratching their heads for months.

Introducing terror to Summer Bay residents, the stalker burned down a house, arranged a plane crash and kidnapped Sally.

Nurse Eve (Emily Perry) was later revealed as the stalker, and was seeking revenge for the death of former patient and friend, Sarah Lewis.

Sally's Student Stabs Her - 2006

Left for dead! Fan-favourite Sally was knifed by troubled student and ex-gang member Rocco (Ian Meadows), who she was trying to help. Luckily, she survived.

Already an actress on the show for 18 years, Sally's character had been run over by a car, diagnosed with ovarian cancer and kidnapped.

And in 2006, she was brutally stabbed and left fighting for life.

The fan-favourite was knifed by troubled student and ex-gang member Rocco (Ian Meadows), who she was trying to help.

THAT Raunchy Pole Dance In PG Time Slot - 2007

That's not VERY PG! The family-friendly show aired a controversial scene involved Martha MacKenzie (Jodi Gordon - nee Anasta) grinding on a pole in a scantily-clad sailors outfit at boyfriend Cam's club in 2007

The family-friendly show, aired at 7pm, received backlash in 2007 when they broadcast a VERY steamy scene.

The controversial moment involved Martha MacKenzie (Jodi Gordon - nee Anasta) grinding on a pole in a scantily-clad sailors outfit at boyfriend Cam's club.

Martha was vulnerable and easy prey for Cam to manipulate into pole dancing and soon begins a downward spiral on the show.

Sally's Long-lost Brother Milco Returns - 2007

So he was REAL? Sally's long-lost twin brother Miles 'Milco' returned to the show in 2007, with fans previously believing he was Sally's childhood imaginary friend

The show's plot line had fans believing Milco was Sally's childhood imaginary friend.

But 20 years later, a new character hits Summer Bay claiming to be Sally's long-lost twin brother Miles.

Actress Kate Ritchie joked last year that the twist had left her confused, and admitted she often struggles to remember her own complex plots from the show.

The River Boys Arrive - 2011

The River Boys! (L to R) Casey Braxton (Lincoln Younes), Darryl 'Brax' (Steve Peacocke) and Heath (Dan Ewing) were introduced as the surfing tribe brothers from Mangrove River

The infamous 'River Boys' gang first debuted on the soap in 2011.

Darryl 'Brax' (Steve Peacocke), Heath (Dan Ewing) and Casey Braxton (Lincoln Younes) were introduced as the surfing tribe brothers from Mangrove River.

The 'fictional' River Boys were rumoured to be inspired by 90s surf culture-based Sydney gang, The Bra Boys.

Kyle Kidnaps Casey In Desert - 2012

Sibling rivalry? Troubled youth Kyle made a memorable entrance to the show when he kidnapped his step-brother Casey and handcuffed him to a rusty old car in the desert

The troubled youth made a memorable entrance to the show, delivering a gun and fake passport to father Danny Braxton.

Kyle then kidnapped his step-brother Casey, who didn't know who he was, who was camping in the forest with his brother Brax.

He handcuffed Casey to an old car in the desert, with Kyle's girlfriend keeping him alive by giving him drinking water before his brother locates and saves him.

You May Now... Punch The Groom? - 2013

You may now... punch the groom? Health confessed he had cheated on Bianca (Lisa Gormley) during his wild bucks' night before saying 'I do', with Bianca furiously knocking out her fiance in front of guests, before fleeing the venue.

Wedding ceremonies are meant to end with 'I do's' and a kiss.

However the ceremony between Bianca (Lisa Gormley) and Heath ended with an unconscious groom, courtesy of the bride.

Health confessed he had cheated on Bianca during his wild bucks' night before saying 'I do', with Bianca furiously knocking out her fiance in front of guests, before fleeing the venue.

Ricky and Brax Welcome Child - 2015

Their bundle of joy! Home And Away's super couple Ricky Sharpe (Bonnie Sveen) and Brax welcomed a child together in 2015, naming it after Brax's dead brother Casey

Home And Away's super couple Ricky Sharpe (Bonnie Sveen) and Brax welcomed a child together in 2015.

While Brax was behind bars, Ricky happily took the bub to meet the proud father in jail a week after giving birth.

In an emotional scene, she reveals the newborn was named Casey, in dedication to Brax's younger brother who died the night Ricky found out she was pregnant.

Bachelorette Sam Frost Debuts As Actress - 2017

Bachelorette star makes acting debut! Sam Frost made her anticipated arrival into Summer Bay during the dramatic 2017 finale

The former Bachelorette star decision to become a soap star on Home And Away was met with mixed reviews by industry experts and fans.

And Sam Frost made her anticipated debut during the 2017 finale episode, with her character Jasmine involved in a deadly road incident.

While she barely spoke during her appearance, Sam is due to appear more frequently on the series when it returns this year.

Home And Away returns to Channel Seven from January 29 and airs Monday to Thursday from 7pm
She finalised her divorce from Romain Zago in August, after four years of marriage.

And it appears that Joanna Krupa, 38, is now ready to move on with her love life as she was pictured shopping for eye-catching diamond rings in Warsaw, Poland on Monday.

The Real Housewives star was most recently linked with American restaurateur Nico Santucci, 50, and had been spotted with him on numerous occasions over the summer.

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Shopping around: Joanna Krupa, 38, appeared ready to move on with her love life as she was pictured shopping for eye-catching diamond rings in Warsaw, Poland on Monday

Although they were last seen publicly together on August 8, Joanna appeared in high spirits as she playfully tried on the head-turning sparklers on her wedding finger, posing with her ring-clad hand held to her face.

MailOnline have contacted Joanna Krupa's reps for comment.

The Poland's Next Top Model host looked effortlessly chic while enjoying a spot of jewellery retail therapy in a black oversized T-shirt with 'CHWDP' emblazoned across it in gold.

Joanna teamed her tee with a hip-hugging gold sequin mini skirt which drew attention to her pert posterior as she shopped for a new diamond piece, trying on several at a time.

She worked her glossy honey-hued tresses into a voluminous wave while sporting a glamorous beauty look.

In the past: She finalised her divorce from Romain Zago in August, after four years of marriage (Pictured together in 2015)

The lucky man? The Real Housewives star was most recently linked with American restaurateur Nico Santucci, 50, and had been spotted with him on numerous occasions over the summer (Pictured in May)

All that glitters: Joanna teamed her tee with a hip-hugging gold sequin mini skirt which drew attention to her pert posterior as she shopped for a new diamond piece, trying on several at a time

A source close to Joanna told MailOnline: 'Joanna and Nico are strictly friends. Joanna is in a relationship but at this stage they want to keep things private.

'Joanna is not engaged to a film producer but she will say she is super happy but not ready to make it official yet.'

Her outing comes after she was first spotted with businessman Nico Santucci at Los Angeles favorite Mr. Chow in May, according to US Weekly.

According to the publication at the time, the couple looked cute and casual at the Chinese eatery, as sources claim the duo are 'inseparable' but are taking things slow right now and still 'feeling [things] out.'

A source revealed: 'Joanna and Nico are feeling it out and like each other,' but told US the duo isn't getting serious about commitment yet.

Linked: Her outing comes after she was first spotted with businessman Nico Santucci at Los Angeles favorite Mr. Chow in May, according to US Weekly

But another source said the pair are close-as-can-be, explaining they have 'been inseparable' and that they even 'spent Mother's Day together.'

However in October, she hinted that she was single when she spoke to US Weekly and admitted she was focusing on her work.

Honestly, right now Im trying to focus on work. I just feel like men in Hollywood are looking for a trophy wife, she told Us. Its really hard to get to know somebody. If prince charming comes along, great, but I just feel like its really tough in LA.

Close: According to the publication at the time, the couple looked cute and casual at the Chinese eatery, as sources claim the duo are 'inseparable' but are taking things slow right now and still 'feeling [things] out'

While it has been five months since she finalised her divorce from husband Romain, whom she split with in December 2016.

Despite the emotional process, Joanna proved there was no ill will between the couple, telling DailyMail.com: 'Its been an interesting day but its all good.

'Were on great terms and Im very grateful Romain is supporting me right now. We are on great terms, we talk more than ever.

Adding: 'Were best friends and not much has changed. Im very grateful to have Romains support and we respect our ten years together.'
She previously admitted that she was 'a little bit disappointed' to have had a fourth son in September, when she'd always dreamt of a little girl.

And Danielle Lloyd has been yet more candid about making sure she has a daughter next, after once again defending her decision to use gender selection, which is illegal in the UK but legal in the US and Cyprus.

Speaking on Loose Women on Wednesday, Danielle argued that it's '[her] life' as she faces criticism over her plans.

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Family decision: Danielle Lloyd has defended the use of gender selection again during an interview with Loose Women

Speaking candidly about looking into choosing the sex of her next child, she said: 'As long as the baby's healthy then it shouldn't matter.

'Everyone's gonna have their opinions, but it's something I want to do and it's my life. For me, I just want my family to be complete, do I carry on having babies and end up with 10 boys?'

Danielle - who has Archie, seven, Harry, six, and four-year-old George with her ex-husband Jamie O'Hara, as well as 16-week-old Ronnie with Micheal O'Neill - explained she was interested in the treatment to bring 'balance' to her family.

The next one's a girl: Danielle welcomed a son named Ronnie - here with her other three sons (from left) Harry, six, four-year-old George and Archie, seven, - in September

Explaining her point: The brunette gave her insight into her decision on Loose Women

Making a point: (from left) Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Stacey Solomon and Nadia Sawalha hung off her every word

She said: 'I love my boys and I live for my kids... It's about family balance, really ... I just think for me, I've always wanted that little baby girl. Why should it be any different?'

The star voiced her sympathy for those who aren't able to have children, and repeatedly stated her love for her family.

Danielle admitted she had to do more research into the issue, but revealed her fiance Michael is also keen to have a girl.

Putting her point across: The model is taking precautions to make sure her fifth child is a girl, and not a boy

All made up: Danielle looked pleased enough with everything she said when she was seen leaving

She continued: 'I've got a lot of investigations to do first. I've done bits and pieces, obviously I've just had a baby and he's my main concern at the moment...

'I don't know whether I'll go through with it, but it's something I'm definitely considering.'

Danielle said that having a girl would be a very different experience for her, and said she currently felt 'alone' as the only girl.

My boys: Danielle's partner Michael O'Neill (holding Ronnie) has agreed that he wants a girl

The model has been called 'selfish' and says she deliberately keeps her children off social media to protect them from the comments.

Danielle told The Sun last year: 'There's nothing wrong with four boys but I would've liked a girl. I'll never say never to another baby.

'I think I would maybe consider doing the gender selection so I can pick the sex of the baby. But my main concern is having this baby now.'
They're both hot on the promotional trail for their latest biographical films.

And it's been revealed both Jessica Chastain, 40, and Margot Robbie, 27, will be heading Down Under at the same time to promote their films in Australia.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Jessica and Margot will be in Sydney towards the end of this month.

Coming in hot! Hollywood A-listers Margot Robbie (L) and Jessica Chastain (R) will visit Sydney to promote their biopics later this month

American actress Jessica and Australian star Margot will be spruiking their respective films; Molly's Game and I, Tonya.

Molly's Game tells the true story of a smart, talented woman who gambled everything, won big, then lost it all.

Meanwhile, Margot's film sees the Wolf Of Wall Street actress perform as troubled former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding.

Coming soon! Molly's Game tells the true story of a smart, talented woman who gambled everything, won big, then lost it all

In cinemas now: Meanwhile, Margot's film sees the Wolf Of Wall Street actress perform as troubled former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding

The news comes after Margot won Best Actress in a Comedy for her career-best performance in I, Tonya at the Critics' Choice Awards.

She was visibly shocked and appeared on the verge of joyous tears as the announcement was made in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Her acclaimed, versatile performance as troubled former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding deservedly beat out a particularly strong field.

Go figure! Margot Robbie left stunned and on the verge of tears as she wins best actress at the Critics' Choice Awards for her amazing performance as skating outcast Harding in I, Tonya

When the announcement came, there was hardly a dry eye in The Barker Hangar, as the girl from Dalby, Queensland outclassed Hollywood elites once more.

The beauty appeared truly humbled, clasping a hand to her chest in shock.

She was stopped by fellow nominee Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) on her way to the stage and they shared an embrace.

Congrats! She was stopped by fellow-nominee Saoirse Ronan on her way to the stage and the pair embraced

Not a dry eye! When the announcement came down, there was hardly a dry eye in The Barker Hangar, as the girl from Dalby, Queensland outclassed Hollywood elites once more

Margot also toppled Tiffany Haddish (Girl's Trip), Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick) and Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes) to claim the victory.

The Australian was also nominated for Best Actress, but was beaten by Frances McDormand for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Meryl Streep (The Post), Jessica Chastain (Molly's Game), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) were also in the running.
Ellen Pompeo is the Grey in Grey's Anatomy as she plays doctor Meredith Grey.

But it wasn't until Patrick Dempsey left the series that she finally got the higher salary - a whopping $20m a year - she told The Hollywood Reporter while gracing the cover.

'For me, Patrick [Dempsey] leaving the show [in 2015] was a defining moment, deal-wise. They could always use him as leverage against me  "We dont need you; we have Patrick"  which they did for years,' the blonde beauty began.

The truth comes out: Ellen Pompeo told The Hollywood Reporter that she is now getting paid over $20m a year from Grey's Anatomy

Cover star: 'For me, Patrick [Dempsey] leaving the show [in 2015] was a defining moment, deal-wise. They could always use him as leverage against me  "We dont need you; we have Patrick"  which they did for years,' she began

She added: 'I dont know if they also did that to him, because he and I never discussed our deals.

'There were many times where I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that.

'At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Greys Anatomy and Im Meredith Grey. They wouldnt give it to me.

'And I could have walked away, so why didnt I? Its my show; Im the number one. Im sure I felt what a lot of these other actresses feel: Why should I walk away from a great part because of a guy? You feel conflicted but then you figure, Im not going to let a guy drive me out of my own house.'

She got paid LESS than Patrick for years: Here Dempsey and Pompeo are seen in 2005

She asked for more: The star said she told producer Shonda Rhimes she wanted a raise

The breakdown of her pay is that she gets $575,000 per episode on Greys Anatomy, which comes to over $20 million per year.

Pompeo is now the highest-paid actress on a prime time drama.

Ellen got tougher with producers last year.

The team: (L-R) Executive producer Pete Nowalk, actresses Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, executive producer Rhimes, Ellen Pompeo and executive producer Betsy Beers speak onstage during the ABC Entertainment portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour

'What happened is that I went to Shonda [Rhimes] and I said, "If youre moving on to Netflix and you want the show to go down, Im cool with that,"' said the star.

'"But if you want it to continue, I need to be incentivized. I need to feel empowered and to feel ownership of this show."'

She has been on the series since the start in 2005. At one point, Katherine Heigl was an original cast member. Eric Dane used to also be on the show.

Also on Wednesday, Deadline reported the Grey's is expected to have season 15 and 16.

Her joy: The beauty with husband Chris Ivery with daughter Stella Ivery in 2013 in Beverly Hills

'As part of the new deal, Pompeo became a producer on Greys Anatomy starting midway this season. She also will be a co-executive producer on the upcoming untitled Greys Anatomy spinoff series,' said the site.

'The blockbuster deal for Pompeo, who has had an overall deal at ABC Studios for her banner Calamity Jane for the past several years, is very rare.'

A source told the site: 'There are very few deals like that, and there are very few shows that have been this successful for this long.'

Hands on mom: The star with Stella; she also has kids Sienna and Eli

Ellen also talked about Harvey Weinstein to HR.

'My agent once sent me to see Harvey, too. I went right up to his room at the Peninsula, which I would never normally do, but Harvey was a New York guy, so it made sense.

'Plus, it was in the middle of the day, and he had an assistant there.

'He didnt try anything on me. Had he, Im a little rough around the edges and I grew up around some very tough people, so I probably would have picked up a vase and cracked him over the f***ing head.

'But I also feel completely comfortable saying that I walked into that room batting the sh** out of my eyelashes. My goal in that room was to charm him, as it is in most rooms like that.'

In November, Ellen said director James Toback once asked her to get naked.

Toback has been accused by multiple women, including Selma Blair, of sexual misconduct.
The Only Way Is Essex cast recently dropped seven big names - amid claims the ITVBe show is going 'back to its roots'.

And show favourite, original castmember Lauren Goodger, has now promised that she will be back on The Only Way Is Essex before 2018 is up.

Two weeks after the news that the ITVBe reality show has culled the cast, the 31-year-old looks set to remind 'boring' casts-offs what it's like to an original.

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Looking back: Lauren Goodger has promised to make a comeback to reality TV stalwart TOWIE in 2018

'I be back about this year (sic),' Lauren declared on Twitter on Wednesday, in response to a plea for her to return.

One fan had reached out to say: 'Towie is just not the same without @LaurenGoodger. Miss her. Havent heard anything about her in a while. Hope she makes a comeback soon.'

Hinting at new projects, the former reality star informed her followers that she was heading into the British capital for 'meetings.'

However, Lauren's may have been foiled already after bosses told MailOnline there are: 'No current plans for her to return.'

Throwback: The reality TV star (here in 2016) has made fleeting comebacks on the show since leaving for good in 2012

Lauren recently said that she would never say no to a return but made it clear that she would be returning a different person, 'an independent businesswoman'.

Lauren told Daily Star Online in November: 'I would never say never about going back to TOWIE.

'It's good fun, it's where I came from, it's still popular so who knows what the future holds?

She concluded: 'I would want to go back and be Lauren now, an independent businesswoman.'

Lauren made a fleeting return to the show in October 2016, when she formed an allegiance with one of the show's most popular characters, Megan McKenna.

I'll be back! The reality TV star was responding to a plea from one of her followers

Having meetings: She also hinted that she was laying down plans for 2018 at a series of meetings

She was filmed at lunch with fellow castmembers while she comforted Megan about her tumultuous relationship with now-ex Pete Wicks.

Lauren famously shared a tempestuous engagement to Mark Wright, who has gone on to marry actress Michelle Keegan.

Since finding fame on TOWIE, his presenting career has also reached new heights with a gig on Hollywood's Extra show.

Lauren quit TOWIE in 2012 after appearing in 63 episodes and though she returned in series 17, blaming 'personal' reasons for delaying her return.

Pivotal role: Lauren and her relationship with Mark Wright formed one of her central storylines

She was an original TOWIE cast member when the show kicked off in 2010 with one of the central storylines following her ex Mark's exploits with other women.

Throughout her six seasons on the show, the Essex native won over fans as her heartbreaking nine-year romance played out, with numerous breaks leading to Mark's romances with Lucy Mecklenburgh and Sam Faiers.

Her fleeting 2016 comeback had mixed reactions, though now that a full seven characters have been dropped for the new series, there's room for one more familiar face.

Just last week it was confirmed that Amber Dowding and Chris Clark, along with Mike Hassini, Jack Rigden, Jordan Brook, Maddie Hooper and Ruby Lacey, had been dropped from the line-up of the forthcoming series.

A TOWIE spokesperson told MailOnline: 'There are a number of cast who have mutually agreed their time on the show has come to a natural end for now.

'We wish them well and look forward to another exciting year ahead for TOWIE'.

The announcement followed weeks of speculation that 'boring' characters were being deliberately culled.

Culled castmembers reportedly also felt the wrath of producers for having off-screen romances when they claimed to be single.

It was originally reported in November that castmembers - new and old - have forgotten that the premise of the show is reality.

Ladies' man: Mark's exploits with some of the original women made Lauren's part explosive here with, (from left) Lydia Bright, Lucy Mecklenburgh, Billie Faiers, Lauren Goodger, Sam Faiers and Jessica Wright

A source alleged that stars of the show have been living lavish lives and off screens, including having secret relationships, and forgetting to tell show bosses about what's going on in their lives.

The Sun insider said: 'Theyre promoting their own businesses, driving nice cars, wearing designer clothes, going to the best clubs  but when they appear on the show, theyre not telling producers whats happening in their lives.

'Making new stars is possible if theyre willing to wear their heart on their sleeve and show the audience the real them.

'Bosses want to take TOWIE back to its roots  the show has always been strict about only showing whats really going on in the casts lives, and if the cast arent willing to have that on camera, they could face being booted off.'
It's already been heavily hinted that Scott Disick is not happy that Kourtney Kardashian moved on with Younes Bendjima.

After all, the Long Island native did threaten to 'beat up' the hot 24-year-old model when he first learned his ex had fallen for the guy.

But in a teaser for the next episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the 38-year-old was seen telling Khloe that Scott lost it when she revealed Younes is more than a fling; he's now a boyfriend.

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Relishing it all: Kourtney Kardashian revealed in a teaser for Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that Scott Disick got jealous

The story: Scott didn't like it when Kourtney told him that her beau Younes Bendjima is a boyfriend and not just a fling

The teaser opens with Khloe, who is pregnant with her first child but was not yet showing, asking Kourtney why she had to come over to the house.

The two are seated in Kourtney's black-and-white living room. Khloe has on a white Yeezus sweatshirt with large hoop earrings while Kourtney has on black.

'What the hell did you bring me over here for?' Khloe asked.

Kourtney revealed: 'To let you know that last night Scott called me at like two in the morning.'

More details: After she told Scott that Younes was a boyfriend, he hung up on her. The call took place at 2 am

Before the end: Scott and Kourtney seen in May 2015 just months before their split

Kourtney seemed secretly happy that she has gotten Scott's goat.

'He never calls me late at night, ever, and he was just like ranting like, "What are we doing in life? What are you doing? What am I doing?"

She added: 'And I'll go, "But what are you doing?" Or then he'll say, "But what are you doing? Is it any better?"'

It seems clear that Kourtney for once loves being the one who is not interested in maintaining a relationship with Scott, who cheated on her multiple times.

The star then added: 'And then by the end of the conversation I just was like, "I have a boyfriend and he's 24 years old. It's not the craziest thing that's ever happened in the world!"'

The man who has her heart now: Fans think she upgraded big time by moving on to Younes, 24, who is not only handsome, but seems to fly under the radar

Then the stunner reveals Scott was jealous.

'And so he was like, "He's your boyfriend?!" And then he hung up the phone,' said Kourtney.

Khloe tells Kourtney using the word 'boyfriend' was definitely a 'trigger' for her ex.

'And did you call him back?' Khloe asked.

'No, I just went to bed,' she said.

She took it all in: Khloe listened to Kourtney's story and did not seem to have much sympathy for Scott

Saying it like it is: 'Cut the cord!' yelled Khloe, who seems to be over Scott's antics

'Cut the cord!' yelled Khloe.

It is likely Scott thought Younes was only a fling and not something serious.

Together Kourtney and Scott have three kids together: Mason, aged seven, Penelope, aged four, and Reign, aged two.

Kourtney met Younes in October 2016, just before her sister Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris.

They stayed in contact and by May were vacationing together in France. Over the summer, they visited Egypt.

And it seems as if they have just gotten more serious over time.

Meanwhile, Scott, 34, has become more serious with model Sofia Richie, 19, who is the daughter of Eighties love song hitmaker Lionel Richie.

They were seen getting affectionate in Mexico this week. He took to social media to show off his teen love, who used to date Justin Bieber. Bieber was linked to Kourtney in 2015.

No bump here: The star is pregnant with her first child, but was not showing in this episode

On Wednesday Kourtney talked parenting on her pay site kourtneykardashian.com.

'Everyone has a different strategy for getting their kids to sleep through the night. Here's how co-sleeping has worked in our house.

Getting the kids to sleep through the night in my home was different for each individual child. When I had Mason, co-sleeping just kind of happened naturally. It's what worked for all of us to get the most sleep, so I quickly embraced it. But it was also really important to me to research the benefits and some of the criticisms when it came to this method. I also used certain things like the DockATot, which gave me more peace of mind.

New one: Meanwhile, Scott, 34, has become more serious with model Sofia Richie, 19, who is the daughter of Eighties love song hitmaker Lionel Richie

Lazy life: They were seen getting affectionate in Mexico this week. He took to social media to show off his teen love, who used to date Justin Bieber. Bieber was linked to Kourtney in 2015

Not happy? Though he has a hot girlfriend and travels all over the world, Disick never smiles in his photos

'When I had Penelope, I read "The Attachment Parenting Book" by Dr. Searsand this style of co-sleeping really worked for us. During this time, Mason was also sleeping most nights in my bed. We made it work and I really just followed his lead for when we both felt he was ready to sleep in his room.

'Reign was the only one who has always slept in his own bed. We didn't use any sleep training methods for him. By 2 1/2, he started sleeping through the whole night without waking up. Before, he would wake up a few times during the night and need a little back rub to get back to sleep. Sometimes he would fall back to sleep on his own too, so I really just felt things out as a mom.

'With co-sleeping, I didn't have to get up out of bed to get the kids back to sleep whenever they woke during the night. It was easier when one of the kids woke up, since I was right there. Co-sleeping just ended up feeling like we all got more sleep. Also, as a working mom, if I didn't have much time with the kids during the day, at least I knew we'd have the evening together as a family. Every kid is different, so if it works for you and your family, that's the most important thing!'

Keeping Up With The Kardashians airs Sundays at 9pm on E!. Stream in the UK & Ire Mondays on hayu
Ant McPartlin has thrown himself back into work after officially announcing the end of his marriage to wife of 11 years Lisa Armstrong.

The TV presenter, 42, has been filming for the new series of Britain's Got Talent in Blackpool and has managed to avoid an 'awkward reunion' with his estranged wife, despite her being lined up to work as a make-up artist on the series.

Sources have told MailOnline Lisa is 'nowhere to be seen' at the hotel the crew are staying at, which is around an hour away from the coastal resort in Lytham St Anne's, Lancashire.

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Brushing off his woes: Ant McPartlin, 42, has been filming for the new series of Britain's Got Talent in Blackpool and has managed to avoid an 'awkward reunion' with his estranged wife Lisa Armstrong

A source told MailOnline: 'All the Britains Got Talent crew were supposed to be staying in the same hotel about an hour away from Blackpool while filming was taking place. Lisa was nowhere to be seen for the whole two days.'

A second insider explained her absence is due to spin-off show More Talent host Stephen Mulhern being forced to miss filming for the first time in 11 years after falling ill with laryngitis.

Appearing to brush off the prospect of coming face-to-face with his ex, however, Ant was seen embarking on a roller coaster ride with his BGT co-host Declan Donnelly, as they filmed new scenes for the show on Tuesday.

Enjoying a moment's relief from his personal woes of late, Ant appeared to be having a ball as he threw his head back mid-ride, while close pal Dec looked unimpressed at being hurled into the air.

Absent: Sources have claimed Lisa is 'nowhere to be seen', despite being lined up to work on the show, with a second explaining her absence is due to More Talent host Stephen Mulhern being forced to miss filming after falling ill

Back to it: Appearing to brush off the prospect of coming face-to-face with his ex, however, Ant was seen embarking on a roller coaster ride with his BGT co-host Declan Donnelly, as they filmed new scenes

The duo have headed to Blackpool to kickstart filming for the 12th series of Britain's Got Talent and cut casual figures in complementing dark ensembles.

Ant was seen sporting jeans, a checked shirt and a tailored coat, pulling his outerwear close into him and placing his hands in his pockets as he battled through the chillier climes.

His appearance comes as he is set to be renunited with Lisa on the set of Britain's Got Talent as she will be working as a make-up artist on the series - something which Lisa reportedly refused to step down from because she 'needs the money'.

A source told The Sun: 'It's hard for stars not to side with either Ant or Lisa - and it will be doubly difficult on Britain's Got Talent so soon after the split.

No show: A second source informed MailOnline that Lisa is working as Stephen Mulhern's make-up artist and is not yet needed on set, as he has been forced to miss filming due to illness

Late return: Taking to Twitter, Stephen revealed that he will not be returning to the show until later this month, when it arrives back in London for its auditions in the capital - which would mean any hotel run-ins between Lisa and Ant could be avoided

All the gang: Lisa is said to be Stephen Mulhern's personal make-up artist on the show (pictured on the More Talent host's social media in November)

'Ant hardly thinks that she needs the money. But he'll be okay with her being there and he has no hard feelings.'

A second source, meanwhile, informed MailOnline that Lisa is working as Stephen Mulhern's make-up artist and is not yet needed on set, as he has been forced to miss filming due to illness.

Taking to Twitter, Stephen revealed that he will not be returning to the show until later this month, when it arrives back in London for its auditions in the capital - which would mean any hotel run-ins between Lisa and Ant could be avoided.

Stephen penned on the micro-blogging site: 'Morning! Absolutely gutted to be missing the first round of auditions this week in Blackpool!

'I am on doctors strict orders to rest my voice, after suffering a nasty bout of Laryngitis - first day off from the show in 11 years. Unbelievable! (1/2)

Bold choice: Ant McPartlin ( pictured right with Declan Donnelly) was pictured in a pink Kiss Me Quick hat on Tuesday afternoon, as he commenced Britain's Got Talent filming

The gang is back together: He was joined by (from right) Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon, as well as his co-present Declan

'I will be on mute until London auditions on the 27th Jan, look forward to seeing you all then! (2/2)'

MailOnline have contacted representatives for Ant, Lisa and Stephen, as well as a spokesperson for Britain's Got Talent.

Shortly before news of the reunion, Lisa took to Twitter to discuss her beloved dogs - hot on the heels of news the couple would battle for custody of their five-year-old chocolate Labrador.

A source detailed the devastating blow for both parties involved: 'Ant adores Hurley - hes like his child - but obviously so does Lisa who calls him my boy.'

Shocking: Shortly before news of the reunion, Lisa took to Twitter to discuss her beloved dogs - hot on the heels of news the couple would battle for custody of their five-year-old chocolate Labrador

In her Twitter post, she shared a post about Labradors while adding the caption: 'My baby boy and his #furryfam #BritainsFavouriteDogs xx pic @harrypageimages'.

Ant and the BGT team are currently staying at The Grand hotel in Lytham St Anne'sm a 4-star hotel which is ranked the number one Spa Hotel in the seaside resort.

The lavish hotel - where rooms cost on average between 80 and 220 per night - features a spa and swimming pool among its many amenities.

The Grand has 43 bedrooms all individually designed with the greatest of detail and thought.

Fit for a Judge! The judges are staying at The Grand, a luxury seaside hotel in Eastbourne whilst the Blackpool auditions take place

Boys in blue: David Walliams (L) and Simon Cowell (R) are staying at the luxury beachfront resort - where rooms cost on average between 80 and 220 per night

Making moves: David was seen leaving the residence to make his way to the Blackpool round of auditions

Plenty to chose from: Amanda was seen heading into the car to leave the hotel which has 43 bedrooms all individually designed with the greatest of detail and thought

Scarlet siren: Amanda Holden is also at the resort and the hotel features a spa and swimming pool among its many amenities

There are also four individually styled turret rooms, three suites and three penthouses offering spacious accommodation some with lounge areas and some with balconies.

Grand TwentyTwo which is a newer block of bedrooms just 50 metres across the road from the main building, which features 22 luxury rooms.

Ant, meanwhile, had marked his return to work, amid the difficulties he is facing personally, with a high-spirited snap shared to Twitter.

Just three days after confirming his separation from wife Lisa, Ant had ditched his wedding ring and was seen throwing himself into his working commitments, as he dressed in a pink fluffy 'Kiss Me Quick' stetson hat.

Quite the statement: Ant ditched his wedding ring as he walked the red carpet

In good spirits: Ant flashed a wide grin as he playfully cuddled comedian David

And we have lift-off! The Geordie presenter wore a look of concentration as he tried to lift David up

It was the first day of auditions for the talent competition and saw Ant and Dec reunited with the judging panel for the show; Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Amanda Holden.

Ant appears to be embracing the show's unrelenting presenting schedule and had looked enthusiastic about filming while leading a trend with his novelty hat, but only funnyman David appeared to join him in the humorous display.

They had joined BGT's fellow stars Amanda, Simon and Dec on the back of a bus, ahead of Tuesday's auditions, in a photo that former Mis-Teeq star Alesha had posted to social media via her Instagram page.

Hats off to him! The presenter certainly stood out with his headgear, as he arrived for the first round of auditions

Here they come! Ant and Dec were joined by the BGT panellists Alesha, Amanda, Simon and David at the photocall at the Opera House in Blackpool

She had celebrated getting the 'BGT family' back together, while David took the opportunity to poke fun at Simon's thrilled expression.

The 2018 auditions will be held near Pleasure Beach on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Although, More Talent host Stephen Mulhern was forced to miss the first day of filming - his first day off in 11 years - due to illness.

Ant and Dec are expected to be back to present the show on 14 April and have also confirmed the return of Saturday Night Takeaway in 2018.

Filming comes after Ant and Lisa had announced their plans to divorce on January 13.

Having a whale of a time! Ant looked to be in good spirits as he waved and smiled at the photocall

To be a fly on the wall: Spirited Ant enjoyed an animated discussion with a chuckling Amanda on the red carpet

Ant's spokesman had confirmed the news to MailOnline on Saturday: 'In response to the recent speculation in the media, Ant is very sad to announce that, after 11 years, he is ending his marriage to Lisa McPartlin.

'Ant asks for privacy at this difficult time, for both himself, Lisa and their immediate families. No further statement will be made.'

Ant and Lisa's divorce could reportedly cost the ITV star, whose net worth is estimated at 62million, a grand total of 31million.

If it goes ahead, it will be among the largest divorce settlements paid by a UK celebrity in history, possibly topping Phil Collins' 25million settlement. An insider told The Sun: 'Its a huge amount but he wants Lisa to be financially and emotionally supported.

'He wants things to be amicable and doesnt want a drawn out court battle with Lisa.

'He still views her as a best friend and wants them both to be able to walk away from the marriage positively.'

Divorce lawyer Cara Nuttall told The Mirror: 'The starting point will always be a 50:50 division of all assets.

'It is likely her lawyers will argue that due to the length of their relationship that there is no room for negotiation on that.'

Mingling with the best: Ant and Simon enjoyed a chat with the Mayor of Blackpool, Councillor Ian Coleman

News of their breakup came as Lisa thanked fans for their support after her split from the TV presenter was confirmed on Saturday.

Breaking her social media silence in the wake of the announcement, the make-up artist 'liked' a number of encouraging tweets from her followers, one of which praised her for being 'classy to the end'.

The 41-year-old has so far remained silent on the split, though she seemed to have found a suitable way to vent her outlook through the messages of her fans.

'Going through difficult times we must always be reminded that better times are ahead,' read one tweet Lisa had 'liked'. 'For a beautiful person like yourself it will be tough but keep your chin up and you will bloom again.'

Where's Dec? Ant cut a downcast figure as he took a break from filming

Ant has been living apart from partner Lisa in recent weeks - having moved out of the 6million property they share last year following his stint in rehab for an addiction to painkiller

It was reported that his presenting partner Dec has been left torn between his best friend and supporting Lisa, in the wake of their divorce plans.

A source told The Mirror: 'Dec will always stand by Ant, but over the years he has, naturally, become very good friends with Lisa, and his wife, Ali, is also very close to her.'

They added: 'He feels very much torn and its a tremendously difficult situation for all concerned.'

Torn: Declan is said to be torn between supporting his best friend Ant and Ant's estranged wife Lisa Armstrong (also pictured is Dec's wife Ali Astall)

Decs wife Ali Astall is a also said to have become 'a shoulder to cry on for Lisa'.

MailOnline has contacted Dec's representatives for comment.

Ant and Strictly Come Dancing make-up artist Lisa have known each other for 23 years and tied the knot in 2006.

He had spent the last two months filming in Australia for ITV reality show I'm A Celebrity, but Lisa was unable to join him overseas, due to her commitments to BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.

At the time, Lisa dismissed claims that this made her 'estranged' from husband Ant, explaining that she had not been out to Australia with him for 10 years.

Split: Ant and Lisa announced their divorce last week. It could reportedly cost the ITV star, whose net worth is estimated at 62million, a grand total of 31million
*M*ake what you will of this. In the modern era of partisan polarization, which can be dated back to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, only the presid...
She celebrated her 44th birthday with a lavish meal in Mayfair with a slew of A-list pals, including her younger sister Lottie and Hollywood actress Liv Tyler.

And Kate Moss continued the festivities on Wednesday, as she jetted into Paris with her boyfriend Count Nicolai von Bismarck.

The smiling iconic British supermodel looked typically fashion-forward in a silky paisley-print blouse teamed with a jaunty black trilby as she stepped out in the French capital.

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Never too Moss! Kate Moss continued her 44th birthday festivities on Wednesday as she jetted into Paris

Moss showcased her lithe frame in a skintight pair of blue MOTHER frayed hem jeans and boosted her height with khaki suede ankle boots.

Injecting a dose of colour into the laid-back ensemble, she toted a blue leather Hermes Birkin bag and flung a cobalt scarf around her neck.

Styling her golden tresses in tousled waves, the Croydon native framed her features with berry lipgloss and a sweep of mascara.

The blonde beauty, who was scouted at the tender age of 14, proved she still had her supermodel star power as she strutted in front of a sea of photographers.

Looking good: The smiling iconic British supermodel looked typically fashion-forward in a silky paisley-print blouse teamed with a jaunty black trilby as she left her hotel

Chic: Moss showcased her lithe frame in a skintight pair of blue MOTHER frayed hem jeans and boosted her height with khaki suede ankle boots

Turning heads: The blonde beauty, who was scouted at the tender age of 14, proved she still had her supermodel star power as she strutted in front of a sea of photographers

Kate and Lottie - who have the same father Peter Edward Moss - are rarely seen out together but looked pleased to be in each other's company at the meal.

Kate was a child from Peter's first marriage to Linda Rosina, while Lottie's mother Inger is now married to Peter.

The sisters rarely step out together, making this birthday outing a special one, with both models busy taking over the fashion world on their own.

Despite the few social opportunities, Lottie sung Kate's praises to Tings Magazines in June, and revealed she hopes 'that I can become half as successful as she is'.

There's her man: She was joined by her boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck as they arrived at their hotel earlier in the day

Keeping it casual: He looked laid-back in a navy coat and tan suede Chelsea boots

Lavish: Kate celebrated her 44th birthday with a lavish meal in Mayfair with a slew of A-list pals, including her younger sister Lottie and Hollywood actress Liv Tyler, last week

Glamorous: Styling her golden tresses in tousled waves, the Croydon native framed her features with berry lipgloss and a sweep of mascara

Strutting her stuff: Later in the day, Kate turned out at the Louis Vuitton store later in the day

Heading off: Nikolai was clutching a vast carrier bag from the luxury brand

Family friends: Brooklyn Beckham was also seen at store later in the day

But despite Kate's stratospheric success, Lottie said she doesn't feel pressured by her legacy.

She said: 'My sister and I are two different people and she is on her path and I am on my own.'

Kate has worked in the modelling industry for almost four decades and has graced the cover of British Vogue 30 times.

Kate's birthday was honoured by her friends on social media, with Naomi Campbell sharing a snap of the pair that she captioned: '#wagon its that SPECIAL DAY WHERE WE CELEBRATE YOU !!!

Round two! Kate has worked in the modelling industry for almost four decades and has graced the cover of British Vogue 30 times

Ready for action: The model looked prepared for another night of festivities

'Happy Birthday @katemossagency I cherish our Decades of sisterhood , we have been through thick and thin and no one can come between us !!!SouthLondonGirls we will always be .

'Im wishing you all the love in the world and happiness you deserve , amazing mother , most loyal wagon in my life ... Im so proud of you !!!! You will always be my little wagon'.

Madonna also shared a snap with the model as she wrote: 'Happy Birthday Wagon!!!! The beautiful and mischievous Kate Moss!! #friends #family #life #love.'

BFFs: Sadie Frost uploaded a picture of the pair together, as she wrote: 'Frost n Moss...happy birthday Kate'

Tributes: Madonna shared a snap with the model as she wrote: 'Happy Birthday Wagon!!!! The beautiful and mischievous Kate Moss!! #friends #family #life #love'

Marc Jacobs shared a funny video of the pair waving their legs in the air, and wrote alongside it: 'Happy Birthday Kate Moss! You're anything but basic.'

Sadie Frost also got in on the action, sharing a snap of Kate hugging a tress as she wrote: 'Happy birthday Kate my tree hugging nature loving friend..taken in Jamaica 2018.. love you forever..'

She uploaded another picture of the pair together, as she wrote: 'Frost n Moss...happy birthday Kate'.
She recently graced the red carpet in two standout ensembles, showcasing her enviably toned physique at the watch event.

And Adriana Lima maintained her elite model status as she was spotted at Geneva Airport in an eccentric outfit on Wednesday.

Clad in a bright red tracksuit, the 36-year-old paired her statement two-piece with a Charlotte Simone fluffy coat while sporting a radiant glow as she left Switzerland.

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Model behaviour! Adriana Lima, 36, maintained her elite status as she was spotted at Geneva Airport in an eccentric outfit on Wednesday; she wore the Striker hoodie and sweats - both by I.Am.Gia

The supermodel commanded attention at the airport as she stood on suede red ankle boots from Schutz - corresponding well with her vivid red hooded jumper and track pants - which are both by I.Am.Gia.

Sporting a natural glow, Adriana opted for a fresh-faced appearance as she tipped square framed sunglasses on her nose.

She held onto a chic black handbag as her raven locks were tied into an effortless ponytail.

Chic: The iconic supermodel commanded attention at the airport as she stood on suede red ankle boots - corresponding well with her vivid red hooded jumper and track pants

The Brazilian model made sure to turn heads on Tuesday as she attended an IWC Schaffhausen event.

The mother-of-two looked simply stunning as she chose to don an angelic all-white ensemble before changing into a vampy black down.

Showcasing her sartorial excellence, Adriana made for a chic and sophisticated display as she paired together a ribbed polo-neck jumper and pencil skirt that sheathed her model frame and sat on her upper thigh.

Day to night: The Brazilian model made sure to turn heads as she stepped out in Geneva on Tuesday to attend an IWC Schaffhausen event in two ensembles

Head-turning: Adriana stepped out looking nothing but chic to attend the event

She covered up from the chiller climes in a statement long-line coat to complement her attire - posing with her outerwear left open and its over-sized collar up to frame her neck.

Adriana wore her raven-hued locks back from her face in a swept back style and finished off her look with a glamorous yet subtle make-up look that highlighted her flawless complexion and boasted bronzer-swept cheeks.

The fashion star added extra height to her frame with a pair of striking scarlet red sock boots, that made sure to elongate her already lengthy legs and offset her outfit choice.

Showcasing her sartorial excellence: The model made for a chic and sophisticated display as she paired together a ribbed polo-neck jumper and pencil skirt that sheathed her model frame and sat on her upper thigh

Beauty: Adriana wore her raven-hued locks back from her face in a swept back style and finished off her look with a glamorous yet subtle make-up look that highlighted her flawless complexion and boasted bronzer-swept cheeks

Catching the eye: The fashion star added extra height to her frame with a pair of striking scarlet red Schutz sock boots, that made sure to elongate her already lengthy legs

On arrival to the event held in Swiss city, Adriana made sure to work all angles of the camera as she showcased her modelling credentials.

Adriana then made quite the sexy transformation to commence the event's evening segment, posing up a storm for photographers in a slinky black gown.

The velvet strapless number hugged onto her statuesque frame and also boasted a daring thigh-high split, showing off her envy-inducing legs.

Adriana channelled old school Hollywood glamour with her hair and make-up look, switching out her plump pink pout with sweep of glossy red.

Stunning: Her brunette tresses were slicked back to pout focus on her jaw-dropping looks

Eye see you! Adriana's white ensemble enhanced her piercing blue peepers

Snap happy! Adriana happily posed with IWC Schaffhausen CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr at the IWC booth

Power beauties: Adriana also embarked in a pose off with fellow supermodel, Karolina Kurkova

Va va voom! Adriana then made quite the sexy transformation to commence the event's evening segment, posing up a storm for photographers in a slinky black gown

The fashionista's tresses also added to the era-defining look, as she let her locks free from her ponytail and opted for a glamorous glossy waves.

She had stormed the runway back in November for Victoria's Secret, joining the likes of Bella Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Jasmine Tookes, Sara Sampaio and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Following the showcase, Adriana's fellow Victoria's Secret veteran Alessandra announced that she had retired from modelling the brand at the age of 36. The mother-of-two had worked with the lingerie house for 17 years, but is now hoping to pursue a career in acting.

Despite being among the older Victoria's Secret models herself, Adriana has shut down speculation that last year's fashion show would be her final one too.

Sensational: The velvet strapless number hugged onto her statuesque frame and also boasted a daring thigh-high split, showing off her envy-inducing legs

Gorgeous: Adriana channelled old school Hollywood glamour with her hair and make-up look, switching out her plump pink pout with sweep of glossy red

Asked how long she plans to continue her reign of the coveted Victoria Secret's runway, the starlet affirmed she won't say goodbye until she has walked for two decades.

Speaking to People magazine, she said: 'I plan to be at 20. Two more years. Maybe more, I don't know.

'It's nature, I'm working out, I'm being healthy so let's see how the body is going to turn out, but I enjoy it. So let's say 20!'

Mane attraction: The fashionista's tresses also added to the era-defining look, as she let her locks free from her ponytail and opted for a glamorous glossy waves

Photographic: Adriana looked in her element as she posed for eager photographers

Style Queen: Adriana wrapped up with a matching cropped shrug

The in-demand model has built up a fair fortune over the years, thanks to her modelling prowess, and had reportedly raked in $10.5million in 2017 alone.

She was beaten only by Chrissy Teigen, who is thought to have earned $13.5 million, Gisele Bundchen, who banked $17. 5 million and Kendall Jenner, who topped the list with an estimated $22 million in earnings last year, according to Forbes.

Aside from Victoria's Secret, Brazilian model Adriana has stormed the catwalk for pretty much all of the world's leading designers, including Versace, Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

Modelling elite: The in-demand model has built up a fair fortune over the years, thanks to her modelling prowess and work with Victoria's Secret, and had reportedly raked in $10.5million in 2017 alone
Jessica Chastain never had the desire to get married until a certain someone came along.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal Magazine released a cover story featuring the 40-year-old Academy Award-nominee, where she said she was against the idea of marriage until she fell for Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, a fashion executive from noble Italian lineage.

Chastain met Passi de Preposulo in 2012 and married him in 2017, but before they tied the knot, she was upfront with him about her values.

Cover star: Jessica Chastain looked stunning wearing a straw hat as she graced the Talents and Legends edition of the Wall Street Journal Magazine released on Wednesday

The Zero Dark Thirty star didn't believe that marriage was right for her.

The actress told the magazine: 'I never wanted to get married. When I first met my husband, he knew that marriage wasn't something I was interested in.

'And then as we got to know each other, the idea of marriage shifted for me. There are some things worth celebrating - and he's worth celebrating,' she said.

'I actually love being married. I never thought I would, but this is a spectacular human being, and I am celebrating that I get to share my life with him.'

Marriage bliss: The Molly's Game star looked happy on Thursday at the 23rd Annual Critics' Choice Awards while seated with her husband Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo

Breathless beauty: The Zero Dark Thirsty star looked mesmerizing as she held her head in this black and white shot from the Wall Street Journal

Chastain's previous thoughts on marriage might have stemmed from her difficult childhood.

The Molly's Game actress revealed in the feature that she had a dysfunctional upbringing in a low income single-parent environment.

She recalled: "My mom was a single mom; I don't know who my biological father is, and I grew up in a household that was really financially unstable.

Elegant beauty: The red-headed actress posed elegantly while wearing a high-waist brown skirt with a slit and a soft white blouse

Chastain recalled an incident in her childhood when she experienced a physical altercation with one of her mother's boyfriends. The actress credits this moment as one where she discovered her strength as a person.

'There was a turning point in my life where we were living with someone I didn't like very much, a boyfriend of my mom's.

'And he did something - my room was messy or whatever and he had taken my clothes, and I was telling him to give me back my stuff - and he slapped me,' she said in the piece.

Up close: The Miss Sloane actress gazed fiercely in this black and white close-up of her flawless face

The Interstellar actress continued: 'And I just kicked him in the genitals, and he fell to the ground immediately. It was me, my sister and my brother - and I remember looking at my sister's face, and we were both like, "Oh, my God, what did I just do?"

'And then I ran out of the house. But I always look back on that moment as knowing that, okay, if anything happens to me, I'm capable of fighting back.

'He never messed with me again. If you allow a bully to intimidate or victimize you, they'll continue to do it.

'Bullies are actually weak; they don't go after strong people.'

Serene in green: The Molly's Game actress looked elegant in green as she walked the 23rd Annual Critics' Choice Awards carpet

On Thursday, less than a week before her Wall Street Journal cover, the Zero Dark Thirty made an appearance at the 23rd Annual Critics' Choice Awards.

Chastain was nominated for best actress in Molly's Game.

The Martian actress wore a green flowy halter top dress with a slit in the front which exposed her chest and abdomen. The star wore her red hair down and matched her hair color with a light red lipstick.
Angelina Jolie will receive the Governors Awards from the The American Society of Cinematographers will present.

The Oscar winner, who is in the process of divorcing Brad Pitt, is following in the footsteps of past recipients Julia Roberts and Sally Field as well as Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg.

The 2018 ASC Board of Governors Award will be presented on February 17 at Hollywood & Highlands Ray Dolby Ballroom.

New accolade: Angelina Jolie will receive the Governors Awards from the The American Society of Cinematographers will present; seen on January 11

Tune in: The 2018 ASC Board of Governors Award will be presented on February 17 at Hollywood & Highlands Ray Dolby Ballroom

Her film First They Killed My Father is Cambodias Oscar entry and has already received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations this awards season.

She directed the Netflix project.

The Board of Governors Award  the only non-cinematographer honor handed out by the group  is given to individuals whose body of work has made significant and indelible contributions to cinema.

It's also for filmmakers who have been champions for directors of photography and the visual art form.

Tops: Her film First They Killed My Father is Cambodias Oscar entry and has already received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations this awards season. She directed the Netflix project

Go mom! The star with Vivienne, Knox, Shiloh and Zahara in September

'Angelina Jolie sets a high standard,' ASC president Kees van Oostrum said in announcing the award on Wednesday.

'She is a true artist, with a strong vision and collaborative spirit.

'She has also entertained us through her work, but more importantly has brought significant social issues to our attention. For her wide-ranging accomplishments, we are honored to present her with our Board of Governors Award.'

Other previous recipients of the honor include Ridley Scott, Barbra Streisand, Harrison Ford, Christopher Nolan, Warren Beatty, Morgan Freeman, Ron Howard, Sydney Pollack and Martin Scorsese.
She's known for flaunting her figure down the runway during the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

And Devon Windsor didn't hesitate to show off her sensational figure for a photo shoot on the beach in Miami on Wednesday afternoon.

The 23-year-old supermodel turned the sandy shoreline into her own personal runway as she sauntered back and forth for cameras wearing a series of swimsuits.

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Beach babe: Devon Windsor didn't hesitate to show off her sensational figure for a photo shoot on the beach in Miami on Wednesday afternoon

Devon donned an adorable black retro-inspired bikini top with fluorescent flowers emblazoned across her top.

Matching high-waisted bottoms hugged her slender hips and revealed her long and lean legs.

Her toned abs were on display as delicate bows were tied across her svelte waistline and directly beneath her bust.

Beauty: The 23-year-old supermodel turned the sandy shoreline into her own personal runway as she sauntered back and forth for cameras wearing a series of swimsuits

Work it: Devon donned an adorable black retro-inspired bikini top with fluorescent flowers emblazoned across her top

Lovely: Her toned abs were on display as delicate bows were tied across her svelte waistline and directly beneath her bust

Devon's long blonde hair was tied back into a chic bun as tendrils cascaded down her face.

She switched between a pair of thick black cat-eye sunglasses and classic white frames for some fun in the sun.

Another adorable bikini worn for the photo shoot featured thick blue stripes across a white background.

She covered up from the bright rays with a short white sundress embroidered along the neckline and hem.

Strike a pose: Devon's long blonde hair was tied back into a chic bun as tendrils cascaded down her face

Quick change: Another adorable bikini worn for the photo shoot featured thick blue stripes across a white background

Gorgeous: Waves crashed behind the statuesque stunner as she posed on her knees for a series of sultry images

Cool: She covered up from the bright rays with a short white sundress embroidered along the neckline and hem

Wow! Windsor showed off her toned gams wearing a darling one-piece swimsuit with red-and-white color blocking

Waves crashed behind the statuesque stunner as she posed on her knees for a series of sultry images.

Windsor showed off her toned gams wearing a darling one-piece swimsuit with red-and-white color blocking.

The strappy white top was attached to crimson colored bottoms with ribbons tied along her hips.

Devon made sure to keep her care-free look intact with a little assistance from a makeup artist.

Quick break! She made sure to get the perfect ocean view as she rested along the sand

Beach bum: The strappy white top was attached to crimson colored bottoms with ribbons tied along her hips
There was no sign of his love interest when he was spotted walking on the beach with a male pal in Malibu, California, on Tuesday morning.

But Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson were nearly inseparable that evening at the launch party for Stella McCartneys fall 2018 fashion collection at S.I.R. Studios in Hollywood.

'Dakota and Chris were super affectionate with each other,' an onlooker dished to Us Weekly.

Where is she?: Chris Martin was spotted walking on the beach in Malibu without his girlfriend Dakota Johnson on Tuesday

'She was whispering in his ear, rubbing his back and was super smiley. She seemed happy to be there with him.'

The Fifty Shades actress, 28, and the Coldplay frontman, 40, 'never really left each others side or stopped holding hands,' during the evening, according to the eyewitness.

After chatting and taking a selfie with Katy Perry, Chris and Dakota 'danced back and forth a little' to the music, the eyewitness told Us. 'He kissed the back of her head once.'

Toes in the sand: The Coldplay frontman, 40, rolled the legs of his black pants up as he talked to a pal who was holding an American football

The duo held hands again as they left the event through an exit near the back of the building.

The bash was also attended by stars including Olivia Munn, Paris Jackson, Vanessa Hudgens, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

The couple have become more public about their relationship since November when Dakota jetted to Argentina to see Chris play in one of Coldplay's final tour shows.

Out in public: The new couple were spotted enjoying a walk on the beach in Malibu on Sunday

Back in the day: Chris shares daughter Apple, 13, and son Moses, 11, with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple were married from 2003 to 2016

They then traveled to Israel. And in December they kissed and canoodled on the beach in Malibu.

Chris shares daughter Apple, 13, and son Moses, 11, with ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple were married from 2003 to 2016. Gwyneth, 45, is now engaged to writer and director Brad Falchuk.

Meanwhile, the third and final installment of Dakota's Fifty Shades film franchise, Fifty Shades Freed, opens on February 9 in time for Valentine's Day.

Huge audience: Beyonce and Chris performed at the Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show at Levi's Stadium on February 7, 2016 in Santa Clara, California
She's the former Home And Away actress who lends her star power to a number of causes.

And now Isabel Lucas has backed the Australia Day change the date campaign, appearing in a video produced by the Greens this week.

In the short social media clip Isabel implores viewers that 'now's the time' to move Australia Day from January 26.

'Now's the time to change the date': Former Home and Away star Isabel Lucas joins campaign to move Australia Day from January 26

Going makeup free, Isabel makes a brief cameo in the video which has been shared on Youtube and Facebook.

'Nows the time to change the date of Australia Day,' Isabel says.

Besides Isabel, the video features ordinary Australians and actor Tony Barry explaining why they support the cause.

Going makeup free, Isabel makes a brief cameo in the video, which has been shared on Youtube and Facebook.

Actress turned activist: The Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen star supports a number of causes including Sea Shepherd (pictured), Oxfam, Save The Whales and Women Against Violence

The Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen star supports a number of causes including Sea Shepherd, Oxfam, Save The Whales and Women Against Violence.

In 2007 she was questioned by Japanese police after taking part in a protest against dolphin fishing.

Last year Isabel appeared in a video protesting dolphin captivity for non profit Australia for Dolphins.

Meanwhile after years of working and living in Hollywood Isabel has pledged to spend more time in Australia.

Held for questioning: In 2007 she was questioned by Japanese police after taking part in a protest against dolphin fishing

In 2016 she paid $857,500 for a treehouse-style home near the beach in Byron Bay.

'I have moved back home to Australia because I feel I am happy here, I want to be around my family more, my sister lives in Byron,' she told News Corp last May.

But the actress confirmed that despite purchasing her property almost two years ago she has had little chance to enjoy it.

'I bought my house in Byron about a year ago, although I havent spent that much time there with work,' Isabel said.
She balances a thriving acting career with motherhood.

And as she graces the February issue of InStyle Australia, Asher Keddie revealed her frustration on the preconceived idea that you're a more 'nurturing and warm' person when you have children.

'I find that really offensive,' the 43-year-old Offspring star told the publication.

'It's really offensive': Asher Keddie, 43, revealed her frustration over the idea that you're a 'more warmer and nurturing person' when you have children, in the February issue of InStyle Australia

With her public image changing after her wedding to Vincent Fantauzzo in 2014 and the birth of their first child, Valentino, two, the year after, Asher said: 'I must admit that as I get older I certainly don't feel as afraid as I used to be of what people think.'

However the Melbourne-born actress admitted that the preconceived idea that you're a more warmer and nurturing person when you have children, bothers her.

'Is that what we think of women when they have a baby? That they're nurturing and warm, but if they haven't got children they aren't? I find that really offensive.'

Public image: With her public image starting to soften after her wedding to Vincent Fantauzzo in 2014 and the birth of their first child, Valentino, two, the year after, Asher said: 'I must admit that as I get older I certainly don't feel as afraid as I used to be of what people think'

She continued: 'I was a happy woman before I was married with children in my life, and had many great challenges. [I enjoyed] success and it didn't feel selfish to me.'

Asher became a household name thanks to her role as Nina Proudman in Channel Ten's drama Offspring, that's run for seven seasons to date.

Prior to her breakthrough role, the blonde beauty featured in Australian crime and police dramas, Blue Heelers, Stingers, Underbelly and Rush.

Notoriety: Prior to her breakthrough role, the blonde beauty featured in Australian crime and police dramas, Blue Heelers, Stingers, Underbelly and Rush. Asher also appears in cinemas this month in comedy film Swinging Safari, alongside Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue (centre), Julian McMahon (far right) and Radha Mitchell

Asher also appears in cinemas this month in comedy film Swinging Safari, alongside Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Julian McMahon and Radha Mitchell.

Having always been open as to balancing work with motherhood, the multiple Logie Award-winner told the Sydney Morning Herald last August: '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 continued: '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.'

Married life: Asher married Archibald Prize-winning painter Vincent Fantuazzo, in 2014, welcoming their first child together, Valentino, the following year

Asher married Archibald Prize-winning painter Vincent Fantuazzo, in 2014, welcoming their first child together, Valentino, the following year.

The red carpet regular is also a stepmother to Vincent's son Luca from a previous relationship.

Asher finalised her divorce from first husband Jay Bowen in 2012.

Brood: The red carpet regular is also a stepmother to Vincent's son Luca from a previous relationship
She boasts more than 1.3 million Instagram followers thanks to her very revealing posts.

And Sahara Ray has shared yet another revealing photo, taking to Instagram on Wednesday to share a racy snap of her in a bikini.

The 24-year-old showcased her pert derriere in a G-string bikini and fishnet stockings while offering a seductive gaze to the camera.

That's cheeky! Justin Bieber's 'ex-fling' Sahara Ray flaunts her pert derriere in a G-string bikini and fishnet stockings

The sultry photo saw Sahara flaunting her curves in a barely-there bikini from her label Sahara Ray Swim.

The blonde bombshell added a pair of fishnet stockings to her swimwear and gazed seductively at the camera over one shoulder.

'Winter in Los Angeles,' Sahara captioned the photo.

Sahara's latest post comes after she shared possibly her raunchiest social media post yet.

She's not shy! Australian bikini model Sahara reminded fans that she's anything but shy when she shared a video of herself writhing around on the beach

Last week the daughter of famed surfer Tony Ray raised eyebrows by sharing a clip of herself dancing seductively in nothing but a skimpy white bikini.

Wearing her bleach-blonde hair to hang loosely by her shoulders, the bronzed beauty completed her look with a black choker necklace and a gold bangle.

'True f**king sand puppy. In my most natural habitat. What a cute voice my little background angel,' she wrote in the caption, referring to her friend who could be heard complimenting her in the background.

Racy: Taking to her popular Instagram page, the daughter of famed surfer Tony Ray raised eyebrows by sharing a clip of herself dancing seductively in nothing but a skimpy white bikini

Sahara splits her time between working as a model and running her swimwear brand Sahara Ray Swim.

She found herself in the spotlight two years ago after she was spotted skinny dipping in Hawaii with Justin Bieber.

Her notoriety has increased in recent years thanks to her raunchy Instagram updates and skimpy bikini designs.
Her marriage split from Dan Single was confirmed on Tuesday.

And Bambi Northwood Blyth looked more confident than ever as she posed topless on the cover of Glamour Spain this week.

The 27-year-old model flashed her assets in a sheer white ensemble, which showcased her toned arms and slender frame.

Sheer delight! Bambi Northwood Blyth looked more confident than ever as she posed topless on the cover of Glamour Spain this week

Sporting natural makeup and a wet look hairstyle, the statuesque beauty appeared radiant as she posed against a beachside backdrop.

She shared the cover photo to Instagram on Thursday and fans, including fellow model Cheyenne Tozzi hailing the snap in the comments section.

Bambi's topless shoot comes after her split from her husband Dan Single, 37, was confirmed after months of speculation.

'They have split': Bambi's topless shoot comes after her split from her husband Dan Single, 37, was confirmed after months of speculation

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia Jane Magnus, the wife of the celebrant who married him and Bambi, confirmed they have separated after nearly four years of marriage.

Jane, who is a Byron Bay-based event planner, confirmed months of speculation with a few simple words: 'They have,' she said.

Over: Dan and Bambi have separated after four years of marriage

Bambi and Dan have not been seen together since April 2017 when the Ksubi jeans founder launched a controversial crowdfunding campaign.

The Go Fund Me page he set up asked for $250,000 to be raised to cover his two-month recovery and 'incidentals' following an accident in which he fell three floors from his Paris hotel window.

Jane's husband Adam performed Bambi and Dan's marriage ceremony in 2014.

In an interview Jane said that the couple had parted ways: 'They have [split], Dan's in town,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia Jane Magnus - a close friend of Dan's and also the wife of the celebrant who married him and Bambi - confirmed their separation

Daily Mail Australia has contacted both Dan and Bambi's representatives for comment.

Dan and Bambi married in Byron Bay at Coorabella, the same lush estate Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley tied the knot at in 2016.

Bambi became stepmother to Dan's 10-year-old son Justice who he shares with former partner Pip Edwards.

Spot the celebrant: Jane's husband Adam performed Bambi and Dan's marriage ceremony in Byron Bay in 2014

After marrying the pair continued their jet-setting party lifestyle, which was well-documented on both their Instagram accounts.

In 2016 the couple took trips to London, Miami, California, Colorado, Marrakech, St Tropez, Marseille, Byron Bay, and the Gold Coast.

However, all that ended in April 2017 when Dan fell from the window of the $478-a-night Grand Hotel Armour in Paris.

Celebrity venue: Dan, 37, and Bambi married in Byron Bay at Coorabella, the same lush estate Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley tied the knot at in 2016

According to Dan's Go Fund Me page (which he set up shortly after the accident) the 35-metre fall shattered 'every bone from my feet to my hips and pelvis.'

Dan, who was once estimated to be worth $21 million, set up the page to crowd source $250,000 to 'help fund the hospital bill, rehab bill, early flights home, being unable to make bread and work over the next months and all the incedentals [sic] the family is covering at the moment.'

Bambi went to ground following Dan's controversial crowd-sourcing campaign and briefly deleted her Instagram account

The page was met with backlash from the public, who labelled it 'pathetic' before it was deleted.

Bambi went to ground following Dan's controversial crowd-sourcing campaign and briefly deleted her Instagram account.

In the months that followed the brunette beauty was not seen wearing her wedding ring or pictured with Dan.

In June, she flew to Ibiza to celebrate her 27th birthday with model and friend Megan Blake Irwin.

In 2016 the couple took trips to London, Miami, California, Colorado, Marrakech, St Tropez, Marseille, Byron Bay, and the Gold Coast

That same month a source told The Daily Telegraph that Bambi and Dan were 'on the rocks'.

'Things haven't been great between them,' a close friend revealed. 'The party lifestyle looks to have finally caught up.'

In early January she hinted she was single again as she joked that she needed a 'wingman'.

Meanwhile, Dan quietly returned to Australia in mid-2017 and has largely kept a low profile.

The fashion designer only returned to the social scene last month when he was photographed attending Jessica Hart's cosmetics brand LUMA in Sydney.
A man is facing animal cruelty charges following the seizure of five snakes and a number of guns at a property in eastern Victoria.

At least some of the snakes are believed to be pythons, and were seized from the Morwell property on Tuesday morning alongside five firearms, a large amount of ammunition and cannabis plants.

A 20-year-old Morwell man is facing charges relating to animal cruelty, firearms and drugs, and is due to appear in an out-of-sessions hearing at Traralgon on Tuesday night.
Guillermo del Toro's new Cold War era science-fiction film The Shape of Water had the potential to be a disaster.

The two lead characters are mute.

One is a cleaning lady and the other is an Amazonian human-fish creature and when they meet in a top secret US laboratory they fall in love.

It sounds like schlock

It's not.

"It's a fairytale for troubled times," del Toro told AAP in a recent interview in Los Angeles.

Critics have called it a masterpiece and the film has blazed a path through Hollywood awards season, with wins including del Toro taking best director at the Golden Globes, the film named best picture at the Critics Choice Awards and Sally Hawkins, who plays the cleaning lady, a frontrunner for the best actress Oscar.

Del Toro knew his ambitious story had the potential to go off the rails, but, with a history of hits including Pan's Labyrinth and misses like Crimson Peak, he fearlessly pushed ahead.

"Movies are not easy to make physically," the Mexican filmmaker, a smile on his face, said.

"You're not building a rock wall, but emotionally they are totally exhausting.

"When they work, it is pure magic."

The inspiration for The Shape of Water came during a breakfast meeting between del Toro and his writing partner on the Trollhunters book series, Daniel Kraus.

Kraus spoke about a story he came up with as a teenager - a cleaning lady in a government facility befriending an amphibious man held captive.

Del Toro loved it and immediately began drawing the creature and writing the script.

He also set about recruiting a phenomenal cast headed by Hawkins, Doug Jones as the creature, Michael Shannon as a steel-jawed government agent and Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins as the cleaning lady's two friends.

He also assembled Hollywood's best creature designers and visual effects wizards.

The goal was to create a creature with a soul.

"He's a god from a river in the Amazon - a fantastic, gorgeous, divine creature," del Toro said.

It was the 192cm tall, skinny Jones who squeezed into the skin-tight foam latex rubber and silicone fish man suit and undertook four hours of make-up a day.

He also spent most scenes in water.

Jones has become del Toro's monster muse, first playing a large insect in del Toro's 1997 horror-sci-fi film Mimic and went on to play 11 other creatures in six other film or TV projects, including the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth and Abe Sapien in Hellboy.

They alll involved tortuous suits and hours of make-up.

"He wants to torture me," Jones laughed.

"This one was a bit different.

"Guillermo presented it to me as I'd be the the lead romantic male who would be wearing a fish man costume, can't say one word of dialogue and had to fall in love with a woman who is also not talking back.

"They were the challenges, but knowing it would be directed by Guillermo del Toro I knew it would be a beautiful love story."

The Shape of Water releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday.
A convicted murderer who let himself out of a Northern Territory prison, stole a car and crashed it before being recaptured, was handed the keys he used by a member of staff, it's been revealed.

Malcolm Morton, who stabbed his uncle to death when he was 14, fled the Alice Springs jail last April after a worker gave him a set of keys to "play with" during a regular mental health visit.

According to Sky News the inmate stole a car parked outside the facility and was on the run for about 30 minutes before he crashed it and was apprehended.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner says the public should have been made aware of the incident as soon as possible, instead of nine months later.

"This didn't happen and that's not good enough," he said.

"We have asked that protocols about informing the public be improved to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Morton, an intellectually disabled Aboriginal man, has been held in the jail's maximum security wing since 2009 when a judge found him unfit to stand trial.

In 2016 the UN Human Rights Council heard complaints about Morton's restraint, isolation and sedation while behind bars.

He had been granted day release to a secure health unit adjoining Alice Springs jail but his legal guardian wants him provided with disability care and released from prison.

Two health department workers resigned over his escape and Attorney-General Natasha Fyles ordered a critical incident review which recommended a staff member always be present at the facility on weekends.

Morton is subject to a Custodial Supervision Order which should have included constant supervision.

"These orders are in place to protect the community and the community should have been informed of the breach in security," Mr Gunner said.

The Supreme Court reviews Morton's case annually and the escape was brought to its attention a few weeks after it occurred.
A man has been accused of sexually abusing two boys in Perth almost 40 years ago when he worked as a teacher, school nurse and student counsellor.

It is alleged the now 71-year-old indecently assaulted a boy, who was aged 13 at the time of the first two offences in 1979, then abused him again the following year while he worked at a Catholic school in Bedford.

Police say the man also sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy between 1986 and 1987 when he was a teacher at a Catholic college in Tuart Hill.

Both sets of allegations stem from the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex offences.

The man has been charged with four counts of aggravated indecent assault, three of indecently dealing with a child and one of unlawfully and indecently assaulting a male.
In the declining magazine market, tween mag It GiRL boasts readership growth and the youngest editor in the world with an eight-year-old Sydney girl at its helm.

Roxanne "Roxy" Downs was recently awarded a Guinness World Record as Youngest Magazine Editor having worked in the job for six months.

From developing editorial concepts for features and quizzes - to helping with the cover design - Roxy's finger is on the pulse when it comes to knowing what young kids think is cool.

"I go to school and I ask everyone what they'd like to see in the magazine," Roxy tells AAP.

"I'm a good editor because I'm the same age as the reader so I know what they want and what they like."

Roxy, whose father works for the magazine, juggles her homework and chores with work on the magazine before and after school, allocating about five hours during the holidays.

It GiRL publisher Natasha Amallos said having someone like Roxy on board means the magazine is more in touch with its readers.

"If you spend hours a day in a school playground you know straight away what's cool before it's cool," Ms Amallos told AAP.

It GiRL was first published in 2012, growing its readership steadily for five years. The magazine is set to launch in South Africa soon followed by England.
Australia's first commercial space centre will benefit from the Northern Territory government's $1.7 million funding package to support economic development in remote communities.

Traditional owners from Gumatj Corporation, which is partnering with a rocket launching company in North East Arnhem Land, is one of 43 recipients of the Remote Aboriginal Development Fund.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner says indigenous businesses will shape an integral part of the Territory's economic future.

"These grants will support local jobs, deliver economic opportunities in some of the Territory's most remote communities and boost capacity building initiatives for Aboriginal organisations," he said.

Gumatj Corporation will receive cash towards a cadastral survey, sub division and lease registration to support the space base.

There'll also be financial support for infrastructure works at the Hermannsburg Historical Precinct and funds for a resident business manager at Baniyala Garrangail Aboriginal Corporation for the next three years.

And Aboriginal Peak Organisation NT will receive money to strengthen governance and management in businesses.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's first visit to Victoria since he sparked a political barney over youth "gang" crime has descended into awkwardness.

At a joint press conference to announce funding for Geelong, acting premier James Merlino and Mr Turnbull sparred over the issue, which ignited on New Year's Day when Mr Turnbull accused the state of not doing enough to handle youth crime.

"If we are going to talk about law and order, it is important to get some facts on the table," Mr Merlino said as the Prime Minister laughed awkwardly next to him.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says sanctions on North Korea are starting to bite, as he prepares to discuss regional security with his Japanese counterpart.

Mr Turnbull will hold a day of talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, MPs and security officials in Tokyo on Thursday.

The meeting comes amid global concern about North Korea's continued missile testing and nuclear program.

"We have a number of major threats to security in the region, the largest looming of which right now is North Korea," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Geelong on Wednesday.

"Japan and Australia are absolutely united in our resolve to ensure that the global community brings the strongest ... economic sanctions to bear on North Korea, to ensure that that regime comes to its senses and stops its threatening and reckless conduct.

"Those economic sanctions are starting to bite."

He said economic sanctions remained the best prospect for a peaceful resolution of issues on the Korean peninsula in the near term.

Mr Turnbull said three years on from the free trade deal with Japan there had been strong growth in exports.

However, there was more work to do and the Trans-Pacific Partnership would be on the agenda for Thursday's talks.
The NSW government has warned it will throw the book at trucking companies and drivers doing the wrong thing following a spate of fatal crashes.

Authorities on Wednesday began investigating a transport company involved in Monday's fiery crash on the M1 south of Newcastle that killed a tanker driver.

Police and Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) officers were seen inspecting vehicles at Garousse's depot in Sydney's west.

Results of the compliance operation will be released later in the day, a police spokeswoman told AAP.

Five people have died in three separate crashes involving trucks on NSW roads since Monday.

Most recently, a man and a woman, both 19, were killed when a semi-trailer ploughed into cars stopped at roadworks on the Newell Highway near Dubbo on Tuesday afternoon.

The state's roads minister says authorities will be cracking down on heavy vehicles' safety compliance.

"We will be investigating thoroughly," Melinda Pavey told reporters.

"We won't be afraid to tackle those that are doing the wrong thing. It's not just the truck driver, it might be the company and it might be the person that we're supplying the goods to."

Ms Pavey is concerned about the 45 per cent increase in heavy vehicle accidents on the state's roads between 2016 and 2017.

She will be speaking with the national heavy vehicle regulator on Wednesday afternoon to find a way to address the issue.

"We need trucks on our roads but we need operators who are doing the right thing ... and at this point, I don't see that that is the majority of heavy vehicle providers and users in Australia," she said.

Two men also died after their trucks were involved in a head-on collision on the Gwydir Highway near Grafton on Monday afternoon.
He didn't want things to get awkward but that was wishful thinking from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his first visit to Victoria after starting an inter-government barney on youth "gangs".

By the time the PM uttered "we don't want to have an awkward discussion here" at a joint federal-state press conference on $20 million in funding for Geelong, things had already become awkward.

His first trip to the state after sparking the "gangs" argument from Sydney's Bondi beach was always likely to go this way.

Acting Premier James Merlino fired back, telling Mr Turnbull to call "mobster's mate" Matthew Guy and advise him to pass firearms legislation if he wants to help.

Mr Turnbull put his arms around the shorter politician and said "now James". The full exchange went for about 10 minutes.

The mess was to be expected. Canberra's need to tell Victoria what to do on everything from infrastructure funding to state policing feeds resentment and the state Labor government is sick of it.

Wednesday's press conference started with much agreement on how it's good for governments to work together and the funding for projects in Geelong was proof of that.

But judging by the way Mr Merlino and Mr Turnbull both pushed for the last word on youth "gangs" - an issue that is increasingly an abstract political one - it's hard to see co-operation continuing in a state election year.
World No.1 Simona Halep is really hoping history doesn't repeat itself.

The last time she squared off against Eugenie Bouchard at grand slam level - back in the Wimbledon semi-finals of 2014 - her hopes were cruelled by the most untimely of ankle injuries.

There have been plenty of similar occurrences in the intervening years, most recently in Tuesday's Australian Open first-round victory over local wildcard Destanee Aiava at Melbourne Park.

Halep required a medical time-out after badly rolling her left ankle, although she recovered well enough to win 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 and avoid a third straight opening-round loss at the Open.

The Romanian was reasonably confident she would recover well enough to take on Bouchard on Thursday.

"My first priority is always the health," said Halep, who estimated she had suffered at least five ankle injuries in 2017.

"In my opinion, I will be able to play.

"Just the ligaments is the problem all the time."

Halep and Bouchard - who are still chasing their maiden grand slam crowns - were both flying when they clashed in the last four at the All England Club in 2014.

The Romanian was fresh off her maiden appearance in a major final at the French Open, while Bouchard had already reached the semis at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros that year at the age of 20.

Then Halep rolled her ankle in the fourth game of the semi, opening the door for the Canadian to win in straight sets and advance to the final, where she lost to Petra Kvitova.

"I'm more than 50 per cent sure I was close to winning that match because I had confidence after Paris and I was feeling the ball pretty well," said Halep.

"Then it happened at the beginning of the match and I got scared like (against Aiava) as well.

"I always get scared when I have a little injury."

Having reached a career-high world ranking of five late in 2014, Bouchard has recently dropped outside the top 100.
Two prison officers have been hospitalised for smoke inhalation after an inmate reportedly set fire to a blanket in his cell at Parklea Correctional Centre in Sydney's northwest.

Paramedics are assessing more than 100 inmates and staff, with crews called to the site just before 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Two officers have been taken to hospital for observation with smoke inhalation, a spokesman for the centre's operator The GEO Group said in a statement.

"The officers quickly evacuated a unit of the centre to safeguard the inmates from any risk from the fire," he said.

An inmate has been segregated in the facility pending a police investigation.
An Irishman accused of assaulting police during Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations in 2009 has been nabbed after nearly 10 years on the run.

The 31-year-old handed himself in to immigration officials in Melbourne on Monday.

He was arrested and extradited to Sydney, where he has since been charged.

The Irish national, who allegedly overstayed his visa, is accused of four counts of assaulting police occasioning bodily harm, resisting arrest and offensive conduct at Rose Bay.

He has been refused bail to appear in Central Local Court on Wednesday.
Conservative senator Cory Bernardi has cobbled together a dinky-di soundtrack as debate rages over whether to change the date of Australia Day.

The Australian Conservatives are urging true blue supporters to vote for their favourite tracks by artists including Men at Work, Cold Chisel, John Farnham and Yothu Yindi.

"As taxpayer-funded Triple J and their 'Hottest 100' abandon our national day for political correctness, we're inviting you to cast your vote by telling us your favorite 3 tracks from our #AC100 playlist," the party posted on its website.
A chance one-off visit to the MCG as a spectator earlier this month could be the catalyst Nic Maddinson needs for an end-of-season charge in the Big Bash League.

Maddinson provided the highlight of the Sixers' otherwise dour season on Tuesday night in Melbourne, whacking a 23-ball half-century in his team's eight-wicket flogging of the Stars.

However, the foundations of that knock, he said, were borne out of a game two weeks earlier.

And he's hoping it will continue into Thursday night's SCG clash with the Brisbane Heat, who are sweating on the fitness of Joe Burns. He fell awkwardly in training and hurt his groin.

"We had a night in Melbourne so a few of us went over and watched the Stars and the Heat," Maddinson said.

"We get supplied with a lot of footage and vision on teams and stats and stuff. But there's nothing better than watching the actual game.

"You get a bit of a feel for who is bowling at certain times and how they close out overs when they're doing well and doing poorly.

"There's stuff you pick up that you might not see if you're just watching the footage from two weeks before."

Maddinson's knock on Tuesday night ended the Stars' finals hopes, just as the Sixers' final-ball win over the Sydney Thunder three nights earlier had done to their cross-town rivals.

A win over Brisbane will all but do likewise to the Heat, and Maddinson will have already formulated plans on how to get the best of their spin-centred attack after having also watched them up close in the January 2 fixture.

Maddinson has also made no secret of the fact he is confident against legspinners, having helped the Sixers take 25 from Daniel Fallins' two overs on Tuesday before being dismissed for 62 off just 31 balls.

"I think my highest strike rate in T20 is against leg spin," he said ahead of his tussles with Mitchell Swepson and Yasir Shah.

"So I think that's a pretty good match-up."

Maddinson also appeared to take a different approach into the Stars' game.

Out five times between 24 and 31 in the first seven games of the BBL, the 26-year-old took on a more carefree approach he hoped could continue if not walking to the crease with his team in early trouble.

"I wasn't scared about getting out last night," Maddinson said.

"At times throughout the tournament, I've been second-guessing myself at times in certain overs and almost weighing up the options rather than just backing the best option at that time against that bowler."
Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has again strongly denied inappropriate behaviour after a third woman reportedly came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment.

Fairfax Media reports a woman told investigators Mr Doyle allegedly touched her leg under the table and made offensive remarks to her at an awards ceremony in June 2016.

"As I have said previously, I strongly deny the suggestion that I behaved in an inappropriate manner. As these matters are being addressed within the confines of the investigation, it is not something on which I will comment further," Mr Doyle said in a statement on Wednesday.
An Australian man was "extremely infectious" with measles while on board a Melbourne-bound flight from Dubai last week, with fellow passengers being warned to be alert for symptoms.

The man in his 30s became unwell on the Emirates EK404 flight that landed in Melbourne on January 11 after departing Dubai the day before.

"People who were at Melbourne Airport last Thursday, particularly around the international baggage collection area, who develop illness over the next week should alert their doctor or hospital emergency department," Chief Health Officer Dr Brett Sutton said on Wednesday.
A child is lucky to have suffered only minor injuries after crashing into a pole during a water tubing ride on a river north of Sydney.

The 10-year-old girl was riding in an inflatable water ski tube with another girl on the Hawkesbury River when they fell and crashed through trees on Wednesday afternoon.

One girl was not injured but the 10-year-old's head struck a pole.

CareFlight's specialist doctor and critical care paramedic treated her at the scene for facial injuries.

A CareFlight spokesman said the girl was in a good condition considering what happened.

"She's very lucky," the spokesman told AAP.

She was airlifted to Westmead Children's Hospital in a stable condition.
No fix appears on the horizon for a notorious Perth rail bridge that 13 trucks have hit or been trapped under in the past year, with the WA government still deciding if it will be included in its key Metronet rail project.

One truck lost its roof while another was damaged but managed to reverse out after they separately struck the 3.8m Bayswater underpass on Monday, banking up traffic as they became its first victims of the new year.

The McGowan government made a pre-election pledge of $40 million to upgrade Bayswater train station, with a final design proposal at least several months away.

"I have asked to see what other warning systems we can put in place but also more generally as part of the connection of the Ellenbrook line into that area," Transport Minister Rita Saffioti told reporters.

"As part of the infrastructure works as part of the Ellenbrook line, we are looking at that whole area because there is no doubt that area will play a key role, in not only the Forrestfield rail line but also the Ellenbrook rail line."

Public Transport Authority spokesman David Hynes says it is "way too early" to say if the Ellenbrook line will have any impact on the bridge.

The Morley-Ellenbrook Line is in the preliminary stages of planning as the government conducts community consultation.

Mr Hynes says a lot of time and consideration has been spent tackling the problem.

"We've got fluorescent cross-hatching, LED lights ... I don't know how many signs" he told AAP.

"There's not a lot you can do about stupidity."

The bridge was painted with the red and white stripes in 2014 and there are more than 15 low clearance warning signs, including some lit up with flashing LED lights installed in 2017.

He said the PTA could seek damages from the two truck drivers.
MATCHES TO WATCH ON DAY FOUR OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN:

* 18-Ashleigh Barty (AUS) v Camila Giorgi (ITA)

Australia's top-ranked woman showed terrific mettle on Tuesday against big-hitting Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. But can she handle the heat of another ultra-aggressive opponent? Italian powerhouse Giorgi saw off Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens at the Sydney International before her semi-final defeat to Angelique Kerber, who went on to beat Barty in the final. Neither has made it past the third round at Melbourne Park.

* 14-Novak Djokovic (SRB) v Gael Monfils (FRA)

Six-time champion Djokovic enjoyed a smooth return to Melbourne Park on Tuesday, dropping just seven games during his defeat of American Donald Young. But his troublesome elbow is bound to be put to the test by flamboyant Frenchman Monfils, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2016. The world No.39 has never beaten his Serbian rival but this may be his best chance yet.

* 1-Simona Halep (ROU) v Eugenie Bouchard (CAN)

A tough second-round matchup for world No.1 Halep, who advanced with a straight-sets victory over Australian wildcard Destanee Aiava. The Romanian has grappled with ankle issues and needed a medical timeout during Tuesday's match. Bouchard has had a rough time of late, recently dropping out of the top 100. But the popular Canadian has form on the big stage against Halep, defeating her in the semi-final at Wimbledon in 2014 before losing to Petra Kvitova in the final.

* Maria Sharapova (RUS) v 14-Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)

In her third Australian Open campaign since coming back from retirement, Sevastova has the bad fortune to come up against a real threat in five-time grand slam champion Sharapova. The Russian missed last year's Open while serving a doping ban but looked in ominous form during her straight-sets win over German Tatjana Maria. Former champion Angelique Kerber could await the winner in the third round.

* Hyeon Chung (KOR) v Daniil Medvedev (RUS)

Two rising stars of the men's circuit go head to head in a tantalising glimpse of the future. World No.53 Medvedev is hot off claiming his first ATP singles title, having defeated Australian young gun Alex de Minaur in the Sydney International final. Fellow 21-year-old Chung was too good for Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round. The winner faces the prospect of a third-round showdown with German star Alexander Zverev.
Fish who live without fear of sharks have different body shapes, researchers have found, highlighting the impact of the ocean's top predator on marine ecosystems.

Samples of species collected from coral reefs subject to commercial shark fishing have shown the eyes and tails of fish are up to 46 to 40 per cent smaller respectively, as their need to detect and escape from predators has fallen.

"Eye size is critical for detecting predators," lead researcher Neil Hammerschlag said, "especially under low-light conditions when many sharks usually hunt, and tail shape enables burst speed and rapid escape."

The study reported the consequences of removing sharks from the ocean was increasingly recognised as far-reaching.

"There is an urgent need to understand the potential consequences of shark declines, especially on coral reefs that people rely heavily on for tourism, food and recreation," Associate Professor Hammerschlag said.

The University of Western Australia-led study examined 611 fish from seven species across the Rowley Shoals and Scott Reefs, off the coast of far north WA.

The pair of coral reefs would almost be identical except commercial shark fishing has been allowed at Scott Reefs for more than 100 years, decimating shark populations in recent years due to an increase in demand for shark fin soup.

UWA post-doctoral fellow Shanta Barley, who conducted the fieldwork, says a difference in fish body shapes could have consequences for energy flow down the food chain and lead to impacts on the whole ecosystem.
Daria Gavrilova has let a golden opportunity slip to move into the Australian Open third round, collapsing against Belgian Elise Mertens.

With the match starting one minute before midnight, Gavrilova raced to 5-0 in the first set but let Mertens back into the match, unable to convert any of her eight set points for a 7-5 6-3 scoreline.

The Australian was further rocked in the second set when, trailing at 2-4, she tried to challenge an incorrect ruling but umpire Aurelie Tourte said she was too late.
Two days after Sydney's train workers announced they would strike for 24 hours, talks between unions and rail management are expected to reconvene.

More than 9000 train workers are due to strike on Monday, January 29, as their union pushes for a six per cent pay rise over four years.

Unions NSW are representing several parties involved in the dispute - including the Rail, Tram and Bus Union - and will meet with Sydney Trains management on Thursday in an attempt to strike a deal.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance says the government will not budge from a 2.5 per cent increase, which is in line with their public sector wages cap.

Unions have accused Mr Constance of being extremely difficult to deal with.

"We expect him to come to the party and negotiate it and stop calling people names and actually act like a minister and do his job," Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey told AAP.

On Wednesday, opposition leader Luke Foley called on the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to sideline her transport minister.

"I'm not a fan of a strike, I want to see that strike called off, but what that will take is the intervention of the premier," Mr Foley told reporters.

"There's plenty of middle ground here but a belligerent transport minister has inflamed rather than resolved the situation."

The strike plan follows a horror week for Sydney's rail network, which left thousands of commuters stranded in peak hour last Tuesday.
A Good Samaritan who had his car stolen as he helped an autistic child off a busy Melbourne road has been praised by the boy's mum.

Three men stopped in traffic to help the 14-year-old who was weaving in and out of cars on Rosamond Road after running away from his West Footscray home on Tuesday.

"We're just indebted to those guys," mum Jennifer Mills told reporters on Wednesday.

She said her son, Darcy, was a "master escapologist" who bolted from the house after finding an unlocked door and ran several kilometres away.

But one of the three men, Aaron, had his new Ford Ranger stolen while helping the boy off the road.

"These people are just amazing and it's very heartening for us as a family," Ms Mills said.

While Aaron hopes his car will be recovered, he doesn't regret helping the young boy, who he believes could have been killed.

"The car doesn't mean anything to me," he told reporters.

"What was more important to me was that that kid didn't get hit by a car.

Aaron's house keys, wallet and laptop were inside the ute and $2000 was spent on his credit card before he could cancel it.

A 51-year-old North Melbourne man has been charged with two counts of motor vehicle theft and four counts of obtaining property by deception.

He will face Melbourne Magistrate's Court on April 12.
NSW residents have been warned to prepare for severe heatwave conditions in the coming days.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of extremely hot conditions across much of the state from Friday to Sunday, and severe fire danger warnings have been issued for several regions including Sydney.

Forecaster Jonathan How says the hot weather is the result of a hot air mass making its way through the south eastern part of Australia.

Temperatures are set to soar in western NSW on Thursday with Wentworth reaching 42C and Broken Hill reaching 41C.

But the real heat is set to hit on Friday and on the weekend as much of the state swelters in temperatures in the high 30s, with parts of NSW reaching the mid-40s, Mr How said on Wednesday.

On Saturday the mercury is forecast to reach 45C at Hay and Ivanhoe in western NSW and 43C in Penrith in western Sydney.

Ivanhoe will again swelter on Sunday with temperatures rising to 46C while Scone in the Hunter region reaches 44C.

"Particularly Sydney is going to see some very hot temperatures in the western suburbs," Mr How said.

"Penrith and Richmond have already seen eight days above 40C so far this summer so they're well on the way to beating the all-time record of 12 days over 40C."

The NSW Rural Fire Service has issued a severe fire danger warning for Sydney, the central ranges, northwestern NSW, the Illawarra, the Hunter and the southern and northern slopes on Thursday.

"The forecast heatwave will elevate the risk of fire and total fire bans are likely to be declared for some areas, so I urge landholders, homeowners, businesses and holidaymakers to consider how they will be impacted and begin making their preparations today," NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said in a statement.
Forty-one years ago 83 people were killed and another 213 injured when a NSW commuter train derailed and struck the Bold Street bridge near Granville railway station.

The 170-tonne concrete bridge collapsed on the packed train, which was travelling to Sydney from Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains, crushing the third and fourth carriages on January 18, 1977.

Victims received little assistance in the aftermath of the crash, while subsequent inquiries revealed an alarming lack of maintenance on ageing infrastructure.

Last year, on the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Transport Minister Andrew Constance made a long-awaited apology to the survivors, emergency workers and relatives affected by the rail disaster.

"I express my genuine, heartfelt sorrow for the terrible trauma you suffered at the time and the devastating pain and loss that you have had to live with for many years," Ms Berejiklian told the packed public gallery at NSW parliament.

The premier acknowledged the apology had come 40 years too late.
Ashleigh Barty's showdown with Camila Giorgi is set to headline a stacked day-four line-up at the Australian Open with the temperature set to soar at Melbourne Park.

Barty will walk onto Rod Laver Arena on Thursday evening as Australia's last remaining female hope following Daria Gavrilova's 7-5 6-3 overnight defeat to Belgian Elise Mertens.

Australia's top-ranked woman showed impressive poise to outlast hard-hitting Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in three sets on Tuesday night.

Italian powerhouse Giorgi is likely to present 18th seed Barty with a similar physical challenge and has the recent form to suggest she's capable of a boilover.

The world No.71 saw off Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens at the Sydney International before her semi-final defeat to Angelique Kerber, who went on to beat Barty in the final.

Barty prevailed in each of their meetings last year but the 21-year-old said it was clear Giorgi had since lifted her game.

"I think in my eyes it's been massive improvements," Barty said.

"It's been no secret, especially on serve.

"I feel like I've got a reasonably clear plan to play Giorgi. Even with some of the improvements she's had, hopefully my game has improved as well."

With the mercury forecast to reach 39C on Thursday Maria Sharapova, Garbine Muguruza and 2016 champion Kerber are all set to swelter through afternoon matches.

Sharapova comes up against Latvian 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova as she continues her quest for a sixth grand slam title after serving a lengthy doping ban.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Muguruza takes on Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh while Kerber will meet Croatian Donna Vekic.

World No.1 Simona Halep, who has been grappling with an ankle issue, faces a tough second-round opponent in former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard on Margaret Court Arena.

On the men's side, six-time champion Novak Djokovic's troublesome elbow is set to be put the test by 2016 quarter-finalist Gael Monfils.

The flamboyant Frenchman has never beaten his Serbian rival at tour level but may have his best chance yet with Djokovic on the comeback trail from a six-month injury lay-off.

Title favourite Roger Federer rounds out the action on Rod Laver Arena against German Jan-Lennard Struff.
Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally looks set to snare a Senate seat vacated by Sam Dastyari, after her two main rivals for the plum spot dropped out.

Union bosses Tony Sheldon and Tara Moriarty - the two strongest potential contenders - have decided not to stand for the position, The Australian reports.

This leaves Ms Keneally contesting the post against two former state MPs, Virginia Judge and Barry Collier.

Ms Keneally indicated her interest in the Senate vacancy to Labor Party officials on Wednesday.

"Over the coming days I will be speaking with rank-and-file members of the NSW ALP and affiliated trade unions to the Labor Party to seek their support," she told Fairfax Media.

"I respect the ALP's nomination process and will work within it to earn the backing of our party's members and the affiliated trade unions."

Nominations formally open next week and close on February 1, with the party's administrative committee to confirm who fills the vacancy the following day.

Mr Dastyari announced he was quitting politics late last year amid scrutiny of his dealings with a Chinese businessman and political donor.

Ms Keneally failed in her bid to take the federal seat of Bennelong in a December by-election, but Labor sources say she has been keen for some time to move to Canberra.
Despite chalking up a second-round victory Nick Kyrgios' love affair with Hisense Arena is dimming with the Australian No.1 declaring he is ready to take centre stage.

Kyrgios swept into a third-round Australian Open meeting with Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after accounting for Serbian veteran Viktor Troicki 7-5 6-4 7-6 (7-2).

The match was plagued with disruptions including a heckler who was ejected, a hovering helicopter and problems with the PA system which saw the umpire's microphone shut down as well as all audio on the court including music.

With Hisense lacking the usual upbeat vibe that Kyrgios thrives on, he said he felt like he was playing at a different tournament.

"I felt like the atmosphere completely changed," Kyrgios said.

"When you've got the microphones working, the music and stuff kind of puts you in a rhythm every game and I kind of lost my rhythm a little bit."

While Kyrgios loves the familiarity of the smaller venue he wants his match-up with Tsonga to be played on the ticketed Rod Laver Arena.

"I think I'm ready for it," Kyrgios said.

"I played a lot of matches on Rod Laver, I've hit on it a lot of times."

Kyrgios said his first memory of Rod Laver Arena was his victory in the 2013 Australian Open boys singles final over countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis.

"Rod Laver is one of the best stadiums in the world," he said.

"I remember the first time I played a match there, it was my junior final and I played well so I think I'll be fine on it."
Malcolm Turnbull and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe are set to bond over blast-resistant military vehicles made in country Victoria as the pair forge ahead with closer defence ties between Canberra and Tokyo.

The prime minister is visiting Japan for annual leaders talks on Thursday.

Mr Turnbull is expected to visit a Japanese Self Defence Forces base outside of Tokyo, where he'll inspect Bushmaster vehicles, made by Thales in Bendigo, Victoria.

Japan has already purchased four Bushmasters and four more have been ordered - representing Canberra's biggest defence export to Tokyo.

During the visit, Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe are likely to make progress on finalising a "visiting forces agreement" which will be signed later this year.

The agreement sets out the legal status for military personnel visits, moving equipment and weapons.

Under the deal Japanese troops could conduct military exercises out of Darwin - almost 76 years after Japan's air force bombed the city in World War II.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program is also expected to be canvassed during the bilateral meeting.

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles over Japan last year.

Mr Turnbull is adamant economic sanctions remain the best prospect for a peaceful resolution of tension on the Korean peninsula in the near term.

"Those economic sanctions are starting to bite," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Geelong on Wednesday ahead of the visit.

Trade and investment are also a key focus of the trip.

Mr Turnbull and Mr Abe have been champions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which was thrust into limbo when President Donald Trump withdrew the US.

There were hopes the agreement could be revived at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam last year, without the US.

However, Canada threw a spanner in the works at the last moment when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to show up to a critical meeting.

"I'm hopeful that the work that our officials are doing, that we can get Canada... to the finish line, in the not too distant future," Trade Minister Steve Ciobo told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

But getting Canada to return to the TPP party just got more difficult as Canberra uncorks a wine war with Ottawa.
Many Australians aren't worried about changing the national day of commemoration from January 26, a new poll shows.

There's been a renewed push to change the date, which marks European arrival in Australia, because it is painful for many indigenous people.

The Australia Institute conducted a poll of 1417 people about their attitude to Australia Day.

"This polling shows that while Australia Day is important to most Australians, most people are laid back about the date we celebrate on," Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of the institute said on Thursday.

"When asked to choose which date Australia Day should be celebrated on, less than a quarter chose the current date from a range of options."

Half agreed that Australia Day should not be on a day that is offensive to indigenous Australians, while 36 per cent disagreed.

However, only 37 per cent agreed that the current date of Australia Day was offensive to indigenous Australians, while 46 per cent disagreed.
Best friends of a young British backpacker found dead in an inner Sydney apartment in a gruesome murder-suicide involving an older Nepalese man are in shock.

The bodies of 22-year-old Amelia Blake and another man in his 30s were discovered at a Newtown unit on Friday afternoon after concerns were raised for the pair's welfare.

Ms Blake had spent most of her time in Australia working on a farm in Victoria, and had plans to head to Tasmania, NewsCorp Australia reports.

Friends in the UK have written on social media after learning of Ms Blake's death.

"We couldn't believe the news ... absolutely devastating and just can't get our head around it. She was the most incredible girl," Ellie Mackness wrote on Facebook on Thursday. .

Ms Blake's best friend Rhys James Collington said they had been best friends since they were four years old.

"This has broken my heart into a million pieces ... it's almost unimaginable that I'll never see you again, my dear friend," Mr Collington posted on Facebook.

According to NewsCorp, Ms Blake was killed by the Nepalese man who she had just started dating.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed it was providing support to the family of Ms Blake.

"Our staff are in contact with the New South Wales police," the FCO spokesman told AAP in a statement on Sunday.

A strikeforce was established to investigate the circumstances of their deaths with a murder-suicide a line of inquiry being investigated, a NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP on Sunday.

Post-mortems have been carried out on both the bodies, a police spokeswoman told AAP on Thursday.
The Department of Justice said Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, grew up in the United States and served in the US Army before joining the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in 1994

US authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former CIA agent, Hong Kong resident Jerry Chun Shing Lee, after discovering he had an unauthorized notebook that had the identities of undercover US spies.

Lee, a naturalized US citizen also known as Zhen Cheng Li, was arrested late Monday after he arrived at JFK International Airport in New York.

The Department of Justice said Lee, 53, grew up in the United States and served in the US Army before joining the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in 1994.

He served in unnamed overseas locations and left the agency in 2007, later apparently taking a job in Hong Kong.

In a complaint filed in a New York federal court, the Justice Department said that in 2012, FBI agents with court-ordered warrants secretly searched Lee's luggage while he was travelling in the United States and found he was carrying top secret materials he was not authorized to have.

"Agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities," the Justice Department said.

Lee was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, a charge that can bring up to 10 years in prison.

Officials did not say why it took so long to bring charges against Lee, or whether he had leaked any materials to foreign countries.

But the case takes place amid concern in the US intelligence community that the Chinese government has been able to cripple their operations in that country.

The New York Times reported last year that starting in 2010, to the end of 2012, the Chinese killed "at least a dozen" sources the CIA had inside China and imprisoned six or more others.

A hunt for a "mole" in the agency led to one person, a "former operative" now living elsewhere in Asia, the Times said. But there was not enough information to arrest him.

But others in the agency blamed sloppy work and not a mole, the Times added.

Asked about the case at a regular press briefing in Beijing Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: "I'm not aware of the information you've mentioned."
A Gazan woman picks up a food parcel from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees which says it faces its worst funding crisis ever after the White House froze tens of millions of dollars in contributions

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Wednesday it faced its worst funding crisis ever after the White House froze tens of millions of dollars in contributions, a move Palestinian leaders decried as cruel and blatantly biased.

The agency provides Palestinian refugees and their descendants across the Middle East with services including schools and medical care, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused it of hostility toward Israel and called for its closure.

Some five million Palestinians are eligible for its services.

On Tuesday, the United States held back $65 million that had been destined for the agency, two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened future payments.

The United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

"The US has announced it will contribute $60 million to the programme budget. There is for the moment no other indication of possible funding," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.

"This dramatically reduced contribution results in the most severe funding crisis in the history of the agency."

He added that "stability in the Middle East is what we are talking about and the potential impact of UNRWA being destabilised is very likely to be widespread, profound, unpredictable and catastrophic."

Senior Palestinian officials reacted with outrage to what they see as another move against them by Trump's White House following his declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinian refugees

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the freeze amounted to "cruelty" toward a "vulnerable population".

The Palestinian envoy to Washington, Husam Zomlot, said: "Palestinian refugees and children's access to basic humanitarian services, such as food, health care and education, is not a bargaining chip but a US and international obligation."

Palestinian officials also accused Trump of chipping away at issues long considered up for negotiation as part of a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the status of Jerusalem and the plight of refugees.

Around 500 people protested in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday against the freeze.

"Of course this decision will have negative effects and the reduction of the aid will impact our health, our education," Ibtisam al-Sisi, in her 50s, said at the protest.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the court ruling. "Our message is clear: whoever attacks IDF (Israeli army) soldiers will pay a heavy price," he tweeted.

France meanwhile said it "regrets" the US move and was in contact with Washington about it.

- 'Why should we?' -

The funding freeze comes with relations between the Palestinians and Washington already on the brink.

On Sunday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas denounced Trump's peace efforts as the "slap of the century," while Palestinian leaders have threatened to suspend their recognition of Israel.

US State Department officials insisted the decision to freeze the funding was taken not to pressure Palestinian leaders but to encourage other countries to help pay for and reform UNRWA.

But the call came after a behind-the-scenes tussle between hawks who want to cut all aid to Palestinians and officials concerned about the humanitarian and diplomatic fallout.

The State Department said $60 million of what had been a planned $125 million package would go through to keep the agency running, but the rest will be withheld for now.

UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl expressed alarm and immediately called on other UN members to contribute.

Krahenbuhl said the $60 million would keep schools and hospitals open for now, but noted that it was dramatically less than the $350 million Washington paid during 2017.

A man pushes a cart loaded with sacks of food provided by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in Gaza City on January 17, 2018

The State Department's position raised scepticism in the light of tweets sent by Trump on January 2, at the time when the $125 million contribution had been due to be paid.

"We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect," Trump said.

"They don't even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel," he protested, adding: "Why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?"

- Vulnerable populations -

Following Trump's outburst, it was reported that his ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had been pushing for a complete end to US support for UNRWA.

But the United States is the biggest single source of funding for the agency, and other US officials opposed an immediate and total suspension.

Israel welcomed the freeze as a victory.

Its UN envoy Danny Danon alleged the agency misuses aid and "supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Palestinian refugees and encourages hate."

Netanyahu said during a trip to India that "this is the first time that UNRWA is being challenged," Israeli media reported.

"For 70 years, this organisation has been perpetuating the situation of Palestinian refugees and the narrative of the abolition of Zionism."

A Palestinian woman and child leave the UNRWA distribution centre in Al-Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, where more than two-thirds of the two million strong population are dependent on international aid

But many analysts, including Israelis, warn closing or crippling the agency without an effective replacement could lead to further poverty and perhaps violence.

Netanyahu said "there is always a certain amount of risk" with such decisions.

UNRWA has provided health care, emergency aid and schooling to Palestinians since 1950.

It was formed in the wake of Israel's creation in 1948 and the war surrounding it, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were either forced from their homes or fled.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "very concerned" by reports of the freeze.

"UNRWA is not a Palestinian institution, but a UN institution," he said.

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Russell M. Nelson (C) is the 17th president of the Mormon church

Russell M. Nelson addressed Mormon faithful Tuesday in his first public remarks as the 17th president of the church, succeeding Thomas Monson who died earlier this month.

Nelson made "a historic live broadcast Tuesday," the church said, telling members that "whatever your concerns, whatever your challenges, there is a place for you in this, the Lord's Church."

He had been "sustained and set apart as the 17th president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ" two days earlier, it said.

Nelson had been a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1984 and had served as the president of the body -- which selects the head of the church -- since 2015.

He is also "an internationally renowned surgeon and medical researcher," the church said in its biography of Nelson, who is considered both president and prophet by Mormons.

Founded in 1830 by American pioneer Joseph Smith, the Mormon church considers itself a Christian body, but bases its doctrines on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus Christ than that recorded in the Bible.

Smith said he received the content of the book on gold tablets during a vision of an angel called Moroni in 1827.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon church is officially known, claims a total membership of more than 15.8 million people.

Nelson's predecessor Monson, who had headed the church since 2008, died in the US state of Utah at age 90.
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was jailed for three months Wednesday

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was jailed for three months Wednesday for obstructing clearance of a major encampment during mass pro-democracy protests in 2014, the second time he has been imprisoned over the rallies.

Wong, 21, who had pleaded guilty to the contempt charge, was already on bail pending an appeal over a six- month sentence for another offence related to the Umbrella Movement.

It comes as some fear prison terms for leading campaigners are discouraging young people from expressing their views and muzzling freedom of speech in the semi-autonomous city, where there are growing signs that China is increasing its control.

Fellow activist Raphel Wong was jailed for four months and 15 days Wednesday over the same incident.

Ahead of the hearing, Joshua Wong -- who became the teenage face of the Umbrella Movement -- said he had "no regrets" about his involvement.

"They can lock up our bodies but they can't lock up our minds," he told reporters.

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the High Court, chanting: "Civil disobedience, no fear!" and "I'm a Hong Konger, I want universal suffrage!"

The Umbrella Movement was an unprecedented rebuke to Beijing as tens of thousands of protesters brought parts of the city to a standstill demanding fully free leadership elections to replace a system where the chief executive is selected by a pro-Beijing committee.

They failed to win concessions and since then leading activists have been charged over their involvement.

Beijing has been further incensed by the emergence of some activists calling for independence for Hong Kong since the failure of the Umbrella Movement to win reform.

Wong's party Demosisto wants self-determination for the city.

Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal since 1997, when Britain handed the territory back to China.

The agreement allows citizens rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and a partially directly elected parliament, as well as an independent judiciary.
Thousands of clothing manufacturing workers have been made redundant in the country, where unemployment is at nearly 30 percent, forcing the government to intervene

South Africa is fighting to revive its frayed clothing industry, once a crucial provider of jobs in a country suffering from high unemployment, as a flood of cheap imports forces local factories to shutter and lay off workers.

Once the economic lifeblood of many small regional towns, the abundance of cheaper products from China has led to the loss of nearly two-thirds of the sector's jobs over the past two decades.

"After being employed for 22 years we were informed that the factory would close down in eight weeks," said Vimla Padayachee, 46, who lost her job three years ago.

The clothing factory in Verulam, north of the port city of Durban, shut down after years of battling low demand for its products.

"A person of my age is not likely to get another job again, and so are my colleagues," she said.

The former seamstress is one of thousands of clothing sector workers who have been made redundant, in a country where official unemployment is nearly 30 percent.

The dire situation forced the government to intervene while business has called for a radical policy overhaul to stem the crisis.

Inside a bustling factory in Maitland near Cape Town, workers bowed in front of rows of whirring sewing machines, stitching at a brisk pace to fulfil daily orders from a local chain store.

It is one of the producers benefitting from government grants and loans designed to help companies recapitalise their operations.

- 'Amazing potential' -

"We've had a very rocky ride, and we have lost ground to the rest of the world," said Christopher Kinross, who runs a clothing company that bears his name and employs 253 people. "The industry is stagnant at the moment."Kinross, who has been in the industry for more than 50 years, said the government's scheme had brought "some stability".

But he stresses that more had to be done to promote competition and create jobs.

"There is no doubt that there is a will to help the industry... but the problems go beyond the influx of imports," said Kinross.

One of the main challenges facing the industry is a tax on importing raw materials essential for manufacturers.

"We pay 22 percent duty on imported fabrics... if they remove that duty, our businesses could grow in a spectacular fashion," he said.

"The industry has an amazing potential to create jobs but that is not happening."

Years of talks to remove the duty have been unsuccessful and there are no quotas on clothing imports.

South Africa's textiles and clothing sector contributes 3.3 percent to the nation's overall economic output -- and is heavily reliant on domestic consumption.

Foreign investment in apparel has repeatedly bypassed South Africa and instead gone to Lesotho, Swaziland and Madagascar, among other African nations.

"We pay wage levels that are relatively high for clothing manufacturing countries," said Kinross.

As much as 45 percent of sector income is spent on labour costs, he added.

Only textile businesses that agree to pay a minimum wage set by the government qualify for official assistance.

The support for the industry has been running for six years, supporting 505 beneficiaries and distributing 5.3 billion rand ($390 million).

- 'Devastation' in local industry -

"Whatever is needed to be done to protect the industry, it must be done," said Rob Davies, the trade minister.

"But it should be in the interest of industry development and to improve the local supplier base."

The arrival of giant international "fast fashion" brands such as H&M and Zara opened another front in the battle being fought by South African clothing manufacturers.

Fast fashion retailers, which largely source their products from outside South Africa, have aggressively expanded in the country in recent years -- denting sales of locally made garments.

In November, the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers Union staged protests outside malls across the country to pressure retailers to buy locally.

"These foreign retailers cause fewer orders in South African factories which contributes to local (redundancies) and factory closures," the union said.

Despite the challenges facing the sector, but the green shoots of recovery are starting to be seen.

"In almost 15 years we have probably lost somewhere between around 160,000 - 170,000 jobs, but from around 2011 (job losses) began to taper off -- and within the last 18 months we have seen it pick up," said Simon Appel, an industry researcher.

"A decline in retail sales is causing a devastation in the local industry," he said, adding that boosting exports would be vital to turning around the situation.

"Our industry is struggling to break back into the export market."
The helicopter should soon join the Indian military's fleet, with a contract under discussion for a long time, including at recent meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

As a helicopter buzzes in circles despite a blizzard, thousands are busy working in the huge hangars of a Siberia-based aircraft maker, eager to win a contract with India that would be a major coup for Russia's defence industry.

"It can drop to minus 40 degrees in winter or soar to plus 40 (40-104 Fahrenheit) in summer here, allowing us to test the machines in extreme conditions," chief engineer Sergei Solomin said as he walked on the frozen tarmac, a fur hat keeping him warm.

Launched in 1939 in the main city of Russia's Buryatia region that lies on Lake Baikal and the border with Mongolia, the factory belonging to the Russian Helicopters holding company once churned out thousands of Mi-8 helicopters popular in many different countries -- but also washing machines.

Today the facility is focusing on the Ka-266T, a model which instead of a tail rotor uses two top-mounted rotors that turn in opposite directions.

Russian Helicopters says this makes the light helicopter more manoeuvrable and better able to hover, which makes it suitable for a number of civilian uses including for search and rescue operations and medical transport.

The Ka-266T has engines manufactured by France's Safran that allow the helicopter to land safely if one fails.

The helicopter could soon join the Indian military's fleet, with long-running contract discussions, including at recent meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The deal is of key importance for Russia, which has invested in modernising its army and defence industry in recent years.

As the world's top importer of military equipment, India is a key partner of Russia, the second-largest arms exporter.

Moscow has carved itself a niche as a weapons supplier to developing countries, with sales unfettered by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

"We are finalising the contract with the Indian defence ministry," Russian Helicopters chief executive Andrei Boginsky told journalists visiting the site recently.

He said he hoped the deal would be signed "at the beginning of 2018" and production launched later this year, but did not give any financial details.

Over the following nine years, 60 Ka-266Ts would be built in Russia and 140 more in India, as part of a joint venture, with the possibility of export to third countries.

Russian Helicopters sees China and Iran as potential markets for the Ka-266T.

- Squirrels, Hoodlums and the Terminator -

The Ulan-Ude factory has a rich history.

Built in the middle of the country to be out of reach of potential enemies, it has produced space rockets and aircraft, and even household appliances.

"After the war, the Soviet Union lacked everything, so the factory started to produce household items: cutlery, appliances... We made washing machines up until 2000," said factory administrator Andrei Chirkov, showing off the plant's museum.

He praised the "indestructible" machines called "Belka" (Squirrel) still washing Russian laundry to this day.

These days the factory just produces civilian and military helicopters. Only about 50 are made annually, down from 300 during the facility's Soviet heyday. The oil industry has been a leading customer of the civilian models.

"This one was nicknamed Terminator," Chirkov says motioning at a massive Mi-8 that was launched into production in the 1960s and since then has been exported around the globe.

Although Russian Helicopters boasts about the Ka-226T's potential in civilian roles, the potential deal with New Delhi would see the helicopter mainly used by the Indian military, which wants to replace its ageing fleet.

The Russian military also flies an earlier versions of the Ka-226, dubbed the Hoodlum by NATO.

Russian Technologies, or Rostec, a giant military-industrial conglomerate uniting Russian factories, has announced its intention to increase production of civilian products to 50 percent by 2025, focusing on exports.

Rostec, a state corporation, and its chief executive Sergei Chemezov, are both currently under Western sanctions. It hopes to concentrate on the Asian market, given its difficulties with European sales.

In November, the organisers of the Farnborough airshow in Britain announced they would not include Russian military aircraft in the 2018 show.

Russian Helicopters' CEO shrugged this off.

"The exhibition attracts mostly neighbouring countries, and northern Europe is not a very important area for us," said Boginsky. "There are other shows."
Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Trump, arrives in Congress Tuesday to testify to a closed-door meeting of the House Intelligence Committee

Former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon Tuesday refused to answer questions from a congressional committee probing the president's campaign links to Russia, saying he was under orders from the White House not to.

Bannon was quizzed voluntarily behind closed doors by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, the first time he has testified in the probe investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in its bid to influence the 2016 US elections.

It was unlikely to be Bannon's last such testimony: the New York Times and the Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Bannon has been subpoenaed by Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel investigating the same issue.

That made Bannon the first person from Trump's inner circle to receive a grand jury subpoena from Mueller in the probe, which is also looking at whether Trump has tried to obstruct the investigation.

When appearing before the Intelligence Committee, Bannon refused to answer a number of questions, citing "executive privilege" allowing the president to keep information from the public.

"Steve Bannon and his attorney asserted a remarkably broad definition of executive privilege," Representative Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the committee, said on CNN.

Factfile on row over the book "Fire and Fury", in which Steve Bannon reportedly describes President Trump's eldest son's meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer as 'treasonous'

"Now remember, it's the president who has the executive privilege and so they went back, conferred with the White House, and the White House said that anything that happened, any communications that happened while Steve Bannon was in the White House or during the transition, any communications were off limits," Himes said.

- 'Gag order' -

"There were an awful lot of questions we weren't able to answer based on this novel theory of executive privilege," he said.

The committee itself eventually subpoenaed Bannon for refusing to answer its questions, reports said. Still, he again balked after the White House was consulted, said Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee.

Bannon "got the same instruction back again. Basically, 'we don't care whether it's under compulsory process or a voluntary basis -- we're instructing you, effectively putting in place a gag rule,'" said Schiff.

The unrestricted testimony of Trump's estranged political strategist could be explosive: he had a front-row seat as chief executive of the 2016 election campaign in its final months, and as a top policy advisor in the first seven months of the administration.

President Donald Trump brought Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway on to his then floundering campaign at the suggestion of the Mercer family

An incendiary book released last week, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," by Michael Wolff, quoted Bannon as saying that a pre-election meeting involving Trump's eldest son Donald Jr. and a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer was "treasonous."

Wolff, who painted a picture of an erratic and poorly informed president, was given substantial access to the White House during Trump's first year by Bannon.

A hard-line nationalist who sought to shake up US domestic and foreign policy, Bannon, 64, was forced out as Trump's chief strategist in August.

His actions since then -- most notably supporting the failed Senate campaign of Alabama Republican Roy Moore, but also his comments in the Wolff book -- have left him increasingly isolated in conservative circles.

Last week he stepped down from Breitbart News, which he had helped make a powerful conservative force, and he lost the support of the Mercer family, wealthy conservative power brokers.

Underscoring the break, Trump said Bannon had "lost his mind" and branded him "Sloppy Steve" via Twitter.
Some of the refugees have been living in Bangladesh for many years, but the repatriation agreement only covers those who have arrived since October 2016

Bangladesh has counted more than a million Rohingya refugees living in camps near the border with Myanmar, higher than previous estimates, the head of its registration project said Wednesday as preparations for their return got under way.

The Bangladesh army began biometric registering of the refugees last year after the latest mass influx of Rohingya from Myanmar, where the Muslim minority have faced decades of persecution.

The registration is aimed partly at aiding repatriation of the refugees -- a controversial issue as most say they do not want to return.

Bangladesh says it wants to start sending them home next week and has reached an initial agreement with Myanmar to complete the process within two years.

"So far we've registered 1,004,742 Rohingya. They are given biometric registration cards," said Saidur Rahman, a brigadier general with the Bangladesh army who heads the Rohingya registration project.

Several thousand more have yet to be registered, he said.

The figures are higher than those provided by the UN, which estimates there are 962,000 Rohingya living in southeast Bangladesh, near the Myanmar border.

That includes the 655,000 the UN estimates have entered the country since August 25, when the Myanmar military launched a violent crackdown in Rakhine state following attacks by Rohingya militants.

Doctors Without Borders has said at least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims were killed in the first month of the crackdown.

Refugees in Bangladesh have alleged mass rape and widespread arson at the hands of soldiers and the Buddhist majority in Rakhine.

Some of the refugees have been living in Bangladesh for many years, but the repatriation agreement only covers those who have arrived since October 2016.

The two sides said on Tuesday they have agreed to complete the repatriation within a two-year period, the first concrete timeline given for the refugees' return.

On Wednesday a Bangladesh official told AFP thousands of Rohingya stranded in no man's land since the latest violence erupted would be among the first to return under the agreement with Myanmar.

"What we've proposed to them is that they start with some 6,500 who have been stranded for a long time in no man's land," said the official, who asked not to be named.

Rights groups and the UN have expressed serious reservations about starting the process, particularly as Rohingya are still fleeing Rakhine.

There are also questions marks over where returning refugees would live after many of their homes were burned to the ground.

"With memories of rape, killing and torture still fresh in the minds of Rohingya refugees, plans for their return to Myanmar are alarmingly premature," James Gomez, Amnesty International's regional director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said on Tuesday.

"The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist."
An elderly Thai historian who cast doubt on the official telling of a 16th century elephant duel was accused of insulting the monarchy, but a court threw out the case on Wednesday

A Thai court has dropped a case against an elderly historian accused of insulting the monarchy when he questioned official accounts of a 16th-century elephant battle.

Thailand's strict lese majeste law carries a maximum sentence of 15 years per charge.

Prosecutions have surged under an ultra-royalist Thai military who seized power more than three years ago.

Wearing his trademark brimmed hat and walking with a cane, 85-year-old Sulak Sivaraksa welcomed the decision by a Bangkok military court to drop proceedings against him.

But Sulak was unapologetic over comments made at a 2014 seminar that took issue with the official narrative surrounding an elephant-mounted duel between a Thai king and Burmese crown prince said to have taken place more than 400 years ago.

"I stand by the facts, I stand by the truth. I don't stand by falsehoods," he said.

"Everything is clear and they will instruct the police station not to pursue me any further."

His case stunned observers as it revolved around the notion of defaming royals who have been dead for centuries.

Sulak has pointed out that the law, known in the criminal code simply as 112, covers only the king, queen, heir apparent and regent.

At court on Wednesday he said that the application of 112 in Thailand today had gone "too far".

"That law has to be changed," he said, adding that he believed the case was dropped thanks to the "grace" of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Vajiralongkorn took the throne in 2016 following the death of his revered father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for seven decades.

Sulak has been charged by police four times before under the royal insult law but the cases have never gone to court.

He remains, however, an outspoken critic of the junta, saying free expression comes with consequences.

Earlier this month, a blind woman was jailed for 18 months for sharing an allegedly defamatory post on Facebook.

Most lese majeste cases are shrouded in secrecy and heard in closed-door trials.

Defendants are rarely granted bail or acquitted, leading many to plead guilty in exchange for lesser punishments.
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Legendary Wallaby George Smith has been arrested in Tokyo, police said Wednesday, after he allegedly refused to pay his taxi fare and then assaulted the driver.

The 37-year-old flanker is suspected of running away from a taxi without paying roughly 10,000 yen (US$90) for the fare near his home in the small hours of December 31, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

The driver chased Smith, who then allegedly punched the driver in his face, causing "injuries that require two weeks to fully heal," police spokesman Naoto Wakabayashi told AFP.

Smith, who is now playing for Japan's Suntory Sungoliath team, was drunk at the time and was arrested on the spot by a police officer, the spokesman said.

He denies the allegations, but is still in police custody, Wakabayashi said.

Smith, who won 111 caps, is seen as a Wallaby great and twice won the prestigious John Eales Medal for best Australian rugby player.

Beverage giant Suntory, which runs the team, apologised over the incident in a brief statement.

"We sincerely apologise to the victim and other parties concerned. We are also sorry for causing concern and trouble to many people in the public," Suntory said.

Suntory officials said they were not aware of further details about the case.
Saudi forces keep watch along the border with Yemen from where there have been repeated rebel missile attacks on the kingdom since November

Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it had intercepted a fresh missile attack by Yemeni rebels on the south of the kingdom and renewed its accusations that arch-foe Iran had armed them.

The Huthi rebels said on their Al-Masirah television channel that they had fired two missiles at Saudi border provinces but there was no immediate mention of a second from the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting them since 2015.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said that Saudi air defences had intercepted one missile over Jizan province on the Red Sea coast late on Tuesday.

The rebels said they had fired a second at a military base in Najran province, inland and just across the border from their stronghold of Saada.

In a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency, Maliki accused Iran of arming the Huthis "in clear and explicit violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.

Since November, the rebels have fired multiple missiles into Saudi Arabia, all of which Saudi forces say they intercepted.

On November 4, Saudi Arabia thwarted a rebel missile attack on Riyadh international airport that Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman said "may amount to an act of war" involving Iran.

Riyadh and its allies imposed a crippling blockade on rebel-held ports in retaliation for that missile launch which has been only partially lifted despite a mounting international outcry over the humanitarian consequences.

More than three-quarters of Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian aid and some 8.4 million at risk of famine, the UN humanitarian affairs office said on Tuesday.

More than 5,000 children have been killed and 400,000 left severely malnourished, the UN children's agency said.

A report by a UN panel of experts earlier this month found Iran in violation of Security Council Resolution 2216, which imposed an arms embargo on rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi.

Iran denies arming the rebels.
The de facto capital of IS' self-proclaimed "caliphate", Raqa, was left in ruins following a huge battle to expel the jihadists

The wives and children of French jihadists captured in Syria have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for refusing to repatriate them, their lawyers announced Wednesday.

The question of what to do with some 40 captured jihadists -- men and women, accompanied by around 20 children, who were living under the Islamic State group -- has been hotly debated in recent weeks.

The French government said on January 4 that those detained in Kurdish-held areas of Syria -- the vast majority of the cases -- should be left there so long as they can be guaranteed a fair trial.

But their lawyers argue that France has a duty to repatriate its citizens.

"These women who went out there are the object of legal proceedings in France," lawyers Marie Dose, William Bourdon, Martin Pradel and Marc Bailly said in a statement.

"They accept that they must face up to their criminal responsibilities as soon as they arrive on French territory."

By leaving them there, French authorities are "additionally exposing these mothers and children to obvious risks -- notably in terms of their health, in a warzone."

The families have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for arbitrary detention and abuse of authority, the statement said.

Their lawyers argued that Syrian Kurdistan is not a legally recognised state and so "these women and children are being held in unauthorised detention".

The vast majority of jihadists detained in France are being held by Kurdish forces in Syria, according to a source close to the case.

The lawyers had yet to specify how many families were involved in the suit.

But they are not believed to involve the most prominent Frenchwoman in Kurdish detention, the notorious Islamic State propagandist Emilie Konig, a 33-year-old Muslim convert from Brittany.

Konig, who features on UN and US blacklists of dangerous militants, was captured last month and is being held in a Kurdish camp with her three young children along with several other French women.

Her lawyer Bruno Vinay has said previously she has requested to be brought to trial at home in France.
Rappler, founded in 2012, is among a handful of Philippines-based news organisations which had produced reports critical of Duterte's narcotics crackdown

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's government on Wednesday urged reporters of a news website facing state-enforced closure to reinvent themselves as bloggers, rejecting allegations Manila was cracking down on the free press.

Duterte spokesman Harry Roque made the suggestion a day after the government brushed off appeals from media organisations to reverse its decision to withdraw the registration of the Rappler online portal.

The ruling against a news organisation that Duterte derided on Tuesday as a "fake news" purveyor is seen by critics as part of his government's campaign to silence opposition to his deadly drug war that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives.

Rappler, founded in 2012, is among a handful of Philippines-based news organisations which had produced reports critical of Duterte's narcotics crackdown.

"No one has been prevented from exercising free speech, no one has been banned from performing their role as journalists," Roque stressed Wednesday.

"They can still become bloggers, that is clear," he told reporters, while adding Rappler journalists would then have to seek government accreditation as bloggers.

Rappler editors could not be reached for comment, though its chief executive Maria Ressa vowed Tuesday to fight Monday's ruling, which takes effect after 15 days.

The regulator ruled Rappler violated a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of Philippine media when the news outfit gave veto powers to a foreign fund which had bought a placement of Philippine depositary receipts on Rappler shares in 2015.

Rappler maintains the investment did not constitute equity nor give the investors veto on editorial matters.

Apart from the corporate sanction, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre told reporters Wednesday government prosecutors were also studying the possible filing of criminal charges against Rappler officials for violating an 81-year-old anti-dummy law.

The law prohibits the transfer of ownership of a business in a sector reserved for Filipinos to a foreigner.

US-based watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday called the Philippine government's moves a "clear and immediate danger to press freedom".

Rappler has had a testy relationship with Duterte since he won election on an anti-crime platform in 2016.

Duterte vowed last year to expose Rappler's "American ownership", while suggesting it was funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

On Tuesday Duterte again lashed out at Rappler as he denied its report linking his chief aide to a controversial $308 million frigate acquisition project by the Philippine navy.

"(S)ince you are a fake news outlet then I am not surprised that your articles are also fake," Duterte said.

Duterte has since last year also publicly attacked other media outlets including the Philippine Daily Inquirer and leading television broadcaster ABS-CBN, whose application for a franchise renewal he threatened to block.
A Yemeni child receives treatment at a hospital in the rebel-held port city of Hodeida on January 16, 2018, one of around 400,000 children the UN says are severely malnourished after nearly three years of conflict

Saudi Arabia announced on Wednesday it would transfer $2 billion to Yemen's central bank, following desperate calls for a financial rescue from the beleaguered government it has supported militarily for nearly three years.

The bailout aims to curb the fall in value of the Yemeni riyal, which has plummeted as the war between the Saudi-backed government and Huthi Shiite rebels who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north has dragged on.

"To address the deteriorating economic situation faced by the Yemeni people as a result of the actions of the Iranian-backed Huthi militias, King Salman bin Abdulaziz has issued a directive to transfer a $2 billion deposit to the central bank of Yemen," the Saudi interior ministry said.

The riyal currently trades at 500 to the dollar, down from around 215 before the war, a serious depreciation for a country that relies heavily on imports of basic foodstuffs.

In 2016, the Yemeni government moved the central bank to second city Aden from the capital where the rebels operate their own rival central bank.

More than one million civil servants lost their jobs in the bank transfer, and both the Sanaa and Aden central banks have struggled to pay salaries.

Saudi Arabia, which itself faces a hefty budget deficit, has led a military coalition in support of the government since March 2015.

But as the intervention nears its fourth year, the government's authority is still largely confined to the south.

The conflict has left more than three-quarters of Yemenis in need of humanitarian aid and some 8.4 million at risk of famine, the UN humanitarian affairs office said on Tuesday

The Yemeni government moved the central bank from the rebel-held capital Sanaa to second city Aden in 2016 but even there attacks are not uncommon, like this suicide bombing nearby on October 29, 2016

In a post on Facebook, Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher shared a letter urging the government's backers to transfer cash to the central bank to "save Yemenis from famine".

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi reached out to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over "the economic challenges Yemen faces" in a telephone call on Tuesday, Yemen's government-run Saba news agency said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of oil, has posted large budget deficits in the past four fiscal years as a 2014 slide in crude prices has hit revenues.

Despite introducing new taxes and cutting spending, the kingdom does not expect to balance its books before 2023.
"Chamber", one of the last sculptures by US artist Dennis Oppenheim, was installed next to a beach in Busan, South Korea, but has been destroyed by local authorities

One of the last sculptures by US artist Dennis Oppenheim has been destroyed by local authorities in a South Korean city on the grounds that it was becoming an "eyesore".

Art lovers have expressed shock and anger over the demolishing of "Chamber", installed next to the beach at Haeundae in Busan.

Oppenheim, a conceptual and performance artist as well as a sculptor, has works in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and London's Tate Gallery, among others, and public art on show in several cities around the world.

But that counted for nothing to the Haeundae District Office.

The steel and plastic "Chamber", inspired by the structure of a flower, was more than eight metres wide and six metres high, and cost 800 million won ($750,000).

Intended as a tourist attraction where visitors could walk between the "petals" and take pictures, the organisers of the Busan Biennale -- -- one of South Korea's top art events which helped in the commission -- described it on their website as "a particular sensory experience for the viewer".

The walls "are gentle, wave like configurations" they said. "But in journeying through to the middle you realise that youre being restricted, the walls are closing in."

But time and the seafront location were not kind to the work, Haeundae district office official Shi Yun-Seok told AFP.

It began to rust because of brine and was damaged by a typhoon in 2016, he said.

"We also received a lot of phone calls from pedestrians and residents in the area demanding its withdrawal as the art work was turning into an eyesore," he said, and workers were sent in last month to raze it to the ground.

"We've sent the wreckage, mainly steel pipes and polycarbonate materials, to a waste dump", Shi added, denying local news reports that the metal was sold for scrap.

Shi admitted that the district office had failed to inform Oppenheim's estate -- which holds the intellectual property rights to the work -- of its removal.

Representatives of the Busan Biennale were outraged.

"I've never heard of something like that happening before," spokeswoman Moon Ju-Hwa told AFP.

"I was deeply shocked and flabbergasted that this precious artwork was demolished in such a nonchalant manner," she said.

Oppenheim never saw the work in situ, dying of cancer two months before it was unveiled in March 2011.
Sudanese security agents have arrested communist leader Mokhtar al-Khatib after the party organised a protest in the capital Khartoum against rising bread prices, its spokesman says

Sudanese security agents arrested the leader of the opposition Communist Party on Wednesday after it organised a protest in the capital Khartoum against rising bread prices, its spokesman told AFP.

Sporadic protests have erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, after bread prices more than doubled earlier this month following a jump in the cost of flour.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated near the presidential palace in response to a call by the Communist Party.

Anti-riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons to disperse the crowd.

Early on Wednesday, agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested the Communist Party's leader, spokesman Ali Saeed said.

"Today, at 3:00 am (0100 GMT), two trucks full of armed men from NISS came to the house of our general secretary Mokhtar al-Khatib and took him to an unknown location," Saeed told AFP.

"We don't know where he is but we do know that it was NISS that took him."

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began.

The Communist Party said its members would continue to mobilise people and organise demonstrations, while the country's main opposition Umma Party has called an anti-government demonstration for later on Wednesday.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 ($9 to $25) as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. A student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of the deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.
Myanmar riot

The deaths of seven ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in Myanmar's north has cast fresh light on the complex swirl of religious and ethnic tensions in one of the country's poorest and most troubled regions.

Rakhine state usually makes the news because of the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority who have fled to Bangladesh in an army crackdown against insurgents that has been classified as ethnic cleansing.

But most of the population in the state is ethnic Rakhine, a group whose grievances are a key part of the conflict but often go unheard.

- Who are the Rakhine? -

Like nearly 90 percent of Myanmar's population, the Rakhine people are Buddhist, but a shared faith masks deeper divides.

Unlike the Rohingya Muslims who live in the same state, the Rakhine are recognised by the government as an ethnic group but are often marginalised under a system that favours the dominant Bamar (Burmese).

Like other ethnic groups, they harbour longstanding grievances against the central government that date back to British colonial rule, but the 18th century subjugation of their own kingdom by the Burmese has also not been forgotten.

A deadly riot on Tuesday in Mrauk U occurred on the anniversary of the fall of the kingdom.

"Mrauk U is the former capital of the kingdom of Arakan so it is an area where autonomist, regionalist claims are strong," said Alexandra De Mersan, an expert from the French School of Oriental Studies.

There are around two million Rakhine -- twice as many as the Rohingya before their recent exodus.

- Why are they clashing with security forces? -

Communal violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslim communities has deep roots and pivots on a dispute over who belongs in the state.

But Rakhine antipathy towards the government and the Burmese military is also strong. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not as popular in the state as she is in the rest of the country.

While the world's attention has focused on attacks by Rohingya insurgents, security forces have been fighting Rakhine rebels in a nearly decade-long war that has gone largely unnoticed outside Myanmar.

An AFP tally from Myanmar media reports indicates that the Arakan Army, the main rebel group, killed scores of members of the security forces from late 2015 to late 2016.

"It would not be unreasonable to speculate that AA cadres or supporters might have been involved in whipping up a protest that turned violent fairly quickly," security analyst Anthony Davis said of Tuesday's clash.

- What's the impact on the Rohingya? -

The riot occurred just days before Myanmar and Bangladesh are slated to begin repatriating some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled last year.

Observers are worried the recent violence may morph into fresh tensions between Rakhine and Rohingya -- and complicate the return process.

The repatriation deal covers more than 750,000 Rohingya who have fled over the border to Bangladesh.

"Things can get mixed up," Oo Hla Saw, a lawmaker with the Arakan National Party. "Hatred and incitement could increase as well," he told AFP.
Conservative former South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak stepped down in 2013

Former South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak on Wednesday denounced as "political revenge" a corruption probe into allegations his office accepted bribes from the country's spy agency.

The rare statement from conservative Lee, who stepped down in 2013, came after two of his closest aides were arrested and as his impeached ally and successor Park Geun-Hye stands trial for corruption.

South Korean presidents have a tendency to end up in prison -- or meet untimely ends -- after their time in office and the prosecutors' noose is reportedly closing in on Lee.

Kim Paik-Joon, who was Lee's senior secretary for administrative affairs in Seoul's Blue House and often dubbed his "butler", was arrested early Wednesday.

He is accused of receiving more than 400 million won ($375,000) from the National Intelligence Service between 2008 and 2012.

Another former presidential secretary to Lee, Kim Jin-Mo, was arrested late Tuesday on charges of taking about 50 million won from the agency.

"The recent prosecutors' investigation... is clearly aimed at me," Lee said in a statement.

"I feel saddened that the country is being shaken to its foundation by recent attempts to roll back history and mount a political revenge," he added.

South Korea's current left-leaning President Moon Jae-In has vowed to "fix past wrongs" in the country's governance, calling them "accumulated evils".

Two other former conservative presidents, Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tae-Woo, have previously been jailed for corruption and subversion related to their 1979 military coup and a bloody 1980 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju.

Former liberal president Roh Moo-Hyun committed suicide in 2009 -- during Lee's own term -- after being questioned for alleged corruption.

Moon was the chief of Roh's presidential secretariat and Lee said: "Many people believe the prosecutors' investigation... is a politically motivated move aimed at destroying conservatives and a political revenge for the death of president Roh Moo-Hyun."

Large construction projects and overseas resources development contracts made during his term have been repeatedly scrutinised but no irregularities found, he added.

Prosecutors this month added two new charges -- bribery and embezzlement -- to Park's 18-count corruption and abuse of power indictment, accusing her of accepting 3.65 billion won ($3.4 million) from the spy agency while she was in office.
US film director Steven Spielberg (L), US actress Meryl Streep (C) and US actor Tom Hanks pose on the red carpet on arrival for the European Premiere of The Post in London on January 10, 2018

The Lebanese government has allowed the release of Steven Spielberg's latest film, "The Post", overturning a ban by the General Security authority, a ministry said Wednesday.

The security body had on Monday announced it was banning the Hollywood thriller to comply with an Arab League boycott targeting supporters of Israel.

In a rare move, the interior ministry chose not to sign off on the decision by General Security, which in addition to controlling Lebanon's borders, is responsible for censoring films, plays, and books.

In a statement, it said Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk "sees no objection to the broadcast of the film", which "has no connection with Lebanon, or to the conflict with the Israeli enemy".

The company distributing the film in Lebanon confirmed that the film, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, would be released in cinemas in Beirut and elsewhere on Thursday.

The acclaimed production tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1971 publication by The Washington Post of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies behind US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Lebanon is divided on the boycott-driven bans, with some welcoming them as a bulwark against the "cultural normalisation" of Israel's occupation.

Banned films can often be found in bootleg movie shops across the country for as little as one dollar, and even blacklisted books can sometimes be found in regular bookstores.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa's longest serving leader, has rejected opposition claims that one of its activists died in custody as a result of torture

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has rejected opposition claims that one of its activists died in custody after being tortured, and that some 200 of their number are under arrest.

In an interview late Tuesday with French radio station RFI and France 24 television, Africa's longest-serving president confirmed the death in custody of an opposition activist but put it down to ill health.

"I think there are about 20 people" currently under arrest, he said, without saying why they had been arrested or if they faced any legal proceedings following a crackdown which the opposition says began after mid-November's election.

"It would make no sense" to give a specific figure, said Obiang, whose regime is regularly attacked by rights groups for the suppression of the opposition, civil society groups and the media.

His remarks came a day after the country's main opposition party, Citizens for Innovation (CI), said 41-year-old Santiago Ebee Ela had died after being tortured, claiming he was one of about 200 of its supporters who had been arrested over the past two months.

The party, which accused the government of "cruel and inhumane" treatment of its detainees, said Ebee Ela had been arrested on January 2 and had died late on Saturday after undergoing torture at Malabo's central police station.

Although there was no initial word on his death from officials, Obiang confirmed it, insisting he had died as a result of illness.

"I believe his death had no link to mistreatment, he was a sick man," said the 75-year-old leader who has ruled the oil-rich West African nation since 1979.

"We will hold an inquiry," he said, repeatedly denying the torture claims, insisting "it is not true."

Since the November 12 vote, in which Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) won 99 of the parliament's 100 seats, the CI -- which won the remaining seat -- says it has been subjected to a major crackdown, with scores of its people arrested in the capital Malabo and the port city of Bata.

Further arrests took place this month after the government claimed it had thwarted an attempt to overthrow Obiang, blaming the failed coup on foreign mercenaries recruited by the opposition.

It is the first time there has been any official comment on the repeated arrests and claims of mistreatment raised by the opposition in recent weeks.

"After the elections, the regime began a widespread campaign of political persecution of CI supporters," a member of Equatorial Guinea's civil society told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Sahara's biggest oil producers but a large proportion of its 1.2 million population still lives in poverty.
Thailand's junta number two has been snapped with 25 different luxury watches worth 1.2 million USD since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths say

Thailand's junta number two has been snapped with 25 different luxury watches worth $1.2 million since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths said Wednesday, a day after the ex-general vowed to resign if a graft panel finds him guilty of wrongdoing.

Prawit Wongsuwan has been under pressure since December when the 'CSI LA' Facebook page began to catalogue luxury timepieces worn by the deputy prime minister from photos and internet news reports.

The concerted social media campaign is urging the kingdom's anti-graft body to probe how the luxury watches came into Prawit's possession -- and is hugely embarrassing to Thailand's military government.

It toppled the government of Yingluck Shinwatra in 2014 vowing to purge the country of graft, a scourge it blamed on Thailand's civilian rulers.

Prawit was one of the architects of the coup.

On Wednesday the Thai-language 'CSI LA' page raised the watch tally after finding a fresh photo of him wearing a Patek Phillipe model at a temple ceremony in 2014.

"We have found 25 luxury watches worth more than $1.24 million, including 11 Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Millies," a post said, urging its near-750,000 followers to unearth more photos.

Prawit has so far not disputed the number of watches.

But on Tuesday he told reporters his "friends lent" him watches which he duly returned.

Thailand's National Anti-Coruption Commission (NACC) has let a deadline for Prawit to issue a formal explanation over the watches slip several times.

The NACC is headed by one of the junta top brass' former subordinates, raising fears of a whitewash.

If the NACC rules "that I am wrong, I will quit," Prawit told reporters.

The slew of bad headlines engulfing Prawit comes as his main ally, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha remodels himself from a strongman general into a politician ahead of elections slated for the end of this year.

But the watch issue has angered both junta critics and erstwhile supporters in a divided country where politics is usually a strictly partisan affair.

Observers say that outrage represents fatigue with junta rule, which is widely seen as top-heavy and ineffective, and a wider yearning for a return to elections.

"The watch issue is a sign that a new political proposition is emerging," Sirote Klampaiboon, a political commentator told AFP.

"This is the first time since the junta took over in 2014 that political groups of different sides have come together, leaving their conflicts in the past."
Former oil executive Trinh Xuan Thanh was allegedly kidnapped from a park in Berlin in July

A former oil executive in Vietnam facing a possible life sentence for graft issued a tearful apology Wednesday before a verdict in a case tied to a rare wide-ranging purge in the secretive Communist country.

Trinh Xuan Thanh, the ex-head of state-run PetroVietnam Construction, said sorry to the communist leadership and "people of the whole country" at a Hanoi court in his final appearance before the ruling.

Thanh's case has drawn a spotlight because of the intrigue surrounding it. He was allegedly kidnapped from a park in Berlin in July, sparking a diplomatic row with Germany.

Vietnam denies the accusation, insisting Thanh returned home voluntarily to face charges.

"I am very regretful, and at this court, I hope the jury would convey my apology and regret to party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong," Thanh said while sobbing, according to video of his remarks posted on state media.

Clips of the apology and that of his former boss and co-defendant Dinh La Thang went viral in a country captivated by the one-party state's rare crackdown against dozens of former bankers, officials and state executives.

The men, who denied the bulk of the accusations but said they would take responsibility, are on trial for allegedly causing $5.2 million in losses for the state during an investment by PetroVietnam into a thermal power plant.

20 state officials are also defendants in the trial that has been closed off to international media.

In a linked case, Singapore earlier this month deported fugitive Vietnamese intelligence officer Phan Van Anh Vu, who held a senior rank in the secret police.

Vu was trying to seek asylum in Germany, his lawyers said, arguing he may have information about Thanh's kidnapping on German soil.

In addition to mismanagement Thanh is accused of embezzlement, which can carry the death sentence. Prosecutors, however, asked for life imprisonment instead.

Facing up to 15 years in prison, Thanh's co-defendant Thang also asked for forgiveness and a "fair, objective and humane" verdict after apologizing to numerous people and institutions, including "generations of staff in the oil and gas industry".

Observers say the government's anti-corruption campaign is politically driven, mirroring a similar graft crackdown in next-door giant China.
Zoo officials are not yet sure of the cub's gender as Liang Liang is keeping it tightly in her grasp

A giant panda loaned to Malaysia from China has given birth to a second cub during its stay in the Southeast Asian country, zoo officials said Wednesday.

The baby was born Sunday to Liang Liang, who has been on loan to Malaysia since 2014 along with a male panda, said Mat Naim Ramli, director of the national zoo's panda centre outside Kuala Lumpur.

He said officials were not yet sure of the cub's gender as the mother was keeping the youngster so tightly in her grasp zookeepers could not get near.

"The mother is very attentive and protective. She doesn't allow us to (take the cub)," he told AFP.

The first cub, a female called Nuan Nuan, was born in August 2015 and sent to China in November last year as part of Beijing's agreement with Malaysia that cubs born in captivity must go back at the age of two.

Mat Naim said the new cub appeared to be healthy and slightly larger than its elder sister when she was born.

He added that officials were trying to get a closer look at the cub, and that the government would likely hold a competition to name the animal soon.

Liang Liang and the male, Xing Xing, came to Malaysia in 2014 on a 10-year loan.

Their arrival was held up by a month after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 -- carrying mostly Chinese passengers -- caused tensions between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

There are an estimated 1,864 giant pandas left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and they can only be found in certain parts of south central China.

The IUCN classifies them as "vulnerable".
Sudanese security agents have arrested communist leader Mokhtar al-Khatib after the party organised a protest in the capital Khartoum against rising bread prices, its spokesman says

About 200 protesters marched Wednesday in the Sudanese capital's twin city of Omdurman against rising food prices, with anti-riot police firing tear gas to disperse the rally.

Prices of food items but mainly bread have surged in past weeks across Sudan after a jump in the cost of flour due to a shortage of wheat supplies.

Sporadic protests have since erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, with demonstrators coming out onto the streets in their hundreds.

"No, no to hunger! No, no to high prices!" protesters shouted as they marched towards a square in central Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on the west bank of the Nile River.

Anti-riot police moved in swiftly to stop their march and fired tear gas, an AFP correspondent reported.

Authorities had poured water into the streets leading to the square in an attempt to prevent protesters from reaching the site, he said.

Wednesday's rally was called by the main opposition Umma Party, a day after a similar demonstration held near the presidential palace in Khartoum following a call issued by the Communist Party.

Tuesday's protest was also broken up by police using tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service early on Wednesday arrested the Communist Party chief, Mokhtar al-Khatib, from his home, his party spokesman told AFP.

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began earlier this month.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 ($9 to $25), as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. But a student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.
The Sanchi, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, ran into a cargo ship off China earlier this month

The wreck of an Iranian oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship off China this month has been located, Beijing said Wednesday, but gave no new details about the environmental impact of the disaster.

The Sanchi, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, ran into Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter the CF Crystal on January 6, sparking a fire that Chinese rescue ships struggled to extinguish.

It sank on Sunday after a new and massive fire erupted, sending a cloud of black smoke as high as a kilometre above the East China Sea. The bodies of only three of the 32 crew members -- 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis -- have been found.

On Monday Chinese ships scrambled to clean-up a massive oil spill amid fears of devastating damage to marine life.

"The location of the wreck has been confirmed," China's transport ministry said on its official social media platform, adding that the ship lay at a depth of around 115 metres.

Thirteen vessels were sent to continue emergency operations at the scene on Tuesday.

Next, "underwater robots will be deployed to explore the wreck waters," the transport ministry added.

Three separate slicks were easily visible from surveillance planes, up to 18.2 kilometres (11.3 miles) in length, China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement Monday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The type of condensate oil carried by the Sanchi does not form a traditional surface slick when spilt, but is nonetheless highly toxic to marine life and much harder to separate from water.

The area where the ship went down is an important spawning ground for species like the swordtip squid and wintering ground for species like the yellow croaker and blue crab, among many others, according to Greenpeace.

It is also on the migratory pathway of numerous marine mammals, such as humpback and gray whales.

In addition to the light crude oil, the Sanchi also carried a fuel tank able to accommodate some 1,000 tonnes of heavy diesel.

Takuya Matsumoto, a spokesman for Japans coastguard said it was not yet clear how much fuel remained in the ship.

"It is difficult to give an immediate assessment of what kind of environmental impact the oil leak may leave at this point. It depends on how much fuel the ship still had inside," he told AFP on Tuesday.

"We believe the situation is reasonably under control for now."

Alaska-based oil spill consultant Richard Steiner has slammed governments for failing to gather environmental data more quickly.

"As no one has been conducting a scientific assessment of (the environmental impact), the governments and ship owners are likely to claim, erroneously, there was limited damage," he said.
Iran Air receives one of the three Airbus planes of the 100 it has ordered in this file picture taken on January 12, 2017

Iran warned Wednesday that its multi-billion dollar deals for Airbus planes had been thrown into doubt by US President Donald Trump's attacks on the nuclear deal.

"Considering Mr Trump's stance on pulling out of the JCPOA (nuclear deal) we must make sure that the licences will remain valid... regardless of any decision taken by US," deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told the reformist ILNA news agency.

"As long as uncertainties are not resolved, we will not provide down payments," he said.

"Because of these negotiations, there can be delays in payments."

A specific clause in the 2015 nuclear deal -- which lifted some international sanctions in exchange for curbs to Iran's atomic programme -- opened the way for Iran to purchase planes from international suppliers.

Licences were granted the following year by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for Airbus to sell 100 planes to national carrier Iran Air, which has also ordered 80 from Boeing.

The European firm requires US export licences because some of its parts are manufactured there.

On Friday, Trump threatened to walk away from the nuclear deal unless progress was made on negotiations regarding Iran's missile programme, and it is unclear if this would also lead to the OFAC licences being revoked.

"OFAC's licences are valid until December 2020 but these licences have been issued under the JCPOA," said Fakhrieh Kashan.

"In the most pessimistic case, if America wanted to pull out of the JCPOA, then it can be expected that the executive apparatus too will obey this decision."

Asked to comment by AFP, Airbus said it "keeps on working with Iran Air and the Iranian authorities on the execution of the purchase agreement in full compliance with the JCPOA and other applicable regulations."

Iran has been desperate to renew its ageing fleet of planes, but has faced financing difficulties as well as the uncertainty over sanctions.

Iran Air has so far received only three Airbus planes from its 100-plane order.
Police officers guard the courtroom entrance of two men's trial in Sofia, Bulgaria over a deadly bomb attack on Israeli tourists in 2012

Two men allegedly linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah movement went on trial in absentia in Bulgaria on Wednesday over a deadly bomb attack on Israeli tourists in July 2012.

The explosion outside Burgas airport's terminal building tore through a tourist bus bound for the popular beach resorts of the nearby Black Sea.

Five Israelis, the vehicle's Bulgarian driver, and the man alleged to have planted the device, Franco-Lebanese national Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini, were killed.

It remains unclear whether Husseini intended to die in the blast or if the device went off by accident.

Bulgarian prosecutors filed charges in mid-2016 against his two alleged accomplices, whose whereabouts remain unknown despite an Interpol warrant.

The two men were identified as Lebanese-Australian Meliad Farah and Lebanese-Canadian Hassan El Hajj Hassan, who prosecutors said had links to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

"They will be tried in absentia for a terrorist attack and manslaughter of several people as well as for a range of other crimes such as document fraud and preparations for an act of terrorism," prosecutor Krasimir Trenchev told journalists.

The attack, which was the deadliest hit against Israelis abroad since 2004, also left around 35 people injured.

It played a role in a subsequent European Union decision to blacklist Hezbollah's military wing as a "terrorist" organisation.

On Wednesday the court heard testimony from several witnesses who were present at the airport at the time of the blast.

Survivors and relatives are also expected to testify at a later date, although this could take place via video link from Israel.

The next hearings were set for February 6 and 7. It was unclear how long the trial, the start of which has been delayed several times, will last.
In recent years, there have been a series of attacks in Arusha, a town in the north which is key to Tanzania tourism industry

A group of Tanzanian Muslims who have been held in prison since 2013 on terror charges stripped naked in an unusual protest to demand the start of their trial, a witness said Wednesday.

Some 60 Muslims were detained nearly five years ago following a series of deadly attacks in Arusha, a mainly Christian city in the north, but they have yet to go on trial.

A witness, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred on Tuesday morning when the group was on its way to court for a procedural hearing.

"Of the 60 accused in the bus, 19 got out completely naked, taking everyone by surprise," the witness said.

"Security forces immediately led them to an isolation cell opposite the courtroom. We heard them shouting that they were sick of the delays in finishing the investigation so that their process can start."

Several local media, including government daily Habari Leo, said security officers begged the group, all of them men, to get dressed.

But they refused -- and the court said it would only allow those who were dressed to appear.

At the hearing, prosecutor Augustino Kombo once again told the court that the investigation had still not finished, daily Mwananchi said, with the next date set for January 30.

Another prosecutor, Maternus Marandu, who slammed the detainees' behaviour as "immoral", explained the delay by saying it was a very complex investigation which also required work abroad, the Habari Leo newspaper reported.

In March 2017, the suspects -- among them preachers -- threatened to boycott any future hearings and complained their families had been barred from visiting them until the start of their trial.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Petitioner-Appellee, v. James Ross MELLON, II, Respondent-Appellant, Vivian Ruesch, Respondent. 17-399 Decided: January 16, 2018

PRESENT: DENNIS JACOBS, REENA RAGGI, CHRISTOPHER F. DRONEY, Circuit Judges. FOR APPELLANT: Frank Agostino (Lawrence A. Sannicandro, on the brief), Agostino & Associates, P.C., Hackensack, NJ. FOR APPELLEE: Jacob Lillywhite (Rebecca S. Tinio, on the brief), Assistant United States Attorneys, for Joon H. Kim, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY.

SUMMARY ORDER

Respondent-appellant James Ross Mellon, II appeals from an order of the district court enforcing an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) administrative summons concerning alleged non-payment of taxes from 2005 through 2011. Mellon argues on appeal that: (1) the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over him; (2) the administrative summons is not enforceable under United States v. Powell, 379 U.S. 48, 85 S.Ct. 248, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1964), because it was not served in good faith; and (3) the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the administrative summons. We assume the parties familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues presented for review.

1. A district court has personal jurisdiction over any person [who] is summoned under the internal revenue laws to appear, to testify, or to produce books, papers, records, or other data so long as: (1) the person summoned resides or is found in that court's district; and (2) the summons was served by appropriate process to compel such attendance, testimony, or production of books, papers, records, or other data. I.R.C.  7604(a). Mellon first argues that service of the show cause order and petition to enforce the summons was improper under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e), which requires that an individual be served at their dwelling or usual place of abode. Id. Mellon contends that his Fifth Avenue apartment, where he was served, is not his dwelling or usual place of abode, and that he lives in Klosters, Switzerland. Mellon also argues that the improper exercise of personal jurisdiction by the district court violated due process.

We review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code de novo. Adamowicz v. United States, 531 F.3d 151, 156 (2d Cir. 2008) (internal citation omitted). The same standards apply to our review of the district court's ruling on subject matter and personal jurisdiction. See In re Petition of Germain, 824 F.3d 258, 261 (2d Cir. 2016) (subject matter jurisdiction); Marvel Characters, Inc. v. Kirby, 726 F.3d 119, 128 (2d Cir. 2013) (personal jurisdiction).

Based on the record in the district court, we cannot say the court committed clear error in finding that service on Mellon was proper under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e), thereby giving the district court personal jurisdiction over him to enforce the summons. [I]n a highly mobile and affluent society, it is unrealistic to interpret [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4] so that the person to be served has only one dwelling house or usual place of abode at which process may be left. Nat'l Dev. Co. v. Triad Holding Corp., 930 F.2d 253, 257 (2d Cir. 1991)(internal citation omitted). A wooden reading of the rule would ignore its purpose: to insure that service is reasonably calculated to provide a defendant with actual notice of the action. See Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950) (due process requires that notice [be] reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to provide parties with notice of pending action). Accordingly, a person can have two or more dwelling houses or usual places of abode, provided each contains sufficient indicia of permanence. Nat'l Dev. Co., 930 F.2d at 257. Such indicia give confidence that the person served will receive notice.

The affidavit from the IRS Agent investigating Mellon, on which the district court relied, documented sufficient indicia of permanence to demonstrate that Mellon's dwelling or usual place of abode was his Fifth Avenue apartment: Mellon has owned the apartment for many years; he listed the Fifth Avenue address as his residence on a power of attorney form and a bank account agreement; he has responded to mail sent by the IRS to the Fifth Avenue address; Mellon has made public representations about residing in the Fifth Avenue apartment; his wife resides in the apartment; and the doorman at the apartment represented that Mellon resides in the apartment. And Mellon does not deny that he stays in that apartment when in New York. Mellon countered with declarations from his brother-in-law and a travel agent which state that he primarily lives in Europe. These declarations do not demonstrate that the district court committed clear error. See Norris v. Causey, 869 F.3d 360, 368 (5th Cir. 2017) (upholding service at a home in New Mexico where the defendant's wife lived, although the defendant argued that he had permanently relocated to Denver five years prior); Nat'l Dev. Co., 930 F.2d at 257 (upholding service on the defendant at his U.S. apartment despite his having twelve other residences around the world and spending a minority of his time in U.S.); Karlsson v. Rabinowitz, 318 F.2d 666, 667-9 (4th Cir.1963) (upholding service on the defendant's wife at the defendant's former house, even though the defendant had permanently relocated to another state); Dunn v. Burns, 42 A.D.3d 884, 839 N.Y.S.2d 894, 896 (4th Dep't 2007) (finding that service on the defendant's common law wife in the U.S. was proper even though the defendant worked in the United Arab Emirates and argued that he had moved there permanently). Further, because service was proper under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e), so that Mellon received actual notice, there is no due process violation. Mullane, 339 U.S. at 314, 70 S.Ct. 652.

Lastly, the district court was not required to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine Mellon's dwelling or usual place of abode. Mellon had every opportunity to introduce further evidence supporting his argument to the district court, chose not to, and did not request an evidentiary hearing on this matter. See United States v. Noall, 587 F.2d 123, 127 (2d Cir. 1978) (hearing not necessary where taxpayer could have proffered appropriate affidavits). We will not remand to correct his omissions.

2. Mellon next argues that service of the administrative summons was not in accordance with I.R.C.  7603(a) because he was not served at his last and usual place of abode, as required by that provision, and that the government cannot demonstrate good faith in issuing the summons. United States v. Clarke,  U.S. , 134 S.Ct. 2361, 2365, 189 L.Ed.2d 330 (2014).

An individual must comply with an IRS summons as long as the summons meets statutory requirements and is issued in good faith[.] United States v. Stuart, 489 U.S. 353, 356, 109 S.Ct. 1183, 103 L.Ed.2d 388 (1989). For good faith, the government must make a prima facie showing as to the four factors listed in United States v. Powell, 379 U.S. 48, 85 S.Ct. 248, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1964). Clarke, 134 S.Ct. at 2365. The four Powell factors are: (1) the IRS investigation is conducted pursuant to a legitimate purpose; (2) the summons is relevant to that purpose; (3) the information sought is not already within the Commissioner's possession; and (4)the administrative steps required by the Code have been followed. Powell, 379 U.S. at 57-58, 85 S.Ct. 248. [T]he IRS usually files an affidavit from the responsible investigating agent. Clarke, 134 S.Ct. at 2365. The Supreme Court long ago held that courts may ask only whether the IRS issued a summons in good faith, and must eschew any broader role of oversee[ing] the [IRS's] determinations to investigate.  Id. at 2367 (internal citation omitted).

Once the government sustains its minimal burden of compliance with the Powell factors, the burden shifts to the taxpayer to disprove one of the four Powell criteria, or to demonstrate that judicial enforcement would be an abuse of the court's process. Adamowicz, 531 F.3d at 156 (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). The taxpayer bears a heavy burden in this regard, because he or she must disprove the actual existence of a valid civil tax determination or collection purpose by the IRS. Id. Mellon's arguments fail for three reasons.

First, this argument was not made below before the district court, so Mellon forfeited any right to bring it before this court. See Greene v. United States, 13 F.3d 577, 586 (2d Cir.1994)([I]t is a well-established general rule that an appellate court will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal.).

Second, if we exercised discretion to hear this forfeited argument, Mellon cannot support the heavy burden of proving that his Fifth Avenue apartment is not his last and usual place of abode. The district court relied on two affidavits from the investigating IRS Agent, as well as supporting documents and Mr. Mellon's own statements. While Mellon argues that, at a minimum, he deserved an evidentiary hearing, as stated prior, one was not required, he did not request one, and we will not remand for a hearing where Mellon had every opportunity to proffer evidence already. See Noall, 587 F.2d at 127.

Third, even if the summons was not served at Mellon's last and usual place of abode in accordance with I.R.C.  7603(a), violations of the IRC or tax regulations occurring in the course of a tax investigation do not necessarily require related tax summonses to be quashed. Adamowicz, 531 F.3d at 161. We look at the totality of the circumstances, and will conclude the issuance of a summons violated Powell only if the taxpayer can show they have been harmed or prejudiced by the alleged errors. Id. at 162; see also United States v. Richey, 632 F.3d 559, 56465 (9th Cir. 2011); I.R.S. v. Celenze, 78 F.3d 598 (10th Cir. 1996); Mimick v. United States, 952 F.2d 230, 232 (8th Cir. 1991); United States v. Bichara, 826 F.2d 1037, 1039 (11th Cir.1987). Mellon at no point argues that he was harmed or prejudiced by the delivery of summons to the address that he provided to the investigating IRS Agent; indeed, he responded to the summons. Therefore, the government has demonstrated good faith in issuing the summons.

3. Mellon's final argument is that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the government's petition to enforce the summons because it was improperly served. This argument is meritless. The district court had subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1340, which confers on federal district courts subject matter jurisdiction over any civil action arising under any Act of Congress providing for internal revenue. That includes IRS summons enforcement actions. And 28 U.S.C.  1345 grants district courts subject matter jurisdiction over all civil actions, suits or proceedings commenced by the United States, including IRS summons enforcement suits. Mellon argues that I.R.C. section 7604(a) grants district courts subject-matter jurisdiction over summons enforcement proceedings, but requires proper service to confer jurisdiction. But Mellon does not demonstrate how violating this specific grant of subject-matter jurisdiction would strip the district court of its general grant of subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.  1340 and 1345. Mellon's other subject-matter jurisdiction arguments are similarly without merit.

Accordingly, the sentence of the district court is hereby AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Because we conclude that Mellon's dwelling or usual place of abode was his Fifth Avenue apartment, there is no need to remand this case to the district court with instructions to consider the effect of the Hague Service Convention and I.R.C.  7701 on personal jurisdiction.
Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, is seen in this handout photograph shaking hand with Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah (C) during a UN Security Council visit to Kabul that ended January 15

Returning from a UN Security Council visit to Afghanistan, US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday stressed the Kabul government wants world powers to step up pressure on Pakistan.

Haley joined the 14 other council envoys for talks with top Afghan leaders in Kabul at the weekend as the government considers holding peace talks with the Taliban to end decades of insurgency.

"They feel confident that the Taliban will be coming to the table," Haley told reporters at UN headquarters.

While the peace talks will be Afghan-led, the Kabul government did request that the Security Council weigh in to bring Pakistan onboard.

"They did ask us for consensus to put further pressure on Pakistan to come to the table and change their behavior," Haley said.

The Afghan government is making strides towards stability, she said, and "continue to make ten steps forward and with Pakistan they feel like they continue to take steps backward."

"As long as they are supporting terrorism in Pakistan, the Afghan community is continuing to feel it is not safe," she said.

Haley did not specify what measures could be taken to pressure Pakistan, but the council does have the power to impose sanctions.

Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Taliban and various militant groups in Afghanistan -- charges it denies.

President Donald Trump has frozen US payments of military aid to Pakistan, worth $900 million, saying Pakistan is not doing enough to target Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani guerilla group.

A question mark also hangs over a further $1 billion of US military equipment for Pakistan.

US officials believe that Pakistan's intelligence agency and military have long helped fund and arm the Taliban to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, whose government is backed by the US.

The Afghan government also requested council help to address narcotics production and trafficking, looking at "every country that moves them," said Haley.

The council visit - the first since 2010 - comes as the government holds a conference next month to present its strategy for reaching a settlement with armed groups.

Kazakhstan's Ambassador Kairat Umarov, who led the council trip, said parliamentary elections must take place this year and be transparent "to ensure the credibility of the government" and "prevent further destabilization."
Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza was named man of the match

Fast bowler Tendai Chatara claimed four wickets to help Zimbabwe edge Sri Lanka by 12 runs in the second one-day international of the tri-nation tournament in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Chasing 291 for victory, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 278 in 48.1 overs despite a fighting 37-ball 64 by Thisara Perera. Opener Kusal Perera top-scored with 80.

Zimbabwe batsmen Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza set up the win with half-centuries that took the team's total to 290-6 after being put into bat first.

In reply, Thisara Perera -- hitting five fours and three sixes -- fought a lonely battle after Sri Lanka slipped to 181-5.

But his departure spelt doom for the islanders.

Chatara, who returned impressive figures of 4-33 in 8.1 overs, ran through the Sri Lankan tail and got the prized wicket of Thisara Perera.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews made 42 and Dinesh Chandimal added 34 runs to show some fight but Zimbabwe bowlers made regular breakthroughs.

Earlier, opener Masakadza gave Zimbabwe a solid start with his 73-run knock before middle-order batsman Raza added an unbeaten 81 off 67 balls -- his second successive ODI fifty.

Raza, who hit eight fours and a six, also took a wicket after opening the attack for Zimbabwe with his off-spin bowling. He was named man of the match.

Skipper and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer and paceman Kyle Jarvis took two wickets each to contribute to Zimbabwe's comeback win after losing the opening match to Bangladesh.

"I believe the wicket was lot better today than it was the other day. It had to take a lot of character for us, and I am very pleased to see that," said Raza.

It was Zimbabwe's fourth win over Sri Lanka in their last six matches against each other.

Sri Lanka captain Mathews said he was "disappointed" with the loss.

"We were a bit scrappy from the very outset. We started off poorly with the ball. In the first 10 overs, we gave them a really good start," he said.

Sri Lanka now face hosts Bangladesh in the third ODI of the tournament in Dhaka on Friday.
The US Supreme Court has heard the case of a lawyer who entered a guilty plea over his client's objections to avert the death penalty

The US Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday into whether a lawyer acted properly by entering a guilty plea against the wishes of his client in an unsuccessful attempt to save him from a death sentence.

In the weeks before Robert McCoy was to go to trial in Louisiana for a triple murder, his lawyer, Larry English, pressed him to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty and save his life.

When McCoy refused, English entered a guilty plea anyway, citing "overwhelming" evidence against his client.

The strategy, which sought to get McCoy life in prison instead of death, backfired: he was convicted and sentenced to death in 2011 for the 2008 murders of his estranged wife's mother, stepfather and son.

McCoy -- who insists he is innocent -- is now seeking a new trial on grounds that English went against his wishes.

The US Constitution's Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to "the assistance of counsel" for a defense in criminal prosecutions.

Seth Waxman, his new lawyer, argued before the court that the drafters of the Sixth Amendment, in the late 18th century, had strictly relegated the lawyer's role to assisting his client, who is free to choose his own plea.

"When a defendant maintains his innocence and insists on testing the prosecution on its burden of proof, the Constitution prohibits a trial court from permitting the defendant's own lawyer, over the defendant's objection, to tell the jury that he is guilty," said Waxman.

"If the defendant says I did not do X, I did not kill my parents, my family members, defense counsel may not affirmatively tell the jury that he did and ask that he be required to spend the rest of his life in prison."

Justice Stephen Breyer, however, suggested English was correct in using the tactic he did to try to save his client's life.

"A large percentage of the people that insist on representing themselves, particularly in death cases, are going to walk right into the death chamber," said Breyer, generally associated with the liberal wing of the bench.

"A lot of the people there are just not really capable of managing their own defense."

Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, in her arguments before the court, also stressed that English's "ultimate objective is to try and do the right thing for his client, to defeat the death penalty and to save his life."

In a sworn statement in 2011, English recalled his decision to override his client, and enter a guilty plea.

"I met with Robert at the courthouse and explained to him that I intended to concede that he had killed the three victims," English said.

"Robert was furious and it was a very intense meeting. He told me not to make that concession, but I told him that I was going to do so."

English suggested McCoy truly believed that he was innocent, but that his client was deluded.

"Because of this delusion, Mr McCoy was incapable of rationally dealing with the evidence of his guilt," English added.

- The lawyer as 'assistant' -

In Faretta v. California, the Supreme Court found in a 6-3 ruling that means that the client is master.

The Sixth Amendment "speaks of the 'assistance' of counsel, and an assistant, however expert, is still an assistant," Justice Potter Stewart wrote in the majority opinion in 1975.

However, the Louisiana high court has allowed defense attorneys to concede their clients' guilt over their express objections in four other capital cases since 2000, according to a brief filed by the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the non-profit Promise of Justice Initiative.

A decision from the high court is expected in late June.
A Congolese woman carries a sack of food on her head at a food distribution on October 25, 2017 in Kasala, in the Kasai region, one of the most troubled provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The United Nations this year will seek more than $1.5 billion to respond to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an official said Tuesday, warning the country was at a "breaking point".

"The size of the crisis in the Congo is really challenging our collective ability to respond", said the UN migration agency's chief envoy to the country, Jean-Philippe Chauzy.

The African giant has been plagued by near-relentless instability since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Even so, "no-one was expecting the humanitarian crisis to expand to such an extent last year," Chauzy told reporters in Geneva.

The total humanitarian appeal for 2018 is $1.68 billion (1.37 billion euros), more than double the amount requested last year, he added.

"If we don't get that level of funding people will die. I have to be clear about that," Chauzy said.

His agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said in a statement that the humanitarian crisis had hit a "breaking point".

The stark warning came as three other UN agencies called for urgent action to stave off famine in Kasai, one of the country's most troubled provinces.

"Time is running out to save hundreds of thousands of lives", said a joint statement from the World Food Programme (WFP), children's agency UNICEF, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Violence erupted in Kasai when a tribal chieftain known as the Kamwina Nsapu, who rebelled against President Joseph Kabila's regime, was killed in September 2016.

Now there are 3.2 million people in the region facing severe food shortages, only 400,000 of whom received assistance last month, the statement said.

WFP's country chief in the DRC, Claude Jibidar, warned that "a major famine" could hit Kasai unless donor support increases.

In 2017, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested $812.5 million for humanitarian aid in the DRC, but received only $427.8 million -- a shortfall of 47 percent.

Another crisis unfolding in the DRC is in the country's east, where armed groups are active in North Kivu and South Kivu, two huge provinces which border Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Kabila, in power since 2001, did not step down when his constitutional term in office expired in December 2016, a move that further stoked the crisis. His government has agreed to hold elections by the end of this year.

"The uncertainty about the electoral process... is a Damocles Sword of the DRC and fuelling in many ways the conflict and the uncertainty throughout the country", said IOM's Chauzy.
"In light of the continuous intimidation and force used in the collection of diaspora tax...the cabinet is forced to give the Eritrean government a powerful signal," said Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra, seen in November 2017

Eritrea's highest representative has been expelled from The Netherlands, Dutch officials announced Wednesday in an ongoing diplomatic spat over the secretive African country's practice of collecting so-called "diaspora tax" from expatriates.

"In light of the continuous intimidation and force used in the collection of diaspora tax and its resulting social and political unrest, the cabinet is forced to give the Eritrean government a powerful signal," Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra said.

Therefore the Eritrean charge d'affaires Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy "has been declared persona non grata and his departure has been requested," Zijlstra said in a letter to the Dutch parliament.

The official was notified about the move on Tuesday, which Zijlstra said was a "particularly heavy measure, seldom used by the Netherlands."

The decision came after Dutch officials in December summoned the Eritrean ambassador in Brussels to protest the practice of collecting diaspora tax, levied by the Eritrean government.

"Based on these and previous discussions with the Eritrean authorities the cabinet realised that there was no understanding of the strong Dutch resistance against the way diaspora tax was being collected," Zijlstra said.

"Also, there is no attempt by the Eritrean side to compromise on the matter," the minister said.

"Therefore, the Dutch cabinet wants to make it clear that it will not accept this practice," said Zijlstra.

Zeilstra, however, added it did not mean the closure of Eritrea's embassy in The Hague, as such a move would harm bilateral relations including over migration and human rights.

Eritrean refugees make up the second-largest group of refugees taken in by the Netherlands in recent years, after Syrians.

Eritrean strongman Isaias Afwerki's regime is accused of jailing thousands of political prisoners since he came to power in 1993 in the Horn of Africa nation, one of the world's poorest countries.

The University of Tilburg said many of some 20,000 Eritreans now living in The Netherlands still feel intimidated.

A study done by the university in June last year said a mandatory two percent tax payment is enforced on members of the Eritrean expatriate community to boost empty coffers back home.

"Those who are reluctant or refuse to pay... are ostracised as pariahs and consequently intimidated and harassed," the study said.

No general elections have been held since the ex-rebel Marxist leader took power after a three-decade independence war against Ethiopia.
China Harbour Engineering Company was in negotiations with the Bangladesh government to expand a major highway from the capital Dhaka to the northeastern city of Sylhet

Bangladesh has blacklisted a top Chinese construction firm for allegedly trying to bribe a senior government official and stopped its work in the country.

The state-backed China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) was in negotiations with the Bangladesh government to expand a major highway from the capital Dhaka to the northeastern city of Sylhet, a top government official told AFP.

The country's road transport minister Obaidul Quader said Wednesday that the blacklisted company's work in Bangladesh has been stopped, but declined to identify the firm or its projects.

Finance minister A.M.A. Muhith had confirmed the ban late Tuesday when he was asked by a reporter about CHEC allegedly trying to bribe an official.

Muhith told reporters that the firm was blacklisted and could no longer work in Bangladesh after it offered the top bureaucrat in the road transport ministry around 5 million taka ($60,000) as a bribe.

CHEC could not be reached for comment. The company has undertaken several large infrastructure projects around the world and operates in over 80 countries, according to its website.

"I have taken action," Quader, the road transport minister, told AFP on Wednesday. "If I did not take any action, then why was the work of the company halted?"

He declined to comment further, but said the affair would not dampen Bangladesh's growing ties with China.

Beijing has been Dhaka's main lender in recent years for major infrastructure projects, including highways and power plants.

"We don't want to strain ties with a country due to one company," Quader said.

The finance minister said Tuesday that Bangladesh will fund the $2.1 billion Dhaka-Sylhet highway expansion project itself.

Ties between Bangladesh and China got a huge boost in October 2016 when Xi Jinping became the first Chinese president to visit Dhaka in more than three decades.

During his visit, the two countries signed a raft of deals worth more than $20 billion.

Xi called it a "historical turning point" in relations with Bangladesh after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is seen as close to New Delhi.

India, China's regional rival, has long considered Bangladesh a part of its area of influence, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has boosted economic links with Dhaka.

Bangladesh needs tens of billions of dollars of investment to build and upgrade its transport infrastructure and increase power generation to boost its economy.
Mauritanians read newspapers on a main street in Nouakchott

Privately-owned newspapers went back on sale in Mauritania on Wednesday for the first time in more than a month, after a paper shortage forced them off the shelves and prompted complaints from the national press union.

A government-funded printing press covers two-thirds of private publications' costs in the French and Arabic-speaking West African nation, while such media are barred from publishing advertisements from public bodies to raise their own money.

On Wednesday, "The Nouakchott Daily" and the weekly Arabic-language "Al-Akhbar" were available in kiosks in the capital, an AFP journalist said.

A source at the finance ministry said the government had intervened to help fund new print runs and pay the salaries in arrears of national printing press workers.

"It's satisfying to reappear after a month away," Moussa Samba Sy, president of the RPM private journalists union, told AFP.

He said the loss of print runs caused some publications "problems that make a difficult situation worse".

The RPM union accused the government in December of deliberately limiting access to information to state media alone.

International campaign group Reporters Without Borders said in August that Mauritanian journalists were arrested and questioned "to reinforce the government's control over the private press", adding that it was "impossible to criticise the state's actions without being called a political opponent".

Additionally, five private television stations had their programming suspended in late October over a reported financial dispute with the state broadcaster TDM.
A US Air Force B-1B Lancer dropping a bomb during an exercise over South Korea last year

The US military wants to overhaul its atomic arsenal and develop a new type of low-yield weapon that experts worry could lead to greater proliferation and heighten the risk of nuclear war.

The proposed changes to the nuclear weapons program, outlined in a draft version of the Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review, mark a significant break from the vision for America's nuclear future under Barack Obama, who during a famous speech in Prague in 2009 called for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Arguing today's security environment is vastly more complex than in 2010 -- the last time the Pentagon published a nuclear review -- the draft document states that the US needs to realign its nuclear policy with a "realistic assessment" of the threats it now faces, including from North Korea, Russia and China.

"Global threat conditions have worsened markedly" since the 2010 nuclear policy review, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in the document's introduction, a leaked version of which was published by the Huffington Post.

"The United States now faces a more diverse and advanced nuclear-threat environment than ever before."

The new strategy calls for a continuation of the nuclear modernization program ordered by Obama, but notable changes include a call for the increased development of low-yield nuclear weapons.

These devices, also known as "tactical" nukes, are still extremely powerful and can pack as much destructive punch as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Policymakers worry that regular, large-yield weapons are essentially too big to ever be detonated, as their use would likely result in large-scale retaliation from an adversary and wipe too much of humanity off the map.

The Pentagon argues that by having more, smaller nukes it will counter adversaries' "mistaken confidence" that the United States would not respond to another country using its own low-yield bomb.

"Expanding flexible US nuclear options now, to include low-yield options, is important for the preservation of credible deterrence against regional aggression," the document states.

The proposed policy says the Defense Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration will develop a low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile for deployment.

Such a capability would ensure "a prompt response option that is able to penetrate adversary defenses."

Barry Blechman, co-founder of the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan anti-nuclear proliferation think tank in Washington, warned that the review contains major steps backward from the goals of previous administrations -- to reduce the risk of nuclear war and prevent nuclear weapons spreading to additional nations.

"Nuclear ideologues maintain that the US has to match the adversary's arsenal, weapon for weapon, yield for yield, to deter nuclear use," Blechman said in a statement to AFP.

"There is no empirical basis for this view, but it is widely held among civilians being appointed to positions in the" administration of President Donald Trump.

- 'Nuclear war-fighting' -

An Air Force technician inspects an LGM-30G Minuteman III nuclear missile inside a silo about 60 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base, in North Dakota

As president-elect in December 2016, Trump called for the United States to "greatly strengthen and expand" its nuclear capabilities -- and within days of entering office he called for a new nuclear policy.

The nuclear review states that the development of new, lower-yield nuclear weapons is not intended to enable "nuclear war-fighting" that would see the US military using the weapons on the battlefield.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the policy review, saying it remained "pre-decisional" and not approved by Trump. The final version is due for release February 2.

The document also states that Russia is upgrading its nuclear "triad" of air-, sea- and land-based missiles to include a new "hypersonic glide vehicle" and a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, undersea autonomous torpedo.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the policy review also outlines changes to the threshold at which America could respond with nuclear weapons -- including a massive cyber attack.

The document states that the United States would only consider using nuclear weapons in "extreme circumstances."

These include "attacks on the US, allied, or partner civilian population or infrastructure, their command and control, or warning and attack assessment capabilities," the document states.

Blechman said this goes against the spirit of the 1968 global non-proliferation treaty aimed at curtailing the spread of nuclear weapons.

A US B-52 Stratofortress nuclear bomber flies over the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on January 10, 2016

"It would encourage those in many other countries who argue that nuclear weapons are essential to security," he said.

The nuclear review states its commitment to the non-proliferation treaty "remains strong."

But, it goes on, "the current environment makes further progress toward nuclear arms reductions in the near term extremely challenging."

Michaela Dodge, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation think tank, disputed critics' contention that the new policy could lead to more conflict, or that it would break the spirit of the non-proliferation treaty.

"Additionally, a decision to use nuclear weapons would not be made haphazardly," she told AFP.

The nuclear posture review "process is run by serious people with in-depth understanding of difficult nuclear weapons policy challenges."
Fighters loyal to ex-rebel chief Frederic Bintsamou (seen in 2008) -- seen as having disbanded after a 2003 peace deal -- rose up again in April last year in protest at the re-election of President Denis Sassou Nguesso

Congo's government met with members of a key rebel group on Wednesday for the first time since a landmark ceasefire was signed after months of renewed armed conflict in the oil-rich nation.

Fighters loyal to ex-rebel chief Frederic Bintsamou -- seen as having disbanded after a 2003 peace deal -- rose up again in April last year in protest at the re-election of President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

The fighting in the southern Pool region affected at least 138,000 people and halted district elections in July.

It also cut off crucial transport routes between the capital Brazzaville and the main oil port -- worsening an already dire economic situation for the country affected by plunging crude prices.

"There's a time to make war and a time to make peace. And the time to make peace has arrived," Interior Minister Raymond Zephirin Mboulou said Wednesday.

"The people of Pool don't deserve what has been happening there."

A new ceasefire deal was signed last month in Pool's regional capital Kinkala between government officials and Jean-Gustave Ntondo, a representative of Bintsamou.

Government and rebel representatives have now formed a joint commission to thrash out the deal's implementation.

President Sassou Nguesso, 73, has led Congo for over 30 years.

The former paratrooper served as president from 1979 to 1992, and then returned to power in 1997 following a civil war with Pastor Ntumi's so-called Ninja rebels.

Sassou Nguesso won two successive terms in elections in 2002 and 2009, both of which were disputed by opposition parties.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US President Donald Trump and other participants at a meeting on United Nations Reform at the UN headquarters in New York City in September 2017

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that any bid to address concerns about Iran should not jeopardize the hard-won nuclear deal after US President Donald Trump demanded changes to the accord.

The United States is concerned the deal, thrashed out over 12 years of talks, does nothing to punish Iran over its ballistic missile programme, interference in regional conflicts or human rights abuses at home.

In a statement, Guterres said "issues not directly related to the JCPOA should be addressed without prejudice to preserving the agreement and its accomplishments."

The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a "major achievement of nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy, and has contributed to regional and international peace and security," he said.

Trump on Friday agreed to waive US nuclear-related sanctions but warned it was the "last chance" to fix the Iran deal, demanding that US lawmakers and European allies fix the "disastrous flaws" of the accord.

Iran has ruled out any change to the deal, which was signed with the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.

Concerns regarding the implementation of the nuclear deal should be addressed "through the mechanisms established by the agreement", Guterres said in the statement marking two years since the accord went into force.

He noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed that Iran is fulfilling its nuclear-related commitments under the deal.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Mark VAUGHN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PHOENIX HOUSE NEW YORK INC. Arthur Wallace, Substance Abuse Counselor, Brendon L. Hoffman, President, Phoenix House Programs of New York, Thomas Jasper, Chairman of Phoenix House Programs of New York, Denise Buckley, Managing Director, Phoenix House L.I.C., Howard Meitiner, Defendants-Appellees, Terrance Waring, House Manager of Phoenix House Long Island City Campus, Herman Lazada, Managing Director, Phoenix House Career Academy, William Brown, Substance Abuse Counselor, Phoenix House, Defendants. 16-3049 Decided: January 16, 2018

PRESENT: ROBERT A. KATZMANN, Chief Judge, JOHN M. WALKER, JR., GUIDO CALABRESI, Circuit Judges. FOR PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT: Mark Vaughn, pro se, Brooklyn, NY. FOR DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES: Marie D. Howick (Rachel G. Skaistis, on the brief), Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York, NY.

SUMMARY ORDER

Plaintiff-Appellant Mark Vaughn, proceeding pro se, appeals from a judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees. In 2009, Vaughn was ordered by the Kings County Supreme Court to participate in a drug rehabilitation program as an alternative to prison. He was assigned to Phoenix House of New York, Inc., where he was required to perform certain job functions. App. 23. After earlier refusals to abide by this requirement, Vaughn eventually complied upon being informed by the Kings County Supreme Court in April 2011 that if [he was] kicked out of the program, [he would] go[ ] to jail. App. 30. In May 2014, Vaughn sued Phoenix House and various of its employees and officers. He asserted claims under 42 U.S.C.  1983 and 1994 and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C.  20119, as well as state and local laws. This appeal follows the district court's dismissal without prejudice of Vaughn's first amended complaint and its dismissal with prejudice of his second amended complaint. See Vaughn v. Phoenix House Programs of N.Y., No. 14 Civ. 3918, 2015 WL 5671902 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 25, 2015) (Vaughn I); Vaughn v. Phoenix House Programs of N.Y., No. 14 Civ. 3918, 2016 WL 4223748 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2016) (Vaughn II). We assume the parties familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal.

We review de novo the dismissal of a complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), accepting all factual allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in plaintiff's favor. Biro v. Conde Nast, 807 F.3d 541, 544 (2d Cir. 2015). Because Vaughn appears pro se, we are constrained to conduct our examination with special solicitude, interpreting the complaint to raise the strongest claims that it suggests.  Hill v. Curcione, 657 F.3d 116, 122 (2d Cir. 2011) (quoting Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 47475 (2d Cir. 2006)).

Upon review, we conclude that Vaughn's claims under  1983 are time barred. The only basis Vaughn asserts for state action is the role of the state court in gaining Vaughn's compliance with Phoenix House's rehabilitation program. Even assuming this would be sufficient to demonstrate state action, the most recent allegation of state intervention occurred in April 2011. Accordingly, any injury from the state action accrued in April 2011, more than three years before Vaughn filed his original complaint in May 2014. See Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235, 251, 109 S.Ct. 573, 102 L.Ed.2d 594 (1989) (recognizing three-year statute of limitations for  1983 claims in New York).

We further conclude that Vaughn's claim under  1994, the federal anti-peonage statute, lacks any merit. Vaughn alleged that he owed Phoenix House nothing in the way of finances or payment, Second Am. Compl. at 22, and he therefore cannot demonstrate that his circumstances qualify as peonage because he was not bound by the threat of a penal sanction to remain at his employment until [a] debt has been discharged. Taylor v. Georgia, 315 U.S. 25, 29, 62 S.Ct. 415, 86 L.Ed. 615 (1942).

We believe, however, that Vaughn's FLSA claim needs further analysis. This claim was dismissed below on the grounds that Vaughn is not an employee protected by that statute because he received  the principal benefit of [his] participation in the [rehabilitation] program,  which he had entered  to resolve the criminal charges against him  rather than  for the purpose of receiving monetary compensation.  Vaughn II, 2016 WL 4223748, at *4 (quoting Vaughn I, 2015 WL 5671902, at *79). Yet in reaching this conclusion, neither the district court nor the authority on which it relies addressed an important precedent that may bear on this question.

In Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc., 811 F.3d 528, 533 (2d Cir. 2016), we addressed the question of under what circumstances an unpaid intern must be deemed an employee under the FLSA and therefore compensated for his work. In doing so, we explained that the proper question is whether the intern or the employer is the primary beneficiary of the relationship and set out a non-exhaustive set of factors for courts to weigh as they consider the economic reality of the relationship. Id. at 53637 (quoting Barfield v. N.Y.C. Health & Hosps. Corp., 537 F.3d 132, 14142 (2d Cir. 2008)). Although that analysis was confined to internships and does not necessarily apply to training programs in other contexts in light of the relationship between the internship and the intern's formal education, id. at 537, the nature of that relationship may have some resemblance to the vocational training aspects of certain rehabilitation programs, a context in which other courts have looked to the purpose of the work performed because the presence of a rehabilitative element does not preclude an employment relationship, Williams v. Strickland, 87 F.3d 1064, 1067 (9th Cir. 1996). Nevertheless, Glatt was not addressed in Vaughn I or Vaughn II, nor in any of the briefing below or before this Court.

Rather than address in the first instance how Glatt may impact the resolution of this dispute, if at all, or whether disposing of this matter at the motion to dismiss stage is appropriate in light of Glatt and Williams, we deem it best to vacate the decision below with respect to its analysis of Vaughn's FLSA claim and to remand this matter for further consideration. This also necessitates vacating the dismissal of Vaughn's claims under state and city law, as they were dismissed solely based upon the district court's determination not to exercise supplemental jurisdiction following dismissal of Vaughn's federal claims. See Vaughn II, 2016 WL 4223748, at *5. Although we express no opinion on the merits of Vaughn's FLSA claim, we nevertheless find that its legal complexity is such that a claim of this sort is best made with the assistance of counsel and we therefore respectfully recommend that the district court, on remand, appoint counsel to aid [Vaughn] in pursing this claim. Triestman, 470 F.3d at 476; see also 28 U.S.C.  1915(e)(1).

For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court with respect to Vaughn's causes of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C.  1983 and 1994, we VACATE the judgment of the district court with respect to his causes of action under the FLSA, as well as his state and local claims, and we REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
US President Donald Trump had previously denounced Russia for "not helping" global efforts to pressure Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programs

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Russia of undermining international sanctions against North Korea and weakening efforts to curb Kim Jong-Un's nuclear weapons program.

"Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea," Trump told the Reuters news agency.

"What China is helping us with, Russia is denting."

Last month, Trump had already denounced Russia for "not helping" global efforts to pressure Pyongyang to halt the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems that have increased tensions with Washington.

Trump has blamed the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election for hampering an improvement in US-Russian relations -- thereby limiting his influence over President Vladimir Putin.

"He can do a lot," Trump said of Putin. "But unfortunately we don't have much of a relationship with Russia, and in some cases it's probable that what China takes back, Russia gives. So the net result is not as good as it could be."

Separately, Trump denounced China's alleged theft of US intellectual property -- an issue under investigation since mid-August.

"We have a very big intellectual property potential fine going, which is going to come out soon," Trump told Reuters, without clarifying further.

Meanwhile, the US leader refused to say if he had directly communicated in any way with Kim Jong-Un, with whom he has traded public barbs and insults in recent months.

"I'd sit down, but I'm not sure that sitting down will solve the problem," he said.

"I'm not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful. They've talked for 25 years and they've taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents."

Trump said he believed the North Korean regime was getting closer to being able to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

"They're not there yet, but they're close. And they get closer every day," he said.

Trump recently praised the resumption of talks between North and South Korea, and signaled his "openness" to US talks with North Korea "under the right circumstances."

The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to march together under a single flag at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February in a sign of easing tensions on the peninsula.
McKayla Maroney, pictured in 2013, had been warned she could be fined $100,000 if she spoke about her abuse at the hands of disgraced former team doctor Larry Nassar

USA Gymnastics said Wednesday that Olympic star McKayla Maroney was free to speak about her sexual abuse case following outrage over a gag order she was required to sign as part of a $1.25 million settlement.

Maroney, a two-time world champion vaulter and Olympic champion, filed a lawsuit last month against USA Gymnastics and the US Olympic Committee after her settlement deal in December 2016.

The 22-year-old had been warned she could be fined $100,000 if she spoke about her abuse at the hands of disgraced former team doctor Larry Nassar under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement, which she had sought to have overturned.

The gag order was widely criticised, with model Christine Teigen this week offering to pay the fine in its entirety to allow Maroney to speak.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement Maroney would not face a financial penalty for speaking about her abuse by Nassar, who is facing an ongoing sentencing hearing in Michigan this week.

"USA Gymnastics has not sought and will not seek any money from McKayla Maroney for her brave statements made in describing her victimization and abuse by Larry Nassar, nor for any victim impact statements she wants to make to Larry Nassar at this hearing or at any subsequent hearings related to his sentencing," USA Gymnastics said. "This has been her right and USA Gymnastics encourages McKayla and anyone who has been abused to speak out.

"USA Gymnastics remains focused on our highest priority - the safety, health and well-being of our athletes and creating a culture that empowers and supports them."

In a statement emailed to AFP, Maroney's lawyer, John Manly, said USA Gymnastics had been forced to back down after realising the gag order was unenforceable.

"Let's be clear. The only reason this statement was issued is because people were outraged at USAG's behavior toward Ms. Maroney and her family," Manly said.

"Everyday Americans get that no one should be silenced about child molestation. This is especially true when the abused is a young athlete who competed in the Olympic Games for our Country and brought honor and dignity to our nation.

"It is truly sad that USA Gymnastics and the USOC didn't and don't get it. They have no choice to relent because the cleansing sunlight of truth is shining upon them and they can no longer hide their misdeeds."

Maroney was among more than 100 female gymnasts believed to have been abused by Nassar, who could face life in prison for his crimes.

On Monday, Olympic all-around champion Simone Biles became the most high-profile gymnast to reveal she too was victimized by Nassar. Other high-profile victims include team-mates Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas.
Three people walk amid the debris in the Syrian city of Raqa, after Kurdish fighters supported by US warplanes defeated Islamic State group jihadists to take the city

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that US troops will remain in Syria not just to fight jihadists but also to counter the power of Bashar al-Assad and his ally Iran.

In a speech on the US strategy to help end Syria's seven-year civil war, Tillerson stressed that the mission of the US military is to destroy the Islamic State group and prevent its return.

But he also made it clear that the open-ended deployment is intended to help create enough stability for Syrians to be able to remove Assad from office and reject Iranian influence.

"A total withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore Assad to continue his brutal treatment against his own people," Tillerson told an audience at Stanford University.

"A murderer of his own people cannot generate the trust required for long-term stability," he said.

"A stable, unified, and independent Syria ultimately requires post-Assad leadership in order to be successful."

The United States has deployed around 2,000 ground troops to Syria and its warplanes patrol over the east of the country, hunting remnants of the Islamic State group.

The US works with the Syrian Democratic Forces, a militia dominated by Kurdish fighters which Washington sees as a basis for a 30,000-strong border force to hold eastern Syria.

Assad's Damascus regime has condemned this force as traitors, and US ally Turkey, wary of the presence of the YPG Kurdish militia in its ranks, is highly suspicious of its role.

Tillerson insisted that Washington is not being dragged into the Syrian civil war as a combatant seeking violent regime change, nor into a long-term nation-building mission.

Instead, he argued that the US role will provide stability to allow a UN-led peace process to resume and find a Syrian-led alternative to Assad's rule and the Iranian presence.

"The departure of Assad through the UN-led Geneva process will create the conditions for a durable peace within Syria and security along the borders," Tillerson said.

"US disengagement from Syria would provide Iran with the opportunity to further strengthen its own position in Syria.

"As we have seen from Iran's proxy wars and public announcements, Iran seeks dominance in the Middle East and the destruction of our ally Israel," he said.

- 'Same mistakes' -

Despite rejecting the regime change and nation-building model of past US interventions in the region, Tillerson said that the United States must not repeat its "mistake" in leaving Iraq.

US troops completed a withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, eight years after they toppled Saddam Hussein's rule, only to return in much lower numbers in 2014 to fight the Islamic State.

"The United States will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring that ISIS cannot re-emerge," Tillerson said, using an abbreviation for the Islamic State group.

"We cannot make the same mistakes that were made in 2011, when a premature departure from Iraq allowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq to survive and eventually morph into ISIS," he said.
Arizona Republican Jeff Flake unleashed a broadside against Donald Trump, criticizing his attacks on the press ahead of the president's announcement of controversial "Fake News Awards"

Donald Trump unveiled the winners of his much-touted "Fake News Awards" late Wednesday, hours after a maverick senator from the president's own Republican party accused him of employing Stalinist language to "slur" and undermine the free press.

Arizona lawmaker Jeff Flake levelled the broadside in an address from the Senate floor earlier in the day, delivering a one-two punch after veteran Republican John McCain penned an op-ed assailing Trump's spoof awards.

The brash Republican president announced his top-ten list -- which included his regular targets CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post -- using his preferred medium of Twitter, linking to a list published on the Republican Party's website that crashed minutes after his big reveal.

Flake slammed what he called the president's dangerous disregard for the truth, and his designation of the mainstream news media as an "enemy of the people."

"Mr President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies," said the senator, an outspoken Trump critic who is not seeking re-election this year.

"When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that does not suit him 'fake news,' it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."

Turning the tables on the president, Flake accused him of leading an "unrelenting daily assault" on the free press, even as his White House coined the term "alternative facts" -- "as justification for what used to be called old fashioned falsehoods."

"2017 was a year which saw the truth -- objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and abused than any time in the history of our country, at the hands of the biggest figure in our government," Flake charged.

Of the "awards" Flake had said "it beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle yet here we are," -- and urged his fellow lawmakers to take a stand in support of the press.

- 'Dishonest media' -

At loggerheads with much of the US news media, Trump said he would be awarding "Fake News Awards" to the "most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media"

At loggerheads with much of the US news media since his election, Trump finally doled out his "Fake News Awards" after weeks of speculation, recognizing what he had called "the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media."

Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, who writes a regular opinion column -- not news articles -- for The New York Times, nabbed the number one spot.

The administration said he merited the award for writing "on the day of President Trump's historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover."

Following the former reality star's stunning rise to power, Krugman had written that Trump's inexperience on economic policy and unpredictability risked further damaging the weak global economy.

The list also pointed to an error from ABC's veteran reporter Brian Ross, who was suspended for four weeks without pay after he was forced to correct a bombshell report on ex-Trump aide Michael Flynn.

In follow-up tweets to his "Fake News" announcement, the commander-in-chief posted that "despite some very corrupt and dishonest media coverage, there are many great reporters I respect and lots of GOOD NEWS for the American people to be proud of!"

"Together there is nothing we can't overcome -- even a very biased media. We ARE Making America Great Again!"

- 'Reflexive slurs'

Quoting figures from the International Federation of Journalists which reported the deaths of more than 80 journalists last year, Flake said Trump's "reflexive slurs" were an affront to their sacrifice.

From his longtime questioning of Barack Obama's birth certificate, to his dismissal of what US intelligence agrees was a Russian effort to sway the 2016 election as a "hoax," Flake accused Trump of weakening trust in American institutions -- while emboldening despots around the world.

Citing the examples of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte or Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, who all employed the term "fake news" in recent months, he accused Trump of encouraging brutal and authoritarian regimes to persecute the press.

"This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr President," Flake said. "Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has now in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language."

Earlier in the day White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders had pushed back at Flake's criticism, suggesting the senator was simply "looking for some attention" -- and accusing him of defending the "oppressive Cuban government" during a recent trip to the communist-ruled island.

While Flake's combative stance was not echoed by the Republican mainstream, it was mirrored by his Arizona colleague and fellow Trump critic McCain, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post entitled "Mr. President, stop attacking the press."

"Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy," McCain warned.

Citing the Committee to Protect Journalists, McCain noted that 2017 was one of the most dangerous years on record for the profession, with 262 journalists jailed over their work -- 21 of them on charges of "fake news."
LONDON (AP) - A London man who talked about forming "a death squad sent by Allah" has gone on trial for allegedly plotting a series of attacks in the British capital.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood told a jury at London's Central Criminal Court on Tuesday that 25-year-old Umar Haque "was fascinated by the warped and extreme ideology of Islamic State."

Heywood said Haque identified multiple targets, including Big Ben, Heathrow Airport, banks, shopping centers and embassies. He was arrested in May.

Authorities recorded a conversation in which they allege Haque said, "We are a death squad sent by Allah and his messengers to avenge my Arab brothers' blood."

Haque has denied preparing acts of terrorism. Three men he met through a London mosque and who are accused of helping him also deny the charges.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on the inauguration of Democrat Phil Murphy as New Jersey governor. (all times local):

Noon:

New Jersey has a new governor.

Democrat Phil Murphy was sworn in Tuesday as the state's 56th governor by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner at Patriots Theater inside the War Memorial in Trenton.

Murphy's wife and four children joined him as he took the oath on the same Bible that John F. Kennedy used when he was sworn in as president. A National Guard artillery battery fired a 19-gun salute.

The former Wall Street executive and political newcomer replaces Republican Chris Christie. His election places the governor's office in Democratic hands for the first time since 2009. Democrats also control both houses of the Legislature.

Murphy's running mate, former Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, was sworn in as lieutenant governor. Oliver also will head of the state's Community Affairs Department and will become acting governor whenever murphy is out of state.

Murphy will attend an inaugural ball under a tent at MetLife Stadium.

___

10:30 a.m.

New Jersey's next governor tweeted out morning wishes to the state.

Democrat Phil Murphy wrote, "Today our great state turns a new page." The tweet featured Murphy, his wife and their children in a group hug.

Murphy and his wife are attending a prayer service at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton.

The former Wall Street executive and political newcomer becomes the state's 56th governor, succeeding Republican Chris Christie, after he is sworn in at the War Memorial in Trenton Tuesday.

The inaugural ball will take place under a tent at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

Motorists driving to the inauguration should be aware the Route 29 south Memorial Drive and Market Street exits remain closed because of flooding.

Route 1 south is an alternate way to enter Trenton.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declined to say Tuesday whether he would run for the Utah Senate seat being vacated by Republican Orrin Hatch, telling reporters the "time will come" for him to make some kind of announcement.

Romney, who moved to Utah after losing the 2012 presidential election, repeatedly demurred when asked at a gathering of about 1,000 Utah business leaders in Salt Lake City whether he would run for office.

"I don't have anything for you on that topic today. Time will come," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters after delivering a policy-laden speech and participating in a question-and-answer session at the event.

Romney said he has had "a couple of very cordial conversations over the past couple of months" with President Donald Trump but declined to say whether they discussed his potential candidacy or answer a question about what kind of relationship he would have with the president if elected, citing "too many hypotheticals."

It's the first of two speeches the former Massachusetts governor is scheduled to give this week to leaders of Utah's business community as he ratchets up his appearances in the state.

People close to the 70-year-old Romney have said he is interested in running in his adopted home of Utah and expect an announcement soon.

Romney has been a frequent critic of the president, calling then-candidate Trump during the 2016 presidential election "a fraud" who "has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president."

Romney is popular in Utah, where he's where he's fondly regarded as the man who helped turn around Salt Lake City's scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics.

He's also one of the most famous and respected Mormons in the world - a big deal in a state where 60 percent of residents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

___

Follow Price on Twitter at https://twitter.com/michellelprice
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Federal and local authorities in Puerto Rico said Tuesday that they will implement a "broken windows" policing campaign to fight a surge in killings across the U.S. territory, which has reported 46 homicides so far this month - double the number at the same point last year.

The plan is to crack down on all types of violations, down to minor ones like traffic infractions and illegal tints on car windows, in an effort to get criminals off the street and prevent bigger crimes, Justice Secretary Wanda Vazquez said.

"We are an island of law and order, and we will behave as such," she said.

The "broken windows" philosophy was implemented by then New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s with the idea that cracking down on minor offenses such as public urination and graffiti can help deter more serious crimes. Critics contend the strategy is not effective and targets minorities.

Nearly all the victims in Puerto Rico's homicide surge have been young men in their 20s who were shot to death, with police saying they believe most cases are drug related. The most recent case was a double homicide reported Tuesday before dawn in the northern city of Caguas where two men were found burned to death inside a car. Earlier this week, a 20-year-old university student working at a food truck was fatally shot during a robbery.

No one has been arrested in any of the killings this month, although a handful of arrest warrants have been issued. The cities of Carolina and Caguas are tied for the highest number of killings at nine, followed by the capital of San Juan with eight.

Puerto Rico's homicide rate is roughly 20 killings per 100,000 residents, compared with 3.7 per 100,000 residents on the U.S. mainland

The spike in killings comes amid a widespread power outage left by Hurricane Maria and an increase in absences among police officers who are protesting, among other things, millions of dollars owed in overtime pay this year following the storm. More than 2,000 police officers were calling in sick daily, compared with an average of 600 on a normal day, forcing dozens of police stations to close for hours or days at a time during the holidays. However, government officials recently said absences have dropped significantly in the islandwide force, which is one of the largest police departments under U.S. jurisdiction with some 13,600 officers. Meanwhile, nearly 40 percent of power customers are still in the dark almost four months after Maria.

U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said she could not provide further details of the new campaign, but added that she is requesting additional resources from the local government including more prosecutors to deal with the surge in killings.

"We're going to be successful," she said. "I have no doubt."

Rodriguez said part of the homicide problem is that Puerto Rico is a transit point for drugs being shipped from South America to the U.S. mainland, inevitably leading to drug-related crimes.

"Drugs and weapons are more inseparable in Puerto Rico than in any other place," she said.

Hector Pesquera, secretary of Puerto Rico's newly created Department of Public Safety, said that most of the killings this month were tied to drugs but that there is "no rhyme or reason" to why there has been a surge in recent weeks.

He said the policing crackdown aims to prevent serious crimes by attacking smaller ones.

Bruce Bagley, a professor at the international studies department at the University of Miami, said such an approach is only a short-term fix and will not solve Puerto Rico's crime issues.

"The 'broken windows' theory doesn't work really well," he told The Associated Press. "The problem that Puerto Rico confronts is of course Hurricane Maria, lack of infrastructure, lack of employment, lack of prospects for young people. ... It needs a much longer term plan to be effective. There has to be a recovery that focuses on youth education, employment and vocational training."
LYLE, Minn. (AP) - A semitrailer truck veered off a highway and crashed through the wall of an elementary school in southern Minnesota, injuring four people including two children in a classroom.

School officials in Lyle, next to the Iowa border, say the semi rear-ended another vehicle on Highway 218 about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, then careered off the highway and crashed into the school with its cab landing inside the walls. The highway is about 100 yards (90 meters) from the school.

Two students, along with the driver and a child passenger in the vehicle hit by the semi were injured. There has been no information released on the conditions of the injured.

A semitrailer is embedded in the side of Lyle Public School Tuesday morning, Jan. 16, 2018 after it veered off a highway and crashed through the wall of the elementary school in Lyle, Minnesota. The semi left Highway 218 in Lyle after trying to avoid a car making a turn, striking it in the right rear of the vehicle. (Eric Johnson/The Daily Herald via AP)

All students were evacuated to Our Saviors Lutheran Church across the street.

A Minnesota State Patrol trooper surveys the accident scene on Highway 218 Tuesday morning, Jan. 16, 2018 involving a car, foreground, and a semitrailer that left the road and collided with Lyle Public School in Lyle, Minn. (Eric Johnson/The Daily Herald via AP)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia will speak at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, months after refusing to join President Donald Trump there.

A private group called Friends of Mississippi Civil Rights Inc. announced Tuesday that it will give awards to Lewis, who helped lead the historic 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama; and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who also was active in the civil rights movement. Events are set for Feb. 23 and 24 at the museum, which adjoins the Museum of Mississippi History in downtown Jackson.

When Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant invited Trump to the Dec. 9 opening of the two museums as part of the state's bicentennial celebration, Lewis called it an "insult" to people who worked for racial equality.

FILE- In this Nov. 29, 2017, file photo, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and other members of the House Democratic Caucus leave a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lewis will speak at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, months after refusing to join President Donald Trump there. A private group called Friends of Mississippi Civil Rights Inc. announced Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, that it will give an award to Lewis, who helped lead the historic 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump took a private tour of the museums and spoke for about 10 minutes to a group of invited guests inside, including some civil rights veterans.

People protested a few blocks from the museums, with some chanting, "No Trump, no hate, no KKK in the USA." NAACP national President Derrick Johnson and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba also skipped the museums' opening because of Trump and said at an alternate event that day that they looked forward to a "grander opening" later.

Lewis will give a lecture Feb. 24 at the civil rights museum, which features a gallery of black-and-white jail mug shots of Lewis and other Freedom Riders arrested in 1961 in Jackson while challenging segregated interstate buses.

The Museum of Mississippi History takes a 15,000-year view, from the Stone Age through modern times. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum concentrates on the intense span from 1945 to 1976. The two museums are funded by state money and private donations. They attracted more than 10,000 visitors the first weekend they were open and an additional 25,000 during the rest of December.

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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. James L. ROUDABUSH, Jr., Appellant v. Lt. BITENER; Lt. Marchanello; T. Jones; Det. Sanchez; Ferme; Lt. Lampey; Lt. John Doe (Acting); Koeppen; Grant; Alatary; Miletto No. 16-2723 Decided: January 16, 2018

Before: JORDAN, RESTREPO, and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges James L. Roudabush, Jr., Pro Se Elizabeth A. Pascal, Esq., Office of United States Attorney, Camden, NJ, for Defendants-Appellees

OPINION *

James Roudabush, Jr., a federal prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals an order of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey revoking his in forma pauperis (IFP) status. For the reasons that follow, we will vacate the judgment of the District Court and remand for further proceedings.

Roudabush filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against staff at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey claiming violations of his constitutional rights. Roudabush alleged, among other things, that prison staff were denying him medical treatment. Roudabush moved to proceed IFP, or without pre-payment of the court's filing fees. The District Court transferred the motion and complaint to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.

After the transfer, the District Court granted Roudabush IFP status. The District Court found that Roudabush had three strikes for purposes of 28 U.S.C.  1915(g), but ruled that he had sufficiently pleaded that he was under imminent danger of serious physical injury based on the alleged denial of medical care. The District Court noted that the defendants could challenge Roudabush's contention that he was in imminent danger after service of the complaint. The defendants did so and submitted affidavits and evidence from his medical file. After a hearing, the District Court found that Roudabush was not in imminent danger when he filed his complaint and revoked his IFP status. It also rejected his contention that he did not have three strikes. The District Court denied Roudabush's subsequent motion to vacate its decision. This appeal followed.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1291. See Abdul-Akbar v. McKelvie, 239 F.3d 307, 311 (3d Cir. 2001) (en banc) ([A]n order denying leave to proceed I.F.P. is a final, collateral order appealable under 28 U.S.C.  1292.). Our standard of review is plenary. Gibbs v. Cross, 160 F.3d 962, 964 (3d Cir. 1998).

A prisoner may not bring a civil action or appeal a judgment in a civil action and proceed IFP if the prisoner has, on 3 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action or appeal  that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, unless the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury. 28 U.S.C.  1915(g). This provision is known as the three strikes rule. Ball v. Famiglio, 726 F.3d 448, 452 (3d Cir. 2013), abrogated in part by Coleman v. Tollefson,  U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 1759, 191 L.Ed.2d 803 (2015). A strike accrues under  1915(g) only if an entire action or appeal is dismissed explicitly on a ground set forth in  1915(g) or pursuant to a statutory provision or rule that is limited solely to dismissals on such grounds. Byrd v. Shannon, 715 F.3d 117, 126 (3d Cir. 2013).

The District Court determined that Roudabush had three prior dismissals that qualify as strikes. The District Court relied on the dismissal of Roudabush's complaint in Roudabush v. Johnson, W.D. Va. Civ. No. 05-cv-00691 (Johnson I). We agree that this dismissal is a strike under Byrd. The District Court in Johnson I construed Roudabush's habeas petition as a civil rights action over his objection and dismissed the entire action pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1915A(b)(1), which provides for dismissal of a complaint that is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim for relief.

The District Court also relied on the dismissal of Roudabush's complaint in Roudabush v. United States, et al., D.N.J. Civ. No. 11-cv-00980. The District Court in this case dismissed Roudabush's claims against the United States based on sovereign immunity and his claims against the District Court based on judicial immunity in screening the complaint. Immunity is not an enumerated ground for a strike under  1915(g) and a dismissal on this basis does not, on its own, count as a strike. Ball, 726 F.3d at 460-61. Such a dismissal may count as a strike where a court explicitly and correctly concludes that the complaint reveals the immunity defense on its face and dismisses it under Rule 12(b)(6) or expressly states that the ground for the dismissal is frivolousness. Id. at 463. A dismissal based on immunity also qualifies as a strike where a court dismisses the complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to  1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). Millhouse v. Heath, 866 F.3d 152, 161-62 (3d Cir. 2017).

In Roudabush v. United States, et al., the District Court dismissed Roudabush's claims based on sovereign and judicial immunity, but it did not state that the ground for dismissal of these claims was frivolousness or failure to state a claim or that the dismissal was pursuant to  1915(e)(2)(B)(i) or (ii). Although the District Court later granted the remaining defendants motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, the entire action was not dismissed on an enumerated ground and the dismissal is not strike.

The District Court also found that the dismissal of Roudabush's complaint in Roudabush v. Johnson, et al., D.N.J. Civ. No. 11-cv-07444 (Johnson II), qualifies as a strike. The District Court dismissed the complaint in this case at the screening stage for failure to state a claim pursuant to  1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) and  1915A(b)(1) and stated in its order that the dismissal was without prejudice. Since the District Court below issued its decision, we have held that the dismissal of a complaint without prejudice for failure to state a claim is not a strike based on the language of  1915(g). Millhouse, 866 F.3d at 161-63. Appellees argue that Roudabush had been afforded leave to amend his complaint, and that the dismissal without prejudice became a dismissal with prejudice once he failed to amend, but they rely upon a decision by this Court addressing whether a dismissal without prejudice was final for purposes of appellate jurisdiction. Under Millhouse, Johnson II is not a strike.

In addition to Johnson I, we have previously found that Roudabush has one other dismissal that qualifies as a strike and that accrued prior to when he brought his present action in District Court. See Roudabush v. Kopelove, E.D. Va. Civ. No. 05-cv-00348 (case dismissed as frivolous). Roudabush objects to our reliance on the court docket as opposed to the dismissal order in making this determination, but we often look to dockets in older cases and the docket in Kopelove is unambiguous.

We are unable to conclude, however, that Roudabush has a third such strike. The Appellees note in their brief that we determined that Roudabush has three strikes when we adjudicated his motion to proceed IFP in this appeal, but we relied on the two qualifying dismissals noted above and the dismissal in Roudabush v. Hylton, et al., E.D. Va. Civ. No. 15-cv-00376, which occurred on September 2, 2015. This dismissal was prior to the filing of the present appeal, see Millhouse, 866 F.3d at 157, but not prior to the date Roudabush brought his underlying action, whether we consider the date he submitted his complaint or the date the District Court granted IFP status and the complaint was filed. See 28 U.S.C.  1915(g) (providing a prisoner shall not bring a civil action if he has on three or more prior occasions brought an action or appeal that was dismissed on an enumerated ground). Appellees also note that Roudabush has filed appeals that were dismissed as frivolous, but these dismissals also occurred after he brought his underlying action. Roudabush thus did not have three strikes and he was not required to show that he was in imminent danger in order to proceed IFP in District Court.

Roudabush also appeals a September 9, 2015 order by the Magistrate Judge denying his motion for appointment of counsel. Roudabush objected to the Magistrate Judge's order by filing an appeal to the District Judge. Roudabush has not identified an order addressing his appeal and we have not found one. The District Court should address Roudabush's objection on remand. Roudabush also appeals a September 8, 2015 order denying his motion for recusal and an October 22, 2015 order granting the defendants motion to file his medical records under seal. Roudabush has not shown that the District Court erred and we affirm the orders for substantially the reasons stated by the District Court. To the extent Roudabush argues that he was denied witnesses at his imminent danger hearing, it is not necessary to address this argument because we do not reach the issue of imminent danger.

Finally, Roudabush appeals the District Court's denial of his motion to vacate its order revoking his IFP status. Roudabush argued that the District Court lacked jurisdiction because he had a pending interlocutory appeal when the District Court held its hearing on his IFP status. As noted by the District Court, Roudabush's appeal had been dismissed for failure to prosecute at the time of the hearing and he had a pending motion to reopen his appeal. In addition, a lower court's jurisdiction is not lost when an appeal is taken from a non-appealable order. Venen v. Sweet, 758 F.2d 117, 121 (3d Cir. 1985). Roudabush had appealed the October 22, 2015 order regarding the submission of his medical records. This order was not immediately appealable and we later reopened his appeal and dismissed it for lack of jurisdiction. See C.A. No. 15-3699.

Accordingly, we will vacate the judgment of the District Court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FOOTNOTES

. The District Court consolidated Roudabush's IFP motion with an IFP motion he had filed in another case, Roudabush v. Reyes, D.N.J. Civ. No. 15-cv-05521. This appeal only concerns the underlying action. Roudabush's appeal in Reyes was dismissed.

. Because Roudabush v. United States, et al. does not qualify as a strike on this basis, we need not address the District Court's other rulings in that case.

. The dismissal in Roudabush v. NRDC Equity Partners, LLC, et al., D.N.J. Civ. No. 12-cv-00029, noted in the District Court's initial order granting Roudabush IFP status, is also not a strike because it was without prejudice.

. Because Roudabush v. Hylton, et al. was dismissed after both the submission and the filing of the complaint below, we do not address this issue further here. To the extent Roudabush argues that Hylton is not a strike because the dismissal was pursuant to 28 U.S.C.  1915A(b)(1), such a dismissal is a strike. Byrd, 715 F.3d at 126.

. Roudabush's motion for leave to file an addendum to his reply brief is granted and his remaining outstanding motions are denied. Appellees motion to seal portions of their Supplemental Appendix is granted and their motion to strike Roudabush's response to their Rule 28(j) letter is denied.

PER CURIAM
DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit man who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years has been deported to Mexico.

Jorge Garcia came to the U.S. with his family when he was 10 years old. He has no criminal record, pays taxes and has long sought legal status, according to his family. The 39-year-old landscaper was deported on Monday and can't return to the U.S. for a decade.

Garcia had faced an order of removal from immigration courts since 2009, but had been granted stays of removal under former President Barack Obama's administration.

In this Monday, Jan. 15, 2018 photo, Jorge Garcia hugs his wife, Cindy Garcia, and their two children at Detroit Metro Airport moments before boarding a flight to Mexico. Garcia, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, was deported to Mexico. (Niraj Warikoo /Detroit Free Press via AP)

Garcia learned in November that he'd been scheduled to be deported as part of an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration. A request from Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell pushed back the deportation date to allow Garcia to spend the holidays with his wife and two children, who are all U.S. citizens.

"We did not want to put up a Christmas tree because it was way too sad to even get to that point," his wife, Cindy Garcia, said. "It was rough because we knew he was going to leave eventually. All we could do is make memories."

Immigrant advocates say deporting people like Garcia separates families.

"Rather than wait to see what reforms are made, immigration officials came into work on a national holiday to take Jorge away from his family," said Michigan United, a group that advocates for immigrant rights and other issues.

Jorge Garcia is too old to qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows young immigrants living in the country illegally who were brought here as children to work and study in the U.S.

"I got to leave my family behind, knowing that they're probably going to have a hard time adjusting," Garcia said. "Me not being there for them for who knows how long. It's just hard."

Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday that the federal government was justified in deporting Garcia.

"All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States," Walls said in a statement.

In this Monday, Jan. 15, 2018 photo, Jorge Garcia stands at the ticket counter at Detroit Metro Airport while checking his bags in. Garcia was being deported to Mexico after living in the U.S. for nearly 30 years. (Niraj Warikoo /Detroit Free Press via AP)
CARMEL, Ind. (AP) - John Moriarty barreled through panicked crowds after an explosion inside a Kmart store in Indiana. He soon found a bloodied 5-year-old girl, her hand blown off as she'd picked up a makeshift bomb fashioned inside a toothpaste container.

The off-duty firefighter had been shopping but quickly joined a medical student to tend to the child: Plastic sandwich bags became medical gloves, linens were used to stem her bleeding, a turkey baster helped remove fluid from the girl's airways. They stabilized her until paramedics arrived.

Moriarty always wondered what happened to little Erin Bower after that day in 1989. He went to the hospital a day after the bombing with dresses he bought as gifts for her and her sister, but police wouldn't let him visit because the investigation was ongoing. Moriarty said he often thought about calling her.

In a Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018 photo, from left, Maureen Bower, daughter Erin Bower Patterson and Carmel firefighter John Moriarty talk at his retirement party at fire headquarters in Carmel, Ind. The firefighter was shopping off-duty at the Castleton K-mart in 1989 when a bomb exploded inside a toothpaste container that 5-year-old Erin Bower was holding, causing her to lose her left hand and eye. Moriarty and a medical student in the store were able to stabilize her until emergency crews arrived. Moriarty asked to finally reconnect with Erin Bower Patterson, now 34, at his retirement party. (Jenna Watson/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

"There were times I wanted to, I truly wanted to," he said. "But I guess my biggest fear was how would that affect her if I introduced myself and started talking about it?"

He found out on Thursday, when 34-year-old Erin Bower Patterson surprised him as he retired from the Carmel Fire Department in suburban Indianapolis.

A shocked and teary-eyed Moriarty had only hugs to greet Erin - who now directs the pediatric rehabilitation department at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis - along with her husband and her parents.

"When I realized that was her, that made everything the greatest of all time," he told the Indianapolis Star . "There is nothing better than that ... to see how she's grown up and everything, and her husband, that's wonderful. That is so cool."

Moriarty said saving her was the biggest moment of his life.

He remembers the explosion in detail. He muscled through a stampede of people exiting the store, following calls for help from Erin's mother, Maureen Bower. She was bleeding from shrapnel wounds, and Erin's father, Kevin, was clutching Erin in shock.

Moriarty gently laid Erin on the ground to stop the bleeding before paramedics arrived. The bomb also damaged one of her eyes. The man police determined was responsible for the bombing killed himself two days after the explosion.

On Thursday, Erin said she was filled with gratitude that Moriarty was willing to run toward danger. She said accepting his fellow firefighters' invitation to his retirement ceremony was an easy decision.

"He was a key piece in saving my life and getting me to where I am today," she said.

She said she didn't remember the explosion, but she later went through extensive physical therapy, an experience she turned into a career.

"For something like that to happen to a child like that, and look at Erin helping people today," Moriarty said. "When I think about the outcome of all that, my God, how beautiful life is to think that I helped a girl who is alive today who is helping other people."

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - Five officers involved in two Navy ship collisions last year that killed a total of 17 sailors are being charged with negligent homicide, the Navy said Tuesday.

A Navy spokesman, Capt. Greg Hicks, said the charges, which also include dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, will be presented to what the military calls an Article 32 hearing to determine whether the accused are taken to trial in a court-martial.

The disciplinary actions were decided by Adm. Frank Caldwell and are the latest in a series of moves the Navy has made in the aftermath of the deadly collisions, which investigators concluded were avoidable. It fired several top leaders, including the commander of the 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, and several other senior commanders in the Pacific.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2017, file photo, provided by the U.S. Navy, damage is visible as the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain steers towards Changi naval base in Singapore following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC. The Navy says it is filing negligent homicide charges against the commanders of two ships involved in fatal collisions last year. The charges are to be presented at what the military calls an Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether the accused are court martialed. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton/U.S. Navy photo via AP, File)

The Navy has been reeling from tough questions arising from the two collisions. The destroyer USS Fitzgerald struck a commercial ship off the waters of Japan in June, killing seven U.S. sailors. The destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in coastal waters off Singapore in August, killing 10 U.S. sailors.

The Navy said it is filing at least three charges against four officers of the Fitzgerald, including the commanding officer, who was Cmdr. Bryce Benson at the time. Benson suffered a head injury in the collision and was airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan. A Navy investigation found that Benson left the ship's bridge before the collision. Also facing charges are two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade, whose names were not disclosed. The Navy said all four face criminal charges, including negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship.

Fewer officers from the McCain are being charged. The Navy said the ship's commander at the time, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, is being charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship. A chief petty officer, whose name was not disclosed, faces a charge of dereliction of duty.

In a statement, Hicks said the announcement of charges Tuesday is "not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses. All individuals alleged to have committed misconduct are entitled to a presumption of innocence."

Hicks said that in addition to the criminal charges, additional administrative actions are being taken against unidentified members of both crews, including non-judicial punishment for four from the Fitzgerald and four from the McCain.

As a result of the two deadly accidents, at least eight top Navy officers, including the 7th Fleet commander, were fired from their jobs last year, and a number of other sailors received reprimands or other punishment that was not publicly released. Among the senior officers relieved of duty, in addition to Aucoin, were Rear Adm. Charles Williams and Capt. Jeffrey Bennett. Williams was the commander of Task Force 70, which includes the aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers in the 7th Fleet, and Bennett was commander of the destroyer squadron.

In a report released last November, the Navy concluded that the two crashes, as well as a third collision in May and a ship grounding, were all avoidable, and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders who didn't quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies.

A second report called for about 60 recommended changes to address the problems. They ranged from improved training on seamanship, navigation and the use of ship equipment to more basic changes to improve sleep and stress management for sailors.

The extensive training and leadership failures prompted the top Navy officer, Adm. John Richardson, to order all naval commanders around the world to review their staffs and ships to see if they had similar problems.

The Navy's investigation of the two collisions found that in addition to bad judgment, the crews were not adequately prepared.

"In the Navy, the responsibility of the Commanding Officer for his or her ship is absolute," it said. "Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision making of the Commanding Officer. That said, no single person bears full responsibility for this incident. The crew was unprepared for the situation in which they found themselves through a lack of preparation, ineffective command and control, and deficiencies in training and preparations for navigation."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on investigations into Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee is accusing President Donald Trump's White House of placing a "gag order" on former chief strategist Steve Bannon, barring him from answering many questions as part of the panel's investigation into Russian election interference.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, following the committee's interview with former White House strategist Steve Bannon. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Rep. Adam Schiff of California says Bannon refused to answer questions about his time in the White House or his work on the presidential transition. Bannon's refusal prompted a subpoena from the committee's Republican chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes of California.

Schiff says that was the first time Republicans on the committee had issued a subpoena in response to a witness refusing to answer questions at the instruction of the White House. Schiff says that the committee plans to bring Bannon back for another round of questioning.

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7:30 p.m.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is refusing to answer questions from a House committee about his work during the presidential transition or his time working in President Donald Trump's White House.

That's according to Jack Langer, a spokesman for Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Langer tells The Associated Press that Bannon would not discuss those topics during a day-long, closed-door interview on Capitol Hill.

In response, Nunes issued a subpoena to compel Bannon to answer the committee's questions. It's unclear whether Bannon was more forthcoming afterward.

Earlier Tuesday, a White House official said the president did not invoke executive privilege to prevent Bannon from answering the committee's questions. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

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7 p.m.

The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday in a showdown over whether he could be forced to testify in the panel's Russia investigation.

Bannon walked into a closed-door meeting with House members Tuesday morning and was still being grilled Tuesday evening. Lawmakers wanted answers from him about President Donald Trump's thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

The committee's Republican chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, said he issued the subpoena, but he declined to discuss why or what questions he hoped to compel Bannon to answer.

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon, left, leaves a House Intelligence Committee meeting where he was interviewed behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., walks from a committee meeting where former White House strategist Steve Bannon is testifying, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - PBS, which dealt with sexual misconduct allegations in its own backyard, will air a series examining the pressing social issue.

The five-part series, "#MeToo, Now What?" will address how we got here and how "we can use this moment to effect positive and lasting change," PBS chief executive Paula Kerger said Tuesday.

Hosted by Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization, the series will include reporting and conversations on topics including how race and class figure into the issue.

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2017 file photo, President and CEO Paula Kerger speaks at the PBS's Executive Session at the 2017 Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. PBS, which dealt with sexual misconduct allegations in its own backyard, will air a series examining the pressing social issue. The five-part series, "#MeToo, Now What?" will address how we got here and how "we can use this moment to effect positive and lasting change," Kerger said Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

Men and women from across the country will be among the studio guests, along with activists, celebrities and leaders from media, business and other sectors. The series debuts Feb. 2.

In a Q&A with TV critics, Kerger was asked why PBS was caught unaware by misconduct allegations against Charlie Rose that led PBS to drop his long-running interview program.

Rose, who also lost his job on "CBS This Morning" and as a "60 Minutes" contributor, called the allegations embarrassing but inaccurate.

Rose's program was independently produced and managed by him, as are other public TV programs, and PBS didn't have "that kind of view" into his organization that would been revelatory, Kerger said.

"That does not absolve us of the responsibility of trying to ensure that we are supporting a culture where people are valued and respected," Kerger said.

PBS has a "robust, proactive" human resources department, a whistle-blower line for complaints and newly implemented annual training for all employees, she said.

PBS also severed ties with talk show host Tavis Smiley after investigating misconduct allegations against him, which he has repeatedly denied.

A wave of accusations against prominent men gave rise to the #MeToo anti-misconduct movement.

Kerger was asked where federal funding for public TV stands. The Trump administration has proposed axing government support for public media.

PBS' share of the roughly $450 million in federal funds allocated for public TV and radio goes largely to support public TV stations nationwide, a number of which rely on it for up to 50 percent of their budget and can't survive without it, Kerger has said.

Many of those stations are in rural and underserved areas with residents who either don't have access to cable or satellite or can't afford it and who rely on over-the-air broadcasting

"We are grateful to have bipartisan support in Congress, which reflects the support we have from Americans in every corner of this country," Kerger said.

Given that some lawmakers will try to eliminate funding in the next budget and the polarized tenor of the time, Kerger said, it's critical for PBS to demonstrate its value as a town hall for civil conversation.

She cited the recently aired documentary "The Vietnam War," from filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, as an example of a PBS program that fostered dialogue, with veterans, peace activists and others connecting over it.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on upcoming programming from the TV Critics meeting in Pasadena, California (all times local):

5:46 p.m.

Angela Lansbury has words of wisdom for young actors.

Rebecca Eaton, from left, Annes Elwy, Emily Watson, Angela Lansbury, Maya Hawke, Jonah Hauer-King and Willa Fitzgerald participate in the Masterpiece "Little Women" panel during the PBS Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Lansbury, 92, who plays crusty Aunt March in PBS' new adaptation of "Little Women," advised newcomers to learn everything they can about a character to avoid just spouting words.

Actors who fail to approach their work thoughtfully will end up "a flash in the pan," Lansbury said.

"It's terribly important to get out of yourself and into that character. Leave yourself at home," she told a TV critics meeting Tuesday.

The two-part adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, debuting May 13 on PBS' "Masterpiece" showcase, stars Maya Hawke, daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, in her screen debut. She plays aspiring writer Jo March.

Hawke called it a "huge gift and a huge honor" to work with Lansbury and Emily Watson, who plays Jo's mother, Marmee.

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11:28 a.m.

PBS will air a five-part series about the sexual misconduct crisis.

PBS chief executive Paula Kerger said Tuesday will address the burst of attention to the issue and how it can be used to produce "positive and lasting change."

"#MeToo, Now What?" will be hosted by Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization. The debut date is Feb. 2.

PBS said the series will include reporting and conversations on topics including how race and class figure into the issue. Studio guests will include men and women from across the country, along with activists, and leaders from media, business and other sectors.

The Me Too unity movement was triggered by allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent men including Harvey Weinstein.
BEIJING (AP) - Politics weighs more heavily on foreign companies in China than it has in nearly three decades.

The latest flashpoint was Beijing's fury last week at hotel keeper Marriott and other companies that labeled self-ruled Taiwan a country on websites or customer materials. But companies face pressure on many sides from President Xi Jinping's more nationalistic stance and twin campaigns to tighten the ruling Communist Party's political control and have it play a direct role in business.

Businesspeople complain their operations are being hampered by internet disruptions due to Beijing's latest campaign since last year to tighten censorship of what the Chinese public sees online. They face pressure to promote initiatives such as helping potential Chinese rivals develop technology in fields including electric cars.

In this March 13, 2017, photo, Chinese security officials stand outside of a Lotte Mart supermarket that was closed under orders from the municipal fire department in Beijing. Politics weighs more heavily on foreign companies in China than it has in nearly three decades, as companies face pressure on many sides from Chinese President Xi Jinping's more nationalistic stance and twin campaigns to tighten the ruling Communist Party's political control and have it play a more direct role in business. (Chinatopix via AP)

Last year, Beijing destroyed South Korean retailer Lotte's business in China after the company sold land to the Seoul government to install an anti-missile system Chinese leaders opposed.

Most disturbing for companies: Beijing is pressing them to restructure joint ventures with Chinese partners to give the ruling party a formal voice in hiring, investment and other decisions.

"Xi Jinping has taken politics to a heightened level," said James Zimmerman, managing partner in Beijing for law firm Sheppard Mullin and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, in an email.

Foreign companies worry the "whims of political institutions" will erode their ability to make decisions, Zimmerman wrote. "Political institutions thrive on power and a quest to maintain power tends to favor select champions at the risk of innovation and entrepreneurship."

Politics always has overshadowed China's state-dominated economy. But since Xi took power in 2012, the party has reversed its trend of loosening its control of business to encourage entrepreneurial activity that generates China's new jobs and wealth.

Leaders have sent mixed messages by promising to promote free markets while also pledging to build up state-owned companies that dominate banking, oil, telecoms and other industries.

In 2013, the party said for the first time that market forces would play the "decisive role" in allocating resources - a declaration welcomed by businesspeople. But at the same time, the party said it would take more direct control of state-owned industries in a move outsiders said might be prompted by frustration about waste and corruption.

In a December speech to its ruling Politburo, Xi called for "strengthening the party's leadership of economic work," according to the party website.

The party's main theoretical journal, Qiushi, followed up by publishing a blog post criticizing privatization of industry as a development strategy.

"Communists can sum up their theory in one sentence: eliminate private ownership," wrote Zhou Xincheng, a professor of Marxism at the party's Renmin University in Beijing.

Business groups say party members and government officials who might offer feedback that could temper the economic cost of such political initiatives feel pressure to downplay that and show their loyalty to Xi's program.

It all adds to burdens for foreign companies that face slowing Chinese economic growth and a thicket of regulatory barriers they say make them feel increasingly unwelcome.

Last week's blast of official anger at Marriott, fashion brand Zara, Delta Air Lines and medical equipment maker Medtronic reflected Beijing's more assertive foreign policy and acute sensitivity about its claim to Taiwan. Beijing has rattled the island, as well as Japan and South Korea, by sending fighter jets and bombers close to their airspace in recent months.

Marriott was forced to close its website for a week and others were ordered to apologize publicly. The official Xinhua News Agency cited a Marriott executive as saying an employee who "liked" a tweet citing the Tibet mention would be fired.

Those companies appear to have been let off relatively easily compared with Lotte.

Authorities closed most of the South Korean company's 99 supermarkets and other outlets after it sold land for the U.S.-supplied THAAD anti-missile system Beijing worried would allow American forces to see into Chinese territory.

Seoul and Beijing later mended relations but Lotte lost hundreds of millions of dollars. South Korean media say the company has given up on China and is trying to sell its stores.

Companies are feeling a broader impact from a campaign under way since last year by the party, which already controls the regulators who oversee them, to gain a formal voice in their decisions about hiring, investment and strategy.

The party is pressing foreign managers to rewrite their articles of association, the document that defines the company structure and goals, to give it board seats or an advisory position. Businesspeople complain in private the party might be to trying to create a way to steer them toward doing things that serve its goals at their expense.

This is not the first time the party has mobilized to expand its presence in a newly developing segment of the economy.

In 2006, then-party leader Hu Jintao ordered a campaign to set up labor unions at foreign employers including Wal-Mart. That succeeded, but many of the new labor bodies did so little that workers complained they were allied with management.

By contrast, the latest campaign could lead to a fundamental change in the structure and leadership of joint ventures.

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China warned in November that if such changes take place, companies might be discouraged from investing in new joint ventures or reconsider their commitment to existing businesses.

European businesspeople say companies from some countries could face a public outcry at home due to memories of Communist Party-controlled workplaces in Soviet-era Eastern Europe.

This anxiety comes as Beijing faces mounting trade complaints from Washington and Europe.

"The belligerent tone and tack of the Trump Administration is likely going to worsen the situation and drive the Chinese leadership to be more insular and less conciliatory in the trade relationship," said Zimmerman.
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - An exiled Qatari sheikh once promoted by Saudi Arabia as a possible opposition leader amid a diplomatic dispute with Doha is now in Kuwait, authorities said Wednesday, after he had alleged that the United Arab Emirates was holding him against his will.

It's the latest chapter in Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani's mysterious travels, after he appeared in an online video on Sunday, following months of silence, to say the UAE wouldn't allow him to leave. Abu Dhabi has denied that, saying he was free to go where he pleased.

However, it only added fire to an ongoing dispute that saw the UAE allege this week that Qatari fighter jets "intercepted" two Emirati commercial airliners, something denied by Doha.

FILE- In this Aug. 17, 2017 file photo, released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi King Salman, left, walks with Qatari Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani, right, at the monarch's vacation home in Tangiers, Morocco. Exiled Sheikh Abdullah, once promoted by Saudi Arabia amid its ongoing dispute with Doha, appeared in an online video posted Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018, and aired by Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera, claiming he's being held against his will in the United Arab Emirates, an allegation denied by an Abu Dhabi official. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)

Qatar's National Human Rights Committee told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Sheikh Abdullah was in Kuwait and "will undergo health check-ups." The committee said it confirmed that with the sheikh's family.

Kuwaiti media reported that the sheikh arrived late on Tuesday night to Kuwait City, his flight greeted by an ambulance and a convoy of vehicles that took him to a military hospital.

Kuwait's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sheikh Abdullah was little-known until the Qatar diplomatic crisis erupted last June, with Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cutting off Doha's land, sea and air routes.

The four Arab nations accuse Qatar of funding extremists and having too-close ties to Iran. Qatar has long denied funding extremists, though it supports Islamist opposition movements that are considered terrorist groups by other countries in the region. It recently restored full diplomatic ties with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field.

Sheikh Abdullah's grandfather, father and brother were rulers of Qatar until a palace coup ousted his branch of the ruling family in 1972. His last position in government was as head of the equestrian and camel racing federation decades ago.

Since the crisis, Sheikh Abdullah has held high-profile meetings with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Those meetings came as Riyadh allowed Qatari pilgrims over the border in August for the hajj, a pilgrimage required of every able-bodied Muslim at least once in a lifetime.

The Saudis then began suggesting Sheikh Abdullah should rule Qatar as an emir in exile, while Saudi-funded television networks provided him coverage. A quickly created Twitter account in his name amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. However, the last tweet on the account came in October and Sheikh Abdullah has not been publicly seen for some time.

He remerged with an online video Sunday, immediately aired by Doha-based news network Al-Jazeera.

In it, Sheikh Abdullah says he was invited to Abu Dhabi as a guest of "Sheikh Mohammed," apparently a reference to Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who enjoys strong ties to Saudi Arabia's rulers.

"I am a guest of Sheikh Mohammed but it is not hosting now, it is now an imprisonment," Sheikh Abdullah says in the video. "They told me not to leave and I am afraid something will happen to me and they blame Qatar."

"I just wanted to let you know that Qatar is innocent in this and I am being hosted by Sheikh Mohammed and anything that happens to me after this is under his responsibility," he adds.

The report later Sunday on the UAE's state-run WAM news agency said Sheikh Abdullah was "free in his movements" while in the country.

"He expressed his desire to leave the country ... all procedures were facilitated without any interference," WAM said. It did not say where the sheikh went, though it implied he flew out Sunday. It wasn't immediately clear where the sheikh has been in recent days.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
BEIRUT (AP) - Syria's dominant Kurdish party on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to act quickly to ensure the safety of Kurdish-controlled territories in the country's north, including an enclave that Turkey has threatened to attack.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will launch a military offensive in the coming days against territories controlled by the dominant Syrian Kurdish militia in northwestern and eastern Syria, and in particular the enclave of Afrin, where an estimated 1 million people live.

Turkey views the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces as terrorists, and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast. It has criticized the U.S. for extending support and arming the Kurdish forces as part of the campaign that drove the Islamic State group from large parts of Syria.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his lawmakers at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Erdogan on Tuesday called on NATO to take a stance against the United States, a fellow ally, over its plans to form a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border security force in Syria. Turkey has been threatening to launch a new military offensive in Syria against Syrian Kurdish militias, which Turkey considers to be terrorists because of their affiliation with outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

The Kurdish militia, which forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, now controls nearly 25 percent of Syrian territory. It is the U.S.-led coalition's chief ally in the campaign against IS in Syria.

The U.S.-led coalition recently said it is planning a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border force, further angering Turkey.

"Turkey has reached the end of its patience," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. "No one should expect it to show more patience. Turkey is determined to take whatever steps are necessary."

Turkey's National Security Council also met Wednesday and vowed to take steps to "eliminate" threats from western Syria - in an apparent reference to Afrin.

A statement issued at the end of the meeting also criticized the United States, saying Turkey was saddened by the fact an ally has "declared terrorists as partners" and "armed them without taking our security into consideration." It called on the U.S. to reclaim all arms supplied to Syrian Kurdish fighters.

In reference to the planned Kurdish-led border force, the statement added: "Turkey will not allow the creation of a terror corridor or an army of terror near its border."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that those plans were a "perilous" step that would "seriously endanger ties." The two met in Vancouver Tuesday.

"Such a development would damage Turkish-American ties in an irreversible manner," the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying on Wednesday.

Erdogan said the imminent military operation is to "purge terror" from near its borders. Along with Afrin, Erdogan has also threatened Manbij, a town the Kurdish-led SDF seized from IS in 2016.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, the political arm of the main Kurdish militia, said that if Turkey launches an operation against Afrin, the world will bear responsibility for the lives of people residing there. The PYD called on the Security Council to "move immediately" to ensure the security of Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria.

"Such a responsible behavior will lead to the desired result in finding a resolution for the Syrian crisis," the PYD said in a statement.

The Syrian government of President Bashar Assad has meanwhile accused the SDF of being "traitors" for cooperating with the United States.

On Monday, Erdogan vowed to crush the border force and called on NATO to take a stand against the United States, a fellow ally.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists said Turkish military activities near the borders with Afrin have continued, as well as shelling of the outskirts of the town. Tanks amassed near the border with Syria, while Turkish media reported that medical personnel in Kilis, a Turkish town across the border from Afrin, were asked not to take leave, apparently in anticipation of military operations.

Turkey's private Dogan news agency quotes Turkey-backed Syrian rebels as saying they are awaiting Turkish orders to launch the Afrin operations. It says some 3,000 fighters are ready to participate in operations against Afrin and Manbij.

_________

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey
PARIS (AP) - French police are deploying extra forces to western France before a government announcement Wednesday on whether to build an airport that has mobilized nearly a decade of sometimes violent protests.

Hundreds of anarchists, farmers and environmental activists have occupied a vast area around Notre-Dame-des-Landes, outside the city of Nantes, to resist the proposed airport. Protesters from other regions have reportedly arrived in recent days.

A security official said that extra gendarmes and riot police are being sent this week to the area, because police plan to try to clear out the protesters once the government makes a decision. An initial attempt, in the fall of 2012, to dislodge the squatters from the resistance community they created ended in a clash between hundreds of riot police and activists hurling sticks, stones and gasoline bombs. A 2014 protest in the town of Nantes which drew some 20,000 plus the anarchists also led to a violent standoff with police.

President Emmanuel Macron's Cabinet is scheduled to discuss the airport at a meeting Wednesday. His office said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who visited Nantes over the weekend, will then announce the decision.

Proponents argue the region needs a larger airport to boost its economic prospects. Opponents say the airport is unnecessary and a symbol of exploitative globalization.

Farmers trying to protect their land, in some cases in the family for generations, have joined forces with the anarchists, who call themselves ZADists, based on the French acronym for "development zone."
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Deshon T. ADAMS, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-2928 Decided: January 16, 2018

Before Kanne, Sykes, and Hamilton, Circuit Judges. Zachary J. Corey, Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellee. Mark D. Richards, Attorney, MARK D. RICHARDS, S.C., Racine, WI, for Defendant-Appellant. Deshon T. Adams, Pro Se.

Deshon Adams pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon and was sentenced to 87 months in prisonthe top of the range recommended by the Sentencing Guidelines. Adams asks us to remand his case for resentencing, arguing that the judge impermissibly considered unreliable evidence linking him to seven unsolved shootings when weighing the sentencing factors under 18 U.S.C.  3553(a).

We reject this argument and affirm. The challenged evidence consists mainly of summaries of police reports describing some of the physical evidence from the shootings and memorializing statements from witnesses, confidential informants, and jailhouse snitches connecting Adams to the crimes. It also includes several statements by Adams himself, who had bragged to police about his involvement in gang violence, though only in very general terms. The government also introduced testimony from a police detective about the reliability of some, though not all, of the confidential informants.

The judge wisely approached this material with caution and in the end declined to make any explicit findings on the subject. Instead, the judge relied on the government's presentation only very generally, and only to the extent that it confirmed what the presentence report had already documented: Adams is a headstrong young Vice Lords gang member who began committing crimes at age 14 and immersed himself in the gang's subculture of firearms possession and violence. That careful and limited approach raises no due-process concerns and was certainly not an abuse of discretion.

I. Background

In September 2015 Adams was 20 years old and already a longtime member of the Vice Lords gang in Racine, Wisconsin, with a lengthy record of criminal convictions as a juvenile and adult. On September 25 he was walking down the street with his 15-year-old cousin when a police squad drove by and made a U-turn. As the officers passed by a second time, Adams lifted his shirt and said, Hey, I got nothin' on me. The officers stopped and detained Adams on a probation warrant, then retraced his steps to the place where they first spotted him. There, under the wheelchair ramp of a house, they found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun affixed with a high-capacity 30-round magazine. Adams had ditched the gun under the ramp when he first saw the police approach. When questioned about it, Adams indicated that he expected to get a short prison sentence for violating his probation and a concurrent sentence for possessing the gun, which he implied would not be a big deal.

Adams was charged with one count of possessing a firearm as a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g) and 924(a)(2). The case was assigned to Judge Griesbach, and Adams eventually pleaded guilty. The presentence report (PSR) detailed Adams's affiliation with the Vice Lords gang in Racine and his lengthy criminal history as a juvenile and adult, which included (among other crimes) several firearms offenses and a battery. Indeed, and as the PSR documented, before his latest arrest, Adams had been in juvenile or adult custody almost continuously since the age of 14. The PSR calculated an offense level of 21 and a criminal-history category V, yielding a guidelines sentencing range of 70 to 87 months in prison.

At sentencing Judge Griesbach considered and rejected Adams's challenges to the PSR and adopted the probation officer's calculation of the advisory range. He then invited arguments from counsel on the  3553(a) factors. At this point the government's sentencing memorandum came into play. The prosecutor's written submission pointed to evidence linking Adams to as many as seven unsolved gang-related shootings in Racine, including a murder and an attempted murder. Adams contested the reliability of the government's submission, especially to the extent that it relied on statements from confidential informants. In light of the dispute, the judge adjourned the hearing and gave the parties an opportunity to supplement the record.

The government submitted a supplemental sentencing memorandum, this time summarizing and quoting more extensively from police reportsincluding those memorializing Adams's own statements, interviews with victims and witnesses, and physical evidenceand describing in more detail the statements of confidential and jailhouse informants connecting Adams to the unsolved crimes. Most of the shootings stemmed from gang rivalries in Racine.

As relevant here, Adams had been interviewed by police in connection with at least two of the shootings. In one interview he admitted to police that younger Vice Lords members looked up to him as a shot caller. In the most recent interview, conducted after his arrest for the present offense, he was questioned about two of the shootings, both of which occurred earlier in September 2015. He told the police that he couldn't have been the shooter in either case because too few rounds had been fired. More specifically, an officer mentioned that in one of the shootings, eight rounds had been fired. Adams replied:

Eight rounds still ain't enough. When you talkin' to me, it's 17 or better

You ain't just talking to anybody man, come on. 17 or better, I'm talking about, and maybe an extra clip to make it look like it was a 30 round the whole time it was two clips. No eight rounds. That ain't never been my type.

When the sentencing hearing reconvened, the government called Detective Klinkhammer of the Racine Police Department, who testified about the reliability of some, though not all, of the confidential informants. After direct and cross-examination of the detective, the judge asked Adams's attorney if he wanted to present any evidence. Counsel said no, he'd rely on argument alone to contest the government's presentation.

The parties then presented their arguments on the  3553(a) factors, primarily focusing on the reliability of the government's evidence connecting Adams to the seven shootings. The government ultimately recommended a within-guidelines sentence of 84 months consecutive to Adams's state sentence on his probation revocation. Adams's lawyer argued for a below-guidelines sentence of four or five years concurrent with his client's probation revocation.

At the conclusion of these arguments, Judge Griesbach undertook a detailed analysis of the  3553(a) factors. Addressing the government's contention that Adams was implicated in the seven unsolved shootings, the judge specifically acknowledged the dangers of relying on confidential informants [and] jailhouse snitches. On the other hand, the judge explained, much of the evidence here is corroboratedsome by third parties and some by the [d]efendant's own statements. Ultimately, however, the judge declined to make specific findings about whether Adams was involved in any of the shootings. Instead, he considered the government's evidence only insofar as it corroborated a more general proposition about Adams's background that was already substantiated by the PSR.

More particularly, the judge summarized his consideration of the government's submission as follows:

Yes, I recognize that there's certainly a risk in relying on [the confidential informants]. We're not hereand actually I don't even think I need to put much weight on the confidential informants, although I do note that the only type of information you get here is often from confidential informants. I'm not going to make a finding on every one of the incidents the [g]overnment has presented.

I am satisfied, though, from that evidence, from the corroboration, from the [d]efendant's own words, that he is well involved in the violent gang culture, including the use of firearms, and the threatening of people, and using firearms against people. So I am satisfied thatbut that's certainly a factor that I have to consider as well.

Moving to the remaining sentencing factors, the judge explained that there's very little prosocial behavior here. No real employment of any significance. No educational achievement of any significance. The [d]efendant has really gone from supervision, to youth corrections, to probation and jail, to prison with very little stopping point[ ] in between. Accordingly, the judge found that the need for deterrence warrants a significant sentence here. Finally, after touching on other aspects of Adams's background and the need to protect the public, the judge settled on a sentence at the top of the guidelines range: 87 months consecutive to the state probation-revocation sentence.

II. Discussion

Adams argues that the evidence linking him to the seven uncharged shootings is unreliable and that the judge impermissibly relied on it to arrive at the 87-month sentence. In the alternative, he maintains that he was deprived of an opportunity to rebut the government's evidence.

Our analysis is governed by some basic sentencing principles; all are familiar. First, substantive sentencing review is quite limited. The sentencing judge has substantial discretion to weigh the  3553(a) factors and arrive at an appropriate sentence; we review the judge's decision only for abuse of discretion. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). We will set aside a sentence on substantive grounds only if it is unreasonable, see Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 341, 127 S.Ct. 2456, 168 L.Ed.2d 203 (2007), and a sentence within a properly calculated guidelines range is presumptively reasonable, see United States v. Martinez, 650 F.3d 667, 671 (7th Cir. 2011). Finally, a defendant has a due-process right to be sentenced only on the basis of reliable information. United States v. Zehm, 217 F.3d 506, 514 (7th Cir. 2000). But in determining what is and isn't reliable, the sentencing judge has considerable discretion to conduct an inquiry broad in scope, largely unlimited either as to the kind of information [the judge] may consider, or the source from which it may come. Pepper v. United States, 562 U.S. 476, 489, 131 S.Ct. 1229, 179 L.Ed.2d 196 (2011) (quoting United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 446, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972)).

Judge Griesbach held not one but two sentencing hearings to provide both sides with the opportunity to present evidence on the question of Adams's involvement in the seven shootings identified in the government's sentencing memorandum. The government's supplemental memorandum provided more detail about the evidence tying Adams to the crimes. Together the two submissions summarizedand in some cases, quotedinformation contained in police reports. Some of these reports recounted statements by victims, witnesses, confidential informants, and Adams himself. Although the prosecutor did not submit copies of the underlying police reports to the court, the government had earlier provided them to Adams in discovery. Notably, Adams did not and does not argue that the government misquoted, exaggerated, or otherwise misrepresented the contents of the police reports.

The government also presented Detective Klinkhammer's testimony about the reliability of at least some of the confidential informants, and Adams took the opportunity to cross-examine the detective. Finally, the judge gave Adams the opportunity to supplement the record and call witnesses as he wished. He did neither.

In evaluating the reliability and weight of this evidence, Judge Griesbach specifically acknowledged the shortcomings of the government's submission, commenting in particular about the risk of placing too much stock in statements from confidential informants and jailhouse snitches. Indeed, the judge clarified that he didn't put much weight on the information provided by the confidential informants and appears to have concluded that the government's presentation had at best only very limited evidentiary value; he ultimately declined to make any factual findings that Adams was implicated in any of the seven shootings. Instead, the judge considered the government's presentation at a very high level of generality, concluding only that Adams is well involved in the violent gang culture, including the use of firearms, and the threatening of people, and using firearms against people.

That assessment is fully supported by the PSR and the recounting of Adams's own statements as recorded in the police reports. Adams acknowledged to the PSR writer that he has been associated with the Vice Lords gang for as long as he can remember and still considers himself a member of the gang. The PSR writer also detailed multiple accounts in which Adams possessed or used a weapon to threaten others. Moreover, as we've already noted, Adams has a long criminal record that includes juvenile and adult convictions for weapons offenses and at least one violent crime.

Adams attacks the reliability of the confidential informants, but he does not take issue with any of his own statements bragging about his role in the gang and his use of firearms. And of course he cannot erase his criminal history. On this record we find nothing improper in the judge's cautious and limited consideration of the evidence of the prior shootings.

In the end, the 87-month within-guidelines sentence is presumed to be reasonable, and Adams has provided no good reason to overcome the presumption. And because Adams had the police reports well in advance and was given ample time to develop a response, his complaint that he had an insufficient opportunity to rebut the government's presentation is meritless.

Affirmed.

Sykes, Circuit Judge.
ROME (AP) - Benevento captain Fabio Lucioni has been banned one year for doping.

Italy's national anti-doping organization made the decision Tuesday after the steroid clostebol was found in a sample taken after Benevento's 1-0 loss to Torino in September.

Benevento team physician Walter Giorgione was banned for four years for administering the steroid to Lucioni in a spray.

Both Lucioni and Giorgione plan to appeal.

The 30-year-old Lucioni joined Benevento in 2014 and the defender helped the team move from the third division up into Serie A this season for the first time.

Benevento is last in Serie A with only two wins in 20 matches.

The ban is back-dated to October, meaning Lucioni can return early next season.
LEESBURG, Va. (AP) - Authorities in Virginia say an employee at a behavioral healthcare center has been charged in connection with the death of a teenager who was a patient at the facility.

A Loudoun County Sheriff's Office news release says 47-year-old William P. Herndon, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was indicted on Jan.11 on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the 15-year-old.

The sheriff's office responded to the facility in November 2017. The juvenile was reportedly not breathing and unresponsive. The teenager was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Authorities say an investigation found that the teenager lost his life after being restrained by the employee.

It's unclear if Herndon has a lawyer.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Kosovo says the country still needs an outside mechanism like the special war crimes court as its justice system is not yet capable of handling high-case profiles and witnesses are too subject to intimidation.

Ambassador Greg Delawie on Wednesday was urging parliament not to pass an initiative from 43 Kosovo lawmakers to do away with a law on the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office.

"Certain individuals who fought for the just cause of Kosovo's freedom committed egregious crimes against others, for which they must be held accountable," the ambassador said.

After apparent pressure from Delawie and other Western ambassadors, some opposition parties boycotted a meeting and parliament's leadership did not have enough lawmakers to decide on when the initiative should be voted on.

In December, some Kosovo lawmakers tried to amend the law, seeking to extend its jurisdiction over Serbs, their former adversaries in the 1998-1999 war for independence.

The Hague, Netherlands-based court has jurisdiction over potential war crimes suspects in Kosovo, be they fighters from the Kosovo Liberation Army or other Kosovo citizens, for alleged war crimes during the 1998-1999 war and afterward. A law creating the court was passed in 2015 as a result of U.S. and European pressure.

Kosovo detached from Yugoslavia following a three-month NATO air war in 1999 to stop a bloody Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists. It then declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by 114 states but not by Serbia.

Delawie said "our intervention in 1999 was based on the idea that war crimes against anyone, anywhere, were an assault on international justice."

Now, however, former KLA commanders during the 1998-1999 war hold top positions in Kosovo's administration and fear the law may send them to jail.

The war crimes court has yet to hear any cases.
ATLANTA (AP) - Snow, ice and a record-breaking blast of cold closed runways, highways, schools and government offices across the South and sent cars sliding off roads Wednesday in a corner of the country ill-equipped to deal with wintry weather. At least 10 people died, including a baby in a car that plunged off a slippery overpass into a Louisiana canal.

Icicles hung from a statue of jazz musicians in normally balmy New Orleans, and drivers unaccustomed to ice spun their wheels across Atlanta, which was brought to a near-standstill by little more than an inch (2.5 centimeters) of snow. The beach in Biloxi, Mississippi, got a light coating. And the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill canceled classes as the storm unloaded at least 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow in Durham and Greensboro.

Even the best drivers had trouble: Retired NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeted that he had just used his winch to help pull a car out of a ditch when he drove off the road and into a tree in North Carolina.

A man walks through steam venting from a building in the cold weather in Atlanta, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

"NC stay off the roads today/tonight. 5 minutes after helping these folks I center punched a pine tree," he reported. A spokesman said Earnhardt was not hurt and his pickup had only minor damage.

Though skies were sunny and bright in many places, temperatures remained below freezing throughout the day in much of the South.

Thousands of schoolchildren and teachers got the day off. Many cities canceled meetings and court proceedings, and some businesses closed. Slippery runways and the need to de-ice planes forced cancellations and delays in New Orleans; Memphis, Tennessee; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Electricity usage surged as people struggled to keep warm.

In Alabama, where some places got at least 3 inches (7 centimeters) of snow, dairy farmer Will Gilmer bundled up for the drive to his milking barn before daybreak in rural Lamar County, the thermometer reading 7 degrees (minus 14 Celsius).

"I probably had four layers on and then insulated coveralls and a heavy coat on over that. I made it OK except for my toes," he said.

The mercury dropped to record lows overnight in several places in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. It was 21 degrees (minus 6 Celsius) before dawn in New Orleans, breaking the city's record of 23 (minus 5 Celsius), set on the same date in 1977.

At least four people died in Louisiana, including a man knocked off an elevated portion of Interstate 10 in New Orleans when a pickup spun out on ice, and an 8-month-old baby in a car that slid into a canal in suburban New Orleans. The baby's mother was in critical condition.

Two others died along an icy stretch of I-75 southeast of Atlanta when a driver lost control and hit them, one of them inside a stopped car and the other standing beside it, authorities said.

One person died in a weather-related traffic accident in West Virginia. In the freezing Houston area, a homeless man was found dead behind a trash bin, apparently of exposure, while an 82-year-old woman with dementia succumbed to the cold after walking away from her home. Also, a woman was discovered dead in a snowy park near City Hall in Memphis. The temperature was around 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) when she was found.

Snow fell in a wide band that stretched from southeastern Texas all the way to western Massachusetts. And along the Gulf Coast, ice pellets covered the tops of sago palm trees, and stretches of I-10 were closed in Louisiana and across Alabama's Mobile Bay.

Downtown Atlanta - the corporate capital of the South, notorious for its heavy traffic - was eerily quiet.

Susan Luciano, walking in snow-blanketed Peachtree City just south of Atlanta, was delighted: "It is the most romantic setting. It is beautiful. This is God's masterpiece ... a living postcard."

Still, dozens of accidents were reported across the Atlanta metro area, one involving a salt truck.

Southern states and cities don't have the large fleets of snowplows, salting trucks and other snow-removal equipment common in the North.

"Y'all aren't going to make it!" a driver in a pickup truck yelled at two drivers in compact cars that were spinning their wheels on an icy boulevard near SunTrust Park, where the Atlanta Braves play. "You're going to slide back down the hill! Turn around!"

Adrian Benton, a 26-year-old native of snowy Buffalo, New York, tried to help.

"The up-north way of dealing with snow needs to come down here," Burton said of snowplows and salting up North.

Yet one weather expert who grew up in brutal Michigan winters and now lives in Atlanta said Southern winters have the North beat.

Ryan Maue, a meteorologist with the private forecaster Weather.US, said Atlanta's mostly untreated roads were fraught with icy peril during his car outing Wednesday to the supermarket.

"My little car was struggling even to move," he said, adding he worried just as much about Southern motorists risking their necks - and those of others in their "non-winterized cars." But he told The Associated Press that Southern comfort is on the way, with the mercury to start rising above freezing by midday Thursday in the region and even into the low 60s (15 Celsius) in spots by the weekend.

Said Maue: "We should feel a widespread warming throughout the South. It will feel wonderful."

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Reeves reported from Birmingham, Alabama. Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina; David Warren in Dallas; Rebecca Reynolds Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

Emergency personnel work at the scene of a partially submerged car in a canal in Metairie, La., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Authorities said an 8-month-old baby in the car was killed. Investigators believe the driver lost control on an icy overpass and plunged into the canal. (Matthew Hinton/The Advocate via AP)

A snow covered downtown is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Atlanta. The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities. (AP Photo/Janelle Cogan)

A couple walks through a snow covered Piedmont Park as the sun rises in Atlanta, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A person walks through a snow covered Piedmont Park as the sun rises in Atlanta, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A person walks through a snow covered Piedmont Park as the midtown skyline stands in the background Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills and record-breaking low temperatures in New Orleans and other cities. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A police officer walks from the scene of an overturned Jeep after an accident on a snow covered road in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. A winter storm is making it's way through Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

UT senior Marlow Payat, of Memphis, bikes along Laurel Ave during an afternoon snowfall in Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)

Frankie plays in the snow as her owner Claire Cheek, of Nashville, watches during an afternoon snowfall in Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)

A woman walks through Fort Sanders during an afternoon snowfall in Knoxville, Tenn., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)

Brooke Meadows, left, and Alex Ondrus go for a walk in Radnor Lake State Park, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. A winter storm brought snow and cold temperatures to the area, causing the closing of schools and businesses. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

A man sleds down a road at Radnor Lake State Park, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. A winter storm brought snow and cold temperatures to the area, causing the closing of schools and businesses. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

People take a walk in the snow at Radnor Lake State Park, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. A winter storm brought snow and cold temperatures to the area, causing the closing of schools and businesses. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Jeremy Roberts sits on a cot at a warming shelter opened by the Harris County Precinct One Constables Office and the American Red Cross at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church as freezing weather moves through the region Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Houston. (Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Emergency personnel remove patients for transport to area hospitals at the scene of a multi-vehicle wreck on Interstate 65 near Bonnieville, Ky., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The wreck shut down the southbound lanes for several hours. Several people were transported from the scene to at least two different hospitals. (Neal Cardin/The News-Enterprise via AP)

N.C. Wesleyan College junior Henry Lam takes photos and video as snow flurries fall at the college, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (Alan Campbell/The Rocky Mount Telegram via AP)

Allie Eidson, left, and Connor Howe, right, walk in the street of their snowbound neighborhood in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. The couple said they enjoyed the snow day at home by cooking and tossing snowballs in between their work. Howe, who does application engineering for a home smart metering company, spent the day working at home while Eidson, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studied. (AP Photo/Emery P. Dalesio)

Canada geese forage for food as snow falls at City Lake Park, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (Alan Campbell/The Rocky Mount Telegram via AP)

N.C. Wesleyan College senior Mar'Kevian Harrelson walks on campus as snow falls at the college, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (Alan Campbell/The Rocky Mount Telegram via AP)

Snow begins to accumulate on the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. as flurries fall at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (Alan Campbell/The Rocky Mount Telegram via AP)

Jose Welch Gomez, 9, emerges from underneath a vehicle with a snowball Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Triad's first snow fall of the year resulted in approximately 5 to 6 inches. (Allison Lee Isley/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP)

Dazaria Russell, 9, opens her mouth to catch the falling snowflakes as she makes a snow angel Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Triad's first snow fall of the year resulted in approximately 5 to 6 inches. (Allison Lee Isley/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP)

Alison Brown, 9, catches snow flakes on her tongue during a rare snow storm in Evans, Ga., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Snow, ice and a record-breaking blast of cold closed runways, highways, schools and government offices across the South. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP)

Ciriana Welch Ruiz, 11, attempts to escape as Jose Welch Gomez, 9, throws a snowball Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Triad's first snow fall of the year resulted in approximately 5 to 6 inches. (Allison Lee Isley/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP)

Zoie Reifsnyder, 11, left, and Camryn Argueta, 12, right, both of Schuylkill Haven, Pa., stick together doing down a hill in the snow in Schuylkill Haven, Pa., on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (Jacqueline Dormer/The Republican-Herald via AP)

Megan Goodman, front, and Evie Hunter, back, both of Pottsville, Pa., ride down a snowy hill in Pottsville, Pa., on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (Jacqueline Dormer/The Republican-Herald via AP)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, photo, Cape May Salt Oyster Company owner Brian Harman takes pictures of large chunks of ice from the Delaware Bay that came to rest atop a couple of oyster racks at an aqua-farm in Pierces Point, N.J., Middle Township. (Dale Gerhard/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)
In the days and months following the Sept. 11 attacks, a small U.S. Special Forces unit led an offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. They worked in harsh conditions alongside a local warlord and his men, an uneasy alliance at best, and, even with all the technology and money of the U.S. military, executed the successful mission largely on horseback.

The operation - Task Force Dagger - was classified for years and explored later in Doug Stanton's 2009 book "Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan." It provides the basis for "12 Strong," a long-in-the-works adaptation from producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Black Hawk Down") and director Nicolai Fuglsig, a Danish photojournalist who has shot the War in Kosovo, a Levi's short film, and a Coca-Cola spot in his eclectic career.

Films about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have a somewhat dicey track record. They can veer from too sentimental to too macho and bloviating depending on who's in front of and behind the camera. But "12 Strong" is, while perhaps not the deepest entry, a very solid movie with an engaging story, script and cast led by Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Chris Hemsworth, center, in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

Only slightly camouflaged behind a modern haircut and some manicured stubble, Hemsworth is Capt. Mitch Nelson, who is on leave with his young daughter and wife (played by his real-life spouse Elsa Pataky) but springs into action at the sight of the World Trade Center falling on the news. He raises his hand to assemble a team and get over to Afghanistan as soon as possible.

Before that happens, however, we must sit through another obligatory farewell-to-the-families sequence to remind us that many of these guys have wives and children to get back to - some of whom are withholding sex as incentive for a quick homecoming and others who couldn't be any crueler to a member of their family whom they very well might never see again. (There must be a way to make these scenes feel less rote.)

It's when the men get to the Middle East that the film becomes truly gripping, thanks to an ominous score, a hair-raising helicopter ride that rivals moments in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," and the inherent tension of a mission that, as Nelson puts it, has no playbook. Their task is to meet up with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (an excellent Navid Negahban) who may be equally motivated to fight the Taliban if properly persuaded.

Dostum and Nelson form a tenuous bond that is tested throughout the film, as they trade the shield of modern technology for horses and mules to cross the treacherous landscape (New Mexico plays Afghanistan here). The action sequences are riveting, if a little numbing at times, and their evolving mission is engaging throughout.

What separates "12 Strong" from the pack, however, is its ability to introduce and stay with a band of brothers worth caring about. In addition to Hemsworth, they are played by Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, Trevante Rhodes, Geoff Stults, Thad Luckinbill, Austin Stowell, Ben O'Toole, Austin Hebert, Kenneth Miller, Kenny Sheard and Jack Kesy. The dialogue (Ted Tally and Peter Craig have screenplay credits) is more crackling than standard wartime action pic fare, and actors like Hemsworth, Shannon and Pena make it their own too.

Politics and consequences, both before and after this mission, are of little interest to the filmmakers beyond wistful musings of Dostum, who makes passing comments about how Afghanistan is the "graveyard of many empires" and how the U.S. forces will be cowards if they leave and enemies if they stay.

But stirring and solid, "12 Strong" is the kind of film that might make you think twice about January releases, and spotlights a riveting story in our recent history that many Americans might not know.

"12 Strong," a Warner Bros. Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "war violence and language throughout." Running time: 130 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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MPAA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Chris Hemsworth, left, and Thad Luckinbill in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Michael Pena in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Rob Riggle in a scene from "12 Strong." (Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Chris Hemsworth, left, and Michael Shannon in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Michael Shannon in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Geoff Stults, left, and Chris Hemsworth in a scene from "12 Strong." (David James/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbian police have arrested three Australian citizens suspected of being part of an international drug-smuggling group.

The police alleged in a statement issued on Wednesday that the men "are linked to" the discovery of 1,280 kilograms (2,822 pounds) of cocaine that was seized last April on a Chinese boat docked in Sydney, Australia. They said the drugs were worth 500 million Australian dollars ($400 million.)

Police released footage of the arrests that took place in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel. A bag filled with foreign currency banknotes also was shown, and police said the arrests were made during a "money handover." A Lebanese citizen was detained and charged with having forged identity documents.

Serbian authorities said the arrests were made in cooperation with Australian police.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve says U.S. industrial production rose 0.9 percent in December, pulled higher by a surge in utility output, another sign of health for the American economy.

Utility production shot up 5.6 percent last month, the most since March 2017, as Americans turned up the heat during a year-end cold snap in the East and Midwest. Manufacturing output edged up 0.1 percent, the fourth straight monthly increase, helped by a healthy uptick in production of cars, trucks and auto parts. Mining production rose 1.6 percent, largely because of an increase in extraction of oil and natural gas.

Overall industrial production - including manufacturing, mining and utilities - rose 3.6 percent over the past year. It was the best annual performance since 2010.

In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, photo, a Pike utility worker works on a power line in Miami. On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production rose 0.9 percent in December, pulled higher by a surge in utility output, another sign of health for the American economy. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

The U.S. economy is looking healthy. Growth clocked in at a 3.2 percent annual pace from July through September after growing 3.1 percent in the second quarter. Unemployment is at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent. Factories added 196,000 jobs last year, the most since 2014.

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said the December industrial production report "is consistent with a solid growth story" and supports BMO's forecast of solid 2.9 percent U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Industrial production picked up at the end of 2017 after being held down by the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. American industry, benefiting from an improving world economy and a drop in the dollar that makes U.S. products less expensive abroad, was running at 77.9 percent of capacity last month, the highest since February 2015.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Police in Pakistan say a five-year-old girl was abducted and strangled to death, after finding her body in a field near the northwestern city of Mardan.

Provincial police chief Salahuddin Mahsud says Wednesday that the autopsy "indicates sexual abuse." The body was found late Sunday.

The killing resembles that of Zainab Ansari, an eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and killed in the city of Kasur, near the Indian border, earlier this month. That killing set off protests and deadly clashes between police and residents, who accused authorities of failing to act quickly enough.

Police say they suspect a serial killer may have been behind Ansari's murder. The killings in Mardan and Kasur, which are in different provinces, are not believed to be linked.
GEORGETOWN, Del. (AP) - A Maryland woman is accused of mailing a shipment of drugs to her son, an inmate at a Delaware prison.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jayme Gravell said in a statement Tuesday that investigators learned in late December that a shipment of contraband was expected to arrive at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown.

According to the statement, investigators determined 43-year-old Angel Osborne of Hurlock, Maryland, would be sending the contraband through the mail. Gravell says investigators intercepted the narcotics.

Osborne was arrested, extradited and charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, promoting prison contraband and second-degree conspiracy. She was arraigned and held in lieu of bail.

Her son, Patrick Osborne, was charged with criminal solicitation and other counts. He has also been arraigned.

It wasn't immediately clear if either has an attorney.
BURAYU, Ethiopia (AP) - Ethiopia's top opposition figure and hundreds of others were released from prison on Wednesday as part of the government's recent pledge to free detained politicians and "widen the democratic space for all" after the worst anti-government protests in a quarter-century.

Merara Gudina led the Oromo Federalist Congress party and was arrested a year ago under the country's state of emergency after he returned from Europe, where he had briefed lawmakers on widespread and sometimes deadly anti-government protests in the East African nation.

Merara was released along with 115 others from a federal prison on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. He was met by thousands of youths in his adopted hometown of Burayu outside the capital, with some chanting anti-government slogans.

Opposition leader Merara Gudina, centre, walks with his supporters after his release, in Burayu, Ethiopia, Wednesday, Jan. 17 2018. Ethiopia's top opposition figure and hundreds of others were released from prison on Wednesday as part of the government's recent pledge to free detained politicians and "widen the democratic space for all" after the worst anti-government protests in a quarter-century. Gudina led the Oromo Federalist Congress party and was arrested a year ago under the country's state of emergency after he returned from Europe, where he had briefed European lawmakers on widespread and sometimes deadly anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Elias Meseret)

"If the government is genuine about dialogue, then we will consider it," Merara told The Associated Press.

Another 361 detainees were freed Wednesday across southern Ethiopia, and several hundred others across the country are expected to be released in the coming months.

The releases come after Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn's surprise announcement earlier this month that the government planned to release imprisoned politicians and close the notorious Maekelawi prison camp.

His comments came after the most serious anti-government protests since the current government came to power in 1991. The demonstrations demanding wider freedoms began in late 2015 and engulfed much of the restive Oromia and Amhara regions before spreading into other parts of the country, leading to a months-long state of emergency that has since been lifted.

Tens of thousands of people were arrested, and reportedly hundreds were killed, while one of Africa's fastest growing economies was disrupted.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement it was "encouraged" by the new releases. "We are aware that reviews of additional cases are underway and hope they will be conducted in the same spirit. We understand these efforts as part of the government's decision to accelerate democratic progress."

"The release of opposition politician Merara Gudina and hundreds of other detainees in Ethiopia today must only be a first step toward freedom for all prisoners of conscience in the East African country," Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International's research and advocacy director for Africa, said in a statement. "Hundreds of prisoners of conscience continue to languish in jail, accused or prosecuted for legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression or simply for standing up for human rights."

Ethiopia's government has long been accused of arresting critical journalists and opposition leaders. Rights organizations and opposition groups have called for their release, saying they were arrested on trumped-up charges and punished for their points of view.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, PlaintiffAppellee, v. Michael N. BROWN, DefendantAppellant. No. 16-30218 Decided: January 16, 2018

Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw, Richard R. Clifton, and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges. Davina T. Chen (argued), Glendale, California, for DefendantAppellant. Amy Jaquette (argued), Assistant United States Attorney; Annette L. Hayes, United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, Seattle, Washington; for PlaintiffAppellee.

OPINION

Defendant Michael N. Brown appeals the district court's sixty-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In calculating the appropriate range under the Sentencing Guidelines, the district court determined that a base offense level of twenty applied because Brown's previous conviction for drug conspiracy under Washington state law qualified as a controlled substance offense. We conclude that the conviction does not so qualify because the Washington drug conspiracy statute is not a categorical match to conspiracy under federal law. We reverse and remand for resentencing.

I. Background

Brown pled guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). At sentencing, the district court held, over Brown's objection and lacking precedent from this court resolving the issue, that Brown's 2005 conviction by guilty plea for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Washington state was a controlled substance offense for purposes of U.S.S.G.  2K2.1(a)(4)(A). The district court calculated a Sentencing Guidelines range of sixty-three to seventy-eight months. The district court sentenced Brown to sixty months of incarceration and three years of supervised release. Brown timely appealed.

II. Discussion

Brown argues that the district court erred in calculating his Sentencing Guidelines range. Specifically, Brown contends that the Washington drug conspiracy statute does not qualify as a controlled substance offense under the Sentencing Guidelines because it is overbroad. The reason, he argues, is that Washington law allows for a conspiracy conviction when the only other party is a law enforcement officer or informant who does not actually intend to take part in the conspiracy. Those facts would not support a conviction for conspiracy under federal law.

To determine whether a prior state conviction is a controlled substance offense for purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines, federal courts employ the categorical approach set forth in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). Under the categorical approach, we are concerned only with the fact of conviction and the statutory definition of the underlying offense. Id. at 600, 110 S.Ct. 2143. If a state law proscribes the same amount of or less conduct than that qualifying [under federal law], then the two offenses are a categorical match. United States v. MartinezLopez, 864 F.3d 1034, 1038 (9th Cir. 2017) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). But [i]f the statute of conviction sweeps more broadly than the generic crime, a conviction under that law cannot categorically count as a qualifying predicate, even if the defendant actually committed the offense in its generic form. United States v. Hernandez, 769 F.3d 1059, 1062 (9th Cir. 2014) (per curiam) (alterations incorporated) (internal quotation marks omitted).

A. Standard of Review

In sentencing appeals, we review the district court's identification of the correct legal standard de novo and the district court's factual findings for clear error. United States v. GascaRuiz, 852 F.3d 1167, 1170 (9th Cir. 2017) (en banc). Further, as a general rule, a district court's application of the Sentencing Guidelines to the facts of a given case should be reviewed for abuse of discretion. Id.

There is an exception to that general rule, however, when it comes to application of the categorical approach, because under the categorical approach [n]othing turns on the particulars of the defendant's own prior offense. Id. at 1174. [E]ither all convictions under a particular statute qualify or none do. Id. (citing Descamps, 133 S.Ct. at 2287). The issue in GascaRuiz was whether a prior conviction qualified as a crime of violence, and we concluded that determining whether a particular conviction qualifies as a crime of violence is akin to formulating a rule of general application, a matter properly reviewed de novo. Id.

The same reasons for applying de novo review to determinations of whether a prior conviction is a crime of violence also apply to whether a prior conviction is a controlled substance offense. Though a more searching standard of review in the instant case does not affect the outcome of this case, we review the district court's determination of whether Brown's prior conviction was a controlled substance offense de novo.

B. Application of the Categorical Approach

U.S.S.G.  2K2.1(a)(4)(A) provides a base offense level of twenty if the defendant committed any part of the instant offense subsequent to sustaining one felony conviction of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.  2K2.1(a)(4)(A). The definition of controlled substance offense is the same as that provided in U.S.S.G.  4B1.2(b).  2K2.1 cmt. n.1. Section 4B1.2 explains:

The term controlled substance offense means an offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that prohibits the manufacture, import, export, distribution, or dispensing of a controlled substance (or a counterfeit substance) or the possession of a controlled substance (or a counterfeit substance) with intent to manufacture, import, export, distribute, or dispense.

 4B1.2(b). Here, the relevant offense was Brown's 2005 state court conviction for conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine in violation of RCW  69.50.401(1) and 69.50.407. Under Washington state law, for sentencing purposes the offense was unranked, with a standard sentence of zero to twelve months.

Under federal law, a defendant cannot be convicted of conspiracy if the only alleged coconspirator is a federal agent or informant. See United States v. Lo, 447 F.3d 1212, 1225 (9th Cir. 2006) ([T]he agreement in a conspiracy cannot be established with evidence that the defendant had an agreement with a government informer.).

The Revised Code of Washington includes both a general conspiracy statute, located in Title 9A of the Criminal Code, and a separate statute for drug conspiracy, located in Title 69, pertaining to Food, Drugs, Cosmetics, and Poisons. The general conspiracy statute states: A person is guilty of criminal conspiracy when, with intent that conduct constituting a crime be performed, he or she agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of such conduct, and any one of them takes a substantial step in pursuance of such agreement. RCW  9A.28.040(1). Subsection (2)(f) of the same section of the Criminal Code provides that [i]t shall not be a defense to criminal conspiracy that the person or persons with whom the accused is alleged to have conspired  [i]s a law enforcement officer or other government agent who did not intend that a crime be committed. RCW  9A.28.040(2)(f).

The Washington drug conspiracy statute provides: Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this chapter is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both which may not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.  69.50.407. The terms conspires and conspiracy are not defined within this section or anywhere in Title 69 of the Revised Code of Washington. A section in the Criminal Code states that its provisions may apply to offenses defined in other titles: The provisions of this title shall apply to any offense committed on or after July 1, 1976, which is defined in this title or the general statutes, unless otherwise expressly provided or unless the context otherwise requires, and shall also apply to any defense to prosecution for such an offense. RCW  9A.04.010(2).

The important question for this case is whether the definition of conspiracy within the Criminal Code, including the qualification in subsection (2)(f), applies to the drug conspiracy offense defined in Title 69. We conclude that it does. As a result, the Washington drug conspiracy statute covers conduct that would not be covered under federal law, and Brown's conviction under the Washington statute is not a categorical match.

The history of how subsection (2)(f) came to be enacted helps to explain our conclusion. In 1994, the Washington Supreme Court held, in reviewing a conviction for, among other crimes, conspiracy to deliver controlled substances, that an agreement between the defendant and a sole coconspirator who was actually an undercover police officer did not satisfy the requirement under the conspiracy statute for an actual agreement between coconspirators. State v. Pacheco, 125 Wash.2d 150, 882 P.2d 183, 18587 (Wash. 1994). The court concluded: [T]he State has not persuaded us the Legislature intended to abandon the traditional requirement of an actual agreement. We hold [] 9A.28.040 and [] 69.50.407 require the defendant to reach a genuine agreement with at least one other coconspirator. Id. at 188.

In response to Pacheco, the Washington Legislature amended the general conspiracy statute by adding  9A.28.040(2)(f). See 1997 Wash. Legis. Serv. Ch. 17 (S.B. 5085). Nothing in the amendment mentioned  69.50.407, the Washington drug conspiracy statute, or stated that it amended  9A.04.010(2), the Criminal Code section that states that provisions in the Criminal Code apply to crimes defined in other titles of the Revised Code of Washington. Washington courts have continued to apply  9A.04.010(2) to hold that the definition of conspiracy in Title 9A and Title 69 are the same. See, e.g., State v. PinedaPineda, 154 Wash.App. 653, 226 P.3d 164, 172 (2010) (We hold the crime of controlled substance conspiracy is concomitant with conspiracy as defined in RCW [] 9A.28.020. There is nothing contrary or inconsistent between the controlled substance conspiracy and the Washington Criminal Code definition of conspiracy.).

The government's arguments to the contrary are unpersuasive. First, the government submits that, even though Pacheco discussed both  9A.28.040 and  69.50.407, the Washington legislature amended only the former statute. The Washington Supreme Court presume[s] that the legislature enacts laws with full knowledge of existing laws.  Maziar v. Wash. State Dep't of Corr., 183 Wash.2d 84, 349 P.3d 826, 828 (2015) (quoting Thurston Cty. v. Gorton, 85 Wash.2d 133, 530 P.2d 309, 312 (1975)). Section 9A.04.010(2) was one of those existing laws. Because the provisions in Title 9A apply to offenses defined elsewhere, there was no need to amend  69.50.407 separately. Accordingly, we cannot presume that the Washington legislature failed to recognize that any changes to  9A.28.040 would apply to  69.50.407.

Second, the government argues that, where two statutes conflict, the more specific statute controls. Here,  69.50.407 does not define conspiracy. The definition of conspiracy is provided by  9A.28.040, and that includes subsection (2)(f). That does not put the statutes in conflict.

Third, the government argues that  69.50.407 was not impliedly repealed. We have not concluded that it was. The drug conspiracy statute remains on the books and may properly be enforced. It was simply amended, in effect, by the addition of subsection (2)(f) to the general conspiracy statute. Nothing prevents  9A.28.040 and  69.50.407 from standing side by side.

Finally, the government argues that, even if the panel were to find that  69.50.407 is not a categorical match to federal conspiracy, Brown has not identified a specific instance where Washington has applied the drug conspiracy statute in a manner that proves it is overbroad. See Gonzales v. DuenasAlvarez, 549 U.S. 183, 193, 127 S.Ct. 815, 166 L.Ed.2d 683 (2007) (holding that to find a state statute overbroad requires a realistic probability, not a theoretical possibility, that the State would apply its statute to conduct that falls outside the generic definition of a crime). Brown has explained the absence of appellate decisions discussing this subject by noting that the relatively light sentence that would result from a drug conspiracy conviction, with a standard sentencing range of zero to twelve months, as noted above at 67, encourages prosecutors to charge violations that carry more substantial sentences. Convictions under the drug conspiracy statute, he contends, generally result from negotiations and guilty pleas, which do not produce appeals. Perhaps more to the point, if a state statute explicitly defines a crime more broadly than the generic definition, no legal imagination is required to hold that a realistic probability exists that the state will apply its statute to conduct that falls outside the generic definition of the crime. ChavezSolis v. Lynch, 803 F.3d 1004, 100910 (9th Cir. 2015) (internal quotation marks omitted). Washington conspiracy is explicitly more broad than the generic federal definition.

C. Harmless Error

The Sentencing Guidelines are advisory, but any calculation error is a significant procedural error that requires us to remand for resentencing. United States v. Martinez, 870 F.3d 1163, 116566 (9th Cir. 2017) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Supreme Court has made clear that the district court must correctly calculate the recommended Guidelines sentence and use that recommendation as the starting point and the initial benchmark.  United States v. MunozCamarena, 631 F.3d 1028, 1030 (9th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) (some citations and internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Kimbrough v. UnitedStates, 552 U.S. 85, 108, 128 S.Ct. 558, 169 L.Ed.2d 481 (2007)). A district court must also adjust upward or downward from that point, and justify the extent of the departure from the Guidelines sentence. Id.

The government has argued that any error here was harmless, but we do not agree that it is so certain that the district court would have imposed the same sentence. The sentence imposed on Brown did represent a downward departure of three months from the bottom of the Sentencing Guidelines range as calculated by the district court. The same sentence would have represented an upward departure of nineteen months from the upper end of the range if calculated without treating Brown's prior conviction as a conviction for a controlled substance offense. The use of an incorrect starting point and the failure to keep the proper Sentencing Guidelines range in mind as the sentencing decision was made constituted a significant procedural error, and the case must be remanded for resentencing. Id.

III. Conclusion

The district court erred when calculating Brown's Sentencing Guidelines range, and that error was not harmless. Accordingly, Brown's sentence is vacated, and this case is remanded for resentencing.

SENTENCE VACATED; REMANDED.

All good things must come to an end. But apparently bad legal doctrine can last forever, despite countless judges and justices urging an end to the so-called Taylor categorical approach. See United States v. ValdiviaFlores, 876 F.3d 1201, 121011 (9th Cir. 2017) (O'Scannlain, J., specially concurring) (collecting cases). This casethough correctly decided under current Supreme Court lawtypifies how far this doctrine has deviated from common sense.

Here, one lawyer zealously argues that Washington law criminalizes a conspiracy of one, while the other lawyer strenuously contends for a narrower reading. Surely, the prosecutor is the one swinging for the fences, and the defense attorney the one pushing for lenity. In state court, you would be right. But we are in federal court, so a defense attorney ethically must play the role of the aggressive prosecutor, pushing for the most expansive reading of state law possible. She succeeded: she has established that the state law is broader than the federal law, so there is no categorical match, which favors her client. But this role reversal confirms that this is a really, really bad way of doing things. Defense attorneys should not be forced to argue for expanding criminal liability to benefit their clients, but in the Taylor Upside Down, that is what necessarily happened here.

Instead of wasting more resources and interjecting more uncertainty into our sentencing (and immigration) decisions, either the Supreme Court or Congress should junk this entire system. See United States v. PerezSilvan, 861 F.3d 935, 944 (9th Cir. 2017) (Owens, J., concurring) (urging simplification to avoid the frequent sentencing adventures more complicated than reconstructing the Staff of Ra in the Map Room to locate the Well of the Souls).

A regime based on the length of previous sentences, rather than on the vagaries of state law, is the way to go. See AlmanzaArenas v. Lynch, 815 F.3d 469, 483 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (Owens, J., concurring) (A better mousetrap is long overdue. Rather than compete with Rube Goldberg, we instead should look to a more objective standard, such as the length of the underlying sentence[.]); U.S.S.G. supp. app. C, amend. 802 at 15657 (Nov. 1, 2016) (amending U.S.S.G.  2L1.2 to account for most prior convictions primarily through a sentence-imposed approach and eliminate[ ] the use of the categorical approach, which has been criticized as cumbersome and overly legalistic).

FOOTNOTES

. If there is not a categorical match, a court may ask if the statute is divisible. MartinezLopez, 864 F.3d at 1038. If a defendant was convicted of violating a divisible statute, a court may employ the modified categorical approach, for which it must identify, from among several alternatives, the crime of conviction so that the court may compare it to the generic offense. Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254, 133 S.Ct. 2276, 2285, 186 L.Ed.2d 438 (2013). Neither party argues that the Washington drug conspiracy statute is divisible.

. Our decision is consistent with decisions of three other federal district courts in Washington state that have concluded that  69.50.407 is not a categorical match to federal generic conspiracy because it allows for a unilateral agreement when the other party is a law enforcement officer who does not intend to commit a crime. See United States v. Myers, 2:15-CR-00045-JLQ, dkt. no. 95 at 56 (E.D. Wash., filed August 21, 2017) (The court found Defendant's drug conspiracy conviction to be overbroad and not a predicate offense under U.S.S.G. [] 2K2.1(a).); United States v. Phillips, 1:15-CR-02033-SAB-1, dkt. no. 81 at 13 (E.D. Wash., filed January 10, 2017) (The defendant's 2009 state conviction for conspiracy does not qualify as a controlled substance offense, because the Washington conspiracy statute is overbroad, in the court's opinion.); United States v. Webb, 166 F.Supp.3d 1198, 120203 (W.D. Wash. 2016) (holding that the two Washington conspiracy statutes are concomitant, and that a defendant may be convicted under [] 9A.28.040 or [] 60.50.407 for conspiring with a government agent).

. The government argues that Washington courts have continued to rely on Pacheco for the proposition that conspiracy under state law requires a bilateral agreement. The issue here is what effect subsection (2)(f), which created an exception to the bilateral conspiracy requirement when a coconspirator is a law enforcement officer who lacks the intent to commit a crime, had on  69.50.407. It is undisputed that, aside from the exception created by the 1997 amendment, Pacheco is still good law, and the cases cited by the government simply confirm this. See, e.g., State v. Blair, No. 67874-4-I, 173 Wash.App. 1026, 2013 WL 791854, at *46 (Wash. Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2013) (reversing a lower court order for arrest of judgment where there was sufficient evidence of a bilateral agreement to possess marijuana with intent to deliver); State v. Millyard, No. 28242-2-III, 159 Wash.App. 1007, 2010 WL 5158176, at *12 (Wash. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2010) (affirming a conviction for conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to deliver where there was a bilateral agreement between the defendant and a coconspirator, the defendant delivered marijuana to the coconspirator, and the coconspirator subsequently delivered the marijuana to a government informant); State v. Kraabell, No. 35752-6-II, 143 Wash.App. 1049, 2008 WL 852808, at *4 (Wash. Ct. App. Apr. 1, 2008) (concluding, in part, that the absence of a cautionary instruction regarding the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice did not affect the jury's verdict).

. The government also argues that the logical conclusion of Brown's argument pits the penalty provisions of  9A.28 against  69.50.407. This is simply not true. Section 69.50.407 has its own penalty provisions for drug conspiracy, and [a] general statutory provision normally yields to a more specific statutory provision. W. Plaza, LLC v. Tison, 184 Wash.2d 702, 364 P.3d 76, 80 (2015). That does not mean that subsection (2)(f) cannot logically apply to both conspiracy statutes.

CLIFTON, Circuit Judge:

Concurrence by Judge Owens
U.S. homebuilders are feeling slightly less optimistic about their sales prospects, even as their overall outlook remains favorable ahead of the spring homebuying season.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Wednesday slipped this month to 72. That's down two points from December's reading, which marked an 18-year high for optimism among the nation's builders.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders see sales conditions as good rather than poor. The index has remained above 60 since September 2016.

In this Wednesday, March 1, 2017, photo, new home construction is underway in a housing plan in Zelienople, Pa. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo releases its January index of builder sentiment, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

The two-point January decline was anticipated by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Builders' view of current sales conditions, their outlook for sales over the next six months, and a measure of traffic by prospective buyers also fell.

Americans stepped up their purchases of new homes at the fastest pace in more than 25 years in November, with sales skyrocketing 17.5 percent amid robust demand and a significant shortage of existing homes on the market.

Sales of new homes jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 733,000 units, compared with 624,000 in October. That's the biggest monthly gain since January 1992 and the most homes sold in a month since July 2007, just months before global economic turmoil decimated the housing market. December new-home sales figures are due out next week.

Many buyers, unable to find existing homes on the market, are turning to houses and condos. However, new construction has been unable to keep up with demand.

And competition to find any home, with the unemployment rate at its lowest point since 2000, is growing tougher as prices rise.

This month's builder index was based on 355 respondents.

The reading gauging builders' view of single-family home sales rose fell one point to 79, while the outlook for sales over the next six months slipped one point to 78. The measure of traffic by prospective buyers declined four points to 54.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A former high school classmate of a University of Pennsylvania student found stabbed and buried in a California park was charged Wednesday with murder and investigators were looking for evidence of a hate crime, a prosecutor said.

Samuel Woodward, 20, killed 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein with a knife, prosecutors said, while the college sophomore was visiting his parents on winter break.

"We're continuing to search for evidence that might support special-circumstances allegations," District Attorney Tony Rackauckus said at a news conference. He said prosecutors were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and looking into whether it was a hate crime.

FILE--This undated file photo provided by the Orange County Sheriff's Department shows Blaze Bernstein. A suspect has been arrested in the death of 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student Bernstein,whose body was found this week at a Southern California park. (Orange County Sheriff's Department via AP, file)

"This is a senseless murder of a young man who possessed a combination of a high-caliber mind and the heart of a poet," Rackauckus said.

Authorities said Woodward picked up Bernstein at his parents' home in Lake Forest around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 and took him to a neighborhood park. His body was found in a shallow grave there a week later.

Bernstein's parents have said the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son. According to a court filing obtained by the Orange County Register, Woodward told investigators that he became angry after Bernstein kissed him the night they went to the park.

Woodward appeared in court Wednesday in an orange jail jumpsuit but did not enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail until his arraignment on Feb. 2.

If convicted of murder and an allegation he used a deadly weapon, Woodward could face as much as 26 years to life in prison.

Woodward's parents held hands and sat with a Catholic priest who is a long-time friend of the family. Other church members also attended the brief hearing.

"This is a tragedy," defense attorney Edward Munoz said later to reporters. He said his heart goes out to Bernstein family and that the Woodward family is in shock.

"This young man I'm representing was an Eagle Scout and now he's facing murder," Munoz said.

The district attorney said the two young men had both attended the Orange County School of the Arts but he did not know if they were friends at the time.

Woodward communicated with Bernstein via Snapchat on Jan. 2 and then picked him up in a vehicle, Rackauckus said.

Bernstein's parents reported him missing the following day. Authorities searched for nearly a week with help from drone pilots. His body was found in brush surrounding the park after rains partially exposed it.

The time and place of the killing remained under investigation. Investigators said Woodward had abrasions, scratches and dirt on his hands and was seen during surveillance cleaning his vehicle, Rackauckus said.

The district attorney also said Bernstein's DNA was found on property held by Woodward but would not provide additional details.

Bernstein had been studying psychology and was recently chosen to edit a campus culinary magazine. Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil and his funeral.

"There is still much discovery to be done and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime," Bernstein's family said in a statement earlier this week.

In the days after Bernstein disappeared, Woodward attended Mass at his family's parish church in Newport Beach and took communion, said Msgr. Wilbur Davis, who attended the court hearing.

"Both sides are in pain," he said. "Our heart goes out to all those who suffer, for whatever reason."

___

AP reporter John Antczak contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
ROME (AP) - Italian lawmakers have approved sending a military mission to Niger to combat human trafficking and terrorism.

The vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday was likely lawmakers' last session before a March 4 election.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni has said some of Italy's troops now in Iraq will be transferred to the African nation, a major migrant trafficking route. His center-left government is focusing on Africa in a strategy to combat trafficking of migrants to Libya and then onwards toward European shores via perilous journeys in smugglers' unseaworthy boats.

Hundreds of thousands of trafficked migrants, many of them fleeing poverty in Africa, have arrived in Italy after rescue at sea in recent years. Populist politicians in their election campaigns are citing growing public impatience with swelling migrant and refugee populations.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's use of the terms "fake news" and "enemy of the people" is "shameful" and reminiscent of words infamously used by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to describe his enemies, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Flake, of Arizona, called Trump's repeated attacks on the media "repulsive" and said Trump "has it precisely backward." Despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despot's enemy and a guardian of democracy, Flake said.

Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring this year, said that when Trump calls news stories he doesn't like "fake news," he "should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talks to reporters just after a blistering speech on the Senate floor aimed at President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. In a speech on the Senate floor, Flake called Trump's repeated attacks on the media "shameful" and "repulsive" and said Trump "has it precisely backward.'' Flake said despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despot's enemy and a guardian of democracy. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Flake's criticism hypocritical, "considering he's the one that was recently defending an actually oppressive regime" during a visit to Cuba.

"He's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression," Sanders said of Flake. "He's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention. I think it's unfortunate."

The White House provides access to the news media every day, Sanders said, noting that she was answering questions at a daily briefing. Trump routinely answers reporters' questions, she added.

"To act as if we're anything but open to that back-and-forth exchange is utterly ridiculous," she said.

Flake has said he is not comparing Trump to Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of millions, but said Trump's use of a term favored by Stalin, "enemy of the people," is chilling.

"This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president's party,'" Flake said.

Arizona's other Republican senator, John McCain, also decried Trump's use of the term "fake news" and said Trump was encouraging autocrats around the world "to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens."

In an opinion column in The Washington Post, McCain said Trump's attempts to undermine the free press "make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable." Constant cries of "fake news" undercut legitimate reporting and "strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent," McCain wrote.

Trump's first year in office "was a year which saw the truth - objective, empirical, evidence-based truth - more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government," Flake said, referring to the president.

In a direct attack on Trump, Flake said the impulses underlying Trump's attacks "are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated."

Trump's use of the term "fake news" has encouraged authoritarian leaders around the world, who now routinely dismiss criticism as "fake news," Flake and McCain said, citing comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, among others.

As a Republican, Flake said he is ashamed of Trump and said politicians in both parties must stand up to his attacks.

"No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions," Flake said.

Flake also denounced Trump's frequent claim that investigations into Russia's interference in the 2016 election are a "hoax" and said ignoring or denying the truth about Russia's actions leaves the U.S. vulnerable to future attacks.

"We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security," Flake said, yet Trump has done little or nothing to investigate the Russians or defend America against future attacks.

A president, such as Trump, who cannot take criticism, "who must constantly deflect and distort and distract - who must find someone else to blame - is charting a very dangerous path," Flake said. "And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger."

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this story.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., talks to reporters just after a blistering speech on the Senate floor aimed at President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. In a speech on the Senate floor, Flake called Trump's repeated attacks on the media "shameful" and "repulsive" and said Trump "has it precisely backward.'' Flake said despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despot's enemy and a guardian of democracy. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A Catholic university in Wichita canceled an exhibit intended to highlight contributions to the arts by LGBTQ Kansans after it heard "community concerns" that the exhibit would expose students to "evil."

The exhibit, "Rainbow in Reverse: Queer Kansas History," was scheduled to open next week at Newman University's Steckline Gallery.

The artist, Genevieve Waller, a Wichita native now living in Denver, was scheduled to present the show to highlight LGBTQ Kansans who worked through various art forms, The Wichita Eagle reported .

During the weekend, an email with the subject line, "Newman University sponsors LGBTQ event -- Your action is needed!" was sent to local religious circles. In the email, Jean Heimann - a Wichita Catholic writer and speaker - wrote: "First of all, why is it necessary to expose students to evil? Why do students need to be encouraged to learn more about a sickness in our society?"

She suggested instead that the university showcase people how have "overcome the temptations of this lifestyle" or have an exhibit of artwork showing the "treasures of the Church."

Heimann's email asked those concerned about the exhibition to contact Newman and diocesan officials.

On Tuesday, Newman Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly McDowall Long said in a statement that the university "understands that diverse perspectives, in an atmosphere in which the human dignity of each person is respected, are key to learning," yet "we thought it was best to make this decision." The statement also refers to "some confusion regarding the purpose and content of this particular exhibit."

Newman said she hoped an alternate exhibit venue would be found in Wichita.

"I would like the exhibit to spark curiosity about LGBTQ history in Kansas and help pave the way for LGBTQ Kansans' stories to become part of official state histories," she said Tuesdsay in an emailed statement to the Eagle.

___

Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on the killing of a University of Pennsylvania student in California (all times local):

9:48 a.m.

A Southern California prosecutor says the investigation is continuing into the killing of a University of Pennsylvania student even though a murder charge has already been filed against the suspect.

FILE--This undated file photo provided by the Orange County Sheriff's Department shows Blaze Bernstein. A suspect has been arrested in the death of 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student Bernstein,whose body was found this week at a Southern California park. (Orange County Sheriff's Department via AP, file)

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus told reporters Wednesday that investigators are looking for evidence that would support making the legal case a hate crime.

The current complaint alleges 20-year-old Samuel Woodward murdered 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein and that a knife was used in the crime.

In an affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register, Woodward told investigators he was angry after Bernstein kissed him the night they went to a park.

Bernstein's parents say the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son.

Authorities say Bernstein was visiting his parents during winter break when he went to a park with Woodward Jan. 2. His body was found in a shallow grave there a week later. Woodward was arrested soon after.

Rackauckus says both had attended the Orange County School of the Arts. The district attorney says Woodward communicated with Bernstein by Snapchat on Jan 2 and then picked him up at his parents' house.

___

8:44 a.m.

A murder charge has been filed against a suspect in the death of a University of Pennsylvania student whose body was found buried and stabbed in a Southern California park.

A complaint filed in Orange County Superior Court Wednesday morning alleges 20-year-old Samuel Woodward used a knife to kill 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckus has scheduled a news conference to discuss the case.

Authorities say Bernstein was visiting his parents during his college's winter break when he went to a park with Woodward Jan. 2. His body was found in a shallow grave there a week later. Woodward was arrested soon after.

___

5:49 a.m.

Prosecutors plan to announce charges in the killing of a University of Pennsylvania student found buried in a Southern California park.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus has scheduled a news conference Wednesday morning to announce his decision on charges for 20-year-old Samuel Woodward, suspected of killing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein.

Authorities say Bernstein was visiting his parents on winter break when he went to a park with Woodward Jan. 2. His stabbed body was found in a shallow grave there a week later. Woodward was arrested soon after.

In an affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register, Woodward told investigators he was angry after Bernstein kissed him the night they went to the park.

Bernstein's parents say the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son.
LONDON (AP) - London Zoo has honored Prince Harry's fiancee by naming its newborn okapi after her.

The zoo said Wednesday the animal born in early December was named Meghan to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Harry and American actress Meghan Markle.

The okapi (oh-COP-ee) have striped hindquarters like zebras but are related to giraffes. Native to the Democratic Republic of Congo, they sometimes are called a forest giraffe or zebra giraffe.

In this image made available on Thursday Jan. 18, 2018 from the Zoological Society of London, London Zoo, shows Meghan the baby okapi at the zoo in London. London Zoo has honored Prince Harry's fiancee by naming its newborn okapi after her. The zoo said the animal born in early December was named Meghan to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Harry and American actress Meghan Markle. (Zoological Society of London via AP)

Zoo officials say the young mammal is doing well and that Meghan's mother, Oni, watches over her while she sleeps.

Zookeeper Gemma Metcalf said the birth is "a great opportunity to draw attention to the okapi, which is an extremely endangered species."

Harry and Markle's wedding is planned for May 19.
DETROIT (AP) - A judge has awarded $1 million to a Detroit man who spent 25 years in prison before proving that his mother's gun wasn't the murder weapon.

Desmond Ricks is benefiting from a Michigan law that compensates people who are wrongly convicted. Tests last year showed that bullets recovered from the victim didn't match the gun that was presented at trial in 1992.

The 51-year-old Ricks was released from prison last May. He tells The Associated Press that he feels "blessed" to be free and plans to use some of the money to start a construction business and help young boys who live without fathers.

A judge signed off on the $1 million payment Wednesday. Ricks' attorney believes he's entitled to an additional $216,000 and plans to appeal.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) - A double suicide bombing at a market in Nigeria's northern city of Maiduguri killed at least 12 people and wounded 48 others on Wednesday, residents and an emergency official said.

Ibrahim Usman, a trader in Muna Garage market, said the first bomber attacked inside the market while the other remained outside, killing only himself.

"Suddenly there was a loud bang and everywhere became disorganized," he said. "I counted 12 corpses and over 40 injured victims."

The head of rescue operations for the State Emergency Management Agency, Bello Dambatta, said a female bomber attacked the market while the other attacker was male.

Muna Garage, the site of a camp for displaced people, has been attacked several times in the past few years by Boko Haram insurgents. Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, has been a refuge for thousands of people displaced by the insurgency in Nigeria's northeast.

Boko Haram, which was formed in Maiduguri, has killed more than 20,000 people in its nine-year insurgency. The Islamic extremist group has used a growing number of women and children as suicide bombers, often after abducting and indoctrinating them, in recent months.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in his New Year's address again claimed that Boko Haram had been largely defeated. That came a year after he declared that the extremist group had been "crushed" following a military effort to flush the fighters from their forest strongholds.

A series of deadly attacks in Maiduguri and elsewhere followed last year.

The insurgency has displaced millions of people, creating one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, and staged attacks in neighboring countries participating in a military operation against it.

Boko Haram wants to set aside Nigeria's constitution and replace it with Shariah law.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump relentlessly congratulates himself for the healthy state of the U.S. economy, with its steady growth, low unemployment, busier factories and confident consumers.

But in the year since Trump's inauguration, most analysts tend to agree on this: The economy remains essentially the same sturdy one he inherited from Barack Obama.

Growth has picked up, but it's not yet clear if it can sustain a faster expansion. Hiring and wage growth actually slowed slightly from Obama's last year in office. Consumers and businesses are much more optimistic, but their spending has yet to move meaningfully higher.

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump talks with former President Barack Obama on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to Obama's departure to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump relentlessly congratulates himself for the healthy state of the U.S. economy. But in the year since Trump's inauguration, most analysts tend to agree on this: The economy remains essentially the same sturdy one he inherited from Obama. (Rob Carr/Pool Photo via AP, File)

"I don't see any noticeable break over the past year," said Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "We tend to overstate the degree to which the president has the ability to control the economy."

The U.S. public appears to have a similar view, according to a Quinnipiac University poll last week. It found that two-thirds of American voters say the economy is "excellent" or "good," the highest since the poll started asking about the economy in 2001.

Yet 49 percent of respondents credited Obama for the economy's health, compared with 40 percent who credited Trump.

Trump's successful push for income and corporate tax cuts and his steps to loosen regulations have helped drive a surging stock market rally fueled by the prospect of higher corporate profits. And most economists are optimistic that growth will continue at a solid pace this year.

"We have created more than 2 million new jobs since the election," Trump said last week in Nashville, Tennessee. "Economic growth has surged past 3 percent, something that wasn't supposed to happen for a long time. We're way ahead of schedule. Unemployment is at a 17-year low."

Those trends aren't very different from what came before. Employers added more jobs in Obama's last year in office - 2.2 million in 2016 - and nearly 3 million in 2014. Economic growth did top 3 percent at an annual rate during the second and third quarters of 2017. But it had surged above 4 percent in the second and third quarters of 2014.

The unemployment rate fell from 4.8 percent when Trump took office to 4.1 percent now. It fell by the same amount or more in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

During the presidential campaign, Trump portrayed the economy as floundering and called the unemployment rate "one of the biggest hoaxes in modern politics." Now he accepts the government's data at face value.

When the government reports growth for the October-December quarter next week, it may show the economy expanded at a 3 percent or higher annual rate for the third straight quarter. That could lift growth in 2017 to the fastest pace since it reached 2.9 percent in 2015.

Some of that growth may reflect greater spending by consumers or businesses in anticipation of tax cuts. But most economists expect it will take time for Trump's deregulatory and tax policies to have their full effect.

There's no question that businesses and consumers are more optimistic. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index jumped to a 17-year high in November before slipping a bit last month.

That hasn't yet resulted in more Americans opening their wallets, though. Spending growth in the first nine months of 2017 was slightly slower than in the previous year.

Some economists are growing skeptical of consumer sentiment surveys because the responses seem increasingly skewed by political leanings. People in counties that voted for Trump reported a much brighter outlook on the economy after the election than did people in Clinton counties, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

People in Trump-voting counties were much more likely just after the election to say their financial situation had improved in the past year, the New York Fed said, long before any of Trump's policies were in place. But the change in sentiment didn't produce changes in consumer spending, the report said.

"It does somewhat undermine the message from the confidence surveys," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

American companies have stepped up their investments in machinery, software, and office towers this year after sluggish spending in 2015 and 2016. Such spending increased about 6.2 percent at an annual rate in the first nine months of the year.

Still, business investment topped 9 percent in the first three quarters of 2014.

In both cases, rising oil prices played an outsized role in spurring more corporate spending. When oil prices increase, drilling firms tend to buy more steel pipe and other goods that are used in drilling rigs.

Dean Baker, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, points out that when mining and oil and gas are excluded, investment spending has increased an anemic 3.3 percent this year.

Many economists expect growth to perk up in 2018, with the impact of tax cuts and the Trump administration's deregulatory efforts spurring corporate investment and consumer spending. So far, 15 regulations that were put in place by the Obama administration have been overturned by Congress. The administration has put dozens of others on hold.

"There's just generally the feeling that there's more pro-growth policy coming from Washington," O'Sullivan said.

O'Sullivan forecasts that growth will reach 2.8 percent for all of this year, roughly in line with other projections.

"2017 was largely an Obama economy," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said. "But going forward it will definitely be a Trump economy."

Other factors besides tax cuts and deregulation are playing a role. For the first time since the most recent major recession ended in 2009, the global economy is enjoying widespread growth. That kind of broad expansion helps boost spending on U.S. exports of factory goods, a boon to manufacturers, and also lifts the stock market because it increases profits for U.S. multinational corporations.

Germany's economy expanded 2.2 percent in 2017, the fastest in six years. Business sentiment in Japan is at the highest level in 11 years. China is still growing at nearly a 7 percent annual rate.

Manufacturing executives appear highly optimistic and welcome the attention Trump has lavished on their industry. Factories added 196,000 jobs last year after shedding workers in 2016. Still, manufacturing added 208,000 in 2014 and 207,000 in 2011.

And most of the jobs that have been added this year were outside the Midwestern "Rust Belt" states that swung for Trump in the election. Instead, some of the states with the biggest gains are in the South, Southwest and Northwest.

Factory jobs grew 4 percent in South Carolina from January through November, the largest gain nationwide, followed by South Dakota with 3.9 percent. Iowa, Rhode Island and Texas were next, followed by Wisconsin, which enjoyed a 3.2 percent gain. Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Arkansas closed out the top 10.

Meanwhile, Michigan's manufacturing employment was flat last year, while factory jobs rose just 0.5 percent in Ohio. Pennsylvania lost manufacturing jobs.

Fiat Chrysler said last week that it is moving production of some pickup trucks from Mexico to a factory in Warren, Michigan, near Detroit, which will be expanded. The move will employ 2,500 people. And Toyota and Mazda said they will build a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, that will add 4,000 jobs.

At the same time, 215 more workers were laid off last week at the Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis where Trump touted a deal early in his presidency that prevented the plant's closure.

"There are still jobs headed overseas, no question about it," Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said. "You can't tweet jobs back into existence."

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, file photo, a television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange headlines the Dow Jones industrial average above 26,000 for the first time. President Donald Trump relentlessly congratulates himself for the healthy state of the U.S. economy, with its steady growth, low unemployment, busier factories and confident consumers. But in the year since Trump's inauguration, most economists tend to agree on this: The economy has essentially been the same sturdy one that he inherited from Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - This June 27, 2017, file photo shows an oil rig at sunset in Midland, Texas. President Donald Trump relentlessly congratulates himself for the healthy state of the U.S. economy, with its steady growth, low unemployment, busier factories and confident consumers. But in the year since Trump's inauguration, most economists tend to agree on this: The economy has essentially been the same sturdy one that he inherited from Barack Obama. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
January 17, Abbot

Author: Andie Rocha | Source: Ewtn.com

Abbot

Roman martyrology: St. Anthony is generally considered to be the founder and father of organized Christian monasticism, although he himself preferred to live the life of a true hermit, apart from any community, in the deserts of Egypt. Having lost his parents, he distributed all his wealth to the poor, following the evangelical indication, and retreated to the solitude of Thebes in Egypt, where he led an ascetic life. He worked to strengthen the action of the Church during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian, supported Athanasius against the Arians, and gathered many disciples he deserved to be considered as Father of the monks.

Etymology: Commonly associated with Greek anthos meaning "flower".



SHORT BIOGRAPHY

The life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, that he actually did just that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that most of Anthonys life was spent in solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to himself for spiritual healing and guidance.

St. Anthony was born in 251 in a small village in Egypt. He descended from a noble family, but his mind was very humble; actually he was exceedingly modest, and honest beyond measure. At young age, he was unable to read or write because he could not bear the rough behavior of the boys in the school; his whole desire was to be even according to what is written about Jacob, "He was a simple man, and a dweller in tents.

When he was twenty years old, both of his parents died, leaving him a large estate and placing him in charge of his young sister. Anthony felt overwhelmed and turned to God in prayer. Gradually he became more and more aware of the power of God in his life. About six months later, he heard this quotation of Jesus from the Gospel: "Go, sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Mark 10:21). He took the words as a personal message in answer to his prayer for guidance. He sold most of his possessions keeping only enough to support his sister and himself. Then he gave the rest of the money to people who needed it.

Anthony's sister joined a group of women living a life of prayer and contemplation while Anthony decided to become a hermit. He begged an elderly hermit to teach him the spiritual life. He also visited other hermits so he could learn each one's most outstanding virtue and then he began his own life of prayer and penance alone with God.



At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells to help others. Again like Francis, he had great fear of stately buildings and well-laden tables. Many people heard of him and sought his advice. He would give them practical advice such as: "The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much. He runs away when we make the Sign of the Cross."

At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to recover. The mule kicking over the altar denied the divinity of Christ.

Anthony died after a long, prayerful life. He was 105. St. Athanasius wrote a well-known biography of St. Anthony of Egypt, here he said "Anthony was not known for his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God."

Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book. The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the devilthe cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for the book of nature over the printed word.

From his footsteps we can learn: Fast for one day, if possible, as Anthony did, eating only bread and only after the sunsets. Praying to God will show you your strength.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Apple is planning to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers during the next five years as part of a $350 billion commitment to the U.S. that will be partially financed by an upcoming windfall from the country's new tax law.

The pledge announced Wednesday comes less than a month after Congress approved a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code championed by President Donald Trump that will increase corporate profits.

Besides dramatically lowering the standard corporate tax rate, the reforms offer a one-time break on cash being held overseas.

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, file photo, buildings and a tour boat are reflected on the mirror behind an Apple logo during a preview event at a new Apple Michigan Avenue store, in downtown Chicago. On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, Apple announced it is planning to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers during the next five years as part of a $350 billion commitment to the U.S. economy. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

Apple plans to take advantage of that provision to bring back most of its roughly $252 billion in offshore cash, generating a tax bill of about $38 billion. It's something that Apple CEO Tim Cook promised the company would do if it could avoid being taxed at the 35 percent rate that had been in effect under the previous tax law.

About $75 billion of the $350 billion in U.S. investments will be paid from money that had been overseas, Apple estimated.

Companies that bring back money stashed overseas this year will be taxed at a 15.5 percent rate, below the new 21 percent rate for U.S. corporate profits under the new law.

Other U.S. companies, including American Airlines, AT&T and Comcast, have been handing out $1,000 bonuses to all their workers to share the wealth they will gain from the lower rate on their domestic earnings.

Excluding banks and other financial services companies, Moody's Investors Service estimates corporate America has an estimated $1.6 trillion in overseas cash. Most of that is in the technology industry, with Apple sitting at the top of the heap.

Analysts have been predicting that most of the overseas profits coming back to the U.S. would be plowed into paying shareholder dividends and buying back stock, something that happened the last time a one-time break on offshore profits was offered more than a decade ago.

Trump and lawmakers are hoping companies use the money to raise wages, expand payrolls, open more offices and invest in new equipment.

After plowing nearly $46 billion into dividends and stock repurchases in its last fiscal year, Apple is still likely to funnel a big chunk of overseas money to its shareholders.

But Wednesday's announcement was clearly designed to be a show of faith in the U.S. - Apple's most lucrative market. The public show of support also helps the optics of a company that will still continue to make most of its iPhones, iPads and other gadgets in factories located in China and other faraway countries that offer cheaper labor.

"Apple is a success that could only have happened in America, and we always felt a very big sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who have made our success possible," Cook said during a ceremony Wednesday celebrating a new warehouse being built in Reno, Nevada.

The White House applauded Apple's commitment.

"Just as the president promised, making our businesses more competitive internationally is translating directly into benefits for the American worker, through increased wages, better benefits, and new jobs," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.

Apple Inc., which just spent an estimated $5 billion building a Cupertino, California, headquarters that resembles a giant spaceship, plans to announce the location of a second campus devoted to customer support later this year.

The company didn't say how big the second campus will be, or how many of the additional 20,000 workers that it plans to hire will be based there. About 84,000 of Apple's 123,000 workers currently are in the U.S.

One thing is certain: Cities from across the U.S. will likely be offering Apple tax breaks and other incentives in an attempt to persuade the company to build its second campus in their towns.

That was what happened last year after Amazon announced it would build a second headquarters in North America to expand beyond its current Seattle home. The online retailer received 238 proposals from cities and regions in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Amazon is expected to announce the winning bid later this year.

Besides hiring more workers and building its second campus, Apple is also planning to open more data centers to help back up the photos, documents and other content that people store on their phones, tablets and computers. It also is increasing a fund established last year to invest in U.S. manufacturers from $1 billion to $5 billion.

Apple's high-profile commitment may pressure its peers in the technology sector to take similar steps, despite the industry's disdain with many of Trump's other policies, especially those affecting immigration. The next four biggest hoarders of overseas cash are Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Google corporate parent Alphabet Inc. and Oracle, with a combined $320 billion among them.

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AP writers Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, and Josh Boak in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill announced Wednesday that he is hiring the state's former child welfare chief, who resigned from her post last month in a blistering letter that accused Gov. Eric Holcomb of making changes and cuts at her agency that "all but ensure children will die."

The move by the Republican attorney general to hire former Department of Child Services Director Mary Beth Bonaventura raised eyebrows at the Statehouse. But it's not the first time Hill has broken with Holcomb, who as governor is de facto head of the state GOP.

Since his 2016 election in which he became the single greatest vote-getter in state history, Hill has sought to test his political strength as well as build up his profile, though he has not indicated what aspirations he may have beyond the state attorney general's office. Hill notably opposed a law Holcomb pushed last year to expand a needle exchange program and spoke out against a law the governor signed allowing children with severe forms of epilepsy to be treated with oil derived from marijuana. He has often issued news releases trumpeting his appearances on Fox News, or his views on issues that have a seemingly limited connection to the businesses of his office.

Bonaventura, a well-respected former juvenile judge with more than 30 years' experience in the field, was appointed to lead the Department of Child Services in 2013 by then-Gov. Mike Pence, who is now vice president. Problems quietly festering at her former agency erupted into public view last month when she penned her scathing resignation letter accusing Holcomb's office of mismanagement and cuts in the midst of a surge of caseloads fueled by the opioid crisis.

"I choose to resign, rather than be complicit in decreasing the safety, permanency and well-being of children who have nowhere else to turn," she wrote.

Holcomb's allies have accused her of poorly administering the office and blowing through money budgeted for the agency. However, Holcomb himself has refused to publicly address the specific allegations Bonaventura has made against his office.

Hill's office did not respond to a question over whether he is deliberately trying to stoke a feud with Holcomb by hiring her.

"I'm extremely pleased to bring aboard a leader of such caliber as Judge Bonaventura," Hill said in a statement. "Her breadth of experience and depth of knowledge will continue to prove indispensable assets to the citizens of Indiana as she steps into this next phase of her distinguished public service."

Holcomb's office declined to comment on Hill's hiring of Bonaventura.

"We wish her well in this new chapter," said spokeswoman Stephanie Wilson.

Bonaventura will be paid $125,000 a year. Her "special counsel" position fills a senior adviser vacancy created when a staff member left in December, Hill spokesman Bill McCleery said in an email. He added that her work portfolio will span several agency divisions and focus on addressing drug abuse, including the opioid epidemic.

Bonaventura was not made available for an interview.

Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and former state lawmaker, said it could be "a mercy hiring" or it could be that "Hill is trying to stake out ground as the most powerful Republican officeholder in the state."

"What he doesn't understand is the governor always wins," Murphy said.

The GOP-controlled Legislature last year ultimately passed an expansion of expansion of needle exchanges to combat outbreaks of disease among intravenous drug users, despite Hill's objections.

As for the sale of cannabidiol, which is derived from the marijuana plant but doesn't contain the component that makes you high, Holcomb wants the Legislature to clarify that it's legal after Hill issued an advisory opinion saying it's not.
ENID, Okla. (AP) - Officials at a northern Oklahoma air force base are asking the public to keep recreational drones away from aircraft after a near collision on a training flight.

Lt. Col. Eric Schmidt works at Vance Air Force Base. He told the Enid News & Eagle that an aircraft on a Jan. 9 training flight came within about 50 feet of a drone flying at an altitude of approximately 1,000 feet. The drone had a light on, but wasn't immediately spotted, Schmidt said.

People who fly drones recreationally often don't realize how dangerous a drone can be to an aircraft, Schmidt said. A drone colliding with an aircraft could structurally damage the aircraft and put the lives of crew and people on the ground in danger, he said.

"There's somebody out there who has a toy, and it could cause us harm," Schmidt said. "It could have killed those guys."

Drone operators need permission to fly within 5 miles of an airport or military airfield, according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Military training routes also have drone regulations, Schmidt said.

Military aircraft typically fly at an altitude of 500 feet or higher when following training routes. Drone operators must not go higher than 400 feet when flying under training routes. They're also required to notify the base in advance so pilots are aware and exercise extra caution.

"I'm concerned more about the safety impact to our aircrews than I am about prosecuting illegal drone activity," Schmidt said. "I just want people to understand, if they are flying drones near Vance Air Force Base training aircraft, they are putting lives in danger."

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Information from: Enid News & Eagle, http://www.enidnews.com
DETROIT (AP) - A Detroit church is providing sanctuary for a man in the country illegally who was ordered deported to Albania even though he says that he is the sole caretaker of his wheelchair-bound wife.

Central United Methodist Church officials announced at a news conference Tuesday that the church is offering sanctuary to Ded Rranxburgaj, 48, of Southgate, who is scheduled to be deported Jan. 25. The Rranxburgaj family will stay at an apartment in the church indefinitely, church leaders and Michigan United officials said.

Immigration officials told Ded Rranxburgaj in October that he was going to be deported. The administration of President Donald Trump has cracked down on illegal immigration since he took office in January.

In a Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 photo, Ded Rranxburgaj holds his wife Flora's hand during a press conference after taking sanctuary at Central United Methodist Church while facing deportation in Detroit. Central United Methodist Church is offering sanctuary to Rranxburgaj of Southgate, who is scheduled to be deported Jan. 25. Rranxburgaj and his wife Flora Rranxburgaj, both from Albania, immigrated to the U.S. 17 years ago and applied for refugee status within 5 months of their arrival. Eleven years ago Flora fell ill with Multiple Sclerosis and her husband Ded has had to take care of her since. (Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press via AP)

"This person is not a terrorist. He's not a threat to your country. He's trying to make a better life," said the Rev. Jill Hardt Zundel, senior pastor of Central United Methodist. "I follow a man named Jesus who flipped tables over, who tried to stop oppression. And that's what we're doing here."

This is the first time a metro Detroit church has announced it'll be providing sanctuary to an immigrant facing deportation under Trump, according to advocates. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy advises against targeting houses of worship and schools for enforcement actions. The church declared itself a sanctuary in 2017 and gave an African family seeking to remain in the country sanctuary last year before Trump was elected, church officials said.

Rranxburgaj came to the U.S. with his wife 17 years ago. Rranxburgaj said he was granted temporary humanitarian status after his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than a decade ago. He said he has no criminal record and has been working with immigration officials to gain legal status.

ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls says Rranxburgaj currently is considered a fugitive after not reporting to ICE as instructed in October.

Walls says Rranxburgaj was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2006, and in 2009, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed his appeal of that decision, affirming the removal order. He says ICE allowed Rranxburgaj to remain free from custody while making preparations for his departure, "which he had satisfactorily done."

"ICE does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," Walls said in an email. "All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States."

Flora Rranxburgaj, 44, who is married to Ded Rranxburgaj, isn't facing deportation because of her condition confined to a wheelchair, said Caitlin Homrich-Knieling, immigrant family defense organizer at Michigan United, a group that advocates for immigrant rights and other issues. The couple's oldest son has qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, while their youngest son is a U.S. citizen.

"To not see my wife very sick and to leave my sons and not ever see them again, that's very, very hard for me and for my family," Ded Rranxburgaj said. He said he is his wife's sole caregiver: cooking meals, helping her shower and change clothes.

In a Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 photo,Flora Rranxburgaj breaks down as she talks about how she needs the help of her husband, standing left, and cannot do without him if he gets deported, during a press conference after he took sanctuary at Central United Methodist Church while facing deportation in Detroit. Ded Rranxburgaj and his wife Flora Rranxburgaj, both from Albania, immigrated to the U.S. 17 years ago and applied for refugee status within 5 months of their arrival. Eleven years ago Flora fell ill with Multiple Sclerosis and her husband Ded has had to take care of her since. Central United Methodist Church is offering sanctuary to Rranxburgaj of Southgate, who is scheduled to be deported Jan. 25. (Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press via AP)

In a Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 photo, Ded Rranxburgaj talks at a press conference after taking sanctuary at Central United Methodist Church while facing deportation in Detroit. Ded Rranxburgaj and his wife Flora Rranxburgaj, both from Albania, immigrated to the U.S. 17 years ago and applied for refugee status within 5 months of their arrival. Eleven years ago Flora fell ill with Multiple Sclerosis and her husband Ded has had to take care of her since. He recently received notice that he needed to leave the country.(Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press via AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A deputy fatally shot a 16-year-old boy in an Ohio courtroom when a fight broke out involving the boy, his family and the officer on Wednesday, a sheriff's office investigator said.

Joseph Haynes was struck once in the abdomen during the fight that began as an early afternoon hearing concluded in a domestic relations courtroom in Columbus, said Rick Minerd, investigations chief with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. The boy died about 30 minutes later at a nearby downtown hospital.

Events unfolded as a judge wrapped up a hearing involving a firearms charge against the boy and an electronic monitoring device the court assigned him earlier in the case, Minerd said.

"At some point as the hearing was concluding, there was an altercation that ensued involving the deputy and some of the family members," Minerd said. He added later the boy also was involved.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and fired a shot, he said.

Minerd didn't identify the deputy, saying the investigation is ongoing. The deputy also was injured and was being treated at a hospital, but that he wasn't shot, Minerd said.

Minerd said the sheriff's office extends its condolences to the family of Haynes and wishes the injured deputy a quick recovery. He wouldn't speculate on what exactly happened.

"That's a very busy courtroom, very emotional floor here in the courthouse," Minerd said.

The sheriff's office immediately requested crime scene assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and two employees of the agency were assigned, records show.

Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady told the Columbus Dispatch that public safety is always an issue and commissioners would "certainly be willing" to discuss added juvenile court security with court personnel.

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Authorities in Massachusetts say a Maine police officer accused officers of racial profiling as they arrested her for pushing through a concert crowd and refusing to leave after being asked dozens of time.

Worcester police arrested 24-year-old Portland officer Zahra Munye Abu on Saturday night at a Ja Rule and Ashanti concert.

The Worcester Telegram and Gazette reports that police say Abu was escorted out after she grabbed the head of security by the front of his shirt. She was charged with misdemeanors, including assault and battery, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Abu is the first Somali immigrant to become a Maine police officer. Portland police say she is on paid administrative leave.

Worcester police say they don't know if Abu has a lawyer. Several phone calls and emails to Abu and family members weren't immediately returned.

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This story has been corrected to show that Abu is 24, not 26.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The man who protects the rights of whistleblowers at U.S. spy agencies is disclosing for the first time why he was suspended and escorted out of his offices in late November.

Dan Meyer told The Associated Press Wednesday that he was put on administrative leave for allegedly mishandling classified information, belittling his deputy and carrying on a "secret dialogue" with Congress.

He is rebutting the accusations before a review board.

Meyer said the action came after he "blew the whistle myself."

Whistleblower groups and some members of Congress worry that Meyer's suspension is part of a plan to hamstring the four-year-old program he directs.

Intelligence officials say they support whistleblower programs.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of New Jersey Transit in a dispute over the arrest of two men who were preaching on a train platform in 2012.

Don Karns and Robert Parker sued the transit agency after they were arrested at the Princeton Junction station for not having the proper permit and failing to leave the platform.

Both were charged with obstruction and defiant trespass. Karns was acquitted and the obstruction charge against Parker was dismissed; he was convicted on the trespass charge but that was later reversed.

Among other claims, their lawsuit alleged violations of their constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection, and claimed that the officers didn't have probable cause to arrest them.

In a 2-1 ruling last week, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments and held that as an arm of the state, NJ Transit was allowed immunity from the claims.

The court added that the officers had probable clause because they had told Karns and Parker that they weren't permitted to be on the platform without a permit but the two men acted as though they would remain there regardless.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Jane Roth wrote that under existing case law NJ Transit shouldn't be given immunity as an arm of the state, and that the majority opinion allowed NJ Transit and its officers to "wiggle through" a loophole.
NEW YORK (AP) - A man charged with killing eight people in a Halloween attack on a New York City bike path is willing to plead guilty if he'll be spared the death penalty, his lawyers said Wednesday.

The lawyers told U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick that the families of victims and the public can be spared a drawn-out legal process if U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions decides not to seek the death penalty for Sayfullo Saipov.

Authorities say the Paterson, New Jersey, resident was inspired by the Islamic State group when he mowed people down in rented truck. He has pleaded not guilty and remains held without bail.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the St. Charles County Department of Corrections in St. Charles, Mo., shows Sayfullo Saipov. Saipov has been charged with murder for killing eight people by running them down with a truck along a busy bicycle path in New York City on Oct. 31, 2017. His lawyers told a Manhattan federal court judge Wednesday, Jan 17, 2017 that he will plead guilty if the death penalty is not an option. (St. Charles County, Mo., Department of Corrections/KMOV via AP, File)

"In short, a decision by the government not to seek the death penalty would bring immediate closure to the case without the need for the public and victims to repeatedly relive the terrible events of Oct. 31, 2017," the lawyer told the Manhattan jurist in a letter signed by David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York.

If the government seeks death, the lawyers said a trial should occur no earlier than September 2019 because of the large volume of evidence and the need to build a defense with information to be gathered halfway around the globe.

Authorities say Islamic State group propaganda was found on cellphones belonging to Saipov, who moved to the United States legally in 2010 from Uzbekistan. He lived in Ohio and Florida and worked as a commercial truck driver before he recently moved to New Jersey with his wife and children.

In a letter sent to the judge Tuesday, prosecutors said a decision on whether to seek death in the case will not occur until after they receive a submission from the defense revealing any mitigating circumstances. They said they had asked for it to be submitted within three months but defense lawyers have requested an additional three months to work on it.

Prosecutors asked that a trial be set for April 2019. They said a firm trial date is necessary because it would enable planning by many of the victims and families located throughout the United States and overseas, including in Argentina, Belgium and Germany.

The government said there is "a strong desire for closure" among those harmed by the attacks in the U.S. and abroad.

"It is deeply traumatic for these bereaved, seriously injured, or otherwise traumatized victims and their families to endure reliving Saipov's attack by recounting the details, and victims have already expressed to the government concern about delays in this process," prosecutors wrote.
A prisoner who failed to return from a period of home leave has been found.

Paul Stewart was reported missing from HMP Castle Huntly near Dundee at 2pm on Monday.

The 44-year-old absconded after some time on home leave.

Paul Stewart, who was found after absconding from HMP Castle Huntly in Dundee (Police Scotland/PA)

Police said early on Tuesday morning that he had been found safe and well.

Officers had advised members of the public not to approach the 44-year-old if they saw him.
How good it is for all of us to let Jesus renew our hearts.

Author: Elise Harris | Source: CNA

Pope Francis said Tuesday that even amid the pain which results from sinfulness, the Church can still serve the world if she acknowledges the reality of her woundedness and puts Christ and his mercy at the center of all things.

"We are not asked to ignore or hide our wounds. A Church with wounds can understand the wounds of today's world and make them her own, suffering with them, accompanying them and seeking to heal them," the Pope said Jan. 16 at the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral in Santiago, Chile.

"A wounded Church does not make herself the center of things, does not believe that she is perfect, but puts at the center the one who can heal those wounds, whose name is Jesus Christ."

Pope Francis spoke during an encounter with priests, deacons, religious men and women, consecrated, and seminarians, where he was welcomed by Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago. The meeting took place as part of the Pope's Jan. 15-22 apostolic visit to Chile and Peru.

Cardinal Ezzati reflected that presbyteral and consecrated life in Chile have and do endure difficult times of turbulence, and that while many have been faithful, the weeds of evil have also grown, and their consequence of scandal and desertion. He thanked Pope Francis for your words which denounce sin and lukewarmness and, at the same time, your continuous calls to live the beauty of the election and the apostolic dedication of the consecrated vocation.

Pope Francis said that it doesn't help to try to hide wounds and sins: "whether we like it or not, we are called to face reality as it is  our own personal reality and the reality of our communities and societies."

Even St. Peter had to acknowledge that he "was a sinner like everyone else, as needy as the others, as frail as anyone else, Francis emphasized. As disciples, as a Church, we can have the same experience: there are moments when we have to face not our success but our weakness.

What made St. Peter an apostle? What makes us apostles? he asked. One thing alone: that we have received the mercy of Christ.

Francis outlined three moments in the Gospels where we can learn from St. Peter, even as imperfect and sinful people, to bring Christ to the world. These three moments the Pope called Peter disheartened, Peter shown mercy, and Peter transfigured.

Before the resurrection, but following Christ's passion, St. Peter and the other apostles were dismayed and confused, Francis said. These are the hours of dismay and confusion in the life of the disciple, he said.

He pointed to the child sexual abuse scandal that has occurred within Chile as a "time of upheaval," saying he is attentive to what priests, consecrated, and religious are doing "to respond to this great and painful evil."

It is particularly painful, he said, "because of the harm and sufferings of the victims and their families, who saw the trust they had placed in the Churchs ministers betrayed. Painful too for the suffering of ecclesial communities, but also painful for you, brothers and sisters, who, after working so hard, have seen the harm that has led to suspicion and questioning; in some or many of you this has been a source of doubt, fear or a lack of confidence.

"I know that at times you have been insulted in the metro or walking on the street, and that by going around in clerical attire in many places you pay a heavy price. For this reason, I suggest that we ask God to grant us the clear-sightedness to call reality by its name, the strength to seek forgiveness and the ability to listen to what he tells us, he stated.

The Church in both Chile and Peru has faced major fallout from sexual abuse scandals in recent years, which have damaged the Churchs image and created a strong distrust of the hierarchy.

The major case in Chile is that of Fr. Fernando Karadima, who once led a lay movement from his parish in El Bosque. He was found guilty of sexually abusing minors in 2011 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

He then addressed the changes Chilean society has seen since his youth: New and different cultural expressions are being born which do not fit into our familiar patterns.

We can yield to the temptation of becoming closed, isolating ourselves and defending our ways of seeing things, which then turn out as nothing more than fine monologues, he said. We can be tempted to think that everything is wrong, and in place of 'good news', the only thing we profess is apathy and disappointment. As a result, we shut our eyes to the pastoral challenges, thinking that the Spirit has nothing to say about them. In this way, we forget that the Gospel is a journey of conversion, not just for 'others' but for ourselves as well.

The Pope stated, Whether we like it or not, we are called to face reality as it is  our own personal reality and the reality of our communities and societies.

Turning to Peter shown mercy, he discussed St. Peter's encounter with the risen Christ: It is time for Peter to have to confront a part of himself. The part of him that many times he didnt want to see. He experienced his limitation, his frailty and his sinfulness. Peter, the temperamental, impulsive leader and saviour, self-sufficient and over-confident in himself and in his possibilities, had to acknowledge his weakness and sin. He was a sinner like everyone else, as needy as the others, as frail as anyone else  It is a crucial moment in Peters life.

As disciples, as Church, we can have the same experience: there are moments when we have to face not our success but our weakness, the Pope said.

When Christ takes St. Peter aside to ask him, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? he is trying to save him, the Pope said, from the danger of remaining closed in on his sin, constantly dwelling with remorse on his frailty, the danger of giving up.

Christ wants to free St. Peter from seeing his opponents as enemies and being upset by opposition and criticism. He wants to free him from being downcast and, above all, negative. By his question, Jesus asks Peter to listen to his heart and to learn how to discern.

The Lord questioned Peter about love and kept asking until Peter could give him a realistic response: 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you'. In this way, Jesus confirms him in his mission.

The reception of mercy is what confirmed St. Peter as an apostle, Pope Francis said. We are not superheroes who stoop down from the heights to encounter mere mortals. Rather, we are sent as men and women conscious of having been forgiven. That is the source of our joy  A consecrated man or woman sees his or her wounds as signs of the resurrection; who sees in the wounds of this world the power of the resurrection; who, like Jesus, does not meet his brothers and sisters with reproach and condemnation, he said.

Reflecting on how the risen Christ appeared with his wounds, which indeed enabled Thomas to profess his faith, the Pope said, We are not asked to ignore or hide our wounds. A Church with wounds can understand the wounds of todays world and make them her own, suffering with them, accompanying them and seeking to heal them. A wounded Church does not make herself the centre of things, does not believe that she is perfect, but puts at the centre the one who can heal those wounds, whose name is Jesus Christ.

The knowledge that we are wounded sets us free. Yes, it sets us free from becoming self-referential and thinking ourselves superior and from a promethean tendency, he stated.

In Jesus, our wounds are risen. They inspire solidarity; they help us to tear down the walls that enclose us in elitism and they impel us to build bridges and to encounter all those yearning for that merciful love which Christ alone can give.

Pope Francis reflected: I am concerned when I see communities more worried about their image, about occupying spaces, about appearances and publicity, than about going out to touch the suffering of our faithful people.

He then quoted the words of St. Alberto Hurtado, a Chilean Jesuit of the mid-20th century who was involved in Catholic Action: All those methods will fail that are imposed by uniformity, that try to bring us to God by making us forget about our brothers and sisters, that make us close our eyes to the universe rather than teaching us to open them and raise all things to the Creator of all, that make us selfish and close us in on ourselves.

The Pope explained that Gods people neither expect nor need us to be superheroes. They expect pastors, consecrated persons, who know what it is to be compassionate, who can give a helping hand, who can spend time with those who have fallen and, like Jesus, help them to break out of that endless remorse that poisons the soul.

Pope Francis finally turned to Peter transfigured.

St. Peter experienced the wound of sin but learned from Jesus that his wounds could be a path of resurrection.

But to know both Peter disheartened and Peter transfigured is an invitation to pass from being a Church of the unhappy and disheartened to a Church that serves all those people who are unhappy and disheartened in our midst.

To renew prophecy is to renew our commitment not to expect an ideal world, an ideal community, or an ideal disciple in order to be able to live and evangelize, but rather to make it possible for every disheartened person to encounter Jesus, he said. One does not love ideal situations or ideal communities; one loves persons.

A frank, sorrowful and prayerful recognition of our limitations makes us able to return to Christ, Pope Francis said.

How good it is for all of us to let Jesus renew our hearts.
The Mormon church appointed a 93-year-old former heart surgeon Russell M Nelson as its new president, following a longstanding succession plan that aims to keep the faith on course with a minimum of upheaval.

The selection of Mr Nelson was announced by high-ranking Mormon D Todd Christofferson during an address broadcast from Salt Lake City to Mormons around the world.

Mr Nelson then spoke to Mormons, calling on them to keep the covenant path.

President Russell M Nelson speaks at Thomas S Monsons funeral (AP)

The new leader announced that his two counsellors will be Dallin H Oaks and Henry B Eyring, both members of the churchs Quorum of the Twelve Apostles leadership body.

Mr Christofferson is also one of its members.

The religions 17th president was chosen during a private meeting of the Quorum, per church tradition that makes the longest-tenured member of the Quorum the new president.

Mr Nelson is now considered a prophet, seer and revelator by Mormons. Mr Nelson succeeds Thomas S Monson, who died on January 2 at the age of 90.

He is the second-oldest man to assume leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in Utah and counts nearly 16 million members worldwide.

The former surgeon will oversee the religious and business interests of the faith in collaboration with two top counsellors and members of the Quorum, one of the faiths top governing bodies.

Mr Nelsons record during his three decades in church leadership suggests he will make few changes as he upholds church teaching and seeks to draw new members.

Among the challenges he faces is adapting to the increasingly global nature of the church, which was founded in 1830 in the United States and now has nearly six in 10 members living in other countries.

Mr Nelson takes the top position amid increased scrutiny of church teaching in the internet age, which has made more information on doctrine available. Under Mr Monson, leaders released a series of essays explaining some controversial areas of Mormon history, including early polygamous practices and a past ban on black men in the lay clergy.

The church also faces some pressure to allow greater leadership roles for women, including those who want to be admitted to the priesthood.

Mr Nelson also will have to navigate the issues raised by the LGBT rights movement. The church, at times, has expressed empathy and told members to be welcoming to LGBT people, while also strictly defending opposition to same-sex marriage and all homosexual relationships.

Last year, Mormon leaders partially cut ties with the Boy Scouts of America, which in 2015 ended its blanket ban on participation by openly gay adults. The LDS church, which has been the biggest sponsor of troops, said the move was not about that decision.
The imprisonment of Gerry Adams more than 40 years ago was unlawful because of flaws in the detention process, the Court

of Appeal has heard.

Mr Adams, who is due to stand down as Sinn Fein president next month, has launched a legal bid to overturn two convictions received in 1975 while he was detained without trial at the Maze Prison during the early 1970s.

The challenge hinges on a complex technicality that Mr Adams internment was not lawful because the order to hold him had not been considered by the then Secretary of State.

Inside the Maze before it closed (Paul Faith/PA)

The matter was explored at length before three of Northern Irelands most senior judges led by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan at Belfasts Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday.

Mr Adams, who was not present for the hearing, was among hundreds of people held without trial during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The Louth TD was first detained in March 1972, but was released in June that year to take part in secret talks in London.

He was rearrested in July 1973 at a Belfast house and interned at the Maze Prison, also known as Long Kesh internment camp.

He is challenging convictions handed down by two separate Diplock Court trials  cases tried by a single judge sitting without a jury  relating to two attempts to escape from internment.

The Court of Appeal heard that on Christmas Eve, 1973, he was among four detainees caught attempting to break out of the Maze.

Gerry Adams (centre) in Belfast acting as a member of the IRA guard of honour (PA)

Barrister Sean Doran QC, who is representing the veteran politician, said: A hole had been cut in the perimeter fence and all four were already through.

The second escape bid in July 1974 was described as an elaborate scheme which included the kidnap of a man, who bore a striking resemblance to Mr Adams, from a bus stop in west Belfast.

The man was taken to a house where his hair was dyed and he was given a false beard, the court heard.

The man was then taken to the Maze where he was to be substituted for Mr Adams in a visiting hut.

However, prison staff were alerted to the plan and Mr Adams was arrested in the car park of the jail, the court heard.

He was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in jail for attempting to escape.

Each conviction is for attempting to escape from lawful custody, said Mr Doran.

However, Mr Adams legal team have argued that his imprisonment was not lawful because an interim custody order was signed by a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office and not the Secretary of State.

They contest that the 1972 Detention of Terrorists Order required senior level authorisation, from the Northern Ireland

Secretary of the day.

Mr Doran said: There is a very clear distinction made in the wording of the legislation between, on the one hand, the

power to make an order and, on the other hand, the power to sign an order.

Its only the Secretary of State who can be responsible for the decision to make the order.

The lawyer added that documents presented to the court appeared to copper fasten submissions that there was not personal consideration of the case.

Meanwhile, prosecution barrister Gerry Simpson QC said the Secretary of State could not be expected to be across every case.

Referring to a principle whereby an official within a government department can make a decision for the Secretary of State, he said: This is a real Carltona case.

The decision itself, under Carltona, can be taken by an official.

The Minister signs it and so that it becomes a signed order for the governor of a prison to act on.

The move would also provide political accountability.

Mr Simpson added: It would be absurd to expect the Secretary of State to deal with every case.

Internment was introduced in 1971 by former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner for those suspected of involvement in violence.

The policy lasted until December 1975. During that time, 1,981 people were interned  1,874 were nationalist and 107 were loyalist.

However, the introduction of internment, the way the arrests were carried out and the abuse of those arrested led to mass protests and a sharp increase in violence.

It is understood Mr Adams instigated legal proceedings after the Pat Finucane Centre recovered a document from the British

National Archives in London.

Reserving judgement in the complicated case, Sir Declan Morgan said the three Appeal Court judges would take time to reflect on the submissions.

The case has been adjourned.
Unions have warned that the clock is ticking for thousands of workers caught up in the collapse of construction giant Carillion amid fears of redundancies in the coming days.

Firms working for Carillion on private sector contracts will only have Government support until Wednesday, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington has said.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) warned ministers not to duck and dive over the pay and jobs of workers in private firms as well as in the public sector.

@RMTunion demands that Government classify all Carillion rail works as public sector contracts and take their functions in househttps://t.co/GrXN6NR03g  RMT (@RMTunion) January 16, 2018

Leaders of the TUC, Unite and GMB met Business Secretary Greg Clark on Tuesday evening and warned him that workers should not be left to carry the can.

GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: The clock is ticking for Carillions 8,500 private sector workers, and the Government must now offer them reassurance and financial guarantees.

No worker should go hungry, default on a bill or miss a rent or mortgage payment because of a crisis they did not cause.

Mr Clark has written to the Insolvency Service and the Official Receiver asking that the statutory investigation into the conduct of Carillions directors is fast-tracked and extended.

This means the Official Receivers investigation will consider whether those who are, or were previously directors of the company may have caused detriment to those owed money, including workers and businesses affected.

 CLOCK'S TICKING FOR ACTION ON CARILLION. Bosses and ministers caused this crisis, not the workers. The Govt is culpable for this mess  now it's up to them to pick up the pieces. Our full story on today's #Carillion developments >> https://t.co/yAfOtVZ2C0 pic.twitter.com/d59ECCw8aD  GMB Union (@GMB_union) January 16, 2018

The minister has also written to the chairman of the Financial Reporting Council, Sir Win Bischoff, and asked it to investigate the preparation of Carillions accounts past and present, as well as the companys auditors.

Mr Clark said: It is important we quickly get the full picture of the events which caused Carillion to enter liquidation, which is why I have asked the Insolvency Service to fast-track and broaden the scope of the Official Receivers investigation.

In particular, I have asked that the investigation looks not only at the conduct of the directors at the point of its insolvency, but also of any individuals who were previously directors. Any evidence of misconduct will be taken very seriously.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Carillions collapse was a watershed moment that should bring an end to rip-off privatisation of public services.

He said former Carillion directors should have to pay back any bonuses they have received.

Well the bonuses should come back. When there are people who are sub-contractors or small firms that are contracted into Carillion that are not getting paid, workers being made redundant at 48 hours notice, and less in some cases, the directors, for all the bonuses they have had, should pay them back.

Salaries that are still being paid to the top ranks should be halted, according to the Labour leader.

They should not be paid anything at the present time because they have run the company in such a way that all these jobs are at risk, he said.

So many of our public services are at risk  school meals services, hospital cleaning services, maintenance contracts, Army housing, are all at risk because of the way this company has been run.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: We have been told that only Carillion workers on what the Government defines as public sector contracts will be guaranteed their wages.

Clearly, anyone working in the rail sector is providing a service to the public and we are calling on the Government to confirm that there will be no dispute over this point and that our members will continue to be paid with their functions taken directly in-house.

There should be no equivocation from the Government and no attempt to duck and dive around this issue.

All of the Carillion rail works on the various contracts can be brought in-house easily and that is what we expect to happen with jobs and services protected.

TUC general secretary Frances OGrady called for a national taskforce involving unions to safeguard jobs, services and pensions.

Workers cant be left at the back of the queue. Each and every worker at Carillion needs to know where they stand. They have bills and mortgages to pay, and deserve certainty on their future.

Carillion has public sector or public-private partnership contracts worth 1.7 billion, including providing school dinners, cleaning and catering at NHS hospitals, construction work on rail projects such as HS2 and maintaining 50,000 Army base homes for the Ministry of Defence.

But its shares price has plunged more than 70% in the past six months after a string of profit warnings, and breached its financial rules.

How Carillions share price fell. Infographic from PA Graphics.

The group, which employs around 20,000 British workers, has been struggling under 900 million of debt and a 587 million pension deficit.

Anger is growing over bumper payouts received by Carillions former chief executive Richard Howson.

He pocketed 1.5 million in salary, bonuses and pension payments during 2016 and, as part of his departure deal, Carillion agreed to keep paying him a 660,000 salary and 28,000 benefits until October.
Former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon has arrived for his appearance before the US House Intelligence Committee in Washington as part of its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The interview follows Mr Bannons spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book as saying US president Donald Trumps son and others engaged in treasonous behaviour for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In Michael Wolffs book, Fire And Fury, Mr Bannon accuses Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

More recently, Mr Bannon has said he was not referring to Mr Trump Jr, but rather to Mr Manafort. Mr Wolff stands by his account.

After the books release, Mr Trump quickly disavowed Sloppy Steve Bannon and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Fire And Fury author stands by his claims (AP)

Mr Bannon apologised a few days later, but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News. He had largely avoided the scrutiny of congressional investigators, who instead focused much of their energy on trying to secure interviews with top witnesses like Mr Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

But Mr Bannon played a critical role in the campaign, the presidential transition and the White House  all during times now under scrutiny from congressional investigators looking for possible evidence of a connection between Mr Trumps operations and Russia.

The former strategist recently retained the same lawyer being used by former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House general counsel Don McGahn.

The House Intelligence Committee is speeding towards a conclusion of its interviews in the Russia investigation.

The final result could be marred by partisan infighting, raising the probability that Republicans on the panel will issue one set of findings while the Democrats will release their own.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a 57-year-old man was found at an address in South Wales.

Gwent Police launched a murder investigation after finding Anthony Bubbins body when they were called to an address in Brynderwen Road, in the Newport area of South Wales, at around 3.30pm on Monday.

The force appealed for help in locating Paul Paget, 54, who it was believed may have information about the incident.

A man has arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found in a house in the Newport area of South Wales. Stock Image. (PA)

A spokeswoman for Gwent Police said on Tuesday that Mr Paget had been found in the Devon area and had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

She said: He currently remains in police custody and will be brought back to the Gwent Police force imminently.

The spokeswoman said Mr Bubbinss family had been notified about his death and were being supported by specialist officers.

The cause of death has yet to be established, she said.

We are currently treating the death as suspicious and have now launched a murder investigation.
A data-sharing agreement between the Home Office and the NHS to track immigration offenders has led to people becoming too frightened to access healthcare, MPs have heard.

An agreement used by the Home Office to make requests for non-clinical data about suspected immigration offenders from health bodies was published in January last year.

The memorandum of understanding sets out how information is shared as part of efforts to trace those in the country unlawfully.

MPs heard about a data-sharing agreement between the NHS and the Home Office (PA)

The Health Select Committee heard that some undocumented migrants are avoiding seeking healthcare as a result.

Tweeting from @commonshealth inquiry into nhs sharing info with the home office. Marissa from Voice of Domestic Workers describes how MOU makes patients even more frightened to see a Dr #stopsharing  Doctors of the World (@DOTW_UK) January 16, 2018

Marissa Begonia, coordinator of the group Voices of Domestic Workers, told MPs that people had died after avoiding getting help.

We have one member who died, and never sought any hospitalisation or GP because she was too frightened, she said. What killed her was she was frightened to access healthcare.

Dr Lucinda Hiam, a general practitioner working for Doctors of the World, added: In our clinic in particular there are pregnant women who are too frightened to access healthcare and that is something that really worries us.

In one extreme circumstance we had a woman present in labour because she was too scared to go to hospital.

In our clinic, the average time people have been in the UK before even trying to access healthcare is six years so when they present, often with conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure which can easily be managed, theyre out of control. We had to send 45 people to A&E last year.

She added that since the memorandum was made public, Doctors of the World had to change the advice to patients in its clinic.

We still do tell patients to register with a GP but we have to say that your data might be shared and a lot of people now are not going, she said.

Dr Hiam added: I saw a woman a few weeks ago from Eritrea who had been living in this country for seven years and being kept as a slave and subjected to horrendous sexual violence. She didnt feel able to go to a GP so thats the atmosphere of fear were creating.

Health Minister Lord OShaughnessy told the committee he did not believe the information-sharing arrangement should affect the doctor-patient relationship.

He said: Information is shared for a wide variety of reasons according to tests of lawfulness and proportionality and I do not think that should affect the relationship.

This information has been shared for decades and now has proper governance, proper rules and processes.

Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes added: I think it is important that we know who people are and where they are, which is why the Home Office makes a range of checks with a range of different organisations to try to identify where immigration offenders are, where they are living and where they are drawing on services.

We do not wish to deter anybody from seeking health treatment where it is necessary but equally we have a public interest to make sure that we know where as many people are as possible.

Charlie Massey, chief executive of the General Medical Council, said: We have expressed our concerns to NHS Digital and the Department of Health about the impact this memorandum could have on patients trust in doctors and have yet to be reassured that information will only be disclosed in cases where there is a clear public interest.

Trust is essential to the doctor-patient relationship, and confidentiality is central to that trust.

It is a matter of public interest if patients avoid seeking medical care due to such fears.
The Bayeux Tapestry could be put on display in Britain following reports French president Emmanuel Macron has agreed to allow the artwork to leave France for the first time in 950 years.

The tapestry, nearly 70 metres (230ft) long, depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror against his opponent Harold, Earl of Wessex, and culminates in the Battle of Hastings.

According to The Times, Mr Macron is expected to announce the loan of the artwork when he meets Theresa May at Sandhurst on Thursday.

The tapestry is nearly 70m long (PA)

The paper said the director of the Bayeux Museum in Normandy  where the tapestry is currently based  confirmed preparations were under way for the embroidery to be re-located, but said tests would need to be carried out to make sure it could be moved without being damaged.

The location for the display in Britain is not thought to have been decided and it could take five years before it reaches British shores.

The tapestry last left Normandy to be put on display in Paris in 1804 and briefly at the Louvre in 1944 before being returned to Bayeux.

The French President will hold talks with the Prime Minister at the UK-France summit, which a spokesman said would highlight cross-Channel co-operation on issues such as climate change, air pollution, cyber threats and the human genome.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump on Tuesday, provoking a subpoena from the panels Republican chairman.

The development brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what the former adviser tells Congress about his time in Mr Trumps inner circle and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue in light of the newly issued subpoena from the Republican-controlled panel.

The congressional subpoena came the same day The New York Times reported that Mr Bannon  a former far-right media executive and recently scorned political adversary of the presidents  has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before a federal grand jury.

Devin Nunes issued the subpoena to Mr Bannon (Susan Walsh/AP)

With the issuing of Mr Muellers subpoena, Mr Bannon became the highest-ranking person who served in the Trump White House to be called before a grand jury as part of the special counsels investigation.

Committee members grilled Mr Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference, and also wanted answers from him about Mr Trumps thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

But Mr Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, prompting the committees chairman, Devin Nunes of California, to issue the subpoena.

Adam Schiff claimed Mr Bannon was silenced by the White House (Susan Walsh/AP)

Late on Tuesday, Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said Mr Bannons refusal to answer those questions came at the instruction of the White House.

This was effectively a gag order by the White House, Mr Schiff said shortly after Bannons interview concluded. He said the committee plans to call Mr Bannon back for a second interview.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Bannons appearance follows the publication of Fire and Fury (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no one had encouraged Mr Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but theres a process of what that looks like.

As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognised process that goes back decades, Ms Sanders told reporters.

A White House official said the president did not seek to formally exert executive privilege over Mr Bannon  a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions.

The official said the administration believes it does not have to invoke the privilege to keep Mr Bannon from answering questions about his time in the White House.

The focus on Mr Bannon follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book saying that he sees the presidents son and others as engaging in treasonous behaviour for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

In Michael Wolffs Fire and Fury, Mr Bannon accuses Donald Trump Junior, Jared Kushner and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

More recently, Bannon has said he was not referring to Trump Jr. but rather to Manafort. Wolff stands by his account.

After the books release, Mr Trump quickly disavowed Sloppy Steve Bannon and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Bannon apologised a few days later but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News.
Jonny Bairstow laughed off suggestions Englands winning start to the one-day series was down to an Australian Ashes hangover.

At the start of the trip it was the tourists who found themselves fending off questions about a damaging drinking culture  Bairstow at the centre of a bizarre story having playfully headbutted Cameron Bancroft in a bar and Lions batsman Ben Duckett pouring a drink over James Anderson in another regrettable incident in Perth.

Now it is the turn of the Australians to have their evening exploits placed under the microscope, with suggestions among the local media that their post-series party in Sydney went too far and contributed to their five-wicket defeat in the first ODI.

Jeez, if you cant celebrate winning the Ashes I am not sure what you can celebrate other than your wedding or something like that, said Bairstow.

So they should. You cant just say because they have lost the first game that its a result of celebrating the Ashes. Its a different squad, lots of different people.

He also made a cheeky reference to the curfew which was imposed on the Test squad and remains in place for the white-ball side.

The Yorkshire batsman played all five Tests as England surrendered the urn (Jason OBrien/PA)

 I am sure if it was the other way round (celebrations) would have been exactly the same  before midnight, of course.

Australia opener David Warner gave the issue similarly short shrift.

Youve got to celebrate your wins. It was a long summer for us and to play the way we did, beating England 4-0, we deserve to go out and celebrate, he said.

David Warner will be looking to help Australia level the series in Brisbane (Jason OBrien/PA)

If people think its over the top then thats their own opinion. You get one day to sum up a summer and I think we did it in the right sense.

The teams face off again at the Gabba on Friday, Australias Brisbane stronghold and scene of the tone-setting 10-wicket win which kicked off the Test series.

And Bairstow knows the hosts are likely to come hard at England after their first defeat of the tour.

Get in there! What did you think of that brilliant win?



Scorecard: https://t.co/SVagukoB2B pic.twitter.com/j0M005ToZN  England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 14, 2018

We know the feeling of being 1-0 down so thats something were expecting  a bit of a backlash from the Aussies, he said.

But youd rather be 1-0 up. We we really pleased to get the first proper win since we arrived. Its a huge achievement for the lads to start the one-day series the way that we did .

To carry on playing the way that we have done over the last 18-months, two years, in Australia is something we were really wanting to do and to start the series like we have, we can hopefully continue that in Brisbane.
A former defence minister has said Britains armed forces are overstretched and down to the bone as he outlined concerns about shortfalls across the military.

Ex-armed forces minister Sir Mike Penning, who was sacked in June, called for the 40 billion cost of replacing Trident nuclear submarines to be kept separate from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget, which he said should be focused on boosting operational capability.

Delivering his assessment of issues in the Army and Navy, Sir Mike said special forces are almost continually on deployment, leaving them stretched and leading to problems retaining soldiers.

Sir Mike Penning served as armed forces minister between July 2016 and June 2017 (Anthony Devlin/PA)

The former soldier claimed Navy frigates which track Russian submarines can only stay at sea for five or six days at a time because they do not have fully rotational crews.

And he said troops have been deployed to eastern Europe to counter Russian aggression with Jackal light vehicles designed for Afghanistan and only three tanks, because it takes an absolute age to deploy the heavier vehicles.

His comments add to backbench Tory pressure on the Government to halt reported plans for major cuts to the military.

(PA Graphics)

Former Grenadier Sir Mike told The Sun: Someone has to stand up and say, enough is enough.

Were down to the bone now.

The Army is too small. An army of 82,000 does not give us enough ready troops to deploy.

If numbers go down any more, we are simply not going to be able to do what the British public expect of us, from our Nato and UN commitments to humanitarian missions.

If you continue to develop the replacement Trident from the existing budget, that will dramatically affect the operational capability of the three armed forces  particularly the Army.

I want the PM and the Chancellor to fund Trident replacement with a new pool of money that is kept entirely separate from the rest of the MoDs budget.
A group of UK citizens who live in the Netherlands have gone to a Dutch court in a bid to retain their EU citizenship rights post-Brexit.

In a case that could have far-reaching consequences for around one million Britons currently living in European Union countries outside the UK, lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm launched summary proceedings on Wednesday before a judge at Amsterdam District Court.

Mr Alberdingk Thijm said he wants the Amsterdam judge to put so-called prejudicial questions about the status of UK nationals post-Brexit to the European Court of Justice.

The lawyer added that while citizens rights are clear when a country joins the EU, nobody knows what happens when a country decides to leave, as the UK has done.

According to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, any person who is a citizen of an EU nation automatically is also an EU citizen. EU citizenship grants rights, including the freedom to move and live freely within the bloc.

Barrister Jolyon Maugham has said some expatriates rights have been left up in the air (AP)

Brexit negotiators have made progress on the protection of rights of EU citizens living in Britain and UK citizens living on the continent, but no full agreement has been reached yet on the issue and lawyers for the plaintiffs said the progress so far has left their fate up in the air.

British lawyer Jolyon Maugham, who is funding the case, said that if the Dutch judge puts questions to the Luxembourg court, the answer the Court of Justice gives will be an answer that applies to UK passport holders wherever they live.

Mr Maugham said before the hearing: I am profoundly concerned about what the loss of EU citizenship means for the million or so UK citizens who live and work in the EU.

I am also profoundly concerned for the 64-odd million people living in the United Kingdom who, but for this litigation, will lose the ability to exercise EU citizenship rights in the future.

Mr Alberdingk Thijm told the Dutch judge: Your honour, the fate of British citizens living in the Netherlands is in your hands.

Judge in Amsterdam says he will give judgment in three weeks time, on 7 February 2018. https://t.co/0ecsMDezRg  Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) January 17, 2018

However, urging the judge to reject the request, lawyer Georges Dictus, representing the Dutch state and the Amsterdam municipality, said that once Brexit is finalised, EU treaties will no longer apply to British citizens and that any rights must be laid out in an agreement between the UK and the EU.

Another lawyer representing the Dutch state, Erik Pijnacker Hordijk, called the case fictional, artificial, and said the plaintiffs were attempting to use the Amsterdam court as a stepping stone to get to the EU court in Luxembourg.

He urged the judge to reject their request, saying it could potentially delay Brexit negotiations as a ruling from Luxembourg would likely take many months.

The lawyer added that the Britons were taking their case to the wrong court, saying: If British citizens believe they have a legal right to a particular treatment post-Brexit, they should direct themselves to their own government or a British judge.

A ruling is expected in three weeks time.
Catalonias new parliament has convened amid looming questions about the role fugitive and jailed politicians will play in the chambers separatist majority as well as the future regional government.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October to avoid a Spanish judicial probe over a foiled secession attempt, wants to be reinstated in his old job.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain, as well as a number of legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

Seven more empty seats in the parliament belong to four former cabinet members sought by Spains Supreme Court who are with Mr Puigdemont and three more elected MPs  including former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras who are being held on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

Pro-independence parties hold a slim majority in the Catalan parliament (AP)

Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of the north-eastern region following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist MPs on October 27.

Triggering special powers, Spain sacked Mr Puigdemonts government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on December 21 in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrids hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes. In a first for Catalonia, a party that fiercely opposes independence was the most voted and gained the most seats.

In the inaugural session, there were yellow ribbons symbolising the protest against the judicial process in the seats of the absent MPs, while several hundred people rallied outside the parliament, waving pro-independence flags.

The former Catalan leader could be jailed if he returns to Spain (AP)

The newly-elected MPs will first choose a speaker and the chambers governing committee, a key group that could interpret procedural rules to allow Mr Puigdemonts candidacy from exile.

The two main separatist parliamentary groups said they would elect a leftist, pro-independence speaker and would back Mr Puigdemonts candidacy to form a government.

However, parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week that Mr Puigdemont cannot be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in the parliament.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 of the regional chambers 135 seats and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the regions future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.
The British Museum would be honoured and delighted to display the Bayeux Tapestry if it comes to the UK, its director has said.

Following the news that France may lend the famous work to Britain, Hartwig Fischer said: This would be a major loan, probably the most significant ever from France to the UK.

It is a gesture of extraordinary generosity and proof of the deep ties that link our countries.

The Bayeux Tapestry is of huge importance, as it recounts a crucial moment in British and French history, 1066.

It is understood that Theresa May will discuss loaning the tapestry to the UK when she meets with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

The location for the display in Britain is not thought to have been decided and it could take five years before it reaches British shores.

(PA Graphics)

A spokesman for Mr Macron has said it will definitely not be in the UK before 2020.

Mr Fischer said: We would be honoured and delighted to display it at the British Museum, the UKs most visited and internationally respected institution.

Here it would be seen by the widest UK and international audience in the context of a museum of world cultures.

Although called a tapestry, the work is in fact a 70 metre-long embroidery stitched in nine different panels.

It is currently on display in a darkened room in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.

The tapestry will not travel before 2020 because of the need for restoration work to ensure it is not damaged in transit, an official in Mr Macrons office told reporters in France.

This loan is under consideration, because there will be several months of restoration work at the Museum of Bayeux, said the official.

It will not be before 2020 because it is an extremely fragile cultural treasure which will be subject to major restoration work before being transported anywhere.

Downing Street declined to comment on reports that a deal had been reached to bring the tapestry to Britain.

A section from the Bayeux tapestry (Stephane Maurice/Mairie de Bayeux via AP)

Napoleon put the Bayeux Tapestry on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the citys Louvre in 1944.

Although the first record of the tapestry is in the Bayeux Cathedral inventory of treasures in 1476, it is believed it was stitched in England by nuns of St Augustines Abbey.

Dr Levi Roach, medieval historian at the University of Exeter, said: As Britain seeks to renegotiate its relationship with France, there could scarcely be a better symbol of the close yet fraught ties that have bound the two nations together.

Probably made in England for William the Conquerors half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the Bayeux Tapestry  or more accurately embroidery  depicts events from a Norman perspective, but with real sympathy for the fate of the English.

During the French Revolution it was confiscated for military use, for covering wagons, and was only saved from this fate by a local lawyer.

French President Emmanuel Macron is considering loaning the iconic Bayeux Tapestry to the UK (Etienne Laurent/AP)

If it returns to the UK, medieval historians would finally have the chance to study the back of the work.

It is believed that the famous arrow-in-the-eye scene allegedly depicting the death of the English King Harold was added to the Bayeux Tapestry in Victorian times.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, scholar Maggie Kneen said until now, scholars have only been provided with footage and photographs of the other side of the piece.

Ms Kneen said: It was made in Canterbury, its more or less been proven by art historical means  its such a marvellous piece of news. Its just going to be so important for children to learn from it.

She added: From what I believe, the actual arrow was a Victorian addition. The actual arrow that was stitched onto the tapestry was added on later on.

Really to see the back of it rather than a CD of images would be tremendous for scholars.

The French president will hold talks with the Prime Minister at the UK-France summit, which a spokesman said would highlight cross-Channel co-operation on issues such as climate change, air pollution, cyber threats and the human genome.
Building a new nuclear power station in Suffolk could be significantly cheaper than the near 20 billion Hinkley Point C site, the new boss of energy giant EDF Energy has said.

Simone Rossi, chief executive of the French firm, said there could be a capital cost reduction of 20% for a proposed new plant at Sizewell.

Giving an update on Hinkley in a speech in Somerset, Mr Rossi said the project was going well, with almost 3,000 workers on site.

New nuclear plant will be cheaper than Hinkley Point, says EDF boss (EDF Energy/PA)

More than four million cubic metres of earth have been moved and huge sea water cooling pipes are now being installed.

The aim remains to put the first unit of power into service by 2025.

Mr Rossi said the key to reducing the cost of building new power stations was replication  doing something again with the same design makes it easier and cheaper.

He continued: Hinkley Point C has eight emergency generators. They had to be designed and certified to meet the standards required for nuclear safety.

That means the first two will cost 38 million, but the next six will be half the price. At Sizewell, none of that development or certification work needs to be done again. All its emergency generators will be at the lower price.

Repeating that experience countless times for a power station at Sizewell that is largely identical to Hinkley Point C makes a capital cost reduction of 20% possible.

This repetition extracts more value from everything that is happening at Hinkley Point C to restart the nuclear industry after the long gap since Sizewell B opened in 1994. 

EDF Energy and its partner China General Nuclear Ltd propose to build and operate a new nuclear power station, Sizewell C, located to the north of the existing Sizewell B plant on the Suffolk coast, with two reactors capable of generating enough low carbon electricity to supply around five million homes.

The go-ahead for Sizewell C would see the guaranteed price paid for power from Hinkley Point drop from 92.50 per megawatt hour to 89.50/MWh.
A new treaty on the handling of migrants at the French port of Calais is set to be signed by Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron, according to reports in the French media.

Press on the other side of the Channel reported a statement from the Elysee Palace which said the treaty would complete the Le Touquet agreement, which allows Britain and France to station border officials on each others soil.

Downing Street declined to comment on the reports, which came ahead of a high-profile UK-France summit at Sandhurst on Thursday.

Mr Macron is understood to be seeking new financial contributions from the UK to bolster security at the port, which has attracted thousands of migrants hoping to sneak on board trains and ships heading for the UK over recent years.

The president vowed during a visit to Calais on Tuesday that he would not allow the recreation of the Jungle migrant tent city which was cleared by authorities in 2016.

En aucun cas nous ne laisserons s'installer une nouvelle jungle a Calais. pic.twitter.com/zU3MhQjnMg  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 16, 2018

French media reported the Elysee as saying the new treaty was still in the process of being finalised, but would focus principally on the handling of unaccompanied minors, asylum requests and family reunions.

It will reportedly include precise commitments from the UK to process asylum claims more quickly, accept more young people travelling alone and to deliver significant extra sums for frontier protection.

Mr Macron said on Tuesday that the current Dublin rules, under which refugees are required to seek asylum in the first safe country they reach, were unsatisfactory and called for an integrated EU system to deal with the problem.

Hundreds of asylum seekers hoping to cross the Channel remain in the area, more than a year after authorities dismantled the sprawling Jungle camp.

Migrants from Ethiopia on the streets of Calais (Joe Giddens/PA)

Downing Street has so far said only that Thursdays summit will highlight cross-Channel co-operation on issues such as climate change, air pollution, cyber threats and the human genome.

We have taken a significant number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from the area in and around Calais already, Mrs Mays spokesman told reporters.
Embattled engineer GKN has rejected a 7.4 billion takeover offer from Melrose Industries in what marks Britains largest hostile bid since 2009.

GKN rebuffed the unwanted swoop by turnaround specialist Melrose, saying the formal cash-and-stock offer was effectively unchanged from last weeks initial approach, which it rejected for undervaluing the firm.

The bid marks the UKs biggest unsolicited takeover approach since Krafts controversial offer for Cadbury in 2009.

GKNs shares have jumped since Melrose approached the group last week

The offer values GKN at 430.1p a share, while Melrose is also proposing to take on around 1 billion of debt.

Under the reverse takeover, GKN shareholders would own around 57% of the combined group and would become major participants in the potential future value creation in both the GKN and Melrose businesses, Melrose said.

Melrose, which specialises in buying and rejuvenating manufacturers, added its plan would re-energise and re-purpose GKN.

The unsolicited takeover bid for one of Britains oldest companies comes after Melrose sought to woo GKN shareholders this week in an effort to garner support for a deal.

But GKN pointed out that the terms of the approach remain unchanged, with the offer only rising by 6.2% as Melrose shares are now worth more having increased since the takeover interest first emerged.

Anne Stevens, who was appointed permanent chief executive of GKN last week, said: We believe GKNs current owners should retain all the benefits of the clear upside potential in GKN, rather than handing almost half of this upside to Melrose and its shareholders.

We have already stated that the terms of Melroses offer fundamentally undervalue the company and we are actively engaging with shareholders to explain how our transformation plan will provide value.

GKN, which makes wing tips for Airbus and parts for car giants including Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover, advised shareholders to take no action and said it would unveil more details soon to further explain plans to overhaul the business.

In making its firm offer, Melrose said the acquisition would deliver significantly greater benefits to the shareholders of GKN than GKN could otherwise achieve on its own.

It comes at a difficult time for GKN, which in November ditched its incoming boss less than two months before he was due to take the top job as it warned over another hit in its troubled US plant.

Melrose said the tie-up would create a group worth 11 billion  making it one of the largest in the UK.

Simon Peckham, chief executive of Melrose, said: The real value uplift will come from merging the interests of the two sets of shareholders and creating a business valued at approximately 11 billion today, of which GKN holders will own the majority, including Nortek, our US business which is trading strongly.

GKN shares slipped after initial gains, having risen for three days straight after the takeover details were unveiled, while Melrose stock fell 2%.

The deal will see GKN shareholders get 1.49 Melrose shares and 81p in cash for each share held.

The offer represents a 32% premium over GKNs closing price on January 5, the last business day before Melrose made its first takeover approach.

Melrose has been seen as an aggressive hostile suitor, with its round of shareholder meetings this week a tactical move to ramp up its efforts to secure backing.

GKN has responded by vowing to separate its aerospace and automotive units and hiring a new chief executive to defend itself against the unwanted bid.

Pension trustees have also waded into the takeover saga, warning on Tuesday over a 1 billion deficit in GKNs schemes and saying that any deal for the company would have to go through them first.
Researchers believe they may have solved the mystery surrounding the origins of the Bornean elephant.

A team of scientists from Cardiff University joined forces with other experts from across the globe to tackle the conundrum of how the endangered species of mammal came to live on the south Pacific island.

The group used genetic data analysis and computational modelling to study the history of the elephants and found they might have migrated between the Sunda Islands in Southeast Asia during low sea levels.

The Bornean elephant is a subspecies of Asian elephant that only exists in a small region of Borneo, and until recently there were two opposing theories about their origin.

There are less than 2,000 Bornean elephants left in the wild (Cardiff University/PA)

Dr Benoit Goossens, from Cardiff Universitys School of Biosciences, said: It has been thought that the Bornean elephant could have either been recently introduced by humans around 300 years ago, or they could have diverged from Asian elephants a long time ago.

Historical records do show that neighbouring Sultans offered elephants as gifts to the Bornean Sultan in the 17th century and therefore current elephants could be non-native elephants that have become feral.

There is also genetic research that demonstrated that Bornean elephants are very different from that of the other Asian elephants, suggesting that there was an ancient separation, possibly around 300,000 years ago.

Dr Goossens said there was evidence for both theories but his colleague in the research, Rita Sharma, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, in Portugal, said their study had shown the likely answer was that the subspecies had naturally colonised Borneo around 11,400 to 18,300 years ago.

This period corresponds to a time when the sea levels were very low and elephants could migrate between the Sunda Islands, a Southeastern Asia archipelago to which Borneo belongs, she said.

We cannot exclude more complex scenarios, but a historical human introduction seems very improbable, and so does a very ancient arrival.

The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department (Sabah is a state of Malaysia located on the northern portion of Borneo), the University of Copenhagen, the University of Leicester and the University of Bristol.

Dr Goossens said understanding the origin of the elephants, of which there were less than 2,000 left in the wild, would be useful for the development of a long-term conservation strategy.

In the light of the recent killings of elephants, for ivory trade and during conflicts, Sabahans must realise that it is their natural heritage that is being targeted, he said.

They need to stand for their wildlife and condemn those who kill these magnificent creatures.

We should take pride in our wildlife; elephants are part of Sabahs patrimony and we cannot afford losing more animals.
A doctor has been found guilty of committing 10 sex offences against four female patients, including victims who complained of stomach pain, back pain and hay fever.

Jaswant Rathore was convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court after a seven-week trial which heard he conducted unnecessary massage treatment to satisfy his sexual desires.

The 60-year-old general practitioner, who was the primary care lead for the Dudley clinical commissioning group, had denied touching eight women inappropriately on different occasions between late 2008 and the summer of 2015.

Jaswant Rathore arriving at Wolverhampton Crown Court (Aaron Chown/PA)

Jurors were told Rathore  who was acquitted of eight counts relating to four patients  stroked the side of the breasts of one victim.

One of the patients Rathore was cleared of assaulting claimed he offered to put her prescription for eczema on her sons prescription so she could get it free after he got the wrong end of the stick.

The court was told the GP was initially arrested in relation to three complainants but five more contacted police after seeing reports in the press.

Opening the case against Rathore at the start of the trial, Prosecutor Heidi Kubik told the jury: You will see that his actions went far beyond that of legitimate medical treatment.

It was an excuse to touch these complainants in a way that was sexually motivated on his part.

Ms Kubik said Rathore had a special interest in the massage therapy he was giving to his patients and read various articles over the internet.

She added: We say this was an interest fuelled by his own illicit sexual desires.

The jury was also told that the prosecution did not accept that Rathore even had the appropriate training to carry out the massage procedures.

Rathore, of Ploughmans Walk in Wall Heath, Kingswinford, West Midlands, was convicted of eight charges of sexual assault and two counts of assault by penetration.

The Indian-born doctor, who came to Britain aged three with his family, qualified as a GP in 1985 after studying medicine at the University of Manchester.

He also worked as a house officer in the spinal surgery section at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham in the 1980s.

Judge Michael Challinor rejected a plea to continue Rathores bail overnight before sentencing on Thursday.

The judge told the doctor: We know the nature of the sentence and dont want there to be any difficulties.

Following your conviction, you must expect a significant prison sentence.
The Government may offer compensation to the woman at the centre of the Kerry Babies murder investigation, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar said Joanne Hayes had been very badly treated by the state and society.

As he issued an apology to Ms Hayes Mr Varadkar said the Government would discuss the issue of compensation with her representatives.

The Fine Gael leader added that the case reflects the extent to which Ireland was such a different place in the 1980s.

I only fully learned the details of the Kerry babies case recently as I was too young at the time. It's been eye opening. Joanne Hayes was treated terribly. I want to reiterate the apology to her from the Gardai and to make that apology on behalf of the State.  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) January 17, 2018

Ms Hayes was arrested following the discovery of a babys body on a beach in Co Kerry in 1984.

Advances in DNA profiling have confirmed that Ms Hayes, as she always maintained, was not the mother of that baby, who was named John.

Ms Hayes had given birth to a baby on the family farm in Abbeydorney, but that baby died and its body was found on the property after the discovery of Baby John had been made.

She was arrested and charged with murder.

The murder charge was later dropped and a tribunal of inquiry was set up to probe the Garda handling of her case.

Mr Varadkar said: I absolutely want to reiterate the apology that the gardai have made to Joanne Hayes and also to make that apology on behalf of the state as well.

I cant offer compensation here and now but it is something that I think we can discuss with her representatives in the period ahead, said Mr Varadkar on Wednesday.

He added: She evidently is a woman who was very badly treated by our state and by our society in a way that so many other women have been in the past and that needs to change.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan (Niall Carson/PA)

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said Ms Hayes was subject to a prolonged ordeal that was simply wrong on every level.

This was unacceptable even at the time and as Minister for Justice and Equality, and on behalf of the State, I am deeply sorry that this happened, he said.

Mr Flanagan welcomed a decision by the Garda to conduct a fresh investigation into baby Johns death.

This review team has had some success investigating historic cases and I note the sensitivity with which they have approached the appeal for new information, he added.

In the Dail, Tanaiste Simon Coveney also apologised to Ms Hayes.

I think people would like to think it was a very different Ireland in terms of the approach to women and pregnancy in those days, but I also accept the point thats being made that there were real policing mistakes made, he said.

There were also mistakes made in the subsequent tribunal in terms of how a woman and her family was questioned.

It was described afterwards as insensitive, very, very frightening, harrowing and quite horrific and shameful.

Fianna fail leader Micheal Martin described Joanne Hayes treatment as shameful.

The complete lack of empathy shown at that time through agencies of the State was shameful and represented a damming indictment on the institutions of the state and on society at the time, he said.
A coroners decision not to call evidence from pupils who had contact with the schoolboy killer of teacher Ann Maguire immediately before her murder was plainly rational, leading judges have ruled.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Lord Justice Treacy and Lord Justice Hickinbottom announced their reasons on Wednesday for their decision last year to dismiss an appeal by members of her family.

Mrs Maguires husband Don and children went to court before the inquest, subsequently heard late last year, saying they were anxious all lessons should be learned from her tragic death.

At a hearing in London in October, which followed an earlier defeat for the family at the High Court, their lawyer told the three Court of Appeal judges they believed the inquest would not provide any meaningful public airing of the circumstances of her murder.

Mrs Maguire, 61, was stabbed in the back by 15-year-old Will Cornick as she taught a Spanish class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds in April 2014. Cornick was later sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years.

Murdered teacher Ann Maguire

At the High Court the family had urged Mr Justice Holroyde to order the decision taken by assistant West Yorkshire coroner Kevin McLoughlin to be reconsidered. But the judge dismissed their application for judicial review.

Announcing the Court of Appeals reasons for rejecting the familys challenge brought after the earlier ruling, Lord Burnett said the issue was whether it was open to the coroner to decide not to question further, or call as witnesses at the inquest, approximately nine fellow pupils with whom the assailant had contact that morning.

He said Mrs Maguires husband and other family members brought judicial review proceedings in which they argued that no reasonable coroner considering this tragic case, and the scope of the inquest he had determined, could lawfully conclude that he should not call them.

Lord Burnett said: The background to the broad issue was that a small number of pupils were aware that William Cornick had a knife on him that morning and he had told some of them of his hatred of Mrs Maguire and desire to kill her.

Each of the pupils was interviewed by specialist police officers in the immediate aftermath of the murder  

He ruled that there was in truth very little, if anything, to place in the balance against the potential harm to the interviewed pupils of giving evidence.

Lord Burnett concluded: In my judgment, the decision not to call these witnesses was plainly rational.

The absence of further evidence from them would do nothing to imperil the statutory function of the inquest or of a full, fair and fearless investigation . . . 

The appeal judges ruled that the High Court judge was right to conclude that it was reasonably open to the coroner not to call the interviewed pupils.
The Duchess of Cambridge chatted to young patients and their families as she visited Great Ormond Street Hospital  and received two teddy bears to take home to Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Kate officially opened a new centre which provides modern accommodation for all the young patients and allows parents or carers to stay comfortably by their bedside.

She was greeted on her arrival by nine-year-old Ava Watt, who has cystic fibrosis:

Ava delighted the duchess with the two teddies (John Stillwell/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge is given teddies by a girl as she arrives to officially open the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital (John Stillwell/PA)

Kate wore a striking red Boden coat as she warded off the chilly weather (John Stillwell/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to patients (Frank Augstein/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge with six-month-old patient Sienna McGuire (Frank Augstein/PA)

Sienna has spent much of her first six months in hospital as she does not have a right lung (Frank Augstein/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge with patient Gabriella Cook, 13, as she officially opens the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital (Frank Augstein/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge with four year old Rafael Chana as she officially opens the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital (Frank Augstein/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to patient Oriel Gray, 14, as she officially opens the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital (Frank Augstein/PA)

The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to patients as she officially opens the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre during a visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital (Frank Augstein/PA)
A pilot who once smuggled tonnes of drugs for Colombian cartels during Miamis cocaine cowboys era in the 1980s has been convicted of playing a key role in a fraud ring that stole at least 150 cars using a fake paper trail.

Mickey Munday, 72, was found guilty by a federal jury of mail fraud and conspiracy charges, each of which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Several others in the fraud ring previously pleaded guilty and testified against Munday, saying his role was transporting the cars and hiding them until they could be sold.

Mickey Munday was a pilot during Miamis "cocaine cowboys" era (AP)

Munday showed no emotion when the verdict was read and he was taken immediately into custody.

US district judge Robert Scola set a date of March 29 for sentencing. Mundays defence team maintain that he was not aware of the car fraud.

Munday spent most of the 1990s in prison after pleading guilty to drug smuggling charges involving tonnes of cocaine from Pablo Escobars Medellin cartel and also the Cali cartel during the 1980s.

He frequently bragged about his exploits in media interviews and social media posts, and had a starring role in the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

If it flies, rolls or floats, I can drive it, Munday has frequently said.

Assistant US Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Munday told investigators in an interview that the fraud operation was called the hokey-doke scheme and he was in charge of getting the vehicles to Florida from around the country.

He was the head of the transportation division of the hokey-doke scheme, Mr Rothstein said. It was a scheme that stole cars with paper.

According to trial evidence, the scam involved obtaining cars that were about to be repossessed by a bank or other financial institution or through purchases at dealerships by straw buyers.

Using tow truck and car wholesale businesses as fronts, the group created a false paper trail that ended with them having clear ownership of the vehicles, which they then sold at a profit.

All told, testimony showed the group stole about 1.7 million dollars (1.2 million) from banks and other lenders between 2008 and 2015.

Some in the ring said Mundays colourful past as a big-time drug smuggler made him a natural fit for the operation.

Munday did not testify in his own defence. His attorney, Rick Yabor, insisted that prosecutors had not proven that Munday knew the operation was fraudulent and that Munday was simply transporting the vehicles.
A man found guilty of stealing mailbags in the 1970s has had his name cleared by leading judges.

Businessman Stephen Simmons, 62, from Dorking, Surrey, was present in court in London on Wednesday when the Court of Appeal overturned his theft convictions.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett announced: We would wish only to note our regret that it has taken so long for this injustice to be remedied.

Stephen Simmons outside the Royal Courts of Justice with his wife Sue (right) and daughter Claire (Jan Colley/PA)

His case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an independent body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

Mr Simmons has always protested his innocence, but his case did not reach court until after he Googled his arresting officer and discovered he was guilty of a similar crime.

Asked if he was relieved following the ruling, Mr Simmons replied: I cant tell you how relieved.

It has only taken 43 years, but I have got there at last.

Mr Simmons, who was sent to Borstal at the age of 20 in 1976 after his convictions in relation to the theft of mail from a train at Clapham Goods Yard in south west London, said that winning his appeal was one of the best feelings Ive ever had in my life.

He added after the ruling, which he described as just amazing that he could not wait to stand on the top of the building and tell everybody.

In 2013 Mr Simmons called a legal phone-in on LBC Radio to ask for advice and was told to try Googling his arresting officer.

When he searched for Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell he was shocked to discover the officer had been jailed for a similar offence just two years after his own conviction, and died in prison in 1982.
British businesses have said playing a vital role in the production of the F-35 stealth fighter jet has had a positive impact on their companies.

With more than 3,000 of the cutting-edge warplanes set to be produced over the coming decades, 15% of each aircraft will be UK made.

Lockheed Martin, the American aviation giant manufacturing the multimillion-pound supersonic planes, said the programme has generated 12.9 billion dollars in contracts for British suppliers.

It comes despite the decommissioning of the UK-built Harrier jump jet which the F-35 replaced, and British job losses linked to a slow down in orders of the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft  assembled in the UK.

Family-owned business R E Thompson, which was founded in 1948 and specialises in precision engineering, is one of the smallest companies involved in the F-35 project.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson flying the new F35 flight simulator (Sgt P.J.George MA ABIPP/MoD/Crow)

Business development manager Richard Elvins told the Press Association that they employ 40 people and have been involved in the Joint Strike Force programme for two decades.

This has really developed our company over those 20 years, he said, revealing their workforce has increased by 10 people during that time.

We have sold about 8 million worth, but are a 6 million business, he said. And over the next 20 years we think that is probably going to be an additional 35 million.

He also said that due to the length of the programme it has allowed them to invest in the capital equipment that the company needs, people and apprentices.

Producing casings for batteries on board the jets, Mr Elvins said so far their Hampshire-based company have manufactured more than 500,000 parts and they are immensely proud of their role.

Every Joint Strike Force (jet) ever flown, including the demos, we have parts in them, he said.

We know if we see one, or the girls or the guys see one of these, they know they have probably handled a part that is in that plane.

(Danny Lawson/PA)

Harrison Smith a marketing executive from Martin-Baker which manufactures the ejection seat, said the Mark 16 US16E variant will be in all three types of the stealth fighter jet.

The company which is based in Middlesex said their involvement with the programme will sustain approximately 700 jobs.

With each seat costing between 100,000 to 200,000, Mr Harrison said it is a big deal for their creation to be in the warplanes.

It is huge for British industry, it is huge for us as company  it is a big programme. It is ultimately going to be about 3000 aircraft towards the end  that is that many seats for us to manufacture, he added.

Chris Pugh-Bevan the F-35 contract manager at Survitec Group said they design custom-fit pilot flight equipment  including cooling under-clothing, chemical and biological protective layers and anti-G garments.

He said the Birkenhead-based company are providing these for every pilot across the world who will be flying the F-35, and that their involvement is key for them as a business.

We were selected in competition, so we had to go out and compete for this business  and for a UK company it was very significant, Mr Pugh-Bevan added.

It was the first time a UK company had got involved in a US programme for the supply of life-saving equipment. We were against the best of the American market.

The company also produce the life-rafts which sit in the back of the Martin-Baker ejection seat  manufactured in Northern Ireland, they are deployed if the pilot has to eject over water.

Some of the other UK companies with contracts to produce parts of jets includes Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, SELEX, Cobham and GE Aviation.
The experiences of thousands of Irish women who travel to the UK every year for an abortion have been recounted during a key debate on a proposed referendum on the controversial issue.

Health Minister Simon Harris said: Women from every county in the Republic of Ireland travelled to the United Kingdom to access an abortion and I think we have to acknowledge them all.

Its the sad reality that weve been exporting this issue.

The debate came as an expected referendum looms on repealing the Eighth Amendment, the section of the Constitution which gives an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn.

Last December, a report by a specially convened Oireachtas committee found that Article 40.3.3 was not fit for purpose and called for it to be repealed.

In its 40-page report the committee recommended abortion should be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without a woman having to explain her decision, and that the procedure should be allowed if the life or health of the woman was at risk.

It also called for expectant mothers to be allowed an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if doctors diagnosed a foetal abnormality that was likely to result in death before or shortly after birth.

At the start of a Dail debate that gave TDs the opportunity to state their position on the issue, Mr Harris said that in 2016 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK alone to have an abortion.

Simon Harris said the sad reality was that Ireland had been exporting the issue (Brian Lawless/PA)

He added it is estimated that 170,000 Irish women have travelled for an abortion since 1980.

These are not faceless women, it might be convenient for us sometimes to think that they are, theyre not, he said.

They are our neighbours, our sisters, our cousins, our mothers, our aunts, our lives.

This time around lets be honest about this. This is not a decision or a procedure that anyone takes lightly. Women agonise about it.

Fianna Fail TD Billy Kelleher said politicians had a duty to address the issue because there was a huge number of people in Ireland who have never had the opportunity to cast their vote on the matter.

This is an issue that I have been grappling with, he said.

We have to acknowledge that people have deeply held views, morally, ethically, and even religiously.

At the same time my personal or political discomfort is nothing compared to the discomfort that is caused to women every day of the week grappling with a crisis pregnancy, or an unwanted pregnancy or the devastating news of a fatal foetal abnormality.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said of repealing the Eighth Amendment: It is the right thing to do, it will correct an historic wrong.

Earlier in the Dail, opposition TD Ruth Coppinger voiced her concern that four weeks after the publication of the committees report some politicians still had not read it.

The number of deputies who have not had time to read it, youd think they had been asked to read War and Peace, she said.

Debates are being held in both the Dail and the Seanad on the matter so that all TDs and senator can express their views.

As the debates got under way, anti-abortion and pro-choice groups gathered outside Leinster House.

The debates are set to conclude on Thursday.
Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron will agree moves to counter terrorism and boost defence co-operation at a summit which will feature the first meeting of Britain and Frances five intelligence chiefs together.

The heads of MI5, MI6, GCHQ and Frances DGSE and DGSI will meet to discuss how the UK and its allies across the Channel can work to counter threats such as the targeting of concert venues like Manchester Arena and the Bataclan in Paris, and terrorists using the internet as a safe space.

The UK will also commit to participating in the French presidents European intervention initiative, which officials do not regard as a European army but a plan to enhance co-ordination of existing armed forces.

Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron are expected to discuss plans to loan the Bayeux Tapestry for display in Britain for the first time ever. (Bayeux Museum/PA)

Britain will agree to send three RAF Chinook helicopters and around 50 non-combat troops to Mali.

They will provide logistical support to French forces attempting to bring stability to ungoverned spaces in the Sahel region of Africa where Islamist extremist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda have gained a foothold.

Brexit could be discussed on Mr Macrons first visit as president but talks are expected to focus on the bilateral UK-France relationship.

As part of that Mr Macron is understood to be seeking new financial contributions from Britain to boost security at the French port of Calais as part of a new treaty on the handling of migrants.

Mr Macron visited Calais on Tuesday ahead of the UK-France summit.

But in response to French reporting of a statement from the Elysee Palace, which said the treaty would complete the Le Touquet agreement that allows Britain and France to station border officials on each others soil, Downing Street said discussions were ongoing.

Before bilateral talks with Mr Macron at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in Berkshire, the Prime Minister said: Todays summit will underline that we remain committed to defending our people and upholding our values as liberal democracies in the face of any threat, whether at home or abroad.

But our friendship has always gone far beyond defence and security and the scope of todays discussions represents its broad and unique nature.

And while this summit takes place as the UK prepares to leave the EU, this does not mean that the UK is leaving Europe.

What is clear from the discussions we will have today is that a strong relationship between our two countries is in the UK, France and Europes interests, both now and into the future.

The pair are also expected to discuss what the PM described as very significant plans to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain, where it has never been displayed.

The UK Government is understood to be looking at whether the gesture could be part of a wider exchange of artefacts.

Ahead of the UK-France Summit later this week, we reflect on the achievements of UK-France cooperation over the last 100 years pic.twitter.com/Oy5gKMvbA8  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) January 16, 2018

Commitments will be made to a 10,000-strong Franco-Anglo combined joint expeditionary force to be ready by 2020.

And France will in 2019 contribute troops to the UK-led battlegroup in Estonia to counter Russian aggression.

On the possibility of the UK making fresh payments to France to beef up security at Calais, Mrs Mays official spokesman said: We have in the past contributed to security where it required bolstering and obviously thats in the interests of the UK as well as in the interests of France.

If there are requests for further help in relation to security we would look at those.
By Kevin Mwanza

NAIROBI, Jan 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - United Nations experts have called on Kenyan authorities to halt forceful evictions of the Sengwer, a tribe living in the forest of western Kenya who say they are being forced off their ancestral land to make way for a water conservation project.

The Sengwer say they have faced a fresh wave of evictions by forest guards from Embobut forest to pave the way for an European Union-funded project to protect water catchment areas.

Dozens of Kenya Forest Service (KFS) guards started evicting people from the forest in late December in what they said were operations targeted at forest invaders.

But a statement from the U.N. experts said more than 100 armed forest service guards entered the traditional lands of the Sengwer in the Embobut forest, firing gunshots, burning at least 15 homes and killing their livestock.

Yator Kiptum, a Sengwer community activist said at least 70 houses had been razed by the forest guards.

"The Sengwer are facing repeated attacks and forced evictions by agents of the Kenya Forest Service, which is an implementing agency in the project financed by the European Union," three independent experts appointed by the United Nations said in a statement on Monday.

"Consultations have not been held with the Sengwer to seek their free, prior and informed consent," the statement said.

The Sengwer hunter-gatherers have fought with the government for more than five decades for the right to live in the Embobut forest in the Cherengany Hills from where they were first evicted by British colonialists in the 19th century.

The three U.N. special rapporteurs - John Knox, Michel Forst and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz - asked Kenya to halt the evictions and launch an investigation.

They also asked the EU to suspend funding of a 31 million euro ($38 million) water tower project that was launched in mid-2016.

Responding to the U.N. statement, Stefano Dejak, who heads the EU delegation to Kenya, said both human rights and climate action were top priorities.

The EU-funded programme seeks to conserve forests around hills in the western part of Kenya considered water catchment towers.

"One of them should not be sacrificed for the other: actions to protect them should go hand in hand," said Dejak.

An official at Kenya's environment ministry said KFS had not undertaken any forced evictions in Embobut forest and the government was working to resettle the Sengwer people elsewhere. (Reporting by Kevin Mwanza , Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Sri Lankas plans to increase the contribution made by smaller-scale businesses to exports and lift foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2018 were both topics of conversation at a meeting held recently between State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne and a team from Oxford Business Group (OBG).



During the talks, Wickramaratne said the budget for 2018 included measures aimed at bolstering support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of broader plans to hand them a bigger role in Sri Lankas economic development.



The 2018 budget focuses on encouraging investments in exports. However, at the moment, a few big companies account for 90 percent of all earnings from international sales, he told OBGs team. It is vital, therefore, to strengthen SMEs in exports so that earnings are dispersed and the risks from exposure are reduced.

Wickramaratne added that the budget was drawn up with the aim of playing to the countrys strengths. Sri Lanka has a favourable geographical location, which allows it to act as a logistics hub between two huge markets, namely China and India, he said. It also has a well-educated human resource base, despite its small size.

On the subject of FDI, Wickramaratne acknowledged that while FDI had fallen below expectation in the last couple of years we expect FDI to nearly double in 2017 over 2016.



Attracting FDI for key sectors, such as ICT, tourism and mining, is seen as pivotal in Sri Lankas efforts to make the transition to knowledge-based economy. I expect FDI in 2018 to register increased growth, taking account of the EUs generalised scheme of preferences plus (GSP+), the new budget and planned free trade agreements, the minister said.



OBGs representatives met Wickramaratne with work under way on The Report: Sri Lanka 2018, the global research and consultancy firms forthcoming publication on the countrys economy.



The Report: Sri Lanka 2018 will be a vital guide to the many facets of the country, including its macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking and other sectoral developments. The publication will contain a detailed, sector-by-sector guide for investors, alongside contributions from leading personalities. It will be available in print and online.
By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

The Sri Lankan cabinet of ministers this week gave the green light to the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore, which was negotiated in secret, subject to the approval from the Attorney General.



This agreement consists of provisions regarding trade in goods and services, service liberalization, investments, public procurement, etc., the cabinet office said.



Although there has been a dearth of information on the FTA, Mirror Business previously reported that the FTA may include pioneering digital services liberalization.



The FTA is scheduled to be signed next week when Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong visits Sri Lanka.

While a government source said that there was speculation earlier this month on Lee not visiting Sri Lanka next week, due to an unexpectedly busy schedule, such speculation was laid to rest yesterday.

The spokespersons of the Foreign Affairs Ministry as well as the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry yesterday confirmed that Lee was visiting Sri Lanka.



Negotiations for the FTA kicked off when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited Singapore in 2016.



Sri Lanka has been classified as one of the most protected economies in the world over the past decade by the World Bank, a situation which the current government is attempting to reverse.

Singapore, on the other hand, operates one of the most liberal economies in the world.



Government sources recently said that Sri Lankas negative list for protecting local industries through the FTA had been a hot topic during negotiations.



Singapore was Sri Lankas third largest import source in 2016 after China and India, with Singaporean imports amounting to US $ 1.18 billion. The main imports were petroleum products, machinery, electronic equipment, chemicals, plastic and food products.



Sri Lanka exported just US $ 114 million or 1.1 percent of the countrys total exports to Singapore during the same year, which included petroleum oils, tea, rubber tyres, precious and semi precious stones, flour and fish.



The Sri Lankan nationalist protectionist lobbies and trade unions havent raised their voices on the Singaporean FTA negotiations.



Sri Lankas ongoing trade negotiations with geopolitical heavyweights India and China have run into heavy resistance among such groups with allegations on the lack of transparency, dumping of Chinese and Indian goods in the local market and the potential destruction of job opportunities for locals.



An economist working at the state-funded Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute had recently outlined that these agreements with India and China were first and foremost geopolitical arrangements.



However, the Singapore FTA too has been negotiated in secrecy, in keeping with a trend followed globally, although some, such as the European Union, are attempting to keep their residents more informed about trade negotiations.



Criticism against the lack of transparency in trade negotiations is now a worldwide phenomenon with academic research dedicated on the subject, since FTAs affect the lives of all citizens in a country and cannot be withdrawn unilaterally, without diplomatic repercussions.



Allegations are also mounting globally that FTAs are negotiated to serve corporate interests ahead of national interests. In Sri Lanka too, powerful monopolies and oligopolies have continuously been featured on negative lists.
As we all know, President Maithripala Sirisena has sought the opinion of the Supreme Court that whether he, as the person elected on January 9, 2015, has any impediment to continue in the office of President for a period of six years. In terms of Article 30(2) of the 19th Amendment, the president will hold office for a term of five years.



Move against mandate at 2015 elections

It is important to analyse the socio-political considerations apart from the legal and constitutional validity of granting a six-year term for Sirisena, thus enabling him to stay in power till end-November 2020. The writers view is, this will effectively change the political game plans of the main political parties to be contested at the next general and presidential elections, due to be held only after December 2019, under the existing provisions in the constitution.



Contrary to popular belief, the presidential elections will be held in or around December 2019, under the existing provisions in the constitution. Whereas, unless parliament dissolves with a two-third majority, even the president cannot dissolve parliament before four and half years, meaning the earliest date for the general elections would be in March 2020.



In short, the presidential election would essentially supersede the parliamentary elections, unless the necessary amendments are brought into the relevant provisions in the constitution. This will enable the present government to hold the next parliamentary elections in 2020, whilst the incumbent president holds office to spearhead the elections. It is in that context only the presidents request to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court should be viewed.



The Attorney General, in support of Sirisenas request to the Supreme Court, making submissions in the Supreme Court on January 11 stated that the incumbent president was elected by the people to the office to a term of six years.



It is the sovereignty of the people who exercise their franchise to elect him as president. The power emanated from the franchise of the people. The commencement of his office should be considered from the date on which he is elected.



He further said that the 19th Amendment to the constitution is operative after the incumbent president was elected for a term of six years by the people.



It is true that, in terms of Article 3 of the constitution, the sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of the government and franchise. Peoples sovereignty is a fundamental right guaranteed under the constitution.



The members of parliament hold a mandate and are agents of the People. These are the extracts of the judgement delivered in 1987 on the 13th Amendment to the constitution by Justice Wanasundera. Therefore, it is obvious that it is the power of the people that is exercised by the president and parliament. Both the parliament and president derive power from the people.



Doesnt it affect peoples sovereignty?

Let us examine the relevant provisions in the 19th Amendment to the constitution. Article 49(1)(b) in the transitional provision says that the president holding office on the day proceeding April 22, 2015 (referring to Sirisena) will continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the constitution as amended by this act (19th Amendment).



Although this provision is very clear  referring to the five-year term for the incumbent president as well  the Attorney General has argued that what matters is the sovereignty of the people and the incumbent president was elected by the people before the 19th Amendment became operative. Therefore, for the purpose of determining the term of the office of the president, the provisions under the 19th Amendment cannot be taken into consideration, thats the obvious argument by the Attorney General.



In this connection, it is also relevant to draw attention to Article 33A of the 19th Amendment, where it says that the president will be responsible to parliament for due exercise of his powers, duties and functions, etc. Earlier, this provision of the presidents responsibility to parliament was not there in the constitution.



In the event, fixing the presidents term goes back to the pre-19th Amendment scenario under the principle of sovereignty of the people; then the same principle applies to the other changes that will happen by reverting from Article 33A, meaning the previous scenario under which the incumbent president will not be responsible to parliament.



It badly affects peoples sovereignty as peoples legislative power will be exercised by parliament. One cant eat the cake and at the same time have it also. A pertinent question would be whether the citizens fundamental rights will be violated, in the event the term is extended. This is because the president would not be answerable to parliament, if the 19th Amendment doesnt apply to the incumbent president.



Economic downturn due to bad governance

When this unity (so-called) government came into power in January 2015, the outstanding external debt was US $ 43 billion and the Sri Lankan economy was growing at a faster rate above 5 percent and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US $ 80 billion at the current market price (CMP).

As per the Central Bank report 2016, the economy has been stagnating around US $ 81.6 billion in terms of GDP at the CMP and the external debt outstanding as at end-December 2016 has increased to US $ 47 billion. It is expected that GDP for the year 2017 was even lower than 2016 (2017 Central Bank report yet to come).



One of the major drawbacks during the last three-year period is the delays in execution of policies and programmes. It goes without saying that getting policy implementation right is critically important for governance purposes. A simple governance structure, in our view, has two functional dimensions  a more participatory style of management for policy formulation/strategic planning, whereas a more authoritarian style is needed for execution of such policies efficiently. In this respect, the previous government has a proven track record for getting the implementation right.



It is worthwhile to mention that the former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa played a major role in driving the infrastructure development of the country through instilling a strong work ethic culture. The immediate future scenario would be that more and more people would become dissatisfied with the government machinery. This will lead to social unrest, which makes the system ungovernable.



Will this political strategy backfire?

Coming back to the question of extending the presidents term by further one year, this will enable the president to hold the parliamentary elections before the next presidential elections in 2020, whereas according to the present constitution, the presidential election would have to be held in December 2019 before the general elections.



Postponing elections is not a new or embarrassing act for this government. However, it affects peoples sovereignty in terms of Article 4(a) and 4(e) of the constitution on two accounts, namely the franchise and legislative power of the people. It is therefore interesting to find out as to why the present government wants to postpone the next presidential elections till the general elections are held and over. Is it because of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa factor?



Conclusion

This article was written and dispatched for publication on the Thai Pongal day. Since then, the Supreme Courts determination has been made public confirming the incumbent presidents term will be five years and not six years as argued by the Attorney General.



As mentioned earlier, although Article 49(1)(b) is very clear  referring to the five-year term for the incumbent president as well  the Attorney General has argued otherwise. I suppose the public perception in the good old days was that the Attorney Generals opinion, in general, is always right and the office of the Attorney General was held in high esteem.



In the meantime, Deputy Minister Ajith Perera was quoted as saying that the government will change the constitution and abolish the executive presidency, adding that the people of the country gave the government a mandate to change the constitution. I wont be surprised that the next move of the government would be to seek peoples mandate through a referendum to abolish the presidential system and revert to a new parliament, where they will count the duration of parliament from the date of approving the new constitution. In the Republic of Sri Lanka, sovereignty is in the people.



(Jayampathy Molligoda is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He obtained his MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management and also successfully completed an Executive Strategy Programme at the Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. He counts over 37 years of executive experience in the fields of financial management, strategic planning and human resource development. At present, he serves as Executive Deputy Chairman of a leading public quoted company. He can be contacted at jayampathy@bpl.lk)
Mindy Bs Deli, located at 828 Georgia Ave., has announced details of the 6th Annual

Sandwich Throwdown Contest.

Jan. Mindy Benton said, "The contest is held annually to invite the community to be directly engaged in the menu. It is held in two rounds. Round One is strictly online and consists of sandwich submissions and voting via MindyBsDeli.com or our Facebook page. It is open from

"Round Two or the Live Round consists of voting with your purchase and runs Feb. 5-9 . The overall winner will be announced Feb. 9 with their sandwich being the featured weekly special for the following week then added to the menu for at least the next year.





"The contest is open to everyone in the Chattanooga area. Individuals are invited to submit their

sandwich creation via the website or Facebook and will be available for public viewing and

voting after approval for meeting contest guidelines. The three submissions with the most online

votes at the end of round one will advance to round two where they will be placed on the menu

for one week. The top selling sandwich at the end of the week will be declared the winner, and

earn the right to grace our menu for at least one year.

We love the Throwdown and look forward to it each year. Its a great way to get to know our

existing customers better and meet many new friends along the way. We enjoy seeing, and

tasting, the creations that Chattanoogans bring to the table.





The first winner was Chris Grant with The Rockefeller, Chris took it again for the second year with The Rock Slide. The third went to Brendan Hawks with The Buddy. The 5th went to a masked Chattanooga FC fan known as Lucha Nooga with The Chattahooligan and last year was the first female winner with Chloe Morrisons The Twisted Turkey.




The Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) today staged a protest outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) demanding that students of the Allied Health Sciences be given clinical facilities in Peradeniya and Kandy Hospitals. Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi
Afghanistan, (rt.com), - Without American assistance, Kabul cant fight the many militant groups active in the country after 16 years of US involvement. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says the national army wont last longer than six months on its own.

American taxpayers, who contribute around 90 percent of Afghanistans defence budget, are bankrolling a war against terrorists in the county, which the government would not be able to continue without the US funding, Ghani told CBS News on Sunday.



We will not be able to support our army for six months without US support and US capabilities Because we dont have the money, Ghani said.



Saying that at least 21 international terrorist groups are operating in his country, Ghani warned that terrorists can strike at any time... We are under siege, Ghani told the 60 Minutes program. 



This continues the 16-year incursion that has seen over 2,000 US servicemen lose their lives and over $700 billion spent on military assistance, lined with repeated promises of a soon-to-come victory from three successive US presidential administrations
Mohamed Riyal - CEO, Serendib Flour Mills

One of the leading flour mills in Sri Lanka, Serendib Flour Mills, proudly welcomes New CEO Mohamed Riyal at the helm of the company to spearhead its growth and expansion plans as it celebrates its glorious 10th anniversary in 2018. A trailblazing business strategist, the new CEO is expected to inject a renewed sense of purpose to achieve the companys ambitious goals and expansion plans for the future. A joint venture between UAEs Al Ghurair Foods (AGF) and Emirates Trading Agency (ETA), Serendibs 7 Star brand of flour has been nourishing the nation for 9 years and embodies purity, innovation, quality, freshness, expertise, service and trust.

An innovative leader; Mohamed Riyal has worked in various positions in a variety of business segments in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Africa and Germany. His notable contributions include establishing the brand name of Audi and Volkswagon in the Middle East region and trebling the market share within a period of two years. He also worked as a Group Planning and Budgeting Manager for Al Ghurair Investments (the holding company of the largest Group of Companies in U.A.E.), where his contribution was immense in setting up group reporting and providing business analysis and plans to turnaround various business units of the Group.

Thereafter in 2010, Riyal relocated to Sri Lanka to take up the position as the Chief Financial Officer at Serendib Flour Mills, where he played a pivotal role in stabilizing the business and achieving the profitability targets of the investors. Riyal is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Member of the Certified Management Accountants and possess an MBA in Business Strategy from the University of Derby, United Kingdom.

Commenting on his appointment, the incoming CEO of Serendib Flour Mills, Mohamed Riyal, said, I am humbled to be appointed CEO of the company and look forward to go for further expansion of the business by increasing the production capacity and stepping into diversified businesses. Initially, I will embark on developing the existing personnel to be ready to take up bigger challenges ahead.

During the previous year, 7-Star Brand was recognized as B2B Brand of the Year at the SLIM Brand Excellence 2017. Serendib Flour Mills is committed to becoming the number one producer of wheat flour in Sri Lanka and the preferred flour supplier in international markets.

Serendib Flour Mills launched operations with a state-of-the-art single-line capacity wheat flour mill in the Port of Colombo on 26th May 2008 using sophisticated Swiss Buhler Technology. Carefully produced through a state-of-the-art milling process, using the very best wheat from countries such as Canada, Australia USA and Russia, the 7 Star range of flour contains the optimal mineral, gluten, water absorption and nutritional balance, making it a healthy and wholesome ingredient that is ideal for everyday use. Serendib Flour Mills has adhered to international standards of quality and best practices, and produces over 10 different varieties of flour, which are wholesome and packed with nutrition. Serendib Flour Mills has developed and implemented an integrated management system (IMS) based on ISO 22000:2005, FSSC 22000, ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 14001:2015 requirements. And also 7 Star is the only SLS certified brand of Wheat Flour in Sri Lanka.

The 7 Star range of flour is ideal for making a delicious range of breads, buns, rottis, pastries, noodles, biscuits and other sweet meats.
A few years ago, it was a landmass, located near the border of Polonnaruwa district in Batticaloa only and left for herds of cattle to graze. If not for such livestock in their hundreds and thousands sniffing the ground fodder in this parched terrain, the land did not serve any productive purpose. In stark contrast with the past , the land, located on the Battiocaloa-Polonnaruwa Road in the area called Poonanai, is abuzz with construction activities today as one of Sri Lankas largest non-State universities is emerging on it with pomp and grandeur.

The land, belonging to the Mahaweli Development Authority, was allocated during the former rule

This is a brainchild of State Minister M. L. A. M. Hizbullah

University authorities would plan interreligious and cultural programmes to foster harmony

The land, belonging to the Mahaweli Development Authority, was allocated during the former rule for the construction of this non-State university, a brainchild of State Minister M. L. A. M. Hizbullah, who represents the district as an elected member. It remained unused for decades on end, mainly due to the areas increased vulnerability to LTTE terrorism, when the outfit was active prior to 2009.

Today, in the post-war context, the land bears mansion like buildings, constructed according to Islamic Architecture with minarets that proudly speaks of the universitys cultural identity. The university land, as visible for anyone passing by, is dotted with date palms giving a novel beauty to its landscape. As such, the university will claim pretension to a university in a middle-eastern country glorifying Mogul Architecture.

Architectural grandeur is further collaborated with modern landscaping that includes the construction of a large pond nurtured by water pumped from a nearby irrigation canal through underground tube lines in the backyard of the universitys main building. Coconut palms, planted around the pond, are now in their tender period. Once grown up, these trees will stand side by side with reading benches for undergraduates to pursue their studies in an atmosphere with air cooled by the pond waters in this otherwise arid land.

Facing the Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa main road is the universitys main administration block fronted by a moat lined with date palms.

University with modern facilities

The administration block houses the room for the universitys chairman, the board room, the directors office etc. All are constructed in conformity with the standards of any reputed university in the world.

This will be a fully pledged state-of-the-art university approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka. Selection of students and the conduct of undergraduate courses will be done according to the rules and guidelines stipulated by the UGC, Project Officer M. I. A. Rauff Hassan told Daily Mirror.

It is a non-state university offering courses in different disciplines in collaboration with universities both in Sri Lanka and abroad.

Nearing completion is the construction of clouds smart classrooms, IT labs and two auditoriums. One auditorium can house 700 students and the other 300. The library which is under construction will have facilities for reading and reference. Once constructed, undergraduates will have the facilities for reading in different postures as they like in this university, according to the Project Officer.

One can read while lying on a bed even, Mr. Hassan said.

Hizbullah realises his dream

Commenting on the circumstances that led to the establishment of this university, Mr. Hizbullah said, Along with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, I went for the founding ceremony of NSBM in the Maharagama area. MP Dulles Allhapperuma was the Minister. He is a good friend of mine. He invited me and I asked for one such university for my area. The former President declined to do so citing financial constraints. Instead, he asked me to start one on my own. He said he would arrange a loan facility the project. For NSBM and SAITM, the government approved huge loans through the Bank of Ceylon.

Yet, I thought I have constrains in raising a loan to be paid with interests because it is against Islam. Bank loans are Haram according to Islam. Interest is Haram. So, I started work with a different arrangement for funding. The then President gave me 45 acres of Mahaweli land on lease. I secured money in the form of a loan from Islamic Development Bank. Also, I received some funding assistance from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There are some NGOs operating in these countries. These are interest- free loans. After five years, we will pay back. There is no interest accrued. Instead, we will pay some charges.

Funding assistance from Saudi Arabia, Qatar

In his manner, Mr. Hizbullah secured US $ 30 million. To supplement this amount, he is now planning to reach out to Bahrain and Kuwait for financial assistance.

We have obtained the Central Bank approval as well. Money will be credited to our account in the Bank of Ceylon. We will make payments to our contractors through it. We submit our reports to the Inland Revenue Department, he said.

What kind of a university is this?

It is same like any other university in Sri Lanka. There is no difference from the traditional university system of the country. It is not a foreign university. It is a non-state university functioning under the Higher Education Ministry and the UGC. They approve the curricula and all.

The university will have six faculties to offer eight courses- civil engineering , mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, quantity survey, IT, Law , Agriculture Technology, Tourism and Hospitality Management,

We prepared the syllabi and submitted to the Ministry for approval. Now, three professors are to be appointed to scrutinize the curriculum of each course. They will go through everything, he said.

Prof. Anwer Ismail, the former Vice Chancellor of the Southeastern University, is to be the Vice Chancellor.

Academics from all the three main communities will be appointed as the Heads of Department. We expect subject approval by April, this year. Only the UGC will make recruitment of students for us. We cannot do it in our own. It will be done under the supervision of our university. We have a board of directors. We have seven members. I will be the Chairman, he said.

He said this would be a non-profitable organization. For engineering, a student would have to pay only Rs.150,000 for a semester. A student from any community can join if he can afford the course fee, he said. Asked whether this would be an Islamic university, he said, There is no such plan at all. However, he said basic Islam would be taught to Muslim students during their first year of study. We will teach them how to pray, the importance of harmony among different ethnic groups, he said.

Inter-communal harmony to be fostered

In addition he said the university authorities would plan interreligious and cultural programmes to foster harmony among students from different ethnicities.

We celebrate Vesak, Christmas, Thai Pongal and all. In fact, we will even conduct an international Buddhist Conference, he said.

Modern courses to be offered later

In the future, there are plans laid out for the expansion of academic activities. Mr. Hizbullah has already signed agreements with universities in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan to introduce new courses to produce employable graduates.

One such course is Robotics and Engineering to be conducted in collaboration with the National University of Japan. Another is a course on Financial Investigation and Frauds, a discipline which is not available in Sri Lanka currently.
In a controversial remark, a BJP MLA from this district has said that once India becomes a Hindu rashtra, only those Muslims will stay in the country who assimilate into the Hindu culture.



There are a very few Muslims who are patriotic. Once India becomes a Hindu rashtra (Hindu nation), Muslims who assimilate into our culture will stay in India. Those who will not are free to take asylum in any other country, Bairia MLA Surendra Singh told reporters here last night.



He also claimed that by 2024, India would become a Hindu nation. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an avatar purush (reincarnation of a deity), Singh said, As the RSS completes 100 years in 2025, by 2024, India will become a Hindu rashtra. By the grace of god, India is going to be a global superpower thanks to the leadership of Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Not only will India become a vishwa guru, it will also become a Hindu rashtra by 2024.

Taking a jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the BJP MLA said, There are two sets of values in Rahul Gandhi -- one is Italian, while the other one is Indian...He can never become the torchbearer of the Indian thought. He said the Gandhi scion could coin any slogan to become the prime minister of the country, but he lacked the strength and values to make India strong.

Ballia, (Hindustan Times),

Jan 14, 2018
The Cabinets co-spokesman Rajitha Senaratne insisted yesterday that the National Unity or consensus government would continue whatever happened at the February 10 elections to 341 municipal, urban councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas.

Addressing a Cabinet news conference and responding strongly to questions on various issues, Dr. Senaratne said the consensus government between the UNP and the SLFP was an historic alliance worked out for the first time since independence. He stressed that President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were committed to the National Unity Government and its vision 2025 programme for sustainable, eco-friendly and all-inclusive development. The minister said the President and the Premier had a close relationship and trusted each other, therefore he believed the Unity Government would continue till 2020 or even 2025 though there were disputes and divisions and some leading SLFP members were critical of the UNP especially after a report was issued by the Presidential Commission which probed the Central Bank bond issues from February 2015 to March 2016. Some UNP members have also been critical of the President. When a journalist asked the co-spokesman about one MP who had referred to a pickpocket President, Dr. Senaratne responded by saying it was former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and close associates who had pick-pocketed the country in a massive way.

About 11.15 am yesterday the bond commission report with annexures and recommendations -- running into about 1,400 pages -- was handed over to Parliament. The minister said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had called a party leaders meeting later yesterday to discuss what should be done about the report. Last Wednesday Parliament held a special session to discuss the report. But as it had not yet been made available to members, the speaker gave permission to the Prime Minister to make a statement on the issue.

This led to a rumpus and pandemonium which some observers described as one of the most disgraceful days in parliament. President Sirisena has also said that 32 major cases of serious frauds, bribery, corruption and other political crimes had been spotlighted by a Presidential Commission appointed earlier. These cases and the bond commissions full report had been handed over to the Attorney Generals Department and the Criminal Investigation Department for prosecution.

While the cleanup of political corruption has become a major issue and President Sirisena insisting he would take action against those found guilty whatever party they belonged to or whatever rank they held, an equally important issue for the country is ethnic reconciliation in the aftermath of a catastrophic 26-year war.

Tamil National Alliance front-liner M.A. Sumanthiran, playing a prominent role in the party and in lasting reconciliation efforts, on Tuesday night gave a two hour interview in Sinhala to the Independent Television Network (ITN). He said that despite some small sections still speaking with separatist tendencies, the TNA was committed to a united Sri Lanka and was with the National Government in its truth and reconciliation efforts. The progress was slow, Mr. Sumanthiran said, but the Tamil people especially needed to understand that the issues were highly complex and had to be handled in a delicate way so as not to provoke another racial or religious conflict.

Mr. Sumanthiran said the three key issues involved were the handing over to civilians of the lands taken over by the military, expeditious action by the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) set up to probe what had happened to people who had disappeared and the case of so-called political prisoners. He was thankful that the military had handed back some 50 per cent of the land taken over from the civilians. He was also hopeful that the OMP would act fast because there were thousands of people who were still heart-broken because they did not know what had happened to their loved ones. As for political prisoners, Mr. Sumanthiran who speaks Sinhala fluently said the problem was that these suspects were being held without trial for more than ten years and he hoped the government would either produce them in courts for necessary action or release them if there was no substantial evidence.

For the first time the main Tamil political alliance TNA is supporting the national government and most analysts believe the continuation of this consensus process would not only bring sustainable economic development but also racial and religious unity in diversity.
An IMF-backed new tax law was introduced to simplify taxes, increase revenues

New Act will come into effect on April 1, this year



By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

The removal of tax exemptions through the new Inland Revenue Act (IRA) Sri Lanka legislated last year will increase the countrys revenue by 0.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



When implemented, the new IRA is expected to boost revenues further by about 0.5 percent of GDP (annualized) largely through removal of tax exemptions, the IMF said in the third review of the 3-year US$ 1.5 billion Extended Fund Facility programme, which is holding Sri Lanka committed to economic reforms such as the

new IRA.



The new IRA was formulated with assistance from the IMF and will come into effect in April 2018.



The IMFs sister organization, the World Bank had expressed that the full effect of the new IRA may not be felt for years to come, before all stakeholders in the country fully accept and transition to the new system. The new IRA was a part of the solution to increase Sri Lankas tax collection by removing complex tax exemptions. The IMF has termed Sri Lankas tax to GDP ratio as one of the lowest in the world.



The tax to GDP Ratio fell to 10.1 percent in 2014 from 19 percent in 1990. Under this government however, the figure has increased to 12.4 percent by 2016.

Further increase of the tax to GDP figure requires broadening of the tax base and introducing tax compliance mechanisms, the IMF said.

In order to achieve the targets in the IMF programme, the Finance Ministry is required to increase the countrys tax to GDP ratio by 1 percent from 2017 to 2019.

The Finance Ministry has so far been over performing on its fiscal targets set under the IMF programme, the multilateral agency said. Sri Lanka last year set a primary surplus for the first time in 63 years.



Achieving primary and current account surpluses in the government budget are key to the success of the IMF programme, culminating with the achieving of a 3.5 percent budget deficit by 2020.



The budget deficit for 2017 is projected to be around 5.2 percent of GDP.
We refer to the article that appeared in Mirror Business under Performance of RPCs: Facts or Fiction by Lalin I. De Silva.



In 2017, Sri Lanka officially celebrated 150 years of Ceylon Tea and this also coincided with 25 years of the privatization of estates since 1992. In the din, the noise and fury of all the activities and celebrations, many forgot the compelling reasons as to why the estates were privatized, to begin with. Instead of commendations on the role and achievements of the regional plantation companies (RPCs), we see condemnation by a few.



Over the last year, we have been treated to many lopsided commentaries on the media regarding the RPCs by a few people who have failed to differentiate the good from the bad. Reading through these, we see a state of ignorance and anomie that has gripped such commentators who write so blithely about the issues that confront the plantation industry.



It is also apparent that sometimes there are obvious undercurrents of envy and caprice along with illogical sentiment or uninformed prejudice. Some facts are selectively picked up for judgement and ignoring the related details, a single fact is exaggerated and distorted till it becomes unrecognizable. From it, a thousand wild and intemperate conclusions are drawn and circulated as the holy writ.

A butcher and bolt policy has become the norm in these commentaries and we cannot regularly respond to such arcane and effusively condescending conclusions. When a man with a hammer tells you that everything looks like a nail, one should seriously doubt his objectivity.



The article by L.I. De Silva has called for a commission to look into the RPC contributions. The article talks of a proposal to generate US $ 10 billion within a short period of time and says he has disclosed a plan to do this. The current annual revenue from the plantations is around US $ 1.5 billion. Our question is as to why they did not generate this revenue themselves when they had all the opportunity and the authority to do so, at the time they were

managing plantations.



They should take over one plantation and demonstrate how this can be achieved in that place. A better option will be to take over the state-managed plantations and deliver what they preach, as a demonstration model for everyone else to follow. So, our challenge is for him to practice before preaching, action before advice, doing before talking and example before criticism and above all, achievement before condemnation.



Churchill famously said, Any fool can make plans for winning a war, as long as he has no responsibility for executing those plans or carrying them out. It was the respected economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who wisely said, Farmers rightly sense in the counsel of any man who does not have to live by the results and the consequences of

such counsel.



We were indeed pleased that the government in 2017 had assessed the RPCs with the aid of the leading audit firms in the country. It should be a wholly welcome opportunity for the 400 RPC estates to be compared and benchmarked with the 36 non-RPC-managed estates, as both sets of estates operate in our country under similar conditions, from the cultivation of crops to the sale of its produce at the same auction.



The RPCs need to be compared to such similar estates in the same industry to assess the effectiveness; like apples to apples. Irrefutable evidence shows that RPCs have managed the estates well, given the prevailing situation and circumstances. Some of the few who regularly run down RPCs for reasons well known to everyone in the industry are surely afflicted with the infatuation of being unduly deflected by the facts on the ground as they consistently assess the situation in terms of their own preconceived notions while blissfully ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs and facts.



Any layman can decide whether the Sri Lanka government and the people of Sri Lanka benefited from the privatization of estates under RPC management when the performance of the pre and post-privatization results is compared. Already many commissions have gone into plantations performance before and after privatization and a brief summary of their content is

given below.



Reasons for privatization

According to the Plantation Industries State Ministry, In the late 1980s, the two corporations continued to make heavy losses and except for a few profitable years, the management under JEDB and SLSPC put a burden on the government in the face of mounting losses and constraints faced by the government continuing to fund such losses through the national budget.



The 10-member Neville Piyadigama Committee appointed by the cabinet in 2008 also confirms, The two corporations performed poorly throughout most of their existence and relied heavily on government assistance to off-set mounting operational losses, which had increased to about Rs.1.5 billion per annum for both corporations by 1992. (Equal to Rs.13 billion in

todays terms)



The Treasury had to subsidize Rs.400 million every month for the government plantations for their operational activities. A further Rs.5 billion subsidy was granted annually by the Treasury and a Rs.4 billion in debt was converted to equity by 1992 but a final debt of Rs.3.3 billion was accrued by the time the estates managed by the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) and Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation (SLSPC) were converted into 23 RPCs under the Companies Act No. 17, of 1992.



From 1980 to 1990, under state management, the cost of production (COP) exceeded the sale average (NSA) seven out of the 11 years, according to the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Tea Industry headed by Dr. J.B. Kelegama.



Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda recently publicly stated, The government tried to run all the land and we had JEDB and SPC and they ran the plantations to the ground. For 20 years this attrition went on until you, the RPCs came along, finding the plantations in billions of rupees in debt.



The government transferred that into equity and you have since then recovered this industry into a state where it is once more making profits. You deserve a very hearty pat on the back and that is why I admire what the RPCs have done. The RPCs have however become a whipping boy for our politicians. You rarely hear a kind word said about you.



My job doesnt get me a bonus, so the members of the planting community; all I have for you is admiration. I dont often say this and you know Im a straight talker but you have my congratulations and my thanks. So, despite all these handicaps, despite being hobbled at every stage of your 20-year history as RPCs, youve done a fantastic job to bring the industry to where it is today and for that you deserve the nations gratitude and my thanks, which

you have.



Furthermore, in recent articles, amongst many, Major Malcolm Peiris, Vernon Tissera and Jayantissa Ratwatte, all of whom are much-respected veteran planters and are household names in the plantation industry, have expressed similar sentiments and have stated, Over the recent past, it has greatly saddened us to see uninformed, misleading and often illogical criticisms that are being levelled at the industry, particularly at the growers level.



With malice to all and charity to none, this writers previous pieces of vindictive and jealousy laden plagiarized writing, where he has called all the CEOs of RPCs as incompetent, revengeful, anti Sri Lankan, senseless, mentally insane, mediocre, rogues, having dangerous hidden agendas, little understanding, ulterior motives, idle, unfit, systematically killing the plantations and guilty of poor-quality decision-making is totally uncalled for and perhaps a description of his associates.



The writers past articles, where he has called all RPC CEOs insulting and derogatory names, is on the whole a perfidy unparalleled in the conduct of planters to slander people in public where they have little time or opportunity to defend themselves. We really do not know by what stretch of overblown imagination of his own competence and expertise that this writer can use such derogatory terms.

When his own track record of performance is examined, it does not manifest even a mite of what he loudly proclaims. Furthermore, what is most galling and utterly hilarious is the height of hypocrisy for the writer to lambast and continuously lecture the RPC CEOs when the writer himself was compelled to flit from one estate to another, in serving five different estates in five different RPCs in 13 years, after privatization, which is not at all indicative of any worthwhile performance.



The Planters Association and RPC CEOs maintained their silence against such arcane, vicious and malicious jealousy ridden attacks in the past. We can still hold our peace, ignoring the writing of this frustrated and confused writer, if we now did not think that by holding our peace and by keeping silent in such a manner, whether some would think that we did submit to such vile and foul action. At this rate and the manner he writes with slander and outrageous accusations, no mans reputation or lifes work is safe from such

a snitch.



Pride and honour, now demand that we expose the oft repeated, deliberate lies that this writer regularly regurgitates. It will be a gross dereliction of our duty to allow this to go unchallenged and it does irrevocable harm, injustice and nullifies to nothing the valiant effort and toil of many committed and hardworking planters, staff and workers on

the estates.



We have repeatedly and publicly challenged this writer to state his views in person in our presence but he has always dodged such opportunities. For reasons well known to everyone in the industry, he has completely ignored the bumbling elephant in the room and not written one word about state-managed plantations, which operate the same business model, grow the same tea and sell at the same auction to the same buyers as the RPCs. Can he explain as to why he has not written a single line or article related to the condition and performance of the current

state-managed estates?



We address the many false statements and canards the writer has repeated in newspapers so that the intelligent and discerning public can judge for themselves the veracity of the vile untruths the writer has promoted regularly. Although he claims the RPC CEOs are killing the industry, on the contrary, it was the RPCs that actually restored the industry from 1992.



Winston Churchill said, Facts are incontrovertible, panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may destroy it; but there it is. You cannot take sides against arithmetic.



Privatization and RPCs: The facts

Before the privatization of estates in 1992, the operational losses alone of the state-managed plantations were Rs.1.5 billion per annum (Rs.13 billion in todays terms) and the treasury had to subsidize the plantations with an additional Rs.5 billion per annum. Since privatization in 1992, instead of draining money from the Sri Lankan government, the RPCs have managed their industry without being a burden to the state and had relieved them of a huge financial burden.



The RPCs in addition, paid out Rs.7 billion as dividends to the Sri Lankan shareholding public and Rs.7 billion as government lease rental payments and a further Rs.1.5 billion as income tax payment, since privatization, which were non-existent before and are all net gains to the state.

The RPCs also have invested Rs.55 billion in the plantations so far. Instead of being a troublesome industry to the Sri Lankan economy and its people, the RPCs have managed their industry very well without being a burden to the government, quite unlike the state-managed estates.



State-managed estates: The facts

The 36 state-managed estates could not even honour their statutory and legal obligations of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Employees Trust Fund (ETF) and Gratuity to their workers and the arrears were over Rs.3 billion by 2016. Even the Planters Provident Fund Contributions (CPPS) have not been paid up and the organisations have been reported to the Labour Department.

However, the state-managed estates, which get the best of government largesse and brains, are not burdened with government taxes, levies and lease rentals as the RPCs are compelled to pay. Instead of maliciously condemning the RPCs, surely the writer should take up such important and critical matters that affect the lives of planters in those organisations. During the crisis brought about by low prices last year, the RPCs managed their affairs on their own without getting any government handouts or largesse.



In contrast, the government had to step in and pay an assured green leaf price of Rs.80 per kilo only to the much-vaunted tea smallholders, in addition to giving them fertilizer and other generous subsidies, in order to keep them from going under completely.



Performance

It was reported that the yield per hectare (YPH) in the JEDB has come down to 358 kilogrammes YPH in 2016, from the 1093 kilogrammes in 2000. Compared to 1992, the crops for the JEDB and SLSPC have dropped to 68 percent by 2013, whereas the RPCs have increased theirs to 130 percent. The profit per kilogramme for RPCs was Rs.7.20, while the JEDB made a loss of Rs.96.92, the SLSPC Rs.59.76 loss and Elkaduwa Rs.126.87 loss per kilogramme, according to the Plantations Ministry Statistical Book.



In 2013, the JEDB made a loss of Rs.104/44 per kilogramme, the SLSPC Rs.124.42 per kilogramme, while the RPCs loss was only Rs.7/33. However, from 1992 onwards, the state-managed estates got the benefit of the best and brightest of government brains, all government and state support, political clout and the necessary dispensation that accompanied it. It is reported that the government has provided subsidies close to Rs.1.5 billion per year to the estates of the JEDB, SLSPC and Elkaduwa plantations.



In comparing the RPCs with the 36 non-RPC-managed estates for 2014, the RPCs bearing extent of tea from 1992 reduced to 82 percent by 2014 (from 84,778 ha to 69,737), workers reduced to 50 percent (327,123 workers to 163,068) but the total made tea production increased to 109 percent, (80.2 million kilogrammes in 1990 to 87.3) and the YPH increased by 32 percent (946 kilogrammes to 1248).



Meanwhile, in non-privatized estates, tea crops declined to 75 percent. Their COP was Rs.479.34 against RPCs Rs.441.38. The NSA shown was Rs.295.99, against the RPC NSA of Rs.421.91. RPCs made Rs.19.74 loss per kilo in 2014, while non-privatized estates made a loss of Rs.183.35 per kilogramme, almost 10 times, according to the Plantation Industries Ministry Statistical Booklet 2014.

The two non-privatized institutions show a to date loss of Rs.3.9 billion for 27 tea estates, whereas the total to date loss for over 400 RPC estates is only Rs.1.8 billion. Strangely, the writer, who has called himself a watch dog sometime back, has not even made a whimper but rails against the RPCs, which are totally bereft of any government benevolence

and largesse.



Since privatization in 1992, the Treasury has not subsidized the RPCs but the state was compelled to pump in funds to state-managed estates to the tune of Rs.1.5 billion annually, just to keep them in operation.



Labour wages vs. GSA

During state management from 1980 to 1990, the daily wage of the workers increased only from Rs.11.63 to Rs.48.32, a fourfold increase. Under RPCs from 1992 to 2016, it increased to Rs.730, a 15-fold increase. Before the privatization of the estates, the daily labour wage was Rs.52 and this was only 71 percent of the value of a kilogramme of high grown tea.



From 1980 to 1991, over the period, the average of this ratio was only 66 percent but after privatization for the period 1993 to 2016, it accelerated to 119 percent, almost double. Even at a low 66 percent ratio, the estates were making huge losses during state management.



At end-2016, the RPCs paid a daily wage of Rs.730, which is 160 percent of the value of a kilogramme of high grown tea. One could imagine the scary scenario if this was the ratio during state management. If the writers vintage planters couldnt manage at 66 percent of the ratio, what would have been the result at the 160 percent ratio?



Before privatization in 1992, the NSA was 164 percent of the value of daily labour wage but after privatization the NSA to labour wage ratio was only 88 percent on average, as a result of high wage increases given to workers. If extrapolated, the 2016 NSA should be over Rs.1020 but the actual high grown GSA was only Rs.450. Even when the GSA was as high as the 164 percent ratio, relative to the labour wages, state management made losses that led to privatization.



(Roshan Rajadurai is Managing Director of Hayleys Plantations Sector (Kelani Valley Plantations PLC/Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC/Horana Plantations PLC) and also a former Chairman of Planters Association of Ceylon)
Panelists at the inaugural Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema seminar held in Colombo. From left: Customs Deputy Director K.G. Jayawardane, Inland Revenue Department Senior Commissioner D.R.S. Hapuarachchi, Import and Export Control Department Assistant Controller Padmini Kumarihamy, Sampath Bank PLC Corporate Banking Senior Deputy General Manager Shashi Kandamby Jassim, Exchange Control Department Deputy Controller P.D.S.M. Fonseka, Exchange Control Department Assistant Controller Madu Jayarathna and Federation of Chambers of Commerce Secretary General Ajith D. Perera

Panelists at the recent Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema seminar held in Galle. From left: Inland Revenue Department Senior Commissioner D.R.S. Hapuarachchi, Sri Lanka Export Development Board Deputy Director Anura Wickramasekera, Sampath Bank PLC Corporate Banking Deputy General Manager Ayodya Iddawela Perera, Customs Deputy Director C.S. Achala Chandrasekare, Import and Export Control Department Assistant Controller Kumudini Vidyalankara and Customs Deputy Director K.G. Jayawardane

Continuing to support businesses around the nation, Sampath Bank, one of the leading commercial banks in the country, hosted over 100 representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at the second edition of the banks Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema interactive seminars on imports and exports in Galle recently.



Spearheaded by the banks Trade Services unit, the event brought together a host of government institutions, trade bodies and other stakeholders to better address common issues faced by SMEs on imports and exports. Sharing its learnings, Sampath Bank also leverages its relationships to connect these businesses with other relevant stakeholders.



At Sampath Bank, we are cognisant and appreciative of the contributions made by the countrys small and medium enterprise (SME) sector to the economy. Right from our inception, we have continued to work closely with them, serving as a trusted financial partner, confidant and advisor. Aimed at sharing knowledge and building partnerships, the Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema seminars are part of our efforts to add value to this sector, said Sampath Bank PLC Corporate Banking Senior Deputy General Manager Shashi Kandambi Jassim.



We have always sought to look beyond our own commercial interests in our interactions with all our customers and tried to understand their needs and aspirations to deliver the right financial services to them. This is true of relationship with our SME customers too. Over the years, we noticed that they have a keen interest in venturing into imports and exports. We also learned about the issues they face in this regard. While being experts in their chosen fields, they often tend to need a bit of support on some of the minor nitty-gritties related to imports and exports. We are delighted to address these areas through events like the Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema seminars. Inspired by the response to the first wave of seminars, we look forward to engaging SMEs around the island through more such events, said Sampath Bank PLC Corporate Banking Deputy General Manager Ayodhya Iddawela Perera.



The seminar in Galle is part of a series of knowledge sharing sessions being conducted by the bank around the main regions of the island. The panel of speakers included Federation of Chambers of Commerce Secretary General Ajith D. Perera, Import and Export Control Department Assistant Controller Kumudini Vidyalankara, Customs Deputy Director K.G. Jayawardhana, Customs Deputy Director Achala Chandrasekera, Inland Revenue Department Senior Commissioner D.R.S. Hapuarachchi, Sri Lanka Export Development Board Southern Province office Deputy Director Anura Wickramasekera and representing Sampath Bank, Corporate Banking Deputy General Manager Ayodhya Iddawela Perera.



The inaugural Obe Diyunuwata Ape Maga Penweema seminar was held in Colombo. The second edition was concluded in Galle with great success, and Sampath Bank plans to hold such events in all main regions in 2018.
REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares ended down for a sixth consecutive session yesterday, hitting their lowest close in more than two weeks, as retail investors sold blue chips, but foreign buying in the island nations risky assets capped further decline.

The Colombo Stock Index ended 0.13 percent weaker at 6,439.34, its lowest close since January 2. It has shed 1.6 percent in the past six sessions.



Things were a bit slower and the trend is continuing, said First Capital Holdings Head of Research Dimantha Mathew.



Market is coming towards a correction rather than profit-taking as the latter lasted far more than expected. However, foreigners are still on the buying side.



Foreign investors bought shares worth net Rs.146.2 million yesterday, extending the net foreign inflow so far this year to Rs.3 billion. They had net bought Rs.18.5 billion worth equities in 2017 and Rs.633.5 million in 2016. Turnover stood at Rs.491.1 million yesterday, less than last years daily average of Rs.915.3 million.



Shares in Hemas Holdings PLC ended 1.8 percent lower, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC closed 1.4 percent down, and Overseas Realty PLC closed 2.9 percent lower.
Young techies take note: You are not the only one earning high salary. Alibaba plans to pay 350,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan ($54,466 to $62,247) annual salary to two employees aged above 60 to work for its e-commerce platform Taobao in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

According to a job ad on Tuesday, the internet giant wants to hire investigators to help Taobao collects users experiences on its new customized shopping platform that will enhance interactions among family members.

A logo of Alibaba is pictured in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, 11 August 2016.[Photo: VCG]

Alibaba said an applicant should be a group influencer, such as a "key opinion leader" in a team of square dancers, or a member of neighborhood committee, should have more than 3-year online shopping experience, an interest in social entrepreneurship and local community causes, and reading books related to psychology and sociology would be a plus.

Apart from that they should be good listeners, should have an easy rapport with children, have stable groups of friends and have good communication skills.

The company has seen massive response and is now short listing candidates for interview.

Some young people said they would ask their parents to apply for the position.

"Wow! my retired parents may get a job with an annual salary of 350,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan, some young people commented.
The Sri Lanka-Russia Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in a statement conveyed its sincere appreciation and deep gratitude to Dr. Saman Weerasinghe, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation for invaluable services rendered to the council and the country during his tenure of office as ambassador.



The council also places on record its appreciation of the pivotal role played by Dr. Weerasinghe when a temporary ban was placed on tea imports to Russia which came into effect from December 2017, where his prompt actions and efforts reaped positive results in lifting the ban and the successful resolution of the matter within a short period of time.



Dr. Weerasinghe facilitated the SLRBC Business Delegation to Moscow in March 2017 and created great a opportunity for delegates to hold bilateral meetings with the members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and other Russian counterparts.



From the time of his appointment as Sri Lankas Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Weerasinghe has been actively involved in promoting economic ties between the two countries and has been assisting members of the Business Council and members of the Sri Lankan business community in Russia at large in various matters of importance.



In June 2013, Dr. Weerasinghe was awarded the Order of Honour of the Russian Federation, by Russian President Vladimir Putin, upon signing a decree to decorate Dr. Weerasinghe with the said award. He is the only Sri Lankan national to be awarded the Order of Honour of the Russian Federation and it was awarded in recognition of his contribution to develop and strengthen economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Sri Lanka and Russia during the past 30 years.



Dr. Weerasinghe received his primary education at Tangalle College, and Secondary education at Mahinda College Galle. Thereafter, he proceeded to Russia to pursue his higher studies in medicine, upon winning a full scholarship from the government of the USSR to the prestigious Moscow State Medical Academy. Upon completing his studies, he was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in Medicine. He has also served as a consultant to the international section of the Moscow State Medical Academy. During his academic career in Russia, Dr. Weerasinghe developed strong ties with Russia and became an advocate for stronger Sri Lanka-Russia cooperation.



As an entrepreneur, Dr. Weerasinghe was responsible for introducing several lucrative investment and trade opportunities to Sri Lanka through the Russian business community. He has been at the forefront in trade and economic affairs between Russia and Sri Lanka. He has been an active participant in the development of economic and cultural affairs between Russia and Sri Lanka in the last two decades.
Hindustan Times/AP, Washington, Jan 16, 2018 - An attempt to oust President Donald Trumps hotel business from managing a luxury hotel in Panama has turned bitter, with accusations of financial misconduct.



Trump Hotels is contesting its firing, and its staff ran off a team of Marriott executives invited last month to visit the property during a search for a new hotel operator, according to two people familiar with the matter.



After the owners association accused Trump Hotels of mismanagement and financial misconduct in a $15 million arbitration claim, the company owned by the president fired back with a $200 million counterclaim and refused to turn over the propertys financial records. When a team from Marriott International Inc. came to the property at the invitation of the hotels majority owner, Trump staff asked them to leave, according to the two people,



who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly what happened behind the scenes.



The head of Trump Hotels, Eric Danziger, also called Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson to complain about the visit, the two people said.
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New Doctor-Approved All Natural Formula... How to Beat Constipation Naturally By Stephan K. Roth Health editor If youre one of the millions tortured by constipation, the news just got a lot worse. Even if you suffer with terrible cramping. Or the painful pushing, straining and endless bathroom visits associated with constipation; it turns out, it could be just the beginning of your problems. According to Dr. Michael Steelman, famous bariatric doctor, If you dont get your constipation under control your system may be overloaded with waste. The longer the waste remains in your system, the more opportunity there is for deadly toxins to escape into your bloodstream, resulting in fatigue, pain and worse. When youre constipated fecal matter sits much longer than it should in your system. That toxic gunk clings to your colon walls and decays. Clogged Colon significantly increased the surface area. 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A lot of people are upset with the president for embarrassing our country last week, but he might have done me a favor.

Any guy who, like me, sometimes stoops to profanity in moments of pique can point to President Trump as an example of how any maneven the leader of the free worldcan understandably let slip with the occasional obscenity.

During a conversation with lawmakers on immigration, Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as s---hole countries, a remark that appeared verbatim in manybut not allnewspapers. My employer has opted not to print the term, but I have permission to use alternatives such as poop hole and doody hole. I hope you get the idea.

And I hope one day Trumps trail-blazing profanity will yield benefits for a guy who, for the sake of a good punchline, sometimes wouldnt mind pushing the bounds of what words are appropriate to publish in a family newspaper. If its suddenly OK to put the term dookie hole on the CNN news crawl and on the front page of the paper, who knows whatll come next? Trump has set a new, lower standard. A presidents precedent.

There are all kinds of bad words Id love to sneak into this column  not the big ones, mind you, but something stronger that turd hole. Until last week, I never couldve hoped to swear in the paper. But now that the Associated Press quoted Trump cussing in a lead paragraph on a top national story, theres no going back. One day, even family-friendly papers like the one youre holding will cave to cursing. Thanks, Mr. President!

Many Americans were shocked not only by the vulgarity of Trumps language, but by the thought that the man in charge of our melting pot considers arrivals from certain countries to be, in the parlance of the Hillary Clinton campaign, undesirables. Many feel the president embarrassed the U.S.

But lets be honest with ourselves: That ship has long since sailed. It left port 20 years ago when we found out where Bill Clinton puts his cigars. And under Trump, its been full steam ahead. After claiming Mexico only sends us criminals, accusing China of raping our economy and calling Germany a total mess, weve gotten used to making waves overseas.

And those are just his missteps on the international scene. At home, he has mocked a disabled reporter, called CNN fake news, cited alternative facts to cushion attendance estimates at his inauguration, and committed a multitude of other gaffes too numerous to mention. Its a bit late for us to start blushing.

Theres little doubt the president is taking America down a peg in the worlds estimation. It was one thing for George W. Bush to speak English like it was his second language, but its quite another for Trump to call Kim Jong Un rocket man and stoke a pissing contest that could incite nuclear war. (I also have permission to use the term pissing.)

I know some readers arent comfortable with foul language. I could claim Im not, either, but then my wife might share with the world her suspicion that I suffer from an undiagnosed case of Tourettes syndrome. Before last week, a litany of profanities uttered in a moment of frustrationperhaps while watching the dreaded Minnesota Vikings win a playoff game in improbable fashion in the final secondswouldve seemed juvenile. Now it seems presidential. But perhaps Im repeating myself.

In any event, its an exciting new world for those of us in media hoping to add salty language to our comedic repertoire. Just look at Saturday Night Live, which used Trumps termdespite being instructed to say s---holeseveral times during last weekends broadcast, along with a few other choice words, including an F bomb inadvertently dropped by host Sam Rockwell.

Lots of us are watching the president and following his example. Its coarse, of course, but some of us cant wait to see which curse will be next to get the presidential seal of approval.
The 2021-22 Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District (CFAUSD) and schools report cards were released publicly by Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) on Tuesday.

Out of nine schools, one school received the designation of Significantly Exceeding Expectations, three schools received Exceeds Expectations, and four schools received Meets Expectations.
The new leader of HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and the HSHS systems western Wisconsin division, including HSHS St. Josephs Hospital in Chippewa Falls, was appointed to the position Monday and informed about the transfer just the week before.

Andrew J. Bagnall will officially begin as CEO and president of the Eau Claire hospital Feb. 5, and called the Chippewa Falls hospitalwhich he will also overseea critical component to the systems future.

Taking care of people in (Chippewa County) will continue to be a priority for us, as we grow and expand across the region, Bagnall said in a Tuesday phone interview with the Herald.

Bagnall, formerly the CEO of a 185-bed nonprofit community hospital in Sheboygan, according to HSHS St. Nicholas website, is crossing the state to take up the position. Julie Manas, former Sacred Heart CEO, left the position Jan. 9.

Bagnall has met several Chippewa Valley leaders and board members in recent days, and believes the transition to new leadership will be smooth.

(HSHS Sacred Heart) is within our hospital system ... Clearly Ill have to get to know the people of the community and hospitals, Bagnall said. But I do have experience running hospitals, leading growth initiatives and with position relationships. Those skills will transition very well.

During Bagnalls tenure at St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, which began in 2010, the hospital completed a $10 million renovation of its operating rooms and built a new intensive care unit.

Bagnall confirmed a shortage of caregivers in certain areas  specifically, a lack of operating room and intensive care unit nurses  and said hes used several plans to find staffers.

Some of the strategies that have worked well (in Sheboygan) are partnering with area universities and colleges, and technical colleges  to fill the gaps where the most challenging shortages exist, he said. Were going through a big transition with the baby boomer generation retiring.

Before his new position will begin in early February, Bagnall will continue to meet the colleagues, physicians and leaders hell work with in the Chippewa Valley.

Im humbled and honored to be selected as the new president and CEO  Me and my family are extremely excited to move to the region, he said.

Bagnalls appointment follows the November selection of Charisse Oland as CEO of HSHS St. Josephs Hospital in Chippewa Falls.
A newly released memo projects the public cost for a planned Foxconn manufacturing project near Racine could near $4.5 billion  nearly 50 percent more than the $3 billion cost initially cited by the projects chief proponent at the state Capitol, Gov. Scott Walker.

The figures were compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau in a memo requested  and released Tuesday  by Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh. The individual cost figures are not new but had not previously been compiled in a single document.

They reflect costs to state government, mostly through tax credits for Foxconn over a 15-year period. They also include costs to local governments near the proposed site of the Foxconn campus, in eastern Racine County.

The breakdown of public costs from the project, according to the memo, is as follows:

State tax credits, $2.85 billion

Local government incentives, $764 million

U.S. Interstate 94 North-South project, $408 million

Utility costs, $140 million

State sales tax exemption, $139 million

Road improvements, $134 million

Worker training, $20 million

Local government grants, $15 million

Walker and Republican lawmakers who helped him pass the incentive package for Foxconn say it will give the states economy a transformative boost. The Taiwanese company says it plans a $10 billion liquid-crystal display manufacturing plant that could employ as many as 13,000 people.

Walkers office noted the public incentives are tied to job creation and investment, and the local government incentives will be repaid by the taxes Foxconn generates.

Walker said in a tweet Tuesday that once upon a time, Democrats claimed to be for good-paying, family-supporting jobs.

Now they seem to find new ways to attack them, Walker said.

Hintz said the figures validate Democratic lawmakers predictions that the cost of the project to the public would exceed the $3 billion amount originally cited by Walker and his state jobs agency, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

That money is not going to be available for higher education, is not going to be available for K-12 education, is not going to be available for infrastructure, Hintz said.

At least one of the figures cited in the memo might have been incurred without the Foxconn project: the I-94 North South project. That project had been on the short list of projects in line for state funding prior to the Foxconn announcement. After the announcement, lawmakers expedited it and included funding for it in the Foxconn legislation.

The memo makes clear that some costs associated with Foxconn should not be viewed as a state revenue loss because it is highly unlikely that Foxconn would locate in the state without the incentives. That includes the $139 million state sales tax break for materials used to build the company campus.

The local government incentives are tax incremental financing, or TIF, incentives to fund the costs of public improvements associated with the Foxconn development, according to the memo. They are structured to be repaid with payments connected to the increased property value generated by the new development.

The utility costs, to build an electricity transmission line to power the Foxconn campus, are to be absorbed by American Transmission Company, not state or local governments. The memo says its impact on individual rate-payers is not expected to be significant.
Growing up, telephone operators were women. In some cases, the gals handling the cords to patch through to the numbers requested were high school gals we knew. We had to be cautious what we said because those operators would occasionally listen in to our conversations. And we knew that there was nothing worse than rumors as to our love affairs.

Postmen and postmasters were men. So too were the preachers at our churches. Gas station attendants were male, too. Police officers, firemen and ambulance drivers were men. Doctors were men, nurses were women. It was really a mans world. But dont stop now. Read on.

In radio and television, the broadcasters were guys. Copy writers, bookkeepers and receptionists were generally the only females found at the stations. Not so any longer. Now you can turn on just about any radio or television station and, in some cases, female voices have taken over the airwaves. And what about in the ranks of police officers and firefighters? Theres a good number of women who are professional as any of the best.

My interest was recently piqued when I opened my current Ducks Unlimited magazine. The groups CEO had page 4 all to himself with this heading for his letter: Women Are Important to Ducks Unlimited. Dale Hall said it best in his opening paragraph: We know how important women have been to every aspect of our culture and society. This is doubly true for conservation, hunting, fishing, and loving the outdoors. Most of us hunters got started in the sport by our father, uncle, brother, or other male friend as a thing men do. Im not sure how that view of hunting as an activity became so prevalent, but if was are to survive as a culture that loves the outdoors and treasures our right to hunt, we need to embrace the fact that the women in our lives drive our value system far more than the men do.

Clean and abundant water, soil conservation, and healthy wildlife populations are among our most important objectives. Women will be critical to our success.

I often felt that Wisconsin has been a leader when it comes to the involvement of women in fishing, hunting and conservation. UW-Stevens Point is a definite sign of leadership with its concern for women to be involved. Some of the activities offered to the gals even awakened me as to a more level playing field for all of us. And that is good whether male or female.

One may question as to what is available? Just about every Wisconsin city, big and small, has an active Rod & Gun Club or Sportsmens Club. Sorry ladies, we will have to find a slightly different term for your comfort. Consider the various regional and state-wide clubs that exist, such as Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Trout Unlimited, Muskies Inc., Trees for Tomorrow, Snowmakers Snomobile Club and other groups devoted to trail development and maintenance. A web search can provide more specific information. In my way of thinking, thats a winning combination when men and women join forces to conserve and enjoy our natural resources.

Bits and pieces for a grin or two.

A think tank is a polite term for coming up with ideas while sitting on the john.

A recent study says that married couples who go to baseball games are less likely to get divorced. Believe it. After three hours of watching 18 guys spitting, swearing and scratching themselves, one husband drinking beer and sitting in his underwear doesnt look so bad.

A little old lady went into a small town post office and asked for a dollars worth of stamps. What denomination? asked the clerk. Well, came the angry reply, I didnt know it would ever come to this, but if you nosy government people must know, Im a Baptist.

Men have three basic hair styles: parted, unparted, and finally, departed.

The biggest lie I tell myself is, I dont need to write it down. Ill remember it.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will also come out with its views on rules of tariff assessment by next week.

New Delhi: Telecom regulator Trai will release its assessment on quality of mobile services benchmarked to the new call drop rules by January-end, Chairman R S Sharma said on Wednesday.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will also come out with its views on rules of tariff assessment by next week.

It is currently holding consultations with stakeholders for finalising its inputs for the New Telecom Policy (being crafted by Telecom Department) and an open house discussion will be held in Bangalore next week.

Trai hopes to send to the telecom department its inputs on NTP by first week of February, Sharma told reporters on sidelines of an open house discussion here on Wednesday.
Tea can put you in a good mood and make you more creative. (Photo: Pexels)

A new study has found drinking tea can make you more creative and put you in a positive mood.

Just one cup is all it takes to do the trick, according to researchers in a report by the Daily Mail.

Chinese researchers, who conducted the study, found that students who consumed the drink fared better in cognition and creative tests, than those who drank water.

A post shared by Varun Thakur (@_varun_thakur) on Jan 17, 2018 at 12:28am PST

Tea is believed to great a good mood which has an effective on the brain's cognitive region.

"This work contributes to understanding the function of tea on creativity and offers a new way to investigate the relationship between food and beverage consumption and the improvement of human cognition," the report stated.

It further went on to state: "Two biological ingredients, caffeine and theanine, have beneficial effects on attention, which is an indispensable part of cognitive function."

In recent years, various studies have shown just how beneficial tea can be for our health.

Previous research has found drinking tea can prevent type 2 diabetes, aid weight loss and reduce risk of developing glaucoma.

The study's finding was originally published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
A four-month long digital interactive exhibition showcasing the life and achievements of Mahatma Gandhi will be held in Australias Victoria state in April to build a cultural understanding about India among the residents, state Premier Daniel Andrews said today.

More than 1,000 archival photographs, over 130 minutes of footage, 60 minutes of film clips and 20 voice recordings of Gandhis speeches would be shown in the exhibition, which will run between April and July at the Victorias Immigration Museum.

Andrews, who is currently on his first official visit to India, announced this after touring the Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition in Delhi.

Mahatma Gandhi was an inspirational leader and I am thrilled that Victorians will be able to enjoy this incredible exhibition at the Immigration Museum, he said.

Stressing that Victoria is home to Australias largest Indian population, the premier said, This exhibition is an important way to acknowledge their cultural heritage and build the cultural understanding of India among the wider Victorian community.

Showing the Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition in Victoria will help celebrate Indian culture in our state, and will bring visitors from interstate and overseas alike to our great city, Andrews was quoted as saying in an official statement.

The exhibition is currently on display at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Delhi, where it was launched in October 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The exhibition celebrates the success of the Indian diaspora internationally. It recognises that Gandhi was a member of the diaspora who migrated from India to England and then to South Africa before returning to India.

It is curated from over 1,000 archival photographs, 130 minutes of footage, 60 minutes of film clips and 20 voice recordings of Gandhis speeches, the statement said.

The period of Gandhis life in which he migrated from India to England and then South Africa as well as the change he helped bring about in India on his return are featured, with his identity as a successful member of the Indian diaspora central to the exhibition, it added.

The exhibition is a part of the state governments efforts to generate awareness of the special bonds it shares with India.

The announcement came following the release of the new Victorias India Strategy: Our Shared Future, which aims to boost tourism and double exports in next ten years.
Pictures showed the car on the back of a flatbed truck as it was handed over to the sultan (Photo: AFP)

A Malaysian sultan has been given a life-size replica of Fred Flintstone's car from the classic cartoon, although the modern update has an engine so he won't tire out his regal feet.

Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar of Johor, one of Malaysia's most powerful and wealthiest state rulers, received the belated birthday gift from a fellow high-ranking royal this week.

The model of the car from "The Flintstones", the sultan's favourite cartoon, is an accurate likeness of the original, with a wood-like finish on the sides, stone-like finish on the wheels and cloth roof.

It will take pride of place in a house he built in the southern coastal town of Mersing inspired by the Flintstone's home from the 1960s cartoon.

"Yabba, dabba, doo," said a post on the sultan's Facebook page Monday, using Fred's favourite catchphrase to announce the arrival of the gift from the crown prince of Pahang state.

In the Hanna-Barbera animated series, which follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their neighbours the Rubbles in the Stone Age, the wooden and stone cars were powered by drivers running along the ground.

But the Facebook post said that "unlike the original, this working version of Fred Flintstone's car has its own motor, meaning the driver and passenger won't have to rely on their feet to power the prehistoric ride".

Pictures showed the car on the back of a flatbed truck as it was handed over to the sultan.

Manjit Abdullah, a representative of the Pahang crown prince who delivered the vehicle, said it was a late gift for his birthday, which falls in November.

It adds to the sultan's eclectic collection of vehicles, which includes Rolls-Royces and vintage three-wheelers.

Last year the sultan and his family used the three-wheelers to tour Johor state and meet his subjects.

Johor and eight other states in Malaysia are still headed by Islamic royalty. The Muslim-majority country has a unique arrangement in which the national throne changes hands every five years between the rulers.
A senior police official said that the incident was captured on a CCTV camera, which showed 10-12 members of the gang drinking and dancing in the middle of the road.

Bengaluru: A woman and her two brothers were thrashed by a local gang in Indiranagar when their bike accidentally brushed against one of the gang members on New Year's Eve. The hooligans were drunk. The incident came to light only on Tuesday, 16 days after the incident, as the victims did not file any police complaint. The police, however, arrested 10 members of the gang on Tuesday after they came across a video of the incident that has gone viral on social networking sites.

The Indiranagar police took up the case suo motu as the victims did not file the complaint. It is suspected that the video was uploaded by a rival gang.

A notorious rowdy Ambareesh and three minors are among the 10 arrested. The police are trying to trace the victims, who are said to be from the North-East.

The police said that on the New Years Eve, the gang members were drinking and partying on the streets at Mottappanapalya in Indiranagar 6th Stage. Around 12.30 am, the victims  a woman and her two brothers  were going on a bike when their vehicle accidentally brushed against one of the revellers.

The gang members immediately launched an attack on the three, including the woman. The two men fell from the bike, while the woman managed to get off. The gang started throwing punches at the rider and the other two repeatedly. The victims tried to run away, but the gang chased and thrashed them again.

A senior police official said that the incident was captured on a CCTV camera, which showed 10-12 members of the gang drinking and dancing in the middle of the road. They had blocked the traffic on the pretext of wishing people on the New Year. The 10 were arrested based on the CCTV footage, he said.
Customs officials caught two persons transporting catfish from Kolkata to Bidar in Karnataka at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: Customs officials caught two persons transporting catfish from Kolkata to Bidar in Karnataka at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday.

The duo had packed closed to 1 lakh cat fish seedlings in 44 boxes which were unloaded from a flight that arrived from Kolkata. The consignment was to be transported to Bidar in Karnataka by road from the city.

During a routine checking, officials found a large number of boxes and opened them, only to find fish inside. Customs officials have sought help of the fisheries department who then identified it as catfish.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the seedlings were meant to be sold to fish farms in Karnataka. Customs officials said catfish sale/transport is banned in India.

Fisheries department officials said that catfish  also known as African catfish  is highly dangerous and poses health issues. It is a sea fish, but is reared commercially for the huge profits it brings to farmers. Catfish is not suitable for human consumption as it feeds on carcasses of animals and birds, said a senior official.

Catfish grows fast, as much as 6 kg in one year. It is usually sold to big hoteliers and catering agencies for its large size.

A joint team of police, revenue and fisheries department conducts raids and seizes catfish when information is received. It survives mostly on animal flesh. Catfish will even bite into a human leg if a person steps into a tank to feed it, said Sri Shankar Goud, joint director of the fisheries department.
Anuj said that the Loya family was pained with the chain of events which has been happening in the past few days. (Photo: ANI/PTI)

Mumbai: The family of the late judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who supposedly died due to a cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, at a wedding, has appealed to everyone that it has no doubts regarding his demise. Last year, a magazine published a report stating that Loyas family claimed that the 48-year-olds death was suspicious. Loya was presiding over a special CBI court in Mumbai, where he was hearing a case related to the alleged extrajudicial murder of an extortionist Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in which BJP president Amit Shah was one of the accused.

Family being harassed by NGOs: Son

Addressing the media in a press conference on Sunday evening in Mumbai, Loyas son Anuj and retired district judge K.B. Katke, who was also present at the event, said that the family was being harassed by NGOs, lawyers and activists who want to take advantage of the issue. Mr Anuj requested them not to pursue the matter and leave the family alone. When asked whether the family sought any investigation into Loyas demise, Mr Anuj preferred not to comment.

There was some suspicion surrounding the demise of my father due to emotional turmoil, but now it is clear. I was 17 at that time and did not understand anything then, said Mr Anuj. He further said that the video that his grandfather and aunt had released after his fathers death was done due to their emotional state of mind but now they are satisfied that nothing was amiss in the death of his father.
Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, left government officials in a shock by saying sorry to a common man, who was stuck up in a traffic jam, caused by the Chief Minister.

TIRUPATI: Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, left government officials in a shock by saying sorry to a common man, who was stuck up in a traffic jam, caused by the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister was collecting grievances from the public at Naravaripalle in Chittoor district. The police blocked the traffic for more than an hour. An unknown passenger started shouting at the police for blocking the road. Noticing this, the Chief Minister said, Sorry, on behalf of the officials.

The officials were inspired by the polite behaviour of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister has been collecting grievances from the public since last three days. On Monday, Chandrababu Naidu celebrated Sankranti along with his family at his place. The Chief Minister also visited local temples.
The man, though did not harm the women, left the place after smelling and taking their undergarments. (for representation only)

BENGALURU: After a brief lull, perverts with their weird fetishes seem to have made a comeback with a fresh complaint filed at the Byappanahalli police station on Tuesday.

A woman employee of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) filed a complaint, saying that an unidentified man wielding a knife snuck into her flat at the BMRCL quarters in the early hours of January 11 and sat beside her bed while she and her friend were asleep.

The man, though did not harm the women, left the place after smelling and taking their undergarments. The complaint stated that the women, in their mid-twenties, who work as loco pilots with Metro, were asleep when the pervert entered their flat. When one of the women woke up around 2 am, she was spooked to see the man sitting with a knife in his hand and she woke up another woman.

We were petrified, but my colleague gathered enough courage to ask the man who he was. He first said he was a watchman and then said he was a thief abandoned by his family. He looked like a psychopath, the woman stated in her complaint.

After a few minutes, the man walked towards the door and found some underwear the women had left to dry. He asked if the undergarments belonged to them even as he kept smelling them. He then took their undergarments and left, the woman wrote in the complaint.

The Byappanahalli police, who have registered a case, are trying to arrest the pervert. Senior BMRCL officials visited the quarters on Tuesday to ensure better security at the staff quarters.

Last year, the High Grounds police arrested a man who was prowling inside the Maharanis College hostel wearing lingerie that were put out to dry in the laundry area.
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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in flying G-Suit before taking off in SU 30MKI. (Photo: @DefenceMinIndia)

Jodhpur: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday took off in the Indian Air Forces (IAF) frontline combat jet Sukhoi 30MKI from the air base in Jodhpur.

The country's first woman defence minister sat in the rear seat behind the pilot and was wearing the pilots G-suit.

Sitharaman wore a flight overall and a G-Suit, which ensures comfort when the jet takes tight turns. She also wore a helmet with an oxygen mask.

Sitharaman became the second Indian woman leader to go on a sortie on a Sukhoi 30 fighter jet.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in flying G-Suit before taking off in SU 30MKI. (Photo: ANI)

Former President Pratibha Patil and former President Abdul Kalam had also flown on the fighter.

The sortie is likely to last for 30 minutes, defence sources said.

"She is reviewing the operational preparedness and combat capabilities," the sources said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sat in the rear seat behind the pilot. (Photo: ANI)

As the first woman defence minister, Sitharaman has spent a lot of time travelling to Army, Air Force and Navy bases to understand their operations. A few days ago, she was onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in the Arabian sea to witness the operations of the MiG-29 fighter off the deck of the ship and other Naval exercises.

The Sukoi-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable aircraft which can penetrate deep into enemy territory.

The twin-jet fighter was developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force.

(With inputs from PTI.)
Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a public-private partnership venture has been set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities. (Photo: ANI)

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that his government is making efforts to create systems that are innovation-friendly to build an innovation-driven new India.

Modi was speaking after he and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated a centre for entrepreneurship and technology in Deo Dholera village near Ahmedabad to the nation.

Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture has been set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

"When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation," Modi said.

"We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas and new India is formed from innovations," the Prime Minister said.

Also Read: After 8-km roadshow in Gujarat, Modi-Netanyahu visit Sabarmati Ashram

The Israeli prime minister said he was delighted to be there.

"The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate."

Netanyahu ended his speech with "Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi".
The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week. (Representational image)

Chandigarh: The Haryana Police on Wednesday said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been found in a canal near Jyotisar.

The body was found late Tuesday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra.

The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found Tueasday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra SP, Abhishek Garg informed.

The Class X student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, the police had said earlier.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery, the Congress had also asked the ML Khattar led BJP government to resign on moral grounds.

Police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," he said.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gangraped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu on Tueasday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to cases.
Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector General-level officers have also been transferred. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: Amid outrage over the alleged rape and killing of two minor Dalit girls in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday assured that strict action would be taken against those involved in such crimes.

Khattar also said that Haryana is in the process of establishing special courts for speedy trial in such cases to ensure timely justice to the victims.

"Such incidents are very unfortunate and I am myself deeply hurt. We will take strict action against all those involved (in committing such crimes)," he told reporters in Delhi during a visit.

His remarks came after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana, barely a month after a similar case involving a six-year-old girl shook the state.

One of the girls, a 15-year-old school student, had been brutally assaulted and her private parts mutilated.

Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector General-level officers have also been transferred.

Appealing to opposition parties, Khattar said he himself has never done politics over such incidents and the opposition also should refrain from politicising such sensitive issues.

"The state has already started a Dial 100 project. Soon we will also begin 1090 service, a dedicate helpline service for women," he said.

Also Read: Haryana: Man, murdered Dalit girl had gone missing with, found dead

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.
New Delhi: The two judges hearing the case about judge BH Loya's death, one of the key triggers for an unprecedented crisis in India's judiciary, said in an order that the case be "put up before the appropriate bench", indicating that the case could be reassigned.

It means that the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dipak Misra, will now have to take a call of whether to transfer the case to a different set of judges.

In a dramatic twist amidst the ongoing rift in the Supreme Court, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra on Tuesday ordered that the PIL seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge BH Loya be put up before an "appropriate bench".

"Let the documents be placed on record within seven days and if it is considered appropriate, copies be furnished to the petitioners. Put up before the appropriate bench," the bench of Justices Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar said, triggering speculation that they were preparing to recuse themselves from the case.

Read Also: Chief Justice Dipak Misra met 4 'rebel' judges to talk things over, say sources

The Maharashtra government had on Tuesday placed documents pertaining to Loya's death before the court in a sealed cover stating that it contained certain confidential material which should not be shared with the public.

In an unprecedented move on Friday, the four senior-most judges of the apex court after the Chief Justice -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurien Joseph -- held a press conference where they warned that "democracy will not survive if judiciary is not preserved". They said their decision to go public against the CJI was motivated in part because cases of "far reaching consequences" were being assigned inappropriately among junior judges.

Read Also: SC admin not in order, democracy at stake, say 4 top judges in open dissent

None of the four judges was assigned to hear the judge Loya case, which is seen as politically sensitive. Instead, the case was assigned to two judges including Justice Arun Mishra, the 10th senior-most judge of the SC.

On Monday, Justice Mishra reportedly broke down at a meeting with other judges and said he was "unfairly" targeted and questions were raised about his "competence".

Read Also: Judiciary rift: Loya case was trigger

CJI Dipak Misra continued efforts to reach out to the four judges who had criticised him in public and discussed "all issues" at a meeting on Tuesday.

At the time of his death, on December 1, 2014, BH Loya (48), was hearing the case of the alleged fake encounter of inter-state "gangster" Sohrabuddin Sheikh in which BJP president Amit Shah was an accused along with several others. Weeks later, Amit Shah was discharged from the case with a new judge ruling that there was no evidence to merit his trial.

Two months ago, judge Loya's relatives said his death was unnatural. His sister Anuradha Biyani also claimed that he was offered a huge bribe to rule in favour of the BJP chief Amit Shah.

With the demand for an investigation into Loya's alleged cardiac arrest while attending a wedding mounting, a Maharashtra journalist and activist-petitioner Tehseen Poonawalla asked the SC to order an independent inquiry.

Read Also: SC asks Maha govt to give docs on Loya death to independent probe seekers

The case was assigned on Friday by the Chief Justice.

Judge Loya's son Anuj Loya on Sunday said he did not have any suspicions about the death. And the Nagpur police on Tuesday told the apex court that the judge had died of cardiac arrest and that "no probe was necessary".
Chennai: Close on the heels of superstar Rajinikanth, who has declared his intention to launch his own political party and contest from all the 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu in the next Assembly elections, his contemporary star, Kamal Haasan, is all set to kick-start his political debut on January 26. The schedule will be announced on January 18.

Kamal who has plans to float his own party, has said he was being cautious as he wants to build an organisation that would outlast him. He will launch a whistle-blower app - Maiyam Whistle, which aims to encourage and enable citizens expose corruption in the state, soon. From January 26, my journey to meet people will start. The complete schedule will be available in the next issue of Ananda Vikatan, the 63-year-old actor said during an awards function.

Haasan, a contributor to the popular Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, had in his previous column, tacitly expressed his interest to work with superstar Rajinikanth.

On his political strategy, he wrote in his column, I would not antagonise my friends to secure my position like usual politicians. Nor is the youth ready to continue under such leadership. I would attempt to reach out to elders and friends too.
In the video, an agitated Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is seen hitting the man with his hand while walking, surrounded by people. (Photo: PTI | File)

Bhopal: A video purportedly showing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan slapping a man in his security detail during a roadshow has gone viral, prompting a demand by the Congress to register a case against him.

While the Congress said it showed Chouhan's "frustration", the chief minister's public relations officer offered no comment.

"We demand that Chouhan be booked for hitting his securityman under section 353 (assault to deter a public servant from performing his duty) of IPC," Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh said.

Power, Singh said, had "blinded" the chief minister and the result of his "failed" policies got on his nerves. "This frustration showed in yesterday's incident," the Congress leader said.

Senior BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai said the incident was being wrongly interpreted.

"There was a huge crowd around Chouhan, and the securityman twice stepped on the chief minister's injured foot. In an immediate human or knee-jerk reaction, Chouhan only removed him to protect himself and the action was never intended to hurt anyone with any ill-intention," Bajpai said.

In the video, an agitated Chouhan is seen hitting the man with his hand while walking, surrounded by people.

When contacted by PTI, the chief minister's PRO did not offer any comments.

The chief minister held a roadshow at Sardarpur in Dhar district on Monday as part of the BJP's campaign for civic polls in the state.
Chennai: The annual Pongal liquor sale revenue reached an all-time high this year with the liquor outlets making a total sale of Rs 219 crore and this, according to Tasmac official sources, is a Rs 15 crore surplus sale but the volumes of liquor bottle had gone down by two to five per cent.

When compared to the last year Pongal sale, beer sales increased by ten per cent, but the hard liquor sale dipped by two to three per cent.

Liquor worth Rs 127 crore was sold on Pongal and Bhogi recorded a sale of of Rs 92 crore. Last Pongal, sales were around Rs 204 crore. While the volumes had reduced this year in comparison to last year, the turnaround was achieved due to the recent price revision. The income surged by seven per cent, Tasmac sources said.

North Chennai recorded a 10 per cent dip in sales due to closure of 35 outlets and the sale of liquor in Southern and northern districts were also high during Pongal.

Suburban areas in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur also recorded good sales. Tambaram, Poonamallee, Avadi and Ambattur, which serves as the gateway to Chennai recorded brisk sales throughout the Pongal holidays, sources said.Meanwhile, city police on Tuesday launched a hunt for a trio who were illegally selling liquor on Tiruvallur Day.

According to the police, three members in Shenoy Nagar were selling liquor on the dry day. A team raided apartment in Jothiammal Nagar and 912 liquor bottles were seized from the building, police sources said.
Naqvi also said the Saudi government has in principle agreed to allow Haj journey from India by ships and officials of the two countries will sit together to finalise the modalities. (Photo: AP/File)

Chennai: A day after the Union government announced scrapping of Haj subsidy from this year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on Wednesday said that his government will demand the Centre to review its decision.

We came to know that the union government has withdrawn Haj subsidy. We demand the government to review its decision, Tamil Nadu chief minister said.

On Tuesday, Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced the scrapping of Haj subsidy saying that it is a means of financial support that the Centre grants to Indian Haj pilgrims in the form of discounted air fares on Indian Government owned carriers.

Naqvi said that despite the subsidy withdrawal, a record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage from India this year.

Naqvi also said the Saudi Arabian government has in principle agreed to allow Haj journey from India by ships and officials of the two countries will sit together to finalise the modalities.

"This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement," Naqvi told reporters and cited a host of measures for the welfare of minorities.

"Muslims didn't benefit from it. Development with dignity is what we believe in. The subsidy will be used for educating girls," Naqvi further said.

Naqvi had earlier said the Centre would abolish the subsidy for Haj pilgrims in accordance with the Supreme Courts order.

The Centres decision was opposed by the Congress with the party criticising the decision as a hasty and blatant anti-Muslim act by the NDA government.

It has been done to please the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is presently touring the country, Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said.

Reacting to the cancellation of the Haj subsidy for 2018 Hajis, Shabbir Ali said the announcement had come as a shock for nearly 1.75 lakh Hajis from India whose applications have been processed and are ready for their journey in a few months.

He added that the Haj subsidy was scrapped for the sake of empowering Muslim women indicated that the NDA was not interested in spending on the Muslim minority community and pleading lack of funds.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said that Sabarimala had achieved record earnings this mandala season. If last year the shrine had collected Rs 210 crore, this time it was Rs 255 crore, an increase of Rs 45 crore.

The minister said that the increase in income proved that devotees had not believed the widely circulated falsehood that the government was looting Sabarimala money.

Now most people are convinced that the state government does not usurp the revenues of Sabrimala, Mr Surend-ran said.Fact is, the state spends crores during every pilgrimage season. This season alone, the government had spent Rs 38 crore for various construction activities. This is Rs 6 crore more than what was spent last year. And this is beside the money spend for the implementation of the Sabarimala Master Plan, the minister added.

The devaswom minister said that seven works under the Master Plan were already completed. This include the Rs 21.70 crore waste treatment plant that can treat 5 million units of waste, and the Rs 12 crore queue and rest complexes along the Marakottam-Shara-mkuthi road.

He said that steps had been initiated for the start of the first phase of the 10-million-unit waste treatment plant at Pampa. Once the plant is completed, Pampa will be rid of garbage, the minister said.

He said that the state government would examine whether the facilities provided at Tirupati Thirumala Venketeswara Temple, those suited to Sabarimala, could be provided at the shrine.

"An expert committee will soon leave for Tirupati. Andhra Prades-h Chief Minister Chand-rababu Naidu has offered all possible assistance," the minister said. He, however, said that all development activities in Sabarimala would be so structured as to suit a shrine in the middle of a forest.
Hyderabad: The CM directed officials to issue pattadar passbooks on March 11 in all villages and for this a nodal officer should be appointed in every village.

The Speaker, Deputy speaker, council chairman and all elected representatives, collectors and joint collectors would be part of the distribution. He said the government would release the required funds for organising the programme.

At the meeting, the CM mentioned about the government programmes planned and implemented, the just-concluded phase of the land records purification, rectification and updation programme, panchayat elections and amendments to the Municipal Act.

Speaker, Deputy speaker, council chairman and all elected representatives, collectors and joint collectors would be part of the distribution.
The police collected documents from the Telangana State Wakf Board to ascertain the signature of Mr M.A. Mannan Farooqui, its chief executive officer. (Representational image)

HYDERABAD: The police collected documents from the Telangana State Wakf Board to ascertain the signature of Mr M.A. Mannan Farooqui, its chief executive officer.

The case relates to issuance of a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) pertaining to six acres of Wakf property in Medchal in Malkajgiri district. The NOC was issued by the board in August last year, saying that the land under the survey numbers 643, 647, 659 and 660, measuring 6.8 acres, does not belong to the board.

The land is a property of Wakf and belongs to Dargah Hazrath Mir Mahmood.

The NOC was issued with the signature of Mannan Farooqui. During a departmental enquiry, it was found that there was no application seeking an NOC regarding the land.

The CEO said that his signature was forged and lodged a complaint with the Abid Road police. We questioned a few employees of the board. Documents were also collected, said Mr A Gangaram, inspector Abid Road police station.

The police has also written to the Malkajgiri collector to hand over the NOC. Once it is handed over, we will be sending the NOC to the forensic laboratory, the inspector added.

Board chairman said that they have asked the Malkajgiri collector not to allow any construction on the Wakf land.
Banerjee said that during the two-day summit, 1,046 B2B, 40 B2G meetings were held and more than 110 MoUs were signed. (Photo: bengalglobalsummit.com)

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the state has received investment proposals worth Rs 2.20 lakh crore with job potential for 20 lakh persons in the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) that concluded on Wednesday.

"New investment proposals this year received were close to Rs 2.20 lakh crore with a job creating potential of 20 lakh," Banerjee said at the summit.

She said that one lakh jobs would be provided by Reliance Industries alone as told by its chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday.

Also read: West Bengal to see Rs 4,300 cr investment in logistics by 2020, predicts JLL India

Banerjee said that during the two-day summit, 1,046 B2B, 40 B2G meetings were held and more than 110 MoUs were signed in the fields of mining, power, education, cutting edge technology, animation centre, skill development, warehouses, food processing, animal resource development, transport and leather among others.

"The summit was highly successful with big names like Mukesh Ambani, LN Mittal, Sajjan Jindal, Adani group, Uday Kotak, N Hiranandani, Kishore Biyani and local industrialists like Sanjeev Goenka, Harsh Neotia attending it," she said.
The event sees a celebration that all communities participate in. For instance, Muslim and Christian organisations have donated vegetables, rice and other commodities to the temple as part of the celebration.

Udupi: If the coast has seen communal tension of late , the ongoing Paryaya celebration in Udupi seems to be applying balm to the wounded sentiments of all communities.

Paryaya marks the start of the two-year term of the new seer chosen from among eight pontiffs of the Udupi Krishna Math, to offer daily pooja to Lord Krishna.

This year Vidyadheesha Swamiji of Palimaru Hrishikesha Mutt takes over from Vishwesha Teertha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt on January 18.

The event sees a celebration that all communities participate in. For instance, Muslim and Christian organisations have donated vegetables, rice and other commodities to the temple as part of the celebration.

And on Tuesday a massive blood donation camp was held in the temple town organised by the multi-community Sri Pejawara Blood Team, the All College Students Union, Udupi, and the Udupi Zilla Muslim Bandhavara Paryaya Sauhardha Samithi.

The Pejawara Blood Team , a team of volunteers, has over 1,800 members from various religions including about 850 Muslims and a good number of Christians. The team has several units, including one in Bhatkal where it has about 45 Muslim members.

"In the coastal region there are some elements who believe in bloodshed. But we save lives through blood donation. We want communal harmony and are doing our bit to help society through blood donation for the last eight years," team leader, Mohammed Arif told the Deccan Chronicle, adding, "We feel such programmes help in ensuring communal harmony in society. Despite communal tension in nearby places, Udupi is not affected. Pejawar Swamiji along with other seers is working for peace and harmony here," he added.

Meanwhile, the Udupi Zilla Muslim Bandhavara Paryaya Sauhardha Samithi plans to organise various programmes during the Paryaya celebration, including planting of one lakh saplings and an organ donation camp.
Bengaluru: The state unit of BJP on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to sack urban development minister R Roshan Baig in case the latter refuses to quit in the wake of a notice served by the Enforcement Directorate on his son, Ruman Roshan Baig, for alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Former state president and MP, Pralhad Joshi, told the media here that Mr. Baig was also allegedly involved in severe financial irregularities, and therefore should quit the ministry.

On earlier occasions, too, the state unit demanded Mr Baig's resignation for his derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At a public meeting in his Assembly constituency, Mr. Baig used abusive language while speaking about Mr. Modi. Later, the BJP demanded his resignation. Leaders of ruling Congress too had chided the minister for using unparliamentary language against Mr. Modi.

Baig confirms notice from ED to son on violations

Urban development minister Roshan Baig on Tuesday confirmed that his son has received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate, and said he was a law abiding citizen and will respond to it. Yesterday when the media reports came, we had not got the notice yet," Mr Baig told reporters here. Last evening, his son got the notice, he said. "We are talking to auditor, we will respond to it," Baig said. The Urban Development minister said, "I will follow the law of the land, we don't violate law....we will answer it." The ED had yesterday issued notice to Baig's son Ruman Baig in a case of alleged violation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). It is alleged that Ruman Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which is involved in providing business services had received unaccounted-for funds from an UAE based firm.
This means that this is meant to be a logical extension of the company's X-51A Waverider.

Boeing seems to have come up with the early details of its own design for a hypersonic tech demonstrator that would be a spiritual successor to the SR-71 Blackbird. This means that this is meant to be a logical extension of the company's X-51A Waverider: the wedge-shaped, twin-tail body is designed to minimize drag while gulping in as much air as possible. With features of the new model being about as long as the Blackbird, its Mach 5-plus top speed would definitely supersede Mach 3.2 jet.

The progress on the design depends on if the American officials select it for development (or not) under both DARPA's Advanced Full Range Engine program and the US Air Force's Turbine-Based Combined Cycle study. And if by chance, it fails to go ahead, it'll be a while before a production aircraft comes up.

Boeing is expected to start by making a single-engine proof of concept vehicle and would move on to a full-sized, dual-engine version. Boeing's Kevin Bowcutt reportedly told Aerospace Daily that the design is still evolving, so this is more a reflection of the current state of affairs than anything.

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Powered by their XDC Protocol, the launch of TradeFinex platform will enable peer-to-peer contracting between financiers, suppliers and beneficiaries thereby minimizing the role played by intermediaries.

Singapore-based hybrid blockchain firm XinFin, in association with Assocham, launched its marketplace platform, TradeFinex at the 2nd Global Summit on P2P Digital Asset System Summit held in Delhi, India.

As a part of this association, XinFin will extend its TradeFinex platform to Assochams network of 300+ trade associations and 450,000 members to minimize inefficiencies in trade and finance.

Powered by their XDC Protocol, the launch of TradeFinex platform will enable peer-to-peer contracting between financiers, suppliers and beneficiaries thereby minimizing the role played by intermediaries. The hybrid nature of XinFins blockchain technology implements a decentralized but highly secure transaction platform that can be used with existing laws of the land and payment rails or in an approved jurisdiction using underlying XDC tokens.

Mr. DS Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM said, We are happy to inaugurate TradeFinex beta platform at our event. The adoption of Blockchain Technology in India is at a nascent stage and therefore requires an enhanced level of understanding about its applications, ethical, legal, and regulatory issues.

Sameer Dharap, VP Blockchain Applications at XinFin said, The launch of TradeFinex will allow beneficiaries to get their projects financed at globally competitive rates, while financiers can track the progress of their projects at real-time and suppliers can overcome problems like uncertainty and volatility of supply chain. This will not only increase transparency and overall efficiency but also help reduce the global financial and infrastructural deficit.

All users of TradeFinex can drive bottom line benefits by using the blockchain based platform to escrow based smart contracts between beneficiaries, financiers and suppliers. The payment terms can be linked to customized smart contract milestones, triggered upon delivery of goods/services. The platform will partner will government bodies, export councils, banks and other players for a blockchain based ecosystem.

XinFin focuses towards enterprise use cases of blockchain technology using native token called XDC. TradeFinex helps buyers secure capital at globally competitive rates, gives suppliers visibility on global tenders and customer base and provides financiers real time visibility on their investments using Blockchain. Launched in 2017, XinFin has already expanded its client base across Singapore, India, USA, Europe and currently working on 10+ pilot projects across aviation, travel, banking, supply chain management among others.

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Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district today, injuring an Army Captain, officials said.



"There was a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army. They resorted to firing along the LoC in Chakan Da Bagh area in Poonch this evening," a security force official said.



The injured Army Captain has been hospitalised, they said.



The Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire continued till late night, they said.



The latest violation of the ceasefire came a day after seven Pakistani Army men, including a Major, were killed and four others injured in retaliatory action by the Indian Army in Poonch.



Authorities had on Monday suspended the cross-LoC bus service between Chakan Da Bagh and Rawalakot, following heightened tension on the LoC.
Kamal Haasan will announce his political party's name on February 21 at Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram and begin a state-wide tour the same day.



The tour will be held in phases. He will begin the journey from Ramanathapuram -- his hometown -- and later visit people from the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Sivagangai.



It will mark Haasan's official entry into politics about which he has been making overtures since last year.



"At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by," Haasan said in a statement yesterday.



The veteran actor said he intends to challenge the status quo "that has been plaguing the politics of Tamil Nadu for some time now".



"However, for this to happen, my thoughts and actions need to collectively resonate with the people," he said, adding that through the state-wide tour he wants to familiarise himself with the people's concerns.



"...to truly understand as to what the needs of my people are? what is afflicting them? what their aspirations are?" he said.



Haasan said the tour was "neither an act of rebellion nor a gathering for glamour".



"This is a journey of discovery and learning and an opportunity for me to truly understand my people," said Haasan.



He exhorted the people of Tamil Nadu to "question mediocrity" and "raise the bar" of governance and welfare in the state.



"This journey is intended towards that goal. I begin this journey with your support. Join hands with me to empower our country and state," said Haasan.



"I will see you soon," he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the plea of producers of controversial Bollywood movie 'Padmavaat' against the ban imposed on its release by various state governments.



A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of the counsel of the producer that the matter be heard urgently in view of the ban on its release by various state governments.

Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have banned the movie citing law and order issues.

The movie is scheduled to be released on January 25.
The Haryana Police on Wednesday said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in an FIR as the abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been found in a canal near Jyotisar.



The body was found late on Tuesday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

The police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

The police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is said to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra when she went to attend a tuition class.

The youth had been named asopp the abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," said Kurukshetra SP, Abhishek Garg.

The Class XII student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, the police had said earlier.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its failure to ensure safety and security of women.

The police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one.

However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," he said.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was reportedly kidnapped and then gang-raped in a moving car in Faridabad.
Thirty-seven year old Bharat Reddy Narahari, a native of Karimnagar in Telangana, died when the bicycle he was riding hit a boat that was being towed by a truck around 8 am in Miami, Florida, on Saturday.



Narahai was working with a business intelligence system firm called Baptist Health in South Florida.

According to 'Miami Herald', a local newspaper, Narahari was training for the Dolphins Cancer Challenge slated for February 10.

The police said they are investigating the reason behind the accident.

Allen Montgomery, the director of systems and development for Baptist Health, wrote, "It is with profound sadness that I must inform all of you that we have lost a member of our IT family this weekend. Bharath Reddy Narahari, Reddy as we all knew him and loved him by was involved in an accident, which tragically took his life too soon".

Meanwhile, Narahari's brother, who lives in Australia, has left for Florida. His father Laxma Reddy a retired teacher hails from Malkapuram has been informed about his son's death.

Narahari, did his master's degree in computer science from the University of Bridgeport in 2006-2007.




Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday described Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity.



Netanyahu arrived here on Wednesday morning and held a grand roadshow along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before visiting the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for a long time.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their "visit was inspiring".

"An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration- Mahatma Gandhi," Netanyahu wrote in the book.

Earlier, the Israeli prime minister and his wife spent around 20 minutes in the ashram premises, where they visited 'Hriday Kunj', the home of Mahatma Gandhi.

The two dignitaries also tried their hands at the "charkha", the hand spinning wheel which was emblematic of India's quest for self-reliance during the freedom struggle.

They also flew kites for a couple of minutes, as their visit comes just a few days after 'Uttarayana' (or Makar Sankranti), the Gujarat's popular kite festival.

Gandhi had spent a large part of his life in the Sabarmati Ashram after he returned to India from South Africa to lead India's non-violent freedom struggle.

He left the ashram in 1930 when he took out the Dandi March from here, with a vow not to return to the place till India got Independence.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday became the first Indian defence minister to fly in a Su-30MKI fighter aircraft, the mainstay of the Indian Air Force.



Nirmala took to the skies in a two-seater trainer version of the Su-30MKI aircraft that took off from Jodhpur airbase and flew over southwestern Rajasthan for 45 minutes.

Attired in a flying overall and anti-G suit, the defence minister was piloted by Group Captain Sumit Garg, commanding officer of the 31 Squadron, who did several turns and basic manoeuvres with the VIP co-passenger in the back seat.

Before the take off, Nirmala met air warriors of the Air Force Station Jodhpur. She was given a briefing on the supersonic jet before she climbed up to the cockpit.

In the 45 minutes of sortie, the pilots demonstrated some of the unique characteristics and strengths of this mighty twin engine air superiority fighter.

"I am very proud and thankful that I have gone through this experience because it actually tells me with what rigour, practice, what level of readiness and how quickly they (IAF personnel) have to respond to situations. It was eye-opening and memorable," Nirmala told the media at the Jodhpur airbase after the flight.

George Fernandes was only other defence minister to fly in an IAF aircraft.

Fernandes, however, took a spin in the MiG-21 combat jet that attracted the sobriquet of "flying coffins" because of high accident rates.

Other VIPs who flew in the Su-30 MKI are former Presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil, industrialist Ratan Tata, and at least four junior ministers of the UPA and NDA governments a M M Pallam Raju, Rao Inderjit Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Kiren Rijuju.

India purchased 272 Su-30 MKI from Russia, of which 236 jets were delivered to the IAF by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited that manufacture the aircraft under a licence from Russia.

The public sector aviation major targets to complete the entire delivery by 2019-20.

After her recent stay on board the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, the Su-30MKI sortie is part of Nirmala's efforts to experience some of the real time issues that the armed forces personnel face while doing their duties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit tomorrow, as he will breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select captains of the industry, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj hotel in south Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu after which the Maharashtra chief minister will be hosting a lunch for the Israeli premier and the visiting delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House, during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai yesterday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city earlier had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities -- Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj hotel.
Over eight lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas in the last three years, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was informed today.



In a written reply to a question raised by National Conference MLA Mian Altaf Ahmad, Health Minister Bali Bhagat said while the highest number of 3,52,771 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2015, the number fell to 2,20,490 in 2016, the year which witnessed unrest in the valley following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

However, he said the number rose to 2,60,003 last year.

Last year in July, a terror attack on a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims in Anantnag district of south Kashmir left seven pilgrims dead and 15 others injured.

The nearly two month annual pilgrimage usually starts in the last week of June from the twin routes of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.

While Pahalgam is the traditional 45-km route to the cave shrine, majority of the pilgrims prefer the shortest 16- km route from Baltal to pay their obeisance at the shrine, which houses the naturally formed ice-lingam.

The minister said the pilgrims are being provided adequate medical facilities at various places en route the shrine.

Large number of pilgrims availed medical facilities, he said adding while 1,97,000 were treated in OPDs in Kashmir last year, the number stood at 1,24,000 in 2016 and 1,74,000 in 2015.

In Jammu, 89,823 pilgrims were treated in various district health facilities last year against 89,311 in the previous year, he said.

He said 16,984 availed the facility of in-patient department in Kashmir valley last year, while the number of such patients was 8,651 in 2016 and 14,686 in 2015.

A total of 8,125 pilgrims had suffered injuries during the pilgrimage last year against 6,348 in 2016 and 12,528 in 2015, the minister said.

A huge number of pilgrims also availed the AYUSH facility made available by the government at various camps en route the shrine, the minister said.

He said while 23,161 pilgrims attended AYUSH camps last year, the number was 49,640 in 2016.

The minister said the department has over the years vigorously propagated the need for pilgrims to visit medical facilities while travelling in this high altitude area.
The All India Majlis-e- Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) today requested Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to allocate Rs 4,100 crore for the welfare of minorities in the forthcoming state budget.



AIMIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, in a letter to the CM, said though the budgetary allocations for minorities welfare have aggregated to Rs 4,613.85 crore in four years (2014-15 to 2017-18), the actual releases have been only Rs 2,702 crore while the actual expenditure was Rs 2,330 crore.

By the end of the current financial year, this figure may reach Rs 2,500 crore, the AIMIM's floor leader in the state Assembly said.

"We would earnestly request you to raise the budgetary allocation for the minorities welfare department to Rs 4,100 crore in the financial year 2018-19 to meet the commitments on the existing and proposed schemes," he said.

Owaisi said they want higher allocations for the minorities' residential schools, loaning programmes, and scholarships and fees reimbursement on par with the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, as assured by the CM in the Assembly.

He pointed out that the requested amount will be only 2 percent of the Rs 2 lakh crore state budget that the government is contemplating for the 2018-19 fiscal.

Expressing gratitude for allotting Rs 1,249.49 crore and additional allocations of Rs 97.43 crore for the minorities welfare department in the last state budget, Owaisi requested the CM to ensure that the allocated funds are released expeditiously before the end of the financial year.
Tamil Nadu government will urge the Centre to reconsider its decision on scrapping the Haj subsidy, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said today.



Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said yesterday there will be no subsidy for Haj from this year and the funds saved will be used for providing education to minorities.



The state government will urge the Centre to reconsider its decision, Palaniswami told reporters here.



This is the stand of the AIADMK as well, he said.
Dalit outfits on Wednesday took to the streets in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh to protest against the assault on a Dalit youth by saffron activists.



Members of both the Dalit and saffron outfits came out on the streets in protest against the incident, which occurred on Tuesday.

While the Dalit outfits demanded the arrest of the people who had assaulted the youth, the saffron activists protested against the detention of two women, who are family members of one of the culprit's family.

The youth had been brutally thrashed at Purkaji in the district. Tension flared up after a video of the assault went viral on social networking sites.

The victim was a member of the Bheem Army, a Dalit outfit, whose president Chandrashekhar is in jail in connection with last year's Saharanpur caste clashes, which left two dead and scores others injured.

The state police have invoked the National Security Act against Chandrashekhar.

The victim, identified as Vipin, had embraced Buddhism after the Saharanpur clashes and had been active in persuading other members of the Dalit community to remove the pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses from their homes and convert to his religion.

Four youths, all members of an upper caste, have been booked in this connection.

According to the police, tension is simmering in some western districts in the state and it could flare up in the days to come.

Officials in the western districts have been directed to take all possible measures to defuse the tension and prevent caste clashes.
No-frills carrier AirAsia India is looking to break even by this December or early next year, its MD and CEO Amar Abrol has said.



The Bengaluru-based budget carrier will be completing four years this June.

Accordingly, it plans to triple its head count to over 4,800 by 2020 from 1,612 in 2017, as it seeks to spread wings to international skies, besides expanding domestic operations.

"In 2017, we had 1,612 employees, which we plan to take to 2,569 this year and 3,684 in the subsequent year. By 2020, we expect to have 4,834 people working for us," Abrol said.

He said that most of this hiring will be made for pilots, cabin crew, and ground operations, which account for almost 95% of the total workforce.

"There will not be much hiring in the back office or at the headquarters, or in the strategy section, but largely it will be for aircraft-related functions," Abrol added.

According to him, the airline is also likely to double its passenger traffic to eight million this year, from around four million in 2017. "We expect this number to go to 12 million in 2019 and by 2020, we hope to fly 15 million," he added.

AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes has already announced a public float for the India JV, wherein his group control 49%.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies got a boost with some government agencies joining hands with a BJP think tank to organise a two-day seminar on the topic.



The seminar will be held on the premises of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP) in Mumbai starting January 20.

The RMP, a BJP think tank, has joined hands with the Indian Council of Social Sciences and Research (ICSSR) to organise the event.

"Prime minister has repeatedly said there should be simultaneous elections. Former president (Pranab Mukherjee) also said that the issue should be debated for a wider consensus. We are organising the seminar to shape up public opinion in favour of the idea of 'one nation, one election'," vice president of the RMP, Vinay Sahasrabudhe, said at a press conference.

Sahasrabudhe is also the president of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and a BJP Rajya Sabha MP.

All political parties, including the Congress, have been invited to attend the seminar, he said.

Sahasrabudhe termed the idea of 'one nation, one election' the "mother of all election reforms", which he said needs to be brought in to free the nation from having to conduct election after election that lasts throughout the year.

Simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies will not only save "thousands of crores of rupees" that goes into conducting the polls but also enhance the pace of development, he said.

Most political parties have earlier expressed their support to the idea of simultaneous polls "in theory", he said, adding, "some of them, however, have doubted its feasibility. The seminar will extensively discuss all the issues to find a way out".

Janada Dal (United) leader K C Tyagi and Biju Janata Dal's Baijayant Panda are among those who have confirmed their participation. Shiv Sena has also confirmed its participation, Sahasrabudhe said.

"We have invited all parties, including the Congress, for the event. They should rise above partisan politics and join us to brainstorm on the topic," Sahasrabudhe said.

While Niti Aayog vice chairperson Rajiv Kumar will inaugurate the seminar, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will attend the event on January 21, he said.
The wealth of Infosys promoters has jumped by Rs 2,080 crore in the last three days, as the stock prices of the company breached the buyback rate fixed by the company earlier.



The company's stock has been on bull run after the company announced over 38% jump in net profits for the third quarter.

In the recently concluded buyback process worth Rs 13,000 crore, the company had set the the price at Rs 1,150 per scrip, while stocks on Wednesday closed at Rs 1,152.25 per scrip.

The company stocks have rallied on three continuous days -- since, after the results were announced post-trading hours on Friday last week. IT behemoth's scrips were up Rs 73.9 (6.8%) in three trading sessions.

While the total market capitalisation of the company has gone up by Rs 16,128.5 crore in just three days this week, 12.9% of this uptick has benefited its promoter group.

The company's m-cap has shot from Rs 2,35,517 crore to Rs 2,51,646 crore on the Wednesday.

The value of the stake held by the company's Chairman Nandan Nilekani and his family members, has gone up by Rs 451.8 crore, out of which Nilekani alone has seen a rise of Rs 151 crore.

On the other hand, co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, who had launched scathing attack on the former board and management last year, saw the the whopping jump of Rs 557.44 crore in the fortune of his family.

Murthy's son, Rohan Murty has been the second largest individual beneficiary of the rally, with a jump of Rs 224.6 crore in his personal fortunes.

Wife of former CEO and co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Sudha Gopalakrishnan, who holds the highest number of shares in the company (4,76,78,500) among the promoter group has seen the highest jump in the individual fortunes. Sudha's fortune in the company jumped by Rs 352.1 crore in two days.

Tech stocks had seen an upward trend in December, as according to an analyst, they had underperformed for quite sometime and were seen by investors as defensive stocks, in case of imminent profit booking.

Earlier last year, after company's former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Vishal Sikka had resigned, the IT major had lost Rs 33,915 crore market-cap in two trading sessions.

It was only after the news of Nilekani brokering peace broke out, the company's stock slide was contained.
Minister for Food and Civil Supplies U T Khader has welcomed the Centre's decision to end subsidy to Haj pilgrims.



"In reality, subsidy was not benefiting the individual pilgrims," said the minister.

Addressing reporters here on Wednesday, he said that it was Air India which was benefiting from the subsidy. "While giving Haj subsidy, the government had restricted the pilgrims to travel only by Air India flight. Now, the Haj pilgrims can travel by any cheaper airways as well," explained Khader.

"There was a feeling that the Centre is engaged in appeasing the minorities through subsidy to Haj pilgrims. The Haj pilgrimage is mandatory for those who are financially stable. Anyone who wishes to go on a Haj pilgrimage will arrange money for it and go," he added.

SC instruction

The Supreme Court had, in 2012, directed the Centre to gradually reduce and abolish the Haj subsidy by 2022. The apex court wanted the subsidy amount of approximately Rs 650 crore a year then to be utilised for educational and social development of the community.

To a query, he said, "The Centre has no role to play in restricting the number of pilgrims going for Haj. It is the Saudi Arabia government which issues quota for each country. Accordingly, the Centre issues the quota for each state, depending on the list of pilgrims who wish to take out a Haj pilgrimage."

Award for dept

Further, the minister said, "The Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Karnataka, has received an award from the Centre. With the support of the Revenue Department, the department of food and civil supplies could perform well. The department secretary will receive the award."

To a query on the Ilyas murder, Khader said, "The murder should not be politicised. The police are carrying out the investigation."
The Congress on Wednesday mounted an attack on Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde over his remarks on writers.

Hegde faced flak especially for his take on Jnanapith awardee, Rashtrakavi Kuvempu, whose ideas he seemingly mocked without naming him at a Skill India event in Belagavi. He mocked the philosophy of "be a human first..." that is often attributed to Kuvempu. Hegde also went on to say that some people wore the title of 'writer' to get sites allotted by the government, while their writings made no sense.

"These are not Hegde's words, but a reflection of the BJP's agenda. He has already apologised once in the Lok Sabha for a bad statement. He should understand that his position carries some dignity," AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal said.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader said mocking Kuvempu's Vishwa Manava philosophy was "an insult to all Kannadigas." Khader said Hegde was alright before he became a union minister.

"He's talking this way after he became a union minister. The prime minister should talk some sense into him," he said.
Karnataka Congress in-charge Vishnunadhan on Wednesday said that state government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has introduced various pro-people programmes compared to the Union government.



Addressing the party workers of Chamundeshwari and Yelwal Block Congress Committee at the party office here Vishnunadhan said, "We cannot compare Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led state government with the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Around 4.5 crore people in the state are the beneficiaries of 'Anna Bhagya scheme' and almost all the citizens are beneficiaries of one or the other schemes. He suggested the party workers to highlight the achievements of the government and the schemes while seeking votes from the people.

Vishnunadhan, who exuded confidence in getting a majority in the upcoming general elections said, "The people of the state are in favour of the Congress party and the overwhelming response during 'Sadhana Samavesha' of the CM, is a proof of this."

Chairman of the Varuna Assembly constituency Housing Programmes Awareness Committee Dr Yatindra Siddaramaiah said that though the state government launched various pro-people programmes, the party lag behind in popularising the schemes. Though no such programmes were introduced by the BJP, the leaders are misleading the people criticising the Congress, he said.

Congress district unit president Dr B J Vijaykumar, KPCC general secretary Malavalli Shivanna, secretary Patel Shivanna, former MLA Sathyanarayan, former minister B K Chandrashekar, the party leaders C Narendra, Narasegowda, and others were present.
Ferrying a 24-ton truck on floats 250 metres across the city's Ulsoor lake, the agile Madras Sappers on Wednesday proved just why their watermanship skills are in ship shape.



As those floats morphed into bridges and carried men and machines with finesse, the Sappers were flexing their military muscles, a legend perfected over 237 years.

In minutes, the Sappers - Thambis of the Madras Engineer Group (MEG) a had aligned three floats, assembled an aluminium alloy platform to ferry the truck close to the Pasina Ganj island, 132 metres away.

The media watching in awe, another 10 men hopped onto a two-boat assortment that carried a Gypsy four-wheeler with ease. It was destination Buffalo island, negotiated with haste.

The dramatic demonstration of the four-week watermanship training offered media persons a glimpse of what the Sappers go through for six gruelling months.

Over the next four hours, the Thambis would display their entire skill sets, mastery of which had propelled their predecessors to famously outshine rivals in theatres of war from as far back as World War II.

Building bridges in peacetime is the Sappers' service to civilian victims of flood and devastation.

From makeshift bridges in the Northeast to helping Sabarimala pilgrims cross the Pampa, the Thambis had their mettle tested, proven and acknowledged.

But their edgy weapons training was what caught everyone's attention. As journalists walked through MEG Centre's 1,000-acre plus expanse, the Sappers soldiered on, firing in tandem at targets that loudly proclaimed in big bold letters: "Ek Goli, Ek Dushman (One Bullet, One Target)."

Behind smokescreens

The booming noise of the target practice had just dulled when thick smoke from multiple canisters engulfed the wooded area.

The shell-shocked journalists ran for cover, but only till they spotted the Sappers on rope bridges, negotiating the assault ditch and the anti-tank ditch. To mimic the theatre of war, gunshots rang out in the wilderness.

Smoke from each canister would envelop the entire area, confuse the enemy and give the Sappers ample time to move their machines.

"At least 20 to 30 metres can be covered in that one minute of chaos," an officer explained.

Crawling under fences and barrels, the Thambis showed how they would move. Quickly, and putting all their endurance skills to test.

The PT Nursery was proof why they could move so swiftly. Clearing 18 obstacles repeatedly in seven 45-minute sessions, they had strengthened their muscles, prepared themselves for the merciless battlefield scenarios.

Lined up for everyone's view were the trainees on the flat foot walk, climbing along a 2.5-metre vertical rope going up to 7 metres as the Sappers graduate, many on monkey ropes, inclined systems and wall bar exercises.
Workers of the All India United Trade Union Centre protested at Anand Rao Circle on Wednesday, demanding that the central government give ASHA workers, anganwadi staff and mid-day meals the status of government employees.



Members of the Karnataka State Anganwadi Workers Association demonstrated in front of the residence of Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda and the office of Union minister Ananth Kumar.

They demanded that the honorarium paid to the 1.3 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers should be increased.

The workers criticised the central government for passing on the responsibility of increasing the amount, to the state government. The protesters demanded that the honorarium for ASHA workers and mid-day meal employees should be increased in the state budget.

The central government has reduced funds for integrated child development and mid-day meal schemes. They later withdrew their protest as Kumar promised that he would hold a meeting on Sunday.
When it is done with the fire safety audits of pubs and bars, the BBMP would turn its focus on the residential apartments.



The Mayor and city officials would meet with members of the residential associations to discuss implementing a foolproof fire safety plan to prevent major blazes.

"We'll have this meeting very soon," Mayor R Sampath Raj told Deccan Herald, as he urged residents to take fire safety seriously for their own good.

Raj said the meeting would be part of the BBMP's budget preparing meeting with the Residence Welfare Associations. "Our officials would join forces with the fire department to inspect all residential and commercial buildings across the city," the Mayor said.

Even before the focus could shift to the apartment buildings, some RWAs have begun complaining that the builders have overlooked safety norms. "There're, indeed, instances of violation by the builders," admitted Srikanth Narasimhan, General Secretary of Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF). "We'd like to sit with BBMP and fire department officials to discuss safety issues."

Narasimhan said some of the rules are unreasonable, pointing at the notification issued by BBMP asking 40% of apartment residents to register for a fire safety course by paying a fee to the civic authority.

"Builders violate fire safety norms rather flagrantly. This should be stringently looked into during construction or while issuing Occupancy Certificate (OC)," Narasimhan added.

The existing norms, however, stipulate builders to submit a No objection Certificate from the fire department for the BBMP to sanction the building plan sanctioned.

Post-construction, the fire department must inspect the building and issue a clearance certificate (CC) on the working condition of the fire safety measures installed.

The BBMP can issue OC only after it receives the CC. Fire officials should also inspect the buildings once in two years with the owner or member of RWA to ensure the safety systems are in place. The fire safety certificate they issue is needed to get renewal permission from the Corporation.

Uday Vijayan of Beyond Carlton aan organization promoting fire safety- said buildings below the 15-metre mark are also vulnerable to fire accidents. "We therefore urge authorities to ensure even such buildings follow safety norms. They should implement the rules strictly," he said.

Vijayan also said 7,445 people have died in a year due to fire at home, making it one of the most vulnerable places for sudden and deadly flames. "It's vitally important that you feel most safe at home," he said.
A tiger and an elephant prowled near jungle lodges in recent times, spreading panic among their guests who pay anywhere between Rs 4,000 and 20,000 per night and safari.



Recently, the staff at Bannerghatta Nature Camp had a tough time chasing a tusker that had strayed into the camp.

"The staff chased the pachyderm into the wild,

but it returned the next day. The camp officials pressed two captive elephants residing in Bannerghatta Biological Park - Gouri and Lakshmi - into service. The tusker returned to the wild when the two female elephants arrived," said Jawed Mumtaz, Deputy Conservator of Forests at Bannerghatta National Park.

The situation has been less favourable at the Kabini JLR camp, where managers have been urging the Forest Department to capture the wild tiger lurking near its grounds. The department, however, does not seem to be in any great

hurry.

"People pay so much to see a tiger, which is in great demand," noted a Nagarahole Tiger Reserve official. "They shout at the drivers and forest officials when they don't spot a tiger or an elephant. But they're troubled by the roars and pugmarks near the campsite where a tiger is said to have drifted in."

Since there has not been a direct sighting, the official said the animal does not pose any immediate threat to the tourists. He said wild animals are shy and will not attack unless provoked.

The forest authorities have also learnt that the animal does not visit the place frequently.

"There's no fear concerning this animal, but the camp management wants us to capture the tiger since they are anxious about the safety of the tourists," the official added.
India is "reauthorising" the purchase of Spike anti-tank missiles from Rafael Advanced Defence System, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu purportedly told journalists accompanying him on his India visit.



"They are reauthorising the Spike deal," The Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu saying as his plane took off for Mumbai from Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Just a few weeks before Netanyahu's six-day visit to India, New Delhi decided to cancel a nearly Rs 3,200 crore tender (Request for Proposal) to procure 1,600 Spike anti-tank guided missiles from state-owned Rafael Advanced Defence Systems of Israel.
Its back to the drawing board for the third time as AT&T and the Solana Beach City Council wrangle over the details of a cellular array proposed atop the Wedbush building on Lomas Santa Fe Drive.

Facing continuing aesthetic concerns and frustrated by last-minute revisions, the city council on Jan. 10 admonished AT&T on its new round of designs for a cellular installation that will provide coverage along Highway 101 and the Lomas Santa Fe corridor.

AT&T is seeking a five-year permit to install 12 panel antennas, 32 remote radio units, six surge suppressors and two GPS antennas on the roof of the three-and four-story building at 201 Lomas Santa Fe. Federal telecommunications law lays out two key provisions: the city cannot prevent a tower if theres a proven gap in coverage, and the project must be the least intrusive means possible.

At an initial hearing in December, the council agreed that there will be a coverage gap when AT&Ts existing array atop 505 Lomas Santa Fe is decommissioned. But the council did not consider the proposal to be the least intrusive design  the equipment would extend the buildings elevator tower upward several feet, obstructing view of residents on South Granados Avenue  so the council continued the hearing to Jan. 10 while AT&T reworked its proposal.

Two designs presented last week lowered the height and gathered the equipment into one plastic box that would be painted and textured to match the building revisions that did not dissuade opposition from neighbors. Gerri Retman, who lives nearby, said she is not against cell towers outright  her family has a telecom array on one of their properties. What troubles her, she said at the Jan. 10 hearing, is the process, pointing out that the citys consultant recommended that AT&T consider four alternate locations.

The building will forever be marred with these hideous outcroppings. Lets get this right and not set a precedent for other telecom companies that come in, run out the clock, and leave the council with little option but to approve a project thats not good for the community visually, she said.

The revisions also frustrated the council for coming in mere minutes before the hearing.

Id love to approve the application. Id love to have better cell service. Im an AT&T user and its not great the way it is now, said Councilwoman Jewel Edson. But in my opinion, neither of the alternative designs satisfies the aesthetic objectives or the intrusiveness that we discussed during the Dec. 13 council meeting. I need more convincing to approve this project.

An AT&T rep countered that the designs have met all requirements of the citys cell tower policy and stressed that the Wedbush building will provide better service than the alternates, most of which would require special permits for exceeding height limits in city code.

Were trying to work with the community and get the best design thats going to work for technology and for the future, but also not impact the neighbors, he said.

He defended the late revision by saying it was done in response to feedback from an obstructed neighbor that AT&T received only two hours earlier.

But with so little warningand no chance for the citys telecom consultant to parse the detailsCouncilman Mike Nichols bristled at a slew of the details. He urged AT&T to trim the arrays height, even if by a few inches. He took particular issue with landscaping proposed for the public right-of-way and removal of a tree that rises up the buildings front facade. AT&T says the tree is diseased but Nichols and neighbors say it isnt.

Im not in a position to approve it based just on procedure alone, he said. This may be the best alternative but we have not had an opportunity to digest it.

For contractual reasons, the council would have had to issue a final ruling last week, but AT&T agreed to extend its tolling agreement by a month so that the council could continue the hearing to its Feb. 14 meeting.
Steelhead bag limits reestablished for Oregons Snake River and Tributaries Tweet Tuesday, January 16, 2018 Emily steelhead fishing on the Grande Ronde River in November. Photo by Kyle Bratcher. ENTERPRISE, Ore.Now that 2018 is here, anglers are reminded they are once allowed to harvest three hatchery summer steelhead per day in the Snake, Grande Ronde, and Imnaha Rivers, consistent with permanently-adopted regulations. Bag limits had been reduced during the fall through a series of temporary regulations as fish managers implemented conservative management actions for historically-low Columbia River steelhead run in 2017. The steelhead season began Sept. 1 with a one fish limit in Oregon tributaries, including catch-and-release only in the Snake River. Bag limits were increased to two hatchery steelhead per day in the Snake River and tributaries on Oct. 21 when forecasted returns exceeded expectations. The temporary regulations were allowed to expire on Dec. 31, thus reinstating the permanent bag limit. Fishery managers decided to relax bag limit restrictions after monitoring the returns of Oregons Snake River hatchery steelhead, which suggested more than enough fish will return to support the hatchery program and provide normal harvest levels. Jeff Yanke, ODFW District Fish Biologist in Enterprise, attributes the change to conservative management early in the run. We made justified decisions last fall to reduce harvest in the mainstem Columbia and Snake Rivers, including the tributaries, said Yanke. As designed, that allowed more steelhead to escape harvest and return to their natal rivers. Typically, about 65 percent of Oregons Snake River steelhead survive the migration between Bonneville and Lower Granite Dams but in 2017, over 70 percent survived the journey. Yanke estimates that approximately 1,500 Grande Ronde and 800 Imnaha steelhead will be surplus to production needs, after broodstock collection goals are met. Now that our steelhead are closer to home, we can be more certain that further restricting angler harvest isnt necessary, Yanke said. Increasing bag limits isnt just about putting more fish in the freezer, Yanke explained, but is also an important conservation tool for wild steelhead populations. Unharvested hatchery steelhead can miss their intended destination at hatchery facilities, straying into nearby streams and spawning with wild steelhead, Yanke said. Harvest is a tool we use to reduce that risk while achieving the harvest objectives of our programs. Spring fisheries are important components of the Grande Ronde and Imnaha Rivers, representing 60-80 percent of the hatchery steelhead harvested annually. While mangers are encouraging anglers to take full advantage of the reinstated harvest opportunity, caution is advised to handle any wild steelhead encountered with care. Wild steelhead populations, like their hatchery cousins, are also returning at very low levels, said Yanke. Anglers who catch a wild fish should use proper catch-and-release principles to ensure it arrives on the spawning grounds in perfect condition. This year, more than most others, each fish counts for the future, said Yanke. ### Contact: Michelle Dennehy, (503) 947-6022, Michelle.N.Dennehy@state.or.us
Designed with users in mind, Getac rugged computers capture immense opportunities from leading automaker

Getac rugged computers have been widely used by elite military, police and fire fighting teams to help them carry out frontline duties. With an established brand reputation and a good understanding of the user scenarios, Getac rugged computers have been enthusiastically embraced by customers. The positive brand image has allowed Getac rugged computers to successfully expand into the automotive market. Getac recently announced a collaboration project with Germany-based Volkswagen Group to jointly develop two new-generation rugged computers for automotive diagnostics.

Automotive brands owned by Volkswagen Group including Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, SEAT and Volkswagen utility vehicles now use the latest Getac notebooks and tablets to build their automotive diagnostic systems at service centers around the world.

Getac chairman James Hwang said the collaboration with Volkswagen Group has marked a new milestone for the company. The automotive industry has long been known to place great importance on performance and reliability and impose stringent requirements on supply chain operation flow, global logistics and after-sales services. The project to introduce premium automotive diagnostics solutions for Volkswagen Group not only signifies Getac's growth into an important market segment but also helps Getac establish a direct business relationship with the largest European automaker.

Based on Getac S410 notebook and A140 tablet as prototypes, the two rugged computers are built specifically to work in an automobile manufacturing environment and use Volkswagen's unique off-board diagnostic information systems to address challenging vehicle inspection, repair and troubleshooting tasks.

It should be noted that the purpose-built 14-inch large tablet A140 is particularly suited for automobile repair and maintenance. Getac's R&D team conducted on-site observations at service centers and closely watched how their products would be put to use. For example, the computers used at service centers are all placed on carts and connected to dockings on the carts. There are also many tools lying scattered on the carts which are likely to bump into the computers and cause damage. Furthermore, the mechanics walking around the site may have to push the carts out of the way, causing the notebooks or tablets with hard casings to scrape and scratch cars. Getac's product engineering team is able to take these critical details discovered during field visits into consideration and make efforts to deliver outstanding R&D results.

Hwang stressed that the collaboration between Getac and Volkswagen started with the customer's needs in mind. In the three years of development, Getac employees at its German branch acted as a bridge to help Getac's R&D team understand Volkswagen mechanics' operation requirements in their work environment. The Getac Taiwan headquarters also assembled a task force comprising members from product planning, sales, engineering, and service units who made frequent trips to Volkswagen plants in Germany to gain an in-depth understanding on the diverse use scenarios and actual needs through face-to-face communication in an attempt to support Volkswagen's commitment to improving its service systems and raising overall efficiency.

Aside from allowing a leading automaker to get a glimpse of the values Getac products can bring, the project has also enabled Getac to demonstrate to Volkswagen how its close-knit service network can support Volkswagen's operations in more than 100 countries worldwide. Hwang was most impressed when Volkswagen first expressed concern over how Getac would be able to provide support for Volkswagen service centers and stations on islands of the South Atlantic. Getac showed to Volkswagen it would be capable of providing prompt and comprehensive services whether on remote islands in the Southern Hemisphere, in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Europe or America and helping Volkswagen enhance customer satisfaction and competitive edge.

Hwang commented the achievement with the iconic automaker has helped Getac continues to lay a solid foundation for its further expansion into the automotive market. With cars advancing from burning fuel to running on electricity, the development trend of the high-profile automotive market today is closely in line with Getac's objectives to build presence in markets with high added values and tremendous growth potential. The collaboration with Volkswagen Group will open up new opportunities for Getac in Europe. The experiences Getac has amassed through the collaboration will help it create a team truly capable of tackling customers' problems and enable it to capture future success.

Getac chairman James Hwang is upbeat about Getac rugged computers expanding presence in the automotive market

DIGITIMES' editorial team was not involved in the creation or production of this content. Companies looking to contribute commercial news or press releases are welcome to contact us.
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Bangladesh and Myanmar have reached an agreement to complete the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who had fled to Bangladesh in the wake of last year's army crackdown in Myanmar in the next two years.

As per the plan, Bangladesh would set up five transit camps on its side of the border from where it would send Rohingyas to two reception centres in Myanmar. The repatriation process would start next Tuesday, according to statements issued by both the Myanmar and Bangladesh foreign ministries.

Myanmar said it would build a transit camp that can house 30,000 returnees.

The Bangladesh statement said ''Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to stop (the) outflow of Myanmar residents to Bangladesh''.

Myanmar, however, wanted Bangladesh to take preventive measures against possible Rohingya attacks and said it gave Dhaka a list with the names of 1,000 alleged militants.

Myanmar army started a crack-down on Rohingya militants on 25 August last year following insurgent attacks on security posts, triggering an exodus of Muslims from the Rakhine state to Bangladesh.

Some 650,000 people fled the violence, prompting a response by UN Refugee Agency.

The military denies ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces had mounted legitimate counter-insurgency clearance operations.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, called for repatriating orphans and ''children born out of unwarranted incidence'', a reference to cases of rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar's security forces resulting in pregnancy.

The military, however, denies it was involved in any sexual assaults.

A spokesperson from the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), however, said the Rohingya should only return voluntarily when they feel it is safe to do so.

''Major challenges have to be overcome,'' UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a Geneva news briefing. ''These include ensuring they are told about the situation in their areas of origin ... and are consulted on their wishes, that their safety is ensured.''

Tuesday's meeting at Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw was the first by a joint working group set up to hammer out the details of the November repatriation agreement.
NIA seizes over Rs80 cr of demonetised currency from Kanpur resident: report

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has seized demonetised Rs1,000 and Rs500 currencies worth over Rs80 crore from Kanpur. The currencies were seized from a residential premises and counting is underway, reports quoting sources said.

The NIA conducted raids on the basis of inputs from the Uttar Pradesh Police and the raids are continuing, reports said, adding that the exact amount of money would be ascertained later.

The inputs suggested that some accused persons were hoarding money with demonetised currency notes of Rs1,000 and Rs 500 worth over Rs80 crore, according to a report in The Times of India.

''We received information of the presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur. A raid was conducted, and RBI and I-T department officials were informed about it. The final amount is not yet ascertained as search and counting are underway. The questioning is on,'' the report quoted Kanpur SSP AK Meena as saying.

In signs that unaccounted or fake currencies have been floating around post demonetisation, currency notes with a face value of Rs1 crore were seized from a vehicle at Uppiliapuram in Tamil Nadu on 14 January and four persons were detained in this connection.

The NIA had also recovered Rs36 crore worth of demonetised currency from nine persons in Delhi in connection with its Jammu and Kashmir terror funding probe two months ago.

With so much of unaccounted money being demonetised, there has been pressure on government and the Reserve Bank of India to open new channels for legalising demonetised currency left with individuals and corporate and other such entities beyond the 31 December 2016 deadline.

The central government's 8 November 2016 move to ban the use of all then existing Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes had come asa big blow to hoarders and black money holders.
Perhaps youve been in this situation.

Youre standing in the pasta section of your local supermarket or gourmet store, wondering if the more heftily priced package of artisanal pasta in your hand is really better than a standard package of De Cecco or Barilla pasta.

And no wonder. As with every form of traditional food, enormous variations exist in the quality of the many pasta brands out there, especially between generally unknown, small-batch artisanal varieties and familiar, commercially produced brands. While store shelves accommodate them all, its important to understand what differentiates one from the other.

Before we begin, it may be useful to start with what they have in common, which also happens to involve some good news. As per a law passed in 1967, all Italian dried pasta must be made from high-quality 100 percent durum semolina flour. This is beneficial to us all because it ensures that pasta, once cooked, retains its shape and pleasantly chewy texture and doesnt become a mushy, globby mess. The similarity ends there, however.

In order to fully appreciate how they otherwise differ, it is first helpful to understand how dried pasta is produced. It is a short story: once the dough has been mixed and kneaded, it is extruded through thick perforated discs called dies. The perforations on the discs, which have notches and holes of different shapes and sizes, create those coveted curves, curls, and straight lines as the pasta dough is pressed through them.

These dies, which shape the pasta, constitute the first main differentiation between artisanal and mass produced pasta. More specifically, the material from which these dies are made and the speed with which they extrude the pasta are important, because they both create different results.

Artisanal pasta is extruded through bronze dies, which are very expensive to produce, and which gives pasta a microscopic roughness and almost white surface. In addition, the artisanal process of making pasta passes the dough through the dies at a considerably slower speed than commercial brands, which protects the gluten in the dough and preserves the pastas texture. The type of die and the slower speed together create a surface that is generally more porous and more closely mimics homemade pasta in its ability to hold onto sauces more effectively.

Mass produced pasta is made with less expensive and longer-lasting Teflon dies, which are the industry standard. In the process, the pasta dough is extruded through the dies more quickly, which generates unwanted heat that damages the gluten in the dough, thus affecting its texture and the flavor of the pasta. This process tends to produce pasta shapes that are smooth, slick, and shiny and that, as you might imagine, do not hold sauces as well. (Some savvy mass producers have recently begun using bronze cut dies in their manufacturing process, and advertise it readily on their packaging.)

The second main differentiation between artisanal and commercially produced pasta lies in how the pasta is dried once shaped. Up until the early 20th century, all Italian pasta was dried in the sun, often for up to a week, to reach the optimal level of dryness. Once the first pasta-drying machine was invented in 1919, the process predictably changed. Since then, all pasta has been dried by an automated process, though the method employed by each is very different. Smaller, artisanal pasta makers dry their pasta at much lower temperatures over a longer period of time. They may take anywhere between 24 to 50 hours to dry their pasta. This slow drying takes place in very warm (but never high heat) environments, starting at a high humidity that is slowly reduced with the passage of drying time, enabling the pasta to dry without damaging the texture of the finished product.

Faster-moving, more cost-conscious mass producers, on the other hand, often dry their pasta at high heat in a matter of hours. While this approach does remove the appropriate amount of moisture from the pasta, ensuring long shelf life, it also essentially toasts the pasta, which breaks down its gluten network, making it more brittle and affecting its texture once cooked.

Artisanal pasta, which by its very nature is produced in small quantities by small producers, can sometimes fluctuate widely in quality, taste and texture, while national and international brands tend to produce pasta that is consistent and predictably good. But at least now, as we weigh our options in the pasta aisle, we can factor all of these points into our purchasing decision.

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Truffled Fresh Mushroom Sauce with Nutmeg & Pine Nuts

Truffles, a type of fungus that grows on tree roots in parts of Italy, France, and Spain, have an earthy, woodsy mushroom-like flavor and enticing aroma that help dishes jump off the plate. Unfortunately, they are persnickety and have proven impossible to farm. To this day they must to be sniffed out from the ground, usually with the help of trained dogs, and dug up individually, which makes them very expensive. Given the difficulty in procuring them and their high prices, it follows that the nominally priced bottles of truffle oil you find in gourmet stores and supermarkets are unlikely to contain any significant, if any, amount of real truffle. In fact, if the bottles label mentions truffle essence or aroma, what it contains is a mixture of olive oil and chemical additives, flavorings, and aromas. I recently found an all-natural truffle oil online that contains truffles grown in Oregon and is reasonably inexpensive, considering that it is actually made with the real deal. While it may not be from Tuscany, it is fragrant and delicious and I will be ordering it again. In any case, this luxurious smelling and tasting sauce is positively swoon-worthy company fare.

1 pound cremini mushrooms

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

3 tablespoons pine nuts

Salt to taste

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons white truffle oil, divided

2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed

Freshly ground white pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 pound pasta, such as penne

Trim the bottom of each mushroom stem. Fill a large bowl with cold water and add the vinegar. Add the mushrooms and swirl them around in the water for 30 seconds or so. Drain and rinse them under cold water. Drain again and place on a kitchen towel, stem side down, so that any remaining water drains. Let air dry for at least 10 minutes (30 minutes is best). Cut into 1/3-inch slices.

Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Add the pine nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until they appear golden in spots, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add  teaspoon salt. Stir well and transfer to a small bowl. Set aside.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Heat a skillet large enough to hold the finished pasta over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the butter and 1 tablespoon of the truffle oil. When the butter melts and stops foaming, add the garlic and cook, stirring a few times, until it begins to turn a pale golden color, about 3 minutes. Discard the garlic.

Add the mushrooms, a couple pinches of salt, and pepper to taste to the pan, mixing well. Raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their water, about 6 minutes. Continue to cook until their water has evaporated and the mushrooms are nice and soft but havent browned yet, about 8 minutes. Add the nutmeg, stir, and taste, adding more salt if needed. Add the cream, stir, and heat through. Remove from the heat, cover, and keep warm until the pasta is ready.

When the pasta water is boiling, add salt (1 tablespoon for every 4 cups water) and stir. Add the pasta, stirring for the first minute to prevent any sticking. Cook according to the package (or recipe) instructions, draining the pasta 2 minutes short of the directed cooking time. The pasta will be soft but still too firm to enjoy eating. Using a spider colander or a wide metal mesh strainer, transfer the pasta directly into the skillet with the mushroom sauce (it is okay if a little of the water from the pasta pot drains into the sauce when you are adding the pasta  the starch in the pasta water will help to thicken the sauce a bit). Immediately turn the heat to high and cook, mixing continuously, for 2 minutes.

Divide the pasta and sauce among four warmed pasta bowls and serve piping hot topped with a drizzle of the remaining 1 tablespoon truffle oil (or more to taste) and the toasted pine nuts. Makes 6 servings.

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Walnut Sauce with Herbs

Thick and creamy, this decadent sauce hails from the herb-laden hills of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Not often seen on the menu at Italian restaurants, I urge to indulge in it as often as possible.

1 cup 1/2-inch cubes day-old country bread

1 cup walnuts

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Handful fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh marjoram, chopped, divided

3 tablespoons walnut oil

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

3/4 pound pasta such as spaghetti or linguine

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Crumbled gorgonzola cheese for serving

Place the bread cubes in a small bowl, cover with warm water, and let soak for 30 minutes. Drain, then tightly squeeze the bread to remove as much water as possible. Set aside.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, then add the walnuts, cook for 2 minutes, drain, and let cool enough to handle. Rub off their skins and place on paper towels to dry. Place in a small ziplock bag and break them up with a rolling pin. Transfer to a small bowl.

Place the squeezed bread cubes, walnuts, garlic, breadcrumbs, parsley, and half the marjoram in a food processor or blender. Pulse until you have a smooth paste. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the walnut oil, and whisk until it is thoroughly incorporated. Add the cream, 3 tablespoons of the butter, and a couple generous pinches of salt and whisk well to combine.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once its boiling, add salt (1 tablespoon for every 4 cups water) and stir. Add the pasta and stir for first minute to prevent any sticking. Cook following the package instructions, though you will drain the pasta 2 minutes prior to the directed cooking time. The pasta should be soft but still very firm. Right before draining the pasta, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Return the empty pot to the stove. Immediately turn the heat to high and add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and reserved pasta water. Add the drained pasta and toss until the water is absorbed. Add the walnut sauce and cook, mixing continuously, for 1 to 2 minutes.

Divide the pasta among four warmed bowls and serve piping hot topped with crumbled gorgonzola and the remaining marjoram. Makes 4 servings.

Serena Cosmo is a cookbook author, food columnist and blogger. You can find her on www.rusticplate.com and on Instagram at Rustic Plate. A native of the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, she lives in Auburn with her two daughters, a doggie spirit named Jake, 3 cats, 4 goldfish, and 27 wooden cooking spoons.
Financial difficulties led to the revocation of the Hawk-Houston Boys & Girls Club charter by the national organization.

Last week, the club announced that its charter had been revoked. The facility, which had been in operation for 53 years, is now closed.

On Tuesday, Altha Newman, chief executive officer of the club, said that the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America revoked Hawk-Houstons charter because it had failed to pay dues.

Newman said Hawk-Houston had a policy of not turning away children if their parents were unable to pay for services. This impacted the clubs ability to pay dues, she said.

It catches up to you after a while, she said.

At the time of the revocation, the club was $8,000 in arrears on dues. Letters from the national organization also said Hawk-Houston had not submitted audit and other documentation as required.

The club was serving about 27 children with afterschool programs when it closed, Newman said.

The club was founded in 1964 by Alveta Houston Hawk, a local educator, to provide a safe environment for learning and play for children living in a predominately African-American community in downtown Dothan. The facility offered an afterschool program, as well as a summer program.

Newman said she hoped the facility would reopen as a community center for youth, adding that Hawk-Houston would be unable to get its charter back from the national organization.
While roads are not closed in Houston County following Tuesday nights winter storm, Dothan/Houston County Emergency Management Agency Director Chris Judah encouraged drivers to use extreme caution while traveling Wednesday morning.

Judah said Houston County avoided the brunt of a storm that brought snow and ice to the Deep South but also noted temperatures dropped lower than anticipated. What snow and ice accumulations the area will be melting and refreezing until this afternoon  creating hazardous situations, especially on bridges and overpasses.

According to Lt. Scott Long of the Dothan Police Department, 10 accidents occurred on bridges and overpasses between 5 and 10 a.m. Wednesday -- all related to drivers traveling too fast in those areas.

Judah noted the Houston County Road and Bridge Department is placing salt on bridges and overpasses in order to improve conditions. Long said as of 10 a.m., the bridges and overpasses on major thoroughfares in Dothan were in much better shape following the placement of salt.

Judah said the Dothan area should not experience any refreezing conditions on roads Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Outside Houston County, the road situations are worse.

Judah said trucks in the Midland City area have had troubles getting up some of the hills. Henry County and Barbour County roads are considered impassable, according to reports.

According to Henry County engineer Chris Champion, bridges north of Alabama 10 remained a concern as of 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. He added work crews sanded several structures in that area but could not get to all bridges in the county.

"(Tuesday) afternoon, the forecast changed on us. We had crews working between 6 (p.m.) and midnight," he said. "You don't want to sand too early. If you get started too early, the traffic blows it off the wheel path."

Champion said if the bridges have not dried by this afternoon, more sanding of the structures would take place. He added refreezing remains a concern in the northern portions of Henry County.

Judah said no power outages have been reported in Houston County, a major concern ahead of the storm. Electrical crews were on standby in case the icy conditions affected power lines or transformers.

Outside of driving conditions, Judah encouraged residents to be mindful of the bitterly cold conditions by protecting their pets and checking on the elderly in the area. Wednesdays high is projected to barely top the freezing mark, and the low Wednesday night could bottom out below 20 degrees.

The cold temperatures will remain until Saturday, when forecasters project a high near 60 degrees.
The former manager of an Oliver Brown cafe on the Gold Coast has been fined $27,200 for ripping off overseas workers.

Steven Chung was penalised in the Federal Circuit Court after admitting his involvement in the underpayment of 12 employees at the cafe in Surfers Paradise. Proceedings were brought against Chung by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) after the agencys inspectors, responding to a workers complaint, discovered the underpayments during an audit.

The employees were underpaid a total of $24,575 between January and September 2015, with Chungs involvement occurring from 11 July that year, when he became the cafes manager.

Seven of the twelve employees were overseas workers, including five Korean nationals. Four were on 417 working holiday visas, while the other three were on a 457 skilled worker visa, a 444 special category visa and a partner visa. There were also four juniors among the 12 underpaid workers, including two aged 18, one aged 19 and another aged 20.

According to Judge Salvatore Vasta, Chung quite deliberately calculated to see what it was that he could get away with.

Judge Vasta said Chung, who was responsible for hiring staff and setting wage rates, discriminated against a number of the employees, on, it would seem, the basis either of coming from a non-English speaking background, having a visa or their youth.

He continued, There doesnt appear to be any other explanation as to why there were some rates given to some people and other rates to others, except when one looks at the personal and cultural background of the workers.

It would seem that a worker on a visa who came from a non-English speaking background was certainly underpaid more than a person who is a permanent resident of this country from an English-speaking background.

The underpaid workers performed duties including washing dishes, taking orders and making drinks and desserts.

Judge Vasta found that Chung used different low flat rates that resulted in workers variously receiving pay under the minimum rates for ordinary hours, casual loadings, and penalty rates for weekend, public holiday, late night and early morning work they were entitled to under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010.

The largest underpayment was $9188 of an adult Korean worker who was paid flat rates of between $10 and $16.48 but was entitled to receive casual rates of up to $23.09 for ordinary hours, $27.71 on weekends and $46.18 on public holidays. Other workers were underpaid amounts ranging from $83 to $3839.

For persons who are on the minimum wage, such sums are quite crucial just simply to their existence and, for that reason, actions that result in their not being paid properly cannot be simply dismissed as being minor infractions, Judge Vasta said.

Judge Vasta found that the rate of underpayment, extrapolated over the course of a year, would have resulted in underpayments in the order of $80,000.

For any business to be, in effect, saving $80,000 in employee entitlements would give them a significant advantage over businesses that were mindful and respectful of their legal obligations to ensure that workers were properly paid, Judge Vasta said.

Judge Vasta said the failure to provide pay slips to four of the workers was an extremely serious breach of an employers obligations and demonstrated a level of discrimination by Mr Chung as to whom he gave pay slips and to whom he did not.

Judge Vasta said he was not convinced entirely of Chungs contrition but said the former manager had, once shown the underpayment figures, cooperated with the Fair Work Ombudsman and admitted what had occurred and that it was wrong.

The workers were back-paid in full late last year.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the targeting of vulnerable workers with low discount flat rates was a particularly concerning feature of the case.

We treat exploitation of overseas and young workers particularly seriously because they can be especially vulnerable if they are not aware of their rights, have language barriers or are reluctant to complain, she said.

Migrant workers make up 6 per cent of the workforce yet they were in involved in 18 per cent of the workplace disputes we assisted with in the last financial year.

Furthermore, overseas workers were involved in nearly half (49 per cent) of the litigations we filed last year, suggesting the issues they are exposed to in the workplace are at the more serious end of the scale.

James said employers should be aware that the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act 2017 has now come into effect, increasing maximum penalties for conduct including deliberate exploitation of workers.
Nearly US$560 million was invested in Australian startups, last year, a 1.4% increase on 2016; however, the number of investment deals fell 27%, according to a new report from KPMG International.

The professional services giants latest Venture Pulse, a quarterly report on global venture capital investment, shows that Australian startups closed 17 deals, worth $121.55 million during Q4 2017, an increase on the same period in 2016 when $105.15m was invested.

Significant deals recorded in the final quarter of 2017 included $30M invested in IR Exchange, $25.72M in Airtasker and $19.5 in Spaceship. However, while the total amount of Australian venture capital invested rose, the number of deals fell significantly from 185 in 2016 to 135 in 2017.

Amanda Price, Head of KPMG High Growth Ventures, told Dynamic Business that the increase in deal value reflects the increasing investment at later stages in startups, particular at the series A level in Australia.

Meanwhile, she said the simultaneous decline in the number of deals would appear to indicate a slowdown in early stage investments.

With seed and angel funding still a vital part of our startup ecosystem, we are hopeful that the decline in deal number is a temporary shift rather than a major structural change in the VC market, she said.

This maturing deal flow also reflects the global statistics, with first-time VC financing falling for the third straight year  to $13B across 3,813 deals.

Price didnt have any Australian-specific statistics around funding sourced from local and overseas VCs and corporates; however, she said, anecdotally, we have seen Australian VCs raising and deploying record amounts of capital. She continued, At the same time, Australian startups are also appearing on the radar of US VC firms. We also have seen increasing levels activity from a number of Australian corporates, notably bank-backed funds like Reinventure and NAB Ventures.

Asked which startups were attracting the most funding, Price replied: Australia continues to see the creation of very exciting enterprise tech startups, with many following in the footsteps of standout businesses like Atlassian, Campaign Monitor and SimPro  all of which raised significant funding from international VC investors.
Michigan politicos are once again atwitter about Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and other Democrats allegedly trying to recruit an alternative to Gretchen Whitmer for governor. Thats from a Bridge story this week following up on a Detroit News column in November. And I wrote a column for Dome Magazine back in October, going through the months-long history of the effort and analyzing whats behind it:

As things currently stand, the Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner is former Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing), who served for more than 14 years in Lansing. Her top competition is Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the former Detroit Health Department head whos in the Sanders mold and would be the nations first Muslim governor. Theres also businessman Shri Thanedar, who immigrated from India, and former executive Bill Cobbs, whos African-American. Most Democratic leaders and voters are fine with the field, which, after all, is pretty representative of the party. But for the forces utterly convinced that a woman, Muslim, immigrant or African-American absolutely cannot win the top job in Michigan next year, the mission is clear: Find the Great White Male Hope.

But is worth revisiting some history thats been forgotten.

Another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, said during the April 28, 2017 edition of Off the Record that he expected to receive Duggans announcement. That made some sense, as Duggan hired El-Sayed to run Detroits health department, even though Duggan is the prototype of a moderate Dem and El-Sayed proudly hails from the Bernie Sanders wing. But apparently El-Sayed has been passed over if Duggan is looking to recruit another gubernatorial hopeful.

The exchange starts at 25:58:
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Chancellor Thomas Conway Announces May 2018 Retirement

Elizabeth City State University Chancellor Thomas E.H. Conway, Jr., announced on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, that effective May 31, 2018, he will retire as the universitys top officer after a 45-year career with the University of North Carolina System.

Chancellor Conway made his intention to retire formally known in a letter to UNC System President Margaret Spellings.

Chancellor Conway began his role as ECSUs top officer in January 2016. Since that time he has overseen the restructuring of policies and departments to the benefit of the University.

A good bit of my work at ECSU could be characterized as getting the table cleared of concerns raised through both internal audits and external reviews, stated Chancellor Conway in his letter to President Spellings.

Since taking the lead at ECSU, Chancellor Conway has made strides toward expanding the value of the University by requesting and receiving approval for five new academic programs, establishing bilateral agreements with North Carolina Community Colleges, and the first enrollment increase in seven years in conjunction with the largest freshman class in five years.

Chancellor Conway has also overseen investments in ECSU totaling more than $24 million which, along with the potential $20 million loan from the USDA, will serve as major investments in not only the University, but also the regional economy.

This year, under Chancellor Conways leadership, ECSU also rolled out a new branding campaign, introducing a new logo and tagline. The new tagline, Come to discover, leave to conquer, speaks to the institutions legacy of introducing well prepared and accomplished young men and women into the world.

Chancellor Conways retirement comes after serving the UNC System for 45 years, 32 of which were spent at N.C. State in various capacities, including Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Services, and Associate Vice Provost for the Division of Undergraduate Affairs.

Prior to coming to ECSU, he served at Fayetteville State University as Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff, working with FSU Chancellor James Anderson.

Chancellor Conway holds a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education and M.S. degree in Guidance and Counseling from North Carolina A & T State University, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from North Carolina State University.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)The Israeli flag flies at the Western Wall, a Jewish Holy site, next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque one of Islam's Holy sites in Jerusalem on Feb. 11, 2016.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit has told a gathering organized by a leading Muslim cleric in Cairo that, "The future of Jerusalem must be a shared one."

The WCC head addressed the status of Jerusalem at the international "World Conference in Support of Jerusalem" on Jan. 17-18 January in the Egyptian capital.

The meeting was organized by the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh al-Tayyib, under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

Speaking on the theme of Jerusalem's shared future Tveit, "It cannot be the exclusive possession of one faith over against the others, or of one people over against the other. Jerusalem is, and must continue to be, a city of three religions and two peoples."

He noted, "Jerusalem is regarded as a holy city and loved, genuinely and deeply loved, by all three Abrahamic faiths  Jews, Christians and Muslims."

Tveit said. "That love and profound attachment must be respected and affirmed in any solution that might be envisaged, if it is to be viable."

JESUS WEPT OVER JERUSALEM

He said that the Bible's New Testament relates how Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem with love and longing.

"If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!" Tveit reflected quoting the apostle Luke 19:42.

"Following Jesus' word and example means to speak truth, to seek justice, and to be peacemakers in the world's conflicts and controversies," he said.

In speaking for a shared Jerusalem Tveit said it the complexity of Jerusalem's history and culture must be considered.

"History shows that the involvement in this region of these three religions has not brought just peace for all. That, unfortunately, is still true today."

He asserted, "As believers in one almighty God, we should explore together what it means to express the love of God in this conflict in which the three monotheistic religions and their communities are involved and affected.

"There will be no peace in Jerusalem unless all three religions are respected and involved in the solution...Let us together be contributors to a just peace, not to a perpetual conflict."

The conference gathers prominent national, regional and international representatives such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church Tawadros II; Arab Parliament chief Meshaal bin Fahm al-Salmi; the President of the Kuwait National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanim; and Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League.
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.
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COLUMBUS  Todd Watson read portions of the Constitution while making his pitch to local voters to support his run for the U.S. Senate.

The Lincoln man is trying for a second time to win a Senate seat after being defeated in 2014 by Republican Ben Sasse while running as an independent.

This time, Watson is challenging incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer for the Republican nomination.

Watson spoke during the Columbus Rotary Club meeting Tuesday at Hy-Vee.

The self-described straight constitutionalist had harsh words for elected leaders from Nebraska.

Were an embarrassment to the Republican Party in this state, he said.

He pointed fingers at former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, who went on to serve as secretary of defense under President Barack Obama, and Fischer, who Watson said tried an unconstitutional move by asking Donald Trump to step aside and allow Mike Pence to take over as the party's nominee for president. He also said Sasse tried to sabotage Trump during the election.

We would have had Hillary (Clinton) as president and we would have lost the Supreme Court, Watson said.

He believes the GOP has been run by big money.

Its time to represent Nebraskans. We have to lose the reputation of not being a real conservative state instead of being a sellout establishment Republican state, he said.

Watson, a certified public accountant and father of four, has never been elected to public office, but he doesnt see that as a disadvantage. He said he is not naive to politics as he served as an intern to former Nebraska Congressman Jon Christensen.

If elected, he is vowing to defend the Constitution in its entirety. Watson said he is more of an old-school conservative with a foundation based on national security, fiscal sanity and economic growth.

He said Fischer, who serves on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells leadership team, hasnt accomplished what she promised to do in 2012, such as repealing the Affordable Care Act and cutting spending.

A big reason Im taking her on is she has a very big, Yes, sir, McConnell leadership team attitude and rubber stamps almost everything without thinking. We need a thinker. We need someone who understands this document, he said, referencing the Constitution.

Bipartisanship can be accomplished if elected officials stand by the Constitution, according to Watson.

Theres time for peace. Theres time for war. If you are going to violate the Constitution, its time for battle, he said.

Watson said he is pro-life and would vote against any budget plan that funds Planned Parenthood. He is also a supporter of the Second Amendment.

On immigration, he said the U.S.-Mexico border needs to be secure, that the visa system needs to be reformed and that illegal immigrants who commit crimes should be deported.

I dont think there is any argument that if you commit a crime that you are gone. Lets get aggressive on those people who have committed crimes, he said.

Watson said Trump is a breath of fresh air and he thinks working people are doing much better and there has been economic growth since the president took office. He also said the Islamic State is being defeated, eliminating a major domestic threat.

Watson did question Trumps fiscal control and social conservatism.

When asked about his opinion on the presidents vulgar comments about women and developing nations, Watson said that is Trumps style.

Do I like everything hes said? No, I dont. Have I heard worse? Yes, Ive worked around construction sites. Some of what hes said gets caught on the microphone. Its not acceptable, but styles are styles and Im looking at results for the people, he said.

If elected, Watson said he would like to serve on the Agriculture Committee and another committee where he could use his knowledge of tax laws.

He wants to bring change to Washington.

At the end of the day, what I think is missing is courage and strength. We have smart people, but we have to have strength to do the right things, Watson said.
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is defending her husband, Michael Douglas, after the actor revealed he was being accused of sexual misconduct. Zeta-Jones is currently promoting her latest film, Cocaine Godmother, touched on the subject while stating she stands by her husband and his decision to come forward.

There Was No Other Way

Douglas stated that he was being accused of sexually harassing a former employee. The actor revealed that he had been contacted by multiple news outlets in reference to an allegation from a woman that claimed he masturbated in front of her over 32 years ago. The anonymous woman also claimed that the actor spoke "raunchily" to her and her friends.

Douglas vehemently denied the allegation and beat the outlets to the punch by doing an in-depth interview on the story himself; a step no other actor has taken.

"I had the choice of waiting for a story to come out, one that will clearly get picked up by other newspapers and magazines, and then I have to sit there and try to defend myself. Or, try to share with the public, a little ahead of the story, my thoughts and concerns," Douglas stated.

The actor elaborated that any inappropriate language that was used around the female employee was not meant for her and he apologized for that.

Zeta-Jones, who has been married to Douglas since 2000, supported her husband's decision to come forward with the allegation and also is standing by him. The actress also states that while she does support her husband, she also supports the #MeToo movement and all the women who have come forward.

"My reaction was that as two people who have been in this business  him longer than me  was that we support 'Me Too' and the movement more than anybody, anybody  me as a woman, him as a man," Zeta-Jones stated.

The actress stated that she remains optimistic that things will change for the better as more women continue to share their story.

"This is not going to be at the forefront of everyone's mind forever and ever, and we're going to have to be kind to each other. We can't ask everyone else to be kind to us unless we're kind to each other," she continued.

Zeta-Jones and Douglas have two children together, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta. The couple briefly separated in 2013 while Douglas underwent treatment for throat cancer. They reconciled in November of that year and stated they were "stronger than ever".

Zeta-Jones will portray infamous Colombian drug-lord, Griselda Blanco, who was known as the "Queen of Narco-Trafficking" in the upcoming Lifetime biopic which will be released on Jan. 20.
Actor Matt Damon is taking back what he said in reference to the sexual harassment scandal that has become a worldwide epidemic. The allegations first broke after movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was outed as a sexual predator and his past sexual crimes were bought to light. Since then, actors and actresses who were associated with Weinstein were also brought under scrutiny as many felt that everyone was aware of Weinstein's inappropriate behavior.

Damon stated in an interview with Ocean's 11 co-star George Clooney that there needed to be a "sweeping change" in Hollywood. The actors also stated that they were aware of Weinstein's cheating habits but did not know of his abusive behavior.

Damon's further comments on the matter had landed him in hot water with several actresses, including Rose McGowan and Minnie Driver.

Damon's Remorse

Damon received backlash from his fellow colleagues when he suggested that all sexual assault claims shouldn't be handled the same. The Good Will Hunting actor used comedian Louis C.K. as an example, stating that he should be forgiven since the comedian was "remorseful" for the alleged crimes.

The actor had also stated that he felt there was a "witch hunt" taking place in Hollywood following the creation of the movements Time's Up and #MeToo.

Following his comments, Damon was called out by Driver, McGowan, and Alyssa Milano for his "careless" remarks.

The actor visited the Today Show on Jan. 16 and was questioned by anchor Kathie Lee Gifford about the remarks he made.

"I really wish I'd listened a lot more before I weighed in on this. I don't want to further anybody's pain with anything that I do or say. So for that I am really sorry," Damon said.

The actor, who recently lost his father in December 2017, stated that while he is a good listener, he should have waited to speak on the matter.

"A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they're doing and want to be a part of that change and want to go along for the ride, but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while," Damon continued.

While Damon seeks redemption for his remarks, others still stand against the Time's Up movement. In France, an editorial piece was signed by over 100 women slamming the latest anti-harassment campaign, stating that it "went too far."
Dylan Farrow is continuing her crusade against her estranged stepfather, famed director Woody Allen. Farrow has claimed since the early 1990s that Allen sexually abused her. Allen has denied Farrow's allegation and no charges were ever brought against him.

In her first television interview, Farrow sat down with Gayle King from CBS This Morning to elaborate on her accusations against Allen.

Dylan's Anger

Farrow had published an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times where she criticized the #MeToo movement and the allegations against certain men in Hollywood, including Harvey Weinstein. Farrow slammed the trending topic and Hollywood for overlooking her accusations against Allen. She also called out certain actresses for continuing to work with Allen, particularly Blake Lively, Kate Winslet, and Greta Gerwig.

Since her publication, several actors and actresses have begun to cut ties with Allen. Actress Mira Sorvino wrote an apology to Farrow where she admitted she believed the media's portrayal of Allen rather than looking into Farrow's claims herself.

Gerwig also stated that she was no longer working with Allen, while actor Timothee Chalamet claimed he would donate all his earnings from an upcoming project he worked with Allen on to Time's Up, The LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN.

In a teaser clip of the interview that was released, Farrow is seen talking with King about her accusation against Allen if she's trying to "take Allen down."

"Why shouldn't I be angry? Why shouldn't I be hurt? Why shouldn't I feel some sort of outrage after all these years of being ignored and disbelieved and tossed aside?" Farrow commented.

When King asked Farrow why people should believe her story, Farrow stated that it's the people's choice to do so.

"I suppose that's on them but all I can do is speak my truth and hope that somebody will believe me instead of just hearing," she continued.

Allen's Defense

While certain entertainers in the industry have begun to turn away from the acclaimed director, there are others that are still standing behind him. 30 Rock actor Alec Balwdin defended Allen in a tweet where he stated that it was "unfair and sad" what Allen was being accused of.

Baldwin's tweet received backlash and negative criticism from Twitter users.

Farrow's interview will air on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018 on CBS.
LINCOLN  State Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha introduced legislation Tuesday to require due process for the taking of private property for private oil pipeline construction in Nebraska rather than any use of eminent domain.

The bill (LB1017) also would require periodic payments to landowners for the use of their land, along with a decommissioning plan that provides for removal of the pipeline at the end of its useful life and restoration of property to its original state.

Periodic payments represent a leasing process rather than an easement arrangement.

LB1017 would require any applicant to post a construction and performance bond of at least $100 million.

"This is a discussion we need to have," Krist said.

The new requirements, which Krist said have "the support of the Sierra Club and other folks," would have a direct impact on the process that TransCanada would need to navigate if it moves ahead with plans to construct the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through the state.

The proposal states that both the Nebraska State Constitution and U.S. Constitution provide that "private property cannot be taken without due process and that such taking must be for a public use with just compensation."

Last November, the Nebraska Public Service Commission approved TransCanada's controversial pipeline, but not the route through Nebraska the company wanted to follow.

Instead, the commission approved an alternative route that crosses Colfax and Butler counties.

TransCanada has been contacting landowners along the new route without yet making a public decision as to whether it wants to proceed with construction of the oil pipeline through Nebraska.

The Nebraska project would connect a pipeline that begins in Alberta to an existing pipeline that extends to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
petek1664 said: My father passed away in Jan 2017. The solicitor is the executor and he had a will.

All has gone to plan until now. We are being asked to sign a 'Declaration' stating we have received the money from his estate and that we are happy with the solicitors services before we have received the money from the estate. We are not going to sign this declaration.

Has anyone else experienced this? Click to expand...

Sorry for your lossI hope you don't mind me asking but did your late fathers estate have the title deeds in his name or have you had to go through the court probate with a bill of sale off the land registry.reason for asking we are being told that title deeds don't make any difference regarding beneficiaries and things will be settled very quickly with or without them!!!you have been waiting 12 months and they want you to sign to say you have had the money before you can get anything - I say no way - lets hope someone on here can help youGood luck with everything
Dear All,



I'm from India, I got the offer/Contract signed from one of the abu dhabi based company- Zonescorp.I had sent them the attested degree certificates & all other required documents. In MOHRE app the "transaction is under progress with MOI". Can anyone suggest how long it will take to process the work permit once the labor card is approved .



Its almost 25 days.



Appreciate your help!!
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In its seventh year, the San Antonio Cocktail Conference still had plenty to teach us last weekend, from Opening Night at the DoSeum to the swank Waldorf on the Prairie to the new Cocktails Under the Sea and the dozens of seminars, exhibits and tastings in between. Here are a few of the highlights.

Gin is in: The smell of juniper was inescapable throughout the SACC, as distillers throughout the world sought to one-up each other with their innovative gin products. Some were ho-hum, while other gins were standouts in experimentation, including a couple made here in Texas.

Southwest Spirits and Wine, a Dallas-based distillery, infuses its Calamity Gin with the most Texas of ingredients possible: bluebonnet flowers grown on site. ROXOR, also out of Dallas, packed pecans, sarsaparilla and locally grown grapefruit for an over-the-top fruit and nut flavor that stretched the limits in a good way.

And from the north coast of Ireland, Gunpowder Irish Gin was bold and velvety, layered with more than a dozen botanicals and ingredients, including the signature gunpowder tea the spirit is named after.

A new spin: Dave Arnold and Don Lee, arguably two of contemporary cocktail cultures most influential innovators, dished on modernist bar techniques and demonstrated the latest must-have for any serious food or drink nerd: the Spinzall Culinary Centrifuge. Essentially a personal centrifuge, the Spinzall allows users to clarify a wide range of liquids.

Love bananas but hate chunky purees? This baby is for you  for the low, low price of $800.

Spice is nice: Chiles found some cool company. Ghost Tequila, infused with its wicked namesake pepper, made a sharp tequila mule with ginger beer and lime at Cocktails Under the Sea. Jalapeno simple syrup gave Woodford Reserve bourbon a turbocharge in the Elijahs Pepper Smash at a Texatucky seminar examining whiskey. And the Milagro Picoso cocktail at the Opening Night at the DoSeum soiree drew its power equally from the ancho verde pepper and Milagro Silver tequila.

Ice is nicer: Ive always said that if your ice isnt any better than a Holiday Inn ice machine, neither are your cocktails. To put this conference in perspective: Not just the cocktails, but even the bins of water bottles were iced down with proper, slow-melting Kold Kraft cubes.

In the exhibitors area of the host St. Anthony hotel, Austin company Fat Ice, which supplies some of San Antonios top bar spots, showed off ice cut like giant marquis diamonds.

Vesper venting: During his seminar on bitters, Sother Teague of the New York bar Amor y Amargo delivered a blistering condemnation of the Vesper cocktail, a concoction of gin, vodka and Kina Lillet made famous in the James Bond film franchise.

Its the worst drink ever conceived, Teague said. Gin is essentially flavored vodka, so why the need to add more vodka? Its like a recipe with Coca-Cola that calls for the addition of seltzer water. (Expletive) that drink!

Ants on a rim: Camarena Tequila paid tribute to San Antonios native Payaya people in an intriguing manner. Sure, the paloma in the cup was a nice drink, but the rim was where the action was at: mesquite-smoked salt and ground black ants made this sip next-level.

For the squeamish, Camarena was kind enough to present a version rimmed with ground heirloom corn instead of insects.

Quick tips from The Cocktail Guru: In his Mixology 101 panel, bar consultant Jonathan Pogash broke down the art of cocktail development into the simplest of terms: start with a formula of two parts strong (base spirit), one part sweet and one part sour. He boiled the shaken vs. stirred debate down to personal preference, although he did say to always stir a proper Manhattan.

Wakeup call: Coffee showed up in unexpected places: in coffee-infused Campari for Redemption High Ryes Born on the Boulevard, in a Grey Goose espresso martini and a snowcone-style Vietnamese coffee with Patron Tequila.

A Texas twist: Theres no denying Texas loves its liquor  we consistently down more than 3 million gallons of the stuff per month. The interesting thing, according to research by author Nico Martini (whadda name), is the Lone Star state has contributed only two entries to the American cocktail canon: the Chilton and Ranch Water. The Chilton, bone dry and a little salty in true Texas fashion, is one of many drinks that will appear in his forthcoming book Texas Cocktails: An Elegant Collection of More Than 100 Recipes Inspired by the Lone Star State. And its a breeze to make: Fill a salt-rimmed highball glass with ice. Top with 1 ounces vodka, the juice of two lemons and fill to the top with Topo Chico. Give it a gentle stir and garnish with a lemon wheel.

Monkey business: Austin-based Chango Mezcalero served up three distinct varieties of its mezcal in some of the most visually striking bottles at the SACC. The limited-edition hand-blown glass bottles are shaped like monkeys, bringing an updated take to an old Southern Mexico tradition when mezcal was served in artsy clay containers shaped like the tree dwellers.

Happy accidents: Of course wed have a taste for hard-to-find and pricey 28-year-old palo cortados  one of several revelations that came courtesy of a sherry tasting session. The good news? Valdespinos Fino Inocente is a bright, bone-dry, funk-free treat that has redefined our relationship to sherry. Oh, and bonus, it can generally be found for less than $20 a bottle.

On the horizon: Last years conference gave early glimpses of food from Hanzo and Periphery. This year came promising samples of pork rillettes with tomato jam from chef Chris Carlsons The Maverick (mavericktexas.com) and quail drumettes with persimmon from a supper club called Naibor (Instagram: @naibor_co) from Restaurant Gwendolyn veterans Ian Lamphear and Robert Cruzan. Both are coming soon.

cblount@express-news.net | pstephen@express-news.net | msutter@express-news.net
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For the unlucky ones who still had to go to work Tuesday as a winter storm coated San Antonio with ice, the weather was a frustrating inconvenience.

But with classes canceled, public offices closed and a host of businesses on slowdown mode, many families in the area welcomed the extra day off as a chance to hunker down at home.

Michelle Garza, a mother of two, was happy when her workplace, the television station KLRN, decided to close its office due to the inclement weather. She had been hoping for the notification after her 8-year-old sons school, Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering, announced it would shut down its campus Tuesday.

Garza, 40, spent the day with her own kids and her sisters eight children and one of their friends  11 children in total, in one house, definitely a handful, she said.

I know they just got off for break, but I still look at it as a fun day for them, and us, Garza said.

Their ice day featured movies, vegetable soup and childhood wonder at the rare sight of widespread ice in South Texas.

They never get something like this, especially in San Antonio, Garza said. For them, its the most awesome thing ever.

John Garlands two daughters enjoyed day, too.

The 36-year-old pastor at San Antonio Mennonite Church said his two daughters, both students at Bonham Academy in the San Antonio Independent School District, were beside themselves over the unusually frigid weather.

His youngest child, a kindergartener, repeatedly proclaimed that it was the best day of her life as they ventured out into their backyard in the Lavaca neighborhood to play in the ice.

Garland and his wife, a principal in the KIPP charter school network who also had the day off, arranged for a day full of warm comfort: an extra pot of coffee, hot cocoa, popcorn, soup and snuggling in bed with books.

Some work still had to get done. In addition to being a pastor, Garland grows organic vegetables in a greenhouse on his property, and he had to harvest some of them for a delivery.

Aside from that, things that had seemed urgent the day before took a backseat to time with his family. In Garlands eyes, the weather brought a forced Sabbath the day after many people were out participating in Martin Luther King Jr. Day events.

For Allison Branch, a kindergarten teacher at Lewis Elementary School, the weather provided a four-day weekend for herself and her two young children, who were a bit more impressed by Decembers evening of snow than the subtleties of ice.

While Branch, 38, was able to catch up on cleaning and read a new book, her 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter used the extra time to play with LEGOs and create snowflake artwork.

Holly Bain and her family had a similar idea  her three daughters made ice ornaments and reveled in knocking down icicles outside. Bain, 39, who has her own photography business, was able to take the day off, while her husband, who works in IT at USAA, worked remotely from home.

Bain enjoyed the extra time off but said she was ready to get out of the house again soon or she would go crazy.

Its nice to sort of be like, you know, we actually cant do anything right now, Garland said. We just need to be together.

Lauren Caruba is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lcaruba@express-news.net | @LaurenCaruba
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If you were driving a gray Toyota truck Tuesday about noon on icy Loop 410 eastbound near West Avenue and spun out into the concrete divider, it might be of some comfort to know that the roadside cameras of the Texas Department of Transportation and the eyes of Ben Lopez had your back.

I dont think anybody is still in there, Lopez said as he tightly focused a camera on the windshield of the damaged Toyota, which still had its flashers going. There, see, someone else (from TxDOT) got to this and a tow truck is already pulling up.

But that would not end the problem.

Lopez is the senior operator at the TxDOT offices of TransGuide, where technicians monitor some 196 cameras posted along the seven major highways that dissect Bexar County. Normally, they watch for all wrecks  especially involving wrong-way or drunken drivers  and type out the digital highway warning signs.

During ice storms, they often work 12-hour shifts or more to manage the onslaught of collisions  at least 180 were reported across San Antonio between midnight and noon Tuesday  while also tracking, even suggesting, road closures.

In front of Lopez were four computer screens that can fix instantaneously on any of the 196 vantage points. An SAPD dispatcher sits to his left. Lopez typed out a highway warning: Accident Ahead at West Ave. Use Left Lanes.

Calmly, Lopez answered his desk phone, cellphone and colleagues, while staring intently at the tow truck situation.

It had parked beyond the Toyota to hoist the smaller vehicle onto its flat bed, but almost half the hefty tow truck stuck ominously out into the far right lane of traffic.

Without any police responding yet  it was within the city of Castle Hills limits  there were no flares warning the freeway traffic behind the Toyota to slow down, and cars that were traveling too fast for the icy conditions had to make a too-quick decision to either narrowly squeeze by the tow truck or veer suddenly into the second lane, causing more drivers to swerve or hit the brakes.

It sounds so simple, so basic, said Lopez, who came to work at midnight, but in conditions like these, people have  got  to  slow  down. This situation here could get dangerous.

The safety-vested tow truck driver then got out to hook up the Toyota.

Weve done everything we can, Lopez said, wincing at how close the tow truck driver was to passing cars. The tow was called. The police are obviously busy, but you find yourself really hoping for people. Youre saying, Come on, cops. Get there quick. That could be your sister, somebody you work with. We care about these people.

Just before 1 p.m., another tow truck, with larger flashing signals, pulled in behind the Toyota and served as a warning for traffic. By 1:20 they were gone. Crisis averted, for a few minutes.

Lopez, who went to Harlandale High School before 26 years with the Navy and a stressful stint as a Bexar County jailer, folded his stout forearms across his chest. He was momentarily pleased.

Despite the weather  sleet just started again, a co-worker announced at 1:26 p.m.  his screens showed carefully moving, well-spaced traffic.

Some people are listening to us, he said, smiling.

The connectors (elevated fly-overs) are closed between Bandera and Babcock, one of his crew added. Rains freezing on the grass near Ingram Road.

Above Lopez in closed-off offices that look down on the traffic command center, TxDOT officials deal with the possibility of more freezing rain and a dwindling supply of the salt brine that road crews have spread throughout the region since Friday.

Were not out of the woods yet, he said.

Lopez cruised past his 13th hour at work but was planning to leave soon. He would return again at midnight.

bselcraig@express-news.net
A San Antonio man convicted Friday of murder in the 2015 fatal shooting will learn his fate when the jury begins deliberations for his punishment.

Robert Martinez, 21, was convicted Friday in the death of Steven Cerna, 19. The state and defense were to start closing arguments in the punishment phase Tuesday  the Bexar County Courthouse and Justice Center was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. But on Tuesday, it was closed because of the icy weather.

Closing arguments now are expected to begin this morning in the 290th state District Court, presided over by Judge Melisa Skinner.

Martinez faces up to life in prison.

Martinez was 19 when he was listed as a person of interest in Cernas death. Cerna was found shot to death Feb. 20, 2015. His body was left in a drainage ditch known as Hells Gate, in the 1100 block of Shadwell on the West Side.

The case had gone cold for about two years before Martinezs arrest in June. The trial, which lasted almost a week, began Jan. 9.

The defense argued that Martinez was not the shooter, there were no witnesses who could place his client at the scene, and that authorities arrested the wrong man.

Prosecutors Melissa Saenz and Kristina Escalona argued that Cerna was mistakenly implicated in the death of one of Martinezs friends and was killed in retaliation.

Martinezs uncle, Larry Isaac, 31, testified for the state last week and said his nephew admitted to him in a telephone call that he had shot Cerna and left him in the dirt. Letters that Isaac and Martinez had sent to each other while in the Bexar County Jail and shown to the jury implied that Martinez asked Isaac not to say anything about the incident to authorities.

Isaac admitted under cross-examination by defense attorney Leland McRae that he had made a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony. Isaac was being held in connection with an aggravated kidnapping charge involving his wife that would have sent him to prison for 20 years.

In exchange for his testimony, the plea agreement reached would cap his punishment at nine years on a lesser charge of kidnapping, something Isaac said was the deal of a lifetime.

Elizabeth Zavala is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | ezavala@express-news.net | @elizabeth2863
Small and regional airports throughout Nebraska serve as the connection between rural communities and their families, the economy, and the world. They also act as access points that help attract business and move people quickly. Our airports enable us to compete in a global economy. Without them, Nebraskans in many parts of our state would be hundreds of miles and hours away from the nearest airport.

The Essential Air Service (EAS) program ensures air travel remains available in rural communities. The Department of Transportation provides funding through the EAS program to support regional airline service in areas that, without this support, would struggle to maintain this service.

I brought the importance of the EAS program to the attention of the administration in person. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last year, I questioned Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao about a proposal put forward by the administration to eliminate a significant amount of this programs funding. The secretary assured the committee she would work within the administration to come to a solution on funding for the EAS program.

After meeting with Secretary Chao, I led a bipartisan group of senators in a letter that underscored how vital the EAS program is for Nebraskans and other rural areas. We asked Secretary Chao to keep us informed as discussions with the administration continued, and pledged to work hand-in-hand with the White House to make sure the EAS program continues for rural Americans.

That open line of communication has been vital in protecting our regional airports. Late last year, I was alarmed when, on Sept. 29, 2017, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an order that threatened the access of Nebraskans in rural areas to air travel. In the order, the DOT announced a tentative determination to end EAS eligibility in 27 communities, including the Western Nebraska Regional Airport in Scottsbluff and Kearney Regional Airport in Kearney.

These two facilities are important to the future success of Nebraska, and as your senior senator, I led members of the Nebraska delegation in addressing this issue with the administration. On Oct. 16, 2017, Sen. Sasse and Congressman Smith joined me in requesting continued EAS support for Scottsbluff and Kearney airports from the DOT.

Our action paid off. On Dec. 29, 2017, the DOT announced it would continue its EAS support for those two facilities. This decision is a victory for these communities. It is a victory for our state. Because of it the people and goods in these rural areas can continue to get where they need to go.
Four days after giving Texas Democrats something to cheer about over the long and complex redistricting battle, the U.S. Supreme Court went the other way and gave Texas Republicans a victory.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected the Texas Democrats attempt to get the court to review its claims alleging Republicans used partisan gerrymandering in 2013 to hurt Democrats at the ballot box.

That decision comes after Fridays decision in which the court agreed to take up an appeal from organizations representing African-Americans and Latinos that accuse Texas Republicans of using racial gerrymandering to dilute minority representation. The oral arguments related to the racial gerrymandering claims is set for April.

On Tuesday, the court sided with the attorneys for the state of Texas who had argued that Texas Democrats did not have jurisdiction to call for an appeal of the lower courts because a final ruling had not yet been issued in the case Democrats are trying to appeal.

But the U.S. Supreme Court is still looking at partisan gerrymandering cases from other states that could ultimately affect Texas. The Supreme Court already has agreed to look at allegations of partisan gerrymandering in the congressional redistricting maps of Democrats in Maryland and in the state redistricting maps of Republicans in Wisconsin.

Texas Democrats say they will watch those cases and rulings carefully to see how they could help them in their efforts to force Republicans to redraw maps in Texas.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that it does not presently have jurisdiction to hear a partisan gerrymander claim under the unique posture of this complex case. Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said. Nonetheless, we anticipate an upcoming opportunity to continue our pursuit of justice for Texas voters.

Since Texas started redistricting after the 2010 Census, the effort has been under constant legal attack. In August, a lower court ruled that at least two congressional districts  the 27th and the 35th  violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. Additionally the court found the states congressional plan in 2011 then redrawn in 2013 was intentionally discriminatory and called on the Legislature to hold a special session to redraw the maps. The court also ruled the redistricting map for the state house also violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act and needed to be redrawn.

But before any of that could happen, Texas appealed to the Supreme Court to temporarily block the redrawings and won. In late September, the groups representing African-Americans and Latinos appealed. The result is on Friday the Supreme Court decided to review the racial gerrymandering claims in the spring.

Besides the racial claim, the Texas Democratic Party also asserted there was partisan gerrymandering.

The outcome of the case is critical to the Texas and national political landscape because it helps determine how Texas is represented in Congress. If the Republican-led Legislature is forced to redraw district lines again, it could open the door for Democrats to gain seats in Congress from Texas.
On October 10, 1960, former President Harry Truman spoke at a $50-a-plate fundraising dinner in San Antonio and declared that anyone planning to vote for Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon ought to go to hell.

As a result of Give Em Hell Harrys off-the-cuff remark, all hell certainly broke loose on the American political scene. Nixon condemned Truman and expressed pride that he had served a president, Dwight Eisenhower, who restored dignity and decency and, frankly, good language to the White House.

Thruston Morton, the Republican national chairman, filed a protest with the Fair Campaign Practices Committee and called on John Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, to condemn Trumans vile attack. Ramsey Pollard, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, demanded that Truman (a fellow Baptist) be turned out of his church unless he repents of his sin and ill manners.

Oh, how quaint that controversy seems today.

Living in an era when the occupant of the Oval Office has promised to beat the s**t out of any country that attacks the United States, bragged about being able to get away with grabbing women by the p***y and allegedly questioned why the United States admits immigrants from s***hole countries in Africa, its hard to fully comprehend the ruckus over Trumans indiscretion.

As a culture, weve become inoculated against most forms of profanity  whether in politics or elsewhere  and we just dont shock (or even pretend to be shocked) as easily as we once did. After all, actor Sam Rockwell dropped an f-bomb on Saturday Night Live last weekend, and nobody cared. (Even the controversy over Trumps alleged immigration comment was not over the use of a profanity, per se, but over the contempt he seemed to show for the people of Africa.)

Over the past two weeks, however, we saw the first public fissure in what has been a polite Democratic primary race for a chance to face Republican incumbent Will Hurd in U.S. District 23, the swing district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso. And it involved profanity.

Gina Ortiz Jones, a former Air Force intelligence officer and senior adviser for trade enforcement, gave an interview to the Huffington Post in which she complained that Hurd gets away with voting against his constituents interests because of his amiable personality.

Jones also took aim at Hurds live-streamed bro trip from San Antonio to Washington D.C. last year with Democratic Congressman Beto ORourke, a viral happening widely praised for its bipartisan spirit.

When bipartisanship means two dudes get in a car and help each other get elected, were all f***ing screwed, Jones said.

Joness move into parental-guidance-required language inspired another District 23 Democrat, former San Antonio schoolteacher  and Bernie Sanders devotee  Rick Trevino.

Now that @ginaortizjones is dropping the f bomb in interviews I feel like getting into the mix, Trevino tweeted on January 5, the same day that Joness interview appeared online. Here I go: Goldman Sachs is f***ing evil! Hey America, stop dropping f***ing drone strikes on innocent civilians. Neoliberalism f***ing sucks.

Jay Hulings, a former U.S. attorney who attended Harvard Law School with Julian and Joaquin Castro, tends to offer nuanced takes on the big issues of the day, and he refused to play along with the obscenity throwdown from his competitors.

In response to Trevinos post, Hulings tweeted, I have another idea  lets not. Trump has already dragged our politics into the gutter. We dont help anybody by joining him in the muck.

Hulings added: We can fight hard, without resorting to his tactics. Lets keep our discussion at a level where we can allow our children to hear them.

Obviously, this conflict is all over style, not substance, but it does tell us something about these three candidates. Jones and Trevino have defined themselves as unabashed progressives, championing, for example, a Medicare-for-all healthcare system while Hulings has proposed tweaking the existing Affordable Care Act.

Both Jones and Trevino are wagering that Democratic primary voters want bold change, that theyre angry and theyre looking for blunt language to convey that anger. Hulings, on the other hand, is carving out a place for himself as the adult in the room, who refuses to make concessions to the coarseness of modern political rhetoric.

How these differing stances play with voters in the March 6 primary will tell us a lot about where the Democratic Party is heading.

Gilbert Garcia is a San Antonio Express-News columnist. Read more of his stories here. | ggarcia@express-news.net | @gilgamesh470
Today, the Administrative Rules and Regulations Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council has reviewed and approved a rule proposed by the Arkansas State Plant Board that will prohibit the use of dicamba in Arkansas between April 16 and October 31. Regulations include exemptions for the use of dicamba in pastures, rangeland, turf, ornamental, direct injection for forestry, and home use. Read the entire proposed rule, here . On Friday the rule change will be considered by the full Arkansas Legislative Council at 9:00 a.m. Find a meeting agenda, here

Background:

The State Plant Board voted on November 8th during a public hearing and board meeting to approve regulatory changes for the above referenced rule.

On December 12, the Administrative Rules and Regulations Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council considered the above referenced rule and approved a motion that it be held for final consideration and recommended that the Arkansas State Plant Board consider its current rule and revise the rule using: 1) scientific-based evidence; 2) a dividing line to create north and south zones; and 3) ambient temperature and humidity applicable to temperature inversion during night-time hours.

On January 3, the State Plant Boards Pesticide Committee and the full State Plant Board voted to maintain the proposed regulations as currently written, which were presented today, and reviewed and approved by the Administrative Rules and Regulations Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.

The Arkansas Agriculture Department is dedicated to the development and implementation of policies and programs for Arkansas agriculture and forestry to keep its farmers and ranchers competitive in national and international markets while ensuring safe food, fiber, and forest products for the citizens of the state and nation.
Japan is strongly signaling that it wants to move forward quickly with the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), aka TPP11. This will be an extremely positive development for Canadas entire beef sector, if Canada chooses to be part of the agreement.

The CPTPP is a massive opportunity for Canadas beef sector, particularly in the Japanese market. Japan imported US$3.8 billion of beef in 2016. Canada was the fourth largest beef supplier to Japan with $115 million, behind Australia ($1.8 billion), United States ($1.6 billion), and New Zealand ($163 million). Those trade figures were

achieved with Canada, the U.S. and New Zealand all paying a 38.5 per cent tariff on beef exports to Japan, while Australia enjoys an increasingly preferential tariff.

If Canada accepts Japans proposal to be one of 11 countries signing on to the CPTPP, then we will immediately enjoy the same preferential tariff as Australian beef, as will New Zealand and Mexico. The U.S. will not be part of the agreement and will remain at a much higher tariff.

If Canada chooses not to join the deal, it appears likely that Japan and the other nine CPTPP-member countries will proceed without us. This outcome would leave Canada at a widening disadvantage to Australia, and also falling behind our competitors in New Zealand, Mexico and Ireland1, as they gain the same access as Australia.

In short, there can be no status quo for Canadian beef. Either Canada joins the CPTPP and Canadian beef will join the club of preferential suppliers to Japan or Canada remains outside the CPTPP and Canadian beef producers will watch helplessly as our exports to Japan erode.

Securing market access in the Asia Pacific region is of vital importance to the hard-working families who operate Canadas 60,000 beef farms and feedlots. With the CPTPP, Canadian beef exports to Japan are anticipated to see an increase of more than $200 million. This increase will be enjoyed across Canada with processors in Eastern Canada and thriving regional brands like Ontario Corn Feed Beef and Prince Edward Island Certified Beef also benefitting alongside their Western counterparts and the Alberta Beef brand.

The uncertainty in the minds of beef producers over the status of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the security of access for $3 billion in annual Canadian cattle and beef exports to the U.S. further underscores the necessity of securing access to alternate markets for Canadian beef. The CPTPP can be the secure alternative that

Canadian beef producers desperately need.

Source : The Canadian Cattlemen's Association
2017 was a tremendous year for U.S. pork and beef exports to Colombia. Through November, pork exports to Colombia were up 65 percent year-over-year (to 63,583 metric tons) and valued at just under $150 million (up 66 percent). U.S. beef exports increased 28 percent year-over-year in volume (4,818 metric tons) and 15 percent in value ($14.7 million).

However, as U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Technical Services Manager Cheyenne McEndaffer explains, red meat exports to Colombia still face significant technical barriers. She works regularly with U.S. exporters and Colombian importers to ensure that products are not delayed or rejected upon arrival in Colombia, due to such issues as labeling and documentation, or damaged boxes that may not clear inspection. McEndaffer notes that transportation and infrastructure issues also present obstacles in Colombia, especially for chilled pork and beef.
Carlos Dominguez was waiting at a traffic light in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo with his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren when men armed with knives flung open the car door.

Dominguez, a 77-year-old opinion columnist who had worked as a journalist for nearly four decades, was stabbed 21 times, according to Mexican authorities. They said he was attacked by at least three men who remain unidentified and at large.

The killing Saturday afternoon underscores the lethal risks faced by journalists in Mexico and the growing wave of violence gripping the nation.

Officials said they were investigating to determine whether the attack was connected to Dominguezs work. He wrote frequently about politics, organized crime and occasionally their intersection  a perilous beat in a country that was second only to war-torn Syria in the number of journalists killed last year.

Eleven journalists were slain across Mexico in 2017, with no culprits arrested in most of those cases. Dozens of reporters have fled the country or gone into hiding.

In the Gulf Coast state of Tamaulipas, where Nuevo Laredo is located, 15 journalists have been killed since 2000, according to Mexicos National Human Rights Commission. The commission, an independent government watchdog, has sent investigators to Nuevo Laredo to look into Saturdays attack.

The organization Reporters Without Borders said it believed Dominguez was targeted because of his controversial columns.

The day before his death, in a column published on a news website called Horizonte de Matamoros, Dominguez lamented growing political violence ahead of Mexicos July presidential election, calling out the federal government for its failure on the matter of public security. He also took aim at a local mayor, one of several Tamaulipas politicians he frequently criticized, complaining that she lashes out against journalists who expose her flagrant faults.

For Carlos' colleagues, there is no doubt that his assassination is linked to his journalistic work, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement Monday.

Jan-Albert Hootsen, Mexico representative for Committee to Protect Journalists, another nonprofit press freedom group, said his organization was still investigating the motive behind the slaying. But he said that in Tamaulipas, threats of violence and bribe-paying have created a silence zone in which many reporters opt against publishing specific information about crimes and their perpetrators.

Its very, very dangerous to be a journalist in Tamaulipas, Hootsen said. Theres a lot of self-censorship of journalists who are often too afraid to report on whats really going on for fear of reprisals. Doing serious investigative journalism in that state can cost you your life.

So many journalists have stopped reporting on what is happening in the state that news about killings and other crimes often comes from Twitter and Facebook posts by ordinary citizens. In 2014, a cartel killed one of them, a doctor in the city of Reynosa, and then tweeted from her account about her murder.

While Dominquez frequently antagonized public authorities and often decried cartel wars in Tamaulipas, he had not applied for a protection program offered to Mexican journalists and human rights activists who have received threats, said Irving Barrios, the attorney general of Tamaulipas. He said Dominguezs relatives had been placed under state protection.

In Tamaulipas, the bloodshed is being driven by fighting between two long-dominant drug gangs  the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel  that experts say have begun to splinter in recent years. Tamaulipas leads the country in kidnappings and is home to rampant extortion.

Violence has been on the rise throughout Mexico, where last year the murder rate hit a 20-year high.

Last week, the U.S. State Department warned its citizens not to travel to Tamaulipas and four other Mexican states. Violent crime, such as murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault, is common, the U.S. travel advisory said, adding that local law enforcement has limited capability to respond to violence.

Jan Jarab, the Mexican representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Monday that the terrible murder of Mr. Dominguez confirms the risk of being a journalist in Mexico and in particular in Tamaulipas.

In November, a U.N. team urged authorities in Tamaulipas to adopt measures to protect journalists after an investigation into attacks on free speech there and in four other Mexican states.
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Catherine Zeta-Jones insists sexual harassment claims her husband Michael Douglas pre-emptively denied last week were "erroneous and false".

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas

The 48-year-old actress - who has been married to the Hollywood star for nearly 18 years - has hit out at the allegations he had behaved inappropriately towards a female employee over 30 years ago, including touching himself in front of her, saying it was "very, very upsetting".

She said: "It was very, very upsetting. Anything like that, that is erroneous and false, would take anyone by surprise."

Catherine - who has children Dylan, 17, and 14-year-old Carys with Michael - also blasted the claims as a "non-story" and is "glad" he released a statement to deny them before they were made in public.

She is quoted by the Daily Mirror newspaper as saying: "I'm glad that the non-story was put straight. It was a looming accusation and I am very happy that Michael did a pre-emptive move.

"This was something that supposedly happened 30-odd years ago and was unfounded, so Michael needed to make that stance."

The 73-year-old actor last week pre-emptively denied a potential claim that he harassed a former employee 32 years ago, admitting he "felt the need to get ahead of" the "cautionary tale" by speaking out.

Michael revealed the woman was alleging he once touched himself in front of her, "spoke raunchily" with pals, "blackballed her" and used bad language.

While he said sorry for using bad language in front of the employee, the 'Wall Street' star insisted he did not blackball her and said it is a "complete lie" that he touched himself in front of her.

He said: "I don't know where to begin. This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever."

Michael - who was approached by The Hollywood Reporter, who provided the woman's claims to him - also admitted he has found the allegations "extremely painful" to deal with, particularly because his children are "really upset" and "scared" about the claims.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead has joined the cast of 'Gemini Man'.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

The 33-year-old actress - who is best known for starring in 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' - has joined Ang Lee's action thriller as the female lead, The Hollywood Reporter claims.

The upcoming action thriller will see Will Smith play an ageing assassin who ends up getting involved in a fierce battle with his clone, who is 25 years younger than him with sharper skills.

Clive Owen has also joined the cast but his role hasn't been revealed, though Variety report he could be the antagonist and Lee is directing the Paramount movie, which has been in the pipeline since 1997.

The original project, set up by Disney, was pitched by Darren Lake, with Don Murphy producing and Tony Scott directing. But it was put on hold for many years to allow the visual effects technology to catch up with the film concept.

The script has been tweaked along the way, and the idea of having two different actors play the assassin and the clone was scrapped, with Smith taking on both roles as developments in filmmaking will enable him to play both different ages and fight against himself.

Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger are producing, with Murphy and Chad Oman serving as executive producers.

The film is slated for release in October 2019 and after numerous delays, it appears the movie is coming together with Owen and Winstead's casting.

It is understood that Smith's schedule will need to be worked as he is also is voicing The Genie in Disney's live-action film 'Aladdin'.

Plus he will be reprising his role as Deadshot in 'Suicide Squad 2' and is to reunite with Martin Lawrence for buddy cop sequel 'Bad Boys 3'.
Duchess Catherine aided a young boy who looked like he was about to throw up.

Duchess Catherine

The 36-year-old beauty came to the rescue of 10-year-old student Craig by providing him with a brown paper sickbag as he looked a little peaky as he met the Duchess of Cambridge at Coventry Cathedral on Tuesday (16.01.18).

Carole Flynn, one of the school's mentor's, told reporters: "Catherine came over and give him a sickbag, our little Craig. I think he was a little bit overcome."

"He went quite pale. She came over to speak to him, and noticed he was not very well.

"She asked if he was OK. She bent down, and was concerned."

Praising the "caring" brunette beauty - who is expecting her third child with husband Prince William - she added: "It was lovely of her. She really took time with him. You can tell she is a mum, and has got that caring side."

Catherine - who already has four-year-old Prince George and two-year-old Princess Charlotte with William - was wearing the same bold pink Mulberry coat which she wore when she was pregnant with her daughter, with many royal fans taking to social media to guess that she is hinting at the sex of their unborn baby by dressing in the same item of clothing.

One wrote: "Pink for a girl perhaps?"

Catherine and William - who are due to welcome a boy or girl into the world in April - were visiting the city in the Midlands after it was named the UK's capital of culture for 2021.
If youve flown via Dalaman airport over the last couple of years, you will have seen the work being done on the new terminal. Heres an update by Kalkan Turkish Local News.

Back in 2015 work began on building a new international terminal at Dalaman. The old domestic terminal was demolished, with internal flights temporarily managed alongside overseas flights within the international terminal.

The first concrete of the new terminal was laid in August 2016 and the finished complex, costing some 250 million euros, is due to open on schedule, on Saturday 28th April 2018  just in time for the new tourist season. The current international terminal will then be used for domestic flights only.

Dalaman international passenger traffic 2014  2017

2014  3,297,000

2015  3,153,000 -4%

2016  1,822,000 -42%

2017  2,275,000 +25%

In 2015 and 2016 international arrivals at Dalaman fell, but in 2017 the numbers were much better. Last year Dalaman was the fifth busiest airport in Turkey for international passengers, after Istanbul Ataturk, Antalya, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen and Izmir.

Tourism is bouncing back

And this brand new terminal will start operating at a time when tourism in Turkey is bouncing back. All the signs are that bookings are on the up this year and a number of flight and tour operators are scaling up capacity for 2018, including the likes of TUI, Thomas Cook and Jet2.

This year Dalaman will have direct flights from the following UK airports: Manchester; London Gatwick; London Stansted; Luton; Newcastle; Birmingham; Glasgow; Bristol; Leeds Bradford; East Midlands; Belfast; Cardiff; Norwich; Edinburgh; Liverpool; Aberdeen; Doncaster and Bournemouth.

The statistics

If youre interested in a few facts and figures, the new terminal building will have a closed area of 155,000 m2, an apron barrier building covering 167 m2, a power plant and energy distribution building covering 6,000 m2 and new parking facilities with a capacity of 284 cars, 220 buses, and 368 other vehicles. There will also be a viaduct nearly 760 m long.

With connection roads, parks, a biological treatment plant, solar energy system and other auxiliary buildings the new terminal will be energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly.

The passenger capacity of the new terminal at Dalaman Airport will be a staggering 15 million so they are certainly building for the future.

We hope that you get a chance to try it out this year.

Published with kind permission of Kalkan Turkish Local News  your window on Kalkan Turkey.
Beaulieu Yarns, the supplier of high-quality synthetic polyamide and polypropylene yarns, launched the EqoBalance family of biomass-balance yarns at Domotex 2018, an international expo for floor coverings, which was held from January 12 to 15, 2018, in Hannover, Germany, in stand B56, hall 11. EqoBalance is a sustainable version of polyamide (PA6) yarns.A first for the carpet industry, new EqoBalance PA6 yarns follow the biomass balance approach, which ensures that at the very start of the supply chain, natural renewable raw materials can partially or even completely replace fossil resources in the production of polymers processed into yarns. By choosing these yarns, carpet tufters can contribute to a sustainable future through less use of fossil resources and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Beaulieu Yarns, the supplier of high-quality synthetic polyamide and polypropylene yarns, launched the EqoBalance family of biomass-balance yarns at Domotex 2018, an international expo for floor coverings, which was held from January 12 to 15, 2018, in Hannover, Germany, in stand B56, hall 11. EqoBalance is a sustainable version of polyamide (PA6) yarns.#

The sustainable yarns from Beaulieu yarns are conform the TUV SUD certification standard CMS 71 Certification of the use of renewable resources, which confirms the saving in fossil resources. The potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the replacement of fossil use is calculated in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). EqoBalance yarns, hereby, allow a reduction of up to 75 per cent of CO2eq/kg compared to our fossil based yarns.EqoBalance yarns do not compromise on either quality or performance, as their formulation remains identical to their fossil-based equivalents. Since they are a drop-in alternative solution, tufters need to make no alterations to their manufacturing processes or final products. Beaulieu Yarns offers a wide variety of PA6 yarns for use in carpet tiles, carpet planks and broadloom carpets for commercial offices, hospitality & leisure, education & healthcare premises, automotive, and residential.Karena Cancilleri, vice president of engineered products, Beaulieu International Group said, Carpet tufters are requesting more environmentally-compatible yarns to support their overall commitment to greater sustainability and more efficient resource use. We see biomass balance as the fastest path forward and, through EqoBalance, are excited to pioneer this milestone for the contract market as part of our long-term strategy to give customers a fundamental new choice to step into sustainable products and contribute to a better world. (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India




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.
LONDON, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

David Miliband's International Rescue Committee Major Beneficiary of Kapoor's Gift

The Genesis Prize Foundation (GPF) and 2017 Genesis Prize Laureate and world-renowned artist and human rights activist Anish Kapoor today announced grants to five prominent NGOs engaged in alleviating the global refugee crisis.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629297/Anish_Kapoor.jpg )



The recipient organizations assist refugees globally and include the International Rescue Committee (IRC), led by its president David Miliband, as well as the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA), HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), Help Refugees, and Hillel International.

The grants are funded by the $1 million Genesis Prize, dubbed the "Jewish Nobel" by TIME Magazine. Anish Kapoor has chosen to focus on refugees as an expression both of his lifelong commitment to supporting excluded people and as an expression of core Jewish values.

The Genesis Prize honors extraordinary individuals who serve as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through their outstanding professional achievement, and commitment to the Jewish people and Jewish values, such as social justice, tolerance and charity. Laureates of the Genesis Prize include Michael R. Bloomberg (2014), Michael Douglas (2015), Itzhak Perlman (2016), and Natalie Portman (2018). In November 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kapoor and The Genesis Prize Foundation have teamed up with the IRC to improve community health services for refugees in northern Uganda and to provide life-saving access to safe water for the Rohingya ethnic minority group in the Rakhine state in Myanmar. Genesis funds will also support the expansion into Italy of Refugee.Info, a digital platform, which harnesses social media and other digital tools to ensure that refugees have access to the critical information they need to make informed decisions about their lives.

Additionally, Kapoor's $1 million Genesis Prize will fund the following activities:

Providing life-saving winterization to five refugee camps in Greece and a refugee camp in Calais, France , including the funding of food and the most essential winter equipment (through Help Refugees)

and a refugee camp in Calais, , including the funding of food and the most essential winter equipment (through Help Refugees) Shipping 36 containers of aid to Syrian refugees (through Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees); the contents of the first two containers that MFA will ship under the Genesis Prize program will have a combined value of $20.7 million in medicines and medical equipment

in medicines and medical equipment Strengthening the capacity of local leaders in communities across America to advocate in support of immigrants and refugees to the U.S. (through HIAS); the amount of the grant was doubled as a result of recent policy debate in Washington aimed at curtailing the number of immigrants and refugees from certain countries that the U.S. would accept in the future

aimed at curtailing the number of immigrants and refugees from certain countries that the U.S. would accept in the future Bringing thousands of Jewish students and young adult volunteers together to assemble aid packages for 5,000 Syrian refugees (through Hillel International, in collaboration with the Joint Distribution Committee)

These grants come on the heels of an earlier announcement of a major grant from GPF to Ziv hospital in northern Israel to fund hearing restoration for Syrian children brought from the neighbouring conflict zone. The Ziv grant was made in partnership with Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn.

Anish Kapoor said: "Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees. Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution.

"In recent months, awareness of the plight faced by tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide has fallen significantly while the refugee crisis continues unabated. I believe in a world of compassion, and am fortunate to be able to work with The Genesis Prize Foundation and the terrific NGOs receiving our grants to bring more compassion into the world."

Michael Fridman, co-founder of The Genesis Prize Foundation, said: "I believe it is a moral obligation of every Jew to do whatever he or she can to help refugees, displaced people, and those seeking asylum. There was a time not too long ago when the world turned its back on Jewish refugees, with calamitous results. We, Jews, should not allow history to repeat itself when it comes to other persecuted peoples and religious and ethnic minorities. Otherwise, we have learned nothing from history." In addition to co-founding The Genesis Prize Foundation, Fridman is a major contributor to many other Jewish and Israel-focused philanthropic initiatives, including the recently announced renovation of the Israeli Lounge at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, himself a son of Jewish refugees, said: "Grants like the one from The Genesis Prize Foundation are vital to supporting our work as we grapple with the largest displacement crisis since the Second World War, affecting a staggering 65 million people.

"We are grateful to The Genesis Prize Foundation, which is leading the way in raising awareness of the refugee issue in the Jewish community. It is more important than ever for people to help those who have been forced to flee their homes. With these funds, the IRC will have the ability to provide much-needed resources and support to displaced people in areas across Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia."
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2018 / NMS Properties, Inc.

Rent Control Continues to Divide Californians

A California law known as Costa Hawkins protects landlords from rent control by prohibiting local municipalities from mandating rental rates on single-family homes, apartments, and condominiums built after 1995. The law is now being challenged by public advocacy groups and a number of legislators who want to see it repealed in short order. Opponents of Costa Hawkins say the lack of rent control is making housing unaffordable for far too many state residents, Neil Shekhter points out.

According to Neil Shekhter, the issue of rent control continues to divide Californians. That division was on full display during a recent hearing on Assembly Bill 1506. The bill, authored by Santa Monica Democrat Richard Bloom, would overturn Costa Hawkins. Municipalities would then be free to enact rent controls as they see fit.

Assembly Bill 1506 was defeated by a 3-2 vote by the Community Development Committee on January 11. Proponents of the legislation say they will continue fighting to overturn Costa Hawkins. They plan to go directly to voters, possibly by way of a voter referendum, if they do not succeed in the California legislature.

Affordable Housing Is the Core Problem

Setting aside the political wrangling for just a minute, the core issue of Costa Hawkins and the opposition to it is the price of rental housing in California. Rental rates in the Golden State are far above the national average. For example, the national average for a two-bedroom apartment in the U.S. is $1,560. That same apartment goes for $2,550 in San Jose and more than $3,000 in Walnut Creek, says Neil Shekhter.

Advocates of overturning Costa Hawkins say that rent control must be allowed throughout California to prevent rental rates from going even higher. They say that without some form of rent control, landlords will continue to cater only to tenants with high enough incomes to support rental rates unaffordable to so many others.

Neil Shekhter explained, the opponents of rent control are not without their reasons, either. They contend that rent control creates artificial barriers that both reduce supply and artificially influence the market. They point to communities like San Francisco, where rent control laws put in place prior to Costa Hawkins have led to landlords getting out of the rental market altogether. Dwindling supply and fixed pricing has led to an even bigger affordable housing problem in the city.

There doesn't seem to be common ground on which the two sides can agree. Furthermore, the disagreement has become contentious at times. During the January 11 hearing, protesters rallied immediately following the vote by taking over the hearing room and chanting.

As long as rent control continues to be a contentious issue, California legislators can expect more of the same. The most unfortunate aspect of the whole thing is that California's renters are caught in the middle. Whether Costa Hawkins stays or goes probably won't change the high cost of living in the Golden State.

Neil Shekhter CEO of NMS Properties, understands co-living can be beneficial to any digital nomad new to the city, any young adult who has opted to move out his or her parents' home, or anyone else interested in sharing a space with others. Moreover, the co-living specialist knows living alone can make a single adult feel isolated and lonely. At NMS Properties, he can see how important finding compatible roommates and a suitable communal housing is to anyone interested in the latter-day concept of living in a commune or a co-op.

Launching NMS Properties in 1988, Neil Shekhter assumed the role of CEO in January 1995. The real estate management company focuses on multi-family and mixed-use properties in the Greater Los Angeles area and in Santa Monica. At present, NMS properties manages more than 70 properties.

Neil Shekhter - Founder and CEO of NMS Properties

Apartments For Rent In Los Angeles NMS Residential: http://www.nmsresidential.com

NMS Properties - Real Estate Management Firm: http://www.nmsproperties.com

Contact Information:

news@neilshekhter.com

info@neil-shekhter.com

SOURCE: NMS Properties, Inc.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/16/18 -- Filing of Short Form Prospectus

Harvest One Cannabis Inc. (TSX VENTURE: HVST) ("Harvest One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus in each of the provinces of Canada (except Quebec), and obtained a receipt from the British Columbia Securities Commission to qualify the distribution of $35,000,000 of units ("Units") of the Company, at a price of $1.82 per Unit (the "Offering").

Under the Offering, each Unit will consist of common share ("Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $2.30 per Warrant Share at any time up to 24 months following the closing of the Offering.

The Company has also granted the Underwriters an option (the "Over-Allotment Option") exercisable in whole or in part, at any time up to 30 days after the closing of the Offering to purchase up to an additional 15% of the number of Units issued pursuant to the Offering at $1.82 per Unit. If the Over-Allotment Option is exercised in its entirety, the aggregate gross proceeds of the Offering will be $40,250,000.

Additional details regarding the Offering can be found in the news releases of the Company dated January 9, 2018.

COO Position

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Maltchev, previous Chief Operation Officer ("COO") of Advanced Nutrients Ltd. ("Advanced Nutrients"), as interim COO of Harvest One. Mr. Graham Whitmarsh has moved on to pursue other opportunities.

"On behalf of our entire team and the board of directors, I would like to thank Graham for his contributions and wish him the best in the future. Nick brings a strong operations background to the COO position from his experience at Advanced Nutrients where he was instrumental in providing operational strategy and leadership" said Andreas Gedeon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Harvest. "With Nick, we will continue to be well positioned to execute on our business plan as we accelerate growth."

Mr. Maltchev is a global executive with a passion for results and building great teams. He brings a mix of strategic thinking, deep technical knowledge and over 25 years of technology experience. He has been involved in the cannabis industry since 2004 and was an integral part of the Advanced Nutrients management team over a period of 12 years, holding several positions including information technology manager, COO and general manager. Mr. Maltchev holds a Bachelors of Business Administration, as well as designations in project management, cybersecurity and computer science. He is also currently in the process of finishing an MBA in management information systems.

About Harvest One Cannabis Inc. (TSX VENTURE: HVST)

Harvest One is a global cannabis company focused on delivering high quality, innovative cannabis products and technology to regulated markets around the world. Our shareholders have significant exposure to the entire cannabis value chain through three business units, with Harvest One serving as the parent company over horticultural arm United Greeneries and medical arm Satipharm AG. Harvest One's businesses are all strategically located in favourable jurisdictions with supportive regulatory frameworks in place. United Greeneries has a Canadian ACMPR cultivation and sales license, making Harvest One a unique global company with the capacity to commercially cultivate and sell medicinal grade cannabis in a federally regulated environment.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the completion of the Offering. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

Neither TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Colin Clancy

Investor Relations

+ 1 (877) 915-7934

cclancy@mmj.ca




Regulatory News:

Europcar Group (Paris:EUCAR) is hosting today in Paris its 2018 Investor Day during which it will update the financial community on its medium term growth strategy and financial ambition.

The Investor Day will be hosted by Europcar Group's CEO, Caroline Parot, her two deputy CEO's, Ken Mc Call and Fabrizio Ruggiero, and the whole Group Executive Committee.

The Investor Day will include presentations from several members of the Management team and will be focused on the following themes:

Low Cost strategy and Goldcar integration

Vans Trucks strategy and Buchbinder integration

Fleet purchasing financing update

Revenue Capacity Management capabilities and tools

Digital E-commerce strategy

New Mobility prospects and strategy

Group strategic update financial prospects

Caroline Parot, Europcar Group's Chief Executive Officer, stated:

"Since the company's IPO in June 2015, the Europcar Group has relied on a significant and improving self help track record. Its ability to generate strong free cash flow streams puts the Group in a solid position in order to achieve its long term ambition.

"The year 2017 has been pivotal for us and our group has significantly scaled up thanks to our M&A acceleration. This investor day is a great opportunity for us to clarify how we intend to deliver the expected synergies from the recent acquisitions of Goldcar and Buchbinder. We will also shed more light on our seamless and innovative customer journey initiatives and our digital transformation program which will enable us to successfully position the Group in the Mobility ecosystem in order to capture double-digit growth prospects by 2025."

Strategic Update

Following transforming M&A activity last year, the Group has been able to boost its revenue and margin growth prospects, as well as improve its leadership in the traditional car rental market in Europe, particularly in its Low Cost and Vans Trucks segments. Going forward, the Group intends to continue to expand in the traditional and growing car rental market but also to significantly expand its exposure to New Mobility segments such as car sharing, ride hailing, multi-modal platforms and car pooling.

In order to better address new customer needs in mobility, the Group will continue to leverage its key assets, namely its fleet management capabilities and its diversified customer reach. The company believes that leveraging its "Network as a service" to third parties is a relevant opportunity to reinforce its scale. In addition, the acceleration of its digital transformation through the modernization of its network will enable the Group to enhance its customers' journey and increasingly tap into the fastest growing segments of the Mobility ecosystem.

Synergies financial ambition

After successfully closing both transactions last year, the Group confirms that it can deliver run-rate cost synergies of at least 30 million euros from Goldcar and at least 10 million euros from Buchbinder by end 2020, of which at least 75% are expected to be completed by end 2019 in both cases.

The Group also reiterates its ambition of reaching at least 3 billion euros of revenue and 14% Corporate EBITDA margin (excluding New Mobility) by end 2020. The Group's 2017 proforma revenue should stand at around 2.8 billion euros when taking into account Goldcar's and Buchbinder's contribution.

Cash allocation prospects

The Group's resilient business model and strong cash generation prospects will continue to finance (1) further bolt-on M&A, particularly in the Vans Trucks segment and Franchisees in the Cars segment, (2) New Mobility investments (3) Non-fleet capex and (4) shareholder returns. Over 2018-2020, the Group intends to continue to target FCF conversion above 50% and Corporate leverage below 3x.

The Group is expected to spend i) up to 150 million euros on further bolt-on acquisitions in 2018, (ii)150 to 250 million euros over 2018-2020 in New Mobility capex and M&A (including strategic partnerships) and iii) non fleet capex of around 50 million euros per year over 2018-2020.

In terms of shareholder returns, the Group intends to maintain the current dividend policy with a payout above 30% and to proceed to tactical share buybacks funded by excess cash when deemed appropriate.

2017 guidance

The Group reiterates all four of its financial targets for the year 2017:

Accelerating organic revenue growth vs. 2016, i.e. above 3%

Increase in adjusted corporate EBITDA margin (excluding New Mobility) vs 2016, i.e. above 11.8%

A corporate operating free cash flow conversion rate above 50%

A dividend payout ratio above 30%

Presentation materials

A webcast of the whole Investor Day (on a replay basis) as well as the presentation materials will be available on the Group's corporate finance website: https://investors.europcar-group.com/

About Europcar Group

Europcar Group is a major player in mobility markets and is listed on Euronext Paris. The Group's mission is to be an attractive alternative to car ownership by providing a wide range of mobility solutions: car rentals, Vans Trucks, chauffeur service, car-sharing or peer-to-peer. Customer satisfaction is at the heart of the group's mission and all of its employees and this commitment fuels the continuous development of new services.

The group operates through multi brands meeting every customer specific needs: Europcar the European Leader in vehicle rental services, Goldcar Europe's largest low-cost car rental company, InterRent value for money brand targeting leisure customers and Ubeeqo a European company specializing in fleet and mobility solutions for both the business and the end-customers market.

The Group delivers its mobility solutions worldwide through an extensive network in 130 countries and territories (including 14 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Europe and 2 in Australia and New Zealand, franchisees and partners).

Further details on our website: europcar-group.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180116006951/en/

Contacts:

Europcar Press relations

Nathalie Poujol, +33 1 30 44 98 82

europcarpressoffice@europcar.com

or

Europcar / Investor relations

Olivier Gernandt, +33 1 30 44 91 44

olivier.gernandt@europcar.com

or

Elan Edelman

+33 1 86 21 51 56 +33 1 86 21 50 38

europcar@elanedelman.com
BALTIMORE, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Surgeons at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have for the first time used a real-time, image-guided robot to insert screws into a patient's spine, alleviating her from severe pain and improving her mobility.

"People get excited when they realize that there are new potential interventions and strategies to help them get better, faster," says Nicholas Theodore, M.D., professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Neurosurgical Spine Center of Johns Hopkins Medicine. "We are really excited to be able to offer this to our patients."

The first patient to go through this new procedure had a spine injury from a fall at home. She agreed to the new robotic surgery, in part, because it aims to be 100 percent accurate.

Current image-guided surgical procedures require the surgeon to look back and forth between the patient and an image, which causes imperfection of screw placement. While oftentimes these placements are "good enough," it wasn't good enough for Theodore, who invented the robot and maintains a financial interest in the technology.

This new robot "marries" a CT scan of the patient with the actual patient, allowing the surgeon to point to a spot on the CT scan and tell the robot to aim for that same spot. Connected to a camera, which itself reads landmarks on the patient, the robot is able to process what the camera "sees" with the CT image in real time. The biggest fear in this type of procedure is movement-what if the patient breathes or otherwise moves slightly-but this robot can sense changes in position and adjust accordingly.

After the surgery "I felt better right away. It was amazing," said the patient in a video testimonial.

Spine surgery is used to treat conditions that include degenerative disease, spine tumors and trauma. According to a 2015 study, traffic accidents and falls are the leading cause of spinal injuries in the United Arab Emirates.

Theodore will be a featured speaker during the Pediatrics and Orthopaedics conferences at Arab Health, in Dubai, and is available for in person interviews on Sunday, January 28th.

Media contact: Alsy Acevedo aaceved5@jhmi.edu, +1 410-446-1750.

Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is an $8 billion integrated global health enterprise and one of the leading academic health care systems in the United States. JHM unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. JHM's vision, "Together, we will deliver the promise of medicine," is supported by its mission to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care. Diverse and inclusive, JHM educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness. JHM operates six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, and 40 primary and specialty care outpatient sites under the umbrella of Johns Hopkins Community Physicians. JHM extends health care into the community and globally through Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Johns Hopkins Medicine International and Johns Hopkins HealthCare. The Johns Hopkins Hospital, opened in 1889, has been ranked #1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 22 years of the survey's 28-year history. For more information about Johns Hopkins Medicine; its research, education and clinical programs; and for the latest health, science and research news, visit www.hopkinsmedicine.org.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/628191/Johns_Hopkins_Medicine_Nicholas_Theodore_Surgery.jpg
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British publishing and education company Pearson plc (PSO, PSON.L) reported Wednesday that its full-year 2017 results are at the upper end of guidance, showing good strategic progress.



In its trading update for the full year, the company said its adjusted earnings per share is above previous guidance range of 49 pence to 52 pence, after a net interest charge of approximately 80 million pounds.



Adjusted operating profit of around 600 million pounds to 605 million pounds is at the upper end of previous guidance range of 576 million pounds to 606 million pounds.



At average effective exchange rates in 2017, the company expects to report adjusted operating profit around 570 million pounds to 575 million pounds and adjusted earnings per share of 53.5 pence to 54.5 pence.



Total underlying revenues declined 2%, in line with the performance in the nine-months, due to a decline of 4% in North America partly offset by stabilisation in Core and Growth.



Sales in US higher education courseware were down 3% on an underlying basis.



The company will announce full year results on February 23.



Looking ahead, the company said the base for 2018 guidance is its expected 2017 adjusted operating profit of 570 million pounds to 575 million pounds less the full year impacts of disposals made in 2017 and less favourable exchange rates.



The company expects growth from that base and are giving guidance for 2018 adjusted operating profit of between 520 million pounds and 560 million pounds.



In US higher education courseware business, the company expects revenues to be flat to down mid-single digit percent due to the similar underlying pressures seen in the last two years.



Regarding the impact of US tax reform, the company said its guidance for medium-term group effective tax rate remains unchanged at 20-22%, based on adjusted operating profit including the taxed contribution from stake in Penguin Random House.



The US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will result in a small, one off deferred tax charge in 2017.



Pearson's chief executive, John Fallon said, 'We made good progress in 2017 on the simplification of our portfolio, the strengthening of our balance sheet and delivered results at the top end of guidance. Our restructuring programme is on track and our 2017 performance has set us up well to make further progress against our strategic priorities and grow profit in 2018.'



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de


WIMBORNE MINSTER (dpa-AFX) - Responding to BBC Radio 4 Programme on purchase of fake degrees, Military and civil systems provider Cobham Plc. (COB.L) said that its Board became aware during 2017 of the purchase of such degrees for a small number of employees in the legacy FB Heliservices business unit-- now Cobham Helicopter Services--, that occurred between 2013 and 2014.



David Lockwood, Cobham CEO said,'I instigated an immediate investigation by a leading law firm as soon as I was made aware of this issue. The investigation was conducted over a three month period and completed in June 2017. It concluded that the issue was historic and related to the tax status of a small number of employees based in Curacao, was entirely unrelated to the performance of their roles, and had no impact upon the safety of any of its operations or the training of any individuals in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. Procedural and disciplinary actions have been taken to address the issues raised and the matter is now closed.'



David Lockwood noted that Cobham Helicopter Services aircrew and engineers are highly trained professionals who hold the required licenses and qualifications to fulfil their roles, and these are routinely and independently audited.



On Tuesday, BBC Radio reported that Thousands of UK nationals have bought fake degrees from a multi-million pound 'diploma mill' in Pakistan, a BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme investigation has found. Buyers include NHS consultants, nurses and a large defence contractor.



The report noted that one British buyer spent almost 500,000 on bogus documents.



BBC said that Axact, which claims to be the 'world's largest IT company', operates a network of hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi call centre.



With names such as Brooklyn Park University and Nixon University, they feature stock images of smiling students and even fake news articles singing the institution's praises.



According to documents seen by BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme, more than 3,000 fake Axact qualifications were sold to UK-based buyers in 2013 and 2014, including master's degrees, doctorates and PhDs.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Ingersoll-Rand plc (NYSE:IR), a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503), a leading manufacturer of technologically advanced ductless and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heating and air conditioning systems, are pleased to announce they have entered into an agreement to establish a 50 percent-50 percent joint venture (JV) pending global antitrust review.

The new joint venture will include marketing, sales and distribution of ductless and VRF heating and air conditioning systems through Ingersoll Rand's Trane and American Standard commercial and residential channels, and existing Mitsubishi Electric distributors and representatives in the United States and select countries in Latin America.

The systems sold by the joint venture will be highly efficient, variable-speed mini-split, multi-split, and VRF air conditioners and heat pumps for homes, light commercial and commercial applications. The joint venture will distribute products with the Trane or American Standard brand and the Mitsubishi Electric corporate logo to Ingersoll Rand channels. The joint venture will also continue to serve Mitsubishi Electric US distributors and representatives with Mitsubishi Electric branded product.

"We are pleased to enter into a new joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric US," said David Regnery, executive vice president of Ingersoll Rand. "Together, our robust offering and ability to serve customers in the multi-billion dollar and growing ductless segment will be superior. The unique value of the joint venture is the pairing of premium systems, extensive distribution, deep technical, product and applications expertise, and allows us to leverage Ingersoll Rand's vast service capability."

"Mitsubishi Electric is enthusiastic about establishing a strong and successful partnership with Ingersoll Rand," said Keijiro Hora, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc. "The strength of our brands, combined with our product expertise, industry knowledge and channel coverage will result in a superior offering for customers."

The joint venture will be a leading provider of ductless and VRF systems in the United States and select countries in Latin America. It will bring together Ingersoll Rand's leadership in heating and air conditioning and its extensive Trane and American Standard residential and commercial distribution network with Mitsubishi Electric's innovative and technologically advanced mini-split, multi-split, and VRF products, recognized brand and channel expertise.

Pending favorable global antitrust reviews and customary closing conditions, the new joint venture is expected to be operational in the first half of 2018. A chief executive officer will be named from Mitsubishi Electric, a chief financial officer will be named from Ingersoll Rand, and the business will operate from headquarters in Suwanee, Georgia. Ingersoll Rand and Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, will have equal ownership. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed and are not material.

About Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR) advances the quality of life by creating comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments. Our people and our family of brands including Club Car, Ingersoll Rand, Thermo King and Trane work together to enhance the quality and comfort of air in homes and buildings; transport and protect food and perishables; and increase industrial productivity and efficiency. We are a $14 billion global business committed to a world of sustainable progress and enduring results. For more information, visit ingersollrand.com.

Ingersoll Rand: Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes "forward-looking statements," which are statements that are not historical facts, including, but not limited to, statements that relate to our intent to form a joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric, the expected benefits of the proposed joint venture; the timing of the commencement of operations of the joint venture, and projected size, scale and success of the joint venture. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control, and could cause results to materially differ from expectations. Such risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to: Ingersoll Rand's ability to timely obtain, if ever, necessary regulatory approvals of the proposed joint venture; the ability to fully realize the expected benefits of the joint venture; and/or business conditions that may impact the companies in connection with the proposed joint venture. Additional factors that could cause such differences can be found in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings. Ingersoll Rand assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

About Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

With over 90 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. Embracing the spirit of its corporate statement, Changes for the Better, and its environmental statement, Eco Changes, Mitsubishi Electric endeavors to be a global, leading green company, enriching society with technology. The company recorded consolidated group sales of 4,238.6 billion yen (US$ 37.8 billion*) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. For more information visit:www.MitsubishiElectric.com.*At an exchange rate of 112 yen to the US dollar, the rate given by the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2017

About Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc

Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc., a U.S. affiliate company of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, manufactures and markets heating and air-conditioning systems, elevators and escalators, data wall cubes, LCD digital signage monitors, industrial printers, professional photo printers and semiconductor devices. For additional information visit http://us.mitsubishielectric.com/en.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005212/en/

Contacts:

Ingersoll Rand Media:

Perri Richman, 732-319-1024

prichman@irco.com

or

Ingersoll Rand Investors:

Zachary Nagle, 704-990-3001

InvestorRelations@irco.com

or

Mitsubishi Electric US Media:

Robin Wachner, 714-220-6896

robin.wachner@meus.mea.com
STOCKHOLM, Jan. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

EQT Credit, through its Mid-Market Credit investment strategy, today announces that it has provided EUR 115 million of financing to support Inspired's (the "Company") acquisition strategy.

Inspired is a leading global operator of over 30 premium schools in Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The Company has grown rapidly by building new schools and acquiring existing successful ones around the world and currently educates over 24,000 students between the ages of 1 and 18.

Inspired was founded by Nadim M. Nsouli, Chairman and controlling shareholder. Additional shareholders include TA Associates, Oakley Capital, the Oppenheimer family, the Mansour Group, Genesis Capital and Graeme Crawford (founder of Reddam House).

Paul Johnson, Partner at EQT Partners' Credit team, Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, commented: "Inspired has rapidly developed into one of the largest international premium K-12 platforms and we have been impressed by the high-quality portfolio of schools. Inspired is led by an ambitious and driven management team, and we are pleased that EQT Credit has been able to provide a financing solution to suit the requirements of the Company and its shareholders".

Nadim Nsouli, Founder and Chairman of Inspired, commented: "We are pleased to team up with EQT Credit as we continue to acquire some of the leading premium schools around the world. Inspired has an ambitious growth plan driven by an entrepreneurial team and supported by world class educators. EQT Credit's support will be greatly valued in the coming years."

Contacts:

Paul Johnson,

Partner at EQT Partners,

Investment Advisor to EQT Credit,

+44-207-430-5554



Nakul Sarin,

Director at EQT Partners,

Investment Advisor to EQT Credit,

+44-755-128-9396



EQT Press Office,

+46-8-506-55-334,

press@eqtpartners.com

About EQT

EQT is a leading alternative investments firm with approximately EUR 38 billion in raised capital across 25 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About EQT Credit

EQT Credit invests through three complementary strategies: senior debt, Mid-Market Credit (direct lending) and credit opportunities. Since inception, EQT Credit has invested approximately EUR 4.0 billion in 150 companies. EQT Credit's direct lending strategy seeks to provide flexible, long-term debt capital solutions to medium-sized European businesses, across a wide range of sectors. These businesses may be privately-owned corporates seeking alternative funding to grow or be the subject of private equity-led acquisitions or refinancings.

For more information: www.eqtpartners.com/Investment-Strategies/Credit

About Inspired

Inspired is a leading premium schools group operating in Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America educating over 24,000 students across a global network of over 30 schools in 10 countries. Inspired offers a fresh and contemporary approach to education by re-evaluating traditional teaching methods and curriculums, and creating a more dynamic, relevant and powerful educational model.

For more information: www.inspirededu.co.uk

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/eqt-ab/r/eqt-credit-completes-financing-to-leading-premium-school-group-inspired,c2432855

The following files are available for download:
Julie Hembree on episode 233 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Julie Hembree and her students are sending Books to Africa. But thats not all. Shes also started the Cultivate World Literacy Project and more. Learn about her transformation into a global educator because her students got excited and led the way. This is a pattern we can all emulate. Connect your students and join.

Screencastify is the screencasting tool I recommend for Google Chrome and Chromebooks. Built for Chromebooks, it saves all of your recordings directly to Google Drive. Screencastify is an essential tool for making flipped lessons, student videos and creative formative assessments. I use this tool when students are making Scratch video games for them to record their games and explain their scripts. If you want to go for unlimited editing, request a quote for your school and mention Cool Cat Teacher for a Discount.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Books to Africa and My Personal Transformation to a Global Educator

Link to show: http://ift.tt/2DHVVKu

Date: January 17, 2018

Vicki: Today were talking with my friend Julie Hembree @mrs_hembree. She is in Seattle, Washington, and she and I have actually spent some time together when I was out there at an event.

Julie, you have kind of traveled some, and youre doing a lot with literacy. But tell us a little about where your journey to connect to the world has taken you.

Julie: Well, I am very passionate about the fact that I think that all children should have equal access to education.

All Children Should Have Equal Access To Education

Through traveling to South Africa now twice, I have had the opportunity to bear witness to the inequities that Ive seen in different places in the world. Some children have access to quality education, and some children dont.

This bothers me because the UN is working on the sustainable development goals, and their belief and work toward making sure that all children have inclusive and quality education. I think that my students can be part of that, so Im working toward that.

Vicki: So what are you and your students doing to help students in other places have a better education?

Julie: Well, at this point its threefold.

I have had a Books to Africa program going since 2012. Every year my students do a coin drive, and they raise money to pay for the shipping of books. We shipped gently used or new books to teachers that I have met personally in Africa  South Africa, Lesotho, Nigeria, Zambia  I think thats all the countries weve been sending to.

The other project weve started this year is weve joined the WeSchool Movement, so we are also collecting books to bring to children who are in the local hospitals during the holidays who dont have access to books there.

The third thing that Im trying to do is bring focus to illiteracy. Im working with a teacher, Tammy Dunbar in California, and weve developed a program called Cultivate World Literacy thats going to go live in January. Its a global collaboration project, where teachers can sign up and be part of a 5-week project, meet with one another via Skype, and investigate the whole idea of literacy/illiteracy and how that is different around the world.

Editors note: I received this note from Julie about the project. The website is http://ift.tt/2Dfn4TV and the hashtag is #cultivateworldliteracy

Vicki: That sounds like so much!

Do you feel like your students are really passionate about literacy? Are they feeding off your passion? Are they becoming advocates for this?

Whats that looking like?

Students are Becoming Advocates for This Cause

Julie: Yes, I think theyre feeding off it, because I have kids coming in (saying), And when are you starting Books to Africa?

I love it when they come up to me and are asking about it. We always start this in January with the New Year. It works out better for our schedule.

To see the kids coming in and asking me (about it), wanting to know, bringing books ahead of time, or asking Do you think this would be good for us to send overseas?

I love seeing that energy coming from the students!

Parents give me feedback as well. Theyre emailing me and wanting to know when were going to start.

I think were really trying to have a culture of literacy at our school, and sharing what we have with those less fortunate.

Vicki: I love that! So it really is becoming part of what they think.

Julie: Yes! Most definitely. They love it.

They like to be involved, and when we Skype with students, and they can see the other students on the other side and really realize, Theyre just the same. The difference really is that they live in a different country. So they are kids inside. They might not have the same opportunities, but inside? Theyre kids. They love to play. They love to have fun. They play games. We eat different food, but the differences are few. The things that are similar are great.

Vicki: What is the most remarkable thing your students have learned as a part of this process?

Julie: That they can make a difference.

My Students Have Learned That They Can Make a Difference

You know, when they see pictures, and I come back with stories about the books that they have sent  seeing pictures and stories from overseas  they really grasp the idea that the work that they are doing is just not going out into the atmosphere somewhere.

This person is holding a book on camera with us and saying, Hey, I read this book. Theyre talking back and forth about it. Thats exciting!

They really begin understanding that they have the ability to make a difference in another persons life.

Vicki: So if I had talked to you eight or nine years ago, before this transformation happened, would you have believed that you would be where you are now?

Julie: Absolutely not. (laughs) Absolutely not.

If you had asked me ten years ago if I would be doing this, I wouldnt have.

Its been a real huge transformation for me, and its been a wonderful way for me to find my passion because Ive always been passionate about education and reading, but Ive kind of found my global focus.

Yeah. It makes me feel good inside. Its very rewarding.

Vicki: So Julie, what started this transformation? What was the decision that has taken you in this direction?

Julie: Well, the funny story was that we found some books. When I went to the kids and said, What do you want to do with it? They said,, Hey, we want to do this.

It was turning the power over to students.

Every time Ive turned the power to kids and said, What do you think? What do you want to do? they take it me on a ride that has been absolutely amazing.

So when I take myself out of it and let them drive, great things happen.

When We Turn the Power Over to Students, Great Things Happen

Thats been the transformation  listening to them, and going forward, and not giving up when times have been difficult, and just letting them see what they can do, and going along for the ride, I guess.

Vicki: So when you said, What do you want to do with these books? what did they say they wanted to do?

Julie: They said that they wanted to give them to some children that needed help.

They did some research. They found out where the most need was.

At that time, they found out it was Africa. So I met up with teachers through the Microsoft Educator Program.

My students had made a video, and kind of made an advertisement.

I took it to these teachers and said, Hey, there are what my kids would like to do. Are you interested?

And they were.

Now, weve had one person that weve been connecting with since the very beginning. He lives in Lesotho, and our student have been connecting for the last five years. So its really a long term project thats had a lot of rewards.

Vicki: And you probably have some of those students now who are getting a little older, dont you?

Julie: Yes! Some of them are now in middle school and high school. I hear back from time to time.

But were also expanding.

The Project Has Expanded Beyond Books

Last spring, we sent over some instruments because we found out that the school didnt have any kind of instruments.

Our music teacher and P.E. Teacher  we all wanted to work together. So he found some old recorders that werent being used anymore. We packed them up and shipped them over to the school.

Tomorrow on their last day of the school year, theyre playing, Mary Had a Little Lamb, on the recorders that we sent over.

So its kind of fun to see  to bring literacy and music together  and let kids know! Look what they can do, when they have access to quality things.

Vicki: Do you ever get criticized for this?

Julie: Not so far, but you know, it could happen.

Vicki: I know sometimes people will say, Well, what are they learning? Are they taking the tests?

I mean, how could you even say that? This is such a great project.

Julie: Well, Ill tell you what the kids are learning.

Theyre learning how to be global citizens.

You cant be a citizen in this world without learning how to get along with others.

And so I think that what were doing  cant be done on a test.

These are the soft skills that students need to learn so that they can be future citizens, so that they can be citizens that work well with other people around the world.

Vicki: Well, Ill put the link in to the project, because this should be airing and going live in January 2018.

Julie Hembree is definitely somebody you want to follow. I find her very exciting. Its also very exciting to get lost in Seattle with her. (laughs)

Julie: (laughs)

Vicki: She showed me Seattle, and it was so amazing and so memorable. She is just a charming, hospitable person who is changing the world with her passion for literacy.

I would just encourage you remarkable teachers to do two big things:

She is handing over a lot of the drive and energy to her students, and going where they want to go. Thats one of my own secrets to transformation  really empowering my students. When you empower your students, you dont just change your students lives, you change your own life!

And then just connecting with the world, and being the connector. I think thats a big job for teachers in the modern era. Were kind of those connectors. Were kind of that glue to the world, an introducer to the world.

So, this is just very exciting, Julie! Well done!

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

kymberlimulford@gmail.com

Bio as submitted

Julie Hembree is a teacher-librarian at Cougar Ridge Elementary School near Seattle, WA. This is her 29th year of teaching. Prior to landing her librarian dream job, she was both a secondary and primary classroom teacher.

Julie believes that we need to use technology to lower the walls of learning. Together with her students, she started the Books to Africa program in 2012. They have sent over 7500 books to disadvantaged schools in Ghana, Lesotho, South Africa and Zambia .She has traveled twice to South Africa and volunteered as a teacher there.

She has been a Microsoft Innovative Expert Educator since 2012 and traveled with Team USA to the Global Forums in Prague, Barcelona and Budapest. She also hosts the Bulldog Reader blog and writes about books, lessons, technology and all things library.

Julie is always looking for more book partners to help with the Books to Africa Program. Lets connect.

Bulldog Reader Blog http://ift.tt/2DIHcP6

Books to Africa Partnership http://ift.tt/2DIHcP6

Blog: Bulldog Reader Blog

Twitter: @mrs_hembree

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a sponsored podcast episode. The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Books to Africa and A Personal Transformation to a Global Educator appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

From http://ift.tt/2DHlGKV via Vicki Davis at coolcatteacher.com . Please also check out my show for busy teachers, Every Classroom Matters and my Free teaching tutorials on YouTube
AMSTERDAM and HELSINKI, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The FinELib consortium and information analytics business Elsevier today signed an agreement making Elsevier's globally published research articles available to Finnish academic institutions, while providing Finnish researches with incentives to publish open access if they so choose.

The three-year contract applies to 13 Finnish universities, 11 research institutions and 11 universities of applied sciences, and grants subscription access to around 1,850 journals on Elsevier's ScienceDirect e-platform. To support Finland's goal of transitioning to open access publishing, Elsevier and FinELib have initiated an Open Access pilot program that stimulates Finnish researchers to publish their articles open access in Elsevier journals.

"Elsevier's high-quality scientific, technical and medical research publications have significant value for Finnish researchers in order to stay internationally competitive," said Keijo Hamalainen, Rector at the University of Jyvaskyla and leader of the contract discussions on behalf of FinELib. "Continued subscription access at competitive rates has therefore been a key priority for us. At the same time, the Finnish research community and Elsevier have agreed to provide options for authors to publish open access. We are pleased with Elsevier taking concrete steps to support our open access goals."

Based on Scopus and ScienceDirect data, Finnish research published by Elsevier increased by 37.5 percent between 2011 and 2015 while the total number of Finnish articles published grew by 15.8 percent during that the same period. These numbers demonstrate the value Finnish scientists attach to publishing in Elsevier's high-quality journals.

"The average quality of Elsevier's articles worldwide, as indicated by the citation impact, is 30 percent above market average. This makes publishing in Elsevier journals particularly attractive to Finnish researchers, with whom we've had a long-lasting relationship" said Gino Ussi, Executive Vice President at Elsevier. "The collaboration between the Finnish research community and Elsevier is aimed at further improving the already high standard of Finnish research. We achieve this by paving the way for open access publishing and leveraging the full potential of Elsevier's ScienceDirect platform - improving the way researchers search, discover, read, understand and share scholarly research."

About FinELib

The FinELib consortium comprises of Finnish universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes and public libraries. The consortium centrally acquires electronic resources for its member organizations and actively promotes open access. The aim of the consortium is to provide the best possible resources for research and teaching while supporting openness. More information: www.finelib.fi

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scival, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries.www.elsevier.com

Media contacts

Anu Alatera, FinELib

+358-50-4154682

anu.alatera@helsinki.fi

Harald Boersma, Elsevier

+31-20-485-2736

H.boersma@elsevier.com
LONDON, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

One of the City's most prominent female entrepreneurs and founder of Netwealth Investments confirmed as speaker for Master Investor Show 2018.

On Saturday 17March 2018, the Business Design Centre in London will host the 16thannual Master Investor Show. In a panel discussion compered by renowned UK financier and entrepreneur Jim Mellon and joined by market commentator Merryn Somerset Webb, attendees will hear first-hand about Charlotte's role in changing the face of private wealth management and howNetwealthis leading the way in fintech.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629467/Master_Investor_Show_2018.jpg )



Swen Lorenz, Director at Master Investor said: "Our full-day event is an opportunity to meet the Good and Great of the British investment industry. Private investors can get up close to leading entrepreneurs and investors, and get first-hand insights how to maximise the value of their portfolios, pensions, and savings."



Charlotte Ransom made her mark at Goldman Sachs,before setting up Netwealth - the online wealth management service with Tom Salter, a former JP Morgan managing director. They are backed by an impressive line-up of high profile City investors, including Edward Bonham Carter, Vice Chairman of Jupiter Asset Management and Ed Wray, co-founder of Betfair.

Jim Mellon, notched up one of the biggest ever successes on the AIM market with Uramin, the company he co-founded in 2005 with $100,000 and sold in 2007 for $2.5 billion. Jim is a highly experienced and successful private investor whose public appearances draw huge crowds.

Merryn Somerset Webbis the editor in chief of MoneyWeek, a regular contributor to the Financial Times, and is a sought-after speaker and commentator on financial matters. Merryn is a Netwealth advisory board member.

During the 30-minute stage discussion on the Gallery Suite stage, Jim will quiz Charlotte and Merryn on what the future holds for private investors in private wealth management as well as explore their roles as respected investors and market commentators.

Charlotte Ransom of Netwealth Investments commented: "We are delighted to be part of the Master Investor show and look forward to discussing our approach with investors on 17th March."

About Master Investor Ltd.

Master Investor Ltd. is an investment media and events company that delivers independent, financial commentary and analysis to UK private investors and traders. The company operates the annual Master Investor Show, an event introducing its 5000+ private investor audience to companies they can invest into. It offers its clients the opportunity to generate leads to an audience with significant investable funds.



www.masterinvestor.co.uk

About Charlotte Ransom / Netwealth Investments

Charlotte is the founder and CEO of Netwealth Investments, a leading UK online wealth manager. Having started her career at JP Morgan she spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs, serving as a partner for 10 years. Her leadership roles spanned relationship management, marketing and product development in the Securities Division. From 2006 to 2011, Charlotte was head of Institutional Wealth Management and the Market Solutions Groups for Europe, Middle East and Asia in the Investment Management Division. From 2012, she explored the impact of digital technologies on a variety of industries before founding Netwealth in 2015.

Netwealth brings together a highly qualified team, a powerful online service and a robust investment framework. For a fraction of the traditional industry cost, clients have access to fully managed portfolios and experienced advice while benefiting from cutting edge financial technology.

https://www.netwealth.com

Contact: James Hudson, James.Hudson@masterinvestor.co.uk
Content Marketing Institute Releases New Research on State of Content Marketing in the United Kingdom CLEVELAND, Ohio, 2018-01-17 10:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A small shift in commitment among UK content marketers made a big difference in the overall success of their content marketing. That's one of the key findings in the new content marketing research released today, Content Marketing in the United Kingdom 2018: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends by Content Marketing Institute (CMI). The report is sponsored by Tomorrow People. To see our analysis and download the full report visit: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/01/committed-marketers-uk-research What did we find? 38% of UK marketers whose organizations are strongly committed to content marketing report that their organizations are extremely or very successful with content marketing, compared with 5% of those who are "somewhat" committed. "Our annual UK content marketing research shows that a small shift in commitment can make a big difference in terms of overall content marketing success," says Lisa Murton Beets, research director, Content Marketing Institute. "The strongly committed are more likely than the 'somewhat' committed to have a documented strategy and are more realistic about what content marketing can achieve, among other distinguishing characteristics. Based on these insights, we recommend that companies hovering in the 'neutral' zone with their content marketing consider what it would take to strengthen their resolve - it might be that they need more buy-in, a better strategy, more budget, more people - and, in some cases, a simple shift in mindset." Other Key Findings: -- 53% of UK marketers surveyed outsource at least one content marketing activity -- content creation is the activity they outsource most (42%). -- 75% of UK marketers say their organizations are extremely, very, or moderately successful with content marketing. -- 68% of UK marketers report their organizations are much more or somewhat more successful with content marketing compared with one year ago. -- 43% of UK marketers say they do an excellent, very good, or good job aligning metrics with content marketing goals; however, another 40% do a fair or poor job, indicating a need for many UK marketers to reassess their content marketing goals and how to measure against them. For research charts, a video, quotes and more, check out this ONLINE FOLDER. To view all CMI research and to subscribe to our emails visit: contentmarketinginstitutecom/research About Content Marketing Institute Content Marketing Institute is the leading global content marketing education and training organization, teaching enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multichannel storytelling. CMI's Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, and the Intelligent Content Conference event is held every spring. CMI publishes the bi-monthly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. Watch this video to learn more about CMI. Content Marketing Institute is organized by UBM plc. UBM is the largest pure-play B2B Events organizer in the world. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve more than 50 different sectors. Our deep knowledge and passion for these sectors allow us to create valuable experiences which enable our customers to succeed. Please visit www.ubm.com for the latest news and information about UBM. Press Contact: Amanda Subler Amanda.Subler@ubm.com
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks retreated on Wednesday, with uncertainty over the shape of the government in Germany and a looming government shutdown in the U.S. keeping investors worried on a light day on the economic front. The euro paused after having rallied to more than three year highs overnight, helping limit overall losses to some extent. The benchmark CAC 40 index was down 13 points or 0.24 percent at 5,499 in opening deals after closing 0.1 percent higher on Tuesday. Retailer Casino Group slumped 4.6 percent as it reported muted growth in fourth-quarter sales. Carrefour shares dropped 1.5 percent after Atacadao S.A. (Grupo Carrefour Brasil), the parent company of all Groupe Carrefour's activities in Brazil, published its fourth-quarter sales figures. Societe Generale fell over 1 percent after it launched a placement of Fnac Darty shares. Speed-train maker Alstom edged up 0.2 percent on reporting 6 percent growth in third-quarter sales. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Scottish start-up business, Turtle Pack has scooped the 6,500 Innovator Launchpad Award, overcoming strong competition from fellow finalists Hoolr and Alex App.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005588/en/

Michael Harkins, Founder of Turtle Pack (Photo: Business Wire)

The competition, sponsored by intellectual property attorneys Murgitroyd, R&D funding consultants Leyton UK and clothing manufacturer Betabrand, is open to all pre-profit start-up businesses in the UK, and offers a PR and advice package, as well as some limited edition clothing from Betabrand.

The winner was announced yesterday in a Facebook Live broadcast from Murgitroyd's HQ (see facebook.com/innovatorlaunchpad).

The first stage of the competition involved submitting a 30-second video application, and from those initial applications, the best video pitches (13 in total) were selected to go to a public vote on WooBox via Facebook, with the page being viewed over 24,000 times.

Following this, the top three companies went through to a judging round where they were interviewed by a cross-industry panel consisting of Dr Olga Kozlova (Director, Converge Challenge), David Kent (Head of Scotland, Leyton UK), Gerry McCusker (CEO, Dog Digital) and Keith Jones (Director, Murgitroyd) to decide the first, second and third spots.

Michael Harkins, founder of Turtle Pack commented: "Wow! It's fantastic to win the competition. The funding will be useful at this stage of my business's development, and the professional advice and PR help will also be valuable tools to aid Turtle Pack's future success."

Michael, a swimming instructor since the age of 15, had his "eureka moment" when he noticed that children using standard swimming aids such as arm bands, noodles and floats were developing the wrong swimming technique.

Inspired, he set out to invent his own swimming aid to solve this problem. The result was a progressional aid that not only helped children to develop a sound swimming technique, but also looked engaging and fun Michael's creation is a turtle-shaped swimming aid worn on the child's back to give the impression of swimming like a turtle!

Michael has had interest in the product from all over the world and also recently achieved recognition and funding through winning the 100,000 Scottish Edge Award.

"My target now," said Michael, "is to successfully launch the product in the UK and build strong foundations before scaling the business internationally. Exciting times ahead for Turtle Pack."

Fiona McKenzie, Marketing Manager with lead sponsor Murgitroyd said: "On behalf of Murgitroyd, Leyton UK and Betabrand, I'd like to congratulate our winner and to thank all of the companies who took part in this edition of the competition the talent that we have in the UK is amazing, and we're pleased to be able to support the start-up community in this way."

The next Innovator Launchpad competition will be launched in Spring 2018. McKenzie said: "We'll be announcing details of the next competition soon, so look out for the latest news on our Facebook page. We look forward to supporting more UK start-up businesses in the year to come!"

Notes to Editors

Innovator Launchpad (facebook.com/innovatorlaunchpad) is a start-up funding competition sponsored by intellectual property attorneys Murgitroyd, R&D funding consultants Leyton UK and clothing manufacturer Betabrand. The competition was first launched in Spring 2017 and after a successful first iteration, it returned in Autumn 2017, with an increased prize fund of 6,500.

Murgitroyd (murgitroyd.com) is a global firm of intellectual property attorneys with UK offices in Aberdeen, Belfast, Glasgow, London, Newcastle and York. The firm specialises in helping businesses protect and maximise return on their intellectual property assets.

Leyton UK (leyton.com) is a global provider of innovation funding advisory services with UK bases in Glasgow and London. Its specialisms include helping businesses to secure R&D Tax Credits and R&D grant funding and providing consultancy on company restructuring.

Betabrand (betabrand.com) is an innovative online clothing community, based in San Francisco. It designs, manufactures and releases new products continuously, assisted by design and crowdfunding input from its supporters.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005588/en/

Contacts:

Murgitroyd

Fiona McKenzie

European Marketing Manager

T. +44 141 307 8400

E. fiona.mckenzie@murgitroyd.com
2016 Mazda CX-9 (with U.S. specifications)



Corporate Communications Division Mazda Motor Corporation, Japan +81-3-3508-5056 [Tokyo] +81-82-282-5253 [Hiroshima] mailto: media@mazda.co.jp

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Jan 17, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that the Light Duty Fuel Economy Trends Report,(1) released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 12, 2018, lists the company as having the highest overall Manufacturer Adjusted Fuel Economy for the 2016 model year.(2) Mazda receives the first-place ranking for the fifth year in a row.The EPA's report summarizes fuel economy trends by model year for vehicles sold in the U.S. and ranks automakers by Manufacturer Adjusted Fuel Economy. Mazda's overall average fuel economy was 29.6 miles per gallon, improved 0.4 mpg over the previous year.Mazda's mission is to enrich people's lives and society as a whole while helping to preserve the beauty of the earth. The company developed SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY; an innovative range of engines, transmissions, bodies and chassis; and deployed them throughout the lineup to provide all customers with both driving pleasure and outstanding environmental and safety performance. These continuing efforts have played a key role in allowing Mazda to record the highest overall average fuel economy five years in a row.Moving forward Mazda hopes to help create a future in which people, the earth and society can coexist with cars, to enrich people's lives through a car ownership experience that celebrates driving, and to become a brand with which customers feel a strong emotional connection.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_2016MazdaCX9.jpg2016 Mazda CX-9 (with U.S. specifications)(1) An annual report published by the EPA which summarizes the fuel economy trends of new passenger vehicles and light trucks since 1975.http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/fetrends-complete.htm(2) Manufacturer Adjusted Fuel Economy: The average fuel economy of all vehicles sold by a manufacturer over a one year period. In the Fuel Economy Trends Report, the EPA uses adjusted combined city and highway fuel economy figures for each model by model year, and the average is weighted for sales volume.About MazdaMazda Motor Corporation (TSE: 7261) started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.comSource: MazdaContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
B.S.D CROWN Ltd (LSE:BSD)

(the "Company")

Ramat Gan, Israel, 17 January 2018

Company Update

Further to Company's announcements dated 20 June 2017, 12 September 2016, 3 August 2016 and 17 May 2016 the Company was informed that on 15 January 2018 an indictment was filed at the economic department of the Tel Aviv District Court , against the former ultimate controlling shareholders of the Company, Mr. Alexander Granovsky and Mr. Gregory Gurtovoy and against the former Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Mr. Israel Jossef Schneorson (together herein, the "Accused").

According to the indictment the Accused used the deposits of the Company's and its parent company, BGI Investments (1961) Ltd., that were deposited in foreign banks, as collateral for loans taken by private companies related to the Accused, without having received applicable approvals by law. According to the indictment, the total amount of the misappropriated funds by the Accused, is USD 60 million.

The indictment attributes to the Accused to the following infringements: theft by officer, fraudulent conversion, fraud and breach of trust, falsification of corporate documents, breaches of reporting obligations under the Israeli Securities Authority Law, non-compliance with the provisions of the Israel Securities Authority with respect to misleading reasonable investors and offenses under section 4 of the Israeli Money Laundering Law.

The Company wishes to clarify that the Accused no longer hold any positions in the Company and / or any of its subsidiaries.

Enquiries:

Joseph Williger, Active Chairman Yossi@ydekel.co.il
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2018 / John DeMarr is a leading private investigator from California who has been operating all over the US since 1988, offering a comprehensive range of services. He and his firm have decades of knowledge and experience in the investigative field.

With the growth in concern about online safety and privacy, the launch of JohnDemarrPI.com offers resources about online safety and privacy. Knowing how to remain safe online has become increasingly necessary in the modern world where it has become so easy for individuals to establish fake identities, reinvent themselves and hide a dubious past.

Our children are particularly vulnerable when it comes to online activity and may be subjected to cyberbullying which can seriously affect their mental state and in some cases even lead to suicide. They need to know how to keep themselves safe online and parents need to educate them in this regard.

This means that parents cannot afford to remain ignorant. They should know as much as they can about the devices their children are using, and how to use privacy settings. They need to teach their children not to divulge mobile numbers to anyone other than trusted friends and not to put too much personal information online. Children often use mobile phones and the internet from a young age today. This means they may be too young to realize the implications of their online behavior.

Online dating is another aspect of the interconnected world that puts individuals at risk. Knowing how to go about online dating without creating unnecessary risks is vitally important. Individuals need to be armed with as much safety advice as possible to reduce risks. Rapes, thefts, stalking, and murder have all been reported by people using such online apps.

It makes sense to be as thoroughly informed as possible, arrange meetings in public places, give friends vital information and more before going on a date with someone who is a virtual stranger. People are often fooled into thinking that they truly know a person after communicating online but there is a possibility that they have been told lies.

A private investigator like John DeMarr is particularly aware of the importance of being informed in such situations due to his exposure to so much of the darker side of the internet. He believes that it is naive to think of the internet as a totally safe place.

Another aspect where the perspective of a private investigator can help is when it comes to a husband hiding assets in a divorce. Many women are unaware that this is possible and so they end up with an unfair settlement. Private investigators with many years of experience, such as John DeMarr, are aware of all the dirty tricks husbands use to hide money. They also know many of the ways in which husbands can try to hide marital infidelity and can even help when it comes to custody disputes.

The insights of a private investigator can help to offer knowledge that empowers people to make informed choices. Possessing the right information can help them to make the right decisions, confront problems and move forward.

John DeMarr

John A. Demarr Private Investigators

(714) 546-7373

info@demarr.com

SOURCE: John DeMarr
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/17/18 -- Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (TSX: DML)(NYSE MKT: DNN)(NYSE American: DNN) is pleased to announce the details of its CAD$16.7 million (Denison's share) exploration and evaluation budget for 2018. The budget will be mainly focused on the Company's high priority projects, namely Wheeler River, Waterbury Lake and Hook-Carter, each of which are located in the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. Winter drilling has commenced at Wheeler River and winter drilling programs are expected to start at Waterbury Lake this week and at Hook-Carter in February.

To view Figure 1: Denison's Athabasca property portfolio as of December 31st, 2017, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1106712-Figure-1.pdf

Budget highlights for 2018 include:

-- Wheeler River Project - A diamond drilling program of approximately 45,000 metres in 60 drill holes is planned with a focus on exploration drilling along strike of the Gryphon deposit and at other high priority, and largely untested, regional targets on the property. Concurrent with the diamond drilling program, a Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") is scheduled for completion in 2018, which will be based on an updated mineral resource estimate for the project (expected in Q1 2018, see Denison's press release dated January 4, 2018). -- Waterbury Lake Project - Exploration efforts in 2018 will follow-up on the highly successful drilling completed in 2017, which resulted in the discovery of the Huskie Zone of high-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization (see Denison's press release dated October 11, 2017). Approximately 14,400 metres of diamond drilling is planned in 36 drill holes. -- Hook-Carter Project - Numerous priority targets have been generated along the prolific Patterson Corridor from ground geophysical surveying completed in 2017. An inaugural diamond drilling program of approximately 10,000 metres in 17 drill holes is planned.

David Cates, President and CEO of Denison commented, "The 2018 budget aligns with our strategy to focus our exploration spending on select high-priority projects. Our winter drilling programs at Wheeler and Waterbury will commence with drill step-outs from high-grade, basement hosted mineralization that remains open. In addition, our exploration team is excited to commence our maiden drilling campaign on the Patterson Corridor at Hook-Carter. We look forward to another year of active exploration on a range of exciting opportunities on the Company's Athabasca-focused exploration portfolio."

Wheeler River Project

A CAD$13.1 million budget has been approved for Denison's flagship project, located in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin. The budget includes exploration expenditures of CAD$9.5 million and evaluation expenditures of CAD$3.6 million.

Denison's share of the budget is expected to be CAD$9.8million, which represents 75% of joint venture expenses. The increased funding by Denison (ownership of 60%) in 2017 and 2018 is in accordance with an agreement with the Wheeler River Joint Venture partners Cameco Corp. ("Cameco") and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited ("JCU"), which allows Denison to increase its interest in the project to up to approximately 66% by the end of 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, Cameco will fund 50% of its ordinary 30% share in 2017 and 2018, and JCU will continue to fund its 10% interest in the project (see Denison's press release dated January 10, 2017).

The 2018 exploration program, including approximately 45,000 metres of diamond drilling in 60 drill holes, will be focused on step-out drilling along strike of the Gryphon deposit and drill testing of high-priority and largely untested regional targets on the property. The Gryphon deposit remains open in numerous areas with a significant amount of potential for future resource growth. Priority target areas include: (1) Along strike to the northeast of the E series lenses, where both unconformity and basement potential exists; (2) Down plunge of the A and B series lenses; (3) Along strike to the northeast and southwest of the D series lenses; and (4) Within the currently defined D series lenses, where additional high-grade shoots may exist. Very little regional exploration has taken place on the property in recent years, with drilling efforts focused on Phoenix and Gryphon, which were discovered by Denison in 2008 and 2014 respectively. The property is host to numerous uranium-bearing lithostructural corridors which are under- or unexplored and have the potential for additional large, high-grade unconformity or basement hosted deposits. The 2018 exploration program will see renewed focus along these corridors to follow-up on previous mineralized drill results, or to test geophysical targets identified from recent past surveys.

The 2018 evaluation program will be aimed at completion of the Wheeler River PFS. As outlined in the Company's press release dated January 4, 2017, Denison has assembled a group of leading engineering and consulting firms to support the Company's in-house project development team in the completion of the PFS.

Waterbury Lake Project

The 'Huskie Zone' was discovered during the Company's summer 2017 drilling program at Waterbury Lake. Seven of the nine drill holes completed as part of the summer program intersected uranium mineralization, including intersections of 9.1% U3O8 over 3.7 meters (drill hole WAT17-446A), 1.7% U3O8 over 7.5 meters (drill hole WAT17-449) and 1.5% U3O8 over 4.5 meters (drill hole WAT17-450A) (see Denison's press release dated October 11, 2017). The mineralized zone is entirely basement-hosted occurring between 50 and 175 metres vertically below the sub-Athabasca unconformity (265 and 390 metres vertically below surface) and measuring approximately 100 metres along strike (current extent of drilling), up to 120 metres along dip, with individual lenses varying in interpreted true thickness between approximately 2 and 7 metres. The zone is wide-open in all directions in terms of the mineralization and associated alteration intersected.

The 2018 exploration program is budgeted at CAD$3.5 million (100% Denison share) and is designed with the potential to expand the Huskie zone mineralization through step-out drilling. A diamond drilling program of approximately 14,400 metres in 36 drill holes is planned for 2018 and is expected to be carried out during the winter and summer drilling seasons.

The Waterbury Lake property consists of 13 claims covering 40,256 hectares, and is located in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin. The property is jointly owned by Denison (64.22%) and Korea Waterbury Uranium Limited Partnership ("KWULP") (35.78%) through the Waterbury Lake Uranium Limited Partnership ("WLULP"). KWULP has elected not to fund the 2018 exploration program and, as a result, will incur dilution of its ownership interest in the WLULP.

Hook-Carter Project

The Hook-Carter property consists of 45 claims covering 20,522 hectares and is located in the western portion of the Athabasca Basin. The project is highlighted by 15 kilometres of strike potential along the prolific Patterson Corridor - host to the recently discovered Arrow deposit (NexGen Energy Ltd.), Triple R deposit (Fission Uranium Corp.), and Spitfire discovery (Purepoint Uranium Group Inc., Cameco Corp., and AREVA Resources Canada Inc.), which occur within 8 to 20 kilometres of the property. The property is significantly underexplored compared to other properties along this trend, with only five of eight historic drill holes located along the 15 kilometres of Patterson Corridor strike length. The property also covers significant portions of the Derkson and Carter Corridors, which provide additional priority target areas.

During 2017, exploration activities at the Hook-Carter project included ground electromagnetic and resistivity surveying covering 7.5 kilometres of strike along the shallower portions of the Patterson Corridor. The surveys have generated numerous compelling unconformity and basement targets which Denison believes warrant drill testing. A diamond drilling program is planned for the winter of 2018, consisting of approximately 10,000 metres in 17 drill holes, with a budget of CAD$2.2 million (100% Denison share). The property is owned 80% by Denison and 20% by ALX Uranium Corp. ("ALX"), and Denison has agreed to fund ALX's share of the first CAD$12M in expenditures (see Denison's Press Releases dated October 13th and November 7th, 2016).

Other Exploration Projects

The 2018 budget also provides for a reconnaissance diamond drilling program (2,200 metres in 16 drill holes) for approximately CAD$1.0 million on Denison's 100% owned South Dufferin project, and funding of Denison's share of AREVA Resources Canada operated exploration programs at the McClean Lake project (22.5% Denison) and Midwest project (25.17% Denison) with a total budget of $570,000 (Denison's share).

About Denison

Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. In addition to its 60% owned Wheeler River project, which hosts the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, Denison's exploration portfolio consists of numerous projects covering approximately 347,000 hectares in the Athabasca Basin region, including 327,000 hectares in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture ("MLJV"), which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest and Midwest A deposits, and a 64.22% interest in the J Zone deposit and Huskie discovery on the Waterbury Lake property. Each of Midwest, Midwest A, J Zone and Huskie are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill.

Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Denison Environmental Services division and is the manager of Uranium Participation Corp., a publicly traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison.

Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes"" or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to", or the negatives and/or variations of such words and phrases. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: exploration (including drilling) and evaluation activities, plans, budgets and objectives; management's assessments regarding the potential for additional mineralization to be discovered through further exploration of its properties; plans and objectives with respect to updating its resource estimates and preparing a PFS; and Denison's percentage interest in its properties and its plans and agreements with its joint venture partners, as applicable. Statements relating to "mineral reserves" or "mineral resources" are deemed to be forward-looking information, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral reserves and mineral resources described can be profitably produced in the future.

Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Factors, such as potential environmental impacts, the speculative nature of exploration and development, the need for stakeholder approvals, and ongoing capital needs can significantly alter plans and achievements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate and may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the factors discussed in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2017 under the heading "Risk Factors". These factors are not, and should not be construed as being exhaustive. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of this press release. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this press release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in Denison's expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.

Contacts:

David Cates

President and Chief Executive Officer

(416) 979-1991 ext. 362



Sophia Shane

Investor Relations

(604) 689-7842



Follow Denison on Twitter

@DenisonMinesCo




GURUGRAM, India, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The relaxation of regulations for outflow of remittance from Nigeria to other countries will present a great opportunity for the MTOs. The international outbound remittance is likely to grow robustly in the coming years

to other countries will present a great opportunity for the MTOs. The international outbound remittance is likely to grow robustly in the coming years The use of Bitcoins to remit money in Nigeria is also very likely to gain popularity in the near future.

is also very likely to gain popularity in the near future. The rising number of households and growing infrastructural development in the country will drive the market of Nigeria bill payment industry. It has been forecasted that the market will reach USD 146 billion by 2019

In Nigeria, international remittance is a critical source of income for the people and has changed their standard of living to a great extent. Remittance inflow from other countries into Nigeria has resulted in development of the country in many ways. Each year, Nigerian migrants working overseas send billions of dollars back home to support their families. Maximum number of Nigerian migrates to developed countries such as the US, the UK, Spain, Italy and other European and African countries. In terms of transaction volume also, maximum remittance is received from the US and the UK followed by other European countries.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130909/638322 )



Nigeria receives about 67.0% of the total remittance received in the Sub-Saharan Africa Region. The growth of the remittance industry in the country has been majorly driven by the large number of Nigerian diaspora who have migrated overseas in search of higher paying job opportunities. The number of Nigerian migrants in 1990 was 465,932 and it has grown over the years. In 2013, the Nigerians living outside their country were 1,030,322 that are more than double the number in 1990.

International remittance in Nigeria is largely dominated by the remittance inflow from other counties. Inflow of remittance from other countries has contributed a share of 95% in the overall revenues of the industry in 2016.

The rising population of Nigerian migrants in the US and UK has surged the transaction volume of remittance from these countries to Nigeria. The US-Nigeria and the UK-Nigeria remittance corridor are equally dominated by the informal remittance channels. The remittance flows to Nigeria from these corridors is also underreported because the Nigerian government still lacks proper infrastructure and mechanism for data collection.

The major players in the Nigeria international remittance market include banks and non-bank institutions that include MTOs and transfer through family and friends. Some of the major banks in the market include Guaranty Trust Bank, Eco Bank, Fidelity Bank and others. In terms of MTOs, the industry till now was concentrated with only a few major companies such as Western Union, MoneyGram, World Remit and RIA dominating the industry.

According to the report by Ken Research titled "Nigeria Remittance and Bill Payments Market Outlook by Inbound and Outbound International Remittance, By Mode of Transfer (Cash or Electronic Transfers), By Channel (Bank and Non-Bank) - Outlook to 2022", By the year 2022, the transfer of funds through electronic means is expected to reach 89.0% followed by cash transfers that shall account for a share of 11%.

Key Topics Covered in the Report:

Nigeria International Remittance Market

Inbound and Outbound International Remittances

Major Flow Corridors ( United States , United Kingdom and Others)

, and Others) Competition in Nigeria International Remittance Market

International Remittance Market Market Share of Major MTOs in Nigeria International Remittance Market

International Remittance Market Future Outlook & Projections of Nigeria International Remittance Market

Nigeria Domestic Remittance Market

Market Share of Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) and E-Wallet Operators In Domestic Remittance Market

Future Outlook and Projections of Nigeria Domestic Remittance Market, 2017-2022

Major Banks in Nigeria International and Domestic Remittance Market



Guaranty Trust Bank

Eco Bank

Fidelity Bank

Major MTOs in Nigeria International and Domestic Remittance Market

Moneygram

Western Union

RIA Money Transfer

World Remit

Nigeria Bill Payment Market

By Types of Payment (Grocery Bills, Utility Bills, Fuel Bills, DTH and Broadband Bills and Mobile Recharge Bills)

By Bill Payment Methods (Cash, Credit/Debit Card/E-Wallet and Electronic Transfers)

By E-Bill Payment Methods (Biller's Desk and Third-Party Interface)

Market Share of Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) and E-Wallet Operators In Bill Payments Market

Future Outlook and Projections of Nigeria Bill Payment Market, 2017-2022

For more information on the research report, refer to below link:

https://www.kenresearch.com/banking-financial-services-and-insurance/financial-services/nigeria-remittance-bill-payment-market/142292-93.html

Related Reports by Ken Research

Russia Remittance and Bill Payments Market by Inbound and Outbound International Remittance, By Mode of Transfer (Cash or Electronic Transfers), By Channel (Bank and Non-Bank) - Outlook to 2021

Mexico Remittance & Bill Payment Market Outlook to 2021 - Growing Mexican Immigrants in the US & Increasing Internet Penetration to Drive Market Growth

UAE Remittance and Bill Payments Market Outlook to 2021 - Rising Expatriate Population, Growing Business Activities and Increasing Demand for Utilities to Foster Growth



Contact US:

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

Sales@kenresearch.com

+91-1244230204 ext. 26


DETROIT, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report onAerospace & Defense Thermoplastic Composites Market by Aircraft Type (Commercial Aircraft, General Aviation, Military Aircraft, and Others), by Resin Type (PPS, PEEK, PEI, and Others), by Application Type (Interior, Airframe, and Others), by Fiber Type (Carbon Fiber and Glass Fiber), by Process Type (Compression Molding, Injection Molding, AFP/ATL, and Others), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160831/402975LOGO )



This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the thermoplastic composites market in the global aerospace defense industry over the trend and forecast period of 2012 to 2023. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

Thermoplastic Composites Market in the Global Aerospace & Defense (A&D) Industry: Highlights

As per Stratview Research, the global A&D thermoplastic composites market offers significant growth opportunities during the forecast period of 2018 to 2023 to reach an estimated value of US$ 636 million in 2023, which offers an opportunity to the composites industry players to align themselves with the market growth.

There are several factors bolstering the growth of thermoplastic composites market in the global aerospace & defense industry. The author of the report cited increasing commercial and regional aircraft deliveries, increasing demand for advanced composites in the structural applications of aircraft, increasing production rates of composites rich aircraft (B787 and A350XWB), increasing demand for thermoplastic composites to fabricate structural and interior parts, and superior benefits of thermoplastic composites including recyclability and reduction in parts count as the key factors that are proliferating the demand for thermoplastic composites in the aerospace & defense industry.

Based on aircraft type, commercial aircraft is projected to remain the most dominant aircraft type in the global A&D thermoplastic composites market during the forecast period. Increasing production of commercial aircraft coupled with increasing penetration of thermoplastic composites, especially in commercial aircraft, is likely to fuel the growth of the segment in the coming years.

In terms of resin type, PPS resin dominates the A&D thermoplastic composites market and is expected to remain the largest segment during the forecast period as well. PPS resins have good dimensional stability even at elevated temperatures and in harsh chemical environment. They also have the advantage of molding complex parts easily with a tight tolerance. The resins have successfully found usage in various aircraft applications, especially on airframe applications.

As per the report, carbon fiber is projected to remain the largest fiber type in the global A&D thermoplastic composites market during the forecast period. Extremely low weight, coupled with high tensile and compression strength is the key growth driver of carbon fiber in the A&D thermoplastic composites market.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the Report

In terms of region, Europe is expected to remain the largest A&D thermoplastic composites market during the forecast period. Airbus is the major consumer of thermoplastic composites. North America also holds reasonable share in the A&D thermoplastic composites market. Boeing and Gulfstream Aerospace are the key OEMs, which are creating a healthy demand for thermoplastic composite parts in the region.

The key thermoplastic composite suppliers include companies, such as Royale TenCate, Solvay S.A., and RTP Company. Some of the major thermoplastic component manufacturers in the market include AVANCO Group (Xperion Performance Polymer Composites), Daher-Socata, Dutch Thermoplastic Components B.V., GKN Aerospace (Fokker Aerostructures), and Premium AEROTEC GmbH.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies the thermoplastic composites market in the global aerospace & defense industry and has segmented the market in six ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the six ways in which the market is segmented:

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Aircraft Type:

Commercial Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

General Aviation (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Military Aircraft (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others(Regional Analysis:NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Resin Type:

PPS (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

PEEK (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

PEI (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others(Regional Analysis:NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Application Type:

Interior (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airframe (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others(Regional Analysis:NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Fiber Type:

Carbon Fiber (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Glass Fiber(Regional Analysis:NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Process Type:

Compression Molding (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Injection Molding (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

AFP/ATL (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Other(Regional Analysis:NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global A&DThermoplastic Composites Market by Region

North America (Country Analysis: USA , Canada , and Mexico )

Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , UK, and Rest of Europe )

Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , India , Japan and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Rest of the World(Country Analysis: Middle East , Latin America , and Others)

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the composites industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Composites Industry

Related premium market reports in the advanced materials industry are:

Global Thermoplastic Resin Market in the Composites Industry by Resin Type, by Compound Type, by End-Use Industry Type, by Manufacturing Process Type, by Composite Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023

Global Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) Market in Aircraft Engines by Aircraft Type, by Engine Type, by Component Type, by Application Type, by Engine Zone Type, by Material Type, by Manufacturing Process, and by Region, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017-2022

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.

For enquiries, contact:

RiteshGandecha

Stratview Research

E-mail: sales@stratviewresearch.com

Direct: +1-313-307-4176


MANCHESTER AND LONDON INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

(the "Company" or "MLIT")

17 January 2018

Appointment of AIFM and Appointment of Depositary

Appointment of an AIFM

The Board of the Company announces the appointment of its investment manager, M&L Capital Management Limited ("MLCM" or "Portfolio Manager"), as the Alternative Investment Fund Manager ("AIFM") of the Company pursuant to an agreement between the Company and MLCM and effective from today(the "Management Agreement"). This appointment is due to the requirements of the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD") as implemented in the United Kingdom.

MLCM has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an AIFM under the AIFMD.

Under the Management Agreement MLCM will continue to receive an annual management fee equal to 0.5% per annum of the net asset value of the Company in relation to its role as Portfolio Manager. In addition, MLCM will now receive an incremental annual fee of 59,000 (charged weekly/monthly) to undertake additional AIFM duties such as Risk Management & Valuation on behalf of the Company.

This transaction with MLCM is deemed to be a smaller related party transaction within the definition of Listing Rule 11.1.10R because the percentage ratios are less than 5% but exceed the 0.25% threshold as set out in LR 11.1.10R(1).

It is important to note that it has been agreed that of this incremental fee for the additional duties as AIFM, MLCM will not receive more than 48,484 before the 6th December 2018.

Link Asset Services (the "Administrator"), the existing administrator, will continue to account for and publish the net asset value of the Company and the net assets and the net asset value per share of each class of shares, in each case in accordance with the valuation policy of the Company.

Appointment of Depository

Pursuant to an agreement between the Company, the AIFM and INDOS Financial Limited ("INDOS" or the "Depositary "), effective 17th January 2018, INDOS has been appointed to act as depositary to the Company.

INDOS is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement, the Depositary shall be paid a fee of 0.03% of the Net Asset Value per annum subject to a minimum fee of 2,916.66 per month. In addition, the Depositary is entitled to a one off set up fee of 5,000.

The Depositary does not warrant the contents of this announcement (other than information pertaining to it), nor is it involved in the management, administration or net asset value calculation of the Company. The services as Depositary may be terminated by the Company or the Depositary at any time, subject to 3 months' prior written notice and the appointment of a replacement depositary, or on immediate written notice by any such party in the event of certain circumstances set out in the Depositary Agreement.

The Company will indemnify and hold harmless the Depositary, its directors, officers, and employees from and against any losses, expenses and liabilities incurred by such persons in the performance of services under the Depositary Agreement. However, the Depositary, its directors, officers, employees and/or agents will not be indemnified by the Company for any such action or inaction arising from fraud, wilful default, negligence, or bad faith on the part of the Depositary.The Depositary has delegated safekeeping duties to J.P. Morgan Securities plc and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc (the "Sub-Custodians" or "Prime Brokers"). It should be noted that there are collateral and asset re-use arrangements in place with both Sub-Custodians. The Depositary has also discharged to the Sub Custodians various liabilities in respect of assets held at the Sub Custodian. The Depositary has no investment discretion over the assets of the Company.

The Depositary may appoint sub-custodians, agents or delegates to hold the assets of the Company, provided that the Depositary shall exercise reasonable skill, care and due diligence in the selection of a suitable sub-custodian and shall be responsible to the Company for the duration of the relevant sub-custody agreement for satisfying itself as the ongoing suitability of the sub-custodians to provide custodial services to the Company. The Depositary will also maintain an appropriate level of supervision over the sub-custodians and will make appropriate inquiries periodically to confirm that the obligations of the sub-custodians continue to be competently discharged.

Other information required to be provided by the Company under the AIFMD

The AIFMD requires the Company to provide certain additional information to shareholders. This information can be found at www.mlcapman.com/manchester-london-investment-trust-plc/

Enquiries:

M&L Capital Management Limited (AIFM): +44 (0) 207 584 5733

Manchester & London - Company Secretary: +44 (0) 1392 477500

INDOS Financial Limited (Depositary): +44 (0) 203 319 1589

Beaumont Cornish: +44 (0) 207 628 3396
Greece's Piraeus Bank ends 2017 with NPL stock below EU20b vs EU20.1b target, according to a Bloomberg report. For 2018, the Bank projects a credit growth rate of 1% for the Greek banking sector, with the granting of new loans mainly to corporates and SMEs.

This will be the first loan growth since the onset of the crisis. Loan growth is expected to come mainly from corporate and SME lending.

In 2017 Piraeus, which holds a dominant position in the SMEs market (80% of the SMEs market having a banking relationship with Piraeus Bank), generated close to 2.8bn new loans, ahead of its budget, targeting to be close to 5bn by 2020.

Loans to deposit ratio converging towards 100%, signaling the readiness of the Bank to satisfy stronger loan demand coming.

The Bank has reduced its ELA reliance significantly to 5.5bn level at the end of 2017 from 12bn at the beginning of the year, currently below 4.5bn.

"We have delivered a significant reduction in euro-system funding. This is strongly in line with our expectations and we are well placed to fully eliminate ELA in 2018," Piraeus Bank CEO Christos Megalou says in statement to Bloomberg.

Mr Megalou added that "the completion of Greece's economic program in August 2018, the gradual lift of capital controls and the further access to capital markets will be the key macro drivers for 2018."

During 2017 Piraeus Bank has accelerated the execution of its Agenda 2020 Plan especially with regards to improving asset quality and liquidity. Piraeus remains Greece's largest bank by deposits with 41bn portfolio and close to 30% share.

?he Bank managed to increase market share by capturing ~40% of Q3.17 market inflow, while Q4.17 was also strong.

In October 2017, Piraeus issued a 0.5bn covered bond, privately placed with international financial organizations (EIB, EIF, EBRD). This contributes to 700mn financing to Greek SMEs.

Piraeus Bank's strategy was presented to investors last month in meetings held in London.

Full presentation at the link below:

http://www.piraeusbankgroup.com/~/media/Com/2017/Files/investors/financials/Financial-Results/H1/9M2017-Corporate-IR-book-Jan.pdf

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005791/en/

Contacts:

Media enquiries:

Piraeus Bank Group

George Papaioannou, Head of Press Office

+302103288830

or

Powerscourt

Alex Rowbottom

+44 (0)2072501446
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/17/18 -- Revival Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RVG) ("Revival" or, the "Company"), a growth-focused gold exploration and development company, announces that the Company will be participating in the following investor conferences this month:

-- Vancouver Resource Investment Conference to be held in Vancouver, BC. Exhibiting in Booth #1025, January 21-22, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. -- AME Roundup 2018 to be held in Vancouver, BC. January 22-25, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.

If you are interested in scheduling a meeting at any of the above conferences, please contact Andrea Totino, Investor Relations Manager at info@revival-gold.com. Corporate presentation and fact sheet information materials are available on the Company's website at www.revival-gold.com.

About Revival Gold Inc.

Revival Gold Inc. is a growth-focused gold exploration and development company. The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in Meridian Beartrack Co., owner of the Beartrack Gold Project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. Revival also owns rights to a 100% interest in the neighbouring Arnett Creek Gold Project.

In addition to its interests in Beartrack and Arnett Creek, the Company is pursuing other gold exploration and development opportunities and holds a 51% interest in the Diamond Mountain Phosphate Project located in Uintah County, Utah.

Additional disclosure of the Company's financial statements, technical reports, material change reports, news releases and other information can be obtained at www.revival-gold.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please visit www.revival-gold.com.

Cautionary Statement

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Contacts:

Andrea Totino

Investor Relations Manager

(416) 366-4100

info@revival-gold.com

www.revival-gold.com




Results of Independent COMPASS Trial Comparing Aspiration to Stent Retrievers to be Presented

Penumbra, Inc. (NYSE: PEN), a global healthcare company focused on innovative therapies, today announced key events at the upcoming International Stroke Conference 2018 meeting (ISC 2018) to be held January 24-26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. These events include results from two new clinical studies evaluating the company's aspiration thrombectomy system for ischemic stroke revascularization.

The results of the independent, prospective, randomized controlled COMPASS Trial (A Comparison of Direct Aspiration vs. Stent Retriever as a First Approach) will be presented by J. Mocco, M.D., M.S., Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. The multi-center COMPASS Trial compared mechanical thrombectomy with the ADAPT (A Direct Aspiration First Pass Technique) approach to stent retrievers in patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) within six hours of symptom onset. The COMPASS Trial planned to enroll approximately 270 patients at up to 20 centers. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, January 25 from 11-11:12 a.m. PT.

In addition, results of the company-sponsored PROMISE Study (Reperfusion with ADAPT Technique using ACE68 and ACE64 is Safe and Effective in Large Vessel Occlusions of the Anterior Circulation) will be presented by Peter Schramm, M.D., Universitatsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Lubeck, Germany. The PROMISE Study was a prospective, single-arm multi-center study that enrolled 204 patients across 20 European centers using ADAPT with the Penumbra System as frontline treatment. The presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, January 24 from 6:30-7 p.m. PT.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to learn more about the company's portfolio of products, including the Penumbra System, Penumbra SMART COIL System and Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device, at Penumbra booth #521 in the Science and Technology Hall.

About COMPASS Trial

The COMPASS Trial: A Comparison of Direct Aspiration vs. Stent Retriever as a First Approach is an independent, prospective, randomized trial that compared mechanical thrombectomy with the ADAPT (A Direct Aspiration First Pass Technique) approach to stent retrievers in patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) within six hours of symptom onset. The primary objective of the trial was to show that AIS patients, with appropriate image selection, treated with the ADAPT approach within 6 hours of symptom onset do not have inferior clinical outcomes to those treated with a first-line stent retriever with 90-day global disability assessed via the modified Rankin Scale score (mRS) analyzed using success criteria as mRS 0 to 2. The study planned to enroll 270 patients at up to 20 centers in the U.S., and was funded by the company through a research grant. (Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02466893)

About Penumbra's Neuro Products

Penumbra has a growing portfolio of products for use in a range of neuro procedures:

The Penumbra System is a fully integrated system designed specifically for mechanical thrombectomy by aspiration that first received 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food Drug Administration in December 2007. The Penumbra System enables physicians to use aspiration, which acts like a minimally invasive "vacuum" inside the artery to remove stroke-causing blood clots from the brain safely and effectively. It is intended for use in the revascularization of patients with AIS secondary to intracranial large vessel occlusion. The latest generation of the Penumbra System features the ACE Reperfusion Catheters, Hi-Flow Aspiration Tubing, the 3D Revascularization Device and Pump MAX aspiration pump and accessories. Launched in 2016, the ACE68 Reperfusion Catheter offers outstanding trackability and enables even greater aspiration power for clot removal through its large .068" lumen. Launched in 2017, the 3D Revascularization Device is a next generation stroke device, designed and optimized for aspiration with ACE Reperfusion Catheters.

is a fully integrated system designed specifically for mechanical thrombectomy by aspiration that first received 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food Drug Administration in December 2007. The Penumbra System enables physicians to use aspiration, which acts like a minimally invasive "vacuum" inside the artery to remove stroke-causing blood clots from the brain safely and effectively. It is intended for use in the revascularization of patients with AIS secondary to intracranial large vessel occlusion. The latest generation of the Penumbra System features the ACE Reperfusion Catheters, Hi-Flow Aspiration Tubing, the 3D Revascularization Device and Pump MAX aspiration pump and accessories. Launched in 2016, the ACE68 Reperfusion Catheter offers outstanding trackability and enables even greater aspiration power for clot removal through its large .068" lumen. Launched in 2017, the 3D Revascularization Device is a next generation stroke device, designed and optimized for aspiration with ACE Reperfusion Catheters. Penumbra's neuro embolization systems are designed to meet the unique challenges of aneurysm coiling, vessel sacrifice and other neurovascular malformations. The Penumbra SMART COIL is a 10-size, detachable, platinum embolization coil system specifically engineered to offer smooth, controlled coil delivery using the latest innovations in coil design and material science. The Penumbra Coil 400 is a large-volume, detachable, platinum coil system engineered to offer four times the volume of a 10-size coil to efficiently embolize large aneurysms and other large, complex lesions.

is a 10-size, detachable, platinum embolization coil system specifically engineered to offer smooth, controlled coil delivery using the latest innovations in coil design and material science. The Penumbra Coil 400 is a large-volume, detachable, platinum coil system engineered to offer four times the volume of a 10-size coil to efficiently embolize large aneurysms and other large, complex lesions. Artemis Neuro Evacuation Device is specifically designed for the controlled evacuation of fluids and tissues from the ventricular system and cerebrum. Artemis is Penumbra's second generation device, following the introduction of the Apollo System in 2014. Artemis is a minimally invasive surgical tool that utilizes Pump MAX for powerful and controlled hematoma evacuation.

Important Safety Information

Additional information about Penumbra's products can be located on Penumbra's website at http://www.penumbrainc.com/healthcare-professionals. Prior to use, please refer to Instructions for Use for complete product indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, potential adverse events and detailed instructions for use.

About Penumbra

Penumbra, Inc., headquartered in Alameda, Calif., is a global healthcare company focused on innovative therapies. Penumbra designs, develops, manufactures and markets medical devices and has a broad portfolio of products that addresses challenging medical conditions and significant clinical needs. Penumbra sells its products to hospitals and clinics primarily through its direct sales organization in the United States, most of Europe, Canada and Australia, and through distributors in select international markets. Penumbra, the Penumbra P logo, Penumbra System, ACE, 3D Revascularization Device, MAX, Penumbra SMART COIL, Penumbra Coil 400, and Artemis are trademarks of Penumbra, Inc. For more information, visit www.penumbrainc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, certain statements in this press release are forward-looking in nature and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. Our business and operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those projected by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those projected include, but are not limited to: failure to sustain or grow profitability or generate positive cash flows; failure to effectively introduce and market new products; delays in product introductions; significant competition; inability to further penetrate our current customer base, expand our user base and increase the frequency of use of our products by our customers; inability to achieve or maintain satisfactory pricing and margins; manufacturing difficulties; permanent write-downs or write-offs of our inventory; product defects or failures; unfavorable outcomes in clinical trials; inability to maintain our culture as we grow; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and potential adverse regulatory actions. These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. There may be additional risks of which we are not presently aware or that we currently believe are immaterial which could have an adverse impact on our business. Any forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions regarding future events and are applicable only as of the dates of such statements. We make no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may change.

Source: Penumbra, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005526/en/

Contacts:

Merryman Communications

Betsy Merryman

310-560-8176

betsy@merrymancommunications.com
SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bupa, the international health and care company, and HealthTap, the world's first Health Operating System powered by the largest network of interactive doctors and Artificial Intelligence, today announced a long term strategic partnership to transform the healthcare experience worldwide.

The partnership will bring together Bupa, with its leading health and care expertise, and HealthTap, one of the leading and most innovative health tech companies, to deploy a game-changing combination of digital and in-person healthcare.

HealthTap's proprietary Health Operating System HOPES' and its AI powered apps will enable delightful Bupa digital experiences and enhance speed, convenience, and quality of care for Bupa customers.

Evelyn Bourke, Bupa Group CEO said: "I believe our partnership with HealthTap will deliver truly innovative healthcare solutions to improve the lives of Bupa customers globally. We have decided to partner with HealthTap because of the combination of industry-leading technology, execution, and understanding of healthcare that HealthTap brings. Over the past year we have worked together to implement a number of solutions for day-to-day customer needs, such as easily finding local doctors covered by Bupa insurance, scheduling physiotherapy, immunisations, and doctor visits with local clinics, and connecting residents in our care homes with doctors by video chat. Together we bring world-leading digital health and care experiences to our customers, while saving costs, and delivering efficiencies for healthcare providers."

Ron Gutman, HealthTap Founder and CEO added: "I've always believed that creating a new sustainable paradigm of better healthcare requires partners like Bupa. Bupa shares HealthTap's values and mission, and it has the longevity, quality, depth, and scale in traditional healthcare delivery to complement HealthTap's digital health technology and user-experience expertise. This is why we're honoured and delighted to partner with Bupa. By joining together one of the world's most respected leaders in healthcare with one of the world's most innovative health tech companies, the Bupa/HealthTap partnership is uniquely positioned to launch a new era of interoperable, smart, and engaging healthcare. Together our two companies will transform healthcare around the world, and help millions everywhere live healthier, happier, longer lives."

About Bupa

Bupa's purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives.

With no shareholders, our customers are our absolute focus. We reinvest profits into providing more and better healthcare for the benefit of current and future customers.

We have 16.5m health insurance customers, provide healthcare for 10.6m people in our clinics and hospitals, and look after around 22,000 aged care residents.

We employ over 80,000 people, principally in Australia, the UK, Spain, Hong Kong, Chile, Brazil, Poland, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, India and the USA.

Health insurance is around 70% of our business. In a number of countries we also run clinics, dental centres, hospitals and care homes and villages.

For more information, visit www.bupa.com

About HealthTap

HealthTap is the world's first Global Health Practice, delivering immediate healthcare, 24/7, from Query-to-Cure. HealthTap connects hundreds of millions of people in 174 countries via video, voice, and text chat on any mobile device or personal computer with health advice from a Medical Expert Network of more than 108,000 doctors across 147 specialties. HealthTap's proprietary Health Operating System (HOPES') and proprietary, Artificial-Intelligence triaging technology (Dr. A.I.') enable hospital systems, insurance companies, employers and governments to deliver the right care at the right time at the right price. HOPES is now powering the HealthTap Cloud', a first-of-its-kind virtual cloud dedicated to healthcare and created for interoperability and ease of integration. Our mission is to help people live healthier, happier, longer lives.

To learn more, visit www.healthtap.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629745/HealthTap___Bupa_Strategic_Partnership.jpg
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2018 / SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research and corporate access firm focused on small-cap and micro-cap public companies, today announced it has issued an update on Reign Sapphire Corporation (OTCQB: RGNP) and updated its target price to $0.70.

The report is available here: RGNP January Update Note.

Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Reign Sapphire Corporation (OTCQB: RGNP, "Reign") is building a premium direct to consumer custom and branded jewelry company. The company has three divisions: Reign Brands jewelry collections, Reign Ventures for jewelry technology, and Reign Blockchain to authenticate sapphires as conflict-free. At present Reign's revenues are led by the Reign Brands jewelry division. Reign Brands includes 1) Reign Sapphire's ethically-processed, Australia-mined sapphire jewelry targeted towards millennials; 2) the Coordinates Collection line of custom jewelry inscribed with location coordinates to commemorate life's special moments, 3) Le Bloc classic customized jewelry, and 4) athleisure jewelry brand ION Collection by Jen Selter. Reign is differentiated in the market both by its vertically integrated source-to-retail business as well as by its technology-driven consumer marketing programs. The company's recent announcement that it would incorporate blockchain technology to authenticate conflict-free gemstones and to create a rewards-based cryptocurrency also adds an intriguing new technology element considering the rapidly growing interest in blockchain technology.

Reign provides encouraging update on business initiatives

On January 8, 2018, Reign CEO Joseph Segelman provided an upbeat investor update highlighting the company's expanded jewelry offerings, as well as new direct to consumer marketing initiatives and the recently announced decision to enter the blockchain market. As part of the announcement, management cited an improvement in marketing efficiency, the integration of its jewelry brands into one technology platform, while stating that the company expected improvements in revenues and profits in 2018. Specific growth initiatives recently undertaken, which are expected to support growth in 2018, include the entry into the $15 billion bridal jewelry market, the launch of the ION Collection by internet star and model Jen Selter, and an optimized online marketing strategy. Specifically, management cited attractive customer acquisition costs through affiliate, email, and social media influencer marketing that have generated new customer ROI of over 100%. We now expect 2017E revenues of $1.7mn with 2018E revenues of $5.2mn, and believe management is targeting profitability in the future as the company scales.

Reign to use blockchain technology for authentication

In January 2018, Reign announced that the company would incorporate blockchain technology into its business as a means to authenticate ethically sourced gemstones, as well as through a new rewards program using crypto-currency. Blockchain is a rapidly emerging decentralized and distributed database technology in which transactions are recorded chronologically and publicly. Reign's decision to utilize the technology to validate ethically sourced gemstones should provide a significant layer of trust with consumers, which is appropriate for an industry in which providing evidence of ethical sourcing is a key differentiator. Additionally, the use of blockchain for a new cryptocurrency-based rewards program positions Reign among a group of new entrants seeking to leverage the growth of cryptocurrency to accelerate their business. The company is exploring an initial coin offering (ICO), which could benefit from surging interest in cryptocurrency and serve as a marketing tool/differentiator for its online jewelry platform.

Updating target to $0.70

We are updating our target to reflect recent announcements at Reign and the company's anticipation of robust growth in 2018E. We see Reign as a speculative company in the high growth online consumer space.

Please review important disclosures on our website at www.seethruequity.com.

About Reign Sapphire Corporation

Reign Brands featuring, Reign Sapphires: Ethically produced, millennial targeted sapphire jewelry, Coordinates Collection: Custom jewelry, inscribed with location coordinates commemorating life's special moments, and Le Bloc: Classic customized jewelry and athleisure jewelry brand ION Collection by Jen Selter.

Reign Ventures, the Company's joint venture platform for investment and development of jewelry technology related products.

Reign Blockchain to authenticate Sapphires as conflict-free. Entries on the digital record can include attributes for each sapphire including the color, carat, and certificate number. Reign's Blockchain website will be Reignbc.com and cryptocurrency and blockchain-based loyalty program website Reigncoins.com.

About SeeThruEquity

Since its founding in 2011, SeeThruEquity has been committed to its core mission: providing impactful, high quality research on underfollowed smallcap and microcap equities. SeeThruEquity has pioneered an innovative business model for equity research that is not paid for and is unbiased. SeeThruEquity is the host of acclaimed investor conferences that are the ultimate event for publicly traded companies with market capitalizations less than $1 billion.

SeeThruEquity is approved to contribute its research reports and estimates to Thomson One Analytics (First Call), the leading estimates platform on Wall Street, as well as Capital IQ and FactSet. SeeThruEquity maintains one of the industry's most extensive databases of opt-in institutional and high net worth investors. The firm is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

For more information visit www.seethruequity.com.

Contact:

SeeThruEquity

info@seethruequity.com

SOURCE: SeeThruEquity
LONDON, 2018-01-17 15:09 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Germany's capital Berlin may be well known as a vibrant tourist destination - the city welcomed 12.7 million visitors last year - but it also offers fantastic investment opportunities. Currently, the real estate market is flourishing, but it is also constantly changing. As such, investors will find that a little market knowledge goes a long way. In 2018, the trend towards renting out furnished apartments looks set to continue, with renovated properties achieving a high sell-on value. Locations will also remain a key factor in determining property prices. In Berlin, real estate buyers will find that high-demand areas like Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain offer solid opportunities for return on investment (ROI). Alongside Berlin, other cities in former-East Germany are proving increasingly enticing to real estate developers. Leipzig, for example, has a thriving student population and good job prospects as a result of investment from Porsche, Siemens and BMW. This has meant that cities in the east of the country are attracting the attention of a growing number of international property buyers. With demand increasing all the time in cities like Berlin and Leipzig, being equipped with as much local knowledge as possible is essential. This is where Invest-AB comes in. Offering advice and support to buyers and sellers alike, the Berlin-based real estate agency offers a truly unique service, promising speed, transparency and expertise. As the Berlin real estate market becomes increasingly competitive, the need for professional assistance becomes ever greater. By connecting buyers and sellers from all over the world, Invest-AB helps real estate investors to act fast in a dynamic market. For more about Invest-AB and how working with a professional agency can assist with international real estate investments, check out CEO Niels Schnatz's article in the latest edition of European CEO, available in print, on tablet and online now. www.europeanceo.com World News Media is a leading publisher of quality financial and business magazines, which enjoys a global distribution network that includes subscriber lists of prominent decision-makers around the world. CONTACT INFORMATION World News Media Elizabeth Matsangou Editorial Department +44 (0)20 7553 4162 elizabeth.matsangou@wnmedia.com
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2018 / Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (OTCQX: LXRP) (CSE: LXX) (the "Company" or "Lexaria") announces various option and warrant transactions.

Lexaria announces it has received US$349,223.44 from the exercise of warrants and options previously granted. The options were exercised at the price of US$0.2273 and 110,000 common shares are being issued. The Company has also received for exercise a total of 542,332 warrants previously granted; being 6,532 broker warrants @ US$0.42 and 535,800 warrants @ US$0.60. The warrant and option exercises are by third parties who are neither an officer nor a director of the Company.

3,266 new warrants are issued related to the exercise of the broker warrants, each warrant good to buy one common share at a price of US$0.60 until April 3, 2019.

No commissions or placement fees have been paid related to the funds received from these warrants exercised. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The securities referred to herein will not be or have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

The Company separately announces that it has engaged JGRNT Capital Corp to provide strategic consulting services to the Company for a one-year term with base compensation set at CDN$1,000 monthly and the awarding of 500,000 warrants, each valid to purchase one common share at a price of US$1.83 and valid for two years.

About Lexaria

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. has developed and out-licenses its disruptive delivery technology that promotes healthier ingestion methods, lower overall dosing and higher effectiveness of lipophilic active molecules. Lexaria has multiple patents pending in over 40 countries around the world and has patents granted in the USA and in Australia for utilization of its DehydraTECH delivery technology. Lexaria's technology provides increases in intestinal absorption rates; more rapid delivery to the bloodstream; and important taste-masking benefits, for orally administered bioactive molecules including cannabinoids, vitamins, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), nicotine and other molecules.

For regular updates, connect with Lexaria:

www.lexariabioscience.com





FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Lexaria Bioscience Corp.

Alex Blanchard, Communications Manager

(778) 796-1897

Or

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release includes forward-looking statements. Statements which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The Company makes forward-looking public statements concerning its expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including statements that include words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: that any additional stock warrants or stock options will be exercised. Such forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the Company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that other factors will not affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the Company include, but are not limited to, government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition, the patent application and approval process and other factors which may be identified from time to time in the Company's public announcements and filings. There is no assurance that existing capital is sufficient for the Company's needs or that it will be able to raise additional capital. There is no assurance that Lexaria will successfully complete any other contemplated or existing technology license agreements; or that results from any studies will be favorable or in any way support future business activities of any kind. Scientific R&D is often unpredictable and unanticipated results could emerge from any study and have a material impact. There is no assurance that any planned corporate activity, scientific study, R&D, business venture, or initiative will be pursued, or if pursued, will be successful. There is no assurance that any of Lexaria's postulated uses, benefits, or advantages for the patented and patent-pending technology will in fact be realized in any manner or in any part. No statement herein has been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lexaria Energy Foods, Ambarii, DehydraTECH technology and ViPova products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Lexaria Bioscience Corp.
In determining aftercare news coverage for its various platforms, including the distribution of press releases, BloodHorse uses accreditation by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as an important barometer of an organizations integrity and credibility because TAAs extensive accreditation requirements include a detailed application process and on-site inspections.



This standard had not been in place for BloodHorse blogs when Hangin With Haskin published its feature about Dina Alboranos I Care I Help organization but will be going forward. This standard along with serious concerns raised recently about the I Care I Help organization and discussions with author Steve Haskin factored into the decision to remove this blog entry from BloodHorse.com archives.



BloodHorse will not categorically dismiss a positive feature on an unaccredited organization recognizing that such programs may be doing valuable work, but these organizations will face greater scrutiny. The industry has in place a system to ensure the quality of aftercare programs and BloodHorse will use those resources in its editorial decisions.



BloodHorse is committed to thoughtful, thorough, and responsible news coverage of all aftercare-related issues and rescue organizations and will be covering the I Care I Help situation as it develops.



Steve Haskin offered the following comments on his post about Dina Alborano:



"Somehow this situation has gotten completely out of hand between these two factions (I Care I Help and the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization).



"I just dont understand this because everyone is trying to do good, everybody is working for a common cause, and now it has become too ugly and hostile and counterproductive. I dont get involved in Dinas rescue affairs. She has always indicated to me that all she wants to do is rescue animals, especially horses. I also wrote the first story on NTWO and fully support what they do, and I think what Maggi Moss does is terrific.



"The bottom line is this sport can't even rescue its horses without an all-out war, and, frankly, I am tired of being involved in it. Everyone has the same objectives. They should be united in a common cause and just focus on rescuing horses their own way. Going forward, all I am interested in is writing about the beauty of the sport and its history.




CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Australian actress Jessica Falkholt, who played Hope Morrison in the popular soap opera Home and Away, died in a car accident.



The 29-year-old actress was on life support after she suffered fatal injuries in a fiery head-on collision of cars on the South Coast three weeks ago.



St George Hospital, where Jessica had been admitted, confirmed that she died at 10.20 am on Wednesday, six days after her life support was deactivated.



Jessica, her 21-year-old sister Annabelle, and their parents Lars and Vivian were were returning to Ryde after attending Christmas celebrations when a car from the opposite direction slipped into the path of the Falkholts' car, and hit head-on on the Princes Highway at Mondayong.



The parents died instantly, and Annabelle succumbed to her injuries three days later.



Jessica and Annabelle were pulled out of the car just before the vehicle burst into flames. 50-year-old Craig Whitall, who was driving the other car, also was killed in the accident.



Jessica played Hope Morrison on the long-running television serial Home and Away for 16 episodes in 2016 and will appear as the title character in the film Harmony, scheduled for release this year.



Home and Away's broadcaster Channel Seven said in a statement, 'the entire Home and Away family is heartbroken'.



'Jessica's shining talent was recognized and respected by all her cast-mates and crew and her beautiful friendship treasured,' the Channel added.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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PHILADELPHIA, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, and part of RELX Group, today announced that it has acquired Via Oncology, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company that provides decision support and best practices in cancer care management. A former subsidiary of UPMC, one of the nation's leading integrated healthcare delivery and financing systems, Via Oncology helps cancer centers demonstrate the value of their care to patients, referring physicians and payers by developing and implementing clinical pathways in collaboration with its network of more than 1,500 US cancer care providers.

Via Oncology's Via Pathways is evidence-based proprietary content developed by committees composed of leading oncologists that forms the basis of clinical algorithms covering 95 percent of cancer types treated in the US. This content is deployed to physicians and their staff at the point of care through the Via Portal, a patient-specific decision support tool that is integrated with the electronic medical record and provides seamless measurement of adherence.

"Cancer centers need to provide evidence-based care, reduce variation and manage care consistently across settings," said Kathy Lokay, President and CEO of Via Oncology whose Via Pathways were developed at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in 2004 and commercialized in 2009. "With its resources and world-class content, Elsevier will be able to add more complex logic capabilities and systems integration into Via Pathways to enhance the value and expand usage in the US and globally."

Via Pathways addresses more than 2,000 unique patient presentations, including expert-defined clinical algorithms and specific recommendations for all significant aspects of cancer care. Additional services provide nurse triage and tracking of symptoms, cost information analytics used by oncologists and their patients in shared decision-making, quality reporting, and medical home tools for cancer centers.

"Elsevier's acquisition of Via Oncology accelerates our ability to support not only the referential needs of caregivers but also the workflow needs of clinicians," said Dr. John Danaher, President of Clinical Solutions, Elsevier. "Clinical pathways integrated into the electronic medical record are key to pushing dynamic, authoritative content at the point of care. Now we can further support healthcare professionals to improve clinical outcomes through evidence-based care. We are pleased to welcome Via Oncology to Elsevier and look forward to serving those healthcare professionals dedicated to cancer treatment."

Elsevier's Clinical Solutions group supports health institutions in improving patient outcomes, reducing clinical errors, and optimizing cost and reimbursements. With Via Oncology, Elsevier will continue to broaden its existing portfolio of solutions to create an integrated offering of end-to-end clinical support and active clinical guidance.

"We are pleased that Elsevier has recognized the value of Via Oncology's successful technology, nurtured for more than a decade at UPMC, and will provide new avenues for the company's growth and for improving the lives of patients," said Tal Heppenstall, President of UPMC Enterprises, the commercialization and innovation arm of UPMC. "We share Elsevier's vision of using data and technology to improve the quality and effectiveness of care and expect that we will find additional ways to mutually pursue these goals in the future."

UPMC, a $17 billion healthcare provider and insurer affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, will continue to be a Via Oncology customer. The Via Oncology chief executive officer, chief medical officer and employees will continue working with the company in Pittsburgh. The acquisition is effective immediately and terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.

About Via Oncology

Via Oncology is a national leader in decision support tools for cancer. The Via Pathways span the continuum of cancer care including workup, diagnostics, treatment, symptom management, survivorship and advance care planning. Via Oncology also supports its cancer center customers through quality reporting, patient education, clinical trial support, nurse triage and medical home tools. The Via Pathways are licensed by cancer centers in 28 states including over 1,500 oncology providers in community, hospital and academic-based settings. Learn more atwww.viaoncology.com.

About UPMC

A $17 billion world-renowned health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. UPMC provides more than $900 million a year in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region's most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 80,000 employees, more than 30 hospitals, 600 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, and a more than 3.2 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. As UPMC works in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside on its annual Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. UPMC Enterprises functions as the innovation and commercialization arm of UPMC, and UPMC International provides hands-on health care and management services with partners on four continents. For more information, go to www.upmc.com.

About RELX Group

RELX Group is a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. The group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs approximately 30,000 people of whom almost half are in North America. RELX PLC is a London listed holding company, which owns 52.9% of RELX Group. RELX NV is an Amsterdam listed holding company, which owns 47.1% of RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalisation is approximately 33bn/37bn/$45bn. www.relx.com

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scival, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries.www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Christopher Capot, Global Communications

Elsevier

+1-917-704-5174

c.capot@elsevier.com
Acquisition of 80% of an innovative insider list management solution to complement Euronext's Corporate Services offering

Regulatory News:

Today Euronext (Paris:ENX) (Amsterdam:ENX) (Brussels:ENX), the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone with nearly 1,300 listed issuers, announces the acquisition of 80% of the capital of InsiderLog, a Stockholm-based leading player in the field of insider list management, for a cash consideration of 5.8 million, plus an earn-out payment depending on future financial performance.

InsiderLog automates the management of insider lists in a way that both saves time and ensures compliance with the requirements of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR). MAR requires every listed company, their advisors and listed bond issuers to create and manage insider lists for all market sensitive projects. InsiderLog supports compliance officers with this responsibility, from the creation of insider lists, to the management of related information collection workflows, including the reporting to regulators in a standardised format. In addition to insider lists as such, InsiderLog also manages the administration of Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibilities (PDMR) and the closed period before each financial report.

The market potential for such a solution is significant as all companies with listed instruments in the European Union are subject to the new MAR insider list requirements, with non-compliance penalties of up to 2.5 million or 2% of their turnover. InsiderLog is a web-based, GDPR-compliant platform based on an annual subscription model and has already attracted more than 170 clients including renowned blue chip companies, banks and law firms since its recent creation in November 2016. InsiderLog was initially designed and developed by the legal team of Serendipity Professionals, part of the leading Swedish investment firm Serendipity Group which has five listed companies in its portfolio.

The acquisition of InsiderLog fits within Euronext's Agility for Growth strategic plan, announced in May 2016, aiming to create more value for issuers, notably through the development of a complete Corporate Services franchise. This transaction further strengthens Euronext's value proposition for listed companies by addressing a strong need from issuers. This solution will be integrated into the Euronext Corporate Services offering, alongside existing services such as Euronext's webcasting platform, investor relationship management tool and innovative board portal solution. The InsiderLog solutions will be distributed across the five core Euronext markets, in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK, as well as in Ireland as soon as the acquisition of the Irish Stock Exchange is completed, and in financial centres where Euronext has established European Tech Hub teams such as Madrid, Milan, Zurich, Frankfurt and Munich. The founding team of InsiderLog will remain in place, continuing to grow the business while benefiting from Euronext's reach and expertise with listed companies.

This acquisition will enable Euronext to capture a sizeable market opportunity in insider list management created by the Market Abuse Regulation, which came into force in July 2016 and is in line with Euronext's strict M&A discipline.

Stephane Boujnah, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, said: "The acquisition of InsiderLog will address a growing need from issuers in Europe, by helping them manage their insider lists via an efficient and time-saving solution. This acquisition will complement the existing Euronext Corporate Services offering and will deliver further growth and profitability to our shareholders, as announced in our Agility for Growth strategic plan."

John Engholm, Managing Director of InsiderLog, said: "We are very pleased to join Euronext. We want to facilitate the life of corporate issuers, and together with Euronext we will develop a true pan-European business. Having become the leading player for insider lists management in the Nordics, Euronext's support will enable us to broaden and accelerate our development across Europe."

About Euronext

Euronext is the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone with nearly 1,300 listed issuers worth close to 3.6 trillion in market capitalisation as of end December 2017, an unmatched blue chip franchise consisting of 24 issuers in the Morningstar Eurozone 50 Index? and a strong diverse domestic and international client base. Euronext operates regulated and transparent equity and derivatives markets. Its total product offering includes Equities, Exchange Traded Funds, Warrants Certificates, Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Indices. Euronext also leverages its expertise in running markets by providing technology and managed services to third parties. In addition to its main regulated market, Euronext also operates Euronext GrowthTM (formerly known as Alternext) and Euronext AccessTM (formerly known as the Free Market). For the latest news, find us on Twitter (twitter.com/euronext) and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/euronext).

About InsiderLog

InsiderLog is the leading insider list management solution in the Nordic region. Its insider list management tool solves most of the compliance and reporting burden resulting from MAR regulation. The InsiderLog helps compliance officers from the creation of insider lists, to the management of related validation and information collection workflows as well as the reporting to the regulators in a standardised format. InsiderLog is a web based platform based on an annual subscription model and has already managed to attract more than 170 clients including renowned blue chip companies, banks and law firms since its recent creation in 2016. InsiderLog was initially designed and developed by the legal team of Serendipity, a leading investment firm in Sweden with five listed companies in its portfolio. Read more at www.insiderlog.com and follow on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/insiderlog)

Disclaimer

This press release is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in investment activities. This press release is provided "as is" without representation or warranty of any kind. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content, Euronext does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Euronext will not be held liable for any loss or damages of any nature ensuing from using, trusting or acting on information provided. No information set out or referred to in this publication may be regarded as creating any right or obligation. The creation of rights and obligations in respect of financial products that are traded on the exchanges operated by Euronext's subsidiaries shall depend solely on the applicable rules of the market operator. All proprietary rights and interest in or connected with this publication shall vest in Euronext.

This press release speaks only as of this date. Euronext refers to Euronext N.V. and its affiliates. Information regarding trademarks and intellectual property rights of Euronext is located at www.euronext.com/terms-use.

 2018, Euronext N.V. All rights reserved.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006132/en/

Contacts:

Euronext

Media:

Alice Jentink, +31 20 721 4488

mediateam@euronext.com

or

Investor Relations:

Aurelie Cohen, +33 1 70 48 24 17

ir@euronext.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A man was not allowed to fly on a British Airways flight from Iceland after he wore 'all' his clothes in order to skip $124 baggage fee. Ryan Carney Williams, who goes by the alias Ryan Hawaii, wrote on his Twitter that he was 'being held' at Iceland's Keflavik airport because he had no baggage for his clothes, which he later put on. 'They still won't let me on,' he tweeted along with a video of him at the check-in counter. 'Can you explain why I can't get on the flight,' Hawaii says in the video as a member of staff holds her hand up to block the camera. The video also shows security officers asking him to turn off his camera, saying: 'Do we need to call the police?' Williams said he could not afford the excess baggage fee of about $124, 'as a result of being left homeless in Iceland for over a week.' He claims that British Airways officials told him he could board the flight if he wore all of his clothes at once but then rejected him anyway. 'They're really having me dress like this to go on, and they won't even let me go on,' he said in the video. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The airline carried more than 127,000 customers on the route in 2017. Aeromexico plans to increase its capacity to the London market by 7% in 2018. Mexico City, 2018-01-17 19:21 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, celebrates its fifth anniversary operating the Mexico City-London route. In 2017 the carrier was recognized as the airline with the best on-time performance at the London Heathrow Airport for six months in a row, in addition to carrying more than 127,000 passengers during the year which represents a 19.88% increase over 2016. For more than 60 years, Mexico's global airline has positioned itself in the European market by serving different destinations such as Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and London. Aeromexico currently serves these destinations by offering 35 flights with 17,800 seats per week. For several years now, Mexico and the United Kingdom have maintained the strongest bilateral relationship in their history. The UK is the sixth largest trade partner in the Latin America region and the 18th largest trade partner worldwide. It is also the fourth nation in the European Union that most invests in Mexico, holding the sixth place worldwide. Having a bridge in the skies that facilitates the relationship between both countries was fundamental to consolidating these ties, and currently serves to create new investment opportunities. Aeromexico's service quality has also made it the customers' airline of choice. In 2012 Aeromexico started serving the market with three nonstop flights per week. In May 2017 it added new frequencies to offer seven flights with more than 3,200 seats on the route per week, where it expects to increase its capacity by 7% this year. London -Mexico City* AM 8 22:30 p.m. 4:20 a.m. (+1) Daily Mexico City-London* AM 7 23:25 p.m. 15:55 a.m. (+1) Daily *Times are published in local time and are subject to changes without notice. Aeromexico operates the Mexico City-London route with its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern commercial aircraft in the skies with 243 passenger seats -32 in Clase Premier, Aeromexico's Business Class cabin, featuring more space between seats, larger touch-sensitive windows, individual touchscreens and Sky Interiors LED lighting. Thus, Aeromexico reaffirms its commitment to building bridges in the sky that not only increase connectivity but also promote commercial, tourist and cultural exchanges between Mexico and the world. oo00oo About Grupo Aeromexico Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. is a holding company whose subsidiaries provide commercial aviation services and promote passenger loyalty programmes in Mexico. Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, offers more than 600 daily flights and operates its main hub out of Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport. Its route network spans more than 90 cities on three continents including 43 in Mexico, 23 in the United States, 15 in Latin America, four in Canada, four in Europe and three in Asia. Grupo Aeromexico's fleet of 126 aircraft includes Boeing 787, 777 and 737 jet airliners and next generation Embraer 170 and 190 models. In 2012 the airline announced the most significant investment strategy in aviation history in Mexico, to purchase up to 100 Boeing aircraft including 90 MAX 737 airliners and 10 B787-9 Dreamliners. As a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which is celebrating its 17th anniversary, Aeromexico offers customers more than 1,000 destinations in 177 countries served by the 20 SkyTeam airline partners rewarding passengers with benefits including access to 672 premium airport lounges around the world. Aeromexico also offers travel options with its codeshare partners Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines and WestJet with extensive connectivity in countries like the United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia and Peru. www.aeromexico.com www.skyteam.com Attachments: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/09fd5918-8f5b-4d20-9e0d-2f535 4f264dc Attachments: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/57b1d540-a68f-4aef-8abc-06e39 3fac1c5 Barbrha Ibanez Aeromexico bibanez@aeromexico.com
NEW YORK, NY and TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - January 17, 2018) - iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. ("iAnthus" or "the Company"), (CSE: IAN) (CSE: IAN.CN) (CNSX: IAN) (OTCQB: ITHUF), which owns, operates, and partners with licensed cannabis operations throughout the United States, announced today that it has acquired through merger and acquisition transactions substantially all of the assets of GrowHealthy Holdings, LLC ("GrowHealthy") and certain related subsidiaries (all transactions together, the "Acquisition", and all assets of GrowHealthy and its subsidiaries collectively, the "Business"). The Acquisition completes iAnthus' full-scale entry into the rapidly expanding Florida medical cannabis market, which is projected by Arcview Market Research to grow into a US$1 billion market by 2020 and which has seen a 300% increase in the number of registered patients over the past six (6) months. iAnthus previously acquired approximately six percent (6%) of GrowHealthy in a preferred share purchase in October, 2017.

GrowHealthy and its affiliate, McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery, LLC ("McCrory's") comprise one of just thirteen (13) current Florida Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers ("MMTCs") licensed to provide medical cannabis under Florida's medical marijuana law. The Acquisition includes GHIAA Management, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of GrowHealthy that holds an exclusive 40-year management contract to operate the medical cannabis business associated with the MMTC license issued to McCrory's (the "License"), together with an option to acquire 100% of McCrory's for a nominal consideration, pending approval of the Florida Department of Health.

The total consideration paid for the Acquisition was US$17,500,000 in cash and US$30,500,000 was satisfied in iAnthus common shares at a price per share of US$2.52.(1) The cash portion of the consideration for the Acquisition includes the purchase by the Company of the rights to a US$5,000,000 performance bond posted with the state in connection with the issuance of the License. Contemporaneously with the closing of the Acquisition, the Company's 2,925,003 preferred shares in GrowHealthy were redeemed in return for US$3,000,000 paid to the Company at closing.

"As one of the largest states in the U.S. with a population of nearly 21 million people and favorable demographics, Florida and its medical cannabis market provide a tremendous opportunity for iAnthus and its shareholders. The state's population includes a large percentage of older adults who can derive significant benefits from medical cannabis, and the Florida program has witnessed a rapid rise in its registered patient base since passage of the law," said Randy Maslow, President of iAnthus.

"GrowHealthy in particular boasts a state-of-the-art 200,000 square foot cultivation and processing facility in Lake Wales, a flagship dispensary location in a densely populated area of Palm Beach County, and the opportunity to open up to 25 dispensaries in Florida currently and more in the future," Mr. Maslow continued. "The GrowHealthy cultivation and operations team has already established itself as a leader in Florida's medical cannabis market, and we look forward to contributing iAnthus' capital and operational resources to fully build out GrowHealthy's infrastructure and capitalize on the enormous opportunity provided by Florida's medical cannabis market."

Pursuant to the Florida medical marijuana statute and regulations, GrowHealthy is permitted to immediately begin delivery of finished products and to open and operate up to twenty-five (25) dispensaries, a number which will be increased with every 100,000 patients that are added to the state medical marijuana registry. Construction on GrowHealthy's flagship Palm Beach County dispensary is expected to be completed during Q2 2018 and the 4,500 square foot facility is expected to open in July 2018. Additional dispensary locations in Palm Beach County and elsewhere around the state have been identified and are the subject of lease negotiations, and dispensary openings in the Tampa and Orlando areas are planned for Q3 2018 and Q4 2018, respectively. GrowHealthy has already commenced sales through product delivery, and will continue to expand its delivery capabilities throughout the year.

The Lake Wales cultivation and processing facility comprises almost 200,000 square feet on 33 acres, which at the time of licensure was the largest cultivation facility in the state. The size of the facility provides significant room for expansion and is capable of producing 18,000 kilograms of raw medical cannabis flower annually once the facility is fully built out. GrowHealthy has 4,000 square feet of canopy under cultivation currently and inventory of 32,000 grams of raw cannabis flower ready for processing into final products. The Lake Wales facility includes a 15,000 square foot extraction lab and commercial kitchen. GrowHealthy delivered its first product in November 2017, and holds a product inventory of 55 strains.

Background on the Florida Medical Marijuana Program

In November 2016, the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative ("Amendment 2") was approved as an amendment to Florida's state constitution by more than 71% of Florida voters, allowing for a full-strength medical cannabis program to be established to replace the prior low-THC program that had gone into effect in 2015. During a special legislative session in June 2017, the Florida legislature passed legislation to implement Amendment 2 (the "Act"), and the Florida Department of Health thereafter issued implementing regulations.

Under the full-strength medical program, patients may receive medical marijuana certifications during their first visit with a physician, instead of awaiting completion of the 90-day wait period previously required. The Act provides a broad list of qualifying medical conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD") and chronic pain related to a qualifying condition or terminal illness. The legislation allows for multiple permitted ingestion methods, including the administration of edibles, oils, vape pens, and capsules. There are currently thirteen (13) licensed MMTCs. Each MMTC is permitted to initially operate up to 25 dispensaries statewide, with a statutory formula for assigning a certain number of dispensaries into each of five regions across the state.

The Program currently includes 67,385 registered patients, of which 45,204 have been approved for ID cards. The registered patient total has tripled over the past six (6) months according to statistics provided by the Florida Department of Health.

http://www.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/office-of-medical-marijuana-use/index.html

Transaction Details

The Acquisition consisted of four (4) separate transactions. First, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, iAnthus Holdings Florida, LLC ("IHF"), was merged with a subsidiary of GrowHealthy, resulting in IHF's acquiring all of the tangible and intangible assets and goodwill of the Business except for the real estate and the License. Second, iAnthus acquired through merger GrowHealthy's wholly-owned subsidiary, GHIAA Management, Inc. ("GHIAA"), which has entered into an exclusive 40-year contract to operate all aspects of the medical cannabis business associated with the License. GHIAA owns an option to acquire 100% of McCrory's for a nominal consideration, pending approval of the Department of Health. The consideration paid by iAnthus for the two merger transactions consisted of 12,103,172 common shares of the Company. Third, the Company purchased 100% of GrowHealthy Properties, LLC for US$12,500,000 in cash, thereby acquiring GrowHealthy's cultivation and processing facility, comprised of almost 200,000 square feet on 33 acres in Lake Wales, Florida. Fourth, the Company purchased the rights to a US$5,000,000 bond posted with the state as part of the license application, in return for consideration of US$5,000,000 in cash.

Concurrent with the Acquisition, the Company has issued US$20,000,000 aggregate principal amount of unsecured debentures, with a maturity date of one year (the "Debentures"). The Debentures contain a 15%, non-cash pay coupon and warrants to purchase up to 10,040,000 shares of the Company (the "Warrant Shares") at an aggregate purchase price of US$20,000,000 (being US$1.9928 per Warrant Share) which amount was reserved by price reservation. The Debentures were purchased by a private U.S. investment group.

The securities issued by iAnthus in connection with the Acquisition and the Debentures were issued on a prospectus exempt basis and are subject to: (i) a hold period in Canada of four months and a day from the date of issuance; and (ii) an applicable US securities law legend.

Conference Call and Webcast Details

The Company will hold a conference call for financial analysts and investors at 4:20pm ET on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 to discuss the GrowHealthy transaction. A presentation will be available for download on the iAnthus Investor Relations web page shortly before the start of the call. The call will be archived and available on iAnthus' website for replay. Please visit http://ir.ianthuscapital.com/ to download a copy of the presentation or to access the archived conference call.

Dial In Number: (866) 393-4318 or international: (409) 350-3153

Conference ID: 1077507

Webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/cudqhctv

A replay of the call will be available for 7 days by dialing:

Replay Number: (855) 859-2056 or international: (404) 537-3406

Conference ID: 1077507

About iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. owns and operates best-in-class licensed cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities throughout the United States, providing investors diversified exposure to the U.S. regulated cannabis industry. Founded by entrepreneurs with decades of experience in operations, investment banking, corporate finance, law and health care services, iAnthus provides a unique combination of capital and hands-on operating and management expertise. The Company harnesses these skills to support operations across five states. For more information, visit www.iAnthusCapital.com.

About GrowHealthy Holdings, LLC.

GrowHealthy Holdings, LLC and its affiliates were formed in 2014 to apply for a license as a Dispensing Organization under the original Florida low-THC medical cannabis program through its affiliated partner, McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery, LLC ("McCrory's"). McCrory's was licensed as a Dispensing Organization by the Florida Department of Health on December 21, 2016, and then subsequently licensed on July 5, 2017 to cultivate, process, transport, and dispense full-strength medical cannabis as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center under the new Medical Use of Marijuana Act passed in June 2017.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in iAnthus' periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements including statements related to the acquisition of GrowHealthy Holdings, LLC, the buildout of its cultivation and retail facilities, and projected sales timelines.

Although iAnthus has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are engaged in activities currently considered illegal under US Federal laws; change in laws; limited operating history; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change.

There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. iAnthus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and iAnthus does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

(1) See "Transaction Details" below.

CONTACT INFORMATION



Corporate:

Julius Kalcevich

Chief Financial Officer

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

646-518-9415

Investors@iAnthusCapital.com



US Investors:

Phil Carlson / Elizabeth Barker

KCSA Strategic Communications

iAnthus@KCSA.com



Canadian Investors:

Nicole Marchand

Nicole Marchand Investor Relations

Nicole@nm-ir.com



Media:

Robert Vanisko

North 6th Agency

212-334-9753 ext.112

iAnthus@n6a.com
Events affiliated with the Greater Des Moines Partnership hit impressive milestone

DOWNTOWN DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --A record-breaking 1 million people attended events in Downtown Des Moines (DSM) affiliated with the Greater Des Moines Partnership in 2017.

Downtown DSM is home to internationally award-winning events including the Des Moines Arts Festival and Downtown Farmers' Market presented byUnityPoint Health - Des Moines. The Downtown Farmers' Market saw 650,000 patrons descend on the Historic Court District over 26 Saturdays between May and October to support the nearly 300 family farmers, bakers, artists and crafters from around Iowa.

In total, 1,053,100 people experienced Downtown DSM's world class amenities firsthand through events organized in partnership with or produced by The Partnership. Over 1,450 volunteers helped bring those events to life.

"The number of people attending events in Downtown DSM underscores the momentum of the entire region," said Jay Byers, CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. "The vibrancy of Downtown DSM has led to more people living, working and visiting and has been a major contributing factor in our region's status as the fastest-growing metro in the Midwest according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers."

According to police estimates, event attendance from Jan 1. to Dec. 31, 2017 breaks down as follows:

650,000 - Downtown Farmers' Market presented byUnityPoint Health - Des Moines

235,000 - Des Moines Arts Festival

90,000 - World Food & Music Festival

33,300 - Brenton Skating Plaza

20,000 - Downtown Winter Farmers' Market presented by UnityPoint Health - Des Moines

14,000 - Events Under The Canopy at Brenton Skating Plaza

5,300 - Out to Lunch

5,000 - GuideOne ImaginEve!

500 - Wonder of Words Festival

The 2017 Downtown attendance number is 15,000 more than 2016. To view events lined up for 2018, click here.

About the Greater Des Moines Partnership

The Greater Des Moines Partnership is the economic and community development organization that serves Greater Des Moines (DSM), Iowa. Together with 23 Affiliate Chambers of Commerce, more than 6,100 Regional Business Members and more than 320 Investors, The Partnership drives economic growth with one voice, one mission and as one region. Through innovation, strategic planning and global collaboration, The Partnership grows opportunity, helps create jobsand promotes DSM as the best place to build a business, a careerand a future. Learn more at DSMpartnership.com.
DURHAM, NC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2018 / 54 Station Luxury Apartments is one of the first apartment complexes in the Research Triangle Park region outfitted with a comprehensive managed smart home solution for residents. Opened in January 2018 and located minutes from Southpoint Mall and RTP, 54 Station has partnered with Epproach Communications to provide its residents with a state-of-the-art managed smart home solution controlled via a branded Smartphone App.

"Our goal is to have the most modern and up-to-date features for our apartments," Lance Ramsey, Developer of 54 Station, said. "The smart home features not only help our residents cut down on their energy expenses, but also provides them with the most convenient style of living."

The Managed Smart Home Solution provided by Epproach Communications consists of a wireless, multi-IoT-protocol product set controlled via a Smartphone App, branded as the 54 Station App. Using the App, residents can remotely control each product included inside the Epproach Smart Product Set. The basic Smart package includes remote-controlled door locks and thermostats, but residents can easily link dozens of other Smart devices to the system. Each device has the ability to be controlled via in-home voice assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa. Property management can manage and monitor permissions for each resident throughout the community via Epproach's desktop interface.

54 Station is providing residents with the property's own branded Smartphone App, giving residents a quick and easy interface to control their Smart Home technology inside each unit. The App will also help to enhance communication between residents and staff via unified texts, emails and App notifications. The new 54 Station App is available inside the Apple App or Google Play stores.

The Managed Smart Home solution and the branded 54 Station App is provided and supported 24/7/365 by Epproach Communications.

"Brown Investment Properties has partnered with Epproach Communications to provide an innovative amenity to our residents at 54 Station," Ramsey said. "The relationship will continue to expand to future developments as both parties share a goal of providing the best new technology to the multi-family market."

About Epproach Communications

Epproach Communications is the premier provider of technology amenities for multiple dwelling units, including retirement communities, resorts, student housing and apartment communities. Epproach provides the latest technology in a total turnkey solution that is tailored to the specific needs of their clients. A proactive, 24/7/365 support team offers support to staff and direct to end users. For more information visit www.epproach.net or call 910-202-4700.

About 54 Station

54 Station, newly opened in January 2018, creates its own legacy of convenience with its central location only minutes from Downtown Durham, Research Triangle Park (RTP), Duke, and the University of North Carolina. Nearby restaurants, grocery stores, and gathering spots make daily errands and outings a snap. Our apartments provide the utmost comfort with granite countertops in kitchens and baths, faux stainless steel appliances, and luxurious flooring, plus thoughtful amenities such as resort style pool with grilling cabana, Wi-Fi throughout the property, off-leash dog park, electric car charging station, and Precor cardio fitness and strength equipment. For more information visit www.54station.com, email 54station@bipinc.com or call 919-937-9077.

About Brown Investment Properties

Brown Investment Properties, Inc. is a family owned commercial real estate firm located in Greensboro, North Carolina which incorporated in 1960. We are proud of our director's and senior management's 185 collective years of experience. And, with our team, having designations of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), Certified Property Manager (CPM),Certified Public Accountants (CPA), Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), and Certified Leasing Specialist (CLS), we are recognized among the experts in commercial real estate. For more information, visit www.bipinc.com or call 336-379-8771.

SOURCE: Epproach Communications
Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft).

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CALGARY, Alberta, 2018-01-17 23:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serinus Energy Inc. ("Serinus", "SEN" or the "Company") (TSX:SEN) (WARSAW:SEN), is pleased to announce the following management appointments at the Company's business units in Tunisia and Romania. In Tunisia, the Company is pleased to appoint Mr. Haithem Ben Hassen as President of Winstar Tunisia BV, Serinus Energy's wholly-owned operating subsidiary in Tunisia. He is replacing Dr. Trent Rehill who has resigned his position for personal reasons. Mr. Ben Hassen joined Winstar Tunisia in November 2014 as Senior Project Engineer and was then promoted to Project Manager in June 2015. During this time, he has been responsible for the completion of numerous capital projects undertaken by the Company, including the vital seconded role as Project Manager for the Moftinu Gas Development Project in Romania. Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Ben Hassen had numerous senior engineering roles with Pireco Tunisia, Mondial Contractors, and Frimar SA in Tunisia. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada. The Company is also pleased to appoint Mr. Arafet Mansali as Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Chedly Maghraoui as Finance Director of Winstar Tunisia BV. Mr. Mansali joined Winstar Tunisia in February 2014 as Senior Production Engineer before being appointed Production Manager in May 2017. He has significant petroleum engineering and operations management education and experience. Mr. Mansali will work closely with the Calgary technical team to implement capital programs to increase production efficiency from our Tunisia fields. Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Maghraoui was Finance Accounting and Administration Manager for Ensco PLC, overseeing the financial reporting functions for all of Ensco's projects in the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean region. He will work closely with the Calgary finance team in the financial reporting requirements of the Tunisia business unit as well joint venture financial reporting. He has significant training and experience in financial controls and audit compliance. In Romania, the Company is pleased to announce that it has promoted Ms. Alexandra Damascan to the position of President of Serinus Energy Romania SA from her previous role of Country Manager, Romania. This change in title better reflects her significant role and contributions as the head of the Romanian Business Unit as the Company moves forward in the construction and commissioning of the Moftinu Gas Project. Ms. Damascan has been with Serinus Energy Romania since 2008 and has proven to be an invaluable member of the Serinus team. She has degrees in Political Economics, an MBA in Business Transactions from the Academy of Economic Studies, a Law Degree and LLM in International Arbitration from the Romanian-American University, as well as being currently enrolled in the MBA Oil & Gas Program at the Oil and Gas Institute in Ploiesti, Romania. In addition to the promotion of Ms. Damascan, Serinus Energy Romania has also appointed Mr. Florin Georgescu to the role of Vice President, Production & Development. In this position, Mr. Georgescu will oversee the Romanian commercial and production operations, working closely with the Calgary team. Mr. Georgescu has an MBA in Business Management, an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from the Oil & Gas University in Ploiesti, Romania as well as significant education and experience in Commercial, Financial and Banking and working experience in oil regions such as North America and Middle East. Serinus Executive Management is very pleased to appoint and promote these very competent and experienced individuals to their positions. These are important organizational steps for the Company as it positions itself for future years of growth in both Business Units. About Serinus Serinus is an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company that owns and operates projects in Tunisia and Romania. For further information, please refer to the Serinus website (www.serinusenergy.com) or contact the following: Serinus Energy Inc. Serinus Energy Inc. Calvin Brackman Jeffrey Auld Vice President, External Relations & Strategy Chief Executive Officer Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 cbrackman@serinusenergy.com jauld@serinusenergy.com Translation: This news release has been translated into Polish from the English original. Forward-looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements made as of the date of this announcement with respect to future activities that either are not or may not be historical facts. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, any potential results suggested by such statements involve risk and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Various factors that could impair or prevent the Company from completing the expected activities on its projects include that the Company's projects experience technical and mechanical problems, there are changes in product prices, failure to obtain regulatory approvals, the state of the national or international monetary, oil and gas, financial , political and economic markets in the jurisdictions where the Company operates and other risks not anticipated by the Company or disclosed in the Company's published material. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in this announcement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement, unless required by law.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/17/18 -- Lundin Gold Inc. ("Lundin Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: LUG)(OMX: LUG) is pleased to announce that is has drawn the final US$110 million under its gold prepay and stream credit facilities with the Orion Mine Finance Group and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities. The funds will be used to support the ongoing development of the Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador.

About Lundin Gold

Lundin Gold, headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, is developing its wholly-owned Fruta del Norte gold project in southeast Ecuador. Fruta del Norte is one of the highest-grade and largest gold projects currently under construction. The Company's board and management team have extensive expertise in mine construction and operations, and are dedicated to advancing this project through to first gold production in 2019.

The Company operates with transparency and in accordance with international best practices. Lundin Gold is committed to delivering value to its shareholders, while simultaneously providing economic and social benefits to impacted communities, fostering a healthy and safe workplace and minimizing the environmental impact. The Company believes that the value created through the development of Fruta del Norte will benefit its shareholders, the Government and the people of Ecuador.

Additional Information

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Gold under the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Markets Act. This information was publicly communicated at 2:00 pm Pacific Time on January 17, 2017.

Follow Lundin Gold on Twitter

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

Certain of the information and statements in this press release are considered "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" as those terms are defined under Canadian securities laws (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "is expected", "scheduled", "estimates", "pending", "intends", "plans", "forecasts", "targets", or "hopes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "will", "should" "might", "will be taken", or "occur" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.

By their nature, forward-looking statements and information involve assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict, and are usually beyond the control of management, that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed by these forward-looking statements and information. Lundin Gold believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. This information speaks only as of the date of this press release, and the Company will not necessarily update this information, unless required to do so by securities laws.

This press release contains forward-looking information, including the use of funds drawn under the facility and the timing of first gold production. Lundin Gold's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Management has identified the following risk factors which could have a material impact on the Company or the trading price of its shares: the ability to arrange financing and the risk to shareholders of dilution from future equity financings; risks related to carrying on business in an emerging market such as possible government instability and civil turmoil and economic instability; volatility in the price of gold; the timely receipt of regulatory approvals, permits and licenses; risks associated with the performance of the Company's contractors; risks inherent in the development of an underground mine; deficient or vulnerable title to mining concessions and surface rights; shortages of resources, such as labour, and the dependence on key personnel; risks associated with the Company's community relationships; unreliable infrastructure and local opposition to mining; volatility in the market price of the Company's shares; uncertainty with the tax regime in Ecuador; measures required to protect endangered species; difficulty complying with changing government regulations and policies, including without limitation, compliance with environment, health and safety regulations, and the cost of compliance or failure to comply with applicable laws; exploration and development risks; the accuracy of the Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates for FDN and the Company's reliance on one project; the Company's lack of operating history in Ecuador; illegal mining; uncertainty as to reclamation and decommissioning; adverse global economic conditions; risks associated with the Company's information systems; the inadequacy of insurance; risks of bribery or corruption; the potential for litigation; limits of disclosure and internal controls; and the potential influence of the Company's largest shareholders.

There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as Lundin Gold's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in Lundin Gold's Annual Information Form for the financial year ended December 2016 and the Prospectus dated December 21, 2017, both of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Contacts:

Lundin Gold Inc.

Ron F. Hochstein

President and CEO

+593-2-299-6400

+1-604-806-3589



Lundin Gold Inc.

Sabina Srubiski

Manager, Investor Relations

+1-604-806-3089

info@lundingold.com

www.lundingold.com




MediaRadar, a NYC-based advertising intelligence company, raised an undisclosed funding round.

Frontier Capital, a Charlotte-based growth equity firm focused exclusively on software and tech-enabled business services companies, made the investment. In conjunction with the funding, Michael Ramich, partner at Frontier Capital, will be joining the MediaRadar board.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to innovate and accelerate growth.

Led by Todd Krizelman, CEO & Co-Founder, MediaRadar offers a suite of tools that provides sales intelligence (actionable competitive insights, brand analysis, and prospecting reports) directly to media ad sales personnel and new business development executives at agencies. The company tailors its products to support broadcasters, dotcoms, ad tech companies, magazines, newspapers, and mobile media companies.

The platforms intelligence capabilities are powered by a proprietary combination of AI and machine learning.

FinSMEs

17/01/2018
American Power and Gas, a Pennsylvania energy company, promises to provide consumers with affordable energy without any trouble.

Energy is expensive. As per figures generated in 2010, the US spends about $1.205 trillion on energy alone. The figure is huge, and while consumer spending on energy seems to have decreased according to latest figures, it is still a lot and there is obviously a need to control costs.

Consumers have been complaining of high prices for a while now, but reports suggest that they spent less on energy bills in 2016, and the credit for this largely goes to the introduction of renewable energy.

We have added around 76 GW of renewable energy into the capacity. This, along with natural gas energy, meets around 50% of the countrys power requirement, up from 38% reported in 2011.

However, consumers still do not seem to be very happy. They still find prices to be too high, and are looking for more affordable solutions. In such tough times, they can turn to American Power and Gas.

This energy company has been in the business for over a decade and now has over half a billion dollars in revenue every year, well on their way to becoming the next energy unicorn.

What started as a small company is now among the leading energy companies in the US, and this is all due to its innovative products and pricing models.

Many people wonder how it is able to offer such great services at such affordable rates. We dig deep into the system to find out all the answer for you. Lets know more:

Reasons American Power and Gas is Affordable

Lets find out why this company should be your go-to option if you need energy to run your house or office.

It Offers Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is energy created by using resources such as sunlight, air and wind. Since these resources are not scarce, the cost of creating energy is a lot lesser than traditional or thermal energy, which is why consumers get to enjoy energy at affordable rates.

Plus, companies do not have to spend any money to buy sunlight or air etc., it is available for all to use. As a result, the cost is low and they are hence able to provide energy at overall low costs.

Also, with better technology, we will soon be able to reduce overhead and installation costs as well, making renewable energy a lot more affordable.

It Promises No Price Hikes

Weather is unpredictable and sudden weather changes can create havoc for customers. Consider recent Texas floods that caused many power stations to shut down, resulting in a decrease in the production of energy that caused the prices to go up.

Moreover, weather changes can also cause certain resources to suddenly be more expensive. Consider natural gas, for example, it becomes more expensive during winters because its more in demand. Plus, the amount of reserves also depletes during such times causing prices to go high.

As a result, energy becomes more expensive and you have to pay more. However, American Power & Gas removes this problem altogether by offering consumers security in the name of fixed prices.

This means the price for he energy is fixed and is not affected by outside sources. This guards you against sudden shifts in the weather.

We have to mention here that weather is not the only factor that affects prices. During these tough political times, one has to be really careful as prices are largely affected by political decisions.

For example, the government is considering a ban on important crude oil from the Middle East (OPEC). If such a plan is successful, there might sudden be a dearth of crude oil that will send its prices skyrocketing, as a result prices of energy would also go very high.

At the end of the day, it is the end consumer who suffers, and sadly there isnt much one can do about it. However, now there is an option in the form of American Power and Gas.

This company provides you the opportunity to save money on energy costs. This is the need of the hour as traditional means of energy are only getting more expensive, and eventually well all have to turn to renewable energy.

This great company is offering a unique solution by providing fixed rates to consumers. This means the rate will not change even when other factors change. You will pay the amount you agreed on and the price will not be affected by weather, geopolitical or other such changes.

This is great because when you know the fixed cost, you can also plan in advance as you will not be taken by surprise when the bill arrives.

In researching various energy companies, It was found that they are one of the few companies out there that have totally banned Price Hikes and levies no extra charges either. Consumers everywhere seem to have accepted it with open arms as it offers them a unique experience.

Free Consultation

American Power & Gas provides free consultation to all its clients. This allows the company to know their customers better and provide them with great customer service.

The motive is not only to provide energy, but to satisfy clients. This is why the employees at American Power & Gas go a step higher to understand their clients better.

They speak to the clients, know their requirements and go through their energy consumption history to ensure that each customer saves money. It is a difficult process, but the energy company has experts on the panel to reach a decision.

Theyre currently one of the fastest growing companies in the US and its ability to satisfy all its customers is one of the main reasons why it has shown such expansive growth in such a short span of time.
Propagate Content, a Los Angeles-based independent studio, raised an undisclosed amount of funding.

The Raine Group made the investment.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth globally through the launch of innovative new ventures and targeted acquisitions. The investment will allow Propagate to expand its worldwide production, distribution and digital businesses, including the formation of a branded content studio division and podcast network.

Founded in 2015 and led by Chairman & Co-CEO Ben Silverman and Founding Partner & Co-CEO Howard T. Owens, Propagate develops, produces and distributes programming built upon great stories spanning all genres, including premium scripted series, long-form, unscripted and formats, to broadcast, cable, digital and emerging platforms worldwide.

It is a major indie studio with 17 series in production and 40 projects in development at over 21 networks and streaming services, including Apples first series, Planet of the Apps, starring Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk and will.i.am.

The studio plans to launch business units in Latin America, Asia, India and the Middle East. Through these units, the company will partner with local production communities to develop, produce and distribute original formats as well as target potential acquisitions.

FinSMEs

16/01/2018
If you have been trading on Forex lately, Rofx.net wouldnt be a new term for you.

Considering the risks in the investments, the trading fails to attract newbies as their main priority would be financial security. This specifically applies to the clueless new traders who try to make money with little knowledge on what happens in the backend. Given that, a lot of technological improvements have been made to assist them with the process. One such brilliant idea is Rofx.

Rofx  Any benefits?

The developer team of Rofx seems to understand how the benefits should be divided. Too many choices with what and when is one reason many people fail to opt Forex trading. Eradicating this difficulty, Rofx gives the investors, an option to place less to no trades. Once the investor buys a package, the Rofx does the trade services, in fact. Input and research from the investor end is not even required. The idea is pretty brilliant and the number of thank you reviews prove the same.

Leaving the money management and decision making to an automated process  Not so believable? Go on, read more.

Decision Making In Forex Trading  A Human Error Found

Unable to decide if they should stay longer or enter the trade at the moment when the profits fluctuate is a huge backdrop for manual trading. Most of the times, we only realize the decision was wrong. Here, the presence of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a blessing that helps the investor in making timely decisions. Rofx makes use of an adaptive AI that has been built keeping in mind, the lessons learned by the company itself. So, petty errors are no longer the reason for your failure in Forex trading.

Money Management Done Well!

The team uses the best of techniques, framed under special guidance, easing out your emotional aspect. Though this aspect is not all-in-all automated, the service provider doing the most of money management has come out well, according to the reviews.

No Loss Or Loss Coverage?

The thought of facing a huge loss usually haunts the investor. Only a few service providers guarantee the safety of your investment. Rofx promises no negatives in your investment and a loss coverage benefit. What is more exciting is that the company has a reserve fund to cover up rare unfortunate occurrences. However, the team seems to be confident about a no negative point.

Easy Transactions And Profits

Another issue a newbie might face is finding an icon to click to monitor/deposit his investment. With an easy UI, Rofx team has overcome this issue too. Account type selections, hedge ratios, referrals  no more such tedious questions. Begin your investment journey without any deposit fees/commissions. In fact, you can withdraw your profits at no costs. The platform is so user-friendly that the charting and market watching is all on the screen without your efforts being required. With the flexible deposit options, Rofx promises to get your investment journey started with an average 0.38% daily profit.

In addition, there are no set period or specific dates to withdraw your funds. Emergency situation? Withdraw your profit just at the very moment.

Final Words

Rofx has a perfect sketch to help a newcomer beat the odds and see some decent profit. With these amazing options, anyone can try their luck in Forex trading. Rofx, being an ideal solution for the traders of all levels, ultimately promises one thing  Your money is in safe hands.

References

1. https://cleverdude.com/content/unbiased-rofx-net-review-beginner-forex-traders/

2. https://rofx.net/discover-rofx-net-best-forex-robot/

3. https://alternativeto.net/software/rofx-net/reviews/

4. https://techmoran.com/rofx-net-wants-alternative-coinbase/
Sandstone Diagnostics, a Livermore, CA-based medical device company focused on a data-driven approach to mens reproductive health, held the first closing of $5.8m of its Series A1 round including conversion of notes.

The round was led by Astia Angels and Hunt Holdings, along with a consortium of investors including DPW Holdings (NYSE:DPW).

The company will use the funds for sales growth and continued product development.

Founded in 2012 in part by government scientists from Sandia National Laboratories an led by CEO Karen Drexler, Sandstone provides the Trak Male Fertility Testing System, an FDA-cleared, consumer device that lowers fertility testing barriers and allows men to take control of their reproductive health. Men use the Trak device at home along with the Trak mobile app to test, learn and try to improve their sperm count so couples can improve odds of conception.

The Trak app gathers key lifestyle data and uses proprietary algorithms built with urologists to give targeted feedback on how health and habits may impact mens fertility.

FinSMEs

17/01/2018
A recent letter to the editor in the Chambersburg Public Opinion (Senate Bill 2 would siphon more money from public schools, Jan. 9) called on me to oppose legislation that would expand education opportunities for students who are trapped in failing schools. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

The opinion piece asserts that Senate Bill 2 would siphon money away from public schools  a claim that is misleading at best. Public schools have received more money from the state each year for as long as Ive been a member of the General Assembly. Under Senate Bill 2, no school would lose a single penny of state funding unless parents choose to remove their child from a school that is failing them.

If a parent chooses to remove his or her child from a failing school, the district would only forfeit the average per-student allotment the state dedicated for that one individual student. In essence, the plan would ensure that all state money allocated for public education follows the student instead of being tied to a school district that is not getting the job done.

It only stands to reason that if a parent pulls a child out of a failing school, the childs former school shouldnt get additional money from state taxpayers. Schools should receive funding based on the number of students they enroll and educate, not based on the number of students they wished they enrolled, or the number of students they failed to educate.

Senate Bill 2 would ensure that both public schools and private schools have an incentive to actually improve student performance and make the best use of taxpayer dollars, which is something that all lawmakers and non-partisan education advocates should be striving to achieve.

The bottom line is this  if low-performing schools consistently fail to provide a quality education to students, then parents should be given greater power to dictate how their tax dollars could be put to better use in educating their children.

The alternative is sinking an ever-increasing amount of taxpayer dollars into a system that doesnt work, with little or no accountability for how those dollars are spent. That might be an attractive option to some of the most liberal school board members in Pennsylvania, but it certainly isnt an approach the vast majority of taxpayers would support. I receive hundreds of emails, calls and letters to my district office every week, and I can assure you that community residents are not begging to pay higher state taxes in addition to higher property taxes.

As a new member of the Senate Education Committee, I will strive to support policies that ensure students can receive a quality education, no matter where that education takes place. I also believe we should work toward that goal with an eye toward protecting taxpayers and empowering parents. Senate Bill 2 accomplishes all of these benchmarks and will have my support if it is considered by the committee.

Sen. Rich Alloway II (R-33) represents Pennsylvanias 33rd District, which includes parts of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties.
Japanese premium brand, Lexus, launched its flagship LS500H luxury sedan in Delhi, on Monday. The car will only be available in its hybrid version, which is powered by a 3.5 litre V6 petrol engine and a multi-stage hybrid system, mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.

The LS500H is definitely a very radical looking car, and the first thing to catch your eyes is the huge gaping grille, accompanied by the Adaptive LED headlights and saber like DRLs. On the side, there is the very low slung roofline, emphasising the cars aerodynamic built. LS500H's design is very refreshing, compared to its German rivals, such as, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, BMW 7 Series and the Audi A8. The LS comes with air suspension as standard. Coupled with 20 alloy wheels, the car looks gorgeous!

Interiors, again, are very different from popular German luxury sedans. The sheer number of special design cues will take some time for you to identify; high-quality leather, beautiful stitching, and intricate design features are what define the interiors over a glance. Front seats are 28-way power adjustable; whereas, the rear seats are 22-way power adjustable. All of them come equipped with massage functions. The LS500H comes loaded with a 23 speaker Mark Levinson surround sound system. The rear seats, which can recline up to 48 degrees, with an extendable footrest, added luxury of the powered sunshades, and Lexus climate concierge ensure that you get a world-class experience.

The LS500H goes on sale from April 2018 onwards, and will be available in three trim options, with prices starting at Rs 1.77 crore for the Luxury trim, Rs 1.82 crore for the Ultra Luxury trim and Rs 1.93 crore for the Distinct trim.
New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution against FDI in retail with AAP legislators stressing that the move launched by the BJP-led central government would "break the back" of traders.

The resolution, moved by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti, stated that 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail would only lead to "economic slavery".

"(It) resolves to oppose the decision of the Union Cabinet to allow 100 per cent FDI in retail as it leads to breaking the back of small and medium traders and ultimately to economic slavery of the country, the resolution read.

Participating in the discussion on the issue, Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain said the BJP's claim that FDI in retail had nothing to do with small traders was incorrect.

"FDI (in retail) will destroy the business of traders. The country will move towards economic slavery," Jain said.

Labour Minister Gopal Rai said this was an anti-trader decision which would only lead to unemployment.

The Union government on Wednesday allowed 100 percent FDI by foreign investors in single-brand retail trading and construction development.
Paris: Bitcoin, the best known of hundreds of 'virtual' coins, slumped on Tuesday to a six-week low below $12,000 as analysts blamed a rush by various jurisdictions to regulate the sector. The final weeks of last year were marked by bitcoin mania as the unit topped $20,000, but it lost some 20 percent in Tuesday's trading which saw most of its fellow cryptocurrencies similarly wilt.

"Bitcoin has dropped below $12,000, a level not seen since early December. The cryptocurrency has fallen nearly 40 percent since its all-time high," noted David Madden, market analyst with CMC Markets.

According to crypto exchange coinmarketcap.com, other major virtual currencies ethereum, ripple and bitcoin cash, a clone which split from the original last year, posted double-digit losses by early afternoon.

"Explaining moves in bitcoin is always tricky but this plunge ... may well be a result of recent signs that regulatory pressures are building," said Neil Wilson, analyst for ETX Capital, as several countries, notably China and South Korea, target a crackdown.

Last week saw prices sag after the South Korean government said it was planning to ban cryptocurrency exchanges -- though it later backtracked -- while Justice Minister Park Sang-Ki said Seoul was preparing a bill to shut down the country's virtual coin exchanges to slam the brakes on a craze which "has started to resemble gambling and speculation."

South Korea is a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20 percent of global bitcoin transactions, while much of the "mining" -- computerised creation -- of the coin units is undertaken in China.

"South Korea holds some of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, so a ban is expected to disrupt Bitcoin trading," said a note from British consultancy Capital Economics, which also alluded to Chinese concerns of bitcoins's effect on financial stability.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM forex forecaster, also blamed the market jitters on the political regulatory backdrop surrounding the sector, which topped $600 billion in market capitalisation in mid-December.

"Bitcoin was the talk across financial markets for all the wrong reasons on Tuesday, after prices tumbled sharply to their weakest level since early December," said Otunuga, noting talk of tighter regulation "has effectively eroded investor appetite for bitcoin.

"With reports on a renewed crackdown on the cryptocurrency in China fueling anxiety over future restrictions, further losses could be on the cards in the near term," added Otunuga, noting the latest wild ride in value "should remind investors on how explosively volatile and unpredictable" cryptocurrencies can be. "One has to ask if Bitcoin is currently in the process of flickering violently before it burns out?"
Improving quality and fostering excellence is a major challenge that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) face today. The institutions are required to attract and retain competent faculty, raise teaching standards, encourage cutting edge research and nurture talent. Institutions therefore require massive investment in quality education, which depends on the national efforts to mobilise required financial resources from diverse sources for meeting the rising costs of education, training and research.

In this context, the Union Budget not only provides a statement of revenue and expenditure for various growth-oriented schemes but also presents the proposals for raising and allocating resources for financing priority areas of development, including higher education and entrepreneurial training. It may therefore be worthwhile to examine as to what may be expected from the forthcoming Union budget 2018-19 for financing higher education.

Government Funding

Higher education (HE) is provided through complex public and private partnership with different types and levels of institutions offering a wide range of technical and professional educational programs.

HEIs established by the Central and state governments receive a major chunk -- 60 to 80 percent -- of budgetary support by their respective governments. Of late, most of them are, however, becoming less dependent on the government as they are gradually moving towards costs recovery through upward revision of fees and offer of self-financed courses. In effect, thus, privatisation of education is increasing even in public sector institutions.

The private sector HEIs is entirely financed from the collection of tuition fees and other charges. Education in such institutions is cost prohibitive and therefore most students avail of bank loans to finance their education. Education loans interest burden is subsidised for students from lower income group.

A vast majority of the institutions, 63 percent, are self-financing institutions. And, private not-for-profit institutions are growing the most rapidly.

Revenue and expenditure data relating to private HEIs are not available for objective analysis and for drawing relevant inferences. We, therefore, confine our discussion to public sector HEIs, which receive budgetary support from the Central government.

Public expenditure on higher education

The trend in budgetary allocations reveal that at least 42 percent of the total education outlay is earmarked for higher education -- general and technical. This share comes to Rs. 29,703 crore (revised

estimate) for 2016-17, which is less than one percent of gross domestic product (GDP). This level of expenditure on higher education is considered inadequate for promoting quality teaching, research and innovation to match the levels obtained in countries with which Indias educated youth have to compete in the globalised economy.

The Central government has established overtime a number of HEIs, namely the Central universities, IITs and IIMs but these institutes have not been strengthened in terms of required facilities for quality education and research. At least 50 percent of HEIs are hardly operational in terms of required infrastructure including staff and other students support services, as per stipulation of regulatory bodies, namely UGC.

Shortage of faculty

In a meeting with the President Ram Nath Kovind on 6 January 2018, the Vice Chancellors of 17 new Central Universities discussed teething issues faced by them. The Central Universities set up after the year 2009 in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, South Bihar, Jharkhand, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu, Motihari and Bilaspur are facing uneven pace of campus development and faculty shortage. These universities are facing an acute shortage of teachers with at least 30 percent of faculty positions lying vacant at each institution.

The situation of Central University in Odisha is disastrous with about 84 percent of faculty posts vacant. Similarly, central universities in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka have over 60 percent  75 percent of faculty posts vacant. This fact is also admitted by Minister of Human Resource and Development Prakash Javadekar who revealed that over 53 percent of faculty posts are vacant in Central universities and 35 percent faculty positions are vacant in IITs.

Clearly, with a large number of vacant faculty positions for several years, which are not filled due mainly to insufficient allocation of funds, quality of teaching and research is unduly compromised. The question is: Will the Central government provide for necessary funds commensurate with requirement for recruitment of faculty and other supporting facilities? We expect that when the Union Budget is presented on 1 February, 2018, this issue will be addressed.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his Budget Speech 2016, underscored the need for fostering excellence in higher education and research. He stated, "An enabling regulatory architecture will be provided to ten public and ten private institutions to emerge as world-class Teaching and Research Institutions We have decided to set up a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with an initial capital base of 1,000 crores. In this context, a baby step has been taken as the process of identifying Institutions of Eminence' has just begun. And, let us hope that it will get a boost in the forthcoming Budget and the outcome of this initiative will be reported.



States sector HEIs

The case for increased financial allocation for the flagship program, namely the Rashtriya Uchchatar Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is equally strong. This scheme was designed and implemented in 2013 to provide strategic funding support to states sector higher education institutions for improving access and quality. Even though the states sector institutions enroll as high as 95 percent of students in higher education, the allocation for this scheme has already been downsized to the extent of 80 percent. This is of course adversely affecting the states sector universities and the colleges, which have been receiving plan assistance from the UGC. It is difficult to speculate at this juncture if the allocation for RUSA would be reversed to the previous levels or even increased to improve internal and external efficiency of HEIs.



Growth of self-financing institutions

With a view to reducing financial burden of funding higher education, the Central government has encouraged establishment of a number of self-financed institutions (123), known as Deemed to be University. Likewise, the states have deliberately encouraged the private sector to establish self-financing universities for augmenting opportunities for higher learning.

The establishment of private universities and colleges is viewed as a profitable venture; and, proliferation of such institutions tends to promote commercialisation of education. Almost all the known business houses and industrialists have established their own colleges and universities with the support of political parties in power.

In fact, privatisation of higher education has grown so much so that over 80 percent HEIs are under private management, which enroll over 60 percent of students. And, this trend is rising, even though at least one-third of approved seats in technical and professional disciplines remain vacant. The implication of this trend is further deceleration in government support for strengthening HEIs and increased dependence on private and self-financed courses, which may tend to perpetuate educational disparity among poor and rich. Will the fiscal policy address the issue of adverse impact of privatization of education on economically backward communities?

Burden of student loans

The size of expanded private HEIs indicate that the funding for HEIs comes from private sources, primarily the tuition fees that students and their families pay, often with the help of loans borrowed from the financial institutions.

The Indian Banks Association (IBA) has rolled out a comprehensive educational loan scheme. The student loan scheme is included in one of the 16 sectors of the priority sector lending of the commercial banks, which includes public, private and foreign banks.

The student loan scheme is extremely popular as evident from the increase in users, as many as nearly 3.0 million students, most of whom pursue technical, professional and management education avail of loan facility. It is also been observed that:

a) Education loans policy caters mainly to students enrolled in private institutions that offer jobs and market oriented courses;

b) According to Indian Banks Association (IBA), the total outstanding amount of education loan at end of the fiscal 201617 was Rs 67,678.5 crore out of which Rs 5,191.72 crore was NPA;

c) The bulging size of outstanding loans, an average of over 82 percent for the last five years -- 2010 to 2014 -- raises serious questions regarding sustainability of loan policy; and

d) Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) contributed by education have grown from 5.7 percent to 7.67 percent at March-end 2017.

A high ratio of outstanding loans or non-recovery of students loans is a pointer of inefficient management of loans, which has potential for not only destabilizing the lending banks due to rising NPAs but also to provoke unemployed beneficiaries to demand for loan waivers as given to farmers in different states. It may be recalled that in 2009 the then Finance Minister had extended relief on account of the accumulated interests burden of students loans.

In view of the inability of most beneficiaries to pay for loans due to unemployment or underemployment, they might express resentment against the job creation policies that may have political repercussions. This, therefore, calls for addressing the issue of education loans to alleviate the burden of the lending Banks and beneficiaries of education loans. In this context, Income Contingent Loan Policy, which is considered progressive and superior to the existing students loan scheme, may be adopted. Will the Finance Minister pay attention to this issue?

Fiscal incentives

The scope of fiscal concessions, such as tax incentives for investment in education by students, parents and other donors should be made duly attractive. Currently, only deduction of interest is allowed under Section 80E of the Income Tax Act. Deduction of Principal Loan Repayment should also be allowed as a deduction under section 80E as is currently permitted for home loan repayments u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act.

Currently only deduction of Tuition fees is allowed under Section 80C. Deduction of expenses other than tuition fees relating to education should also be allowed as a deduction under section 80C

Education cess

The Central government collects this Cess to augment additional funds for investing in secondary and higher education since 2004. Accruals from the cess were to be utilised for promotion of ongoing schemes for secondary and higher education, mainly for expansion of facilities to improve access and quality of teaching, research and innovation. But, this has not happened. Why?

On the basis of the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), it is reported that the top government auditor also expressed concern that even though Rs 7,885 crore was collected through the research and development cess during FY97 to FY17, only Rs 609 crore (7.73%) was utilised towards the objectives of levying the said cess.

In its report to the Parliament, CAG has observed that:

 Central government in the last 10 years collected Rs 83,497 crore by way of secondary and higher education cess between FY07 and FY17, but funds were not utilised for fulfilling the commitments made in the Finance Act for promotion of secondary and higher education. CAG has noted that the commitment of furthering secondary and higher education cess as envisaged in the Finance Act was not transparently ascertainable,

 Even though Rs 7,885 crore was collected through the research and development cess during FY97 to FY17, only Rs 609 crore (7.73 percent) was utilised towards the objectives of levying the said cess.

Clearly, available funds have not been utilised for the purpose for which budgetary allocation was made. It may be hoped that the government will take corrective action in this regard to do justice with HEIs.

Build entrepreneurial ecosystem

The instrument of fiscal policy may be used to change the abysmal state of education system, which churns out millions of adults equipped only for menial work. The workforce is woefully unproductive. It is imperative therefore to create conditions for promoting entrepreneurial education and training. In view of large pool of educated job seekers, the focus of educational funding policy should be to strengthen HEIs to quickly reorient their degree programs to blend the traditional economic and business courses with the practical experiences and operational challenges faced in the working world. The issue therefore is how to improve entrepreneurship education, training and skills.

Entrepreneurs innovate, bring new products and concepts to the market, improve market efficiency and create new value for customers and shareholders in the market. They are the drivers of economic growth and employment generation. The HEIs would therefore require developing entrepreneurial skills for leadership, creativity, marketing, sales, financial management and a wide range of interpersonal skills. In the broadest sense, HEIs will have to take up research and innovative activities, which leads to the creation and management of a new organisation for augmenting economic and business opportunities.

To encourage entrepreneurship in students, universities must offer more practical coursework, blending the theory in the traditional academic literature with the tangible needs of everyday business and technology management. The entreprenurial education should be experiential, hands-on, and action-driven to give students a real-world experience. Without reasonable financial support and governments pressure, HEIs would not be able to effectively respond to the challenge of building entreprenurial ecosystem. Hopefully, the Finance Minister will suitably address this issue.

To conclude, efficiency and equity considerations make a strong case for the beneficiaries of higher education making a greater contribution to realise the goal of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas. They would also allow government funding to be targeted more effectively to support potential entrants from lower income backgrounds where participation has been persistently low, despite governments educational subsidy to deprived groups.

Innovative and diversified methods of augmenting additional resources for investment in higher education are critical for promoting entrepreneurial education, training and skills development, which in turn has significant bearing on economy and the society that are increasingly knowledge intensive and propelled by new technologies.

Will the finance minister refrain from making populist announcements and establish a healthy precedence to present a pragmatic Union Budget that should enable us to reap the benefits of population dividend in the foreseeable future?

For full coverage of Union Budget 2018, click here.

(The writer is Advisor, Yes Global Institute & Former Member UGC)
Kolkata: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday said his company will invest Rs 5,000 crore in West Bengal in businesses such as petroleum and retail. RIL has already pumped in Rs 15,000 crore in the telecom business in the state although it had earlier committed to invest Rs 4,500 crore.

The investment will be made over the next three years and also promote electronic industry by manufacturing mobile phones and set top boxes, Ambani said at the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit which began here.

Several corporate houses on Tuesday came forward with big investment proposals for West Bengal and right at the start of "Bengal Global Business Summit" here an estimated Rs 17,000 crore worth of investments were pledged by top business houses.

JSW Group's chief Sajjan Jindal has pledged Rs 10,000 crore and the group, which inaugurated Rs 800-crore cement plant in West Midnapore district, has interests in setting up paint and speciality steel making units in the state.

RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group's Chairman Sanjiv Goenka announced a Rs 1,000 crore investment plan for Bengal and Adventz Group also expressed its intent to invest a like amount in the state.

In an effort to move away from West Bengal's "investor-wary" image and woo much-needed investments, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said its people would dedicate their hearts to Indian and foreign industrialists if they infused capital in the state.

Inaugurating the two-day business summit, she also assured industrialists that there was "no pressure, discrimination or intimidation" in the state and that Bengal had only "love and affection" for them.

"We love India and unity of India. We love tolerance.You must invest in Bengal. The state is attracting businesses from all over the world like never before. There is no pressure, discrimination, intimidation... only love, affection and attraction is here," she said.

She also assured her government would not spare even her party men if they created problems for investors and industrialists.

"We have to protect them (industrialists and investors) and they are our assets," she added.



(Disclosure - Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd)
New Delhi: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be flown in the Indian Air Force's frontline aircraft, the indigenously-built version of Su-30 MKI fighter jet on Wednesday, official sources said.

The minister will fly a sortie in the formidable fighter, which has nuclear strike capability and capability to penetrate deep in enemy territory, at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur.

After her recent stay on board INS Vikramaditya at sea and whirlwind tours to forward areas and different installations of the three forces, this sortie will be a part of the defence minister's continued effort to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the armed forces, the sources said.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.

In November 2017, India had successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the fighter jet.
New Delhi: The threat of radical Islam and its terrorist offshoots can "upset" the international system, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, batting for stronger ties between India and Israel to overcome the challenge.

Addressing the inaugural session of the 'Raisina Dialogue' in New Delhi, Netanyahu hailed India as Israel's "natural friend and partner", drawing a wide smile from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in the audience.

Netanyahu said closer ties between democracies was essential to secure the common future of humanity at a time "our way of life and the quest for modernity and innovation" are being challenged.

The Israeli prime minister will travel to Gujarat on Thursday with Modi, who is the only Indian prime minister till date to have visited Israel.

"Most notably the quest for modernity, the quest for innovation is being challenged by radical Islam and its terorist offshoots from a variety of corners and this can upset the international system.

"One of the ways to overcome such a challenge is to strengthen the relation between our two great denmocracies. The alliances of democracies is important to secure our common future," Netanyahu said, addressing the inaugural session of the three-day conference where a range of geopolitical issues will be discussed.

Considering India's large Muslim population, New Delhi has always walked a tightrope in striking a balance between deepening its ties with Israel while trying not to upset its equation with Palestine, which shares a fractious history with the Jewish state.

India had last month joined 127 other countries to vote in the UN in favour of a resolution opposing the recent decision of the US to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Netanyahu began his 16-minute speech by identifying military strength, economic prowess and political power as the prerequisites for the development of a nation, factors which he said were behind the Jewish nation's rise from the "ashes".

"The weak don't survive, the strong survive. You make peace, alliances with the strong. You are able to maintain peace by being strong," he said.

Netanyahu, who arrived in New Delhi on a six-day visit on 14 January, said Modi's July, 2017 visit to Israel "broke ground". "You were the first leader of India to come to Israel in 3,000 years. It will not take long for your next visit, I know that."

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, visited Taj Mahal in Agra. Netanyahu referred to this trip in his speech to make a point about the "common value" of democracy that the two countries share.

Netanyahu said the democratic values of India and Israel ensure that people have the ability to think as they want, speak as they want, believe in what they want.

"We have a special relationship. We are naturally sympathetic to India. When I was walking the streets of Agra, somebody said we are so happy that you are friends with our prime minister. He said we are friends," Netanyahu said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also attended the inaugural session, and while delivering the vote of thanks, said the Israeli premier's visit to India underlines the celebration of 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, union ministers VK Singh, Jayant Sinha and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor were present at the event, organised jointly by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs.

Netayahu said he found "astounding" the fact that under Modi, India has climbed nearly 42 spots in the ease of doing business rankings even as he stressed on the need to cut red tape to encourage businesses.

He said a government can both facilitate and block economic growth. Growth is possible when there is a free market, which facilitates innovation by business entities, he said.

He said to defend a nation, one needs a strong military, which in turn requires a lot of money. The money, he said, comes from a strong economy.

"Defence costs a great deal of money. The money comes from the second source of power, economic power...the third power is political power, which means the ability to make political alliances and relationships with many other countries," he said.

The theme of the dialogue this year is 'Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms'. The event has an impressive line up of more than 150 speakers and over 550 delegates.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will address a session, along with Admiral Harry Harris, Commander, US Pacific Command, General Chris Deverell, Joint Forces Commander, UK, among others, on Wednesday.
Ahmedabad: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday described Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity.

Netanyahu arrived in Ahemdabad on Wednesday morning and held a grand roadshow along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before visiting the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for a long time.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their "visit was inspiring".

"An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration- Mahatma Gandhi-," Netanyahu wrote in the book.

Earlier, the Israeli prime minister and his wife spent around 20 minutes in the ashram premises, where they visited 'Hriday Kunj', the home of Mahatma Gandhi.

The two dignitaries also tried their hands at the 'charkha', the hand spinning wheel which was emblematic of India's quest for self-reliance during the freedom struggle.

They also flew kites for a couple of minutes, as their visit comes just a few days after 'Uttarayana' (or Makar Sankranti), Gujarat's popular kite festival.

Gandhi had spent a large part of his life in the Sabarmati Ashram after he returned to India from South Africa to lead India's non-violent freedom struggle.

He left the ashram in 1930 when he took out the Dandi March from here, with a vow not to return to the place till India got Independence.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Uttar Pradesh Police have recovered banned currency notes worth close to Rs 100 crore from a house in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The haul, with banned notes making up a bed-sized stack of cash, is the biggest since Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes were removed as legal tender in November 2016 during the demonetisation drive.

According to a Hindustan Times report, an NIA official said that the currency belonged to four-five "individuals or companies", including a prominent detergent-maker.

Demonetized currency worth crores seized from a residential premises in Kanpur, counting underway, questioning on. pic.twitter.com/DejcQ7hEJb  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

The police named the owner of the house as Ashok Khatri, who runs a money exchange business. "We received information of the presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur, and a raid was conducted," senior police officer AK Meena was quoted by NDTV, adding that they were still counting the recovered currency.

Received information of presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur, raid was conducted, RBI and I-T dept officials informed, final amount not ascertained as search & counting underway, questioning on: AK Meena, SSP, #Kanpur pic.twitter.com/Tqup83cXhj  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

The Reserve Bank of India and Income Tax officials have also been informed, Meena added.

According to the Hindustan Times report, the NIA suspects that the cash was hidden with an intention of converting them into legal currency through illegal means.

"We got the information that a huge amount of demonetised currency was being stored in an under-construction house in the Swarup Nagar locality of Kanpur... Since there was no terror angle involved, the information was shared with the Uttar Pradesh police and a joint raid was conducted," a senior NIA official was quoted by the report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The NIA had seized over Rs 36 crore in demonetised currency notes in Delhi in November 2017, allegedly linked to the financing of terrorism and separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to RBI estimates, more than 99 percent of the demonetised notes have returned to the banks.

With inputs from agencies
The Parkland Beekeeping Association will be holding their annual beekeeping workshop at Mineral Area College on Saturday and anyone who is interested in beekeeping or is an experienced beekeeper is welcome to attend.

Missouri State Beekeeping Association (MSBA) Southeast Region Representative Greg Hitchings said this workshop is intended for those who are thinking about beekeeping, just started beekeeping or are already established at beekeeping.

We do that in breakout sessions. We will gather everyone together to have general information and then we will split up, said Hitchings. We will have some experienced beekeepers who will be talking to the established beekeepers about various aspects of colony management, disease, mite detection and treatment, taking splits and raising your own queens on a simple basis.

Hitchings said in the other session it will basically be people who have an interest in beekeeping, but havent made the plunge yet.

It will be from the standpoint of costs, starting the craft, as well as the time involvement, said Hitchings. People are always wanting to know how much time this is going to take and we will answer the questions there.

Hitchings said the class will also provide basic information of the life cycle of the honey bee and the equipment necessary for being successful at beekeeping. He stressed it really centers around the first year of just getting started.

The established beekeepers will already know this and the beginning beekeepers who join us for this workshop wont, but this is the beginning of our instructional year, said Hitchings. The Parkland Beekeepers understand and promote the fact it takes both knowledge and skill to be successful.

Hitchings explained they have an alliance with MAC and they have a teaching area on-site. The first Tuesday of every month beginners can come to their beginning meetings and they also have their regular monthly meeting on the third Tuesday of each month.

When weather permits, we will actually meet in the late afternoon and those who would like to go into the demonstration hives there will be experienced beekeepers there who can show them the ins and outs and answer questions.

He said they will also go into the classroom in the horticulture department every month and talk about what stage the bees are in, what they are seeing in their hives and how to plan forward for the next month and beyond.

Beekeeping is something that changes every week and a new beekeeper needs to understand it is an evolutionary process when they come out of their cluster in the early spring until they go to bed in late November, Hitchings said. Everything changes throughout the year and this is what we stress with beginning beekeepers and skilled ones also.

Hitchings said there is a $50 registration fee and it includes a one year membership with the Parkland Beekeepers, lunch and a beginners book, "The Honey Bee Hobbyist." Established beekeepers will get a hive mask and a book.

Everyone will understand at the meeting that this is our kickoff and our learning begins on Jan. 20 and continues throughout the year, if they want to continue, said Hitchings. We had a preregistration process and that recently ended and we already have 20 to 25 people who preregistered.

Hitchings said they decided to open it up to anyone else who wants to come. He stressed that if there is an overwhelming amount of people who attends, not every will get a book that day if they run out, but will get them one in the future.

We will have MSBA 2017 Ambassador Kyle Day who will be visiting and will be doing some of the instruction as well, said Hitchings. He will be teaching a little bit of simplified queen rearing to the established beekeepers.

For an agenda, check out www.parklandbeekeepersassociation.org and for more information contact the PBA President at pba_president@mineralarea.edu or by text or phone at 573-631-8236.
Kolkata: The Bar Association of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday threatened to go on an indefinite strike if immediate steps are not taken to appoint judges to fill up vacant posts at the high court, which is at present working at less than half of its sanctioned strength of 72 judges.

The Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said lawyers of the 156-year-old high court will go on an indefinite strike if the strength of judges are not increased to 50 at least within a month.

"We have written to the President of India, Chief Justice of India and the Union law minister seeking immediate steps to fill up the vacant posts of judges," he told reporters.

Majumdar said that lawyers would wear black badges to protest the delay in appointment of judges, which will be followed by sit-in dharnas and half-day strike. If the protests fail, they would go for the indefinite strike.

The first high court in the country now has only 31 judges, of whom three will retire by February and another judge is scheduled to go to Delhi High Court as its chief justice. This will further reduce the working strength of judges at the high court to 27.

The huge number of vacancies is severely affecting justice delivery system, he claimed.

"While the judges are overburdened with pending cases, lawyers and litigants are also facing huge problems owing to delay in hearings and pronouncement of orders," the bar association president said.

According to official data, around 2.22 lakh cases are pending before the Calcutta High Court.
The central government announced on Tuesday that there will be no subsidy for Haj from this year. The funds saved will instead be used for providing education to minorities, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The Haj susbidy refers to the discounted airfares given to Mecca-bound pilgrims who fly by government-owned Air India. It also included assistance for domestic travel within India to reach special airport terminals meant for Haj departure.

The programme has its origins in the British era, according to NDTV. However, with the Haj Committee Act of 1959, the government expanded the programme.

The Indian Express further reported that initially, the subsidy was given only for flights between Mumbai and Jeddah. But other flight routes were added later. Since 1984, Haj-bound traffic had been shared by Air India and Saudi Arabia, the report added.

The government's decision to scrap the subsidy is in line with a 2012 Supreme Court order that asked the government to do away with it, following a long-standing demand by the BJP.

"We have no doubt that a very large majority of Muslims applying to the Haj Committee would not be aware of the economics of their pilgrimage. And if all facts are made known, many of the pilgrims would not be very comfortable in the knowledge that their Haj is funded to a substantial extent by the government," a report in The Hindu had quoted the Supreme Court as saying in 2012.

Following this order, the subsidy was gradually reduced every year. According to sources in the minority affairs ministry, till 2017, the notional savings following gradual abolition of subsidy since 2012 was to tune of Rs 636.56 crore.

Had the government chosen to continue reducing the subsidy at the same rate, the total national savings would have have been around Rs 5,970.6 crore by 2022, the sources told PTI.

Haj pilgrims from certain regions can choose from where they want to fly to Saudi Arabia, Naqvi said, and claimed that this would bring down the cost by up to 70 percent on some routes.

There are a total of 21 Haj embarkation points (EPs) in the country  Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Cochin, Indore, Srinagar, Bhopal, Guwahati, Mangaluru, Aurangabad, Varanasi, Jaipur, Nagpur, Ranchi, Gaya, Ahmedabad and Goa.

Haj aspirants  for whom the 10 airports of Srinagar, Guwahati, Ranchi, Gaya, Indore, Bhopal, Mangaluru, Goa, Aurangabad and Varanasi are the nearest EPs  will now get an additional economical option to fly from.

The pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir, whose nearest EP is Srinagar, can opt to travel from Delhi now, helping them save on (per head) airfare. In 2017, the airfare for the pilgrimage from Srinagar was Rs 1,09,692 as against Rs 73,697 from Delhi.

The airfare for Haj 2018 may vary, ministry sources said.

Similarly, aspirants whose basic EPs are Guwahati, Ranchi and Gaya will have the alternative of undertaking the journey from Kolkata. Those having Indore, Bhopal, Goa and Aurangabad as the nearest airports can opt to fly from Mumbai.

Those with Varanasi as the basic airport can choose Lucknow as their optional embarkation point while those with Mangaluru as their EP will have the option of Bengaluru.

Embarkation point once selected cannot be changed later on, as tendering will be done accordingly, the sources said.

Naqvi also cited a host of measures, such as providing jobs and job opportunities to 8.5 lakh minority youth and scholarships to 1.83 crore students, to claim that the BJP-led NDA government has been working to empower minorities.

His ministry is entrusted with welfare measures for minorities that include Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Zoroastrians (Parsis), Buddhists and Jains.

Naqvi, the lone Muslim cabinet minister in the government, also claimed that his ministry had succeeded in helping a lot of youth get employment by training them as GST facilitators.

The BJP had also cited the subsidy as an example of "Muslim appeasement" by parties such as the Congress.

The minister said a record 1.75 lakh Muslims will undertake the pilgrimage this year from India despite the subsidy withdrawal. "There will be no subsidy on Haj now," he told reporters, adding that the government had spent over Rs 250 crore last year on subsidising the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Saudi Arabia.

"It is part of Modi government's efforts to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement," Naqvi said. The funds would be utilised for providing education to minorities, he said.

Asked if the subsidy withdrawal will make the cost of the pilgrimage unaffordable for Muslims, Naqvi said the government was making efforts to bring it down.

The Saudi Arabian government has agreed to allow Indians to go on Haj by the sea route and officials of the two countries will work out the modalities, he said.

Naqvi said his ministry is also organising an event in Lucknow on 18 January in which he and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will speak on "empowering minorities without appeasement" with the help of central schemes.

Minority affairs ministers of nine states will also attend the event, he added.

Political reactions

Reacting cautiously to the government's decision, the Congress said it hopes that the Modi government will honour the apex court's direction and utilise this money for the education and development of the disempowered among the minorities, including young girls.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said the government's decision on revoking Haj subsidy has no meaning as there was no such concession and Muslims were being cheated in its name.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the subsidy had to be stopped, since it was a Supreme Court judgment. "But it is important to see where the funds saved will be utilised. Will they increase allocation of funds for scholarships to Muslim girls. The verdict is around the corner. Let's see if government makes a separate allocation for funds to scholarships to Muslims, especially girls," he said.

Welcoming the Centre's decision, the Vishva Hindu Parishad said the money saved from it should be utilised for the education of poor Hindu girls.

The Left parties  the CPM and CPI  refrained from commenting on the development.

Various Muslim organisations said that the move will have little effect on the pilgrimage as it was airlines that were benefiting from the subsidy. The subsidy was meant only for Air India and not the pilgrims, said Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Kari Mohammad Usman.

All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), a federation of Muslim outfits, said that the government should end all kinds of subsidies given for religious purposes. AIMMM president Naved Hamid demanded that the government should float a global tender so that the Haj pilgrims could avail cost-effective travel.

With inputs from PTI
Bhopal: After a video clip of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan allegedly slapping a security personnel went viral on social media, the Congress state unit on Tuesday demanded a case be registered against Chouhan.

The Opposition party said in a statement that it was due to "power going to their head, depleting public support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and annoyance over the failure of state government's policies that the chief minister and others were publicly giving vent to their annoyance".

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh said the chief minister's action of slapping one of his security personnel and stopping him in Sardarpur in Dhar district during poll campaigning on Sunday was tantamount to putting hinderances in official duties and hence a case under relevant sections of law should be registered against him.

Congress' Madhya Pradesh unit spokesperson KK Mishra too demanded action against Chouhan and said there could not be two rules  one for the common man and another for the chief minister.

The incident had reportedly taken place during a rally in Sardarpur. However, there was no clarity on when the video was shot. News reports said that it was also not clear why Chouhan resorted to violence.

Times Now further reported that Chouhan was campaigning for the Madhya Pradesh civic body polls, which are scheduled to take place on 17 January. The counting of votes will take place on 20 January.

With inputs from agencies
Chennai: Tamil Nadu government will urge the Centre to reconsider its decison on scrapping the Haj subsidy, Chief Minister K Palaniswamy said.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said on Tuesday there will be no subsidy for Haj from this year and the funds saved will be used for providing education to minorities.

The state government will urge the Centre to reconsider its decision, Palaniswami told reporters.

This is the stand of the AIADMK as well, he said.
The Narendra Modi government's decision to end Haj subsidy  the nature and amount of which Mecca-bound Muslim pilgrims never knew  has been welcomed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. India is a secular state. It is secular because Indian society has always been secular  not because Indira Gandhi introduced the word "secularism" in the Preamble of the Constitution. It is befitting, therefore, for the secular Indian state that it must stop funding religious activities of all kinds.

The next course for the government should to withdraw itself from administration of religious institutions like Hindu temples, which can use their funds to transform themselves into universities of music, dance and Indic literature. It must also end subsidy for the Mansarovar Yatra, which was doubled from Rs 25,000 in 2015 by the Akhilesh Yadav government and doubled again to Rs 1,00,000 per person in 2017 by the Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh. Karnataka gives Rs 20,000 per person for pilgrimage to Chardham: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangothri and Yamunotri.

The Indian state must also stop funding Hindu festivals. Currently, it spends up to Rs 5,000 crore on Mahakumbh at Ujjain alone. In 2013, the Manmohan Singh government diverted Rs 800 crore  which was meant for irrigation and urban development in Uttar Pradesh  towards organising the Kumbh in Allahabad. It is not the job of the secular state to fund religious festivals, though building fundamental infrastructure such as roads, or water and electricity supply lines can be justified. The amount spent by the Indian state on Haj subsidy, which was Rs 405 crore in 2016 down from Rs. 680 crore in 2013  is not even a fraction of what is spent on Hindu festivals.

The Indian state must also withdraw from the management of Haj. This is necessary because it has led to politicisation of a matter that is purely religious. Haj committees, set up by governments in different states, have become corridors of politics and must be abolished. Since the number of Haj pilgrims from different countries is set by Saudi Arabia, which Indian Muslim goes for the annual pilgrimage can be decided through a lottery system. Once a pilgrim gets a token number, they should be free to book their flight and travel to Mecca for Haj, possibly through private operators.

Currently, Saudi Arabia permits 1,75,025 Indian Muslims for Haj. This is not a vast number. Each of these pilgrims can manage their flight, travel, food and stay. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which welcomed the termination of Haj subsidy, made a telling remark: "The subsidy was not given to those going on Haj but it was for Air India that is running in losses. It was an eyewash. Muslims were cheated in the name of the subsidy." People created governments to better their life. But governments became too big and a necessary evil. The government must stop forcing Haj pilgrims to travel by the state-run airline.

Once Haj pilgrims are permitted to buy their tickets from different airlines, it will unleash competition between different private carriers. The cost of air ticket is bound to crash. The actual discount, or subsidy if you will, will be much higher, benefitting the Haj pilgrims. If the current government doesn't stop forcing Indians Muslims to travel by the state-run Air India and does not cease funding Hindu festivals, it opens itself to a charge that the ending of Haj subsidy is a communal act meant to consolidate Hindu votes. Even though the decision follows from a Supreme Court directive, the fact remains that Haj subsidy  and not subsidies for Mansarovar Yatra or Kumbh festivals  has been a potent political issue, benefitting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Announcing the decision to withdraw Haj subsidy on 16 January, Union minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "Haj subsidy funds will be used for educational empowerment of girls and women of minority community."

It is understandable that democracies must give welfare benefits to those who lag in life, but there is a serious issue with this statement. This means the Modi government, which was thought to be different from the previous so-called secular ones, believes in appeasement of communities. In a secular republic, communities cannot be a criterion of policies. The only criterion must be the citizen. Any Indian  irrespective of caste and religion  and living below the poverty line (BPL) should get welfare benefits. Since Muslims are poor, they will automatically be the major beneficiary of welfare policies. Do not start a new minority politics while ending the Haj subsidy.

Tufail Ahmad is Senior Fellow for Islamism and Counter-Radicalization Initiative at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington DC. He tweets @tufailelif
New Delhi: India on Wednesday "reiterated" its commitment to support Bangladesh's efforts to repatriate the Rohingya refugees who have taken shelter in the country fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

The assurance came during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali where the two sides discussed issues of common interest.

"She (Swaraj) also reiterated India's commitment to support the rehabilitation programme to ensure sustainable repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State," a Bangladesh High Commission statement said.

"With the policy of "neighbourhood first", EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Mr. Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh and leaders discussed bilateral issues of common interest," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Earlier this week, Myanmar and Bangladesh reached a deal on the return of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya. Ali briefed Swaraj about the deal, the statement said. According to the agreement, which was finalised in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, a two-year deadline has been set for the repatriation of the Rohingya.

"Indian minister also briefed her counterpart about Indian engagement in northern Rakhine State, including construction of pre-fabricated houses for the returnees. Both the ministers discussed the modalities and physical arrangements for early repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar," the statement added. Ali is visiting New Delhi for the ongoing third edition of the geo-political conference, 'Raisina Dialogue.'
Kolkata: The sit-in by Jadavpur University students was lifted shortly after midnight on Wednesday with the authorities agreeing to form a panel that would communicate to the state government the concerns of students over a bill that effectively dissolves students' unions.

The provisions in the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration and Regulation) Bill 2017, passed in February last year, enables the state government to prescribe rules and procedures for conducting campus elections.

The members of Arts' Faculty Students' Union and Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students Union (FETSU) had been picketing outside the administrative building since 4 pm on Monday to protest against the bill.

Somasree Choudhury, a leader of Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU), told PTI that the 31-hour-long sit-in was lifted around 1 am on wednesday after the Vice-Chancellor (V-C) gave an assurance in writing to the students that a committee will be formed by 3 pm on Wednesday on the university campus.

When contacted, V-C Suranjan Das said, "Yes, a meeting has been called to form a committee at noon today and the pro-V-C will be there along with Executive Council members, students' union representatives and teaching and non-teaching staff representatives."

A senior Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) member said the authorities had yesterday said they will take measures to communicate the views and concerns of students over formation of a council, which can render the democratically elected unions defunct, and seek extension of the 31 January deadline for dissolving students' bodies.

"The V-C has told the agitating students  belonging to AFSU, FETSU, DSO and others  that steps to form a committee, comprising all stakeholders of the institution, will be initiated at Wednesday's meeting at 3 pm," the JUTA member said.

It was also decided at the meeting that the university, being a centre of excellence, will have its own "model", he said.

"We need not be asked to follow the model of some other higher institutions," he added.

The agitating students have been demanding a dialogue with the government seeking immediate revocation of the bill.

In 2017, in August, the students had organised similar sit-in for over 30 hours to protest against the bill.
New Delhi: Dalit leader from Gujarat, Jignesh Mewani, on Wednesday said the Narendra Modi government will have to pay a heavy price for "the atrocities being committed on Dalits" across the country.

The newly-elected member of Gujarat Assembly said a nationwide movement would be launched on the issues faced by the youth in general and Dalits in particular.

The youth leader met Dalit leader Manda Krishna Madiga in Chanchalguda Jail in Delhi and demanded his immediate release.

Manda Krishna, a leader of Madiga  a sub-caste among Scheduled Castes (SC)  is fighting for categorisation of SC reservation.

Terming Manda Krishna's arrest as illegal and unconstitutional, Jignesh said no government or police had a right to curtail individual liberty or fundamental and constitutional rights even if they did not agree with his demands.

Jignesh told reporters outside the jail that in the coming days, Manda Krishna and other Dalit and progressive organisations would forge a broad alliance to fight for reservation and land rights.

"Land is a subject close to my heart. In Gujarat, I am demanding five acres of land and here he (Manda Krishna) is seeking three acres of land for every landless," he said.

Jignesh said he also planned to launch nationwide youth movement on the issue of unemployment. They discussed various issues like policy of reservation, self-respect and economic upliftment of Dalits.

They also discussed his visits to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other southern states, he added.
Bhoiwada sessions court on Wednesday sent four of the accused in Kamala Mills fire case, Yug Pathak, Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar, to judicial custody till 31 January.

The list of accused in the case includes co-owners of Mojo's Bistro Yug Tulli and Yug Pathak and owners of 1Above pub Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar. Apart from them, hotelier Vishal Kariya was also arrested for sheltering the owners of 1Above pub, however, he was later granted bail. Tulli is under police custody till 20 January.

#KamalaMillsFire: Bhoiwada Court sends all 4 accused - Yug Pathak, Jigar Sanghvi, Kripesh Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar to Judicial custody till 31st January. #Mumbai  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

Tulli a Nagpur-based businessman, had surrendered before the Mumbai Police on Tuesday, while Pathak, the son of a retired IPS officer, was arrested on 6 January. The names of Pathak and Tulli were added to the FIR lodged on 29 December against the owners of 1Above: Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar.

The duo were booked under 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 of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, on 12 January, the sessions court had rejected Tulli's plea for anticipatory bail. His lawyer had sought the bail, arguing that the devastating fire at the Kamala Mills compound on 29 December, which had claimed 14 lives and injured 55, had started from the adjoining 1Above pub.

However, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report, later revealed that the blaze had actually originated from flying embers from illegal hookah being served at Mojo's Bistro. The two pubs shared a terrace space.

Earlier, on 11 January, the Mumbai Police had arrested the absconding co-owner of '1Above' pub Abhijeet Mankar after the other co-owners of the pubJigar Sanghvi and Kripesh Sanghviwere detained.

The owners of 1Above  Kripesh Sanghai, Jigar Sanghavi and Abhijit Manka  had also written to the President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others, alleging that the Mumbai police investigations conducted by NM Joshi police station was "biased."

On 29 December, fire had swept through the '1Above' and adjacent Mojo's Bistro resto pub in Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.

They also took objections to the police preventing the insurers from entering the premises to survey since they (police) "are scared that the insurance company will discover the fire had erupted at the The Mojo's Bistro, and that evidence is still lying and not collected, or that evidence is destroyed".

The 1Above owners also accused the police of being biased and destroying the evidence to favour the owners of The Mojo's Bistro, both situated in the Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel in southcentral Mumbai.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: The people in Kashmir have realised that it is very difficult to secede from India and they are also getting tired of militancy, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday.

He laid emphasis on the campaign to bring back the radicalised youth into the mainstream.

This will put an end to the menace of militancy in the state, General Rawat said.

"They have seen it for too long and they have realised (that) it hasn't given them what they had desired for. Let me tell you... with a country like India, to seek independence from a nation where we have strong armed forces, where we have a strong democracy, and a very strong government, you cannot secede from India. This is what the people have realised," he said.

The army chief was responding to a question on Facebook Live, posted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), one of the organisers of the multi-lateral 'Raisina Dialogue'.

In response to another question on concerns over radicalisation among the Rohingyas and the threat arising out of it on the northeastern borders, he said anybody who is radicalised is identified in a timely manner.

"We don't want to go after particular communities," he insisted.

General Rawat said the agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh to take back the Rohingyas has proved to be beneficial, but noted that some of them might stay back.

"Our intelligence operations are carried out in a very coordinated manner. All the agencies are operating together. We are able to identify elements who have been radicalised," the army chief added.
If you've noticed a lot of people have been staying home from work and kids absent from school in recent weeks, there's a very good reason  the flu bug is running rampant in St. Francois County.

According to Ethan White, Communicable Disease nurse with the St. Francois County Health Center (SFCHC), the number of reported cases in the county so far this flu season is significantly higher than last year's.

"As of the end of last week, we had a total of 857 reported cases of Influenza A and B in the county," he said. "That doesn't include people who might not have gone in to see a doctor, to the emergency room or urgent care."

"What we do is tally it and compare it from the current year to the previous year," he said. "As of last year on Jan. 8, 2017, there was a total of 74 cases."

For those without a pencil and paper nearby, that means St. Francois County currently has 783 more reported cases of the flu than it did last year.

"The Department of Health and Senior Services has provided each county health department with a tally sheet that's broken down into age groups.

"What happens is that the providers in the county, the hospitals  basically anyone who is providing any kind of care  tally these flu cases each week and send the information to the center. What we do is tally from the previous week."

And it's not just St. Francois County seeing a large increase in reported flu cases right now. The number is increasing across the entire state.

According to Jessica McKnight, SFCHC director, Missouris flu activity this season is very similar to what the state experienced during the 2014-2015 flu season, both in the timing and amount of cases reported.

"A season total of almost 31,000 cases were reported to the Department of Health and Senior Services through the first week of 2018," she said. "During the same time period in the 2014-2015 flu season, 32,528 flu cases were reported statewide."

Meanwhile, reported cases of the flu nationwide are showing a dramatic increase as well. Theres a growing number of deaths and hospitalizations blamed on the flu, which is now spreading rapidly across the country. The CDC says the flu is now widespread in 46 states and there are four times as many flu cases now as compared with this time last year.

According to the CDC, flu viruses are thought to spread mainly from person to person through droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. Flu viruses also may spread when people touch something with flu virus on it and then touch their mouth, eyes or nose.

Many other viruses spread these ways too. People infected with flu may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to five to seven days after becoming sick. That means someone may be able to spread the flu to someone else before they know they are sick, as well as while they are sick.

Young children, those who are severely ill, and those who have severely weakened immune systems may be able to infect others for a longer period than five to seven days.

Its important to remember that flu is hard to predict, but people can help prevent the spread of the flu by getting vaccinated every year.

White said the health center is still offering flu vaccines to the public. For those who are uninsured or under-insured, there is no cost for the shot and those with health insurance can receive the shot without a co-pay. Anyone wanting a flu shot are asked to come to the center by no later than 3:45 p.m.

In addition to being vaccinated, the following are tips to keep from catching the flu:

Avoid close contact with sick people.

Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces.

Stay home while youre sick and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
New Delhi: After six months of probe, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will file a charge sheet on Thursday against Kashmiri separatist leaders and businessmen in a case of alleged funding of terror and secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley, officials said.

The six-month police and judicial custody of the accused arrested in the case ends on Thursday. Under the anti-terror law  the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act  the prosecuting agency has to file a charge sheet within six months, failing which the accused is eligible for bail.

The NIA had arrested Altaf Ahmad Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh, the son-in-law of fire-brand separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani; spokesman of moderate Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Shahid-ul-Islam; spokesman of the Geelani-led faction of Hurriyat Ayaz Akbar; and separatists Nayeem Khan, Bashir Bhat alias Peer Saifullah and Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal.

Noted businessman Zahoor Ahmed Watali was also arrested by the NIA in the case, which was registered after the valley was rocked by violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen poster boy Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces in 2016.

Chief of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba terror outfit Hafeez Saeed has been named in the FIR as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Milat.

The NIA has also recorded confessional statements on the flow of money, especially from Pakistan, from four people accused in a case related to the funding of "terror activities" in Kashmir.

The statements made before a judicial magistrate had tightened the case against the separatists who allegedly funded stone-pelters and spread unrest in Kashmir, the officials said.

While three of them have been formally arrested, the fourth was detained and subsequently let off after he said he would turn approver, the officials said, declining to divulge their names.

A confessional statement is recorded before a judicial magistrate. The accused confirms in it that he or she is giving a statement without any pressure from the probe agency.

The entire process is videographed and no investigation officer is present in the court premises during the proceedings. In the case of retraction later, the agency can file a case of perjury.
Coming down heavily on political parties for using "hartal" as a mode of agitation, the Kerala High Court has observed that everyone from the banker to the butcher suffer and wanton destruction are its "never-failing nemeses".

The court said such form of strikes hit the state's economy and image. "Not a man moves, not a vehicle runs, not even a mouse stirs.

If anybody violates the agitators  usually political parties  dictates and stirs out, or opens office or shop, violence and wanton destruction are the never-failing nemeses. Disruption defines hartal," the court said in a recent order.

For the uninitiated into Kerala's ways of public life, hartal  a camouflaged bandh banned long back  was a phenomenon to be watched and worried about, a division bench of acting chief justice Antony Dominic and justice Dama Seshadri Naidu said.

In any corner of the state, an incident of any significance, became an incendiary, inciting and inflaming political passions, the bench said.

"Everyone  the banker, the baker, the butcher, the student, the shopkeeper  suffers. The economy suffers, the system suffers, the state's image suffers," the court said.

It made the observations while upholding a 11 November 2016 judgment of a single-judge bench, awarding a compensation of Rs 7 lakh to a driver, who lost his eye in stone-pelting by a mob, owing allegiance to a political party during a hartal called by it.
The decomposed body of the main suspect in the case of a 15-year-old schoolgirl's brutal gangrape was recovered at Bateda, near the Karnal-Kurukshetra border, on Tuesday night, according to media reports.

The suspect, who was missing since the time of the crime, was known to the victim, CNN-News18 reported.

#BREAKING - Kurukshetra Gangrape: Decomposed body of the main suspect was found last night at Bateda near Karnal-Kurukshetra border. pic.twitter.com/byonOCbfjE  News18 (@CNNnews18) January 17, 2018

The victim, a Class X student who belonged to a village in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, had been brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of her vital organs ruptured, police said.

"The body had many injury marks, the private parts were mutilated and there were lot of internal injuries. Signs of sexual assault are visible and looks like three-four people were responsible... signs of drowning was also found," NDTV quoted an official in Rohtak as saying.

"My daughter was kidnapped and raped. She was tortured... If administration had done its job well, an incident like this would have never happened," the report quoted the victim's father as saying.

Two special investigation teams (SITs) led by senior police officers have been set up to probe the schoolgirl's gangrape, Hindustan Times reported. "The police have detained some people suspecting their involvement but the main accused is still at large. We are conducting raids to arrest him," the police had said on Monday.

"The autopsy suggests this was an act of frustration. All the damage to her private parts seems to have been done after she was drowned and murdered. This was the work of more than one person who failed to sexually assault the victim while she was alive," the report quoted a forensic department official as saying.

The incident is being compared to December 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical student in New Delhi, which led to mass protests across the country and raised serious concerns over women's safety.

On Sunday, the body of the another victim, an 11-year-old girl, was found in a village in Haryana's Panipat district. The official said she was abducted by two men on Saturday evening when she had gone out to throw garbage in the village dumpyard.

In Faridabad district of Haryana, a 22-year-old woman, who was returning home from work on Sunday evening, was kidnapped and gang-raped by four men in a moving car for nearly two hours, an NDTV report said.

Responding to the series of incidents in Haryana, the state's Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said the Haryana government is concerned about crimes against women, and that Opposition parties should help administration take on nefarious elements.

Abhimanyu added that the entire state Cabinet was concerned over the incidents of violence against women, and assured the people that the culprits would be severely punished.

Describing the law and order situation in Haryana as "worrisome", the Congress on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar led-government for its alleged failure in controlling things.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said there is complete breakdown of law and order in the statetoday, and the BJP government has failed to put a check on the rising crime graph.

Haryana's Director-General of Police BS Sandhu held a meeting with senior police officers on Tuesday and directed field units to give utmost priority to cases of crime against women and children. "No missing report should be taken casually and prompt action should be initiated. There should be close monitoring at the level of the SP and the Range IGP," Sandhu said.

Sandhu also urged the senior officers to strengthen and personally monitor the functioning of women helplines, and involve the youth and representatives of society in fighting crimes against women.

With inputs from PTI
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was flown in the Indian Air Force's frontline aircraft, the indigenously-built version of Su-30 MKI fighter jet on Wednesday, her official Twitter account posted.

Smt @nsitharaman meets the Air Warriors at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur before her sortie on the Sukhoi-30 MKI #RakshaMantrifliesSukhoi pic.twitter.com/qLoACwv2dw  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 17, 2018

Smt @nsitharaman in the cockpit of the Sukhoi-30 MKI, familiarising herself with the fighter aircraft, before taking off for a sortie #RakshaMantrifliesSukhoi pic.twitter.com/uKtIbzOv7J  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 17, 2018

Before take-off on the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet #RakshaMantrifliesSukhoi pic.twitter.com/yLf2T7xnL8  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 17, 2018

The minister flew a sortie in the formidable fighter, which has nuclear strike capability and capability to penetrate deep in enemy territory, at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur.

After her recent stay on board INS Vikramaditya at sea and whirlwind tours to forward areas and different installations of the three forces, this sortie will be a part of the defence minister's continued effort to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the armed forces, the sources said.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.

In November 2017, India had successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the fighter jet.

With inputs from IANS
New Delhi: India has given up its "strategic reticence" under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and emerged as an "active and ambitious" global player, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said on Wednesday.

Madhav said the NDA government at the Centre had also put an end to the country's earlier "hyphenated foreign policy".

India deals with other countries on a bilateral basis, which helps strengthen New Delhi's ties with them, he said at a session themed 'The Emerging Security Dynamics in India- Pacific' region at Raisina Dialogue, a high-level global conference being held in New Delhi.

In the earlier "hyphenated foreign policy", Madhav said, Indian leaders had to keep in mind sentiments of other countries while meeting a leader of a particular nation.

"In this new emerging scenario, India has to give up its strategic reticence. I am glad to share with you that in the last three years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership we have given up the strategic reticence and we have emerged as an active, ambitious global player," he said.

The BJP leader also said with a new power scenario emerging across the world, an Asia-centric approach  and not the "American way"  would guide developments in the Indo- Pacific region, stressing that India's rise as a global power would be for universal "good".

Madhav noted that countries such as China were marching ahead with "21st Century Marshall Plans" for the Indo-Pacific region and said India could not remain a "mere spectator" at such a juncture but had to be a stakeholder country.

The Marshall Plan was an American programme for giving aid to Western Europe after the second World War.

The event was also attended by Australian Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman and US National Security Council (NSC) official Nadia Schadlow.

"In this new emerging power scenario, the old alliances and old institutions of the 20th Century are becoming irrelevant and ineffective. The so-called American ways will not probably guide affairs in the region.

"The future of the global institutions will be taking shape in the light of the experiences and wisdom of this (Asia-Pacific) region. It will be an Asia-centric approach hereafter," Madhav stressed.

Talking about the "realisations" India had at the advent of the new century, Madhav said New Delhi had a stated ambition of rising as an influential and responsible global power and was keen to play a "proactive" role in international affairs.

"The world should realise India's rise will be for the good of the world and for the peace of the world," he said.
Retired judge of the Orissa High Court Ishrat Masroor Quddusi, who is an accused in the Lucknow medical college bribery MCI scam, moved Supreme Court against the CBI over leaked phone records on Wednesday, media reports said.

The MCI scam case was one of the reasons for the 'rebellion' of four senior Supreme Court judges, The Times of India reported. On Wednesday, a Delhi court issued a notice to CBI seeking reply till 22 January in the matter of leaking transcripts of phone conversations involving three accused- Qudussi, middleman Vishwanath Agarwala and BP Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust.

According to Outlook India, Quddusi has demanded an investigation to know whether it was the CBI that leaked the telephone conversation.The transcript of phone calls was released by NGO The Convenor of Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR), the report said.

In September 2017, the CBI had registered an FIR against Quddusi and five others in an alleged corruption case and carried out searches at eight places in New Delhi. Quddusi was booked on corruption charges, along with BP Yadav and Palash Yadav of the Trust which runs a medical college in Lucknow, Biswanath Agrawala a middleman and two others  Bhawana Pandey and Sudhir Giri, a CBI spokesperson had told PTI. Later, a local court had granted bail to Quddusi.

Medical college bribery scam: Delhi court issues notice to CBI & seeks reply till 22nd January in matter of leaking transcripts of phone conversations involving three accused- retd Odisha HC Judge IM Qudussi, middleman Vishwanath Agarwala & BP Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

In November 2017, the apex court was involved in a heated drama when it had overturned the order passed by a two-judge bench headed by Justice Chelameswar to set up a larger bench to hear the plea for a SIT probe into corruption allegations involving Quddusi.

With inputs from PTI
Patna: Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday charged the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the main opposition party in the state, with having masterminded the attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's cavalcade last week in collusion with liquor mafia.

The senior BJP leader's attack on Lalu Prasad Yadav's party was made in the context of the attack on chief minister's cavalcade in a village in Buxar district on 12 January last.

BJP is a coalition partner of Nitish Kumar government in Bihar.

"Police had seized a huge quantity of liquor from Nandan village of Buxar district. The attack on the chief minister was a planned one, aimed at seeking vengeance for the operation", Sushil Modi tweeted.

Kumar's cavalcade was attacked when he was touring the village on Friday last as part of his state-wide "Vikas Samiksha Yatra".

The chief minister had banned sale and consumption of alcohol in the state nearly two years ago.

In the tweet, Sushil Modi also said: "those who had once stood joining hands in favour of prohibition, have today sided with the liquor mafia".

The remark was an obvious reference to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, currently in jail in connection with a fodder scam case, who had stood beside the chief minister on 21 January last when a state-wide human chain was formed in support of the prohibition drive.

The RJD was sharing power with Kumar's JD(U) at that time. The chief minister walked out of the Grand Alliance after corruption charges surfaced against Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav - who was then the deputy chief minister.

The BJP, which was in the Opposition, immediately came up with the offer of support to Kumar following which a new government was installed in the state.

Sushil Modi also lambasted the Opposition party for "weaving false tales of dissatisfaction with development works" and said, "both wards under the village enjoy facilities like electricity and tap water".

The RJD has been claiming that the stone-pelters were Dalits living in nearby localities who wanted to draw the chief minister's attention towards alleged lack of amenities in their area.

The party has also criticised the ensuing police action, describing as "harassment of Dalits" the arrests made in connection with the attack on the chief minister's carcade, which had left many security personnel and other staff injured.
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Justice Chelameswar along with Justice Lokur and Kurian Joseph at the venue

"The democracy cannot survive without an independent judiciary. All our efforts to convince the Chief Justice have failed," he added.

"With no pleasure in our hearts that we do this. But sometimes, the administration of the Supreme Court is not in order. We owe a responsibility to the nation to do this," says Justice Chelameswar.

It appears that the four judges are upset with the Chief Justice Dipak Misra

When pressed by the media, he acquiesced that this was about the BH Loya death case.

"Today we went to the Chief Justice and asked him to do a certain thing," says Justice Chelameswar.

"The four of them gave a signed letter to the CJI. We wanted a thing to be done in a particular manner. The thing was done an unsatisfactory manner," said Justice Chelameswar.

However, they only had one copy of the letter. They have sent someone to get some photocopies of the letter.

The judges try to distribute copies of the letter they gave to the CJI

Justice Gogoi says there is nothing else to say, everything is in the letter

The judges have risen and the press conference is over

Senior Advocate and former president of the SC Bar Association Dushyant Dave in The Indian Express has pointed at serious issues in the constitution of benches and the allocation of work to such benches by the Chief Justice.

Bar and Bench had detailed the clash which took place between the CJI and Justice Chelameswar in November in Kamini Jaiswal's petition.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, on being asked if it is about CBI Judge BH Loya said, 'yes'

"It's quite shocking. There must have been compelling reasons for the senior-most judges to have adopted this course of action. One could see pain on their faces while they were speaking," SC advocated KTS Tulsi tells ANI.

SC judges must have had compelling reason to call for the press conference

"Issues don't matter. It is their complaint on administrative matter. They are only 4, there are 23 others. 4 get together and show the Chief Justice in a poor light. It is immature & childish behaviour," Justice R S Sodhi was quoted as saying by ANI.

I think all four should be impeached. Four judges cannot come together and speak against the CJI like this. Why should the CJI cow down to them?

Retired Delhi HC judge Justice RS Sodhi hits out at Supreme Court judges  Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurien Joseph  for speaking out against CJI Misra.

"We are not mentioning details only to avoid embarrassing the institution but note that such departures have already damaged the image of this instituition to some extent," Supreme Court judges' letter to CJI Dipak Misra.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra will meet Attorney General KK Venugopal shortly after the countrys top judiciary was rocked by an unprecedented press conference by four sitting judges. News18 reports that the meeting will take place at 1.30 pm.

"Certain orders... have adversely affected judicial functioning... and independence of High Courts..." In another part, the letter reads, "Well settled... that Chief Justice is only first among equals  nothing more, nothing less."

The Chief Justice seeks to consult Venugopal on how to move further on this unprecedented development.

We can't criticise them, they are men of great integrity and have sacrificed a lot of their legal career, where they could've made money as senior counsels. We must respect them. Prime Minister must ensure that the four judges and Chief Justice of India, in fact, the whole Supreme Court come to one opinion and proceed further, ANI quoted Subramanian Swamy as saying.

1) Is top judiciary being run on whims? 2) Are most senior judges being bypassed by the CJI? 3) Are all big cases against Govt being assigned to "selective" benches 4) Is Govt interfering with highest judiciary? 5) Doesn't CJI need to answer?

On Friday, Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph addressed the media to highlight their grievances about how cases are allocated in the Supreme Court. Read the full text of the letter issued by the four Supreme Court judges

Sources tell ANI Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad about the allegations made by the four Supreme Court sitting judges.

"Deeply sad and pained by the development. Also feel a sense of agony that highest court of land should come under such severe stress that forces judges to address the media," says senior advocate Salman Khurshid.

Former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, was quoted as saying, "It is very unfortunate that the internal dispute of the judiciary was brought out in this manner publicly. What the four judges have done today by holding the press conference to bring out their dispute in public is that theyve denigrated the institution of judiciary... When the judiciary goes for public opinion it spells the end of judiciary."

But it comes with a caveat, when the matter involves the Chief himself, the Chief shouldn't be involved in the decision to preserve integrity of the institution. But in this case, Misra didn't follow that procedure at all.

The Chief Justice determines which judges/benches hears cases of a particular type (i.e Criminal Appeals go to X, Civil Appeals go to Y, Writs go to Z). When it comes to constituting larger benches though, that becomes CJI's absolute discretion (3 or more judges), just like any boss can decide who gets what special assignments. Ideally, the Chief gets this power cause he's expected to know who's the best person for the job.

CJI determines which judges/benches hears cases, but when the matter involves the CJI himself, the chief shouldn't be involved

Judges had to come before media and take this unprecedented step. This means that there is a serious dispute, either with Chief Justice of India or some internal dispute, says PB Sawant, former Supreme Court judge on press conference by four sititng Supreme Court judges

This proves there's a serious dispute within the judiciary: Former SC judge

Soon after the four judges ended their media address, the Chief Justice had called upon Attorney General KK Venugopal to chart his next course of action.

According to sources in the Supreme Court, CJI Dipak Misra is likely to make a statement at a special hearing in a short while when the apex court resumes its proceedings for the day.

The market crashed to its lowest to 34349.99 points at 12:45 pm, taking a hit by 256 points as compared to the figures at noon before the presser.

The Bombay Stock Exchange stood at 34606 points at noon on Friday and fell to 34550.2 points at 12:15 pm, at the time the press conference of the Supreme Court judges began and further fell to 34423.8 at 12:35 pm, exactly five minutes after the press conference ended, plummeting by 183 points in a span of half an hour.

The markets responded adversely after four Supreme Court judges held a press conference for the first time in the history of Independent India.

Former Maharashtra Advocate General Shreehari Aney says, "I agree, some damage has been done to the office of Chief Justice of India (CJI), but this is not a permanent damage"

Going to the press is the last resort. And if the four judges have taken this last resort it also says that there is something seriously wrong with the judiciary. But I wish these issues were settled internally. The required changes within the system should have been brought about internally."

By this I dont mean to imply that Im supporting the Chief Justice of India. The four judges have got good reasons to challenge the monopoly of the CJI. But they should have challenged him in the confines of the four walls of the judiciary.

There are reasons for people to be aggrieved with the system but unlike other wings  the executive and the legislature  the judiciary doesnt discuss its disputes in public. It is bound to protect its own integrity.

"It is very unfortunate that the internal dispute of the judiciary was brought out in this manner publicly. What the four judges have done today by holding the press conference to bring out their dispute in public is that theyve denigrated the institution of judiciary.

If the four judges have taken this last resort it also says that there is something seriously wrong with the judiciary: Santosh Hegde

People have the right to know what's going on within the judiciary: Indira Jaisingh

"We are very concerned to hear 4 judges of the Supreme Court expressed concerns about the functioning of the Supreme Court. #DemocracyInDanger," the Congress' official Twitter handle said.

The Congress said "democracy is in danger" after four seniormost Supreme Court judges came out in the open to say that the situation in the apex court was "not in order".

CJI Dipak Misra had called Attorney General KK Venugopal for the Unitech case and not about the judges press conference as some media outlets are putting it out, Bar and Bench tweeted. "The CJI is hearing cases like he does everyday," Bar and Bench further reported.

"This is an internal matter of the judiciary, it is best they solve it themselves, a top source told CNN-News18 , adding that Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has received a copy of the dissenting note circulated by Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph.

Top government sources told News18 that the Centre is likely to distance itself from the crisis, in the hope that the judges will be able to sort it among themselves.

Let the judges sort it out among themselves: Centre plans to distance itself from crisis

Four judges went public against CJI because issues raised were grave: Justice Mudgal

We can't criticise them, they are men of great integrity and have sacrificed a lot of their legal career, where they could've made money as senior counsels. We must respect them. PM must ensure that the four judges and the CJI, in fact whole Supreme Court come to one opinion and proceed further, Swamy said.

Subramanian Swamy bats for establishing consensus amid judges, says these are men of great of integrity

Bar Council of India says it was unaware of judges' internal matter, will meet tomorrow to discuss issue

Speaking to IndiaToday senior advocate Indira Jaisingh said, "We all know that the Chief Justice of India is the master of the roasters, but he cannot behave arbitrarily. He has to take on record the feedback provided by his colleagues."

Yes CJI is master of rosters but he can't be arbitrary in his choices: Indira Jaisingh

Former Supreme Court Judge AK Ganguli said that the CJI cannot afford to be rigid on issues like this after all this is not a matter of clash of egos but a matter of principle. These should have been thrashed out within the institution, he added. "I heard that the justices said that they tried and approached the CJI but did not succeed. Well, the CJI must try and resolve this internally as he must first earn the confidence of his peers, that is how he will become the Chief and not my merely by seniority," Ganguly said.

Judges should not make it an issue of egos but principle: Former judge AK Ganguly

CNN-News 18 reported that the four judges who have come out in public against the CJI had differences on the matter of appointment of judges. While Justice Chelameswar was the lone dissenting voice, who spoke against the Collegium system, Justice Gogoi and Justice Joseph, however, said that the traditional system must be upheld.

The dissenting judges had different views on Collegium system of appointment

Meanwhile, CPM, another Left-wing party has demanded a thorough investigation "to understand how the independence and integrity of judiciary was being affected."

According to a report by CNN-News28, CPI's D Raja met Justice Chelameswar, one of the four Supreme Court judges who held a press conference earlier today, speaking out publicly against the CJI. However, it was not clear whether Raja's meeting with the Supreme Court judge was related to the matter. Reports say that Raja shares a close family relation with Justice Chelameswar.

According to CNN-News18, Chief Justice Dipak Misra will confirm later whether he wishes to go public with his response over the issues raised by four senior Supreme Court judges. It is likely that the CJI chooses to address his colleagues first, before going public with a statement, the report said.

CJI yet to make up his mind on briefing media: Reports

News18 said it has learnt from sources close to Justice Chelameswar that the judge is ready to hold a discussion with his colleagues to sort out the issue. He has also reportedly said that his intention was never to humiliate the CJI but he did what he could to raise his point.

Mamata Banerjee tweeted on the issue, expressing her anguish and disappointment on the open fall out between Supreme Court judges. She, however, also added that "extreme interference of Central Government with Judiciary" is dangerous for society.

Government not to interfere in 'clash of personalities' within judiciary: Reports

The Congress senior leadership is in a huddle before they address the press on the party's stand on the crisis that unraveled today. The party will hold a press briefing at 6.30 pm.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing a plea seeking inquiry on the death of Justice Loya. This issue was raised up today after four Supreme Court judges went public with their allegations that CJI is not following procedure on allotment of cases. When one of the media persons asked the judges, whether their grievance about allotment of cases also related to the Justice Loya case, the judges nodded in affirmative.

Some legal luminaries also said the turn of events had raised a question mark about the credibility of the judicial system.

The decision of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court to hold a press conference was today termed as "unprecedented" by the legal fraternity, with some experts terming it as "shocking" while some others saying there could have been some compelling reasons for such a move.

"As a retired judge of the Supreme Court, I feel devastated. "For some reason or the other, their cause is justified, (but) relief they are seeking is wrong...going to the media? No. Judiciary was always considered as a family. Family disputes are never taken to the streets," he told PTI.

 Expressing deep anguish over four Supreme Court judges going public on issues related to the apex court, former Solicitor General of India N Santosh Hegde today said he was "devastated" by their action which has caused "irreparable" damage to the institution.

"What has happened today could have been avoided. The judges will now have to act in statesmanship and ensure that the divisiveness is wholly neutralised and total harmony and mutual understanding will prevail in future," he said. - PTI

Attorney General KK Venugopal said the unprecedented move by the four Supreme Court judges in holding a press conference "could have been avoided" and the judges would now have to act in "statesmanship" to ensure complete harmony.

The case of RP Luthra versus Union of India was specifically mentioned in the letter sent by four judges of the Supreme Court to the Chief Justice of India. The case pertained to appointments to the higher judiciary and the memorandum of procedure for doing soissues which were highlighted in the press conference called by the judges on Friday.

A particular judge may have domain expertise in an area of law and therefore would be suitable for a particular matter while another judge may not. These decisions are often taken by the Chief Justice while assigning matters. While there is usually a system that is followed for most regular cases, when it comes to constituting special benches or assigning matters of constitutional import, the exercise of this power becomes as important as some of the decisions of the court itself.

The record of the allotment of cases to benches is called the roster. The CJI is the first amongst equals at the Supreme Court and his judgments carry no more weight than any other judge of the court. But the CJI does have more administrative powers, which includes control on the roster. This means it is up to the CJI to decide which set of judges hears which matters.

In the early years of its existence, the SC had only 7 judges and they would all hear matters together. But as the court expanded and its workload increased, the Supreme Court became an institution with multiple benches.

Explainer: What is a Supreme Court roster that the dissenting judges had objections to?

"The judiciary is independent and reputed. They will resolve it themselves. The government should have no need to intervene," said MoS Law PP Chaudhary.

Surjewala quoting the letter written by the four judges said that the Congress party is deeply disturbed by these developments.

Speaking to the press, Congress spokesperson said that while the Congress party was deeply disturbed by these development, we would request the senior most judges to hear the case and appoint an independent SIT to probe it.

Senior most judges should hear PIL in death of Justice Loya, says Congress party

"All citizens are looking at this issue and it must be addressed. It is an unprecedented move, so the questions raised by the four judges should be thoroughly looked into," Rahul Gandhi said.

The four judges  Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Madan B Lokur besides Justice Chelameswar  released a letter they wrote to Justice Misra a couple of months ago, conceding that he was the master of roster but that was "not a recognition of any superior authority, legal or factual of the Chief Justice over his colleagues".

At a hurriedly called press conference at his residence, Justice J Chelameswar and three other colleagues said the Supreme Court administration was "not in order" and their efforts to persuade Justice Misra even this morning "with a specific request" failed, forcing them to "communicate with the nation" directly.

Divisions in the Supreme Court burst out in the open on Friday when four senior most judges took an unprecedented step of addressing the media to accuse Chief Justice Dipak Misra of breaching rules in assigning cases to appropriate benches, with one of them pointing to the plea regarding the mysterious death of Special CBI judge BH Loya.

Omar Abdullah voices support for SC judges, says 'worst thing we can do is wish it away'

Speaking to ANI , former additional solicitor general of India and the Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh said, "If they had to come for a press conference, then they should have said something substantial. Just creating doubts in the minds of people will not serve the interest of the judiciary. This was not properly planned. They didn't say anything about Justice Loya."

Former ASG Vikas Singh says judges' press conference was not planned, should have said something 'substantial'

Justice Chelameswar, who is set to retire as an apex court judge on 22 June this year, has also dealt with several important issues including Aadhaar and the JNU case which had witnessed violence inside the Patiala House Court complex in New Delhi.

Justice Chelameswar was the lone judge who had dissented when a five-judge bench had struck down the constitution amendment and held as unconstitutional the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act. He was part of the nine-judge constitution bench which had declared right to privacy as a fundamental right.

Justice Chelameswar had stoked controversy several times and was in the news for not attending the collegium meetings on the appointment of judges for higher judiciary.

He is the second senior most judge of the apex court after Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.

Profile of the four SC judges who held the press conference: Justice Jasti Chelameswar

Speaking to CNN-News18, Attorney General of India KK Venugopal said the press conference held by four senior Supreme Court judges could impact public confidence. "Public confidence in the Supreme Court of India may be affected. We will settle this matter completely," he said.

CNN-News18 reported that the Supreme Court Bar Association will hold a meeting on Saturday over the judges' press conference on Friday at 5 pm. The SC Bar Association chief Vikas Singh will brief media at 6 pm.

The news of their sudden exit spread like wildfire in the corridors of the apex court, sending a shockwave among the journalists, lawyers and litigants and leading the scribes to scramble to the venue of the presser, about four kilometres away.

All four of them left the Supreme Court premises within minutes and gathered at the 4, Tughlaq Road Bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi, the official residence of Justice Chelameswar to hold an unscheduled press conference  no Supreme Court judge had ever addressed the media publicly.

Around 11.30 am, Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Kurian Joseph rose for the day in their respective court rooms, numbered 2 and 5. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, in the meantime, rushed through and disposed of most of the day's listed business, while Justice Madan B Lokur heard matters in his chamber.

But a brewing judicial firestorm, invisible to all except four judges, erupted an hour later, taking the nation by surprise and plunging the judiciary into an unprecedented crisis whose reverberations will continue to ring for years to come.

Nothing seemed amiss when the Supreme Court started work at 10.30 am on Friday, as always. Judges strode out of their chambers, lawyers fussed through the papers, litigants hung around and reporters took their assigned seats in court rooms.

RECAP: It was normal day in the Supreme Court, no hint of press conference

He further added that people would be failing in their national duty if they did not take note of this. "If political parties, or anyone concerned about the future of democracy in the country, don't take note of this, we fail in out national duty. It is a serious matter. All those who care about the future of the country and of democracy should raise their voice," Sinha said.

Speaking to reporters, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha attacked the Central government over the short Winter Session of Parliament and said, "If the country's Parliament is not in order, the Supreme Court is not in order, then democracy is under threat in the country. If the four senior judges have gone public then how is it a Supreme Court matter alone? If you read the letter, one thing is clear that Supreme Court judges or benches were appointed selectively to hear certain cases."

This has led to imagination of the country running wild. The institution derives its respect for the credibility it has garnered over these years. If the credibility goes, who will respect the institution? The press conference has only led to speculation, he added.

There is no question of impeachment in this case. This has to be addressed within the system rather than going to press like this. You go for a press conference to reveal, but the intention of this press conference was to conceal, he told News18 .

The Supreme Court Bar Association on Saturday dismissed possibility of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra's impeachment and said there was "no question" of it.

Mishra further added that Bar Council is set to have a meeting at 5 pm on Saturday and meet the four senior judges on Sunday. "We have a meeting at 5 pm today (Saturday). Tomorrow (Sunday) our delegation will meet those senior judges, Chief Justice of India and other judges and request them to not bring issues like these in front of public," he said.

According to ANI , chairman of Bar Council of India Manan Kumar Mishra criticised the four Supreme Court judges for holding a press conference on Friday. "Holding a press conference on a minor issue of roster is saddening," he said.

"Let's hope everything works out very well. I am sure everything will be settled," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Attorney General KK Venugopal expressed the hope that the crisis in the top judiciary following a revolt by four Supreme Court judges would be "settled".

Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that "there is no crisis" when asked about the way forward to resolve the crisis. Asked whether their (judges') act had amounted to a violation of discipline, Gogoi refused to comment - PTI

Justice Kurian Joseph said there was no constitutional crisis in the apex court and there are only problems in procedure they had objected to. "There will be no constitutional crisis and there are only problems in procedures and that will be corrected," Justice Kurian told reporters. IANS

News18 reported that Bar Council of India's meeting has ended and it is expected to address media shortly.

The Bar Council of India discussed the contents of the letter sent to the CJI on Friday, said Manan Mishra, council chairman.

"There are enough mechanisms to address this inhouse. We discussed the contents of the letter. We have decided to form a seven-member delegation of judges. We will be meeting all the judges at the Supreme Court. We have already got appointment from 50 percent of the SC judges," said BCI chairman Manan Mishra

SC judges should not have gone public: Bar Council of India

He further said that the first move is to meet the rest of the judges, which means all judges excluding the CJI and the four judges who wrote the letter, reported News18.

BCI chairman Mishra said that the matter has to be sorted out anyhow and cannot go out in the media again. On behalf on the Bar Council of India, he also appealed to the judges not to create such an opportunity again.

The matter cannot go out in the media again: BCI chairman

The Supreme Court Bar Association said that instead of playing out in public, the matter should be resolved in closed court. SCBA president Vikas Singh said that the association will meet the CJI before meeting the four judges.

Matter should not be played out in public: SC Bar Association

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Sunday separately met high-level delegations of top two lawyers' bodies -- BCI and SCBA -- and assured them that the crisis erupting after the revolt by the four seniormost judges against him would be sorted out soon and congeniality would prevail.

"Our family is pained by the chain of events in past few days. Please don't harass us," Judge BH Loya's son, Anuj Loya said to the media during a press conference on Sunday.

A seven-member Bar Council India (BCI) panel led by its chairman Manan Kumar Mishra had a 50-minute meeting with the CJI after hectic parleys with several apex court judges, with whom they shared the views of the apex body of the Bar regulating the lawyers.

Mishra said they would hold a press conference on Monday to apprise about the BCI's day-long parleys with the judges of the apex court in the wake of the crisis.

The BCI chairman said the panel met Justices J Chelameswar, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, and they also assured that everything would be sorted out. He did not mention whether the panel had any talks with Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who was not in the city.

And there were all indications that there was something stinking in the corridors of the Supreme Court, to borrow a phrase from Justice Markandey Katju (he was referring to the Allahabad High Court). All this was exposed in a jiffy as the judges pointed fingers at CJIs alleged indiscretion in allocating cases to benches and his other administrative functioning.

It was brewing for some time is the general refrain if you talk to anyone conversant with what is going on. Letters were being secretly written to judges and circulating, pointing out skeletons in cupboards hidden from public view. Insinuation and innuendo over the formation of benches on certain issues of critical economic and political importance were the order of the day.

For those who have access to portals of the Supreme Court, the spectacle of four of its senior most judges raising the banner of revolt against their Chief Justice did not come as a surprise, but rather a conspiracy to alter the course of history.

According to The Times of India , there have been fifteen 'super sensitive' cases which have been handled by junior judges and not the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. These cases include Bofors, Rajiv Gandhi assassination, LK Advani's trial in Babri masjid demolition, Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter, Best Bakery and the case that changed how BCCI, reported the publication.

According to Hindustan Times, the petition challenging the validity of the Aadhaar scheme will be heard by a five-member Constitutional bench on Wednesday.

According to Hindustan Times, there are three more cases that will be heard by the Constitution bench this week. One of the cases refers to an IPC code that makes adultery a criminal offense for a man but not a woman. Another case that will come up for hearing is Section 377, which criminalizes homosexuality. The final case pertains to the ban on women from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Three more cases to be heard by Constitution bench

Of frequent reference is also the case of caste. It is argued that the judiciary, populated by as much as 95 percent of its constituency by individuals of the Brahmin caste, is Brahmanical. This criticism resurfaced in the defiance and subsequent punishment of Justice CS Karnan whose persecution, it is said, was about his caste.

Based on the letter to the CJI, the four justices made public on Friday, it seems clear that the main point of contention at present is the delay in implementing the Memorandum of Procedure towards the appointment of judges in India. "...there should be no further delay in finalisation of MOP in larger public interest," the SC order in the Luthra case had said and was reiterated by the four judges as well in their letter to the CJI.

The RP Luthra case is at the centre of the whole fiasco. To convey the "less than desirable" things taking place inside the apex court, the four justices referred to a letter that they had written to the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The letter mentions an order passed in the case RP Luthra vs Union Of India Ministry Of Law And Another respondents passed on 27 October. What does the order in the RP Luthra case say that made the four justices speak publicly against the CJI?

"We are very concerned to hear 4 judges of the Supreme Court expressed concerns about the functioning of the Supreme Court. #DemocracyInDanger," the Congress' official Twitter handle said.

The Congress said "democracy is in danger" after four senior-most Supreme Court judges came out in the open to say that the situation in the apex court was "not in order".

According to a News18 report, Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde is brokering peace between Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on one side and four other senior-most judges  Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph  on the other.

According to Times Now, Attorney General KK Venugopal, who is heading to the Supreme Court, has said that all the courts will be functioning as usual and that everything is okay in the Supreme Court.

A-G says everything is okay in Supreme Court

Regardless of the roster, it will be "business as usual" today at the Supreme Court, the four judges have reportedly told members of the Bar Council. "The judges will hear whatever is assigned to them," said sources.

Work will go on as usual, say sources

According to NDTV, every day, before work begins, all judges convene at the judges lounge and have coffee. However, the report claimed that on Monday, all court staff were asked to leave the lounge.

Four retired judges including an ex-Supreme Court judge have written an open letter to the Chief Justice of India urging him to resolve the ongoing crisis. According to an Economic Times report, the four judges have backed the four rebelling judges on the issue of allocation of cases.

Four senior-most Supreme Court judges, who had held an unprecedented press conference and raised issue of assignment of cases, today attended court and took up routine work, PTI reported. The four judges -- Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- have taken up their respective business on the first working day of the top court after the 12 January press conference.

According to NDTV, Supreme Court advocate RP Luthra has raised the judges issue before the Chief Justice of India's bench. The advocate is believed to have said that there is conspiracy to destroy the institution and Misra must take action. The report added that Misra listened to him and smiled without answering him.

Attorney General KK Venugopal was quoted by NDTV as saying that everything has been settled after an informal meeting in the morning today. he added that the courts are functioning. Nevertheless, Chief Justice Misra is yet to reach out to Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurien Joseph, who took him on in an extraordinary press conference on Friday last.

A-G says 'everything has been settled now'

He said that the view expressed by the retired judges is "quite similar to the views of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) that till this crisis is resolved, the important matters should be listed before a five-judge Constitution bench of senior judges".

Justice Shah confirmed having written an open letter along with the other retired judges and told PTI, "We have written the open letter which the other judges named in the letter have also consented to."

An open letter by former apex court judge PB Sawant, ex-chief justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah, former Madras High Court judge K Chandru and ex-Bombay High Court judge H Suresh was given to the media. It has also gone viral on social media.

"I met the CJI and handed over a copy of the resolution. He said that he would look into it and ensure there was congeniality in the Supreme Court at the earliest," Singh told PTI after his 15-minute meeting with the CJI.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh on Sunday met the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and handed over a resolution on the crisis in the apex judiciary to him. The senior lawyer told PTI that he handed over a copy of the SCBA resolution to the CJI, who assured him that he would look into it.

Sinha, however, insisted that it was for the apex court to sort out the crisis after the four senior judges virtually revolted against the country's chief justice on Friday, raising questions on "selective" case allocation and certain judicial orders.

"Every citizen who feels for democracy should speak up. I will ask party (BJP) leaders and senior cabinet ministers to speak up. I will appeal to them to get rid of their fears and speak up," he said.

Sinha said "if four senior most Supreme Court judges say democracy is under threat, we have to take their words very seriously""

"The Chief Justice's administrative power effectively transform itself into a power to significantly influence the outcomes of cases (sic)," Bhatia further said.

Bhatia argued that two features in the Indian legal system  "the splitting up of the Supreme Court into multiple different benches, and the massive backlog of cases"  make these powers problematic. "In this context, the Chief Justice's powers to assign cases to benches and to decide when a case is to be heard become very significant," he said in one tweet.

Advocate Gautam Bhatia, in a series of tweets, said on Friday that in the last 20 years, the office of the Chief Justice of India has received a lot of power without having any system of accountability to keep it in check.

When asked how can such a major development be solved "internally", BCI chief Manan Kumar Mishra said that it was a matter "within a family" which has been resolved after the judges meet in the CJI's chambers at 10.30 on Monday morning.

Two days after four Supreme Court judges held a press conference citing lack of accountability and integrity in the apex court, the Bar Council of India told the media on Monday that "it was an internal issue and it has been resolved internally."

Justice Loyas son, Anuj, said he did not have any doubts about the way his father died three years ago. "I had an emotional turmoil, hence I had suspicions about his death. But now we don't have any doubts about the way he died," he told reporters at a press conference.

The family of Justice BH Loya on Sunday said the death of the special CBI judge , who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh "fake encounter" case, was being politicised and urged all parties to refrain from taking advantage of the situation.

"Why drag the Judge Loya case into this? As you can see, Judge Loya's family has said that they do not have any doubts on the matter," says BCI chief Manan Kumar Misra.

"We did not want any political party to take advantage of the situation. Everyone are discharging their duties and everything has been resolved as the Attorney General has also said," BCI chief Manan Mishra told media on Monday.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday said its members have met 15 judges of the Supreme Court following the crisis in the apex judiciary and they have assured that the issues have been resolved. "Kahani khatam ho gaya (the story is now over)", BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told a press conference in New Delhi. He also said that political parties should not try and take mileage out of the January 12 press conference by the four senior most apex court judges to flag some problems, including the assigning of cases.

The story is over, says BCI; asks politicos to not take advantage of issue

"All four senior most judges have resolved the differences and are attending the court. There is no need of any action on these four judges; all of them are honest and men of integrity," said BCI Chairman, Manan Kumar Misra.

Here are the five key questions raised in open letter to CJI

A day after Attorney General KK Venugopal called the ongoing crisis in Supreme Court a "storm in a tea cup", on Tuesday said the crisis seems to be unresolved and hoped it will be "fully settled" in a couple of days.

CBI judge BH Loya, was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case when he passed away. After doubts were raised around the circumstances of his death, two pleas were filed by BR Lone, a Maharashtra-based journalist and activist Tehseen Poonawala, seeking a probe in the death.

BR Lone's petition sought a probe saying there were several contradictions emerging in the matter, according to The Indian Express . Tehseen Poonawala, in his plea contended that circumstances of the death of the judge were questionable, mysterious and contradicting.

A Constitution Bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra, Justice AK Sikri, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan has been constituted to hear important cases including those on Aadhaar, decriminalisation of homosexuality, validity of adultery law under IPC, entry of women into Sabarimala temple etc. It will start the hearings from 17 January.

The Bar Council of India on Tuesday said there was "absolutely no crisis now" in the Supreme Court and normalcy will be restored soon in the higher judiciary that saw four top judges coming out in the open against the Chief Justice of India.

Absolutely no crisis now in SC, says Bar Council of India

Judge BH Loya's death case must not be confidential, the Supreme Court said in a 5-minute hearing. Everything must be before the public.

Tehseen Poonawala told Times Now that SC has ordered that all documents should be given over to him. He said that his faith in the judiciary has been restored as the case was not dismissed.

SC said that all documents must be given to me: Tehseen Poonawala

Maharashtra government tells Supreme Court that barring certain confidential reports placed by it, the petitioners can access other documents.

The Supreme Court, without fixing any specific date, lists the matter for hearing after a week.

CJI meets the four dissenting judges. Holds talks for 15 minutes over possible solutions to the issues raised

The discussion took between the CJI and the four dissenting judges, reported CNN-News18. The meeting was cordial and everyone agreed that the issues were important than the personalities. The issues are expected to be resolved by the end of the week.

The discussions are expected to continue tomorrow, according to NDTV. However it could take some time to resolve everything as many issues were raised by the dissenting judgments.

Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday said he had filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court judges, including the four rebel judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

"Nagpur Police undertook a thorough investigation in this case and his death was due to a heart attack", Shivaji Bodkhe, Joint Commissioner of Police, Nagpur told reporters. "The postmortem, as well as the forensic reports too, confirm the same. There was nothing unusual in the report," he said.

The Nagpur Police on Tuesday said that there was no cause for suspicion regarding the death of judge Loya and that he had indeed died of a heart attack.

RECAP: Judge Loya died due to 'heart attack', no cause for suspicion, says Nagpur Police

The Supreme Court made certain observations in the Bofors case regarding who can file a case in criminal matters, reported The Times of India . This could have an effect on the Loya case as all the PILs in the case have been filed by advocate associations or individuals who had no connection with the judge.

However there are numerous instances where incidents have come up where Aadhaar's secureness has been questioned. These include app-based flaws, disclosures on government websites, third party leaks, sale of data etc. Click here for report on all of these incidents.

Despite the number of reports over the last couple of years, UIDAI has constantly maintained that the server and the data itself, especially biometric data is safe.

He goes on to insist that we should "applaud the UIDAI for being responsive to the concerns of the public. We need to recognise that providing a unique, secure identification, with instant authentication anywhere, to 1.3 billion Indians is an evolving endeavour."

In an article in the Hindustan Times , Nandan Nilekani argues that the concern about the linking of Aadhaar to various services are over-hyped and baseless.

Policy expert Alok Prasanna Kumar weighs in on the possible change of bench in the Loya case

Suhrith Parthasarathy argues in The Hindu that the government will, no doubt, argue that Aadhaar can bring about many benefits. However any policy, howsoever poorly framed, will likely bring about certain gains. The question is ultimately one of proportionality and justice. Arguing that the government's aim is to create a seamless police state, which will chill our freedom and give the State rampant power he asks whether the Supreme Court will dare to stop this.

In the five years that the Supreme Court has been hearing the Aadhaar petitions, the number of people issued Aadhaar numbers have gone up from 20-25 crore in 2012 to 119 crore, reports NDTV .

Legally speaking, the petition is being termed as an 'intervention application' which has yet to be accepted by the SC. There is no clarity on when it will be heard according to legal experts who have spoken to ET.

According to an Economic Times report, a petition has been filed by the Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) which comprises startups such as CapitalFloat, LendingKart, ZestMoney, IndiaLends as well as early-stage investment firms and companies which provide authentication services and background verifications. These companies are particularly appealing to ensure advantages such as eKYC offered by Aadhaar help a lot in real-time verification of customers.

Group of private companies bat for use of Aadhaar for eKYC and background verification process

The court will take up 29 pleas against Aadhaar. The final hearing on the pleas challenging Aadhaar comes five years since the first was filed.

Some policy experts are not impressed with those efforts.

Union ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajyavardhan Rathore are using #AadharMythBuster to extol the virtues of Aadhaar.

Five-judge bench led by CJI Dipak Misra will start hearing the Aadhaar case at 11.30 am

Livelaw reported that the petitioners argue that details for Aadhaar are collected by private contractors and NGOs hired by UIDAI without any safeguard. This makes them prone to misuse. They claimed that empirical research shows that the biometric identification denoted for UID, namely the the iris scan and fingerprint identification, is faulty and is could be abused.

"A new day seems to be in order in the Supreme Court after clouds over its cohesiveness and probity. The CJI should now show the light and redeem the institution's glory by getting all his brother and sister judges along, to end this crisis and convert it into a chance to bring about all necessary institutional reforms," writes Utkarsh Anand on News18 .

"Tuesday was a sunny day at the Supreme Court after days of clouds over its cohesiveness and probity"

Petitioners argue that if the Aadhaar programme is allowed to continue unimpeded, it will hollow out the Constitution

Petitioners: The case at hand is unique. There are few judicial precedents to guide us

Petitioners: The State is empowered with a switch by which it can cause the civil death of an individual

Shyam Divan is taking the court through the history of the case

Shyam Divan for the petitioners: You cannot live as a citizen of India without an Aadhaar

Shyam Divan takes Court through work of the petitioners to counter the State's claims that there are only elitist concerns against Aadhaar

Meanwhile companies are unable to stop themselves from sending informative messages

India Today reported that the CJI is meeting the judges for lunch. Three of the dissenting judges are present at the meeting. Justice Chelameswar is absent. Justice Bobde and Justice Goel are not present as well.

A total of five countries  Uruguay, New Zealand, France, Brazil, and England and Wales  legalised gay sex in 2013. Here is the full report on how the world has changed its views on homosexuality since 2013.

Since Supreme Court's 2013 verdict on homosexuality, at least 10 countries have legalised homosexuality

The final arguments in Aadhaar case begin before the Constitution Bench of Supreme Court. At the start of the arguments, Attorney General sought time bound arguments. A-G reminded the Bench that Ramjanmabhoomi land title dispute case is also scheduled to be taken up from 8 February.

'People's Constitution is being sought to be converted into a State's Constitution'

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan today submitted in court that Aadhaar seems too alter the relationship between the citizen and the State, while diminishing the status of the citizen. All rights, a citizen could earlier freely assert have now been made part of a compulsory barter, averring, The barter compels the citizen to give up his biometrics voluntarily, unless the number is seeded in databases of the service provider, the citizen is denied access to these most essential facilities. "Inalienable and natural rights are dependent on a compulsory exaction.

Aadhaar alters the relationship between the citizen and the State

Justice Chandrachud asked that if the government ensures that Aadhaar data is used only for the purpose it is collected, will it address the concerns raised by the petitioners. To this the petitioner's lawyer replied that the design in itself is bad as it allows State domination. Shyam Divan further argued that the problem is not that whether the State is actually tracking its citizens or not but the fact that the Aadhaar makes it possible.

Ensuring Aadhaar data is not misused not enough to grant it legality, petitioners argue in case

Justices AK Sikri and DY Chandrachud seek to know how is the Aadhaar biometrics system different from the biometrics for US Visa?

Meanwhile... Aadhaar tweets out 'myth busters' intermittently; claims banking, financial data not tracked via UIDAI

#AadhaarCase | Shyam Divan also argues that #Aadhaar Act cannot be used to deny basic amenities, rights or benefits pic.twitter.com/nSUvl1Gb4L

Aadhaar act cannot be used to deny basic amenities, rights or benefits, says petitioner's lawyer Shyam Divan

#Aadhaar case: Senior Supreme Court lawyer, Shyam Divan, appearing for petitioners, told the five-judge Constitution bench that ' #Aadhaar may cause death of citizens' civil rights. A people's Constitution is being sought to be converted into a State's Constitution.'

'People's Constitution is being sought to be converted into a State's Constitution'

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan today submitted in court that Aadhaar seems too alter the relationship between the citizen and the State, while diminishing the status of the citizen. All rights, a citizen could earlier freely assert have now been made part of a compulsory barter, averring, The barter compels the citizen to give up his biometrics voluntarily, unless the number is seeded in databases of the service provider, the citizen is denied access to these most essential facilities. "Inalienable and natural rights are dependent on a compulsory exaction.

Aadhaar alters the relationship between the citizen and the State

Justice Chandrachud asked that if the government ensures that Aadhaar data is used only for the purpose it is collected, will it address the concerns raised by the petitioners. To this the petitioner's lawyer replied that the design in itself is bad as it allows State domination. Shyam Divan further argued that the problem is not that whether the State is actually tracking its citizens or not but the fact that the Aadhaar makes it possible.

Ensuring Aadhaar data is not misused not enough to grant it legality, petitioners argue in case

Justices AK Sikri and DY Chandrachud seek to know how is the Aadhaar biometrics system different from the biometrics for US Visa?

#Aadhaar : You make take several steps to prevent leakages. But still an architecture which allows surveillance is not be permissible, Shyam Divan.

SD points to the Committee's observation that the United Kingdom revoked its national biometric database.

SD: the UK abandoned its identity system beacause it was "unsafe, untested.... and could be a threat to personal rights." (still quoting the Standing Committee)

Meanwhile... Aadhaar tweets out 'myth busters' intermittently; claims banking, financial data not tracked via UIDAI

Latest updates

The Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has assembled to hear 29 pleas against Aadhaar among other important matters. The petitioners have started arguments.

The bench will hear some extremely important cases beginning Wednesday. The court will take up 29 pleas against Aadhaar. The final hearing on the pleas challenging Aadhaar comes five years since the first was filed.

Comprising CJI Dipak Misra, Justice AK Sikri, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan, the bench will take up eight crucial cases, including Aadhaar, the validity of Section 377 of IPC which criminalises homosexual acts, the validity of adultery law under the IPC, entry of women into Kerala's Sabarimala temple and other cases.

None of the four judges who spoke out against the CJI  Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice MB Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph  feature on the Constitution Bench.

According to an Economic Times report, a petition has been filed by the Digital Lenders Association of India (DLAI) which comprises startups such as CapitalFloat, LendingKart, ZestMoney, IndiaLends as well as early-stage investment firms and companies which provide authentication services and background verifications. These companies are particularly appealing to ensure advantages such as eKYC offered by Aadhaar help a lot in real-time verification of customers.

Loya's case: SC leaves it to Maha govt to hand over documents

The Supreme Court on Tuesday left it to the Maharashtra government to decide which documents, relating to the death of special CBI judge BH Loya, could be handed over to the petitioners who have sought an independent probe into it.

The state government, which filed documents in a sealed cover relating to Loya's death, had during the hearing opposed the petitioners' demand that the entire material should be handed over to them for perusal.

The apex court, in its order which was uploaded on its website late in the evening, said, "Let the documents be placed on record within seven days and if it is considered appropriate, copies be furnished to the petitioners. Put up before the appropriate bench".

After the order was uploaded, the standing counsel for Maharashtra said their team of lawyers, including senior advocate Harish Salve, would scan and verify all the documents in consultation with the concerned department and take a call on the issue of handing over the documents.

The case, whose assignment to the bench hearing the PILs was a bone of contention of the unprecedented press conference by the four senior-most judges of the apex court, came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and MM Shantanagoudar.

CJI meets 4 rebel judges, they too meet on their own

The dissenting judges of the Supreme Court, who had hurled accusations against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on several issues, on Tuesday met among themselves, amid hectic parleys between other judges to resolve the crisis.

Their meeting came hours after the CJI reached out to them at the apex court lounge and held parleys with them over tea, before starting the day's proceedings in the apex court.

It is learnt that Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had a meeting but nothing concrete has emerged. The meeting in the evening took place at the residence of one of these judges.

However, the outcome of the deliberations is not known.

Sources said the judges are likely to meet the CJI tomorrow morning as usual and probably some more deliberations are on the cards as hectic parleys are on to restore normalcy in the top court's functioning.

"As of now, nothing concrete has emerged," sources close to the four judges said.
"It is hereby notified for the information of the Members of the Bar and the Parties appearing in person that hencefoth oral mentioning, in respect of matters which have not already been assigned/listed before any other bench, will be allowed only before the Court presided over by Honble Chief Justice of India at 10.30 am."

Was this brief, even terse, circular, issued by the Supreme Court registry on 10 November, a harbinger of the calamitous events of Friday, 12 January, 2018, when Justice Jasti Chelameswar led a mutiny of sorts against the Chief Justice of India? Justice Chelameswar described the press conference as an "extraordinary" step without adequately explaining the "extraordinary situation" that he and three other senior colleagues said they were forced to respond to.

After much prodding and probing by the media, Justice Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph reluctantly cited events before and after 10 November as possible triggers for the explosion. But there was no mention of this extraordinary circular which, on the face of it, was merely underscoring an existing practice but, between the lines, effecting a major change.

Justice Gogoi confirmed that the immediate provocation was the allotment of the case pertaining to the death of Justice BH Loya to a junior bench that very morning of 12 January. A letter they released referred to an incident on 27 October when a two-judge bench passed orders in a case that has now come to known as the RP Luthra versus Union India case. Here, too, the judges expressed their objection to the CJI for setting up a new preferred bench to hear issues arising out of the Memorandum of Procedure (relating to the appointment of judges) when a constitutional bench was already seized of the matter.

Neither of the two incidents adequately explained why matters spiralled downwards so alarmingly within eight weeks (27 October  12 January) so as to render four of the countrys senior most judges helpless enough to call upon the nation to decide how to restore order in the highest court of the land.

The Luthra case is not the first instance of disagreement over allotment of cases. Preferrential allotment is a practice older perhaps than even the Supreme Court of India. It is not going to end with the Loya case either now that all hell has broken loose. (The exclusion of the senior four from the Constitution bench to hear seven cases from 16 January is enough proof of that.)

So the press conference of 12 January left many gaps in understanding the issue at hand. What was the big departure by the CJI from convention that the four judges were complaining so bitterly about? In an institution where convention is as much revered as the Constitution, why were they themselves breaking a convention (that judges dont speak to the media)?

The little noticed 10 November circular helps fill critical gaps in our understanding of the extraordinary situation that the four judges were responding to equally extraordinarily.

First, lets take a look at the circular:

Oral mentions, as a rule, are heard by the CJI, and don't quite merit reiteration. But this 55-word innocuous-looking circular was anything but ordinary. Without explicitly saying so CJI Misra was cutting out Justice Chelameswar, his senior-most brother judge, completely from the responsibility of hearing oral mentions.

This was a drastic departure from a time-honoured convention. Until the circular came along, the senior most judge of the court would hear oral mentions when the CJI was busy with matters of a Constitution bench. In fact, on two consecutive days - 8 November and 9 November - preceding the circular, Justice Chelameswar had heard oral mentions and passed orders that put the CJI in a difficult spot (more on this later).

This circular was the CJIs comeback; his way of ensuring that his senior-most colleague did not slip one past him while he was busy on a Constitution bench. Thats why the circular said oral mentions could be made only before the Chief Justice at 10.30 am. The CJI effected a proceedural change in his court as well to be always available for oral mentions. He would now take up oral mentions every day at 10.30 am for one hour and only then convene the Constitution bench, effectively excising Justice Chelameswars role in hearing oral mentions.

The first question that comes to mind then is why did CJI Misra immobilise his senior-most colleague with respect to oral mentions? The answer is as simple as it is sad: A complete break down of trust between the top two judges of India. This was amply demonstrated in a string of judicial proceedings on three successive days (8, 9 and 10 November) relating to the MCI bribery case, which more than any other matter, seems to be the centrepiece of this sorry judicial joust.

A brief idea about the Medical Council of India vs the Prasad Education Trust case is in order here. A three-judge bench led by CJI Misra was intermittently hearing cases arising out of the MCI denying permission to the Trust to open a medical college and for moving to encash the Trusts Rs 2 crore bank guarantee. Late in August 2017 the bench had held back MCI from encashing the bank guarantee. On 18 September it again upheld the stay on encashing the bank guarantee and asked MCI to conduct a fresh inspection to see if the Trust could admit students for academic session 2018-2019. That is where the case stands now.

But the next day (19 September) the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged an FIR against six persons, including a former judge of the Orissa High Court, IM Quddusi and two managers of Trust for trying to influence the outcome of the case in the Supreme Court.

On 8 November, Prashant Bhushan of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) moved a petition for urgent hearing in the MCI matter. The burden of his plea was that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the direct charge of the Supreme Court should take over the probe from the CBI. He contended that since aspersions were being cast on a bench headed by the CJI the court should monitor the investigations directly - given that CBI, being a government organisation, could be manipulated.

Since CJI Misra was conducting the hearings of a Constitution bench that day, Bhushans petition came up for oral mention before Justice Chelameswar, who then admitted Bhushans petition and posted it for hearing two days later (on 10 November) before his own bench, knowing well that the MCI case was being heard by a bench headed by the CJI. Notably, this happened 12 days after the Luthra case, wherein the four senior-most judges were upset (as revealed in the letter they released to the media) that it was allotted to a new bench even though a Constitution bench was seized of the matter.

CJI Misra moved quickly. Later that day (8 November) he reassigned the case to another bench comprising AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan who would take it up on 10 November. Effectively, the case was wrested from Justice Chelameswars court by the CJI.

The very next day (9 November) another advocate, Kamini Jaiswal, filed a fresh petition in the MCI matter. She also contended that since the CBI investigation suggested that attempts were being made to influence the Supreme Court bench hearing the MCI case, the matter needed to be handed over to an SIT and that CJI Misra should not be part of the bench dealing with it. Her lawyer, Dushyant Dave made an oral mention for urgent hearing at 10.30 am. The Chief Justice was again busy with matters of the Constitution bench. So the oral mention took place before Justice Chelameswar (along with Justice Abdul Nazeer). They agreed to hear the petition at 12:45 pm the same day.

Meanwhile, the Constitution bench of the Chief Justice, which normally breaks at 1 pm for lunch, abruptly concluded proceedings just past noon. And when Justice Chelameswars bench took up Jaiswals petition for hearing at 12:45 pm, an official from the Supreme Court registry handed over a note from the CJI suggesting that since the CJI had already assigned a similar case to another bench Justice Chelameswar should refrain from passing orders on this matter.

Justices Chelameswar and Nazeer brushed aside the advice and admitted Jaiswals petition. Unlike on the previous day when they assigned it to a two-member bench, this time they not only referred it to a Constitution bench but also dictated its composition (first five judges in the order of seniority) and posted the case to 13 November. Convention is that the CJI decides the composition of Constitution benches but Justice Chelameswar broke it.

The bench of Justices Sikri and Bhushan took up the case on 10 November morning and referred the issue to a Constitution bench. Within hours the Chief Justice constituted a seven-member bench headed by himself and not including Justice Chelameswar. Two judges recused themselves so a five-member bench took up the matter at 3 pm. It was an ugly spectable wherein Prashant Bhushan repeatedly asked the CJI to recuse himself from the hearing because "the FIR is directly against you" and the CJI responded with "there's not a word against me in the FIR".

Prashant Bhushan stormed out of the court complaining that he was not being allowed to make his submissions. A little later CJI Misra pronounced the benchs ruling. It reiterated that the CJI is the master of the roster and annuled Justice Chelameswars order of the previous day setting up a Constitution bench. It said both the petitions  Bhushans and Jaiswals  would be taken up by a new bench to be constituted by the CJI in two weeks time.

This unfortunate run of events wherein one bench of the Supreme Court tried to trip another and vice versa provided the background for the unprecedented circular in question. Having snuffed out two attempts by his senior-most colleague to put him in a tight spot, CJI Misra ended the day by ensuring he would no longer have to look over his shoulder to see what his seniormost colleague was up to. He just cut him out of oral mentions altogher.

That is why the central theme of the letter they wrote to the CJI recognised him as the master of the roster, but pointed out that it was not a recognition of any superior authority, legal or factual of the chief justice over his colleagues. It is too well settled in the jurisprudence of this country that the chief justice is only the first amongst the equals  nothing more or nothing less.

CJI Misra and the four judges had their first meeting on Tuesday but could not break the ice. They are slated to meet again this afternoon for a second attempt at reconciliation. But unless they fix the broken trust amongst themselves, a lasting solution is unlikely. And as long as the circular remains in force, it will serve as a grim reminder of the lows that the Supreme Court hit in the last couple of months.

For LIVE updates on crisis unfolding in the Supreme Court, click here
New Delhi: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval did not attend any political meeting at the residence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh on 14 January as alleged by the CPM but participated in a regular security review meet on that day, the home ministry said on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Tripura unit of the CPM requested the Election Commission to look into an "election meeting" of the BJP, alleging it was attended by Doval.

The tenure of the 60-member Tripura Assembly ends on 14 March and polls are due in the state.

In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said attention has been drawn to reports that officials attended a political meeting at the residence of the home minister on last Sunday.

It said that there is a well-established practice of the home minister holding a regular morning meeting to review national security and public order.

These meetings are attended by senior members of the internal security establishment, the ministry said.

"As per the practice, such a meeting was also held on 14 January at the home minister's residence which was attended by the regular members of the group, including the NSA.

"These officials did not participate in any other meeting at the home minister's residence on that day," the statement said.

In a letter written to the chief election commissioner, Tripura CPM secretary Bijan Dhar had alleged that the BJP violated norms by engaging the NSA for a political purpose.
Authorities have located the man suspected of a Jan. 9 Fredericktown home invasion.

On Tuesday afternoon, Fredericktown Police Chief Eric Hovis posted on Facebook that 47-year-old Glenn O. Frick had been located and was with him.

Frick was found Tuesday morning and was transported by Hovis to Poplar Bluff for a mental evaluation.

"He is cold and tired," Hovis said. "I got him some food for the ride down."

Hovis declined Tuesday to say where Frick had been found.

Hovis thanked the people of this community for the cooperation they exhibited during the search the past week.

A warrant was issued Jan. 10 for the arrest of Frick. He is charged with first-degree burglary and armed criminal action, both felonies. A cash-only bond has been set at $100,000.

According to court documents, on Jan. 9, the suspect reportedly went into a home in the 300 block of East College Street. Two women who lived there came home to find Frick inside the home. He reportedly pointed a rifle at one of the women and told her he did not want to hurt her and just wanted her car.

The report said, during the incident, Frick also pointed a pistol at the other woman before leaving. He took a glass piggy bank from the home which held nearly $200 in cash or coins.

During their search for Frick authorities responded to several reported sightings.

The first sighting of Frick was Jan. 9 in the wooded creek area behind Pense Brothers Drilling Co.

Police responded to the area behind Pense Brothers Drilling Co. for a report of contact with Frick. Employees said he was spotted inside one of the company's vehicles on the back lot next to the creek.

Employees said they spoke with Frick, asking if he needed any help. Frick responded saying the union is "trying to kill me." He then fled on foot toward the creek area and disappeared into the tree line.

When officers arrived on the scene, an AR 10 308-caliber rifle was seized from the vehicle. The rifle appeared to be the same one displayed in the home invasion which prompted the search.

According to the police department, Frick also made contact with a local man about 9:30 a.m., Jan. 10 requesting to use his cell phone. The resident allowed Frick to use the phone. Police were able to acquire an emergency search locator through the phone company to locate the phone.

This led to the wooded area behind the Fredericktown Animal Hospital. Chief Hovis contacted the state prison search and rescue dog team for assistance. Prior to their arrival another resident contacted authorities saying he had spotted someone matching Frick's description behind his home off County Road 262.

Once the dogs began to track Frick's scent behind the Fredericktown Animal Hospital, he was spotted by authorities some 50 yards ahead of them and was last seen running north.

The Fredericktown Fire Department assisted with the use of its thermal imaging cameras on outbuildings and sheds throughout the surrounding area, however authorities were still unable to locate Frick at that time.

With temperatures dropping from 60 degrees into the teens, a windchill in the single digits, snow and a bit of icy rainfall since Frick had gone missing, family and friends were concerned for his well being.

Family members indicated Frick had acted differently since a fall which resulted in a head injury. Hovis said he didn't believe Frick intended to injure anyone.

The police department had been in touch with Mark Wardlow of Southeast Missouri Behavior Health in order to have a health facility bed ready for Frick. According to Hovis, Frick will be immediately transported to the behavioral health hospital so that he may be properly treated for his condition.

The Fredericktown Police Department worked alongside the Madison County Sheriff's Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Behavioral Health, Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Marshal's office to bring the situation to a safe and peaceful resolution.
Lucknow: A Class I student was injured when he was allegedly attacked with a sharp-edged weapon in the toilet of a private school, an incident similar to the killing of a Ryan school student in Gurgaon.

The incident took place last morning in the toilet of Brightland School in Triveni Nagar locality in which six-year-old Ritik was injured, police said.

"I was informed by the school that my son is injured. He has been attacked with a knife by a girl," said the victim's distraught father Rajesh, a class four employee in the high court.

The boy has been admitted to the Trauma Centre. His condition was stated to be out of danger, officials said.

Dr Sandeep Tewari, who was treating the boy, said the victim had deep wounds on chest and stomach that "seem to have been inflicted with a knife-like sharp object".

Panic gripped the school on Wednesday when other parents came to know about the incident and charged the school administration with trying to hush up the case.

When contacted, director of the school Veena Vyas, said, "I am taking all the precautions in view of Ryan International school case. We are also looking at whether it is due to the deadly game 'Blue Whale Challenge'."

"We have 70 CCTV cameras installed in the school and we are going through the footage," she said.

Police are probing the matter and are yet to identify the student who attacked the boy.

A seven-year-old boy, Pradyuman Thakur, studying in Class II in Gurgaon's Ryan International School, was found dead with his throat slit by a sharp-edged weapon in the school's washroom in September last year in which a 16-year-old student has been charged with committing the crime.
California-based techie Hrishikesh Sathawane, 43, returned to India for a visit in mid-2016; he was hoping to find the right guy to settle down with. The trip, however, was a disappointment. Hrishi didnt find his prospective Mr Right. A few months after he got back to the US, in October 2016, Hrishi came across a profile on a dating website: Vinh, a 35-year-old Math professor who hailed from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Hrishi remembers the feeling he had when he read Vinhs bio: The moment I looked at his profile, all the criteria matched. Even before we could connect, I knew he was The One, Hrishi says. The duo met up for a dinner date two days later. Other dates followed in quick succession. We couldnt get enough of each other! Hrishi recalls with a grin.

Vinh told Hrishi about a cousins upcoming wedding in Sydney, and they decided to use the occasion as a reason to go on a road trip in Australia. They spent their Christmas holiday there, and Hrishi was welcomed by Vinhs family as his significant other. It was a turning point in their relationship: Hrishi began to feel that his dreams of having a family of his own could come true with Vinh.

Being in my 40s, I was hoping to settle down and adopt children With Vinh, it all seemed so much more possible. Vinhs very good with kids! says Hrishi. On a clear day, in Californias picturesque Antelope Valley  a poppy reserve where the bright orange flowers spread over several hundred acres  Hrishi popped the question: Would Vinh consent to spending the rest of their lives together? Vinh responded with an unequivocal yes. Was the proposal inspired by a Hollywood/Bollywood romcom? I dont know if it was all that filmi, Hrishi says, laughing off the suggestion. But it was certainly a memorable moment for a lifetime.

Hrishis family back in Yavatmal, India, were overjoyed to hear his news. In June of 2017, they threw a party for the engaged couple. Hrishi and Vinh also decided to have a commitment ceremony in India in January 2018 before their legal wedding in California in the summer of this year.

Photos from their commitment ceremony the traditional shaadi set-up, haldi and mehendi celebrations  went viral on social media. It was also widely reported by the press. Hrishi and Vinh were hailed as bold champions of the queer communitys rights.

Hrishi says of the days leading up to the ceremony, Our relatives had mixed reactions: a few were happy and present at the event. But there were many who also gossiped about how unnecessary my wedding in India was. According to them, I should have completed the finalities in the US alone. But that hardly mattered.

Amid support from friends and contemporaries, Hrishi and Vinh also managed the many small obstacles that crop up when planning an event like a wedding.

I didnt know how tough it would be even to arrange a cake of our preference, just because were gay! Hrishi tells us. Hrishi had to repeatedly persuade the baker to create a wedding cake that would have all the colours of the rainbow flag. The baker said, I can give you four colours on the cake, not all. Maybe he was scared that hed be drawn into some trouble? Finally, we agreed on using slightly different shades, but with the figurines of a gay couple on top.

A more hilarious situation ensued when Hrishi and Vinh prepped for a Bollywood dance routine to perform at their wedding. In the first rehearsal, we were given the Malhari song (from Bajirao Mastani). We were puzzled and asked if we could be given a romantic number instead. To which the (choreographers) replied: But wheres the girl? Vinh and Hrishi did get their romantic song after all  and their slow dance to Maine Pyaar Kiya earned them cheers aplenty from their guests.

Post-nuptials, the couple was inundated with messages on social media, most of them congratulatory. In India, where people arent entirely clear about LGBT rights, I know this (our wedding) is a big step, says Hrishi. I do agree that being in the US and staying together is a lot easier than it would be in India. So were really happy that a simple and natural move from our side could inspire the LGBT community here, to ask for their rights Among all the positive comments, there have also been a few negative ones, but then hundreds have spoken up on our behalf, shutting down detractors. Were overwhelmed.

There has been one unsavoury note as well, in the couples joy. A leading national daily claimed the police in Yavatmal were investigating Hrishi and Vinhs commitment ceremony. Tell me, what do they want to probe? Hrishi asks, adding that there has been no such development.

According to Section 377 of the IPC, gay sex and many forms of heterosexual sex are illegal. But there is no law to prevent a commitment ceremony. The legality of gay marriage is unclear under Indian law. Its neither legal nor illegal. There is no legal basis to prevent a Hindu wedding for gay people. I think its sad that a section of the media is pushing such fictitious stories, and in a sense, scaring the LGBT community, Hrishi says. My request to the press is  'dont scare the LGBT community, they already live in fear.

As for the newlyweds, theyre back in the US where theyre undergoing classes organised by the Alameda County Foster Kids Programme. Hrishi and Vinh are ready to embark on the next phase of their journey.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) working president Pravin Togadia is in the news after a long time. This week, Togadia went 'missing' for an entire day as the Gujarat and Rajasthan police were on the lookout for him, arrest warrant in hand. Togadia was later brought to a hospital in an unconscious state. At a press conference later, an emotional Togadia claimed there was a threat to his life.

A tearful Togadia may appear to be a treat for the incorrigible doomsayers for Indian democracy. They may find solace in his rant and offer it as a pathological proof of democratic decay. But hold your horses if you really want to know the issue and its likely fallout.

The situation Togadia found himself in  his state of mind and the run-ins with the Narendra Modi government  didn't happen overnight. For the past decade, Togadia has been taking up cudgels in the name of Hindus against BJP leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Narendra Modi. In the process, Togadia fell by the wayside  in the Sangh Parivar's scheme of things  even before the emergence of Narendra Modi on the national stage as the BJP's numero uno.

Togadia has been isolated within the Sangh Parivar for a long time. The days when he was considered a rising star of Hindutva are long past. The oncologist-turned-rabble rouser was once known for his incendiary speeches through which he mobilised the masses. During the 90s, Togadia was given more prominence than the then VHP chief Ashok Singhal (even though his behaviour was frowned upon and Singhal was much respected within the saffron fold due to his conformist approach).

In fact, Togadia remaining in the VHP, and that too at its helm, despite his eccentric conduct, indicates the organisational flexibility within the saffron fold. Though feuds regularly occur within the Sangh Parivar (no different from any other organisation), its ability to manage the rebellion and insulate itself from harm is unique.

To make sense of Togadia's actions and its implications, examining a history of such feuds can be instructive: Within the RSS, Dattopant Thengadi, founder of the RSS' trade union arm Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), is revered. Thengadi single-handedly raised a powerful trade union in the face of tough competition from Left-inspired unions such as Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC).

Thengadi had a bitter falling out with the NDA government led by Vajpayee and then home minister Advani. The relations soured to the extent that Thengadi refused to talk to either of them. But Thengadi remained in touch with Advani's wife Kamla. Despite the bitterness in their relationship at work, familial ties remained intact. Similarly, Vajpayee held Thengadi in high regard despite the latters occasional outburst against his leadership.

Singhal too, was bitter about Advani and maintained a discreet distance from him when Advani assumed the role of BJP president in 2005. Yet, Advani always maintained that he held Singhal in high esteem. The apparent reason for personal respect between them was that they were groomed in the Sangh discipline which forbade a public spat or an ugly spectacle. No doubt, in private, Singhal voiced outrage but avoided its expression in public. This is precisely why Thengadi and Singhal are respected and placed in the pantheon of Sangh Parivar leaders.

Contrast this with leaders such as KN Govindacharya, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh who came from the Sangh Parivar school but crossed the Rubicon of discipline and fell by the wayside. Though Govindacharya was critical of the BJP, he avoided climbing over the other side of the fence. Singh and Bharti tried their luck elsewhere, but ultimately returned to the fold in a much weaker position. Ironically, none of them proved to be effective when they launched their campaigns against the RSS-BJP combine. They returned only after realising that their efforts were futile.

Togadia has been following the same trajectory. Unlike Singhal, who never nursed political ambitions, Togadia tried to have a say in Gujarat politics. When Togadia found Modi a tough opponent, he mobilised the VHP to oppose the then Gujarat chief minister. In all state elections since 2002, Togadia pulled political strings through his caste association (he is a Patel) to undercut Modi. In the 2007 and 2012 elections, he indirectly lent support to the Congress even when he was cautioned by top leaders of the RSS-VHP. It appeared as if he and a handful of supporters were waging a lonely battle.

In this entire episode, what is more important than Togadias conduct is the remarkable flexibility shown by the saffron fold in letting him continue as VHP chief. Though his stature has been considerably undermined within the organisation, his official position remains intact. The saffron family leadership has silently put up with his sulking and often rebellious conduct. Because nobody knows better than the Sangh Parivar that a rebellious Togadia may make a few headlines, but would ultimately prove a liability for its adversaries.
Chandigarh: The Opposition Congress on Wednesday demanded the dismissal of the ML Khattar government in Haryana, alleging a complete breakdown of law and order in the state after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and murdered in separate incidents.

A Congress delegation, led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a memorandum to the governor on Wednesday and sought the imposition of President's Rule in the state.

Alleging that lawlessness prevails in the state and there was a complete breakdown of the law and order machinery, the Congress urged the governor to recommend to the Centre to dismiss the Khattar government.

Besides Hooda and most of the party legislators from the state, the delegation comprised senior leaders Selja, state CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and Mahila Congress's national president Sushmita Dev.

The Congress leaders expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of rape-and-murder and "rising crime graph" in the state.

A 15-year-old girl's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday from her village in Kurukshetra district.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

In a separate incident, an 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

After meeting the governor, Dev said they also demanded job for the next of kin of the victims.

She said the 15-year-old girl's family has demanded a CBI probe into the case.

On the allegations of the 15-year-old girl's family that local police in Kurukshetra delayed action on their complaint, Dev said, "The Governor assured us that he will definitely take it up with the chief minister. He also assured us that he will seek a report from the chief minister on why such incidents were taking place."

In the memorandum, the Congress alleged that the citizens are feeling insecure.

"Law and order has collapsed in the state and criminals have neither fear of government nor law. This government is directionless and has failed to ensure safety and security of its citizens. A progressive state is fast turning into crime hub," according to the memorandum.

It further said, "..many gangsters from Uttar Pradesh are now turning to Haryana considering it as a safe zone."

The Congress delegation also cited figures to back their claim that crime graph has gone up in Haryana during the past three years.

Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said that on an average, a rape and a murder happen in Haryana every eight hours.

"I think it is time that crime prevention and crime control is taken seriously by the chief minister, who is also the home minister of the state," he said.

"It is an issue about the safety of the girl child and women. People in Delhi are as much affected by the growing crime incidents in Haryana as anywhere else, so I think Government of India should also take stock of this deteriorating situation and call the chief minister and reprimand him, if necessary," Surjewala said.

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.
Narendra Modi governments move to withdraw Haj subsidy is in itself hardly a revolutionary step.

However, taken as part of a continuous process to end politics of appeasement in favour of Muslim empowerment, it is an important marker for reform.

It may be argued that the government did little more than implement a Supreme Court order while paying heed to voices rising from among the community and other interest groups such as private tour operators. That is true. However, by withdrawing the subsidy four years ahead of the Supreme Court deadline and pledging to contribute the savings towards education of Muslim girls, the Modi government has signalled the right intent.

The government spent Rs 250 crore last year towards airfare subsidies for Haj pilgrims (that is essentially the money that is being withdrawn) so the notional saving amounts to Rs 700 crore. The figure, however, is not important.

The step puts the focus back in the area where governments need to work  education and development of Muslims in India for their real upliftment  rather than feeding their sense of entitlement. The move is also a symbolic blow to the politics of appeasement which ran so deep in India that a subsidy which did little to benefit Muslims and, in fact, served to restrict their options during the journey to Mecca was long sold as financial aid.

The subsidy was also, as the apex court ruled while justifying the phase out in 2012, against the teachings of Quran. The fact that the Supreme Court had to cite the Holy Book to rule against the practice instead of just pointing at the Constitution should tell us how broken our secularism is. In fact, a 2011 ruling by the Supreme Court (Prafull Goradia vs Union Of India presided over by two judge-Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra) upheld the subsidy as not violative of the Constitution.

In this respect, Modi governments decision could be interpreted as a push towards restoration of secular values though such an assumption wont quite work when the State continues to wield financial and administrative control over thousands of Hindu temples against the spirit of Article 26 of the Constitution (more of this later). Prima facie, it seems counter-intuitive to suggest that withdrawal of financial aid will help bring down the cost of the Hajis journey to Mecca. Yet it isnt hard to understand. The Saudi Arabia and Indian governments are reportedly thrashing out the logistics of letting Hajis take the sea route to Mecca, which should, to a large extent, rationalise prices. The government will continue taking care of medical expenses.

Additionally, as Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, quoting 2017 rates, said at a news conference on Tuesday according to a report in The Times of India, the choice of embarkation port gives pilgrims the option of cheaper travel. A pilgrim from Gaya would pay Rs 1,20,000 but if he or she travels from Kolkata, the cost would be Rs 70,000. Similarly, it would cost Rs 1,10,000 from Srinagar but the cost would come down to Rs 60,000 from Delhi. The cost would be Rs 1 lakh from Indore and Rs 58,000 from Mumbai, respectively.

Now that the Modi government has withdrawn the subsidy, Congress claims that it was beneficial only for the airlines, not the Hajis. It is the airlines that were benefiting the normal fare from any part of the country to Jeddah is far less than the airlines are charging. The actual beneficiaries are the airlines so let them not say that the government was pleasing anybody, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha didnt care to explain why the Congress failed to end the subsidy during its tenure if it only benefitted the airlines.

The second line of criticism has come from so-called liberals who have joined issue with Islamists (not for the first time) to posit that this move is indicative not of secularism but majority appeasement. They draw equivalence with Hindu pilgrimage to claim that unless Modi government withdraws all aids to Hindu religious events or yatras, this will be seen as yet another attempt to target Muslims and appease the base.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, for instance, cited examples of temple renovations in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and funds allocation for Mahakumbh to argue that Centres move against subsidy is discriminatory. This is a false equivalence because when it comes to government control over religious institutions, state governments through their respective Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Acts, as Swarajyamag points out, have assumed management and financial control of over a hundred thousand Hindu temples unlike minority religious institutions which enjoy protection under Article 26.

This blatantly discriminatory practice ensures that there is no level-playing field, and therefore drawing an equivalence between Haj subsidy and aid for Hindu religious events or temple renovations is wrong. If government treats temples as source of public funds, then they are also responsible for upkeep and upholding of religious events. This, however, puts paid to all claims of secularism.

As R Jagannathan argued in The Times of India in August, In the five major southern states over 1,00,000 temples are being run directly or indirectly by governments, making a mockery of the idea of the secular State where separation of religious from temporal activity ought to have been a central principle of governance.

The liberal argument is little more than a distraction that takes away from the thrust of the move, which is undeniably in the right direction. In conjunction with Modi governments steps to relax Mehram rules (Muslim women can travel for Haj without male guardian: PM Modi), bringing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill to criminalise the practice of triple talaq, the move towards effecting foundational changes in the lives of Muslim population is evident. It is about time, too.
Chennai: Kamal Haasan will announce his political party's name on 21 February at Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram and begin a state-wide tour the same day.

The tour will be held in phases. He will begin the journey from Ramanathapuram  his hometown  and later visit people from the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Sivagangai.

It will mark Haasan's official entry into politics about which he has been making overtures since last year.

"At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by," Haasan said in a statement on Tuesday.

The veteran actor said he intends to challenge the status quo "that has been plaguing the politics of Tamil Nadu for some time now".

"However, for this to happen, my thoughts and actions need to collectively resonate with the people," he said, adding that through the state-wide tour, he wants to familiarise himself with the people's concerns.

"...to truly understand as to what the needs of my people are, what is afflicting them, what their aspirations are," he said.

Haasan said the tour was "neither an act of rebellion nor a gathering for glamour".

"This is a journey of discovery and learning and an opportunity for me to truly understand my people," said Haasan.

He exhorted the people of Tamil Nadu to "question mediocrity" and "raise the bar" of governance and welfare in the state.

"This journey is intended towards that goal. I begin this journey with your support. Join hands with me to empower our country and state," said Haasan.

"I will see you soon," he said.
Close on the heels of Rajinikanth's formal announcement of his entry into politics, Kamal Haasan has decided to move a step ahead of his friend and go to straight into the action, with the launch of his political party. While Rajini seems to be waiting for the next Assembly elections to politically bloom, Kamal has been more forthright with his plunge into the political cauldron.

The concomitant entry of two leading stars of Tamil cinema has added spice to political punditry. Obvious comparisons on the style, form and content of these two new brands in politics, thus, cannot be avoided:

- Rajinikanth has a much wider fan base. In fact, his fan clubs operate across the state of Tamil Nadu, providing him with a much more formidable grassroots infrastructure. Kamal, on the other hand, cannot in anyway equal the charisma and the fan support which Rajini enjoys, though his own popularity cannot be underestimated.

- Contrary to the Dravidian school of politics, Rajinikanth invokes religious appeals as he embraces spiritual politics. Whereas Kamal seems to be forged in the fiery furnace of Dravidian social and cultural ethos.

- Rajinikanth's self-proclaimed 'spiritual politics' is unclear. No political dictionary has ever defined what exactly is the meaning of spiritual politics though myriad interpretations can be given even as its proponent remains pretty silent. Rajini has clearly demarcated himself from the Dravidian school of politics.

It is a psephologists' nightmare to speculate on whether the people of Tamil Nadu will relish or reject such a remarkable departure from Dravidian politics, which has been dominating state political discourse for over decades.

On the contrary, Kamal Haasan is an atheist and rejects any politico-religious overtones. He espouses the Dravidian cause. He was almost the spokesperson of Tamil assertion in the form of Jallikattu movement.

- One inescapable interpretation of spiritual politics could be Rajini's proximity with the BJP. The repeated claims of Tamil Nadu state BJP leadership have added credence to such a possible bonhomie between Rajini's political outfit and the saffron brigade. On the contrary, Kamal chooses to be completely at the other end of the political spectrum. He has already made it clear that his colour is certainly not saffron and publicly announced his reverence for Left leaders. If this comparison holds true, Rajini and Kamal will certainly be on the diametrically opposite sides of the political class.

- Rajinikanth is unlikely to settle for anything less than the chief minister's seat. His stature and style cannot allow him to negotiate anything less than the status of a superstar in politics as well. Thus, Rajini is impatient and not prepared for the long innings. But, Kamal seems to be more inclined to fight a five-day Test match, even as his friend wants to play a limited overs one.

Rajini's political postulations are not only ambiguous but centred around putting him in the seat of power. But, Kamal is preparing to set the agenda for Tamil politics and society.

- Rajinikanth was always shying away from politics and controversies. Barring an occasion wherein he indirectly extended support to DMK, Rajini was always equivocal. But, Kamal is certainly more decisive and planned. While Rajini kept a distance from social, political controversies, Kamal is known for his active indulgence with the issues that rock the state and society.

- Despite his unparalleled charisma, the fact remains that Rajinikanth is an outsider. This may not matter so much in a state which adored MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. But, the Tamil outfits have already created a storm over his non-Tamil identity. These irritants would only irritate him further as he enters politics. Whereas Kamal is a Tamil native.

- Kamal is an intellectual and known for his vast understanding of issues. He is a powerful orator in Tamil. Rajinikanth has not displayed any such capabilities. But, his style and popularity have no match, not just in Tamil Nadu but elsewhere as well.

- Given his massive fan base, Rajinikanth can afford to go on his own though there is speculation that he may have a post-poll tie-up with BJP. But, Kamal, perhaps, has to join forces with like-minded parties to make an impact on the ground, given the experience of Vijayakanth who could poll eight to nine percent of votes and has gradually fizzled out.
V Divakaran, brother of jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, claimed that J Jayalalithaa died on 4 December, 2016 and the announcement of her death was postponed at the behest of the Tamil Nadu government, CNN-News18 reported.

#BREAKING Big twist to Jayalalithaa's death, Jaya died on Dec 4th, says Sasikala's brother. @nimumurali with more details on the story. pic.twitter.com/H9D5mAM6aD  News18 (@CNNnews18) January 17, 2018

According to the report, Divakaran claimed the former Tamil Nadu chief minister died on 4 December, 2016 at 5:15 pm, and not on 5 December, 2016. Divakaran alleged this was done to allow the state government to take measures to prevent a breakdown of law and order as they feared riots might occur.

"The AIADMK delayed the announcement for security reasons and to secure all Apollo group of hospitals in the state, Divakaran was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital on the night of 22 September, 2016 and passed away on 5 December, 2016. Following her death, suspicion over the circumstances leading to her demise were raised by several persons, including Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his followers.

Even Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar claimed that her aunt "may have been attacked." "There is no chance for her (Jayalalithaa) to get indisposed and get hospitalised (after attending work till nine pm). She may have been attacked", Deepa alleged.

Later, the Tamil Nadu government formed a one-man commission headed by retired judge A Arumughaswamy to probe her death. The panel's terms of reference were to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa and treatment provided till her demise.

In December, the commission issued summons to Sasikala and Apollo Hospitals chairman Prathap C Reddy.

With inputs from PTI
Reuters

Bitcoin extended its sharp tumble of the past 24 hours, skidding more than seven percent on Wednesday in a rapid downturn in fortunes as investors were spooked by fears regulators might clamp down on an asset whose value has skyrocketed in the past year.

The price of the worlds biggest and best-known cryptocurrency fell to as low as $10,567 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, not far from its six-week nadir of $10,162 touched the previous day. The sessions high was $11,794.07.

It led the fall in cryptocurrencies, although others such as Ethereum and Ripple, have also slid sharply this week after reports South Korea and China could ban trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.

Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations, said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

At its lows on Tuesday, bitcoin had fallen 25 percent in the session, its biggest daily decline in four months. It was a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2000 percent over the year.

Tuesdays decline followed reports that South Koreas finance minister had said banning trading in cryptocurrencies was still an option and that the government plans a set of measures to clamp down on the irrational cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn, said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.

My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them.

Makoto Sakuma, analyst at Tokyo-based NLI Research Institute, said trading volumes had been low despite the volatility.

I would say the strong rally in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies we saw last year is over, he said.

But while the rally phase is over, I dont think it is right to say bitcoin is finished.

Bitcoin futures maturing on Wednesday on the Cboe Global Markets Incs Cboe Futures Exchange were at $10,740, with 1,586 contracts traded, after having opened at $10,850. The open interest was 2,895 contracts. The Cboe 14 March 2018 contract was quoted at $11,130.

The futures are cash-settled contracts based on the auction price of bitcoin in US dollars on the Gemini Exchange, which is owned and operated by virtual currency entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The MVIS CryptoCompare Ripple Index, which covers the performance of a digital assets portfolio which invests in Ripple (XRP), a cryptocurrency developed by Ripple Labs, dropped 15 percent to $7,298 on Wednesday.

That equity index has seen a 66 percent slide in its value since the start of the year. Ripple itself was quoted at $1.15 on website CoinMarketCap, down from a high of $3.81 on Jan 4.

The run-up in bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand, Englander wrote.

This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics.
tech2 News Staff

Coursera and Google have announced their partnership to provide a course in IT support. Google has developed a six-course curriculum which would allow prospective job seekers to prepare for an entry-level role in IT support.

The course has been designed by IT professionals from Google and has been a part of the 'Grow with Google' initiative.

According to TechCrunch, after receiving series of funding and reorganisation at the top board level, Coursera seems to have found a new hold over the company.

Dubbed as the 'Google IT Support Professional Certificate' course, Coursera aims to prepare people for entry-level jobs in the IT market.

Its blog post says, A job in IT can mean in-person, or remote help desk work, either in a small business or at a global company like Google.

Since it is meant for an entry-level job seeker, it is open for all, including those who do not have prior knowledge about IT. The lectures would be available only in English.

Troubleshooting, customer service, networking, operating systems, system administration, automation and security are the highlights of this course.

It is an 8 to 12 months long course for which the user has to dedicate 8-10 hours every week. It begins from 25 January onwards.

This course is available for $49. However, Google is also providing financial assistance only to US citizens.

According to the blog post, the lectures would be available through "video lectures, quizzes, and hands-on labs and widgets".
Reuters

A group of 21 US state attorneys general filed suit to challenge the Federal Communications Commissions decision to do away with net neutrality on 16 January while Democrats said they needed just one more vote in the Senate to repeal the FCC ruling.

The state attorneys, including those of California, New York and Virginia as well as the District of Columbia, filed a petition to challenge the action, calling it arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion and saying that it violated federal laws and regulations.

The petition was filed with a federal appeals court in Washington as Senate Democrats said on 16 January they had the backing of 50 members of the 100-person chamber for repeal, leaving them just one vote short of a majority.

Even if Democrats could win a majority in the Senate, a repeal would also require winning a vote in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a greater majority, and would still be subject to a likely veto by President Donald Trump.

Senator Ed Markey said in a statement that all 49 Democrats in the upper chamber backed the repeal. Earlier this month, Republican Senator Susan Collins said she would back the effort to overturn the FCCs move. Democrats need 51 votes to win any proposal in the Republican-controlled Senate because Vice President Mike Pence can break any tie.

Trump backed the FCC action, the White House said last month, and overturning a presidential veto requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers.

States said the lawsuit was filed in an abundance of caution because, typically, a petition to challenge would not be filed until the rules legally take effect, which is expected later this year.

Internet advocacy group Free Press, the Open Technology Institute and Mozilla Corp filed similar protective petitions on 16 January.

The FCC voted in December along party lines to reverse rules introduced in 2015 that barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization. The new rules will not take effect for at least three months, the FCC has said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the issue would be a major motivating factor for the young voters the party is courting.

A trade group representing major tech companies including Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc said it would support legal challenges to the reversal.

The FCC vote in December marked a victory for AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc and handed them power over what content consumers can access on the internet. It was the biggest win for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in his sweeping effort to undo many telecommunications regulations.

While the FCC order grants internet providers sweeping new powers it does require public disclosure of any blocking practices. Internet providers have vowed not to change how consumers obtain online content.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, a Republican, said in an interview on 16 January that he planned to hold a hearing on paid prioritization. He has urged Democrats to work constructively on a legislative solution to net neutrality to bring certainty and clarity going forward and ban behaviors like blocking and throttling.

He said he does not believe a vote to overturn the FCC decision would get a majority in the US House. Representative Mike Doyle, a Democrat, said on 16 January that his bill to reverse the FCC decision had 80 co-sponsors.

Paid prioritization is part of American life, Walden said. Where do you want to sit on the airplane? Where do you want to sit on Amtrak? he said.
tech2 News Staff

While the Lenovo-owned Motorola seems to have done justice to the design of the recently launched Moto X4, it wasn't innovative or revolutionary in any way. More importantly, it was no Moto X, so it's not exactly worthy of that 'X' title either. But fear not Moto X fans, as it now appears that that revolutionary successor to the original Moto X lineup, may arrive with the upcoming Moto X5.

A couple of leaked images obtained by DroidLife, show what appear to be the slides of a presentation, with well-rendered handsets that appear to be variants of the currently available Moto X4 smartphone.

The oddest looking one out of the four has to be the handset marked as the Moto X5.

It looks like a Moto X4, and even showcases a dual camera setup at the rear, but features a very Apple-esque all-screen display. While the styling is typically Motorola, we can't help but notice two similarities that remind us of the iPhone X.

There's the notch at the top, that appears to house two cameras on either side of the earpiece. And where there's a notch... there's also, facial recognition (unless you happen to be as generous as Samsung).

Another interesting bit about this Moto X5 that makes it rather special is the user interface. While it looks like your typical, almost stock Moto UX, we took a closer look and noticed something different.

The device features a bezel-less design meaning that Motorola had to get rid of two features (hardware and software) on the front face. The first one was fingerprint reader that now seems to be replaced by facial recognition feature (there's no fingeprint reader on the back, just a logo) using the two cameras in the notch at the top of the display. The second bit would be the home button, which has been absent on Motorola's recent smartphones with the Android navigation bar taking charge. While the company could have gone with the typical software bar at the bottom, it's not to be found.

In all probability, Motorola may have come up with a new UI for the X5, allowing for swipe gestures, just like on the iPhone X.

So yes, the Moto X5, if launched, could indeed introduce a new way for users to interact with an Android-powered smartphone (kind of reminds us of BBOS 10 and it swipes).

As for the expected specifications, you could be looking at a 5.9-inch FHD+ display with rounded corners, as for the rest, you will have to wait.

Next up, are what appear to be some budget to mid-range smartphones with the G branding. This would include the Moto G6, the Moto G6 Plus and the Moto G6 Play.

As you would already know, the Moto G series has switched from an all-plastic construction to a more mature metal and plastic mix. So the next step clearly would be the shift to glass and metal.

With that said all three smartphones feature glass panels on the front and rear, with a metal frame sandwiched in between, and look a lot like the Moto X4. The rear glass has a 3D design, and this applies to the X5 as well.

What's different is the placement of the fingerprint reader. The Moto G6 and G6 Plus feature a fingerprint reader on the front below the display, while the G6 Play pushes it to the back, where there appears to be a clear inset for the scanner with the Moto logo.

Motorola will adopt 18:9 ratio displays on the G6 (5.7-inch) and G6 Plus (5.93-inch) in Full HD+ resolution. Expect to see a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 for the G6, a 630 SoC for the G6 Plus. The G6 will be available in 3 GB/32 GB and 4 GB/ 64 GB RAM/storage variants, while the G6 Plus will be available in 3 GB/32 GB and 4 GB/ 64 GB RAM and a 6 GB RAM variant with 64 GB of internal storage.

As for the camera, G6 gets a 16 MP front camera and a 12 MP+5MP setup at the back, while the Plus gets a 16 MP selfie camera and a 12 MP + 5 MP setup at the rear. Details are sparse on the Moto G6 Play and all we have for now is the battery capacity rated at 4,000 mAh.

It will indeed be interesting to see what SoC will take up residence inside the Moto X5.

The launch of all the above handsets and the recently leaked out Moto E5 is expected to take place at the Mobile World Congress to be held in February.

Moto could have something special here if it includes a Snapdragon 845 inside, but from what we know Samsung called dibs on those SoCs a long time ago.
tech2 News Staff

Sony launched a few smartphones at CES 2018 but it is expected to launch its flagship devices for the year at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MCW) to start from 26 February.

According to a report on GizChina, the smartphone will be christened the Sony Xperia XZ Pro. The company will reportedly unveil the world's first smartphone with a 4K display and the Xperia XZ Pro could be that very phone.

Sony's next flagship is expected to come with 18 MP and 12 MP dual-camera sensors. It will also feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. It is expected to come with a 5.7-inch 4K display, 6 GB RAM (lower variant) and a maximum internal storage of 128 GB.

Sony Xperia XZ Pro is expected be powered by a 3,420 mAh battery and bring IP 68 dust and water resistance rating.

Sony unveiled two devices in the Sony Xperia series, Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra at the CES 2018. It also launched Sony L2 at the event. The Sony Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC. The XA1 will pack a 5.2-inch FHD screen while the XA2 Ultra will come with a 6-inch FHD display. The Sony L2, a low-end device, will feature a 5.5-inch HD display. The price tags of the smartphones were not revealed by the company.

The devices launched at the CES 2018 were for the US market.
Washington: US homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Tuesday that she did not hear President Donald Trump use the word "shithole" during a meeting about immigration last week at the White House.

Nielsen, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she remembered strong language and profanity being used during the meeting but did not recall how Trump described African countries.

US Democratic senator Dick Durbin, who attended the gathering, said last week that Trump used "vile, vulgar" language, including repeatedly using the word "shithole" when speaking about African countries.

Durbin and Republican senator Lindsey Graham were briefing the president last week on a newly drafted immigration bill, being touted by a bipartisan group of senators, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified.

Other government officials were present during the conversation, sources told Reuters.

The lawmakers were describing how certain immigration programmes operate, including one to give safe haven in the US to people from countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

One of the sources who was briefed on the conversation said that Trump asked, "Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They're shithole countries... We should have more people from Norway."

Many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers slammed the president for his remarks.
Washington: The H-1B work visa, which is highly popular among Indian technology professionals, puts American workers at risk, a top Republican Senator has alleged.

The H-1B program offers temporary US visas that allow companies 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.

"The H-1B visa is one programme that really puts American workers at risk," Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, said during a Congressional hearing on homeland security on Tuesday.

Noting that the population of H-1B workers in the US has been growing for decades, Grassely said, with that growth, comes an increased possibility for fraud or abuse.

"..both of which I have seen and called on the Department of Homeland Security, with the help of Department of Justice, to investigate and prosecute," he said.

Grassely even looked to put blame on the H-1B workers for "stagnation" of salaries in the technology sector.

"The vast majority of these H-1B workers are employed in the technology sector, and we've seen salaries in that industry stagnate for decades, at the same time the number of foreign tech workers keeps growing," he said.

The senator said he was encouraged that Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced several H-1B initiatives "designed to protect American workers".

"I hope that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would continue with its efforts to reign in abuses in a variety of foreign worker immigration categories," said Grassley.

Participating in the Congressional hearing, Senator Orrin Hatch asked Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen on reports of doing away with work authorisation of spouses of H-1B visa holders.

Nielsen did not give a direct answer to this. But did say the Department was looking into all of the visa categories.

Hatch also asked Nielsen about news reports on cancelling three-year extensions for H-1B visa holders who are being sponsored for green cards  which can be a time-consuming process due to per-country green card limits.

"I believe that Congress previously addressed this issue in 2000, and indicated its intent to allow such extensions. Can you tell me if the department is, in fact, considering ways to stop granting these three-year extensions? And, if so, why? And I'd also be interested in hearing the department's explanation of how ending these extensions squares with the 2000 law," Hatch asked.

"I'm not familiar with the very specific example on H-1B, but I will get back to you immediately after this," replied the Secretary of Homeland Secretary.

The curb on H-1B visa extensions could result in self- deportation of an estimated 500,000-750,000 Indian Americans.

The proposal, which was part of President Donald Trump's "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.
Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said Islamabad hasn't acted against Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed because there isn't any case registered against him. "Action is taken when there is a case registered (against someone)," he said, in an interview to Pakistan's Geo News.

Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was released from house arrest in November last year, after the Lahore High Court rejected the Punjab government's plea seeking a three-month extension on his detention. He had been under house arrest since January last year.

Immediately upon his release, Saeed had even announced plans of contesting elections in Pakistan. According to Daily Pakistan, Saeed had said that he would seek a seat in the national assembly through Milli Muslim League (MML) but did not reveal details on the constituency he would contest from.

His close aide Saifullah Khalid then said the party would strive to make Pakistan "a real Islamic State".

Even the United States had voiced concern over these developments, saying Saeed's release was a "backward step" in the war against terrorism.

Two months later, the Donald Trump administration went a step further by revoking its $1.1 billion in security aid to Pakistan, although Washington later said the move wasn't related to Saeed's release.

"We have certainly expressed our concern about the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks being let out of house arrest in Pakistan. To my knowledge, that has nothing to do with that," state department spokesperson Heather Nauert had said.

"There is a $10 million reward out for information leading to his re-arrest, the person who is the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks who was let go in Pakistan. So we've been very clear about our displeasure with that individual being let go, and that's why we like to remind people that there is a $10 million Rewards for Justice program out for him," Nauert had said.

But Abbasi said the deterioration in ties with the US notwithstanding, talks between the two countries are still ongoing "at every level". "A US delegation visited Pakistan, while a delegation from here also visited the US. We are a sovereign State and do not want any act to occur that could deteriorate the regional situation," Abbasi said, adding, "We are bound to safeguard our borders."

With inputs from agencies
DEAR ABBY: I am 28 and I'm disgusted with myself about how I talk to my mother when I'm stressed out. I know it's not her. It's me.

My other issue is road rage. When I'm behind the wheel and the cars ahead of me are going too slow or the drivers make stupid moves, I'm annoyed to the point that I sometimes take risky chances to get away from them. I know it puts my life and the lives of others at risk, and I don't want to be like this.

I sometimes wonder why my parents didn't teach me ways to tone down my anger when I was younger. I'm lucky they still love me, even when I snap at them. Do you have any tips on how to control my temper? -- SIMMERING IN SUBURBIA

DEAR SIMMERING: If you think you are alone in having these issues, you are mistaken. We are living in increasingly stressful times that have affected most of us in one way or another. If, however, you continue allowing your stress to dictate your behavior, it may eventually drive a wedge between you and the people you care about.

It's important that you realize anger is a normal emotion. At one time or another, anger is experienced by everyone. Recognizing what is CAUSING your stress and anger can help you to avoid taking it out on others.

It takes self-control -- and maturity -- to react calmly, instead of reacting angrily. Being able to identify what's triggering the anger and causing you to verbalize it can help to prevent an outburst. Instead say, "When you do or say that, it makes me angry." Or try saying, "Mom, I'm stressed right now. Can we discuss this later?" Or, "I've had a really rough day. I need to be alone for a little while." Then go for a walk to help you to regain your perspective. Developing the ability to do this will not only lessen your guilt, but also earn you the respect of those with whom you interact. My Anger Booklet contains many suggestions for managing and constructively expressing anger in various situations. It can be ordered by sending your name and mailing address, plus a check or money order for $7 in U.S. funds to Dear Abby -- Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price. As to your "over the top" reactions when you are in your car driving, try to remember that we are all human and make mistakes. I have made them, and so have you.

If you MUST drive during rush hours, try listening to music or an audio book. And count to 10 before you hit the accelerator. Avoid blasting the horn or making rude gestures. (Screaming is permissible as long as your windows are closed.)

People who lose control not only can get hurt in a variety of ways, but also hurt others -- including innocent bystanders. That's why it is very important to be able to express anger in healthy ways.

We are living in a time when the anger level in our society has reached new heights. As we have seen all too often in news reports, explosive anger is the most dangerous of all. Perhaps constructive anger management should be taught in schools to help people more effectively communicate in a healthy manner.

DEAR ABBY: I've been seeking the answer to this for years. My husband is deceased. Am I still related to his family? How do I introduce them? -- IN LIMBO IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR IN LIMBO: You are as related to them as you WANT to be. Introduce them by their names or as your former in-laws.

DEAR ABBY: I am president and co-founder of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, one of the leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife medicine in the world. We have treated more than 70,000 wild patients since our organization was established 35 years ago. Like the reader ("An Apple a Day," Aug. 11) who is under the impression that throwing an apple core out the car window is doing something positive for the Earth, many individuals make "little" decisions without considering the unintended consequences.

The example of the apple core has been at the heart of our education program for more than three decades. Before throwing that apple core out the window believing that some small animal will come finish what's left, people should consider what will happen if the animal coming to eat their scraps happens to be on the other side of the road.

Throwing out that apple core will lure that creature into harm's way. Countless opossums, raccoons, skunks and other small mammals are killed every day because of human food waste on the shoulder of the road. And it doesn't stop there. Predators like owls also suffer. They hunt along the side of the road, not because they eat apple cores, but because they eat the mice, voles and other small animals who are attracted to feed on that apple core. Then, when the opossum, raccoon or owl is killed by a car, scavengers are attracted to the pavement, where their lives, too, are at risk.

If readers want to help the Earth, they should take their waste home and dispose of it or recycle it properly. The small act of throwing an apple core out of a car window can cost the lives of the very creatures they claim to want to help. -- EDWARD CLARK, WAYNESBORO, VA.

DEAR MR. CLARK: When that letter appeared, I received a flurry of mail about it. Many readers touched on some of the points you have expressed. Thank you for writing so eloquently to educate my readers -- and me. Lesson learned.

DEAR ABBY: I'm 29 and I'm having trouble holding down a steady job. I am a college graduate, and it's not because I don't like to work. My problem is I have a strong personality and I tend to butt heads with management. Deep down, I think I'll only be satisfied with a job if I'm the boss or own my own business. Do you have any suggestions about positions for someone who can't handle having a boss? -- MISS INDEPENDENT IN THE BRONX

DEAR MISS INDEPENDENT: No. Unless someone has rich parents or a magic lamp, most people have to work for -- or with -- others until they build enough capital to start a business. Even then, business owners must interact with clients they don't always agree with. Because you tend to butt heads with those in management positions, you would be wise to start working on becoming more patient and less dogmatic. Both qualities will help you in the future if you can develop them.

DEAR ABBY: The winter months are hard for me. They remind me that another year has gone by without my father and my younger sister.

Dad had been a smoker since his teens and died from pancreatic cancer at 39. I was 13, and my siblings were younger. In those days, we didn't know that smoking was a risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

My sister smoked from the time she was 13. She died from lung cancer at 44, leaving behind two young sons.

Neither my father nor my sister got to experience the wonderful family milestones and celebrations we have had. Their grandchildren will never know them. Each year during the holidays, I feel a sadness in my heart.

I urge every smoker to make a vow to quit and carry it through, not only for their own sake but also their family's. Stay determined to quit so you won't cause your loved ones sadness and won't miss out on their futures. With all my heart, I wish smokers the best of luck in quitting. -- MISSING DAD AND SIS IN SACRAMENTO

DEAR MISSING: I'm glad you wrote because the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout will be held on Nov. 16. It's a day when millions of smokers put down their cigarettes -- just for one day -- with the conviction that if they can go 24 hours without one, then they can do it for 48 hours, 72 hours, and stop smoking for good. The idea grew out of a 1970 event in Randolph, Massachusetts, and became a national event in 1977.

Readers, I'm not going to harangue you with death threats. We are all aware of the grim statistics associated with cancer-related deaths caused by tobacco. If you're interested in quitting, this is a perfect opportunity. Call (800) 227-2345 to be connected with counseling services in your community, provided with self-help materials offering information and strategies on quitting for good, and to receive information about medications available to help you quit. This service is free and provided 24/7. Or go online to cancer.org.

DEAR ABBY: I need your help. Over the past few weeks, I have been vacationing at my mother-in-law's home. The other day I was browsing on her computer and accidentally opened her browsing history. It turns out that she regularly looks at and responds to Craigslist personals.

I was shocked when I read some of the perverted requests she has responded to. The language she used would make a sailor blush. Keep in mind, my mother-in-law is a married woman.

I don't know how to react. Should I tell my wife? Keep it to myself? Make a fake Craigslist post and catch her in the act? -- KINKS IN THE FAMILY

DEAR KINKS: If you disclose this to your wife, it could damage her relationship with her mother. If she tells her mother what you found, it will create a breach in the family. If you trap the woman by creating a fake Craigslist post and she realizes she has been made a fool of, it will not -- to put it mildly -- endear you to her. Let it lie.

DEAR ABBY: I am in a predicament. My therapist is great, but sometimes I think she shares too much. Last time I went, she was running late. When I finally got into her office, she told me the previous patient was nonverbal and had painted her nails during the session. Later in the session, she confided that years ago she had been date raped.

Abby, I am in counseling because my father raped me when I was 15 (I am now 24). Her sharing has me worried because I don't want her telling others what I say or do during counseling. Further, her story of the date rape scared me. She described a situation that is not uncommon for me to be in, and it caused something almost like a flashback in me. I think what she did was insensitive, to say the least.

I have nobody else to ask, so what should I do? I'm getting counseling for free now due to my income, and it took months to get set up with a counselor. Should I report her or accept that this was a mistake and say nothing? If I need to report her, how would I go about doing that? -- CONFLICTED ABOUT IT

DEAR CONFLICTED: You should change therapists because it appears this one has more problems than you do. As to what agency you should report her breach of professional ethics to, contact the state organization that has licensed her to practice.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069
Samsung has launched Galaxy On7 Prime, the companys latest smartphone in India in On series, as it had promised. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p 2.5D curved glass screen, is powered by Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor, runs on Android 7.1 (Nougat) and has 13-megapixel front and rear cameras.

It features a metal unibody design and comes in two variants, one with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and the other variant has 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. It has dedicated dual SIM slots and the fingerprint sensor is embedded into the home button.

It comes with Samsung Mall app that offers Visual search just by clicking an image of the product using machine learning. Samsung has tied up with Amazon, Jabong, Shopclues and Tata CLiQ so that you can search across these stores and add the products to the cart.

It also comes with Samsung Pay Mini that lets you transfer money using wallets just by scanning the code or sending it using mobile number and send to bank account using UPI (Unified Payment Interface).

Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime specifications

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD 2.5D curved glass display

1.6GHz Octa-Core Exynos 7870 processor with ARM Mali-T830 GPU

4GB RAM with 64GB storage, 3GB RAM with 32GB storage, expandable up to 256GB with microSD

Android 7.1.1 (Nougat)

Dual SIM (nano + nano)

13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture

13MP front-facing camera with f/1.9 aperture

Dimensions: 151.7 x 75.0 x 8.0mm; Weight: 170g

Fingerprint sensor

4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS

3300mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime comes in Black and Gold colors, is priced at Rs. 12,990 for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs Rs. 14,990. It will be available exclusively from Amazon.in online during Great Indian Sale and from Samsung Shop starting from January 20th.

It is also offering Rs. 2000 cashback in Jio Money for Jio customers on recharge of Rs. 299 per month for 24 months. You get Rs. 800 after the first 12 months, and a further Rs. 1,200, after the subsequent 12 months, in the Jio Money account, after performing 13 successful recharges of Rs. 299 every 12 months. It is also offering no-cost EMI offers on leading bank debit/credit cards and through NBFCs.

Commenting on the launch, Sandeep Singh Arora, Vice President, Samsung India, said:

Galaxy On7 Prime is made for the Indian consumer who is constantly multitasking and on-the-move. It comes loaded with features and is also equipped with a brand new Make for India innovation  Samsung Mall  which lets users shoot and shop on-the-go. Our research shows that todays consumers like to shop instantly, when they spot something they like  from the latest in fashion to trendy accessories. Galaxy On7 Prime is the perfect companion for such consumers.
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Multiple arrests involving phony cash have been making the media rounds in over 11 states, including New York, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan, in the last six months.

Earlier this week, both New York City and Iowa reported cases of fraudulent cash popping up into the hands of local business owners.

A Manhattan bar manager Ryan ONeill told CBS2 that more counterfeit bills, particularly $20 bills, have been surfacing in the area over the last two weeks. Another bar owner just a few blocks away reported the same thing with some fraudsters even using fake $5 and $1 dollar bills.

On Tuesday, two people were arrested in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for allegedly trying to use phony $1 bills at a local Walmart (NYSE:WMT) back in early October, police said.

Earlier this month, four people were charged in a counterfeit money scheme in upstate New York in Rochester that involved at least 16 local businesses over the last two months. Authorities said they have teamed up with the U.S. Secret Service to determine the origin of the counterfeit money.

While the use of counterfeit cash isnt new, with the Department of Treasury estimating over $70 million worth of fake bills in current circulation (about one in every 10,000), small and large businesses should still be on the lookout for fakes.

I think overall it has been pretty consistent. There have recently been concerns over whether North Korea might produce an uptick of their supernote counterfeit bills given the sanctions and pressure put on them recently, but in general, counterfeit money seems to a steady crime that is always going on around the U.S. and abroad, Alex Reichmann, counterfeit money expert and CEO of iTestCash.com, told FOX Business.

Still, Reichmann has made a business out of helping retailers around the country and abroad spot money scams before its too late. Rechimann said these are the four biggest things customers and business owners should look out for:

Tip #1: Always examine the feel of your bills. If it feels extra thick or thin, that can be an easy giveaway to a bill being a fake.

Tip #2: Compare and contrast. If you have a $5 or $10 bill that seems sketchy to you, simply compare it to another bill of the same denomination and examine the feel and security features that are on the bill.

Tip #3: Inspect the printing quality of your bills. Another strong give away of a counterfeit is if the printing looks off. Real bills should always have the same color hue as each other. The ink should also look clear and not smudged or off color like fake bills can have.

Tip #4: Analyze the portraits. The portrait on real dollars should look very clear and stand out from the background, while with fake bills, it can look very blended into the design.

Lastly, Reichmann said to look very closely on the rim of the portrait of the bill because it says, "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" repeated along the sides of it, which can be very hard for counterfeiters to replicate with printers due to its intricate nature.
Twitter may notify users whether they were exposed to content generated by a suspected Russian propaganda service, a company executive told U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.

The social media company is working to identify and inform individually its users who saw tweets during the 2016 U.S. presidential election produced by accounts tied to the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Army, Carlos Monje, Twitters director of public policy, told the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

A Twitter spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about plans to notify its users.

Facebook Inc in December created a portal where its users could learn whether they interacted with accounts created by the Internet Research Agency.

Both companies and Alphabets YouTube appeared before the Senate committee on Wednesday to answer lawmaker questions about how their efforts to combat the use of their platforms by violent extremists, such as the Islamic State.

But the hearing often turned its focus to questions of Russian propaganda, a vexing issue for internet firms who spent most of the past year responding to a backlash that they did too little to deter Russians from using their services to anonymously spread divisive messages among Americans in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. elections.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia sought to interfere in the election through a variety of cyber-enabled means to sow political discord and help President Donald Trump win. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) announced Wednesday it is joining the fight to end opioid misuse by offering its customers free at-home disposal kits to help them safely get rid of leftover pills.

The product, called DisposeRX, will allow patients who have been prescribed opioids to responsibly turn unused pills into a non-divertible and biodegradable gel using warm water.

The health and safety of our patients is a critical priority; thats why were taking an active role in fighting our nations opioid issue  an issue that has affected so many families and communities across America, Marybeth Hays, executive vice president of Consumables and Health and Wellness at Walmart U.S., said in a statement.

In addition to the kits, Wal-Mart said it will also provide ongoing counseling to its customers on proper opioid use when filling an opioid prescription at any one of its 4,700 pharmacies nationwide, including its Sams Club pharmacy locations.

Arkansas Sen. John Boozman commended the companys move in a statement saying, about one-third of medications sold go unused. Too often, these dangerous narcotics remain unsecured where children, teens or visitors may have access.

More than 65% of people in the U.S., who are misusing prescription opioids, are getting them from family and friends personal prescriptions, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Whats more, Wal-Mart is also urging lawmakers to establish a seven-day supply limit for initial prescriptions issued for acute pain and to require all controlled substance prescriptions be issued electronically, in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the company said.
Fans of the NBAs Dallas Mavericks will soon be able to use cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum to buy tickets, according to team owner and billionaire investor Mark Cuban.

When asked on Twitter about whether the Mavericks had plans to allow ticket purchases in cryptocurrencies, Cuban said fans will be able to use them next season. Cuban later confirmed the policy was legitimate in statements to CoinDesk and Fortune.

We will be adding a crypto payment ability for next season. We will accept [bitcoin], [Ethereum], possibly some other currencies, Cuban told CoinDesk, adding that the final policy was to be determined.

Cryptocurrencies have exploded in value in recent months, garnering interest from individual investors, major corporations and several national governments. Bitcoin, which is one of the most well-known digital currencies, has risen in value from roughly $880 in mid-January 2017 to more than $11,000 as of Wednesday.

However, digital currencies have demonstrated extreme volatility, fueling speculation among critics who say they are a bubble that will eventually collapse. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices plunged on Wednesday amid reports that China was eyeing stricter controls for digital currencies, which operate independently of any government and are not regulation.

This isnt the first time Cuban has shown interest in cryptocurrencies. The Mavericks owner invested in a cryptocurrency fund last August, according to multiple reports, despite previously referring to bitcoin as a bubble.
Oil prices ended higher on Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. petroleum data that was expected to show a ninth straight weekly drawdown in crude inventories.

Brent futures LCOc1 settled 23 cents higher at $69.38 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 gained 24 cents to $63.97 per barrel.

Both contracts climbed to their highest levels since December 2014 this week with Brent reaching $70.37 on Monday and WTI up to $64.89 on Tuesday.

U.S. crude inventories were estimated to have fallen 3.5 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 12, according to a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

The American Petroleum Institute (API) report will be released at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), followed by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on Thursday at 11 a.m. EST. Both were delayed by a day due to the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Tighter markets have lifted both crude benchmarks about 13 percent above levels in early December, helped by production curbs by OPEC and Russia, as well as by healthy demand growth. Several analysts this week raised their expectation for 2018 prices on the back of the rally.

In a note on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley said it now sees Brent hitting $75 a barrel by the third quarter of 2018, while U.S. crude could hit $70 a barrel. The firm expected flows from hedge funds to keep prices elevated - even though it saw prices retreating later in the year.

Money managers have raised bullish positions in WTI and Brent crude futures and options to a record, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Intercontinental Exchange.

Norbert Ruecker, head of commodity research at Swiss bank Julius Baer, also said that hedge fund expectations for further rising prices have reached excessive levels, threatening prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia have been curbing production since January 2017; the cuts are set to last through 2018.

The curbs have coincided with strong demand and solid economic growth, tightening the market.

Elsewhere, threats by Nigerian militants on Wednesday to attack offshore oil facilities within days were supportive of prices.

Markets may come under pressure from rising U.S. production, analysts say.

On Tuesday, the EIA said it expected U.S. oil output to increase in February, with production from shale rising by 111,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 6.55 million bpd.

U.S. crude output C-OUT-T-EIA is expected to soon break 10 million bpd, challenging top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia.
It's nice to see a stock where the price has gone up 100%, doubling in value. But that's a backward-looking examination. The real question is: Can a company double in value from the price it's at today? That's impossible to answer without a crystal ball. However, Motley Fool contributors have picked three stocks that look like they have the foundations for such an advance soundly in place: Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), and A.O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS).

An energy titan that has already started its recovery

Chuck Saletta (Kinder Morgan, Inc.): Back in 2015, energy pipeline giant Kinder Morgan was trading at more than twice its current stock price. Then, unfortunately, its shares collapsed when Moody's got spooked by the pipeline giant's balance sheet leverage, leading Kinder Morgan to slash its dividend by 75%.

That dividend cut freed up billions in annual cash flows, money that Kinder Morgan put to great use shoring up its balance sheet and funding much of its expansion over the past couple of years. To make a long story short, today's Kinder Morgan is fundamentally and financially in a better place than it was prior to its 2015 dividend cut, yet its shares trade well below where they did then.

In addition to its still-strong operations supported by a healthier balance sheet, Kinder Morgan has committed to restoring its dividend. It already increased it by 60% this year, and it expects to increase its dividend by a whopping 25% in each of the next two years, as well. If it delivers on those expectations, it will sport a payout of $1.25 per share per year in 2020.

At its recent share price of $16.30, that would represent a yield of over 7.6%. Even with interest rates on their way up, that represents a substantial yield for a company that's able to deliver both cash distributions and growth. As a result, that dividend path alone suggests that Kinder Morgan's shares have room to increase. Add possible growth beyond its already announced 2020 target, and there's good reason to believe that Kinder Morgan's shares can potentially double from here.

Riding the hospitality growth wave worldwide

Travis Hoium (MGM Resorts): As consumers spend a smaller percentage of their money on things like food, clothing, and household goods, they have more to spend on travel and hospitality. According to the "2017 Travel and Hospitality Industry Outlook" from Deloitte, spending grew as a percentage of all consumer expenditures from about 17.6% in 2011 to 18.4% in 2015. MGM Resorts is riding that macro wave to grow its gaming and hospitality business both in the U.S. and abroad.

You can see in the past five years that MGM has been able to grow revenue and EBITDA, a proxy for cash flow from a resort or casino, while maintaining debt at a reasonable level below five times EBITDA. Improved financials are in part because of growth in travel and hospitality and partly due to an efficient use of capital, using its REIT, MGM Growth Properties, to finance new buildings like MGM National Harbor near Washington, D.C.

What could allow MGM Resorts to double over the next decade is its next wave of growth. MGM Cotai opened earlier this year and that one resort will likely generate over $500 million in EBITDA annually. The $960 million MGM Springfield development will also open in Massachusetts in August.

In the long term, MGM Resorts should generate at least $3 billion in EBITDA annually, cash it can use to fund growth, pay down $13.3 billion of debt, or pay a larger dividend to investors. If travel and hospitality spending continues to increase, I don't see why the company won't be able to grow revenue and EBITDA over the next decade, and if MGM Resorts executes well, the stock could easily double.

A double would be chump change

Reuben Gregg Brewer (A.O. Smith Corporation): A.O. Smith's stock is up roughly 220% over the past five years and more than 900% over the past decade. While I wouldn't expect those outsize gains to continue over the next decade, a 100% price advance seems completely reasonable. How will the company achieve this? By making and selling water heaters.

You most likely take your water heater for granted, but in emerging markets, hot water is an affordable luxury that's in high demand. To put a number on that, A.O. Smith was able to grow revenue in China by 21% a year over the past decade! And there's still room to expand in this country, with the company branching off into air and water purification (two other things you probably take for granted).

But this isn't just about China. The company is looking to use its China playbook as it expands in India. This emerging market is equally as large an opportunity, with A.O. Smith expecting its target customer population in the country to expand by over 250% between 2020 and 2030. Asia is the largest contributor to the company's sales outside of the Americas and should continue to drive solid top- and bottom-line growth for years to come. And with debt at just 15% of the company's capital structure, there's no reason to question A.O. Smith's ability to fund its growth plans.

If India plays out well, the company's stock could easily double over the next 10 years, if not sooner. And you also get to collect a growing dividend along the way. Although the 1.1% yield is modest, Smith has increased it annually for 25 consecutive years (and at a 17% annualized clip over the past decade!).

10 stocks we like better than MGM Resorts InternationalWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and MGM Resorts International wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 8, 2018

Chuck Saletta owns shares of Kinder Morgan and has the following options: long January 2020 $20 calls on Kinder Morgan, short January 2020 $20 puts on Kinder Morgan, and short June 2018 $18 puts on Kinder Morgan. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Travis Hoium owns shares of Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of Moody's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Index funds can offer convenient ways to build positions in a wide range of stocks and reduce the risk profile of your investments. For retirement-focused portfolios, this lower-risk approach to investing can be a great fit, but it's also important to proceed with the understanding that not all index funds are created equal.

Some funds offer advantages such as cheaper ownership costs or holdings that better position investors to take advantage of the tax-advantaged status of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and selecting the right ones can make a big difference in the performance you see over time. Read on to see why three Motley Fool investors have identified Vanguard Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund Admiral Shares (NASDAQMUTFUND: VTMSX), Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEMKT: VIG), and Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (NYSEMKT: VYM) as top index funds for your IRA.

Go for growth

Maxx Chatsko (Vanguard Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund Admiral Shares): When it comes to index fund management, Vanguard is the undisputed champion. That's why it has some $5.1 trillion in assets under its helm. The no-nonsense, low-fee approach has also proven to be very kind to long-term investors looking to build wealth. That has been especially true for the Vanguard Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund over the years.

The index fund only holds small-cap companies, which means it's a bit riskier than your run-of-the-mill group of holdings that track the broader market. After all, small-cap stocks have a higher rate of failure than mid-cap or large-cap stocks that represent more mature businesses.

That said, more risk means more reward, and Vanguard has expertly managed that risk since the fund launched in March 1999. The Vanguard Tax-Managed Small-Cap Fund has put up an annual rate of return of 11% since its inception -- and that includes the dot-com bubble burst and the Great Recession. It has treated investors well, as $10,000 invested one decade ago would be worth $28,416 today -- and that includes the Great Recession. It's difficult to beat that performance with such little effort.

The fund comes with an expense ratio of just 0.09%, which is 92% lower than the average fund with similar holdings. However, because it's included in Vanguard's Admiral Shares offerings, the minimum initial investment is $10,000, which is higher than starting commitments for other funds. Nonetheless, this is among the simplest ways to earn above-average returns on your hard-earned money.

Income and broad market exposure

Keith Noonan (Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF): Owning stakes in dividend-paying companies creates a source of income that can help support you in retirement, and the tax-advantaged status of IRAs opens avenues to keeping more of your payouts to reinvest and compound. These qualities make dividend-paying stocks or dividend-focused funds a smart fit for IRAs, and Vanguard's High Dividend ETF is a top choice for investors seeking dependable yield and diversified market exposure.

Vanguard's High Dividend ETF, or VYM, as it's tickered and sometimes called, bundles together 384 stocks in a low-expense vehicle for broad ownership in companies with above-average yields. The fund carries a roughly 2.9% yield as of this writing and tracks the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index -- which consists of stocks on the FTSE All-World Index that have above-average dividend yields.

The average trailing price-to-earnings ratio for the fund is roughly 18.5 -- a good bit below the S&P 500's P/E of roughly 24, and reflective of the fact that many of the companies that make up VYM's largest holdings are in mature stages of a growth cycle. Dividend-paying stocks can provide investors with some protection in the event of a market downturn, and the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF's composition and income profile make it a worthwhile buffer against volatility.

The VYM's 10 biggest holdings account for roughly 33.1% of the fund's total weight and are listed in the table below:

1. Microsoft 6. Wells Fargo & Co. 2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. 7. AT&T Inc. 3. Johnson & Johnson 8. Chevron Corp. 4. ExxonMobil Corp. 9. Cisco Systems Inc. 5. Intel Corp. 10. Pfizer Inc.

As with many of its funds, Vanguard's high-yield ETF offers comparatively low fees. The company notes that the ETF's annual 0.08% management fee is 92% lower than the average fund consisting of similar holdings. With a reasonable expense profile and exposure to a wide range of stocks, Vanguard's High Dividend ETF presents an easy way to build an income-generating position in the market and should be a stand-out top candidate for investors seeking to add low-risk index funds to their IRAs.

Appreciating dividends

Daniel Miller (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation): Investors looking to add funds to their IRAs would be wise to consider the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF. It owns a diverse portfolio of highly profitable U.S.-based dividend stocks that have increased their dividends consistently over the past 10 years. It's an excellent management style as companies that regularly increase their dividends generally have sustainable competitive advantages, making it a great fund to own in your IRA.

The fund's top five holdings are massive companies that all likely have products in your household: Walmart, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, PepsiCo. and 3M Co. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation is also a solid selection as it's one of the cheapest dividend-oriented funds out there, with the fund charging only eight basis points.

This isn't a fund that's going to shock you with eye-popping dividend yields: Its 12-month yield is 1.89%. That's by design, though, as management screens for profitability and avoids riskier, high-yield stocks -- the fund focuses on dividends that are about to grow. And by owning companies with increasing dividends, which often have competitive advantages, the fund has performed well in the past during bear markets. All in all, this is an excellent fund to own as it's inexpensive, diversified with stable companies, and the extra income from a dividend focus is the cherry on top.

10 stocks we like better than Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETFWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

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*Stock Advisor returns as of May 8, 2018

Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Cisco Systems, and Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Wednesday said it will create 20,000 new jobs and establish a new U.S.-based campus as part of $350 billion in new "direct contribution" to the economy.

Apple also said it expects repatriation tax payments of roughly $38 billion due to changes enacted by the recently-passed GOP tax reform bill. The new tax code calls for a 15.5% repatriation tax rate. The company listed $252.3 billion in overseas cash in its most recent filing with the SEC.

The company plans to establish an Apple campus in a new location, which will initially house technical support for customers. The location of this new facility will be announced later in the year, the company said in a statement.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant said its investments will focus on job creation, spending with U.S. suppliers and an expansion of the App Store, Apples digital content hub. Apple said the $350 billion over the next five years does not include the sale of Apple products or tax payments.

Apple's announcement came weeks after the passage of a GOP tax bill that slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal last July that Apple CEO Tim Cook had committed to building three manufacturing plants in the U.S.

Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com

In addition to its new campus location, Apple said it would build a new facility in Reno, Nevada. It's unclear if the company plans to build the manufacturing facilities mentioned by Trump.

This story has been updated.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL) is awarding bonuses worth $2,500 to most of its global employees after the passage of a GOP-backed tax reform bill, a source familiar with the matter told FOX Business.

The bonuses will be dispersed in the form of restricted stock units. Employees below the senior level title of director are eligible for the bonus.

Apple did not immediately comment on the situation. Bloomberg was first to report the bonuses.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant announced earlier Wednesday it would add 20,000 employees and build a new campus as part of a plan it says will result in $350 billion in direct contribution to the U.S. economy. Apple said it will spend $30 billion over the next five years to fund a U.S. expansion, and expects to pay roughly $38 billion in repatriation tax payments as it shifts the vast majority of its $252.3 billion in overseas cash back to the U.S.

Apples announcements came weeks after the passage of a GOP tax reform bill lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Apple joins several other companies, including AT&T (NYSE:T), Boeing (NYSE:BA) and JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), in awarding bonuses to its employees due to tax reform.
North Korea-linked hackers attempted to steal cryptocurrency from South Korean cryptocurrency exchange users late last year just as the price of bitcoin rallied, according to cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

The report revealed that the attacks were executed by Lazarus, a hacking group with previous ties to the North Korean government, and used shared code with Destover malware, which was used in the Sony Pictures 2014 attack and the first WannaCry ransomware attack.

The hackers used malware known as Ghostscript, from mid-October to late November, to target people using Hangul World Processor (HWP), a Korean word-processing program. Bitcoin prices peaked in mid-December.

We live in a world thats increasingly digitally connected. We are connecting billions of things to the Internet every quarter, including currencies and cars and other things that we hadnt previously thought as digital. So theres exposure there obviously, Endgame CEO Nate Fick said on FOX Business Mornings with Maria.

The researchers said North Korea was attempting to obtain cryptocurrencies in order to deal with the financial sanctions imposed on the nation by the U.N. Security Council.

When you talk about war with a place like North Korea and the United States, youre talking about a potential war between a strong country and a weak country and the cyber capabilities can be weapons of the weak. They are cheap and easy to develop, Fick said.

Bitcoin prices along with other cryptocurrencies including Ripple and Ethereum have tumbled over concerns of a South Korean regulatory crackdown.
LONDON/TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Bitcoin skidded below $10,000 on Wednesday, halving in value from its peak price, with investors gripped by fears regulators could clamp down on the volatile cryptocurrency that sky-rocketed last year.

The price of bitcoin, the world's biggest and best known cryptocurrency, fell to as low as $9,500 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, the lowest since Dec. 1.

Bitcoin had touched a peak of almost $20,000 in December - and indeed crossed over that threshold on some exchanges - but has since been roiled by several large selloffs.

Other cryptocurrencies plunged as well. Ethereum and Ripple were both down heavily after reports South Korea and China could ban cryptocurrency trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.

"There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling to try and get the hell out of there," said Charles Hayter, founder of Cryptocompare, which owns cryptocurrencies.

"You have more regulatory uncertainty ... and because of these falls, you have these other fallouts," he said, referring to the collapse of some cryptocurrencies in the recent slump in prices.

Analysts at Citi said on Wednesday bitcoin could halve again in value amid the current rout, adding that a possible fall to between the $5,605 and $5,673 area "looks very likely to be very speedy."

With South Korea, Japan and China all making noises about a regulatory swoop, and officials in France and the United States vowing to investigate cryptocurrencies, there are concerns that global coordination on how to regulate them will accelerate.

Officials are expected to debate the rise of bitcoin at the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina in March.

"Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of the G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations," said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

At its lows on Tuesday, bitcoin suffered its biggest daily decline in four months. It was a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December, when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2,000 percent over the year.

Bitcoin has plummeted before. Marc Singer, an adviser at Singer Xenos in Miami, noted bitcoin fell 93 percent in value over a five-month period in 2011. The last time bitcoin more than halved in value was from November 2014 to January 2015.

Tuesday's decline followed reports that South Korea's finance minister had said banning trading in cryptocurrencies is still an option and that Seoul plans a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralized trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

"Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn," said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.

"My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them."

WILD SWINGS

Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a bumper year in 2017 as mainstream investors entered the market and as an explosion in so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) - digital, token-based fundraising rounds - drove demand.

While many observers say the recent falls show that the bubble has burst, those backing the nascent markets say that regulation is welcomed and wild price swings to be expected.

"The volatility of bitcoin - and other crypto currencies - is an expected, and important, part of the journey to becoming a mature asset class. We expect the volatility to continue throughout 2018 but fundamentally believe that bitcoin is still in a bull market," said Christopher Keshian, co-founder of $APEX Token Fund.

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market value, was down 27 percent since Tuesday, according to website CoinMarketCap.

Ripple, the third biggest, has lost 32 percent of its value over the past 24 hours and was quoted at $0.94, down from a high of $3.81 on Jan. 4.

Bitcoin futures maturing on Wednesday on the CBOE Global Markets Inc's CBOE Futures Exchange were at $9,580, with 3,996 contracts traded, after having opened at $10,850.

"The run-up in bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken, but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand," Englander wrote.

"This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics."

(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes in London and Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Writing by Vidya Ranganathan and Tommy Wilkes; editing by Mark Heinrich and Nick Zieminski)
Crude prices have been red-hot over the past six months, rebounding more than 40% to well over $60 a barrel, a three-year high. While some analysts believe oil could give back some of its recent gains and head back into the $50s, others see catalysts on the horizon that could push it even higher.

Analysts at Citigroup, for example, recently put out a report listing several wild cards that could drive crude up toward $80 a barrel. Among the most notable was President Trump, who through words or actions could escalate tensions in places like Iran and North Korea. Either scenario, or any number of other wild cards, could cause oil prices to skyrocket.

How Trump could affect oil prices

Citigroup noted that President Trump, for example, could make good on his threats to end the controversial Iran nuclear deal, which, among other things, enabled the Middle Eastern nation to increase its oil exports. While recent reports suggest that the president will probably extend the sanction relief, it's still possible that he could reimpose them on the country. If that happened, it would dislocate as much as 500,000 barrels per day of the country's oil exports, which Citi thought would immediately add $5 per barrel to the price of oil.

However, even without an impact from Trump, Iran represents a huge wild card. Current tensions in the country from recent protests could boil over and take a significant portion of the country's oil exports offline. Meanwhile, the nation has long been a threat to cut off the oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, which could significantly disrupt the oil market.

In addition to Iran, Citigroup also noted that the "rhetoric from and toward North Korea has also escalated in the past few months," with Trump and Kim Jong-un trading incendiary comments, which could ultimately flare up into a military conflict. The risk of war would be likely to prompt nations to stockpile strategic goods such as oil, with that buying causing prices to spike.

It's worth emphasizing out that these are wild card events and not what Citigroup expects to see this year -- although if oil prices do rocket because of some Trump-fueled crisis, that would certainly benefit U.S. oil producers.

How a Trump bump would affect oil stocks

Among the producers that would see the greatest lift from a return of $80 oil are those that have the lowest production costs and didn't cap their upside by hedging production against falling prices. Three that stand out are EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), Anadarko Petroleum(NYSE:APC), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP). All three have gotten their costs down to the point where they can grow production at a healthy pace even if crude is in the $50s. EOG Resources, for example, can increase its oil output by a 15% compound annual rate through 2020 while living within the cash flow it can generate at $50 a barrel. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips can grow its production by a 5% compound annual rate, while also returning significant cash flow to investors through dividends and share buybacks at $50 a barrel. Finally, Anadarko can deliver 14% oil production growth this year within cash flow at $50 oil.

Because of those sub-$50-a-barrel breakeven levels, this trio would produce a gusher of cash flow if crude pushed toward $80 a barrel, since they don't have any oil hedges that would cap that upside. Contrast this with Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), which had hedged 80% of its oil for 2018 by the end of last year's third quarter, which capped its ceiling on that production at around $58 a barrel. While hedging helped put a floor under Pioneer's cash flow when oil was lower, it now prevents the company from enjoying the full benefit of higher oil prices.

Well positioned even without help from Trump

As with any wild card, it's impossible to predict if President Trump will drive oil higher this year, which is why investors shouldn't buy oil stocks based on that belief. Instead, they should consider oil stocks that can do just fine if oil gives back its recent gains, while also providing unabated upside if it keeps rising. While that's a tall order, ConocoPhillips, EOG Resources, and Anadarko Petroleum all fit that bill, since they've pushed their production costs below $50 a barrel and don't have any oil hedges, which should enable them to do well no matter what happens to oil this year.
Perspective matters.

Some could look at Eli Lilly and Company's (NYSE: LLY) stock gain of 15% in 2017 and think it was disappointing. After all, the S&P 500 index jumped 19% last year. Some of Lilly's peers performed even better than that. Others might be happy with Lilly's 2017 return, noting that it was much better than the stock's loss in 2016 of 13%.

Probably the best perspective is the one that only looks ahead. It asks, "Is Lilly a buy in 2018?" The answer to that question, though, is somewhat complicated.

Positives

Let's first look at the reasons to consider buying Lilly. The big pharma company has quite a few positives going for it. Put Trulicity at the top of that list. Lilly launched the type 2 diabetes drug in late 2014. Trulicity is on pace to approach $2 billion in sales for 2017.

The product with the fastest-growing sales for Lilly is Taltz. Lilly won FDA approval for the drug in treating plaque psoriasis in March 2016 and in treating psoriatic arthritis in December 2017. Sales skyrocketed for Taltz in 2017 and should easily top $500 million when Lilly reports its full-year results.

While Trulicity and Taltz are Lilly's top growth drivers, the company has several other drugs with solid growth. Sales for diabetes drugs Forteo and Trajenta increased by 15% and 23%, respectively, in the first three quarters of 2017 compared with the prior-year period. Cancer drug Cyramza saw sales jump nearly 27% year over year during the same period.

Then there's what Lilly CEO Dave Ricks referred to at the recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference as the company's "next chapter of growth." Ricks was talking about Lilly's experimental pain drugs. The farthest along is galcanezumab, which could win FDA approval for treating migraine later this year. Next up is another migraine drug -- lasmiditan. Lilly expects to submit the drug for FDA approval in the second half of this year. Phase 3 results for a third candidate targeting treatment of migraine, tanezumab, should be announced by Lilly and partner Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) later in 2018 as well.

One business segment that didn't generate sales growth for Lilly in 2017 could still become a positive for the company. Lilly is considering selling or spinning off its animal health unit, Elanco. Pfizer's move to spin off its animal health business into a separate entity a few years ago was an overwhelming success. Lilly shareholders could benefit from a similar move in 2018.

And we can't leave out Lilly's dividend. The yield currently stands at 2.59%. Lilly has steadily increased the dividend over the past few years, although the hikes have been modest.

Negatives

It's easy to identify Lilly's positives, but it's also no challenge to spot the company's negatives. Sales for the company's top-selling product, Humalog, were up in 2017, but only by a single-digit percentage. The bigger problem is that Humalog has already lost patent exclusivity. Lilly anticipates some loss of market share in the future to generic rivals.

Sales are already declining for Lilly's No. 2 product, Cialis, which lost compound patent protection in the U.S. and in Europe. That's also the case for the company's third best-selling product, cancer drug Alimta.

The problems extend to several other drugs in Lilly's lineup. Chemotherapy drug Erbitux is losing market share. So is Lilly's anticoagulant Effient. And sales are slipping for all three of the company's leading neuroscience drugs: Cymbalta, Strattera, and Zyprexa.

As if all of that isn't enough, one of the Lilly's biggest winners could have a tough fight on its hands in 2018. Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) won FDA approval in December for Ozempic (semaglutide). Market research firm EvaluatePharma ranked Ozempic as the No. 2 top new drug of 2018. Late-stage clinical study results showed that Novo's drug reduced blood sugar more than Trulicity and helped patients lose more weight than Lilly's blockbuster.

Summing up

Do Lilly's positives outweigh the negatives, making the stock a buy in 2018? Or is the opposite true? My view is that Lilly will grow revenue and earnings over the next few years despite its challenges. I think the stock will also climb somewhat.

However, I think the biggest drawback to buying Lilly stock is that there are too many other better choices. Yes, Lilly could perform better in the future than it has in the past. But there are plenty of other stocks that should perform much better. That's what happened in 2017. I expect a similar story this year.

10 stocks we like better than Eli Lilly and CompanyWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Eli Lilly and Company wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of January 2, 2018

Keith Speights owns shares of Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Latest on a disputed airport plan in France (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

Activists are refusing an order by the French prime minister to leave their makeshift settlement in western France set up years ago to protest the construction of a new airport  a project the government says is now abandoned.

Hundreds of activists who call themselves ZADists, for Zone of Defense, said that there would be a victory celebration on Feb. 10. They spoke shortly after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's Wednesday announcement of the end of the airport project.

The group, entrenched in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, the planned airport site, said it is refusing to leave by spring as ordered. Still it says it will clear the main road of obstacles defending their zone.

French Security forces were being deployed to the region around Nantes.

___

2:30 p.m.

A top French regional official has lashed out at the central government for its decision to abandon a highly contentious airport project in his area in western France, saying it has "trampled on democracy."

Philippe Grosvalet, president of the Loire-Atlantique department, said on BFM TV on Wednesday that the government has also "ceded to disorder," a reference to anarchists who have protested the airport project in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, outside Nantes. The protesters, living in a makeshift settlement, have clashed with police several times in recent years.

The majority of citizens supported the airport project in a 2016 referendum.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced the decision to abandon the divisive airport project and ordered roads blocked by protesters cleared  or police will intervene. He said squatters must leave by spring.

___

2:10 p.m.

France's prime minister says that the government has decided against building an airport in western France that has mobilized nearly a decade of sometimes violent protests and he told protesters occupying the site that they must leave.

Edouard Philippe says that the decision to abandon construction of a new airport outside Nantes was based on the explosive situation there and divisions among the population.

He said that anarchists opposed to the new airport must leave. He said that "we will put an end to this lawless zone."

He ordered protesters living in a makeshift settlement in Notre-Dames-des-Landes, where the airport was set to be built, to clear roads they have been blocking  or police will.

___

9:35 a.m.

Police are deploying extra forces to western France as the government prepares to decide whether to build an airport that has mobilized nearly a decade of sometimes violent protests.

Anarchists, farmers and environmental activists have occupied a vast area around Notre-Dame-des-Landes, outside the city of Nantes, to resist the proposed airport. Protesters from other regions have reportedly arrived in recent days.

A police official said Wednesday that extra gendarmes and riot police are being sent this week to the area, because police plan to try to clear out the protesters once the government makes a decision.

President Emmanuel Macron's Cabinet is scheduled to discuss the airport at a meeting Wednesday.

Proponents argue the region needs a larger airport to boost its economic prospects. Opponents say the airport is unnecessary and a symbol of exploitative globalization.
The attorneys general for New York and Connecticut have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the latest multi-state effort to compel federal regulators to reduce smog blowing in from other states.

Eric Schneiderman (SHNEYE'-dur-muhn) of New York and George Jepsen of Connecticut filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. The suit says the Environmental Protection Agency is violating the federal Clean Air Act by failing to curb air pollution that blows east into New York from states such as Illinois and Michigan.

The legal action is at least the fourth in the past year involving mostly East Coast states seeking to have the EPA regulate out-of-state pollutants. Last month, New York and seven other states filed a lawsuit in a federal appeals court on the same issue.
A previously pot friendly rural Northern California county has reversed course and banned commercial marijuana farms, paving the way for lawsuits from growers who previously received permits and paid taxes.

A newly constituted Calaveras County board of supervisors last week voted 3-2 to ban marijuana, giving some 200 farmers with permits about three months to wind down operations. The vote to ban occurred less than a month after California authorized retail sales of marijuana for recreational use in cities and counties that approve of pot operations within their borders.

Calaveras County growers with permits said Wednesday they are planning to sue. Each permit cost $5,000 and the county has collected more than $7 million in taxes from marijuana growers since 2016.

The economically struggling county of 44,000 residents initially embraced legalized marijuana as a way to generate revenue and recover from a devastating 2015 wildfire that displaced hundreds or residents and businesses. The county used some of the marijuana tax to hire additional police and staff.

But four new board members were seated this month after winning election in November on campaign promises to ban marijuana.

"We have known this day could come and we have prepared for this eventuality for the last year," said Trevor Witke, president of the Calaveras Cannabis Alliance farmers' group. "We are going to move forward with everyone who has been impacted by this decision."

The farmers also said they may try to qualify a ballot measure to reverse the ban.

Marijuana has deeply divided financially Calaveras County, the famous setting of a Mark Twain short story located about 150 miles east of San Francisco.

Sheriff DiBasilio estimated the county, which is about the size of Rhode Island, has more than 1,000 illegal farms in addition to the 200 licensed farmers and the hundreds more who had their applications pending. The influx has caused a backlash among residents and led to the ouster of some leaders who approved marijuana cultivation.

Ban proponents complained that a sudden influx of new marijuana growers dramatically changed the region's makeup and damaged the environment.
Amid uncertainty over protections for young immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, a scholarship group that recently collected its biggest donation yet from Amazon chief Jeff Bezos said it is exploring ways to help students if they are deported.

The Dream.US foundation, which received $33 million from Bezos on Friday, said it hopes it will be possible for scholarships to follow recipients to schools outside the United States.

It is among the advocacy groups, universities and employers that have started developing contingency plans amid the uncertain future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

Southern Oregon University has arranged for its sister school, Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico, to take in its DACA students if they are deported.

The university in the Oregon city of Ashland has a small number of affected students, but President Linda Schott got the promise during a visit last year to the Mexican school, her spokesman said.

"They were just talking about the situation, and the folks at University of Guanajuato stepped forward and said, 'We'll help however we can,'" spokesman Joe Mosley said.

The Obama-era program shielded from deportation and granted work permits to young immigrants known as "dreamers" who were brought to the country illegally as children or overstayed their visas. President Donald Trump announced he was ending DACA unless lawmakers come up with a solution by March.

Advocates say it seems like one step forward and one step back as a resolution is sought for the estimated 800,000 people affected  many of them college-age students who have spent a majority of their lives in the U.S.

Trump declared this week that a lack of trust with Democratic leadership was undermining a long-term deal. Yet federal authorities have reopened services surrounding the program after a court ruling last week.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services agency resumed accepting requests to renew deferred-action status after a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the decision to end DACA. The Trump administration has appealed.

Dream.US President Candy Marshall said her high-profile donors have unanimously agreed to keep funding the scholarships regardless of DACA status. Bezos said he was giving the money to cover 1,000 scholarships in honor of his adoptive father, who came to the U.S. alone from Cuba at age 16.

The foundation has so far raised $190 million from its donors, which also include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

"For dreamers who are hearing day in and day out that they don't belong, and some even questioning their existence, this is an important message," Marshall said of the donors' support.

Employers also have been wrestling with how to address potential changes.

There are no contingency plans for the estimated 20,000 teachers who could be deported if DACA unravels, National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen Garcia said.

Teach for America says it's still recruiting those protected by DACA to work in low-income schools.

"Every corps member can be a role model and ally for children, but you can be an additional inspiration and offer guidance based on your background," the organization's website said.

Airbnb, for one, has said it would continue to employ affected workers even if they use their status.

Bill Ong Hing, founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and law professor at the University of San Francisco, said he is encouraging other corporate heavyweights to speak up and make the same pledge.

"I'm pushing, trying to encourage employers to stand up and say, 'Listen, if DACA ends, I'm going to continue hiring and paying these folks as a matter of civil disobedience,'" Hing said.

___

Follow Sally Ho at https://twitter.com/_sallyho .
U.S. markets posted triple-digit gains on Wednesday, and inched just above the 26,000 point waterline in afternoon trade.

The Dow officially crossed the 26,000 milestone early Tuesday, but it was unable to hold on to the record and finished in the red. But, on Wednesday the stock index returned to its winning ways, and moved higher starting in the pre-bell session.

On Wednesday morning there was a batch of earnings and economic data for traders to contend with. Before the market open Wednesday, earnings were released from some major financial nameplates including Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC).

Bank of Americas fourth-quarter profit fell with the company taking a $2.9 billion charge related to the new tax law, but excluding this charge, earnings topped estimates, at 48 cents per share compared with analysts estimates of 44 cents.

Goldman Sachs also took a one time charge due tax reform, of $4.40 billion. Excluding the one-off charge and other items, the bank recorded earnings per share of $5.68. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of $4.91 per share. It was unclear if the banks reported result and the consensus analyst estimate were comparable.

The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday industrial output increased 0.9% in December, topping the Reuters compiled economic forecast for 0.4%.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index slipped to 72 this month, down two points from December. However, according to Reuters, Decembers reading was the highest level of optimism in over 18 years.

The Feds Beige Book is due out Wednesday afternoon.
Suffolk University says a graduate has pledged a record $10 million to the school for a scholarship fund.

The gift, the largest single alumni donation in the university's history, will fund scholarships for students in need from Massachusetts. Suffolk will name a new classroom building after the donor, Leonard Samia.

Samia earned a bachelor's degree from Suffolk in 1969, and his two daughters are graduates. He is president and chief executive of The Samia Companies, a real estate company.

Samia says Suffolk has made an enormous difference in his life and he would not be where he is today without it.

Interim university president Marisa Kelly says the school is grateful for the generous gift.
Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg were excited to see the wedding programs they ordered for their big day. But when the package arrived, the gay couple was horrified to instead find religious pamphlets with messages about temptation and sin, according to a federal lawsuit against printing company Vistaprint.

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Massachusetts, accuses Vistaprint of attacking the couple because they're gay by replacing their wedding program order with the "hateful, discriminatory" pamphlets.

"Our goal is to hold Vistaprint accountable for the harm they have caused, to give a voice to others who may have been similarly victimized, to help prevent this from happening to someone else and to send a message that there will be consequences for acts of hate perpetrated against others," the couple, who got married in Pennsylvania in September, said in a statement.

Vistaprint's CEO and founder said in a letter to customers on Wednesday that it is "incredibly saddened" by the incident and has launched an investigation to determine how and why the couple received the materials. The Dutch company, which has a regional headquarters in Massachusetts, says it has reached out to the couple, who lives in Australia, and hopes to use the incident as an "opportunity to shine light on important LGBTQ issues."

"We share in this couple's outrage. Vistaprint in no way condones  and does not tolerate  discrimination against any of our customers based on their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation," CEO Trynka Shineman and Founder Robert Keane said in the letter.

Vistaprint later updated the letter to say it had learned that "materials that were intended to be printed for one customer were incorrectly sent to this couple" by a third-party partner.

"We, and our partner, are committed to understanding how and why this happened, Shineman and Keane said. "If we determine that any individual played a deliberate role in this mix up, we will take strong action."

The lawsuit says the pamphlets received by the couple on the eve of their wedding included phrases such as "fight against Satan's temptation and pursue what is good" and "do not set on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers." The couple says the pamphlets were designed to intimidate and threaten them.

David Gottlieb, an attorney for the couple, said they did not complain to Vistaprint at the time of their wedding because they had to scramble to print their own programs in time for the ceremony. Gottlieb said they hope that their lawsuit will bring public attention to the issue to ensure others don't receive the same treatment.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, accuses Vistaprint of discriminating against the couple because they're gay and breaching a contract for not delivering the programs they ordered.

___

Follow Alanna Durkin Richer @aedurkinricher . Read more of her work here .
President Trump threatened over the weekend to let the government shut down if lawmakers cannot agree on certain immigration policies, including funding the border wall, which could affect both the economy and workers pay.

Lawmakers passed a spending bill earlier this year that funds the government through September. The government shut down for about three days in January over disagreements related to immigration policies.

Heres a look at who would be affected, and how, if the government were to shut down again.

What is closed?

If the government shuts down most federal operations come to a halt because the government loses its authority to spend money. The services that continue are those that are essential to national security and health. For example, veterans hospitals usually remain open.

The Postal Service will continue delivering mail and Social Security beneficiaries will continue receiving checks.

National parks, national monuments, museums, application and visa processing centers are all generally closed.

All workers who are employed at places that are shut down will be furloughed.

Its costly

The government shutdown in 2013, which lasted 16 days, cost the U.S. an estimated $24 billion, according to Standard & Poors. That breaks down to about $1.5 billion per day. The ratings agency also estimated at the time that it had a significant impact on GDP during the quarter in which it occurred.

Money is lost in productivity, government services and from Americans being unable to visit parks, museums, etc. Money can also be lost in the form of delayed contracts.

Who doesnt get paid?

Furloughed workers dont get paid when the government is shut down, though they generally receive back pay once things are up and running again. The 2013 government shutdown impacted about 850,000 federal employees, or 40% of the governments civilian workforce.

Even the military is affected. While active duty members and all critical support staff are required to work, they do not get paid during a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, members of Congress will continue getting paid because they are not subject to furlough. However, some choose to forego their paychecks. It is also forbidden for the president to be denied a salary during any time in office. While Trump has said he would not take a salary during his tenure, he does donate it.
Blue states are in deep financial trouble. Illinois, New York, California and New Jersey. They are big-government states. Very high taxes, lots of regulation. Frankly, they remind me more of Europe than America.

Well now there's a new sheriff in D.C. He's all for cutting taxes and regulations. Donald Trump is a direct challenge.

The blue states are not responding well. New Yorks Gov. Cuomo is going to court. Outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown just says "good luck baby" to his successor. But its the new governor of New Jersey who is leading the blue states' "resistance.

Democrat Phil Murphy says New Jersey will be the state that leads the nation in progressive policies.

We will resist every move from President Trump," he will make $15 an hour the minimum wage, free community college. He'll protect illegals and make them eligible for college aid.

Okay. But how will New Jersey pay for its $202 billion, unfunded pension liability for its retired government workers? No mention of that. And that is precisely the same problem which plagues other blue states: Illinois, California, Rhode Island and more.

These blue states have learned nothing. Their big government, high-tax policies have produced enormous financial problems and the response in New Jersey is to keep pushing the progressive button. It won't work.

Clearly this is a nation that is bitterly divided over many things. The economic policy divide is actually getting worse.

Bottom line: Red states win. Blue states continue to lose.
One of Americas most historic drag racing strips is shutting down.

New Jerseys Old Bridge Township Raceway Park abruptly announced the move on Wednesday, citing a restructuring of its business.

The facility will continue to operate the adjacent road course and motocross tracks that it also operates, along with hosting swap meets, mud runs and other events.

Old Bridge Township Mayors office for Economic Development executive Steve Mamakas told NJ.com that the stadium section of the track, including its VIP suites, will be used as a concert venue in the future, while the rest of the track is being leased to an auto auction company, according to Jalopnik.

THAT TIME FOX NEWS AUTOS TOOK A COP CAR TO RACEWAY PARK:

AND A PICKUP TRUCK:

The track opened in 1965 and was set to host the 49th National Hot Rod Association Summernationals this June.

NHRA drag racing events have been held at the track in Englishtown for almost 50 years. The Summernationals have played an important part in our heritage and we hope that fans in the area will try to make it to another one of our events, NHRA president Glen Cromwell wrote in an official statement on the closure.

ARE YOU FOLLOWING FOX NEWS AUTOS ON FACEBOOK YET?

In 2008, NHRA driver Scott Kalitta was killed at the track after his engine blew at around 300 mph and he crashed into a barrier at the end of the runoff area. The accident led to one of the biggest changes in the history of the NHRA, when it decided to shorten the races for its fastest cars from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet.

Mamakas said hes raced at the track himself, but the costs for fuel and equipment have risen so much in recent years that he and a lot of drivers he knows dont go to the amateur events as often as they used to.

Nevertheless, many racers and fans took to Twitter to remember the track:
The minds behind one of Marvels most successful movies of 2017 are switching sides to helm an upcoming DC Comics film adventure. The writers behind Spider-Man: Homecoming have been tapped to direct the upcoming standalone movie for The Flash.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, writing duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein will take on the task of directing the standalone Flash movie, which many believe will cover the very complicated, time-travel adventure storyline from the comics known as Flashpoint.

As filmmakers, Daley and Goldstein made a name for themselves for pening comedies such as Horrible Bosses, Vacation, Game Night and, of course, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

The DC film universe has been in trouble since its tentpole films Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League received poor reviews. The success of Wonder Woman helped breathe new life into the franchise and now all eyes are on the speedster hero The Flash, played in the films by Ezra Miller. The characters solo film hit a snag in October 2016 when Dope director Rick Famuyiwa left the project over what Variety reported as creative differences." He was the second director to exit the project after Seth Graham-Smith, who wrote the script, backed out of directing duties.

There is currently no release date set for The Flash standalone movie given its behind-the-scenes struggles. DC and Warner Bros. are currently gearing up for the standalone release of The Flashs fellow Justice League teammember Aquaman. Actor Jason Momoa introduced the character in Justice League and will return for his own adventure in December followed by Shazam! in 2019.
Following the lifted ban on cinemas in Saudi Arabia, the country screened its first public movie in 35 years in the form of The Emoji Movie.

According to Reuters, the conservative Islamic kingdom lifted the ban in December after a movement in the 1980s that focused on morality and avoiding men and women intermingling in public closed all theaters. The country, which is experiencing a liberalization under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is expected to open theaters as early as March. Until that time, authorities sponsored a temporary theater in a state-run cultural hall in Jeddah. Families were treated to a projector and screen, a red carpet and popcorn machine to complete the full movie-going experience.

The Verge reports that The Emoji Movie was the first to air along with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie in an effort to start things off with more family-friendly fare, thus preserving the morals that the typically conservative society is worried about while opening the door to a potentially lucrative industry.

As Deadline notes, the Saudi government estimates that a cinema business could contribute more than $24 billion to the economy by 2030, creating an estimated 30,000 permanent jobs and roughly 130,000 temporary jobs. This will help the nations long term goal of making its economy less-dependant on oil.

According to BoxOfficeMojo, The Emoji Movie grossed roughly $86 million in the United States while Captain Underpants brought in $73 million.
President Trump kicked CNN star Jim Acosta out of the Oval Office Tuesday after the networks senior White House correspondent badgered him with racially charged questions.

Acosta has made a habit of grandstanding and interrupting when Trump and his surrogates are available to the media. Tuesday was no exception, as Acosta yelled, Mr. President, three times before finally getting Trumps attention.

Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr. President? Acosta frantically shouted.

I want them to come in from everywhere everywhere. Thank you very much everybody, Trump responded as Acosta continued to bark questions.

Just Caucasian or white countries, sir? Or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world people of color, Acosta shouted.

Trump then pointed directly at Acosta and simply said, Out!

A Trump staffer in the background can be heard saying, Jim, thank you, before the CNN star presumably exited the room. Acosta then took to Twitter, accusing White House aides of obstructing him from asking questions.

Acosta has been among the most outspoken critics of President Trump and is a significant part of CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zuckers apparent anti-Trump programming strategy. Trump has famously dubbed CNN fake news and pointed directly at Acosta and called him by the disparaging moniker in the past.

Last December, Acosta was shut down by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders when the liberal reporter tried to hijack a press briefing. Acosta told Sanders that journalists make honest mistakes but that doesnt make them fake news before attempting a question. Sanders quickly cut him off.

When journalists make honest mistakes, they should own up to them. Sometimes, and a lot of times, you dont, Sanders said as Acosta tried to interrupt.

Im sorry, Im not finished, she said. There is a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposefully misleading the American people... you cannot say its an honest mistake when youre purposely putting out information you know is false.

Acosta has also gotten into combative arguments with other members of the administration including Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller. Meanwhile, CNN has been mocked for a variety of anti-Trump segments, such as focusing on the presidents soda intake amid unfolding breaking news related to a terror attack in New York City.

Acostas colleague, fellow CNN star Chris Cuomo, apologized on Tuesday after he referred to Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Raj Shah as Raj whatever-his-name-is.

CNN has also aired the uncensored version of the word s---hole on a regular basis since Trump reportedly used the term to describe certain African countries. CNN anchors and guests said the profanity 195 times in one day last week, according to the Media Research Center.
Ann Curry said in her first TV interview since leaving NBC in 2015 that she would have been surprised if anyone at the "Today" show didn't know about her former co-host Matt Lauer's pervy behavior with women, adding that there was a culture of sexual harassment at the peacock network.

"I can tell you that I am not surprised by the allegations," Curry told the "CBS This Morning" hosts on Wednesday morning regarding the harassment and assault claims against Lauer.

Curry was then pressured to talk about whether others at NBC and "Today" knew about Lauer's alleged behavior at the time.

"I think it would be surprising if someone said they didn't see that," an uncomfortable Curry said. She added, "I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed."

Currys comments seem to fly in the face of NBC honchos repeated claims that they were unaware of Lauers behavior. Her statements put the spotlight back on the networks refusal to conduct an independent investigation into Lauer and the issue of sexual harassment at NBC.

Instead, parent company Comcast is conducting an in-house investigation to determine who knew about now-disgraced Lauers sexual misconduct and when they knew it. NBC Universals corporate team of human resources and legal executives are leading the ongoing harassment probe and will report its findings to HR Executive Vice President Patricia Langer and Vice President of General Counsel Kim Harris.

NBC News Chairman Andy Lack recently announced a culture assessment of NBC News and an assortment of other bureaucratic efforts he's establishing to combat sex harassment  such as focus groups and mandatory training on workplace behavior and harassment prevention. None of the steps taken by NBC News place any blame on leadership that may have allowed Lauers alleged predatory behavior to thrive.

"I dont know what was all behind it. I do know that it hurt like hell. It wasnt a fun moment."  Ann Curry

"CBS This Morning" host Gayle King also pressed Curry to address the longtime rumors that Lauer was behind her firing from "Today" in June 2012. "Today" executives reportedly referred to the plot to remove Curry, 61, as "Operation Bambi."

Curry left the network in 2015.

While saying earlier that she knew what it was like to be "publicly humiliated," Curry would not point the finger at Lauer.

"You should ask someone else," Curry told King. "I'm not the one to ask about that, no, because I don't know what was behind it. I know that it hurt like hell. It wasn't a great moment."

In addition to firing Lauer in November, NBC News has had a smorgasbord of other sexual misconduct-related incidents occur as of late. MSNBC admitted star Chris Matthews settled with a former producer who accused him of sexual harassment, and the network fired Morning Joe regular Mark Halperin for sexual misconduct and suspended two contributors, Glenn Thrush and Harold Ford, Jr., after they were accused of harassment by women.

When news first broke that Lauer had been fired, Lack initially claimed there was only one complaint about Lauer in 20 years  the one that led to his dismissal. But the executives soon backtracked, with NBC clarifying in a statement that only current management was in the dark about "reports" of Lauer's conduct. Even the second statement has raised eyebrows and the Variety reporters who broke the Lauer bombshell, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Ramin Setoodeh, questioned the claim that current NBC staffers were unaware of Lauers misconduct.

All this is occurring as Lack and his top deputy, Noah Oppenheim, still have not explained why they sat on two of the biggest stories of the decade: Farrows investigation of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women. After NBC passed, Farrow, who recently jumped ship to HBO, took his work to the hallowed New Yorker magazine and is now receiving Pulitzer Prize buzz. The tape of Trump caught on a hot mic was leaked from within NBC to the Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who is Oppenheim's friend from prestigious Harvard University where they worked as editors together on the student newspaper.

Observers have recently pondered if NBC executives reluctance to expose other big stars bad behavior  via the "Access Hollywood' tape or Farrow's investigation  was linked to what Vanity Fair called a glass houses problem.

Fox News' Brian Flood has contributed to this report.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story has yet to premiere, but much has already been said about the Ryan Murphy-led miniseries, with the family of Versace decrying the show as a work of fiction.

FXs Versace series stars Darren Criss as murderer Andrew Cunanan, Edgar Ramirez as Gianni Versace and Ricky Martin as Versaces love Antonio DAmico. Penelope Cruz plays Donatella Versace.

Martin, 46, said he experienced intense emotions while filming the story about the murder of the Miami-based fashion icon in 1997. He spent his time after filming wrapped each day reliving everything that I went through that day on set while locked in a hotel room alone in Miami.

And I went to bed with the tears, and I would wake up mourning while I was having breakfast, he told reporters at the Television Critics Associations Winter Pres Tour. It was very methodic what I did

His co-star Criss had a drastically different experience while taping.

It didnt come home with me I can sort of disassociate, the former Glee star said. The most difficult part was just me thinking about the people who are still alive and affected and wanting to do right by them.

Martin was concerned about those that were impacted by the murderer as well and spoke to DAmico before filming.

I just told him, I just want to do justice, and your life is full of injustice. And I want to let people know what your love was about and what your love with Gianni was about because there is a lot of misinterpretation, Martin revealed.



DAmico was emotional during their conversation, Martin said.

Of course it was very touching. After 20 years, all this is getting stirred up again, and emotionally its very draining and exhausting, and it was a lot for him, but he goes It would be even more difficult if I see something thats not true on television, Martin revealed.

The experience filming the second installment of American Crime Story left Martin itching to act again.

The amount of feelings that I went through putting this show together was very addictive, and I really want to go back to that, Martin said.

The first season of American Crime Story, titled The People v. O.J. Simpson, was nominated for 22 Emmys in 2016 and won the coveted award for Outstanding Limited Series.

Murphy said the second season of the anthology series is drastically different from its famed predecessor. The show focuses on the five murders committed Cunanan, not just on the slaying of Versace, he said.

Every season of this show is so different, the showrunner said. I really love how we [got] into everyone who was affected.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace premieres Jan. 17 on FX.
Australian soap opera actress Jessica Falkholt died Wednesday at age 29, six days after being taken off life support following a devastating crash that killed three of her family members.

Falkholt, who starred on Home and Away and other Australian shows, died in a Sydney hospital three weeks after a two-car collision that killed her sister, Annabelle, and her parents, Lars and Vivian Falkholt. The driver of the other vehicle, Craig Whitall, 50, was killed instantly in the crash the day after Christmas.

News.com.au reported that Whitall was banned from driving for nine years and had at least 10 convictions for driving while disqualified. He was reportedly traveling to his home from a methadone clinic.

HOME AND AWAYS JESSICA FALKHOLT TAKEN OFF OF LIFE SUPPORT FOLLOWING CRASH THAT KILLED HER FAMILY

Falkholts parents died instantly in the crash but Annabelle, 21, died in the hospital three days later. Jessica underwent a few surgeries, including one to remove her kidney and a portion of her skull. However, the actress was in a coma until she was taken off life support one day following the funeral for her slain family members. Hundreds of mourners gathered in a Sydney church for the funerals of the three Falkholt family members.

On behalf of the family of Jessica Falkholt, St. George Hospital has been asked to advise the media and the community of Jessicas passing today at 10:20 a.m., a statement from the hospital read. Jessica passed away from serious injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on [December 26, 2017].

Falkholts last roles in Australian movie Harmony and roles in Mystery Road and Bite Club were slated to premiere this year.

Lisa Mann, the actress agent, told People the news of her death was heartbreaking.

It is just heartbreaking, Mann said. Beautiful Jess was loved and treasured by her family, friends and colleagues and our sympathies are with everyone today.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NBC News has replaced the longtime executive producer of Today with a woman, in what may be the latest fallout from its shock firing of Matt Lauer for sexual misconduct.

NBC announced on Wednesday that Don Nash, a popular producer whos spent most of his three-decade NBC career at Today, had chosen to step down to spend more time with his family. This came on the same day that former Today host Ann Curry, who was forced off the show by Lauer in 2012, gave her first interview since her firing and described a pervasive atmosphere of verbal sex harassment at the show during her time there. Curry also said she was not surprised by the allegations against Lauer.

"I think it would be surprising if someone said they didn't see that," an uncomfortable Curry said. She added, "I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed."

NBC News chairman Andy Lack had nothing but nice things to say about Nash in an internal memo that was quickly leaked to the media. I cannot thank Don enough He leaves with every aspect of the show on top and with a legacy he should be proud of, Lack wrote.

However, a Florida NBC affiliate reported that the internal memo was met with skepticism inside and outside NBC, given the network's firing of 'Today' co-host Matt Lauer last November.

Its really unfair that NBC had him announce this on the day that Ann Curry did her first TV interview, one NBC staffer told the Daily Mail.

Nash will be replaced by Libbie Leist, a career NBC producer who Today expert and CNN media reporter Brian Stelter described as a close friend of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Untouched in the shakeup are NBC News two top executives, Lack and Noah Oppenheim, who have been fending off calls for an independent investigation to look into their ties to Lauer and whether they looked away from or encouraged sexual harassment at NBC News.

Curry tells of the verbal sexual harassment at NBC yet no one is being held responsible at the highest level. The network is trying to dodge its responsibility in treating its female staffers like garbage, Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor told Fox News.

Oppenheim was a senior producer at Today during the years that Curry described the verbal harassment and returned to oversee Today in 2015 after Currys ouster. NBC staffers have told Fox News that he was a disengaged manager who showed little interest in addressing cultural issues at the program and continued to work actively as a Hollywood screenwriter. These staffers also described Nash  who has not been accused of any misconduct -- as a scapegoat.

This move is about Andy and Noah trying to blame someone else and save themselves, said an NBC insider.

NBC did not respond to requests for comment.

Insiders say Nash  who in a statement last year denied any knowledge of Lauers bad behavior -- served entirely at Lauers pleasure and was never in a position to control the powerful TV star. These insiders told Fox News that ever since Lauer engineered Currys ouster and signed a new contract in 2012, NBC management, including Lack and NBC Universal boss Steve Burke, had given Lauer absolute control over the program.

Journalism icon Porter Bibb said that NBC News has long evidenced poor management and weak decision-making, pointing to allowing Lauer to micromanage the networks flagship morning show as a key example.

These failures were not Don Nash's but his bosses' who run NBC News, Bibb told Fox News.

Lack recently announced a culture assessment of the division he oversees and an assortment of other bureaucratic efforts to combat sex harassment, such as focus groups and mandatory training on workplace behavior. None of the steps taken by NBC News place any blame on Lack or Oppenheim, while NBC parent Comcast has not been transparent about its investigation to determine who knew about Lauer.

Comcast declined a request for comment regarding whether or not anything has been reported to HR Executive Vice President Patricia Langer and Vice President, General Counsel Kimberley D. Harris.

The investigation is still ongoing. I have no further update, a Comcast spokesperson told Fox News.

Media analyst Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that somebody in the NBC hierarchy had to take a fall for the Lauer situation and Nash is apparently that guy.

Frankly, I don't think that is sufficient. If Lack and Oppenheim really didn't know about Lauer's misbehavior, they should still be held accountable for being so oblivious to what was happening with high profile talent in their own operation, McCall said. NBC is mismanaging this entire situation and the brand is taking a hit in the public eye.

If Nash is being used as a scapegoat, it appears the strategy is working with some publications. Variety reported his departure by noting that Nash is stepping down after NBC News said it would conduct an internal review of how it handled the Lauer imbroglio, while Politico pointed out that the move signals the largest shift in management at the program since former host Matt Lauer was fired from the network in November amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

NBC News has been widely criticized for its decision to spike Ronan Farrows reporting on Hollywood heavy hitter Harvey Weinstein that has racked up Pulitzer Prize buzz since being published in The New Yorker. Observers have recently mused whether NBC executives reluctance to expose big stars bad behavior was linked to what Vanity Fair once called a glass houses problem.

NBCs critics have noted that Oppenheim moonlights as a Hollywood screenwriter and had a conflict of interest in standing judgment over Weinstein, long the premier producer of prestige Hollywood films. Oppenheim had also sat at a small table with Weinstein at the exclusive Time 100 dinner in New York in April, while Farrows investigation was well underway.

Oppenheim, who once worked full time as a screenwriter, has long been represented by the Creative Arts Agency. The New York Times recently published a lengthy feature that details CAAs role in protecting Weinstein. Farrow was also with CAA but fired CAA and signed with its primary competitor, WME, less than a week after his story was published in The New Yorker. He has since bolted NBC News for HBO.

Meanwhile, Lack and Oppenheim have still not explained why they didnt report the Access Hollywood tape of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women. The tape of Trump caught on a hot mic was leaked from within NBC to The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, who is Oppenheim's friend from prestigious Harvard University, where they worked as editors together on the student newspaper.
President Trump is fine, but it was the media that appeared to be in bad shape at a sickening spectacle Tuesday, where the White House physician gave the commander-in-chief a clean bill of health.

The disbelieving media scoffed at the official report, mocking the doctor's findings, offering its own diagnoses and ultimately questioning the credentials of a U.S. Navy rear admiral.

Ronny Jackson quickly became a top trend on social media as critics rushed to make jokes and snide remarks about the doctor. Maybe Dr. Ronny Jackson is the same guy who measured Trumps inaugural size, HuffPost contributor Bryan Behar snickered.

White House physician Ronny Jackson declared that Trump was in "excellent health," with the exception of being a tad overweight, needing more exercise and taking medication for high cholesterol  things that the president has in common with millions of Americans.

Many White House correspondents appeared to be in disbelief that Trump was given a clean bill of health and spent nearly an hour peppering Jackson with questions as they fished for maladies.

Immediately following the positive report, ABCs Cecilia Vega asked, Are you ruling out things like early onset Alzheimer's? Are you looking at dementia-like symptoms?"

Dr. Marc Siegel wrote an op-ed in USA Today noting that while some of Trumps tweets and off the cuff comments may seem disinhibited, exhibiting a lack of good social judgment and calling on a need for restraint, but linking this pattern of behavior to a possible larger neuropsychological issue is pure speculation and a dangerous leap to take.

Sadly, the majority of the press didnt get Siegels message.

A new genre of fake news was created as a result of Trumps positive physical, as pundits turned into weight truthers, or as MSNBC star Chris Hayes put it, girthers.

The White house doctor reported that Trump stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 239 pounds, which magically turned critics into carnival-style weight guessers. Morning Joe namesake Joe Scarborough was among the most prominent media members who could moonlight as a weight guesser at his local county fair.

I know somebody who is 63 and weighs close to 239 pounds. And all I can tell you is this -- if thats what 239 pounds looked like -- I would weigh 170 pounds. So, yes, I have great respect for people who have great respect for this doctor. But if thats what 63, 239 pounds looks like -- thats a shock to me, Scarborough said on Wednesday morning.

New York Citys Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the MSNBC morning show and helped pile on, telling Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski that Trumps actions dont suggest he is sane.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni said the White House doctor seemed like a Trump fanboy, during a CNN panel in which host Don Lemon literally laughed at the presidents reported weight.

An NBC News reporter even challenged Trump to step on a scale in public to prove his weight, while New York Times star Maggie Haberman suggested that Trumps height may not coincide with earlier physicals because an extra inch would make a difference on his BMI from overweight to obese.

Media Research Center Vice President Dan Gainor told Fox News the doctor who was appointed to be the presidents personal physician by President Barack Obama is suddenly suspect because the left and mainstream media doesnt like what he said, pointing specifically to CNNs Dr. Sanjay Gupta  who was on hand for Tuesdays press briefing and now claims Trump has heart disease.

Its like a sitcom. Dr. Jackson is then challenged by TV Dr. Sanjay Gupta who hasnt examined Trump, Gainor said. What will the media do next? Interview the cast of ER or perhaps dig up Dr. House and ask their opinions on the presidents height and weight?

Reporters spent months diagnosing the president as mentally unfit for office, unstable and Trump was even speculated to have early-onset Alzheimers disease and dementia. Now that the armchair doctors and psychologists have been proven wrong, many old school journalists would expect an apology, retraction or even correction but it doesnt appear that will happen anytime soon.

An assortment of publications mocked the doctors findings and a Twitter account claiming to be a rogue senior White House adviser tweeted false information that Jackson fudged the numbers and Trump actually weighs 339 pounds. The untruthful message has been retweeted over 4,400 times and favorited by nearly 10,000 people.

Many conservative and down-the-middle media members have mocked the press obsession with Trumps health, as it appears the good news disappointed some of the presidents critics. The Federalist even published a story headlined, 10 of the dumbest questions reporters asked during Trumps health press conference, that details the embarrassing line of questions that makes it hard for traditional journalists to defend their anti-Trump peers.

Jackson called speculation about the presidents health tabloid psychiatry, which is apparently doctor talk for fake news.

I thought the news media couldnt get any more stupid, Gainor said. Boy was I wrong.
Nearly 16 years after his infamous arrest, Nick Nolte is ready to set the record straight with his new book, Rebel.

In his memoir, the 76-year-old actor chronicles his life in Hollywood  how he went from Peoples Sexiest Man Alive to mug shot-famous following his 2002 arrest.

GHB was one substance I ran into that I shouldnt have messed with, Nolte told People in a new interview.

On Sept. 11, 2002, the "Prince of Tides" star made headlines after being arrested for reckless driving along the Pacific Coast Highway.

I took GHB prior to going to the gym for a long workout, he wrote in his book, according to People. A strong dose made me feel great, yet I knew I was repeating with GHB the addictive cycle Id been in before.

Prior to his arrest, Nolte had driven himself to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at a church near his house, but after arriving at the church, the effects of the drugs began to kick in and Nolte decided that he was in no shape to attend the meeting. So he drove off.

I was a mess and driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, he explained in his memoir. Im told six drivers called 911 to report a big sedan weaving on the wrong side of the road.

Nolte was later arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for blood tests, where a local police officer asked the actor if he could take a quick photo of him.

I said, Come on, you dont really want to ask that, do you?' Nolte told GQ in a 2011 issue.

But the actor agreed to let the officer take the now infamous Polaroid if he promised to share any potential profits from the photo with Nolte.

In the book, the actor recalled the attention he received after the photo from his arrest got out.

It went viral  my hair wild, my expression unsettling, looking like an asylum inmate out for a lark. In 1992, People magazine had named me the Sexiest Man Alive, and now, 10 years later, I looked to all the world like a madman.

The 2002 arrest turned out to be a wake-up call for the three-time Oscar-nominated actor. Once Nolte was released on bail, the actor admitted himself into a renowned psychiatric institution known for its addiction programs.

It took thirty days to wean myself off GHB and then I flew home. I was a renewed and fortunate man, he said.

Today, Nolte said he leads a more tranquil life sans alcohol or drugs and is currently raising his 10-year-old daughter with his wife, Clytie Lane. The actor admitted that he was tired of his old lifestyle and was ready to make a change.

I was just worn out, Nolte told People. Just worn out.
Selma Blair has shared new details about disgraced writer and director James Toback. She claims he threatened to kill her after sexually assaulting her.

On Monday morning, Blair sat down with the ladies of The Talk" to discuss Toback.

I had literally been afraid for 17 years of James Toback, Blair said.

She stated the director threatened to murder me and put cement shoes on [me] and gouge my eyes out with a Bic pen if I ever told anybody.

Back in October, the Cruel Intentions actress told the Los Angeles Times and Vanity Fair that Toback had sexually assaulted her in 1999. The director allegedly invited Blair to his hotel room for what was supposed to be a meeting about an upcoming film role for the actress.

Against my better judgment, I went upstairs, Blair said.

Once in the room, she said Toback asked her to practice a monologue naked so that he could train her. It was then when the director allegedly tried to engage in sexual intercourse with the young actress. She said he rubbed his penis against her and asked, Would you f--- me?



After refusing, Blair said Toback threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone about what had happened. The actress, who was truly scared for her life, only told her boyfriend at the time but told him to tell no one.

Nearly 20 years later, Blair was inspired to come out after women began speaking out against Harvey Weinstein.

When I came out, there [were a couple of accusers] who spoke about Weinstein, and it hadnt become this big thing yet, but this was weighing on me, she said.

Blair was hesitant about coming forward but decided to do so after seeing Tobacks name, along with Weinsteins, trending on social media.

I wouldnt go on the record, I was still afraid, she explained. I said if I could be a bigger voice, then I will.'

Toback has now been accused of sexual harassment by more than 300 women. He is currently under investigation by the LAPD and the Los Angeles district attorney, Blair believes that the director should be convicted and placed behind bars.

I do, I do think James Toback belongs in jail, Blair said. I would hope that he would be found guilty.
A lost hunting dog used her instincts to make her way back to safety after spending several days without food or water in the bitter South Dakota cold.

The yellow Labrador was discovered January 4 when she retrieved a downed bird and returned it to a nearby hunter. The stunned hunter contacted U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, who ultimately took the dog to Aberdeen Area Humane Society for care.

Elain Shaible, the shelter manager, said the dog, who was named River by the staff, was in rough condition when she was brought in.

DOG SHOOTS HUNTER AFTER ANOTHER HUNTER LEAVES SHOTGUN ON GROUND

She had wounds on her joints and feet, which we found out were granulomas, Schaible said to Dakota Media Group.

Granulomas in dogs are typically caused by excessively licking sores. At first they were thought to be frostbite because of the record subzero temperatures South Dakota had been experiencing. However, a veterinarian told Humane Society staff that wasnt the case.

Shaible said River was placed in a warm, dry kennel where she slept for the next 48 hours.

River had no microchip or tags and was much thinner than she should have been, Shaible said. However, the dog did have a collar with a metal clip where tags were suspected to have been.

Shes very well potty trained and obviously knows how to hunt, Schaible said.

However, no one has claimed her or reported a lost or unwanted hunting dog, according to the Humane Society.

She couldve gotten lost during a hunt and the owner just didnt care enough to go after her, Schaible said.

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Other hunting dogs have been surrendered to the Humane Society in the past.

We got a call from a hunting lodge who wanted to surrender two hunting dogs because they didnt perform well, Schaible said.

River is assumed to be 8 to 10 years-old based on her teeth and other indicators. She is currently available for adoption at the Aberdeen Area Humane Society.
Every day, Senior Chief Brad greets sailors and marines as they enter a military clinic for their regular doctors appointments. Throughout the day, he makes his rounds and visits patients sitting in the waiting area, cuddling with them briefly. If he senses they are down, he takes action.

But hes no medical professional. Hes a golden retriever yellow lab mix initially trained as a seeing-eye dog, a post-traumatic stress disorder therapy dog and, now, a stress dog.

As suicides across the military have steadily increased since 2013, according to the Department of Defense (DOD), a naval clinic on Joint Base Andrews in Maryland has found a secret weapon to sniff out military members dealing with extreme stress  a dog.

When Senior Chief Brad senses someone is down, he instantly alerts his handler, Chief Bobby Long. Long, a medical technician, counsels the patient to figure out if they need professional help.

People that need a little extra attention or are maybe showing signs of irritability, stress, depression, whatever it could be; he will really focus in on that person and then he wants my attention, Long said. Some of the science behind that shows that dogs can pick up on pheromones that people emit when they are highly stressed and some science points to body language, cues that people leave.

There are only 29 dogs across the country with this ability, according to Kim Hyde, a manager with Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Just kneeling with Brad, rubbing his ear, watching his tail wag, it rejuvenates me. It reminds me of whats important in life."  CDR Damon Hildebrand

Dogs like Senior Chief have actually helped service members who have seen too much and that have come back with emotional scars, Naval Air Facility-Washington (NAF-W) commanding officer Capt. Robert Coogan told Fox News.

Coogan is responsible for coordinating the well-being of the 4,000 service members based at Joint Base Andrews. He has seen firsthand the impact an anti-stress dog has on sailors.

Chief Brad has helped hundreds of sailors on JBA, not only with small day-to-day interactions. But there has been three cases specifically on the Navy side that have dealt with severe stress, combat deployments and the incidents that have really hit to the heart of readiness of the units: tragic events, accidents, suicides or combat deployments or situations regarding family members, Coogan said.

For more than two years, Chief Brad and his handler have worked with sailors and marines in medical facilities on JBA and across Washington, D.C. metro area.

Its rare. I think most dogs have the ability to pick up, read peoples emotions better than humans do. But to get a dog that pick up on it and act on itthats the hard part, Long said.

Long and his anti-stress dog also make house calls to units around the base to provide emotional support to anyone who is having a bad day.

Just kneeling with Brad, rubbing his ear, watching his tail wag, it rejuvenates me. It reminds me of whats important in life, Navy Commander Damon Hildebrand told Fox News.

He also offers puppy therapy to members of a unit trying cope with a traumatic event, like suicide.

(What) Brad does for us ishe lifts us to a higher level. He lifts us to a place where we can heal effectively, take our mind off that stress even just momentarily, enabling us to heal in a proper manner, a healthy manner, Hildebrand said.

Luis Glinton, a Navy hospital corpsman, said Brad helped him with a change in his career.

Facing a transition period in my life (going from military to civilian world involuntarily), and pretty much an emotional wreck, Brad helps lift up my spirits just by being around and allowing me to pet him, Glinton wrote in a letter to Fox News.

Navy Chief Sean Gregar is an aviation support equipment technician. He said Brad helped him deal with the stress of going to the doctors office.

I really don't like hospitals, but when you walk through the door and see Brad there is an instant feeling of happiness that overcomes you, Gregar wrote to Fox News. Plus, it is also a good time playing fetch with him down the hall and watching him run into people to get his ball!

The duo will be retiring in May and taking their services to Kosovo to work with the Department of State and other military branches.

Its more of an emotional bond thats really unique in what a dog can provide, Coogan said, and we look to expand this program not only with the branch medical clinic here at JBA but across the Navy fleet.
On the eve of their September 2017 nuptials, Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg were appalled at what they found inside their box of wedding programs.

Instead of the cream, floral edged pamphlets they had ordered from major boutique printer Vistaprint, the couple found fiery anti-gay literature.

Satan knows our flesh is weak. He preys upon our weaknesses to tempt us to sin. Satan can only influence us to want to sin. He cannot make us sin, the homophobic pamphlets titled Understanding Temptation: Fight the good fight of the faith" read. Satan entices your flesh with evil desires.

BRIDE POSTS AD FOR WEDDING DRESS WORN ONCE BY MISTAKE

At first we thought it was simply a mistake, and we had accidentally received someone elses order. But once we saw the images and actually read a bit of the pamphlet, we quickly realized this wasnt a simple or innocent error, Heasley and Borg confirmed to Yahoo Lifestyle.

Both of our initial reactions were ones of shock  utter shock. The wording and imagery was aggressive, threatening and deeply personally offensive.

This was by far the most direct, personal, and aggressive act of homophobia either of us has experienced to date, the couple said of the shipment.

MICRO-CHEATING WORRIES ROMANTICS AS LATEST RELATIONSHIP WOE

The newlyweds told the Daily News they spent weeks designing the programs and paid $79.49 for them.

Scrambling to order replacements ahead of their ceremony and reception for 100-plus guests, Heasley, 31, and Borg, 39, only recently took legal action against Vistaprint. On Jan. 16, the newlyweds filed a case in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, where the printer is based, further claiming emotional pain and breach of contract.

The pain from those memories has not faded, Heasley said, four months after an otherwise picture-perfect wedding day.

We realized that whoever had sent this had our personal addresses, he added. We were getting married on a family farm in what we understand to be a fairly conservative and rural part of Pennsylvania. If ill-intentioned people decided to target our wedding and guests, we would have very few options to escape or seek shelter.

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The newlyweds have since hired representation from law firms in New York and Boston, seeking an award for damages and trial by jury, Yahoo reports.



Our goal is to hold Vistaprint accountable for the harm they have caused, to give a voice to others who may have been similarly victimized, to help prevent this from happening to someone else, and to send a message that there will be consequences for acts of hate perpetrated against others," Heasley and Borg concluded via email.

Vistaprint told Fox News via email that they were incredibly saddened to hear the news and that the company has begun a complete investigation to determine how and why the couple received these materials.

We share in this couples outrage. Vistaprint in no way condones  and does not tolerate  discrimination against any of our customers based on their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. We have encouraged members of the LGBTQ community to use our services to help celebrate their life events for many years, and have published thousands of wedding invitations, programs and other content for same sex couples, a company spokesperson confirmed on behalf of CEOs Trynka Shineman and Robert Keane.

Adding that Vistaprint has reached out to Heasley and Borg to express their apologies for the incident, the company has set up an ongoing communications page as the investigation continues.


Balancing work and motherhood can be a challenge, so when one North Carolina Starbucks barista found herself without childcare before her morning shift, the kindness of co-workers and customers willing to help out made her day a whole lot easier.

Shantaphae Blakes, who works at a Winston-Salem location of the coffee chain, called her supervisor, Harper Spell, at 4:30 a.m. in tears because she didnt have anyone to look after her daughter Dilynn.

FAMILY SHARES HILARIOUS PHOTOS EDITED BY 'PROFESSIONAL' PHOTOGRAPHER

[Blakes] said, I have Dilynn in the back seat. Would it be OK if I came? I just said, Dont worry about it. I need you here. Well take care of Dilynn, the 21-year-old manager told Today.

Once at work, 26-year-old Blakes set the baby carrier on a nearby table so she and Spell could watch Dilynn during her shift. But Spell told Today she was worried how long the baby could stay happy and safe during the morning rush.

Luckily for them, when their regular customer Brad Marshall, a North Carolina State Trooper, heard about the situation, he offered to help.

He stayed for over an hour. Never in a million years did I think that (a trooper) would just do that, just stay and hang around and help, Spell told Today.

Blakes was touched by his kindness and relieved to have the extra help in caring for her young daughter.

It just blew me away. It was wonderful, she told Today in tears as she recalled the story. It shocked me. It made me feel so much better. It takes a village to raise a child, she added.

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Trooper Brad and one of his fellow partners were outstanding in making sure we could still get our job done and even had a little fun with it. He even bought her a cup that she had been holding on to all morning, Spell wrote about the situation on Facebook in a post that had received nearly 2,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
Editors note: The following column originally appeared on NewBusters.

For almost an hour on Tuesday, the White House press corps stooped to a new low of embarrassment and clownishly liberal behavior, lobbing over a dozen questions at Navy Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson to insinuate that President Trump must be mentally ill to the point of Alzheimers disease. This was all despite Jacksons insistence that hes in great health.

Whether it was Bloomberg, CBS News Radio, CNN or The Washington Post, the long knives were out as the liberal media engaged in their own Picketts Charge to save their narrative that Trumps mentally ill and thus must be removed via Congress or the 25th Amendment.

NBCs Hallie Jackson started the crazy train with the second question, asking Dr. Jackson to repeat the results about the presidents mental fitness and alluded to Trumps tweet about him being a stable genius.

The long knives were out as the liberal media engaged in their own Picketts Charge to save their narrative that Trumps mentally ill and thus must be removed via Congress or the 25th Amendment.

Bloombergs Shannon Pettypiece brought up the media obsession over Trump supposedly slurring his words, but ABCs Cecilia Vega spoke moments later with this bewildering question:

"Could you just elaborate in layman's terms, if possible, and youve done a great job at that, what you ruled out in these cognitive tests? You know, there have been reports the president has forgotten names, that hes repeating himself. Are you ruling out things like early onset Alzheimer's? Are you looking at dementialike symptoms?"

Dr. Jackson hit back, noting that Trumps cognitive test was the same one thats often used at Walter Reed (the Montreal Cognitive Assessment) and since the president got 30 out of 30 on that exam, I think that, you know, there's no indication that he has any kind of cognitive issues.

CBS News Radio correspondent Steven Portnoy brought up the 25th Amendment, gushing over how [a] lot of people in the country have been talking about it and after explaining it in some detail, asked about what point from a philosophical standpoint would he advise the cabinet that the president is unable to discharge his duties.

CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta then arrived on scene:

JIM ACOSTA: Just to make sure we're clear on this -- when you analyzed his cognitive ability or his neurological functions, that's not the same thing as a psychiatric exam or psychological exam?

JACKSON: It is not. No. Its a screening assessment for cognitive impairment.

Roughly five minutes after The Washington Posts Ashley Parker inquired about the particular test that Trump took, CBSs Margaret Brennan trampled on Ronald Reagans memory by hinting that he had Alzheimers while president and that it was missed. And thus, White House physicians might not be trustworthy:

"Doctor, when you say given the president's age, he is somewhere where President Reagan was at this time in his presidency. Can you say, given the scrutiny of what was overlooked at the time with President Reagan in terms of Alzheimer's and things he was then-known to suffer from at a later date, can you say whether the test that's you ran would exclude any of those things? And what the possibility of overlooking something like that would be? You know, how can you tell the American people that this time you're certain?

This left the calm Jackson perturbed.

She then continued ...

PORTNOY: What is your take of all the doctors and clinicians all across the country who have said, in this resident [of the White House that], they see symptoms of this, that and the other?

JACKSON: Symptoms in what way?

PORTNOY: Symptoms of dementia, symptoms of 

JACKSON: I would say that, you know, the American Psychiatric Association has said so, too. You know, I would think that, you know, the people shouldn't be making the assessments about the president unless they've had the opportunity to get to know him and examine him and, you know, in my opinion, that's just tabloid psychiatry and I just dont  you know, I'm not going to address it or fall into responding to those questions or accusations.

Near the end, an unidentified reporter seemed to lobby for there to be (if there wasnt already) a White House psychologist who should be around for the sake of Trump, while CNNs Dr. Sanjay Gupta fretted that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment was insufficient for spotting dementia or mental illnesses in someone whos already highly functioning.

Keep reading this column on NewsBusters.
He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media.





Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.





Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.



A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.



He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.









Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's videocasts and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.
Sen. Jeff Flakes latest attempt to put the spotlight on himself is to compare President Trump to former Soviet communist dictator Josef Stalin. And then the Arizona Republican threw in a comparison to former Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong as well.

Criticizing President Trumps belief that the media are the enemy of the people, Flake told MSNBC on Sunday that the phrase was was popularized by Josef Stalin, used by Mao as well  enemy of the people.

Flake intends to say the same thing in a big speech on the Senate floor this week. We know all this because Flake is pushing this as hard as possible to the one constituency he knows supports him: the national news media. They have one thing in common: They hate Donald Trump.

Consider what Flake is doing as an audition for the role of special contributor to CNN or MSNBC. One wonders what the job description entails. Perhaps the following:

No need to know your history. It just sounds so good to compare Trump to Stalin, doesnt it? Flake suggests they have the same contempt for the media, and therefore, the truth. Theres only one problem. While Trump might criticize the media. Stalin controlled it. Trump might say the national press is the enemy. Stalin owned the press.

No need to be accurate. In one excerpt of his speech, Flake states that 2017 was a year that saw the truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine alternative facts into the lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods.

Speaking of falsehoods, how many hundreds of times have the media twisted events to savage President Trump? How many times have they admitted good old-fashioned falsehoods? Truly, Ive lost count. But this would mean castigating the media. Not one word of that from Flake. Its all President Trumps fault  yet one more falsehood.

No need to honor your promises to your constituents. Its a fact of life Flake cannot deny, and his constituents will not let him forget. Flake was put in the Senate by the Tea Party after committing himself to fulfilling that movements agenda. But the moment he entered that office, he became a member of the swamp and broke his word on one major issue after another, from amnesty to ObamaCare.

Speaking of which, I was in that private meeting in 2013, senator, when we watched in horror as you refused to defund ObamaCare. This is just the tip of iceberg when it comes to Flakes conservative offenses. Its why today Flake is one of the most unpopular figures in Arizona. Hes also the second most unpopular senator in America, behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The reason Flake is not running for re-election is not because hes some anti-Trump knight in shining armor, as the media like to portray, but because voters dont want him. Hes been thoroughly rejected. Flake continues to turn his back on conservatives, and so now they have turned their backs on him.

No need to be intellectually honest, either. I believe Sen. Jeff Flake is an intellectual fraud. He stole the title of Arizona Republican Sen. and 1964 GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwaters Conscience of a Conservative  the best-selling polemic in history  and attempted to make it his own, for his own book. Full disclosure  something about which Flake is unfamiliar  my father wrote that book and would be appalled by Flakes usurpation.

Flake is a man whose entire career at this point seems to be working overtime to curry favor with the national press corps that despises the president. If it were anyone else comparing the president of the United States to one of the most murderous dictators of the 20th century, he would be censured on the Senate floor. One suspects theyd rather just have him leave.

But since its a Republican senator who constantly attacks a Republican president, Flake will stay in demand with the national media, which will give him the attention he so desperately seeks.

And one more thing. It is considered the height of personal offense for anyone to compare someone to Adolf Hitler, who massacred 6 million Jewish men, women and children and was responsible for millions of other deaths in World War II.

Under Stalin about 20 million died in labor camps, forced collectivization, famine and executions the New York Times reported in 1989, giving an estimate by historian Roy Medvedev. The article went on to state: In all, Mr. Medvedev calculated about 40 million victims of Stalins repressions, including those arrested, driven from their land or blacklisted.
CNN, the most profane name in news, sank to a new low after an ugly Oval Office encounter involving President Trump and the networks senior White House correspondent.

Jim (Little Jimmy) Acosta badgered the president with a series of racially-charged questions during a photo-op with the president of Kazakhstan.

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Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr. President? Acosta hysterically shouted.

I want them to come in from everywhere everywhere. Thank you very much everybody, Trump responded as Acosta continued hollering.

Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.

Just Caucasian or white countries, sir? Or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world people of color, Acosta shouted.

Trump then pointed directly at Acosta and simply said, Out!

CNN is known for hiring journalists and broadcasters lacking in social graces. In recent days, the network has allowed reporters to use the word s---hole uncensored on-air.

The Media Research Center reports that CNN anchors and guests uttered the profanity at least 195 times in one day.

Little Jimmy is not exactly a fair and impartial White House correspondent. He recently told Anderson Giggles Cooper that deep down this president may just be a racist.

Honestly, Im surprised President Trump did not grab Little Jimmy by the ear and personally toss him out of the Oval Office.

Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.

Beyond that  the White House Correspondents Association should sanction Little Jimmy by either revoking his press credentials or at the very least issue a public censure.

Just because you happen to be a professional journalist gives you no right to be a loud-mouthed jerk.
President Trumps frustration with congressional gridlock led him to make a bold suggestion last week: bring back congressional earmarks. But while the notion that earmarks help grease the lawmaking process is not without merit, Congress should not return to the corrupt free-for-all we banned in 2010.

The end of earmarks is when it became difficult to pass a federal budget without threatening to shut down the government. In 2010 Republicans, including me, ended the practice of congressional earmarking  in which individual members would agree to take a tough vote in exchange for getting a big spending project in their home district. By passing out the candy, leadership was able to shore up faltering support and build bipartisan coalitions.

Since 2010, that candy jar has been empty. The upcoming budget vote to avert a government shutdown Friday night will have no such incentives to attract support. Without the ability to promise federal dollars to be spent in the home district, members of Congress are less willing to take the heat for controversial votes on critical legislation like health care, tax reform and spending.

Congress has lost that spoonful of sugar that made the tough legislation go down. While a legitimate argument can be made that Congress  and not the executive branch  should direct spending, the earmarking process had become ripe with abuse.

If we move forward to reinstate earmarks, we must not return to the murky world in which committee chairmen designated almost half of all earmark spending to their own districts and wasteful projects were rarely debated or vetted.

Heres how it worked: When a tough vote was looming, leadership would routinely ask members what they wanted in exchange for their vote. In other words, what pet project would it take to get you to vote yes on a bill you dont fully support? Need a road? Want to expand the military base in your district? Vote aye and earmarked funding for your pet project is available.

Senators were notorious for using earmarks to fund their favorite pet projects in their home states, including bridges, parking lots and buildings named after themselves. House members got airports, roads, and even a farmers market they expected taxpayers in other states to fund.

Earmarks also included commitments by the federal government to buy unneeded equipment, supplies, weapons, or even ships that were manufactured in a members home district. Leadership on both sides of the aisle greased the system with earmarks to get bills passed and to give members an accomplishment to brag about back home.

Earmarks also facilitated bipartisan support. Regardless of who held the majority, votes from the minority party could be extracted with a promise of earmarked spending to take home. Why are there not more bipartisan bills today? Because this candy has been taken away.

With the candy went the prime tool that leaders in the House and Senate used to get tough legislation to the presidents desk.

If we move forward to reinstate earmarks, we must not return to the murky world in which committee chairmen designated almost half of all earmark spending to their own districts and wasteful projects were rarely debated or vetted.

In 2010  the last year earmarks were permitted  members of Congress sought earmarks for 39,000 projects totaling $130 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The two Republican senators representing my home state of Utah did well that year  with Sen. Orrin Hatch seeking 256 earmarks valued at $1.2 billion. Sen. Bob Bennett submitted 321 earmarks worth $1.36 billion. This was multiplied in each state.

Obviously, some requests were legitimate, but without meaningful transparency and debate, abuses were easy to hide. There term bridge to nowhere came to describe wasteful or unnecessary projects exposed by outside groups. These projects showed up on the evening news and were mocked by late-night comedians.

Congress eventually grew tired of embarrassing itself, a new wave of Republicans were swept into office, and the practice was rightly ended.

The abolishment of congressional earmarking was intended to drive down spending. Unfortunately, spending continues to grow and now the federal bureaucracy has even more say in where and how your money is spent.

Behind the scenes members of Congress make a valid argument that Congress has the legitimate constitutional responsibility to direct spending. Theyre not wrong. But if they really want to resurrect this practice, theyre going to need to do a much better job policing abuse.

A failed attempt to restore limited earmarking at the start of this 115th Congress was rejected after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., argued the optics were terrible. But as each new attempt to pass legislation ends in failure, the temptation to reinstate earmarking grows.

Perhaps there is a better, more transparent way to allow Congress to have more input as to how appropriated money is best spent. The conversation is worth having. But much greater transparency and debate should be required.

President Trump is right about one thing: Congress will work and more bills will be passed  as long as there is candy to be passed out.
Chelsea Manning  who was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted on charges of espionage, theft and fraud in 2013  has filed to run for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, announcing her run in a video this week. Let that sink in for a moment.

The former soldier  known as Bradley Manning before coming out as transgender  was released from a military prison after President Obama commuted her sentence late last year in the final days of his term.

Like me, you were probably shocked to find out that a felony conviction  let alone one for betraying your country  does not disqualify you from serving in the Senate. And while Mannings chances of defeating popular Sen. Ben Cardin in the Democratic primary this year are extraordinarily slim, the very fact that this reprehensible backstabber can even perpetrate this farce is shameful.

To refresh your memory, Manning leaked around 750,000 classified and sensitive documents to WikiLeaks, which placed them on the internet. Authorities said this was the largest leak of classified documents in American history. Even thinking about rewarding this criminal with a Senate seat is beyond absurd.

All Manning would have to do is swear another meaningless oath and promise to obey it this time to once again gain access to our national security secrets, which she could leak again if she wished. That should fill you with confidence.

The sheer volume of documents ensured there was no way Manning could have reviewed them in any meaningful way. Manning basically provided randomly chosen pieces of our national secrets to all of our enemies. Operations were compromised and partners in Iraq and Afghanistan were identified and put at risk.

Manning claimed to have acted to expose U.S. war crimes. But even after exhaustive examination of all of the information she released, not a single war crime was identified. So in the end this was a selfish act by a childish individual who put her own petty grievances above the safety and security of the entire country and endangered the lives of honorably serving members of the U.S. military.

Now we have the spectacle of Chelsea Manning for Senate. While getting elected would be the longest of long shots, lets think about the unlikely event that Manning beats the odds and actually becomes a senator.

Should that come to pass, the worlds greatest deliberative body, as the Senate likes to call itself, would seat a felon who purposely violated the oath of enlistment in the U.S. Army and betrayed America and fellow soldiers.

Whats important to note is that senators are not required to obtain a security clearance to gain access to classified government material. Former Army Pvt. Manning could never regain a security clearance after being convicted of espionage. But Sen. Manning would automatically be allowed to examine classified material by virtue of having been elected by the public to an office requiring this access.

Hey, what could possibly go wrong?

All Manning would have to do is swear another meaningless oath and promise to obey it this time to once again gain access to our national security secrets, which she could leak again if she wished. That should fill you with confidence.

It could even come to pass that this person who put our intelligence agencies and American lives at risk could serve on a committee providing oversight on the same agencies whose information she sent flying into the digital breeze. Just having to think through all of this is making my head ache and my stomach churn.

It will be very interesting to see how much support this #Resistance heroine, who has been very noisy in opposition to President Trump, can gain from the left. It is one thing to cheer on a somewhat comical protestor whose emoji addiction on Twitter leans heavily on rainbows and unicorns. Its quite another to actually support an alumnus of the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas for a job requiring the trust of the public.

Regardless of the outcome, we now have been forced to at least contemplate this senseless possibility. That is a sad commentary on the state of our political system, and we are all lowered by it.
The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement pretends to be working toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but in reality many of its supporters want to destroy Israel as a Jewish state. For this reason, BDS has attracted support from terrorists, convicted killers and anti-Semites in the U.S. and abroad.

In fact, at many of BDS demonstrations  like ones filmed by the Investigative Project on Terrorism  demonstrators make no secret of their aims. And the people of Palestine will wipe the Zionist entity (Israel) off all the world maps one demonstration leader shouts on the IPT-

recorded video.

On the same video demonstrators chant: We dont want no two-state, we want 48, referring to 1948, before Israel was created from the British colony of Palestine. And for good measure, they chant: From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, meaning a new Palestinian state will go from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and swallow up all of Israel. And yet other chants: Death to the peace accords, smash the settler Zionist state, and there is only one solution, intifada revolution.

Law enforcement officials in the U.S. should keep a close eye on demonstrators like these, knowing that inflammatory anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric often leads to violence. The New York City Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have investigated a number of plots directed specifically at Jewish citizens and institutions.

BDS seeks to isolate Israel from world, ostensibly to protest Israels presence in the West Bank and to call for creation of a Palestinian state. BDS seeks: a worldwide boycott against Israeli products, universities and cultural institutions; divestment from companies that provide equipment to the Israeli military; and international economic sanctions against Israel.

The willingness of young leaders of many BDS-supporting groups, such as the Blacks for Palestine, to look to violent terrorists for support exposes BDSs claim of a commitment to nonviolence as a fraud.

Several U.S. domestic terrorists who are now serving life prison sentences for killing law enforcement officers have announced their support for BDS with the goal of destroying Israel.

Inmates such as Herman Bell, Anthony Bottom, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Clark Edward Squire  who were members of the Black Liberation Army  as well as the Weather Undergrounds David Gilbert, have posted statements calling for the end of US/Zionist Imperialism in Palestine. They also have encouraged the use of any means necessary  including violence  to achieve the goal of driving the Zionist oppressors out of your land.

Gilbert, incarcerated for killing two police officers and a Brinks security guard in 1981, has received visits from several advocates for the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, now known as the International Solidarity Movement. While the movement states that it is nonviolent, it goes on to say: our nonviolent approach does not mean that we have the right to dictate to Palestinians how to resist military occupation and apartheid.

In other words, we dont condone violence. But if you use it were OK with it.

Another of Gilberts prison visitors is a leader in the Syracuse Peace Council, which has advocated for the BDS movements campaign to isolate Israel economically and politically.

This diverse committee of activists provides grassroots education and generates political pressure needed to re-orient US policy toward a just peace in the Middle East, the peace council said in a 2013 statement.

This member of the council has also visited Assata Shakur in Cuba. Shakur, better known as Joanne Chesimard, was convicted in the murder of New Jersey State Police Officer Werner Foerster. Shakur has the distinction of being the first woman named to the FBIs Most Wanted List. One wonders what a peace council and a cop killer have in common.

Keep in mind that many domestic terrorists from the 1960s began as members of non-violent protest organizations, only to later become completely committed to violence to achieve their objectives. The similarities between the BDS movement and the 1960s protest groups are alarming.

Gilbert worked with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), an originally non-violent student activist organization begun in 1962. The SDS wanted to use civil disobedience and other nonviolent means to cause changes in social, political and economic policy within the U.S. government.

After several years of non-violent protest, however, a segment within the SDS  including Ayers, Dohrn and Gilbert  became disillusioned and wanted to take violent action against the United States government. They determined that violence was the only effective means to overthrow any government that they deemed oppressive.

These same people are now active in the BDS movement. Viva Palestina, an organization founded by former British Member of Parliament George Galloway, organized a series of convoys loaded with supplies delivered to the Hamas-run government in Gaza.

Participating in the convoy was then-New York City Councilman and current New York state Assemblyman Charles Barron.

Barron, it should be noted, is a former member of the Black Panther Party who still maintains contact with several members of the Black Liberation Army currently in prison for the killing of four New York City police officers.

The BDS claim to be seeking to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians rings hollow as long as so many of the movements adherents seek the destruction of the Jewish state and as long as the movement draws support from killers and terrorists.

Israel has repeatedly shown its willingness to make compromises and give up territory for peace. For example, it withdrew from both the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and the Gaza Strip (now controlled by the violent terrorist group Hamas).

But for peace to become an achievable goal, Palestinians and groups like BDS need to commit themselves to compromise and living in peace with Israel and give up their pipe dreams of wiping Israel off the map. Unfortunately, that seems a long way off right now.
A New York man has been arrested by U.S. Capitol Police for allegedly stalking Arizona Representative and Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema.

Amos Olagunju was arrested at Sinemas office Friday on the seventh floor of the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., WRC-TV reported, citing a special agents affidavit.

Olagunju, of Brooklyn, New York, has allegedly been stalking the Democratic House Representative since 2014, in spite of multiple warnings from Capitol Police and two-court ordered injunctions not to contact her, the station reported.

KIDS WHO WARNED OF NY MAN 'STALKING' THEM MADE IT UP, POLICE SAY

Sinemas staffers called police Friday when, according to a court filing from Capitol Police, Olagunju had arrived in-person at their office and stated he had a meeting with the Congresswoman.

He was reportedly arrested for violating the injunctions.

Olagunju had attempted to contact Sinema 95 times in the summer of 2014 to express his love for the congresswoman, according to WRC. He reportedly left several voicemail messages for her in 2015 and 2016 and showed up at an April 2016 event in Chandler, Ariz., where Sinema was present.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY'S 'PUBLIC EXECUTIONER' STALKER ORDERED TO STAY IN PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL AFTER SENDING LEWD IMAGES

In July 2017, the New York Police Department reportedly served Olagunju with an injunction to cease contacting Sinema.

On a Facebook account which appears to be Olagunjus, the New York man has repeatedly shared posts from Sinemas social media pages, thanking her for her service and referring to her as My Lovely Darling, My Lovely Blonde, My Love & Beauty, and My Only Love.

One post from May 2015, which shares a Happy Mothers Day sentiment from Sinemas page, states: My Love, My Rose: This is your day; HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO YOU ; I believe by this time next year, You will be carrying our baby in Jesus name. (Amen).

In another post from the same month, Olagunju wrote: My Blonde, My Beauty and MY love: You are so beautiful and loving. Honey, Do you know you're killing me with love. I have to see your face. I cannot sleep without you. Show me your love spiritually and physically.

The Capitol Polices affidavit, according to WRC-TV, stated Olagunju wrote posts on Sinemas Facebook page, calling himself the congresswomans husband to be.

Olagunju has reportedly pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of stalking.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday used a new report from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security  revealing that nearly three out of four individuals convicted on international terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign-born  to call for immigration reform.

The DHS and DOJ released the report to be more transparent with the American people, abiding by the guidelines of Trumps March 6 executive order, more commonly known as the travel ban.

According to the report, at least 549 people were convicted of international terrorism-related charges in the U.S. between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016. Of those convicted, 254 were not U.S. citizens, 148 were foreign-born and received citizenship and 147 were citizens by birth.

It also noted that the DHS in 2017 denied U.S. entry to 2,554 people on the terror watch list.

Trump reacted to the report by tweeting: We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based.

The president has made it clear in recent meetings on immigration with lawmakers from both parties that he wants to end the visa lottery program, aimed at increasing immigrant diversity, and chain migration, when immigrants enter the U.S. through sponsorship from family members already settled in the country.

The report also found that from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 355,345 non-U.S. citizens were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the purpose of deportation after being convicted of an aggravated felony or two or more felony offenses. In addition, 370,098 non-U.S. citizens were deported for the same offenses during that time period.

A senior administration official said Tuesday that the report is part of the administrations efforts to illuminate basic statistics that should be at the hands of the American people to inform public discourse on the issue, The Hill reported.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions reacted to the report on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tuesday.

"We have immigration, we want immigration, but we want to vet these people," Sessions said. "We want to know who they are and make sure they're going to be productive people, people who will flourish in America, who are going to not be terrorists, not be criminals and thats exactly correct for America."

Sessions added that the U.S. should "tighten up on our admission of people from dangerous areas of the globe, where we cant vet, where we have high numbers of terrorists that live in those areas. We should certainly be more careful and limit that kind of immigration."
Outgoing Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake came under fire for an astonishing attack on President Trump Wednesday, in which he accused Trump of using Stalinist language and promoting global instability with his criticism of the media.

Comparing the leader of the free world to murderous dictators is absurd," Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted. "Youve gone too far."

Flake had taken to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to take aim at President Trumps plan to award Fake News awards to members of the media who he claimed were biased and corrupt.

Flake, a longtime Trump opponent, slammed Trump for calling the press the enemy of the people, a phrase he said was used by mass-murdering Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies, he said.

Flakes speech, replete with dramatic flourishes, hinted at a dark future for America and warned that if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost. He frequently implied that Trump, whom he accused of harboring pernicious fantasies about rigged elections and voter fraud, was acting as a kind of despot when attacking the press.

"The free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy," he said. "When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."

He also said Trump was fueling authoritarians in other countries in places such as Syria and the Philippines.

"Not only has the past year seen a president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems that he has now in turn inspired authoritarians and dictators with his own language," he said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders shot back at the daily press briefing that Flake had recently visited Cuba, where he had nice things to say about the authoritarian government in that country.

'It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies.'  Sen. Jeff Flake

I found it quite interesting that he is coming out to attack this president considering he's the one who was recently defending an actually oppressive regime. He went to Cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive Cuban government.

She also blamed Flakes low poll numbers for his attacks on Trump. Flake announced in October that he will not seek re-election in 2018.

"He's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression, he's criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers and he is looking for some attention," Sanders said.

Even some critics of President Trump werent impressed with Flakes speech. MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid dismissed him as just a polite version of a Trumpist and asked why he was fleeing the battlefield.

Flake was given some support in his remarks by fellow Arizona Sen. John McCain who, in an editorial in The Washington Post, also urged the president to stop attacking the press.

Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy, McCain wrote.

Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report
Bob Dole, the longest-serving Republican leader in the Senate, received the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday.

"I want to thank all of those who said such kind words about me, they probably weren't true but they were nice, Dole joked. I am extremely honored to accept this great honor and I thank you for presenting it to me."

The award recognized Doles decades of service as a soldier, lawmaker and statesman.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took part in the event. President Trump also spoke on Doles political legacy.

Dole, who first represented Kansas in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, has a long-spanning career that goes beyond his 35 years in Congress. Known for his sense of humor, he also landed a spot on the Daily Show as a commentator during the 2000 presidential election.

I remember his career as one of being a gentleman, supportive of the military and causes championing democracy. He has an honorable record and it must be extremely satisfying for him to have his old chamber recognize his career of service in this way, Dakota Wood, a senior research fellow for defense programs at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., told Fox News.

Heres what you need to know about former Sen. Bob Dole.

Who is Bob Dole?

Dole was born in Russell, Kansas, in July 1923. After surviving both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, he attended the University of Kansas in the fall of 1941. But after just three semesters, he left to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II.

The 94-year-old is also an attorney and former Congressman who was elected to the House in 1960. He was later elected to the Senate in 1968, serving in that role until 1996.

Additionally, Dole was the chairman of the Republican National Committee in the early 1970s.

Before he was elected Senate majority leader and Finance Committee chairman in the early 1980s, former President Gerald Ford tapped Dole to be his vice presidential running mate in 1976. The duo lost to former President Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Walter Mondale.

After leaving the Senate, he faced off against former President Bill Clinton as the Republican Presidential nominee during the 1996 election. He lost with 159 electoral votes compared to Clintons 379.

His service during WWII

After graduating from officer school, Dole was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, according to the Robert J. Dole Institute for Politics at the University of Kansas, a nonpartisan institute at the University thats more commonly known as the Dole Institute.

In the spring of 1945, Doles life and physical mobility would be changed forever when he was critically injured during a mission against German soldiers in Northern Italy. The goal of the mission, which Dole helped to lead, was to overtake a hill near the Apennine Mountains.

But the hill was located across a mine-laden field covered by snipers in the hills above and machine gunners in a stone farmhouse on the right, according to the Dole Institute. While crossing the field, Dole was hit by exploding shrapnel. He was permanently crippled as a result.

Dole has tried to hide his disability over the years, using shoulder pads in his T-shirts, suits and coats to hide his nearly-missing right shoulder, according to a New York Times article from 1996. In addition to his spinal injuries, Dole cannot use his right hand and his left hand is partially numb.

If I rub my fingers together, its like rubbing sandpaper, he recalled during the 1996 interview. Ive lost the sensory -- and thats from the spinal injuries.

For his service, Dole received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.

Some of his most notable work

Dole was a vital supporter of the American With Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law in 1990. The legislation protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination. The former senator also founded the Dole Foundation in the 1980s, a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities to find work.

Advocating for those with disabilities was a constant in his legislative agenda, said Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at the University of Kansas who has written extensively about Dole.

The ADA, which has had a large impact on architecture, access to services, among other things, is a true landmark piece of legislation, Loomis added.

Dole is also known for his work to end childhood famine.

Indeed, Dole and former Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., co-founded the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, which helps to fight childhood hunger in poverty-stricken areas around the globe, among other things. The two lobbied Congress in 2002 to fund the program.

Prior to this, the two former senators worked together on the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Need, a bipartisan panel that found ways to tackle malnutrition and hunger in the U.S. The Food Stamp Act of 1977 came from this panel, a piece of legislation that expanded and simplified the food stamp program.

But perhaps one of Doles most notable accomplishments came in 1983 during Ronald Reagan's presidency. Dole helped to save Social Security by leading a bipartisan effort to end a stalemate over the legislation, which was facing a financial crisis at the time.

Social Security was in a crisis -- there was no question that it would not be fully funded, Loomis said.

But fixing the monetary assistance program was a two part dilemma: A math problem as well as a political problem, Loomis said. Cutting back on recipients social security payments would have been a terrible political problem for members of Congress, Loomis said, adding: In essence, they knew they needed a deal [to save Social Security].

Cue Dole and other leaders from the House, Senate and Reagan administration who all got together and came up with a deal that they were able to pass through both chambers, Loomis said.

Dole was central here and it reflects his desire to pass legislation and make a deal, Loomis said, adding that helping to save Social Security also exemplified what he did day in and day out as [Senate] Majority Leader, in the Finance Committee and during the rest his career.

Again under former President Reagan, Dole, along with other key Congressman of the time such as former Senators Bob Packwood and Russell Long, along with former Rep. Jack Kemp and others, worked to finalize a mammoth tax reform package, said Loomis.

Dole was right in the middle of that -- it was not a dissimilar operation [to Social Security]. Again, he recognized a deal could be made.

And making deals across party lines is perhaps what Dole will be remembered for the most.

I think as we get farther away from the Dole-era what becomes more and more evident is that he was a fierce partisan, a Republican leader. But heres a guy whos partisan but can walk across the aisle and make deals with other fierce partisans, Loomis said.

In other words, Dole represents that you can be a strong partisan and yet support the Congress as a whole and work with people with whom you have fundamental disagreements, Loomis added.

Who has received the Congressional Gold Medal in the past?

When accepting the medal on Wednesday, Dole joined a long list of famous recipients.

Former President George Washington first received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1776. And former President Andrew Jackson was awarded the medal in 1815. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the American business tycoon, was also a recipient: He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1864.

Other notable recipients include Thomas Edison, Charles Lindbergh, Robert Frost, Walt Disney, Robert F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Rosa Parks, Ronald and Nancy Reagan. A full list of receipts can be found here.

Since he was a man of the Congress, a legislator, I think getting this award from the Congress is extraordinarily important -- thats who he was, he was someone who wanted to pass laws, legislate and support the congressional branch of government, which he did admirably, Loomis said.

In that sense, to be rewarded by your peers with this award is especially significant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tell me how releasing the "Collateral Murder" video of US troops commiting warcrimes in Baghdad was 'treason?' Next, what kind of nation makes it a crime to post evidence of crimes, but NOT committing the actual crimes themselves? So much for democracy!



When Queen Hillary declared that Manning should "have went through proper channels," she and other surveillance state leaders never addressed the problem as to why whistleblowers who did run through the hoops of internal investigation(like Thomas Drake) were also targeted: fired from their jobs and presented with bogus criminal charges that were later dropped and never went to court..but in Drake's case, not before costing him more than $200,000 in legal fees.



William Binney..who was one of the NSA's top IT managers was subject to harassment(including a home invasion by the FBI) all because he alerted his superiors that the proposed and very expensive NSA surveillance tool-Trailblazer would violate constitutional rights to privacy. He went through the trouble of designing a different program in-house with NSA staff called Thinthread, that would not violate the law, and was subject of retribution...obviously by highly placed Pentagon officials who were looking to cash in from Trailblazer and put it to use and didn't want their little project jeopardized for any reasons.



And, there are many other whistleblowers prosecuted for frivolous reasons, like CIA agents-John Kirakou and the recently released Jeffrey Sterling...who was prosecuted and sent to prison for confirming/NOT releasing confidential information about CIA torture of prisoners at Guantanamo to NYTimes correspondent - James Rison.



The takeaway is obvious: America is a police surveillance state today...where violating laws including all that blather about the Constitution goes unpunished but rewarded if it is in service of the state/while those who inform other..especially the public are prosecuted, and the message to any would-be whistleblowers is keep your mouth shut or you will be targeted also!



Further confirmation came in this past week with 19 Democratic Senators and 55 House members of the laughable "Resistance" all voting to give the most dangerous president in US history that they proclaim on a daily basis they want impeached...increased and permanent surveillance powers..case closed! You live in a autocracy today and most of you are too dumb to realize it, let alone protest against it!
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee called for former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to be subpoenaed Wednesday over his refusal to answer certain questions as part of an investigation into alleged Russian collusion with Trump campaign associates.

Lewandowski and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Rick Dearbon testified behind closed doors one day after the committee interviewed ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for almost 12 hours on.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters that Dearborn answered every question that was put to him. By contrast, Schiff said Lewandowski refused to answer questions related to events that occurred after he left the Trump campaign in June 2016.

"This, in my view, is completely unacceptable," said Schiff. "We should have subpoenaed him today and compelled answers to those questions."

"We as an investigative committee cannot allow that to become a routine, where witnesses choose when and were they answer questions," Schiff added.

STEVE BANNON SUBPOENAED DURING HOUSE INTEL MEETING FOR INFORMATION THE WHITE HOUSE INSTRUCTED HIM NOT TO GIVE

Bannon was subpoenaed during his interview for information the White House instructed him not to give regarding his time in the Trump administration and his time during the transition.

"Given that [Dearborn] was fully willing to answer all these questions," Schiff said, "it does tell us that the White House is treating Steve Bannon differently than others who serve in the administration and this committee is treating witnesses differently then they treated Mr. Bannon."

Lewandowski told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" Wednesday that he was not instructed by the White House to withhold any information.

"I'll tell you anything," Lewandowski said.

Lewandowski, who led the Trump campaign for almost two years through the Republican primaries, said he welcomed the "opportunity" to testify before the committee.

"Steve was [with the campaign] for a short period of time. I was there almost two years, every day next to the candidate, next to President Trump," Lewandowski said on Fox News Channel's Outnumbered Overtime Tuesday. "Never, ever, ever did we coordinate or cooperate or collude with any Russians."

Lewandowski told Fox News that he would "answer every question truthfully, honestly, to the best of my ability and the best of my recollection."

"But because I have nothing to hide, I'm looking forward to this opportunity help finally bring this to a close," he said.

Lewandowski added that he hopes Democrats come to a "realization" that there was no Trump-Russia collusion.

"They want to keep this going to make it a political issue into the midterm elections," Lewandowksi said.

Dearborn announced his resignation from his White House post in late December. Dearborn oversaw the White Houses political operation, public outreach and legislative affairs.

Dearborn, who planned to remain in the West Wing for the first month or two of this year, worked for Trump for more than two years, helping to set up the campaigns Washington office. Dearborn also served as executive director of the presidential transition team after the election.

Fox News Samuel Chamberlain, Chad Pergram and Jason Donner contributed to this report.
Republicans are slamming Democratic Sen. Cory Booker for mansplaining to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a sharp and one-sided exchange Wednesday before a Senate committee.

The New Jersey lawmaker blasted Nielsen's "silence and amnesia" after failing to get the response he sought on her recollection of statements President Trump made in a meeting last week. Booker's hostile tone prompted Republican National Committee Rapid Response Director Michael Ahrens to invoke the millennial term for males talking down to women.

Picture it," Ahrens said in a news release. "A male Republican senator spends his entire 10 minutes mansplaining the female DHS secretary about immigration policy, throws around the term conscientious stupidity, yells at her the only time she tries to speak, and concludes his diatribe without even asking her to respond.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Nielsen said she did not recall the president describing some African and Latin American nations as s***hole countries.

Booker was not satisfied.

DHS boss hit with 's--load' of questions about President Trump's language

The commander-in-chief, in an Oval Office meeting, referred to people from African countries and Haitians with the most vile and vulgar language, Booker said, raising his voice at Nielsen. Your silence and amnesia is complicity.

He added that Trumps language proves that ignorance and bigotry aligned with power is a dangerous force in our country.

Booker also quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying that nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The RNC, though, slammed Derogatory Cory, and suggested that because Booker is a Democrat, he was not being criticized for how he spoke to a woman.

Because the party affiliations were reversed, Derogatory Cory got nothing but praise from the selectively-outraged base he was clearly performing for yesterday, Ahrens said.

Bookers office did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment.
Steve Bannon, who served as President Trumps campaign manager and senior policy adviser before falling out with the White House, has agreed to be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, avoiding the prospect of appearing under subpoena before a grand jury, Fox News has learned.

Bannon was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, initially requiring him to appear before a federal grand jury as part of the Russia investigation.

But sources told Fox News Wednesday that Bannon had reached an agreement to interview with Muellers team instead.

Sources told Fox News that Bannons initial grand jury subpoena was an overreach by the FBI.

A spokesman for Mueller declined comment.

Fox News learned of the Bannon-Mueller agreement just hours after the former White House chief strategist left Capitol Hill, after testifying for nearly 12 hours behind closed doors with the House Intelligence Committee.

The committees top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Bannon refused to answer questions about his time in the White House or his work on the presidential transition. His refusal prompted an immediate subpoena from committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

Schiff said that it was the first time Republicans on the committee issued a subpoena in response to a witness refusing to answer questions at the instruction of the White House.

Sources told Fox News that Bannon will return to Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon for another meeting with the committee.

Bannons subpoena to interview with Mueller, and the latest subpoena from the committee, come after the publication of Michael Wolffs book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, where Bannon made comments blasting Trumps eldest son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, and ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Bannon described their infamous June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya during the campaign as treasonous and unpatriotic.

Even if you thought that was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad st, and I happen to think its all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately, Bannon is quoted as saying in the book.

Bannon is just the latest Trump campaign associate to be summoned to interview with Mueller.

In October 2017, Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 counts, as part of Muellers investigation. Both pleaded not guilty.

The special counsels office told Fox News that the counts included conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading Foreign Agent Registration (FARA) statements, false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign banks and financial accounts.

Fox News learned Tuesday that Manaforts next court appearance would be Feb. 14 for a status hearing. The government had proposed the trial begin May 14, but the date may be pushed to October. At this point, there is no official start date.

Muellers team also charged former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos with making false statements to FBI agents about his contacts with people close to the Russian government. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to the charges in the Mueller investigation.
A special election in the Keystone States snow-frosted southwestern corner is the hot new race to watch.

The congressional seat in Pennsylvanias 18th district has been in Republican hands for nearly 15 years and with the recent loss in Alabama still smarting, Republicans aim to hold it.

On Thursday, President Trump will hit the political battleground, where hell talk taxes and economy, joined during his visit by the Republican candidate, State Rep. Rick Saccone, a full-throated Trump backer who is thrilled the president is coming to town.

This is Trump country. People around here, people in the 18th district love President Trump. As you know he won by 20 points. I think hes more popular today than he was before, Saccone said.

Saccone touts his experience on the campaign trail, including 20 years in the Air Force, counter-intelligence work, a Ph.D. in international affairs and even a year spent serving as a diplomat in North Korea. He argues his diverse background makes him the right person to fill the seat left vacant by Republican Rep. Tim Murphy, who resigned amid allegations he asked a woman with whom he was having an affair to terminate a pregnancy.

Though deep-red flowed from the polls in 2016, Democrats have a 70,000 voter registration edge here and are committed to flipping the seat, selecting political neophyte Conor Lamb.

People are ready for a real contest this time and thats what we are going to give them, said Lamb.

The 33-year-old former federal prosecutor and Marine Corp veteran is from a politically connected family. Lamb has distanced himself from House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, is calling for new leadership in Washington and said hes willing to seek common ground with the president.

If he is going to do anything to help create jobs in western Pennsylvania and to help keep our people safe I will work with him anytime, Lamb said.

The Cook Political Report changed its rating of the race from likely to Lean Republican last month, giving Lamb supporters hope that the race may be winnable.

Outside money is beginning to flow in and Super PAC cash has already put pro-Saccone advertising on local airwaves.

Though recent history may favor a GOP victory, Duquesne Political Science Professor Kristen Allen argues a win for the Democrats would be dramatic, potentially spurring the party to take further action.

One win in a state like Pennsylvania, in a district like PA 18, might be just the impetuous that the Democratic party needs to look at some of these races and say, hey, we need to pay attention and put some money in these districts where we have not been giving too much focus or energy or money before, said Allen.

The special election in Pennsylvanias 18th congressional district is scheduled for March 13th.
The House Intelligence Committee is expected to make a decision Thursday on whether to release hours of private testimony from an interview with the co-founder of the firm that compiled the infamous anti-Trump dossier.

A source familiar with the matter told Fox News the committee will vote Thursday on whether to release the transcript of its interview with Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson, who testified behind closed doors in November 2017. A transcript from a Senate committee's interview of Simpson was released last week

The committee posted a notice on its website titled, Business Meeting: Consideration of the Public Release of a Committee Transcript. The transcript referenced is from Simpsons interview, a source told Fox News.

Democrats and Fusion GPS supporters will get some unwelcome surprises if this is published, the source said.

"Democrats and Fusion GPS supporters will get some unwelcome surprises if this is published,"  a source familiar told Fox News.

Simpson and Fusions' co-founder Peter Fritsch penned an Op-Ed for The New York Times earlier this month calling for the release of transcripts.

Ranking Committee Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also called for the release of Simpsons testimony on Monday.

In light of the selective leaks of Mr. Simpsons testimony and misleading manner in which Fusion GPS role has been characterized, I support releasing the transcript, Schiff said in a statement.

Democrats have tried to play down the dossier amid questions about its veracity.

The vote comes just a week after Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., unilaterally released a 312-page transcript of Simpsons August interview with committee investigators.

The release provoked controversy on Capitol Hill. The hundreds of pages of Simpsons responses were rich with revelations about Fusion GPS, its work and its investigation of Trump, which began in September 2015.

TRUMP BLASTS 'SNEAKY DIANNE FEINSTEIN' FOR RELEASING FUSION GPS TRANSCRIPT

One passage, in particular, drew heavy attention. Simpsons lawyer claimed someone had been killed over the dossiers publication.

He wants to be very careful to protect his sources, Simpsons attorney Josh Levy said during the Aug. 22 committee interview. Somebodys already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work.

Levy did not elaborate on who was killed, and congressional investigators did not follow up with any questions to his claim.

Neither a spokesperson for Grassley nor Feinstein responded to Fox News request for comment on why investigators did not follow up with questions on the serious charge made by Levy.

The dossier was written by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele. Fusion GPS, which hired Steele, was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The findings eventually made their way to the FBI. The dossier was published on BuzzFeed News in January 2017.

The decision on whether to release Simpsons testimony from his meeting with the House Intelligence Committee would reveal different answers to hours of different questions on the House side of Capitol Hill.
Federal officials are planning a major sweep of the Bay Area and other Northern California areas in the coming weeks as part of an operation to target more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants in the area, The San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The source told The Chronicle that the sweep is expected to be the largest of its kind since President Trump took office.ICE officials declined to comment on the operation, the paper reported.

Upon hearing about the planned the operation Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the Trump administration of trying to make a political point.

California has clashed with law enforcement over immigration enforcement for a number of years. In October, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.

Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that such laws encourage immigrants to not cooperate with local law enforcement and inhibit his goal of enforcing immigration laws.

In October, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB54 into law, which effectively limits local police from cooperating with federal authorities.

One of the stipulations of the law is that it denies federal officials the ability to detain illegal immigrants who have been placed in local jails.

ICE officials have warned that such standards would force the agency to arrest undocumented immigrants in the communities that hold such policies.

Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director, maintained that SB54 threatened public safety, and that under such circumstances, the federal government would be forced to conduct massive arrests in the communities that hold such policies.
Democratic and Republican congressional leaders took turns finger pointing on Wednesday over who's blocking a spending bill to avert a government shutdown in two days -- with immigration and military spending emerging as key issues.

This is not a time to play politics, said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. He suggested that the chambers Democratic leaders are telling their rank-and-file members not to support a GOP temporary spending plan to keep federal agencies open past Friday.

Democrats have pushed hard to have any spending agreement, or continuing resolution, include permanent protections for young illegal immigrants. However, time appears to have expired, considering a shutdown is now about 48 hours away.

"There is not support for the current leadership plan as proposed."  Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

House Democrats, within minutes of McCarthys comments, insisted that their members can vote as those in their district want them to and contended that the GOP spending bill has numerous shortcomings beyond immigration reform.

There are myriad issues lacking in the continuing resolution, said New York Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley. Crowley said it fails to address such issues as community health-care centers, a mushrooming opioid crisis and hurricane recovery money for Puerto Rico.

Crowley would not say specifically whether members would agree to a spending deal that doesnt extend protection for young illegal immigrants, now that President Trump is dismantling such deportation protections under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).

We will know the deal when we see one, he also said, maintaining that the GOP-controlled House and Senate have enough votes without Democrats to pass a spending bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., later said there was broad revulsion among Senate Democrats to the House stopgap spending bill.

Democrats have insisted since returning from holiday break that any bill include immigration reform, particularly the protections for young illegal immigrants.

North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus, the chambers most conservative wing, said late Tuesday that group members and other House Republicans want additional money for the military included in any short-term bill.

Their lack of support could force House Republican leaders to court Democratic votes to pass the spending bill.

However, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., made clear Wednesday, alongside McCarthy, that his team also wants the bill to include money to help what they consider a dangerously underfunded military. He said more military members are now dying in training exercises than in fighting, and that additional money might make future accidents preventable.

Meanwhile, Schumer appears to have his own challenges -- unifying his members to vote in support of a spending bill, while keeping the blame off Senate Democrats for a possible shutdown, according to The Hill.

Senate Democrats including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Kamala Harris of California -- among the chambers most liberal members, each with potential 2020 White House aspirations -- voted against an earlier stopgap spending bill because it didnt address DACA. And they could do so again this week.

Trump has pre-emptively put the blame for a shutdown on Democrats. On Sunday, he argued again that Democrats and their demands -- not him or fellow Republicans in Congress -- have throttled negotiations over DACA.

And he has firmly expressed that any immigration reform deal must include a U.S.-Mexico border wall and an end to the United States so-called chain migration and diversity lottery immigration programs.

DACA is probably dead because the Democrats dont really want it, they just want to talk and take desperately needed money away from our Military, Trump tweeted.

The spending plan that House Republican leaders are now pitching to win over wary conservatives includes a two-year delay on implementation of unpopular taxes on medical devices and generous employer-subsidized health care plans.

The taxes, also unpopular with many Democrats, are part of the Affordabvle Care Act, widely referred to as Obamacare.

The temporary funding bill would also include a long-delayed, six-year renewal of a popular health insurance program for children of low-income families. It would fund the government through Feb. 16.

Ryan unveiled the plan Tuesday evening. Lawmakers and aides initially said it was received well, raising hopes that a potential shutdown would be sidestepped with relative ease.

Fox News Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake isnt running for re-election, but that doesnt mean hes taking a step back from battling President Trump.

The fracas between Flake and Trump has grown over disagreements on immigration, the presidents harsh rhetoric regarding the media and an Alabama special Senate election.

Read on for notable fights between the two Republicans.

Trump vs. Stalin

Flake gave a speech on the Senate floor on Jan. 17 in which he blasted Trumps harsh rhetoric regarding the media.

Flake pointed to times when foreign dictators and authoritarians  such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro  used the term fake news, a phrase Trump has often uttered regarding media coverage.

Flake said Trump has inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own rhetoric.

Flake also compared Trumps rhetoric to that of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

The enemy of the people was how the president of the United States called the free press in 2017. Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies.

Flake said, 2018 must be the year that the truth takes a stand against the power that would weaken it.

Jeff Flake(y)

In criticizing Flake online, Trump gave the senator one of his notorious nicknames: Jeff Flake(y).

Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on mike saying bad things about your favorite President. Hell be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is toast.

GOP will be toast

Flake was caught on a hot mic in Nov. 2017 telling a Republican mayor that, if we become the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, were toast.

Flake later admitted to the comment on Twitter, saying no news here.

Ive been saying this to anyone who will listen, Flake said.

Flake remained in stalwart opposition to Roy Moore, the beleaguered Republican Alabama Senate candidate in a special election last year. Moore, accused by multiple woman of sexual misconduct when they were in their teens, lost to Democrat Doug Jones.

Flake donated to Jones campaign.

Ending Flakes Senate career

In a scathing speech from the Senate floor, Flake announced on Oct. 24, 2017 that he would not run for re-election. In his announcement, Flake took shots at Trump and the Republican Party, calling the president reckless, outrageous and undignified.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders later said Flakes decision to leave the Senate is probably a good move because of the lack of support he has in Arizona.

Flake faced a tough primary, and his favorability ratings in Arizona decreased after he began combating the president.

Trump discussed spending $10 million to defeat Flake if he had decided to run for re-election, Politico reported.

Weak

Trump blasted Flake as weak multiple times on social media.

The Republican Party needs strong and committed leaders, not weak people such as [Flake], if it is going to stop illegal immigration, he tweeted on Sept. 4, 2016.

The Great State of Arizona, where I just had a massive rally (amazing people), has a very weak and ineffective Senator, Jeff Flake. Sad! he said in another tweet.

In Aug. 2017, Trump tweeted, Phoenix crowd last night was amazing  a packed house. I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!

Conscience of a Conservative

Flake went after Trump  as well as his own party  in a book published by Random House called Conscience of a Conservative.

In his book, Flake called Trump a candidate who entertained [voters] and offered oversimplified answers to complex issues.

Kelli Ward endorsement

Before Flake announced that he would not seek re-election, Trump had already issued his public support for his Republican challenger.

Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate, Trump tweeted on Aug. 17. Hes toxic!

Ward, a controversial Republican candidate, previously challenged Sen. John McCains Arizona seat and lost.

Election Day

Flake eventually revealed that he did not vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

I am a Republican. I am a conservative. I would love to have a Republican president but not at any cost, Flake told NBC.

Flake goes to a mosque

During the presidential election, Flake visited a mosque in Arizona where he told Muslim worshipers that his hope and prayer today is that the isolated voices calling for division are overwhelmed by the chorus of voices, like those in this room today, calling for acceptance, for tolerance and inclusion, the Arizona Republic reported.

He blasted Trumps comments about Muslims during the campaign, calling them the antithesis of all we stand for here in America.

Flakes visit was in December 2015; he said then that he did not think Trump would become the GOP presidential nominee.
The U.S. Interior Department slammed the National Parks Service advisory board Wednesday after eight of the 10 members resigned over claims that the Trump administration refused to meet with them.

Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, chairman of the panel, confirmed seven resignations to Reuters on Tuesday saying the Trump administration had ignored their requests for a meeting.

An eighth member, Carolyn Hessler-Radelet, sent her letter of resignation to Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Wednesday.

Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift seemed to welcome their resignations, but for reasons different from Knowles claims.

We welcome their resignations and would expect nothing less than quitting from members who found it convenient to turn a blind eye to women being sexually harassed at National Parks, Swift said in an emailed statement.

The Trump administration has accused the National Parks Service of allowing a culture of sexual misconduct to go unpunished under the Obama administration after Sally Jewell, Interior Secretary under President Barack Obama, was asked to investigate claims of an intimidating, hostile or sexually offensive work environment made by 13 former and current employees, The New York Times reported.

The Grand Canyon River District, where the claims were made, was shut down after the Office of the Inspector General found that Jewell failed to address numerous reports of sexual misconduct including physical assault, attempts by male employees to take inappropriate photos of female employees and the withholding of food supplies on trips when those advances were turned down, according to The Times.

The advisory board members that announced their resignations this week were appointed by Obama.

Swift also said in her statement that the claims that the Trump administration ignored their requests for a meeting were false.

It is patently false to say the Department had not engaged the board, when as recently as January 8 we were working with the board to renew their charter, schedule a meeting and fill vacancies, she said.

Their hollow and dishonest political stunt should be a clear indicator of the intention of this group, Swift added.
Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has accused the US of forming a terror army, after Washington announced plans for a 30,000-strong force inside Syria to protect territory held by its mainly Kurdish allies.



On Sunday, the US-led coalition said it was working with its Syrian militia allies, the mainly Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to set up the new border force. The force would operate along the borders with Turkey and Iraq, as well as within Syria along the Euphrates river, which separates most SDF territory from that held by the government. The announcement was one of the few insights into the Trump administrations longer-term thinking for Syria.



The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish YPG, and the plan for the force dashes Turkish hopes that the US would abandon the YPG once the war against Islamic State came to an end. Turkey regards the Kurdish YPG militia as indistinguishable from the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) operating inside Turkey, which it regards as a terror group.
President Trump said Wednesday he is willing to negotiate directly with Kim Jong Un over North Koreas nuclear weapons program but expressed doubts it would ultimately work.

Id sit down, but Im not sure that sitting down will solve the problem, Trump said in an Oval Office interview with Reuters.

Trump would not say whether he has spoken with Kim, whom he has dismissively nicknamed little rocket man.

He pointed out that negotiations undertaken by previous administrations with the North Korean regime had not been successful.

Im not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful, Trump said. Theyve talked for 25 years and theyve taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents.

MCMASTER ATTENDED SECRET MEETING ON NORTH KOREA

In the interview, Trump praised China for restricting oil and coal from going to North Korea but called out Russia.

Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea, Trump said. What China is helping us with, Russia is denting. In other words, Russia is making up for some of what China is doing.

Trumps national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, secretly traveled to San Francisco over the weekend for a meeting on North Koreas nuclear weapons program, Fox News has confirmed.

According to sources, McMaster met with officials from South Korea and Japan, including Shotaro Yachi, the director of the Japanese national security council.

During the meeting, the group discussed the newly-resumed communications between North Korea and South Korea. They also agreed that these renewed communications  and agreement for North Korea to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month -- are diversions and have no effect on North Korea leader Kim Jong Uns nuclear weapons program, the sources said.

Fox News John Roberts contributed to this report.
Those poor, misjudged rats? According to infectious disease experts in Norway and Italy, rats aren't to blame for the spread of the Black Death, which has previously been referred to as the species' most infamous crime.

In fact, humans might've been directly involved, reports the CBC. While studying nine European plague outbreaks that killed 125,000 people between 1348 and 1813considered the second pandemic of the bubonic plague, following the first in the sixth centuryresearchers at the University of Oslo and University of Ferrara used mathematical models to compare scenarios of transmission by humans, by fleas carried by rats, and by parasites carried by humans, reports CNN.

In seven of nine European cities, the latter scenario best matched evidence in mortality records. The theory is that fleas and lice carried by humans would bite an infected person, then jump to another victim and bite again, quickly spreading the disease, per the Independent.

Researchers believe this is what led to the deaths of 10,000 people in Florence in 1400, 17,000 people in London in 1563-64, and more than 53,000 people in Moscow in 1771, according to the study published Monday in PNAS.

Experts believe this may also explain more recent plague outbreaks in Africa. But perhaps you shouldn't feel so bad for those misjudged rats after all. The study notes the flea-carrying rodents did help spread the plague in the third pandemic, starting in 1855.

There are also researchers who continue to believe rats were involved in the Black Death, reports National Geographic, suggesting this "provocative" study won't be the final word.

(The Black Death had an upside.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Don't Blame Rats for Europe's Black Death
Our solar system may be an oddball in the universe. A new study using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope shows that in most cases, exoplanets orbiting the same star have similar sizes and regular spacing between their orbits.

By contrast, our own solar system has a range of planetary sizes and distances between neighbors. The smallest planet, Mercury, is about one-third the size of Earth  and the biggest planet, Jupiter, is roughly 11 times the diameter of Earth. There also are very different spacings between individual planets, particularly the inner planets.

This means our solar system may have formed differently than other solar systems did, the research team suggested, although more observations are needed to learn what the different mechanisms were. [The Most Intriguing Alien Planet Discoveries of 2017]

"The planets in a system tend to be the same size and regularly spaced, like peas in a pod. These patterns would not occur if the planet sizes or spacings were drawn at random," Lauren Weiss, the study's lead author and an astrophysicist at the University of Montreal, said in a statement.

The research team examined 355 stars that had a total of 909 planets, which periodically transit across their faces (as seen from Earth). The planets are between 1,000 and 4,000 light-years away from Earth.

After running a statistical analysis, the team found that a system with a small planet would tend to have other small planets nearby  and vice-versa, with big planets tending to have big neighbors. These extrasolar systems also had regular orbital spacing between the planets.

"The similar sizes and orbital spacing of planets have implications for how most planetary systems form," researchers said in the statement. "In classic planet-formation theory, planets form in the protoplanetary disk that surrounds a newly formed star. The planets might form in compact configurations with similar sizes and a regular orbital spacing, in a manner similar to the newly observed pattern in exoplanetary systems."

In our own solar system, however, the story is very different. The four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are very widely spaced apart. The team pointed to evidence from other research that Jupiter and Saturn may have disrupted the structure of the young solar system. While the statement did not specify how, several other research studies have examined the movements of these giant planets and their potential impact on the solar system.

Each of the exoplanets examined in the study was originally found by Kepler, which launched in 2009 and continues to send data today. But more-detailed information was obtained with the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii; Weiss is a member of the California-Kepler Survey team there, which is examining the light signatures of thousands of planets discovered by Kepler.

Weiss said she plans a follow-up study at Keck to look for Jupiter-like planets in multiplanet systems. The aim is to better understand if the presence of a Jupiter-size planet would alter the position of other planets in the same system.

"Regardless of their outer populations, the similarity of planets in the inner regions of extrasolar systems requires an explanation," researchers said in the statement. "If the deciding factor for planet sizes can be identified, it might help determine which stars are likely to have terrestrial planets that are suitable for life."

The study was published Jan. 3 in The Astronomical Journal.

Original article on Space.com.
The German Navys latest multimillion-dollar warship, the Baden-Wurttemberg, is battling delays and technology challenges.

The Baden-Wurttemberg is the first of four new F-125 class frigates ordered by the Bundeswehr, the German military, with a total price tag of around 2 billion ($2.44 billion).

Citing the German Navy, The Wall Street Journal reports that the ships central computer system has not passed the necessary tests. The ship, which has been undergoing sea trials, returned to port last week, enabling the unspecified technology issues to be resolved.

We are confident that we will be able to promptly solve the current problems with the IT-infrastructure thanks to our proven experience in the construction of complex naval vessels, according to a spokesman for Thyssenkrupp, the company leading the ARGE F125 consortium bulding the ships.

ROBOT PATROL: ISRAELI ARMY TO DEPLOY AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES ON GAZA BORDER

For the frigate 125 Baden-Wurttemberg, necessary revisions have led to delays in the trials to prove its operability, he explained. These trials are mainly carried out at sea and require extensive support and resources from all project participants.

With a wealth of new technology on board, experts are still fine-tuning the frigate. The frigate class 125 is a newly designed, technically sophisticated ship with highly complex new developments -- including new technologies. With regard to such a major project, delays can never be completely ruled out, the Thyssenkrupp spokesman told Fox News.

The ship, which displaces around 7,000 tons, was delivered for sea trials in 2016 after a series of delays, according to The Journal. Designed to stay at sea for up to two years, the F-125 frigates will eventually replace the German Navys eight Bremen type 122-class frigates.

The Baden-Wurttemberg is expected to be handed over to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) this year, according to Thyssenkrupp's spokesman and the German military.

ARMY TESTS HIGH-TECH AIRDROP SYSTEM THAT 'SEES' ITS TARGET

"From mid-January, the ship will be deployed to the shipyard in Hamburg for troubleshooting activities and elimination of open items to be carried out by the ARGE F125 consortium," explained a spokesman for the BAAINBw, in a statement emailed to Fox News. "After the shipyard period, the ship will undergo the remaining acceptance trials so that final acceptance by BAAINBw can take place in 2018. Any lessons learned will be applied to the sister ships."

The spokesman noted that about 90 percent of the components on the Baden-Wurttemberg are new. "It was an enormous challenge for the manufacturers to integrate the various systems and to fulfil the increased reliability requirements associated with intensive use," he explained, via email. "All systems must operate reliably even under extreme conditions to ensure full operational capability. For this purpose, BAAINBw subjects the ship to extensive acceptance trials."

Troubleshooting the IT problems, however, can be a tough task. "All software and hardware faults of the IT systems used on the ship must be eliminated so that all outstanding acceptance trials can be carried out," explained the spokesman. "Such defects are often found at interfaces between the subsystems, which makes their analysis more difficult. An increased failure rate of power supply units may, for example, be attributed to the components themselves, but it may also be caused by a faulty power supply."

"BAAINBw expects delivery to be in accordance with the contract," he added. "Any agreed penalties will be consistently applied."

Thanks to its sophisticated technology, the F-125s will utilize a much smaller crew than the 122-class ships. The new frigates will each have a regular crew of 120, but can support a maximum crew of 190. The 122 class frigates each have a crew of 203 plus 20 additional helicopter crew, according to Naval Technology.

The F-125s are also designed to support a two-crew model, where the complete crew can be changed in mid-deployment.

Citing the German newspaper Kieler Nachrichten, The Journal reports that the Baden-Wurttemberg experienced problems with its radar, electronics and the flameproof coating on its fuel tanks. During its sea trials, the frigate was also found to list slightly to its starboard side, although this is being resolved.

"The list to starboard of the Baden-Wurttemberg will be corrected during the first planned deployment to the shipyard by the ARGE F125 consortium," explained the BAAINBw spokesman. "The list has no impact on the remaining acceptance trials. The correction of the list is taken into account during the construction of the other sister ships which are currently being built," he said.

Critics have also questioned whether the German military ordered the Baden-Wurttemberg without the necessary weaponry needed for anti-submarine warfare. The vessel, according to The Wall Street Journal, lacks the sonar and torpedo tubes found on the 122-class frigates.

HIGH-TECH 'BAZOOKA' FIRES A NET TO TAKE DOWN DRONES

Despite the delays experienced by the Baden-Wurttemberg, the consortium delivering the F-125 project expects to hand over the three additional frigates; the Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Sachsen-Anhalt and the Rheinland-Pfalz, on time. The Nordrhein-Westfalen has successfully completed its ship-related technical trials. Currently the combat system is being tested. The delivery of the Nordrhein-Westfalen to the BAAINBw is also planned for 2018, explained the Thyssenkrupp spokesman, in an email to Fox News. The frigate Sachsen-Anhalt is planned to be handed over in the year 2019 and the Rheinland-Pfalz in the year 2020.

This story has been updated with comments from the BAAINBw.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
If youre planning on flying American Airlines out of Miami International Airport, dont forget your debit card.

Starting Thursday, the mega-airliner has announced it is moving to a cashless model at the Florida airport and will no longer be accepting anything other than credit or debit cards for desk transactions such as checked bags or overweight bag fees.

American Airlines spokeswoman Alexis Aran Coello told the Miami Herald the new system will help speed up the check-in process.

POPULAR AIRLINE IS REMOVING FIRST CLASS SEATS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE ECONOMY

Moving away from cash allows American to assist customers more efficiently. It also reduces the complexity of work for our agents who will no longer have to worry about handling cash, find exact change or close out a cash drawer at the end of the day, Aran Coello said in a statement. In general, our ticket counter agents support the transition to a cashless environment.

For those traveling with cash, the airliner is partnering with Ready Credit, a company that will convert cash into debit cards.

Near Americans check-in area will be ReadyStation kiosks that will churn out prepaid Visa debit cards, up to $1,000. The station, with English and Spanish capabilities, will charge a $5 transaction fee.

The new rules are expected to impact foreign travelers more than domestic.

We are mindful of the impact this may have on travelers from international destinations, Aran Coello said. However, we have noticed that many travelers who are returning to a country where [U.S. dollars] is not the accepted currency will often add more funds to their cards as it is a cost effective method of converting [U.S. dollars] to other currencies.

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The airline has gone cashless in 50 other locations, Aran Coello told the Miami Herald. Among them are New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, Californias Los Angeles International Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.

United Airlines, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines have all already introduced ReadyStations as part of their cashless transition.
Dirk Morgan and his wife are no strangers to outdoor adventures, but he says of their encounter with a struggling sloth on the shore in Costa Rica was out of the ordinary.

The Morgan family operates a Jungle Lodge in Puerto Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula  one of the world's most biodiverse regions  so they are used to encounters with tropical wildlife.

But Monday morning, they heard an unusual noise coming from the rocks of the coastal area of Punta Tigre and discovered a baby sloth clinging to life.

Morgan says the sun had been up for only an hour after a night of storms and high tide. There was no way to know from where the sloth came, but it was clear it needed help.

Morgan says if the sloth had not succumbed to the afternoon sun, nearby dogs would have made it their prey.

Taking photos and video along the way, the Morgans gathered a box, a towel and some fresh water, and began to rehabilitate the little jungle animal.

As luck would have it, the Morgans' Jungle Lodge is located right next door to an animal sanctuary owned by hedge fund manager, founder of the Robin Hood Foundation and preservationist Paul Tudor Jones.

The Morgans said the staff at the sanctuary welcomed the sloth and immediately began nursing it.

Photos from the Morgans seem to show a smile on the sloth's face after being rescued and wrapped in a towel.

Dirk Morgan says he did what any person would have done to help a living being in need, but admits it was a great way to begin 2018.

Dirk says he was glad they happened to be in the right place at the right time to help this baby sloth.

This story originally appeared on FOX 13.
A new winter storm bearing down on the South and East Coast has left airlines no choice but to cancel hundreds of flights this week.

The storm, nicknamed Inga, prompted American Airlines to cancel 270 flights between Tuesday and Wednesday, the company said, according to Reuters.

Delta operations were also put on hold as the carrier said it canceled roughly 275 flights on Tuesday, with more expected Wednesday as the storm continues to move up north to cities like, Charlotte, Raleigh, Washington, New York and Boston, Reuters reported.

And United Airlines suffered an even bigger blow with the cancellation of more than 700 flights, Tuesday, with additional flights possible on Wednesday as well, according to Reuters.

Many of the cancellations Wednesday morning were concentrated at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and Boston's Logan International Airport. Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport and New Orleans International Airport were still reeling from massive disruption when the storm hit on Tuesday and had dozens of canceled and delayed flights Wednesday, according to Flight Aware's Misery Map.

Altogether, these cancellations make up just a small portion of the airlines business, but the loss of revenue may still amount to millions of dollars when its all said and done. Travel & Leisure has reached out to major carriers with a request for the most recent cancellation numbers and will update this story when they respond.

Winter Storm Inga will be less powerful compared to Winter Storms Hunter and Grayson, which wreaked havoc on much of the U.S. through the first two weeks of 2018. Grayson in particular dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of New England and even dropped several inches in much of the coastal South, as far down as Northern Florida.

However, much of the Southeast and Deep South experienced rare snow followed by freezing rain and and record low temperatures. Places like Hattiesburg, Miss., saw lows of 13 degrees. New Orleans was 21 degrees  breaking a 40-year-old record for the lowest temperature on Jan. 17.

This story originally appeared in Travel + Leisure.
A man was flying from Scotland to England when he lost consciousness and collapsed on the plane, nearly causing the flight to make a mid-flight emergency landing.

Anthony Joseph was on his way back home to London after spending time with family in Aberdeen, Scotland when he began sweating heavily and fainted.

My vision was starting to go all blurry. I called a flight attendant, who said I didnt look [well] and she gave me water. She asked me to come to the front of the plane and it was then that I fainted. It was more embarrassing than anything else, he told the Daily Mail, where he is a journalist.

'EVIL SPIRITS' FORCE AIR CHINA PLANE TO MAKE EMERGENCY LANDING

When he came to, flight attendants were discussing whether or not to make an emergency landing in Leeds, he said.

But when I came round again I could hear the flight attendants discussing whether they needed to land at Leeds.

Joseph said he assured them that he would be fine for the remainder of the flight.

The 26-year-old blamed the episode on his two-week battle with H3N2, or Aussie flu,  the virus that has claimed 97 lives so far in the UK alone, with more fatalities expected as the flu virus reaches its peak, the Daily Mail reported.

Joseph said he had started feeling sick at his familys house and had to delay an earlier flight back to London because he was sweating buckets night and day and had a fever of 104F.

I was shivering in the house, actually shaking with how cold I was. I tried to have a cup of tea to warm me up but even that didnt do the trick, he said.

I was sweating buckets night and day - I literally had a puddle on my pillow at times. My legs and arms were soaking with sweat as well, it was disgusting. My asthma was playing and I was constantly coughing. I still just felt like it was just bad man flu - nothing more serious, he added.

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He made the decision to fly once his fever had subsided, but says during the flight he began to feel like his face was roasting, the Daily Mail reported.

When Joseph was finally back in London, his symptoms got worse  sweating profusely and vomiting blood.

Joseph went to the hospital where he was told he had the Aussie Flu.

It was there that I was told I had this strain [H3N2], which has been dubbed Aussie flu. I was told to just go home and rest and stay away from people, he said.

This flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in over a decade. In the United States, the flu has already claimed the lives of 20 children and 7 percent of senior deaths.
Jeff Flake rips Trump: A president 'who cannot take criticism ... is charting a very dangerous path'



Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, took to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to rebuke the President for his repeated attacks on the truth as well as his colleagues for failing to be a check on Trump.



"No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions," Flake said in his speech. "An American president who cannot take criticism -- who must constantly deflect and distort and distract -- who must find someone else to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the President adds to the danger."



..."For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last," Flake said.



He criticized the President for calling the news media the "enemy of the people," calling it "an assault as unprecedented as it is unwarranted."



..."It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own President uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies," he said. "It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader."

Follow my link and listen to Sen. Flake, who nails it.Lots more: Jeff Flake rips Trump in Senate speech - CNNPolitics
After serving several months as a prison for the countrys elite, the Ritz-Carlton in Saudi Arabias capital city of Riyadh might reopen as a hotel  just in time for those romantic Valentines Day plans.

The five-star hotel morphed into a prison as part of a so-called crackdown on government corruption.

An employee confirmed to the Associated Press the Ritz would reopen as of February 14, adding that bookings for that date can now be made on the hotel's website. Phones are currently disconnected until further notice, according to the website.

HOTEL GUEST REQUESTS 'DRAWINGS OF GODZILLA' BEFORE ARRIVAL, GETS THEM

The employee did note that the hotel is not liable if the booking is cancelled. "Local authorities might extend the hotel lockout for security reasons," he said, recommending people to make back-up plans just in case.

Sarah Walker-Kerr, a Dubai-based spokeswoman for Marriott, of which the Ritz-Carlton is a subsidiary, declined to comment, according to AP.

The property, dubbed the worlds most expensive prison, is home to some of the countrys top elite after an unprecedented purge led by the young Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Prisoners were said to include around 200 Saudi officials, including 11 members of the kingdoms royal family, who were held there since November, according to Newsweek.

The anti-corruption crackdown's goal was to recover as much as $100 billion of misappropriated funds, according to Bloomberg. The hotels reopening to the public next month signals what many are assuming is the end of the campaign, presumably with the majority of the cases now settled, Newsweek reports.

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For anyone interested in spending the upcoming holiday of love at this high-end retreat, the lowest priced room was the Deluxe for about $346 a night. The hotel promises to completely [envelop] its discerning guests in majestic surroundings and discreet, attentive service and offers up such amenities as spacious suites, a world-class spa, a stunning indoor pool, lavish wedding and event spaces and exceptional dining options, according to their website.
Dozens of U.S. groups that organize trips to Cuba say they are continuing to take Americans to the island despite the U.S. State Department urging people to reconsider their plans to visit.

Officials of several travel organizations say the State Department has failed to provide evidence that tourists are at risk when they go to Cuba.

RITZ-CARLTON, TEMPORARILY USED AS SAUDI PRISON, REOPENING TO GUESTS IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

They say that a meeting with State Department officials last Friday failed to shed light on any new information regarding what could have caused about 24 U.S. embassy personnel to fall ill in Cuba last year.

We want more information about who the people were, how they were affected, how they are now, said Bob Guild, Vice President of Marazul Tours, Inc., one of the oldest U.S. agencies specializing in trips to Cuba. No specific information was given to us, presumably because some of it is classified information, to support anything.

The U.S.-Cuba travel floodgates opened up after former President Barack Obama eased restrictions that had been imposed on U.S. residents wanting to visit the island.

But last year, President Donald Trump tightened rules for traveling there. The administration also said some sort of attack  at first described as possibly sonic  had left U.S. personnel working for the U.S. Embassy in Havana with illnesses ranging from frequent headaches and chronic fatigue to hearing loss and brain injuries.

The reported attack prompted the State Department to bring most of its employees back from Havana and issue a warning last fall to U.S. residents not to travel to Cuba. Last week, the State Department amended the warning to a recommendation that Americans reconsider going there.

Guild says attacks seem to have targeted not simple diplomats but apparently people in the intelligence community. And so he thinks the U.S. government cast too wide a net in sounding an alarm for all U.S. travel to Cuba.

There's no evidence about a sonic or any attack. There have been no travel warnings by any other country.  Bob Guild, vice president, Marazul Tours

We did not accept the original travel warning, Guild told Fox News, adding that last weeks softened wording by the State Department for Americans to reconsider also seems unwarranted.

Theres no evidence about a sonic or any attack, Guild said. There have been no travel warnings by any other country.

Other tour organizers who have planned or helped arrange trips to Cuba say they have gotten no complaints relating to any possible attacks by the people whove visited there.

We are committed to our vision of achieving global understanding through travel and education, said Chase Poffenberger, Executive Vice President of Academic Travel Abroad, to Fox News. We believe that Cuba remains an exceptionally rich and exciting travel destination, and the door to traveling there is still very much open.

Weve had outstanding success with our programs to Cuba, she said. Traveler reviews have been remarkably positive, and they inspire us to keep doing what we do.

Cuban authorities have cast doubt on the reports of attacks against U.S. Embassy employees, and have suggested that the Trump administration is trying to undermine relations between the two nations that Obama had sought to normalize.

Cuban government officials say some one million people traveled to Cuba from the U.S. last year, including about 400,000 Cuban-Americans.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, says he disagrees with softening the travel warning wording because too many important questions remain unanswered about what happened to U.S. Embassy employees.

The Cuban government is aware of the residences and address of all diplomats and employees. There's no way our diplomats could have been targeted without some awareness or knowledge by some component of the Cuban intelligence services.  Senator Robert Menendez

Twenty-four American diplomats suffered a direct attack to their health in Havana, Menendez said to Fox News. They suffered everything from severe hearing loss to traumatic brain injuries, for which some are still receiving treatment.

The Cuban government is aware of the residences and address of all diplomats and employees, Menendez said. Theres no way our diplomats could have been targeted without some awareness or knowledge by some component of the Cuban intelligence services.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, federal officials maintained that U.S. Embassy employees were targeted and said that it could have been a virus meant to infect them.

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"If they didnt do it," said Menendez to Fox News in reference to the Cuban government, "then it is my firm opinion that they know who did. And their unwillingness to act against that individual or entity or country that is responsible is equally as inexcusable as if they did it themselves."
An aspiring rapper attempted to rob a Memphis Wingstop Friday night to get rap star Rick Ross attention, police said.

Cedric Miller, 23, was arrested Monday after police received a tip, and an employee of the chain restaurant identified Miller in a police line-up as one of the suspects, WREG reported.

Surveillance video showed two suspects holding the cashier at gunpoint but leaving the restaurant after the bungling burglars could not open the register, the New York Post reported.

Miller told police he robbed the restaurant to get the attention of hip-hop star Ross, who owned the restaurant; Ross owns about 30 Wingstop restaurants, Atlanta magazine reported.

Thats a ridiculous way to get someones attention. How are you going to get his attention after sitting in jail?" Cameron Blaine, a customer, told WREG.
The former CIA officer arrested Monday for unlawfully retaining classified information may have helped China execute or imprison several U.S. informants, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, unlawfully possessed top secret information whose disclosure could cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States, the FBI wrote in the affidavit supporting his arrest.

Lee, whose security clearance was terminated when he left the CIA in 2007, improperly retained books containing true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, the affidavit read.

The New York Times was the first to report that U.S. officials believe that Lee may have played a key role in outing US informants working in China, who started to go dark in 2010.

One of those officials was shot to death in front of coworkers in the courtyard of a Chinese government building, as a clear warning to other potential traitors, according to sources cited by The Times.

The paper cited sources who said Lee, who began working for the CIA in 1994, left because he was unhappy at his career progression there.

Between 18 and 20 key CIA sources in China were systematically jailed or killed from 2010 to 2012, in what US officials described as one of the worst intelligence failures in decades, according to the Times.

The losses were reportedly reminiscent of the significant damage caused by rogue agents Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, who became Russian spies.

The FBI said that its inquiry, which began in 2012, involved luring Lee back to the U.S. and searching his hotel rooms in Hawaii and Virginia.

As evidence mounted, the FBI interviewed Lee several times in 2013.

Lee never mentioned possessing classified information during those interviews, according to the arrest affidavit.

It is unclear whether Lee will be charged in the informants' deaths.
Federal prosecutors argued Tuesday that a convicted terrorist should spend the rest of his life behind bars because he hasnt shown remorse for his crimes and instead has tried to corrupt other prisoners with his extremist ideology.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a 29-year-old New Jersey man, was convicted in October of planting two pressure-cooker bombs in New York and New Jersey on Sept. 17, 2016 and subsequently injuring 30 people in the blast. The charges against him, including using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place, carry a maximum punishment of life in jail. And thats what prosecutors said they believe he should get.

NEW JERSEY MAN CONVICTED IN NEW YORK CITY BOMBINGS THAT INJURED 30

"Since his arrest and conviction, the defendant has failed to show remorse for his crimes, and has instead attempted to radicalize his fellow inmates and made light of his attacks," prosecutors wrote in a submission to Judge Richard M. Berman, who is scheduled to sentence Rahimi on Feb. 13.

Rahimi, an Afghanistan-born man inspired by the Islamic State and al Qaeda in 2012, reportedly began attempting to radicalize other inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in October.

According to prosecutors, he shared propaganda materials, speeches by terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki and bomb-making instructions. One inmate who was said to have viewed the materials was facing charges of providing material support and resources to ISIS.

NIGERIA RELEASES REPENTANT BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS AS TERROR GROUP RELEASES VIDEO OF CAPTURED GIRLS

"As the evidence at trial demonstrated, the defendant was committed to waging his holy war against Americans years before he carried out his attack, prosecutors said. Even today, he appears to remain steadfast in that commitment and has shown no remorse. The defendant's communications while incarcerated further demonstrate that, far from appreciating the depravity of his actions, he is proud of what he did, scornful of the American justice system, and as dedicated as ever to his terrorist ideology."

Prosecutors added that Rahimi has not been deterred, but rather emboldened following his conviction.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Dallas model and bartender, who also reportedly describes herself as a "hard working girl," was arrested after neighbors recognized her as the alleged package thief stealing items off peoples porches.

Kelli Russell, 33, was arrested Thursday night after police nabbed her on alleged traffic violations, including driving without a license, CBS DFW reported. Police searched her apartment and found a large amount of stolen packages that took two police cars to remove, Aubrey White, who lives in the same apartment complex as Russell, told the news station.

An insane amount of things, White said. They took two police cars, like the trunks and the backseats were both full of packages and stuff.

Russell, who describes herself as a model and bartender, was allegedly captured on surveillance video taking packages from homes. White said she saw a video that was shared online and immediately recognized Russell.

As far as I know, shes a nice girl, so this is a total shock, Leann Dawson said.

White recalled seeing Russell often throwing away cardboard boxes, adding: [She] took packages, boxes to that dumpster across the street, because ours was full.

Russell also reportedly launched a GoFundMe page to help her buy a car. Friends donated more than $300 to the fundraiser, according to CBS DFW.

Police are looking for alleged victims of Russell to determine how many items she allegedly stole. She may face theft charges.

Russell was released from jail Friday.
A Florida man was arrested Sunday night after he allegedly took explicit photos of a woman and sent them to her boss as an act of revenge for no longer wanting to date him.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, 30, met the woman through a dating app in November and the two casually dated, WKMG reported, citing the Seminole County Sheriffs Office.

Garibaldi and the woman reportedly had sex an estimated five times. During one of their sexual trysts, authorities alleged in an affidavit, Garibaldi took photos of the woman and after their second sexual encounter, he threatened to show other people the pictures due to his suspicions of her sleeping with other men.

REP. BARTON SUGGESTS HE'S VICTIM OF REVENGE PORN: WHAT IS THAT?

The woman knew Garibaldi took photos of her, the Orlando Sentinel reported, but she didnt realize the photos were taken while she was asleep or in sexual positions.

In December, she reportedly told Garibaldi she didnt want to see him anymore, and the following day, her car was allegedly keyed at work. She didnt report the incident to authorities because she lacked proof it was Garibaldi, the news station reported.

"This is someone who couldn't take no for an answer," Seminole County Sheriff Office spokesperson Bob Kealing told WKMG. "This is someone who was told, 'I want this relationship to be over with' and he wouldn't take no for an answer, and then the threats started coming."

FACEBOOK SAYS IT NEEDS YOUR EXPLICIT PHOTOS TO COMBAT REVENGE PORN

On Thursday, Garibaldi reportedly texted the woman to ask if she was dating anyone else, and allegedly threatened to come to her house and bash the door down. On Friday, Garibaldi allegedly sent the explicit photos to a Facebook page of a preschool which employed her.

"You (sic) teachers pics and video of your teacher are all over!" Garibaldis message to the school read, along with multiple photos of the woman.

Authorities said Garibaldi sent the explicit photos to one of the woman's friends online on Saturday.

The woman was able to identify Garibaldi from his tattoo visible in one of the pictures.

LAWMAKERS BACK BILL TO COMBAT 'REVENGE PORN'

"When you take this additional step of actually sending compromising photos like this with the intent to embarrass somebody, that's a crime," Kealing told the station.

Garibaldi was reportedly arrested on charges of sexually cyber-harassing a person, cyberstalking, and extortion. Hes being held at the Seminole County Jail on $6,000 bail.
A Hawaii man apparently suffered a heart attack Saturday after residents were falsely told a ballistic missile was heading their way, the mans girlfriend said Tuesday.

Sean Shields, 51, began violently throwing up while on the island of Oahu Saturday, his girlfriend, Brenda Reichel, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Shields, in a panic following the emergency alert, drove himself and Reichel, who is disabled, to the Straub Hawaii Kai Family Health Center in Honolulu.

CYNTHIA MANLEY: I RECEIVED THE HAWAII MISSILE ALERT. HERE'S WHAT I TOLD MY KIDS WHEN I THOUGHT I HAD MINUTES TO LIVE.

Reichel said Shields collapsed in the waiting room and emergency technicians performed CPR on him before transporting him to the Straub Medical Center, where she claims he underwent emergency surgery and had four coronary stents placed in his heart.

This whole thing just took him over the edge. Theres no doubt. The stress brought on a heart attack. What they did was so harmful, Reichel told the newspaper, adding she thought he flatlined for five to 10 minutes.

The doctors even agreed that the stress from the event did this. They told him he died. They told me he wasnt breathing and he had no heartbeat. He had no heart problems ever, the woman added, but noted that Shields is now talking, hes lucid and cognitive.

Hawaii vacationers and locals received an emergency alert on their phones early Saturday from the states emergency management agency warning a ballistic missile threat was inbound for Hawaii, and telling everyone to seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.

HONOLULU'S 911 SYSTEM OVERWHELMED WITH CALLS; BODY FOUND AT AIRPORT

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell previously told the Star-Advertiser there were no reported injuries or accidents from the false alarm, which Hawaii resident John Nakauye told the paper was a total lie.

My son had to get stitches from a falling light fixture, Nakauye said, explaining that it happened as he placed a mattress over a window for protection.

The citys emergency dispatch center was inundated with calls, receiving more than 5,000  more than they could handle  following the alert.

Reichel said despite what the Hawaiian government is saying, the alert caused major stress to everyone here.

Seans life is never going to be the same now. This has been so horrendous," she said. "He told his daughter, I love you. He told his son, I love you, and he told me, I love you. He thought he was never going to see his kids again and this is it, we were all going to die."
Two Navy commanders face negligent homicide charges related to the deadly crashes of two ships off Asia last year, the Navy announced Tuesday.

Former Cmdr. Bryce Benson of the USS Fitzgerald and former Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez of the USS John S. McCain are among those charged, according to USNI News. Additionally, two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade of the Fitzgerald also face charges, the Navy said.

Among the charges are dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide.

A Chief Petty Officer on the McCain also was charged with dereliction of duty. And administrative actions -- including non-judicial punishment -- will be taken for crew members of both ships, the Navy said.

The decision to file charges was made by Adm. Frank Caldwell, who was given the authority and examined the evidence of what caused the collisions, according to Navy spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks. The charges are to be presented at what the military refers to as an Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether the accused are court-martialed.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a commercial ship in waters off Japan in June, killing seven sailors.

At the time, the Navy said the collision between the Navy destroyer and the Philippine-flagged container ship, the ACX Crystal, "was avoidable" and occurred because "of smaller errors over time, ultimatly resulting in a lack of adherence to sound navigational practices."

The Navy continued, "Specifically, Fitzgerald's watch teams disregarded established norms of basic contact management and, more importantly, leadership failed to adhere to well-established protocols put in place to prevent collisions."

On Aug. 21, ten sailors were killed after the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in Southeast Asia.

The Navy's guided-missile destroyer collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC. No one aboard the oil and chemical tanker was injured, the Singapore government said at the time.

The Navy said in a release that the crash could have been avoided, adding that it "resulted primarily from complacency, over-confidence and lack of procedural compliance."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A suspect in the murder of a New York teen who was reportedly bullied before being fatally stabbed with a knife has turned herself in, police said.

ZInah Brown was taken into police custody Thursday afternoon in her connection to the death of Valeree Schwab, 16, the New Rochelle Police Department said in a statement.

Brown is reportedly 16 years old, according to ABC 7.

Brown surrendered to authorities and was booked on a second-degree murder charge. Police said the Westchester District Attorneys office would determine what Brown would be arraigned on.

BALTIMORES RISING VIOLENCE CLAIMS THE LIVES OF 7 STUDENTS FROM SAME SCHOOL

Schwab died on Jan. 10 after being involved in a fight at a Dunkin Donuts in New Rochelle, police said. The victim was reportedly using pepper spray at the time to defend herself from getting bullied before being stabbed, ABC 7 said.

Witnesses told police the fight was between two high school aged females and the stabbing suspect later fled the area. The victim was reportedly rushed to Jacobi Hospital for injuries believed to be life threatening and ultimately died.

OVER 1,000 PEOPLE CHARGED WITH SHARING VIDEO OF NAKED TEENS ON FACEBOOK

Brown was identified by authorities as a suspect, ABC 7 reported.

Schwab, a student at New Rochelle High School, was a music lover and an outspoken political activist who rallied friends together to fight injustice, according to her obituary page. A funeral service was reportedly held for her on Monday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Pelham.
The couple accused of imprisoning their 13 children in a Southern California home forced the kids to march through the upstairs rooms of one of their former houses, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Mike, who lived across the street from David and Louise Turpin and their brood in Murrieta, Calif., told the Post that the family "would march back and forth on the second story at night. The light would be on the whole the time and they would be marching the kids back and forth."

Mike, who declined to give his last name, told the paper that the bizarre occurrence would happen between midnight and 3 a.m.

"I thought they were like a cult," he said, adding that his wife referred to the children as "clones" and noting that they "spoke robotically, in a monotone and at the same time."

In 2014, the Turpin family moved from Murrieta to the nearby town of Perris. On Sunday, Riverside County sheriff's deputies say, one of the children jumped out of a window, called 911 and led authorities to the home where her 12 siblings were being kept.

According to investigators, the Turpin children --ranging in age from two to 29 years old -- were thin and malnourished and some of them were chained to furniture. The 17-year-old girl who escaped was so tiny that deputies initially mistook her for a 10-year-old.

Louise Turpin, 49, and David Turpin, 57, were jailed on $9 million bail. They were scheduled for an initial court appearance on Thursday. Authorities said the pair could face charges of torture and child endangerment.

Riverside County Sheriff's Capt. Greg Fellows told reporters Tuesday that there was no indication any of the children were sexually abused, although that was still being investigated.

Neither sheriff's deputies nor child welfare officials received a single call over the years about the Turpin home. Mike, the Turpins' Murrieta neighbor, told the New York Post that neither he nor his wife saw anything that would have prompted them to call the police.

When the family moved out, Mike said, "there were lots of black garbage bags. I never saw any toys or bicycles."

Kimberly Milligan, a Perris neigbor of the Turpins, told the Associated Press the developer who built the tract where they lived told her the family had a dozen kids when they moved in, although she never saw that many.

She described the family as "standoffish" hoarders who had their garage filled with books and who often let the grass in their front yard grow out of control, unlike other families on the block.

"I got an impression, that, you know, 'You stay in your lane, I'll stay in my lane," she said. "It was never, 'Hi.' Never a wave. Nothing."

Her 26-year-old son, Robert Perkins, said he only remembers seeing four children outside the home, recalling they all appeared pale and skinny, as if they never ventured outside.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from the New York Post.
A deputy fatally shot a 16-year-old boy in an Ohio courtroom when a fight broke out involving the boy, his family and the officer on Wednesday, a sheriff's office investigator said.

Joseph Haynes was struck once in the abdomen during the fight that began as an early afternoon hearing concluded in a domestic relations courtroom in Columbus, said Rick Minerd, investigations chief with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. The boy died about 30 minutes later at a nearby downtown hospital.

Events unfolded as a judge wrapped up a hearing involving a firearms charge against the boy and an electronic monitoring device the court assigned him earlier in the case, Minerd said.

"At some point as the hearing was concluding, there was an altercation that ensued involving the deputy and some of the family members," Minerd said. He added later the boy also was involved.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and fired a shot, he said.

Minerd didn't identify the deputy, saying the investigation is ongoing. The deputy also was injured and was being treated at a hospital, but that he wasn't shot, Minerd said.

Minerd said the sheriff's office extends its condolences to the family of Haynes and wishes the injured deputy a quick recovery. He wouldn't speculate on what exactly happened.

"That's a very busy courtroom, very emotional floor here in the courthouse," Minerd said.

The sheriff's office immediately requested crime scene assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and two employees of the agency were assigned, records show.

Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady told the Columbus Dispatch that public safety is always an issue and commissioners would "certainly be willing" to discuss added juvenile court security with court personnel.

___

Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
A man accused of stabbing a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student nearly two dozen times and then burying him in a grave at a California park reportedly told police his alleged victim made advances on him and kissed him on the lips.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, was arrested and detained Friday on suspicion of homicide after DNA evidence tied him to the death of Blaze Bernstein, a college sophomore, authorities said.

Bernstein was reportedly stabbed 20 times, although the police would not confirm how exactly the student was murdered. No weapon has been found.

On Jan. 2, Woodward picked up Bernstein, who was visiting his family in Lake Forest during winter break, and drove him to several places before ending up at a park. He went missing and it took nearly a week for authorities to find the body.

Woodward told investigators earlier this month that Bernstein sexually pursued him, kissing him on the lips at a stop, prompting him to push the sophomore away, according to a 16-page search warrant affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register.

Investigators said in the affidavit that as Woodward was giving his version of the events, he clenched his jaw and his fists and said that he wanted to tell Blaze to get off of him.

Authorities said the suspect appeared nervous during the questioning, scratching his hands and dirt under his fingernails and avoided touching doors with his hands upon leaving the sheriffs office building.

Court documents also show Bernstein may have indicated plans to sexually pursue Woodward as well. The two knew each other from high school, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said.

The slain student texted two female friends about a June interaction with Woodward, saying he may hit on me and that he made me promise not to tell anyone.

During the questioning, the alleged killer also said that he walked into the park alone and waited for Bernstein for an hour before driving to see his girlfriend, but returned to the park hours later to look for him. Woodward could not remember his girlfriends name or where she lived, the newspaper reported.

The stabbing death shocked the local community of Lake Forest, 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Hundreds of people candlelight vigil to remember Bernstein. It was the first reported homicide in the community in the last four years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
A high school classmate was charged Wednesday with the murder of a University of Pennsylvania student, who was found with nearly two dozen stab wounds and buried in a shallow grave at a California park last week.

The murder charge against Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, also included a so-called enhancement which would allow prosecutors to seek more jail time for Woodward if he is convicted. Woodward is accused of stabbing Blaze Bernstein, 19, with a knife while the pre-med student was home on winter break visiting his parents in Lake Forest.

Woodward faces up to 26 years in prison if convicted. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus told reporters Wednesday that investigators are looking for evidence that would support making the legal case a hate crime.

Woodward appeared in court for arraignment but it was postponed to Feb. 2 and no plea was entered. In the meantime he'll remain jailed without bail.

FRIEND ARRESTED IN UPENN STUDENT'S DEATH MADE DISTURBING COMMENTS ONLINE, ACTED NERVOUS DURING ARREST, REPORT SAYS

Woodward was arrested days after Bernsteins body was found in Borrego Park, where he was last seen. Woodward told investigators when he was brought in for questioning that Bernstein, who he knew from high school, sexually pursued him and kissed him on the lips, prompting Woodward to shove the UPenn sophomore away, a warrant affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register stated.

The 20-year-old had picked up Bernstein on Jan. 2 and drove him to several places before the pair ended up at the park.

While Woodward was recounting the night, he appeared nervous, clenched his jaw and fists at one point, officials said.

He wanted to tell Blaze to get off of him, the affidavit said.

Woodward also had dirt under his nails, which he blamed on falling in a mud puddle during a fight club match.

Authorities have not released a motive in the killing. A weapon was also not recovered.

Woodward was arrested after investigators tracked Bernsteins social media account and found that he communicated with the Ivy League student on Snapchat. They also uncovered text messages to two female friends about Woodward. Bernstein said in a June text that Woodward was about to hit on him, adding: He made me promise not to tell anyonebut I have texted every oneuh oh.

BLAZE BERNSTEIN'S 'FIGHT CLUB' FRIEND WAS NERVOUS IN POLICE INTERVIEW, HAD 'DIRT UNDER' NAILS, AFFIDAVIT SAYS

DNA evidence linking Woodward to Bernsteins death was also found, authorities said.

The UPenn students parents, Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, have said their sons death may have been a hate crime.

"If it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime," a statement from the parents said.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As the president renewed his call for a border wall, the agency charged with building it is facing a manpower crisis. The Border Patrol is losing agents faster than it can hire them.

The agency is already 2,003 short of what is congressionally mandated and the president ordered it to hire 5,000 more agents.

It is an employment crisis, said agent and Tucson union chief Art Del Cueto. We are losing more agents than we can hire.

According to a GAO report last year, the Border Patrol is losing 905 agents annually, while hiring only 523. Some are retiring but many with five or 10 years of experience are taking higher-paying jobs in other federal agencies in less remote areas with better schools, health care and job opportunities for their spouses.

Tucson Sector Chief Rudy Karisch acknowledged the problem.

At the end of the day, it is about location we dont necessarily lose agents because of pay, but the ability to transfer, said Karisch. Some of these locations are hard on families. We need to try to improve our retention initiatives.

Del Cueto said the agency needs to offer bonuses to stop the brain drain.

Retaining agents is more important than hiring more agents, he said. What the agency is doing right now for retention is nothing.

The Border Patrols attrition rate is twice that for other federal law enforcement agencies. But it is also having problems hiring new agents.

The starting salary of an agent is $49,000. It takes 133 applicants and nine months to put one agent in uniform, and two-thirds fail the mandated polygraph, a rate twice as high as that of other law enforcement agencies.

Thats because, says Karish, the Border Patrol draws from a larger pool of candidates and the new generation of candidates have experimented with drugs, and get caught lying on the test.

I think our polygraph program is solid (but) are there options to adjust the test? Yes, I think there are, he said.

One candidate who did pass was Stephen Engles, who joined the agency two years ago.

The extreme nature appealed to me  where I am from, is pretty flat, he said.

Raised in Terre Haute, Indiana, Engles served in the Army before joining. He spent six months at the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, N.M. before getting stationed in Nogales Ariz., a remote corner of the U.S. where temperatures exceed 100 in the summer for months on end.

The mission is key, we are not doing traffic stops every 30 minutes, he said during a ride along. It doesnt matter why they crossed or what purpose they came here, it was illegal. We are paid to uphold the law.

To meet the presidents executive order, the agency will have to hire 3,000 agents annually for five years, three times as many as in the recent past.
An American man dubbed the Canterbury Cannibal after being convicted for trying to rape and eat a teenage girl in England landed in a Nebraska jail on Monday.

Dale Bolinger, 62, was convicted in 2014 of plotting to rape, decapitate and then eat a 14-year-old girl. He was sentenced to nine years in jail but released early for unknown reasons.

Following the release, the man moved to Nebraska earlier this month and registered as a sex offender on January 4 with the local police. There were reportedly school bus stops in front of his house.

But within weeks of restarting his life in the city of Blair in Nebraska he ended up in the Washington County Jail and is being held without bond.

"He's here, but I cannot tell you why," Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson told the Omaha World-Herald on Monday, noting that he has not been charged with any crimes. "Legally, I cannot say anything.

Captain Robert Bellamy, the jails administrator, told The Sun that the man is in jail for a mental health evaluation - he has not committed any new crimes. We need to consider how best to protect this man, and also how to best protect our community.

In all my years on this job I have never experienced anything like this, Bellamy added. It is surprising that he was released from prison in England so early.

Local residents are alarmed by the new neighbor, fearing for their childrens safety. Its making my heart race, Sylvia Kasper told local station KMTV. Its scary considering I have a small day care, and now I really have to watch and keep doors locked.

Bolinger, who worked as a nurse in England, was branded the Canterbury Cannibal over his perverse plans to rape and eat a teenage girl.

During the trial in 2013, it was revealed he made a contact with the teen on a twisted fetish website and bought an axe just a day before he was set to meet the underage girl, The Sun reported. Bolinger admitted having cannibalistic ideas since an early age, but said it was all a fantasy.

British authorities learned about Bolinger during the 2013 trial of former NYPD cop Gilberto Valle  known as the Cannibal Cop  who reportedly exchanged messages online.
A man dubbed the Canterbury Cannibal after he was convicted in 2014 of attempting to rape then eat a teenage girl has moved from the United Kingdom to Nebraska -- and his neighbors aren't pleased.

Dale Bolinger, 62, a former nurse, was placed in the Washington County Jail on Monday but he was not charged with any crime, Sheriff Mike Robinson told the Omaha World-Herald.

"He's here, but I cannot tell you why," Robinson said. "Legally, I cannot say anything."

Robinson said local authorities were not told of Bolinger's past crimes before he moved to the area.

We dont know why we werent notified. Since they knew he was going to be living in Washington County, why they didnt invite us to go to the airport with them to meet him?" Robinson said. When you hear those twisted fantasies, it's absolutely a big concern. ... I don't think there is anyone here that would want somebody like that to be their neighbor, especially if they have young children."

WOWT reported the secrecy around Bolingers detainment could be because he was being held on a mental health warrant.

CANNIBAL COP PENS VERY GRAPHIC HORROR NOVEL

Bolinger, an American national, moved to Blair, Neb., in early January and registered as a sex offender. Neighbors quickly voiced their concerns over Bolingers arrival.

Its making my heart race, Sylvia Kasper, a Blair resident, told the Omaha World-Herald. Its scary considering I have a small daycare, and now I really have to watch and keep doors locked.

Robinson told the Omaha World-Herald he has received multiple calls from citizens concerned about Bolinger living in the area.

Were just as frustrated as everybody else, Robinson said.

An anonymous resident told the World-Herald: I dont know the protocol with this sort of thing  because who would?  but it really creeps me out. I have grandkids who come over.

RUSSIAN CANNIBAL COUPLE MAY HAVE KILLED, EATEN 30 PEOPLE, POLICE SAY

In 2014, Bolinger was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Canterbury Crown Court after he exchanged sexual messages with a 14-year-old Mexican girl named Eva he met online, the BBC reported. In conversations obtained by authorities, Bolinger told the girl what sexual acts he wanted to perform on her and how he would murder her.

Bolinger, who was married for 34 years and has three children, set up a meeting with the girl but she never showed up. The man brought an ax with him to meet the girl at an Ashford train station. Bolinger told police he was interested in children as food and had a computer disc containing an image of a girl on a serving plate with an apple in her mouth, the BBC reported.

The Omaha World-Herald reported British authorities were told of Bolingers behavior during former New York City Police officer Gilberto Valles case. Valle, known as the cannibal cop served almost two years in prison after his wife discovered posts on his computer detailing plans to kidnap and eat women. Valle and Bolinger were online buddies who traded messages about their cannibalistic fetishes, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

It was not immediately clear why Bolinger was released from jail and sent back to the U.S.
The daughter of a man whose body was found encased in concrete inside a Denver home was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday, officials said.

Dayna Jennings, 44, was arrested last Wednesday in the death of her father, 69-year-old William Mussack, after his remains were found inside a crawl space encased in concrete, the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office said.

In court documents obtained by FOX31, Jennings admitted to police she poured the concrete.

The Federal Heights Police Department said Jennings and Mussack shared a house, and neighbors told authorities Jennings' boyfriend also lived at the home.

While a cause of death has not been listed, family members told police they believe the 69-year-old was being drugged. In December, Mussack was found unconscious after taking a bite of a hamburger Jennings gave to him.

AUTHORITIES SEEK ANSWERS IN CALIFORNIA HOUSE OF HORRORS CASE

Family and friends had been searching for Mussack for two weeks, and notified authorities to the disappearance in late December.

When police originally spoke to Jennings, she told cops her father no longer lived at the home and she had not seen him in weeks, the arrest affidavit said. A police officer who searched the home on Dec. 29 noticed the stench of something that was rotting and smelled like sewage, according to police.

Mussack's son Brian, who lives in California, said Jennings sent him a text message saying their dad was being abusive to her, but he and other family members said that would have been out of character for him, The Denver Post reported.

Police also found unusual activity on Mussacks bank account in December, when his named was signed on a check made out to Jennings for $500 with a signature that did not match prior ones. There were also several purchases made on Amazon during that time period, according to police.

When police obtained a search warrant of the home on Jan. 10 and told Jennings they were breaking up the concrete in the crawlspace of the home, she requested a lawyer and stopped talking to cops, according to the arrest affidavit.

Police said Jennings ex-husband told investigators she was impulsive and irrational at times and also had patterns of "intense and unstable relationship with family, friends and loved ones.

Jennings was charged with first-degree murder after deliberation and tampering with a deceased human body. She is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Feb. 15 in Adams County District Court.
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Developing now, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018:

President Trump uses a new terror report to call for immigration reform and turn up the heat on Democrats with a possibility of a government shutdown on Friday

Special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenas Steve Bannon in his Russia investigation

Press bombards White House physician with odd questions about Trump's health at bizarre briefing

The Dow surpasses 26,000 for the first time Tuesday, the fastest 1000-point gain in the index's history

The Navy charges two commanders with homicide in two deadly crashes off Asia last year

Trump expected to announce his 'Fake News Awards'

THE LEAD STORY: President Trump is using a new report from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security that reveals that nearly three out of four individuals convicted on international terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign-born to call for immigration reform ... According to the report, at least 549 people were convicted of international terrorism-related charges in the U.S. between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016. Of those convicted, 254 were not U.S. citizens, 148 were foreign-born and received citizenship and 147 were citizens by birth. It also noted that the DHS in 2017 denied U.S. entry to 2,554 people on the terror watch list. Trump reacted to the report by tweeting: We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based.

The president has made it clear in recent meetings on immigration with lawmakers from both parties that he wants to end the visa lottery program, aimed at increasing immigrant diversity, and chain migration, when immigrants enter the U.S. through sponsorship from family members already settled in the country. Immigration talks have stalled over the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and Trump's demand for funding for his long-promised border wall. The government could shut down Friday if Republicans and Democrats don't reach an agreement on a spending bill.

BANNON FACING MUELLER'S HOT SEAT: Fired White House chief strategist and ex-Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller, Fox News has confirmed ... The onetime Breitbart News executive chairman also testified before the House Intelligence Committee for 12 hours Tuesday as part of its Russia probe. First reported by The New York Times, the Bannon subpoena was issued by Muellers team last week. Sources told Fox News that Bannons subpoena, which could require him to appear before a grand jury investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, was issued after the FBI initially was unable to contact him.

Lewandowski: There was no Trump-Russia collusion, but Clinton campaign was a 'different story'

PRESS FISHES FOR ILLNESS - ANY ILLNESS - ON TRUMP: The White House's physician was slammed with questions regarding President Trump's health in a bizarre press briefing on Tuesday that raised eyebrows as the press fished for maladies ... Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, who was White House physician for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said Trump was in "excellent health" after conducting the presidents physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, but the positive results werent enough for the reporters in attendance. Jackson answered questions for more than 50 minutes, running the gamut from the odd to the conspiratorial. White House correspondents asked about everything from whether Trump wears dentures to how to gauge his mental health.

RECORD MILESTONE ON WALL STREET: The Dow surpassed 26,000 for the first time Tuesday, marking the fastest 1,000-point rally in the blue-chip indexs history ... It took a mere seven sessions for the Dow to jump from 25,000 to 26,000. Robust corporate earnings and optimism over economic policies, mainly the $1.5 trillion tax-cut package, have helped drive stocks higher in 2018.

Varney on Dow hitting 26,000: 'Inexplicable' that mainstream media ignores rally

CRASHES BECOME HOMICIDE CASES: Two Navy commanders face negligent homicide charges related to the deadly crashes of two ships off Asia last year, the Navy announced Tuesday ... Former Cmdr. Bryce Benson of the USS Fitzgerald and former Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez of the USS John S. McCain are among those charged, according to USNI News. Additionally, two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade of the Fitzgerald also face charges, the Navy said. Among the charges are dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide.

'FAKE NEWS AWARDS': President Trump is expected to announce his promised "Fake News Awards" that will go to "the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media" ... The "honors" have been twice delayed. The president has said interest in the awards is "far greater than anyone could have anticipated! Still, Trump has stayed mostly silent on details about the event, such as nominees or possible prizes. He has accused the mainstream media since essentially the start of his 2016 presidential campaign of putting out false or completely misleading stories to doom his presidency.

Flake speech today compares Trump's criticism of media to Stalin, report says

AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS

MEDIA HEADACHE: "Are you kidding me? ... Most of the journalists I saw on the campaign trail were drinking cases of Red Bull because they couldn't keep up him [with the then-candidate Trump]."  Eric Trump, son of President Trump, on "Hannity," sounding off on the series of sometimes-peculiar questions from the press the White House physician answered during a briefing Tuesday. WATCH

NEW JERSEY THE NEXT SANCTUARY STATE?: "Democrats would rather put other people before the black voters who voted them into office. Enough is enough."  Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones, on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," ripping N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy over his plan to set up an agency exclusively to provide aid for illegal immigrants. WATCH

ACROSS THE NATION

Senate Dems need one more vote to push ahead with bid to reverse FCC's net neutrality ruling.

Shackled Calif. kids seen marching at night, compared to cult by neighbors.

New charges could be coming in Las Vegas massacre, police attorney says.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA MADNESS

'OUT!' Trump orders CNN star Jim Acosta to leave Oval Office after reporter's newest outburst.

Ann Curry could exact revenge on Matt Lauer in first TV interview since his 'Today' firing.

CNN's Chris Cuomo apologizes for botching Indian-American Trump staffers name.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS

IRS asks for extra cash: Are Americans more at risk of being audited?

Big U.S. lenders reap benefits of higher rates, but savers not so much.

2018's best and worst states to retire.

NEW IN FOX NEWS OPINION

Sen. Chelsea Manning? To even think about rewarding this criminal with a Senate seat is beyond absurd.

Jason Chaffetz: Dont bring back earmarks (even if it would make it easier for Congress to pass bills).

John Stossel: The Southern Poverty Law Center is a money-grabbing slander machine.

HOLLYWOOD SQUARED

'The Emoji Movie' becomes first film to play in Saudi Arabia following 35-year cinema ban.

Chrissy Teigen offers to pay McKayla Maroney's $100,000 legal fine if she speaks out against her abuser.

Alec Baldwin calls Woody Allen backlash 'unfair.'

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

High school student makes six figures mowing lawns.

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Snake devours tiger snake after a gruesome fight to the death.

Ancient prince's frozen tomb discovered in Siberia.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Eric Trump discusses his father's battle with Democrats over immigration and the media's questions about the president's health; Tomi Lahren on the anti-Trump media hysteria; a veteran makes Rep. Maxine Waters an offer to take her State of the Union seat; and Pete Hegseth has "Breakfast with 'Friends" in Ohio.

The Story with Martha MacCallum, 7 p.m. ET: Rep. Trey Gowdy gives the inside story on Steve Bannon's testimony before House Intel investigators on Russia.

Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Michelle Malkin sizes up the Trump "Fake News Awards."

The Ingraham Angle, 10 p.m. ET: Laura is live in Las Vegas with the latest developments in the massacre investigation.

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Guests include: Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs; Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, AKA "Dr. Mike"; and Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager.

Varney & Company, 9 a.m. ET: Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform president; Kayleigh McEnany, RNC spokesperson.

Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Rep. Mark Walker, House Republican Study Committee Chairman and Rep. Diane Black, House Budget Committee member.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: Many Republicans in Congress wont be on the midterm ballot this year, giving Democrats hope for major gains in November. Former congressman Jason Chaffetz weighs in on the largest exodus for one political party in decades. Americans seem to be paying more attention to whats going on in Washington, thanks to President Trump's daily battles with the media. "MediaBuzz" host Howard Kurtz explains. Plus, commentary from "Strange Inheritance" host, Jamie Colby.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Rep. Matt Gaetz on Steve Bannon's testimony in the Russia probe; Rep. Dave Brat on the chance of a government shutdown; Niall Ferguson on the power of big tech companies and his new book.

The Tom Shillue Show, 3 p.m. ET: Author, screenwriter and media commentator Andrew Klavan joins Tom to explain why hes happy President Trump is using tough language when discussing immigration.

#OnThisDay

2017: President Obama grants clemency to Chelsea Manning, allowing the transgender Army intelligence officer convicted of leaking more than 700,000 U.S. documents to go free nearly three decades early.

1998: The Drudge Report says Newsweek magazine had killed a story about an affair between President Bill Clinton and an unidentified White House intern, the same day Clinton gave a deposition in Paula Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against him in which he denied having had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

1929: Popeye the Sailor makes his debut in the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip.

Thank you for joining us on Fox News First! Enjoy your day! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Thursday morning.
An illegal immigrant began his murder trial for the 2014 killings of two Northern California sheriff's deputies on Tuesday with a profanity-laced rant, calling a partner of one of the slain officers a coward.

Prosecutor Rod Norgaard recounted the events that led to the death of Sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver outside a Sacramento motel in October 2014, and described how Oliver's partner, Deputy Scott Brown, was able to retreat from the heavy gunfire.

Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes, 37, the alleged killer, interrupted the court when he grinned and called Brown a "coward."

Bracamontes was scolded by the Sacramento Superior Court judge, The Sacramento Bee reported.

"I wish I had killed more of the mother-------s," Bracamontes told the court. He continued: "I will break out soon and I will kill more, kill whoever gets in front of me...There's no need for a f---ing trial."

Bracamontes defense attorneys cited the outburst as more evidence that their client is unfit to stand trial.

His wife, 41-year-old Janelle Monroy, also is charged in the slayings. She argues that she was a victim of AN abusive husband who frequently used drugs.

Bracamontes, who could face the death penalty if convicted, has had similar episodes in court in the past.

Bracamontes is from Mexico, and repeatedly entered the United States illegally. His wife is an American citizen and faces life in prison if found guilty.

Public defenders Jeffrey Barbour and Norm Dawson have unsuccessfully attempted to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, and argued that it is unlikely their client will receive a fair trial due to the anti-immigrant sentiment encouraged by President Trumps hard line on immigration.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The new Ithaca College president is making headlines this week after at least two college newspapers published anonymous documents they received about a 17-year-old criminal case involving her.

The Ithacan student newspaper and the Vanderbilt Hustler both published stories on Tuesday evening detailing information they received regarding a 2001 sex abuse case in which College President Shirley M. Collado pleaded no contest.

According to the articles, Collado, who worked at The Center at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington in D.C. at the time, was accused of having a five-month sexual relationship with a female patient who was undergoing therapy for post-traumatic stress in 2000.

In light of the resurfacing of this legal action, I want to unequivocally state now, as I did then, that the accusations in the court documents are simply not true.  Shirley M. Collado, President of Ithaca College

The victim claimed they entered a sexual relationship after Collado kissed her and said these actions  which included fondling and kissing  would be therapeutic for the victim; that it would bring her out of her shell, the Governments Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing said during the case, according to the Hustler.

Collado was convicted of one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse in August 2001 after pleading no contest. She received a 30-day suspension, 18 months of supervised probation, and 80 hours of community service. She was also force to pay a $250 fine and ordered to stay away from the patient.

Collado insists she is innocent, even though she pleaded no contest.

Recently, I learned that an anonymous source has been circulating misleading information to other colleges and universities and their news outlets about a traumatic time in my like that took place almost 20 years ago, she wrote in a statement on the colleges website released to students Tuesday.

Seeing how profoundly the facts and my character are being misrepresented and being forced to relive the pain of that time have left me feeling upset, perplexed and targeted. I do not know who is disseminating this information or how widely it is being shared.

She continued: In light of the resurfacing of this legal action, I want to unequivocally state now, as I did then, that the accusations in the court documents are simply not true.

A college spokesman referred all questions to Collados letter on the colleges website.

READ COLLADO'S FULL STATEMENT HERE

The documents were sent as many people are speaking out about sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations because of the #MeToo movement. Its unclear who sent the documents.

Aidan Quigley, who wrote the article and serves as the editor-in-chief at The Ithacan, told Fox News on Wednesday that the publication received the package last month. After deliberating with his team, it was decided due to the serious nature of the allegations that they would pursue the story.

My team weighed the seriousness of the allegations and decided to explain them to the community, he said, adding that he stands by the reporting. The reporting speaks for itself.

"My team weight the seriousness of the allegations and decided to explain them to the community."  Aidan Quigley, Editor-in-Chief of The Ithacan

Quigley said they had originally planned to publish the story on Wednesday, but decided to do it a day earlier after Collado sent the letter out to students on Tuesday. He said college officials also received the package with the documents.

The Hustler, who said it received the package with documents during the universitys winter break, reported it reached out to Ithaca College for comment on Jan. 13. Collado received her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and serves on the universitys Board of Trustees.

According to court documents cited by The Ithacan and the Hustler, the patient alleged she and Collado kissed after most individual therapy sessions for several weeks.

Collado resigned from The Center after her husband committed suicide in July 2000 and the patient moved in with her shortly after she was discharged from the hospital.

The patient claimed sexual contact with Collado continued while they were living together, however, when she was asked to move out in October 2000, she told other employees at The Center about the alleged relationship.

In her letter on Tuesday, Collado acknowledged that she did invite the woman into the home she shared with a roommate, but after a brief period I realized that I could not provide the support she was looking for while I myself was trying to heal.

So , I let her know that she could no longer stay with us and helped her move out, Collado wrote, adding later: I fought the charge to the best of my ability, but my fighting spirit was limited by so many things. I was in my twenties, had very little money and resources and was grieving a profound personal loss.

Following the conviction, Collado went on to hold administrative roles at several higher education institutions, including serving as vice president of Student Affairs and dean of Middlebury College until 2014, where she was responsible for developing sexual misconduct and judicial policies, the Hustler reported.

Ithaca Colleges Board of Trustees said it stands behind Collado, saying she was extremely forthright when the conviction was brought to light during the interview and vetting process last year.

It is evident that Dr. Collados subsequent life experiences, her professional successes, and her empathetic nature demonstrate resilience of character and an ability to both learn and grow from an extremely challenging set of circumstances, the statement read. She was the right choice when she was named president of Ithaca College last year, and her first six months in office have only reinforced our belief in what an exceptional person and leader she truly is.

The college also referenced an interview Collado gave for its website soon after it was announced she would be the new president in which she mentioned the old case against her.

Vanderbilt University officials said they were unaware of the charges when Collado was appointed to the Board of Trust.

Shirley Collado spoke openly and publicly about this issue at the time of her vetting and appointment as president of Ithaca College, which is when Vanderbilt became aware of the matter, the university said in a statement to the Hustler. She has consistently denied these accusations. These accusations will not affect her status on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust.
A Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy made a deal with drug dealers to protect them in exchange for cash, according to a federal complaint filed in Los Angeles last week.

Deputy Kenneth Collins, 50, of Chino and three other men  Grant Valencia, 34, of Pomona and David Easter, 51, of Hyde Park and Maurice Desi Font, 56,  allegedly planned to take kickbacks in exchange for protecting drug traffickers, police say. Collins, Valencia and Easter face charges for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, FOX 11 reported. Font is expected to be charged in a second criminal complaint, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The criminal complaint says Collins and the other men were reportedly preparing to provide security for the trafficking of about 13 pounds of methamphetamine and 45 pounds of cocaine to Las Vegas, the U.S. Department of Justice stated. The men were reportedly preparing to get paid $250,000 for the job.

NEW CALIFORNIA MOVEMENT SEEKS TO DIVIDE THE GOLDEN STATE IN HALF



The affidavit mentioned another transport where Collins made a deal with an undercover agent to transport methamphetamine, marijuana and counterfeit cigarettes to Las Vegas in November. The agent and Collins agreed on $25,000 for the safe travel. The methamphetamine was fake, court documents stated.

Collins, a 15-year veteran of the force, reportedly told one of the undercover FBI agents were cops and all of our transports make it through, court documents stated.

Collins was being investigated for months in connection to a scheme to accept cash payments for providing security for illegal marijuana grow facilities, ABC 7 reported.

An undercover agent who was posing as a family member of a wealthy investor looking to finance an illegal marijuana grow house met with the deputy in August, court documents stated.

Agents recorded him talking about his extensive drug trafficking network, past criminal conduct and willingness to accept to use his law enforcement status for criminal purposes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

DOJ TO APPEAL SAN FRANCISCO DACA RULING, WILL ASK SUPREME COURT TO END PROGRAM

I fix problems, Collins was heard telling an FBI agent. I make a lot of things go away.

The deputy also claimed to have a very professional team with cops who travel with guns.

"Deputy Collins sold his badge to assist an individual he thought was a drug trafficker," U.S. Attorney Nicola T. Hanna said. "The deputy allegedly used his status as a law enforcement officer as a guarantee when he promised safe travels for large quantities of illegal narcotics."

Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell called Collins arrest tragic.

"I guess if you look at it from a system standpoint, the system worked. We found out about criminal misconduct, caused an investigation to be done, worked with our federal partners and then ended up with what we saw today with an indictment," McDonnell said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department wrote in a statement on their Facebook page that they brought up the allegations of criminal misconduct to the attention of federal investigators several months ago.

Collins was reassigned to the County Services Bureau but has since been placed on administrative leave by the department pending the investigation.

Each suspect could face up to life in prison if convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy.
Nora Sandigo is an immigration activist in South Florida who has accepted responsibility for 1,250 children of migrants.

She is an essential part of emergency planning for people who are in the U.S. illegally and now face an increasing prospect of being caught amid a crackdown under President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of immigrant parents have signed a document known as a power of attorney that enables Sandigo to care for their children if they are detained or deported.

The power of attorney allows Sandigo to sign documents on behalf of children at schools, hospitals and court. She can help the minors pursue legal residency if they are not citizens or travel abroad to be reunited with their families.

Sandigo describes herself as a "mama warrior."
A New Hampshire high school student was killed and another was seriously injured early Wednesday when the sled they were riding during an after-hours excursion at a Maine ski resort crashed into a tree.

Oxford County Chief Deputy Hart Daley said three teens sneaked into the Sunday River resort while it was closed and two of them were riding an inflatable tube down the trails when the crash occurred at around 2 a.m.

Resort spokeswoman Darcy Lambert said the three were sliding on the Tempest Trail, which is steeper than most sledding hills. Part of it is rated for expert skiers, and part is rated for intermediate skiers.

Sledding is not allowed on ski trails at the resort, and only mechanized grooming equipment is allowed on trails so late at night.



Portsmouth High School Principal Mary Lyons identified the victim as 18-year-old David Kohlhase and said another student was hospitalized. Police say the third person called for help.

Lyons described Kohlhase as "a beloved member of our school community," and said a crisis team would be available Thursday when students returned from a snow day.



Lambert said the teens are presumed to have hiked up to the resort from a condominium owned by one of their families.

Daley said an investigation was continuing.



When asked whether alcohol was a factor, he said: "It could be weeks before we receive lab results, but when we do, that information will be released."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox25Boston.com.
A possible meteor bolted across the night sky Tuesday night illuminating large swaths of areas in states from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said.

There was a loud bang that was reported during the event that caused a magnitude 2.0 earthquake in the Detroit metropolitan area, the NWS reported, citing USGS.

Some residents reported their homes shaking.

The weather service hasnt been able to confirm that it was a meteor despite reports and videos received by the agency late Tuesday, Meteorologist Jordan Dale said.

It was not thunder or lightning or weather-related, he said.

A majority of the reports came from southeast Michigan, WXYZ reported, but there were also reports from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada.

The American Meteor Society received more than 350 fireball reports of the incident.

Dale said the weather service is trying to determine what caused the light and noise, calling it a rare occurrence.

Meteoroids may be common, but the associated fireballs, or bolides, are extremely rare, Bob Trembley, a former outreach officer for the Warren Astronomical Society and volunteer NASA/JPL solar system ambassador, told the Detroit News.

Anybody that saw it is lucky, said Trembley, who has studied the phenomenon for many years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A newly pregnant nanny, who was the wife of an airman stationed at Luke Air Force Base, died Monday after being struck in the chest by a stray bullet while visiting a spot in the Arizona desert known to be a popular target shooting area, police said.

Kami Gilstrap, 24, of Goodyear, was roaming the desert in Buckeye, about 30 miles west of Phoenix, on Sunday during a family outing when she was struck in the chest. She was airlifted to a hospital where she later died. The baby also did not survive.

We are shocked and devastated at the passing of our beloved wife, daughter and friend. We thank everyone who has reached out in love to share their condolences. They are much appreciated, the family said in a statement to ABC15 Arizona.

Gilstrap was expecting her first child with husband Blake Gilstrap, AZFamily reported.

The type of bullet that struck Gilstrap and the person who fired the gun werent identified as of Tuesday. Authorities said there were hundreds of people doing recreational shooting at the time Gilstrap was hit, making it difficult to pinpoint the shooter.

The biggest challenge we're facing in this investigation, right now is that there are hundreds of shooters out here and there were hundreds of shooters just south of where the incident occurred, which is a 1-mile stretch of area. In trying to determine trajectory, and actually the round that hit her, it's gonna be a very challenging investigation at this point," Buckeye Police Chief Larry Hall told AZFamily.com.

Authorities are often in the area to monitor the activity. It's legal to shoot on large swaths of U.S.-owned land in Arizona. Hall said theres no regulations on which direction people have to shoot.

"Theres tons of ricochets, he said, adding that he would never bring his family or friends to the area. "Out here we have tons of trash. All that trash is potential for a round to ricochet and hit another shooter. And thats where this whole situation out here is absolutely dangerous.

Hector Guzman, who has done target shooting in the desert, said it was only a matter of time before a deadly incident occurred.

"Its something that would have been a matter of time -- not if, but when -- it was going to happen, Guzman told AZFamily.

Jamie Rubio told ABC15 he goes to the area for target shooting twice a month for good bonding time with his children. He also said it was a good pastime, stress reliever, but said Gilstraps death means people should be more cautious.

"The death makes you feel just a little more cautious about the people who are next to you," Rubio said.

Buckeye police and the Bureau of Land Management said they are conducting an investigation and addressing safety concerns to prevent another incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two Minnesota elementary school students suffered minor injuries when an out-of-control semitruck rammed into their building early Tuesday morning.

The truck slammed into the Lyle Public School in Lyle around 8:30 a.m., Chief Deputy Mark May with the Mower County Sheriff's Office told FOX9.

We were talking about Martin Luther King Jr. Day and all of a sudden we just heard this crash, Jake Woyen, a fourth-grader at the school, told the Star Tribune. It was scary.

The truck hit a dividing wall between two classrooms, and then had one of its fuel tanks rupture on impact, spilling diesel fuel into the building, police said. Authorities said the incident could have been devastating if the truck had hit a few feet to either side and ended up in a classroom.

"Thats whats scary when you think about it," Rev. Eileen Woyen, whose two children were inside the building at the time of the crash, told FOX9. "If it was only a couple feet one way or the other we might have had a different story."

Authorities rushed to evacuate the school while diesel fuel poured into the building. They said it was fortunate the fuel did not end up igniting.

SAN FRANCISCO TRUCK CRASH INJURES 7 PEOPLE, OFFICIALS SAY

"I've never seen a crash like this," State Patrol spokesperson Troy Christianson said.

Police said the truck originally rear-ended another car and veered towards the school. State Patrol said there were no indications the driver tried to brake or steer away from the school, but officials have already ruled out alcohol as a factor in the crash. The driver, whose name was not released, refused medical attention at the scene.

Students were released from the school shortly after the incident, while authorities worked to clean up the diesel fuel that had spilled into the building. School officials canceled classes Wednesday, and said it was unclear when classes will resume.
A South Carolina sheriff's detective has died after a man, who was wanted for assaulting his wife, "ambushed" and shot him and three other officers, officials said Wednesday.

York County Detective Michael Doty died Wednesday after he was shot by Christian Thomas McCall, 47, during an hours-long manhunt Tuesday morning.

"It is with a heavy heart & great sadness that York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson announces the passing of Detective Michael R. Doty," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook. Doty spent 12 years working for the department.

SWAT team members Sgt. Randy Clinton and Sgt. Buddy Brown are in stable condition, and Sgt. Kyle Cummings, also of SWAT, is still recovering from his wounds. A K-9 officer was also injured in the attack.

The officers were called to McCall's house, outside of York, around 10:20 p.m. Monday night after he attacked his wife, authorities said. McCall ran into the woods and deputies spent about three hours searching for him. York is about 25 miles southwest of Charlotte.

Clinton has been with the department for 34 years, WSOC-TV reported. Brown has been with the force for 13 years, and Cummings has been on the force for three years.

McCall, a father of three children who was shot during a gunfight with officers, remained in the same Charlotte, North Carolina hospital Wednesday where the four officers were also taken.

He was charged with three counts of attempted murder for the three officers who were less seriously wounded. The prosecutor was waiting to charge McCall for Doty's injuries. Based on what happened to Doty's medical condition the proescutor would then decide what to charge McCall with in the shooting.

McCalls father-in-law told WSOC-TV on Tuesday that it was uncharacteristic for his son-in-law to act violently toward police, and didn't know of past violence between his daughter and McCall.

But details about McCalls history included one arrest in February 1994, when he was charged with assaulting a law officer, resisting arrest and simple assault. Its unclear what happened in the case.

Deputies were also called to the two-story home in 2015 when McCall was the victim of an alleged domestic disturbance. Details from that incident were not released.

Roger Gilfillan, a neighbor, said Tuesday mornings incident was baffling and called the McCalls real nice people.

"He just kept to himself," Gilfillan said, adding the 47-year-old never caused any trouble in the neighborhood.

State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said a state police helicopter was shot and its rear stabilizer damaged during the search for McCall, but no one on board was injured and the chopper was able to land safely. He also added McCall had several "long guns" in the attack, but didn't know the specific type of weapons used.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Four people have filed suit against the University of California, Berkeley after allegedly being assaulted last year in riots that led to the cancellation of an appearance by a conservative speaker -- raising the possibility more schools around the country could be held accountable for their handling of free speech-related protests.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Oakland late last week, asserts the school  along with the city of Berkeley  failed to protect the plaintiffs when they were beaten and pepper-sprayed during the rioting that led to the cancellation of an event featured Milo Yiannopoulos, who is known for his controversial and provocative political views.

The schools inaction was motivated by the fact that Yiannopoulos and his supporters have opposing viewpoints to the majority of the schools students and administration, the complaint states. Furthermore, given the current political climate in the United States, the City and UC Berkeley Defendants, and each of them, should have foreseen that the protest of a controversial political figure such as Yiannopoulos could likely turn violent.

Last February, an estimated 150 black-clad leftist protesters rampaged through Berkeleys campus, where they caused $100,000 worth of damage, beat some students, and led to the university cancelling the Yiannopoulos appearance. The melee spilled onto the streets of Berkeley, and forced university police and other officers to shut down the campus for several hours.

Three of the plaintiffs -- John Jennings, Katrina Redelsheimer and Trever Hatch -- say they were assaulted when trying to attend the Yiannopoulos event, while the fourth -- Donald Fletcher -- claims he was injured after leaving a local bar and entering the protest.

According to the lawsuit, Jennings and Redelsheimer were attacked on UC-Berkeleys Sproul Plaza by protesters  including two then-employees of UC-Berkeley and UC-Davis -- wielding sticks and pepper spray. The suit says the two suffered concussions, broken or bruised ribs, burns and cuts.

Hatch was also purportedly attacked on Sproul Plaza, where protestors knocked off his Make America Great Again cap and shot pepper spray into his eyes. Fletcher spent the night in a local hospital, and claims he suffered psychologically after allegedly being beaten unconscious, and kicked to ground.

UC-Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof told Fox News on Tuesday the university has not been served with the lawsuit yet so could not comment.

As of now, our attorneys have not even seen the lawsuit, so we dont even know what to comment on, Mogulof said.

Legal experts say the Berkeley lawsuit could be just the tip of the iceberg as the country sees a rise in violent protests on college campuses.

I can see this popping up more and more, Roy Gutterman, the director of Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, told Fox News. It would be reasonable to see similar suits popping up with the events in Charlottesville."

Last August, a rally in opposition to the removal of a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the campus of the University of Virginia turned violent as white supremacists and neo-Nazis clashed with counterprotestors. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when James Alex Fields Jr. drove a 2010 Dodge Challenger into a crowd on a pedestrian mall.

Gutterman predicted the success of any future lawsuit depends on the motives of the plaintiffs, and how the court rules.

If this is a way to keep universities responsible then the plaintiffs will succeed, he said. But if the lawsuits use civil liability to exert political revenge, that is a different story.

Gutterman added: In the end the system will work its way out.
The U.S. Navy is facing some tough questions following two deadly collisions during the summer of 2017.

More than a dozen sailors died in the separate accidents. The destroyer USS Fitzgerald struck a commercial ship off the waters of Japan in June, killing seven U.S. sailors. The destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in coastal waters off Singapore in August, killing 10 U.S. sailors.

Five officers involved with those two collisions have been charged with negligent homicide, the Navy said Tuesday.

Read on for a look at other recent U.S. military incidents in the Pacific.

C-2A Greyhound

Three sailors were lost after a Navy plane crashed in the Philippine Sea shortly after takeoff from Japan in November 2017.

Eight other crewmembers on board the plane were rescued and listed in good condition at the time of the crash.

Deep water salvage experts located the plane in early January 2018 and efforts are underway to recover the aircraft and sailors, the Navy said.

USS John S. McCain

The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC on Aug. 21, 2017, according to the Navy report.

Five sailors were injured, and 10 sailors died.

No one onboard the 600-foot oil and chemical tanker was injured, the Singapore government has said, although the ship did sustain damage to a compartment at its front.

Singapore, at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula, is one of the world's busiest ports and a U.S. ally, with its naval base regularly visited by American warships.

The Navy said in a release that the crash could have been avoided, adding that it "resulted primarily from complacency, over-confidence and lack of procedural compliance."

UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter

An Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed in the ocean off the coast of Hawaii on Aug. 15, 2017.

Two Black Hawk aircrews were participating in training exercises when communications were lost.

Crews from the Army, Coast Guard, Navy and local agencies in Hawaii searched around the clock as strong currents moved the wreckage into a deep-water search area that spanned 72,000 nautical miles.

The five soldiers who went missing ranged in age from 26 to 41. The crew did have life vests and devices to assist with underwater breathing on the helicopter, officials said.

But while officials recovered significant debris from the crash, Army and Coast Guard officials said that they found no signs of life and ended the search-and-rescue operation.

All five missing soldiers have been declared dead.

MV-22 Osprey

Three U.S. Marines were declared dead in August 2017 after their MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Australia.

The MV-22 Osprey  part helicopter, part plane  crashed into the back of the USS Green Bay, a Navy amphibious ship, and fell into the sea on Aug. 5.

USS Fitzgerald

Seven sailors  ranging in ages from 19 to 37  died in June 2017 when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship in waters off Japan.

The captain of the ACX Crystal, a Philippine-flagged container ship, accused the Navy destroyer of failing to heed warning signs before the crash on June 17.

"The collision between Fitzgerald and Crystal was avoidable and resulted from an accumulation of smaller errors over time, ultimately resulting in a lack of adherence to sound navigational practices," the Navy said in the release.

"Specifically, Fitzgerald's watch teams disregarded established norms of basic contact management and, more importantly, leadership failed to adhere to well-established protocols put in place to prevent collisions," it added.

USS Lake Champlain

The USS Lake Champlain, a guided-missile cruiser part of the U.S. Navys 7th fleet, collided with a South Korean fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan in May 2017.

No injuries were reported following the May 9 crash.

The naval ship was conducting routine operations in international waters at the time of the incident, according to the U.S. Navy. A defense official said visibility was limited at the time.

USS Louisiana

The ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana collided with a U.S. Navy Offshore Support Vessel off the coast of Washington state on Aug. 18, 2016, according to the U.S. Navy.

The crash occurred during routine operations in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

While both vessels were damaged, no one was injured in the collision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
It is unlikely that temperature control towers will be installed at Foster or Green Peter dams, Linn County commissioners were told Tuesday morning.

The commissioners  Roger Nyquist, John Lindsey and Will Tucker  expressed concern last week about the possible economic impact such a construction project would have on the east Linn County economy. They invited U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to meet with them to learn more about a proposed project at Detroit Dam.

We do not anticipate the need for a temperature control tower at Foster or Green Peter dams, said Erik Petersen, the Corps Willamette Valley operations project manager. We are installing a new fish weir at Foster Dam and the fish hatchery recently constructed a modern fish handling facility.

The almost $19 million fish handling project was completed in 2014 for the South Santiam Fish Hatchery below Foster Dam.

Petersen called the east Linn County operations, a different animal altogether.

The Corps is installing temperature cooling towers on specific dams as a way to control the temperature of water being released into the Willamette River system. Fish researchers believe released water that is too cold or too warm affects fish spawning and egg hatching.

If the water temperature is too cool, endangered fish species may lay their eggs farther away from the base of the dams, creating overloaded spawning areas. If the water's too warm, eggs hatch too early.

Detroit project manager Jeff Ament said that when the Big Cliff and Detroit dams were constructed in the 1950s primarily for flood control, fish passage was not a priority.

In 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinions were issued and now the Corps of Engineers, which operates 13 dams in the Willamette Valley, is trying to meet standards based on that opinion.

Ament said that in recent years the Corps of Engineers has spilled water over the top of the Detroit dam during the summer months to lower the reservoir's water temperature. It is not a precise process and the trip over the dam is difficult for young fish.

Ament said fish biologists say the ideal water temperature for fish in mid-summer peaks at 60 degrees and low 50s in the winter.

Ament said its important that the public provide comments about the Corps plans and to study and comment on construction alternatives. Those alternatives include drawing the water level at Detroit Reservoir down to 1,310 feet for one or two years and constructing the temperature control tower either in the dry or in the wet.

The tower is 250 to 300 feet tall, Ament said. Thats like building a 20-story building.

Commissioner Nyquist asked Corps officials why they dont wait to see how well a temperature control tower at Cougar Reservoir is working before tackling a similar project at Detroit.

Corps staff said that although they are not under a court order to proceed, they have been notified that environmental groups may intend to seek a court order to speed up projects.

Its a bit like local farmers planting hazelnut trees, Nyquist said. It is going to take several years before they can determine if that was a smart idea. So, most of them are planting only a few acres to see how it turns out.

Commissioner Tucker said that when drought affected Detroit Reservoir a few years ago, boaters flocked to Foster and Green Peter reservoirs, and although the business was welcomed, at times the crowd taxed available resources at the reservoirs and the countys campgrounds that are on them.

County parks director Brian Carroll asked that if Detroit Reservoir is drawn down to 1,310 and water flow into the river system is reduced from it, how will other dams be affected?

Any draw down will affect the other dams, Petersen said. If Detroit is at 1,310, we have to get water elsewhere. It also depends on weather modeling and whether there is a drought. We wont know that until May or June of each year.
Utah prosecutors charged and jailed a 17-year-old as an adult after he allegedly shot and killed a man for selling him cooking spices instead of weed, according to a report.

Seth Carreras was booked into the Davis County Jail on Jan. 5 and detained without bail on murder and assault charges, according to online records, following the slaying of Hunter Woodson, 19, on Nov. 21, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The assault charge was reportedly related to a separate incident in which the suspect was accused of kicking an employee at the juvenile prison where he was previously held.

The shooting was preempted by an alleged botched drug deal in which Woodson reportedly tried to sell a combination of paprika, salt, pepper and a myriad of other ingredients to Carreras instead of the promised marijuana, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by The Tribune.

BRITISH MAN HAS DECADES-OLD THEFT CONVICTION CLEARED AFTER GOOGLING ARRESTING OFFICERS NAME

Woodsons girlfriend witnessed the incident and spoke to police, The Tribune said.

Woodson and Carreras had reportedly agreed to a sale of 1.5 ounces of marijuana, despite the fact that Woodson didnt have that much to sell, the affidavit said. The pair allegedly tried out some of the weed at Woodson's house before Carreras reportedly left to get enough money for the deal.

When the suspect returned, Woodsons girlfriend reportedly went outside to retrieve the money while her boyfriend was inside mixing the spice concoction, The Tribune said. After Carreras allegedly received the bag of fake drugs, and realized hed been scammed, the girlfriend reportedly went back to the house to tell Woodson, the affidavit said.

BLAZE BERNSTEINS HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATE CHARGED WITH MURDER IN IVY LEAGUE STABBING DEATH

Carreras allegedly then entered Woodsons home and found the pair in his bedroom. The girlfriend reportedly saw Carreras gun, and told police he shot Woodson a lot of times before rummaging through his pockets and shooting him again, the affidavit said.

Authorities were called to the scene and shortly after found the suspect at his home, as well as several drug-related items and weapons, The Tribune said.

Members of Woodson's family who were present in court on Jan. 5 said Carreras had an evil smile on his face and seemed proud of what he did, according to the outlet.
A Thai military court has dropped royal insult charges against an 84-year old Thai historian who questioned whether a Thai king had actually defeated a Burmese adversary in combat on elephant-back over 500 years ago.

Sulak Sivaraksa (SOO'-lak SEE'-wah-rak) was charged in October under the draconian law that protects the monarchy from libel and defamation. The Bangkok military court had agreed to hear views from historians and experts before it decided to drop the charges Wednesday for lack of evidence.

His case stems from remarks he made in 2014 when he told a university seminar to "not fall prey to propaganda" and questioned whether King Naraesuan had really won the 1593 battle by defeating a Burmese prince in solo combat mounted on a war elephant.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has again blasted President Donald Trump, saying the U.S. leader's decision to recognize contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital was "sinful."

Abbas, who has openly cursed Trump over his policies, told a conference in Egypt that the U.S. has disqualified itself from continuing as a broker in the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The long-time opponent of violence said Wednesday that Palestinians "will continue to peacefully pursue our demands until we win back our rights."

The Palestinian leader's comments at the Egypt conference on Jerusalem came ahead of a weekend visit to the region by Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence is the most senior American official to visit the Middle East since Trump's Jerusalem decision in December. He will visit Egypt, Jordan and Israel but won't meet with Palestinians.
A Nigerian police spokesman says an American and a Canadian have been kidnapped in Kaduna state in the central part of the country.

Kaduna state police spokesman Mukhtar Aliyu says the two foreigners were traveling from Kafanchan to the capital, Abuja, when they were ambushed by gunmen. He says a policeman was killed in the ensuing battle.

Aliyu says the American and Canadian are investors setting up solar stations in villages around Kafanchan in Kaduna state.

He says security officers including an anti-kidnapping unit have been deployed to the area to ensure the perpetrators are apprehended while the two foreigners are rescued unharmed.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria.
A British mans decades-old theft conviction from the 1970s was overturned Wednesday after he Googled his arresting officers name and discovered he committed a similar crime.

Stephen Simmons, 62, of Surrey, was arrested in south Londons Clapham on theft charges in June 1975 by Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell, of the British Transport Police, The Guardian reported.

Now running an audio and phone equipment business, in 1976 Simmons was found guilty of stealing mailbags and served eight months in a juvenile jail  but always maintained his innocence.

A lawyer on a British radio show once suggested to Simmons that if he wanted his theft conviction overturned, he should Google his arresting officer, the Court of Appeal heard Wednesday.

"I found out he'd been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for the theft of Royal Mail bags and selling them, and framing people for it, Simmons told BBC Surrey, and later told The Guardian he was gobsmacked at the finding.

LOUISIANA MAN WALKS OUT OF PRISON AFTER BEING WRONGFULLY CONVICTED IN 1974

It was also reportedly discovered the Ridgewell, who died in prison in 1982, was also responsible for a series of notorious cases where young black men were falsely accused of robbery on the London underground, according to the International Business Times.

After his conviction was overturned in court Wednesday, Simmons said: This is one of the happiest days of my life. It has hardly sunk in but I am not a criminal any more. I can hold my head up high.

Simmons said his parents never believed he was framed for his alleged crime because they were of the generation that believed that the police could not lie.

COURT OVERTURNS MARINE SNIPER'S CONVICTION FOR URINATING ON DEAD TALIBAN FIGHTERS

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett called the case exceptional and noted the courts regret that it has taken so long for this injustice to be remedied.

It has only taken 43 years, Simmons said, but I have got there at last.
A 5-year-old Canadian girl who beat cancer was killed Monday after being pinned by an empty SUV -- just a day shy of her one-year anniversary of finishing chemotherapy.

Camila Torcato was able to begin kindergarten in September at St. Raphael Catholic School in Toronto after she finished treatment, The Toronto Star reported. The little girl underwent a number of surgeries on her lungs and kidneys at just 2 years old, when she was diagnosed with cancer.

And though she eventually beat cancer, it was a freak accident outside her school that ultimately cut short Camila's life. Camilas father, Amilcar Torcato, told The Star he was picking up his daughter from school when an empty SUV raced toward them, pinning the pair against their vehicle.

Camila was rushed to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with organ failure and internal bleeding. She died Monday night.

CANADA, MEXICO VOW TO FIGHT TRUMP IF HE PULLS US FROM NAFTA

She was a very special girl, she had problems before, she had cancer, but she was a fighter, Amilcar Torcato told The Toronto Star. She was a very sweet girl, shy, but very sweet; my mind is filled with her memories."

The distraught father, his voice breaking, told The Star he normally did not pick up his daughter from school.

I went to pick her up in school because the day before she asked me if I could, he said. Usually her mom picks her up, but that day I did.

Amilcar said his daughter almost made it to her anniversary of finishing chemotherapy.

It would be a year now after finishing chemotherapy and this just happened yesterday, the father said. There are so many memories of playing with her, and going with her to places she liked to go to like the beach, playing in the snow, outside, she liked being outside all the time.

Amilcar said people need to be careful with their cars and making sure they are in park when leaving the vehicles running.

TORONTO SCHOOLGIRL HIJAB ATTACK CONDEMNED BY TRUDEAU NEVER HAPPENED, POLICE SAY

I want people to just be careful with parking the cars around schools. Make sure you stop the motor, and to not go out without stopping the motor, Amilcar said. This could happen again. Yesterday it was her, tomorrow, it can be another child.

The school had grief counselors on hand Tuesday to help staff and students cope.

Sandra Taglieri, who has two children who attend the Catholic school, told The Toronto Star that Camilas death was a tragedy.

I have  Im going to choke up, its so horrible  my children, same age, Taglieri said. And as a community, you come together and youre affected by it. Its tragedy. No words. I dont know how to explain it.

The school announced it was working on making a memorial table in Camilas honor.

Police have not charged anyone in connection with Camilas death. Toronto Police declined to say if they interviewed the driver of the SUV.

A beautiful 5-year-old girl is dead. We are investigating that to the very best of our ability, Toronto Police Superintendent Scott Baptist said.

Camilas friends and family have created a GoFundMe to help the Torcato family deal with financial stress.
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China says "Cold War thinking" is behind a meeting of U.S. allies on how to deal with North Korea's nuclear threat, adding it risks splitting international opinion over the issue.

China was not invited to the gathering in Vancouver and foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Wednesday said excluding it and others involved in the matter would not be helpful to finding a resolution.

China is the North's main economic and diplomatic ally but has signed on to increasingly harsh United Nations sanctions against Kim Jong Un's regime.

China maintains that the U.N. Security Council and the long-stalled Beijing-hosted six-party talks involving North and South Korea, Russia, the U.S., Japan and China are the only legitimate multilateral venues in which to discuss the nuclear issue.
From escaping Iran through the mountains as a Muslim refugee, to surviving domestic abuse and imprisonment in a Turkish prison, to carving out a life in Sweden, Annahita Parsans story is the stuff of a Hollywood movie.

Parsan, a convert from Islam to Christianity and mother of two, has emerged as one of the most prominent religious figures in Europe, both because of her unlikely geographic and spiritual pilgrimage and her decision to reach out to Muslims with the gospel -- at great personal risk.

My life is completely different since coming to Jesus, said the 47-year-old Parsan, whose memoir, Stranger No More: A Muslim Refugee Story of Harrowing Escape, Miraculous Rescue and the Quiet Call of Jesus, was published late last year.

Parsan was raised in a Muslim home in the ancient Iranian province of Isfahan with her parents and four siblings, she told Fox News. She was married at 16, and just after Irans Islamic Revolution in 1979 she gave birth to a boy, Daniel. Iran quickly became a different place under the Ayatollah Khomeini, and when Parsans beloved husband was tragically killed in a car accident  she was just 18  she was forced to surrender custody of her son to her husbands father, in accordance with the law. After several months, she bravely and successfully fought to get back her son.

After two years, I decided to marry again. His situation was like mine; his wife had died, Parsan recalled. But soon, he began beating my son very badly I was pregnant again, and it was impossible for me to divorce.

On the heels of bringing a daughter she named Roksana into the world and with the Iran-Iraq war raging around them, Parsans husband Ashgar compelled them to flee in 1984 across frozen mountains into Turkey in the dead of winter. Without identification papers or passports, Turkish authorities tossed Parsan and her husband into a terrifying prison in the countrys Agri district for illegal entry. However, after a harrowing month they were released and traveled to Istanbul. There they spent nine months scrounging for enough funds to make it to Denmark.

It was in this tiny Scandinavian country where the seeds of her eventual spiritual transformation were planted.

In about the first or second month there, a woman came to the door to speak about God. But it was not in my interest, Parsan recalled. I was so angry, I was so unhappy. But she came back the next day with a small Bible, so this time I asked Jesus to help me.

Parsan said that over the next year she started to read the Bible, which she had to keep secretly from her husband. Eventually she asked God for answers to her questions and immediately felt a sense of calm and peace of mind that she had never before experienced.

It was magic, she avowed.

But the calm and peace did not last. After one especially brutal outburst from her abusive husband, during the Christmas of 1989, Parsan tried to take her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills. She woke up in the hospital, her survival itself a virtual miracle, and suddenly the pieces of her disjointed life seemed to her to fall into place.

I was too scared to go home and the police came to the hospital to talk to me. Many people were helping me find a safe place to live, and I knew it was Jesus, she said. And soon, the police called to tell me that they had uncovered a plot in which my abusive husband had planned to kidnap the children back to Iran. After that, we moved to Sweden, and the policeman told me that I have an angel on my shoulder.

After two years there she took the leap and was baptized. She and her children then lived quietly in the Swedish capital for a number of years.

Then in 2006, after surviving a horrific car accident, she decided that God had spared her life so she could spend it helping other Muslims come to faith in Christ.

After five years of intense study Parson was ordained in 2012 as a minister in the Church of Sweden.

My life is completely different since coming to Jesus.  Former Iranian Muslim Annahita Parsan

HOW IRANIAN PROTESTERS ARE SKIRTING THE GOVERNMENT'S TECH CLAMPDOWN TO CONTINUE THEIR FIGHT

LIFE AFTER ISIS: CHRISTIANS SAY THEY CAN'T GO HOME WITHOUT INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION

The former refugee is now the leader of two congregations in Sweden. She not only evangelizes Muslims, but she frequently trains churches to reach out to Muslims and disciple them once they join the church.

I work specifically with the Muslim community, many are also Farsi speaking, Parsan said. Sometimes they come to the church because they are curious. Sometimes they are asylum seekers and sometimes they are just visiting from places like Iran and Afghanistan, so they secretly get baptized and then they go back.

She says she has been instrumental in the conversion of more than 1,500 people over the past five years.

Because of her successes, Parsan faces risks other Church of Sweden ministers do not face.

I have serious threats at least a couple of times per year, a threat of a knife attack or a bomb attack. I have a police officer attached to my case I can always call, and we have security during our services. I have other threats from my own distant family members, she added. But for me, what I do is worth it.

I hope people out there who have lost their faith, will maybe hear my story and be inspired to come back, Parsan said.
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Populist billionaire Andrej Babis has acknowledged he might not be in the new Czech government even though his centrist ANO movement won October's parliamentary election.

A new minority government led by Babis was appointed in December, but lost a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament on Tuesday. He and other ministers have agreed to resign.

Czech President Milos Zeman said he will ask Babis to form another government.

But no party in parliament seems ready to enter a coalition with ANO (YES) because Babis is facing fraud charges. The charges involve alleged misuse of EU subsidies for a farm he had owned.

Babis told Czech public television on Wednesday the next government might not include him, saying "the ANO movement has to decide that."

It's unclear who might replace him as prime minister.
As politicians in America and across the globe lined up last week to condemn President Trumps reported remarks calling certain African nations s---hole countries, there was a somewhat muted response in Europe -- a sign of how the political winds of immigration are blowing.

Europe is a continent filled with leaders happy to speak out in condemnation of the U.S. president, but the silence last week was noticeable -- with the New York Times describing a ringing silence across broad parts of the European Union, especially in the east, and certainly no chorus of condemnation.



But a continent spooked by a populist revolt still bubbling in its parliaments and roaring on its streets, many of Europes politicians are still struggling with an influx from developing countries, or fighting for their political lives as they fend off challengers running on doing just that.



Europe has been wracked by a continent-wide migration crisis since 2015, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw open Germanys borders to a wave a Syrian refugees -- telling Germans: Wir schaffen das! [We can do this]

Germany



While Merkel was applauded worldwide - and immediately given Times Person of the Year - refugees and economic migrants from other countries, along with a wave of terror attacks and other crimes and social problems, flooded into the continent. Merkels poll numbers caved, and she was forced to shift right to appease the anti-migrant sentiments.

In December 2016, she pushed for a so-called burqa ban and promised that the 2015 migration surge cannot, should not and must not be repeated.



Her Christian Democrats (CDU) nonetheless took a hit in Septembers national elections, while the anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged, and the woman described just a few years ago as the chancellor of the Free World was left fighting for her political life. Her party now looks to convince reluctant former coalition partners, the left-wing Social Democrats (SPD), to form another coalition and keep her in power.



An initial draft of a potential coalition deal includes a hard cap of approximately 200,000 refugees a year -- a significant decrease from the more than a million refugees that flooded into the country in 2015 -- a sign that migration will be a decisive factor in whether Merkel survives.

Eastern Europe



Other countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, have been taking a strong line of migration for years. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have been particularly muscular in asserting their own sovereignty in dealing with immigration issues -- despite opposition from E.U. officials.

Hungary has erected a border fence amid a host of border security measures -- and even had the Trumpian chutzpah to ask the E.U. to pay for half of it. For pro-open borders left, outspoken Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has become their bogeyman, using language that makes Trumps appear almost timid.



In an interview with Germanys Bild, this month, Orban referred to some migrants Muslim invaders, and called multiculturalism an illusion.



If you take masses of non-registered immigrants from the Middle East into your country, you are importing terrorism, crime, anti-Semitism, and homophobia, he said in a follow up interview this week.



Orban also made reference to the mass sexual assaults on New Years Eve 2015 in Cologne, Germany, as well as other problems attributed to the wave of migration from Africa and the Middle East.



[In Hungary] there are no ghettos and no no-go areas, no scenes like New Year's Eve in Cologne. The images from Cologne have deeply moved us Hungarians, he said. I have four daughters. I can not help my children grow up in a world where something like Cologne can happen.



While Orban is perhaps the most outspoken of Europes political leaders, other more moderate leaders are tilting in Orban and Trumps direction.

France, United Kingdom



Europes establishment breathed a sigh of relief in May, when French centrist Emmanuel Macron comfortably beat right-wing and anti-migration Marine Le Pen in Frances presidential election. Macrons comfortable win was seen by many analysts as a sign that the seemingly unstoppable 2016 populist wave, which gave the world Brexit and President Trump, was finally crashing upon the rocks.



But Macron has rejected an open-arms approach to migration, attempting to find himself a middle ground between Merkelism and Orbanism. In a New Years Eve speech, he admitted: We cant welcome everyone, and we cant work without rules.

His government has also taken a tougher line on economic migrants, opening himself up to criticism from his own party, who have accused him of being too tough and catering to the right-wing. According to Reuters, opponents point to a new bill that would increase detention times and lead to the deportation of anyone not classified as a refugee from a warzone.



But Macron followed this up Tuesday with a visit to the former Jungle camp at Calais -- a sprawling refugee camp at the port to the United Kingdom that was deconstructed in 2016.



In a speech at the site of the former camp on Tuesday, he promised to be sure it did not return. In a meeting on Thursday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, he is expected to demand a renegotiation of the border arrangement with the U.K., including more money from the British and for them to take on more refugees.



That push is unlikely to be well-received in the U.K., where the decision to leave the European Union was largely motivated by migration-related issues and a need to take control of borders.



In 2016, Britain allowed in child asylum seekers from Calais who had family members in the U.K. But outrage and mockery followed when pictures appeared in British newspapers showing what one Conservative MP described as hulking young men presenting themselves as children.



Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said this week that Frances migration problems are Frances to solve and that Macron should stop playing hot potato.



If they are illegal immigrants, France should get rid of them, if they are people claiming refugee status, France should process them, Farage said in an interview with the BBC. Its actually desperately simple but the French dont want to do that and the truth of it for the last 10, 15, 20 years the French have been quite happy for camps to develop and for people to climb on the back of lorries to go to England, and then its our problem.

Austria



A key motivator for many Western European politicians are impending elections. While Merkel is scrambling for survival in Germany, across the border in Austria, a right-wing government was formed in December led by the 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz -- whose center right Peoples Party (OVP) campaigned primarily on a tough stance on migration, and formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO).

Austria will take over the presidency of the E.U. Council in the summer, and Kurz said in an interview published Wednesday one of his top priorities will be border control to stop illegal migration to Europe.



But far from looking for conflict, Kurz told German newspaper FAZ that the continents view on migration is now much closer to his own.



There has been a lot of movement in recent years. For example, the German position is now much closer to ours than it was two years ago, Kurz said. Many states have moved in the right direction. Now we need a focus on proper protection of the external borders of the EU and not just the constant debate about the distribution of refugees within the European Union by quotas.



As Austria turns rightward, and Germany struggles to form a government, all eyes will soon move to Italy, where voters will go to the polls in March in an election dominated by discussions about the E.U. and migration.

Italy



There, the populist Five Star Movement leads the polls, although its reluctance to form a coalition (and with it polling at approximately 27-30 percent) the most likely outcome appears to be a right-wing coalition led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia party. While Forza is a relatively moderate right-wing party, its path to government lies in a coalition with further right parties, including the Northern League -- which has campaigned strongly for control of migration flows into the country.



Yet even current left-wing Prime Minister Paolo Gentilonis government is far from an open borders free-for-all. Gentilonis cabinet includes Interior Minister Marco Minniti who has been credited with overseeing a massive drop in migrants into Italy from Libya by striking controversial deals with the Libyan government to strengthen security and the Coast Guard in the Mediterranean.



Humanitarian groups are seeing these debates play out on the ground too. The Washington Post offered a glimpse into a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, where migrants wait in limbo to be shipped back via a deal signed between the E.U. and Turkey in 2016.



The first thing you notice is the smell: the stench from open-pit latrines mingling with the odor of thousands of unwashed bodies and the acrid tang of olive trees being burned for warmth.

Then there are the sounds: Children hacking like old men. Angry shouts as people joust for food, the Post reports.



Looking for answers as to why the once welcoming E.U. is keeping migrants in horrific conditions, activists on the ground told the Post that they believe its part of the new change in tone, with European leaders sending a message to potential migrants.



Eva Cosse, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, told the Post that the message was simple: Dont come here, or youll be stuck on this horrible island for the next two years.


A copy of Lithuania's 1918 Independence Act found in German archives has been returned to the Baltic country, but only on loan.

President Dalia Grybauskaite says "one of the most important national documents has reached us at the most appropriate time" ahead of the country's centennial.

Grybauskaite received Wednesday the document  to be returned to Germany in 2023  from German government archivist Elke von Boeselager.

A Lithuanian scholar last year discovered the missing document, which apparently was sent in 1918 to inform Germany that it could no longer control the territory that was occupied by German Empire troops. The original of the act was kept in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas but disappeared in 1940 when Soviet Russia occupied the country.

Lithuania was independent from 1918 to 1940, and regained its freedom in 1990.
The Hungarian government is proposing a set of laws that would tax and possibly sanction Hungarian groups who assist illegal migration and receive foreign funding.

Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said Wednesday that such groups would have to register with the courts and pay a 25 percent tax on funds received from abroad. Groups failing to register, and which the authorities consider to be adding illegal migrants, could be fined.

The government, which says the draft bill won't be sent to lawmakers until after a debate, has dubbed the bills "Stop Soros" laws.

It blames Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros for Europe's migration challenges, partly because of his funding of groups that advocate for the rights of refugees.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is an opponent of immigration, especially by Muslims.
Authorities in Pakistan on Wednesday arrested a suspect in the rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl that led to nationwide protests and widespread outrage over a lack of government response, officials said.

Zainab Ansaris body was found by police in a garbage dumpster in Kasur district near the eastern city of Lahore last week, four days after she was reported missing, Reuters reports.

Area residents say the murder was the twelfth such incident in a year, and many fear that a serial rapist killer might be on the loose.

Last week, hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets and two people were killed when police fired on demonstrators. Those protesting have said government indifference and negligence was behind the repeated incidents.

SEXUAL ABUSE PERVASIVE IN PAKISTAN ISLAMIC SCHOOLS, REPORT SAYS

Two police officers told Reuters the authorities had arrested a man who was being treated as a prime suspect, after police had questioned dozens of people in the case.

Evidence were getting leads us to believe that he is the man, said one officer, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to disclose investigation details.

Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province, where Kasur is located, reportedly visited the town on Wednesday and held a meeting with officials on the investigation.

Sharif did not confirm the arrest in his remarks to media after the meeting, but said the police and other law enforcement agencies were close to solving the case, promising a breakthrough would come very soon.

A reward of 10 million Pakistani rupees ($90,000) has been offered to anyone who provides information about the killer.

Last night, scores of people attended a candlelight vigil for the young girl, with some carrying banners reading Justice for rape victim Zainab Ansari, black day for humanity, and killers must be punished."
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A group of British citizens who live in the Netherlands has gone to a Dutch court in a bid to retain their EU citizenship rights after Britain completes its divorce from the bloc.

In a case that could have far-reaching consequences for some 1 million Britons currently living in European Union countries outside the United Kingdom, lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm launched summary proceedings Wednesday before a judge at Amsterdam District Court.

Alberdingk Thijm says he wants the Amsterdam judge to put so-called "prejudicial questions" about the status of U.K. nationals post-Brexit to the European Court of Justice.

Alberdingk Thijm says that citizens' rights are clear when a country joins the EU, but nobody knows what happens when a country decides, as Britain has done, to leave.
The U.S. military dropped more bombs in Afghanistan in 2017 than in 2012 when the U,S, military had nearly 100,000 troops on the ground, according to newly released airstrike figures from the Air Force.

The spike in airstrikes began after President Trump took office in late January.

As the war against ISIS winds down in Iraq and Syria, more Air Force jets and drones are being sent to Afghanistan to supply close air-support to U.S. troops moving closer to the front lines.

This is allowed under the authorities that I was granted under the new U.S. strategy. I could not do that previously."  Army Gen. John Nicholson

Trump approved the deployment of 3,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan after rolling out a new strategy in August as U.S. involvement in Afghanistan approached its 17th year. Another 800 soldiers are expected to arrive from Fort Benning, Ga. in April to train Afghan forces decimated in the past few years by the Taliban and an ISIS-affiliate in eastern Afghanistan. The new U.S. troops will also be used to call in more airstrikes to support their Afghan partners.

The influx of troops will bring U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan to roughly 15,000 troops, a level not seen since 2014, but a far cry from the roughly 100,000 on the ground in 2010 after then-President Obama ordered a surge of forces.

The U.S. Air Force says more than 4,300 bombs were dropped last year in Afghanistan, far fewer than the nearly 40,000 dropped against ISIS in Iraq and Syria over the same period.

A significant number of the air strikes in Afghanistan targeted an ISIS-affiliate, responsible for recent suicide attacks in Kabul killing more than 100 civilians.

President Ghani said, he believes we have turned the corner and I agree, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said during a Pentagon press briefing via teleconference from Kabul late last year.

Nicholson wants to go after the Talibans major revenue sources, namely the poppy crop used to make narcotics including heroin, in much the same way the US relentlessly attacked major funding sources for ISIS in Syria -- oil.

This is allowed under the authorities that I was granted under the new U.S. strategy," Nicholson said. "I could not do that previously."


Dec. 1., 2017: Tombstones placed on graves of refugees and migrants some of whom drowned at sea during an attempt to cross a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, are seen on a field provided by the municipality to be used as a cemetery near the village Kato Tritos on the island of Lesbos, Greece.
PRESS RELEASE

On the 16th of January 2010 Mrs Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire landed in Kigali to launch the nonviolent movement for democracy, peace and justice for all, the day that she gave a serious hammer blow to the corner stone of the regime fortress, i.e. fear. The fortress is shaking, the fear has shifted from democrats and peace makers to the regime, as reflected in erratic diplomatic behaviour and more repression.

The regime has been totally exposed.

To her supporters she was a hero, to her critics she was naive, to the ordinary minds it was too risky to take on President in his heyday of power. However, those close to her know well that she was sowing a mustard seed of democracy and genuine reconciliation, and was ready to pay the highest price for these values: prison of death. Hence the message to the Rwandan General Prosecutor, who wanted to convince her to apologise and abandon her opposition to the regime in return for her freedom: the cause is bigger than me; whether you decide to keep in prison, release me or kill me the movement for democracy is unstoppable.

She was undeterred by the fact that the Prosecutor was relaying the message of his boss President Kagame who had told a news reporter of the Ugandan Newspaper the Monitor saying: This woman will certainly be where she belongs; now the outsiders who want so badly Ingabire to be an opposition leader here or later on be our President, well, they may wait for a while.

The mustard seed has grown with new martyrs in her party that we also need to remember today. Those who were killed, kidnapped and tortured and we have no idea about their fate now and those are languishing in prison for four months while the prosecution is trying hard to concoct evidence against them. We are proud of them and may their courage, sacrifice inspire us all to work for greater good, well aware that the cause we are fighting is greater than ourselves and an honour to pay ever the ultimate price.

The list includes:

Prisoners:


As an eighth grader, Ralph Pritt's truancy problems began.

Between the eighth and 11th grades, his commitment to education proved spotty.

When I was there, I wasnt there, said Pritt, who attended the country school in Lignum during his elementary years before he went to Ann Wingfield in the town for seventh grade. I just thought it wasnt for me. I thought I didnt need school.

Pritt dropped out of Culpeper County High School without earning his diploma. He went to work for Culpeper Concrete as a truck driver earning $1.25 per hour, married, built a house in Batna and raised six children.

After 45 years driving for Culpeper Concrete, Pritt retired. Nine years ago, he saw an advertisement for school bus drivers and began working for Culpeper County Public Schools, shuttling students to and from Eastern View High School.

It sounded like something I could do, said Pritt. And it came with health insurance.

And 54 years after he dropped out, Pritt changed his mind about the value of an education and hit the books  hard.

I said to my wife, Thats something Id like to do to end a chapter in my life, Pritt said.

That was three years ago.

He thought it was going to be a quick thing, said Pritts wife, Tammy. Initially, he predicted eight months.

For Pritt, it wasnt delving into language arts, math, science or social studies that seemed the most daunting obstacle  it was working on a computer.

I almost backed out, he said.

Tammy challenged her husbands reservations.

I said, Then just tell your kids youre a quitter, said Tammy Pritt. I told him, Youre going to be 69 whether you take a test or not. You might as well try.

To get help dealing with the electronic age, and with his new nemesis algebra, Pritt approached the Culpeper Literacy Council, an organization that can provide tutors for the GED exams.

There, he met volunteer Jill Skelton, who patiently met with him twice a week and steered him through the testing process. She also provided help studying the curriculum.

She was the most patient woman, Pritt said of Skelton. She was like a little bulldog. She wouldnt let me go.

Pritt, too, showed his persistent side.

Each night, hed take his study materials to the kitchen table, doing his homework for the upcoming exams. If he had problems working through an assignment, hed call Skelton for help.

Tammy had no doubts her husband of seven years would persevere and succeed.

He pursued me, she said. Hed come into my hair salon to get his hair cut and hed ask me questions, like if I was single. I wasnt interested, and I kept telling him I wasnt interested. I also told him he didnt have any hair, so cutting it was too easy, she said, laughing.

But Pritt knew what he wanted, and it was Tammy. Finally, he won her over and the two married. With his six children and her two, the couple shares eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren between them.

I think Ralph is one of those understated people who are an inspiration, said Skelton. He decided it was a priority for him and hed show up and say Im ready!

Pritt saved math for last. His easiest subjects were social studies and science. The English literature portion took a little longer, but he passed that exam as well. Each part of the GED test is timed, unlike high school standards of learning exams, but that didn't deter Pritt. Instead, he said it kept him pacing his progress through the questions.

But after failing the math exam twice, Pritt grew nervous, Skelton said. If he failed it again, hed have to wait six months before being allowed another attempt.

He was really discouraged, said Skelton, who worried that her pupil was going to quit. I was really scared for him. But here was Ralph, facing this, and he dug in without all of that fear and concern weighing on this process.

On the third try, he passed the math portion of the exam.

And just like that, the 71-year-old bus driver earned his GED diploma.

Pritt is the oldest pupil Skeltons had for GED tutoring  and one of the most indomitable.

Ive never seen the same kind of determination to accomplish this, she said.

As the testing date grew closer, Pritt and Skelton met three times a week, for about an hour and a half each session.

At one point, Skelton remembers, Pritt worked a math problem and the answer key didnt agree with his solution.

He said, Thats not the right answer, Skelton said. And he was right.

To celebrate the occasion, she wrote Ralph was right on the bulletin board, where it stayed for several months. Before the test, she was able to add Ralph was right, AGAIN!

Ralphs a very smart man, she said. And hes smart because of his life experiences.

After his accomplishment, Pritts had time to think, What next? More than anything, hed like to walk across the stage at Eastern View High Schools graduation ceremony in June. He adopted the school as his own because his youngest children attended and the teenagers on his bus go there.

I want to hear them call my name, he said, his eyes filling with tears.

Pritt reached out to school administrators to see if he'd be able to cross the stage. There's no official school board policy preventing it, but school administrators decided he shouldn't be allowed to take part in the ceremony.

School superintendent Tony Brads and Eastern View principal E.G. Bradshaw met with Pritt on Tuesday to discuss the request.

"We explained that [a] high school graduation ceremony is intended for students who meet state high school graduation requirements," said Brads. "The GED does not meet that standard, thus he would not be permitted to participate in high school graduation."

Pritt also reached out to his local representatives in the Stevensburg District where he lives, school board member Marshall Keene and supervisor Bill Chase.

Keene said that while he cannot speak for the board, Pritt's achievement stands out.

"Mr. Pritt has accomplished something that few do at his age," Keene said. "His accomplishment is not only admirable but is an inspiration to others who desire to further their education."

Chase, who remembers Pritt as a neighbor from when he lived in Batna, said he ran into Pritt several months ago at the post office.

"He just had one request and it was really important to him," Chase said, also noting he didn't speak for the board, but was advocating for Pritt as a private citizen. "He wanted to walk."

"It would be such a wonderful example of how someone values education," Chase said. "He really wants to do it for his grandchildren, but I think the other kids there would go bananas, everyone clapping for him."

For Christmas, Tammy ordered him a silver EVHS class ring, with his name and 2017 on it. He wears it proudly.

Inside, the inscription reads: All my love, Tammy.

Skelton said Pritts a role model, not only for older adults, but for the younger generations as well.

It haunted him for a long time, she said. He wanted to do this for no reason other than himself. He earned a living, raised a family, but he had this hole in his life.

Skelton hopes Pritts dream of walking across the stage at Eastern View comes true.

I know it would bring him to tears and firmly seal that hole, she said.

Pritts not sure what his next chapter holds. He recently went out of the state for the first time on a fishing trip to Montana. Hes hoping to return to driving his bus before the end of the month. Hes dreaming about walking across the stage at Eastern View. Hes thinking about some crafting projects.

But does Pritt have any college plans?

UVas been worrying me to death to get me to come there, but I think Im going to turn them down, he said, laughing.
The man accused of killing his girlfriend in her car last fall made incriminating comments to police after turning himself in, claiming drug use and a blackout, according to court records.

An arraignment for Cortez Antonio Mills was continued on Tuesday and was rescheduled for Jan. 30. Mills, 34, was indicted by a Fredericksburg Circuit Court grand jury in December in the shooting death of Antoinette Anne Beverly, his 26-year-old girlfriend.

The transcript of a Nov. 29 hearing in Fredericksburg Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court filed this week in Circuit Court details several statements detectives say Mills made to them prior to his arrest and then later to a jail guard.

Detective Tabatha Merrell testified that during an interview at the police department after Mills turned himself in, he was emotional and crying and apologized to detectives. Merrell also went to the scene of the shooting in the 300 block of Palmer Street, where Beverly was found behind the wheel of her black Hyundai Elantra, dead from gunshot wounds.

The detective testified that Mills made statements prior to being asked questions.

To be honest with you, I dont know if I deserve to live anymore, Merrell said Mills told her and another detective. Mentally Im not stable right now, but I want to say this: It wasnt supposed to go like this. It was supposed to be sweet. We had an understanding and everything  I kinda gave her an ultimatum.

He told detectives he said to his girlfriend: Either youre coming today or forever hold your peace.

Merrell said Mills also told them he just blacked out. I dont even know what overtook me. I really dont.

A guard at the Rappahannock Regional Jail also testified during the November hearing that Mills broke down after his initial arraignment in September and said something about what happened the night of the shooting.

I cant believe I murdered my future wife, the guard recalled Mills saying. I blacked out. I sniffed some cocaine and we got into it and she spit in my face and I blacked out.

Public defenders assigned to represent Mills contested the statements, saying there was no confession, that his comments could be interpreted differently and that Mills doesnt really remember what happened.

Police have said the couple had gone to Mayfield to visit a relative of Mills.

Merrell testified that information from witnesses led her to suspect Mills. But little else has been said about what led to the shooting.

Mills has a long and violent criminal record and has been described in previous court hearings as having anger issues. He has been diagnosed as bipolar and records say he attempted suicide five times since the age of 11.

He was convicted in Fredericksburg of stabbing and slashing a man over $400. Mills claimed self-defense, but it didnt work in the 2002 trial or on appeal. He was sentenced to 10 years with five and a half years suspended on the assault conviction.

After his release from prison, Mills violated his probation because of cocaine use and was ordered to serve two months in jail in 2015.
RICHMONDRyan Turk was an eighth-grader in Prince William County when a misunderstanding with a school resource officer over a 65-cent carton of milk escalated to theft charges.

The incident happened in May 2016, when Turk said he forgot his carton of milk that came with his school-issued free lunch. The police said Turk tried to conceal the carton of milk. When Turk separated himself from the resource officer, the incident ended with a suspension from school and a summons to juvenile court.

A year ago, the charges against Turk were dropped, but he remains a prime example of what critics call the school-to-prison pipelinea trend to charge students as criminals for what might once have been detention-worthy transgressions. According to a 2015 study by the Center for Public Integrity, Virginia charges students more often than any other state.

That trend has triggered a push in the General Assembly to reform criminal justice across the board. One of the latest and most vocal opponents of the pipeline is Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, DWoodbridge.

Carroll Foy, who was elected in November in a district that includes parts of Prince William and Stafford counties, spoke about the problem at an NAACP reception in Richmond last week.

We send more students from the classroom to the courtroom than any other state in the country, Carroll Foy said. Now we lock them up early, and we lock them up at large.

Carroll Foy plans to sponsor more than 10 criminal justice reform bills this legislative session. They include House Bill 113, which would increase the threshold for grand larceny in Virginia from $200 to $1,000.

Virginias threshold for that felony crime is one of the lowest in the country and hasnt changed since 1980. As a result, someone accused of stealing a cellphone or bicycle can be charged with a felony.

Increasing the threshold might protect children who make bad decisions and prevent them from becoming convicted felons, Carroll Foy told the NAACP leadership.

The punishment should fit the crime, she said. Felonies should be reserved for some of the most egregious crimes in the commonwealth of Virginia, and thats not happening.

Carroll Foy is carrying legislation that might address cases like that of Ryan Turk, who initially was charged with a misdemeanor after the altercation at Graham Park Middle School in the town of Triangle in Prince William County.

She has introduced HB 445, which would eliminate the requirement for principals to report certain misdemeanor incidents to police. Carroll Foy is not the only one concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline. So is the advocacy group Voices for Virginias Children.

Allison Gilbreath, the organizations policy analyst, said other bills before the General Assembly seek to disrupt the pipeline.

For example, HB 296, sponsored by Del. Dickie Bell, RStaunton, and Senate Bill 170, by Sen. William Stanley, RFranklin, would prohibit suspending or expelling students in preschool through third grade except for drug offenses, firearm offenses or certain criminal acts.

One in 5 kids who are suspended in our public schools are pre-K through fifth grade, Gilbreath said. We want to really focus on the underlying problems that theyre experiencing.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)  When Pope Francis arrived in Chile's capital Monday, he found a weakened Roman Catholic Church. As in many Latin American countries, the church in Chile has been losing followers to both evangelical faiths and increasing secularism. The shift has been exacerbated by a priest sex abuse scandal, and many Chileans are put off by the church's influence in keeping tight restrictions in social matters like marriage and abortion. Here are some of the contributing factors to the Chilean church's problems.

SEX ABUSE SCANDALS

Always well dressed, the Rev. Fernando Karadima seemed an ideal priest among the elite in Santiago. But he had a dark side, sexually abusing dozens of minors over decades while church superiors either looked the other way or covered up for him.

Allegations against Karadima went back to the 1980s, but the full weight of his actions didn't become widely known until victims went public in 2010. In 2011, the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.

The statute of limitations had passed for him to be tried criminally, though, and Karadima's only punishment was being sent by the church to a convent to spend the rest of his life in prayer, angering many Chileans. He is there to this day.

POPE'S CONTROVERSIAL APPOINTMENT

In 2015, Pope Francis set off an uproar by appointing the Rev. Juan Barros as bishop in the southern city of Osorno. Barros had been a protege of Karadima, working with him for years when the abuses were taking place.

Barros has always denied that he knew what Karadima was doing, but many parishioners in Osorno objected to his appointment.

When protests erupted, Francis dug in. At one point, the pope said that the "people of Osorno are suffering because of stupidity" and that there was no proof of wrongdoing by Barros.

Yet Francis was well aware that Barros' appointment would cause strife. In a 2015 letter obtained by The Associated Press last week, Francis contemplated sending Barros and two other Karadima-trained bishops on yearlong sabbaticals, a decision he didn't ultimately take.

BISHOPS THEN AND NOW

During Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, thousands of people were killed or disappeared, and any dissent was swiftly crushed. During this period, several Chilean bishops courageously advocated for human rights and represented a check on the dictatorship's worst instincts.

The church also helped Chile's poorest amid the government's push to liberalize the economy and worked closely with indigenous communities like the Mapuche.

Today, Chilean bishops don't have the same visibility, much less moral authority. Many Chileans believe the Catholic hierarchy is more aligned with business interests than the poor and downtrodden.

DIVORCE

In Chile, divorce was essentially illegal until 2004, when the Andean nation ended some of the world's strictest marriage laws.

The church for decades was able to wield enormous influence on politicians to keep the status quo that went back to the 19th century. People wanting to get legally separated had to get an annulment, an arduous process that required the separating parties to show that somehow the legal requirements of the marriage had not been met.

The church argued that restricting divorce kept families together, but that often backfired: Many young people put off marriage for years or indefinitely, while married people who had separated would frequently have children out of wedlock with new partners since they could not divorce and remarry. As a result, many Chileans turned against the faith.

ABORTION

Chile has some of the world's most restrictive reproductive laws, even after a reform passed last year. Abortion is legal only in three circumstances: when a woman's life is endangered, when a pregnancy results from rape, and when a fetus is not viable.

For many Chileans, particularly the younger generations, Catholic leaders' opposition to abortion rights is another example of how church teachings don't jibe with their views.

The tight restrictions also underscore deep inequalities: Chilean women with the means have abortions done illegally at private clinics or travel abroad, while poor women either must keep the baby or use riskier methods.

___

Peter Prengaman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/peterprengaman
Dominion Energy is the top corporate donor in Virginia politics, and lawmakers arent going to turn away the companys campaign money any time soon.

Just two of 14 lawmakersSen. Amanda Chase, RChesterfield, and Sen. Creigh Deeds, DBathsupported a bill in committee on Tuesday that would end campaign donations to lawmakers from public-service corporations like Dominion. Senate Bill 10 from Sen. Chap Petersen, DFairfax, went down on a 112 vote in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.

Petersen said the bill was necessary because customers of public monopolies have no option but to do business with them.

These for-profit companies make donations to Assembly members and then they come in and seek laws for their own benefit, he said.

Petersen said addressing donations from public-service corporations became more urgent after lawmakers passed a controversial 2015 law that froze the base electricity rates of Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Co. and temporarily stopped state regulators from ordering refunds to customers if those companies earned above their agreed-upon profit.

The law is resulting in an estimated $1 billion windfall for Dominion.

Petersen last year and again on Monday tried to undo the law, but got little support.

One of the root causes why my legislation was not successful, why we passed these underlying bills, was money had corrupted the process, he said.

Petersen said he didnt expect his campaign finance bill to pass. But he told his fellow lawmakers that until they take the money from public-service corporations out of the General Assembly, you will continue to get flawed legislation like the rate freeze.

Virginia has no limit on campaign donations from individuals or corporations. Gov. Ralph Northam campaigned on a ban on all corporate campaign contributions, but did not mention that in his inaugural address Saturday or in a policy address to the General Assembly on Monday evening.

Its a four-year term and thats something he intends to work on with the General Assembly, Northam spokesman Brian Coy said Tuesday, declining to be more specific.

Sen. Bryce Reeves, RSpotsylvania, thanked Petersen for bringing up the issue.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, DAlexandria, said he was voting against Petersens bill because it wasnt fair to single out public-service corporations.

I cant support singling out one industry, he said.

Other senators who voted no: Reeves, Ben Chafin, RRussell; John Cosgrove, RChesapeake; Rosalyn Dance, DPetersburg; Bill DeSteph, RVirginia Beach; John Edwards, DRoanoke; Janet Howell, DFairfax; Mark Peake, RLynchburg; Frank Ruff, RMecklenburg; Lionell Spruill, DChesapeake; and Jill Holtzman Vogel, RFauquier.
Republicans were so taken aback by Gov. Ralph Northams first policy speech of the General Assembly they marched into a news conference early Tuesday morning to say how much they hated it.

That speech last night truly set us back, House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox, RColonial Heights, said after several of his colleagues voiced their extreme disappointment with what they said was an in-your-face, campaign-style speech from the new governor who cruised to victory in a Democratic wave election last year.

As state legislators settle in for the 60-day session, the first few days featured sunny speeches about bipartisanship and the feeling that a new Democratic governor and a closely divided legislature where Republicans still hold the upper hand could make for an unusually peaceful and productive session. But a little less than a week in, cracks are beginning to show.

Republicans from the House and the Senate spoke at the event Tuesday morning to say they felt personally let down that Northam, a mild-mannered former state senator, hadnt set a new tone after taking the keys to the Executive Mansion from his predecessor, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

That speech was so partisan that I wonder if he found it in his predecessors desk and just pulled it out and gave a McAuliffe speech, said House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, RShenandoah.

In his first address to state lawmakers from the well of the House chamber, Northam said he wants to work with Republicans on bread-and-butter issues like jobs, education and workforce training. But he coupled with a forceful call for Medicaid expansiona Democratic priority Republicans still see as a nonstarterand more ambitious priorities such as abortion rights, gun control, expanded voting access and clean-energy measures to address climate change.

Earlier Monday, Senate Republicans had defeated several Democratic gun-control measures in committee, including one for universal background checks, a priority for Northam.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, RHarrisonburg, said he felt Northam chastised the Senate Courts Committee for its actions on the gun bills without noting that the committee unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, DBath, to ban minors who are subject to mental health orders from possessing firearms.

That would have been nice if that acknowledgement had been made, Obenshain said.

Coxwho became speaker with a slim 5149 Republican majority after the GOP lost 15 House seatssaid he met with Northam on Tuesday morning to share his disappointment in person. Cox said he wouldnt reveal details of a private conversation, but he said its now up to Northam to explain what his vision of bipartisanship means.

I do think the ball now is squarely in the governors court, Cox said.

Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said the issues Northam discussed Monday night are not partisan issues, but real problems that affect real people.As he said last night and in his inaugural address, he is eager to begin the discussion with leaders from every political perspective about the best way to solve those problems and many others, Yheskel said of the new governor. But bipartisanship does not mean sweeping big issues under the rug because common ground has been hard to find in the past.

About a half hour later in the same briefing room at the Pocahontas Building, House Democrats held a news conference to lay out their policy agenda for the 2018 session and take some veiled jabs that seemed to imply the Republicans who had just left were being whiners.

Today, we are not complaining about anything. But talking about issues to help Virginia families, said Del. Charniele L. Herring, D-Alexandria, the Democratic caucus chair.

Democratic leaders went on to complain that Republicans were routing important bills to the GOP-stacked House Rules Committee under Coxs direct control.

We have some concerns that perhaps those bills are being sent there in order for them to die, said House Minority Leader David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville. Nothings happened yet but were going to see.

Toscano said he may have more to say in the coming days about whether Democrats will challenge the partisan makeup of the committee, which has 11 Republicans and six Democrats.

Coxs office has said the Rules Committee will serve as a sort of traffic cop, allowing senior lawmakers to discuss some of the most big-ticket bills filed by both parties.

At the Democratic news conference, lawmakers spotlighted bills to ensure women receive the same pay as their male counterparts, require large employers to provide 40 hours of paid medical and family leave per year, establish a new state authority focused on easing student loan debt, add sexual orientation and gender identity to the states nondiscrimination laws and raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour.

Del. Marcus B. Simon, D-Fairfax, the patron of the minimum-wage bill, said Democrats campaigned on raising the minimum wage last year and won.

Im sorry if that sounds partisan, Simon said. Its a fact.

(804) 649-6839
Virginia hospitals badly want expansion of Medicaidand they say an overwhelming majority of Virginians do, toobut they dont support a tax on hospital profits proposed in the budget in order to cover more than $300 million of the states costs.

Leaders of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association said they do not support a proposal for most acute-care hospitals in the state to pay a provider assessment on net patient revenue to pay the states share of expanding health coverage to more than 300,000 uninsured Virginians through its Medicaid program. Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe proposed it in the budget he submitted almost a month ago.

Were not in favor of it, said Michael V. Gentry, an executive at Sentara Healthcare and chairman of the associations board of directors, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday.

However, the association said it would consider a provider assessment as legislation outside of the budget that would include protections in state code to ensure that any money generated by the tax is used to only help hospitals cover the costs of uncompensated care, bolster struggling hospitals in rural areas and help pay for graduate medical education.

One of the primary conditions is that it not be done in the budget, said VHHA President and CEO Sean T. Connaughton. He laid out six statutory safeguards in a letter to McAuliffe on Dec. 1, 2015, that committed the hospitals to engage in a process that would generate the money to draw down billions of dollars in federal funds for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Del. Mark Sickles, DFairfax, who is the second-ranked Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, has introduced legislation to expand Virginias Medicaid program, but he said Tuesday he proposes to remove the provider assessment from the budget and include it in a bill instead. It will go into the code, not the budget, Sickles said Tuesday.

However, that possibility faces a major roadblock by Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones, RSuffolk, who hasnt ruled out expansion or endorsed a provider assessment. I think that the proper place for that discussion is the budget, Jones said Tuesday.

The provider assessment is a linchpin of the $115 billion budget McAuliffe proposed on Dec. 18, generating more than $306.9 million in matching funds so Virginia could collect more than $3.2 billion in federal money over two years to pay for expanded health coverage for families earning no more than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $34,000 a year for a family of four.

McAuliffes budget would assess a fee or tax of 0.5 percent of net inpatient revenue in the next fiscal year and 1.4 percent in the following year to cover the states share of the costs of expanding Medicaid eligibility on Oct. 1, 2018. The money produced by the assessment would account for almost three-fourths of the estimated $421.7 million in general fund savings estimated by the former governor in the budget proposal he left for his successor, Gov. Ralph Northam, and the General Assembly to consider.

Northam spokesman Brian Coy said the new governor supports the proposed budget.

Coy added, He also recognizes there will be ongoing discussions between his team and the General Assembly.

Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal share of expanding Medicaid eligibility is 94 percent this year, 93 percent next year and no less than 90 percent in 2020 and beyond. The savings projected in the budget assume that federal funds would supplant money from the state general fund to pay for indigent care at hospitals, inmate hospital care, and community mental health services, as well as any current state-funded coverage for people who would become eligible for Medicaid.

The provider assessment would enable the state to avoid its share of the expansion costs, but it would not apply to Childrens Hospital of Kings Daughters in Norfolk, which does not care for the adults who would be newly covered, or the states big teaching hospitals at Virginia Commonwealth University or the University of Virginia.

Those teaching hospitals treat more uninsured and Medicaid patients than any acute-care facility in the state, so they receive hefty state subsidies that would be greatly reduced by the expansion of coverage for care of people who have no way to pay now.

The hospital association is concerned that money generated by the new fee could be submerged in the rest of the states general fund revenues, so Connaughton, former secretary of Transportation under Gov. Bob McDonnell, laid out conditions in his letter to McAuliffe more than two years ago to protect hospitals interest in how the money would be spent.

Among those conditions is that money generated by the provider assessment must be segregated from the states general fund and not be subject to any diversion of funds by either the administration or the General Assembly.

Despite those reservations, Connaughtons association is strongly in favor of expanding Medicaid eligibility in order to pay for the uncompensated care people already are receiving, primarily in hospital emergency rooms.

They supported provisions in the Affordable Care Act to reduce Medicaid and Medicare subsidies for that care in exchange for expanding eligibility, but a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 said the federal government could not require states to expand their programs.

Subsequently, 32 states and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid programs but the General Assembly has refused repeated attempts to do so in Virginia. Opposition has been led by then-Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and a two-thirds Republican majority in the House of Delegates that shrank to two votes in a Democratic electoral tidal wave in November.

On Tuesday, the association rolled out the results of a poll that shows 83 percent of Virginians in favor of expansion, including 88 percent in the Richmond area. The poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, a Northern Virginia firm that has worked for Republican political candidates across the country, including McDonnell in his successful gubernatorial campaign in 2009.

They want to see more Virginians covered, said Mary N. Mannix, president and CEO of Augusta Health and immediate past chair of the association.
ONE OF Terry McAuliffes final acts as governor of Virginia was his surprise announcement that the left-for-dead Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing project would be built as well as its companion southbound project.

And what a surprise it was! McAuliffe dropped this bombshell at the Commonwealth Transportation Boards meeting in Richmond last week. Its an understatement to say that this was one of most welcome pieces of news for the Fredericksburg region that has come out of Richmond in quite a while.

As the Free Lance-Star has repeatedly pointed out, expanding just the southbound section of Interstate 95 across the river never made any sense given both spans current congestion levels. But the Virginia Department of Transportation insisted that there was not enough money to do both.

However, where theres a will theres a way - and to their credit McAuliffe, former Transportation Secretary Aubrey Lane, and CTB representative Hap Connors found the way. The deal they crafted uses projected toll revenue from the proposed 10-mile Express Lane extension to pay for the northbound crossing project, which had all but been abandoned by local officials who despaired of ever getting the needed funding.

Transurban, the Australian company that has partnered with the commonwealth to build high occupancy toll lanes (HOT) along I-95 and the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia, agreed to finance the northbound crossing upfront to the tune of $277 million. In exchange, the company will keep all of the tolls it collects from the Express Lane extension over the next 70 years instead of sharing the toll money with VDOT, as it does with its other HOT lane projects.

With work set to begin this summer on construction of the $125 million southbound crossing project, and with funding for the $132 million northbound crossing now secured, beleaguered Fredericksburg commuters can expect some future relief, although it will be several years down the road before both projects are completed.

Nevertheless, funding the northbound crossing is progress, and progress is something to celebrate.

Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization administrator Paul Agnello called the deal a tremendous development, noting that the northbound crossing is FAMPOs top regional priority. This will make a huge difference in the lives of many Virginians as well as the hundreds of thousands of people who travel on I-95 from Florida to Maine, he told the Free Lance-Star.

Agnello also pointed out that due to the unconventional financing arrangement, the northbound crossing project will be completed much sooner than if it had been approved earlier. FAMPO can also take it off the list of must-do projects and direct its limited local funding and application slots towards another critical transportation project instead.

Its a great irony that McAuliffes triumph in securing funding for the Northbound Rappahannock River Crossing had to be done outside the Smart Scale system he inaugurated in 2014. Smart Scale  which was designed to take politics out of transportation funding  theoretically uses objective metrics to determine the best use of limited transportation funds.

However, despite the obvious need, the northbound crossing project didnt make Smart Scales cut two times in a row. Convinced that it was futile to submit a third application, local supporters were seriously considering withdrawing the project altogether in favor of smaller upgrades they believed had a better chance.

If Smart Scale was working properly in practice, it would have prioritized both Rappahannock River crossings as the commonwealths top transportation priorities due to I-95s high level of congestion and its strategic importance as the main arterial on the East Coast.

The fact that McAuliffe had to do an end-run around his own system to get the northbound crossing done is proof that Smart Scale has serious flaws, including an inexplicable decision not to include heavy weekend traffic in its scoring metrics. Those flaws need to be addressed.

But that should not stop every driver in the Fredericksburg region from relishing some great transportation news for a change.
The Scottish government is encouraging all farmers, crofters and land managers to apply for its Agri-Environment Climate Change Scheme, which opens on Wednesday (17 January).

The initiative, jointly funded by the EU, will support environmentally friendly land management that safeguards and improves Scotlands natural heritage and assist businesses to adapt to climate change.

See also: The land market in your area: Scotland

The application window will run for 12 weeks until 13 April  or 31 May for collaborative projects that involve five or more businesses.

I am delighted to confirm that we are now accepting applications to the Agri-Environment Climate Change scheme, said environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham.

The scheme supports our continued efforts to protect and enhance our environment by promoting environmentally friendly land management practices.

It also helps businesses to manage flood risks and mitigate and adapt to the challenge of climate change.

She added: I would therefore encourage all farmers, crofters and land managers to apply for support under the scheme, and explore how they can benefit and realise the environmental and economic potential of low carbon, environmentally friendly practices.

The fund has already paid out more than 100m to 2,090 businesses in Scotland since 2014.

More information on how to apply can be found on the Scottish governments website.
UK farmers have been kept busy working their way through the first significant snowfall of 2018  but theyve still managed to share some impressive scenes online.

Scotland saw the heaviest snowfall, with 8cm reported in Tulloch Bridge on Tuesday (16 January) and temperatures dropping to 0C overnight.

Drivers experienced travel delays and disruption, mountain rescue teams were drafted in to check on people stuck in their vehicles, and schools across the country were closed.

See also: Photos: Harvest and autumn scenes

The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for Scotland to expect a spell of persistent and heavy snow overnight tonight, travel delays and power cuts.

But farmers dont get a day off for such a trifling matter, and instead took to Twitter to post their best snaps of getting on with the job.

1. Yorkshire Shepherdess

Climb every mountain 

Ford every stream.  pic.twitter.com/hHzExgEm6D  YorkshireShepherdess (@AmandaOwen8) January 17, 2018

Prolific Twitterati Amanda Owen has posted a wide range of stunning shots of farm and family life in the Yorkshire Dales on her Twitter page. These pictures were taken yesterday afternoon as she brought the moor sheep down and into the land where there was less chance of them being overblown. Looks like a lively bunch.

2. Borders farmer

Lorraine Luescher farms at Megdale, Westerkirk, in the hills between Langholm and Eskdalemuir. She said yesterday was a complete white out and showed how precarious and vulnerable hill farming can be.

3. Tractor time

This stylish shot from photographer John McVitty shows a farmer on his Ford 6810 tractor as he goes about his business through the snow-covered roads of scenic County Fermanagh. Beautiful.

4. Highland shenanigans

A Rothiemurchus repost captures a Highland cow enjoying a cool morning  what a stylish bedhead.

5. Time for a thick fleece

Even the Highland Folk Museum is getting in on the fun  and they have some pretty photogenic sheep on their hands. Dont forget to put your thickest fleece on when the temperature drops

6. Making tracks

Making tracks. A Muker hill farmer heads for home in the snow storm after the morning delivery of hay. @StormHour #Swaledale #YorkshireDales pic.twitter.com/9ZtfQjiJHU  richard (@oldschoolmuker) January 16, 2018

The Old School Muker team shared this bleak picture, showing how a farmers chores are never forgotten. A Muker hill farmer heads for home in the snow storm after the morning hay delivery.

7. Swales in the snow

Some Swales in the snow  pic.twitter.com/99fEc9WJsM  Hannah Binns (@_hannahbinns) January 17, 2018

Farmers daughter Hannah Binns snapped a shot of this flock in Lancashire, taking in their new winter wonderland this morning. Think theyre impressed?

8. Posing for the camera

Cattle and Lleyn sheep farmer Jonathan captured this stunning vista in Kinross today. The work may be harder in deep snow but its also more beautiful.

9. And finally

Hayledge being gratefully received by the ladies. #Sheep365 pic.twitter.com/TQJog0OliM  Joyce Campbell (@armadalefarm) January 16, 2018

This video of the ladies gratefully receiving haylage is a fun insight into Joyces hill farming on the north coast of Sutherland. Theres always one who comes charging in from the back.
Commercial sheep farmers in the Scottish Borders have been warned of a sharp rise in maedi visna (MV) cases and are advised to conduct flock surveillance and blood testing.

A total of 20 Borders farms will get the costs of MV screening covered by the Border Monitor Farm project as animal health experts try to gauge the extent of MV in the area.

Farms not benefiting from the free service is advised to invest in the blood sampling services of Scotlands Rural College, costing 39 for 12 thin ewes.

A spate of MV cases has been flagged up by Hawick Vets, which reported a rise in the disease from February 2017 following a long period of almost no cases.

MV  what to look out for Reduced scanning percentage

Reduced milk production in ewes and lower growth rates in lambs

Ill thrift

Laboured breathing

Increased risk of pneumonia

Higher cull rate Testing for MV Farms can become MV accredited

A 12 thin ewe package can be used to assess the disease at flock level for 39

See also: SRUC vets concerned at rise of MV in UK flocks

Scottish farmers were rallied into action at a recent Borders Monitor Farm meeting where veterinarian Andrew Robinson of Hawick Vets said he believed MV is seriously underdiagnosed.

We have no idea how many flocks are infected in this area, he said. We really need to know the true incidence so we can advise farmers how to control and eradicate it. We would strongly encourage farmers to test their flocks for MV.

Sheep farmers have been told to screen flocks because MV can go undetected for years and affect scanning, rearing and growth rates.

MV can be spread by nose-to-nose contact as well as in colostrum and milk.

Lynn Gibson, MV accreditation scheme manager at SAC Consulting, said: Although sheep infected with MV can survive without showing any clinical signs for several years, they will be infectious and able to pass the virus on to other sheep in the flock.

It cost me 250,000 in lost production

Borders farmer Scott Browns flock at Stonefieldhill Farm was diagnosed with MV back in 1997 after he had noticed his ewes having more mastitis, pneumonia and foot-rot issues.

This was despite Mr Brown running an MV-accredited flock of pedigree Texels and Suffolks.

He estimates MV cost him 250,000 in lost production, blood testing, AI and embryo transfer, artificial lamb rearing and reduced pedigree sales income.

Shock after test results

The Mitchell family were shocked when 45% of their gimmers tested positive for MV at Whitriggs farm, a 460ha unit running 1,000 Lleyns.

The Mitchells were baffled about how MV infection happened, as they have run a closed flock since 2001 and only bought in MV-accredited rams.

Routine blood tests were performed after unsatisfactory scanning percentages, growth rates and rearing percentages.

Visually there didnt seem to be much wrong with the ewes, explained son Stuart Mitchell. We are working with our vet to decide how we can move forward and eradicate this disease from our flock.
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centerpiece

Residents hunker down for snow day

KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Robert Hodsdon looks up while hunting for treasure on the beach in Galveston on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Temperatures on Tuesday were unusually cold for Galveston, with a high of 35 degrees. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Robert Hodsdon digs a hole after his metal detector goes off on the beach in Galveston on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Hodsdon is a member of the Galveston Island Treasure Club, which is a group of metal detecting enthusiasts who enjoy recovering lost items. KELSEY WALLING/ The Daily News Construction workers move bricks to work on a Seawall project west of 53rd Street in Galveston on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The city is redoing the sidewalk on this portion of the Seawall. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Robert Mullins looks forward as construction continues on 53rd Street and Seawall Boulevard on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Although temperatures were not below freezing, wind chill was about 22 degrees. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Sleet covers portions of a plant in League City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. League City saw freezing rain and sleet throughout the day. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Greg Young begins to fill a propane tank at Keyworth Hardware in Dickinson on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. As temperatures have decreased, residents living in temporary housing have been getting more propane to heat their RVs. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News The spot usually for space heaters is empty at Keyworth Hardware in Dickinson on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Space heaters and pipe installation went quickly as temperatures began dropping this week. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Jason Patton fills a propane tank at Keyworth Hardware in Dickinson on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Vangie Nava looks up toward the kitchen in her RV in Dickinson on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Nava spends at least $45 a week on propane when it is not cold outside. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News League City resident James Williams walks into the Walmart at Victory Lakes on Tuesday. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Wal-Mart employee Gerald Washington braves the cold and pushes carts into the store in League City on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Temperatures are expected to rise after noon on Wednesday. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Cars pass a wrecked truck on the state Highway 146 bridge over Dickinson Bayou on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Bridges and overpasses freeze quickly because theyre not close to the ground, which stores heat. KELSEY WALLING/The Daily News Icicles hang from a shed in Dickinson on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. KIM CHRISTENSEN/for The Daily News Sleet and snow accumulate on the windshield of a car in Friendswood on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, as a winter storm pushed through Galveston County. KIM CHRISTENSEN /For The Daily News Icicles form on a plant in Friendswood on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 as sleet and snow fell across Galveston County.

Movies were cued up and comfort foods were simmering in slow cookers in houses around the county Tuesday as thousands of residents took a snow day.

For some displaced from homes by Hurricane Harvey, Tuesday afternoon was a time for last-minute errands and stocking up on propane to keep poorly insulated trailers and RVs warm.

Others still had to work. They were spotted making mad dashes from parking lots to offices and stores to avoid the bitter wind.

Temperatures dipped into the 20s Tuesday afternoon in some parts of the county and were expected to stay there until midday Wednesday, said Molly Merrifield, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Throughout the afternoon, a wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet and even snow dusted cars and patio chairs in League City and the north county, residents said. The weather service forecast the wintry mix would clear out of the area overnight even as temperatures remained in the low 20s across the county, Merrifield said.

Law enforcement agencies were being kept busy with vehicle crashes, but no serious accidents had been reported by Tuesday evening.

Chris John Mallios, who lives near Interstate 45 and FM 518 in League City, and his wife, Beverly Mallios, had stayed home from work Tuesday and had an extensive list of movies to watch, including a 2017-remake of Going In Style  just for laughs.

By 2 p.m., the surface of his backyard trampoline had frozen over and ice was forming on a rose bush, he said. But inside, a fireplace was roaring and the oven was on, Mallios said.

Weve got a rotisserie chicken heating and hot water going so we can make hot chocolate, Mallios said.

The Mallios were among thousands of residents who stayed home Tuesday as local school districts across the county and some government offices closed because of the weather.

Some local businesses were closed, too. Toms Thumb Nursery and Landscaping in Galveston closed, but not before workers moved the nurserys tropical plants inside the greenhouse, owner Peggy Cornelius said.

With temperatures expected to stay below freezing for more than 24 hours, Cornelius recommended people cover plants at home, too, she said.

The best thing is to use fabric, freeze cloth, Cornelius said. But you can use old sheets or blankets, really just anything but plastic.

But not everyone was lucky to have a snow day Tuesday and some residents spent the day running errands and preparing for the cold.

At Keyworth Hardware on FM 517 in Dickinson, Harvey-displaced residents were stocking up on propane. The store had already sold out of space heaters, heat bulbs and pipe installation, said Jason Patton, general manager at the store.

Even our supplier is sold out, so we wont get heaters in this week, Patton said.

On Pine Grove Street in Dickinson, Vangie Nava had filled up two bottles of propane to heat the RV shes living in while her house is uninhabitable.

With the cold snap, she planned to conserve the propane by not using her stove and just using it to heat the trailer, she said. To fill both tanks of propane costs about $44.80, she said. And if she uses her stove, a small tank might go in two to three days, she said.

That gets pricey, Nava said. Ive got my house shoes on and Im staying warm. Ill eat a sandwich if I have to, but Im not going to use that stove.

Dickinson resident Donna Jackson works as an emergency medical worker in Angleton and checked into a hotel room Tuesday afternoon closer to work because she had concerns about making the commute from Dickinson safely Wednesday morning, she said.

Her husband was back in Dickinson where they had stocked up on propane to heat the trailer theyve been living in after their house on Deats Road flooded during Harvey.

Im here feeling like a princess, Jackson said Tuesday after checking into her room. I dont have to share the remote today.
The Long Beach Pledge will provide $500 a month for one year to 250 families living in the city's west-central 90813 ZIP code.
The Benton County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a $171,000 consulting contract for an in-depth assessment of the countys criminal justice system.

CGL, a national corrections planning and design firm with a regional office in Sacramento, will receive $158,843 for conducting the assessment. The company was one of three specialty consulting firms that responded to a county request for qualifications.

An additional $12,000 will go to Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. to serve as project manager. Based in The Dalles, GOBHI is a provider of addiction treatment and related services that works with law enforcement and mental health professionals to develop diversion programs.

Part of CGLs task will be to determine whether the county needs a new jail, a new courthouse or both.

The current jail was built in 1976 to house 27 inmates and was later retrofitted to hold 40 beds, but thats not enough to meet the need. County taxpayers spend more than $1 million a year to rent an additional 40 beds in other lockups, but the jail still has to turn some offenders away and release others early for lack of space.

So far, however, Benton County voters have been unwilling to pay for a new jail, rejecting three bond measures since 2000, most recently in November 2015.

The historic Benton County Courthouse, built in 1888, is also short on space. It may also be unsafe: In 2016, an engineering analysis found the structure would likely collapse in a severe earthquake without costly seismic upgrades.

While facilities needs will be addressed in the consultants report, County Administrator Joe Kerby assured the commissioners at Tuesdays meeting that the assessment would be much broader than that and will look for ways to make the entire justice system more efficient and effective.

Public participation will be built into the assessment process, which will begin next month and is expected to wrap up in November or December. The contract specifies that the first community meeting is to be held within four weeks of the start date, with several more public meetings and topical workshops to follow as the project meets key milestones.

Meetings are also scheduled with the steering committee, key stakeholders and the mayors and city managers of each incorporated community in the county, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on the consultants draft report.

One of the things Im particularly happy about is the level of public engagement that will be involved, said Board of Commissioners Chair Xan Augerot, who serves on the steering committee that helped draft the contract and select the consultant.

Were hoping for a very robust, two-way dialogue with the community.

Under terms of the contract, CGL is expected to complete several main tasks, including:

 Document current system conditions, including the size of the offender population as well as its demographic characteristics, mental health status, drug and alcohol treatment needs, and how homelessness impacts the justice system.

 Conduct a needs assessment for the system, including programs, facilities and alternative sanctions.

 Develop benchmarks to compare Benton Countys justice system with those of similar jurisdictions.

 Develop a range of potential solutions, including changes to current practices, alternatives to incarceration and possible construction of new facilities, with preliminary cost estimates.

 Produce a final report that incorporates community feedback and input from the steering committee and stakeholders.

In an interview after Tuesdays meeting, Augerot said she has no doubt that the county needs a new jail and must do something about the courthouse, despite the reluctance shown by voters to pay for new facilities. She predicted the third-party assessment will come to the same conclusion and will arrive at a plan that local residents can support.

Having watched the last bond measure fail for a variety of reasons, I know one of the biggest weaknesses was a lack of data, Augerot said.

We just didnt have the right information presented in the right way to explain to the population here, to the voters. I also dont think we understood well enough what the voters, what the community, wanted from the criminal justice system.

Commissioner Anne Schuster expressed some hesitation during the meeting before voting for the contract but said afterward she believes its the right thing to do.

We are in an untenable situation with our jail and courthouse. We would be remiss if we dont take action to fix our problems, Schuster said in an email to the Gazette-Times.

She said she was bothered by the cost of the contract but thinks the criminal justice system assessment needs to be done regardless.

There will be a strong data analysis to inform us of what approaches for criminal justice work best, she added. Im hoping preventative and diversionary practices will be a major component.

In other action, the board:

 Approved an ordinance to amend Chapter 16 of the county code after a brief public hearing at which no citizen testified. The amendments clarify that the Board of Commissioners has discretion to delegate certain responsibilities to the county fair board, including hiring and firing the fair manager. The commissioners also approved a modified memorandum of agreement with the fair board.

 Approved the sale of a foreclosed house at 146 W. Main St. in Alsea to John Boys Alsea Mercantile Inc. for $6,000. The company, which operates a store in Alsea, submitted the high bid of $6,000 during a sealed-bid auction.

 Renewed the lease on the Benton County Clubhouse for another five years, through the end of 2022. Valley Catering has rented the county-owned structure, originally built as an officers club for Adair Air Force Base, since 1998. The lease brings the county $48,000 a year in revenue.
Zolman Bud Bond, 92, of Albany passed away Monday at Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 19 at Riverside Baptist Church. Fisher Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Clyde H. Charlie Brown, 86, of Lebanon, passed away Friday, December 29, 2017. A memorial service will be at 12:30 p.m. on January 20 at St. Martins Episcopal Church in Lebanon. Memorials may be made to Doernbecher Childrens Hospital or a charity of choice sent in care of Huston-Jost Funeral Home, 86 W. Grant St., Lebanon, OR 97355.

Susan D. Downer died November 15, 2017. A celebration of life will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 20 at the Corvallis Country Club.

Dorothy Ann Franklin, 93, of Lebanon, passed away at home on Sunday, January 14, 2018. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, January 17 at the Lebanon I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Huston-Jost Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Jane Newton of Philomath, died November 26, 2017. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 20 at the First Presbyterian Church, Ninth Street entrance, in Corvallis. Visit demossdurdan.com for more information.

Verna Weaver (Bishop) Nichols, 89, of Lebanon, passed away Monday, January 15, 2018 at Samaritan Evergreen Hospice House. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, January 19th at Huston-Jost Funeral Home.
CORVALLIS  A man charged with manslaughter for allegedly striking and killing a man and injuring another along Main Street in east Philomath Saturday denied the allegations Tuesday.

Authorities say Ricky Ray Ferguson was under the influence of controlled substances when he crossed the fog line and struck two men who were volunteering to pick up trash along the highway. The crash killed 70-year-old Robert James Ozretich and seriously injured 85-year-old Allan Edward Deutsch, both Corvallis residents.

Ferguson, 54, of Toledo, left the scene of the crash and removed decals from his truck in an effort to change its appearance, authorities allege. He was arrested four hours later in Blodgett about 12 miles west on Highway 20.

In addition to first-degree manslaughter, Ferguson is charged with second-degree assault, failure to perform duties of a driver to injured persons, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and tampering with physical evidence.

He faces a minimum of 15 years and 10 months in prison if convicted.

Ferguson appeared in Benton County Circuit Court via video conferencing from the jail. Judge Matthew Donohue appointed Corvallis attorney Clark Willes to represent Ferguson. Willes entered not guilty pleas to all charges on his client's behalf.

Donohue imposed $1 million security in the case.

Ozretichs son, Reed Ozretich, spoke at the arraignment hearing. He said his father was in good health and likely would have lived for decades longer if not for Fergusons actions.

Ozretich said his father was a good, decent man who was active in his church and in the community. His father deserved many more years of happiness and opportunities to serve."

Your victim, Mr. Ferguson, was a loving, vibrant, powerful man who is so very much loved by so many, he added.

Ferguson spoke only to answer questions from the judge and his attorney during the hearing.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Ozretich and Deutsch were wearing orange traffic vests and carrying yellow garbage bags when Ferguson drove into them. Ozretich and Deutsch were on the south side of the highway. The affidavit states from the south side fog line to the edge of the road is about 4 feet.

This leaves plenty of room for pedestrians to walk along the roadway while traffic passes by, the affidavit states.

Deputies say the suspects truck, a white Ford F250, was traveling east on the highway approaching Newton Street when it crossed over the fog line and collided with Ozretich and Deutsch at about 10:27 a.m. The men were thrown into the ditch, according to the affidavit.

Parts of the truck, including the passenger side mirror housing and pieces of the grill, were found in the south side ditch, the affidavit states. The Fords passenger-side tires went into the ditch, leaving tire marks to Newton Street, a distance about 50 feet, according to the affidavit.

Deutsch was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where he required surgery for a brain bleed, the affidavit states. Detectives spoke with Deutsch at the hospital. He said he and Ozretich had been on the shoulder of the highway. Deutsch said he didnt remember the crash.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ryan Joslin said last Tuesday that Deutsch has permanent and severe brain damage. A Good Samaritan spokesperson said Deutsch was in fair condition.

Deputies were ultimately able to locate Ferguson after multiple citizens reported seeing his truck, according to the affidavit. Officers responded to Fern Road and milepost 2 after a woman reported seeing a white pickup parked on the side of the road with a man in the bed of the truck removing decals from the rear window, the affidavit states. Deputies found fresh tire marks, but the truck was gone. They also found yellow car decals.

Officers responded to a Starker Forest gate on Priest Road after a woman reported seeing the truck there. The truck was gone but deputies continued west on Highway 20 and found Fergusons truck at Blodgett Country Store, according to the affidavit.

The truck had damage to the front passenger side. The hood had been removed and placed in the bed of the truck, as had part of the passenger side mirror, the affidavit states. The truck had marks on the back window where decals had recently been removed.

When a deputy asked Ferguson if the truck was his, the suspect said, I fell asleep, the affidavit states. Police took Ferguson to the Law Enforcement Center, where he told a sergeant he thought he hit a trash bag where the crash occurred, according to the affidavit. Ferguson declined to speak further with law enforcement and requested a lawyer.

Court records show Ferguson has a 2008 conviction in Lincoln County for driving while under the influence of intoxicants. In 2007, Ferguson was convicted in Lincoln County for possession of a controlled substance and reckless driving. He was convicted twice in 2005 in Lincoln County for operating a vehicle without driving privileges.
Snow and ice disrupt traffic on Wednesday : Heavy storm expected for Thursday

BONN/REGION Snow, rain and ice caused problems on the streets of Bonn and Rhein-Sieg on Wednesday. At the airport, flight operations were stopped temporarily. And a heavy storm with gale-force winds is expected for Thursday.

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It was difficult for motorists on Wednesday morning with snowfall and slippery streets. The city reports that all of its winter service vehicles were fully deployed as of 3:30 am. Their work was to continue until all important roads, hospital driveways, higher elevation routes, which are used by public bus traffic and local thoroughfares, were cleared and sanded. The weather service had warned of wind gusts reaching a speed up to 75 km /h.

Problems on the road and with rail traffic

Bus traffic was also affected by the weather. The Stadtwerke Bonn (City Public Works - SWB) responsible for the buses reported that there were many hindrances in the higher elevations. From 8:30 until 9:40 am, buses could not make it to Gielgen, Heiderhof, Ippendorf and Venusberg, according to Veronika John of SWB.

Tram lines 16 and 18 faced extreme delays. The reason for this was initially a points failure and a power outage on the line. Then the morning weather brought more irregularities and delays.

School buses in the higher elevations of Rhine-Sieg were cancelled due to the snow and ice.

Flights cancelled at Cologne/Bonn

At Cologne / Bonn Airport, flight operations had to be suspended temporarily. "Between 6:25 and 7:45 am, no takeoffs and landings were possible," said spokeswoman Hannah Schneider to GA. The reason was the snow-covered runway, which had to be cleared first by the winter service. As a result of the temporary hold, the entire flight plan was jumbled up so that delays followed, according to Schneider.

Two injured in accidents

Bonn police were called to several smaller accidents. This included a bus slipping and traversing the road Goldbergweg in Bad Godesberg. Overall, however, the morning was not too bad, according to police.

The police in the Rhine-Sieg region reported being very busy, especially in the higher-situated towns. During rush hour between 6:45 and 9 am, patrols were dispatched to ten weather-related operations, including two road closures and eight accidents that caused several thousand euros in property damage. Two people were injured in two accidents.

Streets closed off in Rhine-Sieg region

Many uphill routes such as the B 507 between Pohlhausen and Neunkirchen were partly blocked by trucks transversing the road. Traffic crept along very slowly. On the B 56 between Much and Seelscheid, there was also a bus across the road, blocking it. The main road had to be completely closed from 8:10 to 9:40 am.

A 12-ton truck veered into a ditch off the L 189. A Twitter user reported that streets in the Siebengeburge (Seven Mountains) were frozen and full of vehicles. One truck could not make it up a hill at Margaretenhohe and had to leave it at the side of the road. Also on other streets, cars and buses remained in place.

Warning from German Rail

Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) has put out a notice on the internet, warning passengers about possible disturbances in the southwest of Germany because of possible gale-force storms on Wednesday and Thursday. It said that due to safety reasons, speeds might be reduced, and in individual cases, some railway operations suspended.

Northern NRW to bear brunt of storm

"The main storm field is likely to pass over the north of North Rhine-Westphalia," says meteorologist Karsten Brandt. He calculates wind speeds up to 110 kilometers per hour may whip through the Siebengebirge. The storm system called "Friederike" is expected to pass through by the evening. But, according to the meteorologist, winter will return at the weekend.

Public transportation officials in Bonn said they were not planning on any restrictions for Thursday. They planned to keep on schedule to the extent possible. Past storms have caused disruptions because of flying branches landing on overhead lines.

As well, it could come to road closures by the fire department if fallen trees need to be removed. Rhine-Sieg transportation official Herbert Knopp said that the storm could lead to massive traffic disruptions.
Weather service warning : Ice and snow disrupt traffic around Bonn

Bonn Snow, rain and ice are hampering traffic on Wednesday morning in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg region. Some streets are closed and and school buses cancelled.

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After thunderstorms and strong gusts of wind moved through Bonn and the region on Tuesday, ice and snow added to the mix on Wednesday. At temperatures just above freezing, sand and salting vehicles have been on the move since early morning. The German Weather Service has issued a warning that conditions may be slippery.

Light snow is causing further difficulties for motorists on some roads. And the weather service has warned of storms for all day Wednesday, with wind gusts reaching up to 75 km / h.

Buses have been affected by the weather conditions. In higher areas of the Rhine-Sieg region, school buses have been cancelled due to the snow and ice. Rhine-Sieg transportation authorities put out a message on Twitter.

Snowfall at 5:30 am brought many traffic disruptions to Neunkirchen-Seelscheid and Much. Many uphill routes, such as the national road 507 between Pohlhausen and Neuenkirchen, are partly blocked by trucks which have skid and come to a standstill across the lanes. On the Wahnbachtalstrasse (L189) a 12-ton truck landed in the ditch after skidding from a curve.

Accidents in NRW

Ice and snow are bringing considerable problems to some autobahns in NRW. Autobahn 2 between Herford and Vlotho had to be closed in the direction of Hannover, according to police. Apparently, there was an accident with a truck whose trailer subsequently blocked two lanes. The cause was a slippery road surface, sending the driver to a clinic for his injuries.

Both lanes of the A44 towards Dortmund had to be closed due to an accident near Lichtenau. Again, a truck slid on the icy surface and was blocking the lanes. In some areas of Detmold and Duisburg, some streets had to be closed off because of snow and hail. Several small accidents were reported on the A40 because of the slippery road conditions.

The stormy weather will remain with us a while longer. On Thursday, conditions are expected to be particularly stormy. According to the German Weather Service, wind gusts up to 110 kilometers per hour can be expected, especially at higher altitudes. In the lowlands, heavy storm gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour are to be expected. Hurricane-like gusts there can not be excluded, said the weather service.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
200 Combined Military And Police Force Sent From Ghana To 'Deal' With Fulani Herdsmen (Video)

felicilin at 17-01-2018 01:33 PM (4 years ago) (f)

Ghana has taken a pro-active step to deal with Fulani herdsmen destroying farms in the country by sending about 200 combined military and police force to evacuate the Fulani nomads from the Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains Districts in the Ashanti Region.

Ghana has taken a pro-active step to deal with Fulani herdsmen destroying farms in the country by sending about 200 combined military and police force to evacuate the Fulani nomads from the Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains Districts in the Ashanti Region.

Giving the orders, Konongo Divisional police commander, Superintendent Bossman Ohene-Boadi said: I believe in safety first, if you see anybody holding arms and wants to attack, please dont waste time."



He ordered the team of armed military and police force to shoot on sight in the wake of the slightest threat.



Supt. Boadi painted a horrific picture of the nomads when he addressed the battle-ready men in uniform as they set off to evacuate nomadic Fulani herdsmen from Agogo land.



They are not people we have to toil with, they are dangerous, if you joke with them, they will take your life, he said.



The Fulani herdsmen have over the years been accused of destroying farmlands of Agogo residents and at times killing the farmers.



Three soldiers and a police officer were left in critical condition after being ambushed and shot by persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on Monday at Agogo on their normal operation.



The security personnel deployed at Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains Districts have therefore been told to defend themselves.



Are Fulanis better than us? Can they shoot better than us? Nobody should die in the bush, no risk taking, he added.



Giving the orders, Konongo Divisional police commander, Superintendent Bossman Ohene-Boadi said:He ordered the team of armed military and police force to shoot on sight in the wake of the slightest threat.Supt. Boadi painted a horrific picture of the nomads when he addressed the battle-ready men in uniform as they set off to evacuate nomadic Fulani herdsmen from Agogo land.he said.The Fulani herdsmen have over the years been accused of destroying farmlands of Agogo residents and at times killing the farmers.Three soldiers and a police officer were left in critical condition after being ambushed and shot by persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on Monday at Agogo on their normal operation.The security personnel deployed at Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains Districts have therefore been told to defend themselves., he added.

Post Reply Posted: at 17-01-2018 01:33 PM (4 years ago) | Hero

Wazubia at 17-01-2018 01:44 PM (4 years ago)

(m) COUNTRY WEY SERIOUS. NA ONLY CORRUPTION, AND MOUTH NIGERIA GET. WASTED GENERATION COUNTRY. Posted: at 17-01-2018 01:44 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac COUNTRY WEY SERIOUS. NA ONLY CORRUPTION, AND MOUTH NIGERIA GET. WASTED GENERATION COUNTRY. Reply

crocatum at 17-01-2018 01:53 PM (4 years ago)

(m) Ghana is lead my Sensitive leaders, who understand that anarchy is a destrcutive force that will retrograde the progression of a country, and they will shoot on site any aggressor. Posted: at 17-01-2018 01:53 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac Ghana is lead my Sensitive leaders, who understand that anarchy is a destrcutive force that will retrograde the progression of a country, and they will shoot on site any aggressor. Reply

ngfineface at 17-01-2018 01:59 PM (4 years ago)

(f) Serious Government requires serious business. Ghana should not allow the request for two days grace. Those people are dangerous. They can use the opportunity to plant bombs and kil. They should just go abeg. Buhari you you dey see and hear. You will not order same for Nigeria cause you are Fulani Hausa. It is well Posted: at 17-01-2018 01:59 PM (4 years ago) | Hero Serious Government requires serious business. Ghana should not allow the request for two days grace. Those people are dangerous. They can use the opportunity to plant bombs and kil. They should just go abeg. Buhari you you dey see and hear. You will not order same for Nigeria cause you are Fulani Hausa. It is well Reply

crocatum at 17-01-2018 01:59 PM (4 years ago)

(m) and psychologically Ghana cannot afford to be similar to Nigeria, they have to be better or they have to be leading in West Africa. Finally, if this trend continues, one day Nigeria will be like a toilet, where other Africans can make jokes about and laugh at. Posted: at 17-01-2018 01:59 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac and psychologically Ghana cannot afford to be similar to Nigeria, they have to be better or they have to be leading in West Africa. Finally, if this trend continues, one day Nigeria will be like a toilet, where other Africans can make jokes about and laugh at. Reply

blowout at 17-01-2018 02:24 PM (4 years ago)

(m) Quote from: crocatum on 17-01-2018 01:59 PM and psychologically Ghana cannot afford to be similar to Nigeria, they have to be better or they have to be leading in West Africa. Finally, if this trend continues, one day Nigeria will be like a toilet, where other Africans can make jokes about and laugh at.

the jokes have started already Posted: at 17-01-2018 02:24 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac the jokes have started already Reply

cypanyahucha at 17-01-2018 02:40 PM (4 years ago)

(m) That's what a proactive step is not the politicised Nigerian senario because their sponsors are in the government. Posted: at 17-01-2018 02:40 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac That's what a proactive step is not the politicised Nigerian senario because their sponsors are in the government. Reply

Mykie010 at 17-01-2018 02:41 PM (4 years ago)

(m) This is serious country,this is why we must not vite for Hausa people again in Nigeria, they have proven over time that they are tribalist and ready to kill to defend their archaic traditions. Posted: at 17-01-2018 02:41 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac This is serious country,this is why we must not vite for Hausa people again in Nigeria, they have proven over time that they are tribalist and ready to kill to defend their archaic traditions. Reply

james987 at 17-01-2018 02:56 PM (4 years ago)

(m) See how small small African countries dey leave us behind.. without truth a country can't progress.. simple.. northerners suppose live on their own and rule theirselves heartless people. Posted: at 17-01-2018 02:56 PM (4 years ago) | Hero See how small small African countries dey leave us behind.. without truth a country can't progress.. simple.. northerners suppose live on their own and rule theirselves heartless people. Reply

slimber at 17-01-2018 03:01 PM (4 years ago)

(f) Hmmm.mm am smiling 200 military from Ghana so what about the military in Nigeria ..So Nigerians can't handle their prb why inviting outsiders to fight for them..big shame Posted: at 17-01-2018 03:01 PM (4 years ago) | Hero Hmmm.mm am smiling 200 military from Ghana so what about the military in Nigeria ..So Nigerians can't handle their prb why inviting outsiders to fight for them..big shame Reply

benosky4 at 17-01-2018 03:14 PM (4 years ago)

(m) Nigeria should at least learn from their junior brother Ghana. Rather than witch-hunting in the name of fighting corruption. #MyVerdict. Posted: at 17-01-2018 03:14 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac Nigeria should at least learn from their junior brother Ghana. Rather than witch-hunting in the name of fighting corruption. Reply

Nottingham at 17-01-2018 04:56 PM (4 years ago)

(m) Our police officers are on road blocks, While Ghana comes to save us. Poor Nigeria... Posted: at 17-01-2018 04:56 PM (4 years ago) | Upcoming Our police officers are on road blocks, While Ghana comes to save us. Poor Nigeria... Reply

ruthie at 17-01-2018 05:17 PM (4 years ago)

(f) SERIOUS COUNTRY AND PRO-ACTIVE IN THINKING...NOT OURS, THAT INNOCENT LIVES WILL BE WASTED...GOD WILL JUDGE... Posted: at 17-01-2018 05:17 PM (4 years ago) | Hero SERIOUS COUNTRY AND PRO-ACTIVE IN THINKING...NOT OURS, THAT INNOCENT LIVES WILL BE WASTED...GOD WILL JUDGE... Reply

Haso112 at 17-01-2018 05:44 PM (4 years ago)

(m) SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT READ POST, THEY WILL JUST COMMENT.. POSTER, YOUR HEADLINE SEF DEY VERY MISLEADING.... BE KIAFUL... Posted: at 17-01-2018 05:44 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT READ POST, THEY WILL JUST COMMENT.. POSTER, YOUR HEADLINE SEF DEY VERY MISLEADING.... BE KIAFUL... Reply

Markeve at 17-01-2018 08:06 PM (4 years ago)

(f) Quote from: Wazubia on 17-01-2018 01:44 PM COUNTRY WEY SERIOUS. NA ONLY CORRUPTION, AND MOUTH NIGERIA GET. WASTED GENERATION COUNTRY.

na so we see am ooo naija d agberu country. Posted: at 17-01-2018 08:06 PM (4 years ago) | Gistmaniac na so we see am ooo naija d agberu country. Reply

kacylee at 17-01-2018 10:22 PM (4 years ago)

(f) shame on Naija ooo, Ghana police to help our Army, this calls for serious pondering 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 17-01-2018 10:22 PM (4 years ago) | Addicted Hero shame on Naija ooo, Ghana police to help our Army, this calls for serious pondering Reply
A scathing statement credited to the spokesperson of the Niger Delta Avengers group, Maj.Gen Murdoch Agbinibo has threated the President Muhammadu Buhari administration with a fresh attack on oil facilities in Nigeria.

The group in a press statement released on its website, Nigerdeltaavengers.org today - Wednesday, 17th of January, 2018 demanded the immediate restructuring of Nigeria as a condition to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.The group listed out some strategic oil facilities to be bombed, to send warning shots to the government of the day.Read the full statement below:

Quote

The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers wishes all Niger Deltans a happy New Year as we admonish the Nigerian Government to brace up for the doom we have finished all arrangement to unleash on the oil sector in a few days time.

This round of attacks will be the most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals which include Bonga Platform, Agbami, EA Field, Britania-U Field, Akpo Field; amongst others littered across the deep waters of the Niger Delta region.

As for the Egina FPSO, we are advising the operators to let it stay where ever it is right now as we are tracking it's movement. We mean it when we say they (the oil installations) shall dance to the sound of the fury of the Niger Delta Avengers. Good a thing the ocean is wide enough to accommodate as many wreck as possible.

On the 15th of January 2018, being the 62nd historic remembrance day of the 1956 discovery of commercial oil by Shell Darcy in the now forgotten and dejected Oloibiri Community in the Niger Delta; the high command of the ND Avengers summoned a meeting of all our operatives from across the Niger Delta to review the progress of our operations so far and deliberate on the planned actions for the future.

It was agreed in that meeting that the killings and division presently playing out in Nigeria along divergent grounds makes this the perfect time to restructure this country.

While promising a brutal outpour of our wrath, which shall shake the coffers of the failed Nigerian nation, our demand unambiguously is for the government to "RESTRUCTURE THIS COUNTRY".

On the 3rd of November 2017 we promised to reactivate "operation red economy" but as usual some overzealous and over patriotic elders intervened and appealed as they have done twice before then for us to avail them some more time to attend to the demands of the Niger Delta as championed by the Niger Delta Avengers.

That we have not achieved any meaningful results despite the opportunities we have availed the Niger Delta elders means that they are either irresponsible or the Nigerian government is not sincere with them as it is their trade in stock.

Because of the above, we have resolved not to listen to the Niger Delta elders as we unravel our New year package to the failed Nigerian state this time around.

We wish to state in plain terms that anybody against restructuring is an enemy of this country and particularly an enemy of the Niger Delta Avengers; and we shall not rest until such enemies are defeated by the Niger Delta People who earnestly seek to control our own resources.

We want to control our resources and directly use them to better our lot instead of been enslaved and made to beg before crumbs are released in a dress rehearsal-like manner to intervention agencies that are ineffective at addressing our challenges. While 1 Billion Dollars from the excess crude account is been released to fight a Boko Haram in the North; successive government acts blind to the very bold array of challenges our region from which this wealth is generated is facing; as they (the Nigerian Government) derives pleasure in sending their unprofessional and weak military to invade our communities and subject our already sick and suffering people to more hardship and poverty.

Only a few days ago the Nigerian Army released 244 members of the murderous Boko Haram sect to Borno state government while thousands of innocent Niger Delta youths continue to suffer in various prisons across the country for no just cause.

It is on the above premise that we are demanding the immediate release of all Niger Deltans Activists and Freedom Fighters that are held captive by the Nigeria Armed Forces.

The extrajudicial cold blooded murder of Kareowei and 20 members of his gang by the Nigerian Army after deceiving them with Amnesty offer is very unprofessional; yes they were common criminals who brought pain to our own people but going ahead to murder them after reaching an agreement with them and making them to surrendered to the army is a clear pointer to the insincerity of the Nigerian Government at handling issues that concern the Niger Delta; just like the Nigerian Government daily deceive the international community of how professional the multinationals are carrying out their operations and how vast they have developed our lands; when the reverse is actually the case on ground.

Let the Kareowei issue be a lesson to all freedom fighters across the Niger Delta never to fall for the antics of the insincere Nigerian Government; put the fear of death aside and fight till the last drop of blood whenever you are engaged in a gun duel with the Nigeria Army as it is this same path we have chosen to glory. Again, the Niger Delta Avengers wish Nigeria a doomed 2018; courtesy the skilled hands of our fierce and smooth operatives across the Niger Delta.

Maj.Gen Murdoch Agbinibo

Spokesperson
The Dan River Region may have several inches of snow on the ground, but dont expect it to stick around long because balmy conditions are on the way, according to the National Weather Service in Blacksburg.

This is our most active weather day were going to have this week, Meteorologist Dennis Sleighter said of Wednesdays wintry deluge.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, the NWS had an extended winter storm warning for Danville until 9 p.m. Wednesday, with 3 to 6 inches of snow expected.

About 2 to 3 inches were initially anticipated for the Dan River Region, but two weather systems brought more to the area than expected.

Official reports measure 6.9 inches of snow in Danville as of 4 p.m., according to a statement from the city of Danville. Unofficial reports measured as much as 9 inches of snow.

A front moving to the western part of the region brought snow showers west of Danville, Sleighter said, but a second low-pressure area moving from the west and heading northeast brought more snow.

It adds lift and extra energy to help with the formation of precipitation, he said.

The area from Caswell County, North Carolina, to northwest of Danville was expected to get 3 to 6 inches, with the higher amount expected just below Danville and lower accumulation northwest of the city, Sleighter said.

Though warmer weather is expected through the weekend, overnight lows Wednesday night were expected to make it difficult for city plows to clear the streets in Danville. Temperatures were 28 degrees Wednesday and were expected to fall to a low of about 15 overnight, according to a news release from the city.

This is not going to be an easy storm for us, Danville Public Works Director Rick Drazenovich said in the news release. The snow will become packed and will stay on the street surface, especially on streets that were not pretreated.

City road crews began pouring brine solution on roads before noon Tuesday in anticipation of the storm. It takes roughly

Sleighter said temperatures should be in the mid-30s Thursday, low 50s on Friday, and mid-50s Saturday. Highs are expected to reach the lower 60s Sunday.

The Danville Police Department had received reports of 19 wrecks  one with injuries. Another resulted in property damage and there were 12 disabled vehicles, according to city officials.

Danville Police Department Lt. Michael Wallace said the department has not had to call in extra officers.

Weve been able to handle the calls as they came in, Wallace said Wednesday. Most of the wrecks are minor.

Pittsylvania County had 14 reported weather-related wrecks as of early Wednesday afternoon, Virginia State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts said. County Emergency Services Director Jim Davis said the county received a few reports of minor wrecks.
Whats happening today?

The Womens Health Care Caucus holds a 10 a.m. news conference in the House Briefing Room at the Pocahontas Building.

Bill would end potential for endless recounts

The feared endless loop of random drawings and recounts never materialized after a Virginia House of Delegates election ended in a tie last year, but one state lawmaker has filed a bill to prevent an election from getting stuck in limbo in the future.

In the Newport News-based 94th District, a recount showed Republican Del. David Yancey and Democrat Shelly Simonds in a tie. Under state law, a tiebreaker was conducted by the State Board of Elections, but the law also appeared to let the loser of the tiebreaker ask for a second recount, which theoretically could have started the process all over again.

Simonds chose not to seek a second recount. The fix proposed by Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, would remove the option, making the tiebreaker final.

Gillespie joins Harvards Kennedy School ranks

After losing Virginias gubernatorial election last year, Republican Ed Gillespie is joining the Institute of Politics at Harvards Kennedy School of Government as a spring fellow, the school announced Tuesday.

In a news release, the Kennedy School said its fellows will lead discussions on U.S. trade policy, racial equality, policing and local governance, the impact of technology on politics, social activism, the development of public policy from conservative and progressive frameworks, and the future of the two-party system.

A former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Gillespie said he would not run for public office again after losing to Democrat Ralph Northam.

Delegate seeks to close school-to-prison pipeline

Ryan Turk was an eighth-grader in Prince William County when a misunderstanding with a school resource officer over a 65-cent carton of milk escalated to theft charges.

The incident happened in May 2016, when Turk said he forgot his carton of milk that came with his school-issued free lunch. The police said Turk tried to conceal the carton of milk. When Turk separated himself from the resource officer, the incident ended with a suspension from school and a summons to juvenile court.

A year ago, the charges against Turk were dropped, but he remains an example of what critics call the school-to-prison pipeline  a trend to charge students as criminals for what might once have been considered detention-worthy transgressions. According to a 2015 study by the Center for Public Integrity, Virginia charges students more often than any other state.

That trend has triggered a push in the General Assembly to reform criminal justice across the board. One of the latest and most vocal opponents of the pipeline is Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, DWoodbridge.

We send more students from the classroom to the courtroom than any other state in the country, Carroll Foy said at an NAACP reception in Richmond last week. Now we lock them up early, and we lock them up at large.

Carroll Foy plans to sponsor more than 10 criminal justice reform bills this legislative session. They include House Bill 113, which would increase the threshold for grand larceny in Virginia from $200 to $1,000.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney could use taxes to fund a school facilities plan if the House of Delegates version of the schools modernization mandate becomes law.

The two bills in the General Assembly that would require Stoney to present a fully funded schools facilities plan differ in whether or not the mayor can raise taxes to do so.

House of Delegates Bill 1409 from Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, would ax the provision passed by Richmond voters in November that the mayor couldnt raise taxes to fund a facilities plan. Senate Bill 750 from Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, would keep the requirement.

To me, we would be in a better position if the mayor, City Council and School Board have as many options on the table as possible, Bourne said. I wouldnt want to handcuff the local government to explore all options to build these schools for our children.

Stoney, who opposed the referendum measure, prefers the House bill.

The mayor believes Delegate Bournes version is an improvement, the mayors spokesman, Jim Nolan, said Tuesday.

A September poll conducted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Christopher Newport University showed that 64 percent of Richmond residents support a tax increase for new and renovated schools, compared with 30 percent who said they would oppose a tax increase.

Richmond voters overwhelmingly passed the school facilities plan measure in November with 85 percent of the vote. The referendum measure said the fully funded plan cannot be based on the passage of new or increased taxes.

Sturtevants bill keeps that language, while Bournes bill does not. All other aspects of the two bills are the same.

Stoney would have until Jan. 1, 2019, to present a plan that would modernize all 44 of Richmonds schools, buildings that have suffered from years of deferred maintenance, or say it cant be done. Once the plan is presented, the City Council would have 90 days to take action.

The Richmond School Board last month approved a five-year facilities plan that modernizes some schools, but not all. Modernizing all schools over 20 years would cost about $800 million, according to plans presented to the school board.

Stoney has delegated the process of creating a funding plan for the first phase of a facilities plan to the Education Compact, his major education initiative thats made up of three components. The funding proposal will be presented by March 1, according to his offices action plan to address problems found in a review of city hall.

Paul Goldman, the architect of the referendum measure, said Tuesday he supports the original language, which is included in the Senate bill.

The goal remains to help these children and to fix this intolerable situation, said Goldman, a longtime Democratic strategist who recently advised Joe Morrissey in his 2016 campaign for mayor.

The Senate bill has been referred to the local government committee while the House bill has yet to be referred.
Dominion Energy is the top corporate donor in Virginia politics, and lawmakers arent going to turn away the companys campaign money anytime soon.

Just two of 14 lawmakers  Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, and Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath  supported a bill in committee on Tuesday that would end campaign donations to lawmakers from public-service corporations like Dominion.

Senate Bill 10 from Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, went down on a 12-2 vote in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.

Petersen said the bill was necessary because customers of public monopolies have no option but to do business with them.

These for-profit companies make donations to assembly members and then they come in and seek laws for their own benefit.

Petersen said addressing donations from public service corporations became more urgent after lawmakers passed a controversial 2015 law that froze the base electricity rates of Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Co. and temporarily stopped state regulators from ordering refunds to customers if those companies earned above their agreed-upon profit.

The law is resulting in an estimated $1 billion windfall for Dominion.

Petersen last year and again on Monday tried to undo the law but got little support.

One of the root causes why my legislation was not successful, why we passed these underlying bills, was money had corrupted the process, he said.

Petersen said he didnt expect his campaign finance bill to pass. But he told his fellow lawmakers that until they take the money from public service corporations out of the General Assembly, you will continue to get flawed legislation like the rate freeze.

Virginia has no limit on campaign donations from individuals or corporations. Gov. Ralph Northam campaigned on a ban on all corporate campaign contributions, but did not mention that in his inaugural address Saturday or in a policy address to the General Assembly on Monday evening.

Its a four-year term and thats something he intends to work on with the General Assembly, Northam spokesman Brian Coy said Tuesday, declining to be more specific.

Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, thanked Petersen for bringing up the issue.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, said he was voting against Petersens bill because it wasnt fair to single out public service corporations.

I cant support singling out one industry, he said.

Other senators who voted no: Reeves, Ben Chafin, R-Russell; John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake; Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg; Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach; John Edwards, D-Roanoke; Janet Howell, D-Fairfax; Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg; Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg; Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake; and Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier.
Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, isnt sure which Virginian should represent the state in the collection of statues at the U.S. Capitol, but he thinks it shouldnt be Robert E. Lee.

To that end, Levine has filled a bill to remove Virginias Lee statue from the National Statuary Hall Collection  where each state honors two of its luminaries  and set up a state commission to create a new statue to take the Confederate generals place.

Is he the second-best Virginian in all of Virginia history that we need to honor? Is he? Really? said Levine, an attorney who has served in the House since 2016.

Several lawmakers have filed bills to give localities the power to remove Confederate monuments and relocate them to museums, nullifying a state law aimed at preventing local officials from removing or altering war memorials. Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, has filed a bill to set up a state Monument Removal Fund that could accept private donations and gifts to help cover the costs of removing statues.

As Virginia localities continue to debate how to handle the hundreds of Confederate statues throughout the state in the wake of the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville last summer, Levines bill, House Bill 1099, deals with a statue under direct control of the legislature.

Its one thing if we were allowed a thousand statues in Washington, Levine said. We are allowed two.

In a chamber where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority, Levines proposal faces long odds. But he said that if Republicans believe Lee is still worth honoring, let them say so publicly.

In a speech last week marking Lee-Jackson Day, Del. Ben. Cline, R-Rockbridge, recapped the military and educational careers of Lee and Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, saying the events in Charlottesville rightfully brought new attention to the two men and the complicated times in which they lived.

But while times may change, Mr. Speaker, Cline said, greatness does not.

Asked about Levines bill, Cline said he wishes there were space for more than just two statues.

But these two are the ones that we have, Cline said. And I see no reason to remove them at all.

George Washington was the Virginia General Assemblys first pick when Congress invited each state to send statues of two of its most distinguished citizens to Washington for the national collection. Lee got the second spot, but not without controversy.

This decision was arrived not without lengthy discussion and extended comment, read a Richmond Times-Dispatch article published in 1909, the year the statues arrived at the Capitol. While the bill was under consideration some members of the Legislature expressed the fear that its passage might be the occasion of a great storm of disapproval in the North, and thereby rekindle sectional feeling.

In addition to Virginias Lee statue, eight other Confederate leaders are included in the national collection, including a bronze of Confederate President Jefferson Davis given by Mississippi in 1931.

Levines bill would establish a six-member commission made up mainly of lawmakers, historians, the director of the state Department of Historic Resources and a citizen member. Echoing the original criteria for Statuary Hall, the commission would choose a prominent Virginia citizen of historic renown or renowned for distinguished civil or military service.

Levine said he doesnt have a specific replacement in mind, but hed favor an African-American such as Oliver Hill, the Richmond civil rights attorney who fought to end segregated schools.

Last summer, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., suggested Pocahontas as a possible replacement for the Lee statue at the U.S. Capitol, saying Virginia could probably do better.

Its not clear if new Gov. Ralph Northam  who said during the campaign last year that he would advocate for the removal of Confederate statues at the state level  will support the bill.

As a matter of policy the governor is not going to comment on legislation before it hits his desk, said Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel.

The bill has not yet been referred to a committee.
Everyone in the Wren family knew that Chips was a special dog. Just how special, though, it would take a war to discover.

In 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, Americans were eager to aid the war effort. The military even asked people to donate their dogs to be trained for guard and patrol duty. More than 11,000 dogs ended up serving with the Army and Marine Corps.

Chips was one of them.

He was a rascal, recalls John Wren.

The German shepherd-collie-husky mix chased and barked at the mailman and trash collectors.

It killed my mother to part with him, says Wren, then a toddler. But Chips was strong and smart, and we knew hed be good at Army duty.

So good, in fact, that in 1943 Chips became the only animal ever awarded the Silver Star, the U.S. militarys third-highest medal for bravery in combat. He was also nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross (the second-highest award) and a Purple Heart for wounds he received while in Italy.

His story was big news back home. But some people didnt think animals should get the same medals as humans. They made a fuss, and Chips Silver Star was taken away. Johns mother reacted by telling reporters that Chips would probably like a pound of hamburger more than a medal, anyway.

Chips returned home a hero in 1945. He died the following year, but this week hes back in the news. On Monday, he was awarded the Dickin Medal, the highest honor for wartime bravery by an animal, from a group called PDSA. A very proud John Wren flew to London, England, for the big event.

Chips spent 3 1/2 years in the Army. He served in North Africa, Italy, France and elsewhere in Europe. He met President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Dwight Eisenhower (a future president). When Eisenhower tried to pet Chips, the dog nipped him, having been trained to respond only to his handler.

July 10, 1943, was Chips date with history.

An Italian machine-gun crew had U.S. forces pinned down on a beach in Sicily. Chips broke from his handler and charged the enemys hut. A shot rang out. Moments later, a soldier appeared, with Chips at his throat. Three more soldiers followed, hands in the air.

Chips had a scalp wound and burns to his mouth and left eye, but that didnt stop him. Later that day his keen sense of smell detected 10 enemy soldiers, who also were captured.

Chipss platoon leader cited him for extra heroism in action. Four months later, he was awarded the Silver Star. And even though Chips didnt get to keep it, Wren says his family always knew that their dog was a true hero.

The Dickin Medal

Chips is the 70th recipient of the PDSA Dickin Medal, which honors exceptional bravery or devotion to duty by animals during wars or other conflicts. Winners have included lots of pigeons and dogs, four horses and one cat.

PDSA refers to the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, a British charity begun in 1943 by animal welfare activist Maria Dickin.

Chips was nominated for the medal by Robin Hutton, a California writer who loves stories about brave animals. Another of her nominees, a Korean War horse named Reckless, won a Dickin Medal in 2016.

Older readers will enjoy Huttons book Sgt. Reckless: Americas War Horse. And this fall you can read more about Chips in her new book, War Animals: The Unsung Heroes of World War II.
VANCOUVER, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX:NSU) (NYSE American:NSU) ("Nevsun" or the "Company") is pleased to announce new assay results from ongoing exploration drilling targeting new high grade Upper Zone-style mineralization at the Timok copper-gold project ("Timok Project") in Serbia.

Highlights

2.93% Cu and 2.54g/t Au (4.71% Cu equivalent) over 27.0 meters starting at 396 meters in TC170189

3.10% Cu and 0.80g/t Au (3.66% Cu equivalent) over 18.0 meters starting at 569 meters in TC170182R

3.91% Cu and 1.61g/t Au (5.04% Cu equivalent) over 7.5 meters starting at 474 meters in TC170188R

Follow-up exploration electromagnetic surveying and drilling in 2018

Cu equivalent calculated as 1g/t Au = 0.7% Cu

Intersections estimated to be approximately 50-95% of true width

Drilling has intersected new high-sulphidation epithermal ("HSE" or "Upper Zone-style") copper-gold mineralization 500 meters to the east of the Upper Zone deposit at Timok. Mineralization occurs over a 250 by 250 meter area which is similar in plan size to the Timok Upper Zone. The new zone of mineralization has similar characteristics to the Upper Zone with massive, semi-massive and disseminated mineralization that is dominated by pyrite with lesser covellite and energite. Exploration drilling will continue in 2018 aided by downhole electromagnetic surveying and will focus on expansion of this new zone of mineralization.

Nevsun CEO, Peter Kukielski, commented, "The assay results reported today are part of the 2017 exploration program for new Timok Upper Zone style mineralization on the license covering the Upper and Lower Zone projects. While the quantum of this new discovery is still unknown, mineralization of a similar tenor could be processed at the Timok Upper Zone mill, further enhancing the already stellar project economics. These results demonstrate the tremendous upside potential of the Timok project area for additional new discoveries. At the Bor deposits five kilometers to the north, approximately144 million tonnes of HSE mineralization was mined from 27 separate bodies."

Detailed drill results, sections and a plan map of drill hole locations are attached to this news release. Hole TC170189 is a vertical Lower Zone hole and does not represent true width. The other reported holes, suffixed with R, are angled regional exploration holes targeting true width.

Timok Copper-Gold Project

The Timok Project is located in eastern Serbia near the Bor mining and smelting complex. The Timok Project is focussed on the Cukaru Peki ("Timok") deposit which includes the high grade Upper Zone (characterized by HSE-style massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization) and the Lower Zone (characterized by porphyry-style mineralization).

This news release is solely about new Upper Zone mineralization. Please refer to the Company's news release dated October 26, 2017 highlighting the updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Upper Zone.

Geology of the Timok Upper Zone

The HSE mineralization in the Upper Zone comprises pyrite-covellite-enargite bearing massive, semi-massive and hydrothermal breccia matrix sulphides that transition to vein and stockwork dominated sulphides at depth. Mineralization is hosted by a strongly advanced argillic altered volcanic and volcaniclastic andesite sequence. The HSE mineralization forms a single coherent zone at depths ranging from 400 to over 800 metres below surface and underlies fresh andesite and Upper Cretaceous sediments. Pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral and covellite the principal copper mineral with lesser enargite, bornite and chalcocite occurring in veins, hydrothermal breccias and disseminations. Gold correlates with the copper sulphides and occurs within the associated pyrite.

Quality Assurance

Drill core samples were collected in accordance with protocols that are compatible with accepted industry procedures and best practice. The Company conducts its own analysis of QAQC generated by the systematic inclusion of certified reference materials, blank samples and duplicate samples. The analytical results from the quality control samples have been evaluated and have been demonstrated to conform to best practice standards.

Mr. Peter Manojlovic, P.Geo., Nevsun's VP Exploration, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Manojlovic has reviewed the technical content of this press release and approved its dissemination.

About Nevsun Resources Ltd.

Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 100% owner of the high-grade copper-gold Timok Upper Zone and 60.4% owner of the Timok Lower Zone in Serbia. The Timok Lower Zone is a partnership with Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation ("Freeport"), which currently owns 39.6% and upon completion of any Feasibility Study, Nevsun Resources Ltd. will own 46% and Freeport will own 54%. Nevsun generates cash flow from its 60% owned copper-zinc Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Nevsun is well positioned with a strong debt-free balance sheet to grow shareholder value through advancing Timok to production.

Forward Looking Statements

The above contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "hopes", "intends", "estimated", "potential", "possible" and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are statements concerning the Company's current beliefs, plans and expectations about the future, including but not limited to statements and information made concerning: statements relating to the business, prospects and future activities of, and developments related to the Company, anticipated dividends, goals, strategies, future growth, planned future acquisitions and explorations activities, the adequacy of financial resources and other events or conditions that may occur in the future, and are inherently uncertain. The actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made and the Company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2016, which is available on the Company's website (www.nevsun.com), filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under cover of Form 40-F.

Nevsun Resources Ltd.



"Peter Kukielski"

Peter Kukielski

President & Chief Executive Officer

SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd.
Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Belmont Resources Inc. (TSX.V: BEA; FSE: L3L1; DTC Eligible  CUSIP 080499403); (Belmont, or the Company)

Quantec Geoscience Limited mobilizing with SPARTAN AMT/MT technology:

Quantec Geoscience Limited of Toronto, Canada has been contracted and is mobilizing to be on site at Belmonts Kibby Basin property this week to commence the SPARTAN AMT/MT survey. The data acquisition phase will be completed in approximately nine (9) days. The preliminary survey report should be received approximately two (2) weeks after completion of the field survey.

Quantecs SPARTAN AMT/MT is a full tensor magnetotelluric technology that acquires resistivity data in the 10kHz to 0.001Hz frequency band. The result is a measurement that is applicable from near-surface to potential depths of 3km or more. Quantec Geoscience Limited is a leader in deep exploration, and has completed in excess of 5000 geophysical projects in over 50 countries over the last 30 years, (including over 500 MT surveys completed worldwide).

The final 3D Inversion reports should assist in pin pointing the higher probability brine aquifer targets for the next phase of drilling.

To date Belmont has completed the following exploration programs on the Kibby Basin:

1) A NI 43-101 Technical Report completed by E.L. Buster Hunsaker III in May 2016; followed by a property Geophysical Review & Work Proposal by Wright Geophysics Inc. in June 2016. As recommended the Company then commissioned a Gravity Survey over the original Kibby 16 claims, which was completed by Magee Geophysical Services LLC of Reno, Nevada later in June 2016. The 3D Gravity model demonstrated the potential for a massive underground brine reservoir in a closed basin, with dimensions estimated at 4km2 and at least 1.5 km deep. Geothermal indicators suggest an area with locally higher heat-flow. The arid climate and a closed basin, with a dry or seasonal lake, is a key feature allowing enough time to concentrate brine.

2) Additional staking of claims as recommended following the gravity survey results;

3) Surface sampling from a nominal depth of 30 cm of the playa sediments. Some of the samples were as much as 2 times the crustal average with a high of 73.8 ppm Li.

4) Two diamond drill holes in April 2017. Hole KB-1c was drilled to a depth of 548 feet on the eastern basin-bounding fault, and Hole KB-2c was drilled to a depth of 1498 feet in the playa. Core sample assays from Hole KB-2c ranged from 70 ppm to 200 ppm Li with 13 of 25 core samples assaying over 100 ppm Li; indicating that the sediments could be a potential source of lithium for the underlying aquifers.

5) Review of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA archived satellite data (1996-2017); and archived ASTER/Landsat data, which has identified higher than normal concentrations of clay-mica-hydrous silica-ferric iron minerals in the north-central playa. ASTER has been most effective in broadly categorizing surface units that can be considered as proxy for geothermal systems.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Robert (Bob) G. Cuffney, Certified Professional Geologist, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

About Belmont Resources Inc.

Belmont is an emerging resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Canada and Nevada, U.S.A.

For further information see our Website at: www.BelmontResources.com

-Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Nevadalithium/

-Twitter https://twitter.com/Belmont_Res

Belmont has recently optioned 31 mineral claims encompassing approx. 7 sq.km; located 24 km northwest of Saint John, New Brunswick  the Mid Corner/Johnson Croft  a Zinc, Cobalt prospect.

On March 30, 2016; the Company acquired sixteen placer (16) mining claims, representing 1036 hectares (2,560 acres) in Esmeralda County, Nevada, U.S.A. The Kibby Basin property is located 65 km north of Clayton Valley, Nevada-U.S.A. The Company believes the property to be highly prospective to host lithium. Subsequent ground geophysics & gravity surveys, surface sampling and a two hole- 2046 ft. diamond drill program have confirmed the presence of lithium on Kibby.

On July 11, 2016; the Company reported it has arranged the staking of 213 x 20 acre additional placer mineral claims totaling approx. 1724 hectares ( 4,260 acres) , adjoining the Kibby 16, increasing the total Kibby Basin land position (the Property) to 2,760 hectares (6,820 acres).

In 50/50 ownership with International Montoro Resources Inc., Belmont has acquired and is exploring joint venture opportunities for its two significant uranium properties (Crackingstone -982 ha & Orbit Lake  11,109 ha) in the Uranium City District in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Vojtech Agyagos

Vojtech Agyagos,

CEO/President/Director

This Press Release may contain forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties, based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control. Forward looking statements in this news release include statements about the possible raising of capital and exploration of our properties. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Companies forward-looking statements and expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, that we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval; that we may not be able to raise funds required, that conditions to closing may not be fulfilled and we may not be able to organize and carry out an exploration program in 2017; and other risks associated with being a mineral exploration and development company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable laws, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/Belmont01172018.pdfSource: Belmont Resources Inc. (TSX Venture:BEA, FWB:L3L1)

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The American Exploration & Mining Association honored two North American mining companies at its 123rd Annual Meeting in late 2017 in Reno. Kinross Gold U.S.A., Inc. received AEMAs Environmental Excellence Award for remediation and reclamation of the Mineral Hill Mine, located adjacent to Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Klondex Mines Ltd. received the Platinum Award for Corporate Excellence in recognition of their outstanding gift to the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone and for their work with the tribe in planning a mine that is culturally respectful and responsible.

Exceptional companies like Kinross and Klondex deserve to be recognized for embodying the very best of the mining industry, said Laura Skaer, AEMA executive director. Their commitment to environmental stewardship, community and sustainable mining practices is what modern mining is all about.

Both companies are implementing state-of-the-art technology and techniques to maintain high environmental standards and are collaborating with the surrounding communities. In 2003, Kinross acquired Mineral Hill through its merger with TVX Gold. Kinross successfully reclaimed the mine through advanced technology, modern techniques and close collaborations that ensure the project is a leader in environmental stewardship. Native plants, grasses and shrubs have been re-established over the entire site, and the reclaimed areas provide habitat for wildlife. Kinross also donated water rights representing approximately 3 billion gallons of water to Trout Unlimited to protect fish habitat in the Yellowstone River and reached a conservation easement agreement with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to permanently protect a 549-acre land corridor used as an important elk migration route.

Kinross commitment to mine reclamation and environmental stewardship is demonstrated in our partnerships with Trout Unlimited and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to permanently protect fish habitat and an important elk migration route near Yellowstone National Park, said Lauren Roberts, Kinross Gold Corp.s chief operating officer. Without our employees dedication and hard work, we would not have been able to achieve such a positive outcome that will conserve wildlife habitat and benefit future generations.

On August 18, 2017, Klondex Mines Ltd. donated the Rock Creek Lands to the Western Shoshone Indians. For thousands of years, the Western Shoshone have used the Rock Creek Lands for healing ceremonies and are a great source of medicinal plants. The land package gifted by Klondex is 3,629 acres and includes rock shelters, sweat lodges, and other ceremonial sites. Klondex and the Western Shoshone have established covenants to empower the Western Shoshone in the protection of these lands to ensure there is a legacy to be used for generations to come.

This is a historic event for the Shoshone, Klondex, and many others. Something that will change the course of history and secure lands indefinitely for the Western Shoshone, said Paul Huet, Klondex president and CEO.

The AEMA Annual Meeting is the second-largest annual mining convention in the U.S. It featured 250 exhibitors, a core shack, 27 technical sessions and over 100 speakers bringing more than 1,900 people to the Reno area.
HENDERSON, Jan. 17, 2018 - U.S. Lithium Corp. : (OTC PINK:LITH) Gregory Rotelli, President of U.S. Lithium Corp. states: "I'm happy to release results of the 2017 study of our Gochager Lake Nickel-Cobalt property."A compilation and re-analyses in 2017 of all available geological, geochemical and geophysical data for the Gochager Lake Ni-Cu-Co Project area and surroundings, demonstrates that the area has excellent potential to host more Gochager Lake Ni-Cu-Co mineralization.The area surrounding the Gochager Lake Ni-Cu-Co deposit is enclosed by one of the largest lake sediment Ni, Cu, Co anomalies in the La Ronge Belt, even though the sampling program did not include a lake sediment sample from Gochager Lake.Between 1966 and 1971 a historic drill indicated reserve amounting to 4,262,400 tons grading 0.295%Ni and 0.081%Cu was calculated for the Gochager Lake deposit. A subsequent historic drill indicated reserve; the A-Zone reserve was reported to consist of 1,770,000 tons grading 0.735 Ni/Cu-equivalent. Significant Cobalt mineralization was recognized occurring with the nickel-copper mineralization but cobalt was not factored into the historic mineral reserve calculations.A schematic longitudinal and schematic cross section included in the 43-101 report illustrate a consistent distribution of nickel-copper, and it can be assumed by association, cobalt mineralization along the strike of the Gochager Lake deposit.Cobalt is at a 9-year high and U.S. Lithium intends to evaluate the Gochager Lake deposit with respect to its cobalt and nickel potential and bring this evaluation into the economics of the deposit once evaluated.Gochager Lake massive Ni-Cu-Co sulphide mineralization and the proximal (10 km ESE) MAL Lake mineralization have remarkably high nickel/copper and palladium/iridium ratios characteristic of world-class komatiite-hosted nickel deposits (Thompson Nickel Belt, Manitoba; Kambalda mining camp, Western Australia), and are unlike any other nickel deposits in the La Ronge Belt in this respect.The komatiitic composition of Gochager-type mineralization is not compatible with the host gabbro rock and silicate mineral compositions, which implies the Ni-Cu-Co sulphide mineralization was introduced into the host gabbro by a much more primitive larger komatiitic system at depth or proximal to the Gochager Lake deposit. This and the nature of the comparable MAL mineralization suggest a Tip of the Iceberg scenario for the known Gochager-style mineralization in the area.Current analyses of the available geophysical data (airborne and ground surveys) for the Gochager Lake area reveal for the first time a striking EYE shaped conductivity and lesser so magnetic pattern engulfing the deposit. This phenomenon is similar to the EYE like geophysical patterns associated with the recent discovery of the Nova-Bollinger nickel mining camp in the Fraser Range, Australia where the EYE feature identifies new high priority targets in which conductive Ni-Cu bodies lie within the EYE feature.

U.S. Lithium is planning a 2018 spring work program and to re-interpret the Gochager Lake dataset for new drill targets. Once further detailed analyses and 3D modeling are complete, U.S. Lithium will proceed with a drill program to further upgrade the past reserves and include cobalt assays and reserves in its new model moving forward towards future production at the Gochager Lake site.



The Gochager Lake property is favorably located only 21 km west of the hamlet of Missinipe off provincial highway 102. A historic winter drill road (currently not navigable) joins the old drill camp at the north end of Gochager Lake to provincial highway 102 just north of the Otter Lake bridge. Major infrastructure can be found in the town of La Ronge, Saskatchewan, 75 km from the Gochager Lake deposit.



Favorable mining jurisdiction - the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2016, rates 104 jurisdictions; Saskatchewan ranks as the top jurisdiction in the world. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/





About U.S. Lithium Corporation



U.S. Lithium Corp. is an exploration and development company focused in North America on lithium and related resources for the rapidly growing energy storage industry. The Company looks to capitalize on opportunities that can provide critical raw materials to the ever-expanding next generation battery market. Lithium demand is projected to triple by the year 2025 according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs and for many analysts is considered the new gasoline of the future. Cobalt and nickel are other key elements with strong demand growth profiles associated with the projected five to six-fold increase in battery demand over the next ten years. U.S. Lithium Corp. intends to be an integral part of this next booming industry. Our current focus is in the Basin and Range province of Nevada and the mining friendly jurisdiction of Saskatchewan, Canada. Elon, our first project, is located in Clayton Valley and is in close proximity to Albermarle's Silver Peak Project, the only producing lithium brine mine in North America. The Company's recently acquired Gochager Lake project, located in a very prospective area for Ni-Co-Cu deposits in Saskatchewan, has a comprehensive historical database with several previously defined anomalies.





Forward-looking Statements: Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of technology programs; competition from other companies; and the Company's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its activities. Please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive list of risk factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.







Contact Information:



Gregory Rotelli

ir@uslithiumcorp.com


Vancouver Resource Investment Conference to be held in Vancouver, BC. Exhibiting in Booth #1025, January 21-22, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.





AME Roundup 2018 to be held in Vancouver, BC. January 22-25, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.





TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 - Revival Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RVG) ("Revival" or, the "Company"), a growth-focused gold exploration and development company, announces that the Company will be participating in the following investor conferences this month:

If you are interested in scheduling a meeting at any of the above conferences, please contact Andrea Totino, Investor Relations Manager at info@revival-gold.com. Corporate presentation and fact sheet information materials are available on the Company's website at www.revival-gold.com.

About Revival Gold Inc.

Revival Gold Inc. is a growth-focused gold exploration and development company. The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in Meridian Beartrack Co., owner of the Beartrack Gold Project located in Lemhi County, Idaho. Revival also owns rights to a 100% interest in the neighbouring Arnett Creek Gold Project.

In addition to its interests in Beartrack and Arnett Creek, the Company is pursuing other gold exploration and development opportunities and holds a 51% interest in the Diamond Mountain Phosphate Project located in Uintah County, Utah.

Additional disclosure of the Company's financial statements, technical reports, material change reports, news releases and other information can be obtained at www.revival-gold.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please visit www.revival-gold.com.

Cautionary Statement

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.







Contact



Andrea Totino, Investor Relations Manager

(416) 366-4100

info@revival-gold.com

www.revival-gold.com


Sherritt International Corp. (Sherritt) (TSX:S):

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Sherritt International Corp. (Sherritt) (TSX:S) today announced the pricing and increase in size of its previously announced unit offering of $100 million to $115 million. The offering will be comprised of 82,143,000 units (the Units) issued at a price of $1.40 per Unit, for gross proceeds of approximately $115,000,000. Each Unit shall consist of one Sheritt common share (a Common Share) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant linked to the price of cobalt (each full warrant, a Cobalt-Linked Warrant). Each full Cobalt-Linked Warrant will be exercisable at an exercise price of $1.95 for a period of 36 months following the closing of the Offering.

A total of 82,143,000 Common Shares and 41,071,500 Cobalt-Linked Warrants shall be issued in connection with the Offering. In addition, the Agents have been granted an over-allotment option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time until the date that is 30 days after the initial closing of the Offering, to offer for sale up to an additional 12,321,400 Units. Assuming the completion of the Offering in full and the exercise in full of the over-allotment, the total gross proceeds of the offering will be approximately $132,000,000.

The Company has entered into an agency agreement with Paradigm Capital, Eight Capital and National Bank Financial, who are acting as co-lead agents and joint-bookrunners on behalf of a syndicate that includes TD Securities (collectively, the Agents).

Each Cobalt-Linked Warrant will be exercisable to acquire between 1.00 and 1.25 Common Shares of Sherritt, determined based on the Applicable Cobalt Reference Price (as defined below). The Units have been structured to provide investors with increased leverage to upwards movement in the price of cobalt.

Each Cobalt-Linked Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire that number of Common Shares that is equal to the Common Shares per Warrant Ratio (as set out in the table below). The initial Common Shares per Warrant Ratio will be one share to one warrant based on an initial Applicable Reference Cobalt Price of US$34.99 per pound or lower.

The Common Shares per Warrant Ratio will be determined and published monthly based on the Applicable Reference Cobalt Price per Pound in accordance with the following table:

Applicable Reference Cobalt Price per Pound Common Shares per Warrant Ratio US$34.99 or lower US$35.00  US$39.99 US$40.00  US$44.99 US$45.00  US$49.99 US$50.00  US$54.99 US$55.00 and higher 1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25

The Applicable Cobalt Reference Price per Pound will be calculated and published by Sherritt monthly, based on a rolling average of the prior three months cobalt price using the midpoint of the Metal Bulletin High Price and the Metal Bulletin Low Price1, expressed in US dollars per pound, for each month in such three-month period.

The net proceeds of the Offering shall be used to reduce Sherritts outstanding indebtedness, for general corporate purposes and to fund future growth initiatives. Sherritt intends to use up to $75 million of the proceeds of the Offering and its existing cash balance to repurchase a portion of one or more of its senior unsecured debentures (the Debentures). The Debentures will be repurchased under the terms of a modified Dutch auction tender offer (the Tender Offer). For further details of the Tender Offer, investors are advised to consult Sherritts press release dated January 16, 2018, entitled Sherritt Announces Dutch Auction to Purchase up to $75 Million of Outstanding Debentures.

The Offering is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the receipt of all necessary regulatory and TSX approvals. The Offering is expected to close on January 25, 2018.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or to U.S. Persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of Sherritts securities to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.

About Sherritt

Sherritt is a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores with projects and operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar. The Corporation is the largest independent energy producer in Cuba, with extensive oil and power operations across the island. Sherritt licenses its proprietary technologies and provides metallurgical services to mining and refining operations worldwide. The Corporations common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol S.

www.sherritt.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of statements that include such words as believe, expect, anticipate, intend, plan, forecast, likely, may, will, could, should, suspect, outlook, projected, continue or other similar words or phrases. Specifically, forward-looking statements in this document include, but are not limited to, statements set out in this press release relating to estimated costs and future funding requirements.

Forward-looking statements are not based on historic facts, but rather on current expectations, assumptions and projections about future events, including matters relating to the transaction disclosed herein; availability of governmental, regulatory and third party approvals; and the ability to achieve corporate objectives, goals and plans for 2018. By their nature, forward-looking statements require the Corporation to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. There is significant risk that predictions, forecasts, conclusions or projections will not prove to be accurate, that those assumptions may not be correct and that actual results may differ materially from such predictions, forecasts, conclusions or projections.

The Corporation cautions readers of this press release not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement as a number of factors could cause actual future results, conditions, actions or events to differ materially from the targets, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to the risks and uncertainties set out in the Managements Discussion & Analysis of the Corporation for the period ending September 30, 2017 and the Corporations Annual Information Form dated March 28, 2017, each of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive and should be considered in conjunction with the risk factors described in this press release and in the Corporations other documents filed with the Canadian securities authorities.

The Corporation may, from time to time, make oral forward-looking statements. The Corporation advises that the above paragraph and the risk factors described in this press release and in the Corporations other documents filed with the Canadian securities authorities should be read for a description of certain factors that could cause the actual results of the Corporation to differ materially from those in the oral forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any oral or written forward-looking information or statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information and statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

1 The Metal Bulletin High Price means the Cobalt low grade Metal Bulletin free market US$/lb in warehouse monthly average high; the Metal Bulletin Low Price means the Cobalt low grade Metal Bulletin free market US$/lb in warehouse monthly average low.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006160/en/

Contact

Sherritt International Corp.

Joe Racanelli, 416-935-2457

Director of Investor Relations

Toll-Free: 1-800-704-6698

investor@sherritt.com
TSX-V: AU

ST. JOHN'S, Jan. 17, 2018 /CNW/ - Aurion Resources Ltd. ("Aurion") (TSX VENTURE: "AU") reports that it completed a maiden 4380 m (21 drillholes) diamond drill program during Sept - December, 2017 at the Aamurusko gold prospect on its 100% owned Risti Project in Northern Finland.

Summary

The primary objective of the maiden drill program was to identify structure(s) that could be the source of the 1.4 km long by 2.5 km wide Aamurusko boulder trend which comprises a total of 717 large and angular quartz vein blocks assaying from nil to 2520 grams per tonne (g/t) Au and averaging 32.97 g/t Au.

The drilling to date has identified a significant structure(s) hosting at least two separate zones of multiple mineralized quartz vein, stockwork and breccia zones in the northern end of the Aamurusko gold trend over a strike length of 1.0 km. These targets, approximately 600 m apart, are blind and concealed under cover but remain open. Individual quartz zones up to 20 m wide (downhole thickness) were intersected with individual veins up to 6.3 m in width. True widths are unknown at this time.

The quartz veins and vein stockwork zones are variably mineralized with trace to 3% pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, arsenopyrite and rare visible gold. The highest assay result to date is 10.1 g/t Au over 1.0 m with numerous zones of anomalous gold values throughout a considerable number of the drillholes.

Table 1: Summary of drill highlights

Hole ID From To Width (m) Au (g/t) AM170013 200.65 202.3 1.65 4.5 incl 201.10 201.65 0.5 7.2 And 204.55 205.1 0.55 8.8 AM170015 230.0 233.0 3.0 3.9 incl 231.0 232.0 1.0 10.1 AM170020 211.0 212.0 1.0 4.9 AM170021 178.5 179.0 0.5 6.8

The first drillhole of the program to intersect significant veining and/or mineralization was AM17013. All subsequent drillholes (AM17014 - AM17021) also encountered zones of quartz veining and stockworking.

It is Aurion's belief that these structures represent the source of much of the quartz within the Aamurusko trend but it has not yet discovered the source of the high grade boulders within these structures.

Drilling is ongoing with one drill rig further testing these significant mineralized structures as well as other targets.

The drilling results to date are further discussed below and maps can be found on our website https://aurionresources.com/site/assets/files/1238/newsrelease011717figures.pdf.

Northwest Valley Target

At the northernmost portion of the Aamurusko trend three drillholes AM17013 to 015 were drilled to depths ranging from 259.8 m to 443.3 m. These holes were designed to test a coincidence of large angular high grade boulders along a NW-SE trending slope break interpreted to be a major structure concealed under cover.

Hole AM17013 drilled at an azimuth of 070 at -45 degree dip to 443.3 m depth intersected multiple quartz vein, stockwork and breccia zones from 94.6 m to a depth of 391.0 m with individual zones up to 13.7 m wide. The most significant zone was from 192.0 to 205.7 m depth where the best assays included 4.5 g/t Au over 1.65 m and 8.8 g/t Au over 0.65 m.

Drillhole AM17014 was drilled from the same setup and azimuth as AM17013 at a dip of -55 degrees. It also intersected numerous wide zones of anomalous quartz veining. The best result of 2.2 g/t Au over 0.5 m came from within a 7.9 m wide quartz vein stockwork zone at a depth of 198.2 to 206.1 m.

Drillhole AM17015 was a 50 m step out to the southeast drilled to a depth of 259.8 m at a 70 azimuth and -45 degree dip. It also intersected numerous wide zones of quartz veining up to 7 m wide with sporadic anomalous gold values. The best result was a 3.0 m wide quartz zone which assayed 3.9 g/t Au over 3 m including 10.1 g/t Au over 1.0 m, at a depth of 230 m to 233 m.

A fence of drillholes AM17008 to 012 were drilled across the valley approximately 150 m south of the slope break but did not encounter significant mineralization.

The mineralization in drillholes AM17013 to AM17015 is hosted by a shallowly northeast dipping gabbro intrusion (sill?) between polymictic conglomerate and a sequence of quartzite and quartz pebble conglomerate. The Northwest Valley area auriferous mineralization remains open and is a prime target for Phase 2 drilling.

Southwest Slope Break Target

Six drillholes (AM17016 to 021) spaced 50 to 100 m apart were completed over a strike length of approximately 260 m approximately 600 m southeast of the Northwest Valley Target and immediately north of the main Aamurusko boulder trend

All holes intersected a concealed major structural zone hosting multiple quartz vein, stockwork and breccia zones along an east west slope break. All holes were drilled at an azimuth of 360 degrees (south to north) at a dip of -45 to -55. The best results were 4.9 g/t Au over 1.0 m and 6.8 g/t Au over 0.5 m.

The mineralization here is predominantly hosted by quartzites and quartz pebble conglomerates of the Kumpu Group in contact with a gabbro intrusion/sill which lies along the unconformable contact between the Kumpu Group and the Sodankyla Group mafic and ultramafic volcanics. The Southwest Slope Break mineralization is one of Aurion's prime targets.

Big Blocks Target

The first 5 drillholes AM17001 to 005 were drilled under a cluster of large, aligned high grade quartz blocks at the north end of the Aamurusko trend. Holes AM17006 and 007 were drilled to the west-northwest testing for up-ice sources of the big blocks. No significant quartz veining or mineralization was intersected.

Discussion

Aurion is very encouraged by these drilling results to date, especially since Aamurusko is a blind target. Wide zones of quartz veining have been encountered in two separate zones 600 m apart. Additional drilling is planned at both prime targets and multiple other targets remain to be tested, including the gap between the two main zones. The area in the gap may represent a major inflection of the east-west structure. In structurally controlled gold systems an inflection or "jog" in a major structure is often a major zone of faulting and fracturing and a very favourable site for location of mineralization. Phase 2 drilling will test this gap.

Multiple quartz vein orientations (and likely multiple generations) have been recorded in the drilling and this is typical of most structurally complex orogenic gold systems. However, the majority of the intersected quartz does not appear to represent what is observed in the high grade boulders and particularly lacking is a certain indicative texture ("crack-seal"). Only a few veins with crack and seal textures were intersected in the drilling. It is likely that the drilling to date has not yet drilled in an optimal orientation to intersect mineralized quartz vein structure(s) that are the source of the high grade boulders with crack and seal textures. Phase 2 will drill test these targets from other orientations aiming to identify other blind mineralized structures.

Summary

The Risti Property comprises an area of approximately 15,000 ha and covers approximately 30 km of interpreted regional unconformities defined by the contact between the Kumpu Group conglomerates and the older mafic and ultramafic volcanics, of the Sodankyla and Savukoski Groups adjacent to the Sirkka Shear Zone, a major regional fault/deformation zone in the CLGB. The setting of the Aamurusko gold mineralization is analogous to the setting of many of the world class gold deposits in the Timmins camp of the Abitibi province of Northern Ontario. More than 72.5 million ounces of gold in several deposits in the Timmins camp are hosted by polymictic conglomerates and mafic volcanics proximal to major unconformities adjacent to the regional Porcupine-Destor fault/deformation zone.

Aurion controls approximately 200,000 ha of mineral tenements within the Paleoproterozoic, Central Lapland Greenstone Belt ("CLGB"). The primary focus is on this highly prospective previously unrecognized target concept within the CLGB, of which Aurion controls approximately 70 km along the Sirkka Shear Zone.

Since the discovery of the Aamurusko prospect in late 2016, Aurion has consolidated a commanding land position in the belt, completed three financings (including a $16 million financing with Kinross) with no warrants and completed a maiden drill program at Aamurusko. Additionally it has made multiple new high grade surface discoveries across the Risti project including the Notches and K2 (See Sept 14, 2017 press release) in the past year. A total of 2757 rock samples assaying an average of 10.1 g/t Au have been collected across the Risti project. Aurion has a strong balance sheet with approximately $20 million in cash, and is well positioned to continue drill testing Aamurusko, refining and testing other drill targets at Risti and for advancing other projects in its portfolio.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

All saw-cut core and rock samples were delivered to ALS Minerals preparation facility in Sodankyla, Finland where sample preparation work was completed. All analytical work was completed at ALS Minerals facility in Loughrea, Ireland. ALS Minerals is an internationally accredited lab and are ISO compliant (ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 17025:2005). All samples were analyzed for gold using the Au-AA24 procedure (50g fire assay with AAS finish: Detection Limit 0.005 g/t gold; Upper Limit  10g/t gold). Any samples that returned overlimit values (>10.0g/t gold) were automatically analyzed by gravimetric analysis, Au-GRA22 (50g gravimetric analysis: Detection Limit 0.05g/t gold: Upper Limit 1,000g/t gold). Any samples containing visible gold were analyzed by Au-SCR24 1kg, Screen Fire Assay Au (0.05-1,000ppm) by 1kg screen fire assay (50g nominal sample weight). The sample pulp (1kg) is passed through a 150 micron stainless steel screen. Any material remaining on the screen (>150 micron) is retained and analyzed in its entirety by fire assay with gravimetric finish and reported as the Au (+) fraction. The material passing through the screen (<150 micron) is homogenized and two sub-samples are analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish. The average of the two AAS results is taken and reported as the Au (-) fraction result. All three values are used in calculating the combined gold content of the plus and minus fractions. The gold values for both the (+) 150 and (-) 150 micron fractions are reported together with the weight of each fraction as well as the calculated total gold content of the sample.) Multi-element analysis (ME-ICP61, four-acid digestion, 35 element ICP-AES) was completed on all samples. Standards, duplicates and blanks are part of Aurion's QA/QC protocols with certified standards being inserted every 20 samples. ALS has its own QA/QC protocol using standards, blanks and duplicates.

Qualified Person

Mike Basha, P.Eng., P.Geo., Aurion's President and CEO, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has approved the technical disclosure and verified the technical information in this news release.

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Companies' current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Aurion is not obligated to update or revise any forward?looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward?looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward?looking information contained herein.

On behalf of the Board,

Mike Basha,

President & CEO

For further information on these projects please visit our website at www.aurionresources.com .

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Aurion Resources Ltd.
Imagine four Boeing 727s loaded with passengers crashing every week for a year. Imagine how you would react. This is America's opioid epidemic, with more than 42,000 deaths in 2016.As policymakers grapple with this crisis in our national and state capitols, its human toll is playing out on the streets and in the neighborhoods of our communities. And it's just one of numerous challenges, including others for which lives are at stake, faced by our cities, towns and counties. What if you could create a vision for your community, where you could bring the right public and private experts and resources around the table to build a solution that ultimately saves lives? Our greatest challenges are going to be solved by multi-sector collaborations, and I believe elected officials will be leading that effort.What can you do to prepare for this new era of public-private interdependence? It means something different to the business community than it does to government or to nonprofits.Sally Blount, the dean of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, believes that whether a business is selling to, partnering with or being regulated by government, understanding the public sector is essential to success in the global marketplace. As Blount wrote, that success "demands understanding the interdependencies that bind the public and private sectors and cultivating leaders who can manage and partner across these sectors."And it works both ways. Sometimes in government there is the idea that a contractor is nothing more than someone trying to get money out of the taxpayer's wallet. If that's the mindset government brings to this collaboration, it's already failed. These multi-sector collaborations need governments that can understand the incentives, motivations, structures and challenges the private sector faces.Every sector -- public, private, nonprofit, faith-based -- has its strengths and weaknesses, and no one sector can do it alone. As Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers put it in their book, "We can't solve complex horizontal problems with vertical solutions."In some places, these public-private interdependencies are already addressing the opioid epidemic. The Ocean County, N.J., prosecutor's office is a perfect example. Realizing that we can't arrest and prosecute our way out of the opioid crisis, the office reaches out to local hospitals when there is an overdose, creating an intervention program with a local nonprofit to get the addict on a path to recovery. As a former prosecutor, I know cases are often simply prosecuted and disposed of. But this public-private partnership -- encompassing a prosecutor's office, private hospitals and a nonprofit -- is tackling this opioid epidemic in an entirely different way, changing the norm and finding solutions through multi-sector collaboration.Collaboration also can take the form of supporting and leveraging community resources that already are trying to deal with local challenges. Walgreens has hundreds of drop boxes where not just opioids but any kind of prescription or non-prescription drug can be taken out of the marketplace. CVS has pharmacists who are out educating youth about the dangers of opioids. Government can support efforts like these with public policy, creating collaborations to solve complex issues.I think the most important part of building these partnerships is to get the right people on the bus. This idea, from business consultant Jim Collins' book, is that, early on, leadership needs to get the right people in the right seats before leaders began to drive the strategy. Collins calls this concept "first who, then what."Elected officials are in the natural position to build these teams. When getting the right people on the bus, elected officials play three primary roles, as adapted from research by the Brookings Institution: convener, champion and catalyst. These leaders not only bring the right members into the group but also create the vision and build trust to facilitate solutions.These collaborations are already forming to solve complex problems, and we need more of them. I spoke about this topic at the National Association of Counties' annual conference last summer, and while talking with county leaders it became even more evident to me that our greatest challenges cannot be tackled by one sector alone. It is going to require a new era of public-private interdependence.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approved 11 state ESSA plans on Tuesday: Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.Here are some highlights of each plan, as submitted for approval:Arkansas: The state proposed to assign schools letter grade on an A through F scale in the ESSA plan it submitted to the department. In its feedback to the state, the department told Arkansas it needed to do a better job of explaining its indicator of school quality or student success.Maryland: Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, refused to sign the state's plan because he felt it wasn't strong on enough on accountablity. Hogan's allies warned that the department might not approve the plan. State law prohibits Maryland's education department from taking certain dramatic steps to turnaround low-performing schools. The state is planning to use chronic absenteeism, school climate, and access to a well-rounded curriculum as its school quality indicators.Missouri: The state is planning to use attendance as its indicator of school quality or student success. In its feedback letter from the department, Missouri was dinged for its plans to identify and help districts fix struggling schools.
State and local governments rely on nonprofits to deliver most social services, from housing to substance abuse treatment to early childhood education. Now those nonprofits, and their government partners, are concerned that the new tax law passed in December could indirectly slash their funding.Nonprofit organizations are an essential part of the health and human services system in this country, says Candy Hill, a senior director at the American Public Human Services Association. Anything that weakens their capacity to be a full partner with government has the potential to weaken the entire system.In 2010, government agencies had about 200,000 contracts or grants with about 33,000 human service nonprofits across the country. For nonprofits at large, government contracts and grants represent about a third of all funding, the second largest revenue source after fees for service. Charitable giving is the next biggest source, representing 12 percent of nonprofits' funding.One of the reasons people give to nonprofits is for the tax benefits. But in order to cash in on the incentives for charitable giving, people have to itemize their deductions instead of claiming the standard deduction. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, however, doubles the standard deduction, making it a more attractive option for middle-income households. The number of households claiming the charitable deduction is expected to shrink from 37 million to 16 million in 2018.The result, according to the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, could be a $13.1 billion drop in annual charitable givingin 2018.Nonprofits that work in human services are likely to experience bigger impacts from the reduction than others, says David Thompson, a vice president at the National Council of Nonprofits.Not-for-profit colleges and hospitals are probably going to be fine because they tend to have development offices and tend to have big donors, he says. Its the front-line human services groups. They rely on donations in the community and those are the ones that are probably going to dry up.Some GOP leaders dispute the predicted drop in giving because they believe the tax cuts will create jobs, put more money in people's pockets and allow people to support nonprofits more, not less."At the end of the day, track the last half century, track charitable giving, theres one thing that drives it -- a stronger economy," said House Ways and Means Commitee Chairman Kevin Brady at an event in November. When the economy is pumping, charitable giving dramatically increases. When it goes down, we see the exact same effect as well."Some research, however, debunks that argument."Back in the 1970s, when the top rate of federal income tax was 70%, wealthier Americans (people with incomes of over $500,000 in 2007 dollars) gave around twice as much of their money to charity than they did in 2007, when the top rate had fallen to 35%," reports The Wall Street Journal. In light of the new law, Thompson hopes state legislatures consider enacting policies that encourage charitable giving. Michigan, for example, used to offer tax credits for donating to food banks, homeless shelters and certain other nonprofits. The state eliminated those credits in 2011, but the tax deal in Congress may create an opportunity to revisit them.Last week, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced that he wants to avoid the higher personal income taxes that would otherwise hit residents as a result of the tax deal. If the legislature is looking at ways to provide some financial relief to residents, Thompson says, why dont you put back those tax credits?State advocacy is going to be critical this year, says Marlo Nash, a vice president at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, a national organization that represents private nonprofits in the human services sector. While nonprofits would love to see new state tax incentives to promote charitable giving, theyre also trying to avoid state actions that -- despite being well-meaning -- could inadvertently compound the negative impacts of Congress tax deal.For instance, California Senate leader Kevin de Leon introduced legislation in January that would let residents donate to anewly created state fund and deduct the amount from federal taxes. The proposal does not specifiy how the state would use money in the fund but notes that 17 states use a similar model to provide financial support to private education. Some towns in New Jersey are exploring a similar scheme. (The proposals are a workaround for a new provision that reduces how much people can deduct in federal taxes for paying state and local taxes.)Some nonprofits, however, worry that those new government funds would become new competition for donations.You might be directing funds away from charitable organizations in the state, says Jamie Tucker, a director at Independent Sector, a national coalition of individuals, nonprofits and corporations engaged in charity.This year, Independent Sector is pushing Congress to consider a universal charitable tax deduction, which would allow people to itemize deductions for donations beyond what they take in the standard deduction. Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate sponsored bills last fall that would have created a universal deduction, but it didnt end up in the final tax deal.We had a very short window, but we did have a lot of support for the concept, Tucker says. We do believe we will be able to show reductions in giving over time to help make that case.Nonprofits will also have to adjust their fundraising strategy and messaging for donors. Thompson says they will likely try to build closer relationships with wealthier donors who are still better off itemizing large charitable gifts than taking the standard deduction. And instead of playing up the tax breaks, they may focus more on the social return on investment.Even before the tax deal, some nonprofits sought to increase engagement among small donors, particularly millennials, who give to make an impact."For most people, the tax policy is rarely the main reason they give," says Steve Taylor, a senior vice president at United Way Worldwide. "Charities have to show their value to donors far beyond the tax incentive."But the tax changes certainly make fundraisers' jobs more challenging, says Lee Sherman, president and CEO at the National Human Services Assembly, a national organization representing nonprofits: When we think about it on the broad scale, across the nation, even taking down a few percentage points of the total giving is a lot of money."
A judge has ordered Illinois officials to add intractable pain as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana, a ruling that could greatly expand access to the drug.The Illinois Department of Public Health had rejected intractable pain -- defined as pain that's resistant to treatment -- but Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell ordered the agency to add the condition.A health department spokeswoman said Tuesday the agency will appeal the ruling. The change is expected to be put on hold while the appeal is pursued.Ann Mednick, whose lawsuit resulted in the ruling, said she has taken opioid pills to cope with extreme pain caused by osteoarthritis but wants a treatment with fewer side effects that would allow her to be more functional. Rheumatoid arthritis is on the list of about 40 qualifying conditions for medical marijuana, but osteoarthritis is not, nor is general or chronic pain."Illinois is years behind the times," the Rolling Meadows woman said. "The state needs to get (it) together."Mednick had previously petitioned the state to put intractable pain on the marijuana treatment access list, and the now-defunct Illinois Medical Cannabis Advisory Board agreed it should be on the list, voting 10-0 to recommend adding the condition.But the health department's director, Dr. Nirav Shah, denied the recommendation in January 2016, citing a "lack of high-quality data" from clinical trials to establish that the benefits outweighed the risks.Mednick challenged the denial in court, and Shah agreed to review his decision. But last March, the director again rejected the petition.The judge in his Friday ruling found that Shah's decision was "clearly erroneous," noting that the director said the condition was not listed in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, or ICD, by the World Health Organization, and was not recognized as a unique medical condition.But the advisory board cited ICD codes that did recognize the condition as a form of chronic pain, the judge wrote in his opinion.The request to add intractable pain cited papers by two medical journals that together reviewed 45 clinical studies of marijuana to treat chronic pain."The record shows that individuals with intractable pain would benefit from the medical use of cannabis," the judge wrote, adding that the studies found that adverse effects generally were not serious and were well-tolerated.The director's decision misstates the advisory board's analysis and "contorts" the record to minimize the evidence supporting the petition, the judge wrote.The judge ordered Shah to add the condition to the list of 40 or so qualifying medical conditions but did not specify when the director must do so.The health department spokeswoman declined comment other than to say the ruling will be appealed.Pain accounts for the majority of medical marijuana patients in states that allow it as a qualifying condition.The possibility that marijuana could be a viable substitute for highly addictive opioid painkillers has also prompted a proposed change in Illinois law: State Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, has submitted a bill that would allow medical marijuana to be given for any medical condition in place of prescription painkillers. He expects action on the proposal in the spring legislative session, scheduled to start Jan. 30.
Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday flipped a state Senate seat in a GOP-leaning district, prompting excitement among local party officials.Patty Schachtner (D) defeated state Rep. Adam Jarchow (R) in a special election to replace a senator who left for a job in Gov. Scott Walkers (R) administration, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.Schachtner, the chief medical examiner in Wisconsins St. Croix County, won in the states 10th Senate district, which voted heavily for President Trump and Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the past two presidential elections.Despite Schachtners win, Democrats remain in the minority in the state senate, according to the Journal Sentinal.Schachtners victory in the western Wisconsin district drew attention from U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, who suggested Tuesday nights result was a sign of things to come.
Assembly representatives will have to take mandatory sexual harassment training under a measure passed by lawmakers Tuesday.Assembly Resolution 22 was approved unanimously Tuesday and takes immediate effect. The action comes amid growing concerns about sexual misconduct in the fields of politics and business and would require training for lawmakers and their staff in the Assembly at the start of each two-year legislative session.Tuesday's sexual harassment proposal follows disclosures that there have been at least four sexual harassment complaints in the Legislature over the past decades -- two in the Senate and two more in the Assembly. In one case, taxpayers shelled out $75,000 to resolve a sexual harassment and racial discrimination claim made by an aide to then-state senator and now City of Milwaukee Treasurer Spencer Coggs.The Senate and Assembly have declined to release information about the other three complaints and internal investigations, saying they are withholding it to protect victims' privacy.That includes the investigation into former Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer, a Republican who in 2014 was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree sexual assault.Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) said Tuesday that she's still working on a policy that would provide transparency for the public without harming victims."In my opinion, you have to disclose and you have to protect victims and there's a way to do it," Taylor said.In addition, two unnamed women recently accused state Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee) of drunkenly kissing them without their consent in 2011 and 2015.On a voice vote Tuesday, the Assembly also approved Assembly Bill 653, which would require mammogram providers to tell women if they have what is known as "dense tissue" in their breasts. The breasts of these women have more connective and fibrous tissue, which can make it harder for mammograms to detect cancerous tumors.The proposal requires providers to give women a notice explaining that they can talk with their doctor about what the condition means and whether they need additional cancer screening.Rep. Mike Rohrkaste (R-Neenah) said nearly 4 in 10 women are believed to have dense breast tissue."The goal is to really increase the woman's awareness of this issue and discuss it with her doctor," Rohrkaste said.Lawmakers delayed a vote on Assembly Bill 603, which would make it a misdemeanor to impersonate another person on social media to defraud or harass another person. This practice is sometimes known as "catfishing" and under the bill it could come with a fine of up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail.
The state of Florida, believed to have been one of just two states without a central geographic information system (GIS) coordinating authority, hired its first-ever geographic information officer (GIO) late last year and has planned an ambitious first year under her enterprise-level leadership. Ekaterina Fitos , who worked most recently in the private sector but has more than a decade of state-level public-sector experience, joined the Agency for State Technology (AST) on Dec. 27. AST Spokeswoman Erin Choy said the hope is that the agency will be ready to publish a statewide GIS strategy near the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, June 30.Basically Ive been tasked with a number of items. The first and foremost thing is to look at developing a GIS strategy for the state of Florida; chairing the enterprise GIS working group, developing data standards and basically addressing and identifying general GIS needs for the agencies, Fitos toldThe working group includes representatives from more than a dozen state agencies, including its division of emergency management and department of transportation. Among its accomplishments so far, Choy said the group compiled a business case for the reasons why the state of Florida should have an enterprise GIO.Were really excited to have Ekaterina on, and to start to develop that statewide strategy moving forward, Choy said.Fitos position was one of four, including the chief data officer post, funded by Gov. Rick Scott in his 2018-2019 state budget proposal . Among her duties, Floridas new chief data officer, Nancy Sampson , is creating an enterprise-level data inventory with the goal of having it, too, ready by June 30.Fitos, whose work in areas of state GIS spans a decade, said her previous experience has shown her the value of data, and of collaboration.Her first state-level GIS work came 17 years ago, when from 2001-2005 she was a biological scientist and GIS analyst at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Fitos said the experience gave her a unique perspective as she focused mainly on environmental restoration but became familiar with its other data streams and areas of coverage.More recently, from 2005 to 2011, Fitos served as a GIS analyst for the Southwest Florida Water Management District, a posting she said expanded her skill set in areas of lidar, aerial mapping and photography. Lidar, or light detection and ranging, uses a pulsed laser to measure environments with increased accuracy.I just want to stress that I want to forge really positive and productive relationships, so that we can develop an over-arching strategy that works for the state of Florida and successfully implement it, Fitos said.I think in order to do that, you really need to have the buy-in from all these stakeholders and get the right people involved. But Im positive that we have a really good foundation  and I think people share my passion and my excitement for this position, she added.She is also a past president of the Florida Region ASPRS, the Imaging & Geospatial Information Society; and immediately prior to being named GIO, she was a senior GIS specialist at engineering company CH2M in Tampa, Fla.Florida agencies have utilized GIS for years, including projects from the departments of Revenue and Emergency Management, which began using lidar to map statewide in 2007.Instituting enterprise-level oversight could drive operational and financial efficiencies, Fitos said, as agencies reduce storage needs by eliminating duplicative data streams and individual licensing agreements are forged.Im hoping that awareness, education, things like that will come out of this also. In addition to the cost savings and more open data sharing and standards  that will hopefully come out of this, Fitos said.Improving official access to recent statewide data could also benefit Floridians, some of whom frequently find themselves in the path of hurricanes.What were hoping is, is to make sure the data is readily and easily accessible  in a consistent manner, so its easily shareable between agencies in the event that there is a need, Fitos said.
(TNS)  Puerto Rico has struggled since it was devastated in September 2017 by Hurricane Maria, but a small Midland company is looking to make a big impact in the territorys recovery.Among Texas Energy Raters services is using a drone-mounted thermal camera to inspect roofs for water leaks and damage. Texas Energy Raters will take its equipment to Puerto Rico in the coming weeks to inspect factories.They had a national disaster and are trying to build back, owner Peter Walper told the Reporter-Telegram recently. A lot of the large buildings have sustained roof damage. Weve been hired to fly over several roofs and see how badly theyre damaged and what kind of repairs need to be made.Texas Energy Raters was hired after speaking up and offering to help. An employee mentioned in an off-hand comment during a training session the company would consider working in Puerto Rico. Not too long after, the Midland business got the call.Were members of a national infrared group called United Infrared, Walper said. They have contracts with larger companies; if they get a job, theyll call us and ask if we can fly it. Were part of the National Roofing Partnership, also, which gives us a foot in the door.At a minimum, Texas Energy Raters will inspect three factories over the course of a week; however, Walper said the company will check as many roofs as needed  theres just one problem: We have found its a logistics nightmare.Road accessibility and other issues could hinder the number of roofs Texas Energy Raters can inspect. To be honest, I have no idea what Puerto Rico looks like. Were flying by the seat of our pants, Walper said.Plus, precipitation is an issue. Walper said Puerto Rico has seen rainy weather recently, which inhibits accurate water damage assessments and has caused delays in departing Midland for the Caribbean island territory.Still, Walper isnt dismayed.Heres an area thats been demolished because of a natural disaster, and everyone is pulling together to rebuild it, he said. If we can go down there, fly the drone and do what we do so they can get back up faster, cheaper and easier, then, for us, its a positive because our drone is working for not only an economic benefit, but a personal benefit as far as the population is concerned.What were flying down there for are factories, he added. If a factory cant run because the roof is leaking, then it changes the whole economic scales. If we can get down there and map out the roof and the roofing company can come back and finish it. We might find they need to only replace a portion of the roof, the factory is back in business faster. Thats somewhat of a way for us to give back to the community.
Obtained by ABC News(LAS VEGAS) -- Criminal charges may be filed in connection with the Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more, attorneys for the Las Vegas Metro Police Department said in court on Tuesday.



The hearing, which took place in a Clark County District Court, was held to determine whether the media should be given access to more search warrant documents involving the shooting.



Police department attorney Nicholas Crosby told Clark County District Judge Elissa Cadish that while no one may be indicted for the actual murders, "There are charges being investigated."



The police department has been arguing against the release of the documents due to the ongoing investigation, but lawyers for the media said that because shooter Stephen Paddock is dead, there is no prosecution pending against him, so the documents are no longer sensitive.



While Crosby told Cadish that the LVMPD can't say in open court why it can't release the documents, attorneys for the media argued that any delay in their release is a violation of the First Amendment.



The search warrant documents in question are separate from federal documents that were released last week.



Cadish said she wanted to read through the documents to compare them to information already available to the public before making a decision.



Paddock, 64, opened fire on thousands of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on Oct. 1.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Ucoms mobile customers will benefit from the best internet roaming rate of 8 AMD/MB when travelling to Georgia, Egypt or the UAE

Ameriabank Launches Google Pay and Google Wallet Support for Card Users in Armenia

Karen Vardanyan donated 112 million drams for the medical equipment for National Center for Infectious Diseases.

UCOM HAS INTRODUCED FUTURE NETWORK WI-FI 6E ROUTERS

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Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights

Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom

Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

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Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces
China automaker Chery is adopting the new ZF ProAI system to enable automated driving functions up to level 3. The ZF ProAI controller is powered by NVIDIA DRIVE AI self-driving technology.

ZF and its cooperation partners NVIDIA and Chinese technology company Baidu are working together on autonomous driving. (Earlier post.) For the first time, deep-learning algorithms enabled by the supercomputing power of the ZF ProAI will be available in affordable cars.

The collaboration is of particular relevance because it contributes to the democratization of autonomous driving functions in one of the most important automotive markets of the world. This helps to enable autonomous driving for everyone. Dr. Konstantin Sauer, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG

The cooperation benefits from the successful collaboration of the partners in Baidus Project Apollo, an open platform which supports virtually all main functions of autonomous vehicles in a turnkey solution.
The solution, which is based on Mitsubishi Electrics proprietary Maisart-brand artificial intelligence (AI) technology, is expected to help prevent accidents, especially when drivers change lanes. Mirrorless cars that replace rearview and side mirrors with camera-monitoring systems were approved for use in Europe and Japan in 2016, and the first commercial mirrorless cars are expected to be launched in Japan as early as next year.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed what it believes to be the industrys highest performing automotive camera technology. The technology detects various object types at distances of up to about 100 meters, enabling drivers to receive advanced warning for enhanced driving safety in coming mirrorless cars.





The Maisart brand encompassing the companys proprietary AI technology, including its compact AI, automated design deep-learning algorithm and extra-efficient smart-learning AI. Maisart is an abbreviation for Mitsubishi Electrics AI creates the State-of-the-ART in technology.

The proposed technology for mirrorless cars employs a new computational visual-cognition model that mimics human visual behavior to focus rapidly on appropriate regions within the field of view.

Compared to conventional camera-based systems, the can significantly extend the maximum distance of object detection from about 30 meters to 100 meters, and can also improve object detection accuracy from 14% to 81%.

The computational visual-cognition models relatively simple algorithms free up system resources for real-time performance, even in on-board systems.

Mitsubishi Electrics Maisart AI technology, which realizes compact AI for low-cost devices, can distinguish between object types such as pedestrians, cars and motorcycles.
New vehicle deliveries from the Volkswagen Group reached an all-time high in fiscal year 2017 of 10.74 million units. As a result, Group deliveries rose 4.3% compared with the previous year. At almost one million units (999,800), deliveries in December were up by 8.5%.

The Group handed over 4.3 million vehicles to customers in Europe in the full year 2017, representing growth of 3.3%. 338,700 new vehicles were delivered in December (+3.1%), of which 97,500 (+5.0%) were handed over to customers in the home market of Germany. Recovery in the Russian market had a positive impact on the performance in Central and Eastern Europe, and led to growth of 13.2% for the full year 2017. 21,000 vehicles (+25.8%) were delivered to customers in Russia in December.

Group deliveries in the North America region rose by 4.0% to 976,400 units in 2017, of which 625,100 vehicles (+5.8%) were handed over to customers in the US market. In line with the overall trend of the passenger car market in the US, Volkswagen Group deliveries in December were down 2.7% to 91,500 units. In Brazil, 24,700 customers (+2.4%) took delivery of a new Group vehicle. Driven by the recovery in the Brazilian market, deliveries by the Volkswagen Group in the South America region for the full year 2017 were 23.7% higher than 2016.

Group deliveries in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017 rose by 4.3% compared with the previous year to 4.5 million, of which 4.2 million new vehicles (+5.1%) were delivered to customers in China during the twelve-month period. There was a strong boost in deliveries in the largest single market at the end of the year: 460,100 new vehicles were handed over to customers in China in Decemberan increase of 17.8%.
WILKESBORO  The Mavericks, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Mandolin Orange, Alison Brown and Brandy Clark have joined the lineup for Aprils annual MerleFest on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro.

They join more than 75 other MerleFest artists announced to date, including Rhiannon Giddens, Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen and Balsam Range. The rest of the lineup will be announced over the next few months.

The festival will be April 26 through 29. Tickets are on sale at MerleFest.org or by calling 800-343-7857. The performance schedule can be found at MerleFest.org/lineup.

MerleFest was founded in 1988 in memory of renowned guitarist Eddy Merle Watson, the son of the late American music legend Doc Watson.

The four-day festival celebrates a mix of traditional, roots-oriented sounds of the Appalachian region, including old-time, classic country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and blues, along with Americana, classic rock and many other styles.

The genre-defying Mavericks have stepped out on their own with "Brand New Day," the first studio album released on Mono Mundo Recordings, the label they founded in 2016. Brand New Day is the follow-up to the widely praised albums "Mono" (2015) and "In Time" (2013).

The Mavericks will play the Watson Stage on Thursday night.

With one eye on using the banjo to showcase Americas rich heritage and the other pulling the noble instrument from its most familiar arena into new and unique realms, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburns second album "Echo in the Valley" is simultaneously familiar and wildly innovative. "Echo in the Valley" follows Bela and Abigails acclaimed, self-titled debut that earned the 2016 Grammy for Best Folk Album.

Fleck and Washburn will play the Watson Stage on Friday night.

Mandolin Orange's music is laced with bluegrass, country and folk...often wistful and contemplative without being somber, and always firmly grounded in the South" (WNYC). The Chapel Hill duo has built a noteworthy catalog of recordings and performances since their founding in 2009. Mandolin Oranges most recent album "Blindfaller" debuted at N. 3 on Billboards Bluegrass Album Chart, was featured on NPRs Heavy Rotation and made Rolling Stones 40 Best Country Albums of 2016.

Mandolin Orange will play the Watson Stage on Friday night.

Alison Brown has taken an unlikely path in establishing herself as one of the most critically-acclaimed banjoists in the world. A former investment banker (she has a bachelor's degree in history and literature from Harvard and an MBA from UCLA), she toured with Alison Krauss and Union Station and Michelle Shocked before forming her own group, The Alison Brown Quartet. She has recorded 10 critically-acclaimed solo albums, received four Grammy nominations, a Grammy award and the Banjo Player of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Alison Brown will play the Hillside Stage on Saturday and the Watson Stage on Sunday.
RALEIGH  A new board of directors for Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions is expected to take over within the next few weeks, N.C. Secretary of Health Mandy Cohen told state legislators Tuesday.

However, Cohen stressed that it will happen only after she has signed off on a corrective action plan that deals with concerns raised in audits of Cardinal by the N.C. Auditors Office and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

We are pleased with Cardinals progress, and we have seen a draft of its corrective plan, Cohen said. There have been no disruptions in payments to providers and no disruptions in authorization of services, and we are still there.

Cohen provided the first official update on the composition of the Cardinal board of directors since state health regulators took over management of Cardinal, North Carolinas largest behavioral-health managed-care organization, or MCO, on Nov. 27. The interim top official at Cardinal, Trey Sutten, is helping operate the MCO.

Cardinal oversees providers of services for mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse for Medicaid enrollees in 20 counties, including Forsyth and five others in the Triad. It handles more than $675 million in annual federal and state Medicaid money.

Recovering severance pay?

Several legislators asked whether the state will be able to recoup the $6.1 million in golden parachutes provided by the previous Cardinal board to former executives, including $1.7 million to fired executive director Richard Topping.

Cohen said DHHS attorneys are working with attorneys representing Cardinal and the N.C. Attorney Generals Office on our legal options on clawing back the executive severance packages.

Unfortunately, once the money is out the door, it is a higher bar that we have to cross in order to get it back, Cohen said. Its not that were not willing to do the work to get there. Thats the process were in now.

DHHS has said it will recoup at least $3.8 million from Cardinal administrative costs and is determining how that money can be used in client services.

DHHS plans to hire additional executive team members and develop a corrective action plan to bring Cardinal into compliance with all applicable laws by no later than July 1.

Cohen said she will share the corrective action plan with the committee before signing off on it.

She fielded questions from a joint legislative oversight committee that included questions about why three previous Cardinal board members, including Bryan Thompson of Davie County, were appointed to the new 20-member board. The new board includes former state Health Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom.

The Forsyth County appointee is Dr. Richard Blanks, the vice chairman of the psychiatry and behavioral medicine department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Cohen said the new board members are receiving extensive training. New board members are being told that they are required to adhere to state laws on MCOs, something the previous board failed to do, particularly when it came to executive compensation.

We will continue to have a regulatory role with Cardinal with clear enforcement criteria, but our plan is to step back from day-to-day operations at the appropriate time, Cohen said.

Thompson, the former chairman of CenterPoint Human Services, served on the Cardinal board for nearly 1 years before being dismissed by the board Nov. 17. The board, later in that same meeting, terminated Topping, effective Dec. 1. Topping was removed Nov. 27 by Cohen.

State law permits the health secretary to remove the executive director and the board of a behavioral-health MCO, as well as end its contract with the state Medicaid program.

The dismissal occurred a month after the board approved by a 5-3 vote Thompsons motion to substantially reduce Toppings base salary from $635,000 a year to the state maximum of $204,195.

Claims

of mismanagement

Cohen based her decision to remove Topping and dissolve the board on claims of serious financial mismanagement and regulatory noncompliance as determined by audits from the state auditors office and DHHS. That includes claims of exorbitant annual executive compensation and excessive non-core board expenses.

A Mecklenburg County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order on Nov. 29 that prevents Topping and the board from accessing Cardinal resources. An extension of the order expires Thursday.

Judge Todd Pomeroy wrote that DHHS reasonably believes and alleges that defendant Topping and/or the Cardinal board and/or individual members ... are attempting to interfere with DHHS exercise of its lawful authority under (state law) and may be attempting to gain access to Cardinal funds without right, and with the goal of preventing proper use of those funds.

Members of the ousted Cardinal board countersued the state Dec. 14, saying Cohen didnt have the authority to dissolve the board. the state attorney generals office has called the former boards countersuit meritless.

State Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, again Tuesday expressed her concerns about former board members being reappointed to the board.

For example, Mecklenburg County Commissioner George Dunlap returns to the board after resigning Nov. 27, saying he disagreed with recent board decisions. He is one of five county commissioners agreeing to serve on the board.

We want to make sure that previous behaviors will not surface on the new board, Cunningham said.

Halifax County returned Commissioner Marcelle Smith as its representative. Dunlap and Smith are listed among the former Cardinal board members being sued by DHHS.

The financial mismanagement of the prior board has jeopardized the public trust and wasted taxpayers funds, said state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, a member of the legislative oversight committee. I look forward to the new board taking the helm and steering the organization in the right direction. The hardworking Cardinal employees and the vulnerable population they serve deserve nothing less.

In response, Cohen said, The county commissioners made their appointments with full awareness of their previous work with Cardinal. One persons voice amongst 20 members will be different from one persons voice among 11 members. The need for reorientation is not lost on the commissioners and the reappointed board members.
WASHINGTON  On a day President Donald Trump promised to deliver Fake News Awards, two Republican senators as well as several Democrats warned on Wednesday that his unceasing attacks on a free press are undermining a fundamental tenet of democracy and emboldening despots abroad.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has emerged as one of Trumps fiercest Republican critics, delivered an impassioned speech from the Senate floor, comparing Trumps anti-press rhetoric to that of the murderous Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and calling on his colleagues to speak out against Trumps shameful, repulsive statements.

Recalling Trumps first year in office, Flake said, 2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than at any time in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government.

Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Dick Durbin of Illinois also spoke out against Trumps rhetoric, echoing Flakes accusation that Trump is trying to upend the distinction between objective truth and lying.

The bipartisan rebukes of the president marked another seminal moment in the Trump era, which has come to be defined by his routine challenges to political norms and traditions. It is common for lawmakers to criticize presidents on policy, but less so for members of their own party, and yet exceedingly rare for any of them to fault a presidents fealty to basic democratic values.

When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press, Flake added.

Flakes comments were buttressed by his fellow Arizona Republican, Sen. John McCain, who warned in an opinion piece in The Washington Post that Trumps efforts to undermine the press are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.

Both men made the point that Trump has stood on its head the United States traditional role as an example to the world of press freedom. Governments and autocrats  in Singapore, Myanmar, Venezuela, Libya, Egypt and Turkey, among others  have cited Trumps fake news theme in acting against press criticism in their countries.

The pushback in the Senate came even as White House advisors, who have been noticeably uncomfortable when asked about Trumps awards plans, could not say early Wednesday  the day Trump set after one postponement  how or even whether the president would follow up on his two-week-old promise.

White House press officials did not respond to an email asking for clarification Wednesday morning. At midday on Fox News, deputy press secretary Raj Shah told viewers to stay tuned for a later announcement. On Tuesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had told reporters that she would keep you posted on any details around that potential event.

Trump tweeted on Jan. 2 that he would announce THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR at 5 p.m. on Jan. 8. He later wrote on Twitter that the awards would be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th.

His public schedule for the day, released Tuesday night, made no mention of any such event.

The president has used the term fake news on his Twitter feed at least 167 times, according to a search in an online archive  most often to disparage reporting about him or his administration. The attacks on the media have been an effective political tool since his election campaign, rallying supporters and insulating him, to some extent, from unflattering reporting.

Fake news initially referred to hoax stories believed to be planted by Russian operatives in an attempt to influence the presidential election. Trump coopted the term to disparage legitimate reporting.

Trump, who once last year called the press the enemy of the people, recently threatened to seek harsher libel laws and revoke networks broadcast licenses, areas where his powers are limited. Members of his administration have spoken similarly about the media, complaining that reporters have lowered their standards to undermine Trumps legitimacy.

Theres a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposefully misleading the American people, something that happens regularly, Sanders told reporters in December.

You cant say that its an honest mistake when you are purposely putting out information that you know to be false or when youre taking information that hasnt been validated, that hasnt been offered any credibility and that has been continually denied by a number of people, including people with direct knowledge of an incident.

Flake and McCain took issue with such talk from the president and his aides, focusing on the dangers not just to the United States but internationally.

Flake, in his speech, pointed to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists noting that 21 of 262 journalists imprisoned in 2017 were charged with false news. He read accounts of Syrian President Bashar Assad dismissing an Amnesty International report of 13,000 deaths in his military prisons as fake news, and of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whose government has been implicated in thousands of extrajudicial killings, calling reporters spies  while Trump laughed beside him during a meeting in November.

McCain wrote that the Trump administrations attitude toward foreign governments efforts to suppress journalists through violence, legal measures and fines was inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst.

While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets, he wrote. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit.

The phrase fake news  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens, McCain said.



2018 Los Angeles Times

Visit Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.



PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): Jeff Flake

_____

Topics: t000002953,t000047686,t000047684,t000047683,g000362661,g000066164
COLUMBUS, Ohio  A deputy fatally shot a 16-year-old boy in an Ohio courtroom when a fight broke out involving the boy, his family and the officer on Wednesday, a sheriff's office investigator said.

Joseph Haynes was struck once in the abdomen during the fight that began as an early afternoon hearing concluded in a domestic relations courtroom in Columbus, said Rick Minerd, investigations chief with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. The boy died about 30 minutes later at a nearby downtown hospital.

Events unfolded as a judge wrapped up a hearing involving a firearms charge against the boy and an electronic monitoring device the court assigned him earlier in the case, Minerd said.

"At some point as the hearing was concluding, there was an altercation that ensued involving the deputy and some of the family members," Minerd said. He added later the boy also was involved.

The deputy was knocked to the ground and fired a shot, he said.

Minerd didn't identify the deputy, saying the investigation is ongoing. The deputy also was injured and was being treated at a hospital, but that he wasn't shot, Minerd said.

Minerd said the sheriff's office extends its condolences to the family of Haynes and wishes the injured deputy a quick recovery. He wouldn't speculate on what exactly happened.

"That's a very busy courtroom, very emotional floor here in the courthouse," Minerd said.

The sheriff's office immediately requested crime scene assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and two employees of the agency were assigned, records show.

Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady told the Columbus Dispatch that public safety is always an issue and commissioners would "certainly be willing" to discuss added juvenile court security with court personnel.
The Greenwich Concours d'Elegance will host its 23rd weekend on June 1-3, 2018. Recognized as one of the most prestigious classic car shows in the United States, the 2018 show will feature production and race cars created in the 1950s by the iconic Briggs Cunningham.

Miles Collier, founder of The Revs Institute, has been named the Grand Marshal for this year's event. According to a press release, the Revs Institute in Florida includes cars acquired from the collection of the late Briggs Cunningham, a family friend.
Connecticut on Tuesday joined a multi-state effort to appeal the Federal Communications Commissions recent rejection of so-called net-neutrality rules.

Attorney General George Jepsen said that the failure of Congress to assure consumer access to the Internet exacerbates the need for he and other attorneys general to act. Twenty states and the District of Columbia filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Districts of Columbia Circuit, calling the FCCs recent action "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion" in violation of federal laws and regulations.

"The Internet should always remain open and free," Jepsen said in a statement. "In the face of the FCC's action, and the inaction of Congressional leadership to right this obvious wrong, state attorneys general are today taking this first step in asking the court to overturn the FCC's order.

Last month, the five-member FCC board repealed its 2015 Open Internet Order, which had prohibited the blocking of content, as well as so-called throttling practices of internet service providers, to retain open access for consumers. Jepsen said the FCC's new regulation would let providers discriminate against content, or charge higher rates to content providers and consumers.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Then there are the days you just want to throw in the towel. And we are not even in February yet.

Two phone calls from an aggrieved first-grade art teacher about an unfortunate use of a paint brush. A full-scale identity crisis because no one in the third grade, or perhaps the universe, likes the color pink anymore. A fourth-grade meltdown on something you cannot fully understand, but you are pretty sure has to do with the forthcoming Ninjago movie (thats right, there is another one on the way  get pumped). A heightened awareness that while exhausting, these elementary school issues are only going to get bigger and more critical as your children grow (this one kills me).

And then theres the husband who announces last minute that he will be in sunny California next week for work, and that he might even pay a visit to your best friend who lives in Los Angeles.

We can Facetime you, he suggests cheerfully.

The au pair who is mastering mediation and transcendental thought while you sort socks that somehow never match. The aging bulldog who cant stop farting, along with a 17-year-old cat who appears to be balding. And of course, the chickens who are snowed in and protest every morning with an extra early crow.

So you start to think  wouldnt it be nice to escape? A friend tells me she is going to Belize with a group of girlfriends at the end of January. They kindly invite me along  or rather, I invite myself in a carpool manipulation tactic I am not proud of. Well, maybe a little.

But my larger concern in going to Belize is whether I should return. I am serious. People go on walkabout all the time. I have read the novel Whered you go Bernadette about a mother who goes missing rather than accompany her family to Antarctica. A little extreme perhaps. But you get the idea.

The problem with these getaways is the re-entry trauma when they are over. Dont get me wrong  any kind of escape, from a tropical interlude in the Caribbean to a drive up to a friend in snowy Boston, can be spiritually renewing if you can swing it. But its often hard to swing  and anyway, its over before you know it.

But what about another approach to renewal? An escape of sorts  in a time and place fully dedicated to reflection, insight, renewal and hope all woven into your weekly life right here in Greenwich. This place could be somewhere hidden, yet open, private yet public  a place away from home yet resonant of home. Nearby but somehow far away. A place you go for peace.

Enter Greenwichs much cherished Center for Hope and Renewal, a facility that has provided support to our community for the past 10 years. Whether it be individual counseling, classes, seminars or lectures on a wide range of themes, the center offers it all. The fact that it is nestled in the Greenwich backcountry makes it even more special, as if you have stumbled on a hidden treasure in the woods.

A lot has been written about the center recently. Complaints have been made to the town about the center being in a residential area. As one neighbor put it in this newspaper, You dont know whos coming.

Its more than a NIMBY, or not in my back yard backlash. Its a no crazy people in the backyard kind of thing. That kind of complaint has put a lot of people, including me, on edge.

The center is scheduled to appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. and the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. to review these complaints. Both hearings are open to the public, and both are at Town Hall. Will the center be shut down in its current location? Much debate and outrage around town on this one  not only to those of us coping with the Mother Lode.

I have no affiliation with the Center for Hope and Renewal, but here is what I know: We all have issues. Most of us need help along the way. I attended the centers six week class on Boundaries that blew my mind (apparently I had none  boundaries, that is). And I'm not alone. So many people I know love the place. The fact that the center is in the backcountry is meaningful. I am a neighbor and I am proud to have it in my backyard.

And as to the debate about the neighbors complaints, what can I say? Are we really going to be that kind of town? Do we really want to shut down a 501 (c) 3 that regularly offers scholarships to individuals and families who cant afford help with life issues because you dont know who is coming?

I came. And a whole bunch of wonderful mothers and friends came too. And it has made all the difference, even if I never make it to Belize.

Claire Tisne Haft is a former publishing and film executive raising her family in Greenwich while working as a freelancer on books and films.
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HARTFORD  The state Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that Connecticuts distribution of education aid violated the state constitution.

It is not the function of the courts to eliminate all the societal deficiencies that continue to frustrate the states educational efforts, the court determined in a 53-page decision Wednesday.

The battle pitted a coalition including a dozen school districts and municipalities, including Bridgeport and Danbury, that claimed insufficient funding and haphazard distribution were denying school children their constitutional rights to an adequate educational opportunity.

Although the plaintiffs have convincingly demonstrated that in this state there is a gap in educational achievement between the poorest and neediest students and their more fortunate peers, disparities in educational achievement, standing alone, do not constitute proof that our state constitutions equal protection provisions have been violated, read the decision, written by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers.

The plaintiffs, she said, have not shown that this gap is the result of the states unlawful discrimination against poor and needy students in its provision of educational resources as opposed to the complex web of disadvantaging societal conditions over which the schools have no control.

In fact, it was pointed out that the trial court found the state does provide significantly more resources to poor districts.

A constitutional matter

During months of testimony in 2016, Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher heard of overcrowded classrooms in Bridgeport, a Danbury school budget with no money for textbooks and teachers left without classroom aides.

Moukawsher eventually found no fault with the overall amount the state spends, but he took particular issue with the rationality of the states Education Cost Sharing formula. The judge also ordered the state to create standards for what students should learn and know to graduate, to create a better teacher pay and evaluation system and to restructure how special education is organized and funded.

The Supreme Court concluded on a 4-3 vote that the lower court was right in deciding the state was providing minimally adequate educational opportunities but should not have gone on to apply a new constitutional test.

The high court was also not persuaded by stories of districts getting by with substitutes instead of certified teachers, school years being shortened or classes of 29 students.

(While it) might not be ideal for needier students, we are unable to say that classes of that size render a school inadequate as a matter of law, the high court ruled.

In a separate opinion, Justice Richard Palmer and two other justices said they agreed with the majority that the state trial court overstepped its mandate.

I would have remand the case for a new trial, Palmer wrote.

That the majority did not send the case back deeply disappointed Jim Finley, a principal consultant to the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, which brought the case 12 years ago.

None of the issues were remanded back to the trial court for clarification, Finley said. The Supreme Court chose not to provide a remedy but instead deferred to the legislative branch of state government to correct deficiencies.

It the Legislature had done that to begin with, Finley said, a court case would not have been necessary.

We were looking to state courts to be the ultimate backstop in protecting the state constitutional rights of our public school students, particularly poor ones, he said.

The coalition is filing a motion to have the decision reconsidered, Finley said, acknowledge its options are few.

The effort to ensure education adequacy and equity continues, he added.

Acknowledging problems

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in a written statement that the decision concludes the landmark case.

We continue to believe that the state is obligated to ensure that funding is distributed in a rational manner based on student need, reflecting student poverty and demographic shifts in our communities, Malloy said.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, said that while he was still reviewing the details, it appeared the court sided with the state and against the coalition.

This is a disappointing outcome, Ganim said. We strongly believe that Judge Moukawsher was right ... The way in which the state has chosen to distribute these resources is irrational, and unconstitutionally disadvantages students from poor and challenged districts such as Bridgeport.

Ganim vowed the fight was not over.

Attorney General Jepsen, whose office represented the state, said he was grateful for what he called a careful and thoughtful decision.

The court correctly determined that Connecticuts public education system and its public education funding do not violate constitutional standards and that  absent such a constitutional deficiency  education policy decisions rest with the representative branches of government, Jepsen said.

Still, Jepsen acknowledged the trial courts identification of profound educational challenges.

Nothing about todays ruling should alleviate any urgency on the part of state lawmakers to address these challenges, said Jepsen.

lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck
Them other chefs dont know how to act. Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Though just weeks away from Nomas grand reopening, Rene Redzepis team agreed to quit pickling octopus last night to cater a listening party for Justin Timberlakes new forest-themed album, Man of the Woods. The exclusive shindig brought music execs, media, and some lucky American Express cardholders to a Tribeca loft that Variety reports was decorated with bushes and trees.

Guests there mostly to get J.T.s autograph were in for a surprise when Noma chefs materialized. Music played as they prepared a menu that took Man of the Woods  which so far includes a song called Flannel and imagery featuring a solid number of horses  a bit literally. In other words, Timberlake wanted Redzepis famous ants.

Guests were taken aback, according to Variety, and waitstaff could be overheard patiently saying things like, Yes, ants. Event security confiscated phones while the album played, but a few shots from the dinner still emerged.

According to a tweeted pic of the menu, the six themed courses included a dish with crispy cabbage, watercress, and wild beach plants; another made from black garlic, rose oil, and ants; an uni-kelp pie; some black-truffle flatbread; aebleskiver, a Danish pancake that, for this event, included grasshoppers; and a pork crackling-chocolate-berry dessert of some kind.

The thought of music-industry executives laboring to grin while chewing on a mouthful of insects gave the partys few Noma fans a good laugh:
Sachs is no longer with Saveur. Photo: Noah Fecks

Saveur editor-in-chief Adam Sachss tenure at the food magazine is over. Tech website Recode reported that 70 employees from the publishing conglomerate Bonniers U.S. staff were laid off, a number that also included Saveur digital editor Dan Dao. Rumors quickly swirled that Sachs was no longer with the company, and that appears to be true. Sachs confirmed his departure over email, but added that he cant comment beyond that. Grub also reached out to a Bonnier rep, and will update this post if and when we hear back.

Before taking the top position at Saveur after longtime editor James Oseland, Sachs had a long career as a writer covering food and other subjects. He wrote for publications including GQ, Bon Appetit, and Details, and has won several James Beard Foundation Awards. Sachs was brought on before Saveurs digital relaunch in 2015.

The news was met with grim reactions, but on Twitter, editor Alex Testere reaffirmed that the magazine was not folding. Later, the New York Times reported that Saveur would reduce its publication schedule to four issues a year and that its editorial department now consists of just six full-time employees. Test-kitchen director Stacy Adimando has been promoted to executive editor.

The few of us left are obviously reeling a little bit from losing some of our closest friends and colleagues, but we still have faith that well be able to make Saveur a beautiful quarterly magazine, and also keep up our original digital content, Testere wrote to Grub the day after the news broke. The layoffs are sad and unfortunate, but Im personally looking forward to continuing to work with everyone in whatever capacity we can.

The 24-year-old Saveur has a reputation as a prestigious and literary outlet in the food world, an increasingly rare venue to explore sometimes esoteric topics. Writers were given license to cover at length topics like prized Yunnanese tea, childhood loneliness and a struggling artist fathers connection with food, and Chicago barbecue, race, and segregation (a story from the next issue). Its been decorated with numerous James Beard and American Society of Magazine Editors awards, but like most media outlets, it has struggled to make it work financially. Over the last year, the adored and often weird Lucky Peach folded while Food & Wine downsized staff and moved its editorial headquarters to Alabama.

This post has been updated with more information about the layoffs.




Haiti - Diaspora : The Haitian-American Congresswoman Ludmya Bourdeau meets Trump





On Tuesday morning the Haitian-American Congresswoman Ludmya Bourdeau Love "Mia Love" met with President Donald J. Trump at the White House to discuss the importance of concluding a bi-partisan agreement on immigration. During the 30-minute meeting, they discussed a range of topics related to immigration reform.



"This mornings meeting was substantive and productive," Congresswoman Love said. "We discussed the importance and urgency of finding a solution for DACA recipients, on enhancing border security, and on implementing reforms to ensure our nation continues to attract the worlds top talent, regardless of race. I will work with both parties in Congress as well as with the White House to make sure that we reach an agreement."



Rep. Love added, "I believe Congress can solve the vast majority of the immigration issues the nation faces. There is already agreement on many important aspects. We need to fight against those who have a vested interest in keeping immigration a wedge issue. This has gone unaddressed for far too long. Lets have a real conversation, so Congress can finish the important work we were elected to do."



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politic : Extraordinary Meeting of the Superior Council of the National Police





Tuesday an extraordinary meeting of the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN) chaired by the Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant gathered together with the main officials of the Council, Dr. Agabus Joseph, Director General of the Office of Accident Insurance Labor, Sickness and Maternity (OFATMA), Jude Patrick Salomon, the Minister of Economy and Finance and Aviol Fleurant the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation.



The various points debated mainly concerned the strengthening of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the improvement of the living conditions of the police officers through social benefits, payments of arrears and salary adjustments.



Jude Patrick Salomon confirmed that the salary update of the police officers who have obtained promotions will be effective from February 2018; on the other hand, these police officers will have to wait for the Amending Budget to benefit from the salary arrears of promotions. The arrears of the risk premiums are being finalized and the payment period will not exceed 15 days. Starting from the amending budget, funds will be made available to meet certain needs of the PNH in material resources and in the setting up of certain infrastructures.



Discussions also focused on the progress of the Hospital Center in Bon Repos, which will be used to provide care to PNH officers https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21059-haiti-politics-follow-up-visit-of-the-hospital-s-work-for-the-police.html Aviol Fleurant explained that from its investment program, the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation will be able to release funds to finance the completion of the project and the purchase of equipment.



Referring to the Act of 28 August 1967 on occupational accidents, 3% of the payroll of the PNH will be paid to the OFATMA for the management of accidents at work and sickness in order to meet the benefits to the National Police of Haiti.



HL/ HaItiLibre






















Haiti - NOTICE : Suspension of extraction of sand at the Morne Cabri





Faced with the danger represented by the anarchic exploitation of sand quarries at the Morne a Cabri and alarmed by the significant risk that this situation poses to the environment, the Ministry of the Environment, informs the general population and the sand quarry operators in particular, that as of January 15, 2018, sand mining is prohibited in the perimeter of the morne a Cabri.



In addition to the need to preserve the living environment of the population, this measure is taken in the concern to protect the National Road # 3 and the high voltage pylons that supply the capital of Port-au-Prince with electricity.



Pending the holding of a meeting between the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Public Works, Bureau of Mines and Energy with the sand operators for the definition of a credible alternative, the Direction of the Agency National Protected Areas (ANAP) has been instructed to use the Protected Areas Security Brigade (BSAP) to protect the Morne a Cabri and this in close cooperation with the judicial authorities.



The Territorial Communities, in particular the Mayors and the CASECs, are invited to lend their full support to the application of this decision.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Truck against tap-tap at least 3 wounded

Tuesday early evening in Cite Soleil, a tipping truck, whose driver lost control, struck violently and knocked down a tap-tap van, not far from the town hall. The accident left at least three injured people who were rushed to hospital by an ambulance from the National Ambulance Center (CAN).



100,000 CIN renewed on more than 4 million

On Monday, Jude Jacques Elibert, the Director General of the National Office of Identification (ONI) confirmed that, to date, more than 100,000 National Identification Cards (CIN) on more than 4 million expired on January 1, 2018, have already been renewed since the start of operations in early October 2017 See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22278-haiti-notice-beginning-of-renewal-of-expired-cins.html



Registration of political blocs

On Tuesday, pursuant to Rules 54, 55, 56, 57 and 61 of the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies on the registration of political groups, the Bureau of the Chamber proceeded to the registration of political blocs. 4 blocs presented themselves: the block "Parliamentary Group at the Listening of the People" (GPEP) counting 13 deputies, the bloc "Parliamentary Alliance for Haiti" (APH) counting 71 deputies, the Block "Verite, OPL et Allie" with 17 deputies and the bloc "Parliamentary Group for Stability" with 13 deputies, 5 of whom are absent.



NOTICE : Carnival of Port-de-Paix

As a prelude to the organization of the Carnival 2018, the Port-de-Paix Town Hall brings to the attention of the leaders of walking bands, Dj's, musical groups, masked groups and all other entities interested in taking part in these festivities to pass register at the town hall. However, to validate the inscription, the person in charge must bring their carnival meringue on a CD. This approach is part of the desire to better plan and ensure good healthy and safe environments during the 3 fat days. The Town Hall relies on the understanding of all for the strict application of this decision.



DPC at the National Carnival

At the beginning of the week Jerry Chandler, the Director of Civil Protection (DPC) participated in a working meeting around the 2018 edition of the National Carnival which will take place around the theme under the theme "Ayiti sou wout Devlopman" from 11 to February 13 in Port-au-Prince. Note that it is the Directorate of Civil Protection that will coordinate this year the sub-committee "Emergency Relief" of Carnival.



Cap-Haitien : Launch of pre-carnival activities

Sunday, January 14 Andy Durosier the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and Member of the National Carnival Committee, took part in the launch of the pre-carnival festivities in Cap-Haitien.





HL/ HaitiLibre


















Cognac exports reach record volumes in 2017

By Jo Gilbert

Exports are on the rise for Cognac.

Figures from the official body for Cognac show exports from the famous French appellation continued to grow with a three year streak confirmed for 2017, when exports reached their highest ever levels in both volume and value.

In total, around 197.4 million bottles were exported last year, resulting in a turnover of 2.79 billion (3.15 billion)  an increase of 10% in volume and 14% value.

Performance was driven by the countries bound by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in particular the US, which continues to be Cognacs largest market with 82.6 million bottles exported in 2017.

The NAFTA zone, incorporating the US, Canada and Mexico, in total now account for 43.6% of exports.

The second highest delivering region was the Far East (28.8% of total exports) which grew to 56.9 million bottles, up 11.3% in volume and 18.4% in value, driven mainly by China.

This is followed by Europe (21.1% of total exports), where shipments grew by 5.7% in volume and 8.7% in value, equating to 41.6 million bottles.

The UK came number four on a list of the top ten direct shipments worldwide in 2017 with 9.9 million bottles, albeit far behind the largest shipment to the US at 82.6 million bottles.

With nearly 98% of production exported, the BNIC is also looking at developing emerging markets such as Africa and the Antipodes, with the rest of world segment outside the key markets seeing growth in 2017 both in terms of volume (+13.2%) and in value (+17.3%).

According to the BNIC, new areas of opportunity represent more than 6.5% of global volumes shipped, or nearly 12.8 million bottles.

2017 also saw the consolidation of VS cognac, which accounted for half of all cognac shipments last year.

VSOP and older categories also continued to grow, rising by 11.2% and 14.3% respectively in volume, and +11.1% and 17.1% in value.

BNIC president Patrick Raguenaud said: The great momentum we are experiencing today across all three categories can be explained by good results for cognac in all of its markets, with varied consumption patterns.

Harsh frosts and reduced yields last year are likely to impact production for the 2017 harvest, the BNIC admited, with a total volume yield of 88.95hl vol./ha compared with 101.94 hl vol/ha for the previous harvest.

However, Christophe Forget, the BNICs vice president, said the climate reserve tool set up by the BNIC in 2008 and which currently has 184,000 hl AP of stock, will limit the impact of frost on the crop: By creating a climatic reserve in years where there is the opportunity, the winegrower can compensate for a crop deficit. This tool provides an additional guarantee for the sector. It allows us, to a certain extent, to guard against the risks of climate related hazards that we have seen increase in recent years.






















How Medicare covers mental health

by Greg Dill, Medicare regional administrator for Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii, and the Pacific Territories

Lets hope it never happens, but there may come a time in your life when you need mental health care. Your Medicare covers a wide variety of such services, in both hospital inpatient and outpatient settings.

If you have Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), youre eligible for mental health services when youre admitted to a hospital as an inpatient. You can get these services either in a general hospital or a psychiatric hospital that only cares for people with mental health conditions.

If you're in a psychiatric hospital (instead of a general hospital), Part A only pays for up to 190 days of inpatient psychiatric hospital services during your lifetime.

Medicare pays for inpatient hospital stays on the basis of benefit periods. A benefit period begins the day youre admitted to a hospital as an inpatient. It ends when you havent received any inpatient care for 60 days in a row.

If you go into a hospital after one benefit period has ended, a new benefit period begins. You must pay the inpatient hospital deductible ($1,340 in 2018) for each benefit period.

Theres no limit to the number of benefit periods you can have. But remember, theres a lifetime limit of 190 days for inpatient psychiatric hospitals.

After you pay the deductible, Medicare covers inpatient hospital care for the first 60 days with no coinsurance on your part for each benefit period.

For days 61-90, your coinsurance is $335 per day of each benefit period.

If youre in the hospital beyond 90 days, your coinsurance is $670 per "lifetime reserve day" for each benefit period (you have up to 60 reserve days over your lifetime).

In addition, youll pay 20 percent of the Medicare-approved amount for mental health services you get from doctors and other providers while you're a hospital inpatient.

Your Medicare Part B (medical insurance) covers partial hospitalization in some cases.

Partial hospitalization provides a structured program of outpatient psychiatric services as an alternative to inpatient psychiatric care. Its more intense than care you get in a doctors or therapists office. This treatment is provided during the day and doesnt require an overnight stay.

Medicare helps cover partial hospitalization services when theyre provided through a hospital outpatient department or community mental health center. Along with partial hospitalization, Medicare may cover occupational therapy thats part of your mental health treatment and/or individual patient training and education about your condition.

Medicare only covers partial hospitalization if the doctor and the partial hospitalization program accept Medicare as full payment.

For Part B to cover a partial hospitalization program, you must meet certain requirements, and your doctor must certify that you would otherwise need inpatient treatment.

Under Part B, you pay a percentage of the Medicare-approved amount for each service you get from a doctor or other qualified mental health professional if they accept Medicare rates.

You also pay coinsurance for each day of partial hospitalization services provided in a hospital outpatient setting or community mental health center. The Part B deductible ($183 in 2018) applies as well.

Your doctor or other health care provider may recommend you get services more often than Medicare covers. Or they may recommend services that Medicare doesnt cover. If this happens, you may have to pay some or all of the costs. Its important to ask questions so you understand why your doctor is recommending certain services and whether Medicare will pay for them.

All of the above applies to people with Original Medicare. If youre in a Medicare Advantage (Part C) health plan, check with the plan for details of how it covers mental health care.

For more information on your Medicare mental health benefits, I recommend this detailed brochure: https://www.medicare.gov/Pubs/pdf/10184-Medicare-Mental-Health-Bene.pdf .

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LEGAL CANNABIS BUSINESSES MUST BE ALLOWED ACCESS TO BANKING SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, HAWAII URGES

News Release from Hawaii Attorney General, Jan 16, 2018

HONOLULU --- Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin and Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, joined by 17 other attorneys general, urged Congress today to advance legislation allowing states with legalized medical or recreational marijuana (cannabis) to bring that commerce into the banking system.

Attorney General Chin and Attorney General Lindemuth co-chair the bipartisan National Association of Attorneys General Marijuana Working Group, comprised of states that have legalized either medical cannabis dispensaries, like Hawaii, or recreational cannabis.

Attorney General Chin said, Banks and other depository institutions are currently hindered by federal law from providing financial services to cannabis businesses. This encourages a cash-only, grey market that hurts law enforcement and tax collections.

The multi-state letter requests legislation that would provide a legal safe harbor for depository institutions that provide a financial product or service to a covered business in a state that regulates its marijuana industry. Attorney General Chin and the 18 attorneys general emphasized that the requested legislation would not only protect public safety by bringing grey-market financial activities into the banking sector and thus subject to law enforcement monitoring, but would also result in billions of dollars infused into the banking industry.

Twenty-nine states [including Hawaii] and several U.S. territories have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Among those, eight states and the District of Columbia also allow recreational use by adults over 21 years of age. However, because federal government classifies marijuana as an illegal substance, banks providing services to state-licensed cannabis businesses could find themselves subject to criminal and civil liability under the Controlled Substances Act and certain federal banking statutes, the letter states.

The attorneys general also note a recent decision by the United States Department of Justice to rescind guidance on how financial institutions could provide services to state-licensed marijuana businesses consistent with federal law. That rescission, the attorneys general argue, has made even more urgent the need for congressional action to get the cash generated by this industry into a regulated banking sector.

The multi-state letter was sponsored by Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia and North Dakota. It was also signed by California, Colorado, Connecticut, Guam, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington.

Today in Hawaii, 8 licensees have received permission to operate dispensaries for licensed medical cannabis patients.

PDF: A copy of todays letter is attached.
(Bloomberg) Chris Rokoss hedge fund lost 3.4 percent last year, joining a number of large macro-trading peers who struggled to make money, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.The Rokos Global Macro Master Fund lost most of the money in December, said the person who asked not to be identified because the information was private. A spokesman for the London-based hedge fund, which manages about $7 billion, declined to comment. Some of the best-known hedge funds betting on economic trends in developed markets suffered last year as a lack of volatility and central-bank interventions made it difficult for them to make money. Billionaire Rokos, 47, joins macro hedge funds such as Brevan Howard Asset Management and Andrew Laws Caxton Associates in losing money.

To read this article:
(HedgeCo.Net) Robert J. Jackson Jr. and Hester M. Peirce were sworn into office yesterday as SEC Commissioners by SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. Mr. Jackson and Ms. Peirce were nominated to the SEC by President Donald Trump, and their nominations were confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 21. Both new commissioners participated in todays inaugural meeting of the SECs Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee.

I look forward to working with Rob and Hester as we continue our focus on our vital mission and ensuring that our markets are working for the benefit of Main Street investors, Chairman Clayton said. It is clear to me they will bring energy, commitment, and dedication to our work and have our mission at the front of their minds.

Im honored to join Chairman Clayton and Commissioners Stein, Piwowar and Peirce in the SECs critical mission of ensuring that investors are protected, that our markets provide a level playing field for all Americans, and that entrepreneurs have access to the capital they need to create jobs, said Commissioner Jackson. The SEC boasts a talented and dedicated staff, and Ill do all I can to support their efforts to make sure our securities laws keep pace with our ever-changing markets.

It is such an honor to return to the SEC to work with my colleagues on the Commission and the staff for the benefit of investors and the American economy, said Commissioner Peirce.

Commissioner Jackson comes to the SEC from NYU School of Law, where he was a professor of law. He previously was professor of law and director of the Program on Corporate Law and Policy at Columbia Law School. He also has served as an adviser at the Treasury Department and in the Office of the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation. Commissioner Jackson earned his BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS and MBA in Finance from Wharton, an MPP from Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, and his JD from Harvard Law School.

Commissioner Peirce comes to the SEC from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University where she served as a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Financial Markets Working Group. She previously worked for U.S. Senator Richard Shelby on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and, prior to that, as counsel to then-SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins and as a Staff Attorney in the Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce earned her BA in economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Commissioner Jackson fills a term that expires on June 5, 2019, and Commissioner Peirce fills a term that expires on June 5, 2020.
Known for both artistic and practical glass production, Karhula glass factory had an impact on the day-to-day lives of Finns before becoming known internationally in the 1930s. The physical design of the display was arranged by Partanen & Lamusuo Oy and contains mostly authentic artefacts from the Milan Triennial (1933, 1936), and the World Fairs (Barcelona 1929, Paris 1937, New York 1939), as well as the original Finlandia vodka bottle design by Tapio Wirkkala .

The Glass for Everyone exhibition opened on May 19, 2017, and portrays the history and relevance of the Karhula glassworks from 1889 until 2009.

The exhibition is based on our own glass collection, which belonged to Karhula Glass Museum, says curator Vesa Alen. Karhula glassworks opened in 1889 and closed in 2009. It was a major employer in the region for many decades and formed a large part of the communitys identity, and thus the exhibition is closely linked to Finnish industrial history. Karhula glassworks was one of the pioneers of Finnish glass design in the 1930s, so the exhibition has both local and national significance, Alen continues.

Museum-goers also have a new exhibition this month called Come to Finland, which displays a collection of posters from the 1890s to the 1960s that were designed to promote tourism in Finland. Designed by poster-hunter Magnus Londen, the exhibition will be an edited version of the same display from the National Museum in Helsinki earlier this spring, says curator Erik Tirkkonen. Around sixty posters are on display, not only showing the language used to draw tourists to Finland but also discussing design, art and how the various modes of transportation have developed.

This is a good exhibition to present, especially this year when Finland is celebrating her 100th anniversary, Tirkkonen says. The exhibition shows that Finland has always been international and outwardly oriented. Many of the designers are famous artists, architects, etc., but not known for their posters.

The Maritime Center Vellamo in Kotka was designed by Ilmari Lahdelma and opened in 2008, and is host to both the Maritime Museum of Finland and Kymenlaakso Museum. Glass for Everyone will be on display in the Kymenlaakso Museum until January 21st, 2021. Come to Finland opened in the Maritime Museum of Finland on December 3, 2017, and closes April 29, 2018. 

For more information about the exhibitions please visit www.merikeskusvellamo.fi

Text by Amy Wiseman / Helsinki Times

Images: Merikeskus Vellamo
Jaana Jalonen (NCP), a councillor for the City of Espoo, reveals that answers are expected as soon as next week.

Helsinki Region Transport (HSL), and the Technical and Environment Services of Espoo have been asked to draft measures to address the problems associated with feeder services to the eight new stations added to Helsinki Metro in November.

We hope that something will be ready as soon as next Monday, when the councillor group convenes. Or at least [we hope] theres a plan on how to move forward, she said in an interview with Uusi Suomi on Monday.

One of the options under consideration is to distribute feeder traffic more evenly between the eight new stations instead of directing the bulk of it to Matinkyla, Espoo. A HSL spokesperson revealed last week that up to 40 per cent of the boardings recorded at the new stations have occurred at Matinkyla.

Another option is to increase the frequency of services to the station, as currently every other train operating on the track extension terminates at Tapiola, Espoo, three stations before Matinkyla.

Matinkyla is a real bottleneck especially at peak hours, admitted Jalonen.

Were currently waiting for an assessment of what can be done. What we want right now are clear-cut options, she stressed.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
The innovation and technology-oriented weekly has revealed that the list of municipalities that are exploring the possibility of commissioning a small modular reactor includes Espoo, Helsinki, Kirkkonummi and Nurmijarvi.

Small modular reactors are stirring up interest among municipalities in Finland, according to Tekniikka & Talous .

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a type of nuclear fission reactors with an electricity output ranging from 10 to 300 megawatts. Conventional larger nuclear reactors, by contrast, can generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electrical energy.

No small modular reactors are currently commercially available, but energy companies around the world are scurrying to develop viable technology concepts for the reactors. NuScale, a nuclear technology developer based in Oregon, the United States, is targeting commercial operation with its inaugural plant as soon as in 2026.

Juhani Hyvarinen, a professor of modelling in nuclear engineering at the Lappeenranta University of Technology, believes small modular reactors may become a viable option for municipalities striving for emissions-free co-generation of heat and electricity.

Of course itll become possible in terms of the technology, but it remains to be seen if itll be cost-effective, he commented to Tekniikka & Talous.

Small modular reactors have garnered interest also because the construction costs of a conventional nuclear power plant may rise as high as ten billion euros. The mass production of small modular reactors would likely reduce the costs considerably.

The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK) has monitored the development of small modular reactors with the help of its global partner network. STUK, however, would only conduct a safety assessment in the event that a municipality, for example, applied for a decision-in-principle from the government for commissioning a small modular reactor.

No decision-in-principle is required for reactors with a thermal output not exceeding 50 megawatts.

Finnish legislation stipulates that a nuclear reactor, regardless of its capacity, must be surrounded by a precautionary action zone with a radius of five kilometres. The precautionary action zone, in turn, must be surrounded by an emergency planning zone with a radius of 20 kilometres, when measured from the reactor site.

You have to be able to demonstrate that the civilian protection measures can be carried out if necessary. Thats the current requirement level, Nina Lahtinen of STUK said to Tekniikka & Talous.

She also reminded that because the safety requirements have been drafted for large nuclear power plants, some aspects of the requirements may change if small modular reactors are introduced to the market.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
No matter how you might feel about the things President Donald Trump has accomplished during his first year in office, and no matter how much you might support him in general, it has to be hard to condone some of his preposterous behavior.

This is not something only the presidents opponents should be worried about. Even those of us who mostly agree with his agenda and accomplishments must acknowledge that he isnt helping his cause by acting like a fifth-grader at times, speaking his mind in ways that once would have caused some of our moms to wash our mouths washed out with soap.

Using a disparaging term to refer to some disadvantaged countries probably doesnt come close to being an impeachable offense, but it sure isnt presidential by any stretch of the imagination.

And while were hearing plenty of criticism from Democrats of the presidents recent alleged nasty comment in a closed-door session with some senators discussing immigration issues, many, if not most, Republican lawmakers are remaining strangely silent. This includes our East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia elected representatives to Congress  Phil Roe, R-Tenn., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va.

Republicans have a responsibility to speak out against Trumps outrageous behavior, and they can and should do so, even while continuing to support him in pushing the issues they espouse.

The reason they should speak up is so their constituents  the very people who elected them and sent them to Washington  will understand that these lawmakers dont condone such behavior and arent afraid to call out the president when its necessary to do so.

Not speaking up could lead people to believe that these Republicans are somehow complicit in the presidents behavior.

There are some supporters who defend the presidents outrageous outbursts and his con-stant use of Twitter to make disparaging remarks by saying that its just Trump being Trump. But thats no excuse, and as president, Trump needs to have a filter in his brain that keeps some of what hes thinking from reaching his tongue.

Its that simple  there are some things you just shouldnt say out loud in front of witnesses, no matter how much you might think them.

Even polls conducted by Trump-friendly conservative-leaning organizations and websites have shown that many of the presidents most-ardent supporters are getting tired of his sometimes childish actions.

Its hard to deny that Trump has engineered some key victories for conservatives and the Republican Party, including the recent tax cuts that will benefit most working Americans.

But his sophomoric behavior continues to overshadow those accomplishments, and if this continues, Trump will have a hard time completing his agenda and will end up being known as one of the most un-presidential presidents weve ever had.

It also will most likely ensure that he wont be re-elected in 2020. And if he is the genius he considers himself to be, he surely must understand what damage he is doing to his prospects for another term in the White House.

In any event, its time for Republicans, including our own elected representatives, to take a stand against the presidents behavior, which not only makes him look like an oaf, but also undermines the dignity of the office he holds and the stature of the United States of America among its own citizens and the rest of the world.

Is this type of behavior really serving to help Make America Great Again?
HICKORY  Catawba County roads were far less trafficked Wednesday in the midst of a winter storm that has hit most of western North Carolina.

Road crews were out Monday and Tuesday preparing for the mid-week storm by spraying salt and brine along roadways throughout the area.

The snow began early Wednesday morning, with the National Weather Service estimating up to four inches of snow for Hickory by this afternoon.

Local agencies have spread across the county, attending to car wrecks resulting from the winter conditions.

Hickory Fire Department responded to seven calls for service through Wednesday afternoon, according to HFD Fire Education Coordinator Terri Byers.

Byers said it seems like people have remained cautious, driving only when necessary.

Hickory Police Department responded to 13 traffic accidents through Wednesday afternoon, with no injuries reported.

HPD Maj. Reed Baer said no locations have popped up as particularly treacherous, but two accidents did occur in the blocks between Second Avenue SE and Ninth Avenue SE on N.C. Highway 127 South.

Newton Police Department responded to 12 traffic accidents through Wednesday morning, with some including minor injuries, according to NPD Maj. Tim Hayes.

Hayes identified Old Conover-Startown Road as a particularly dangerous stretch of roadway in the icy conditions as well as 20th Street close by the N.C. Highway 16 bypass, also including anywhere hilly or curvy in the Newton area.

North Carolina Highway Patrol responded to over 500 collisions and received more than 700 calls for service by 11 a.m. across the state, according to an Associated Press report.
With the government introducing a bill in Parliament in the winter session, more than 25 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who are registered voters in the country could exercise their franchise in elections held in India through a proxy while staying abroad. The move to relax the residence requirement and actual personal participation for NRIs through an amendment to the Representation of People Act is a step forward towards internet voting.

The need for proxy voting as well as postal ballot was recognised in order to remove the hardships faced by certain voters because of frequent outstation transfers. In many countries, postal ballot and proxy voting are given to certain categories of voters, especially government servants and armed services personnel.

Although the contours or the mechanics of proxy voting are yet not clear, any implementation mechanism for such a move has to be carefully crafted. Postal ballot is allowed to Americans who reside outside the countrys jurisdiction, but in the United States the election process is carried out efficiently with clear instructions for voters. It is therefore necessary that the Election Commission of India discharges this enormous responsibility by educating the voters and officials concerned properly. At the same time, it will have to impress upon voters the need to preserve the secrecy of the ballot by providing an individual security code. Another challenge could be devising a foolproof system to ascertain the genuineness of the proxy selected by an NRI for casting the vote.

One more note of caution: At present, the expenditure of candidates and parties is watched closely within the geographical limits of the electoral constituency where the election is held. But it will be tough to keep a watch on expenditure incurred outside the country. Perhaps a declaration should be attached to the ballot affirming non-acceptance of any gain from the candidate or political parties. One hopes this will not open up new ways to bribe voters. The candidate and political party should maintain details of the money spent abroad for inclusion in the final statement of expenditure.

This system of proxy voting has already existed in our country for the armed forces personnel for some time now. One problem that surfaced during its implementation included making sure that the ballot paper reached the places where the voter was working, particularly for soldiers posted in forward areas.

Eventually, even as postal ballot and proxy voting are extended as options to the voter, to avoid the logistical bottlenecks regarding timely availability of ballot paper and misuse of proxy vote, it is better to consider electronic voting. This would require meticulous planning and consultation with all stakeholders. Even if internet voting is introduced, the commission will have to make sure that adequate safeguards are in place since political parties in India are wary of the potential for irregularities in any such system.

Despite all these reservations, if the proposal works efficiently, we could consider extending similar postal/proxy voting options to senior citizens and the physically challenged.

TS Krishnamurthy is former Chief Election Commissioner of India

The views expressed are personal
A 16th century book that belonged to Pragues Jewish community before World War II and surfaced at a New York City auction last year was brought back to the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

Titled Mikne Avram - Peculium Abrae, the recovered volume is a grammar book published in both Hebrew and Latin in 1523. It was written by Abraham ben Meir de Balmes, an Italian Jew, and published in Italy. It belonged to the library of Pragues Jewish community before the war, and it is not clear under what circumstances it disappeared.

Its an exceptional moment for us that such a rare book returns to Prague after such a long time, Leo Pavlat, director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, the legal successor to the Czech capitals pre-war Jewish community.

The book turned up last year at an auction organised by Kestenbaum & Company, a New York auction house that specialises in Judaica and rare books. The auction house withdrew it from the sale at the museums request.

Daniel E. Kestenbaum, right, president of New York based auction house, hands over the book titled "Mikne Avram - Peculium Abrae" to director of Prague's Jewish Museum Leo Pavlat, left, in Prague, Czech Republic. (AP/Petr David Josek)

Auction house director Daniel Kestenbaum identified the books most recent owner as a scholar in Jerusalem who had agreed to let the museum have it. Kestenbaum brought the book to Prague and read a message from the scholar, who wanted to remain anonymous.

The scholar said he was willing to return the book because a refusal would be an active continuity of those terrible thefts committed against Jewish property and cultural treasures perpetrated by the German Nazis.

Im happy to grant my support to the course of historical justice, the message said.

The previous owner was Zeev Ben-Haim, a leading linguist and former president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Ben-Haim was born in 1907 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire when it including the territory of the modern Czech Republic and moved to Palestine in 1933.

It is not clear how and when he acquired the book, but the scholar in Israel acquired it after Ben-Haims death in 2013.



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Scores of horse riders jumped their mounts through roaring flames in a Spanish village this week, as part of an annual festival that locals say is an integral part of their culture, but animal rights groups have condemned. The festival, dubbed Las Luminarias, takes place in San Bartolome de Pinares, northwest of Madrid, on the eve of Saint Anthonys Day, Spains patron saint of animals.

On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, dozens ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome. (AP)

Two women ride a horse through flames during the annual Luminarias celebration. (Reuters)

Participants believe that horses who leap through the flames of specially constructed bonfires will be purified during the coming year. Organisers claim that the festival dates back some 500 years. Animal rights groups have long been critical of the event. Spanish political party the Animalist Party Against the Mistreatment of Animals described the festival on its website as an example of clear animal abuse.

A man rides a horse through smoke in the village of San Bartolome de Pinares, northwest of Madrid, Spain. (Reuters)

Animal right activists have criticised this tradition. (Reuters)

A horse waits for the start of the Luminarias. (Reuters)

The towns mayor Maria Jesus Martin Gomez disagrees. The only thing I have to say is that the animals dont suffer anything at all, she said.

The government of Castilla and Leon assign us a vet and the City Hall hires another one, who is making rounds all around the village during the festival. Every year they produce a report which has always been favourable and nothing has ever happened here.

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Ananya Pandey, who many believe will make her film debut in Karan Johar-produced Student of the Year 2, graced the pages of Variety in a spread featuring stars of the future. The feature also included Ananyas cousin, Ahaan Panday, and Reese Witherspoons daughter, Ava Phillippe.

The 19-year-old was a part of the annual Bal des Debutantes, whose 25th edition took place in Paris last November. Maharaja Padmanabh Singh of Jaipurs former royal family and his sister, Princess Gauravi Kumari were also a part of the Ball.

The aspiring star took part in a two-day photoshoot for the spread. A source told Mid-Day, It was exciting for Ananya as she hung out with the glittering European and English royalty, for over two days for the event and magazine shoot. She wore the same blue-and-black Jean Paul Gaultier gown that she had worn at Le Bal, for the photo shoot too.

Others to be featured in the photos include Scotlands Cecily Lasnet (great-granddaughter of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire), French film icon Jean-Paul Belmondos grandson Giacomo Belmondo and Princess Sibilla and Prince Leopold of Luxembourg.

Talking about Ananyas aspiring to become a film star, Chunky earlier told HT, Ananya finished her studies, and a couple of months back, she did tell me that she wants to get into films. Nowadays, you cannot tell your kids what to do. In fact, you have to listen to them. As a parent, give them great education and values and they will decide what to do in life. I would like to tell her that its important that you dont imitate anyone elses success story. You have to make your own story, and I would love to be known as Ananya Pandays father.

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The Adani Group said on Wednesday it would invest Rs 750 crore to double the capacity of the companys edible oil refinery at Haldia in West Bengal.

Announcing this on the second and last day of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) in Kolkata, Pranav Adani of the Adani Group expressed interest to invest in port, agri and power sectors.

Adani said Rs 750 crore would be pumped in to double the capacity of the edible oil refinery at Haldia from 1,600 tonnes per day in the next five years.

Packaging would also be expanded from 1,200 tonnes to 1,800 tonnes.

Stating that they will also be exploring in the business of agri-logistics and warehousing in the state, Adani said the group wants to replicate Mundra port of Kutch in Bengal, given the opportunity.

The state government has been planning to develop two deep sea ports.

In power sector, Adani said, they are keen in offering their expertise in transmission and renewable energy.

West Bengal received investment proposals worth Rs 17,000 crore on the first day of BGBS from leading industrialists of the country.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in retail and petroleum outlets, while JSW Group chief Sajjan Jindal said the state would receive investments worth Rs 10,000 crore in cement capacity expansion, steel, paints and power over the next 3-4 years.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has written to paramilitary forces to put to use the over 6,000 flats that have been rejected by allottees in its two previous housing schemes citing small size and alleged lack of basic amenities.

Officials said at least 6,000 allottees of DDAs ambitious 2017 housing scheme have surrendered their houses within 45 days of the draw of lot held on November 30 last year. These flats are among 8,500 units that were returned by the allottees in the land owning agencys 2014 housing scheme and were later refurbished before being included in the latest scheme. A large majority of these flats are the one-bedroom Lower Income Group (LIG) category units constructed on city outskirts in Rohini, Narela and Siraspur.

We have written to paramilitary forces such as CISF, BSF, SSB and CRPF to accommodate their staff in the flats. At least 6,000 flats have been surrendered in the 2017 scheme so far, said JP Agrawal, principal commissioner (housing), DDA.

The move is a departure from DDAs priority of constructing houses for general public. But, after two failed attempts of selling the wrongly designed flats, the authority, it appears, realised there are no takers for the units and should therefore be put to use as quarters for the paramilitary staff.

We have sought 750 flats from DDA in Rohini. The area suits our CISF personnel posted on Metro stations as the service is being expanded in the region, said a CISF official.

As many as 1,500 flats in Delhi government in Narela were also accommodated as CISF quarters after no takers were found a few years ago.

Agencies like the CISF have requested houses from us for their staff earlier as well. But we usually give preference to the general public over government quarters. But now it appears as if we do not have any other choice, said an official. The rejected flats range from 33 sqm to 35 sqm in area.

The official added that if all the 6,000 rejected flats dont find takers with the paramilitary forces, then the remaining flats would be refurbished or repurposed in order to be included in future DDA schemes.

Of the 46,000 applications received for the 2017 scheme, DDA allotted the flats to 12,617 applicants after the draw of lots. These 12,617 flats included 11,757 lower income group (LIG), 403 middle income group (MIG), 372 Janta and 85 higher income group units.

Priced between 7 lakh and 1.26 crore, the flats are located in Rohini, Dwarka, Narela, Vasant Kunj, Jasola, Pitam Pura, Paschim Vihar and Siraspur. There was a provision for surrendering the flats within 15 days after the demand-cum-allotment letters are issued.

In 2014, 50% flats in the 25,000 units were surrendered for similar reasons. Later, the authority clarified that the flats were included in the latest scheme after the problems had been addressed, according to DDA officials. In July 2016, the then minister of state for urban development, Rao Inderjit Singh, said in a written reply in Parliament that out of 25,039 flats for draw of lots in the 2014 housing scheme, 10,653 flats were surrendered or cancelled.

The once much sought-after DDA flats have, of late, been losing out to private housing projects which provide better amenities at lower rates in the National Capital Region. In fact, to counter the lure of the private builders, the new under-construction flats, which are part of the 2018 housing scheme of the DDA, have swanky multi-level underground parking and rainwater harvesting units.

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The Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested a 31-year-old man from Jahangirpuri for allegedly murdering his wife and her 18-month-old son at their residence in northwest Delhis Jahangirpuri two days ago.

Following his arrest, the accused, Om Prakash, told the police that he had been planning to kill his wife Shobha and the child, who he claims is not his son, for the past five to six months. An investigator said he had even brought the murder weapon, a dagger, about 20 days ago and hidden it in the house.

We arrested Om Prakash on Wednesday morning after a tip of was received that he was spotted at Khera Kalan Railway Station. A police team was sent to Khera Kalan Railway Station and Prakash, who was planning to escape the city in a train, was held, said DCP (north west) Aslam Khan.

During interrogation, Prakash told the police that for the past two years, he suspected his wife of having an extra-marital affair.

There was no specific person he suspected to be her lover but he would often accuse her of infidelity. Since the birth of her youngest child, their fights had intensified. He told us that because of the frequent fights and the fact that they rarely stayed under the same roof in the past two years, he was not ready to believe that the child he murdered was his, said another investigator.

The couple had three children.

Shobha and the kids often stayed with her parents and she had returned home just a week before the murder after Prakashs father convinced her to return.

By the time, she and their three children returned, Prakash had kept the murder weapon at home. He was looking for a suitable opportunity, which he got on Monday evening. When his wife and the three children went to sleep, he hit the toddler on the head with a blunt object and stabbed Shobha and hit her with a blunt object, said the officer.
A 45-year-old man was arrested by Delhi polices special cell for allegedly smuggling fake currency worth Rs 3 lakh. Police said the seized notes with a face value of Rs 2,000 each were smuggled into India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border of Malda, West Bengal.

We arrested one Narender Singh near Red Fort Metro station on January 12 after receiving a tip-off that a key member of the fake note syndicate would come there to deliver a consignment. We seized 150 notes of Rs 2,000 face value kept in a bag, said P.K. Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell).

All the seized fake notes are of fine quality and it is very difficult to distinguish fake notes from the real ones, Kushwah added.

The police seized 150 notes of Rs 2,000 face value. (Sourced)

During interrogation, it came to light that Singh had been smuggling notes and has past cases against him. He further told the police that after a brief lull in the first few months post-demonetisation, the supply of fake notes has picked up since the second half of 2017.

Singh disclosed that he is supplying fake currency for past three to four years. In 2016, he was arrested by the Rajasthan police with fake currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination. Due to demonetisation, he was not getting the duplicate notes of the new currency in the first half of 2017. However in the second half, he again started the business as the supply started to come from Farraka in West Bengal, said Kushwah.

He added that there have been regular inputs about the syndicate smuggling fake notes into the country through border areas and surveillance was mounted on the movements of the identified members of this syndicate to collect requisite intelligence.

Singh is a resident of Imlota village in Haryanas Charkhi Dadri district.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with other Aam Aadmi Party legislators, on Wednesday urged Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to allow the constitution of Delhi Waqf Board.

The issue of several posts lying vacant in the Waqf Board and corruption among its existing officials was the major highlight of the last day of Delhi Assemblys winter session. After legislators discussed the findings and recommendations of the Assemblys Questions and Reference Committee, former chairperson of the Board and Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan submitted his resignation as a member of Delhi Waqf Board.

If with my resignation the L-G agrees to constitute the Delhi Waqf Board, then so be it. I am resigning as member of the board, Khan told the House.

Revenue minister Kailash Gahlot alleged that the L-G does not want to appoint the boards chairperson and that the vacant post is leading to corruption and misuse of Waqf property.

I want to know why the L-G is not appointing the chairperson despite the fact that all laid down procedures have been followed. The High Court was also aware that elections to the Board were ongoing and so it had put a stay on only one post. The others can be filled, Gahlot said.

He said that when AAP MLA Amantullah Khan was the chairperson till October, 2016, the boards income had risen to around Rs 1 crore from about Rs 25,000.

Later, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet, L-G should permit constitution of Delhi Waqf Board to prevent such wrongdoings (sic).

The House, that was discussing the interim report of the Question and Reference Committee, which found that a portion of a Dargah land in Chirag Delhi was illegally sold, later passed a resolution seeking a magisterial probe into 36 court cases, in which the Delhi Waqf Board had lost.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the health department on Wednesday to create a management system of international standard that can connect all the Delhi government hospitals, polyclinics and mohalla clinics and provide 360-degree facilities to the patient.

Developing the system would include computerising all records  like number of beds and ventilators available at the hospital, number of pharmacy counters, and availability of other equipment, said a senior official from the health department.

Apart from that, the data on the vacancy of beds and ventilators or dialysis machines, availability of medicines, the functionality of an equipment have to be updated to the system on a real-time basis, the official said.

Online and telephonic appointments, real-time data on the availability of doctors, medicines and ventilators would all be integrated into the system proposed during a review meeting of the health department on Wednesday.

The system would also include facilities like redesigning existing infrastructure and refurbishing drugs and consumables in the wards, OPDs and hospital pharmacies.

Such a system would help in reducing queues and enhancing the patient experience, the chief minister said.

Directed Health dept today to develop most modern hospital Management Information System of international standards to integrate all Del govt hospitals, Moh clinics n polyclinics, the chief minister tweeted on Wednesday.

The health department is currently in the process of identifying parameters that will need to be integrated into the system. At first, we will start with efficient management of the hospitals, so most of the data will be for the hospitals and the health department. Then we will look at integrating the patient facilities to it, an official of the health department informed.

The health department will soon be contacting private IT companies to help build the modern health information management system, the official added.
A woman and her 18-month-old son were murdered in northwest Delhi on Monday night allegedly by her husband in front of the couples two other sons, police said on Tuesday.

Police said the husband, Om Prakash Kumar, is on the run. He allegedly spent the night with the corpses and the two children, aged six and four, before leaving the house at G-block in Jahangirpuri around 6am on Tuesday.

The two children were awake when he hit their toddler brother on the head, apparently with a hammer, and stabbed their mother five times in the chest and abdomen with a dagger between 9pm and 11pm.

The boy bled to death as the blow caused multiple skull fractures. The man suspected his wifes fidelity and thought the youngest child was not his, police said.

The woman, 30-year-old Shobha, was stabbed as well as hit with a blunt object.

The suspect did not harm his other two sons. The six-year-old boy told us that he was afraid, turned his head, and fell asleep. The other child is too young to describe what happened, an officer said.

According to Aslam Khan, the deputy commissioner of police (northwest), the crime came to light around 8.30am on Tuesday when Kumars father, Khubi Ram, went to his sons room on the first floor to use the washroom and found the bodies on the floor.

Ram told police his elder grandson was sitting on a trunk and looking at the bodies when he went in. The child was not crying and his brother was sleeping, he said.

Kumar, who painted homes for a living, married Shobha 13 years ago and the couple allegedly quarrelled often. The woman had filed a dowry harassment and domestic violence case against Kumar in 2010, but withdrew it later, officer Khan said.

Shobhas family suspects the role of her in-laws in the murder, saying she was staying with her parents since February last year because of her drunkard husbands harassment. Her family alleges that Kumar took her home a week ago with the children to kill her, Khan said.

Police have registered a case of murder and formed four teams to catch the husband.
On December 22 last year, as a team of municipal officials accompanied by members of Supreme Court-monitored committee sealed unauthorised commercial premises in upscale Defence Colony market, traders across shopping centres of the national Capital were thrown into a tizzy.

Less than a month on, the drive has so far sealed nearly 600 shops  some fully, others where portions have been barricaded  in prominent markets such as Khan Market, Meharchand Market and Defence Colony market for violations of municipal norms.

Not that rules were not bent before. In fact, these markets have mushroomed since 1960s amid a blatant disregard for municipal, environment and basic fire safety norms.

In Defence Colony, for example, residential spaces have been allegedly used for commercial use. Traders in Khan Market have allegedly extended shopping spaces beyond permissible limit while the shop owners in South Extension are fighting a battle for an increased floor area ratio (FAR). If the eateries in Hauz Khas Village, part of a Lal Dora village, are a classic example of disregard for fire safety and environment norms, Connaught Place traders have ignored heritage bylaws.

Most of the markets have blatantly violated bylaws by increasing the seating capacity and commercial spaces beyond the permissible limits. We keep penalising people but things return to square one once a drive is over. We must have stringent laws and do away with involvement of multiple agencies, said a South civic body official.

According to Arunava Dasgupta, head of urban design at School of Planning and Architecture , If the planner will not envisage the growth of market in terms of policy and laws, then they will become vulnerable places. If growth is not anticipated and provision for expansion is not created, laws will be violated. A pre-emptive approach is needed to stop this.

Take Lajpat Nagar for example which was a small vegetable market with a few groceries. But since it was located along the Ring Road, expansion was inevitable. The problem is authorities failed to anticipate it, he added.

VK Gautam, director, enforcement, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), said the civic body had found violations and issued notices to shops earlier. Our enforcement and health team is conducting a fresh survey again, We will ensure that no one flouts norms, he said.

Last time, sealing was done in Delhi by municipal authorities in 2006, when the SC-appointed panel cracked down on unauthorised constructions. Besides, local and civic authorities keep running drives against the violators. Last week, after the Kamala Mills fire incident in Mumbai, the Council warned traders associations to ensure that the restaurants abide by trade licence conditions, fire safety norms and follow permitted sitting capacity.

The market associations, while acknowledging violations, demanded a foolproof policy with less hassles.

There are shop owners who violate norms. But the civic authorities should intimate us through notices before taking any action. Also, the conversion rates fixed by DDA are too high and rules should be more clear, Atul Bhargava, president New Delhi Traders Association.

Vijay Arora, of the South Extension Market Association, agreed. We do not mind paying conversion charges. But there should be uniformity in FAR. For some shops the civic body has approved 300 FAR ,for others it is less, he said.
The traders wing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has threatened to organise a one-day Delhi Bandh against the ongoing sealing drive at markets by the civic bodies, said wing members.

They alleged that the BJP-ruled civic bodies harassed the traders during the sealing drive which being carried out in accordance with instructions of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.

Hundreds of traders from across Delhi had on Monday started a protest march from AAP office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg against the sealing drive. The march ended at the Civic Centre where the agitators staged a demonstration against the MCDs.

Many trade unions approached us after the Mondays protest suggesting a one-day bandh by shops across Delhi. We are approaching bigger associations for the token strike. We will finalise a date once we are sure about the support, said Brajesh Goyal, convener of the trade wing.

Goyal said as many as 50 associations affiliated with Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) have already extended support for the strike. CTI, Goyal said, is an umbrella body of over 250 traders associations of Delhi.

We have been informed that businessmen in markets like Chandni Chowk have also been served notices despite being exempted under the law. The sealing drive is now taking a toll on businesses of small-time traders, he said.

Officials of three municipal corporations initiated a sealing drive last month, in accordance with the instructions of a Supreme Court-appointed panel that was recently revived by the top court.

The monitoring panel  comprising KJ Rao, former advisor to the Election Commission, Bhure Lal, chairman of Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority and major general (retd) Som Jhingan  is also empowered to seal commercial establishments that have done illegal construction and where agricultural land has been misused for commercial purposes. As many as 35 basements of shops were sealed during the drive in Defence Market on Tuesday.
The police have arrested two men from Rajasthan in connection to the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, who was abducted and dumped in Faridabad on Saturday.

The two men, police said, were nabbed from their village at Bharatpur, Rajasthan about a four-hour drive from Faridabad. The accused were identified as Sanjeev alias Sanju and Arshad, both residents of Mewat in Haryana.

Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Rajesh Cheche said, We got information about the two men hiding in Jurhera area of Bharatpur and sent three teams.

Officer Cheche said police have identified two other men who were in the car when the young woman was abducted, but did not disclose their identity. Police said one of the absconding suspect is a driver.

Police said accused Sanjeev is a dairy products supplier and Arshad was his helper. Police have also recovered the vehicle in which the young woman was abducted.

The duo has confessed to having raped the woman and were drunk at the time of the incident, a police spokesperson said.

On Monday, the Haryana government had transferred Faridabad police commissioner Hanif Qureshi and appointed another officer Amitabh Singh Dhillion in his place. The opposition had also demanded chief minister Manohar Lal Khattars resignation for the poor law and order situation in the state.

The 23-year-old woman was abducted from Rajiv Gandhi Chowk area in Old Faridabad. Her family learnt about the kidnapping because she was talking to her cousin on phone at that time when she was abducted. At around 9.15 pm she called her brother after being dumped from the car near Sikri village on Mathura Road.

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On January 22, 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Panipat, Haryana, to launch the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save the girl child, educate the girl child) national campaign. Mr Modis choice wasnt unexpected: the state, notorious for foeticide and female infanticide, had the worst child sex ratio (the number of girls for every 1,000 sons) among Indian states in the 2011 census. Haryanas child sex ratio was 834, compared with the national average of 919. Things have changed since.

The states success in preventing female foeticide is evident in the numbers released by the Haryana government this week. The sex ratio at birth in the state in 2017 has shown a clear improvement, the best in 16 years. Out of the 5,09,290 children born in the state during the year (January 2017 to December 2017), there were 2,66,064 boys and 2,43,226 girls, which is a marked improvement . The sex ratio at birth in the state is now 914.

The spike is not sudden. The last three years have seen a steady rise with the sex ratio at birth increasing from 876 in 2015 to 900 in 2016. Today at least 12 Haryana districts have a sex ratio of 900 or more. What is also remarkable is that some of the worst offenders, which were part of Haryanas gender critical district list  Mahendergarh, Rewari, Sonipat and Jhajjar  with a child sex ratio below 800 in the 2011 census, have shown marked improvement of 136, 91, 88 and 96 points respectively.

One of the biggest reasons for this turnaround is stricter implementation of the law and a crackdown on sex selection tests which has broken the nexus between unethical doctors, quacks, untrained health workers, ultrasound technicians and operation theatre assistants. As many as 550 FIRs have been registered under the under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (PC&PNDT) Act and Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act since 2015 and more than 1,000 people jailed. Along with the fear of law, the social stigma against people who are accused of foeticide is growing. In part, this can be attributed to the achievements of women athletes such as the Phogat sisters and Sakshi Malik that have helped fight the deep-set bias against girl children.

As always, though, there is room for improvement n the Beti Bachao campaign. An anonymous online complaint portal where people can blow the whistle on unregistered doctors operating ultrasound machines is yet to be launched and there is an absence of a structured monitoring mechanism to ensure greater accountability. Still, it cant be ignored that a state, once infamous for female foeticide is showing greater regard for the girl child. Although Haryanas success story, along with those of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, two other states that have showed significant improvements in the sex ratio, is worth appreciating, the states, and indeed, all India would do well to now start focusing on the continuing violence against women in the form of heinous rapes and murders.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has barred students who have completed class 12 examination through open and distance mode from attending common medical entrance examination (NEET).

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) under the human resource development (HRD) ministry said the decision will deprive thousands of students the opportunity to pursue medical education.

According to an official, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar and Union health minister JP Nadda will hold a meeting on Wednesday to take a call on the issue.

More than 2 lakh students register every year with NIOS and close to 3,000 had registered for NEET exam in 2017, the official said. Across India, the number would be higher. Out of 3,000 NIOS students, 864 qualified the test too. So it is unfair to bar them, said a senior official.

In a letter to NIOS, the Medical Council of India (MCI) said they had examined the proposal to allow these students to take the test. However, it pointed out that NIOS students would not be on par with those from the regular mode. ...they would be ineligible for NEET on equitable basis, reads the letter sent in 2017.

NIOS officials claimed that in the past, MCI board of governors had said if the required criteria of graduate medical education regulation is fulfilled by stude- nts appearing in 10+2 exams by the NIOS, they would be eligible for MBBS admission. It was proposed by the MCI, said a health ministry official.

NIOS officials said their syllabus was more rigorous and students are examined on the syllabus for class XI and XII, wh- ereas other boards examine lea-rners just on class XII syllabus.

We cant equate regular students with those who complete class 12 from correspondence as the latter dont get practical lessons, said a member of the MCI, justifying the rationale for the Councils decision.

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Professor Atilla Incecik, associate principal and dean of the faculty of engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow was in India last month as part of a Scottish Government delegation to promote educational and research links between India and Scotland. Strathclyde has a long history of welcoming Indian students and is home to the second-largest group of Indian students in Scotland, besides having the biggest Engineering faculty in Scotland. Professor Atilla Incecik spoke about Strathclydes ambitions in India, the links it is forging with Indian partner institutions and how it is attracting Indian students to Glasgow with a range of exciting new programmes.

Edited Excerpts:

1. What makes the University of Strathclyde popular with Indian students?

The University of Strathclyde is committed to useful learning and offers a range of programmes in subjects such as finance, international management, engineering and computer science that are geared towards providing career-minded individuals with the skills they need to succeed in their chosen profession.

Our unrivalled links with industry offer students the chance to work with relevant businesses in their field of study and gain vital experience through Internship opportunities. We also have a strong focus on entrepreneurialism at Strathclyde which provides all our students with access to a wealth of facilities and support to help them start their own businesses. We find that this appeals particularly to Indian students as many of our intake will come from family business backgrounds or are considering starting something up themselves in the future.

2. What has been the intake of Indian students over the last 5 years?

We have seen an increase in the number of Indian students coming to Strathclyde over the last five years, driven partly by an overall increase in interest in Scotland as a study abroad destination, given its global reputation for high-quality teaching and research, welcoming message and the growing strength of the rupee against the pound.

At the University we have been able to adapt existing programmes, and create new ones, to fit the needs and demands of an international audience. This is done in consultation with industry to ensure that the programmes are relevant to the international and Indian job market. Data Analytics/Big Data, Quantitative Finance and a range of programmes across sustainability and environmental engineering have contributed to this growth. Strathclyde is very proud to currently have the second-highest number of Indian students in Scotland.

3. Tell us about your collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai and TERI School of Advanced Studies (SAS) in New Delhi. What do you hope to achieve by this collaboration?

Future Cities is a key research focus for the University of Strathclyde. Through our work we aim to make a tangible impact on how the worlds cities adapt and develop to meet the demands of modern life in a sustainable way which enhances our prosperity and quality of life. The collaboration with TISS and TERI enables us to combine our expertise to specifically look at the challenges faced by Indias fast-growing cities to come up with tailored solutions. Our partnerships aim to look at how Indias cities of the future can meet the demands and requirements placed on them through smarter approaches to policy and design.

4. What are some of the courses at Strathclyde that attract International students? And what are the scholarship opportunities available to students from India?

Business and engineering programmes continue to be the main attractions for Indian students at Strathclyde, though we are also growing our numbers in science, health and social sciences subjects. We have more than 131 different types of scholarship open to Indian students to help cover the costs of their studies.

During our trip to India we launched five new Scottish Government-funded scholarships for Indian students studying on our MSc Global Sustainable Cities.

Strathclyde Business School, offers SBS India applicants the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to undertake a Strathclyde MBA (one year, full time study) in Glasgow, commencing September 2018 for which the maximum value is 7000.Then there is The Biomedical Engineering Celebration Awards for India which offers 6000 pounds to well-qualified applicants from India who are entering any of the taught postgraduate programmes in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in September 2018.

More details can be found on our website: https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/scholarships/
A minor, who had been repeatedly harassing girls and allegedly tried to force himself on a girl, was detained by police.

The boy allegedly harassed the girl but could not carry out his assault after the girl, who was returning home after school, protested. He was arrested by the Manesar women police, and sent to observation home in Faridabad after a case was registered against him on Wednesday.

The police said the incident happened on December 19 in Baghanki village, when the minor boy accosted a girl and tried to molest her.

Inspector Poonam Singh, SHO, women police station, said the boy was detained as he was a repeat offender and sent to an observation home. There were a number of complaints against the boy and we wanted to detain him before he committed a more serious crime. His behaviour can be corrected at the observation home with proper counselling, Singh said.

In another incident, a person was booked for allegedly harassing a woman, threatening and stalking her. The police booked the accused after he allegedly tried to kiss her and groped her at The Vilas condominium in DLF Phase 2 on Monday.

A case was registered against the accused identified as Neeraj, a resident of the The Vilas on Akashneem Marg. The police said a case under sections 354, 506, 509 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against Neeraj after the woman, who is a resident of east Delhi, complained to police.

In two other incidents which happened near the KR Manglam University on Sohna Road, police booked two youth in separate incidents for harassing and molesting a minor girl and a woman. A man, identified as Emran, was booked under Section 8 of Pocso Act for allegedly molesting a minor girl.

The incident happened on Monday evening near the university and a case was registered at Sohna police station against the accused. An official said the matter is being probed.

In another incident near the university, a case has been registered against unidentified person under sections 323, 354A, and 506 of the IPC for allegedly harassing a woman student of the university. Police said the matter is being probed and the accused would be arrested soon.

All cases in which women or minor girls are being harassed or targeted in any way is being taken seriously by Gurgaon police. The cases are being registered promptly and action is being taken, said Ravinder Kumar, PRO, Gurgaon police.

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Is there anything wrong in using Aadhaar to increase the efficiency of government welfare schemes? That was the substance of questions posed by two judges, including the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday as a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court began hearing pleas against Aadhaar in one of the most keenly watched cases of recent times.

To be sure, the questions were more in the nature of observations, and these do not necessarily have any bearing on the judgement itself, although they do reflect the line of thinking on the bench.

The petitioners opposing Aadhaar said the National Democratic Alliances governments ambitious biometric-driven project sought to tether every resident of India to an electronic leash.

The State may say all we are trying to do is ensure that money is going where it ought to. If you are depending on social welfare benefits, equally states have countervailing interests to ensure that they reach the right people, Justice DY Chandrachud said.

The Constitution Bench is hearing 28 petitions challenging Aadhaars legal validity. These include challenges to various administrative orders that make linking of the 12-digit unique identity number to government services mandatory and also statutes such as the Income-Tax that make it compulsory to link the Aadhaar number to the PAN (permanent account number) issued by the tax department. The bench will also address the larger question of whether Aadhaar infringes on the right to privacy. A plea to this effect led to a larger debate on the right to privacy itself that was settled in July last year with a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court maintaining that the right to privacy is a fundamental right.

Interestingly, even that judgement had a provision to allow the state to collect information so as to improve the performance of its social welfare schemes.

On Wednesday, Justice Chandrachud posed the query to senior advocate Shyam Divan who opened the arguments for the petitioners, including social activists such as Aruna Roy, Shanta Sinha and retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice K Puttuswamy.

Divan argued that Aadhaar alters the relationship between the citizen and the State, while diminishing the status of the citizen. All rights, he said, have now been made conditional on a compulsory barter, arguing. The barter compels the citizen to give up her biometrics voluntarily, allow her biometrics and demographic information to be stored by the State and private operators and then used for a process termed authentication, he said.

CJI Dipak Misra echoed Justice Chandrachud and said: Article 21 confers fundamental rights that include right to education. They (government) may say that it (collection of biometrics) is being done for the purpose of ensuring that teachers and students come to school.

Divan answered that the petitioners had a problem with the central registry which stores the data.

Aadhaar raises several questions including whether the Constitution of India authorises creation of a surveillance state and whether the vulnerability of the database threatened national security, Divan argued.

The architecture of the unique identity was such that throughout the day, there will be an electronic trail of movements and it is left with the Central government, he explained: Why should central government know my movements. Divan added that such an architecture is unconstitutional and could create a surveillance society.
Despite the Supreme Court upholding a ban on cockfighting, people in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh organised this bloodsport on large scale during the three-day Sankranti festivities that concluded Tuesday.

During the festivities there was also a spike in betting and gambling which are illegal in Andhra Pradesh.

Despite the administrations claims that were taking stringent action to curb cockfights, people in Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari and parts of Visakhapatnam districts conducted their traditional winter sport without any hurdles. Knives and blades were sold openly and organisers were found tying sharp knives to roosters legs before the fight  all in front of the media.

Hundreds of arenas were arranged amidst lush green fields to for the cockfights. Tents were erected with seating arrangements for thousands of people coming from different parts of the state.

Like in the past, this time, too, a large number of people from Telangana and Rayalaseema came to our villages to witness and participate in the cockfights, said S Ayyappa, one of the organisers at Bhimavaram town, which accounts for the largest number of cockfights in the state.

According to Ayyappa, the total revenue from the cockfights and allied activities could be more than Rs 1,000 crore in the four districts in the last three days. The allied activities include makeshift casinos for high-stakes gambling and card games, sale of liquor, running of road-side restaurants, snack-bars and organising and recording dances.

Though the Andhra Pradesh government had given an affidavit to the court in the past listing out a series of actions to stop cockfights, they were hardly implemented at the ground level.

A makeshift casino with patrons gambling during Sankranti. (HT PHOTO)

According to reports, the police have filed 965 cases against organisers of cockfights and gamblers in four coastal districts under the AP Gaming Act, 1974 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960.

Krishna district superintendent of police Sarvasreshtha Tripathi said that 382 cases were booked in the district and nearly 1,000 people were arrested for participating in cockfights and gambling. Police also seized a large number of knives and Rs 2.82 lakh in cash. In East Godavari district, 326 cases were booked and over 1100 people were arrested.

Animal rights activists describe these actions as an eye-wash. The police are trying to wash off their hands by making a few arrests and seizing some petty cash from the road side organisers. They do not take action against political leaders and big businessmen, who indulge in betting of crores of rupees on cockfights and gambling, alleged animal rights activist and advocate Shreya Paropkari. They are misleading people by misinterpreting the court orders.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the penalty ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 50 for first offence and Rs 100 for the second offence. Those arrested pay this nominal penalty and come out on bails, as it is a non-cognizable offence. But what the authorities are ignoring is that organising cockfights by setting up arenas and holding of casinos etc is a cognizable and non-bailable offence. The police can take action under these sections, Paropkari argued.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his host, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday began their Gujarat visit with a roadshow and a trip to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.

The two prime ministers also jointly inaugurated the International Center For Entrepreneurship & Technology  iCreate, and are scheduled to visit a centre for agriculture in Sabarkantha. Netanyahu visited the Taj Mahal in Agra on Tuesday.

Here are the live updates:

5:45pm: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to reach Mumbai from Ahmedabad around 6.15pm on a two-day visit.

5:34pm: Our relation with Israel through Centre of Excellence has to be taken forward to bring about change. I thank PM Netanyahu for taking time for our farmers and talking to them, says Modi.

5:30pm: We are working towards doubling farmer incomes by 2022. For this, optimum utilisation of land resources, ensuring minimum wastage & understanding the needs of the market assume importance: PM Modi.

5:29pm: We are all aware of the strides Israel has made in agriculture, including when it comes to managing water resources and irrigation. Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core, says Modi.

5:25pm: With the help of technology and advanced Science, Israel has brought revolution in the sector of agriculture, says PM Narendra Modi in Vadrad.

5:20pm: I know something about Mashav. We operate in many countries but the biggest project that Mashav has is here in India because India has a leader, has a vision, says Benjamin Netanyahu in Vadrad. Mashav is Israels agency for international development cooperation in the ministry of foreign affairs.

3.13pm: In his message, President Ram Nath Kovind said, India-Israel relations are weaved with threads of culture, civilisational values and mutual trust. More than 2,000 years ago, the Jews arrived in India. They found love, equality and a family-like reception. This was an expression of the core beliefs of Indias ancient culture and its people.

3.12pm: In his message to the magazine, PM Modi said, The deep friendship of the Indian people with Israel is something worth celebrating. The bond between the two nations goes back centuries in time and will continue to grow stronger.

3.11pm: The magazine is planned to carry forward the great initiative of Modi and Netanyahu to strengthen India-Israel relations and provide a platform for exchanging views between Indians and Jews the world over, says Ralphy Jhirad, who is also the president and managing trustee of Bene Israel Heritage Museum and Genealogical Centre.

3.11pm: The magazine will be launched at the Magen David Synagogue at Byculla in south Mumbai on Thursday, an editorial board member of the magazine, Ralphy Jhirad, tells PTI.

3.10pm: The Jewish community will mark Netanyahus Mumbai visit with the launch of Namaste Shalom, a regular monthly magazine on bilateral relations between the two nations, reports PTI.

3.01pm: iCreate ka i small letter mein hai. I ko chota kyo rakha iske piche bhi ek wajah hai. Creativity ki sabse badi rukavat hoti hai I ka bada hona. (The letter i is is in lower case because the word I is the biggest hurdle for creativity): PM Modi at iCreate Centre.

2.52pm: Four days ago, ISRO made a century in satellite launching. Such success needs dedication, hard work and dreams. Such energy is filled in our scientists and youth: PM Modi.

2.50pm: We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas and new India is formed from innovations: PM Modi at iCreate Centre.

2.46pm: The technology and creativity of Israel influence the world. Israel has proved it to the world that commitment of the people, not size of the nation takes the country forward: PM Modi at iCreate Centre in Ahmedabad.

2.43pm: When I launched iCreate a few years ago, I said I want to link it with Israel. My motive was that this institution and our youth is benefited by Israels experience and their start-up environment: PM Modi.

2.40pm: When a farmer sows a small plant, coming generations receive fruits of that huge tree. The farmers soul feels elated with this. We are feeling the same happiness on the inauguration of iCreate: PM Modi

2.35pm: When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. From that time, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation, says PM Narendra Modi at iCreate Centre.

2.25pm: Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi, thank you all!: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu concludes his address at the iCreate centre

2.23pm: Many Indian soldiers who lost their lives during the liberation of Haifa were Gujaratis. Thank you Gujarat, says Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

2.21pm: PM Modi and I are both very young and both very optimistic, we are young in our thinking & optimistic about the future, says Netanyahu.

2.20pm: I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

2.10pm: PM Modi and Netanyahu interact with people at the iCreate centre in Ahmedabad.

2.05pm: Netanyahu tells Israeli reporters travelling with him that he is certain that the US Embassy will be moved to Jerusalem in the coming year, much sooner than Trump administration officials have estimated, Associated Press reports. He says his solid assessment is that the American Embassy will be moved far faster than what we think ... in the course of the year.

1.25pm: PM Modi and Netanyahu inaugurate the iCreate Center at Deo Dholera village in Ahmedabad.

12.51pm: Both India and Israel have a connection as they have occupied Muslim territories - India has occupied Kashmir, while Israel is occupying a vast area of Palestine, a Radio Pakistan report quotes Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif as telling a private channel.

12.49pm: Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif criticised Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahus visit to India, saying both India and Israel have an anti-Islam nexus, reports ANI.

12.48pm: Pakistan criticises Netanyahus visit to India, reports ANI

12.35pm: Gujarat extends a warm welcome to Mrs. Netanyahu and PM @netanyahu PM @netanyahu will experience Gujarats remarkable hospitality during our visit to the state today. We will attend various programmes and interact with a wide range of people, ranging from innovators, entrepreneurs and farmers, tweets PM Modi.

12.30pm: Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu leave a message at Sabarmati Ashram.

12.19pm: The two PMs will dedicate a mobile water desalination van to Suigam Taluka of Banaskantha district, through a video link.

12.18pm: Modi and Netanyahu will inaugurate the iCreate Centre at Deo Dholera village in Ahmedabad. They will also visit a Startup Exhibition and interact with innovators and Startup CEOs.

12.15pm: Modi and Netanyahu will visit the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad in Sabarkantha district, and inaugurate the Centre of Excellence for Date Palms at Kukama via a video link. The two leaders will also interact with farmers.

12.11pm: Netanyahu and his wife Sara, along with PM Modi, fly kites along the Sabarmati riverfront.

12.10pm: Modi and Netanyahu pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.

12.01pm: Netanyahu and his wife Sara garland a photo at Sabarmati Ashram, and spin a charkha.

11.58am: Modi and Netanyahu reach Sabarmati Ashram.

11.50am: Traditional dancers present glimpses of various states of India all along the roadshow.

11.40am: Unlike the roadshow in 2017 in an open vehicle by PM Narendra Modi and Japans Shinzo Abe, the prime ministers this time opt for bullet-proof cars.

11.25am: Huge crowd gathers to welcome Modi and Netanyahu as the two prime ministers depart from the airport for their roadshow in Ahmedabad.

11.18am: PM Modi receives Netanyahu at Ahmedabad airport.

11.05am: Netanyahu arrives at Ahmedabad airport; to be received by PM Modi.

10.00am: PM Modi arrives in Ahmedabad to welcome Israeli PM

#Gujarat Preparations underway for inauguration of icreate center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad; PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu to attend pic.twitter.com/eZRqL71bka  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

9.26am: Netayanhu will leave for Mumbai in the afternoon.

9.25am: The two leaders would then proceed for a Sabarkantha-based centre of excellence for agriculture established by Israel. They will inaugurate a research facility for cultivation of dates in Kutch by remote control from Sabarkantha.

9.24am: From the Ashram, Modi and Netanyahu would go to iCreate, an autonomous centre of excellence near Bavla town close to the city, chief minister Vijay Rupani had said earlier.

9.23am: PM Modi and his Israeli counterpart are scheduled to visit the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi stayed for a long time.

(With agency inputs)
Businessmen and middlemen from Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Varanasi arrived in Kanpur a few days ago and checked into various hotels to close a deal to exchange old, so-called demonetised currency notes, for new. Late on Tuesday night, the Kanpur police swooped down on a Kanpur home where they found old currency notes, lots of them, in trunks, sacks, and cartons. The police were assisted by a team from the National Investigation Agency and the Reserve Bank of India. The police also arrested 16 people.

By Wednesday morning, the police had finished counting the money. There was Rs 100 crore of it in old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, rendered invalid by Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise demonetisation announced last November.

Out of 16 people who have been arrested, seven are businessmen, four are money converters and five are field agents. All of them have charged under sections 420, 511, 120B and 5/7 of the Specified Bank Notes (cessation and liability act) Act, 2017, IG, Kanpur zone, Alok Singh told reporters.

According to Singh, the mastermind is a local businessman Anand Khatri, who, along with his men, was collecting demonetised currency notes from various businessmen for exchange and was stashing it at his house in Swaroop Nagar.

Singh said the police had been on the trail of the operation for six months based on a tip-off. The National Investigation Agency got involved after the seizure of Rs 25 crore of old demonetised currency last month in Meerut and the arrest of a property dealer.

The trunk that contained the demonetised currency notes.

The group had field agents who collected the money from major cities of Uttar Pradesh and handed it over to Khatri. The money was sent to Hyderabad (for exchange into new currency notes) from Kanpur, Varanasi and Kolkata. Their commission ranged from 15-40 per cent and it depended on the desperation of the businessman concerned, said Singh.

The arrested moneychangers from Hyderabad and Kolkata have told the police that they have paid Rs 15 crore in new currency to Khatri and Yadav in the last six months after conversion.

They havent revealed their modus operandi. We will be seeking their remand from the court for pointed questioning, Singh said.

Anand Khatris lawyer Sharad Kumar Birla said it was too early for him to comment on the matter.

ADG, law and order, Anand Kumar said: All the agencies which specialise in investigating such cases have been informed. We are waiting for their support to help us identify the backward and forward linkages.

According to the police, Khatri hit upon the idea of helping people convert their old (and value-less) currency, which they had presumably not been able to exchange because it was not declared, and recruited a clerk at DAV College, Santosh Kumar, to help him.

The duo contacted brokers Koteshwar Rao, Ali Hussain, Rajeshwari Ranga Rao, Manish Agarwal and Sanjeev Agarwal from Kolkata and Hyderabad who agreed to get the money converted. They had agreed to pay Rs 25 on every Rs 100 converted and a 10% commission for Khatri.

As the word spread , many people from Varanasi and Mirzapur collected money from businessmen and gave it to Khatri, said a person familiar with the investigation who asked not to be named.

The police seized Rs 96 crore from Khatris house for which they had to arrange five trunks of 4x6 feet. The counting of currency notes lasted 12 hours and the police had to use 37 machines and 80 men for the task.

The tipping point in the investigation seems to have been the arrest of the Meerut property dealer. He led the team to the middlemen in Hyderabad.

The police believe that Non Resident Indians may have been used to facilitate the exchange. According to Singh, Rao, one of the arrested has named aa Hyderabad based company which has many employees, many of them NRIs, posted overseas. The exact modus operandi isnt clear because the window allowed to NRIs to exchange old currency notes has long closed.

We are verifying the veracity of their disclosure; it will take some time to come up with a clear picture about they were doing it, Singh added.

The income tax department officials who raided the house found a diary with mysterious entries, sources privy to the investigation said.

The entries made in the diary are cryptic and are being deciphered to help the police move ahead with their investigation, they said.

The IT sleuths confiscated the diary which has entries in alphabetical order. The contents of the diary were being studied. Prima facie it appears that the entries mention the money being paid to Khatri, an official said.

We will confront Khatri when he is remanded to police custody for further questioning, he said.
A case was registered against a private news channel for airing photographs of innocent youths of Jammu and Kashmirs Kulgam district, and calling them militants, police said on Wednesday.

In reference to V6 news channel telecast, two innocent youth namely Farhan Shafi, a Class 12 student, and Farhat Rashid, a diploma holder, have been shown by the instant news channel as militants in place of the killed militant Farhan Wai of Wanigund, a police spokesman said.

An encounter took place between security forces and militants at Larnoo village of Kokernag in Anantnag district on January 9 in which one militant, Farhan Wai of Hizbul Mujahideen, a resident of Wanigund, was killed, he said.

The news channel V6 on the same day telecast a news (report) wherein they have shown both the innocent youth (Farhan Shafi and Farhat Rashid) as militants, the spokesman said.

Police took cognisance of the matter and registered a case in this regard, he said, adding that an investigation was initiated.
The government has decided to set up a Cyber Warrior Police Force (CWPF) to tackle internet-related crimes such as cyber threats, child pornography and online stalking.

The CWPF is likely to operate under the National Information Security Policy and Guidelines wing of the Union home ministrys Cyber and Information Security (CIS) division, which was created last November. It is proposed to be raised on the lines of the Central Armed Police Force.

The other two wings under the CIS division are cyber crime and internal security.

Its a policy decision, and the process has already begun. The Army is also planning to do something on similar lines. We hope our unit will operate effectively, a senior home ministry functionary said on the condition of anonymity, adding that the finer details of the proposed force will be worked out soon.

So far, there has been no decision on the CWPFs jurisdiction, where it will derive its powers or personnel from, and whether it would be empowered to make arrests. Further information will be shared once the authorities come up with something concrete, the official added.

Meanwhile, the CIS division has already begun operations. The home ministry has already issued a communique asking states and Union territories to consider setting up state as well as district cyber crime coordination cells.

The Centre has suggested that state cyber crime coordination cells be headed by an additional director general or inspector-rank official, and district cyber cells by a deputy superintendent of police or additional superintendent of police-level official. State cyber security cells could likely form the foundation of the centralised CWPF, another home ministry official said.

Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh had recently asked state police and paramilitary forces to lay special focus on cyber crime at the recently held annual director general-level conference in Takenpur, Madhya Pradesh.

The home ministry also asked states to set up systems that will monitor deep web activities that enable the planning and execution of nefarious deals by criminals. It has further instructed them to maintain a list of suspected profiles linked with child pornography rackets, human trafficking and blackmailing; set up basic forensic labs; and focus on capacity building.

The home ministry has released Rs 82.9 crore to states under the Crime Prevention against Women and Children scheme for setting up cyber forensic training labs-cum-centres.

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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) linked think-tank, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP), plans a new push to the one nation, one election idea, also backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Centre has sent out invites to different political parties for a two-day conclave in Mumbai on January 20 and 21 to discuss the feasibility of holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Rajya Sabha MP and RMP vice chairman Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Baijayant Jay Panda of the Biju Janata Dal and KC Tyagi of the Janata Dal (United) will attend the conclave.

We will present a report to the government at the end of the event, said Sahasrabuddhe, also the chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

Read | One India, One election an interesting concept but its benefits not clear yet

The BJP MP said many political parties have theoretically backed the idea, but have issues regarding its implementation. Several papers, he said, will be presented at the conclave suggesting ways to iron out those differences.

A Parliament committee, in December 2015, had presented a report on the feasibility of holding simultaneous elections and the RMP wants to take the debate forward.

The seminar will cover five major issues  hazards of multiplicity of elections; concept, advisability and implementation issues related to simultaneous election; issues regarding no-confidence and dissolution of houses and their solutions; advisability and implementation-related issues of aligning local body elections with general elections and worldwide experiences of one nation, one election.

Read | Its time to hold simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies

Sahasrabuddhe said multiplicity of elections and the code of conduct that comes into effect before polls on any level hamper development work, besides throwing up logistical issues such as arranging security forces, in every election. This leads to wastage of public money, he said.
The crisis in the Supreme Court after four senior judges publicly dissented with the Chief Justice continues. The government announced it was ending subsidy for Haj. Twelve malnourished children were found held captive in their home in California. These stories made news on Tuesday. Here is more about them.

Chief Justice reaches out to four dissenting SC judges

Supreme Court Chief Justice Dipak Misra met four senior judges who last week publicly criticised him for the way he allotted cases and administered the court. The ice has begun melting, said sources after Misra called the judges to his cambers for a meeting.

Govt ends Haj subsidy, says decision will empower minorities

The government wont subsidise Haj pilgrims from this year, saying funds it saves will be used for the education and empowerment of Muslim women. A record number of 1.75 lakh Muslims will make the pilgrimage this year despite the subsidy withdrawal, said minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Rein in khap panchayats from acting against inter-caste marriages: SC

The Supreme Court warned that it will step in if the Centre does not stop khap panchayats from illegally intervening against inter-caste marriages. If an adult man and woman marry, no khap, panchayat or society can question them, said the court. Khap panchayats are community groups usually comprising elderly men of a village and often adjudicate on social issues but have no legal standing.

Pravin Togadia cries foul, says he faces threat to life

Pravin Togadia, leader of the right wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said he feared for his life after the Rajasthan police visited his home in Ahmedabad to serve a court warrant on Monday. Rajasthan police team came to arrest me. Someone told me the plan was to kill, Togadia said at a press conference in Ahmedabad after the VHP alleged that the he was missing but was found admitted in a hospital for low-sugar level.

Schools in rural areas failing, children dont know Indias capital or map: Survey

Education in rural schools is faltering. One-fourth of people aged 14-16 cannot read their own language fluently, while 57% of them struggle to solve a simple sum of division, said a survey report on rural education. Shown a map of India, 14% couldnt identify it and 36% couldnt name the countrys capital.

David Allen Turpin (L) and Louise Anna Turpin, the California couple arrested after authorities found a dozen malnourished siblings held captive in their home, some shackled in the dark to their beds. (AFP/ Riverside County Sheriffs Department)

13 malnourished, shackled children rescued from California home

A California couple has been arrested on charges of torture after authorities on Monday said their 13 malnourished children were held captive in their home, with some shackled to beds in the dark. Authorities said they were alerted after a 17-year-old girl managed to escape the house on Sunday and call police using a cellphone she found.

Maharashtra police trooper opens fire, kills 3 near Pune

Three persons were killed when a trooper of Maharashtras reserve police force opened fire at two places in Daund town, around 80 km south of Pune city. Sanjay Shinde fled to his residence after opening fire.

Three killed during bull-taming events in Tamil Nadu

Three persons were killed during bull-taming events in different places in Tamil Nadu. A man was gored during Jallikattu in Aavarangaadu in Tiruchirappalli district. Two spectators died in Siravayal in Sivaganga district while they were attending Manjavirattu, another bull-taming sport. A 19-year-old spectator was gored to death during Jallikattu in a village in Madurai district on Monday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (C), RIL chief Mukesh Ambani (R) and ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal at the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on Tuesday. (PTI)

Reliance Industries to invest Rs 5,000 crore in West Bengal: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said his company will invest Rs 5,000 crore in West Bengal in sectors ranging from petroleum to retail. The investments over the next three years will promote the electronic industry by manufacturing mobile phones and set top boxes, Ambani said at the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata.

Moshe Holtzberg returns to Mumbai after 26/11 terrorist attacks

Moshe Holtzberg, a young boy whose parents were killed at a Jewish centre in Mumbai during the 2008 terror attacks, returned to that city for the first time to visit the site of the attack with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shalom ... Bahut khushi (I am very happy), said Moshe after he arrived in Mumbai. Netanyahu is on a six-day visit to India.
The government should stay aloof and maintain a studied silence on the current crisis involving the judiciary, constitution experts have said.

While at least three high-ranking law ministry officials confirmed that the government did not intend to interfere or intervene in either the standoff between top judges or fresh allegations against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, experts warned doing anything more would be a transgression.

The Constitution is very clear on the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. Even Parliament cannot intervene or discuss the conduct of judges, former Rajya Sabha secretary general Yogendra Narain said. The government is doing a wise thing by staying aloof.

Narain said that the judiciary should be given reasonable time to resolve what is an internal matter.

Subhash C Kashyap, author of several books on the Constitution and parliamentary democracy, warned that the government should not interfere in the matter nor political parties jump in to politicise the issue.

The Constitution lays down a clear demarcation of the responsibilities. The judiciary exceeds its jurisdiction quite often and Parliament does not always perform its role but they cannot step into each others territory, he said.

Kashyap said the judiciary should resolve the crisis internally, preferably through in camera meeting of all Supreme Court judges. The SC has 25 judges right now.

The Parliament in the long run can frame laws that might address the concerns that have sprung up during the ongoing crisis, the former Lok Sabha secretary general said.

A chief justices conference in 1997 had come out with a set of rules of conduct for judges. It spoke of an in-house mechanism for addressing complaints against judges of the SC and the 24 high courts including the HC chief justices. However, there is no mechanism prescribed for complaints against the CJI.

Last Friday, in an unprecedented move, four top judges of the SC had gone public with their grievances against CJI Misra. On Tuesday, an organisation of lawyers and jurists including former judges under the banner of Campaign for Judical Accountability and Reforms made a 24-page complaint to the five seniormost Supreme Court judges alleging misconduct by the CJI.

The government stepping in would cause heartburn among the judiciary and political parties, Narain added.

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In his first response to five rapes in five days in Haryana, chief minister ML Khattar on Wednesday termed the incidents as unfortunate and said his government will take strict action.

Khattar also enumerated steps taken by the government to address the situation, arrest the culprits and make the state a safer place for women.

We have made changes in the police administration and transferred a few officers...We started Dial 100 Project, will also begin 1090 Project so that women in danger can immediately contact police. Well look into matters, take help of counselling or legal action as the need be. Weve set up special courts for speedy trials of such cases, Khattar said.

In the past five days, assaults on women and girls have been reported from Kurukshetra, Panipat, Hisar, Jind and Faridabad. In some cases, the girls private parts were mutilated, a reminder of the brutal gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in Delhi in December 2016 that led to a huge uproar across the country.

The incidents come two days after the Khattar government made an announcement on Haryanas improved sex ratio  914 girls per 1,000 boys in 2017, which is an all-time high.

Khattar also appealed to political parties not to politicise the matter.

Earlier in the day, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda lashed out at the ruling BJP government, saying lawlessness and lack of leadership were the main reasons behind increased crime in the state.

There is lawlessness in the state. The Haryana government has no leader, some ministers are angry, some are sulking and there is no direction, Hooda told ANI after a meeting with Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on the issue.

Multiple rape incidents make us hang our head low in shame. The state government must resign on moral grounds. Weve asked the Governor to dismiss the government if they dont resign and implement Presidents rule here, Hooda told reporters.

The latest incident of rape was reported on Wednesday from Hisar, where a three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her 14-year-old neighbour. The Haryana police has arrested the teen.

Heres a look at the four incidents reported over the past five days:

Kurukshetra minors gang rape: Kin allege police inaction

The family of a 15-year-old Kurukshetra girl who was gang raped and murdered on Friday, have accused the police of inaction. Medical examination revealed the girl was raped by multiple persons and a blunt object was inserted into her private parts. The girl was a good student and aspired to be a doctor, said her family.

Men gang-rape woman in car in Faridabad

A 23-year-old woman was abducted and gangraped in a moving car in Old Faridabad on Saturday. The woman was bundled into the car, raped and later dumped on Mathura road. The woman accused three persons of committing the crime. The accused are at large.

Neighbours rape 11-year-old in Panipat

The semi-naked body of an 11-year-old girl was recovered in Panipat on Sunday. Police arrested two of her neighbours, who confessed to having raped and murdered her, the superintendent of police said.

48-year-old held for sexually assaulting, brutalising 10-year-old

A 48-year-old man allegedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl and inserted a stick into her private parts in Pinjore on Saturday. Based on a complaint by the girls mother, the man, who was their neighbour, was arrested on Sunday.
Inmates and associates of a notorious criminal orchestrated a riot at a correctional home in Hooghly district on Wednesday evening and set the kicthen on fire.

At least 10 prison guards and officials were injured in the riot that was stopped late in the evening after additional police forces and the Rapid Action Force were deployed. The police lobbed several tear gas shells inside the facility to disperse the inmates who were pelting stones from the ramparts.

Five jail guards and deputy jailer Biswarup Singh were rushed to hospital with head injuries.

Officials said trouble started when Nepo Giri, a notorious criminal wanted for multiple crimes in Hooghly and Howrah districts, was brought to the correctional home from court. While being searched, Giri created a stir apparently while trying to hide something he was carrying or to send a signal to his old associates who were already lodged in the correctional home. Soon, the inmates started attacking the guards and officials.

Police contingents from Hooghly town and other parts of the district rushed to the spot and set up a cordon. Hooghly district magistrate Sanjay Bansal and Chandernagore police commissioner Ajay Kumar rushed to the spot. The situation came under control after more than two hours. The fire in the main kitchen was doused by three fire tenders.

The inmates even attacked policemen after we entered the correctional home. Many were injured, said Ajay Kumar.

Giri, who was lodged in the facility about two years ago, had created similar trouble in the past, officials said. He is a former associate of contract killer and extortionist Hubba Shyamal .
Within the Kanjarbhat community, a de-notified tribe or vimukta jati, the rift caused by an increasingly vocal battle over virginity tests is pitting youngster against elder, grandfather against granddaughter, uncle against niece, and daughter-in-law against father-in-law.

The mobilisation began when Vivek Tamaichekar, a Masters student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai got engaged to Aishwarya Bhat in 2016. Both are members of the Kanjarbhat tribe. When it hit the couple that the bride would be subject to the age-old practice of validating the marriage through a virginity test, they were up in arms.

Together they form a group that holds multi-city meetings and galvanises youth to break away from the practice. While the young are eager for change, the old are shaken by their rebelliousness. As the battle gains pace, young Kanjarbhat women are reporting in to Shakuntala Bhat, head of the Maharashtra womens chapter of the All India Kanjarbhat Association, that young men in schools and colleges are waving white handkerchiefs stained with drops of red ink at them. Embarrassed elders have been reaching out to the protesting youth to talk. The youth say change has been a long time coming.

Krishna Indrekar, now a 51-year-old director of finance in the Maharashtra State Charity Commission, stood up against the hold of the panchayat when he married Aruna in 1986. Studying political science in college, Indrekar was influenced by the writings of BR Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule. Betrothed to Aruna, he refused to marry her until he was settled professionally. Aruna waited for him for eight years, an unheard-of practice that even led the community elders to issue threats. In the days without mobile phones and emails, in a village near Kolhapur, all Aruna had to go on were messages he would send once or twice a year. Indrekar got the job as an officer with the state government in his final year of his Masters in political science at Pune University, and promptly tied the knot with Aruna in a court marriage, eschewing panchayat diktats. Ever since, the couple has been a beacon of support for other members of the community trying to break the chokehold of the panchayats. Indrekar filed a complaint against a virginity test held after the wedding of his niece, Ashwini Tamaichikar, on November 23, 2017, and at another community wedding on December 24, 2017. FIRs are not registered despite his complaints, and his video recordings of outlawed proceedings, he says. But he perseveres.

This is how virginity was, and continues to be tested. Traditionally, weddings were consummated in a tent made of tarpaulin with Panchs or elders standing outside till intercourse was completed. Today, this takes place in a sanitised hotel room after all glass bangles are removed from the bride, sharp objects from the room, and anything that is capable of piercing the skin and drawing blood. A white sheet is spread on the bed, on which the elders (now from the family) wait to see if there are drops of blood.

The groom is asked degrading questions by the panchayat of elders, say Tamaichikar and Indrekar. How was the maal (the goods)? or Was the performance good? Was the glass broken? If blood is not drawn, the hymen is assumed ruptured due to previous sexual intercourse. Purification rituals are prescribed. It is rare that a girl is believed if she claims to have had no previous relationship and if the hymen has been ruptured out of natural causes. Tamaichikar has been going from elder to elder, confronting them and urging them to change the practice.

Marriages are the new battleground because it is through them that tribal integrity has been preserved and passed down. While the tribes codes are oral, they were laid down in print by the Akhil Bharatiya Sahansmal Kanjarbhat Samaj Sangh at the jat panchayats Shirdi chapter in 2000. The booklet has been a de-facto tribal constitution in circulation ever since. Outlawed since July 2017, the panchayats no longer openly assemble, but it will take time for their notional control to dissipate.

Pune-based Bablu Tamaichkar, a former Panch (elder or chieftain), insists that traditional practices outlined in the booklet have now been discontinued. But, naturally, people within the community reach out to elders to solve disputes, arrange marriages and settle matters. At such times the elders intervene but nothing unconstitutional is undertaken, he adds. The booklet also serves as a guideline for rites and ceremonies -- customs which differ from, and are in danger of being replaced by, universalised Brahminical practices. As these rituals are conducted by community elders, they are what validate a marriage. The use of wooden planks, the sacred pouring of arrack, and payments to the elders, gurus and the motherland, conducted in the local Kanjiri dialect, and the use of animal sacrifice as shuddhikaran or purification rituals for women who fail virginity tests, hark back to darker times.

Kavichand Bhat, a Kanjarbhat elder and former Panch, has been former mayor of Pimpri Chinchwad, and a local Congress leader for over 50 years. He is also Aishwarya Bhats grandfather. A septuagenarian, he recalls the days of his tribe in pre-Independent India. We roamed from village to village in search of food, we had no homes. My wife is une- ducated, my children have one degree and my grandchildren have two degrees (postgraduates), he says. Change has been slow to arrive, but it is welcome. We remember what untouchability is, we have even been turned away from grocery stores. This generation is educated but they have not seen the days when we could not go to schools to learn, and to courts to solve our problems.

Until Ambedkar appeared on the scene, he says, there was simply no room for tribes to redress issues in the courts of the upper classes. Today, tribesmen like him have risen to positions of power -- mayor, deputy commissioner of police, doctor, lawyer.

But its not easy for many to forget the past. People think that when the law changes, everyone will become Ambedkar. It doesnt work that way. Some have only known the protection of the community, he says. Kavichand was arrested in 2015, along with other members of the jat panchayat, for enforcing the social ostracism of a young couple who married outside clan stipulations.

Shakuntala, daughter-in-law of Pune advocate Murchand Bhat, a supporter of tribal systems, is caught in the middle. She takes pride in being a Kanjarbhat woman who has just become a scientist.

 As a woman, I do see the virginity test as regressive. But today, the next generation is going places, so yes, we need to change, but the manner needs to be more cohesive. We need to talk, she says.

But Vivek Tamaichikar is done talking. He says the invitation to talk is just a pretence to pressurise women from joining the fight against the practice. At first I thought this would be easy. After all, when you sit down and speak to people you realise that almost everybody agrees that this is regressive , he says. But that doesnt translate into throwing off the burden of living up to community diktats. Most people agree but fear being ostracised by the community.

What this translates into for most people is a lack of matrimonial alliances for their children, fewer invites to weddings, no access facilities like wells, or the withdrawal of counsel and arbitration during family or property disputes. In other words, being cut off from their own -- by their own.
The Haryana Police on Wednesday arrested a 14-year-old boy who allegedly raped a three-year-old girl late Tuesday evening in Hisar.

A police team arrested the accused around noon from his home where he was hiding. The boy may be produced in a local court later today, police spokesperson Chander Bhan said.

The latest shocker which came close on the heels of a series of gang rapes and murders of women in Haryana, only served to highlight the states notoriety as a province with a high number of sexual offences against women.

The girls parents who are labourers were still at work when the incident took place at around 7:30 pm. According to the complaint, the victim narrated the incident to her parents when they returned to the house. The parents then took her to womens police station.

The investigation officer (IO), Saroj Bala took the little girl to a local hospital for medical examination at about mid-night and started investigation into the matter.

The family hails from Bihar. The girl was alone at her house when the teenager who is a neighbour, cajoled her to accompany him to another place and raped her.

The accused allegedly threatened the girl with dire consequence and fled from the spot. Police said the accused juvenile belongs to a middle class family.

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Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday the bonhomie between India and China had returned to what it was prior to the Doklam border standoff and that he did not visualise a very serious trouble. He, however, said one has to be prepared for it always.

General Rawat recently said India needed to shift focus from its border with Pakistan to that of China and spoke of pressure being exerted by Beijing along the Line of Actual Control.

Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam that began on June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped construction of a road in the disputed area by the PLA. The face-off ended on August 28. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue on Wednesday, General Rawat said: mechanisms that we have of defusing tensions between our two countries are working very well and after Doklam weve started our Border Personnel Meeting. We are meeting regularly, exchanges are taking place, communication between commanders at ground level is on.

While troops (PLA) may have returned and infrastructure remains, it is anybodys guess whether they would come back there or is it because of the winters that they could not take their equipment, but we are also there, so in case they come, we will face them, ANI quoted the army chief as saying.

General Rawat also said countries that support terrorism need to be tackled and terrorism is here to stay unless the world joins hands to end it, without naming Pakistan.

He stressed on cutting terrorism funding and raised concerns over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.
Foreign secretary S Jaishankar on Wednesday held talks with Russian deputy foreign minister Igor Morgulov on cooperation between the two countries in strategic areas.

The two sides discussed bilateral and multilateral issues of mutual interest, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Both sides are also understood to have discussed their common positions on regional and global issues and cooperation against terrorism.

Morgulov also participated in the ongoing multi-lateral Raisina Dialogue on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit on Thursday, when he will have breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a Shalom Bollywood event among other engagements.

Netanyahu landed at the airport in Mumbai on Wednesday for the Mumbai leg of his six-day India visit, a senior official told PTI.

He will have a power breakfast with select business personalities, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj Hotel in South Mumbai. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu, after which the chief minister will host a lunch for the Israeli premier and his delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg. Moshes father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House during the 2008 attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbais Colaba area. Moshe came to Mumbai on Tuesday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj Hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities - Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the Shalom Bollywood event, also at the Taj Hotel.
The rift between Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court remained unresolved on Wednesday, with Justice J Chelameswar not attending court.

His absence resulted in the cancellation of the second meeting between the CJI and the judges.

The four judges  Justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph  met the CJI on Tuesday morning over tea for 15 minutes. The meeting was attended by three more judges who had facilitated it: Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and UU Lalit. Since the meeting was inconclusive, the CJI and the judges agreed to meet again on Wednesday.

However, Justices Bobde and Lalit too did not attend court on Wednesday.

Read more: SC judges vs CJI Dipak Misra: How cases are allocated in Indias top court

According to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified, the second meeting is expected to take place on Thursday. The people added that the four judges are expected to hand over a list of their grievances to the CJI in writing. The CJI has reportedly assured them that he will resolve the dispute to their satisfaction.

In an unprecedented move the four judges aired their grievances over the CJIs handling of the court (especially over case allocation and bench constitution, with sensitive cases allegedly being allocated to junior judges) in a press conference.

The tipping point seems to have been the marking of petitions relating to Judge BH Loyas mysterious death to a bench led by Justice Arun Mishra who is 10th senior judge in the court. It was listed the same day the judges held the press meet. Justice Mishra reportedly broke down on Monday when the judges assembled for the morning tea. He expressed his anguish at the way his name had been dragged into the controversy and said the showdown had tarnished his image and credibility.

On Wednesday, Justice Mishra seemed to be in a lighter mood. Seeing the crowd in his courtroom, he remarked: Why is there so much crowd here, I am a junior judge, why dont people go to some senior judges court?
A Class 12 student, who was the main suspect in the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Dalit girl in Haryana, was found dead late Tuesday night, officials said.

Police said the naked body of the boy, who is believed to be a minor, was found in a canal near Kirmach village of Kurukshetra district, four days after the mutilated body of the girl was found in adjoining Jind.

The incident has triggered nationwide outrage, putting the spotlight back on crimes against women in India, which brought in stringent laws after the deadly gangrape of a paramedical student in Delhi in December 2013. But that has failed to stem the wave of violence.

The boys body was found in Bakhra Nahar, around 25km from his native village of Jhansa, in a decomposed state, Kurukshetra station house officer Dileep Singh said, adding no external injuries were visible.

The police suspect that both of them were killed by unknown persons and have not ruled out possibility of honour killing. The girls family, also from Jhansa, has dismissed reports that the two were in a relationship.

I want police to catch the real culprits. Even if the boy was involved, the brutality could not have been the work of an individual, the girls mother said.

The boys family members have been picked up for questioning in connection with the case.

The police had earlier claimed that the girl, a Class 10 student who her parents say wanted to be a doctor, and the suspect were seen together on the evening of January 9, the day both of them went missing.

The girls body was found last week in Budhakhera village, about 110km from her native village.

Her family learnt of her death on Saturday afternoon. The father was at the police station when a relative called and said TV channels were flashing news about a girls body being found.

A doctor at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak who carried out the autopsy says more than two persons sexually assaulted her and used a blunt weapon that ruptured her liver. There were 19 external wounds and her hair was chopped before she was killed, the report says.

Jhansa village chief Puneet Mal said the boys body was found without clothes below the waist. He said CCTV footage showed the boy with two male friends on a motorcycle at 4.20pm on the day he disappeared. The girl was nowhere in the frame, he claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government is making efforts to create systems that are innovation-friendly to build an innovation-driven new India.

Modi was speaking after he and his Israeli counterpart Benjaman Netanyahu dedicated to the nation a centre for entrepreneurship and technology in Deo Dholera village near Ahmedabad.

Called the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate), a public-private partnership (PPP) venture set up to nurture entrepreneurs by providing them funds, space, mentors and other facilities.

When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. Since then, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here and now we are inaugurating this foundation, Modi said.

We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas and new India is formed from innovations, the Prime Minister said.

The Israeli prime minister said he was delighted to be there.

The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is on more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate.

Netanyahu ended his speech with Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a busy day ahead in Ahmedabad when he arrives Wednesday morning with his host Narendra Modi for a days visit.

The two leaders will hold a roadshow and visit Sabarmati Ashram after landing in Ahmedabad around 10:20 am and later in the day will go to iCreate center at Bavla city and a centre for agriculture in Sabarkantha.

The eight- km roadshow will begin from the airport and end at the Sabarmati Ashram. The city, especially the stretch from the airport to the Sabarmati Ashram, has been decked up to welcome Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

Around 50 stages have been built along the roadside on the eight-kilometre stretch. Cultural programmes will be performed by troupes of different states as well as ethnicity to welcome the guests, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporations standing committee chairman Pravin Patel said.

The Indian Jewish people will also welcome the two leaders, he said.

Netanyahu will present Modi a special gift -- the Gal-Mobile water desalinisation and purification vehicle the two leaders rode at Israels Olga beach last year during the Indian Prime Ministers visit.

There will be a live demonstration of desalination of sea water that the two prime ministers will witness through video conferencing from the iCreate centre.

The Gal-Mobile is said to cost around 390,000 shekels (approximately $111,000).

The two leaders are also scheduled to visit the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi stayed for a long time.

Modi and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe had also held a joint roadshow during the latters visit here last September. Modi had also accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping and his spouse to the riverfront during the latters India visit in 2014.

From the Ashram, Modi and Netanyahu would go to iCreate, an autonomous centre of excellence near Bavla town close to the city, chief minister Vijay Rupani had said earlier.

iCreate was formally launched in 2011 by Modi when he was the chief minister. The institution mentors budding entrepreneurs and guides them to set up start-ups, according to an official.

The two leaders would then proceed for a Sabarkantha-based centre of excellence for agriculture established by Isreal. They will inaugurate a research facility for cultivation of dates in Kutch by remote control from Sabarkantha.

Netayanhu will leave for Mumbai in the afternoon.

(With inputs from agencies)
Biju Janata Dal chief and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has appointed minister Usha Devi and senior leader Pramilla Mallick to probe allegations that Baijayant Panda is disregarding party workers, setting the tone for disciplinary action against the rebel MP.

Panda triggered a storm in the party last week after he accused the chief ministers private secretary of interfering in party affairs and unconstitutionally indulging in politics.

Though Patnaik retorted by saying his detractors attack his office when they have no other issues, he has kept mum over the possible action on Panda.

Sources in the ruling party said unlike other rebellious party members who faced the axe as soon as they raised the banner of revolt, Patnaik has been careful of swift action against the MP and not let him become a martyr.

Patnaik has met BJD leaders from Mahakalpara block of Kendrapara district and Nischintakoili block of Cuttack district in the last two to three days over their complaints that Panda was not maintaining any contact with them.

The BJD leaders from Kendrapara urged Patnaik to take action against the Lok Sabha MP alleging that MP is not following party ethics.

And three days ago, Nischintakoili block chairperson Sabita Ojha and her supporters also met the chief minister with similar allegations.

He is violating the government guidelines by not providing the MPLAD (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) funds since the last four years, Ojha alleged.

Similarly, Mahanga block chairperson complained that the MP was neglecting the sanction of the MPLAD funds.

Pandas political secretary Jyoti Prakash Ghose rubbished the allegations of favouritism, saying there is no such guideline to provide projects under the MPLAD fund.

The funds are provided keeping in view the needs of people, he said.

BJD spokesperson Debashis Samantray said when the chief minister loses trust in someone it is a matter of time before the person faces action.

His action never comes amid speculations. Lets wait and watch, Samantray said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday pitched for greater cooperation with Israel to boost innovation in India. He said this while visiting the city with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, on a day-long visit.

Dedicating the iCreate Centre at Deo Dholera village in Ahmedabad to the country, Modi urged innovators to make the most of Israeli technology to emerge triumphant in the fields of water conservation, agriculture and cyber-security. The entire world is influenced by the technology and creativity of Israel. Israel has proven to the world that it is the peoples resolve, not the size of a nation, that takes it forward, he said.

iCreate (short for the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) is an autonomous institution on the outskirts of Ahmedabad that aims to identify and nurture budding entrepreneurs, and provide them with all the assistance required in this regard.

The Prime Minister said he decided to link iCreate with Israel upon its launch a few years ago. I wanted this institution and our youth to benefit from Israels experience as well as their start-up environment, he added.

The BJP government at the Centre was working towards making the entire system in our country innovation-friendly, Modi said. This will enable the formation of ideas from intent, innovations from ideas, and a new India from innovations.

Stressing on the importance of innovations for the countrys development, Modi said a joint venture worth $40 million was set up during his visit to Israel last year. The initiative will help talented people from both India and Israel do new things in the field of technological innovation. The relationship between the two countries will write a new chapter in human history, he added.

Earlier, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Modis leadership was changing India. He is revolutionising India. He is catapulting it into the future as one of the worlds great powers. He is doing it trough the power of innovation, he said. The world knows about iPads and iPods, but now it needs to know about iCreate.

Netanyahu also touched upon past ties between Israel and Modis home state in his address. This isnt the first time Israel and Gujarat have come together. In 2001, following the terrible earthquake in Gujarat, Israel sent field hospitals to help. Our ties go back even further. Some of the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives to liberate the city of Haifi over 100 years ago were Gujaratis. Thank you, Gujarat!

The Israeli premier concluded his speech by shouting: Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel!

iCreate, a public-private partnership (PPP) venture launched by the Gujarat government, is closely linked with the middle-eastern country. It is one of the organisations that facilitate the Centres India-Israel Innovation Bridge initiative by hosting start-ups from both the countries. Most of the projects undertaken pertain to water shortage, agricultural issues and medicine.

Modi and Netanyahu reviewed products of leading Gujarati start-ups showcased at the iCreate fair, besides taking note of winning entries from the India-Israel Global Innovation Challenge-2017.

The two leaders then went on to visit the Centre of Excellence for Protected Cultivation and Precision Farming on Vegetables at Vadrad village in Sabarkantha district. Here, they were treated to success stories in agriculture from local farmers.

Set up under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Work Plan for exchanging advanced farming technology, the institution provides training and guidance in controlled farming techniques through net houses and seedlings developed in plug nurseries.

Earlier in the day, Modi went with Netanyahu and his wife Sara to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram after an eight-km-long cultural roadshow from Ahmedabad airport.

During the course of his visit, Netanyahu presented the Indian premier with a unique gift  the GAL Mobile the two leaders rode on during the latters visit to Israels Olga beach last year. The GAL Mobile, an independent vehicle with water purification capabilities, can be useful during military conflicts or natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. It can purify up to 20,000 litres of sea water and 80,000 litres of brackish water per day.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modis adopted village Jayapur in Varanasi district has plunged into darkness nearly three years after it was illuminated with solar streetlights.

The reason: At least 80 solar streetlights out of 135 are not functioning as their batteries have been stolen in the last one year.

After Modi announced his decision to adopt Jayapur in November 2014, the streetlights were installed in the first half of 2015.

About a year ago, the batteries of 50 streetlights in the village were stolen. I lodged a written complaint at the police outpost of the village and also informed the Rohania police about the theft, village head Srinarayan Patel said.

Before any action could be taken, batteries of 30 more streetlights were stolen. I informed the police yet again but to no avail, he said.

About a year ago, the batteries of 50 streetlights in the village were stolen. I lodged a written complaint at the police outpost ... before any action could be taken, batteries of 30 more streetlights were stolen. -- village head Srinarayan Patel

The solar lights were installed by a public sector bank and private companies under their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

New batteries have not been installed since then.

Patel brought the issue to the notice of additional director general (ADG) Vishwajeet Mahapatra who visited the village on Monday to take stock of night patrolling in Jayapur.

The village head informed Mahapatra that he had lodged an FIR in connection with battery theft but no action was taken.

The thieves have not been identified and the batteries are yet to be recovered. I have reminded the police about it on many occasions, he said.

Patel also demanded that night patrolling should be increased in the area to check such incidents in future.

Mahapatra instructed the police to ensure proper vigil in the village and directed the in-charge of Jayapur police outpost and Rohania police to work out the case and ensure the arrest of battery thieves.

READ MORE:PM Narendra Modi adopts wrestlers village Kakrahia, his third in Varanasi

In-charge of Jayapur police outpost Shamsher Khan said: A complaint was filed regarding the theft last year. I was not posted here at that time. On the basis of the complaint lodged last year, I am looking into the matter and will work out the case at the earliest.

Later, Mahapatra also visited the Prime Ministers second adopted village Nagepur and spoke to residents and village head Parasnath Rajbhar.

READ MORE: Girls from PM Modis adopted village Nagepur to form self-defence squads, impart training

He asked the villagers to inform the police immediately in case of any law and order issue.

Under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, Members of Parliament (MP) have to adopt three villages by 2019.

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi played host to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in his home state on Wednesday, his once-close aide and VHP leader Pravin Togadia accused Modi of conspiring with the Ahmedabad Crime Branch to harass him and VHP supporters.

J K Bhatt (Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner, Crime Branch) has begun hatching a conspiracy against me and harassing our nationalist workers at the behest of political bosses in Delhia. In the last 15 days, how many times has Bhatt spoken with the PM? Their call details must be made public, Togadia, Acting President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, told reporters in Ahmedabad after his discharge from a private hospital in the evening.

Togadia, who was once known to be close to Modi, was referring to Bhatts press conference on Tuesday where he presented police investigation details to show that the VHP leaders story - that he had fallen unconscious and was admitted to a private hospital -- was all made-up.

The VHP leader had gone missing on Monday and emerged from a private hospital some 10 hours later in a reportedly unconscious state as his sugar levels fell drastically.

Togadia had claimed that a team of the Rajasthan Police had come for him in a shut 10-year-old case, though there was no instruction from chief minister Vasundhara Raje or state Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria for this.

He had claimed there was a conspiracy to kill him and this was hatched jointly by the Crime Branch and the Rajasthan Police. I have received communication from Rajasthan that the case in which I was supposed to be arrested was withdrawn in 2015. Then under whose instructions and who had come to arrest me? It appears Bhatt is acting under influence of political bosses in Delhi, he said.

Togadia, who went on to call Modi his old friend, urged him not to take steps that would lead to killing of democracy. Is this a crime branch or conspiracy branch? I have called my lawyer and shall initiate legal action against Crime Branch, he said.

This Crime Branch is also releasing selective videos to television channels to sully my image. I want to tell the country that similar video of Sanjay Joshi in 2005 was made here. I shall reveal the names at an appropriate time. He was referring to the leak of a video of his whereabouts on Monday showing him in fine fettle.

Bhatt of the Crime Branch has stated that Togadia was hale and hearty when he called in an ambulance van to admit him in the private hospital and was not missing at all. Bhatt on Tuesday presented to the media a blow-by-blow account of where the VHP leader went during the day and how he managed to get himself admitted in a private hospital though nothing had happened to him.
Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Wednesday proclaimed that he was ready to fight the elections, whenever they may be held.

He, however, refused to answer a query from mediapersons on the possibility of allying with Kamal Haasan  yet another Tamil actor who is gearing up to enter politics  in the near future. Both Rajinikanth and Haasan have promised to fight corruption and provide Tamil Nadu with a transparent and responsive government.

I always thought Kamal will start a political party before me, the superstar said, wishing his contemporary in the movie industry the best of luck. Speculations of an alliance arose after both the actors came together to participate in a function held at Kuala Lumpur recently.

However, Rajinikanth has indicated that he will go it alone in the electoral contests to come. Even if they conduct it (elections) in the next six months, we will be ready, said Rajinikanth, who announced his entry into politics on December 31 but is yet to form a party. His core team is currently touring the state for the purpose.

In a statement issued late on Tuesday night, Haasan said he intends to embark on a Discovery of Tamil Nadu journey from Ramanathapuram  his birthplace  on February 21. He is also likely to announce the name of his party and spell out his stand on various political issues on that day.

The two individuals, contemporaries in the movie industry, have chosen to follow differing political ideologies. While Rajinikanth openly flaunts his association with spiritual and religious gurus, Haasan has underlined his secular credentials and gone on record to say that he will have nothing to do with pro-Hindu BJP.

These developments are being keenly watched by experts as well as other political parties. The entry of movie stars may add an element of suspense to the polls, but the main battle will still be between the DMK and AIADMK, said political analyst Prof Ramu Manivannan.

On November 7, which also happened to be his birthday, Haasan had said that he intends to achieve probity in public life and head an honest administration thats committed to the welfare of the masses. He will meet people across Ramanathapuram, Madurai, Dindigal and Sivagangai districts during the upcoming leg of the Discovery of Tamil Nadu journey. Plans for other regions will be chalked out later.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Uttar Pradesh police have recovered demonetised currency notes worth nearly Rs 100 crore from an under-construction house in Kanpur in one of the biggest hauls since the high-value currency was banned in November 2016.

At least 16 people have been arrested since the recovery on Tuesday from the house of Anand Khatri, part of Raj Ratan group which has diversified business interests including real estate, healthcare and textile.

A builder from Sisamau led the team to the site where the currency was stocked, an UP police official said. The investigating agency suspects the cash was hidden with an intention of converting them into legal currency through covert means.

In pre-demonetisation value, the recovered currency was worth Rs 96.20 crore, officials added.

#WATCH Police seized demonetized currency worth crores from a residential premises in Kanpur. pic.twitter.com/Hh7sLrWwoG  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

Anand Kumar, the additional director general of police (law and order), said the arrested people were being interrogated and multiple agencies have been requested to check their backgrounds.

Among the arrested, two are from Andhra Pradesh and one from Maharashtra.

We got the information that huge amount of demonetised currency was being stored in an under construction house in the Swarup Nagar locality of Kanpur...Since there was no terror angle involved, the information was shared with the UP police and a joint raid was conducted, said a senior NIA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A rickshaw puller brings five tin boxes in which the seized money would be kept and sealed. (HT Photo)

Since the government banned 500 and 1000-rupee notes, hundreds of crores of the demonetised currency have been channelled into the formal banking system, a large part of them illegally.

According to RBI estimates, more than 99% of the demonetised notes have returned to the banks.

The Income Tax department has been informed about the recovery and asked to find out how the money was to be exchanged.

Earlier, the NIA had recovered Rs 36.34 crore in demonetised currency in Delhi in November last year.

(With inputs from Lucknow)

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In an unusual order, the Supreme Court has restrained a separated couple from posting each others pictures on social media or online.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra issued the directive last week while annulling the couples marriage. The woman expressed an apprehension that her former husband might malign her reputation by posting her pictures on social media platforms.

Her lawyer, Dushyant Parashar, informed the court that the husband had tarnished the womans image in the divorce petition he filed before the trial court. It amounted to character assassination, he said.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by the husband, seeking bail in a criminal case filed by the woman under the Information Techmnology Act.

Parashar claimed the former husband had hacked into his clients email ID and downloaded the womans income-tax details and she had registered a criminal case against him. Although the petition was not before it, the court invoked its extraordinary powers to annul the marriage.

The bench also made another unusual direction. It expunged the allegations the two made against each other in the divorce petition and also said none of the two shall be entitled to get the certified copy of the said pleadings.

As the couple was present in the court, the bench recorded a consensual order to dissolve the marriage. It asked the husband to pay Rs 37 lakh to the wife as final settlement. The bench then went on to quash all the criminal cases the women registered against her ex-husband.
A constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday sought to know whether there is anything wrong using Aadhaar to increase the efficiency of government welfare schemes. The petitioners opposing Aadhaar said the National Democratic Alliances governments ambitious biometric-driven project sought to tether every resident of India to an electronic leash.

The spotlight was on an unprecedented crisis in Indias top judiciary following the public criticism of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra by four senior judges.

Amid the rift, the Supreme Court on Monday announced the setting up of a five-judge constitution bench headed by the CJI, which does not include the dissenting judges.

Below are the highlights:

1.12pm: The State has been handed over a switch by which it can cause the civil death of a citizen: Petitioners against Aadhaar

1.10pm: Petitioners submission in Aadhaar case before the Supreme Court: Aadhaar diminishes the status of a citizen vis-a-vis the state. The Constitution repudiates Aadhaar law. The Constitution protects citizens from advent of an all-intrusive state that recognises an individual as a number.

11:46am: The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four other judges --- Justices AM Khanwilkar, Adarsh Kumar Sikri, DYChandrachud and Ashok Bhushan --- hearing the constitutional validity of Aadhaar.

11:40am: The other issues to be dealt with by constitution bench include the pleas, which have raised a question as to when will a lawmaker, facing criminal trial, stand disqualified. All these matters were earlier referred to larger benches for adjudication by different benches of the apex court.

11:37am: This bench will also hear the contentious issue of the ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in Keralas Sabarimala temple and resume hearing a legal query on whether a Parsi woman would lose her religious identity if she marries a man from a different religion.

11:35am: As per official information, the bench will commence hearing crucial matters from January 17, according to news agency PTI. The five-judge bench will hear major cases such as those challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and its 2013 judgement re-criminalising gay sex between consenting adults.

The same combination of judges had last year heard various constitution bench matters from October 10, including the power tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government over administrative jurisdiction and a matter relating to passive euthanasia

Focus on SC crisis

As the Supreme Court crisis continues, the outcome of the deliberations is not known. News agency PTI quoted unnamed sources as saying that nothing concrete has emerged. Some of the judges, lower in the apex court hierarchy, are in favour of some rapprochement at the earliest on the grounds that the reputation of the judiciary is at stake.

A resolution and some administrative changes in the Supreme Court that address the grievances of the four judges, are imminent, said a person familiar with the matter. The five judges will meet again on Wednesday, this person added.

On Friday, Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph --- four senior-most judges in the apex court after the CJI --- held an extraordinary press conference where they publicly criticised the Chief Justice of India over allocation of cases and constitution of benches. The judges complained publicly that administration of Supreme Court is not in order and there have been things less than desirable that have happened in the court.

After the media conference by the four judges, there have been efforts by sitting judges and some others to mediate a solution to the crisis. Bar Council of India, the apex regulatory body for advocates in the country, set up a seven-member delegation that met the CJI Misra and 14 other judges of the top court on Sunday. The Supreme Court Bar Association too pitched in with efforts and its president Vikas Singh met the Chief Justice of India and other judges.

(with agency inputs)
They are a couple with meagre means but they dreamt big for their daughters.

In a state with one of the worst sex ratio in India, the Haryana couple spared no expenses in educating their two girls. They were sent to private schools and tuition classes were arranged to make up for a shortfall.

The elder, a Class 10 student, wanted to be a doctor. On January 9, she left her home in Jhansa village in Kurukshetra district at around 4pm but didnt reach the tuition centre.

Three days later, her mutilated body was found near a canal in the neighbouring Budha Khera village. She was raped and brutalised.

She wanted to be a doctor. She would tell me that she would pull us out of our poverty, said her father, a tailor who works on a commission in a shop.

A Dalit, he said he brought up his daughters as sons. I barely earn Rs 200-300 a day but I ensured both my daughters received private education, he said.

She had beautiful handwriting and was always asked by her teachers to write on the blackboard.

The family learnt of her death on Saturday afternoon. The father was at the police station when a relative called and said TV was flashing news about a girls body, he said.

Her locket and the sacred threads she wore on her wrists and ankles confirmed it was her body, he said.

The savagery of the crime has left the parents distraught and angry.

When the rapists are caught, I want them to be tortured the same way my daughter was raped and killed. I want them to be cut up, slowly into pieces, the girls mother said on Tuesday as the violence of her words shook her frail body.

A doctor at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Rohtak who carried out the autopsy said the sexual assault was carried out by more than two persons who also used a blunt weapon that ruptured her liver.

There were 19 external wounds and her hair was chopped before she was killed, the report says.

A Class 12 boy, who went to the same tuition centre as the girl, too, went missing around the same time on January 9.

Police suspect the boy, a Dalit and believed to be a minor, as the main culprit. The girls mother said she wouldnt draw a conclusion in haste though she, too, suspected him.

I want police to catch the real culprits. Even if the boy was involved, the brutality could not have been the work of an individual, she said.

The family dismissed reports that the girl and the boy were in a relationship. She wouldnt even visit our relatives in the neighbourhood. It is impossible that she was seeing a boy from our village, said the father.

She was brave but shy, he added. If she wanted to visit the washroom at school, she would tell other girls to inform the teacher, he said.

His younger daughter, all of 11, is yet to come to terms with the events of last week. The two sisters were close. They didnt have a brother so on Rakshabandhan, they would tie rakhis to each other.

But, temperamentally they were different. It was always difficult to get didi to play, said the younger girl. Her head was always buried in books, she said.

The killers behaved worse than animals. Despite my limited means, I will fight all my life to bring her killers to justice, the father said.

The boys house was locked on Tuesday. Neighbours said they had not seen the family since the girls body was found. He is a short and docile boy who behaved well with everyone. He never came across as a criminal, said Rampal Grover, a neighbour.
A tribal journalist in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district has alleged he was threatened by the personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force and that he is being harassed for raising issues of molestation and atrocities by security forces in the Bastar region, a charge denied by the CRPF.

Lingaram Kodopi said he was returning from his village, Sameli, in the evening on Sunday on his motorcycle when he was stopped by some soldiers of the paramilitary force at a checkpoint.

I was stopped and one of them said, Kanpatti pe lagaun kya (Should I hit you)? When I asked what I have done they told me to meet a senior officer in the camp. I met the senior officer and told him that I was stopped without any reasons, Kodopi, also a human rights activist, said over the phone.

When I said that I will make a complaint with the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission of India) and senior officers about the matter, he started abusing me and threatened me, he added.

Kodopi said he approached Dantewadas superintendent of police Kamalochan Kashyap and lodged a complaint against the CRPF personnel.

I have also sent a letter to the NHRC. They are trying to harass me because I have raised the molestation case by CRPF jawans in Palnar area. They are continuously tracking me and my life is in danger, he added.

CRPFs deputy inspector general AK Singh said the allegations made by Kodopi are baseless.

I have talked to all concerned and found that he was stopped at the check post of Sameli and was heavily drunk. He was advised not to drive after drinking. No one threatened him, Singh said.

Superintendent of police Kashyap said he has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

He called me on the phone on the same night and narrated the alleged incident. Today, he has submitted a written complaint about the matter and we have ordered a detailed inquiry into the matter, the senior police official said.

Journalists have been at the receiving end in Bastar region for what activists say are persistent attempts by the local police to intimidate the media.

Four local journalists have been arrested since 2016 and a visiting BBC newsman was forced to leave the district. Another was forced to flee the region after being accused of having Maoist links.

Santosh Yadav, a Bastar-based journalist, was arrested in October 2015 on suspicion that he had links with Maoist leader Shankar in Darbha area of the region.

He was booked on charges of rioting, criminal conspiracy and associating with a terrorist organisation. He released from jail after 17 months after the Supreme Court granted him bail in February 2017.
The Union home ministry has approved 45 companies of central paramilitary forces for the upcoming Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha bypolls and Mandalgarh assembly seat on January 29.

We had demanded deployment of additional forces for the bypolls in Alwar as there are a number of critical booths and the size of the district. Initially, the Union home ministry had sanctioned 35 but later 10 more were sanctioned, a senior home department official said on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

A senior official of the police department said, We had demanded 51 companies for the bypolls but 45 were approved to conduct the polls. The sanctioned number is sufficient to maintain law and order. The forces were asked in view of the critical and hypersensitive booths at the constituencies going to the polls, he added.

A company consists of 100 personnel and officers. The forces will be deployed from January 20 to January 29.

The official said additional companies were asked for Alwar, which has more critical polling booths than Ajmer and Mandalgarh. The information received states that Alwar roughly has around 400 critical booths, while Ajmer has around 200, he said.

He said of the 45 companies, 24 will be deployed in Alwar, 16 in Ajmer, three in Mandalgarh and two in Jaipur rural, as it has some areas of Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency. Central armed police forces have been deployed at critical booths, he added.
Chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Wednesday said the state government is making all efforts in the budget to fulfil the development requirements for Rajasthan and expectations of the people.

Efforts have been made to ensure participation of all sections of the society in the budget process, she said addressing the addressing the first meeting of pre-budget talks with voluntary organizations, civil societies and consumer forum representatives at her office.

The budget will be prepared based on the ground reality by taking suggestions from experts and representatives from different sectors.

Raje said the state in last four years has touched new heights of development through proper utilization of budgetary allocations and strong participation of the people.

Through dialogue, the government comes to know about the needs of different sectors and with the suggestions the government is able to take the state on the path of progress.

There is alternative of giving online suggestions through which the government is receivingJaip a number of logical and relevant suggestions, she said.

Efforts will be made to include the suggestions after the departments try them out.

Representatives from different civil societies, voluntary organizations and consumer forums gave their suggestions and expressed their gratitude to chief minister for including many of their suggestions in the previous budget.

Additional chief secretary finance DB Gupta informing about the pre-budget talks, said more than 2,000 suggestions have been received online on the website of the finance department and the process is on to make the budget more inclusive.

Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini and senior officials of different departments were also present at the meeting.
Years after the Marxists tried to convince investors that militant trade unionism was a thing of the past in Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee projected tolerance and harmony at the Trinamool governments fourth business summit held over two days in a bid to attract capital.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit 2018 on Tuesday, Banerjee offered guaranteed tolerance and security in return for investment.

Though she did not name any political party, it was apparent that the chief minister was trying to gain political mileage as she has blamed the BJP alone for every communal unrest in recent times.

Read: CM Mamata woos investors at Bengal business summit

We believe in unity and tolerance. So, I invite all my industrialist friends to invest here without any fear. At the same time, I would like to assure that I will not compromise on the issue of their security. I wont spare even my own party activists on this count, said Banerjee on the first day of the summit.

On Wednesday, the second and last day of the event, the chief minister said, Bengal believes in tolerance and it does not make discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and religion.

When you come to Bengal please dont think you are going somewhere else. Think that you are coming to your own home. Dont think I am pleading only for West Bengal. I also want industry to come to Bihar and Odisha, she said.

She claimed that over two days investors evinced interest to put in about Rs 2.19 lakh crore in different projects in Bengal.

Read: Tatas start shifting out equipment

While addressing investors on previous occasions, Banerjee had always alleged that there had been deliberate attempt by interests groups to malign Bengals image and project it as unfriendly. She completely dumped this approach at the two-day summit. The parameters in Bengal are ideal for investment. We have political stability. As far as lost man-day is concerned, the dark days are over. We have surplus power and skilled labour, she said on Tuesday.

Bengal has an excellent team of bureaucrats who are always ready to cooperate with industrialists so that they may run their business smoothly. In terms of ease of doing business, Bengal is the best state, she added.

The chief minister admitted that without fresh investments Bengal cannot go ahead. Just as the state cannot move ahead without proper agricultural development, it cannot develop its economy without industrial progress. We need to ensure that industrialists run their business in peace, she said on Tuesday.

She also raised the issue of caste politics at the inaugural session. We have people of various castes, religions and beliefs in India. Unity in diversity is our pride. People of Bengal have always practiced this unity and that is our strength, she said.

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Sanjay Singh, national general secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party, demanded probe into the death of Judge BH Loya on Tuesday.

Highlights Anuj Loya, son of special CBI judge BH Loya, on January 14, had told media in Mumbai that there was nothing suspicious about his fathers death and asked the media, politicians, lawyers and NGOs not to harass the family. The 21-year-old Anuj Loya told reporters that judge Loyas death in December 2014 was natural and described it as a sad and private matter.

Singh, who is Uttar Pradesh incharge of the party, was in the state capital on Tuesday which is his first visit to Lucknow after getting elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Judge BM Loya died under mysterious circumstances. A high level probe into his death will only unravel the truth, Singh told the media. Loya was a special CBI judge hearing the Sohrabuddin encounter case in Mumbai. He died on December 1, 2014, in Nagpur where he had gone to attend a wedding.

Singh also took potshots at the Yogi government.

Booth Management The AAP has planned a two-day statewide workshop on February 17 and 18 in which 200 party workers in each district would be imparted training related with booth management.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has failed on all fronts, especially on the law and order. Rampant increase in the incidents of crime in the state indicates that criminals are having field day under the BJP government, said Singh.

On the occasion, the AAP leader also criticised the state government for not being able to provide sweaters to students of primary schools this winter.

Despite promising to provide sweaters in this winter season to students of primary schools, the state government has not been able to do so, said Singh.

The national general secretary of AAP also attacked the Centre for allowing 100% FDI in some sectors.
A Class 1 boy is recuperating at a Lucknow hospital after a senior girl student attacked him with a knife on their school premises, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place a day earlier at the Bright Land School in Aliganjs Triveni Nagar locality. The victim, six-year-old Hrithik Sharma, told his parents that the girl took him inside a bathroom and attacked him.

Hrithik, who suffered injuries on the chest, abdomen and left eye, is stated to be stable but has been placed under observation at KGMUs trauma centre for 48 hours.

According to police, Hrithik told his parents and the school authorities that a girl with boy cut hair style took him to the bathroom on the second floor of the school building when he was going to attend morning assembly around 10.20am. She fled after locking him inside.

School director Rachit Manas said the incident came to light when the schools discipline in-charge, Amit Chauhan, went on his morning round to check if every student is out for assembly. He said Chauhan heard the boy screaming inside a locked bathroom.

We immediately rushed the boy to a nearby hospital, from where he was referred to KGMUs trauma centre, said Manas. The boys parents were also immediately informed.

Hrithiks father Rajesh Sharma is a class 4 employee at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.

Sharma has asked the school to identify the girl as soon as possible as her presence could harm other children too.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP), trans-Gomti, Harendra Kumar said the boy had identified a girl but she denied attacking him and so help from counsellors was being sought to talk to girls with a similar appearance.

Though the incident took place on Tuesday, the school administration reported the matter to police only the next day after the victims picture was shared on social media.
The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) will assist the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in vacating 20 acres of encroached land at the Lucknow airport.

Bigger crafts like Boeing 747-757 unable to land in city A Lucknow airport official said that a runway of at least 3,500 metres length is required for operating bigger planes. The runway at Lucknow airport is just 2,800 metres long, thus allowing only mid-size aircrafts to operate here.

The AAI is expanding various facilities at the airport, as part of which it had planned constructing an apron and a cargo building on this 20-acre land available near the Air Traffic Control (ATC) office.

However, the land has been encroached upon by some locals who are using it for agriculture. They have not been allowing AAI staff to enter the area for soil testing.

So, on Airport Authoritys request, the district administration has sent two companies of PAC to help free up the land and prevent any sort of law and order situation from arising.

Meanwhile, the process of land acquisition for runway extension is also going on at the airport. At present, the runway is just 2,800 metres long, which is not enough to allow for the landing of bigger crafts. The length of the runway has to be at least 3,500m for these aircrafts to be able to land in Lucknow.

Director airport AK Sharma said, Acquisition of 70 acres of land (for extending the runway) must not be confused with the 20 acres that already belongs to the AAI. Terminal 3 will soon come up, engulfing the present cargo depot. So, we need this 20-acre land to shift our cargo depot to as well as to expand our apron area.

Terminal 3 is expected to be completed within three years. Meanwhile, efforts are on to acquire additional 70 acres for extending the runway and allowing for bigger crafts to land at Lucknow airport, which already has an international airport status.

At present, the runway is just long enough to accommodate operations of mid-size aircrafts ie 300-seater planes with smaller fuel tanks.
Promoting places of Hindu religious importance, fairs and festivals are the salient features of the tableaux made by the UP tourism department and UP information department for the Republic Day parade in Lucknow.

The tourism department tableau has pictures of Taj Mahal depicting Taj Mahotsav, Lucknows famous Rumi Darwaza portraying Lucknow Mahotsav and Gorakhnath temple indicating Gorakhpur Mahotsav.

These have been introduced, for the first time, by the BJP government of the state.

By using picture of Taj Mahal, the government has tried to put an end to the recent controversy over the alleged bypassing of the world-famous monument in a tourism department booklet.

Alongside the Taj picture, it has put the picture of the Gorakhnath temple, of which chief minister Yogi Adityanath is the mahant.

The tableau also features the Ganga to showcase the upcoming Allahabad Kumbh 2019 and Ayodhya Deepotsav held on Diwali in October, 2017.

A Guinness World Records team had recorded the Ayodhya Deepotsav and confirmed that a record 1,87,213 diyas (lamps) were lit at the Ram Ki Paidi on the bank of river Saryu in the temple town.

Yogi had attended the function and performed arti of Ram, Sita and Laxman as artistes portraying them landed from a special chopper.

But all eyes will be on the central area of the tableau, where artistes will perform live the Lathmaar Holi of Nandgaon (Mathura), the home town of Lord Krishna.

After Ayodhyas Deepotsav and now Gorakhpur Mahotsav, the state government now has an ambitious plan to showcase the grand Lathmar Holi celebration in Barsana in March, with Yogi expected to be the chief guest at the function.

Along with promoting religious tourism, we are also taking this opportunity to bring forth various fairs and festivals of Uttar Pradesh to citizens of the state, a tourism department release said.

Meanwhile, the information department tableau showcases Subah-e-Banaras -- the mornings of the temple town Varanasi. It depicts the complete scene of the Ganga ghats --temples resonating with the sound of bells and conch shells (shankh), people taking holy dip and also eating khasta-kachauri. Adding to this is the space depicting the rich musical heritage of Banaras Gharana and the evenings of meetha paan.

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A Muslim corporator in Uttar Pradeshs Meerut town has handed over his cow to the police to avoid being attacked by cow vigilantes or landing in jail amid growing incidents of such violence by self-styled cow protection force.

Abdul Gaffar, a Bahujan Samaj Party corporator from Ward 73, on Tuesday requested the station house officer of Nauchandi police station, Sanjay Kumar, to keep the cow as he didnt feel safe. He was accompanied by his family and neighbours.

Gaffar said he asked Kumar to give his cow only to someone or some organisation who could take care of her.

I will go and check her well being every month, Gaffar said.

The resident of Manzoor Nagar locality said he was given a receipt by the police after he handed over the cow to them. He said it was a difficult decision for him adding that his sister had gifted him the calf two years ago and he had raised it with affection and care.

He said his decision to give away the cow had nothing to do with his party and that it was his personal decision.

Superintendent of police (city) Maan Singh Chauhan said the cow will be returned to Gaffar.

Gaffar, however, is adamant and doesnt want to take it back.

Cow vigilantism has been the catalyst of violence across India in the last few years. The self-styled gaurakshaks have lynched people, snatched away cows and sparked a fear among a section of the population even without the sanction from the ruling parties and authorities.

Opposition parties accuse the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre of not reigning in fringe groups that are allegedly targeting the minority community over issues considered sacrosanct by the Hindus.
For over a month, Iddu Mians hideout was a sugarcane field near his house in Saraiya village of Motihari district in Bihar and he was planning to move to Delhi when he was arrested on Monday night. Before reaching his place, he travelled to multiple places and stopped using his cell phone to dodge cops who were on his trail.

HOW HE WAS TRACKED Iddu Mian suspected that the police team might raid his house anytime, so he stopped living there and made his hideout in the sugarcane field. He stayed there by making some temporary arrangements for at least 45 days, said Saumitra Yadav, SP, GRP Lucknow. Iddus elder son, Raees, from his first wife helped us track him and he only gave a tip-off to the police about his location, said the SP. The police team visited Iddus house many times during which they convinced his son Raees and took him into confidence to inform them about his father. Iddu used to come out of the field only in the evening or at night and again enter into the field after purchasing some eatables and basics. Some people in the village were aware of his whereabouts, but they did not share it with the police as they were scared of him, said Yadav.

The 42-year-old man, accused of throwing his four minor daughters off a moving train, was arrested in Bihars Motihari district late on Monday. The UP Government Railway Police (GRP) brought him to Lucknow on Tuesday.

Saumitra Yadav, SP, GRP Lucknow, said Iddu Mian suspected that the police team might raid his house anytime, so he stopped living there and made his hideout in the sugarcane field. He stayed there by making some temporary arrangements for at least 45 days.

Iddu used to come out of the field only in the evening or at night and again enter into the field after purchasing some eatables and basics. Some people in the village were aware of his whereabouts, but they did not share it with the police as they were scared of him, said Yadav.

Iddus elder son, Raees, from his first wife helped us track him and he only gave a tip-off to the police about his location, said the SP. The police team visited Iddus house many times during which they convinced his son Raees and took him into confidence to inform them about his father.

Sub-inspector Fazal-ur-Rehman, who was part of the investigation team, said the cops got a tip-off about Iddu many times but he managed to escape every time. Iddu returned to his house around four days after committing the crime, but immediately left the place sensing trouble, he said.

The S-I said the accused was so smart that he took the road route to return home and changed many buses from Jammu to Delhi. From there, he reached Moradabad and then Motihari, Bihar via Lucknow.

Iddu even visited Jammu, Patiala, Chandigarh, Delhi and Nepal after leaving his house for the second time, but returned to his village again after spending a few weeks away.

Read more: Bihar man accused of throwing four daughters from moving train arrested

He said Iddu spent a few days in Nepal and had planned to settle there for some time, but returned as he did not get any work there. The police team, however, was interrogating the accused before finalising the chargesheet against him. Iddus wife was also informed about his arrest and she was coming for further legal proceedings soon, he added.
A UP government tableau themed Subah-e-Banaras has not been included in New Delhis Republic Day parade this year. Instead, it will now be a part of the parade in Lucknow.

The defence ministry, which approves tableaux of different states, has neither given approval to UPs tableau nor cited any reason for its omission.

Avnish Awasthi, principal secretary, information confirmed that the UP governments tableau was not included in Delhis Republic Day parade. They have a policy wherein every year they give a chance to different states. They allow limited number of tableaux. They have limited slots and adopt a rotation policy, he explained.

He said this is probably the second consecutive year when there will be no tableau from UP in Delhis R-Day parade. Given the fact that BJP government is there both at the centre and in the state, it is difficult to understand as why UP failed to push its case, said another official.

But when HT tried to dig deep into what may have contributed to the omission of the UP tableau, it came to light that in 2014 the Samajwadi Party government had showcased UP with exactly the same theme  Subah-e-Banaras and this tableau led 11 states tableaux at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

It depicted a complete scene of the Ganga ghats  temples resonating with the sound of bells and conchshells (shankh), people taking the holy dip and men engaged in wrestling. There was also a model of Bismillah Khan along with his assistant artistes depicting the scene of Banarsi morning.

Perhaps, this could be one of the reasons why UPs tableau failed to make a place in Delhi this year.

Read more| Republic day parade: Fairs, festivals & Hindu religious places top UP government tableaux

In 2013, UPs tableau themed Braj ki Holi became a part of the parade in Delhi after a gap of nearly seven years. Before that, UPs tableau based on Rani of Jhansi was selected some eight years ago.

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The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has called the governments decision to revoke the Haj subsidy as undemocratic, discriminatory and unfair towards the minority community.

AIMPLB spokesperson Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said the money spent by the government on festivals of the majority community was more than what was spent as Haj subsidy.

Besides, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali said that the decision of revoking Haj subsidy in one go was not justified as the Supreme Court in its decision had asked to withdraw the subsidy gradually.

Notably, the apex court in 2012 had said that the Haj subsidy should be withdrawn gradually by 2022. The SC had ruled that the subsidy is not only unconstitutional but inconsistent with the teachings of Quran.

Talking to HT, Farangi Mahali said, The subsidy was a way to give a lifeline to Air India (AI) as all the Haj pilgrims were forced to travel from AI instead of other airlines. It could be said that the subsidy was for AI and not for Muslims. Yet, it will affect some of the poor pilgrims who will have to arrange 75,000 more.

He added, Now the government should float open tenders for the Haj flights as Haj pilgrims are bulk purchasers. In tenders, any airline which offers the lowest fares should be given the work of flying the Haj pilgrims. We believe that this will reduce the expense of the pilgrims.

Farangi Mahali further said that for reducing the cost of pilgrimage, the government of India could lease buildings in Mecca and Medina for longer duration instead of hiring them for few days in which they have to pay more rent.

On the other hand, Maulana Kalbe Jawwad said, I will write to the Prime Minister to restore the subsidy as it would hurt the poor pilgrims. Haj is not only for rich but for poor as well. Subsidy must be given to all the poor pilgrims. The government must find a way to give subsidy to the poor pilgrims and withdraw it for the rich ones.

Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said that it was wrong to withdraw the Haj subsidy in one go as the Supreme Court asked it to revoke gradually.

This year, around 1.75 lakh Muslims from India will undertake the Haj pilgrimage. The decision to withdraw the subsidy can affect these pilgrims.

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Some weeks ago I wrote about the nicest hotels I had stayed in during 2017. The most common complaint about that article was: why are there no Delhi hotels on the list?

When I explained that this was because I lived in Delhi and had no reason to stay in a hotel in the city, this did not satisfy the complainers. But you must have some views on Delhi hotels, they said.

Well I do. But they are not the views of a guy who has stayed in very many of them recently. Nevertheless, for what its worth, heres my guide to Delhis hotels. I have tried, as much as possible, to focus on each propertys strengths rather than its weaknesses so dont treat these comments as reviews, just as part of a general guide.

The Oberoi, Delhi.

The Oberoi: This is the ultimate Delhi hotel. When it opened in 1965 as the Oberoi Intercontinental, it was Indias finest modern, world class, five star hotel at a time when the Bombay Taj was a sloppy, old-style hostelry. (The team that turned the Taj around and created the Taj group have acknowledged their debt to the Oberoi for inspiration.)

It has had three broad phases: 1965 to the late 1980s, when it was an American-style business hotel; the early 1990s to a couple of years ago when it became a luxury hotel in the same league as Asias other great hotels after an extensive renovation; and the present.

It re-opened this month as something even greater and grander than it has ever been. I will do a full piece on the renovated Oberoi in Rude Travel a little later.

The Taj Mansingh, Delhi.

The Taj Mansingh: When the Taj group opened its Delhi hotel in 1978, it took about 15 minutes to beat the hell out of the smug Oberoi Intercontinental of that era and quickly became Delhis number one hotel.

In its own way, it has been almost as influential as the Oberoi but it has gone through rough patches and never quite recovered when the Oberoi got its act together early in this century and zoomed past the Taj to become Delhis top hotel again. In recent years, it has been dogged by uncertainly about its future after a dispute with its partner, the NDMC.

But there is a good news. The present team at the hotel, headed by Satyajeet Krishnan, the Taj groups most sophisticated and cerebral General Manager, is top notch and while I am hesitant to make predictions, the consensus is that the Taj will win the impending auction for the site where it is located. Once that happens, I imagine it will go in for an Oberoi-style makeover and fight to regain its position at the very top.

That should be a battle worth following!

The Ashok: I can barely recognize the grand hotel of my childhood when I go to the Ashok now. The government should just privatize the damn thing. Soon!

The Imperial: This hotel occupies a strange position. Many people regard it as a grand, old Delhi hotel. But unlike say, the Taj in Mumbai or the Oberoi Grand in Calcutta, it has no special place in the life of the city or its citizens. Hardly anyone in Delhi has treasured memories of significant events that took place at The Imperial.

Its Raj-era charm appeals much more to foreign tourists who want a taste of history. That said, it is a lovely hotel with a great location and an appeal of its own.

The Leela: This outpost of the Mumbai-based chain nearly bankrupted the parent company because it cost so much to build. But it gave Delhi a high-quality modern luxury hotel with large rooms of the kind the city lacked. I suspect that one of the motivations for the Oberois recent renovation was to create rooms that rivalled the Leelas in size.

It is one of my favourite hotels and I love The Qube, its coffee shop.

The Maurya: It has been an exciting decade for the Maurya. Though it opened at roughly the same time as the Taj Mansingh, it never got the same kind of importance or respect despite the grandeur of its design and the excellence of the Indian food.

But over the last few years, it has turned itself around with excellent, personalized service, a contemporary approach to luxury and terrific Italian and modern Asian food.

The Taj Palace, Delhi.

Taj Palace: Opened four years after the first Taj, this large hotel has focused on conferences and banquets and perhaps unfairly, has been regarded as the Mansinghs poorer cousin. The Taj has now installed Gourav Pokhriyal, a turnaround specialist (he turned around the Jaipur Rambagh, the Goa Exotica and the Mumbai Taj) as General Manager and he has done wonders for the property.Now to fix the food...

The Lalit: If you believe foreign hotel brands count for anything in India, consider this hotel. At various stages in its life it has been called Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental and Hilton. But everyone in Delhi has always called it Lalit Suris hotel so it is just as well it is now actually called The Lalit. It slips under the radar but is now a better hotel than it has ever been and with Keshav Suri, son of the founder in charge, the future is bright.

Hyatt Regency: Indias first Hyatt, this opened in 1982/3 as an Asian Games project and it is a prisoner of its era in terms of its rooms which tend to be small. But it punches way above its weight because of the excellence of its restaurants and the high quality of its banqueting. A willingness to keep opening new restaurants and bars and to experiment with inventive banqueting concepts makes it look fresh and new.

Sheraton, New Delhi: The other ITC city hotel, this smaller property in Saket attracts less attention than the Maurya but is perfect if you have work in that part of town. Outstanding Indian food, great service and a passionate General Manager in Benita Sharma who has run the hotel as a labour of love for several years now.

The Shangri La: This wonderful luxury Asian chain has had its problems in India. When it took over this former ITDC hotel, it seemed unable to do much with it. A Mumbai property flopped and the Shangri La exited after differences with the owners. And Bangalores Shangri La is sloppily managed.

They are lucky, then, that a refurbishment a couple of years ago which included a refit of the restaurants has transformed the Delhi Shangri La. This is now well up to Shangri Las standards, is smoothly managed and has outstanding food.

The Lodhi: This was the first city hotel to be opened by the uber luxury resort group Aman Hotels and when it opened (as The Aman), some people thought it had all the warmth of a Cold War-era Eastern European prison.

DLF bought and sold the Aman chain but kept this hotel which it renamed The Lodhi. It works much better as a small, exclusive standalone property than it did as an Aman and the criticisms about the quality of the food were silenced when Indian Accent shifted here.

The Claridges, Delhi.

The Claridges: This small hotel in the heart of Lutyens Delhi is the sort of property you want to love but always wish they would make it easier for you to find something to love. It is potentially a great hotel. But its not quite there, yet.

Le Meridien: A total refurbishment has given this hotel, located in the heart of Delhi, a much needed boost. I have always liked it, despite the hustle and bustle, because of its welcoming air of warmth and the hospitable nature of the staff, many of whom are devoted to the property and to its guests. Few Delhi hotels have such committed senior staff.

The Park: This is a much better hotel than most people realize but has lost out because the quality of the operations never quite lived up to owner Priya Pauls conception. This was Delhis first art/boutique hotel, it had Indias first proper Spanish restaurant, was the first to serve regional Italian food and it more or less invented Delhis version of modern Indian cuisine. It is still very good value and has a brilliant location.

The Roseate: It is hard to believe that a beautiful resort property of this size exists in Delhi. It is like an Oberoi Vilas with a funky edge. You wont believe you are in Delhi and yet the location is only a few minutes from Aerocity. (It used to be called Dusit Devarana.)

JW Marriott, Aerocity: This large banquet and shaadi-friendly hotel, located in Aerocity, is a license to print money for its owners who must be delighted that Marriott has delivered this cash cow to them. Despite its size, it is efficiently run and always packed out.

The Pullman: In many ways, Accor is the hotel company that rose without a trace. There are now many Accor hotels in India but none of the brands mean that much to Indians. This elegant hotel with a strong emphasis on F&B may change things around for both Pullman and its Accor parent.

Andaz: A huge F&B success, this groundbreaking lifestyle hotel from Hyatt deserves to do even better with its rooms. One problem may be that Indians havent yet fully grasped the philosophy behind the Andaz brand which is not as obviously hip as W but offers a more laidback and sophisticated kind of cool experience. Everyone I know who has stayed here has loved it. Highly recommended.

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More than half of the complaints of medical negligence registered by patients with the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) since 1995 are yet to be resolved, revealed the data available with the council. Of the 1,245 cases registered with the MMC, 666 (about 53%) are pending.

The MMC, a quasi-judicial body, is the state branch of the Medical Council of India (MCI). It has the authority to grant licence to allopaths wanting to practice in Maharashtra. It also holds the power to suspend the licence, if a doctor is found guilty of a malpractice.

Dr Shivkumar Utture, president, MMC, said to clear the huge backlog of cases, a four- member ethical committee has been convening every week since November 2017 to address grievances.

Although the MMC Act requires the ethical committee to meet once every two months, the committee has been meeting once every week, since November 2017, to expedite cases and refer them to the executive committee, which then takes the final call, he said.

The ten-member executive committee appointed by the MMC then decides if the doctors licence should be suspended or not.

Utture said the long wait time to resolve the cases is affecting both  the aggrieved and the doctor accused of negligence.

If the cases take long to resolve, the patients dont get a sense of justice. Secondly, the doctor who has been accused cannot avail no objection certificates if he or she wishes to travel abroad to attend fellowships or courses, Utture added.

In nearly 95% of the pending cases, patients or the families have blamed the doctor for giving inaccurate treatment. In the last three years, the MMC has not been fully functioning owing to the delays by the government to conduct elections and electing its nominated members .

This added to the number of cases, said Dr Suhas Pigle, a former MMC member. All the government elected nominees showed no interest in ensuring that the council functions properly. They have delayed the elections for months, primary reason for the backlog.
A 60-year-old woman on Wednesday confirmed that US citizen of Pakistani origin and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley stayed in Mumbai before the 26/11 terror attacks and started an immigration business in 2006.

The prosecution examined the woman, Mahrukh Bharucha, as a witness in the attacks case.

Bharucha told the court that she was appointed by Headley as his secretary in November 2006 when he started his business under the name of Immigrate Law Centre as a consultant for immigration to Canada.

Her job responsibilities included maintaining records of all clients and following up with the authorities, she told the court. Headley had told her that the purpose of opening of the office was to assist people who can go to America.

Headley  who recced various Indian cities, including Mumbai before the 26/11 attacks  was arrested in 2009. He was the first person to be examined by the prosecution in 2016. During his deposition, he mentioned that Barucha was his employee.

After his revelation, she was first questioned by the Mumbai police early in 2016 and the National Investigating Agency (NIA). She had told the police that Headley hardly used to stay in office. For the most part of the year, Headley would spend time in Dubai, Pakistan, America and other countries, she informed the police. She also said Headley left India in July 2008 for America and had not returned since then.

Bharucha had also provided crucial information to investigators about Headleys connection with Pakistan-born businessman Tahawur Rana, who used to call him on the office landline and visited the office in Tardeo on several occasions.

Rana was also booked by the United States for his association with Lashkar-e-Taiba and supporting Headley in immigration business. They were said to business partners Rana. However, during the trial, a US district court had convicted Rana for providing material support to LeT but acquitted of the charge of conspiring to plot the 26/11 attacks.

During her interrogation, Bharucha had claimed that in March and April 2008 Rana visited the Tardeo office with his wife when Headley was not there. Bharucha revealed that after the 26/11 terror attacks, Rana had called her to check on the aftermath. Rana advised her to close the office for some days considering the situation, she told investigators.
Is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a public movement that went awry and lost sight of its goal owing to its captain Arvind Kejriwal? Former AAP leader and one of the partys founding members Mayank Gandhi certainly thinks so. In his new book AAP & Down, the social activist claims to have exposed the intricacies and political cross currents that he feels ultimately turned what had started as a peoples movement into a cloak and dagger political party, with its own share of intrigue and closed door politics. This book will be launched on February 18.

The book blames Kejriwal and his coterie for all that the author thinks went wrong within the AAP. Anyone who questioned Kejriwal was shown the door and it has now become a one-man party instead of a peoples party, alleges Mumbai-based Gandhi in his book.

He cites the example of himself, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were shown the door. Calling his book the account of the second Independence struggle, he outlines the details starting from the Anna Hazare-led Indian Against Corruption (IAC), where the foundation of AAP was first laid. He said the 2013 Delhi assembly elections were fought on basis of principle and transparency.

However, things changed after the 2014 parliamentary elections when Narendra Modi swept the polls. There was a change in the thinking and AAP adopted the same tactics other political parties did in the 2015 Delhi assembly polls like taking defectors in its fold and considering winning the only aim. This is where the slide started, he said. Arvind Kejriwal thought that this will also work in other states but then it backfired in places like Goa and Punjab.

He said the problem was that the Five Founding principles of AAP  participation, accountability, transparency, decentralization of power and integrity  were compromised in the bargain. Why are the coterie members not taking onus of the defeats and resigning? Why are there no booth-level elections being held to encourage decentralisation? Why are no accounts being disclosed on the websites? asked Gandhi.

The ex-AAP leader also said he was expelled after he wrote a blog post in March 2015 about the proceedings of the national executive. I was a representative of lakhs of volunteers and they needed to know what was going on. However, Kejriwal and others took offence and I was sacked, he said.

According to Gandhi, in the first AAP national executive meeting, Kejriwal had said, This party is not the property of 300 founding members but of the lakhs and crores of people in this country. However, over the period of time, he told Gandhi that I do not want intellectuals in the party, just people who say Bharat Mata ki Jai and unquestioningly follow me.

But Gandhi does credit AAP also for shaking the conscience of the people. Politicians were getting grilled, questioned and good people started entering this field, all thanks to AAP, said Gandhi while adding that the Delhi government performed well in social infrastructure like schools and health sector.

However AAP has criticised Gandhi saying he has no moral grounds to talk of AAP. Mayank Gandhi was removed as he concealed information on being named in an FIR (first information report) which was against the AAPs Constitution. The problem with such people who are removed from AAP is they need to attack AAP and Kejriwal to remain in news since they have no other identity, said Priti Sharma Menon, national executive member, AAP. AAP was only becoming stronger by the day. Today we are ruling in Delhi, we are the main opposition party in Punjab and also have members in the Rajya Sabha. Kejriwals work is appreciated all across despite hurdles and we have not deviated from our core agenda.

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The Mumbai police discovered three key ways that drugs were making their way into the city in 2017  through apple trucks, some post-graduates with chemistry degrees and the internet. This helped the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) chalk out their strategies and mop up some notorious drug cartels that were targeting college campuses.

The drug busts also led to a record drug haul in 2017.

The first discovery was the foray of two highly-qualified individuals, both chemistry majors, into the narcotics business. In early 2017, the ANC came upon two individuals who had set up factories that manufactured the deadly synthetic party drug, mephedrone (known as MD on the streets), and were pushing them in large quantities into the city without coming under the radar.

The second discovery was that drug syndicates in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) were using apple trucks coming to the city to transport hashish, or charas, which would be hidden in the fruit cartons.

Both discoveries changed the way we were looking at the drug supply-and-distribution network in the city, said Shivdeep Lande, deputy commissioner of police, ANC, who re-strategised the ANC operations after taking over in October 2016. Once we identified the sources, the task of cleaning up the streets became easy.

His claims are not without reason. Last year, the ANC carried out operations even outside Mumbai, busting two MD manufacturing units, near Pune and Hangal in Karnataka.

Both units were being run by chemistry majors who had gone rogue. The two raids together yielded around 25kg of MD. More importantly, the action crippled the network that had ensured a constant supply of MD, after the drug was included in the list of banned substances three years ago under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

The ban had made its transportation cumbersome and as risky as the smuggling of synthetic drugs from South America. This, in turn, had led to the establishment of local manufacturing units.

After the ANC action, the police started keeping a close watch on manufacturing units in the citys outskirts, and raided a manufacturing unit in Dahanu, hurting the supply further.

The scarcity of MD, following repeated police action, prompted charas smugglers to up their game, and high-quality charas started getting peddled in school and college campuses in small pouches as herbal products, often to unsuspecting youngsters, the police said.

The ANC caught on. More than street peddling, we set our eyes on the main conduits in the larger supply network, Lande said. The efforts paid off when they arrested one Haji Baba, a septuagenarian mafia head from J&K, who was bringing high-quality charas to the city in apple cartons, from Udhampur and Anantnag districts.

His interrogation led to the arrest of two more important conduits from Srinagar and a record haul of 53.74kg charas, as against the six kg of the contraband confiscated in 2016.

The police made another important discovery  that the internet drug network was thriving and that it was using cryptocurrency.

In March 2017, five persons, including two college students from Dahisar, a television serial producer and an estate agent were arrested with LSD stamps worth Rs70 lakh that they had procured through couriers from the United States. LSD stamps, popular among party-goers, are basically small strips of blotting paper on which liquid LSD is spread. The strips are printed with different images that give them their names, and also signify the type and the strength of dosage.

The gang of five had been supplying the recreational drug to celebrities and in Bollywood party circuits regularly and since a long time. The accused used to place the orders over websites in the dark web, where the payment was made in bitcoins. This is one area we are going to focus on more this year, Lande said.

In 2017, the total haul included 782gm of cocaine, 2kg of heroin and 1,525 LSD dots, and the value of the seized contraband touched Rs12.55 crore, more than 10 times the haul in 2016, which was valued at Rs1.86 crore.

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In a closed-door conclave with party workers, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday is said to have claimed that the Bhima Koregaon violence was a conspiracy against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its government in Maharashtra.

The larger plan behind the incident, which led to a statewide bandh, was to break Dalits away from the BJP and create social disharmony in the state, Fadnavis alleged.

At the special conclave held in Mumbai, Fadnavis also asked the party cadre to start preparing for the 2019 elections.

Though the polls are at least one year away, the political situation in Maharashtra is already getting heated. The CM indicated to party district presidents and other leaders that more such episodes, or attempts to create caste conflicts, were possible in the run-up to the polls.

The CM asked us to get ready for the polls. He also stressed that development would be the agenda for the BJP, and that attempts to create social rifts and caste clashes should be nipped in the bud. The Opposition is trying every trick in the book, said a senior BJP leader who attended the meeting but did not wish to be named.

The state BJP unit is now planning to hold rallies on how the government is upholding the Constitution, as a response to the Oppositions campaigns, including farmer leader Raju Shettis all-party Samvidhan Bachao march on Republic Day and the Nationalist Congress Partys ongoing statewide halla bol rallies.
The Maharashtra Congress has announced that it will join the multi-party Samvidhan Bachao (Save Constitution) march, to be held on Republic Day in Mumbai.

Stepping up its attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state and central governments, the party said it would also hold rallies and marches in all 36 districts across the state on January 26. The announcement was made on Tuesday after a meeting of senior party leaders.

The state and central governments have done nothing except brag and talk big about developments over the past three years. The central governments policies have been against the Constitution  it has attempted to change the fundamentals of the Indian Constitution. To oppose this attempt and strengthen the voice of dissent by all groups in Opposition, we have decided to join the march, state Congress chief Ashok Chavan said.

The march, called by the Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha MP Raju Shetti and to be held in Mumbai from Gateway of India to Azad Maidan, will see the participation of various Opposition parties. Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani and Patidar activist Hardik Patel, are likely to join the march.

Chavan said he would meet Shetti on Wednesday to discuss details.
Fifteen years after an undertrial, Khwaja Yunus, was allegedly killed in police custody in 2002, an eyewitness told the court on Wednesday that police beat up Yunus with belts during interrogation in connection with the Ghatkopar bomb blast case.

Abdul Mateen is the first witness examined in the Yunus case.

He said, during the investigation, he was kept with the Powai unit of the crime branch along with Shaikh Zaheer Ahmed, Shaikh Muzammil and Yunus.

Mateen was arrested on December 27, 2002 in connection with the Ghatkopar bomb blast case. Ten days after his arrest, Mateen said the police had invoked the now-repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA).

On January 6, 2003, Ahmed, Yunus and I were taken to the Ghatkopar crime branch around 11:30 am from Powai, Mateen told the court.

Mateen said Yunus was taken to a small room, while he and Ahmed were asked to wait in a passage. While waiting for his turn, Mateen heard shouts from the room, he said.

After 10 to 15 minutes, I heard the sound of belt lashes coming from the room. After some time, a police officer took me to the same room and I saw Yunus in his underwear. He was sitting with his hands tied behind, Mateen said, adding that constables were beating up Yunus with belts to know about his discussion with other accused.

One police officer then stood up and slapped Yunus and another officer kicked him in his abdomen and chest. Yunus suddenly vomited blood, Mateen said.

Mateen revealed that after this, he was shifted to another room with only one window covered by papers. Mateen said he was immediately taken back to to Powai and had not seen Yunus after the incident. After January 6, 2003, Khwaja was never produced in the court, said Mateen.

Mateen said he knew the officers who assaulted Yunus. I know the officers who attacked Yunus. I can tell their names  Praful Bhosle and Hemand Desai... Mr Vhanmane and Mr Khot were sitting beside Yunus.

Mateen said he knew the names of the policemen because during hearings they were addressed by their names. Mateen was acquitted, while Ahmed was discharged.

The defence will soon cross-examine Mateen.

The accident version

Khwaja Yunus, a software engineer working in Dubai, was picked from Parbhani in Marathwada in December 2002 in connection with a bomb blast in Ghatkopar railway station that killed two.

The prosecution alleged that Yunus was tortured in jail and this led to his death in the police custody. The police team, which had arrested Yunus, claimed he escaped after the vehicle in which he was being transported met with an accident near Aurangabad in January 2003. The team faces murder charge.

Earlier, Yunus father filed a habeas corpus petition. Consequently, the court handed over the case to the state CID in March 2003.

The CID filed a charge sheet against 14 policemen. However, the state government did not sanction the prosecution of the 10 accused against which Yunus mother moved the apex court. The petition is yet to come up for hearing.

Meanwhile, in 2012, the session court had framed charges against all accused for murder and criminal conspiracy.
The intelligence unit of the Mumbai crime branch on Tuesday arrested an associate of Ravi Mallesh Bora alias DK Rao in a Rs50-lakh extortion case.

Anna Durai, an active member of the gang, is the third arrest in the case. The police have invoked stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). Durai was produced in a MCOCA court on Wednesday which remanded him in police custody till Saturday. According to the police, the complainant in the case, who is a real estate consultant, said he met a Kandivli-based developer and his partner in January 2014 to discuss the redevelopment of an SRA project in Antop Hill.

The consultant told the developer that Rao was interested in the project, to which the developer said he was on good terms with the gangster. Gangster Chhota Rajan asked the developer to pay Rs10 crore to his gang and Rs40 crore to the chief promoter of the project, Durai, said the complainant.

The consultant was, meanwhile, promised Rs2 crore and two flats as his fees, which was not paid. Rao allegedly asked him to stay away from the project and demanded Rs50 lakh. Following the complaint, Rao was arrested on October 11, 2017, followed by a real estate agent.
A sessions court on Tuesday sentenced Pramod Keluskar, a former aide of gangster Ashwin Naik, to four years imprisonment for cheating a bank by obtaining a housing loan. It, however, acquitted three other accused. He was also asked to pay a fine of Rs16,000.

He never used the amount to buy the flat and instead transferred the loan money into other bank accounts.

The prosecution claimed that Keluskar had approached around 10 banks for housing loans for the same flat in 2003. He told the banks that he wanted to buy a flat for Rs35 lakh in Hrishikesh Cooperative Housing Society, Dadar, from one Jamunabai Gujarathi.

The prosecution claimed that he had created a false identity documents in the name of Gujarathi and also opened an account in Bank of India under the same name. He with the help of other accused managed to produced false documents to obtain a loan from the bank.

The banks, on the basis of the documents, granted the loan to Keluskar. However, he soon defaulted on the instalments. The case came to light when Bank of India initiated an inquiry.

The bank manager later realised that Keluskar was being probed by the other banks for over housing loans for the same flat. When the bank account of Gujarathi was verified they found out that it was a dummy account and money was transferred to other accounts.

The bank lodged a complaint with the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police. The police filed a charge sheet against four accused: Keluskar, Amish Desai, Sanjeev Sethi and Prakash Babare.

Public prosecutor Vina Shelar had examined 19 witnesses, including bank managers, investigating officers and members of the housing society.

Keluskar has been sentenced to suffer imprisonment for four years and also asked to pay fine of Rs16,000.

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Unhappy with the demarcation of hawking zones near the residence of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, the MNS is now planning to launch a city-wide drive against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations faulty planning.

Raj Thackeray on Wednesday convened a meeting of his top leaders and office bearers at his residence, Krishnakunj at Shivaji Park in Dadar. The BMC has included even those residential areas where there were no hawkers before. In addition, all the norms have been violated and hawking pitches are allotted as per the whims and fancies of the BMC officials. Now, you should all file objections against this, said the MNS chief.

MNS leaders and office bearers are irked as the area around their leaders residence has been tagged as hawking zone by the civic body while his estranged cousin Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackerays house Matoshree has no such hawking zone. The BMC has demarcated 20 hawking pitches in two lanes near Krishnakunj. The MNS leaders have already accused the Sena, which is ruling the BMC, of indulging in low-level politics by this move.

MNS leader Avinash Abhyankar, while talking to the media, hit out at the BMC for this ill-fated move. They just marked the hawking zones without applying their minds. If this is implemented, Mumbai will become a hellish place, said Abhyankar. It not just Rajsaheb but the entire Shivaji Park area will suffer by this move. Also, this will have city-wide ramifications as the BMC has messed up things.

MNS leaders will also visit housing societies to make them aware of the issue and ask them to file objections. The party has been aggressive on the hawking issue ever since the Elphinstone Road stampede on September 29. MNS workers had started forcibly evicting hawkers on October 21 near Thane station, after the 15-day deadline that Thackeray had issued to authorities passed. On October 5, Thackeray had led an agitation against the railways and issued an ultimatum that either the Railways evict hawkers, or his party workers would do the deed.
The Congress has demanded a thorough probe into the death of Justice BH Loya by an independent agency.

The party held a silent march from Azad Maidan to Metro cinema on Wednesday.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said, The issue should not be politicized but it is related to a judge who was handling sensitive case. We demand a thorough probe.

He alleged that contradictory statements by Justice Loyas family proves they are under tremendous pressure.

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said, How can a common man expect justice when a judges cannot be probed.
The owners of 1Above and Mojos Bistro, who were arrested by the NM Joshi Marg police, were presented before the Bhoiwada court, which reman-ded them in judicial custody till January 31.

On January 22, the lawyers of Yug Pathak  co-owner of Mojos Bistro  and Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijit Mankar  owners of 1Above  are expected to present their bail application before the court.

Public prosecutor Sanjay Wadhwane told the court that the police needed custody of the four accused as they wanted to conduct a joint interrogation with Tuli and Pathak  owners of Mojos Bistro  as both have been blaming each other for running the hookah parlour illegally. Wadhwane said police wanted to jointly interrogate the Sanghvis, Mankar, Tuli and Pathak to gather further evidence.

Advocate Kiran Jain, who represented the owners of 1Above, said there was no need to remand them in custody as the police had said so repeatedly. He said the police had interrogated the two managers Lisbon Lopez and Kevin Bawa. All the five accused of 1Above co-operated with the police and gave them the same version of events, Jain told the court.

He said the police did not need custody of the accused to verify the no objection certificates (NOCs) obtained from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and fire department , which were submitted to them and which the accused had no scope to tamper with.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant, who represented Pathak, said he had co-operated with the police. He added that with the arrests of all the other accused, Pathaks interrogation should have been complete by now.

The family of one of the victims has filed an intervention opposing the bail application.
It has been 19 days since the NM Joshi Marg police registered a case and began an investigation into the Kamala Mills fire, in which 14 were killed and 55 injured. However, apart from arresting restaurant owners, two of whom surrendered, they have not yet been able to ascertain where the fire began. They continue to rely on a non-conclusive fire brigade report, which states that the fire started from Mojos Bistro and spread to 1Above, situated under it.

They have not yet been able to prosecute any Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials responsible for validating the fire and safety licences of the two restaurants.

Police officers said the BMC has delayed the submission of documents, despite several reminders. They said they need to identify the officials responsible for issuing the fire and safety licenses to the restaurants.

We have given the BMC several reminders. However, they have delayed the submission of documents owing to a departmental inquiry, said an officer from the NM Joshi Marg police station.

Civic chief Ajoy Mehta was unavailable for comment. All the documents related to two restaurants are readily available. There is no point of hiding any or not cooperating with the police, said a senior civic official, who did not wish to be identified.

The police have also been waiting for the papers that the restaurateurs had submitted to the civic body for verification. We want the rent documents and documents related to the fire safety and renovation work that the Mojos Bistro and 1Above owners gave the BMC, added the officer.

Apart from Yug Tuli, who was arrested on Tuesday, all the other arrested restaurant owners have been sent to judicial custody, making it impossible for the investigators to question them further.

One of the contentions based on which the NM Joshi Marg police got custody of Tuli was to find out who the restaurant owner was in touch with, when he acquired permissions for fire safety and to carry out renovations.
In a move that indicates it does not want to tarry with preparations for the 2019 elections, the Maharashtra Congress said it will hold workshops for party workers over the next three months in all districts of the state.

The aim is to strengthen the party at the grass-roots level, leaders said.

The sessions are set to begin on January 21. The first series of workshops will be held in Palghar, and will continue till the end of March.

National and state party leaders, including Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan and All India Congress Committee general secretary and Maharashtra in-charge Mohan Prakash, will talk to workers about various issues, such as the Bhima Koregaon violence, the Supreme Court crisis, and the BJPs failed policies in the state and at the Centre.

Party workers will also be trained to use social media, address citizens issues and expose failed government schemes.

The BJP has been promoting policies of disintegration in the country to retain power and spread its roots in the state. All promises related to development have taken the backseat as the ruling party is more interested in strengthening its votebank. We will train our workers to enable them to communicate these things to people, Chavan said.
If the municipal corporations plans materialise, then the area outside Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chiefs house at Shivaji Park will soon be teeming with hawkers.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demarcated 20 hawking pitches in two lanes near Krishnakunj, Raj Thackerays house. There are no hawking zones near Matoshree, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackerays house at Bandra.

This gave MNS another reason to lash out at Shiv Sena, which rules the BMC.

On Tuesday, the MNS alleged that the Shiv Sena had deliberately marked hawking pitches outside its chief Raj Thackerays house but steered clear of Shiv Sena chiefs residence.

MNS leader Santosh Dhuri said, This has been orchestrated by the Sena to hit the MNS below the belt. It is petty politics. The lanes in front and behind Krishnakunj are marked with 20 hawking pitches. At present, both the lanes have no hawkers and are residential areas. There is no logic to this allotment.

Raj Thackeray will meet senior MNS leaders on Wednesday to take a call on the partys course of action. Since the BMC has invited suggestions and objections for hawking zones, the MNS has decided to send its objections on the hawking zone near Krishnakunj.

Another MNS leader requesting anonymity said, Hawking pitches are marked in areas which has heavy footfall, especially areas around tourist sites and markets. A hawking zone around Raj Thackerays house will spoil its peace and may even become a security issue.

Shiv Sena has refuted the allegations. Sena spokesperson and MP from South Mumbai Arvind Sawant said, It is a civic issue. But as far as its political side is concerned, there is none. Whoever made the allegations should point out space outside Matoshree. They are the ones making this a political issue.

Deputy municipal commissioner Nidhi Choudhari said that the hawking pitches have only been proposed. They will be made final after citizens feedback and the decision by the town vending committee. If citizens objections are valid, some pitches can be dropped and new ones can be redrawn, he added.
Officials of the Mumbai crime branch have taken custody of Badrinumaj Akbar Badshah alias Pasha alias Suka, 27, from the Nashik police and arrested him in connection with an extortion case, in which he cheated a Wadala businessman. The police have already arrested his father Akbar Pasha and have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Badshah had extorted the businessman of Rs2.5 lakh. He is already facing MCOCA charges from the Nashik police after he was caught with a huge cache of fire arms in December last year.

A senior crime branch official confirmed that Badshah was brought to Mumbai on Tuesday and produced before a MCOCA court, which remanded him to police custody till January 26.

Badshah and his other gang members had threatened a Nashik petrol pump staff at gun point and refused to pay for the fuel at the station on December 15, 2017, which led to the seizure of a large quantity of arms near Chandwad toll naka on the Agra-Mumbai highway. The seizure included 25 rifles, one machine gun, 19 revolvers and 4,166 live cartridges. Later, his other accomplices were also nabbed.

Badshah, who is a history sheeter with many cases against him, has been booked in three separate cases by Mumbai police. One case is of extortion, in which his father Abdul Pasha is also an accused. The second case is of vehicle theft at Amboli police station, in which the arms were smuggled, and third is of cheating for forging the vehicles official documents. The Mumbai crime branch is probing all these cases.

We have taken his custody in the Wadala businessman extortion case, in which his father and him had extorted the businessman. Badshah was also involved in threatening the businessman using a firearm, hence we invoked sections of Arms Act in the case. Efforts are being taken to trace the weapon used while committing the offence, said a crime branch officer.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is under pressure to reconsider the list marking hawking pitches in the city, proposed by the civic body earlier this month. Meanwhile, irked by demarcation of a hawking zone near the residence of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, the party now plans to launch a city-wide drive against what it calls a faulty planning of zones.

In a meeting of civic standing committee on Wednesday, corporators across party lines demanded the list marking 85,891 hawking pitches should be scrapped, as it allows hawking around schools, and places of worship, in violation of the Bombay high courts directives.

Corporators demanded the BMC form a town-vending committee, which should first conduct surveys and approve the list of hawking pitches. Following this, the list should be tabled before the general body, or the standing committee, and then published for suggestions and objections of citizens.

Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party leader in BMC, said, As per the high court order, no hawking is allowed around temples, mosques and schools. But this list blatantly violates the order.

The BMC said even though hawking pitches have been marked around places of worship, such hawkers can only sell religious items.

Manoj Kotak, BJP leader in BMC, said, The list violates the high court order. How can it be valid if it does not have the general body or standing committees approval?

In 2015, the BMC had first published a list of hawking pitches that was met with opposition from many citizens groups in residential areas. Following this, the list was withdrawn, and the issue was out in cold storage. However, in November 2017, the BMC republished the same list without any changes, and invited citizens suggestions and objections.

Nidhi Choudhary, deputy municipal commissioner in charge of the issue, was unavailable for a response.

Meanwhile, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday convened a meeting of his top leaders and office-bearers at his residence, Krishna Kunj, at Shivaji Park. The BMC has included even those residential areas where there were no hawkers before. All norms have been violated and hawking pitches have been allotted as per the whims and fancies of the BMC officials. Now you should all file objections against this, Thackeray told his partymen.

MNS leader Avinash Abhyankar while talking to the media hit out at the BMC for the move. They just marked the hawking zones without any application of mind. If this is implemented, Mumbai will become a hellish place, said Abhyankar.
Dense fog engulfed most parts of Noida and Ghaziabad on Wednesday morning, reducing visibility to a few metres thereby forcing commuters to use headlights.

Residents of Noida and Ghaziabad woke up to a foggy morning as the temperature went south. The maximum temperature in Noida on Wednesday was 22 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 8 degrees Celsius.

The mercury fared no better in Ghaziabad and registered a maximum temperature of 21 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

According to weatherman, dense fog descended on the cities around 5am. Visibility was severely hampered on all major routes such as National Highway-24, Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and the Delhi-Noida-Direct Flyway. Motorists said visibility was very low from 5am to 9am and this resulted in the slow movement of traffic as commuters were forced to use fog lights.

I had to leave my home in Ghaziabad early morning to do some fieldwork. But, today, I found it extremely difficult to ride my motorcycle on NH-24 due to the decreased visibility. I kept riding on the extreme left side of the road to avoid an accident, said Mohammad Intezaar, a Ghaziabad resident, who sells car batteries for a living.

Due to foggy conditions on NH-24, we have asked personnel of police stations concerned to be on alert. Apart from them, we also have our police control room vans and public response vehicles doing night patrolling. This is apart from 8am to 10am morning duties of the traffic personnel. There has been no major accident so far this winter owing to foggy conditions, said Shyam Narayan Singh, superintendent of police (traffic).

He said police and traffic personnel have been asked to remain alert whenever fog persists on highways in Ghaziabad district.

Students had a tough time reaching schols on Wednesday morning. (Sakib Ali /HT Photo)

While fog in the morning hours resulted in vehicles moving at a snails pace in Noida, no accident was reported from any part of the city.

There was no accident on the DND Flyway or the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. However, traffic movement was slow. We had stationed traffic police constables at various junctions to avoid congestion. After 10am, when the fog cleared, traffic became normal, said Layak Singh, traffic inspector, Noida police.

Primary schools in Noida and Ghaziabad were also open on Wednesday. Earlier, schools in Gautam Budh Nagar were asked to remain closed till January 10 while Ghaziabad schools were shut till January 14 owing to a dip in temperature and foggy weather.

Today was the first foggy day after schools reopened and my sons school is barely one kilometre from our home. We had proper sunshine this week except on Wednesday morning, said Jyoti Yadav, a resident of Nithari village, Noida Sector 30.
On September 29, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered surgical strikes against terrorist launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), challenging Islamabads nuclear flashpoint theory and denting the image of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a man he had warmly hugged at Allama Iqbal airport in Lahore the previous Christmas day. The Indian Army wanted to announce the strike at 11 am but the press conference was postponed by an hour as Modi insisted on informing Pakistan first through diplomatic and military channels. The strike, the hug, and the deference to protocol were all to be expected.

This piece is about hugs, and handshakes, and reaching out.

The main Opposition party in India, the Congress, recently released another video poking fun at Modis so-called huglomacy , but the Indian prime ministers unorthodox and not-so-stiff upper lip style of greeting key global leaders with a warm hug has yielded results in situations beyond the control of Indias diplomats or military.

At the height of the unstable stand-off between the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army at the Doklam plateau in Bhutan, Modi reached out to Chinese leader Xi Jinping by the hand on the sidelines of the G-20 summit last July (they were not expected to meet at all). The two shook hands and mutually agreed to defuse the crisis diplomatically. This was after the mandarins on both sides had given up, the media was in war-mode, Bhutan was jittery, and the armies of the two countries had been deployed in forward positions in case the red balloon went up. Modis outreach de-escalated the stand-off by August 28, 2017 and the prime minister followed up and the closed the issue by shaking hands with the Premier of the State Council of China Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit on November 14. The first handshake broke the deadlock; the second ensured there was no blowback.

Modis diplomatic style is pragmatic. To my mind, it is as warm at the personal level as it is cold and calculating when it comes to ensuring Indias interests. In his diplomatic worldview, there is no point in sulking or starting. It would be safe to assume that Modi will hug Nawaz Sharif when he meets him in future and invite him for tea. It would also be safe to assume that he would then place Indias interests on the table.

The warmth of his greetings does not mean anything beyond the warmth of his greetings. For instance, Modi may have greeted US president Donald Trump effusively but he didnt follow the latter out of the Paris Climate Accord, and, in fact, was one of the first to reaffirm his countrys commitment to it. And while Modi and Benjamin `Bibi Netanyahu have a bromance of sorts going on, Indias recent vote in the UN (on the US decision on Jerusalem) was driven by its own interests.

While previous regimes viewed diplomatic ties with West Asian countries and Saudi Arabia through the prism of Pakistan, Modi became the first Indian leader after Indira Gandhi (a hiatus of 34 years) to reach out to United Arab Emirates in 2015.

Last year, Abu Dhabis crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the chief guest at Indias Republic Day (and did receive the customary hug). And just as India needs West Asian countries, it does ASEAN ones. This year, 10 ASEAN leaders are chief guests at the Republic Day parade.

He managed to forge excellent ties with the Saudi Royalty during his April, 2016 visit to Riyadh, but also had the courage to tell Saudi Arabia that he was going to visit Tehran the following month. The result is that neither Saudi nor UAE have had any qualms about deporting Indian criminals, including those on a Pakistani passport. Tehran has opened the gateway to Central Asia through Chah Bahr port, a mere 76 nautical miles west of Gwadar port built by China in Pakistan.

With a vision that is not clogged with a Cold War mindset, or Indias past experiences, Modi has openly reached out to US, Japan and even China. The latter, he is confident, will not engage in a military skirmish with New Delhi as it seeks to build its image as a responsible and mature superpower. He is now hosting his good friend Bibi in Delhi but is almost certain to hug Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to the country with the traditional Israel-Palestine hyphen tossed into the Dead Sea.

shishir.gupta@hindustantimes.com

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High drama prevailed on two busy streets of Daund on Tuesday afternoon after a constable, attached to the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and was reportedly into gambling addiction, opened fire at two busy public places in Borawake nagar and Morinagar chowk in Daund taluka, around 80km from Pune, and shot dead three persons.

The accused constable has been identified as Sanjay Shinde who was posted at IRB Group 7 while the deceased have been identified as Gopal Shinde, Prashant Pawar and Anil Jadhav of Daund in Pune district.

Mohammad Suvez Haque, superintendent of police (Pune rural) said, He is going to be in our custody and the exact reason behind his motive to kill three persons will be cleared only after the enquiry.

According to the police, the killer constable opened fire in a fit of rage and killed the trio as he had no plans to return the money he had borrowed from them.

According to the rural police, the first shot was heard around 2 pm at Morinagar area while the second round of fire was reported at Borawake nagar within a span of 15-20 minutes.

The accused then took shelter in a house and threatened to kill others. After that he went missing and was finally located in Supa in Parner tehsil of Ahmednagar district. Quick Response Teams were deployed to nab him but he remained at large. The police then put his phone on surveillance, found out his location and made the arrest. Meanwhile, the police are trying to find out the source of the weapon and reason behind the constables anger which triggered the incident.

Additional superintendent of police (Ahmednagar) Sandeep Pakale confirmed that Sanjay was arrested from Supa in Ahmednagar district based on the call record locations.

Sanjay first shot dead Gopal at Mori Chowk and also fired at Prashant at the same time. The duo died as they received bullet injuries in stomach and chest. The accused then went to the house of Anil, dragged him out of the house and fired at point blank range killing him on the spot.

Rural police officials, who didnt want to be named, said the accused killed them as he was in no mood to return the money borrowed from the deceased.
Leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday accused chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh of trying to save his tainted confidante, power and irrigation minister Rana Gurjit Singh, who has resigned from the state cabinet.

Claiming that Rana Gurjit was asked to step down by the Congress high command, Khaira, who had led the charge against him in the sand mine row, said the minister had handed over his resignation on January 4, but Amarinder betrayed the people of the state by keeping it under wraps for 12 days. This is the CMs last feeble attempt to save Rana Gurjit who has been a fundraiser for him and the party. It is a dishonourable exit for the minister, he said at a press conference here, giving credit to AAPs crusade for the development.

Khaira said the Congress leadership should drop Rana Gurjit without any delay. It is a test of newly elected Congress president Rahul Gandhis zero tolerance to corruption. If Amarinder is able to save him, we will not sit quiet. We will come out with more exposes on him as this is just tip of the iceberg, he said. Khaira was accompanied by party MLAs Kanwar Sandhu, Pirmal Singh Khalsa, Meet Hayer and Master Baldev Singh.

Asked about Rana Gurjits statement daring him to resign from his post on moral grounds as his name also allegedly figured in a drug case, Khaira dismissed the demand. Why should I respond to a tainted person who has been forced to quit due to his involvement in a scam? The facts are in my favour. I will come out with more information how Rana Gurjit and his nephew conspired to frame me, he alleged.

The AAP leader said had Amarinder dropped Rana Gurjit when the sand mining controversy broke out, he would have become a hero and the action would have deterred ministers and bureaucrats from indulging in such activities. The CM missed the bus by setting up a bogus commission which gave a clean chit to the minister. We have rejected the findings, he said.

Khaira said he would approach the high court to seek a CBI inquiry into the ministers allegedly illegal land acquisition in a village near Mullanpur, conflict of interest as a minister, etc.
The ubiquitous mobile phones remained the most snatched items in 2017, followed by gold chains and then handbags, says the police data.

Last year 238 cases of snatching were reported in the city and 104 mobile phones were snatched as against 45 handbags and 89 gold chains. In 2016, 161 cases of snatching were registered. It translates into 47.7% rise in snatching cases. Police claimed to have solved 115 cases out of the 238 with the arrest of 70 accused, along with recovery of stolen items worth Rs 33 lakh from the accused.

The accused are mostly men in the age group of 18 to 30, and move around on motorcycles with the registration number plates covered with mud.

The police officials attribute the easy resale of the mobile phones as the major reason for the increase in cases of snatching of the mobile phones. The second hand market of mobile phones is vast and growing, hence the stolen mobiles are sold easily.

A police official said while selling a mobile phone no one checks the bill or the ownership and this makes it easy for the snatchers to dispose of the mobile phones.

A person moving around holding a mobile phone is less alert and is an easy target for the snatchers, said Pawan Kumar, deputy superintendent of police (DSP, crime).

Drug addicts mostly snatch mobiles

Police in 2017 arrested 70 persons for snatching. A police official claimed snatching handbags and mobile phones is done by drug addicts, looking to make easy money to fund their addiction.

Mostly the chain snatching is done by organised gang, said a police official. Police arrested members of the Bawaria community for snatching chains. In November, police arrested brothers hailing from Jalandhar for snatching chains and they used to exchange them to get drugs. Police had recovered 6 gold chains from the duo.

Elderly women easy targets

Snatchers mostly target elderly women or those going to temples or sitting outside their homes in the evening, between 6pm to 10pm. The accused are mostly men in the age group of 18 to 30, and move around on motorcycles with the registration number plates covered with mud. Mostly the two-wheeler borne persons indulge in snatching as it is easy to flee but in 2017 there were cases wherein the persons moving in auto rickshaw have snatched purses while a handful of incidents have been reported of car-borne persons snatching, added a senior police official.

Southern sectors more prone

Of the 238 cases, the south division has reported 125 cases. The areas that have seen more snatching are the ones that provide an easy escape route to the snatchers. They carry out a recce of the area before striking, said DSP. The southern belt of the city  from Sector 31 in the east to Sector 39 and Maloya in the west  provide escape to Mohali and surrounding villages.

Investigations of police point out that sectors where students are staying as paying guests and have prominent markets such as Sectors 15, 22, 34 and 37, are also on the snatchers hit list.

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Three flights operating between Chandigarh and Delhi have been grounded on different days between January 18 and 26 because of airspace restrictions in the national capital for Republic Day rehearsals.

The move comes after the Delhi airport directed all airlines to cancel domestic flights between 10:30am and 12:15pm a week ahead of the Republic Day function.

Air Indias flight that departs for Delhi at 12:50pm has been called off from January 18 to 26, except on January 19 and 25. Jet Airways and Air Vistaras flights at 10am and 12:15pm, respectively, will only operate on January 19, 21 and 25 during this period.

Two flights rescheduled

Meanwhile, Delhi-Srinagar flight via Chandigarh will land here at 10:45am instead of 11:30am and depart for Srinagar at 12pm during the period. Also, Jet Airways 11am flight to Delhi will leave at 12pm.

Mumbai flight hit too on R-day

Due to airspace restrictions on the route, Go Airs Mumbai flight at 1:30pm will not operate on Republic Day.
AR Rahman is making a comeback in the Malayalam film industry after 25 years. The Oscar winner will be composing music for Prithvirajs Malayalam film Aadujeevitham. Rahman, who is set to perform in Dubai to mark his journey of 25 years in the music industry spoke about his Malayalam project. He said, Im working with director Blessy for Aadujeevitham. It is a beautiful story.

The last Malayalam film that Rahman worked on was Yoddha starring Mohanlal in 1992. That was the year that he debuted in Tamil and Hindi films as well, with Mani Ratnams Roja. While he went on to compose more songs in Tamil and Hindi, he hasnt done anything in Malayalam.

Rahman is also working on other projects including a science fiction that stars Sivakarthikeyan. He is also working on his musical 99 songs. The composer did walk out of the Telugu biopic Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy starring Chiranjeevi citing time constraints. Shankars 2.0, an untitled Mani Ratnam film, Rajiv Menons Sarvam Thaala Mayam, AR Murugadosss upcoming project starring Vijay, Sundar Cs period film Sangamithra are the upcoming Tamil films which will have music by Rahman.

He is also composing music for Dhanushs Hollywood film, The Fakir of Venice and worked on Majid Majidis Beyond the Clouds.

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After a year with no releases, actor Vikram is thrilled with the response to his latest outing Sketch, which happens to be his maiden release of the year. Speaking at the films success meet in Chennai on Tuesday, Vikram advised the films director Vijay Chander to relish the success and enjoy this phase. When I saw the response for the film in theatres, I told Vijay to enjoy this phase; to relish this success. I know how I felt after the release of Sethu, and Im really happy for him.

Sketch is Vijay Chanders second directorial outing after Simbus Vaalu. Despite releasing alongside Suriyas Thaana Serntha Kootam and Prabhudhevas Gulebaghavali for Pongal, Sketch managed to click at the box-office all over. Vijay and I went from one theatre to another to watch the film with audiences. The response has been great, said Vikram. Recalling how the project materialized, the Saamy actor said: I have been on the lookout to do something commercial but different at the same time for long. I heard so many stories but nothing caught my attention. It was cinematographer Sukumar, who called and asked me to listen to the story of Sketch. I was busy shooting for another project, but he was hell-bent on me listening to the story. When I heard the story, I was quite taken aback. I didnt quite think Vijay could pull it off. But I loved how he put together the project.

Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu, while heaping praise on the entire team and Vikrams performance in particular, said talks have been initiated for Hindi remake of the film. He also confirmed the Telugu dubbed version of Sketch will release on January 26.

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Kaccha Limbu (2017) was selected in the competition category of Pune International Film Festival. An elated Prasad Oak (director, Kaccha Limbu) says that this was the best way to start the New Year, and this mention adds to all the acclaim the film has garnered since its release.

The 7, Roshan Villa (2016) actor is happy that the jury found his directorial debut to be worthy of the fest and competition category. He says, I am happy that the film has made it to one of the most prestigious film festivals in the country. Also, this is the first time that the jury has considered a released film for the competition category.

So, is this exactly how he had expected his film to do? Well, honestly, I was sceptical about the commercial success but I was damn sure of critical acclaim. I knew while making the film that the story will connect with the right audience. Once it was selected at IFFI (International Film Festival of India) I was assured of being on the right path.

This year, Prasad Oak will be seen in Anant Mahadevans Doctor Rakhmabai, Viju Manes Shikari and Digpal Lanjekars Farzand.The actor-director has been busy with three film shoots and a television serial. However, he found time to spend with his wife Manjulika on their 20th marriage anniversary recently. I met my wife in Pune 23 years ago while conducting acting workshops. We completed 20 years of marriage last week, and I owe the success of this venture completely to her. I had told her on day one that my career is my priority and she understands that till today. She has seen my passion and love for films and completely stands by me. I am fortunate to have her in my life.

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I Am Hadia, a 2017 documentary, captures the turns of events in the life of the 25-year-old woman whose conversion to Islam became a subject of nation-wide debate. Koi Chand Bhi Nahi, another 2017 documentary, bears witness to the gross neglect of environmental and human rights by the so-called development sponsored by the state in Chattisgarh. This or That Particular Person, a 2012-documentary, looks at what identity documents means to people and how the Aadhaar project is perceivedthrough the lens of the UID.

As many as 28 such protest films, including documentary and independent fiction, will be screened in Kolkata over four days, starting January 18, during the fifth edition of Kolkata Peoples Film Festival, where entry is free.

Ours is a non-sponsored, people-funded, independently organised cinema festival, showcasing politically conscious contemporary documentary and fiction cinema from India and the subcontinent, said Kasturi Basu of Peoples Film Collective, the organiser of the festival.

The intention is to raise the level of awareness among people on social and political issues, she added.

Over the past few years, its venue, Jogesh Mime Academy, has witnessed houseful sessions.

A donation box is kept at the venue for people to contribute whatever they could.

The group screens films for children in the districts in tents throughout the year. Every month they screen productions by independent filmmakers in Kolkata, said human rights activist Ranjit Sur, who will be speaking at a session.

This year, six documentaries will be premiered at the festival. They include one on Chhattisgarhs trade union leader Shankar Guha Neogy, who was killed in 1991. Titled One Death: A Few Arguments, shooting for the film started 25 years ago and remained unfinished until the directors decided to resume work about four years ago.

Other films to be premiered include one titled S.D., a documentary on top Naxalite leader Saroj Dutta who remained missing in police records since 1971, one titled Hey Samhalo that chronicles the protest in Bengals Bhangar against a power grid project and another is titled Running Hawkers, which deals with the lives of railway hawkers.

Nuclear Hallucinations is centered on the anti-nuclear struggle against the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project, while the documentary titled Machines chronicles the lives of workers at a major textile factory in Gujarat.

Most of the members of the organising outfit were or are active in Left wing politics. The selection of films indicates their anti-saffron inclination.

The Men in the Tree, a 2002-documentary, has been described as a political documentary on the RSS and Hindu fundamentalism. Turup (checkmate), a 2017 independent fiction, looks at the contemporary issues of caste, class, gender and growing right wing vigilantism prevalent in the country today.

A documentary on Manipuri theatre couple Kanhailal and Sabitri Heisnam, titled Theatre of the Earth has been described as a special attraction.

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A rebel of sorts in her own life, Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani is all set to portray a Kurdish fighter in the French director, Eva Hussons The Girls of the Sun. As Bahar, the commander-in-chief of an all-women battalion - known as the The Girls of the Sun - she is all set to recapture a town taken by extremists.

This role comes to the versatile, Paris-based Farahani after Pirates Of The Caribbean and Salazars Revenge. This year, she will also be seen in The Upside, and the zombie thriller, The Night Eats The World.

Farahanis character in The Girls of the Sun has been inspired by real-life Kurdish women who were taken hostage by Islamic fighters in Syria and Iraq, but who later took up arms against their captors.

Golshifteh Farahani in a scene from her French-Afghan film, The Patience Stone.

Incidentally, Farahanis own life has been no less adventurous. At school in Teheran, she protested against lack of heating, and took love letters from one to another playing Cupid. At 16, she tonsured her head, because she did not want to wear a scarf and cycled the streets of her city - unthinkable in a nation run by conservative clergy.

At 20, she acted with Tom Cruise in Body of Lies. The mullahs were not pleased at all. She fled to Paris, divorced her husband and made up her mind to enjoy freedom to its fullest in the French ambience. In 2012, Farahani posed nude for a French magazine, Madame Figaro. And appeared topless in a film by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, titled Bodies and Souls.

That was the last straw for the Iranian government which then banned her entry into her homeland.

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Prime Minster Theresa May on Wednesday appointed a minister to look after issues related to more than 9 million young and old people in the United Kingdom, including many who have no social interaction whatsoever for days, and even weeks.

The initiative is part of the project on loneliness launched by late Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in June 2016 in the charged atmosphere related to the referendum on Britains membership of the European Union.

Tracey Crouch, who is minister for sport and civil society, has been tasked with the portfolio of loneliness, which will coordinate across the government on policy issues related to loneliness, including funding for groups working in the area.

May said: For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones  people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.

Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affectedWe should all do everything we can to see that, in Jos memory, we bring an end to the acceptance of loneliness for good.

Crouch said: This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness.

"Loneliness can be triggered by a life event, such as a bereavement or becoming a parent, with certain groups, such as young people and carers, particularly at risk.

Research shows that more than 9 million people in the UK always or often feel lonely, while around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month. Up to 85% of young disabled adults  18 to 34-year-olds  feel lonely.

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Canadas New Democratic Party chief Jagmeet Singh has gotten engaged to Indian-origin fashion designer Gurkiran Kaur, the politician has announced.

Singh  the first minority community politician to lead a federal party in Canada  proposed to Kaur, 27, at a private party on Tuesday. CBC reported he surprised Kaur by popping the question in front of family and friends at a restaurant where they had their first date.

She said yes, the 38-year-old tweeted, sharing two photos of him and his fiancee.

Singh has previously been very guarded about his personal life, and until December, he had declined to confirm or deny that he was in a relationship.

The Toronto Star reported that when Singh was asked why had he decided to make this news public, he said he was excited about the engagement. Im super excited to take this step forward  to have a life and future together with my partner, he was quoted as saying by the Star.

Singh is a popular politician in Canada. He took the reins of the NDP in October, and a December survey released by the public policy research group Angus Reid Institute showed that he had a 39% approval rating  an impressive showing on his debut on the list.

The NDP is one of the three largest political parties in Canada.
A Connecticut man who bit off a chunk of his wifes nose, permanently disfiguring her, will spend more than six years in prison following his Tuesday sentencing.

Rodwell Clay, 55, was sentenced after pleading under the Alford doctrine to a first-degree assault charge, the Hartford Court reported. That means while he does not agree with all the states allegations, he acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.

Clay bit the victim in their Bloomfield home in August 2015, prosecutors said. The couple has since divorced.

She now wants nothing to do with Clay, who stalked, harassed and threatened her during their marriage, she said in court. Every day she looks in the mirror shes reminded of the attack and hopes to have surgery to further repair the damage, she said.

Clay told the judge he still loves the victim, still considers her his wife despite the divorce and compared his prosecution to the persecution of Christ. He apologized only after his attorney prompted him to do so.

That led prosecutor Christopher Pelosi to say Clays apparent lack of remorse makes him fear for the victim.

The state has concerns for her life, he said.

Clay was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 6 years to serve, and three years of probation. He also was also barred from contacting his ex-wife.
To what extent would you go to avoid paying for excess luggage? Stuff your pockets or chat up the airline staff? This British passenger went a step further by wearing all his clothes including eight pairs of trousers and 10 shirts.

Ryan Carney Williams, who was travelling from Iceland to London, was reportedly denied a boarding pass by British Airways at Keflavik airport on Wednesday, after he put on all the clothes that he couldnt fit in his checked-in baggage.

Ryan - who goes by the name Ryan Hawaii - took to Twitter on Wednesday to share his experience, asking if he was not allowed to board because of racial profiling

@British_Airways hi being held at Iceland Keflavik airport because I had no baggage put all the clothes on and they still won't let me on. Racial profiling? Or..... pic.twitter.com/NKgpe1cPFP  Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 10, 2018

@British_Airways hi being held at Iceland Keflavik airport because I had no baggage put all the clothes on and they still wont let me on. Racial profiling?, he tweeted.

British Airways contested Ryans version of the events, saying it had denied him a boarding pass for his rude behaviour. The airline said that when he refused to leave, the desk called a security guard.

The decision to deny boarding was absolutely not based on race. We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour from any customer, and will always take the appropriate action, said a spokesperson for British Airlines airlines, reported The Independent.

In a later tweet, Ryan alleged that he was sprayed with mace, made to lie down on the ground and arrested by the police.

After he gave his statement to the police, he was allowed to return to the airport to catch another flight he had booked with Easy Jet airlines. But Ryan claims he was refused boarding by the second airline as well.

And AGAIN! Refused from 2 flights in 2 days for no valid reason :) @easyJet @British_Airways thanks guys wonderful service pic.twitter.com/Ivoc0WZvXl  Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 11, 2018

Ryan finally reached England on a Norwegian airline flight.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said there is no danger of a war with India though both countries should ensure there is no escalation of the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.

Abbasi, who was chosen as the premier by the ruling PML-N after the Supreme Court ousted Nawaz Sharif for dishonesty last year, also ruled out the possibility of action against Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, saying there were no cases against him in Pakistan.

I dont think there is a danger of war, at least from our side, it isnt there. Pakistan has never taken unilateral action, we have always demonstrated responsibility, Abbasi said in an interview with Geo News channel that was aired on Tuesday night.

Responding to a question on the Indian Army chiefs remarks about calling Pakistans nuclear bluff and possible cross-border operations, Abbasi said: The Indian Army chief will not speak in favour of us. It is a fact that Pakistan has nuclear capability and we have demonstrated it, and there is need for India to understand that (when) there are violations of the Line of Control, these things will not go without retaliation.

It is necessary for both countries to stay away from escalation, he added.

Referring to the Indian army chiefs remarks, he said, If they believe on the other side there will be some political benefits and they keep making statements, as their military leadership has done, this has never been good for peace.

Asked why Pakistan was not taking action against Hafiz Saeed despite pressure from India and the US, Abbasi said: There is no case against Hafiz Saeed sab in Pakistan. If there was a case, action would be taken. This is an issue that comes to the fore repeatedly but there is no truth in it.

Saeed was placed under house arrest for 10 months last year, largely because of pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is currently looking into Pakistans efforts to crack down on terror financing. The US was angered by the release of the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and warned there could be retaliation if Pakistan does not re-arrest and prosecute Saeed.

In response to another question on Saeeds efforts to enter the political mainstream with his Milli Muslim League party, Abbasi said the Election Commission alone would decide on the partys registration according to existing guidelines. The government doesnt interfere in that, he said.

Abbasi also said there has been no change in Pakistans stance that Kashmir remains the core issue with India. On our core issue, there are no two opinions  our views are what they were on day one, he said.

We have always said the doors are open for talks but in a dignified and respectable manner, in which there can be a meaningful dialogue without compromising on the core issue of Kashmir, he said.

Abbasi said there was nothing new about the reported secret meetings between the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan. This sort of meetings keep happening, this is not something new and such meetings help in understanding each others positions and to convey messages, he said.
A Russian court sentenced an Orthodox priest to 14 years in a penal colony Wednesday in a paedophilia case that dragged on over four years after he had initially fled the country.

The court in Priozersk, a city in the northern Leningrad region, found cleric Gleb Grozovsky guilty of sexually abusing three children younger than 14 at two religious holiday camps.

Gleb Grozovsky was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment at a high security penal colony and to restricted movement for a year after his release, the court said.

The court also ordered Grozovsky to pay 400,000 rubles ($7,072) to each of his victims families.

According to investigators, Grozovsky molested an unspecified number of children at an Orthodox childrens camp in northern Russia in 2011 and a similar camp on the Greek island of Kos in 2013.

Grozovsky said there was no event of a crime in court on January 10, according to Russian news agencies.

Grozovsky is a well known priest in Russias second city Saint Petersburg, where he worked with drug and alcohol addicts, coordinated various church-affiliated youth programmes and even had his own radio show.

He also worked as an advisor to Maksim Mitrofanov, the general director of Saint Petersburgs Zenit FC.

Authorities in Saint Petersburg opened an investigation into Grozovskys case in November 2013 and announced its completion in June 2017.

Grozovsky hid from prosecution by leaving Russia after the investigation was opened.

He was declared internationally wanted in October 2013 and was extradited from Israel to Russia in September 2016.
As a helicopter buzzes in circles despite a blizzard, thousands are busy working in the huge hangars of a Siberia-based aircraft maker, eager to win a contract with India that would be a major coup for Russias defence industry.

It can drop to minus 40 degrees in winter or soar to plus 40 in summer here, allowing us to test the machines in extreme conditions, chief engineer Sergei Solomin said as he walked on the frozen tarmac, a fur hat keeping him warm.

Launched in 1939 in the main city of Russias Buryatia region that lies on Lake Baikal and the border with Mongolia, the factory belonging to the Russian Helicopters holding company once churned out thousands of Mi-8 helicopters popular in many different countries - but also washing machines.

Today the facility is focusing on the Ka-266T, a model which instead of a tail rotor uses two top-mounted rotors that turn in opposite directions.

Russian Helicopters says this makes the light helicopter more manoeuvrable and better able to hover, which makes it suitable for a number of civilian uses, including for search and rescue operations and medical transport.

The Ka-266T has engines manufactured by Frances Safran that allow the helicopter to land safely if one fails.

A picture taken on November 29, 2017 shows a man as he approaches a Russian Kamov Ka-226 utility helicopter in a hangar of the Russian Helicopters holding company outside Moscow. Launched in 1939 in the main city of Russia's Buryatia region that lies on Lake Baikal and the border with Mongolia, the factory belonging to the Russian Helicopters once churned out thousands of Mi-8 helicopters popular in many different countries, but also washing machines. (AFP)

The helicopter could soon join the Indian militarys fleet, with long-running contract discussions, including at recent meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The deal is of key importance for Russia, which has invested in modernising its army and defence industry in recent years.

As the worlds top importer of military equipment, India is a key partner of Russia, the second-largest arms exporter. Moscow has carved itself a niche as a weapons supplier to developing countries, with sales unfettered by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

We are finalising the contract with the Indian defence ministry, Russian Helicopters chief executive Andrei Boginsky told journalists visiting the site recently. He said he hoped the deal would be signed at the beginning of 2018 and production launched later this year, but did not give any financial details.

Over the following nine years, 60 Ka-266Ts would be built in Russia and 140 more in India, as part of a joint venture, with the possibility of export to third countries.

Russian Helicopters sees China and Iran as potential markets for the Ka-266T.

A Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter of the Colombian Army is seen flying in Meta, Colombia, on January 14, 2018. (REUTERS)

The Ulan-Ude factory has a rich history. Built in the middle of the country to be out of reach of potential enemies, it has produced space rockets and aircraft, and even household appliances.

After the war, the Soviet Union lacked everything, so the factory started to produce household items: cutlery, appliances...We made washing machines up until 2000, said factory administrator Andrei Chirkov, showing off the plants museum.

He praised the indestructible machines called Belka (Squirrel) still washing Russian laundry to this day.

These days the factory just produces civilian and military helicopters. Only about 50 are made annually, down from 300 during the facilitys Soviet heyday. The oil industry has been a leading customer of the civilian models.

This one was nicknamed Terminator, Chirkov said, motioning at a massive Mi-8 that was launched into production in the 1960s and since then has been exported around the globe.

Although Russian Helicopters boasts about the Ka-226Ts potential in civilian roles, the potential deal with New Delhi would see the helicopter mainly used by the Indian military, which wants to replace its ageing fleet.

The Russian military also flies an earlier versions of the Ka-226, dubbed the Hoodlum by NATO.

Russian Technologies, or Rostec, a giant military-industrial conglomerate uniting Russian factories, has announced its intention to increase production of civilian products to 50% by 2025, focusing on exports.

Rostec, a state corporation, and its chief executive Sergei Chemezov, are both currently under Western sanctions. It hopes to concentrate on Asian market, given its difficulties with European sales.

In November, the organisers of the Farnborough airshow in Britain announced they would not include Russian military aircraft in the 2018 show.

Russian Helicopters CEO shrugged this off. The exhibition attracts mostly neighbouring countries, and northern Europe is not a very important area for us, said Boginsky. There are other shows.
The Irish shoegazers have come out of the woodwork and announced their first tour date since 2013.

The band's first announced gig for 2018, revealed yesterday via their Facebook, will be at Japan's Sonicmania festival, a one-day festival taking place on Augsust 17. They'll be joined by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Marshmello.

Last month, MBV frontman Kevin Sheilds played a rare solo show in Iceland, as part of Sigur Ros' Norur Og Niur fest. Sheilds also told Picthfork in an interview last year that he plans for My Bloody Valentine to have a new album out in 2018.
WASHINGTON - The nation's banks are finding a lot to love about the Trump administration's tax cuts.

The $1.5 trillion tax overhaul signed into law late last year provided deep and lasting tax cuts to all types of businesses, but financial institutions are among the biggest winners so far, reaping benefits from a lower corporate rate and more preferable tax treatment for so-called pass-through companies, which includes many small banks.

While some of the biggest banks are reporting fourth-quarter earnings hits stemming from the new tax law, they see rich benefits over the long term, including effective tax rates that are even lower than the new 21 percent corporate rate.

Citigroup said Tuesday that it would take a one-time $22 billion hit from the tax law, largely related to the bank's tax-deferred assets, which now must be recalibrated to reflect the lower corporate rate. In a news release, Citigroup chief executive Michael Corbat said the law nevertheless "not only leads to higher net income and increased returns, but also serves to strengthen our capital generation capabilities going forward."

$7 billion boost

JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, and Wells Fargo both said Friday that they expect the new law to reduce their effective tax rates next year to 19 percent, a cut of nearly one-third from what they paid in 2016. The reduction will give the banks a combined boost of more than $7 billion in 2018 alone. PNC Financial said Friday that it expected its effective tax rate to fall even further next year, to 17 percent.

"The good news is that tax reform has produced both current and future benefits for our shareholders," PNC's president and chief executive Bill Demchak told analysts Friday. He said the bank's preference would be to divert the tax savings "toward dividend" - which is to say, to return a higher dividend to shareholders.

More than 70 financial institutions have announced they will raise wages or offer bonuses to employees in the wake of the tax law's passage, including big firms such as Bank of America and community banks such as Bank of the Ozarks. All told, those institutions account for about half of the companies that have promised raises or bonuses since President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, according to a running list tallied by Americans for Tax Reform, a low-tax advocacy group.

Rolling back regulations

The payouts to workers reflect a small slice of the windfall that banks large and small are in line to receive. The law includes a reduction in the corporate rate to 21 percent from a high of 35 percent last year, as well as a 20 percent deduction for income from pass-through companies. One-third of all community banks are organized as pass-throughs, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents those firms and was among the groups pushing for a lower pass-through rate.

Analysts projected the financial industry would reap some of the largest benefits from that reduction given that banks typically paid much higher effective tax rates in the past than many other industries, like manufacturing.

The boon for banks comes as the industry begins to regain some of its swagger in the wake of the financial crisis and as it seeks to roll back some of the post-crisis regulations put in place by the Obama administration under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.
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Congress, in approving a sweeping tax overhaul, opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, betting that energy companies would be willing to brave the harsh conditions of northern Alaska and generate royalties to help offset the costs of tax cuts.

But lawmakers could be disappointed. If the recent history of another patch of oil-rich federal land not far from ANWR - the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska - is any indication, they could be in for a long wait before the money comes rolling in.

The Department of Interior last month had held a lease sale for the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, but only 1 percent of the 10.3 million acres offered received bids. The combined bids only totaled $1.2 million.

The lackluster auction is another example that government policy alone won't drive oil and gas production as the price of oil remains the driving factor. Recent auctions of offshore tracts have also generated only modest interest with oil prices, now in the low $60-range, making investments in less expensive onshore shale fields such as the Permian Basin more attractive.

Congress is hoping to reap $1.1 billion from ANWR over the next decade, but the short drilling season and high costs of development in a low-price environment may tamp down oil companies' interest in exploiting ANWR tracts.

But Kara Moriarty, director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, recently cautioned against making comparisons between the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska and ANWR.

In an interview with the Associated Press, she said ANWR holds 10 times the oil and gas deposits of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska.

"They may both be in Alaska," she said, "but the reserve estimates are night and day."

Late last month, however, on the same day President Donald Trump signed the tax bill, the Department of Interior released findings that the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska and surrounding lands contained 8.7 billions barrels of crude - more than five times what was estimated in 2010.

That brings it close to the levels scientists believe are contained within ANWR. The most recent U.S. Geological Survey in 1998 put ANWR's oil reserves at between 5.7 billion and 16 billion barrels.

But even if oil companies buy ANWR leases, they won't necessarily start drilling, said Niel Lawrence, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental advocacy group. "The industry likes to open up land and lock it up, said Lawrence. "But that doesn't mean they'll produce on it."
The oil and gas company Hess Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off about 300 employees or 13 percent of its workforce this year as it labors to sell assets, slim down operations and post its first quarterly profit since 2014.

Cuts will start this week, the company said. Houston, as the home to a majority of the Hess employees, will absorb more layoffs than any other location, according to a spokeswoman, who declined to provide further details.
The folks who drive pickup trucks are an ardent, consistent lot. They stick to the brand they like more than those who own SUVs, minivans or any other type of vehicle. They are, however, human, and the heart wants the half-ton that it wants, as the saying goes.

This week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, each of Detroit's so-called Big 3-Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors -is showing off a new pickup truck in the hopes of tempting customers currently wedded to a rival, or at the very least keeping its own drivers from straying. Pickups are immensely profitable, with each truck sold carrying about $10,000 in profit. With that kind of black ink at stake, auto executives have been questioning just how loyal the typical pickup truck owner truly is.

When it comes to full-size rigs, roughly half of pickup truck owners re-upped last year, trading in a full-size truck and buying another rig from the same brand, according to Edmunds.com. Another way to look at it? Some 50 percent of these drivers are ready for a fling, which means that in the $90 billion U.S. truck market, $45 billion is in play.

And that estimate may be conservative. In a recent survey by digital marketplace Cargurus.com, 60 percent of truck owners said they would be open to switching brands. When price was factored in, that figure rose to 71 percent. In other words, there's a reason why Tesla, the ultimate left coast brand, is so popular in blood red Texas, where one in five U.S. pickups are bought. These truck customers are far more idiosyncratic-some would say irrational-than they seem.

This year, pickup buyers are getting more capricious by the day. Truecar Senior Analyst Eric Lyman said the strongest factor in brand loyalty to date has been employment. Those whose livelihood depends on a pair of boots or a set of tools have a deeper relationship with those things, and a deeper investment. The same goes for a 5,000-pound machine.

"The day your truck stops working is the day you're not going to get paid," Lyman said.

In recent years, though, a larger share of truck buyers don't drive them to a job-site, or even take the cover off the bed. Only about one quarter of pickup owners these days use the rig for work, according to Cargurus.com. For others, it's become the four-wheeled equivalent of a cowboy hat.

Ford was one of the first to figure this out. Thanks in part to these weekend warriors, sales of the F-150, Ford's flat-bed moneymaker, have steadily risen, driving a market share that now hovers close to 40 percent. "Many of the customers today-the people who are towing that boat, that camper-that's important to who they are," said Todd Eckert, marketing manager of Ford's trucks. "While it may not be part of their work life, it's part of their life."

This week, GM counterattacked. It rolled out an all-new Chevrolet Silverado, which was last overhauled 10 years ago. The latest iteration comes in eight different trims-from bare-bones to something approximating the opulent Cadillac Escalade. It's powered by a choice of two new V-8 engines that will idle all but one cylinder at times to improve fuel efficiency. The rig is also up to 450 pounds lighter, an answer to Ford's recent focus on better mileage.

Fiat-Chrysler meanwhile unveiled a more posh version of its Ram 1500. With a 12-inch touchscreen, the ability to park itself, and noise-canceling technology, the former Dodge brand may find some pricing-power as it continues to slog away in third place. It also comes with some nifty tricks, including active air-vents on the grill to make the machine more aerodynamic and a small electric motor to boost torque.

In the end, Ford still stands to gain the most-with its new Ranger. The company is alone among the Big 3 in adding a new model rather than replacing one.

Ford hasn't offered a mid-sized pickup in the U.S. since 2011, no doubt because it didn't want to cannibalize the F-150 and risk its perpetual crown as best-selling vehicle in America. In the process, GM managed to build an $18 billion business in the not-giant truck space.

Critically, however, the new Ranger is smaller and more affordable than its beefy sibling-a starter truck, if you will-better suited to younger, less affluent drivers and city folk who still need to squeeze into curbside parking. "What really will set apart a moderate success versus a tremendous success is the ability to conquer those first-time pickup buyers," Lyman said.

If all goes as planned at Ford, this year's Ranger customers are likely to trade up to an F-150 in a few years; unless, of course, they are tempted by something else.
Houston Association of Realtors

Texas real estate is known for its sprawling luxury ranches. For good reason: On the market now is a large collection of high-acreage parcels with elaborate homes, barns and fishing holes.

Here are some of the properties that stand out:
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A church-turned-house is currently for sale in San Marcos, complete with vaulted ceilings and late-Gothic Revival architecture.

The three-bedroom, two-story home was built in 1901, according to the Realtor.com listing, and is just blocks away from downtown San Marcos.

RELATED: Texas photographer captures photos of abandoned Aquarena Springs in San Marcos

The former Fort Street Presbyterian Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

With a price tag of $480,000, the 4,288 square-foot Hays county residence is pricey but offers up an imposing presence. A master suite looks over the living room.

It's recently done time as a local law firm's office.

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There are also two offices inside, one in the front of the house and one in the back, making it ideal for anyone who wants to live and work under the same roof - or, they can be turned into living spaces.

The listing hints that it could make for a decent Airbnb property. In San Marcos, a spring and summer hotspot, that might be a great investment.

RELATED: Texas cabin, cottage rentals for a weekend getaway

The Pentecostal Holiness Church occupied the space until 1975, after which a preservation effort began to make sure it wasn't demolished.

San Marcos also happens to be one of the fastest-growing areas in the AustinRound RockSan Marcos metro area, thanks to the expanding Texas State University. It's days as a quiet, bedroom Hill Country community are coming to an end.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth.
WASHINGTON -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon to appear before a grand jury, a move that indicates his broad investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign is far from wrapping up.

The subpoena was issued last week, according to a person familiar with the situation, who said that Bannon expects to be able to persuade the special counsel's office to accept a voluntary interview of Bannon by prosecutors in place of a grand jury appearance.

The news of Mueller's action, which was first reported by the New York Times, came on the same day that the House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Bannon for refusing to answer a range of questions from investigators during a combative closed-door interview, frustrating members of both parties who are probing the Trump campaign's alleged Russia ties.

"Only Steve Bannon could unite this committee," said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

The twin developments intensify the pressure on the former Breitbart News executive after his public falling-out with President Donald Trump, who reacted angrily to comments Bannon made in the new book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

In the book by journalist Michael Wolff, Bannon criticized Trump for his firing of FBI Director James Comey and said it was "treasonous" of Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. to accept a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer who he thought would provide damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

After the book's publication, Bannon expressed regret about his statements and called Trump Jr. "a patriot."

Bannon - the first top Trump adviser known to be summoned by special counsel investigators for a grand jury interview - could provide valuable testimony about what he witnessed in the final months of Trump's presidential campaign and inside the White House, where he served as chief strategist until August.

"They are going to try to get an understanding of the relationships and how things worked and explain why he came to that opinion," said Peter Zeidenberg, a former deputy special counsel.

Bannon has told associates that he did not see any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but thinks Mueller's case could focus on financial improprieties, according to two people familiar with his views.

Bannon did not respond to requests for comment. White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has said he expects Mueller to wrap up his investigation related to the president shortly, declined to comment.

Mueller's office has typically sought voluntary interviews from current and former Trump aides but made no such request of the White House to interview Bannon, according to a person familiar with the special counsel's communications.

By sending a subpoena to Bannon before he spoke to Congress, some legal experts said they think Mueller was seeking a way to secure Bannon's full cooperation.

"This is really Mueller's way of cementing a day, time and place for that conversation - rather than negotiating an interview," said Barbara Van Gelder, a veteran white-collar defense lawyer. "If he's going to go [to a congressional committee] voluntarily, he can testify before the grand jury."

Bannon's appearance Tuesday before the House panel perplexed and frustrated investigators, according to people familiar with the session. He arrived with no documents, saying that if lawmakers wanted emails and other communications, they were likely to be available from other witnesses.

And he refused to answer questions about conversations he had with Trump after leaving the administration or communications he had with officials outside government about people serving in the White House.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that Bannon's attorney, William Burck, told the committee that while Bannon himself was willing to speak with lawmakers and investigators, he could not answer questions because the White House told him not to respond.

"This was effectively a gag order by the White House preventing this witness from answering almost any question concerning his time in the transition or the administration," Schiff said.

"The scope of this assertion of privilege, if that's what it is, is breathtaking. It goes well beyond anything we have seen in this investigation," he added. "If the White House is permitted to maintain that kind of gag rule on a witness, no congressional investigation could ever be effective. So this obviously can't stand."

Burck said in a statement that "executive privilege belongs to the President of the United States. It's not Mr. Bannon's right to waive it."

When asked earlier Tuesday if the White House instructed Bannon not to answer certain questions, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded, "As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material."

"We've been cooperating fully with these ongoing investigations and encourage the committees to work with us to find an appropriate accommodation in order to ensure Congress obtains information necessary to its legitimate interests," she added.

Faced with Bannon's resistance, Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, who is running the panel's probe, said that the committee elected to serve him with a subpoena during the interview.

Bannon's attorney consulted with the White House after the panel issued the subpoena, but "the White House effectively doubled down on the gag rule," Schiff said.

Conaway and Schiff said the White House never formally invoked executive privilege for Bannon, and Conaway added that he was not aware of the White House invoking privilege with any witness who has appeared before the committee in its Russia probe.

Conaway also stressed that Bannon is not in a position to invoke executive privilege himself.

A person familiar with the situation said that any executive privilege asserted by the White House with regard to Bannon would not extend to an interview by Mueller, who is also an executive branch official, and that Bannon intends to cooperate fully with the special counsel's investigation.

It is not clear when Bannon might return to the House committee under subpoena, which Conaway stressed "stays in effect, and we're going to get answers."

---

The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
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A Houston man convicted of killing a police officer nearly three decades ago lost out Tuesday in the Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court without comment turned down an appeal from Carl Buntion, a 13-time felon who gunned down a Houston motorcycle officer in 1990.
WASHINGTON - With political brinksmanship intensifying Tuesday over an elusive immigration deal that threatens to shut down the government by the weekend, there were new signs of softening on President Donald Trump's demand for a border wall.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, facing questions from Democrats about the economics and property rights of border communities, made clear that the administration is prepared take into account local concerns in the construction of a border wall.

"What we'll have to do is look at the terrain, the traffic, the accessibility," Nielsen said in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We have to tailor the solutions for each part of the border to make sure we don't have to do anything that's unnecessary."

While Democrats continued to spar with the White House over allegedly disparaging remarks Trump made about some Third World countries last week, Nielsen echoed Trump's remarks from last week that the wall doesn't need to cover the entirety of the nearly 2,000 mile border.

While that flexibility exists, Trump has remained adamant that he wants a wall. He tweeted Tuesday that "we must have a great WALL to protect us."

It remains unclear, however, whether Trump's more flexible vision for a border wall will help resolve the impasse over protections for Dreamers, immigrants brought into the country illegally as children.

The White House announced on Tuesday that it is appealing a federal judge's injunction barring the administration from ending the Obama-era program protecting Dreamers from deportation.

And as the administration seeks Supreme Court backing for its authority to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Republican lawmakers vowed to make better border security a part of any legislative deal on Dreamers. Many Democrats, meanwhile, are sworn to oppose any money for a wall.

A new bipartisan plan released Tuesday by San Antonio Republican Will Hurd and California Democrat Pete Aguilar would protect Dreamers from deportation and beef up border technology.

May not come to a vote

While the compromise measure has the support of some 40 House members, it does not envision a border-length wall favored by many conservatives. Nor does it include protections for the parents of Dreamers than many liberals want.

Hurd said that while he hopes to cobble together enough centrist support for a bipartisan majority in the House, he acknowledged that he had "no commitment" from House GOP leaders to bring it to a vote by Friday, the deadline for a broader 2018 budget agreement that could head off a government shutdown.

Meanwhile, immigration activists continued to press Democrats to hold fast against any stop-gap funding measure that does not resolve the legal status of some 800,000 Dreamers, who - depending on what the high court does - could begin to lose their Obama-era protections in early March.

Trump, who rescinded the DACA program in September, said last week he would back any compromise Congress reached to extend protections to Dreamers as long as it includes money for the wall, his signature campaign promise.

Since then, however, negotiations have broken down in a furor over Trump's remarks disparaging immigration from Haiti, El Salvador and some African countries - remarks that Trump now denies he made.

Nielsen, who was in the White House negotiating session where the remarks were reportedly made, testified Tuesday that she "did not hear" the offensive comments, though she acknowledged that the president "used tough language in general, as did other congressmen in the room."

But with Trump and many Republicans professing a desire to cut a deal to help Dreamers, the central sticking point - besides Trump's language - remains the wall.

Among the most vocal critics have been border lawmakers like Brownsville Democrat Filemon Vela, who said that "under no circumstances" would he vote for "a penny for border wall funding."

Any agreement that heads off anything but a short-term budget deal will likely have to address wall funding, in part or in whole.

When Vermont's Patrick Leahy, a top Democrat on the committee, challenged Nielsen to explain the need for a "wall the length of our country," she interjected, "It's not. The president has made that clear."

At the same time, she defended the administration's $18 billion request for a wall and other border security measures over the next decade.

"All I can tell you is that walls work," she said. "We have examples of that. We have documented data."

As she testified, the White House distributed a New York Post column written by author and former Hoover Institution media follow Paul Sperry arguing that 131 miles of fencing erected along the border in El Paso in 2010 dramatically reduced illegal border crossing and crime in the city.

El Paso's relatively low crime rate has often been cited by Democratic Senate hopeful Beto O'Rourke, whose district includes the city, as a success story of good U.S.-Mexico relations. But, Sperry wrote, "before 2010, federal data show the border city was mired in violent crime and drug smuggling.  Once the fence went up, however, things changed almost overnight."

Protecting Texas parks

Meanwhile, Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, one of the top Republicans in the DACA negotiations and on the Judiciary panel, sought assurances from Nielsen about protecting parks and natural areas that draw tourists, such as the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in the Rio Grande Valley.

"We  need to be sensitive to the concerns that the local community has about a huge economic benefit there," he said. He also cited the construction of levy walls in Hidalgo County as an approach advances both economic development and border security.

Cornyn has long advocated for a combination of physical infrastructure, technology and more law enforcement presence along the border, calling a wall - where needed - just one component of a border strategy.

That holistic approach appeared to get some buy-in from Trump last week, when he said in a nationally-broadcast exchange with Democrats at the White House that a border might not work everywhere.

"There's lots of places where you don't need a wall because of nature," Trump said. "You've got a mountain and rivers. You got a violent river."

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, an outspoken GOP critic, said later that Trump's remarks on the wall "the best part" of the meeting.

Nielsen said Tuesday the administration's proposal on the wall would cover about 722 miles, much of it replacing existing fencing and barriers.

But she deflected questions from Democrats pressing the administration about Trump's promise to make Mexico pay for the wall. "My priority is to increase border security and build that wall that will work," she said.

"I've heard a lot of promises in my decades here," Leahy said. "I'm waiting to see if this one is fulfilled."
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It's so cold in Houston that it can feel like living on Hoth, the planet where the rebel alliance battled the empire in "The Empire Strikes Back."

For Brandon Crismon, the dangerously icy conditions were reason enough to wear his Hoth Stormtrooper ensemble while walking his dog in Houston this week.

BRRR!: Houston reacts to wintry weather as roads ice over and temperatures drop

"It's a bit funny to me how people react over a bit of snow here, compared to states that get this all the time," Crismon told Chron.com. "I thought the complete overkill of the Hoth trooper would be pretty funny, and hey, it's not every day I get to actually take a picture with snow."

Crismon has the "Star Wars" outfit because he builds replica movie props as a hobby. You may have seen Crismon driving around if you've spotted a Jurassic Park inspired-jeep on Houston roads. His current project is building a Ghostbusters proton pack.

Now Playing: Lucasfilm released a plot synopsis for the Solo: A Star Wars Story Video: Entertainment Weekly

A love for movies at an early age led Crismon to learning how to build movie props. One of his early inspirations was seeing someone drive a Batmobile inspired from the Adam West era when he was a kid. Since then, he's turned movie props into a passion.

DANGEROUS: Houston-area roads remain 'treacherous'

Crismon said the 501st Legion's South Texas Squad visited Daniel Fleetwood of Spring in 2015, the terminally-ill "Star Wars" fan whose last wish was to see "The Force Awakens."

"Im a member of the 501st Legion, a charity costuming club that works with LucasFilm to do great things like Make-A-Wish visits, visiting childrens hospitals, and that kind of thing," Crismon said. "If you ever see Vader and his troops around Houston, come say hi. And yes, of course well take a picture with you!"

As for his dog, who accompanied him on his walk, the Stormtrooper said the pooch didn't appear to mind the Hoth-like conditions.

"Little Buddy seems to be in heaven out there for some reason. As long as hes happy, Im happy."

Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter.
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Flanked by grieving relatives and silent investigators, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez played and replayed surveillance video of two persons of interest as he begged the public for help solving the "brazen, horrific" execution-style killings of a Spring couple.

Bao and Jenny Lam, both 61, were found bound and shot to death Saturday night in their ransacked home two days after investigators say they were slaughtered in the secluded, gated Northgate Forest community. The Harris County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released short video clips of the suspects in what is believed to be a robbery gone wrong.

"These types of scumbags we need to get off the street," Gonzalez said. "They brutally executed two individuals who were the epitome of the American dream."

The violence began after two unidentified men pulled up to the tony subdivision around 8:20 p.m. Thursday. They parked their SUV, then got out and crawled under the gate.

Just over 20 minutes later, the Lams came back from grabbing dinner and pulled into the garage at their Glorietta Turn home. As they stepped out of their car, they were ambushed and forced inside the house.

"They were executed," Gonzalez said.

Men returned to house

The thieves then ransacked the house and left just before midnight in the couple's Porsche, investigators said.

A few hours later, they returned and went back in the house. In the days that followed, unidentified men - possibly the same pair - returned to the house repeatedly, surveillance footage showed.

"Very brazen to not only execute them but to continue to return back multiple times," Gonzalez said.

It's not clear what all was taken, but jewelry and several rifles in a glass case were stolen at some point.

"The family was clearly targeted," Gonzalez said, adding that it was likely because of their business success. There's no indication the attackers knew the Lams personally.

The couple first moved to the U.S. in the 1970s from Taiwan and Laos. They enrolled in college, then ended up working multiple jobs to support their children. Eventually, they got into business and launched Marble Slab Creamery and later Subway franchises.

"My parents were my superheroes," said their son, Richard Lam. "They were there for us every step of the way - every game, every recital, every symphony."

An officer in the U.S. Air Force and Army Reserves, Richard Lam made his father "extremely proud," as the immigrant had once dreamed of joining the military himself.

"They took them from us way too soon, and they'll never get to see their grandchildren," the couple's daughter, Michelle Lam, told reporters before breaking down in tears.

Richard Lam first tipped off investigators that something was amiss at his parents' house. On Saturday, after the couple hadn't answered their phones for two days, he headed over to check on them personally.

But no one came to the door, so he called 911. Arriving deputies found the home locked, so Lam helped break a window to allow them entry. Inside, they found the couple bound and shot.

Looking for suspects

Now, investigators are seeking help identifying the killers. One of the persons of interest is described as "unusually tall" - at least 6-foot-4. He was wearing what may have been a Cy-Fair High School letterman jacket and two-tone pants. He walked with a stilted gait.

Authorities are also on the lookout for a 2007 to 2014 black Lincoln Navigator the men originally drove to the scene.

Anyone with information can call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

"If you know people who know something, please just call it in," Lam said. "We need your help in this. Please, we need justice."
Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is bracing for a possible "high load" of electricity usage Wednesday morning as Houstonians and other Texans wake up to bitter temperatures.

The council is expecting a peak between 7 and 8 a.m. High loads of electricity usage typically occur during the morning time after overnight low temperatures, just like much of Texas is experiencing from a winter storm, according to a press release.
AUSTIN -- Houston mortgage banker and community activist Demetria Smith, who state Democratic Party officials bumped from the primary ballot earlier this month over a bounced check for her filing fee, said Wednesday she still is running for governor as a Democrat.

Smith, 44, said she is challenging the party's decision to declare her ineligible and remove her name from the March 6 primary ballot as violating state law.

Although she's off the ballot as of now, Smith said she is continuing her campaign, and plans to participate in several upcoming political forums, including one in Houston on Jan. 24.

"I filed in Dec. 11, and if they were going to declare me ineligible, they had five days under the law to notify me of that," she said. "They missed the deadline.

"I know the law ... and I'm going to fight this," she said.

Earlier this month, the Houston native was declared ineligible for the election after the Texas Democratic Party said the check she submitted to pay the filing fee bounced, according to party officials.

Smith initially was listed as eligible after the Dec. 11 filing deadline after she paid the $3,750 filing fee with a personal check. Democratic Party officials, however, said her check came back from the bank, making her ineligible.

She was one of 10 Democrats who filed to challenge incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's reelection bid.

"This is a simple statutory requirement," Glen Maxey, primary director for the party, said at the time Smith was declared ineligible. "We have no wiggle room but to declare a candidate ineligible."

Maxey said Smith has so far struck out in legal efforts to have her name restored to the ballot. The party's website currently lists her as "rejected," instead of the earlier listing of "ineligible."

Smith, who has never held elective office before but ran for Houston mayor in 2015, has complained she was not given the opportunity to fix the problem with the check. "I had money in my account," she said Wednesday.

Smith participated in a San Angelo forum on Jan. 8 among the Democrats hoping to win the Democratic primary.

The upcoming Harris County Democratic Party event lists nine gubernatorial candidates who will attend. Smith is not on the list.

Nine candidates are currently listed as official candidates for the March 6 primary: Austin businessman James Jolly Clark, former Balch Springs Mayor Cedric Davis, Sr.,Houston businessman Joe Mumbach, Flower Mound financial planner Adrian Ocegueda, Dallas businessman Jeffrey Payne, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, San Antonio businessman Tom Wakely, Houston entrepreneur Andrew White and retired Flint educator Grady Yarbrough.
Texas' representatives in Congress and a handful of others are looking to revive earmarks - a now-prohibited congressional perk that led to accusations of patronage and corruption - to address some of Houston's flood and highway project backlog.

Elected leaders in Congress are hoping to spark an earmark revival with a key hearing Wednesday in Washington. Supporters and opponents have both geared up for the discussion, promised when House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., staved off a closed-door vote in November by the GOP leadership to return to earmarks.

A subcommittee of the House Rules Committee convenes Wednesday to discuss options for congressional funding. The full rules committee is scheduled to meet Thursday.

During the discussion, Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, plans to revisit earmarks of some sort that would enable Congress to directly prioritize specific, long-sought projects.

"I cannot target money specifically to the Ike Dike, or specifically to Project Brays, or specifically to a third reservoir in northwest Houston," said Culberson, a nine-term Republican who represents western parts of Houston. "It's immensely frustrating."

MORE: Seawall for southeast Texas could save money. But there's none to spend.

Culberson and others want to enable members of Congress to authorize and fund specific flood control and highway projects that have the backing of state or local officials.

The practice of specified funding in congressional appropriations, known as earmarks, was banned by the Republican-led Congress in 2011, after some dubiously chosen projects gave the process a black eye.

"We had members of Congress who went to federal prison for using earmarks," said Rep. Gene Green, a Houston Democrat and supporter of returning to earmarks. Former Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, was sentenced to 10 years on federal corruption charges related to earmarks; former California Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham was sentenced to eight years for bribery, accused of using earmarks in exchange for lobbyists' gifts.

Since 2011, officials have used cumbersome, patchwork methods to steer funding that members of Congress simply could have prioritized during the earmark era.

Culberson said the practice could be particularly helpful for the Houston area after Hurricane Harvey.

MORE: Transportation projects that will shape Houston in 2018

Green agreed projects such as dredging the Houston Ship Channel - deepening it to 50 feet is one of the highest priorities for local, state and federal officials - are harder to fund unless elected lawmakers are given discretion in Washington.

"Unless we have earmarks  I don't know how you do it," he said of the costly channel dredging.

Many projects await

Houston-area officials have plenty of projects that could benefit from direct investment via Congress, but also are wary of wading back into earmarks.

"We all know earmarks are a slippery slope," Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta said. "When you go out and build an airport in the middle of nowhere and stick some congressman's name on it, people will say you pissed away some money."

Those cautions aside, there are projects of regional and, perhaps national, significance, long identified but well short of funding. A coastal barrier for Galveston Bay - the so-called Ike Dike - is a $6 billion-plus project that is unlikely to generate strong support from the rest of the country.

Dozens of transportation projects, including the planned rebuilding of Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston and from Dickinson to Galveston, are identified on paper but awaiting full funding. Meanwhile, a litany of smaller projects that may have support from the city or a neighborhood also can be found in almost any Houston-area community.

Statewide, Texas transportation officials have identified $70 billion in needed highway, aviation and public transit spending over the next decade. Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation called any discussion of using earmarks for those projects "premature."

MORE: How Texas lawmakers left their marks on the nation's new tax code

TxDOT Executive Director James Bass, however, will be in Washington for the Thursday meeting, at the behest of House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, a Dallas Republican.

Accelerating some major highway and flood control projects may be welcomed, but doing so via earmarks requires better communication and more flexibility, transportation officials said.

"The difficulty with earmarking in the past, and the reason some of the projects were chosen that became flash-points were everybody got a tiny amount of money and none of it was enough for a major project," said Alan Clark, manager of transportation and air quality programs for the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

The agency's transportation policy council, which Sebesta chairs, doles out federal funds for major transportation projects around the area.

With dollars trickling in, officials had to wait years sometimes to cobble together enough funding for big jobs. Green, however, said that was perfectly in line with how some projects needed help. He noted the dredging of the Ship Channel to 45 feet in the 1990s was funded over several years through earmarks.

"I never requested an earmark I wasn't proud of," Green said, saying work on U.S. 90 at Loop 610 and a bridge over a rail depot in Manchester were built with earmarks, to cheers from local officials.

MORE: Freeways aren't free, and Texas politicos don't want to pay

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said he could see benefits and drawbacks to earmarks, but said he believes Houston's bayou projects will be fully funded by Congress, and he is calling on the state to fund a third reservoir.

Clark said if Congress members took a more active role in the planning at local and state levels and then communicated that effectively in Washington in the hopes of securing targeted investment, that could be beneficial, though still difficult.

"They have a chance to come back and lay out a process that is much more effective," Clark said. "Competition, though, would be fierce."

Green, who is not running for re-election, agreed earmarks would leave members of Congress with tough choices, but also an ability to make decisions they cannot now. It would then be up to transparency and common sense limits to keep that power in balance, he said.

EDITORIAL: Restore earmarks

"I don't advocate corruption, but I want members to be able to go to their districts and listen to what are their priorities and do something about it," he said.

Opposition remains

If earmarks were to make an effective return, officials said provisions would need to be strengthened to avoid questionable projects. An Alaskan bridge connecting the town of Ketchikan to its local airport and 50 island residents, dubbed the "bridge to nowhere," famously led to the 2011 ban on earmarks.

The problem with earmarks, said state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee in Austin, is that while Texas lawmakers to cobble together support for their own priority projects, they need to sway elected leaders from other states seeking support for their own projects in return.

Nichols, a Texas Transportation Commission member during the heyday of earmarks, said the practice also led to political patronage as powerful members picked popular - but often less-important - projects.

"Congress should not be picking transportation projects," he said, recalling his time on the transportation commission, a five-person appointed board that largely sets state highway policy. "You don't want your state legislature to be picking projects, either. What you want is an independent entity that has a matrix of projects."

The process of not prioritizing projects through Congress also gives federal agencies - such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Transportation - considerable sway in project development.

Michael Strachn, a senior adviser with Dawson and Associates - an infrastructure lobbying and consulting firm - who has served as the legislative liaison for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said he believes that members of Congress will find a way to roll back the earmark moratorium and include provisions to mandate transparency over what projects are being funded and why.

"Semantics is optics," Strachn said. "Come up with something that gives Congress the authority to direct spending, with proper oversight and proper documentation. I believe there's a growing number of people who realize that the pendulum had just been pushed too far."
The effect of the inappropriate depiction of Haiti, El Salvador and all African nations as "s---hole" countries is a matter that the people of the United States and their government and Congress should contemplate seriously.

The responses have been swift, showing a mixture of outrage and shock. There has been no expression of regret about the comment that has done nothing but injure the relations between the United States and many countries. Hopefully, representatives of the United States in other countries will distance themselves from it, and apologize as discreetly as they can.

I am here concerned particularly with the remarks about Haiti, a member state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the current chair of the group's Heads of Government caucus. My colleague, the ambassador of Haiti to the United States, Paul Altidor, rightly said, "We feel in the statements, if they were made, the president was either misinformed or miseducated about Haiti and its people." The United Nations spokesman Rupert Colville, described the remarks as "racist."

Haiti, for us in the Caribbean, is more than just a member of our community. It is the first nation to rise up against slavery and oppression in our region. When the Republic of Haiti was established on Jan. 1, 1804, it was the first free nation of free black people to rise in a world of empires of Western European nations.

And Haiti paid a very high price for its assertion that black people were born free, entitled to freedom and the right to fight for it.

In a real sense, from the moment of that assertion of freedom, Haiti was earmarked for the "s---hole" status now applied to it. It was punished by every European nation, particularly France, and successive governments of the United States aided and abetted in the process.

France demanded huge reparations for the slaves and plantations it lost at the revolt of Toussaint L'Ouverture. In 1825, Haiti's leaders were forced to agree to pay France the harsh levy of 90 million gold francs, which the country did not finish repaying until 1947.

For almost a hundred years, Haiti was pushed into poverty by the French demand, upheld by Western European nations and the United States. Indeed, the United States, which continued to be a slave-owning nation after European nations outlawed it, did not recognize Haiti as a free nation until 1862. But even that recognition was meaningless. Taking advantage of Haiti's lack of capacity to defend itself from external intervention, U.S. naval ships entered Haitian waters no less than 24 times between 1849 and 1913, ostensibly "to protect American lives and property." Finally, in 1915, the U.S. invaded Haiti and ruled the country as an occupying force for 20 years.

During that period, Haiti and the Haitian people, already impoverished, exploited and isolated by what was then the international community - Western European nations and the United States - were further disadvantaged. Its constitution was rewritten against its will, something the U.S. State Department admitted in 1927. Under that constitution, laws preventing foreigners from owning land were scrapped, allowing U.S. companies to take what they wanted.

In 1926, a New York business publication described Haiti as "a marvellous opportunity" for U.S. investment, stating that "the run of the mill Haitian is handy, easily directed, and gives a hard day's labour for 20 cents, while in Panama the same day's work cost $3." U.S. corporations grew from 13 in 1966 to 154 in 1981, enriching themselves, pauperizing the Haitian people even more and doing little to add wealth to the economy.

The Haitians have also suffered from governments that suited foreign powers being put into office, only to be removed if their policies ceased to serve the interest of those foreign powers.

Therefore, democracy in Haiti was emasculated not by the Haitian people, but by external forces and Haitian elites that they suborned.

Incidentally, the United States has had a balance of trade surpluses with Haiti for many decades. For instance the 11 months, ending November 30, 2017, the surplus in favor of the United States was $385 million. So, for a "s---hole" country it has provided annual revenues and employment to the United States of some magnitude.

Sadly, from this entire experience, Haiti is the poorest country in all the Americas. But it is far from a "s---hole," possessing as it does some of the most beautiful landscapes and seascapes in the Caribbean, a remarkably talented and creative people and hard workers.

Of Haiti's population of 10.4 million people, only 500,000 have permanent employment. Yet, the Haitian people maintain stability in a continuing struggle.

If Haiti is a "s---hole," those who made it so should acknowledge their devastating role, and in their shame, they should pledge to do better.

Every Caribbean person, at all levels, should make it abundantly and crystal clear that we resent this depiction of Haiti. We call for acknowledgement by all who have exploited it and kept it in poverty, and we urge that instead of dismissing it in unfortunate language, they implement programs to atone for their part in its pauperization.

Sanders is Antigua and Barbuda's Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens appeared to remain in the good graces of some Republicans on Friday as he sought forgiveness and a political path forward after his admission of an extramarital affair.

Though expressing disappointment about the affair and concern about some of the more lurid allegations that Greitens has denied, some Republican voters and party officials said their support for Greitens had not been shaken.

Vince Harris, from the small town of Trenton, northeast of Kansas City, took to Greitens Facebook page to defend him against commenters who labeled the governor a hypocrite for campaigning on family values in 2016 though he had cheated on his wife in 2015.

To say public officials should be held to a higher standard is a little bit silly, Harris told The Associated Press.

Regardless of the office thats being held, the person holding it is still a human being who has the same faults and vulnerabilities that we do. Theyre going to make the same mistakes. Theyre going to make some of the same goofs, Harris added. And I think to say that that impairs their ability to lead or to do their job, I think is just incorrect.

Lawmakers at the Missouri Capitol are wrestling with the same question of whether Greitens can effectively carry out his agenda. Just hours before St. Louis television station KMOV broke news of the affair Wednesday night, Greitens had announced in his State of the State address he would be unveiling the boldest state tax reform in America next week.

On Friday, his office declined to comment on whether that still would occur.

Some Democratic lawmakers have called for Greitens to resign. Other Republicans and Democrats have said they want an investigation, which the St. Louis circuit attorney has launched. But still other Republicans appear ready to forgive.

State Sen. Ed Emery said Greitens called him Friday to apologize for the affair and ask for forgiveness. Emery said he was amazed at the character of both Greitens and his wife, Sheena, for working through the difficult situation.

I made sure the governor knew that I understood the kind of pressure that men were under  that Ive prayed for him and will continue to pray for him, Emery said.

Greitens has acknowledged being unfaithful in his marriage, but his attorney has denied allegations contained in a recorded conversation between the woman and her ex-husband Grietens coerced the women to remain silent by taking a photo of her with her pants down.

The AP and other media have not released the identity of the woman or her ex-husband.

A law firm representing the woman released a statement Friday saying her ex-husband had betrayed her confidence by secretly recording their conversation. The statement, which did not name the woman, asked the media to respect her privacy. It neither confirmed nor denied her comments on the recording.

She is saddened that during this time of national introspection on the treatment of women in society, allegations about her private life have been published without her permission, the statement by the Knight & Simpson law firm in St. Charles said.

Attorney Albert Watkins, who represents the ex-husband, subsequently released a statement noting spouses, children and friends are also victims.

Our client has no interest in Governor Greitens, his political aspirations, or his future. Our client seeks nothing more than the exposure of the truth so that all who have been used and victimized can commence the healing process, Watkins said.

Henry Dienst, the Clark County Republican chairman, said he would continue to support Greitens even if he attempted to blackmail the woman with a photo because Greitens has helped Missouris economy.

Holly Lintner of Jackson said she also is sticking with Greitens.

At this point, I still choose to believe what the governors telling us, said Lintner, a former Republican chairwoman in Cape Girardeau County. Affairs are never good, but people are imperfect and they make mistakes.

Republican political consultant James Harris said its important for Greitens to tell his supporters both whats true about his affair and whats not.

I think most people want to forgive, James Harris said. But he added, Its more challenging when you are a public official to go through that process.

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The end of 2017 also marked the end of a long-time Houston business: St. John Chiropractic Office PC. But the business (on First Street downtown) continues under another name  Wilson Family Chiropractic LLC  as Dr. Kalenna Wilson has purchased the building and practice of the late Dr. Gerald St. John, who passed away suddenly in December 2016.

Wilson is a Summersville resident and native who had been working for St. John for the past seven years. Her relationship with him began as a patient, and when she graduated from Drury University in Springfield she asked him if she could go into practice with him if she became a chiropractor.

St. John told Wilson that he would consider the idea if she learned the techniques, and she subsequently enrolled at Cleveland University/Chiropractic College in Kansas City.

Since St. John was an adjunct professor for both Cleveland and a St. Louis chiropractic institution, Wilson was able to spend her final semester in the preceptorship program working in St. Johns office.

Wilson graduated as valedictorian of her class in May 2011 and immediately joined St. Johns staff.

St. John arrived in Texas County in June 1970 and established a practice in Summersville. He moved his office to Houston in 1982.

Over the years, St. John often commented on how he hoped his successor would be someone who used non-force technique, loved Jesus, loved the patients and had integrity. His wife, Beverly St. John, said he felt Wilson incorporated all of those traits and if he had interviewed 100 potential candidates, he couldnt have found anyone better to carry on his legacy.

Its exciting, Wilson said. We miss Doc like crazy, but Im very blessed with the years I got to spend side-by-side with him. We know hes watching over us, so he still with us every day.

Beverly said she had never met Wilson until she came to finish her schooling.

I knew most of her family and even worked with her grandfather, she said. He and I were EMTs and helped establish the Mountain View/Summersville Ambulance District way back in the 70s. We made numerous ambulance runs all over the state together.

We knew the family and their work ethic, so when Dr. Wilson came to join the practice, my husband and I were very grateful to have not only a respected colleague, but also one who was like a daughter.

Beverly said it took about 15 minutes for she and Wilson to negotiate a contract.

But unfortunately, it took a year to jump through all the legal hoops to get things transferred, she said. She has run the practice for the past year, and the only complaint Ive heard is that shes so busy its hard to get an appointment. She has made some changes, mostly in decor. The office is more kid-friendly and exhibits her love of the outdoors.

The years I spent with Doc made the transition easier, Wilson said, but, of course, he had really big shoes to fill. He also has a big patient base with amazing patients, and theyve really helped us and supported us.

Wilson and her husband, Shan Wilson (who is a dentist and part owner of Houston Family Dentistry), are avid hunters and are also archery experts who have earned many awards and own 8-Up Archery, a family-friendly archery range at Summersville.

Wilson said that shell be the only doctor at the practice for the foreseeable future.

Doc ran it for 40 years by himself, she said. Its busy and it keeps us hopping, but for right now there are no other plans.

The phone number at Wilson Family Chiropractic is 417-967-2470.

I really want to say thank you to everyone for the support and for hanging with us for this past year, Wilson said. Doc passed away so suddenly, everybody kind of got thrown into his being gone. The patients were as shocked as we were, and theyve all been amazingly understanding and supportive and have helped us in any way they could.

All the thoughts, prayers and kind words have really kept us going.
Missouri has seven times the number of confirmed flu cases compared to this time last year. But health officials say its too early to say if the flu shot is less effective this year or if the flu season peaked earlier.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, as of Jan. 6 there have been 30,932 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza reported in Missouri so far this flu season, compared to 4,151 at the same time last year.

Boonville R-1 School District closed Friday due to a high number of staff and students with the flu, according to Boonville officials.

If trends continue, Health and Senior Services said there is potential for this flu season to be particularly severe. While the numbers seem to be soaring this year, it is possible Missouri is hitting an early peak this flu season. Flu season lasts from October through March each year and typically peaks around January or February.

Trina Teacutter, a nursing supervisor at the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services, said she thinks its too early to tell if flu rates are truly increasing this year. While there is no doubt the number of cases reported are higher than they were last year at this time, its possible both Boone County and Missouri are simply hitting an early peak in reported cases.

The total number of flu cases in the state at the end of last year was 71,469. In 2016, the total was 20,101, and in 2015 there were 54,316 total flu cases reported.

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services has reported a total of 1,066 cases of the flu in Boone County, with 384 of those cases having been reported in the first week of January.

These numbers only represent those cases that have been reported to Public Health and Human Services as laboratory-confirmed cases, so the exact number of cases is unknown. Not everyone that gets the flu visits their medical provider, and not everyone who does is laboratory tested for the flu.

According to Teacutter, the trend in the number of flu cases this year mirrors that of 2014. At the end of the flu season in 2014, a total of 2,399 flu cases were reported. In 2015, 782 cases were reported, and in 2016, there were 1,452 cases.

VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS

Flu shot effectiveness varies from year to year for several reasons, including strain mutations and the types of strains that are spread during a particular season.

Flu vaccines have multiple strains of the flu in them. Researchers use a surveillance site and reference labs to collect information about which strains are expected to circulate in the coming flu season each year. Based on the data gathered, three or four strains are chosen to be included in the flu vaccine that year.

And though the amount of flu cases far outpaces last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is predicting the effectiveness of the vaccine this year to be similar to that of last year. Last year, the flu vaccine was 39 percent effective.

Its not too late to get vaccinated  even halfway through flu season. Although someone may have already been diagnosed with the flu, its still worth getting the vaccination, Teacutter said.

The most important thing people can do to help our family and loved ones is to get the vaccination rates up, she said.

The CDC reported that only 2 out of every 5 people in the U.S. gets a flu vaccine each year.

This year, the Missouri health department has given 12,957 flu vaccines and is expecting to give more as the flu season continues. In past years, there were:

12,590 vaccines given in 2016.

11,374 vaccines given in 2015.

13,897 vaccines given in 2014.

PREVENTATIVE ACTIONS

To be protected from the flu, the CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine every year. In addition to the vaccine, people should take everyday preventive actions such as washing their hands often, staying home if they are sick with the flu and coughing in their sleeve as opposed to their hands.

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Katherine Yon has been chair since 2014.

Yon Will Continue to Chair Pittsfield School Committee

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Katherine Yon will continue to chair the Pittsfield School Committee.

During the re-organization meeting Wednesday, the committee voted Yon back to the leadership position. Yon has served as chair since 2014.

"We have such important work. At a time when public education is being assailed on many fronts, it is our duty to stand firm for the young people in our charge. All of our students have the right to a high-quality education," Yon said after accepting the nomination.

The former English teacher has been on the committee since 2010. She expressed confidence in her colleagues and staff in the schools that the district will be able to work through the city's current economic struggle.

"Yes these are difficult economic times and students are faced with incredible struggles. However, it is our responsibility to work through these issues and maintain the highest quality education standards," Yon said.

She'll remain with the same vice chairman as previous years as well. Daniel Elias was tapped to continue his work as the vice chairman by a unanimous vote.

The School Committee also welcomed William Cameron and Dennis Powell to the board. The two won election to fill the seats vacated by Pamela Farron and Anthony Reillo, both opted not to run for re-election. Yon and Elias both praised the new members.

"We are so fortunate to have two such well-respected members of our community," Yon said.

Cameron is no stranger to the district. He had previously served on the School Committee in 1992 and then as assistant superintendent for personnel. He left the district for superintendency jobs in Salem and then at the Central Berkshire Regional School District.

"I'm honored to be on the School Committee again," Cameron said.

Yon called Powell a "jack of all trades." The former culinary instructor and restaurant owner is active in many fronts in the community now, with his most known work being as the president of the local chapter of the NAACP.

"I especially admire his desire to get more young people involved in the community," Yon said.

Powell said serving on the School Committee has been a "dream of mine because it involves young people and the shaping of the future." He said education is critical for any society.

"I'm eager to get started. I know everyone on the school committee and have respect for everyone on the School Committee," Powell said.
SVMC's Christina Crowe demonstrates a smart touch-panel for children on Tuesday. SVMC's Christina Crowe, President Thomas Dee, interim Chief Nursing Officer Shiela Boni, respiratory therapist John Gottung, Bank of Bennington Vice President Shannon McLenithan and President James Brown, and Dr. Malcolm Paine. Leslie Keefe, SVMC vice president for corporate development, introduces Dee and Brown. PreviousNext

SVMC Waiting Rooms Now Kid-Friendly Thanks to Bennington Bank



The Kids Korners donated by Bank of Bennington gave two waiting areas much-needed face-lifts to make them welcoming for children. BENNINGTON, Vt.  Little hands and active minds now have something to keep them occupied while waiting for a new sibling or to see their doctor.

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center has transformed two waiting rooms into welcoming spaces for young families with the help of a $25,000 donation from the Bank of Bennington.

A "dingy" waiting room at the Women's and Children's Unit was brightened up with new wall colors and paintings, new seating and several interactive play areas with an underwater theme, all with a large window looking out at the Green Mountains. A similar makeover was done to the waiting area in the pediatrics practice but with a jungle theme.

"This has really transformed the space, it's definitely given us a much more welcoming enivornment for the kids and their parents," said Shiela Boni, interim chief nursing officer, on Tuesday. "This room is utilized frequently for people who are waiting the birth of another child. That can be a long process. There's a whole variety of activities that the kids can engage in while they're waiting for their little sister or brother to enter the world."

The room is also being used by early intervention educators to evaluate and develop educational plans for children up to age 3.

"We are one of the busiest health care providers in the state for [obstetrics] services ... close to 500 babies a year," said Thomas Dee, president and CEO of the health care system. "We take the need for developing women/child services as a very high priority for us. ...

"It's very intimidating to go to the hopsital ... this helps make the parents and the kids feel much more at home, much less anxious about why they're here."

The transformation began with the gift from Bank of Bennington last July as part of its community pledges made for its 100th anniversary.

"This is what we had in mind to make pledges for in our 100th anniversary year," said James Brown, president and chief executive officer of Bank of Bennington. "Just to have something meaningful and fun."

Dee described SVMC's relationship with the community as "terrific," a partnership between the two century-old institutions that's propelled a number of initiatives, not least of which is the ambitious redevelopment plans for the Putnam Block with a host of other community and educational groups.

Shannon McLenithan, the bank's senior vice president of retail lending, worked with Christina Crowe and her department, which oversees the hospital's materials management and purchasing, to find the right combination for each waiting room.

McLenithan said the goal was to inject some nature into the children's activities and to get them away from video games.

"We wanted to take them out of the technology world and bring them to a natural space that's much more peaceful and welcoming," she said.

There were a lot of checkpoints for anything come into the hospital building, Crowe said. "Everything here meets the standards of infection prevention and safety for our children and it meets what Shannon and the hospital really wanted, which was a children's corner that wasn't video games."

The Kids Corner uveiled on Tuesday had two activity centers from Playscapes, a company specializing in educational furniture and toys. Both had magnet puzzle games: one was a table with little chairs and the other a block with five "boards." The puzzle and alphabet pieces are behind clear acrylic and can be moved with the use of magnets. An "I Spy" poster is set at eye level for children and picks up on the visuals in the room.

But there's also a bit of high-tech for kids to play with: A smart touch-panel by Ucreate offers drawing, puzzles, and simple games.

"The children especially like it but you'll find some adults in here during the day," Boni said. "That's been kind of fun to walk in on people and catch them playing tic-tac-toe or whatever."
Mall Loses Partial Power, Security Kicks Media Off Property

LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  Berkshire Mall management had security escort an iBerkshires reporter from the property Tuesday afternoon.

iBerkshires had heard reports that the mall had lost power. This reporter attempted to call management to find out what happened but got a message that the office phone there was "temporarily unavailable."

After driving to the mall, a number of stores were dark and closed. Some still seemed to be operating as normal, but others that are typically open were closed and a Peace Train Tee employee was sitting outside that darkened store.

This reporter continued on to the management office in hopes to find out what happened from the general manager. There, a woman was on the phone and yelled no comment.

We stuck around a bit in hopes to find out if there was another phone number to reach the general manager. When the woman got off the phone, she again said no comment and asked if we'd like to talk to the general manager.

She called on the radio asking, "is there any comment you'd like to make to iBerkshires?" and a voice from the hallway rang out, "leave." Moments later a security officer arrived and said she was escorting us off the property.

In the parking lot, we turned to take a photo of the mall and the security officer yelled across the lot that we are not allowed to take photos on private property.

So we left without answers.

The mall has certainly been struggling with a long list of stores leaving the building over the last two years. The mall is owned by Berkshire Mall Realty Holdings, a subsidiary of Kohn Retail Investment Group. Kohan owns a number of mall throughout the country and had had issues with power being turned off in other malls.

It is unknown at this time why the shopping center only had partial power. Neither Eversource nor National Grid had reported outages Tuesday afternoon.
The nurses had gone out on strike in October and could do it again.

BMC Nurses Give Bargaining Committee OK to Call 2nd Strike

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The registered nurses at Berkshire Medical Center on Tuesday approved giving the bargaining committee the authority to call a second one-day strike.

The local Massachusetts Nurses Association chapter has been at odds with management for nearly a year and a half of contract negotiations. In October, the nurses staged a one-day strike, which was followed by a four-day lockout by management. The two sides returned to the bargaining table shortly afterward and have yet to come to a settlement.

After two days of voting concluding Tuesday night, the union's membership voted to again give its bargaining committee the authority to call a one-day strike. The vote doesn't necessarily mean there will be another strike, but the committee now has the authority to call one.

"Our community and our patients need to be able to hold Berkshire Medical Center accountable for providing safe patient care at all times," said Alex Neary, co-chair of the union's bargaining committee, in a statement released Tuesday evening.

"We brought our concerns to the public with a one-day strike in October and since then hospital administrators have refused to move on our key issues. This is completely unacceptable. It is why today nurses have sent a clear message to BMC: Negotiate a fair contract that protects our patients!"

The union said 82 percent of the union's voters approved the authorization. Should the bargaining committee call a strike, there is a 10-day notice required.

The two sides have been particularly at issue over staffing levels and health insurance. The union has particularly focused on increasing staffing levels, saying units are often unsafely staffed.

"The No. 1 priority of a hospital should be to provide safe, quality patient care, said Gerri Jakacky, co-chair of the bargaining committee, in a statement.

"Our nurses have for years identified problems, and for years BMC has ignored our concerns. Why wont hospital administrators take the money they get from the public and use it to ensure the public is safe rather than spend it on forcing nurses to strike and locking them out of their own hospital for days afterward? Our proposals to eliminate or limit patient assignments for charge nurses and maintain nurse staffing at the hospitals own current level are reasonable ways to ensure patient safety."

The unionized nurses have been without a contract since September 2016. In May, the nurses rejected the hospital's "best and final offer." In July, the nurses gave the committee the authority to call a second strike, which was followed by a September notification of a strike.

On the morning of Oct. 4, the nurses left their shift to join their colleagues on the picket line. The following morning, they were locked out because the hospital said it had to sign a five-day contract with replacement nurses to fill the shifts.

After a four-day lockout, the nurses went back to work. Since then, there have been four bargaining sessions in which both sides have reported that progress was being made on some of the issues. But the union said the hospital still hasn't moved far enough on the staffing issues.

The union then scheduled the second vote in hopes to send a strong message to management.

Brenda Cadorette, BMC's chief nursing officer, released a letter to nurses after being informed about the second authorization vote saying management was "both surprised and disappointed" in the authorization vote.

"As a result of that sharing of ideas, at the third post-strike session, we responded to the bargaining committee's safety proposals with some modified language that, after some discussion, the hospital and the union were able to find a way to resolve these important safety and security issues," she wrote, but added further on that "we have continuing disagreements about how the charge nurse function is addressed in the MNA collective bargaining agreement."

The bargaining has been ongoing with the assistance of a federal mediator.
The General Government Committee of Chairman Eric Buddington, Rebbecca Cohen and Paul Hopkins discussed changes to Rule of Order with President Keith Bona and Councilors Wayne Wilkinson and Marie T. Harpin.

North Adams Council Moving Hearing of Visitors to Back of Meeting

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The General Government Committee is recommending several changes to the City Council's Rules of Order, including moving Hearing of Visitors to later in the meetings and adding in a coda that would allow the president to suspend disruptive audience members.

The amendments are at the request of Council President Keith Bona, who was elected to the post a the Organization of Government on Jan. 1. Each council president has the option of proposing modifications during their terms.

The main change would be to move the location of the Hearing of Visitors on the agenda. Bona wants it back near the end of the meeting.

"Up until Councilor [Benjamin] Lamb, it was always at the end anyways," he told the committee on Tuesday night. There was a tendency for meetings to end on a negative note because there tended to be a group that would lodge complaints during their two minutes, he said.

Hearing of Visitors, sometimes known as Open Forum in the past, allows the public attending council meeting to speak on matters of municipal concern for two minutes. It does not allow for debate with councilors or the mayor, but at times it did slip into that as people used their time to directly ask the mayor questions.

"One of the reasons I would like to see it back at the end is I would like to cut out the Q&A with the mayor," Bona said. "You're not supposed to be asking questions ... and then the mayor might answer it or might not .. sometimes it would go back and forth."

Instead, Hearing of Visitors would come directly before the mayor's and councilor's concerns, during which time the mayor could, if he wished, respond to issues brought up during the public comment period.

Councilor Marie T. Harpin and committee member Rebbecca Cohen were concerned that residents would be forced to stay through meetings to be able to make comments about non-agenda items. Even so, they said they would support it.

"I'm also a proponent of putting it into the hands of the guy who's running the meeting," committee member Paul Hopkins said.

The council has tried to strike a balance between public comment and some resident who they believe are using the time to grandstand or make spurious allegations. In 2012, then Council President Michael Bloom set rules that limited public comment on agenda items to a Hearing of Visitors at the beginning of the meeting and set a two-minute limit for other issues at the end of the meeting. President Lisa Blackmer restored public comment during agenda items more than a year later but kept general comment to the end of the meeting.

Lamb, when he was elected president in 2016, moved Hearing of Visitors again to the beginning of the meeting, dispensed with Open Forum and sought to limit time to a total of 9 minutes. Councilors disagreed with the last part, preferring to maintain comment during agenda items and limit speakers to 2 minutes on each item.

Blackmer, attending as audience, agreed with Bona that giving certain people the last word of the night left "a bad taste in your mouth."

"Unfortunately, we're making rules for the few people who grandstand," she said. "I'd hate to make rules for a few people who make us uncomfortable."

It is those few people, or really the actions of one, that prompted Bona to add in language to Rule 10, Hearing of Visitors. Should public safety being called to deal with a disruptive audience member, "that member may not be allowed to return for a number of meetings determined by the president."

Bona and members of the committee did not name anyone in particular but Robert Cardimino has been ejected from several meetings over the years for disruptive behavior. The council has nothing in its current rules addressing repeat offenders.

The language would give the president some "bite," he said. "It could really depend on how offensive that person was."

The other councilors were leery of the idea of banning members of the public and questioned what limits would be on the president. Bona said he expected they were all reasonable people and if they felt the president was too harsh, the councilors could vote him out in a year.

The committee voted to recommend but with the caveat that Bona follow up with the attorney general's office to ensure such a move was within their authority.

The committee also agreed with moving mayor's concerns to a separate line on the agenda so as not to imply he could only speak for two minutes; allowing brief liaison reports to be given verbally at any meeting; and creating a community calendar/events period during which both councilors and the public could announce upcoming events. Often those have been given during councilor's concerns.

There was also a lengthy debate over a modification of Robert's Rules over "moving the previous question." A councilor moving the question terminates all debate and immediately goes to a two-thirds vote; if passed, the agenda item is voted.

Bona's change allows for the president to ensure that all councilors have the chance to speak on a matter at least once before any vote.

Committee Chairman Eric Buddington also motioned to allow citizens to place items on the agenda through a petition with 10 signatures. He found no second and the motion died.

Fellow councilors were concerned that the number of signatures was too low, that it would put undue burden on the city clerk, and that it could be too easily manipulated.

Bona said there are many ways to bring concerns before councilors and, in his experience, many of the issues tended to be administrative and outside of the council's purview. Blackmer noted that committees can call meetings whenever they wish to address citizen concerns and make recommendations.

Buddington said there were groups forming around issues in the city and he just wanted to do something to encourage them to engage.
Members of the Williamstown Select Board prepare to hear from their constituents at Tuesday's forum.

Williamstown Residents Argue For, Against Pot Proposal



Joshua Silver of Silver Therapeutics discusses his application for a medical marijuana dispensary in Williamstown. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  About 30 residents Tuesday attended a public information session hosted by the Select Board about a proposed medical marijuana dispensary.

Some posed questions to applicant Silver Therapeutics of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Most of the speakers appeared to aim their comments more at the Select Board members who next Monday plan to decide whether to give Silver the "letter of non-opposition" it needs in order to proceed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's licensing process.

At issue is not so much the medical applications for the drug as the fact that Silver Therapeutics principal Joshua Silver makes no secret of the fact that he plans to seek a license from the commonwealth to operate a recreational pot retail operation at the same Colonial Plaza site where he wants to establish a medical dispensary.

After Silver and his team discussed the regulatory framework, the security provisions required by the commonwealth and the medical benefits of cannabis, the conversation quickly turned to the recreational side of the industry after Select Board Chairman Hugh Daley opened the floor for questions from the audience.

The comments from the floor were evenly divided, with about half expressing concern about the negative impact of a retail recreational pot facility and half pushing the board to support Silver's application with full knowledge that a medical dispensary license could give him an inside track for a recreational license.

Arguing against moving toward a recreational retail facility were several speakers who identified themselves as the mothers of young children.

"I don't want my kids seeing another way they can consume something that's going to take them out of reality," Sarah Currie said. "I don't understand how this will be beneficial to the town. I understand the medical use is very beneficial. I'm concerned about a retail facility and normalizing marijuana for my kids."

Silver told Currie that as the father of a 4-year-old and 7-year-old, he understands her concerns and worries. But he stressed that the outward appearance of his facility will not celebrate marijuana. His logo does not include a cannabis leaf, and he has no plan for the kind of "Green cross" insignia seen elsewhere in the country.

Currie asked Silver whether the presence of Williams College helped draw him to the town as a potential site for his business.

Silver said he was more attracted by the fact that the town is the closest large community to his home in Saratoga Springs and that 60 percent of Williamstown voters favored Proposition 4, the 2016 public question that decriminalized pot.

He said he obviously was familiar with the college, but as someone who graduated college before age 21 himself, he did not anticipate college students being a large portion of his potential market.

Silver did note that cultural institutions like the Clark Art Institute and North Adams' Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art attract the kind of visitors who might be interested in purchasing recreational pot -- a point that resident Valerie Hall seized on.

"I don't want Williamstown, on the border of two other states, to be attracting people here for marijuana," Hall said.

At least one speaker did challenge the Silver application based solely on marijuana's medical applications.

"At this juncture, none of my colleagues prescribes medical marijuana," said Dr. Marion Madden, a local internist who also distributed an eight-page handout with footnotes laying out some of the arguments against pot. "I've found that the patents I have who have a [medical marijuana I.D.] card  it is given out in the most cursory manner possible."

Silver's medical consultant, Dr. Robert Walker of Boston's MedWell Health and Wellness, took issue with that claim, pointing out that he authorizes cards after a thorough review of the patient's medical records and that marijuana is "not the drug of choice for anything  it's the drug of choice when all other options have been exhausted."

"There is a fair amount of scrutiny," Walker said. "When 20- and 21-year-olds come in complaining of back pain  they're not likely to get a card based on that. I had an 84-year-old woman who came in and said, 'I want to get off these damn opioids.' She was on three Oxycontins a day. Medical cannabis is one of the ways you can stop that."

But for the most part, the discussion -- pro and con -- centered on the recreational pot side of the equation.

A couple of residents noted that the town did vote in favor of decriminalizing the drug.



Select Board Chairman Hugh Daley moderates Tuesday's forum. "We voted on medical marijuana a couple of years ago, and the town OK'd that," Planning Board member Amy Jeschawitz said. "Then we voted on recreational in the state election, and the town OK'd it. Then we discussed zoning at [2017] town meeting. Three times, our community has said we're OK with it.  It's never going to be 100 percent.

"But I think asking the community three times and getting the same answer three times should carry some weight."

John Strachan reminded the Select Board that legalized pot is not only the law in Massachusetts but a growing trend nationwide. And he said some community near the Village Beautiful is going to host a retail marijuana facility and reap the sales tax revenue; it may as well be Williamstown, and the town can put those revenues to use any way it sees fit, including "to use it for drug education on really harmful drugs."

Williamstown attorney Donald Dubendorf, who does not represent Silver Therapeutics in its application but who is a frequent petitioner before town boards and committees, offered a different spin on the "it's going to happen somewhere" argument.

"Given an imperfect world, I would much rather have both medical and recreational marijuana retailed here in our community where our zoning enforcement, our town manager and our police department can be on top if it," Dubendorf said.

"The choices aren't easy for [the Select Board]. They're not pure. There's not an easy choice for you. But I'd much prefer it to be here where I have more confidence in all those manners of enforcement."
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You can tell youre watching a Pixar movie if youre having an existential crisis.

The studio has honed causing emotional damage to full-grown adults into a fine art, not only interjecting their films with some well-placed tragedy, but drawing on an interdisciplinary toolbox to wreak havoc with our basic concepts of the world: Inside Out, for example, manipulated scientific understandings of memory in order to make you blubber like an idiot over poor Bing Bong.

Pixars latest, Coco, is certainly no different. On the surface, its the story of a young boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the aid of his great-great-grandfather to help him return home.

The film opens on Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), in which Miguels family, like so many in Mexico, gather round to make offerings and remembrances to their dead ancestors.

Our relationship to the dead is a key theme of Coco, introducing us to the concept of the final death. Those who reside within the colourful, bountiful Land of the Dead can do so only as long as there is someone to remember them in the Land of the Living; once that last memory is lost to time, that individual  quite literally  fades into nothingness.

However, Cocos concept of the final death actually draws straight from traditional Mexican ideas of the three deaths. The first death is the physical one, the death of the body. The second death is more of a natural one: the moment the body is laid to rest in the earth and returned into natures cycle. The third death is that breached in the film and is the most definitive: the moment the last memory of you fades. Dia de Muertos helps to delay that final death.

Interestingly, director Lee Unkrich admitted Cocos storyline actually pivoted from his original idea of a boy trying to get over the grief of a loss, in order to more accurately reflect Dia de Muertoss cultural purpose and the Mexican attitude to death, adding: Im American and that was at the time my natural entrance into a story. We realised that that thematically was antithetical to what Dia de Muertos is also about, which is this obligation to never forget, to never let go. We at that point had an epiphany that we were making the film as outsiders.

Dia de Muertos derives partially from Aztec, Mayan and other indigenous practices, in which two months of festivities were dedicated to honour the dead, as presided over in Aztec mythology by the goddess Mictecacihuatl (Lady of the Dead); celebrations included fires, the wearing of animal skins, the displaying images of the dead and offerings of personal goods.

 Coco - Trailer

However, these traditions had to blend also with the Catholicism enforced by Spanish invaders. Dia de Muertos is a variation, of sorts, of All Saints Day, celebrated 1 November and All Souls Day, celebrated 2 November.

In the eighth century, the Catholic church attempted to integrate the Celtic tradition of Samhain, celebrated on 31 October, the precursor to Halloween, in which the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead briefly thinned. Unlike the people of Mexico, the Celts reacted to the dead with a level of fear, offering animal heads and hides in an attempt to confuse them, while burning crops and animals as offerings.

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Part of this divide in practice derives from Atzec, Mayan and other indigenous beliefs that souls continue to exist after death in the Land of the Dead, called Mictlan by the Aztecs and Xibalba by the Mayans, without any damning notions of judgement or resurrection attached. Each year, these souls could then return to the Land of the Living to visit their loved ones.

Death, then, is not something to be feared  it is only a transition. And so, the more sombre All Saints Day and All Souls Day failed to be adopted in Mexico, with the celebratory Dia de Muertos evolving into existence instead.

Its a concept French philosopher Jean Baudrillard briefly touches upon in his discussion of the concept of symbolic exchange, explaining that non-Western cultures often conceive of the living and the dead as co-existing to some degree and that certain rituals allow for both to exist in the same space.

Western cultures do have some concept of a final death that bears similarity to Mexican traditions, but, once again, fear is a large motivator here. For example, the most damning punishment of the Roman Empire is known now as damnatio memoriae; enacted on traitors, or those who brought shame to the Senate, it involved the complete eradication of your name from history. Names would be erased off coins, statues would be reformed. It was a fate far worse than death itself.

Coco has so far grossed over $620m (448m) at the box office Pixar/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Christianity, in turn, evolved the concept of two deaths: the first is the physical, the second comes from Johns description of his apocalyptic vision in the Book of Revelation, in which he sees a lake of fire into which the wicked are thrown, the lake functioning as a symbol of the second death.

This death was believed to be a spiritual one, as evangelical author A.W. Pink writes, the eternal separation of the soul from God. If being forgotten by your descendants seemed frightening enough, Christianity offers the fate of being further forgotten by an omnipotent higher power.

We again return to the fundamental differences between how Western and non-Western cultures conceive of death and memory: while Mexican tradition celebrates Dia de Muertos as a way to prevent the final death, Western writers have approached the same subject with a tone of damning inevitability and theres a more fraught relationship to be found within the culture itself.

A poem by Thomas Hardy, entitled The To-be-Forgotten goes as follows:

I heard a small sad sound,

And stood awhile among the tombs around:

"Wherefore, old friends," said I, "are you distrest,

Now, screened from life's unrest?"

O not at being here;

But that our future second death is near;

When, with the living, memory of us numbs,

And blank oblivion comes!

These, our sped ancestry,

Lie here embraced by deeper death than we;

Nor shape nor thought of theirs can you descry

With keenest backward eye.

They count as quite forgot;

They are as men who have existed not;

Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath;

It is the second death.

In Coco, Pixar turns to Mexican traditions to offer a more optimistic view: final death should not be viewed as some unavoidable terror, but as a remembrance to treasure our loved ones  both the living, and the dead.
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I would like to take this opportunity to announce my retirement! jokes Hong Chau, the rising star with a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Alexander Paynes new film Downsizing. If she did bow out, nobody could blame her wanting to spoil a near-perfect start. Already shes worked for Paul Thomas Anderson (on Inherent Vice) and Jean-Marc Vallee (on the HBO hit Big Little Lies). Now she can add Payne, the Oscar-winning director of Sideways, to this impressive list of auteurs.

Curiously, Chaus time with Payne was hinted at during her work on Big Little Lies, the award-winning show about mothers and murder in Monterey. Chau, who played the catty Jackie, co-starred with three other Payne alumni  Laura Dern (Citizen Ruth), Reese Witherspoon (Election) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants). Although Chaus role was small and she had become familiar with acting in things nobody watches, Big Little Lies hit a deep vein. Now she gets to be his new leading lady. Ive seen all of his previous films, she gushes. Im a huge fan of his.

A social satire with sci-fi elements, Downsizing is set in a world where technology has been invented to shrink humans to five inches. An eco-friendly move, with less waste or precious resources used by these tiny people, it also affords those that undergo the irreversible procedure  like Matt Damons lead character, the affable Paul Safranek  the chance to live a wealthy existence. Money goes a lot further when youre living in the equivalent of a dolls house.

Chau as Ngoc Lan Tran and Matt Damon as Paul Safranek in Downsizing ( 2017 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved) (Paramount Pictures)

When Safranek shrinks, he eventually comes across Chaus character Ngoc Lan Tran, a Vietnamese dissident who was downsized by her government as punishment and lost her left leg below the knee. I have not seen a character like this, male or female, that has so much going on, in terms of being funny and heartbreaking and heroic but also needs help, says Chau. Somebody who is spiritual but also very practical and honest its so much wrapped into one character.

Intriguingly, Chau, 38, had no idea there was an Asian female role in Downsizing when she first read the script  which she only did because she wanted to find out what an Alexander Payne sci-fi might be like. I was so buzzed after I read the script. I read it in one sitting. It was so funny, but it went in so many different directions. When she auditioned, she was told Payne would take two months to decide on her casting; but he was so excited, he flew to meet her within two days.

Chau plays a Vietnamese dissident who lost her left leg below the knee (George Kraychyk/ 2017 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved)

Chau took inspiration from a variety of sources for the character  from writer Flannery OConnor to Honduran environmental activist Berta Caceres to Akira Kurosawas film Red Beard, about a town doctor and his intern. Some critics, however, have focused on her accent, claiming her broken English is nothing short of mockery. Chau responds by calling such questions dehumanising; as she puts it, When I look at my parents I dont see a stereotype.

Living in Vietnam through the war, Chaus mother and father fled on a boat in 1979 and wound up in a Thai refugee camp, where Chau was born. Eventually, they made their way to New Orleans. Im very grateful to have grown up the way I did, Chau says. Having to go to school with all English speakers and then coming home and just speaking Vietnamese with your family, or having to go to the bank and explain what the teller is saying to them those were things that not everybody [at school] had to deal with.

Chau and Joaquin Phoenix in 2014s Inherent Vice (Rex)

During her youth, Chau watched her parents work plenty of low-paid jobs  washing dishes in kitchens, humping goods in supermarket warehouses. In her teenage years, they ran a neighbourhood convenience store where everyone would come and get a little snack. It was inspirational, says Chau. They have a work ethic that I have carried into my own life. With her parents backing, Chau went to Boston University where she studied creative writing and film.

She clearly reveres her parents for what they did for her. Theyre always in my life. I am who I am because of them and whatever strength or ability to not shrink comes from them they have had such a hard life and yet they laugh the hardest. People who Ive encountered who have had more given to them, they tend to be more disappointed and unable to carry on when something doesnt go their way, and thats not my parents.

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The actor at the premiere of HBO hit Big Little Lies in Los Angeles (Rex)

When she left college, Chau worked for PBS and considered a career in documentaries. I loved movies and I wasnt sure what aspect of the movie industry I wanted to be in. I just fell into acting a little bit. I honestly did. Acting in short films for friends, she began to consider making a career of it. Up until about two years ago was the first time I felt confident, saying out loud, Im an actor. I didnt go to theatre school so I always felt a little bit insecure about that.

What did her parents make of her entering such a risky profession? I think that theyre super-excited and happy for me. I dont think that any of us thought that Id become a successful actor. I was actually very shy when I was younger and I did not have any dreams of being an actor, even into my adulthood. While she began to get roles  notably in David Simons Treme  its been difficult, she says. In Hollywood, theres not a ton of roles for Asian people. So a lot of it is waiting and waiting and waiting.

Damon with Christoph Waltz, who plays Dusan in Downsizing (George Kraychyk /  2017 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved) (George Kraychyk /  2017 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.)

Its why she keeps her existence in Los Angeles minimalist. For the first four years living in the city, she didnt have a car. I love public transportation! she exclaims. Who wants to sit in a car and be angry at other drivers for eight hours? Id rather sit on a bus or train and read a book. Her expenses are also minimal. I like to be very simple in my lifestyle. My only extravagance is I buy lots of toys and meats for my dog. She has an 80lb Rottweiler-Australian shepherd mix named Kobe.

Shes less forthcoming about marriage or partners (I dont want to talk about that), perhaps because shes yet to adjust to the harsh glare of the spotlight. Im not a huge celebrity, she remarks, but with the Oscar nominations due soon, this could change. What wont shift is Chaus desire to pursue roles that dont stereotype the Asian experience. Next up is American Woman, playing a radical who helps real-life kidnap victim Patty Hearst. Retirement, it seems, is not an option.

Downsizing opens on 24 January
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Charles Manson biopic The Family may have found its lead actor, with Matt Smith reportedly in talks to play the notorious serial killer and cult leader.

There is an obvious link between Smith and director Mary Harron: American Psycho. The actor played Patrick Bateman in the recent Broadway musical adaptation of Bret Easton Elliss book, while Harron turned it into a cult classic film back in 1999.

The Family will be based on Ed Sanders 1971 novel of the same name along with Karlene Faiths The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond The Cult.

It will centre on grad student Faith as she meets three women who were brainwashed into the Manson family, their experiences with the cult leader being recounted through flashbacks, told from a special security unit at the California Institute for Women where they were incarcerated.

In addition to the Smith news, Tracking Board also cites sources as telling it that Detroits Hannah Murray and Imposters Marianne Rendon will co-star.

This is not the only Manson-related film in the works right now. We also learned this week that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in Quentin Tarantinos take on the serial killer who left an indelible imprint on LA, though the role of Manson has yet to be cast.
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Calexico, The Thread That Keeps Us



Download this: End Of The World With You; Voices In The Field; Bridge To Nowhere; Under The Wheels; Dead In The Water

Now expanded to a full-time septet, Calexico display a new resourcefulness and determination on The Thread That Keeps Us, which may be the album that finally hoists this most undervalued of American bands to their rightful place alongside the likes of R.E.M. and Wilco. The intimacy and evocative atmosphere of previous releases has been retained, but theres a fresh, barnstorming spirit brought by the team surrounding the core duo of Joey Burns and John Convertino: where earlier releases sometimes felt too meticulously crafted, this one has the sound of a proper band, its members constantly egging each other into uncertain territory.

Instead of their familiar border stomping ground of Arizona and Mexico, Calexico recorded The Thread That Keeps Us in a ramshackle studio overlooking the Pacific coastline, and its suffused with the spirit of endless possibilities often triggered by California dreaming. Hence, perhaps, the brief instrumental interludes like Shortboard and the Neil Young-style guitar-noise abstract Spinball, which are the sound of open-ended oceanic daydreams. Hence too the edgy, piercing guitar lines twirling around each other in songs such as Voices In The Field and End Of The World With You, which recall the hippie heyday of Haight-Ashbury staples like the Dead and Quicksilver.

Not that Calexicos Tex-Mex roots are completely abandoned, however. Jacob Valenzuelas trumpet brings a mariachi poise to several songs, while the cumbia beat and accordion lend norteno elegance to Flores y Tamales. And one of the standout tracks, Under The Wheels, has a nifty polka twitch akin to Los Lobos, whose genius for blending heritage with contemporary concerns is also emulated in a lyric about political impotence: Deep in the war machine, always someone elses schemes.

This reflects the thread of social uncertainty, intertwined with fervent hope, that gives the album its core strength. On the one hand, songs like the simple eco-fable Girl In The Forest and anthemic Voices In The Field yearn for a new spirit of care and communality, while on the other, the lengthening shadows cast by recent political shifts loom large over the tableaux of Eyes Wide Awake and Thrown To The Wild, whose listless protagonists seem adrift in currents beyond their control. And theres no doubting whos the target of Dead In The Water, a brutish demagogue who boasts, I make the law, and I decree a new kind of wrath. Swathed in dark menace, its terse guitars, hammered monotone piano and chimes ratchet up the tension as this blowhard threatens to take you and the whole world with me.

Elsewhere, theres a more general anxiety about Bridge To Nowhere, which ingeniously blends Radiohead-esque descending minor-chord unease with plangent Everlys-style harmonies. It brilliantly evokes the contrasting moods which give the album its drive and energy, a dichotomy heralded, in the opening End Of The World With You, by Joey Burns determination to seek love in the age of the extremes.

First Aid Kit, Ruins



Download this: My Wild Sweet Love; Rebel Heart; Its A Shame

The Soderberg sisters first album in four years is aptly titled. If 2014s Stay Gold expressed a deep desire for change, then Ruins rakes through the rubble left by those changes  both the sisters separation (subsequently reconciled) and the collapse of Klaras relationship which arguably triggered her departure. Songs such as Rebel Heart and Fireworks are fraught with regret over her self-destructive tendencies, and Ruins itself confronts the impossibility of trying to rebuild whats irretrievable; while the sparse setting of To Life A Life evokes the dawning realisation that there is no other way to live a life, Im alone. Its tough stuff, tempered by the Soderbergs instinctive harmonies, which remain as sweet as ever, and the inventive folk-rock arrangements textured with typical empathy by producer Tucker Martine, involving members of R.E.M., Midlake and Wilco. The lightly skimming My Wild Sweet Love is a standout, and elsewhere the rolling tom-toms, organ, piano and jangly guitar help salve the pain of Its A Shame.

Tune-Yards, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life



Download this: Coast To Coast; ABC-123; Now As Then; Home; Hammer

Expanded to a duo by bassist Nate Brenners promotion to full-time accomplice of Merrill Garbus, Tune-Yards characteristically confrontational approach acquires a new brusque confidence on this fourth album. Brenners sinuous basslines lend a new strength to Garbuss jittery, staccato drum programmes, allowing her keening high-register commentaries on womanhood and white centrality to float above sometimes rickety assemblages of samples, keyboards, ukulele and reeds. Her attitudes are upfront and unapologetic in both words and music: ethnic affinities underpin the electro-reggae skank ABC-123 and the African-flavoured depiction of male oppression Hammer, while Garbuss angelic harmonies signal her empathy for the destitute bag-lady in Home, with its cautionary observation When youre cheering for the winner, the song remains the same. The haunted Coast To Coast offers an oblique commentary on the creeping intolerance and violence of America; but neither is Garbus herself free from her own critiques, ironically noting in Colonizer how I use my white womans voice to tell stories of travels with African men.

The Residents, The Third ReichnRoll



Download this: Swastikas On Parade; Hitler Was A Vegetarian; Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life; Satisfaction

Originally released in 1976, and reissued here with a plethora of outtakes, live cuts and singles, The Third Reich n Roll remains perhaps the most stubbornly transgressive album ever recorded. Its two side-long suites, Swastikas On Parade and Hitler Was A Vegetarian, take a fond cudgel to Sixties pop, melting familiar hits like Land Of 1000 Dances, 96 Tears, Its My Party and Telstar into audaciously discordant new forms that have since, despite their atonal abrasiveness, acquired a warm familiarity of their own. The sleeve, featuring a cartoon of US pop gatekeeper Dick Clark in Nazi uniform, signalled The Residents suspicions about pops sinister mob mentality (it remained banned in Germany until reissued with each of its 135 swastikas covered in a CENSORED! sticker, an image just as ludicrous as its original comic overload). Bonus tracks here include the groups angst-drenched mangling of Satisfaction and their extraordinary Beatles montage Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life, alongside five excerpts of hitherto unreleased German Slide Music, which beg uneasy questions about what the slides might be showing.

Glen Hansard, Between Two Shores



Download this: Roll On Slow; Why Woman; Movin On; One Of Us Will Lose

On his third solo outing, Glen Hansard (Oscar-winning co-writer of the musical Once) gives his Van Morrison influence free rein, particularly on the track Movin On, where his guttural moans and 12-string stylings irresistibly bring to mind St. Dominics Preview. Elsewhere, Hansards sepia R&B tones are underpinned by brooding horns and organ to lend a Southern deep-soul ambience to Why Woman, one of several songs here which present him as a biased plaintiff of a broken relationship. But while the one-sided Hearts Not In It is crippled by blame-laying, One Of Us Will Lose is an edifice of aching melancholy, with streaks of slide guitar threading currents of loss and despair through its descent into the depths. Its not all that pessimistic, though: the recriminations of Wheels On Fire are tempered by a confidence that we will overcome which gives the song a political gestalt, while the opening Roll On Slow, with punchy horns underscoring its hook, has a lithe, bluesy swagger thats equal parts Springsteen and Stones.

Starcrawler, Starcrawler



Download this: Loves Gone Again; I Love LA; Tears

Ever since punk, rock music has periodically short-circuited back to its barest basics, and LAs hotly touted Starcrawler represent the latest incarnation of this cyclical process. Sympathetically produced in full analogue glory by Ryan Adams, this debut album is awash in buzzsaw guitar riffs and splashy cymbals, while the wild-child vocals of Arrow De Wilde channel the jaded disdain of Courtney Love (minus the rage), occasionally peaking in a Lene Lovich-like squawk. Its a formula which works best on Loves Gone Again, which has something of the elemental primitivism of Pink Flag-era Wire as it treats perverse carnal urges to a dose of distortion. The simple appreciation of streetlife in I Love LA, melodically reminiscent of Nirvanas In Bloom, is an apt evocation of bruised fruit. But its hard to re-inject this kind of teen spirit back into rock without stumbling into familiar potholes: the oral-sex theme of Pussy Tower is gauchely handled, while the swirling guitar effects of Chicken Woman cant hide its essential leadenness.

Daniel Taylor, The Trinity Choir, The Path To Paradise



Download this: Miserere Mei, Deus; Miserere; Libera Nos; Magnificat

The influential impact of John Eliot Gardiners work  particularly with the monumental series of Bach Cantatas  on choral recordings continues to ripple outwards. Here, Daniel Taylor and The Trinity Choir offer a small but impressive survey of religious a cappella music which seeks to dissolve the boundaries between old and new, home and abroad, by including Renaissance masterpieces by Byrd, Tallis and Allegri alongside modern settings of traditional texts by Arvo Part. Taylor suggests hes trying to restore, to the cold stone surroundings of todays churches, something of the former light and colour which once dazzled congregations, and he does just that with Byrd and Talliss separate settings of the Miserere and John Sheppards less well-known Libera Nos. Theres a seamless passage between Renaissance polyphony, plainsong and Parts shifting tintinabulli, climaxing in an enchanting arrangement of Allegris Miserere Mei, Deus of unusual calm and charm, particularly in the recurrent descending high ornaments, so often strident but here bathed in balm.
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Bitcoin is continuing to plunge amid fears that countries could ban it being traded.

Every single cryptocurrency  which includes bitcoin, but new entrants like ethereum and ripple  has plunged by about 10 per cent over the last day. That's down from an already low price, after a significant selloff in recent days.

The plunging price is on the back of suggestions by a number of governments that they could ban or at least crack down on trading in cryptocurrencies. Both South Korea and China have suggested in recent days that they could ban or at least severely restrict trading in the currencies.

:: The Independents bitcoin group is the place for the best headlines and discussion of all cryptocurrencies. Like it here for the latest on how people are making money  and losing it

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Bitcoin is now falling close to $10,000, having dropped more than 10 per cent in the last 24 hours. That is a marked reduction from December's highs, when the price was reaching to nearly $20,000 and had surged 2,000 per cent over the last year.

Every single cryptocurrency in the top 20 by market cap has fallen, according to the site Coin Market Cap.

The decline started on Tuesday after South Korea's most senior financial lawmaker said that the country was looking seriously at banning trading in the currency entirely. He said that the government had agreed on some plans including forcing people to use their real names while trading, but that it was considering a complete ban as a "live option".

Such a change would almost cause significant trouble for the bitcoin market. South Korea is one of the largest bitcoin trading markets in the world, with the demand so high that bitcoin sells for even more in the country.

That was followed quickly by reports that China was also considering a ban on trading the currency outside the country.

Both of those suggestions are thought to have led to worries that regulators could impose similar restrictions elsewhere in the country. Experts have suggested that cryptocurrencies could be a central topic of discussion at the G20 in March, where regulators might impose more broad restrictions across the world.

Weve teamed up with cryptocurrency trading platform eToro. Click here to get the latest Bitcoin rates and start trading. Cryptocurrencies are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No EU investor protection. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.
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Women are posting makeup-free selfies on social media to send out an important message about accepting your skin problems.

Acne is very common, affecting eight out of 10 people aged between 11 and 30 in the UK.

However, the stigma surrounding acne makes people feel the need to cover it up and can lead to a variety of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

An increased number of women have begun forgoing the security of their makeup, spurring a social media movement with the aim of spreading skin and acne positivity.

In October last year, Instagram influencer Chessie King shared her struggle with her 300,000 followers to coincide with World Mental Health Day.

I was in tears last week about the state my skin was in and went on a rage of picking and squeezing (the worst thing for it) because I was so upset, she wrote.

No matter how much I promote body confidence, I still really suffer with bad days BUT sharing it on my Insta stories really helped me realise there are so many of you going through it too.

Many other girls and women have felt inspired to take part, using hashtags such as #acne, #acnepositivity and #skinpositivity to spread the word.

Hailey Wait, a 17-year-old girl from Colorado, has championed the skin positivity movement across her social media channels, going viral for her powerful message about embracing your unique beauty.

Em Ford, a self-professed makeup lover from London, has also been a driving force behind the rise in women unashamedly going makeup-free on Instagram.

In November last year, Ford posted a video at the end of Anti Bullying Week sharing her personal story.

She wrote: I hope it can help those of you in a similar situation, or those who feel like I did.

Just remember you are good enough, you are strong enough and you can do this.

Instagram is known for its constant influx of airbrushed and filtered photos.

That's why its especially significant that people are breaking away from beauty norms on the social media platform to show everyone that its ok not to be perfect.
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Around two-thirds of the UK gender pay gap cannot be explained by factors such as the relative lack of senior women in the workplace and the numbers of them who work part-time, according to new analysis by the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS reported in October that the gender pay gap was 9.1 per cent in 2017, meaning that, on average, men are paid more than women.

A proportion of this gap is due to the fact that more men are in senior roles in companies, which means they are in jobs which have a higher salary attached to them, and also because relatively more women work part time, which is lower paid per hour.

But when the ONS adjusted for these factors it found they could only account for 36.1 per cent of the median hourly pay gap. The rest  63.9 per cent  was still unexplained.

The analysts said that this did not mean that two thirds of the gap must be attributable to pay discrimination by employers, saying womens relative academic qualifications and domestic caring responsibilities are also likely to be factors they did not capture in their modelling exercise.

But it said pay discrimination might be part of the explanation for the remaining gap.

Factors such as the number of children, the age of children, whether parents have any caring responsibilities, the number of years spent in school and the highest level of qualification achieved are likely to improve the estimation of mens and womens pay structures and consequently decrease the unexplained element of the pay gap, the ONS said.

As a result, the unexplained element should not be interpreted as a measure of discriminatory behaviour, though it is possible that this plays a part.

Of the 36.1 per cent of the pay gap that the ONS could explain, it said the largest chunk  23 percentage points  was related to occupational differences between the male and female workforce. Around 9 percentage points were attributable to the fact that fewer women work full time.

 Gender pay gap

The 9.1 per cent overall gender pay gap in 2017 was down from 9.4 per cent in 2016 and the lowest since the ONS started calculating the figure in 1997.

The gender pay gap at the BBC was highlighted earlier this month when the corporation's China editor, Carrie Gracie, resigned over the fact that she was paid less than her male counterparts.

The Government has introduced legislation compelling all companies with more than 250 employees to report their internal gender pay gaps by April 2018.
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The Duchess of Cambridge today met children at Great Ormond Street Hospital as she opened a life-saving medical facility part-funded by readers of The Independent and the London Evening Standard.

Alligator Ward, a specialist unit for severe heart problems, has been backed by 3.5m raised in the Give to GOSH Christmas campaign in 2015.

Its intensive care facilities will cater for children who need transplants or life-saving surgery and it will take its first patients this spring.

Kate, who is pregnant with her third child, spent time playing with young patients and speaking to their families before the opening. She also thanked staff and heard from clinicians carrying out research.

Proprietor of The Independent Evgeny Lebedev, who joined the Duchess at the event, said: It was wonderful to be back at Great Ormond Street and not only to see what our appeal has helped pay for, but also to once again meet some of the children who we met during the campaign.

Back then I can remember them being bedbound or attached to machines. Now they are living normal lives, playing games and going to school, and that is thanks to the work being done here.

The Independent proprietor, Evgeny Lebedev, with Elliott Livingstone and parents Adrian and Candace

One of the two four-bed bays in the ward was fully funded by cash raised by Give to GOSH. The beds are crucial for children who are critically ill and need round-the-clock monitoring.

There to help mark the opening was four-year-old Elliott Livingstone, who featured in The Independent and Standards appeal, and his parents, Candace and Adrian. Before his first birthday he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, where the heart muscles become stretched and thin.

While awaiting a transplant he spent 400 days on a Berlin heart  a device which takes over the organs work  the longest time of any child in the UK. He has made a remarkable recovery and started nursery this year.

Ms Livingstone said: The campaign gave us hope when Elliott was going through the transplant. The donations were so generous and it showed people cared about him and other children in this situation.

It feels like a nice conclusion to be here today. Elliott helped raise the money  we are going to show him all the articles and the front page as he grows up.

Mr Livingstone said: Elliott has been super-excited. He is part of the countdown to the opening. Five children are holding up numbers and he is number three. Hes been practising shouting out the number.

Money raised by the appeal also supported:

1,000 nights of accommodation for parents to stay near their ill children;

A team of play specialists for a year;

Support for the hospitals Louis Dundas Centre, a world leader in palliative care for children;

Donations to medical research on rare diseases.

Alligator Ward is a part of the 240-bed Mittal Childrens Medical Centre, which also includes the Premier Inn Clinical Building. The extra space will allow GOSH, which currently takes in up to 618 young people and their families each day, to care for more children.

Chief executive Dr Peter Steer said: We are honoured to welcome the Duchess to officially open the Mittal Childrens Medical Centre and Premier Inn Clinical Building. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to readers who gave so generously.

Your donations have helped fund a new specialist cardiac unit. It will also help us to develop innovative treatments and devices to save more lives. GOSH chairman Sir Michael Rake added: I couldnt be more proud to be part of such a momentous occasion.
Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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Reports that an exasperated President Donald Trump had referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as s***hole countries during a meeting with lawmakers last week over immigration prompted widespread condemnation. The leaders of many nations demanded that he apologise.

But what reportedly happened in that room in that moment was a high-stakes version of a dilemma faced by anyone who has heard a friend, a family member or even a stranger say something racist or objectionable: remain silent or speak up in that moment? And if opting for the latter, how to do it?

It may be easier to say nothing, but experts say it's critical to speak out in that moment - whether the offensive remarks come from the leader of the free world or from a distant cousin at a family dinner.

Either you call them out or you participate in the insult, said Joan Williams, a law professor at University of California at Hastings who studies workplace interaction and is the founding director of the university's Center for WorkLife Law.

She said it's important for both politicians and regular citizens to stand up against hateful language the moment they hear it because it otherwise makes it acceptable to demean minorities. This often takes the form of putting all people of a certain race or religion into one group and deeming them as inferior.

It's up to individuals to honour a civil society and not reinforce the stigmatisation of those words, she said.

Many minorities were left feeling vulnerable and angry after last summer's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, in which white supremacists marched to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. They were met by counter-protesters, which led to clashes in which people were injured. One counter-protester, Heather Heyer, was killed. Trump's comments that there were very fine people on both sides of the unrest brought to the forefront the idea that Nazis, white nationalists and racists might have a sympathetic ear in the White House.

But standing up to offensive comments can be tricky, especially for people who shy away from confrontations or simply don't know what to say.

Research, though, shows that when people speak up, they generally feel better about themselves, said Edward Dunbar, a psychologist and professor of psychology at UCLA whose areas of study include hate crimes and harassment.

People find that they are most satisfied when they say 'I find that offensive and discriminatory. That's anti-Semitic. I would never use those words about my sister or your mother,' Dunbar said.

Other phrases that indicate you don't agree are a simple excuse me? or repeating back to the person what they said and asking whether that is what they really meant.

A study published last year in the journal Psychophysiology showed that when people were given the choice of pretending to agree with a group that had ideas they disagreed with or voicing opposition to the group, their markers of stress were higher when they went along with the group they opposed. Their arteries constricted when they went along, meaning that their bodies reacted as if they were facing a threat.

But when they expressed their true feelings, saying they did not agree, their arteries expanded, indicating that they saw the situation as a positive challenge.

A study by the University of Nebraska in 2010 showed that when women confronted a person making a sexist statement, their confidence, self-esteem and feelings of empowerment shot up.

Dunbar said that, on the other hand, if someone becomes tongue-tied or intimidated and doesn't say anything after hearing an objectionable comment, they often feel frustrated.

When people let the moment pass, they really do feel guilty about it, he said. They feel like they haven't stood up for something they believe in.

The caveat, he said, that if there is a chance of the interaction turning violent, safety comes first.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a common way people make offensive statements is under the guise of a joke. A strong response to that is, I'm sorry, what's so funny? or Could yo explain that term? according to the group's website.

It can jar someone from their rudeness, it says.

Williams said choices can be harder when someone says an offensive comment that is nuanced, because prejudice is not always as direct as a slur.

Most of what happens is 40 orders of magnitude more subtle than that, Williams said.

She gave an example of a meeting in which the attendees were several white men, one Asian woman and one black woman. The Asian woman spoke up more in the meeting than the black woman, Williams said, but the men perceived the black woman as having been more vocal. Williams attributed the interpretation to stereotyping.

If you find yourself in that situation, Williams said, you have to decide whether you want to call the offender out. Or you can take a different approach and call them in.

Calling someone in is a way to tell someone that you didn't like what they said but that you want to discuss it with them, perhaps explain why you were offended.

It's the difference of starting a conversation rather than delivering a judgment, Williams said.

It's the idea of saying, Hey, what you said doesn't seem accurate. Here's why.

There are many different ways to go about speaking out, experts say. Calling your cousin a racist to his face might not be the most productive approach, even if he is one.

In fact, it might be better to avoiding labelling someone as racist, sexist or homophobic when you speak up, said Jay Smooth, a DJ who hosts a hip-hop show in New York and is the host of a social commentary video series Ill Doctrine. He also made a TEDx talk, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Talking About Race.

Rather than calling people out for being a racist - even if they have demonstrated themselves to be exactly that - we should focus instead on how and why the language they used was oppressive, he wrote in the online magazine Everyday Feminism. This way, people can reflect on and address the impact of their actions, rather than focusing on defending their character or intentions.

In a YouTube video, he expanded on this idea:

When somebody picks my pocket, I'm not going to be chasing them down so I can figure out whether he feels like he's a thief deep down in his heart, Smooth said. I'm going to be chasing him down so I can get my wallet back. I don't care what he is, but I need to hold him accountable for what he did.

People briefed on Trump's immigration meeting last week cited Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican-South Carolina, as saying that he told the president that he should use different language to discuss the issue. Trump has denied using the vulgar term.

After Graham left, he reportedly told associates that he was disturbed by what he heard in the meeting.

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He later released a statement that said: Following comments by the President, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The President and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel. I've always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals.

Graham didn't specify the words he used to respond to Trump. But if he stood up to a comment he considered racist, research would say he probably felt pretty good about it.

The Washington Post
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Ive always followed the philosophy, Serve where youre called, not where youve been or where you might be, Thomas S Monson said in 2008, shortly after being elected president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  better known as the Mormon Church.

During his 10-year tenure steering the organisation, Monson, who was regarded as a prophet by many of his Mormon devotees, dramatically grew the organisations missionary operations.

The church has nearly 15 million followers worldwide, with 6.6 million in America, where it was founded around 1830 by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have received messages from God and Jesus from the age of 14.

It is published in 188 languages. In the UK, the church has nearly 186,000 members. In Kazakhstan, there are 200, while South Korea has more than 87,000.

Monson upheld the Mormons longstanding opposition to same-sex marriage, despite the increasing acceptance of rights within and beyond the faith  in October, New Zealands 37-year-old Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern renounced her faith to highlight LGBTQ rights.

The preacher, who died aged 90, stopped attending regular leadership meetings in May.

A former advertising and printing executive at the church-owned Deseret News in Utah, Monson spent half a century as a top Mormon leader. He helped expand the churchs reach through ecumenical charity work and through the construction of Mormon temples from Peru to what was then East Germany, where religious groups faced hostility under Communist rule.

Monson assumed leadership of the church in 2008 after the death of President Gordon Hinckley, whom Monson had advised as First Counsellor  effectively second in command. While Monson was president in name, Mormons commonly referred to him as the prophet  the teacher who relayed messages from God to humanity.

His messages, whether spiritual or secular, were relatively few. Unlike his predecessor, an energetic speaker who jetted around the world well into his nineties, he maintained a low profile, calling few news conferences and rarely holding forth on Mormon doctrine.

Instead, he filled his public addresses with folksy parables that emphasised humanitarian service and care for others, an outlook that he said was rooted in his Depression-era upbringing in Salt Lake City.

Time and time again those who were riding the rails came to our home. I think they had it marked, he once told The Salt Lake Tribune, recalling the migrants who called on his family asking if they could work for food. My mother would say, You come right in and sit down; wash your hands over there in the sink. And then shed make a sandwich.

Monson sought to spread a Mormon message of charity at a pivotal time in the faiths history. He helped usher in the churchs transformation from a Western, American institution to one thats more international, said Matthew Bowman, author of The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith.

The group grew from some half a million members at the time of Monsons birth to about 16 million at his death, with the majority located outside the United States. The growth was spurred in part by the churchs missionary programme, in which young Mormon men are heavily encouraged to spend two years abroad spreading the faith or performing humanitarian work. Young women are encouraged to serve 18-month missions.

Monson presided over a significant expansion in the programme, announcing in 2012 that the church would lower the minimum age for missionaries from 19 to 18 for men and from 21 to 19 for women. The church subsequently expanded leadership opportunities for female missionaries, although it continued to bar women from the priesthood. Since the changes were enacted, the programme has grown from about 58,000 missionaries to more than 70,000, by church estimates.

Monsons tenure coincided with what some observers christened a Mormon moment  a period in which Mormonism was frequently at the centre of national news with the campaigns of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon. Amid its growing prominence, the church became embroiled in controversy during the debates in America over same-sex marriage.

In one of his first major acts, Monson oversaw a church lobbying against same-sex marriage in California in 2008. The church encouraged members to work with groups such as Protect Marriage, a principal backer of the ban; according to a New York Times report, as many as 90 per cent of the organisations early volunteers were Mormon, and about half of its hefty $40m (29m) war chest was donated by Mormons.

Following a backlash, the church scaled back its efforts to oppose same-sex marriage rights, and threw its support behind legislation in the state of Utah that combined anti-discrimination provisions for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people with protections for religious groups that oppose homosexuality.

After a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalised same-sex marriage across America, however, the church adopted new rules stating that Mormons in same-sex marriages would be considered apostates, and that the children of same-sex couples could not be blessed or baptised until the age of 18. Baptism could only occur, according to the new policies, once the individual no longer lived in a same-sex household and had disavowed the practice of same-sex marriage or cohabitation.

Mormons who supported LGBTQ rights reacted with dismay and confusion, prompting Monson to issue a tweet: I plead with you to avoid anything that will deprive you of your happiness here in mortality and eternal life in the world to come.

One week later, more than 1,000 members gathered for a mass resignation ceremony in Salt Lake City.

Thomas Spencer Monson was born in the late Twenties. His father worked in the printing industry, and the young Tom developed an interest in pigeons, which he raised and trained throughout his life.

He served in the US Navy towards the end of the Second World War and received a bachelors degree in business management from the University of Utah in 1948, later graduating with a masters degree in business administration elsewhere.

Monson joined the Deseret News in Salt Lake City as an advertising executive and went on to serve as chairman of the church-controlled Deseret News Publishing Co. He became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, the churchs second-highest governing body, in 1963  aged 36 he was one of the youngest men to ever hold the position.

Monson also served on the board of the Boy Scouts of America and maintained its close link with the Mormon Church, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the organisations members.

The church distanced itself from the Scouts in May, withdrawing its participation in some programmes for teenagers. It said the separation was unrelated to the Scouts decision to admit gay and transgender Scouts and to allow gay men to serve as troop leaders.

Monsons wife of 65 years, the former Frances Johnson, died in 2013. The couples survivors include three children, Thomas Monson, Ann Dibb and Clark Monson; eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Thomas S Monson, President of the Mormon Church, born 21 August 1927, died 2 January 2018

 The Washington Post
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A huge, mysterious bright light shot across the US sky overnight  and it's not clear what it was.

The stunning flash startled drivers and the explosion was enough to rattle the walls of people's homes, according to residents.

Official weather agencies say the phenomenon can't be explained by the thunder and lightning. Instead, it's most likely that the flash was the result of a meteor entering the atmosphere, but that hasn't yet been confirmed.

Some around southeast Michigan reported that alongside the flash they felt buildings shake and pictures even fell off the wall. The flash and the disturbance came around 8.15pm local time, affecting cities around the Great Lakes like Detroit, Ann Arbor and Flint.

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The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

The flash was also seen across the sky in neighbouring states, local reports said.

Police were forced to warn residents that the flash hadn't happened in their town and that there was no need to call 911.

Recommended Russia loses contact with satellite launched hours earlier

The National Weather Service confirmed that the flash wasn't thunder or lightning. But it couldn't say for sure what it was, it said.

"After reviewing several observational datasets, the NWS can confirm the flash and boom was NOT thunder or lightning, but instead a likely meteor," NWS Detroit posted on Twitter. "We continue to monitor feeds from astronomical agencies for official confirmation of a meteor."

While organisations like Nasa track large rocks that could collide with Earth, it's much more difficult to track smaller ones, meaning that they can fly into the atmosphere without any warning. Their small size also makes them far less dangerous, but both the flash and any debris that makes it down to Earth can be spectacular when it arrives.
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Acid attacker Arthur Collins has been jailed for a further eight months for smuggling a mobile phone into prison inside a crutch.

The 25-year-old will serve the sentence at the end of the 20-year term he is already serving for launching an acid attack that injured 16 people in a London nightclub.

He hid the device alongside two sim cards and two memory sticks while on remand in September so he could call his pregnant girlfriend in private, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Collins admitted hiding the phone, which his lawyer said was used not for any sinister purpose but to privately speak to the reality television star Ferne McCann.

His barrister, Rebecca Randall, said: The only reason Mr Collins had that phone was to contact, privately, his girlfriend and friends and family.

"His girlfriend at the time was heavily pregnant with his first child.

"That child is now two months old and occasionally visits him with its mother and his sister.

Police want to speak to Arthur Collins, boyfriend of a reality TV star, in connection with an attack in a nightclub (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Ms Randall said Collins feared his automatically recorded prison phone calls to Ms McCann were being leaked to the media, including one in which they discussed baby names.

He had a conversation with his girlfriend and it appeared in the press a little time later, the lawyer told the court.

A custody officer at HMP Thameside who removed the rubber stopper from the bottom of the crutch found the mobile phone with a sim card, a second sim card and two chargers.

In the crutch handle, officers also found two USBs. No calls or messages were stored on the phone but the sim cards contained evidence of communication between Collins and family.

Collins was using the crutch because he injured his ankle while on the run from police after dousing at least 16 victims, including three who were temporarily blinded, with corrosive liquid in a London nightclub.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for hurling the acid across the Mangle E8 dancefloor in Dalston last April.

Arthur Collins perpetrating an acid attack at the Mangle E8 nightclub in London (EPA)

Collins, from Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court by video link from high-security HMP Belmarsh prison.

He showed no emotion while being sentenced for a single charge of possessing a prohibited item while in prison.

Judge Nicholas Heathcote Williams said: The presence of a mobile phone or component part such as a sim card has many implications, not only for the prison establishment, but also the wider environment.

"It provides a prisoner or prisoners with an opportunity to communicate they would otherwise not have.

This therefore allows them to act in a way prison is supposed to prevent them from doing.

The number of recorded acid attacks in the UK have risen to record levels in the past year, sparking the proposal of new laws that would criminalise carrying corrosive substances without good reason.

Police have been hampered by the current law, which means that officers need adequate suspicion to stop potential attackers or proof of malicious intent, and are unable to test seized substances in the street.

Large retailers have signed a voluntary agreement to restrict sales to over-18s and demand identification, while the Government is considered other measures to prevent the sale of potential weapons.

Additional reporting by PA
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A teenager gunned a man down outside a petrol station over a comment that he "looked like the Milky Bar Kid", and he is still on the run from police, a trial heard.

John Pordage, 34, was killed by a single shot to the chest at a BP garage in Chelmsford, Essex.

Tracy Ayling QC, opening the prosecution case, said that either Mr Pordage or a friend told alleged gunman Bradley Blundell that he looked like the Milky Bar Kid.

The prosecution allege that Blundell, who was 17 years old at the time and is now on the run from police, shot Mr Pordage dead.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Blundell was one of three male passengers in the back of a car while its female driver filled it with fuel.

Ms Ayling said Mr Pordage or his friend made "flirtatious remarks" to the driver, including that she had a "nice bum".

"Further comments were made, this time towards the males in the back of the (car), particularly in reference to Bradley Blundell," Ms Ayling said. "Reference was made to him looking like the Milky Bar Kid.

"It may well be that that remark was the catalyst for what followed."

The male passengers then got out of the car and there was a confrontation which ended in Mr Pordage being shot, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

"The reason for the shooting appears to be no more than either Mr Pordage or the friend he was with remarked that the driver of the car Mr Blundell was in had a nice bum," said Ms Ayling.

She continued: "The man who allegedly did the shooting, Bradley Blundell, now 18 years old, disappeared on the night of the shooting and has not been found to be arrested and to stand his trial."

Two other teenagers are on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies Mr Pordage's murder.

It is alleged that he got out of the car armed with an extendable baton - and while he did not fire the gun, he was acting together with Blundell and intended that Mr Pordage "suffer at least really serious bodily harm".

Saul Stanley, 18, of no fixed address, denies two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm - a sawn-off shotgun and a converted revolver - two counts of possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate and one count of possessing prohibited ammunition.

Ms Ayling said: "There's no doubt that Saul Stanley held back and that's why he's not charged with murder."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 November 2022 Kevin Sinfield on day six of the Ultra 7 in 7 Challenge from to York to Bradford. 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Both Stanley and the 16-year-old boy deny attempting to pervert the course of justice by, together with Blundell, destroying or disposing of evidence including weapons, clothing and telephones.

Mr Pordage was returning from a nightclub and on his way to buy cigarettes when he was attacked at around 2.10am on August 5 last year at the garage in Baddow Road.

The group in the car were returning from Brentwood where they had gone to collect a stolen motorcycle, Ms Ayling said.

She said Mr Pordage's friend told police that one of the teenagers "was arguing, trying to be a big man when he held the bag up and shot him twice".

He said the weapon "looked like a homemade gun, but it was in a blue carrier bag", Ms Ayling added.

The trial continues.

Press Association
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Life expectancy in some parts of the UK has plummeted, according to official figures.

By 2041, women will live to 86.2 years and men 83.4 years, projections by the Office for National Statistics showed  a decrease of almost a whole year compared to previous figures released in 2015.

An analysis of the data, conducted by Public Health England, found alarming disparities in longevity by local authority.

Residents in former mining towns and isolated rural areas saw the biggest fall, while London and the southeast continued to see a rise in longevity, The Times reported.

In Torridge, Devon, male life expectancy dipped to 79.2 years  a decline of more than a year. Hartlepool saw a similar decline of more than 12 months to 76.4. In Amber Valley, Derbyshire, female life expectancy dropped by more than a year to 82.4 compared to 2015s figures.

Labour MP Dan Jarvis, whose Barnsley Central constituency has one of the lowest rates of life expectancy in the country, told The Independent urgent re-evaluation of public policy was required to reverse the trend.

The decline in life expectancy in post-industrial areas is an incredibly concerning, if not surprising, development. It is part of a larger inequality between North and South: in employment rates; in levels of public spending; and in education and health outcomes, he said.

If we are going to reverse this trend, then we need to recognise the status quo is not working for large parts of our country.

Post-industrial communities must be given the funding and powers to tackle this problem through wide-reaching devolution settlements.

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Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group 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While experts were unclear on the exact causes for the fall, some have in the past pointed to rising obesity rates for stagnating life expectancy levels.

Now, many are pointing to cuts to frontline services along with growing levels of inequality for an overall decline in public health.

Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at the University of Oxford, said influenza, obesity, alcohol and smoking could largely be ruled out as contributory factors.

The fall in life expectancy in several geographical areas of England is most likely a result of the effects of public service cuts and austerity, he said. Many other possibilities can be ruled out. Rates of smoking and drinking alcohol have fallen in recent years so that cannot be blamed. Between 2009 and very late 2017 there has been no serious influenza outbreak.

A government that has chosen to make these cuts, and any of the organisations it directly sponsors, will understandably find this very hard to face up to.

In November, an article in the British Medical Journal Open found that severe public spending cuts in the UK were associated with 120,000 deaths between 2010 and 2017.

Dr Wanda Wyporska, executive director of the Equality Trust, said the decline fits with an overall increase in inequality in deprived areas.

In a country with such high inequality, it is not surprising that we are seeing a decline in life expectancy, she said.

Inequality leads to earlier deaths and poorer quality of life. We know that we expect to see inequality increase in former industrial areas, so this is not surprising.

How many more of these reports do we need before the government takes this seriously?

Professor Peter Bradley, knowledge and intelligence director at Public Health England, recognised the overall decline in life expectancy, but advised caution in drawing conclusions pending further research.

As has been widely reported, the rate of increase of life expectancy in England has slowed down in recent years, with the relative increase in deaths in 2015 a contributory factor, he said.

Care needs to be taken when analysing and interpreting local authority data as their small populations mean that their life expectancy is subject to more fluctuations from year to year.

We will continue with further work to understand the trends and geographic patterns to establish if there are factors that can be addressed.
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A herd of grieving ponies appeared to keep an all-night roadside vigil after one of their family members was killed by a motorist.

Sarah Simmons shared an image of the scene on social media in a bid to urge drivers to slow down in the New Forest, where ponies are allowed to roam freely.

Broke my heart this morning seeing another pony killed on the Forest Road. Even more that her friends were looking on, Ms Simmons wrote.

The animals owner, Cathy Stride, told The Independent they were unable to move it until the following day due to a lack of light, after it was died shortly after 5pm on 8 January.

She said the rest of the tight-knit herd, which included its mother and half-sister, were waiting there all night, definitely showing signs of distress.

Ms Simmons shared the image of the dead pony, which was called Hazelhill Scrap, on Facebook the following morning.

That photograph shows those ponies weeping for their companion to get up and come with them, Ms Stride said.

I know animals are basic and you get a lot of people being overly soppy about them, but they do have feelings it means something to them.

Barbara King, emerita professor in anthropology at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, and author of How Animals Grieve, told The Independent Ms Stride was right to suspect her ponies were in distress.

It's absolutely correct to say that herd members may grieve when a horse dies, she said.

In this case, Hazelhill's mother and stepsister stood especially close vigil, and that makes sense as they were quite likely to have been emotionally close to Hazelhill.

Hazelhill Scrap the pony was killed after being clipped by a passing motorist (Cathy Stride)

She added: Horses feel deeply - joy as well as grief - and they think about their lives.

The nine-year-old pony, which died from internal injuries and a broken leg, was Ms Strides third to be killed on the same stretch of road. She said it would have taken around 20 minutes to die.

I dont know what the answer is apart from to keep trying to educate the drivers, Ms Stride said, adding: They do grieve, and maybe that might make the drivers think.

Ms Simmons, whose post has been shared thousands of times, wrote: I hope by posting this it may make people realise that its not just the owner who it upsets but their herd members too.

Slow down day/night on forest roads, these ponies have more rights to these roads than you do.
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Former prostitutes should not be made to reveal their convictions and instead be treated as victims of modern slavery, the High Court is to hear in a landmark case that could effectively lead to the decriminalisation of street prostitution.

A group of women who were previously prostitutes will argue for the first time that the law discriminates against women and is contrary to the UKs legal obligations in respect of the Modern Slavery Act, as well as breaching their right to a private life.

The claimants in the case were exploited and trafficked as teenagers and forced to survive through prostitution for a number of years. As a result, most of them have multiple convictions under the Street Offences Act 1959, which means their histories are made known when they apply for a range of jobs or volunteering activities.

The solicitor representing the women in the divisional court, Harriet Wistrich, said laws that treat them as perpetrators rather than victims were out of touch with modern society. She said what they experienced was a form of trafficking, subjecting them to control, coercion, exploitation and sometimes physical movement around the country.

Ahead of court proceedings, she told The Independent: Some of the womens experiences absolutely fall squarely into the definition of modern slavery.

It is grossly out of touch with modern thinking in terms of understanding that these women are victims of abuse and not perpetrators. It prevents them from re-entering the world, and it deprives vulnerable people from the benefit of working with people who have been through the experience themselves and who could offer to support them and give them guidance  because theyre often the best people to help.

It is utterly outrageous that those who suffered that form of abuse and exploitation are being penalised many years later when theyre trying to get their lives back together again.

The women describe their criminal records as a catalogue of their abuse, but, as victims of rape and sexual abuse, they appear to have no entitlement to anonymity in the disclosure process.

One claimant, Fiona Broadfoot, told how she met a pimp at the age of 15 and was thrown into the violent and abusive world of prostitution.

She said: Rape became an occupational hazard but I was arrested, charged and criminalised for loitering for the purposes of being a common prostitute. After more than 20 years out of prostitution, I am still having to explain my criminal record to any prospective employer. It feels like explaining my history of abuse.

Another prostitution survivor said: It doesnt matter what it is  trying to help out at my kids school or the local Brownies coffee morning, trying to be a governor or a councillor, applying to education or training or employment  all need a DBS and then you get treated like some sort of pariah or sex offender.

But its not fair  I never chose that life and I fought hard to get out of it but Im always being pulled back to it as though thats who I am but its not who I am.

Ms Wistrich said a victory in the case could lead to the decriminalisation of prostitution for women on the street selling sex, and that the focus of police and prosecutors should be on those in control of the trade  the pimps and those buying sex.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 November 2022 Kevin Sinfield on day six of the Ultra 7 in 7 Challenge from to York to Bradford. 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If we win, it will be a real spur to abolish that particular offence altogether, meaning prostitution would be decriminalised in the sense of those on the street selling sex, she said.

But were not advocating for the full decriminalisation of prostitution because we think that actually the whole focus has been wrong. Its the pimps, the people who control, and the buyers are the ones who should be the focus of the law, because theyre the ones that cause the harm.

The hearing at the High Court begins on Wednesday and could last two days.
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On Wednesday European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament that if Britain leaves the EU, it would still be welcome to re-join under Article 49 of the Treaty of the European Union.

This comes a day after Mr Juncker and Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said that Britain would still be welcome to reverse Brexit now if it chose to do so.

What is Article 49?

In Britain, Article 50  which allows a state to leave the EU  is the far more famous cousin of Article 49. Article 50 spells out the process by which a state leaves.

Article 49, by contrast, is the opposite: it spells out how countries may join the EU. In other words, it is the normal way for a country that isnt in the EU to join the bloc, and spells out the conditions under which it might do so.

So can Britain trigger Article 49 to reverse Brexit?

Not unilaterally  once Britain has left, it is no longer a party to the Treaty of the European Union and cannot invoke the clause in the same way Article 50 was triggered.

Rather, the clause simply sets how existing members of the EU may admit a new member to join.

What are the conditions of Article 49?

First, a country wishing to join must submit its request to the European Council  the heads of state and government of the members of the EU. Currently there are 28, when Britain leaves there will be 27, though there could be more if other countries join after the UK leaves.

The Council must approve the application unanimously. It also requires the consent of the European Parliament  essentially a vote of all the MEPs, which are elected by member states.

Article 49 also states that the decision must be taken in consultation with the European Commission  Mr Junckers institution, which is essentially the EUs combined bureaucracy and executive.

What if we want to stop Brexit before it happens?

This would be a case of revoking Article 50, rather than triggering Article 49. There are differing legal opinions on whether Article 50 can be unilaterally revoked by a member state, but Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk have said they would support Britain remaining if it decided to do so today, so this should not be a problem, as long as both sides agree.

Would anything be different if Britain rejoined the EU under Article 49?

On paper, the EU would be under no obligation to offer Britain its budget rebate, or its opt-outs from various areas of EU law, such as joining the euro  the UK would be treated as a new country joining the bloc.

However, nobody in the Commission has actually explicitly spelled out whether Britain would keep either of these things. It is likely that they would be up for negotiation.

Conversely, revoking Article 50 before Britain has left would likely see the UK retain its existing special deal.
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A bank refused to close a womans joint account unless she attended a meeting with the man who had repeatedly raped her.

The issue was raised in the House of Commons during Prime Ministers Questions and prompted gasps of disbelief from shocked MPs.

SNP MP Lisa Cameron said her constituent had reacted with horror after being told she must attend the meeting. The MP asked Theresa May to bring forward legislation to protect rape and domestic violence survivors.

She did not name the bank involved and it is unclear if the meeting went ahead.

The East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow MP said: My constituent informed me that she had been repeatedly raped and beaten by her ex-partner, requiting an injunction.

Much to her horror, her bank would not close their joint account unless she attended with the perpetrator.

When banks are left to their discretion, womens lives are being put at risk.

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in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city 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Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA

She asked the Prime Minister to ensure policy to protect survivors is included in the Governments new domestic violence bill.

In response, Ms May said Dr Cameron clearly raises a very distressing case.

She added: We want to ensure that we do give proper support to all those who have been subject to domestic violence or to abuse of the kind the honourable lady has referred to.

Ms May said the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, will soon be launching a consultation that will provide an opportunity for such issues to be raise.

The Government announced last year that new legislation will be brought forward to incorporate the Istanbul Convention on preventing and tackling violence against women into UK law.

Other measures to be introduced include a new domestic violence and abuse commissioner and new wording that will define domestic abuse in law.
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A senior Labour figure has warned that his party is in danger of echoing Theresa Mays Brexit mantras unless it does more to reflect the views of its members across the country.

Ex-shadow cabinet minister Chuka Umunna said his partys current approach of pushing for further negotiation if the deal Ms May achieves is not good enough is not credible.

He spoke out after Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer was said to have told MPs that they should stop looking back in grief and try to make the best of Brexit.

But Mr Umunna instead pointed to a major intervention from top EU figures Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker in which they said Britain could still change its mind.

After Sir Keir told Labour MPs a number of obvious difficulties with a second referendum and that trying to rub [Brexit] out would mean the party failing to fight for a good deal, Mr Umunna hit back.

He argued that flaws and shortcomings in the Brexit deal Ms May agrees would become clear, and at that point before March 2019 people would want another say.

Currently Labour is calling for a meaningful vote in parliament on Ms Mays deal, and then for her to renegotiate it if the Commons fails to back it.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

But Mr Umunna said: At the time that we are presented with a deal to vote on, I strongly suspect the EU institutions will say there is no more time for negotiation, it is this deal or the status quo.

The Labour party is in danger of labouring under the mistaken belief that we will be able to credibly say go back and negotiate further.

He suggested that if Parliament rejects Ms Mays deal it is more likely that the UK will crash out of the EU with no agreement in place, meaning Labour would unwittingly be supporting a no deal scenario.

Mr Umunna, a prominent supporter of the Open Britain group, added: All I know is that members and supporters and voters expect to hear an alternative to the Brexit mantra of Theresa May, they dont expect to hear us echoing it.

He pointed to the important intervention made by Mr Tusk and Mr Juncker, which he said showed that in Europe it is politically possible for the British people, if they wish at the end of the process, to take a different view.

Mr Umunna added: Brexiteers have characterised the EU institutions and other member states as wanting to punish the UK for leaving and to make an example of us.

 EU preparations for a no deal Brexit are damaging UK interests, according to David Davis

But these warm comments about Britain and the clear desire for us to stay of we want to do so fly in the face of that characterisation, of them being the enemy as opposed to who they are, which is our friends.

European Council President Mr Tusk said that EU hearts are still open to our British friends to remain in the bloc.

He was immediately backed up by Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission.

President Tusk also made some comments on Brexit, he said that our door remains open. I hope that will be heard clearly in London, Mr Juncker added.
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A trade agreement with the EU cannot substitute for Brexit because it is like trying to blow up a bridge without bankrupting yourself, a leading negotiator has warned MPs.

Canadas legal counsel during its long trade talks with Brussels poured scorn on claims that such a deal could ever deliver the same benefits as membership of the single market and customs union.

Michel Barnier, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, has said Theresa Mays red lines mean the most likely deal on offer will be similar to the CETA agreement with Canada.

However, Cristophe Bondy, Ottawas counsel  while arguing CETA had delivered strong benefits for his country  warned Britains starting point, as an EU member, was completely different.

A free trade agreement is like two parties on either side of river and they are considering building a bridge across that river because they believe it will be in their economic benefit  and that is what CETA does, he told the Commons Brexit Committee.

But he added: What the UK situation with the EU right now is that that bridge has been there for 45 years. Communities have been built up on either side of it. There are buildings on the bridge.

And you are deciding what part of it you want to blow up without bankrupting yourself. It is an issue of what part of it you are going to keep if you can.

Mr Bondy also rejected ministers hopes of a quick-fire deal with the EU, warning: I see it descending into a lot of political acrimony.

He echoed criticisms that, unlike Canada, Britain was asking to have the benefits of being part of the club, but not play by all the rules.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

You are not asking for the same thing from the start  Im not asking what the UK is asking for frankly, Mr Bondy added.

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, has said he hopes to strike a Canada Plus Plus Plus agreement, adding on services  in particular financial services, to protect the City of London.

However, EU leaders will resist any attempt by the UK to protect its crucial financial services industry while ending free movement of labour as an attempt to have your cake and eat it.

In his evidence, Mr Bondy agreed with Mr Barnier that an agreement modelled on Canadas is a statement of fact within the limits of the UKs red line  which include ending free movement.

Other key hurdles for the Prime Minister were that Britain would have less negotiating weight with other countries, as a lone participant  without the muscle of the EU.

And there would still be a need for borders and checks on products, he warned. EU countries would need to know where do they come from, do they meet rules of origin?

If you have a free trade agreement approach, you will have barriers at the border, Mr Bondy warned.

The comment throws fresh doubt on Mrs Mays claim that a free trade agreement would allow a soft Irish border  without which, she has promised full alignment with EU regulations across the UK.
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The Irish prime minister has issued a veiled warning about Britains future outside the European Union  suggesting that the UK will be one of many small states on the global stage.

In a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Leo Varadkar said Ireland respected the UKs decision to leave the EU but suggested Theresa May was taking the UK out alone in a world where European countries were dwarfed by their international competitors even though perhaps they dont realise it yet.

I believe in the Europe of the future, all European countries and all member states will be small states, even though perhaps they dont realise it yet, he said.

You only need to look at the list of the top 60 cities in the world in term of population  only one is in Europe, and its getting ready to leave.

Brexiteers, including Theresa May, however say Britain can prosper outside the EU by making trade deals with other countries  becoming a great trading nation. The Independent revealed on Monday night that the EU will demand a veto on all British trade deals with other countries for two years after Brexit.

Mr Varadkar switched between English, French, German, and Irish in a well-received address to MEPs about the future of Europe.

He used the address to call for more direct democracy in the bloc, and expressed his support for the idea of EU-wide MEPs elected by all 500 million citizens from no particular member state. This change would mean citizens would discuss the same political issues everywhere from cafes in Naples and restaurants in Galway, he argued.

Theresa May agreed a joint text with the EU late last year (AFP/Getty)

The European Parliament plans to invite more national leaders to address MEPs about their visions for the future of the continents political institutions  though Mr Varadkar is the first.

The Taoiseach also laid out a case for continued closed cooperation between Northern Ireland and the EU after the UK left  hinting that there was a strong mandate for the province to remain closely tied to the Union.

The majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union, the majority of the representatives elected to the Northern Ireland assembly want to remain in the customs union and single market, and its likely that the majority of people living in Northern Ireland will remain European citizens after Brexit because of their unique status under the Good Friday agreement which allows them to British citizens, Irish citizens, or both, he said.

 EU trade deal after Brexit like trying to blow up a bridge without bankrupting yourself, warns negotiator Cristophe Bondy

Elaborating on the future relationship, he added: For my part I hope the new relationship between the UK and the European Union is as close and deep as possible, but consistent with the need to maintain a customs market.

He reiterated that they could be no backsliding on the agreement struck between EU and UK negotiators late last year.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

Under the joint text, Britain has agreed that there will be no hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. If no specific political solution can be found to the issue during the course of the rest of talks, Britain has committed to keeping its trade regulations aligned with the EUs to prevent border checks being necessary.

The agreed text also suggests the Northern Ireland assembly government could play a role in keeping the provinces regulations aligned with the Republics, and says there will be no border checks between NI and Great Britain.
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MPs have voted against including the European Charter of Fundamental Rights in UK law after Brexit.

A Labour amendment, tabled in the name of Jeremy Corbyn, sought to retain the provisions in the Charter but was voted down by 317 votes to 299.

The EU Withdrawal Bill, which is currently in its report stage in the House of Commons, will transfer all existing EU law into UK law when Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.

However, it includes several exceptions, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The bill states: The Charter of Fundamental Rights is not part of domestic law on or after exit day.

The Charter includes a wide range of basic protections, including the right to a private life, freedom of speech, equality provisions and employment rights governing how workers are treated. It is broader than the European Convention on Human Rights, which is already part of UK law through the Human Rights Act.

Government ministers insist the protections enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights either already exist in British law or else will be incorporated through other EU directives.

The Government avoided a potential parliamentary defeat on the issue late last year after promising to undertake a right-by-right analysis of how the protections enshrined in the Charter will be guaranteed after Brexit.

The potential rebellion was averted when Tory rebels including former Attorney General Dominic Grieve agreed to back down after receiving reassurances from ministers.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

However, Labour says the subsequent analysis, published last month, is woefully inadequate and pushed ahead with its amendment.

The document they released fails to provide any assurance that essential rights will be protected once we leave the EU, Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, said earlier this month.

On the contrary, it takes rights from the charter and scatters them to their original sources: the polar opposite of effective human rights protection.

During debates on the EU Withdrawal Bill on Tuesday, Mr Grieve said failing to incorporate the Charter into UK law after Brexit would send out a really strange message about the Conservative's approach to human rights, and urged peers to consider the issue when the bill passes to the House of Lords.

Mr Grieve said: I listen very carefully to what the Prime Minister says about modernising the Conservative Party, about giving it a broad appeal to younger people, about trying to ensure that we reflect current norms and standards in our country and give effect to them in the sorts of policies we develop.

And yet ... it does seem to me that in simply batting this issue away and saying don't worry, it's all going to be perfectly alright, without even coming up with a plan for the future about possibly adding a bill of rights clause or rights clauses to the Human Rights Act, we're sending out a really very strange message about our attitude on this side of the House to matters which I believe many people in this country now see as being rights of a fundamental character, particularly on issues like LGBT and things of that sort.
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Ministers have been told to stop the scandal of thousands of Carillion's private sector workers being put out of work by the end of today.

The GMB union condemned the treatment of the infrastructure giants staff on private sector contracts, who the Government agreed to pay for just 48 hours from its collapse on Monday.

Tim Roache, the unions general secretary, warned they were much more vulnerable than the workers on public sector contracts, whose jobs are safe for now.

The government response so far has been wholly inadequate and frankly inept, he said.

What they have said is that, if you havent been picked up by another private sector company by close of play today, then here is the Jobcentre Plus address. Thats frankly scandalous.

Mr Roache said the solution was for those workers to be taken on by the other private companies working on Carillions contracts, but he warned: That takes time.

The union has proposed a Government-led taskforce to co-ordinate the rescue effort, a message delivered in a face-to-face meeting with the Business Secretary, Greg Clark.

What we said to Greg Clark yesterday is that we need more time  those companies we need more time.

Amid the uncertainty, the RMT rail union has asked whether 600 workers providing cleaning services for Arriva Rail North and track maintenance for Network Rail are part of contracts that qualify for public support.

The union complained it had received no reply. Our argument is that these are public sector contracts because they provide a public service," said a union spokesman.

Protecting Carillions private sector workers would push up the cost to the taxpayer  which the Government is under pressure to minimise.

Ministers have argued that keeping public services operating will not incur a bill because it is simply replicating money that would have gone to the company anyway.

It means there will be no extra costs to the taxpayer stemming from Carillions liquidation, other than the fees paid to the official receiver and associated insolvency costs, they say.

When ministers discussed the crisis at Cabinet on Tuesday, they made clear that no nationalisations are on the table.

Theresa May told the Cabinet that the taxpayer could not be expected to bail out a private company, according to her official spokesman.

On Monday, David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, told MPs: The position of private sector employees is that they will not be getting the same protection that were offering to public sector employees, beyond a 48-hour period of grace.

He insisted the move would give time for the private sector counterparties to Carillion to decide whether they want to accept termination of those contracts, or themselves to pay for the ongoing costs.

But, Mr Lidington added: After 48 hours, either the private sector counter-party must agree to fund future provision including the fees of the Official Receiver, or those private sector contracts of Carillion will be terminated.
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Jeremy Corbyn has called on the directors of failed construction firm Carillion to give back their multi-million pound bonuses.

The company, which handled hundreds of public sector contracts, went into liquidation on Monday after racking up 1.5bn of debts and liabilities.

As the firm collapsed, it emerged that, in 2016, the directors had made it harder for investors to claw back executives bonuses if the business encountered difficulties.

Carillions directors took home 4m in bonuses last year despite the company being in bad health.

Mr Corbyn said they should give back the handouts immediately.

The bonuses should come back, he said. When there are people who are sub-contractors or small firms that are contracted into Carillion that are not getting paid, workers being made redundant at 48 hours notice, and less in some cases, the directors, for all the bonuses they have had, should pay them back.

The Labour leader also said Carillions directors should stop being paid a salary.

They should not be paid anything at the present time because they have run the company in such a way that all these jobs are at risk, he said.

So many of our public services are at risk - school meals services, hospital cleaning services, maintenance contracts, army housing, are all at risk because of the way this company has been run.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 November 2022 Kevin Sinfield on day six of the Ultra 7 in 7 Challenge from to York to Bradford. 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Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, has said the Official Receiver will carry out an investigation into Carillion directors behaviour, including the changes they made to the rules on bonuses.

It is important we quickly get the full picture of the events which caused Carillion to enter liquidation, he said.

Any evidence of misconduct will be taken very seriously.

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington told the Commons it would be wrong to try to pre-empt the inquiry but added: I can say ... that the Official Receiver has not only the power to investigate, he has the power to impose severe penalties.

 David Lidington gives statement on Carillion collapse in House of Commons

The firms former chief executive, Richard Howson, stepped down in July after a profit warning. His pay package last year totalled 1.5m and he is due to continue to receive a salary until October 2018.

Carillion is the second biggest construction firm in the UK, employing 20,000 people across the country and managing 450 government contracts.

There are fears that a number of projects the company was overseeing could now be postponed, meaning delays in the construction of hospitals and roads.

There are also 30,000 smaller firms working on Carillion contracts that could now face a damaging loss of business.
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The president of the European Commission has said he would like Britain to rejoin the European Union after Brexit  using the little-known treaty clause Article 49.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Jean-Claude Juncker said the exit of Britain is a catastrophe and suggested he would like the country to stay.

But Mr Juncker added for the first time in public that even once Britain had left, it could still change its mind and return to the bloc by invoking another treaty clause.

Recommended EU chief tell UK that Brexit can still be reversed

Once the British have left under Article 50 there is still Article 49 which allows a return to membership and I would like that, he told MEPs. I would like us now to treat each other with respect and not abandon each other.

Mr Juncker on Tuesday had endorsed a statement by European Council president Donald Tusk suggesting that Britain could still change its mind to leave, telling the British people that our hearts are open to you.

Mr Tusk and I once again reached out to the British government yesterday and said that if the British people, the British parliament, the British government, wish for another way than Brexit, we would be prepared to discuss it. We are not throwing out the British, we want them to stay, he explained.

And if they want to, they should be able to. But I noticed that in London, they have reacted almost upset at this reaction. Be it as it may, once the British have left under Article 50 there is still Article 49 which allows a return to membership and I would like that. I would like us now to treat each other with respect and not abandon each other.

In March 2017 Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, formally beginning the two-year legal process of Britains exit, which is set to conclude in March 2019.

Article 49 is the normal way for a European country to join the union  a process that normally takes years. Any new member state requires the unanimous consent of the 27 member states on the European Council, the consent of the European Parliament, and consultation with the Commission.

Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA

It is unclear whether the EU would grant Britain its opt-outs and budget rebates were it to rejoin in this manner.

Polling suggests there has been little movement in how people would vote in a second EU referendum, were one called  with the results likely to be similar to the vote held in 2016.

Though there is still currently only minority support for holding a second plebiscite, polling reported earlier this week does suggest a majority would favour a second vote in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
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Some Labour figures are raising concerns that Jeremy Corbyn may be too old to lead the party into the next election.

There is now a field of potential successors from different wings of the party. The Independent brings you the most notable...

Shadow minister Emily Thornberry speaks during Prime Minister's Questions (PA)

Emily Thornberry

She won plaudits for her performance standing in at Prime Ministers Questions and has reportedly been tipped by key Corbyn-ally Len McCLuskey, the boss of Unite the union.

The Islington South and Finsbury MP is seen as a potential unifying figure, who could bring different wings of the party together.

Rebecca Long Bailey is seen as part of an emerging socialist leadership (Rex)

Rebecca Long-Bailey

The young ideological heir to Mr Corbyn is being promoted by some of his allies as they go about succession planning.

John McDonnell called the Shadow Business Secretary part of the next generation of our socialist leadership.

As Salford and Eccles MP, she says she grew up in a home where job insecurity, low pay and debt were daily features of life.

Angle Rayner has been one of the most prominent figures promoted by Corbyn (Getty)

Angela Raynor

The Shadow Education Secretary has won over MPs on both sides of the House with her down-to-earth nature.

The Ashton-Under-Lyne MP was given the Rising Star award from the right-of-centre political magazine The Spectator, and has not shied from taking on difficult issues like the underperformance of white boys at school.

Sir Keir Starmer has walked a tough line on Brexit (BBC)

Sir Keir Starmer

The Shadow Brexit Secretary, named after a Labour icon, has long been the favourite of some party members.

The Holborn & St Pancras MP, and former director of public prosecutions, has impressed with his handling of devilishly tricky EU withdrawal issues, managing to create and pursue an approach which has help hold the party together.

Lisa Nandy left Corbyn's frontbench in 2016 (Getty)

Lisa Nandy

The Wigan MP was among those who quit Jeremy Corbyns frontbench in 2016, but has remained in most lists of potential successors.

She is generally liked by the left and centre of the party, is a competent media performer and strong advocate of core Labour values.

Dan Jarvis, the MP for Barnsley Central, is a former major in the Parachute Regiment who served in three war zones (PA)

Dan Jarvis

The Barnsley MP has a back-story that many candidates would be jealous of.

No-one can accuse him of being career politician given that he spent time in the Parachute Regiment, on tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan among other places.

Labour politician Chuka Umunna has argued the anti-hard Brexit case (Getty)

Chuka Umunna

The Streatham MP is still seen as a hope for centrists in the party and has made it his raison detre to stand up for the majority of Labour members who do not like Brexit.

An accomplished media performer with a network of support means if a contest comes, he is positioned to throw his hat in for a second time.
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An orchestrated propaganda campaign by the Russian government has been extremely successful at spreading disinformation throughout the European Union, the European Commission has warned.

Julian King, the Commissions security chief, said the EU had identified 3,500 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation contradicting publicly available facts repeated in many languages on many occasions.

Mr King said the Russian military viewed information as another type of armed force and that the EU would unveil a new strategy for combating fake news in the spring of 2018.

There seems, frankly, little doubt, that the pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign is an orchestrated strategy  delivering the same disinformation stories in as many languages as possible, through as many channels as possible, as often as possible, Mr King told MEPs at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

We have to remain vigilant. The purpose of a disinformation campaign is to get people to believe that the disinformation is fact, is credible. If we look at opinion polls measuring how many people accept obviously disinformation planted in pro-Kremlin media, then unfortunately we have to conclude that Russian disinformation can be extremely successful.

MEPs discussed the issue of Russian disinformation on Wednesday afternoon in a two-hour debate. Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian politician and vice chair of the European Parliaments largest group, the centre-right European Peoples Party, said the EU needed to step up its efforts and increase funding to its cybersecurity taskforce.

Given the political dynamics in Washington, European states will have to take the lead in any collective action vis-a-vis the Kremlin and setting international rules for cyberspace, she said, alluding the US president Donald Trumps alleged links to the Russian government.

Ms Kalniete said societies needed to be made more resilient through transparency and increased regulation, also blaming the rise of Facebook and social media for the effectiveness of propaganda.

The worlds richest and most powerful publisher, Facebook, has replaced editors with algorism  shifting societies away from critical thinking whilst making billions from our clicks, she said.

I am convinced that quality journalism should be supported by the governments, including the EU, because otherwise it will disappear and leave us at the mercy of the Kremlin and other trolls who have learned how to play the social media game.

Security chief for the European Commission, Julian King, has said the disinformation contradicts 'publicly available facts' (EbS)

A number of MEPs mentioned the UKs Brexit referendum as being a possible victim of disinformation. Jeppe Kofod, a socialist MEP from Denmark, suggested that the 2019 European Parliament elections would likely be interfered with.

Next year the citizens of Europe will elect a new European Parliament. This raises an uncomfortable question: how many seats will Russia get? he said.

Lets not kid ourselves, Russian meddling in democratic elections is no longer the exception, it is becoming the norm. From the US presidential election to Brexit, the hands of the Kremlin have been busy dancing along keyboards, spreading disinformation  the full extent of which is yet to be understood by all of us.

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. 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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. 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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

Gerard Batten, Ukip MEP and Brexit spokesperson said he believed that Mr Putin is a gangster who runs a gangster state.

But he added: You are seeking to create a scapegoat for your own unpopularity with the peoples of Europe. Dont blame the Russians for your own mistakes.

He described Russian disinformation as a distraction and accused the EU of being the authors of your own unpopularity.
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Theresa May is to outline new plans to tackle loneliness and social isolation as part of an initiative established by the late Labour MP Jo Cox.

The Prime Minister will host a reception at Downing Street in honour of the former MP for Batley and Spen, who was shot dead in her constituency by a far right extremist in June 2016.

Ms May will announce the Government has accepted a number of recommendations put forward by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness and commit to producing a new government strategy to tackle social isolation.

The commission was set up by the Labour MP before she died.

Studies have suggested that loneliness is worse for a persons health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

More than nine million people in the UK  close to a sixth of the population - say they always or often feel lonely, but more than two thirds do not feel able to admit it.

At least 200,000 older people say they have not had a conversation with a friend or relative for at least a month.

People with disabilities are also particularly affected, with one in four reporting feeling lonely on a typical day  a figure that rises to more than four in five among 18-34 year olds.

Ms May said Tracey Crouch, the sport and civil society minister, will be tasked with leading the Governments work to tackle loneliness, while a cross-departmental strategy on the issue will be published later this year.

Confirming that the Jo Cox Commissions recommendations will be implemented, the Prime Minister said: For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones  people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.

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The former Leeds captain is set to complete seven ultra-marathons in as many days in aid of research into Motor Neurone Disease, finishing by running into Old Trafford at half-time of the Rugby League World Cup tournaments finale on 19 November PA UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant 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winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in 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in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city 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Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA

Paying tribute to Ms Cox, she added: Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected. So I am pleased that Government can build on her legacy with a ministerial lead for loneliness who will work with the Commission, businesses and charities to shine a light on the issue and pull together all strands of Government to create the first ever strategy.

We should all do everything we can to see that, in Jos memory, we bring an end to the acceptance of loneliness for good.

Ministers will focus on assessing which initiatives for tackling loneliness are proving to be most effective, while the Office of National Statistics will look at how best to establish concrete evidence on the problem.

A new fund will also be set up to help charities and other organisations develop solutions to loneliness and provide money for community initiatives that bring people together.

 Loneliness and the elderly an increasing problem in the UK

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Labour MP Rachel Reeves and the Conservatives Seema Kennedy, worked with 13 charities to come up with new ways to reduce loneliness.

Responding to the Governments confirmation that it would accept their proposals, Ms Reeves and Ms Kennedy said: "We are really pleased to see that the Government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that young or old, loneliness doesnt discriminate.

Throughout 2017 we have heard from new parents, children, disabled people, carers, refugees and older people about their experience of loneliness.

We very much welcome that Government has accepted the Commissions recommendations including the appointment of a new ministerial lead who will have the responsibility for creating a national strategy to tackle loneliness. We look forward to working with Minister Tracey Crouch, businesses, community groups and the public to create a world less lonely."

Ms May will also use the reception to give an award to Phil Burton, a former Royal Artillery Lance Bombardier who founded the Veterans Cafe in Leyland. The cafe brings former members of the armed forces together to talk, share experiences and access support.
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A Conservative MP will keep his job as Vice Chairman for Youth despite anger at his suggestion that benefit claimants should have vasectomies.

A Downing Street source indicated the Prime Minister believed it is sufficient that Ben Bradley has apologised for the comments made six years ago, but Jeremy Corbyns spokesman argued it confirmed the Conservatives as the nasty party.

After Mr Bradley, 28, was named in the role it emerged that he had said people on welfare should stop having children if they could not afford them, also suggesting sterilisation.

Recommended Bank told woman she would have to attend meeting with her rapist

A spokesman said Theresa May had not been aware of the comments before the appointment, but confirmed Mr Bradley would keep his job.

He added: Clearly Mr Bradley has apologised for those comments. The PM thinks its right that he did so.

I would just note that I think he was 22 at the time that he made them and has himself said that he believes that his work and the start of his career in politics has demonstrated to him why those views are wrong.

After the post on the personal blog, consbradders32, was highlighted by BuzzFeed News, it was deleted.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 November 2022 Kevin Sinfield on day six of the Ultra 7 in 7 Challenge from to York to Bradford. The former Leeds captain is set to complete seven ultra-marathons in as many days in aid of research into Motor Neurone Disease, finishing by running into Old Trafford at half-time of the Rugby League World Cup tournaments finale on 19 November PA UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA

It read: Sorry but how many children you have is a choice; if you can't afford them, stop having them! Vasectomies are free.

Families who have never worked a day in their lives having four or five kids and the rest of us having one or two means it's not long before we're drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!

Mr Bradley, who buoyed the Tory faithful with his speech ahead of Ms Mays at last years conference, said he had matured since posting the blog in 2012 and was sorry for the comments.

Bradley says he has matured since making the comments in 2012 (PA)

But a spokesman for the Leader of the Opposition said the remarks were deeply shocking.

He Added: [They] confirm once again the Tory partys very thinly veiled character as the nasty party, as a party that has built into it vicious attitudes towards disabled people, unemployed people, disadvantaged people throughout society.
 Close Jeremy Corbyn hits out at the government's use of private companies following Carillion collapse

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MPs have debated the final stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill before a vote later this evening approving the passage of the legislation to the Lords.

Dozens of MPs made contributions but the most significant came from Justine Greening, the former Education Secretary, who made her first intervention since leaving the Government last week.

She warned that Brexit will not be sustainable if it does not work for young people, adding that future generations of MPs could seek to improve or undo what the current cohort implements.

The bottom line is that looking ahead if Brexit doesn't work for young people in our country, in the end it will not be sustainable, she said.

The debate came after Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn closed in the Commons at Prime Ministers Questions over the dramatic collapse of the construction and services company Carillion.

The Labour leader used all six of his questions to ask about the issue, having previously called for the directors of the failed firm to give back their multi-million pound bonuses.

The company is the second biggest construction firm in the UK and employs 20,000 people across the country and managing 450 government contracts.
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A coalition of campaigners and politicians have warned that the centenary of womens suffrage in Britain could be a missed opportunity unless barriers to political participation are removed.

The newly-formed Centenary Action Group said that increasing the number of women in Parliament is not only a basic human right but also necessary at a time when voter participation is low.

The coalition of nearly 30 organisations, MPs and activists includes the Fawcett Society, the Electoral Reform Society, Jess Phillips, who chairs the womens Parliamentary Labour Party, politicians from the SNP and Green Party, and Amnesty International UK.

Last year the Women and Equalities Committee in Parliament highlighted the glaring lack of representation in politics, adding that the UK has dropped to 48th place  from 25th in 1999  in the global rankings of the representation of women in a countrys legislative chamber.

At the time, the committee chair and Conservative MP Maria Miller, said that political parties that fail to take steps to ensure that at least 45 per cent of all representatives in Parliament are women should be forced to do so through legislation.

In a statement, the newly-formed Centenary Action Group said: Women in politics face an extraordinary amount of abuse, especially on social media, partly because they speak up but also simply because they are women, the statement from the Centenary Action Group adds.

This discourages women from participating in political debate.

From the work undertaken towards womens political participation the world over, there is clear evidence that the more diverse the decision makers are, the more widely power is spread  and less room there is for abuse and discrimination. It also makes it more likely that decision made will benefit everyone, including the most marginalised women and girls in the UK and beyond.

Increasing womens participation in politics is critical. It is a central tenant of the UN Global Goals. All countries are aiming for these goals, but most countries, including the UK, are still falling short. In the centenary year of women winning the right to vote, its time for action."

Sam Smethers, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said that system and cultures have to change, warning: Unless they do, we risk the 2018 centenary being a missed opportunity. Our system of politics is failing to be relevant to womens lives, actively putting them off.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 November 2022 Kevin Sinfield on day six of the Ultra 7 in 7 Challenge from to York to Bradford. The former Leeds captain is set to complete seven ultra-marathons in as many days in aid of research into Motor Neurone Disease, finishing by running into Old Trafford at half-time of the Rugby League World Cup tournaments finale on 19 November PA UK news in pictures 17 November 2022 Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 11 Downing Street, London, for the House of Commons to deliver his autumn statement PA UK news in pictures 16 November 2022 Emma Woolf, great niece of British author Virginia Woolf, and her son Ludovic sit next to a new bronze statue of Woolf, unveiled in Richmond, London Reuters UK news in pictures 15 November 2022 Lesley Sutcliffe shelters from the rain next to a life-sized replica of the innermost coffin of King Tutankhamun by artist Amanda Stoner as it goes on display inside a traditional red telephone box which has been converted into a museum, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 14 November 2022 Members of the hospitality sector demonstrate outside parliament in London. The head of the Confederation of British Industry is urging the UK government to relax immigration rules to help British companies with severe staff shortages, ahead of the chancellors autumn statement EPA UK news in pictures 13 November 2022 England celebrate winning the mens T20 World Cup in Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia AAP Image/Reuters UK news in pictures 12 November 2022 The City of London Pride Group take part in the parade during the Lord Mayor's Show PA UK news in pictures 11 November 2022 City workers attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at Lloyd's of London, in the City of London, to mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War PA UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA

We know now that sexual harassment is commonplace in local and national politics; we see sexist attitudes driving the way women are treated in the council chamber and in the House of Commons. Lack of entitlement to maternity or paternity leave, means our elected representatives are far from being offered a modern workplace.

The chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, Darren Hughes, added that for democracy to be effective in the UK it needs political institutions which are representative of all its citizens.

"Currently, there are still too many barriers to women's political participation, from institutional sexism and misogyny to a lack of support within parties themselves, he added. The fact that fewer than a third of Members of Parliament and councilors are women is holding back our progress. We need widescale reform of our political institutions to change that. The problems of under-representation stem from factors which can be fixed  if there is the will to change.

Parties and politicians must urgently commit to removing barriers to participation. But more than that  they should be taking immediate action to ensure we have a truly representative democracy. In the centenary of the first votes for women, this is an opportunity that must not be missed.
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Feeding homeless people in a public park has led to 12 people being called to court to face charges in the Californian city of San Diego.

Police officers who handed out the citations claimed the recipients were breaking a rule which banned sharing food in public places.

The law was introduced by the City Council in October to help curb the spread of hepatitis A, following a huge outbreak of the disease in the city and the region surrounding it.

But critics have suggested the real motive behind the ban was to disperse homeless people from the area.

Megan Hustings from The National Coalition for the Homeless told The Independent that the charity has long believed these type of laws that prevent a simple act of charity to be deeply disturbing.

She said: Many communities will cite a desire to ensure that food that is shared is prepared according to certain food preparation standards, but there is no documented cases of food poisoning coming from food that is shared with hungry people in public places. What we know from our homeless folks in communities that pass these types of food sharing bans is that the legislation often comes rather from a desire not to see homeless people in public places.

She added: There is generally a failing of communities to realise basic human needs, and how our social service systems are failing our citizens in providing these basic needs. Sharing food with people where they are outdoors can be critical to ensuring that they receive the nourishment they need.

While cases of people with hepatitis A have decreased the city ordinance remains in place in Las Vegas.

So when volunteers began handing out supplies including food, water and toiletries to homeless people in the city's Wells Park, police swooped in to hand out citations to a dozen individuals.

A 14-year-old was among them.

If I am going to be arrested for something let it be for feeding the homeless because I am just not going to apologise for doing the right thing, Matthew Schneck, told NBC 7, after receiving a citation.

Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests  but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty

All were charged with breaking an urgency ordinance in the City of El Cajon municipal code. The ruling, which was introduced in late October 2017 announced a prohibition on food sharing and distribution services and events in the city.

The misdemeanour carries fines of up to $1,000 (724) each and up to six months in jail. Prison time is understood to be unlikely.

They now plan to challenge the citations in court and instead start legal action against the city.

Scott Dreher, a lawyer representing the 12, told the news channel that the City was handling the situation the wrong way.

They could have put up hand-washing stations they could have cleaned up trash and litter, the city of El Cajon could have said nobody could give food to anybody in a public park, that would at least have been a better way to achieve the goal.

Hundreds of people have been infected with the liver disease since October and at least 20 people have died. Many of those affected are homeless.

Hand-washing stations have been installed in parts of California and some streets have been cleaned with disinfectant. A vaccine for the disease exists and has been recommended by health officials for those most at risk, including rough sleepers who are less likely to have access to proper sanitation.

The Hepatitis A outbreak has claimed at least 20 lives in the San Diego region since October, according to the California Department of Public Health which called it the largest person-to-person hepatitis A outbreak in the United States since the hepatitis A vaccine became available in 1996.

A total of 577 cases were diagnosed up until the end of December 2017, of which 396 were hospitalised. Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and some other nearby areas also reported a few cases, but San Diego was by far the worst hit, according to public health data.

The disease, which thrives in unsanitary conditions, has been particularly widespread among rough sleepers and/or those using illicit drugs, the health organisation said.

The condition, which causes inflammation of the liver along with jaundice, stomach pain and fever, was spread through a fecally contaminated environment and primarily from person to person contact. It can be passed on via the mouth through hands, food, drinks and objects that have been infected with the virus.
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A team of divers have discovered what is believed to be the biggest flooded cave on the planet in eastern Mexico.

By connecting two underwater caverns, the Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM) project identified the 216 mile (347km) cave after months of exploring a maze of underwater channels.

The project, which is dedicated to the study and preservation of the subterranean waters of the Yucatan peninsula, said the discovery could shine new light on the ancient Mayan civilisation.

Recommended Hidden passageway discovered under ancient Mayan temple

Near the beach resort of Tulum, the group found that the cave system known as Sac Actun, once measured at 163 miles (263km), communicated with the 52 mile (83km) Dos Ojos system, the GAM said in a statement. Because of this, Sac Actun has now absorbed Dos Ojos.

Guillermo de Anda, the director of GAM and an underwater archaeologist, said the amazing find would help to understand the development of the rich culture of the region, which was dominated by the Mayan civilisation before the Spanish conquest.

It allows us to appreciate much more clearly how the rituals, the pilgrimage sites and ultimately the great pre-Hispanic settlements that we know emerged, he told Reuters.

The finding has been described as amazing (Reuters) (Herbert Mayrl/Courtesy Gran Acuifero Maya Project (GAM)/Handout via REUTERS)

Mr de Anda and his team previously discovered what they believed was a hidden passageway beneath a 1,000-year-old Mayan temple.

The experts thought the tunnel under the Kulkulcan pyramid, which is part of the Chichen Itza archaeological site in Yucatan, could lead to a natural sinkhole linked to subterranean waters, known as a cenote.

The Yucatan peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Mayan people, whose cities drew upon an extensive network cenotes.

The experts through the tunnel could lead to a natural sinkhole Reuters

Some cenotes acquired particular religious significance to the Mayans, whose descendents continue to inhabit the region.

Several are thought to have been used by the ancient Mayans for human sacrifices and previous expeditions have found human bones in cenotes beneath Chichen Itza.
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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned that the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons is at a tenuous stage and said the time for Pyongyang to show a willingness to talk about denuclearisation is now.

The North Koreans know our channels are open, and they know where to find us, Tillerson told reporters in a news conference at the conclusion of a summit of 20 countries seeking ways to strengthen UN sanctions.

When asked directly whether Americans might soon be at war with North Korea, Tillerson did not offer easy reassurances.

Recommended World leaders call to keep sanctions on North Korea

I think we all need to be very sober and clear-eyed about the current situation, he replied, citing North Korea's advances in developing nuclear weapons and the missiles capable of delivering them. We have to recognise that the threat is growing. And if North Korea does not choose the path of engagement, of discussion, negotiations, then they themselves will trigger an option.

The Vancouver summit was called to explore ways to tighten sanctions against North Korea and discuss maritime interdiction of ships carrying banned goods and materials to and from the country.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis joined Tillerson at the Vancouver summit. The dichotomy of the diplomat and the general underscores the difficulty faced by many foreign governments trying to discern whether hawks outweigh the pro-diplomacy voices in the Trump administration - and whether the world may be on the precipice of nuclear war.

It shows an integration of diplomatic efforts with the military option on the table, said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. But our preferred solution is a diplomatic solution. Secretary Mattis raised that repeatedly. I think this was a chance to raise people's confidence that we have thought through this.

Tillerson also frequently repeated the sentiment that diplomacy is the best option, compared to endless sanctions, or worse.

What I hope they are able to realise is, the situation only gets worse, he said of North Korea. It gets worse with every step they take. It gets worse with time.

Tillerson also expressed hope that the message is starting to sink in that the world will insist on North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons.

The stand we are taking is, we will never accept them as a nuclear power, he said. So, it's time to talk. But they have to take the step that says they want to talk.

But Tillerson sidestepped a question about whether President Trump had any direct contacts with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as Trump seemed to suggest last week in an interview with the Wall Street Journal before the White House said he had been misunderstood.

If we want that to be made known and made public, we will announce it, Tillerson said.

At the onset of the summit, Tillerson underscored what was at stake when he unveiled a visual aid, a map showing air traffic across Asia on one day. Hundreds of yellow icons on the map represented planes, which the Federal Aviation Administration calculated to hold more than 150,000 seats within range of North Korean missiles.

Based on its past recklessness, Tillerson said, we cannot expect North Korea to have any regard for what might get in the way of one of its missiles, or parts of a missile breaking apart.

But Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono cautioned against being misled by North Korea's talks with the South, which he depicted as part of a campaign to achieve sanctions relief.

We should not be naive about their intent, he said. Nor should we be blinded by North Korea's charm offensive. In short, it is not the time to ease pressure or to reward North Korea.

Tillerson has insisted that a diplomatic solution is a way out of the impasse, although he said the United States would not go along with a proposal to curtail military exercises with South Korea if North Korea stops developing nuclear weapons.

We reject a 'freeze for freeze' approach in which legitimate defensive military exercises are placed on the same level of equivalency as the DPRK's unlawful actions, he said, using the initials for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes decisive steps to denuclearise.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson deflected a reporter's question about the impact of Trump's tweets directed at Kim, such as a recent one proclaiming his nuclear button bigger than the North Korean leader's and another advising Tillerson that he was wasting his time trying to get North Korea to negotiate.

There's a diplomatic way to do that, Johnson said. Rex Tillerson gets it.

Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland co-hosted the summit, which gathered representatives from 20 countries that sent troops or humanitarian aid under a UN effort to repel the North during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. Two world players were excluded: China and Russia, which supported the North in the war and sit on the UN Security Council. Both border North Korea and are crucial to any push to enforce UN sanctions and cut off its trade.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Monday that the meeting was destructive, and he mocked the list of invited nations, some of which are small countries peripherally involved in the standoff with Pyongyang.

North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Show all 13 1 /13 North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents react after the news of the successful launch of the new intercontinental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un signing an order to test-fire the newly developed inter-continental ballistic missile KRT via AP Video North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch A news broadcast displays Kim Jong Un's signed document AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch People cheer as they watch the news broadcast announcing Kim Jong Un's order to test-fire the new inter-continental ballistic missile AFP/Getty Images North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Residents react after the document signing AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Pyongyang residents celebrate Kim Jong Un's announcement AFP/Getty North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Cheering Pyongyang residents react AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch To counter North Korea's missile test, South Korea fired missiles into the East Sea The Defence Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The Hyunmu-2 missiles firing during the drill South Korean Defense Ministry vi North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The exercise was carried out in an attempt to counter Kim Jong Un's order South Korea Defense Ministry via AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch The South Korean army continue to carry out military exercises AP North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch Where K-9 self-propelled howitzers were taking part in a drill Rex Features North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch US soldiers are also present in the border city of Paju AFP/Getty Images

When we found out about the meeting, we asked: Why do you need all those countries together? Lavrov said. Greece, Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg - what do they have to do with the Korean Peninsula?

China has dismissed the summit as meaningless and said the solution lies in dialogue with the Kim regime.

Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton, head of the East Asia bureau, will travel to Beijing after the meeting to brief Chinese officials on the talks, and Tillerson will speak with his counterparts in Russia and China.

The Washington Post
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A Californian couple accused of imprisoning their children in horrific conditions had no prior contact with authorities and the mother seemed surprised when law enforcement officers turned up at their door, officials said.

After a 17-year-old daughter slipped through a window and called police, she led authorities back to a squalid Perris house where a dozen of her siblings were held, some of them shackled in chains.

Their parents Louise Anna and David Allen Turpin have been arrested on torture and child endangerment charges, seemed perplexed as to why authorities were visiting the house, said Riverside County Sheriffs Office chief Gregory Fellows.

He added that law enforcement agencies did not have a prior contacts at the residence.

Records indicate that Mr Turpin had received state approval to run a private school at the property where the children were found.

Chief Fellows said it appeared only family members were homeschooled there.

The California Department of Education said in a statement that it does not have the authority to monitor, inspect, or oversee private schools.

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. 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Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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It added: We are sickened by this tragedy and relieved the children are now safe and authorities are investigating. Full-time private schools are required to register with the state to record their students exemption from compulsory attendance at public schools.

Chief Fellows said it was too early to establish if there was a religious element to the captivity.

There was no information that suggested any of the children had been sexually abused, he said, but added that the investigation is still in its very early stages.

I wish I could come to you today with information that could explain why this happened but we do need to acknowledge the courage of the girl that escaped, he added.

Medical professionals said they are treating the children for malnutrition.

Its hard to think of them as adults when you first see them because theyre small, said Mark Uffer of Corona Regional Medical Centre, where the siblings who are 18 and older were being treated.

 David and Louise Turpin renew their wedding vows at Elvis Chapel in 2013

He added: Theyre very friendly, theyre very cooperative and I believe that theyre hopeful that life will get better for them.

While authorities were unable to say how long the siblings had been held, Riverside County Department of Public Social Services Director Susan von Zabern said their condition indicates that it has been a long period of time.

You have to imagine that these kids are going to need a lot of support, said Sophia Grant, a child abuse paediatrician with the Riverside University Health System.
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A Democratic victory in one of Wisconsins Republican-leaning districts is a wake up call for Republicans in the state, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has said, as the party prepares for a vicious fight to maintain control of US Congress this year.

In a special election on Tuesday, Democrat Patty Schachtner won the states 10th Senate District, which had voted heavily for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

While the special election was held to fill an empty seat in Wisconsins state legislature, Ms Schachtners triumph could prove to be another warning sign for Republicans to not take the challenge from Democrats lightly during the midterm elections in November.

Senate District 10 special election win by a Democrat is a wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin, Mr Walker tweeted.

The Republican governor later added, WAKE UP CALL: Cant presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin. Help us share the good news.

Mr Walker is right, but I dont think it is going to wake them up, said David Barker, the director of American Universitys Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

This may be just one contest for the state legislature in Wisconsin, he told The Independent, but it is part of a larger pattern we have observed over the last year.

Mr Barker noted that Democratic voters have been disproportionately and unusually motivated to turn out in elections in traditionally Republican states or districts.

In November, Democrats also made much larger than expected gains in Virginias state legislature. Additionally, the Democratic candidate for governor won a rather stunning margin over his Republican opponent  another possible indicator of a tough year ahead for Republicans.

In a lot of special elections, Democrats are doing better than they did in 2016  even when they lose, said Michele Swers, an American government professor at Georgetown University.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

This pattern, Mr Barker said, along with the unprecedented numbers of Republican retirements in the House of Representatives, numbers of qualified Democratic challengers who are running, and Democratic fundraising numbers, is starting to make a wave election for Democrats in 2018 look less likely than a tsunami [of wins].

To win a majority in the 100-member Senate, Democrats now need a net gain of two seats. Meanwhile, the party needs a net gain of 24 to retake control of the 435-member House.

The average number of House seats that an incumbent presidents party loses in the following midterm [elections] is around 30, Mr Barker said. The Democrats only need around 24 to reclaim control. Right now, the forecast has to be in the 40s or even higher.

While the Democratic victory in Wisconsin may be evidence of a broader trend, Mark Peterson, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he would be cautious about reading too much into a single special election win in a state legislative district  even with such an apparent swing from President Trumps large margin to the healthy margin received by the Democrat.

Special election electorates have their own unique characteristics, Mr Peterson said. What Governor Walker is trying to do is stimulate some real fear  i.e. motivation  among his Republican compatriots, both within the state and nationally, he added.
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Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has struck a deal to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller and his team investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

Mr Bannon, who was recently disavowed by President Donald Trump, will discuss his time with the Trump campaign and White House directly with the investigators, and will bypass questioning in front of a grand jury.

Mr Mueller's team had secured a subpoena to compel Mr Bannon to testify, which could have forced him to speak with the grand jury.

FBI agents reportedly showed up at Mr Bannon's home in Washington, DC last week with the subpoena, only to find out that the former White House employee had secured the legal representation of William Burck hours earlier, according to reports.

Those agents then sent the subpoena they had intended on delivering to Mr Bannon to Mr Burck, who is also representing two other witnesses in Mr Mueller's probe.

 Bill Murray unveiled as Steve Bannon on Saturday Night Live

News of Mr Bannon's coming cooperation with the Mueller probe comes just after the bombshell, tell-all book about Mr Trump's first year in office, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. That book portrayed a chaotic go of it, and painted a picture of Mr Trump erratic, impulsive, and disinterested chief executive. In one segment of the book, Mr Bannon is quoted calling Donald Trump Jr -- who took a meeting with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower during the campaign after being promised dirt on Hillary Clinton -- "treasonous" for the contact.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

In response to the book, Mr Trump released a statement saying that his former chief strategist had lost his mind, and downplayed Mr Bannon's role in his political operation.

"When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," Mr Trump said in the statement, emailed to reporters.

When Mr Bannon left the White House in August, the White House said that it was a planned departure, and that he had done so on his own volition.

Mr Bannon then returned to his position with Breitbart News, a far right news organisation that regularly appeals to the nationalist voters who support Mr Trump. Mr Bannon has since left that post in the fallout of the recent book, which saw him lose the support of the billionaire Mercer family that bankrolls Breitbart's operations.

Several individuals connected to the Trump campaign have already been indicted as a result of Mr Mueller's probe, which Mr Trump has called a "witch hunt".

That includes charges filed against former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, who were indicted for failing to register as agents for the government of Ukraine, and for alleged money laundering. Both of those individuals pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Mr Manafort has since then counter sued Mr Mueller's team saying that the charges are unrelated to the jurisdiction of the probe.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced out of his White House position within weeks of Mr Trump's inauguration, also faced charges, but negotiated a plea deal with Mr Mueller's probe. Mr Flynn was accused of making false statements to the FBI about contacts he had had with Russian officials during the presidential transition period.

Finally, George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, also admitted to making false statements to FBI investigators when asked whether he had contact with high-level Russian contacts during the campaign.

Mr Trump has downplayed Mr Papadopoulos' role in the campaign.
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Frequently, they appear before it is even light. During the week, they drop as people are making their way to work, and elbowing their way to the office. At the weekend, they pop up before they have switched on their coffee machines. And coffee helps.

Often the early morning tweets are about something that President Donald Trump has had on his mind all night, though theres increasing evidence he is often inspired to post after tuning in to his favourite, fawning Fox News morning show and getting angry or feeling persecuted.

And they follow a pattern of both subject matter and style  Crooked Hillary Clinton (83 tweets since he entered the White House), fake news (183) or the vow to Make America Great Again (104). They are brash, petulant, and aggressive. They contain claims that are often untrue. Theyre petty, mean-spirited. They are like nothing weve previously seen from an elected politician.

Yet, Mr Trumps tweets are also remarkably effective. He joined Twitter in March 2009 and immediately became a shrill presence, whom people could ignore if they chose to. But since he declared his intention to run for the White House, and then won the Republican nomination and the presidency, it is difficult, and perhaps even irresponsible, to do so.

The media is frequently criticised for focusing too little on what Mr Trump does and too much on his tweets. But his Twitter feed, which has 46.7m followers, is a window not only into his thoughts and psyche, but into the kind of messages he wants to communicate to his supporters.

He often says it is the most effective way to connect with the country, without the filter of a traditional media he claims not to trust. The White House was obliged to clarify that his tweets also represent presidential statements, and should carry the same imprimatur as a comment issued by his press office.

My use of social media is not presidential, Mr Trump said last summer amid controversy triggered when he claimed a woman television anchor had been bleeding badly from a face-lift when he had seen her six months earlier. Its modern day presidential.

For Mr Trump, social media is a battleground and he has weaponised Twitter in a number of ways.

An effective force

Experts say the 71-year-old has made use of Twitter in a way that has no equal among other political leaders.

George Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of University of California, Berkeley and the author of Dont Think of an Elephant, is an expert on cognitive science and linguistics. He has analysed Mr Trumps tweets and concluded: Trump uses social media as a weapon to control the news cycle. It works like a charm. His tweets are tactical rather than substantive.

Mr Lakoff has even created a template in which he places the Presidents tweets into one of four categories  pre-emptive framing, diversion, deflection, or else launching a trial balloon.

He is as good as it gets [at using social media], said Mr Lakoff.

He is not ranting, that is strategic. Even when he is ranting, its strategic.

Mr Lakoff said the media had allowed the President to dominate the news agenda by failing to point out what he is trying to divert attention from. He said Mr Trump was also good for ratings, which meant his ubiquitousness suited not only the White House but the CEOs of media companies.

Richard Perloff, professor of communication and political science at Cleveland State University, said Mr Trumps use of Twitter marked the culmination of two decades of change in the way politicians communicated with the public. That style has become more personal, more instantaneous and frequently less verifiable.

 Man brought to US as child says goodbye to family after Trump administration deports him

There is no question he has changed the nature of communication and been effective at reaching his supporters, he said. But he has been doubly effective because he not only tweets, but the media then writes about those tweets. And the mainstream media  despite his criticism of it  gives him a degree of legitimacy.

Mr Perloff said Mr Trump was not an elegant tweeter. Indeed, we know the President sometimes has to delete comments or words he has misspelled. Last spring, he left the sentence Despite the constant negative press covfefe sitting hanging on his feed for a delicious six hours, during which some people became almost hysterical trying to come up with the best joke or retort.

The next morning, he deleted the tweet, and wrote: Who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe ???. Enjoy!

Mr Perloff said most of the Presidents messages were short and emotive. He said they were unlikely to win over people who did not agree with him. He added: But they do strengthen pre-existing attitudes.

A bullying presence

Even Mr Trumps most ardent supporters often say they they wish he would tweet a little less often and a little less impetuously.

While those who voted for him like that he speaks his mind, people are also often concerned his hurriedly thumbed-out words could inflame or worsen sensitive situations, such as his verbal assault on the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in the aftermath of a terror attack in London last summer that killed seven and injured almost 50.

Mr Trump took Mr Khans comments that Londoners should not alarmed by an increased police presence in the city out of context, to declare: At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is no reason to be alarmed.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Frequently, he adopts the tone of of a schoolyard bully, whether it is the launching of a strange, personal attack on a former beauty queen for her disgusting sexual past, or else by targeting people in remarks he knows his supporters will leap on and follow up themselves.

In her memoir Settle for More, former Fox News Megyn Kelly, whom Mr Trump once claimed was having her period when she asked him a blunt question during a Republican debate, said the billionaire had once told her that  angered by a segment about him on her show  I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account against you.

The question of a ban

A question frequently asked by students of the Presidents tweets is why he is not suspended. If Twitter can ban the likes of Milo Yiannopoulos for inciting harassment, George Zimmerman for posting revenge porn and investor Martin Shkreli for the sexual harassment of a journalist, why doesnt it suspend Donald Trump?

Minnesota Congressman and Democratic National Committee Deputy Chair Keith Ellison has said the President is a social media bully and that his account should be deleted  something Hillary Clintons campaign memorably tweeted during the campaign. It appears one of the reason Mr Trump remains is because of the newsworthiness of his tweets.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told Wired: Were not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. Its really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimise bias in articles.

Mary Anne Franks, Professor of Law at the University of Miami and a member of Twitters Trust and Safety Council, said the debate about free speech on social media was complicated by the fact that Twitter was a private company.

She said she could not now imagine circumstances in which it would ban Mr Trump, given the apparent number of red lines he had already crossed. If they do ban him, theyd immediately to explain what tweet had led them to, and people would ask why that was worse than others, she said. I think they believe not banning him is the path of least resistance.

Ms Franks said despite the expectations some had that Mr Trump would moderate his heavier and language once he entered the Oval Office because of the pressure of convention, he had not done so. If anything, he seems worse, she said.

The concern was that Mr Trump, as the President, was using Twitter in such a manner, it encouraged and emboldened others to do the same. You have children seeing the President of the US talking like this then they will think that is the way to talk. I dont think well see the full impact of this for many decades.

Volume key to spreading his message

As the President marks his first year in office, he has posted around 36,800 tweets, has liked 24 tweets, has had six Twitter moments and is following 45 people, mostly members of his family, his senior staff, his hotels and Fox News presenters. He also follows Piers Morgan. Since entering the White House, he had posted  as of January 17, 2018  2,601 tweets.

Brendan Brown curates and runs the Trump Twitter Archive, a website that contains many of the Presidents tweets, including those he decides to delete. He believes he is missing approximately 4,000 tweets and those that Mr Trump deleted before September 2016.

Mr Brown has used the site to create data on the topics the President most frequently comments on and has created lists containing some of his favourites, whether it is Mr Trump bragging about his own abilities or his largely unshifting thoughts about global warming  an expensive hoax, a HOAX, a total, and very expensive, hoax and a con.

Mr Brown said he wanted to create the database so that people could search for the Presidents tweeted views on any topic. It has also provided him with the opportunity to develop his own opinions about Mr Trumps use of social media.

He is narcissistic, petty, and malicious. He never admits fault or blame, but is quick to cast it, he said.

He has been denigrating journalists for years  long before the campaign  for stories that paint him in an unfavourable light. He commits every logical fallacy in the book. He is prone to unintentionally comical hyperbole.

He said he has not been a Twitter user before building the archive in 2016 so did not feel qualified to comment on the Presidents broader impact on the Twitter or peoples use of social media.

Hes definitely made Twitter an indispensable resource, he added. The worlds most powerful man regularly shares his innermost thoughts, thoughts which all other world leaders keep private.
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Republican Senator John McCain has called on Donald Trump to stop his attacks on the American press, on the eve of the Presidents newly invented Fake News Awards.

Mr Trump announced earlier this month that he would bestow awards on the most dishonest and corrupt media of the year, setting off alarm bells with free-speech advocates. Now, Mr McCain has said the Presidents feud with the media must end  or result in dire global consequences.

While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets, Mr McCain wrote in an editorial for the Washington Post. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit.

He added: The phrase fake news  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens.

Mr McCain pointed to the rise in attacks on reporters internationally last year, which the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) declared one of the most dangerous years to be a journalist. A record number of journalists were jailed in 2017, and at least 44 were killed, according to the CPJ. The number of journalists jailed for reporting fake news worldwide also doubled.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

But Mr McCain saw repercussions of Mr Trumps rhetoric domestically, as well.

We cannot afford to abdicate Americas long-standing role as the defender of human rights and democratic principles throughout the world, he wrote. ...Ultimately, freedom of information is critical for a democracy to succeed.

Mr McCain is a frequent critic of the President, on everything from his Twitter habits to his positive views on Russia. The Republican Senator famously shot down his partys bill to repeal and replace Obamacare with a single no vote this summer  a move Mr Trump later lambasted him for on Twitter.

 Bill Clinton: Trump's rhetoric on "fake news" mirrors world dictators

Mr Trump has been silent on his Fake News Awards since last week, when he postponed the event to this Wednesday. Asked about the awards in a press conference, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred to them as a potential event.

Late-night comedians, meanwhile, have run away with the idea, with NBCs Jimmy Fallon handing out his own, mock awards on his Tuesday night broadcast. CBSs Stephen Colbert even took out a giant billboard in Times Square to promote himself for a fake news award.

"Personally, I'm excited for the Most Dishonest and Corrupt Media Awards of the Year  or as we call them in the biz, the Fakeys, Mr Colbert joked on Tuesday, because nothing gives you more credibility than Donald Trump calling you a liar.
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It has been quite a year.

Cast your mind back. A wet January morning 12 months ago, when Donald John Trump, hitherto best known to the world as the host of The Apprentice, was sworn in as Americas 45th president. It did indeed rain, despite what he said, and the crowds were modest, regardless of what he claimed.

Sometimes it feels those events occurred a few months ago; other times, it feels like the White House has always been occupied by this 71-year-old grandfather. Without doubt, his unpresidential behaviour, his rhetoric and his actions have dominated the news agenda like no other presidents first year  not even that of George W Bush, whose first 12 months in office saw Al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four civilian airliners, kill 3,000 people and set in place global reverberations still being felt almost two decades later.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Few believed Donald Trump would win, and a year after he entered the Oval Office Democrats are still mourning the defeat of one of their most qualified candidates ever to run. For progressives, much of his first year has been an abhorrence  his attacks on Muslims, his racist language, his refusal to keep America in the Paris Accord, and seemingly infantile use of Twitter.

Yet, while he may have record disapproval ratings, his support among those who voted for him remains solid. And having confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, secured his Muslim travel ban, cracked down on immigration and passed a huge tax cut, Donald Trump is able to turn to Republicans at the end of last year and say: Ive delivered what I promised.

 Ivana Trump: 'I don't think Donald is racist at all... sometimes he says things which are silly'

Over the coming five days, our writers will be examining the US Presidents actions and impact during that first year  from his use of social media, to his claims of fake news. Well be digging into the federal probe headed by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, which is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscows alleged effort to interfere with the election. Well be visiting a town in Virginia that voted for him in record numbers in 2016. And well be looking ahead to Novembers midterm elections. Democrats believe theyre set to reclaim at least one of the Houses of Congress. Yet the party is itself not yet battle ready. And well be hitting the bars of Capitol Hill to listen to the word on the street.

It has been a fascinating, exhausting and frequently jaw-dropping first 12 months reporting on Donald Trumps America. Over the same period, The Independent team has added new talents to its team here in New York, and to our reporters in Washington and San Francisco. We hope youll continue to join us for his second year. You  and we  really cannot afford to miss a single day.

Andrew Buncombe

US Editor
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The US will give a United Nations agency $60m in aid for Palestinians but will withhold another $65m for future consideration.

US President Donald Trump had threatened in a tweet to cut millions in contributions in order to force Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas into coming to the negotiating table to hash out a peace deal with Israel.

"It is time other countries, some of them quite wealthy, step in and do their part to advance regional security and stability," an administration official told Reuters.

"This is not aimed at punishing" anyone, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said of the cut.

The US has been the largest donor - responsible for nearly a third of the budget - to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which works to help Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria providing food, health-related, and education aid.

The agency has been repeatedly criticised by Israel for being biased and allowing its facilities to be used by Palestinian militants.

In 2016, the US contributed $335m to the relief agency and a similar sum was planned for 2018.

"There is a need to undertake a fundamental re-examination of UNRWA, both in the way it operates and the way it is funded," the same official said about any possible future funds.

In cutting the aid package, the administration appeared to be in line with Mr Trump's 2 January tweet in which he wrote that Palestinians were receiving "hundreds of millions of dollars" but gave the US "no appreciation or respect."

One of the sticking points in the peace process has been the control of Jerusalem and last month, the US President broke with 70 years of diplomatic procedures and announced the US would recognise the holy city as the capital of Israel.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had actually advocated for cutting off funds going to UNRWA completely, echoing her sentiments that the world body had an anti-Israel bias.

She was talked down after Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated that if the relief agency's efforts are severely hampered it could cause further unrest in Jordan, an ally which hosts several million Palestinian refugees.

 Nikki Haley says U.S. will withhold funding for Palestinian refugees

The decision to provide the $60m will allow the agency to operate at a minimum.

Riots in the region had already broken out in the wake of Mr Trump's recognition of Jerusalem and cutting off all aid would likely have escalated the violence.

In a humiliating blow for Mr Trump on the world stage, the UN General Assembly had voted by 128 to nine to declare his controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital null and void on 21 December 2017.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Show all 18 1 /18 Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli forces scuffle with Palestinians at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester hurls stones as tear gas is fired by Israeli troops Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester runs during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli forces scuffle with Palestinians at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters run during clashes REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and a Palestinian protesters clash REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters react to tear gas REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen hold on to a Palestinian protester REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Palestinian protesters react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and Palestinians scuffle after Friday prayers in Jerusalem's Old City REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester moves a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Worshippers chant as they hold Palestinian flags after Friday prayers Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester hurls back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A wounded Palestinian protester is evacuated during clashes with Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen and a Palestinian youth scuffle REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' A Palestinian protester uses a sling to hurl stones towards Israeli troops REUTERS Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during 'Day of Rage' Journalists react to tear gas fired by Israeli troops REUTERS

Just days after the US used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block a similar measure, the General Assembly resoundingly condemned the Americas unilateral action, which most observers said would hamper efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

While the vote had little practical impact  it is not legally binding  it was a considerable embarrassment for the US as it reflected global opinion.

Ahead of the vote, the USs ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had warned that the US would would be taking names of any countries who supported a resolution criticising Washingtons actions.

Speaking to members of his cabinet on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he liked what Ms Haley had spelled out. For all these nations, they take our money and then vote against us. They take hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars and then they vote against us, Mr Trump said.
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Donald Trumps Secretary of Homeland Security has been accused of wilful amnesia over the Presidents alleged use of the term s***hole countries during an immigration meeting.

Kirstjen Nielsen told senators she did not recall the specific language used by Mr Trump in last weeks bipartisan meeting, where the billionaire was accused of having referred to Haiti, El Salvador and various African countries in a derogatory way.

What I was struck with frankly, as Im sure you were as well, was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone, she said.

Democratic senator Cory Booker responded angrily and said: When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power it is a dangerous force in our country.

Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.

It was unacceptable that Ms Nielsen could not remember Mr Trumps exact words, he said on Tuesday during a nearly-two-minute harangue.

The fallout has been widespread since Mr Trumps alleged comments were reported last week by The Washington Post.

African Union countries demanded an apology, with Ghana, Senegal, Botswana, South Africa and Nigeria hauling in US diplomats to give an explanation.

Haiti did the same and Haitians living in the US protested and called for Mr Trump to apologise.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Mr Trump has denied using the word s***hole but admitted being tough during the meeting. The White House, however, has not substantively disputed accounts of the episode.

Administration officials and other politicians who were present spent the weekend debating the precise vulgarity used, and tried to cast last Thursdays summit as a salty affair, with expletives flying in all directions.

The President hasnt said he didnt use strong language, and this is an important issue, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, Hes passionate about it, hes not going to apologise for trying to fix our immigration system.

Additional reporting by agencies
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A former CIA officer has been arrested and charged as part of an alleged espionage scandal investigators claim resulted in the collapse of the US spying network in China and the deaths or imprisonment of up to 20 agency informants.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, a naturalised US citizen, was arrested earlier this week after arriving at JFK International Airport in New York. Mr Lee, who currently lives in Hong Kong, appeared in court and was charged with illegally retaining classified records, including names and phone numbers of covert CIA assets.

Mr Lee, who served in the US Army from 1982-86, joined the CIA in 1994 and worked as a case officer trained in covert communications, surveillance detection, and the recruitment and the handling of assets.

Court documents say agents found two small books with handwritten notes containing names and numbers of covert CIA employees (US Department of Justice)

[Mr] Lee began working for the CIA as a case officer in 1994, maintained a Top Secret clearance and signed numerous non-disclosure agreements during his tenure at CIA, according to a statement released by the US Department of Justice.

The arrest of Mr Lee, who has not offered a plea, is said to have marked the culmination for more than five years of intense counter-espionage operation launched by the FBI. That investigation was established in 2012, two years after the CIA started losing assets in China.

Reports in the US media said investigators were initially unsure whether the agency had been hacked by the Chinese authorities or whether the losses were the result of a mole.

 China shuts main route into North Korea as nuclear tensions dominate region

According to an eight-page affidavit, Mr Lee, who left the CIA in 2007 and has been working for a well-known auction house, travelled from Hong Kong to northern Virginia, where he lived from 2012 to 2013  apparently having been lured there with a fake job offer.

When he flew to Virginia, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Mr Lees luggage and hotel room. The court documents say agents found two small books with handwritten notes containing names and numbers of covert CIA employees and locations of covert facilities.

Mr Lee left the US in 2013 after being questioned on five different occasions by FBI agents. He never mentioned his possession of the books containing classified information, say the court documents.

The FBI affidavit makes no allegations of espionage against Mr Lee, only alleging illegal retention of documents. Any conviction on that offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

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

Last spring, The New York Times reported that as many as 20 US intelligence assets had been killed by China since 2010, destroying years worth of intelligence efforts in the country. One operative was allegedly shot and killed in front of his colleagues and his body left in the car park of a government building as a warning to others.

US officials described the losses as one of the worst intelligence breaches in decades, comparing it to the number of assets lost in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s, when two prominent US assets worked as double agents for the Soviets. Officials said the breach has destroyed years of network-building within the country.

The arrest of Mr Lee come as China is looking to increasingly spread its international influence  economically, diplomatically and militarily. At the same time, the US, under the America First strategy adopted by Donald Trump, appears to be retreating from many areas, such as the environment and international security, it once led.

Bonnie Glaser, a former consultant to the US department of State and Defence and director of the China Power Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the scandal was unlikely to directly impact bilateral relations.

I doubt there will be a major impact on US-China ties, she told The Independent.

Espionage is expected and is part of what is an increasingly competitive and in many ways adversarial relationship. We should be more concerned about a potential trade war.
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Japan used to have one of the most powerful aircraft carrier forces in the world, with a fleet of six. The US had seven, but the Imperial Japanese Navy was close to taking delivery of two more, gaining a decisive strategic advantage when the Second World War broke out.

Four years later, the Japanese carrier fleet was at the bottom of the ocean, Emperor Hirohito had signed the surrender document and the Imperial Navy was disbanded. The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force was later formed, but with strict defensive rules of engagement.

It has now emerged that Tokyo is planning to convert some of its Izumo-Class helicopter carriers into aircraft carriers, the countrys first in 80 years, making them capable of using fixed wing warplanes, probably American F-35 stealth fighters with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.

Recommended Japanese broadcaster apologises for false North Korea missile alert

There has been an immediate reaction from China, with the accusation that acquiring the aircraft carriers and the fighters would breach Article 9 of Japans constitution post-war. We urge Japan to do more that may enhance mutual trust and promote regional peace and stability, said a foreign ministry spokesman.

But Beijing is also flexing its naval muscles. While the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov was returning home last year after duties in Syria, its sister carrier  former Soviet vessel Varyag, now the Lianonig of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Navy  was on manoeuvres in its maiden cruise in the South China Seas, scene of bitter disputes with neighbouring countries.

The concern about conflicts in the Far East has focused on North Korea. But the longer-lasting undercurrent of tension, which may yet lead to hostilities, has been around China and surrounding states that believe Beijing is trying to spread its hegemony in the South China Seas by claiming strings of manmade islands and the strategic waters around them.

Throughout last year, while Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un traded public insults, Beijing has been quietly bolstering its military presence on islands it has been building. Among its seven island bases are three airfields in the disputed Spratley chain. There has been a significant construction drive. Aerial photographs from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington revealed facilities awash with fortified shelters for warships and artillery and hangers for aircraft and radar. The most advanced base, Fiery Cross Reef, has a 27-acre hinterland of military buildings including underground bunkers and missile emplacement positions.

A few weeks before the news of the Japanese carriers, China announced that it would launch its second aircraft carrier in just over two years, paving the way to start the manufacture of a third. The Ministry of Defence in Beijing declared a breakthrough in aircraft technology which it claimed was the most advanced jet launch system in the world that does not use nuclear power.

Around the same time, as Donald Trump toured the region, the US Navy said it will hold joint drills in the Western Pacific for the first time in a decade with three of its aircraft carriers: The USS Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt. Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet wanted to stress: This exercise is a strong testament to the US Pacific Fleets unique ability and ironclad commitment to the continued security and stability of the region.

But one significant reason for Beijing to feel emboldened has been Mr Trumps threats to pull US forces out of Japan and South Korea unless there was more money coming from Tokyo and Seoul. There has also been the marked reluctance of his administration to buttress an alliance of Chinas neighbours.

The Trump administration has left other countries in the region unsure of the US, its credibility, its commitment, says Bonnie Glaser, East Asia analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. They wonder where the South China Seas fit in an America First world.

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

Faced with the unpredictability of Mr Trump, some of Chinas former adversaries have now accepted they have to have more amicable relations with the regions largest nation. Two years ago the Philippines went to an industrial tribunal to challenge Beijings claim to more than 85 per cent of the South China Sea and won. But President Rodrigo Duarte has, since then, gravitated towards China and away from the US. Other countries in the region have also moved towards accommodation: Singapore, a staunch ally of the West, agreed last September to Beijings request for greater military cooperation.

At the same time countries like Japan, Australia, Vietnam and India (which now has two aircraft carriers), are quietly discussing defence co-operation. Inaugurating the Shangri-la Dialogue, the regions premier security forum last summer, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: In this brave new world we cannot really rely on great powers to safeguard our interests. We have to take responsibility for our own security and prosperity, while recognising we are stronger when sharing the burden of collective leadership with trusted friends and partners.

The desire to buttress security has accelerated in the intervening months. Robert Emerson, a security analyst, said: The standoff between the US and North Korea is obviously a dramatic spectacle with two loud leaders providing headlines. What is passing by relatively unnoticed, meanwhile, is the steady militarisation of the region by wealthy and technologically capable states. That is where the long-term dangers of conflict lie.
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A predominantly Muslim county in western China has banned children from attending religious events during the winter holidays, as authorities step up control of religious education.

School pupils in Linxia county in Gansu province, home to many members of the Muslim Hui ethnic minority, are prohibited from entering religious buildings over their break, the district education bureau said in a notice posted online.

Students must not read scriptures in classes or religious buildings, said the notice, which also ordered pupils and teachers to work to strengthen political ideology and propaganda.

Recommended Chinese authorities blow up Christian megachurch with dynamite

A picture of the notice was shared online by Xi Wuyi, a Marxist scholar at the state-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an outspoken critic of rising Islamic influence in China. In a post on the social media platform Weibo, she welcomed the apparent move by authorities.

A man who answered the telephone at the Linxia education bureau hung up when asked by Reuters to verify authenticity of the notice, while a woman at the district education bureau declined to comment.

New regulations on religious affairs, announced by China in October last year and due to take effect in February, aim to increase oversight of religious education and provide for greater regulation of religious activities.

Last summer, a Sunday school ban was introduced in the south-eastern city of Wenzhou, sometimes known as Chinas Jerusalem due to its large Christian population. But Christian parents found ways to teach their children about their religion regardless.

Chinese law officially grants religious freedom for all but regulations on education and protection of minors also say religion cannot be used to hinder state education or to coerce children to believe.

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

Authorities in troubled parts of China, such as the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Uighur Muslim minority, ban children from attending religious events.

But religious communities elsewhere rarely face blanket restrictions.

Fear of Muslims influence has grown in China in recent years, sparked in part by violence in Xinjiang.

The Chinese-speaking Hui, who are culturally more similar to the Han Chinese majority than to Uighurs, have also come under scrutiny from some intellectuals who fear creeping Islamic influence on society.

In 2016, the government of Gansu banned religion in nurseries after a video of a young girl reciting the Quran was posted online.

The province is home to around 1.6 million Muslims, the third largest Islamic population among Chinas regions.

Chinese authorities are wary of the influence of religion and the threat it could pose to the officially atheist Community Partys rigid political and social control.

Reuters contributed to this report
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Myanmar police shot dead seven demonstrators, while 12 were injured in troubled Rakhine State, after a local gathering celebrating an ancient Buddhist Arakan kingdom turned violent.

The demonstrators gathered late on Tuesday in Mrauk U township in the northern part of Rakhine to mark the end of the Arakan kingdom, the secretary of the Rakhine state government, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters.

The violent demonstration underscores the challenges facing Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a country where dozens of ethnic groups have been clamouring for autonomy since independence from Britain in 1947.

Recommended Bangladesh agrees deal with Myanmar to return Rohingya refugees

Some 4,000 people surrounded a government building after the annual ceremony marking the demise of the Arakan kingdom over 200 years ago, Tin Maung Swe said. Organisers did not seek approval from local authorities for the gathering, he said.

The police used rubber bullets initially but the crowd didn't leave. Finally the security members had to shoot. The conflict happened when some people tried to seize guns from the police, he said.

Tun Ther Sein, regional MP from Mrauk U, said some of the critically injured protesters were taken to the state capital of Sittwe, a three-hour drive south of the ancient town studded with Buddhist temples.

The United Nations in Myanmar called on authorities to investigate any disproportionate use of force or other illegal actions that may have occurred in relation to this incident.

We urge respect for the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and call for the security forces and demonstrators to act with restraint and to avoid further violence, the agency wrote in a statement.

The US embassy in a statement expressed deep concern for all innocent people affected by the violence and hoped reason and restraint will prevail.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not respond to requests for comment.

The Rakhine, also known as Arakanese, are one of the 135 officially recognised ethnic groups in Myanmar. Their identity is closely connected to the once powerful Arakanese kingdom along the Bay of Bengal, which was conquered by the Burmese kingdom in 1784. The kingdom was once an important stop on the old silk trade route.

Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Show all 15 1 /15 Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Badiul Alam, 52, appointed as the manager of one grouping of refugees, shows the rifle-butt injury he sustained during his flight from Myanmar Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Abdur Rahim, 50, fled Myanmar with his family of seven. It took a month for them to walk to Bangladesh, carrying all their possessions on their shoulders. They havent yet found a place to put down their belongings after a gruelling journey Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Various refugee camps  Kutupalong, Balukhali and Moinerghona  have merged into one vast sprawl spread over many muddy hills that just a few months ago were a rolling green nature reserve Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps A Red Cross aid-worker supervises an aid distribution point on the edge of the Moinerghona camp, saying they have never known refugees anywhere in the world stand so patiently in line in such heat to be registered and receive aid without any tension or anger Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Last week the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal to return the Rohingya to Rakhine. But many worry that they will face further reprisals if they return, and there was no mention of what would happen to those who refused to go back Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps A quiet calm pervades the camps. Is it relief at being free from fear, or do feelings about the horrors witnessed remain suppressed? Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps The aid response is focused on providing food, water and shelter for people who fled with nothing Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps The effort is now well-organised and trucks delivering supplies move up and down the main road between Coxs Bazar and Teknaf all day long Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Only men are in the aid queue, as separate queues are often set up for men and women. Sixty-five-year-old Nur Ahmed wears his ID card which shows he has been formally registered to receive aid Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Ajmin Ara, 70, wanders around disorientated. She has lost her entire family and fled to Bangladesh alone; she is painfully thin/skeletal and very weak, but is receiving medical care from a small clinic set up to the side of the aid queue Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Its estimated that 620,000 Rohingya people have fled violence in Myanmars Rakhine State in the last three months. Many say they were doing their morning prayers or cooking food when their villages were attacked and they fled, often with only the clothes they were wearing Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Nur Asha, 47, sits quietly in the crowd until she can no longer restrain herself and her story comes out in a torrent: how she fled with her son when the military attacked her village but doesnt know where her other relatives are, how throats were slashed, how children were thrown into fires, how rice paddy fields were filled with bodies left for the dogs to eat Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Mohammed Sayed, 24, fled Myanmar about a month ago with his parents, wife and sister after their home was burnt down and many people in their village were killed Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Children flock around the queue and one boy has made a hat from an empty medicine package to shield himself from the heat, but other boys playing nearby tease him and knock it off his head and soon it is ripped to pieces Hope in Bangladeshs Rohingya camps Children who have fled with nothing make toy cars from empty bottles and kites from plastic bags. Despite the horrors they will have witnessed, children still laugh and play for the camera

Tensions in Rakhine have risen since a sweeping Myanmar army operation in August inflamed communal tension and triggered an exodus of over 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.

Very sad to hear reports of civilian casualties in Mrauk U... Rakhine urgently needs non-violent rule of law, Kristian Schmidt, the European Union's Ambassador to Myanmar, said on Twitter.

Reuters
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A man who was caught on camera slapping a woman has been charged with sexual assault after handing himself in to police.

The 40-year-old man reportedly followed home the woman who had been out for a walk in Southport on Australias Gold Coast, and then allegedly sexually assaulted her on her doorstep.

Speaking to Australias news.com.au, the woman, who is a mother of two, said: I was just coming back from my morning walk when I noticed this man approaching me. I just brushed it off because he was looking a bit lost.

She said she was wearing headphones at the time and it took her a little while to notice what was happening.

I could see his reflection walking quite fast up to me and it gave me a bit of a fright to be honest, she said.

In the video the man is seen walking quickly behind her as she lets herself into her building, and then slaps her on the backside five times.

When the 24-year-old woman expressed shock, she said her attacker replied something like, Sorry I just had to, you have the best arse.

The woman reportedly told the man dont f***ing touch me.

She said: I was really upset, by the time I was telling my partner I was crying and screaming. It had really hit me and Id realised what happened.

The woman has said she now plans to move away from the area.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The man has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, according to Australias 9 News, and will appear in court on 6 February.
In November 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his counterpart Malcolm Turnbull agreed to enhance the bilateral relationship to the level of Strategic Partnership. The Partnership will represent a new chapter in the relationship and enable the two countries to work more closely together on a range of issues, including defence, trade, investment, development, education, labor, tourism, law, finance, information and communications.

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Dinh Quy (middle) at the event (Photo: ATP)

Vietnam is one of Australias most important partners in the Indo-Pacific. Over the past 45 years, we have built a strong partnership which now encompasses political exchange, economic development, security cooperation and innovation collaboration, said Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Craig Chittick during a ceremony held in Hanoi.

The beginning of the 45th anniversary year was marked by the launch of a 45th anniversary commemorative logo and presentation of nine introductory panels to the Hanoi-based Temple of Literature.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr Craig Chittick, posed with logo contest winner Nguyen Viet Hung (Photo: ATP)

The 45th anniversary commemorative logo features Australias iconic Sydney Opera House and the star of the Vietnamese flag. Winner Nguyen Viet Hung, 24 year-old amateur designer, said that creation of the logo was inspired by his first memories of Australia and the participation of the Vietnamese sporting delegation at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000.

The winning logo was selected from over 150 entries of a competition in November 2017 that co-organised by the Australian Embassy to Vietnam, Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts, and Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Dinh Quy, based on a strong foundation and building on concrete activities (particularly those in this anniversary year), Vietnam - Australias Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership will be further advanced in the coming time, both bilaterally and at the regional and international level, towards a Strategic Partnership; meeting the desire and the interests of the two peoples and, for peace, cooperation and prosperity in Asia-Pacific and the world.

Presenting one of introductory panel (Photo: ATP)

On this occasion, Mr Craig Chittick presented nine introductory panels to the Temple of Literature which support tourism at one of the most important historical sites of Hanoi, providing information about the rich history to visitors in three languages (Vietnamese, English and French). This project built on the success of a similar project in 2016 in which Australia presented 14 bilingual introductory panels to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, another nations historical site.

We are really grateful of the Australian Governments meaningful gift which enables us to better preserve and promote the Temple of Literature. Each introductory panel is a concise brief on a section of the Temple and all together, they tell the whole story about our invaluable historical site. Through these introductory panels, visitors can come to understand the history and significance of the Temple of Literature, shared Dr Le Xuan Kieu, Director of the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam.

Australia will celebrate the 45th anniversary throughout this year with a program ranging from cultural to trade and economic events. The highlights include the opening of the Cao Lanh bridge (Dong Thap province) and the Australian Governments third Taste of Australia event./.
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The independence movement in Catalonia regained control of the troubled regions parliament without difficulties when it assembled on Wednesday for the first time since Decembers elections  but their attempts to elect nationalist leader Carles Puigdemont as president-in-exile will likely not prove so straightforward.

Earlier this week Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy issued a strongly-worded warning that direct rule from Madrid will continue if Mr Puigdemont, who faces almost certain arrest if he returns to Catalonia from Belgium, attempts to govern remotely.

It is absurd that somebody tries to become president of Catalonia whilst theyre in Brussels, Mr Rajoy said.

Its not a political or legal problem, its a question of common sense," he added. You cannot be sworn in as president from Brussels and without a president, article 155  the part of Spanish legislation that permits direct rule  would continue.

With their narrow overall majority confirmed in Decembers snap elections, the Nationalists won an important initial vote when Republican Roger Torrent was elected new speaker and head of its governing committee, key to deciding which legislation is voted on by parliament.

Overall, the session was much quieter than the fraught pro-independence parliamentary debates of last autumn, when the Catalan parliament last met before direct rule was applied.

But on Wednesday the eight empty MPs' seats in the nationalist benches constituted a powerful reminder of the huge underlying challenges this parliament faces in a region where pro-and anti-independence support is almost equally divided.

Three of the secessionist MPs are in jail, whilst another five, including Mr Puigdemont, are in exile, and all eight face charges of sedition and rebellion.

The missing MPs seats were bedecked with yellow ribbons, symbols of the campaign for the release of the three jailed lawmakers, including former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras. All three imprisoned MPs were permitted to delegate their votes to colleagues in parliament.

But despite their return to power, any attempt by the Nationalist-run governing committee to nominate Mr Puigdemont would place the separatists once again on a legal collision course with the Spanish government.

With the 31 January deadline to select a new president approaching, rumours are growing that Mr Puigdemont might attempt a daring return to Catalonia.

There is even speculation that he could emulate WikiLeaks' Julian Assange and seek diplomatic immunity in a foreign consulate in Barcelona, and recently Mr Puigdemont posted an enigmatic photo of people walking along the French side of the Catalan border, with the single word camins, meaning "road", written underneath.

However, a Spanish Customs house was also visible in the photos background, an apt reminder of the considerable political, and legal, obstacles Mr Puigdemont may well now face.
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Allegations of human rights abuses in Chechnya are a myth designed to destabilise the government, the republics president has claimed.

Ramzan Kadyrovs statement came after a prominent rights campaigner was arrested on drug charges and the offices of his group in a neighbouring region were torched by masked arsonists.

The fire at Memorials headquarters in Ingushetia took hold in the early hours of Wednesday, a week after Oyub Titiyevs arrest, and the group said it believed the arson was linked to its investigations into alleged rights abuses in Chechnya.

Recommended Russian human rights office suffers arson attack after Chechen threats

Repression against government critics and rights advocates has often spilled over from Chechnya to neighbouring Ingushetia, where Chechen operatives have been known to have a free hand.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied suggestions the two incidents were linked.

Mr Kadryov said reports of human rights abuses, including against Chechnyas gay population, were intended to plunge Chechnya into chaos.

We have nothing to hide. Our enemies are perfectly aware of this, so they make up various myths about human rights violations in our republic, he added, according to the Russian TASS news agency.

In an apparent new crackdown on drugs use, Mr Kadyrovs government has arbitrarily arrested and tortured scores if not hundreds of people, the independent Russian publication Republic said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Last year some 100 men were caught up in a purge of gay people, according to Human Rights Watch. Three men were thought to have died.

Mr Kadyrov responded to the allegations by stating there were no gays in Chechnya.
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Women across Poland are set to protest against attempts by the government to further restrict access to abortion.

Demonstrations across at least 50 cities have been organised by Polish Womens Strike, a coalition of womens rights groups.

Pro-choice demonstrators plan to wear black as a sign of mourning for their reproductive rights, which have come under threat under the ruling conservative Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, or PiS).

In a Facebook post, organisers of the march in Warsaw called for a feminist revolution with the hashtag #SaveWomen, in reference to a pro-women bill recently rejected by the Polish Parliament.

Demonstrations will also take place in Krakow, Gdansk, Szczecin and Wroclaw, as well as outside the Polish embassy in London.

The protests are the result of a vote in the lower chamber of the parliament on 10 January, which saw politicians choose to send a bill to ban the abortion of sick foetuses to a parliamentary committee.

The new bill would ban terminations due to irreversible damage to the foetus, removing the main legal recourse Polish women have to obtain an abortion.

The government rejected a bill entitled Save Women on the same day, which advocated greater access to abortion, free contraception and sex education in schools.

Poland has some of the most prohibitive abortion laws in Europe, introduced in 1993 after the fall of communism.

A woman can only have an abortion if the life of the mother or foetus is in danger, in cases of grave foetal defect, or when the pregnancy occurred as a result of rape or incest  and only within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The Law and Justice party has a close relationship with the Catholic church, which exerts a strong influence over Poland as around 87 per cent of the population declare themselves Catholic.

In October 2016, thousands of women marched across Poland to protest abortion restrictions in a bill proposed by the Stop Abortion coalition, which introduced the so-called citizens initiative in parliament.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The legislation advocated prison sentences of up to five years for women who had abortions, as well as legal implications for doctors who assisted with terminations.

Human rights groups warned women who suffer miscarriages could risk being charged on suspicion of abortion and said the bill would create a two-tier system of abortion access, in which only the wealthy can travel abroad for an abortion.

Campaigners claim tens of thousands of terminations take place in the country illegally every year and many women must travel to Slovakia or Germany to undergo the procedure.
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The security camera shows 3.35am. Two masked men come into focus, one carrying a canister. They place a ladder towards the roof, scuttle up and enter the building on the second floor. This is the location of the Ingushetia regional office of Memorial, one of Russia's most prominent human rights organisations. Later, a fire starts, gutting computers and office furniture.

Memorial has connected this apparent arson attack with events in the neighbouring republic of Chechnya. There, last week, the 60-year-old head of its Chechen operations, Oyub Titiev, was arrested over supposed drugs offences. Those who know him dismiss the charges as bogus and as a retaliation for his human rights work. Several of them had flown to the region in an attempt to secure his release and were using the Ingushetia office as a base.

They had been travelling from there every morning. This is not a coincidence, said Tanya Lokshina, lead Russia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Recommended Chechnya launches new crackdown on drug users

Memorial is one of Russias oldest human rights organisations, founded to document political crimes and the repressed. A star of Gorbachevs glasnost, it has in recent years come under increasing pressure from the state. Two years ago, the Russian Ministry of Justice included it in a list of foreign agents. The designation introduced not only stigma, but an increased bureaucratic burden to the organisations work.

Memorial has been particularly active in Chechnya. It has documented crimes during the republics two decades of war and subsequent repressions under its strongman president Ramzan Kadyrov. Its one-time head, Natalia Estimirova, was killed in 2009. Current director Mr Titiev is a critic of Mr Kadyrov and many consider this to be the only reason he has spent six days in jail.

Ekaterina Sokrianskaia, director at Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre, worked for Memorial for nine years, often from its Ingushetia base. She told The Independent that the organisation had no problems with the Ingush authorities; relations were, if anything, cooperative. In her view, the attack was all about Chechnya and the actions of its leader.

Chechen authorities have repeatedly targeted Memorial, threatened staff, called them enemies of the people and threatened victims of violations who turned to the organisation for help, she said. Several staff members have already been evacuated over threats, she added: Titievs arrest followed several such threats.

On Tuesday, the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta revealed that Mr Titiev has written a direct appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Federal Security Services director Alexander Bortnikov. The text of the published letter outlines Mr Titievs version of events: that Chechen security officers threw a bag containing 180 grams of marijuana into his car and that officers attempted to force a confession from him by threatening his family.

I want you to know that if I ever come to confess guilt, it will have been done under physical duress or the threat of blackmail, Mr Titiev writes.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov provided little grounds for optimism when asked to comment on the case last week. You need to ask the appropriate security organs since they have presented concrete allegations, he told journalists during a briefing.

Over recent days, activists have have been pressing Mr Titievs appeal at the highest levels, hoping for a direct intervention from the Kremlin. The chances of this happening are low. Moscow has in the past been very reluctant to interfere in Chechen matters, leaving them under the control of the irascible Mr Kadyrov in a grand security bargain.

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

According to Ms Sokrianskaia, Chechen authorities have understood their apparent immunity and have set their sights on closing Memorial offices across the region.

After Estemirovas assassination Memorial offices in Chechnya continued to operate, she said. This time, after Titievs arrest, they want to make sure, that Memorial goes and never comes back.
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Irans supreme leader has accused Saudi rulers of committing treason against Muslims by aligning themselves with the United States and Israel.

Addressing parliamentary representatives from Islamic countries gathered in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital was a big mistake and doomed to failure.

Regional governments that are cooperating with the United States and the Zionist regime to fight against Muslims are certainly committing treason. That is what Saudi Arabia is doing, Khamenei said, according to his official website.

Iran, the leading Shiite Muslim power, and Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, are rivals for influence in the Middle East where they support opposing sides in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Show all 22 1 /22 Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of Difa-e-Pakistan Council a coalition of right wing Islamic parties, burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump, during a protest in Quetta, Pakistan EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli police scuffle with a Palestinian protester outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn pictures of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu following Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces disperse Palestinian protesters outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on 7 December 2017 AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC), an Islamic organization, chant slogans as they burn Israeli and US flags during a protest against Donald Trump in Peshawar REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinians paint an 'X' over the face of a picture of US president Donald J. Trump which was painted on the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors burn the Israeli flag and a poster of US President Donald Trump in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party rally against Donald Trump in Lahore AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn the US and Israeli flags in Gaza City AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump is burnt during a protest against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Israeli forces detain a Palestinian protester during clashes that followed protests against US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protesters shout slogans against Donald Trump EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital A Palestinian protester wears a Guy Fawkes mask used by the anonymous movement during clashes with Israeli troops in Hebron AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops during protests AFP/Getty Images Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Supporters of a Pakistani religious party chant anti-American slogans during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistanis burn a representation of the U.S. flag during a protest rally in Hyderabad AP Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Young Palestinian women look on as smoke billows from burning tyres as fellow Palestinian demonstrators clash with Isralei troops AFP/Getty Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protesters burn a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump at a protest in Islamabad REUTERS Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Protestors shouts slogans against US President Donald Trump as they hold Palestinian and Turkish flags during a protest near the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Palestinian protestors put their feet over a picture of US president Donald Trump during a protest in the West Bank City of Nablus EPA Protests erupt after Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital Pakistani protesters burn tires at an anti-Donald Trump rally in Multan AP

US President Donald Trump said on a visit to Jerusalem last year that shared concern about Iran was driving many Arab states closer to Israel. An Israeli cabinet minister said in November that Israel had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran.

Iran does not recognise the state of Israel and has repeatedly called for its destruction.

Reuters
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An Israeli military court has denied bail to a 16-year-old Palestinian girl ahead of her trial for slapping and pushing two soldiers.

The ruling in the high-profile case against Ahed Tamimi has been denounced by human rights activists and her father, who said Palestinians could not expect justice in Israels military court system.

In video of the 15 December incident, the teenager is seen slapping and pushing the Israeli soldiers outside her West Bank home while demanding they get out. The men, wearing helmets and combat gear and armed with assault rifles, swatted away her blows.

Aheds family said she was upset because her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammad Tamimi, had been seriously wounded by a rubber bullet fired by Israeli troops in clashes earlier that day. Ahed was arrested along with her mother on 19 December after footage of the altercation went viral.

The soldiers had been deployed during protests in the village against Israeli policy on settlements in the West Bank, as well as US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Some Palestinians have embraced her as a symbol of resistance to Israels half-century of military occupation. Senior Israeli politicians have called for prosecutors to be tough to make an example of the teen, while a commentator in the Israeli left-wing newspaper Haaretz said Israel risked turning her into the Palestinian Joan of Arc.

Aheds lawyer Gaby Lasky said the military court, convening at Israels Ofer prison near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, dismissed arguments that continued detention would violate her rights as a minor and concluded she would pose a danger if released on bail.

They decided the trial will begin on 31 January, but although she is only 16 years old, the court believes that her indictment is enough to keep her in detention until the end of the trial, the attorney told reporters.

An adult found guilty of assaulting a soldier could be jailed for up to 10 years, although a sentence that harsh is unlikely for a minor.

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

Amnesty International has called for Israel to release the teenager, who could spend months in prison awaiting trial.

Nothing that Ahed Tamimi has done can justify the continuing detention of a 16-year-old girl, said Magdalena Mughrabi, the charitys deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

She added: The Israeli authorities must release her without delay. In capturing an unarmed teenage girls assault on two armed soldiers wearing protective gear, the footage of this incident shows that she posed no actual threat and that her punishment is blatantly disproportionate.

Ahed Tamimis ensuing arrest and military trial exposes the Israeli authorities discriminatory treatment of Palestinian children who dare to stand up to ongoing, often brutal, repression by occupying forces.

The teens mother Nariman Tamimi has also been remanded in custody ahead of a trial. Nariman is accused of participating in an assault on the Israeli soldiers and using Facebook to incite others to commit terrorist attacks. Ahed's cousin Nour Tamimi, 20, was also arrested on 20 December and was released on bail on 5 January.

Ahed, whose father is a prominent Palestinian activist, made news two years ago when she was pictured biting a soldier who tried to arrest her younger brother.

The fact that it is not the first time Ahed has been involved in such an incident has led to Israeli accusations that she and her family deliberately provoke soldiers to create anti-Israeli propaganda.

They have nicknamed her "Shirley Temper", comparing her disparagingly to the child actor Shirley Temple.

And the recent footage has sparked a separate debate among Israelis over whether the soldiers should have taken immediate action to stop the slapping - or showed appropriate restraint.

Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The majority of the international community sees the 1967 occupation of the territory, and the subsequent development of Israeli settlements, to be illegal.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently reached a net worth of $105 billion, making him the richest person in the world  and ever in history.

A recent study released by Oxfam found that the top 1% has owned more wealth than the rest of the world's population since 2015. And the eight richest have the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world  nearly 4 billion people. If these top billionaires continue to see returns on their wealth, we could see the world's first trillionaire in as little as 25 years.

Currently, there are over 1,500 billionaires in the world, with more than 560 in the US alone. China, Germany, and India each have 100 or more billionaires who call the countries home, according to a report from UBS.

Ahead, nine of the world's wealthiest people  according to Forbes' Billionaire List  that have more wealth than half the world's population. Net worth estimates are current as of January 16.

9. Larry Page  $52.2 billion

Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page (Getty)

The CEO and co-founder of Google sits at number nine with a net worth of $52.2 billion.

8. Larry Ellison  $60.4 billion

In 1977, Larry Ellison co-founded the software company Oracle, which originally was launched with $2,000 of funding, $1,200 of which came out of Ellison's own pocket. Ellison stepped down as CEO in 2014, but continues to be involved with the company.

7. Carlos Slim Helu and family  $67.6 billion

Carlos Slim Helu controls Latin America's largest mobile telecom firm, America Movil, of which he is a chairman. Helu also owns stakes in various mining, real estate, and consumer goods businesses  including The New York Times. He is the richest man in Mexico.

6. Bernard Arnault  $68.7 billion

Bernard Arnault has been the CEO of LVMH, which houses brands such as Louis Vuitton, Sephora, and Dom Perignon, since 1989. Combined, the brands under LVMH sold $40 billion in sales in 2016.

5. Mark Zuckerberg  $72 billion

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come under renewed political pressure (Getty)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg founded the website in his Harvard dorm room 13 years ago and has since become one of the richest people in the world. He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have committed to give away 99% of their wealth before they die.

4. Amancio Ortega  $75.8 billion

Amancio Ortega is the wealthiest man in Europe, and co-founded fashion retailer Zara's parent company Inditex in 1975. His real-estate portfolio includes properties in London, New York, Madrid.

3. Warren Buffett  $90.1 billion

Wildly successful investor Warren Buffett is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway which owns over 60 companies. Although he still lives a somewhat modest lifestyle, he became a billionaire at age 32. In 2010, Buffett, alongside Bill Gates, created The Giving Pledge  promising to donate at least half of their fortunes to charities.

2. Bill Gates  $91.9 billion

Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975, and has continued his involvement with the company as a technology advisor and board member. Gates also has investments in Canadian National Railway, AutoNation, and more. He and his wife Melinda founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which aims to help kindergarten through 12th grade students in the US.

1. Jeff Bezos  $108.9 billion

(Reuters (Reuters)

Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos owns nearly 17% of the company. In 2013 he purchased the Washington Post for $250 million, and he also owns an aerospace company, Blue Origin. In 2017, Bezos made $19.3 billion.

 Basic income experts predict milestone for free money in 2018

 Grocery shopping in the US versus the UK

 A woman pretended to fart at the gym to get a man to leave her alone

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2018. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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I had my Boris Johnson moment a few hundred feet up Jebel Jais. The UAEs highest peak is a rugged hunk of a mountain. Its carved up by a smooth tarmac road that winds its way to the top, over 1,900m above sea level. The route takes the daytrippers and car nuts on what is effectively a road to nowhere  albeit a very picturesque road.

The peak is part of the Hajar range, with its stark, rocky ridges that appear anything from golden blonde to cantaloupe-hued, depending on the time of day and Instagram filter. I was in the northernmost emirate, Ras al-Khaimah, known as RAK, not to try and up my social media game, but to have a go at Jebel Jais via ferrata climbing route. Id been planning to try the much-touted worlds longest zipline, which had been due to open in December. Bad weather has delayed the build, and the date is now set for early February.

Jebel Jais in the Hajar range is increasingly popular with adventure travellers in the UAE (RAKTDA)

Recommended Taking these prescription drugs into Dubai could get you arrested

The new zipline will trump The Monster, a 2,200-metre line in Puerto Rico. Its presence will cement Ras al-Khaimahs status as the adventure capital of the UAE, where visitors can escape the bustle and bling of Dubai, a 90-minute drive away, or the urban sprawl of nearby RAK City, and get closer to nature  whether thats on foot, bike, supercar or hanging precariously from a steel cable.

On my trip, people kept pointing to the top of the mountain from where the zipline will eventually run. Punters will be able to zip side by side, reaching speeds of 80mph. For non-participants, there will be a mountain viewing deck at 1,300m, a space that will have areas for picnickers and food trucks to cater for the visitors and the growing number of hikers, campers and hardcore road bikers and runners who frequent the mountain (the area plays host to endurance races).

What the worlds longest zipline should look like. Visitors will reach speeds of up to 80mph (RAKTDA)

Thats not to say theres nothing to do yet  there are currently 50m, 60m and 300m ziplines as part of the strenuous via ferrata. Meaning iron road in Italian, these climbing paths were first used in the Alps as a way of accessing steep terrain to get between villages and cattle-grazing spots. Todays are often geared towards visitors looking for an adrenalin rush, with a steel cable bolted to the rock, to which you attach yourself with a via ferrata kit  helmet, harness, and carabiner hooks. In a cleverly angled photo, it can make anyone look like a skilled mountaineer but really its a relatively safe way to have a mountain adventure.

Of course, its not risk-free. Each person is responsible for clipping themselves to the cable along the kilometre-long track and the three ziplines. Our guides (three for a group of eight  interestingly, more women than men do the via ferrata) were reassuringly strict on safety and wellbeing, reminding us to stay hydrated during our four hours on the course. It may have been winter, but the afternoon sun still sapped energy. Savvy visitors opt for the cooler morning session where youre mostly in the shade.

Visitors tackling the RAK via ferrata, a 1km course that includes three ziplines (RAKTDA)

After signing a three-page disclaimer agreeing it would be our own fault if we died, we were ushered to the training area for a briefing. There are two carabiners to secure you to the cable; we should be clipped into at least one at all times. If a rock came loose, we were to shout to the person below, who should not look up under any circumstances. And while on the two shorter ziplines we would sail to the other side under our own steam, the 300m one would require grabbing a green loop towards the end to make sure we didnt slide back into the middle.

Amdy led Sally Newalls group on the via ferrata (RAKTDA)

The first ascent got quite high very quickly, but with the guides positioned at the front, middle and back, anyone in need got a helping hand. Led by Mohammed Amdy Yunus, whod trained with the British Mountaineering Council, they were world-class: chatting and joking to help us feel at ease, but with an innate sense of when it was time to get serious or assist anyone having a wobble.

As the path got steeper, with only a cable between us and the rock, it felt very close to nature. On the mountain, goats are the most likely spot, but elsewhere in the desert there are camels, donkeys, gazelles, wild cats and foxes, as well as an abundance of birds, from falcons to larks. Its the quality of the attraction coupled with the accessibility of the new Jebel Jais set up, as well as the regions sandy beaches and serene desert, that the low-key emirate hopes will attract more visitors. With Dubai and Abu Dhabi dominating the headlines, I felt like I was in on a soon-to-be-outed secret.

We walked for nearly two hours before we get to the first zipline. Ive always preferred an adrenaline rush that Im relatively in control of, so launching myself away from the rock and the steadying hands of an instructor felt much scarier for me than the climb wed done so far. That said, the breeze was a relief from the sun and I did get a rush from flying through the air, safe in the knowledge that there was a guide to scoop me up at the other end. I never managed to forget that I was pretty high up, though. We were 120m at the highest point and looking down at the fast-moving road below turned my stomach every time.

Sally on the via ferrata (RAKTDA)

The 300m zipline felt like a different proposition to the other two: not just five times the length, but cantilevered 100m over the road. Amdy prepped me for the off, reminding me to grab the green loop at the end to allow the instructor on the other side to pull me back onto the rock.

Id expected a speedy run but this was relatively slow  something I was grateful for, though it might disappoint those looking for more of a rush. It meant that I had time to take in the surroundings and appreciate the fresh mountain air and epic scenery. I even tried putting my arms out, like a kid playing aeroplanes. Unfortunately, in doing so, I forgot about the warning in the briefing. I saw the flash of green too late, reached for it and missed.

Before Id had time to think, I was moving in the opposite direction of the waiting instructor and the rock that had been looming larger was getting smaller. As they had warned us, I didnt stop until I was halfway back across the zipline where I jolted to a halt, the cable trembling, me dangling mid-air like Boris Johnson during the 2012 Olympics. Instead of limply waving two Union Jacks, I was grimly gripping the lanyards attaching me to the pulley. When Boris had his zipline malfunction in Londons Victoria Park, he was only a few metres off the ground and his joke about a ladder was a legitimate request. But no ladder would reach me here and onlookers quickly gathered to get a snap of the via ferrata dunce. The cars below tooted their horns.

The 300m zipline runs in full view of the road leading to the summit (RAKTDA)

I assumed that Id be swiftly winched to safety. No such luck; my rescue would involve one of the guys attaching himself to the cable, going hand over hand to get me, then clipping himself to me to bring me back. The logical part of my brain told me that it was unlikely a metal cable, pulley and numerous carabiners would fail. The other was telling me that the quivering cable signalled that I was about to plummet to the ground under the wheels of a Ferrari. As my knight in shining climbing kit made his way towards me painfully slowly, I realised I was whimpering. When he eventually hauled me to the ledge, Id never been so glad to be back on firm ground. Sally, youre so lucky, you got to do it twice, said Amdy. As I walked, wobbly-legged, back to the starting point, I wondered whether I was going to become a meme in Ras al-Khaimah.

Youll have to come back to do the worlds longest zipline soon, said Amdy, back at the base. He pointed vaguely at the road to nowhere, now bathed in the pink-hued early evening light, ready for its Instagram moment.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Emirates flies direct to Dubai from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham from 293. From there, RAK is a 45-minute drive or a short flight (Emirates has connecting flights).

Staying there

The Ritz Carlton Al Wadi Desert has doubles from 355, full board.

More information

The Via Ferrata Ledge Walk costs AED400 (70) per person, including all equipment. There are two daily trips from November to May, and pick-up from RAK City is possible. A bus from downtown Dubai runs to the city, with a change at Sharjah.

jebeljais.ae
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This Friday, one of the worlds longest routes will take off for the first time from Houston to Sydney.

United Airlines flight 101 leaves at 8pm for the 8,596-mile trip to Australias largest city and is 18 miles longer than the existing Qantas route from Dallas to Sydney.

The new flight, scheduled to take 17 hours and 30 minutes, arrives at 6.30am local time, two days after leaving Houston, with a day lost because of the International Date Line. But on the return journey, passengers will arrive 75 minutes before they set off, local time. Departure is at 11.50am, with arrival at 10.35am the same day.

Last year, the worlds longest commercial flight  between Doha and Auckland  touched down for the first time in February. And on 25 March 2018, Qantas starts the first non-stop scheduled service from London Heathrow to Perth. The two airports are 9,009 miles apart, which will make it by far the longest non-stop flight from the UK. Here are 10 of the worlds longest flight routes.

Doha to Auckland

Auckland Airport welcomed the first Qatar Airways flight with a traditional water cannon salute (Reuters)

The Qatar Airways QR920 route between Doha and Auckland is the longest distance (9,032 miles) between two cities. The first flight took off in February 2017, flying across 10 time zones, with four pilots and 15 crew members serving 1,100 cups of tea and coffee, 2,000 cold drinks and 1,036 meals on board.

The flight took 16 hours and 23 minutes on the outbound journey and 17 hours and 30 minutes on the return leg.

Dubai to Auckland

Prior to the introduction of Qatar Airways Doha-Auckland route, the UAEs Emirates held the record for its service from Dubai to the New Zealand city with a route of 8,824 miles.

Los Angeles to Singapore

United Airlines UA 37 became one of the worlds longest flight routes in October 2017, travelling 8,770 miles between California and Singapore.

Dallas to Sydney

Before Uniteds new flight, Qantas service to Sydney was the longest US-Australia flight in the world (REUTERS)

Prior to Uniteds recently announced Houston to Sydney route, Qantas AF 8 service between the cities of Dallas and Sydney, which travelled 8,578 miles, was the longest US-Australia flight.

San Francisco to Singapore

Both Singapore Airlines and United Airlines have run services between San Francisco and Singapore (8,447 miles).

Expected to take 17 hours and 55 minutes, United Airlines maiden voyage arrived after only 16 hours thanks to low air resistance.

Johannesburg to Atlanta

The only African entry on the list, Delta Air Lines route between Johannesburg and Atlanta, Georgia, covers 8,439 miles and was first launched in June 2009. The journey takes just under 17 hours.

Abu Dhabi to Los Angeles

An Etihad Airways aircraft, flight 171 from Abu Dhabi, comes in for a landing at LA International Airport (Getty)

Etihad Airways began running a service between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles (8,372 miles) in June 2014.

Dubai to Los Angeles

Rival airline Emirates operates a service from Dubai to Los Angeles that is slightly shorter, at 8,321 miles.

Jeddah to Los Angeles

The only entry on the list from airline Saudia connects passengers from Los Angeles (8,315 miles) with the coastal city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is the gateway to both Mecca and Medina, with the routes launch significantly improving access to the religiously important cities for Islamic passengers from the US.

Doha to Los Angeles

At 8,288 miles, Qatar Airways Doha to Los Angeles QR739 service is the fourth  and shortest  link to LAX from the Gulf/Arabian Peninsula region. But its still a very long way.
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When, in 2015, a man called Jeremy Corbyn emerged from three decades in hiding in the House of Commons to become Labour leader, the conventional wisdom is that it would herald the return of ideology to British politics after at least two decades in hiding.

Of course, we werent to know that in less than a year, the Conservative Party would also conspire to deliver itself into the clutches of its lunatic fringes via the medium of the EU referendum, and so the two parties would in fact become mutual guarantors of national self-destruction, which is unfortunate to say the least.

But when a huge outsourcing company goes bust, torching thousands of jobs and several billion pound contracts with the Government, thats the sort of thing that should, come Prime Ministers Questions, herald a return to something that looked like meaningful discussion of crucial ideological difference.

What we had instead was meaningless nonsense. It was as if the exchanges had been set to Benny Hill music, with observers engaged in a futile chase around Jeremy Corbyns questions for something that looked like it might be prepared to flesh out a bit of anything that might make sense.

Scarcely a year ago, shadow cabinet minister Kerry McCarthy revealed that Jeremy Corbyn didnt know the difference between a hedge fund and a loan shark. Now here he was demanding to know why Theresa May hadnt taken heed of all the hedge funds shorting Carillion stock, and as an appropriate and measured response, cancelled the various billion-pound-plus contracts it had with them, a course of action that would have achieved nothing other than to hasten the collapse he is now apparently so angry about.

Theresa May patiently pointed out that the Government is a customer of Carillion, not the manager, to which Jeremy Corbyn bellowed in response: Its the Government whove been handing out contracts! Its the Governments responsibility to ensure Carillion is properly managed!

Painful though it is to point out, it is worth repeating that this is a man who has extremely genuine designs on running the country, and yet remains absolutely 100 per cent unaware of how anything in the world outside left-wing political campaign meetings actually functions.

The share price fell by 90 per cent! he boomed, which it did, itself fuelled by hedge fund speculation that Jeremy Corbyn now apparently thinks to be the root of all earthly wisdom, after long decades of denouncing everything they do and stand for, at least for as long as he is not getting them mixed up with loan sharks.

Naturally, there is a legitimate and grown-up debate to be had here, of the kind that, at his first Prime Ministers Questions several political lifetimes ago, Jeremy Corbyn expressed an interest in having.

Do huge companies, with all the efficiencies they offer, have something to offer governments that it is superior to the government undertaking all of its own responsibilities itself? If all these low-margin, private government contracts are enough to send a big company bankrupt, does the taxpayer want to play the Carillion role instead?

Its a complex matter. But all Jeremy Corbyn could do was advertise that its a debate that exists far beyond the reach of his ability.

His now traditional, straight-to-YouTube viral speech-cum-question at the end, which took the form of a crescendoing rant through every outsourced government contract of the last seven-and-a-half years, was faintly interesting however.

Capita! Atos! G4S at the Olympics! Theyd all let the people down apparently. But theyd also, for the most part, kept the woman standing opposite him in the Home Office for six years. Being able to put someone elses name above the door of a terrible cock-up is a relatively new opportunity for governments, and no one has been served better by it than Theresa May. That she survived for so long in the traditional graveyard of British politics owes a great deal to this new ruse of nationalising credit and privatising blame.

Indeed, should all these services be brought in house, the logical extension is that hedge funds will be able to take positions on the government of the day.

Thats not altogether likely however. For a start, if you wanted to sell Theresa May short, you would in theory have to find someone out there in the market who thinks shes going to rise. Good luck with that.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hiep wins the contest (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

Since late November 2017, 69 contestants registered to participate in the contest. Through several rounds, the Vietnamese Youth and Student Association (VYSA), organizing board of the contest, chose eight contestants to the final round.

At the final round, the eight contestants performed in traditional long dress (ao dai) and answered two questions, one from the judges and another from Mrs. Hoang Minh Ha, spouse of the Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan.

Miss VYSA 2017 was awarded JPY50,000 in cash along with along with beauty and gift vouchers

The runners- up were Ngo Huong Giang and Nguyen Hanh Dung, each was presented an award worth JPY30,000.

Pham Thanh Huong, President of VYSA for the 2018-2019 term and Head of the organizing board shared that Miss VYSA 2017 received more support from the Vietnamese youth and student community in Japan compared to the first contest. She felt happy because through contest, she understands more about Vietnamese beauty and thoughts, and the enthusiasm of young Vietnamese people in Japan.

Miss VYSA is a Vietnamese beauty contest in Japan, organized and maintained by VYSA. It was first organized in 2015./.
A panel of federal judges denied a plea Tuesday from leading Republican legislators seeking to delay a recent order requiring the General Assembly to redraw North Carolinas congressional districts by Jan. 24.

The requirement stems from the panels finding last week that congressional districts the GOP-led legislature drew in 2016 stemmed from unconstitutional, partisan gerrymandering that went too far in tipping the scales toward Republican candidates.

The legislative defendants wanted the panel to put the Jan. 24 deadline on hold while they pursue an appeal.

But the three-judge panel said in its latest order that lawyers for GOP leaders had not made a convincing case they would win the appeal of last weeks ruling in the lawsuit filed by Common Cause North Carolina, the state League of Womens Voters, the state Democratic Party and others.

The public interest strongly weighs against staying this courts order, the judges wrote. This court found that the 2016 Plan violates both the structure of the republican form of government embodied in the Constitution and fundamental individual rights preserved by the Bill of Rights' and the Fourteenth Amendment.

The lawsuit is one of several pending in the Greensboro-based U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina that deal with various aspects of redistricting. Another prominent redistricting case pending locally addresses the alleged racial gerrymandering of state House and Senate districts.

Current and former legislators named in the congressional redistricting lawsuit include state Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden), state House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain), state Rep. David Lewis (R-Dunn) and former Republican senator Robert Rucho of Mattews.

They have appealed last weeks order in the congressional redistricting lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to overturn that decision and allow the states current, 13 congressional districts to remain intact.

As part of that appeal, they also have asked the Supreme Court separately to stay the three-judge panels order to redraw those congressional districts until the appeal has been decided.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on the separate motion to stay the Jan. 24 deadline. The high court has directed Common Cause, the plaintiffs and state government to file a response to the legislators' stay request by noon on Wednesday.

The three judges who make up the local panel in the congressional redistricting lawsuit include U.S. District judges Earl Britt, of Raleigh, William Osteen, of Greensboro, and Judge James Wynn of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The panel members said that they also declined to issue a stay because the GOP defendants did not meet a basic test for such a stay, that they likely would win their case on appeal.

Legislative defendants fail to make a strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits, the judges said of the pending appeal.

The judges noted that the legislatures original 2011 congressional map also was found unconstitutional after it had been in use for two election cycles, meaning that North Carolina voters have not cast ballots in a properly designed electoral format this decade.

That plaintiffs and other North Carolina voters cast their ballots under an unconstitutional congressional plan in 2012, 2014 and 2016 only enhances the potential prejudice to the plaintiffs associated with staying these proceedings, Wynn, Osteen and Britt said in their unanimous order.
RALEIGH  I think the administration of Gov. Roy Cooper favors the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile project connecting natural-gas generation in West Virginia to natural-gas consumers in Virginia and North Carolina. But Im not entirely sure.

Two of Coopers cabinet secretaries have sent conflicting signals, and the governor himself hasnt weighed in personally on the pipeline, which will traverse eight North Carolina counties. Both friends and foes of the project have asked Cooper to clarify his position, reports Carolina Journals Don Carrington, but as yet to no avail.

I wish he would. For Eastern North Carolina, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline has major economic and environmental implications.

Green-energy advocates and left-wing activists argue that the pipeline will only enable the continued reliance on fossil fuels. While burning natural gas to generate electricity may emit far less carbon than coal does, it still emits some  and environmentalists argue that methane escaping from pipelines is itself a potent driver of climate change. The NAACP further argues that the placement of the project will disproportionately burden minorities and the poor.

Michael Regan, Coopers secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, seems at least somewhat sympathetic to these concerns. Unlike the other two affected states, North Carolina has yet to approve the necessary water-quality permits. The state has reserved the right to do what North Carolina has to do to best protect its citizens and the environment, Regan told the Triangle Business Journal.

On the other hand, North Carolina Commerce Secretary Tony Copeland appears to be a strong advocate. He points out something that people often forget about natural gas: it isnt just a fuel for power plants. It is also used directly in the production of manufactured goods such as plastic, cement, and paper. Natural gas makes up about 14 percent of the inputs used for fertilizer production, for example.

While laying the pipeline will employ thousands of construction workers for a time, the real economic payoff will come from permanent jobs and income gains derived from gas access and lower-cost electricity. We have counties that are 40 miles from a natural-gas line, Copeland said. They will never get manufacturing in without access to natural gas.

Several of Coopers predecessors have faced similar issues with high stakes and political complexities. Former governors Jim Hunt and Jim Martin, for example, were both challenged by long-running disputes about how to dispose of hazardous and low-level radioactive wastes. They felt compelled to exercise leadership on the issue even though they knew critics might be vicious. Martin was actually burned in effigy. For her part, former Gov. Beverly Perdue vetoed a 2012 bill to allow fracking as part of oil and gas exploration in the state. The Republican-majority General Assembly overturned her veto, which gained her little political benefit and, shocking as it may seem, may simply have reflected her heartfelt opinion on the issue.

As you can tell, Id prefer that Gov. Cooper come out in favor of the pipeline and ensure that the permitting process is completed in an expeditious manner so the project can proceed. Despite environmentalist claims to the contrary, North Carolinas decision will have essentially no bearing on the future of natural gas production. It is a valuable and relatively clean product that will be produced and sold in any event. The only question is whether North Carolinas government will allow its households, businesses, and prospective employees to benefit from that.

Even if Cooper decides to come out against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, however  because he is persuaded on the merits or at least believes he cant side against the increasingly strident base of the left-shifted Democratic Party  I still think clarity is better than caginess.

You have enemies? Victor Hugo once exclaimed. Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Governors ought to generate some rumbles every now and then. Its part of their job.

John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on the talk show NC SPIN. You can follow him @JohnHoodNC.
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
Turkish President Calls On NATO To Take Stand Against U.S.

By Forces

January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged NATO to take a stand against the United States over its plans to form a Kurdish-led border security force in Syria.

Addressing his ruling party's deputies, the Turkish president protested over the proposed formation of the 30,000 strong Kurdish-led border force.

Ankara believes Syrian Kurdish militias to be terrorists and has previously threatened to launch a military offensive against the groups.

Mr Erdogan questioned NATOs stance on the issues saying:

Hey NATO! You are obliged to make a stance against those who harass and violate the borders of your members.

Tuesday comments follow Mr Erdogans accusation that the United States is creating an army of terror in Syria along the border with Turkey. He then vowed to crush the force.
Its Nato thats Empire-building, not Putin



By Peter Hitchins

The article below was originally published in March 2015

January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Just for once, let us try this argument with an open mind, employing arithmetic and geography and going easy on the adjectives. Two great land powers face each other. One of these powers, Russia, has given up control over 700,000 square miles of valuable territory. The other, the European Union, has gained control over 400,000 of those square miles. Which of these powers is expanding?



There remain 300,000 neutral square miles between the two, mostly in Ukraine. From Moscows point of view, this is already a grievous, irretrievable loss. As Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the canniest of the old Cold Warriors, wrote back in 1997, Ukraine is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.



This diminished Russia feels the spread of the EU and its armed wing, NATO, like a blow on an unhealed bruise. In February 2007, for instance, Vladimir Putin asked sulkily, Against whom is this expansion intended?



I have never heard a clear answer to that question. The USSR, which NATO was founded to fight, expired in August 1991. So what is Natos purpose now? Why does it even still exist?



There is no obvious need for an adversarial system in post-Soviet Europe. Even if Russia wanted to reconquer its lost empire, as some believe (a belief for which there is no serious evidence), it is too weak and too poor to do this. So why not invite Russia to join the great western alliances? Alas, it is obvious to everyone, but never stated, that Russia cannot ever join either NATO or the EU, for if it did so it would unbalance them both by its sheer size. There are many possible ways of dealing with this. One would be an adult recognition of the limits of human power, combined with an understanding of Russias repeated experience of invasions and its lack of defensible borders.



But we do not do this. Instead we have a noisy pseudo-moral crusade, which would not withstand five minutes of serious consideration. Mr Putins state is, beyond doubt, a sinister tyranny. But so is Recep Tayyip Erdogans Turkey, which locks up far more journalists than does Russia. Turkey is an officially respectable Nato member, 40 years after seizing northern Cyprus, which it still occupies, in an almost exact precedent for Russias seizure of Crimea. If Putin disgusts us so much, then why are we and the USA happy to do business with Erdogan, and also to fawn upon Saudi Arabia and China?



Contrary to myth, the expansion of the EU into the former communist world has not magically brought universal peace, love and prosperity. Croatias economy has actually gone backwards since it joined. Corruption still exists in large parts of the EUs new south-eastern territories, and I am not sure that the rule of law could be said to have been properly established there. So the idea that the recruitment of Ukraine to the West will magically turn that troubled nation into a sunny paradise of freedom, probity and wealth is perhaps a little idealistic, not to say mistaken.

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It is all so much clearer if we realise that this quarrel is about power and land, not virtue. In truth, much of the eastward expansion of Nato was caused by the EUs initial unwillingness to take in backward, bankrupt and corrupt refugee states from the old Warsaw Pact. The policy could be summed up as We wont buy your tomatoes, but if it makes you happy you can shelter under our nuclear umbrella. The promise was an empty assurance against a nonexistent threat. But an accidental arrangement hardened into a real confrontation. The less supine Russia was, the more its actions were interpreted as aggression in the West. Boris Yeltsin permitted western interests to rape his country, and did little to assert Russian power. So though he bombarded his own parliament, conducted a grisly war in Chechnya, raised corruption to Olympic levels and shamelessly rigged his own re-election, he yet remained a popular guest in western capitals and summits. Vladimir Putins similar sins, by contrast, provide a pretext for ostracism and historically illiterate comparisons between him and Hitler.



This is because of his increasing avowal of Russian sovereignty, and of an independent foreign policy. There have been many East-West squabbles and scrimmages, not all of them Russias fault. But the New Cold War really began in 2011, after Mr Putin dared to frustrate western  and Saudi  policy in Syria. George Friedman, the noted US intelligence and security expert, thinks Russia badly underestimated the level of American fury this would provoke. As Mr Friedman recently told the Moscow newspaper Kommersant, It was in this situation that the United States took a look at Russia and thought about what it [Russia] wants to see happen least of all: instability in Ukraine.



Mr Friedman (no Putin stooge) also rather engagingly agrees with Moscow that overthrow last February (2014) of Viktor Yanukovych was the most blatant coup in history. He is of course correct, as anyone unclouded by passion can see. The test of any action by your own side is to ask what you would think of it if the other side did it.



If Russia didnt grasp how angry Washington would get over Syria, did the West realise how furiously Russia would respond to the EU Association Agreement and to the fall of Yanukovych? Perhaps not. Fearing above all the irrecoverable loss to NATO of its treasured naval station in Sevastopol, Russia reacted. After 23 years of sullenly appeasing the West, Moscow finally said enough. Since were all supposed to be against appeasement, shouldnt we find this action understandable in a sovereign nation, even if we cannot actually praise it? And can anyone explain to me precisely why Britain, of all countries, should be siding with the expansion of the European Union and NATO into this dangerous and unstable part of the world?



Peter Jonathan Hitchens is an English journalist and author. He has published six books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, and The War We Never Fought.

This article was originally published by Truepublica -

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Home Martin Luther King Jr.: "My Dream Has Turned Into a Nightmare" Watch



Dr. King explains that the war in Vietnam undermined the fight for social justice by breeding insensitivity to the suffering of South Asians Posted January 16, 2018 Never Miss Another Story Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter ==== Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. This website encourages readers to use the "Report" link found at the base of each comment. When a predetermined number of ICH readers click on the "Report" link, the comment will be automatically sent to "moderation". This would appear to be the most logical way to allow open comments, where you the reader/supporter, can determine what is acceptable speech. Please don't use the report feature simply because you disagree with the author point of view. Treat others with respect, remembering that "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."- Benjamin Franklin. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
The World According to Trump

Or How to Build a Wall and Lose an Empire



By Alfred W. McCoy

January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - As 2017 ended with billionaires toasting their tax cuts and energy executives cheering their unfettered access to federal lands as well as coastal waters , there was one sector of the American elite that did not share in the champagne celebration: Washingtons corps of foreign policy experts. Across the political spectrum, many of them felt a deep foreboding for the countrys global future under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

In a year-end jeremiad, for instance, conservative CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria blasted the Trump administrations foolish and self-defeating decision to abdicate the United States global influence -- something that has taken more than 70 years to build. The great global story of our times, he continued, is that the creator, upholder, and enforcer of the existing international system is withdrawing into self-centered isolation, opening a power vacuum that will be filled by illiberal powers like China, Russia, and Turkey.

The editors of the New York Times remarked ruefully that the presidents boastfulness and belligerence and tendency to self-aggrandizement are not only costing America worldwide support, but also isolating it. Discarding the polite bipartisanship of Washingtons top diplomats, Obamas former national security adviser, Susan Rice, ripped Trump for dumping principled leadership -- the foundation of American foreign policy since World War II -- for an America first stance that will only embolden rivals and weaken ourselves.

Yet no matter how sharp or sweeping, such criticism cant begin to take in the full scope of the damage the Trump White House is inflicting on the system of global power Washington built and carefully maintained over those 70 years. Indeed, American leaders have been on top of the world for so long that they no longer remember how they got there. Few among Washingtons foreign policy elite seem to fully grasp the complex system that made U.S. global power what it now is, particularly its all-important geopolitical foundations. As Trump travels the globe, tweeting and trashing away, hes inadvertently showing us the essential structure of that power, the same way a devastating wildfire leaves the steel beams of a ruined building standing starkly above the smoking rubble.

The Architecture of American Global Power

The architecture of the world order that Washington built after World War II was not only formidable but, as Trump is teaching us almost daily, surprisingly fragile. At its core, that global system rested upon a delicate duality: an idealistic community of sovereign nations equal under the rule of international law joined tensely, even tenuously, to an American imperium grounded in the realpolitik of its military and economic power. In concrete terms, think of this duality as the State Department versus the Pentagon.

At the end of World War II, the United States invested its prestige in forming an international community that would promote peace and shared prosperity through permanent institutions, including the United Nations (1945), the International Monetary Fund (1945), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947), the predecessor to the World Trade Organization. To govern such a world order through the rule of law, Washington also helped establish the International Court of Justice at The Hague and would later promote both human rights and womens rights.

On the realpolitik side of that duality, Washington constructed a four-tier apparatus -- military, diplomatic, economic, and clandestine -- to grimly advance its own global dominion. At its core was an unmatched military that (thanks to hundreds of overseas bases ) circled the globe, the most formidable nuclear arsenal on the planet, massive air and naval forces, and an unparalleled array of client armies. In addition, to maintain its military superiority, the Pentagon massively promoted scientific research, producing incessant innovation that would lead, among so many other things, to the worlds first system of global telecommunications satellites, which effectively added space to its apparatus for exercising global power.

Complementing all this steel was the salve of an active worldwide diplomatic corps, working to promote close bilateral ties with allies like Australia and Britain and multilateral alliances like NATO, SEATO, and the Organization of American States. In the process, it distributed economic aid to nations new and old. Protected by such global hegemony and helped by multilateral trade pacts hammered out in Washington, Americas multinational corporations competed profitably in international markets throughout the Cold War.

Adding another dimension to its global power was a clandestine fourth tier that involved global surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and covert operations on five continents by the Central Intelligence Agency. In this way, with remarkable regularity and across vast expanses of the globe, Washington manipulated elections and promoted coups to insure that whoever led a country on our side of the Iron Curtain would remain part of a reliable set of subordinate elites, friendly to and subservient to the U.S.

In ways that to this day few observers fully appreciate, this massive apparatus of global power also rested on geopolitical foundations of extraordinary strength. As Oxford historian John Darwin explained in his sweeping history of Eurasian empires over the past 600 years, Washington achieved its colossal Imperium... on an unprecedented scale by becoming the first power in history to control the strategic axial points at both ends of Eurasia through its military bases and mutual security pacts.

While Washington defended its European axial point through NATO, its position in the east was secured by four mutual defense pacts running down the Pacific littoral from Japan and South Korea through the Philippines to Australia. All of this was, in turn, tied together by successive arcs of steel that ringed the vast Eurasian continent -- strategic bombers, ballistic missiles, and massive naval fleets in the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, and the Pacific. In the latest addition to this apparatus, the U.S. has built a string of 60 drone bases around the Eurasian landmass from Sicily to Guam.

The Dynamics of Decline

In the decade before Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, there were already signs that this awesome apparatus was on a long-term trajectory of decline, even if the key figures in a Washington shrouded in imperial hubris preferred to ignore that reality. Not only has the new presidents maladroit diplomacy accelerated this trend, but it has illuminated it in striking ways.

Over the past half-century, the American share of the global economy has, for instance, fallen from 40% in 1960 to 22% in 2014 to just 15% in 2017 (as measured by the realistic index of purchasing power parity). Many experts now agree that China will surpass the U.S., in absolute terms, as the worlds number one economy within a decade.

As its global economic dominance fades, its clandestine instruments of power have been visibly weakening as well. The NSAs worldwide surveillance of a remarkable array of foreign leaders, as well as millions of the inhabitants of their countries, was once a relatively cost-effective instrument for the exercise of global power. Now, thanks in part to Edward Snowdens revelations about the agencys snooping and the anger of targeted allies, the political costs have risen sharply. Similarly, during the Cold War, the CIA manipulated dozens of major elections worldwide. Now, the situation has been reversed with Russia using its sophisticated cyberwarfare capabilities to interfere in the 2016 American presidential campaign -- a clear sign of Washingtons waning global power.

Most striking of all, Washington now faces the first sustained challenge to its geopolitical position in Eurasia. By opting to begin constructing a  new silk road , a trillion-dollar infrastructure of railroads and oil pipelines across that vast continent, and preparing to build naval bases in the Arabian and South China seas, Beijing is mounting a sustained campaign to undercut Washingtons long dominance over Eurasia.

Fortress America

During just 12 months in office, Donald Trump has accelerated this decline by damaging almost all the key components in the intricate architecture of American global power.

If all great empires require skilled leadership at their epicenter to maintain what is always a fragile global equilibrium, then the Trump administration has failed spectacularly. As the State Department is eviscerated and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discredited, Trump has -- uniquely for an American president -- taken sole control of foreign policy (with the generals he appointed to key civilian posts in tow).

How, then, do those who have been in close contact with him in this period assess his intellectual ability to adapt to such a daunting role?

Although since his election campaign Trump has repeatedly bragged about his excellent education at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School as a qualification for office, he started there in the late 1960s thinking he already knew everything about business, prompting his marketing professor, who taught for more than 30 years, to brand him the dumbest goddam student I ever had. That brash unwillingness to learn carried into the presidential campaign. As political consultant Sam Nunberg, sent to tutor the candidate on the Constitution, reported , I got as far as the Fourth Amendment before... his eyes are rolling back in his head.

As Michael Wolff has recounted in his bestselling new book on the Trump White House, Fire and Fury , a few months later, at the close of a phone conversation with the president-elect about the complexities of the H-1B visa program for skilled immigrants, media mogul Rupert Murdoch hung up and said , What a fucking idiot. And last July, as no one is likely to forget, after a top-secret Pentagon briefing for the White House principals on worldwide military operations, Secretary of State Tillerson seconded that view by privately labeling the president a fucking moron.

Its worse than you can imagine. An idiot surrounded by clowns, one White House aide wrote in an email, according to Wolff. Trump wont read anything; not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers; nothing. He gets up half-way through meetings with world leaders because he is bored. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh claimed that dealing with the president was like trying to figure out what a child wants.

Those qualities of mind are amply evident in the administrations recent National Security Strategy report, a vacuous document that wavers between the misguided and the delusional. When I came into office, Trump (or at least whoever was impersonating him) writes darkly in a personal preface, rogue regimes were developing nuclear weapons... to threaten the entire planet. Radical Islamist terror groups were flourishing... Rival powers were aggressively undermining American interests around the globe... Unfair burden-sharing with our allies and inadequate investment in our own defense had invited danger.

In just 12 short months, however, the president -- so his preface indicates -- had singlehandedly saved the country from almost certain destruction. We are rallying the world against the rogue regime in North Korea and... the dictatorship in Iran, which those determined to pursue a flawed nuclear deal had neglected, that preface continues in a typically Trumpian celebration of self. We have renewed our friendships in the Middle East... to help drive out terrorists and extremists... Americas allies are now contributing more to our common defense, strengthening even our strongest alliances... We are making historic investments in the United States military.

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Reflecting his administrations well-documented difficulties with the truth, almost every one of those statements is either inaccurate, incomplete, or irrelevant. Setting aside such details, the document itself reflects the way the president (and his generals) have abandoned decades of confident leadership of the international community and are now trying to retreat from an extraordinarily dangerous world into a veritable Festung America behind concrete walls and tariff barriers -- in some eerie way conceptually reminiscent of the Atlantic Wall of beachfront bunkers Hitlers Third Reich constructed for its failed Festung Europa (Fortress Europe). But beyond such an obviously myopic foreign policy agenda, there are vast areas, largely overlooked in Trumps strategy, that remain critical for the overall maintenance of American global power.

All you have to do is note headlines in the daily media over the past year to grasp that Washingtons world dominion is crumbling, thanks to the sorts of cascading setbacks that often accompany imperial decline. Consider the first seven days of December, when the New York Times reported (without connecting the dots) that nation after nation was pulling away from Washington. First, there was Egypt, a country which had received $70 billion in U.S. aid over the previous 40 years and was now opening its military bases to Russian jet fighters; then, despite President Obamas assiduous courtship of the country, Myanmar was evidently moving ever closer to Beijing; meanwhile, Australia, Americas stalwart ally for the last 100 years, was reported to be adapting its diplomacy, however reluctantly, to accommodate Chinas increasingly dominant power in Asia; and finally, there was the foreign minister of Germany, that American bastion in Europe since 1945, pointing oh-so-publicly to a widening divide with Washington on key policy issues and insisting that clashes will be inevitable and relations will never be the same.

And thats just to scratch the surface of one weeks news without even touching on the kinds of ruptures with allies regularly being ignited or emphasized by the presidents daily tweets. Just three examples from many will do: President Pena Nietos cancelation of a state visit after a tweet that Mexico had to pay for Trumps prospective big, fat, beautiful wall on the border between the two countries; outrage from British leaders sparked by the presidents retweet of racist anti-Muslim videos posted on a Twitter account by the deputy leader of a neo-Nazi political group in that country, followed by his rebuke of British Prime Minister Theresa May for criticizing him over it; or his New Years Day blast accusing Pakistan of nothing but lies & deceit as a prelude to cutting off U.S. aid to that country. Considering all the diplomatic damage, you could say that Trump is tweeting while Rome burns.

Since there are only 40 to 50 nations with enough wealth to play even a regional, much less a global role on this planet of ours, alienating or losing allies at such a rate could soon leave Washington largely friendless -- something President Trump found out in December when he defied numerous U.N. resolutions by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital. The White House soon got a 14-1 reprimand from the Security Council, with close allies like the Germans and the French voting against Washington. This came after U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had ominously warned that the U.S. will be taking names to punish countries that dared vote against it and Trump had threatened to cut aid to those that did. The General Assembly promptly voted 128 to 9 (with 35 abstentions), to condemn the recognition -- eloquent testimony to Washingtons waning international influence.

Next, lets consider the historic investments in a central pillar in the architecture of American global power, the U.S. military, mentioned in Trumps National Security Strategy. Dont be distracted by the proposed whopping 10% increase in the Pentagon budget to fund new aircraft and warships, much of which will go directly into the pockets of giant defense contractors. Focus instead on what once would have been inconceivable in Washington: that the proposed Trump budget would slash funding for basic research in strategic areas like artificial intelligence likely to become critical for automated weapons systems within a decade.

In effect, the president and his team, distracted by visions of shimmering ships and shiny planes (with their predictable staggering future cost overruns), are ready to ditch the basics of global dominion: the relentless scientific research that has long been the cutting edge of U.S. military supremacy. And by expanding the Pentagon while slashing the State Department, Trump is also destabilizing that delicate duality of U.S. power by skewing foreign policy ever more toward costly military solutions (that have proved anything but actual solutions).

Starting on the campaign trail in 2016, Trump has also hammered away at another pillar of American power, attacking the system of global commerce and multilateral trade pacts that have long advantaged the countrys transnational corporations. Not only did he cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which promised to direct 40% of world trade away from China and toward the United States, but hes threatened to void the free-trade pact with South Korea and has been so insistent on recrafting NAFTA to serve his America first agenda that ongoing negotiations may well fail.

The Crumbling U.S. Geopolitical Position

As serious as all that might be, Trump revealed the deepest damage he was capable of doing to the geopolitical foundations of the countrys global power in two key moments on his trips to Europe and Asia last year. In both places, he signaled his willingness to deliver hammer blows to Washingtons position at those strategic axial ends of Eurasia.

During a visit to NATOs new headquarters in Brussels in May, he chastised European allies, whose leaders reportedly listened stone-faced, for failing to pay their fair share of the military costs of the alliance and, while he was at it, refused to reaffirm NATOs core principle of collective defense. Despite later attempts to ameliorate the damage, that sent shudders across Europe and for good reason. It signaled the end of more than three-quarters of a century of unchallenged, unquestioned American supremacy there.

Then, at an Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vietnam in November, the president launched a tirade against multilateral trade agreements and insisted that he would always put America first. It was as if, in an Asia in which China was rising fast, he were again announcing that Washingtons post-World War II supremacy was an artifact of history. Appropriately enough, at that same meeting, the remaining 11 Trans-Pacific partners, led by Japan and Canada, announced major progress in finalizing the TPP agreement he had so symbolically rejected -- and did so without the United States. The U.S. has lost its leadership role," commented Jayant Menon, an economist at the Asian Development Bank. And China is quickly replacing it.

Under Trump, in fact, Washingtons close relations with three key Pacific allies continue to weaken in visible ways. During a courtesy phone call upon taking office, Trump gratuitously insulted Australias prime minister, an act that only highlighted that countrys mounting alienation from the U.S. and a growing inclination to shift its primary strategic alliance toward China. In recent polls when asked what country they preferred as a primary ally, 43% of all Australians chose China -- a once-unimaginable transformation that Trumps version of diplomacy is only reinforcing.

In the Philippines, the inauguration of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016 brought a sudden shift in the countrys foreign policy, ending Manilas opposition to Beijings bases in the South China Sea. Despite an aggressive courtship by Trump and a certain temperamental affinity between the two leaders, Duterte has continued to scale down the joint military maneuvers with the U.S. that were an annual event for his country and has refused to reconsider his decisive tilt toward Beijing. That realignment was already evident in a leaked transcript of an April phone call between the two presidents in which Duterte insisted that the resolution of the North Korea nuclear issue should rest solely with China.

It is, however, on the Korean peninsula that Trumps limitations as a global leader have been most evident. In two uncoordinated, ill-informed initiatives -- denigrating the Korean War-era U.S. alliance with South Korea and demanding total nuclear disarmament by the North -- Trump fostered a diplomatic dynamic that has allowed Beijing, Pyongyang, and even Seoul to outmaneuver Washington.

During his presidential campaign and first months in office, Trump repeatedly insulted South Korea, demeaning its culture and demanding a billion dollars for installing an American missile defense system. No one should then have been surprised when Moon Jae-in won that countrys presidency last year on a say no to America platform and on promises to reopen direct negotiations with the North Korea of Kim Jong-un. Then, during a state visit to Washington last June, the new South Korean leader was blindsided when Trump called the free-trade agreement between their two countries not fair to the American worker and blasted Moons proposal for negotiating with Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un oversaw 16 rocket tests in 2017 that left his country with missiles that could potentially deliver a nuclear weapon to Honolulu, Seattle, or even by years end New York and Washington, while testing its first hydrogen bomb. Convinced that North Korea seeks the capability to kill millions of Americans, Trump became obsessed with curtailing Pyongyangs nuclear program by any means, even threatening last August to unleash on that country fire and fury like the world has never seen.

Within days, however, then-White House strategist Steve Bannon exposed the empty bluster of all of this by telling the press, Theres no military solution until somebody solves the part of the equation that... ten million people in Seoul dont die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons. So the threats failed and Trump flailed, repeatedly trash- tweeting Kim Jong-un as little Rocket Man and bragging that his own nuclear button is much bigger than the North Korean leaders. These 12 months of bizarre, destabilizing presidential twists and tweets, almost without precedent in the annals of modern diplomacy, have pushed Seoul toward direct talks with Pyongyang -- excluding Washington and weakening what had been a rock-solid alliance.

In the war of nerves with North Korea over its missile tests, Trumps strategy of triangulation with China (that is, Washington nudges Beijing, Beijing shoves Pyongyang) has already inflicted a major, unrecognized defeat on American power in the Pacific. For the last six months, to encourage Beijing to pressure Pyongyang, the White House has suspended the freedom of navigation patrols that challenge Beijings spurious claims to territorial control over the South China Sea, effectively conceding this strategic waterway to China.

In a deft bit of dissimulation, Beijing has made a show of cooperation with Washington by expressing grave concerns over Pyongyangs missile tests and imposing nominal sanctions, while playing a longer, smarter strategic hand. In the process, it has been working to curtail joint American-South Korean military maneuvers and neutralize the U.S. Navy in what China considers its home waters.

In this diplomatic edition of The Art of the Deal , Beijing is trumping Washington.

Taking Down the Empire

Quite understandably, many Americans have focused on the damage Trumps first months in office have done domestically, from opening pristine wilderness areas and offshore waters to oil and natural gas drilling to threatening access to medical care, skewing the progressive tax code to favor the rich, cancelling net neutrality, and voiding environmental protections of every sort. Most if not all of these regressive policies can, however, be repaired or reversed if the Democrats ever take control of Congress and the White House.

Trumps strikingly inept version of one-man diplomacy in the context of Americas ongoing global decline is an altogether different matter. World leadership lost is never readily recovered, particularly when rival powers are prepared to fill the void. As Trump undercuts the U.S. strategic position at the axial ends of Eurasia, China is pressing relentlessly to displace the United States and dominate that vast continent with what New York Times correspondent Edward Wong calls a blunt counterpoint... synonymous with brute strength, bribery and browbeating.

In just one extraordinary year, Trump has destabilized the delicate duality that has long been the foundation for U.S. foreign policy: favoring war over diplomacy, the Pentagon over the State Department, and narrow national interest over international leadership. But in a globalizing world interconnected by trade, the Internet, and the rapid proliferation of nuclear-armed missiles, walls wont work. There can be no Fortress America.

Alfred W. McCoy, a TomDispatch regular , is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, the now-classic book which probed the conjuncture of illicit narcotics and covert operations over 50 years, and the recently published In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power (Dispatch Books).

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook . Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power , as well as John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II , John Feffer's dystopian novel Splinterlands , Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead , and Tom Engelhardt's Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World .

Copyright 2018 Alfred W. McCoy

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It's All Right Ma... I'm Only Bleeding!

By Philip A Farruggio

January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Many thanks to Bob Dylan's great song of the same name. What rankles me is how so many of my friends, neighbors and acquaintances seem to accept how far down the rabbit hole our Amerikan society has fallen. We live under the broken umbrella of an empire that cares not to protect the overwhelming majority of us. We live under the auspices of a regime that spends half or our hard earned tax dollars on phony wars, illegal foreign occupations and excessive militarism at home. Yet, most of the lemmings I cohabit with are only concerned about tripe news on sexual scandals and other base events that have nothing to do with their health or financial well being. For every person who can profit from this insane stock market run up, there are a thousand times more folks who are lucky to afford the bare necessities of life. Many of us, even we who earn more than the median income level, still walk around with missing teeth, knees and necks in need of operative repair and so on.

We Amerikans have become like those serfs on the feudal manors, working hard and still bowing and scraping when the lord of the manor passes. Why should the boss worry in most businesses, when but less than 10% of private sector workers are in a union? There are fewer and fewer protections for working stiffs in Amerika, and the empire knows it. When we who know better shout as loud as we can that the Fat Cat CEOs earn upwards of 300 times that of their workers, some serfs answer " Well, they worked hard for their success, and they deserve it! " Really? Well, in 1960 the top federal tax rate was at 90%, and the Fat Cats still did very well ( of course no one paid 90%- they all had accountants and plenty of write offs ). In 1985 that top rate was at 50%... now it is at less than 39%, and sinking lower as I write. So, do the math: A Fat Cat CEO who earns 300 times of his or her worker is most likely keeping double or triple what his counterparts of 32 or 57 years ago kept. Where is the disgust from most of my fellow working stiffs?

To keep one soldier in Afghanistan costs the same as hiring 25 new fireman, policeman or school teachers, each at a $ 40k a year salary. Hellfire Missiles ($ 70,000 each) shot from a Reaper Drone ($28 million dollars) many times not only kill innocents via Collateral damage, but that spending redirected can help keep our neighborhood libraries open longer and filled with tons of new books! The real crime is in the fact that our empire has NO business being in those countries... period! Monday, January 15th was Reverend King's birthday, and this coming April will be the 50th anniversary of his assassination, for that matter. A year before he was murdered, Reverend King gave one of his most memorable speeches at the Riverside Church in N. Y . C. For the first time he publically denounced our empire's involvement in Indochina:

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This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love.... A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Amerika is truly running out of band-aids!

Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn , NYC longshoremen. He has been a free lance columnist since 2001, he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has a internet interview show, ' It's the Empire... Stupid' with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net

This article was originally published by Information Clearing House -

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How Russophobia Wrecked Normalization Between US & Russia By Finian Cunningham January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Its a glaring contradiction that while US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced a desire for restoring friendly relations with Russia, the two countries stand even more frigidly apart than ever. One year after Trumps inauguration as the 45th US president, several metrics indicate bilateral ties have actually deteriorated, despite Trumps oft-stated approval for better relations between Washington and Moscow. Trump has said US cooperation with Russia should be seen as an asset, not a liability. Many people around the world, including within the US, would agree with Trumps view. So, why the inertia in translating this into practical policy? Not merely inertia, but in fact the opposite direction. The seizure of Russian diplomatic properties in the US, restrictions on Russian news organizations, and expanding sanctions on Russian business leaders are just some of the issues indicating growing hostility from Washington. Naturally, Russia has responded with its own countermeasures, which in turn exacerbates the antagonism. The Trump administrations green-lighting of lethal weapons supply to the Kiev regime in Ukraine regardless of Moscows appeals, and the emerging policy of Balkanizing Syria under a continuing American military presence in that country  again in contradiction to Moscows concerns  are more evidence of deteriorating relations.

While Trump was elected in November 2016 on a platform that included a reset from the antagonistic policy towards Russia under Democratic President Barack Obama  a policy Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was also advocating  the upshot has been a continuation of hostility under Trump.

This raises troubling questions about the limits of presidential power to exert avowed policies.

One of the levers of control over the Trump White House has been the relentless Russiagate scandal. Trumps domestic political enemies within the intelligence establishment, Democrat politicians and aligned news media outlets have drowned out public discourse with endless  and baseless  claims that Trump benefited from alleged Russian interference in the presidential election.

Trump has feistily brushed off these claims as fake news. Nevertheless, the saturated media insinuations of Trump as a Kremlin stooge have inevitably hampered his options for bilateral relations with Russia.

When Trump first met Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Hamburg last July, both leaders greeted each other cordially. That caused cynical comments in US media of Trump being played by Putin.

They agreed to bring the Syrian war to a rapid close and to work together to implement a negotiated resolution of the Ukraine conflict. But US policy has since become even more menacing in Syria, with the recent announcement that it is forming a 30,000-member Border Security Force (BSF). That development prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week to say that he believes Washington is now intending to break up Syrian territorial integrity.

Then when Trump met Putin for a second time at the APEC summit hosted by the Philippines during November, the two presidents encounter was strangely crimped from a bilateral meeting to a glancing conversation on the sidelines of the event. News images showed Trump and Putin still enjoyed a cordial relationship. Trump also said then he accepted Putins assurances that Russia had not meddled in American domestic politics. Why the constraint then on having a bilateral meeting?

Moreover, a month later, Trump signed off on a new National Security Strategy document in December which explicitly accused Russia of using subversive tactics and interfering in the domestic political affairs of countries around the world.

The document, which Trump endorsed with his signature, went on to state: The United States and Europe will work together to counter Russian subversion and aggression.

Moscow has consistently responded with disdain to all such claims, pointing out the lack of evidence, and that the claims amount to a frenzy of Russophobia. Russia has admonished that this is damaging the prospect of restoring relations.

What is lamentable is that even though the Russophobia is at the level of baseless hysteria and wantonly irrational, it has had the palpable effect of negating any attempt to restore US-Russia relations to a more sane footing.

The Russiagate scandal can be ridiculed as a contrived drama that keeps running and running. It may be dismissed with contempt as a load of hogwash whipped by Trumps political enemies within the US foreign policy establishment. But the disturbing thing is that the Russophobia has succeeded in controlling the White House.

Top Russian diplomat Lavrov this week reviewed priority foreign policy issues. They included establishing a peaceful end to the wars in Syria and Ukraine, as well as creating a peaceful settlement to the Korean nuclear crisis.

Lavrov on Syria & Astana talks: We embarked on this process after Obama admin failed to distinguish between Syrian opposition & terrorists https://t.co/KUFQXWFW3W pic.twitter.com/QqTPEgQhZs  RT (@RT_com) January 15, 2018

President Trump, from his brief personal meetings so far with Putin and Lavrov  the latter hosted in the White House  surely appears disposed to work with Moscow in addressing the foreign policy problems in a constructive bilateral manner. That is, in theory.

Regrettably, however, such cooperation between the American and Russian leaders will not be permitted to happen because of the Russiagate specter that has been conjured up over the Trump administration.

Hence, pressing global security concerns that would benefit from US-Russia cooperative dialogue are being jeopardized by the deepening, irrational chill in relations.

The baleful effect of this anti-Russian paranoia was illustrated in an article published last week by the Daily Beast. It was reported that a member of Trumps National Security Council proposed early in the new presidency last year that the US should scale back its military forces in the Baltic countries.

Russia has long complained that the buildup of US-led NATO forces on its European borders is a provocative threat to its national security.

The idea of repositioning US troops from the Baltic was pitched as a gesture to the Kremlin that would enable the nascent Trump administration to see its desire for friendly relations with Russia would be reciprocated.

Apparently, the proposal was quickly rebuffed out of concern about how it would fuel US media claims of Trump being a Russian puppet.

Another idea that was similarly rejected was the lifting of US sanctions on Russias economy.

The Daily Beast goes on to make the pejorative editorial comment that the floated proposals fit a pattern within the Trump administration of sidling up to Russia. Taken in sum, the pattern raises questions about whether Trump and his team are willing to pay Russia back for the Kremlins role in the [presidential] election.

Note how the article asserts as fact the dubious speculation about Russia interfering in US politics.

Reportedly the proposals for trying to restore relations with Russia have since dried up within Trumps National Security Council.

Indeed, the NSC official named as the originator of the ideas  Kevin Harrington  is understood to have led the team that produced the hawkish National Security Strategy published at the end of last year.

Thus, from reasonable proposals to engage with Russia floated at the start of Trumps first year in office, within 12 months the administration has absorbed and adopted the Russophobia narrative.

Anti-Russian group think espoused by US elites has become institutionalized, against the stated views of the president and the American electorate. Wheres the democracy in that?

Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.

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You Dont Need a Telescope to Find a Shithole Country By Chris Hedges January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - I covered the war in El Salvador for five years. It was a peasant uprising by the dispossessed against the 14 ruling families and the handful of American corporations that ran El Salvador as if it was a plantation. Half of the population was landless. Laborers worked as serfs in the coffee plantations, the sugar cane fields and the cotton fields in appalling poverty. Attempts to organize and protest peacefully to combat the huge social inequality were met with violence, including fire from machine guns mounted on the tops of buildings in downtown San Salvador that rained down bullets indiscriminately on crowds of demonstrators. Peasant, labor, church and university leaders were kidnapped by death squads, brutally tortured and murdered, their mutilated bodies often left on roadsides for public view. When I arrived, the death squads were killing between 700 and 1,000 people a month. An insurgent army arose, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (known by the Spanish-language abbreviation FMLN), named for the leader of a peasant uprising in 1932 that was crushed through the slaughter of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, many of them killed in summary executions. The FMLN seized huge parts of the country from the corrupt and demoralized military. In the fall of 1983, the rebels, supplied with weapons from the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, were on the verge of capturing the countrys second largest city. I did not, at first, travel with the army. It was too dangerous. It was far safer to go into combat with the FMLN. Without outside intervention, the rebels would have seized control of El Salvador within months and ousted the oligarchs. But, far to the north, was a shithole country ruled by a former B-list movie actor who had starred in  Bedtime for Bonzo  and who was in the early stages of dementia. This shithole country, which saw the world in black and white, communist and capitalist, was determined to thwart the aspirations of the poor and the landless. It would not permit the profits of its companies, such as United Fruit, or the power of the pliant oligarch class that did its bidding in El Salvador, to be impeded. It had disdain for the aspirations of the poor, especially the poor of Latin American or Africa, the wretched of the earth, as writer Frantz Fanon called them, people who in the eyes of those who ruled the shithole country should toil in misery all their lives for the oligarchs and the big American companies allied with them. Let the poor, brown and black people go hungry, watch their children die of sickness or be murdered. Power and wealth, those who ruled this shithole country believed, was theirs by divine right. They, as the lords of shithole-dom, were endowed with special attributes. God blessed shithole countries. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda understood how those who ruled the shithole country looked at the wretched of the earth. He wrote: When the trumpet sounded, it was

all prepared on the earth,

the Jehovah parceled out the earth

to Coca Cola, Inc., Anaconda,

Ford Motors, and other entities:

The Fruit Company, Inc.

reserved for itself the most succulent,

the central coast of my land,

the delicate waist of America. It rechristened its territories

as the Banana Republics

and over the sleeping dead,

over the restless heroes,

who brought about the greatness, the liberty and the flags,

it established the comic opera:

Abolished independencies,

presented crowns of Caesar,

unsheathed envy, attracted

the dictatorship of flies.  The dictatorship of flies had its downside. It elevated the imbecilic and the inept, men whose main attributes were brutality, mendacity and thievery. They were uniformly unpleasant creatures. Anastasio Tachito Somoza in Nicaragua. The Duvaliers in Haiti. Augusto Pinochet in Chile. Efrain Rios Montt in Guatemala. These flies did the bidding of the shithole country. They would murder their own people without compunction and, for hefty bribes, would allow the corporations to exploit and pillage. Yes, they had their eccentricities. The depraved often do. Gen. Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, who came to power in a military coup, led the government in El Salvador that carried out the 1932 massacres known as La Matanza. The general, a recluse who rarely appeared in public, was a believer in the occult and held seances in the presidential residence. He was one of the models for Gabriel Garcia Marquezs portrait of a Latin American tyrant in The Autumn of the Patriarch. Martinez styled himself after the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. He barred all immigration by Arabs, Hindus, Chinese and blacks. He once announced: It is good that children go barefoot. That way they can better receive the beneficial effluvia of the planet, the vibrations of the earth. Plants and animals dont use shoes. And he said it was a greater crime to kill an ant than a human being because a man who dies is reincarnated while an ant dies forever. His solution to a measles epidemic was to order the streetlights wrapped in cellophane to purify the air. He believed that colored water could cure most illnesses. How surprised the leaders of the shithole country would be if they knew about the poets, the writers and the artists, the intellectuals and the men and women of great moral probity, such as the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who in 1980 was assassinated with a bullet shipped down to the killers from the shithole country. The leaders of the shithole country do not see the people of Latin America or Africa as fully human. But then they are not great readers, especially of poetry by the lesser breeds of the earth. They have not heard the truth of the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton , who wrote: Take care, youre worth your weight in gold.

Because in capitalism only the owners

of gold are worth their weight in gold. Never Miss Another Story Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The shithole country poured $1 million a day in aid and weapons into the land. They sent down their most ruthless killers, including Felix Rodriguez, the CIA agent and Bay of Pigs veteran who had overseen the hunt for Che Guevara in Bolivia, presided over his execution and proudly wore the wristwatch he had taken from the martyred revolutionarys body. At night you could see the killers sent to El Salvador by the shithole country, usually with their Vietnamese wives, sitting around the pool at the Sheraton Hotel. They had perfected the dark arts of infiltrating, torturing, interrogating, disappearing and murdering through practice on the people of Vietnam during the war there. They could teach you how to strangle someone with piano wire so there would be no noise as the victim choked to death. They brought many such skills with them to Central America. They directed the death squads to wipe out the resistance leaders, priests and nuns working in poor communities, teachers, journalists, labor organizers, student leaders, professors and intellectuals who denounced the barbarity. They trained and equipped new soldiers for the oligarchs. They formed mercenary units with hundreds of soldiers recruited from countries such as Honduras, Venezuela and Chile. They called these military units, which were secret, Unilaterally Controlled Latino Assets. They sent them to fight the FMLN because the Salvadoran military was so unreliable. They provided fleets of helicopters to hunt the insurgents by air. It was an orgy of militarism. By the time the shithole country was done, it had spent $4 billion to crush the uprising. And while it was orchestrating the bloodbath in El Salvador it provided $1 billion to the thugs and killers known as the Contras in Nicaragua , where 50,000 people were murdered. It also quietly assisted the killers of Guatemala, where 200,000 were slain. The poor peasants did not stand a chance. Mass graves dotted the Central American isthmus, a testament to their work. Dalton wrote: The dead are more insolent than ever. It used to be easy:

we gave them a starched collar a flower

we placed their names on an honor roll:

the length and breath of our land

the illustrious shades of yesteryear

the monstrous statue. The cadaver signed on memorys dotted line

joined the rank and file once more

and marched to the beat of our worn out music But what are you gonna do

the dead

just aint what they used to be. These days they get ironic

ask questions. Seems to me theyre starting to figure out

that they are the majority. The leaders of the shithole country would oversee the murder of 80,000 people and 8,000 disappeared in El Salvador. Intelligence officials from the shithole country were, it appears, complicit in the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero, organized by a former Salvadoran army officer named Roberto DAubuissonknown affectionately as  Blowtorch Bob who was one of the shithole countrys favorite killers. The shithole country protected those who ordered the murder and rape of four American churchwomen in December 1980. They protected the officers of the Atlacatl Brigadewhich in 1981 had massacred more than 700 civilians in El Mozotewhen in 1989 they gunned down six Spanish Jesuit priests , one of whom was the rector of the University of Central America, plus their housekeeper and her teenage daughter, on the university campus. The Salvadoran officers who oversaw these massacres, and countless others, had been selected and trained in the shithole countrys U.S. Army School of the Americas . The war would destroy much of the infrastructure. El Salvador never recovered. It is awash in weapons. It experiences a murder every one and a half hours. Let the blood flow, the leaders of the shithole country said. The blood of brown and black people does not matter. A shithole country depends on your perspective. Chris Hedges, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. This article was originally published by TruthDig - ==== Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. This website encourages readers to use the "Report" link found at the base of each comment. When a predetermined number of ICH readers click on the "Report" link, the comment will be automatically sent to "moderation". This would appear to be the most logical way to allow open comments, where you the reader/supporter, can determine what is acceptable speech. Please don't use the report feature simply because you disagree with the author point of view. Treat others with respect, remembering that "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."- Benjamin Franklin. Please read our Comment Policy before posting -
Home Syria - U.S. Traps Itself , Commits To Occupation, Helps To Sustain The Astana Agreement By Moon Of Alabama January 16, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Trump administration policy in Syria is finally coming into daylight. It has decided to permanently separate north-east of Syria from the rest of Syria with the rather comical idea that this will keep Iranian influence out of Syria and give the U.S. a voice in a final Syrian settlement. This move lacks strategical foresight: The U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State is currently training a force to maintain security along the Syrian border as the operation against ISIS shifts focus. The 30,000-strong force will be partly composed of veteran fighters and operate under the leadership of the Syrian Democratic Forces, CJTF-OIR told The Defense Post.

...

The Coalition is working jointly with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to establish and train the new Syrian Border Security Force (BSF). Currently, there are approximately 230 individuals training in the BSFs inaugural class, with the goal of a final force size of approximately 30,000, CJTF-OIR Public Affairs Officer Colonel Thomas F. Veale said.

...

Veale acknowledged that more Kurds will serve in the areas of northern Syria, while more Arabs will serve in areas along the Euphrates River Valley and along the border with Iraq. The SDF and the Kurds are under control of the PKK/YPK, a terrorist organization that is nearly daily fighting and killing Turkish forces within Turkey. The Arabs which ostensibly shall seal the area off from the rest of Syria are most likely tribal forces that were earlier aligned with the Islamic State. The Turks were not consulted before the U.S. move and are of course not amused that a "terrorist gang", trained and armed by the U.S., will control a long stretch of their southern border. Any Turkish government would have to take harsh measures to prevent such a strategic threat to the country: Such initiatives endangering our national security and Syrias territorial integrity through the continuation of cooperation with PYD/YPG in contradiction with the commitments and statements made by the US are unacceptable. We condemn the insistence on this flawed approach and remind once again that Turkey is determined and capable to eliminate any threats targeting its territory. Russia noted that such a U.S. occupation has no legal basis: The Russian foreign minister stressed decisions of the kind were taken without any grounds, coming from a UN Security Council resolution, or from some agreements reached during the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva. Syria warned that any Syrian taking part in this move will be in trouble: The Ministry considered any Syrian citizen who takes part in the US-backed militia as a traitor to the Syrian state and people and will be treated as one, adding that these militias will hinder reaching to a political solution to the situation in Syria. The U.S.Congress is concerned about this move: Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, David Satterfield, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, outlined US goals in Syria as finishing off IS, stabilizing northeastern Syria and countering Iranian influence.

...

That wont pass muster, committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., interjected.

...

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who initially asked Satterfield the question he declined to answer, expressed concerns that eliminating Iranian influence from Syria entirely was a fools errand that could keep US troops tied up in Syria forever.

...

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, also voiced concern that the Trump administration does not have the necessary legal authorization from Congress to keep US troops in Syria beyond the defeat of IS. Just two month back, in a phone call with the Russian President Putin, the President Trump seemed to be against such a move: The Presidents affirmed their commitment to Syrias sovereignty, unity, independence, territorial integrity, and non-sectarian character, as defined in UNSCR 2254, ... The U.S. move comes at the right time for Syria. The Russian, Turkish, Iranian and Syrian agreement of Astana set up a de-escalation zone in Idleb governorate but committed the parties to continue the fight against al-Qaeda. The agreement was in imminent danger of breaking down as Turkey protested against the current Syrian operation against al-Qaeda in east-Idleb. Turkey cooperates with al-Qaeda to keep its options open for a take-over of some Syrian land. It is also concerned about the north-western Kurdish enclave of Afrin which is protected by Russian forces. But the U.S.move in the east constitutes a greater threat to Turkey than tiny Afrin. The east is more important to Turkey than Idelb in the west. The whole eastern half of Turkey is now endangered by a Kurdish force at its underbelly. The U.S. move increases Turkey's incentive to keep the Astana agreement about Idleb intact and to re-unite with Syria, Russia and Iran against the U.S.-Kurdish alliance. Erdogan, with his usual rage, was clear that he can not and will not let the U.S. move stand: A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our borders, Erdogan said of the United States in a speech in Ankara. What can that terror army target but Turkey? Our mission is to strangle it before its even born. Joshua Landis believes that the U.S. has given up on Turkey as an ally and is solely committed to do Israel's and Saudi Arabia's bidding. It is completely concentrated on countering Iran. But there are few if any Iranian troops in Syria and the supply line from Tehran to Damascus is via air and sea and can not be influenced from an enclosed Kurdish enclave. Moreover, the U.S. presence in the north-east is not sustainable. The north-eastern U.S. held area of Syria is surrounded by forces hostile to it. Turkey in the north, Syria in the west and south, Iraq, with a pro-Iranian government, in the east. It has no ports and all its air-supplies have to cross hostile air space. Internally the area consists of a Kurdish core but has nearly as many Arab inhabitants as Kurds. The Kurds are not united, there are many who are against the PKK/YPG and support the Syrian government. Probably half of the Arabs in the area were earlier Islamic State fighters and the other half favors the rule by Damascus. What all Arabs there have in common is hatred for their new Kurdish overlords. This all is fertile ground for an insurgency against the U.S. occupation and its Kurdish YPG proxy forces. It will need only little inducement and support from Damascus, Ankara or elsewhere to draw the U.S. presence into a chaotic fight for survival. Turkey's wannabe Sultan Erdogan has long tried to play Russia against the U.S. and vice versa. He ordered Russian air defense systems which will enable him to withstand a U.S. air attack. At the same time he allowed U.S. ships to pass the Bosporus Straits into the Black Sea and to threaten Russia in Crimea even when the Montreux Convention would have allowed him to restrict their passages. The U.S. now leaves him no choice. Russia is the one force that can help him to handle the new threat. The NATO bigwigs in Brussels must be nervous. Turkey has the second biggest army within NATO. It controls the passage to the Black Sea and with Incirlik the most important NATO airbase in the south-eastern realm. All these give Turkey leverage that it can use when Russia offers it a decent alternative to NATO membership. One wonders who in the White House developed this idea. It goes against everything Trump had said about U.S. engagement in the Middle East. It goes against NATO's interests. There is no legal basis for the move. It has little chance of being sustainable. My guess is that National Security Advisor McMaster (pushed by his mentor General Petraeus) is the brain behind this. He has already proven to lack any strategic vision beyond moving military brigades here and there. What will he do next? Order the CIA to restart arming al-Qaeda aka the "Syrian rebels" who just sent their emissaries to Washington to beg for renewed support? Turkey needs Russia and Russia is fighting those "Syrian rebels". Why should Turkey, which controls the border to Syria, allow new CIA weapons to pass? It is beyond me how the U.S. expects to sustain its positions in the north-east of Syria. It is hard to understand why it believes that such a position will give it any influence over Iran's commitment to Syria. The move robs it of any political flexibility. It is a trap of its own design. In the end the U.S. military will have to retreat from the area. The Kurds will have to crawl to Damascus to beg for forgiveness. The strategic shortsightedness of both, the U.S. administration and the YPG leadership, amazes me. What do these people think when they make such decisions? This article was originally published by Moon Of Alabama - ==== Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. This website encourages readers to use the "Report" link found at the base of each comment. When a predetermined number of ICH readers click on the "Report" link, the comment will be automatically sent to "moderation". This would appear to be the most logical way to allow open comments, where you the reader/supporter, can determine what is acceptable speech. Please don't use the report feature simply because you disagree with the author point of view. Treat others with respect, remembering that "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still."- Benjamin Franklin. Please read our Comment Policy before posting - Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
One person was confirmed dead in an explosion that happened in Edo State on Monday, according to a statement released by the state government.

The statement issued by the Government House, Benin City, on Tuesday said the explosion occurred in Okpella community, Etsako East Local Government Area.

The statement said a bomb-making facility has also been discovered in the area.

There has been tension and skirmishes lately in Okpella because of a festering dispute between Obu Cement Company and a rival company, Dangote Group over the ownership of a mining site in the area.

The state government claimed, about two weeks ago, that Governor Godwin Obasekis convoy was attacked in Okpella by militants allegedly instigated by the Managing Director of Obu Cement Company, Yusuf Binji. The police had said that they were not aware of the attack.

Mr. Obaseki on Tuesday directed the police and the State Security Service, SSS, to search for explosives and other weapons in Okpella and also disarm local militia operating in the area.

We cannot pretend that things are fine. We must move arms out of private hands in that community and ensure peace returns to that domain, Mr. Obaseki was quoted as telling the traditional ruler of Okpella, Andrew Dirisu, who led other chiefs on a courtesy visit to the governor.

Your Royal Highness, if not for the explosion that rocked the community where one person died, you would not have known that explosives of such nature were in private hands in your domain, the governor said.

In the last one year, Okpella has recorded the highest rate of incidents in Edo State. I cannot sit down without taking action.

The governor gave the assurance that his administration would do its best to make the state secure and safe.

The traditional ruler was said to have appealed to the governor to find an alternative means of resolving the dispute between the Obu Cement Company and the Dangote Group, outside the court.

Source : ( Premium Times )
The Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, has appointed a retired Nigerian lieutenant general, Chikadibia Obiakor, to lead a special investigation into the killing of some Burundian refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General in New York, announced this in a statement issued in New York.

No fewer than 35 Burundian refugees were killed and more than 100 others wounded by security forces in eastern DRC September 15, 2017 at Kamanyola, South Kivu.

The special investigation will look into the challenges facing the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) in discharging its mandate to protect civilians and provide recommendations on improving the performance of its troops.

Mr. Obiakor has had a long and distinguished career in the Nigerian Army and was the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Liberia from 2006 to 2008.

He also served as Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations at UN Headquarters in New York from 2008 to 2010.

The refugees were killed in Kamanyola area in South Kivu provinces Walungu territory after they allegedly rioted and the Congolese army made an attempt to control the situation.

Reports said no fewer than 18 Burundian refugees were killed on the spot and the others died the following day from the wounds they sustained.

The refugees were protesting against the decision of DRC officials to extradite two other refugees arrested for allegedly making weapons.

There are over 400,000 Burundian refugees in DRC who fled after violence erupted in their country in April 2015 when incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to leave power after serving two terms and stood in elections for a third term.

The opposition in Burundi had gone on a rampage, attacking police and army while also killing supporters of Nkurunziza.

Thousands of Burundian refugees had fled to neighbouring countries, including DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Out of 40,000 Burundian asylum-seekers, 28,000 who fled hostilities in their country were identified by the DRCs National Commission for Refugees in Kamanyola.

Source: (NAN)
Following the lifted ban on cinemas in Saudi Arabia, the country screened its first public movie in 35 years in the form of The Emoji Movie.

According to Reuters, the conservative Islamic kingdom lifted the ban in December after a movement in the 1980s that focused on morality and avoiding men and women intermingling in public closed all theaters. The country, which is experiencing a liberalization under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is expected to open theaters as early as March. Until that time, authorities sponsored a temporary theater in a state-run cultural hall in Jeddah. Families were treated to a projector and screen, a red carpet and popcorn machine to complete the full movie-going experience.

The Verge reports that The Emoji Movie was the first to air along with Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie in an effort to start things off with more family-friendly fare, thus preserving the morals that the typically conservative society is worried about while opening the door to a potentially lucrative industry.

As Deadline notes, the Saudi government estimates that a cinema business could contribute more than $24 billion to the economy by 2030, creating an estimated 30,000 permanent jobs and roughly 130,000 temporary jobs. This will help the nations long term goal of making its economy less-dependant on oil.

According to BoxOfficeMojo, The Emoji Movie grossed roughly $86 million in the United States while Captain Underpants brought in $73 million.

Source: Reuters
Two policemen were murdered, while two foreigners were abducted by suspected kidnappers on Kwoi-Jere road in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The victims had visited Kafanchan and Kaura but were ambushed on their way back around 7:00 PM on Tuesday.

A police source said the two policemen were escorting the foreign nationals when they were ambushed.

Two policemen were killed in the ambush while an American and a Canadian were abducted along Kwoi-Jere road, off Kaduna-Abuja highway.

Its a sad development but I am sure the Police would get to the root of the matter, the source added.

Spokesman of Kaduna State Police Command, Muktar Aliyu did not respond to inquiries on the incident while efforts to get the Commissioner of Police, Mr Agyole Abeh was unsuccessful.

Source: (NAN)
An Investigative Police Officer, Insp. Joseph Addo, on Wednesday, told an Igbosere High Court in Lagos how a man, identified as Williams Kenechi, strangled his girlfriend, Lizzy Nzewi, and ran to Abidjan, Cote dIvoire, with her car.

Addo made the disclosure while giving evidence as the third prosecution witness in a murder case filed against Kenechi by the Lagos State Government.

He said during the investigations the accused made confessional statements which revealed that he visited the victim before her death.

The police officer said that the accused told the police that he had a misunderstanding with the deceased that made him struggle for her cell phone and in the process, she died.

The accused lied when he told me that it was during the struggle that he pushed the deceased to the bed where she slumped and died.

Addo alleged that the accused took the deceaseds ATM card and withdrew N140, 000 from her account after she had died.

The accused took the girls car, her three phones and her ATM card to Abidjan, where he was later arrested, he said.

The IPO was led in evidence by the Lagos State Chief Counsel, Mr Babatunde Sunmonu.

Counsel to the accused, Mr C. J. Jiapokna, urged the court for a short adjournment to enable him to bring a document he required for his cross-examination.

Justice Akintoye adjourned the case until Feb. 7 and Feb. 13 for the continuation of trial.

The accused was arraigned in 2016 on a charge of murder to which he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution alleged that the accused committed the offence on July 19, 2014 at Plot 34, Green Estate Amuwo-Odofin in Lagos.

Source :(NAN)
As seen on twitter, a Married Nigerian woman ignored all shreds of dignity and got exposed for trying to seduce Cassper Nyovest as he lands in Nigeria. Massive reactions trail this scandal which has gone viral and the woman involved had to lock her twitter account and even changed her profile picture.

This begs the question: Is there still any sanctity left in the institution called marriage?

Here is a direct link to the thread on twitter;
A middle-aged man, identified as Mbiti Munyao in Kangundo constituency, Machakos area of Kenya was arrested for allegedly raping two goats to death.

According to the area assistant Chief Mary Mulwa, Munyao was seen pulling the two goats from a bush where the animals had been tied on Saturday, January 13. The two goats were said to have taken their last breath after Munyao was done with them.

The accused spent a night in police custody before he was charged and bailed for sh100, 000( N349,515.00) after he pleaded not guilty to the accusation.

He was charged with an unnatural offense and unlawful killing of goats.

The images of the two dead goats and the man in the police station have sparked outrage among Kenyans with most of them condemning the inhumane act.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Controversial Nigerian Journalist, Kemi Omololu Olunloyo has revealed on her Instagram page, that she met with Christ in Port Harcourt, in the church pastored by her one time enemy Pastor David Ibiyeomie  The reason she has become a frequent guest in Port Harcourt prison.

The popular blogger who just got out of prison the third time in a row, said she walked into Salvation Ministries yesterday after her afternoon mass, and she encountered the Kingdom of God like no other.

She requested to meet with the General Overseer, Pastor Ibiyeomie after the service and she was ushered into the waiting room and consequently led to see the man of God.

I am never leaving Port Harcourt, I begin serving the Lord here  she said, adding that God is indeed wonderful to have made her a minister out of Pastor David Ibiyeomie, the cleric she once persecuted!

She wrote:

Pastor @david_ibiyeomie officially helps me SURRENDER MY LIFE TO #JESUS

Yesterday Tuesday 16th of January 2018 marked 7 days I left #Portharcourt prison. Been doing outdoor therapy as instructed by my psychotherapist. Venturing out safely into neighborhoods which Ive been doing as part of my treatment of depression.

I normally go to 3pm prayers at the Catholic church down the street to get spiritual energy. Last night, I decided to go to New GRA to worship at #Salvationministries. I walked into the kingdom of God like no other.

This church was very different. I was lifted! They were having 4.30pm prayers after a 21 day fast. I joined them in an energized service in a God anointed mega church. I ate communion and drank wine. The Lord was everywhere!

After service I asked security personnel to meet Pastor Ibiyeomie privately in his office to pray for me. The men in black suits took me to a waiting room and then asked me to come in. There were 5 pastors in the room watching. Two were my prosecuting lawyers, then I walked up to him telling him I was the one he locked up in prison! I knelt down and he grabbed my hands. Suddenly my all day asthma wheezing and migraine vanished! He had divine powers of some kind. He prayed for me, told me he had FORGIVEN ME long time ago and repeated it in front of me again. I told him I was not bitter and have forgiven him too. I have decided to serve God and it will be through Salvation Ministries and him.

Pray that the holy spirit transforms #DavidIbiyeomie into a greater realm of sensitivity, revelation, and divine direction that will give birth to manifestation of the holy spirit in time for next week 22nd-26th January 2018 when he invited me for his #5NOG 5 nights of glory. He says miracles happen during that week.

My miracles started last night. I will give my compelling TESTIMONY soon. I am never leaving PH again.

I begin serving the Lord here working in his church and will stoop to conquer flying my flags with Jesus here at Salvation Ministries. The Home of Success! See you next week at 5 NIGHTS OF GLORY!! Isnt God wonderful?  OluKemi Olunloyo @hnnafrica
An Orthodox priest has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Russian court in a penal colony Wednesday in a paedophilia case that dragged on over four years after he had initially fled the country.

The court in Priozersk, a city in the northern Leningrad region, found cleric Gleb Grozovsky guilty of sexually abusing three children younger than 14 at two religious holiday camps.

Gleb Grozovsky was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment at a high security penal colony and to restricted movement for a year after his release, the court said.

The court also ordered Grozovsky to pay 400,000 rubles ($7,072) to each of his victims families.

According to investigators, Grozovsky molested an unspecified number of children at an Orthodox childrens camp in northern Russia in 2011 and a similar camp on the Greek island of Kos in 2013.

Grozovsky said there was no event of a crime in court on January 10, according to Russian news agencies.

Grozovsky is a well known priest in Russias second city Saint Petersburg, where he worked with drug and alcohol addicts, coordinated various church-affiliated youth programmes and even had his own radio show.

He also worked as an advisor to Maksim Mitrofanov, the general director of Saint Petersburgs Zenit FC.

Authorities in Saint Petersburg opened an investigation into Grozovskys case in November 2013 and announced its completion in June 2017.

Grozovsky hid from prosecution by leaving Russia after the investigation was opened.

He was declared internationally wanted in October 2013 and was extradited from Israel to Russia in September 2016.

Source : ( AFP )
Tempe, Ariz. - January 17, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Arizona State University and Dash, a top digital currency for payments, today announced a partnership designed to accelerate research, development, and education in ways that advance blockchain transaction speed, efficiency, security, and expand its uses.

The new $350,000 Dash-ASU agreement announced today includes:

The Dash Scholars Program, which provides $100,000 in scholarships for undergraduate and graduate research fellowships;

Research lab and Industry open source projects, providing an additional $100,000 in funding for ASU's Blockchain Research Lab (BRL) and $50,000 in new funding for the Luminosity Lab, and

Blockchain course development, with $100,000 for creating an online graduate course expected to be offered at ASU this fall.

The partnership comes after Dash contributed $50,000 USD in Blockchain Research Laboratory startup funding in August 2017. In November, Dash and ASU announced the creation of the BRL at ASU, the first in academia.

"ASU welcomes this initiative and is ready to play its role in creating a potent blockchain research and innovation environment for young talents to develop practical blockchain applications," said Dragan Boscovic, BRL director and a research professor in ASU's School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering.

Dash is a blockchain-powered digital currency, with a number of unique industry features including InstantSend, PrivateSend and an entirely self-funded, self-governed organizational structure.

Blockchain is a decentralized, tamper-proof digital ledger technology that is transforming transaction prospects for many industries. In addition to being the foundation of cryptocurrencies like Dash, the blockchain structure, which consists of linked blocks of information, allows for direct transactions across a network of computers without need for a central authority.

The BRL is focused on making blockchains accessible for uses beyond cryptocurrency, although cryptocurrency will remain a primary focus. According to Boscovic, the BRL is investigating practical business applications for banking transactions, property exchanges and contract-based dealings that benefit from bypassing third-party brokers. For example, the BRL is currently working with a Phoenix-area company to formulate a blockchain for eco-energy applications, such as exchanging stored solar power within neighborhoods.

Current research channels at the BRL include analytics, shared business platforms that can segment company access based on specific transactions, management of IoT transactions between devices and appliances, nonprofit/humanitarian cryptocurrency transactions, and the development of smart contracts.

"This is a remarkable partnership precisely because both sides will benefit greatly from tight collaboration," said Ryan Taylor, CEO of Dash Core. "Dash benefits from gaining valuable independent insights into how we can improve our plans for scaling to massively large numbers of transactions. ASU will benefit from gaining access to one of the most innovative teams in the digital currency industry. The entire blockchain industry will benefit from the best practices that will emerge from the research, and the creation of a graduate course is a tremendous leap in blockchain's path towards rapid, mainstream adoption."

The BRL is an interdisciplinary initiative that includes faculty from Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, W.P. Carey School of Business, W.P. Carey Information Systems and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law.

"The Blockchain Research Lab not only offers students early access to blockchain technologies that are transforming the nature of business transactions, it is providing them an opportunity to be part of the design process and a unique opportunity for real-world innovation and design," said Kyle Squires, Dean of the Ira. A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

BRL Director Dragan Boscovic and Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor are available for interview

About Arizona State University

Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.

About Dash:

Dash is the leading e-commerce and payments-focused digital currency, and the rising alternative to bitcoin. With over 1000% year over year growth in both value and trading volume since 2015, Dash has been consistently ranked in the top ten digital currencies by market capitalization and only one of the few offering safe, decentralized financial solutions to real world problems. Dash offers a form of money that is portable, inexpensive, divisible, and fast. It can be spent easily and instantly online at merchants across the globe, at much lower fees than credit and debit cards. With over 50 members on the development team and a unique blockchain mining and treasury model, Dash is the only major self-funded, self-governed organization in the cryptocurrency industry. This allows for constant development and funding for the entire project so community members can upload and vote on proposals, and if they are approved, they are paid for directly from the blockchain. Dash plans to unveil their landmark product Dash Evolution, the industry's first easy to use decentralized payments platform in 2018.

Contact:

Arizona State University:

Theresa Venet Grant

Media Relations Officer

Theresa.Grant@ASU.edu

(480) 727-4058 (office)

Interviews and live broadcasts can be scheduled from ASU's radio/HDTV studio on the Tempe campus.

Dash:

Jesse Platz

Account Director

Wachsman

jesse@wachsman.com

+1 (347) 751 5513

More Info:

This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders

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As the saying goes, when it rains it pours. We have seen a similar situation with the jailbreak scene. For a long period of time, there were no jailbreaks, but as soon as Ian Beer released the tfp0 exploit, things have been buzzing in the jailbreak world.

For the first time, we have had not one but several jailbreaks for iOS 10 and iOS 11. While it is great news, it has also made it very confusing. We get a lot of questions about which jailbreak to use for iOS 10, and which one to use to iOS 11. It really depends on your device and iOS version.

In this post, we take a look at the current status of the iOS 10  iOS 10.3.3 jailbreak so you can take a more informed decision. If youre on iOS 11, then check our post to find out the current status of the iOS 11  iOS 11.2.2 jailbreak.

iOS 10  iOS 10.3.3 Jailbreak Status

Meridian Jailbreak

Meridian is a semi-tethered jailbreak for iOS 10.3.x developed by hacker and developer Ben Sparkes aka iBSparkes. It works by sideloading the Meridian IPA using Cydia Impactor. It can be used only for 64-bit iOS devices including:

iPhone 7 & iPhone 7 Plus

iPhone 6S & iPhone 6s Plus

iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone SE

iPhone 5S

iPad Air 1 and iPad Air 2

iPad (2017)

iPad Mini 2, iPad mini 3, and iPad mini 4

iPad Pro 1 and iPad Pro 2 (12.9 and 9.7)

iPod Touch 6th Gen

The jailbreak makes use of the KPPless technique. KPP stands for Kernel Patch Protection. In order to remove restrictions imposed by Apple, which is basically the process of jailbreaking, you have to get access to the kernel and patch it, so you can write code to the kernel. This technique is called KPP bypass. In the case of the Meridian jailbreak, it makes use of a new technique called the KPPless. It touches the kernel without letting it know.

Cydia has not been updated for the KPPless yet, and so wont work if youve jailbroken your iOS device with Meridian jailbreak.

Download Meridian Jailbreak: Official Website

RELATED :Apple Passkeys Support Coming to 1Password in Early 2023

G0blin Jailbreak

G0blin is a semi-tethered jailbreak for iOS 10.3.x developed by hacker and developer Sticktron. It works by sideloading the g0blin IPA using Cydia Impactor. It supports iOS 10.3.1, iOS 10.3.2 and iOS 10.3.3. It should also work for lower versions of iOS 10. It supports the following 64-bit iOS 10.3.3 compatible iOS devices:

iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 5s

iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2

iPod touch 6G

It makes use of Luca Todescos KPP bypass technique, which we had explained previously. Thats the reason it does not support iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus just like Yalu jailbreak.

G0blin comes with Cydia and Cydia Substrate, so you can install jailbreak apps and tweaks after jailbreaking your iOS device with g0blin jailbreak.

It is still in beta phase and it is recommended to wait.

Download g0blin Jailbreak: Official website

Tutorial: Jailbreak iOS 10.3.3 on 64-bit iOS devices Using G0blin Jailbreak

H3lix Jailbreak

H3lix is a semi-tethered jailbreak for iOS 10.x developed by well-known hacker tihmstar. It works by sideloading the h3lix IPA using Cydia Impactor. It supports iOS 10.3.3  iOS 10. However, it supports only 32-bit devices: iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPad 4th generation.

It is based on the v0rtex exploit developed by Siguza based on Ian Beers async_exploit for iOS 11.

The h3lix jailbreak is very stable.

Download H3lix Jailbreak: Official website

Tutorial: How to Jailbreak iOS 10.3.3 Using h3lix Jailbreak in 5 Easy Steps

Saigon Jailbreak

Saigon is a semi-tethered jailbreak for iOS 10.2.1 developed by Abraham Masri aka cheesecakeufo. It works by sideloading the Saigon IPA using Cydia Impactor. It supports 64-bit devices including:

iPhone 6S & iPhone 6s Plus

iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone SE

iPhone 5S

iPad Air 1 and iPad Air 2

iPad (2017)

iPad Mini 2, iPad mini 3, and iPad mini 4

iPad Pro 1 and iPad Pro 2 (12.9 and 9.7)

iPod Touch 6th Gen

It was originally based on Adam Donenfelds ziVA exploit, but it now based on Siguzas v0rtex exploit since beta 3. After which the success rate has improved significantly.

Download Saigon Jailbreak: Official website

Yalu Jailbreak

It was the first jailbreak to be released for iOS 10. It is sometimes known as YaluX or yalu + mach_portal. Yalu is a semi-tethered jailbreak for iOS 10.2 or lower developed by Luc Todesco aka (qwertyoruiop). It works by sideloading the Yalu jailbreak IPA using Cydia Impactor. It supports the following 64-bit iOS devices:

iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 5s

iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2

iPod touch 6G

It makes use of Luca Todescos KPP bypass technique. It is probably the most stable jailbreak for iOS 10  iOS 10.2.

Download: Download Yalu Jailbreak

Tutorial: How to Jailbreak iOS 10.2 on iPhone or iPad Using Yalu Jailbreak and Cydia Impactor

Jailbreak Apps and Tweaks for iOS 10.3.3

g0blin, Yalu and Saigon are the only jailbreaks that come with Cydia and Cydia Substrate, so it is much easier to install jailbreak apps and tweaks.

So as you can see there are 5 jailbreaks for iOS 10  iOS 10.3.3. It is quite unprecedented to have so many jailbreaks and probably adds to the confusion.

So which jailbreak should you use? It depends on which version of iOS youre using currently and your device. So hopefully the information above helps you make an informed decision.

Dont forget to signup for our Daily Newsletter so you dont miss any iOS 11 jailbreak news.
By Louise Roseingrave

A stillborn baby died due to the toxic effects of cocaine, an inquest has heard.

The baby was born at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin on May 25 2016. His mother was a known drug user who was on a methadone programme for heroin addiction.

Paramedics responded to a call for an ambulance shortly before her son was stillborn in hospital, Dublin Coroners Court heard.

The woman walked out to the gate of her home to meet the ambulance upon its arrival at 8.33pm, paramedic Stephen ONeill said.

She met us at the gate when we pulled up. All her vital signs were normal so we proceeded to hospital, he said.

The baby was stillborn at the Rotunda at 9.11pm.

In her autopsy, pathologist Dr Emma Doyle described the baby as normally formed but small for 39 weeks gestation.

She noted an acute hypoxic ischemic event that deprived the baby of oxygen and said this may have happened in the days before birth.

The cause of death was a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain, due to reduced placental blood flow due to the toxic effects of cocaine.

A toxicology report conducted on the babys remains found evidence of cocaine, methadone and a variety of benzodiazepines, Dr Doyle told the inquest.

The pathologist said that in her opinion the lack of blood supply to the baby was caused either by a redirection of the blood supply from the placenta to elsewhere in the mothers body or due to the direct effect of cocaine on the foetus.

Dr Doyle said there was no range reference for the effects of cocaine on the foetus but said toxicology findings indicated high levels of cocaine had been consumed by the mother.

There is evidence of levels that can cause death in adults, Dr Doyle said.

Cocaine alters the placental function by diverting blood flow away from the placenta, the pathologist told the inquest.

It is my understanding that this was not the first occasion shed come in (to the hospital) with cocaine in her urine, Dr Doyle said.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane returned a narrative verdict outlining the sequence of events surrounding the babys death, including the date and cause of death.

The coroner extended her sympathies to the family, who were not present in court but had been made aware the inquest was taking place.
By Ann OLoughlin

The High Court has been asked to consider committing the CEO of Iarnrod Eireann and a senior manager at the company to prison for an alleged failure to comply with a court direction that a DART driver be restored to his position.

Last April Mr Justice Paul Gilligan said the driver Mr Paul Leblique should be restored to his position and disciplinary findings against him which arose following a safety incident at Tara Street Station in 2016 should be set aside.

Following the incident Mr Leblique was demoted to a non driving role with the company after he had refused to provide a urine sample.

The matter has returned before the High Court where the driver, represented by Conor Bowman SC, claims that despite the judges findings, and having passed all the various tests and assessments proposed by Irish rail, Mr Leblique has not been reinstated to his position as driver.

Arising out of the alleged failure to comply with the judges direction Mr Leblique has brought a motion seeking to attach and commit to prison the CEO of Iarnrod Eireann Mr David Franks, and Mr Chris Rafferty Dart District Manager of Pearse Station.

The company denies the claims. Stephen Dodd Bl for Irish Rail said said the company "entirely rejected" the application which he said was without merit.

The case was before Mr Justice Tony OConnor who, noting the seriousness of the claims, fixed the hearing of the application to next Friday

The application comes after Mr Leblique, of Griffith Road, Finglas East, Dublin, sued his employer seeking various orders and declarations including that Irish Rail restore him to his position after he was taken off train driving duties.

The company opposed the action and had denied his claims.

It arose out of an incident on the morning of January 25, 2016, when the Dart he was driving at stopped short at Tara Street with the last carriage not coming up to the platform.

He was spoken to by a superior who joined the train at Pearse Street and they both continued on to Bray Station where another superior asked him to provide samples of breath and urine.

His breath sample was clear but he refused to provide a urine sample on grounds that the 2005 Rail Safety Act required that only a medical practitioner could take such a sample.

The sample was to be taken by an employee of a Northern Ireland company which carries out such tests for the rail company.

Mr Leblique was later suspended and then demoted.

Following a two day hearing before the High Court last April, Mr Justice Gilligan said it appeared the company was no longer pursuing the central issue in the case - the refusal of the sample - and that would have to be set aside by the court.

That only left the matter of stopping short of the platform which, it appeared, should be addressed through the companys driver development and support scheme.

After saying that Mr Leblique should be restored to his position the Judge also awarded him the costs of his action against his employer.
Luxury fashion retailer Brown Thomas has showcased its Spring/Summer 18 collections. Inclement weather conditions aside, the abiding mood was one of colourful maximalism with nostalgic references underpinning the 95-strong new season looks, writes Annmarie OConnor.

Its definitely a season full of decoration and ornamentation with a spirit of non-conformist glamour which I think is really lovely, says Brown Thomas fashion director, Shelly Corkery.

Indeed. From the quixotic and quirky to the tailored and tempered, the vibe is both positive, personal and pastiche  an emphatic ode to the individual  with trends ranging from seasonal stalwarts to unexpected hybrid hooks.

The classic trench continues to dominate the fashion agenda  a boon for grand soft days  albeit with a 2.0 twist. From rose brocade at Alexander McQueen to Balenciagas denim splicing and Celines canny coat-come-dress; with a notable mention for The Rows trouser two-piece (complete with box fresh trainers)  expect this perennial closet keeper to keep trending.

If spring showers give us flowers, then florals prints are a fashion given. Expect more whimsy, however, with delicate sheer silks and diaphanous dresses in both ditsy and oversized proportions from Zimmerman, Alexander McQueen and Peter Pilotto; delicious hyper-embellished buds from Marni and panelled brocade skirts at Dries Van Noten  a testament to the insouciant days ahead.

Although looking forward may be the typical spring positioning; this season, designers looked back to the past to create the future. The overarching theme of meta-referencing were to be found particularly in Guccis exaggerated and overstated retro sensibility with print clashing and old-school branding modernising the past.

This appetite for newstalgia finds further era-centric expression in the 70s ladylike pieces from Balenciaga and Miu Miu; while Pradas manga-inspired print coat (paired with kitten heels and Lurex socks) and Stella McCartneys relaxed cargo trousers (complete with drawstring ankle toggle)  pay homage to the 80s and 90s.

More traditional retrospectives can be found in the regal opulence captured by Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Dries Van Noten and Erdem. Oligarchic fabrics, headbands, heels and handbags receive royal embellishment; while sequins and faux fur trim allude to the stuff of museums and art houses. One for the style queens.

Its not all frisson and fantasy though. A more ascetic aesthetic, as seen at Balenciaga, Delpozo and Stella McCartney, creates an equally breezy brio.

Considered cuts form alliances with sculpted silhouettes creating curvilinear shapes  minimalist yet body-conscious; tailored yet feminine. The key piece? This seasons midi length skirt in mathematical pleats as seen at Victoria Beckham.

Colour-wise pastels receive strong seasonal airtime; red remains a hot hue; while white cleanses the sartorial palette.

As for new brands? Calvin Klein, Italian design house MSGM, New York fashion designer Rosie Assoulin, and Francesco Ragazzis Palm Angels join the roster. Cork welcomes hot labels like Ganni and Rixo London (both sporting keen price points) to grace the Leeside store; while Roland Mouret continues his regional reign.

Bye, Arctic blast; hello, warm weather wardrobe. Weve been waiting for you.
The products of Church-run schools  the movers and shakers who now run Ireland Inc  havent done a particularly good job at instilling Christian values, says TP OMahony.

We need to give our children the moral equivalent of a satellite navigation kit to help them navigate that

unknown country called the future.

These words were spoken by the former chief rabbi of Britain, Jonathan Sacks, during a recent debate in the House of Lords in Westminster.

He was speaking against the background of a fast-changing, often deeply confusing world, where human values are in a state of flux, and where young people must cope with a multitude of competing narratives.

There was a time not so long ago when there was one dominant narrative  and that was provided by the Christian Churches.

In Ireland, it came predominantly from the Catholic Church. In todays world, which has come to seem increasingly post-Christian and where there is often indifference, if not hostility, to organised religion, we too readily forget the enormous and enduring influence of religion, especially in the West.

In his book The Age of Revolution, EJ Hobsbawm of Cambridge University reiterates religions central role: For most of history and over most of the world the terms in which all but a handful of educated and emancipated men thought about the world were those of traditional religion, so much so that there are parts of the world in which the word Christian is simply a synonym for man.

Today it may well be, particularly in parts of Europe, that a growing number of men and women are living their lives without reference to or dependence on the God hypothesis, but this shouldnt lead us to underplay or underestimate, let alone ignore, the crucial role played by religion down the centuries as the fountainhead of morality and in forming political culture.

It should not be difficult, even in this post-Christian age, for the average citizen who takes notice of world events to appreciate that religious belief, or adherence or loyalty to a particular culture that has been shaped by religion, plays a key role in political events, stresses Professor John A Moses of the University of Queensland.

Look no further than Northern Ireland to find examples of two competing cultures formed by religion, and the key and bloody repercussions the conflict between these cultures had on political events on this island since 1968.

All of this was the background against which the BBCs foreign correspondent, Lise Doucet, was speaking at a seminar in London when she said: If you dont understand religion, including the abuse of religion, you dont understand what is happening in our world.

That the culture of the Irish Republic, especially political culture, has been shaped by religion is incontestable.

That role has been dealt with, inter alia, in a very detailed and scholarly fashion by Tom Inglis of UCD in his book Moral Monopoly, which traces the development of the Catholic Churchs monopoly over Irish morality, and by Louise Fuller of NUI Maynooth in her book, Irish Catholicism since 1950.

In the heyday of the Catholic Churchs power, writes Inglis, particularly during the 50 years after the foundation of the State, its influence expanded beyond the religious field into the field of politics, economics, education, health, social welfare, the media and many other fields. The power of the Church meant that it structured not just the religious life of the Irish people, but their social, political and economic life as well.

Louise Fuller highlights the role of education, over which the Church exercised considerable control, in transmitting the Catholic cultural heritage.

In this process the part played by the school system was crucial.

Today, in the light of the changes that have occurred in Ireland, we have witnessed a debate of sorts about Church-run schools.

Ireland at one time may have been very close to being a one-faith (Christian, albeit with different strands) society, but that assuredly is no longer the case in the 21st century.

As the last census has shown, the number of people now registering in the no religion category has increased by more than 70% between 2011 and 2016, and now number 481,388  10.1% of the population.

Perhaps more significantly, as the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has noted, those in the no religion category are highest in the age group 23-39, the group with children entering school life.

That age group, he said, accounts for 28% of the general population, but 45% of those with no religion fall into this age bracket.

Yet there remained, he said, a stubborn reluctance within the Church to allow the current situation to change.

The Irish religious establishment is fixated on questions of ownership and management, and too little on the purpose of the Catholic school and the outcomes of Catholic education in terms of faith formation.

In a speech in October, another senior churchman, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, seemed more upbeat about faith formation in Catholic schools.

He told a conference in Dublin that religion in a Catholic school was not an added extra to be fitted in during break time or twilight hours or during registration. Everything that happens in the school community is rooted in the Gospel values.

This, of course, is patently untrue, if we look at the results as manifested in the society around us and the prevailing culture, if we look, in other words, as the outcomes of Catholic education.

Listening to a report recently on RTEs Morning Ireland about the controversy over tracker mortgages,

 yet another banking scandal  I thought once again about the various elites in Irish society and the system that has produced them. Most of them, anyway.

In the corporate sector, in boardrooms, in the world of commerce, of high finance, banking, in insurance, real estate, in law, in the civil service, and also, of course, in politics  the people at the top are invariably the products of the network of private, fee-paying schools (many of which are associated with religious orders) that collectively make up our own Ivy League.

They are the people, in other words, who run Ireland Inc. And they havent done a particularly good job, not at any rate when it comes to instilling Christian values and giving effect in practice to those values.

Just consider the madness of the Celtic Tiger years, marked by greed and avarice, and the litany of corruption revealed by various tribunals of inquiry.

The people who are the products of Church-run schools are the movers-and-shakers of Ireland in 2017, the people who are the main architects of the prevailing culture in which there is a Thatcherite preoccupation with deregulation, and a Reaganite emphasis on profit.

Youll search in vain (almost) for anything resembling a system of Christian ethics. It makes you wonder about the influence of our elite schools, and the values being transmitted therein. It reminds me of a comment on television about priestly formation from a contrite professor of moral theology when confronted with the shocking extent of the clerical child sex abuse scandal: We didnt do a very good job, did we?

That, at least, was an honest response. These days we are used to seeing polls and surveys pointing to the increasing abandonment of religion here. The hollowing out of Catholicism hasnt (yet) reached anything like the stage it is at in other parts of Europe.

But for all our preoccupation with religion in the past (and still today, though to a declining degree) we are entitled  nay, obliged  to ask: why has it been so readily compartmentalised when it comes to morality in the marketplace or the boardroom?

Where is the evidence in these places of a flourishing Christian morality? Answer: there is precious little. As for the banks, I have long been of the view that they should be nationalised. The role they now play in civic society is such that they should not remain in private ownership.

What we are left with is a disturbing and troubling conviction that the moral equivalent of a satellite navigation kit, of which former chief rabbi Sacks spoke, is not being furnished by our Church-run schools  if the evidence of a society in which injustice and inequality are widespread and tolerated is anything to go by, evidence of which the homelessness crisis is but a facet (though a deeply distressing one).
Mr Justice Michael Hanna yesterday approved the settlement offer in the case before the High Court in Cork and wished the heartbroken family all the best in the future.

The late Paud OLeary was out on an early morning training cycle for the 112-mile Ring of Kerry charity cycle due to take place the following week when he was struck by a passing vehicle and fatally injured at Scrahan Fada, Gneeveguilla, near Killarney, on July 1, 2012.

The father-of-four was a native of Gneeveguilla. His wife Margaret and eldest daughter Shannon, studying genetics at UCC, were present in court yesterday.

Senior counsel Lorraine OSullivan, for the family, said there were two younger sons and a daughter, Antoinette, who has Down Syndrome. Ms OSullivan said the late Mr OLeary had been in training for a charity cycle in aid of the Down Syndrome Association.

Ms OSullivan said Mr OLearys children were aged 14, 12, 9, and 7 at the time of his death and are now 19, 17, 14, and 13.

She said Antoinette had been doing well but, following a recent setback, was not living as independently as she had been.

She is a very special member of the family. She has a very supportive, loving, family who fight about who will get to look after her, Ms OSullivan said.

Members of Paud O'Leary's family

The late Mr OLeary is also survived by his parents, four brothers and three sisters, all of whom signed waivers in respect of the claim made by his wife and children.

Mr Justice Hanna said he was satisfied to approve the settlement offer entirely on the terms recommended by counsel with the exception of one small amendment. The judge said he would direct payment out of a sum of over 2,000.

That would be towards something in the nature of a family holiday to remember happy times. What happened was an appalling tragedy but it is important to remember happy times too.

The very best of luck to you. I wish you a very happy new year, the judge said to Mrs OLeary and her daughter Shannon.

In April 2015, a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence was imposed on a young man for dangerous driving causing the death of Mr OLeary.

Shane Fitzgerald of Knockeen, Meelin, Newmarket, Co Cork, had denied the charge of dangerous driving causing the death. Judge Thomas E ODonnell, at the time, imposed the sentence and said the collision blew Mr OLeary off the road so much so that his body and his bike were some distance behind a hedge.

The charge encompassed the speed and the condition of Fitzgeralds grey Toyota Landcruiser  a vehicle which had been identified from debris at the accident scene but which had never been found despite extensive Garda searches .

Fitzgerald had left the scene and the day after the offence left for the UK and subsequently Australia. He was arrested in February of 2014 at Heathrow Airport having been spotted by an Irish citizen in the UK en route back to Australia.

Over three-and-a-half hours of silent CCTV images were shown to the jury, including footage showing Fitzgerald drinking heavily before getting into his vehicle on the night in question.

Michael OHiggins defence senior counsel in the criminal trial in Kerry, after the jury returned a guilty verdict, said the accused acknowledged his involvement and his culpability.

He accepts now the cause of the accident lay with him, Mr OHiggins had said.
Insp Fergal Foley told Clonakilty District Court the case, in which four people face charges, could then be sent forward for trial.

William Gilsenan, of 2 Kilmahuddrick Green, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, his son Dean, with the same address , Sean McManus of 32 Burrowfield Road in Baldoyle, Dublin 13, and Molly Sloyan, of 4B Buenosaires, Benidorm in Alicante in Spain, each face two charges, under Section 3 and Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

It follows a Garda operation at a holiday home in Bantry in West Cork on November 26, 2017, when officers from the West Cork and Cork City Drug Units and the Garda Regional Support Unit conducted a search at Seascape, Dromleigh.

Previous court sittings had heard that bleached cocaine worth an estimated 70,000 was found at the property, with gardai claiming there was an international dimension to the alleged drugs operation.

William Gilsenan had been previously been granted bail following a High Court application and yesterday the court in Clonakilty was told that Ms Sloyan has also been granted bail in the High Court but she has not yet taken it up.

Hannah Cahill, Junior Counsel for Ms Sloyan and Mr McManus, said Ms Sloyan consented to continuing remand, with consent to bail, until a sitting of Skibbereen District Court on February 13.

She said Mr McManus consented to continuing remand in custody to appear before the same court on February 13.

Ms Cahill said Mr McManus has a High Court application for bail pending, which may be heard next week once an affidavit is submitted.

Patrick Horan, solicitor for Dean Gilsenan, said his client consented to a two-week continuing remand in custody until the sitting of Skibbereen District Court on January 23 next.

Finbarr Murphy, solicitor for William Gilsenan, who has already been granted bail, said his client would also consent to appear before the court in Skibbereen on February 13.
Allowing each local authority to set a different rate of LPT to avoid large increases in bills for homeowners is the preferred choice to avoid a voter backlash.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has announced a review of the property tax to conclude in time for Octobers budget to determine the system of charging post 2019.

Because rates are currently based on the market value of the property, homeowners are facing massive rises in property tax given the sharp rise in house prices, if the policy is not changed.

The LPT will raise 462m this year despite 62,000 households deferring payment due to an inability to pay.

Politically, such a move is not considered tenable and a report compiled by the Oireachtas Parliamentary Budget Office, suggests amending the rates at local level is the way to go.

The report, outlines four options including doing nothing, but said such a policy could damage the legitimacy of the LPT with the public.

The second option is to extend the freeze on 2013 levels but warns that this would give rise to inequalities as properties that were of similar value in 2013 have changed since.

It also expressed concern that a further freeze would give rise to the expectation that any future revaluations would also be postponed.

Minister @Paschald announces review of the Local Property Tax https://t.co/w16I1fOcY3 pic.twitter.com/p17myoulSB  Department of Finance (@IRLDeptFinance) January 16, 2018

The report also warned that precedent suggests that if the taxable value diverges significantly from the market value that constitutional issues could arise.

The third option is to undergo a process of re-evaluation of properties and adjust the rate at a national level to maintain the overall amount of money raised.

Average payments would be similar but properties that have increased [particularly in Dublin and other urban areas] will see increases in their LPT charge, the report said.

The fourth option, argues for a re-evaluation of homes but allows local authorities to ensure the amount of money raised is maintained.

The 2015 Thornhill Review of the LPT recommended that this approach be adopted, the report states.

Fianna Fail finance spokesman and Michael McGrath told the Irish Examiner dramatic increases in bills have to be avoided.

The priority has to be to avoid the dramatic increase in LPT bills that households will face if the current system is not reformed, he said.

The changes to the LPT regime need to bring about greater certainty for households and local authorities and avoid further wild fluctuations in the future. This will have to be dealt with by Budget 2019 so that people can plan for the future with a degree of certainty.

At the Oireachtas Budget oversight committee, finance officials appeared to rule out moving to a site- valuation tax model.
The department, through the Reception and Integration Agency has invited expressions of interest from people interested in providing accommodation and ancillary services on an urgent and emergency basis in the State, for persons seeking international protection.

The deadline for tenders or requests to participate is January 26.

It said the call was in response to an urgent and increasing demand, adding that any contract awarded will be for a 12-month period only.

The properties selected will be in addition to those which are already under contract with the Department of Justice.

A public tendering procedure will take place in 2018 to cover accommodation needs arising from mid-2018 onwards, it said.

The stipulation from the department is that premises required include the likes of hotels and guesthouses  locations which can accommodate at least 80 people and which are reasonably close to all services, shops, schools, transport etc.

It said the expressions of interest would be assessed on the basis of conformity with the McMahon Report and the time required before a premises can be used to accommodate persons.

The McMahon Report recommends a number of basic requirements in a number of areas including:

The size of rooms  they need to be big enough to allow occupants to live and sleep.

Cooking facilities and private living space in so far as is practicable.

Recreational space for children and young people.

Necessary security arrangements.

Access to after-school or homework clubs.

Links with the local community

As of the end of November last year, Reception and Integration Agency accommodation was 91.9% full with 4,920 of a total of 5,352 places occupied.

The Department of Justice recently announced the award of almost 500,000 to seven projects nationwide to support the labour-market integration of female refugees over 2018.

The schemes are intended to improve the employability of female refugees as well as providing targeted supports that promote access to and participation in education, training employment and self-employment.
Thinner and unsteady on their feet after 32 days at sea, pals Patrick OConnor, Eoin OFarrell, skipper Sean Underwood, and Thomas Browne devoured the food just moments after crossing the finish line of the 5,500km Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

The four-man team, Relentless Rowers, arrived in Nelsons Dockyard in English Harbour, Antigua, at around 5.40am local time (9.40am Irish time) 32 days, 22-hours and four minutes after setting off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 14.

They finished sixth overall out of a field of 26, and have become the fastest Republic of Ireland crew to row across the Atlantic  almost two days faster than the previous Irish time.

Corkmen Mr Farrell, 26, a podiatrist at CUH, Mr OConnor, 28, a doctor and SHO in CUHs emergency department, and Mr Underwood, a doctor in the Mercy University Hospital, who turns 26 today, and Mr Browne, a 27-year-old Dubliner and tech entrepreneur, received a heros welcome as they made landfall at dawn.

Tommy Browne and Sean Underwood from @relentlessrower describe the hallucinations they experienced while competing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge pic.twitter.com/43mpqtuVw1  Ryan Hooper (@RyanJHooper) January 16, 2018

Speaking from the Caribbean last night, Mr Farrell said: This was three years in planning and it was nice to finish. We all stayed friends and we didnt have any major mishaps. We did have a partial capsize, which highlighted the vulnerability of our situation, but otherwise it all went off well.

We saw dolphins and whales, amazing sunsets and sunrises, and caught some fish along the way. But being away from friends, family and loved ones, was tough. Spending Christmas at sea was especially tough. We had Santa hats and a small Christmas pudding on Christmas day  thats one Ill remember forever.

Arriving into Antigua yesterday to be welcomed by family and friends was like a dream come true. We are physically and emotionally exhausted, but in good health otherwise.

The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is known as the worlds toughest row.

The Relentless Rowers battled seasickness, chronic fatigue, and 40ft waves during Storms Dylan and Eleanor, and spent Christmas Day eating dried food from ration packs, as they rowed their specially-designed 28ft ocean-rowing boat, Saoirse, across the Atlantic.

A race spokesperson said they have shown that it is not only professional rowers who can cross the Atlantic in a record time.

They raised 22,000 for the Cork University Hospital Charity, and for Pieta House.

Miriam Forde, fundraising manager with the CUH charity, said they will use their portion of the money to buy equipment for phase two of the new 80-bed childrens inpatient unit due to be built at CUH.

The British team, The Four Oarsmen, won the race outright in a time of 29 days, 15 hours, breaking the previous record by six days.
The Mountjoy Prison Visiting Committee said that, in the absence of improvements in feuds in communities the prisoners come from, the protection problem was likely to persist.

The Mountjoy committee report was one of 14 reports for 2016 published on each of the countrys jails.

Cloverhill Prison Visiting Committee also said gang culture continued to pose a serious problem within the remand centre, particularly as a result of recent inter-gang violence.

In Dochas Womens Prison, the visiting committee said drugs continued to be a significant problem and that they fuelled aggressive and bullying behaviour that was endangering prisoners and staff.

In the Mountjoy report, the committee said prisoners expressed frustration, hopelessness and, at times, anger about the conditions of their custody.

This included prevalence of gang culture, which was giving rise to the need for protection, widespread abuse of drugs, the lack of drug-free environment in prison, and drug-free accommodation on release.

The report said the large number of prisoners on restricted regime was generally a reflection on divisions and disputes in the community where the prisoners come from.

The context of threat and violence has had an impact on safety, health and rehabilitation of prisoners and is a cause of concern, it said. In the absence of a solution to the problem in society as a whole the numbers in prison requiring protection is likely to persist.

The committee said protection numbers in the north inner city jail can reach one in four prisoners. It said the capacity of management to ensure the security of prisoners while, at the same time, providing an acceptable level of out-of-cell time and activity is severely constrained by shortages in staffing, recreational space and workshops.

The committee said there was significant concern at the lack of access to secure specialised treatment and mental health services and that this may pose a risk for prisoners and staff.

The report said those prisoners who may be disturbed or presenting challenging behaviour and occasionally requiring up to 23 hours in a cell were in need of urgent review.

Cloverhill Prison

In Cloverhill Prison in west Dublin, the committee said, the number of protection prisoners remained high and that the logistics of dealing with this was extremely difficult.

Gang culture continues to be a serious problem within the prison, especially with the recent inter-gang violence, it said.

The committee was concerned at the lack of passive drug detection dogs during the week and that the transfer of drugs over prison walls continued to be a huge cause of concern.

The committee also said it was deeply concerned at the high number of prisoners in shared cells and that the lack of toilet privacy was an affront to their dignity.

Of the 415 people who were in custody in October 2016, 276 were in triple cells and 32 in quadruple cells. A total of 360 used the toilet in the presence of others.

Problems in Dochas Womens Prison, included unequal treatment of women prisoners due to the lack of an open prison and step-down facilities, the unacceptable condition of Dochas, homelessness on release and overcrowding.

The committee said the problem of aggressive and bullying behaviour often fuelled by drugs was prevalent and seemed to be getting worse.

In Cork Prison, the committee said workshops were closed due to staff shortages on too many occasions .
Some 34 years after charges against Joanne Hayes for the murder of Baby John on White Strand in Caherciveen, Co Kerry, were dropped, the acting Garda Commissioner, Donall O Cualain, has written to and spoken to Ms Hayes to formally apologise to her for the conduct of the original investigation.

The infants body, which had suffered almost 30 stab wounds, including two to the heart, was found in a bag on White Strand Beach, Caherciveen, in April 1984. No-one has ever been held responsible for the death of the five-day-old boy.

However, the body of a second baby was then found on a farm near Abbeydorney outside Tralee.

White Strand Beach. Pic: Dan Linehan

Ms Hayes had given birth to a baby boy on the family farm. The babys body, later determined to have been stillborn, was found in a field on the farm, where she said that, in a panic, she had left him.

Gardai persisted in the theory that the Caherciveen baby was also hers and arrested her in connection with that death. Those charges were later dropped.

Ms Hayes, who was 24 at the time, has accepted the apology, though the option of taking a civil case for her treatment by gardai and the State during the criminal investigation and the subsequent tribunal of inquiry remain open to her.

At a press conference in Kerry yesterday, Superintendent Flor Murphy said a viable DNA profile had been obtained from samples taken from Baby John in the course of the original investigation.

To see this post on Facebook, click here.

This sample has been examined and compared and, as a result of this analysis, we can conclusively state that Ms Joanne Hayes is not the mother of Baby John, he said.

It is a matter of significant regret for An Garda Siochana that it has taken such a long time for it to be confirmed that Ms Hayes is not the mother of Baby John.

On behalf of An Garda Siochana, I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for that, as well as the awful stress and pain she has been put through as a result of the original investigation into this matter, which fell well short of the required standards.

The Garda investigation led to the Kerry Babies Tribunal.

It was established to look into the facts and circumstances leading to the pressing of criminal charges against Ms Hayes in connection with the death of Baby John and the subsequent withdrawal of those charges.

Supt Murphy said: The tribunal, headed by Mr Justice Kevin Lynch, into that investigation, rightly criticised many aspects of that investigation. For those failings, I apologise.

It is accepted that the original investigation fell short of what was required and expected of a professional police service, but I want to reassure the public that this will be a thorough and professional investigation.

While this investigation team cannot change what happened in the past, we can help find the answers into what happened to Baby John and are determined to do so.

Joanne Hayes with friends outside the Tribunal. Pic: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Supt Murphy said the key to solving the case lay with the people of Caherciveen and the surrounding areas.

Ireland was a different place in 1984, he said. It was a different society with different societal pressures. We would hope that, in the Ireland of 2018, that people will be more prepared to come forward. Our strong belief at the current time is that the answers to this are in Caherciveen and the close surrounding areas.

We would ask anyone who was living in Caherciveen and surrounding areas around the time of April 1984 to speak to us. Even the smallest piece of information could be vital. After all these years, Baby John deserves the truth.

Det Supt Walter OSullivan of the serious crime review team also stressed that gardai believe the answers lie in and around Caherciveen in Iveragh.

The greatest assistance in this particular case will come from the people of south Kerry, he said. We are certainly acting on the premise, drawing on our experience, that the answer to the case, that the questions that can be answered, lies in south Kerry, lies in the Iveragh peninsula.

Supporters of Joanne Hayes at the Kerry Babies Tribunal. Pic: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Speaking on The Late Late Show after the tribunal, Ms Hayes said that she was the one on trial during the tribunal.

I didnt expect a clap on the back, but I didnt expect it would go so hard on me, she said. After all, the tribunal was set up to look into the behaviour of the gardai, but it was I who went on trial. The tribunal itself was a terrible experience.

The report, when it came out, was very anti-women, not just anti-me, but anti-women, and I dont think it showed any feeling at all.

I was the underdog going into the case, anyway, I dont think we could have won against the system.
John Daly, of the Paddock, Drinagh, Co Cork, had previously pleaded guilty to having the tobacco products for sale or delivery without having paid the required duty. Revenue sought a conviction but Judge Mary Dorgan asked Revenue to reconsider in light of Mr Dalys impeccable character.

A search of the store had led to 680 cigarettes being discovered, as well as 0.3kg of tobacco. The defendant is a brother of Minister of State Jim Daly, the Cork South West TD.

Solicitor James Brooks said his client, aged 50, had been tempted due to a decline in turnover.

Meanwhile, the Revenue Commissioners in response to the judge made a lengthy legal submission giving its reasons for pursuing a conviction.

At Clonakilty District Court yesterday, State Solicitor Malachy Boohig said Revenues defence was robust, noting Mr Daly had admitted the offence and the judges only discretion was to strike out a case. In this case, Mr Boohig said, the offence had been admitted and the facts proved.

Mr Brooks said his client had written to Revenue within 48 hours of the offence being detected and had offered to pay a fine to avoid conviction.

Effectively I was asking for some form of mercy from the Revenue Commissioners, said Mr Brooks, referring to Mr Dalys concerns over what a conviction would bring, not just now but in the future, citing travel and his job operating a post office. He said the offence had brought Mr Daly huge embarrassment.

Revenue had already gained a victory: What good does it do to have this mans head on a platter? Why the pound of flesh?

Judge Dorgan suggested she may have to seek direction on the matter but Mr Boohig said superior court had already addressed the primacy of the states ability to collect revenue.

The judge said it was Mr Dalys first offence; he had an exemplary career and, in those circumstances regarding any other offences, he would be getting some leniency.

Following the judges fresh appeal to Revenue to re-examine the issue, and in light of a suggestion it could jeopardise Mr Dalys job, Mr Boohig said he would go back to Revenue.

The judge said she viewed the loss of revenue to the State as being of the utmost importance but it was a particularly difficult case. The matter is to be finalised on February 23.
An Bord Pleanala gave the green light to RTE yesterday to relocate the Fair City set on its Donnybrook campus.

The appeals board has given the relocation the go-ahead, in spite of opposition from a group of residents living beside the RTE site.
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A FORMER Isle of Wight Salvation Army Corps sergeant major is in custody in the USA on charges of solicitation of a minor.

Roy Anthony Williams, 52, was known on the Island for organising the Salvation Army's Christmas dinners for several years, although the Isle of Wight branch said he left in June 2016.

The News-Herald, a newspaper covering Loudon County, Tennessee, reported that Mr Williams had admitted trying to persuade a 13-year-old girl to engage in acts that would constitute aggravated statutory rape.

He has been charged with pursuing a Lenoir City teenager for sex and has been detained on a $80,000 bond prior to sentencing on January 30.

Lenoir City police sergeant Lynette Ladd reported: "Williams did send (the girl) messages encouraging her to meet him and offering to go to her residence and pick her up.

"Williams texted (the girl's) phone asking, 'are you still OK about me taking ur virginity?'

"Williams also commented through (the girl's) phone, 'It's never been about sex. It's much more. I love you. I desire you'."

The report said the girl was invited to Williams' room at a local motel, which is where law enforcement found him, and Williams had sent text messages knowing the girl was under 18 years old.

A spokesperson from the Salvation Army said: "We confirm that Roy Williams was a soldier, a member of the Isle of Wight Corps.

"On August 3, 2017, as soon as we heard of the allegations made against him he was removed from membership of The Salvation Army.

"We are shocked and horrified at the behaviour which has led to him being charged and imprisoned in the USA. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those individuals affected by his actions.

"We would stress that we take the protection of children and vulnerable adults very seriously and The Salvation Army has robust safeguarding procedures in place."
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RALEIGH  The number of uninsured North Carolinians continues to decline even without an expansion to the states Medicaid program, health regulators told legislators Tuesday.

The regulators also disclosed potential penalties, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, for the states seven behavioral health managed-care organizations if they fail to meet new contract performance standards.

There are just more than 2 million Medicaid enrollees in the state, according to the N.C. Department of Health of Human Services.

Within that total, the number of people receiving Medicaid services has climbed 25.7 percent, or by 311,000 to 1.52 million, from fiscal 2013-14 to fiscal 2017-18.

The number of uninsured people has declined 16.7 percent, or by 225,000, to 1.35 million.

The state population is estimated at 10.15 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Medicaid expenditures have been about $14 billion annually in recent years.

For examples, in the 20-county Cardinal Innovations territory  which includes Forsyth and five other Triad counties  the number of uninsured residents has dropped 21.5 percent over the past four years even as the population has risen 4.3 percent. The number of Medicaid-covered lives is up 18.5 percent.

The state Medicaid enrollment could be more than 2.5 million if the Republican-controlled General Assembly were to approve expanding the state Medicaid program to more than 500,000 residents.

On Jan. 11, federal health regulators made North Carolina eligible to require Medicaid recipients to either work or participate in activities, such as job training and volunteering, in order to qualify for benefits.

The ruling affects the federal Medicaid waiver request submitted by the McCrory administration in June 2016 and amended Nov. 20 by the Cooper administration. The next step for North Carolina is for the legislature to decide whether it wants to move forward on the work- requirement proposal submitted in 2017 by Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, in his Carolina Cares legislation.

MCOs are required by state law to maintain services at the 2015 funding levels even as the legislature trimmed appropriations the past three fiscal years. The MCOs have been expected to make up for some of the cuts from their fund balances.

Dave Richard, the states Medicaid secretary, said DHHS is evaluating the MCOs investment plans to make sure they are going primarily to recipient services, and not to administrative costs, including new buildings that arent providing services.

One of the quickest way to spend fund balances is to build something, state Health Secretary Mandy Cohen said.

We want to make thoughtful spending and help (the MCOs) make good re-investment decisions for recipient services, and put some parameters around re-investment, such as spending on opioid recovery services that may take some time.

Cohen said the new contract performance standards is aimed at helping reduce the treatment gap between physical health and behavioral health.

These new contracts hold each organization accountable to meeting key performance measures to ensure high-quality care, Cohen said.

Those include following up within seven days from a hospital discharge.

For hospitals that dont achieve at least a 40 percent performance standard, they could be fined $100,000 per month in Medicaid and up to $50,000 per month in monies targeting detox services.

For not achieving annual full performance standard in placing eligible and qualified behavioral health residents into community housing, the fines would be $600,000 annually, including $300,000 for fiscal 2017-18.

In January 2017, U.S. Justice Department officials asked a federal judge to compel the state to meet a requirement for moving 3,000 qualified individuals from adult care homes into independent housing. MCOs are responsible for carrying out the Olmstead ruling that was approved in August 2011.

Eligible to participate are people living in adult-care homes whose symptoms have been diagnosed as a serious and persistent mental illness, or those who have been in treatment for more than 90 days at a state hospital.

The goal was having 1,166 individuals transferred statewide by June 30, 2016, and 3,000 by July 1, 2020.

However, there have been 853 transfers as of June 30, 2016, including 70 within the former CenterPoint Human Services territory of Davie, Forsyth, Rockingham and Stokes counties, according to DHHS.

Of that 853 total, 203 individuals have left independent housing  47 percent of them shifting because of the need for a higher level of care or a more congregate setting.

For the Medicaid innovations waiver program for intellectual and developmental disabilities recipients, they will receive at least annual review of their status. The performance standard is set at 90 percent and the fine would be $100,000 per month.

The uncertainty of how much and how Cardinal has used monies from its fund balances has drawn bipartisan criticism.

The foremost criticism has focused on the annual compensation paid to previous executive managers, including fired executive director Richard Topping, and subsequent $6.1 million in severance packages. The state plans to regain those payments from administrative funds.

We are all hearing from constituents they are not seeing the reinvestment into their communities from the MCOs fund balance, Sen. Ralph Hise, R-McDowell said.

With the MCOs sitting on close to $1 billion in fund balances, Hise said it is irritating to see that level when they are in no jeopardy of losing future Medicaid funds.

Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union, questioned why $1.7 million, which had been committed by Vaya Health to a Wilkes County facility to address opioid abuse, is now being pulled back. Vaya covers 23 counties, including Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties.

Brian Ingraham, executive director of Vaya, said the MCO is not prepared to provide the $1.7 million as it adjusts to state single-stream budget cuts even though he confirmed to Tucker that Vaya has about $95 million in fund balance.

Its a matter of fairly looking at available monies considering there is confirmation of annual single-stream funding reductions from the legislature, Ingraham said. That is a game change and a tough pill to swallow, and affects our reinvestment, and what is spendable and what is not.

Lambeth, a committee co-chairman, said he is hearing nothing new from the MCOs in how they are planning to resolve these issues.
SAN DIEGO  In 2007, I was at brunch with friends when politics came up. And suddenly, I found myself trying to explain why I thought a political newcomer from Illinois would vanquish a crowded field of more experienced candidates and become the Democratic presidential nominee.

I struggled. There was nothing on Barack Obamas resume to suggest that he could win the nomination, let alone the presidency. I just had a feeling that the self-described skinny kid with a funny name was poised to turn the political system upside down. There was something about Obama  some inexplicable X-factor  that you didnt see in more seasoned politicians like John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton.

Heres what I didnt understand at the time: Getting elected president isnt about resumes. It isnt about experience or IQ tests or knowing the issues inside and out. Its about excitement. Obama generated it; the others didnt. He got 20,000 people at rallies; some of his opponents were lucky to get 200.

Now were presented with the tantalizing idea that Oprah Winfrey might run for president in 2020.

Within 48 hours of Winfrey declaring to a cheering crowd at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles that a new day is on the horizon, smarty-pants anchors and pundits in New York and Washington were pooh-poohing the idea that the broadcast mogul would run for president or be up to the job if she were elected.

According to this elite bunch, not just any media savvy tycoon with loads of charisma and instant name recognition can walk in off the street, run for president and win the whole enchilada. Who knew?

Besides, getting elected to office is hard work, say a bunch of people  most of whom have never put their names on the line and run for anything.

One exception is MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a former Republican member of Congress who used to support Donald Trump and now attacks him with regularity. Scarborough, who now says hes an independent, went off at length  on his show, Morning Joe  about how, despite her popularity with a large chunk of America, Winfrey might not be up to the job of running for president.

In fact, he seemed to say that people should stick to one calling. This from a lawyer who became a congressman who became a cable host who also plays in a rock band. Maybe Winfrey isnt as smart and talented as Scarborough.

Americans are asked to believe that many of the same people who were wrong about Trump are now right about Winfrey. But experts are not what they used to be.

Whether these commentators are on the right or the left, their crystal balls are out of whack. In this unprecedented political environment, no one can predict with any certainty whats going to happen next in the arena.

We are also expected to ignore the rhetorical backflips that both political parties are doing to square what they said about one billionaire yesterday with what theyre saying about another billionaire today.

In 2016, Democrats essentially said about the idea of a Trump candidacy: This is crazy. You cant have a political novice, who has never run for office, who doesnt know about politics or public policy and comes from within a bubble of like-minded people. The presidency is not an entry-level job.

In 2020, if Winfrey runs for president, were likely to hear the same sort of things from Republicans.

Eye-rolling could become the new national pastime.

Of course, Obama wasnt the first presidential hopeful to have the X-factor of ginning up excitement. Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all had it. And its no coincidence that all went on to be elected, then re-elected. The two-term club is pretty exclusive, and, to become a member, you have to capture the imagination of the American people.

Trump does that. While I dont agree with most of his agenda, and I think hes been bad for our political system, there is no denying the electricity he generates. Ask Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz.

Getting elected president is hard work, but it isnt rocket science. If your candidacy excites people to their core, you have a huge advantage. If it doesnt, well, dont give up your day job.

Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump also have another thing in common: being underestimated. Dont make that mistake with Oprah.
JURIST Guest Columnist Mohit Gupta of South Asian University discusses the legacy of the ICTY

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), an ad hoc international criminal tribunal established by mandate from United Nations Security Council officially came to its end on December 21, 2017. The tribunal was created in response to atrocities committed in former Yugoslavia. Few would have imagined at that time that the perpetrators of the atrocities would be brought to justice, and the culture of impunity surrounding the most gruesome crimes would finally come to an end.

The tribunal operated for 10,800 days, examined more than 4,000 witnesses and convicted 90 individuals. These figures show overall outcome of the proceedings in ICTY.

ICTY strengthened the concept of the rule of law by ushering in a new era in international criminal justice where accountability for atrocities has become the universal value. ICTY inspired the creation of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court. There has also been a demand to have similar international crimes tribunals for Sri Lanka and Israel. The ICTY has set a benchmark for future prosecutions in other deadly conflicts.

The success story of the tribunal begins from its very first case where it was asserted that the Security Council had no authority to set up tribunals like ICTY. The ICTY was faced with the question of whether it has the power to pass a ruling on the legality of its own creation by the Security Council. The appeals chamber progressively dealt with the question and accepted that there could be limited judicial review of the Security Council resolution which created it, as that was the required for determining whether ICTY had primary jurisdiction over crime enumerated under its statute. This was a landmark ruling because it was the first time it was asserted that a Security Council resolution was subject to some judicial review, albeit in a limited capacity.

Although the tribunal held that the Security Councils invocation of Chapter VII, which allowed for the creation of the tribunal, was justified, the amenability of the Security Council resolution to limited judicial review had a long-lasting impact on the authority of Security Council, which had been seen as a world legislature with no checks and balance on its power. Thus ICTY not only shaped the jurisprudence of international criminal law, it brought new dimensions to public international law.

ICTY has been a pioneer in creating the contemporary architecture of criminal justice. It has distilled and evolved some of the key concepts of criminal jurisprudence. Establishment of the concept of joint criminal responsibility at an international level comes from the ICTY. The appeals chamber ruled in the Tadic case of 1999 that the commission of one of the crimes mentioned under its statute may also occur through participation in the realization of a common design or purpose. Although this concept of joint criminal responsibility was firmly established in the domestic criminal law of countries, it did not previously exist in international criminal law until the ICTYs invocation. By incorporating this concept in international criminal jurisprudence, the tribunal aided in healing the woes of thousands of victims of atrocities of international crimes.

The ICTY has also taken groundbreaking steps in paving the way for effective prosecution of wartime sexual violence. It was the first international criminal tribunal to classify rape as a form of torture and sexual enslavement as a crime against humanity.

Establishment of ICTY was a bold experiment in international justice. Some high profile perpetrators like Zdravko Tolimir, Radovan Karadzic, and Ratko Mladic, also dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, have been tried by the tribunal. The Yugoslav Tribunal was first to indict a sitting head of state in Serbias Slobodan Milosevic. The tribunal contributed in breaking the culture of impunity and helping to ensure that no one goes unpunished for the perpetration of gravest crimes, regardless of political status.

The ICTY, being first international war crimes tribunal established after Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, has lived up to the expectations and hopes of the international community. It has successfully discharged its function by strengthening criminal jurisprudence, which will be inherited and taken forward by International Criminal Court. In the words of President Agius, the ICTY will continue to serve as a reminder of what is possible in the fight against impunity.

Mohit Gupta is pursuing his masters degree in International Law from South Asian University

Suggested citation: Mohit Gupta, The Story of ICTY: Legal Success Emerging from Tragedy, JURIST  Dateline, January 16, 2018, http://jurist.org/dateline/2018/01/Mohit-Gupta-ICTY.php.

This article was prepared for publication by Dave Rodkey, Managing Editor for JURIST. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org
Two masked men set fire to the office of top Russian rights group Memorial in volatile Ingushetia a week after the arrest of its director in neighbouring Chechnya, the group said Wednesday.

Computers and documents were destroyed in the attack, according to a statement on Memorial's website.

Memorial said a CCTV camera recorded the two men entering its office building at night in Nazran, a town in the Republic of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus, and throwing canisters into the group's work place through an internal window.

Footage seen by AFP shows a man in a balaclava using a ladder to enter the two story high building.

The group published photos of the aftermath of the fire, including a photo of a bottle it believes contained a flammable substance.

Last week, Chechnya detained the director of the local Memorial branch Oyub Titiyev for drug possession that activists say are bogus. The case has received international condemnation.

Memorial speaks about human rights violations in Russia and has specifically accused Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov of heading a totalitarian regime that uses kidnapping and torture.

The rights group said the link between the arson attack in Ingushetia and "those forces who are trying to destroy the work of Memorial in Chechnya and pressure the organisation as a whole in the North Caucasus is obvious."

It added that it considers the arson attack a "terrorist act" and called on local authorities to investigate.

But the Kremlin dismissed the link between the two cases.

"I don't think that such conclusions can be drawn on the bases of a famous Memorial director in Chechnya stopped with drugs," the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

"These are two different republics, two different subjects of the Russian Federation," Peskov added.

Kadyrov is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for a decade.

The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks on Wednesday condemned the "succession of events that illustrates the threatening climate" for human rights defenders in the North Caucasus.

Attacks on rights groups in Russia's volatile North Caucasus are not uncommon.

Rights activists and journalists investigating torture, kidnapping and war crimes in Chechnya are routinely threatened and harassed.
Investigators Wednesday were probing the killing of a prominent Kosovo Serb politician, which observers warned could worsen tensions in the volatile region.

Oliver Ivanovic, 64, was shot dead from a car Tuesday morning as he arrived at the headquarters of his party in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.

"We are all in shock," said the vice-president of Ivanovic's party, Ksenija Bozovic.

The ethnically-divided town's 85,000 residents still live in a tense atmosphere nearly two decades since a war between Serbian forces and pro-independence Kosovo Albanian guerrillas that was ended by a NATO air campaign.

Ivanovic was shot six times with a Zastava pistol, manufactured in the former Yugoslavia, the results of an autopsy revealed.

- Thousands follow coffin -

Thousands of Mitrovica Serbs accompanied Ivanovic's coffin from his Citizens' Initiative party headquarters as it headed out of the town to be buried on Thursday in Belgrade.

"Oliver never wanted to leave, to abandon his Mitrovica and his Kosovo... But the day has come to say farewell to such a man, in a coffin," Bozovic said.

Meanwhile, police boosted security measures in Mitrovica's "sensitive areas."

- War crimes charge -

Ivanovic was facing a retrial on war crimes charges over the 1990s Kosovo conflict but was perceived as a moderate politician, favouring dialogue with Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians.

He had publicly spoken out against Belgrade's policies in Kosovo, which Serbia still claims as a province despite its independence declaration in 2008.

It "would have been good if the thousands of people who are bidding farewell to Oliver today had voted for him," said Ivanovic's lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic.

"Then he would have been the mayor" of northern Mitrovica, controlled by ethnic Serbs, Vlajic said.

- Political murder? -

As Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian prosecutors investigated, officials were giving few clues on who might have killed him.

"Serb or Kosovo Albanian killers? Terrorist act or political murder?" read the front-page headline of the independent Serbian Danas daily.

Police said Wednesday they have questioned the witnesses and opened a special telephone line for confidential information.

They were also reviewing video surveillance footage and investigating the movements of an Opel Astra car, thought to have been used by the killers, that was found burnt near the scene of the crime.

Koha Ditore, Kosovo's leading Albanian-language daily, warned that the killing "worsens the situation in Kosovo's north."

The paper also warned against a "destabilisation of the country."

- Talks interrupted -

Sasa, a 41-year-old Mitrovica Serb who refused to give his family name, said that "nothing will be the same" after the killing.

"We have no more normal, civilised politicians," he added.

Ivanovic was elected in October as a deputy on northern Mitrovica's Serb-dominated municipal council, running against a Belgrade-backed party.

His killers struck on the very day that Serbia and Kosovo resumed European Union-moderated talks on normalising ties after a hiatus of more than a year.

The Serbs walked out the meeting after news of the killing.

Kosovo negotiator Avni Arifi called them to return to the talks.

Late on Wednesday Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke to his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci by telephone, his office said in a statement.

The two "agreed that the dialogue of Serbs and Albanians and the mutual work on calming and stabilising the situation in Kosovo is of key importance for both sides," the statement said.

Kosovo's government approved a visit by Vucic, a political opponent of Ivanovic, to northern Kosovo next weekend.

The 1998-99 war between Serbian security forces and Kosovo Albanian guerrillas claimed 13,000 lives, mostly ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008.
A panel of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine considers 23 complaints a day on average and the committee is mulling the possibility of optimizing its operations thanks to IT solutions, Committee Head Yuriy Terentiev has said.

"We are working with Maksym Nefyodov [Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine] on optimization of consideration of complaints," he said at a briefing on Tuesday.

A possibility of considering complaints without presence of representatives of customers and the complainants is discussed, Terentiev said.

As reported, the number of complaints about public procurement in 2017 grew by 1.8-fold, to 5,684 from 3,067 in 2016.

In turn, the number of complaints examined in December 2017 more than doubled, from 221 in December 2016 to 325. Some 92 cases were refused, and 181 cases were satisfied in full or partially. In general, the number of complaints examined in 2017 increased to 3,611, which is 2.3 times higher than in 2016. For 2,054 cases the panel of the committee satisfied the complaints in full or partially, and refused 1,083 complaints.

Deputy Head of the Committee Nina Sidorenko said that on average, it takes 6 minutes to consider a complaint.

"Among the more than 5,000 complaints, there were five main categories: procurement of transport equipment - 504 complaints, construction works - 437, purchase of petroleum products - 399, medical equipment  359 and food products - 278. This is more than half of all complaints," Terentiev said.
Every week, I settle in at my computer and write a letter home. I write six pages, nine pages, sometimes 20. I keep writing until I am empty. Then I print the letters, stamp them and mail them to my two children, my sister, my brother, three nieces, my cousin and a friend.

Letter-writers like me are fading like landlines. Thats a pity.

I began writing letters when I was in second grade, but the desire to scribble down everything that happened was kindled long before. My brother and twin sister are journalists, as was my late father, my late uncle and my late cousin. My son writes marketing pieces in Los Angeles. Writing is what we do.

Since moving to Kearney from Cleveland in 2012, minus time in New Mexico from 2015-17, Ive written about 1,000 pages about Nebraska in letters home.

What do I write, you ask? I paint word pictures of the buoyant blue umbrella of Nebraska sky, and cranes and corn and cattle branding. I wrote, practically word for word, about sitting with a rancher in his ATV as his 250 cow-calf pairs milled around us.

I wrote about listening as he talked about his life. He thought it was ordinary. It was so much more.

Ive written about seeing eight long freight trains in 20 minutes along Highway 30. Ive written about Tiedes, that brick antique shop that sprawls like an octopus in Overton. I wrote pages about going to Pilger with a Kearney group after the 2014 tornado, and the wreckage, the harrowing stories, the selfless people offering help.

In this age of texts and Facebook, letters remain one of lifes treasures. The cards that came when my mother died in 2016 bloomed like flowers. Ten days after she died, when my cousin died suddenly, more cards blanketed me with comfort. One afternoon, raw with grief, I opened a card from 15 close friends in the National Federation of Press Women. Each wrote a personal message.

I was moved to tears.

I cling to old letters, too, like the one my grandfather wrote a century ago to the woman who became my grandmother; and the letter my son wrote with contagious joy as he set up a memorial to my late cousin. I still have letters that readers sent after I left my 20-year newspaper editors job in Cleveland, and the letters my mother wrote every single week after I left Cleveland for Kearney.

Letters talk. They are warm and personal. As I read them, its as though the writer has stopped in for a visit. I cant wait to sit down and write back.

Last fall, I wrote 20 pages home about returning to Bluff, Utah, for a memorial service. The chronicle of my first days drive west ran four pages. I told of the joy of bypassing boring I-76 and I-25 in favor of two-lane roads all the way to Salida, Colo. Fifteen pages later, I wrote about sitting alone in wonder at Arches National Park until darkness gently shoved me back to my motel.

Mostly, I write about ordinary things, like the people I interview or the eagles at the J-2 power plant or my neighbor who feeds squirrels or stray cats slinking around my neighborhood. Heading home and finding a letter waiting in my mailbox from a friend or loved one is a delight. I make myself a cup of hot tea, sit down, open the envelope, unfold the letter, and read. Life is good.
Talk the talk, walk the walk. More than a handful of bills dealing with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, prison overcrowding and inmate opportunities and services have been introduced to lawmakers this year. Lets hope that we see more action than words.

I like the way Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus put it in a report in the Lincoln Journal-Star.

You talk and you talk. And you study and you study year after year, and you find out youre going to study some more, he said. Because that seems to be the universal answer when you dont have money and are unwilling to finance what you know you have to do.

Among the talk this session are measures dealing with prison overcrowding, emergency requirements, medical release of inmates and plans to continue and possibly expand the placement of inmates in county jails.

And dont forget the lawsuits. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed two dealing with the overcrowding question and the death penalty. The latter contends that the men currently on death row are not affected by the November 2016 ballot vote to reinstate the death penalty.

All this in the wake of a system in turmoil with several incidents  we used to call them riots  that have left four inmates dead and several injured. Then there are the weekly reports of inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate assaults  one of those resulting in death.

The term-limited senator said he would amend his bill before the Judiciary Committee that addresses double bunking, resulting from that inmate-on-inmate death assault.

He said it was absolutely unconscionable 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. The alleged killer, Patrick Schroeder, was serving a life sentence for murder. Terry Berry, Jr. was killed last year after he was put in a double-bunked cell with Schroeder at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.

Department Director Scott Frakes has said he plans to continue double-bunking inmates in solitary confinement despite Inspector General for Corrections Doug Koebernicks call for him to suspend the practice out of concern it increases dangers for inmates and staff.

Another term-limited senator, Bob Krist of Omaha, has offered a bill that would require on July 1, that the governor declare a prison overcrowding emergency whenever the prisons director certifies the inmate population is more than 140 percent of design capacity. Upon certification, the director would have to provide a list of parole-eligible inmates. The current average daily population hovers around 155 percent of design capacity. Krist  who is mounting a third-party bid for the governors job  said that during such an emergency, the parole board would immediately consider or reconsider inmates eligible for parole. Gov. Pete Ricketts and Attorney General Doug Peterson have said such a move raises a significant public safety concern.

Tell that to the parents of the five dead inmates or the families of the guards and inmates who have been injured because of dangerous working conditions.

Walking the walk. Make it so.

J.L. Schmidt, a registered Independent, is the Nebraska Press Associations statehouse correspondent.
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The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in 2017 received UAH 2.1 billion as payment of refinancing debts of insolvent banks.

According to a posting on the website of the NBU, the sum consisted of the funds received from property sold by the Individuals Deposit Guarantee Fund and the funds received from other sources.

The Individuals Deposit Guarantee Fund sold property for UAH 595.84 million in 2017 and the central bank received UAH 574.7 million of them. Some of the assets for the amount of UAH 529.2 million were claims to the credit agreements signed by the NBU. The sum of funds from selling property in 2017 exceeded the 2016 figure by 13%.

Among other sources of repayment of refinancing loans issued to insolvent banks were funds from the repayment of property rights in the amount of UAH 764.5 million, repayment of government bonds in the amount of UAH 664.3 million, sale of banking metals for UAH 62 million, repayment of property rights by third parties for the amount of UAH 7.3 million.

In addition, in 2017, the volumes of NBU's approval of the sale of the claims to pledged credit agreements increased more than 13-fold. In particular, 63 decisions were taken to implement the claims for 50,200 loan agreements, the total debt on which is almost UAH 55 billion.

"The increase in the approvals of the sale of mortgaged property was seen in connection with the increase in the promptness of managers' decisions made by the Deposit Guarantee Fund. The increase in sales of mortgaged property was also influenced by the transfer of the Deposit Guarantee Fund to the ProZorro electronic trading system, which enables to use 29 leading electronic sites of Ukraine and the impartiality of the tender organizers," the NBU said.
The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has proposed extending public service obligations (PSO) to sell natural gas to households, heating supply companies and religious organizations until April 2021.

According to the draft government resolution drawn up by the ministry and posted on its website, the price of gas is calculated using a formula pegged to imported gas at the German gas hub NCG bought in the period from April 1 through September 30 preceding the heating season.

If earlier it was clearly said that public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia and public joint-stock company Chornomornaftogaz sell natural gas to form the resource required for households directly to national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, which is eventually sold to gas supplying companies, the draft document proposed by the ministry now says that state-owned gas producing companies are obliged to do so.

Naftogaz Ukrainy would be obliged to supply gas for the needs of heat generating companies.

As reported, in H2 2017, the ministry used a new formula to validate the unchanged price of natural gas for households until April 1, 2018. According to the energy ministry's estimates, the gas price for the period from October 1, 2017 to April 1, 2018 will be UAH 5,223.06 without VAT, which is only 5.6% higher than the current price, since the calculated price does not exceed 10% of the current price, there are no grounds for its revision for the 2017-2018 heating season

According to the current formula, the gas price for import parity for the period from October 1, 2017 to April 1, 2018 is calculated for 12 calendar months before the month of the calculation (June 2016 - May 2017), and the Energy Ministry suggests changing this period to April 2016 - October 2016 and April 2017 - July 2017, to avoid price changes.

Government resolution No. 187 foresees the adjustment of the gas price sold under PSO depending on the change of the price at the European hub.

Naftogaz Ukrainy's calculations show that according to the formula presented in the resolution, the price of gas from October 2017 should grow by around 19%.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman spoke against the increase in gas prices for households. According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers is holding a discussion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), proving that there is no reason to raise the price of natural gas for households.
In this Aug. 11, 2016 photo, Mickey Munday talks to a reporter in Love Park in North Miami, Fla. Federal prosecutors want to use the past of Munday, a pilot from Miami's "cocaine cowboys" era against him during an upcoming trial on charges of participating in an auto fraud ring. Court documents filed ahead of a Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, hearing claim Munday has openly bragged about his past in interviews, social media posts and in the documentary "Cocaine Cowboys." (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
FILE--In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, Gideon and Jeanne Bernstein, parents of missing teen Blaze Bernstein, pictured at left, are joined by Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Brad Valentine, right, during a news conference in Lake Forest, Calif. A suspect has been arrested in the death of 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student Blaze Bernstein, whose body was found this week at a Southern California park. (AP Photo/Amy Taxin, file)
Dr. Sophia Grant, medical director of Child Abuse and Neglect at Riverside University Heath System, prepares to speaks to the media regarding the case involving 13 captive siblings in a Perris, Calif., home during a press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, in Perris. (Stan Lim/Los Angeles Daily News via AP)
World Bank expects its remarks to bill on Anti-Corruption Court to be taken into account

The World Bank (WB) expects its remarks to the bill on the Anti-Corruption Court to be taken into account during the preparation of the document for second reading, the press service of the bank's office in Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to a representative of the World Bank office in Ukraine, the letter itself implies that it is possible to make changes between the first and second reading.

Earlier, World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Satu Kahkonen sent a letter to the Verkhovna Rada and the Presidential Administration warning that the bill on the Anti-Corruption Court could not be adopted in the wording proposed by the president and that Ukraine should bring the bill into line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, which will help receive the World Bank's estimated $800 million Policy-Based Guarantee (PBG) to support key reforms in Ukraine.

As reported, on December 22, 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's draft law, titled "On the High Anti-Corruption Court" was registered in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. The text of the bill was published on December 26, 2017.

The IMF, in turn, officially notified the Ukrainian authorities that the adoption of the presidential bill in its current wording would mean the violation by Kyiv of its obligations to international partners.

"The submission by the President of the draft law on the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC, draft law 7440) was expected to be a positive step in this direction [fighting corruption]. However, we have serious concerns about the draft law that was submitted to Parliament on December 22, as several provisions are not consistent with the authorities' commitments under Ukraine's IMF-supported program and the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe," reads a letter from IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Ron van Rooden to Head of the Presidential Administration Ihor Rainin.

The IMF has nine systemic concerns.

In particular, the IMF insists that the Public Council of International Experts includes not only international organizations, but also donors in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission and its representatives' negative decision about the appointment of an ineligible judge should be binding on the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ).

"The role of the Public Council of International Experts (PCIE) in the selection of the HACC judges should be made crucial, not just advisory A negative decision about a candidate by the PCIE should be binding on the HQCJ," the IMF said in the letter.

The jurisdiction of the HACC should align with the investigative jurisdiction of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

The IMF said that the draft law opens opportunities for additional delays in establishing the HACC.

Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said that the IMF expected the correction of a draft law on the Anti-Corruption Court in accordance with Ukraine's obligations as part of the EFF program during the bill's preparation for second reading.

"Last week, during my working visit to the United States, I had more than one meeting with representatives of the IMF and the U.S. government. One of the issues discussed with representatives of the fund was the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court. The IMF put forward several proposals to the respective draft law and expects them to be considered and taken into account by parliament when preparing the document for second reading," Danyliuk said.
Rohingya Hindu refugees stand outside their make shift shelters at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's bazar, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed that they will try to complete the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled from violence in Myanmar within two years, Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
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Naftogaz, Gazprom to hold talks on Stockholm rulings in next few days

Negotiations between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom on the implementation of the decisions of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce will begin in the next few days, Naftogaz Chief Commercial Officer Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

"Negotiations will begin in the coming days. I'm not disclosing details. The issue concerns the implementation of a final decision on a supply contract," he told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"We believe that the tribunal's decision makes it very clear that deliveries to uncontrolled territories cannot be considered supplies to Naftogaz under this contract," he added.

Vitrenko recalled that according to the arbitration court decision, the gas price under the contract with Gazprom should be lower than the cost of gas transportation from the EU to Ukraine.
Money stock in Ukraine in December 2017 increased by 6.9%, to UAH 1.208 trillion, the relevant preliminary data of monetary statistics have been posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

According to the central bank, the corresponding dynamics is due to the growth of cash in circulation outside banks by 7.5%, to UAH 333.504 billion, and ending stock on deposits by 6.7%, to UAH 873.87 billion.

In general, since the beginning of the year money supply has increased by 9.5%.

The loan portfolio of banks in December increased by 2.9%, to UAH 1.016 trillion. At the same time, the volume of loans in the national currency rose by 3.3%, to UAH 569.97 billion, in foreign currency by 0.8%, to UAH 446.37 billion.

Since the beginning of the year, the loan portfolio of banks has increased by 1.9%. At the same time, in the national currency it rose by 13.1%, while in foreign currency decreased by 9.6%.

According to the NBU, the cost of hryvnia loans for businesses last month increased by 0.5 percentage points, to 15.8% per annum, foreign exchange by 0.2 percentage points, to 6.6% per annum.

In general, for the year the cost of loans for corporate borrowers in the hryvnia decreased by 0.9 percentage points, in foreign currency by 2.2 percentage points.

The cost of hryvnia loans for the population increased by 2.3 percentage points in December, to 30.4% per annum, in foreign currency by 0.4 percentage points, to 8.9% per annum.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the opposition to balance the degree of internal political struggle taking into account the situation in eastern Ukraine, so that Russian dictatorship again could not take advantage of Ukrainian democracy in its own interests.

"I will also keep calling my compatriots, supporters of opposition: one has always to balance the degree of internal political competition while taking into due account the situation on our eastern border," he said at a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of foreign countries and international organizations in Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday, January 16.

At the same time, he noted that "there are some who missed my call."

"[There are politicians] who lost the sense of balance. This is also a display that Ukrainians are wise and will not let the Russian dictatorship to use the Ukrainian democracy in its imperialistic interests," Poroshenko said.
We are grateful for 'peace through strength' approach to U.S., its decision to provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons - Poroshenko

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko thanked the United States of America for supporting Ukraine in response to Russia's aggression.

"Last year our American partners confirmed to be in the lead of fight against Russia's revanchist policies. From the first meeting with President Trump we coordinated the strengthening of our strategic partnership based on Great Deal on Peace and Great Plan of Success," Poroshenko said at a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of foreign countries and international organizations in Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday.

The president said that Ukrainians are grateful for the "peace through strength" approach and, accordingly, the decision to provide Ukraine with defensive lethal weapons, as well as coordinated steps to implement the initiative to deploy the UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied Donbas.

According to him, Ukraine also highly appreciates the firm position of the U.S. on transatlantic unity and solidarity with the Ukrainian state, including the policy of sanctions. "They are the most efficient and civilized reply to the bullying Russia," he said.
Jan 17 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

- BP Plc's bill for the Deepwater Horizon disaster is to top $65 billion after higher-than-expected compensation settlements forced the oil company to book a fresh $1.7 billion charge. - The accounting watchdog of Britain warned that it may launch an investigation into KPMG over its audit of Carillion Plc , the construction and services group that has collapsed into liquidation, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The Guardian

- Uber Technologies Inc introduced a cap on how many hours its drivers in the United Kingdom can work after criticism that long shifts would put passengers at risk. - A group of UK nationals living in the Netherlands are going to court to challenge the right of the British government and the European commission to negotiate away their rights as EU citizens in the Brexit talks. The Telegraph

- Boris Johnson warned Theresa May that the government must make a public commitment to giving the NHS an extra 100 million pounds ($138.24 million) a week after Brexit if the Tories are to beat Jeremy Corbyn at the next election. - The trade show organisers Informa Plc and UBM Plc are again in talks about a combination, investors were told, nearly a decade after a merger attempt collapsed. Sky News

- Britain's cinema chain Odeon is preparing to hire bankers to oversee a blockbuster summer flotation on the London Stock Exchange. - Lenders to construction company Carillion Plc , which collapsed into liquidation on Monday, are facing losses of up to 2 billion pounds, making it one of the costliest corporate insolvencies for years. The Independent

- Consumers are calling on Tesco Plc to backtrack on changes it has introduced to its Clubcard scheme, labelling them as unfair and saying that they will disadvantage thousands of loyal customers. ($1 = 0.7234 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto Plc on Tuesday said a U.S. regulator's lawsuit accusing the big Anglo-Australian mining company of fraud for overstating the value of Mozambique coal assets it had bought in 2011 should be dismissed.

In a letter filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, a lawyer for Rio Tinto said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission failed to plead that the company intended to commit fraud or made false statements related to asset values. He also said Rio Tinto was not required to write down assets sooner.

Similar letters were also filed by lawyers for former Chief Executive Officer Thomas Albanese and former Chief Financial Officer Guy Elliott, who were also targets of the SEC's civil fraud lawsuit filed last Oct. 17. Albanese "at all times conducted himself in the manner expected of any reasonable CEO," while Elliott "relied on a well-tested and rigorous process" to ensure the proper reporting of Rio Tinto's financials, their respective lawyers said.

Representatives of the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The SEC had accused Rio Tinto, Albanese and Elliott of concealing the deteriorating value of assets at Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique, which the company bought for $3.7 billion in April 2011 and sold three-and-a-half years later for $50 million.

According to the SEC, Rio Tinto hid the deterioration while it was raising $5.5 billion from U.S. investors, including $3 billion after executives in Mozambique had told Albanese and Elliott that their subsidiary likely had a negative net worth.

Rio Tinto wrote down most of the assets' value in January 2013, reducing it to $611 million, the SEC said.

The SEC filed its lawsuit on the same day the UK Financial Conduct Authority said Rio Tinto would pay a 27 million-pound ($37 million) fine to settle claims that it breached accounting rules related to the Mozambique assets.

Tuesday's letters set forth arguments that lawyers for Rio Tinto, Albanese and Elliott said they expect to make at a later date, when they formally seek the dismissal of the SEC case. ($1 = 0.72 British pound)

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
ISTANBUL, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Here are news, reports and events that may affect Turkish financial markets on Wednesday.

The lira stood at 3.8000 against the U.S. dollar at 0457 GMT, unchanged from its close on Tuesday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond was at 12.06 percent in spot trade on Tuesday and fell to 11.98 percent in Wednesday-dated trade.

The main BIST 100 share index rose 2.01 percent to 114,418.36 points on Tuesday.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks stepped back from a record high on Wednesday as the region's resource shares were hit by falling oil and commodity prices while digital currencies tumbled on worries about tighter regulations. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.15 percent from its record high as resource shares declined after oil and other commodities succumbed to profit-taking after recent gains. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

President Tayyip Erdogan will chair a meeting of the National Security Council (1100 GMT), which is expected to recommend the extension of emergency rule for a further three months. Erdogan will then chair a meeting of the cabinet of ministers which is expected to make the official emergency rule request to parliament (1600 GMT).

ERDOGAN SPEAKS TO NATO HEAD

President Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call on Tuesday that Turkey would take all necessary precautions to ensure its national security, presidential sources said. The U.S.-led coalition in northern Syria has said it was working with the mainly Kurdish YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to set up a new 30,000-strong border force. The move has angered Turkey. For other related news, double click on:

Turkish politics Turkish equities Turkish money Turkish debt Turkish hot stocks Forex news All emerging market news All Turkish news For real-time quotes, double click on:

Istanbul National-100 stock index , interbank lira trading , lira bond trading (Writing by Daren Butler)
TIRANA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Albanian prosecutors on Wednesday charged Turkish steelmaker Kurum International and two of its managers with fraud and money laundering, accusing them of a fake VAT reimbursement scam.

Kurum filed for bankruptcy in March 2016.

Albania's general attorney's office said it had been investigating since 2015 two Kurum executives, who hold both Turkish and Albanian citizenship, for alleged fraud in 2011 and 2012.

Kurum started operating in Albania in the late 1990s, using electric arc furnaces to produce steel by melting scrap iron and selling its steel in Albania and the Balkans.

The prosecutors allege Koray Zeitinoglu and Yucel Aksu, respectively the manager and purchasing director for Kurum, "created and implemented a scam to buy scrap iron".

"The investigation has shown that the tax receipts of scrap purchases by Kurum International from four companies have been forged because these firms never dealt in scrap iron," they said.

"On the basis of these forged documents Kurum International has gained in breach of the law from the VAT reimbursement," they added, without saying how much money was at stake.

Kurum and the executives could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Mark Potter)
Russia's hybrid military forces have attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas three times in the past 24 hours, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) headquarters has reported.

"Over the past day, Russian-occupation groups carried out three shelling of the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukrainian soldiers did not open fire in response. As a result of enemy attacks, two Ukrainian servicemen were injured and promptly taken to the military hospital. Their health condition is satisfactory," the ATO staff said on Facebook on Wednesday morning.

In the Donetsk sector, the enemy used 120mm mortars after dark, having launched three shells toward the defenders of the village of Vodiane in the Mariupol sector.

Russian-backed militants in the Luhansk sector resorted to grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to shell the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Luhanske, while the defenders of the village of Troyitske came under 82mm mortar fire.
By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chicago on Wednesday postponed an $898 million bond sale until next week at the earliest, citing weaker market conditions and the possibility of restructuring the deal to include taxable debt.

The revenue bond issue, which topped this week's $3.45 billion supply calendar in the U.S. municipal market, was aimed at refinancing some of Chicago's outstanding general obligation debt through a newly created Sales Tax Securitization Corporation.

Chicago Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown pointed to a weaker market tone and the fact that ratios between yields on tax-exempt muni bonds and comparable taxable U.S. Treasuries have risen since the city sold the first $743.7 million of bonds through the corporation in early December to refinance outstanding sales tax revenue debt. The ratios gauge the expensiveness or cheapness of munis versus Treasuries.

"We have the flexibility and the time to possibly evaluate some alternative structuring options and make sure we are offering the appropriate deal to the market given the current market environment," she said in a telephone interview.

While the deal was meant to refund outstanding GO bonds callable within 90 days, the city could add a taxable component to refund debt callable beyond 90 days, according to Brown. The new federal tax law eliminated tax exemption for advance-refunded munis. The tax-exempt bond deal was initially structured with serial maturities from 2031 through 2039 and a term maturity in 2042.

Chicago created the sales tax securitization corporation last year to refinance up to $3 billion of its sales tax revenue and GO bonds, and produce an initial $94 million in savings for the city's fiscal 2018 budget.

A chronic structural budget deficit, as well as a huge unfunded pension liability that totaled $35.76 billion at the end of 2016, have led to low credit ratings and increased borrowing costs for the nation's third-largest city.

The corporation is pledging Chicago's state-collected sales tax revenue to pay off the new bonds. Investors will get a statutory lien shielding the debt from municipal bankruptcy, which is not allowed under Illinois law.

The bonds are rated AAA by Fitch Ratings and AA by S&P Global Ratings, both of which are several notches higher than the city's GO ratings of BBB-minus by Fitch and BBB-plus by S&P.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
MILAN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - There have been no convincing arguments to transform the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) into a so-called European Monetary Fund, the vice president of the European Central Bank said in an interview on Wednesday.

Speaking to Italian daily la Repubblica, ECB's Vitor Constancio said he would keep the ESM bailout mechanism as it is, "with its tasks, which it carries out well."

"I do not see arguments to modify the institutional framework and create a new entity, reducing the role of the Commission," Constancio said.

Even after the ECB's decision to cut its bond purchases in half, starting from January, Constancio said he did not rule out that monetary policy would still continue to be "very accommodating for a long time". (Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Germany's 2-year government bond yield rose to its highest level in more than 6 months on Wednesday, as bond investors position for a possible change in the European Central Bank's ultra-easy monetary policy stance in the months ahead.

Analyst expectations for an ECB interest-rate hike in the middle of next year are roughly in line with the ECB's own guidance, German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said in an interview published late on Tuesday.

In early Wednesday trade, the 2-year German Schatz yield touched minus 0.57 percent , its highest level in around 6-1/2 months. Other euro zone bond yields also crept higher.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Toby Chopra)
ROME, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Intesa SanPaolo agrees that there must be an acceleration in the reduction of bad bank loans in Italy, its CEO said on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the country's lenders with ECB's Chief Supervisor Daniele Nouy.

Yielding to ECB's pressures to reduce bad debts quickly, Intesa, which had tackled them in-house, is now considering selling part of its debt collection business with a chunk of its 53.6 billion euros in impaired debts. Speaking to reporters in Rome, Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina said every bank would make its own assessment over how to drive bad debts lower, adding new government measures were needed to improve lengthy recovery procedures in Italy.

Asked about a research report that explored a possible merger between Intesa and Credit Agricole, Messina said the idea was "groundless" and added the bank was not interested in any merger or acquisition.

(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei; Writing by Valentina Za, editing by Giulia Segreti)
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

DATA

Poland's statistics office to publish December employment and corporate sector wages data at 1300 GMT.

ABORTION

Women's rights activists in Poland organise a country-wide protest against plans discussed in parliament to tighten abortion law - the conservative government's second bid to tighten rules that are already among Europe's toughest.

ARCELORMITTAL ArcelorMittal's billionaire Chairman Lakshmi Mittal has asked to meet Poland's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the World Economic Forum in Davos this month, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily said quoting government representatives.

The paper also said, quoting unnamed sources, that the reason for Mittal asking for the meeting is the EU launching the so called Article 7 procedure against Poland.

GAS

Poland's government official responsible for key gas and power infrastructure has proposed a bill that would allow the energy market regulator to include the costs of the gas pipe at the bottom of the Baltic Sea linking Poland and Denmark in the country's gas transmission tariff, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily said.

DIPLOMACY

U.S. Secretary of State rex Tillerson will likely visit Poland at the end of January to meet Warsaw's newly appointed foreign affairs minister, Gazeta Wyborcza daily said quoting unnamed sources.

CRYPTOCURRENCY

A group of experts supervised by the digitalisation ministry is working on a Polish cryptocurrency, Puls Biznesu daily said.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****

For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau)
MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia plans to sell its entire $3 billion Eurobond issue in one go this year, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Wednesday. "We plan a normal Eurobond issue, with no special characteristics except that we will ... focus on Russian investors," Siluanov said. Sovereign Eurobonds will be issued as part of President Vladimir Putin's order to repatriate some of the assets that Russian businesspeople currently hold abroad. (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Andrey Ostroukh)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
(Adds currency detail, quote)

By Stephen Eisenhammer

LUANDA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Angola plans to issue a Eurobond and renegotiate bilateral debt in 2018 as part of measures aimed at restructuring the economy and controlling mounting debt payments, a government macroeconomic plan seen by Reuters showed.

President Joao Lourenco took power in September and is seeking to win credibility with international investors and shed Angola's image as an opaque oil economy with rampant corruption. The government earlier put the Eurobond's size at $2 billion.

Banking sources say the Eurobond should be issued within the first quarter. The 70-page "Macroeconomic Stabilization Plan" proposes that "necessary actions for the emission of Eurobonds" should be taken in the first half of 2018.

It adds that Angola will prioritize repaying invoices dating to 2014 and totalling more than 1 trillion kwanza ($4.9 billion) owed to companies.

It also showed that total debt for sub-Saharan Africa's third largest economy reached 12.5 trillion kwanza in 2017, up from 5.9 trillion kwanza in 2014.

"The trajectory of the debt is, at this moment, passing the limit of sustainability," the document said. "All the effort needed to keep it sustainable must be made," it said.

An oil boom made Angola one of Africa's richest countries per capita but it is also one of the world's most unequal. The economy fell into recession in 2016 due to a fall in the oil price and unemployment is at least 25 percent.

A lack of foreign currency has forced companies, such as airlines and oil services, to pull back operations.

The oil production which previously supported borrowing can, however, no longer be relied upon, the plan says.

"That instrument has been exhausted, as oil shipments have been completely committed to the servicing of debt with three countries: China, Brazil and Israel."

The plan also calls for a tightening of the gap between the official and black market exchange rate in Angola where dollars trade for two or three times more on the street than in the banks.

Angola's central bank abandoned a kwanza peg against the U.S. dollar earlier this month which has already seen the currency weaken by more than 20 percent. Banking sources expect the kwanza to weaken to 280 against the Euro in the coming weeks. ($1 = 203 AKZ)

(Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Hugh Lawson)
LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A handful of February cargoes traded on Wednesday, clearing up some of the regional overhang.

Angola issued its March loading schedule while Nigeria's loading programmes were expected to slowly trickle out by the end of the week following curtailment meetings on Wednesday.

Nigeria's March programme for Usan crude was the first to emerge, with three cargoes versus two in February.

ANGOLA

* Angola plans to export 49 cargoes or about 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in March, down from the February level of 1.58 million bpd, according to a loading programme issued on Wednesday. * Roughly a handful of February-loading cargoes had yet to trade, including Nemba, Kissanje and Saturno. About three January loading cargoes were also available as the backwardation in front-month Brent futures worked against sellers.

* Chevron sold its cargo of February loading Nemba that it had been offering at around dated Brent plus 30 cents a barrel, a trader said. Further details did not emerge.

* ENI has also been offering a cargo of Nemba, which had been offered at a roughly 30 cent premium to dated Brent.

NIGERIA

* Around 20 February-loading cargoes were still available, including Escravos, Erha, Bonny Light and Qua Iboe.

* Offer levels for Bonny, Qua and Forcados remained around dated Brent plus $2 a barrel and Escravos was being shown at dated Brent plus $1.90 a barrel.

* Cepsa bought a cargo of Usan from Chevron loading Feb. 21-22, several traders said.

TENDERS

* India's HPCL issued a new tender closing next week for March loading cargoes.

* Taiwan's CPC had also issued a tender to buy crude oil.

* A tender from Uruguay's Ancap for more March-delivered oil was expected to close on Wednesday. In its tender last week, it purchased U.S. crude rather than West African.

RELATED NEWS

* Nigerian militants threatened on Wednesday to attack off-shore oil facilities within days, raising fears of a repeat of a 2016 wave of violence that helped push Africa's biggest economy into recession. * Congo Republic plans to join the OPEC oil cartel, the government said in a statement. (Reporting By Julia Payne; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Moscow violated the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia by occupying Crimea and part of Donbas, but its denunciation will not free the Kremlin of responsibility for violation of territorial integrity, a lawyer of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs, Oleh Vasylenko, has said.

"Through its actions, temporarily occupying part of the territory of Ukraine - the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, continuing armed aggression and financing terrorist organizations in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, continuing interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, Russia grossly violates the terms of the Treaty," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

The lawyer said that in this connection it is possible to follow Russia's logic on denunciation of the treaty and regard such actions by Moscow as an attempt to avoid responsibility in the future.

According to Vasylenko, international law and the Vienna Convention indicate that the termination of the treaty does not affect the rights, obligations and legal status of the participants arising as a result of its implementation or non-implementation until the termination of such a treaty.

"All illegal actions by Russia with respect to encroachment on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine started during the effect of the treaty, therefore, Russia's steps to terminate the treaty will not have a significant influence on Ukraine's position in international judicial institutions, especially given that most lawsuits have already been submitted and are at different stages of consideration," Vasylenko said.

In addition, he said, if Russia decides to terminate the treaty, it must fulfill its procedural obligations and conduct preliminary consultations or negotiations, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and the provisions of the treaty itself.

On January 14, 2018, Russian media quoted First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Konstantin Zatulin, who proposed revising the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Russia and Ukraine. In particular, he believes that part of the treaty, which refers to the recognition of territorial borders by the countries, is "unilaterally beneficial" to Ukraine.

Zatulin sid that when ratifying the treaty in 1999, Russia confirmed that Crimea and Sevastopol were part of Ukraine.

"Our interpretation of the treaty is that the recognition of borders is interlinked with friendship, cooperation and partnership. That is, if there is no friendship, there is a reason to resolve all issues anew, including issues on the borders," he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in connection with the 20th anniversary of the treaty in June 2017 that "the very existence of this document serves as a guarantee of the existence of a foundation for the revival of bilateral relations."

The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia was signed on May 31, 1997 for a period of ten years (with subsequent automatic extension of the document if the parties do not object). The Verkhovna Rada ratified the treaty on January 14, 1998, and the State Duma on December 25, 1998. The treaty came into force on April 1, 1999 (since the exchange of instruments of ratification).

According to Article 40 of the treaty, it is concluded for a period of ten years. The validity of the contract is automatically extended for the next ten-year periods if neither side declares its desire to terminate it at least six months before the expiry of the next ten-year period. The period of the first ten-year period began from the date of entry into force of the treaty (from April 1, 1999) and ended on April 1, 2009. Then neither side expressed its desire to terminate the treaty before October 1, 2008, so its effect was automatically extended for the next ten-year period.

The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine secured the principle of strategic partnership, recognition of the inviolability of existing borders, respect for territorial integrity and mutual obligation not to use its territory to the detriment of each other's security.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies intend to hold a special confiscation of another UAH 3 billion in the first half of 2018, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"We plan to conduct a special confiscation of another UAH 3 billion in the first half of this year," he said at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on national security and defense issues in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Lutsenko noted the banks have the right to execute court rulings both independently and through the executive service order.

"Yesterday I appealed to the prime minister and asked to take under personal control the activities of the executive service, which should provide this special confiscation," he stressed.

The prosecutor general added he would not allow the cancellation of judicial decisions and the return of money to criminals.

"The attempts of representatives of offshore companies that cooperated with Yanukovych's organized crime group encounter Ukrainian laws that make it impossible for them to participate in the abolition of court decisions. The system works in such a way throughout the EU. So, the abusers have only one way out - to discredit the actions of the prosecutor's office and Kramatorsk court and try to take away money from Ukraine through decisions in foreign jurisdictions. Therefore a discredit campaign aimed at returning funds to criminals has been launched. That will not happen," said Lutsenko.

He also noted that this is not the end of special confiscation.
Marlin Equity Partners Acquires Majority Stake in Talkwalker to Drive Global Growth

Talkwalker, a listening and analytics company, has announced that a majority stake in the company has been acquired by Marlin Equity Partners, a private equity firm with more than $6.7 billion of capital under management.

Talkwalker says the acquisition will allow it to leverage Marlins operational resources and expertise in growing technology businesses. Talkwalkers founders and management team will continue to lead the company as it focuses on accelerating product innovation and international expansion.

Utilized by more than 1,000 clients, Talkwalkers multi-tenant cloud platform uses AI-powered technology to analyze images and text in 187 languages across social, online, and traditional media. The social listening and analytics software allows brands and agencies to prove the impact of their communication efforts through real-time analytics across channels, providing customers with control of performance measurement, brand reputation, and promotion.

Talkwalker anticipates growing its international footprint beyond its four existing offices in Luxembourg, New York, San Francisco, and Frankfurt, with plans to add 100 new employees during this expansion process.

More information about Talkwalker and Marlin Equity Partners is available.

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Russias Actions, Spending Send Chill Through Europe, Dunford Says

By Jim Garamone



BRUSSELS  It takes only a look at Russias recent history and military investments to understand that the nation is a threat to Europe and beyond, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in Brussels on Monday.



Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford participated in the NATO Military Committee meeting at the alliance headquarters in Brussels on January 15.



Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, walks at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 15, 2018, where he will attend the 178th Military Committee chiefs of defense meeting. DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro



A resurgent Russia is the greatest threat on the continent, and the alliance is putting in place capabilities to deter the Eastern neighbor, Dunford said. Russia has modernized many aspects of its military, including redesigning and modernizing its nuclear capability, modernizing its maritime capabilities, developing new cyber and electronic warfare capabilities and fielding antispace capabilities. The alliance has been on the path to addressing the Russian modernization program, he added.



And Russia will use its capabilities, he noted. Youve got to look at behavior, so youve got to go back and look at Georgia and look at Ukraine, the chairman said.





Russian Actions in Georgia and Ukraine



In 2008, about 79,000 Russian soldiers marched into the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhasia. They faced roughly 10,000 Georgian soldiers, who were forced to retreat. Russia continues to occupy the provinces.



In Ukraine, Russia illegally annexed Crimea from the nation in 2014 and have integrated the province into the Russian Federation. The Russians used unmarked tanks and soldiers without identifying marks on their uniforms to move into the region. Russian troops pushed further west in the Donets region of Ukraine, and fighting continues in that region. The United States and the rest of NATO helping train Ukrainian troops to defend their sovereignty.



Nations have a right of nations to defend themselves and not be attacked by others, Dunford said. This is true, he added, whether they march into a nation in uniform or the attack is a combination of unconventional operations, information operations, cyber, economic coercion, and political influence.



It is still a violation of sovereignty, the chairman said.





NATOs Response



Russias annexation of Crimea and further actions in Ukraine got NATOs attention. The alliance first moved to assure all allies with enhanced forward presence, stationing four multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Poland. The United States led the battlegroup in and further built up forces in Europe with the addition of a rotational brigade-sized element and an aviation brigade. Today, the focus is on increasing alliance deterrence capabilities for European security.



The path in Europe is consistent with the National Security Strategy in regards to Russia, the general said.



When we think about Russia, we think about their actions over the past few years, and then when we look at the last decade of investments the Russians have made, Dunford said. There is not a single aspect of the Russian armed forces that has not received some degree of modernization over the past decade. All this, he added, informs his assessment of Russia.



Since the alliances Warsaw Summit in 2016, the NATO chiefs of defense have been examining initiatives taken by NATOs supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, to make sure NATO command structure and NATO forces fit the purpose.



I would say that none of us are comfortable with where we are, Dunford said. If you are complacent in this business, you are obsolete. So you need to stay focused.





Organization and Modernization



The initiatives look at alliance organization and specific capability areas where modernization is most urgently needed. I would highlight the maritime domain, rear-area operations, organizing land forces in of NATO contingencies, Dunford said. In terms of capabilities: cyber, information warfare and missile defense.



For U.S. troops, the rotational brigade plan will continue as DoD studies models. The current thinking in the department is the rotational model builds readiness in the force. Our soldiers go through the process of deploying, training exercising for nine months and then coming back home, Dunford said.



While in Europe, the forces are singly focused on all their tasks. This model seems to work pretty well for the soldiers, for the families and allows us to meet commitments with the infrastructure available, the chairman said. It wont surprise you, I have a bias toward rotational models. I spent my career in a service that has used the rotational model to meet our commitments.



The general said the feedback from the chiefs and the soldiers on the ground is good, but the department is open to studying other methods of basing.




By Kwon Mee-yoo





French artist Xavier Veilhan stands in front of his work "Great Mobiles" at the second passenger terminal of the Incheon International Airport. / Courtesy of the artist and 313 Art Project
By Park Si-soo







Police have caught a Thai woman in Busan for allegedly killing her housemate.







The woman, 44, is suspected of stabbing her Thai housemate to death in a fit of anger at a flat in Busan on Jan. 12, according to police.







The two are said to have been at odds and the crime happened when they were bickering about cooking smoke. The victim was 30 and further details were not available immediately.







Police caught the suspect at Gimhae International Airport on Tuesday. They said she tried to flee the country, not knowing she had been banned from leaving.







An investigation is under way to find the reason for the killing. Police are seeking an arrest warrant for her.


By Lee Min-hyung



The Ministry of National Defense is blocking access to online cryptocurrency trading systems inside military camps.



The ministry said Monday it is also considering various other regulatory measures against digital tokens  such as bitcoin, the most popular encrypted currency  as it could harm soldiers' morale.



"We are going to announce specific countermeasures for cryptocurrency transactions made in military units," a ministry official said. "The ministry is in internal talks to confirm whether it is against military regulations."



Starting Monday, the ministry began blocking access to websites about encrypted currency exchanges at internet cafes on military bases here.



In an online notice, the military also said: "We urge soldiers to refrain from visiting digital token exchanges to avoid disappointment from our decision to block access to relevant sites."



The ministry has yet to decide on any other detailed regulatory measures on digital tokens, but will soon take more specific anti-cryptocurrency steps after a thorough inspection, the ministry said.



This is in line with other military regulations that do not allow soldiers to access pornographic or gambling sites, the notification said.



"According to internal rules, we will gradually shut down internet access to websites on encrypted currency starting Monday," it said.



The move comes at a time when the government is considering drastic crackdown on the ongoing bitcoin craze, with a finance ministry official identifying the digital currency as a speculative bubble.



Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said Monday the government has the option of closing down digital token exchanges here unless irrational speculation subsides.



"The thing is the scope of reasonable regulation, but there is no global standard on it," he said. "We are coming up with comprehensive regulatory packages, including taxation or real-name-based trading on digital tokens."



Starting late last year, the bitcoin price here has skyrocketed, with one bitcoin trading as high as 25 million won ($23,500) in December.



The volatile nature of the encrypted currency has since boosted its popularity as a speculative investment.



The defense ministry also said it will offer a series of financial education programs for soldiers, as it is hard for them to access financial and banking information inside military camps.










By Kim Jae-heun







Korea Post will introduce a five-day workweek for mail carriers this year, the postal authority said Wednesday.







Under an agreement with its union, the system, which has been introduced in other public sectors, will be tested at 24 post offices across the country from March to June and expanded to other places in July.







The move is part of the Moon Jae-in administration's campaign to strike a balance between work and private life for workers.







If the test operation goes well in the first half of the year, the system will expand nationwide in the second half, according to Korea Post.







All postal workers previously worked from Monday to Friday and took turns working on Saturdays. However, under the new system, one group will work from Monday to Friday and the other from Tuesday to Saturday.







Korea Post saidits weekend operations will continue without problems.







In past years, postal workers worked an average of 48.7 hours a week, more than the 40 statutory working hours suggested in the Labor Standards Acts. Forty-six percent of them even extended their working hours to over 52, which is the maximum allowed.







Korea Post President Kang Seong-ju said: "We hope to improve the working environment of the postal workers who are currently exposed to long hours of work."







The new system will be tested in a range of different-sized cities and regions.


Kang Kyung-wha, Republic of Korea's Foreign Affairs Minister, has a private conversation with Rex Tillerson, USA's Secretary of State at the first session of the 2018 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on Korean Peninsula in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jan. 16. The USA and Canada are jointly hosting the meeting. / UPI-Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



Top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan met in Vancouver, Canada, Tuesday, to discuss how to handle North Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.



They agreed to make joint efforts to bring North Korea to the negotiating table to discuss denuclearization, while at the same time implementing international sanctions on it, a ministry official said, without giving further details.



The top diplomats met on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' meeting of 20 countries on tightening the United Nations sanctions on North Korea.



"The complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea remains the unwavering goal of the Korean government and the international community," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in her opening remarks at the foreign ministers' meeting.



She said Seoul will hold talks with Pyongyang to find the best ways to urge North Korea to stop its continued nuclear threat.



"We will continue to seek realistic and effective ways to resume denuclearization talks at the earliest possible date."



Last week, Pyongyang agreed to resume military talks with Seoul to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also said it would send a delegation for the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics.



This was the first time that the North showed signs of abating its provocative stance against the South since President Moon Jae-in took office last May, with Seoul welcoming the offer.



But the U.S. and Japan called for stricter sanctions on North Korea.



U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: "We have to recognize that the threat is growing. And if North Korea does not choose the path of engagement, of discussion, negotiations, then they themselves will trigger an option."



Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono also underlined the need for taking a hard-line stance on North Korea.



"I am aware that some people argue that now that North Korea is engaging in inter-Korea dialogue, we should reward them by lifting sanctions or by providing some sort of assistance," Kono said during the meeting.



He also noted that the reconciliatory posture of North Korea is aimed at buying some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs. He also called those who disagree with this "too naive."



South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the three foreign ministers agreed that the meeting was held in a timely manner at a time when the inter-Korea dialogue is underway and the Olympics is around the corner.



"They agreed to take advantage of the momentum to denuclearize North Korea, and pledged to continue holding consultations and spare no efforts in sharing their diplomatic partnership on the issue," a ministry official said.


PHOTOSDaily life in Doha ahead of the World Cup (Part 2)
By Kim Hyun-bin



Two major companies from Indonesia and Malaysia are scheduled to come to Korea on incentive trips, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.



The two are Sahajidah Hai-O and Tupperware-Indonesia, the first overseas businesses to come to Korea on such tours this year, and they will bring a combined 2,700 employees.



The city government said it has been working with several organizations, including the Korea Tourism Organization and Seoul Tourism Organization to bring MICE tourists to the country. MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions.



It and related tourist firms have been conducting onsite marketing, visiting 10 nations last year in efforts to attract national and international corporations to visit Seoul. The nations include India (March), Indonesia and the Philippines (April), Malaysia and Singapore (May), Taiwan (June), Vietnam (November) and Japan (December).



The two firms visiting Korea are coming because of the combined marketing activities of government and business the city said.



In November, local government visited Sahajida hai-O, a well known marketing firm in Malaysia, to explain the benefits of visiting Korea emphasizing numerous activities and services they could enjoy including Korean traditional clothing, or hanbok.



In June, Seoul invited members of Tupperware-Indonesia, a branch of the U.S.-based kitchenware corporation, for a familiarization tour of Korea.



"The success of tours is through the efforts of the local government to attract Southeast Asians by setting up special experience programs," said an official. "We will do our best to provide unforgettable memories so they will want to return to Korea in the future."



The city plans to provide up to 30,000 won ($28) per person to corporations or travel agencies that visit Korea on a corporate meeting or incentive tour. To qualify for the promotion, each tourist needs to stay in Korea for more than two consecutive days and the company needs to obtain a total of 100 accumulated days in Korea.



A total of 1,200 Malaysian Sahajidah Hai-O staff and 1,500 people from Indonesian-Tupperware are expected to visit.



The Malaysian company will be split into eight groups and is scheduled to start its visits from Jan. 15 to 22. Their itinerary includes sightseeing at Gyeongbok Palace in the heart of Seoul, while wearing traditional hanbok. Other activities include visiting Namsan Tower, Namdaemun Market, Myeong- dong and other key tourist attractions in the city.



The Indonesian tourists are expected to visit in March. K-pop experiences will be provided as they expressed interest in this wave. They will also visit several hot tourists locations including Bukchon Hanok Village, Dongdaemun Market, and the Folklore Museum.




Lee Kyo-yoon is one of Sawol's leaders fighting to reclaim clean air for residents who have been living with toxic air, dust and obnoxious odors since the Sudokwon Landfill started operating less than three kilometers from the town in 1992. Behind him, the community's emergency environment committee's banner says: "Arrest business operators responsible for metal dusts. Identify causes and find ways to move the residents out of the town." / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



In an Incheon town near the world's largest landfill, residents are at their wit's end, battling with toxic air as they go about their daily lives. Now they are demanding that the central government step in to fix their plight.



By Ko Dong-hwan



SAWOL, Incheon  This town is busy with the heavy traffic of dump trucks. The roads are dusty and noisy.



Those big trucks gather at the entrance to a large quarry in the southern part of the town. Joining at that chokepoint is a fleet of trucks heading to and from Sudokwon Landfill next to the quarry.



That landfill is the world's biggest dumping ground where garbage and all kinds of waste from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, home to millions of people, end up.



On the north side, an army of construction machines are in a beehive of activity building "Metropark City," a new "bedroom community" by private developer Develop Korea under a contract with Incheon, of which Sawol is part.



Any onlooker could tell that the Sawol residents' health and their environment are not at the top of the developer's concerns.



Pressing the point is the sight of a shabby building serving as the senior residents' recreational house in the middle of all this mechanical sound and fury.



That building, ironically, displays signs of the residents' determination not to give in to development without a fight. But the fight has dragged on for too long, sapping the residents' spirit.





A long queue of dump trucks at the entrance to the quarry on the south side of Sawol. The road is shared by other trucks running to and from Sudokwon Landfill next to the quarry. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Dozens of banners made by the community's emergency committee drape the building. They criticize the city government for jeopardizing residents' health by not preventing air pollution.



The industrial compounds and construction sites near the town have been sources of fine particulate pollution since 1992 when the 15 million square-meter landfill started taking garbage from the region.



"I fled from North Korea amid the Korean War and, after the war was over, settled in this town," said Jang Young-jeo, 92, the oldest among four women at the town house. "The town was marvelous back then, with people from Seoul coming here to enjoy their pastime at beaches on the west coast (less than eight kilometers from the town). Now, people cannot live here. Everyone in this town is a patient. Many of us have itchy skin problems."



Another woman there in her 70s said: "My husband calls me Lotte department store' because I have been suffering from so many health problems, from thyroid gland inflammation to rhinitis, lung problems and itchy skin, for over 10 years."





/ Graphic by Lee Jong-eun



She said she never had health issues until she moved to the town 17 years ago. "My problems were untreatable at local hospitals, so I started going to Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, a two-hour drive just to get there."



The women said the air was so bad they couldn't open doors or windows even during the hot summer and couldn't hang wet laundry outside. They told of rumors that vegetables from the town were rejected for sale and residents were barred from giving blood.



After 20 minutes, one of the town leaders, Lee Kyo-yoon, walked into the house. The middle-aged man said residents must be compensated for being exposed to "the environment so violated it is impossible to live." He wants the city government to give the residents a new place to live.



"You stick a magnet on the soil and you can see metal dusts clinging to it," Lee said. "Simply put, Sawol town is not inhabitable. The landfill is a source of all the environmental hazards and authorities must move us to a better place. It's the only solution we want."



Metal dust town





Jang Young-jeo is one Sawol's senior residents who remember the town's glory days of scenic beauty that attracted out-of-towners. The banner behind Jang says: "We cannot live here anymore. We demand Incheon and Seo-gu District Office immediately move the waste disposal compounds out of the town." / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



There are roughly 100 households in Sawol  with a population about 200  in Wanggil-dong, Seo-gu, of the port city. The tiny town's quiet is frequently shattered by milling sounds from the waste disposal compounds nearby. Some 30 compounds break large solid waste like metal debris and other construction material into smaller bits before it goes to the landfill. These small compounds are not subject to the environment ministry's regulations and were established in the town after the landfill was built.



And there are some 100 factories on the town's outskirts. Together with the disposal compounds and the quarry, they generate fine particles that are spread by the never-ceasing convoy of trucks.



All this has made the town sick. The community's emergency environment committee surveyed residents and found over 30 with respiratory system problems, heart disease or stroke, and over 15 with endocrine system problems, according to the Hankyoreh daily. Of 34, 26 had excessive aluminum and arsenic in their hair. The committee sent the report to the Ministry of Environment in February 2017 and petitioned it to conduct a health impact assessment in the town.



Three months later, the National Institute of Environmental Research and the Incheon Institute of Health Environment studied the town in a preliminary check before deciding on an assessment. Blood and urine sample tests showed many people had cadmium twice the national average and five were confirmed with cancers. The town's soil contained higher levels of lead and nickel than the national average. Concentration levels of fine particulate matters PM10 and PM2.5 were also worse than the annual average nationwide.



The ministry accepted the town's petition in July 2017 and began the health impact assessment that runs from January this year to April 2019 to verify whether the environmental problems pose direct threats to the residents.





Beyond the north side of the town is an apartment village in Gumdan-dong, Seo-gu, in Incheon. A new apartment village is now being built in Sawol. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Incheon's environmental dilemma



Incheon's Seo-gu District Office has been talking to the embittered residents and trying to help them since the people petitioned for the health impact assessment.



Lee Seung-ho, from the office's environment protection department, is one of three people responsible for monitoring the town and the rest of the Seo-gu district's upper-half. Lee said his short-staffed, high-tension task is hard to stomach but he is willing to bring changes to the town.



"What has worsened the town is those waste disposal compounds scattered across nooks and crannies in the town," Lee said. "They are small shops below the bar that obliges the government to check for any violation of environmental regulations. And they operate on privately owned land. Technically, there are no legitimate charges we can bring to bar them from operating there."



The district office held township meetings in May and June 2017 and heard from residents how difficult their lives are and what they want to improve them.



Based on the feedback, the authority scaled up the intensity of whistle-blowing on the disposal compounds that create dust, noise and obnoxious odors. They built photovoltaic energy generators and installed closed-circuit cameras to increase safety. They shut down several disposal compounds deemed particularly hazardous.



This year, the district office also will install an air-quality monitoring system, safety cameras in the 30 most vulnerable spots to illegal dumping and re-pave town roads.



"Sawol town's problem is similar to Seoul's Mullae-dong in Yeongdeungpo-gu, where tens of metal milling shops are heavily concentrated along streets in the middle of the district," Lee said. "It's kind of like a unique district feature." With a sorry consequence, that is.



Based on the health impact assessment's result, the office will roll out solutions. It did not rule out evacuating the town.





/ Graphic by Lee Jong-eun
Seoul's sky is thick with dust, Wednesday./Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon





By Kim Se-jeong



The Ministry of Environment is pushing to make an odd-even vehicle ban mandatory for all drivers and expanding it across the country in response to exceptionally bad air pollution this week.



Under the ban, vehicles with odd-number plates should not be driven on even-numbered dates and vice-versa.



Currently, the vehicle ban is issued only to Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, subjecting only public organization vehicles and civil servant drivers  the ban is issued when a daily average concentration for Particulate Matter(PM) 2.5 is 50 micrograms or more and lasts for two days.



"We are working with National Assembly members to make the vehicle ban mandatory for all drivers," an anonymous environment ministry official said. "We are also discussing fines for violators; many are settling on 100,000 won."



If implemented, this will mark the boldest government act against air pollution in decades.



Another anonymous ministry said there is a discussion on expanding the ban to cover the entire country.



The ministry had the expansion and mandatory ban for all drivers in its mid-term plan but this week's dust attack made it move faster. Last year, the ministry announced it would start to discuss expanding the ban in 2019.



Experts also recommended the mandatory expansion, saying the current ban is incomplete.



Korea's air pollution problem has been widely reported.



In January, it has become so bad that the ministry issued the odd-even vehicle ban four times in one week. The Seoul city government also made all public transportation free three this week to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home  but the participation was low. It



The biggest proportion of pollutants comes from Chinese factories, power plants and households that burn coal and wood for power and heating.



Yet, a lot is also generated domestically. Korea's west coast is thick with power plants and manufacturing facilities that emit PM 10 and PM 2.5 and other chemical compounds that transform into particulate matter after chemical reactions. Stagnant airflow was another contributing factor this week.



Particulate matter has a devastating impact on human health. Many studies have shown it causes hundreds of thousands of premature deaths. The World Health Organization said PM 2.5, in particular, causes cancer.



Internationally, restricting vehicles in response to air pollution is a growing trend. Paris, for example, is one of the cities to impose a vehicle ban on foggy days.



Yet in Korea, some complain that the ban will hurt the local economy and make life miserable for many self-employed drivers  Korea has a large number of self-employed people who need their vehicles to make a living.








By Andrew Hammond





Donald Trump's first year in office ends this week (Saturday 20). After his remarkable election victory in November 2016, big domestic policy wins have been very short on the ground, yet he retains the potential to turn his presidency around and win re-election in 2020.







To date, multiple polls have shown Trump in much of 2017 to be the most unpopular White House incumbent of the modern political era. This reflects the fact that he enjoyed no presidential honeymoon last year, unlike many other incumbents in the past, despite the fact that Republicans enjoyed a "clean sweep" of the November 2016 federal elections securing majorities in both houses of Congress, as well as the White House.







Instead, he has largely stumbled from controversy to crisis, only last week being accused by lawmakers of describing Central American and African nations as "shithole countries," an episode which may make proposed immigration reforms even harder to secure in coming months.







Since mid-December, Trump has had a very modest bump to his presidential approval ratings, now at 37 percent according to the latest Gallup survey. With the Republican tax cut plan signed into law last month, the president scored his first major legislative success which could fuel the current economic expansion and help propel him to higher voter favorability and potentially even re-election in 2020.







Yet, a year into office, while Trump has shown himself to be an effective  if unorthodox  campaigner, it is still genuinely unclear what sustained level of governing competence he will demonstrate as the first president since Dwight Eisenhower never before to have held elected office.







Despite the billionaire businessman's claims of being a master deal maker, repeated setbacks in 2017 underline how different the national political domain can be to that of running a privately-held family conglomerate where the billionaire businessman forged his earlier career.







The presidency provides Trump with at least two broad powers: that of setting governing themes; and that of creating interactive coalitions among the public and within Congress in support of the administration's legislative and wider program.







Trump's effectiveness in setting governing themes and building coalitions of support, which has been very limited to date, will depend going forward upon his ability to exploit two sources of power: the popular prestige of the presidential office, and his leadership reputation among members of Congress and senior federal bureaucrats.







Strong, effective presidents exploit each source of power interactively  as, for example, Democrat Franklin Roosevelt and Republican Ronald Reagan did in the 1930s/40s and 1980s, respectively. To make the presidency work most effectively, Trump will now have to try to show rapidly whether he knows how to do both, defying expectations that are held about him by many voters and the political elite. Since he assumed office, the White House has instead all too often appeared riven by incompetence and confusion, as for instance outlined in the new book "Fire and Fury."







Going forward, if Trump is to maximize his prospects of re-election in 2020, should he indeed run for a second term, he needs to demonstrate he is capable of developing a much more powerful and appealing governing agenda which has more popular support. On the domestic front, it looks likely he will now  try  to build this around agenda, such as boosting infrastructure spending where there could well be majorities in Congress to cultivate in 2018.







Trump also needs to use less polarizing rhetoric, and demonstrate greater reconciliation after the long, bitter election campaign in 2016. After a long period of such rancor, the country may be more divided than in living memory, and he has a disputed political legitimacy with many voters who favored Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or other candidates.







There have been only four previous occasions when a winning presidential candidate lost the popular vote, as Trump did in 2016: In 2000 when George Bush beat Al Gore; in 1888 when Benjamin Harrison bested Grover Cleveland; in 1876 when Rutherford Hayes beat Samuel Tilden; and in 1824 when John Quincy Adams bested Andrew Jackson.







The rarity of these electoral circumstances reinforces the need for Trump to strive for a healing of frayed relations, and establish strong governing themes for his presidency which command popular understanding and support whilst affording him latitude for political development and maneuver.







While there is still time for Trump to potentially turn around his presidency, the partisan animosity and wider political challenges now facing him means he is still on the back foot, despite the Republican tax cut win in December. Indeed, a Monmouth University poll released last year showed that more people want to see Trump impeached today than was the case for then-incumbent Richard Nixon at the start of the Watergate Scandal in the 1970s.







While any such impeachment proceedings against Trump are still a significant distance off, much of this talk has been driven by speculation surrounding the congressional and FBI investigations into his team's alleged ties with Russia.







This potentially brewing scandal, which could yet become a full-blown political crisis, has already claimed the scalp of Michael Flynn as national security adviser and who in December pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russia's ambassador. It has also seen a former foreign policy adviser, George Papadopolous, pleading guilty to perjury over his contacts with Russians linked to the Kremlin; and the president's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, facing charges of money laundering.







Taken overall, there is still time for Trump to potentially turn his presidency around, despite the repeated setbacks in 2017. In suitably skilled hands, the office offers potential for national renewal and unity in troubled times, and this remains true today despite the massive political baggage that he brings.







The next key test will be whether he has the skill and temperament to re-energize his administration, work more effectively with congressional colleagues, and forge a multi-year domestic policy governing agenda that can bring the country closer together, rather than driving it further apart as he is now.









Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics. He can be reached at and
















Rival parties urged to draft new Constitution





Efforts for a constitutional revision are likely to fall apart as the ruling and opposition parties still cannot narrow differences over when to put the amendment to a referendum, and how to rewrite the country's basic law. This could deal a setback for the people aspiring to have a new Constitution which will lay the groundwork for a mature democracy and a better future.



Regrettably, the rival parties have done little to work on the constitutional amendment even though they agreed on this issue in the lead-up to the snap presidential election last May. At the time all their presidential candidates promised to put a constitutional revision bill to a referendum in tandem with the upcoming June local elections.



Now, the promise has been broken as the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) opposes holding the referendum at the same time as local elections. The reason is nothing more than partisan interest. The conservative party is trying to push back the referendum to December. It fears its candidates may lose in the elections if the referendum is held simultaneously.



Most people cannot understand why the LKP is breaking its promise. The party needs to think about what would happen if it scraps its earlier promises. Chairman Hong Joon-pyo and his party members should look back on the candlelit rallies against former President Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party, the predecessor to the LKP, in late 2016 and early 2017. The rallies led to Park's impeachment for a massive corruption scandal.



In the process of her impeachment, all politicians in both the ruling and opposition camps as well as the people reached a consensus that it was urgent to restrict the power of the president to prevent a repetition of such a scandal. Under the current power structure, the president acts like an emperor with much room for corruption.



The LKP move to delay the referendum might be seen as a ploy to backtrack on the constitutional amendment. The party has gone too far in making political gains in the run-up to the June 13 polls which are to elect governors, mayors and local councilors. It is stupid to put its partisan interest before the national task of amending the Constitution.



The LKP should reverse its stance. It must accept President Moon's call for a bipartisan constitutional revision bill to be submitted to the National Assembly next month and approved before the March 15 deadline.



Let's stop political bickering and work together for the constitutional amendment. The present Constitution, adopted following the June 1987 pro-democracy movement, is already out of touch with the rapidly changing society. It needs a drastic change to enhance the basic rights of the people, promote decentralization and local autonomy, and change the governance structure to limit the power of the president.








Visitors watch an LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W in Korean Air's first-class lounge at the second terminal of Incheon International Airport that opened today. LG has installed 69 OLED TVs at the new terminal, including 40 of the ultra-premium TVs. / Courtesy of LG Electronics
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a joint press briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 9. / Reuters-Yonhap



By Wendy Wu





Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on his US counterpart to resume talks to improve economic ties between the two nations, as tensions rise over the huge imbalance in Sino-US trade.

In their first phone conversation this year, Xi told US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that both countries should take "constructive measures" to open their markets to each other and "broaden cooperation" to address their trade and economic issues.

The call comes as Washington ramps up talk of taking tough action against Beijing, including punitive tariffs, sanctions and even a trade war.

China and the United States were meant to settle their trade differences through the "Comprehensive Economic Dialogue", one of four dialogue mechanisms to improve ties that both countries agreed on in April.

The first Comprehensive Economic Dialogue was held in July, but Washington later shelved the process because of lack of progress.

Tensions have since escalated between Beijing and Washington, with China on Friday reporting that its trade surplus with the US grew to a record US$275.8 billion in 2017  counter to Trump's goal of narrowing the US trade deficit with China.

With the economic dialogue suspended there are now concerns that there is no way to put ties back on track.

"China and the US should keep their exchanges at all levels, fully utilise the four high-level dialogue mechanisms and hold second-round talks when appropriate," Xi was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying.

But Xi also struck an optimistic note, saying China and the US made progress in maintaining a stable relationship in 2017.

Xi also said in the phone call that there had been "positive changes" in the Korean peninsula situation and called for joint efforts to create the conditions for a resumption of dialogue.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs later called on both countries to properly settle their differences.

"It is no big surprise that the US and China have conflicts and confrontation. The key is how to better handle [them] and not to affect the broad picture of bilateral economic and trade cooperation," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Despite the US$250 billion worth of commercial deals signed in November during Trump's first state visit to China, Washington is weighing up punitive trade action against China.

Just last month, Trump labelled China a "competitor" in his first national security strategy report. Washington has also blocked Chinese companies from buying US technology firms and entering the telecommunications market. In addition, there is tougher talk of punitive tariffs on China's exports of steel and aluminium.

Former vice commerce minister Wei Jianguo said it was not easy to reverse the trade surplus with the US but both sides should work out ways to explore new markets.

"We have the dialogue mechanism and it doesn't help to solve the problem if we don't use it," he said.

Renmin University international relations professor Wang Yiwei said bilateral trade would become a "very troublesome" issue this year as China was very likely to become a target during the US midterm elections.

"The idea that China is imposing a full-fledged challenge to the US, from core technology to military weapons, from the internet to the currency, has affected Trump's China policy," he said.
When Glenda Wriedt arrived in her taxicab, customers knew they were getting more than just a ride from here to there.

The operator of Geneva Lake Taxi connected with her customers on a personal level and sometimes ran errands for them, bringing them groceries or medicine to their homes.

Wriedt also never used a meter in her taxicab.

Her fares were based a simple flat fee  $3 most of the time  which was designed to keep her service easy and affordable.

She was a wonderful person, customer Pat DeBello said. There will never be another Glenda.

Wriedt, who operated Geneva Lake Taxi for more than 30 years and became a well known member of the Lake Geneva community, died on Christmas Day at the age of 64.

With her one-woman taxicab business, Wriedt worked 14-hour days shuttling people to work, kids to school, and senior citizens to the store or doctor. There were no other taxi services in Lake Geneva when she started, so her business thrived and her reputation grew.

Everybody loved her, said her daughter, Holly Adamson. And everybody respected her.

Born in Burlington, Wriedt graduated from Badger High School in Lake Geneva in 1971. She then did something that few young women were doing at the time  she joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Vietnam War was raging, but the military did not send women into combat. Wriedt was assigned duty in the Pentagon, and she would later recall her experience in the Marines as a formative moment in her life.

She learned a lot, which made her the strong woman that she was, her daughter said.

After four years in the military, Wriedt returned to Lake Geneva and married George Wriedt. Together, they created Geneva Lake Taxi, with George doing most of the driving at first.

The couple settled in Lake Geneva and had two children  one son and one daughter.

When the marriage ended in divorce in 1987, Glenda found herself taking the wheel of Geneva Lake Taxi and steering the business into the future. She tried hiring someone else as a driver, but that did not work out well.

So she settled into the drivers seat and began working six days a week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Her vehicle was emblazoned with the business name, and her clientele grew.

She became especially well known among senior citizens in the area, some of whom took to calling her Cabbie. Her outgoing, friendly personality made it impossible to remain simply a faceless driver in a taxicab.

She was a social butterfly, Adamson said. Everybody knew her.

When customers occasionally were unable to get out of the house, Wriedt volunteered to do their grocery shopping, to pick up their prescriptions, or to take their dogs to the veterinarian.

DeBello never learned to drive a car herself. So when her husband died in 2000, she decided to try Geneva Lake Taxi to get to the store and attend to other regular errands.

The two women soon became friends and sometimes rode together as Wriedt was making her regular rounds. DeBello remembered one customer to whom Wriedt would deliver a hamburger and coffee at his home, to make sure he was eating well.

She was just a very kind and compassionate person, DeBello said. We got to be really good friends.

In 2011, Wriedts health began to deteriorate, and she decided it was time to park the taxicab for good and retire.

She asked if her daughter wanted to take over the business, but Adamson was not interested.

There were other taxicab services operating in the area by then, and Adamson did not feel the same passion for the business.

Adamson recalled something her mother said one time about not using a meter or charging more for her fares. The business was about more than earning money, her mother replied: You have to like what you do.
A bloody brawl inside a Lake Geneva hotel has resulted in the arrests of two hotel guests, and police are working to round up more suspects.

The incident Dec. 28 at the Chateau Royale Inn led police to three handguns inside the hotel and a man and woman who said they had been pistol-whipped in a clash with other guests.

Police found blood splattered inside the hotel and took two people into custody  one of them a 14-year-old boy.

Justus W. Lock, 17, of Delavan, was arrested and charged with two felony counts of substantial battery, as well as misdemeanor charges of obstructing police, possession of marijuana and other offenses. If convicted, Lock could face up to nine years and three months in prison.

Lt. Ed Gritzner of the Lake Geneva Police Department said the 14-year-old was referred for juvenile prosecution, while the other suspect was charged in Walworth County Circuit Court.

One of the alleged victims in the pistol-whipping had been cited by police earlier that night after he allegedly helped himself to a Jacuzzi hot tub in another persons room at the hotel.

Details remain murky about how the pistol-whipping fight got started, Gritzner said, although it appears the violence was triggered by harsh words exchanged between two groups staying at the Chateau Royale.

Investigators are still searching for a female suspect and two others in connection with the incident.

The hotel at 135 Main St. has not generally been a place associated with a lot of police trouble, Gritzner said.

That group at that time created some problems, he said of the Dec. 28 incident.

According to a criminal complaint issued by the Walworth County district attorney, police were called to the Chateau Royale on a report of a fight among guests.

When police arrived shortly before 11 p.m., they found a 30-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman bleeding from the head, both saying they had been pistol-whipped. Police reported that the mans face was bloodied from cuts and scrapes between his eyes and elsewhere, while the woman was bleeding from a large gash to the side of her face and forehead.

The criminal complaint indicates that paramedics were called to the hotel and that both victims needed stitches.

The couple told police that they were having an argument between themselves in a corridor when they overheard someone from another group call the woman a bad name. When the man confronted the other group, he was attacked and pistol-whipped, the complaint states.

The woman told police that she was pistol-whipped by another woman.

When police went to a second-floor hotel room to track down the suspects, they allegedly found three handguns, a supply of marijuana, prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Police reported seeing blood splattered in the hallway, on clothing inside the suspects room, and on the shoes of one of the suspects.

According to the criminal complaint, Justus told police that he saw a gun come out during the violence, and he brought the weapon into his hotel room and stashed it under a mattress so nobody would get shot.

Police reported that the weapons were small-caliber pellet handguns.

Hotel owner John Tyshenko said his establishment generally does not attract that sort of clientele. Tyshenko said management made sure those suspected in the Dec. 28 violence were thrown out.

Tyshenko also said he was pleased with how Lake Geneva police managed the situation.

The police were just excellent, he said. They handled it real well.

Walworth County criminal records indicate that at least two individuals involved in the fight had gotten into trouble with police just recently  even earlier that night.

One of the alleged victims in the pistol-whipping, Jeremy A. Saavedra, 30, of Lake Geneva, is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting police and disorderly conduct from an alleged incident at the Chateau Royale about an hour before the fight.

According to a criminal complaint, the hotel owner called police because Saavedra entered another guest room and helped himself to a Jacuzzi hot tub without permission. When police questioned him about the hot tub incident, he became combative and resisted arrest, the complaint states.

The previous day, Saavedra was cited by police in still another incident.

The criminal complaint in that case alleges that Saavedra took another persons car in the town of Geneva after going to the persons home and saying he needed a warm place to wait for a taxicab ride back to his hotel. He was cited on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent, a misdemeanor.

Lock, meanwhile, had his own troubles with police 12 days before the Chateau Royale incident.

According to an earlier criminal complaint, Lock was arrested Dec. 16 in the town of Geneva after police stopped a vehicle he was driving and reported smelling marijuana inside the car. The complaint states that Lock was speeding on State Highway 50 when police pulled him over.

In that incident, he was charged with felony possession with intent to deliver marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

All charges against Saavedra and Lock are pending in Walworth County Circuit Court.
A proposal to build a Dunkin Donuts shop and gas station/convenience store on Lake Genevas east side could be up in the air.

The Lake Geneva Plan Commission was scheduled Jan. 15 to consider the proposed commercial development at 190 E. Main St.

But shortly before the matter was to be discussed. Mayor Alan Kupsik announced that the applicant requested the issue be taken off the plan commissions agenda.

The commission was scheduled to consider a conceptional review of a possible gas station with a convenience store and Dunkin Donuts with a detached car wash at 190 E. Main St. The agenda also included a request for a conditional-use permit for an in-vehicle sales or services commercial land use for that property.

Representatives of Dunkin Donuts or others associated with the development could not be reached for comment.

Kupsik said the city had received three letters from the public voicing concern about the potential project, although details of those concerns were not immediately clear.

Based in Massachusetts, Dunkin Donuts has about 8,500 outlets throughout the United States.

According to the companys website, the nearest locations are in Delavan and in McHenry, Illinois.
WILLIAMS BAY  Geneva Lake was covered in a solid blanket of ice on Jan. 7.

Four days later, a burst of warm air left that blanket worn and threadbare. In areas of the lake once covered by a solid shield of ice, there was open water.

The sequence of events caught Ted Peters by surprise.

As director of the Geneva Lake Environmental Agency, Peters conducts an annual contest in which children at local schools guess when the lake will be completely covered by ice.

Peters was lining up the names of this years winners when the warm snap occurred. Now he is uncertain whether he should restart the contest and give the kids another chance.

Ive never had this before, he said.

According to weather watchers, the temperature around Geneva Lake was stuck in the sub-freezing levels and even dipped as low as 12 below zero during the first several days of January.

Then, the thermometer readings jumped suddenly, first to 40 degrees and then 50 degrees.

And the ice dissolved.

The weather just keeps getting crazier and crazier, said Tim Goggin, land protection specialist at the Geneva Lake Conservancy.

The reasons that a complete ice cover is good for Geneva Lake  a yearly phenomenon also called ice on  have more to do with visual aesthetics and winter ice sports.

Having a solid cover of ice over the winter months helps the lake recover from the summer, by protecting against evaporation and preserving lake levels, by stunting plant growth and guarding against an onslaught of early spring weeds, and by allowing suspended solids to settle to the lake bottom in calmer waters.

Winds and wave action keep water open, which does not allow Geneva Lake to enjoy a restful winter season.

Peters said he knew conditions were changing when the temperature heated up, but he could not tell how much. The interaction of ice and warm air created a veil of mist.

But as the mist lifted, Peters said he noticed that once frozen water had become liquid again.

Ice-fishing shanties had been hastily removed and water opened up along half of Williams Bay out beyond Conference and Cedar points and to the west almost to George Williams College and out to Black Point.

As best as Peters can surmise, Geneva Lake had a solid ice cover for only four days.

John Frye, a climatologist and meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, said the culprit is the jet stream of air movement four to five miles up in the sky.

The jet stream plunged southward, pulling arctic air as far south as Florida, and then shifted again, bringing warm air that caused the brief warm spell and the Geneva Lake meltdown.

There are shifts in the jet stream, Googin said. Air masses are shifting in areas where theyve never been before.

He added: Its really bizarre how it warmed up.

After the brief period of unseasonable warmth, the jet stream resumed its usual position, bringing more cold air back to Wisconsin.

And the lake is refreezing.

Ice boaters have ventured out onto the lake. And cross-country skiers are making their way onto the ice, too.

That Geneva Lake shucked its ice cover so quickly may be unusual. But records of Peters agency show that the lake did not exhibit ice-on at all during the winters of 1997-98, 2001-02 and 2011-12.

And last winter, although sections of the lake were ice-crusted, the lake again went without a total ice cover.
Sandra M. Lass Schultz, 69, West Allis, passed away on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018, at Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee, due to a severe stroke. An open house for family and friends will be on Sunday, Jan. 21, from 3 to 5 p.m., at the West Allis Knights of Columbus, 1800 S. 92nd St. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Milwaukee Humane Society. Steinke-Lazarczyk Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Lake Geneva, assisted the family with arrangements.
The United States is nothing if not resilient.

The past year witnessed great tension, disagreements and even outbreaks of violence. As 2018 unfolds, it may be useful to look back and measure our present circumstances against a far more difficult and unsettling moment from our past. We have faced fire and fury before, and triumphed.

A half-century ago, the U.S. was in the midst of a period marked by riots, bloodshed, assassination and civil rights unrest that some feared would rip apart the very fabric of society. A time when civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael threatened that the ills of the nation could not be resolved by any act short of revolution.

The year was 1968. One of the most horrible in American history. Ironically, it erupted just after the interlude called the Summer of Love that drew tens of thousands of young people to San Francisco in 1967. Growing tension over the war in Vietnam marked the years beginning. President Lyndon Johnson had fully committed the U.S. to this conflict. What had once been a contingent of some 40,000 military advisers when Johnson took office had grown to a force of almost half a million troops. Casualties steadily rose apace, month after month.

The president recalled the theater commander, General William Westmoreland, to Washington to answer questions about the conflict. The general assured the American people that the end was in sight  the so-called light at the end of the tunnel speech. Only days later, the NVA  or Viet Cong  launched an all-out offensive, during Tet, the Lunar New Year. More than 100 villages and cities throughout South Vietnam were attacked simultaneously, including the U.S. Embassy in the capitol of Saigon.

It was devastatingly clear that the war gave every indication of continuing for many bloody years to come.

On April 4, James Earl Ray fired a high-powered rifle, killing Martin Luther King Jr., the nonviolent leader of the civil rights movement. This ignited a reign of violence that spread to 175 cities across the country. Looting, arson and gun violence ensued, resulting in some 21,000 arrests, 3,000 injured and 46 dead before the tumult subsided.

Only eight weeks later, after his campaign victory speech in a Los Angeles hotel, Robert F. Kennedy was slain by deranged gunman Sirhan Sirhan. Just a little less than five years after his brother, John, had been shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.

Senator Kennedy had called upon the Greek poet, Aeschylus, after Kings tragic death in April, recalling: In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. The senator could not know then that the poets lament would become his own. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that August, two dissident groups, dubbed the Yippies and the Hippies, gathered by the thousands to protest against the party they viewed as responsible for the war in Vietnam. Before it was over, they were met by police ordered by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley to shoot to kill any arsonists  and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting. The beatings and mayhem that followed were later described as a police riot.

These were only some of the things that took place that fateful year. Sadly, there was much, much more. It ended with the reading of scripture by the Apollo VIII astronauts, from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, as Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell came around from the dark side of the moon to see, for the first time ever, an earth rise.

Our fragile blue orb shone brightly, against the infinite blackness of space.

Ammon, a longtime lakes area resident, has written a book entitled State of the Union: Observations on American Life.
As the year 2018 begins, the Riviera sits like a frozen jewel at the head of Geneva Bay. Some might call it a forlorn jewel, barely surviving in the winter. But no matter how one characterizes the Riviera, it remains Lake Genevas most iconic structure. It is immediately recognizable to thousands upon thousands of tourists who have visited it over the years. During the summers, there can be no doubt that the Riviera is Lake Genevas crown jewel.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Riviera that repairs, remodeling, and an audacious marketing and promotional campaign cannot fix. Fixing the Riviera would initially require the expenditure of funds (just like the renovation of the reopened Geneva Theater cost money). But over the long run, any funds expended would eventually be recouped.

Among the physical changes that the Riviera would benefit from are the installation of a kitchen on the Rivieras second floor, the installation of an elevator that would make the Rivieras second floor more accessible to older people and those with physical impairments (just like the United Methodist Church in Lake Geneva installed an elevator to facilitate easy access to its second-floor sanctuary) and repairing the Rivieras roof.

The most important step that must be taken to fix the Riviera is to aggressively promote, promote and promote its use. This would require enlisting the services of a management firm that could prepare promotional literature about the Riviera, distribute it widely on the internet and in Chicago and Milwaukee-area newspapers, and send it to all Chicago suburban high schools. Such promotional literature should stress the value of the Riviera as a particularly attractive venue for high school proms and other events and as an especially suitable venue for weddings and wedding receptions. A well-chosen management firm could also administer the Riviera.

There is no reason why Gage Marine cannot promote the Riviera at the same time that Gage promotes it excursion boats. And there is absolutely no reason why the Riviera cannot once again be a venue where bands can play, bands that can attract Baby Boomers, members of Generation X, and Millennials. While the days of dance bands such as those led by Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Stan Kenton are over, many people today, especially young people, still listen to bands and would come to the Riviera to hear them.

Eighty-six years ago, the leaders of Lake Geneva had the foresight to conceive of and build the Riviera. My uncle, Tom J. Wardingle, was one of the workers who built the Riviera, as was my aunts husbands brother, Hank Malsch.

And I still have the autograph that the legendary band leader Louis Armstrong signed for me (in green ink) in front of the Riviera almost six decades ago.

The Riviera has played an important role in both Lake Genevas history and its economy for more than eight decades, and there is absolutely no reason that it cannot continue to do so for many decades to come, if appropriate steps are taken now to ensure that it does.

Quinn is a Lake Geneva native who is the University Archivist Emeritus at Northwestern University.
To the Editor:

I was saddened to read about the longtime health care worker arrested for helping a patient in her care, Medical marijuana case could land health worker in prison.

The people of Wisconsin overwhelmingly support allowing medical cannabis under the care of a physician. Twenty-nine states have now legalized some form of medical cannabis and multiple sclerosis is a qualifying condition in most, if not all of those states.

Its been known for a long time that cannabis can interrupt and even reverse the progression of multiple sclerosis.

As a longtime medical cannabis patient and activist, Ive met and known many MS patients who have benefited greatly from cannabis. Ive seen firsthand how cannabis can give MS patients back their quality of life.

The real crime here is that state lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker see no problem in continuing to withhold this lifesaving medicine from Wisconsinites who can benefit. With Gov. Walker, all 99 assembly reps and half the state senate up for re-election in 2018, voters need to act decisively and change the face of Wisconsin government from uncaring apathy to compassion when it comes to making all options available in treating serious illness.

Gary Storck

Madison
A false alarm that a ballistic missile was heading straight for Hawaii threw the islands into a panic Saturday. Although the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency later explained that the alarm was an error made by its employee during a shift change, the mishap was a vivid reminder that Northeast Asia is on the edge of escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

While delicate talks between South and North Korea continue, tensions on the peninsula have settled into a steady simmer. For some, the alert issued at this time has other implications than human error.

Apparently Washington is on high alert for any potential threat from Pyongyang. But for some observers, the snafu can even be interpreted as a signal that the US has made full preparations for the worst scenario: a real war with North Korea, following several rounds of insults and verbal threats between the two heads of state.

The alert is only a part of Washington's precautionary measures against Pyongyang's threats, but in the meantime, it reminds people that the country may have already prepared a preemptive military strike against North Korea.

The Iron Fist drill between Washington and Tokyo kicked off last week in the US western state of California, with more than 500 US Marines and sailors joining their Japanese counterparts in fire support operations and amphibious assaults.

Moreover, Washington and Ottawa are bringing foreign ministers from 20 countries to Vancouver for an international meeting on the North Korea nuclear issue, a move seen by many as Washington's attempt to revive the long-forgotten multilateral military alliance. All these events suggest that the US may have already mapped out a comprehensive military plan for North Korea.

In fact, despite Seoul-Pyongyang talks, it is the US and North Korea that hold the keys to solving the nuclear crisis. North Korea's nuclear weapons program is intended for securing the regime, or, as Russian President Vladimir Putin put it, "They [North Korean people] would rather eat grass but will not give up the program if they do not feel safe."

Offering Pyongyang a sense of security is the solution. But there is no sign so far that the US is willing to decrease its military pressure on North Korea.

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsulaaccords with the common interests of all sides. China urges all parties concerned to consider its "suspension for suspension" and "dual track" approach proposals to solve the crisis. China stridently opposes any unilateral move to escalate tensions in the region. The US should act to control risks.
FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

China-CELAC Forum To Meet Jan. 19-22; Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi To Attend

Jan. 16, 2018 (EIRNS)The ministerial-level meeting of the China-CELAC Forum (CELAC is the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) will meet in Santiago, Chile on Jan. 19-22, the second such meeting to be held since the initial January 2015 meeting in Beijing. Chinas Foreign Ministry announced today that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend, and will also make a state visit to Chile and Uruguay. Both nations are enthusiastic supporters of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang emphasized that China views this event as extremely important, and the hope is to raise strategic cooperation between China and the regional bloc to a higher level, as well as produce an action plan for the next three years. China is interested in promoting projects of interest, Lu said, and stating that there has been significant cooperation in areas such as production capacity and infrastructure building. According to Spains EFE news service, Wang also intends to hold in-depth discussions on international and regional matters of common interest.

In comments to Xinhua, Chiles former Ambassador to China Fernando Reyes Matta stressed that the ministerial forum is particularly important because of the role China is playing in the world, in Ibero-America, and in global reordering generally. Stressing that the BRI opens new possibilities that will improve relations with Ibero-America, Reyes nonetheless urged Ibero-America to work on its own integration, so that it can serve as a better interlocutor with China. Long-term planning is essential, he emphasized.
FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

At NATO Meeting, Turkish Defense Chief Challenges U.S. Creating Kurdish Army in Syria

Jan. 16, 2018 (EIRNS)Gen. Hulsi Akar, Turkish Chief of the General Staff, told a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels today, that Turkey will not allow the arming of the Kurdish PYD/YPG in Syria, as Turkey regards the PYD/YPG as an extension of the terrorist PKK inside Turkey.

We cannot and will not allow the terrorist organization, YPG, which has been proven as an extension of the PKK, to be supported and armed under the guise of it being an operational partner, 

he said, reports the Turkish Anadolu Agency.

Akars remarks followed the announcement from the U.S. military command in Baghdad over the weekend, that the U.S. is going to organize and train a Border Security Force in northeastern Syria. About half of the projected 30,000-strong force is to come from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-dominated force that the U.S. organized to fight ISIS. We expect [them] to reverse the mistake as soon as possible, Akar said. He added that NATO should not discriminate among terrorist organizations in the fight against terrorism.

In Washington, the U.S. has recognized Turkeys concerns. Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Anadolu today,

We acknowledge Turkeys concerns regarding these [Border] Security Forces being trained. We have regular close communication with our NATO ally Turkey.

Akar was expected to meet with U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford on the sidelines of the defense chiefs meeting. Turkish media expect Akar to raise the issue.

Prior to Akars arrival in Brussels, top Turkish government officials were essentially vowing to destroy the border force, despite the fact that it is backed by the U.S., said Ankara Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu yesterday: The U.S. must clarify which side it is on, whether it chooses to be with its allies or terror groups? He warned that

We will take our own measures [against terror groups]. Regardless of who backs them; whether it is the U.S. or other countries, it doesnt matter to us.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was even more blunt. He said,

America has acknowledged it is in the process of creating a terror army on our border. What we have to do is nip this terror army in the bud,

reported Anadolu. He warned Turkeys allies against helping what he called terrorists in Syria, and saying, We wont be responsible for the consequences. Reuters quoted him as saying (probably from the same speech): A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our borders, Erdogan said of the United States. What can that terror army target but Turkey? Our mission is to strangle it before its even born.
Washington tourists with time on their hands Wednesday could have popped into the Capitol to witness an ancient phenomenon: Senators doing their darndest to prove a partisan fantasy.

In this case, the fantasy was that Medicaid expansion is to blame for the opioid crisis in the United States. The ringmaster was Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Johnson has been flogging this notion for the better part of a year, or longer, despite the utter lack of evidence that its true  and plenty of evidence that the opposite is true.

The venue Wednesday was a Senate hearing room, where as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Johnson presided over a session titled Unintended Consequences: Medicaid and the Opioid Epidemic.

The witnesses included one anti-Medicaid ideologue, two local prosecutors who testified that theyve seen a lot of addicts in their work and lots of them seem to be on Medicaid, and two experts who, tactlessly, pointed out that the causes of the opioid epidemic are many and complex, that it started years before Medicaid expansion, and that it involves patients and doctors in Medicare and private insurance as well as the uninsured.

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Just because A precedes B doesnt mean that A causes B. Thats statistics 101.  David Hyman, Georgetown University

Johnson has tried to color his campaign against Medicaid expansion as mere concern for ordinary Americans locked into dependence on government, as he put it in a July 27 letter to Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson. In the letter he asserted that drug overdose deaths have risen at an alarming rate since Medicaid expansion began on Jan. 1, 2014, and that Medciaid expansion states have been hardest hit.

A couple of problems arise from this theory. Efforts to demonize Medicaid expansion because it was launched as the opioid crisis really took off confuse correlation with causation, David Hyman of the Georgetown University Law Center warned Johnsons committee. Just because A precedes B doesnt mean that A causes B, he said. Thats statistics 101.

Its plain that the source of most of Johnsons concern actually derives from an ideological hostility to Medicaid generally and to Medicaid expansion particularly. Thats made clear by the presence on his witness panel of Sam Adolphsen, a former Maine official who helped fight expansion in that state and now works with a right-wing think tank, the Foundation for Government Accountability, which has pumped out anti-Medicaid claims in the past. In his testimony, Adolphsen trotted out the familiar slap at Medicaid expansion as favoring able-bodied adults, claimed there is a robust black market of welfare funds being traded underground around the country, whatever that means, and asserted that Medicaid creates barriers to work, which is flagrantly untrue.

Heres a more measured look at Medicaid and the opioid crisis:

First, while its true as Johnson says that drug overdose deaths have risen at an alarming rate since Medicaid expansion began, they were rising at an alarming rate before Medicaid expansion began. The increase, in fact, began in the 1990s, when doctors began prescribing opioids such as oxycodone in the belief that they would effectively relieve chronic pain with minimal risk of addiction. As Andrew Kolodny of Brandeis University told Johnsons committee, this was the product in part of the drug industrys brilliant, multifaceted marketing campaign that changed the culture of opioid prescribing.

What really has happened since Medicaid expansion? The opioid crisis has expanded more rapidly than before, but largely because of a sharper rise in the abuse of non-prescription drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overdose deaths involving commonly prescribed opioids, which would be those prescribed under Medicaid, have actually leveled out since about 2011, according to researchers at the University of Maryland and UC San Francisco.

Johnson acknowledged the weakness of his case at the outset of the hearing. This epidemic began way before Medicaid expansion, he said. He said he was merely pointing out that the opioid crisis may have been an unintended consequence of expansion and that expansion may have been a contributing factor.

Still, he continued to make the connection between Medicaid expansion and the opioid crisis, even when his own evidence undermined his case. A chart reproduced from a report he released Wednesday pinning the crisis on Medicaid fraud paired five Medicaid expansion states with neighboring non-expansion states, purporting to show much higher increases in opioid deaths in the expansion states from 2013 to 2015. Johnson didnt seem to notice that the 55% increase in Maine, one of his non-expansion states, actually exceeded the increase in three of his expansion states  Ohio (41%), Maryland (44%) and West Virginia (27%).

The Republican campaign against Medicaid could only make the opioid crisis worse. Thats because Medicaid pays for a huge proportion of opioid treatments, covering fully one-third of those with addiction problems. Most of that spending is in expansion states  in fact, its possible that the prevalance of opioid addiction in some states may have helped prompt them to accept expansion (another example of how the relationship between addiction and Medicaid may have been misread). The necessity of continuing Medicaid expansion to address the opioid crisis was made forcibly by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, both Republicans, last year when congressional Republicans were working hard to eviscerate the program.

Johnson and his fellow Republicans in Congress seem determined to impose cuts on the program, even though the benefits it renders are crystal-clear. Wednesdays hearing did achieve one benefit, for all that: It showed how threadbare their arguments are.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.
American Airlines, the worlds largest carrier, has formed a partnership to access up to 549 million potential passengers in China.

The Fort Worth-based carrier has teamed up with Fliggy, the travel platform for Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The arrangement lets Alibaba users book American Airlines flights and allows Fliggys loyalty reward members to get elite status benefits on the carriers AAdvantage program.

The airlines benefits for elite Fliggy travelers include such extras as preferred boarding and seats with extra legroom.

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The partnership comes at a time when travel from China has been rising, up 466% from 2009 to 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In 2009, only 525,000 visitors traveled from China to the U.S., according to the federal agency. By 2016, that number rose to nearly 3 million visitors.

But the surge tapered off in 2017, down nearly 6% in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2016. Travel industry experts attribute the decline in international travel in part to the strong U.S. dollar and heightened security measures on U.S. carriers.

American is committed to China and offering our customers more flights to more destinations between North America and Asia, said Alison Taylor, a senior vice president for global sales at American Airlines.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter.
If all goes according to plan, this year could mark the first time since 2011 that U.S. astronauts will blast off to the International Space Station in an American-made spacecraft.

Its been a long process to get to this point. Schedule delays have pushed back the first crewed tests of the new astronaut transport capsules being built separately by Boeing Co. and SpaceX under NASA contracts. And the two companies must still complete additional testing and address lingering safety concerns before reaching that milestone.

On Wednesday morning, one message from lawmakers was clear: Safety is paramount.

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, warned company executives and NASA officials during a space subcommittee hearing that they cannot afford to cut corners in attempting to prevent a potential gap in U.S. access to the space station.

The U.S. contract with the Russian space agency to take U.S. astronauts to the space station will end in 2019. Thats the same year NASA is set to certify the SpaceX and Boeing vehicles for service  though a U.S. Government Accountability Office official warned that the certification date was likely to slip to December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing.

The U.S. currently pays about $70 million to $80 million per seat for astronauts to ride to the space station on a Russian Soyuz vehicle.

Lawmakers were also resolute about the delays that have pushed the test flights back. The two companies were originally set to certify their capsules for operational missions by 2017.

The taxpayers and Congress have neither infinite budgets nor infinite patience, said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House committee. Contractors should not assume that the taxpayers and Congress will continue to tolerate this.

Boeing and SpaceX executives were grilled by congressional leaders Wednesday on safety concerns. They sought more information about the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch Boeings CST-100 Starliner capsule, as well as about previous incidents with SpaceX hardware and plans to have astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon capsule while the Falcon 9 rocket is loaded with fuel.

Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said at the hearing that the Hawthorne space company believes this quicker fuel-loading method is safer than traditional methods because loading a denser propellant minimizes exposure time to fueling hazards.

He said the capsules launchpad abort system, which would rocket astronauts away from the launch vehicle in case of an emergency, would be engaged during fueling.

William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator at NASA for the human exploration and operations directorate, said the agency was reviewing the process and potential hazards, and would determine the right time to put crew aboard.

The commercial crew program represents a change for NASA. In the past, the agency would award contracts to private companies to build NASA-designed vehicles and spacecraft. With this program, NASA will instead buy a service, rather than the vehicle  much like the contracts it awards to private companies such as Orbital ATK and SpaceX to ferry supplies to the space station.

This could serve as a model for future collaboration, allowing commercial enterprises to gain more experience and expanding into new services that may have once been the purview of government, said David Barnhart, director of the space engineering research center at USC.

I tend to think its the future, in that government elements will procure services that are not necessarily research or far-out innovations, he said.

Both Boeings Starliner capsule  a version of which is undergoing testing at the companys Huntington Beach facility, with additional tests to come in El Segundo  and SpaceXs Crew Dragon are set to fly without any crew in August. Boeings first crewed test flight is currently scheduled for November, with SpaceX following one month later.

While similar in shape to the capsules of the Apollo moon exploration era, these next-generation spacecraft take advantage of technological advances, such as touchscreens and increased automation. Boeings and SpaceXs contracts with NASA for the vehicles are worth a combined total of up to $6.8 billion.

Both Koenigsmann and John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for Boeing commercial programs, deflected a question about how much each company had invested in their vehicles, saying they did not have that data with them.

The hearing comes just under two weeks after SpaceX launched the classified Zuma satellite, which was reportedly lost.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the satellites builder, has said it would not comment on classified missions. When asked about the mission during the hearing, Koenigsmann reiterated SpaceXs steadfast message that the Falcon 9 rocket performed very well and that the company was continuing with its other missions.

Boeings David Schiller, left, and Rob Adkisson examine a capsule heat shield component at a company facility in Huntington Beach in August 2017. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga
Retailer Mark Werts was dining in a Hong Kong restaurant a few years ago when he noticed most people were doing more than chewing.

Of about 130 people, 129 people were on their phones, said Werts, who owns the brands American Rag Cie clothing and Maison Midi home goods. So it struck me that theres an enormous opportunity while youre eating to combine selling decor in a restaurant.

The epiphany led him to create Beau Soleil Kitchen & Bar in Huntington Beach, where people can buy home goods on display, colorful mismatched tiles on the floor and even the tables and chairs. The Maison Midi website is posted throughout the restaurant, giving diners tacit permission to keep their eyes glued to their phones in case they feel the urge to order something besides food.

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The whole experience is for sale, Werts said.

Werts restaurant-retail hybrid is perhaps the ultimate example of the eating-shopping mash-up working its way across the merchandising landscape.

As retailers try to capitalize on the millennial generations interest in doing things with friends rather than buying things at malls, theres been a proliferation of restaurants inside grocery stores, shops inside eateries and even snack bars near the dressing rooms. Adding food to the equation is a way for retailers to make shopping an experience and tap millennial consumers love of eating out, analysts said.

Barnes & Noble was an early adopter when it opened its first location with a Starbucks in 1993, said Neil Saunders, a retail expert with Global Data. And youve always been able to get a Swedish meatball fix inside Ikea stores.

Diners wait in line at a restaurant inside an Ikea store. (Amy Scattergood / Los Angeles Times )

Today, coffee kiosks or full-service restaurants are common inside bookstores. (Furniture retailers, not so much.)

The idea, experts said, is to sell where the potential shoppers are hanging out, and, increasingly, that place is a restaurant.

Theyre eating, drinking, posting on social media, hopefully with your product in that picture as well, said Joseph Schmitt, a retail expert with AlixPartners. Thats the ideal situation.

Department store stalwart Nordstrom Inc. is combining personalized service with food to combat online shopping competition in its new concept store in Los Angeles called Nordstrom Local.

There, customers can pick up and try on items they bought at Nordstrom.com or visit with a personal stylist who has culled a collection of store products. Meanwhile, shoppers can linger at a bar stocked with wine, beer, coffee and pressed juice.

In 2007, Eataly introduced the idea that you can eat and shop in the same place. The marketplace gives customers the option of dining at one of several restaurants or buying the ingredients to cook meals at home.

The concept has proved so popular that the company has opened 13 marketplaces worldwide, including its most recent in the Westfield Century City mall, which brought in an average of 3,600 people a day during its opening weekend in November.

Restaurateur Roy Choi explains the Chego multi-cultural rice bowl concept at the 2015 grand opening of Whole Foods Market in downtown L.A. (S. Irene Virbila / Los Angeles Times )

Even grocery stores are striving to compete by giving customers more reasons to walk through their automatic glass doors. The eat-in option is popping up so often that the industry has invented a portmanteau: grocerant.

Whole Foods has offered customers hot foods and seating areas since it was founded but more recently has been incorporating full-service restaurants and bars inside its markets.

In 2016, Gelsons added a wine bar at its Los Feliz market and offers a You sip, we shop program allowing customers to imbibe while a store employee does the shopping.

It was the small Southern California chains second foray into bartending  the first was in Long Beach in 2013  and customer response has been so strong that the company plans to roll out nine more in the next several months, Chief Merchandising Officer John Bagan said.

Lines between grocery stores and restaurants are blurring, Bagan said, noting that the stores have prepared food counters and delis to augment the wine and beer. It fits perfectly with consumers desire to have fresh foods when and how they want it ... [so to] have someone do the heavy lifting for them with the shopping adds to the relaxing aspect.

The food concept is one that retailers love, but its not easy in practice, said Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research at real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. Retailers should know how to operate a restaurant and have to find the right location, not tucked away, but in a walkable location open to the public.

The tricky thing about retailers jumping into the restaurant business is that unless they know a partner that knows what theyre doing, the restaurant business is tough, he said.

At Beau Soleil Kitchen & Bar in Huntington Beach, diners can buy the home goods on display and even the chairs they sit on. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

For Werts, running a restaurant to benefit his retail operation has been evolving since 1988, when he opened Cafe Midi next to his American Rag Cie and Maison Midi stores on La Brea Avenue.

In the 80s, it was unusual for stores and restaurants to be paired together, Werts recalled. City officials kept ticketing him and removing his chairs and plants, but he took every citation to the mayors office and fought to keep the sidewalk cafe, he said.

With Beau Soleil, which opened in September, Werts couldnt find a restaurant software system that allowed him to track retail purchases, so he is having a system designed from scratch. Right now, its difficult to tell how much product people are actually buying from the restaurant, he said.

Its a concept for the future, Werts said. Everybody uses the cliche that people are more about experience than product; this is a marriage of both.

Beau Soleil Kitchen & Bar is more immersive than other restaurant-retail store combinations, Saunders said. Customers can try out products they might want to buy and develop a connection with the brand through their experience in the restaurant, which would make them more likely to purchase in the future.

The two should cross-pollinate, which is the best of both worlds, Saunders said.

Dorian Holley, who has been a customer of American Rag and Maison Midi for 31 years, said he often goes to eat at Cafe Midi and ends up walking out of one of the stores with something he didnt intend to buy.

Holleys explanation for the crossover appeal: People like to look at beautiful things.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra
Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee say a key bank regulator has failed to make necessary changes in the wake of the unauthorized accounts scandal at Wells Fargo & Co.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Joseph Otting, who was sworn in as the nations comptroller of the currency in November, six banking committee Democrats said the agency does not appear to have made any progress on recommendations made in an internal report in April. The failure to act leaves consumers vulnerable to abuses by other big banks, they said.

The report, which identified the ways the office of the comptroller of the currencys bank examiners for years failed to spot or correct bad practices at Wells Fargo, made nine recommendations for changes at the agency, including developing a process to more thoroughly analyze customer and employee complaints.

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It was released just weeks before previous Comptroller Thomas Curry, an Obama appointee, was replaced by an interim comptroller named by President Trump. Now the agency is led by Otting, a Trump appointee and former Los Angeles bank executive.

The review was issued nearly nine months ago, and the OCCs continued failure to implement its recommendations leaves vulnerable customers of the nations largest banks, the senators wrote.

OCC spokesman Bryan Hubbard said the agency does not comment on congressional correspondence.

The letter is signed by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

They asked Otting to implement the reports recommendations without additional delay and to give the committee, by the end of this month, a detailed schedule for putting the recommendations into action.

The OCCs report last year was hailed by some consumer advocates as a remarkably frank take on the agencys failures, one that painted an unflattering picture of bank examiners who failed to follow up on numerous red flags.

Regulators began taking a more thorough look at the banks practices following a 2013 Times investigation, which led to a lawsuit by Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer. Feuers office, the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached a $185-million settlement with Wells Fargo in 2016.

The report noted that OCC examiners met in 2010 with now-former Wells Fargo executive Carrie Tolstedt and asked about 700 whistleblower complaints regarding workers gaming the banks sales goal system to boost their pay  one of the issues at the heart of the banks creation of as many as 3.5 million unauthorized accounts.

Tolstedt told the examiners the bank encouraged valid complaints. After that meeting, examiners apparently did not investigate further, the report found.

The report also noted that examiners thought Wells Fargos goal of getting customers to open an average of eight accounts each sounded risky but did not look into how or whether the bank was monitoring account openings.

james.koren@latimes.com

Follow me: @jrkoren
Alleged residents of an East China city expressed heated online opposition on Tuesday to a government plan to move their ancestors' tombs and make room for a mosque.

In what the government regards as "a big step toward promoting national unity and religious harmony," Suzhou ethnic and religious bureau on January 10 announced its agreement in principle to build the mosque and said it would appoint a group to handle relocation of the tombs.

The Suzhou government was planning to move his family tombs for the mosque, internet user fulvfuwei posted on his official microblog on Monday.

"You are making the mosque for overseas students, merchants and foreign officials in Suzhou! You are disturbing the peaceful rest of our ancestors for a mosque!" the post read.

The incident triggered heated debate after Xi Wuyi, an expert on Marxism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a staunch critic of the "pan-halal tendency," reposted fulvfuwei's post.

"Does it need the government to use fiscal revenue to build a mosque in order to promote national unity?" Xi told the Global Times. "Did the government ask the public's opinion about relocating the tombs?"

The Constitution regulates the separation of religion and state, said Xi. Local government should not use fiscal revenues to build religious buildings, she said.

The Suzhou government plans to spend 20 million yuan ($3 million) building the mosque and a halal restaurant, news site gn.cri.cn reported, citing a deputy chairman of the Islamic Association in Suzhou.

Muslims in Suzhou include overseas students, merchants and officials from foreign governmental institutions. Dozens go to the old mosque to pray, said the report.

"Some netizens are hyping up the plan for a new mosque. Building a new one in Suzhou is to solve the problem when a religion is developing," an official from the Islamic Association in Suzhou told the Global Times on Tuesday. He refused to be fully named.

Suzhou has one approved mosque. The mosque's practitioners rent venues on religious holidays. China's Regulation on Religious Affairs stipulates that citizens' collective religious activities shall be held in registered religious sites and organized by the site or a religious body.

"Leaders of the bureau have been discussing the plan from Monday and have not yet come to a conclusion," an employee at Suzhou ethnic and religious bureau told the Global Times.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace and The People v O.J. Simpson have much in common: Both series are part of FXs American Crime Story anthology, both are scripted dramas that revisit 1990s celebrity crimes, and both are the work of mastermind Ryan Murphy.

Yet the Versace story, which premieres Wednesday, is a markedly different viewing experience from its award-winning predecessor.

There are no Marcia Clarks or Johnnie Cochrans in the Versace story, no bloody glove, no white Bronco. In short, the new series doesnt coax audiences in with the familiar, dipped in decade-centric nostalgia.

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Details surrounding the Italian fashion designers 1997 murder by serial killer Andrew Cunanan werent burned into the American psyche like those of the double homicide in the Simpson trial. Versace sets out to make viewers care about a case most of them will barely remember. This is the shows greatest challenge and its sharpest point.

Versaces demise didnt hit the same personal or political nerve with the American public or the media, largely because Cunanan was a male escort and the majority of his victims were gay. While the murder made for salacious Hard Copy headlines, even as a victim Versace didnt elicit the same kind of love as accused murderer Simpson. And here that disparity is painfully present across all nine episodes.

After the initial tabloid intrigue, his killing was largely considered a gay on gay crime. And in the wake of an AIDS epidemic, the inference was that these were risky men leading risky lifestyles, dabbling in the avoidable. Ignorance and bigotry allowed much of America to emotionally divorce itself from the crime.

The series attempts to recast Versaces assassination at age 50 from a fading headline to a human tragedy, and for the most part succeeds.

In a painful scene after Versace (Edgar Ramirez) is found dying on the front steps of his South Beach mansion, his significant other, Antonio DAmico (Ricky Martin), is grilled by a detective who cant quite grasp what kind of partner DAmico is (business?). And, if they were romantically involved, why were they bringing other men home from clubs? Its DAmico who ends up being interrogated about his lifestyle rather than possible suspects.

Penelope Cruz is stone-cold perfect as Versaces muse and sister, the hardened Donatella, and Darren Criss is chillingly convincing as the psychopathic Cunanan.

The downside here is that this series, based on actual events and inspired by Maureen Orths book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History, is sometimes too dark and brutal in its re-creation of the murders.

The very nature of the crimes, sadistic and premeditated, makes this series far more grim than The People v O.J. Simpson. It demands that viewers pay attention to homicides that went largely unnoticed until Versaces, and its a lot to ask. The victims include Cunanans ex-lover and Chicago tycoon Lee Miglin.

Like many of Murphys projects, cultural context is half the story here. The same America that gave rise to celebrated designer Versace also fostered the monstrous Cunanan.

The series encapsulates that dichotomy and the societal and systemic prejudices that link them.

Homophobia, in essence, allowed Cunanan to kill his way from San Diego to the East Coast with relative ease. Police whod been persecuting the gay community werent ready to protect it, and Cunanans surviving victims were reticent to speak up for fear of being ostracized or worse.

The second installment of the American Crime Story anthology lends these victims the respect they deserve. Its up to viewers to decide whether theyre willing to explore the pain and injustice just beneath the tabloid headlines.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

Where: FX

When: 10 p.m. Wednesday

Rating: TV-MA-LV (may be unsuitable for children younger than 17, with advisories for coarse language and violence)

---------------------

lorraine.ali@latimes.com

@lorraineali
Kim Jones is to exit Louis Vuitton after showing his fall 2018 collection for the brand in Paris on Thursday, WWD has learned.

Jones has been mens artistic director of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuittons flagship brand since 2011, parlaying his zest for exotic travel into ultraluxurious collections with understated cool and sly functionality.

It has been a huge privilege to work with Kim, said Michael Burke, Vuittons chairman and chief executive officer, lauding the designers ability to set trends along with his talent and determination. All of us who have been fortunate to work with Kim wish him continued success in his next venture.

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Vuitton has yet to reveal its succession plan for the plum post, which has gained visibility thanks to Vuittons mighty show and campaign budgets, Jones clutch of celebrity friends and the brands high-profile collaborations with the likes of Supreme and British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman. Vuitton described Jones as the driving force behind some of the Maisons most successful projects and collaborations.

The development is sure to further fuel speculation that Jones is readying himself for a new design challenge  and could potentially trigger a round of musical chairs in mens wear, which has not endured as much studio turmoil as womens wear of late.

WWD was the first to report on Sept. 18 that Versace has held discussions to bring Jones on board, but a deal has yet to surface and the Italian fashion company has never confirmed the speculation.

His name has also been floated as a contender for Burberry, which is seeking a successor to Christopher Bailey, who is to bid farewell to the British brand at the end of March.

Jones could not immediately be reached for comment.

A globe-trotter extraordinaire with a passion for wildlife, Jones has no design experience in womens wear or couture, but has had a storied fashion career, with John Galliano snapping up his graduate collection from Central Saint Martins.

His own mens wear label, known for its sporty, streetwear edge, lasted for eight seasons and attracted the attention of Dunhill, where he was creative director from 2008 to 2011. Jones is seen as one of a small clutch of marquee designers who can straddle the luxury and streetwear worlds, which is why Versace might have come knocking.

His final show is sure to be a poignant and electric moment during Mens Fashion Week in Paris, which gets under way in earnest Wednesday.

Jones was named British mens wear designer of the year in 2006 and his resume includes stints at Alexander McQueen, Mulberry, Hugo Boss and Umbro.
On Sunday, Tom Bergins Public House, the famed Irish pub on Fairfax Avenue, will reduce its bar hours and close its kitchen, according to the pubs owner Derek Schreck.

In the years since Tom Bergins opened in 1936, the pub has become a local landmark, known most for its ceiling covered in cardboard shamrocks painted with the names of regulars. And for the friendly bartenders, some of whom have worked at the bar for decades.

This week is our last week of regular service, said Schreck, a local actor who took over the pub from previous owner Warner Ebbink in 2013. Starting next week we will be operating only as a bar with liquor service.

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A recent Instagram post announcing the restaurants closure sparked sad comments from regulars and a slew of news articles claiming the pub is closing for good.

Thats simply not true, said Schreck, who explained that the post was written by a staff member before Schreck had a chance to look at it. Were not shutting down forever. Were just curtailing our staff and hours to try to push through as long as we can. Were still ordering stuff; its just more limited than what were used to.

Schreck still plans to be open for St. Patricks Day, the bars 82nd; the week before, he intends to break the Guinness World Record for the largest Irish coffee at the bar.

Vestry, the whiskey bar and lounge located in the pitched roof attic of the bar, will remain open for members on a reservation basis as usual, as well as for private events, filmings and tastings. Starting Jan. 25, the bar downstairs will be just a bar, with no food service, open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 5 p.m. to midnight.

Like any restaurant, its a very difficult thing to rehab a business that hasnt proven successful for many years, said Schreck. With the construction surrounding us, the Metro closures and just the sheer overhead of running a place this large, it has never been solvent  and unfortunately we just hit a point where it didnt make sense. I wouldnt be able to take care of the staff.

When Schreck took over the the pub, he made changes to the menu and bar program and also opened Vestry. Schreck kept the hundreds of cardboard shamrocks, both fading and new, and the ones that provided proof of the Hollywood stars who threw back drinks at the bar over the years, including Julia Roberts, Cary Grant and Kiefer Sutherland.

PHOTOS: A look inside Tom Bergins

Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold paid homage to the restaurant in a 2013 blog post, saying it was home to a great whiskey selection and the best colcannon (an Irish dish of mashed potatoes and greens or cabbage) in Los Angeles:

When you walked into Tom Bergins on a Sunday afternoon, through the front door of the fragrant Irish pub and past the half-dozen people screaming at the Saints game on the bar TV, you were likely to come across the restaurants true regulars: white-haired guys, wearing sweaters and ties even when it was a bit warm, having lunch with their families the way you suspect their fathers had with them. It was plain, hearty food enjoyed with maybe a pint of Guinness or a well-made Rob Roy  the kind of cooking we have mostly forgotten about in Los Angeles.

According to the bars website, original owner Tom Bergin was among the countrys first naval aviators during World War I and an attorney before opening Tom Bergins Old Horseshoe Tavern & Thoroughbred Club in 1936, near the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The tavern moved to its current location on Fairfax Avenue in 1949.

Ive broken my neck trying to save this place and make it profitable, and we wouldnt be taking these drastic steps if it werent necessary, Schreck said.

840 S. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, (323) 936-7151, www.tombergins.com.

Jenn.Harris@latimes.com

@Jenn_Harris_
USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook

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Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook

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Civil jury vindicates fired Montebello school executives in whistleblower case By Howard Blume The Montebello school district is in dire straits  at risk of insolvency and under apparent criminal investigation. An outside audit in July found some teachers earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as improper raises, excess paid vacation time and inappropriate overtime, sick leave and car allowances. Fixing the district and pinpointing blame could take time. Read More Facebook

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L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook

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Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought  after a meeting with federal officials in Washington  that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook

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L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook

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We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again,  said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style,  she said. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent  the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook

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USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook

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Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that  we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook

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Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook

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Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained  and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook

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We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook

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Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook

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UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident  which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook

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State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook

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Global California 2030 aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically  and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook

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Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment  a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student  an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease  was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook

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LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook

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At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook

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Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups  unrestricted by contribution limits  a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook

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2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook

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For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best  not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook

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Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook

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UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook

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USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook

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Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook

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UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook

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State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding  which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million  is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook

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Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook

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Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook

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6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook

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Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook

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This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education.  What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook

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USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary  at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions  longtime stalwarts of the party  and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook

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Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans  saying repeatedly, stay tuned  but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook

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Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook

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The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers  members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees  marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook

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Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook

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School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook

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Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner  whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook

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UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook

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We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook

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Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook

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Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook

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School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist  who has agreed to modify the artwork  to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook

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New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook

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More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook

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New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event  his first speech and news conference  with a photogenic background of students. His message  that he would put those students first  seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook

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In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook

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Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp  months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military  retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator  largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook

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Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook

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Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook

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Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook

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Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook

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Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook

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Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook

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UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook

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A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook

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After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman  who also was black  that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American  the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook

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El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook

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Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged  and pressured  the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members  enough to control the outcome  were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it  because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook

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Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook

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L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people  12 students and one teacher  killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests  written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut  the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students  at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet  plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook

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Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends  a 16-year-old boy  made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook

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Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus  which the president said is less than 55% white  that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook

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The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces  an arch and a garden  after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook

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L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook

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Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook

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Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook

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Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook

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Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook

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Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract  the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling  approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies  better known as CAVA  had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook

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School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years  a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook

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Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation  not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook

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Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook

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Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook

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New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook

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Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading  and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results  out Monday night  were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook

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Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired  some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook

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Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she said. Read More Facebook

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Kentucky teachers rally at Capitol over state budget By Associated Press Thousands of Kentucky teachers filled the streets near the state Capitol in Frankfort on a cold, overcast Monday to rally for education funding. Teachers and other school employees gathered outside the Kentucky Education Assn. a couple of blocks from the Capitol chanting, Stop the war on public education and holding or posting signs that say, Weve Had Enough. Were madder than hornets, and the hornets are swarming today, said Claudette Green, a retired teacher and principal. Read More Facebook

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Days after law enforcement authorities found a dozen siblings locked up in a foul-smelling, dark home in Riverside County, the discovery is focusing new scrutiny on Californias loose home-schooling regulations and raising questions about whether they contributed to the childrens prolonged neglect.

Arrested on nine counts of torture and child endangerment, David Allen Turpin, 56, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, have so far offered no public insight into why they shut their 13 children inside their home in Perris.

For the record: An earlier version of this story gave David Turpins age as 57. He is 56.

The Riverside County Sheriffs Department said deputies had never been called to the home while the family lived here, nor had the county Department of Public Social Services. Had the children attended a public school, they would have interacted daily with teachers who might have noticed their emaciated bodies and contacted law enforcement, authorities say.

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Ultimately, home-schooling proved to be another way to shield their children from anyones oversight.

Like many California families who choose to home-school their children, the Turpins registered with the state Department of Education. Beginning in 2010, when the family lived in Murrieta, David Turpin filed paperwork to run a private school out of his home, putting himself down as principal of what he called the Sandcastle Day School. For several years, he described it as a full-time, religious school unaffiliated with any denomination, but recently he wrote that it was nonreligious.

He submitted these forms every year, but the information sought by the California Department of Education  such as address, type of school, enrollment  told authorities little about the childrens lives.

That paperwork, known as a private school affidavit, is all that California law requires of home schools.

Neither the Department of Education nor the local school districts had any legal responsibility to knock on the Turpins front door, review their curriculum or assess their childrens academic performance.

Under the law, private school employees must submit to fingerprinting and background checks, but there is no such demand placed on parents teaching their own children.

We are sickened by this tragedy and relieved the children are now safe and authorities are investigating, said a spokesman for the California Department of Education in a statement sent to reporters.

Private schools are required to register with the state to record their students exemption from compulsory attendance at public schools. Under current California law, the CDE does not approve, monitor, inspect, or oversee private schools, the statement said.

We really knew nothing about them, said Grant Bennett, superintendent of the Perris Union High School District. If they were in home school from the beginning, they wouldnt even have been on our radar.

According to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, a nonprofit that advocates for more active oversight of home-schooled children, California is one of 15 states that ask little more of parents other than that they register with the state. This group includes states such as Nevada, Arizona, Alabama and Mississippi that historically eschew government regulation.

Eleven other states dont require parents to submit any documentation, including Texas, where the Turpins lived for a time.

We know that many home-schooling parents provide their children with a safe and child-centered home environment, said the coalitions executive director, Rachel Coleman. Unfortunately, current law provides nothing to stop families like the Turpins from using home-schooling to isolate and imprison their children.

Citing numerous cases of home-schooled children who have been abused, Coleman called for significant changes. She said states like California should require such children to interact with mandated reporters  for example, teachers and doctors  through annual performance reviews and checkups. She also called for states to mandate criminal background checks for families who elect to teach their children at home.

There are states, such as New York, that require home-schooled children to take standardized tests or have portfolios of their work reviewed by teachers. In Pennsylvania, the law bars parents from home-schooling if theyve been convicted of an offense that would prevent them from teaching at a public school.

But efforts to pass more stringent requirements in many other states have met with little success, Coleman said.

Part of the reason is the home-school lobby tends to interpret these bills as some sort of indictment of them, she said. As long as the laws are so lax, these things are going to keep happening.

On Tuesday evening, Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside) released a statement saying that in response to the Turpin case, he is looking into proposing legislation to change the states home-schooling law, though he did not say precisely how.

The Home School Legal Defense Assn., a national advocacy group, is one of the most vocal organizations working to ensure that states dont increase regulations. Scott Woodruff, the associations senior counsel, said that while California lawmakers might be tempted to respond to the Turpin case with knee-jerk calls for more red tape burdens, he is confident such attempts would fail.

When people of goodwill have time to look at the data, they realize the home-school laws are not the problem, Woodruff said. We have not seen a clamping down in response to a very vivid case of tragic abuse.

anna.phillips@latimes.com

Twitter: @annamphillips

UPDATES:

5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement by Assemblyman Jose Medina about considering a proposal to change the home-schooling law.

This article was originally published at 4:50 p.m.
The last major, destructive earthquake to strike Los Angeles occurred 24 years ago today.

There are many people living in Southern California today who have never experienced the terror and destruction of a huge earthquake. Seismic experts have long feared this has made some apathetic about the threat in California. The Northridge quake struck just five years after another massive temblor, the Loma Prieta earthquake, which hit Northern California. Two years before that, a smaller but deadly quake erupted in the Whittier area.

Here are some descriptions of what it was like to live through the quake  which killed 60 people and left more than 80,000 structures damaged or destroyed  from the pages of the Los Angeles Times as well as from reader memories The Times published in 2014.

Everything was flying all over. I felt glass on top of me. I grabbed my daughter, Amber, and I said, Dear, God, let us live through this, and were going back to New York.

 Diane Kelly

The first impression I remember forming was that the motion was up and down, not the shimmy of all previous quakes. Crossing to the doorway, I think my feet left the ground more than once. I barely dodged the overturning of my chest of drawers. The sound, as always, was as shocking as any motion. Everyone wants to know what its like for the earth to move under your feet, but the scary part is how a whole city sounds as it shakes around you. While my roommates and I gathered in our respective doorways, I smelt a queasy mixture of all the cologne bottles that had been on my dresser and that now were broken and puddling on the floor.

 Craig Sanders

After a week of suffering from a nasty cold and getting very little rest, I was roughly shaken out of a deep, restful sleep. I recall holding onto my bed to keep from being shaken off. It was pitch-black in my Sylmar condo and I was thinking, This is the Big One. Im going to die. I held on forever as I listened to the rumbling and things falling around me. Finally, it stopped, I got out of bed, managed to find something to put on and made my way to the front door, slipping and sliding on the way. I heard water rushing as the water heaters from the other units had broken away as the aftershocks kept coming, freezing me on the spot. My husband and I went outside, where we thought it was safer. I looked up at the sky and saw more stars than Ive ever seen anywhere  so gorgeous, and it calmed me for a little while. We waited until the sun came up before going in to assess the damage. It was a mess, but no serious damage. We were very lucky, but that fear is still with me and always will be.

 Beth Mack

A row of cars is crushed beneath a collapsed apartment building in Canoga Park. (Los Angeles Times)

I was going 40 miles an hour, and all of a sudden, I couldnt steer my car anymore. I thought I had a flat, but then I saw the lights from Point Mugu going off and on, and the radio started getting staticky.  I started to say the Our Father because I thought it was the end of the world. I thought it was a nuclear bomb.

 Ida Vasquez

I was so excited because I had my 5th birthday party scheduled for that afternoon. It was a Power Rangers birthday party, and I couldnt think about anything else. Just as my digital clock turned 4:31, the shaking started. I was so terrified. I looked around my room and saw all my books falling along with my giant blue bookcase. Downstairs, I could hear our cabinets open and all of my mothers Deruta ceramics crashing on the tile below. I stayed in my bed, frozen and petrified. I heard my parents running down the hall toward my room. On their way down the hall, my mother had tried to hurdle a giant bookcase and had cut her leg pretty badly. When they got to my room, we all went down the back staircase and into my kitchen. The red tile was smothered by broken ceramics and glassware. It was something Ill never forget. We went on our back patio and spent some time on the chaise lounge chairs and waited for the sun to rise.

 Daniel Kaplan

I remember waking up to the shaking and quickly grabbing my shoes and making it to the living room. The living room floor was soaking wet due to a broken saltwater fish tank and the pool just outside the door that had splashed so much water that it came into the apartment. I tried throwing the fish into the pool thinking I was saving them (obviously I know now that wouldnt work  lol). After, we all got out of the apartment and went to a parking lot next door that had a Dennys in it.

 Kristin Moore

Dave Dutton found chaos at his Duttons Books in North Hollywood. (Julie Markes / For the Los Angeles Times)

As a single working parent in a one-story home, I yelled to my 7- and 4-year-old girls to stay in bed: I would come and get them when the shaking stopped. I leaned over and grabbed two shoes out of the closet to head down the hallway. I had over 38 pictures on those walls, and the crashing, shattering glass was making a great deal of noise. The house felt like it was picked up, twisted violently from side to side about four times and then dropped. The noise was horrific, and it was pitch-black as all my windows were shuttered. I felt my way down the hall, grabbed the 4-year-old onto my back and headed to the 7-year-olds bedroom. SHE WASNT THERE! She must have passed me in the hall because when I yelled, Where are you? she replied, In your bed. We huddled through the aftershocks until it got light.

 Susan Pedinof

Theres this huge bang, and it felt like my bed had dropped 5 feet. Then the rumbling began. I ran to my door and opened it, and my roommate ran into me and grabbed me. I held onto both her and the doorjamb, as the apartment began to shake all around us. And it just went on and on.
A South Los Angeles commission upheld city demands Tuesday night to stiffen rules for an oil production site that sits next to homes, overriding objections from the company that runs the Jefferson Boulevard facility.

We all can appreciate the importance of oil and gas  but I dont think it should be at the expense of residents near a site such as this, Eric Bates, president of the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, said before the unanimous vote.

Last year, Los Angeles imposed stringent new rules for operating the Jefferson Boulevard site, including a 45-foot-tall enclosure to muffle noise and reduce odors and monitoring systems to track noise and detect noxious fumes.

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The rules, described by officials as the toughest requirements for any oil drilling or production site in the city, were backed by environmental and community activists who had complained about foul smells and thundering noises from a facility that sits immediately next to apartments.

Sentinel Peak Resources, which took over the Jefferson Boulevard site more than a year ago, lodged an appeal, arguing that the new rules were impractical, interfered with its legal rights and are not based on proof of violations or verifiable, ongoing nuisance.

At the Tuesday night hearing, attorney Nicki Carlsen, who represents the company, told commissioners that they could not impose new rules based on unsubstantiated complaints.

The facts here dont support these new conditions for running the facility, Carlsen said.

The company rejected many of the claims made by the city and disputed the idea that new or tighter requirements are warranted. Christine Halley, its director of environmental health and safety, said the company had been neighborly, citing a tidy wall and landscaping around the facility.

Putting up a 45-foot enclosure would end up forcing the relocation of overhead power and telephone lines, necessitate the removal of the landscaping, and could also trigger the relocation of underground utilities, the company warned in a letter. Halley added that it would be grossly out of scale with the character of the neighborhood.

The South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, whose members are selected by Mayor Eric Garcetti, voted unanimously against the appeal. The decision followed emotional testimony from neighbors who complained about noise and odors, and raised concerns about chemicals used at the site.

Whatever they say about being a good neighbor ... Im right there. I can see it from my front door, said Hamilton Yang, who lives near the facility. Yang said that even with all the doors and windows closed, the noise is overwhelming to the point of waking me up when Im in the room furthest from the drill site.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit, argued that there was ample evidence that the Jefferson Boulevard site had menaced neighbors and that some of the same requirements had already been imposed at other facilities that were farther from homes or schools. During his presentation, city zoning official Theodore Irving displayed photos of Westside oil sites that had been enclosed in structures.

If we dont impose these conditions, if we dont abide by them, what you heard from the community will persist, Irving told the commissioners before their vote.

The decision cannot be appealed further, according to planning officials, although City Council members have the power to override commission decisions if they choose.

Following the vote, Halley said that she was disappointed and that the city can expect a strong legal response from us.

The Jefferson Boulevard site has been a rallying point for activists who argue that oil and gas drilling has no place in urban neighborhoods. It has been operating for more than half a century and sits closer to homes and other sensitive sites than any other drill site in Los Angeles, according to a study by the nonprofit Community Health Councils.

L.A. has stepped up its scrutiny of oil and gas production by hiring a petroleum czar, but environmental groups have pressed for the city to go further, arguing that it should ban drilling near homes and schools to protect the health and safety of residents.

Oil industry groups such as the California Independent Petroleum Assn. have argued that such restrictions would eliminate jobs, cut tax revenue and ultimately make the country more reliant on energy from other nations with scant environmental protections.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlpertReyes
A California state psychiatric hospital housing mostly sexually violent predators has been locked down and visits canceled after a weekend protest over a crackdown on devices, such as flash drives, that officials say are often used to smuggle child pornography.

The patients at Coalinga State Hospital were protesting new restrictions on electronic devices, Department of State Hospitals spokesman Ralph Montano said Tuesday, but no injuries were reported.

Department officials have cited lawsuit testimony asserting that there is a porn epidemic at Coalinga to justify the crackdown.

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At least 200 Coalinga patients have been involved with the possession or transmission of child pornography and there are typically two or three new child pornography cases reported each month that require investigation, officials said. Patients also copy and sell or exchange legal movies and music for profit, the department said.

The facility in Fresno County can hold nearly 1,300 patients, nearly three-quarters of whom are court-designated sexually violent predators. Most of the remaining patients are being treated for mental illness after completing prison sentences.

A notice on the hospitals website said the visitor center was closed Sunday due to the lockdown and would remain closed until further notice. Department spokesman Ken August said Tuesday evening that patients broke six windows, damaged several electronic messaging boards and clogged a few toilets, but that flooding and damage were minimal. Some patients engaged in various forms of disruptive behavior on Saturday, he said, including refusing to follow directions, disrupting patient head counts, threats and property damage.

This facility treats sexually violent predators. These regulations apply to all state hospitals, however only patients at this hospital have responded in this way, he said in an email.

Los Angeles-based attorney Ezra Landes, who has represented Coalinga patients in a class-action lawsuit alleging poor conditions, said he was concerned that the institutions telephones were shut down or confiscated and detainees were unable to consult with their lawyers.

August said attorneys can meet with their clients in person or talk to them by phone again beginning Wednesday.

On Jan. 11, the department approved an emergency regulation attempting to block the possession, viewing, and distribution of illicit materials by barring patients from possessing digital memory storage devices such as flash drives or thumb drives, hard drives such as those in computers, memory cards, digital media players and digital media burners.

Patients are allowed only commercially produced CDs, DVDs and game players with no access to the internet.

The department said the new rules are intended to add modern devices to restrictions initially imposed in 2009 to block contraband including illegal pornographic materials and internal and outside communications it said create safety and security risks.

Problems have continued despite the earlier regulations, it said, including the distribution of child pornography. The department made 11 child pornography arrests last year and is working with the Fresno County district attorneys office to investigate and prosecute additional cases.

It said the 2009 rules have been repeatedly upheld by the courts. The Court stated that even patient plaintiffs admitted there is a porn epidemic at DSH-Coalinga, the department said in outlining one legal decision.

Sacramento-based attorney Janice Bellucci, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, said the new restrictions appear to continue retaliation against Coalinga patients that infringes on their voting rights.

Hospital and Coalinga city officials blame patients for defeating a 1-percentage-point local sales tax increase in November. Coalinga City Council members last month sued Fresno County and the county registrar of voters, contesting the results of the tax vote because the county included illegal votes from hospital patients.

Bellucci said Coalinga staff removed voting rights fliers posted on bulletin boards, notices that were created on some of the same devices that are now banned.
The photo shows scientists with the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences receiving data from a Chinese satellite, December 25, 2015. [Photo: www.dfic.cn]

A leading Chinese science institution has announced plans to establish a space science lab in Luxembourg as part of a memorandum of understanding it has signed with the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy.

The lab is set to focus on studies of the distant regions of outer space, according to a statement from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The lab will also develop technologies that will be used to explore resources in the solar system.

In 2016, Luxembourg launched a government initiative seeking to make use of resources in outer space.
He was dressed in a three-piece suit. So Chris Coggan nearly went unnoticed when he dropped by a San Diego City Council members office last year to do some lobbying on marijuana laws.

An aide came to reception and asked, Wheres the pot guy? said Coggan, co-founder of Therapy Tonics and Provisions, a La Jolla cannabis drink company.

He seemed to be looking for someone in a tie-dyed shirt with a joint stuck behind his ear.

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California voters overwhelming approved the use of recreational marijuana in 2016. And licensed stores in San Diego and elsewhere began selling it on Jan. 1, generating brisk business.

But marijuana still carries a stigma that surfaces with the use of old slang like pot and weed. For many, the words evoke an image of lazy, not-so-bright people who puff their lives away.

The image deeply bothers the marijuana industry, which is telling the public  sometimes gently, sometimes curtly  that they should use the word cannabis. Thats the scientific name for the plant from which marijuana is derived.

Many retailers also are marketing marijuana as a health and wellness drug even though recreational sales will soon dwarf those of medical marijuana.

People are taking a more sophisticated approach to using cannabis, especially in using the right dosing, Coggan said. We dont want people to think of it as negative.

Its all part of larger effort to normalize cannabis, a drug that could generate $5 billion a year in sales in California by 2019.

The state is providing plenty of help. It enlisted Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong fame to help show Californians how to register their marijuana businesses.

The state also ran a YouTube ad that extolled the benefits of using marijuana while warning that it should never be used by drivers. The ad was pulled after conservatives complained that the ad said too little about the perils of driving stoned.

The industry is pushing ahead with normalization, sparking a cultural war with many baby boomers and GenXers who commonly refer to marijuana as pot, weed or grass. Many of them dont think the drug carries deeply negative connotations.

They have their own allies, including San Diego-based fast-food chain Jack in the Box, which partnered with Merry Jane, a marijuana news and lifestyle website, to promote the Merry Munchie Meal, which will be sold in a handful of Jack in the Box restaurants in Long Beach this month.

The munchie campaign is a wink and a nod to people who love to east fast food after consuming pot. Theyre the same people who like to stream Disjointed, a new Netflix show that focuses on the exploits of some dopey old-school stoners at a California marijuana dispensary.

None of this amuses B. Le Grand, the 32-year-old publisher of the Los Angeles-based Edibles List, which promotes edible marijuana.

People in our industry and activists dont like the word pot because it doesnt focus on the medicinal value of the plant, which is whats important, said Le Grand. We dont like the word marijuana, either.

Zach Lazarus agrees, and he blames the media for helping to perpetuate old stereotypes instead of highlighting new markets.

You hear newscasters referring to dispensaries as pot shops. You dont hear the same newscasters referring to a liquor store as a booze shop or an alcoholics store, said Lazarus, co-founder of A Green Alternative, a cannabis store in Otay Mesa.

Tok Thompson has heard this sort of thing before

Language constantly changes. Its a social process that can cause disruption, said Thompson, a professor of anthropology and communication at USC.

The word gay used to have a much different meaning than it generally does today. People get accustomed to words. Then the words go out of date. It can be disruptive.

Disruptive also describes the history of cannabis.

Pharmacies sold products containing marijuana in the 19th century, even though little was known about it scientifically.

Things began to change in the early 20th century when immigrants from Mexico showed Americans how the plant could be used as a recreational drug. The drug took on a highly negative connotation, with some opponents referring to it as the Marijuana Menace.

Marijuana was criminalized by Congress in the 1930s, the period in which the drug also became widely known as pot. Etymologists say pot represents a shorter version of the Spanish word potiguaya, which refers to certain wines or brandy that contain marijuana.

The drug surged in popularity during the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 70s. That led to stiffer laws from the federal government. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush announced a war on drugs, legislation partly focused on marijuana.

Public opinion took a big turn seven years later when California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Today, that type of marijuana is legal in nearly 30 states, and recreational cannabis is legal in eight. Other states  including Michigan  might make cannabis legal this year.

That means efforts to normalize cannabis could grow. Its the sort of cultural shift that many people have struggled with, including Virginia Falces, communications director at Outco, which cultivates marijuana at an indoor plant near El Cajon.

Falces says she had always called cannabis either weed or pot, with the occasional grass or dope thrown in for variety or to sound cool.

I had to retrain myself to use cannabis or medical marijuana in my new professional capacity as I quickly learned that industry almost universally preferred those over the names I was used to.

Le Grand can sympathize, saying, My dad was born in 1949 and he still refers to cannabis as pot, even if I ask him not to. I accept it.

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com

Robbins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Originally based in a Burbank garage converted into an art studio, Renegade Animation, now based in Glendale, celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, a feat its founders said is due to tenacity.

In 1992, cartoon animator Darell Van Citters and producer Ashley Postlewaite drafted a six-month business plan overnight to open an independent animation studio that recruited local talent.



For the record: This article previously misspelled Ashley Postlewaites last name. It is Postlewaite, not Postelwaite.

Both Van Citters and Postlewaite, who together previously worked at Warner Bros., said they got tired of the corporate world and wanted the flexibility of owning their own company doing contract work for major studios and networks.

Renegade relied mostly on a large pool of local freelance animators and took almost three years to hire its first permanent employee. The studio has now expanded by as many as 65 employees and moved three times before arriving to its current Glendale location on Broadway.

Our initial goal was to just do TV commercials and retire doing that, Van Citters said. After 10 years, we went from 100% commercials to mostly episodic television.

The studios biggest transition was around 2003 when, according to Van Citters, the commercial animation work all but died and its employees began to work on a small cartoon series.

Although the studio initially resisted working on a series because it usually meant some work was done overseas, Renegade has since produced a number of shows for Cartoon Network and done contract work for Warner Bros. Animation, PBS and Disney.

Also, Van Citters and Postlewaite have earned several Emmy Award nominations.

Teams of writers, designers, editors and storyboard artists now populate the once-small studio, working quietly on computers. Renegade performs preproduction work and polishes completed animation sent back from another studio in Canada.

Renegade is today experiencing what Postlewaite called a positive time for the animation industry.

With the recent growth of streaming networks such as Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, the studio is currently developing original content while still pursuing contract work.

All of these outlets want new content, and we are the company that makes it, Postlewaite said. Its unusual for a customer base to ostensibly double after being in business for 25 years.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda
People across the Deep South hunkered down Tuesday as yet another frigid winter storm blanketed the region in snow, sleet and ice, shutting down interstates, canceling flights and prompting officials to close schools and government offices.

Before dawn, flurries of snow fell across parts of Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee, causing traffic pileups and the termination of thousands of flights. In Houston, nearly 800 flights were canceled at George Bush Intercontinental Airport  more than half of the airports daily schedule. In Atlanta, more than 250 flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

The National Weather Service issued a gust of winter weather warnings and advisories across a vast swath of the U.S. from Texas to Massachusetts.

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In Houston, city officials activated their emergency operations center and started referring residents to several churches converted into warming centers. By afternoon, one church was already filed with 100 people, said Michael Walter, an emergency operations spokesman.

Were not like Philadelphia or New York who deal with this regularly. We have limited resources, Walter said.

No deaths had been reported, but Walter said officials were concerned about the homeless and those still rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey.

There are still homes that have drywall missing, insulation missing, people who may not have working heaters, Walter said.

The temperature fell below freezing Tuesday in Houston. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press )

Even a light snowstorm can generate panic across the Southeast. Four years ago, just 2 inches of snow led to Snowmageddon in Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala., as traffic gridlock prevented plows and salt trucks from clearing roads and interstates. Thousands of students were stranded in schools and motorists were stuck on icy highways overnight.

Already this winter, the Southeast has endured several bouts of frigid weather. In early December, a storm dumped snow as far south as Brownsville, Texas, and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the southern Appalachians.

Two weeks ago, another winter storm scattered snow as far south as Tallahassee, Fla.

Its been a cold winter, said Keith Stellman, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Atlanta/Peachtree City, noting that Wednesdays likely high temperature  28 or 29 degrees  was about 20 degrees below normal.

Forecasters did not predict a heavy snowfall  up to 2 inches in Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. Dozens of school systems across the state closed, and businesses and government offices shut down in preparation for the storm.

This winter storm could be debilitating to the state for a couple of days due to icy conditions, Brian Hastings, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement. He urged Alabamians to closely monitor weather forecasts and get off roads before the first flakes of snow touched the ground.

By noon, officials in Limestone County, just east of Huntsville in northern Alabama, reported that all roads  apart from those in the city of Athens  were impassable.

Residents were not used to driving in such treacherous conditions, said Daphne Ellison, an emergency management officer in Limestone County, noting the weather had caused multiple traffic pileups and accidents.

Oh, my goodness, people just sliding off the roads, she said. You know how it is. People dont know how to slow down. Theyre just not paying attention.

Oh, my goodness, people just sliding off the roads.  Daphne Ellison, emergency management officer in Alabama

Ellison, expressing frustration that people insisted on driving, added, Its rough out there. Were not used to 6-degree weather, but I think people get cabin fever and dont want to stay in the house.

In Louisiana, the National Weather Service in New Orleans/Baton Rouge expanded its winter weather advisory Tuesday to include locations as far southeast as Houma and metro New Orleans. In the Shreveport area, both lanes of Interstate 49 were closed early Tuesday. In Kentucky, all southbound lanes of Interstate 65 were closed Tuesday morning after multiple people were injured in a collision involving a Greyhound bus, two commercial vehicles and two passenger vehicles.

In Texas, the weather was so cold that Gov. Greg Abbott postponed an event in Arlington to announce his plan to rein in rising property taxes in the state. In a statement, he warned of life-threatening situations, and added, I urge all Texans to exercise extreme caution in these hazardous conditions.

Conservationists sprang to the aid of sea turtles in frozen waters off the Texas coast, said Melissa Angel, a spokeswoman for the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The California-based nonprofit has an office in Galveston, and volunteers already helped rescue about 2,500 turtles during a cold snap earlier this month.

Most of these turtles have probably left the bay, but there are probably some out there, said Joanie Steinhaus, the groups Gulf of Mexico program director. Its pretty raw conditions.

Tuesdays storm was particularly challenging for areas of southeast Texas still recovering from Hurricane Harvey in August.

Houstons Zoo was closed but prepared for the storm, a spokeswoman said.

The zoo animals are safe and secure in their warm night houses and barns, spokeswoman Jackie Wallace said. Where necessary, extra hay for bedding is given to the animals, and in some areas, the facilities are wrapped to give additional insulation.

Special correspondent Jarvie reported from Atlanta. Times staff writer Hennessy-Fiske reported from Pecos, Texas.
Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon will meet with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigators, according to a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Bannon is expected to be interviewed by prosecutors instead of testifying before a grand jury. He is expected to cooperate with the special counsel, the person said. Its unclear when the interview will occur.

Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, appeared before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday but refused to answer questions about his time on the Trump presidential transition team and in the White House.

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Bannon left the White House in August and has had a messy falling out with President Trump.

Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Russian interests and the Trump campaign.
Congressional Republicans breathed new life last year into the all-but-ignored Congressional Review Act, using it to reverse a wide range of Obama administration regulations on the environment, consumer protection and workplace issues. Now Senate Democrats are trotting out the act to undo a Republican effort to let cable and phone companies meddle with the internet. This particular turnabout is most definitely fair play.

At issue is the Federal Communications Commissions move not just to repeal the strict net neutrality rules it adopted in 2015, but also to renounce virtually all of the commissions regulatory authority over broadband internet providers. Its new Restoring Internet Freedom order, adopted last month on a party-line vote, opens the door to the likes of Comcast, AT&T and Verizon giving deep-pocketed websites and services priority access to their customers for a fee. It also lifts the ban on broadband providers blocking or slowing down traffic from legal online sites and services, provided they do so openly. Such steps could cause unprecedented distortion in what has been a free and open internet.

The Restoring Internet Freedom order was a triumph of ideology over sense, sacrificing the interests of internet users and innovators on the altar of deregulatory purity. Some leading broadband providers, recognizing that they got more from the FCC than theyd bargained for, pledged never to use their newfound freedom to interfere online. But thats not enough.

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Ideally, Congress would do something it should have done a decade ago: update federal communications law to give the FCC a mandate and clear authority to protect net neutrality. In the meantime, though, Senate Democrats have gathered more than enough support to force a floor vote on a resolution to reject the new FCC order and bar any similar deregulation for 10 years. In fact, theyve lined up 50 senators in favor of the resolution, including one Republican, Susan Collins of Maine. Thats just one short of passage.

The prospects are dimmer in the House, where Republicans seem to rank deregulation in the pantheon with Mom and apple pie. Still, the fierce public backlash to the FCCs order is powering a multi-front effort to repeal it, including lawsuits (one of which was filed Tuesday by the attorneys general of California, 20 other states and the District of Columbia) and proposals for state net neutrality laws in California and elsewhere. Although the FCCs abdication invites states to wade in, no one should be eager for a patchwork of state neutrality rules. Thats all the more reason for Congress to step up. Lawmakers should reject the FCCs latest rule and preserve the qualities that have made the internet what it is today.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
President Trump is scheduled to host a farce of a media celebration, a Fake News Awards presentation, on Wednesday. Its as though, once the Hollywood awards balloting got underway, he wished desperately for his own party with golden statuettes and an adoring audience. At the White House press briefing Tuesday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred to it as a potential event, and it would be easy to dismiss the whole thing as just another bullying stunt, a harmless exercise in self-aggrandizement. Easy, but wrong.

The presidents escalating assault on the free press is part of his broader effort to weaken our democracy for his own political and personal gain.

As a candidate, Trump didnt hide his contempt for the men and women covering his campaign. His cries of fake news were rivaled only by chants of lock her up and build that wall, a rage-fueled trinity that he brought with him into the Oval Office. Its a crutch he leans on, betraying his own feeble standing with most Americans and designed to grind critics and truth tellers into silence.

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The presidents penchant for threatening and belittling our 1st Amendment-protected press isnt isolated; it has spread like a virus among his team, supporters and elected loyalists. Press Secretary Sanders repeats his barbs , and his closest advisors offer them up as talking points in interviews. His supporters turned his retweet of a bloodied CNN logo into a meme. Even members of Congress and candidates for high offices now parrot the presidents fake news claims.

Trump is encouraging the violation of press freedoms around the globe.

Worse yet, Trump is encouraging the violation of press freedoms around the globe, in places where media have less robust defenses than the U.S. Trumps fake news attack is now an authoritarian dog whistle giving cover to foreign despots. The Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro, and Syrias Bashar Assad, as well as Chinese and Russian officials, have used it to dismiss unfavorable news stories. Libyan leaders followed his lead to discredit CNN Internationals reporting on the slave trade in their country. Tweets calling the press illegitimate matter especially when they provide cover for torture, genocide, mass murder and human rights abuses.

The year is little more than two weeks old, and already one of the worst global trends of 2017  violence against journalists  shows no signs of slowing. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 64 journalists were killed in 2017, and 44 of those slayings were directly linked to their reporting. Since New Years Day, attacks against journalists have been reported in Mexico (including one that was fatal), Pakistan, Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere.

Just last week, the government of Myanmar arrested two Reuters jounalists for reporting on mass graves, evidence of the genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Arrests are all too common among oppressive governments  they tend to draw less attention than murder  and the illusion of justice through sham trials gives the thinnest veil of legitimacy to their efforts to quiet critics and conceal wrongdoing.

The United States was one of the first nations to enshrine protections for the press in our laws and Constitution. Our history is replete with examples of Americans ardently defending journalists around the world. Yet America can no longer rest confidently that we are immune to the tide of antipathy toward the free press. We cannot ignore the disturbing trends within our own borders.

U.S.-based journalists dont fear for their life when reporting on the White House, but journalists have been assaulted covering recent campaigns. Trump has threatened to revoke the TV networks broadcast licenses when he didnt like their coverage (networks arent licensed, only local stations). He has more than once proclaimed his intent to change libel laws to protect himself from negative stories.

Here and abroad journalists continue to investigate and report on the stories essential to preserving government accountability. Their work is one of the few means by which corruption can be exposed, truth learned, and informed votes cast. It isnt enough that we praise their efforts and express our support for the 1st Amendment. We have to oppose the presidents attempts to undo those freedoms, specifically and directly. Although some may laugh when Trump hands out his Fake News Awards, we should call them what they are: a dangerous assault on truth, the Constitution and American democracy.

Evan McMullin and Mindy Finn were independent presidential and vice presidential candidates in 2016. They are cofounders of Stand Up Republic, a nonprofit working to protect U.S. democracy.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
On a day President Trump promised to deliver Fake News Awards, two Republican senators as well as several Democrats warned on Wednesday that his unceasing attacks on a free press are undermining a fundamental tenet of democracy and emboldening despots abroad.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has emerged as one of Trumps fiercest Republican critics, delivered an impassioned speech from the Senate floor, comparing Trumps anti-press rhetoric to that of the murderous Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and calling on his colleagues to speak out against Trumps shameful, repulsive statements.

Recalling Trumps first year in office, Flake said, 2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than at any time in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government.

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Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois also spoke out against Trumps rhetoric, echoing Flakes accusation that Trump is trying to upend the distinction between objective truth and lying.

The bipartisan rebukes of the president marked another seminal moment in the Trump era, which has come to be defined by his routine challenges to political norms and traditions. It is common for lawmakers to criticize presidents on policy, but less so for members of their own party, and yet exceedingly rare for any of them to fault a presidents fealty to basic democratic values.

When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press, Flake added.

Flakes comments were buttressed by his fellow Arizona Republican, Sen. John McCain, who warned in an opinion piece in the Washington Post that Trumps efforts to undermine the press are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.

Both men made the point that Trump has stood on its head the United States traditional role as an example to the world of press freedom. Governments and autocrats  in Singapore, Myanmar, Venezuela, Libya, Egypt and Turkey, among others  have cited Trumps fake news theme in acting against press criticism in their countries.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders accused Flake, who is not running for reelection, of seeking attention. She also accused him of hypocrisy because he visited Cuba, which has jailed journalists, and served as a mouthpiece for the oppressive Cuban government.

Certainly, I think our position here at the White House is that we welcome access to the media every day, she said, standing in the briefing room. Im standing right here, taking questions. The president does so regularly.

Trump tweeted on Jan. 2 that he would announce THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR at 5 p.m. on Jan. 8. He later wrote on Twitter that the awards would be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th.

While White House press officials including Sanders could provide no information throughout the day, just after 8 p.m., Trump tweeted And the FAKE NEWS winners are ... in the style of a Hollywood awards show, and linked to a Republican Party website.

It listed 10 instances of press errors, including one that was not a factual mistake but rather a bad prediction from a New York Times columnist. Most of the errors resulted in corrections, disciplinary action for the reporters or both. Among them was a mistaken report about the Russia investigation that helped cause the stock market to fall and resulted in a suspension for ABC News reporter Brian Ross.

The president has used the term fake news on his Twitter feed at least 167 times since being elected, according to a search in an online archive  most often to disparage reporting about him or his administration. The attacks on the media have been an effective political tool since during his campaign, rallying supporters and insulating him, to some extent, from unflattering reporting.

Fake news initially referred to hoax stories believed to be planted by Russian operatives in an attempt to influence the presidential election. Trump coopted the term to disparage legitimate reporting.

Trump, who once last year called the press the enemy of the people, recently threatened to seek harsher libel laws and revoke networks broadcast licenses, areas where his powers are limited. Members of his administration have spoken similarly about the media, complaining that reporters have lowered their standards to undermine Trumps legitimacy.

Theres a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposefully misleading the American people, something that happens regularly, Sanders told reporters in December.

You cant say that its an honest mistake when you are purposely putting out information that you know to be false or when youre taking information that hasnt been validated, that hasnt been offered any credibility and that has been continually denied by a number of people, including people with direct knowledge of an incident.

Flake and McCain took issue with such talk from the president and his aides, focusing on the dangers not just to the United States but internationally.

Flake, in his speech, pointed to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists noting that 21 of 262 journalists imprisoned in 2017 were charged with false news. He read accounts of Syrian President Bashar Assad dismissing an Amnesty International report of 13,000 deaths in his military prisons as fake news, and of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, whose government has been implicated in thousands of extrajudicial killings, calling reporters spies  while Trump laughed beside him during a meeting in November.

McCain wrote that the Trump administrations attitude toward foreign governments efforts to suppress journalists through violence, legal measures and fines was inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst.

While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets, he wrote. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit.

The phrase fake news  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens, McCain said.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbierman

UPDATES:

6:10 p.m.: The article was updated to note Trumps release of the Fake News Awards.

2:20 p.m.: The article was updated to note that as of 5:50 p.m. Eastern time, the White House had not divulged plans for Trumps promised Fake News Awards.

1:25 p.m.: The article was updated with quotes from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The article was originally published at 11 a.m.
After years of tangling with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), civil liberties activists seemed to have her onboard with their fight to curtail the vast warrantless surveillance program exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

They were optimistic Tuesday when she headed into a major vote over whether to impose new restrictions on the government monitoring.



For the record: A previous version of this story said 19 Democrats voted against major reforms to the program. Eighteen were Democrats and one was an Independent who votes with Democrats.

But after a spirited nail-biter of a floor fight, Feinstein broke with privacy advocates from the right and left to cast a crucial vote in favor of leaving the program largely unchanged for the next six years.

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Feinsteins retreat back to a hawkish posture on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gave supporters of the status quo the vote they needed to quell a growing movement in the Senate for more privacy protections. She was one of 18 Democrats and one independent who caucuses with Democrats who voted to shut down consideration of major changes to the program.

Progressive activists are now accusing those lawmakers of betrayal. The friction among Democrats over the FISA program is sure to endure through the year as the partys factions battle over the approach they need to take to win back power. Many of the Democrats who joined Feinstein in voting against consideration of substantial restrictions on the monitoring represent swing states, where voters are uneasy about warnings from law enforcement that new restrictions on the program will make Americans more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

With their votes today, these Democrats have ceded tremendous power to the executive branch to engage in mass and warrantless surveillance  a power that history has shown time and again is ripe for abuse, read a statement from Demand Progress, a progressive advocacy group with 2 million members, posted on Twitter. This expanded surveillance power is particularly troubling in the hands of the Trump administration. The group posted a list of the senators names, and highlighted in yellow those who are up for reelection this year.

The dismay of Demand Progress was shared by some senators.

A travesty that Senate tonite by 1 vote ended debate on deeply flawed #FISA Sec 702 surveillance bill, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) posted on Twitter.

Opponents of the bill were seeking to curb backdoor searches, through which law enforcement scrapes databases for messages of Americans who may have had incidental contact with  or merely mentioned  foreigners who are on watch lists.

The surveillance authority granted under the program, according to some legal experts, can be invoked by investigators to access and read an Americans online communications, without a warrant, if they do something as benign as promote a climate change protest abroad or attend an academic conference on international affairs.

The backdoor searches can also be used to gather evidence without a warrant in pursuing criminal cases that are unrelated to terrorism.

The approach that passed the House last month and is now poised for final Senate approval this week includes a narrow new warrant requirement that applies only when records are being accessed well into a criminal investigation.

Senate Democrats were within reach of blocking the reauthorization after the many opponents of it in their caucus were joined by a handful of Republicans in the chamber in warning that the program is an example of government overreach.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he opposes government listening to your phone calls, reading your emails or reading your text messages without a warrant. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) warned that the warrant requirements in the measure poised for passage are filled with loopholes that any biased government agent can exploit.

Their arguments, though, ultimately lost out to those of the leadership on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which warned that strict new warrant requirements would dangerously hobble law enforcement. Those lawmakers heeded the guidance of the directors of the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency and the U.S. attorney general, who have steadfastly advised against restrictions they say would return law enforcement agencies to the pre-9/11 days when barriers to accessing information allowed terrorists to slip through the cracks.

Section 702 stands among the most important of our intelligence programs, said Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia who voted for the reauthorization. Congress must not further delay consideration of a long term authorization.

Feinstein is also a long-serving member of the committee, and she has said in the past that her support for the surveillance program is rooted in what she has learned in its confidential briefings about terrorist threats and how law enforcement uses such programs to confront them.

During debate on the measure Wednesday, Feinstein said, I would like to see more reforms in this program, and perhaps that is something those of us on the Intelligence Committee can strive for. But I believe this is the best we are going to do at this time.

Back in California, voters are skeptical of law enforcement arguments that it would be dangerous to add new warrant requirements to the program. Feinsteins approval ratings have suffered during her time as one of the surveillance programs biggest defenders.

A rival she faces in the upcoming primary, state Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), went on Twitter to highlight how her nascent support for more warrants faded Tuesday night. Disturbing that several DC Dems voted to give Trump the unconstitutional power to spy on us, he wrote.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper
In the heat of his unlikely presidential campaign, Donald Trump declared himself free of the shackles of the Republican Party, promising to fight for America the way I want to and insisting he would never wish to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people.

Yet a year into his presidency, Trump has tightly tethered himself to that same Republican establishment and all but outsourced his agenda to its leaders in Congress. The populism so often cited as a major part of Trumps victory has rapidly proved more rhetorical than real: On the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, Trump will be packing for a trip to Switzerland with much of his wealthy Cabinet to attend the annual Davos conference, a glittery gathering of the global elite.

To me, populism was the Bannon position, said Larry Kudlow, referring to the former White House strategist, now pariah, Stephen K. Bannon. But Trump never bought into it. Kudlow, a former Reagan administration official and commentator, has occasionally advised Trump.

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Establishment Republicans, including some who have feuded with Trump, ended the year closer to him.

The three areas where success has been achieved  on judicial nominations, on regulations and on tax policy  hes right in the center of mainstream Republican politics, isnt he? said Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican who has been one of Trumps fiercest critics yet recently traveled with him on Air Force One after they united behind the tax-cut legislation.

The Trump who vowed to upend the Republican Party remains a force on Twitter and at campaign rallies, rattling many, including world leaders, and redefining the boundaries of presidential behavior. Yet as much as Trump has reshaped the office of the presidency in style and language, he has shape-shifted when it comes to most policy issues.

The one big exception remains on immigration, where Trump has powerfully backed the faction of the GOP  once a small fringe  who want to restrict not only illegal immigration, but legal entry to the U.S. Trump suggested bipartisan flexibility just days ago in a meeting with congressional leaders of both parties, telling them, Ill sign whatever immigration bill they send me. Two days later, he shot down a compromise measure on the subject, with an expletive.

With historically low popularity, the distraction of a widening investigation into his campaigns Russia ties and possible obstruction of justice, and, not least, his lack of government experience and loose grasp of policy details, Trump has depended far more than he likely ever anticipated on those he long castigated as architects of a rigged system.

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Sen. Bob Corker, right, arrives at Nashville International Airport on Jan. 8. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press )

Many Republicans harbor doubts, a few publicly, about Trumps fitness for office and his damaging effect on the partys brand. Yet almost all seem to have decided that he is the necessary vehicle for their policy agenda, particularly after he abandoned his occasional soak-the-rich talk to sign their $1.5-trillion tax-cut bill  a measure that dramatically reduced corporate taxes, lowered rates for top earners and raised the threshold for paying taxes on multimillion-dollar inheritances.

At this point, it just appears that candidate Trump was a part in a play, and Donald played candidate Trump rather well. And now hes playing another role, said Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

Many of those who feared Trump might redefine the party in his populist-nationalist image  anti-Wall Street, anti-immigration, anti-free trade and neo-isolationist  find themselves likening his economic policy to date to that of past party leaders.

This was never a punish the rich tax plan, said Kudlow. Hes not a punish the rich guy. Just the opposite. He wants to reward.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who months ago drew Trumps blame for the partys failure to overturn President Obamas Affordable Care Act, grinned widely earlier this month as he stood beside the president at Camp David, where they plotted the partys next moves with other Republican congressional leaders.

From a right-of-center point of view, 2017 was the most consequential year in the many years that Ive been here in Congress, McConnell said, employing a bit of Trumpian hyperbole and ignoring the setbacks and unfulfilled promises.

The proposals that are Trumps biggest departures from the traditional Republican course  on immigration, trade and a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan  remain works in progress. In those areas, Trump has elevated ideas once limited to the partys fringe.

Just five years ago, Republican leaders autopsy on losing the 2012 presidential election concluded that the party was jeopardizing its future by alienating the growing population of Latinos, and must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. Yet Trump won the next contest by doing just the opposite.

As president hes embraced an effort to reduce legal as well as illegal immigration, opposes a system for uniting relatives, and proposes financial, education and skills criteria as requirements for legal entry. His early order sharply restricting immigration from some mostly Muslim-majority countries survived legal setbacks, in moderated form.

A protester holds a sign at a rally in New York on Jan 15. (Alba Vigaray / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock )

More recently hes told nearly 300,000 Salvadorans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, whove long had temporary residency, to leave by next year; many have children born here as U.S. citizens. He ordered an end by March to protections from deportation for about 700,000 so-called Dreamers who came to this country illegally as children, though his order has been blocked temporarily in the courts. And he has privately railed against taking in any people from Haiti and what he called shithole African countries.

On another signature issue, Trump has not yet followed through on promises to kill trade deals and punish China as a currency manipulator. The North American Free Trade Agreement remains in force after more than 20 years. Trump still threatens to kill it if he is unsatisfied with the result of renegotiations with Mexico and Canada but has repeatedly pushed back the deadline for negotiations. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said no action would take place until after the Mexican presidential election, scheduled for July 1.

Trumps withdrawal from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was a bipartisan initiative of his two predecessors, but largely dead by the time Trump took office, has been his most consequential move on trade. Formally quitting the pact cheered blue-collar supporters but worried economists and foreign policy analysts who say China is usurping American influence in the region.

While the Republican Party was long committed to free trade, it did have a growing faction of protectionists. Trump has tipped the balance in their favor.

Lanhee Chen, a pro-trade Republican and former policy advisor to Mitt Romney, now at the conservative Hoover Institution, said, What Trump has done is not so much shifted the party but given voice to a part of the party on immigration and trade.

One of the things that Trumps election may have exposed, Chen added, is that there are a lot more Americans that are hard-edged on immigration than you think.

He and other traditional conservatives have been more surprised that Trump moved their way so swiftly on other economic policy, jettisoning promises to make his fellow wealthy Americans pay more taxes. Most notably, Trump abandoned efforts to close a loophole known as carried interest which lets hedge fund managers pay lower rates. Not only did Trump forgo that fight, he also pushed in final negotiations to lower rates on top earners even further.

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and Trump ally who generally gives him credit as a transformational figure, said, Theres not enough up side to be worth the effort to move the Republican Party on taxes. It goes against the whole core culture of the party.

Trump and his allies now argue  echoing supply-siders back to Reagans time  that the tax cuts will help the middle class as the benefits for the wealthy and businesses are more widely shared. Also, they point to increases in the standard deduction and a larger credit for parents. Yet independent analyses show that, over time, even more of the tax cuts benefits will go to high earners and corporations.

This is the biggest political bait-and-switch Ive ever seen, said Jared Bernstein, a top economic advisor in the Obama administration.

Bernstein said Trump largely let congressional Republicans write the bill  a contention that Republicans have been happy to confirm.

The administration basically let the four horsemen over here drive it, said Corker, referring to Republican leaders McConnell and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and the chairmen of the House and Senate tax-writing committees.

Look, weve got a president whos more big-picture focused, Corker added. I do think, on the details, that he does leave a lot of that to House and Senate members. And actually, I think thats a good thing.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbierman
A proposed November statewide ballot measure could allow three of the nations biggest paint companies to hand California taxpayers a bill for the cost of cleaning up health hazards caused by lead paint.

The measure would place a $2-billion bond on the November ballot to fund the remediation of lead paint, mold, asbestos and other environmental dangers in homes, schools and senior citizen facilities. The initiative also would reverse a November state appeals court decision requiring three paint companies  ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams  to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars for lead paint abatement. It also aims to block future lawsuits against the paint companies for similar claims.

Initiative proponents contend that the bond measure, which theyre calling the Healthy Homes and Schools Act, allows for a more wide-ranging solution to lead paint problems than a potential legal judgment. The bond would finance the cleanup of other environmental threats in addition to lead paint and would apply across the state instead of only in jurisdictions that filed suit against the companies.

The Healthy Homes and Schools Act is a holistic and comprehensive approach to cleaning up existing homes in California by creating a statewide solution to address a variety of hazards in homes, such as mold, lead, asbestos, pests and other threats, said a statement from Tiffany Moffatt, a spokeswoman for the bond campaign. Essentially, the initiative provides rehabilitation for old housing  providing a broader public benefit for all Californians versus cherry-picking winners and losers.

Last week, ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams donated a combined $6 million to a campaign supporting the bond measure, indicating the companies were gearing up for a signature-gathering effort to qualify the initiative. That amount would likely be more than enough for supporters to collect the 365,880 valid voter signatures needed to secure a place on the fall ballot.

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The bond proposal has angered those who have fought the companies in court for the last 18 years. The three companies, not the general public, should pay to clean up affected homes, said Greta Hansen, chief assistant county counsel in Santa Clara County.

Its unfortunate that theyre seeking to shift the burden for their unlawful activities to the taxpayers of the state of California, Hansen said.

The dispute over whos responsible for cleaning up lead paint dates back to a lawsuit filed in 2000 by Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties and eight other local governments across the state. The cities and counties argued that lead paint was a public nuisance and that the paint companies promoted its use even after they knew the material could cause negative health effects, especially in children. Lead paint became illegal to use in homes in 1978.

The November appeals court decision largely upheld a lower-court ruling requiring ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams to set up a fund for discovering and cleaning up lead paint problems in the communities that filed the lawsuit. The three companies have since asked the California Supreme Court to review the case. Shortly after the November court decision, the proposed $2-billion bond was filed with the state attorney general.

The bond measure includes language declaring that lead paint is not a public nuisance, a declaration that would apply to active court cases, including the suit filed by Santa Clara County and the other cities and counties.

It seems to me that this is designed to erase liability in that case and also potential liability in any future cases for them, and substitute taxpayer-funded bond measures to do the remediation that these companies would otherwise be responsible for, said Sean Hecht, a UCLA School of Law professor who has followed the litigation.

The states nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office came to a similar conclusion in its analysis of the bond, saying the initiative could reverse the existing court decision, cause the loss of several hundred million dollars in company-funded lead paint remediation and prohibit other local governments from filing similar lawsuits in the future. The analysts estimated the bond would cost the states day-to-day operating budget roughly $110 million annually for the next 35 years to repay with interest.

The proposed ballot measure has also upset affordable housing activists. Last year, state lawmakers agreed to put a $4-billion bond on this Novembers ballot to fund low-income housing development and provide home loans for veterans. A second housing-related bond on the statewide ballot could complicate its passage, activists say.

This appears to be a cynical, brazen attempt by a few select corporations to get themselves off the hook at taxpayers expense, and we remain focused on the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond that will actually bring safe, affordable homes to California families, seniors and veterans, said Ray Pearl, executive director of the California Housing Consortium, in a statement.

Private industries benefiting from the public initiative process is not uncommon in California politics. In 2008, billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens pitched a failed initiative that would have provided billions in state subsidies for consumers to purchase natural gas vehicles fueled by companies Pickens owned.

But Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said he couldnt recall any companies sponsoring an initiative that would get them out of paying a legal judgment.

Theres nothing that comes to mind that says, Government stuck us with the tab for something, and were going to make someone else pay for it instead,  Kousser said. Thats the gutsiest element of this initiative.

The paint industry has been a major player in statehouses across the country. In 2011 and 2012, Harold Simmons, then owner of NL Industries, donated a total of $750,000 to a political organization supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and state GOP lawmakers, according to leaked court documents published by the Guardian. Soon after the donations and amid intense lobbying from paint manufacturers, Wisconsin passed legislation to shield the companies from liability in lead paint lawsuits.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

@dillonliam

ALSO

In landmark ruling, court orders paint companies to pay to clean lead paint out of California homes

This lawsuit to force lead paint makers to clean up California homes has been in court for 17 years

Gov. Brown just signed 15 housing bills. Heres how theyre supposed to help the affordability crisis

Updates on California politics

UPDATES:

3:20 p.m.: This article was updated to add context about paint manufacturers political spending and the history of state ballot measures.

This article was originally published at 10:20 a.m.
Sky Train, a type of suspension railway system involving the use of lithium-battery powered trains, is being developed for commercial use, according to its manufacturer in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

File photo of the Sky Train, a type of suspension railway system involving the use of lithium-battery powered trains. [Photo: sc.gov.cn]

Zhongtang Sky Railway Group, based in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, developed the trains with state-run firms in 2016.

Over 18,000 kilometers of tests have been carried out, said Tang Tong, chairman of the company.

According to Tang, his company is compiling technical standards and working toward commercial use in the future.

On Monday, a delegation from Cambodia visited Chengdu. Seang Bunleang, a member of the delegation, said they hoped that the new mode of transport could be brought to Phenom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

Tang said he is working with Cambodian partners on exporting the suspension rail system. Business people from other countries including the United States and Italy have also showed great interest or intent of cooperation in the project.

Sky Train, which is operated five meters above the ground, can run at speeds up to 65 kilometers per hour. It is considered as a good option of transport capable of helping address traffic jam and pollution at scenic areas.
A festive gala pairing sitar music and Indian-fusion dinner created by Wolfgang Puck will generate funds that benefit the homeless in Burbank and surrounding areas. In keeping with its motto, Lifting People Out of Homelessness.

Glendale-based Ascencia serves nearly 1,000 men, women and children annually through its Access Center and coordinates services with partner agencies in Burbank, the San Fernando Valley, northeast Los Angeles and West Hollywood. Services that include employment assistance, trauma therapy, addiction recovery, mental-health counseling and housing placement, as well as personal needs, such as laundry, showers and mail delivery.

Since 2012, Ascencia has conducted an outreach program in partnership with the city of Burbanks Community Development Department and Burbank nonprofit organizations to help connect with people on the streets so they can transition to jobs and permanent housing.

To cover costs not provided by the government, Ascencias board of directors is planning the 12th annual gala called A Royal Night at Universal Studios Hollywoods Globe Theater on Jan. 27.

Comedian/actor Rizwan Manji will be master of ceremonies.

The evenings program will include recognition of successful clients, along with two longtime supporters, Shire, a biotechnology company, and founding board member Steve Nakasone.

Tickets are still available. For more information, call (818) 246-7900, Ext. 114, or visit AscenciaCA.org.

Proceeds from this event will go to general operating costs that enable Ascencia to run its programs, such as specific items for clients, auditing costs and accounting, said the organizations executive director Natalie Profant Komuro.

These funds make it possible for us to use government funding to assist homeless people with shelter and to move them to permanent housing and help them stay housed, she said. Most government grants do not pay for all the costs associated with running these programs, so support from individuals, foundations and businesses are crucial to our success.

The outreach team in Burbank has served 34 new clients since July, Komuro said, and continues to make referrals to Burbank Temporary Aid Center and Ascencia in Glendale for case management and shelter services.

We housed a total of 10 homeless people from Burbank in the last fiscal year, she said. They were placed in and around Burbank. More housing placements are pending.

In Glendale, Ascencias Access Center supports more than 100 formerly homeless individuals and families in permanent housing with continuing services, Komuro said.

These are people with at least one disability, often mental illness, and sometimes addiction issues that we ensure stay housed, she said. Ninety percent of the people we place in housing remain housed.

This is the final gala of its kind, because events like this, while they do raise a lot of money, are very costly to produce and require a lot of staff time, Komuro said.

We are trying to explore ways that are less costly to raise money and to reach more people, she said. If we continue on this route, wed have to keep raising our ticket prices and that becomes too much for our supporters.

However, Komuro said she thinks that in-person events are really important.

The people who support Ascencia are very social and enjoy coming together, sharing and celebrating what we do, she said.

JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.
Several residents approached the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Tuesday urging officials to work with the Burbank City Council to send a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration to address their concerns about the agencys latest transportation system.

After the City Councils unanimous vote on Jan. 9 to have city staff reach out to its airport commissioners and the airport authority about writing a joint letter to the FAA about the Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as NextGen, residents from and around Burbank asked commissioners during a special meeting to work with the city to let the federal agency know about the negative impact the radar system has had on the cities surrounding Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Burbank resident Audrey Ford, who said she has been tracking flights in and out of the airport for several months, told authority members that she thinks the flight paths of planes leaving the airport have gotten lower since the implementation of the satellite-based radar system in March in Southern California, which she thinks has caused an increase in noise around Hollywood Burbank.

This is not only a problem for those of us residents who are living under the flight path, who are bombarded on a daily basis, its now become a problem for you as well, Ford said. I highly encourage that you do something about this problem.

Burbank resident Roy Wiegand said more than 330 residents have signed a petition he and Ford posted on Change.org on Friday asking people if they want the authority to send a letter to the FAA regarding their concerns about increased noise.

This was a way that we wanted to let you know that there are a lot people that are not here [who are] watching, Wiegand said. Were not here with pitchforks and fire. Were here to try to work with you.

NextGen was implemented by the FAA as a way to make flight paths more fuel and time efficient, as well as increase the safety of departures and arrivals.

Authority President Terry Tornek, who is the mayor of Pasadena, told those who spoke during the meeting that he is familiar with working with residents whenever they have a quality-of-life issue, mentioning that he has worked with Pasadena residents to abate the issues that arise during the Rose Parade.

Because the topic of the joint letter was not an agendized item, Tornek said that he will make certain that their concerns are addressed.

The airport has a history of not being uncooperative with the city, in terms of interacting with the FAA, so I dont see any reason why there should be any daylight between the city of Burbank and the airport on this, Tornek said.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Burbank Water and Power will be sending several of its employees and some equipment to the U.S. Virgin Islands to help the Caribbean islands recover from the devastating hurricanes that battered them in September.

The Burbank City Council voted unanimously during a meeting on Jan. 9 to allow City Manager Ron Davis to enter into a mutual-assistance agreement with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, which would send seven utility employees and necessary equipment to the islands for about two months to help numerous people who have been without power for several months, said Jorge Somoano, general manager of Burbank Water and Power.

The project entails helping the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority with the final stages of its restoration efforts, which are about 90% complete, Somoano said.

Somoano told council members that it is not the first time the city utility has helped an outside agency during its time of need. In 2012, several Burbank Water and Power employees were sent to New York City to assist the Long Island Power Authority in its efforts to restore power to the city after Hurricane Sandy.

The utility general manager said the mutual aid was provided to the Long Island Power Authority via a nationwide agreement, called the American Public Power Assn. Mutual Aid Agreement, which is recognized and accepted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Cesar Ancheta, the local utilitys assistant general manager of electrical distribution, said Burbank Water and Power will most likely be the only utilities agency in the state helping the Caribbean islands during the final stages of restoration efforts.

He added that the city will be fully reimbursed for its time and effort to help the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers will pilot amath curriculum next month through April, taking another step toward replacing the controversial Swun Math for sixth-graders.

The school board Tuesday unanimously approved a $10,000 agreement with Agile Mind, a Texas-based company founded in 2002, to provide teacher training for its Middle School Math curriculum.

Agile Mind collaborates with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin to provide comprehensive, standards-centered lessons, according to its website.

In November, the school board approved a similar $10,000 agreement with Open Up Resources, a math education nonprofit, to pilot its Illustrative Mathematics program.

Newport-Mesa began using Swun Math in 2013, but some parents and teachers have urged the board to look at other Common Core-based math programs after finding errors and typos in Swun materials.

Trustees voted in May to replace Swun Math in kindergarten through fifth grade with Math Learning Centers Bridges in Mathematics, a curriculum that implements Common Core State Standards, a set of educational standards that most states have adopted for English and math.

But sixth-graders have continued to use Swun Math to give teachers more time to collaborate with middle school teachers and test other programs that could be used in grades six through eight.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella
Black rod iron fences are scheduled to replace chain-link fences at three Newport-Mesa Unified elementary schools this summer to help control visitor access and enhance security.

During community meetings last week, district Director of Facilities Development Ara Zareczny showed preliminary plans to install the new fencing and refurbish administrative offices at Wilson, Mariners and Newport Heights elementary schools.

The new enclosures will be installed in the front of each campus and access to all classroom buildings will be behind the security fence, Zareczny said.

In December, the district approved a $244,040 agreement for Irvine-based Studio + Architecture to design plans for the security fencing and office renovations at the three schools.

Administration reception areas will be moved to the front of each campus, and will receive air conditioning.

At Wilson in Costa Mesa, a fence will separate two doors, Zareczny said. One door will lead to the front office, the other onto campus.

At Mariners and Newport Heights, both in Newport Beach, the administration reception room will be moved closer to the parking lot.

Zareczny said the district is pushing hard to get the new fencing and renovations out to bid in time to get the work done over the summer.

Fencing projects also were completed in recent years at Adams, Andersen, Victoria and Eastbluff elementary schools.

Zareczny said district staff also is looking to create a new parking and drop-off procedure at Newport Heights following the death of third-grader Brock McCann, who was struck and killed by a trash truck as he rode his bike home from school along 15th Street in Newport Beach on May 25, 2016.

City officials were invited to be part of the process but asked district staff to hold off as they develop their own study, which should be completed in February, Zareczny said. In order to allow city input, procedural changes may be pushed to 2019.

Some parking improvements for disabled access may be required at all schools as instructed by the Division of the State Architect.

Air conditioning is guaranteed to be completed at Wilson this summer for all permanent classrooms and the administration building, she said. Wilson was scheduled to receive air conditioning last year, but a redesign pushed back the project.

Mariners and Newport Heights are expected to get air conditioning by summer 2019, Zareczny said.

She said students may hear noise from the new air conditioning units installed outside the buildings, but she said it will become white noise once they get used to it.

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella
Having diversified suppliers can improve energy security: experts

A ship carrying imported natural gas docks at a port in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province on Monday. Photo: IC

Experts said that China's energy security will be improved via diversity after a Kazakhstan gas operator announced on Monday that the Central Asian country will boost its natural gas supply via pipelines to China to 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year.

The development follows an announcement by Kazakhstan in October 2017 that it would export 5 bcm of natural gas annually to China.

The Kazak national operator, KazTransGas JSC, has reportedly begun exporting natural gas to China from fields in western Kazakhstan as well as from its underground natural gas storage facilities starting from October last year.

"The increase to 10 bcm a year from Kazakhstan will be helpful to address China's natural gas shortages, such as the one that has taken place this winter. The additional 5 bcm is a significant addition to the 30 bcm overall import volume currently coming from Central Asia," said Jin Lei, an associate professor at the China University of Petroleum.

"The region is also stable and peaceful, which ensures security for China's energy supplies," Jin told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Jin said China's reliance on natural gas imports in 2016 represented about 34 percent of its demand. Domestic output in 2016 increased 1.7 percent but imports grew 22 percent.

"These trends mean China's natural gas supply pattern will follow that of crude and be increasingly reliant on overseas sources," said Jin.

China's natural gas imports, including that arriving via pipelines as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG), reached a record high of 68.57 million tons in 2017, up 27 percent year-on-year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed in January. A ton of natural gas roughly translates to 1,380 cubic meters.

In addition to Central Asia, China also imports pipeline-borne natural gas from Myanmar via Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has plans to import from Russia via Northeast China, and imports LNG through its ports along the eastern coast.

China imports about 4.5 bcm of natural gas a year from Myanmar in recent years.

"Prices of Central Asian gas are also lower than supplies from Russia, though I have no specific numbers," Jin said.

Li Li, director of research at Shanghai-based research and consulting firm ICIS China, expressed caution, noting that such large import increases will involve large-scale infrastructure work that may take a long time. "Infrastructure work in partner countries may take an even longer time," Li said.

"Overall, it would probably take until 2020 to fully tap the benefits of this planned increase. Meanwhile, to address gas shortages, the nation must rely on LNG and a coastal infrastructure buildup in the short term," Li told the Global Times Tuesday.

China and Russia signed a 30-year deal in 2014 involving imports by the former of 38 bcm of gas annually. But pipeline construction is still underway.

Jin said China has a wide mix of suppliers of LNG, including Australia, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia and potential US Alaskan gas as a result of US President Donald Trump's China visit.

"However, the LNG price is more prone to market fluctuations," Jin noted.

"Having a diversified mix of suppliers will give China some pricing power and guarantee China's energy security," noted Jin.
Good morning. Its Wednesday, Jan. 17. Heres whats been happening around O.C.

Top story

OC Womens March will return for second annual rally

One year after a womens rally was held following President Trumps inauguration, activists are preparing to gather for a Sister March during the second annual OC Womens March. The demonstration, to be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 20 at cross streets Flower Street and Civic Center Drive in downtown Santa Ana, will reaffirm a response for womens rights and justice at a time when many fear that their voices are being silenced, organizers said. TimesOC

Around the county

Hundreds gather at Irvine synagogue to mourn slain college student Blaze Bernstein

At the University Synagogue in Irvine, Rabbi Arnold Rachlis led more than 500 people in a tribute to Blaze Bernstein, a 19-year-old pre-med student found slain in Lake Forest. Los Angeles Times

Irvine voters to decide location of Orange County veterans cemetery

Irvine voters will decide the location of Orange Countys first veterans cemetery after a contentious meeting that pitted members of the public and City Council against each other over whether to overturn a land swap ordinance between the city and a developer. Voice of OC

Politics

State Sen. Josh Newman, targeted by the GOP for his gas-tax vote, faces recall election June 5

Gov. Jerry Brown set June 5 as the date for a recall election on state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who Republicans say should be unseated over his vote for an increase in the states gas tax and vehicle fees last year. Los Angeles Times

Another Democrat is running to replace retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce

Jay Chen, a Mount San Antonio Community College trustee, is the only Democrat to enter the race to replace Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) who has experience in political campaigning for himself. Los Angeles Times

Business & real estate

OC Register and other Digital First Media newspapers face significant layoffs

Southern California News Group, which includes newspapers such as the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Daily News, will be hit with significant layoffs in the coming months, the groups management announced. Los Angeles Times

Hello Kitty Cafe and Afters Ice Cream will be among 30 new additions at Spectrum Center

Irvine Spectrum Center will introduce 30 new stores and restaurants over the next year as part of a $200 million reinvestment plan. TimesOC

Food

Five Crowns ambassador celebrates 50 years at the Corona del Mar restaurant

Tommy Martin, whose presence at the Five Crowns restaurant has been as consistent and comforting as the Yorkshire pudding and creamed spinach, is celebrating 50 years on the job. TimesOC

Performing arts

Off Center Festival brings unique performances to Segerstrom Center

A variety of unconventional art performances will be showcased at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts as part of the weeks-long seventh annual Off Center Festival. TimesOC

Opinion

Commentary: How can we enjoy O.C.s opulence when so many are without homes?

As the politicians in Orange County oversee billion dollar budgets, they see, of course, no way out for the homeless people that are the scourge of the county, making us all look bad as we go about subsisting in our over-the-top opulence, writes homeless advocate Mike Robbins. How can we do without three TVs in our home and a booze cabinet full of killer, good 30-year-old Scotch? Daily Pilot

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.
A Fountain Valley doctor who was sentenced in September to nearly six years in prison for illegally prescribing narcotics no longer has a medical license, according to the Medical Board of California.

Dr. Victor Boon Huat Siew, 66, a Laguna Beach resident who ran a clinic in Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance by a practitioner.

Siew signed an agreement Dec. 5 surrendering his physicians and surgeons certificate, a move that bars him from practicing medicine, according to medical board documents.

The doctor admitted to illegally prescribing oxycodone, methadone and alprazolam from his clinic from 2009 through 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Siew, clinic employee Thanh Nha Pham and physician assistant Kaitlyn Phuong Nguyen issued prescriptions without a medical purpose in exchange for cash and insurance payments, despite red flags in many of the patients files that indicated they were abusing their pain medication.

Authorities said four people died of drug overdoses after obtaining prescriptions.

Nguyen, of San Jose, was convicted in September of 10 felony counts.

Pham, of Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty in January 2017 to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Both were scheduled to be sentenced this month.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
A 20-year-old Newport Beach man was charged Wednesday with murder in the stabbing death of former high school classmate Blaze Bernstein.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward also faces a possible sentencing enhancement on allegations of personal use of a knife, according to the Orange County district attorneys office. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.

Bernstein, 19, was reported missing Jan. 3 by his family, who became concerned when he didnt show up for a dental appointment and they found his wallet and glasses in his bedroom. He was visiting his parents in Lake Forest on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania when he disappeared.

Bernsteins partially buried body was found Jan. 9 at Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch. A recent rainstorm had washed away some of the dirt covering the remains.

A law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times this week that Bernstein was stabbed more than 20 times.

This is a senseless murder of a young man who possessed a combination of a high-caliber mind and the heart of a poet, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said during a news conference Wednesday morning.

Woodward, whose occupation is listed in court records as nerf games, is being held in Orange County Jail without bail. On Wednesday afternoon, he stood in a cage in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana wearing an orange jumpsuit and spoke with his attorney, Edward Munoz.

Judge Sheila Hanson agreed to Munozs request to delay Woodwards arraignment until Feb. 2. Munoz declined to comment on the reason for the request.

Woodwards parents, Blake and Michele, sat in the second row of the courtroom with Wilbur Davis, a retired priest whom theyve known for 10 years through Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach. They recited the Lords Prayer before the court proceeding began.

Davis described the family as devout in their Catholic faith. Woodwards parents attend Mass nearly every day, he said.

We are all in shock, Davis said. Both sides are in pain. Both sides are victims, he added, alluding to the Woodward and Bernstein families.

Davis said he last saw Woodward at church on Jan. 7, when he expressed excitement about taking Communion. The bread and wine offered during the ceremony represent the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ.

Woodward was named for the prophet Samuel, a leader of ancient Israel whose story is highlighted in the Old Testament, Davis said.

During the morning news conference, Rackauckas said old-fashioned detective work and DNA evidence played a role in Woodwards arrest.

Authorities allege that Woodward picked up Bernstein from his parents house around 11 p.m. Jan. 2 after an interaction on Snapchat and drove him to the parking lot of a shopping center on Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch. Later that night, Woodward drove Bernstein to Borrego Park, authorities say.

The exact time and location of Bernsteins death are not clear, Rackauckas said.

Detectives linked Woodward to the slaying through DNA evidence at Borrego Park and inside his car, authorities said.

Authorities said they identified inconsistencies in Woodwards story and watched him for several days before he was arrested Friday while leaving his house.

Authorities wrote in a search warrant affidavit, obtained by the Orange County Register, that Woodward could not provide the last name or address of a girlfriend he said he visited after dropping off Bernstein.

Investigators also noticed scratches on Woodwards arms and dirt under his fingernails. When authorities asked, Woodward said the abrasions were from a fight club he participated in and that his nails were dirty because he fell into a dirt puddle during sparring, according to the report.

Authorities have not revealed a motive for the slaying, but a law enforcement source told The Times that Woodward claimed Bernstein kissed him.

Rackauckas said the case is still being investigated and that his office hasnt ruled out the possibility that the killing was a hate crime.

Our son was a beautiful, gentle soul who we loved more than anything, Bernsteins parents, Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper, wrote in a statement Monday. We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community.

There is still much discovery to be done, and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime, they wrote.

Woodward and Bernstein attended Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana, though it is unclear whether they were friends at the time. Woodward attended Corona del Mar High School during his junior and senior years. He graduated in 2016, according to a Newport-Mesa Unified School District official.

Woodward attended college but did not graduate, according to Munoz.

Los Angeles Times staff writer Anh Do contributed to this report.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

UPDATES:

4:40 p.m.: This article was updated with details from Woodwards court appearance.

This article was originally published at 10:50 a.m.
Re. Mailbag: City Council appears to have pledged its allegiance to developers: Local activist Lynn Swain recently argued in the Daily Pilot that the City Council should consider floating 2,200 new housing units across Newport Beach and into our existing communities. Ms. Swain thought that this would be better than building 260 condos over by John Wayne Airport as part of a plan called Koll Center Residences.

I disagree. I believe most growth in Newport Beach should occur over by the airport and away from our existing communities. Thats what the voters demanded in the Newport Beach General Plan because its what makes sense.

Newport Beach has a voter-approved General Plan that calls for Koll Center Residences to be built over by the airport. The developer has rights to its property and has adhered strictly to the General Plan.

Koll Center Residences checks all the boxes and should be approved. Ms. Swain may want to float 2,200 housing units across our existing communities but thats not what our General Plan calls for and its certainly not what would benefit our city.

Scott Schubert

Corona del Mar

California favors diversity

What is our world coming to? First, ever since President Trump wondered aloud why more Norwegians arent moving to America, Ive been trying to imagine California as a Nordic-friendly state.

When my paternal grandfather served in the California Legislature in the 1870s, immigrants from Mexico and China already were making significant contributions to the quality of life here.

I doubt my dads father, or any of his colleagues in Sacramento, ever thought the Golden State would become a Norwegian outpost. That concept never was mentioned in my high school history books.

Get a grip, Mr. Trump. You may dream about wanting more light-skinned immigrants coming here, but its pretty clear from our history we like our black, brown and Asian neighbors. Too bad you dont seem to know any of them. America would be a stronger nation if you did.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.
Jan. 10s article, Newport and FAA reach settlement to move JWA departures closer to the bay, is more of a love-fest among the powerful than it is news.

In the article, Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer claims the settlement is a satisfactory resolution to more than a year of conflict over altered flight paths in and out of John Wayne Airport. This comment alone indicates just how out of touch with reality he is.

The heralded, two-turn departure path is nothing new; it was announced early in 2017 and originally scheduled for implementation in fall 2017, then December 2017, and now in a few weeks. City staff have already stated that not all planes flying out of JWA may have the technology required to fly the new path.

But more important  and the key to solving the bulk of the noise/pollution problems faced by Back Bay-adjacent and Balboa Island residents  is that the planes achieve maximum altitude on takeoff and fly over the bay and island at the lowest-possible power level (obviously taking safety considerations into account) until they are well out over the ocean.

There is no reason why they cannot do this. Unless all airlines flying out of JWA are convinced  through PR campaigns, boycotts or legal measures  to implement previous noise abatement practices, Newport Beach residents will continue to suffer.

Susan Menning

Newport Beach

There is no reason to retain congressman

I heartily agree with Eliza Rubensteins letter (Rohrabacher should follow Royce and Issa and leave office), but I was distressed to read that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) has announced his intention to seek yet another term. Yes, Rohrabacher is a partisan puppet of the far right. Yes, he does not adequately represent the constituents of his district. Yes, his Russian baggage comes in steamer trunks.

But another reason he should be retired comes from a sobriquet shared by many of his opponents: Do Nothing Dana. He is 70 years old, has been in office almost 30 and has almost no accomplishments to show for it. He has been decidedly anti-community in dealing with his own constituents. His views are now out of step with most residents of his Orange County district. There is no upside to keeping him in office.

Tim Geddes

Huntington Beach

Congress should impeach Donald Trump

Editors note: The following letter repeats an expletive recently used by the president.

Fifty or so years ago, a young Donald Trump was determined ineligible to serve in Vietnam, due to bone spurs in his feet. Despite having graduated from New York Military Academy, Trump was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch his high school friends go off to war.

Today, a 70-something Trump serves as president of the United States. As New York Times columnist Charles Blow recently commented on CNN, It is impossible to live your life under the microscope of the presidency and not have your true nature revealed. That certainly was the case when Trump characterized the homeland of immigrants from Africa and Haiti as shitholes.

I believe its time Congress explore the notion of impeaching Mr. Trump. Not so much for what he said about immigrants, but because those testy old bone spurs clearly have gone to his head. As my wise father used to say, Stay away from that guy. His elevator doesnt go all the way to the top floor.

America deserves a president who is fully capable of executing the requirements of the job. As a lifelong student of politics, I am shocked Trumps comment hasnt been completely rebuked by the GOP leaders in the House and Senate. I am sorry, but Speaker Paul Ryans reaction that Trumps hateful outburst was unfortunate really doesnt cut it.

Its time to look in the mirror, people. What does your reflection reveal about you and this country now? Its not too late to change what you see.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.
Open auditions for the Marco Millions by Eugene ONeill will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 and 22 at Glendale Community College.

The spring production will be produced by the colleges theater arts department.

Those auditioning should read and become familiar with the play, which takes a satirical look at Marco Polos journeys to China, ancient Persia and India.

Sides from the play will be read at the auditions. Those selected to perform in the production will be required to take two theater arts courses.

Stage managers and technical operators will also be needed for the production. Those interested in behind-the-scenes roles should call (818) 240-1000, Ext. 5635. Crew members must enroll in a technical theater course.

For more information about the auditions or the theater arts department, visit glendale.edu/theatre or call (818) 240-1000, Ext. 5618.

Spring registration continues

Open registration continues through Feb. 15 for the spring 2018 semester at Glendale Community College. The semester will begin Feb. 20.

The college application is online and can be found at glendale.edu/apply. New students must submit an application for admission before registering for courses. The college offers a live chat for general application and registration information. Go to the home page and click live chat.

This spring, there are courses in subjects from accounting to welding. There are still openings in several classes.

The welding/metallurgy department holds classes primarily in the afternoons and evenings to accommodate the schedules of working students. The programs curriculum is designed to meet the needs of both certificate and transfer students.

Occupational welding is a two-year program designed to prepare students for entry into the welding field as a combination welder. The emphasis is on students earning welding certification at the completion of the required courses.

Some of the courses required for the certification include Engineering Print Reading for Industry, General Welding, Occupational Welding, Advanced Welding Procedures and Principles of Metallurgy and Heat Treating.

Check the online class schedule for openings in all of the spring classes at glendale.edu/schedules. Click spring to select the term and the subjects are listed alphabetically.

For those interested in starting classes in fall 2018, follow the deadlines listed on the checklist at glendale.edu/checklist to be eligible for priority registration. The schedule will be available online in early April.

Start planning now for summer study abroad

Glendale Community College is offering study-abroad excursions to Bali and France this coming summer.

The college has offered programs in summer, winter and spring to a variety of locations including Paris, Prague, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Bali, Spain and Ireland.

The France program will cost $2,990, plus airfare and college tuition/fees. Students will meet on campus June 18 through 22 and will be in Paris, France, from June 25 through July 19. The college credit courses are French 48  French International Field Studies, Humanities 117  Creativity, Culture and Society and Music 120  Music Appreciation.

Study abroad in Bali will cost $1,995, plus airfare and college fees. Students will be on campus June 18 through 22 and abroad June 23 through July 18. Courses are Culinary Arts 122  International Cooking, Geology 101  Physical Geology and a field studies class.

For more information about Glendale Community Colleges study-abroad opportunities, visit glendale.edu/studyabroad or by email at studyabroad@glendale.edu.
Jan. 8

Burglary, business: 400 block of Foothill Boulevard. A restaurant general manger reported that at sometime between 3 and 8 a.m., someone had broken into the business and taken cash from an office safe. A cash register had been opened, but contained no money. The business rear door had been pried open from the bottom and the office ransacked. The safe was also pried open. The general manager said a bartender left the restaurant at midnight, and a cleaning crew was to come in from 2 to 3:30 a.m.

Jan. 10

Burglary, residence: 4900 block of Palm Drive. A paid caregiver for a man with Alzheimers disease arrived at the property the night before at around 7:30 p.m. and heard a noise. The kitchen door was ajar and she shut it, thinking shed unintentionally left it open. When she returned that day at 3 p.m., she saw a bathroom window was opened. The locking mechanism was broken and the frame had been pried open. Outside, footprints were seen on an A/C unit outside the window. She said nothing appeared to have been taken.

Petty theft, vehicle: 5700 block of Evening Canyon Drive. A woman told deputies that sometime between 5:15 p.m. the day before and 7:45 a.m. that day, someone entered her unlocked 2008 Volvo V50 and stole four Gelsons gift cards, a jar containing several dollars in quarters, a black digital tire gauge and a white USB adapter.

Jan. 11

Assault with a deadly weapon: 4800 block of Oak Grove Drive. Deputies were called to a place of business, where police had detained 57-year-old Arcadia resident Luke Chen for possible assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities had discovered a bag containing a kitchen knife tucked into his waist band, although that had not been used in the incident at the victims office. They called the Los Angeles County Fire Department to treat the victim for head injuries. Upon arrival to the facility, deputies saw a white male being treated in the back of an ambulance before being taken to USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. After interviews with Chen, the victim and 10 witnesses, deputies determined the suspect had struck the victim several times in the head with an unknown object and attempted to strangle him.

Reasonable cause burglary; possession of burglary tools, brass knuckles: Berkshire Avenue at Foothill (210) Freeway. A deputy heard a call about two suspicious vehicles, a gray Hyundai and a green Subaru, their occupants possibly attempting to commit a theft on the 4800 block of Mesa Vista Drive, and responded to Berkshire Avenue and Berkshire Place, believing the vehicles would likely exit the city via that route. Upon seeing a gray 2017 Hyundai Tucson, the deputy conducted a traffic stop. He smelled a strong odor of marijuana, and noted the driver appeared agitated and nervous. In a pat-down, the deputy retrieved brass knuckles fashioned into a key chain and a bag of marijuana from the drivers pockets. The suspect, identified as 35-year old San Gabriel resident Clyde Frankton, said he was just off probation for theft and had a previous burglary conviction. A passenger, 35-year-old Pasadena resident Manuel Navarro, said he was on probation for evading. He had a backpack between his legs that contained three black gloves, bandannas, a ski mask, two vice grips, three rolls of duct tape, dust masks and a razor blade. On the floor was a license plate that belonged to the vehicle and more burglary tools. A paper plate had been taped over the cars back plate. Frankton said Navarros cousin had rented the car from Enterprise, and they were dropping off a friend in La Canada, though neither could name the friend or the street where the friend was dropped off. The informant on Mesa Vista Drive said shed seen the two vehicles with no plates parked on the wrong side of the street by her house, poised for a quick get-away. Her descriptions matched the suspects information. Both suspects were arrested. Later, a man called the station to report his Hyundai rental car had been stolen from in front of his residence, after hed left the keys inside. He confirmed the backpack did not belong to him, and said two people named Clyde and Manuel may have stolen the vehicle after selling him marijuana earlier that day.

Mail theft: 1900 block of Lyans Drive. A woman reported that sometime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. someone stole her mail. She came home and saw the box left wide open and empty.

Jan. 13

Theft of access card: 900 block of Town Center Drive. A woman went to lunch with her husband and grandson at around 1:15 p.m., paying with a credit card. She put her wallet in her unzipped purse, and hung the purse on her chair while she ate. At around 2 p.m., she went to pay for ice cream at another store and noticed her wallet was missing. She contacted Chase bank and was told her credit card had been used at a Glendale Apple store. She later learned another purchase had been made at a Glendale Apple store using her Costco credit card. Her wallet also contained her drivers license, Kaiser insurance card, AAA roadside assistance card and cash.

Jan. 14

Burglary, residence: 4500 block of Commonwealth Avenue. A man dropped off his children at school at around 9:30 a.m. When he returned home at around 12:30 p.m. he noticed the deadbolt on the front door was unlocked. Several rooms had been ransacked, and a chair had been used to access the homes attic. A laundry room window was smashed, and footprints were left on the window sill and on a nearby washer and dryer. A rear door was also unsecured. The victim reported the only things missing were two Apple iPhone chargers usually plugged into a socket in the living room.

Jan. 15

Burglary, residence: 4000 block of Chevy Chase Drive. A man was in his bedroom watching television at around 9:35 p.m. when he heard three loud banging noises outside. As he approached the kitchen, he saw through a dining room window the head of a male wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt. Another male was behind him, but the victim could not make him out. He yelled at them, at which point both suspects ran through the rear yard. The homeowner went to the front door and saw the taillights of a dark sedan speed away northbound on Chevy Chase. A search for the vehicle was unsuccessful. Deputies later observed an open dining room window with its screen removed and footprints and fingerprints nearby. The victim said a housekeeper had left the window open earlier.

Compiled by Sara Cardine

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department deputies temporarily blocked traffic on Alta Canyada Drive north of Foothill Boulevard in La Canada Tuesday, searching for a suspect who ran from a garage on Alta Park Lane after being discovered there by the homeowner.

Sheriffs officials said the man may have been posing as a utility worker, going door to door to ask about residents electricity.

During the search, which took place shortly after noon, nearby Palm Crest Elementary School was placed on a temporary lockdown until officials could confirm there was no threat to the campus, one school employee reported.

Lt. Mark Slater, watch commander for the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station, said the call came in at around 12:02 p.m. from a woman living on the 1600 block of Alta Park Lane.

A person reported seeing someone in their garage, and when they confronted [the suspect], he took off running, Slater said by phone Tuesday, as a sheriffs helicopter circled the area.

In a public safety report to the La Canada City Council Tuesday evening, Crescenta Valley Station Capt. Chris Blasnek said the suspect, still at large, may have been posing as a utility worker.

We had a male suspect walking around with a yellow utility vest on knocking door to door, asking people if their electricity had gone off, Blasnek told the council. At one house, one of the residents confronted him in the garage and he took off running.

Kerry Russell, office manager for Palm Crest Elementary, said the school went on lockdown after a paraprofessional at the school heard an announcement coming from the loudspeaker of the search helicopter and contacted the office.

Just for precautionary reasons, we went on a lockdown until we could reach the sheriffs department, Russell said, estimating the incident lasted only a few minutes.

The suspect is described as a Latino man appearing to be in his 30s. Dep. Eric Matejka, who was at the scene Tuesday, said the suspect is thought to bear a neck tattoo that reads Wendy.

Blasnek told council members footage of the suspect was captured by a residents Ring video doorbell camera.

I watched the video today and it was crystal clear, he said. Hopefully, well have an arrest shortly.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station at (818) 248-3464.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine

UPDATES:

Wednesday, 11:03 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details from Capt. Chris Blasneks report to the La Canada City Council Tuesday evening.

This article was originally published Tuesday at 2:50 p.m.
Sitting at Starbucks, working on my sequel to Girl with the Purple Ribbon, I was enjoying a cup of black tea when a buddy of mine, who is 20 years my junior, asked, Did you see the movie about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers? He said that although he was familiar with the name of the historically significant Defense Department study of U.S.-Vietnam relations, he was unaware of its actual contents.

You mean the movie The Post, I replied. I told him that I didnt think I could sit through the movie and once again be reminded of what went down in Vietnam.

Unbeknownst to me, my daughter Sabine purchased four theater tickets to the movie for our last family outing before the girls returned to college.

The Post is a political drama that depicts what unfolded in 1971 when the Pentagon Papers were surreptitiously released by Daniel Ellsberg and eventually published in both the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Pentagon Papers, commissioned by then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, chronicled our countrys political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson were duplicitous in engineering Americas involvement in Vietnam. However, it was President Johnson who purposely lied to the American public and Congress about the prospectus of the conflict. I could continue about Johnsons systemic lies, but for me, its better to let sleeping dogs lie.

I found The Post nostalgic, especially the scenes depicting the New York Times building, the engravers setting type, and the rolling presses. During the summer of 1964, I worked for the Gray Lady, and because I won a citywide essay contest on Why I Root for the New York Mets, I was given the job as the personal messenger boy for Arthur Sulzberger, the Times publisher.

Mr. Sulzberger was a remarkable man, a mogul of the political, literary and academic elite. The most noted celebrities and political power brokers would come to pay homage to this man. I thought he was a god. I think because he knew I was joining the Marine Corps, Mr. Sulzberger took me under his wing. During World War II he joined the Marines and fought in the Pacific. During the Korean War, he was recalled to active duty and served in the conflict. Because of his history with the Marines, I found it strange that he was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War. During numerous talks, he attempted to steer me away from the Marine Corps and said I could have a career as a Times foreign correspondent.

On June 13, 1971, Mr. Sulzberger made the call to accept the risks rather than to remain silent and published in the Times the first seven articles of the Pentagon Papers. The Post gives a historical account of the time, highlighting the governments attempt at sanctioning the press. A week later, the Washington Post published its own series of articles based upon the Pentagon Papers. The Nixon Administration issued a federal injunction attempting to stop publication. However, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the press. Justice Hugo Black stated, Security of the nation lies in the value of our free institutions. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

The movie, The Post, is a vindication of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.

The Vietnam War continued for another 22 months. Nixon continued the war because he wanted peace with honor. What he really wanted was not to have his administration marred by a Vietnam debacle.

See The Post. Its a great movie. Especially in our current political climate, I hope history does not repeat itself.

JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
Highway 33 north of Ojai wont reopen at least until early February, ruling out using the mountain route as a detour around the big 101 Freeway closure from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara. Highway 33 from the 101 Freeway remains open to travelers heading to Ojai.

The roadway north of Ojai that winds through Los Padres National Forest is closed between Fairview and Lockwood Valley roads at least until Feb. 7 because of cleanup from mudslides and debris flows that began during the Jan. 9 rains, according to a Caltrans post on Twitter (@CaltransDist5).

Drivers hoping to detour on the northern part of Highway 33 to get to Santa Barbara by Highway 166 are out of luck.

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For Southern California travelers heading north, the 101 Freeway closure has turned an 87-mile drive to Santa Barbara into a 253-mile detour on Interstate 5 and Highway 166.

101 Freeway wont reopen for at least a week 

Ojai Love gives you hotel discounts and the community a helping hand 

The estimate on reopening Highway 33 comes days after Caltrans said the 101 Freeway would remain closed at least until Monday as crews continue cleanup operations, primarily in the Montecito area. No reopening date has been set.

Amtraks Pacific Surfliner is up and running between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, with stops in Ventura, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. The rail line has added cars to 10 trains, providing about 2,000 additional seats each day to accommodate an increase in passengers to the Santa Barbara area. Info: Amtraks Pacific Surfliner, (800) 872-7245

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
Canadas Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland holds a bilateral meeting with the Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono in Vancouver on Jan.15. (Photo: Reuters)

Vancouver (Peoples Daily)-Canada said Monday that a negotiated, diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear and missile programs is both essential and possible a day before the start of a foreign ministers meeting in Vancouver.

The announcement also said the Vancouver meeting will demonstrate solidarity in opposition to North Koreas dangerous and illegal actions and work together to strengthen diplomatic efforts toward a secure, prosperous and denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

The Vancouver foreign ministers meeting on security and stability co-hosted by Canada and the US is scheduled to take place in Vancouver on Tuesday. The meeting will review the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and discuss sanctions, non-proliferation and future steps. US State Department Policy Director Brian Hook said the main purpose of this meeting is to exert maximum pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs.

The 20 countries attending the meeting include Canada, the US, Japan, South Korea, the UK, France, Belgium, the Philippines and Colombia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Moscow media briefing that we consider these efforts and this meeting to be destructive.

Some analysts and observers are not optimistic about what this meeting will achieve. According to one report in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Korean experts agree that the talks will accomplish very little without China and Russia at the table.
The New York-New York Hotel & Casino will add a virtual reality experience to the Big Apple roller coaster, taking riders on an aerial adventure through the Nevada desert and over the Las Vegas Strip.

The new up-charge virtual reality experience, set to open Feb. 7, combines make-believe computer-animated visuals with the real-world twists, drops and G-forces of a 67-mph coaster.

The 3-minute virtual reality experience will feature 3D footage in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. The Big Apple coaster trains and track will be equipped with sensors that synchronize the visuals with the ride to reduce the chances of motion sickness while wearing the virtual reality headset.

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Germany-based VR Coasters, which designed the experience, has equipped more than 30 theme parks worldwide with virtual reality technology, including Six Flags, Cedar Fair and Legoland parks.

The 4,777-foot-long ride is being billed as the longest coaster in the world equipped with virtual reality.

The new VR backstory begins in a secret research laboratory in the Nevada desert where government scientists study alien life forms. After boarding the coaster train, riders are charged with capturing an escaped alien creature before he and his minions destroy the Las Vegas Strip.

A four-legged, four-armed, four-eyed spindly green creature leads riders up a craggy desertscape as the coaster train ascends the lift hill.

At the 203-foot precipice, long-buried extraterrestrial flying robots burst out of the jagged cliffs, attach a tow line to the coaster and pull riders on an aerial journey across the desert.

Before long, riders reach the Vegas Strip where other alien ships are attacking the city. The VR coaster banks past Mandalay Bay, loops over the Luxor sphinx, flies past the Excalibur castle and dives down the side of New York-New Yorks version of the Chrysler building.

A military helicopter rescues the riders from the alien ship, tugging the coaster by another tow cable past the Bellagio fountains, over the erupting Mirage volcano and through a keyhole in the MGM marquee sign.

During the finale, a helicopter squadron fires missiles at the alien ship, which collapses at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The VR coaster ride comes to an end in the middle of the heavily damaged Vegas Strip with a view of flapping American flags flanking the Statue of Liberty in front of the New York-New York Casino.

The VR experience does a fairly accurate job of rendering the Vegas Strip, but non-MGM properties get short shrift. The Tropicana gets turned into a parking lot and the mock Eiffel Tower is erased from the Strip. An out-of-place Vegas Vic neon sign that belongs in downtown Vegas shows up near McCarran International Airport.

The Big Apple roller coaster at New York-New York Hotel & Casino costs $20 with the virtual reality experience. You can still ride the coaster without the VR headset for $15.

Still need more theme park news? Check out the Los Angeles Times Funland theme park blog on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.

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Pope Francis met for the first time with victims of clerical sexual abuse on Monday and pledged that bishops who covered up such abuse of minors would be held accountable.

Likening the abuse to a sacrilegious cult that drove its victims to drug addiction and suicide, Francis told six victims that the church should weep and make reparation for their suffering.

Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you, and I humbly ask forgiveness, he said during a homily at a Mass that the victims attended at his Vatican residence.

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After Mass, Francis held more than three hours of individual meetings with the victims, who hailed from Britain, Ireland and Germany. The encounters left the pope very touched, a Vatican spokesman said.

In his homily, Francis appeared to tackle accusations that, even if the church is now trying to root out abusers, it continues to overlook the senior church officials who shunted abusers from diocese to diocese to avoid prosecution.

The pope asked forgiveness for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members as well as by abuse victims themselves, according to the text of the homily released by the Vatican.

Bishops will be held accountable if they failed in their duty to protect minors, Francis said, adding that abuse had been camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained.

David Clohessy, director of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said his group was glad the pope promised to hold accountable church officials who conceal abuse. But he hasnt done it yet, not in Rome nor in Buenos Aires, he said. Saying and doing are different things. The first is easy, the second is hard.

Francis was accused of refusing to meet abuse victims in Argentina when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, before his election as pope in 2013.

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, another U.S.-based group, said the meeting was positive and necessary, but said Francis must follow through on his promise today to discipline the many more bishops and religious superiors who even recently have enabled child sexual abuse through their negligence or deliberate cover-up.

In March, Francis defended the Vaticans handling of the crisis, saying that the Catholic Church is possibly the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility. But he has also instituted a new Vatican commission on abuse, headed by Cardinal Sean OMalley of Boston, which held its second meeting on Sunday and is planning to bring in new members.

On Monday, one of the six victims who met with the pope at the Vatican praised him for the time he spent with her.

Marie Kane, 43, told the Irish Times that she found the pope very, very humble. There was no standing on ceremony. No pomp. I felt very comfortable, relaxed. He seemed genuinely frustrated at what he was hearing.

But Kane said she had asked the pope to prove his commitment to ending cover-ups by getting rid of Cardinal Sean Brady, Irelands most senior church leader, who is accused of obstructing an abuse probe in 1975.

Kington is a special correspondent.
Pope Francis brought a message of peace and reconciliation Wednesday to a picturesque area of central Chile that has experienced a rash of violence attributed to indigenous Mapuche activists struggling to reclaim ancestral lands.

In the third day of his swing through Chile, Francis flew to the city of Temuco, 420 miles south of the capital, Santiago, in Chiles heavily forested Araucania region.

We have to insist that a culture of mutual esteem may not be based on acts of violence and destruction that end up taking human lives, Francis said at a somber Mass. You cannot assert yourself by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and division. Violence begets violence; destruction increases fragmentation and separation. Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie.

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The Mass  which featured indigenous themes and mixed European and indigenous melodies  was held on the sprawling grounds of an airfield that was previously a military base.

The Mass at an airfield in Temuco, Chile, on Wednesday featured various indigenous themes. (Mauricio Castane / EPA/Shutterstock )

Activists say the land where the airfield is situated was taken from the Mapuche, part of what the group calls more than a century of land grabs that have left its ancestral terrain greatly reduced.

The base also reportedly served as a detention and torture center during the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990.

The Araucania area has a sorrow that cannot be silenced, the injustice of centuries, the pope said.

Francis visit has seen an uptick in attacks on churches and other targets in Araucania and in Santiago.

A number of new attacks were reported overnight Tuesday in Araucania, including the shooting of a police officer, the torching of two Roman Catholic chapels and the destruction of two stationary helicopters belonging to a forestry company. The police officer, who was wearing body armor, was not seriously injured, said authorities, who vowed a brisk response to the violence.

There will be no weakness toward those engaged in such attacks, Gen. Bruno Villalobos, head of Chiles national police force, the Carabineros, told reporters.

One of three helicopters that were burned in Curanilahue, Chile, lies in ruins on Wednesday. (Manu Araneda / EPA/Shutterstock )

The pope began Wednesdays Mass reciting some words in the Mapuche language.

The Argentine-born pope, the first pontiff from the Americas, has long been an advocate for indigenous groups and has highlighted their struggles.

During a 2015 visit to Bolivia, Francis apologized for the grave sins committed by Roman Catholic authorities against indigenous peoples during the colonial era.

The long fight of the Mapuche people at times has turned violent 

The Mass on Wednesday featured various indigenous themes. At least one speaker addressed the crowd at length in the Mapuche language. People in Mapuche and other indigenous dress were prominent participants.

The Araucania region, where roughly a third of the population claims Mapuche roots, has seen vast tracts of trees felled for commercial development.

In his comments during the Mass, Francis deplored the deforestation of hope, a reference to the marginalization of much of the indigenous community in the region.

After his speech, the pope met with a number of community representatives, including Mapuches, a Haitian immigrant  one of a growing number of Haitians who have settled in Chile  and a prominent member of the Chilean-born community of German and Swiss origin.

Tensions between Mapuches and the descendants of European settlers, mostly Germans and Swiss, some of them prominent landowners and businessmen, have risen dramatically in recent years in the Araucania area.

Public reactions to the popes visit were generally positive.

Francis brought an injection of spiritual power, said Alex Hund Diethelm, a prominent agricultural engineer and businessman who is of German ancestry. He listened carefully to everyones point of view. He is a man of reason.

Juan Carlos Reinao, an area mayor of Mapuche origin, told a local radio station that he met in private with Francis. We were happy when Chileans were not around, he said.

People of indigenous background represent about 9% of the Chilean population, authorities say. The Mapuche are the nations largest indigenous group, numbering some 1.4 million, mostly in the Araucania region.

Many of the Mapuches grievances date from the 19th century, when the Chilean state, settlers and others took over much of the groups ancestral lands. The group lost additional land during Pinochets rule.

The return of democracy in 1990 has seen successive governments give land back to the Mapuche. But many indigenous activists call the land returns insufficient. Meantime, local land owners who are not Mapuche say they have been in the area for generations and are not responsible for past land thefts.

The Araucania is one of the poorest areas of Chile, which boasts one of Latin Americas most dynamic economies. Many Mapuche communities live on small agricultural plots, farming potatoes and wheat, or make their living in the coastal fishing industry.

After the Mass, the pope was scheduled to meet with community leaders. Authorities say a minority of Mapuche activists has engaged in violence.

In recent days, attackers have firebombed a number of churches in Santiago and near Temuco in apparent protests of the popes visit. No one has been injured, and damage has been minor in the crude attacks, which typically feature gasoline placed in bottles and ignited. The strikes resemble other attacks in recent years in the Araucania region.

Authorities have not publicly named any suspects in the series of church bombings.

The popes South American visit continues Thursday in Peru.

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Jorge Poblete in Santiago and Liliana Nieto del Rio in Temuco contributed to this article.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT

UPDATES:

4:20 p.m.: This article has been updated with details of the popes speech and reaction to his visit.

This article was originally published at 9:50 a.m.
Peoples Daily launches Xiongan website

Yang Zhenwu (2nd from right), president of People's Daily, Wang Dongfeng (2nd from left), secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, Lu Xinning, deputy editor-in-chief of People's Daily (1st from right) and Chen Gang, director of the Xiongan New Area administrative committee attend the ceremony.

The online news provider of the Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone southwest of Beijing, was launched on Jan. 16, in a bid to expand media coverage about the area. The website is guided by the Peoples Daily and operated by people.cn.

News, policies, data, people, pictures, and other information provided by the website will offer a comprehensive look at Xiongan New Area.

A mobile app of the website was also revealed. At the launching ceremony, Peoples Daily signed a strategic agreement with the administrative committee of Xiongan New Area on the construction of a cultural media platform to better publicize construction of the new area.

The website has also launched its English, Russian, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Portuguese versions. The Xiongan New Area has also opened accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other overseas social media platforms.

Yang Zhenwu gives a speech at the ceremony.

Yang Zhenwu, president of Peoples Daily, Wang Dongfeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, and other officials with Peoples Daily and Hebei Province kicked off the website.

Yang expressed his hope for enhancing cooperation and jointly boosting construction of the Xiongan New Area in a speech delivered to the ceremony.

The first goal is to catch the opportunity to better report the area, and set a new example of media partnership between Peoples Daily and local governments. To achieve this, Yang said Peoples Daily will mobilize its media platforms to help build a first-class media project in the industry.

The second goal is to tell Xiongan stories, draw a beautiful future for Xiongan, and strongly support the area to attract more talents. The third goal is to deeply present the development concept of Xiongan, and to help the construction concept of Xiongan to reach more readers around the globe.

Wang Dongfeng gives a speech at the ceremony.

Wang Dongfeng noted that the establishment of the media center is conducive to spreading Xiongans voice to the world and creating a sound public opinion environment for the Xiongan New Area. Hebei is dedicated to building the media center into a first-class media platform with international reputation and influence. The provincial party committee and government will give full-fledge support to the center.
Hong Kong has been coined a super connector between the mainland and the world owing to its geological advantages and significant strategic positioning, Chinanews.com reported Tuesday at the 2018 Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong and the mainland have established long-term financial cooperation, and become closer over the past three years, said Laura Cha Shih May-lung, Chairwoman of the Financial Services Development Council of Hong Kong SAR.

The chairwoman noted that Hong Kong has become a real super connector since 2014 after China approved the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connects and the mainland-Hong Kong bond connect. These connectivity programs consolidate Hong Kongs position as an international financial center.

Many countries are eager to trade with China, but reluctant to change their trade practices, legal structures, and infrastructures. Therefore, Hong Kong can work as a bridge, said Hong Kong Stock Exchanges (HKSE) Chief Executive Charles Li, adding that stock connect programs help overcome differences between trading systems and benefit Hong Kongs financial development.

Norman Chan, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), agreed that Hong Kong serves as a connector between China as a whole and other countries, no matter in commodity transactions or financial services.

Many people have noticed the attractions of Hong Kong as a trading and investment platform, said Chan. Data show that Hong Kong has been the major source of foreign direct investments (FDI) into the mainland since reform and opening up, accounting for 50-60 percent every year. Over the last decade, Chinas outward FDI has risen from $26 billion to $200 billion, while 50-60 percent of deals are made through Hong Kong.

Chan believes that Hong Kongs long-existing strategic strengths, including the advantageous One Country, Two Systems position and a well-established law system, will cement Hong Kong as a gateway between the mainland and international investors in the future.

Zhu Min, former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, also acknowledged Hong Kongs gateway position in trade and finance. Zhu suggested Hong Kong pay attention to the changing global economic structure and follow the big trends.

Experts at AFF noted that Hong Kong will embrace more opportunities of development as the Belt and Road Initiative rolls out, and achieve win-win results by connecting China and the world.
The Bethlehem Area School District may be beginning its 2018-19 budget process $10.7 million in the hole, but that's its strongest starting point in years.

Tuesday evening the administration presented its $283.7 million tentative preliminary budget to the school board during the monthly finance committee meeting.

Rising employee pension and charter school tuition payments paired with stagnant state funding, means many school districts, including Bethlehem, begin their budgetary planning with structural deficits.

The first budget vote is scheduled for Feb. 12 with final adoption set for June 18.

Superintendent Joseph Roy said, funny as it sounds, it is "the best we've been at this point" over his tenure.

The district began the 2017-18 budget process with a $17.5 million structural deficit and the administration cut $5 million before even bringing it to the board. The year before it was $15.2 million.

The current $268 million spending plan hiked taxes by 1.24 percent on average, the smallest hike in five years, and tapped $4 million from the district's fund balance.

For the 2018-19 budget, the district's Act 1 Index -- the state-imposed ceiling on annual property tax increases -- is set at 3 percent of the year, which could generate $4.9 million in tax dollars for the district.

As it always does, Bethlehem Area plans to apply to the state for exceptions to that cap to keep its budgetary options open, Roy said. The district qualifies for special education and retirement contribution exceptions expected to be able to raise almost $3.4 million in additional tax revenue.

The budget assumes flat state funding, although Roy is hopeful with it being a gubernatorial election year there might be more money set aside for education.

The district will likely again dedicate several million from its fund balance to help close the budget gap, Roy said.

The major cost drivers are: an $1.96 million jump in mandated pension contributions, a $3.59 million rise in salaries, a $2.55 million hike in charter school tuition payments and $2.6 million for academic initiatives in the district.

After years of declining enrollment, driven in part by demographic trends and in part by losing students to charter schools, the district's overall enrollment is leveling out while the number of elementary students has grown, according to a district analysis.

"(Charter enrollments) grew but not as fast as they have in prior years," Roy said.

The district has implemented full-day kindergarten in all of it schools and launched a marketing campaign aimed at attracting new families and enticing back those who have left.

The tentative budget plan doubles down on the district's literacy push with major investments in materials and staff training. The district has laid out the ambitious goal of having all students reading on grade level by third grade, which research shows is a key indicator of future student success.

And after postponing its elementary Spanish language program this year, the district Tuesday night outlined how it plans to implement the initiative next school year.

The district plans to make over its related arts classes, which now include physical education, art, music, library and academic integration, a technology course.

The board was presented Tuesday night with a proposal to combine library and academic integration into a digital literacy class that more aligned with where the American Library Association says curriculum should be headed, Roy said. The class will be more inquiry based, allowing students to use information to create podcasts, videos and write.

Combining the classes frees up room in the schedule to introduce the elementary Spanish program.

The budget also invests money in technology replacements and upgrades. Technology is becoming as essential as heat and electricity in the modern classroom, Roy said.

"All of this great instructional work can't happen if the computers aren't working that day," he said.

A new priority for the district will be better supporting students emotional, social and mental health needs. There's a growing crescendo coming from the schools about the challenges of educating students dealing with trauma, Roy said.

The district is currently working with St. Luke's University Health Network and other organizations to settle on the best way to address this need, the superintendent said.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Bethlehem is one step closer to creating a tracking system for the alphabet soup of economic development tools the city offers to ensure they're working and going to the right projects.

Bethlehem City Council held a Community Development Committee Tuesday night ahead of the regular council meeting to discuss the proposed ordinance that would establish the the Financial Accountability Incentive Reporting (F.A.I.R.) program.

Councilman Shawn Martell, who co-sponsored the measure with Councilman J. William Reynolds, said the program is meant to increase accountability and transparency.

"Citizens have a right to know how these programs are working," Martell said.

The committee voted unanimously to forward it to the full council, which then approved the ordinance on first reading 6-0.

The proposal establishes a tracking system that will result in an annual performance review of all of the city's economic development incentives and related programs. Collected information will be posted publicly as part of the city's open data push.

If the ordinance is enacted, a public hearing would need to be held by Oct. 31 each year to evaluate the effectiveness of the incentives and determine whether they should be continued, repealed or modified. The hearing will allow citizens to weigh in on the incentives, Martell said.

The proposal also sets up a reporting system that makes it clear how much money the city has forgone or redirected via these incentives, Martell noted.

And it requires the city take steps to ensure that developers receiving those incentives are current on their tax and other city financial obligations. It includes provisions to revoke a recipient's benefits if they fail to comply.

Over time, the city will collect a wealth of data that can be used to make long-term evaluations of the success of incentives, like the CRIZ, TIF, KIZ and LERTA, and publicize their benefits, Martell said.

Reynolds first pitched the idea of F.A.I.R. last January in his Bethlehem 2017 initiative. It has taken a year of behind-the-scenes work with the administration to get to this point, he said Tuesday.

City Director of Community and Economic Development Alicia Miller Karner questioned how council wanted to apply the developer accountability portion noting as written it is vague. Would it apply only to projects where developers received an incentive or any project they tackle in the city, she questioned.

Council solicitor John "Jack" Spirk Jr. said the ordinance was drafted to cast as wide a net as possible to entice those receiving incentives not to neglect their other city obligations.

City Solicitor William P. Leeson said the city does have the power of enforcement.

There will be growing pains as the city implements this new system, but Bethlehem is on the forefront in the Lehigh Valley with the initiative, Reynolds said, noting Philadelphia is the only other government he knows is doing something like this.

Every city, township and state offers these types of incentives, Reynolds said. The goal isn't to stop development or eliminate them, rather to look at how they are working, tell the good stories surrounding them and make improvements where needed, he said.

If the ordinance passes on second reading, the administration has several paperwork-related deadlines to hit by the end of May and the first hearing would be held by the end of October.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The secret's out: Easton is getting a speakeasy.

This clandestine cocktail bar won't be a brand new establishment, though. Instead, The Seven Spirits Club will open on the second floor of Two Rivers Brewing Co. at 542 Northampton St.

The speakeasy will open to the public for the first time with a Prohibition-themed party on Friday, Jan. 26 from 6 to 10 p.m., with attendees encouraged to dress in 1920s garb. The bash will feature casino games, passed hors d'oeuvres and the debut of the bar's cocktail list. Throwback jazz group The Barrel House Brothers will provide the evening's soundtrack.

After the grand opening, The Seven Spirits Club will be open Friday and Saturday evenings, except when private parties are booked in the room.

Two Rivers co-owner Troy Reynard said that when the brewpub first opened, the upstairs area was only used for private parties. As the business grew, the area opened more regularly to everyday patrons.

"That kind of matured into, 'Well, maybe we should make it into its own thing,'" he said. (They will still also use the room for private parties.)

The speakeasy idea, he said, was inspired by the building's rich history, dating back to the mid-19th century. The building was rumored to be a brothel and a speakeasy for a time, he said.

To create a Prohibition-era vibe, the upstairs bar has swapped out the rotating work from local artists for old photographs, and dimmed the lighting with old-fashioned fixtures. The mood will be quiet and comfortable, Reynard said, with occasional live jazz to add to the 1920s feel.

"Especially for someone on a date, it will be the perfect little nook to go to," Reynard said.

Though the bar will focus on cocktails, Two Rivers' beer list and food menu will also be available upstairs.

The "Seven Spirits" name comes from ghostly investigations that Markou Paranormal conducted at the bar. Reynard said the supernatural tests found that one male and six female ghosts inhabit the property -- an appropriate gender breakdown for a former brothel. The investigators were so enthusiastic about their findings that they are looking to make a documentary about Two Rivers.

As Two Rivers gears up for the speakeasy's opening, the bar posted on Facebook that it's looking for blackjack and poker dealers for the evening. Players will have a chance to win gift cards and other Two Rivers prizes.

The Seven Spirits Club won't be the first hideaway bar in the area. The Bookstore Speakeasy in Bethlehem has been serving fancy cocktails in a cozy, jazzy setting for years. Roar Social House in Allentown, which has been temporarily closed since last spring as it undergoes changes following a switch in ownership, also hosted a discreet speakeasy called Hush in a rear room.

But Troy Reynard said that the Two Rivers building's history makes the idea especially appropriate.

"For us, it's not just concept. It's our history," he said. "It's not something that's forced. It's a natural evolution."

Andrew Doerfler may be reached at adoerfler@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @adoerfler or on Facebook.
Christopher Johnson's wife and family sat still in court during the reading of explicit text messages he shared with a then-17-year-old student.

In the messages read Wednesday by Lehigh County Senior Assistant District Attorney Anna-Kristie Morffi, the former Parkland High School teacher detailed his sexual encounters with the girl.

The texts showed how he seduced the teen, telling her, "I love you more than any obstacle that could try to come between us" and "I love how it feels when you thrust into my face."

Now the 35-year-old Bethlehem man is headed to Lehigh County Prison for three to 23 months. He pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault.

"You really screwed up your life. You really made a mess of things haven't you?" Lehigh County Judge Robert Steinberg asked him.

Johnson tutored the girl in trigonometry, according to court testimony. The sexual contact started shortly after the tutoring began in January 2017. Her parents discovered the intimate texts and notified police in March 2017, investigators said.

He lost his job as an English teacher at Parkland and now works the night shift for Service Master, a cleaning company, according to his lawyer, Matthew Sedacca.

Sedacca argued for probation rather than prison. The victim was four months shy of 18. She told police the sex was consensual. She said she's moved on and hasn't suffered psychologically from the relationship, although the judge and prosecutor questioned whether issues may crop up later in her life.

The judge acknowledged the loss of income, public humiliation and embarrassment Johnson suffered.

Johnson said he's receiving treatment for alcohol abuse and counseling to save his marriage. He and his wife now have a 6-month-old daughter. His wife is standing by him, according to court testimony.

"Every day that I wake up I must face the consequences of my actions," Johnson said. "I've brought tremendous shame on myself and my family. ... I know that God has forgiven me for my sins but I know there still are earthly consequences."

But the judge also acknowledged Johnson's lack of remorse. When Johnson apologized for his crimes, he mentioned family and colleagues but left out the victim.

Steinberg's sentence falls into the standard range under state guidelines. When Johnson's parole expires he must serve five years on probation. He must register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.

"You were her teacher. You were to look out for her. You were not to take advantage of her," Steinberg said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
A WOMAN is being treated in hospital after she was seriously injured in a road collision in County Limerick this Wednesday morning.

The woman, whose aged in her 60s, was the driver of a car which was in collision with a truck on the N69 near Askeaton shortly after 7am.

Two units of Limerick Fire and Rescue from Foynes attended the scene of the collision as did local gardai and paramedics from the National Ambulance Service,

The driver of the truck received medical treatment at the scene but did not require treatment in hospital.

The woman was transferred by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick where her condition is described as serious.

A section of the N69 remains closed with diversions in place as technical and forensic examinations are continuing, Its expected the road will re-open later in the afternoon.

#LIMERICK The N69 Limerick/Tarbert Rd is still closed outside Askeaton due to crash involving a truck. https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) January 17, 2018

Gardai at Newcastle West are investigating the circumstances surrounding the collision and can be contacted at 069 20650.
MUNSTER and Irish rugby star Conor Murray has said that fellow Limerick native Dolores ORiordan has left behind an incredible legacy following her sudden death.

The Patrickswell native was speaking at a press briefing in the University of Limerick on Tuesday ahead of the teams game against Castres on Sunday.

Asked about the sad passing of the 46-year-old rock star earlier this week, he said of The Cranberries and Dolores: I love their music.

I was very used to hearing all of their songs. It is very sad isnt it? It is very sad for the region of Limerick. It was a nice thing this morning, in our gym session, we had them playing for the hour and a half. It is a very sad thing to happen.

I dont know what the circumstances were, but obviously she was quite young and it was too soon, but the legacy she and the others in the Cranberries left is incredible and everyone from Limerick and a lot further afield are very proud of them, added the Limerick rugby star.

Asked if his fellow players on the team would know of the bands music, Conor said: The local lads did of course and the foreign players were all asking questions about their music. They got into it after a while in the gym this morning and they really like their music.

An outpouring of tributes has followed news of Ms ORiordans death in a London hotel this week. A book of condolences remains open to the public at City Hall in Limerick, and it is also available online.
Cui Fengxian, an 88-year-old woman in Kunming, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province, has been making wotou (Chinese cornbread) to feed the black-headed gulls at a local park every morning for 30 years.
A LIMERICK woman who will appear on the National Lottery Winning Streak game show on RTE has said she was in the cinema when she found out she had been selected.

Shirley Leen, a nurse from Newcastle West, was at the movies watching 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' on Saturday evening when she missed a call from her sister Carol.

When Carol came into the movie theatre a few minutes later looking for her, Shirley thought the worst but it was nothing but good news as her name had been pulled out of the Drum to appear on Winning Streak.

Shirleys family are all looking forward to the day out and she says a loud Limerick crowd will be coming with her to RTE studios in Dublin on Saturday. Among these will be her mum Rita and Shirleys siblings Carol and Billy. Her aunt Sheila is travelling from London to support her while another aunt, Madge is coming down from Cavan for the occasion.

One person who is not making the journey is her camera-shy dad, Willie, who will watch his daughter from home alongside the beloved family pet dog, Gizmo, a Yorkshire Terrier.

Shirley is an avid animal lover and frequently volunteers with Limerick Animal Welfare, walking dogs or cleaning out the kennels. She is going to use some of her Winning Streak winnings to make a donation to the group, she said.

Five players will appear on Winning Streak on RTE One this Saturday evening to compete for cash, cars and luxury holidays. One will get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to spin the Grand Prize Wheel with a maximum prize of 500,000.

Over 5,900 people have taken part in the show since it first appeared on screens way back in September 1990, winning in excess of 168 million in prizes.

In 2017 alone, the National Lottery raised over 225 million for such good causes.
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Liu Qiangdong, chairman of e-commerce giant JD.com, says his company will invest over 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) to boost the economy in northeast China by promoting industrial upgrade, creating new jobs, and improving retail services, Beijing-based news.ynet.com reported.

Liu is full of confidence that his group will play a role in revitalizing northeast China. Earlier this week, Liu met with officials from the three northeastern provinces and discuss details about future cooperation with them.

JD also signed a strategic agreement with Heilongjiang Beidahuang Agriculture Company Limited based in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province.

The two companies agreed to boost the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for delivery in Heilongjiang. They also plan to apply drones to agricultural management.

JDs development model is highly in line with the national strategy of revitalizing northeast China, which clearly states to actively implement the Internet Plus Action Plan, promote e-commerce, boost the chains of supply and demand, and advance modern agriculture in northeast China.
Chinas retail sales expected to surpass that of U.S. this year

Chinas retail sales are expected to surpass sales in the United States for the first time in 2018 due to innovation and transformation of Chinas retail enterprises, says Chinas Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), according to official microblog of China News on Jan. 16.

The growth is another definitive marker of Chinas rise to economic superpower status, the Washington Post recently reported.

The U.S. media reports retail sales in China are on track to hit just over $5.8 trillion this year, according to Mizuho, a Japanese bank. Its a stunning rise from a decade ago, when retail sales in China were only a quarter of those in the United States.

MOFCOM says the development of Chinas retail sector is mainly attributed to innovation and transformation of Chinas retail enterprises. For example, the retail sector is actively developing online and offline sales.

Statistics released by China Internet Network Information Center show that as of December 2016, 45.3 percent of Chinese enterprises have sold their products online, up 12.7 percent compared to 2015.

In addition, brick-and-mortar retailers and e-commerce businesses are seeking cooperation.

For example, Chinese online giant Alibaba has attracted department store chain Intime Retail and major retailer Bailian to sell their products on its e-commerce platform. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com also joined hands with Walmart and Yonghui superstores to boost their sales volume.

Also, Chinese retailers are developing unmanned shops. Taking Suning as an example, the Chinese online shopping platform launched five unmanned shops in China, which apply facial recognition technology to payment services and offer customers an intelligent shopping experience based on their consumption habits.

Xiang Jiangxu, president of Suning Technology Research Institute, noted that owing to Chinas huge consumer group and favorable policies and regulations, the achievements of applied innovation are being rapidly promoted in China.

By contrast, American retailer enterprises are facing depression.

Data by Fung Global Retail & Technology shows that U.S. retailers have closed the doors on 6,985 retail shops by 2017.

Sears disclosed that it will shut down about 100 department stores this year, and U.S. retail giant Macys announced it will close 78 of its shops and cut the number of its employees in response to the pressure caused by rising online sales and the reduced number of shoppers at physical stores.
Once a country with an insatiable demand for Middle East oil, China is now making use of its advantage in clean energy technologies, changing the traditional cooperation mode between the worlds largest oil supplier and buyer.

Traditionally, China buys oil from the Middle East to satisfy its energy needs, but that has changed in recent years. China is taking the lead in renewable energy research, and is expected to become a supplier of clean energy technologies to the Middle East, Ibrahim Saif, former Jordanian Minister of Energy, was quoted as saying by Thepaper.cn during an interview.

Saifs remarks come at a time when U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced his countrys National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing (OCS) Program for 2019-2024 on Sunday. The program, which proposes the largest number of lease sales in U.S. history, proposes making over 90 percent of the total OCS acreage and more than 98 percent of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to consider for future exploration and development.

Competing with the Middle East, the U.S. has been trying to take more shares in Chinas energy market. The countrys advanced mining technologies have led to an increase in energy exports to China, with the two nations signing a $250-billion deal that mainly focuses on crude oil, natural gas, and shale gas in 2017.

According to statistics from Thepaper.cn, the cost of solar energy has declined 70 percent thanks to Chinas research and development in clean energy, while the countrys solar batteries now account for 60 percent of the international market.

Theres no unilateral trade in the international energy sector. Chinas focus on clean energy is a fundamental transformation, which may create completely new opportunities, said Saif.

These new opportunities have already emerged in a mixed-energy project between China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to Xinhua, Trinasolar, a major solar firm headquartered in Chinas eastern province of Jiangsu, has provided equipment to the UAE green project Dubai Sustainable City, which consists of 500 residential villas grouped into five clusters and a 170-room hotel with 40,000 solar panels, according to Trinasolars website.

China is an important country for us, in relation to the manufacturing of solar panels and reducing the overall costs of solar energy and the overall cost of renewable energy, Al-Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy, told Xinhua on Tuesday.
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Cartier : Baignoire Etoilee

Baignoire Etoilee  Cartier

The ethereal Baignoire Etoilee is a standout among Cartiers new jewelry watches. Called Cartier Libre, a play on quartier libre, the collection winks knowingly at the creative license the maison has taken with its signature baignoire shape. Baignoire Etoilee has a sensual, soft bracelet, languid yet sharply contrasted in a play of white against black. Its minimalist black oval dial is encased in white gold and accented with white diamonds on one side and black spinels on the other. Throwing symmetry to the wind, the bracelet has strands of randomly-set round or pyramidal stones, ending with stray black spinels or white diamonds added almost playfully. This watch is a constellation of stars twinkling in the midnight sky.  Nazanin Lankarani

Hermes : Carre Cuir

Carre Cuir with and without diamond-set bezel  Hermes

The new Carre Cuir watch is what happens when watchmaking at Hermes, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, meets with the brands tradition for fine leather goods. The combination goes far beyond the strap, since the same navy blue lizard skin is also used on the dial, giving the impression that the strap is actually passing through the watch, an illusion that is all the more apparent because of the lack of any lugs. The square case in stainless steel, which is available with or without diamonds, seems to act like a magnifying glass to reveal the round scales of the lizard skin, which is adorned with four minuscule applied hour markers that are read against two rhodium-plated hands. You can sense the pleasure that the designers had in creating this piece, which recalls the same playful nature of models such as the Temps Suspendu from a brand that considers time both joyous and playful. In the small model size of 24x24mm the Carre Cuir uses a Swiss Made quartz movement.  Michele Brunner

Piaget : High Jewellery Altiplano Lapis Lazuli Marquetry Tourbillon

High Jewellery Altiplano Lapis Lazuli Marquetry Tourbillon  Piaget

Hard stone marquetry comes to the Altiplano collection, which is an ambassador for the artistic crafts. To produce this sizeable work, Piaget naturally turned to the master craftsman Herve Obligi who has shown off his expertise to the full by creating a sumptuous dial in lapis lazuli. He played with colour tones to produce a tourbillon motif that echoes the flying tourbillon seen in the upper half of the dial. The silvered hour markers match the 41mm case in white gold, which is set with 48 baguette diamonds and 265 brilliant cut diamonds. This artisanal masterpiece beats to the tune of a high-precision mechanical ultra-thin manually wound calibre.  Cloe Mugny

Vacheron Constantin : Metiers dArt Les Aerostiers

Metiers d'Art Les Aerostiers - Bagnols 1785 et Paris 1784  Vacheron Constantin

One of my favorite watches at this years SIHH 2018 hails from Vacheron Constantin, in the form of the Metiers dArt Les Aerostiers. Now, I need to preface this selection by saying that I dont love every execution, but several of the versions  with bold turquoise, blue or red dials  are simply entrancing. Each mechanical watch is equipped with an original time display on either dragging or jumping disks, but it is the ornamental dial of a balloon in flight that reminds me of the balloon rides I took over the mountains in Gstaad or Albuquerque, NM. Each dial features a colorful plique-a-jour enamel background and has a fully sculpted and engraved hot air balloon in the center. The magic of flight  on the wrist.  Roberta Naas

Van Cleef & Arpels : Lady Arpels Planetarium, a feminine vision of the cosmos

Lady Arpels Planetarium  Van Cleef & Arpels

Being poetic in nature this brand has an instant connect with women. Beautiful expression of the Cosmos sitting on a wrist is how we best can describe Lady Arpels Planetarium. Powered by an automatic movement with a 40-hour power reserve, this watch illustrates the Sun and the closest planets: Mercury, Venus and finally Earth, along with its natural satellite, the Moon. Each heavenly body moves at its actual speed, orbiting the dial in 88 days for Mercury, 224 days for Venus and 365 days for Earth. In a key innovation for this piece, the Moon itself rotates around the Earth in 29.5 days, performing a visible celestial ballet on the dial, day after day.

The 38 mm case is set with diamonds on the bezel and sides of the case. The dial enriches the planetary spectacle with a shooting star in rhodium-plated gold, showing the time with poetic grace. On the back of the watch, two apertures display the day, month and year, all surrounded by an enchanting decor.

This magical timepiece comes with two bracelets: a blue glitter alligator strap to match the dial, and a bracelet entirely set with diamonds for a High Jewelry design.  Anita Khatri
Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry will hold talks with his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu in Cairo on Wednesday as part of meetings by a high-level joint cooperation committee.

The ministerial talks of the sixth meeting of the joint Egyptian-Ethiopian Higher Committee will set the stage for discussions between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn this week.

The last meeting of the committee was held three years ago.

The new round will tackle regional and international political developments as well as discuss means of boosting bilateral economic, social and artistic ties, Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The talks will also involve the signing of multiple memorandums of understanding, with officials from the ministries of trade, investment, irrigation, tourism and electricity to attend.

Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia heightened in recent years over Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, which Egypt worries could reduce its share of Nile water.

Ethiopia, which aims to become Africas biggest power exporter, says the dam will not have a negative impact on Egypt.

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Martin Lendway was pinned under a pickup truck on the freeway when he removed a cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911. The California Highway Patrol officer calmly told dispatchers where to find him and that he thought his legs were broken, which doctors would later confirm.

Then, as bystanders worked to move the truck off his legs, he waited.

Lendway, an eight-year veteran of the force, was responding to a noninjury traffic collision Monday evening on Highway 4 in Concord, when Tammy Peggy Louise Walker, 52, slammed her Chevrolet Trailblazer into Lendways motorcycle and the back of a Ford truck, setting off a six-car collision, the CHP said. The crash crushed the officers legs, but he escaped mostly unbroken.

Lendway was transported to a hospital that night and underwent surgery Tuesday. He is expected to make a full recovery.

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Martin Lendway is a fantastic CHP officer, a hard-core former Marine, and he has the will to survive, CHP Officer Brandon Correia said. It was not going to be his day (Monday). Hes the type of guy that we would have taken his place in a second.

Walker was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on two counts of felony DUI causing great bodily injury, vehicular reckless driving and assault on a peace officer. Additionally, she faces charges for driving on a suspended license for a prior DUI conviction that caused great bodily injury, according to the CHP. Shes being held on $215,000 bail.

The incident marks a bloody month for CHP officers in the Bay Area, as Lendway became the third patrolman in 22 days to be involved in an accident caused by a motorist suspected of driving under the influence.

On Christmas Eve, Officer Andrew Camilleri Sr. was assigned to a maximum enforcement patrol for drunken drivers and speeders. Sitting alongside his partner, Jonathan Velasquez, Camilleri was parked on the shoulder of a freeway when a driver slammed into the back of their car.

Mohammed Abraar Ali, a 22-year-old from Hayward, smashed into their vehicle at approximately 11:20 p.m, injuring Velasquez and killing Camilleri, prosecutors said. Ali was arraigned Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court on five felony counts, including second-degree murder, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and recklessly driving at speeds over 100 mph.

Camilleri left behind a wife and three children. Velasquez was released from the hospital shortly after the incident.

The threat of getting injured or killed while conducting stops and responding to accidents on freeways is a routine risk for CHP patrol officers. Since 2010, 11 CHP officers have been killed on the job. In three of those incidents, an officer was killed by an erratic driver while responding to either a collision or traffic stop.

Anybody thats traveling 65 mph is traveling over 90 feet per second. Thats a lot of kinetic energy traveling down the highway, CHP Officer John Fransen said. We are vulnerable and exposed.

Often, CHP officers try to take drivers involved in a crash or a traffic stop off the freeway, Correia said, but sometimes thats impossible.

You have to do the best you can, he said.

Around 6:15 p.m. Monday, Lendway was responding to a noninjury crash involving a silver Lexus and black Ford truck on eastbound Highway 4 at Port Chicago Highway. His motorcycle was parked behind the two cars, the CHP said, when Walkers vehicle veered off the road and catapulted the truck toward the officer, partly landing on him and pinning him to the ground, authorities said.

Lendway had followed standard protocol by parking behind the truck, and there was at least 50 feet between him and the truck when the crash happened, Correia said.

Two other vehicles, a Dodge Ram and Subaru Legacy, swerved and collided with one another in an attempt to avoid hitting Lendways motorcycle, which was pushed into the roadway, the CHP said. No other injuries were reported.

Lendway is married and has two teenage sons, Correia said.

You would hope that it would give a renewed awareness to this topic and people would make better choices, Fransen said.

We really need people to be alert and have all their faculties so that not only can they keep the motoring public safe, but we want to get home to our significant others and our family and our friends.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Cant match your mug to a work of art while firing up Googles Arts & Culture app in San Antonio? Blame it on a Lone Star law that looks to have taken all the fun out of matching your selfie to whats hanging in a museum.

The Arts & Culture app is enjoying a downloading renaissance, topping both the Android and iOS freebie charts, thanks to a new feature that uses a photo of yourself to find your long-lost twin portrait from art hanging in more than 1,200 museums. Results have gone viral, with quite the hilarious array of side-by-side hits and misses exhibited all over social media.

Unfortunately for Texans, that selfie feature is not available on apps within Texas. Google likely has steered clear of offering the feature due to the states biometrics law.

Basically, Business and Commerce Code Chapter 503 forbids the collection of peoples biometric identifiers, such as retina scans, fingerprints and face scans, without their consent. The law states violators are subject to a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each violation.

Google would have to treat the biometric data that its capturing from Texas residents differently to comply with the statute, said Debra Innocenti-Placette, a San Antonio attorney who has an emphasis in technology transactions. And that gets to be very difficult for large companies that are getting waves of this type of data.

Its easier for Google to say, Were just not going to take data from those states, said Drue Placette, Debras husband and CEO of MassVenture, a San Antonio-based crowdfunding platform for tech startups.

The Arts & Culture apps selfie feature also is not available in Illinois, which has a similar biometrics law, though you can download the app in Illinois as well as in Texas minus that feature.

So how does this differ from, say, unlocking an iPhone X with your face using Face ID? Innocenti-Placette said such biometric information doesnt apply to the Texas and Illinois laws because its only stored locally on the device.

Apple or Microsoft or whomever doesnt have access to it, she said. Its just used as a key to your device.

There is a workaround to accessing the Arts & Culture art-selfie feature regardless of your location.

Drue Placette said the app users in Texas and Illinois could simply use a virtual private network or VPN app on their device and pick a different state for an IP address (though Innocenti-Placette noted doing this may violate Googles terms of use for the Arts & Culture app). The Arts & Culture app will then think its operating elsewhere and voila, you should be able to spot your most picturesque doppelganger.

rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
Hundreds gathered on Monday at the grave of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser to mark his birthday 100 years ago, surrounding his family members and leaders of Nasserist parties who continue to defend his legacy. Many came from Arab countries, including Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Algeria and Yemen, dubbing Nasser the champion of Arab unity.

There were also dozens of ordinary Egyptians who came carrying black and white photos of the charismatic leader waving to the masses or with a close-up of his shining eyes that added to his charisma. One man spoke directly to his grave. Where are you Nasser? We need you so much nowadays. We the poor have no one to defend us, he said.

In Egypt and the rest of the Arab world, there is one common factor which binds those who gathered to mark the birth of Nasser: mostly elderly people who still remember what they considered to be glories of the past. Considering that Nasser passed away nearly 50 years ago, on 28 September 1970, the new generations of younger Egyptians hardly know much about the late leader.

According to the latest population census, nearly 70 per cent of Egyptians are less than 35 years old, and those younger generations were not part of Nassers struggles, wars or controversies. Thus, there were hardly any young people at many celebrations held this week by the government and Nasserist political leaders to mark the occasion.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi delivered a speech on Monday, praising Nasser as the leader of national independence who placed Egypt at the centre of international attention through his support of international liberation movements in the Arab world, Africa, Asia and even Latin America. Al-Sisi also reminded Egyptians of Nassers record as the man who fought for social justice, free education and free healthcare.

Whether you like Nasser or hate Nasser, theres one thing you cant dispute, says Abdallah Al-Senawi, 65, a prominent Nasserist writer who strongly defends the late leader. He rewrote Egypts history in a way that no one can ignore, and he will always be remembered, whether 100 years after his birth or 200 years after his birth.

Nasser will always be remembered as the political leader who changed the course of history in Egypt by overthrowing the long-established monarchy on 23 July 1952, and engraving his name as the first Egyptian to rule the country in thousands of years. But sharp differences over the consequences over this move and Nassers record will also likely remain forever.

For Al-Senawi and leaders of the Nasserist Karama Party, Nasser was the champion of Egypts independence from British occupation, the man of the poor who radically shifted social and economic relations through land reform laws and nationalisation of private businesses, and who led the confrontation against Israels occupation of Palestine.

However, each of these achievements was seen as a disaster by those who oppose Nasser and those who were harmed by his economic policies. Big landowners whose massive properties were confiscated, foreigners who were forced to leave Egypt and liberal politicians whose political parties were shut down by a presidential decree in 1954, hold deep grievances towards Nasser. Supporters of turning Egypt into a democracy, even if they call for social justice, will never forgive Nasser for establishing what they describe as a security state where security agencies had the upper hand, preventing citizens from speaking freely and banning political parties for many years.

Even after former president Anwar Al-Sadat allowed the return of political parties in 1977 while seeking to reverse Nassers policies and alliances from the socialist former Soviet Union to the United States, this remained a cosmetic change. Both Sadat and former president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, maintained the rule of the single party and sole leader that marked Nassers era. Mubarak was forcibly removed from office following a popular revolt against his rule on 25 January 2011.

The timeline on social media websites Facebook and Twitter clearly reflected the deep divisions over Nassers legacy. Of course we have to celebrate Nassers record, especially that he never won a single war he fought, commented one man sarcastically.

Even hardline supporters of Nasser, such as Al-Senawi, cannot deny that the biggest blow to Nasser, if not the practical end of his ambitious projects, was Egypts defeat by Israel on 5 June 1967. Besides the humiliating defeat of Egypts army in only six days and Israels occupation of Sinai, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syrias Golan Heights, what made the defeat much worse for Al-Senawis generation was the extremely high sense of expectation that the war would be more like a picnic, and that Egypts victory was near certain.

Nassers control over the media, mainly through nationalisation of all the private press turned them into a propaganda tool, conveying only positive messages to Egyptians. While Israel destroyed all of Egypts fighter jets while they laid on the tarmac hours after the war broke out on 5 June 1967, the government press was claiming that Egyptian air defences downed dozens of Israeli planes, and that the army was pressing its way towards Tel Aviv.

The shock was very hard for anyone to absorb, admits Maasoum Marzouk, a former army officer and diplomat who supports Nasser. However, what was fascinating was the way Egyptians refused defeat, and called it a setback, after which we resumed building our army and the fight against Israel until victory was achieved in 1973, Marzouk added.

A two-day workshop was held at the Nasserist Karama Party last week, with dozens of experts from Egypt and other Arab countries taking part to discuss how to revive Nassers project while coping with modern times. Certainly we need to benefit from Nassers policies favouring the poor and social justice. Yet, we also have to admit his mistakes, while putting them into context, Marzouk added.

At the Karama workshop, Mohamed Said Idriss of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic studies, said Nassers shortcomings have to be taken within the historic context of the period during which he ruled Egypt. Idriss argued that the model Nasser presented was not uncommon during the era of liberation movements and the Cold War between the US and the former Soviet Union. When we had one war after the other against Israel, it made sense to place control over the media and public freedoms. But right now, many years later, democracy and human rights must be at the core of any attempt to revive Nassers legacy, said Idriss.

We need Nassers commitment to the Arab world, his pride in Egypts independence and defence of the countrys poor. But we also need to stress democracy and the rule of law, especially that it is unlikely that we will see a charismatic leader such as Nasser anytime soon in Egypt or the rest of the Arab world.

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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A remarkable story inspired 12 Strong, but the remarkable story actually told by 12 Strong is a different remarkable story. Maybe the story is slightly different, and maybe its a lot different, but one thing is for sure  it happens to different characters.

For a movie like this, an inspirational historical drama, this is a bit of a problem, because half the satisfaction comes from knowing (or believing) that everything on screen is at least grounded in fact. But in 12 Strong, its all dramatized. Chris Hemsworth plays a character based on a real person, but the other American soldiers are fictional, which means the incidents and the details of the battles are fictional, too.

At least this much is true: In the early days of the Afghanistan War, with the World Trade Center wreckage still smoldering in downtown Manhattan, a group of 12 Special Forces guys joined with a horseback unit of the Northern Alliance, led by Gen. Abdul Dostum. Vastly outnumbered, they still sent the Taliban and al Qaeda into retreat. This story is the subject of the book, Horse Soldiers, by Doug Stanton, which formed the basis of the film.

Hemsworth is Nelson, a captain newly transferred to desk duty, when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 take place. He immediately asks to go into combat, forms a team of equally hearty soldiers, and lands what his superiors think is next-door to a suicide mission. Like him, his men cant wait to get into the action. These are seriously tough guys.

The logistics of the battle scenes have some interest, in that two sides are oddly matched. The Americans and the Northern Alliance fighters just have guns, while the Taliban and al Qaeda have guns, rocket launchers and tanks. However, the Americans also have planes in the sky that can drop missiles. These are the most powerful weapons, capable of inflicting tremendous damage, but theyre blunt instruments that have a way of missing entire armies. So lots of fighting has to be done on the ground.

Chris Hemsworth is, as always, appealing, and Michael Shannon, as the radio operator, plays a nice guy for once, and it suits him. Best of all is Navid Negahban (Abu Nazir on Homeland) as the real-life character Gen. Dostum, presented here as a philosopher-warrior, prone to pronouncements such as Your mission will fail because you fear death.

But the movie is long, too long at 130 minutes, and the battle scenes are difficult to follow. This may sound like a ridiculous complaint, but the problem is complicated by the fact that neither the Northern Alliance nor the Taliban wore uniforms. Combine that with quick cutting, and just about the only time you can be absolutely sure which side youre looking at is if someone is driving a tank or detonating a suicide vest.

Gradually, the sameness and the impenetrability of the scenes wear the audience down. And once you know that youre exerting all this effortful attention to follow battle scenes that probably didnt happen, the whole enterprise hardly seems worth the trouble. It also doesnt help that the Afghanistan conflict doesnt feel like history yet, nor quite like a victory yet. So its difficult to get into the celebratory spirit.

Still it might be enough that 12 Strong makes you feel good that the United States still produces guys like this. Too bad we didnt get to know about the real guys and their actual story.

Mick LaSalle is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

12 Strong

Drama. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Navid Negahban. (R. 130 minutes.)
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With 10 Agatha Christie plays under her belt, director Aprille Meek decided to tackle the legendary mystery writer's most famous creation, Hercule Poirot, with "Black Coffee" through Jan. 29 at Clear Creek Community Theatre.

"It is the first play Agatha Christie ever wrote strictly as a play," said Meek, a Clear Lake resident who works as an executive producer at FOX 26 Houston.

It was originally produced in 1930 and launched the novelist's second career as a successful playwright, Meek said.

The late Christie preferred that Poirot, "the world's greatest detective," exist in the imagination of her readers, rather than be "personified" on stage or screen by an actor.

"Also, she just didn't like him," said Meek, who recently asked herself, "Am I ready to cast him?"

Meek decided that the theater's 53rd season entertaining Bay Area audiences was ideal, and she prepared actor Sean DeFlora, to play the role.

"We talked together about the meticulous and gentle and naturally funny parts of the character, and we decided to emphasize his funnier moments in the play," Meek said.

For example, when the character of Caroline Amory, played by Julia Jay of Pasadena, yammers on and on as Poirot attempts to interview her about a case, Poirot must temper a groan with a show of enthusiasm when she says something that's actually important.

Other cast members include David Blystone as Tredwell, C. Alane Johnson (Lucia Amory), Jeff Coletta and Pat Monks (Richard Amory), Chelse Tillman (Barbara Amory), Bob Peeples (Sir Claud Amory), Bernie Sandner (Raynor), Bob Townsend (Dr. Carell), Steven Sarp (Captain Hastings), Mark Stanley (Inspector Japp) and Patrick Collins as both Dr. Graham and Constable Johnson.

"In the first act, an eminent scientist has created the formula for an atomic bomb, but he discovers that somebody has stolen it from his safe," Meek said. "He gathers everyone in the house into his study, locks the door and says, 'The thief has to be one of you.' "

Unwise use of honor system

The scientist turns off the lights so that the thief may return the formula, no questions asked. But when the lights are turned back on, there is no formula to be seen and Sir Claud is dead.

"Hercule Poirot with Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard are called in to solve the crime," Meek said. "The rest of the play is about the investigation of who killed the scientist and why."

Meek challenges the actors to convince someone in the audience that he or she is the perpetrator.

"They are all suspects," said Meek. "I travel the lobby during each intermission, asking members of the audience who they think did it. Trying to guess 'whodunit' is a tradition."

There are two 10-minute intermissions in each performance of the three-act play.

The director met her husband, John Meek, when both were students at the University of Texas.

John Meek was employed by Houston's PBS station, Channel 8, before opening his own television production company.

The couple's son, Robert Meek, directed William Shakespeare's violent drama "Titus Andronicus" last summer at CCCT, followed by a decidedly realistic version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" during the holiday season.

Performances of "Black Coffee" began Jan. 12 and will continue through Jan. 29, at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are on sale at http://bit.ly/2DkqTeG or call (281) 335-5228 for reservations. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 students and seniors, with group rates available.

Clear Creek Community Theatre is at 18091 Upper Bay Road in Nassau Bay.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
A man has been arrested after his 16-month-old child wandered off without supervision, according to Laredo police.

Juan Juarez Pina, 48, was charged with abandoning, endangering a child by criminal negligence. He was released on bond Wednesday from the Webb County Jail.
New comparative polling data shows that the American and Russian publics broadly agree on the importance of a number of key foreign policy issues, including the threat posed by international terrorism and nuclear proliferation, as well as the need to bring a long-running civil war in Syria to an end.

However, there were important differences in views on priorities for foreign policy cooperation between the two nations - as well as a noteworthy split on concern about North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The polling data, published by Chicago Council of Global Affairs with the help of Russian polling firm Levada Center, was compiled at a time when relations between Washington and Moscow have sunk to a post-Cold War low, with tensions between the two nations exacerbated by allegations of electoral interference, as well as disputes over Syria, Ukraine and more.

Separate polling data released by the Chicago Council in 2016 found that American opinion of Russia had fallen to its lowest level in 30 years.

Despite the standoff between the countries, the data suggests that residents of both the United States and Russia do have similar views on the biggest threats to their nation. When asked to choose critical threats faced by their country, 70 percent of Russians listed international terrorism, followed by Islamic fundamentalism and concerns about the spread of nuclear weapons (52 percent each).

These figures mirror closely American concerns, with 75 percent of Americans considering international terrorism a critical threat to the nation, while 59 percent were concerned about Islamic fundamentalism and 62 percent were concerned about nuclear proliferation.

There was a big split, however, in views of North Korea's nuclear program, where only 37 percent of Russians listed it as a critical threat, while 75 percent of Americans did.

It's not necessarily a surprise that Americans and Russians would feel strongly about these issues, irrespective of their own differences. Both the United States and Russia have been the target of international terror plots in recent years, many of which have been perpetrated by groups driven by Islamic fundamentalism like the Islamic State. The two nations both hold by far the largest nuclear arsenals in the world and have cooperated on nonproliferation in the past - though groups like the Arms Control Association say these efforts have stalled in the past few years.

The United States and Russia view North Korea's missiles differently, however, due to their differing relations with the government in Pyongyang. North Korea has explicitly stated that its weapons program is only designed to deal with the United States and in recent years Moscow has been accused of illicitly supporting North Korea.

The Chicago Council and Levada also polled on what priorities Americans and Russians would have for any potential cooperation on foreign policy between their two nations. Here, the splits in public opinion between the two nations became more apparent.

For Russians, the most important factors were reducing the number of nuclear weapons worldwide (27 percent), followed by ending the conflict in Syria (24 percent), and combating terrorism in the Middle East (18 percent). Americans, on the other hand, chose North Korea's nuclear weapons program as the greatest a priority for collaboration with Russia with a plurality of 38 percent among nine possible areas of cooperation, compared to just 14 percent for nuclear nonproliferation in general.

Support for making cooperation in Syria and in combating terrorism in the Middle East the top area of cooperation with Russia also lagged behind, with just 5 and 6 percent of Americans choosing these issues, respectively

Both Americans and Russians do have somewhat similar views of what their aim should be in Syria, however. Polling data from the Chicago Council has found that while a majority of Americans (68 percent) support using airstrikes against violent Islamic extremist groups in Syria, only 45 percent support conducting airstrikes against forces loyal to Bashar Assad and just 28 percent want to use ground troops to force Assad from power.

The Russian military is allied with Assad's forces in Syria, but only 27 percent of Russians favored using their troops to prevent him from being overthrown and 48 percent support using Russian troops to fight violent extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. In general, though, there appears to be a lack of enthusiasm for the Syrian war - the poll found 33 percent of Russians who thought their involvement in the conflict had brought more harm than good, compared to 31 percent who felt it had brought more good and 37 percent who said it had brought neither.

Americans' widespread skepticism of Russia and Putin represent another central obstacle to international cooperation. Last year the Pew Research Center found 23 percent of Americans had confidence in Putin to do the right thing regarding world affairs. And 6 in 10 Americans thought Russia tried to influence the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in 2016, according to a July Washington Post-ABC News poll. Russians are not as leery of Trump - 53 percent expressed confidence in his handling of world affairs during his first months in office, compared with 11 percent who had confidence in Barack Obama while he was president.

The Chicago Council conducted its poll between Dec. 1 and Dec. 3 using GfK Custom Research's national online omnibus service, Knowledge Panel, to speak to a nationally weighted sample of approximately 1,000 American adults over the age of 18 who lived in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

Levada, one of Russia's oldest and most well-respected polling companies, held its own poll of Russians between Dec. 1 and Dec. 5 with face-to-face interviews of a representative sample of 1,602 Russians aged 18 of over, living in eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

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The Washington Post's Scott Clement contributed to this post
Ethiopias Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu arrived in Cairo early Wednesday from Addis Abba to hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry as part of a diplomatic cooperation committee between the two countries, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

According to Al-Ahram Arabic website, Shoukry and Gebeyehu will discuss the latest developments regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Gebeyehu arrived as the head of a ministerial delegation that includes the Ethiopian ministers of trade, health, investment, irrigation and electricity.

Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia heightened in recent years over the construction of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, which Egypt worries could reduce its share of Nile water.

Ethiopia, which aims to become Africas biggest electricity exporter, says the dam will not have a negative impact on Egypt.

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LONDON - The passengers stepping off the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany, last month head straight for the passport-scanning machines that allow European residents to enter Britain quickly and without any human interaction.

A lone figure in a black hoodie and jeans breaks off from the pack.

"Too many biometric details," says Andy Muller-Maguhn, eyeing the cameras on the timesaving devices.

He has come here, as he does most months, to meet with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the world's most controversial purveyor of government secrets. For most of the past six years, Assange has been confined to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, fearful that if he leaves he will be extradited to the United States for prosecution under the Espionage Act. Ecuador recently granted Assange citizenship, but British officials said he is still subject to arrest if he leaves the embassy.

Muller-Maguhn is one of Assange's few connections to the outside world. He typically brings Assange books, clothes or movies. Once in 2016, he delivered a thumb drive that he says contained personal messages for the WikiLeaks founder, who for security reasons has stopped using email.

These visits have caught the attention of U.S. and European spy chiefs, who have struggled to understand how Assange's organization operates and how exactly WikiLeaks came to possess a trove of hacked Democratic Party emails that the group released at key moments in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The three major U.S. intelligence agencies - the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency - assessed "with high confidence" that Russia relayed to WikiLeaks material it had hacked from the Democratic National Committee and senior Democratic officials. And last year, then-FBI Director James B. Comey said that the bureau believes the transfer was made using a "cut-out," or a human intermediary or a series of intermediaries.

Exactly how the Russians delivered the email trove to WikiLeaks is the subject of an ongoing examination by U.S. and European intelligence officials. As part of their effort to understand the group's operations, these officials have taken an intense interest in Muller-Maguhn, who visits Assange monthly, U.S. officials said.

Muller-Maguhn insists that he was never in possession of the material before it was put online and that he did not transport it.

"That would be insane," he says.

U.S. officials who once dismissed WikiLeaks as a little more than an irritating propaganda machine and Assange as an antiestablishment carnival barker now take a far darker view of the group.

"It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a nonstate hostile intelligence service," CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in the spring after the group released documents describing CIA hacking tools.In December, he doubled down on that assessment, describing WikiLeaks as a national security threat and suggesting that Assange cannot protect those who pass him state secrets.

"He ought to be a bit less confident about that," Pompeo said.

In an interview at the Ecuadoran Embassy last month, Assange insisted that Muller-Maguhn never possessed the hacked DNC emails and blasted Pompeo's statementsas "very strange and bombastic."

Muller-Maguhn is more cautious. "How many of you wouldn't be scared s---less by the head of the CIA declaring you the next target?" he asks.

The 46-year-old hacker moves through Heathrow Airport like a man who knows that powerful governments are tracking his every move. A Washington Post reporter travels with him as he goes through passport control.

He switches off his cellphone, fearful that British immigration officials have technology that can steal his data. Muller-Maguhn could enter the United Kingdom with his German identification card but prefers to use his passport. "The ID card has my address on it," he says.

A heavy-set immigration officer looks over Muller-Maguhn's passport and stares for several seconds at a computer screen.

"Why are you in the U.K?" he asks.

"I'm visiting people," Muller-Maguhn replies.

The officer pecks at his computer. Necks crane to catch a glimpse of the man clad in all black who is holding up the normally brisk line of passengers headed to early morning business meetings.

After a few minutes, the officer waves through Muller-Maguhn, who is walking toward the exit when the officer remembers one last question.

"Sir, sir, where are you traveling from again?" he shouts.

"Frankfurt," Muller-Maguhn replies.

And with that he is gone. Behind him, the immigration officer is still typing. The travelers who briefly took notice of Muller-Maguhn are back staring at their phones or marching toward their destinations. Muller-Maguhn heads for the Heathrow Express into London.

- - -

The roots of Muller-Maguhn's relationship with Assange trace back to his teenage years in the 1980s when his walk to school in Hamburg took him past of the offices of the Chaos Computer Club.

The group embodied postwar Germany's anti-fascist convictions and the hacker underground's libertarian ethos. Now the largest hacker club in Europe, it bills itself as "a galactic community of life forms independent of age, sex, race or society orientation that strives across borders for freedom of information."

Muller-Maguhn soon became a friend, confidant and adviser to the group's founder, Wau Holland. "They were like a strange couple," said Peter Glaser, a club member, journalist and friend of both men. "Andy was very young and behaved like an adult, and Wau was older and behaved like a child."

Muller-Maguhn later parlayed his interest in computers and surveillance into a business he co-founded in 2003 making encrypted phones. He had hoped to sell the phones to journalists and dissidents but quickly discovered that military and intelligence agencies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were the only clients who understood the technology and were willing to pay for it.

"This was during the time I was following the path of capitalism," he said with a smile during one of several lengthy interviews in Berlin.

Muller-Maguhn spent 10 years selling the phones before leaving the company. "You can imagine, I know really strange people in really strange places," he adds. These days, Muller-Maguhn says, he runs a data center that hosts websites and manages email for businesses. He also works as a security consultant, helping companies and governments safeguard their secrets. One of his clients is in China, a state known for its suppression of the internet and its surveillance of dissidents.

By Muller-Maguhn's calculus, the nominally communist government is less prone to violence overseas and less of a threat than the United States is. "They don't have the wish to apply their standards to the rest of the planet or have others dance to their music," he says. "So there's a big difference."

In recent years, Muller-Maguhn's consulting and advocacy work has carried him all over the world, including Moscow, where in 2016 and 2017 he attended a security conference organized by the Russian Defense Ministry.

On his way into London for his meeting with Assange, Muller-Maguhn casually mentions that he is just back from a three-day trip to Brazil.

"It was business-related," he says, declining to elaborate.

Muller-Maguhn hops out of a cab in Knightsbridge, a posh section of London that's home to Harrods department store, the Ecuadoran Embassy and Assange. On this cold December day, the stores are decked out for the Christmas season. Muller-Maguhn raises a camera with a telephoto lens and aims it at a building down the street from the brick embassy where Assange has been holed up since 2012.

The shutter on his Nikon camera clicks as he snaps a few shots, hoping to spot surveillance equipment pointed at Assange and the embassy. Women in fur coats rush by him as Bentleys and Rolls-Royces roll past on the busy road. Muller-Maguhn moves down the sidewalk to get a better angle, takes some more pictures and then slings the Nikon over his shoulder.

Farther down the block and closer to the embassy, he points up toward an apartment building where he suspects that the Spaniards, angry about Assange's tweets in support of Catalan separatists, may have set up a surveillance team.

Then he bounds up the steps of the building that houses the Ecuadoran Embassy, takes one last glance over his shoulder and rings the bell of the front door, where a guard immediately recognizes him and welcomes him inside.

Muller-Maguhn met Assange through the Chaos Computer Club in 2007 when the WikiLeaks founder was seeking support for his then-fledgling organization.

In those early days, Assange described his creation as a group committed to the mission of publishing original source material so citizens of the world could see "evidence of the truth" about global corporations and their governments.

Just past the doors to the embassy, a guard asks Muller-Maguhn to turn over all electronic devices: cameras, mobile phones, as well as his watch and car keys.

"The last time, they even looked into the fruit I was bringing," Muller-Maguhn says. "These guys have their job. They have their instructions. So I am not complaining."

Since WikiLeaks' early days, Assange's circle of contacts has contracted significantly. Some allies, such as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who first invited Assange to the Chaos Computer Club and signed on as WikiLeaks' spokesman, broke with WikiLeaks in 2010 after Assange released hundreds of thousands of pages of U.S. military documents without redacting the names of local Afghans who had helped the military and could be targeted by the Taliban. Other backers were put off by Assange's legal troubles and allegations of sexual assault in Sweden or his Manichaean view of the world.

Still others alleged that the group allowed itself to be used as a tool by the Russians in their campaign to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"Look, he has messed up with so many people, I have no idea how many people he has left as friends," Muller-Maguhn says.

Assange continues to fear that he will be prosecuted by the United States and as a result is afraid to leave the embassy, saying that doing so would lead to his extradition. The Justice Department is considering a case against him, according to people familiar with the matter. Several months ago, Domscheit-Berg said, the FBI sought an interview with him in connection with a long-running grand jury investigation of WikiLeaks' publication of State Department cables. Domscheit-Berg said in an interview that he rebuffed the request. "No matter the differences that Julian and I had, I'm not going to talk to anybody about what happened," he said.

- - -

As WikiLeaks has contracted and Assange has retreated from public view, it has become harder for Western intelligence agencies to get a sense of how the group operates. An internal CIA report from November said the U.S. intelligence community has "gained few good insights into WikiLeaks' inner workings." The agency predicted that Assange's negative views of Washington would lead the group to continue to "disproportionately" target the United States.

Former WikiLeaks supporters say the group is governed by Assange's whims. "The way to think of it is always just chaos," said one former WikiLeaks activist who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a frank opinion and avoid retribution from Assange. "There aren't any systems. There aren't any procedures - no formal roles, no working hours. It's all just Julian and whatever he feels like."

During the 2016 campaign, Assange put out word that he wanted material on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. "He was kind of asking everybody, 'Can we get something for the election?' " Muller-Maguhn recalls.

Assange signs off on all WikiLeaks publications but does not review everything that comes to the group. "For security reasons, he does not want that," Muller-Maguhn says. Muller-Maguhn, though, is vague about WikiLeaks' internal workings.

A former WikiLeaks associate said Muller-Maguhn and a colleague oversaw submissions through WikiLeaks' anonymous submission server in 2016 - although Muller-Maguhn denies such involvement.

Asked to explain the submission review process, he replies, "I don't want to."

The only reliable way to contact Assange, he says, is through Direct Message on Twitter. "He seems to live on Twitter," adds Muller-Maguhn, who doesn't hide his disdain for the platform. "On Twitter you follow people, and that's what German history forbids you to do," he says.

The size of WikiLeaks' staff and its finances are also murky. Neither Muller-Maguhn nor Assange will say how many people work for the group or where they are located. "It seems to be a rather small team," Muller-Maguhn says.

WikiLeaks has amassed a stash of bitcoin, a digital currency that enables anonymous, bank-free transactions. As of this week, the stockpile is worth about $18 million, although in late December, with the currency's spike in value, the group was sitting on $25 million, according to public online ledgers that record such transactions. Over the past several years, the Wau Holland Foundation, which was started in 2003 after the founder of the Chaos Computer Club died, collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for Assange's group.

Muller-Maguhn sits on the board of the foundation, which seeks to promote "freedom of information and civil courage in various forms." He says the foundation has provided support for some of WikiLeaks' releases, such as last year's "Vault 7" disclosure of CIA hacking tools.

He describes the Vault 7 releases as a public service, adding that the CIA was "messing up other people's computers and making it look like someone else had done it."

To Assange, any suggestion that Muller-Maguhn may have served as an intermediary to deliver the DNC emails is "a lame attempt" by U.S. intelligence agencies to hurt the Wau Holland Foundation, which is a key conduit for tax-free donations in Europe.

The threat is all the more significant because the only other source of tax-exempt donations, the U.S.-based Freedom of the Press Foundation, has cut ties to WikiLeaks.

Muller-Maguhn says he cannot say with certainty what was on the USB drive that he delivered to Assange. "How can I prove what was on there?" he says. "I cannot." But he adds that it would be risky and impractical to deliver sensitive files by hand, rather than through encrypted channels.

"A classical walk-in? You saw too many movies from the 1970s," he says.

These days, Muller-Maguhn describes his visits to the embassy as motivated by an increasingly rare commodity in Assange's world: friendship. Assange's visitors include celebrities, such as actress Pamela Anderson, and politicians, such as Nigel Farage, a vocal advocate for Britain's exit from the European Union, and Dana Rohrabacher, a GOP congressman from California.

When he talks to visitors, Assange turns on a white noise generator in the embassy conference room to counter listening devices. Above the door, he points out a surveillance camera and indicates that sensitive messages should be communicated only via handwritten notes, shielding the text from the camera with a hand or notepad cover.

On July 3, 2016, Muller-Maguhn visited Assange at the embassy to celebrate Assange's 45th birthday. Inside the brick building, Ecuadoran children, dressed in traditional garb, serenaded Assange with little guitars and pipe flutes.

As the children sang, Muller-Maguhn's mind flashed forward.

"I had this s---ty impression of me standing there watching 50-year-olds making music for us, and Julian would still be there," he said.

After about two hours inside the embassy last month, Muller-Maguhn emerges from the building, carrying his black leather satchel, stuffed with documents, and his Nikon camera. He quickly makes his way through the Christmas crowds and back to Heathrow Airport for an evening flight home to Germany.

He tries to minimize his time in Britain. "I don't like to stay overnight in a country that is hostile toward me," he says.

- - -

Jaffe reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Greg Miller, Rachel Weiner and Julie Tate in Washington, Karla Adam in London and Stefan Pauly in Berlin contributed to this report.
They just missed the turn. Luis Mora, a 20-year-old student at the University of California at Berkeley, and his girlfriend were driving home from a birthday party near San Diego on their recentwinter break. It was dark, and they didn't know the road.

Just past the turn toward home, they realized they were lost, and saw blinking lights. His girlfriend pulled over. It was a Border Patrol checkpoint, about 30 miles from the Mexican border.

When the officer learned Luis Angel Mora Villota was not in the United States legally, he asked Mora to step out of the car, snapped handcuffs on him and told him he was under arrest.

It was the moment that many students from other countries, in the United States illegally, dread. It was a moment that set off a wave of activism, with students, community members, U.S. senators and other political leaders trying to help the student.

And it was a moment that symbolized one of the sharpest divides in this polarized country: Should a bright and hard-working young person be forced out? Or should the law be enforced fairly for all, to deter illegal immigration and keep our country safer?

"A lot of students are wondering how dangerous the situation is," said Valeria Suarez, a third-year student at Berkeley, who co-chairs a student group that helps immigrants and has worked on deportation defense funds in the community. It was a shock, she said, that the person needing help this time was a classmate.

At this point, Mora said, he's just hoping his case will showthat immigration laws need to be fixed. After so many years of trying to achieve legal status, he has concluded that no matter how much effort you put in and how resourceful you are at navigating the complicated process, "at the end, at the very end, it's just out of luck. It's just whether the algorithm picks you."

Mora was brought to the United States by his mother when he was a child.

He was born in Colombia, but spent most of his childhood in Ecuador. When he was 11, he and his mother, who was a doctor and a missionary, came to California, legally, to help care for family members who were sick. He didn't know the other, perhaps more important, reason for the journey until years later.

One day, she gave him school supplies and a backpack, and told him he was going to start school that day with his cousins.

And when their six-month visa expired in 2009, they stayed.

He was too young to understand, and didn't know until he was in high school, that they had left Ecuador because his mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She did not have much hope of survival, but in the United States, she knew, she would be able to get better medical care.

Mora studied hard, and had to grow up quickly; at 12, he was preparing the family's tax returns.

And his mother, with good care, did survive. But as he finished high school, Mora and his mother believed they had little choice but to return to Ecuador. The day after his graduation, they went to church and said farewell. A friend told them about a California law that allows some undocumented students to attend public universities. When he found out he was eligible, he said, "I was excited. My mother took it as a sign that I was meant to stay." She returned to Ecuador, and he enrolled at a community college in California.

He volunteered at church and in his community, learned English so well he began tutoringnative-English speakers in writing and was honored as a student leader by the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2016.

He met his girlfriend, who works in a hospital emergency room, while doing volunteer work at a community college. As an honors student there, he was able to transfer to Berkeley to study political science this pastfall.

He would like to become a U.S. diplomat, he said. "I want to help people."

But as classes resumed Tuesday after winter break, Mora was not there.

He has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, after several days in a holding cell where government-issued blankets covered their heads, making the room look, he said, like it was packed with shrouded corpses.

He has a hearing before an immigration judge Wednesday, according to Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Prerna Lal, immigration lawyer for UC-Berkeley's undocumented-student program, said it is extremely unusual that someone would be detained for overstaying a visa; typically, people charged in such cases are allowed to come and go to their court hearings. She said it is a sign of "the hateful political climate we are living through. Things are getting worse for immigrants. Luis is a casualty in all this."

Mack said the immigration judge will determine bond.

Mora consulted a lawyer but did not qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Lal said, because he arrived in 2009, two years after the cutoff for DACA. He might have qualified for the expanded DACA program thatwas stalled by the U.S. Supreme Court, Lal said.

Earlier this month, Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ told the campus, "We recognize the urgency of this moment. As such, the university is currently working to ensure that the student has access to legal advice, attorney services and other resources necessary to mount what we hope will be a successful effort to end this detention." Christ said staff members have been working with state and federal leaders, some of whom have issued statements advocating for the student's release.

The school has an estimated 500 undocumented students, said Janet Gilmore, a Berkeley spokeswoman. Christ also said she was ensuring that people are aware of the bail fund that students started.

Within two days of learning of the bond hearing, the student group leader Suarez said, people contributed 135 letters of support to give to the judge. A social media campaign also brought comments from people who felt Mora's detainment was appropriate.

Mora is trying not to think about what would happen if he is sent back to Ecuador; he knows it would jeopardize the hard work he has put into his education and his community. "I believe in God, and I believe there are things you're meant to do," he said. "All of this overwhelming support . . . tells me that there is a nation that tells me to be strong, for myself and many other people."

If he were to go back to Ecuador, Mora said, through tears, "I would be homeless." His mother, now working as a missionary, would not be able to support him. He has not seen his father for many years. If forced to return, he would immediately try to find a way to legally immigrate to another country, perhaps in Europe, in hopes of continuing his education, he said.

"I know this is my home," Mora said, as he waited anxiously for his hearing Wednesday, "despite the fact that I can't call it my home legally yet."

He said hehopes to finish college, to serve in the military, and work for the U.S. government one day - legally. "That has been my goal: Acquire a legal status through education, and serve this country that has given me so much.

". . . In my heart," he said, "it is home."

His life is about to take another turn. On Wednesday, he'll begin to see which way the road ahead leads.
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WASHINGTON - White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that the United States will never construct a physical wall along the entire stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and that some of President Donald Trump's campaign promises on immigration were "uninformed."

The comments put Kelly at odds with Trump, who repeatedly said during his presidential campaign that he would build a border wall that Mexico would pay for, not U.S. taxpayers. Kelly's statements also reinforce the chaos and indecision over immigration policy that has plagued the White House for several months since Trump announced the end of an Obama-era program protecting young immigrant "dreamers" in September.

Democrats and Republicans have warned in recent days that Trump is not clearly stating what he wants as part of a deal to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Kelly's comments, made in a closed-door session at the U.S. Capitol with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also show that senior administration officials know that Trump will not be able to fulfill two key campaign promises - the construction of a wall along the southern border that is paid for by Mexico.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that Mexico would pay for the wall through the North American Free Trade Agreement. But Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who succeeded Kelly in the role, did not answer questions at a Senate hearing on Tuesday about whether the administration has a plan for Mexico to pay for the wall's construction.

In his fourth face-to-face meeting with members of the Hispanic Caucus, Kelly repeatedly said that Trump supports enacting permanent legal protections for "dreamers" and that he has helped the president evolve on immigration policy. But the meeting ended with no resolution to what exactly the administration wants in exchange for authorizing permanent legal protections for the at least 690,000 people enrolled in the program, according to several attendees.

"The president is committed to a permanent solution to DACA," Kelly told the meeting.

This account of the meeting is based on notes taken by two lawmakers in the room that were confirmed by two more lawmakers in the room and one senior aide in attendance.

White House officials didn't immediately return requests for comment.

As the meeting began, Kelly said he had asked to meet with the group at the urging of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has been in frequent contact with Kelly over the last several months and told him that the group is critical to reaching a deal.

Hoyer told Kelly later that the views expressed by lawmakers in the room represent "the will of the Democratic Caucus" - a reminder that House Democrats overwhelmingly support protecting dreamers and strongly oppose Trump's calls for stricter border protections.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, also attended the meeting.

In a bid to assure the group that he understands their concerns, Kelly said that Hispanic Caucus members should be grateful that DACA wasn't ended immediately in September when Trump set a six-month expiration date for the program.

"I worked to get the six-month extension of DACA. I ordered that. I managed that. And everyone has thanked me for that," he told the group.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., the original sponsor of the Dream Act that would permanently legalize at least 690,000 dreamers, asked Kelly to clarify Trump's definition of a border wall.

"Certain things are said during the campaign that are uninformed," Kelly said.

"One thing is to campaign, another thing is to govern. It's really hard," he added later.

"A concrete wall from sea to shining sea" is not going to happen, Kelly said. Instead, "a physical barrier in many places" is what the administration is requesting. Kelly used the term "physical barrier" several times during the meeting, attendees said.

"Concrete wall is not a realistic solution in many places," Kelly said - noting that topography, among other issues, makes building a physical wall difficult along certain parts of the more than 2,100 miles between the United States and Mexico.

Instead, "we need 700 more miles of barrier," Kelly said - a concession that a physical barrier does not need to stretch the entire length of the border.

"Concrete wall would be good in only certain places," he added, saying that manpower and drone technology should suffice in some parts.

Kelly also said that there will be no wall "that Mexico will pay for."

After serving as homeland security secretary and commander of U.S. military forces in Latin America, Kelly told lawmakers that he has helped Trump "evolve on issues of the wall."

"I had a lot to do with that," he said of Trump's change in position regarding border security.

"He campaigned against DACA," Kelly said of Trump, but since then, "he's lightened up."

Kelly and Nielsen have been privately complaining about Trump's campaign promise to build a wall as ill-advised since their early days in the administration, when Kelly was homeland security secretary and Nielsen was his senior adviser, according to a person familiar with their discussions.

During the meeting, Kelly said that the Trump administration continues pushing for more border security in part because cartels are still successfully transporting illegal drugs across the Mexican border.

"Drug cartels will always find a way to get their drugs in so long as there's demand in the U.S.," Kelly said. He then added that leaders of drug cartels "are very smart and good businessmen."

That comment piqued the interest of several lawmakers in attendance, who said later that they found it odd that Kelly would credit cartel leaders who often authorize murders as smart or good businessmen.

As the conversation continued, Hispanic Caucus members asked Kelly for his assessment of a bipartisan plan brokered by Sens. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and others. One Democrat in the room told Kelly that Graham has secured the support of at least 10 Republican senators - a sign that the plan might succeed.

But Kelly seemed unimpressed by the deal, attendees said, telling the group that Graham and Durbin have always agreed on immigration matters. What would be more impressive, Kelly suggested, is if Hispanic Caucus members worked with conservatives like Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who introduced a conservative proposal on immigration reform last week.

Aides to Graham did not respond to requests for comment about how many GOP senators are co-sponsoring the immigration plan. But Durbin told reporters Wednesday that at least six Republicans will publicly co-sponsor their plan once it is formally introduced as legislation.

Hispanic Caucus members asked Kelly what he thought of another bipartisan deal introduced Tuesday by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and other members. The measure would provide legal protections for dreamers and authorize funding for border security that would be a mix of wall, fencing, security technology and more manpower.

Kelly said he knew nothing about the bill - a comment that stunned some attendees, because Hurd and Aguilar have spent weeks amassing 50 original co-sponsors from both parties.

Emerging from the meeting, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., described the exchange as "a regurgitation of both sides, but I didn't get a sense that the administration has a clear bottom line that gets us to where we need to be."

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., added that after weeks of believing that Congress must pass a stand-alone bill that legalizes the status of dreamers, the Hispanic Caucus now supports bipartisan plans to formalize their status and enact changes in border security. The new proposal by Hurd and Aguilar and the bipartisan deal brokered by senators "are the two pathways that we feel are probable to resolving these issues."

Once the issue of dreamers and border security is resolved, Kelly said during the meeting, he expects the administration and Congress to work together on the future of people with temporary protected status. In recent weeks, the administration has announced the end of temporary protections for hundreds of thousands of people from El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua who are living in the United States after natural disasters or violence in those countries.

But Kelly's comments signaled to members present in the room that Kelly doesn't fully comprehend how TPS works.

"We have to figure out who the heck is still here," Kelly said. "Where are the great Central Americans? How many of them are dead? How many of them went back?"

People living in the United States with TPS must register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and provide basic information on their place of residence, and marital and employment status. But they are not required to check in regularly with the agency to update their status or if they are moving back to their home country.

As the meeting ended, one longtime Hispanic Caucus member sought to make peace with Kelly.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a vocal opponent of Trump and outspoken proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, apologized directly to Kelly for comments he made in the fall.

In several appearances and interviews, Gutierrez called the former Marine general "mean," a "hypocrite" and "a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear" because he supported the end of DACA.

Seated next to Kelly, Gutierrez apologized, and Kelly accepted the apology.

"We all say or do stupid things," Kelly told the group.

As Kelly got up to leave, he turned again to Gutierrez, squeezed the congressman's right shoulder and thanked him again for the apology.

"It means a lot," Kelly told Gutierrez.
When he was running for Missouri governor, Eric Greitens wrote a letter lambasting politicians who refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

In his brief time in politics, he wrote two years ago, he has been exposed to: "Liars, cowards, sociopaths. They are often deeply broken and disturbed people, who-like criminals who prey on the innocent - take their pleasure and make their living by victimizing honest people. They are drawn to politics as vultures flock to rotting meat-and they feed off the carcasses of vice."

Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, spoke of what he saw as "our duty": "we can, we must - and we will - kill the snakes."

Now, Greitens' opponents - and even some of his former supporters - are using those words against the Missouri governor.

Greitens has been under siege since last week, when accusations emerged in news reports that he threatened to blackmail his former hair stylist with whom he was having an extramarital affair. He reportedly threatened to distribute a nude photo he surreptitiously took of her if she ever revealed their relationship.

The allegations stemmed from a recording made covertly by the woman's ex-husband and published by KMOV in St. Louis. In the recording, the woman is heard describing how Greitens allegedly invited her to his home in 2015, and, with her consent, taped her hands to exercise rings and blindfolded her. He then allegedly took photographs of her naked and threatened to distribute them if she said anything about the relationship.

The names of the woman and her ex-husband are known to politicos who follow Missouri politics. But news organizations have avoided identifying them.

Following the news reports, the governor admitted he was unfaithful to his wife before being elected, but his lawyer denied the blackmail allegation.

When a St. Louis prosecutor said she would investigate the reported accusations, they took on greater weight.

On Tuesday, the controversy escalated as state lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle called for Greitens to resign. Four Republican state representatives publicly condemned his behavior and called for his resignation.

"In a letter he wrote two years ago he stated it's 'our duty to kill the snakes'," state Rep. Marsha Haefner, a Republican from Oakville, wrote in a Facebook post. "As a public servant it's my duty to ask for Governer Greitens to resign immediately and allow Missouri to move on, move forward and get back to work."

Some of the calls for resignation came amid news reports that a taxpayer-funded attorney played a fact-finding role in dealing with the governor's personal scandal.

Before news of the allegations against Greitens broke on Jan. 10, an attorney for the governor's office, Lucinda Luetkemeyer, spoke with a lawyer for the hair stylist's ex-husband, the man who exposed his ex-wife's extramarital affair with Greitens, according to audio of the conversation obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Associated Press.

"She was clearly calling me trying to facilitate damage control," the St. Louis attorney, Albert Watkins, told the Associated Press. "If it's a private and personal matter, why is your counsel calling?"

"I found it chillingly disturbing that she would make that call as a state-paid employee," Watkins told the Post-Dispatch.

Several legal experts raised ethical concerns over the governor's decision to use public resources to defend himself, according to the Post-Dispatch. Greitens' private attorney told the newspaper that the governor is now paying for his own legal team, but did not address any moves made before the allegations broke.

Watkins said his client also made additional recordings of exchanges with his ex-wife, which he has forwarded to both the St. Louis circuit attorney's office and the FBI, according to the AP. He called the recordings "graphic," but declined to be more specific. The FBI has not said whether a federal investigation is underway, the AP reported.

After all of this, Greitens released a statement on Facebook Tuesday night apologizing for the "personal mistake" he made, and asking for the public's forgiveness.

"Much has now been written about this, and many of the assertions made have not been truthful and have proven extremely hurtful to Sheena, as well as to me," Greitens wrote, referring to his wife, Sheena Greitens. "For us, the allegations that go so far beyond the facts have made this much more difficult. I made a mistake, I regret it, and Sheena and I have dealt with it between us. For us, that is where this story starts, and that is where this story ends. We again ask for privacy for everyone involved.

"Then and now, we are focused on moving forward," Greitens added. "I ask for your forgiveness and hope you can find it in your heart to do so. I assure you that this personal mistake will not deter us from the mission we were sent here to do."

But for several state lawmakers, including some of Greitens' former key supporters, there was no way for the governor to bounce back from this.

"I was proud to be one of the first supporters of Eric Greitens for governor," Rep. Nate Walker of Kirksville, a Republican, said in a Facebook post. But he said it has become clear that "this scandal will make it impossible to lead the state going forward."

The news that state employees were "involved in attempting to control the scandal is further proof that this will not be going away anytime soon," Walker said. "It is my belief the Governor should resign so that the state can move forward focusing on the issues that we all care about."

Asked in a St. Louis Public Radio interview if these calls for resignation signaled that the governor's political support is evaporating, he said, "Yeah, I think so . . . sometimes we make mistakes in life that have consequences that are greater than our own personal interests."

Haefner, the Republican from Oakville, wrote that Greitens is "no longer fit to hold Missouri's highest office."

"When a man cheats on his wife, it's a family matter," Haefner said. "When the Governor of Missouri cheats, then allegations of victimizing his mistress, blackmail, bribes and his taxpayer funded employee involves herself in questioning the attorney for the accuser follow, it becomes a state matter."

Reps. Steve Cookson of Poplar Bluff and Kathie Conway of St. Charles, both Republicans, called for Greitens' resignation in statements to the Missouri Times.

"If Missouri Republicans want to say we honestly support family values, we must be prepared to take a stand and not allow these acts to be supported by our party," Conway said. "It is easy to say we stand for family values. It is much harder today when we actually have to possibly put thought actions behind those words."

As the Post-Dispatch pointed out, these representatives are only a small fraction of the 112 members of the Republican House caucus. The "vast majority" of Republicans have come short of asking the governor to resign. Republican State Rep. Phil Christofanelli tweeted that the resignation calls are "premature" and "unfair."

"Until there is hard evidence of a crime, our focus should be on doing the people's work," Christofanelli said, adding that Greitens "served our country honorably and has earned the right of the presumption of innocence that we grant to every American."

Still, the calls for resignation mark a steep fall for a newcomer politician known for his stellar resume. The former Navy SEAL and Lt. Commander was a PhD Rhodes scholar at Oxford, and White House Fellow during the administration of President George W. Bush. According to a profile in St. Louis Magazine, has had presidential aspirations since he was a young man. In 2014, he was listed in Fortune as one of "The World's 50 Greatest Leaders."

He ran for governor touting an image of a political outsider and loyal family man, with a wife and two young kids. At the time of his extramarital affair, he was in the midst of his gubernatorial campaign and four years into his marriage. His youngest son was an infant.

"With so much on the line," wrote Ray Hartmann, publisher of St. Louis Magazine, "what could have he been thinking?"
Egypts Meteorological Authority warned in a statement on Tuesday that unstable weather conditions would hit the country on Thursday and Friday, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

According to the statement, there will be strong winds across most parts of Egypt, which may develop into a dust storm in some parts of the country, leading to low visibility in desert areas and possibly disrupting navigation in the Red and Mediterranean seas.

The statement also warned that the weather will be colder on Monday as rains are expected in some parts of the country, especially Sinai, the Nile Delta, and Cairo.

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Five Navy officers involved in ship collisions that killed a combined 17 sailors last year will face a variety of criminal charges, including negligent homicide, the service announced Tuesday night.

The individuals include Cmdr. Bryce Benson and Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, the former captains of the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, respectively. The Fitzgerald collided off the southern coast of Japan with a larger vessel on June 17, killing seven sailors, while the McCain struck another ship Aug. 21 near Singapore, killing 10.

Three other officers aboard the Fitzgerald also will face charges, said Navy Capt. Gregory Hicks, a service spokesman. The service did not identify them by name Thursday, but they include two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade. They and Benson face charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel.

Sanchez faces the same three charges in connection with the McCain accident, Hicks said in a statement. In addition, the Navy is examining one charge of dereliction of duty against a chief petty officer, a senior enlisted leader on the ship.

Separately, the service also is moving forward with administrative discipline for four other members each from the Fitzgerald and McCain, Hicks said.

The potential courts-martial are the latest fallout to the collisions, which shocked the Navy, prompted congressional hearings and have left the service short two $1.8 billion destroyers. Navy Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, has promised that the service will get back to basics and emphasize the fundamentals of good seamanship.

The service announced in November that it had found through internal investigations that both catastrophes were preventable and occurred due to multiple failures by service members who were standing watch the nights of the accidents.

Richardson disclosed at a Pentagon news conference Nov. 2 that he had assigned Adm. James "Frank" Caldwell to serve as a consolidated disposition authority for legal cases related to the collisions. The term defines a senior officer who oversees cases that can be both criminal and administrative in nature.

The service already had removed numerous people from their jobs as a result of the collisions, including Sanchez and his second-in-command on the McCain, Cmdr. Jessie Sanchez. On the Fitzgerald, the Navy removed Benson, Cmdr. Sean Babbitt, the ship's No. 2 officer, and Command Master Chief Brice Baldwin, its senior enlisted sailor.

In August, the Navy also removed Adm. Scott Swift, the commander of its Pacific Fleet, and Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, who oversaw its 7th Fleet. In September, Swift's replacement, Adm. Phil Sawyer, removed Rear Adm. Charles Williams and Capt. Jeffrey Bennett, who oversaw aspects of the ships' deployments.

The Navy's senior officer overseeing surface warfare, Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden, also is expected to step down this week ahead of a recommendation that he be removed, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is meeting political parties as the Black Sea nation looks to appoint its third prime minister in a year following this week's shock unraveling of the government.

The Social Democrats, who won a landslide election victory in late 2016, on Tuesday proposed European Parliament lawmaker Viorica Dancila to replace Mihai Tudose as premier. The ruling party is trying to form a lasting government and end infighting that's jeopardizing one of Europe's fastest-growing economies. Iohannis, who slammed the Social Democrats' stewardship on Tuesday, must back Dancila or pick a different candidate.

"The easy way out for everyone is, of course, if the president plays it safe and appoints the ruling coalition's candidate," Horia Braun-Erdei, an economist at Erste Group Bank, said by email. "He could decide to play tough and refuse to designate their candidate. But given the weakness of the current opposition parties, this may not be his preferred solution."

Dancila is an ally of Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea, who despite being prevented from taking the premier's job himself because of a criminal conviction remains the ex-communist country's dominant politician. His party toppled its own government last June amid a spat with then-Premier Sorin Grindeanu. This time round he objected to Tudose's plans to reshuffle the cabinet and fire the interior minister over a police scandal.

Romania is no stranger to political upheaval: it's had 14 prime ministers since 1990, with only two completing their full term. The new premier will take over an economy that surged an annual 8.8 percent in the third quarter, though the central bank and the European Commission have warned about the sustainability of growth and the budgetary dangers of the Social Democrats' tax cuts and public-sector wage hikes.

The latest political tensions have taken their toll on Romania's currency. The leu, which was eastern Europe's star performer until Tudose's surprise departure, has trimmed this year's gain to 0.3 percent.

Tudose unexpectedly resigned late Monday just six months into his term after losing the support of his party. Dancila, 54, who's from the same county as Dragnea and has a master's degree in political science, would become Romania's first woman prime minister.

"Dancila is a very respected member of the party and has a good relationship with officials in Brussels," Dragnea said Tuesday in televised comments. "She'll be able to use this in Romania's favor as we prepare to take over the presidency" of the European Union in 2019.

Iohannis can reject one candidate for premier, a right he used in 2016 with Dragnea's first pick after the election. He's named Defense Minister Mihai Fifor as interim prime minister.

"I'm deeply dissatisfied and concerned about the situation we're in as we have two failed governments in the first year since elections," Iohannis said. "I want a fast procedure to set up a new cabinet because I want to prevent potential negative effects on the economy."
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Laredo police recorded at least seven minor traffic accidents Tuesday morning due to the inclement weather, authorities said.

Police said one incident included a person whose vehicle crashed into a pole and caused the vehicles airbags to be deployed. The driver sustained minor injuries.

Authorities stressed to the community to be careful with the winter conditions.

The issue that we are more concerned about is people want to drive normally when they cannot, especially if theyre in a roadway of high speeds and multiple lanes, said Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman.

Police said drivers need to be aware of freezing spots on bridges or overpasses, which create a slipping hazard in addition to the accumulation of sleet.

The highest recommendation we can make is if they have no reason to be out  they should be home and they should be off the streets during these conditions. All non-essential travel should be canceled and postponed until the weather is better, Baeza said.

The Texas Department of Transportation added the winter weather creates unpredictable and dangerous driving conditions. Should people need to hit the road, TxDOT said they should use extreme caution and follow these tips:

Slow down. Speed limits are based on normal road and weather conditions, not winter road conditions.

Maintain at least three times the normal following distance on snow or ice.

Watch carefully for snow removal equipment and stay at least 200 feet behind snow plows.

Use extra caution on bridges, ramps, overpasses and shaded areas as they tend to freeze first.

If your vehicle starts to slide, ease off the gas pedal or brakes. Steer into the direction of the skid until you have regained traction. Then, straighten your vehicle.

For emergencies, call 911. For current travel information, call 1-800-452-9292. For roadside assistance, call 1-800-525-5555.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court seemed reluctant Wednesday to validate a lawyer's decision to concede his client's guilt against the client's wishes, even if the attorney thought it was the best way to save the man from the death penalty.

Justices liberal and conservative indicated such a strategy - to concede guilt and plead for mercy to avoid execution - fell short of the constitutional guarantee of assistance of counsel. The justices did worry, though, about writing a broad opinion that could hobble an attorney's strategic decisions about how best to represent a client.

The court was considering the actions of Larry English, at the time a lawyer in Louisiana. English told a jury that, despite his client Robert L. McCoy's repeated claim of innocence, McCoy had killed three family members. The hope was that the concession would win trust from the jurors and lead them to spare McCoy from the death penalty.

The strategy was unsuccessful, and McCoy contends he deserves a new trial.

"I totally understand that this lawyer was in a terrible position because this lawyer wants to defeat the death penalty," Justice Elena Kagan told Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill. "And he has a client who says: That's not my goal here."

Kagan continued: "But the question is, when that happens, does the lawyer have to step back and say: You know what? That's not his goal. His goal is to avoid admitting that he killed his family members."

Justice Neal M. Gorsuch followed: "Can we even call it assistance of counsel? Is that what it is when a lawyer overrides that person's wishes?"

Murrill said it would have been a "futile charade" for English to try to convince a jury of McCoy's innocence.

He was convicted of killing his estranged wife's mother, stepfather and son in 2008 after she had left him and gone into protective custody. Each of the victims was shot at close range.

In a 911 call, McCoy's mother-in-law, Christine Colston Young, could be heard screaming: "She ain't here, Robert! I don't know where she is! The detectives have her!" A gunshot was then heard on the 911 tape, and the call was disconnected.

A car later found to be McCoy's was seen leaving the area, and police officers discovered in the abandoned vehicle the phone that Young had used. McCoy was arrested in Idaho after hitchhiking rides from truckers. The gun used in the killings was found with him. In custody, McCoy tried to hang himself.

But he maintained his innocence, alleging a conspiracy among local police officers to commit the murders and frame him. His first public defender was let go because of differences between attorney and client, and then McCoy's parents paid English $5,000 to represent their son.

"How does the lawyer back up that defense - 'I didn't do it' - when, in the lawyer's view, there is no basis for taking that position?" Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked.

Seth Waxman, McCoy's attorney at the Supreme Court, said a lawyer does not have to aid a client lying on the stand but does have an obligation to make the state prove its case, and to strenuously cross-examine the state's witnesses.

Many of the justices' questions were not about McCoy's case but about how to draw lines in cases perhaps not as extreme.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito pressed Waxman on whether a lawyer could concede any element of a crime - crossing a state line, for instance, if there were irrefutable evidence that had occurred. Waxman said no.

"If there is a contemporaneous objection, the trial court may not permit the defense lawyer to admit any element of the offense," Waxman said.

Justice Stephen Breyer said rules that would prevent lawyers from making strategic decisions worried him.

"A large percentage of the people that insist on representing themselves, particularly in death cases, are going to walk right into the death chamber," Breyer said. "A lot of the people there are just not really capable of managing their own defense."

But the harder questions were for Murrill.

"Can I take away from your argument that the state of Louisiana says that if a defendant wants to plead not guilty, the defense attorney can plead guilty if the defense attorney thinks that's the best way to avoid the death penalty?" Justice Anthony Kennedy asked.

Murrill said no, because the prosecution in McCoy's case still had to prove his guilt.

But other justices said that was much easier when English told the jury that McCoy had killed the three victims.

The case is McCoy v. Louisiana.
President Donald Trump's remarks last week denigrating Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as "shithole countries" has probably doomed a deal to save Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). A shutdown of the federal government - the first since 2013 - could come as soon as the end of the week.

A less dramatic, yet still significant, consequence of Trump's vulgar commentary could be the undermining of the administration's goal of becoming, in the words of Trump officials, an "energy dominant" country. Trump's disparaging label could jeopardize a burgeoning effort to sell U.S. natural gas to developing countries, including those in Africa.

The Trump administration has dispatched its top energy and environmental officials to woo potential buyers of U.S. energy in Africa, a continent home to the "shithole" countries that Trump wants to prevent from sending their citizens to the United States, according to remarks in his meeting last week with lawmakers.

Last month, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt and a crew of aides spent four days in Morocco to promote the potential sale of U.S. natural gas there. In October, Energy Secretary Rick Perry attended a natural gas development workshop in South Africa.

"We want to be your partner," Perry said, noting that the United States could "export not only LNG but also the technology and infrastructure to build gas economies across Africa."

(Perry's reflections on his African trip upon returning home got more attention. In November, the energy secretary suggested fossil fuels help prevent sexual assault in impoverished countries.)

The rationale undergirding much of the Trump administration's deregulatory efforts - whether it be opening public lands to coal leasing or oceans to oil drilling - is to bring more domestic fuel above ground and sell it abroad. The goal is, in short, to make the United States a net energy exporter.

Among the fuels the Trump administration wants to facilitate is the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

As part of this effort, high-ranking administration officials have been pitching U.S. gas to energy-thirsty customers in South Korea, Japan, Eastern Europe - and other nations in Africa. And some observers say the president's words can't help but hurt this effort.

"Comments like those made by Trump last week undercut the soft power of the U.S. and tarnish the country's reputation - and the reputation of Trump himself," said David Victor, professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego. "They probably create some domestic politics problems for countries that want to buy LNG from U.S. suppliers."

But Victor added, "The role of government in blessing or pushing these things - especially in market-oriented economies like the United States - is easy to overstate."

As economies in Africa develop, natural gas consumption is growing by more than 3 percent per year, the International Energy Agency reported last year. Trading gas across oceans - which involves cooling the fuel in specialized tankers before unloading it through expensive import terminals able to convert the fuel from a liquid to gas - takes more intergovernmental cooperation than the average overseas transaction.

Meanwhile, the United States, which once was a key customer of natural gas from Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, has a natural gas bounty after the boom in hydraulic fracturing over the past decade.

Beginning under President Barack Obama and continuing under Trump, natural gas producers received a steady stream of approvals for the construction of natural gas terminals to sell their product abroad. In February 2016, Houston-based Cheniere Energy began shipping gas out of Louisiana. Between then and November 2017, a small percentage - 1.3 percent - of the liquefied natural gas that left the United States went to one African country, Egypt, according to an Energy Department report.

Since Trump took office, his administration has found buyers in Lithuania and Poland, eager to get out from under the yoke of their traditional fuel supplier, Russia. But in Africa, the head winds of energy economics - rather than any blowback after the "shithole" brouhaha - may stifle similar sales.

"I am not sure how well placed the U.S. might be to fill that market," Antony Goldman, an independent energy analyst, said of Africa, "not so much because of the 'shithole' remark but because of cold hard logic."

Few African countries have the economies to sustain significant natural gas imports. Exporters, for their part, are more enticed by potential markets elsewhere, particularly in Asia.

"You look at China. You look at India," said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a lobbying group. "Those are two large, massive potential import countries."

Furthermore, Africa has long had oil and gas reserves of its own. It is probably cheaper for South Africa, the continent's third-largest economy, to build pipelines to gas fields to the north in Mozambique than it is to import gas by tanker, Goldman said. Similarly, Morocco could get gas from its North African neighbors.

And more recent discoveries in East Africa mean that even Egypt may seek gas closer to home.

"The ability to produce gas at a much closer market is very real in Africa," Riedl said.

So despite the gestures (whether obscene or obliging) from Trump or his deputies, "the need to import U.S. LNG is probably pretty unlikely," he said.
WASHINGTON - Some of the tax cut's most ardent fans work on Wall Street, where the new law has helped turbocharge the stock market rally and is set to deliver a major boost to the bottom lines of the biggest banks.

So, investment titan Larry Fink sounded like a wet blanket Tuesday when he called on top CEOs to spell out how they plan to use their tax windfall, while bearing in mind that his firm, BlackRock - the largest asset manager in the world, overseeing more than $6 trillion - will now insist that they contribute to the broader social good rather than just maximize profits.

Fink, in his annual letter to more than 1,000 global chief executives, signaled his firm wants to see the tax cuts produce more than just stock buybacks or dividend payments. "What will you do with increased after-tax cash flow, and how will you use it to create long-term value?" Fink wrote. "This is a particularly critical moment for companies to explain their long-term plans to investors."

The missive comes as business leaders are navigating a potentially tricky path in the wake of enactment of the GOP tax package. Republicans are eager to see them hand out bonuses, wage gains and other new benefits to workers as evidence that the deep cut to the corporate tax rate is proving its value to average Americans.

Democrats, meanwhile, are deriding those benefits as crumbs, no more than a rolling public relations campaign by corporate giants to thank the GOP for the windfall (a new poll shows it may be working, with support for the tax overhaul nine points, to 46 percent, over just a month ago). Executives and shareholders, Democrats say, will still claim the lion's share.

Among the big banks themselves, the fate of their surprisingly large tax breaks remains an open question. Citigroup, in announcing its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, reported taking a one-time, $22 billion hit from the reconfigured tax code. But the bank expects to see a significant lift. "Tax reform not only leads to higher net income and increased returns," CEO Michael Corbat said in a statement, "but also serves to strengthen our capital generation capabilities going forward."

As the New York Times's Jim Tankersley notes, more than 70 financial institutions have announced higher wages and bonuses for workers, accounting for about half of all companies that have promised to share the wealth from the cuts with employees. But, he writes, those goodies "reflect a small slice of the windfall that banks large and small are in line to receive."

Take JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which announced their earnings Friday and revealed they stand to collect a combined $7 billion in tax relief. Bloomberg News's Hugh Son and Laura J. Keller summarize the competing demands on that haul: "Borrowers including small businesses and big corporations will want better pricing. Employees from tellers to rainmakers will press for raises and bigger bonuses. And then there's the political pressure banks face to invest more in communities, particularly those with the least access to credit."

JPMorgan's chief financial officer, Marianne Lake, pledged to unveil a plan in the next few weeks to support local investment - "really constructive, thoughtful things for all of our constituents" - but added that most of the windfall will end up elsewhere, with much of it going to the bank's bottom line this year and later.

It's hardly clear that Fink, for all the pull that BlackRock's size would seem to confer, is going to meaningfully reshape conversations in boardrooms on Wall Street and beyond.For one, BlackRock is still working through what to do with its own tax windfall. On its earnings call last week, the firm's chief financial officer projected it will make $1.2 billion in stock buybacks this year, plus more divided payments, in addition to evaluating "our ability to more aggressively seed and co-invest in new products."

So, could Fink's letter be its own public relations maneuver? Bloomberg Gadfly's Stephen Gandel suggests as much, noting the investment chief has used the annual message to call for greater corporate social responsibility before, with little apparent follow-up. "Fink's bark is always going to be louder than his bite," he writes. "BlackRock does nearly all of its stock market investing through index funds. So, no matter how much it disapproves of a company's stance on the environment or whatever, it can't actually sell."

I asked BlackRock on Tuesday how it intends to follow up on Fink's letter and didn't hear back. Fink and Barbara Novick, a BlackRock cofounder he's named to oversee the firm's investment stewardship efforts, will both be in Davos next week, and I will, too, so I'll do my best to get an answer then.
PERRIS, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on family members found shackled in a California home (all times local):

6:45 a.m.

The sister of a woman accused with her husband of keeping their 13 children captive in California says she never got to know her nieces and nephews.

Elizabeth Jane Flores tells ABC News' "Good Morning America" that she tried for years to get in touch with her sister, Louise Anna Turpin, but Turpin shut her out.

Louise Turpin, 49, and her husband, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, face torture and child endangerment charges. Officials say their children were malnourished and chained to furniture.

Flores tearfully said Wednesday that she and Turpin didn't have a relationship for decades beyond the odd phone call. Flores says she is shocked by her sister's arrest.

Another sister, Teresa Robinette, tells NBC's "Today" show that Louise Turpin's children lived a strict existence without any social life.

___

4:25 a.m.

The sister of a woman who along with her husband faces allegations of keeping their 13 children captive in their California home says her nieces and nephews faced an extremely strict existence.

On the "Today" show Wednesday, Teresa Robinette, whose sister, Louise Anna Turpin, and brother-in-law, David Allen Turpin, have been jailed and could face charges of torture and child endangerment, says the children didn't live a normal life.

Robinette says the children didn't have a social life and weren't allowed to watch TV.

Officials said the children, ranging in age from 2 to 29, were so malnourished the older ones looked like children. Robinette says she voiced her concerns about the children to her sister but was told their father was tall and lanky and they'd grow up to be like him.

___

11:40 p.m.

A 17-year-old girl who looked closer to 10 jumped out a window, called 911, and showed the world the secret horror she and her 12 brothers and sisters had been living through.

Her suburban Southern California home served as a private school and a prison for the siblings aged 2 to 29.

And until the girl fled with photographic evidence, it appears no one, neither neighbors nor public officials, knew anything about what was happening inside.

Deputies said some siblings were shackled to furniture in the filthy, foul-smelling conditions. They were so malnourished the older ones still looked like children.

The parents, 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin and 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, were jailed on $9 million bail. Charges that may include torture and child endangerment could come Wednesday.

___

The Elvis impersonator who officiated three wedding vow renewal ceremonies for two California parents accused of malnourishing and torturing their children says nothing seemed amiss with the family.

Kent Ripley officiated the three ceremonies for David and Louise Turpin at A Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

He says he felt like he got to know the family, making the news of the Turpins' arrest all the more shocking.

He says the couple's 13 children, ranging from 2 to 29 years old, all looked young and thin but never like they weren't getting enough food.

Ripley reviewed three videos of the couple's renewal ceremonies and says they now seem "haunting and disturbing."

___

A nutrition expert says California siblings who were small and malnourished when they were found captive in their home may have been deprived of nutrients during key growth-spurt years.

Dr. Donald Kirby, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic, said Tuesday that deprivation can lock kids into their smaller bodies, with further growth impossible.

The 13 siblings discovered Sunday ranged in age from 2 to 29. Kirby says for an adult to be so malnourished they appear more like a child, they need to have lacked nutrients for years.

A 17-year-old girl who escaped and called 911 was so small that deputies initially mistook her for a 10-year-old.

Kirby says the recovery time for long-term malnutrition could take years.

___

Allegations that a couple kept their 13 children, including some adults, captive in their California home has surprised their neighbors.

Kimberly Milligan says she was told the family had a dozen kids when she moved into the neighborhood 2 years ago, but she never saw that many children.

Milligan says she didn't see friends or family coming to the home. She also never saw or heard children playing outside. But she didn't suspect anything like what authorities allege.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department says a 17-year-old daughter escaped out a window and called 911 on a cellphone early Sunday.

Deputies found the children, who appeared small and malnourished, and some were chained to pieces of furniture. The parents are under arrest.

___

California authorities say the mother of 13 children kept locked in filthy conditions was "perplexed" about why police came to their home.

Riverside County sheriff's Capt. Greg Fellows described the reaction of 49-year-old Louise Turpin but didn't know the reaction of the father, 57-year-old David Turpin.

The children, some of them chained to furniture, were described as weak and small for their age. Fellows called it torture. The abuse was discovered when a 17-year-old girl jumped out a window and called 911 Sunday.

The sheriff's captain says deputies had never been to the home and neither had social service workers.

Corona Regional Medical Center CEO Mark Uffer says his facility is treating seven of the adult children. Uffer says they are small and clearly malnourished but are stable and very friendly.

___

The father of a California man accused of keeping his 13 children locked up in filthy conditions says he was surprised by news of his son's arrest.

James Turpin of Princeton, West Virginia, told The Associated Press Tuesday that all 13 children are David Turpin's biological kids. He said none are adopted.

Fifty-seven-year-old David Turpin and his 49-year-old wife, Louise Turpin, were arrested Sunday on suspicion of torture and child endangerment. A court appearance is set for Thursday.

The older Turpin said he heard about the arrests Monday but declined further comment.

James Turpin confirmed that his son is an engineer. He told WVNS-TV in Ghent, West Virginia, that David grew up in West Virginia.

Investigators say the 13 brothers and sisters had been malnourished and that several children were shackled to beds.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb called on Arabs to show support for the Palestinian people during a conference in Cairo on Wednesday on Jerusalem.

President Abbas called on Arabs to visit Jerusalem, noting that doing so would not legitimize Israel's control of the city, and that calls for a boycott would only harm the Palestinians.

"We hope you don't leave us alone with the occupation," the Palestinian president told the international audience. "Visiting Jerusalem does not [mean] visiting Israel or normalization with it."

Many Egyptian officials including religious leaders from Al-Azhar, the highest institution of Sunni Islamic authority, and Egypts Coptic Christian church have for decades refused to travel to Jerusalem in protest at the Israeli occupation.

Since last month's decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, 30 Palestinians have been killed, 7,000 injured and 1,000 arrested, Abbas said.

The two-day gathering of world religious and political figures, which began Wednesday, is sponsored by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and organized by Al-Azhar.

The event aims to foster awareness about Jerusalem and its Arab identity and the role of the international community regarding the holy city, Al-Azhar said.

It brings together senior Muslim and Christian clerics, political figures as well as regional and international organizations from 86 countries.

The conference is the 12th held by Al-Azhar on the subject of Jerusalem and in rejection of "Zionist aggression" since the 1948 Israeli-Arab war.

It the first such gathering in the past 30 years, Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyeb noted in his address to the conference.

Israel seized control of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1980, a move that has never been recognised by the international community.

The Palestinians have long demanded East Jerusalem for the capital of their future state.

This year's conference aims to underscore the need to "stand up to the barbaric Zionist absurdity of the 21st century, which is supported by international policies drawn by the Zionist entity and its policies," Al-Tayyeb told the audience.

Al-Tayyeb expressed disapproval that school curricula in the Arab and Muslim world fail to raise awareness about the Palestinian issue, saying that youth in Israeli settlements are raised through "educational curricula songs and prayers that constitute hostility, fuel them with racism and hatred of all that is Arab and Muslim."

He called for declaring 2018 the "year of Jerusalem," suggesting material and moral support for people of the city, as well as ongoing cultural and media activities to be sponsored by leading Arab, Islamic and civil society organisations.

Last month Al-Tayyeb rejected a meeting requested by US Vice President Mike Pence in protest against a US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital.

In a message read to the conference by his Egyptian secretary, Pope Francis recalled for "resuming dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians for a negotiated solution to peaceful coexistence in two countries with internationally agreed borders."

Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox church, said Trump's Jerusalem decision paves the way for "the judaization of Jerusalem and wiping away the holy city's pluralist nature."

He called for the world to consider "the tragic humanitarian situation" of Palestinians living in Jerusalem, who he says have long been struggling to obtain their legitimate rights, adding that the issue has political, economic and cultural dimensions.

Al-Azhar gathering is expected to conclude with several recommendations that support the Palestinian cause and stress the rights of Palestinians to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Trump's move has prompted an outcry from Palestinians, Middle East leaders and the wider international community, and set off regional protests.

Officials from Arab countries and several world powers have insisted that the final status of Jerusalem should only be determined through negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

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"This man that came in, or whatever you want to call him, brought in, with him, other people. And he was a point - he was the point of contact, the primary point of contact for - and this is preliminarily - 23 people that came in or potentially came in with him. And that is not acceptable. So we want to get rid of chain migration."- President Donald Trump, remarks at a Cabinet meeting, Nov. 1

"Twenty-two to twenty-four people came in through him. He's a killer. He's a guy who ran over eight - many people - eight died; 10 to 12 are really badly injured. So I really think that a lot of people are going to agree with us now on that subject."- Trump, remarks at a bipartisan meeting on immigration, Jan. 9

"So the lottery has to end, chain migration - he brought in, they say, 22 people through the chain. So we have 22 of his relatives; why?"- Trump, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Jan. 11

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In November, after Uzbekistan-born Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov allegedly killed eight people and injured a dozen others by driving a pickup truck down a bicycle path near the World Trade Center in New York, President Trump attacked the diversity visa program that gave Saipov legal permanent residency in the United States. He also made a startling claim: Saipov was the "point of contact" for "23 people that came in or potentially came in with him."

Trump's comments caused a brief flurry of attention and then were quickly forgotten. But twice since the start of the year, the president has resurrected the claim, without any caveat about "preliminarily" or "potentially." Now Trump flatly says that 22 (or 24) of Saipov's relatives are in the country, in what the president labeled as "chain migration."

We did some digging, and it turns out that this is fake news.

The Facts

"Chain migration" refers to the practice of immigrants bringing other members of their families to the United States. Under U.S. law, there is a preference for relatives already living in the United States, so a U.S. citizen can petition for a green card for spouses, children, parents or siblings. So, for example, a sibling of U.S. citizen could come to the United States, bringing along spouses and minor children.

That's how Akayed Ullah, accused of setting off a pipe bomb in Manhattan in December, came to the United States from Bangladesh in 2011, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He obtained a green card as the child of a sibling of the U.S. citizen.

Saipov arrived in the United States in 2010 through the diversity visa lottery. But Saipov is not a U.S. citizen yet; he just has a green card. The rules are stricter for green-card holders: they can only petition for a spouse or unmarried children.

Saipov is married, but his wife (also Uzbek) was already in the United States when they met and then married in Ohio. (Her parents live in Brooklyn.) Saipov and his wife have three young children, all of whom are already U.S. citizens because they were born in the United States.

So that adds up to zero people brought in by Saipov.

If Saipov had eventually become a citizen, he could have petitioned for his parents and his three sisters, who now live in Uzbekistan, to come to the United States. That would be five people, though if the sisters were married (one is 17 and the two others are older), they could eventually bring in spouses and children. But there's often a lengthy wait list. As of November, according to the State Department, nearly 4 million people are waiting to get off the list, including 2.3 million "family fourth" preferences - children of siblings of citizens.

That's another problem with Trump's claim: Not only is Saipov not a U.S. citizen, but even if he was, it's "probably close to impossible" that he could bring in two dozen people in seven years, according to Mark Kerkorian, executive director of Center for Immigration Studies, which supports stricter immigration limits and a merit-based immigration system.

Kerkorian speculated that Trump garbled something he heard in a briefing. Pointing to Trump's use of "potentially" in his first comment in November, as well as the phrase "point of contact," Kerkorian said "maybe he has 23 relatives back in Uzbekistan."

Regular readers know the burden of proof rests with the speaker. But the White House and DHS declined to offer any explanation or documentation for the president's statements. If Trump is hanging this statistic on "potentially," that's a real whopper, especially the way he framed it in recent comments.

The Pinocchio Test

This reminds us of when Trump three times falsely claimed that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte refused to let President Barack Obama land his plane in Manila. Obama's visits to the Philippines were uneventful, and we wondered at the time why no one on the White House would point out the mistake to the president.

Here, the president three times has made a claim that again appears based on a misunderstanding. The first time, he included a mysterious caveat - "potentially" - but all caveats have been dropped now. Yet under no scenario is his claim feasible. As far as we can tell, Saipov has not brought a single relative into the country.

Given that this claim of "chain migration" is central to the president's push to overhaul immigration laws, we are surprised the White House would not try to correct the record. If the president is giving out fake news awards, he should reserve a plaque for himself. His statement resulted in headlines that now appear to be wrong.

Four Pinocchios

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Video: Three times, the president has told a story that falls upon close inspection.(Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

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RICHMOND, Va. - House Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, marched over to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's office Tuesday morning to tell him the week-old bipartisan vibe in the Capitol is hanging by a thread.

Plans to work together on issues such as criminal justice reform and even Medicaid expansion are suddenly in doubt because of what Republicans saw as an overly partisan speech by Northam to the General Assembly on Monday night.

"Frankly, that speech last night truly set us back," Cox said at a hastily assembled news conference Tuesday morning.

The dust-up signals the fragile dynamics in Virginia's closely divided legislature, where Republicans long used to dominance are reckoning with newly powerful Democrats.

Northam took office just this weekend, calling on Virginia to set an example for the nation of how to work together and get things done. Republicans had welcomed him as a homegrown politician they could trust - a big change from his predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, whom they saw as a Democratic operative.

Republicans had even prepared a response to Northam's Monday night speech that expressed eagerness to find common ground, but they tore it up once they saw his actual words. In the speech, Northam drew cheers from Democrats for citing a series of campaign promises such as expanding women's access to abortion and expanding Medicaid.

As the litany went on, Republicans sat in increasingly stony silence. When they finally rose in support of easing student debt, Northam quipped that they needed to stretch after sitting so long.

Afterward, Cox asked to meet with him privately.

"I was very blunt with him," Cox said Tuesday morning, shortly after the one-on-one at the governor's office. "I shared personally how disappointed I was."

Northam's office had no comment on the meeting. A spokeswoman defended his speech as aimed not at partisan issues, but at "real problems that affect real people." Bipartisanship, spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said, "does not mean sweeping big issues under the rug because common ground has been hard to find in the past."

Richmond is a relational town, and both Republicans and Democrats have been counting on widespread personal affection for Northam to ease political gridlock. While McAuliffe tried and failed to get Medicaid expansion for four straight years, Republican leaders are no longer shutting the door on some form of expansion.

That's partly because of the huge Democratic gains in last fall's elections. Voters reshaped the House of Delegates, reducing Republicans to the barest of majorities - 51-49 - which they maintained only after one tied race was decided in their favor by random drawing.

Saturday's inaugural speech was the place for Northam to take a victory lap in front of the whole world, Cox and other Republicans said. They saw the Monday night address, by contrast, as a family affair. They expected Northam to include more nods to areas of easy agreement with Republicans - such as addressing the opioid crisis - as well as to credit Republicans for work they've done on the budget and economic development.

But partisan tensions had flared even before Northam's speech. On Monday, a Senate committee killed Democratic bills aimed at gun safety, including one providing for universal background checks for anyone who purchases a gun. All had been Northam priorities, and on Monday night he scolded the committee for nixing them.

On Tuesday, Democrats played hardball of their own in the Senate. Aiming to pressure a Republican senator into supporting Medicaid expansion, Democrats made good on a threat to kill a bill intended to help a shuttered hospital in his poor Southwest Virginia district.

"I have never intimated to any of you all, nor have I ever told you, 'Unless you do something for me, I will kill your bill,'" Sen. William Stanley, R-Franklin, said after his measure failed on a 30-10 vote. Nine Democrats had voted along with all 21 Republicans, but Stanley was two votes short of the supermajority he needed for emergency legislation.

Stanley was trying to renew state certification for Patrick County Hospital, which closed last year, in hopes that a new operator would come forward. "I'm angry. And I'm ashamed of you," he said.

Democrats, who need support from two Republicans to get Medicaid expansion out of the closely divided Senate, said their goal was the same as Stanley's - only on a larger scale.

"I'm angry also," said Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax. "I'm very angry that I have constituents - yes, even in Northern Virginia, even in wealthy Fairfax County and Arlington County - that have no health care. They're suffering. A few of them died. . . . I think we need to get together to figure out a way we can provide health care throughout the commonwealth and not pick one small community."

After the vote, Stanley said Democrats have turned the hospital into a pawn in the Medicaid fight.

"I'm heartbroken that they would try to pull this stunt on something that has nothing to do with what they're trying to achieve," Stanley said in an interview.

Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, seemed to acknowledge that his vote against Stanley's bill had been "a political vote." Seeking to defuse the tension, he also suggested that the measure might be revived, perhaps as an amendment to another bill.

But Republicans took retribution by calling up bills that had passed earlier, stripping out the ones sponsored by Democrats and putting those aside for the day.

Democratic leaders in the House said that they want to work across the aisle but that they interpret last fall's election as a message sent by Virginians who want a higher minimum wage, an end to workplace discrimination and better gun control, among other priorities.

"While bipartisanship and civility have their appropriate place and they're something that we embrace, we also have to consider these bills and take positions on bills," House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville,said.

Sen. Majority Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City, said he had heard the words "comity, collaboration and cooperation" batted around for days. "Somehow those words are already starting to ring hollow," he said.
It took just three weeks to destroy 60 percent of the world's saiga population.

During an uncommonly warm and wet spell in May 2015, as the endangered antelopes gathered in central Kazakhstan to give birth to their young, a microbe in the animals' absurdly large snouts turned virulent. The saigas' immune systems were powerless against it. Once the disease struck a herd, every member died in a matter of days - first the adults, who suffered diarrhea and respiratory distress, then the young, who starved or sickened themselves by drinking the milk of their dead mothers. Scientists who witnessed the die-off still have visions of carcass-littered grasslands seared in their minds.

"It was quite shocking," said Richard Kock, a professor of wildlife health and emerging disease at the Royal Veterinary College in London. Kock has studied mass mortality events for more than 30 years, but what happened to the saiga was unprecedented, he said. It was also mystifying: Pasteurella multicoda, the bacterium responsible for the die-off, normally dwells unnoticed in saigas' respiratory tract. What could have triggered the microbe to become suddenly, simultaneously deadly in 200,000 animals scattered across 65,000 square miles of habitat?

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, Kock and his colleagues identify weather as the culprit. The 2015 mass mortality event, like two previous incidents in the 1980s, coincided with unusually high temperatures and humidity during the spring calving season, they report.

"The animals were in a sort of foggy soup, and it looks like that bacteria naturally occupying the tonsils were woken up by this environmental factor," Kock said.

Tracing the saigas' killer was no easy task. Their habitat is so remote, and the disease so swift, it was impossible to capture a healthy member of an infected herd for comparison. Instead, the researchers from Europe and Kazakhstan tracked the ailing animals up to a mile a day, performing examinations of diseased and deceased individuals where they fell. The only known survivors were in small herds far from the main group, difficult to pin down amid the vast landscape.

After necropsies revealed P. multicoda as the proximate cause of death, the researchers considered a range of factors that might have made the antelopes so vulnerable to a normally benign bacterium. They tested for pathogens that could have increased the danger and looked for evidence of nutritional deficiencies that would have weakened the animals' immune system. They even looked at whether fuel from rocket launches at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome triggered the outbreak.

Yet only three variables showed a strong relationship with the 2015 die-off and similar events in 1988 and 1981: average maximum daily relative humidity, average minimum daily temperature and average maximum daily dew-point temperature.

The scientists are still sorting out the mechanism by which these weather fluctuations changed the behavior of the bacterium. They are also quick to point out that a connection to weather doesn't mean the die-off can be blamed on climate change.

But climate change is expected to alter the weather in the saigas' native habitat in ways that could make them more vulnerable to outbreaks like the one in 2015. In the past 15 years, scientists have recorded a 10-degree increase in central Kazakhstan's median May temperatures, Kock said - exactly the time of year when the animals gather for spring calving.

"We know the trends are moving in that direction," he said. "It's pretty likely that we'll get other events like this again."

Conservationists would be powerless to stop such an outbreak; there is no way to give so many saiga a vaccine for hemorrhagic septicemia, the disease caused by P. multicoda. Figuring out what happened in Kazakhstan could help researchers understand and predict other die-offs, however.

"Animals and their microbiomes have evolved within certain limits over millions of years, and now suddenly . . . we are shifting the environmental conditions rapidly outside of that envelope," Kock said. As he and his colleagues hypothesize, "you've now got bacteria responding quite quickly, while the host doesn't have the capacity to change. If the immune system doesn't adapt to that quicker change in behavior of the pathogen, that's how the balance is lost."

The ramifications could be severe. "If this starts happening on a wider scale," Kock continued, "it's potentially catastrophic for livestock, for conservation, and ultimately for all mammals."

In 2015, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a sweeping review of the world's worst mass-mortality events - incidents during which either 90 percent of a species was wiped out, more than 1 billion individuals were killed or 700 million tons worth of biomatter (the equivalent of nearly 2,000 Empire State Buildings) was destroyed. Since 1940, such events have become more common for birds, fish and marine invertebrates, the researchers found.

Most of the time, the die-offs were attributed to "multiple stressors" - problems that piled up until the species reached some kind of vulnerability threshold. In nearly a quarter of all cases, climate played a role.

"We know these events have been part of the backdrop of what it means to be an organism on planet Earth," said Samuel Fey, an ecologist at Reed University and one of the lead authors of the PNAS study. He pointed to the spectacular "dinosaur graveyards" left behind by floods and mudslides, and even the grim ruins uncovered at Pompeii.

"But we also know that patterns of local environmental conditions are changing," Fey said. "And our science is advanced enough to say that it seems reasonable that given those types of extremes, there's the potential for [mass-mortality events] to occur."

As for the saiga, the outlook for the imperiled antelope species remains unclear. These holdovers from the Ice Age are tough creatures, evolved over tens of thousands of years to survive the harsh conditions of their habitats. In the past century alone they've rebounded twice from the brink of extinction.

But the past few years have been especially hard. Last winter, the Wildlife Conservation Society reported that a quarter of a Mongolian subspecies hundreds of miles away had succumbed to an unrelated virus.

"These populations are highly vulnerable to the introduction of new diseases and the stress that goes along with that and factors that can trigger it," Society veterinarian Amanda Fine told The Washington Post at the time.
This week Egypt attempted to defuse political tensions with Nile Basin countries. On Monday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi poured cold water on any suggestion that Cairo would contemplate military action against either Sudan or Ethiopia, saying Egypt will not fight its brothers.

We are not willing to enter into a war with our brothers or with anyone, the president said during the opening of a number of development projects.

Egypt does not conspire and does not interfere in the affairs of others, the president added in comments that stressed Cairo is pursuing stability in the Horn of Africa.

Our spending on the Armed Forces is to achieve Egyptian national security in accordance with security concepts that require a military capability to protect Egyptians and preserve peace, he said.

El-Sisis comments came against a backdrop of growing speculation in Ethiopia and Sudan over the possibility of Egypt waging military action from the UAE-owned base in neighbouring Eritrea as negotiations over Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam remain deadlocked.

Sudan, which two weeks ago summoned its ambassador from Cairo for consultations, went so far as to announce that its troops are combat ready.

Tensions have been rising between Cairo and Khartoum over Egypt's southern Halayeb Triangle region, over which Sudan claims sovereignty.

Eriterian President Isaias Afwerki said on Monday that there are no Egyptian troops in his country.

Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn arrived in Cairo on 17 January for a two-day visit. Desalegn is heading his country's delegation to the sixth meeting of the joint Egyptian-Ethiopian Higher Committee. The last meeting of the committee was held three years ago.

An informed government source says that Egypt needs a firm commitment from Desalegn on three issues: that Ethiopia will not begin filling the dams reservoir without Cairos consent; that the filling timetable be fixed following discussions by the technical teams and will not compromise Egypts share of Nile water; and that Addis Ababa commit to cooperating in good faith and transparently with the consultants contracted to advise Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on the impact of the dam.

According to another source, Cairo expects Addis Ababa to recognise that Egypt will only accept a temporary reduction of its share of water pending the filling process, with the provision that in the event of a bad rainy season it can demand Ethiopia reduce the amount of water it is withholding; that Egypt will not negotiate a reduction of its annual share under any conditions, nor will it agree to any agreement that involves buying back part of its established share from either Ethiopia or Sudan as has been indirectly suggested during talks.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have been trying to negotiate an agreement on the construction and filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam since 2015. Construction work has continued apace, though no agreement has been reached.

Following a new round of talks between the three countries in November, Egypt announced that negotiations had failed. Days later, in a statement before parliament, Ethiopias ambassador to Egypt insisted his country remained committed to a negotiated solution that satisfies all parties.

During talks with senior Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa in late December, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri suggested a team of experts from the World Bank join the negotiations to provide unbiased advice on the safety of the dam and its possible impacts.

The idea was to have an independent international body assess the process of filling the reservoir, says a senior government official. He added that previous studies conducted by the World Bank before Ethiopia began construction concluded that the dam might harm Egypts water interests unless its construction and the filling of the reservoir were carefully calibrated.

Neither Ethiopia nor Sudan welcomed Egypts request that the World Bank be included in negotiations. According to the Egyptian official, it is likely they will either refuse or take a very long time before agreeing.

This is an ongoing problem. Ethiopia, with the support of Sudan, has been wasting time in fruitless talks while aggressively pursuing construction of the dam to create new facts on the ground, says the official.

Today, Cairo officials say it may well be time for Egypt to reconsider its commitment to the Khartoum Declaration of Principles, signed by the leaders of the three countries in 2015, which established the protocols for the tripartite talks.

This is not something we will rush into, but it has to be considered given Ethiopias refusal to make serious commitments. The fact is we have had enough of endless promises that lead to nothing, says the official.

If no clear basis for an agreement is reached during the visit of the Ethiopian prime minister, then Egypt will have little choice but to consider other legal options.

In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly published last month, Aye Atske-Selassie Amde, Ethiopias ambassador to Egypt, said the political will of leaders could help give a positive push to negotiations, but in the end it will be up to technical experts to resolve outstanding issues.

Cairo, says the Egyptian official, is willing to give experts another chance to answer the most obvious pending question of how many years should be spent filling the reservoir, but warns that it is impossible we will agree to the three-year timetable some in Ethiopia are proposing, because it will mean a 30 percent cut to Egypts share of Nile water.

As it is, Egypts annual 55 billion cubic metre share falls short of meeting the water needs of a growing population. The amount was set in historic agreements which a majority of the Nile Basins 10 countries do not recognise because they were signed during the colonial period and want renegotiated, something Cairo firmly rejects.

Desalegns two-day visit has been officially designed to allow for him and El-Sisi to chair a meeting of the joint cooperation committee that Egypt and Ethiopia established in 2014.

The committee could discuss a wide range of cooperative ventures between the two countries, including possible agrarian, energy and industrial projects. Diplomats on both sides say the two countries are more than willing to widen joint cooperation in the hope this will help build confidence.

In parallel with talks with Ethiopia, Cairo is considering ways to contain tensions with Sudan, over both the dam and the Halayeb Triangle dispute, say informed diplomatic sources.

Egyptian officials say Cairo is still considering its options and is keeping a close eye on the alliances the regime of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir is forging with Turkey and Qatar.

We dont want to be in a state of perpetual tension with Sudan, though Khartoum needs to realise we are disappointed with some of its choices, said one Egyptian official.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper

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On the eve of the summit, Egypt's FM Shoukry expressed optimism there is 'political will of both countries to overcome any obstacles that may hinder the promising prospects of bilateral relations'

Related Egypt sees no time for procrastination in talks with Ethiopia over dam

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss bilateral cooperation and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi , according to Egypt's foreign ministry said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu held talks earlier in the day ahead of the talks between El-Sisi and Desalegn Thursday..

The two FMs discussed he dam project, boosting trade and investment between the two countries, as well as other regional issues.

The ministerial-level discussions are part of the sixth meeting of a joint high-level cooperation committee between the two countries.

The last meeting of the committee was held three years ago in Addis Ababa.

The meeting between El-Sisi and Desalegn comes as Egypt continues to express concerns over the stalling in negotiations between the two countries over the impact of the construction of the Renaissance dam on its Nile water share.

Shoukry expresses hope

Shoukry said in his address to the closing session of the ministerial talks that the convening of the committee meeting reflects "the political will of both countries to overcome any obstacles that may hinder the promising prospects of bilateral relations."

"Egyptians and Ethiopians have enjoyed longstanding historical relations for millennia. Our countries established diplomatic relations as early as 1927, to mark one of the oldest diplomatic ties within Africa," Shoukry said.

"Im sure we are all keen to exert our utmost efforts to sustain and further develop our historical relations, and realise their full potential."

Shoukry reiterated Egypt's commitment to the full implementation of the 2015 Declaration of Principles signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to resolve disagreements in the negotiations over the dam.

Shoukry said that upon full implementation, the agreement will serve as "a successful model of cooperation in the Nile Basin."

Shoukry also said that Egypt is keen on developing economic and trade relations with Ethiopia.

"Im glad that the outcomes of our deliberations furnish a modus operandi for steering joint successful cooperation in the fields of agriculture, trade, investment, mining, health, industry, culture and education."

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A San Antonio man found guilty last week in the 2015 fatal shooting of a man whose body was found in a West Side drainage ditch called Hells Gate has been sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Robert Martinez was convicted of murder Friday. It took a jury about 90 minutes to decide on a sentence Wednesday morning. Martinez, 21, faced five to 99 years or life in prison.

Steven Cerna, 19, was lured to a motel with the promise of making money for drugs, then taken to a drainage ditch on the West Side known as Hells Gate, where he was killed Feb. 20, 2015. Cerna was shot four times, twice in the face, according to testimony.

Prosecutors Melissa Saenz and Kristina Escalona argued that the killing was done in retaliation for another slaying that did not involve Cerna. Defense attorney Leland McRae contended authorities arrested the wrong man.

Now Playing: Robert Martinez, 21, was arrested and charged with the murder of Steven Cerna, who was found in a ditch with multiple gunshot wounds in February 2015, said San Antonio police spokesman Officer Douglas Greene. Video: San Antonio Express-News

The case went cold for two years until prosecutors said Martinez started bragging about the killing.

Martinezs uncle jailed in a separate, pending kidnapping case, Larry Isaac, testified for the state Thursday that his nephew admitted he shot Cerna.

The victims mother, Patricia Cerna, testified that her son suffered from mental illness.

Isaac admitted on the stand that his testimony was part of a plea agreement that capped his prison sentence to nine years on a lesser charge of kidnapping, instead of the 20 he faces.

The case was heard in the 290th state District Court, presided by Judge Melisa Skinner.

The victims mother declined to give an impact statement.

Martinez will have to serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole.

Elizabeth Zavala is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | ezavala@express-news.net | @elizabeth2863
AUSTIN -- A Houston Republican is starting to pay a hefty price as she runs for re-election for running afoul with police and firefighter unions in Texas.

In the last to Legislature sessions, State Sen. Joan Huffman has sponsored legislation to make it harder for many public worker unions to collect membership dues. Now those groups are responding by funneling big money to help Fort Bend County Republican Kristin Tassin challenge Huffman in a primary on March 6 in one of the mostly hotly contested state Senate races in Texas.

Of the $90,000 Tassin has raised for her campaign, $27,000 has come from firefighter unions, most notably $25,000 from Houston Fire Fighters Political Action Fund - Tassin's largest donation.

"Our membership was not too pleased with Sen. Huffman," said Brian Wilcox, communications director for the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

She's also collected $1,000 each from the Corpus Christi Firefighters Association and from the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters PAC.

Huffman sponsored SB 13 in the regular session of the Legislature in 2017 and a similar bill in 2015. The bill would have ended automatic payroll deductions that the state allow for certain public employee unions. Instead of allowing workers to send dues directly to the union, employees would be required to find another way to pay their membership dues. The bill exempted firefighters and police, but still drew their displeasure because they saw it as a union busting bill.

Huffman had argued that Texas needs to get out of the union collecting dues business and leave it to unions to do their own collecting.

While firefighters are fighting back by helping Huffman's opponent, some police union groups have taken a different approach. The Houston Police Officers' Union and the Texas Municipal Police Association have both backed Huffman's re-election, her campaign said.

Tassin, a two-term president of the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees, has been a vocal critic of the Legislature's approach to public education and the state's failure to better fund public schools. Tassin and Huffman are battling for the 17th District, which includes parts of Harris, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties.

Besides the $90,000 in campaign donations, Tassin also has a $50,000 loan from her husband, according to new campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Huffman was first elected to the Senate in 2008.

Three Democrats are running in a primary to face the winner of the Huffman-Tassin battle. The Democrats in the race are Ahmed Hassan, Fran Watson and Rita Lucid0.

Early voting in the March 6 primary begins on Feb. 20.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.
Ricardo B. Brazziell/MBO

AUSTIN -- For the fourth time since Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday extended the a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties that were hard hit by the worst single storm event in state history.

Abbott said all Texas counties that were declared disaster areas will continue to be eligible for assistance as they recover and rebuild after the storm.
An Egyptian military court sentenced on Wednesday eight people to death and 16 others to life imprisonment over the 2015 assassination of interior ministry public security Colonel Wael Tahoun, as well as the killing of one other policeman and one civilian.

The court also acquitted 26 defendants in the case.

The sentences can still be appealed.

The case, which involved 52 defendants, dates back to an April 2015 attack where Tahoun was gunned down near his home in Cairo.

The two other victims were also killed in the attack.

Tahoun was serving at the public security department of the ministry of interior at the time of his assassination. He had previously served as the commander of the Matariya police station in east Cairo.

The defendants were charged with joining an illegal group that calls for the suspension of the law and the constitution, obstructing state institutions from carrying out their duties, as well as harming personal freedoms and the rights of citizens.

The defendants were also charged with inciting the murder of Tahoun and two others, destroying public and private property, as well as committing hostile actions.

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Orange County Sheriff's Department (LOS ANGELES) -- Prosecutors haven't ruled out hate crime charges in the fatal stabbing of University of Pennsylvania student Blaze Bernstein, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Wednesday.



"We are continuing to investigate, looking through all matters of the communication," he said. "We have an obligation to file charges only if there's sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. A hate crime of special circumstance allegation requires that level of proof ... if and when we find it, we will amend the charges."



Bernstein, 19, who was gay, was at home in Southern California for winter break when he went missing on Jan. 2. After an extensive search, his body was found on Jan. 9 in the brush surrounding Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said.



The Bernsteins said in a statement earlier this week, Our son was a beautiful gentle soul who we loved more than anything. We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community. There is still much discovery to be done and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime.



Samuel Woodward -- Bernstein's former classmate at the Orange County School of the Arts -- was arrested on Jan. 12 and has been charged with murder.



Woodward, 20, allegedly picked up Bernstein from his home the night he went missing, the district attorney's office said.



Woodward -- who is 50 pounds heavier than Bernstein -- is accused of stabbing him to death and burying his body in the dirt in the perimeter of the park, the district attorney's office said.



The exact time and place of the murder is under investigation, prosecutors said, adding that a motive has not been determined.



Prosecutors accuse Woodward of visiting the crime scene days after the murder. They also say Woodward cleaned up the car he used to pick up the Ivy League student.



Prosecutors allege Woodward later gave authorities a "false explanation" about abrasions on his arms and dirt on his hands. According to a search warrant affidavit that was obtained by The Orange County Register and later sealed, Woodward allegedly told investigators the abrasions on him were from a "fight club," the affidavit said.



According to the affidavit, Woodward allegedly told investigators that that night at the park, Bernstein left the car and walked off.



In the affidavit, Woodward said he waited for an hour for Bernstein to return to the car and then tried to reach him on Snapchat. When that failed, he said he went to his girlfriend's house and then returned to the park a few hours later to look for Bernstein.



Police said, according to the affidavit, during their questioning, Woodward couldnt remember his girlfriend's last name or where she lived.



Rackauckas said Wednesday the family is "very distraught."



"This was a treasured young man," he said.



The Ivy League student's mother, Jeanne Pepper Bernstein, tweeted after the arrest, "Revenge is empty. It will never bring back my son."



"My only hopes are that he will never have the opportunity to hurt anyone else again and that something meaningful can come from the senseless act of Blaze's murder," she said.



Bernstein's parents later said in a statement, "We are heartbroken."



"When we stop crying we will start doing positive things to affect change," they said. "We ask that everyone work toward something good. Stop being complacent. Do something now.



"In the months to come, as part of our healing process, we too will act to heal the world. That is what Blaze would want," the Bernsteins said. "We still believe that people are good. We have seen this first hand in the tremendous amount of support we received from people everywhere."



Woodward, charged with murder, is set to appear at a bail hearing later Wednesday. If convicted, the maximum sentence is 26 years to life in state prison.







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The timing and agenda of the Pence visit to Cairo reveal much about the current profile of Egyptian-American relations

Following a delay accompanied by much speculation US Vice President Mike Pence is now scheduled to arrive in the Middle East for a three-leg visit, beginning in Egypt on 20 January and then taking in Jordan and Israel.

He is expected to meet Al-Sisi for a few hours in Al-Ittahidiya Palace.

The Pence visit, originally scheduled for 20 December, was delayed following US President Donald Trumps announcement Washington would acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfer the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

In protest at the US violation of the principle of the peace talks  the status of Jerusalem, the eastern part of which was occupied by Israel during the June 1967 War, was supposed to be decided in final status negotiations according to the timetable of negotiations set out by the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991 Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced he would not meet with Pence.

On Sunday Abbas again criticised the position of the US president, branding Trumps policies and statements on the Middle East as shameful.

In a speech before the Palestinian Central Council Abbas insisted he would not bow to pressure from Washington.

Abbas has been pressed by leading Arab capitals to meet with Pence but insists he will not, said an informed Palestinian source. Abbas cannot accept the offer of a non-viable Palestinian state on bits and pieces of Palestinian territory occupied in 1967 and he cannot accept Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He has said this in so many words to the Arab leaders who have been trying to convince him to show more realism.

But Trump is not taking no for an answer, say informed Middle East-based Western sources, and Pence is certain to bring up the issue with President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan during his trip.

That said, Western and Egyptian sources both agree it would be wrong to assume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations will top the agenda of the Pence-Sisi talks, especially in view of the hesitant Israeli position on negotiating with Abbas, an old and ailing man with hardly any serious constituency, as one Western source put it.

In Egypt Pences agenda will include the fate of US economic and military aid to Egypt which has been paid since the 1979 signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. Last year the Trump administration cut part of the military aid. Washington said the decision was a reaction to Egypts hesitant moves on human rights. Informed sources in Cairo and Washington, however, say it was military cooperation between Egypt and North Korea to which the US really objected.

Today, according to Egyptian sources, the issue has, for the most part, been managed.

Cairo chose to prioritise its interests with the US and acted accordingly, says an Egyptian official, and Washington has acknowledged the commitment we have showed to our relations with the US and with the administration of President Trump.

Yet whatever the official version in Cairo, the US still seems to expect more accommodation from Egypt, and cooperation on this and on other files of interest to the US will be crucial in determining the levels of US aid this year.

The 2018 US budget is still to be approved. Informed sources say many in the administration are arguing for a significant cut in the annual economic and military aid. In Congress, the House is in favour of maintaining aid while the Senate wants to see reductions.

If Washington expects Cairo to push Abbas into showing greater flexibility, Egyptian sources who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly off the record were unwilling to either confirm the US official narrative that Egypt is trying to convince Abbas, nor assert a serious possibility Abbas might change his position.

An informed Arab diplomat said: It is not just Abbas who is reluctant. King Abdullah is equally hesitant.

Another issue that will determine the assessment on Egyptian cooperation Pence takes back to Washington is the highly sensitive subject of conditions facing Egypts Copts.

A leading Egyptian-American Coptic figure in Washington told the Weekly: Pence will certainly bring up the issue in his talks with President Al-Sisi. The US vice president will arrive with a list of specific problems which he is going to ask the president to personally consider.

Pence is also likely to bring up the subject of Egypts energy and security cooperation with Russia, including arms purchases, the possible signing of an agreement on the mutual use of air bases and the agreement with Moscow to build a nuclear power plant on Egypts north coast.

Other issues that will be raised, say the same sources, include the now seven-year long legal case of three Americans convicted of violating Egypts national security and, to a lesser extent, concerns over public freedoms in Egypt.

Senior Egyptian officials are keen to avoid further cuts in US aid to Egypt which they say will undermine any strategic alliance between Cairo and Washington. Yet within some quarters in Cairo expectations of cooperation between Egypt and the US under the Trump administration have already been seriously curtailed.

Egypt, argue concerned state officials, had hoped all the good work Cairo has been doing in its war against terrorist groups, and its purposeful cooperation with Israel in the war on terror would have met with more appreciation in Washington. Instead, they say, relations with Washington may already have been demoted from a strategic alliance to a more transactional relationship.

Some Egyptian sources say the shift may not cause as much worry in Cairo as it might as long as Washington shows some appreciation of Egypts role in the region. But there are few signs as yet of such appreciation coming from the US given the recent cuts in US aid and the fact Trump neglected to stop in Egypt during his first Middle East visit last summer which took in Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Political science professor and expert on Egyptian American relations Mohamed Kamal says it is too early to predict a new phase of tensions between Egypt and the US over the aid issue.

Egypt has been trying to push relations beyond this issue, says Kamal. He argues further cuts in US aid may well be part of the Trump administrations policy of reducing foreign aid in general rather than signifying disappointment in Washington about Egypt.

Nor, says Kamal, should we over-estimate the significance of Trump not visiting Egypt when he came to the region last year when it is already clear Trump does not invest much in foreign visits, especially with the kind of domestic matters he has to attend to.

We also need to take into consideration the frequency of phone calls between Trump and Al-Sisi since Trump entered the Oval Office.

While acknowledging it is hard to miss the decline in empathy Trump has displayed towards Egypt since his election, Kamal still insists Trump is keen on good relations with Egypt.

I think what we are seeing today is an acknowledgment form both sides that the basis of their relations as established in the late 1970s needs revision, he says, which might include a new take on US aid to Egypt but also needs to recognise growing areas of agreements between the two countries.

What we should be concerned about are not just relations with the Trump administration but Egyptian-American relations in general, now and in the future.

According to regional diplomatic sources, revising relations with the US might be in order for the entire Middle East  with the exception of Israel  given the declining interest Washington is showing in the region.

*This story was first published published in Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper

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Danville, WV (25053)

Today

Cloudy with snow. Temps nearly steady in the mid 30s. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 24F. Winds light and variable.
The Lincoln-Boone Conference awards were voted on by coaches within the conference. Here are
It is a week since former military chief of staff Sami Anan announced his intention to stand in the presidential election. The news should have qualified as a bombshell: Anan, who until 2012 was the second most senior military figure in Egypt, has a 45-year history of military service, including 16 years in the upper echelons of the Air Force and seven years as army chief of staff. As such he would be a serious rival against President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi who has yet to officially announce he will be a candidate in the March poll.

But the ripples caused by the surprise announcement were quickly subdued. The 70-year-old retired field marshal didnt break the news himself but instead chose to make the announcement through his little-known party Masr Al-Orouba (Arabism Egypt), formed less than three years ago. While acknowledging the elephant in the room mainstream and pro-government media responded nonchalantly, cautiously glossing the news.

Anans and the medias silence opened the space for widespread speculation over his intentions. Is Anan seriously standing in opposition to Al-Sisi or is his candidacy an attempt to window dress an election the outcome of which is all but known? And more importantly, will he really proceed with his quest?

The announcement Anan intended to stand came after Ahmed Shafik, another former general, withdrew his own putative bid. Shafik, a former commander of the Air Force who served briefly as prime minister during the 2011 uprising and who lost to the Muslim Brotherhoods Mohamed Morsi in the 2012 presidential election is believed to enjoy considerable political clout. He first announced his presidential bid from self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates before being deported to Egypt where he eventually reversed his decision amid rumours  which he vehemently denies  that he was pressured into backtracking.

Had he pursued his bid for president, Shafik would have created an unwelcome precedent in which two former gererals were opposing each other publicly.

This is not the first time Anan has eyed the presidency. In 2014 he briefly expressed interest in standing in the presidential elections. But it was Al-Sisi who took credit for Morsis ouster, and after coming under intense media attack  one TV anchor threatened on air to physically attack him Anan reversed his decision.

Things have changed since 2014, says Sami Balah, secretary-general of Masr Al-Orouba. He changed his mind back then because it was important to have a united front, no divisions.

El-Sisi overwhelmenigly won the 2014 elections with 96.9 percent of the vote.

For now Masr Al-Orouba is racing against time to collect the 25,000 legal endorsements  a minimum of 1,000 each from 15 governorates  required by the constitution to qualify as a candidate. Alternatively, Anan could seek 20 endorsements from MPs but with over 516 already having declared their backing for Al-Sisi the mathematics look bleak.

According to Balah, collecting the 25,000 signatures required is proving difficult. Some public notaries are refusing to certify legal endorsements for Anan this happened to me personally in Damietta, says Balah  on the grounds Anans name is not listed as a potential candidate.

We call on the High Elections Committee to address this matter and to remove all hurdles placed before candidates who should be receiving equal treatment by public notaries, says Balah, adding that the party will file complaints.

According to Balah, once Anan has collected the required number of endorsements he will hold an international press conference.

A man with his long career in the military will not make a public appearance before that. What if he doesnt collect the endorsements? asks Balah, before conceding there is the view that if he makes the announcement himself now it could speed up the process.

The deadline for candidates to present endorsements is 29 January.

Since it was formed in 2015 Masr Al-Orouba has been largely dormant, though its secretary-general insists it has been busy building cadres in branches across the nation. Political activism is a struggle these days for everyone, not just for our small party, says Balah, a lawyer and one time member of the Wafd Party.

Although other possible candidates have complained of harassment and obstacles placed in their way by public notaries, especially in the provinces, observers say this might not be the full story as far as Anan is concerned. The possible candidates silence over the past week certainly appears to invite scepticism over the seriousness of his bid.

Anan has a constituency within the 30 June public [those who rallied for military intervention to remove Morsi] and is an important figure in the elections even if he doesnt continue in the race. We really dont know much about what is going on, says political analyst Amr El-Chobaki.

Balah says Anan isnt facing any pressure and would have told me if that was the case.

Like the vast majority of senior military figures Anan kept a low profile throughout his career. He made news for the first time by cutting short a visit to the United States and flying back to Cairo when the 25 January 2011 uprising broke out.

By February, following 18 days of nationwide protests, Hosni Mubarak stepped down and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) emerged as Egypts de facto ruler, with defence minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and his deputy, Anan, at the helm.

Less than two months after his election in June 2013 Morsi retired both Tantawi and Anan. While Tantawi has remained firmly out of the public eye, occasional statements criticising Al-Sisi over national security have been attributed to Anan though none have been concerned.

Regardless of the future of his bid Anans public interest in the presidency is symptomatic of the changes that have affected the military since it took centre stage in political life following the 2011 uprising.

El-Chobaki notes that while SCAFs time in power from February 2011 to June 2012 was not a choice given the constitutional void caused by Mubaraks departure, by 2013 the militarys disappointment at the turbulence of Morsis first year in power saw them opt to intervene.

That two former military generals like Shafik and now Anan see themselves as qualified presidential candidates is part and parcel of this new culture, says El-Chobaki.

The military-political overlap, however, remains highly sensitive. In December 2017 Ahmed Konsowa, a previously unknown colonel, announced his intention to stand in the presidential elections while wearing his military uniform. He was sentenced to six years in prison for violating military regulations banning active duty officers from engaging in politics.

Comparisons might not be in Anans favour, says El-Chobaki, for while Al-Sisi is viewed as the military figure who saved Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood, Anan as SCAF leader is accused of assisting their rise to power.

Balah believes the former general will appeal to many. Hes a very decent man who believes in democracy and freedom.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper

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The Stopover won best screenplay in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival

The French drama Stopover (Voir du pays, 2016) will be screened at the French Institute in Cairo on Wednesday 31 January.

The film is written and directed by sisters Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin.

The Stopover follows two young French soldiers, Aurore and Marine, who, having returned from their duty in Afghanistan, take a three-day holiday in a five-star hotel in Cyprus.

Apart from their work on The Stopover (2016), the French directoring duo is known for 17 Girls (2011) and Souffle (2000) which they as co-directed.

The Stopover won best screenplay award in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the best film at the 2016 Cairo International Film Festival.

Programme:

Wednesday 31 January at 7pm

French Institute, Madrasset El-Huquq El-Frenseya Street, Mounira, Cairo

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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A development project that aims to convert the Kom El-Shoqafa archaeological site in Alexandria into an open-air museum will involve the creation of a new display scheme for its artefacts.

Kom El-Shoqafa consists of a series of catacombs, statues and artefacts of the ancient Egyptian funeral cult, with Hellenistic and early imperial Roman influences.

Mostafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the museum will be divided into four sections; the first devoted to funerary structures, the second to religious buildings; the third to civil edifices; and the fourth will serve as a temporary exhibition.

The first section will have on display a collection of 34 sarcophagi, as well as the "Abundant" tomb and the tomb of "El-Ibrahimi" after reconstruction on the tomb  which is currently dismantled and stored in the site's storehouses  is complete.

The second section will display a collection of sphinx statues and the remains of Semouha temple, which are currently in storage.

The third section will have on display remains of crowns of pillars and the remains of statues and pillars.

Aymen Ashmawi, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department, told Ahram Online that the fourth section will display artefacts selected to be displayed at Giza's Grand Egyptian Museum, which is set to open, and Alexandria's Greaco-Roman museum after it is restored.

"After the removal of these artefacts, this section will have on display newly discovered objects from the site," Ashmawy said.

The catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa are the largest known Roman burial site in Egypt, with three tiers of tombs that can accommodate up to 300 corpses.

The tombs were originally dug for a single family still practicing the ancient Egyptian religion; however, the architecture of the tombs mirrors the Greco-Roman style.

This can be seen in the wall decoration, which shows a unique combination of Egyptian, Greek and Roman artistic traditions. The tomb was likely expanded later to allow for the burial of more corpses.

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An Egyptian archaeological mission working at an archaeological site in Al-Alamein on the northern coast has discovered a rock-hewn tomb that dates to the first and second centuries AD.

The discovery was made during an archaeological survey carried out ahead of infrastructure work in New Alamein City.

Naema Sanad, director-general of the Marina archaeological site and head of the mission, told Ahram Online that the tomb contains of a staircase engraved in rock that leads to the main chamber of the tomb, whose walls hold a number of burial holes called Locauli.

Sanad says that the southern wall of the tomb is adorned with a Greek religious and artistic decoration called the welfare horn, which depicts a horn with a basin decorated with flowers and tree leaves. To the right of the tombs entrance is another chamber that was added during a later period.

Eman Abdel-Khaleq, senior inspector of the site, pointed out that the mission has discovered many artefacts in the tomb, including a collection of coins dating to the period when the tomb was built in addition to many pottery vessels and two lamps.

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New Delhi: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on last day cleared the procurement of assault rifles and carbines worth Rs 3,547 crore on "fast track basis" to meet the immediate requirement of troops deployed on the borders, defence ministry sources said.

Under the proposal, cleared at the meeting chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, 72,000 assault rifles and 93,895 carbines will be procured, the sources said.

The procurement is expected to address the shortage of weapons for the armed forces, they added.
COLLINSVILLE-A Henry County Grand Jury on Tuesday handed down 117 indictments.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt. It is a grand jurys determination that enough evidence exists to hold a trial.

Among those indicted were:

 Jamey Lee King, 67, of Martinsville, who faces one charge of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense and felony failure to appear. The charge stems from multiple alleged incidents June 20 and Sept. 7.

 Joseph Berkley Taylor III, 33, of Martinsville, who faces one count each of possession of a firearm while possessing cocaine; possession of a firearm by a violent felon and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute  third or subsequent offense. That stems from an alleged incident Sept. 19.

 Jesse Donald Richardson Jr., 50, of Martinsville, who faces one count of failing to register information as a sex offender. That charge stems from an alleged incident July 31.

 Michelle Ritchie Brown, 46, of Axton, who faces one count of grand larceny. The charge stems from alleged incidents between May 1 and July 12.

 Joey David Johnson, 36, of Martinsville, who faces one count of entering a dwelling in the nighttime with intent to commit larceny and grand larceny. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 1.

 Luis Antonio Becerra Eames, 18, of Axton, who faces one count of felony hit and run  attended property with damage greater than $1,000. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 25.

 Crystal Gail Bruce, 38, of Bassett, who faces two counts of grand larceny, one count of breaking and entering into a dwelling with intent to commit larceny and one count of grand larceny of a firearm. The charges stem from alleged incidents July 15, 2015 and July 17, 2015.

 Kevin Wayne Helton, 39, of Bassett, who faces three counts of grand larceny, two counts of breaking and entering into a building with intent to commit larceny and one count of felony destruction of property. The charges stem from alleged incidents July 18 and July 29.

 Bobbi Jo Leghorn, 36, of Fieldale, who faces one count each of larceny of a check and felony failure to appear in court. The charges stem from alleged incidents May 10 and July 17.

 Jacob Alan Gray, 35, of Fieldale, who faces two counts of endangering the life of a child and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The charges stem from an alleged incident May 26.

 Brian Eugene Harris, 39, of Martinsville, who faces one count of violating a protective order  furtively enter the home of protected party. The charge stems from an alleged incident July 5.

 Ed Robert William Vires, 33, of Axton, who faces one count of petit larceny  third or subsequent offense and one count of credit card theft. The charges stem from an alleged incident July 2.

 Alex Jay Roark, 19, of Ridgeway, who faces one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute  greater than  ounce but less than five pounds. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 31.

 Roneisha Diane Lee Coles, 19, of Martinsville, who faces one count of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 22.

 Emily Amanda Pugh, 38, of Martinsville, who faces one count of possession of methamphetamine. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 9.

 Paul Douglas Warner, 58, of Martinsville, who faces one count each of possession of methamphetamine, possession of heroin and possession of cocaine. The charges stem from an alleged incident June 2.

 Sandra Sink Hodges, 52, of Bassett, who faces one count of arson of an occupied dwelling. The charge stems from an alleged incident July 25.

 Russell Morris Snead Jr., 46, of Fieldale, who faces one count of assault and battery of a family/household member  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 24.

 Prince Eric Hanson, 31, of Bassett, who faces two counts of assault and battery of a family/household member  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident March 19.

 Jeremy Daniel Adkins, 38, of Martinsville, who faces one count each of strangulation and unlawful wounding of a family/household member. The charges stem from alleged incidents Aug. 20, 2016 and March 20, 2017.

 Malik Delinoir Douglas, 21, of Bassett, who faces one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute greater than  ounce but less than five pounds. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 24.

 Rogers Wayne Martin, 64, of Martinsville, who faces one count of felonious violation of the habitual offender act  second or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 22.

 Kelly Mae Azzara, 34, of Bassett, who faces one count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle after an alleged incident Oct. 24.

 Jeffry Carnell Young, 56, of Martinsville, who faces one count of petit larceny  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 29.

 Michael Joseph Mattingly, 39, of Martinsville, who faces one count of larceny with intent to sell/distribute -- $200 or more. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 21.

 Gary Alvin Gammons Jr., 47, of Bassett, who faces one count of driving with suspended license after DUI conviction  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 28.

 Robert Wade Payne, 47, of Patrick Springs, who faces two counts of obtaining money/property by false pretense  third or subsequent offense; two counts of using identifying info to defraud less than $200; one count of using identifying info to defraud greater than $200; one count obtaining money/property by false pretense greater than $200; one count of obtaining money/property by false pretense, one count of forgery and one count of uttering a forged document. Those charges stem from alleged incidents between Aug. 22 and Aug. 30.

 Marquis Lamont Penn, 28, of Martinsville, who faces one count of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Oct. 6.

 Steven Lamont Watkins, 45, of Martinsville, who faces one count of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident July 18.

 Hank Toby James Wright, 37, of Bassett, who faces one count of felony failure to appear. The charge stems from an alleged incident Nov. 20.

 Graylin Elroy Callaway, 61, of Bassett, who faces one count of felonious violation of the habitual offender act  second or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 20.

 Tahj Hakeem Clements, 28, of Rocky Mount, who faces one count of malicious wounding. The charge stems from an alleged incident Oct. 29.

 Robert Edwin Coleman Jr., 36, who faces one count of grand larceny of a firearm. The charge stems from an alleged incident May 19, 2016.

 Joshua Chad Cox, 37, of Ridgeway, who faces one count of strangulation. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 6.

 Christopher Lee Eames, 26, of Bassett, who faces one count of obtaining/attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud or deceit. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 22.

 Amanda Love Hodges, 28, of Fieldale, who faces one count of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident May 22.

 Eric Justin Hodges, 27, of Bassett, who faces one count of grand larceny. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 10.

 Christy Lamont Holmes, 44, of Ridgeway, who faces one count of malicious wounding. The charge stems from an alleged incident Sept. 13.

 James Walter Lewis, 28, of Martinsville, who faces one count of shoplifting  third or subsequent offense. The charge stems from an alleged incident Aug. 10.

 Donald Ray Moore, 46, of Bassett, who faces one count of grand larceny and one count of breaking and entering a building with the intent to commit larceny. The charge stems from an alleged incident April 28.

 Isreal Bernard Moss, 46, of Ridgeway, who faces one count of robbery after an alleged incident Aug. 4.

 Caben John Trent, 27, of Fieldale, who faces one count of possession of methamphetamine after an alleged incident Sept. 7.

 Willie Leon Ferrell Wells, 42, of Fieldale, who faces one count of felonious violation of the habitual offender act  second or subsequent offense and one count of DUI after prior felony DUI conviction. The charges stem from an alleged incident Sept. 8.

 Johann Glenn Wooden, 33, of Martinsville, who faces one count of grand larceny of a motor vehicle from an alleged incident July 25.

 Michelle Ritchie Brown, 46, of Axton, who faces one count of obtaining money by false pretense  $200 or more. The charge stems from alleged incidents between May 1 and July 12.

 Timothy Jerome Francis, 33, of Chatham, who faces one count of possession of alprazolam. The charge stems from an alleged incident March 21.

 Javon Marquis Tarpley, 25, of Martinsville, who faces one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute greater than  ounce but less than five pounds and one count of carrying a concealed weapon. The charges stem from an alleged incident May 25.

 Jeremy Marquise Younger, 22, of Bassett, who faces one count of making a false statement to a firearm dealer. The charge stems from an alleged incident March 3.

 Michael Lee Riggs, 36, of Axton, who faces one count of perjury after an alleged incident Nov. 27.

 Patrick Charles Carroll, 34, of Williamson, West Virginia, who faces one count of possession of hydrocodone and acetaminophen and possession of oxycodone. The charges stem from an alleged incident March 23.

 Bradley Aaron Kaufman, 40, of Bassett, who faces one count of grand larceny and one count of larceny with intent to sell/distribute  aggregate value $200 or more, The charges stem from an alleged incident Oct. 21.

 Anthony Wayne Bailey, 18, of Bassett, who faces one count of entering a dwelling in the nighttime with the intent to commit larceny and one count of grand larceny. The charges stem from an alleged incident Nov. 26.

 Mark Declin Moran, 20, of Fieldale, who faces one count of entering a dwelling in the nighttime with the intent to commit larceny and one count of grand larceny. The charges stem from an alleged incident Nov. 26.

 Michael Paul Murray, 18, of Bassett, who faces one count of entering a dwelling in the nighttime with the intent to commit larceny and one count of grand larceny. The charges stem from an alleged incident Nov. 26.

 Sheyanne Elizabeth Bousman, 21, of Collinsville, who faces one count of possession of oxymorphone after an alleged incident June 12.

 Jackson Dean Whitlow, 27, of Burkeville, who faces one count of possession of AMB-FUBINACA and one count of possession of methamphetamine after an alleged incident March 17.

 Cody Cheyenne Moore, 24, of Bassett, who faces one count of malicious wounding of a family/household member and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The charges stem from an alleged incident June 10.

 Joseph William Johanknecht, 26, of Patrick Springs, who faces one count of entering a dwelling in the nighttime with the intent to commit larceny and one count of petty larceny. The charges stem from an alleged incident Feb. 17.

 William Levern Kirby Jr., 30, of Bassett, who faces two counts of forcible sodomy with a victim less than 13 years old. The charge stems from alleged incidents between Nov. 4 and Nov. 5.

 Andre Douglas King, 48, of Martinsville, who faces one count each of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, felonious violation of the habitual offender act and reckless driving, after an alleged incident June 26.

 William Brian Goins, 43, of Mayodan, N.C., who faces two counts of credit card fraud and one count of credit card theft after alleged incidents Sept. 26 and Sept. 27.

 Larry Steve Curry, 74, of Ridgeway, who faces one count of aggravated sexual battery  victim less than 13 years old and one count of penetrating the mouth of a child with tongue  victim less than 13 years old. The charges stem from alleged incidents between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2016.

 Zachary Thomas Kennedy, 21, of McHenry, Mississippi, who faces two counts of forcible sodomy with a victim less than 13 years old; one count of rape with a victim less than 13 years old; one count of object sexual penetration with a victim less than 13 years old and one count of aggravated sexual battery with a victim less than 13 years old. The charges all stem from alleged incidents between May 1 and May 31, 2014.

 Jeremy Daniel Adkins, 38, of Martinsville, who faces one count of violating a protective order, after an alleged incident Nov. 16.

 Terry Lawarren Ross, 40, of Axton, who faces one count each of forcible sodomy; aggravated sexual battery  victim 13-17 years old and one count of taking indecent liberties with a minor between 15-17 years old. The charges stem from an alleged incident Jan. 4.
BASSETT  An effort is under way to erect a memorial outside the Bassett Historical Center to honor Martinsville-Henry County Vietnam War veterans.

The Patrick Henry Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution  a commemorative partner of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration -- is leading the effort, with help from the General Joseph Martin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, veterans service organizations and the Bassett Historical Center, said Marcia Bryant Bauserman. She is regent of Patrick Henry Chapter DAR and president of Martinsville Henry County Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Memorial.

U.S. military personnel from Martinsville and Henry County who served in country in Vietnam between Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975 are eligible for their names to be inscribed on the memorial, Bauserman said.

It will be necessary to submit the Vietnam Veterans Department of Defense Form DD 214 to be eligible. Family members may complete the application for a deceased veteran, Bauserman said.

DD Form 214 is a certificate of release or discharge from active duty.

According to a National Archives website, DD Form 214 may include such information as date and place of entry into active duty; home address at time of entry; date and place of release from active duty; home address after separation; last duty assignment and rank; military job specialty; military education; decorations, medals, badges, citations and campaign awards received; total creditable service; foreign service credited; separation information (date and type of separation, character of service, authority and reason for separation and separation and re-enlistment eligibility codes).

The Bassett Historical Center has set up times for people to submit DD 214 forms: Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting Jan. 17 and 18,continuing on Wednesdays and Thursdays through June 7.

Some people already have turned in DD 214 forms and made donations for the memorial, Bauserman said.

She said the memorial has not yet been designed because that will depend on the number of names that will be engraved on it, and the number of names that are engraved will depend on the DD 214 forms submitted, Bauserman explained.

We need those DD 214 forms, she said.

She did not have a dollar figure for how much money needs to be raised, but said any donations are welcome  from individuals, businesses, civic organizations, etc.

Anyone who donates at least $250 will be considered a sponsor, and their names will be engraved on a plaque. Collinsville Engraving has offered to do a plaque.

Bauserman said Vietnam veterans generally were not received well when they returned home to the United States.

These men and women came back in shame. Its time we step up and show we appreciate their service, Bauserman said. They put their lives on the line. They are not to be forgotten.

She said Vietnam veterans did not receive the recognition they deserved when they returned home.

Some veterans suffered trauma and some committed suicide, she added.

The community is excited about the proposed memorial, Bauserman said. Its heartwarming.

Some other recognitions also are available.

The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration came about as a result of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the secretary of defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and in conducting the commemorative program, the Secretary shall coordinate, support, and facilitate other programs and activities of the Federal Government, State and local governments, and other persons and organizations in commemoration of the Vietnam War.

For more information or to make a donation to the Martinsville Henry County Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Memorial, contact Bauserman at 540-587-4032 or Bassett Historical Center at 3964 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett 24055 (phone 276-629-9191).

A community program is being planned for Nov. 11, 2018 (Veterans Day), starting at the Historic John D. Bassett Event Center and then going to Bassett Historical Center for the dedication of the memorial, Bauserman said. A time has not yet been set.

SIDEBAR:

Certificates of honor and lapel pins are available to these groups:

--Former, living American military prisoners of war from the Vietnam War as listed by the Department of Defense. If the former POW is dead, the lapel pin may be presented to the surviving spouse;

-- Unaccounted for: Parents, spouse, siblings and children of American military personnel listed as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War by the Department of Defense;

--In memory of: Parents, spouse, siblings and children of a veteran who is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.;

--Deceased Vietnam veterans surviving spouse: for the surviving spouse at the time of death of a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of locations.
BASSETT-A multi-year federal investigation into Bassett Mirror came to a close on Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Justice sent out a statement announcing the investigation was over after Bassett officials agreed to pay $10.5 million as a settlement.

The case involved how the company classified wooden furniture imported from China. The Department of Justice had originally claimed that from Jan. 2009 to Feb. 2014, Bassett Mirror avoided paying anti-dumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture. The furniture had been misclassified as non-bedroom furniture on the official import documents. The difference was a fairly significant one. During that five year period, wooden bedroom furniture made in the Peoples Republic of China was subject to a hefty 216 percent anti-dumping fee. Companies did not have to pay a fee to bring in non-bedroom furniture during that time, according to documents from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The goal of an anti-dumping duty or fee is to prevent foreign companies from unloading or dumping their products on the U.S. market at prices below cost. Fees like the one against wooden Chinese bedroom furniture are assessed by the Department of Commerce and collected by the Department of Homeland Securitys Customs and Border Protection unit. The fees against imports of wooden bedroom furniture from the Peoples Republic of China have been in place since 2004.

In this case, the 94-year-old Bassett company agreed to a settlement deal that involved paying the $10.5 million, but did not require them to acknowledge any liability in the situation.

The agreement allows the company to put the Justice Department inquiry behind it and focus anew on its passion for meeting customers ever-evolving tastes in the furniture and fashion marketplace, according to Bassett Mirror President Lewis Canter.

Canter noted that for decades, Bassett Mirror has paid applicable duties on imports, including those on wooden bedroom furnishings from China. Changing consumer tastes in recent years increased demands for multi-function items suitable for use in many areas of a home, including hallways, living rooms and bedrooms.

As a result, some of Bassett Mirrors occasional furniture items  even items Bassett Mirror promotes and advertises for use in living rooms  have been marketed by re-sellers for bedroom use, Canter said. This transformative environment created a significant disagreement between our company and the Justice Department on what qualified as bedroom furniture under the anti-dumping order.

Bassett Mirror obtained multiple favorable Commerce Department rulings throughout the investigation affirming that the company was correct in its judgment on the scope of the anti-dumping order, Canter noted. And while Bassett Mirror believes it would have prevailed at trial, the company entered into the agreement to put the continuing expense and business interruption behind it and to eliminate the delay, expense and uncertainty of further litigation, he added.

The investigation came about thanks to a lawsuit, filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act. That law allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of anything recovered by the government. The civil lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Georgia by online retailer Kelly Renee Wells and she received $1.9 million out of the $10.5 million settlement.

Officials from the Justice Department said they were satisfied with the settlement.

Those who import and sell foreign-made goods in the United States must comply with the laws meant to protect domestic companies and American workers from illegal foreign trade practices, Chad A. Readler said in a statement. Readler serves as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Departments Civil Division. The Department of Justice will pursue those who seek an unfair advantage in U.S. markets by evading the duties owed on goods imported into this country.
TODAYS WORD is elusive (ih-loo-siv). Example: After weeks of setting traps, Austin finally captured the elusive possum that had taken up residence in his basement.

TUESDAYS WORD was alembic. It means anything that transforms, purifies or refines. Example: Jason quickly rose to the top of his profession, with his wide experience feeding the sheer alembic of his audacity.

Rangeley Ruritan

On Saturday, Jan. 27, Rangeley Ruritan Club at 134 Calloway Drive in Fieldale will offer a country breakfast between 6 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. The meal costs $7 for adults and $3 for children 12 and younger. The menu will include bacon, sausage, ham, biscuits, gravy, apples, eggs, hash browns, grits, fruit, jelly, coffee and juice. Fried apple pies will be available for $1.25 each.

TODAY IS: National Hot Buttered Rum Day

A mixed drink containing rum, butter, hot water or cider, sweetener and spices (typically cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves), hot buttered rum is especially favored during the fall and winter months. In the United States, hot buttered rums history dates back to the Colonial days. In the 1650s, Jamaica began importing molasses to Colonial America. New England started opening distilleries where the colonists then began adding distilled rum to hot beverages such as toddies and nogs, creating hot buttered rum, eggnog and other drinks.

TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1973, manager Stig Anderson told his clients  a Swedish band called Bjorn and Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid  that he wanted them to change their name to something that would sell better in the States. He rechristened the band ABBA. However, Anderson first had to negotiate with a Swedish company for the use of the name. What kind of company did he have to negotiate with?

TUESDAYS TRIVIA ANSWER: Books are a big part of life now. In fact, the Stroller was just introduced to the world of digital books at Christmas when he was given a Kindle. But still, theres nothing like an actual paperback book, fresh off the press. What was the first book ever written and where was it found? The answer: The Epic of Gilgamesh. The tale is the mythologized account of Gilgamesh, a ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who is believed to have ruled sometime between 2700 and 2500 BCE. The oldest known fragments of the story date back to 2100 BCE, but some scholars believe that these could be transcriptions of older Sumerian texts. The most complete standard version of Gilgamesh was written on 12 clay tablets sometime between 1500 and 1200 BCE, and it was discovered in the ruins of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipals library in Ninevah, the largest library in the pre-Hellenic ancient world.
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Workers in Britain have been under attack from the bosses and the Tory government for years. And yet many trade union leaders do not seem capable of fighting back. This is one of the reasons that unions last year experienced the biggest single drop in their membership since records began. Total union membership is now just 6.2 million workers, compared to 13.2 million in 1979.

This inability to lead a fight, despite the willingness of workers to take action  from Grangemouth in 2013, to the pension dispute at BMW in 2017  has served to undermine the confidence of rank and file union activists.

With yet more casualisation, pay freezes and cuts, what will be the role of trade unions in the coming period? We can learn part of the answer to this question from the history of the working class movement of the 1880s.

Schools of war

After the Grangemouth debacle in 2013, the trade unions in Britain began to turn themselves into what were known as New Model Unions. The hallmarks of such unions were: high membership contributions; centralisation of control; and a class-collaborationist policy.

After Unite was humilitated at Grangemouth in 2013 labour unions started to transform themselves into toothless 'New Model Unions' / Image: Geograph

In contrast to the trade unions of the 1830s, which were schools of war for the workers against the bosses, the people who led the New Model Unions were full-time officials. These leaders were more interested in winning piecemeal reforms for skilled workers, rather than waging class war on behalf of the mass of unskilled workers.

Todays union leaders arent as bad as the Junta who led the New Model Unions. One of the New Model leaders, William Allan, for example, told a Royal Commission: We believe all strikes are a complete waste of money, not only in relation to the workers, but also to the employers.

Nevertheless, most of todays trade union leaders do seem to have an aversion to waging militant action in a serious way. Many have six-figure salaries, which distance them from the lives of ordinary workers. Indeed, figures like Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union until 2015, have taken their search for respectability to an extreme. In June 2015, Kenny accepted a knighthood from the Queen for services to trade unions.

Old order crumbles

Engels' words on the industrial stagnation of Britain could have been written today / Image: public domain

By the 1880s, the power of British imperialism was being challenged by the USA and Germany in the industrial sphere. This was coupled with periodic and cyclical crises of capitalism. In 1885 Engels wrote:

"The crash of 1866 was, indeed, followed by a slight and short revival about 1873. We did not, indeed, pass through the full crisis at the time it was due, in 1877 or 1878; but we have had, ever since 1876, a chronic state of stagnation in all dominant branches of industry. Neither will the full crash come; nor will the period of longed-for prosperity to which we used to be entitled before and after it. A dull depression, a chronic glut of all markets for all trades, that is what we have been living in for nearly ten years."

Such a description of the British economy could apply today, only this time the economic crisis is coupled with Brexit instead of imperial rivalry. Under such conditions, all the pillars of the established order begin to crumble, along with everything that has adapted itself to them.

Putting the old guard to shame

It was during this period that a group of workers, trained and educated as Marxists in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), left the SDF due to its aloofness from the trade union movement. They launched a campaign for New Unionism.

They didnt try to set up an alternative to the existing trade union movement, but appealed to workers with radical rhetorical questions. "To Trade Unionists, I desire to make a special appeal", wrote Tom Mann in a pamphlet called What a Compulsory Eight-Hour Working Day Means to the Workers (1886). "How long will you be content with the present half-hearted policy of your unions? Readily grant that good work has been done in the past by the unions, but, in heaven's name, what good purpose are they serving now?"

The hand that will rule the world / Image: public domain

These New Unionists battled it out with the Old Guard on the floor of the TUC Congress. They organised workers in workplaces such as the Bryant and May factory in Bow, East London, the East London docks, and Beckton Gas Works in East Ham, East London.

This was a crucial feature of New Unionism. The East London matchgirls, gas workers, dockers, and other unskilled workers, were seen as unorganisable by the labour aristocracy of the New Model Unions. Likewise, today, workers on zero-hour contracts and in precarious work are too often written off as unorganisable by trade union leaders.

The New Unionists proved the Old Guard wrong. Tom Mann, the organiser of the gas workers, stated that their victories put older and larger trade unions to shame.

For organisation and militancy

Today, the militancy of cleaners, kitchen staff and other precarious workers at the University of London, Harrods, Ferrari showrooms, Picturehouse cinemas and others, has led to struggles and victories which can also be said to put larger and traditional unions to shame.

As well as among dockers and gas workers, the movement of the 1880s saw new unions formed on the railways, in the mines, and in the printworks. Between 1889 and 1891, over 60 new Trades Councils were established throughout the country, drawing the various unions together on a town and city-wide basis.

Casualised workers on strike / Image: Flickr, Steve Eason

The potential for such an upsurge in the trade union movement also exists today. There are 7.1 million workers in precarious employment - more than the entire current membership of the UK trade unions. These workers - in sectors from the NHS, education, hospitality, the service industry etc - must be organised on the basis of a fighting programme with radical leaders, like the New Unionists of the 1880s.

The trade union movement has come a long way since the 1880s. Many of the unions that were formed out of the New Unionist movement still exist in one form or another today. Of all the current unions, the RMT is the one that has best preserved the militancy of that period. This means that we are starting from a higher point than New Unionists like Tom Mann and Eleanor Marx.

The Bakers Union has already begun organising McDonalds workers, who staged their first ever strike in 2017. Unite has established Community Membership for the unemployed and those in precarious work.

These are steps in the right direction from the established trade unions. However there is a lot more that should and must be done. Conditions are ripe for a new New Unionism. We must re-transform todays trade unions into schools of class war.
The Blackfeet Tribe is seeking proposals for professional services to complete a five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Blackfeet Tribe received a $25,000 grant award from the 2018 MT-ICED Program to complete a comprehensive five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Blackfeet Planning Department is accepting Proposals up to the closing date of January 31, 2018.

BACKGROUND:

The Blackfeet Reservation, home to the largest Native American population in Montana is the third largest reservation encompassing approximately 1.5 million acres. It lies along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains on the Canadian border, and is the eastern gateway to Glacier National Park in Montana. The major communities within the reservation include Browning, East Glacier, Heart Butte, Seville, St. Marys, Babb and Starr School. Major highway access is through the U.S. Highway 89 (north/south) and U.S. Highway 2 (east/west). Air travelers will take pleasure in viewing the magnificent landscape on the way from the Starr-Browning Airstrip, Cut Bank International Airport, Kalispell-Glacier Park International Airport, and Great Falls International Airport.

The CIP will be an instrumental part of maintaining the quality of life for the Blackfeet Reservation community members to enjoy. The projects and programs identified in the CIP focus on a number of areas such as facility improvements, facility purchases, facility construction, parks and recreation needs, utility improvements, water/sewer upgrades in delivery system, solid waste equipment needs, telecommunications, roadway improvements, landscaping, parks, traffic signage, and street-scaping to attract tourism opportunities. Projects and programs move through a life cycle of planning, implementation, and completion with the intent of making Tribal Government more efficient and responsive, as well as improve our communities. The Annual CIP budget will include for all categories of capital projects by program/department for the next five years (2019-2023). The cost for each capital project incorporates both direct construction costs, direct equipment purchases, indirect costs such as design, project administration, and debt expense for options to finance plans, if applicable.

Project Purpose: The Tribes CIP will provide many benefits including:

Allows for a systematic evaluation of all potential projects at the same time.

The ability to stabilize debt and consolidate projects to reduce borrowing costs.

Serve as a public relations and economic development tool.

A focus on improving and preserving the Tribes reservation-wide infrastructure while ensuring the efficient use of public funds.

An opportunity to foster cooperation among departments and an ability to inform other units of government of the Tribes priorities.

A listing of the capital projects (i.e., buildings, parks, public works and utility systems) or equipment to be purchased.

The projects ranked in order of preference with a written justification for the project.

The plan for financing the projects.

A timetable for the construction or completion of the project.

Maintain a complete set of financial statements for the project and annual budgets.

The Planning Department and the Contractor will meet with the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council (BTBC) to define the criteria for what kind of projects or equipment are to be included and organize a process for developing the plan. What is defined as a capital project or capital purchase may vary generally, they will be tangible items that have a life expectancy greater than one year.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Proposals Due: Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Contract Date: February 14, 2018, depending on completion of contract documents. Following the selection of the most qualified firm, a final professional services agreement including budget, schedule and final Scope of Work will be completed with the contractor. The Contractor must adhere to all Tribes Plan of Operations that includes Finance and Procurement Policies and Procedures, TERO laws, Ordinances, and Resolutions. The agreement is subject to the review and approval of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council.

Final Capital Improve Plan must be submitted to the Planning Department by: August 31, 2018

Number of hard copies: 10 hardcopies and one electronic copy deliver to:

Blackfeet Planning Department

Attn: Cheryl Reevis, Planning Director

Blackfeet Tribe

PO Box 850

Browning, MT 59417

[email protected]

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION PROCESS:

l. (Relevant Work Experience) A statement about the firm that describes its experience. A list of similar projects completed by the firm with references for each such project, including the contact name, address, and telephone number.

2. (Qualification of Key Project Team Members) Provide a list of competencies and resumes of the principle and all professionals who will be involved in the work.

3. (Overall Project Approach) Approach Statement regarding the anticipated approach for this project and a scope of work outlining and describing main tasks and work products.

4. (Completeness of the Proposal) Overall project schedule, including the timing of each work task, cost estimates, recommendations, funding opportunities available, etc.

5. Identification of any information, materials, and/or work assistance required from the

sub-contractor or organization you anticipate working with for this project.

6. A not-to-exceed total budget amount with estimated costs for each major task in the

Scope of Work.

7. A final presentation to the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council (BTBC) with 10 hardcopies of the final document is expected. The Planning Director will coordinate the scheduling of the final presentation with the contractor and the BTBC.

SCOPE OF SERVICES:

Establish a Capital Improvement Planning Committee to work with the contractor (i.e., Econ. Dev. Comm. Chair, Treasurer, Legal, TMWC, Solid Waste, Land Dept., Transportation Dept., Facilities, Planning, Procurement, Siyeh, Designated Business Owner, County Commissioner, Housing, BEO, I.H.S., B.I.A, banker or accountant )

Take Inventory of Existing Capital Assets

Evaluate Previously Approved, Unimplemented or Incomplete Projects

Assess Financial Capacity based on annual budget for program, financing, grants

Solicit, Compile and Evaluate New Project Requests

Prioritize Projects with justifications

Develop a Financing Plan

Identify other resources for surplus equipment State, Federal, Private

Adopt and Update Annually a Capital Improvements Plan

Monitor and Manage Approved Projects within the CIP

Develop Project Schedules (Matrix) for Annual Update Existing/Ongoing Capital Programs

A classification system, itemization and explanation for the project expenditures

Some relevant criteria might be:

How well the projects contributes to the health or safety of residents.

If the project fulfills a need.

If the project is legal under local, state, and federal laws.

If the project is in line with other governmental goals.

How much of the community the project will help.

How much the project is desired by the public.

3 PARTS TO CONSIDER IN DEVELOPING THE CIP THE TRIBE WANTS ADDRESSED:

PART 1  Accepting Project Proposals

1. Establish a planning committee. Create a committee of representatives of the major departments or local government organizations that will be involved in carrying out and funding the projects outlined in the capital improvement plan. This committee is usually comprised of members of designated tribal departments and community representatives.

One member of the committee should be designated as the planning manager. This person will organize and direct the efforts of the other committee members and consultants.

You may also want to include some engineering consultants to assist with providing cost estimates and estimating the feasibility of construction projects.

2. Ask for project submissions. Tribal programs/departments, and entities will be invited to present proposals for capital improvement projects that are currently a part of the tribal budgeting process. Capital improvement projects are any public improvements requiring large, one-time expenditures, like the renovation of a public park or building. Proposals for projects should include a justification for the project, a description of the project, estimates of the initial and maintenance costs, and suggest sources of funding.

These projects usually include repairs to buildings, parks and pools and improvements or new additions to schools, public places, city streets, and local government buildings.

The planning committee can create a standardized proposal form to make sure each proposal is submitted in the proper format and contains all required information.

3. Reassess existing projects. The committee should also investigate capital improvement projects that have already been completed and those that are currently underway. This includes discontinued or abandoned projects. Look at those projects that have been completed or abandoned and check if there are additional funds leftover that can be applied towards new projects. In addition, check on the status of projects currently underway and assess whether or not further financing is required. If so, some of the proposed funding for the new capital improvement plan may have to be redirected towards these projects.

4. List the submitted capital projects or purchases. Draft a list of capital projects or purchases to be discussed and prioritized by the committee. These should include ongoing projects from previous plans and submissions received for new projects. The final projects will be selected and prioritized later in the capital improvement plan development process.

PART 2 -Selecting Capital Improvement Projects

1. Evaluate available finances. These are the funds that the Tribe can draw from for renovations and local improvement projects, including those listed in the plan. Each projects planned completion date will depend on when the project costs can be allotted from the Tribes assets. Gather information from the treasurer, accountant, and/or whoever is in charge of the Glacier and Pondera Counties finances. With their help, the committee can calculate the funds currently available for capital improvement and those funds that will become available over the life of the plan.

The future assets of the Tribe should be calculated using projections of current trends in revenues, expenditures, and debt payments.

2. Calculate the estimated costs for each project. Each project must be assigned a value to be included in the capital improvement plan. This figure will include costs for material, equipment and labor. This value will determine the year the project will be completed and how much of the municipalitys budget is allotted to it. In addition, the committee should consider future maintenance, operational, or staffing costs involved with the project.

3. Review submitted projects for potential impact. Projects should be examined by committee members and scored using a set of pre-defined criteria. These criteria will assist the committee in choosing the projects most relevant to the well-being of the reservation communities.

4. Prioritize projects. Assign the list of capital projects in order of completion based on the needed funds, the urgency of the project, and the projects scores according to the committees criteria. For example, repairs to dangerous roads or hazardous buildings in the community will be prioritized first in the interest of public safety.

Strategically spread out large projects throughout the plans time frame. This will avoid unnecessary strain on the Tribes budget. It will also allow for time to alert the public about construction or road closures.

PART 3  Preparing the Capital Improvement Plan

1. Plan funding. Outline the allotment of capital assets and public funding according to the prioritized list of projects. The plan should include the source of the funding as well, whether it is from a government grant or from the Tribes own funds. Be sure to include any donations or funding from local charitable organizations being used to fund public projects.

2. Outline project timeline. The project timeline will show project progress goals and allotted project expenditures for each year of the plan. This should also include a summary of where the financing for each project is coming from. This timeline may or may not also require reauthorization by the local government for future years.

The entire amount of a projects initial construction costs should be allotted to the starting year, even if the construction takes longer than one year. Funds still unspent after the first year are carried over to the next year but are not then made available to other projects.

3. Include other project-related documents. For the purpose of explaining each project more clearly, especially to community residents, the capital improvement plan should include additional explanatory documents or exhibits for each project. These can include photos, maps, graphs, digital renderings, blueprints, or other representations of the project. In addition, a simplified timeline may be presented to give a clearer idea of the projects major milestones.

4. Present the plan at a BTBC meeting. Explain the finalized capital improvement plan and budget at an open BTBC meeting or economic development committee meeting that is open to the public to review improvement plans with community residents. Allow them to ask questions or voice concerns. This gives residents an opportunity to be aware of future developments in their community.

5. Adopt the capital improvement plan. The selected projects, plans, timelines, and financing summaries are then compiled and presented for approval to the elected officials. Modern visualization technology helps when presenting this capital improvement plan, with all of its individual capital projects, studies and equipment purchases, in an understandable and user-friendly manner. The governing body conducts hearings, workshops, and other outreach efforts to insure all stakeholders and interested parties can provide feedback. Once this is done, the committee should submit it to the BTBC for a vote to finalize the plan and formally adopt it.

Performance indicators and project development milestones should be developed for the recommended capital plan for subsequent reporting purposes. Project management and performance indicator systems are important capital budget implementation tools.

The Kickoff Meeting:

Informational meetings with all stakeholders will be scheduled: BTBC, Tribal programs, departments, BIA, I.H.S, BCC, Public Schools, community members, local merchants, Glacier and Pondera County government officials, funding agencies, and the core CIP Committee. The purpose of the meetings are to explain the CIP and encourage public involvement for prioritizing projects in each community.

It was explained that the CIP will identify the Tribes future capital improvement needs, help set

priorities, assess available funding, and determine which capital improvements will be able to be funded over the course of the next five years. The recommended CIP will be presented to the BTBC for their approval after public hearings are held in each community.
"For small to medium to national organizations, for events and fundraisers of any size, in any format  live, virtual or hybrid  the platform is built for scale."
Apple http://www.apple.com , which has come under major criticism for building much of its popular products in China, announced a sweeping set of moves partially tied to the recent tax bill, including paying $38 billion in taxes from profits made overseas and opening a second corporate campus.

The iPhone maker said it will spend $55 billion with domestic suppliers and manufacturers in 2018 and will create over 20,000 new jobs through hiring at existing Apple campuses and a new one for technical support. Apple already employs 84,000 people in all 50 states.

Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/01/17/apple-pays-38-billion-trump-tax-bill-open-second-hq/1041261001/
Some of the most revered leaders in business today share common traits that attract great staff and inspire the best work. These people are often described as warm, personable, approachable and just plain real.

Joel Garfinkle

http://www.smartbrief.com/original/2018/01/5-qualities-emotionally-intelligent-leaders?utm_source=brief
Tous les numeros durgence pour joindre en quelques minutes les autorites, les hopitaux, les Covid Testing Centre.

Samu : 114

Pompiers : 115/995

Garde Cotes : 212 27 47

Police : 148/999

Police du tourisme : 210 38 94

CEB : 130

CWA : 170

Child Development Unit: 113

National Coast Guard (NCG): 208 39 35

Weather info: 8996/171

Domestic Violence Unit: 139

Consumer Affairs Unit: 185

Life Plus Unit: 188

Renseignements :

Info cyclone (en periode cyclonique): 96

Infos vols aeriens : 603 30 30

Vol/Viol, pedophilie et autres delits: 686 5500

Service SIDA Info (AIDS): 8999

Police  Direct Line 999

Police Exchange 2081212

Police Information Room 2080034

Police Information Room 2080035

Toll Free (Complaint) 8002345

Crime Stoppers 118

Samu 114

Fire Services 115

Operation Rooms

Nord 264 9709 /10

South 627 7216 / 3112

Central 676 5116 / 670 3112

East 413 0944 / 0279

West 466 1764 / 467 9884

Port Louis (South) 211 8849 / 208 1212 (ext -1312)

Port Louis (North) 217 0941 /4214 / 4215

ADSU (Guard Room) 208 1212 /208 1212 (ext  1509 / 1242)

ERS Headquarters  (Vacoas) 686 5500 / 5712  698 1040

Central CID 208 1212 (ext  1317)

Traffic 211 8434 / 8478

SMF 686 6305  08

NCG 280 8317 / 212 2747

SSU 208 1212 (ext- 1365 / 1538)

Port Police 242 5546 / 3113

Police Family Protection Unit 210 2116 / 2122

Brigade des Mineurs 213 4093

Police du Tourisme 213 1740 / 210 3894

Police de LEnvironment 210 5151 / 5252

Hopitaux

 Dr Jeetoo Hospital, Port-Louis : 2031001

 Moka Eye Hospital, 433 40 15

 Jawaharlal-Nehru Hospital, Rose-Belle: 6037000

 Sir Seewoosagur-Ramgoolam National Hospital (SSRNH), Pamplemousses: 209 34 00

 Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Hospital, Vacoas : 686 20 61

 Brown-Sequard Hospital, Beau-Bassin : 402 1400

 Dr Bruno Cheong Hospital, Flacq : 402 2400

 Long Mountain Hospital: 209 2030

 Mahebourg Hospital: 604 2000

 Poudre-dOr Hospital: 282 1181

 Souillac Hospital: 603 7100

 Mahatma-Gandhi Ayurveda Hospital, Calebasses : 243 07 72

 Victoria Hospital & Princess Margaret Orthopaedic Centre, Candos, Quatre-Bornes : 402 0800

Covid Testing Centre

Dr A. G. Jeetoo, Port-Louis  203 1001

Victoria, Candos  402 0800

Jawaharial Nehru, Rose-Belle  603 7000

Dr Bruno Cheong, Flacq  402 2400

SSRN a Pamplemousses  209 3400

Covid Testing Centre (Prive)

NovaLab (Phoenix): 660 1900

Dans les cliniques du groupe C-Care :

Clinique Darne  6012300

Wellkin Hospital  6051000

C-Care Clinic, Grand Baie  6012500

Service a domicile  86888

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Controlling Board Approves Funds for Multiple Projects in 20th Senate District Audio Article State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) announced Monday, Nov. 7, the approval of over $34 million for projects across the 20th Senate District by the states Controlling Board. Ensuring our infrastructure, universities, and parks are updated and well maintained is critical for the health of our area, Schaffer said. Im thankful...

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The Vice President honoured Dr Mohamed Rela, chairman and director, Institute of Liver Disease and Transplant, Gleneagles Global Health City, and his team on successfully completing 1,000 liver transplants in Tamil Nadu.Dr Rela had performed the first liver transplant in August 2009 and has individually performed more than 4,000 liver transplants. Heading the Institute for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Dr Rela has performed 278-deceased donor and 722 live donor transplantations. Dr Mohamed Rela.Congratulating Dr Rela and Dr K. Ravindranath, chairman, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, on achieving the landmark of 1,000 liver transplants in the state within a span of seven years, Venkaiah Naidu said, "Liver transplantation at that time was very challenging due to poor awareness of public, doctors were skeptical and an issue of affordability. Against all odds, Dr Ravindranath and the team of Dr Rela have established a pioneer center for liver transplantation in the country," he said.The transplantation programme has now grown to become one of the largest centers in the world for liver transplantation in children. In all, 278 children (youngest child aged four months) have benefited from the programme.Patients from all over India and also from more than 20 countries all over the world have been benefited from the transplantation programme."Liver transplantation was not well known as a successful procedure even to many physicians in India when we first started. Our experience has helped to create a huge awareness about the liver disease, organ donation and liver transplantation among the public, patients, and medical fraternity," said Dr Rela.His team has offered both deceased donors and live donor transplantations in the state. Tamil Nadu was awarded for performing highest number of organ transplants in the country for the third consecutive year in 2017 by the Government of India and completion of 1,000 liver transplants adds to the honor of the state.Source: Medindia
CASS CITY  There still is no definitive answer from officials as to whether there will be a second milk plant in Cass Citys future. However, a job fair is being held this week to recruit dairy plant workers.

The Tuscola County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and the Dairy Farmers of America will host a career fair from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Cass City.

The event will be in the Pinney Room at the Rawson Memorial Library, 6495 Pine St., Cass City.

Participants should bring their resume.

According to the EDCs job posting, starting pay is $15.20 an hour along with health care benefits, and 401K.

The EDC and the Dairy Farmers of America also hosted a job fair in Caro in November.

All Ive been told is that some kind of announcement is expected to be made in the spring, said Tuscola County Commissioner Tom Young, who used to be the Michigan Department of Economic Development business development manager for the Thumb Area.

Because of his former position, Young used to have extensive knowledge about the DFA's plans. He knew back in 2007 that the DFA planned to build a 33,000-square foot, $40 million dairy processing plant in Cass City in 2013.

During the groundbreaking for the dairy center at 4105 N. Division Street, the plan was that that plant was the first step of a proposed multi-phase dairy processing center.

In June 2016, DFA announced an expansion of the Cass City dairy facility. At the same time DFA, Foremost Farmers USA, and Michigan Milk Producers Association announced they are exploring a joint ownership and operation of a cheese processing plant in Michigan because of the growing milk supply in the state.

That announcement did not say where the cheese processing plant would be located.

Then, in early 2017, DFA, Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) Foremost Farms USA and Glanbia announced they are in advanced discussions to create a stand-alone joint venture to build and operate a new cheese and whey production facility in Michigan, but yet again, they declined to say the exact area being considered for their joint venture.

Nothing more has happened since those announcements.

However, in July, it was determined further developments were stalled because an additional power source was needed, and it would take DTE about three years to run the power line because there were other projects lined up.
With the year 2017 just a memory, it is important to look back and select those theatrical events that were significant, at least in this reviews eyes. In no particular order, just as memory serves me, the following shows had a lasting impart on me for a variety of reasons.

This list is not exclusive but these are the cream that has risen to the top of the milk bottle. I hope youll agree with at least some of them.

Having just come home after an exhilarating and exhausting weekend at the 13th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, still wrapped in the excitement of seeing a trio of brand new musicals, two cabarets and a number of talks on topics from the role of a critic to the progress of the Goodspeed born show Come From Away currently on Broadway, I have to start with the festival. Last year and every year, it has been a dream for theater lovers. Set in the middle of winter, it gathers new ideas and gives them wings. Mark your calendars now for Jan. 11-13, 2019 and join me in rooting on the talented participants.

Did you get to experience the magic of Fireflies at the Long Wharf with those luminous stars, Judith Ivey and Jane Alexander? Set in a small Texas town, it circled around a retired teacher, her nosy neighbor and a stranger/intruder/romancer, played by Denis Arnd,t who disrupts their quiet life in the most unexpected ways.

If Katharine Hepburn invited you for Tea at Five you would be delighted to accept, thanks to Connecticut Cabaret Theatre in Berlin with the wonderful actress Kelly Boucher who plays Kate. We get to meet her at two distinct stages of her life, first when she is young and actively lobbying for the role of Scarlett OHara in Gone with the Wind, and later at the end of her life when she is ill but not yet ready to end her acting career.

For a little dramatic tension, I hope you attended Yale Reps An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. This timely saga pitted two strong men, brothers, against each other over the fate of their town in Norways political future and its prosperity. The tug of war between the siblings was a wonder to behold, as the entire town took sides.

A drama of an entirely different nature took place at Long Wharf Theatre with a new adaptation of Chaim Potaks The Chosen where two teenage boys, raised in quite different religious viewpoints, become unlikely friends. Reuben and Danny learn a lot from their fathers and from each other as they grapple with the difficult task of growing up.

For a complete change of pace, with sunny sides of the street and the need for umbrellas, I hope you got to skip to the big tent in New Canaan for the effervescent musical Singing in the Rain by Summer Theater of New Canaan. This Betty Comden and Adolph Green sweetness tells the tale of how stars of the silent screen transitioned to talkies, or not.

Moving the historical timetable back to our countrys founding, we meet the fervent champion of freedom John Adams and his lively battle to win Americas release from mother Britain. The Connecticut Repertory Theater on the campus of the University of Connecticut gave their red, white and blue best to make this story, the musical 1776, a stirring stage presence.

Two theaters gave great performances of the momentous concert in rock and roll history Million Dollar Quartet that actually took place on December 4, 1956 at Sun Records, the studio of Sam Phillips, considered the Father of Rock and Roll. Sam assembled four icons of the genre, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis in a once in a lifetime concert at both Ivoryton Playhouse and Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury to great acclaim.

Hopefully you were lucky enough to score a ticket to Hartford Stages amazing production by Hershey Felder of Our Great Tchaikovsky. Felder is the king of musical biographies which he writes and stars in as the composer himself. He is a maestro at the piano and this 19th century tale from Russia is no exception. Next on his list is DeBussy. Watch for it.

Perhaps the most outstanding production of the year goes to Playhouse on Parks The Diary of Anne Frank, a journey through World War Ii seen through the eyes of a teenage girl. Isabelle Barbiers portrayal of Anne was so on target it is clearly the role Isabelle was born to play.

It is easy to see why I love theater and writing about it. But even I will admit that seeing seven plays in six days, my current record, may be a little too much. See you at the theater.
CENTERBROOK  An exploration of texture  a powerful element found in many artforms  takes center stage in the first exhibition of 2018 at the Spectrum Gallery and Store at 61 Main Street, Centerbrook. From Jan. 26 through March 18, Spectrum presents artists who integrate texture into their pieces through their use of paint, collage, mixed media, fiber and photography. Included are drawings, photographs, representational and abstract paintings, mixed media and sculpture. The show opens with a reception on Friday, Jan. 26 from 6:30-9 pm.

Spectrum is now close to 4 years old, and I have noticed our gallery show themes emphasize and encourage those who enjoy art, and are also new at art collecting, to really look and observe closely each piece not only through our installation designs but also as a function of the various themes of the many shows we have organized  from artists use of text to light and shadow and See Me Feel Me is no different, said Barbara Nair, Spectrum Gallery Director. As I curated this show it was amazing to me the many creative and surprising ways artists use texture..both with their techniques and in their subjects. Come see for yourself how an ordinary window screen or animals fur can take on new meaning.

Artists from Connecticut, New York and throughout New England are exhibiting (both returning and new to Spectrum), including Adina Andrus whose pieces are semi-abstract and highly textural; Kelly Taylor who creates abstract works with acrylic, gels, collage, photographs, and photo transfers; Sarah Schneiderman who uses found and recycled materials generated from daily life as her medium; and painter Linda McCarthy who creates abstract works and acrylic impressionistic pieces on canvas and aluminum. Adam Viens presents at Spectrum, a painter and mixed media artist who explores deep and personal psychological themes, while maintaining an undertone of the universality of human experience.

For the first time at Spectrum is Melissa Imossi, an award-winning contemporary realist artist, who is known for close-up studies of nature that examine the graphic quality of a single subject, emphasizing symmetry, repetition and rhythm. Suzanne Siegel creates with mixed media, oil and cold wax painting, and watercolor collage in her current work to explore line, shape, color, and texture to evoke the spirit of a location  whether a rugged, working coastal harbor or a New England beach.

Also presenting is mixed media artist Jan McLean who has been engaged in an in-depth exploration of two aspects of her art: found object assemblage and acrylic faux encaustic, with repeated layers of acrylic gels and mediums applied to create both the actual physical and the illusion of depth of traditional encaustics. Mark Battista, an illustrator, painter and photographer, works in oil, watercolor, pastel and charcoal. He will show pieces in a variety of mediums. Artist and dancer, Marie Percy, creates lithographs which focus on capturing and depicting movement, while painter Dawn Tyler focuses on light, color and mixed media to capture mother nature at her finest.

Returning to Spectrum is painter and mixed media artist Douglas Deveny who is fascinated by texture, happenstance and the patina of worn surfaces. His current work focuses on geometric and fluid stripe compositions. Also returning is Heidi Lewis Coleman, an abstract artist who creates acrylic and cut paper pieces using Thai Kozo paper: a delicate, translucent tissue which is made from Kozo fiber. Others include Kathy Johnson, a collage and mixed media artist whose work is about seeing the beauty in the discarded; Christine Miller whose paintings burst with bold color and texture; and pastel artist Karen Israel who captures moments in time with vivid colors and brushstrokes. Also returning to Spectrum include award-winning oil and pastel artist Peter Seltzer; Maria Mohiuddin who creates color and intricate layered works constructed from wax and oil pastels; Maryann Flick a photographer and glass artisan and Maris Fiondella, an artist who paints glorious illuminated letters and figures copied from old manuscripts.

The exhibit honors the rich vein and rightful place of the texture found in powerful photographic images. Presenting many fine examples in the show are award-winning photographers including Dianne Roberts, Don Dressler, Howard Margules, Judith Secco, fine art photographer, Sergio Villaschi, and Jan Doyle, who combines her love of photography and quilting creating artistic quilts using her photos printed on fabric and then painting the fabric with thread.

As always, a variety of fine fiber artisans both new and returning offer new work at Spectrum. Of note is fabric artist Clara Nartey who creates representational and semi-abstract works with fabric; Judy Ross, a quilt artist who uses cotton, satin, silk and organza, adding texture through intricate quilting, thread painting, wire, and trapunto, also in both abstract and representational forms; Diane Cadrain who hand-paints fabric, creating with felted fibers, quilting, embroidery and beaded embellishments fiber paintings.

The Spectrum Gallery Store offers fresh, new and original pieces in pottery, jewelry, glass, wood and apparel. Spectrum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 12-6 p.m., and Sunday from 12-5 p.m. The Gallery is an expansion of the non-profit arts organization Arts Center Killingworth which offers classes, workshops, camps and whose mission is to provide opportunities for emerging and established artists to develop, display and sell their work.

For more information call Spectrum Gallery at 860-767-0742 and visit www.spectrumartgallery.org. To learn more about the Arts Center Killingworth call 860-663-5593 and visit www.artscenterkillingworth.org.
NEW BRITAIN  The Queen Ann Nzinga Center, Inc., which offers arts enrichment activities for children and teens ages 5 to 17, is accepting new participants.

The Queen Ann Nzinga Center promotes positive youth development among children of all races and abilities throughout Connecticut, but primarily to children in the greater Plainville, Berlin, Bristol and New Britain areas. The Center offers educational and performance-based programs to children and youth throughout the school year. The programs are designed to build self-esteem, enhance life skills and foster creativity in an environment that celebrates diversity and provides inter-generational mentoring.

An open house, which will provide children, teens and their parents a chance to learn more about the Center and its programs, will be Saturday, Jan. 20 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Trinity-on-Main, 19 Chestnut St., New Britain. Children and teens will get a sampling of the kinds of activities they can expect, including snacks, creative arts, games and fun. The snow date is Jan. 27. Learn more at http://www.qanc.org

In addition to the fun, program staff will be available at both locations to answer question and sign up participants for the program. Information for QANC volunteer and student community learning hours is also available for students. An information table will allow visitors the opportunity to learn about the program, its goals and accomplishments. Everyone will be invited to meet current participants, teachers and mentors.

Tuition is modest and based on a sliding scale. No one is turned away because of inability to pay. Children and teens of all abilities are welcome. Center programs include the Nzingas Watoto, PRIDE and the Male Mentor Program, and participants meet on Saturday afternoons.

Since 1990, the Watoto program has used the arts and an experiential program model based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa to foster a strong self-image in children and youth. Established in 2005, the PRIDE program works with girls and teens. With guidance from successful women mentors, the program encourages positive growth and development, through structured arts and humanities activities. The Male Mentor Program is a mirror image of the PRIDE program and is led by male mentors, placing emphasis on male gender-specific issues.

These programs and more are made possible with funding from American Savings Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Community Chest of Berlin and New Britain, J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Wells Fargo, Elizabeth H. Norton Trust Fund and the New Britain Commission on the Arts.

For more information on these programs, please see www.QANC.org The spring Performing Arts Program runs from Feb. 1 through to May 5. During this time, there will be a Womens History Concert and a field trip, and the culmination of the program concludes with an art exhibit and a Kwanzaa in May Celebration on May 5.

The Queen Ann Nzinga Center is named for a 15th Century African queen who protected her people from being sold into slavery. The name symbolizes the organizations aim to empower young people with life skills, academic support and experiences to thrive. QANC, in its 28th year, is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 that serves a diverse, multi-racial and multi-cultural population of children and teens by providing arts and cultural enrichment in a multi-generational setting. The program uses the performing and creative arts to help participants achieve goals, build self-esteem, develop strong values, gain an appreciation of culture, learn about the rich African heritage and understand cultural diversity. These principles are then highlighted in the culmination of the year-long program in a multi-generational Kwanzaa performance held annually in late December.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was a great relief, if only for some time.

It allowed 800,000 people like myself to live and work without fear of deportation.

DACA was an executive order issued by former President Barack Obama in 2012 that gave undocumented young people a two-year renewable work permit, provided they met certain criteria. On Sept. 5, 2017, President Donald Trump rescinded the program. While the program is set to expire on March 5, there is now a legal battle playing out in the courts to keep it intact.

As Congress and the White House debate how to move forward, they should be aware of one little-known consequence of DACA. It forced many recipients to change their names, throwing many aspects of their lives into disarray.

I am an anthropologist who has been studying immigrant youth since 2010. In my most recent research, I interviewed DACA graduate students about the impacts of DACAs forced name alteration.

Heres what they told me.

Forced name change

DACA forced immigrants who grew up in the United States using only one last name  usually their fathers  to add another last name, usually their mothers maiden name. This was done because the new forms of identification that were issued through DACA, such as work permits, had to match the information on the applicants birth certificate.

The majority of DACA recipients, about 75 percent, are from Mexico, where it is customary to use both paternal and maternal last names. Therefore, many applicants have two last names on their birth certificates.

While the birth certificate name requirement applies to all immigrants, it has a unique impact on DACA recipients. DACA recipients were brought to the U.S. at a young age without legal status. In the U.S., it is customary to use only one last name. Many immigrants from Mexico dropped their mothers last name during their primary education and grew up using just one last name because their families were instructed to do so by institutions like schools and the DMV. All of their U.S. records prior to DACA are often under that shortened name.

For example, I interviewed Rosa V. Martinez (a pseudonym), who says she was forced to add her mothers last name, Flores, to her name when she applied for DACA. Rosa pleaded with the immigration officials to let her keep just one last name, but she was not allowed. The consequences of this were significant.

Her new legal name did not match a lifetime of records, such as the name on her bachelors and masters degrees, published works and transcripts. When Rosa applied to Ph.D. programs, the schools were unsure if Rosa V. Martinez and Rosa V. Martinez Flores were the same person and were reluctant to accept her transcripts. The already stressful application process became even more complicated.

Another graduate student, Vicente Hernandez (a pseudonym), attempted to get a student loan, but his new legal name, which also had a second last name, did not match his credit score. Because of this, the bank was unwilling to give him the loan. Vicente was finally approved only after many stressful weeks and extra paperwork.

Vicente said, There was no need for that huge inconvenience and hassle. This would have never happened had they [U.S. immigration] allowed me to keep my name as it was.

Using surnames for control

Beyond the negative impacts discussed by the research participants in this study, the renaming of individuals has historically been used as a way to control people. It facilitates a countrys ability to reject and discard individuals deemed unfit for society, as well as criminalize and persecute them. This is not something most DACA recipients are aware of.

A well documented, extreme example of this comes from Europe. By the 19th century, the use of last names was widespread in Europe. But one group, the Ashkenazi Jews, had managed to resist. A Prussian law in 1833 forced all Jews to choose from a fixed list of surnames. Through this decree, the state effectively secured via last names the recognizability of Jews as Jews. The closed list of Jewish surnames made it easier for Nazi Germany to carry out the task of genocide. The efficient expulsion of Jews to their deaths during WWII would have been, logistically, much more difficult prior to the 19th century.

Last names make populations traceable. They aid the government in tracking criminals and other persons of interest and knowing accurate population size for the purposes of taxation and waging war.

Another example of how governments use forced name change to hurt people comes from U.S. history. In 1887, the use of surnames was enforced on Native Americans with the Dawes Act, which created unambiguous personal identities for the purpose of ending communal holdings of property, and opened Indian lands to settlement by non-Indians and to development of railroads.

As the future of those previously protected by DACA is mired in uncertainty, it is important to learn from the past and be cautious of the potentially harmful consequences of forced name changes on peoples lives. It is likely that the negative impacts due to forced name change will worsen if no law is passed to aid former DACA recipients.

The question remains: Will the surname system enable the government to track and criminalize vulnerable immigrants?

***

Linda E. Sanchez is a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

For comments, tips or pitches for this blog, write to Olivia P. Tallet.
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WASHINGTON  Jonathan Gonzalez Cruz, a senior at Southern Connecticut State University, stood up at an impromptu sit-in at a Senate office Tuesday and told fellow Dreamers crowding the room about watching his father get taken into ICE custody for deportation.

When I came home that night and knew I wasnt going to see him at the dinner table, that broke my heart, said Gonzalez Cruz, 21, an economics and math major. Each day when I was in school, I had to pretend like nothing happened, because no one knew I was undocumented.

That was when Gonzalez Cruz was a high school sophomore. Although they keep in touch through phone calls and social media, he has not seen his father in about six years. Without legal status himself, Gonzalez Cruz could not get back into the U.S. if he went to Mexico for a visit.

Because of the preponderance of immigration-friendly Democrats in the state, people in Connecticut dont think deportations can happen, said Gonzalez Cruz, whose story had been recounted last week on the Senate floor by Sen. Richard Blumenthal. But its happening right now.

Gonzalez Cruz was among 50 or so youthful Connecticut immigrants, brought illegally to the U.S. as children, who boarded buses in Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford before dawn for the long trip to Washington.

They spent the day traipsing the halls of Senate office buildings, hoping to sway key senators to support the DREAM Act, which would give them permanent legal status and a possible path to citizenship.

Their visit unfolded as the clock continued to click down to a possible government shutdown Friday night if congressional Democrats cannot reach agreement with Republican counterparts and President Trump on a deal that may -- or may not  include relief for Dreamers.

Democrats insist that any deal to avoid a shutdown must include a plan for continuing Dreamers legal status.

Trump and Republican lawmakers have conditioned Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals extension on funding billions in construction of a wall, although not one that runs the entire 2,000-mile length of the U.S.-Mexico border.

For now, Dreamers enjoy legal status under President Obamas DACA legislation. President Trump canceled the order last September, but a federal judge has put a stay on it so that a lawsuit can proceed.

A potential bipartisan deal got sidetracked last week after Trump refused to back it and then threw gas on the fire by using the word shithole to describe impoverished nations that account for a portion of U.S. immigration flow.

Connecticut Dreamers joined counterparts from other states in staging sit-ins at Senate offices, testing the restraint of Capitol police officers who stood by as long as the demonstrations were brief and not overly disruptive. Neither of Connecticuts senators got a visit, although the offices of Sens. Blumenthal and Chris Murphy had been destinations of previous Washington trips.

While lawmakers and the White House continue to posture in public and negotiate in private, leaders of the 800,000 Dreamers -- 8,000 or so in Connecticut -- are keeping their sights on a clean DREAM Act, one that goes beyond simple extension of President Obamas 2012 DACA order.

Both Blumenthal and Murphy support such a measure but any deal that helps the Dreamers is likely to fall well short of that.

Although the situation appears dire at times, Dreamers have grown somewhat philosophical about doomsday scenarios.

Every week feels like the final week, but were going to run out of deadlines at some point, said Camila Bortoletto of Danbury, campaign manager of Connecticut Students for a Dream, referring to the ultimate expiration of DACA on March 5.

We do not want a DACA fix; we want the DREAM Act, Bortoletto said, arguing that with its 2007 cut-off date, DACA reinstatement would do nothing to help more-recent youthful immigrants who may be of high school age.

Obama promulgated DACA after Congress failed to approve the DREAM Act, an acronym for the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act that was first introduced in 2001.

And the DREAM Act should not be a vehicle for (Trump to) get the wall, she said.
The drive for innovation in the auto industry continues at a revolutionary pace.

However, federal legislation still lags where automakers, traffic safety experts and the public needs it to be, according to officials at Detroit's auto show.

That could change this year, said U.S. Senator Gary Peters.

It's a national issue that particularly affects Michigan due to the dominance of the auto industry here - and how other nations also are making strides toward breakthrough technology.

"We're in a very competitive ... economic environment," said Peters.

"It's important that they're able to develop the vehicles, given the competitive pressures," Peters said, noting that Asian and European automakers also are racing toward autonomous development as the software that makes it possible.

"Being first is a big deal," Peters said. " ... You have to be fairly early to this technology."

Peters toured the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 16 with fellow Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow. They were joined by a bipartisan Congressional delegation. Later, Peters joined U.S. Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton of southwest Michigan, both Republicans, on a Politico panel on the future of mobility.

Regulations for driverless autos took center stage in the discussion, with Peters emphasizing that getting the so-called AV START (American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies) legislation passed into law is a priority.

The Commerce Committee on October 4, 2017, unanimously approved the pending legislation to advance testing and development of self-driving autos.

The bill next needs to reach the full Senate.

While auto companies say they've set production goals for autonomous vehicles - such as Ford Motor Company, aiming for 2021 -they are making substantial investments without a clear national vision of how the technology will be implemented on roads from testing through commercialization.

"Having a national framework .. is very important," said Sherif Marakby, vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification at Ford.

Joan Claybrook, an advocate for highway and auto safety, raised concerns about what the pending legislation doesn't cover. She called it "inadequate" because it doesn't deal with electronics, cybersecurity or the vision capacity of the vehicle.

"Those are significant deficiencies," she said.

Yet while the road to federal legislation can be much slower than the pace of innovation, it's important that the U.S. put something into place to get ahead of where new autonomous developments go.

Peters said legislation should come into play in 2018, though he added that "it's impossible to put a timeline on (it)."

He said he hopes it will proceed through the Senate under unanimous consent, moving forward to the House of Representatives without barriers.

"Any one senator can put a hold on the bill," Peters said. "We're talking to folks and hopefully, we'll be able to move it forward that way."

He's expecting no issues from the White House.

"We've worked with the administration," Peters said, namely through co-sponsor John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota. "... This has bipartisan support."
Why only have one person uncomfortably climb in and out of vehicles at the Detroit auto show, when you can have two?

Coming off the "Will Ben Fit?" legroom challenge at last year's North American International Auto Show, it was time to tackle the question from another perspective this time around.

Joining the 6-foot-6 Ben Raven in this year's vehicle comfort test at the 2018 Detroit auto show was Dana Afana, at 5-foot-3.

The pair of Detroit-based reporters squeezed into big trucks, small cars, SUVs, interesting little motorized carts and more, among others.

Check out the video above for results from the drastically different-sized reporters.

See below for a look at last year's footage.

The North American International Auto Show opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 28. For an earlier look at what takes place during press and industry previews, check out full coverage of the show here.

Hours between Jan. 20 and 27 run from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., with no admittance after 9 p.m. On the show's last day, hours run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with no admittance after 6 p.m.

Tickets cost $14 per adult, and $7 each for seniors and children.
ANN ARBOR, MI - From a $1,000 renovation of a bedroom into an office to a larger makeover of a historic Ann Arbor building, the interior design studio Synecdoche is providing an artistic touch to businesses across southeast Michigan.

Synecdoche (pronounced si-nek-duh-kee, according to its website) was created by husband-and-wife team Lisa Sauve and Adam Smith in 2012. The Ann Arbor company has transformed spaces like Main Street's Nightcap bar and is now evolving itself with new techniques and equipment.

The business has come a long way from its first project, a $1,000 renovation that turned a 200-square-foot bedroom into an office in Detroit. Synecdoche has established itself as a full-service concierge design company that works with companies to figure out their needs, Sauve said.

"Getting to understand them is the first step," she said.

You may recognize Synecdoche's style from the blue-dipped bamboo skewers hanging from the ceiling of The Lunch Room or the perforated ceiling installation at Nightcap throwing shadows on the walls and faces of guests.

It was design competitions during their school years that helped build Sauve and Smith's portfolio while also pushing them to discover the direction they wanted to take their education and the projects that represented their aesthetics.

That includes planning for the different uses of company space, finding locations, securing construction permits and helping select furniture, Sauve added, along with personal touches.

Smith explained Synecdoche is not an architectural firm, but instead designs architectural features and makes some items in its 3,200-square-foot warehouse if possible.

"We find spaces to design and custom pieces like door handles and railings where we can invest our time," Smith said.

"It's an avenue for us to do some R&D, to play with materials and techniques," Sauve said. "Design can help their business. It's not embellishment if it's laid out appropriately and speaks to the customer base."

Some of their most recent builds include large ceiling installations, awaiting delivery from the Synecdoche warehouse to the final destination at the Corner House Lofts apartment complex on South State.

The phrase "Do good work" is inscribed on the warehouse wall of Synecdoche, something Sauve and Smith learned firsthand as they moved from Lawrence Technological University to University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Architecture was moving toward digital fabrication, Sauve said, something they picked up during their time as students at the University of Michigan.

"We want to help bridge that and introduce those design ideas," she said.

One of the newest additions to Synecdoche symbolizes the new importance of technology: a computer-controlled CNC router that can cut flat panels into shapes that Smith said is a great resource for making projects but also showing clients what they can do.

"This is like our new house," Sauve said about the excitement felt when the CNC router arrived at the warehouse. "It's been a process, but in terms of what it can do for us on the make side, it's pretty exciting to have it."

Synecodche started gathering steam in 2015, working with companies like communications tech company Deepfield, which soon gained the attention of other tech companies like cybersecurity company Duo Security.

Along with its warehouse space at 1342 N. Main, Synecdoche added office space nearby in August 2017 with a conference area and work space for its design team.

A long white board in the conference area is inscribed with names and notes for the 17 projects Synecdoche is working on, with timelines ranging from three months to two years. The projects are a mix of tech office renovations, restaurant redesigns and retail spaces.

The uptick in projects has meant additional employees, with Synecdoche growing from four to seven employees along with a paid internship program for architecture and design students.

Both Sauve and Smith knew from the beginning of Synecdoche they wanted to make an impact on future architects and builders, and started the program to offer on-the-job training for students.

"We needed opportunities to build projects," said Sauve, recalling the times she and Smith spent learning in class but struggling to translate that into real-world experience.

Even after graduation and founding Synecdoche, Sauve and Smith said they continue to develop their skills and push their own ideas of what the company is all about.

"We've learned just as much about what we don't want to do as much as what we want to do," Sauve said. "It's been fun to selectively work on pieces."

Projects like The Standard Bistro and Larder are especially exciting, Smith added, with its attention to detail and design, along with residential projects around Ann Arbor.

One of the highlights of their completed portfolio was working on gender-netural bathrooms found inside the Nightcap, which Sauve said required a variance from the Board of Appeals and represents a changing idea about design.

Now they are hearing from more businesses interested in the gender-neutral bathroom idea, she added.

"Design can shift culture," Sauve said. "It was a proud moment for us."

Looking forward, Sauve and Smith plan to reach out to more businesses and companies in Detroit and continue helping their current clients while building relationships with new ones.

Another possible addition is a project manager, someone with the ability to coordinate multiple ongoing projects but also have some welding or digital technology skills to offer Synecdoche clients.

As they describe the ideal candidate, Sauve and Smith also talk about where they are happiest at work.

Sauve prefers to be out and about, meeting with clients and talking about what is happening in Ann Arbor and finding the next project or idea.

"I'm happier in the shop," Smith said with a laugh, adding he would like to hire another fabricator so he could have more time to experiment with materials and techniques to keep pushing the limits of design.

The benefits of a growing business and clientele have also come with challenges, namely finding and keeping talent, Smith said, and their clients are also facing the same challenge.

That's when Synecdoche can step in and help, they said.

"We can make spaces vibrant, to attract people," Smith said. "That's when design becomes a calling card."
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - West Michigan employers are running out of workers to hire, an economist from Grand Valley State University told a gathering of business leaders on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

"We are out of workers. You can't hire them if they don't exist," said Paul Isely, associate dean of the Seidman School of Business said at the West Michigan Economic and Commercial Real Estate Forecast breakfast that was co-sponsored by Colliers International | West Michigan.

Area employers are now hiring non-violent felons and skipping drug tests to get the workers they need to keep up with the region's booming economy, said Isely.

"Last year, we were able to draw some kids out of the basement," he said. "They stopped playing 'World at Warcraft' and came back to work."

Isely predicted the area's employment base will grow by 1.1 percent to 1.5 percent, half the the 2.2 percent growth rate seen in 2017.

That's bound to lead to higher wages if employers hope to attract new talent from outside the region Isely said.

"If you're looking for workers where you have to compete outside of West Michigan, your wages are probably too low."

"The smooth road you'll enjoy in 2018 will become bumpy, leading to new opportunities for you," he said. "you need to be paying attention to those bumps because those bumps are actually where you'll make your money."

Isely said business leaders continue to be confident about their growth prospects in 2018 despite a shortage of qualified workers and pressure to increase wages.

Auto production has peaked, "but the good news is that it's not going away," said Isely, who said he expects the national economy to enter a "shallow" recession by 2019 or 2020.

Other business leaders at the forecast breakfast said they worried about the impact on West Michigan if the Trump Administration scuttles the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico.

"If it's drastically changed and we bail on it, Michigan is the No. 1 affected state," Birgit Klohs, president and CEO of The Right Place economic development program. "It will affect auto, it will affect furniture and it will affect agriculture."
WYOMING - Jack Poll, the city's longest-serving mayor, will seek to add to his record time in office as he puts his name on the ballot this fall in the hopes of securing a third term.

Poll, who was first elected as mayor in November 2009, made the announcement that he would run for re-election during his State of the City address on Monday, Jan. 15, at City Hall.

"I am proud to have held this position longer than all those who faithfully have served as mayor in the history of Wyoming," Poll said.

"We are blessed with employees that are so highly respected in West Michigan, across the state and even at the federal level," he said. "I have watched the skillful handling of tragedies, both natural and produced, deep thinking and solving of situations that seemed impossible.

"I can stand here today and say, 'We made it through them all.' Our city is better today because these trials have become victories that make Wyoming a beacon of bright shining light in West Michigan."

In addition to praising those he has worked with at City Hall for the last nine years, Poll made sure to thank the citizens of Wyoming for their continued support.

"If you give me this privilege to continue on, I ask that we work together in the challenges and successes that are sure to happen," he said. "Trust us with your hard-earned dollars and come alongside us to provide the best place for all of us to live."

Following a standing ovation at the conclusion of his speech on Monday, Poll resumed his normal seat at the head of the room, clearly trying not to choke up as he continued on with the evening's agenda.

Had it not been for City Council's decision to move the city's mayoral and council member election cycle from odd years to even years with a 2013 resolution, Poll would have faced a potential re-election bid last November.

That resolution, which passed unanimously in July 2013, ensured that whoever was elected mayor in November 2013 would serve a five-year term, as the next election would not be held until 2018.

Poll would run unopposed that fall, securing his second term in office.

On Monday, during his speech, Poll said it had been his honor and privilege to serve as the mayor of Wyoming for the last nine years.

With all that's been accomplished in that time, he said his decision to run again really came down to one question: "How can I walk away from that?"
Ashok Leyland

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Hinduja group flagship firm Ashok Leyland today said it has signed a letter of intent with Israel's Phinergy for electric commercial vehicles.

The envisaged partnership intends to provide varying energy management solutions to customers, the company said in a BSE filing.

"Ashok Leyland and Phinergy will work towards the adaptation of unique, competitive and sustainable solutions for high-energy applications in commercial vehicles," it said.

Ashok Leyland Head EV and eMobility Solutions, Karthick Athmanathan said as the electric vehicle (EV) market evolves in India, the company is committed to developing differentiated solutions for its customers and help them stay competitive.

"We see a good potential for Phinergy's technology in India. This will add further to our various portfolios for commercial EVs, where we are committed to offering our customers competitive solutions with various cutting edge technology," he added.

Athmanathan further said over the next few months the company would develop the first few prototypes and trial pilots on different platforms in order to better tune Phinergy's offering for various commercial vehicle (CV) applications.

Phinergy CEO Aviv Tzidon said the company's high technology solution would help Indian customers keep costs low while addressing range anxiety and reliability.

"We look forward to rapidly developing our offering and scaling up operations for CV applications in India with Ashok Leyland, with whom we have worked closely over the last year," he added.

Phinergy is a leader in development of clean and high energy-density systems based on metal-air technology.
Electricity, gas, water supply growth demonstrate an encouraging recovery by 4.4 percent.

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CRISIL Research expects revenue growth to be driven by segments like power T&D, transportation and renewables while the conventional BTG segment faces subdued demand due to a slowdown in the conventional power segment.

As a consequence, while order book accretion has been slow for weakly diversified players like BHEL, overall, players with presence in other areas have seen good growth.

Consequently, order book is expected to improve gradually in medium-to-long term, led by large investments in power transmission and distribution (T&D) segment.

 Higher investments by central transmission utility, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), in augmenting interstate transmission lines (from 75 GW in fiscal 2017 to 118 GW by fiscal 2022) are expected to drive additions.

 Further, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved Rs 440 billion for Deen Dayal Upadhyay Scheme (DDUGJY), of which the Centre will contribute Rs 354 billion; the scheme will also subsume the Rajiv Gandhi Yojana (RGGVY) budget of Rs 392 billion. DDUGJY aims to improve rural electrification and separation of feeders and thus power delivery.

 CCEA has also approved outlay of Rs 440 billion for the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), with budgetary support of Rs 227 billion. IPDS, aimed at strengthening and metering of urban T&D systems, has subsumed R-APDRP (budget: Rs 326 billion).

 Higher investments in renewable energy segment, railways and metro projects will also support order inflows. Additionally, the government is going full speed on the Rs. 1.6 trillion electricity access scheme  Saubhagya, with stringent targets to be fulfilled by December 2018.

 Demand from the boiler, turbine and generator (BTG) segment will, however, remain low due to weak power demand and stretched financials of power generation players.



Operating margins improved 370 bps to 6.4 percent in fiscal 2017 over fiscal 2016, with several players undertaking cost-rationalisation measures (localisation of sourcing, high-margin order execution, changing product mix, etc). Margins in the first half of fiscal 2018, at 4.2 percent, were similar to those in first half of fiscal 2017 (4.37 percent).



 Competition from Chinese players remains intense in the BTG and T&D equipment segments. In 9M FY18, share of Chinese/Korean players in PGCIL substation orders was at 36 percent, similar to their 37 percent share in fiscal 2017. Further, nearly 33 percent (36.3 GW) of BTG orders placed over the 12th Plan Period  April 2012-March 2017  were also bagged by Chinese equipment suppliers, despite imposition of customs duty; they have won 18 percent (2.2 GW) of all BTG orders in YTD fiscal 2018 (till November 2017). Price competitiveness remains a key advantage for such players and with a few already having set up or planning to set up units in India, competition may intensify with increased access to domestic market and treatment as domestic produce instead of imports.

Capital goods firms have been focusing on fast order execution, especially short-cycle orders from segments like railways, solar and industrial products. However, working capital cycles remain high for the segment, especially due to high debtor days originating from weak customer profile in the power generation segment which is witnessing a slowdown. Going forward, margins are expected to rise due to execution of orders in other segments such as substation, transformers, solar, railways, and T&D as well as continued efforts towards indigenisation.

CRISIL expects that Budget 2019 will continue the focus on allocations to power T&D, UDAY schemes, railways and other transportation areas, as well as renewable energy, which are central to the capital goods segment. Duty changes, such as input duty exemptions, are also desired by the industry.
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Jaiprakash Associates is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 20 and target of Rs 27. Vedanta is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 326 and target of Rs 344. United Breweries is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 1,095 and target of Rs 1,150."

"Tech stocks looks the best of the lot not even banks. Adani Ports is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 428 and target of Rs 450. Future Consumer is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 66 and target of Rs 78. Coffee Day is re-starting its move, so that is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 342 and target of Rs 360," he said.
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "TV Today is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 458 and target of Rs 480. UltraTech Cement is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 4,550 and target of Rs 4,700. Tata Steel is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 764 and target of Rs 790."

"The simple logic is that once something crosses the listing high then everybody is making money and supply suddenly dries up. Because nobody wants to sell a winner, so chances are Coffee Day has begun some sort of a strong rally which could take it up to Rs 500-550, so today is a continuation of that previous rally. So people can still take long positions on Coffee Day Enterprises."

"Fertiliser overall is doing well, if GNFC has specific issues, I dont think company is closing down. I would think it is a good time to buy because Chambal Fertilisers is doing well. Budget generally, this period is good for fertiliser. So, if I have to buy I would buy here and maybe keep Rs 470-475 type of stop loss. At some point it will go back and test previous highs because these are all temporary event they get priced in and markets moves on," he said.

"ICICI Prudential is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 408 and target of Rs 430. JK Tyre is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 173 and target of Rs 187. Bharat Electronics (BEL) is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 170 and target of Rs 184."

"Possibly hold SH Kelkar because now everything that has not moved is trying to move and this is one of the stocks that has not moved. So maybe keep Rs 270-275 type of stop loss, and like Aban Offshore if something positive happens, you may get Rs 360-370. However, as of today, there is no action of SH Kelkar."
Trigyn Technologies is buzzing in trade after the company bags a multi-year order in Zimbabwe. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, R Ganapathi, Chairman and Executive Director of the company discussed the details.

We are savouring two back to back wins in New Year. We had a win a few days ago from Rome and this one from Zimbabwe - African Regional lntellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), Harare, he said.

This is the second win from ARIPO, we have the existing one going on which is based on a particular software, he added.
All the 14 designs of Rs 10 coin are valid and legal tender for transactions, the Reserve Bank said today amid reluctance by certain traders to accept the coins.

"It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank that in certain places there is reluctance on part of traders and members of public to accept Rs 10 coins due to suspicion about their genuineness," the RBI said while reiterating legal tender status of the coins of different designs.

In a statement, the central bank clarified that it puts into circulation the coins minted by government mints.

These coins, it further said, have distinctive features to reflect various themes of economic, social and cultural values and are introduced from time to time.

"So far the Reserve Bank has issued Rs 10 coin in 14 designs... All these coins are legal tender and can be accepted for transactions," the RBI said.

It has also asked banks to accept coins for transactions and exchange at all their branches.
9. Vishwaraj Sugar Industries: Listed on October 15, 2019 on the BSE and NSE, the stock has returned 33 percent so far. It had an issue size of Rs 60 crore. (Representative Image Source: Reuters)

Indian sugar processors have undermined their own margins in order to meet government mandates on when to pay cane farmers, which required them to sell supply onto the market at the same time they agreed to pay more for sugar cane.

India, the world's second-biggest sugar producer, requires the processors to pay cane farmers within two weeks of harvest. The mills agreed in May to pay the farmers 11 percent more for their cane for the 2017/18 marketing year, which started on Oct. 1.

Many mills struggled to raise funds from local banks to make the payments, said a senior official at the Sahyadri co-operative sugar factory based in Maharashtra.

This has caused some mills to have fallen behind on the payments by an estimated 20 billion rupees ($312 million), said a government official who declined to be named.

To meet the funding shortfall, mills boosted sugar sales which has caused the refined sugar market to drop by 13.1 percent to 3,189.50 rupees ($49.77) per 100 kg.

"The liquidity crunch forced a few mills to make distress sales. Sensing mills problems, traders also tried to bring down prices," said B.B. Thombre, president of the Western India Sugar Mills Association (WISMA).

The rapid decline in sugar prices means margins in the current year are likely to be lower than the previous year, said Narendra Murkumbi, managing director of Shree Renuka Sugars , the country's biggest refiner.

The mills agreed to pay the higher cane prices expecting stable refined sugar prices, but have been caught out by the slump.

The fall could slash profits for companies like Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, Shree Renuka, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries and Simbhaoli Sugars by at least 15 percent from a year ago, said a Mumbai-based sector analyst with a brokerage.

"Mills raw material cost has gone up, but prices of the finished product, sugar, are falling," said the analyst, who was not authorised to speak to media.

Simbhaoli Sugars said "it is difficult to comment on margins now", while Dwarikesh and Balrampur declined to comment, citing regulations that limit communications before quarterly results, due in the next few weeks.

Sugar prices may remain under pressure as the country's sugar output in the next season could rise above the record 28.3 million tonnes produced in 2014/15, said Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association.

"It is now difficult to pay the assured price to farmers unless government intervenes to support prices," said WISMA's Thombre.

The central government fixes the price that mills must pay growers annually, but some cane growing areas, especially the state of Uttar Pradesh, raise the price further to satisfy the demands of cane growers, a key voting bloc.
Odisha government today placed a demand of Rs 6,500 crore before the Centre for railway infrastructure development in the 2018-19 budget.

The demand includes detailed proposals for ongoing projects, sanctioning of new lines, station modernisation, introduction of new trains, extension of existing trains, improved passenger amenities at stations, on board services, establishment of rail-based industries, multi modal logistic parks and others.

"I enclose herewith a detailed proposal of about Rs 6,500 crore for the state of Odisha for your consideration and inclusion in Budget 2018-19," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

Patnaik said Odisha generates an annual revenue for Indian Railways in excess of Rs 15,000 crore. "Yet the average route length, with density (16) in the state is much less than the national average (20), and even considerably lower in comparison to adjoining states (West Bengal: 43.4 and Jharkhand: 24.3).

With its state's GDP growth rate is almost 20 per cent, higher than the national average, Odisha has been steadily evolving as a major industrial and mineral hub as well as the eastern gateway to the nation owing to the multiple functional ports, he said in the letter.

Importance of world class rail infrstracture is a pre-requisite for rapid development as well as to aid the growth of economy, he said adding that a cursory glance at the railway map would show that the major expanse of rail network is aligned to the spinal connectivity between Howrah and Chennai and large parts of Odisha have remained untouched by railways.

Therefore Odisha government has demarcated rail connectivity as a "priority area' with mandate to extend reach of rail network to each and every district of the state with focus specially on the regions that have not got the opportunity to grow with rail connectivity.

Patnaik identified some rail lines like Brahmapur- Phulbani-Sambalpur, Bargarh-Nuapada via Padmapur, Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri, Talcher-Gopalpur, Gopalpur-Singur Road New BG line (via Padmapur, Ramanguda, Bankili) and Lanjigarh-Talcher.

These rail links traverse mainly through unconnected and backward districts which are full of natural resources. These links will also be facilitating mineral movement by establishing linkage with southern Odisha as well as provide shorter connectivity to Gopalpur port.

"I request you to sanction these important new lines in the forthcoming Budget, which can bring prosperity along with connectivity to the needy areas. Apart from these, I have proposed to bear 50 per cent of the construction and land cost for a line connecting Puri-Konark, the most important section of the state and a popular international destination," Patnaik said in the letter.

Though Patnaik said he was glad for the SPVs for Angul-Duburi-Sukinda and Haridaspur-Paradip rail links, the performance is far from satisfactory. "I would also seek early actiom from Railway Ministry to start the process of running of passanger trains in these two projects, which are passing through backward and unconnected areas in the state," he said.

The chief Minister also iterated the state's demand of running a new train by the name of 'Bakshi Jagabandhu Express' in honour of front line freedom fighter Bakshi Jagabadhu Bidyadhar Mohapatra.

Patnaik also urged Goyal to initiate the East Coast dedicated freight corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada and East-West dedicated freight corridor from Jharsuguda to Bilaspur to ensure seamless movement of freight between upcoming ports on the Odisha coast including the major port at Paradip and the vast northen and central hinterland of India.

Patnaik also named certain projects which experience slow pace of execution. These are Talcher-Bimlagarh and Jaleswar-Digha new lines, doubling of Sambapur-Titlagarh, Titlagarh-Raipur, Sambalpur-Talcher and Daitari-Keonjhar- Bansapani and third line of Bhadrak-Nergndi-Vizianagaram stretch.

The letter said that Talcher-Angul, Paradi-Dhamra, Champua-Anandapur-Jajpur and Barsuan-Bansapal-Badbil lines need immediate sanction in order to ensure seamless flow of traffic and easier access between industrial and mining areas and ports.

These apart, Patnaik said Puri-Konark and Keonjhar Road-Jajpur (Via Aradi) links are equally important for pilgrims visiting the religious destinations at Puri and Biraja Kshetra respectively.

The chief minister said the state govenrment is fully committed to provide all necessary support to the Railways ministry for expeditious execution of different prorjects in the state.

"I am hopeful that our proposals pertaining to Railways will be given due considertion in the Budget 2018-19, thereby fulfilling the rightful aspirations of my state and its people," Patnaik said in the letter.
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Axis Bank, country's third private sector lender, has become the first commercial bank to hike lending rates by 5 basis points to 8.30 percent.

The hike comes for the first time in three years signalling an upward turn in interest rate cycle.

Axis Bank has raised lending rates by 5 basis points across all tenures with effect from January 18, the bank said in a filing on the stock exchanges.

With this, Axis Bank would charge 8.30 percent on loans having one year tenure for new borrowers.

Other banks could likely follow suit marking the end of easing rate cycle.

Country's largest bank, State bank of India (SBI) is yet to announce any such hike in rates.

The hike in the lending rates comes at a time when the yields on the government securities and corporates bonds have risen sharply.

In December quarter alone the 10-year yield had risen by 67 bps which is likely to result into mark-to-market losses between Rs 15,000 - 25,000 crore for banks.

The hike in lending rates by Axis bank will impact new borrowers while the existing borrowers will continue to have the benefit of lower rates till the end of lock-in period they have fixed with the bank.

Most home loans have a lock-in period of one year from the time the loan is taken and the new rates will be effective at the end of each year.
We are in the last phase of the September quarter earnings season, and the results announced by the BSE 500 companies so far have shown signs of a sharp recovery, as compared to the June quarter, when the economic activity in the country was compromised due to lockdown in various regions. From the BSE 500 list, 216 companies have announced their September quarter results so far. We excluded banking and financial companies. Along with the index stocks we also analyse each sector quarterly earnings. (Data Source: ACE Equity)

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Srei Infrastructure Finance (Srei) today reported consolidated profit after tax of Rs 105.14 crore for the quarter ended December 2017, a growth of 56 percent year-on-year.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 67.21 crore in October-December quarter of 2016-17.

The total consolidated income for the quarter under review was Rs 1,411.95 crore as compared to Rs 1,134.57 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.

"Consolidated profit after tax is Rs 267.57 crore during the nine months ended December 31, 2017 as compared to Rs 180.65 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, registering a growth of 48 per cent," it said.

Consolidated assets under management stood at Rs 44,971 crore as on December 31, 2017 as compared to Rs 37,505 crore a year earlier.

Srei's shares closed 1.13 per cent higher at Rs 102.65 apiece on BSE today.
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The Nifty saw profit booking on Wednesday and closed around its crucial support level of 10,700 levels. Thus, for the day, the index formed a Bearish Belt Hold like candlestick pattern for the day.

The index also touched the rising resistance trend line originating from the September high of 8,975 levels on the weekly chart. Thus, the market may see some sideways to negative action in the short term if it breaks below immediate support of 10,713-10,690 zone.

Below this, the next support for the index is seen at 10,590-10,550 levels. While on the upside, crossing above yesterdays high of 10,783 on a sustainable basis will see continuation uptrend towards 10,840 and then possibly 11,000 levels.

The Nifty options open interest Put/Call ratio (PCR) is at 6-year high of 1.78 level which indicates heavy put writing and suggesting market participants do not expect Nifty to decline by much.

But, high PCR level is the extreme case now indicates complacency in the market and may lead to negative news flow.

INDIA VIX has also seen a steady climb to touch 14.30 with the Union Budget approaching. A further rise in volatility could be a cause of concern for bulls. Thus, traders need to be cautious in the market and need to follow strict stop loss.

Here is a list of top five stocks which could give up to 30% return in the short term:

Just Dial: BUY| Stop loss Rs575| Target Rs690| Return 8%

The stock touched high of Rs1894 in August 2014 and then declined down to low of Rs318 levels in December 2016. From the low, price rallied to touch high of 620 only to test the previous low of 318 and now back to 606 levels.

In the process stock has formed long-term bullish double bottom reversal pattern on weekly chart. Volume during the pattern formation on its rising leg was high indicating buying accumulation in the stock at lower levels.

The weekly ADX line, an indicator of trend strength has steadily moved above neutral level of 20 to 30 suggesting up trend is likely to continue.

Currently, the stock is trading around the double bottom neckline which comes at 620 levels and considering the technical chart setup it is likely to see a breakout on the upside.

Thus, the stock is buy at current levels and on dips to 595 with a stop loss below 575 for target 690 levels.

Kotak Mahindra Bank: BUY| Stop loss Rs1010| Target Rs1100| Return 6%

After touching high of 1115 in October last year, it corrected down 982 levels In November. Since then the stock has been trading sideways and consolidating at lower levels. Price has formed triangle pattern over last two-month period.

On Monday, the stock gave breakout from this pattern with strong price momentum and good volumes indicating breakout is likely to sustain. Price has given breakout from Bollinger bands with the expansion of bands on upside indicating a trend to continue in the direction of the breakout.

Daily MACD has moved above the neutral level of zero suggesting starting of a fresh trend for the stock. Thus, the stock is buy at current levels and on dips to 1025 with a stop loss below 1010 for target 1100 levels.

Tata Elxsi: BUY| Stop loss Rs1005| Target Rs1160| Return 11%

The stock is in steady uptrend forming higher top formations on the daily chart as it moves along 20-day moving average. The stock has also crossed the rising resistance trend line originating from January 2017 high of 777 level, suggesting stock may see an acceleration in an uptrend.

Price has crossed its pivotal swing of 1032 indicating supply levels and can now rally towards its previous highs of 1160-1200 levels. Thus, the stock is a buy at current levels and on dips to 1030 with a stop loss below 1005 for target 1160 levels.

Jain Irrigation: BUY| Stop loss Rs135| Target Rs180| Return 30%

The stock had been in decline since August 2010 high of 264 till August 2013 low of 46 levels. From the low price rallied to high of 133 and then again declined back to 46 levels.

Over the last one stock has rallied to 143 and crossed its previous pivotal high of 133. On monthly chart stock has formed a long term bullish double bottom reversal pattern and given the breakout.

The stock has witnessed high volumes during pattern formation indication accumulation in the stock at lower levels. The monthly ADX line, an indicator of trend strength has moved above neutral level of 20 suggesting uptrend is likely to continue.

Generally, after multiyear base pattern breakout, stock tend to see a strong rally on the upside. Thus, the stock is a buy at current levels and on dips to 140 with a stop loss of 135 for target 180 levels.

ACC: BUY| Stop loss Rs1785| Target Rs1950| Return 5%

Looking at the long term monthly chart, the stock has formed W shaped pattern over last three years broadly between 1850 and 1200 levels. Over the last six months stock has been trading around the breakout levels and seen consolidation.

After last weeks narrow consolidation price showing signs of a breakout from short this short-term flag on the upside. Weekly MACD line has given positive crossover with its average above the neutral levels zero, suggesting the medium-term sideways trend has turned up.

Thus, considering the price structure on different time frames, the stock is a buy at current levels and on dips to 1810 with a stop loss of 1785 for target 1950 levels.

: The author is Head of Technicals and Derivatives, Sanctum Wealth Management. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The finance ministry wants the capital and commodities markets regulator, SEBI, to implement measures that boost growth of cash equity market, sources told Moneycontrol.

The equity derivatives market has been growing rapidly in the recent years and the ministry is not comfortable with its disproportionate growth vis-a-vis the cash market.

In 2017, F&O turnover was 18.21 times that of cash market turnover compared to 9.32 times in 2011 and 3.06 times in 2009

The government feels that the retail participation in the derivatives market should be restricted as the risk is higher.

Sources also tell Moneycontrol that SEBI might introduce new measures for trading in the equity derivatives market in the next board meeting, which is scheduled for first week of February.

SEBI might increase contract size from 5 lakh to 10 lakh in the next meeting, said a source.

The finance ministry wants Securities and Exchange Board of India to implement most of the measures proposed in the discussion paper that was released in July 2017.

We are cautious about current ratio of derivative and cash market which is so high. We have been seeing number of investors in derivatives are coming down due to lack of knowledge. SEBI should make restricted entry in derivative segment for individuals, a senior finance ministry official told Moneycontrol.

However, finance ministry and SEBI both are concerned about liquidity in the market. Once we start taking cautious steps on derivatives, there might be a decline in liquidity  that is one side of argument, the source said

The ratio of derivatives to cash market turnover in India , is the second highest across the world after Korea. And the percentage of non-institutional trades in derivatives accounts for more than 58 percent which is quite high, say market experts.

The number of derivatives investors is also shrinking. In 2010, there were 10.60 lakh investors and in 2017, the number has come down to 5.70 lakhs.

A senior official of SEBI told moneycontrol: The number of investors coming down is a cause of concern for us. Derivative is risky instrument and most of investors are not aware about the risk of derivative which is in future and option. And investor never turned up to equity market.

SEBI Board Meeting

The regulator might discuss physical settlement norms for stocks options and futures. In some markets, like India, high trading volumes are seen in derivatives of individual stocks as opposed to indices. The regulator is also concerned about this.

The other markets where stock futures are traded actively are Korea Exchange, Moscow Exchange and Eurex.

Indices are at all-time high right now and this is the right time to implement any tough measures for betterment of the market. Since inflows via mutual funds is high, negative news in the market can be tackled easily, said a market expert.

Some experts say that one way of discouraging individual investors from trading in derivatives market is to address the lower taxes. Currently, securities transaction tax in the case of options trade is levied only on the premium amount. In the cash market, this is charged on the entire traded value of the transaction.
Doubled the investors' wealth

The S&P BSE Sensex created history once again as it rallied 1000 points in record 17 sessions to hit Mount 35K on Wednesday, helped by gains in metals, cement, power and energy stocks.

However, there was plenty of action in individual stocks which saw a rally of up to 40 percent in the same period or just 17 sessions which include names like Reliance Communications, EIH, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, HEG, Phillips Carbon, Aban Offshore, PC Jeweller, Tata Sponge, Just Dial, Welspun, Deepak Nitrate, Adani Enterprises etc. among others.

Indian market got a booster shot in the morning after the government clarified that it has reassessed additional borrowing requirements taking note of revenue receipts and expenditure pattern.

The requirement of additional borrowing being reduced from Rs 50000 crore as notified earlier to Rs 20000 crore which gave a strong boost to PSU banks. The Nifty bank index closed with gains of over 300 points, led by a rally in Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, and State Bank of India.

Investors cheered the possibility of a marginal reduction in concerns of fiscal deficit. Bond yields too witnessed easing.

Commenting on this historic day, SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com said that investors should now have confidence on the India story. The person who saw Sensex at 1000, said that his target for the Sensex for the year 2018 is 40,000 and for the Nifty, it is 12,800.

The eternal bull of D-Street, Porinju Veliyath of Equity Intelligence India in an interview with CNBC-TV18 said that 35,000 on the Sensex could be the base for the index going forward in the next 5 years.

Anish Damania, IDFC Securities in an interview with CNBC-TV18 said that the market has some more room to go higher. Our target for March 2018 for Nifty is 11,300, he said. The ideal strategy for investors would be to look at individual stocks rather than focusing on the index.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 310 points higher at 35,081 while Nifty50 rose 88 points to close at 10,788. The Nifty50 index hit a fresh record high of 10,803 earlier in trade today.

Investors wealth rose by over Rs3.5 lakh crore in just 17 sessions on the BSE. Following the sharp rally in the broader market, the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies surged by nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crore from Rs 1,51,38,935 crore as on December 26 to Rs 1,54,82,777 crore as on 17 January in just 17 sessions.

Investors are advised to stay long on the index but the stock selection will be the key. Most mid & smallcap stocks have stolen the limelight in the last 12-24 months but the risk-reward ratio is favourable with respect to largecaps or fundamentally strong stocks.

We believe that this is a stock pickers market. While broad index-based returns may remain capped with the markets touching new highs, however fundamentally strong stocks would outperform, Nitasha Shankar, Sr. Vice President and Head of Research at YES Securities (I) Ltd. told Moneycontrol.
Indians holding undeclared assets in the island country of Singapore could face strict action including penalty and even prosecution, according to an Economic Times report.

The report stated the two countries are sharing financial data for such undisclosed assets between 2008-2017 with each other as a part of the revised double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA).

Those with such undisclosed assets were given a chance to do so under provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

The foreign income or the size of the undisclosed assets will decide the ultimate penalty to be faced by the defaulters.

The defaulters may have to pay taxes and penalties up to three times the tax computed, and as much as seven years in jail.

India and Singapore signed the DTAA in 2005, which was giving a tax exemption on capital gains in India to residents in the Southeast Asian country.

According to the report, Indias treaties with Mauritius, Cyprus and Singapore were being abused by persons looking to stash black money in offshore accounts and other assets.

These treaties faced a revision and have also seen an information exchange that had improved between the three.

The Indian tax authorities are also taking action against persons with the offshore accounts. The report stated notices are being sent to some foreign of the account holders using the information received under US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The final set of 10 smart cities for funding under the Smart City Mission will be announced on Friday, ministry sources said.

The 100 Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015.

On Tuesday union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri had told Moneycontrol that the list will be announced soon and there will be some smart cities on the ground by June.

We have finished the paperwork. The committee that had to evaluate the requests has finished its work. As many as 15 cities had applied out of which 10 will be selected. The announcement will be made in the next few days, he had told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the Smart Cities Summit 2018 organised by FICCI.

The 15 cities that had sent their proposals included Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Biharsharif (Bihar), Amravati (Maharashtra), Erode and Dindigul (Tamil Nadu) and Moradabad, Meerut, Sharanpur, Bareilly, Rampur, Rae Bareli and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Silvasa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Kavarati ( (Lakshwadweep) and Diu (Daman and Diu), sources said.

Charting the progress of the mission, the union minister had said that the Smart Cities Mission is progressing at a brisk pace. 90 cities have been selected so far. There are about 3000 projects worth Rs 1.40 lakh crore at various stages of implementation.

These will have a lighthouse effect. Other cities and regions around them will soon start undergoing transformation towards becoming centres of urban excellence, Puri said.

By June 2018 you will see the physical contours of these processes, he said.

Puri had said that urbanisation in India, or for that matter anywhere in the world, brings with it a host of challenges, from pollution to lack of civic amenities like drinking water, sewage, and electricity. We stand today at an inflection point in urban transformation. India's Smart Cities Mission, was launched by the government of India to provide impetus to this urban transformation process, he said.

He had said that 90 cities that have been selected so far, have identified projects worth Rs 1.40 lakh crore. Projects worth more than Rs 20,000 crore are either under implementation or completed. Tenders for projects worth Rs 16,000 crore have been called, and more than Rs 1 lakh crore worth of projects are being readied for issuance of tenders.

This is also the first time that cities have created an institutional mechanism (SPVS) at the city level. Till now 82 SPVs have been formed and considering the capacity gaps existing at cities, this is not a small achievement by any standards, he had said.

The 90 smart cities have proposed to leverage the fund by 2.5 times through internal revenue mobilisation, value capture financing, the municipal bond issue among other things.

Cities need to work as start-up and leverage their financial resources. Smart city mission has been heralding this transformation, he added.
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The newly constituted two-member SC bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and M Shantangoudar on Wednesday admitted all petitions pertaining to embattled real estate firm Amrapali. The next date of hearing on the case has been fixed for January 31.

As per the Apex Court directive, Amrapali has also deposited 10 percent of the outstanding amount due with Greater Noida authority. There was confusion over which authority is entitled to collect the dues. Legal sources had pointed out the project Amrapali Silicon City falls under the jurisdiction of Noida Authority, and not Greater Noida.

Legal sources said that as per the claim filed by Noida Authority with the resolution professional, the real estate firm owes it Rs 650 crore.

All requests for interim relief have been declined by the SC.

Meanwhile, the Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (Nefowa), has also moved a petition for a few more projects belonging to the embattled Amrapali Group  Centurian Park, Amrapali Dream Valley and Amrapali Leisure Valley projects that include Verona Heights, Jaura and Adarsh Awas Yojna. Their plea is that buyers be given the status of secured financial creditors and their rights against any future insolvency against the company be secured.

The appeal was admitted in Supreme Court on Wednesday. We want that the rights of all Amrapali buyers are secured and they get their homes, said Abhishek Kumar, the president of Nefowa.

These petitions will impact over 1000 homebuyers, he said.

Earlier, the association had filed petitions on behalf of Amrapali buyers in case of Golf Homes, Kingswood, Leisure Park and River View projects with the Supreme Court.

The Amrapali petition was transferred from the bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra to the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M Shantangoudar this week.

The Supreme Court vide its order dated November 22, 2017 had directed the directors of the realty firm to be present before the court on January 17, 2018. The bench headed by the Chief Justice had also restrained the directors of the company from leaving the country without its permission.

It was hearing the plea filed by Amrapali Silicon City Flat Owners Welfare Society.

It had also directed amicus curiae to open an online portal for homebuyers to register their refund claims. The portal came up on December 29, 2017 and closed on January 14, 2018, providing only a small window to buyers to register their claims. Legal sources say that the amicus may ask the court to extend the deadline.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Khanwilkar and Justice Chandrachud had appointed senior advocate Shekhar Naphade to represent home buyers interest in the committee of creditors (COC) meetings Pawan Shree as the amicus curiae.

In another petition by 100 home buyers, who had invested in three other projects of Amrapali Centurion Park Pvt Ltd at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, the apex court had on October 6 issued notice to the Centre and the housing group.

Buyers through their counsel had pleaded that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order initiating insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon City Pvt Ltd under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 be quashed as its proceedings affected buyers of Greater Noida project Amrapali Centurion Park.

They had claimed the insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon Valley will impact their project as Amrapali Silicon City owns 98.84 percent share in Amrapali Centurian Park.

They had also pleaded that either the home buyers be treated equally with banks and FIs, or the provisions of the bankruptcy code, which give priority to lending institutions, be held ultra vires to the Constitution as being violative of fundamental rights like rights to equality and life.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in September ordered initiation of insolvency proceedings against Amrapali Silicon City, on a plea by Bank of Baroda. The builder had defaulted on an outstanding loan of Rs 56 crore taken from the bank.

NCLT appointed Rajesh Samson of Deloitte Touche Tohmastu India LLP as the interim resolution professional (IRP) in the case of Amrapali Silicon City Pvt Ltd.

Bank of Baroda, the lead bank of the consortium comprising Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Maharashtra who are the other lenders, had signed a term loan agreement with Amrapali Silicon City in February 2012. The consortium of lenders sanctioned a loan of Rs 100 crore to Amrapali Silicon City. Amrapali Silicon City has defaulted on total repayment of Rs 71.15 crore, which comprise Rs 59.38 crore of principal overdue and Rs 11.77 crore of interest and penal interest.

Homebuyers say that they are hopeful that they will get delivery of their units. We are confident because the amendments to the IBC explicitly prohibit persons declared as wilful defaulters or those having a history of syphoning funds from a company, or convicted of fraud, from submitting a resolution plan for companies that are going through the corporate insolvency resolution process. Also, the major stakeholder in this particular project is the Noida Authority itself and it is its liability to complete the projects.

We also draw hope from the fact that there is saleable floor area ratio or FAR that can be developed to generate Rs 2,500 crore. What this means is that there is an incentive for a third party to come forward and complete the projects. As per estimates, the cost of completing stuck projects is around Rs 1,000 crore, say buyers.
Durba Ghosh

Financial tech companies in India are hoping that the upcoming budget will push for paperless access to financial products, as much as it did for digital payments in the last years budget, besides calling for a simplification of taxation laws and opening up of credit availability.

With the readiness of IndiaStack, 2018 can be the year of paperless access to financial products. This is important as the RBI household committee report states that household income can increase by as much as 10% if consumers access the right financial products, Adhil Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar.com says.

Some recent initiatives under India Stack, such as such Aadhar and UPI, can provide an opportunity for banks, insurers, and other players in the fintech sphere to promote financial inclusion if the country pushes for paperless financial transactions, he adds.

Shetty suggests an increase in the monetary limit for PaperLess e-KYC via OTP, which will remove the need to collect the physical copy of other identification documents such as PAN and Passport.

Experts are also asking for a push for widespread usage of e-Sign to authenticate documents digitally, and for complete paperless on-boarding of accounts for all financial products including the adoption of e-NACH and DigiLocker technologies can enhance digital financial inclusion of the country.

In order to give a boost to the growth of fintech sector in India, we expect the Government to take policy initiatives with a stated mission to become a Global Fintech hub by year 2020, Rajeev Mahajan, Co-Founder, Director and CEO at Antworks Money says.

India currently lags behind US, China, UK, and Singapore in funding and growth of fintech sector.

The first step, Mahajan says, is to set up multidisciplinary fintech innovation centres which will work on building eco system required for growth of fintech sector in India.

These centres will also have the capability to incubate new products and services and act as a bridge between entrepreneurs, regulators and Government bodies.

Governments intent to support fintech startups is clear, but little has happened on the ground. The benefits havent transpired as originally transpired, Satyam Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Loan tap says.

The tax benefit under the Rs 10,000 crore Funds of Funds, handled by SIDBI, hasnt seen much traction for a large number of fintech startups.

The industry is also gunning for a Venture Capital fund under the Ministry of Finance, managed by professional fund managers with prior experience of working with fintech funds. This fund will invest in Indian fintech start-ups and help in easing the fund raising pressure on Indian fintech startups, Mahajan adds.

The most crucial demand that the entire fintech sector has from the government is to relax regulatory environment and compliance parameters for fintech sector, to allow them to test their products and services.

Several startups have faced unfair scrutiny from Income Tax department since last year over valuations at which capital was raised from angel investors. At the heart of the matter is the "angel tax" clause introduced in the Income Tax Act in the 2012 budget.

At present, the angel tax rate stands at a whopping 30 percent, which according to Nasscom has resulted in a 53 percent drop in angel funding during the first half of 2017.

Taxation has been the biggest challenge for any startup. The fintech players are therefore also seeking a reduction in corporate tax from 25 percent (for SMEs) to a more reasonable ratio of 12%.

Startups say that will be a relief to potential lenders and aggregators and subsequently, they can pass on the benefit to their customers.

We expect the corporate tax to be reduced for start-ups that are driving Make in India by investing in product development and manufacturing. We expect a reduction in Income Tax for individuals working in companies promoting the startup ecosystem. Include measures to improve digital literacy and provide high-speed internet to every citizen and empowering them with access to mobile internet, Kumar Abhishek, CEO and Co-founder of ToneTag says.

On the direct tax, Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO of ClearTax says it is crucial for the government to allow a higher corpus withdrawal for National Pension Scheme, without any or minimal tax implication.

There should be more benefits to home loan customers; the medical reimbursement limit should be enhanced. It will help people save more on taxes while building wealth, encourage financial discipline and positive investment habits. Increasing the limit from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs. 2 lakhs, the tax saved will be Rs 2575 (for the 10% tax bracket), Rs 10,300 (for 20% tax bracket) and Rs 15,450 (for the 30% tax bracket), Gupta says.

The emphasis, Manish Khera, Co-founder and CEO of Happy Loans says, should rather be on building digital solution in every aspect of financing. For that, we need to look at separate allocation in the budget to increase and build awareness for digital transactions across the country, he adds.

Mahajan of Antworks agrees, and adds that such policy initiatives have the potential to transform the financial sector in India and can add as much as 0.5 percent to the GDP growth directly and /or indirectly.

As a corollary, the fintech sector is hoping that the coverage of Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank and other credit guarantee schemes focussed on MSMEs will be expanded to cover new age business models and fintech platforms also. It will help the sector get more access to credit and digital existence.

MUDRA Bank was set up to refinance and supply a whopping Rs 32 billion shortfall faced by the companies delivering credit to the MSMEs, but the scheme doesn't cover Fintech players as yet, neither do any other existing credit guarantee schemes in the country.

Secured API access to customer information using GST system and simplification around GST will be an additional benefit,
Online shoppers from India's Tier 2-3 cities and remote corners are now driving the growth of e-tailing industry, said Bangalore based research firm RedSeer in its year-end review.

According to the report, the population of online shoppers from India's Tier 2 and plus cities is growing over three times faster than its metros.

"The e-tailing industry saw a rapid increase in the number of shoppers in Tier 2 plus cities in 2017, contributing nearly 41 percent of the overall online shoppers in 2017. This is going to be a significant lever for the growth of e-tailers in the Indian market in 2018 as well," the report said.

It also attributed the growth to a sharp rise in affordable data offerings by the telecom operators. Overall, in 2017 the internet sector evolved with a clear value proposition in consumers mindset.

While sectors such as online cabs, hotel aggregation and online travel agencies have proven their value to customers, e-tailing is still considered a sector with large growth potential, the report highlighted.

"There are sectors which are showing clear signs of growth and hold a large potential but can still be driven by discounting. These are followed by sectors which have proven their value and might not be driven by heavy discounting. Then there are emerging sectors which are in nascent stages but can potentially grow large, and finally the sectors which are matured and might not show exceptional growth from here," the report said.

According to the report, India's e-tailing industry which has grown to over USD 14.5 billion in revenues annually still shows a large growth potential.

There was 34 percent year on year growth in the number of unique shoppers across Tier 2 and plus cities. India's Tier 1 and metro cities too reported decent growth of 18 percent and 11 percent in terms of addition of online shoppers, the report said.
West Bengal is the new investment destination now, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said while inviting global investors to make investments in the state.

She told industrialists at the global business summit here that there is political stability in the state and "if you invest in Bengal, Bengal will give everything. There will be no discrimination".

Banerjee claimed that Maharashtra and other states are saturated and Bengal is the new investment destination now.

Industrialists and business leaders like Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, CEO of ArcelorMittal L N Mittal, Sajjan Jindal of JSW group besides Uday Kotak, Kishore Biyani, Sanjeev Goenka and a host of foreign delegates attended the Bengal global business summit.

No union minister was present at the summit.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was scheduled to attend the meet, chose to stay away following alleged attack on the BJP rally by ruling Trinamool Congress activists on January 12. After the incident, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh had stated that Gadkari will not attend the summit.

Banerjee said nine major countries have become partners for the summit including China, Poland, South Korea, Italy and the UK and "the presence of so many industry leaders shows that Bengal means business".

She said the state government does not allow strikes and no man-days were lost in the last six years.

"Even we don't spare our partymen (if they pose problem for the industry) because we love industry and industry is our asset," she said.

Banerjee said: "I can assure you one thing. Bengal will not deprive. We love the unity of India. We love tolerance."

She also spelt out the state government's efforts on creating infrastructure, both physical and social, as well as the upward trend in macro parameters like plan and capital expenditure, state GDP and others.

"We are suffering from 34 years of legacy (of the Left Front rule). We are facing challenges. But we are doing our best because Bengal must be the best," Banerjee said.
West Bengal received investment proposals worth Rs 17,000 crore on the first day of Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) from leading industrialists of the country.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in retail and petroleum outlets, while JSW Group Chief Sajjan Jindal said the state would receive investments worth Rs 10,000 crore in cement capacity expansion, steel, paints and power over the next 3-4 years.

RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group Chairman Sanjiv Goenka said he would make an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in power distribution network.

Adventz Group Chairman Saroj Poddar also announced an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in the state.

Steel magnate L N Mittal of Arcelor Mittal said he plans to bring his family foundation activity in West Bengal, which works in the area of child nutrition.

A clutch of industrialists like Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani, top banker Uday Kotak and foreign delegates attended the summit that concludes tomorrow.

The showpiece investment summit, however, was bereft of any participation from the central government ministers or officials.

That did not deter the industrialists to heap praise on Bengal with India's richest man Mukesh Ambani calling it nothing short of a "miracle" that the state has adopted a change in mindset to welcome industry.

"Didi, under your leadership, West Bengal will be the best Bengal," Ambani said.

Yearning for more investments in the state keeping in mind the future of young generation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged them to come in droves and invest here.

"West Bengal is the investment destination now as other states like Maharashtra is exhausted. The state is strategically located and serves as a gateway to the north- east and the Asean region," she said.

She added that the state government is spending heavily in social and physical infrastructure, despite being bogged down by "34 years of legacy" of previous Left Front rule.

She assured that the industry of Bengal means business and said even her own party-men will not be spared if problems were posed by them.

"Please consider West Bengal as your home and come and invest here," she said, adding that there will be no discrimination and no intimidation for industrialists willing to invest here.

"I can assure one thing. Bengal will not deprive anyone," she said, reminding the audience that the state stood for unity with tolerance in its views and action.

Banerjee said the state, which was once synonymous with bandhs, has not lost a single man-day in the past six years and her government was against strikes.

The state had also emerged on the top in terms of the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector and climbed up the rankings on the ease of doing business.

The summit has partner countries like China, Poland, South Korea, Italy and UK, among others.

Ambani said RIL had committed an investment of Rs 4,500 crore in the state but has ended up investing Rs 15,000 crore.

"Didi, we could make this large investment only because you have created a friendly climate and an enabling policy infrastructure," he said, adding that RIL has emerged as one of the largest investors in Bengal.

Most of the investment has been made in creating fourth- generation high-speed mobile and Internet network for Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of RIL.

He said his company had already invested Rs 15,000 crore in the last two years in the state towards the Jio network rollout and 100 per cent coverage will be achieved by December, 2018.

"Reliance will always be a reliable growth partner for West Bengal," Ambani said.

Also, Reliance will work with "multiple partners to explore setting up next generation state-of-the-art electronics manufacturing facilities and make West Bengal the hub for innovation and hi-tech technologies for consumer devices such as mobile phones, set-top boxes, and other devices," he said.

Starting in 2015 through a public Wi-Fi Experience Zone in Park Street, Jio has enmassed over 1.2 crore customers in the state, Ambani said.

He said the digital economy will bring prosperity at more than double the speed of the traditional economy.

Mittal, who hailed from the city and based in London, said he always cared deeply about the success of West Bengal.

The two-day event, held in the sprawling International Convention Centre built by a government body, also saw a string of foreign delegates holding B2B meetings with local business leaders during the day.
Subhasis Bandyopadhyay & Malhar Katneshwarkar

Financial inclusion has been the focus for RBI for quite some time now. After the success of the 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana', under which almost 6 crore new bank accounts were opened and the push for digitization through demonetization route that the current government adopted, the emergence of Payment Banks flared up in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started giving approvals for launching Payments Banks in India and has actually given licences to 11 entities to start Payment Banks. Some of the big names include Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel, Reliance Industries, Paytm and Vodafone.

Most of us might not be aware that the number of people without bank accounts in India stand at 233 million. As per census, 900 + million people stay in rural areas who have little awareness of new-age banking services, even if they hold bank accounts. Moreover, India has very low participation of women in the financial system, because of which it requires effective geo and demographic segmentation to have tailor-made products for women and unbanked populations. To encash this opportunity of Payment Banks is an attempt to make sure that all sections of society, including people living in remote and rural areas, have access to banking facilities.

Payments banks are likely to increase the number of people in the banking system and in turn will focus on fulfilling the financial vacuum felt by small business owners and people from low-income groups. RBI is working on specific guidelines for Payment Banks that will make it mandatory for them to meet cash reserve requirements. They will be able to invest in only highly liquid and safe investments such as debt securities. Payment Banks can accept deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh, offer remittance services, mobile payments, transfers and provide net banking facilities. For all accounts held by the payments banks, the banks will have to pay an annual interest to the account holder.

Impact on the Indian conventional banking system

Entry of Payment Banks will have a huge impact in the banking system. First and foremost it will add competition to the industry. Not that there is a lack of competition in the banking industry, but it is more about players from different sectors setting up these Payment Banks bringing their own marketing ideas on board. Also, the more the competition, the better the services and products that will be offered to the end users. Since Payment Banks are set up by players from different industries, they can bring in their own customers to the banking sector. Also, payments banks will focus on having a widespread network with easy access points in rural areas and the countrys hinterland. So, their reach is expected to be better than commercial banks which follow the branch banking system. So, Payments Banks will certainly help bring more people into the banking system. Secondly, consumers would be free to open both savings bank accounts and current bank accounts with payment banks. With this, Payment Banks are likely to attract both retail as well as business customers. Consider the case of India Post Payments Bank wherein it is looking to offer door-step banking. The bank will charge a nominal fee of up to Rs. 35 for transactions that are less than Rs. 10,000. Such facilities are likely to help financial inclusion to a large extent. Moreover, Payment Banks are positioning themselves as Bank as a Platform to cater to consumers who are looking to interact with other bank-like platforms.

The banking ecosystem is evolving and expanding at the same time. The constant evolution is a result of changing consumer needs and consumer behavior. The consumer wants more value and more benefits and that too instantly. Mobile adoption and access to better and bigger services at low costs through Fintech innovation is driving Banks to compete for customers attention. In order to transform the customers digital and physical experience, the bank has to ensure that it engages with its customers through Innovation, Real time transactions, and lower processing costs, and at the same time engage with external ecosystem efficiently and effectively. The transformation has to be continuous, iterative and incremental.

To conclude, past iterations of digital initiatives within the BFS industry have mostly focused on digital channel enablement and multi-channel delivery. Attempts have been made to reduce costs through self-service and gain market share by serving existing capabilities over digital channels in vogue at the time. By and large, the impact of emerging digital channels on overall customer experience (CX) has gone unexplored. To top it off, client service capabilities around digital offerings have ranged from sub-optimal to non-existent. Not surprisingly, most banks have not been able to achieve measurable ROI from their digital investments. When new channels have been created, they have cannibalized traffic from other channels and seldom created net new business. In most cases, anticipated savings have also not materialized. Our belief is that Payment Banks will address this problem statement by leveraging digital innovation to provide superb customer experience across all channels  physical and digital. They will also focus on product innovation, leveraging all available internal/external capabilities which will enables the financial ecosystem to plug into the digital economy and co-create products and services with increasingly innovative revenue models.

(Subhasis Bandyopadhyay is General Manager  BFS Practice and Package Head, MindtreeMalhar Katneshwarkar is Sr Consultant - BFS, Mindtree)
New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Jasti Chelameswar along with other judges addresses a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. PTI Photo by Ravi Choudhary (PTI1_12_2018_000030B)

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four senior judges who publicly questioned certain decisions taken by him is likely to come together on Wednesday.

They will reportedly meet during weekly lunch at Supreme Court and seek to find a solution to restore normalcy in the apex courts functioning.

Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph had addressed a press conference voicing their concerns over the functioning of apex court last week. The Indian judiciary has been thrown into a turmoil never seen in this country before.



The four senior judges went to public on Friday and openly targeted decisions taken by CJI Misra. They underlined the importance of holding the judiciary to the highest standard and said 'democracy would not survive' in the country if steps were not taken.



The judges complained about "selective" case allocation by CJI Misra and passing of certain judicial order. Asked if it is related to Justice Loya case, one of the judges had reportedly said yes. The Justice Loya case was assigned on Friday to Justice Arun Mishra, a relatively junior SC judge.



Justice Brijgopal Harkishan Loya was hearing a Sohrabuddin case involving Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah when he died in Nagpur in December 2014.



After the death, some media reports claimed the family alleged that he died in a suspicious manner. It was followed by a report saying his sister alleging that the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court had offered him a bribe to deliver a verdict favourable to Shah. It was followed by a demand of probe into his death.



Justice Arun Mishra reportedly broke down at a meeting with other judges on Monday, for being "unfairly" targeted by the four judges by raising questions about his "competence".



Amid all the chaos over the case of Justice Loyas death, he son intervened. Anuj Loya (21) talked to reporters on Sunday and said he had earlier been suspicious about his fathers sudden death, but now no longer harboured doubts.



In the middle of the tension triggered after the presser, the four judges resumed work on Monday.



A seven-member delegation met Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said The Bar Council of India in a press meeting on Monday. The BCI assured there was "absolutely no crisis now" in the Supreme Court and normalcy will be restored soon in the higher judiciary.



The CJI reached out to the four judges at the apex court lounge on Tuesday and held parleys with them over tea, before starting the day's proceedings in the apex court.



Later, the judges reportedly had a meeting at the residence of one of them. However, there was no report of any truce.

Here's a timeline of the state of the current situation prevailing in the apex court:
India's first woman defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman added another record to her name on Wednesday when she became only the second Indian female leader to have flown the supersonic Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet.



Before take-off on the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet #RakshaMantrifliesSukhoi pic.twitter.com/yLf2T7xnL8

 Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) January 17, 2018

The minister's sortie took off from the Jodhpur air base. Other leaders to have flown in the fighter jet before Sitharaman include former presidents of India Pratibha Patil and APJ Abdul Kalam.

The flight was a part of the minister's larger agenda to to examine the combat capability and operational preparedness of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

In order to conduct the sortie, which apparently lasted approximately 45 minutes, Sitharaman had strapped in a G-suit, along with a helmet and an oxygen mask, and was seated in the rear seat.

A G-suit is a flight-specific suit worn by pilots of jet fighters while flying. The suit assists the pilot by countering the high levels of g-force experienced by a pilots body while accelerating, diving or turning the plane.

The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable long-range fighter aircraft capable of penetrating deep into enemy territory. The plane, designed by Sukhoi and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, costs Rs 358 crore per unit.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Karti Chidambaram, the son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, in connection with its probe into the INX Media money laundering case.

Official sources said that in response to the agency's second summons issued for yesterday, Karti Chidambaram's authorised representative appeared before the agency and replied to their queries.

As the agency needed further clarifications, the ED, in the fresh summons, has asked Karti Chidambaram to appear before it in person or through his authorised representative on January 18.

The first summons was for January 11 when Karti Chidambaram's legal representatives appeared before the agency.

Last week, the ED searched the premises of Karti Chidambaram and those associated with him in a separate money laundering case pertaining to the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The central probe agency had registered a case against him and others in May last year.

It had registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED's equivalent of a police FIR, against the accused named in a CBI complaint, including Karti Chidambaram, INX Media and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.

The ECIR was lodged under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The sources said that the ED would probe the alleged "proceeds of crime" generated in this case.

It was the ED which had provided information about the alleged illegal payments made by INX Media, based on which the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed its FIR.

The CBI had also carried out searches at the homes and offices of Karti Chidambaram across four cities for allegedly receiving money from the media firm owned by the Mukerjeas to scuttle a tax probe.

The Chidambarams have denied all the charges made against them.

The CBI had filed the FIR against Karti Chidambaram and the Mukerjeas on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, receiving illegal gratification, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct.

The agency has alleged that Karti Chidambaram received money from INX Media for using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.

The CBI has said it has also recovered vouchers of Rs 10 lakh which were allegedly paid for the services.

These vouchers were issued in favour of Advantage Strategic Consulting (P) Limited, a firm "indirectly" owned by Karti Chidambaram, the CBI had alleged.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, after the CBI searches on May 16, had issued a strong statement in response to the raids, saying the government was using the CBI and other agencies to target his son.

The FIPB approval was granted in "hundreds of cases", the senior Congress leader had said.

The CBI FIR was made out against Karti Chidambaram, his company Chess Management Services, the Mukerjeas (currently in jail on charges of murder of their daughter Sheena Bora), INX Media, Advantage Strategic Consulting Services and its director Padma Vishwanathan.
CNBC TV18

The government is thinking of allowing 100 percent foreign direct investment in private banks, sources told CNBC-TV18.

Increasing the permissible limit for FDI in public sector banks to 49 percent from the current 20 percent is also being considered, the sources said.

The proposed changes are reportedly being discussed by the finance ministry, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

At present, FDI of up to 49 percent is allowed in private banks without the permission of the government, and upto 74 percent can be invested with the government's approval.

KC Chakrabarty, former deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), told CNBC-TV18 that even with 100 percent FDI, RBI regulations do not permit a single entity to invest more than 10 percent in a bank.

Raising the permissible limit for FDI in the banking sector could improve services and help meet minimum capital requirements.
Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit tomorrow, as he will breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select captains of the industry, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj hotel in south Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu after which the Maharashtra chief minister will be hosting a lunch for the Israeli premier and the visiting delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House, during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai yesterday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago.

Netanyahu will later meet around 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city earlier had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities -- Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj hotel.
Delay in release dates, a deleted i and an added a - nothing seems to work in favour of Sanjay Leela Bhansali 's period drama. As producers of Padmaavat move Supreme Court to challenge the ban in the four states of Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the industry is already counting loses.

"While we are hopeful that the ban will be lifted, the film might lose up to Rs 35 crore in box office collections," said film trade analyst Atul Mohan.

"The movie has the potential to rake in at least Rs 300 crore at the box office and become one of the highest grossing films in Bollywood," Mohan added.

According to experts, there would be a substantial amount of crowd who would flock to theaters to watch Padmaavat just to see the scale on which it has been made and the controversy related to its plot.

The Rs 180 crore period drama that stars Deepika Padukone in the title role as Rani Padmavati alongside Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Sultan Alauddin Khilji has been in the news for the wrong reasons right from its production stage. Vandalism on the sets in the past during the shoot had already cost the makers damages up to Rs 10 crore where sets and costumes for the shoot were put to fire.

The film, that could otherwise have a 3500 screen release like any other big banner release, is also set to lose out on at least 300 screens if the ban in four states is not lifted.

"The ban is a loss to the industry. The hype the film has already got would have given it a huge footfall across the country. Inox alone is losing out on the movie release in 140 screens across the four states of Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan," said Rajender Singh, chief programming officer at Inox.

Padmaavat, scheduled for a January 25 release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, is a futuristic project for the makers and producers.

In an official statement released by Viacom 18, Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, said: Padmaavat is our magnum opus  a tribute to Rajput valour created at a scale that will be a delight to watch on the large screen. The film will witness a mega-scale release across maximum screens, languages and formats covering 2D, 3D & Imax 3D in India & the world. It carries the trademark style of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, wherein each frame of the film is a timeless work of art."

Viacom 18 has partnered with Paramount Pictures to distribute the film across select international markets.

(Disclosure: Viacom18 is a joint venture between Viacom Inc. and the Network 18 Group, which publishes Moneycontrol)
Facebook logo is seen at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F in Paris, France, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer - RTSWFUE

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbergs mentor Roger McNamee recently expressed his concerns over technology addiction. He also approved of Facebooks changes to its News Feed, where users will see more posts from friends, families, and groups, and less from businesses and media.

McNamee is an investor in Facebook. In a column in the Washington Post, the investor said that he first noticed bad actors taking advantage of Facebook to do harm back in 2016. He spent four months trying to convince the company that its algorithms and advertising models were problematic.

According to a Vision Critical survey, more than half of all fake news in the United States is likely to have originated from Facebook.

Before the changes announced last week, Facebooks algorithms would tailor content on News Feed according to a users preferences, showing content that users are most likely to view. This move will help curb the problem of misinformation and fake news, since News Feed will no longer reinforce peoples preexisting beliefs and create echo chambers.

McNamees comments are not the first time the social media platforms News Feed has received negative press. Facebooks web feed feature has been highly criticized since 2016 after the problems of fake news, misinformation and echo chambers during UKs vote to leave the European Union (EU) and the US presidential elections.

Facebook, along with other social networks, has faced legal troubles over the past year. Here are some of the controversies Facebook has faced over the past few months:

In the UK, Facebook and Twitter have been threatened with sanctions if they dont cooperate with the British Parliaments inquiry into Russian interference in the Brexit vote.

A committee is looking into fake news on the platforms, specifically into Russian misinformation campaigns before the EU referendum. Both companies have been given until January 18 to submit the information requested by the committee.

Former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya has even said that social media is detrimental to society. In an interview at Stanfords graduate business school, he said social networks "are destroying how society works."

"The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse. No cooperation. Misinformation. Mistruth. And it's not an American problem. This is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem," Palihapitiya said, according to a Business Insider report.

In response to his comments, Facebook said that Palihapitiya quit Facebook over six years ago, and it was a "very different company back then."

Facebook has also come under the scanner because of Russian troll accounts during the 2016 US election. According to the WIRED, Facebook had sold USD 150,000 worth of political advertisements linked to Russian troll accounts during the 2016 election.

The company has now made a tool available where users can see if they have liked or followed a page linked to Russian interference in the US Presidential election.
12:01 pm Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu is in the home state of Prime Minister of Narendra Modi and the two leaders received a grand welcome in Ahemdabad. The mega roadshow, starting from city airport and end at the Sabarmati Ashram, began amidst high security in Ahmedabad.

12:08 pm #NamosteNetanyahu- The city, especially the stretch from the airport to the Sabarmati Ashram, has been decked up to welcome Netanyahu along with his wife

Sara.

12:17 pm After the Sabarmati visit, both the leaders will visit two centres of excellence and inaugurate another such facility.

12: 20 pm From the Ashram, Modi and Netanyahu will proceed to 'iCreate', an autonomous centre of excellence near Bavla town close to the city.

'iCreate' was formally launched in 2011 by Modi when he was the chief minister. The institution mentors budding entrepreneurs and guides them to set up start-ups.

12: 23 pm Bibi tried his hand at flying a kite at Sabarmati Ashram along with his wife.

The Israeli prime minister will also present Modi aspecial gift -- the Gal-Mobile water desalinisation andpurification jeep the two leaders rode at Israel's Olga beach

last year.

12:32 pm There will be a live demonstration of desalination of sea water that the two prime ministers will witness through video conferencing from the iCreate centre on Janaury 17.

The jeep is said to cost around 390,000 shekels (approximately USD 111,000).

12:34 pm The two leaders will also visit a Sabarkantha- based centre of excellence for agriculture established by Isreal. They will inaugurate a research facility for cultivation of dates in Kutch by remote control from Sabarkantha.

12:42 pm A look at the grand reception Netanyahu received in Ahemdabad

01:00 pm For the roadshow, around 50 stages were erected on the roadside along the stretch from the airport to Sabarmati Ashram to showcase performances by troupes of different states to welcome the guests.

01:02 pm The Israeli PM is the third international leader whom Modi is hosting in his home state of Gujarat.

Modi and Japanese premier Shinzo Abe had held a joint roadshow during the latter's visit here in September last year. The Indian premier had shown Abe and his wife around at the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed for a long time.

01:42 pm Modi, Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu reach iCreate centre in Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.

01:55 pm Namaste Shalom' magazine launch during Netanyahu's Mumbai visit

The Jewish community will mark Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Mumbai visit with the launch of 'Namaste Shalom', a regular monthly magazine on bilateral relations between the two friendly nations.

The magazine would be launched at the Magen David Synagogue at Byculla in south Mumbai tomorrow, Ralphy Jhirad, the editorial board member of the magazine, told PTI.

Jhirad, who is also the president and managing trustee of Bene Israel Heritage Museum and Genealogical Centre, said the magazine's editorial advisory board includes MPs Poonam Mahajan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli ambassador to India Daniel Carmon have welcomed the magazine and sent congratulatory messages, he said.

01:58 pm Netanyahu describes Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their "visit was inspiring".

02:34 pm Netanyahu in his address at iCreate said,"Many Indian soldiers who lost their lives during the liberation of Haifa were Gujaratis. Thank you Gujarat."

02:36 pm PM Modi and I are both very young and both very optimistic, we are young in our thinking & optimistic about the future: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu

02:38 pm Jai Hind! Jai Bharat! Jai Israel! Thank you Prime Minister Modi, thank you all!: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu concludes his address at the iCreate centre

02:45 pm When I went to Israel last year, I made up my mind that this foundation should have more strong relations with Israel. From that time, I was waiting for my friend Benjamin Netanyahu to come to India. He is here & now we are inaugurating this foundation: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

02:48 pm When a farmer sows a small plant, coming generations receives fruits of that huge tree. The farmer's soul feels elated with this. We are feeling the same happiness on the inauguration of iCreate: PM Modi

02:50 pm When I launched iCreate a few years ago, I said I want to link it with Israel. My motive was that this institution & our youth is benefited by Israel's experience & their start-up environment: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

02:51 pm The technology & creativity of Israel influence the world. Israel has proved it to the world that commitment of the people, not size of the nation takes the country forward: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

02:52 pm We are working towards making entire system in our country innovation-friendly, so that- ideas are formed from intent, innovations are formed from ideas & New India is formed from innovations: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

03:31 pm Four days ago, ISRO made a century in satellite launching. Such success needs dedication, hard work & dreams. Such energy is filled in our scientists & youth: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

03:34 pm iCreate ka 'i' small letter mein hai. I ko chota kyo rakha iske piche bhi ek wajah hai. Creativity ki sabse badi rukavat hoti hai 'I' ka bada hona. Creativity ke saath agar I capital hai, to uska matlab h aham aur ahankar aade aa rha h: PM Modi at iCreate Centre

16:34 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to arrive Mumbai at 6:30 pm today.

17:22 PM Narendra Modi and PM of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu have started addressing the audience at Centre of Excellence in Gujarat's Vadrad, reports ANI. 

17:25 "I know something about Mashav. We operate in many countries but the biggest project that Mashav has is here in India because India has a leader, has a vision," Israel PM Netanyahu said in Vadrad.

17:27 About 1 lakh farmers have sought training from the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad so far, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

17:29 "We are all aware of the strides Israel has made in agriculture, including when it comes to managing water resources and irrigation. Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core," PM Modi said.

17:35 "Our relation with Israel through Centre of Excellence has to be taken forward to bring about change. I thank PM Netanyahu for taking time for our farmers and talking to them," PM Narendra Modi said in Vadrad, reported ANI.

17:44 Emphasizing on the importance of technology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "It is important to use latest technology when it comes to agriculture. Farmers gain immensely thanks to technology".

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu have depart for Mumbai from Ahmedabad.
As Aamir Khan is set to embark on a tour of China with co-star Zaira Wasim to promote his film Secret Superstar, industry experts cant help but wonder what kind of show the movie will put up there.

China, which is the biggest market for Hollywood films outside America, has been loyal to Bollywood as well, especially to Aamir Khan.

Although Secret Superstar made only about Rs 85 crore in the domestic market, experts believe that even if the movie is averagely viewed in China, it has the potential to make more than double the domestic amount from there alone.

Indian films that screen in the Chinese mainland typically get a release date of six months after their India release. But China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution is screening Secret Superstar barely three months after its October 19 release in India.

Going by past numbers, Aamir Khan's films have had happy tales to tell from their Chinese endeavours. Khan's 2014 release PK for instance collected close to Rs 150 crore in China, despite getting screened on less than 5,000 screens.

His 2011 film 3 Idiots too had fared very well in China despite being the first Hindi film to get released there after a long hiatus.

"When it comes to Bollywood, Aamir Khan is the first name in the list amongst Chinese audience. Given his popularity there the movie is bound to get a good number of repeat audience given the film stars both Aamir and Zaira who was also an actor in Dangal," said film trade analyst Atul Mohan.

According to Boxofficeindia, the film has so far performed very well internationally, grossing 628,000 from the United Kingdom on the first weekend, and a further USD 2,172,000 in Canada and the United States over the first weekend there.
An Indian soldier stands under the gate to a war memorial near the India-China trade route at Nathu-La, 55 km (34 miles) north of Gangtok, capital of India's northeastern state of Sikkim, June 27, 2006, The Nathu-La mountain pass, known as the old silk route, will be opened on July 6 by India and China for trade. The trade route passes through the Himalayas at about 14,500 feet above sea level and it was closed in 1962, during the India-China war. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA) - GM1DSXQMKIAA

Indian army must tone down its hawkish rhetoric, warned Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times. The threat comes days after army chief General Bipin Rawat had stated the need for the army to shift its focus to the Chinese border.

The story that was published recently follows the news that came weeks back about an incursion attempt by China in the name of road construction. While the Indian Army action which was followed by the withdrawal from Chinese side was never really acknowledged by the Chinese media, the article indirectly mentioned about the development by stating that India is showing a keen interest in blocking China's infrastructure construction in the border area.

It also added that since last years Doklam standoff, the Indian army has become more active across the India-China border and is planning to improve its infrastructure in the area.

As per the report, these actions by the Indian army are being supported and encouraged by the media in the country and are giving a wrong image of China to Indian citizens.

The Indian media has been magnifying everything obtained from the military, applauding hawkish army remarks and fabricating scenes of China infringing upon and provoking India Coordinated interactions between the Indian army and media have fed many Indians' negative impressions of China.

However, what is surprising about the article is the fact that while it has been critical of both Indian Army and the media, it also tries not to be critical of the government authorities. As per the report, the alleged actions by the media and the army are against the efforts made by leaders from both countries who have agreed that the two countries will properly manage their disputes and put bilateral ties back on the track of healthy and stable development.

The article further claims that the action by the army is nothing but an attempt to beef up its budget and get a bigger say in the foreign policy of New Delhi.

The article suggests Chinese authorities to take a much more careful approach while dealing with India, stating that the country, even while improving its relationship with countries in South East Asia should also ensure that it addresses the anxieties of the country.

The article, however, concludes with a warning, that India should cherish the amicable policy adopted towards it by China and that it will face harsh punishment from the Chinese army if it continues with provocations.

The article indicates China is perturbed with the recent proactive policy adopted by the Indian army on the border amidst fear in Beijing that New Delhi is shifting more closer to the US.
Getting the food of your taste can be a real problem for someone who decides to live in an altogether different country. People try many things to occasionally taste what they grew up eating. However, hardly anyone tries to get the food delivered hundreds of kilometres from where it was prepared.

A British man living in France did exactly that when his craving for Indian curry could not be contained.

James Emery, a 31-year-old ex-pilot living in the Bordeaux area in France, organised a long distance delivery from Southsea, Hampshire in the UK.

A total of 89 meals, 70 side dishes, 75 portions of rice, 100 poppadoms and 10 servings of mango chutney were prepared at The Akash restaurant and flown in a small aircraft after being packed, reported The Independent.

The owner of the restaurant, Faz Ahmad and Emery collaborated with the Iroise Aero Formation, a professional flying school based in Brest (France), to use a six-seater Socata TBM700 aircraft, which can go up to the speed of 300mph, for the flight.

The aircraft took off from Solent Airport in Lee-On-The-Solent and the meals were reheated and served to 89 curry lovers after landing.

"I am a chilli addict and an aviation geek so I thought I would combine my two hobbies to get my favourite meal delivered to me in France. I have been getting withdrawal symptoms, they do lots of good things in France but you just can't get a good curry," the report quoted Emery.

Emery said that he had been a loyal customer of the restaurant for over 20 years. Every time I popped in for a meal, I would complain about the bland and uninspiring version of Indian food we get in France, he added.

The idea to fly down the curry was put up by Faz Ahmed first. However, this is not the first time he has done it. A similar consignment was flown to France in 2014 during Christmas.
British Airways denied boarding to a man travelling from Iceland to London as he apparently had worn every cloth he hadeight pairs of pants and 10 shirtsin order to avoid paying for excess luggage.

Ryan Carney Williams, who goes by the name Ryan Hawaii, had booked a ticket on British Airways flight last week and was due to fly from Keflavik airport. However, he was refused a boarding pass by the staff in Iceland.

Hawaii, talking about his plight to social media and wrote on Twitter: @British_Airways hi being held at Iceland Keflavik airport because I had no baggage put all the clothes on and they still won't let me on. Racial profiling? (Sic)

He also shot a video of himself wearing eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts with a caption, Disappointing.

Adding more to the woes, he was denied again by EasyJet staff the next day. He further wrote: "And AGAIN! Refused from 2 flights in 2 days for no valid reason".



And AGAIN! Refused from 2 flights in 2 days for no valid reason :) @easyJet @British_Airways thanks guys wonderful service pic.twitter.com/Ivoc0WZvXl  Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 11, 2018





Spoke to @easyjet via dm and this was there response, can't believe this is real life right now... pic.twitter.com/h8EqkEwTpH

 Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 13, 2018



The "safety concerns" were unjust. I wasn't intoxicated or threatening in any way.

Was only refused because of despute the previous day over not having checked luggage and wearing all my clothes at once (which the airline said if I did so I could board) Then still refused me on  Ryan Hawaii (@RYAN_HAWAII) January 13, 2018

When he talked to EasyJet social media team, the carrier said the captain of the flight took the decision to offload Hawaii as the captain was made aware of the incident involving him the previous day. The airline also refused to provide the refund to Hawaii citing terms and conditions.Hawaii in another tweet said that this time he was denied not because he was wearing extra clothes, which apparently, he was not, but what happened with him the day before.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is seen during the inspection of a potato flour factory in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. (Reuters)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for nations to step up the US-led "maximum pressure" campaign against North Korea by thwarting sanctions evasion and interdicting ships conducting illicit trade with the pariah nation.

The uncompromising message delivered to a gathering of 20 nations that were on America's side during the Korean War came despite the recent diplomatic opening between the rival Koreas after a year of escalating tension.

"We must increase the costs of the regime's behavior to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations," Tillerson said in his opening remarks at the meeting on Canada's western coast.

The meeting convened days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said its talks with North Korea, leading to its participation in next month's Olympics being hosted by the South, are a "significant first step toward restoring inter-Korean relations."

But she conceded that despite the overtures, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfill its obligations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was blunter. He said the North "wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters that in spite of the inter-Korean talks, "the North Korean regime is still going down the path of the acquisition of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) tipped with a nuclear device that could have incalculable geostrategic consequences."

The meeting is being attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the UN Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. It's a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Columbia. Officials are discussing sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomacy.

The gathering, co-hosted by Canada and the US, is strongly opposed by China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war. It appears primarily symbolic and unlikely to break much new ground.

Although Tillerson said the meeting sends North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a unified message that a nuclear-armed North is unacceptable, it risks alienating Beijing and Moscow.

They are Pyongyang's main trading and diplomatic partners, but have nevertheless supported UN Security Council resolutions to restrict revenue for North Korean nuclear and missile development.

Tillerson called for China and Russia to fully implement the sanctions. He reiterated US opposition to their idea of a "freeze-for-freeze," whereby the US-South Korea military exercises would halt in exchange for suspension of the North's nuclear programs.

According to the news agency Tass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called the Vancouver meeting "unacceptable" and "destructive." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters a meeting that "doesn't include important parties to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue" cannot help resolve it.

Tillerson said all nations must work together to improve maritime interdiction operations and stop illicit ship-to-ship transfers that violate UN sanctions. The US has previously highlighted efforts by North Korea to circumvent restrictions on supplies of oil and petroleum products, most of which are supplied by China.

The latest UN Security Council resolution, adopted in December in response to an intercontinental ballistic missile test, calls on member states to impound vessels in their ports if there are reasonable grounds to suspect illicit trade with North Korea. It authorizes interdictions in a member state's territorial waters.

Tillerson also highlighted how North Korean missile tests pose a threat to civilian air traffic in the busy skies above East Asia.

"North Korea's willingness to launch missiles at any time presents a threat to people of all nationalities in the region's airspace each day," he said.

Despite Washington's tough stance and determination to keep up the pressure on North Korea, President Donald Trump has signaled openness to talks with North under the right circumstances.

After months of insults and blood-curdling threats he's traded with Kim, Trump suggested in an interview last week that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

The White House said Trump spoke Monday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and they were hopeful that the inter-Korean talks "might prompt a change in North Korea's destructive behavior."

But Kim, widely viewed as seeking to drive a wedge between the US and South Korea, shows no sign of making concessions toward Washington as his totalitarian government comes close to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the United States.
What are they talking about in Middletown Township? The ADA-accessible playground at Cobalt Ridge Park, home-improvement projects, climate change or the towns female police officer? Actually, all those topics -- and more on the townships own podcast, Middletown Township Talks....
MH native opens new furniture studio offering exclusive

pieces

When lifelong Morgan Hill resident Todd Plummer started college, he was unsure of what career path to take.

But after attending a trade school in Sweden to learn a different style of woodworking and finish his degree, the 26 year-old has skills few people in the United States can claim.

The school, Capella-Garden, is located on the island of Oland, in the Baltic Sea, just off the southeast coast of Sweden.

Its in Vickleby, a small town of 300 that is secluded from the rest of the population. Vickleby is 45 minutes away from the nearest cities  Kalmar and Farjestaden, which combined have just 30,000 people at most, Plummer said.

CapellaGarden teaches woodworking, horticulture, ceramics and textiles, houses all of its 60-70 students and grows all of its own food, according to Plummer. And, woodworking students are required to chop down trees for their wood supply as well as make their own tools, which includes molding the steel for their chisels, he said.

It was quite surprising wandering around Sweden and people ask What are you here for?  Plummer said. I said I go to CapellaGarden. Everybody was like Oh, wow. Thats pretty prestigious. 

CapellaGarden opened in 1962 after famous furniture designer Carl Malmsten purchased an old farm and made changes to accommodate his school.

The well-known European school, which teaches an old-fashioned style of wood building, is considered the best establishment to attend in Europe for anyone who wants to get a journeyman certificate in woodworking.

There isnt a school in the United States that teaches what CapellaGarden does, Plummer said.

In fact, there isnt such a thing as a journeyman certificate for woodworking in the U.S., which is exactly what Plummer earned while in Sweden. With a Gesalbrev  a journeyman certificate  from CapellaGarden, its easily to find a job in Europe, he said, although youre lucky to find someone in the U.S. who even knows what it is.

After Plummer came back from Sweden, his mother, Linda, said she could see a noticeable difference in his work.

Hes very focused on beautiful designs, aware of how woods work together and how they compliment each other, Linda said. (Hes) very in tune to functional uses, very stylized, very clean.

One of Plummers chairs, called a Stadshus Stolen, or City Hall chair, took him three months to make. The chair includes a seat that took a week to weave. Plummer also used his own unique ingredient on the chair, staining the wood with expresso.

Coffees big over there, he said. (The chair) is something unique.

Plummer said the education he got in Sweden is hard to get anywhere.

Its very exclusive, he said. When I went to Sweden, they concentrated more on the skill of using your hands. Theres a lot more skill involved (than what I learned here).

Plummer said the schools techniques use so much of a persons hand skill and pay so much attention to detail that no machine in any mass production furniture factory can duplicate the work.

While taking tours of different woodworking facilities in Calif-ornia, Plummer noticed that each one had four or five chisels at most.

I thought, Boy, that really wont cut it,  he said. That wont work in Swedish techniques.

In Plummers studio there are various chisels, wood shavers and other tools he uses. All are hand made, and all are used often he said. There are more than a dozen, if not more.

You can spit out a dozen (pieces) for a tenth of the cost (in a factory), Plummer said. When you make it by hand, it takes a lot longer, it takes a little more love going into the piece, the design and into the craftsmanship.

A 1995 Live Oak graduate, Plummer said he always liked working with his hands and knew since he was young that he wanted to be some sort of artist.

His mother said his talent was apparent in his childhood.

When he was young he did some very involved skateboard ramps, Linda said. They were build well beyond any specifications that might have been needed. Hes always enjoyed that kind of thing, hes always shown a very fit interest in doing things with his hands.

Plummer initially attended CapellaGarden for one term in 2001 as a foreign exchange student while finishing up his degree after a SDSU professor suggested he think about studying abroad.

Plummer said he was so impressed with the school and knew it had so much more to offer that he had yet to learn that he decided to go back.

Plummer spent most of 2003 at Capella-Garden earning his journeyman certificate.

Since his return home, Plummer has set up a furniture studio in his parents barn and has opened for business. He has already sold many small pieces, such as chairs.

But Plummers most prized piece is a cabinet that would sell in the range of $10,000, he said.

(The price) all depends on the design and how much work you put into it, he said. Id really hesitate on trying to categorize (most pieces) into a price range.

The cabinet, which was Plummers test to earn his journeyman certificate, scored a 4.67 on a scale of a five and took a year to make.

Although some of his work tends to be more expensive than what you would find in your average furniture store, Plummer said work like his is original, very unique and much more detailed than stock furniture.

Although hes just getting started in the business, Plummer said he wouldnt mind teaching a shop class in high school sometime down the road,

But whatever the future holds for him, bets are it will be with wood.

Theres something about the feel of working with wood, he said, and being able to construct furniture or just about anything out of wood that appeals to me.

Plummers studio is located at 2105 Diana Ave. in Morgan Hill. Details: call (408) 779-0064 or e-mail to [email protected]
In an effort to increase qualified teaching candidates, the Santa Clara County Office of Education will host a Step into Teaching: Opportunities in Silicon Valley Public Schools event 9am to 1pm Feb.10 at 1290 Ridder Park Drive in San Jose. During the Saturday event, attendees will learn what is needed to become a teacher, how to navigate the credentialing process and receive information about compensation, benefits and retirement.

Step into Teaching will also provide networking opportunities with potential employers and the chance to interact with classroom educators and experts from Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, National University, UC Santa Cruz and the Santa Clara County Office of Educations EPIC program.

Teaching is a wonderful profession with challengesbut also great rewards, Interim County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan said. Teachers have the opportunity to have a profound positive impact in a young persons life and influence future generations.

According to the California Department of Education, enrollment in Californias teacher preparation programs fell from more than 700,000 during the 200809 school year to less than 500,000 in 201213. In 201415, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing issued 15,000 credentials, while the California Department of Education projected the need for California schools to hire 22,000 teachers.

Step into Teaching is designed for individuals with or who are completing their bachelors degree, business professionals with an interest in teaching and classified school employees looking to transition into certificated positions.

Registration is open through Feb. 7. For more information, contact Michelle Fine at [email protected]

The event is part of a multi-pronged approach developed by a coalition of community organizations to address the looming teacher shortage. Members of the group include SCCOE, local school districts, San Jose State University, University of California  Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and Santa Clara County School Boards Association.
Morningstar's "Perspectives" series features investment insights from third-party contributors. Here, Thomas Fitzgerald, of EdenTree Investment Management discusses how to invest in AI.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving into a fundamental technology for all industries. As with the evolution of mobile phones a decade ago, the continual development and deployment of AI presents a number of opportunities for long-term investors. According to the IDC, global annual revenues for cognitive and artificial intelligence systems are estimated to rise from $8 billion in 2016 to $46 billion in 2020, a compounded annual growth rate of 55.1%.

The industries investing the most in AI related services include banking, retail, healthcare and manufacturing, which generate more than 50% of AI industry revenue. But, this figure ignores the potential economic value available to other enterprises that embed AI technology.

Longer-term, AI will have a profound impact on all industries, introducing efficiencies and innovative catalysts. In the shorter term however, the spread of AI is ramping up the demand for hardware, semiconductors, memory, big data, and software.

Hardware

The development of AI means that machines are becoming smarter  able to understand the physical world with more accuracy and depth  enabling machines to process and act on information automatically. This, in turn, should drive more demand for hardware and sensor technology. Humans obtain 83% of their information from the sense of sight.

The information embedded within visual data far outweighs other senses, which means that cameras should be the most important source of input data for AI Key beneficiaries of this trend include Sony (6758), which is the indisputable leader in image sensors with 48%, and growing, market share by revenue.

Semiconductors

Artificial intelligence is a seismic opportunity for the semiconductor industry. At the NVIDIA investor day in 2017, the companys management estimated that the total market value for semiconductor accelerators used for deep-learning training and inference applications could reach $26 billion by 2020.

Considering the processing capability of graphics processor units, we believe that this will remain the dominant accelerator for training workloads. Once a neural network is trained for a specific type of task, it will need to be deployed across varying technology platforms, particularly at the network-edge, smartphones, cars and other connected devices.

We believe that field programmable gate arrays and application specific integrated circuits will gain from this increase in AI application, benefitting leaders within this space such as Microsoft (MSFT), Intel and Alphabet (GOOGL), as well as semiconductor foundry companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (2330).

Memory

According to researchers at DeepMind, the ability to learn tasks in succession without forgetting is a core component of biological and artificial intelligence. The human brain can transfer old skills to new problems in order to reach a desired outcome. This requires a competent thought process and most importantly, memory.

Until recently, this had been a shortcoming of machines. During training, artificial neural networks would learn to master a single task and then call it quits. Now, artificial neural networks are being combined with a random-access memory in order to achieve multi-step reasoning.

To think and learn faster, systems need to be able to access larger amounts of data, at a much faster rate. Memory technology needs to achieve a balance of high performance, power efficiency and reasonable unit cost. High Bandwidth Memory using dynamic random-access memory is a great option  Samsung Electronics (005930) currently dominates both these markets.

The Internet and Big Data

Over the last decade, global technology conglomerates like Alphabet have developed the largest pools of data on the planet. As data and computer efficiency are the two primary ingredients to further neural network-backed technology advancement, we believe that the largest internet companies have a major advantage.

This combination of technological superiority and unrivalled monetary commitment to investment and research will help the large digital platforms sustain their leadership in AI The data sets required to train these models are growing exponentially, as are the number of nodes within these networks and their technological advantages are enabling these firms to conduct huge statistical data exercises at costs that appear increasingly inexpensive.

We believe Alphabet to be the clearest example of an AI driven business model today, and already leads the industry in terms of research, investment and technological development. The company is already leveraging its scale  seven platforms each with more than one billion users, expertise in AI and the technology it acquired from DeepMind to enhance the performance of its core products and services such as Search, YouTube and Android as well as supporting the development of new opportunities including autonomous driving and biotechnology.

Software

The software building blocks for AI are largely established and we are now starting to see AI functionality being monetised across the industry. AI represents a large up-sell opportunity for software vendors - the first way these companies can monetise AI is by bolting an add-on AI service or product to an existing core product. We have already seen a few examples of this from companies such as Salesforce (CRM) and Coupa.

Software vendors can also provide the building blocks to construct a machine learning model, such as a platform or toolkit. For example, a customer may be looking to embed some AI functionality into their payroll software, but may not have the time or money to do so internally. An AI platform solves this by providing all of the tools necessary to build a machine learning model and then deploy it. Microsoft Azure is one of the major vendors offering this.

We believe that Microsoft is well-positioned to become one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI within the global software industry. The companys cloud business, Azure, is the worlds largest cloud computing environment, with double the capacity of its closest rival Amazon (AMZN) Web Services.

Disclaimer

The views contained herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Morningstar. If you are interested in Morningstar featuring on our website, please email submissions to UKEditorial@morningstar.com
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
Jack Gerard announced Wednesday that he would step down as head of the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful lobbying association representing a wide variety of oil and natural gas companies.

Gerard has been running API for 10 years, a period in which crude oil prices have lurched from less than $30 a barrel to $140 a barrel and back down again.

He has pushed successfully for lifting restrictions on crude oil exports, speeding permits for natural gas export facilities, and rapidly restarting of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP oil spill. He has also fought against higher taxes or the elimination of long-standing tax breaks for the industry.

Gerard is one of the highest paid association heads in Washington. In 2015 he earned $6.3 million from API and its affiliates in 2015, according to the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for the group. He will remain until his contract ends in August.

"We have accomplished what few would have imagined: important public policy victories at all levels of government, and a revitalized association that has expanded globally and added significant strength to its advocacy capabilities," Gerard said in a statement.

Yet many people both in and out of the oil industry have felt that Gerard had spent too much of the group's money supporting Republicans. According to opensecrets.com, 85 percent of the money API gave to congressional candidates went to Republicans. Two prominent exceptions have been Sens. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., whose state is a leading fracking state, and Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., whose state produces large amounts of coal.

API has a budget of about $250 million, and it has spent lavishly on public advertising campaigns. Often it has sought to conceal or minimize its role. It has advertised under names like "Energy Nation," "Energy Citizens," "EnergyTomorrow," or "the People of America's Oil and Natural Gas Industry." In the ads, ties to API are duly noted, albeit usually in small print.

The strategy, Gerard said in a 2012 interview, was to influence lawmakers by mobilizing their constituents.

"If we're concerned about a particular member [of Congress], we will educate that constituency and encourage people to weigh in with their elected official," he said. "Congress is a lagging indicator. Congress is responsive to the American people. That's why a well-educated electorate is a key to sound policy."

Earlier this month, Gerard delivered his annual state of energy speech to an invited audience at the Reagan building on Pennsylvania Avenue, highlighting the slogan "energy is powering past impossible." His prominent guests included Manchin, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, leaders of the Navajo Nation and three affiliated tribes of North Dakota, the president of the Iron Workers Union and the chief executive of the Noble Corp., a drilling company.

He has opposed many environmental regulations, though API issued its own guidelines for limiting methane emissions from fracking wells.

Raised in Mud Lake, Idaho, outside the 140-year-old Mormon stronghold of Idaho Falls, Gerard is the son of a John Deere salesman and a teacher. He graduated from George Washington University after finishing his mission work in Sydney. He worked for Idaho Republicans Rep. George Hansen and Sen. James McClure, the former chief of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who pushed to privatize federal lands, promoted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and was one of 11 senators to vote against the Clean Air Act of 1990.

After McClure retired, he and Gerard formed a lobbying firm. Gerard left that to run the National Mining Association and later the American Chemistry Council.
Workers' rights and craft beer are colliding in the Lone Star State with Oasis Texas Brewing Company's "2.13" pale ale, named after the minimum wage in Texas for tipped employees, which has not been changed since 1991.

The beer company teamed up with In the Weeds, a collective located in Austin aimed at bettering the lives of people in the service industry.
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An Odessa couple was arrested Monday in connection with a child endangerment investigation, according to a press release.

Jose Alfredo Heredia Jr. and Beverly Heredia, both 41, were charged with a state felony charge of endangering a child.
Enrollment numbers for the Midland College Spanish program have topped 2,000 students per semester, trustees learned Tuesday at the January board meeting. Through online classes, many of the students earn credits while attending another institution.

Duberlinda Mauricio, associate professor and lab coordinator, has taught at MC for more than 10 years and said the popularity of online courses has increased over that time.

Most of our students are taking online from different campuses, she told the Reporter-Telegram before presenting at the board meeting. For example, in Texas we have many students from UT Austin, from Texas A&M. We also have students from other states, like California.

Mauricio said MC classes are affordable and that students can transfer the credits they earn to other colleges or universities.

In response to the student demand for online courses, MC has made adjustments.

We have about 12 adjuncts, so we have a lot of instructors that are all over the country  California, Connecticut, said Katherine Allen, department chair for speech and modern languages. We have people who do it part time for us online.

Mauricio said both online and on-campus courses have the same content. The online coursework is designed to allow students to complete oral, listening and reading assignments, she said.

The program is in the system for Virtual College of Texas, which offers inter-institutional sharing of courses, according to its website.

Mauricio said some people take online classes to learn grammar before immersing themselves in another country. Also, she said the courses offer a way for students to study at times that are convenient for their schedules.

Taking online classes gives you the flexibility to do the job at the time that you have available, Mauricio said. Thats one of the advantages.

On-campus Spanish course enrollment has decreased as people turn to online classes, according to Mauricio. She said the Spanish program has students from Midland and that taking face-to-face courses gives students more time to hear instructors speak the language.

Mauricio said her department wants students to succeed. She said knowing Spanish helps people working in various fields, including health care and education.

A number of students take a foreign language because its required, Mauricio said. We have students who also take the language because they want to learn the language. What I see in those students is they use Spanish as a tool for their life.

Also at Tuesdays meeting, board members voted to approve:

-the MC Police Departments 2017 Racial Profiling Report.

Chief Richard McKee said his department conducted 327 vehicle stops and made one arrest. He said the department didnt receive any complaints of racial bias.

-offering an associate of science in engineering beginning this fall.

Texas Tech University and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin are the primary receiving institutions for engineering and support the program, according to agenda documents.

-offering two certificates beginning this fall.

One is for students wanting to pursue a bachelor of science in nursing, and the other is for Midland ISD dual-credit students studying health sciences.
Midland ISD is learning if at first a campus doesnt succeed then there is always the ability to turn it around.

For the second time in less than a year, the MISD board pulled the trigger on a turnaround plan that basically empties out an elementary and starts over with a new faculty and student body.

The board voted on Tuesday to turn Sam Houston Elementary from a failing neighborhood school into a collegiate preparatory elementary.

Houston Elementary, according to the district, has scored below the state standards in closing the achievement gap and overall student achievement. The Texas Education Agency has reported overall failing marks for the campus during the last three years.

Midland ISD reports show a lack of success was because 68 percent of the teachers have two or fewer years of experience in current grade or content and that the rigor level of STAAR test was not a consistent instructional practice in our classrooms.

The district also cited other components impacting Sam Houston from 2014-15 to 2017-18, including:

-a 19 percent decrease in student enrollment;

-a 100 percent increase in African-American student enrollment;

-a 20 percent decrease in Hispanic student enrollment;

-a 39 percent decrease in white student enrollment; and

-a 5 percent increase in economically disadvantaged student enrollment.

The district also reports that the school, which has been improvement required four of the last five years, had more than 212 students transfer out of the school this year. That figure includes 126 students who transferred to Carver Center, the campus for gifted and talented students, and Midland ISDs magnet academies.

Although the number of teachers has remained fairly consistent over the four-year trend, the turnover rate has had a significant impact as teachers have limited experience in teaching and/or inexperience in their current grade or content, the report states.

Changes to a collegiate prep are expected to propel education opportunities and outcomes and create an environment with high student and adult expectations. All teaching and learning staff is expected to be trained in Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) programming, and according to the district report, Houston will be part of an overall communications strategy for the path to college. The report states Houston will be the pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade model and San Jacinto will become the sixth through eighth-grade model. Then there will be options for those students at the high school level.

Houston staff, students and parents will be knowledgeable about the increased levels of expectations toward creating self-empowered students who take responsibility for their learning and a collaborative nature with their peers, the report states.

The deadline for the turnaround plans submission to the TEA commissioner for approval is Jan. 29. The agency is expected to respond to the turnaround plan by April.

Before the start of the 2018-19 school year, all campus leadership and teachers will re-apply for positions for the 2018-19 school year, all students from around the district will be required to apply for a spot in Houston Elementary (the lottery system will be weighted) and behavioral and attendance expectations will need to be developed.

Current Houston students who dont gain entrance into the collegiate prep will be sent to other schools to be determined by the district.

With the change, the district will eliminate another failing campus. The district went into 2017-18 school year with four improvement required campuses (Lamar, Houston, South and Travis elementaries). The number was nine at the end of 2015-16.

Last year, the district voted to close down Crockett Elementary after the 2016-17 year. It was reopened in August as Gen. Tommy Franks Elementary. Crockett at the time of its closure had failed seven straight years, which was the second longest streak in the state.

These turnaround situations have come as the district has worked with the Texas Education Agency on academic reform inside Midland ISD. The district was once selected to meet with the TEA because of the number of schools with extended periods being improvement required.

Coming out of those meetings, MISD work sessions and other reform efforts included a new governance report, a move toward a system that will give campuses more control over their own operations and the district changing the structure of its campuses -- including the move toward collegiate preps, in-district charters and other alternative measures for elementary and secondary level campuses.
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A Texas teacher has been arrested and charged with having an improper relationship with a student after the 16-year-old teenager reportedly told his mother about the sexual relationship.

Marisela Mendoza Winn, 39, taught at IDEA McAllen Public Schools and is accused of having sexual relations with a student who was in her English class.
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The driver cited for a pair of bridge strikes Monday that led to the overpasses shutdowns didnt have over-height permit, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety public information officer.

Samuel Greene of Glencoe, New Mexico, was hauling an oversize load for Stay Loaded Trucking of Odessa and struck two overpasses along Interstate 20, DPS Sgt. Oscar Villarreal told the Reporter-Telegram on Tuesday.

Greene, 33, was stopped after striking the second bridge, Villarreal said. Greene was hauling an oilfield substructure and didnt have an over-height permit. Greene, who had a commercial drivers license, was issued a citation, Villarreal said.

The Business 20 bridge in western Stanton and the County Road 1150 bridge in Midland were closed Monday because of the damage.

RELATED: TxDOT reports a pair of I-20 bridge strikes

The Stanton bridge will be closed for weeks or months; the Midland overpass will be further evaluated this week, the Texas Department of Transportation Odessa District said Monday. Both had loosened concrete, and it was too windy Monday evening to wrap them, TxDOT said. Because of this, westbound driving lanes at both locations were closed.

TxDOT attempts to recover repair costs by filing damage claims with responsible parties insurance companies, an Odessa District spokesman Gene Powell said Tuesday.

There have been 12 bridge strikes in the Odessa District since Nov. 1, Powell said. Over the past seven years, there have been about 100 bridge strikes of varying degrees.

Work has begun on repairing the west Loop 250 overpass that spans I-20, which was damaged Nov. 12, 2015. The damage was caused by an oversize load. Work is also being performed on the Crane Avenue bridge in Odessa, which also was struck by an oversize load.

Oversize and overweight load permits are issued by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, not TxDOT. The maximum load height allowed without a permit is 14 feet, according to the agencys website. A route inspection is required when a load height exceeds 18 feet, 11 inches.

The Business 20 bridge in Stanton is marked at 15 feet, 10 inches high in the westbound lane. The CR 1150 bridge is marked at 16 feet high in the westbound lane.

TxDOT has attempted to educate the public, but the only real prevention is when people take personal responsibility to do things the right way, Powell said, adding that oversize load permits are required by law and permitted routes must be followed. Also, loads must be loaded correctly.
Former Midland County District Clerk Ross Bush on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a felony charge of tampering with government records as part of a plea deal worked out with the Midland County District Attorneys Office.

The plea deal, obtained by the Reporter-Telegram, shows Bush entered into an agreement, to postpone and delay the trial and receive permission to enter into a pretrial intervention program. Bush voluntarily gave up his rights to a speedy trial and a trial by jury. If he completes the pretrial program, charges will be dismissed.

RELATED: Nodolf: District clerk investigation involves records tampering

Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf said the charge had to do with time clock records for his employees.

I, hereby, admit and confess that I am guilty of the said offense(s) as charged against me in this cause, according to waiver No. 8 in the agreement.

Bush also waived his right to expunction of the record of his arrest and related documents upon dismissal of the case by the state.

Bush resigned his clerk position with Midland County earlier this month. He was serving his second term as Midland County district clerk when he submitted his resignation.

RELATED: DA: Ross Bush case involved investigation, plea deal

Nodolf previously told the Reporter-Telegram that Bushs decision to resign was his own and was not part of a plea deal.

Bush had filed to run for re-election this year. Midland County Republican Party Chair Sherri Merket said that his name cant be removed from the primary ballot because the deadline to do so has passed, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram article.

The punishment range for the offense is 180 days up to two years in state jail and a fine not to exceed $10,000.
KHARTOUM, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and Ethiopia on Tuesday agreed to deploy a joint force to secure their joint border and prevent any hostile activities against the two countries.

A conference on development of border relations between Sudan's Blue Nile State and Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia concluded sessions Tuesday in Damazin, the capital city of Blue Nile State.

"The two sides agreed to secure the border ... to pave way for the work of other joint committees," Hussein Yassin Hamad, Blue Nile State Governor, said in a statement.

He further reiterated Sudan's commitment to protect peace and secure the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) near the Sudanese border.

Governor of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Al-Shazali Hassan, for his part, vowed to prevent any activity hostile to Sudan.

"We will fight any manifestations of smuggling of goods and weapons across the borders," he said.

"We have agreed on deployment of joint forces between the Blue Nile State and the Benishangul-Gumuz Region as well as a civil administration conference between the two countries, particularly in border areas," he added.

Ethiopia is building the GERD in Benishangul-Gumuz Region near the Sudanese border, some 900 km northwest of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The GERD, extending on an area of 1,800 square km, is scheduled to be completed in three years at a cost of around 4.7 billion U.S. dollars.
DAMASCUS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish army is beefing up military presence amid high-security alert near the Syrian border Tuesday evening, just as Ankara is bracing to attack a Kurdish-held region in northern Syria, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

Reinforcements of the Turkish forces kept arriving at a Turkish border region near the Kurdish-held Afrin region in the northern province of Aleppo, said the report.

It added that high-security alert was noticed on the Turkish side of the border near the Kurdish-controlled Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, in another part of the northern countryside of Aleppo.

The military tension comes hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the military campaign against the Kurdish forces in Afrin will be supported by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, according to the report.

The Turkish president also vowed to eliminate a 30,000-strong security forces which are being currently formed by the United States in Kurdish-held areas in northeastern Syria.

Erdogan branded the new U.S.-backed army as a "terrorist army," the latest escalation of tension with Washington over the thorny Kurdish issue in Syria.

Erdogan's government has for long opposed the growing influence of the Kurds in northern Syria, fearing any separatist sentiment could inspire Turkey's 14 million Kurds.

The Turkish leader also vowed to eliminate the Kurdish threat in northern Syria through an anticipated military campaign in Afrin.

In his speech Tuesday, Erdogan urged NATO to take a stand on U.S.-backed Syrian border forces, which would be created from the Kurdish-dominated People's Protection Units (YPG), which is regarded as a terror group by Turkey.

"I would like to call upon NATO ..., you have to take actions against the ones who threaten the border security of your allies," he said.

On Sunday, reports cited the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition as saying that the U.S. is working to form a 30,000-strong border security force, which will be under the command of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians supported by the U.S. in northern Syria.

The force will be deployed in northeastern Syria along the border with both Turkey and Iraq, a move that was met with vehement condemnation from the Syrian government and its Russian ally, as well as Turkey.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry slammed the decision on Monday, saying the U.S. bid to form an armed militia in northern Syria is "a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty."

The U.S. declaration "constitutes a flagrant aggression on the unity and sovereignty of Syria and a violation of the international law," the ministry said, vowing Syrian government's resolve to end the U.S. presence in the war-torn country.

Russia, Syrian government's main international ally, expressed fears that the United States is "pursuing a policy to cut Syria into several pieces."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the United States does not intend to preserve Syria's sovereignty, accusing Washington of seeking to create a Kurdish-controlled entity along the Turkish and Iraqi border zones.
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BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Senior Party members at the rank of military corps and above will be overseen by full-time inspection teams, said a military regulation made public Tuesday.

Regular inspection teams will supervise Party committees of the Central Military Commission, the army, navy, air force, rocket force, and strategic support troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the armed police, according to the regulation, which took effect Monday.

The document regulates principles, powers and duties of inspection teams and their staff and protocols they should follow.

Inspection teams are expected to expose flaws and weakness concerning Party leadership, management of Party organizations, and implementation of disciplines within the armed forces, said the military source.

The regulation also includes articles on how military inspectors should exercise their duty according to Party rules and how they should be held accountable.
A group of Florida advocates traveled to the state capitol Tuesday to try and make Alzheimers disease one of the Floridas top health priorities.

Alzheimer's advocates travel to Fla. capitol to talk to legislators

Advocates spoke about struggles of families dealing w/ disease

Hispanic community 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's



Joandry Marie Mendez is one of those advocates who traveled to the state capitol. On her dads side, she already lost a grandparent to Alzheimers and on her moms side, both grandparents have been diagnosed with the disease.

I have this gene on both sides, like this is going to happen, Mendez said about preparing for the future.

Mendez was crowned Mrs. Central Florida 2018 a few months ago and wants to use her influence to stand up for those families and patients affected by Alzheimers disease.

She said she knows what its like to have a family member slowly losing their memory.

"It hurts not that my grandmother doesn't recognize me, its just, I miss hearing my name coming out of her mouth. But like I said, she will always give us her blessing," Mendez said.

Mendez is joining around 150 advocates from all over Florida at the states capitol to speak with legislators about the needs and struggles of families dealing with the disease.

"A lot of the needs have to do with education and funding for care, said Damaris Melendez, program associate director of Alzheimers Association.

Education is still a huge need within the Hispanic community, who according to research by the Alzheimer's association are 1.5 times more likely to develop the disease.

"Because in the Hispanic families, you see high risk of heart disease and diabetes and then the other one is we tend to live longer than our counterparts, so that puts us at a higher risk, Melendez said.

Its another reason Mendez traveled to Tallahassee.

"I know if I don't do something now or if I don't start getting this going, or if I don't start motivating people or influencing people, people might just put it on the back burner like this is something that doesn't exist, and no, this is here. This is very much present, Mendez explained.
An investigation into a Marion County high school teacher charged with sexual assault began after the girl said she accidentally uploaded pictures to a teen app, deputies say.

Jason Tarlton was girl's teacher at Lake Weir High School

Deputies: Girl said she accidentally uploaded pictures of them

Detectives said they saw sex crimes statute printed out in vehicle

ALSO: Marion substitute teacher accused of inappropriate touching



Jason Michael Tarlton, 30, a teacher at Lake Weir High School, was arrested Tuesday and is accused of an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old female student he used to teach, Marion deputies said Wednesday.

Deputies said a Sheriff's Office school resource officer was made aware of inappropriate images uploaded to the "After School" app that showed Tarlton interacting with the girl in a sexual manner. One image showed them in front of a hotel mirror, deputies said.

Detectives then contacted the girl, who told them she accidentally uploaded the pictures from her phone. She said she was no longer a student at Lake Weir but last year had Tarlton as a teacher, and she admitted to a sexual relationship with him, detectives said.

She also told them that Tarlton told her he loved her and that if he were caught, she was "worth it."

When detectives went to Tarlton's home, a freshly printed copy of Florida statute 948.30 was sitting on the passenger seat of his vehicle, they said.

The statute discusses probation and community control involving sex offenses.

Tarlton posted $10,000 bond on charges of sexual assault on a minor and has been released from the Marion County Jail.


China on Monday slammed Indian army chiefs comments about shifting Indias military focus to its border with China as unconstructive, asserting that it went against the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries to improve bilateral ties and maintain peace on the border.

The past one year witnessed some twists and turns in China-India relations. On the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Xiamen last September, the two leaders (Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) reached important consensus on properly handling differences and bringing China-India relations back to the track of sound and steady development, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Monday, stressing that recent efforts by both nations to enhance dialogue and consultation have shown a positive sign of improvement and growth.

It was against this background that the senior Indian [army] official made the unconstructive remarks. We think that these remarks are not only against the important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, but also run counter to the efforts made by the two sides to improve and develop China-India relationship. They are not conducive to the joint efforts of the two sides to maintain peace and tranquility in the border region, Lu said.

The foreign ministry spokesperson urged certain people in India to uphold the spirit of the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, to do more things that are conducive to peace and stability in the border region and to refrain from doing anything that might further complicate the situation.

Rawat: China powerful, but India not weak

India's army chief General Bipin Rawat during the Army Day Parade in New Delhi, India, on January 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

Indias army chief General Bipin Rawat announced on Friday that his military will alter its strategic focus to the northern border with China as opposed to its established emphasis on the western border with Pakistan. While asserting that New Delhi was capable of tackling Chinas increasing assertiveness in the region, General Rawat also stressed on the need for modernization of the armed forces.

We need modern weapons and technology. We have to look at what we require to fight the future wars. We have to get systems that are best suited for our requirements. The focus has to shift to the northern borders. We have focused too long on the western side," General Rawat said addressing the media in New Delhi.

Referring to the Donglang standoff between the militaries of the two nations last summer, the Indian army chief claimed that while the Chinese troops have maintained their presence in the region, their numbers have declined and level of activity has gone down, according to Indian media reports.

Saying that India has deployed more troops in forward positions along its northern border, General Rawat said: "We will not allow our territory to be invaded by anyone. Troops are earmarked and should a situation arises, our troops are ready to cater.

China is a powerful country, but we are not a weak nation either," the general stated.

'Donglang belongs to China'

Responding to General Rawats comments on Donglang, Lu asserted Chinas sovereignty over the region.

If this senior officer was referring to China's Donglang, this particular area, then I believe you are quite clear about our position, he said, adding: "The Donglang area belongs to China and has always been under the effective administration and control of China. There is no dispute over it. The stationing and patrolling of the Chinese border troops in the Donglang area are acts to exercise China's sovereign rights and safeguard its own territorial sovereignty in accordance with the historical convention."

Lu also stressed that General Rawats remarks have once again showed clearly the fact and the nature of the Indian military's trespassing into China's territory.

The Donglang standoff between Chinese and Indian troops began on June 18 last year and ended on August 28, just ahead of Modis visit to China for attending the BRICS summit in Xiamen.

"We ask the Indian military to learn a lesson from this incident (Donglang standoff), observe the historical Convention, maintain peace and stability in the border region and create a sound atmosphere for the positive development of the relationship between the two countries," Lu said.

China-India hotline 'very soon'

The Indian army chief has meanwhile also stated that a hotline will be set up between the Indian and Chinese armies very soon to promptly respond to incidents along the border, according to local media reports.

It is moving very fast. Very soon we will have a hotline with the Chinese side, General Rawat was quoted as saying in a report by Indias Mint newspaper.

General Rawat said both India and China were very keen on having a hotline between the Indian Armys Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and the Chinese officer holding similar position, according to the report.

The general stressed that the hotline will help resolve incidents along the border promptly. We are very keen to start the hotline. The Chinese are also very clear, he said.

As of today, India and Pakistan operate a hotline between their DGMOs.

[Cover Photo: China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang and India's army chief General Bipin Rawat]
By An Puzhong

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (ChinaMil) -- General Zhang Youxia, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met with the newly-elected academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering from the military and awarded them the certificates of Elites in Military Science and Technology in Beijing on Tuesday.

Admiral Miao Hua, member of the CMC and director of the CMC Political Work Department, also attended the meeting.

Gen. Zhang Youxia said at the meeting that the scientific and technological workers in the military should always concentrate on preparing for war, make efforts to turn scientific and technical advantages into winning positions, and continuously make contributions to the improvement of combat effectiveness.
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Parker School Uniforms, an 87-year-old Houston company that closed unexpectedly during the first week of 2018, has filed for bankruptcy.

Employees still haven't received paychecks originally scheduled to be deposited on Jan. 4. According to an email the company sent employees, those "payroll obligations are now likely to be addressed by the bankruptcy court during the liquidation process."

The company had three stores in San Antonio. A call made earlier this year to the San Pedro store location was met with an automated message saying the store was "permanently closed" and directed customers to the ParkerSU.com website, which did not load.

Parker School Uniforms did not immediately respond to an email sent to its human resources department. The attorney representing the company in bankruptcy proceedings also did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. Nor did Salem Investment Partners and Argosy Private Equity, which both list Parker as part of their portfolios.

RELATED: Archdiocese of San Antonio responds to abrupt closing of Parker School Uniforms

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Parker School Uniforms laid off 320 workers in Harris County.

A lawsuit has been filed against the company in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division for violating Section 2101 of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that requires employers to provide 60 days written notice to each affected employee prior to ordering a plant closing or mass layoff.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's website, employers who violate the WARN Act are liable to give each employee back pay and benefits for the period of violation, up to 60 days. The employer is also subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each day of violation. This civil penalty can be avoided, however, if the employer satisfies its liabilities to employees within three weeks of the layoffs.

RELATED: S.A. stores helping panicked brides after sudden Alfred Angelo closures

WARN requirements are enforced through the courts, according to the Labor Department.

Parker operated about 36 stores in Texas, Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, according to the lawsuit.

The company has between $10 million and $50 million in assets and liabilities, according to its bankruptcy filings.

Staff writer Madalyn Mendoza contributed to this report.
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Nestle agreed Tuesday to sell its U.S. confectionery unit to Ferrero, the Italian maker of Nutella, in the first substantial step away from the candy industry by the company that is credited with inventing milk chocolate.

The sale of the unit, which includes the Butterfinger and Baby Ruth brands, is also the first major divestment by the Swiss food giant since CEO Mark Schneider took the helm last year. Nestle plans to focus on healthier and faster-growing categories like coffee, pet food and water as the industry grapples with a drop in demand for sugary products.

"Our commitment to invest in the U.S. is as big as ever," Nestle USA chief Paul Grimwood said on a call.

Chocolate tumult

The U.S. chocolate industry is in tumult. Hershey Co. has been cutting 15 percent of its workforce and Lindt & Spruengli on Tuesday reported its weakest organic sales growth since 2009 amid sluggish North American demand.

The Nestle unit, which also includes brands like Oh Henry!, Laffy Taffy and Nerds, is suffering a decline in revenue and had sales of about $900 million in 2016. Nestle said in a statement announcing the sale that it remains "fully committed" to its chocolate business around the world. That includes KitKat, which it produces globally except for the U.S., where Hershey Co. owns the rights.

Deal expected to close this quarter

Closely held Ferrero has been pushing harder into the U.S. Last year it snapped up Ferrara Candy Co., the maker of Red Hots and Lemonhead candies, as well as confectioner Fannie May.

The sale to Ferrero, which does not include the Toll House brand of baking products, is expected to close around the end of the first quarter, Nestle said. The business represents about 3 percent of the Swiss company's U.S. sales.

Nestle said in June it was considering options for the U.S. confectionery unit, and said it attracted significant interest from bidders in July. In December, the company said it expected to sell the business in the first quarter of 2018.

Hershey, which was named as one of the potential bidders, last month agreed to pay $921 million for Amplify Snack Brands to expand into popcorn and potato chips.
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A key witness in state Sen. Carlos Urestis criminal trial, which starts with jury selection Thursday, is expected to testify that he urged her not to cooperate with federal investigators in their probe of a now-defunct San Antonio oil field services company.

During a hearing Wednesday on motions to exclude certain evidence from the trial, U.S. Senior District Judge David Alan Ezra referenced a document prosecutors filed under seal last month addressing a meeting between Uresti and Denise Cantu at his law office in the summer of 2016.

Mr. Uresti allegedly encouraged Cantu not to cooperate with the FBI investigation, Ezra said, reading from the document that prosecutors filed under seal. The evidence is proof of consciousness of guilt and an attempt by Mr. Uresti to hinder the investigation.

The San Antonio Democrat and co-defendant Gary Cain face various fraud charges in connection with their roles at FourWinds Logistics, which bought and sold sand used in fracking to extract oil and gas from shale rock.

Uresti, 54, and Cain, 61, deny the charges, but already four company officials have pleaded guilty and are slated to be sentenced later this year. They include CEO Stan Bates, 46, who, presumably under the weight of overwhelming evidence against him, last week chose to enter a guilty plea to eight felony charges rather than stand trial with Uresti and Cain. The three other defendants are cooperating witnesses.

At stake is Urestis nearly 21-year political career, as well as his livelihood as a lawyer. A guilty verdict on any of the charges would likely lead to his disbarment.

Uresti hasnt been charged with obstruction of justice, but prosecutors allege his actions show Uresti knew he was guilty.

Ezra said he will allow Cantus testimony on the meeting, but indicated that Urestis lawyer will need to object to preserve the issue for an appeal if Uresti is found guilty.

Cantu, 38, is a one-time Uresti legal client who he represented in civil litigation over the deaths of two of her children following a vehicle roll-over accident in 2010.

Prosecutors say Uresti exploited and defrauded Cantu, described as a mentally and emotionally vulnerable client, by persuading her to invest proceeds from a large court settlement. She invested about $900,000 and lost about $800,000 with the company.

Cantu has told investigators that she also had a sexual relationship with Uresti and she was seduced into investing with FourWinds. Uresti has denied the two had an intimate relationship.

Ezra said prosecutors are entitled to infer from that relationship that it was part of Mr. Urestis modus operadi in getting her to go along with investing in FourWinds.

Separately, Ezra ruled that Urestis lawyers will not be able to bring up Cantus run-ins with the law to challenge her credibility. She was arrested twice last year, most recently in November for aggravated robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both felonies.

Cantu was unable to post the $300,000 bond and was detained in the Cameron County Jail before being transferred to the federal Brooks County Detention Center in Falfurrias ahead of the trial.

At the same time, Ezra ruled that prosecutors will not be able to mention Cains criminal trial on charges that he swindled Rackspace Hosting Inc. out of millions of dollars in a 2007 land deal. A jury acquitted Cain in 2014.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Blackwell said he planned to meet with Bates and his attorney this afternoon to determine whether Bates would be called to testify during the trial. Prosecutors must let defense lawyers know by the end of jury selection whether Bates will testify.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pdanner@express-news.net | @AlamoPD
In a glass conference room in midtown Manhattan, a few dozen employees from Beacon Health Options are taking turns asking each other an incredibly awkward question: Are you having thoughts of suicide? Theres a right way to ask and a wrong way, and theyre here to learn the difference.

The exercise is just one component of an eight-hour course in mental health first aid, a relatively new kind of training that, like first aid or CPR, is designed to give ordinary people tools to help someone in need. And as with first aid and CPR, companies have begun to see the value in having employees who have the skills to say something, if they see something.

About 40 employers have trained more than 1,300 people over the last two years, according to the National Council for Behavioral Health, which first imported the program from Australia in 2008 and adapted it for Americans. This year, it plans to train 6,000 workers through company-sponsored courses. Aetna Inc., George Washington University, real estate developer Lendlease Group and the health-care technology companies Cerner Corp. and Netsmart Technologies have all sponsored workshops for their employees.

Theres a growing recognition that mental health and addiction problems are having an impact in many ways, driving up health-care costs and absenteeism, said Betsy Schwartz, the vice president of public education and strategic initiatives at NCBH. Companies know thats true.

More than a quarter of workers reported some level of depression or anxiety in a 2015 survey by the American Psychological Association, but the most common workplace solutionemployee assistance programsis notoriously unpopular. Most employees dont want to call an employer-sponsored program for help. Beyond offering good benefits, employers tend to duck more holistic solutions to workers mental stress. That challenging piece is really creating a culture where the organization is tuned in to employee well-being, said David Ballard, who leads the APAs Center for Organizational Excellence.

When Jessica Caskey was working in human resources at a national park in Alaska, an employee placed an explosive device outside his bosss office. In many ways, things turned out as well as possible. The police came, nobody was hurt and after the employee was released from custody, Caskey fired him.

Looking back, though, Caskey thinks she couldve handled it better. The employee had showed signs of suffering from some sort of mental health illness, Caskey said. Nobody took the time to dive in and figure out what was happening.

The mental health first aid classes are designed to help people like Caskey do just that. Last year, she was one of 41 managers at Taos ski resort in New Mexico who took the course. Were not making anyone a clinician, Schwartz said. Were just teaching, as a clergy person told me recently, how to be good neighbors.

Employees at the Taos resort face specific kinds of emotional stress. At the end of the ski season, most of the 700 temporary staffers will be out of a job, noted Ashley Ryland, the employee wellness coordinator at the resort. Ski patrollers, most of whom are certified EMTs, act as first responders to accidents and other distressing situations, making them particularly vulnerable to mental illness.

The course covers the signs and symptoms of anxiety, depression and other common mental health disorders that people might observe among their coworkers. In one exercise, participants role-played what it feels like to hear a constant stream of paranoid thoughts. In another, groups were given art supplies so they could draw what anxiety looks like.

As a mnemonic device, the instructors teach an acronym called Algee: Assess risk, listen non-judgmentally, give reassurance and information, encourage people to get appropriate professional help and encourage self-help and other support strategies. Theres a quiz at the end. Those who passgenerally everyoneget a certificate.

We kind of zip through some of these things. We could spend days and days on schizophrenia, said Don Decker, a certified mental health first aid instructor, during a recent training at Beacon Health Options Inc., a behavioral health provider, thats requiring all of its 4,700 employees to go through the program. This is to demystify mental health. Were not learning to diagnose; were not the ones doing the treatment. Its about understanding when a problem is developing and how to approach them and connect them to care.

Since she took the training last year, Caskey said shes used her Algee skills. A housekeeper recently uncharacteristically missed two days of work in a row and then left an incoherent voice message for her supervisor. Before she took the training, Caskey would have probably started disciplinary action and potentially fired the employee.

This time, she got on the phone. Her voice was trembling, she was crying, and she kept saying I just cant do it anymore, Caskey recalled. I jumped into action. I talked to heragain, using what the counselors had taught: calm words, very quiet, not too excited. I gave her a feeling of value and purpose. A few weeks later, the housekeeper came back to her job.
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If wisecracking was a science, these guys would lead the pack in Ph.Ds.

Comedian Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff, who wrote and starred in Mystery Science Theater 3000 as mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester and his nitwit assistant TVs Frank, roll back into San Antonio for two nights of their best riffs on the worst cheesy movies.

The Mads! unfolds at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Alamo Drafthouse Park North.

Its a very simple and stripped-down version of Mystery Science Theater riffing on a movie, Beaulieu said. Theres no spaceship. Theres no premise. Theres no robots. Its just Frank and I and the audience and a bad movie. Its so much fun to do this in this configuration.

In addition to hosting truly schlocky cinema, Beaulieu and Conniff also will meet with fans before showtime, take photos and host a brief post-movie Q&A. They even sit in the audience, just like those hapless test subjects their characters tortured on the Peabody Award-winning series.

Its like watching a bad movie with your friends, Beaulieu said. Well, it really is for us.

Beaulieu and Conniffs tour mirrors much of the witty and irreverent MST3K humor fans of the cult TV series love.

Collectively referred to as the Mads on the original show, Beaulieus Forrester and Conniffs Frank first forced a janitor named Joel (series creator Joel Hodgson) and then a temp named Mike (head writer Michael J. Nelson) to watch the most godawful movies the demented duo could find.

Joel and Mikes only means of surviving such space madness: cracking grade-A quips at those B-grade flicks with the help of their robot friends, Crow T. Robot (also voiced by Beaulieu) and Tom Servo.

Such peanut gallery commentary is known as riffing, a kind of in-the-moment mocking thats grown well beyond the silhouette of Joel or Mike and the bots at the bottom of the screen to other riffing shows and live tweets on our smartphones.

Its become like improv, Beaulieu said. So many people are doing it.

Beaulieu was doing it back in 1988 when MST3K first aired on a local Minneapolis channel. The show went on to have a 90s heyday on Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi Channel, including a 1996 feature film, before it was canceled in 1999.

Hodgson later crowdfunded an MST3K revival in 2015 with new episodes, which Netflix debuted last year. There are plans for another season.

The new MST3K stars Jonah Ray as new test subject Jonah, with Felicia Day as Kinga Forrester, the daughter of Clayton Forrester, and Patton Oswald as Max, aka TVs Son of TVs Frank. Hampton Yount voices Crow, and Baron Vaughn voices Tom Servo.

Beaulieu and Conniff are not involved in the new MST3K series, but they have cultivated quite the touring act based on its classic premise.

Back in 2007, Beaulieu and Conniff joined Hodgson and other MST3K alumni for Cinematic Titanic, a series of live movie riffing shows that ran through 2013. About a couple of years ago, Beaulieu and Conniff embarked on their own two-man riffing tour, which last January included a stop in the Alamo City.

We were a little bit under the radar back then, Beaulieu said.

This week in San Antonio, The Mads! looks to skewer the campy 1959 horror film The Tingler, starring Vincent Price, and the 1961 hot rod flick The Choppers, starring Arch Hall Jr. Just the kind of classic cheese MST3K fans would expect.

We really like that era, the 50s, the late 50s, Beaulieu said. And theyre also mostly in the public domain. We dont have a giant budget for our shows.

Though who could put a price on that maniacal humor these Mads know so well?

Of all the riffing experiences Ive had, what Frank and I are doing right now is the most enjoyable and most satisfying, Beaulieu said. If theres a bad movie that needs riffing, well be there.

rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
WAU, South Sudan, Jan. 17 (ChinaMil) -- The 8th Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment to South Sudan (Wau) and the Bangladesh peacekeeping infantry battalion conducted a joint defense drill on Monday to enhance the capability of jointly dealing with emergencies.

In recent days, the security situation in South Sudan has been rather grim. The government troops and rebels have been in exchange of fire for days amid severely deteriorated social order and escalating tribal conflicts in the local community, causing hundreds of casualties and several vicious robberies.

The Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment and the Bangladesh peacekeeping infantry battalion conducted the joint defense drill in order to prepare for possible emergency situations and strengthen the capability of crisis response and control.

The background of the joint exercise is a construction site. In the drill, the Chinese peacekeepers rapidly formed combat formations under the cover of Bangladesh infantry fighting vehicles.

The 8th Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment arrived in the mission area last September. They are mainly responsible for the construction of roads, bridges, airports, barracks, bunkers, water supply and power supply facilities, as well as providing engineering support for the peacekeeping forces in the Sector West of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Legislative leaders on Wednesday agreed that they will likely override Gov. Dannel P. Malloys veto of a bill that sought to restore income thresholds for more than 100,000 participants in the Medicare Savings Program.

The General Assembly has spoken clearly in overwhelmingly voting for the bipartisan plan to restore the Medicare Savings Program, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. I expect that Democrats and Republicans will remain consistent in their votes when we are called back for a veto session.

"It is unsurprising, but unfortunate, that the governor has added to the angst of more than 100,000 Connecticut seniors and disabled with this veto, said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, in a statement.

On the one hand, the governor blocks statutory assurance that these most at-risk people will receive the benefits they rely upon. Then he declares that some who receive Medicaid have no requirement to seek employment if they are able, she said.

Said Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven,The governors actions demand an immediate and swift response from the legislature to 1) correct the significant constitutional flaw with his plan and 2) to prohibit the state from increasing the size of this years deficit. Absent an override of his veto, lawmakers will be setting a dangerous precedent that any governor can abrogate legislative authority under his or her sole discretion.

In a veto message released Tuesday night, Malloy called the legislation wishful thinking and double counting that postpones tough fiscal decisions into the future, which he cannot support.

The legislation passed the House 130-3, followed by a 32-1 vote in the Senate. An override requires only two-thirds votes.

Last month, Malloy announced that the state Department of Social Services would continue lower-income thresholds through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. He stressed the need for lawmakers to tackle the $220-million deficit in the budget that was complicated Tuesday by the announcement that state revenues were $260 million short of projections.

This is not unexpected, as was the overwhelming vote in the legislature, said Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, in reaction to the veto. The bottom line is that the thousands of affected residents can rest assure that they will continue to have access to the Medicare Savings Program through the current fiscal year.

Prior to Malloys veto Tuesday, Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, noted that the decreasing revenue picture would hasten the need for legislative leaders to agree on further budget compromises, including a plan to fund the Medicare Savings Program when the next fiscal year begins on July 1.

A bipartisan budget requires a bipartisan budget fix, Looney said in a statement. When you consider that last year legislators from both parties worked together to wrestle a deficit 10 times larger than the one projected today, this is clearly a manageable and achievable task.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Waitr, an on-demand restaurant delivery platform, is new this month in Pasadena, allowing customers to order food delivery from dozens of area eateries.

"The Waitr app lets you order from your favorite Pasadena restaurant, then sends a Waitr driver to deliver it to you for a flat fee of $5," company spokesman Dean Turcol said.

Customers use the app to browse menus and place orders from participating restaurants.

The delivery fee is the same regardless of the distance for the delivery or how many meals are in an order, said Chris Meaux, who founded the company in 2015 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Pasadena was chosen based on its selection of restaurants and anticipated demand for the service from area residents, Turcol said. The service targets customers who can't - or don't want to - leave their home or office to enjoy their favorite restaurant meal, he said.

"We have had great success in some other Houston suburbs in southeast Texas, as well as Beaumont, Longview, Tyler and Waco areas," he said.

Among local restaurants that have already signed with Waitr are: Johnny Tamale Cantina, 4647 East Sam Houston Parkway South; Peppers Steak and Seafood, 3604 Fairmont Parkway No. C; Antonio's Italian Grill & Seafood, 1105 Center St. in Deer Park; La Silla, 6710 Spencer Highway and Sudie's Catfish House, 4910 Spencer Highway.

A launch party for the service was planned for Jan. 18 at Sudie's.

Waitr expects to grow quickly in Pasadena, where the company plans to hire 100 people. Drivers can apply at https://waitrapp.com/become-a-driver.

"Waitr is exceptionally simple to use," Turcol said. "After an account is created, you choose a restaurant, browse the fully customizable menu, select your items and tap to submit the order. From our corporate offices, we can electronically follow every step in the process, from once you order your meal until it is delivered to your doorstep."

All payments are secured with a credit card.

Ordering is also available via the Web at waitrapp.com.

Menu prices are the same on the app as they are at the restaurants, Meaux said.

The service is also available for carry-out orders. Users order from the app and are alerted at the moment food is ready for pick up.

There is no charge to consumers for placing a carry-out order.

The app is available on the Web and on iPhone and Android devices.

Waitr partners with more than 3,000 restaurants and claims hundreds of thousands of users in more than 100 cities.

In addition to Texas and Louisiana, Waitr has proven popular in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi.

The company plans to expand this year to Georgia and South Carolina.

For more information, visit waitrapp.com.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
When his two sons were growing up, a college professor named Phillip Levine found himself 10 years ago asking a question on the minds of parents perennially worried about the price of higher education: Would they qualify for financial aid?

Levine, a Wellesley College economist, was frustrated to learn there were no easy answers beyond the scary sticker prices and pledges from certain colleges that they would meet the need of students they admit.

"How can you expect people to make educated decisions about the right thing to do when they have absolutely no idea what the cost is?" Levine said. "It's crazy."

So Levine set out to build a tool that would provide some quick and reliable answers. On Wednesday, Yale University and 15 other schools announced that they would use a version of his calculator now known as MyinTuition. (Get it?) That brought the total involved in his nonprofit initiative to 31, including Wellesley, which in 2013 became the first to use Levine's calculator.

Levine is quick to point out that his calculators are meant to complement, not replace, the "net price calculators" that colleges have been required to post online since 2011. But the net price calculators are often cumbersome. Levine and other experts say many users, facing a slew of complicated questions about tax returns, assets and home equity, fail to take advantage of them.

Levine's tool aims to give families a fast and effective answer to the question of whether they could afford a given school at a time when listed prices - counting tuition, fees, housing, meals and other expenses - for private colleges can top $70,000 a year.

It asks users a series of easy-to-follow questions about citizenship status, living situation, family income, home value, mortgage balance, cash on hand, retirement plans and other investments. It also asks whether any siblings are in college. Then, using the college's aid policies, the calculator produces an instant estimate of what the student and family might expect to pay out of pocket and what might be provided as grants, loans and work-study. The whole exercise is meant to take about three minutes.

Take a family of four with income of $70,000 a year, cash of $5,000, non-retirement investments of $25,000, and home equity of $25,000. If the sibling is not in college, the estimated expected family contribution for Wellesley would be $5,000 to $15,500 a year. If the sibling is in college, the family's contribution range for the women's college would be $3,000 to $9,300 a year. In addition, the calculator tells this prospective student that she would be expected to borrow $1,800 a year and earn $2,100 through a work-study program. The rest of the college's $68,000 annual expense would be covered by grants and scholarships.

The calculator cautions consumers that a detailed analysis of family finances could produce a considerably different result. It points them to the net price calculator to get more information. Levine said financial circumstances can be especially tricky for students from divorced families. But he noted that retirement savings are not included in the formula. The calculator only asks about retirement savings to ensure that families don't include that sort of funding when they seek aid estimates.

Misperceptions about price matter hugely, Levine said. "This whole issue is about social mobility," he said. "Here you have opportunities where kids are qualified to go to high-level institutions, and don't because they don't understand the price. That's a huge failure."

Mark Dunn, associate director of admissions at Yale, said the university hopes the MyinTuition calculator will fill an information gap about college expenses. Like many other highly selective schools, Yale promises prospective students that it will meet their financial need. But Dunn acknowledged that many remain skeptical. "Our sense is that until you can actually see what a need-based financial aid award would mean for your family, it's hard to honestly believe" what colleges say, Dunn said. He said Yale plans to promote the MyinTuition calculator prominently as it begins outreach in coming weeks to high school juniors who would enter in 2019.

Other schools now using the calculator are Amherst, Babson, Boston, Bowdoin, Carleton, Colby, Colorado, Dartmouth, Davidson, Grinnell, Hamilton, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Pomona, St. Olaf, Skidmore, Smith, Vassar and Williams colleges; Brown, Columbia, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rice, Wesleyan and Washington and Lee universities; and the universities of Rochester and Virginia. U-Va., the only public institution on the list, adopted the calculator in 2015.

Matt Proto, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Colby, said he hopes the new calculator will help families navigate what can be a confusing market. Too often, he said, families give up on private colleges because they don't look past the sticker price. With the new tool, Proto said, "They can see that this education actually is within reach - and it may be more affordable than the schools they are considering."
It happened without much fanfare. Three years ago, millennials overtook Gen Xers to become the largest generation in the workplace in the United States. In fact, millennials are now the largest generation in the country, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

As a result, business leaders who want to succeed must understand this uniquely motivated cohort. Whereas previous generations might have been driven to uphold cultural norms or to rebel against them, millennials carry a mix of attitudes shaped by tremendous technological change and tumultuous political and social events.

Here are seven surprising things about millennials that will help you to better understand their key motivations. By learning their motivations, readers will be better able to serve this demographic as colleagues and as managers.

1. Curiosity

Millennials are a curious generation. They are excited to learn new skills, and are willing to invest the time in becoming better employees. Just take a look at the trillion-plus dollars in student loan debt millennials are willing to take on in order to expand their minds.

Companies that have successfully tapped into millennial workers have created career-development programs that help employees to grow at all times. PepsiCo, for example, recently launched a program that focused on providing employees with access to "critical experiences" rather than a simple ladder to the top.

Millennial workers don't want to feel as though they must toil away at the same job for years in order to earn a promotion, and thus an opportunity to learn new skills. PepsiCo solves this problem by creating a new path of professional growth.

Related: 11 Reasons Talented Millennials Get Fired

2. Individuality

Young employees are often mocked by older business leaders for their belief that they are somehow different from everyone else. Older employees say that millennials were raised with unrealistic visions of the real world, thanks in part to participation trophies.

But, the best businesses avoid mocking millennial beliefs. Companies like Azazie, a startup that creates wedding and bridesmaid dresses, encourage senior managers to take an individualized approach to managing millennial employees.

As Rachel Hogue, one Azazie manager, told Mashable: "Each of our employees is unique. It's my job to ensure they feel comfortable to step up, share an idea and spearhead new initiatives." Companies like Azazie have figured out that individuality drives millennial happiness, which has helped them build a strong millennial workforce.

It's important for business leaders to understand that millennial employees hold different personal and professional goals. In exchange for passionately investing their time to advance the interests of the company, millennials expect the company to help them succeed through individualized support.

Related: The Problem With Hiring Millennials Is Their Age, Not Their Generation

3. Social good

Businesses that offer millennial employees a compelling vision related to advancing a social issue will find success in motivating this generation. Salesforce is an example of a company that has successfully tapped into millennial energy through a variety of initiatives that encourage employees to give back.

Salesforce encourages employees to donate their time to charity, even during work hours, and has joined with a number of other companies in agreeing to donate 1 percent of company profits to charity.

Millennials care about a variety of social causes, including those related to climate change and social equality. While your organization doesn't need to donate profits to a charitable cause, it should draw a reasonable link between business success and positive social change.

Related: What to Expect From Gen-X and Millennial Employees

4. Financial stability

The Great Recession made a lasting impact on the millennial generation. So much so that millennials are making financial decisions focused on maintaining stability rather than striking it rich.

As a result of the recession and student loan debt, millennials are choosing to be financially frugal by eschewing luxury goods and by living at home longer than previous generations.

Employee benefits like tuition assistance and matching 401k plans will appeal to the many millennial workers who are interested in planning for their future.

Related: How Student Loans Are Crushing Millennial Entrepreneurialism

5. Technological innovation

Millennials are a digital generation: they were born when the internet, personal computers and cellphones went mainstream. As a result, millennials are obsessed with technology. For example, one study found that the average college student checked either Snapchat or Instagram 11 times per day. Because of this obsession, millennials are interested in working for organizations that are leading technological innovation.

According to a recent survey of millennials conducted by Google, this cohort considers tech brands like Apple, Tesla and Amazon to be considerably cooler than other large brands like Ford, Levi's or Chanel.

Business leaders must ensure that their company mission is in some way related to technological innovation in order to appeal to millennial employees who are enamored with new technologies.

Related: The Many Reasons Why Tech-Savvy Millennials Need to Get Reality Savvy

6. Regular feedback

A recent study found that over 40 percent of millennial employees wanted to receive weekly feedback from their managers. Millennial workers thrive on feedback even when it is related to areas of improvement rather than praise.

Simply providing millennial employees with quarterly or annual performance reviews will not cut it. Instead, organizations need to get in the habit of encouraging managers to meet with employees on a weekly or biweekly basis.

Remember, millennials tend to be curious. They want to improve themselves professionally, and they view regular feedback as an important component of professional development.

Related: 6 Concepts Your Millennial Employees Wish You Understood

7. Collaboration

There's a reason millennial-led companies rely on open-concept office design. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, works in the center of an open-concept office at Facebook instead of working in a corner office suite.

Similarly, the average millennial employee prefers collaborating to working individually in many instances. Provide millennials with the opportunity to collaborate with peers within and across teams by creating open-concept meeting spaces and by developing a transparent work environment where people are aware of work happening throughout the organization.

Related: Why CEOs Want Their Offices Back and How Millennials Are Helping Them Get There (Kind of)

Conclusion

Attracting and retaining talented employees is one of the biggest components of running a successful business. In order to attract talented millennial employees, business leaders will need to foster an environment that is fun, stimulating and innovative.

Creating a mission statement geared toward solving social issues through technological innovation and training managers to provide regular and personalized feedback can be good ways to motivate millennial employees.

Related:

7 Surprising Traits That Make Millennials Excellent Employees

3 Steps to Attracting the Brightest Recent Grads to Your Startup

8 razones por las cuales los Millennials son mas productivos que cualquier otra generacion



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Climate scientists on Wednesday suggested they may be able to rule out some of the most dire scenarios of what will happen if greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere were to double.

Unfortunately, the same scientists say the best-case scenarios are also probably unrealistic.

How a doubling of atmospheric greenhouses would affect the climate is of tremendous importance, as humans are running out of time to avoid that outcome. With current atmospheric concentrations at 405 parts per million, as opposed to around 280 parts per million before the dawn of the industrial era, the planet is already about halfway there.

In the new study in the journal Nature, Peter Cox and Mark Williams of the University of Exeter and Chris Huntingford of the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology attempt to recalculate the "equilibrium climate sensitivity," a highly influential metric which describes how much the planet will warm if carbon dioxide doubles and the Earth's climate then adjusts to the new state of the atmosphere.

For decades, climate studies have found a very broad range of possibilities for this key figure - somewhere between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius, with 3 degrees Celsius (or 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) sitting smack in the middle of the range. But the inability to further narrow this estimate has been a big problem, said Cox.

"The problem is the low end sort of implies maybe you don't need to do much about climate change except adapt, and the high end implies it's kind of too late," he said.

Recently, however, different teams of scientists have hit upon an approach to try to narrow the results - trying to find a so-called "emerging constraint" on what the possible future outcome could be by comparing high-powered climate change models, which predict the future, with currently observed elements of present climate.

"You find something in the models which is well correlated to future response and can potentially be observed in the real world," explained Ben Sanderson, a climate expert at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, of the approach. Sanderson was not involved in the current study.

To that end, Cox and his colleagues focused on a simple measurement: How much the climate varies on an annual basis, irrespective of greenhouse gas emissions.

"What we did is look at how the variation from year to year, having taken out the long-term trend, was related to the sensitivity of the system, across all models," said Cox.

The result allowed the scientists to narrow the probable climate sensitivity range to between 2.2 and 3.4 degrees Celsius, with a central figure of 2.8 degrees C (5.04 degrees Fahrenheit), somewhat lower than the previous central estimate. They said this amounts to narrowing the uncertainty around the figure by 60 percent.

"We think the likely range is 2.2 to 3.4, so that kind of very much downplays high climate sensitivities above 4, and low climate sensitivities below 2," said Cox. The study asserted that there is less than a 3 percent possibility that the climate sensitivity is lower than 1.5 degrees, and less than a 1 percent possibility that it is higher than 4.5 degrees.

If correct, this would be very good news - suggesting we may not have to reckon with truly hellish temperature rises by the end of this century. "I should thank Cox and colleagues for helping me to sleep a little easier in my bed at night," wrote Piers Forster, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds in the U.K., in a commentary on the new study, also published in the journal Nature.

Forster also called the new study's methodology "ingenious."

But the key question is, of course, whether it's actually right.

The new finding contrasts with a similar study, also published in the influential journal Nature, which found that the global climate models which best capture the current climate are also those that predict some of the warmest and most severe outcomes. That study, by the Carnegie Institute for Science's Patrick Brown and Ken Caldeira, used a conceptually similar methodology but focused on the incoming and outgoing energy at the top of the planet's atmosphere, rather than annual temperature wobbles. And it actually pushed upward somewhat the estimate for how bad warming could get.

Brown and Caldeira said they are currently studying Cox's new research to try to figure out why it differs from their own.

Cox, meanwhile, said he saw similarities, as well as differences, with the other team's study. "What we both do is say the low values are unlikely," he said. "We also think the high values are unlikely, they think they're likely."

"It's normal for these types of studies to be apparently contradictory," said Sanderson in an email. "The way forward is to better understand the physical mechanisms for why the correlations exist . . . then we can look together at all the information to make a holistic assessment of all the evidence as it pertains to the real world."

It all suggests that scientists have plenty more work to do in figuring out a better estimate of the climate sensitivity. Their best answer will be watched for closely when it arrives in the form of the next report of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, currently expected in 2021.

In the meantime, getting the number right matters a great deal in the current moment - because it helps determine how much chance there is of limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius, two key international targets enshrined in the Paris climate agreement.

Cox explained that with current emissions levels, we're probably committed to a warming that would be about half of the central equilibrium climate sensitivity (or ECS) number.

"If we believe the ECS is 4, we're already committed to 2 degrees," he said. "An ECS of 3 means that the aspirational limit of Paris of 1.5 degrees is essentially about to be passed. An ECS of 2.8 means we still have the possibility of avoiding 2 degrees - we're very close to 1.5, but we could still avoid 2."

Sanderson said: "If this study is proved correct, it wouldn't change our best guess of what the future would look like under climate change - but it would make the worst case scenario slightly less catastrophic."
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SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown is considering scaling back his controversial twin-tunnels plan to move water around the state, from two tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to one.

In a Department of Water Resources memo sent Friday to potential contractors, state officials for the first time indicated that they are considering a single-tunnel plan. The memo also says the Department of Water Resources is in the process of evaluating other possible changes to the tunnels project, including constructing the project in stages.

Although no decision has been made on whether to scale back the $17 billion project that Brown has championed for years, the water resources department sent the memo so that interested contractors could determine how such changes would affect their bids, Lisa Lien-Mager, a spokeswoman for the California Natural Resources Agency, which oversees the department, said in a statement Tuesday.

The project has not changed, Lien-Mager said.

Browns plan to build two tunnels under the Delta has faced significant financial obstacles and opposition from environmental groups.

The proposal envisions two 35-mile tunnels that would move water from Northern California to farms and cities to the south, including in the Bay Area. Supporters have argued that the Deltas existing water infrastructure is outdated and distributes too little water to the Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California.

The tunnels would bypass that aging system of canals.

Brown has argued that the project has had more environmental review than any other project in the history of the world.

It is absolutely essential if California is to maintain a reliable water supply, Brown said in December 2016 after the final environmental impact report was released.

The supporters of California WaterFix, as the tunnels project is called, say the diverted water from the Delta would deliver more water around the state without harming dwindling fish populations.

Opponents include many environmental groups and Delta farmers who worry about the tunnels effects on the Deltas fragile ecosystem. While some  including the Natural Resources Defense Council  have argued for a single tunnel, they also want to reduce overall water diversions from the Delta.

Its unclear whether a single-tunnel alternative would achieve this because details have yet to be released.

Im very skeptical, unfortunately, said Doug Obegi, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. It is clear the larger project was economically infeasible. They didnt have the money for it. My fear is that although they appear to be downsizing the project, they are likely to divert as much water or more from the estuary  and thats not consistent with what is needed to restore and protect the health of the Delta.

The twin-tunnel project hit a financing snag in September when Westlands Water District, a politically powerful San Joaquin Valley supplier, voted against paying 20 percent of the price.

With Brown in his final year as governor, his office began talks with other water agencies in recent weeks about a single-tunnel plan in hopes of garnering support. The Santa Clara Valley Water District voted in October to conditionally support the project if it becomes one tunnel. Santa Clara County receives 40 percent of its water from the Delta.

Support from the Santa Clara water district was seen as critical to push back against opponents who have characterized the project as a water grab by Southern California cities and corporate farmers.

Richard Santos, the water districts board chair, said the agency continues to work with the state on the Delta proposal and that the board could vote on any changes announced by the state in the spring.

Were optimistic that the state will be able to present a project that meets the principles we approved in October, Santos said in a statement.

State water officials said construction could still begin later this year.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
CANBERRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has flown its final strike mission over Iraq in the fight against Islamic State (IS), an RAAF chief marshal said on Tuesday night.

Australian F/A-18 Hornets have conducted operations in Iraq since October 2014, providing support to troops as they fought to reclaim Mosul and other cities from IS.

Marise Payne, Australia's Defence Minister announced in December that Australia's operations in Iraq would be wound back after the Iraqi government declared victory over the extremist group.

Mark Binskin, an Air Chief Marshal in the RAAF, said Australian fighter jets had made a significant contribution to the fight against IS.

"Over more than three years, hundreds of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have deployed to the Middle East as part of the Air Task Group (ATG) strike element," Binskin said in a media release.

"With each deployment, they have demonstrated the highest levels of skill, courage and professionalism.

"Our aircrew and their support crews have consistently delivered in extremely difficult and challenging conditions.

"The Air Strike Group and their families can be proud of their achievements and their important contribution to help the Iraqi Security Forces liberate their country from Daesh."

Six Australian super hornets conducted the strikes in Iraq on their last mission, which were coordinated by a U.S.-led coalition, and will now fly back home.

The end of the air strikes does not mark the end of Australia's military involvement in Iraq, Binskin said. The ATG will stay on and support the coalition air campaign.

"The ADF will continue to work with our coalition and Iraqi partners over the coming months to establish their ongoing requirements and assess where they can make the most valuable contribution, as we work to maintain the gains in that region," Binskin said.
Maryland Democrats on Tuesday introduced a package of bills aimed at reversing the impact recent changes to the federal tax code will have on taxpayers and state coffers, their latest effort to roll back changes imposed by President Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress.

Gov. Larry Hogan, R, who has pledged to return to taxpayers any revenue they owe the state as a result of new U.S. tax laws, said he was "thrilled" at similar efforts by the Democratic leaders, even as he bickered with them about the protocol surrounding the unveiling Wednesday of his state budget proposal.

Senate President Thomas Mike Miller, D-Calvert, and House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said they want to allow taxpayers to receive a state tax credit for donations made to a new state-run charity that would benefit public schools; lower the threshold on taxing the inheritance left by wealthy residents and restore personal exemptions on state tax returns.

It was not immediately clear if Hogan, who has opposed the estate tax in the past, would support each of those specific proposals.

Busch said Democratic legislative leaders are working with their staff, outside financial and tax consultants, and the office of U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., to determine the full impact on taxpayers of the federal bill.

"We want to make sure Marylanders can get relief," Busch said. "We don't have all the specifics yet, these are the tools we're going to start with. . . . We're looking for input from everyone."

Democrats in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey have launched similar efforts.

Hogan said Tuesday that the federal changes could cost Maryland taxpayers close to $1 billion. Democrats estimated that residents of the state claim about $680 million in personal exemptions on their state returns, which were cut as part of the federal tax overhaul. Under the proposal unveiled Tuesday, sponsored by Del. Jay Walker, D-Prince George's, those exemptions - about $3,200 a person - would be restored.

The state-run charity that would be created by the Democratic legislation would benefit public schools, according to bill sponsor and House Majority Leader Del. William Frick, D-Montgomery. It is designed to allow donors to offset the limits federal tax law places on deductions for state taxes starting this year.

Frick said taxpayers who donate would receive a 95 percent state tax credit.

"The state is held harmless because we'll get the same amount of revenue either way, but this provides flexibility for the taxpayers," Frick said.

The legislation affecting wealthy Marylanders uncouples the state from federal estate-tax rules. Under current law, Maryland - which has more millionaires per capita than any other state - is supposed to follow federal estate-tax rules beginning in 2019.

Those new rules raise the threshold for taxing inheritances from $5.49 million to $11 million. Maryland, which currently taxes inheritances greater than $4 million, would lose as much as $60 million a year if it uses the new federal threshold, according to Del. Jimmy Tarlau, D-Prince George's, the bill sponsor.

Progressives have tried unsuccessfully to uncouple Maryland from federal estate-tax rules in previous sessions, but this year legislative leaders are backing the idea.

Democratic leaders complained Tuesday about Hogan's plans for rolling out the budget, saying they will break with precedent by spurning the his invitation to attend a private briefing at the governor's mansion shortly before the administration releases the spending plan.

They said Hogan's office waited until Tuesday morning to notify them of the briefing, unlike past years, when they were invited several days in advance. They also chafed at Hogan's decision to explain the budget to Republicans - but not Democrats - on Monday afternoon.

"I don't know of any other governor that hasn't given a week notice or better," said Busch, who has served in the legislature for more than 30 years. "It's the one time when everyone gets together and has some interaction. The unfortunate thing about it is that dialogue will be lost."

Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer disagreed that the timing of the invitation was unusual, saying the budget briefing and requests to attend it have "happened various ways over the years."

"This is exactly the kind of silliness that Marylanders are fed up with, whining and complaining about breakfast invites," he said.

At a news conference Tuesday, Hogan said his budget will provide a record level of education funding that exceeds the state's funding formulas for schools by $15 million, add $11.5 million to the state's child-care subsidy program and include $6 million to expand tax breaks for manufacturers and other businesses that create new jobs in designated high-unemployment areas.

Hogan also said he would renew his calls for the legislature to reduce automatic spending increases, saying such mandates account for 84 percent of the state's budget and "have put our budget on autopilot for even more spending increases that we simply cannot afford."
KABUL, Afghanistan - Vice President Mike Pence weighed in on one of the thorniest issues in Afghanistan's complex politics on Wednesday by urging the peaceful resolution of a power struggle between the president and the deposed governor of a northern province.

According to a statement from the vice president's office, Pence emphasized to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani by telephone "his support for the Afghan government to engage with Balkh Governor Atta and conduct a peacefully negotiated transition of leadership."

In December, Ghani announced Atta Mohammad Noor, one of the last remaining Afghan regional strongmen, had resigned as governor of Balkh province and a successor had been appointed, although it appeared to be more of dismissal after months of public wrangling between the two.

Atta, however, has refused to step down.

It was noted with surprise in Afghan government circles Pence referred to Atta as the governor. The call was seen here as an attempt to forestall military action by Kabul to permanently remove him and install his appointed replacement.

Bashir Bezhen, an Afghan security analyst, said after Pence's call, there was little chance of military action, which would have pitted the army against Atta's thousands of heavily armed supporters.

"There was fear before the phone call that the government will resort to a military move to oust Atta, and his supporters would respond with force," he said. "Now that fear is gone." He added referring to Atta as governor was a blow to the government from a legitimacy point of view.

Atta served as governor for more than 13 years in Balkh, a key province that serves as the gateway to Central Asia. He grew immensely rich in his position and is said to have run the province as his personal kingdom. He was also a key ally to the United States in the fight against the Taliban.

Atta's party, the influential Jamiat-i-Islami, welcomed Pence's comments - the first by a U.S. official on the issue. The Afghan government has not publicly responded to Pence's statement.

The president's conflict with the powerful regional strongman comes against a backdrop of upcoming elections, increased attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State, and rising ethnic tensions in the country's diverse politics.

Members of Atta's Jamiat party are predominantly from the Tajik ethnicity, while Ghani is an ethnic Pashtun.

U.S. forces have also vastly increased their airstrikes against the Taliban under new rules of engagement that seek to force the insurgent group to the negotiating table.
Discrimination in Maryland's broader business climate would justify giving minority and women-owned businesses preferences for entering the state-regulated medical marijuana market, according to a report released Wednesday.

The long-awaited report, ordered by Gov. Larry Hogan, R, gives lawmakers the justification they need to pass legislation to help more minorities break into the industry.

Pending legislation would set aside five new marijuana cultivation licenses for minority-owned businesses, and put a pause on any other new licenses for as long as a decade.

None of the 14 companies currently licensed to grow cannabis for medical purposes in Maryland's are led by black executives. That enraged lawmakers who said it was unfair that African Americans were disproportionately locked up on marijuana charges, compared to the overall populations, but were getting fewer opportunities to profit from the legal industry.

While the 2014 law legalizing medical marijuana called for regulators to seek diversity in licensing growers, the Maryland Medical Marijuana Commission did not consider race or ethnicity after receiving legal advice that said it would be illegal to do so without evidence of disparities.

After a political brawl ensued, and lawmakers failed last year to reach a compromise on overhauling the medical marijuana industry, Hogan ordered a disparity study.

The consultant, economist Jon Wainwright, didn't specifically examine Maryland's medical marijuana companies or the application process. Instead, he examined whether an earlier study finding widespread disparities in business opportunities for minorities in Maryland could be applicable to the medical marijuana industry.

He concluded that it was.

"Absent such affirmative remedial efforts by the State, I would expect to see evidence in the relevant markets in which the medical cannabis licensees will operate that is consistent with the continued presence of business discrimination," Wainwright wrote.

But he cautioned that he is not a lawyer and could not say which race-conscious measures to expand the medical marijuana market are legal.

Medical marijuana went on sale in December at a limited number of dispensaries after years of delays. Supply is low and prices are high while most growers are still working to get their product ready for market.
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (ChinaMil) -- PLA Daily published on Page 8 of its Wednesday edition a letter sent by a soldier to the newspaper calling for improvement of the combat boots.

In the letter from Corporal Li Shuaishuai serving in an army special operations brigade under the PLA Eastern Theater Command, Li pointed out the shortcomings of the current combat boots and is looking forward improvements.

Firstly, the combat boots are extremely heavy. The over 1.5-kg boots often drag him down in the 5-km armed cross-country race training.

Secondly, the boots are not breathable and it is very easy to get wet feet. In summer, after a day's training, the boots usually give off unpleasant smells, and in winter, due to the cold weather, the wet inner layers of the boots are difficult to get dry.

Thirdly, the soles of the boots are too hard, not easy to deform, but it doesnt provide any flexibility. Because of the boots' lacking in shock absorption, blisters on the soles of the feet and swelling knees are very common occurrences after long-distance training, the Corporal complained in his letter.

Li's letter indicates that there is still much room for improvement for the type-07 combat boots the PLA provides for its troop currently.
NAY PYI TAW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China and Myanmar held a new round of diplomacy and defense consultations here on Wednesday, pledging to further promote bilateral ties, keep close communication on the situation in northern Myanmar and maintain peace and stability in the border areas between the two countries.

The talks were co-chaired by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou and Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission Shao Yuanming from the Chinese side, and Minister of International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin and Commander-in-Chief of No.1 Bureau of Special Operations (Army) Tun Tun Naung from the Myanmar side.

The two sides noted that the leaders of the two countries have maintained frequent exchanges and reached important consensus on advancing all-round strategic bilateral cooperation in the new era, thus injecting new impetus into the development of bilateral ties.

While highlighting that China-Myanmar relations have been maintaining sound momentum of development, the two sides vowed to well implement the important consensus reached by their leaders and lift China-Myanmar comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new high.

They also exchanged views on the situation in northern Myanmar, and agreed that properly managing the situation in northern Myanmar and safeguarding peace and stability in the border areas are of great significance to maintaining smooth growth of the bilateral ties and promoting peace process in Myanmar.

They pledged to make good use of the current bilateral exchange mechanisms involving sectors of diplomacy, militaries and public security as well as regional governments, and continue their coordination and collaboration on the situation in northern Myanmar.

They also agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the management of the border areas and ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel as well as major cooperation projects in northern Myanmar so as to jointly uphold border peace and stability.

The Chinese officials reiterated respect for Myanmar's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as support for the Myanmar peace process, calling on all parties in Myanmar to adhere to the "Panglong Spirit" and reach consensus on ethnic unity under the framework of federal constitution.

Myanmar officials appreciated China's help in the peace process, pledging to work with China to safeguard peace and stability in the border areas so as to ensure the smooth and safe implementation of bilateral cooperation projects.

Myanmar looks forward to implementing the initiative on building the Myanmar-China economic corridor to promote the development of Myanmar's border areas, the officials said.

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing also met with the Chinese delegation respectively.

The two sides agreed to hold the next round of talks in China.
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Some San Antonio students will not have to make up a school day for the one they missed on Tuesday as the city was blanketed in ice.

All major San Antonio districts canceled class on Tuesday to keep their students and faculty off the dangerous, iced-over roads.

MySA checked back with those districts on Wednesday to see if a date has been set for a makeup day.

RELATED: Shoutout to the moms, taquerias that kept San Antonio warm with caldo yesterday

Now Playing: Weather Video Video: San Antonio Express-News

Districts including Harlandale, Alamo Heights, New Braunfels, Medina Valley, Edgewood, South San and schools part of the Archdiocese of San Antonio will not have to make up the day because they each have enough "minutes" already built into their calendars.

EISD Chief Academic Officer Phil Chavez explained the policy in an email to mySA.

"Edgewood ISD has built in minutes over and above the required 75,600 minutes the our 2017  2018 Academic Calendar to ensure student instructional time is met for this year," he said. "All of our schools meet the 75,600 minutes of instruction, with the inclement weather day we had on Tuesday, January 16, 2018. We also have enough minutes for an additional day of inclement weather, if needed."

RELATED: 9 viral, funny San Antonio stories you may have missed during the winter storm

The following districts have either not yet made their decision or have set a makeup date:

San Antonio Independent School District: Decision not yet made

Northside Independent School District: Decision not yet made

North East Independent School District: Feb. 19

Southside Independent School District: Decision not yet made

San Marcos Independent School District: April 27

Boerne ISD: Feb. 19

Don't see your child's district? Check back, this list will be updated as more decisions are announced.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye
A man arrested after fatally stabbing another man during an argument Monday on the South Side told police he stabbed him in self-defense.

Ernest Albert Flores Jr., 62, has been charged with murder in the death of a man in his mid-20s, according to the San Antonio Police Department. His bail is set at $125,000.
Boerne police are investigating the alleged theft of more than $80,000 from the nonprofit group that supports the Boerne High School band.

The Boerne High School Band Boosters said in a press release Wednesday that it alerted authorities in late December to financial irregularities and unauthorized payments of its funds.
UPDATE: James Estrada has returned home according to a release sent at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday.

San Antonio police are asking residents to keep an eye out for James Estrada, a 77-year-old man who reportedly went missing Wednesday.

Estrada was last seen in the 3500 block of Bunyan Drive, according to a news release from the department.

RELATED: Police: Man wrapped body of missing father in tarp, left it in San Antonio apartment

Police say he suffers from a medical condition and is under a doctor's care.

Estrada was wearing glasses and a green jacket, according to the release. He may also be driving a white 2007 GMC Sierra pickup.

Anyone with information on Estrada's location is asked to call police at 210-207-7660.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
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The San Antonio Zoo is closed Wednesday because of icy weather, officials announced.

"Due to icy conditions and freezing weather, the zoo will be closed Wednesday, January 17," reads the zoo's announcement.

The Will Smith Zoo School delayed opening until 10 a.m.

The closure of the zoo comes one day after most of the city shut down for icy conditions as a storm struck San Antonio Tuesday, bringing freezing rain, sleet and slick roads to the area.

RELATED: San Antonio to remain icy Wednesday before temperatures begin to climb

Zoo spokeswoman Jennifer Pue said animals at the zoo are staying warm with the help of heaters and extra hay.

"We also prepare by having generators on hand in the event we lose power," Pue said Tuesday. "Generators are key in keeping heaters on and aquatic life support systems functioning should the electricity be affected by the weather."

She said animals that are not as "temperature tolerant" as others are moved into their night enclosures to keep warm.

A small crew works at the zoo, even when it is closed, to monitor the animals during inclement weather, she said.

Kelsey Bradshaw is a digital reporter for mySA.com. | Read more of her stories here. | kbradshaw@express-news.net | Twitter: @kbrad5
A suspected Big Red thief who was caught on camera -- and was the subject of hilarious commentary from the owner of the house he broke into -- was arrested last week by Corpus Christi police, according to a report from KIII-TV.

On Jan. 10, Corpus Christi resident Zach Schmitt shared surveillance video of a man who allegedly broke into his home. The post went viral, likely because of what Schmitt seemed most upset about.
Police are searching for the gunman who shot a man in the groin outside of a South Side bar following a contentious round of pool.

The suspect and victim arrived to the River City Saloon in the 1400 block of Southwest Military Drive Tuesday night and began playing pool.
Gwanak district in southern Seoul, an area of large clusters of one-room flats for students, unsurprisingly has the largest number of homes for monthly rent at 9.31 percent. But a surprise second in the capital is the affluent Gangnam district (6.5 percent), where conventional wisdom would suggest people either live in their own homes or leased luxury condominiums.

Gangnam has not only luxury apartments favored by highly paid foreign expats but also cheap rental units for those who make a lot less. The number of homes for monthly rent in Gangnam was higher than in Mapo (4.25 percent) or Seodaemun (3.68 percent), where some top universities are clustered.

One yoga instructor (26) who lives in a small one-room flat in Gangnam's Nonhyeon-dong said, "I'd end up spending more on commuting if I didn't live close to my workplace." Hong Moon-hee (60), a Gangnam estate agent, said, "Singles in their 20s and 30s who work in Gangnam are increasingly giving up saving money to buy their own homes, so more people look for convenience and opt for monthly rentals despite the high cost."

Another reason is the large number of bars in the Gangnam area. Nonhyeon-dong is packed with bars and many women who work in nightlife businesses live in studio apartments there. One realtor in the area said, "These women sleep all day and go to work at night, so they prefer to live in Gangnam, which close to their work and has a lot of trendy beauty salons. Although preferences may vary, most of them live in studio apartments that cost between W500,000 to W700,000 a month." (US$1=W1,126)

But there are also people who rent luxury homes for millions of won a month. They are usually young entrepreneurs who run their own Internet shopping malls or businesspeople who only spend short periods in town. Wealthy individuals or expats whose housing cost is covered by their employers also choose luxury studio apartments or high-end villas that cost W2-3 million a month.
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SAN DIEGO (AP)  The highest-ranking member of a Mexican cartel to ever surrender to U.S. authorities has pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges, acknowledging he orchestrated the shipments of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin to the United States.

Damaso Lopez Serrano, 29, entered his plea last week in federal court in San Diego, nearly six months after turning himself over to U.S. authorities at California's border with Mexico, the highest-ranking Mexican cartel leader to do so, the U.S. attorney's office said.

READ ALSO: 'Do not travel' warning issued for large stretch of Texas border

His father, Damaso Lopez Nunez, was arrested in Mexico City in May and had been battling for control of the Sinaloa cartel following the 2016 arrest of billionaire kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Mexican officials have blamed Lopez Nunez for instigating violence in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa and the peninsula of Baja California, including a string of killings around Cabo San Lucas.

U.S. authorities are seeking Lopez Nunez's extradition. Guzman was sent to the United States last year to face drug charges.

Lopez Serrano, who has been described as violent and flashy by Mexican experts, acknowledged in federal court that he held a leadership role in the cartel. He also said he was armed while trafficking drugs and pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges out of a separate case in Virginia that also names his father.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and has agreed to forfeit $1 million in cash.

RELATED: 8 cartel members reportedly arrested in Mexico after officials say they killed 16 people

Lopez Serrano's conviction "strikes a serious blow to the leadership of the Sinaloa cartel and its violent drug trafficking activities," acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division said in a statement.

The case is part of a five-year investigation that has resulted in charges against more than 125 people, the seizure of thousands of tons of drugs and more than $27 million in drug proceeds. U.S. officials said the probe has shed light on the inner workings of one of the world's most powerful drug cartels.

___

This story has been corrected to remove hyphen in name in final reference to Lopez Serrano.
President Donald Trump is firing up a stunt on Wednesday to try to shame news organizations he doesn't like:

"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!" he tweeted on Jan. 7.

It's a cheap ploy, but it comes with a serious, sinister subtext. Trump has been making a case for changing U.S. libel laws to make it easier to punish publishers of news he considers "fake."

What he doesn't seem to realize is that actual fake news is already outside the protection of current laws.

That's the opinion of one of the foremost experts on U.S. libel law, Robert Sack, a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Sack has focused on these issues for decades; before becoming a federal judge in 1998 he was a libel lawyer representing notable media clients like the Wall Street Journal.

Fake news, "invented and disseminated with the intention of fooling the recipient into believing it is genuine," is actionable under present law, he writes in the latest edition of his definitive two-volume treatise on defamation, "Sack on Defamation: Libel, Slander and Related Problems."

What he means is that if Trump were correct that mainstream news outlets deliberately published false information with the intent of making him look bad, he could successfully sue them without any changes to existing law.

Contemporary libel law grows out of a 1964 landmark Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan, in which the justices ruled that a public figure can win a defamation case only by showing that false and harmful charges against him were made with "actual malice." That's a legal term-of-art that means publishing something knowing it was false or with "reckless disregard" for whether it was true or not.

This daunting standard applies only to public figures; ordinary citizens can win libel judgments if they are defamed negligently. It's designed to protect a free, aggressive press against intimidation or even bankruptcy.

Sack has written that profound changes in the structure of the news media since 1964 have only made these protections more important.

"If the classic institutional press is less robust now than it once was, the response surely cannot be less protection, but perhaps in some respects recognition of the need for more so it can continue to serve," he wrote in the latest preface to his libel book.

Trump uses the "fake news" label to tar almost any news outlet or story he doesn't like, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC News and most recently the Wall Street Journal, whose owner, Rupert Murdoch, has been Trump-friendly. The idea is to give core supporters an excuse to disregard damaging stories.

In anticipation of the "Fake News Awards" charade, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, one of the few implacable Trump critics remaining among conservative Republican politicians, has prepared blistering remarks about the president's contempt for a free press. Recalling Trump's charge that the press is "the enemy of the American people," Flake noted that the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin used similar language to justify purges against real and imagined opponents. (Not that Stalin had a free press to worry about.)

"The president has it precisely backwards - despotism is the enemy of the people," Flake said in remarks prepared for delivery in the Senate. "The free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn't suit him, 'fake news,' it is the person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press."

- Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view.
Federal safety regulators have launched a probe into older Goodyear motorhome tires that may fail, causing crashes and possibly deaths.

About the Goodyear Tire Investigation

According to reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began the probe after a court ordered Goodyear to release data from previous lawsuits, which had been sealed under court orders and confidential settlement agreements.

Data obtained revealed that a number of G159 tires manufactured by the company failed while in use, resulting in deaths and injuries. NHTSA says the number of claims suggest the recurring failures could be a sign of a larger defect in the tires.

Currently, the investigation covers roughly 40,000 tires manufactured between 1996 and 2003.

The agency has also received 10 complaints of tire failure, including two that resulted in crashes. Documents cite reports to Goodyear, including one death and 13 injuries.

Risks of Damaged and Defective Tires

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that defective tires are responsible for nearly 8,000 motor vehicle accidents every year. Additionally, according to a report by Michelin, approximately 535 deaths and 23,000 collisions result from tire blowouts annually.

Common causes of tire failure include:

- Poor or defective design

- Inadequate curing process

- Inadequate skim stock

- Improper belt wiping

- Improper belt placement

- Lack of nylon overlays

- Faulty split rim wheel assemblies

Contact an Experienced Product Liability Attorney

Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys are leaders in the area of product liability litigation. Our Defective Drug and Products Division has extensive knowledge and resources in order to represent our clients efficiently and aggressively. We represent a multitude of people who are battling against manufacturers of defective drugs and/or products.

Your choice does matter. If you or a loved one has suffered serious injuries because of a recalled product, call Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys immediately. We represent clients/victims all over the country. We are available 24/7, nights and weekends.

Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
Pressure is growing on British Prime Minister Theresa May to hold a second Brexit referendum, and the idea is beginning to attract backing from across the political spectrum, even from unlikely figures, including leading Brexiter and the one-time leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage.

Shifting public sentiment is acting as a backdrop to the efforts of Prime Minister May to try to shape a consensus when it comes to colleagues in her own fractious Cabinet. She is holding a series of talks this month with ministers to try to hammer out an agreement about what kind of post-Brexit relationship she should try to negotiate with the European Union, Britain's largest trading partner.

Her previous endeavors to secure consensus have proven unfruitful, as soon as it looks like she has shaped agreement, it is upended by ministers publicly laying down new demands. Her ministers are fundamentally divided, adding to public confusion and fear about Brexit -- Britain's exit from the European Union. Some lawmakers want a clean break with Europe; others hope to salvage a deep relationship that would leave Britain in the bloc's single market and customs union, but outside its political structures and with no say in what EU institutions decide, much like Norway.

May has rejected allowing a second referendum to approve any deal Britain secures with the bloc, on the grounds that pledging another plebiscite would undermine negotiations by encouraging the Europeans to offer a rotten deal. Labor's Jeremy Corbyn has also rejected the idea of a re-do.

Even so, a poll by BMG Research found 57 percent would support a re-run, a three percent increase from a similar survey conducted in December.

The idea of holding a second referendum took off after Farage said last week on British television that "my mind is changing on this." The proposal for another vote had been pushed relentlessly in previous weeks by Labor politician and former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of May's predecessor, David Cameron.

Farage, to the surprise of his die-hard followers, said because of the "whinging and whining... maybe, just maybe, I am thinking we should have a second referendum on EU membership." Farage says he is sure a re-run would attract an even bigger vote for Brexit and "kill off the issue for a generation."


U.S. President Donald Trump will be among a record 70 heads of state or governments attending this year's World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine village of Davos. More than 3,000 participants from more than 110 countries will participate in this high-powered event between Jan. 23 and 26.

President Trump will be rubbing shoulders with hundreds of the world's most powerful and influential political and business leaders, heads of major international organizations and civil society.

The theme of this year's meeting, "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World," aims to explore the growing divisions in the world order and seek solutions for healing this dangerous global rift.

World Economic Forum Founder, Klaus Schwab, says the nations are moving out of the global financial and economic crisis. But he warns that the world is stuck in a perilous social crisis that will require an unparalleled global effort to overcome.


Welcoming a North Korean delegation that will be up to 500 strong to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang threatens to become a logistical nightmare.

In talks on Monday, South Korea proposed that the North Koreans travel across the border by land, which will probably mean they will be funneled through the truce village of Panmunjom.

"The delegation is so big that we expect a lot of difficulties in terms of security and support," a government official admitted.

Around 500 to 600 North Koreans came to South Korea during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan and the 2003 Universiade in Daegu, but they traveled on ships and airplanes. Due to UN Security Council sanctions, that will not be possible this time.

Finding accommodation at this late stage is also a challenge.

Gangneung Mayor Choi Myeong-hee last week offered to put up the North Korean performers and cheerleaders for free at a lodging facility in the northeastern city.

One National Intelligence Service source who has experience providing security for North Korean visitors said, "The North Korean cheerleaders and other members of the delegation are used to group life, so it wont be too difficult once the accommodations is arranged. The problem is handling curious South Korean onlookers."

North and South Korean officials meet for another round of talks in Panmunjom on Wednesday. "There are many areas that need to be discussed involving the athletes, observers, high-ranking delegation and cheerleaders," Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung said.


By ANI

JIND (HARYANA): Medical examination of the 15-year-old girl, who was found dead near a canal in Haryanas Jind district, revealed that she was raped by several individuals and had suffered immense internal injuries after the criminals inserted a blunt object into her genitals.

On Sunday, the body of a minor was found with injury marks near a canal in Budhakhera village of Jind district.

READ HERE | She wanted to be doctor; give culprits punishment harsher than death, says father of victim

Internal injury is found, her liver was ruptured and apart from that wounds from sexual assault are seen in her private parts. They have been mutilated and ruptured, and it seems that more than one person was involved, head of Forensic Science Department, Dr. SK Dhattarwal told ANI.

It seems hard or blunt weapon was introduced, he added.

The postmortem also indicates that there might have been attempts to drown the victim, Dhattarwal informed, and added, To confirm it, we have sent for the body for a diatom test. The body was found naked from below the chest area.

The girl has been identified and it is found that she was missing since January 9 from Kurukshetra.

Meanwhile, the family of the victim staged a protest in Kurushetra and called for Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar, demanding justice for her.

My daughter was kidnapped and raped. The culprits should be punished, we want justice for her. If administration had done its job well, an incident like this would have never happened, Father of the victim told ANI.

A family member of the girl said she had been missing since she went for her tuition classes.

Her aunt used to take her home from the tuition at 8:00 pm, but she was not there on January 9 when she (aunt) went to take her. The same day, we filed a complaint with the police. We then saw on social media that a body was found in Jind, he said.

Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar has assured that the culprit in the case would be nabbed soon.

JIND (HARYANA): Medical examination of the 15-year-old girl, who was found dead near a canal in Haryanas Jind district, revealed that she was raped by several individuals and had suffered immense internal injuries after the criminals inserted a blunt object into her genitals. On Sunday, the body of a minor was found with injury marks near a canal in Budhakhera village of Jind district. READ HERE | She wanted to be doctor; give culprits punishment harsher than death, says father of victim Internal injury is found, her liver was ruptured and apart from that wounds from sexual assault are seen in her private parts. They have been mutilated and ruptured, and it seems that more than one person was involved, head of Forensic Science Department, Dr. SK Dhattarwal told ANI. It seems hard or blunt weapon was introduced, he added. The postmortem also indicates that there might have been attempts to drown the victim, Dhattarwal informed, and added, To confirm it, we have sent for the body for a diatom test. The body was found naked from below the chest area. The girl has been identified and it is found that she was missing since January 9 from Kurukshetra. Meanwhile, the family of the victim staged a protest in Kurushetra and called for Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar, demanding justice for her. My daughter was kidnapped and raped. The culprits should be punished, we want justice for her. If administration had done its job well, an incident like this would have never happened, Father of the victim told ANI. A family member of the girl said she had been missing since she went for her tuition classes. Her aunt used to take her home from the tuition at 8:00 pm, but she was not there on January 9 when she (aunt) went to take her. The same day, we filed a complaint with the police. We then saw on social media that a body was found in Jind, he said. Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Khattar has assured that the culprit in the case would be nabbed soon.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A fire was reported on a merchant navy oil tanker carrying 30,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel off the Gujarat coast but there were not casualties, a defence spokesperson said.

He, however, did not say if the oil in the vessel spilt into the sea.

The tanker, MT Genessa, is anchored 15 nautical miles off Deendayal Port in Kandla.

The fire was reported at around 6 PM today.

The Indian Coast Guard swung into action and evacuated all the 26 crew members, two of whom suffered burn injuries.

Coast Guard rescued 26 crew members of MT Genessa oil tanker after fire broke out on it while anchored 15 nautical miles off Deendayal Port Kandla, this evening, 2 members suffered minor burns. Coast Guard to cordon the vessel to avoid oil spillage. (Source:Gujarat Defence PRO) pic.twitter.com/EyAausB8b3  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

"There was a fire in the crew compartment and efforts are underway to douse it," a Coast Guard official said.

Indian Coast Guard Interceptor Boat C-403 is at the scene and the maritime security agency's pollution control team has been activated, the spokesperson said, without clarifying if there was an oil spill or any such possibility.

He said a Dornier aircraft has been pressed into service to ascertain the extent of the fire.

NEW DELHI: A fire was reported on a merchant navy oil tanker carrying 30,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel off the Gujarat coast but there were not casualties, a defence spokesperson said. He, however, did not say if the oil in the vessel spilt into the sea. The tanker, MT Genessa, is anchored 15 nautical miles off Deendayal Port in Kandla. The fire was reported at around 6 PM today. The Indian Coast Guard swung into action and evacuated all the 26 crew members, two of whom suffered burn injuries. Coast Guard rescued 26 crew members of MT Genessa oil tanker after fire broke out on it while anchored 15 nautical miles off Deendayal Port Kandla, this evening, 2 members suffered minor burns. Coast Guard to cordon the vessel to avoid oil spillage. (Source:Gujarat Defence PRO) pic.twitter.com/EyAausB8b3  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018 "There was a fire in the crew compartment and efforts are underway to douse it," a Coast Guard official said. Indian Coast Guard Interceptor Boat C-403 is at the scene and the maritime security agency's pollution control team has been activated, the spokesperson said, without clarifying if there was an oil spill or any such possibility. He said a Dornier aircraft has been pressed into service to ascertain the extent of the fire.
The U.S. government has warned citizens to draft a will and make funeral arrangements if they insist on visiting North Korea.

The U.S. State Department's website on Jan. 10 started advising travelers to prepare for the worst if they should visit the North, Voice of America reported Monday.

Americans should "draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney" and "discuss a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pets, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral wishes, etc.," the website added.


On January 16, 2018, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands hosted traditional New Year reception for Dutch guests. Politicians, government executives and guests from various sectors of Dutch community attended the reception. Especially National Police Units and their representatives were invited to this year's reception. Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet and Prof. Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven were present at the reception. The reception was held at Amsterdam Royal Palace. A traditional new year reception will be held for foreign diplomats in Holland and representatives of international organizations on January 17, Wednesday.
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Korea is expected to be removed from the EU's blacklist of tax havens next week after becoming the only OECD member nation to be included late last year.

According to Bloomberg on Tuesday, EU finance ministers have proposed removing eight countries, including Korea, the UAE and Panama from their list of "non-cooperative jurisdictions" when they meet next week.

The move comes after those governments pledged to revise their tax regulations, but Bloomberg added that Korea will remain on a "gray list" of 47 countries "that will be monitored for compliance."

The EU blacklisted Korea over tax breaks for foreign investors in special business zones that it says disadvantage local firms, which do not get the tax breaks.

Korea has pledged to make the changes, if only to avoid tarnishing its credibility.


Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
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).
Old man contributes self-made shoes to the sick

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2018-01-16 16:02

Cotton shoes contributed by an old man bring warm to hospital patients in Shanghai Pudong Gongli Hospital.

It has been 11 years since Sun Bingyuan did volunteer works in the hospital and it is the 9th year he contributed cotton shoes which cost him an average of 6 hours each pair.

A senior technician in a shoe company before his retirement, the 79-year-old Mr. Sun once repaired shoes for Premier Zhou Enlai. Speaking about his motivation to make shoes for the sick, Sun introduced that 10 years ago he suffered from bowel cancer which made him experience the pain of disease, so after he was cured, he decided to send comfort and care to those patients who are suffering.

Mr. Suns story has been adapted to a microfilm The Journey of Heart, and he has been nominated as the Best Persons in China.

Although I have not too much money, I could devote my time and my skill to helping others and at the same time I could receive happiness.said Sun.
Mumbai: All the 14 designs of Rs 10 coin are valid and legal tender for transactions, the Reserve Bank said on Wednesday amid reluctance by certain traders to accept the coins.

"It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank that in certain places there is reluctance on part of traders and members of public to accept Rs 10 coins due to suspicion about their genuineness," the RBI said while reiterating legal tender status of the coins of different designs.

In a statement, the central bank clarified that it puts into circulation the coins minted by government mints.

These coins, it further said, have distinctive features to reflect various themes of economic, social and cultural values and are introduced from time to time.

"So far the Reserve Bank has issued Rs 10 coin in 14 designs... All these coins are legal tender and can be accepted for transactions," the RBI said.

It has also asked banks to accept coins for transactions and exchange at all their branches.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be leading a power-packed contingent of six Union ministers, two chief ministers and top India Inc honchos at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year. As many as 120 global CEOs of companies such as Google, Microsoft, Nike, Citibank, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Sony, Philips, HSBC and Unilever, etc, are likely to join the dinner to be hosted by PM Modi, News18 has learned from one of the organisers.

Its after two decades that an Indian PM is attending WEF and Modi will be leading the largest contingent ever to the annual summit of investors and world leaders.

Union ministers accompanying the PM are: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who will be deliberating on Indias role in the world; Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who will be speaking on post-establishment politics; Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, who will be highlighting Indias relation with the World Trade Organisation and global trade treaties; Minister of Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh, talking on promoting fragile cities; and Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar, will be elucidating on nuclear threats to international security in the context of South Asia.

The Indian contingent will also be stressing on issues such as promoting use and development of electric vehicles in India, digital agriculture, promoting development of the railways industry in India, developing skills in a digital world and promoting design in India.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, along with industry captains such as Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, Rahul Bajaj and son Sanjiv Bajaj, N Chandrasekaran, Chanda Kochhar, Uday Kotak, Naresh Goyal, Anand Mahindra, Sajjan Jindal, Salil Parekh, Sunil Mittal and son Kavin Mittal, Azim Premji, Ravi Ruia and Prashant Ruia, Lakshmi Mittal with son Aditya Mittal, Indra Nooyi and Sundar Pichai will also be present.

India is making its presence felt in a big way by participating in numerous sessions like readiness for the future of production, next generation industrial strategies, designing for smart mobility, game-changers with respect to Asia, India's role in the world, the future of employment in manufacturing and production along with reimagining policy-making for the fourth industrial revolution.

The Prime Minister will be reaching Davos on January 22 and holding bilaterals with Swiss counterparts during the day.

The main event begins from January 23 and PM Modi will be addressing the plenary session. Chinas President Xi Jinping addressed the same session last year.

US President Donald Trump will also be present at Davos and there is a possibility of a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This would be for the first time in 18 years that a US president would be attending an annual gathering of global economic leaders.
New Delhi: Punjab has lost about 40 per cent of its revenues after the implementation of the GST, the state's Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said on Wednesday.

Calling for uniformity in tax rates of petroleum products, he said the issue would be taken up at the meeting of finance ministers of the northern zone on January 19, as states should not be seen as competing with each other.

"I am really concerned about my state. We have lost almost 40 per cent of our revenues," he told reporters here.

Badal said he was ready to forego its revenues from additional taxes on petroleum products if there is uniformity in tax rates.

On whether all natural gas products should come under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said his opinion was that it will be better to put petrol and diesel first under GST because not every state is concerned with natural gas.

"Let the whole country have a uniform slab in terms of taxation on petroleum products. Why should Punjab be taxed higher than Haryana and then there is a constant war going on and especially for smaller states," he said, adding that this leads of inter-state smuggling of products.

To a question on whether the Congress party will bring these items within the ambit of GST and whether the states are ready to forgo taxes , Badal said these are things which have to be worked out by all the states sitting together.

"Finance Ministers of North Zone, we are meeting and one of the agenda items when the ministers of North India meet will be that let us have uniformity not only on petroleum products but also in small things like car registration etc," he said, adding that what one is seeing is people going to neighbouring states to get a car registered.

"So, why states should be competing for revenue?" he asked.
Bhopal: A day after Congress demanded registration of case against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for slapping his bodyguard, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday went one step ahead and handed a complaint to police against

Chouhans slapping act and sought registration of a criminal case against him.

AAP state organisational secretary Pankaj Singh led a delegation of party workers to MP Nagar police station and registered a complaint.

The complaint, a copy of which was accessed by News18, said: On Jan 14, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan flouted law by slapping his own bodyguard during an election rally in Sardarpur town of Dhar district.

Tagging the CD of the said incident and clippings of newspaper reports, the AAP volunteers sought registration of case under sections 332 and 353 of IPC against Chouhan for "taking law in his own hands and flouting it".

The police officer on duty simply took the complaint but did not say anything, AAP senior functionary Dushyant Dangi said.

The Chief Minister has slapped a policeman. Why a case of obstructing a Public Servant is not being registered against the leader of a party which keeps harping on morality? quizzed Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi in a tweet.

An otherwise calm CM Shivraj had lost temper during a public rally in Dhar on Jan 14 when he got infuriated on something and pushed his own bodyguard aside after slapping him. The act was recorded by someone on the mobile phone.

CMs office and his publicity managers are yet to react to the January 14 incident.
New Delhi: Army chief Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said that it was important to have curbs on internet, social media use to counter terrorism.

I understand that in a democratic country people might have issues when we put curbs in place. But it is important to restrict the use of social media to tackle terrorism. Put some checks and curbs on internet, social media that terrorist organisations always resort to, the Army chief said. He was speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital.

He further said that terrorism had two sides to it  militant and political. It is important to tackle both. Many may argue that there is no point in banning political outfits since they dont indulge in terror activities directly, but we should not forget that they support it, he added.

Further commenting on ways to counter terrorism, he said it was imperative to identify who terrorists were and which are the nations that support terrorism.

Anyone who uses violence as a means to an end is a terrorist. We need to identify the nations that have a state-sponsored policy to support terrorism, he said. Once they are identified, he added, The nations had to do their own job. While there should be international support, the nation still needs to work on countering its own terrorists.

The Army chief also said it was important to identify where the terrorists get funds from. General Rawat added that one must look at where poppy and cannabis grows.

The Army chief also listed the importance of biological chemical weapons and the threat that comes with it. Terrorism is here to stay. Unless all countries come together. Terrorism cannot be the new warfare. It has been seen that those nations that support terrorism often become victims of it eventually. So if you want a safe home, then we need to work towards ending it, he said.

Commenting on the media coverage of terrorism, he said it was important that terrorists should not be made into heroes. The more you give coverage to terrorist activities, the more you give them popularity. But can we control the media? We must ensure that terrorists are not made into heroes, he said.
Nanded/Aurangabad: A cleric in a Nanded madrasa allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl and molested another minor, police said on Wednesday.

Shockingly, three local politicians from Majalgaon village, from where the girl who was allegedly raped hailed, tried to pressurise her mother not to file a case against the cleric, identified as Maulavi Saber Farooqui, who is at large, a Nanded police official said on Wednesday.

On the complaint lodged by the girl's mother in Itwara police station in Nanded, the three leaders were arrested from Majalgaon on Wednesday, he said.

They are identified as Khalil Patel, Nawab Patel, and Ibrish Bagwan.

While Nawab Patel is said to be former Nanded city unit president of the NCP, Bagwan is Majalgaon taluka president of the AIMIM. Khalil Patel is a former councillor.

The alleged incident occurred at Islamia Arabia seminary located in Deglur Naka area of Nanded a few days back, according to police.

Many girl students from Marathwada region take Islamic studies at the madrasa.

According to the police official, Farooqui allegedly raped the 12-year-old girl after showing her a pornographic clip on his mobile phone and molested another girl (8).

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the incident.

SIT head Sunita Borgaonkar said more complaints could be filed against the accused.

"Police have seized documents from the madrassa and teams have been fanned out to trace the cleric," she said.

According to unconfirmed reports, Farooqui had approached the girl's mother in Majalgaon to settle the matter, but was allegedly thrashed by local youths.

However, police refused to confirm the reports.

Police have registered a case against the cleric on charges of rape and molestation of the IPC and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

However, it is not known which sections were slapped on the three leaders.
New Delhi: Arif Mohammad Khan, former civil aviation minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government has welcomed the governments move to scrap subsidy on Haj saying pilgrimage is only meant for those who can afford it, while education is a basic right.

Defending the governments move to scrap Haj subsidy, Khan said, Firstly, it should be made clear that Haj as a religious obligation is applicable only to well-off Muslims who can afford it.

For the first time since Independence, over 1.75 lakh pilgrims would go to Haj without any subsidies this year. This is a massive rise from last years 1.25 lakh pilgrims who went without any grant.

The Centre on Tuesday announced that the government would stop Haj subsidy and hence save Rs 700 crore, which would be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls.

Khan said, I feel the announcement made by the government to use this money for education and especially for girls education is very significant and must be welcomed.

He further added, Islam makes education a priority and obligatory on the very first day of ordainment, whereas, Haj is prescribed only for the rich.

Minority Affairs Minister, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi made the announcement on Tuesday and said that the decision is in line with the governments agenda to empower minorities without appeasement.

Minutes after the announcement, All India Muslim Personal Law Boards Kamal Farooqui welcomed the move to say that a wrong impression was being created that Muslims were gaining from government aid.

A day after, Khan said, I do not recall any demand made by any Muslim group to subsidize Haj. Giving subsidy to Haj pilgrims was a decision solely taken by the government. So the question of it earning a bad name for the community stands no ground.

Last year, the Centre had formed a six-member committee to look into the Haj subsidy issue in light of a 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing the grant by 2022.

The court had asked the government to invest the subsidy amount of approximately Rs 650 crore year on educational and social development of Muslims.

To this, Khan said, I have every right to demand more and more educational facilities, but for Haj, I must only use my own resources.
New Delhi: In light of the central governments move to withdraw Haj subsidy, a former Air India executive director has rubbished claims that the subsidy was meant to help the national carriers dwindling state.

It is absolutely wrong to say that the subsidy was meant for Air India. The Haj committee is trying to malign Air India, said Jitendra Bhargava, former executive director, Air India.

The Centre on Tuesday announced that the government would stop Haj subsidy starting this year and hence save Rs 700 crore, which would be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday said the decision is in line with the governments agenda to empower minorities without appeasement.

Meanwhile, Naqvi said that for the first time in Independent India, 1.75 lakh pilgrims will go to Haj without a subsidy, a rise from the Rs 1.25 lakh last year.

The Haj authorities who used to enrol the pilgrims would get the total airfare altogether, since the amount cant be given to individuals, it was given to Air India on the basis of the number of passengers being transported. In Air Indias case, the planes would first carry the pilgrims to Mecca and return empty. It would again fly without passengers to bring them back. When its a scheduled flight, the plane does not run empty. This is a simple concept that the Haj authorities have failed to understand, added Bhargava.

The Telangana State Haj Committee, in an official statement, had earlier said that they want the Union government to stop making Air India the official carrier for Haj pilgrims as it charges a lot more than necessary. The Jamaat-e-Islami had also asked the government to call for global tenders.

Air India takes a plane on lease specifically for Haj and a short term lease of an aircraft is always more costly as compared to owning it. When you take an aircraft on lease for two-three months it always costs more. So, there was a full cost estimation done by the Air India and submitted to the ministry, after which the carrier is reimbursed. The Haj Committee also forgets that the pilgrims are also given freebies such as umbrellas and other things when they travel Air India, said Bhargava while explaining why the subsidy was not a part of Air Indias income.

We dont just fly them around but spend on food and other things. Special meals are provided, but Air India never spoke about these things because it is a sentimental space, said Bhargava.

The airline, which is completely owned by the government, is weighed down by a debt of around Rs 52,000 crore. Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha has laid down a timeline for the strategic disinvestment of state-run carrier as the Centre is likely to hold only 26 percent of Air India shares.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister on Wednesday approved 49 percent foreign direct investment in Air India, which means foreign players cannot hold more than 49 percent of the total stakes in the national carrier.
New Delhi: Amid outrage over the alleged rape and killing of two minor Dalit girls in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday assured that strict action would be taken against those involved in such crimes.

Khattar also said that Haryana is in the process of establishing special courts for speedy trial in such cases to ensure timely justice to the victims.

"Such incidents are very unfortunate and I am myself deeply hurt. We will take strict action against all those involved (in committing such crimes)," he told reporters here during a visit.

His remarks came after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and killed in separate incidents in Haryana, barely a month after a similar case involving a six-year-old girl shook the state.

One of the girls, a 15-year-old school student, had been brutally assaulted and her private parts mutilated.

Khattar said he has ordered the state police to increase its patrolling and a few Inspector General-level officers have also been transferred.

Appealing to opposition parties, Khattar said he himself has never done politics over such incidents and the opposition also should refrain from politicising such sensitive issues.

"The state has already started a Dial 100 project. Soon we will also begin 1090 service, a dedicate helpline service for women," he said.

The shocking incident of the alleged rape of the Dalit girls came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.
New Delhi: Inmates in six Haryana jails will be exposed to the "magical power" of cows under a radical rehabilitation programme on prison grounds, authorities said on Tuesday.

A government commission in Haryana tasked with protecting the sacred animal says it has earmarked $1.5 million for buying 600 cows and constructing barns in six prisons across the state from next month.

The chairman of Haryana's government-backed Gau Sewa Aayog, or Cow Welfare Commission, said prisoners would be steered away from a life of crime through the "cow therapy" programme.

"Cows are part of the Hindu religion, and they have magical powers on those who care for her," commission chairman Bhani Ram Mangla told AFP, extolling the "innumerous benefits".

Mangla said fresh milk from the cattle would "cleanse" inmates through a programme that would also sell cow dung and urine from the prison farms to local markets.

Believers attest that drinking cow urine is a panacea for all manner of ailments, from arthritis and asthma to cancer and diabetes. Biogas facilities would also provide energy for the prisons and grass for feeding would be cultivated on site, he added.

It is not the first time prisons have welcomed cows in their grounds, with some operating small-scale dairy farms to supply milk to wardens and other staff, but it is believed to be the first programme of its kind promoting the remedial benefits of the hallowed animal.

Welfare schemes for cows have flourished since the BJP swept to power in 2014, but many shelters for abandoned animals are at bursting point and many can be seen roaming Indian streets, chewing on rubbish.

Right-wing groups have pushed for tough penalties for those accused of abusing the animals, with some states imposing life sentences for those charged with slaughtering cows or possessing or consuming beef.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu publicly apologised to a common man from Chittoor district for causing inconvenience to him after the roads were blocked due to movement of CMs convoy in the area.

Naveen, the affected man, confronted Naidu when he was hearing grievances from the local people at his native Naravaripalle village.

"I had to walk for nearly 2.5 hours to reach my village. The roads leading to the village were completely blocked. This is happening for the first time, but is this the way? the angry citizen was seen shouting at Chandrababu Naidu.

Realising the mistake of the local administration, the CM apologised and said, "I am Sorry, this will not happen again."

The CMs response surprised everyone present there and they could be seen applauding him for this gesture.
Kochi: As the Supreme Court gears up to review the controversial law that criminalises gay sex, some like Muhammed Unais, a 25-year-old Kerala Muslim who was the first man from his religion and state to come out of the closet, say it still doesnt mean that it would become easier to live in the society as a practising Muslim, who is gay.

Last week, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra decided to revisit the 2013 verdict upholding Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that bans consensual sexual acts between members of the same sex, and referred a petition against the controversial colonial law to a larger bench.

While the Supreme Court verdict rekindled hope among the LGBTQ community across the nation, how much will this help people like Unais?

Unais, who holds a post graduate degree in English literature, says his family was nearly ostracized and death threats had become the normal.

My gay identity has cost me a lot of friends who started distancing themselves after I came out. Even those who support me are afraid to come out in public and lend support fearing backlash from the society, says Unais.

Unais remembers how the Khateeb, one who gives sermons during Friday prayers, started shaming his parents in public. Without taking our names, he said that this is what happens when you send your children for higher studies, says Unais.

It all started after Unais attended the LGBTQ parade in Kochi last year. He had uploaded a photo of himself on Facebook, wearing a black lungi and a green shirt. His inbox was flooded both with messages of support and hate.

Being gay and practising his religion has now proved to be a task for Unais, who no longer attends prayers at the mosque, something that has been an important part of his growing up. Every time he would visit the mosque, the crowd there would stare at him or ask questions.

Unais, however, is of the opinion that Islam has always been a good place for queer people.

I strongly believe Islam is very accepting but many Muslims are not. It is the existing social norms and the society that against us. There are many, including some Muslim scholars who lend support to the LGBT cause, but in private. They hardly come out in public fearing a backlash, says Unais.

Unais remembers, as a child, his on only prayer at the dargahs would be to get his sexual orientation changed. However, three years ago, Unais finally mustered the courage to come out.

The 25-year-old feels that the Quran supports the rights of the LGBTQ community. It is the wrong interpretation of Quran that proves the basis for many who argue that Islam doesnt support gay rights, he says.

Many years ago, when a movie named Chanthupottu was released, with actor Dileep playing an effeminate man, Unais became the subject of mockery for his classmates. In a recent Facebook post, Unais shared the experience and leading Malayalam actress Parvathy Menon came out in support of Unais and apologised for what her industry had done in cementing a common mindset against sexual minorities.

While Unais parents have always supported him, they have often feared how the society will treat him. Once my mother asked me why Chekannur Maulavi, a progressive Islamic cleric, was killed and why the hands of Joseph Master were chopped, he says.

Chekannur Maulavi was known for his controversial and unconventional interpretation of Islam based on Quran. In 1993, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances and is now widely believed to be dead. In 2010, people belonging to an extremist, fundamental group chopped of Professor TJ Josephs hands as punishment for blasphemy.

Ever since I have announced my identity on Facebook, threat calls have become normal and mostly from Muslims with extremist ideas. They say I am maligning their religion. One of them even went on to say that hell kill him by that evening.

Thus, Unais still believes that scrapping of Section 377 would not make much of a difference for people like him, until the society changes.
New Delhi: Nirmala Sitharaman, the first woman to become full-time Defence Minister of India, flew a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI on Wednesday.

Sitharaman took off in the two-seater twin-engine fighter jet from an air base in Jodhpur. This comes as the latest move by the Defence Minister to take stock of the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Even as the Defence Minister courts the camera by soaring in an IAF jet, Indias air prowess continues to be on the descent. According to figures tabled by the Ministry of Defence in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session last month, India will have less squadrons by 2025 than it currently possesses.

To make matters worse, numbers reveal that the Modi government would not have added any new squadrons to the IAF by the end of its first term in 2019.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had criticised the UPA government by voicing concerns over the pace at which squadrons were being added to the Air Force.

The BJP, in its manifesto, called out on the IAFs squadron concern an indication of the surrendering of Indias interests and called for a complete overhaul of the system. But the latest figures tabled in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Defence reveal that there would be no net increase in the number of squadrons added by the NDA government in its five-year tenure. In fact, by 2025, the IAF may end up having less squadrons than it currently has.

The question was posed by Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, who asked for the number of squadrons and squadrons of helicopters likely to be with IAF by 2020.

Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Subhash Bhamre, in his response said, The IAF will have 32 Fighter Squadrons and 39 Helicopter Units by 2020.

The Indian Air Force currently possesses 32 squadrons but as the minister put it, Three squadrons of MiG-21 aircraft will be phased out by 2020.

By 2019, the government plans the introduction of two squadrons of Su-30MKIs. This means the number of squadrons will remain the same, once you consider the phasing out of the older squadrons.

Biju Janata Dal MP from Kalahandi Arka Keshari Deo asked the ministry whether the government proposes to phase out these fighter aircraft in future.

MoS (Defence) Bhamre in his response revealed, Ten Squadrons of Indian Air Force (IAF) equipped with MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft are scheduled to retire by 2024 on completion of their Total Technical Life.

Two squadrons of the Jaguar are also set to retire during this period.

Between now and 2025, the government plans to procure two additional squadrons of the Su-30MKI, two squadrons of the Rafale and six squadrons of the Tejas, a single-engine fighter.

So while India will see 12 squadrons retire by 2024, the country will have added only 10 to offset those losses by 2025.

Air Chief BS Dhanoas assessment that India plans to have a 42-squadron Air Force by 2032 seems tough to achieve given the current pace of procurement by the Indian government. But one way in which the government may just be able to pull off this feat is if it manages to ink deals for single-engine fighter aircraft with haste.

Air Defence expert Air Vice Marshall (retired) Manmohan Bahadur said, It may seem difficult at this stage to have 42-squadrons by 2032 but I think we can pull it off. It all depends on the pace at which the Tejas is manufactured and whether India will be able to procure single-engine fighter jets on time.

In addition to two squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1 and four squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1A, India has also expressed interest in buying a foreign-made single-engine fighter. The two companies currently in the running are Swedish manufacturer Saab, which has offered to sell its Gripen E, and US arms giant Lockheed Martin, which has offered to transfer its entire F-16 Block 70 production line from Texas to India.

If India purchases around five squadrons of either the American or Swedish single-engine fighter, it may well be on the way to achieving a 42-squadron air force.

However, sources at Lockheed Martin suggest that the deal may not go down any time soon as the government continues to drag its feet.
Islamabad: Pakistan is examining a proposal for a DGMO-level meeting with India after a gap of four years to reduce tensions along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary through fresh confidence-building measures, a media report said on Tuesday.

The report comes a day after Pakistan said four of its soldiers died and five others injured in cross-border firing by Indian troops across the LoC. The Indian Army, however, said seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in its retaliatory firing.

A Pakistan defence ministry official in a meeting on Monday told the Senate defence committee that a "fresh proposal of DGMOs' (Director Generals of Military Operations) meeting is being considered," the Dawn reported.

The official also briefed the senators about the latest trends in Indian ceasefire violations, it said.

In November, a telephonic conversation between the two DGMOs took place following a request by the Pakistani side.

According to the report, one of the confidence-building measures being considered for the planned meeting of DGMOs is "calibre reduction" of the arms being used at the LoC.

Pakistan-India DGMOs have a frequent hotline contact, but they last met face-to-face four years ago at Wagah, a village which serves as a transit terminal between Lahore and Amritsar.

The December 24, 2013, Wagah meeting had taken place after a break of 14 years. That meeting too was held to discuss ways to ensure peace along the LoC and the Working Boundary.

Meanwhile, a resolution adopted by the Senate committee through consensus condemned Indian Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat's statement about "calling the nuclear bluff of Pakistan" as "stupidity and provocative".

They termed it a "war-like" proclamation, the report said.
New Delhi: The government will need at least $125 billion (Rs 8 lakh crore) to fund its ambitious plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the countrys grid by 2022, a top government official told Reuters, underlining the immense financing challenge ahead.

To put the amount in context, global corporate funding for the solar industry - the world's fastest-growing electricity source  was a tenth of that amount in 2017 at $12.8 billion, research firm Mercom says.

In 2015, India said investment of $100 billion in the seven years to 2022 would be needed to meet its renewable energy goals.

Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 gigawats (GW), and the government plans to complete the bidding process by the end of 2019/20 to add a further 115 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022.

To do that, Anand Kumar, secretary at the ministry of new and renewable energy, said investment of at least $125 billion would be needed.

India, which receives twice as much sunshine as European countries, wants to make solar central to its renewable expansion. It expects renewable energy to make up 40 percent of installed power capacity by 2030, compared with 18.2 percent at the end of 2017.

Kumar said that $125 billion was a conservative estimate and foreign capital would be central to achieving the goal. Private equity firms, US banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, and European utilities EDF and Engie are already investors or lenders in the renewable energy sector.

The government will also require support from development banks, like the World Bank, Kumar said.

IREDA, a state-run financier for renewable energy, raised $300 million by selling rupee-denominated bonds, known as masala bonds, in the United Kingdom last year. The bonds were subscribed 1.7 times. "We are also looking to raise another $500 million through IREDA through masala bonds early next financial year," he said.

NOT ENOUGH

Most of the financing for the renewables drive so far has come from domestic banks, industry experts say, raising doubts about the level of support that can be expected from overseas investors.

Market consultant Jasmeet Khurana said Indian banks would have to account for the lion's share of new renewable investments in the future. "It is an uphill task, but Indian banks can find the appetite to fund these projects," Khurana said.

Another challenge in achieving India's renewable targets is the government's "Make in India" initiative. To protect itself from cheap solar panel imports, Indias directorate general of safeguards, an arm of the finance ministry, has proposed a 70 percent duty on imports of solar equipment from some countries including China, which so far provides the vast majority of India's solar panels.

Kumar said a duty at this stage could hamper our growth situation," and "a realistic view" will be taken in consultation with other stakeholders.

The government was working on developing energy storage technologies and hydrogen-fuel cells and other batteries, he said. "Renewables are the future. The only weak link is storage, and the day you crack storage, there is no looking back for renewables."
Kanpur: As many as 16 people, including a noted builder, were arrested by the Kanpur police in connection with the seizure of over Rs 96 crore in demonetized currency notes from the builder's ancestral house in Swaroop Nagar here.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Meena said that Rs 95 crore belonged to Anand Khatri, the builder, and over a dozen others owned the remaining amount. They were arrested along with the builder.

This is the biggest seizure since old currency notes in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were banned in November, 2016. Meena said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gathered inputs about some companies and individuals involved in converting illegal currency into legal money and shared the information with Inspector General of Police, Kanpur, Alok Singh.

The IG collected more information about those running the money conversion racket and briefed the SSP Kanpur, directing him to carry out raids discreetly.

Following a tip-off, the SSP formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover. They nabbed four men involved in conversion of illegal money from the Swaroop Nagar area. Initially they tried to mislead police, but later during intensive interrogation they broke down and confessed their crime, the SSP said.

They divulged information about the builder involved in converting black money into white by exchanging the old currency notes.

It was revealed that huge amount of demonetised currency was stored in guny bags in the builder's ancestral house near Gole Chauraha in Swaroop Nagar. Police later nabbed the builder, who led the team to the site where the currency was stashed, SP (East) Anurag Arya told PTI.

Police also raided three hotels from where 11 people including Santosh Yadav, a professor, were arrested, he said. Preliminary probe indicated that the cash was hidden with an intention of converting it into legal currency, the SP said, but discounted the possibility of any terror angle.

The arrested were identified as Anand Khatri, builder, Santosh Yadav, professor, key liasioner Mohit Dhingra, Sanjay Agarwal, Manish Agarwal - all residents of Kanpur, Koteshwar Rao from Andhra Pardesh, Sanjay Kumar from Varanasi, Anil Yadav from Saharanpur.

Santosh Pathak and Sanjay Rai both from Mirzapur, Ram Asrey, Dhirendra, Sanjeev Agarwal, Omkar Yadav, Ali Husain, and a woman from Andhar Pardesh whose identity was not immediately known.
A five-judge Constitution Bench has begun hearing the crucial case of Aadhaar validity as the countrys top judiciary continues to grapple with the rift between Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four senior-most judges over assignment of cases. The bench is scheduled to hear seven other important cases, including the one over Section 377 of the IPC, which criminalises homosexuality. None of the four rebel judges are part of the Constitution Bench. Justice Chelameswar, the senior-most among the rebel judges, is likely to miss a weekly lunch with other justices as he is said to be unwell.

Stay tuned as Sanchari Chatterjee brings you the LIVE updates:

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.
New Delhi: Nirmala Sitharaman became the first woman Defence Minister to fly on a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI on Wednesday. Sitharaman took off in the two-seater twin-engine fighter jet from an air base in Jodhpur.

Heres a look at the other politicians and ministers who boarded fighter jets:

- MAY 18, 2016: MoS Home Kiren Rijiju lived his dream of flying a Sukhoi-30MKI supersonic fighter jet from the Halwara airbase today in Punjab.

- AUG 10, 2015: MoS Defence Rao Inderjit Singh went on a sortie in the frontline IAF aircraft Sukhoi Su-30MKI at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad.

- FEB 19, 2015: BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy flew in Sukhoi-30 MKI, the frontline fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force at Aero India 2015 air show here.

- NOV 25, 2009: President of India Pratibha Patil made history when she flew in fighter jet Sukhoi 30 MKI (SB 139) in Pune.

- JUNE 8, 2006: Seventy-four-year-old A.P.J. Abdul Kalam flew in a Sukhoi-30 fighter plane, becoming the first President to make a sortie in a combat aircraft.

- JUNE 22, 2003: Defence Minister George Fernandes, shed his favourite kurta-pyjama for anti-gravity suit to undertake his historic fighter sortie in SU-30 MKI from Lohegaon Air Force Station.
Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court today issued a contempt notice to censor board chairman Prasoon Joshi in connection with the release of the film Padmaavat on January 25.

The Lucknow bench of the court granted three weeks' time to Joshi for filing his response to the contempt notice. It fixed next hearing of the matter in the week commencing February 12.

A bench of Justice Mahendra Dayal passed the order on the petition filed by Kamta Prasad Singhal, who had submitted that he had earlier filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking a ban on the release of the movie because it promoted Sati, which is an offence.

After hearing the PIL, the court had on November 9, 2017, dismissed the petition but, simultaneously, it had permitted the petitioner to move his grievance through a representation to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Accordingly, he moved the representation before the chairman of the board on November 13, 2017, but Joshi is yet to decide on it and three weeks time given to him by the high court has expired.

At this, the high court issued contempt notice to Joshi.
A cinema in northern Israel is to be named after Israeli-born Hollywood celeb Gal Gadot, star of the blockbuster hit Wonder Woman, the town of Upper Nazareth said Tuesday. "We are going to name the new cinema after Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress who brings honour to this country," municipal spokeswoman Orna Yosef told AFP. "This is a message for our young people because Gal Gadot is an example of success, who has shown that dreams can be attained."

Gadot, 32, won the Miss Israel beauty pageant in 2004 aged 18. After her two-year compulsory military service she went into modelling and then films, breaking into Hollywood with a role in 2009's Fast and Furious. She now lives in Los Angeles. Last year, Lebanon and Tunisia banned Wonder Woman because of Gadot's Israeli army service.

The Gal Cinema, which will have two screens, will open officially on Wednesday with a showing of Israeli director Eran Riklis's thriller Shelter. Upper Nazareth was founded in 1956 adjacent to biblical Nazareth, the largest Arab city in Israel. Upper Nazareth's population of 50,000 is 80 percent Jewish, with the remainder made up of Muslim and Christian Arabs. Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot said that cinema closures in the area meant that until now residents were obliged to make a round-trip of around 80 kilometers (50 miles) to see a film in the coastal city of Haifa.
Producers of the film Padmaavat have decided to move to Supreme Court against the ban imposed by certain states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, on the film's release. The SC is likely to hear the case on Thursday.

The film has received U/A certificate from the CBFC after five modifications, disclaimers and change of title from Padmavati to Padmaavat. Despite that, MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has decided to stick to his decision of not releasing the film in his state, a move followed by the BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and even Haryana.

The pressure is immense from the Rajput fringe outfit Karni Sena, which held a massive protest demanding a countrywide ban on the film. Led by Karni Sena leader Lokendra Singh Kalvi, the protest was held at Dholpur near UP border to convince UP CM Yogi Adityanath to reconsider his decision of releasing the film in his state. In a statement given to IANS, a senior member of Karni Sena said, "We want the Yogi Adityanath government in UP to ban the film, as the Haryana government has already declared a ban in the state."

He also warned that in case the film is released on January 25, Republic Day celebrations will turn into a dark day.

"We are also planning a big protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from January 22 where thousands of Rajputs from across the country will be gathering to stage a massive protest," he added.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's production and Viacom 18 issued a joint statement clarifying that the stance of the film is not a distortion of history but to glorify the valour of Rajput community.

"Based on 16th-century Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasis epic poem Padmaavat, the movie faced resistance from its early stages due to a misinformation campaign and rumour-mongering. Despite these challenges, the film that showcases the valour of Rani Padmavati, Maharawal Ratan Singh and the famed Rajput ethos of honour, bravery and sacrifice, has managed to overcome all odds; aided by the support of well-wishers from across the film fraternity, the government authorities and the society at large.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali said, Padmaavat is a dream come true for me. I have always been fascinated by the stories of honour, valour, and vigour of our great Rajput warriors that have been captured so beautifully in our literature and this movie is my homage to those glorious stories. I would also like to thank the entire film fraternity for supporting Viacom18 and Bhansali Productions through the entire production and pre-release phase and hope they like the film they so supported."

Starring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmini, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji, Padmaavat is schedule to release on January 25 with paid previews on January 24. It will also be released in Tamil and Telugu and Hindi, as well as in 3D format.
Jaipur: In another show of strength, the Shri Rajput Karni Sena on Tuesday took out a massive rally in Dholpur in Rajasthan to demand a countrywide ban on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat, which is scheduled for release on January 25. They have threatened mass immolation if the film is not banned.

The rally was led by Rajput Karni Sena patron, Lokendra Singh Kalvi. Thousands of women were seen walking in the protest rally.

The protesters met the district collector and requested him to convey their message to the central government for banning the film across India.

Dholpur was chosen as the location for the rally as it is situated on the Uttar Pradesh border. "We want the Yogi Adityanath government in UP to ban the film, as the Haryana government has already declared a ban in the state today," a senior member of Karni Sena told IANS.

"Earlier, we had met Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar requesting him to ban the movie, and he had assured us the movie would be banned once they check its legal aspects."

"We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into the issue and ban the movie across India. We met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on January 14 and apprised him of the challenges the country will face once the film is released," he said.

"Why the central government is keeping mum on this issue is beyond our understanding," he added.

According to the Karni Sena member, 1,700 women have registered their names, addresses and consent letters from their families with the Jauhar Samiti in Chittorgarh.

"If the film's screening is not stopped, they will perform jauhar (mass immolation). The men will go to cinema halls with swords to stop its screening," he added.

All highways surrounding Chittorgarh will also be blocked on Wednesday as a mark of protest.

He warned that in case the film is released on January 25, "Republic Day celebrations will turn into a dark day as there will be all chances of a war like situation in the country".

"We are also planning a big protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from January 22 where thousands of Rajputs from across the country will be gathering to stage a massive protest," he said.

Asked if Karni Sena members are supporting Congress in the Ajmer and Alwar bypoll, he said that "looking at the silence of the central government and to protest against the injustice meted out to members of Shri Karni Sena who were demanding a CBI probe into the Anandpal issue, the Karni Sena members have vowed to ensure BJP loses the ensuing by-polls".
If Karan Johars video stating at gun-point that hell not engage with Pakistani artistes disturbed cine-buffs, Sanjay Leela Bhansalis full-page disclaimer advertisement explaining what his film is about will leave them perplexed. It was MNS then, its Shri Rajput Karni Sena today.

Back in 2017 when hooligans of Karni Sena, a Rajput fringe outfit, assaulted filmmaker Bhansali on the set of his then-underway film Padmavati, one perhaps didnt tap its full potential of being a reflection of the current state of art in India. Or its potential to disrupt the democratic freedom of artists in India.

Cut to 2018, the makers of the film starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, finally have a go-ahead from the Central Board of Certification (CBFC) and almost all state governments barring Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana (so far). But the green light comes with a price and its more than dropping of its I and adding an extra a, which the makers made clear by posting full-page disclaimer advertisements on the front pages of several newspapers.

Coming just a day after Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Bhansali productions announced the release date of January 25, here are the main points mentioned in the ad.

* The film 'Padmaavat' is based on the epic 'Padmavat' by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi which is a revered work of fiction. * The film does not have and never had a dream sequence between Alauddin Khilji and Rani Padmavati.

*We have made this film as an ode to the famed valour, legacy and courage of Rajputs.

*The film portrays Rani Padmavati with utmost respect and does not tarnish her repute or misrepresent her character in any manner.

*The film has been cleared with only five modifications by the CBFC and is officially approved for release in India with a U/A certificate.

*There are no further cuts or modifications to the film.

"Padmaavat is a film that every Indian will be proud of. Please visit your nearest theatre on January 25 to experience it yourself, reads the last line.

Statutory warning on a cigarette pack, I understand. This, I don't. No place for art in my country.#Padmaavat pic.twitter.com/dazvLQ4ffu Nakuul Mehta (@NakuulMehta) January 15, 2018

The points, however, feel like apologies to all that has offended the self-proclaimed moral police and an explanation of all that the film is not. Amid Karni Senas far-fetched political ambitions and a strong fear of disruption of state order, the respect and freedom for art has gone for a toss. Otherwise, who would have thought that one of the highest paid female actors in India will be termed as a naachnewaali? Or a film based on a fictional character would lead to a bounty of 10 crores on Deepika and Bhansalis nose, ears and or head? Or that an actual person will die in the wake of miring controversies? Or that the fringe outfits will threaten with the announcement of female members of Kshatriya community performing jauhar (self-immolation) in Chhitorgarh?

And its time one calls out Karni Sena for their bluff. I, for one, think they dont care if the film is based on a work of fiction or a real life incident or happens to be a Star Wars: The Last Jedi spin-off; they just needed a reason for vandalism and they found one. Not just freedom of art but also an essential need of coherent logic for staging protests has gone for a toss in the recent past. Why else would men, who claim to be protecting a womans honor, fictional in this case, hurl abuses at another woman or be ready to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of their women? Why else would they take to the streets and incite violence instead of taking the peaceful legal route? Why else would they ignore Bhansalis repeated clarifications that theres no dream sequence between Rani Padmavati and Allaudin Khilji? Why else would they not give a chance to the makers to show their work and then reach to a conclusion?

Even the most avid moviegoers don't trust Bollywood to stay true to historical facts and are aware of the several creative liberties the makers and producers take while helming a period drama. Despite that, Bhansalis magnificent work wouldn't have shown Rajput culture in as bad a light as Karni Senas recent actions have and when this film releases, which it shall, all pride will go in vain. Because one doesnt intend to save the pride of a fictional woman, who may or not may not have existed, by disrupting the peace and law and order of several states, inciting violence, issuing bizarre threats or/and provoking women of their own culture to commit suicide. But one does, in my opinion, pose a threat to our national security by resorting to the above-mentioned means under the flag name of demonstrations against distortion of historical facts.

And a fun fact: While Karni Sena is on the streets protecting the dignity of a fictional queen, their state (Rajasthan) ranked last in female literacy out of all states in India as per Census 2011. If even half of the energy thats been spent in evoking a ban on the film release was consumed in the right direction or for the right causes, the situation would have been better today.

Let's take Padmaavat for what it is- a work of art that'll release on a certain Friday and will be judged on parameters that include acting, direction and technical finesse among other filmmaking aspects. You may like it or loathe it, but it really would be just that- a film, neither a life-threatening disorder nor an emergency-evoking situation and definitely not a community validation stamp.
There have been a few reports doing the rounds that actor Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal have parted ways. However, if the recent photos of the Badlapur actor taken at PVR Juhu are anything to go by, the breakup rumours seem baseless.

The actor stepped out for a movie date with Natasha. While he opted for a grey jersey and denim, Natasha too complimented him by keeping it casual in a grey crop top and black jeans.

The couple was all smiles as they were photographed while exiting the cinema hall. In one of the pictures, Varun can also be seen holding Natasha's hand.

Check out their pictures here:

Varun had recently set the record straight on wedding rumours, saying he wants to get married but "right now, it's not on the agenda."

Varun and Natasha have often been spotted together at airports, movie launches and restaurants. In fact, Natasha also flew to London while Varun was shooting for his last outing Judwaa-2.

"Honestly, I would love to do that, but I don't know how my parents would react to it. Being Punjabis, they would want to do it the traditional way," Varun was quoted as saying by TOI.

Varun recently moved into his new, four-bedroom apartment, which he bought this year after giving two back-to-back hits-- Judwaa 2 and Badrinath Ki Dulhania. The actor said he wants to enjoy "this part of life" for a couple of years.
Haj subsidy is a paradox in every sense of the term. It is good that it stands scrapped and the controversy surrounding it is at rest. This move was mandated following the Supreme Court order of 2012 calling for the Haj subsidy to be phased out over ten years. It was also suggested by the Amanullah Committee set up by the Minorities Affairs ministry. The central government has decided to do scrap it forthwith and it is hoped that there would be no more politics over it from any side. It is important to note that the Haj subsidy [which is an indirect subsidy given to an airline] has been going down consistently over the years. It was Rs 685 crore in 2011 and came down to Rs 200 crore in 2017. Whether or not it benefited the Hajis, it definitely fueled politics around what is known as minority appeasement in our country.

Government subsidies for religious purposes must be avoided in a secular country. This is a Constitutional imperative. The public money should be spent on health, education, roads and other needs of the people and not on Kailash Mansarovar yatra or Haj or any other religious pilgrimage. It is for the citizens to work out their private religious matters and the government should have no role in this regard. Although, it is becoming fashionable in our country for various state governments to subsidise pilgrimages to different places of religious worship. The Madhya Pradesh government runs a scheme that enables subsidised visits to Mathura, Chardham, Ajmer etc for senior citizens. The Gujarat government too has subsidised travel to religious pilgrimage places for senior citizens. The Constitutional obligations of the government concerns different rights of citizens in the present world such as food, housing, education, health, safety, dignity. What happens in afterlife should not concern the government. In this regard the present development is welcome.

As the Minorities Affairs Minister put it, "The Muslims are not benefiting from this Haj subsidy. In reality the Rs 200 crore spent on subsidy in 2017 is the amount paid to Air India to supplement the losses suffered due to rules imposed by Saudi Arabia. The Hajis travelling through the aegis of the Haj Committee do not get any concession in their Haj expenses. In fact, their travel would be much cheaper if they fly through other options. So, the Haj subsidy enjoyed by Muslims is a misnomer; the squabbling around appeasement politics is sheer humbug. It is based on half-truths, ignorance and of course, ideology.

On another important note, a Muslim cannot perform Haj with subsidy money. As per the Quran, Haj is the duty of every Muslim who has fulfilled all his worldly responsibilities and obligations. It is a duty for those who can afford the expenses, that is, ones travel, provisions and residence. The Supreme Court order of 8th May, 2012 calling for scrapping of Haj subsidy quoted from the Quranic verses that emphasise on the duty of Haj for those who can afford it. All able persons going for Haj must afford and pay for their own Haj. In other words, the need for subsidy is not supported by the religious requirements.

The Minorities Affairs minister is also quoted as saying that the money saved by scrapping the subsidy will be used for education and to empower minorities. This, if achieved, would be a laudable goal. If implemented, this would be in keeping with the slogan of sabka saath, sabka vikas that was given by the Prime Minister, who was at the time contending for the top job in the general elections of 2014. The principle of secularism enshrined in our Constitution demands that government is kept separate from religion. It means that the government must not subsidise religious pilgrimage.

(Author is women's rights activist and one of the founding members of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan)
In 2008, centrifuges at Irans Natanz nuclear plant started crashing. The breakdown seemed random, some centrifuges spinning too fast and others too slow. This continued over the next two years, affecting nearly 1,000 of the 5,000 centrifuges which were working on Uranium purification.

It is now common knowledge that this was the result of a secret US and Israeli effort to cripple Irans nuclear programme by introducing a worm which affected the centrifuge controllers.

This is considered the first known use of an offensive cyber-weapon by one country against another. The fact that the worm broke loose, and, known as Stuxnet, replicated itself across millions of computers around the world (India was the third-most affected country) shows the difficulty of harnessing and controlling cyber-weapons.

Estonia was blitzed in 2007 by what is known as Web War 1. Computer attacks swamped websites of government ministries, the parliament, newspapers and banks. Considered the most wired country in Europe, Estonia was overwhelmed by nearly 1 million hijacked computers from around the world sending traffic into the country.

Last year, a group of hackers called Shadow Brokers started releasing classified details of cyber-weapons developed by the US National Security Agency, and put them up for auction. Not only has it embarrassed the US government, but has made sophisticated cyber tools available to anyone willing to pay the price.

These incidents show the visible side of cyber-warfare that could shut down power plants or cripple commerce through a massive cyber-attack. This scenario occupies our maximum attention. Computer Emergency Response Teams have been set up, networks air-gapped and organisations created to ensure that critical infrastructure like communications, energy, transportation, military, the government and finance sector is protected. We will get better at this effort as the days go by.

There is also a not so visible face, though equally perilous. It is the vulnerability of people and society to the use of information as a weapon. This information warfare plays out in the minds of the population and has a long term impact on the polity and character of nation states.

In the 2016 US elections, there were allegations of Russia spreading posts on social media to influence voters. Investigations are yet to determine the extent of success of Russian efforts, but it has raised many questions about how cultural faults in a society can be exploited by our adversaries. This is a serious national security threat.

Every time we do any kind of activity on our computers or smartphones, we generate data points that reveal more about ourselves  our characteristics, preferences and desires. Facebook can accurately predict your personality based only on your likes.

In India, this sensitive personal data is even more vulnerable because of an absence of data privacy laws. We can be quite certain that a lot of it is already in the hands of countries inimical to India.

Information warfare does not require highly sophisticated cyber tools or technically trained experts. Its medium is the social media and its soldiers are not in uniform, but an army of trolls and bots. It exploits the highly advanced algorithms of Facebook and Google to feed targeted messages based on ones profile. Sometimes all it takes is money.

Facebook has admitted that Russian-backed accounts spent about $100,000 on 3,000 Facebook advertisements intended to spread misinformation during the US elections. These could have been viewed by as many as 146 million Americans. The social media has been weaponised.

In The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, Robert D. Kaplan writes, The media amplify presentness, the rage and ecstasy and virtue...of the present moment, for good and for bad. In other words, politics in the mass media age will be more intense than anything we have experienced, because the past and future will have been obliterated.

It is todays post, todays tweet that has an immediate impact. The resultant chain of events which can be sparked off does not even spare eminent personalities like the previous or present Prime Ministers. Come tomorrow and it will a different story, but equally vicious.

There is another unique facet to this warfare. We, the common men and women, are both the victim as well as the weapon. We are victims of disinformation, propaganda, post-truth, fake news, or even real news cloaked in the personal conviction of the news anchor.

We are also the weapon because we help create the Twitter storms without checking the veracity of the information, after adding our own personal opinions. These opinions sometimes take the extreme shape of hate filled messages.

Every society has some divisions in it. The weaponised social media, with our fingers on the trigger, sharpens this divide till it becomes a chasm. Gilad Lotan, in an article titled Fake News Is Not the Only Problem, wrote, With increased political polarisation, amplified by homophily  our preference to connect to people like us  and algorithmic recommender systems, were effectively constructing our own realities.

Social media was meant to connect people, enhance bonds and share joyful memories. It certainly has many positives, but there is also a dark side. Social media is being used for radicalisation, political manipulation, spreading fake news and to deepen divisions in society.

In November 2017, Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice president of Facebook, claimed that the platform was a threat to its users and society. He stated, The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops weve created are destroying how society works.

National security is not merely the defence of our borders but the protection of Indias character, values and its people. The government certainly has a role but we must all play our part. We have to live with the reality that social media is now a part of our lives but we can certainly check facts, fight disinformation and not unwittingly become a part of the army of trolls. We also have to banish the beast within us.

(The author is former Northern Commander, Indian Army, under whose leadership India carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan in 2016. Views are personal.)
News18  Blogs  Opinion

OPINION | The Fall and Fall of Pravin Togadia in Narendra Modi's Gujarat

A file photo of VHP leader Pravin Togadia (File photo: PTI)

There was a time when the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, was the only person with Z+ security cover in the state. In September 2002, he shared that cover with another person he knew for decades  Pravin Togadia.



Today, Togadia says his life is in danger. He alleges that Rajasthan and Gujarat police were out to get him as part of a conspiracy. In a media meet in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, Togadia even used the word encounter. He was pointing fingers without taking names.



If he really had credible information about his impending killing, Togadia curiously was acting funny. By his own admission, he came out of the VHP office  which probably was the safest place to be for him in Ahmedabad!  and told his personal security to return in the morning and left in an auto-rickshaw with a fellow worker. Certainly not the manner in which a would-be victim with super security behaves.



The case, fantastic as it is, gets more curious if one ventures into the realm of coincidences with encounters.



Togadia says he was found unconscious by someone  what happened to the fellow worker?  in the Kotarpur area on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Now, Kotarpur is the same area where the infamous Ishrat Jehan encounter occurred.



Togadia says he was taken to the Chandra Mani hospital, nearby. Now, that hospital is exactly the place where senior Gujarat IPS officer PP Pandey got himself admitted in July 2013. Pandey reached the hospital not long after the Supreme Court directed him to appear before the special CBI court in connection with the Ishrat encounter case.



Pandey, as then the joint commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, was heading the crime branch when Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter allegedly with Gujarat Police on the city outskirts on June 15, 2004.



Uncanny, isnt it?



There is literally nothing left in Gujarat that Togadia may call his own. His support base has dwindled. His cadres have disappeared. Nobody listens to his threats against Muslims. In fact, he is chastised by his own Sangh Parivar. The most public chastening was by Narendra Modi himself who, as the Prime Ministerial candidate in 2014, openly cautioned Togadia for his communal utterances.



In fact, in the time since Modi came to Gujarat as chief minister and now, nearly all frontal organisations of the Parivar have been left cadre-less. They all changed their allegiance to Modi. Togadia could only be a mute spectator as his world caved into him.



A far cry from the 1980s, when both Modi and Togadia were friends who used to move together and fight political battles together. Modi moved on, while Togadia remained where he was.



Today, if Togadia thought he would create a panic and stir in Ahmedabad by his press conference alleging an encounter, he thought wrong. That was sufficient proof of his current lack of stature.



At best, it led to personal visits by OBC leader Hardik Patel and Congress leader Arjun Modvadia. Nothing much is expected to come out of such meetings. Whatever clout Togadia still has in Gujarat, it is because of his association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of which he is the international working president. If he joins hands with the likes of Patels and Modvadias, he would be out of the Parivar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Sabarmati Ashram on Wednesday from where much of Mahatma Gandhis political life evolved.

Many of Gandhis experiments with politics took place there or at least were contemplated over. He is rightly revered as Sabarmati ke sant (a saint from Sabarmati) in the very moving devotional song from the 1954 movie Jagriti.

How would the Prime Minister of Israel approach Gandhi? Unlike many other heads of states who visit Gandhis ashram or Rajghat in the regular official protocols, or out of sheer respect to a saint, it is a much distinct moment for an Israeli Prime Minister due to the way Gandhi understood and responded to Zionism, the national movement of the Jewish people for a nation-state.

Zionism is one of the critical political stories of the 20th century. Theodor Herzl, the father figure of Zionism, while writing a simple pamphlet (The Jewish State, 1896) made an intellectual as well as political case for a nation for Jews.

According to Herzl then, the creation of a Jewish state would normalise the abnormal situation of European Jewry insofar as it would give them, like Christian Europeans, a state of their own. In less than 50 years, it became a reality in the form of the State of Israel in 1948.

Gandhi was complex and controversial when it came to the question of Jewish homeland in Palestine. Gandhis famous article The Jews in Harijan written in November 1938 was unkind toward the Zionist movement and much in the favour of the Arabs because of a proposition such as Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.

Gandhi was defined as anti-Zionist after this article and many resorted to this over-quoted sentence to explicate Indias non-relationship with Israel post-Independence. Yet, this wasnt the case.

Gandhi had nuanced favourable shift towards Zionism and considered the legitimacy of a state for the Jews after his 1938 article as it ensued long conversations with some of his Jewish friends like Herman Kellenbach.

A few years later, he said to Louis Fisher, the Jewish-American Journalist, that the Jews have a good case in Palestine if the Arabs have a claim in Palestine, the Jews have a prior claim because they were there first.

However, Gandhi wrote another critical note, again in Harijan in 1946, that the Jews have erred grievously by taking the support of the British Empire and resorting to violence.

In short, Gandhi did not support Zionism and extended more to the Arabs from the point of view of the key Zionist leaders of the time. There were plenty of domestic factors behind Gandhis understanding and approach to Zionism.

The way Gandhi thought of Zionism or whether it mattered later while India offered recognition to Israel devoid of diplomatic ties in 1950 is an important episode to look into.

Prof. P R Kumaraswamy, leading scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, wrote an account  Squaring the Circle: Gandhi and the Jewish National Home  recently on this matter.

I wonder how much of what Gandhi thought about Zionism will matter to Bibi (as Mr. Netanyahu known in Israel) or to the rapidly growing friendship between India and Israel.

India has corrected the so-called historical mistake of not having ties with Israel. India and Israel have accomplished a lot in the first 25 years of their bilateral ties. Gandhis way of thinking about Zionism is only relevant to the people interested in history in general or certainly those who read or write about the relations between India and Israel. Unfortunately, Gandhi does not matter because the transactional ties between India and Israel matter more than the ideational disagreements.

The commercially driven diplomacy does not concern much with Gandhian values such as just peace and non-violence. Moreover, why would states bother for non-violence.

It is the war that they think more about. Much of the ongoing business between India and Israel is more and more about this defence deal of missile or that deal of arms. Gandhi is good though for rhetoric and pretences. Two perpetual needs for diplomacy. Yet, one wonders what might cross the mind of Bibi while walking in the Sabarmati ashram.

(Dr. Khinvraj Jangid teaches at Jindal Centre for Israel Studies, OP Jindal Global University, Delhi NCR. Views are personal.)
Bengaluru: The ruling Congress in Karnataka seems to be wary of the BJPs methods in electioneering, with party leaders repeatedly warning workers to watch out for external elements in the run up to the polls in the state.

With Assembly elections less than three months away, the warning to their cadre came right from the top.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told party workers at a strategy meeting of party office-bearers, There is no election in any other state at the time that Karnataka goes to polls. So BJP will bring in RSS workers from different parts of the country and dump them here to work for their party, keep a watch on their activities.

He further said that an election is like a war. We are the Pandavas, who are walking on the right path while the BJP people are like the Kauravas, taking the wrong path, he told the party workers, adding that booth-level committees must be especially wary of attempts by the opposition to tamper with any process.

The party seems to be jittery about possible attempts to tamper with the election process too.

On Wednesday, when the CM was addressing the annual meeting of all senior officers of the state police, he again talked to officers about sharpening intelligence skills at the level of every police station  particularly in sensitive areas.

Pulling up officers for lapses in intelligence that could have led to communal tension in the coastal regions, Siddaramaiah told the officers to go ahead and file suo motu cases against those who spread rumours on social media.

We have already booked cases against BJP MPs like Pratap Simha, Ananth Kumar Hegde and Shoba Karandlaje for their provocative speeches. But we need to keep greater control on ground-level intelligence gathering on communal elements, he told the officers.

He told them to even go ahead with gadipaar orders under the Goondas Act against habitual offenders (keeping goonda elements out of the borders of the state).

The BJP, in response, dismissed Siddaramaiahs Mahabharat analogy. State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, at a rally in rural Bengaluru, said, Those who dont know how to visit temples are comparing themselves to Pandavas and teaching us about Hindutva.

His reference was to the fact that the CM had, two months back, visited the Dharmasthala temple after having eaten non-vegetarian food  something that is shunned by the priestly class.

BJP spokesperson S Prakash wondered if Siddaramaiah's strategy was to "bring police raj before elections to use it to their advantage".

Now that elections around the corner, the target seems to be the Congress' adversaries, he told News18.

"What does he want to do in Karnataka? He says he is giving instructions on policing. He is asking for 'gadipaar'. Is he targeting BJP and Sangh workers? Does he want to use police force to neutralise the strong opponents," he asked.

As for the allegations that BJP will try to bring in 'external elements into Karnataka,' he said it was the BJP that has formally given a complaint to the Election Commission that the Congress has brought in fake voters in border areas of the State and added them into the voters' rolls.

"We have identified thousands of outsiders in the border areas who are not real voters of Karnataka. This data has been given to the Election Commission also, to be weeded out," Prakash said.
Samsung today launched its latest budget offeringthe Galaxy On7 Primesmartphone in India for a starting price of Rs 12,990. The Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime competes in the smartphone market of under Rs 15,000 with two variants- 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage and 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage for Rs 12,990 and Rs 14,990 respectively. Both the variants support microSD cards of up to 256GB. The device will be available online at Amazon.in and Samsung stores starting January 20.

The major highlight of the device is the Samsung Mall online shopping app. The Galaxy On7 Prime also supports Samsung Pay Mini.

(Image: Debashis Sarkar/News18.com)

What is the Samsung Mall app?

Samsung Mall enables image search for the products showcased in any photograph. So, if you like the dress or some accessory that your friend is wearing and wish to buy it online then just click an image of the product with the Samsung Mall app and you will get a link to buy it from online stores like Amazon.in, Jabong, ShopClues and TataCLiQ. By default, Amazon.in listings are shown. The products with the best match will be listed.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy A8+ (2018) First Impressions Review: Power Packed For Rs 32,999

The app can come handy for knowing e-commerce store prices and discounts for a particular product while you are bargaining at brick-and-mortar store. Just click an image of the product while inside the store and compare the prices of the same product in different online stores without the hassle of manually searching for it.

The feature is embedded in the regular camera UI as well and also works for any image that is there in the Gallery app, including selfies. While the app automatically selects some products in an image, the user can manually drag and select a particular product to search in these e-commerce portals. Also, the Samsung Mall offers a universal cart feature through which you are not required to visit individual e-commerce websites to buy the product.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy S9 And S9+ to Launch on Feb 26: All You Need to Know

Note that Samsung is not the first to bring this feature. Karbonn had earlier introduced the fashion search app in 2016 with its Karbonn Fashion Eye smartphone.

As far as the specifications of the Samsung Galaxy On7 Prime is concerned, it offers a 5.5-inch 1080p Full HD display and is powered by a 1.6Ghz octa-core Exynos 7870 processor. There are 13MP cameras at both front and back. It is backed by a 3,300 mAh battery and have dual SIM card (nano) slots. It runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system with Samsungs custom UI on top.

WATCH VIDEO: Tech and Auto Show EP 28 | 2018 Audi Q5, LG V30+ & More
New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday celebrated the Tamil harvest festival of Pongal wearing a traditional 'veshti'.

Trudeau posted pictures on his Twitter account showing him taking part in the festivities along with Tamil Canadians.

"Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal! (Sweet Pongal Greetings) Had a great time celebrating Tamil Heritage Month and Thai Pongal in Scarborough this evening," he tweeted.

Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal! Had a great time celebrating Tamil Heritage Month and Thai Pongal in Scarborough this evening. pic.twitter.com/fjZMGclH09 Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 17, 2018

The Prime Minister was accompanied by John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto. The duo helped prepare the traditional meal, also called 'Pongal'  a dish made of rice and lentils.

Helping prepare pongal this evening at Gary Anandasangarees Tamil Heritage Month and Thai Pongal reception with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The sweet rice celebrates a successful harvest. #TamilHeritageMonth #ThaiPongal pic.twitter.com/DsviCFwgiv John Tory (@JohnTory) January 16, 2018

Trudeau was wearing the traditional Tamilian attire, with a white Dhoti, Yellow silk shirt and an angavastram. Tory, meanwhile, was wearing a blue kurta with white pyjamas.
Beijing: China's ruling CPC has proclaimed President Xi Jinping as a "lingxiu" - a leader with the highest prestige, equating him with party founder Mao Zedong.

The People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) flagship newspaper, published an article swearing allegiance to Xi - who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC) - and called on the people to grasp a historic opportunity facing China.

It is the first time that the daily has referred to 64-year-old Xi as "lingxiu".

The CPC identified Xi as the core of the party in 2016.

"We are fully aware of our responsibilities. We should resolutely support the core, faithfully follow the lingxiu, use our courage and morale...And make strides towards a brighter future," the article said.

Lingxiu means "leader" with a positive political connotation and refers to highly revered state leaders.

"The word lingxiu means more than just a leader. It is often bestowed on a leader who enjoys the highest prestige, who is the most capable and who is widely recognised by the entire party," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing, told state-run Global Times.

Since he took power in 2013, Xi has emerged as the most powerful Chinese leader in recent times as he now heads the party, the military and the presidency, unlike his predecessor Hu Jintao, who only got the coveted post of head of the military two years after taking power.

Also, Xi's name was included in the constitution of the CPC, making him the only leader after Mao and his successor Deng Xiaoping to get this honour, at the once-in-five-years congress of the CPC held in October which also approved a second five-year term for him.

Since then, all organs of the party have declared Xi as the topmost leader of the party setting aside the principle of collective party leadership that was followed in the last three decades.

Su said the emergence of a "lingxiu" is the symbol of a mature political party, adding that in the last five years Xi's achievements in various fields, especially the anti- corruption drive, have been widely acknowledged.

The military's official PLA Daily also referred to Xi as "lingxiu" in January last year, quoting PLA Navy sailors and military officers from aircraft carrier Liaoning as saying that "we are sailing in the sight of lingxiu".
United Nations: A war with North Korea is avoidable, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, urging direct talks between key powers on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Guterres said recent moves by South and North Korea to ease tensions were important, but he added: "let's not forget that the essential problem is yet to be solved."

"I believe war is avoidable," Guterres told reporters, but he added: "I am not yet sure that peace is guaranteed."

The UN chief said his goal was to ensure that "those who are more relevant in this process are able to seriously talk to each other and seriously find a way to denuclearization."

The former Portuguese prime minister begins his second year as UN chief this month with North Korea looming large as the most pressing global security threat.

The United States and North Korea have shown little interest in holding direct talks to address the crisis.

Presenting his priorities for 2018 to the General Assembly, Guterres said there were "small signs of hope" after North Korea agreed to take part in the Winter Olympics in the South and the re-opening of a military hotline between Pyongyang and Seoul.

Guterres will attend the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games next month.

North Korea's race to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear warhead has raised fears of a devastating conflict.

At the United Nations in September, President Donald Trump vowed to "totally destroy" North Korea if it launches an attack on the United States.

Trump's administration has been adamant that North Korea must first freeze its military programs before talks can take place.

The United States has led the drive at the Security Council to ratchet up economic sanctions on North Korea such as restrictions on oil supplies that were adopted in December.
Vancouver: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Wednesday for nations to step up the US-led "maximum pressure" campaign against North Korea by thwarting sanctions evasion and interdicting ships conducting illicit trade with the pariah nation.

The uncompromising message delivered to a gathering of 20 nations that were on America's side during the Korean War came despite the recent diplomatic opening between the rival Koreas after a year of escalating tension.

"We must increase the costs of the regime's behaviour to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations," Tillerson said in his opening remarks at the meeting on Canada's western coast.

The meeting convened days after a mistaken missile alert caused panic on Hawaii, a stark reminder of the fears of conflict with the North.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said its talks with North Korea, leading to its participation in next month's Olympics being hosted by the South, are a "significant first step toward restoring inter-Korean relations."

But she conceded that despite the overtures, North Korea has yet to show any intention to fulfil its obligations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was blunter. He said the North "wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters that in spite of the inter-Korean talks, "the North Korean regime is still going down the path of the acquisition of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) tipped with a nuclear device that could have incalculable geostrategic consequences."

The meeting is being attended by foreign ministers and senior diplomats of nations that sent troops or humanitarian aid to the UN Command that supported South Korea in the fight against the communist North and its allies during the 1950-53 Korean War. It's a diverse gathering of mostly European and Asian nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Columbia.

Officials are discussing sanctions, preventing the spread of weapons by North Korea, and diplomacy.

The gathering, co-hosted by Canada and the US, is strongly opposed by China and Russia, which fought on the communist side in the war. It appears primarily symbolic and unlikely to break much new ground.

Although Tillerson said the meeting sends North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a unified message that a nuclear-armed North is unacceptable, it risks alienating Beijing and Moscow.

They are Pyongyang's main trading and diplomatic partners but have nevertheless supported UN Security Council resolutions to restrict revenue for North Korean nuclear and missile development.

Tillerson called for China and Russia to fully implement the sanctions. He reiterated US opposition to their idea of a "freeze-for-freeze," whereby the US-South Korea military exercises would halt in exchange for suspension of the North's nuclear programs.

According to the news agency Tass, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called the Vancouver meeting "unacceptable" and "destructive." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters a meeting that "doesn't include important parties to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue" cannot help resolve it.

Tillerson said all nations must work together to improve maritime interdiction operations and stop illicit ship-to-ship transfers that violate UN sanctions. The US has previously highlighted efforts by North Korea to circumvent restrictions on supplies of oil and petroleum products, most of which are supplied by China.

The latest UN Security Council resolution, adopted in December in response to an intercontinental ballistic missile test, calls on member states to impound vessels in their ports if there are reasonable grounds to suspect illicit trade with North Korea. It authorizes interdictions in a member state's territorial waters.

Tillerson also highlighted how North Korean missile tests pose a threat to civilian air traffic in the busy skies above East Asia.

"North Korea's willingness to launch missiles at any time presents a threat to people of all nationalities in the region's airspace each day," he said.

Despite Washington's tough stance and determination to keep up the pressure on North Korea, President Donald Trump has signaled openness to talks with North under the right circumstances.

After months of insults and blood-curdling threats he's traded with Kim, Trump suggested in an interview last week that the two leaders could have a positive relationship.

The White House said Trump spoke Monday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and they were hopeful that the inter-Korean talks "might prompt a change in North Korea's destructive behaviour."

But Kim, widely viewed as seeking to drive a wedge between the US and South Korea, shows no sign of making concessions toward Washington as his totalitarian government comes close to perfecting a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the United States.
Jared Anderson calls the club Toastmasters a hidden gem.

The Lynchburg Toastmasters Club, of which Anderson now is the president, was founded in 1948, and though Anderson said the name does come off as old-fashioned, when the national club was formed in the 1920s, the act of giving a toast was very popular at social gatherings and special events.

There is history behind that, which is why it hasnt been changed, he said. Many people dont know what it means. Some instantly think its all about public speaking, but theres so much more to it than that.

The Lynchburg club has proved it can stand the test of time as it celebrates its 70th anniversary later this month.

The club meets at Central Virginia Community College twice per month to give members experience with communication, leadership and confidence.

The club is open for anyone to join, and its members hold positions in management, information technology, hospitality, customer service, engineering and sales.

Dick Bryne joined in 1966 while working at Babcock & Wilcox, now BWX Technologies, at its Mt. Athos plant as an engineer and manager.

A fellow engineer at the plant invited him to join, and more than 50 years later, Bryne still attends meetings and serves as the clubs treasurer.

Just like everybody, I joined to gain more confidence in any kind of speaking role and gain leadership skills, he said. It certainly helped me in my career. It helped me a great deal.

After attending a few meetings, Bryne said he was able to speak more confidently in groups of any size and in orchestrating volunteer activities with the public.

Each meeting has three phases: prepared speeches, impromptu table topics and evaluations.

Prepared speeches last between five and seven minutes and can be about a variety of topics; table topics last between one and two minutes and teach members to think on their feet; and evaluations are an opportunity for members to give feedback and take notes on presented speeches while practicing listening skills.

As humans, we want to fill empty space with um and ah; we try to focus on eliminating that, Anderson said.

Anderson joined the club in 2012 after he was asked to present to a group at work and felt caught off guard. In the past five years, he said he has learned to gear his speech toward a particular audience.

He tries his best to become as familiar as possible with the group of people he is going to speak to and give them information that would be of the most interest.

Most importantly, the club is a networking tool and support group.

What I enjoyed most was seeing new people come in and grow in their confidence, speaking abilities and leadership abilities, Bryne said.

Though retired for 20 years, Bryne remains a committed member of the club because of the relationships he has cultivated.

The way I look at it, we have a number of families, he said. We have a home family, but we also have other families. We might have a church family or organization family. I consider Toastmasters to be one of these families.

Nelson Ayala, past president of the club, has been asked to speak to groups on various topics as a result of his experience in Toastmasters.

He has been a chemist and professor in his career and said he has learned interpersonal communication skills and now knows how to say things at the right time and knows when to remain silent in social situations.

People are still afraid of speaking in public, he said. What we learn is you are never as bad as you think you are. You always have the opportunity to improve.

Bryne sees the 70th anniversary of the club to be a great accomplishment. He said the club is still operating off the same principles it was founded on.

The need will continue on for people to communicate in every capacity of their lives, and with digital technology on the rise, Bryne thinks the lessons taught in Toastmasters are more prevalent than ever.

People need to be able to communicate in person and think logically. People who have the ability to display confidence, leadership and handle themselves publicly, those people move up in the world, he said.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police says it is finding it difficult to bring cash vendors to book because there is need for an officer of the law to witness an illegal transaction before effecting an arrest. Last year, Government, through the promulgation of Statutory Instrument 122A of 2017  (Exchange Control (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (No 5), criminalised cash vending without permission from the exchange control authority and empowered police to arrest money peddlers and seize whatever currency involved. Government believes that illegal cash trading is fuelling arbitrary price hikes and rent-seeking behaviour.



Police national chief spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said the ZRP and the Harare City Council were conducting joint operations to bring sanity to the city. She, however, noted that cash vendors had remained elusive.



We, as the ZRP, have deployed officers in the streets to curtail the mushika-shika, street vendors and illegal forex traders as our main priority. However, it has been difficult to arrest cash vendors as it requires an officer of law to witness the culprits exchanging money, she said.





This operation is a joint venture with the Harare City Council to bring sanity in the central business district (CBD), which has witnessed several arrests of cash vendors. Snr Asst Comm Charamba said illegal forex dealers were slippery because some of them are always mobile, while others use their vehicles as convenient offices to conduct their business.





Some of them are mobile and in most cases they get into vehicles and conduct their illegal deals. There is need to find a lasting solution such as deterrent sentences, she said. The police spokeswoman also noted that it was not an offence to hold cash. But the sentences seem deterrent enough.





Under the new legislation, offenders face a mandatory 10-year jail term, while their cash is forfeited to the State and their bank accounts frozen. One of the foreign currency dealers in Harare, Zivanai Mushangwe, who operates at Roadport Bus Terminus, said cash vending was his only source of income.





I do not have a stable job where I can obtain a salary at the end of month and forex trading is my only source of income as my family needs financial support since I am the breadwinner. We, as forex traders, our lives depend on exchanging money in the streets and that is the only way we can afford to pay rent and send our children to school, he said.





Illegal cash traders have turned Eastgate Shopping Mall, Copacabana, Roadport, Market Square and First Street into bureau de changes for people that intend to buy hard currencies  principally the US dollar and the South African rand  or vice versa.

A snap survey by The Herald yesterday revealed that the illegal foreign exchange trading points in Harare such as Eastgate Shopping Mall, Copacabana, Roadport, Market Square, First Street, Fifth Street and along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue are still a hive of activity. The cash vendors were even soliciting for prospective clients openly.





By yesterday a US$100 bill was changing hands at 120 for bond notes. Though the cash vendors, together with other vendors operating at undesignated sites, are accused of blocking pavements, Harare City Council spokesman Mr Michael Chideme said yesterday the joint operations with police are yielding the intended results.





We have operations that we are carrying out together and they are bringing in the intended results. On our own, we cannot carry out some of these operations, but with the assistance of the police we can, he said. He expressed concern over some unruly members of the public, who were attacking both police and municipal police officers when conducting their duties. Herald
Zimbabwe will next week make history when President Mnangagwa joins other Heads of State and Government and luminaries from all over the world at the prestigious World Economic Forums 48th meeting set for Switzerland. Secretary for Finance and Economic Planning Mr Willard Manungo said the invitation to Davos was in recognition of President Mnangagwas efforts in turning around the economy. The invitation made to His Excellency the President, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, is viewed as recognition of the impact he is making in fostering economic reform in Zimbabwe.





The World Economic Forum meeting is where leaders of various countries exchange views in terms of economic development. The Presidents thrust of economic reform, obviously, caught the attention of other countries, said Mr Manungo. This will mark the first time Zimbabwe attends the forum, with President Mnangagwa being one of only 10 African leaders to grace the prestigious indaba scheduled to run from January 23 to 26 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

The invite could not have come at a better time as the message from the new administration has been Zimbabwe is open for business amid positive vibes and engagements efforts from the Western hemisphere. This year the WEF brings together a record number of Heads of State, Government and international organisations alongside leaders from business, civil society, academia, the arts and media, offering the perfect platform for Zimbabwe to relay its message.





Running under the theme, Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World, the meeting will focus on finding ways to reaffirm international cooperation on crucial shared interests, such as international security, the environment and the global economy. Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) chief executive Richard Mbaiwa told The Herald that the invitation to the forum was key as it would afford the President a chance to market Zimbabwe and to explain the countrys new policy thrust.





I am sure that he (President Mnangagwa) will be given an opportunity to speak on the new direction that we are taking as a country, the re-engagement process and the policy thrust. (He will also speak on) the reforms that are taking place in terms of the laws, I am sure indigenisation will also come up, I think its a key policy issue that has always been an area of concern to investors, so I am sure it will be articulated.





So generally its an opportunity to us as a country to showcase what we offer and say to investors, you are welcome to invest in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is open for business, said Mr Mbaiwa. Attending the conference is also set to improve the countrys risk profile going forward as Government will be able to articulate its position to a wider audience in line with their new approach to doing business.





The Annual Meeting will feature over 340 top political leaders with 10 heads of state and government from Africa, nine from the Middle East and North Africa and six from Latin America. These include; Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia; President Mnangagwa; Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-President of Nigeria; Saad Al Hariri, President of the Council of Ministers, Lebanon; His Majesty Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel; and Juan Manuel Santos, President of Columbia.





Alongside international cooperation, an additional priority of the meeting will be to overcome divisions within countries. These have often been caused by breakdowns in the social contract as a result of failure to protect societies from the transformational impacts of a succession of shocks, from globalization to the proliferation of social media and the birth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Collectively, these shocks have caused a loss of trust in institutions and damaged the relationship between business and society.

Our world has become fractured by increasing competition between nations and deep divides within societies. Yet the sheer scale of the challenges our world faces makes concerted, collaborative and integrated action more essential than ever. Our Annual Meeting aims to overcome these fault lines by reasserting shared interests among nations and securing multi-stakeholder commitment to renewing social contracts through inclusive growth, said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.





Opening address will be delivered by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, will deliver a keynote address before the close of the meeting.




PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa will today visit Mozambique where he is expected to meet his counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi and Zimbabweans resident in that country.



The President is reaching out to the regional leadership after taking over as Head of State and Government following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe two months ago.



Cde Mnangagwa has already visited South Africa where he met President Jacob Zuma, who is the chairperson of Sadc.





Last Friday the President visited Angola and met his counterpart Cde Jao Manuel Goncalves Laurenco who chairs the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security before visiting Namibia on Monday where he met President Hage Geingob.





He is also scheduled to visit Zambia this Friday where he will meet President Edgar Lungu.

Cde Mnangagwas takeover has received widespread local, regional and international endorsement with higher expectations that the new political dispensation would deliver robust economic development and reposition Zimbabwe on the global development map.





Since his takeover Cde Mnangagwa has been preaching peace, unity and his main focus is on economic turnaround.





His Government has clearly articulated its keen desire to normalise relations with the international community for increased investment and also wants to rope in the Diaspora to participate in national development as Zimbabwe is now open for business.

President Nyusi is the fourth president of Mozambique since independence. Zimbabwe enjoys cordial relations with its neighbours dating back to the days of liberation struggle. Herald
President Emmerson Mnangagwa staked his political fate on a promise to revive the economy, and his failure to turn around the countrys finances so far is beginning to attract scorn from long-suffering Zimbabweans.



In a glum radio interview, Mnangagwas spokesperson George Charamba has for the first time acknowledged the promise to turnaround the economy in 100 days was pie in the sky.

Charamba said government has plucked from the omnipotent office of the United States President a management concept called 100 days to plant it onto an economy that is coming from a minus.







If Zimbabweans are counting days hoping for real measurable, concrete material changes in their lives within 100 calendar days, then we are likely to meet a crisis of expectation which may not in fact be validated through scientific reckoning, he said.



As his short time in power draw to a close, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa has the arduous task of convincing those who bought into his inauguration promises to revitalise Zimbabwes ravaged economy and rule on behalf of all the countrys citizens.



Sworn in days after the overthrow of Robert Mugabe, the former security chief promised to guarantee the rights of foreign investors and to re-engage with the West.



The liquidity challenges, which have bedevilled the economy, must be tacked head-on, with real solutions being generated as a matter of urgency. People must be able to access their earnings and savings as and when they need them, Mnangagwa said in his inauguration speech.



As we focus on recovering our economy, we must shed misbehaviours and acts of indiscipline which have characterised the past. Acts of corruption must stop. Where these occur, swift, swift, swift justice must be served, he said of an anti-corruption drive that so far has been labelled selective and targeting only members of the vanquished Generation 40 cabal.



But his critics are saying the economy is not only dying, but is stuck in near-stagnation.



They argue that the short message from Charamba is that the government is failing and is not going to meet its promises.



As a government spin-doctor, he has to pre-empt the public backlash that will come from governments failure to deliver, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirais former advisor and academic Alex Magaisa told the Daily News.



He is already shifting the goalposts, saying the 100-day concept doesnt work. The problem is the new administration made outlandish promises and raised public expectations when they should have been more cautious. But then they were trying to justify the ouster of Mugabe and their takeover of government.



The truth, if they knew or should have known, is that the economic fundamentals were so wrong that they ought to have managed expectations. They now fear that failure to meet expectations will do severe damage to their electoral chances.



MDC spokesman Obert Gutu also said Charamba was basically admitting failure.



He is virtually conceding that the Mnangagwa administration is not going to successfully breathe new life into Zimbabwes comatose economy any time soon, he told the Daily News.



He has already thrown in the towel. Shame! Shame! Shame! This so-called new era is actually a new error.



It is extremely deficient in socio-economic scenario planning and implementation. It is an utterly clueless administration that is hopelessly failing to navigate the national economic out of the current abyss. This administration is doomed. It is like a stillbirth. The people of Zimbabwe will soon be speaking at the elections. They will give this administration a straight red card.



But some say the economy was in freefall when he took over, close to an outright depression and he must be given time.



Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in the United Kingdom, said no one on earth could have turned around the Zimbabwean economy in a few days.



It will take a few months before even tentative evidence is available that a long-term shift is in progress.



Even then, there will be ups and downs. I do not think Zimbabweans appreciate how comprehensively the economy was ruined in the last few years, said Chan.



Piers Pigou, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group said it confirms the need to have a clear framework of assessing progress.



This is not in place. Instead we are forced to rely on selective anecdotes from George Charamba; hardly encouraging. He is not wrong though in terms of putting in place a sustainable recovery plan will require much time. He is arguing that the benefits will come later but that the correct actions are being taken, said Pigou.



He said he was not at all convinced this will have major electoral implications for Mnangagwa.



It certainly never did for Mugabe. Much depends on the level of participation though. And it does appear some are genuinely concerned about whether Mnangagwa can deliver an election victory. We have repeatedly heard he is not popular and struggles to win elections. And now we see the beginning of a choreographed effort to justify delaying elections, Pigou said, referring to reports that ailing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai reportedly asked Mnangagwa during their meeting at his Highlands home to postpone general elections by three years ostensibly because lack of electoral reforms was likely to undermine the credibility of the 2018 general poll result.



Tsvangirais spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka denied that his boss had tabled such a proposal during the meeting.



If conditions were genuinely free and fair, and if there were clear and credible political alternatives on the table, economic conditions would play a major role in voters political calculations. We are yet to see what factors will influence, Pigou said. Well thats why I think limitations of economic recovery is not a major factor. Folk vote or dont vote for other reasons.



A peace and security analyst and doctoral researcher, Josphat Munetsi, told the Daily News that to assume that after 37 years of plunder and gross mismanagement, the new administration was going to turn around the economy in 100 days is to be unfair not only to those expecting such a miracle but to Mnangagwa and his government as well.



I would be shocked if he manages to achieve such an onerous task in such a short space of time, he said.



Munetsi said what Zimbabweans must understand is that the state of our economy was so dire that it requires no less than 6 months for positive indicators to begin to emerge.



Even then such positive indicators must never be the sole effort of the current government alone but must be a sum total of efforts of all Zimbabweans who aspire a better future, said Munetsi.



What is tragic is that many Zimbabweans believe that it is EDs role to change the country while they sit on the terraces and nit-pick his failures. Unfortunately, that will only but delay the positive change that we so desire. I am of the conviction that now is the time for everyone to take part in the rebuilding of the country. Daily News
She Died on Vacation

in Mexico. From

There, It Gets Murky
LIVE Razboi in Ucraina, ziua 268: Rusii au tras asupra Kievului o racheta din care au desurubat focosul nuclear / Schauble o critica aspru pe Merkel / Trupele lui Putin se concentreaza pe intarirea pozitiilor defensive / Presa rusa se bucura ca Ucraina e in pragul inghetului si al intunericului total
Everyone's heard of Stanford University, but perhaps not the story of the suspicious death of co-founder Jane Stanford back in 1905. The San Francisco Chronicle looks back and finds that it sure looks like Stanford was poisoned by strychnine while in Hawaiias opposed to succumbing to a heart attack, as university officials at the time insisted. But who would have done it? The most likely culprit would be Bertha Berner, Stanford's longtime personal secretary who received the equivalent of $400,000 in today's money in the subsequent will. She had brought Stanford a bicarbonate of soda for an upset stomach hours before Stanford's death, and an inquest held in Hawaii concluded that the bottle had been poisoned with strychnine. Berner was never charged.

Perhaps more damning for Berner is this jarring fact: The reason the widowed Stanford had left for Hawaii in the first place is that she nearly drank water found to be heavily laced with strychnine while at home, before spitting it out. Berner was the only person present at both incidents. Though officials in Hawaii were certain foul play was involvedthough they did not name a suspectthe issue largely faded away as Stanford's body was returned to California. University President David Starr Jordan stated emphatically, perhaps looking to avoid a scandal, that Stanford had suffered a fatal heart attack because of a big lunch. His explanation, however, does not gibe with accounts of Stanford enduring a painful death while wracked with convulsions. Click for the full, fascinating story. (Read more Longform stories.)
A 17-year-old is dead in Minnesota after he dared a man who was pointing a gun at him to shoot. Police in Rochester say the fatal shooting occurred Sunday after a car accident involving the teen, Muhammed Rahim, and the shooter, 25-year-old Alexander Weiss, reports the Duluth News Tribune. Rahim's friend provides this jarring quote to KTTC: "My friend got out and confronted him, and the guy who we hit wanted to fight and my friend got in his face," says Noah Dukart, who was in Rahim's vehicle. "Then the guy we hit pulled a gun out and my friend said, 'I dare you,' and he shot him right in the heart, and I watched him bleed out."

Weiss, who has a permit to carry his weapon, is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, though he tells police he acted in self-defense, reports the Star Tribune. Rochester Police Capt. John Sherwin, however, is skeptical and points out that no punches were thrown during the confrontation. I believe he should be charged," says Sherwin, "but we dont do the charging. Its up to the prosecution. Police were reaching out to witnesses who were driving by at the time. (Read more fatal shooting stories.)
Alec Baldwin has denounced other Hollywood stars who've condemned director Woody Allen over sexual abuse claims. The actor, who has worked with Allen on films including To Rome With Love, made his argument in a series of tweets Tuesday in which he called the ongoing controversy "unfair and sad." In his first tweet, 59-year-old Baldwin noted that investigations in both New York and Connecticut have cleared Allen of wrongdoing.

"No charges were filed," he wrote. "The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But its unfair and sad to me. I worked w WA 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career." Allen's adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, has maintained since 1992 that her father molested her as a 7-year-old. Allen has consistently denied that claim. Farrow, now 32, will address her accusations for the first time on television on CBS this week. Previews of her interview with Gayle King air Wednesday, and the full interview airs Thursday morning. "I am credible and I am telling the truth and I think it's important that people realize that one victim, one accuser, matters," she is quoted as saying in a preview. (Read more Woody Allen stories.)
Under the terms of a nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of a settlement with USA Gymnastics in 2016, McKayle Maroney could face a $100,000 fine if she speaks out about her sexual abuse by former team doctor Larry Nasserand model Chrissy Teigen says she will pay it. Nasser has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault and around 90 victims are expected to deliver statements at his sentencing hearing this week, USA Today reports. "The entire principle of this should be fought," Teigen tweeted Tuesday. "An NDA to stay quiet about this serial monster with over 140 accusers, but I would be absolutely honored to pay this fine for you, McKayla."

Michael Schur and Kristin Bell from NBC's The Good Place also offered to help pay the fine, though USA Gymnastics later said it would not be necessary. In a statement, the organization said it has "not sought and will not seek any money from McKayla Maroney for her brave statements made in describing her victimization and abuse by Larry Nassar." The Washington Post reports that Maroney thanked Teigen, saying: "Thank you Chrissy, youre so inspiring, and things are starting to change because of people like you!" Nassar, who is already serving 60 years on child porn charges, could be sentenced to up to 125 years at this week's hearing in Michigan. (Simone Biles says she was one of his victims.)
"I wish the National Park System and Service well." It's a goodbye, but not just any goodbye: They're parting words from the chair of the National Park System Advisory Board, who was one of nine members to suddenly resign in protest on Monday. The federally chartered board, which had numbered 12, is tasked with advising the secretary of the interiorRyan Zinke, currentlyon matters such as the designation of national historic and natural landmarks. But the Washington Post reports Zinke has declined to meet with them following a May decision to put committees on ice as his team reviews their function. "We understand the complexity of transition but our requests to engage have been ignored," says chair Tony Knowles.

Alaska Public Radio reports Knowles saw his board as somewhat singular, however, as it was chartered by Congress in 1935. The Post details other advisory bodies that remain at a standstill, among them two tied to the Bureau of Land Management. A member of one of those bodies, which focuses on the Rocky Mountain region, details some of the topics that are languishing: how to enact a fee bump in the area, and what to do about homelessness on federal lands. The terms of many of the exiting NPS board members were up in May, and Knowles says the desire was to "make a statement as a board as we left what our concerns are." Knowles outlines those concerns to the New York Times: that Zinke "appears to have no interest in continuing the agenda of science, the effect of climate change, pursuing the protection of the ecosystem." (Read more National Park Service stories.)
The emergency warning officer who accidentally sent Hawaii an incoming missile alert has been receiving death threats and is "not doing well," says the executive officer of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Toby Clairmont tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the employee, a 10-year agency veteran, has received "dozens of death threats by fax, telephone, social media." The worker, who has been reassigned to other duties, is "distraught that they've received death threats," Clairmont says. "This is hard. What can be worse than this? Running over a child in a crosswalk and you realize you did it? It's that kind of feeling," he says. "This employee is not doing well. We need to help them, too."

Clairmont says the employee, who caused widespread panic with just two mouse clicks Saturday morning, has not been disciplined and is helping the investigation, though "anything from a reprimand to termination" is still on the table. Hawaii News Now reports that the agency's password protection measures are also in the spotlight: When an otherwise innocuous photo from the agency's Honolulu headquarters appeared in news reports, sharp-eyed readers noticed that a password was on a Post-It note stuck on a computer. (The password could be read with the photo enlarged.) Agency spokesman Richard Rapoza says the password was indeed real, though for an "internal application," not "major piece of software." It is no longer in use. Rapoza says the agency has also had to debunk an online rumor that there has been a cover-up and the missile alert was real. (Read more Hawaii stories.)
The man blamed for one of America's worst intelligence breaches in decades is back in the USand it could be a very long time before he is allowed to leave again. Jerry Chung Shing Lee, a former CIA officer accused of giving China information that led to the execution or imprisonment of around 20 agents, was arrested at New York's JFK Airport when he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong Monday, NBC reports. Lee, a 53-year-old naturalized US citizen, worked for the CIA and had a top-secret security clearance between 1994 and 2007, when he moved to Hong Kong, reports the BBC. Intelligence officials believe Lee is responsible for the collapse of CIA operations in China between 2010 and 2012.

When Lee visited the US in 2012, FBI agents searched his hotel rooms in Hawaii and Virginia and found evidence that he was the mole who exposed the spy network, the New York Times reports. According to court documents, the evidence included handwritten notebooks with the "true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, as well as the addresses of CIA facilities." Lee has been charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Sources tell NBC he is unlikely to be charged with espionage, which can carry the death penalty, possibly because the government doesn't want to expose more secrets in a trial. It's not clear why Lee, who worked for an auction house, risked returning to the US. (Read more CIA stories.)
The world was shocked to lose Glenn Frey at the relatively young age of 67 two years ago, and his widow is now saying his passing never should have happened. Rolling Stone reports Cindy Frey has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against NYC's Mount Sinai Hospital and Dr. Steven Itzkowitz, the gastroenterologist who was treating the former Eagles frontman for his acute ulcerative colitis and other conditions before his death in January 2016. The complaint claims that for two months in late 2015, the hospital and Itzkowitz didn't diagnose and treat Frey properly for his stomach problems, as well as for other issues (his death was brought on by complications from the colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and pneumonia), and didn't get him to the hospital in a timely manner.

The lawsuit asserts that all of this "negligence" led to Frey being "rendered sick, lame, and disabled," caused him "pain [and] mental anguish," and eventually led to his death. Per Billboard, Frey's manager gave an interview to the Wrap shortly after Frey's death and indicated Frey's colitis and pneumonia were partly brought on by the meds he'd been taking for more than a decade for his arthritis. Reuters notes the suit was filed just under the wire: New York state has a two-year statute of limitations on wrongful death complaints. The suit seeks unlisted damages for wrongful death, pain and suffering, and the loss of services of a spouse. (Read more Glenn Frey stories.)
The Navy announced Tuesday is has charged commanding officers from two vessels involved in deadly crashes last year with negligent homicide, NPR reports. Three other officers also face negligent homicide charges. According to the AP, the charges will be presented in a hearing, which will determine if the officers will head to court-martial proceedings. At the moment, the Navy notes, all involved are "entitled to a presumption of innocence." The USS Fitzgerald hit a commercial ship in June off the coast of Japan, killing seven US sailors. The USS John S. McCain hit an oil tanker in August off the coast of Singapore, killing 10 US sailors. An investigation by the Navy determined both collisions were "avoidable."

Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez of the USS McCain faces charges of dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide. A chief petty officer on the vessel also faces a charge of dereliction of duty. Cmdr. Bryce Benson, two lieutenants, and a lieutenant junior grade of the USS McCain face charges of dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide. Eight other crew membersfour from each vesselare facing administrative actions. The decision on the charges was made by Adm. Frank Caldwell. Meanwhile, CNN reports US Navy Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden announced his resignation Tuesday stemming from the collisions. (Read more Navy stories.)
Humans are "pushing systems to the brink, from extinction-level rates of biodiversity loss to mounting concerns about the possibility of new wars," according to the World Economic Forum. On the upside, a stronger economic outlook means global leaders will have "a golden opportunity" to address some of the substantial risks to global stability, as tallied by 1,000 experts ahead of the WEF's annual meeting that starts next week in Switzerland. (President Trump will give the closing address, reports USA Today.) The experts say a "deteriorating geopolitical landscape" means the world is entering a "critical period of intensified risks," and CNBC provides the breakdown, with "extreme weather events" seen as the most likely threat:

Top risks in terms of likelihood:

1. Extreme weather events

2. Natural disasters

3. Cyberattacks

4. Data fraud or theft

5. Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change



Top risks in terms of impact:

1. Use of weapons of mass destruction

2. Extreme weather events

3. Natural disasters

4. Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change

5. Water crises



In the survey, 93% of respondents expect political or economic confrontations to worsen this year. Almost 80% expect an increased risk of regional conflicts and "state-on-state" war. (See Eurasia Group's risks for 2018.)
As the story goes, before Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation, Britain asked France if it might borrow the storied Bayeux Tapestry. The answer was no. Heinrich Himmler was also unsuccessful in transferring it to Nazi Germany. The 220-foot-long tapestry, which is on permanent display in Bayeux, France, has not left that country in some 950 years. That looks set to change. Multiple outlets are reporting that upon his arrival in the UK Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron will announce that the tapestry will be loaned to England, though not for a few years and only if tests show the 11th-century tapestrywhich details the Norman Conquest of England, complete with King Harold dying with an arrow in his eyecan be safely moved.

There is some speculation that the tapestry was actually created in Kent, England, reports the Guardian, and the Times of London writes the decision to loan it "would be a huge gesture towards les Anglais"and a fraught one, as bright light, extreme temperatures, humidity, and moths could ruin it. The BBC reports a British museum believes it was commissioned in the 1070s by the half-brother of William the Conqueror; the historical trail doesn't start until 1476, when it appears on an inventory of Bayeux Cathedral. One interesting line of speculation: whether the UK will loan France something equally impressive. One member of parliament suggests temporarily parting with the Rosetta Stone, which was likely uncovered by the Frenchspecifically by soldiers of Napoleon in Egypt. Read more on Harold, England's last Anglo-Saxon king, here. (Read more England stories.)
April 22 has been set as "Day Zero" for Cape Town, but it's not a celebratory date. Time reports that following three years of record-setting drought, the South African city has enough water left in its reservoirs to last about 90 daysmeaning it will become the planet's first big city to run out of water (on Earth Day, ironically) if things don't change drastically. If the worst-case scenario happens and reservoirs drop to 13.5% capacity, the city's 4 million or so residents will see their taps run dry (only essential services like hospitals will get water piped in) and will be forced to head to select "water points" guarded by armed security to pick up a max of 6.6 gallons a day. A Johannesburg ecology professor told Bloomberg in December that such a development would be "catastrophic." "I know of no example of a city the size of Cape Town running out of water," he said.

Residents have been told to keep water use down to 23 gallons per person per day, meaning two-minute showers, not using water to wash cars, and keeping dishwasher and washing machine use and flushing to a minimum. But those efforts haven't sufficed, and authorities fear the city is fast approaching what Time calls a sort of "Mad Max territory." The cause for the shortage is a combination of little rainfall over the last three yearsa "less than once in a millennium" occurrence, climatologists told Bloomberga 50% population spurt in Cape Town over the past 10 years, and local politics. The city is now scrambling to see if it can set up groundwater extraction and costly desalination factories, but these alternatives likely won't be ready by April. "We have to change our relationship with water," one resident told Bloomberg. "We have to plan for being permanently in a drought-stricken area." (A Corona brewery has been accused of draining Mexico's water supply.)
Apple is planning to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers during the next five years as part of a $350 billion commitment to the US that will be partially financed by an upcoming windfall from the country's new tax law, the AP reports. The pledge announced Wednesday comes less than a month after Congress approved a sweeping overhaul of the US tax code. The reforms offer a one-time break on cash being held overseas. Apple plans to take advantage of that provision to bring back about $252 billion in offshore cash, generating a tax bill of roughly $38 billion. It's something that Apple CEO Tim Cook promised the company would do if it could avoid being taxed at the 35% rate that had been in effect under the previous tax law.

About $75 billion of the $350 billion in US investments will be paid from money that had been overseas, Apple estimated. While Apple is likely to return some of its overseas money to its shareholders, Wednesday's announcement is designed to be a show of faith in the USthe company's largest market. The public show of support to the US also helps the optics of a company that will still continue to make most of its iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets in factories located in China and other faraway countries. Apple plans to announce the location of a second campus devoted to customer support later this year. The company didn't say how big the second campus will be, or how many of the additional 20,000 workers that it plans to hire will be based there.

(Read more Apple stories.)
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Mumbai:

All the 14 designs of Rs 10 coin are valid and legal tender for transactions, the Reserve Bank said on Wednesday amid reluctance by certain traders to accept the coins.

It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank that in certain places there is reluctance on part of traders and members of public to accept Rs 10 coins due to suspicion about their genuineness, the RBI said while reiterating legal tender status of the coins of different designs.

In a statement, the central bank clarified that it puts into circulation the coins minted by government mints.

These coins, it further said, have distinctive features to reflect various themes of economic, social and cultural values and are introduced from time to time.

Also Read: Delhi High Court dismisses PIL for withdrawal of coins with religious symbols

So far the Reserve Bank has issued Rs 10 coin in 14 designs... All these coins are legal tender and can be accepted for transactions, the RBI said.

It has also asked banks to accept coins for transactions and exchange at all their branches.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:

Leading NRI businessman Yusuffali MA has acquired an iconic Scottish hotel based in Edinburgh in a 120 million-dollar deal clinched by Twenty14 Holdings (T14H), the hospitality investment arm of his Abu Dhabi headquartered Lulu Group International.

The Caledonian, a grand Edwardian hotel overlooking Edinburgh Castle, joins his portfolio of the 650 million-dollar worth of luxury properties across the UK, the Middle East and India.

The T14H on Tuesday announced plans to invest 28 million dollars for the expansion and enhancement of the historic hotel under its ownership while retaining its heritage and distinctive architecture.

"We are excited to add The Caledonian to the portfolio of Twenty14 Holdings. With more than 100 years of history, The Caledonian brings with it a rich heritage, character and unique opulence," said Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of T14H.

Ahamed added that the company plans to honour the "Scottish landmark", while adding to the experience the hotel already offers.

Among some of the plans for the site, the T14H intends to engage local craftsmen to work on the hotelAs historic Caledonian suites.

"Luxury and style will be the keynote of these improvements. Bespoke furniture, eclectic artwork and en-suite bathrooms featuring marble and burnished chrome fittings will feature among a host of exclusive additions," T14H said.

The latest acquisition fits into the company strategy of investing in profitable luxury sites while preserving their historical legacy. The Caledonian operates under the Hilton groupAs flagship Waldorf Astoria brand.

First opened in 1903 as part of the old Princes Street Railway Station, the hotel currently has 241 rooms and is home to two famous restaurants operated by Michelin-starred brothers Chris and Jeff Galvin A the Pompadour by Galvin and Galvin Brasserie de Luxe.

It also houses the only spa by French skincare brand Guerlain in the UK, echoing the glamour of its counterpart in Paris.

Twenty14 Holdings was founded in 2014 as the hospitality arm of Lulu Group International to capitalise on the growth in the global hospitality industry.

The group, which had acquired the Old Scotland Yard headquarters in London in 2015, has struck a 110-million-pound agreement with property developer Galliard Homes to create a boutique five-star hotel on the site A 1-5 Great Scotland Yard.

The custom-built 92,000 sq ft project is to be called the Great Scotland Yard Hotel. Among its other properties worldwide, T14H co-owns the landmark Sheraton Oman Hotel in Muscat, a 230 room five-star hotel re-opened in 2016, and owns the Steigenberger Hotel Business Bay in Dubai besides hotels in Kerala and Karnataka.

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Bengaluru:

The Bengaluru Police on Tuesday early morning arrested a chain snatcher in a pure filmy style in HSR Layout police station limits. The accused has been identified as Somashekhar alias Soma, a resident of Anekal Taluk.



Speaking to News Nation Dr Borlingaiah DCP South East Zone Bengaluru said, The accused had come to the area early in the morning around 5:30 am. Our team got information about his attempt to commit chain snatching and him coming in a Maruti Omni car. Our team coordinated very well to chase and nab him. During the chase he came across a dead end hence he got out of the vehicle and climbed the roof of a house. The asbestos sheet of the roof broke and collapsed bringing him down and we nabbed him. "



In this operation two policemen also got injured. Constable Mahesa Nayak sustained fracture of left hand fingers and Constable Basavaraj sustained back injury.



In the last 48 hours four chain snatching incidents have been reported from Bengaluru city following which security has been tightened across the city.
New Delhi:

The Shahid Udham Singh Sena on Tuesday threatened to launch an agitation in Muzaffarnagar, a day after a Dalit youth was allegedly beaten up by four Hindu Vahini activists if the police failed to arrest the accused by January 17.



The Dalit youth Vipin Kumar, age 22-years, was allegedly beaten mercilessly with sticks, verbally abused, kicked, and forced to chant Jai Mata Di by four activists of the Hindu Vahini in Kalanpur village of Muzaffarnagar on Monday, Circle Officer Yogender Singh said, citing a complaint lodged by the victim under sections 307 of IPC and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.



The case was registered against accused Rahul, Dhiraj, Jodha, and Kaku who were absconding, Singh said.



Shahid Udham Singh Sena president Vikas has threatened to launch an agitation if the demand for the arrest of the absconding Hindu Vahini activists is not met.
New Delhi:

The popular reality show Bigg Boss 11 has ended with television actress Shilpa Shinde emerging as the winner. While the lady's journey on the show bagged a lot of attention, it was her infamous tussle with Vikas Gupta that made the two contestants be the talk of the town.

In fact, Shilpa had left no stone unturned to torture Vikas in the first five weeks of the show to an extent that he even tried to escape the BB house.

Indeed, their sweet-sour relationship did keep the audience intrigued, and now after the show has pulled its curtain down, Vikas Gupta finally spilled the beans about his much talked about controversy with Shilpa.

During his recent interaction with TOI, Vikas said, I was heading an organisation on which her show was airing. Her producers werent happy with her. Shilpa wanted to do shows on other channels as well. It was against the channels policy. In fact, I had offered to double her money in one of the meetings. The final decision was left to her. Later, the production house informed me that she had decided to walk out of the show.

He further added, "In the end, even Salman Khan told Shilpa ji that there was no fault of Vikas. She knew it from the beginning but she accepted it much later."

Interestingly, during the Bigg Boss 11 grand finale, Vikas Gupta was quoted saying that he has a script ready for Shilpa Shinde post the show.

On the other hand, Shinde, in her exclusive interview with News Nation said that she is open to working with Vikas but in a web series and not a daily soap.

We wonder if the two celebs will be announcing a project together anytime soon as it will surely be a treat for both Shilpa Shinde and Vikas Gupta fans.
New Delhi:

Sanjay Leela Bhansalias Padmavati, now known as Padmaavat, has been controversy's favourite child since its inception. And as the movie is inching towards its release date (January 25), Padmaavat has once again faced bans in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana.

Now, the producers of Padmaavat have moved the Supreme Court against the ban on its release being imposed by four state governments. The apex court is likely to hear the case on Friday (January 19).

Reportedly, Padmaavat producers claim that there should not be blanket bans in the states on the movie after receiving a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The CBFC had recently cleared the film for release with U/A certificate and a set of five modifications.

Producers of #Padmavat move Supreme Court against the film being banned in certain states pic.twitter.com/N6Hy7oPpzM a ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

According to the media reports, the state governments have imposed the ban on Padmaavat release citing law-and-order problems.

Padmaavat, which stars Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and, Shahid Kapoor in key roles, has been facing a backlash from the Rajput community for allegedly distorting history.

It has been facing severe protests from the community which included vandalising of sets and death threats to Bhansali and Deepika.

In fact, the makers even changed the name of the movie from Padmavati to Padmaavat and claimed that it aupholds the honour of the Rajput community.a A new poster with the new title was also released lately.

Padmaavat is slated to hit the theatres on January 25 and will witness a box-office clash with Akshay Kumar starrer PadMan.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Bhopal:

A video purportedly showing Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan slapping a man in his security detail during a roadshow has gone viral, prompting a demand by the Congress to register a case against him.

While the Congress said it showed Mr Chouhan's "frustration", the chief minister's public relations officer offered no comment.

"We demand that Chouhan be booked for hitting his security man under section 353 (assault to deter a public servant from performing his duty) of IPC," Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh said.

Power, Mr Singh said, had "blinded" the chief minister and the result of his "failed" policies got on his nerves. "This frustration showed in yesterday's incident," the Congress leader said.

Also Read | Video: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan slaps man during roadshow in Dhar

Senior BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai said the incident was being wrongly interpreted.

"There was a huge crowd around Chouhan, and the security man twice stepped on the chief minister's injured foot. In an immediate human or knee-jerk reaction, Chouhan only removed him to protect himself and the action was never intended to hurt anyone with any ill-intention," Dr Bajpai said.

In the video, an agitated Mr Chouhan is seen hitting the man with his hand while walking, surrounded by people.

When contacted by PTI, the chief minister's Public Relations Officer (PRO) did not offer any comments.

The chief minister held a roadshow at Sardarpur in Dhar district yesterday as part of the BJP's campaign for civic polls in the state.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Jammu:

A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed in an unprovoked firing and mortar shelling by Pakistani forces at RS Pura Sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

A Jammu and Kashmir Police officer not willing to be quoted said, Pakistani forces indiscriminately opened fire at a BSF camp in RS Pura Sector. A BSF jawan suffered serious injuries in the initial round of firing by the Pakistani Rangers.

The BSF soldier died due to fatal bullet injuries in the ceasefire violation, said a senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer.

The officer further added, the Pakistani Rangers started indiscriminate firing at the BSF camp around 9 pm.

Sources in the Line of Control told News Nation that the BSF troopers retaliated to the ceasefire violation.

They said, On getting a befitting reply from BSF troopers, Pakistani Rangers started shelling mortars.

"BSF troops are giving a befitting reply," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Jammu Arun Manhas later told PTI.

Also read: Watch | BSF launches 'Operation Alert' along 200 km international border to thwart infiltration

One BSF personnel died in the heavy shelling, Mr Manhas said. Shells fired by Pakistan landed in Arnia belt and hit several villages as well.

"The district administration has asked all its officers to remain in the state of highest preparedness in view of continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan," he said.

However, the villagers have not been evacuated so far, the officer added.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the Chinese military had carried out temporary buildups in Doklam  the site of a tense standoff between the two countries last year  after media reports cited satellite images to say that the infrastructure included a full-fledged PLA base.

The Chinese military had carried out some infrastructure development in the Doklam area earlier. All of it is temporary in nature," said Army chief Bipin Rawat during Raisina Dialogue.

He added that the infrastructure remains in the area, while the PLA troops have returned. The Indian army does not visualise it as a serious trouble. But, one has to be prepared for it, said Rawat.

The Indian Army chief Rawat further said, Indian and Chinese troops now have a mechanism to effectively address their issues.

Also read: India, China prevent another Doklam, resolve intrusion incident in Arunachal Pradesh's Tuting



Further Rawat added, We are meeting regularly, communications between the commanders at the ground level is on and the bonhomie has returned which was prior to the Doklam (incident).

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

At a time when the Haryana government was appealing the opposition not to politicise series of recent rape cases, a new incident of a shocking sexual assault of a woman by group of men in front of husband was reported with the police in Faridabad.

The latest case of sexual assault was reported in Haryanas Faridabad village in Haryana where a housewife was gang raped by six persons at gunpoint in front of her husband.

The six accused forcibly entered the house of the rape survivor in the early hours of Wednesday.

Also read: 15-year-old boy rapes 3-year-old neighbour in Hisar



According to the complaint lodged, one of the persons brandished a gun and took the victim and her husband captive. He along with five others tied the married woman to the cot and raped her in turns.

The husband was brutally beaten by the six, when he tried to protect his wife.

The victims husband told the police that the six continued to rape her even after she fell unconscious due to the assault.

The Haryana Police claims to have arrested two persons in connection to the rape.

Also read: Two days after gang-rape, 13-yr-old awaits medical examination in Ghaziabad



Earlier in the day, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar termed the incident as unfortunate and urged the opposition parties not politicise the recent rape incident.

He said, We will take strict action against. We have transferred several police officials.

In the last few days, a 15-year old Dalit girl from Kurukshetra was allegedly gangraped and brutally murdered. In another incident, a 11-year-old Dalit girl was gangraped and murdered in Panipat district. A three-year-old daugher of migrant labour was raped in Hisar by her teenage neighbour was reported with Hisar Police on Wednesday morning.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Suspected accused in Jind rape and murder case found dead in Kurukshetra, Haryana on Wednesday. In a grim reminder of the infamous December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape, a 15-year-old Dalit girl was brutally gang-raped and killed in a very ruthless manner.

The body of the minor Dalit girl was found with severe injury marks at the bank of a water channel in Jind district, Haryana on Saturday. She was missing from her home in Kurukshetra since January 9.

The postmortem of the body which was conducted at Rohtak forensic lab revealed that she suffered brutalities similar to Nirbhaya before her death. According to the autopsy reports, the assailants inserted a blunt object into her genitals. Her lungs were also found to be crushed suggesting somebody sat on her chest.

Reports also showed at least 19 injury marks including on her face, head, chest, and hands. She had several internal injuries suggesting foreign objects were inserted into her private parts.

The body had many injury marks, private parts were mutilated and there were a lot of internal injuries. Signs of sexual assault are visible and looks like 3-4 people were responsible. A hard and blunt thing was inserted into her, signs of drowning also found, said Dr SK Dattarwal, PGI Rohtak.

Deputy SP Kaptan Singh said an FIR has been registered under section 302 IPC and 2 SITs have been constituted for investigation in the case.

My daughter was kidnapped and raped, culprits should be punished. We want justice for her. If the administration had done its job well, an incident like this would have never happened, said the victims father.

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Jammu:

Pakistani troops opened fire at Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Tuesday, injuring an Army Captain, officials said.

"There was a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army. They resorted to firing along the LoC in Chakan Da Bagh area in Poonch this evening," a security force official said.

The injured Army Captain has been hospitalized, they said. The Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire continued till late night, they said.

Also Read | Army kills seven Pakistani soldiers in 'retaliatory action' along LoC in Poonch

The latest violation of the ceasefire came a day after seven Pakistani Army men, including a Major, were killed and four others injured in retaliatory action by the Indian Army in Poonch.

Authorities had on Monday suspended the cross-LoC bus service between Chakan Da Bagh and Rawalakot, following heightened tension on the LoC.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Gujarat on Wednesday.



Both the Prime Ministers will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.A



Later, they will visit the Center of Excellence in Vadrad and inaugurate a Center of Excellence for date palms in Bhuj via video conference and inaugurate the iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.A



They will visit a startup exhibition and interact with innovators and startup CEOs. The two Prime Ministers will dedicate a mobile water desalination van to Suigam Taluka of Banaskantha district through a video link and address a gathering.



The two Premiers will also visit the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad in Banaskantha district. They will be briefed on work plan of the Centre. They will inaugurate the Centre of Excellence for Date Palms at Kukama, Bhuj District through a video link.A



The two Prime Ministers will also interact with farmers.A



Prime Minister Netanyahu will later depart for Mumbai.

#WATCH PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu's roadshow in Ahmedabad https://t.co/eAE0jWc46u a ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

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Kolkata:

Prisoners of Kolkatas Presidency Correctional Home attacked West Bengal police personnel and tried to torch the jail campus while they were shifted to another jail on Wednesday.

Police said, around 11-under trial prisoners, who were being shifted from Presidency Correctional Home to Hoogly Correctional Home, attacked the police personnel on duty in the jail campus.

In the attack few police personnel were injured, said a jail official.

The prisoners after attacking the cops also tried to set the jail campus on fire. A portion of jail gate was torched the prisoner, added the officier.





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New Delhi:

In an incident which brought back horrific memories of the murder of class 2 student in Gurgaon's Ryan International School last year, a class 1 student was brutally attacked with a sharp weapon by a senior student at Lucknows Brightland School on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Police said on Wednesday.

The incident came to light on Wednesday morning after parents of the injured student lodged a complaint with the local police.

Police said, teachers found the class one student lying unconscious in pool of blood with hands tied in a school toilet around 10am on Tuesday.

The boy was rushed to a local hospital for immediate medical attention. The boy is admitted in trauma centre of the hospital.

According to police, a class seven student is involved in the brutal attack. The minor has suffered stab injuries in stomach and chest.

Family members of the injured student claim that the school officials informed them about the attack on their ward very late.

However, Principal of the school Rina Manas claimed that on finding the student brutally injured she rushed him immediately to hospital.

I also informed Lucknow Police about the incident after admitting the child in the trauma centre, said Manas.

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New Delhi:

Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that there is no danger of war with India and suggested that both the countries should ensure there is no escalation of situation along the international borders.

Abbasi during an interview to Geo News channel said. I dont think there is a danger of war. At least from our side.

In an interview that was aired on Tuesday, the Pakistani PM asserted that Pakistan has never taken unilateral action. We have always behaved responsibily.

Abbasi on Indian Bipin Rawats comment said, Indian Army chief will not speak in our favour. We have demonstrated our capabilities at times.

Abbasi, who was chosen as the premier by the ruling PML-N after the Supreme Court ousted Nawaz Sharif for dishonesty last year, also ruled out the possibility of action against Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, saying there were no cases against him in Pakistan.

The Pakistani prime minister also added that his doors are always open for meaningful dialogue with India. "Doors are open for talks but in a dignified manner to solve core issue of Kashmir, he said.

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Following the release of its first edition in 1955, publisher Iwanami Shoten's Kojien has become one of the most respected and widely used dictionaries in Japan. Since 1998, the tome has been on a 10-year update cycle, and so last week's release of Kojien's seventh edition was a big deal not just for linguists, but for Japanese society in general.

However, not more than a few days after it went on sale on January 12, criticisms have arisen regarding one of the new book's definitions. Among the terms added to the seventh edition is "LGBT," and not an equivalent using indigenous Japanese linguistic components. The four-letter acronym appears in the book as "LGBT," just like it would in an English dictionary.

The inclusion of the term hasn't caused any controversy, but what has is the way Kojien defines the term, which is:

"People with a different sexual orientation from the majority."

Critics say that this definition improperly limits the scope of what the term stands for. Breaking the acronym into its components, "lesbian," "gay," and "bisexual" indicate sexual orientation, but "transgender," represented by the last letter of the acronym, does not, instead referring to an individual's gender identity.

Given the exalted position that Kojien occupies in academic and professional circles, the dictionary's definitions have the potential to affect how educators, students, and businesspeople use and interpret words. Kanazawa University associate humanities professor Takeyoshi Iwamoto expressed his concerns about the book's incomplete definition for LGBT, saying that he hopes the publisher will craft a more suitable entry for the term after consultation with experts and specialists. LGBT activist Mameta Endo had similar sentiments, saying that he would be alarmed if the limited definition in the new Kojien were to gain traction. "I want the publishers to revise the definition at the first opportunity," he has said.
Hokkaido Prefectural Police have arrested a former co-worker of a 23-year-old woman who was found murdered in her residence in Sapporo last year, reports Nippon News Network

Police have accused Akihiro Kumakura, 43, of strangling Ayumi Kimura to death at her the third-floor residence in Nishi Ward.

On the afternoon of November 4, 2017, Kumakura alerted emergency services after falsely claiming to have found her body in the bathtub of the residence, police said.

The results of an autopsy conducted on the body of Kimura revealed that she died due to suffocation.

According to a previous report, investigators said that the body of Kimura did not exhibit any external wounds. She was believed to have died two or three days prior to the discovery.

At the time, Kumakura was a co-worker of Kimura, who lived alone, at a hospital in the same ward. Two days before the discovery, the pair enjoyed a meal together, a witness told police.

According to police, the arrest of Kumakura was based on a DNA analysis of evidence in the case. The suspect has declined to comment on the allegations.
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The Republican nominee for governor wont be decided for another seven months, but national Democrats have already saved them the trouble of picking a running mate: Donald Trump.

The Democratic Governors Association released a YouTube video mash-up Wednesday of five GOP gubernatorial candidates affirming they voted for Trump in the 2016 election when they were asked about their support for the president during a debate last week.

Peter Lumaj, Mark Boughton, Dave Walker, Tim Herbst and Prasad Srinivasan appear in the minute-long clip, which is titled The Trump-off and serves as a coming attraction for the general election strategy of Democrats in this notoriously blue state.

Connecticut is emerging as a key battleground for both national parties in this years mid-term elections, which are historically unforgiving to the party in power in Washington, D.C., and follow a surge by Democrats in the 2017 municipal elections.

Its clear that the Republicans running for governor wants to be Donald Trumps partner in Connecticut, said Jared Leopold, a DGA spokesman. This primary is all about who can prove theyre the most loyal to Trump. The eventual nominee is going to have a hard time explaining their love of Trump to voters in the general election.

After avoiding mention of Trump during the first half of the Jan. 10 state GOP debate in Hebron, nine Republicans were asked whether they voted for Trump and support his agenda by the debates co-moderator Christine Stewart of CT News Junkie.

The litmus test led to one of the more feisty exchanges of the debate, with the conservative firebrand Lumaj excoriating the Danbury mayor Boughton for a quip he wrote-in the name of his rescue dog, Ellie, for president.

The fact of the matter is I supported our nominee just like everybody else in this room, Boughton said in the video.

Boughton, a three-time candidate for governor, told Hearst Connecticut Media that Democrats are trying to turn attention away from the dismal record of departing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Thats not going to work, Boughton said. Im going to spend my time lumping in the Democratic candidates with Dan Malloy. Hes the least popular governor in the nation.

Boughton said he is not a carbon copy of Trump.

When hes right I agree with him and when hes wrong I disagree with him, Boughton said. Look, I havent always agreed with the language hes used from time to time. I think our economy is roaring, though.

Lumaj said Wednesday that hes the only Republican that can mobilize Trumps base in the state.

(Democrats) have nothing else to talk about, Lumaj said. In order for them to justify their failures, they make it sound like its a crime to support Trump.

Lumaj noted that his former spokesman Carl Higbie is now a member of Trumps administration, serving as chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

I think having a great relationship with the White House is going to benefit our state, too, Lumaj said.

http://twitter.com/gettinviggy; nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436

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DANBURY  Republican Emanuela Palmares was sworn in last week as the newest member of the Danbury Board of Education after a months-long dispute over who should take the final seat on the board.

But Democratic leaders warn that the fight might not be over, saying they are considering potential legal challenges to Palmares appointment.

The 34-year-old Tribuna newspaper editor was appointed by Mayor Mark Boughton and sworn in last Wednesday after an unusual turn of events following the school board elections in November.

Although the seat was originally won by Democrat Jane Grandieri, she declined to take the position so she could keep her new job as a behavioral therapist with the district. State law precludes serving simultaneously as an elected official and as an employee of the district.

Grandieris decision left an opening on the 11-member body, but the remaining members  split 5-5 between Democrats and Republicans  could not agree on a replacement.

Instead, Boughton stepped in last week make the appointment himself. He and city legal staff argue that the city charter and a judges decision in a similar Bridgeport case give the mayor authority to choose the replacement should the board not act within 30 days, a deadline that passed early last week.

Since Palmares received the next-highest number of votes among all the candidates in November, Boughton reached out to her to take the position, they both said.

Democrats ran five people for those seats, and had No. 4 received more votes than Ms. Palmares, I would have appointed a Democrat, Boughton said. Im trying to follow the will of the voters.

But the pushback was immediate at the school board meeting last Wednesday, just after Palmares swearing-in, when several speakers challenged the appointment during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Gene Eriquez suggested that only the school board has the authority to make the appointment, adding that the Bridgeport case cited by the city is under appeal. He argued that the move at least breaks a long-standing precedent within the city regarding such appointments, if not the charter or state statutes themselves.

Attorneys working with the Democratic Party are examining whether it is possible to challenge Palmares appointment in court, he said Tuesday.

The mantra People Over Politics rings hollow on this matter, he told the school board last week, referring to the theme of Boughtons campaign for governor.

Palmares brushed off suggestions that the appointment was in any way inappropriate and decried what she said were several personal attacks written against her in comments on her Facebook page. Some of the comments questioned her commitment to public education in light of her decision to send her 5-year-old son to St. Josephs Catholic school instead of public school after his diagnosis for autism

In an open letter published on her blog and sent to the News-Times, she wrote at length about the decision.

To take my decision for the well-being for my child as a blanket statement about my feelings about public education is totally wrong, Palmares said Tuesday. I literally wouldnt be able to speak to you on the phone if not for public education. I owe my professional life and any success I could achieve to public school educators in this town.

zach.murdock@newstimes.com
The Ku Klux Klan reared its head again in Upstate NY over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, this time distributing flyers attacking the Civil Rights leader across the city of Johnstown.

The flyers make false claims about King, calling him a Jewish communist agent and claiming he engaged in sexually deviant behavior.

They were found on Johnstown residents' cars on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the night before across the city, including at the Public Library, WNYT-TV reported.

"I didn't think they'd ever get this far north. I figured they were just in the south," resident Fran Sorento told WNYT. "Martin Luther King is such a good person. He did a lot for the people."

It's not the first time an Upstate NY town has been littered with flyers from a Klan group, and in the Johnstown area, the Klan presence is a bit of a sore spot.

Last year, a local newspaper posted a series of articles profiling the Klan's presence in the area. The articles drew outrage from readers, who accused the paper of giving the Klan a platform for their hateful views.

Dayton King, mayor of neighboring city Gloversville, called the article irresponsible and hypocritical, saying, "They've given a platform to four people that go by fake names. They don't really know who they are and they are just saying anything and they printed it."

The KKK is one of many hate groups in Upstate NY, but their speech isn't illegal. However, Johnstown police are still asking for information on who distributed the flyers. The culprit could be fined for distributing signs without a permit.

WTEN-TV also reported that identical flyers were distributed over the weekend in Virginia. Watch the station's report below.
NEW HAVEN  A local composer/musician has won a spot in the annual fellowship class of 45 artists and collaboratives across the nation, receiving a $50,000 grant.

The Chicago-based United States Artists named New Haven resident Tyshawn Sorey, who teaches at Wesleyan University, one of the USA fellows, according to a release from the group this week.
NEW HAVEN  The first addicted person to enter the citys new LEAD program has died.

LEAD, which stands for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, reaches out to addicted persons guilty of low-level offenses to urge them voluntarily to come into a program that offers housing, health services and jobs in exchange for no prosecution.

The aim is to get them medical care and social services, rather than imprisonment The pilot program, introduced in November in the Hill and downtown, is made possible with a two-year federal grant.

Lt. Mark ONeill, district manager for Downtown and Wooster Square, said Mark Cochran, 55, a well-known occupant of the Green, agreed in November to go to the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center at 232 Cedar St. for detox rather than be charged with criminal trespass.

Participants have 30 days to fill out the paperwork to get assigned a case worker and to begin treatment or get a summons to go to court. ONeill said they can remain in the program for as long as needed, but committing to it is the first step.

ONeill said they lost track of Cochran for a while until an officer found him behind a church on the Green just before Christmas.

Did he freeze to death? advocate Wendy Hamilton shouted from the audience at the Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team meeting, where ONeill was speaking.

ONeill said no. Cochran was responsive when the officers found him.

The district manager said that while Cochran was being transported to the hospital, he stopped breathing and died either on the way to or at the hospital.

I tried a year to get him a place to live. When Yale (New Haven Hospital) would not admit him, I told the nurse and the doctor, if you dont keep him in the hospital and fix him, he is going to die and he did, Hamilton shouted.

Caroline Smith, chairwoman of the management team, then called for a moment of silence for Cochran.

Hamilton is an advocate for the homeless and has asked the city many times to convert abandoned buildings to housing for the homeless.

Some of the initial problems the LEAD program faces, ONeill said, are the crime categories that make individuals unqualified to participate. Someone can have a larceny conviction, but not a burglary by breaking into someones house, he said.

A lot of drug addicts break into someones house, he said.

ONeil said they have revamped it in the last week to allow someone to participate if the persons alcoholism or addiction would likely steer him or her, sooner or later, to commit a crime to support a habit.

To make it more appealing to persons with substance abuse issues, two persons in the Hill and Jesus Garzon Ospina, 20, a Gateway Community College student, have been chosen by their neighboroods as liaisons to help identify people who may benefit from the program.

The reasoning for that is the belief addicts might be scared off by a police officer approaching them.

Their goal is to have 60 people enrolled by the end of the first year.

We were very optimistic with Mark (Cochran). He opted into the program. He was a prime candidate. He had some substance abuse issues and he was willing to give it a try, ONeill said.

He was a staple down on the Green. Everyone knew him, said ONeill.

ONeill said a female, on her own, came to the program, but also ultimately opted not to sign up.

LEAD started in Seattle, ONeill said, when the city was faced with either figuring out something that would help addicted individuals or building more jails. Lacking the funds for prisons, it put together LEAD.

It has also been put in place in Albany, Baltimore and Bangor, Maine.

mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577
WEST HAVEN  Fred Messore, onetime executive director of the West Haven Economic Development Corp., is returning to the city as its new commissioner of planning and development, Mayor Nancy Rossi said.

Messore, currently a senior vice president of Colonial Properties Inc. and the economic development director in Seymour, will begin work in West Haven on Jan. 29, Rossi said in a news release. He will succeed Joseph Riccio Jr., who served in the job through former Mayor Ed OBriens term and through the end of December.

Fred Messore knows how to close the deal, Rossi said in the release, making a reference to Messores job in real estate  which has involved some large-scale West Haven transactions in recent years. Messore will bring a wealth of experience to the city as an economic development professional with a proven track record, she said.

The city will pay Messore, 48, an annual salary of $99,499, Rossi said in a recent letter confirming Messores appointment. The commissioner manages the Department of Planning and Development, which includes Planning & Zoning, the Building Department, the Grants-in-Aid Department and the Community Development Administration.

It is a pleasure to offer you an opportunity to serve the city of West Haven, Rossi wrote. I look forward to working with you and making the future of West Haven a brighter one for all of our residents.

Messore said he met with his West Haven department heads prior to accepting the position and is looking forward to getting to work in the city .

I am very grateful and excited about the opportunity this position will lend to the betterment of the community, Messore said. I also look forward to working with the administration and staff of City Hall, many of whom I have had the pleasure of partnering with in my previous capacity with the city.

Messore, a 1987 graduate of Notre Dame High School who grew up in West Haven, is now a resident of Orange. He majored in accounting at Southern Connecticut State University. Messore served as executive director of the West Haven Economic Development Corp. from 2000 to 2006, but has remained involved in West Haven matters in the years since  including in his real estate job.

Messore, who has been with Colonial Properties since 2008, said he will continue his role with the Orange-based company, where he has received several awards during his career for brokering commercial development projects in New Haven County.

Last August, Messore brokered the sale of the 117-acre former Sursum Corda site on Route 34 to Yale New Haven Health for its future Yale New Haven Health Regional Operations Center, a regional warehouse to distribute medical supplies throughout the Yale New Haven Health System.

Other high-profile transactions he has brokered in the city include the sale of Hallocks appliance store on Main Street to the developer of The Haven luxury fashion outlet mall, assembling the land for The Atwood apartment and commercial development on Boston Post Road, assembling the property  once 26 separate parcels  for what is now the New Havens Engineering & Science University Magnet School on Route 1 in West Haven, and the sale of a Walmart parcel on Sawmill Road to McDonalds Corp.

Along with overseeing his departments, Messore will have a voice on the Conservation and Open Space Land Commission, Economic Development Commission, Harbor Management Commission, Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, Planning and Zoning Commission, Redevelopment Agency and Zoning Board of Appeals.

Messore has served as Seymours economic development director since 2011. In that job, he has been involved in a number of key projects, most recently completing the first phase of the Seymour greenway trail in the heart of downtown, adjacent to the Tingue Dam fish bypass channel.

Messore said he has submitted a letter of resignation to the town of Seymour and will be leaving that job when he begins his tenure in West Haven.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
MANCHESTER  Gov. Dannel P. Malloys budget director sent legislative leaders a letter Wednesday to let them know most of the states hospitals are appealing the rate changes approved as part of the state budget.

This amounts to a repudiation of the hospitals agreement with the General Assembly, Barnes wrote legislative leaders Wednesday. Furthermore, I fear that these appeals may hinder the states pending application before CMS, putting the state at risk of significant financial harm.
AS the 2019 general elections is fast approaching, political gladiators in Oyo State are going to each others jugular over who controls the soul of the state.Already, the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu has reported Governor Abiola Ajimobi to President Muhammadu Buhari and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odegie-Oyegun over the alleged high handedness by the governor.Shittu in his petition claimed that his offence to the governor which culminated in the demolition of his Computer Based Test, CBT Centre under construction by the agents of the state in Shaki was as a result of his intention to take over from the governor.The Minister said he decided to draw the attentions of the national leadership of the party, the President and the APC national leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to the alleged manipulations of the governor on time in order to save the party from total disintegration.Shittu in the petition dated 18th December 2017, said, I am constrained to bring to your notice the unsavory development in our great party in Oyo State and the unbecoming behavior of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who is expected to provide sound moral and exemplary leadership to the citizens of our dear State.This line of action becomes imperative in view of the sad turn of events in Oyo State APC. It is an open secret that the fortunes of APC has nosedived in the state due to Governor Ajimobis undue arrogance, grandstanding, nepotism, caustic and unguarded utterances and creating unnecessary divisions among party leaders and members thereby balkanising the party along group lines.Worse still, the traditional media and the social media are awash with various commentaries of the negative impact of Governor Ajimobis degeneration behavior in the fortunes of our party.It is on the basis of these facts and some decisions of the Ajimobis government as it affects the generality of our people that I have had cause in the past to criticise him and insist that the overall interest of APC as a political party in power should be paramount, rather than the egoistic feelings of the governor and his co-travellers.In doing this, I dont have anything personal against Governor Ajimobi, but to stress the importance of him not destroying the very platform that made him governor. The signs that Ajimobi is set to destroy the party are glaring to political watchers, as the voting population in the state is becoming disillusioned more than ever before.The Minister stated that when it was clear to him that the governor was harbouring some form animosity against him, he arranged a meeting at the Oyo State Government House Abuja where two of them met to resolve all existing misgivings, adding that the governor assured that every differences were resolved.He noted with constanation that just a day after the meeting, the CBT Centre which was part of the issues discussed with the governor was demolished.He said, At the meeting, I also mentioned to the Governor the outstanding issue of a Computer Based Test Centre under construction in Shaki, which has become a subject of dispute between me and the local government.I requested for his kind intervention to see to the success of the project which to all intents and purposes would not only assist examination candidates in my hometown but would also be a boost to our party.The governor promised to intervene and lay the matter to rest, for which I expressed my appreciation for his brotherly promise. The meeting ended on a good note with the hope of a better working relationship.He said few days after he called the governor on phone to thank him for the reception and understanding on all the issues discussed.During the telephone conversation, it was amazing that the governor on his own reassured me that he was soon going to provide me with official documents to revalidate my ownership of the land on which the CBT Centre was being constructed.Shockingly, the following day, I got information that agents of the state government invaded the site with a bulldozer, a pay loader and people suspected to be thugs, uprooted the on-going CBT building project and demolished over 2,000 9 blocks on site, he alleged.He said efforts made to draw the attention of the governor did not yield anything as the governor neither picked his calls nor replied to His text message.He further claimed that the governors grouse against him following the information available to him was because he (Shittu) frustrated the governors attempts to unjustifiably remove the APC Chairman in Ido Local Government of the State, one Pastor Akintokun, who he (Ajimobi) felt had allowed me to have too much access to the political apparatus in the local government.He further stated, The governor was said to have been shocked by my acceptance of the Chieftaincy title of Agba-Akin Afiwagboye from the Olubadan of Ibadanland, whom he regarded as an arch-enemy.








Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has told American scholars and professionals that Africas impressive economic transformation was being driven by ambitious businessmen and women.These entrepreneurs were stepping beyond national borders and going global, Osinbajo said at the inaugural Africa Rising lecture of the Harvard University Business School on Tuesday evening.He spoke at Harvard Business School in Cambridge Massachusetts, where he delivered the keynote at Batten Hall on the course Africa Rising, understanding business, entrepreneurship, and the complexities of a continent.Africa Rising is as much about improving standards of governance as it is about an increasingly confident youth and civil society.It is also about businessmen and women who are stepping beyond national borders and going global.Osinbajo told the gathering of erudite scholars and professionals that, it appears the political pan-Africanists of old have given way in terms of prominence to the business pan-Africanists the likes of Aliko Dangote, Issad Reb Rab(Cevital) Mike Adenuga, Kim Bello-Osagie, the Sawiris owners of Orascom from Egypt, and mining magnate Patrice Motsepe amongst others.He traced the genesis of Africas economic turnaround to the last decade of the twentieth century and noted that democracy provided the fulcrum for change in the mid 1990s.He observed the change was accelerated by phenomenal rise in Chinese resource bullishness, the commodities boom including new oil and gas discoveries in many African countries, digital technology, mobile phones and the Internet.He explained that the creative ingenuity of Africas businessmen and women cut across different sectors of the economy such as in agriculture, telecommunications, manufacturing and IT.Weve been seeing the slow but steady maturing of institutions; press and civil society that are boldly taking advantage of the empowering nature of the Internet; and an increasingly engaged diaspora, he added.Drawing attention to Africas phenomenal growth, Vice President Osinbajo observed that the continent development experience had thrown up very important lessons one of which is that economic growth is not sustainable without nation-building, and even of greater importance, State building.Many of the ethnic and other parochial tensions that have tended to create insecurity and outright conflict time, and time again are largely as a result of failure to deliberately undertake nation- building efforts, he submitted.Other lessons highlighted by Osinbajo included: The benefit of discarding the error of African Exceptionalism  belief that African countries were in some way exempted from the rules by which other countries and continents have succeeded ; that somehow Africa must not be judged by the standards and expectations that apply to other countries.He emphasised the need for a healthy distrust of purist ideological prescriptions, in favour of a common sense introduction of markets with a fair balance of state participation or intervention that has shown interesting results.Osinbajo noted that sustainable growth comes from productivity increases in the real sector, which perhaps explains the continued high unemployment in Africa even at 6 % growth rates; the jobless growth phenomenon. Africa cannot afford to underestimate the power of technology to fast-track the continents rise. Emerging technologies have played extraordinary roles in every aspect of the continents most touted successes, andMany  including Africans themselves  constantly need to be reminded that Africa is not a country. Policy-makers and development partners must understand that what worked in Rwanda or Zambia might not necessarily work in Ghana.Osinbajo advised African leaders to pursue a people centered economic model which translates economic growth to an improved standard of living of the average citizens on the continent.He stated that social safety nets have become imperative, citing the over N500 billion social Investment programmes of the Buhari Presidency which is committed to targeting the youths, artisans, market women and the vulnerables.Earlier, in her welcome remarks, Prof. Caroline Elkins of the Harvard Business School, noted the contributions of the Vice President to legal profession in Africa and his impressive public service career especially during his tenure as Attorney-General of Lagos State.
The trial of ex-National Security Adviser (NSA), Rtd. Col Sambo Dasuki, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, was on Wednesday stalled due the absence of the defendants counsel, Mr Joseph Dauda (SAN).Newsmen report that Dasuki is standing trial on allegation bordering illegal possession of firearms and money laundering.Justice Ahmed Mohammed went ahead to adjourn the trial until Feb. 8, for the trial following the application presented to the court by Mr Adedipe Adiola.The application which did not, however, state the reason why Daudu would be away from the trial was however objected to by the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN).According to Okpeseyi, the lead defendant councils action was simply meant to delay the trial.He said it was unthinkable for the counsel not to clearly state the reason why he would be away from the court.Newsmen recall that the case which was originally filed in 2015 was initially been entertained by former Justice Adeniyi Ademola until October 2016.The Federal Government has accused Dasuki to had illegally stored five Tavor X95 assault rifles with numbers 45801168, 45801169, 45801175, 45801176 and 4801199.The other items allegedly found from the residences of the accused person in Abuja and Sokoto, respectively, included ammunition and cash sums running into millions of naira.However, the ex-NSA had pleaded not guilty to the criminal allegations.
President Muhammadu Buharis kinsman, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Daura, has called on him to resign from the office of Petroleum Minister and ...

President Muhammadu Buharis kinsman, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Daura, has called on him to resign from the office of Petroleum Minister and concentrate on his duty as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.





Daura who is also a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Katsina State, while briefing newsmen in Kaduna, Tuesday, said the office of the President was very demanding and required full concentration of the President to chart forward the affairs of the nation





He explained that the petroleum ministry was a very sensitive one, adding that it was the mainstay of the nations economy that needed to be handled by professionals who were not distracted by any other demanding duty.





Alhaji Daura added that President Buhari, since assumption of office, had not toured all the refineries in the country to see how they were in order to map out a new policy that will rejuvenate the refineries.





It is also saddening that the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, is a lawyer by training and might not have the rudiment to manage the affairs of the ministry.





We all know that eighty percent of our revenue comes from the petroleum sector and if we dont take proper care of the ministry, the country might be thrown into chaos.





The recent fuel scarcity in the country might not be unconnected with the policy on ground where the president runs the ministry from the Aso Villa.





Yes, some will say that President Buhari decided to hold onto the ministry to checkmate some malpractices, but I can tell you that we have experts who can do same, remember Prof. Tam David West, Obaseki and Abubakar Yaradua, they are all experts in Petrochemical Engineering who have proved that they have what it takes to move the oil industry forward.





We also have thousands of graduates with PHD, and are roaming the streets. Some of which are Petrochemical Engineers who the president can engage.





I am a core supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, and I want him to succeed that is why Im coming out with this advice to help him move the country forward, he explained.




The Taraba State Government and the Christian Association of Nigeria chapter in the state on Tuesday described as outright false the cla...

The Taraba State Government and the Christian Association of Nigeria chapter in the state on Tuesday described as outright false the claim by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, that over 800 Fulani people were killed in the state last year.Sanusi had in an interview with newsmen alleged that on one weekend, 800 Fulani were killed on the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State.I personally handed over to the Federal Government a dossier with the names and pictures of 800 Fulani people slaughtered in Taraba as well as names of persons known to have participated in the act of ethnic cleansing but nothing has been done, Sanusi had alleged.But the state government, through the Commissioner for Justice and the Attorney General of the state, Yusufu Akirikwen, denied Sanusis claim, describing it as ill-intended.According to him the state government was able to contain the crisis within a record time and a commission of inquiry was constituted immediately to look into the cause of the crisis.He added that the committee had submitted its report and that government had constituted a white paper drafting committee which will soon make the findings and recommendations of the report public.We received memoranda from individuals and groups during the committees public hearing and nobody came out with that figure. How come Sanusi arrived at his figure of 800 people killed in the clash that lasted for less than three days?So, I challenge Sanusi to tell Nigerians where he got his figure from. Did he come down to Mambilla to conduct the headcount of the dead people?Where did he get his figure of 800 from and the names and pictures of only Fulani people killed in the crisis? Has he done that before now?We have another crisis in Lau, let him also come down and conduct his research to prove to Nigerians that he is not being unnecessarily bias in his false accusation against the Taraba State Government, he said.The Attorney General urged leaders to always guard their utterances and not descend so low in making false claims capable of threatening the unity of the country.Also, the state CAN in a press statement issued in Jalingo on Tuesday and signed by its chairman, Dr. Ben Ubeh, debunked Sanusis claim and urged him to stop fuelling false propaganda and whipping up sentiments in favour of his kinsmen who are in actual sense, killing people on a daily basis in some parts of the country.The records are there in most of the national dailies that reported the communal clash on the Mambilla last year. NGOs, UNCHR and other international organisations visited the Mambilla in the wake of that crisis, but in all of these the highest number of death recorded from both sides was 18.How is it possible to manipulate the figures and force all the different agencies to report 18 casualty figure. Obviously, the 800 Fulani people that were slaughtered according to Sanusi only existed in his imagination, the statement said.While calling on the Federal Government to drop the idea of cattle colonies, CAN urged the government to assist herdsmen to build private ranches.The Christian organisation also urged the Federal Government to look into the plight of the over 10,000 internally displaced persons currently in camps as a result of herdsmens attacks in the state.
An official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ahmed Yahaya, on Tuesday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how t...

An official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ahmed Yahaya, on Tuesday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how the N3bn equivalent of the sums of foreign currencies recovered from a Kaduna house of a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Andrew Yakubu, was moved to the Central Bank of Nigeria for safe-keeping.

Yahaya who is of the Kano zonal office of the EFCC was testifying as the third prosecution witness before Justice Ahmed Mohammed.





The EFCC is prosecuting Yakubu on six-counts bordering on fraud and false declaration of assets instituted against him on March 10, 2017.





Operatives of the EFCC had recovered the sum of $9.7m and 74,000 stashed in a huge fireproof safe in a house belonging to Yakubu in a house in Kaduna.





Yahaya told the court on Tuesday that the recovered money was taken away from the house in iron boxes now being kept at the Central Bank of Nigeria.





The witness, led in evidence by EFCCs lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Ben Ikani, said he was the commissions exhibit keeper in Kano State.









He said, My lord I know the defendant. On February 3, 2017, at about 4:50pm, my head of operations called and informed me that a team of operatives attached to Intelligence Special Operation Section, ISOS, were coming back from Kaduna on special assignment and that they were coming back with a full cabinet safe.





He told me to make all the arrangements for collection of the exhibits recovered. At about 6:30pm, the team of operatives arrived with the recovered exhibit and the caretaker of the said exhibit, known as Bitrus Yakubu.





The recovered safe which was made by Gubabi was opened by experts and monies were discovered in that safe.





The recovered monies were counted in the presence of the investigating team, the zonal head of operations, the deputy zonal head of operations and Mr. Bitrus Yakubu.





Finally, a total sum of 97,725 pieces of 100notes of United States Dollars were discovered, valued at N9. 772million.





Then six pieces of 50 notes of USD, valued at $300 and 1,480 pieces of 50 notes of Pound Sterling valued at 74, 000 were also recovered from the safe.





The monies were duly packaged and registered in the Court Exhibit Register and tagged with CER-038/17. That was on February 7, 2017.





On February 13, 2017, I received a court order by the legal department and investigative team for the interim forfeiture of the recovered amount.





After all the relevant investigation, the whole monies were carried to the Kano branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria on March 17, 2017, for proper safe-keeping.





The defence counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), told the court that he was not aware that EFCC took any insurance policy in respect of the money it kept at the CBN.




There was apprehension in Jos on Tuesday as youths numbering over 100 resisted the arrest of a radical pastor and the General Overseer o...

There was apprehension in Jos on Tuesday as youths numbering over 100 resisted the arrest of a radical pastor and the General Overseer of the Evangelical Outreach Ministries international, Prophet Isa El-Buba, `by operatives of the Department of State Services.Northern City News learnt that the DSS allegedly accused the cleric of delivering an inciting sermon in which he challenged Christians to use their voter cards to vote out wickedness in government.The incident, which happened on Kassim Ibrahim Street in Jos city centre, threw the neighbourhood into a panic when the DSS operatives in their large number moved to arrest the cleric.When journalists visited the church, the incident was being discussed in hushed tones by the Assistant Pastors, while clerics from other churches visited to solidarise with El-Buba over the incident.The security agents were said to have laid siege to the church till 11.30pm on Monday, but were prevented from arresting the cleric by the youths.El-Buba, in an interview with journalists, confirmed the aborted arrest.The cleric insisted that the killings going on in Nigeria must stop; and that all Nigerians must rise up to ensure that it stops.He said, What transpired was that the DSS (operatives) invaded my house and my church premises and wanted to have me on Monday night. They came in their number, including a Deputy Director to arrest me in connection with the cross-over night (New Year Eve) broadcast I made to Nigerians.I stand by my words. I am neither scared nor intimidated by their invasion. Why should I be scared when I am saying the truth? Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin brings reproach. I said in my broadcast that the unrighteousness in Nigeria will not do any one of us any good and I stand by it.This is because our generation and generations yet unborn will suffer if we refuse to do the right thing. Nigeria is a great nation, but we must uphold righteousness to be able to stand among great nations. So, I have just said that the right thing should be done in our nation, and I do not have anything against anyone.The development has drawn wide condemnation from human rights activists and other observers who believe that the clerics rights to freedom of expression were being trampled upon by the DSS.
Niger Delta Avengers on Wednesday vowed to launch a fresh attack on oil installations in the South South region.

Niger Delta Avengers on Wednesday vowed to launch a fresh attack on oil installations in the South South region.

The separatist group warned that its fresh attack which will be carried out in a few days time will be deadly.





In a statement on its website, Avengers said they would target several platforms and the FPSO on Totals Egina field.





This round of attacks will be the most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals which include Bonga Platform, Agbami, EA Field, Britania-U Field, Akpo Field.





Oil installations shall dance to the sound of the fury of the Niger Delta Avengers.




Senator representing Kebbi Central Senatorial district, Adamu Aliero, has urged the Senate to look into the creation of cattle colony as a ...

Senator representing Kebbi Central Senatorial district, Adamu Aliero, has urged the Senate to look into the creation of cattle colony as a way of tackling herdsmen/farmers clashes.

Speaking on the debate on insecurity across the nation on Tuesday, he explained that herdsmen have rights of movement within the provisions of Nigerian Constitution.





Particularly in section 41 of the 1999 constitution, Fulanis have right to move to any part of the country. They use to come from Mali to Senegal to Chad and move through Central Africa, he said.





The cattle colony which was suggested by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh was a good one and its good we should consider it, he emphasised.





He further explained that there was proliferation of firearms into West Africa with Nigeria suffering the consequences.





After the collapse of late Muamar Ghaddafi of Lybia, weapons and firearms looted from that country found its way into West Africa and particularly in Nigeria.








Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, says some of his colleagues cant confront President Muhammadu Buhari on the killings acro...

Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, says some of his colleagues cant confront President Muhammadu Buhari on the killings across the country because they want to be re-elected in 2019.

Sani said this on Tuesday on the floor of the senate while debating a report of an ad hoc committee on security.





He said instead of saying the truth about the spate of violence in the country, some of the senators were massaging egos.





The senator said it had gotten to a point where Nigerians have lost hope in the government.





It has reached a point today that people have lost hope in the government  we are here trying to massage the ego than tell the truth. We dont want to confront the presidency and the president because people want to come back to the 9th senate, Sani said.





They do not want to lose their ticket and people are killed in this country. I am very sorry.





The senator said this is a time when the president should provide leadership to a country which is in national emergency.





He said: Something I like with the presidency, when it comes to the issue of directing attack to the national assembly, they dont in anyway curtail, reduce or suppress any of the missiles. When it comes to our turn, they point their finger to where the problem is.





You see some form of cowardice, escapism, and people try to water down the truth. In the report that was represented before us, federal government was mentioned about seven and we are all part of the federal government. The security of country is under the control of the commander in chief. Why are you shying away? We are calling on the president to wake up and stand up and protect this country.





The senator also faulted the visit of Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, and other leaders of the state, to the presidential villa over killings.





Some few days ago, I saw the leaders and elders from Benue in the villa. You are bereaved and your people are killed. The villa should go to Benue not Benue going to villa.





Governors that are supposed to be chief executive of the states are every day and every week leaving their post to the villa to go and endorse the president. I think we should tell ourselves the truth. Things are not going right in this country. We are failing, people are dying in their thousands.





Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, and Sam Anyanwu, senator representing Imo east, also commented on the matter.




Pioneering female police officer Yvonne Bechet died of natural causes on Sunday at her home in The Landing at Behrman Place. She was 86.
The Jefferson Parish School Board has called a special meeting for Feb. 23 to discuss its search for a new superintendent of schools.
The Bogue Falaya Bridge in Covington is iced over on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com |The Times-Picayune)
This photo of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court building at Tulane & Broad was taken in May 2017. (Ken Daley, 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.
Today

Overcast. Low 48F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Overcast. Low 48F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Rain showers in the morning will evolve into a more steady rain in the afternoon. High 52F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Today

Cloudy. Low 48F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Cloudy. Low 48F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Showers early, becoming a steady rain later in the day. High 52F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
It was cold outside yesterday, but the ovens were toasty as Dori Stevens and the Mad Ox Bakery crew served up some tasty treats.

Stevens is a native of Phoenix, but has lived in Council Bluffs for the past six years. She said she has come to love the city over the years. She loves walking around the citys unique neighborhoods and said that her favorite Bluffs landmark is Bayliss Park.

Its a very pretty park, she said. And (the city) keeps it really clean.

She has been working at Mad Ox Bakery, 215 W. Broadway, with owners Karris and Mathew Mattox for the past six months. From prepping the kitchen to handling orders to opening and closing and more, Stevens does a little bit of everything to keep the bakery running smoothly as the Mattoxes bake away.

She says she loves getting to know regular customers and watching kids faces light up when they get to select a treat. And she said the Mattoxes have been fun to work for.

I love this place, she said. Mathew and Karris are amazing people, and Im so blessed to have them in my life.

Stevens currently recommends the apple cream cheese muffins at the bakery. The wide, sizeable muffins have chunks of apple and streaks of cream chesse swirled throughout.

Stevens said that anyone wanting to beat the winter blues with a sweet treat should swing by Mad Ox Bakery sometime.
Judge not, lest ye be Judged.

The Fremont County Sheriffs Office arrested a man suspected of committing several vehicle thefts and burglaries near Green Hollow Road on Monday night after the man tried to flee but was caught by Judge, the sheriffs K-9 deputy.

The sheriffs office reported deputies recovered two stolen cars, a camper, a flatbed trailer, a four wheeler and other miscellaneous stolen items.

Investigators came into contact with the suspect, who has not been identified because he allegedly wont cooperate with officials, who tried to flee in a vehicle toward Highway 275. The man reportedly shut off his lights and drove into a field entrance near 160th Street.

The man eventually crashed the vehicle and ran on foot. Judge was deployed and tracked the suspect into a creek bed.

After being given numerous commands to give up, the man tried to run again but Judge stopped him, authorities said.

The man allegedly kicked Judge in the face, but the dog dragged the man back toward deputies.

The suspect was taken into custody and treated for a dog bite and hypothermia at Grape Community Hospital in Hamburg before being transported to Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs.

He faces charges including assault on a peace officer and eluding. One deputy was treated for frostbite.

The Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Tabor Police Department and Iowa State Patrol.
Robert Simet of Omaha pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Council Bluffs to making violent threats to a federal official. He is set to be sentenced May 23.

According to court records, employees of a motorcycle shop in Pacific Junction told an FBI agent that Simet had been there July 5. During that visit, Simet made several statements about Ernst, including that he believes she is a member of the Islamic State group and that he could kill her during a July 10 event at the motorcycle shop.
OMAHA  An 84-year-old Omaha woman told police that she sent more than $6,700 to people identifying themselves as her grandsons attorneys even after she had been warned she was being scammed.

The incident unfolded after police went to the womans southwest Omaha home about noon Friday after a 911 operator reported a hang-up call. The woman told officers she wanted to make a report because she had fallen for a phone scam.

The woman had received a phone call Wednesday from a man claiming to be an attorney representing her grandson. The man said her grandson had been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. A man who later came on the line sounded a lot like her grandson, she told police.

The man posing as an attorney told the woman to wire $2,497.50 for bail to New York City via Western Union. Employees at Western Union refused to let the woman transfer the money and told her she was being scammed, according to the police report.

Despite the warning, the woman went to her bank, withdrew the money and sent cash via UPS. The next day, a woman identifying herself as another of her grandsons attorneys called to say that a judge had raised the bail by $4,250.

The woman withdrew the additional money from her bank, telling an employee that it was for her grandsons tuition. She again shipped cash via UPS, this time to a New Jersey address.

After hearing the womans story, officers urged her to contact UPS. She learned the second package still was in transit. Someone at UPS was able to cancel the shipment and told the woman it would be returned.
Cameras on ignition interlock systems used by those convicted of drunken driving may begin to appear on dashboards as soon as July.

The goal of adding cameras is to deter restricted drivers from using other people to take the breath test needed to start the engine of their vehicle.

Drivers with restricted licenses are those who have repeatedly been convicted of drunken driving, had a blood-alcohol level of more than .10 percent on their first offense or were involved in accidents.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker said he had some questions remaining on how the system will work, but he liked the idea of stopping drunken drivers.

Anything that can be done to prohibit someone from driving while intoxicated, we should do whatever we can, Danker said. If the camera can resolve the issues of the breath test, it may be worth looking into.

The vehicles would still start, but drivers could lose their restricted drivers licenses and be charged with crimes after the ignition interlock company notifies the state that other people blew into the devices.

That falls into the category of tampering or circumventing the device, said Melissa Spiegel, the Iowa Transportation Departments director of motor vehicles.

Patrick Hoye, chief of the Governors Traffic Safety Bureau, told The Des Moines Register that most nearby states already have the requirement.

All repeat drunken driving offenders are required to install the devices sans cameras in Iowa.

At least eight times since 2009, Iowa lawmakers have proposed strengthening the states interlock laws by requiring all drunken-driving offenders, not just repeat cases, to install the devices on their vehicles. The legislation failed to gain traction.

There were so many pieces to those bills that it was too much for everyone to absorb, Spiegel said.

The offenders will pay an additional $15 per month  $75 total  for ignition interlock devices with cameras, officials said. Most drunken-driving offenders must wait at least 30 days before they can obtain temporary restricted drivers licenses, which allow driving only to and from work.

The Transportation Department said there were 89 alcohol-related crash fatalities in Iowa in 2016. The 2017 number isnt yet available.

 This report contains material

from The Associated Press.
The yip-howl of coyotes can easily send shivers up and down a persons spine but according to Matt Dollison and Vince Evelsizer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, coyotes are nothing to be afraid of.

They are an animal that deserves respect, said Evelsizer, state furbearer biologist. Their ability to adapt and survive is incredible.

In fact, coyote populations in Iowa have been steadily increasing over the past 30 years, The Shenandoah Valley News reported. The most populated area across the state includes Page and Fremont Counties.

Dollison said the best way they obtain data on coyotes is through a bow hunter observation survey.

In 2016, the population had increased about 25 percent from 2015. Dollison said he anticipates it continued to increase in 2017, adding that southwest Iowa had double the number of coyotes compared to other regions of that state.

The reasons for the increase in population relate to ideal habitat, abundance of food and lack of disease.

In southwest Iowa we have a nice mixture of woodland, grassland and cropland that is ideal for coyotes. We also have different prey available to them, Dollison said. They are also very resilient.

The main food sources for coyotes are mice, rabbits, upland birds and deer fawns. However, sometimes, Evelsizer said coyotes are blamed for livestock deaths caused by other canines like wild dogs.

There is a lot of emotion and polarization with people hating or loving the coyote and feel they are attacking livestock or calves, but often times its a small pack of dogs that do that more, Evelsizer said. Were not saying the coyote is innocent, but they are often wrongfully accused.

Coyotes are native to North America. They can live alone or in packs  sometimes both. Coyote packs usually start with a male and female pair with members of the litter sometimes joining. Some nights the packs will stay together, and other times theyll split apart.

Coyote packs are usually either a nuclear family centered around a reproductive female and her monogamous mate or an entirely unrelated group of animals, who may be bachelors or too young to reproduce.

Evelsizer said the unrelated groups disband much more readily than families, who will generally stay together for at least the better part of a year, sometimes more.

Non-reproductive sisters or daughters may stay with a reproductive female for another whole season to help raise the next litter of pups, Evelsizer said. Even when they dont, familial females generally stay closer to their mothers home range than their brothers do.

An average litter size is five to six pups born in the spring with a relatively high survival rate. A coyote can run at speeds up to 40 mph, so even a small pack can be fairly formidable. Coyotes weigh roughly 30 pounds and have a pointed snout with ears that are larger proportionally compared to their body.

Evelsizer said an expected 10,000 to 15,000 Iowa hunters will turn their attention to pursuing the states top predator after Jan. 10. Thats when most of Iowas hunting seasons close and coyote hunting begins in earnest.

Although its season never closes, coyotes are hunted most often during the winter, and the number of coyote hunters has been steadily increasing with the pelts rising in costs.

Coyote pelts go for anywhere from $15 to $30 per pelt depending on the quality, and Iowas pelts are considered average, Evelsizer said. Last years average price was $17. The top pelts come from the Dakotas, Montana and Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. Coyote fur is used as trim for hoods and coats in foreign markets.
Less than a year after vowing they were done organizing Honor Flights for military veterans, Bill and Evonne Williams of Omaha are planning one more.

This trip to the war memorials in Washington, D.C., is different. Its for women only.

The Nebraska Female Veterans Flight is for women who served in the European or Pacific theaters during World War II, in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War or in Afghanistan or Iraq. The tentative date is Sept. 24.

Plans call for 135 veterans to fly on one Sun Country charter aircraft from Omahas Eppley Airfield to a Washington airport. Everyone aboard will be female, including pilots, flight attendants, volunteer assistants and news reporters and photographers, Bill Williams said.

Even Im not going, he said.

Evonne Williams, president of the couples Patriotic Productions, said female veterans deserve recognition and appreciation for their roles, whether on the battlefield or somewhere far behind the lines.

I would venture that none received an actual homecoming celebration  like most of the men, especially from Vietnam, she said. Whether they can go or not, to see their fellow veterans honored, theyll feel it, too. It should have been done earlier.

The Williamses have organized 11 Honor Flights since 2008 to take nearly 3,400 Nebraska veterans on emotional one-day trips to visit monuments in Washington. Seven were for WWII veterans and two each for Korea and Vietnam.

Bill Williams said no more than two dozen of the veterans on those trips were women. Veterans who served in combat were given preference on most trips.

Most participants on the new Honor Flight will be veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Nebraska National Guard estimates 200 women from the state served with the Guard in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bill Williams said.

More than 100 women are included in Patriotic Productions Remembering Our Fallen traveling photographic exhibits. The displays feature men and women from 19 states who have given their lives in the nations wars following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Williamses said they hope Nebraska women who served in the WWII theaters and the Korea and Vietnam combat zones would apply for the trip. They expect many from these 20th century wars would have served as nurses in field hospitals or enlisted in the womens branches of the military.

The couples last Honor Flight  the avowed final flight  took 653 Vietnam veterans on four airplanes last May. Among them was one woman. There were no female veterans on the Korea flights.

Its imperative we find at least one woman from World War II  and Korea, too, Bill Williams said. Theyre somewhere in this state.

The Williamses raised more than $3.3 million to pay for the previous Honor Flights, which included dinners the night before and welcome-home celebrations at the airport. The couple promised big donors for those trips that they would not ask them for more money.

Bill Williams initially is raising the expected $175,000 cost of the all-female trip by contacting companies and other organizations led by women. One of the first donations was $10,000 from Jane Miller, chief operating officer of the Gallup Group in Omaha, he said.

In addition to their Honor Flight and Remembering Our Fallen work, the Williamses last summer launched a new, touring memorial  the Remember Our Fallen Tribute Towers  to honor those who died in the post-9/11 wars. There currently are 30 towers. When complete, there will be 40 towers with photos of nearly 7,000 men and women.

The Williamses are not veterans. They have four sons who have served in the military.

An application for the flight and more information will be available at patrioticproductions.org or contact Bill Williams at 402-612-0210.
Agitation. Irritability. Guilt. Flashbacks. Insomnia. Severe anxiety. Social isolation.

Consider for a moment what your life would be like if you suffered every day with just these symptoms.

Its barely a taste of what veterans with post traumatic stress disorder endure.

Politically, one of the biggest rallying cries for all parties is help our veterans yet in many ways, our systems for veterans affairs  especially when it comes to dealing with their health care  fall woefully short. This is due to the combination of a lack of funding, a lack of resources and sometimes, just a lack of effort by the powers that be in Washington to move the dial forward on getting our service members the proper care they deserve and, quite frankly, have earned.

Most recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs has said it will not conduct research into whether medical marijuana could help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain, even as veterans groups push for the use of the drug as an alternative to opioids and anti-depressants. And in case you havent already heard, opioid abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans are twice as likely to die from accidental overdoses compared to the non-veteran population.

Not long ago, members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee asked Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin to commit the VA to investigating whether medical marijuana can help veterans suffering from PTSD and chronic pain and identify barriers to doing so.

His response, as reported by The Washington Post, was the VA was committed to researching and developing ways to help veterans cope with PTSD and chronic pain, but when it comes to the use of medical marijuana, he said federal law restricts (the) VAs ability to conduct research involving medical marijuana, or to refer veterans to such projects.

At this time, at least 29 states including Iowa, plus the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico, have legalized the use of medical marijuana in some form. And now veterans groups, including the American Legion, are pushing for the drug to be studied and used to help ease the effects of PTSD, chronic pain and other disorders. Alas, the problem with medical marijuana remains the fact it cannot be transported across state lines per the federal law.

According to a 2017 VA review, about 15 percent of veterans treated at outpatient PTSD clinics reported using marijuana in the previous six months, The Post reported. Ninety-two percent of veteran households surveyed for the Legion said they support researching whether marijuana can effectively treat mental and physical conditions and 82 percent said they want to have medical cannabis as a legal treatment option.

Last month, the Veterans Health Administration urged patients to discuss medical marijuana use with their doctors. The shift will allow doctors and patients to determine what, if any, effect marijuana use might have on treatment plans. Veterans were earlier concerned that admitting to marijuana use could jeopardize their benefits. But VA physicians still cannot refer patients to state medical marijuana programs because of the federal prohibition.

John Hudak, deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, told The Post even though marijuana is illegal federally, research on the drug is not prohibited.

Obviously it is federally illegal, but there are no restrictions on doing scientific research on it. Universities do this all the time and theres a process to go through, he said, noting that the National Institute on Drug Abuse funds cannabis research. Its really a cop out for the VA to say, Oh, were not doing work on this because of federal law when actually federal law allows them to do that.

In all fairness, we feel the VA can only do what the law allows it to do. That being said, those people who determine our laws, both on the state and national levels, need to start looking beyond the old and tired stereotypes of the stoned, long-haired hippie who was once as big a threat to the American way of life as the communists were, and start looking at the scientific, rational and modern options in front of them.

Putting aside everyday people  including children  who suffer from diseases such as epilepsy who could also possibly be helped by medical marijuana, if the veterans that politicians put on a pedestal during election season deserve the best care available, shouldnt they have it? We certainly believe so.

Its time to remove the roadblocks and start allowing health care agencies and providers to properly evaluate if medical marijuana can help patients who are suffering, while at the same time, lowering the risk for chemical dependency on such harmful and addictive drugs like opioids.
LINCOLN  Pneumonia caused a die-off of approximately 300 mallards in Scotts Bluff County due to a fungal infection known as Aspergillus fumigatus, according to a press release from the Nebraska Games and Park Commission.

The National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, confirmed the disease to the NGPC on Jan. 12 after necropsies were performed on six carcasses.

A hunter first made the discovery of dead mallards on Jan. 7 along a 2- to 3-mile stretch of Nine Mile Creek, which is just east of Lake Minatare.

Todd Nordeen, Game and Parks disease research program manager, said the ducks eating moldy grain at an unknown location likely caused the die-off. He said the disease, which is not contagious, likely will not spread. It appears to have subsided, he said. As long as the grain or source is cleaned up, it will end.

Birds that have contracted the disease exhibit signs of weakness and a lack of coordination. Anyone who observes this behavior or finds dead birds should contact an area conservation officer. Hunters should not eat the sick or dead mallards and should not handle them with bare hands.
A North Platte City Council member is ready to talk about the Pawnee Hotel.

Adding final remarks to Tuesday nights meeting, Councilman Glenn Petersen asked to discuss the historical downtown building, located at 221 E. Fifth St., before the meeting adjourned.

How long are we going to keep kicking that down the road? Petersen asked, calling the Pawnee Hotel an eyesore.

Petersen went on to say that earlier this week, he researched and found four ways to get in and inspect that building.

Before Petersen could elaborate, City Attorney Douglas Stack stopped him, citing Nebraskas open meetings law. Because other residents may want to discuss the matter, Stack said discussion must be tabled until its placed on a future council agenda. City Administrator Jim Hawks said he would try to add the Pawnee Hotel as a discussion item at a future council meeting.

The Pawnee Hotel has been the subject of much discussion in recent years. According to reports:

In 2012, Department of Health and Human Services found 35 violations in what was, at the time, an assisted living facility. After a period of probation, a follow-up inspection led DHHS to consider removing the assisted living facilitys license altogether. The hotel appealed, and was placed on one more probationary period, before it closed permanently in August 2013. In November 2013, the City Council deemed it a historical landmark.

The facility was later sold to a company in California, which has remained silent about any future plans.

Petersen made his remarks after the council approved the bids to complete this springs downtown canopy project. Members awarded the $56,600 bid to Cement Products Inc. Workers are expected to begin removing the canopies of businesses on the bricks, along N. Dewey St., in April.

City Council also approved:

 the third and final reading to rezone 2378 West South River Road from an agricultural to a highway commercial district. Immediately after passing the third reading, City Council voted to approve an application by Jared Hartley and Jolene Sabin, to create Hartley First Subdivision at the same address.

 authorizing the North Platte Fire Department to apply for one fire engine from a grant through the Department of Homeland Security. The council also committed to a 10 percent match requirement, should the Fire Department receive the grant. This match would come out of the citys contingency funds, Hawks said.

 requests from multiple financial institutions to be designated as depository banks for the citys funds in 2018: Adams Bank & Trust, Equitable Bank, First National Bank North Platte, First State Bank, Great Western Bank, Hershey State Bank, Nebraskaland National Bank, Sandhills State Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Western Nebraska Bank and Nebraska Public Agency Investment Trust.

 two special liquor licenses: One for the North Platte Jaycees for the Mid Plains Community College Rodeo Banquet, Feb. 10, at the D&N Event Center; and another for Lazy RW Enterprises LLC for a tasting at American Mortgage Company.
On Monday, our nation celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.s courageous efforts  efforts that cost him his life in Memphis in 1968  to advance us on the never ending path of bringing truth to one of the foundational promises of this countrys birth. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that we hold certain truths to be self-evident. The first-listed self-evident truth is that all men are created equal.

Enacted in 1789, the Constitution codified our early failures to live up to the truth that we are all created equal. Under the Constitution, to determine population for purposes of apportioning representatives, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person. And slaves were not citizens entitled to any protections under our laws.

The Civil War resulted in hundreds of thousands of American deaths that helped take us closer to living up to the truth that all are created equal. The Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution adopted between 1865 and 1870, abolished slavery, extended equal protection of the laws to all people regardless of race, and prohibited discrimination of voting rights based on race.

Still, this countrys strides to bring equality to life were hampered and blocked through racial segregation and discrimination. To varying degrees, black Americans and others continued to suffer depravation of rights to which they were nominally guaranteed by the amended Constitution. The work of Dr. King and many others during the civil rights era in the middle of our last century culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, generally outlawing discrimination based on race, skin color, religion, sex or national origin.

Kings assassination occurred in the midst of his ongoing efforts to deliver the promises of the Civil Rights Act, to end discrimination, and to bring to life the self-evident truth that we are all created equal. Fifty years later, that work remains incomplete.

In 1776, the idea that governments legitimate power was anchored in a self-evident truth that all people are created equal was, to put it mildly, unique. At that time, governments ruled on brute strength, and wealth amassed behind kings, emperors and the like who ascended to power typically through hereditary systems, or being strong and rich enough to conquer the existing ruler. Under such structures, certain people were far from equal to others.

But Americas collection of immigrants seeking to shake what were seen as the unjust bonds and impositions of a distant king, we started by declaring that all people are created equal. Almost two and a half centuries later, the idea that we are all created equal is a concept that few would even think to question. Yes, we are all created equal; what else could possibly be the case. Imperfect as we have been and still are in fully meeting that truth, it no longer is some revolutionary concept.

Our founding truth means that it does not matter where you come from, who your parents are, what color your skin is, whom you love or what religion you practice; we are created equal. Everyone is equal in the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And our national strides to attain the truth that we are all created equal has produced success as a nation never known before in history. Our experiment in self-governance rooted in equality has ironically resulted in the United States being the worlds superpower, venerated for commitment to the ideal of equality. History is clear; the more closely we adhere to the truth that we are created equal, the stronger we are and the faster we progress.

Our country occasionally falls prey to a charlatan seeking power by contradicting the truth that we are created equal. In times of strife, there can be attraction in the assertion that the source of difficulty is allegedly inferior people  those of other countries, or other religions, or other skin color or other cultures.

Appeals to hate and fear have never long prevailed in America, our country founded upon and committed to achieving the ideal that we all are created equal. But moving forward on that promise is not inevitable, it takes constant work and effort by those who believe Kings dream of a nation where we are judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. Now more than at any time in recent memory, rededication to that self-evident truth that we are created equal is incumbent upon us all.
State Sen. Mike Groene does his homework; however, I wonder about his comments concerning the University of Nebraska teacher who was fired for inappropriate speech and action against a conservative demonstrator during a political rally. She may have felt that outside of the classroom she would have First Amendment rights.

I agree that she used poor judgment and deserved to be terminated. Sens. Steve Erdman, Tom Brewer and Steve Halloran made a big deal out of it and rightly contacted the university. Sen. Groene says they presented solid evidence of campus bias against certain political ideas, but no one says what that evidence was. It may be the evidence they had was that they analyzed the political affiliation of the instructional staff of various departments and found that out of 97 only seven are registered Republican. He states, A vigorous academic exchange of ideas cannot happen when one ideology is restricted from participating. It would appear that Sen. Groene and his fellow senators would like the university to hire teachers and staff on the basis of their political registration, rather than their ability to teach or other qualification.

As a grandparent of two students who came from ardently Democratic-leaning and liberal families and went through the North Platte school system, I can appreciate the senators concerns. My granddaughters were subjected to unseemly comments by various teachers all during the Bush and Obama years. Most teachers leave politics alone, but not all do. I was not allowed to contact the school or the teachers because the grandchildren feared retaliation. We did talk to other parents of Democratic families, but all had the same concerns.

I would be curious to know how many of North Plattes teachers are registered Republicans, if that is to be the qualification to hire.

Most good and well-trained teachers are smart enough to not let their personal beliefs influence their classroom performance. Most superintendents and, I feel, most university and college administrators are aware of infractions, or at least should be.

I feel getting politics involved in the educational process is a serious mistake. It got the senators some publicity, but is a terrible idea.

Patrick Kasson

North Platte
The last time the United Steelworkers union negotiated new contracts with ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel back in 2015, conditions were very different.

Imports captured a record 29 percent of the U.S. market share. Steel mills got idled. Steelworkers got pink slips. Prices dipped as low as $412 per ton for hot-rolled steel. The steelmakers were losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The union's negotiating committee largely played defense, mainly fighting to preserve pay and benefits during a difficult time when steelmakers initially asked employees to chip in up to $3,000 a year for their health insurance benefits and pay deductibles of up to $400 a year for in-network case. No one got a raise, again.

But it's a very different environment as the union prepares for another round of contract talks this summer before the current contracts expire on Sept. 1.

The price of hot rolled steel recently climbed to $726 a ton, according to Steel Benchmarker. Steel stocks have been rising. The U.S. Department of Commerce recently completed its Section 232 investigation, which could result in a major crackdown on foreign steel.

Congress just passed a tax cut that slashes the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, a move that has prompted dozens of companies across the country to raise pay and give employees $1,000 bonuses.

It is unclear if Northwest Indiana's two biggest steelmakers will be as generous as corporations like AT&T, Comcast, and Walmart.

U.S. Steel declined to comment on the upcoming contract talks, and ArcelorMittal did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

United Steelworkers Union District 7 Director Mike Millsap said a committee would meet in June and identify goals for this round of contract talks. Negotiations usually commerce a few months before the contract expired.

The workers in Northwest Indiana steel mills, who often haven't gotten raises in six years, said they ideally would like to see increased pay, bonuses, paid sick days, personal days, the preservation of health insurance, the ability to bid on jobs at other mills, better profit sharing and other benefits.

An informal online survey of local steelworkers on The Times's NWI Times Steel News Facebook page found widespread desire for raises.

"We haven't had a raise in years," steelworker Saul Herrera said. "We need a real doctor at medical instead of the company-paid doctor who will say you're ok, even if you break a leg or something else serious."

Steelworker Greg Ostrozovich said he would ideally like to see an extra week vacation, perhaps after 10 years, and a profit-sharing plan that actually results in regular quarterly bonuses. ArcelorMittal steelworkers have often complained over the last few years that the international steelmaker turned a profit but they got nothing because their profit-sharing was tied to North American operations, which the company says have not been as profitable.

He called for "a real profit sharing plan that doesn't allow the company to fudge the numbers." He's also concerned about retirement benefits, and would like to see a change in the plan to keep it solvent.

Steelworker Kevin Charles Harris Jr. said he would hope for a raise, the same health insurance, the ability to bid on jobs across the mill, and the preservation of existing retirement benefits.

"We risk our lives out here every day," he said. "Breathe in chemicals, work in brutal heat, sacrifice our health for them."

Union leaders will decide what the USW ultimately will ask for at the bargaining table this summer, Millsap said.
We spent New Years Day at sister Emma and husband Jacobs house. We are four sisters in this area, and every year we all get together for a gift exchange.

Emma had a haystack brunch. A haystack brunch includes biscuits, bacon, ham, sausage, smokies, potatoes, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, hot peppers, salsa, cheese sauce and sausage gravy. The biscuits, meat and vegetables are diced. You pile whatever you want on your plate, so its just a little bit of everything. It always tastes goodbut your haystack can get too big before you know it! The table was set for 26.

After breakfast dishes were washed, the girls and I had prepared a big plastic ball with gifts inserted in it, like we had for our Christmas. It was exciting to open the plastic wrap when our turn came. With 25 people around three eight-foot folding tables, it was fun and loud and lively as the ball was unwrapped. There were a few trick gifts in there that were just for laughs.

Then we exchanged our gifts. Daughter Loretta had my name. It was interesting to see who had who. I had my husband Joes name, but I think he suspected that I did. Its hard to hide something from him! I gave him a zero-gravity chair, which I had had wrapped for awhile. He kept asking whose gift that was, and he wondered why I never told him whose name I had! Everyone had nice gifts to take home, and little Abigail was spoiled with extra gifts from everyone. She enjoyed tearing the wrapping paper off her gifts even though she doesnt understand what a gift exchange is. Son Kevin had her name.

Lots of snacks were set out in the afternoon. With everyone bringing something, it added up. There were venison snack sticks, shrimp and sauce, bean dip, meat roll-ups, veggies and dip, oranges, grapefruits, clementines, cheeseball and crackers and much more. Needless to say, this was everyones supper as well.

Son-in-law Timothy and Mose decided to go hunting together in the evening, taking Timothys buggy and horse. Daughter Elizabeth and Abigail went home with daughter Susan and their horse and buggy. The girls decided to stop at a little store, and they tied up the horse, Rex, extra well because he was a little rowdy. Well, the horse somehow got himself loose. The rope was torn or bitten through. He must have backed the buggy up with no problem, and would you believe that horse actually came the three miles to our place!

A lady in a truck stopped to let the boys know that no one was in the buggy. Rex turned into our driveway, and son Benjamin ran out in front of him, waving his arms to get the horse to stop. We were all shaken up, not knowing where the girls and Abigail were. Henry and the boys and Verena decided to go to the store my daughters said they were going to stop at. When they got there, Susan had just walked out of the store and discovered the horse and buggy were gone. The rest of us were all shaken up until we knew all was well. God was watching over all of us!

On January 5 Jacobs dad (Joes uncle) passed away. He was 65 years old. Our sympathy goes to the family. Its hard parting with a loved one, but God makes no mistakes. We left home Saturday morning with Jacob and Emma and stayed in Berne, Indiana, until Monday afternoon after the funeral was over. I am sure Jacobs mother will have many lonely days. May God be her guide in this trial in life and always!

At the viewing of Jacobs father, we met Mr. and Mrs. Roger Muselman, who are the owners of The Berne Witness where my column is printed every week. They also are the owners of Clock Tower Inn in Berne. It was a pleasure to have a short visit with them.

I have had some requests from readers for recipes that I have not been able to find at the moment. The recipes requested are Tomato Jelly and Butter and Hot Lettuce. Would any readers have these recipes? Thanks in advance and your help is greatly appreciated!

I also want to thank readers for the cards and gifts sent to us over the holidays. May God bless you for your kindness.

Daughter Verena, 20, will have surgery on her foot on February 14 in Ann Arbor. She will have a cast on for six weeks and wont be allowed to put any weight on her foot. This will be a hard time for her, so please keep her in your prayers. She was going to be in the spring youth program, but she wont be able to now.

God bless you all!

Banana Cheesecake

Crust:

1 1/2 cup quick oats

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup banana, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

4 eggs

Topping:

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

For the crust, mix crust ingredients and press into a 9-inch springform pan and two inches up the sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 1820 minutes until golden brown. Cool.

To make filling, beat cream cheese, banana, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and continue beating. Pour into baked crust. Bake until center is almost set, about 3545 minutes.

Stir topping ingredients together. Spread over baked cheesecake and continue baking 10 minutes more. Cool well for several hours.
HOBART  Police are seeking information about the identity of two people suspected in a theft Tuesday at a retail store.

The man and woman entered the store shortly before 1 p.m. in the 1600 block of East 80th Avenue, Lt. James Gonzales said.

The man stood by the door, while the woman walked to the back and engaged an associate in a conversation about gaming systems. The associate told police he was speaking with the woman and didn't initially notice the man pick up a box and exit the store.

The man returned inside a short time later, and the woman abruptly stopped the conversation and both suspects left the store, police said.

The associate realized the theft occurred after reviewing a security recording.

Anyone with information about the identities of the man and woman is asked to contact Gonzales at 219-942-4405 or jgonzales@cityofhobart.org. Callers may remain anonymous.
CROWN POINT  A Lake County judge took a Hobart Township board member to task Wednesday for "flippant" public comments about her veterans court to which the official hopes to transfer his felony cases.

If convicted of any of his three pending felonies  scattered across several separate drunken driving cases  Hobart Township Board member David Scheeringa, who recently filed for re-election, immediately would be barred from holding elected office under Indiana law.

"The lingering DUIs are not acceptable," Lake Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell said during a hearing Wednesday in open court.

Cantrell said Scheeringa's comments, quoted in a Times article Wednesday pertaining to his criminal charges, appeared to make veterans court sound like an easy alternative.

Cantrell said it put Scheeringa on bad footing in his quest to have his case transferred to the veterans court, which can offer alternative treatment and sentencing for veterans. Scheeringa said he is an Army veteran.

"This is my case now, my rules now," Cantrell told Scheeringa. "Don't make light  this is the most difficult thing you'll do."

Cantrell reminded Scheeringa, 51, that his felony charges mean he could face up to seven years in the Indiana Department of Correction.

Cantrell said the court's task now is to see if Scheeringa qualifies for veterans court, which the judge added is no guarantee and could be a long shot for Scheeringa.

For Scheeringa to qualify, the court must determine if his military service has a connection to what is causing his offenses.

It's just one of the hurdles Scheeringa faces as he enters pre-trial services, which includes immediately being fitted with an electronic bracelet that detects even minute amounts of alcohol present in a person's sweat.

Based on what Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter told The Times on Tuesday, Cantrell said she's not sure if his office will let Scheeringa into the program.

Carter had said he believes his office will oppose the case transfer from traditional criminal court to the alternative veterans court because of Scheeringas history of multiple prior drunken driving offenses and convictions.

But Cantrell told Scheeringa she believes the court can help him if he wants to be helped. She said he needs to do some soul searching.

Scheeringa said he is not "looking for easy."

"I'm looking for help," he said.

Scheeringa is scheduled for another hearing in Cantrell's court Feb. 21.
VALPARAISO  The younger brother of accused murderer Kevin Campbell told jurors Wednesday afternoon that he went with Kevin's wife to a park in Lake Station to see if they could retrieve a gym bag and shoes he reportedly left alongside or in a garbage can.

The trip, which was made following the Nov. 18, 2015, shooting death of Tiara Thomas at her Portage apartment, was derailed the first time because a police car was at the park, Gary resident Brian Campbell said.

Brian Campbell said he was confused why they did not stop, but later returned on his own.

When Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek asked what he found, Campbell responded "nothing."

"Like I said, it was almost empty," he said of the garbage can.

Kevin Campbell's 13-year-old son testified last week that the day his mother was killed, Campbell discarded a grocery bag at a park while taking him to school.

The boy said he did not know what was inside the bag.

Kevin Campbell, a former Gary and Hammond police officer, is accused of murdering Tiara Thomas at the Park Place apartment she shared with her fiance and the three children she had with Kevin Campbell. Prosecutors have said the couple's relationship had deteriorated to the point of a "contentious breakup" and Kevin Campbell's child support obligation was increased to $1,400 a month shortly before the killing.

Also testifying Wednesday afternoon were two former podmates of Kevin Campbell from Porter County Jail, who said he made comments that led them to believe he may be guilty.

James Childress, now of Knox, said Kevin Campbell made a comment about police taking possession of a sweatshirt from his home.

"I wasn't wearing it when I did it," Kevin Campbell is accused of saying.

Chicago resident Aaron Green said the first thing Kevin Campbell said to him at the jail was, "How much time can I get for murder?"

Defense attorney Susan Severtson challenged the credibility of both former inmates based on their criminal records and questioned their intentions for testifying.

Childress said he received a reduced charge after agreeing to cooperate in the case.

Earlier in the day, Portage Detective Scott Harmeling testified that none of the evidence collected from the shooting scene directly links Campbell to the murder he is accused of carrying out there.

No fingerprints, DNA, blood or other bodily fluids were found from Campbell, he said.

Severtson picked at the credibility of the investigation at the crime scene, questioning Harmeling on why he did not fingerprint and photograph various areas of the apartment.

She also attacked the value of a short video Harmeling shot in June that shows where a suspicious vehicle was seen on the morning of the shooting and how a nearby trail leads to Thomas' apartment.

Harmeling said the person who reported seeing the vehicle did not see a driver and there is no evidence Campbell walked the path in question on the morning of the shooting.

He told Polarek it is impossible to fingerprint every surface of a crime scene and that he shot the video in question as a way of giving jurors a perspective of the scene.

The trial is underway before Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford.
HAMMOND  A federal judge has sentenced former Sheriff John Buncich to immediately begin serving a 188-month prison term  a little more than 15 years  for public corruption.

The man who had been the face of law enforcement in Lake County for decades appeared stunned by the pronouncement, which his lawyer, Bryan Truitt, called tantamount to a death sentence for his 72-year-old client.

U.S. District Court Judge James Moody refused the usual courtesy to public corruption figures, the freedom to report directly to his federal penitentiary at a later date.

Moody said the embarrassment Buncich caused to his police department and the harm he caused to Lake County's reputation in the state was staggering and denounced Buncich's abuse of power for self-enrichment and his "blind obedience to the political cult. Shame on you."

Buncich's voice was reduced to a whisper after learning of his sentence. He only had time to briefly look back to the court audience, which contained a number of his supporters, before court security officers led Buncich in restraints out of the court and into a holding cell.

The court also imposed a $250,000 fine on Buncich.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch II said his office requested Buncich be detained immediately for fear he would flee to avoid having to serve such a lengthy sentence. Kirsch said there was evidence of large amounts of "unexplained cash" associated with Buncich's bank accounts.

Truitt said it was ridiculous to believe a man of Buncich's age and poor finances would be able to live long on the run. Truitt said his client will appeal the conviction and sentence within weeks.

What's next?

Buncich likely would spend the next 45 to 60 days at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center until he is transferred to a federal penitentiary. Truitt said Buncich preferred to spend his sentence at a federal camp in Yankton, South Dakota.

"This is the darkest day of my life," Buncich told the judge earlier in the six-hour sentencing hearing. Nevertheless, he said he was proud of his career and that he brought more minority police officers and civilian employees into the department than any previous sheriff.

The judge said he was struck by Buncich's almost complete lack of remorse, as was Kirsch, who said he is forming a new task force "to root out public corruption wherever it exists in the Northern District of Indiana."

Kirsch declined to comment on who might be indicted next, although testimony by FBI Agent Nathan Holbrook during the sentencing hearing hinted the towing investigation extended beyond the Sheriff's Department to the towns of Merrillville and Schererville.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson reminded the court of evidence during Buncich's trial in August that the sheriff received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal payments from William Szarmach, a Lake Station towing firm owner and longtime Buncich associate, and undercover government informant Scott Jurgensen, owner of Samson's Towing of Merrillville, between 2014 and 2016.

Buncich found guilty of bribery

A jury last August found Buncich guilty of bribery counts on evidence the payments from Szarmach and Jurgensen amounted to bribes because they were made on condition Buncich provide them the choicest towing districts, and that Buncich delivered.

Prosecutors said the bribery took place under the cover of campaign fundraising. Buncich was elected sheriff in 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014, and named chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party in 2014.

A federal grand jury indicted Buncich, Timothy Downs, Buncich's second-in-command at the time, and Szarmach in November 2016. Downs later revealed he had become a cooperating government witness, as did Szarmach eventually. Both have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing themselves.

The government equipped Jurgensen with audio and video equipment that recorded payments. The evidence was used by the government to win its conviction of Buncich, who was forced from office by the guilty verdict.

Buncich told the court he worked 70-hour weeks to ensure public safety as well as rehabilitate the County Jail, which was under federal mandate to correct nearly 100 deficiencies in inmate medical and mental health care.

But Benson presented evidence that Buncich was so obsessed with receiving bribes from towing firms that he directed his gang unit to put off their regular duties to ticket more cars for towing.

Holbrook said the department was receiving complaints from the public about their cars being towed for minor infractions and costing their owners hundreds of dollars to recover their vehicles. Holbrook said the joke around the Sheriff's Department was they had become the "towing police."

Benson said Buncich's list of approved towing firms were all political contributors, and he considered those who didn't buy fundraising tickets, or who contributed to his political opponents, to be unfriendly and unworthy of county business.

Truitt argued Buncich didn't feel remorse, because he still doesn't believe he did anything wrong. He said Buncich only engaged in political fundraising like any other local elected official and had cars towed for legitimate reasons.

The guilty verdict in August forced Buncich from office. One of his political opponents, Oscar Martinez Jr., now occupies Buncich's old office. The Lake County Board of Commissioners has taken control of awarding towing contracts away from the Sheriff's Department.
Porter County-based attorney Jim Harper is seeking the Democratic nomination for Indiana Secretary of State.

"It is time for a new generation of leadership in state government," he said in a prepared release.

"All too often, our state government has sided with those at the very top at the expense of ordinary Hoosiers," Harper said. "Im running for secretary of state because we desperately need a fresh perspective at the Statehouse."

The Democratic nominee will be chosen at the Indiana Democratic State Convention on June 16.

The secretary of state is Indianas chief elections officer.

"Ill fight to expand early voting, establish same-day voter registration, and end political gerrymandering," Harper said.

The 34-year-old said he would also work to make it easier for small businesses and stand up to companies that attempt to defraud senior citizens and investors.

Harper said he was born and raised in Valparaiso, and currently resides there. He graduated with highest honors from Indiana University and received his law degree, with high honors, from Georgetown University.

He serves on the board of a nonprofit law firm that provides free and reduced-cost legal services to veterans, as well as the Hilltop House, a Valparaiso nonprofit that provides early-childhood education and other services to Porter County families.

In 2016, Harper made a failed run as the Democratic nominee for the state senate in the 5th District.
CALUMET CITY  The Calumet City Elementary School District 155 Board of Education on Thursday voted to eliminate the district's Spanish program and approved a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program to take its place.

The change will take effect next school year for students in grades six through eight at Wentworth Junior High School.

D.155 Superintendent Troy Paraday said all students at the junior high had been taking Spanish as part of a cycle of four subject areas the students rotate through for nine weeks each.

"It's unfortunate that we lose that for the students but at the same time, with the constraints of the schedule, we only have the ability to offer four cycles," Paraday said.

Assistant Superintendent Joe Zotto said the STEM program had been recommended by the teaching staff and school board, and will concentrate primarily on coding and robotics.

"It's something that is going to help us continue to promote success with our student body," Zotto said.

In other business:

* The installation of sanitary napkin dispensers in the girls restrooms at the junior high has caused some controversy since notice did not go out to parents in advance.

"I found out when I returned from break that they were installed," Wentworth Junior High Principal Ermetra Olawumi said.

She said there have been questions from students regarding how to use the products and that not all parents had previously discussed usage with their children.

Paraday said state law required that free dispensers be placed in all female restrooms by the start of the year.
HAMMOND  U.S. District Chief Judge Philip Simon heard arguments Tuesday to help him decide whether people living in the lead-and-arsenic polluted Superfund site in East Chicago can formally intervene in EPA cleanup decisions.

Attorneys representing residents have accused the EPA of minimizing health concerns and cleaning up a limited number of properties despite knowing for decades about widespread contamination.

Residents say they didn't realize the extent of contamination until summer 2016, when city officials announced families at the West Calumet Housing Complex had to relocate due to the severe contamination and that they would demolish the site.

EPA in 2014 approved a consent decree that secured $26 million from Atlantic Richfield and DuPont for a cleanup in zones 1 and 3 of the USS Lead Superfund site. Zone 2  the middle part of the neighborhood  was left out of the consent decree.

Costs have since nearly quadrupled. Residents' attorneys argued EPA has repeatedly modified the consent decree, while at the same time arguing in court the case is closed and statute prohibits intervention.

Simon, the judge who signed off on the 2014 consent decree, said Tuesday that EPAs cleanup does indeed appear to be a totally different landscape that what was presented to him back then  with the West Calumet Housing Complex now vacated and East Chicago eying demolition.

'Years left of work'

Emily Gilman, of law firm Goldberg Kohn representing residents pro bono, said EPA has made it clear they plan to modify its cleanup plan for Zone 1, the public housing complex.

There are years left of work to do, Gilman said.

Simon suggested it seemed inevitable EPA would have to return, eventually, to the courts for approval because federal Superfund statute requires the agency to do so in the cases of substantial cleanup amendments.

And that move would open up the possibility for residents to intervene then, he said.

"Let's say you do something they don't like, they would have a right, at that time, to seek intervention?" Simon said, directed at EPA attorney Annette Lang.

Lang replied yes, while maintaining she believes EPA is adequately representing residents' interests in the case.

"...And we'll be right back here again (with another motion to intervene)," Simon said.

EPA: Intervention would cause unnecessary delay

Lang also argued Tuesday the motion was filed too late and that granting them intervener status would unnecessary delay ongoing time-critical cleanups at the site. According to EPA, nearly 290 properties have been remediated since summer 2016. Another 718 require remediation.

Simon appeared perplexed at that argument, saying, Dont you feel silly, having found out about this problem (in the 1980s), and your concern is that citizens are delaying this? Thats amazing, Simon said.

You all have really known about this  yet your litigation position is that citizen intervention is slowing the process down. Thats a little hard to swallow," he added.

Last May, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry denied residents request to intervene in the case, basing his decision mainly on the fact that the filing was untimely and that attorneys should have tried to intervene years ago.

Residents successfully appealed Cherry's decision, leading to Tuesdays oral arguments.

Lang said Tuesday EPA has adequately represented residents interests in cleanup negotiations with polluters, having held several public hearings and community meetings while also hiring two outreach coordinators and implementing indoor dust and paint sampling at select homes.

Weeks before Tuesdays oral arguments, EPA issued two unilateral administrative orders to companies to clean up soil in Zone 2 and indoor dust. However, residents' attorney argue EPA has omitted indoor dust cleanups in hundreds of homes.

Simon said Tuesday he would issue a decision "quickly" but did not provide a timeline.
Join members of the Portage Rotary Club at their one-year anniversary celebration. The family-friendly and free event will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 27 at Neighbors Educational Opportunities, 5201 U.S. 6 and is open to the community. Included in the celebration are family games as well as a taco bar provided by Leroys Hot Stuff.

Portage Rotary Club re-established their presence in Portage a year ago and since then has undertaken a wide variety of projects. Two Portage High School students were sent to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), an intensive leadership experience held downstate. In addition Portage Rotary supported the STEM Club at South Haven Boys and Girls Club, made donations to Gabriels Horn and Hannahs Hope, and participated in United Way Day of Caring.

The club received a grant through Rotary International and committed matching funds to support the BackPack Program through the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana. The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations. Backpacks are filled with food that children can take home. The food is child-friendly, nonperishable and easily consumed. The backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation.

Were proud of what we have been able to accomplish in just one year. Portage Rotary will continue to bring leaders in the community together to exchange ideas and take action on challenges in our community as well as around the world, said Walter Lenckos, Portage Rotary president.

Plans on tap for the coming year include support for United Way of Porter Countys Kinder Camp, an international water purification project, and shelter boxes used to provide shelter during natural disasters, in addition to continued support for various nonprofit organizations serving the community.

Portage Rotary meets at noon every Tuesday at NEO, 5201 U.S. 6, or send an email to Rotary Membership Chairman Darrell Warren at warrend@1stsource.com.
Americans think about national security in terms of what is routinely captured in major news headlines: North Korea, ISIS, Russian election meddling, etc.

Our countrys national security is defined by much more than a handful of big-ticket threats. U.S. national security relies on a complex and interdependent mosaic of factors, some of which are not normally associated with national security but in reality play an important role in augmenting our nations strength.

One example is solar energy, which has risen to become a key element in our countrys energy security portfolio  at a time when its future viability has come under attack.

America is stronger when it can count on its own energy sources, and solar is gradually playing a bigger role in our nations energy mix. Solar energys importance to U.S. national security stems most directly from the critical role it now plays in providing energy to far-flung military bases.

The military is the single largest consumer of energy in the United States. Clean, stable energy sources remain a priority to the U.S. Department of Defense, which prizes secure and affordable energy resources to power its military installations and other facilities.

On the strength of its affordability and ready availability, large-scale solar photovoltaic systems now provide a welcome stream of energy at military facilities across the country.

Solar and other renewable power sources provide a needed back-up plan for mission-critical activity.

Unfortunately, solars role as a go-to option for the military may soon be curtailed because of the actions of two bankrupt, foreign-owned solar manufacturers. The companies filed a Section 201 trade petition asking the U.S. government to shield them from import competition by placing tariffs and/or quotas on foreign-made cells and modules, the component parts of solar panels.

The request by the two companies would send solar prices through the roof, effectively leaving it unable to compete with other forms of energy. Analysts believe that the growing industry, which now employs roughly 260,000 U.S. workers, will shed 80,000 jobs if tariffs are imposed.

This scenario is detrimental to everyone involved. American national security is not just about the readiness of its military. Our countrys ability to cultivate a wide variety of stable energy sources enhances our energy security.

There is simply no good reason to undermine willfully Americas efforts to reduce dependence on foreign energy sources, as I well know.

As a 26-year Navy veteran, I served as a Surface Warfare Officer on five ships, including guided missile cruisers and destroyers, to protect U.S. national security interests across the globe. Foremost among those missions was to safeguard the sea-lanes of communications that facilitate the global economy, including the flow of oil to and from the United States.

I have experienced firsthand  particularly during my command of the USS Cole when it was attacked by al-Qaeda terrorists  the real-world implications of the term energy security."

The military benefits from a healthy solar industry, as does the rest of our country. There is simply no good reason to squander the potential of a promising new energy advantage.
It's a powerful example we hope sends the desired shivers down the spines of any Region public officials even mildly considering the illegal use of their offices for personal enrichment.

Former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich was led from a Hammond federal courtroom in handcuffs similar to ones he would have worn on his belt as an officer of the law.

For the better part of the next 188 months  more than 15 1/2 years  Buncich will be incarcerated in a federal prison facility yet to be determined.

Buncich is paying a steep price for his felonious acceptance of tens of thousands of dollars in bribes for steering towing work. He did this while wearing the badge of the highest law enforcement official in the county.

So the price is appropriately high and should help send a message to others that this won't be tolerated.

Buncich likely will spend the next several weeks in a federal corrections lockup in Chicago while it's determined where he will call home for the next decade-plus.

Considering Buncich is 72 years old, and that federal inmates serve at least 85 percent of their prescribed prison sentences, the former sheriff is looking at quite possibly spending the rest of his life in prison.

The gravity of Buncich's sentence should give great pause to a Region that has seen dozens of elected officials or their politically connected contractors sentenced to federal prison since the 1980s.

A county away, Portage Mayor James Snyder faces similar felony bribery charges, also related to towing work, as well as alleged federal tax violations.

Buncich's sentence should serve as a reminder for Snyder to resign his office, sparing his constituents from the extended embarrassment Buncich dragged Lake County through until the former sheriff's eventual conviction last year.

In a greater sense, we all learned the potentially high price attached to the violation of public trust by those who were elected and took oaths to preserve it.

We hope all elected leaders maintain moral benevolence for doing right by their constituents. For those not inclined to that morality in their public offices, the Buncich sentence should compel an era of more honest government in Northwest Indiana.
It's interesting that Indiana House Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, apparently claims no responsibility for the supposed "toxic" environment at the Statehouse. Wasn't it her party that walked out when they couldn't get their way and ran to Illinois? With the Republicans having a super-majority, it really doesn't matter if she's there or not. Funny thing about those elephants, they never forget!
Dr Stella Nyanzi in court earlier

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mike Chibita has apologised for the delays in the prosecution of a case, in which Makerere University researcher, Dr Stella Nyanzi is accused of referring to President Museveni as "pair of buttocks."



Senior state prosecutor, Nelly Asiku told the Buganda Road court Magistrate James Eremye Mawanda on Tuesday that the delay of Nyanzi's case is regrettable.

"The DPP didn't intend to delay the matter but because of the industrial action, he has not been able to come up with a decision", Asiku told court. Nyanzi is charged with offensive communication and cyber harassment under the Computer Misuse Act 2011.



The charges stem from a facebook post early last year on Nyanzi's wall, in which she described Museveni as a pair of buttocks. On July 21, 2017, Nyanzi's lawyer, Isaac Semakadde wrote to the DPP asking him to drop the charges, saying the law provides for feedback within a period of not more than sixty days.



In his ruling yesterday, Magistrate Eremye acknowledged that there hasn't been a response from the DPP since the application was given to Jonathan Muwaganya, one of the state attorneys to deliver to the DPP. Eremye however, blamed the delay on the recent country-wide prosecutors strike.

"I want to agree that the industrial action has affected the accused. It's evidenced by the way she reacts, but the sixty days only apply when the ruling has been fixed', said Eremye.

He adjourned the matter to February 20 to allow the DPP come up with his response in regards to Nyanzi's application to withdraw the charges and so as to fix the date for hearing.

Dr Nyanzi isn't new to controversy. In 2016, she stripped naked and used obscene language to protest a decision by Prof Mahmood Mamadani, the director of Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) to evict her from her office after she refused to teach.

She filed a suit on July 28, 2017, Nyanzi through the Center For Legal Aid (CLA), challenging governments actions of clandestinely placing her name on a no-fly list, confiscating her passport on March 19 and subsequently ignoring her administrative complaint about her mistreatment at Entebbe International airport. Nyanzi was banned from travel following her acerbic Facebook posts against both President Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni.
A former Japanese yakuza boss who had been on the run for more than fourteen years was finally arrested in Thailand this month, after photos of his impressive tattoos began circulating online.

Thai police arrested 74-year-old Shigeharu Shirai last Wednesday in a province north of Bangkok, where he had been hiding for more than ten years to escape murder charges in Japan. Shirai was apprehended while out shopping in the central market town of Lopburi.

Japanese authorities had been seeking to arrest Shirai over his alleged role in the shooting of rival gang member Kashihiko Otobe, the deputy leader of rival Kamiya gang, back in 2003. He fled to Thailand before they could apprehend him, where he married a local woman and enjoyed a peaceful retirement. Shirais Japanese associates visited him in Thailand two to three times a year bringing him cash gifts to help sustain his life of leisure.

Photo:  /Facebook

The retired mob boss arrest came after a photo of the diminutive criminal sitting around a checkers table found its way on a popular social media website. A Thai tattoo enthusiast who was impressed by the intricate tattoos covering most of Shirais body shared the photo on his Facebook page, where it accrued over 10,000 shares in just a short time.

The image, which also happened to show Shirais missing pinky finger, quickly caught the attention of Japanese police who then alerted Thai authorities. Shirai will face illegal entry charges in Thailand as he has never held a visa, and will later be extradited to Japan, a Thai police statement said.

The suspect admitted he was the leader of the yakuza sub-gang Kodokai, said a Thai police spokesman, Gen Wirachai Songmetta, referring to an affiliate of Japans largest yakuza gang, Yamaguchi-Gumi. The suspect has not confessed to the murder but has admitted that the victim used to bully him, she added.

The yakuza emerged amidst the chaos of postwar Japan and quickly became a multibillion-dollar criminal organization involved in gambling, drugs, prostitution, and white-collar crime. They were considered a necessary evil at the time, as they were able to keep order on the streets. Unlike other organized crime groups such as the Italian mafia or Chinese triads, the yakuza are not illegal. Each group has headquarters, which are sometimes in full view of local police.



22 gangs were designated by authorities as organized crime groups in 2017, according to the National Police Agency, and their membership totals over 20,000. The majority belong to the Yamaguchi-Gumi and two other gangs, Sumiyoshi-Kai and Inagawa-kai. Alongside the traditional illegal drug sales and gambling, gangsters also earn money in construction, finance and security businesses.
Rick Gould

It happens every few years, just like a Swiss watch. Cries are heard regarding the general lack of diversity within the creative services field and how its costing agencies and firms dearly. There are a few rounds of self-flagellation within the four walls, as the media trades run agonizing front-page stories examining why agencies remain so homogenized. At marketing industry conferences throughout the country, senior executives vow to do better. Then things pretty much return to the status quo.

However, the latest groundswell for diversity throughout marketing sectors  including the PR industry  feels different this time. PR leaders are moving beyond cocktail-party compliant conversation regarding diversity and looking to take action.

For the last year or so, a flurry of studies has been released pointing out why agency owners and C-level executives must reconfigure their hiring and recruiting practices in order to increase minority representation within their firms. But many agencies remain behind the eight ball.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ethnic makeup of the PR industry is 10.3 percent African American, 5.4 percent Asian-American and 3.3 percent Hispanic-American.

The Ketchum-Fast Company survey of 500 creative professionals released last summer uncovered an important dichotomy: Respondents believe diversity of thought is valued by their organization (72 percent), yet an overwhelming majority think their organization still needs to do more to encourage diversity of ideas (85 percent).

Another salient aspect of the survey: 54 percent of respondents think that they work in a creative echo chamber. Company leadership was cited as the biggest factor contributing to the echo chamber (64 percent), followed by conversations with like minded people (57 percent).

To increase the flow of diverse people and ideas into organizations, we must get vigilant about hiring from varied socioeconomic and academic backgrounds and work a lot harder to make people who challenge our way of thinking and working feel welcome and included, said Karen Strauss, partner and chief creative officer at Ketchum. If people with different opinions, experiences, and perspectives dont feel a sense of belonging, they disengage and leave. Thats at the heart of this issue.

When hiring new employees, Strauss added, PR managers tend to self-segregate, which hampers firms creativity and feeds the echo chamber.

Survey participants had several recommendations for diversifying creative talent and opinion within organizations, including:

 Make diversity hiring goals more explicit

 End nepotism, cronyism and referral-based hiring

 Hire for curiosity and experience

 Hire from outside the industry

 Recruit internationally and eliminate insider jargon

Along with the industry at large, individual firms must take the lead proactively and start their own and unique diversity initiatives. They need to invest real money in programs designed not only to enhance diversity, but reduce groupthink and get hiring managers out of their comfort zone.

Take Ketchums LaunchPad, a blind system that enables Ketchum to examine a job candidates potential versus prior work experience or background.

Candidates compete to address a real client challenge and are selected based on a meritocratic basis. The approach has leveled the playing field, making it easier for non-traditional candidates to get their foot in the door, Strauss says. The agencys Diversity, Equity and Inclusion dashboard enable managers to objectively compare data year-over-year, with results that include more diversity hires since LaunchPad debuted.

Whats more, Ketchum in 2016 partnered with Boston University to introduce the Kotcher-Ketchum Scholarship and Internship Program for African-American students.

There are many factors driving such changes. For starters, perhaps agency owners are beginning to appreciate that demographics is destiny.

By 2055, the U.S. will not have a single racial or ethnic majority. Throughout the next five decades, the majority of U.S. population growth is projected to be linked to Asian and Latin American immigration, according to Pew Research Center. One in seven U.S. infants (14 percent) were multiracial or multiethnic in 2015, nearly triple the share in1980.

Another reason diversity efforts now seem more legit is the growing number of Millennials working in PR, many of whom seem allergic to how previous generations staffed their agencies and cultivated talent. Indeed, Millennials are more racially accepting than previous generations and dont get hung up on, say, interracial dating.

These are profound changes taking root in the U.S. culture. For PR firm owners and hiring managers the ability to attract people of color, members of the LGBT community and non-traditional job candidates will require commitment from the tippy top of the organizations, stick-to-itiveness and, perhaps most crucial, imagination.

Obstacles abound. According to a report released last year by the City College of New York and The Holmes Report, one of the fundamental challenges is to develop a singular definition for Diversity and Inclusion that would serve as a measurable standard across the industry.

#PRDiversity: The Struggle is Real. Meeting Business Objectives with a 2020 Mindset took the pulse of 16 CEOs and two former ones of global PR firms regarding the need for greater diversity. Some CEOs said another barrier to greater diversity is that the industry does not hold the competitive financial or professional attraction that other industries, such as law or business, might have for diverse students.

Time and energy were also cited as barriers to improving diversity. However, when you think of the challenges to improve the complexion of the PR industry, is that a legitimate excuse?

PR firm owners and C-level executives need to get in front of these trends, lest they get stuck in reactionary mode and have to play catch up. If they dont get off the dime soon their firms increasingly will be seen among prospects as relics.

There are other factors spurring diversity efforts, of course. The only constant in life is change. But the bottom line is diversity is simply good business, broadening the firms brand appeal to a wider array of people, burnishing creative and carving new trails.

***

Rick Gould, CPA, J.D., managing partner of Gould+Partners, is author of Doing It the Right Way: 13 Crucial Steps for a Successful PR Agency Merger or Acquisition, and The Ultimate PR Agency Financial Management Handbook: How to Manage by the Numbers for Breakthrough Profitability of 20% or Greater (4th Edition)
Anthony Coggine

Instagram is one of the most popular and successful social media tools on the market today. Since 2010, the photo sharing platform has grown rapidly and now boasts more than 500 million users, making it one of the top social media outlets used by businesses to showcase their products.

For those new to Instagram, it may be tempting to pay for followers. Its a seemingly easy way to strengthen your numbers and speed up the growth process, but buying followers comes with a lot more risk than benefit. Accruing fake fans is a lot like get-rich-quick schemes: basically too good to be true. Rather than running the risk of being seen as non-transparent and spammy, take the time to build a solid reputation through meaningful content and audience engagement. While it may take more time, itll certainly pay off in the long run.

Never underestimate the power of the hashtag

The majority of businesses on Instagram use hashtags. Simple and easy to modify to your specific needs, hashtags allow businesses to target their audience, in addition to creating a backlog of photos and information that can be accessed with just the tap of a finger. Think of hashtags as the ultimate tool to help you spread the word. If youre putting out a new product, or offering a promotion, adding a catchy tag will boost awareness and encourage your audience to share your content.

In addition to helping you stay organized, hashtags are also a great way to tap into current or seasonal trends on social media. Many brands tweak their content based on current global events, like the Olympics or internationally recognized holidays. By relating your product to whats happening in your consumers world, youre engaging with them on a more personal level.

Be consistent

Consistency should apply to all of the content that you post on social media, whether its Facebook or Instagram. A steady stream of hashtags, photos and campaigns that have a common theme will help you create an engaging storyline, which ultimately creates brand awareness. Everything from your logo, general design, to daily content needs to be easily identifiable. First decide on what you want your audience to know about your brand, and then translate that visually.

When it comes to Instagram, you need to ensure that all of the images you post are of the highest quality. It doesnt matter if youre posting photos of the office dog or your latest product, each photo needs to look as if it was shot with the utmost care and intention.

Create rich content

While Instagram seamlessly lends itself to visual brands, such as e-tailers and design-centric products, there are numerous companies today that dont necessarily offer physical products, which have found ways to utilize Instagram to create brand awareness. Brands that cant simply rely on a more straightforward approach, like posting photos, have had to get creative with their content. Several years ago, Penn State University held a day in the life campaign where students, staff, and alumni could share their experiences at the university through social media over a period of 24 hours. Rather than simply posting photos of the school campus, Penn State took a human-centric approach that focused on their community to illustrate daily activities as a way to generate interest in the university.

For brands that are more traditional and may be new to social media, conducting market research before you starting posting content is key. Knowing who you are speaking to, and what they want to hear, will help you create more rich and meaningful content that users will actually want to share. Making the most of tools like Google Analytics or consulting a market research analyst can help you identify these specific needs.

Engage your audience

Youd be hard pressed to come across someone whos never heard of Starbucks. The corporate coffee giants have made a global name for themselves, so you might wonder why they would need any more press than theyve already had. But, consumer needs are changing and a growing on-the-go generation of buyers are demanding more engaging campaigns, causing even the biggest brands to rethink their marketing strategies in order to stay relevant.

Starbucks is one of the many companies thats turned to Instagram to freshen up their audience engagement. Inspired by customer doodles on cups, Starbucks in 2014 reached out to their audience through their My Starbucks Idea, asking them if they had any suggestions that could make their brand even better. Thus, the #WhiteCupContest was born, receiving close to 4,000 entries. The winners cup was sold as a limited edition item on their website.

So, before you consider taking the easy way to Insta-fame, remember that it takes a bit of finesse to get the most out of any social media strategy, and putting in the work is worth it in the end. Paying careful attention to your target market, and getting creative with your content is a great way to gain traction naturally, without having to pay for followers.

***

Anthony Coggine is a HR professional turned business writer. He has been covering a range of topics including training, HR, recruiting and cryptocurrency news.


Sen. Jeff Flake

Republican Senator Jeff Flake took the Senate floor today to attack the White House for enshrining alternative facts into the American lexicon to justify lies and for its unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionality-protected free press.

Here is the full transcript of Flakes important speech.



Mr. President, near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: We hold these truths to be self-evident... So, from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America.

As the distinguished former member of this body, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, famously said: Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. During the past year, I am alarmed to say that Senator Moynihans proposition has likely been tested more severely than at any time in our history.

It is for that reason that I rise today, to talk about the truth, and its relationship to democracy. For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last.

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine alternative facts into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods. It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. The enemy of the people, was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017.

Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase enemy of the people, that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of annihilating such individuals who disagreed with the supreme leader.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the presidents party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward  despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

I dare say that anyone who has the privilege and awesome responsibility to serve in this chamber knows that these reflexive slurs of fake news are dubious, at best. Those of us who travel overseas, especially to war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of U.S. based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting on the truth. To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to their commitment and their sacrifice.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, 80 journalists were killed in 2017, and a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists documents that the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has reached 262, which is a new record. This total includes 21 reporters who are being held on false news charges.

Mr. President, so powerful is the presidency that the damage done by the sustained attack on the truth will not be confined to the presidents time in office. Here in America, we do not pay obeisance to the powerful  in fact, we question the powerful most ardently  to do so is our birthright and a requirement of our citizenship -- and so, we know well that no matter how powerful, no president will ever have dominion over objective reality.

No politician will ever get to tell us what the truth is and is not. And anyone who presumes to try to attack or manipulate the truth to his own purposes should be made to realize the mistake and be held to account. That is our job here. And that is just as Madison, Hamilton, and Jay would have it.

Of course, a major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians dont.

No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions. And Mr. President, an American president who cannot take criticism  who must constantly deflect and distort and distract  who must find someone else to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger.

Now, we are told via twitter that today the president intends to announce his choice for the most corrupt and dishonest media awards. It beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle. But here we are.

And so, 2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it. In this effort, the choice is quite simple. And in this effort, the truth needs as many allies as possible. Together, my colleagues, we are powerful. Together, we have it within us to turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism.

Together, united in the purpose to do our jobs under the Constitution, without regard to party or party loyalty, let us resolve to be allies of the truth -- and not partners in its destruction.

It is not my purpose here to inventory all of the official untruths of the past year. But a brief survey is in order. Some untruths are trivial  such as the bizarre contention regarding the crowd size at last years inaugural.

But many untruths are not at all trivial  such as the seminal untruth of the presidents political career - the oft-repeated conspiracy about the birthplace of President Obama. Also not trivial are the equally pernicious fantasies about rigged elections and massive voter fraud, which are as destructive as they are inaccurate  to the effort to undermine confidence in the federal courts, federal law enforcement, the intelligence community and the free press, to perhaps the most vexing untruth of all  the supposed hoax at the heart of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation.

To be very clear, to call the Russia matter a hoax  as the president has many times  is a falsehood. We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security. It is in the interest of every American to get to the bottom of this matter, wherever the investigation leads.

Ignoring or denying the truth about hostile Russian intentions toward the United States leaves us vulnerable to further attacks. We are told by our intelligence agencies that those attacks are ongoing, yet it has recently been reported that there has not been a single cabinet-level meeting regarding Russian interference and how to defend America against these attacks. Not one. What might seem like a casual and routine untruth  so casual and routine that it has by now become the white noise of Washington - is in fact a serious lapse in the defense of our country.

Mr. President, let us be clear. The impulses underlying the dissemination of such untruths are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.

Mr. President, every word that a president utters projects American values around the world. The values of free expression and a reverence for the free press have been our global hallmark, for it is our ability to freely air the truth that keeps our government honest and keeps a people free. Between the mighty and the modest, truth is the great leveler. And so, respect for freedom of the press has always been one of our most important exports.

But a recent report published in our free press should raise an alarm. Reading from the story:

In FebruarySyrian President Bashar Assad brushed off an Amnesty International report that some 13,000 people had been killed at one of his military prisons by saying, You can forge anything these days, we are living in a fake news era.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has complained of being demonized by fake news. Last month, the report continues, with our President, quote laughing by his side Duterte called reporters spies.

In July, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro complained to the Russian propaganda outlet, that the world media had spread lots of false versions, lots of lies about his country, adding, This is what we call 'fake news' today, isn't it?

There are more:

A state official in Myanmar recently said, There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news, referring to the persecuted ethnic group.

Leaders in Singapore, a country known for restricting free speech, have promised fake news legislation in the new year.

And on and on. This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr. President. Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language. This is reprehensible.

We are not in a fake news era, as Bashar Assad says. We are, rather, in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself, to challenge free people and free societies, everywhere.

In our own country, from the trivial to the truly dangerous, it is the range and regularity of the untruths we see that should be cause for profound alarm, and spur to action. Add to that the by-now predictable habit of calling true things false, and false things true, and we have a recipe for disaster. As George Orwell warned, The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.

Any of us who have spent time in public life have endured news coverage we felt was jaded or unfair. But in our positions, to employ even idle threats to use laws or regulations to stifle criticism is corrosive to our democratic institutions. Simply put: it is the presss obligation to uncover the truth about power. It is the peoples right to criticize their government. And it is our job to take it.

What is the goal of laying siege to the truth? President John F. Kennedy, in a stirring speech on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America, was eloquent in answer to that question:

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

Mr. President, the question of why the truth is now under such assault may well be for historians to determine. But for those who cherish American constitutional democracy, what matters is the effect on America and her people and her standing in an increasingly unstable world -- made all the more unstable by these very fabrications. What matters is the daily disassembling of our democratic institutions.

We are a mature democracy  it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring  or worse, endorsing -- these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.

I sincerely thank my colleagues for their indulgence today. I will close by borrowing the words of an early adherent to my faith that I find has special resonance at this moment. His name was John Jacques, and as a young missionary in England he contemplated the question: "What is truth?" His search was expressed in poetry and ultimately in a hymn that I grew up with, titled Oh Say, What is Truth. It ends as follows:

Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first,

For the limits of time it steps o'er.

Tho the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst.

Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,

Eternal unchanged evermore.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
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Biographers and scholars know of just one full-length letter from celebrated novelist Willa Cather to her longtime companion, Edith Lewis.

Written in October 1936 while Cather was away in New Hampshire, the letter contains more than 300 words. But, for decades, Cather researchers have drawn most of their conclusions from just one sentence.

Everything you packed carried wonderfully, Cather wrote to Lewis. Not a wrinkle.

For generations of Cather scholars, Edith Lewis was the woman who packed the suitcases. At worst a lackey. At best a secretary. A mere footnote in the story of Cathers genius.

But one Nebraska academic is challenging that notion in a new project that asserts Lewis was both a valued collaborator on Cathers prose and the authors primary romantic relationship.

Melissa Homestead, an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has received a $50,000 fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to complete work on a manuscript that examines the complex relationship between the two women. The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis is due to be published with Oxford University Press in 2020.

There are two things at the center, Homestead said of her book. One is thinking about Cather as engaged  having a collaborative relationship with an editor. The other is thinking about her as somebody who was living a happy and fulfilled life with someone that meant a great deal to her.

In addition to Homesteads project, other efforts at UNL are painting a new, more complex portrait of Cather.

On Tuesday, UNL launched The Complete Letters of Willa Cather, an online archive that aims to make all of the authors 3,000 known letters available to the public.

The archive, supported by the NEH and UNLs Center for Digital Research in the Humanities in cooperation with the Willa Cather Foundation in Red Cloud, currently holds almost 500 scanned and annotated letters. More will be added to the archive over time, said Andrew Jewell, editor of the Willa Cather Archive at UNL.

Both Homesteads book and the letter archive make tons of resources available, Jewell said. It is opening up the possibilities for others to look at the same evidence and draw their own conclusions. To argue and be generative of more interpretations of Cather and Lewis and Cathers work.

The archive will include decades of missives that Cather wrote to friends and family. She wrote to her father, expressing regret for missing Christmas in 1906. She wrote to her editor, complaining about being charged for extra corrections to My Antonia in 1919. She wrote to an old friend from her university days in Lincoln just before her death in April 1947.

But theres at least one glaring hole in the narrative: her correspondence with Lewis. Besides the 1936 letter, the only written communication known to exist between the two women are a few short postcards.

Though Homestead believes there were obviously more letters written between the two, the scant paper trail isnt entirely surprising to her.

When you live together, you dont write to each other, right? she said.

Cather met Lewis, a Lincoln native, in 1903. Cather, living in Pittsburgh, was visiting her college stomping grounds. Five years later, after Cather had moved to New York City, she and Lewis moved in together. They lived and traveled as a pair until Cathers death 39 years later.

Still, in the past, many scholars have trivialized Lewis role in Cathers life. After Cathers death, Lewis served as the literary executor of the authors estate. Because Cathers will specifically forbade the publication of her personal letters, Lewis won no friends among the early biographers who wrote to her requesting documents and received polite, but firm, rejections.

Historically, academic study has shied away from Cathers personal story in favor of the writings she left behind. Those scholars who were interested in the woman behind the words often characterized her as a socially aloof artist, forever pining after her literary muse, Isabelle McClung, a close friend from Pittsburgh who eventually married a Russian-Canadian violinist.

Theres never been any room, Homestead said, for someone like Edith Lewis: an ambitious career woman who played an active role in shaping the popular image of Willa Cather.

Im giving a very different view of Cather and also recovering the life of an early 20th century career woman, Homestead said. (Cathers) got Edith Lewis there. Theyre living in the present and theyre moving forward and they create a life together.

Lewis worked as an advertising copywriter for J. Walter Thompson, a large ad agency in New York City. Her accounts included Woodbury Facial Soap and Jergens Hand Lotion. And she was committed to her job.

Did Edith tell you that her company gave her a check for a thousand dollars for a Christmas present, and a month later raised her salary again! You have to deliver goods to make a New York business firm treat you like that, I assure you, Cather wrote to a friend in 1924.

In fact, Homestead said, theres evidence that it was Lewis career that held Cather in New York. In some letters, she wrote about how she was tired of city life and in others she wrote she wished Lewis would quit her demanding job.

When Lewis wasnt writing advertising copy, she was diligently editing Cathers manuscripts. Some biographers have characterized her work as that of a secretary, recording only changes that Cather first dictated to her.

But Homestead has examined original typescripts of some of Cathers novels and seen Lewis hand at work. The hard evidence, she said, points to Lewis as an independent editor whos helped cultivate the stripped-down style Cather is known for. Take the 1925 novel The Professors House.

In one scene, Cather describes the central characters meditation on his life so far: The most disappointing thing about life, St. Peter thought, was the amazing part that blind chance played in it. After one had attributed as much as possible to indirect causation, there still remained so much, even in a quiet and sheltered existence, that was irreducible to any logic.

Edits in Lewis handwriting pared down the wordy passage to: All the most important things in his life had been determined by chance, St. Peter thought.

These editing sessions were an important element of Cather and Lewis relationship. Years later, Lewis wrote of days spent together in New Hampshire, reading the proofs for My Antonia.

These were wonderful mornings, she wrote. Full of beauty and pleasure.

The two women never explicitly labeled themselves as a couple, but they didnt hide the fact that they were sharing their lives. Looking back, Jewell said, theres no sense that either woman was living in the closet.

Not having a label, I think, is part of how they managed to live so openly, Homestead said. Was her relationship with Edith Lewis primary and was it emotionally romantic? Yes.

They wrote about each other in letters. They traveled together. For all intents and purposes, they lived like a married couple, Homestead said.

Just look at the one surviving letter between them.

My Darling Edith, Cather begins. She writes about New Hampshire, about how shes enjoying the clean mountain air and sleeping near woods bathed in moonlight.

That night, she tells Lewis, Jupiter and Venus will be visible in the western sky.

I cant but believe that all that majesty and all that beauty, those fated and unfailing appearances and exits, are something more than mathematics and horrible temperatures, Cather writes. If they are not, then we are the only wonderful things  because we can wonder.

To Homestead, its clear: That letter tells me that there is a great intimacy and romantic love, she said. That letter is designed purely to give pleasure.
Marshall Mickey Washington Jr. just wanted to have a good time on his birthday.

He ended up dead instead  unwittingly caught in the middle of a family feud in broad daylight.

On July 7, 2016, prosecutors say, Jeffrey Loving wanted to settle a score with an uncle he believed was harassing him and his sister over a drug debt. He fired into his uncles car  missing him but hitting Washington, 49, a frail man who had been in a nursing home, battling kidney failure.

For that, Douglas County District Judge Greg Schatz sentenced Loving to 110 to 130 years in prison. Under state law, Loving, 33, must serve 57 years before he is eligible for parole; absent parole, hed serve 67 years before release.

A jury had convicted Loving in October of second-degree murder and use of a weapon, and the minimum sentence he faced was 25 years.

Members of Washingtons family said they were satisfied with the sentence.

It was a big relief off our shoulders today, said Washingtons sister, Veronica. Justice was served. Now we can move on.

I wanted (Loving) to know, I forgive him. We wont forget but we forgive. Its the only way to move on  to forgive.

Washingtons sister even approached Lovings mom to give her a hug after the hearing. The two embraced, sharing their sorrow.

Asked if he wanted to address the judge, Loving said nothing Tuesday.

The 33-year-old drug dealer had taken the stand during trial and claimed that he fired in self-defense after his uncle, Theo Loving, had pointed a gun at him. He cried as he described hearing that Washington had been hit.

I never meant to hurt Mr. Washington, Loving testified at his October trial. I thought Theodore was going to kill me. ... It was like a bad dream.

The ordeal began with a Facebook plea. A female friend of Washingtons posted a note on Facebook, asking if anyone could pick up Washington and take him out.

Washington had been ailing  and his kidneys had been failing. He had just started living at Florence Home Healthcare a couple of months before the shooting.

Washington, who had a son and daughter and dozens of friends, was a character, his family said. The 49-year-old had lived a colorful life. Spoiled by his mother, he was a tough-as-nails wrestler in high school and later joined the Army.

He could make you laugh, make you happy, make you mad, said his stepfather, Emmett Hawkins. He was loved.

Val Johnson-Stewart, who served as Washingtons guardian after his health declined, said Washington was the life of a party, a dapper dresser and a man with rhythm. And he was a sweet-talker.

He had a compliment for everybody, she said. Hed say, Hey girl  you looking good today. Any time he would see anybody, he would compliment them. He didnt have negative things to say about anybody.

He also had no idea what he was getting into on his 49th birthday. Theo Loving testified that he answered the Facebook post and picked up Washington  a man he hadnt seen in decades. Washington was so frail  weighing just 105 pounds  that Theo Loving had to carry him to the car.

The two were looking for some weed to smoke so they went to a part of Crown Point Avenue, near 28th Street, where Theo Loving thought he could get marijuana.

Loving emerged from a house and hollered at his uncle to get the (expletive) out. He then rattled off 10 shots. No bullets hit his intended target. One hit Washington in the face  killing him.

I just wanted him to know what he took from us, how much he hurt our family, said Washingtons sister, Veronica. He took a life from us. The loss that we feel is indescribable.
LINCOLN  The churn continues at the top of UNLs College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where Dean Maria Marron announced her resignation Tuesday.

Marron has been dean since July 1, 2014, and noted in an email to several people Tuesday that she was the schools fifth dean since 2009. Her resignation is effective Friday.

She did not elaborate on a reason for her departure and could not be reached for comment.

Donde Plowman, the executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at UNL, said in an email that Marron was a thoughtful leader who has worked hard to advance the college.

Amy Struthers, an advertising professor and the graduate chair of the college, will take over as interim dean. Marron will return to teaching at UNL in the fall term.

Nearly simultaneous to her resignation, another letter being circulated by Friends of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications voices concerns about a perceived lack of funding and institutional support for the school. John Bender, a journalism professor, said he thought Marron had done a good job, but there was concern about the whether the faculty was getting enough direction on how to prepare students for a rapidly changing media landscape.

I think we are divided about that. Thats not her fault, Bender said. It, to some extent, reflects the overall confusion of the industry. Whats going to happen? What overall direction is it going to take? Those are difficult questions to answer.

Prior to 2009, the journalism program saw little turnover in its deans.
LINCOLN  Drawing from his own personal pain from sexual assault, a Nebraska lawmaker is pushing a bill that would give college students another person to turn to after an assault.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln told the Nebraska Legislatures Education Committee on Tuesday that at age 12 he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a family friend.

This experience is one that I still grapple with and process as an adult, Morfeld said. The memory and trauma hits you at the most unexpected times. Over lunch with a friend. On the floor of the Legislature. While sitting in this committee with you. Going to sleep at night. Or even spending time with a significant other.

It is a trauma that never fully leaves you. It also taught me that sexual assault often leaves you feeling powerless, violated, helpless and insecure.

The experience prompted Morfeld to introduce Legislative Bill 857, which would require public higher education institutions to designate people who can take confidential reports about sexual violence.

LB 857 also would protect students who report incidents of sexual violence from being sanctioned for any nonviolent student conduct violations  such as underage drinking  associated with the incident reported.

The bill, Morfeld said, cannot undo whats been done to victims of sexual assault, but it can help survivors find their voice. He said the bill can also give survivors of sexual assault encouragement to tell someone who can help them with their options and who will keep the information confidential until the person decides to go to the authorities or to the university.

Representatives from the University of Nebraska, the state college system and the community colleges said they supported the bills underlying concept but said the bill duplicated some of what was already being done at the schools.

Tami Strickman, Title IX coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, testified in opposition to the bill because she said it raised constitutional questions about the Legislatures authority to direct the Board of Regents to adopt a policy.

Strickman said the university already does a lot of what is outlined in the proposed bill, including providing confidential advisers on campus and in the community. The advisers also generally have a legal privilege, meaning the communication is protected from being disclosed without the permission of the person seeking assistance.

If an institution can designate individuals as confidential advisers for a limited time, as proposed in LB 857, Strickman said that may lead to confusion, where a student thinks they are having a conversation that will remain confidential but the adviser actually has a responsibility to report the conversation to the Title IX office.

Morfeld said he didnt understand the opposition. Some of the schools said they already had confidential advisers, which would mean they would be compliant with what was outlined in the bill. He said other states have confidential advisers, which means there are ways of implementing the bill without violating federal law.

At the conclusion of the testimony, several senators said they were confused about what was actually being provided at the schools.

Morfeld said he was thoroughly confused and needed to sit down with the institutions to fully understand the services already being provided to perhaps bring an amendment to the bill.

The committee took no action on the bill on Tuesday.
A 37-year-old man suffered serious injuries Wednesday morning when his vehicle struck a natural-gas pipe just off Interstate 480 in Omaha.

The crash involving a 1995 Buick Century occurred around 6:20 a.m. on southbound I-480 south of Leavenworth Street, according to police.

The Buick, driven by Andres Morales-Bautista of Omaha, veered off the roadway and struck a natural gas pipe fixture, police said.

The motorist was slumped over the steering wheel of his vehicle after the crash and had to be cut free from the wreckage, reports to Douglas County 911 dispatchers said.

Morales-Bautista, who was alone in the Century, was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition, according to rescue squad personnel at the scene. He suffered a compound fracture to an ankle, police said.

Excessive speed and alcohol use were not believed to be contributing factors in the crash, police said.

The crash remains under investigation, police said.
New Lao Cai bridge to China proposed

The General Department of Vietnam Customs has proposed to build a bridge to China in the northern province of Lao Cai to boost the local economy.

illustrative photo









During a conference on economic corridors in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai in Vietnam and Yunnan in China in last November, leaders in Lao Cai and Yunnan provinces agreed to build the bridge that crosses the Red River, believing it would help boost trade ties and the regional economy.

Hoang Quoc Khanh, director of Lao Cai Province's Department of Planning and Investment, said the Department of Transport was asked to research the project's feasibility. The provincial authorities are completing documents for approval from the government and related ministries.

Both China and Vietnam are building infrastructure for cross-border co-operative areas and Bat Xat District is the most suitable for the link to China. Border trade is still very active in Lao Cai Province with traders transferring fruits from Ban Phiet Commune to China via ferry and boats. A new bridge will make trading activities more convenient.

Director of Lao Cai Department of Transport, Nong Van Hung said, "Both China and Vietnam want to build the bridge as soon as possible. What we need now is funding and a proper planning which will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence."

In last May, Cao Bang Province also proposed to use a USD300-million loan from China for an expressway connecting Lang Son and Cao Bang provinces. This is part of the project that connects Guangxi and Cao Bang provinces and maritime routes to other ASEAN countries.

In September 2017, Quang Ninh Province authorities and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region built the 618-metre Bac Luan II Bridge.

Dtinews
The author, 22, lives in Lincoln. She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has DACA status.

For most students, starting their last semester of college is an exciting, hopeful time when they prepare to start the next chapter of their life. But my final college months last fall were filled with uncertainty.

Only a month after my final semester at UNL began, President Donald Trump announced the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that had allowed me to attend college, get a job and obtain a drivers license in Nebraska, where Ive grown up and spent most of my life.

This means that, unless Congress acts quickly, after my DACA status expires this November, I will lose my ability to work and drive and could be faced with the possibility of deportation from the country I call home. Thousands of other people with DACA status like me, who are sometimes called Dreamers, face a similar plight.

This was not how I had planned to start my last college semester. In fact, all the plans that I had made started to crumble. After graduation in December, I had hoped to spend 2018 working full time, finding my first apartment and applying to law schools.

Instead, I had to figure out an alternative plan in the midst of all the uncertainty. If I would no longer be able to work, then I would continue my education in hopes that Congress would fix the problem. I moved up my timeline, and in my last undergraduate semester I studied for the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and started applying to law schools, while earning good grades and maintaining my two part-time jobs.

On the day the White House announced DACA was ending, my mother and I attended a State Capitol rally in Lincoln in support of Nebraska Dreamers and their families. As we walked back to the car, my mother apologized to me. She thought that she had let me down because although she had brought my sister and me to a country where we could thrive, she could not eliminate all the limitations that we faced.

This is not your fault, I said. I told her Im grateful for my parents sacrifice, and without their support I wouldnt be just a few months away from becoming the first person in my family to graduate from college.

Seeing my mothers face in that moment gave me the motivation that I needed to move forward. Nebraska has been my home for 13 years, and despite every obstacle that I faced as an undocumented student, and later with DACA protection, I love giving back to the place that has given me so much. I have not come this far to stop now.

Nearly 15,000 Dreamers like me nationwide already have seen their DACA protections expire, and an additional 100 lose theirs every day. That is why Congress must act now by passing a clean version of the Dream Act of 2017. In Nebraska, there are more than 3,000 DACA youths whose lives, including mine, have been disrupted. We shouldnt be used as pawns in a political game while our futures are at stake.

In light of the recently announced end of temporary protected status for thousands of people who came to the United States many years ago to escape natural disasters, violence and famine, Congress also must uphold our countrys commitment to the safety of these people who have built successful lives in Nebraska and made our communities stronger.

Many Dreamers and people with temporary protected status have worked with leaders and community organizations to create positive policies. We have contributed economically and culturally to our communities. We are students, taxpayers, teachers, accountants, health care workers, future lawyers and more.

Only if Congress upholds the promise that was made to our families when we applied for DACA and recognizes Americas long-held values of ensuring safety and opportunity for those who want to work hard, will we continue to be able to contribute to the place we call home.
Oregon employers ended 2017 on a high note, adding 14,700 jobs in December, according to data out Wednesday from the Oregon Employment Department.

State economists said that reflects a return to robust growth after a slowdown in the late summer and early fall.

Oregon's job market is the strongest on record, with the average unemployment rate for 2017 at 4.0 percent. That's the lowest full-year total ever, handily besting the prior record  4.9 percent unemployment in both 1995 and 2016.

"The labor market is tight. Difficulty finding (and retaining) workers is the biggest challenge many businesses face today," Oregon state economist Josh Lehner wrote last week in an analysis of the state's job market.

While many workers dropped out of the job market during the Great Recession, Lehner wrote that the share of the prime, working-age population that has a job has returned to where it was prior to the recession.

With so little slack in the labor market, and more older workers retiring, Lehner said the lack of available workers will inevitably slow growth  and that the labor crunch will likely persist until the next recession. Some economists feel that the labor shortage might itself trigger that next downturn.

In December, Oregon's unemployment rate matched the national rate at 4.1 percent. Another measure of joblessness, the U-6 or "underemployment" rate, remained near an all-time low, at 8.6 percent.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699
The FBI is offering a new $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a sexual assault suspect who's been on the lam for almost a quarter-century.

Barrett Preston Busschau, now 42, disappeared from Oregon in 1993 after he was released from jail pending trial, according to the FBI. The agency said investigators think he might have gone to California or Panama but that his last known sighting was in his native South Africa.

A Clackamas County grand jury indicted him in July 1993 on charges including first-degree sex abuse, third-degree rape and sodomy, and first-degree sexual penetration with a foreign object, according to the FBI.

He allegedly molested five girls between 10 and 15 years old, the agency said. Busschau was 18 at the time.

Busschau is also wanted on sex crime charges in Washington County, records show.

Busschau fled after being released from jail pending his trial, the federal agency said. He had been living in the U.S. as "a legal permanent resident," according to the FBI.

He was indicted in 1994 for failing to appear, and the FBI got a federal fugitive warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, the federal agency said.

The FBI made an age-progressed image of what he might look like today and is starting a media campaign to generate tips. Investigators think there may be Portland-area residents who have information that could help the FBI find Busschau.

The reward, which totals up to $10,000, "is for information that leads directly to his arrest," the FBI said.

The FBI asks anyone who has information to call the agency at 503-224-4181 or leave a tip online.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive
The Portland City Council unanimously approved a plan to lower speed limits to 20 mph on thousands of miles of city streets.

The council voted Wednesday to reduce speed limits on non-arterial residential streets, which comprise about 70 percent of the city's street grid.

The emergency ordinance takes effect immediately on roads without speed limit signs. On those with posted 25 mph speed limits, the change takes effect when the signs are replaced. The city expects to replace the signs citywide by April, an effort that's expected to cost $300,000.

Speed limits on busier collector and arterial streets won't change.

Commissioner Amanda Fritz noted that three of her family members had died in traffic fatalities. That includes her husband, Steve Fritz, who was killed in a 2014 crash near Salem to which a truck's excessive speed might have contributed.

"To people who say this won't work, I say it might," she said. "To anyone who drives, I ask, do you want to be the driver who causes a traffic fatality? If staying at a reasonable speed will decrease the likelihood that you will cause that crash, I would suggest it is in your best interest to do that, as well as everybody else on the street."

Commissioner Nick Fish said the new policy should be paired with police enforcement. He recalled a recent drive in Northeast Portland, where he said drivers behind him grew visibly angry while he drove at the posted speed limit.

?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"? "There's a big education piece, and there's a huge enforcement piece," Fish said. "Some people are not getting the message right now."

The push is part of the city's Vision Zero campaign, an effort adopted in 2015 to eliminate traffic-related deaths. Portland had lobbied to amend state law to let the city to set lower speed limits, and the state Legislature approved that authority last year.

Seattle in 2016 lowered speeds on many of its roads, including bringing residential speed limits down to 20 mph. In New York City, 20 mph "slow zones" introduced in 2011 were credited with a 14 percent reduction in crashes resulting in injuries.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
CLARIFICATION APPENDED

TriMet's nationwide search for a new general manager led the agency to its own second-in-command.

The agency's board picked Chief Operating Officer Doug Kelsey as the lone finalist to succeed General Manager Neil McFarlane, who retires early this year.

Doug Kelsey

Kelsey arrived at TriMet in 2015 after serving as a top executive at TransLink in Vancouver, British Columbia. But he was forced out, along with other top leaders, shortly after voters rejected a key funding measure. The agency's CEO had been fired weeks earlier, with the referendum still pending.

Kelsey's departure came amid complaints about TransLink's governance, and among them executive salaries. He said Wednesday the agency was looking to cut those executives earning the most, and that he was No. 2 on that list.

Kelsey earned $335,000 in 2013, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper, which was about $320,000 in U.S. dollars.

"Honestly, it wasn't a surprise to me, knowing the dynamics at play," he said.

At TriMet, Kelsey earned $216,000 in 2016. McFarlane's annual base salary was raised in mid-2017 to $243,100.

Gordon Price, a TransLink board member through 2002 and a proponent of the 2015 funding measure, characterized Kelsey's departure as a political sacrifice in the wake of its failure. Price said the transit funding vote -- commonplace in the U.S. but unusual in Canada -- was a long shot from the beginning.

"Nobody was happy, of course, because the thing did fail," he said. "As a result, blood must be shed for the politicians to demonstrate to the electorate, to say, 'We heard you.'"

TriMet's next general manager will probably lead the agency at a time when voters will decide on a transportation funding measure that includes hundreds of millions of dollars for the Southwest Corridor light-rail project, which would connect downtown Portland with Tigard and Bridgeport Village.

Price said the circumstances of Kelsey's departure from TransLink shouldn't reflect on his ability to lead the agency through such a process.

"For an organization that does need a strong personable leader, that does need creativity and new ideas, Doug would be a good choice," Price said.

Earlier in his tenure at TransLink, Kelsey helped pitch Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. After the city was selected, he wrote city's transportation plan for the event, which included transporting millions by transit, roads and air travel.

Kelsey later consulted on transportation at subsequent Olympic Games in London and Sochi.

Before that, Kelsey worked in the private sector, including stints managing operations and strategy for Shell Canada and Starbucks. He said he sought out positions where he could focus on customer experience.

He was drawn to transit, he said, for similar reasons.

"It's a tremendous quest and calling where you can actually shape getting people to and from where they want to go today, and also shape the city and region for the next 50 or 100 years," he said.

He arrived in Portland after being contacted by a recruiter about the chief operating officer job and being attracted to the agency's size and reputation. Kelsey is a Canadian citizen working at TriMet on a work visa, had family ties to Oregon, and he had attended basketball camps at the University of Oregon.

At TriMet, he's pushed to improve the agency's on-time performance, as well as to cut down on safety rule violations by rail operators.

But that focus has caused some friction with front-line employees who say the emphasis on keeping schedules pressures them to downplay safety concerns.

"Our folks want to go out there, drive safely, make sure folks get where they want to go," said Andrew Riley, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, which represents TriMet's non-management workforce. "But they're really feeling a lot of pressure from the company, and really a risk of discipline, if there's even the smallest slip-up."

Riley said the union is wary of an internal candidate, and particularly one brought on board by a general manager with whom the union has frequently sparred.

"But we want to work more collaboratively with management," Riley said. "We're going to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Kelsey said his first focus, if selected, would be to improve the perception of safety on the transit system, including increasing the presence of TriMet employees.

"If we don't have safety, even if we give this away, they're not coming," he said.

He also said the agency would, under his leadership, work on offering more late-night service and consider using longer buses to increase capacity and avoid passing up riders.

Kelsey also outlined a plan to build the agency's new Hop card electronic fare system into a "lifestyle" card, a sort of transit loyalty card that could be used to pay for -- or access discounts on -- other goods and services.

The board has already interviewed Kelsey along with two other candidates, but he'll appear at a Jan. 24 board meeting, where he's expected to take questions from the public starting at 9 a.m. He'll be available at a reception before the meeting starting at 8 a.m., the agency said.

The board will meet at the Portland World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St..

The board will vote on whether to offer him the job at a meeting a week later at TriMet's downtown office.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus

This post has been updated to reflect the following clarification: Members of the public can ask Doug Kelsey questions at TriMet's board meeting Jan. 24 starting at 9 a.m. An earlier version of this story included the time of the TriMet board's business agenda, which it will take up later in the morning.
The rumors are true.

Two wolves were spotted on trail cameras in the Mt. Hood National Forest earlier this month.

The grainy pictures mark the first confirmed sighting of multiple wolves in this area of the Cascade Mountains since the predators started returning to Oregon earlier this century after being eradicated in the 1940s. The wolves were observed about 200 miles west of Oregon's epicenter of wolf activity in Wallowa, Umatilla, Union and Baker counties.

Federal and state wildlife officials released trail camera pictures of two wolves Tuesday traveling in the forested terrain of the Mt. Hood National Forest. The images were taken Jan. 4. The ground has spots of snow but is largely barren.

John Stephenson, state wolf biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the pictures simply confirm what wolf observers have long believed.

"We've expected them to colonize this area," Stephenson told The Oregonian/OregonLive. On Tuesday, Stephenson said he spotted wolf tracks on the fringe of the national forest where it abuts the Warm Springs Reservation territory. He installed more trail cameras and said the next steps include trying to place a tracking collar on one of the animals.

"There are undoubtedly wolves out there we don't know about," he said.

Beyond the forest territory, the predators also were spotted in other areas of southern Wasco County and on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation specifically. Tribal officials could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

Roblyn Brown, Oregon's wolf coordinator, said in an email that her office is aware of sightings dating to 2013.

"This shows that wolves are continuing to expand their distribution in Oregon," she said. "That is good news for wolf recovery." A 2015 state report indicated wolves occupied just 2.6 percent of suitable habitat in the western portion of the state.

WHERE DO OREGON'S GRAY WOLVES ROAM?

Wolves continue to establish new packs and territory across the state, but Wallowa County is a prime spot for several packs. Here's where state biologists say each of the state's packs are known to roam.

Source: ODFW

Suzanne Stone, Oregon representative with the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, called the development "great news."

"It's really exciting to see that they're expanding their range," she said.

It's unclear how long the animals have been in the Cascade Mountains. Lone wolves were seen traveling through a similar area in 2013 and 2015.

Stephenson said solo wolves typically move on to other areas of the state, but the presence of a pair suggests they've been in the area for some time.

"This may be the start of a new wolf territory," he said, adding that January is breeding season.

The Wasco County wolves are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, as is any wolf west of U.S. 395, U.S. 95 and Oregon 78. Wolves east of those roadways are managed by state officials and can legally be killed under certain circumstances.

The latest sightings come about two months before the state is expected to release its latest annual wolf report.

Population numbers remained stagnant in 2017, at an estimated 112 animals, a fact state officials said was a blip in an otherwise upward trajectory statewide.

But the previous year has seen several incidents of poaching or suspicious wolf deaths, prompting rewards from federal officials and conservation groups numbering in the tens of thousands.

Wolves in Jackson County, also protected under federal regulations, already have killed three calves in 2018.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
The Jan. 10 article, "Federal government suspends beaver-killing after environmental groups threaten lawsuit" may have astounded many readers. The U.S. Wildlife Services department is killing beavers and the Beaver State of Oregon helps support that department?

Yes, together they killed at least 403 beavers in Oregon in 2016. But it is worse than just beavers. Much, much worse. This near-rogue and unaccountable department uses tax dollars to kill millions of wild animals every year, largely at the beck and call of the livestock and ranching industry.

In 2012, Tom Knudson, environmental reporter and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, wrote a seminal, three-part series "The killing agency: Wildlife Services' brutal methods leave a trail of animal death," for the Sacramento Bee describing the horrific killing done annually by this federal agency.

Six years later, little has changed. This department provides no services to wildlife. It is the hired gun of private business, which engages its services to slaughter wild animals with traps, poison and aerial gunners in our state and across the nation.

Oregonians who value the natural world and the creatures who share it should contact their state legislators and governor to demand the end of funding of this agency.

Ronald Varekamp, Southwest Portland
By Sal Peralta

The Independent Party of Oregon was formed 11 years ago to give ordinary citizens a bigger voice in government. In 2009, the party helped to pass Oregon's fusion voting law, hoping it would encourage Democratic and Republican officeholders to be more responsive to the general public. Independent Party officials have tried to work with the two-party system while building an alternate base of power to give Oregonians more viable choices on their ballots.

The results have been mixed. We've helped to increase the number of Independent and non-affiliated candidates winning local offices, but those successes have not carried over to state government. In the time since we founded the party, Oregon has become one of the worst governed states in America.

A 2016 audit of the state's Business Energy Tax Credits program found that state officials gave out as much as $340 million in tax credits through projects that raised concerns. Despite the report, no action was taken by the 2017 Oregon Legislature to recover the money.

Currently, more than three-fourths of the state's largest industrial polluters are discharging waste without valid permits. In some cases, permits are more than two decades out of date, and several facilities have gone for decades without state inspections. Regulations for large-scale industrial polluters were proposed in 2017, but were defeated during the legislative session.

In terms of K-12 education, Oregon is ranked near the bottom in numerous categories: 40th for student performance, 45th for instructional time, 46th for student-teacher ratio and 48th for high school graduation -- despite being 21st out of the 50 states for per student spending.

FamilyCare Health, Oregon's second-largest Medicaid provider, is closing its doors in part due to a reimbursement dispute with the state, forcing more than 100,000 Medicaid enrollees to move to other providers.

The state wasted $305 million in taxpayer funds on a healthcare web site that never worked. Republicans on a 2016 Congressional report called for criminal investigation into the matter, but no action was taken by Oregon's government.

The list goes on.

There is a direct connection these government failures and how our elections are structured and financed.

Oregon is one of only five states with no limits on campaign contributions. That's why our state policies, especially those related to the environment, education and taxes, reflect the interests of the powerful rather than the general public.

This problem is made worse by the fact that Oregon's system of government vests nearly all of the legislature's power into the hands of the six leaders most responsible for raising money from the special interests that accounted for more than 97 percent of the $130 million that was raised and spent in Oregon during the 2016 election.

Roughly 85 percent of us live in districts dominated by either Democrats or Republicans. This, combined with our closed primaries, has created a system in which our elected leaders are far more responsive to their major funders and their most partisan supporters than they are to the general public.

As a third party that favors pragmatism, we recognize that our ability to change the political system is limited. Actual change will require hard work, smart reforms and a few big leaps of faith.

It will require a leap of faith by civic-minded Oregonians to run for public office on platforms that actually address these issues and to get elected through the grassroots support of ordinary citizens rather than the special interests that currently dominate our political process.

It will also take a leap of faith by voters. The only real political currency many of us have is our vote. There are two things candidates need. Funding and votes. In the end it's really about your vote. The funding is simply to secure more votes.

Thankfully, we do not need to win an outright majority in the Legislature to change things for the better. A small coalition of legislators who are willing to meet in the middle and stick together could change our system overnight.

If we want the center of our political process to reflect the views and values of everyday Oregonians rather than the interests of the powerful and well-connected, it all starts with a leap of faith.

Sal Peralta is the secretary of the Independent Party of Oregon. He lives in McMinnville.

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Lessons from the Hawaii scare: People make mistakes. Computer code is written by people. Nuclear weapons rightfully cause panic. It takes time to correct mistakes.

Lessons from the Cold War: Mistakes happen in the strategic forces of all nuclear countries. Ballistic missiles once launched cannot be diverted or destroyed. Launch on warning is both U.S. and Russian policy. We don't know North Korea's policy. In 1983 a Russian Lieutenant Colonel didn't launch on warning, saving us and probably the world.

Advice for our children and grandchildren: We are all safer without weapons of mass destruction. Demand zero. Learn and practice getting along with others. You will be happier in life.

Al Jubitz, Southwest Portland
No matter how supportive Oregonians may be about marijuana legalization, they have to concede one point by U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams: The state needs to be more upfront about enforcement problems that have compounded in the years since pot legalization.

Unfortunately, it seems the state is more interested in burying information that challenges the narrative that Oregon's legalization program has been anything but a resounding success. As Williams wrote in a recent op-ed for The Oregonian/OregonLive, the state still has not finalized information in a one-year-old draft report on marijuana by an Oregon State Police analyst. Among other things, the report identified widespread trafficking of Oregon-grown pot in states where marijuana remains illegal; an overproduction of pot that outstrips Oregon demand; and a surge in explosions from homemade butane hash oil labs that has caused deaths and dozens of injuries.

While the state police criticized the draft as incomplete, they have done little to plug the gaps. Not only that, but the agency initially refused repeated requests for the draft analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive's Noelle Crombie, who obtained a copy in March anyway and wrote about the findings. Oregonians who expect the state to act in the interest of public safety may well be wondering if the state plans to simply ignore its existence.

That's exactly the wrong reaction and undercuts the impressive work by so many entrepreneurs, politicians and advocates to build a trustworthy, legal system. Oregon's look-the-other-way approach only allows those exploiting the system to thrive, risking the legal industry's credibility, sustainability and profitability. It would have been foolish for anyone to think that there wouldn't be some problems in the conversion of pot from an illegal substance to a product that can be bought, sold and taxed. It's even more foolish to think any problems will go away on their own.

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.

It's important to note that the draft analysis was evaluating Oregon's program for how well it met the enforcement priorities set out under the "Cole memorandum" - the Obama Administration guidelines that were recently rescinded by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. So if Oregon can't show its work on meeting those more relaxed standards, then the industry should be very worried about how much leeway the state will get under the current administration.

But regardless of the federal government, state leaders simply owe it to Oregonians to assure them that legalization does not mean a free-for-all. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission's recent sting in which regulators found nearly one out of five pot shops allowed minors to purchase marijuana was a troubling result for an industry that should expect and welcome such scrutiny.

This is an industry in its infancy. It's up to the state to be the grown-up.

- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board
Rep. Margaret Doherty, D-Tigard, introduced an interesting draft of a bill to the House Education Committee last week. And by "interesting," we mean "you've got to be kidding."

The bill, which the education committee agreed to sponsor for the short legislative session, would change the law allowing the Secretary of State and Treasurer to send "designees" to serve as non-voting members of the state board of education. Instead, they would only be allowed to send their deputy secretary of state or treasurer, as the Portland Tribune reported.

This would seem out of left field except for the fact that it would help the board get rid of Portland parent Kim Sordyl, who serves as Secretary of State Dennis Richardson's designee. Sordyl, a former employment lawyer, has been a vocal critic of Portland Public Schools' management as well as state education department practices.

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.

Sordyl, to put it lightly, gets under people's skin. She can be acerbic, cutting and relentless in her accusations of mismanagement, incompetence or cronyism. Unfortunately for her critics, she is also often right, as she has shown in her scrutiny of Portland schools, highlighting instances in which the district violated state law, ignored its own policies and put the careers of administrators or teachers above the interests of students. She has often questioned the way things have been done, particularly when they don't work. Those are qualities that, to most of us, would seem to be reasons to keep her on the board of education, no matter people's hurt feelings.

And there's simply no reason to change the law. According to the Tribune story, Doherty said board members have to deal with sensitive information. That's hardly a rationale, particularly considering that by law the governor appoints members of the community - not her own staff - to also serve on the board. The idea here is that the board and the department benefit from having regular members of the public who are passionate about education provide their input and opinions - even if they don't rubber stamp what state education staff might put forward.

And considering the condition of Oregon's education system, the lack of progress in graduation rates, continuing achievement gaps, board members and department staff might want to focus on growing thicker skin and recognizing that criticism can be a good thing. Because certainly the status quo has not been.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board
Wednesday 17 January 2018 9:53am



Some of the research team, from L to R: Rachel Tester, Tony Dowell, Maria Stubbe, from the University of Otago, Wellington.

Primary care physicians can improve their communication to newly-diagnosed diabetes patients by offering more information specific to the patients experience, new research from Otago, Auckland and Victoria universities shows.

The study, just published in the international journal Annals of Family Medicine, highlights the importance of good and appropriate communication by healthcare professionals to patients.

For six months, the researchers tracked and videoed all the interactions between healthcare professionals and 32 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Despite many health professionals having high communication and technical skill levels, our study found that there are many opportunities to communicate and consult more effectively with these patients, says lead author Professor Tony Dowell from the University of Otago, Wellington.

The research team found strengths in primary care interactions including high levels of communication skills, enthusiasm to coordinate services, and significant allocation of time with patients.

But for optimal care, better communication is needed.

The study found that initial consultations between primary care clinicians and patients who are newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are often driven by biomedical explanations which are out of context from patient experience.

Patients who have just been diagnosed with diabetes or other long-term conditions bring their own expertise and experience to the situation and healthcare professionals need to listen to this. We need to re-think our usage of technical biomedical language when talking to these patients, Professor Dowell suggests.

Despite the high levels of generic communication expertise by clinicians, many patients found the style and content of health promotion and lifestyle advice did not apply to their lives.

Patients were also concerned about the overuse of checklists, and suggested a need for more effective methods of sharing patient information.

Professor Dowell and colleagues note there was also a perception of time pressure but considerable time was spent with patients by health professionals repeating information that may not be relevant to patient need.

The time that patients spend with health providers could be allocated more effectively and efficiently when patients see multiple clinicians, he says.

Although there has been a huge amount of research into diabetes, this is the first study to directly observe the patient journey and interactions with different health professionals from the onset of diabetes.

Our results highlight the important role that communication plays in diabetes management, and the overall commitment of primary care teams to delivering patient care, Professor Dowell says.

The authors recommend that clinicians employ a framework for communications with diabetes patients that acknowledges the importance of the patients own particular situation and social needs. They suggest that time could be allocated more effectively and efficiently when patients see multiple clinicians.

Our main aim is to improve our patients health, and this research shows that appropriate communication with patients is a key component.

The research makes us appreciate the importance of listening more and possibly talking less in consultations. It helps with understanding and improving health care one sentence at a time, says Prof Dowell.

Find more information about the ARCH (Applied Research on Communication in Health) group here: http://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/research/arch/

Full paper: A Longitudinal Study of the Interactions Between Health Professionals and People Newly Diagnosed With Diabetes: http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/1/37.full

Professor Tony Dowell speaking about this research:



For further information, contact:



Professor Tony Dowell

Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice

University of Otago, Wellington

Email: tony.dowell@otago.ac.nz

www.otago.ac.nz/wellington
The holiday season is often a time to look back at the preceding year with thanks and gratitude. This year like no other, more than one friend has lamented that on the political and world stage, there is nothing to be grateful for in 2017. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Not one thing.

Admittedly, many days it does feel that way. But is this true? Nothing? We decided to take a look back at what has transpired over the last 11 months to find out.

For many of us, the results of the 2016 election settled in like a case of the flu -- a particularly nasty, virulent one. No vaccine or medication could slow this particular strain. The accompanying symptoms: loss of appetite, nausea, depression and anxiety were particularly distressing. We weren't feeling grateful for much.

As the virus seeped into our bones and psyches, we watched as a "new normal" took shape. This "new normal" included a president-elect who used ego-driven and often misspelled tweets to bully his enemy of the week. A president-elect for which we had proof from his own voice that he thought of women as subservients to be objectified and sexualized. A president-elect who made it clear by his actions that he would place his own wealth and delicate ego over the good of the country. This was someone who had such a loose grasp on the truth that little he said could be believed. We realized that feeling shame and embarrassment about our newly elected leader came with the territory. And it was only the beginning. The president-elect became the president on Jan. 20.

On Jan. 21, we were marching in Washington, in Lansing and right here in Midland. Women (and men) gathered in cities all over the United States and around the globe to protest Trump and his agenda. Women of Michigan Action Network (WOMAN) had by this time already formed. Bus loads from our group attended the Washington March along with with bus, train, and plane loads of women in pink from across the country. Those who couldn't travel to DC held Midland's "sister march" where over 400 of our neighbors joined the movement. Women wearing "pussy hats" had owned Donald Trump's derogatory word. And that day we owned the streets of Washington with a protest bigger and louder than the inaugural crowd. It was hopeful to see every street in DC and streets in our town and across the country jammed with people of like mind. It was satisfying to be carrying one of thousands of signs and exhilarating to be part of a growing chorus near the White House shouting, "Welcome to your first full day! We will never go away!"

And we have not gone away.

Since that day the embarrassment over our country's leadership has risen -- but so has the pride and enthusiasm palpable in that first march. The Muslim ban was swiftly met with racus opposition and then court blockage. Attempts over and over to remove vital health care from vulnerable Americans were met with an avalanche of protests and phone calls that couldn't be ignored. Our elected officials were forced to do the hard work of meeting with their disenfranchised constituents to actually hear (if not listen) to how their actions stood to impact their lives. White supremacist's planned demonstrations in Boston were shut down before they ever happened. The obvious corruption in the highest levels of government was swiftly put under investigation. People all over the country stood up like they never had before. So far, this has culminated in landslide victories for progressive ideals and candidates in the elections in Virginia this past November. The resistance has galvanized and only gotten stronger and more organized. We have made a difference and we aren't going anywhere.

And so, as we close in on the holidays and reflect on gratitude for the past year, it is clear many things have occurred in the 2017 political arena that we have opposed. But what has transpired through our opposition has been a satisfying and exhilarating journey. One that has motivated us and deepened our passion to continue to work together for the good of this country and its people. We have made new friends. We have discovered new talents. We have realized the strength in our voices and how voices work collectively in a democracy. Though it has not been easy, in looking back we can say there is much to be grateful for in 2017. And as a result, we can thank Mr. Trump for his contribution to our cause.
BLOOMINGTON  The scope of an ongoing legal saga involving Kahuna Business Group Inc. and its former chief financial officer has widened in a lawsuit filed by the firm against that ex-employee and two other former executives.

The Bloomington company has accused former CFO Scott Rathbun and Ryan Oltman and Carin Weiss-Krolikowski of violating the terms of agreements that barred them from any business activity that competes with Kahuna.

Rathbun, who now serves as senior budget manager for the city of Bloomington, served as chief financial officer for Kahuna from 2004 to April 2017.

Kahuna is seeking $900,000 in liquidated damages for Rathbun's alleged breach of contract that occurred after he solicited Oltman and Weiss-Krolikowski to create or join the competing firm of KORe Accounting Professionals, according to the lawsuit.

Rathbun owns 10 percent of Kahuna, which is involved in business development, sales and marketing related to the ATM and credit card industry.

Oltman, a senior finance associate when he left the firm in 2017 after six years, also is accused of using Kahuna's confidential business information to build the competing company, an alleged violation of his contractual obligations to Kahuna.

Kahuna is seeking $900,000 in liquidated damages from Oltman and $50,000 from Weiss-Krolikowski.

Similar claims of breach of contract against Weiss-Krolikowski are included in the lawsuit. She allegedly solicited clients for KORe while she was still employed as a senior finance associate for Kahuna, said the lawsuit. As part of her efforts to help the new company, Weiss-Krolikowski allegedly worked with a current Kahuna client to create a website for the competing business.

Rathbun declined to comment through his lawyer and Weiss-Krolikowski and Oltman could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit. LinkedIn lists Weiss-Krolikowski as a self-employed accountant and Oltman has not updated his information on the business professional networking website since leaving Kahuna.

No current information could be located for KORe Accounting Professionals.

The lawsuit filed Jan. 3 in McLean County is the latest in a stream of litigation involving Kahuna Business Group.

In a lawsuit filed in November, Rathbun seeks repayment of $248,000 he claims the company owes him and his son Franklin Rathbun. The money represents principle and interest payments for four loans Rathbun made to the company in 2013 and 2014, according to court filings.

In its response to the lawsuit, Kahuna denied it had defaulted on the loans.

In December, Kahuna President Frank Lunn said the firm was involved in "a little re-calibration" based on recent developments that included the closure of Acclaim Resource Partners, an insurance subrogation business owned by Kahuna, Lunn, Rathbun and four others.
BLOOMINGTON  Nestle is planning to sell its U.S. candy business to Italy's Ferrero and that sale would include the Nestle USA Bloomington facility.

Nestle announced on Tuesday its agreement to sell its U.S. candy business to Ferrero for about $2.8 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to close near the end of the first quarter of this year after the customary approvals, said Roz O'Hearn, director of corporate and brand affairs for Nestle USA.

Once approved, Nestle's U.S. confection business would become a part of Ferrero, she said.

"Until that time, we will continue to operate business as usual" and that includes the Bloomington facility, O'Hearn said.

Asked about the future of the Bloomington candy factory following the sale, O'Hearn said "It will become Ferrero's decision how they proceed."

The Bloomington candy factory at 2501 Beich Road has 369 employees  315 hourly and 54 salaried, O'Hearn said. Molded chocolate and pulled sugar confections are made there and include Butterfinger, Crunch, Skinny Cow and Laffy Taffy, O'Hearn said.

A call to the Nestle Bloomington facility was referred to O'Hearn.

The Nestle USA Bloomington facility traces its roots to the Beich candy factory which began operations in the 1800s on Bloomington's west side near the former train station.

The Beich Road facility was built in 1967 and it was acquired by Nestle in 1984.

Nestle, based in Switzerland, said last June that it was looking into strategic options that would include sale of its U.S. candy business.

Nestle CEO Mark Schneider said in a prepared statement released Tuesday, "With Ferrero, we have found an exceptional home for our U.S. confectionery business where it will thrive. At the same time, this move allows Nestle to invest and innovate across a range of categories where we see strong future growth and hold leadership positions, such as pet care, bottled water, coffee, frozen meals and infant nutrition.
SPRINGFIELD  Former Gov. Jim Thompson and best-selling crime author Scott Turow are among a dozen former prosecutors who have filed a brief with the Illinois Supreme Court supporting Alan Beaman's efforts to sue three former Normal police officers and the town over his wrongful conviction for murder.

In addition to Thompson and Turow, the list of high-profile lawyers includes those who served as a U.S. attorney for the northern district of Illinois, director of the Illinois State Police, Illinois attorney general, and prosecutors in the federal and Cook County court system.

The brief known as amici curiae, or "friends of the court," is typically filed by a group or person not directly connected to the case, but having a strong interest in the matter.

The 12 former prosecutors backing Beaman Here are the former prosecutors who are backing Alan Beaman's efforts to sue former Normal police officers:

The amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to grant Beaman's request for a trial on his claims that former Normal police detectives Tim Freesmeyer, Frank Zayas and Dave Warner conspired to wrongfully accuse him of the 1993 strangulation death of Jennifer Lockmiller.

Beaman served more than 12 years of a 50-year sentence before the Illinois Supreme Court reversed his murder conviction in 2008. Later, he received a certificate of innocence from the state and a pardon from former Gov. Pat Quinn.

In a rare move in December, the Supreme Court reversed its decision not to review a Fourth District Appellate ruling in Beaman's case. The appellate court ruled in favor of the former officers and the town in an opinion that defined the role police play in decisions by the state to prosecute a person for a crime.

The decision by the experienced prosecutors to submit the arguments on Beaman's behalf shows the case "presents important issues of accountability in our criminal justice system," said Steven Art, the lawyer who filed the brief on behalf of the former prosecutors.

Beaman, now married and raising a family in Rockford, said the lawyers' Supreme Court filing opens a public dialogue on the issue of accountability of police officers.

"It's encouraging to me we're finally starting to talk about this issue. We're trying to develop this into what has the potential to restore the public's faith in law enforcement," said Beaman.

Thomas DiCianni, lawyer for Normal and its former officers, said he had no comment on the recent filings.

In their argument in support of Beaman, the former prosecutors blame Beaman's conviction on "a corruption of the criminal process, in which police officers participating in his prosecution abandoned their role as unbiased investigators and pursued Beaman at all costs, suppressing important evidence about an alternative perpetrator."

Lawsuits alleging malicious prosecutions like the one filed by Beaman help to prevent injustice and ensure proper functioning of the criminal justice system, the prosecutors argue in their brief.

Normal police doggedly pursued Beaman despite their knowledge of a second viable suspect, a violent man romantically involved with the victim who also sold her drugs, according to the brief that includes support by Tyrone Fahner, who once served as Illinois Attorney General.

The second suspect's evasion of questions about his possible involvement in Lockmiller's death continued during Beaman's civil lawsuit in which he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, according to the amicus brief.

In a separate brief, Beaman's lawyers called his wrongful conviction "a stain on the history of Illinois."

Freesmeyer became fixated on Beaman as a suspect early on in the investigation to the exclusion of other possible perpetrators, according to the brief. The defense also argues that Freesmeyer's alleged manipulation of data related to the drive time between Beaman's home in Rockford and Lockmiller's apartment deprived the jury of important information.

The role of Warner in the alleged malicious prosecution comes from his failure to turn over a report on an inconclusive polygraph of a second potential suspect, Beaman's lawyers argue.

Statements by Zayas, Freesmeyer's supervisor at the time, point to reservations he held about the strength of the case against Beaman after it was forwarded to the state for prosecution.

"I think we needed to work on it some more," according to Zayas' quote made during his deposition in Beaman's federal case and included in the Supreme Court brief.

Beaman's Supreme Court review also has the support of The Innocence Network, a group of 64 organizations that provide free legal assistance to defendants with innocence claims.
NORMAL  Twin City residents seem to support a new building on the northeast side of Uptown Circle, but they have a few conditions.

In letters to the City Council and public comment Tuesday night, residents asked, among other things, that the town keep three historic buildings that could be torn down to make way for the five-story structure  a promise council members were not prepared to make.

"Change is hard, but we won't do anything that damages our community," responded council member Chemberly Cummings. "Be patient with us. Know that we've heard your comments, and we have you in mind. Stay with us on this journey."

The council approved a measure giving Davenport, Iowa-based Bush Construction exclusive rights to develop the site, which includes a parking lot in addition to 104, 106 and 108 E. Beaufort St. in Normal. The company has said it hopes to build a $29 million retail, office and residential building there.

Tuesday's pact stopped short of approving demolition of the properties that now house The Pod, Windy City Wieners and Slingshot CoWork, but residents asked council members to be proactive in protecting them. The town owns the parking lot, 104 and 108 but might need to buy 106 for the development.

"If we need a high-rise in uptown, there must be a way without demolishing historic buildings," said Christopher Myers of Bloomington to the council. "It is a landmark and staple of uptown and deserves to stay that way. ... Think about how much history and beauty you would be destroying."

"I know there is a win-win solution to continue development in uptown and save these historic buildings, and I'm excited to help find that solution," said Dawn Peters of Bloomington, who sits on the board of the Bloomington-based Old House Society.

Marc Tiritilli, a critic of town spending who opposed Mayor Chris Koos in last April's mayoral election, questioned how the project will be funded. He asked the town not to add debt or give land to Bush for free, and he challenged pursuing New Market Tax Credits, a federal incentive for low-income areas.

"I'm all for finding creative financing, but I don't think this fits ... the spirit of that incentive," he said. "Giving (that land) away is not stewarding our taxpayer resources."

Koos said those decisions have also not been made, though it's up to Bush whether to pursue New Market Tax Credits.

City Manager Mark Peterson noted that Bush officials attended Tuesday's meeting and heard the public's concerns. He said they could bring a detailed building plan to the council for approval in about 90 days.

"I'm confident whatever comes forward is going to be something that's sensitive to and understands what we want to do in uptown Normal," said council member Jeff Fritzen. "We should be proud of the fact that somebody sees value in developing here and investing here with us."
BLOOMINGTON  A second wind farm is slated for northern McLean County.

Weeks after Chicago alternative energy company Invenergy filed for a special-use permit for a wind farm in Chenoa, Gridley, Lawndale, Lexington and Money Creek townships, Houston-based EDP Renewables North America has filed an application for its own farm in Chenoa, Lawndale and Yates townships.

The project, called Bright Stalk Wind Farm, would generate about 200 megawatts from 58 turbines on almost 5,000 acres of land, according to the application. It could be operational as soon as next year but as late as 2022.

"The project is anticipated to generate approximately $2.5 million in tax revenue in its first full year of operation and approximately $42.7 million in its first 20 years," according to the application. "Up to 300 people may be hired for construction-related work, and an estimated 13 full-time positions will be needed to operate the wind farm."

The county's Zoning Board of Appeals will begin discussing the application at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

The project is smaller than Invenergy's McLean County Wind Energy Center, a 250-megawatt farm with about 100 turbines on about 13,000 acres slated to be operational by 2021. Each project is expected to generate enough power for at least 69,000 homes.

Invenergy's application has been the subject of four public hearings to date. A fifth is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in Room 400 at the Government Center, 115 E. Washington St., Bloomington.

Local residents continue to meet to discuss the project, including at a town hall meeting Sunday. Many have questioned Invenergy's assumptions, including the project's effect on property values, how much local schools and other taxing bodies would benefit, how far turbines are from homes, how noisy they'll be and how much the proposed project will affect local wildlife.

Local laborers have appeared at hearings as well, arguing in favor of the wind farms because they generate economic development, including short-term construction jobs.

EDP started securing northern McLean County land leases in 2008, and officials approved Bright Stalk Wind Farm in 2010  the last time the county approved a wind farm. Today, most of those leases have lapsed, and county approval for the project expired after three years.

Wind farms currently operating in the county include Twin Groves Wind Farm, a two-phase, 198-megawatt farm near Ellsworth, and White Oak Energy Center, a 150-megawatt farm near Carlock.
In our post-Weinstein world there is one big takeaway: where there's smoke, that is, one or two sexual misconduct allegations against a man of immense power, there is always a flaming hot mess of many, many more instances of abuse just waiting to be uncovered.

Bruce Weber, highly-respected fashion photographer, is proving to be the perfect example. Four more male models have come forward to the Business of Fashion with claims Weber sexually harassed them dating as far back as 1982. This is, of course, on top of the 15 other models who detailed Weber's coercive sexual behavior in a New York Times expose last week.

Related | Mario Testino and Bruce Weber Accused of Sexual Exploitation

According to the BoF, Weber asked two different models to undress and touched their genitals or around their genitals, a third also claiming Weber touched him inappropriately on set. Another model, D.L. Janney, alleged during a break in shooting in 1984, Weber asked him to get nude for pictures under the guise of showing the photos to Calvin Klein, Janney realized they were in fact for "Weber's own use." Weber also apparently asked Janney and his brother to "pretend to be boyfriends" and abused him verbally, Janney believes Weber blacklisted him as a result.

These recent allegations are in addition to those made by model Jason Boyce, who is suing Weber for inducing his anxiety and depression that led to his eventual departure from New York, after the photographer pressured him to remove his clothes and rub his own genitals before Weber put his fingers in his mouth and kissed him. Swedish model and frequent Weber collaborator, Rudi Dollmayer said models would say, "he's going to get Brucified," when they saw a peer heading into a private meeting with Weber.

Equally famous photographer, Mario Testino, was also accused of assault and harassment by over a dozen former and current models, prompting Vogue's Anna Wintour to release a statement claiming the magazine and holding company, Conde Nast, would no longer commission work from Testino or Weber.

What a time.

Image via Getty


Following in the footsteps of Tommy Hilfiger's successful collaboration with "it" model Gigi Hadid, Karl Lagerfeld, patron-saint-to-upcoming supermodels, has tapped Cindy Crawford's 16-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber to design a new line.

Gerber has walked for Chanel twice, even opening her first for the luxury brand, which is a huge achievement given her catwalk debut was last season. WWD reports the duo will be creating a collection of ready-to-wear apparel, jewelry, shoes and sunglasses, set to hit stores in September. The range will reportedly fuse Gerber's laid-back west coast style with Lagerfeld's penchant for "Parisian elegance."

"When Karl first told us his idea to collaborate with Kaia, we were all excited by the incredible potential and power of bringing their two worlds together," Pier Paolo Righi, chief executive officer of Karl Lagerfeld, said in a statement.

"We have been working intensely over the last months with Kaia in LA and at our studio in Paris. It was exciting to see her clear vision, passion and engagement, and the collection will definitely inspire many young women."

Also, prepare yourself for a series of launch events this fall in LA, New York and Paris.

Images via Getty


Back in 2016 the Chinese labor union known as 'China Labor Watch' along with the BBC organized a vicious attack on Apple in documentaries titled "Inside the Machine," and "Broken Promises." The documentaries covered a wide range of issues including child labor, horrific living conditions at plant dorms through to Apple working with mines that harvest harmful minerals for use in Apple iDevices.

The very same BBC reporter who was shown to despise Apple and the Apple Cult, was recently back at attacking Apple over the 'Paradise Papers.' You could see Richard Bilton trying to play up the mysterious Appleby office on the UK territory island of Jersey that reportedly hides Apple's tax money from governments in the third video on this page. Of course we never got to hear the actual conversation that took place inside Appleby's but Bilton's account of the conversation made Apple sound oh so evil. Without evidence, Bilton simply sounded like a verbal thug.



Today China Labor Watch is on the attack against Apple once again in a new report titled "Apple's Failed CSR Audit: A Report on Catcher Technology Polluting the Environment and Harming the Health of Workers."

The report begins by stating that "Catcher Technology (Suqian) Co Ltd. is a world leader in the light metal industry, specializing in notebook computers, digital cameras, and disc drives. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company has set up a number of mainland branches. Catcher manufactures products for Apple, IBM, Dell, HP, and Sony, amongst other well-known brand companies."

The report further notes that "CLW identified major issues at Catcher regarding occupational health and safety, pollution and work schedules. On the morning of May 25 2017, there was an incident of toxic gas poisoning at Catcher's A6 workshop, which resulted in the hospitalization of 90 workers, with five workers admitted to intensive care. Shortly after, the Administrative Committee of the Suzhou-Suqian Industrial Park, located in Suqian city, Jiangsu Province, conducted an investigation."

However it's a bit of a mystery as to why they reference this report because in the summary it appears to clear Catcher of any wrong doing. The Government's summary notes that "At present, the City Environmental Protection Bureau of Testing Center, emergency Center and the third party organization Jiangsu Innovation Safety Testing Co., Ltd. to the Science and technology A6 Workshop continuous monitoring, plant surrounding environment and operating site monitoring indicators are in line with national standards, no unusual situation. All employees who have not responded are discharged. We have carried out responsibility investigation on this accident, according to the investigation result, will treat the responsibility unit and the responsible person by law" (translation by Bing).

For those interested in learning more about CLW's report and long list of grievances, read the full CLW report here.

Bloomberg covering the CLW report was able to get a few quotes from Apple and Catcher. Bloomberg noted that "An Apple spokeswoman said the company has its own employees at Catcher facilities, but sent an additional team to audit the complex upon hearing of the CLW's impending report.

After interviewing 150 people, the Apple team found no evidence of violations of its standards, she added and noted that "We know our work is never done and we investigate each and every allegation that's made. We remain dedicated to doing all we can to protect the workers in our supply chain."

Catcher, which gets almost two-thirds of sales from Apple, said in a separate statement it too investigated but also found nothing to suggest it had breached its client's code of conduct. The Bloomberg report covers much more than what the CLW report does, playing up the poor conditions extensively. You could check out the report here.

At the end of the day, let's be honest. CLW is a union in a very tough country like China who has a past of supporting labor camps. So it's going to be tough to win over more concessions, higher wages and safer environments on a fast track. Just like when unions started in the States, it's going to be an ongoing battle as this country evolves more towards capitalism and away from communism.

It's going to be a long road for unions in China and there will always be a battle against large corporations and their customers like Apple. So hearing about new cases from China Labor Watch is simply going to be an ongoing battle and Apple will continue to be the main target because of the size of its wallet and the attention their brand gets from the media.

While it was made clear that Catcher makes devices for IBM, Dell, HP, and Sony, it's Apple who the media love to pounce on like a broken record. At least Apple sent a team to investigate the matter. There's been no word as to what Dell and HP have done regarding CLW's report thus far, but I'll take a gamble and say nothing. Now there's the real story.





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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...
Iran's Intelligence Ministry Forces Father of Slain Protester to Repeat Authorities' Version of Events on State TV

01/17/18

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Irans Intelligence Ministry coerced the father of a dead protester into claiming in front of a camera that his son was killed during an armed confrontation with security forces, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. The footage was then aired on state TV. What you saw in that video is a fathers forced confession against his son, a relative of Saro Ghahremani told CHRI.



Saro Ghahremani

Prior to being pressured by the ministry to keep quiet about her sons case, Saro Ghahremanis mother described signs of torture and beatings on her sons body to some of her relatives, added the source, who requested anonymity for fear of state retribution for speaking to the media.

When they delivered Saros body, the agents took his father [Mohammad Ghahremani] away and a few hours later that video was aired on IRIB, said the source.

Irans state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has repeatedly colluded with Irans judiciary and security forces by airing forced confessions to influence public opinion.

The body of 24-year-old Saro Ghahremani was delivered to his parents by agents of the Intelligence Ministry on January 13, 2018, 11 days after he was arrested at an anti-government demonstration in Sanandaj, the capital of Irans Kurdistan Province.

The Committee for the Defense of Detainees reported on January 13 via Twitter that no one besides Saro Ghahremanis parents were allowed to attend his burial.

When he was 18, Saro Ghahremani was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months for political and security reasons, added the committee.

In the video that aired on IRIB on January 13, Mohammad Ghahremani said his son was a member of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, an outlawed separatist militant organization, and died after a shootout with Irans security forces.

The source who spoke to CHRI denied the accusations and noted Saro Ghahremani had never been an armed member of the group.

The governor of Sanandaj said Saro had been imprisoned for carrying a gun but we all know that in the Islamic Republic of Iran if you are arrested with a weapon, the punishment is death or life in prison, said the source. But Saro was released after less than two years in prison. Why? Because he had been charged with being a Komala sympathizer, not an armed member. The governor is lying to cover up a crime.

Many Iranians took to social media to criticize IRIBs broadcast of Mohammad Ghahremanis forced statement.

I spoke to Saros father today. He and his family are under intense security pressures. They are not in a normal state. Out of respect for the heartbroken parents, do not retweet IRIBs shameful clip, tweeted Iranian journalist Fereshteh Ghazi on January 14.

Saro Ghahremanis case received more publicity after Iranian actress Bahare Rahnama shared a photo of herself standing beside him.

Expressing condolences to Saros family for his death in the recent confrontations, Rahnama said the calm and shy young man had worked for a time as a motorcycle courier for her restaurant in Tehran.

Hours later, Rahnama tweeted that she had been told by an official that Saro Ghahremani was a terrorist.

I was contacted by the governors office in Sanandaj and told that Mr. Ghahremani was killed because of his collaboration with a terrorist organization and that I should not incite riots and cause more young people to get hurt with my wrong information. I replied that the officials should present evidence to the public, she tweeted.

Kurdish political activist Ehsan Soltani reacted to the accusations against Saro Ghahremani by tweeting on January 14: They took the grieving father to the Intelligence Ministrys office in Sanandaj, put a camera in front of him and told him to read a statement saying that his son had been killed in an armed clash. But they have not said when or where it happened exactly. This is similar to the... shameless allegations made against Sane Jaleh.

After Jaleh was killed during an anti-government rally in Sanandaj in February 2011, the authorities publicized a fabricated story that he had been a staunch supporter of the Islamic Republic who had been killed by protesters. His family and friends vehemently denied the claim.

In an interview with the Iranian governments official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on January 14, the governor of Sanandaj, Mohammad Ebrahim Zarei, repeated the accusations against Saro Ghahremani and claimed no one had been hurt during any of the anti-government protests in the city.

He repeated the claim on January 15.

The individual mentioned on social media was attached to a terrorist group and was killed along with one of his comrades during an armed confrontation with our agents in the outskirts of Sanandaj, said Zarei.

After his death, Saro Ghahremanis mother opened an account on Instagram called Saro, Mothers Love and posted photos of her son with captions such as, Innocent Saro.

At least 25 people were killed after anti-government demonstrations broke out across Iran on December 28, 2017. The protests were harshly repressed by the authorities and more than 4,000 demonstrators were arrested.

At least two detainees died while in custody under mysterious circumstances.
Iran's missiles program is not covered by JCPOA: Shireen Hunter

01/17/18

By Javad Heirannia, Tehran Times

Shireen Tahmaasb Hunter, a professor of political science at Georgetown University, tells the Tehran Times that that It is generally understood that Iran's missiles program is not covered by the JCPOA. She adds But America, and key European countries such as the UK and France, believe that separate negotiations should begin regarding Iran's missile program aimed at answering the concerns of Iran's regional neighbors and other states.

Professor Hunter also says that Ultimately, the goal of all this maneuvering is to force Iran to abandon its opposition to American policies in the region.

Following is the text the interview:

Q: U.S. President Donald Trump approved the Iran nuclear deal only one more time before abandoning it if it is not changed. What are the changes that Trump emphasize on them?

A: In view of the fact that, since the coming to power of the Trump Administration, the United States has been stating that, without major changes, America will exit the JCPOA, it is quite likely that, unless some breakthrough occurs in Iran's relations with the U.S., which is unlikely, Trump will abandon the JCPOA. But, some factors, such as European lobbying, and congressional resistance to such action could force President Trump to change his mind, and again renew the suspension of sanctions against Iran.

Q: The White House wants a deal with EU signatories to make restrictions on Iran's uranium enrichment permanent. Under the current deal they are set to expire in 2025. Do you think EU will accept this condition? If so, Will Iran accept it?

A: A major criticism of Trump and other detractors of the JCPOA has been that it does not limit Iran's ability to resume its nuclear program beyond 2025. This close, they insist, defeats the purpose of the JCPOA that is to prevent Iran from acquiring the capacity to produce a nuclear device. Thus, Trump wants the restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities to remain indefinitely. This condition, of course would be difficult for Iran to accept, and has the potential to totally destroy the JCPOA.

Q: Mr Trump also wants Iran's ballistic missile programme to be addressed. Iran frequently has emphasized that ballistic missile is not related to JCPOA and will not negotiated about it. According to this, do you think that this condition meaning the end for JCPOA?

A: Part of the JCPOA's purpose was to limit Iran's potential capacity to threaten the security of its neighbors and other states, especially Israel. Now the United States is arguing that Iran's missile program is also a threat to regional state. Therefore, he argues it should be limited. It is generally understood that Iran's missiles program is not covered by the JCPOA. But America, and key European countries such as the UK and France, believe that separate negotiations should begin regarding Iran's missile program aimed at answering the concerns of Iran's regional neighbors and other states.

Ultimately, the goal of all this maneuvering is to force Iran to abandon its opposition to American policies in the region, and to behave in a more conciliatory manner towards regional states, including Israel.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union [GPRTU] has insisted that Uber vehicles must be sprayed with taxi colours per Ghanas traffic regulations.



According to the Union, per the current laws, Ubers vehicles are operating illegally in Ghana because they are breaching some requirements of the Road Traffic Regulation 2012, L.I 2180.



There were reports on social media over the weekend that the Ministry of Transport had directed Uber to ensure all its drivers brand their cars like taxis.



This, however, turned out to be false as the Ministry denied such reports.



The Transport Ministrys Public Relations Officer, Gloria Holm-Graves, told Citi News that the said meeting was not conclusive.



The meeting wasnt conclusive because it is an ongoing process. We are listening to some of the laws and all that. The commercial drivers were raising all those things; about what is required for one to operate as a taxi service in the country, all the regulations that are available that one is expected to fulfill, and all of that.



But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Vice Chairman of GPRTU, Robert Saba, who said they are not scared of the competition posed by Uber, insisted that they are only fighting for fairness.



According to him, per Ghanas traffic regulations, taxis must have some of their parts painted with yellow colours as well as have a section indicating the number of passengers the taxi could take, information about the owner of the taxi among other things, adding that because Uber taxis do not have such information; they are currently, what he termed, invisible.



He also insisted that because taxi drivers pay tax and other levies to the state, Uber drivers must do same.



We believe in competition, we do not fear competition. Weve been in existence several years for now so we do not fear competition but the right thing must be done.



What Im saying is that they [Uber], are operating like taxis but they do not pay the fees which taxis are paying. For instance, the wings of Uber vehicles must be painted yellow in accordance with section 130 of the L.I. You cannot use private vehicles for commercial purposes. That is also an offence. We pay fees to District Assemblies to emboss our vehicles, do they do that? They do not so all these expenses are not taken into consideration by them, so if they reduce their fares, that is good enough.



Police must arrest Uber vehicles



Further arguing why he believes Uber vehicles should be painted with taxi colours, the GPRTU Vice Chairman said that should be the case because Ubers operation is equal to that of a taxi.



He also insisted that drivers of Uber vehicles should be arrested by the Police because they are flouting the traffic regulations.



The police should be arresting them, but they are failing to do that. The district assemblies are also part, he added.



About Uber App



Uber Technologies Inc. is a global taxi technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, operating in over 630 cities worldwide and has a platform with an embedded GPS system which is also mobile friendly and connects passengers to taxi services at an affordable rate.



In Ghana, Uber is present in the national capital Accra, and the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.



Hundreds of drivers have jumped onto the platform to make a living either on full-time or part-time basis.



In recent times, there had been arguments about whether Uber was a transport company or a technology service provider.



We can create an App like Uber  GPRTU



According to the GPRTU Vice Chairman although they do not have such a platform or APP used by Uber, they could also create one to enhance their services.



We dont have that platform but we can create that platform. We can do that. But Im saying that their operations are not in accordance with road traffic regulations that are what we have to tackle for now.





Source: citifmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Prices of fuel have gone up at some pumps effective Tuesday, January 16, 2017.



This follows an earlier prediction by the Institute of Energy Security (IES) that prices will go up by between 3 and 5 percent.



According to the IES, the development can be attributed to the increase in crude oil prices, the performance of the cedi, among other key pointers.



The second pricing window period spans from Tuesday, January 16, 2018, till the end of the month.



Checks by Citi Business News show that a number of OMCs including Total have increased the prices of fuel at the various pumps for example with Total a liter of petrol is selling at 4 cedis 63 pesewas.



This is up from the previous 4 cedis, 49 pesewas recorded.



Goil, SO Energy and Shell are however yet to effect the price changes.



The Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, however, insists consumers will be overburdened by this development, thus the NPA must step in.



Something could be done to forestall the increases as we are seeing currently but nothing so far has been done. We went around the issues and the reality is dawning on us all. Some of the OMCs I know, clearly have made some significant losses. The cedi is not doing too badly but sadly Ghanaians are being asked to pay a lot more for petrol at this time he lamented.



He further called on the NPA to ensure stability in fuel prices.



We believe that the special petroleum tax component on the price build-up has gotten to a point where it has to go down completely or get re-positioned altogether in order to give some sense of stability or some reduction in fuel prices to Ghanaians, he added.



Meanwhile, Mr. Amoah warned that prices will keep escalating should government not step in soon.



These increases have been expected over the past one week and we are quite certain that if nothing is done there will be further increases even in the coming days because as we speak, world prices have hit above the 70 dollars and that clearly has its own consequences he explained.



This is the first time prices have gone up since the reduction in the price stabilization levy for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and diesel was announced by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in December last year (2017).



The price stabilization levy component for the two products has since been reduced from 10 to 3 pesewas.

Source: Citi Business









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The government has been asked to take urgent steps to re-negotiate the giveaway stability and development agreement signed with the gold mining companies to enable the nation obtain optimal benefits from its resources.



Mr. Richard Ellimah, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Impact Studies (Cesis), an NGO, said Ghana could not continue to be shortchanged.



The call comes amid growing public outcry against the decision by Goldfields Ghana Limited to retrench in excess of 2,000 workers.



Addressing a press conference in the gold mining town of Obuasi, he described as disappointing the bad faith showed by the mining companies after the government had rewarded them with generous incentive pcakages.



He cited the grant of more favorable royalty and tax rates  reduction of corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 32.5 per cent and royalty rate from a flat five per cent to a sliding scale of 3  5 per cent indexed to the price of gold.



Mr. Ellimah said the conduct of Goldfields was typical of multinational companies operating in the sub-region  paying scant or no regard to their own commitment and promises.



He drew a parallel between the proposed retrenchment of the mining workers and that carried out AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine, four years ago, and said there would be dire consequences for the local economy and individual livelihoods.



He saluted the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and its affiliate Ghana Mineworkers Union for the stiff resistance they were putting up and rallied every well-meaning Ghanaian and civil society to join the campaign to get the decision rescinded.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghana has few business magnates because local businesses have been demonised and politicised, Sir Sam Jonah, Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has said.



He said the perception that entrepreneurs were crooks and that the government of the day undermined those it considered politically unfriendly, was not healthy for entrepreneurship and job creation.



Ghanaian entrepreneurs are on tenterhooks and walk on egg shells at every election because depending on where you stand, your expectation is either patronage or retribution, he added.



Speaking at the opening of the 69th Annual New Year School and Conference, in Accra yesterday at the University of Ghana, Legon, he said this had stifled the growth of Ghanaian businesses as compared to that of Nigeria.



The theme for this years school and conference is, Job creation for accelerated national development: The role of the private sector.It is being organised by College of Education of the School of Continuing and Distance Education.



Topics to be discussed include, Creating an enabling environment for private sector development and Development and supporting innovative entrepreneurship.



Sir Jonah said the reversal of the unsatisfactory and unhealthy situation would require a complete mindset change at all levels of society and called for the conscious promotion of local businesses.



He said Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Nigeria had done better than Ghana because they had created the environment for their citizens to play a major role in economic activity.



We can and must learn from the empowerment experience of these countries. We must not repeat their mistakes. We must avoid creating seasonal local entrepreneurs through political patronage.



Tribal and ethnocentric considerations, family affiliation and friendships must not be the only route to gain business opportunities. Crony capitalism comes with too high a price, he said.



Sir Jonah said there was the need for government to institute measures to ratchet up local investor confidence while corruption must be eradicated as it also affected investor confidence.



He also called for the Local Content Bills to be fully operationalised to boost patronage of local content while efforts must also be made to tap into the Ghanaian diaspora in pool of talent and capital.



To create jobs we need investment and to attract private investors we need to ensure that the environment is and remains competitively attractive. Given the opportunity, the Ghana entrepreneur can deliver growth with jobs that will lead to sustainable development, he said.



On education, Sir Jonah expressed worry that there was a mismatch between industry demands and output from educational system.



He said over the last year enrollment into social science courses at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology was higher than the combined enrollment of engineering and science students.



He said it was worrying that the Ghanaian polytechnics had been turned into universities and now offering social science courses when the German economy relied on the countrys skilled artisans and other technical professionals from polytechnics during the global downturn.



We need to emphasise science and technology in our educational system. To enhance our competitiveness, we must produce more knowledge workers for agricultural, engineering, manufacturing, information technology and creative arts, Sir Jonah said.

Source: The Ghanaian Times









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
A stranded Irish girl and her father have disclosed how an official at the Kotoka International Airport "humiliated" and subjected them to "verbal discrimination".



Michaella Itaire, 23, and her father Michael Itaire were left stranded at the Kotoka International Airport on Saturday after a row over luggage size prevented them from boarding their flight back to Europe.



The pair, who had spent two weeks Christmas holidays in Ghana visiting family, were booked to fly to Brussels via Morocco with Royal Air Maroc on Saturday from the Kotoka International Airport.



However, she said when she arrived with her father at Kotoka international airport in the early hours of Saturday morning, they were told they had too much luggage and would not be able to travel.



My dad asked to speak to a supervisor and he was told five bags was a violation of their policy. How were we supposed to know that when they let us through in Brussels? He gave us the ultimatum of paying over 100 for the last bag or we couldnt get on the flight,she said, reported The Irish Times.



Travel refused



According to Michaella, her father eventually decided to leave one bag behind and made his way through security with his daughter. However, upon arrival at their gate they were told all their bags had been taken off the aircraft and that they would not be allowed travel.



It was the same woman at the gate who had insulted us before at check-in. I showed her my ticket but she turned her back on me and ignored us. She would not allow me to board and would not speak to me or reply when I asked why. I was so humiliated I wanted to cry.



I was subjected to verbal discrimination based on being an Irish foreigner. Even when people came to my defense for this ill treatment I felt terrible. I tried not to cry, especially in front of her.



Once the flight had taken off, the father and daughter made their way to the Royal Air Maroc office outside the airport building where they requested to be put on the next flight but say they were told the cost of a new flight was $400 (328).



Ms Itaire said she contacted the Irish consulate in Accra where an official took her details but informed her that there would be no staff available to help until Monday. She said they were unable to afford new flights back to Europe and had been left stranded in Ghana.



This day has been so stressful. It was so humiliating to watch the airline yell at my dad in front of people in the airport. I swear this experience has left a mark, I never would have been treated like this by an Irish airline.



According to the The Irish Times, it sought a comment from Royal Air Maroc but received no reply.

Source: ghanaguardian.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Rory Ritrievi, president and CEO of Mid Penn Bank

UPDATE: The acquisition was completed on July 31.

Mid Penn Bank is at it again.

After it completed an acquisition just last week in western Pennsylvania, the Millersburg bank has now announced a merger with a bank in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The Millersburg bank has announced it will acquire First Priority Financial Corp. headquartered in Chester County. The agreement calls for Mid Penn Bank to acquire First Priority in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $82 million.

The merger will expand Mid Penn's reach into Chester, Berks, Montgomery and Bucks counties. First Priority was founded in 2005 and has eight locations, according to its website. Subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and shareholder approvals, the merger is expected to close in the third quarter the year. Following completion of the merger, First Priority will be merged with and into Mid Penn Bank and will operate as "First Priority Bank, a division of Mid Penn Bank."

Four First Priority directors will join the boards of Mid Penn Bancorp Inc. and Mid Penn Bank.

Sandler O'Neill + Partners L.P. served as financial advisor and Pillar+Aught served as legal advisor to Mid Penn in the transaction. Griffin Financial Group LLC acted as financial advisor and Stevens & Lee P.C. acted as legal advisor to First Priority.

Mid Penn Bank has been busy over the last week or so. In addition to the announcement of a merger with First Priority, the bank completed a merger last week with The Scottdale Bank & Trust Company and on Friday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new branch in Halifax Township.

The bank's acquisition of Scottdale Bank & Trust Company last week expanded its reach into western Pennsylvania into Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

On Friday, the bank celebrated the opening of a newly constructed branch at 3663 Peters Mountain Road along Route 225 in Halifax Township.

The 149-year-old bank has 29 branches in Cumberland, Dauphin, Fayette, Lancaster, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Westmoreland counties. Back in 2015, Phoenix Bancorp subsidiary, Miners Bank merged into Mid Penn Bank. The bank has also expanded into Lancaster County in recent year. In August of 2014, the bank had 14 branches and has more than doubled the amount of branches in the last three and a half years.

--Business Buzz

New stores and more opening in central Pa.
A disturbing story of alleged domestic violence and sexual deviancy is coming out of northeastern Pennsylvania.

A 24-year-old man is accused of slapping and punching a woman, then forcing her to perform oral sex on him. But that's not all, the sex act was performed in front of three children, ages 2, 1 and 3 months, police in Luzerne County tell the Citizen Voice and the Times Leader.

The suspect, Deon Hosmond Blair, 24, of Henryville, Monroe County, Pa., faces two counts each of indecent assault and simple assault, and one count of harassment after being arrested Monday night by police in Nanticoke.

The officers were investigating a domestic dispute at a home after being alerted by a friend of the victim.

The friend, who is not identified in the reports, said she had employed a ruse to get into the apartment and reach her friend, who she said was being held against her will and had been physically and sexually assaulted, the Citizen Voice wrote.

Blair told police there was no problem and asked them to leave. All the while, Blair was following the woman through the apartment and began trying to speak with her, police told the Citizen Voice.

Instead, police arrested Blair after learning East Stroudsburg University police had an active warrant charging Blair with simple assault and harassment.

Then they interviewed the woman in private, learning the disturbing details of her alleged beating and forced sexual acts.

From the Citizens Voice:

The woman said Blair punched and slapped her, then forced her to perform oral sex in a bedroom in front of the children, ages 2, 1 and 3 months.

She was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital with swollen and bruised cheeks and a cut on the top of her head.

At last report, Blair was lodged at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, unable to post $20,000 bail.
A 55-year-old Wilmington, Delaware man convicted of running drugs from Philadelphia to Dauphin and Lycoming counties was ordered to spend more than 12 and a half years in federal prison.

Anthony Rowe distributed more than 10 kilograms of heroin, which is equal to about 400,000 retail bags of heroin between February and June 2016, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney David Freed. He was convicted in March 2017 after a three-day jury trial.

Freed's office is cracking down on heroin traffickers in the region, working with federal, state and local law enforcement.
Harrisburg police are asking for help to catch a man who robbed Belco Community Credit Union last week.

The man in his mid to late 20s entered the bank at around 11:45 a.m. Jan 11 on the 200 block of South Front Street and demanded money before fleeing onto South Front street.

Police said the man is about 6 feet tall with an average build. The suspect was wearing jeans, a grey hooded sweatshirt, and a reflective work vest.



Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Harrisburg police detectives at 717-255-3162 or Dauphin County Dispatches at 717-558-6900.
Home Capital Group Inc. CEO Gerald Soloway speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on May 18, 2011. A short seller is suing Home Capital Group and three former executives for $4 million alleging the alternative mortgage lender's false representations scandal cost him millions when he closed his position early. Marc Cohodes filed a statement of claim Monday with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice saying he took a substantial short position in Home Capital's shares in 2014 after determining the company was overvalued. Between March and June 2015, the claim says based on positive information provided in Home Capital's financial reporting, Cohodes repurchased 91,800 of those shares at more than $40 each, resulting in a purchase cost of more than $3.6 million. Cohodes alleges Home Capital, former CEO Gerald Soloway, and former CFOs Robert Blowes and Robert Morton knowingly misled investors in the company's annual and quarterly results by misrepresenting risk management controls. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
Maryam Monsef, Minister of Status of Women, makes a funding announcement in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday, September 8, 2017. The Liberal government is devoting $20 million to develop projects aimed at preventing gender-based violence in vulnerable communities that have a shortage of support for victims and their families. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Nelms
President Donald Trump waves after speaking at the Conversations with the Women of America at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2017, file photo, provided by the U.S. Navy, damage is visible as the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain steers towards Changi naval base in Singapore following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC. The Navy says it is filing negligent homicide charges against the commanders of two ships involved in fatal collisions last year. The charges are to be presented at what the military calls an Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether the accused are court martialed. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton/U.S. Navy photo via AP, File)
Oil prices slip Wednesday as analysts warn of correction after 13 percent gain in the past month

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

Oil prices gave away earlier gains on Wednesday as analysts warned of a downward correction after prices have gained more than 13 percent over the past month.

Despite the decline, overall oil markets remained well supported on the back of tightening supply and strong global demand. The tighter fundamentals lifted both crude futures benchmarks about 13 percent above levels in early December, helped by production curbs by OPEC and Russia, as well as by healthy demand growth.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.07 a barrel at 0441 GMT, down from a high of $69.37 earlier in the day and 18 cents below their last close.

Brent on Monday rose to $70.37 a barrel, its highest since December 2014, which was the beginning of a three-year oil price slump.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $63.68 a barrel, down 5 cents from their last settlement. WTI rose to $64.89 on Tuesday, also the highest since December 2014.

Norbert Ruecker, head of commodity research at Swiss bank Julius Baer, said a price correction should occur... (as) hedge fund expectations for further rising prices have reached excessive levels.

He said this was especially the case as political risk factors that have helped boost Brent, including tensions in Qatar, and the Kurdish region of Iraq and in Iran have so far not caused significant supply disruptions.

Money managers have raised the bullish positions in WTI and Brent crude futures and options to a record, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Intercontinental Exchange.

Wang Tao, Thomson Reuters commodity analyst, said Brent may fall to around $68.50 a barrel due to technical chart indicators.

Still, traders and analysts said overall oil markets were well supported, and steep price falls unlikely.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia have continued to withhold production since January last year and the cuts are set to last through 2018.

This restraint has coincided with healthy oil demand.

Oil remains underpinned by the solid economy with strong oil demand tightening global oil inventories. The past years' surplus supplies are slowly disappearing, Ruecker said.

One factor that in 2017 prevented crude prices from rising further was a surge in U.S. production.

Despite a recent drop due to extreme cold, U.S. crude output C-OUT-T-EIA is expected to soon break through 10 million barrels per day (bpd), challenging top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia.






Oil slick from sunk tanker little chance reaching Japan coast - Environment ministry

By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

Japan sees little chance of the oil spill from a stricken Iranian tanker that sank on Sunday in the East China Sea reaching its shores, an official at the nation's environment ministry said on Tuesday.

The large tanker Sanchi (IMO:9356608) sank in the worst oil ship disaster in decades and produced a large oil slick, Chinese media and Japanese authorities said on Monday, as worries grew over damage to the marine ecosystem.

The vessel's crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis are all believed to have perished in the incident.

Oil spills in general can have a big environmental impact if they reach the coast, but we think that there is little chance of that happening on Japanese seashores for now, the official who helps oversee the marine environment for the ministry told Reuters by telephone. He declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

The tanker had been adrift and ablaze after crashing into the freighter CF Crystal (IMO:9497050) on Jan. 6. Strong winds pushed it away from the Chinese coast, where the incident happened, and into Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The ship, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes or almost a million barrels of condensate - an ultra-light, highly flammable crude oil - sank after several explosions weakened the hull.

From the area where the tanker sank, a sea current is heading to the north, limiting the chances of the oil slick reaching Japanese coasts, the ministry official said.

According to the Japan Coast Guard, the slick has narrowed and elongated. It is now meandering across an area about 27 km (16.8 miles) long and 15 km (9.3 miles) wide, with a width of between 300 metres and 800 metres, it said in a statement.

On Monday, the Coast Guard had said the oil had spread over an area about 13 km (8.1 miles) long and 11 km (6.8 miles) wide.

A Coast Guard spokesman said patrol boats were cruising through the area to help diffuse the slick, adding that the spill area had shrunk from the previous day, referring to the overall narrowing of the area covered by the slick.

Another spokesman at the Coast Guard said earlier on Tuesday that it was carefully monitoring the oil slick in case weather conditions changed the spill's direction.

Experts worry the sinking of the tanker Sanchi will likely expel the remaining condensate and the tanker's bunker fuel, or the heavy fuel oil that powers a ship's engines, contaminating the surrounding waters.

Bunker fuel is the dirtiest kind of oil, extremely toxic when spilled, though less explosive than condensate.

The Coast Guard has not identified the kind of oil in the slick, but it assumes the spill mostly contains condensate as some of the slick is diffusing and disappearing.

South Korea is north of the site where the tanker sank, but a coast guard official from the country played down the chances of the slick reaching the peninsula, noting it was about 600 km (373 miles) from Jeju Island, the nation's southernmost island.






Beside Florida, other states opposing coastal drilling on tourism





By Valerie Volcovici, Richard Valdmanis

WASHINGTON/BOSTON

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

The Trump administration's decision last week to exempt Florida from its national offshore drilling plan was based in part on the state's argument that a spill would cripple its crucial tourism industry.

But several other states opposed to oil and gas drilling off their coasts are similarly dependent on tourism, according to a Reuters review of economic data - a fact that could make it hard for the administration to reject similar requests, and complicate its efforts to expand drilling.

The Interior Department this month proposed opening up virtually all U.S. coastline to drillers as part of Republican President Donald Trump's plan to boost domestic energy production, leading the governors of every state along the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards - except Maine and Alaska - to object.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said last Tuesday, however, that he was removing Florida from consideration after meeting with its Republican governor, Rick Scott.

That surprised officials in other states and prompted Democratic lawmakers to accuse Zinke of favoritism - a charge he has denied. It also disappointed the oil industry, which had been eager to drill in the region.

For Florida, we have to remember we are a tourism state. One out of every six jobs in our state is tied to tourism. So, I oppose offshore drilling, Scott told Fox News in an interview after the announcement.

CLEARLY UNIQUE'

In announcing his decision, Zinke said that Florida is clearly unique and mentioned its recreation-centered coast.

Indeed, tourism is massive in Florida. Visitors to the state spent $111.7 billion there in 2016, according to the state's tourism marketing corporation, Visit Florida, accounting for about 12 percent of the state's gross domestic product.

But tourism makes up about 11 percent of the economy of neighboring Georgia, 10 percent of the economies of South Carolina and Maine and nearly 7 percent of the economy of New Jersey. tmsnrt.rs/2DuPuu3

South Carolina's Republican governor, Henry McMaster, has said he is seeking an exemption from the drilling plan, while Georgia's Republican governor, Nathan Deal, said he was concerned about drilling in coastal Georgia.

A spokeswoman for Maine's Republican governor, Paul LePage, said LePage generally supported Trump's efforts to expand domestic drilling but was still reviewing the offshore drilling proposal.

In New Jersey, Governor-elect Phil Murphy, a Democrat who takes office this week, has said he will fight drilling off the coast and called Interior's plan a ticking time bomb. Outgoing Republican Governor Chris Christie, a Trump ally, is also steadfastly opposed, his spokesman, Brian Murray, said.

Most other states along the Atlantic coast, like Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and New York, have tourist industries that contribute between 4 and 6 percent of their GDP.

On the West Coast, California's tourism industry also contributes about 5 percent to the economy - but the full dollar figure exceeds Florida's at $126 billion, according to state tourism figures.

Zinke has said he will meet with every governor who has concerns about his offshore drilling proposal in a process that could take a year.






U.S. oil industry is soon to break output record





By Liz Hampton

HOUSTON

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

Surging shale production is poised to push U.S. oil output to more than 10 million barrels per day - toppling a record set in 1970 and crossing a threshold few could have imagined even a decade ago.

And this new record, expected within days, likely won't last long. The U.S. government forecasts that the nation's production will climb to 11 million barrels a day by late 2019, a level that would rival Russia, the world's top producer.

The economic and political impacts of soaring U.S. output are breathtaking, cutting the nation's oil imports by a fifth over a decade, providing high-paying jobs in rural communities and lowering consumer prices for domestic gasoline by 37 percent from a 2008 peak.

Fears of dire energy shortages that gripped the country in the 1970s have been replaced by a presidential policy of global energy dominance.

It has had incredibly positive impacts for the U.S. economy, for the workforce and even our reduced carbon footprint as shale natural gas has displaced coal at power plants, said John England, head of consultancy Deloitte's U.S. energy and resources practice.

U.S. energy exports now compete with Middle East oil for buyers in Asia. Daily trading volumes of U.S. oil futures contracts have more doubled in the past decade, averaging more than 1.2 billion barrels per day in 2017, according to exchange operator CME Group.

The U.S. oil price benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, is now watched closely worldwide by foreign customers of U.S. gasoline, diesel and crude.

The question of whether the shale sector can continue at this pace remains an open debate. The rapid growth has stirred concerns that the industry is already peaking and that production forecasts are too optimistic.

The costs of labor and contracted services have recently risen sharply in the most active oilfields; drillable land prices have soared; and some shale financiers are calling on producers to focus on improving short-term returns rather than expanding drilling.

But U.S. producers have already far outpaced expectations and overcome serious challenges, including the recent effort by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to sink shale firms by flooding global markets with oil.

The cartel of oil-producing nations backed down in November 2016 and enacted production cuts amid pressure from their own members over low prices - which had plunged to below $27 earlier that year from more than $100 a barrel in 2014.

Shale producers won the price war through aggressive cost-cutting and rapid advances in drilling technology. Oil now trades above $64 a barrel, enough for many U.S. producers to finance both expanded drilling and dividends for shareholders.

BOOMING OIL EXPORTS

Efficiencies spurred by the battle with OPEC - including faster drilling, better well designs and more fracking - helped U.S. firms produce enough oil to successfully lobby for the repeal of a ban on oil exports. In late 2015, Congress overturned the prohibition it had imposed following OPEC's 1973 embargo.

The United States now exports up to 1.7 million barrels per day of crude, and this year will have the capacity to export 3.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. Terminals conceived for importing liquefied natural gas have now been overhauled to allow exports.

That export demand, along with surging production in remote locations such as West Texas and North Dakota, has led to a boom in U.S. pipeline construction. Firms including Kinder Morgan and Enterprise Products Partners added 26,000 miles of liquids pipelines in the five years between 2012 and 2016, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Several more multi-billion-dollar pipeline projects are on the drawing board.

U.S. drillers say they can supply plenty more.

We continue to see and drive improvements in drilling speed and efficiency, said Mathias Schlecht, a technology vice president at Baker Hughes, General Electric Co's oilfield services business.

New wells can be drilled in as little as a week, he said. A few years ago, it could take up to a month.

TECHNOLOGY OPENS UP NEW FIELDS

The next phase of shale output growth depends on techniques to squeeze more oil from each well. Companies are now putting sensors on drill bits to more precisely access oil deposits, using artificial intelligence and remote operators to get the most out of equipment and trained engineers.

As expanded investments push more producers to add wells in less productive regions, technology will help make those plays more profitable, said Kate Richard, chief executive of Warwick Energy Group, which owns interests in more than 5,000 U.S. wells.

In an interview, she estimated about a third of the money from private equity investments in shale will be used to wring more oil from overlooked regions.

Higher prices - up about $10 a barrel in the last two months - also may encourage the industry to work through a backlog of some 7,300 drilled-but-uncompleted shale wells that have built up because of crew and equipment shortages.

The higher prices have suppliers that provide hydraulic fracturing services, such as Keane Group and Liberty Oilfield Services, buying expensive new equipment in anticipation of more work.

U.S. fracking service revenues are expected to grow by 20 percent this year, approaching a record of $29 billion set in 2014, according to oilfield research firm Spears & Associates.

OIL MAJORS JOIN SHALE FRAY

The shale revolution initially upended the traditional industry hierarchy, making billionaires out of wildcatters such as Harold Hamm, who founded Continental Resources, and the late Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy.

Top U.S. oil firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron a decade ago turned much of their focus to foreign fields, leaving smaller firms to develop U.S. shale. Now they're back, buying shale companies, land and shifting more investments back home from overseas.

Exxon last year agreed to pay up to $6.6 billion for land in the Permian basin, the epicenter of U.S. shale. Chevron this year plans to spend $4.3 billion on shale development.

The majors' shift is driving up costs for labor and drillable land in the region, another boost to wages and wealth in rural areas.

In the shale industry hub of Midland, Texas, unemployment has fallen to a mere 2.6 percent, said Willie Taylor, executive director of the Permian Basin Workforce Development Board, a group that helps firms find staff.

Companies are now offering signing bonuses to attract workers to West Texas. One oil company flies workers to Midland from Houston weekly to fill a local labor void, he said.

It was an employer's market, he said. Now it's more of a job seeker's market.






Brazil could lift tariff on U.S. ethanol





By Jake Spring and Mateus Maia

BRASILIA

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

Brazil is studying the removal of a 20-percent tariff on ethanol imports from the United States, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Wednesday, in a decision that could depend on Washington lifting a ban on fresh beef exports from Brazil.

Last year, Brazil imposed a 20-percent tax on ethanol imported from the U.S. that exceeds a 600 million liter annual quota to protect local producers as imports spiked.

Also in 2017, the U.S. banned shipments of fresh beef from Brazil following on a food safety scandal involving bribes paid to inspectors that led to heightened inspections by the U.S. and in turn uncovered potential health risks.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Maggi implied that a decision on removing the ethanol import tariff could depend on resolving the dispute on beef exports.

There is on the part of the United States a big demand to withdraw this (ethanol tariff) and we also have this problem with beef, Maggi said. Obviously one thing influences and contaminates the other.

The ban on fresh beef exports could be lifted by April, Maggi said, when he is expected to step down in order to meet a deadline to run for elected office in October.

Brazil has already submitted all of the material requested by the United States to address concerns over beef exports and is awaiting for the United States to decide whether the issue is resolved, he said.






Vitol signs with OPEC's member Algeria first deal to refine oil abroad



Adam Berry/Bloomberg



Algeria to start shipments in February to refinery in Italy.We don't want to continue to import $2 billion of fuel': CEO

By Salah Slimani and Salma El Wardany

CAIRO

Petroleumworld 01 17 2018

Algeria's state-run energy producer Sonatrach signed an agreement with oil-trading Vitol Group to ship crude to Italy to be processed and sent back as refined products, in the first deal of its kind to trim the country's $2 billion annual bill for imported fuel.

Sonatrach selected Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, from among five companies that participated in a tender to ship its crude outside the country and have it sent back as refined fuel, Chief Executive Officer Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour told reporters on Tuesday during a trip to Algiers from a natural gas field south of the capital. Officials signed the agreement on Monday, he said. A Vitol media official in London declined to comment.

Algeria will start by shipping a 1 million-barrel cargo through Vitol to a refinery in Italy in February, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because the information hasn't been made public. The amount of future shipments will vary according to Algeria's needs, the person said.

We don't want to continue to import $2 billion of fuel per year, Ould Kaddour told reporters. Separately, the North African country is also looking to buy a stake in a refinery overseas, he said, without giving more details.

Algeria depends heavily on oil and gas sales and is seeking to strengthen an economy squeezed by falling crude revenue. The OPEC nation's oil production dropped to 1.03 million barrels a day by the end of last year from 1.27 million barrels a day in January 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Algeria is the ninth-biggest producer among the 14-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Algeria's gas exports were unchanged last year at 55 billion cubic meters, Ould Kaddour said. The country will focus on boosting gas output as OPEC countries pursue a strategy, along with other global suppliers, to limit crude production to counter a global glut, he said in September.
In general, men are twice as likely to cheat on a spouse than women are. That frequency increases over the lifespan, peaking among the elderly. Among men 18 to 29 who have ever been married, about 1 in 10 is
Contract workers like Uber drivers will get a tax cut under the new tax law. Read more

The new tax law delivers a massive tax cut for corporations. Republicans sold the plan in part with the argument  heavily disputed by critics  that lower business taxes would trickle down through higher wages and be a boon to the middle class.

But the law offers a more direct benefit to one seemingly growing segment of the workforce: independent contract workers.

Information technology consultants stand to benefit, as do freelance Hollywood visual effects artists. Many so-called gig workers who accept individual jobs through an app  such as Uber or Lyft drivers, or TaskRabbit freelance laborers  will also see tax rates fall.

"Every Uber driver, as far as I can see, gets a benefit," said Edward Kleinbard, a University of Southern California professor and former chief of staff to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation.

Whether it's beneficial in the long run to be an independent contractor rather than an employee will still be hotly debated. The tax changes do nothing to address other criticism of so-called contingent work, such as its low pay, uncertain scheduling, and lack of health care, retirement, or other benefits.

But the new law lets "independent" workers deduct 20 percent of their income before paying the new, lower individual tax rates signed into law by President Trump.

That's the same deduction received by other pass-through businesses, which, unlike corporations, pay taxes through the individual code. That category accounts for the majority of American businesses, including most independent contractors.

A single Uber driver with a net income of $40,000 a year who takes the 20 percent income deduction and the standard personal deduction would save $960 in federal income taxes compared with an employee with the same income, according to DeDe Jones, a certified public accountant and managing director of Innovative Financial in Colorado.

The exact number of independent contractors who stand to benefit is unknown and the law places restrictions on who can take the full deduction. For example, there are limits for taxpayers making more than $157,500 if they file individually or $315,000 as a couple.

But many contractors, especially gig workers, make less than that. And experts say some of the limits  such as what types of businesses will face stricter caps  are susceptible to evasion.

Americans, in surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, report lower rates of self-employment than in previous decades. But other data show a rise in independent contracting.

Lawrence Katz of Harvard University said many contractors report themselves as employees in the BLS survey. A study he conducted with Alan Krueger of Princeton University found that 8.4 percent of workers in 2015 were independent contractors, up from 6.9 percent in 2005.

IRS data also back up the conclusion, showing a rising share of people who are independent contractors and have no W-2 income, Katz said.

Workers who get gigs through an online intermediary such as Uber were only 0.5 percent of the workforce in 2015, the study said. But the number is growing.

TurboTax maker Intuit predicts that the gig economy will almost double to 7.7 million workers in 2020, up from 3.9 million today.

TurboTax is updating its software for the new tax law, so independent contractors will know whether they qualify for the new deduction after answering a few questions.

Because much of the debate over the tax law focused on its breaks for the wealthy and lost deductions for mortgage interest and state taxes, many contractors may not even realize they're in line for a cut.

Cecily Jamelia of Studio City, Calif., was excited when told she could take advantage. The 41-year-old said that before business deductions, she took in around $40,000 through several freelance gigs last year, including driving for Uber and video blogging under the title Drive Girl Drive, where she gives advice to female drivers.

The new tax benefit would help, she said, because Los Angeles has been saturated with people driving for Uber and Lyft.

"It's not as easy to make money as it was before," she said.

Whether it makes sense to become an independent contractor is far from certain.

Some experts have blamed the rise in such work arrangements for worsening income inequality by cutting out traditional employment benefits such as health insurance and workers' compensation.

Employers like the arrangement because they can save on those costs and more easily rid themselves of an independent contractor than they can an employee when business falls off.

"Just because there is an added incentive doesn't really mean people will act on that incentive," said Shu-Yi Oei, a tax professor at Boston College Law School, who has researched the gig economy.

Furthermore, not everyone can simply switch their status to become an independent contractor. The IRS and other government agencies have rules on what makes someone an employee.

Many companies have been fined for misclassifying workers as independent contractors. Authorities have alleged that such businesses try to have it both ways: skimping on labor costs while retaining significant control over worker schedules.

"You still have to be in a profession where, with a straight face, you can say, 'I am an independent contractor,'" Oei said.

For those in that situation, the cost-benefit analysis is simple.

"If you are already an independent contractor, it's pure good," Kleinbard said of the tax change. "What's not to like?"
Philadelphia Water Department workers pump the water out of the hole where an 8 inch water main pipe burst early this month flooding at least 4 homes on Minden Road in the Northeast. Read more

The Philadelphia Water Department said Wednesday that its call center has been overwhelmed by customers reporting water-main breaks and asked for patience in what it calls an extraordinary year. The department noted it was also now taking requests via social media to better cope with long wait times.

"We have crews working at an almost 24/7 pace right now, and we are attempting to address each issue brought to our attention as quickly as we can," the department said in a statement.

The department says it started seeing a big spike in customer service calls around Christmas and the pace hasn't let up as temperatures have repeatedly dipped. In all of January 2017, it handled 117 water-main breaks. Wednesday, a bit more than halfway through the month, it has had 176 reports.

The department says it is still investigating 170 reports of leaks and is trying to assign them all to workers for inspection.

On top of all that, the department has had reports on quadruple the number of flooded vacant properties, from 34 to 146, compared with last winter.

The department also acknowledged the long wait time  over two hours on average  that customers face when they call.

"To alleviate this wait time, PWD will  for the first time, and temporarily  begin taking customer service requests via our social media accounts."

It is asking customers to follow the department on Facebook and Twitter. Representatives will monitor the accounts between 9 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week, until further notice.

The department is also warning that it could take 24 hours after a complaint is made to get an inspector to a site, and then days to make repairs to a city-owned water main, turn off water to a vacant property or other lines serving customers.

It is a homeowner's responsibility to fix broken service lines from the street to the home and on the property. You can find tips to protect or unfreeze a pipe on the department's website, phila.gov/water.
Sisters Bernice Klostermann and George Ann Biscan, both Roman Catholic nuns, in front of an arbor, that some call a prayer chapel, erected in a clearing on the orders Lancaster County farm in an attempt to protest the planned Atlantic Sunrise pipeline that would run through the field. Read more

An order of environmentally conscious Roman Catholic nuns will argue in federal appeals court in Philadelphia this week that a pipeline recently buried under their Lancaster cornfield violates their religious freedom, and they want a trial to settle the issue.

Attorneys for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ are set to appear before the three-judge panel to argue that the pipeline, approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and built by Williams Partners, "represents a gross violation of their deeply held religious convictions."

The nuns are appealing an Eastern District Court dismissal of the case in September. That court said that it was not the proper venue to try the Religious Freedom Restoration Act case and that the nuns should have raised their concerns during the pipeline's approval process or tackled their issues through FERC.

The nuns appealed, claiming the court does have jurisdiction and that's where they should be making their religious freedom claims.

"I think when you have private companies using the power of eminent domain to take land from a group of nuns who committed their lives to doing the Lord's work and use that land consistent with their faith, it strikes a nerve with people," J. Dwight Yoder, the nuns' attorney, said about public reaction to their crusade.

At issue is a small portion of the 185-mile Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline being built by Transcontinental Pipeline Co. from the Marcellus Shale to the southern part of Pennsylvania and then into Maryland.

The pipeline's parent company, Williams Partners, used condemnation proceedings to acquire an easement through a parcel the sisters own in West Hempfield Township. The company could do so because the pipeline was approved by the federal commission as serving a public use.

The nuns fought that eminent domain proceeding in the spring of 2017 and erected an arbor, suggestive of a chapel, at the site, virtually daring the company to tear it down. But they lost a legal challenge.

However, the nuns also filed a separate religious freedom civil suit last summer, saying the pipeline violates their deeply held beliefs.

Meanwhile, Williams began burying a 42-inch-diameter pipe under the farm and covered it with vegetation. Williams has permanent rights to a 50-foot-wide path on just over one acre of the property.

Christopher Stockton, a spokesman for Williams, said the nuns have full use of the land and can farm on it. He also said the pipeline provides "a huge benefit to all people."

"While we respect the Adorers' right to express their opinion, we disagree with the position they have taken with regard to this important infrastructure project," Stockton said.

Cheryl Wittenauer, a spokeswoman for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, said the order signed a pact in 2005 to protect the land, long before any mention of a pipeline. The order's religious beliefs include a "deep and longstanding commitment to safeguard the sanctity of the Earth," Wittenauer said.

She said in an email that a tenet of their order is to "seek to reduce reliance on climate-destroying fossil fuels, and strongly oppose environmentally destructive practices such as hydraulic fracturing. As such, the forced installation of a fossil fuel project on their own land represents a gross violation of their deeply held religious convictions."

Legal experts have said the nuns would have a tough time proving a religious freedom case. Native American tribes attempted a similar legal action to block the Dakota Access pipeline and failed.

But Yoder, the nuns' attorney, says the tribes objected to the use of government land. In this case, the argument revolves around the taking of private land.

Yoder said the Religious Freedom Restoration Act gives the nuns the right to take a case directly to court, and not through FERC's administrative process.

"That was the whole point when Congress adopted the act and gave people the right to file a claim in court when their religious beliefs are violated," Yoder said.
At 41, Elizabeth Holt confronted her fading fertility and decided to freeze her eggs Read more

Five years after the freezing of human eggs stopped being considered experimental, the practice has gone mainstream in the United States.

Sort of.

Six percent of all companies with 500 or more employees now cover egg freezing as a health benefit, according to the human resources consulting firm Mercer. Egg freezing data have been added to the national report on fertility clinic success rates. Marketer EggBanxx has held cocktail parties to try to persuade well-heeled professional women to "mix, mingle, and preserve your fertility."

Still, oocyte cryopreservation is just beginning to catch on with such women.

Through 2015, about 20,000 U.S. women have put eggs on ice, about 2,000 of them have tried to use their stash, and about 450 have given birth, according to the most recent data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. And that includes an unknown number of women who froze eggs for medical reasons such as undergoing fertility-reducing cancer treatment.

In theory, stockpiling eggs to defy a biological clock should be booming, given the trends of delayed marriage and childbearing. Over the last decade, birth rates have fallen for twentysomethings, but are climbing for women in their 30s and 40s, federal data show.

In reality, though, preserving eggs to put off motherhood, or "social freezing," is an onerous, unpredictable, expensive process that requires considerable soul-baring. Even those who opt for it often feel more rueful than relieved.

Consider Elizabeth Holt, a 41-year-old technology professional in San Jose, Calif., who decided to freeze after confronting two facts: She's single. And she's "on my very last legs of fertility."

In an interview, she said she felt fortunate that her employer, technology giant Cisco, covered her $35,000 tab to build a precious cache of 15 frozen eggs last year. But that didn't spare her from friends' "well-meaning but totally not helpful comments" about her predicament.

"About how there's always adoption, about how you don't really need a father for a baby these days, or about how, don't worry, Janet Jackson had a baby at 50!" Holt wrote recently in a funny but fraught Facebook post. "As far as I can tell, the only acceptable thing to say to a woman who might tell you she's freezing her eggs is something along the lines of, 'Man, that's probably tough.' "

False hope

For women paying out of pocket, the cost is downright chilling. One cycle of extracting and freezing eggs runs at least $10,000. (Holt needed two cycles to get enough eggs.) Annual storage is about $1,000. Add the costs of thawing, high-tech fertilization, and implanting embryos, and conceiving a baby can easily cost $50,000.

But the most intractable obstacle is biology. By age 35, a woman has only about 3 percent of the eggs she was born with, and after that, the supply and genetic quality go downhill fast. Obstetricians call 35 and up "advanced maternal age" and a pregnancy in that age bracket "geriatric." If it's the woman's first pregnancy, she's an "elderly primigravida."

Indeed, the day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, a leading national fertility clinic chain pounced with this story pitch: "Can Meghan Markle Get Pregnant?" She's 36.

The bottom line: The older the woman is when she freezes her eggs, the lower her chances of winding up with a baby.

Yet freezing youthful eggs is also a gamble.

"Most women in their early 20s go on to have healthy pregnancies naturally. They may store incredibly high-quality eggs, but never use them," explains FertilityIQ, a website that evaluates fertility clinics, treatments, and research.

Considering all this, professional medical groups have been torn about social freezing. European fertility specialists have given thumbs up, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) have not.

In 2012, when the ASRM declared egg freezing was no longer experimental because pregnancy rates were comparable to using fresh eggs, it said the technology should be reserved for women with medical needs.

"Data on the safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and emotional risks are insufficient to recommend" social freezing, ASRM asserted. "Marketing this technology for deferring childbearing may give women false hope."

No wonder big employers who began offering social freezing as a perk faced criticism.

"These high-tech companies aim to keep their talented young employees at the office doing their job, not at home caring for babies," wrote Canadian bioethicist Francoise Baylis. "Facebook and Apple want a productive, not a reproductive, workforce."

As the ranks of healthy frozen-egg babies have grown worldwide, such naysaying has faded. Most studies show that the fertility-extending strategy is cost-effective  meaning there's a good chance of actually using the eggs, and a good chance they'll result in pregnancy  for women who freeze at age 37 or 38.

Gloria Bachmann, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said she believes it's high time that experts agree on how to advise women about social freezing. In a recent article in the Journal of Women's Health, she pointed out that counseling guidelines are well-established for cancer patients freezing their eggs, for older women using donated fresh eggs, and even for transgender people going from female to male.

Bachmann is particularly concerned that women freezing eggs may be unaware that the risks of pregnancy and childbirth increase with age.

If a woman uses her eggs at 45, "she may have hypertension, diabetes, issues with overall health because of her weight," Bachmann said. "She may not be the same individual she was when she froze the eggs."

The ASRM's new president, University of Pennsylvania infertility specialist Christos Coutifaris, favors updating the group's guidance to endorse social freezing, and agrees that doctors should explain the risks of childbearing in old age.

"But what is 'old'?" he added. "Is old 55? Or is it 40? I'm not that sure."

A double standard

As with other reproductive technologies, egg freezing is forcing doctors, patients  and society  to ponder how old is too old to make a baby.

Back in 1996, when a 63-year-old woman gave birth using a young donor's fresh eggs, a medical journal editorial called it "ethically wrong and socially repugnant." But women who are just a few years into natural infertility, also known as menopause, present murkier issues. The ASRM's official opinion on fresh egg and embryo donation says it "should generally be discouraged over the age of 55," and clinics can ethically refuse to treat women with health problems that would endanger them or their offspring.

Still, that doesn't address the ethics and legality of turning away a postmenopausal woman from using her own long-frozen eggs.

And it doesn't address an inherent unfairness.

"There is a double standard," said Thomas Jefferson University psychologist Andrea M. Braverman, who counsels infertile couples. "Why aren't we jumping up and down about men who say, 'I'm ready at 48 or 49 to be a dad?' "

Holt, for one, doesn't intend to push the reproductive envelope very far. For her, having a baby is not so much a driving desire as a nice idea she is not ready to write off  not while friends work on "Operation Find Elizabeth a Wonderful, Eligible and Local Boyfriend Who May or May Not Want to Have Kids."

"I figure if this is going to happen," she said by phone, "it's going to happen in the next few years."
The buyer of an 84-mile pipeline encircling Philadelphia has disclosed detailed plans to convert the pipeline from oil to natural gas, saying the project would require several new compressor and valve stations to move fuel to its Marcus Hook destination.

Adelphia Gateway LLC, which announced in November it is buying the underused pipeline for $189 million from Talen Energy Corp., filed its 1,285-page application Friday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Adelphia, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced the filing late Monday.

"This important project will utilize existing infrastructure to provide greater access to clean, safe, affordable natural gas to underserved markets in the Greater Philadelphia region," Stephen Westhoven, chief operating officer of New Jersey Resources, said in a statement.

The company asked FERC to approve the project by Aug. 1 so that it can complete the purchase of the pipeline, which is now known as Interstate Energy Co. LLC.

The underground pipeline now delivers either oil or natural gas to two Talen power plants in Northampton County, but would be converted to exclusively transport gas. Adelphia Gateway plans to convert the southern 50-mile portion of the pipeline, which formerly carried oil and has been idle since 2014, to transport gas southward to customers in Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties.

The pipeline is the latest piece in a massive regional build-out of energy infrastructure to accommodate new demand for natural gas, triggered by the boom in fracked gas from the region's shale fields. The pipelines have aroused fierce resistance from neighbors and environmentalists, who oppose the expansion of fossil-fuel consumption.

The Adelphia conversion project would require construction of two new 5,625-horsepower compressor stations, near Quakertown and in Marcus Hook. Adelphia also wants to build a new valve station at one of two proposed locations in Concord Township, Delaware County: Off Baltimore Pike, west of Stoney Bank Road, or next to Springlawn Road, near Purple Martin Drive.

The plans include several meter and regulator facilities, typically where the pipeline connects with customers or meets other pipelines, and eight new "blowdown" assemblies located at existing valve stations. A blowdown is the release of gas from a pipeline to the atmosphere to relieve pressure so the pipe can undergo maintenance.

Adelphia also proposes to build two new 16-inch-diameter lateral pipes to connect the planned Marcus Hook compressor station to the gas distribution systems of Peco Energy Co. and Delmarva Power.

The company said the conversion would create "minimal environmental impacts" and the need to acquire few new easements. Nevertheless, the project has already drawn flack from environmental groups.

Adelphia in November conducted an "open season" to solicit bids from potential new customers who would use the pipeline, and said it received more than twice as many bids as the pipeline's 250,000-cubic foot capacity. The robust interest prompted the Sierra Club of New Jersey to warn that Adelphia wants to double the pipeline's capacity, though the company's filing does not include any expansion plans.

The company did not disclose its primary customers, but the interconnections with Peco and Delmarva Power suggest that local utilities and their customers could tap into the new capacity. Other potential customers include the Energy Transfer Partners' Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, the Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer, and the Braskem polypropylene plant in Marcus Hook, which could use the gas for power generation or as a raw material in petrochemical production.

"The project will also increase the reliability and flexibility of the natural gas pipeline grid in the area by adding new capacity to the market and increasing the number of interconnections along the grid," the company said in the filing.

The 18-inch diameter pipeline connects with the Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline at an existing interchange near Rich Hill Road in Richland Township, Bucks County, where a new compressor station is proposed. The pipeline also intersects with two other interstate pipelines.

The pipeline was built in the 1970s to deliver oil from Sunoco's former Marcus Hook refinery to power plants owned by Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. It was partly converted to natural gas in 1996 as oil began to fall from favor as a fuel source for electricity generation.

Adelphia will continue to supply natural gas on the northern 34-mile section of the pipe to Talen Energy's Martins Creek and Lower Mount Bethel generating stations.

Adelphia's parent company, New Jersey Resources, which is based in Wall, N.J., also owns New Jersey Natural Gas.

In addition to FERC approval, the project will require review by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which regulates the current pipeline.
Aetna has agreed to a $17.2 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over a mailing that exposed the HIV status of thousands of its customers. Read more

Aetna Inc. agreed to pay $17.2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a July mailing that breached the HIV privacy of thousands of the health insurer's customers, attorneys for the plaintiffs said Wednesday.

The breach is believed to be the world's largest involving HIV privacy, the attorneys said.

The bulk of the class members  11,875 Aetna customers who received a benefits notice in an envelope with a large plastic window that could have exposed their HIV status to mail carriers, roommates, neighbors, and family members  will receive an automatic payment of $500.

They may also submit claims for up to $10,000 in financial distress and $10,000 in other harm, according to the settlement filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where it awaits approval.

An additional 1,610 individuals whose protected health information was allegedly improperly disclosed by Aetna to its legal counsel and mail vendor but did not receive the faulty benefits notice will receive an automatic payment of $75.

Ronda B. Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, said in a news release that stigma associated with HIV remains pervasive. "The fear of losing control of HIV-related information and the resulting risk of discrimination are barriers to health," she said. "This settlement reinforces the importance of keeping such information private."

In addition to the AIDS Law Project, the Legal Action Center in New York and the Philadelphia law firm Berger & Montague PC were involved in the litigation.

The Aetna mailing last summer was in response to the settlement of two lawsuits in 2014 and 2015 alleging that Aetna had jeopardized the privacy rights of customers by requiring them to obtain HIV medication solely through the mail, instead of in person at a retail pharmacy. That settlement required Aetna to notify customers that they could fill prescriptions for HIV medications through mail order or retail pharmacy. The company it hired to handle the mailing used an envelope with an address window that was so big that it exposed part of the letter containing the letters HIV.

"Through our outreach efforts, immediate relief program and this settlement we have worked to address the potential impact to members following this unfortunate incident," Aetna said in a statement. "In addition, we are implementing measures designed to ensure something like this does not happen again as part of our commitment to best practices in protecting sensitive health information."

After about $6 million in aggregate base payments of $500 and $75, as much as $4.3 million in attorneys' fees and costs, $100,000 in aggregate split among 37 named plaintiffs, and up to $180,000 for the cost of administering the settlement, about $6.5 million will remain for individuals who file claims for financial and other harm.

Separately, the AIDS Law Project and the Legal Action Center have submitted 13 requests for relocation expenses ranging from $2,500 to $18,000, and two requests for counseling, all of which Aetna has approved under an agreement announced in late September.
Michael Wolff (left) speaks onstage at the Free Library on Jan. 16, 2018, with Dick Polman (right), "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, and national political columnist at WHYY News, in the wake of the release of his book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Read more

Onstage at the Central Library of Free Library of Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Michael Wolff betrayed no modesty about the runaway success of his tell-all on the inner workings of the Trump administration: "It's beyond a book," he said. "It's become a political event in itself."

Indeed, Wolff's Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, now in its 11th printing since its release Jan. 5, has seized the political conversation like few accounts of the Trump presidency have  in a year in which readers have grown used to relentless news cycles and near-constant push notifications teasing explosive reporting from inside the White House. President Trump has spent the last several weeks decrying Wolff, tweeting indignantly about his own mental stability and threatening its publisher with lawsuits.

Wolff, for his part, is deeply unconcerned about it all.

"These endless attacks on me? OK. Let's sell some more books," he said Tuesday night, to laughter.

Wolff's appearance at the Free Library was the first stop on his book tour and drew hundreds, with the crowd filling the downstairs auditorium and rows of seats in two overflow rooms. For a few days it was nearly impossible to find a copy of Wolff's book locally; many in the audience said they were looking forward to being able to read it.

In a dishy, hour-long chat, moderated by WHYY's Dick Polman, Wolff said he'd gained access to the White House by something akin to osmosis, posting up on a couch in the West Wing reception area and chatting with anyone who walked by. "There was no grand moment when they said, 'Yes, oh, God, let's do this,' " he said. "I was let in without anyone weighing the meaning or consequence of what I was going to do."

He'd tell staffers he was writing a book, scheduled to come out next year: "For some of these guys, that was a lifetime away. I mean, they worked for Donald Trump. Surely, the world would end before that."

Wolff's portrait of the Trump White House is one of chaos, with staffers struggling for traction, loyalties constantly shifting, all presided over by a man whose associates, Wolff said, regard Trump as "appallingly stupid." He called Steve Bannon, the former editor of the far-right site Breitbart News and Trump's former chief strategist, "a remarkable source" who became disillusioned with the president and his family during his brief sojourn in the White House.

(After the publication of the first excerpts of Fire and Fury, Bannon was canned from Breitbart, lost nearly all favor among Trump supporters, and earned a dreaded Trumpian nickname: "Sloppy Steve.")

Tuesday night, Wolff dismissed questions about some inaccuracies in the book and criticisms that have dogged him for years about his reporting style and occasionally vague sourcing. He said daily White House reporters generally are talented professionals.

"But if you sit in the briefing room, you learn nothing," he said. "I was not like a reporter. People ask 'Didn't you press them [Trump staffers]? Didn't you ask about what they were doing? Didn't you, didn't you, didn't you?' "

He did not, he said: "I didn't say anything. I was just the guy listening, occasionally nodding my head as if in agreement, and over time, they poured their hearts out."

The crowd punctuated the chat with laughter and applause throughout the night, clapping when Polman mentioned Bannon had been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller that morning, sometimes finishing Wolff's sentences: "The man [Trump] is just " he began, then paused.

"A liar!" a chorus answered from the audience. At times, the atmosphere in the room felt like a group therapy session for the politically overwhelmed.

Attendees said they enjoyed the talk, and had been drawn by the political storm around the book and its promise of insider information: "Just the fact that someone had inside information on the White House, that someone knew more than what was being conveyed" to the public, said Elmeda Volken of New Jersey, in line to get her book signed.

Alan Cohn of Philadelphia said he'd seen Wolff on TV, was curious about the stir the book had caused, and came to get a copy of his own.

"For them to attack it so much," he said, "it's probably true."
Zion Dirgantara grew up in Philadelphia. He is a reservist cargo specialist in the U.S. Army, a restaurant chef, and a DACA recipient. Read more

On my first day of school in the United States, I put on my school uniform and my new backpack, and walked to St. Thomas Aquinas in Philadelphia with my mom to meet my eighth-grade teacher. That was Sept. 11, 2001. The school day didn't last long.

Shortly after I arrived, everyone was dismissed. I spent the rest of the day in front of the television watching replays of the planes slamming into the World Trade Center and the ash-covered survivors. When I heard President Bush say, "You're either with us or against us," I knew where I stood.

I was 12 years old and I had just come to the United States from Indonesia with my mom, a single parent, and my younger brother. My world was cartoons and video games where the good guys fight the bad guys  but this evil was real. I was grateful to America for the opportunity it offered us, and I felt so scared, so powerless, and so sad about the devastation in my new home. I hoped that one day I would be able to join the military to protect the United States.

Today, thanks to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)  a program that allows undocumented young people who came to the country as children to receive a temporary work permit and permission to stay  I'm a reservist cargo specialist in the U.S. Army, and I also work as a restaurant chef.

But President Trump's termination of the DACA program could destroy the life I've struggled so hard to build. If Congress doesn't act now to find a solution for Dreamers, I will lose my right to work and serve my country, and I could even be deported. And I'm one of more than a thousand people with DACA in the same position, who are already serving in the military or who have signed contracts and are awaiting basic training.

This week is particularly important  we hope Congress will include provisions for Dreamers in the spending bill. Our Pennsylvania members of Congress can use their power to protect us.

It has been a hard road to realize my childhood dream of serving my country. In my junior year at South Philadelphia High School, military recruiters came to a job fair and set up tables in our school library. I went straight over and said I wanted to join. But I couldn't enlist without a Social Security number.

After graduating from high school, I worked restaurant jobs and quickly learned that even if you grow up here, life without documents in the United States is a partial life. You pay taxes and follow the rules, but you may not be able to drive, go to college, or work in a profession. It's as if you're in a house, you're paying rent, but you can't use the hot water to shower or cook with the oven.

Then, in 2012, the DACA program was created. Suddenly, everything changed. I could get a driver's license, apply for college, and work. In 2014, the military opened the door to people with DACA, and several years later, I enlisted. I have been living my dream.

But since September, when President Trump ended DACA, I worry about my future every day.

Back when I enlisted, a recruiter told me to memorize "A Soldier's Creed," a set of guiding statements for soldiers. I keep a copy of the creed in my wallet and another taped to the wall beside my bed, so it's the last thing I look at before I go to sleep.

The Soldier's Creed says: "I will always place the mission first."

My personal mission is to serve this country in the military. That comes before all else.

"I will never quit."

I will never stop trying to earn my place in the Army  or defending my rights as a Dreamer who grew up in this country and is prepared to give everything to it.

"I will never leave a fallen comrade."

These days, I think about this one a lot. I hope and believe our leaders are committed to it too. I believe and hope the American leadership will not abandon people like me. I still believe our leaders will step up and create a way for people with DACA to keep contributing to the United States.

I would like to tell our Pennsylvania members of Congress: We were not born in this country, but we grew up here and we're fighting to earn our place. Please give us our chance to serve the only country we consider home. Please find a way to allow us to work and stay right here where we belong.

Zion Dirgantara grew up in Philadelphia. He is a reservist cargo specialist in the U.S. Army, a restaurant chef, and a DACA recipient.
State Sen. Scott Wagner (R.,York), is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Read more

If you want to spark a political fight in Pennsylvania, mention guns.

If you want to ignite agreement about a crisis we all recognize, mention opioids.

But please, let's not mix together the issues we fight about with the issues we agree upon. That's a recipe for inaction, a problem all too common in Harrisburg and one we simply cannot afford as an opioid crisis sweeps across the state.

Last Wednesday, State Sen. Scott Wagner offered a few backhanded compliments for Gov. Wolf's decision that day to declare a statewide disaster emergency to deal with the opioid crisis.

Wagner, a York County Republican seeking his party's nomination to challenge Wolf's bid for a second term in November, said he welcomed the governor's "decision to finally get serious" about the problem.

A day later, Wagner was back with a warning, claiming Wolf's declaration "has infringed on the rights of any Pennsylvanians who could generally carry a firearm in public without a license."

Wagner's theory: A statewide disaster emergency declaration triggers laws prohibiting the open carrying of firearms on public streets or property during that declaration.

Aside from the misplaced priorities this view represents that borders on the heartless  if not clueless  there's one big problem with that theory: The state issues emergency declarations every year  for hurricanes, windstorms, blizzards, floods and more  and Wagner can offer no examples of people being prosecuted for possessing firearms during those events

By Friday, Wagner was on a local talk-radio show, explaining how he was a co-sponsor of "pretty critical" legislation that would rewrite state laws to prevent emergency declarations from impinging on gun rights.

That legislation is so critical that it was introduced on Jan. 12, 2017  one year and four days ago  and then immediately sent to a committee overseeing emergency preparedness. There it has sat  no hearings, no votes, no action at all  in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Wolf's team notes that firearms can't be confiscated during a disaster and the existing laws have no impact on people with concealed carry permits, hunters with a license or someone acting in self-defense with a firearm. The law's punishment amounts to a citation, and Wolf's administration said it worked in advance with law enforcement to make sure the opioid declaration didn't impact gun rights.

"Any implication otherwise to score cheap political points around the greatest public health crisis in our lifetimes is flat-out wrong," said Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott.

Still, the issue lingers. State. Rep. Sheryl Delozier, a Cumberland County Republican, on Friday circulated a memo to her colleagues, asking them to co-sponsor legislation to protect gun rights during Wolf's declaration.

Delozier also had no examples to offer of people being prosecuted for possessing firearms during an emergency declaration.

It's our view that guns are a public health crisis, one that Harrisburg has virtually ignored. Inserting this issue into the public health crisis of opioids that is killing Pennsylvanians across the state is petty and wrong-headed. Stop looking for ways to trip up the state with a manufactured crisis when we are dealing with a true emergency in opioids.
When it comes to the Committee to Protect Journalists Press Oppressor Awards and the prize for Tightest Grip on the Media, Trump isnt in the same league as the winner, Chinese President Xi Jinping, or the runner up, Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Although some have noted that Trump has called the media the enemy of the people, a phrase used by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to describe his enemies.) Read more

It's too easy to dismiss President Trump's constant harping about "fake news" as the bluster of a serial liar.

What could be more absurd than those words from a man who made more than 2,000 false or misleading claims in the first 355 days of his presidency? No wonder the late-night comics have had a field day competing to win a "Fakey"  the term they've attached to his promised "fake news" awards.

But Trump's relentless attacks on news outlets not only threaten a free press at home but have had a negative impact worldwide. "These efforts are being closely watched by [repressive] foreign leaders who are using his words as cover," writes Sen. John McCain, "as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy." When a U.S. leader delegitimizes the free press, he gives cover to despots to do likewise.

So rather than focus on the Fakeys, check out the Committee to Protect Journalists' Press Oppressors awards issued in response to Trump's maligning of the media. The U.S. president received the Overall Achievement medal for Undermining Global Press Freedom. He should be (but won't be) ashamed of being lumped in with his fellow awardees.

2017 was an exceptionally dangerous year to be a journalist, with 262 documented cases of journalists being jailed for their work. More governments are trying to limit freedom of expression, while some countries viewed as semi- or fully democratic are sliding backward.

The Biggest Backslider in Press Freedom award goes to Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar, where any journalists reporting on the Rohingya tragedy are arrested or jailed. Runner-up is President Andrzej Duda of Poland, whose increasingly authoritarian government is muzzling critical media.

Note: Last summer, while delivering a speech on Western values in Warsaw, Trump pledged to team up with Duda to fight "fake news."

Indeed, the American president's harping on "fake news" has given legitimacy for repressive regimes to use the term to attack their own journalists. CPJ has documented 21 cases in 2017 in which journalists were jailed on "fake news" charges.

Trump's embrace of the term also enables foreign leaders to repudiate investigative reports by international journalists. When the International Olympic Committee decided to punish Russia for an extensive state-run doping program conducted at the 2014 Sochi Olympics  a scandal first revealed by the New York Times  Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately denounced the allegations as "fake news". Enabled by Trump, Putin also labels accusations of espionage against America as "fake news."

So the president has certainly earned the Runner-Up prize in the category of Most Thin-Skinned Leader. The winner is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, where authorities jail journalists and bloggers for insulting Erdogan or other Turkish leaders. Trump, for his part, has threatened to "open up" U.S. libel laws (a tool used by Erdogan to bankrupt news organizations). Moreover, Trump's denunciation of individual journalists on Twitter and in speeches could incite rabid supporters to attack.

Of course, when it comes to the award for Tightest Grip on the Media, Trump isn't in the same league as the winner, Chinese President Xi Jinping, or the runner-up, Russia's Putin (although some have noted that Trump has called the media "the enemy of the people," a phrase used by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies).

When it comes to jailing journalists, China was second only to Turkey (73 behind bars). Beijing censors the press and controls the internet. Under Putin, independent media have all but been eradicated, journalists are harassed and jailed, and many have been murdered. Then there's Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who uses antiterror laws to jail any critic who calls for human rights.

And yet, it is the Overall Achievement award for undermining Global Press Freedom that illuminates the cost of Trump's fake campaign against "fake news."

While previous U.S. presidents have criticized the press, they recognized its essential role in a democracy, at home and abroad.

As CPJ notes: "The United States, with its First Amendment protection for a free press, has long stood as a beacon for independent media around the world. Trump by contrast has consistently undermined domestic news outlets and declined to publicly raise freedom of the press with repressive leaders."

That abdication of America's role as defender of democratic principles has worldwide repercussions: It's probably no accident that the number of journalists in prison globally is at a record high.

So when Trump calls the media "the enemy of the people," Americans should remember that this phrase was used by Stalin to describe his enemies. Trump is not Stalin, and American remains a country of checks and balances, but the president is linking himself with leaders who love to persecute their media critics.

Along with Xi, Putin, Erdogan, Sisi, and Duda, he richly deserves the award bestowed on him by the CPJ.
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane, facing county prison time, has appealed her perjury conviction to the state Superior Court. Read more

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's fight to reverse her perjury conviction reached Superior Court on Wednesday, another milestone in a long march that so far has kept Kane from serving a county jail sentence.

Her appeals lawyer, Joshua D. Lock, appeared before a three-judge panel to ask it to undo Kane's August 2016 conviction for illegally leaking grand jury information to embarrass a political foe and then lying to investigators about it. Lock focused on one argument  that the special prosecutor who investigated Kane had been granted too much power.

Kane, 51, a Scranton-area resident, did not attend Wednesday's court session in Philadelphia. Facing 10 to 23 months in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, Kane remains free while she pursues her appeal in the state courts.

Kane was the first woman and first Democrat elected the state's top prosecutor. The path to her conviction was a convoluted one that began when the Inquirer disclosed in 2014 that Kane had secretly ended a bribery investigation involving state legislators from Philadelphia.

To retaliate against a former state prosecutor whom she blamed for the story, Kane leaked secret grand jury information that she thought would embarrass him.

It backfired. The judge who presided over the grand jury appointed a special prosecutor, Thomas Carluccio, to investigate the leak. After subpoenaing 30 witnesses, Carluccio pinned it on Kane and accused her of lying about her actions. Building on Carluccio's inquiry, prosecutors in Montgomery County, where the grand jury had been based, brought the criminal case against Kane.

Kane challenged the legality of Carluccio's appointment before her trial in an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The high court rebuffed her, 4-1.

Lock argued Wednesday that another issue remained unresolved: whether Carluccio had been improperly granted the ability to use subpoenas to force witnesses to testify. Lock asked the panel to toss out Kane's conviction on the ground that Carluccio's use of subpoenas fatally tainted his investigation.

Prosecutors argued that stripping special prosecutors of subpoena power would neuter them. In court Wednesday, Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Robert M. Falin argued a different point: that county prosecutors on their own had turned up the key evidence against Kane apart from Carluccio's investigation. Among other breakthroughs, he said, was the discovery of incriminatory text messages between Kane and a political consultant involved in the grand jury leak.

The Superior Court panel was made up of two Democrats, Anne E. Lazarus and Carolyn H. Nichols, and a Republican, Paula F. Ott. It made no ruling and is under no time constraint to rule.

If the panel were to rule against her, Kane could appeal to the state Supreme Court, which would not be required to take up the case.
Alex Capasso, former chef at a series of high-profile Philadelphia restaurants, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison for his guilty plea to a child-pornography-related charge. The sentence was issued following a hearing marked by disturbing descriptions of what Capasso did and wanted to do to children.

Without the plea deal, Capasso, described by one victim's mother as a "monster," could have faced life in prison had he been convicted at trial.

"This is one of the most depraved things I have ever seen in 34 years as a federal judge," U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle said before sentencing Capasso at the federal courthouse in Camden.

Simandle also ordered Capasso to remain under supervision for life, register as a sex offender, and participate in counseling in prison and upon release. He also restricted contact with minors and ordered Capasso to submit to regular polygraph testing when free.

Capasso, 44, of Collingswood, gained recognition as a chef at restaurants including Blackbird Dining Establishment and Crow and the Pitcher, which changed its name to Baril before closing this month.

He was arrested in July 2015 after he was caught sending a federal undercover agent explicit photos of a girl he identified as the 5-year-old relative of his former girlfriend. The Inquirer and Daily News are not identifying the ex-girlfriend because of her relationship to the child. He is also accused of abusing a boy about the same age who is also related to the ex-girlfriend.

In pleading guilty in June to a charge of conspiring to engage in sexual exploitation of children, Capasso acknowledged distributing five such images. Charges of production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography were dismissed in exchange for the plea.

In court on Wednesday, parents of the girl who was abused by Capasso said his actions tore the family apart. Their daughter, they said, still recalls what happened with Capasso.

"He's shown no remorse for the evil crimes he committed," the girl's mother said. "Alex Capasso is a monster who should never have access outside prison walls."

Capasso appeared in court in a green prison jumpsuit, his hair in a buzz cut, with a mustache and bushy beard. Seated beside his attorney, Teri Lodge, he showed little emotion during the hearing.

"I just would like to say how incredibly sorry I am for what I've done  I promise you that it will never ever happen again," Capasso said.

Simandle expressed concerns. Why did he abuse the children? the judge asked. Capasso said he did not know.

The judge then said that if Capasso has not figured it out after more than two years, he was worried Capasso would commit the same crimes if given the opportunity.

Capasso swore he never abused other children. The judge was quick to point out that Capasso, in a 1997 interaction with a minor, had been convicted of lewd behavior. And after the breakup with his girlfriend in 2014, he pursued interaction with a Camden County mother who agreed to send a pornographic picture of her daughter. Investigators found messages in which Capasso described what he wanted to do to the child. The mother was charged in that case.

On Wednesday, Capasso said he never hurt his own children. "I want my children to know that I love them more than anything in the world," he said.

Capasso's stepfather, Richard Williams, asked for leniency. "If he was released today, he would never do this again," Williams said. Capasso, he said, is a good father and misses his family. "Please, your honor, I beg you."

Simandle was not convinced. Before this last child was born, Simandle said, Capasso told the undercover agent in graphic detail that he was looking forward to abusing the infant. "How can that be consistent with love?" the judge asked.

"I did nothing to my children," Capasso insisted. "I just never could commit incest. I just couldn't do it."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Carrig asked for the maximum 20-year term, calling Capasso a sexual predator and pedophile whose crimes were "atrocious."

"He doesn't care who he hurts. He only cares about himself and his own gratification," Carrig said. "This is the kind of man who should be behind bars as long as possible."

Update: Capasso's former girlfriend, 32, also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge and was sentenced on Friday, Jan. 19, to 12 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Matthew Maffei, of Aston, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and photographing a 7-year-old girl. Read more

A 43-year-old Delaware County man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia to 90 years in prison for making child pornography of a 7-year-old girl he had sexually assaulted, prosecutors said.

Matthew Maffei, of Aston, had previously pleaded guilty to making and possessing child pornography of the daughter of a childhood friend.

Maffei assaulted the girl while her parents slept in the next bedroom of their Middletown home and on one occasion forced her 5-year-old brother to watch, prosecutors said. He threatened to kill them if they told their parents.

U.S. District Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg called his crimes "unspeakable" and asked the children's parents to assure them that "this defendant will never in his lifetime be released from custody," prosecutors said.
Five months since a woman reported being raped at gunpoint at a popular Montgomery County park, authorities have put a face to the man they say committed the violent daytime attack.

But what they released isn't a regular composite. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele described it as "old-fashioned police sketch meeting modern technology."

The illustration, revealed at a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Norristown, was created with the help of DNA the assailant left at the scene of the crime in Norristown Farm Park. It was assembled through a relatively new process called Snapshot DNA phenotyping, which uses the ancestry of a genetic sample to predict a person's physical appearance.

The technology  which cost the prosecutors' office between $3,000 and $4,000  has been used in almost 150 cases nationwide over the last three years, said Dr. Ellen Greytak, of the Reston, Va.-based Parabon NanoLabs, which used phenotyping in this case.

Of the cases that have gone public with their use of phenotyping, 20 percent have been solved, Greytak said. That includes at least two closed rape cases. Greytak said Parabon had not been used in any other cases in the Philadelphia area.

The service has garnered its share of critics. Some scientists have doubted the accuracy of phenotyping, while others said it could contribute to racial profiling, according to a 2015 New York Times report. In 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union cautioned against the use of phenotyping, especially in cases involving a person of color.

But for Montgomery County authorities, Steele said, it was their best option. He said police officers had been working to solve the case for months  interviewing hundreds of people, searching for nearby surveillance cameras, using dogs to track a scent, all to no avail.

"This is an approximation. This is an effort we are making to try and get a lead," Steele said. "This won't end the investigation."

The DNA left behind showed the suspect was of "African admixed" ancestry  with 52 percent European and 45 percent African descent, Steele said. This is rare, he added, and could indicate the attacker had a recent European ancestor.

The assault occurred between 10:30 and 10:50 a.m. on Aug. 1 at the scenic park in Montgomery County, Steele said. While walking along Stony Creek Road, between Upper Farm Road and Lower Farm Road, the 19-year-old woman was grabbed from behind by a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, Steele said. He raped her at gunpoint, holding a black, semiautomatic weapon to her head with his right hand, Steele said.

"Random stranger attack involving a weapon, that's not the norm," said Kristen Houser, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

Generally, about 60 percent to 80 percent of adult sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, Houser said.

The Aug. 1 assault was the first reported gunpoint sexual assault in Montgomery County in perhaps a decade, authorities said.

In the days afterward, the report put park regulars on high alert. Many flock to the picturesque trails there in warmer months to walk, jog, and bike. Meanwhile, investigators got to work, offering a $10,000 reward in hopes that a tip would help close the case.

Nothing substantive ever came. The reward is still out there, Steele said.

"This is a case that keeps us up at night," Steele said. "We need help."

"All rape is scary. I think this sort of sexual assault is not only terrifying for the victim, it is also disruptive to the entire community," Houser said. "It really shakes the sense of community safety to its core."

Steele asked anyone with information about this case to call Montgomery County Detectives at 610-278-3368 or West Norriton Police at 610-630-1701.
Since 1994, Philadelphia prosecutors have worked hard to keep Johnny Berry behind bars for a crime he insists he had no part in: the robbery and murder of 72-year-old Leonard Jones in the city's Parkside neighborhood.

First, they gave a deal to his codefendant to testify against him in exchange for a lesser sentence and a promise not to prosecute on a string of robberies he had committed. And more than a decade later, after the codefendant, Tauheed Lloyd, signed an affidavit admitting he'd lied, they warned Lloyd if he testified to that in court, he'd face not only perjury charges, but also a possible new trial on the original murder charge.

Now, for the first time, the office is giving Berry another look. Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara McDermott said Wednesday that the District Attorney's Office and Berry's lawyer have negotiated a new sentence of 23 years to life that will make Berry immediately eligible for parole. As for Berry's claim of innocence, she said, "He can continue to fight it on the street instead of in prison."

She said the District Attorney's Office had confirmed that "the review of the case will continue irrespective of whether the petitioner is resentenced."

It was a sudden reversal of fortune for Berry, who has lost many appeals over the years and was before McDermott only because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that automatic life-without-parole sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional. Because Berry was just 16 at the time of the crime, he is one of about 300 juvenile lifers from Philadelphia who were granted reconsideration of their sentences.

As of last fall, the district attorney had offered Berry a deal for 30 years in prison to life, a sentence that would be in accordance with Pennsylvania's sentencing law for juvenile offenders convicted of murder. That offer changed following the inauguration of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a longtime civil rights lawyer who has promised to rethink how prosecution is managed in the city.

It will be another month before the deal can be finalized in court. Jones' family members, including his wife and daughter, plan to be there. At an October hearing, they told McDermott they believed Berry should serve at least 35 years before being considered for parole.

"These young men chose their path, a path of robbery and murder, a path that destroyed their youth by incarceration and left a family without its patriarch," Jones' daughter, Jacqueline, wrote in a letter that was read in court by one of her sisters.

Berry, who remains at Graterford Prison, apologized to the family at a previous court date. "I'm sorry that happened to you. Whatever happens to me is OK, but I'm sorry."

Upon learning of the prosecutor's new offer, Berry expressed relief: "I have to give Krasner credit. He held true to his promise. He definitely changed the culture of the office."

What the decision foretells for juvenile lifer resentencings is not clear.

"We are in the process of internally reviewing the procedures for how juvenile life sentences have been handled in the past," Ben Waxman, Krasner's spokesman, said in a statement. "We are trying to determine what changes are needed in the process to make sure that these cases are handled in a fair and efficient manner going forward. We are aware that these are time-sensitive issues and are working to address them as quickly as possible."
President Trump hugs Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker after announcing the first U.S. assembly plant for electronics giant Foxconn in the East Room of the White House in July. Read more

WASHINGTON  Ten months is an eternity in politics, but a stunning Democratic victory Tuesday in a special election deep in the heart of Trump country suggests a blue tsunami could be forming.

President Trump became the first Republican to carry Wisconsin in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan by running up his score in places like the rural 10th state Senate district, which includes a swath of five counties between Eau Claire and Superior along the Minnesota border. Trump won there by 17 points in 2016.

A special election was triggered when Gov. Scott Walker tapped a popular state senator, who had held the seat since 2000, to become his agriculture secretary. Tuesday night, Democratic candidate Patty Schachtner won by nine points.

Wisconsin conservative talk radio legend Charlie Sykes, a Trump critic, called the results ominous and said his prominent friends inside the GOP are freaking out.

Walker, who looks a lot more vulnerable in his quest for a third term than he did yesterday, called the results "a wake-up call." In a flurry of tweets that posted around midnight, the governor urged his supporters to take nothing for granted. Republicans should not "presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin," Walker wrote on Twitter.

Unlike with Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, the Trump team cannot blame a flawed candidate. The GOP nominee, Adam Jarchow, is a solid assemblyman who ran a spirited campaign. Four years ago, in fact, he won his seat by defeating Schachtner's son and has worked hard since then to cultivate a base of support.

Mostly under the radar, the special election had become a proxy war, and Republicans significantly outspent the Democrats: Americans for Prosperity, backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, poured $50,000 into the race. Two other GOP-aligned groups funded by the business community contributed another $80,000. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, backed by Barack Obama and Eric Holder, spent $10,000. Tammy Baldwin, one of 10 Democratic senators up for reelection this year in a state Trump carried, recorded a get-out-the-vote message for Schachtner.

There is an important lesson here for national Democrats: Schachtner is the sort of candidate who can actually defeat GOP incumbents in red congressional districts this fall. She has deep roots in the community, and she is not a fire-breathing liberal.

Her campaign focused not on attacking Trump but fighting the opioid crisis, improving access to health care, and bringing good-paying jobs to the region. She didn't need to talk about the president to benefit from an outpouring of progressive energy and conservative apathy. She's the chief medical examiner for St. Croix County, a former EMT, and a member of the school board. She is also a trustee for the local food pantry and sits on the board for a community center that helps victims of sexual and domestic violence.

The first paragraph of the biographical page on Schachtner's website notes that she is "a former member of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters' Association," and that "she and her family have enjoyed hunting in Wisconsin for generations." She's been married to her husband, Joe, for 39 years, and they have six grown children and nine grandchildren.

Asked whether her win is a harbinger of Democratic gains this fall, she told the Associated Press: "It certainly could be." "My message has always been be kind, be considerate, and we need to help people when they're down," she said. "We just need to be kind to people who are less fortunate and just help."

Bigger picture: The upset is the 34th Democratic pickup in the 2018 cycle. "Republicans have [already] flipped four seats from blue to red  two in the Republican-trending Deep South, one in New Jersey and one in Massachusetts," the Washington Post's Dave Weigel notes. "But on average, even in races that went against them, Democrats have improved on their margins from the 2016 rout. In other Tuesday elections, Democrat Dennis Degenhardt won 43 percent of the vote in Wisconsin's 58th Assembly District; in 2016, Hillary Clinton won just 28 percent of the vote there, and no Democrat contested the seat. In Iowa's 6th House District, Democrat Rita DeJong won 44 percent of the vote; in 2016, the party's nominee won just 35 percent. In South Carolina's 99th House District, Democrat Cindy Boatwright lost with 43 percent of the vote; the party had not run a candidate for the seat in this decade."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says control of the Wisconsin Senate is now in play, which has significant implications for 2020 redistricting: "Once she is seated, Republicans will hold an 18-14 advantage, with one district vacant. That seat belonged to Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, who joined Walker's administration last month, and won't be decided until November, when 17 of the state's 33 Senate districts are up for election."

Liberals are pumped.
WASHINGTON  New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker set social media afire Tuesday after his emotional confrontation with a top Trump administration official and his condemnation of the president's use of the word "shithole" to describe Haiti and some African countries.

Booker, a Democrat, ripped into Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a Senate hearing after she said she "did not hear" Trump use that term and could not remember what he specifically said. The confrontation quickly went viral and had people on the right and left talking about the senator's prospects as a potential candidate for president in 2020.

"When ignorance and bigotry is allied with power it is a dangerous force in our country," Booker railed, his eyes bulging and anger evident, during his turn to question Nielsen. "Your silence and your amnesia is complicity."

He argued that hateful words from a U.S. president "festers" and contributes to an atmosphere that has included increased threats against minorities, including death threats against minority lawmakers such as himself.

"When Dick Durbin called me I had tears of rage," Booker said, recalling when the Illinois Democrat told him about the meeting in which Trump reportedly used the expletive to describe some countries. "For you not to feel that hurt and that pain  that's unacceptable to me."

(Trump has denied saying it, though numerous news outlets have reported that he did use that word, some citing Republican officials).

A video of the Tuesday confrontation was liked more than 29,000 times on CNN's official feed.

Nearly 28,000 liked it when shared on an MSNBC news producer's Twitter feed.

Many on the left hailed Booker's passion, with some seeing it as a positive sign for his chances in a potential presidential bid.

Conservatives mocked the senator, accusing him of acting for his own political purposes and making fun of him for saying he cried. They argued that it showed he'd be a "soft" candidate against Trump.

Others, meanwhile, simply did what social media does:
In this April 12, 2017, file photo, Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter speaks at the Newseum in Washington. Read more

Author Michael Wolff's pitch to the White House to win cooperation for his book included a working title that signaled a sympathetic view, a counter-narrative to a slew of negative news stories early in Donald Trump's presidency.

He called it "The Great Transition: The First 100 Days of the Trump Administration." And in part due to that title, Wolff was able to exploit an inexperienced White House staff who mistakenly believed they could shape the book to the president's liking.

Nearly everyone who spoke with Wolff thought someone else in the White House had approved their participation. And it appears that not a single person in a position of authority to halt cooperation with the book  including Trump himself  raised any red flags, despite Wolff's well documented history. His previous work included a critical book on Trump confidant Rupert Murdoch, the Twenty-First Century Fox co-chairman.

The published Trump book carries the title "Fire and Fury," and it paints a portrait of a White House in turmoil, where nearly everyone close to the president believes he is unfit for the job. Wolff's work has upended the start of Trump's second year in office, distracting the president and his staff from following up his first major legislative victory  the tax overhaul he signed into law at the end of 2017  with another big policy push.

The book caused Trump to publicly and dramatically sever his relationship with Steve Bannon, his former strategist, whom Wolff quoted disparaging the president and his family. Trump's lawyers issued an ineffectual threat against Wolff's publisher, seeking to stop the book's publication; instead, it appeared in stores early and rocketed to the top of bestseller lists.

This account of how Wolff reported his book is based on interviews with multiple current and former Trump aides and advisers. Most insisted on anonymity to discuss one of the most embarrassing episodes of Trump's presidency so far.

Wolff didn't respond to interview requests submitted to him and his publisher.

Wolff's entree began with Trump himself, who phoned the author in early February to compliment him on a CNN appearance in which Wolff criticized media coverage of the new president.

Wolff told Trump during the call that he wanted to write a book on the president's first 100 days in office. Many people want to write books about me, Trump replied  talk to my staff. Aides Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks listened to Wolff's pitch in a West Wing meeting the next day, but were noncommittal.

Several aides said Hicks later informally endorsed talking with Wolff as long as they made "positive" comments for the book, which they said Wolff told them would counter the media's unfair narrative.

It wasn't until late August that alarm bells were raised in the White House  when Hicks, Jared Kushner and their allies realized that fellow aides who had spoken with Wolff, especially Bannon, may have provided damaging anecdotes about them.

Publicly, White House officials have laid much of the blame for the book's most controversial revelations on Bannon, who arranged for Wolff to enter the White House grounds at least a handful of times. "Close to 95 percent" of Wolff's White House interactions were "done so at the request of Mr. Bannon," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

But privately, Trump allies say other top aides also allowed Wolff into the building, including Conway on multiple occasions.

Some of Trump's senior-most staff believed that Hicks, one of Trump's longest-serving aides who has acted as a gatekeeper for his interview requests, had authorized their cooperation with Wolff. They recalled that she encouraged them to engage with the author as long as they made positive comments. Hicks hadn't greenlit the book, people familiar with her handling of the matter said  but nor did she immediately put up a stop sign.

In fact, for the first six months of Trump's presidency no one in his White House  including then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer  stopped Wolff from repeatedly scheduling appointments in the West Wing. He visited about 17 times, according to a person familiar with the matter. Nor did they monitor what Trump's aides were telling the controversial author.

One former aide, Sebastian Gorka, said he was asked to meet Wolff "by an outside mutual contact" he declined to identify. "The second we met I had a bad feeling about him and his real agenda," Gorka said.

Wolff conducted himself with assurance on his visits to the West Wing, playing up his relationship with Trump. Officials recall Wolff telling them he'd known Trump a long time and that the president called him "the best."

Trump said on Twitter on Jan. 4 that he "authorized zero access to the White House" for Wolff, and he has denied ever consenting to an interview with the author.

In addition to Bannon and Conway, the author also spoke with son-in-law and senior adviser Kushner, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, then-Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh, Priebus, Spicer and others. All declined to comment for this story.

Kushner met with Wolff late in the author's reporting, only in order to push back on anticipated attacks on him, two White House officials said. Spicer sat down with Wolff at the author's request because Wolff wanted his help to arrange an interview with the president. Mulvaney talked with Wolff on two occasions only because two senior White House aides asked him to speak with the author about the budget.

Conway participated in one public interview with Wolff at an April 12 Newseum event in Washington marking Trump's first 100 days. Wolff said on stage that it was the continuation of a conversation with Conway that had begun "early in the transition." He had interviewed her for a Hollywood Reporter article published Jan. 26.

Conway is mentioned dozens of times in Wolff's book, including in scenes in which he quotes her directly and describes her thoughts.

Neither Spicer or anyone else on the White House communications staff ever raised any alarms about Wolff's prior work, including the Murdoch biography, or warned the staff to be cautious in conversations with him.

Hicks told Wolff in mid-August that he would be granted an interview with Trump in the Oval Office, then four weeks later officially turned him down. Hicks herself, one of Trump's closest aides, never agreed to be interviewed by Wolff, several people said.

Trump allies said they sought Hicks's guidance on whether to speak with Wolff because they consider her to be the aide most familiar with Trump's media preferences, having served as the White House director for strategic communications before moving into her current role as communications director. She previously was a top communications staffer for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and before that worked for the Trump Organization.

Hicks advised at least one Trump ally contacted by Wolff to cooperate with the author if he chose  and if he thought he could shape a positive narrative about the president.

In that regard, Hicks's handling of Wolff's book didn't differ much from previous administrations. One official from former President Barack Obama's White House said that his administration generally believed in engaging with authors, as long as they were serious journalists and not gadflies or partisan writers.

The White House was also working loosely with book author Ron Kessler, and, with the president's official blessing, with authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Halperin and Heilemann have previously worked for Bloomberg Politics.

The Obama aide said his communications team kept strict tabs on authors' work  micromanaging access to the White House, assigning press aides to mind the authors during interviews or asking staff for summaries afterward, closely tracking lines of questioning and making sure writers were escorted off the grounds after their appointments.

That didn't happen in Wolff's case, and the matter of who precisely granted him access to the White House is a touchy subject for Trump's senior aides.

After John Kelly replaced Priebus as chief of staff at the end of July, Wolff was no longer allowed to linger in the West Wing lobby, a doctor's waiting room-like area where visitors come and go and staff occasionally cut through. But by then it was too late.
Crowds gather for the Womens March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Read more

Handcrafted magenta hats with cat ears dubbed "pussyhats" were the unofficial symbol of women's marches across the country last year, creating what appeared to be a sea of pink when photographed from above.

But the creator of the hat has faced criticism after some have complained the knitted hats aren't inclusive of women of color  who might not possess, well, all-pink lady parts  or transgender women, who might not have lady parts at all. Some critics say the hats are a blow to contemporary feminism and reinforce concerns that last year's marches centered on white women. And there's a national movement this year to ditch the hats altogether.

"I never thought that by calling it the 'pussyhat' that it was saying that women's issues are predicated on the possession of the pussy," Krista Suh, the cofounder of the Pussyhat Project, told NBC News. She said the hats were inspired by President Trump's "grab 'em by the pussy" comment, immortalized in a 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked before the November 2016 election. The hats were intended, said Suh, who is Asian, to reclaim the word and be empowering for women.

Organizers of Saturday's Women's March on Philadelphia say they've been bombarded with questions about the hats. So what's a woke Philadelphian who wants to attend the Women's March to do?

Officially, the organizers of this year's Women's March on Philadelphia aren't taking a position. Instead, they're asking marchers to educate themselves on both sides. To help, organizers posted about the issue on the event's Facebook page and included links to stories about the issue.

"Our stance is, we're not in the business of telling you what to wear," organizer Beth E. Finn said. "But we also think it's important people educate themselves and maybe think about their own privilege that makes them say, 'I'm wearing it anyway.' " She added: "I'm a white woman myself, right? I live in a privileged bubble, and I've really started to learn that over the last year."

Other members of the Philadelphia march organizing committee said a conversation about who's wearing what hat detracts from the overall message of the movement. Deja Lynn Alvarez, a trans woman and prominent advocate for the rights of transgender people of color in Philadelphia, said she's focused on fighting for federal protections against discrimination for trans people and can't get "caught up in these little conversations about a damn hat."

"When we're busy fighting with each other, we're not fighting the oppressors," she said. "So guess what? If the woman to the left of me wants to wear a pink pussyhat and the woman to the right of me wants to wear a blue pussyhat, that's OK with me, because that is their voice."

Nikki Bagby, a black woman who also sits on the organizing committee of the local march, agreed.

"We have far too many other issues to stand together for than argue over whether or not a person wears a hat," she said. "And it's cold."

Organizers say this year's Women's March, which starts around 10:30 a.m. Saturday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, could attract 50,000 or more participants.

If you go

What: Women's March on Philadelphia

When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Start at Logan Square and proceed to Eakins Oval.

Registration: While the event is free to attend, attendees are asked to register for tickets ahead of time.
Bertha Stovall Waters, 95, of Philadelphia, a licensed social worker who fought for social justice and educational equity, died Saturday, Jan. 6, of a stomach ailment at Chestnut Hill Hospital.

Ms. Waters worked at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, where she was the equity coordinator, ensuring that opportunities for students were not limited by gender. She retired in the 1990s after a long career.

After marrying and having seven children, Ms. Waters went back to school at age 54. She graduated summa cum laude in 1977 with a bachelor's degree from Temple University. Two years later, she was awarded a master of social service degree from Bryn Mawr College.

"Someone going to college after having seven children, that person is serious," said her longtime friend Pearl Battle Simpson. "And then you figure out what you want to do. She just continued down that path."

"That spoke volumes to us and the grandchildren," said son Vincent Stovall Waters of Ms. Waters' educational achievements.

The impetus for Ms. Waters' advocacy for the underdog began long before she earned advanced degrees, said daughter Linda Waters Richardson.

"The seeds of her lifelong passion for the rights of all individuals were sown when she cast her first presidential election vote for Franklin Delano Roosevelt," Richardson said.

Ms. Waters fought for economic and social justice and change, Richardson said. She was active in the civil rights and anti-war movements, and was an early supporter of gay and lesbian rights.

She was a board member of the Philadelphia Ethical Society. Ms. Waters also was active with the Parents' Union for Public Schools in Philadelphia, the advisory board of the University of Pennsylvania Women's Center, and Bread and Roses Community Fund, and was a longtime member of the Belmont Community Improvement Association.

"I think one of the great things about her was being so open-minded and understanding of people in general," said her friend Battle Simpson. "She didn't back off people being different. She knew how to be accepting of everybody."

In 2005, the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women honored Ms. Waters as an advocate for gender equity in education. In 2009, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

The daughter of Arthur and Edith Stovall, Ms. Waters graduated from West Philadelphia High School. She married Lester A. Waters. The family lived in the Belmont section of West Philadelphia. She spent her final years in Chestnut Hill.

In August 2002, Ms. Waters made news when she got lost on a hike with a grandchild and three great-grandchildren in dense woods in the Poconos. As a thunderstorm blew in, she built a pine shelter and awaited help, the Inquirer wrote. When they were hungry, they ate wild blueberries.

"Throughout the night, we knew they were looking for us," said Ms. Waters. When the children whimpered, she led them in singing "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." They were found the next morning unscathed.

"She knew how to handle things," Battle Simpson said. "What an adventure. I remember that like it was yesterday."

Ms. Waters' husband died in 1993. Besides her son and daughter, she is survived by children Cynthia Waters-Tines, Sheila Fay Waters, Lester "Jack" Waters, Diana Beth Waters, and Nica Waters-Fleming; 13 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

Memorial services and burial will be private.

Donations may be made to Camp Linden, c/o Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 South Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia 19103.
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As summer intensive audition season starts up, Ive been reminiscing about my own experience as a young dancerway back in 1993and how challenging it was to navigate. In fact, I think its safe to say that my first summer program audition was a complete disaster.

I was almost 16a little late by some standardsand was still pretty clueless as to how I compared to others outside my hometown. That weighed heavily on my mind as my parents and I made the hour-long drive to Milwaukee. The audition was for a school in Pennsylvania, and as I scanned the big-city studio, my mind slipped into exaggerated teenage self-consciousness. Dancers lined the barres stretching, showing off their flexibility as if doing some sort of war ritual. Many were chatting in groups, wearing trendy warm-up jumpers and donning perfectly shellacked buns. I tried to act like I knew what I was doing, but inside I was a wreck.

The teacher clapped his hands together to begin class. He was fast-paced, no-nonsense and not one for smiles. During plies, he stopped in front of me with his clipboard as I emerged from a cambre back. He looked me up and down, frowned and kept going. I, of course, freaked outwhat did that mean? I still had an entire hour and a half left of class to prove I was still capable, but instead I completely lost my concentration. I just couldnt shake that frown. I forgot combinations and even started with the wrong foot in front a few times in center. By jumps, the adjudicators had stopped watching me altogether. Needless to say, I spent the majority of the ride home trying not to cry.

About two weeks later my mom and I headed to Chicago to try out for a different school. This time, I had an idea of what to expect, and it made a difference. The director was just as intimidating, but I knew I couldnt let my insecurities get the better of me. Whenever the nervous butterflies hit, I made conscious efforts to keep calm by taking deep breaths and giving myself little silent pep talks. And while I still felt invisible among the hundred or so sweaty dancers, I was holding my own. I had no idea if Id made it afterwards, but I felt a lot better about the overall experience.

By my third summer intensive audition, I was seeing familiar faces from the previous two, which was comforting. My teacher back home had encouraged me to view the audition as a master class, advice that really helped take some of the pressure off. Feeling more relaxed and self-assured allowed me to dance less timidly and smile more freely. Of course, I was still anxious about being evaluatedbut it was manageable. And I sensed that this director liked me.

To my great relief, I was accepted to the last two schools. But it probably comes as no surprise that the first one rejected meand boy, did I feel embarrassed. But heres what that experience taught me: Auditioning takes practice. It forces you out of your comfort zone in the most vulnerable way. I had to learn how to control my anxiety and present myself confidently, even in the face of someone elses doubt. As I grew more acclimated to the process, auditioning became easier (although it never became easy). And rejection, I realized, was something Id have to learn how to deal with, especially when I became a professional. Im glad I kept trying, because in the end, that first audition wasnt the be all/end all of my dance career. But it was an excellent education.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been charged with operating a large-scale drug trafficking operation in which he boasted that he hired other law enforcement officers to provide security to drug dealers and could assault people for his clients, according to court records.

Kenneth Collins, a deputy assigned to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and two other men were arrested by FBI agents Tuesday morning in a sting operation when they arrived to what they thought was a drug deal, according to records unsealed following the arrest. Charges against a fourth man who prosecutors allege was involved in the scheme were expected Tuesday as well, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Court documents outlining the case show Collins, 50, has been under investigation for months. He was recorded by agents discussing "his extensive drug trafficking network, past criminal conduct, and willingness to accept bribes to use his law enforcement status for criminal purposes. He has spoken of managing 'teams' of co-conspirators  including other law enforcement officers  who provide security for illegal marijuana grow houses and drug transports and who are even willing to physically assault people for cash," according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
More police officers have been sent into the New York City subway to address the large number of homeless people sleeping on trains during cold winter nights, according to the New York Police Department.

The officers' objective is to offer services to the homeless people, from shelter to hospitalization, but their task is a daunting one. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, officers entered an E train while it was held at the last stop, World Trade Center. There were 70 homeless people aboard, reports the New York Times.

The increase in police officers followed a report last week in the New York Times that found dozens of homeless people taking refuge on trains, particularly the E, which for decades has been the line most-used by the homeless because it is subterranean for its entire ride, keeping it warm at night.

"There have been dozens and dozens of additional officers added to the subway to ensure the safety of our transit system as well as to help with outreach to the homeless  particularly in the overnight hours," said J. Peter Donald, the assistant commissioner in the Police Department's public relations office. He said the officers were there to offer help to the homeless, not to remove them.
Deputy Doug Barner worked with his K-9 partner for six years. Now with the dog's retirement this year, he is taking him to his forever home.

Last month the Williamson County, TX, sheriff's deputy formally requested he take ownership of K-9 Harry, who is concluding his days of nabbing criminals and sniffing out contraband, reports the Austin Statesman.

K-9 Harry will live out his days in retirement at home with his handler.

After taking custody of a former K-9, Dutch, Barner said it was natural for his family to open their doors to Harry, who he said has become just as much a part of the family.

"He's always in the car with you and sometimes you catch yourself talking to him a lot," Barner said.

Barner already had years of experience as a dog handler before partnering with Harry, a Belgian Malinois, six years ago. Together, the two would capture fleeing suspects, track leads on missing persons, and detect narcotics and drug currency moving through the county.

With Harry retiring, Barner said he is taking a break from partnering with a K-9 and instead focusing on Harry's needs now that he has onset arthritis.

"He is very protective of the family and completely switches off work mode when he's at home," Barner said. "He gets on his big fluffy dog bed and just lays in front of the fireplace and relaxes."
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Republicans are warning that Democrats have been given the upper hand in the government shutdown standoff because Trump has inaccurately claimed that Democrats will be blamed if the government shuts down.

Politico reported:

President Donald Trump has already started framing a potential government shutdown as the singular fault of Democrats demanding liberal immigration policies at the expense of border security. But Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, as well as veterans of past budget battles and campaigns, say that argument isnt likely to fly  not while the GOP runs the House, Senate and White House and a deeply unpopular president sits in the Oval Office.

The perception of most Republicans is that a shutdown does not accrue to Republican benefit. Its a relatively tough sale, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said in an interview. It makes it that much harder for Democrats to acquiesce on a deal because they feel like they have the upper hand.

The mentality that Republican can just blame Democrats, even though they control the entire federal government, was created by Trump out of thin air. There is zero data or a hint of public perception that suggests that the American people will side with the least popular first-year president in history if the government shuts down. The logical and more likely outcome is that voters will look at Republicans and blame the party in power for not keeping the government open.

The DACA solution is popular with majorities of Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The only stumbling blocks are that Trump is trying to pull some of his Art Of The Deal flim-flam to get funding for the border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for, and also there is the small detail that Trump does want to deport the Dreamers.

Thanks to epic presidential incompetence, Democrats have the upper hand, and if the government shuts down, it is going to cost Republicans more than can imagine to get the Democratic votes they need to open the government back up.
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During his testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, Steve Bannon made a giant mistake by admitting that White House senior officials discussed Donald Trump Jrs meeting with Russians in Trump Tower.

Axios reported, Steve Bannon made one conspicuous slip up in his closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the confidential proceedings. Bannon admitted that hed had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Juniors infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016.

This is important because it suggests that the Trump campaign manager knew about Don Jr.s meeting with the Russians, which is another indicator that the campaign was looking to collude or cooperate with a hostile foreign power. There is also the not so small issue of when these conversations took place in the White House. Were the conversations part of Trumps attempt to cover-up the meeting aboard Air Force One?

The larger issue is what did Trump know because collusion isnt a crime, but obstruction of justice definitely is.

Steve Bannon said too much while talking to Congress. He knows where the bodies are buried, which is why Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed him. Steve Bannons role in this scandal may not be pivotal when it comes collusion, but he could be a major witness in the obstruction of justice investigation.
To be continued? (x)

While efforts to hunt down offshore companies may appear to be yielding results, theres been no slackening of demand for setting up companies abroad. However, tax avoidance and tax evasion, as the primary motives for doing so, are giving way to other objectives - comments Istvan Csovari, tax partner at Jalsovszky Law Firm.

Automatic information exchange, restrictions on bank secrecy, tightening of anti-money laundering rules and strict KYC rules... These are just some of the measures being deployed by developed countries around the world to stop hot money being hidden away in tax havens. Meanwhile, in developed countries income tax rates have fallen. In Hungary, for example, earnings can be withdrawn from companies with single-digit corporate tax and only 15% personal income tax. But has this removed the need for businesses to transfer their income streams and activities to foreign companies? Not in the least. Why not? The reasons for setting up foreign companies these days have more to do with business and security considerations than taxation issues. On the one hand, Hungarian entrepreneurs often like to see the more easily mobilizable part of their company assets stashed safely abroad, due to the level of country risk" that they associate with their home country. On the other, the option of establishing foreign companies is commonly used in business as a means of encouraging investment. Foreign investors (for example US-based) are more willing to invest through a company that operates in a legal environment that they understand, which in turn makes them feel more relaxed about the venture. But other business considerations could also lie behind the decision to set up a foreign company: the buyers of many services, for example, prefer to be in a contractual relationship with a local company, or at least one thats been founded in a country with a familiar legal culture. Tax considerations do remain a factor in these cases of foreign company establishment, but the objective has changed. Rather than achieving a clear tax advantage, in many cases the aim is for the company to not be worse off" than it would be in Hungary, or to be able to postpone its tax payment obligation. Another important aspect is the need to avoid domestic tax risks associated with foreign operations. Where? When choosing the country in which to establish such a company, besides taxation, the main criteria are legal certainty and financial stability. As regards tax, the general rate of corporate tax, exemption from withholding tax on the withdrawal of profit, and for holding companies the tax exemption of received dividend and the gains realised on the sale of shareholdings, are key factors. It is particularly important that a double taxation treaty should be in effect between the foreign country and Hungary. Without this, the tax advantages resulting from a foreign countrys lower tax rates may prove to be of limited or no benefit. The main destination countries are currently the following: United Arab Emirates The Emirates are in a special situation. Although companies established there enjoy total tax exemption, Hungary has nevertheless concluded a tax treaty with them, so incomes earned in the Emirates incur no additional tax liability in Hungary. The classic European holding countries (e.g. The Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Sweden) Due to the exemption from dividend and capital gains tax, companies established in these countries are particularly suitable as holding companies (that is, for holding shares in other companies). However, if free liquid assets in the form of bank deposits or securities are accumulated by the holding company, then the yield realised on these assets is often liable for corporate tax at a higher rate of around 20-25%. Malta Malta has not been affected by problems similar to those associated with the Cypriot tax and financial system, while the country continues to offer an attractive tax regime. Dividend and the capital gains on the sale of shareholdings are tax-free, and the 35% tax on the profit from other activities can be lowered to an actual rate of 5% with a special system of tax refunds. Lichtenstein This dwarf state could become popular again soon. Financial security and stability are assured in this Alpine country, and Lichtenstein was taken off the blacklist of offshore locations several years ago when it introduced a 12.5% corporate tax rate and concluded a double taxation treaty with Hungary. Hong Kong, Singapore These countries operate territorial tax systems, which, put simply, means that only activities performed abroad are taxed. Extra caution needs to be exercised with respect to their use, and to the activities performed, especially due to the reclassification risks described in more detail below. How? When setting up and operating companies abroad, special care must be taken to ensure that companies which are formally established abroad, but actually run from here, are not reclassified by the tax authority as being of Hungarian domicile. This was the essence of the highest-profile tax case of recent years, the Docler case, which gained notoriety in connection with the tax audit of Gyorgy Gattyans group of companies. If the tax authority does manage to classify a foreign company as being of Hungarian resident, then its worldwide income can be put to Hungarian taxation. For a long time, in order to avoid reclassification, it was enough for the majority of a foreign companys directors to be foreign. When this requirement was fulfilled, one of the seats on the board was often filled by the actual company owner. Relying on this is now risky in the light of recent developments in international taxation practice, especially in cases where the foreign directors hold similar posts at several hundred other companies, making it obvious that they cant have an actual role in the management of the foreign company. For this reason, its safer if the Hungarian company owner doesnt have a seat on the foreign companys board at all, and it can be proven that the foreign directors genuinely participate in the companys management. But if the owner is unable or unwilling, under any circumstances, to relinquish control of the foreign company, and wants to be a director, then its advisable for him or her to visit the companys registered office a few times every year, and postpone the signing of company documents and other tasks until such visits. The type of activity for which the foreign company is set up also has significance. If the activity, by its nature, entails the drafting, conclusion and negotiation of a relatively high volume of contracts, or other tasks that need to be performed on a regular basis - such as agency or commercial activity - then to avoid the reclassification risks the foreign company must also have an appropriate physical infrastructure and personnel. (x)
Here's the tea. While most of Siem Reap's many temples are east facing, Angkor Wat faces west. Anyone who's ever hummed that famous song from Beauty and The Beast knows that means that Angkor Wat will get the best light in the afternoon. Sure, travel literature will tell you that watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat (especially twice a year during the solstice, when the sun rises exactly on the point of the middle tower) is an unmissable experience - but unfortunately, these guys also got the memo:



Sunrise at Angkor Wat -

the grim reality behind the pretty pictures.

*screams in Cambodian*

Photo by Boiler Maker Travel



So unless you're prepared to wake up extremely early and get a taxi/tuk-tuk/what have you in the dark to be the first at the gates when Angkor Wat opens at 5:00am (and believe me, you won't be alone), then stand ankle deep in mud and risk your foot being jabbed by an enthusiast's tripod, you'll be stuck behind rows and rows of eager spectators. Then when the sun rises, whatever awe-inspiring sight or serenity will be shattered by the hundreds of arms raised and holding up tablets, smartphones, and cameras; and sounds of a hundred shutters clicking, as they all jostling to capture the moment as opposed to just enjoying it. And that's even if the light or weather conditions are good enough to justify the early wake up call and struggle to see past the sea of people.





lovely rosy hue that the rising sun coyly shines on all it touches when it hauls ass from its nap that you're so keen to capture, here's a fun fact. That warm glow that makes the sky saturated, colours so intense, and the reflection of Angkor Wat in the lake especially crisp is called the Golden Hour and evening. Now, if it's thatthat you're so keen to capture, here's a fun fact. That warm glow that makes the sky saturated, colours so intense, and the reflection ofin the lake especially crisp is called the. The Golden Hour, so beloved by photographers, is basically nature's Amaro Pro filter and happens twice a day: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. That's right. In the morningevening.



So if you're less inclined toward mentally and visually blocking out the hordes at crazy o'clock in the morning, go to the lake in front of Angkor Wat an hour before closing time. By then, the visitors will either be beginning to exit from the temples or entering the complex. What was hundreds of people aggressively pushing for a picture twelve hours ago is now a few dozen visitors milling about a tranquil lotus pond - most of them somewhat mellowed-out from a long, hot day - who are happy to give you the space to take your souvenir snapshot in front of the iconic monuments. With the exact same temperature and colour of the light as dawn, nobody can tell if your photos were taken at 6:00am or at 6:00pm - unless of course, they look at the direction of the shadows (but who's going to nit-pick over that detail?).



For the traveller who wants to have it all, go at dawn to see what the fuss is about but don't expect a scene of tranquility. Take advantage of the daylight and cool morning air to see as much of the temples as you can. Be sure to leave before noon (have lunch, go to a spa, whatever) then return after 3pm for more look-sees and for that "I can't believe it's not sunrise!" portrait.
Registering a domain name is one of the first steps to starting a business. That's because whatever name you choose will represent your business's space on the internet  and, possibly, a customer's first impression of your company.

But once you have that domain name, what do you do? Don't stress about building your online space. You can start using your domain name right away. Here are three ways to do it.

1. Set up a company-branded email address

Your web address also can be your email address. A company-branded email address can give you and your employees a more professional-looking branded channel for communication with customers, as well as free marketing for your company. In a 2015 survey, 74 percent of consumers said they would trust a company-branded email address more so than a free email address. It's easy and cost-effective to set up, too. The provider you use to register your domain name most likely can help you set up your email address quickly and inexpensively.

2. Start a website

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A website is one of the best tools to grow your business. These days, it's even easier to create than most people might think. While a social media presence can be a great asset, it might not provide the same level of marketing opportunities or credibility a website does. In fact, in a 2015 survey, 77 percent of consumers believed a website made a business appear more credible.

You can start with a simple, one-page website and scale it as you grow. Easy, do-it-yourself tools allow business owners to create their own, and most service providers offer bundled services with everything you might need to build and maintain your website (e.g., domain name, web hosting, design templates).

Many businesses that offer professional services find, generally, all they need is a one- to four-page website that includes general information, contact information, product/service information, social media icons and links and customer testimonies.

If you plan to open an online store, or your business requires showing videos or other multimedia, then a more robust website might be needed. For example, you can add e-commerce capabilities to your website so you can take orders, process payments and provide customer support. Do-it-yourself website builders, such as Weebly or Wix, also have packages you can add on at any time, or a web developer can integrate the functionality for you.

Even if you don't plan to sell products online through standard e-commerce functionality, enabling lead capturing and processing, such as an email subscription list, on your website or social page to collect prospect information for further sales follow-up still might be a good idea.

3. Brand your social media presence

If your main business page is on a social media site such as Facebook, Etsy or Houzz, chances are the web address provided to you is branded to the specific platform and not for your business. These URLs usually are long and not very memorable, making it hard to market your page to customers. You can change that by using your domain name as the web address for your social media business page. This is called web forwarding, or redirecting. It gives you an easy-to-remember online address to help build your brand and use in your marketing efforts.

To start web forwarding, log in to your account (where you registered your domain name) and change the settings on your domain name. Often, the provider you registered your domain name with also can help you forward it.

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4. Promote your domain name.You can start building your brand with your domain name right away. Add it to social media platforms your customers frequent and online directories where your business is listed. That way, no matter where your customers find you online, you always can drive them back to your main online presence.

Likewise, include your web address on your business cards, ads, email signatures, uniforms, brochures, newsletters and other collateral you give to customers. This is a great way to promote your brand offline and gives potential customers an easy way to learn more about, and connect with, your business online. A 2015 study showed 64 percent of consumers preferred to buy from businesses they can contact online.

In today's internet-centric world, many use the web to look for and research products or services. So the name your customers associate with your business is an important step to not only build your brand online, but possibly establish credibility.
Twice a day, the 86-year-old man went for long walks and visited with neighbors along the way. Then one afternoon he fell while mowing his lawn. In the emergency room, doctors diagnosed a break in his upper arm and put him in a sling.

Back at home, this former World War II Navy pilot found it hard to manage on his own but stubbornly declined help. Soon overwhelmed, he didn't go out often, his congestive heart failure worsened, and he ended up in a nursing home a year later, where he eventually passed away.

"Just because someone in their 70s or 80s isn't admitted to a hospital doesn't mean that everything is fine," said Dr. Timothy Platt-Mills, co-director of geriatric emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who recounted the story of his former neighbor in Chapel Hill.

Quite the contrary: An older person's trip to the ER often signals a serious health challenge and should serve as a wake-up call for caregivers and relatives.

Vulnerable period

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Research published last year in the Annals of Emergency Medicine underscores the risks. Six months after visiting the ER, seniors were 14 percent more likely to have acquired a disability  an inability to independently bathe, dress, climb down a flight of stairs, shop, manage finances or carry a package, for instance  than older adults of the same age, with a similar illness, who didn't end up in the ER.

These older adults weren't admitted to the hospital from the ER; they returned home after their visits, as do about two-thirds of seniors who go to ERs, nationally.

The takeaway: Illnesses or injuries that lead to ER visits can initiate "a fairly vulnerable period of time for older persons" and "we should consider new initiatives to address patients' care needs and challenges after such visits," said one of the study's co-authors, Dr. Thomas Gill, a professor of medicine (geriatrics), epidemiology and investigative medicine at Yale University.

Research by Dr. Cynthia Brown, a professor and division director of gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, confirms this vulnerability. In a 2016 report, she found sharp declines in older adults' "life-space mobility" (the extent to which they get up and about and out of the house) after an emergency room visit, which lasted for at least a year without full recovery.

"We know that when people have a decline of this sort, it's associated with a lot of bad outcomes  a poorer quality of life, nursing home placement and mortality," Brown said.

Other research suggests that seniors who are struggling with self-care (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring from the bed to a chair) or with activities such as cooking, cleaning and managing medications are especially vulnerable to the aftereffects of an ER visit.

Mindset shift

Why would seeking help in an ER often become a sentinel event, with potential adverse consequences for older adults?

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Experts offer various suggestions: Seniors who were previously coping adequately may be tipped into an "I can't handle this any longer" state by an injury or the exacerbation of a chronic illness, such as diabetes or heart failure. They now may need more help at home than what's available, and their health may spiral downward.

Other possibilities: Seniors who fall and injure themselves  a leading cause of ER visits  may become afraid of falling again and limit their activities, leading to deterioration. Or, underlying vulnerabilities that led to an ER visit  for instance, depression, dementia or delirium (a state of acute, sudden onset confusion and disorientation)  may go undetected and unaddressed by emergency room staff, leaving older adults susceptible to the ongoing impact of these conditions.

In response to concerns about the care older adults are receiving, the field of emergency medicine has endorsed guidelines designed to make ERs more senior-friendly. With the rapid expansion of the aging population, which accounts for more than 20 million ER visits each year, "our traditional model of emergency medicine has to shift its paradigm," said Dr. Christopher Carpenter, associate professor of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The guidelines call for educating medical staff in the principles and practice of geriatric care; assessing seniors to determine their degree of risk; screening older adults deemed at risk for cognitive concerns, falls and functional limitations; performing a comprehensive medication review; making referrals to community resources such as Meals on Wheels; and supplying an easily understood discharge plan.

Geriatric competence

Starting in February, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is launching an accreditation program for emergency rooms, certifying at least a minimal level of geriatric competence  another effort to improve care and outcomes for older adults. Three levels of accreditation  basic, intermediate and advanced  will be offered.

For each of these levels, ERs will be required to provide walkers, canes, food and drink, and reading glasses to older patients. For intermediate and advanced accreditation, physicians will have to oversee improvement initiatives, such as limiting the use of urinary catheters in older patients. Also, changes to the ER environment such as nonslip floors and enhanced lighting will be required, along with amenities such as hearing devices, thicker mattresses and warm blankets.

Family members can also help older adults during and after a visit to the ER.

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"My biggest piece of advice is get there and stay by their side throughout the experience, because things happen very quickly in emergency rooms, and these are difficult environments to navigate under the best of circumstances," said Dr. Kathleen Unroe, associate professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine.

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In the ER? Here's what to do

Dr. Kevin Biese, chair of the board of governors for ACEP's geriatric ER accreditation initiative, offers these recommendations to seniors and loved ones with them in an emergency room visit:

 Escape the crowd. "Ask for a room, instead of letting your loved one stay out in the hallway  a horrible place for seniors at risk of delirium. Tell staff, who may have put Mom in the hallway because she's a fall risk and they want to keep an eye on her, 'I'll watch Mom and make sure she doesn't get out of bed.'"

 Supply a full list of medications. "And ask the doctor or nurse to make sure that your list is the same as what's in (the hospital's) computer. If not, have them update the computer list. Don't leave without knowing which medications have been stopped or changed, if any, and why."

 Focus on comfort. "Bring eyeglasses and any hearing-assist devices that can help keep your loved one oriented. If you think Mom is in pain, encourage her pain to be treated."

 Educate yourself. "Know what happened in the ER. What tests were done? What diagnoses did the staff arrive at? What treatments were given? What kind of follow-up is being recommended?"

 Communicate effectively. "Utilize teach-back. When the nurse or doctor says, 'OK, you're supposed to do this when you get back home,' say, 'Let me see if I understand. I hear you say take this medication on this schedule. Did I get that right?' "

 Follow through. "Ask 'How is Mom's regular doctor going to know what happened here? Who's responsible for telling him  do you make that call or do I? And how soon should we try to get in for a follow-up appointment?'"

 Keep tabs on your loved one. Finally, "you need to see the few days after a visit to the ER as a time of critical importance, when increased vigilance is required. Arrange for some extra help if you can't be around, even if only for a few days. Check in frequently on Mom and make sure her needs are being met, her pain is being adequately controlled and she's not getting delirious. Does the plan of care that she left the ER with seem to be working?"
See what sounds you can make at Honk, Squeak, Scratch, Boom. Hosted by the Rochester Symphony, students in grades 4 through 6 are invited to pick up and try out  yes, you get to play them  band and orchestra instruments.

"We pretty much have any instrument you want to try," said Jere Lantz, president, CEO and artistic director of the Rochester Symphony. "For strings, we'll have violins, violas, cellos and basses. In the brass, we'll have French horns, trumpets, trombones and tubas. In the woodwinds, we'll have flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone. We'll have drums, cymbals, claves, maracas  all sorts of noise-makers."

Held at Mayo High School, families enter through Door 6 (the main entrance), then head up to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, the first stop is the check-in table.

"We'll have a different instrument in each of the classrooms," said Lantz. "Our volunteers can help you find a specific instrument, a specific room. We'll also have Schmitt Music there with information on buying or renting an instrument and information on financial aid for families in need."

From there, families make their way from room to room, instrument to instrument.

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"If you want to try a tuba, you try a tuba. If you want to try a flute, you try a flute. Professional musicians will provide mini lessons on each instrument," said Lantz, noting that volunteers clean instruments between students and have been trained in proper antiseptic procedures by Mayo Clinic.

"My advice is come early, stay as long as you want and take as many lessons as you want. Try them all. You might find you are very comfortable with a cello, but don't care for the violin. Don't rule out a family of instruments based on one instrument."

Honk, Squeak, Scratch, Boom is free to attend. No pre-registration is necessary. Families choose one of the two sessions (morning or afternoon) to attend.

"Some kids come in knowing exactly what instrument they want to play. Most kids come in not knowing," Lantz said. "It's a lot like going on the rides at the fair. Figure out which ones look fun to try and get in line."

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If you go

What: Rochester Symphony's Honk, Squeak, Scratch, Boom

Where: Mayo High School, 1420 11th Ave. SE

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When: Sessions are 9 a.m. to 11:30 and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Phone: 507-288-8742

On the web: www.rochestersymphony.org

More musical notes

 Rochester Symphony's "MLK and the American Dream" Free Family Preview is 7 p.m. Friday, April 20. Tickets are free, but online reservations are required.

 Community Education Preschool Enrichment offers music classes (50 Songs Every Child Should Know, Music Fun for Toddlers, Music in the Morning) for babies through kids age 5. Go online, www.rochesterce.org , to check out all the classes in the Community Education Preschool Enrichment winter registration newsletter.

 Learn traditional Korean drumming in a Community Education class. Open to kids in grades 2 through 12, classes start in February, March and May. Register online, www.rochesrterce.org .
1. First up, Pappys Place off Highway 52 is home to wonder owner/chef Chris Pappas. Recognize that name? Yes, hes a fourth generation restaurant owner and it shows on the plates at Pappys. The Ps Scallop Benedict, bacon-wrapped scallops atop toast points drizzled in Hollandaise sauce, is a must, as is the Friday night fish fry, along with Saturdays prime rib special. The famous Pappy Burger is another standout, made with Wisconsin cheese curds, onion rings, and house-made barbecue sauce. Youll want to save room for an "after dinner delight" like a Brandy Alexander, Grasshopper, or another old-fashioned cocktail.

2. Great Harvest Bread is hoping a second location is on the menu near the new Hy-Vee on West Circle Drive, says owner Dan Sweeney. Serving up lots of their signature Tuscan chicken sandwiches during the daily lunch rush, and running out of soup on the regular, Great Harvest is known for its reliably delicious, high-quality lunch fare. Expect a crowd to gather from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but you can beat the rush by calling in your order ahead to dine in or carry out.

3. The family who owns Brothers Bar & Grill does not mess around. Coming up on 27 years in the biz, Brothers has become a landmark neighborhood joint on the outskirts of downtown. Asked to select the most popular fare here, co-owner Erin Sursely-Padilla struggled to choose, noting that the 16 omelette breakfast menu is popular. Brothers is the place to come to see friends so be prepared to socialize upon entering the door. Sursely-Padillas son Clay Fulton is the other co-owner of Brothers, and he recommends the smoked turkey bacon melt sandwich, which comes with a sun dried tomato aioli. "Its a home run sandwich," he says.

4. Nearly everyone seems to be greeted by name at Cafe Presto across from Saint Marys Hospital. The incredibly gracious staff knows Mayo Clinic employees, patients, and even customers who traipse in from various city quadrants to enjoy the fare here. Regular diner Rachel Halvorson favors the omelettes, and says if its a small, no-frills cafe you seek, this is the joint.

5. Rochesterites are raving about the vegetarian eats at Old Abe Coffee Shop . Old Abes is cool from outside to inside, with an exterior mural and a colorful interior. Food truck owner Derrick Chapman is a loyal fan, favoring the vegan bahn-mi, saying "Its loaded with flavors. The meatless meat actually feels and tastes like something you want to eat."

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6. If youre a first timer at Pho Chau , its easy to get overwhelmed by the amazingly extensive menu. However, zero in on your favorite Vietnamese cuisine and you wont be disappointed. One gaggle of diners recently all favored the pad thai  be it with pork, tofu, or your preferred topping  while others at adjoining tables ordered soup. But regardless of what you consume, this family-owned eatery is all about the food, so just order what tempts you most and then wait for steaming plates to arrive hot from the speedy kitchen.
AUSTIN  An Austin woman who has received more than $30,000 in financial assistance stands accused of welfare fraud, according to court documents.

Natasha Eileen Woods, 30, charged with one count of wrongfully obtaining assistance, a felony, made her first appearance in Mower County District Court on Thursday.

The charge stems from a Department of Human services welfare fraud referral that was made to the Mower County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 28. The department allegedly discovered Woods and Antonio Deon Taylor, also known as "Antonio Dean Taylor," who allegedly share an address and may have two children together, didn't disclose those details "throughout their lengthy history of receiving financial assistance."

Investigators found Woods had first filed for financial assistance in June 2010, but her request was denied because she provided no information about the father of her child.

Later, she applied again, providing the name "Robert Gooch," according to court documents. A search turned up one "Robert Gooch" in Illinois, but he had died at the age of 77.

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In March 2015, Woods completed a paternity affidavit for a second child, born in 2014, and said she didn't know the identity of the father, "who she allegedly met at a bar in Minneapolis," according to the complaint.

When the child support worker asked about the last name "Taylor" that her two children share and she allegedly told them that it was a "family name."

An address history for both Woods and Taylor indicated they'd likely lived together since at least June 2010. The investigator reached out to local law enforcement, who notified him of domestic disputes between the couple as early as October 2010, and as late as July 2017, according to the complaint.

On Jan. 9, officers executed a search, in which they found Taylor's Social Security card, paycheck stubs, court documents, retirement documents, bank documents, health and dental insurance cards, as well as men's clothing.

Woods initially told the officers that Taylor wasn't living with her and that he wasn't the father of her children, according to the report.

Later, she confirmed they had lived together for several years; Woods was then transported to the Mower County Jail.

She was released on her own recognizance Thursday, and is set to return to court on Jan. 18, according to court documents. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and/or a $20,000 fine.
Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem's Office today charged Alexander William Weiss with second-degree murder, without intent, in Sunday's shooting death of a Rochester teenager.

The incident started as a two-vehicle crash that turned into a deadly confrontation that cost 17-year-old Muhammed Rahim his life.

Weiss made his first appearance in Olmsted County District Court shortly after 11 a.m. today. Judge Kathy Wallace set conditional bail at $75,000.

The incident began when Rahim backed his car into Weiss' vehicle at the intersection of 31st Street and East River Road Northeast. The two got out of their cars and began arguing. At some point during the confrontation, Weiss went back to his vehicle to retrieve a handgun, according to Rochester police.

Weiss, 25, then fired a single shot, hitting Rahim in the chest, according to Rochester Police Lt. Mike Sadauskis. Police arrived to find Rahim on the street, unresponsive. He was transported by ambulance to Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys Campus, where he was declared dead just before 9 a.m.

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When officers arrived at the crime scene they noted a small pool of blood on the snowy road, about 20-feet from Weiss' vehicle.

Weiss' vehicle had visible damage to the rear passenger-side door. An officer who responded to the crime scene noted in the criminal complaint that Weiss's vehicle bore a bumper sticker that read "Gun Control Means Hitting Your Target."

Different accounts

Weiss told officers that Rahim had shoved and spat at him before he shot Rahim. Two other witness accounts say the two never made physical contact, according to the criminal complaint filed today.

The first witness, who was with Rahim at the time of the collision and who got out of the vehicle with him, told law enforcement that Weiss got out of his vehicle "as if he wished to fight." Both the witness and Rahim were yelling at Weiss about fighting them and "posturing and speaking aggressively."

The witness told authorities that Rahim got very close to Weiss, "puffing his chest out with his hands down." When Weiss produced the gun, Rahim allegedly told him, "I f----ing dare you to do it."

Rochester police were seeking a second witness whose path was blocked by the collision. She came forward Tuesday and told police she saw Weiss pull the gun from his pocket, raise it, and then fire one shot at Rahim, from what Lt. Mike Sadauskis called a "car's length away."

According to her account, Rahim had not touched Weiss, nor had he raised a fist or advanced toward him at the time Weiss fired. She drove away and flagged down an officer on Broadway Avenue North, who was the first officer on the scene, according to Sadauskis.

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According to the criminal complaint, Weiss, said he got out of his vehicle and told the two teenagers he was going to call the police. Weiss said the male teenager with Rahim threatened to beat him up, behavior that he told Rochester police had caused him to be "fearful for his safety."

Weiss said that's when he went back to his vehicle to get his cell phone and his gun, telling the boys that he had a gun on him and that they "should not do anything stupid," the criminal complaint said.

It was then that Rahim shoved Weiss, according to Weiss' account. Weiss then pulled out his gun and Rahim allegedly said, "That's not even a real gun," and spat at Weiss. Weiss said he then told Rahim not to get closer, but he "reached out to touch the gun."

Not a 'flight risk'

Olmsted County District Court Judge Kathy Wallace determined today that Weiss was not a flight risk, but because of the circumstances of the case she ruled he was a "risk to public safety."

Weiss remains in custody in lieu of $75,000 conditional bail, or $200,000 unconditional bail.

Wallace noted that Weiss called police, waited at the scene of the crime and cooperated with law enforcement following the shooting. Per the conditions set by Wallace, he's not to possess any firearms or dangerous weapons.

Self-defense claim

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Ostrem called the self-defense claim the "central element" in the case. The decision whether to charge Weiss hinged on what Minnesota law refers to as a "justifiable taking of life." That means a situation in which the actor reasonably fears "great bodily harm or death," or acts to stop a felony in his or her home.

"The easiest way to think about that, is you're allowed to use the same force against somebody that is being used against you," Ostrem said Tuesday.

Rochester Police Capt. John Sherwin said Tuesday that Weiss was not physically injured in the confrontation, nor were punches thrown. No other weapons were involved.

Minnesota is also a "duty to retreat" state, which means just that; you have a "duty to retreat" before defending yourself or others with force.

Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of not more than 40 years.
ALBERT LEA  Mayo Clinic has shared its 1995 affiliation agreement with Naeve Hospital with local elected officials, who have long requested it. However, the document is still considered "business confidential" and will not be shared with the public.

The unveiling came Friday during the latest facilitated dialogue with Judge David Minge, who was brought in last fall by Congressman Tim Walz in hopes of resolving a dispute between Mayo and the city centered around Mayo's consolidation plans at its Albert Lea facility.

Specifics of the affiliation agreement have not been disclosed, but "Mayo pointed out that it had gone beyond its commitment in the agreement to invest in and improve the hospital facility and equipment," Albert Lea wrote in a press release.

"The agreement provides for Mayo's assuming ownership and operation of hospital services in Albert Lea," wrote Teresa Kauffmann, Albert Lea's public information coordinator. "Participants in the dialogue meeting carefully reviewed the document and asked questions of Mayo's attorney and staff. Then they requested that the Freeborn County Attorney review the agreement.

"All agreed that although the agreement provided that Mayo would provide health care services for the community, there was no limit on Mayo's flexibility in delivery of those services and that there was no requirement to provide specific services at a specific location."

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Mayo staff declined comment this morning, but clinic officials have routinely defended its decision to consolidate services by pointing to the larger healthcare landscape, where similar situations are unfolding across the country. Specific issues include financial losses, challenges with recruiting and retaining providers, and reduced demand for inpatient services, among other issues.

Jen Vogt-Erickson, a spokeswoman for community group Save Our Hospital, issued a statement Tuesday that said SOH plans to attend Saturday's DFL gubernatorial forum in Albert Lea.

"Put the needs of the patients first, put patients over profits, and put forth a good faith effort to tell us about what is happening to our patients," Vogt-Erickson wrote on the group's Facebook page .

The facilitated dialogue is being held with officials from Mayo Clinic, the city of Albert Lea and Freeborn County; SOH declined to participate. The groups set four main goals for the dialogues: review Mayo's changes; address the controversies they have caused; discuss how to move forward; and strengthen the Mayo/Albert Lea community relationship.

Additional meetings are planned in the months ahead.

"Tough questions are being asked, forthright answers are being provided, and all hope that the mutual trust that is developing will result in continued progress of the facilitated dialogue undertaking," Judge Minge said.
A new study has found that Minnesota physicians generate $30.5 billion in economic activity and support 171,000 jobs.

Though a statewide study does not break those numbers down by city or region, Rochester is one of the state's top beneficiaries. Mayo Clinic's main campus employing roughly 17 percent of the state's physicians.

The new report titled "The Economic Impact of Physicians in Minnesota" was issued last week by the Minnesota Medical Association and the American Medical Association. The study quantifies the economic boost associated with 13,401 active physicians working around the state. That includes 2,237 at Mayo's Rochester campuses, according to Mayo spokeswoman Duska Anastasijevic, and more than 2,700 across Mayo's southern Minnesota venues.

Based on the study's findings, Mayo's physicians generate more than $5 billion in economic activity annually in Rochester while supporting nearly 29,000 other jobs  or 12.8 positions per physician.

"We have some of the most gifted physicians in the world, right here in our state," MMA President George Schoephoerster said. "What is often overlooked is how much impact physicians have on the state's overall economy. This study shines a bright light on how many jobs are created and how much the economy is affected by the work of physicians."

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{{tncms-inline content="<p>"We have some of the most gifted physicians in the world, right here in our state."</p>" id="bf1108e8-cc71-4175-83bc-aa5196309147" style-type="quote" title="great physicians" type="relcontent"}}

The study found that Minnesota physicians account for 9.3 percent of the state's economy while contributing an average of $1.2 million to workers' wages and benefits. Additionally, physicians generate, on average, nearly $100,000 in state and local tax revenue, "enabling community investments to be made."

Mayo Clinic is already the state's largest private employer with about 35,000 employees, and Destination Medical Center  the $6 billion public/private partnership in Rochester  is projected to create about 30,000 new jobs and double the city's population by 2034.

"This is more proof that health care is a huge economic driver and also a strong job sector as a whole," Mayo spokeswoman Duska Anastasijevic said of the new study. "But I know Mayo well enough to appreciate that Mayo doesn't separate the contribution of our physicians from that of the entire staff."

The new study's findings are similar to an economic impact study Mayo commissioned in 2017 from TEConomy Partners LLC, which found that the entire Mayo enterprise added $28 billion to the U.S. economy. That study found that Mayo created impacts of more than 167,000 jobs, including 92,000 in Minnesota.

The TEConomy study found that Mayo also generated nearly $3.9 billion in public tax revenue, including $2.2 billion in Minnesota.

"We have some of the most gifted physicians in the world, right here in our state."
EYOTA  Democrat John Austinson announced Tuesday he will run for the Minnesota Senate in 2020.

The Byron High School teacher said he is making the announcement early so he has plenty of time to prepare for a run. He said he is also getting an early start in case Republican Sen. Carla Nelson wins election to the U.S. House. If that happens in November, there would need to be a special election to fill the Senate District 26 seat. Austinson said he would be prepared to run.

He said he decided it made sense to announce now "just to be ready and just in case. You never know." Such a race could have the potential to determine control of the Minnesota Senate given Republicans' razor-thin majority.

Austinson ran unsuccessfully for the House District 26B seat against GOP Rep. Nels Pierson in 2016.

Last year, he launched a bid for the 1st Congressional District seat but dropped out in August citing frustration with "dark money and backroom agreements" and saying he would focus his energy locally.

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The Eyota Democrat said he has met with members of the Senate DFL caucus  including Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk  and was encouraged to announce his candidacy early.

Austinson's political priorities include boosting funding for education, supporting unions' rights, expanding rural broadband and helping small businesses. In the coming months, he said he will be working hard to introduce himself to voters in the Senate district.

He added, "I need to start getting to know people and having them know me and trust me."
ST. PAUL  Few local projects made it into Gov. Mark Dayton's $1.5 billion public works proposal unveiled on Tuesday.

The governor's plan focuses heavily on repairing and upgrading state-owned facilities and infrastructure. As a result, a long list of requests from local governments failed to make the cut.

"My public works proposal would make significant, needed investments to provide world-class educations for our students, guarantee clean, affordable water for more of our communities and ensure our state has the infrastructure necessary to grow and compete in the modern economy," Dayton said in a statement.

Which area projects made it into governor's proposal?

One of the big winners is Rochester Community and Technical College. The governor's plan includes more than $15 million to demolish aging Plaza and Memorial Hall and renovate existing academic buildings. Overall, the governor's bill set aside $542 million for improvements at the state's higher education institutions.

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The governor's plan also calls for more than $10 million to expand the National Eagle Center and make improvements to riverfront infrastructure in the city.

Several other state-owned facilities in southeast Minnesota would also receive upgrades under the governor's proposal. His plan includes $4.5 million to renovate the Department of Natural Resource's Lanesboro Hatchery and $2 million for the Crystal Springs Hatchery in St. Charles, $1.1 million to preserve Historic Forestville in Preston, and $2.1 million for deferred maintenance at Minnesota Correctional Facility  Red Wing.

What else is funded?

The governor's proposal includes $100 million for affordable housing and $167 million to upgrade water infrastructure upgrades. His plan also sets aside $458 million to maintain and upgrade existing state facilities. The governor's office estimates the proposal would create 22,950 jobs.

Which projects aren't in the governor's proposal?

Most request from local governments failed to make it into the proposal. Olmsted County's request for $10 million to redevelop Graham Park was not included. Olmsted County Commissioner Sheila Kiscaden said that is not unexpected because getting local projects funded is always difficult and it often takes years to get a proposal through the Legislature.

"You have to take a long view as you're going for capital bonding," she said.

Also not included was $5 million for Rochester Public Transit's bus garage expansion, $8 million for phase two of the Chatfield Center for the Art redevelopment project or $18.6 million for Oronoco wastewater collection and treatment facilities. However, these projects made it on to a list of $857 million local proposals that the governor said he believes have merit and should be considered by lawmakers  even if they didn't make it into his public works package.

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So if a project makes it into the governor's public works proposal, does that mean it's likely to get funded?

Not necessarily. This is only the start of negotiations over a possible construction borrowing bill, also known as a bonding bill. The Republican-led House and Senate will also put together their own bonding bill proposals. Unlike other bills, bonding measures need a supermajority in order to pass. That means the GOP needs support from Democrats to get a bonding bill to the governor's desk.

What do Republicans think about Dayton's plan?

It's too expensive. That's the consensus from key Republicans.

"The problem with the bill is obviously we're not going to have a bill that approaches $1.5 billion," said Senate Capital Investment Committee Chairman Dave Senjem, R-Rochester.

He said he expects the Senate to put together a proposal half that size. He said the Senate plan will be focused on maintaining basic infrastructure such as wastewater facilities and local roads and bridges. He will also be making a strong push to get $100 million in the bill to expand access to mental health services across the state.

House Capital Investment Committee Chairman Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, said in a statement it would be an "uphill climb" to pass a bill that is $600 million more than what lawmakers budget for last session.

"Last session, the Legislature passed a $1 billion, geographically balanced bonding bill which focused heavily on infrastructure and transportation needs. Any bill that takes shape this year will need to follow that same blueprint. By contrast, the governor's proposal fails to include any of the critical local infrastructure projects that are critical to any bonding bill's success," Urdahl said.

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What do Democrats have to say?

Rochester DFL Rep. Duane Sauke, who serves on the House Capital Investment Committee, said he agrees that the priority needs to be maintaining and repairing the state's existing buildings. He said he was pleased to see the governor's plan funds the RCTC renovation. He noted that there are parts of the college campus where is snows inside  something that should not happen.

"There's just a raft of buildings that need to be repaired that are all across the state. Why that hasn't been done and been delayed, delayed, delayed is a travesty of decision making," Sauke said.

Rep. Alice Hausman, the lead Democrat on the House Capital Investment Committee, praised the governor in a statement for advancing an "aggressive bill."

She added, "Minnesota communities are counting on the legislature to help them fund and improve water infrastructure facilities, housing, higher education, and upgrade unsafe railroad crossings among other critical requests."

Staff writer Randy Petersen contributed to this report.

-------------

Projects funded in Dayton's public works proposal

 $15.3 million for Rochester Community and Technical College renovations

 $10.2 million to expand National Eagle Center, upgrade Wabasha's riverfront infrastructure

 $4.5 million for DNR Lanesboro Hatchery upgrades

 $2 million for DNR Crystal Spring hatchery upgrades

 $2.1 million for Minnesota Correctional Facility  Red Wing deferred maintenance

 $1.7 million for Winona State University improvements

 $1.7 million Whitewater State Party cedar shower building improvements

 $1.6 million Riverland Community College  Austin improvements

 $1.1 million Historic Forestville preservation
Frustrated by high housings costs, medical student Jamal Ismail wants to see change in Rochester.

"Housing is the big issue, because right now if I want to buy a house, it's going to take forever," Ismail said.

So on Tuesday, Ismail registered to vote as part of an initiative launched by Rochester groups to boost voter turnout in the 2018 election by 1,000 voters. He was one of about 25 people gathered for the voter drive in the basement of Rochester Community Baptist Church on Tuesday night.

Communities United for Rochester Empowerment, Rochester for Justice, the NAACP and faith group ISAIAH are leading the voter mobilization effort. The goal is to get more low- and middle-income voters active in politics. The groups' agenda includes pushing for more affordable housing, living wage jobs, public transportation and quality education.

Che Lopez, a community organizer with CURE, told those gathered that the goal is to reach out to people who have never voted before and get them involved.

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"We need to get them out. We need to motivate them. We need to inspire them, to give them hope that the issues we are bringing to the elected officials are the ones that are impacting them," he said.

Rochester residents Jaclyn and Michael Walters were there to hear the discussion. The couple say the high cost of child care is a huge challenge. They have two daughters and a baby due in February.

"I'd love to see child care addressed. There has been a huge deficit in child care and it's honestly really upsetting to me because we are priced out of all the child care. I stay home with the kids," she said.

Kamau Wilkins, founder of Rochester for Justice, said his organization will specifically be focused on getting youths of color engaged in politics. That could include getting them registered to vote, volunteering as door knockers or even talking to family members about the importance of voting. He said these steps could make a huge difference in Rochester elections because some local races have been decided by 400 or 500 votes.

He warned the small gathering at the church not to get discouraged, saying it takes time for a movement to take hold.

"It always starts with a small group of people that have the motivation of something because they really believe," he said.
John noted the performances of certain Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats using DHS Secretary Nielsen as their foil at the committee hearing today, Shithole Day 5. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is a fabulist of the first order. Dick Durbin has nothing on him. He previously fabricated his imaginary friend T-Bone. On Day 5 of Shithole he testified to his tears of rage along while demanding that Nielsen feel his pain. Good grief. What a phony.

"When Dick Durbin called me, I had tears of rage," Booker says. "And for you not to feel that hurt and that pain and to dismiss the questions of my colleagues  with tens of millions Americans hurting right now because they're worried about what happened in the White House." pic.twitter.com/0MS9t8WWM0  CBS News (@CBSNews) January 16, 2018

David Rutz has posted an account of Bookers dramatics here with full video. For a dose of reality on playhouse DACA, see Victor Davis Hansons great Los Angeles Times column What the Dreamer fight is all about.

Quotable quote: I hurt! When Dick Durbin called me, I had tears of rage when I heard about his experience in that meeting, and for you not to feel that hurt and that pain and to dismiss some of the questions of my colleagues  when tens of millions of Americas are hurting right now because of what theyre worried about what happened in the White House, thats unacceptable to me!
Today the Washington Examiner headlined: Google refers to Republican senator David Perdue as lying, unscrupulous politician.' That is certainly eye-catching! Where did Google say this? In the box that shows up on the right side of the page when you search on Perdues name, as I wrote about here. This is the screen shot that the Examiner published:

Thats pretty horrific. If Google has any senseand someone there mustthey are unhappy about it.

What happened? I think the answer is that the text in the knowledge graph, as Google apparently calls it, comes from the Wikipedia page on the subject of the search. Wikipedia entries can be edited by various people authorized to do so, most of whom are on the left. I suppose some lefty Wikipedian inserted the lying, unscrupulous politician in Perdues Wikipedia entry and it was picked up, perhaps by a mechanical process without human intervention, on Googles search page.

If that is the case, the Wikipedia entry has now been scrubbed; likewise the Google search page, which now looks like this:

This incident illustrates, I think, the danger of liberal Silicon Valley companies purporting to educate the rest of us on the facts as they relate to politics. I cant believe that, however left-wing Google may be, it wants to go out of its way to antagonize the political party that controls the House, the Senate, the White House, a large majority of governorships and a large majority of state legislatures. But liberal Google thought it made sense to rely on liberal Wikipedia to furnish basic information about political figures, among others.

If companies like Google have any sense, they will get out of the political fact-checking business altogether.
The New York Times reports that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Steve Bannon to testify before a grand jury as part of the free-wheeling investigation of many things Trump. The Times speculates that Mueller would be willing to forgo the grand jury appearance if Bannon agrees to be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting. Its also possible that Mueller thinks Bannon would prefer to testify pursuant to a subpoena so he can say he had no choice.

The key for Mueller is that he be able to prosecute Bannon for making false statements to him. The grand jury setting is not essential for that purpose, though it has advantages (e.g., the creation of a transcript and the availability of a much longer prison sentence).

The Times notes that Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena the targets of investigations only in rare circumstances. Thus, the issuance of the subpoena indicates that Bannon is not a target of Muellers investigation at this time.

What will Mueller ask Bannon about? The former White House strategist has no firsthand knowledge of the meeting between Team Trump members and that Russian lawyer. Similarly, as the Times acknowledges, he has little if any firsthand knowledge about the firing of James Comey.

To be sure, Bannon was the chief executive of the Trump campaign in October 2016 when WikiLeaks began releasing thousands of stolen personal emails from the hacked account of John Podesta. In the unlikely event that the Trump campaign had anything to do with this, Bannon might well have known about it. But this is probably a dry hole.

What Bannon does have is plenty of second hand knowledge and a big mouth. If Michael Wolff is to be believed, Bannon speculated that Trump knew about the meeting his son and others had with the Russian lawyer and even that Trump himself met with her.

Mueller will likely press Bannon on this point. He will be hoping, I imagine, that Bannon says Trump told him he knew about the meeting and/or actually met the Russians. However, this isnt what Bannon told Wolff.

The other likely avenue of inquiry is alleged money-laundering. Wolff quoted Bannon as telling him:

This is all about money laundering. Their path to [expletive] Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr. and Jared Kushner. Its as plain as a hair on your face.

If Bannon admits saying this, Muellers team will have fun following up.

There is also the UAE angle. According to The Hill:

Blackwater founder Erik Prince in December detailed to [House committee] investigators a January meeting he held with a Russian banker in the Seychelles, brokered by the UAE. Prince, who described his relationship to the Trump campaign as minimal and unofficial, acknowledged that Bannon had told him about a separate December 2016 meeting between the Trump transition team and UAE officials.

Prince said he could not remember whether his conversation with Bannon took place before or after his trip to the Seychelles. But the Dems have assumed that it took place before.

[Prince] had a meeting with Steve Bannon before he made that trip to the Seychelles traveling halfway around the world to have what he described essentially as a coincidental meeting with a Russian in a bar, [Adam] Schiff told ABC News. Which just happened to be a head of one of the Russian Investment Banks. So wed like to know whether Steve Bannon was involved in establishing any kind of a back channel of with the Russians.

I imagine Robert Mueller would like to know the same thing.

The White House may fear that, Bannon, having nothing left to lose, will provide injurious testimony to Mueller. In this connection, I found Breitbarts story on the subpoena of interest. Bannons former publication plays the story straight, largely tracking what the Times reported. At the end, though, there is this:

Bannons comments in [Wolffs] book prompted the presidents fury, but he has since indicated that his anger may not be permanent.

UPDATE: Today, before the House Intelligence Committee, Bannon reportedly refused to answer questions about his time in the White House or during the transition after the 2016 election. The Committee has therefore issued a subpoena.
VODAFONE PUG DELIGHTS THE PREMIER BADMINTON LEAGUE VIEWERS

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Television viewers and spectators at Sundays grand finale at the Vodafone Premiere Badminton League broke into impromptu smiles when they realized they had unexpected company. Lending an entirely unique experience to complement the nail biting match, were the adorable Vodafone Pugs in augmented avatar. This is the first time that augmented reality has been seen on live TV in India.



Consistent with its commitment of keeping over 211 million customers in India confidently connected 24x7, Vodafone showcased its promise of a more robust, data strong network in an evocative yet simple manner. A specially created augmented enclosure drew the attention of match viewers and television audiences alike, with an army of Pugs coming on the court and interacting with the commentators.



The idea was to seamlessly integrate the new Data Strong Network Campaign, being championed by the most loved brand icon, Cheeka - the Pug, with Vodafone Premier Badminton League.



Link to the activation video: https://youtu.be/yY_MRk3KEhw



Siddharth Banerjee, Executive Vice President  Marketing, Vodafone India, said, Vodafone is an acknowledged global leader in technology innovations and has many firsts to its credit in leveraging technology strengths to engage more closely with customers. The finale of the Vodafone Premier Badminton League presented an opportunity for Vodafone India to highlight the newly launched 360 degree Data Strong Network campaign message to our audiences. We wanted to make our campaign ideas bigger and better, by extending this larger than life experience to television viewers  perhaps a first for any Indian brand. The iconic Vodafone Pug, now back with a pack of pugs, brings alive our proposition that the Vodafone network is getting stronger every hour to deliver a Data Strong Network.



About Vodafone India:







Vodafone India is a 100% fully owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group Plc. with operations across the country serving over 210 million customers (over 114 million in rural areas). Commencing operations in 2007, Vodafone is today Indias largest foreign direct investor, with a robust, award-winning business and committed for the long term. Vodafone Business Services serves the needs of enterprises and government by providing total telecommunications (Voice and Data) solutions across mobility and wireline platforms. Our mobile wallet, M-Pesa is a unique and innovative money transfer service from Vodafone that fosters financial inclusion.







Committed to optimizing the near-ubiquitous reach of mobile telephony to address national developmental priorities, the Vodafone Foundation partners are actively engaged in community development initiatives especially in the domains of m-Women, m-Agriculture, m-Education and Disaster Relief. Building on its global experience and expertise, an outreach across







India and offering a comprehensive portfolio of technologies- 2G, 3G & 4G, Vodafone is uniquely positioned to actualize the vision of Digital India







Globally, Vodafone Group is one of the worlds largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone Group has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 48 more, and fixed broadband operations in 19 markets. As of 30 September 2017, Vodafone Group had 522.8 million mobile customers and 18.8 million fixed broadband customers, including India and all of the customers in Vodafones joint ventures and associates. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.

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Stockton Universitys art gallery is hosting two exhibitions featuring paintings and photography through March 28.

James Raczkowskis Visions and 9 New Jersey Photographers is on display in the lower and upper galleries.

Raczkowski, a Brigantine native, is an Iraq veteran and Stockton alumnus who went on to receive his masters degree at the New York Academy of Art. His paintings in Visions reflect his experiences in combat. They depict Middle Eastern tiles and walls covered with posters that look as if they are peeling off in layers, according to a press release from Stockton. The works also incorporate symbolic words such as liberty and freedom.

In 2016, Raczkowski painted portraits of each of Stocktons presidents, which are now at the Campus Center.

A walking gallery talk and reception with Raczkowski are set for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in the lower gallery.

The 9 New Jersey Photographers exhibit features the works of photo artists Barbara Beirne, Terry Boddie, Sandra C. Davis, Michael Froio, Chuck Kelton, Wendy Paton, Alison Rossiter, Helen M. Stummer and Howard F. Zoubek. The photographs cover everything from abstract expressionism to the historical aspects of migration and globalization.

A meet-the-artist talk with the photographers will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. March 6 and will be followed by a conversation with exhibit curator Stephen Perloff, Michael Bzdak and Stockton University Professor of Art Wendel White.

For more information on Visions, 9 New Jersey Photographers or the Art Gallery, visit stockton.edu/artgallery or the gallery, which is open from noon to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
A slick morning commute is likely in spots Thursday morning. However, sunshine and mild temps are in store for the weekend.

Given Wednesdays wet roads, patchy ice will be around through the morning rush.

Northwest winds around a high-pressure system will keep us chilly again, but also dry. High temperatures will struggle to rise much above freezing, topping out somewhere in the mid 30s. When you factor in gusts around 25 mph, layers will be needed if you are spending time outside as wind chills will be in the 20s.

Then, the mercury will be able to break free from the thermometer.

High pressure will shift into the Deep South, changing our winds from northwest to southwest.

The result? Another January thaw, though it will not be as wet or active as last weekends edition.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will all feature ample sunshine. Temperatures start in the mid 40s Friday, but rise into the 50s Saturday and Sunday.

As I mentioned in Wednesdays column, this will be the first time since December and the start of meteorological winter we will have a mild and dry weekend. This will be welcome news for those of you with Christmas lights still outside.

With the mild weather, ice will again break up along the bays and waterways. Ice jams, like the one on the Delaware River in Trenton earlier in the week, are not ruled out.

On the flip side, the open water itself will be good enough for some winter boating. Water temperatures will be in the upper 30s, with light winds.

Mild weather continues into next week, but the dry weather will not.Most of Monday should be dry, but grab your rain gear for Monday night into Tuesday.

Join me Thursday as I start our South Jersey journey. This year, we will report from all 63 towns in The Press coverage area. First stop? Shiloh and Stow Creek. Follow me on social media to see where and when well be there.
Democrat and Vineland native Will Cunningham, a former staff member for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, will run for Congress in New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District.

He will face at least three opponents for the Democratic nomination. State Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said in late No-vember he will run. Tanzie Youngblood, a retired educator from Woolwich Township, and Sean Thom, a Cumberland County resident who is a school administrator in Camden, also are running.

The seat has been held since 1995 by Republican Frank LoBiondo, who announced last Election Day he would not seek re-election in 2018. LoBiondo succeeded Democratic Congressman Bill Hughes, of Ocean City.

Cunninghams announcement was at First Presbyterian Church of Vineland. He said in a press statement he was born and raised in Vineland, and hes committed to fighting for his home district, especially for better jobs and more opportunity for fellow South Jersey residents.

He has worked as a teacher in low-income schools, a policy writer and advocate in Bookers office and as an investigator for the congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, he said.

Cunningham graduated from Vineland High School in 2003 and went to Brown University, graduating in 2007. He said he spent five years teaching U.S. history to eighth-graders in Houston through Teach for America, then went to law school at the University of Texas in Austin.

One of the highlights of teaching was when Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Cunningham said. You could see how much it meant to them. I was teaching U.S. history and seeing it unfold.

Cunningham said he is again a Vineland resident, after spending most of the past five years working in Washington, D.C., where he first worked for Booker and then for the oversight committee.

He said he expects to have a spirited, healthy debate against other candidates in the Democratic primary.

If elected, his priorities will be the economy and jobs, especially for low- and middle- income people, Cunningham said.

His mother lost her job at a printing company when he was in high school, because of an illness, he said. She didnt have paid sick time, and her illness caused the family to become homeless for a while.

I threw myself into the only thing I could control, Cunningham said. That was my academics.

He said he signed up for every extra-curricular activity he could think of, including mock trial and the debate team, to put off returning to the hotel room where he and his family lived.

That led to a resume for an Ivy League education, he said.

Now his mom is doing well but is still an hourly wage worker, Cunningham said.

He wants to improve options for such workers with certificate training programs that will help them qualify for better paying jobs, even without a college education.

Cunningham said his work at the oversight committee included cracking down on pharmaceutical companies unfair prescription-drug pricing practices.

Former FBI agent and Brigantine resident Robert Turkavage has announced he will run for the seat in the Republican primary.
WILDWOOD  More than 100 dogs and their owners pranced around the Wildwoods Convention Center on Wednesday for one of the largest shows in the area before the Westminster Dog Show next month.

The Boardwalk Kennel Clubs annual Atlantic Ocean Classic, which runs until Sunday, brings dogs and their owners from throughout the country to the area for a rare and popular winter event at the shore.

Donna Bruce, a native of Williamsburg, Virginia, has competed in dog shows up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest. She also has competed 32 times at the Westminster Dog Show, and will be heading back next month.

She competes at the shows with her partner, Julie Lacey-Black, of Mariaville, Maine. Bruce, who said she currently has 16 dogs, said she raises the female dogs in Virginia, while Lacey-Black raises the male dogs.

She said she is very impressed with the convention center and the dog shows operation.

Its a beautiful facility and a great event, she said. We will definitely be coming back here again.

Dolly and Frank Teti, of Berlin, Camden County, have been competing in the Wildwood show and others in North Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania for six years. This year, they brought their golden retriever, Bentley, to Wildwood.

Our regular obedience trainer brought this up to us, so we tried it and have been doing it ever since, Dolly Teti said.

Dolly and Frank both said they think they get more excited for the show than their dogs do.

(Bentley) doesnt care; he just wants to know when dinner is, Frank Teti joked.

Not all of the competitors traveled far.

Joe Rodano, of Wildwood Crest, brought Bella, his miniature bull-terrier, to the show for the seventh year.

I used to show horses when I was a kid in Vineland, and now Ive moved on to do this, he said. I bought Bella to be my best friend, and now we both have fun at the shows.

The dog show continues until Sunday. Competitions begin at 8:30 a.m. daily, with certified judges determining the winners. Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and $2 for children under 12. They are available at the door the day of the event.
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DETROIT, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Adient Aerospace will develop, manufacture, and sell a portfolio of seating products to airlines and leasing companies

Adient, plc (NYSE: ADNT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) today announced the formation of Adient Aerospace, a joint venture that will develop, manufacture, and sell a portfolio of seating products to airlines and aircraft leasing companies. The seats will be available for installation on new airplanes and as retrofit configurations for aircraft produced by Boeing and other commercial airplane manufacturers.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629597/Adient_Aerospace_Logo.jpg )



The joint venture between Adient, the global leader in automotive seating, and Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, addresses the aviation industry's need for more capacity in the seating category, superior quality and reliable on-time performance. Adient Aerospace will benefit from the world-class engineering teams and innovative cultures at both companies, as well as shared expertise in managing complex, global supply chains.

"Adient has a strong set of transferable competencies that will offer a unique opportunity to create value for our company and for Boeing, our shareholders and the broader commercial aircraft market," said Adient chairman and CEO Bruce McDonald. "To enhance the customer experience for passengers, airlines and commercial airplane manufacturers, we will apply our unmatched expertise for comfort and craftsmanship along with our reputation for operational excellence."

"Seats have been a persistent challenge for our customers, the industry and Boeing, and we are taking action to help address constraints in the market. Adient Aerospace will leverage Boeing's industry leadership and deep understanding of customer needs and technical requirements, to provide a superior seating product for airlines and passengers around the world," said Kevin Schemm, senior vice president of Supply Chain Management, Finance & Business Operations and chief financial officer for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This joint venture supports Boeing's vertical integration strategy to develop in-house capabilities and depth in key areas to offer better products, grow services and generate higher lifecycle value."

Adient Aerospace's headquarters, technology center and initial production plant will be located in Kaiserslautern, Germany, near Frankfurt. The joint venture's initial customer service center will be based in Seattle, Washington. Adient Aerospace aftermarket spare parts distribution will be performed exclusively through Aviall, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing.

Adient is the majority stakeholder in the new company (50.01 percent share) and expects the joint venture to be included in its consolidated financial statements. Boeing (as 49.99 percent partner) will receive a proportionate share of the earnings and cash flow. Both will have representation on Adient Aerospace's board of directors.

Industry analysts forecast the commercial aircraft seating market to grow from approximately $4.5 billion in 2017 to $6 billion by 2026.

About Adient:

Adient is the global leader in automotive seating. With 85,000 employees operating 238 manufacturing/assembly plants in 34 countries worldwide, we produce and deliver automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design all the way to engineering and manufacturing - and into more than 25 million vehicles every year. For more information on Adient, please visit adient.com .

About Boeing:

Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial airplanes and defense, space and security systems. Boeing is also the world leader in combined commercial airlines and government services with customers in more than 150 countries. The company's products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training. Boeing employs approximately 140,000 people across the United States and in more than 65 countries. Company revenues for 2016 were $94.6 billion.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Adient has made statements in this document that are forward-looking and, therefore, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this document other than statements of historical fact are statements that are, or could be, deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this document, statements regarding Adient's future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, capital expenditures or debt levels and plans, objectives, outlook, targets, guidance or goals 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. Adient cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Adient's control, that could cause Adient's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks related to: the ability of Adient Aerospace to successfully implement its strategic initiatives or realize the expected benefits of the joint venture, the ability of Adient to meet debt service requirements, the ability and terms of financing, general economic and business conditions, the strength of the U.S. or other economies, automotive vehicle production levels, mix and schedules, energy and commodity prices, the availability of raw materials and component products, currency exchange rates, the ability of Adient to effectively integrate the Futuris business, and cancellation of or changes to commercial arrangements. A detailed discussion of risks related to Adient's business is included in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Adient's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017 filed with the SEC on November 22, 2017 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, available at http://www.sec.gov. Potential investors and others should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document, unless otherwise specified, and, except as required by law, Adient assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this document.

In addition, this document includes certain projections provided by Adient with respect to the anticipated future performance of Adient's businesses. Such projections reflect various assumptions of Adient's management concerning the future performance of Adient's businesses, which may or may not prove to be correct. The actual results may vary from the anticipated results and such variations may be material. Adient does not undertake any obligation to update the projections to reflect events or circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of subsequent events. No representations or warranties are made as to the accuracy or reasonableness of such assumptions or the projections based thereon.

CONTACT

Adient:

Ulrich Andree

T: +49-2174-65-4343

ulrich.andree@adient.com

Boeing Communications

T: +1-312-544-2002

SOURCE Adient Ltd. & Co. KG
The GA4 is a brand new compact sedan independently developed by GAC Motor for the A-class sedan market. Its overall design displays a grand and fashionable vision with ample interior space and excellent driving comfort. The introduction of GA4 further enriches GAC Motor's product matrix, which covers A-level to C-level sedan market. The company is bringing this new sedan to market on January 18 in Shanghai.

GAC Motor unveiled its first compact sport-utility new energy concept vehicle, the Enverge, to demonstrate its innovative leadership in core environmental technologies. The Enverge is GAC Motor's brand-new exploration in the field of electric crossover vehicles. Featuring many technological achievements, Enverge demonstrates the innovative allure of NEVs and creates a new driving experience for energetic young drivers.

GAC Motor's high-end strategic models, GA8, GS8, and GM8 are also at 2018 NAIAS to demonstrate the company's product strength together with other signature models, including GS3, GS4, GS7, and GA6. With the release of GA8, GS8, and GM8, GAC Motor has covered the high-end sedan, SUV and minivan market with a complete layout of luxury C-Class vehicles, which is a major milestone for GAC Motor as the company begins to transition to a new era of Chinese-led global products.

GAC Motor aspires to take an active part in integrating China into the tide of the global auto industry. GAC Motor is well prepared to embrace the challenges of entering the mature US market by offering leading quality, technology, and design. The company has been the highest-ranking Chinese brand in the Asia Pacific's China Initial Quality Study (IQS) for five consecutive years, showcasing the significant achievements of Chinese brands in terms of quality improvement.

In 2017, GAC Motor established its North American R&D center in Silicon Valley and hosted job fairs in Silicon Valley, Detroit and Boston. Since January this year, GAC Motor has started another round of recruitment programs in America to attract emerging talent in diverse fields.

GAC Motor is also expanding its efforts to raise brand awareness and increase its influence. Later this year, GAC Motor will announce a new branding strategy to the world, as well as the new English brand name to better serve our consumers across countries. GAC Motor North America Sales Company is set to be established in 2018. The company will, for the first time ever, attend the annual convention of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) in Las Vegas this March, further expanding its distribution network and dealership resources.

It is also noteworthy that GAC Motor has attached great significance to CSR beside keeping fast growth. The company has continuously engaged in major public welfare activities with a focus on global environmental protection, including building China's first-ever "Three-River Source National Park" with WWF.

"We look forward to the increasing attention and support worldwide," added Yu Jun. "In our pursuit of the North American market, GAC Motor stands ready to share our high-quality products and work with all of you to create a better life of mobility."

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 ranks 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 had a production and sales volume of 500,000 vehicles in 2017 and aims to reach 1,000,000 vehicles by 2020.With sales and services networks established in 14 countries supported by top global suppliers, GAC Motor is to enter US market in 2019.

For more information, 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

GACMotor@126.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629230/GAC_Motor_Enverge.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629473/Yu_Jun_President_of_GAC_Motor.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629474/The_Press_Conference_of_GAC_Motor_at_the_2018_NAIAS.jpg

SOURCE GAC Motor
"The Rochard doll not only symbolizes the golden age of French dolls, but also appealed to scholars of photography and French culture and history," said Stuart Holbrook, President of Theriault's. The breastplate of the doll was decorated with an elaborately painted necklace which featured 28 crystal "jewels". Hidden inside 24 of these jewels were tiny, tiny micro-photographs depicting historic scenes of France such as Fontainebleau, Louvre, Hotel de Ville of Paris and more. The doll was deposed in France in 1868 and was designed that, when held closely to the eye, each image would be magnified 160 times.

Two previous world auction doll records were achieved in 2014 when Theriault's and then a London based firm respectively achieved records of $300,000 and 242,500 pounds, both records for dolls created in the early 20th century. The present Rochard record price is not only a new world record for any doll sold at auction, based on current conversion, it is also the first time that a 19th century doll has achieved that honor.

Theriault's is a 48 year old family-owned firm, specializes exclusively in the auction and appraisal of antique dolls and childhood objects, and has notably handled such important collections as the Legoland Museum of Antique Dolls in Denmark and the Shirley Temple private collection of childhood dolls and film ephemera.

Contact

Stuart Holbrook, President

410-224-3655

stuart@theriaults.com

Theriault's

PO Box 151

Annapolis, MD 21404

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629555/Theriaults_Rochard_Doll_Auction.jpg

Related Links

http://www.theriaults.com



SOURCE Theriault's
Positions Usermind for Accelerated Growth and International Expansion

SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Usermind, leader of the customer engagement hub category, today announced the close of a $23.5M Series C round led by Northgate Capital with follow-on investments from current investors Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures and CRV. Since emerging from stealth in 2016, Usermind has doubled its employee headcount, tripled its customer base and increased its total revenue tenfold. With this latest round, the company will open its first international office in Europe, as well as scale its sales and marketing teams to meet growing demand for its customer engagement hub platform.

With the investment, Northgate Capital Managing General Partner and CEO Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny joins Usermind's board. Former Head of Global Private Equity Investments and current Advisory Board Member at McKinsey & Company, Khajeh-Hosseiny brings more than 20 years of in-depth knowledge and experience advising companies on the cutting edge of customer-centric digital transformation and customer journeys.

"Customer journey orchestration is critical for enterprise competitiveness, and we are very impressed with Michel and the team she has assembled to tackle this problem," said Dr. Khajeh-Hosseiny. "Usermind has the potential to become a category leader, and we are delighted to be able to work with them to achieve that goal."

Global 2000 enterprises are facing disruption from both startups and digital giants like Amazon moving into their incumbent businesses. To compete, enterprise customer engagement must focus on long-lived customer journeys versus one-off transactional interactions. Purpose-built for the enterprise, Usermind enables full-lifecycle journey orchestration by connecting and activating a business's heterogeneous technology stack (on-premise, cloud, and homegrown systems) to deliver personalized, data-driven customer experiences at scale.

"Usermind has been an amazing addition to our technology stack," says Mike Braund, Director, Marketing Operations at Tableau. "We drive more personalized, contextual customer experiences and amplify our marketing efforts with Usermind. It enables us to surface data from different systems and databases outside of marketing, and make it actionable in Eloqua."

"Customer experience is the new battleground. Customer experience leaders grow 2030 percent faster than their peers," said Michel Feaster, Co-Founder and CEO of Usermind. "Global enterprises don't have the luxury of ripping and replacing their current technology infrastructure or rebuilding it all from scratch. Usermind is the missing ingredient in an enterprise's digital transformation, helping bridge the gap between a company's fragmented technology landscape and a unified customer experience."

About Usermind

Usermind's Customer Engagement Hub helps companies deliver highly personalized, data-driven customer experiences. With code-free integration, a unified record of customer data, and cross-system data mapping, companies can orchestrate customer journeys  omnichannel customer experiences based on a customer's current context and full interaction history. With Usermind's customer journey analytics, companies can get insight and immediately implement new processes to drive engagement, retention, and revenue. To learn more, visit https://usermind.com and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About Northgate Capital

Founded in 2000, Northgate Capital is a leading global private equity fund manager with offices in San Francisco, London and Mexico, and more than US$5 billion in committed capital. Northgate has built a platform of over 50 professionals across Europe, North America and Latin America. For more information, please visit www.northgate.com.

Press Contact

Lexy Quadracci, Revere PR for Usermind

lexy.quadracci@revereagency.co, 206-962-0911

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629494/Usermind_Logo.jpg

Related Links

https://usermind.com



SOURCE Usermind
Buldhana (Maharashtra), Jan 12 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday blamed the BJP and RSS for the January 1 casteist riots in Koregaon-Bhima which claimed one life.

The Aam Aadami Party supremo said that "if people want riots, then they should elect the BJP, which follows a specific pattern in this".

He alleged that BJP-RSS workers attacked Dalits in the Pune village of Koregaon-Bhima which led to caste tensions all over Maharashtra subsequently, including a statewide shutdown on January 3.

Kejriwal, who was on a day's Maharashtra tour, addressed a public rally at Sindkhedraja, the birth place of Rajmata Jijabai, the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Buldhana district.

He also targetted state Education Minister Vinod Tawde, "for shutting down thousands of schools permanently," and said those who can't run schools, how can they be expected to run the state government efficiently.

Incidentally, Kejriwal has earned kudos for improvements and empowement of public schools in Delhi state.

"Maharashtra is the land of great personality like Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule, who dedicated their lives for the education of women and children. They started India's first school for children but the BJP led government here is shutting down thousands of schools," he said.

He urged the people to think whether they had they voted the BJP-led government to shut down schools.

The Delhi CM alleged that the BJP in Maharashtra had "crushed" the dreams of the Phules and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by its actions.

He stressed the need for the Maharashtra government to allocate more funds to the education sector, considering its annual budget is Rs 3 lakh crore, as compared to the Delhi budget of Rs 48,000 crore.

Accusing the Maharashtra government of corruption, Kejriwal said: "You have to choose between riots or food, employment, education and peace. If you want riots, then vote for the BJP."

He highlighted the achievements of the Delhi Government in the education, power and farming sectors and lamented the plight of farmers in Maharashtra.

On the occasion, Col. Sudhir Sawant (retd), a former Congress Member of Parliament from Konkan, joined the AAP.
Seoul, Jan 13 : North Korea has offered talks to South Korea on sending its art troupe to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Seoul's Unification Ministry said on Saturday.

North Korea proposed a working-level dialogue on January 15 in Tongilgak, a building controlled by North Kora in the truce village of Panmunjom, to discuss the issue, Xinhua reported.

The proposal was sent to the South Korean side through the restored hotline in Panmunjom, which straddles the heavily guarded inter-Korean land border.

It was a counterproposal to South Korea's offer on Friday to hold working-level talks on January 15 at the Peace House in the South Korean side of Panmunjom to discuss the dispatch of all delegations from North Korea, including the art group.

North Korea said it will notify South Korea of its proposed schedules for working-level dialogues about other issues such as the dispatch of athletes and cheering squads.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas held senior-level talks in Panmunjom, the first high-level dialogue between the two Koreas in about two years, agreeing that North Korea will join the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games slated to run from February to March in South Korea's eastern county of PyeongChang.
Shiberghan (Afghanistan), Jan 14 : At least one Islamic State (IS) militant was killed and two others injured in a clash between the radical IS outfit and Taliban fanatic group in Jawzjan province on Sunday, provincial governor's spokesman Mohammad Reza Ghafori said.

The clash, according to the official, took place in the wake of the IS terror group killing a Taliban commander a few days ago.

The Taliban fighters in retaliation stormed the rival group's position in Darzab district on Sunday, killing at least one fighter and injuring two others, Xinhua news agency reported.

Taliban militants were preparing to launch a massive offensive against the IS group in Darzab and Qush Tepa districts, the official said.

IS fighters who gained ground in Darzab and neighbouring Qush Tepa district a year ago have been fighting to consolidate positions and expand their influence in Jawzjan and adjoining Saripul, Faryab and Balkh provinces.
Geneva, Jan 14 : The World Economic Forum (WEF) on Sunday ranked India at the 30th position on a global manufacturing index, five places below China, but higher than the other BRICS members Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

Releasing its Global Manufacturing Index here on Sunday, WEF said Japan topped the rankings in its "Readiness for the future of production report" on the basis of developing the best structure of production.

Japan is followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the US, Sweden, Austria and Ireland in the top 10.

While China figures among the WEF's "leading countries", India has been placed in the "Legacy" group along with Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, among others, and Brazil as well as South Africa are among the "nascent" ones.

The report notes that the 25 countries placed in the "leading" category were in the best position to gain as production systems stand on the brink of exponential change.

Regarding India, which had a total manufacturing value of over $420 billion in 2016, the report said that its manufacturing sector has grown by over 7 per cent per annum on average in the past three decades and accounts for 16-20 per cent of India's GDP.

"Home to the second-largest population in the world and one of the fastest growing economies, the demand for Indian manufactured products is rising. India has room for improvement across the drivers of production, except for demand environment where it ranks in the top 5," the WEF said.

The report also referred to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government's Make in India programme to turn the country into a manufacturing hub, and the move towards a more connected economy with the announcement of infrastructure investment of $59 billion in 2017.

Modi is slated to address the inaugural plenary session of the WEF at Davos on January 23, marking the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the prestigious global business meet since 1997. He is to be followed by an impressive array of Indian ministers who will take part in various group sessions.

According to observers, Modi's first visit to WEF is an opportunity to interact with foreign investors following the implementation of the major structural reform of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as well as the demonetisation measure of November 2016.
Patna, Jan 14 : As many as 26 persons, including 10 women, have been arrested in connection with stone-pelting on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's convoy in Buxar district and a high-level probe is underway, an official said on Sunday.

"In the last two days, 26 persons have been arrested," the district official said in Buxar.

Upset over lack of development, a group of villagers on Friday stoned the convoy in Nandan village during the Chief Minister's ongoing 'Samiksha Yatra', injuring nearly a dozen security personnel.

According to police, when Nitish Kumar was passing through the village, some people urged him to visit the area inhabited by Dalits which they claimed was neglected.

But the Chief Minister ignored the plea, angering the villagers who attacked his convoy. Some youths also shouted slogans against Nitish Kumar.

Police had said that nearly a dozen police officials were injured and windscreens of several vehicles damaged in the attack.

Five FIRs have been registered in connection with the incident against 99 named and 500-700 unnamed persons.

Nitish Kumar on Sunday said he was the "target" of the attack.

Patna Divisional Commissioner Anand Kishore visited Buxar on Saturday along with Inspector General of Police (Patna Zone) N.H. Khan and began a probe.
Chandigarh, Jan 15 : Facing public rap for sluggish action after three brutal gang rapes were reported in the state, Haryana Police on Monday said raids were on to arrest the culprits.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also said that the police was making all efforts to arrest the accused.

Three cases of rape -- including two of minor girls -- were reported in the past one week.

A 15-year-old Class 10 student in Kurukshetra district was gang-raped and her private parts mutilated after her murder in adjoining Jind district. The victim was reported missing on January 9 after she left her home for tuition. A Class 12 student has been detained for questioning.

An 11-year-old Dalit girl was raped and murdered allegedly by her two neighbours in Panipat district on Saturday night. Accused Pradeep Kumar, 27, and Sagar, 22, lured the victim away when she went out of her house to throw garbage.

Both accused have been arrested.

On Saturday night, a 22-year-old woman was abducted and gang-raped by four unidentified men in a sport utility vehicle.
Mumbai, Jan 16 : Almost a decade after he narrowly survived the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Moshe Holtzberg arrived in Mumbai on a cool Tuesday morning.

Then a toddler, now the 11-year-old bespectacled Moshe, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) along with his grandparents, with whom he grew up in Israel.

Appearing a tad bewildered by presence of a large media posse outside the CSIA, he kept close to his grandmother, with grandfather following nearby.

At the media's insistence, Moshe managed to say: "Shalom... Bahut khush" (Greetings, very happy)", as they stepped out around 8 am today.

"I want to pray in Nariman House, where Moshe's parents were killed... Moshe likes the people of India and loves the country. He wants to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said the boy's grandfather, Shimon Rosenberg, sporting a snowwhite beard.

Along with the visiting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Moshe is likely to visit the Chabad House, located in Nariman House building in Colaba, one of the targets of 10 Pakistani extremists during the Mumbai terror strikes.

However, Moshe's parents -- Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg -- were not so fortunate and were shot down in the indiscriminate firing in Chabad House.

Arriving in Mumbai in 2003, the Holtzbergs ran the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish outreach centre serving the tiny local Jewish community and visiting Israelis in the city, which was shut down after the terror strikes and reopened only in 2014.

When they were felled by terror bullets, the US-born Rabbi Gavriel was 29 and his Israel-born wife Rivka was 28.

Unknown to them, their toddler son Moshe, then barely two, was protected and saved by his Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel, and later they were taken to Israel.

As a gesture of goodwill for saving little Moshe's life, Samuel was later granted an honorary citizenship of Israel and continues to live and work there.
Brussels, Jan 16 : Brexit could still be avoided if UK citizens changed their minds and decided they did not want their country to leave the European Union, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Tusk said Europe had never had a change of heart and was still open to the UK, following many calls from within the UK to hold a second referendum on the country's future within the bloc, Efe news agency reported.

"Unless there is a change of heart among our British friends, Brexit will become a reality -- with all its negative consequences -- in March next year," he said.

In his first speech of the year to the European Parliament, he said David Davis, chief Brexit negotiator for the UK, had himself said that if a democracy could not change its mind, it stopped being a democracy.

His statements were made amid a new wave of outrage among pro-Remain Britons, who were reacting to an interview by Brexit campaigner and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who on Monday said his famous claim that Brexit could see 350 million pounds ($483 million) pumped weekly into the British economy was too low an estimate.

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian newspaper, Johnson said up to 438 million pounds could actually be made every week in the UK once Brexit was finalised, a figure even higher than his original prediction that had been emblazoned on campaign buses and disproved by experts.

"He sold Brexit on a false prospectus and with the NHS in crisis people are rightly asking where is the money and if it's not forthcoming they should have the right to change their mind. The man is a snake oil salesman," said Eloise Todd, CEO of Best for Britain, an organisation trying to fight Brexit.

The calls for a second referendum on the country's imminent departure from the EU have grown, and even Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, whose main goal was Brexit, has said that a new vote would be useful.

Farage argued on Thursday that another Brexit referendum would reinforce the pro-Leave position in a country split in half, but Remain backers said support for their position had grown and welcomed a call they believed could halt Brexit.
Mumbai, Jan 16 : Almost a decade after he narrowly survived the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the orphaned Moshe Holtzberg arrived in Mumbai on a cool Tuesday morning on his first visit to India.

Then a toddler on the verge of turning two and now an 11-year-old, the bespectacled Moshe, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) along with his grandparents, with whom he grew up in Israel.

Appearing a tad bewildered by the presence of a large media posse outside the CSIA, he kept close to his grandmother, with his grandfather following nearby.

Accompanying them was his savior and Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel, who has lived with and looked after him in Israel since the harrowing experiences of 26/11 in the Chabad House, which is inside Nariman House in Colaba, in the southern tip of Mumbai.

At the media's insistence, Moshe managed to say: "Shalom... Bahut khush" (Greetings, I feel very happy)", as they stepped out around 8 a.m.

He religiously sported a small brimless cloth cap, called 'kippah' - which he kept on all through the day in Mumbai.

"I want to pray in Nariman House, where Moshe's parents were killed... Moshe likes the people of India and loves the country. He wants to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said the boy's grandfather, Shimon Rosenberg, sporting a snowwhite beard.

Later, in the afternoon, the entire family, including Samuel, visited the Chabad House, in Nariman House, Colaba, which was under siege by two Pakistani terrorists who gunned down seven persons there, including Moshe's young parents.

They were warmly received there by the present Rabbi, Israel Kozlovsky, who also heads the Chabad Trust in India, along with his toddler child and other officials.

Moshe and his grandparents offered a brief but solemn prayer at the small synagogue here, visited the library and various other rooms, including the one in which his parents were felled by the terrorists bullets during the November 26-29 strikes.

Samuel took them around the room where Moshe's parents were killed, and recounted the chilling events of that day to him and his grandparents, against the backdrop of the bullet-ridden walls, damaged plaster and floor, some tell-tale reddish-brown stains (probably blood) of the dance of death in the building exactly nine years and three months ago.

At one point, Rabbi Kozlovsky, his wife and Samuel posed before a large portrait of Moshe's parents which hangs in one of the corridors of Chabad House, most of which has undergone a renovation.

Along with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Moshe is likely to visit the Chabad House on Thursday, to declare it as a Living Memorial.

Arriving in Mumbai in 2003, (Moshe's parents) the Holtzbergs ran the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish outreach centre serving the tiny local Jewish community and visiting Israelis in the city, which was shut down after the terror strikes and reopened only in 2014.

When they were killed in the indiscriminate firing, the US-born Rabbi Gavriel was 29 and his Israel-born wife Rivka was 28.

Unknown to them, their toddler son Moshe, then barely two, was protected and saved by his Indian nanny, Samuel, and later they were taken to Israel.

As a gesture of goodwill for saving little Moshe's life, Samuel was later granted an honorary citizenship of Israel and continues to live and work there.
Ahmedabad, Jan 16 : A day after he reappeared from his brief disappearance, Vishwa Hindu Parishad's international working president Pravin Togadia on Tuesday expressed the possibility that he may be killed. But Gujarat Police have dismissed it as a "made-up story" while their Raj Togadia was found unconscious in a hospital in Shahibagh locality in Ahmedabad late on Monday after being reported missing in the day earlier.

"I am being targeted for a decade old case, there is an attempt to suppress my voice. Rajasthan Police team came to arrest me. Someone told me the plan was to kill," Togadia said at a press conference in Ahmedabad.

However, on Tuesday evening, Gujarat Police termed as a "made-up story" Togadia's claim that Rajasthan Police along with its Gujarat counterparts had a "hidden conspiracy" to kill him and added that it did not match with the investigations into his day-along disappearance drama on Monday.

Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) J.K. Bhatt told reporters that there was no truth in Togadia's claims before the media that he fell unconscious and was brought to a hospital after a dramatic fall in his sugar levels.

"He was never unconscious. He was fine and organised his own shifting to hospital on Monday night," Bhatt said, on the basis of police interrogations, CCTV footage and call details. The VHP International Working President enjoys Z-Plus security cover.

Rajasthan Police also denied rumours that they had arrested Togadia.

Bharatpur Range IG Alok Kumar Vashishth, in a press note, said that their team has not arrested went to his residence in Ahmedabad with an arrest warrant on Monday, but came back empty-handed as Togadia couldn't be found there.

According to Rajasthan Police, the case was filed against him when he called a public meeting in Gangapur city in Sawai Madhopur in April 2002 in defiance of prohibitory orders.

Togadia meanwhile said Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and state Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria had assured him that there was no police action underway against him.

"They told me 'they have not sent any police' and that 'if something like this would be happening we would have known it'... When I realised the CM and Home Minister are denying the police action, I switched off all my mobile phones so that my location could not be traced.... Later I got to know that they (police) have come with an arrest warrant," he said.

On Monday, Togadia was brought by people to the private Chandramani Hospital in an "unconscious state", which the doctors claimed was caused by low level of sugar.

According to the Crime Branch, Togadia left the VHP office in Paldi at around 10.30-10.45 a.m. on Monday and was accompanied by VHP worker Dhirubhai Kapuriya. Kapuriya informed the guard posted outside the VHP office that Togadia would be back in 15-20 minutes. Both then left around 11.08 a.m. in an autorickshaw.

"They then went to the place of another VHP worker Ghanshyambhai Charandas at Thaltej around 11.31 a.m. and left for Nehrunagar at around 2 p.m. After which Togadia switched off his cellphone."

Around 7.52 p.m., Ghanshyambhai's driver Nikul Rabari was summoned and they reached Sardarnagar area at around 8.33 p.m. Ghanshyambhai apparently called 108 Emergency ambulance service from the driver's phone, stating that an unidentified person was unwell. After that, Nikul Rabari was asked to leave the venue and both Ghanshyambhai and Togadia waited for the ambulance to arrive.

On arrival of the ambulance, Ghanshyambhai instructed the driver to drive Togadia straight to Chandramani Hospital without any primary treatment. After having ensured that Togadia had reached the hospital, Ghanshyambhai left.

"Ghanshyambhai had claimed that he had been to Gandhinagar and Daskroi during the day but the technical analysis of his location suggests that he was at his residence throughout. This is contrary to the claim made by him," according to the Crime Branch statement.

The statement also suggests that prima facie analysis indicated that "Dr Agrawal of Chandramani Hospital, where Togadia remains admitted, had been contacted around 6 p.m. on his mobile".

"We would definitely take the statement of the doctor," Bhatt told media persons that police was yet to record the statements of Togadia and the doctor.
Gaza, Jan 16 : The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) vowed on Tuesday to continue its services despite the possibility that the US will stop its financial aid.

"Despite austerity, the Agency is committed to continue its vital services to the Palestinian refugees," UNRWA Spokesman Sami Masha'sa said in a press release, reported Xinhua.

This commitment will not be affected by any intention of the US to withhold assistance from the agency, he said.

The US is so far the biggest supporter of the UNRWA, contributing more than $300 million annually.

"Even if without this year's U.S. financial pledges, UNRWA will not leave Palestinian refugees alone and will continue to operate in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as its presence and services in East Jerusalem," Masha'sa noted.

UNRWA provides services to 5.3 million refugees in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and operates 711 schools and 143 health clinics.

The US has threatened to freeze or delay its financial support payment to the UNRWA until the Palestinians return to the negotiating table with Israel.

UNRWA plays a significant role in supporting Palestinian refugees by providing access to education, healthcare, social services and employment in the occupied Palestinian territories and in neighboring states.
Kuwait City, Jan 17 : Kuwait will host the ministerial meeting of the US-led International Coalition against the Islamic State on February 13, Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah said on Tuesday.

The meeting is part of efforts to fight against terrorism, he said, Xinhua reported.

Applauding the coalition for the tangible progress it has made in Iraq and Syria, he stressed that more cooperation is needed to ensure peace and security in the world.

He also hoped that this significant meeting would be fruitful.

The US-led international coalition against the IS includes US military forces and personnel from over 30 countries.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : "Suggestions" on Air India's strategic divestment are welcome but the proposed stake sale in the debt-ridden national carrier will go on, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju has said.

On recent reports that a Parliamentary Panel might recommend to scuttle the divestment process, Raju said: "Members of Parliament are free to suggest. Whatever suggestion they give us, we will look at them. Recommendations, discussions on the issue are always welcome.

"However, I don't think that anything will be called back. That's not the way how government can work," Raju told IANS in an interview at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, here.

Recently, reports have pointed out that a Parliamentary Standing Committee might ask the government to suspend the divestment process and to give Air India at least five years to get back to its feet.

Currently, a ministerial panel is firming up the contours of the strategic divestment -- of at least 51 per cent stake -- in Air India and its subsidiaries.

"The (process) is going on, guided by the Alternative Mechanism, but I will not fix any timelines to it, especially for the decisions made on such levels, Raju said.

The ministerial group -- Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism -- headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is looking into the modalities to divest Air India.

Apart from modalities, the ministerial group has been mandated to decide on key issues such as treatment of Air India's debt and hiving-off of its assets.

Last month, green Shakshuka had been appointed as transaction adviser to aid the government in the strategic divestment process.

The airline group is under a massive debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, had posted an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16, and is expected to report an improved operating profit margin for the last fiscal.

The national carrier got a new lease of life in April 2012, when the then UPA government approved a Rs 30,000-crore turnaround and financial restructuring package spanning up to 2021.

Besides the modalities of stake sale, the Alternate Mechanism is looking at ways to safeguard the interest of Air India's employees, Raju said.

"Government will not like its employees to be at a disadvantageous position. Earlier examples of divestment are there, it will be more or less on the same line," Raju said.

At present, Air India and its subsidiaries have nearly 20,000 employees with 11,500 being on the airline's payroll.

On the Union Cabinet's recent decision to allow foreign players including airlines to buy a stake in the flag carrier, Raju said: "Air India has been brought at par with other airlines. All Indian players are now equal."

Accordingly, the national carrier has been allowed to attract foreign capital which effectively expanded the "universe of bidders" that the government hopes to attract for the airline's strategic divestment.

Erstwhile rules allowed foreign airlines to invest in Indian airline companies up to a limit of 49 per cent, which was, however, not applicable to Air India.

Till now budget passenger carrier IndiGo has evinced interest in buying the airline's international operations and its subsidiary Air India Express.

In addition, aviation industry majors SATS, Bird Group and Celebi have shown interest in buying Air India's ground handling unit.

(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.in)
Rio De Janeiro, Jan 17 : Manchester City forward Marlos Moreno has joined Flamengo on a year-long loan, the Brazilian club announced.

The Colombia international had been on loan at Spanish side Girona, where he made just four appearances in six months, reports Xinhua news agency.

Moreno arrived in Rio de Janeiro for a medical on Saturday and took part in his first training session on Monday, Flamengo officials said.

Manchester City signed Moreno in August 2016 from Colombia's Atletico Nacional but the 21-year-old is yet to make his debut for Pep Guardiola's team. He has been capped eight times for Colombia and scored one goal.
Agartala, Jan 17 : Following the instructions of the Election Commission, ahead of the assembly elections, the Tripura police chief has transferred 151 officers, including 20 offcers-in-charge (OC) of police stations, a senior officer said here on Wednesday.

"Twenty OCs among 151 police officers in the rank of sub-inspector and inspector have been transferred in different posts across Tripura," the senior police officer said quoting the orders of the Director General of Police Akhil Kumar Sukhla.

The Election Commission, which is likely to announce the elections to the state assembly soon, earlier asked the state police authority to transfer those police officers who are posted in their home district or sub-division or in a place for more than three years.

A poll panel team led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain would arrive here on Thursday to review the preparedness of the Tripura assembly elections, due in next month.

Tripura, the country's second Left-ruled state after Kerala, will see assembly polls in February to elect its new state assembly.

Two other northeastern states -- Meghalaya and Nagaland, will have polling in the same period. The assemblies in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland have 60 seats each.

The five-year terms of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura assemblies would expire on March 6, 13 and 14, respectively.

The full Election Commission (EC) led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A.K. Joti had visited all the three northeastern states earlier and reviewed the poll preparedness and also asked the state officials to ensure the conducive law and order situation for holding of assembly elections.

"The Election Commission has also asked the state authorities to arrest those people against whom warrants are pending," the police official added.

Even before the announcement of the election schedule, all the political parties, including the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Front and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have started hectic political activities and campaigning to woo the voters.
Hong Kong, Jan 17 : A Hong Kong court on Wednesday sentenced an activist to three months in prison for obstruction of justice during pro-democracy protests in 2014.

Joshua Wong, the youngest and best known leader of the so-called "Umbrella Revolution", would be going back to prison for failing to clear an area in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district that had been taken over by protesters in November 2014, Efe news reported.

"They can lock up our bodies, but they can't lock up our minds," said Wong, moments before appearing in court.

The 21-year-old activist, along with 15 others, had admitted to disobeying the judicial order which asked them to lift the blockade of streets which had lasted 79 days.

Another activist, Raphael Wong, was sentenced to four and a half months in prison for the protests which opposed China's policies in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the country.

After the sentence, both activists had sought a suspension of the sentence, hoping to file an appeal against it.

The verdict in Joshua Wong's case came a day after the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal postponed its decision in another case against Wong and other leaders over protests.

The court extended the bail of Wong, along with two others, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, in the case and postponed its verdict on appeals filed by them against prison sentences imposed last year for their role in the widespread protests.

All three were sentenced to community service in 2016 for their role in the demonstrations and for clashing with the police in front of the Chief Executive's office and the Parliament during the Umbrella Revolution.

A petition by the Hong Kong government, which considered the punishments "too lenient", led to a new ruling on August 17, which sentenced the leaders to between six and eight months in prison.

The protests were one of the biggest expressions of dissent against China's policies in the region in the last few decades.
Islamabad, Jan 17 : The police has arrested a man resembling the prime suspect in the kidnapping, rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Pakistan.

The man was held from Lahore's Bhatta Chowk earlier this week and was handed over to the Kasur authorities for his DNA test, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

Zainab was kidnapped on January 4 from near her aunt's house in Kasur city. Her body was discovered five days later from a garbage pile. The post-mortem report revealed that the minor had been raped and murdered.

The authorities said that the suspect's mobile phone location showed that he was in Kasur.

The brutal murder of Zainab has incited anger among residents as it is the 12th such case to occur within a two kilometre radius in the city in the last year. Kasur made international headlines in 2015 when a gang of paedophiles running a child sex ring was busted.

The gang allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted at least 280 children in the area, had blackmailed the families of the victims since 2009 and even sold video clips and images of the assault.

A Supreme Court bench on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the lack of progress by the Punjab government and police on the Zainab case.

According to the authorities, around 1,100 suspects have been questioned in the case.

"If the issue isn't solved then it'll be a failure of the government and police," the Chief Justice observed during the proceedings, adding that the same mistakes are made in every case after which suspects are exonerated due to shoddy investigations.

The Chief Justice also said that the accused in the Zainab case was a serial killer.
Kolkata, Jan 17 : The two-day Bengal Global Business Summit organised by the state government has so far received new investment proposals worth Rs 2,19,925 crore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, Banerjee said 50 per cent of last year's business proposals and that of previous years are "in the process".

"The new investment proposals for this year that we have received is Rs 2,19,925 crore. It may go up also," she said.

The opposition parties in the state -- the Congress, the BJP and the CPI-M -- on Tuesday demanded a White Paper from the government on the number of proposals the state had received in the earlier summits had fructified.

The Chief Minister said: "Whatever we discussed about the business summit, you cannot say that we only discuss or give hope. We talk less, work more.

"Even in last year, of what we discussed, 50 per cent of businesses (proposals) is in process... Earlier also the situation was like this," she said.

According to the state government, the 2015 summit fetched investment proposals of Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition received over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Over 2.35 lakh crore of business announcements were received by the state in the last edition of the summit.

Terming the fourth edition of the business summit a successful event, she said 1,040 B2B and 40 B2G meetings were held in the summit and 110 MoUs would be signed.

The next year's summit will be held on February 7 and 8.

Thanking Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani for his Rs 5,000 crore investment proposals in the state, she said more than one lakh crore employments would be created in the particular sectors.

According to her, more than 32 countries and over 4,000 delegates participated in the 2018 edition.

"Your kind presence made the summit successful. Your kind presence is our inspiration and strength. You are our great assets. We are delighted to know about your vision," Banerjee said.

She described the state as the investment destination as it has political stability and is "labour, talent and economic-friendly".

According to her, West Bengal is strategically placed for businesses for Asean countries including neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and northeastern states of India.

"Bengal deserves to be global industrial hub," she told delegates at the summit.

"We are the united family and cosmopolitan family. There is no differences between the caste, creed. Tolerance is the key. If you don't tolerate the people, you would not get the result," she reiterated.
Kabul, Jan 17 : Six militants including a senior Taliban commander were killed after security forces air bombed a hideout of the Taliban in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.

The dead commander was identified as Mohibullah alias Yaser, an official statement said.
Ramallah, Jan 17 : The UN relief agency for Palestinians said on Wednesday that it has launched an international crowdfunding campaign after the US cut aid to the agency by over 50 per cent.

The US has decided to decrease its contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to $60 million in 2018, which is much less than $364 million in 2017, said agency spokesperson Sami Mshasha.

"This decision is shocking and affects 525,000 students and millions of Palestinian refugees," Mshasha said, adding that "it could also affect regional stability", Xinhua news agency reported.

Washington will withhold $65 million out of its scheduled $125 million payment to the agency, which provides humanitarian aid, education, social services and medical care to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The spokesperson also said the UNRWA services will not stop despite the US aid cut, saying "we will do our best to maintain the vital services".

"We are already in huge deficit and we've contacted all donors from the international community to help us provide services and protection for the refugees," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Haj 2018 is likely to be costlier than last year but not because of the abolition of subsidy that the government announced on Tuesday.

The cost is likely to go up thanks to rise in expenses incurred in Saudi Arabia during the Haj such as accommodation, transport, food and the like. Notably, the government subsidy did not cover these expenses and was limited to the airfare.

Haj Committee of India (HCI) Chairman Mehboob Ali Kaiser told IANS that it was bargaining hard with Saudi authorities to keep the cost in check but local factors may result in the rise of Haj expenses this year.

In 2017, the HCI charged Rs 200,000 for Haj with ordinary accommodation (Azizia) and Rs 234,000 for deluxe accommodation (Green), which is closer to the Haram in Mecca.

"Over the last year, the electricity tariff in Saudi Arabia has shot up three times. Also, the petrol prices have doubled. The accommodation cost is also going up. These factors may result in a hike in the total Haj cost this year," Kaiser said.

At this point, it is difficult to predict the final cost to each pilgrim for Haj 2018, he added.

"It will be unfair to expect the same costs for everything in Saudi Arabia after a threefold rise in electricity prices and doubling of petrol prices. Secondly, the Saudis are cussed bargainers and we have to really haggle hard with them for every riyal.

"Nevertheless, we are trying our best and bargaining hard with them to ensure that the cost does not go up drastically," Kaiser said.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday announced the abolition of Haj subsidy from this year.

Kaiser said that the HCI "knew it was coming and were sort of mentally prepared for it".

"In any case, the withdrawal of subsidy will not affect the airfares from major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru -- but fares from smaller embarkation points such as Srinagar, Gaya may go up. But people from these states may now embark from any other place from where fares are low, such as Mumbai, Delhi or Ahmedabad," he added.

However, in the coming years, the Haj cost is expected to come down as the Indian government is already working in the direction of reviving the sea route to Jeddah.

Naqvi said that the government has already taken active steps in this direction and once it is implemented, the fares would come down drastically.

Giving the genesis of the Haj subsidy, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it started in the 1980s (when Azad was a member of HCI) when the ships which were used to ferry the Haj pilgrims started ageing.

"The government was not disposed to spend money to buy new ships due to budget constraints. So, it was decided to fly the pilgrims to Jeddah. But the airfares were four times higher than the ship's fare. So the government decided to cover some of the cost through a subsidy," Azad said.

The sea route was discontinued in 1995.

(Mohd Asim Khan can be contacted at mohd.a@ians.in)
Beijing, Jan 17 : Authorities have withdrawn the licence of Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Yu Wensheng following the publication of an open letter critical of President Xi Jinping.

"I was expecting it because in recent years I was involved in many human rights cases," said the lawyer, who has fought numerous cases on behalf of dissidents and activists.

On Monday, the Bureau of Justice sent him a notice saying his licence was being revoked on grounds of Yu currently not being employed at any law firm, Efe news reported.

"It is a trick by the government," claimed the lawyer, maintaining that the authorities have been pressuring different law firms against hiring him.

For this reason, and in order not to create "problems" for other colleagues, Yu recently decided to begin necessary proceedings to create his own law firm, however, the authorities have blocked his efforts, he added.

To recover his licence, Yu will have to take an exam organised by the Bureau of Justice.

The lawyer suspected that the revocation of his licence was a reprisal for publishing an open letter in which he claimed that President Xi was not fit to continue as President for extending totalitarian control over the country.

In the letter, published days before the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that was held in October last year, Yu called for reforms in the party for a China that had "freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law".

Under the leadership of Xi, who came to power in March 2013, the Chinese authorities have suppressed some of the most prominent human rights lawyers in the country, such as Xu Zhiyong, founder of the New Citizens' Movement, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2014 amid growing criticism from the international community.

Towards the end of 2017, the non-profit Human Rights Watch criticised the Chinese authorities starting a fresh wave of pressures and threats against law firms committed to the defence of human rights.

In 2015, China witnessed a huge wave of repression against human rights lawyers, with hundreds of them being held and, according to them, tortured.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : A Class 1 student of a local school was in critical condition after he was stabbed by an unidentified girl student, police said on Wednesday.

Hrithik was found bleeding profusely and unconscious at Brightland school in Triveni Nagar on Tuesday.

School Principal Reena Manas said the crime occurred after the morning assembly and that the boy was admitted to the Trauma Centre at King George's Medical University.

The boy told police that a 'didi' sporting a boy-cut hair style first took him to the bathroom, thrashed him, and then stabbed him with a knife. He told his parents and police that he could identify the girl.

Officials said the bathroom on the second floor was sealed on Wednesday and police were looking for the accused.

A teacher said that though all closed-circuit televisions in the school were functional, there was no CCTV near the bathroom and hence it was becoming difficult to zero in on the accused girl.

Police are now waiting for Hrithik's condition to improve, whereafter they will try to identify the culprit.
: Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra intearct with other delegates during Bengal Global Business Summit 2018 in Kolkata on Jan 17, 2018. ... Image Source: IANS

Kolkata, Jan 17 : The two-day "Bengal Global Business Summit 2018" organised by the state government has so far received new investment proposals worth Rs 2,19,925 crore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, Banerjee said 50 per cent of last year's business proposals and those of previous years were "in the process" of implementation.

"The new investment proposals for this year that we have received is about Rs 2,19,925 crore. It may go up also," she said.

The opposition parties in the state -- the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) -- had on Tuesday demanded a white paper from the government on the number of proposals the state had received in the earlier summits and those that had fructified.

The Chief Minister said: "Whatever we discussed about the business summit... you cannot say that we only discuss or give hopes. We talk less, work more.

"Even last year, of what we discussed, 50 per cent of the businesses (proposals) are in process... Earlier also, the situation was like this," she said.

According to the state government, the 2015 summit fetched investment proposals worth Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Business announcements worth over Rs 2.35 lakh crore were received by the state in the last edition of the summit.

Terming the fourth edition of the business summit a "successful event", she said 1,040 B2B and 40 B2G meetings were held in the summit and, in all, 110 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) would be signed.

The next year's summit will be held on February 7 and 8. "Next year, one day will be dedicated to the world business summit and the other day for conclaves," she said.

Thanking Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani for his Rs 5,000-crore investment proposals, she said the investments would create a large number of employment opportunities in the state.

"If you calculate all together, with whatever business proposals we have received, employment for more than 20 lakh people will be created," Banerjee said, adding that industries and agriculture were growing hand-in-hand in the state.

According to her, more than 32 countries and over 4,000 delegates participated in the 2018 edition.

"Your kind presence made the summit successful. Your kind presence is our inspiration and strength. You are our great assets. We are delighted to know about your vision," Banerjee said.

She described the state as "the investment destination", as it had political stability and labour, talent and a business-friendly environment.

According to her, West Bengal is strategically placed for businesses for Asean countries, including neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and the northeastern states of India.

"Bengal deserves to be a global industrial hub," she told delegates at the summit.

"We are a united and cosmopolitan family. There are no differences on caste and creed. Tolerance is the key. If you don't tolerate people, you would not get the results," she said.

Banerjee also announced that national carrier Air India would commence its services from the Greenfield airport at Andal near Durgapur in the state to Delhi from January 28.

Foreign delegates from South Korea, China, Germany, Italy and other countries have shown interest in the manufacturing sector.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain called the four BJP members in the assembly "blanket thieves" in the House here on Wednesday.

Hearing his remark, the four legislators walked out.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader made the remark while replying to Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta's demand for a government report into the death of 44 people allegedly due to cold in the city.

"These people (from the BJP) distribute blankets at one end and collect it back at the other end (of the line)," Jain said, terming them "blanket thieves".

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs had protested in front of the Speaker's podium with blankets, demanding an inquiry into the deaths.
Jodhpur, Jan 17 : India's first woman Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday donned an olive green flight suit to fly in Indian Air Force's frontline aircraft, Sukhoi Su-30 MKI -- an indigenously-built twin-engine fighter jet capable of carrying out nuclear strikes.

The supersonic jet piloted by Group Captain Sumit Garg carrying Sitharaman took off from the Air Force station here in Rajasthan. She was seen seated in the cockpit for the 40-minute sortie.

The Minister told the media that she felt "very proud and thankful" to the Air Force for letting her have the experience of flying in a fighter craft.

"It actually tells me with what rigor, practice, what level of readiness and how quickly they (defence personnel) have to respond to situations. It was eye-opening and memorable," Sitharaman said.

With this, Sitharaman became the second Indian woman leader to fly in a Sukhoi-30 jet. Earlier, then President Pratibha Patil had flown in the fighter in 2009.

Sitharaman donned a helmet with oxygen mask and wore a flight overall and a G-Suit, also called anti-gravity suit -- worn by pilots for comfort when the jet takes turns.

The Minister tweeted her pictures familiarizing herself with the fighter aircraft before taking off. The Sukhoi SU-30 MKI is a multi-role fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. In November 2017, India successfully flight-tested the air variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from the fighter jet.

After taking over as Defence Minister in September, Sitharaman has been visiting Army, Air Force and Naval bases frequently. She was onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya in the Arabian Sea to witness the operations of the MiG-29 fighter on the deck of the carrier.

The visits are part of her efforts to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the forces.
Harare, Jan 17 : Zimbabwe has denounced US President Donald Trump's alleged utterances describing African states as "s**thole" countries.

In a statement published by The Herald on Wednesday, the Zimbabwean Foreign Ministry said such comments were hurtful and prejudicial and did not have a place in modern times.

It said the comments attributed to Trump earlier this month have "shocked and dismayed us", Xinhua news agency reported.

"The US is a prominent country of which the world expects the best example in its projections of democratic values, commitment to the fight against bigotry, upholding the civil rights of all of its people and generosity towards the less fortunate countries in the world."

The Zimbabwean government said it joined fellow African countries and others in rejecting "this unfortunate characterization of our peoples and countries".

The US media reported that during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, Trump described Africa, together with Haiti and El Salvador, as "shithole countries" supplying undesirable immigrants to the US.

The demeaning comments, which Trump has since denied, have received broad condemnation from across the globe.
Beijing, Jan 17 : China on Wednesday rejected the conclusion of a meeting in Canada about North Korea's nuclear programme in which 20 countries participated, and insisted that dialogue is the only way to resolve the crisis.

The 20-nation summit was held on Tuesday in Vancouver and the participating countries agreed to strengthen the surveillance of North Korea's sea routes to prevent the country from avoiding the sanctions imposed by the UN, Efe news reported.

China did not attend the summit, which saw the participation of countries which had in some way aided South Korea in the Korean War (1950-1953).

"Without the participation of the important relevant parties of the issue, this meeting cannot help to properly settle the issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.

Alleging that a "Cold War mentality" was behind the meeting, Lu said that it would only divide the international community and undermine the joint efforts to properly settle the issue.

As an alternative, China urged support for the recently improved diplomatic relations between the two Koreas and a return to the talks between the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas within the framework of the UN Security Council.

"Facts have proven once and again that only imposing pressures and sanctions will be counterproductive," Lu added.
Islamabad, Jan 17 : A person was injured when an alleged US pilotless aircraft fired a missile in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Pakistani Urdu media reported on Wednesday.

According to media reports, the missile landed outside a house in Badshah Kot area of Kurram Agency, one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

Panic gripped the area following the attack, reported Geo News, adding that the identity of the injured was not immediately known.

The aircraft kept on hovering over the area for some time before launching the strike, causing panic among the locals including a large number of women and kids.

This is the first drone strike in the country this year.

Pakistan has repeatedly protested against such attacks as an infringement of its sovereignty.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the inauguration of iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Jan 17, 2018. Image Source: IANS/PIB

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees off Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his departure from Ahmedabad on Jan 17, 2018. Image Source: IANS/PIB

Mumbai, Jan 17 : Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived here from Ahmedabad on Wednesday on a two-day visit, officials said.

He was received at the airport by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior officials.

On Thursday, Netanyahu will have a packed schedule. He will interact with the best of both the worlds Mumbai has to offer - business and glamour.

His official day will start with a power-breakfast with top Indian CEOs and head honchos plus attending a business forum of Israeli and Indian business persons.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace opposite the Gateway of India and a visit to the Chabad House in Nariman House, in nearby Colaba - both in south Mumbai.

Both these places - the heritage hotel and the once non-descript Nariman House - were the targets of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by 10 Pakistani gunmen who sneaked in from the Arabian Sea.

Netanyahu is expected to declare the Chabad House as a Living Memorial in which the orphaned toddler Moshe Holtzberg, now an 11-year-old boy, was saved by his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel from the terrorist mayhem.

However, his young parents Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka lost their lives along with seven others in the attack, after which little Moshe and Samuel were taken to Israel.

Later, he will attend a gathering with the members of the small but prosperous Jewish community living in different parts of Mumbai.

The evening is reserved for a gala glamour-filled engagement with Bollywood personalities, his final engagement before returning home on Friday morning.
Tura (Meghalaya), Jan 17 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel on Tuesday said political parties make "tall promises" of development only during elections.

"The problems of people are at their peak but political parties come with tall promises for development only during elections. For the past five years, the government was busy in corruption and now ahead of election all kinds of promises are being made. As if in a day or two, things will change," he said at an election rally here in the Garo Hills region of western Meghalaya.

The Garo Hills region, with 24 assembly segments, was once considered the "NCP heartland" due to the influence of the former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma, who was one of the three founding-members of the NCP.

"Political parties will make all attempts to instill hope and keep their voters happy with food and other facilities but after the election, they will disappear and people will be forced to live in darkness. We should not get lured by parties who will keep us happy for two days and leave us adrift."

Lashing out at the Congress-led government, he said: "People had given their mandate to the Congress party but they have failed to develop the state. The road are in bad shape in different parts of Garo Hills... be it Baghmara, Phulbari or Tikrikilla, we have to search for the road. Is there is road or not, we are confused."

Criticising Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on the failure of the ambitious Mega Health Insurance Scheme, Patel felt that the government should have provided better health infrastructure instead of fooling the people.

"On paper, the scheme looks glossy and very big in its name but in reality, there is poor implementation and people have hardly received its benefit," he said.

After the rally, Patel told journalists that people are disillusioned with the ruling Congress due to lack of development and corruption in the implementation of various welfare programmes.

"People want change and NCP will be a formidable force to form the next government given the situation where people are not happy with the BJP as they pose a threat to the cultural identity of the people of the state," he said.

Moreover, Patel said that the National People's Party (NPP) founded by Sangma has been weakened after his demise and its current leaders will not be able to revive it, while adding that the BJP has not shown any respect to NPP at the centre.

Asked if NCP is willing to forge ties with Congress or NPP, he said: "We would not make any guesses; we will take decision at an appropriate item. If there is a situation, where we have to partner with any other parties, we would look for regional and secular parties."
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday a plea by the producers of "Padmaavat" challenging the ban on the controversial movie in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.

When the producers' counsel Mahesh Agrawal, mentioned the matter on Wednesday before a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and sought an expeditious hearing, the Chief Justice nodded but did not say anything.

Mahesh Agrawal was flanked by senior counsel Harish Salve, who is likely to argue the petition when it is listed before the court.

"Padmaavat" has been caught in a row over alleged distortion of facts -- a contention over which some Rajput organisations including Karni Sena have demanded a nationwide ban on the film. The Central Board of Film Certification had approved the film with some modifications in December.

Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana are among the states that have announced they will not let the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial hit the screens. It is slated to release on January 25.

In November last year, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea against release of the movie -- earlier titled "Padmavati" -- outside India.

The top court had on November 28, 2017 deprecated the people discussing the issue in public and critically commenting on "Padmavati".

"When the matter is pending before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for grant of a certificate, nobody holding a responsible position should comment as it would amount to violation of the principle of the rule of law", the court had said on November 28.

Taking exception to comments by the political leaders cutting across the political spectrum, the court had said: "When a matter is pending for consideration before CBFC, how can persons in public authority comment on whether CBFC should issue certificate or not? It will prejudice the decision of CBFC," the court had added.

The top court had earlier rejected a plea for blocking the release of "Padmavati" -- as it was titled before the CBFC asked its producer to drop "i" in the title.

In the past, the top court has not appreciated the banning of the film by the states. These included Prakash Jha's "Aarakshan" based on caste reservation, "Dam 999" by the Tamil Nadu government and "Sadda Haq" allegedly for glorifying the extremism and its leader during the turbulent days in Punjab in the 1990s "Aarakshan" was banned by the Uttar Pradesh government and "Sadda Haq" by the Punjab and Delhi governments and also by the Chandigarh administration.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday became the second woman politician to fly in a Su-30 fighter jet. Here is a list of political leaders who earlier flew in the Sukhoi 30 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam -- When then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam flew in a Su-30 in June 2003, he became the first head of state in India to fly in a fighter aircraft. Kalam, who was an eminent scientist, had flown the plane along with his co-pilot, and later said he became a scientist only because he could not become a pilot. He was 74 years old at the time.

George Fernandes -- In June 2003, then Defence Minister George Fernandes put on the flying suit and took off in a Su-30 fighter jet from Lohegaon Air Force Station near Pune. He was 73 years old at the time.

Pratibha Devisingh Patil -- Then President Pratibha Patil flew in a Su-30 in November 2009 from the Indian Air Force Base in Lohegaon.

Rao Inderjit Singh -- Then Minister of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh flew in a Su-30 from Hindon air base, near Delhi, in August 2015.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy -- The BJP leader, who is a trained pilot, flew a Su-30 in February 2015 at the Aero India show in Bengaluru.

Kiren Rijiju -- The Minister of State for Home flew in a Su-30 from Halwara airbase in Punjab in May 2016.
Dhaka, Jan 17 : Bangladeshi immigration authorities have registered more than a million Rohingyas -- or around 95 per cent of the estimated Muslim minority members living in refugee camps in the country, an official said on Wednesday.

The Bangladeshi authorities began a registration process for Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh and the main point of arrival for Rohingya refugees on September 11 after the violence in Myanmar in late August triggered the recent exodus of the Muslim minority, Efe news reported.

"As of Tuesday we have registered 1,004,782 Rohingyas. Our works are at the final stage as we have almost 95 per cent Rohingyas now," said Abu Noman Mohammad Zakir Hossain, Deputy Director of Bangladesh's Passport and Immigration Department.

"When we started the work, our primary goal was so that no Rohingya can take Bangladeshi passport. Now we found this information could be useful in other works like relief operation and repatriation," said Hossain.

Information included in the registration includes a name, a family's name, an address in Myanmar and a person's fingerprints, Hossain added.

According to the UN, nearly 655,500 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, adding to between 300,000 and 500,000 Rohingyas who had already been living in the country.

Bangladeshi authorities recognized some over 30,000 Rohingyas as refugees shortly before the onset of the latest round of crisis.

The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed that the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi territory will be completed within two years from the date it begins.

The current Rohingya exodus began when Myanmar's security forces launched a campaign in late August in response to the Rohingya rebels' attacks on security posts in Rakhine, home to an estimated one million members of the Muslim minority not recognized by the Myanmar authorities.

The UN and various human rights organisations have said there is clear evidence of rights abuses in Myanmar, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling the Army's operations "ethnic cleansing" and saying there were indications of "genocide".
Ahmedabad, Jan 17 : Innovation has played a major role in bringing India and Israel closer, and sentiments of mutual development is crucial for a better future of both countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

"Innovation has played a great role in bringing the people of India and Israel closer," Modi said after the inauguration of iCreate centre here. "Israel's technology and creativity influence the entire world. Innovators in India can benefit from the areas related to the Indian needs."

He said water conservation, agriculture production, storage facilities, food processing, less-water farming in deserts and cyber security were among the issues where India could partner with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was present at the event.

"Israel has proved that it is people's dedication and not the size of a country that takes it forward," Modi said.

Talking about cooperation in agriculture and exchange of genetic resources and information between these countries, Modi said: "This kind of cooperation and sentiments of mutual development are very important for a bright future of both countries."

The Prime Minister said there were enormous opportunities in "waste to wealth" area.

Modi said a $40 million fund was created during his visit to Israel last year. This would be a joint venture of the two countries.

"It will help talent from both countries carry out new experiments in technological innovations," he said.

There would be special focus on areas covering food, water, power and disease eradication, among others, the Indian leader said.

"Also, there will be exchange between start-ups in both countries."

The Prime Minister stated that he wanted Israeli cooperation when iCreate was established "to get benefits of Israel's experience and provide a start-up environment to youth in the institution".
New Delhi, Jan 17 : B.D. Athani, presently posted as Special DGHS, has been appointed the new Director General of Health Services (DGHS) after incumbent Jagdish Prasad proceeded on 15-day leave, it was announced on Wednesday.

"In pursuance of this ministry's OM No.C-14011'01/2015-Vig./CHS dated January 16, 2018, Dr Jagdish Prasad, DGHS is to proceed on earned leave for 15 days from January 16 afternoon," the Union Health ministry said in an order.

The ministry, it said, has decided to assign the charge of the post of DGHS with "full powers to Dr B.D. Athani, presently posted as Spl. DGHS".

Athani joined the Union Health Ministry as Special DGHS in 2015 after serving as the Medical Superintendent of the city's Safdarjung hospital.

According to reliable sources in the CentraL Vigilance Commission (CVC), Prasad has been asked to proceed on leave in view of an enquiry against him by the government watchdog.
Melbourne, Jan 17 : World No.1 Rafael Nadal on Wednesday eased past Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the second round of the Australian Open third round.

Nadal needed two hours and 38 minutes to continue his bid for his second Australian Open title following his 2009 success, reports Efe.

"For my team and my family, this tournament is their favourite of the year so I want to stay as long as possible," Nadal said after the match.

The 31-year-old Spaniard dominated the encounter, sealing the first two sets thanks to one serve break apiece, while saving all the break points he faced.

However, Nadal saw his serve broken for the only time while serving for the match in the third set's 10th game.

With both holding their next serve, Nadal, the 2017 finalist, got the better of world No. 52 Mayer in the tie break to keep his Australian Open campaign rolling.

In the upcoming round, Nadal is due to play Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur, the world No. 30 who defeated Australia's John Millman 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion hopes for a better result against Dzumhur as he was forced to withdraw from their lone career match in Miami 2016.

Sixth-seed Marin Cilic also reached the third round, defeating Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-1, 7-5, 6-2.

For a place in the round of 16, the Croatian is set to face the United States' Ryan Harrison, who eliminated Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Retired Orissa High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi, accused of graft in the Lucknow medical college scam case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court seeking court-monitored investigation into leakage of transcripts of his alleged telephonic conversations in the case.

Quddusi's counsel Vijay Aggarwal told Special Judge Manoj Jain that the transcripts of the alleged conversations as well as confidential report of a preliminary enquiry have been leaked to media.

The retired judge's move comes a day after Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court Judges, including the four rebel Judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

The case is one of the major reasons for the rift between Chief Justice Dipak Misra and the four judges - Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph - who criticised him last week at an unprecedented press conference.

Quddusi's counsel Aggarwal requested the court to monitor the investigation of the case and to pass necessary orders regarding conducting of an inquiry into whether criminal misconduct has been committed by the CBI by leaking the documents of the case.

"...whether theft has been committed by the documents having been stolen, which documents are confidential in nature, and as to who are the erring persons responsible for the same," the application read.

The counsel also requested the court to order an inquiry into whether any documents or conversations have been tampered with.

The counsel pointed out that report of the confidential document has not been supplied to the accused persons but it is in the hands of people outside the investigating agency.

"Such things raise grave suspicion and apprehension of interference of third parties in the investigation of the matter," the counsel apprised the court.

The counsel pointed out that though the CBI is outside the ambit of RTI but the documents are in possession of "outsiders".

The court has listed the matter for January 22 for further hearing.

Quddusi, B.P. Yadav, Palash Yadav, Bishwanath Agrawala, and Ram Dev Saraswat were arrested on September 20, 2017 by the CBI on the charge of helping Lucknow-based Prasad Institute that was barred from admitting medical course students for two years by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The sixth accused in the case, Bhawana Pandey, was arrested on September 21.

Later all accused were granted bail in the case.

The CBI had registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused on September 19, 2017 and conducted raids at eight locations in Delhi, Lucknow, and Bhubaneswar.

The CBI FIR said B.P. Yadav and Palash Yadav were managing Prasad Educational Trust, which runs the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences.

The institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical course students for two years (till 2019) because of substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of criteria.

It was alleged that the college had bribed some influential people, including Qudussi, to get a favourable order from the apex court which was hearing a case about its future as the college was running without a Medical Council of India (MCI) recognition.

In his complaint on Tuesday, Bhushan mentioned the tapped conversations purportedly between Quddusi, Biswanath Agarwala, a middleman, and B.P. Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust.
Kolkata, Jan 17 : The two-day "Bengal Global Business Summit 2018" organised by the state government has received new investment proposals worth Rs 2,19,925 crore, which is less than last year by about Rs 15,000 crore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday.

Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, she said 50 per cent of last year's business proposals and those of previous years were "in the process" of implementation.

"The new investment proposals for this year that we have received is about Rs 2, 19,925 crore. It may go up also," she said.

The state's opposition parties - the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) - had on Tuesday demanded a white paper from the government on the number of proposals the state had received in the earlier summits and those that had fructified.

Banerjee on Wednesday said: "Whatever we discussed about the business summit... you cannot say that we only discuss or give hopes. We talk less, work more.

"Even last year, of what we discussed, 50 per cent of the businesses (proposals) are in process... Earlier also, the situation was like this."

State Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra told reporters that of the total investment proposals, the manufacturing and infrastructure sector netted investment commitments of Rs 1,56,811 crore, "which is significant".

Among other major sectors, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and textiles attracted business proposals of Rs 52,952 crore, hospitality and tourism got Rs 1,483 crore, IT &ITes Rs 1,146 crore, animal resource, food processing, fisheries and agribusiness Rs 1,518 crore and health, education and skill development got Rs 6,015 crore worth of proposals.

According to the state government, the 2015 summit fetched investment proposals worth Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Business announcements worth over Rs 2.35 lakh crore were received by the state in the last edition of the summit.

Terming the fourth edition of the business summit a "successful event", Mitra said 1,046 B2B and 40 B2G meetings were held in the summit and, in all, 110 MoUs was signed.

"The perceptional change about Bengal was visible from the participation of delegates from India and abroad who expressed their business interest in the state," he said.

As many as 350 international delegations from 32 countries including Japan, Italy, Poland, Korea, Czech Republic, Germany, Britain, France and UAE and over 4,000 delegates participated in the fourth edition of Bengal Global Business Summit held at the sprawling Biswa Bangla International Convention Centre at New Town, Rajarhat here.

Foreign delegates from Korea, China, Germany, Italy and other countries have shown interest in the manufacturing sector, Banerjee said.

"Your kind presence made the summit successful. Your kind presence is our inspiration and strength. You are our great assets. We are delighted to know about your vision," she said.

Thanking Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani for his Rs 5,000 crore investment proposals, she said the investments would create a large number of employment opportunities in the state.

"If you calculate all together, with whatever business proposals we have received, employment for more than 20 lakh people will be created," Banerjee said, adding that industries and agriculture were growing hand-in-hand in the state.

Mitra said new policies - Logistic Park Development and Promotion Policy, Export Promotion Policy, RoRo Operation policy - were unveiled during the summit to provide an enabling framework.

According to him, Dassault Systems signed off with Indian Chamber of Commerce for setting up a design centre while Apparel Export Promotion Council announced the setting up a skill development centre.

Uber and Ola signed pacts with the state Transport Department to increase employment opportunities for the youth.

Among big ticket MoUs is signing of pact between state government and Poland's Silesian region and state Power Department inked agreement with GIZ (Germany) towards an Energy Action Plan for the state.

State-run Jadavpur University signed three MoUs for collaboration in various fields with Exeter University, Edinburgh University and Eotvos Lorand University. City-based Presidency University too inked pact with Edinburgh University in the area of higher education and Life Sciences.

The Chief Minister described the state as "the investment destination", as it had political stability and labour, talent and a business-friendly environment.

According to her, West Bengal is strategically placed for businesses for Asean countries, including neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and the northeastern states of India.

"Bengal deserves to be a global industrial hub," she told delegates at the summit.

"We are a united and cosmopolitan family. There are no differences on caste and creed. Tolerance is the key. If you don't tolerate people, you would not get the results," she said.

Banerjee also announced that national carrier Air India would commence its services from the Greenfield airport at Andal near Durgapur in the state to Delhi from January 28.

The next year's summit will be held on February 7 and 8. "Next year, one day will be dedicated to the world business summit and the other day for conclaves," Banerjee said.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The India-China "bonhomie" before the Doklam standoff has returned, Army chief Bipin Rawat said, but added that one should be "prepared for anything".

In a Facebook Live session during the ongoing Raisina Dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), he said: "I think the bonhomie (between India and China) has returned to what it was prior to the Dolam (Doklam standoff). I don't visualise very serious trouble, but then one has to be prepared for anything."

Gen Rawat said troops were still there in the northern part of the plateau, which is a part of Chinese territory.

"As far as Doklam is concerned PLA soldiers are there in a part of the area, although not in numbers that we saw them in initially. They have carried out some infrastructure development which is mostly temporary in nature.

"While troops (PLA) may have returned and infrastructure remains, it is anybody's guess whether they would come back there or is it because of the winters that they could not take their equipment, but we are also there, so in case they come, we will face them," he said.

Rawat however added that the mechanisms established between India and China are working "very well".

"But mechanisms that we have of defusing tensions between our two countries are working very well and after Doklam, we've started our Border Personnel Meeting, we are meeting regularly, exchanges are taking place, communication between commanders at ground level is on," he said.

At the annual pres conference of India Army recently, the Army chief had said focus should shift to the northern border with China, adding that while China had emerged as a "powerful nation", India was not a weak nation.

He said road construction had been on in Doklam since 2000, but the Chinese soldiers had come close to Tosa Nala -- which divides north and south Doklam -- with a large number of manpower and equipment in June last year, just before the India-China standoff started.
Chennai, Jan 17 : Superstar Rajinikanth on Wednesday said only time will answer the question whether he and Kamal Haasan could tie up in politics.

"Only time will tell," he said in reply to questions by reporters whether the two actors, who are long-time friends, will combine together in the political arena.

Both have announced their entry into politics in Tamil Nadu at a time there is a political vacuum created by the death of J. Jayalalithaa and the fading away from politics of DMK chief M. Karunanidhi.

Rajinikanth offered his best wishes to Kamal Haasan, who on Tuesday announced plans to reveal the name of his political party on January 21 in Ramanathapuram and begin a tour of some parts of the state.

Meanwhile, the two stars were present at a function to launch the production of an animation film "Raju in East Africa" featuring the late MGR, which will be a sequel to his blockbuster movie "Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban" released in the 1970s.
New Delhi, Jan : The global merger of Bayer CropScience and Monsanto cannot happen unless the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves their merger in India, according to a top official of Bayer in India.

Richard van der Merwe, Vice-chairman and Managing Director of Bayer CropScience India told reporters here that the rule of approval by CCI applies to all mergers and is not specific to the Bayer-Monsanto deal. He expects the CCI to give the green light by May this year.

Van der Merwe said that if the global merger is brought about without CCI approval, the commission could impose a penalty of one per cent of turnover or assets of the combined entity, whichever is higher. The merged entity needs to seek approvals from 30 jurisdictions, of which it has obtained consent from 14.

Explaining the need for approval by India, the first chairman of CCI, Vinod K Dhall -- now a consultant -- told this writer that if globally merged entities operate as distinct companies in India, they would be able to influence their pricing, manufacturing and distribution policies by virtue of thier control in ways that could impede competition.

In September 2016, Bayer CropScience announced the acquisition of Monsanto, an American MNC which is the global leader in agricultural biotechnology. This is expected to make the combined entity very strong in the field of transgenics.

India has been fussy about genetic medication (GM) technology, and has withheld approval for a GM mustard hybrid even though the regulator -- Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) -- had recommended approval for its mass cultivation last May after determining it was safe for humans, animals and the environment.

India's agriculture ministry has been singing praises of organic farming, though widespread usage would not be able to meet the demand for food. According to van der Merwe, there is a role for organic farming, but it is a niche role; it cannot feed 10 billion people, which is the expected size of the global population by 2050.

Pitching transgenics as the agricultural technology of the future, he said countries like India and those of Africa would have to rely on new technologies because of shrinking arable land owing to urbanisation, the pressure on natural resources and uncertainties in weather created by climate change.

"Europe will still take 20 years before they look at GM. They are in a lucky situation -- they are wealthy," van der Merwe said. He was referring to the European Union's opposition to the cultivation of GM crops within its borders which is an example cited by Indian anti-GM activists. Europeans can be choosy because they have the income to indulge in fads like organic food, he added.

Van der Merwe said much of Africa would go hungry without GM corn. As a South African he has been eating GM corn, he said, but "I have not developed horns" referring to fear-mongering of GM technology by anti-GM activists.

Bayer has a strong portfolio of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. It has a small seed business -- hybrid rice, cotton, millets (bajra, ragi and jowar), hybrid mustard and vegetable seeds. To obtain regulatory approval it has sold the off-patent glufosinate herbicide brand Basta, along with its production facilities to BASF.

Monsanto India has aimed for CCI approval by shedding its Bt cottonseed business, which had brands like Paras Bramha. But it retains the insecticidal Bt traits business which has more than 90 per cent share of the Indian market. It has an overlap with Bayer in vegetable seeds.

Van der Merwe said that this should not matter as there were a few hundred seed companies. Commenting on price control on Bt cottonseed and the cap on Bt trait fees, van der Merwe said there was a fine line between regulation and new investment.

Bayer Cropscience sells mustard hybrid seeds in India obtained through conventional breeding. Using GM technology for mustard hybridisation had "substantial benefits," van der Merwe said.

(Vivian Fernandes is editor of www.smartindianagriculture.in. He can be reached at vivianfernandesonly@gmail.com)
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Extreme weather events have been seen as the single most prominent risk to the global economy by business leaders and policymakers, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.

Its annual Global Risks Report says that in 2017, the environment was by far the greatest concern raised by experts.

The report was made public just a week ahead of the World Economic Forum's 48th annual meeting that will take place on January 23-26 in Switzerland.

This year Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the forum, while US President Donald Trump will close it, according to organisers.

The report says among the 30 global risks the experts were asked to prioritise in terms of likelihood and impact, all five environmental risks -- extreme weather; biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse; major natural disasters; man-made environmental disasters; and failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation -- were ranked highly on both dimensions.

The report has a message: the prospect of strong economic growth presents leaders with a golden opportunity to address signs of severe weakness in many of the complex systems that underpin the world, such as societies, economies, international relations and the environment.

The report, which every January shares the perspectives of global experts and decision-makers on the most significant risks that face the world, cautions that "we are struggling to keep up with the accelerating pace of change".

It highlights numerous areas where "we are pushing systems to the brink, from extinction-level rates of biodiversity loss to mounting concerns about the possibility of new wars".

The annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) suggests that experts are preparing for another year of heightened risk.

"When we asked nearly 1,000 respondents for their views about the trajectory of risks in 2018, 59 per cent of their answers pointed to an intensification of risks, compared with seven per cent pointing to declining risks," said the World Economic Forum.

A deteriorating geopolitical landscape is partly to blame for the pessimistic outlook in 2018, with 93 per cent of respondents saying they expect political or economic confrontations between major powers to worsen, and nearly 80 per cent expecting an increase in risks associated with war involving major powers.

John Drzik, President - Global Risk and Digital at Marsh & McLennan insurance group, said: "Geopolitical friction is contributing to a surge in the scale and sophistication of cyber attacks. At the same time, cyber exposure is growing as firms are becoming more dependent on technology."

"While cyber risk management is improving, business and government need to invest far more in resilience efforts if we are to prevent the same bulging 'protection' gap between economic and insured losses that we see for natural catastrophes."

Economic risks, on the other hand, feature less prominently this year, leading some experts to worry that the improvement in global GDP growth rates could lead to complacency about persistent structural risks in the global economic and financial systems.

Even so, inequality is ranked third among the underlying risk drivers, and the most frequently cited interconnection of risks is between adverse consequences of technological advances and high structural unemployment or under-employment.

Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer with Aviva Investors, said: "It is important that the World Economic Forum is once again recognising the risk that the unchecked climate change poses to global prosperity."

"As a global insurer, we recognise that a world that warms by four degrees would pose an existential threat to our sector."
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Favouring the idea of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections in states, BJP's Rajya Sabha member and ICCR President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe on Wednesday said such an electoral reform will prove to be the "mother of all reforms".

"Simultaneous elections is a major democratic reform that the nation is awaiting for decades. Hence, a nationwide discourse to build a consensus on the issue is the need of the hour," the Bharatiya Janata Party leader told reporters here.

"And once the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' is approved after discussion with people and political parties, it will prove to be the mother of all reforms," said Sahasrabuddhe, also the Vice Chairman of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP).

The RMP is holding a national seminar on 'One nation, One Election' issue in Mumbai on January 20 and 21, he said.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) chief said that exploring the possibility of simultaneous elections remains a difficult proposition, yet it is a solution to all problems related to multiplicity of elections in the country.

"This massive democratic reform will free the nation of a permanent election mode and increase the pace of good governance," he said.

The BJP MP's remarks came in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for simultaneous elections.

"The Prime Minister has talked of simultaneous elections, while the then President Pranab Mukherjee has also favoured the idea," he said.

Sahasrabuddhe clarified that the idea of holding simultaneous elections should not be seen as the agenda of a particular party but as a major democratic reform.

He said that due to "permanent elections" in some part of the country many developmental projects are stalled.

"L.K. Advani as the Deputy Prime Minister had also highlighted as to how governance is hampered due to elections in one or the other part of the country," he said.

The BJP leader said that the proposed seminar will be attended by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap, Baijayant Panda of the Biju Janata Dal, and K.C. Tyagi of the Janata Dal-United.

"We have sent the invitation to the Shiv Sena and the Congress as well," he said.

He said hazards of multiplicity of elections, issues related to concept and implementation vis-a-vis simultaneous elections, no-confidence and house dissolution, aligning local elections with general elections and experiences of simultaneous elections abroad will be discussed.

The organisation will prepare a report and submit it to the government, the BJP MP said.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and the states to respond to a plea that challenged an Uttar Pradesh law wherein former Chief Ministers are allotted a government bungalow.

Expanding the scope of the plea, a bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R. Bhanumathi asked the Centre and the states to address the court on the issue whether they too have similar laws or executive orders that permit allotment of government accommodation to former Chief Ministers.

The court's latest order is being interpreted as holding the potential of bringing under the apex court gaze the allotment of government accommodation to former Prime Ministers and former Presidents.

Projecting a question of law involved, amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium in his note said whether the right to equality before law guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution permits persons to retain government accommodation once they have demitted public office.

Once the President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister, and others cease to hold their respective public offices, they are shorn of all its adornments. He or she reverts to being an ordinary citizen and ought not to be granted greater privilege than those available to other citizens, except for minimal courtesies of protocol, pension, and other regular post-retirement benefits.

The court was told that if it were to decided against the Uttar Pradesh law, it would have ramification in states having similar provisions.

Referring to Subramanium's views, the court sought to know the stand of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General as well as the Advocate Generals of the states on the issue if they wished to do so.

"We have had the benefit of the views of amicus curiae as to whether, in view of the issues involved and in the event the said issues are to be answered in favour of the petitioner, it would be necessary to hear the Law Officer(s) of the Union Government and the States who may have a similar legislation or executive instructions in force."

The bench asked Subramanium to provide a copy of its order to the office(s) of the Attorney General/Solicitor General and Advocate Generals of the states concerned which may have similar legislations/executive instructions in force.

Noting that the communication of its order and response thereto would take some time, the court directed for next hearing on March 13.

The top court had, on November 15, 2016, issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea by NGO Lok Prahari challenging a state law that permits allotment of bungalow to former Chief Ministers on their request.
Ahmedabad, Jan 17 : As Prime Minister Narendra Modi played host to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in his home state on Wednesday, his once-close aide and VHP leader Pravin Togadia here accused Modi of conspiring with the Ahmedabad Crime Branch to harass him and VHP supporters.

"J.K. Bhatt (Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner, Crime Branch) has begun hatching a conspiracy against me and harassing our nationalist workers at the behest of political bosses in Delhia. In the last 15 days, how many times has Bhatt spoken with the PM? Their call details must be made public," Togadia, Acting President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, told reporters after his discharge from a private hospital in the evening.

Togadia, who was once known to be close to Modi, was referring to Bhatt's press conference on Tuesday where he presented police investigation details to show that the VHP leader's story - that he had fallen unconscious and was admitted to a private hospital -- was all made-up.

The firebrand Hindu leader had gone "missing" on Monday and emerged from a private hospital some 10 hours later in a reportedly unconscious state as his sugar levels fell drastically.

Togadia had claimed that a team of the Rajasthan Police had come for him in a shut 10-year-old case, though there was no instruction from Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje or state Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria for this.

He had claimed there was a conspiracy to kill him and this was hatched jointly by the Crime Branch and the Rajasthan Police. "I have received communication from Rajasthan that the case in which I was supposed to be arrested was withdrawn in 2015. Then under whose instructions and who had come to arrest me? It appears Bhatt is acting under influence of political bosses in Delhi," he said.

Togadia, who went on to call Modi his "old friend", urged him not to take steps that would lead to killing of democracy. "Is this a crime branch or conspiracy branch? I have called my lawyer and shall initiate legal action against Crime Branch," he said.

"This Crime Branch is also releasing selective videos to television channels to sully my image. I want to tell the country that similar video of Sanjay Joshi in 2005 was made here. I shall reveal the names at an appropriate time." He was referring to the leak of a video of his whereabouts on Monday showing him in fine fettle.

Bhatt of the Crime Branch has stated that Togadia was hale and hearty when he called in an ambulance van to admit him in the private hospital and was not missing at all. Bhatt on Tuesday presented to the media a blow-by-blow account of where the VHP leader went during the day and how he managed to get himself admitted in a private hospital though nothing had happened to him.
Patna, Jan 17 : The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Wednesday said the party is in favour of holding simultaneous elections to parliament and state assemblies in 2019.

JD-U state President Bashistha Narain Singh said his party was ready for mid-term assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

"Our party has been a supporter of holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha and we are ready for it," Singh told the media here.

The JD-U's remarks come at a time when speculations are rife that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may go for early Lok Sabha polls along with assembly elections in 20 states.

After the JD-U joined hands with the BJP and formed the government in Bihar last year, Singh had said the party was ready for mid-term assembly polls along with parliamentary elections.

Later, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also supported Modi's stand on simultaneous polls.

"I favour and support in principle a synchronised two-phase Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the country," Nitish Kumar had said.

Going a step further, he said that elections to Panchayats and urban local bodies should also be conducted along with the two-phase polls. "It will save unnecessary expenditure."

Singh, considered close to Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD-U president, said his party had no problems if the Election Commission also held Bihar Assembly polls in 2019.

"We are in favour of simultaneous elections to Bihar Assembly and Lok Sabha," Singh said.

Next assembly polls in Bihar are due in 2020.

Last assembly elections in the state were held in 2015 when the Grand Alliance of the JD-U, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress defeated the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

A Grand Alliance government led by Nitish Kumar was formed then.

However, in July 2017, Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Alliance to form a government with the BJP.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the city government to file a status report on the steps taken to stop the private manufacture and sale of army apparel and gear.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar asked the Delhi Chief Secretary and Police Commissioner to file the report within eight weeks.

The court also slammed the central government, saying despite the seriousness of the issue the Centre does not seem to be interested in doing anything.

The court said the issue has implications on "state security and public safety".

The bench was hearing a plea filed by an NGO which said that there was possibility of misuse of open sale of military apparel in terror attacks.

The court also took note of the terror attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in January 2016 by terrorists dressed in Indian Army fatigues which led to the death of seven security personnel, including a Lieutenant Colonel, and a civilian.

In November 2016, too, terrorists dressed in police uniform had attacked the army's XVI Corps headquarters at Nagrota in Jammu district, killing seven security personnel, including two officers.

The NGO has sought steps to curb private sale and manufacture of military apparel like uniforms, shoes, badges and other gear used by the armed forces which were being made by private industries in Ludhiana and Amritsar in Punjab and sold all over the country.
Chandigarh, Jan 17 : In a major blow to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday set aside the appointment of his Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar, holding it ultra vires of the Constitution.

Amarinder Singh, in response, directed state Advocate General Atul Nanda to examine the judgment and suggest further legal remedies.

Justice Rajan Gupta ruled that the retired Indian Administrative Service officer was holding the post "in violation of Article 166 (3) of the Constitution" and thus the appointment was "null and void".

Suresh Kumar is considered close to Amarinder Singh and is seen as the most powerful man in the state after him.

An official spokesperson said on Wednesday that the Chief Minister has asked Nanda "to analyse the court's order in detail and ascertain the grounds cited by the judges to quash Suresh Kumar's appointment".

"The detailed judgement would be examined and further legal avenues would be explored to decide on the future course of action," he said, adding that both the central and state governments have been appointing retired civil servants as Principal Staff Officers.

"The Prime Minister's Office has a well-established tradition of over two decades of appointing retired civil servants as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Mr. T.K.A. Nair, who served with Dr. Manmohan Singh as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, was a retired IAS officer of 1963 batch of the Punjab cadre. The current Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Mishra, is also a retired IAS officer of 1967 batch of the Uttar Pradesh cadre," the spokesperson pointed out, adding that state governments had also appointed retired bureaucrats as Chief Principal Secretaries.

Suresh Kumar, a 1983 batch IAS officer, was appointed to the key post immediately after Amarinder Singh assumed office in March 2017. Kumar had retired as Additional Chief Secretary in April 2016.

He was earlier the Principal Secretary to Amarinder Singh during the latter's earlier tenure as Chief Minister from 2002-2007.

A lawyer had moved the High Court last year to challenge Kumar's appointment.

The High Court order comes as the Chief Minister, who is already grappling with controversies surrounding Irrigation and Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh, who has since submitted his resignation. Gurjit Singh, a billionaire industrialist and also considered close to Amarinder Singh, saw his name crop up in the multi-crore rupee auction of sand mines to certain persons who he claimed were no more his employees.

Also, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Gurjit Singh's son Inder Pratap Singh for allegedly raising Rs 100 crore abroad without seeking permission. The Minister's son appeared before the ED on Wednesday following the summons.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Chief Justice Dipak Misra is likely to meet the four rebel judges -- Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph -- on Thursday to resolve issues relating to the allocation of cases and the functioning of the court.

The meeting that was expected to take place on Wednesday did not materialise as Justice Chelameswar did not attend the court because of his indisposition. He is expected to attend the court on Thursday.

An uneasy truce was reached on Tuesday after the CJI reached out to the four dissenting judges to resolve a rift with them over the allocation of cases in the Supreme Court.

Recusal of Justice Arun Mishra from hearing the matter of Judge Loya's death is seen by some as an indication of thaw between the CJI and the warring judges who had raised the issue of important cases being listed before judges who are relatively junior to them in terms of years spent in the top court.

During the Tuesday meeting, the sources had said, Justice Misra and the rebel judges had discussed all the outstanding issues, point of contentions and differences.

The sources said the Chief Justice took the initiative of meeting the four judges on January 16 as they were not satisfied with the outcome of a meeting of all judges held the previous day.

On January 15 a misplaced impression was generated that all the issues were resolved after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had said that the events since January 12 were a "storm in a tea cup" and that "everything is settled".

An informal full court meeting of all the judges took place on Monday when they came to the Judges' lounge for the customary morning tea before the start of the court.

The country's top court was hit by unprecedented crisis, after the four senior most judges at a press conference last week expressed their unhappiness about the functioning of the court and how cases were being allocated arbitrarily.

They complained that "administration of Supreme Court is not in order and there have been things less than desirable that have happened in the court".

The judges also released a letter they had written to the Chief Justice questioning how he was arbitrarily deciding which bench should decide which case and though he is the "master of the roster" that did not make him a "superior authority".

"The Chief Justice is only the first amongst equals - nothing more or nothing less," the letter said.

Efforts by sitting judges and advocate bodies to mediate a solution to the crisis have not succeeded.

The Bar Council of India had even set up a seven-member delegation and met Justice Misra and 14 other judges on Sunday. The Supreme Court Bar Association also met the Chief Justice and other judges.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : In good news for tipplers in Uttar Pradesh, they will now be allowed to consume liquor inside model shops.

This comes after an amendment in section 24(a) of the Combined Excise Act of 1910 was cleared by the state cabinet at a meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Wednesday.

The meet was scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed as the Chief Minister was preoccupied with a string of engagements with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was in Agra on a day-long visit.

The cabinet has also ratified a proposal to ban slaughter of animals out in the open and this would now be permissible only inside the legal slaughterhouses.

According to an official spokesman, amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act of 1959 and the Nagar Palika Act of 1916 were put before the state cabinet, under which slaughterhouses will now be located outside the city limits.

Under the new amendment, the Municipal Corporations and Nagar Palikas will now not operate slaughter houses. They will only be regulatory authorities from now on, the official said.

Slaughter of animals outside these abattoirs has also been banned now.

The cabinet also cleared a proposal of Metro Rail projects worth Rs 45,000 crore in three cities -- Agra, Kanpur and Meerut.

According to the proposals, the Agra Metro rail project will have two corridors spanning 30 km and there would be 30 metro stations in all, while the Kanpur Metro project to be built at a cost of Rs 17,000 crore will have two corridors of a total length of 30 km and would have 31 stations along it.

Meerut Metro project will have 33 km length and two corridors with 29 Metro stations costing Rs 13,800 crore. The government has set a target of completing these projects by 2024.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to establish 24 Lok Adalats in 24 more districts. In the first phase, 23 Lok Adalats have already been established.
Gandhinagar, Jan 17 : The greetings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 'Dhanyavad Mere Pyare Dost' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and 'Aliechem Shalom' by Modi to his Israeli counterpart depicted the bonhomie between the two leaders during their visit to Gujarat on Wednesday.

While Modi expressed his dream of achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022 through Israeli technology, the Israeli Prime Minister hoped that under the able leadership of Modi, India would achieve that.

Both the leaders dedicated a centre of excellence for date farming at the Kukma centre in Kutch district through a digital switch, during their visit to the horticulture centre at Vadrad near Prantij. "Since the Biblical days, Israelis have been growing dates, wheat, and conventional produce. We have created new parameters in agriculture through scientific methods in a desert like Israel," said Netanyahu.

He expressed his delight at knowing that the farmers could increase their output through the Vadrad centre of excellence formed with Israeli help. "India and Israel both believe in the policy of knowledge is the future. India has the vision and leadership under Modi," said Netanyahu. Both leaders also unveiled the Memory Tower to mark 25 years of Indo-Israeli cooperation at the Vadrad centre.

"Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core. As we work towards doubling farmers income by 2022, the factors such as optimum utilization of land resources, minimum wastage and understanding the needs of the market assume prime importance," Modi said to the gathered audience of farmers, agriculture scientists and expert researchers.

Both the leaders expressed optimism of developing future technologies jointly by forging entrepreneurial alliances amongst youth, while they inaugurated the newly-built campus of International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) near Ahmedabad. The centre was formally dedicated to the nation by both the dignitaries.

An autonomous centre for start-ups, 'iCreate' was formally launched in 2011 when Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister. "I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate. Israel wants to build partnership with you," Netanyahu said before concluding his speech by chanting, "Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel."

Narendra Modi said, "We are working towards making the entire system innovation-friendly, as intent leads to ideas, ideas to innovation and innovations would help form a New India. When I had visited Israel for the first time, I had decided that we should have relationship with this nation."

The Israeli Prime Minister gifted the Gal-Mobile, a water desalination and purification vehicle, to India and both the Prime Ministers witnessed the demonstration of a vehicle that was stationed at Suigam, a village several kilometres away in the border district of Banaskantha, where BSF and villagers would benefit from clean drinking water using Gal-Mobile. The Gal-Mobile can purify around 20,000 liters of sea or salty water daily. The vehicle was dedicated by both the leaders through a video link.

The leaders began their one day visit to the state with host Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart embarking on an eight-km-long roadshow on their arrival in Ahmedabad, amidst heavy security blanket and thousands lined up to greet both. The leaders witnessed glimpses of India's rich cultural heritage showcased at 50 stages erected alongside the route to Sabarmati Ashram.

Playing a perfect host at the Ashram, Modi showed his guest the possessions of Mahatma Gandhi. Netanyahu even tried his hand at Bapu's 'Charkha' and after spending about 20 minutes at the Ashram, the Israeli Premier penned his thoughts, "An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration - Mahatma Gandhi."

The leaders also experienced the thrill of the popular kite festival in Gujarat - Uttarayan - that was celebrated a couple of days ago by flying kites on the banks of the Sabarmati river. The Indian Prime Minister taught Netanyahu how to fly the kite.
Cairo, Jan 17 : Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said that protests against the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has left 30 people dead, 7,000 wounded and some 1,000 imprisoned.

Abbas made his remarks on the opening day of al-Azhar International Conference in Support of Jerusalem held in Cairo, stressing that Palestinians will continue to defend their demands peacefully, Efe news agency reported.

"We will adhere to peace, but peace shall not be at any cost, and we will seek all options but not terrorism and violence," he said, asserting that the day of liberation will come.

"We will not trust the American administration which is no longer suitable for the role of mediator of the peace process," he reiterated, according to Palestinian News and Info Agency WAFA.

Abbas said the decision taken by US President Donald Trump blatantly challenged the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians and was a flagrant alignment with Israeli "crimes".

The Palestinian President also criticized the inability of the international community to implement any resolutions approved by the United Nations in favor of the Palestinian cause.

He recalled that there have been 705 resolutions of the General Assembly and 86 passed by the UN Security Council since 1947.

Abbas pointed out that the Palestinians have reduced their demands and they now ask for only 22 percent of historic Palestine's original territory. Yet, this reduced claim is not accepted either.

The Palestinian leader reiterated that Jerusalem was the eternal capital of Palestine and without this recognition, he stressed, there will be no peace in the region or in the world.

The conference, organized by al-Azhar, the world's largest Sunni Islamic center of learning, was also attended by the Arab League's Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and hundreds of representatives from a variety of religious backgrounds.
United Nations, Jan 17 : Afghanistan's leaders have asked the Security Council to mobilise international pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting terrorists, United States Permanent Representative Nikki Haley said on Wednesday.

Meeting reporters here after the Council's weekend visit to Afghanistan and meetings with the nation's leaders, Haley said: "They asked for consensus on international pressure to get Pakistan to change its behaviour" in supporting terrorists.

"As long as there is support for terrorism in Pakistan, the Afghan community does not feel safe," she added.

Council President Kairat Umarov, who led the mission, said, "Security Council members noted with concern the persistence of insecurity, especially the "intensification of terrorism activities in the north ans east of Afghanistan and the regrouping of foreign terrorist fighters coming out from Syria and Iraq."

Asked about the Afghanistan leadership's reactions to the US freezing security aid to Pakistan because it provides safe havens to terrorists, Haley deferred to Umarov.

Without going into the details, he said, "It was also part of the discussion. I would just like to underline that the discussions were more on the positive side."

Echoing President Donald Trump, Haley asserted that the "US policy on Afghanistan is working".

On Tuesday, Trump said that his South Asia strategy is "working far more rapidly than anybody would understand" in denying safe havens for terrorists in Afghanistan.

During the three-day visit from Saturday to Monday, Council members met Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, other officials, NGOs, representatives of political parties and the leaders of the US-let NATO mission there.

This was the first visit of Security Council to Afghanistan in about seven years. The last visit was in June 2010.

The latest visit came ahead of a high-level Council meeting on Afghanistan on Friday to be presided over by Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov. Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and ministers of other countries are also expected at the meeting.

Haley said that the international community should support the peace process in Afghanistan because it is not just about that country and the region,"but it is about safety in the world" in containing terrorism.

She said that the US was not against the Afghan leaders having peace talks with the Taliban.

"What is most important that the US wanted to see is an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led policy," she said. "And what was impressive is that the Afghan leadership is taking responsibilitya they don't ask us for things, they tell us what they want."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
Jalalabad (Afghanistan), Jan 17 : Security forces during overnight operations killed 14 Islamic State (IS) terror group militants in the eastern Nangarhar province, provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogiani said Wednesday.

According to the official, units of security forces raided the hideouts of IS fighters in parts of Chaparhar district late Tuesday night killing 14 insurgents including three commanders on the spot and injured few others, reported Xinhua news agency.

Huge quantity of arms and ammunitions were also destroyed during the operations, the official said.

The IS group has yet to make comment on the report.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The 25th edition of South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE 2018) will be held in the national capital from January 31 to February 2, an official said on Wednesday.

SATTE 2018 -- designed to serve as a comprehensive platform for domestic and international buyers and professionals from across the travel, tourism and hospitality industry -- could see several exciting partnerships and announcements, said UBM India -- organiser of the event -- in a press release.

Over 1,000 exhibitors and representatives from over 50 countries and 28 Indian states are likely to participate in the exhibition to be held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi.

Yogesh Mudras, the UBM India Managing Director, said: "SATTE is perfectly placed to provide a most comprehensive industry platform and will showcase the true potential of tourism for India and other countries, all under one roof."

"The Indian tourism industry is the fastest growing among the G20 countries. Ease of access through online portals and hassle-free bookings and accessible pricing will play a pivotal role in ensuring that India's travel sector grows to a US$48-billion market opportunity by 2020," the release quoted Mudras as saying.

As per the release, industry discussions and sharing of new insights pertaining to the sector and industry best practices will be among the salient features of SATTE 2018.

"SATTE will host six panel discussions that will bring together stakeholders of the industry on a single platform, allowing exchange of ideas that will add value to Indian tourism at large," it read.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : An eight-year-old boy was killed on Wednesday in a firing exchange between police and criminals in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura on Wednesday, police said.

The boy, identified as Madhav, was killed as a bullet hit him.

Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken cognizance of the "unfortunate incident" and ordered a probe by the Inspector General of Police, Agra.

Adityanath has also sanctioned a financial aid of Rs 5 lakh to the bereaved family from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
Mumbai, Jan 18 : Actor-producer Jackky Bhagnani, is excited about his upcoming home production "Dil Juunglee" which is getting a solo release in the Valentine Day's week.

Sharing his excitement, Jackky told media on Wednesday: "I think we are very fortunate to have a solo release, there is no clash with any film. Being a son of a producer, I know how difficult it is to bring the audience to the theatre. So I am more than happy with the release. It makes a lot of difference because we can get more screens that help to reach a wider audience."

The story features Saqib Saleem and Taapsee Pannu, who, according to the producer, is one of the versatile actresses in the Hindi film industry.

Jackky is also appearing in one of the songs of the film sung by Guru Randhawa.

"Dil Junngleee" is releasing on February 16.
Bhopal, Jan 18 : A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator has been allegedly assaulted his own party workers during the Ekatm Yatra in Madhya Pradesh's Agar Malwa district.

In a video that has gone viral on social media on Wednesday evening, two persons are seen indulging in a scuffle. The fight broke out over holding the Ekatm Yatra flag, and the person who was being assaulted held a flag. Later, it was revealed that Gopal Parmar, a BJP legislator from Agar, was at the receiving end of the blows.

Parmar has blamed Manohar Untwal -- an MP from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, and his supporters for the incident.

"The video on social media is real. Madhya Pradesh BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan has been told about the matter," Parmar told IANS.

Meanwhile, Untwal could not be reached for any comment on the issue.

The Ekatm Yatra has been launched by the Madhya Pradesh government to collect metal pieces that would be used to install a statue of Adi Shankaracharya in the state.
Dr. Amit Jain joins The Oncology Institute of Hope and Innovation

Dr. Amit Jain is a certified Oncologist that brings over five years of medical experience to The Oncology Institute of Hope and Innovation.

Dr. Jain received his medical education from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India and then received his Master of Public Health from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa and his fellowship from Hematology-Oncology Fellowship, Indiana University School of Medicine from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Jain has participated in a number of selected research/publications for prestigious cancer such as: Moffitt Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center and journals such as: American Journal of Clinical Oncology and Journal of Thoracic Diseases. He has participated in presentations such as ASCO and Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 44th Annual Meeting, Ontario.

Dr. Jain has received multiple awards including the Care Compassion Award from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in 2014, the ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Award in 2014, the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) Scholar award from1998 to 2005 and he placed second position in the All India Senior Secondary Certificate Examination in 1998.

Among his awards and research projects, Dr. Jain stays active in his community and fundraising activities and is an avid participant of the American cancer Societys Relay for Life, Making strides for breast cancer, Ride for Hope and the Lymphoma leukemia Societys Light the night walk.

Patient Care Philosophy:

Dr. Amit Jain believes in patient centered care. He believes in providing supportive and caring communication and information that is understandable to his patients and their family. He treats each of his patients as individuals and addresses their concerns in a safe and timely manner.
Resource Monitoring The alert feature of our real time, easy to use, Resource Monitoring service for the Virtual Cloud Platform spotlights resource issues before they become problematic. Its always better to prevent a problem than to fix one. Rick Lingsch, President

eApps Hosting recently launched an advanced Resource Monitoring service, designed to ensure that virtual cloud servers are performing as expected. The service checks the actual usage of CPU, RAM, Disk, and data traffic ports at frequent intervals, and can send alerts to defined recipients when usage of any resource exceeds specified thresholds. The service is included at no extra charge with the purchase of an eApps Virtual Cloud Server subscription. A reasonably priced managed service option, called First Responder, is available for customers that want the 24/7 eApps Support team to take action within minutes if the monitor issues an alert.

The two significant advantages of the Resource Monitoring service are that it operates in real time, and it can be administered by a non-technical user. The service captures usage data for each key Virtual Cloud server resource every few minutes, and proactively issues alerts when resources are out of tolerance. It also provides current and recent usage information in a highlighted format. Historical usage, for up to three months, is provided in graphical form for easy analysis. Users can select thresholds and define users and groups to receive alerts. With the First Responder option, users can provide specific instructions to eApps Support for the handling of alerts.

When used in conjunction with the free, included Uptime Monitoring service, eApps provides a complete set of tools to monitor the health and availability of Virtual Cloud servers. For customers that seek a higher level of care, the reasonably priced First Responder managed service option provides peace of mind that issues will be handled quickly and effectively.

The Resource Monitoring service is a product of eApps Hosting. The eApps Virtual Cloud Platform, running on high performance servers, network, and SSD storage, is available in multiple US data centers. For more information contact eApps Hosting at +1-770-448-2100 USA or +44 (0)20 8133 6940 UK, Skype: eappshosting, sales(at)eApps.com, or visit http://www.eApps.com for online chat assistance.
America magazine, the Catholic review of faith and culture published by the Jesuits of the United States, released today the most comprehensive survey of U.S. Catholic women ever conducted. Over 1,500 women participated in the survey, sharing their beliefs, practices, experiences and attitudes about being Catholic. Along with detailed data points comes a revealing, often surprising portrait of a powerful segment of our population.

There are two major takeaways from this unprecedented survey, said Rev. Matt Malone, S.J., editor in chief of America magazine. First, U.S. Catholic women are a political powerhouse. If they vote in the numbers they say they will, they may turn the tide in the mid-term elections. Second, while they remain affiliated with the church, they are disengaged and disengaging. The survey is a wake-up call for politicians of both parties, as well as the U.S Catholic leadership.

According to the survey, 74 percent of U.S. Catholic women intend to cast a vote in the 2018 elections. And their views on the most important issues do not align neatly with either party. Among those surveyed, care for the environment (83 percent), migration and the treatment of refugees (77 percent), and abortion (76 percent) top the list of most important political issues.

At the same time, Democrats have an advantage among these voters. Nearly 6 out of 10 Catholic women identify as, or lean Democratic, and 38 percent identify as, or lean Republican. One thing that the survey results as whole indicate is that in certain congressional districts with this population, a pro-life Democrat would be competitive in a general election, said Father Malone.

Results also show that Catholic female voters are independent thinkers who care deeply about the environment and people living in poverty. They also receive their information from a variety of sources, especially nightly local and national television (40 percent) and the internet (18 percent). They are technically savvy; the majority (75 percent) are on Facebook, 34 percent on Instagram, and 25 percent on Twitter.

While the overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholic women believe in God (98 percent, including those with some or frequent doubts), the numbers of those who attend Mass (24 percent attend at least weekly) or participate in sacraments such as confession are dwindling. Younger Catholic women are least likely to attend Mass. This research is a real wake-up call for the Catholic Church to focus harder on its millennial outreach and to engage them in new and creative ways, said Kerry Weber, executive editor of America, who oversaw the project.

Respondents said that a perceived lack of female role models, especially among the churchs visible leadership, is an impediment to further engagement. Accordingly, six out of ten Catholic women would welcome the ordination of women to the permanent diaconate, an idea currently under review by a commission appointed by Pope Francis in 2016. Twenty-one percent said they may support female deacons but want to learn more first. According to Fr. Malone, adding more women to positions of leadership requires the church to de-couple power and the priesthood. The church needs to ask whether every non-sacramental leadership role currently held by a priest needs to be held by a priest. If not, then these positions should be open to laypeople and the appointment of women to such positions should be a priority.

The study was commissioned by America magazine and conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In addition to the survey qualitative data, there is an extensive section devoted to demographics that paints a more complete picture of todays Catholic women  their age, income, marital status, education and more. The research is featured throughout the January 2018 edition of America magazine. https://goo.gl/iXJiXz

For the full research results and charts, contact Linda Rigano at rigano(at)americamedia(dot)org.
Dr. Helia Eragi, West Dermatology, Rancho Santa Margarita Im delighted to begin my time with West Dermatology because its a neighborhood provider in skin care with a sharp staff focused on comprehensive dermatology, says Dr. Eragi.

West Dermatology announces the addition of board-certified dermatologist Dr. Helia Eragi, DO, to its staff in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Beginning January 22, 2018, she will join West Dermatologys dedicated staff of expert, innovative medical and cosmetic dermatology specialists.

Dr. Eragi is an alumna of UCLA, where she was an honors graduate (magna cum laude) with a B.S. in Neuroscience before earning her Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA. She did her dermatology residency at Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, CA, where she was Chief Resident. She is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), and the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.

Dr. Mitchel Goldman, medical director of West Dermatology and Cosmetic Laser Dermatology, as well as double board-certified dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon, says of Dr. Eragi: Her passion for dermatology and her desire to help others speaks to the core values of West Dermatology. Dr. Eragi specializes in general, cosmetic, and surgical dermatology. She treats a wide array of skin conditions, from psoriasis, eczema and acne to rashes, warts, skin cancer and much more. Were excited that someone of her stature and experience is joining us!

Im delighted to begin my time with West Dermatology because its a neighborhood provider in skin care with a sharp staff focused on comprehensive dermatology, says Dr. Eragi. West Dermatologys reputation as a professional, dependable practice was a key factor in my decision, as I was looking for a place to flourish. Patients with cosmetic and medical skin concerns need a staff of thorough, responsive specialists dedicated to delivering safe, effective solutions that are tailored to their specific needs, and West Dermatology has just that.

Regularly published in a wide range of medical journals, Dr. Eragi has an excellent reputation as a researcher and educational seminar presenter. She is a medical, surgical, and cosmetic skin expert who provides comprehensive care in injectables, sclerotherapy, IPL, and other skin conditions. Furthermore, she has an interest in skin cancer and a dedication to providing skin cancer treatment.

I have a passion for learning how the body works, Dr. Eragi says, including how its affected by disease, and then finding ways to safely and effectively treat it. One of the main reasons I chose dermatology was skin cancer; this horrible disease motivates me to find ways to address lesions or growths that my patients present with. These challenges drive me to find the best treatment possible based on each individual's needs, ranging from conservative treatments to surgery, if necessary, in order to either save a patients life or improve his or her quality of life.

A native of Orange County, Dr. Eragi loves to travel and experience new cultures. In fact, her travels and commitment to medicine have intersected: shes taken medical missions to such places as Kenya and Mexico with non-profit organizations, where she gave her time and shared her medical expertise in underserved communities.

Dr. Eragi is also passionate about treating younger patients and providing them with effective solutions for common skin concerns that can affect their self-esteem and confidence. My children are part of my inspiration, says Dr. Eragi, I find it rewarding to help younger patients with their skin issues and concerns. I have a soft spot for them because its a tough time to go through all the issues they deal with, and skin concerns can worsen the emotional impact.

Fluent in both English and Farsi, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, as well as being outdoors and doing fitness training when not practicing medicine. To learn more about Dr. Eragi and her caring, comprehensive approach to dermatological care, visit https://WestDermatology.com/.

Schedule an Appointment with Dr. Eragi Today

For more than 60 years, West Dermatology has been providing patients with the best treatment possible through a combination of expertise, compassion, convenience, and comprehensive care. Through multiple locations across the West Coast in California, Nevada, and Arizona, West Dermatology is always available for our patients dermatologic needs.

For more information please visit https://www.WestDermatology.com.

West Dermatology

680 Newport Center Dr., Suite 150

Newport Beach, CA 92660

(702) 933-0225

info(at)westdermatology(dot)com
Dan Horton Leading the agency in this next chapter is both humbling and exciting; especially on the cusp of greater disruption in insurance. My focus is to accelerate our innovation and ensure the execution that our clients need from us.

The Horton Group announced today that Dan Horton, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, was selected by the board of directors to assume the role of President effective January 1, 2018, and will continue to serve as Chief Sales Officer. In this position, Dan will be responsible for all insurance sales and client service operations.

Dans appointment and transition into the role of president is an exciting milestone in our succession planning and the achievement of our mission to pass the Horton Group to future generations, stated Glenn Horton, Chairman and CEO. It is the right time for Dan to become President. Dan has quietly worked in all areas of our business  starting in 2005 as a Client Service Representative and taking on a variety of service, sales and operational roles over the past decade. He has a passion for deploying new and innovative ways to serve clients as well as an ability to inspire, energize, and connect with employees, partners, and customers. Dans vision, strategy, and execution track record is what Horton needs as we enter our next chapter, which I am confident will be even more successful and exciting than our last.

With nearly fifteen years in insurance, Dans career almost took a very different trajectory. Before joining Horton in 2005 on a part-time basis, Dan was pursuing a career in aviation as a pilot.

Very quickly in my career, I had to make a crucial decision  to remain a pilot or to move into business and leadership. Both were passions, but I saw that there is an immense opportunity in the business. Horton has grown into one of the largest brokers in the country, with a reputation for our commitment to clients. There is an enormous opportunity that lies ahead for us. Leading the agency in this next chapter is both humbling and exciting; especially on the cusp of greater disruption in insurance. My focus is to accelerate our innovation and ensure the execution that our clients need from us. Our clients' success will continue to drive us. I couldnt be more honored to be a leader of this great company.

Today, Horton is a nationally recognized insurance broker ranking as the 39th largest insurance brokers in the U.S. by Insurance Journal. The agency employs nearly 400 insurance professionals located in 13 offices throughout the Midwest and is a recognized leader in insurance, employee benefits, and risk advisory solutions.

Glenn, the Board of Directors and the agency team are more than confident in this new step. As leaders in the insurance, employee benefit and risk advisory solutions for middle-market companies, the Horton Group has seen how companies are unprepared to successfully pass on their business to the future. Horton is not only prepared for what it has in store for it today but more importantly, for its future.

About Dan Horton

Dan Horton earned a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in Professional Flight Technology, and Masters in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dan has also accumulated many insurance certificates and designations including Certificate of General Insurance, Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) and Certified Risk Managers (CRM). Dan resides in Chicagos south suburbs with his wife and two young children.

Soon after joining Horton, Dan moved into a sales role in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin branch and quickly earned a promotion by becoming a Vice President in Hortons Risk Advisory Solutions department. By 2013, Dan was named Construction Practice Group Leader, doubling the agencys revenue, while building a team dedicated to the sales and service of one of the agencys largest practices. In 2014, Dan spearheaded the agencys rebranding as Chief Marketing Officer where he oversaw strategic marketing, brand awareness, sales enablement and joined the executive leadership team. Over these years, the agency doubled in size, and by 2016, there was a need to bring all the departments together, and Dan was promoted to Chief Sales Officer.
Khalil El-Ghoul, Glass House Real Estate I am just humbled and honored to earn the business of so many awesome clients. Almost all of my clients are referral clients and that is what I am most proud of.

Khalil Alexander El-Ghoul, principal broker at Glass House Real Estate, is thrilled to announce the success of Glass House Real Estate as they enter into 2018. Thanks to all the wonderful and satisfied clients of the brokerage, Glass House sold over $110 million in real estate in 2017 with a 99.5% close to list price ratio on their 48 listings sales this past year.

Khalil El-Ghoul has been recognized in 2017 throughout 5 local & national publications as top agent. Publications include The Thousand, Real Trends, Northern Virginia Magazine and within the local community, Willowsford.

Selling 18 homes over $1 million throughout top neighborhoods such as Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery County and Washington D.C., Glass House has been successful in working with many types of buyers including 101 resale buyer sand 20 new construction clients.

I am just humbled and honored to earn the business of so many awesome clients. Almost all of my clients are referral clients and that is what I am most proud of., says Khalil El-Ghoul, Principal Broker at Glass House Real Estate.

Details and more statistics reviewing Glass House Real Estates success in 2017 can be found here: https://www.glasshousere.com/real-estate-rebate-blog/glass-house-real-estate-2017-in-review-infographic

About Glass House Real Estate: Glass House Real Estate is a Full-Service Real Estate Brokerage that leverages technology, streamlines the process, and passes the savings on to their clients. Home buyers get up to 2% cash back and sellers can sell for as low as 4% total commission. At Glass House, Khalil El-Ghoul and the hardworking staff are great at what they do and you will save money along the way, its that simple. Contact Glass House today to discuss the modern real estate process!
Creating the best story and choosing the most compelling language of engagement can now be delivered through a single holistic approach with Benchworks Clinical.

Benchworks is pleased to announce the launch of its clinical research consulting practice, founded to optimize the link between successful clinical trials and the approval and launch of new drugs. The specialty will be led by Christina Norris, Vice President, who has over 20 years of experience planning, developing and executing patient recruitment programs for clinical trials. Christina will head business development efforts and serve in a leadership role in operations and client services.

Prior to joining Benchworks, Christina served as Vice President at Jeris Patient Recruitment Services. Previously, she was VP of Client Solutions at Total Root Concepts. Christina also served in many capacities at FDA Consultants, including Regulatory Affairs Specialist, Quality Assurance Manager and Program Director.

Communication strategies for a clinical trial dictate how successful a program will be. Benchworks believes utilizing one integrated partner to guide biopharma companies from initial clinical efforts to approval and launch enhances the commercial success of a pharmaceutical treatment, and why they launched a clinical research consulting operation.

We are excited to be adding this capability to our roster at Benchworks and for Christina to be leading the team, said Benchworks CEO Thad Bench Sr. Her experience in the areas of patient recruitment and investigator engagement will be valuable to our clients who are looking to bolster their clinical operations and seamlessly transfer landscape knowledge from the clinical setting to the commercial operation, leading to a more successful launch.

Benchworks Clinical capabilities include:



Patient Recruitment and Retention

Branding and Marketing

Advertising

Digital/Social, Media and Print

Education and Training

Investigator Meetings

Study Rescues/Recruitment Boost Meetings

From the inception phase of a clinical trial to the launch of a new drug, the way biopharma companies communicate with patients, physicians and study team members has an enormous impact on ultimate program success.

Creating the best story and choosing the most compelling language of engagement can now be delivered through a single holistic approach with Benchworks Clinical. This will lead to much greater upside for our clients, said Christina Norris, Benchworks Clinical, Vice President.

Benchworks, an award-winning comprehensive marketing communications agency headquartered in Chestertown, Maryland, was founded in 1991. With offices in Philadelphia and Boston, the company specializes in the design, production and launch of complete marketing communications programs and branding projects. Clients are highly concentrated in the life sciences sectors of pharmaceutical and medical devices in North America and Europe.

For additional information, visit http://www.benchworks.com or contact Christina Norris 800-536-4670, cnorris(at)benchworks(dot)com
Chad Brenneman, Director of Human Resources

Advantage Engineers, LLC, a professional services company providing comprehensive consulting solutions in the highly specialized fields of telecommunications, geotechnical and environmental, announced today that Chad Brenneman has joined the leadership team as the Director of Human Resources. Brenneman will provide strategic direction in the areas of employee recruitment, compensation, training and development, and benefits.

Brenneman will report to Tim Strickler, Chief Financial Officer of Advantage Engineers.

Our employees are the heart of the Advantage Engineers service model and culture of client service excellence. As such, Human Resources represents a key component of our strategic growth initiatives, said Tim Strickler. Chad is a talented and widely experienced Human Resources executive, and Im thrilled to have him join our leadership team.

Brenneman holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from George Mason University and a masters degree in Human Resources Management from Widener University. He joins Advantage Engineers with 20 years of corporate human resource management experience and holds senior-level certifications from the Human Resources Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management.

For the past 16 years, Brenneman served as the Director of Human Resources at CP Flexible Packing, a privately held manufacturer. Prior to that, he held Human Resources related positions of increasing responsibility at Oberthur Card Systems, Auntie Annes, Inc., and Hahnemann University Hospital.

Im pleased to join a company that is so well positioned for the future, as a national professional services company with 300+ employees coast-to-coast. I look forward to working with the Advantage Engineers leadership team and its employees in driving the companys exciting strategic growth initiatives and client service excellence, said Brenneman.

About Advantage Engineers

Advantage Engineers provides comprehensive services in specialized fields of engineering and consulting. The company has more than 300 engineering, project and program management, real estate, geological, scientific, environmental and technical professionals. From their fourteen offices, Advantage Engineers provides services throughout the U.S. The firm is highly sought after by clients in a variety of industry sectors including geotechnical, environmental, and telecommunications engineering. Visit http://www.advantageengineers.com for more information.
Inc500 Honoree-Tallgrass Freight Weve had a staggering 1,066% growth in the past three years and are listed as the 22nd fastest growing logistics company in the U.S., as well as the third fastest growing company in the state of Kansas.

Since its founding in 2012, Tallgrass Freight has been on a focused path to success. The last year brought the achievement of several milestones for the Kansas City-based logistics solution provider, setting the stage for even more growth in 2018.

The global logistics industry continues to navigate challenges and technology-driven changes. Yet closer to home, Tallgrass Freight has emerged as a reliable full-service option for clients, while also equipping freight agents with entrepreneurial tools and support to help them grow their businesses.

That dually focused approach continues to resonate with both customers and freight agents, and as a result, Tallgrass Freight continues to experience rapid growth. Company highlights throughout 2017 include:

Employee growth, expanded offices

Throughout the last year, Tallgrass Freight welcomed more than 20 new agents and employees. To prepare for that growth, Tallgrass moved into a new office space in Shawnee with 4,600 square feet to grow into. Just one year later, the company filled that space and recently expanded into another 4,600 square feet on the buildings second floor.

Inc. Magazines 500

As a result of Tallgrass Freights continued growth, the company made Inc. Magazines 2017 list of 500 of Americas fastest-growing private companies.

Weve had a staggering 1,066% growth in the past three years and are listed as the 22nd fastest growing logistics company in the U.S., as well as the third fastest growing company in the state of Kansas, says Damon Anderson, Founder and CEO, Tallgrass Freight.

New steering committee

To encourage the companys freight agent network to prioritize communication and feedback and ensure the best career opportunity possible, Tallgrass Freight kicked off a new steering committee initiative in fall of 2017.

The committee is comprised of four freight agents and the companys executive leadership and meets quarterly to share and discuss ideas, feedback and opportunities for improvement. Then, Tallgrass leadership evaluates the discussion topics and commits to an action plan so that agents and employees can see their input in action.

Our freight agent network is a partnership, says David Barnes, COO, Tallgrass Freight. Youre not working for Tallgrass Freight. Youre working with us.

Whats ahead in 2018

Barnes and the Tallgrass Freight team have no plans to slow down in 2018. The company will continue focusing on rapid expansion throughout the year, building on the momentum of 150% growth from the end of 2016 to the end of 2017. Specific growth goals include:



Add 40 new agents and employees

Double the companys revenue

Its an exciting time to be at Tallgrass Freight Company, Barnes says. We have a lot we want to accomplish while maintaining a laser focus on our top priority: delivering expert transportation logistics services to help businesses move their product safely, efficiently and affordably.

About Tallgrass Freight Company

A full-service logistics solution provider since 2012, Tallgrass Freight Company offers a wide range of transportation and logistics services to small and mid-sized companies. Services include less than truckload (LTL) shipping, full truckload (FTL) shipping, flatbed services, intermodal services and more. The company prides itself on top-notch carrier relationships and a service-first culture that ensures customers have the truck they need when they need it, as well as on-time and intact deliveries at the best possible prices.
Device Authority We're partnering with Thales eSecurity to solve device authentication and data security problems in IoT deployments.

Device Authority, a global leader in Identity and Access Management (IAM) for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announces its first HSM partnership and technology integration with Thales eSecurity, the leader in advanced data security solutions and services, delivering trust in devices and data to enable increased adoption of the IoT.

Device Authoritys KeyScaler platform (version 5.8 also announced today) integrates with the Thales nShield Connect hardware security module (HSM) to provide high-assurance device authentication, managed end-to-end encryption, and certificate provisioning for IoT devices, ideal for medical, industrial and other smart connected products. KeyScaler delivers a scalable, device-based authentication and authorization to establish a strong root of trust and identity assurance for IoT headless devices.

Our partnership with Device Authority enables us to solve device authentication and data security challenges that are impeding IoT deployments, creating a hardened system for issuing and managing device credentials and keys that are essential to creating a root of trust for customer IoT projects, said Cindy Provin, CEO of Thales eSecurity.

IoT presents considerable security risks, operational challenges and data security/privacy issues for organizations. The recent Mirai Botnet and its advanced successors, Persirai, Reaper have proven the importance of IoT device identity and credential management. KeyScaler uniquely combines device identity and end-to-end data security to address the security challenges for enterprise IoT operations.

Thales provides best-in-class hardware security which creates a high-assurance foundation for digital security, a huge benefit for the IoT ecosystem, said Darron Antill, CEO of Device Authority. Together our joint solution is already seeing traction in critical use cases, notably medical devices. We look forward to helping our partners and customers implement strong security practices for their IoT devices, applications and data.

Encryption keys handled outside an HSM are more vulnerable to attack, which can lead to compromise of critical keys. HSMs are a proven and auditable way to secure valuable cryptographic material. Thales nShield Connect secures the generation and storage of the private keys used by the KeyScaler platform within a FIPS 140-2 certified protected environment. This provides the highest level of security and assurance against key compromise and theft.

Sign up for Device Authority and Thales eSecuritys joint webinar on February 15th to discover more about delivering trust for IoT with Hardware Security Modules (HSMs).

About Device Authority

Device Authority is the leading provider of IoT IAM. Our KeyScaler platform provides trust for IoT devices and the IoT ecosystem, to address the challenges of securing the Internet of Things. KeyScaler uses breakthrough technology including Dynamic Device Key Generation (DDKG) and PKI Signature+ that delivers unrivalled simplicity and trust to IoT devices. This solution delivers automated device provisioning, authentication, credential management and policy based end-to-end data privacy/encryption.

With offices in Fremont, California and Bracknell, UK, Device Authority partners with the leading IoT ecosystem providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Comodo, Thales, Dell, Intel, PTC and DigiCert (Symantec). Keep updated by visiting http://www.deviceauthority.com and following @DeviceAuthority on Twitter.

US Capital Partners is leading the Device Authority investment raise. Please see the following link: http://www.uscapitalpartner.net/investment-overview/device-authority-investment-overview.html
Parkson University Introduction to Wastewater Video Series

Parkson Corporation is pleased to announce the release of Parkson University  a new, educational video series which reviews the basics of wastewater treatment and is geared towards both beginners and experienced wastewater industry professionals. A sign of true expertise is the ability to explain complex ideas simply and Parkson has done it with these easy to follow and entertaining videos.

While there are numerous resources for industry operators, engineers, students and the public to learn about wastewater treatment, many of these sources fail to start at the beginning and teach from the ground up. This video series does the opposite, starting with the very basics and working up through much more technical subjects and the science of treatment, explained simply.

Whether you dont know the first thing about what happens when you flush the toilet, or youre an engineer or operator with 20+ years of experience under your belt, there is certainly something in this series for you. From general contents of wastewater, to measuring biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS), to the science behind the anaerobic digestion process, these videos take a holistic approach to the treatment process. We first answer WHY we are treating what we treat and then review HOW we treat it, in a way anyone can understand.

Visit Parksons YouTube channel for the full list of videos at http://www.youtube.com/ParksonCorporation. If you have any questions or suggestions for future video topics please contact Lydia Ebert at marketingfl@parkson.com or post in the YouTube video comments section.

###

About Parkson:

Parkson Corporation, with offices in Fort Lauderdale, FL; Golden, CO; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, MO; and Dubai, UAE, is a supplier of equipment and solutions for potable water, process water, and industrial and municipal wastewater applications. Parkson designs, engineers, and assembles the products it sells into the municipal wastewater and industrial wastewater segments. The company was founded in 1960 and has been owned by Axel Johnson Inc. since 1967.
Marfeel, an ad tech platform that revolutionizes the way publishers create, optimize, and monetize mobile websites, today announced the launch of its Marfeel PWA technology, which enables publishers to benefit fully from the next big thing in the mobile ecosystem. As an early adopter of progressive web app technology, Marfeel offers such forward-looking capabilities as 0.7-second page loads for first meaningful paint, push notifications, offline access to content, and striking increases in site trafficall promising to increase conversions and engage users as never before.

As the popularity of app-store downloads continues to wane, Marfeels PWA technology aims to fill the void by bringing the benefits of traditional native apps to web apps via super-speedy mobile sites. A mobile site enhanced with Marfeel PWAs can be saved to the users home screen with the browser interface completely hidden, essentially giving it the look and feel of a native app.

Website speed is an important ranking factor in Google searches. According to a 2016 Google report, 53 percent of visitors abandon a mobile site when page loads are longer than 3 seconds. Thats a painful fact for mobile sites running over 3G connections, where the average load time is 19 secondsand 70 percent of cellular network connections worldwide are expected to remain at 3G or slower speeds through 2020. Marfeel changes the picture with PWA technology, which renders content visible and ready for interaction (the first meaningful paint metric) in less than one second, even on a 3G connection.

Among the benefits that until now were exclusive to native applications:



Reliably instant page loads of less than one second, even in chancy network conditions

Immersive full-screen user experiences that deepen engagement

Traffic that continually drives users back to mobile sites

More responsive user interactions, without balky scrolling

Significant boosts to SEO resulting from faster page loads

Marfeel technology earns the top score of 100 points when measured for PWA compliance, surpassing major global publishers like The Guardian (at approximately 65), The Washington Post (55 percent), and The Verge (45 percent). Compliance is measured against an extensive list of prerequisites, such as ensuring the site is served over HTTPS, pages load quickly even on 3G networks, and push notifications are timely and relevant, among many other factors.

PWA audits also examine websites for performancefor instance, site designs must be mobile-friendly on all devices, and pages must load very quickly even on 3G networks. Here again, Marfeel technology significantly outpaced major publishers with a score of 80-plus, compared to The Verge (at 60), the Washington Post (50), and The Washington Post (under 40).

(Marfeel compiled these PWA compliance and performance results in an October 2017 audit using Lighthouse, an open-source automated tool developed by Google, which also measures accessibility and best practices on a scale from 1 to 100.)

Marfeel co-founder and COO Juan Margenat says that although progressive web app technology may be unfamiliar to many publishers today, its destined to become the next mainstay in the mobile ecosystem. Thats why even though PWAs are a promise from tomorrow, Marfeel is providing them today, so our partners can immediately reap the rewards of the enhanced engagement and performance that the Marfeel PWA delivers, he notes. Google pioneered this concept, and were pleased to commit to it as part of our philosophy of continuous improvement and staying on the edge of mobile evolution.

Brasil 247, one of the leading online news publications in Brazil at 30 million plus page views per month, expects the Marfeel PWA technology to add value across its multiple mobile sites by steadily drawing users back for return visits, according to owner Leonardo Attuch. As a Marfeel partner were deploying leading-edge technology that enables us to optimize the user experience. Along with the dramatically faster page loads that Marfeels PWA delivers, were bringing our users exciting new features like push notifications through their browsers and the ability to add sites to their home screens, he says.

Global media company MContigo chose the Marfeel PWA technology to serve its growing online community. Were committed to respecting our readers, and thats reflected in our site design and UX, explains CTO Glaydston Veloso. We particularly like having the ability to offer users more than one way to subscribe to push notifications. Marfeels PWA helps us move beyond the sort of invasive messaging that is unappealing to most users. And the lift it provides to our SEO results is a welcome bonus.

Progressive web apps arent packaged and deployed through stores, theyre just websites that took all the right vitamins, blogger Alex Russell explains. A users frequently-visited sites gradually earn the right to live on the home screen and send notifications, he writes, thus progressively becoming apps that are zero-friction, zero-install, and easy to share.

The Marfeel PWA is built on top of service workers, a set of new JavaScript APIs that allow Marfeel to run script in the background even when the user is not browsing the website, which enables Marfeel partners to send push notifications when users are offline. Readers are presented with clear options for subscribing to a PWA site, in line with Marfeels core philosophy of delivering an organic and optimized user experience.

Mobile sites enhanced with the Marfeel PWA technology can intercept requests between the browser and the partner domain or URL, which enable them to deliver offline access. The enhanced speed provided by PWA technology also allows Marfeel to independently detect when a reader is browsing on a mobile device and then send the request directly to Marfeel servers. Reducing the round trip between Marfeels servers and the publishers desktop site shaves time off of the companys already industry-leading standards. Infrastructure changes further contribute to increased speed. Marfeel has invested in a faster CDN (content delivery network), switching the logic of their code to the server-side so requests made by mobile devices are served directly by Marfeels servers.

In order to accommodate user subscription options, publishers must be using HTTPS protocol. In addition, because only the Chrome browser supports progressive web apps at this time, Marfeel PWAs are available for Android devices only.

About Marfeel

Marfeel is an ad tech platform that revolutionizes the way publishers create, optimize, and monetize mobile websites. Marfeels proprietary technology analyzes publishers unique audiencesuser habits, behavior and usage patternsand dynamically adjusts their mobile site layouts to maximize readership, engagement, page views, loading time, and ultimately ad revenue. Marfeels exclusive partnerships with over 20,000 global ad networks and exchanges ensure top-paying ads from premium advertisers. Now reaching more than 500 million mobile readers a month, Marfeels mobile website conversion and monetization solution has been recognized by Google and Facebook, leading to strategic alliances with the search engine in 2015, and with the social network in 2017. Selected Marfeel customers include: National Geographic (FR), Dennis Publishing (US/UK), Elle (MX), ABC (US), PopSugar (US), and The Washington Times (US). Marfeel is backed by strategic investors in the mobile space, including Nauta Capital, BDMI and Elaia Partners. To learn more about Marfeel, please visit http://www.marfeel.com.
ThingLink offers a leadership program on immersive learning to schools and universities in India. "Indian schools believe immersive learning is the future of education. ThingLink will help them take the digital leap in a teacher-friendly way."

After successfully growing an active community of educators in North America and Europe, ThingLink expands its operations to India. The first regional distribution partners are Cinet IT Solutions Pvt Ltd from Bhubhaneswar, ACE Ventura Services, Robo FiB Academy and Shivasol Technologies from Pune, Destiny Planners from Nasik, and Medust Technology Pvt Ltd from Kolkata.

Through a growing network of regional partners, Thinglink will contribute to the Indian education system by:

1. Increasing access to quality education by providing a freely accessible immersive learning environment for all teachers and students in India for science, language, and social studies.

2. Fostering student innovation by bringing a transformative, student-centric approach to digital storytelling, allowing students to become builders and problem-solvers of local and global challenges.

3. Introducing new ICT architecture by offering easy-to-use authoring tools and a scalable low-cost model to user-generated mobile virtual reality.

Schools and universities of any size can contact the regional distribution partners to get access to ThingLinks technology that lets students practice 21st century learning skills through creating interactive images, videos and 360 documentaries of any curriculum-related topic.

Parimal Guha, ThingLink's head of business development in India says: "Indian schools believe immersive learning is the future of education. ThingLink will help them take the digital leap in a teacher-friendly way." An example of Indian schools using ThingLink is the Mercedes Benz International School.

During 2018, ThingLink will offer Indian educators an opportunity to participate in a dedicated leadership program on immersive learning. This program invites schools and universities to acquire pedagogic knowledge and practical skills while working with top educators from Finland and the United States. The leadership program is organized in collaboration with the National Agency of Education in Finland, featuring projects from several universities such as the University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, Clemson University, and Florida A&M University.

About ThingLink

Founded in Finland, ThingLink is an award-winning media technology for easy image/video annotation and 360 storytelling. With a community of 5 million content creators, ThingLink powers interactive images for educators, students and businesses around the world. Partners include top universities, schools, and brands such as BBC, Walmart, State Farm, Coca-Cola, Arsenal, Doctors Without Borders, and Oxford University.
CONTACT: Steve Aldridge

Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Amerilodge Group

(248) 601-2500

E-mail: steve.aldridge(at)amerilodgegroup(dot)com

Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Held at the New Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Detroit Chesterfield

Chesterfield, Michigan, January 15, 2018 Amerilodge Group, a hotel ownership and management company based in Bloomfield Hills, hosted a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony at the new 88-room Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Detroit Chesterfield hotel at 45800 Marketplace Blvd, Chesterfield, MI 48051, Phone Number: (586) 267-5300, Website: http://www.marriott.com/dtwmb

State Representative Peter Lucido, District 36 who is running for State Senator in District 8, State Representative Pamela Hornburger, District 32, Phil Kraft, District 8 Macomb County Commissioner, Cindy Berry, Chesterfield Township Clerk, Kathy Vosburg, Chesterfield Township, Dan Acciavatti, Chesterfield Township Supervisor along with the Macomb County Chamber of Commerce and Asad Malik, President & CEO of the Amerilodge Group was given the honor of conducting the ribbon cutting ceremony. Over 200 guests attended this event to welcome the Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Detroit Chesterfield into the community. We at the Chamber are excited and happy to welcome the Fairfield Inn & Suites to the Chamber of Commerce and add to the continual growth of Macomb County said David Gier, Director of Business Development of the Macomb County Chamber. In addition, Dan Acciavatti, Chesterfield Township Supervisor said Thank you to the hotels investment into our community and we look forward to what comes next in your continual success."

Travel with confidence at Fairfield Inn & Suites, a hotel with outstanding service for a comfortable stay-at an exceptional value. We are always ready to welcome you to our thoughtfully designed guest rooms and suites with plenty of room to work and relax. With our convenient location off Hwy I-94, Selfridge Air National Guard Base & corporations such as Raytheon, Michigan CAT, Kuka Robotics, Magna, ABB Inc, Kimastle and IBM are just minutes away. Experience a game played by our Detroit Red Wings, Tigers, Pistons or Lions in our iconic arenas and stadiums; Little Caesars Arena, Comerica Park or Ford Field.

From the moment they arrive, guests are welcomed by the hotels modern, bright new design features, including an updated exterior with a signature tower, a curved porte-cochere and an inviting glass entrance that ushers them into the hotel. Once inside, guests experience the hotels open public space featuring natural light and views throughout the lobby to connect the indoors with the outdoors. Consistent with the Fairfield brands heritage of great service and a warm welcome, guests are greeted by associates who can easily move from behind the angled front desk to interact and answer questions.

In the lobby area, guests can choose to be productive, relax or enjoy breakfast or a snack in a modern and flexible environment featuring a vibrant, natural color palette of greens, blues and oranges. Guests can also unwind in the lobbys inviting living area  whose focal points include a natural stone hearth, organic-shaped sofa and lounge chair, and unique local features  or they can grab a drink or snack item from the 24/7 Corner Market.

The breakfast areas signature farm table provides a central gathering place where guests can watch television, meet up with colleagues or get work done. In the morning, guests can enjoy complimentary hot breakfast, choosing from oatmeal, scrambled eggs, sausage, make-your-own waffles and other healthy items, such as fruit, yogurt, and whole grain cereals and breads.

The signature smart room decor warmly welcomes guests into a comfortable, productive and restful environment. Flexible and functional, the guest room includes a well-designed work area, an ergonomic chair, task lighting and electrical outlets where guests need them. A curved, mobile desk enables guests to create their own work space, while also optimizing their television viewing.

Inspired by nature, the hotels thoughtfully designed rooms and suites place the living and working area near the window to allow for more natural light and views. Building on this natural design, the room decor features organic patterns and fresh colors, blending wood tones with bright pops of color. The new design also places the sleeping area toward the middle of the room, helping to give guests a better nights sleep on plush mattresses, as well as easier access to the bathroom and wardrobe. The bright, spacious living area also offers a comfortable couch, refrigerator, coffeemaker and microwave.

Additional hotel amenities include an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room, valet laundry service, complimentary Wi-Fi, as well as fax and copy services. The hotel also offers over 860 square feet of space to accommodate functions of up to 60 people.
John Ryan, Florida Vision Technology Store Manager We wanted to support our community in making Fort Lauderdale a more beautiful place to live, as well as a place for local businesses to thrive.

Florida Vision Technology employees stepped up to volunteer on January 15th, the Martin Luther King Day of Service, to paint an interactive mural on the Lighthouse of Broward in Fort Lauderdale. Florida Vision Technology provides assistive technology equipment solutions to help the blind and visually impaired regain their independence, with the Lighthouse of Broward being the premier resource center for the visually impaired community.

Lesa Berg Kretschmer, Founder and CEO of Florida Vision Technology, has been a part of the local business community in Fort Lauderdale for 24 years. In a recent interview, Kretschmer stated We wanted to support our community in making Fort Lauderdale a more beautiful place to live, as well as a place for local businesses to thrive. The Martin Luther King Day of Service seemed like the perfect opportunity to come out and support our neighborhood.

The Lighthouse of Broward art mural is part of the Mockingbird Trail, Broward Countys first urban art trail. The trail is named after the official bird of the State of Florida and runs approximately two miles. It features green walkways, outdoor seating, exercise routes, urban street furniture, and more than a dozen public art installations along the path. The Project was initiated by Cadence (a landscape architecture firm ) in partnership with Unconventional, an organization that inspires artists to become civic leaders and create interactive murals to inspire the community and beautify neighborhoods. The mural itself was designed by Unconventional artist, Ernesto Maranje.

The Mockingbird Trail Strategic Plan refers to the concept as creative placemaking which serves livability, diversity, and economic development goals. Kretschmer added, The trail connects local businesses to the community. These improvements will attract more residents, increase pedestrian foot traffic, and generate more economic opportunities for both residents and business owners. Its a win-win for everyone.

You can see, smell, feel and hear the mural  allowing the community and visually impaired a new way to experience art. Lesa Berg Kretschmer and her staff at Florida Vision Technology truly want to make Fort Lauderdale a better place for everyone to live, work, and play.

To connect with Lesa Kretschmer and Florida Vision Technology, call 1-800-981-5119 or stop by the store at 650 N. Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33311. Like what they are doing? Visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FloridaVisionTechnology/. Stay informed about technology solutions for the blind and visually impaired and take advantage of special offers by joining their Email list here. To learn more about the company and its efforts, watch this video.

About Florida Vision Technology

Florida Vision Technology is a minority certified small business based out of Fort Lauderdale. Lesa Berg Kretschmer, founder and CEO, has worked in the blindness and low vision industry for more than 24 years. She is committed to placing the best adaptive technology and products available today within reach of blind and visually challenged people of all ages and walks of life.
Bleu goes above and beyond for her guests, groups and staff no matter how busy she is. Her ability to wear many hats is the reason why this hotel continues to climb in TripAdvisor Guest Satisfaction scores, increasing 54% year-over-year, bringing her property to #21 of 174 in the Phoenix market

The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Arizona Chapter recently held its annual awards gala at The Scott Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. Each year the organization recognizes members for outstanding service and commitment. This year, Bleu Petty, general manager of GreenTree Inn & Suites Phoenix Sky Harbor, was honored as this years General Manager of the Year.

The General Manager of the Year Award is presented to an individual who has contributed to the community as a leader in the industry.

Bleu continues to climb to new heights in hospitality as she continues to work her way up the ladder. Shes held previous positions at the Holiday Inn Chandler, Hotel Indigo and more, with over 15 years of hospitality experience. Petty landed at her current company, GreenTree Inn & Suites, as a Projects Manager and is now part of launching a new hotel brand here in the U.S. She was named General Manager nearly 2 years ago, and helped oversee a brand takeover and renovations at her current property, shared Erik Dorr, President HSMAI Arizona. Dorr continued, GreenTree Inn & Suites Phoenix Sky Harbor also hosted HSMAIs August education program for Total Hotel Revenue Management. Bleu always goes above and beyond for her guests, groups and staff no matter how busy she is. Her ability to wear many hats is the reason why this hotel continues to climb in TripAdvisor Customer Satisfaction scores, increasing 54% year-over-year, bringing her property to #21 in the Phoenix market. She has set the example of a proto typical general manager within her organization as they continue to bring on additional hotels.

Bleu Petty stated I was honored to be recognized as this years General Manager of the Year by HSMAI. Im committed to the success of both the organization and my property; ensuring its brand image continues to excel and win awards, such as the TripAdvisor Certificate Excellence.

ABOUT HSMAI

Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) is a global organization of sales and marketing professionals representing all segments of the hospitality industry. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is comprised of nearly 7,000 members from 35 countries and chapters worldwide. HSMAIs mission is to grow business for hotels and their partners by fueling sales, inspiring marketing and optimizing revenue. The 250 member Arizona Chapter was established in 1968 and is the second largest chapter in the U.S. HSMAI has been honored with numerous international and local awards and was recently recognized as the 2015-16 Chapter of the Year. The chapter offers members a variety of benefits including monthly education programs targeted specifically to sales and marketing and revenue management professionals, a variety of networking and fundraising events and community service volunteer opportunities.

ABOUT GreenTree Inn

GreenTree Inn, a US based limited service brand dedicated to providing quality hotels in Arizona and California. GreenTree Inn is committed to practices and programs that pay respect to, and lessen our footprint on, our changing environment. Learn more about GreenTree Inn by visiting our website http://www.greentreeinn.com.

ABOUT GreenTree Hospitality Group, Inc.

GreenTree Hospitality Group, Inc. is a leading hotel owner, operator and franchisor with over 2600 hotels worldwide. As the 14th largest hotel brand globally, its GreenTree Inn hotels are trusted by corporate and leisure travelers seeking product that boasts of consistent quality guest rooms and public areas.

GreenTree Inn is a growing select-service hotel brand and prides itself on delivering an affordable lodging experience to its guests. Learn more about GreenTree Inn and GreenTree Hospitality Group by visiting us at http://www.greentreeinn.com or contact us at info(at)greentreeinn(dot)com.

Media Contact

Amanda Saye, Director of Marketing

GreenTree Hospitality Group, Inc.

480-201-9671

amanda.saye(at)greentreeinn(dot)com
The center will accelerate Advanta Seeds research and development capabilities for the companys key crops - sorghum, corn, vegetables sunflower, canola and rice.

Advanta Seeds, a global agriculture company specializing in seeds and agricultural solutions, opens a new state-of-the-art biotechnology facility in College Station, Texas, USA.

The new Biotechnology Center is a result of a ground-breaking partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Research headquartered at Texas A&M University in College Station. We are pleased to form this partnership and look forward to discovering new crop technologies to meet the challenges of an ever-expanding global population, said Dr. Craig Nessler, Director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research in College Station.

The center will accelerate Advanta Seeds research and development capabilities for the companys key crops - sorghum, corn, vegetables sunflower, canola and rice.

The completion of this new biotechnology center is part of our corporate commitment to farmers and food security, commented Bhupen Dubey, Advanta Seeds CEO. "The UPL Group, that Advanta Seeds is a part of, invests heavily into the agriculture future. It all started with finding the best research partner compatible with our R&D projects and technology which led us to Texas A&M AgriLife Research. We have considered 10 candidates from countries where our business operates, but Texas A&M AgriLife Research proved to be the best choice with clear and business-friendly policies which is crucial for making available new technologies to farmers quickly. Additionally, the state of Texas has very clear regulations and policies regarding seeds import, which is very important for conducting international research."

The Advanta CS Biotechnology Center will support Advanta Seeds local and international research programs. College Station is furthermore an important location for one of Advanta Seeds key crops - grain and forage sorghum.

We are a leading company in sorghum traits development and providing farmers with the most suitable seeds and technology for their environment. We are the first company in the US who launched Aphix, the SCA tolerance range of sorghum hybrids. Under our local brand Alta Seeds we are providing US and Mexico sorghum growers with the most advanced seeds technologies tested and developed in the local environment, shared Ben Adams, Advanta Seeds Business Director North America. Our partnership with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, which has advanced sorghum programs, is very important for our products."

Advanta CS Biotechnology Center will be a heart of Advanta Seeds innovation. The new center is created based on Advantas 60 years of experience in plant genetics, latest technology and the best of talent, said Dr. Alberto Leon, Advanta Seeds Global R&D Director. This would not be possible without the support we have received from Texas A&M AgriLife and Research Valley Partnership.

Texas A&M AgriLife Research is recognized internationally for its ground-breaking discoveries in agriculture and the partnership is very beneficial for both organizations. As part of the partnership agreement, Advanta Seeds will provide an internship opportunity for graduate students.

With the opening of the Advanta Seeds Biotechnology Center, Advanta Seeds is hoping to bring new generations of seeds to growers and improve the sustainability and profitability of farming.

About Advanta Seeds

Advanta Seeds is a sustainable agriculture company providing innovative solutions and seeds technology to farmers around the world. The company has a global footprint in more than 60 countries. Advanta Seeds has a leadership position in tropical and sub-tropical corn, grain and forage sorghum, sunflower, canola, rice and vegetables. Advanta Seeds is a part of the UPL Group.

About Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Texas A&M AgriLife Research is the states premier research agency in agriculture, natural resources and the life sciences. A member of The Texas A&M University System, AgriLife Research conducts hundreds of projects spanning many different scientific disciplines to deliver life-sustaining and industry-changing impacts to residents in Texas and throughout the world.
Based on its reputation and years of experience in the industry, NOREL Service Co., Inc. has been awarded a selective national distributorship by Johnson Controls for the recently released suite of Autocall fire detection systems. NOREL Service is excited to have the ability to provide customers with the most trusted and advanced technology in fire and life safety for todays environment.

Autocall provides next-generation fire detection technology while building on decades of trusted legacy systems. Autocall systems are highly modular and allow for integration with other Building Management Systems (BMS) using industry standard protocols such as BACNet and Modbus. Advanced features include fire alarm self-testing without disruption, addressable notification, and powerful networking capabilities.

Autocalls TrueSite allows a building manager or owner to view up-to-date, valuable command center information quickly and in real time, using a PC-based workstation, Apple, or Android mobile device.

As a highly-qualified distributor, NOREL Service maintains experience in designing (CAD) and installing systems for large and small buildings and extended campuses. NORELs technicians and sales experts have been formally trained on the technical details and specifications of Autocall products and as always, adhere to applicable building and life safety codes.

About NOREL Service Company

NOREL Service Company, Inc. provides sales, service, and installation of top-of-the-line fire and security systems. The company has earned a reputation for providing superior service and has grown year over year since 1971.

The companys sustained success can be attributed to its leadership, highly-trained technicians, and its long-standing customers. NOREL Service has partnered with numerous building owners and property managers, and currently provides service and solutions for more than 2,500 various types of facilities in and around Boston and New England.

NOREL is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and a Boston Business Journal top 25 Largest Veteran-Owned Business in Massachusetts (2016, 2017).

For more information, visit http://www.norelservice.com

For information on Autocall products, visit http://www.autocall.com
Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm and the largest international firm in Japan, is pleased to announce that Jesse Gillespie has joined the firms Tokyo office as a partner in its Corporate practice. Mr. Gillespie comes to Morrison & Foerster from Sullivan & Cromwell. He brings to the firm strong expertise in cross-border capital markets transactions.

Mr. Gillespies expertise further strengthens Morrison & Foersters capital markets practice  the only capital markets practice in Tokyo that covers both Japan and U.S. laws, and provides advice with respect to primary and secondary market transactions. His arrival also enhances the firms cross-border M&A transactions offering in relation to securities law issues.

Jesses pan-Asian credentials are impressive, said Eric Piesner, Firmwide Managing Partner for Asia. He gained significant exposure to global foreign private issuers while working in Hong Kong, making him a strong addition to our market-leading Tokyo team and Asian corporate practice more widely.

Mr. Gillespies corporate practice focuses on capital markets transactions involving Japanese and Asian issuers. He has extensive experience representing issuers and underwriters in connection with registered and unregistered offerings of debt securities, including both high-yield and investment-grade offerings. He also represents banks and issuers in connection with complex liability management exercises, including integrated consent solicitations, tender offers and exchange offers.

Jesse is already highly regarded in capital markets circles in Tokyo, with deep relationships at financial institutions, said Ken Siegel, Managing Partner of Morrison & Foersters Tokyo office. He will play a key role in further building out our Tokyo capital markets offering. We look forward to leveraging his strong track record in the debt capital markets space in particular.

In Japan, Mr. Gillespie has represented issuers and underwriters in noteworthy debt capital markets offerings for Japanese issuers, including the first global high-yield offering by a Japanese company and the largest international bond offering ever by a Japanese issuer. In China, he has advised on a wide range of landmark transactions, including debt offerings for central state-owned enterprises, as well as innovative offerings for leading technology firms and high-yield issuers in property and other sectors. Mr.

Gillespie has also worked on capital markets transactions for a variety of issuers in South and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Gillespie has also represented issuers and underwriters in a broad range of equity offerings, ranging from common stock offerings to convertible bond offerings and other complex equity-linked transactions, including the second-largest equity-linked transaction in U.S. history and Asias largest convertible security offering.

I am delighted to join Morrison & Foerster and help diversify the firms capital markets and corporate offerings, Mr. Gillespie said. The firm has an outstanding reputation in Japan and throughout Asia, and I look forward to contributing to its continued success.

Mr. Gillespie earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School, his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and also holds an M.F.A. in music from the Tokyo University of the Arts. He is a New York- and California-qualified attorney and is admitted to practice in Japan as a Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi. A native English speaker, Mr. Gillespie has near-native spoken fluency in Japanese and is also proficient in Japanese business and legal writing.

MOFO IN JAPAN

Morrison & Foerster has the largest and most diverse practice of any international law firm in Japan, with approximately 120 attorneys in Tokyo (including 45 bengoshi admitted to practice in Japan). We were one of the first foreign law firms licensed in Japan, opening our offices in 1987. Today, we are the largest international law firm in Japan, and one of the six largest firms in Japan, foreign or domestic. Morrison & Foerster was selected as Japan International Law Firm of the Year by the Chambers Asia Pacific Awards in 2017, for the fifth consecutive year (and the sixth time in the seven years that the award has been presented). We were also recognized by Chambers Asia Pacific 2018 in more Band 1 practice rankings and more "Star Individual" attorney rankings than any other international firm in Japan.

Morrison & Foersters Tokyo capital markets team was ranked Tier 1 by IFLR in the Japan capital markets category and recognized as a leading practice in capital markets by Chambers Global in 2017. We are the only global firm ranked Band 1 for M&A in Japan by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific, IFLR1000, and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

ABOUT MOFO

We are Morrison & Foerster  a global firm of exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in Northern America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Privacy and Data Security, Bankruptcy, and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education for poor children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, winning asylum for the persecuted, and safeguarding the environment.
HEALTHsuite Mercato Medicaid is integral to the health of our nation...it is imperative that we make every effort possible to ensure its long term survival.

RAM Technologies, Inc., the perennial leader in the development of enterprise software for healthcare payers, is pleased to announce the availability of a new report as part of the Sharing Knowledge to Improve Healthcare Administration (SKIHA) program. This month, members of the SKIHA program (free registration) are granted complimentary access to the RAM report, Innovations in Medicaid: How States are Using Medicaid Waivers to Improve Access, Engagement and Health.

Amendments to the Social Security Act granted the Secretary of Health and Human Services specific authorities including the ability to waive provisions of Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Plan. These waivers provided states with greater flexibility in how they administer these programs, including the ability to use funds in new ways. States have effectively expanded health care coverage, changed how health care is delivered, added benefits, required cost sharing, and extended coverage during an emergency.

Medicaid is integral to the health of our nation, said Christopher P. Minton, Executive Vice President of RAM Technologies, Inc. It is impossible to imagine life in present day America without it. This safety net program has transformed the healthcare industry, not just for the poor, but for every American. It has driven innovation and improved the delivery of care, and it is imperative that we make every effort possible to ensure its long term survival.

To read the entire report (Innovations in Medicaid: How States are Using Medicaid Waivers to Improve Access, Engagement and Health) join the SKIHA program today CLICK HERE.

About the Program

The SKIHA program (Sharing Knowledge to Improve Healthcare Administration) is an open platform that shares industry analysis and research to help the payer community prepare for the future. Each and every month the SKIHA program makes available special content that provides unique insight and in-depth industry knowledge to those in the position to enact real change. This free-flow exchange of ideas provides the information health plans need to improve operations, increase productivity and reduce costs.

About RAM Technologies, Inc.

RAM Technologies is the leading provider of enterprise claims processing software and claims adjudication software for health plans. For over 36 years RAM Technologies has led the way in the creation of Medicaid software solutions, Medicare software solutions and software for dual eligible processing (the Medicare-Medicaid Financial Alignment Initiative). RAM Technologies has been recognized on Inc. Magazines List of Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Philadelphia Business Journals List of Top Software Developers for their advancements in the creation of comprehensive claims management software for Medicare and Medicaid administration. To learn more about RAM Technologies healthcare claims processing and managed care software solutions call (877) 654-8810 or visit http://www.ramtechinc.com.
The Brunello di Montalcino Consortium, the association that promotes and safeguards the celebrated Tuscan wines, will host the annual Benvenuto Brunello event in the United States on Monday, January 29 at Gotham Hall in New York and on Wednesday, January 31 at The Drake Hotel in Chicago. Benvenuto Brunello is an exclusive wine tasting experience for wine trade and media during which the newest vintage release from 30 renowned Brunello producers is previewed.

Producers will showcase their 2013 Brunello di Montalcino and the 2012 Riserva, as well as the 2016 vintage of their Rosso di Montalcino, SantAntimo and Moscadello di Montalcino. This year, leading wineries including Altesino, Il Paradiso di Frassina, Castello Banfi, Il Palazzone, Loacker Corte Pavone and Villa Poggio Salvi will be present, among many others.

The events will feature a walk-around tasting, as well as seminars for select press and trade. The New York seminars will be led by Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Groups Beverage Operations Director Jeff Porter, while Fine Wine Specia list and Wine Educator Kristen Ellis will lead the seminar in Chicago.

The Benvenuto Brunello events in the United States are very important occasions for us, as America is one of our largest markets, says Consortium President Patrizio Cencioni. 2013 was a cooler year in Montalcino that produced very elegant wines. We are excited to taste these wines along with the wine trade and media to see how the US market views this vintage.

Schedule of Events (New York):



12:00pm  1:30pm 'Classic & Cool: The 2013 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino' presented by Jeff Porter, Beverage Operations Director at the Batali & Bastianich HospitalityGroup

1:00pm  6:00pm Walk-Around Tasting

2:30pm  4:00pm 'Classic & Cool: The 2013 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino' presented by Jeff Porter, Beverage Operations Director at Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group

Schedule of Events (Chicago):



11:30am  1:00pm 'Classic & Cool: The 2013 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino' presented by Kristen Ellis, Fine Wine Specialist and Wine Educator

1:00pm  6:00pm Walk-Around Tasting

To RSVP for the Benvenuto Brunello New York event, visit https://benvenutobrunellonyc.eventbrite.com.

To RSVP for the Benvenuto Brunello Chicago event, visit https://benvenutobrunellochicago.eventbrite.com.

About the Brunello di Montalcino Consortium:

The Brunello di Montalcino Consortium (http://www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it) was founded in 1967, at the same time that it was classified as a D.O.C. wine. The Consortium has favored the onset of old and new, small and large winemaking firms alike, brought together by the common interest of respecting nature and aspiring to the highest quality of wine production. The Consortium organizes events in Italy and abroad, as well as participating with winemakers in trade fairs and to wine tasting and sampling events and tours.
Red Balloon Security, a world leader in embedded device security, is under contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to develop new cybersecurity technology that can increase the security of complex building controllers and automation systems against cyberattacks.

Cyber sabotage attacks are a growing risk to facilities which utilize embedded devices to automate key functions such as climate control, security and, in the case of U.S. research facilities, biocontainment and decontamination processes.

In collaboration with the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facility owned and operated by the DHS S&T Office of National Laboratories, Red Balloon Securitys 12-month pilot study specifically examines and addresses the types of cyber risks which could impact the safety and security of building control systems. Unfortunately, building systems are not usually designed with cybersecurity in mind, so installing a robust host-based defense within these embedded devices is critical to ensuring the integrity of their operations. Our research on behalf of DHS has been able to provide an additional tool to address this problem. said Ang Cui, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Red Balloon Security.

An additional key component to the relationship between DHS and Red Balloon is highlighted by PIADCs unique internal infrastructure which provides an environment conducive for testing and developing new technologies. As a result of this research and the generous support of DHS, Red Balloon Security has developed a new implementation of their special firmware defense technology, called Symbiote Embedded Defense, which can block any attempt by a hacker or other rogue actor to attack building systems with malware, ransomware or other malicious code or commands. The Symbiote technology is injected into the firmware of the embedded device where it provides robust intrusion defense by constantly checking the integrity of static code and data at the firmware level, thereby blocking any unauthorized code or commands from executing. Red Balloon Security is also transitioning this same technology to the commercial market, where it can be used to protect any facility that relies upon embedded devices, whether it is a building automation system in a hotel or office building, or industrial control system in a manufacturing plant, electric utility, water treatment plant, etc.

About Red Balloon Security

Red Balloon Security (http://www.redballoonsecurity.com) is a leading security provider for embedded devices across all industries. Founded in 2011 by Dr. Ang Cui, the companys core technology, The Symbiote Defense, was originally developed through Columbia Universitys Intrusion Detection Systems Lab. After a decade of testing, billions of hours of error-free runtime and deployments in the US military, homeland security, critical infrastructure and consumer products, Symbiote Defense is the worlds most advanced and proven firmware defense system for embedded devices. Red Balloon Securitys pioneering industry research is led by a team of world-class academics, researchers and developers who have published seminal research papers in the fields of embedded security and intrusion detection, led US Department of Defense funded research activities, ethically disclosed vulnerabilities within hundreds of millions of ubiquitous embedded devices and worked as embedded security researchers within various intelligence agencies.

About Plum Island Animal Disease Center

Since 1954, PIADC has served as the nations premier defense against accidental or intentional introduction of transboundary animal diseases (a.k.a. foreign animal diseases) including foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). PIADC is the only laboratory in the nation that can work on live FMD virus (FMDV). The lab and its staff of nearly 400 employees from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture provide a host of high-impact, indispensable preparedness and response capabilities, including vaccine R&D, diagnostics, training, and bioforensics among others. Website: https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/plum-island-animal-disease-center

About the DHS Science and Technology Directorate

Established by Congress in 2003, S&Ts mission is to deliver effective and innovative insight, methods and solutions for the critical needs of the Homeland Security Enterprise. As DHSs primary research and development (R&D) arm, S&T manages science and technology research, from development through transition, for the department's operational components and the nations first responders. S&Ts engineers, scientists and researchers work closely with industry and academic partners to ensure R&D investments address the high-priority needs of today and the growing demands of the future. From border security and biological defense to cybersecurity and explosives detection, S&T is at the forefront of integrating R&D across the public and private sectors and the international community. By working directly with responders and component partners across the nation, S&T strives to provide advanced capabilities and analytics to better prevent, respond to and recover from all hazards and homeland security threats.
Audit completed! The Pyroll team is proud of the results achieved during the PANTONE Certified Printer Auditing process. Pictured: Miia Ylitalo (Pyroll), Maxim Siniak (X-Rite), Harri Asikainen (Pyroll The PANTONE Certified Printer process was very thorough, and we learned a great deal. In addition to the process improvements we will achieve as a result of the audit, we will also be able to leverage Pantones brand recognition adding even more credibility to our market position.

X-Rite Incorporated, a global leader in color science and technology, and its subsidiary Pantone LLC, today reported that Finnish company Pyroll Packages is the first flexographic printer worldwide to achieve PANTONE Certified Printer status. The initial certification audit was conducted at the companys location at Joensuu, one of ten locations across the country. Pyroll plans to continue this program in 2018. The certification was carried out by X-Rite Solutions Architect Mark Gundlach and International Technical Support and Application Expert Maxim Siniak together with Certified Pantone Partner and packaging repro house Flexolahti Oy and X-Rite dealer KTA Oy.

The PANTONE Certified Printer Program reviews and analyzes every aspect of a printers color operations  from preflight, to file preparation and proofing, to ink formulation and mixing, and to process control in the pressroom. Pyrolls certification confirms the companys ability to consistently achieve the most stringent customer color requirements, efficiently and cost effectively. PANTONE Certified Printer Program requires annual recertification to ensure continued performance at peak levels.

Our goal was to establish a more stringent color management program, expanding beyond visual evaluation to using instruments and digital standards, said Mikael Svennas, Pyroll Packages CEO. The PANTONE Certified Printer process was very thorough, and we learned a great deal. In addition to the process improvements we will achieve as a result of the audit, we will also be able to leverage Pantones brand recognition adding even more credibility to our market position.

Flexolahti Oy, an active member of the Finnish Flexographic Association, has raised awareness in Finland about the value of X-Rite solutions as a solid foundation for color management standardization. Weve seen X-Rite and Pantone solutions become the de facto standard in Finland with great results, commented Kai Tornikoski, Managing Director. We were pleased to work with X-Rite color experts to help Pyroll achieve this prestigious status and to further elevate awareness of the importance of a formalized color management program. In an environment where supply chains are complex, deadlines are tight, and errors and rework are not acceptable, PANTONE Certified Printer status gives Pyrolls customers peace of mind that their packages will be produced as expected, giving them faster time to market and improved shelf appeal.

To boost its overall performance and meet certification criteria, Pyroll has added the following X-Rite products to the Joensuu site:



ColorCert Suite, including ColorCert Master, Pressroom and ScoreCard Server. The ColorCert Suite enables the packaging industry to better manage the complexities of CMYK, Expanded Gamut, and Spot Color workflows, regardless of the printing process, substrate, or industry standard. Its modular set of tools streamline communications, provide actionable data and enable better utilization of existing people, processes and technologies.

X-Rite eXact, a handheld spectrophotometer combining industry-leading functionality with an easy-to-use interface for controlling, managing, and communicating color across the entire color workflow with embedded PantoneLIVE access.

InkFormulation Software, a fast, accurate, consistent ink formulation, formula creation, storage, approval and retrieval solution for offset, flexo, gravure and screen-printing inks. InkFormulation Software is PantoneLIVE compatible.

NetProfiler, a cloud-based blend of software and color standards for verifying and optimizing performance of color measurement devices, reducing variance among instruments. As Pyroll rolls out the PANTONE Certified Printer Program to additional locations, this capability becomes even more critical.

PantoneLIVE, a cloud-based architecture that enables digital specification and communication of Pantone standards to all stakeholders in the global supply chain. With centralized digital color standards and spectral values, everyone accesses and utilizes the same Pantone color libraries creating unsurpassed color consistency and a new way to manage, and communicate color.

On-site training and help with the creation of Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) was provided to Pyroll staff to ensure smooth implementation of all recommended new processes.

In addition to an improved ability to better communicate with brands and standardize color processes, this certification also provides a way for printers and converters to transform their entire production process, from file reception to ink formulation and final output, added Maxim Siniak, It offers a distinct sales and marketing advantage. The PANTONE Certified Printer Program is the one certification program that can fundamentally change how a printer or converter does business, improving quality, productivity and very important profitability.

To learn more about the PANTONE Certified Printer Program visit http://www.xrite.com/pantone-certified-printer-program.

About PantoneLIVE

PantoneLIVE is a cloud-based solution that enables the universal PANTONE Color language to be accurately communicated across the entire packaging workflow  from design concept to retail store shelves. PantoneLIVE extends the PANTONE PLUS SERIES Color Library, mapping critical color information to packaging-specific substrates. The PantoneLIVE ecosystem is supported by licensed hardware and software that enables each area of a packaging supply chain to access the same PantoneLIVE Colors, in addition to brand specific palettes. This results in consistent and repeatable color across product families, regardless of media or print technology, providing a cohesive brand approach. For more information, please see http://www.pantone.com/live.

About X-Rite

Founded in 1958, X-Rite Incorporated is a global leader in the science and technology of color and appearance. With its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone, X-Rite employs more than 800 people in 11 countries. The companys corporate headquarters are located in Grand Rapids, Mich., with regional headquarters in Europe and Asia and service centers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. X-Rite Pantone offers a full range of solutions used by manufacturers, retailers, printers, photographers and graphic design houses to achieve precise management and communication of color and appearance throughout their processes. X-Rite Pantone products and services are recognized standards in the printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles and medical industries. For further information, please visit http://www.xrite.com. For the latest news, information and conversations, connect with X-Rite on LinkedIn, Vimeo, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Pantone

Pantone, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, enables color-critical decisions, from inspiration to realization, for brands and manufacturers. Over 10 million designers and producers around the world employ Pantone Products and Services to communicate through color, and control consistency across various materials and finishes. Pantone offers designers, brands and consumers, products and services through three unique business divisions: Pantone Standards, which includes digital and physical workflow tools and the quintessential Pantone Color Language; the Pantone Color Institute, which provides trend, brand identity, and color assurance consulting services; and Pantone Lifestyle, the consumer products division that brings color and design together across apparel, home, and accessories. More information is available at http://www.pantone.com.

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2018 X-Rite, Inc. All rights reserved. X-Rite is a registered trademark of X-Rite, Inc. PANTONE, PantoneLIVE and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pantone is a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated. Licensed under Sun Chemical Corporation. Sun Chemicals patented technology enables the communication of a consistent, digital description of the desired appearance of a product.  [U.S. Patent Nos. 7,034,960; 7,202,976; 7,268,918; 7,417,764 and their foreign equivalents].  Pantone LLC, 2018. All rights reserved.
Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport Hotel Lobby The complete, top to bottom renovation included 250 all-suite guestrooms, lobby, restaurant & bar, meeting spaces, state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor pool, and Sheraton Club Lounge.

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, Inc. and managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts, announces the completion of an expansive transformation to Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport Hotel. The complete, top to bottom renovation included 250 all-suite guestrooms, lobby, restaurant & bar, meeting spaces, state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor pool, and Sheraton Club Lounge.

Balongue Interiors led the design direction for the full scope renovation which focused on providing guests with a modern, effortless travel experience. Balongue pulled together neutral pieces with pops of color and disrupted geometries in all guest rooms and in the new front lobby while also adding color artwork and photography of historic Philadelphia.

"Vector, the new restaurant and bar in the Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport, presented a unique design challenge, says Richard Stokes the lead architect on the project. The hotel, designed and built in the 80s, was dated, and featured a vast open atrium that is not conducive to the more intimate dining and bar experience most guests desire. The solution was to create a modern insertion into the atrium area that reduces the volume of space above diners, while remaining light and open. A wood shell structure was created, with an open slat structure that allows the natural light to filter down to every table, while creating a more defined and intimate experience within the restaurant.

Conveniently located just a mile from Philadelphia International Airport, the hotel offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport and unparalleled access to all of the best things to do and see in the city.

For more information about Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport visit sheratonphiladelphiaairport.com.

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About Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport

Boasting a contemporary urban design, Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport Hotel provides a memorable destination for both business and leisure travel. Situated near Philadelphia International Airport, this hotel features 250 beautifully appointed guestroom suites and dynamic social spaces.

4101 B Island Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19153

sheratonphiladelphiaairport.com

About Crescent Hotels & Resorts

Crescent Hotels & Resorts is an award-winning, nationally recognized, top-3 operator of hotels and resorts. Crescent currently operates over 100 hotels, resorts & conference centers in the US and Canada. Crescent is one of the few elite management companies approved to operate upper-upscale and luxury hotels under the brand families of Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG. Crescent also operates a collection of legendary independent lifestyle hotels and resorts under Latitudes Collection, Lifestyle by Crescent. Crescents clients are made up of hotel REITs, private equity firms and major developers. For more information, please visit http://www.chrco.com or connect with Crescent on LinkedIn.

About Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, Inc., makes it easy for guests to explore, relax and enjoy the possibilities of travel at more than 440 hotels in over 70 countries around the world. Sheraton continues to enhance the brand through innovative guest experience, differentiating design, multi-channel marketing and a sharp focus on service. Sheraton is proud to participate in the industrys award-winning loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest. Members can now link accounts with Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards at members.marriott.com for instant elite status matching and unlimited points transfer. To learn more, visit http://www.sheraton.com. Stay connected to Sheraton on Facebook, and @sheratonhotels on Twitter and Instagram.
We wanted to offer a streamlined way for consumers to quickly compare quotes from quality moving companies.

Move Matcher, the nations leading comparison website that allows consumers to find moving companies directly through the Internet, announced today its expansion into Indianapolis and Detroit, the second and fourth largest cities in the Midwest. The company already serves Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio.

Consumers visit the Move Matcher website to enter basic details of their upcoming move, including dates and size of their properties. Move Matcher instantly provides a free list of moving companies available on the move date, along with quotes and consumer reviews. Move Matcher does not provide customer contact details to the moving companies; it is up to the consumer to choose whether or not to contact a moving company based on the quote.

All moving companies within the Move Matcher network must pass a rigorous qualification process which includes verification of their State and Federal business licenses, DOT number, and insurance. Move Matcher also visits each moving companys office to ensure the company has trained employees and trucks.

The only requirements to enter the industry are a truck and manpower, which is why there are dozens of moving companies in any given city, some of which may not even be licensed or insured, explained Brian Gillstedt, Business Development Manager for Move Matcher. We wanted to offer a streamlined way for consumers to quickly compare quotes from quality moving companies that are available on the dates they need to move. And we wanted a way to provide moving companies with high quality leads. Weve enjoyed tremendous success in our other markets, and are extremely excited to serve the people of Indianapolis and Detroit.

Move Matchers unique Preferred Property Program will also be rolled out in Indianapolis and Detroit. This program allows realtors, property management companies, condo associations, storage facilities or other real estate entities to refer their tenants or owners to the Move Matcher website, and receive a referral fee for customers who convert. Move Matcher offers peace of mind to property owners because they know that our onboarding process has fully vetted the moving companies that enter their properties, explained Mr. Gillstedt.

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About Move Matcher

Founded in 2016, Move Matcher is the nations first comparison website that allows consumers to find moving companies directly through the Internet. Consumers enter basic details of their upcoming move and the site instantly provides a list of available moving companies, quotes, and consumer reviews. All moving companies within the Move Matcher network are licensed, bonded and insured, giving peace of mind to movers and property owners alike. Moving companies benefit from the high quality leads received via Move Matcher, and the Preferred Property Program rewards real estate entities that refer customers to Move Matcher. Move Matcher is currently available in Austin, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York and San Antonio. For information on Move Matcher, visit http://www.movematcher.com.
Cisse is the second direct investment for Next Act Fund, and we are tremendously excited about it. Their female-led management team has tapped into a market that the public can not seem to get enough of. As funding partners, we look forward to working with them as the business scales to new heights

Pittsburgh-based investors Next Act Fund and BlueTree Allied Angels are pleased to announce their respective investments in Cisse Cocoa, a female-led company based outside New York City. Next Act Fund is a female-focused fund which has invested $46,000 and BlueTree Allied Angels provided a follow on from their initial investment.

Launched in 2012, Cisse (pronounced SEE-SAY) Cocoa Co is a Fair Trade cocoa company, which sells its baking mixes and hot cocoa products in stores all across the United States. Cisse plans to use the money raised in this round to conduct a total rebrand of its visual identity, launch a new cocoa-based healthy snack product, and hire more marketing staff. Their current products sell in major outlets such as Whole Foods, Target, and Amazon, as well as on Jetblue flights.

Yvonne Campos stated Cisse is the second direct investment for Next Act Fund, and we are tremendously excited about it. Their female-led management team has tapped into a market that the public can not seem to get enough of. As funding partners, we look forward to working with them as the business scales to new heights.

Drew Morris, Executive Director of BlueTree commented, We chose to invest because we were impressed with the drive of the management team and saw a strong market opportunity. We are very pleased with the progress and growth the company has managed to achieve since our first round of investment, and we are excited about the opportunities that lie in front of them.

Diana Lovett, Founder, and CEO of Cisse added we are thrilled to have completed this round of funding and excited about adding partners such as the Next Act Fund, who are so focused on women entrepreneurs. From the start, we have focused on socially responsible cocoa products, and we are looking forward to providing more of those to more people in 2018.

About Next Act Fund

Next Act Fund was founded in 2017 with the intent of investing in early-stage, women-owned/led companies, thereby positively impacting women, the region, and the nation. Next Act Fund, which is the first of its kind in SouthWestern Pennsylvania, is also focused on member education, hosting monthly educational sessions open to its members and the public, as well as a series of educational sessions targeting future investors.

About BlueTree Allied Investors

BlueTree Allied Angels is a group of over 80 accredited investors that invest in regional, early-stage companies. The members-only organization operates as a network of private equity investors that meets monthly to evaluate and consider pre-institutional investments. Although the membership works together as a group to efficiently and effectively evaluate investment opportunities, each member makes his or her own individual investment decisions.In addition to the angel network, there is also a BlueTree Venture Fund. The Fund is a passive investment vehicle designed to allow investors to invest their capital without investing their time. BlueTree has over $40Million invested in over 35 companies.
For the second straight year, veteran personal injury and class action lawyer, Thomas More Marrone is honored to announce that MOREMARRONE LLC was named to the 2018 Best Law Firms in America. MOREMARRONE LLC has earned this honor every year since its inception at the end of 2016.

After a prior stretch that included two class action jury trials resulting in a settlement and a verdict combining for well over $15 million, several substantial personal injury recoveries, successful business and employment negotiations, and hundreds of satisfied clients, Tom Marrone established his multifaceted firm, MOREMARRONE LLC. His approach to success for his clients has always followed a simple mantra, I wont be outworked and I refuse to give up.

This is not your grandfathers law firm, he says. MOREMARRONE has a heart, a soul, and a will. Bare knuckled intellectuals. Original and nimble thinkers and doers who have produced some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We represent plaintiffs in substantial personal injury, catastrophe, class action, and complex civil litigation matters; individuals and businesses in crisis avoidance and crisis management; and we provide lawyer-to-lawyer case strategy and trial consulting and intervention. Experience, proven success, and peer reviews have earned Thomas More Marrone regular honors as The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, AVVO Clients Choice + perfect 10.0 rating, and Martindale Hubbell AV 5.0 Peer Rating for Highest Level of Professional Excellence.

In December of 2017, U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, for the eighth consecutive year, announced the Best Law Firms rankings. Firms included in the 2018 "Best Law Firms" list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

"U.S. News has decades of experience evaluating key institutions in societyfrom colleges to hospitals," says Tim Smart, executive editor at U.S. News. "Law firms perform a vital role in American life, and ranking them is a key extension of our overall mission to help individuals and companies alike make important life decisions."

The 2018 rankings are based on the highest number of participating firms and highest number of client ballots on record. To be eligible for a ranking, a firm must have a lawyer listed in The Best Lawyers in America, which recognizes the top 4 percent of practicing attorneys in the U.S. Over 13,000 attorneys provided more than 1,000,000 law firm assessments, and over 7,500 clients provided more than 65,000 evaluations. The 2017 Best Law Firms rankings can be seen in their entirety by visiting bestlawfirms.usnews.com.

The U.S. News  Best Lawyers Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.

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About Thomas More Marrone and MOREMARRONE LLC

MOREMARRONE LLC has handled cases producing some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The firm represents plaintiffs in significant personal injury, class action, and other complex civil litigation. After a recent 11-month stretch that included two class action jury trials resulting in a settlement and verdict amounting to well over $15 million in addition to several substantial personal injury recoveries, successful business and employment negotiations, and hundreds of satisfied clients, Tom Marrone established his multifaceted firm, MOREMARRONE LLC.

Licensed to practice in the State and Federal courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, Tom Marrone has extensive experience and proven success handling difficult, complex cases, especially class actions and collective actions, cases involving personal injury, employment, wage and hour claims, insurance matters, product liability, consumer protection, consumer fraud, deceptive practices, legal malpractice, and wrongful use of civil proceedings.

Individual and corporate clients also engage MOREMARRONE LLC for advisory services, including legal matters, crisis prevention and crisis management. A veteran class action trial lawyer, Tom Marrone also offers consultations with other attorneys and law firms related to class action and complex litigation theory development, implementation, and trial strategy.
Dan Pagano, lending executive at Wintrust states, The timing and relevance of NAIHBR is perfect for todays market. We are excited to work with NAIHBR and look forward to providing innovative mortgage solutions to its members.

The National Association of Independent Home Builders & Remodelers (NAIHBR) is partnering with Home123 and Wintrust Mortgage to launch a Winter Realtor Leadership Summit on January 25, 2018 (Chicago, IL) and February 7, 2018 (Oakbrook, IL). These events will be focused on providing real estate professional tools to expand reach and services for their communities.

NAIHBR has collaborated with industry leaders in lending, technology, and data aggregation to create a two session event that covers Construction to Perm Lending products, Weiss Insights home evaluations, and cutting-edge Home123 products to align technology and NAIHBR offerings with the needs of todays consumers.

Since formed in 2016, NAIHBR has grown to over 2000 members with local and national lending support from companies such as Associated Bank and US Bank. In addition to lending sponsors, key financial institutions such as National MI, and Home123 have supported the creation and expansion of NAIHBR, which is solely focused on helping communities revitalize through new construction and renovation.

Jim Pesavento, Executive Director of NAIHBR states, Even in our footprint where there are about 40,000 home listings, we have over 10,000 open lots and teardowns that can be converted into homes. Understanding we have a local and national housing stock shortage, NAIHBRs goal is to provide a common platform to work together to help local communities rebuild. The event covers timely topics such as housing prediction tools from well-respected economist Allan Weiss, case studies on how marketing technology can better serve todays consumers, and other educational topics.

Dan Pagano, lending executive at Wintrust states, The timing and relevance of NAIHBR is perfect for todays market. We are excited to work with NAIHBR and look forward to providing innovative mortgage solutions to its members.

Details on the free 1:00 to 4:00PM CST events are:

January 25, 2018

Triangle Plaza OHare

8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Suite 208

Chicago, Il 60631

February 7, 2018

Regency Towers

1515 W. 22nd Street

West Tower  1st Floor Conference Room

Oak Brook, Il 60523

For registration, please contact Ty Watson at Ty.Watson(at)NAIHBR(dot)org or 262-806-1202.

About NAIHBR:

Headquartered in Chicago, IL, NAIHBR is a not-for-profit trade association founded in 2016 to assist builders and remodelers in growing their business by providing assistance with marketing, client development and funding programs. NAIHBR works to match service providers with transaction opportunities through our network of builders, lenders, services providers, suppliers, and Realtors.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Jim Pesavento, Executive Director

JimP(at)NAIHBR(dot)org

855-733-8100
Jon Henschen In a more perfect world, we would have far fewer regulations but much smarter, well-thought out regulations that serve the public interest.

In his latest article, The Subtle Tyranny of Regulatory Overlords, independent channel broker-dealer recruiter Jon Henschen discusses how excessive regulation will affect the financial services industry.

Henschen opens by pointing out that business owners are quick to learn the pains of regulation and how it affects their ability to survive and thrive. He quotes author and theologian C.S. Lewis, who framed the topic best when he said, Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

Henschen believes that Lewis words aptly describe the actions of governmental bureaucrats who make up rules with the blessing of their own conscience, believing that what they do constitutes a moral and public good.

As owner of a recruiting firm focused on the financial services broker dealer industry (one of the most regulated U.S. industries) since 2001, Henschen has watched as the financial services industry has gone from 5,100 broker dealers in 1999 to just 3,940 broker dealers in 2017, a 23 percent decline. He notes that most of the casualties were smaller broker dealers, which is the typical outcome of excessive regulations that favor larger companies and overwhelm the smaller ones.

Henschen notes that Dodd-Frank has brought 14,000 pages of regulations for the financial services industry to follow, which is on top of the thousands of pages of regulation before the act. Now, there are impending DOL Rules that total 1,023 pages. These new rules will dramatically hinder broker dealer profitability, restricting product choices for consumers.

Under the guise of protecting the consumer, the reality of many of these rules is twofold. First, they create a complex web of rules and procedures that create a rich environment for extorting money from broker dealers through Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fines. Second, the SEC and lawmakers use the complexity of the rules to ensure their future employment at consulting firms or at FINRA.

Henschen explains that many of those who drafted Dodd-Frank now work for consulting firms, advising financial services companies and banks on how to navigate the complex Dodd Frank rules.

Further, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) management that makes the rules for broker dealers often end up working for the policeman of the rules, FINRA, where they can see a huge pay raise with many upper management posts earning $900,000 or more. The SEC is supposed to police the police (FINRA), presenting an obvious conflict of interest. (See the article in Investment News, FINRA: Whos Watching the Watchdog?)

Henschen asserts that for those advisors set on illegal activity toward their clients, rules and regulations have little effect, yet their broker dealers must uphold or face stiff fines. These penalties can also include restrictions on the broker dealers ability to add advisors. Under the Safe Harbor Expansion Provision, FINRA can restrict broker dealers from adding more than 30 percent of their size in a 12-month period. Henschen queries, What industry do you know of where regulatory bodies can control how fast a business can grow?"

According to Henschen, regulation works out wonderfully for the Bernie Madoffs of the world (whistleblowers repeatedly warned the SEC about Maddoffs investment fraud, but they turned an inept deaf ear). Regulation is also very useful to FINRA, allowing it to generate fine revenue that ends up in places no one quite knows, with FINRA simply saying the money is used for capital projects. The consumer, on the other hand, is left hoping their advisor has their best interest in mind.

Reputation is the best regulator according to Henschen because the consequence of not doing the right thing is losing customers. Advisors work constantly to build their clients trust, see their clients succeed through their life phases and find the best solutions to their needs.

Henschen concludes by acknowledging that while some regulation is needed, oftentimes policies implemented with good intentions have many unintentional consequences that are either detrimental (to brokers and clients) or end up having little to no effect in protecting the consumer from rouge financial advisors and brokers. In a more perfect world, we would have far fewer regulations but much smarter, well-thought out regulations that serve the public interest.

Jon Henschen is President of Henschen & Associates, an independent broker-dealer recruiting firm located in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Jon is a staunch advocate for independent financial advisors, and is widely sought after by both reps and broker dealers for his expertise and advice on independent broker dealer topics. He is frequently published and quoted in a variety of industry publications, including ThinkAdvisor, Investment Advisor Magazine, Wealth Management Magazine, Financial Advisor IQ, Financial Advisor Magazine, Investment News and others.
Express Kitchens' Norwalk Grand Opening Someone can walk in to any one of our stores with measurements and pick up their entire new kitchen from our Hartford warehouse in just one hour!

Express Kitchens is the fastest-growing kitchen cabinet retailer in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Headquartered in Hartford, CT, Express Kitchens has just opened its 12th retail location at 1280 East Main Street in Torrington.

Owner Max Kothari credits his companys unprecedented growthn to an approach that is radically different from his competition: Our goal is to cut out the middle man and offer true value and one-stop shopping to kitchen remodelers. Someone can walk in to any one of our stores with measurements and pick up their entire new kitchen from our Hartford warehouse in just one hour! Nobody else comes close to doing that. His approach includes maintaining over 30,000 cabinets in 10 door styles in-stock and ready to go, as well as granite, quartz, and laminate countertops and a selection of add ons - hardware, faucets, sinks, and accessories, all available for pickup in an hour.

Kotharis approach seems to be working: the company grew 50% from 8 stores to 12 in 2017, with plans to double in size in the first half of 2018. Express Kitchens, Kothari says, offers its own brand of all-wood Star Cabinetry and has just added the Star Stone brand, offering 4 colors of granite and 8 colors of quartz countertops to its in-stock lineup, vaulting it ahead of its big-box competitors. People get value and a level of service from Express Kitchens that the bigger stores cannot match - personal dedication and attention to detail make all the difference.

Express Kitchens headquarters is located in the north end of Hartford, where it is dedicated to community enrichment and hiring a diverse workforce that is the represents the best of what Hartford has to offer. When asked what drives the company to be successful, Kotharis business partner says we have the rare ability to constantly reinvent ourselves to outcompete our rivals.

Express Kitchens has locations in Bridgeport, Brookfield, Hamden, Hartford, Newington, New London, Norwalk, Orange, Stamford, Torrington, and Waterbury, Connecticut and West Springfield, Massachusetts. For more information, stop in to a store, call them at (860) 247-1000, or go to http://www.expresskitchen.net.
Vilmante Markeviciene, Founder of Genial Day Its all about giving women and teens more choices, says Vilmante. "We are here for women whofor lack of a better wordare ready to detox their period.

As Glamour magazine has put it, 2017 was a good year to be a woman with period and we cant agree more. In one year, much has been done to de-stigmatize periods.

Legislation passed in California and Illinois requiring schools to stock feminine hygiene products. Attorney Jennifer Weiss-Wolf became the author of the first major book titled Periods Gone Public to address equitable menstrual policy and, with the help of Cosmopolitan, start a campaign to end tampon tax.

Celebrities such as Janelle Monae, Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence, and Katy Perry spoke publicly and candidly about their own periods helping destigmatize and normalize a bodily function experienced by roughly half of the worlds population at some point of their lives.

GENIAL DAY commends the efforts of women around the world who fight for period equity and we are proud to do our part in the movement. With period destigmatization being the first step, were calling on all women influencers to push forward and shift our focus to menstrual health.

2017 was a year of a stigma-free period; lets push for 2018 being a year of womans choice to have a healthier period.

Currently, there's no mandate requiring manufacturers of tampons or maxi pads to disclose all ingredients in their products. Anyone can read a label and find out whats in their cereal, but its still not the case with menstrual hygiene products.

Theres a reasonable suspicion that conventional pads may contain questionable, unpleasant, and outright toxic ingredients, such as dioxin, formaldehyde, acetone, and heavy metals.

With more and more people paying attention to the quality and sources of their food, we believe that women should be more careful when it comes to menstrual hygiene products.

Heres what GENIAL DAY is doing to help women have easier, less stressful, and healthier periods.

I have suffered from irritation, rash, and painful periods for years, admits Vilmante Markeviciene, the founder and product developer of GENIAL DAY. Ive traveled the worldfrom the United Kingdom to Japansearching for answers. Unable to find a perfect sanitary napkin, Ive started researching fabrics, got acquainted with the latest innovations, and assembled a team of manufacturing experts to create a better menstrual pad.

Vilmantes persistence has paid off. She was able to patent her innovationa menstrual pad with an anion strip.

Unlike a conventional sanitary napkin, GENIAL DAY maxi pads and pantiliners are skin-friendly, air permeable, and toxin-free.

The new generation organic pads were an instant hit in Europe. GENIAL DAY products (distributed under the name of GENTLE DAY) are available in 15 European countries and loved by over 1 million women.

GENIAL DAY has entered the U.S. market just a year ago and their products can be found in over 500 health food food stores, including Fruitful Yield, Natural Grocers, Natures Market, Sprouts, and, of course, at GenialDay.com.

Its all about giving women and teens more choices, says Vilmante. Personally, Im not a huge fan of tampons. Many women who have given birth vaginally, suffer from endometriosis or simply have heavier flow, arent either. We are here for them and for other women whofor lack of a better wordare ready to detox her period.

The founder of GENIAL DAY points out that menstrual pads have come a long way, therefore, women who may have written off maxi pads in the past may want to take another look.

Its not like modern menstrual pads are made of wood pulp as it was the case in the 1800s, laughs Vilmante. My teenage daughter loves them and that says a lot.

She points out that GENIAL DAY pads and pantiliners are made using the highest quality materials and have been tested and certified by numerous international entities, including Oeko-Tex100, Made For Health, Leaping Bunny, Vegetarian Society, to name a few.

5 Reasons Why Every Woman Should Try GENIAL DAY

1. GENIAL DAY feminine hygiene products are free of toxic chemicals and reproductive system disruptors.

2. Anion strip with silver and Tourmaline neutralizes unpleasant odor, prevents harmful bacterial multiplication, and promotes general wellbeing.

3. Highest-quality super-absorbent polymer made in Japan absorbs several hundred times its own weight and is biodegradable.

4. Ventilated base film allows your skin to breath. As a result, your skin is not exposed to excessive warmth, it won't sweat, and you won't develop a rash.

5. Non-toxic glue. GENIAL DAY uses food-grade glue that contains no toxic chemicals; they are safe, wont cause allergies, and are environmentally friendly.

ABOUT GENIAL DAY

GENIAL DAY is a family-owned company founded by a woman and a mother, who was concerned about her own health and health of her teenage daughter. The Illinois-based company is a fast-growing developer and importer of functional premium quality feminine hygiene products. Their patented products are toxin-free and include unique sanitary napkins, menstrual cups, and an intimate apparel line, EiVi. GENIAL DAY products are certified by multiple international entities. The company was a finalist for the 2017 Supply Side CPG Editors Choice Award for Innovation and Market Impact.
What better place to have the inventors and innovators of tomorrow present their creations than at the home of those that changed the world

Hundreds of award-winning K-12 inventors from across the nation and around the world will gather at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation on June 1, 2018 to compete for top awards in youth invention at The STEMIE Coalitions annual National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) presented by United Technologies Corporation. Mo Rocca, star of The Henry Fords Innovation Nation on CBS will serve as emcee for the NICEE Awards Ceremony.

What better place to have the inventors and innovators of tomorrow present their creations than at the home of those that changed the world, said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO, The Henry Ford. We are honored to host these bright, talented and inspiring students who are working on building a better future.

In addition to hosting NICEE, Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is also the site of the Michigan Invention Convention and Showcase taking place March 19th. More than 75 student projects from across the state of Michigan will be displayed and judged with the opportunity to advance to the national competition in June.

Just like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, these young inventors are solving real-world problems, said Danny Briere, CEO of The STEMIE Coalition, the nonprofit that runs NICEE. These kids are identifying problems in our world all by themselves, problems that matter to them, and are often very personal. And the results are spectacular.

NICEE was held at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia in 2016 and 2017, but the number of students, judges, and families participating in the event outgrew the space. Over four hundred NICEE inventors will be joined at The Henry Ford in 2018 by 150 judges, an estimated 1,200 family and friends, as well as the student entrepreneurs participating in NICEEs Entrepreneurship Expo.

Students earn the opportunity to advance to the invitation-only NICEE by winning regional and state invention competitions across the United States and around the globe. NICEE 2018 also will host the top inventions submitted and judged through an at-large applicant process. Young inventors at NICEE have beat out more than 100,000 peers in order to qualify for the event. For the first time, young inventors from other countries are expected to compete at NICEE as well.

About The Henry Ford

The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan is an internationally-recognized history destination that explores the American experience of innovation, resourcefulness, and ingenuity that helped shape America. A national historic landmark with an unparalleled Archive of American Innovation, The Henry Ford is a force for sparking curiosity and inspiring tomorrows innovators. More than 1.77 million visitors annually experience its five attractions: Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford Giant Screen Experience. A continually expanding array of content available online provides anytime, anywhere access. The Henry Ford is also home to Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school which educates over 500 students a year on the institutions campus. In 2014, The Henry Ford premiered its first-ever national television series, The Henry Fords Innovation Nation, showcasing present-day change-makers and The Henry Fords artifacts and unique visitor experiences. Hosted by news correspondent and humorist, Mo Rocca, this Emmy-winning weekly half-hour show airs Saturday mornings on CBS. For more information please visit our website thehenryford.org.

About NICEE

The STEMIE Coalitions National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) presented by United Technologies is the only national celebration of young K-12 inventors and entrepreneurs in the United States. Each year, winners of affiliate and partner competitions across the U.S. are issued invitations to NICEE to showcase their inventions and compete for prizes and recognition. NICEE employs novel judging techniques and peer review in its breadth-and-depth competition to ensure it serves as an intellectually enriching event for all. It is a launchpad from which student participants can advance their keen interest toward becoming tomorrows innovators and world -changers. The 2018 event will be held May 31-June 2, 2018. More than 1,600 people are expected to participate. For more information, visit http://www.stemie.org/NICEE.

About The STEMIE Coalition

The STEMIE Coalition is a non-profit, umbrella membership organization of youth invention and entrepreneurship programs across the U.S. and globally. It provides much-needed national attention for and drives interest in K-12 invention and entrepreneurship, while empowering local organizations with best practices and resources. The STEMIE Coalition is the first such group created to elevate invention and entrepreneurship education of K-12 students across the country. STEMIE has reached over 500,000 students in two years, of which an estimated 57% are female, 33% are from underserved populations, and 24% are from minority populations.

The Coalitions goal, with founding partners United Technologies Corp. and Stanley Black & Decker, is to formalize youth invention and entrepreneurship in the K-12 experience. STEMIE believes that all students should once, better twice, be an inventor and/or entrepreneur in their K-12 career. For more information, visit http://www.stemie.org.
Sound Royalties is a true partner thats really looking out for your best interests in the long run. Its often hard to have enough money to produce your next record, to market and promote, but Sound Royalties put extra dollars in my pocket immediately.

Sound Royalties, LLC, a game-changing company that enables musicians to fund their creative pursuits without sacrificing their copyrights, today announced its work with R&B artist and music industry trailblazer Jay King. This announcement comes just days ahead of the U.S. release of Kings new, highly-anticipated album Helens Son, featuring the single Good Kind of Lovin which is already a #1 hit in the U.K. Kings new project will be heavily promoted in the United States by Virtuoso Music And Distribution, with whom King recently secured a new record deal.

King, who has been performing for more than 30 years, founded the popular group Club Nouveau. The group performed a Grammy-winning cover of Lean on Me, which spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1987. But Club Nouveau is perhaps best known for the multi-million-dollar selling, #1 song on the Billboard R&B charts, Rumors. King has a host of other hit songs as well, including Situation #9, Why You Treat Me So Bad, Jealousy, Heavy on My Mind and I Got 5 on It.

Once King learned about how Sound Royalties artist-friendly model works, giving music professionals access to their royalty streams upfront and working with them to ensure the funds to continue creating music, he was all in. Less than a week later, he had signed on to work with the innovative company.

Sound Royalties is a true partner thats really looking out for your best interests in the long run, said King. Its often hard to have enough money to produce your next record, to market and promote, but Sound Royalties put extra dollars in my pocket immediately. Theyll even return royalty overflow to me, where most companies keep all that money. If you want a company thats going to work with you, that you can take at their word, that will make sure you can survive based on your royalty stream, thats Sound Royalties. Im very glad a company like this exists.

Sound Royalties CEO and Founder Alex Heiche added: Jay King is an extremely talented individual, and we are thrilled to be working with him as he releases his incredible new album. It is the companys and my personal passion to ensure that artists like him can both retain the rights to their music and have financial security. We are very happy that Sound Royalties was able to provide King with the needed funding to continue his legendary work.

About Sound Royalties

Founded by CEO Alex Heiche, Sound Royalties, LLC is a privately-owned specialty finance firm that helps music industry professionals fund personal and professional projects while allowing them to retain the rights to their music and royalties. The companys core business is offering royalty advances of anywhere from $5,000 to $10 million, without having to deal with credit issues, while preserving all rights to the artists music. It does this by advancing artist performance royalties paid through music labels and Sound Exchange, songwriter royalties paid through music publishers and Performing Rights Organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, and music streaming royalties from Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. To date, Sound Royalties, LLC has worked with a wide range of leading music industry professionals, including Grammy Award winners, platinum recording artists and notable music industry executives in every genre. Learn more at http://www.soundroyalties.com.
QA Graphics, a leader in the building automation system (BAS) graphic outsourcing industry, will be returning to the AHR Expo to exhibit their creative designs with over 60,000 HVACR professionals. The event will take place January 22January 24, 2018 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Attendees are invited to visit QA Graphics booth (4160) to learn more about the company and their comprehensive design services.

QA Graphics will be showcasing:

3D Design

As technology continues to evolve, so do consumers expectations. Stop by booth #4160 to receive free virtual reality glasses and explore QA Graphics designs. Our team uses the latest technology to create professional animated videos, motion graphics, and other visual effects. Well also bring your business to life with 3D animations and voice-over capabilities.

BAS Floor Plans

QA Graphics offers a variety of floor plans to meet your companys specifications, budget, and timeline. From basic to complex design, we produce high-quality graphics, maintain quick turnaround times, and possess the technical expertise to include building details such as zoning, windows, built-ins, railings, furnishings, and more.

Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard

QA Graphics will be demonstrating their HTML Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard, an interactive platform that allows building owners to help educate the public on everyday green practices. This innovative product not only helps fulfill the needs of the customer, but has a positive impact on the future of sustainability.

BAS Symbol Library v5

QA Graphics BAS Symbol Library v5 will also be present, giving users access to premium graphics and animations. This library offers a competitive advantage in the BAS industry by delivering more appealing and realistic graphics, and higher resolution images.

About QA Graphics  QA Graphics specializes in HVAC graphic development services, system graphics, floor plan graphics, and Energy Efficiency Education Dashboards (EEEDs). The company also provides marketing solutions such as interactive applications, 3D design and animation, UX design, videos, and more. Visit http://www.qagraphics.com to learn more.

To learn more about the AHR Expo, visit http://bit.ly/mapmyshowAHR18.
Alberto Gonzales

Former United States Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales will speak Thursday, March 1, 2018, at the American Values Forum in the Performance Hall of the Renaissance Center in Dickson. The event is designed to raise scholarship funds for students finishing their college degrees at Freed-Hardeman University/Dickson.

Gonzales, appointed by President George W. Bush, was the first Hispanic attorney general. He had also served as general counsel to Bush when he was governor of Texas, and he was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He is currently the dean and Doyle Rogers Distinguished Professor of the College of Law at Belmont University.

Son of a construction worker in Houston, Gonzales was also a member of the U.S. Air Force and attended the Air Force Academy. He graduated from Rice University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School.

Prior to Gonzales address, Erabellas, a vocal trio based in Nashville, will entertain. Influenced by bluegrass, folk and country, the group showcases an Americana sound with original music and crowd-favorite covers.

The presentation by Gonzales will be done in an interview format with FHU President David Shannon and Dr. Bob Spencer, director of the nursing program at FHU/Dickson, asking the questions. Ted Williams, president of Tri-Star Bank and vice president of the FHU Board of Trustees, will be the master of ceremonies.

FHU/Dickson is the only baccalaureate educational institution in Dickson County. It provides junior and senior level classes for transfer students and graduate degrees for those who have already completed baccalaureate degrees. Bachelors degrees are available in elementary education, business management, accounting, psychology, social work and nursing. Additional information may be found at fhu.edu/Dickson.

Sponsorships as well as general admission tickets to the event are available. Sponsorships include dinner, speech and a photo with Gonzales. General admission tickets for the speech are four for $100. Those interested in sponsorships or tickets may contact Red McCaskill, executive director of The Renaissance Center, at 615-440-8202. Additional information about the event is available at fhu.edu/Dickson.
Live theatre is a great way to educate. The show goes beyond reading or other more passive methods of engaging kids.

Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) and The National Theatre for Children (NTC) have partnered to educate and inspire California students and their families. From January 22 to March 2, professional actors from NTC will visit 50 elementary schools with live performances of Men in Plaid: The Water Files, sparking conversations on water conservation in classrooms throughout IEUAs service area.

The program will focus on the uses of water, the importance of water, ways in which water is wasted, and how to conserve water.

The live program revolves around Agents Moldy and Skuller of the Men in Plaid bureau, who discover that the notorious Slug is wasting water all over the universe. With the help of student volunteers, as well as colorful characters like Ooot Blatuu from Planet Grum, Agents Moldy and Skuller set off to stop the Slug.

In addition to live performances, the program includes student playbooks (print and online versions), teacher guides, e-books, and digital games and activities that align with the important concepts outlined in the live shows. IEUA and its partnering retail agencies sponsor every aspect of the program, making the performances and materials a cost-free supplement to lessons in science, literacy and the arts.

Live theatre is a great way to educate, said NTC president and founder Ward Eames. The show goes beyond reading or other more passive methods of engaging kids. These children are watching a story unfold right before their very eyes, with the two actors playing all sorts of characters. We dont lose the kids attention for a minute, because they get to respond and interact with the show. It really sticks with them.

Educating students on water related topics is imperative, stated IEUA Board President Steve Elie. By educating them in a fun, exciting way, we are encouraging students to be enthusiastic about the learning process while inspiring them to take action in becoming environmental stewards and also providing them with tools to protect our water resources now and for the future.

For a complete list of schools and locations on the tour, contact Matt Levine at mlevine(at)ntccorporate(dot)com. For more information on The National Theatre for Children, visit: http://www.nationaltheatre.com.

About Inland Empire Utilities Agency

Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA/Agency) is a regional wastewater treatment agency and wholesale distributor of imported water. Today, the Agency is responsible for serving approximately 875,000 people over 242 square miles in western San Bernardino County. The Agency is focused on providing four key services: (1) securing and supplying imported water; (2) collecting and treating wastewater; (3) producing high-quality renewable products such as recycled water, compost and energy; and (4) promoting sustainable use of groundwater and devlopment of local water supplies.

About The National Theatre for Children

NTC is a premium provider of educational programming with operations in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. We work directly between schools and clients to promote beneficial behaviors and life skills to students in grades K-12 on a local, regional and national level.

Our award-winning educational programs are provided free for schools and are customizable to accommodate specific messages and goals for clients. Through formats including live performance, in-class discussion, graphic novels, print curriculum, and digital games and activities, we present topics such as energy conservation, safety, financial literacy, STEM, water and environmental stewardship, and health and social responsibility in ways that engage and empower students. In doing so, we are helping our clients to be forces of change for students, parents and communities.

Visit http://www.NTCcorporate.com.

Please direct inquiries to:

Matt Levine

Client Services Representative

mlevine(at)ntccorporate(dot)com

Lisa Morgan-Perales

Senior Water Resources Analyst

lperales(at)ieua(dot)org
Year Up, a national nonprofit that provides Opportunity Youth (ages 18-24, without college degrees) with six months of free technical and professional skills training, followed by a six-month internship at a top company, has been announced as a grantee of Google.org scholarships for IT certificates offered through Coursera, a leading online education provider, to help learners acquire the skills they need to start a career in IT. With cutting-edge courses, hands-on labs and more, the Google IT Support Professional Certificate is designed to take beginning learners to job readiness in 8 to 12 months.

"Were thrilled to be working with Google.org on this game-changing initiative for scaling what is proven to work in terms of workforce development and closing the Opportunity Divide, said Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Year Up. Together, we will harness the power of Coursera online training to help many more thousands of low-income youth gain the IT skills that employers need  ones that lead to strong, family-sustaining careers.

Just last year, there were 150,000 job postings for IT Support roles in the United States alone.

IT support roles are in high demand, and expected to grow 10% in the United States by 2026. Thats faster than average for all other occupations.

Google.org is providing scholarships and full financial assistance to 10,000 learners over the next year. A portion of those seats are with Year Up and others non-profit partners. Those who complete the program will have the option to share their information with top companies across sectors and across the country who are hiring entry-level IT support, including Bank of America, Walmart, Sprint, GE Digital, Accenture, PNC Bank, Infosys, L'Oreal, TEKSystems, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Google.

This first-of-its-kind IT certificate will give aspiring professionals a hands-on IT experience. Through Courseras platform, learners will be able to learn on the go with short engaging videos interspersed with interactive labs that simulate on-the-job troubleshooting.

Year Up will offer the IT certificate scholarship as a grantee of the Google and Coursera partnership beginning with four sites and to alumni as a pilot beginning in March 2018 to help bridge the digital divide in our country. Student participants will receive scholarships from Google.org and on-the-ground support from Year Up instructors and staff.

Finding qualified IT personnel is a challenge many companies face. With 150,000 open roles in

IT support, it is one of the fastest growing occupations in the country, said Ben Fried, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Google. We developed this curriculum to address this problem head on. We are looking forward to working with Coursera, our nonprofit grantees and participating corporations to create opportunities for thousands of learners.

As technology advances change or replace more jobs, we must create more pathways for people to jump into the new, high paying careers of the future, said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. We are excited to work with Google, nonprofits, and top employers to grow a pipeline of skilled workers and give them the resources they need to succeed as IT professionals.

To learn more about the Year Up scholarship program with Google and the IT Support Professional Certificate on Coursera, please visit: https://grow.google

About Year Up

Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up achieves this mission through a high support, high expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, internships and college-level coursework. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to place these young adults on a viable path to economic self-sufficiency. Year Up currently serves more than 3,600 students annually across 24 campuses in Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, National Capital Region, New York City, Providence, Puget Sound, South Florida and Wilmington.

To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: @YearUp
ProtectLDSChildren.org Inappropriate Bishops Interviews - Parents Want Change

When: January 18, 2018, 10am

What: News conference

Where: 50 West Club & Cafe located at 50 W. Broadway in Salt Lake City.

Event: Protect LDS Children (http://www.ProtectLDSChildren.org)



Current status of the Petition: Protect the ChildrenStop Inappropriate Interviews of Mormon Youth.

Announcement of the March-for-the-Children to deliver the petition to the Church Office Building.

Three speakers will be on the podium:

Sam Young, concerned father, former Mormon bishop, petition organizer;

Joelle Casteix, sex abuse victims advocate, Western Regional Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network;

Natasha Helfer Parker, a certified sex therapist and licensed marriage & family therapist.

For decades, it has been common place for a significant number of LDS Bishops to pose questions of an inappropriate nature to children, all alone, behind closed doors. ProtectLDSChildren believes that this practice has caused incalculable damage to our children. This was discussed in a recent Salt Lake Tribune article: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/12/12/all-the-buzz-about-sexual-harassment-has-some-mormons-wondering-if-bishops-interviews-go-too-far-and-need-reform/.

ProtectLDSChildren believes that the damaging consequences have made a severely negative-irreparable impact on Mormon youth. The goal of Protect-LDS-Children is to bring a halt to these dangerous and damaging interviews.

The petition has now garnered well over 10,000 signatures. 5,000 of the signers are from Utah.

This press conference will be focused around bringing this practice to an immediate stop to protect our children - the next generation.

For more information contact: cleblanc(at)libertyoffice(dot)com

Sam Young

Houston business owner, father of 6 daughters, active LDS Church member, decades of service to the LDS church including bishop, bishopric counselor, ward mission leader, ward young men president, stake young men president, stake public affairs director, stake activities director, high councilor, high priest group leader, seminary teacher, institute teacher and several special assignments. Served full time mission in Guatemala/El Salvador.

Joelle Casteix

Sex Abuse Victims Advocate; Western Regional Leader, SNAP, the Survivors Network. Named one of Orange Countys 100 Most Influential People, Joelle is the award-winning author of the bestsellers The Well-Armored Child: A Parents Guide to Preventing Child Sexual Abuse (RiverGrove Books) and The Power of Responsibility (based on her wildly successful TEDx talk.) A successful writer and blogger, she is also a leading national in the trenches expert on the prevention and exposure of child sex abuse and cover-up, especially within institutions such as the Catholic Church.

Natasha Helfer Parker, LCMFT, CST

She has practiced for over 20 years, primarily working with issues of relational health, faith journeys, and sexuality. She is a Certified Sex Therapist and Marriage & Family Therapist. She writes a blog called "The Mormon Therapist," and hosts the podcasts "Mormon Mental Health," and "Mormon Sex Info." She also runs a sex education program, "Sex Talk with Natasha" and her private practice, "Symmetry Solutions." For more information visit natashaparker.org.
TowelTech Premium Fitness Towel "... our state-of-the-art towel is one of the healthiest and most sanitary options anybody can utilize at the gym to help prevent catching the flu and other illnesses."

TowelTech, leading developer of innovative specialty gym towels, announced their new hygienic Premium Fitness Towel to help fight against the spread of the flu at gyms. Medical experts predict that this flu season will be one of the worst in modern history. This fact highlights the importance of promoting hygienic practices, especially in crowded gyms filled this time of year with people pursuing the popular New Year resolution of getting fit.

Its a perfect storm, said Henry Cohn, co-founder of TowelTech. There are more people crammed together in the gym now because of the New Year and were in the middle of a particularly terrible flu season. This is why I believe our new product is indispensable for any gym-goer.

The new TowelTech Premium Fitness Towel is made with advanced TENCEL Fiber, a super-absorbent material that reduces bacterial growth. In addition, the new towel comes equipped with a powerful magnet designed to attach to higher metal surfaces, thus keeping the towel away from the disease-prone common surfaces. Furthermore, the towels color-coded sides make it easy to determine which side was placed onto a bench in the gym, leaving the other side clean to wipe sweat away.

Everyone should get a flu shot and wash their hands regularly, of course, Mr. Cohn continued, But beyond that I think our state-of-the-art towel is one of the healthiest and most sanitary options anybody can utilize at the gym to help prevent catching the flu and other illnesses.

About TowelTech

Based in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, TowelTech is a leading designer of specialty premium gym towels. Their innovative products are hygienic, multi-functional exercise accessories made to enhance the workout experience for people of all fitness levels. For more information, visit http://www.TowelTech.com or call (949) 484-5117 to speak to a representative.
In Januarys NEPC Education Interview of the Month, Greg Smith discusses the Schools of Opportunity project and the characteristics of schools of opportunity with Linda Molner Kelley and Adam York of the University of Colorado Boulder.

Each year the projects Schools of Opportunity awards recognize high schools that are actively closing opportunity gaps for their students by implementing research-based practices and providing all their students access to rich learning experiences and healthy school cultures that support and engage them in learning.

According to Molner Kelley and York, These schools are helping us to rethink what it means to be a good school and shining a spotlight on policies and practices that help schools provide students with inspiring opportunities to learn.

A new NEPC Education Interview of the Month, hosted by Gregory A. Smith, Lewis and Clark College Emeritus Professor of Education, will be released each month from September through May.

Dont worry if you miss a month. All NEPC Education Interview of the Month podcasts are archived on the NEPC website and can be found here.

Coming Next Month

In February, Gregs guest will be Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos of Arizona State University, who will discuss his examination of Education Savings Accounts and the makeover of school privatization.

Stay tuned to NEPC for smart, engaging conversations about education policy.

Find Documents:

Press Release: http://nepc.info/node/9010

NEPC Podcast: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/smith-kelley-york

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu
I credit this award to the Power Express team, and the commitment to providing top-tier customer service and tailored electricity packages to all customers.

Power Express, a Houston-based retail electricity provider and subsidiary brand of Volterra Energy Holdings, LLC (VEH), today announced the company has been awarded Vendor of the Year for 2017 by Lifestyles Unlimited, Inc. (Lifestyles Unlimited), an international real estate investment and management group with services in the Houston area. Power Express was recognized on January 4th, 2018 and is the first retail electricity provider to be named Vendor of the Year by Lifestyles Unlimited.

The award annually recognizes real estate and multifamily vendors with Lifestyles Unlimited that deliver superior value, performance and service to investors and their portfolios in the Houston area.

Power Express is thrilled to receive this award from Lifestyles Unlimited, an influencer in the real estate industry and prominent advocate for our brand, said Mohsin Hassan, Power Express Chief Operating Officer. We look forward to continuing to expand our electricity offerings to their members and multifamily customers in Houston.

The VEH portfolio includes multiple brands that offer tailored electricity packages to customers across Texas. Power Express niche is marketing affordable and flexible packages to both residential and commercial customers with a distinct focus on multifamily housing.

This award underscores our success in the multifamily housing market and is a testament to our focus on not only great pricing but also service to our customers, said Hassan. I credit this award to the Power Express team, and the commitment to providing top-tier customer service and tailored electricity packages to all customers.

Power Express is fast becoming a leading REP in the multifamily housing electricity service market and offers its services to most deregulated parts of Texas.

About Power Express

Power Express is a premier, Houston-based, electricity provider focused on providing best-in-class customer service. While Power Express provides competitive electricity rates to commercial and residential Texas consumers, the brand boasts industry leading energy management tools, multifamily services, and customized products for energy efficiency programs. To learn more about Power Express, visit the company website at http://www.power-express.com.

About Lifestyles Unlimited, Inc.

Lifestyles Unlimited, Inc. is an international premier education and mentoring group for real estate investing. Since 1990, the company has helped both beginner and advanced investors deploy their capital in everything from single-family houses to 600 + unit apartment complexes. Lifestyles Unlimited guides its members step-by-step through property locating, evaluating, negotiating, financing, closing, rehab, leasing, and management. The company offers education and mentoring services, programs internationally, but offices out of Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. For more information, visit http://www.lifestylesunlimited.com.
Arteris IP, the innovative supplier of silicon-proven commercial system-on-chip (SoC) interconnect IP, today announced that it added eight new licensees for Arteris Ncore and FlexNoC Interconnect semiconductor intellectual property (IP) products in 2017. Arteris IP customers added during 2017 include Chinese artificial intelligence and machine learning pioneers Cambricon and Intellifusion, IoT security and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) vendor Nationz Technologies, and five as-of-yet undisclosed customers. This trend matches previous years where Arteris added nine new licensees annually in 2014, 2015 and 2016. These new customers, and the addition of new license contracts with existing licensees, enabled Arteris IP to achieve cash flow positive operation in 2017 while investing heavily in new product development.

In addition, three major customers executed multi-year corporate contract licenses with Arteris IP. These strategic relationships are an indication of the central role of Arteris interconnect IP in the development of some of the worlds most innovative systems-on-chip, as well as an acknowledgement of the trust that the industrys most important semiconductor companies place in Arteris.

Arteris IP R&D investments resulted in the delivery of two new interconnect IP products in 2017:



Ncore Cache Coherent Interconnects versions 2.0 and 2.2, with Resilience (ISO 26262 functional safety), innovative configurable cache options, and 0 to 16 cache coherent ports

PIANO 2.2 timing closure assistance with architectural floorplan generation, production floorplan input and editing, enhanced automatic pipeline insertion, and early access cache coherency support

Furthermore, Arteris IP delivered FlexNoC non-coherent Interconnect version 3.5 with increased performance, allowing customers to tape out SoCs with interconnects running at 2 GHz frequency, and higher.

Organizationally, Arteris IP added Ty Garibay as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and expanded its engineering and customer support teams. The company also moved into its new corporate headquarters in Campbell, CA, opened a new engineering facility in Austin, and doubled the size of its Paris office.

Arteris IP bookings reached the highest level in company history in 2017, said K. Charles Janac, President and CEO of Arteris IP. Our delivery of interconnect technology for resilient autonomous systems has supported our customers in delivering mission-critical electronics for markets such as automotive ADAS, drones and other autonomous vehicles  among other applications. We are particularly pleased with the adoption of our products by deep learning SoC customers in China.

About Arteris IP

Arteris IP provides system-on-chip (SoC) interconnect IP to accelerate SoC semiconductor assembly for a wide range of applications from automobiles to mobile phones, IoT, cameras, SSD controllers, and servers for customers such as Samsung, Huawei / HiSilicon, Mobileye (Intel), Altera (Intel), and Texas Instruments. Arteris IP products include the Ncore cache coherent and FlexNoC non-coherent interconnect IP, as well as optional Resilience Package (functional safety) and PIANO automated timing closure capabilities. Customer results obtained by using the Arteris IP product line include lower power, higher performance, more efficient design reuse and faster SoC development, leading to lower development and production costs. For more information, visit http://www.arteris.com or find us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/arteris.

Arteris, Arteris IP, FlexNoC. Ncore, PIANO, and the Arteris IP logo are trademarks of Arteris, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.

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A VIP Preview Party and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony will be held for Hellenic Senior Living of Indianapolis, a new affordable assisted living community for older adults that is opening next month.

The event will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18 at the community, which is located at 8601 South Shelby Street. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 5 p.m.

This $23 million development was designed for seniors who have a financial need and need some help to maintain their independence.

We will be providing older adults with a wonderful alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home, said Hellenic Administrator John Robison.

The community will combine residential apartment-home living with the availability of personal assistance, help with medications, and a variety of convenience and support services, such as meals, housekeeping, laundry and on-site physical therapy.

Residents will live in private apartments that they will furnish and decorate to their tastes. Each of the apartments will feature a kitchenette, spacious bathroom with shower and grab bars, individually controlled heating and air conditioning and an emergency alert system.

In addition, Hellenic Senior Living offers several areas for residents to enjoy, including an activity room, beauty salon/barber shop, convenience store, fitness room, library, cafe, TV lounges and a theater room.

Certified nursing assistants, working under the direction of a licensed nurse, will be on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Residents also will benefit from all of the opportunities that will be available to socialize with friends and neighbors and to participate in activities and special programs," says Robison.

When fully occupied, the community will provide 63 full-time and part-time jobs. Annual payroll with benefits is projected to be $1.8 million.

Hellenic will be certified to operate through the Division of Aging and regulated by the Indiana State Department of Health.

"Our focus," says Rod Burkett, CEO of Gardant Management Solutions, the company that will manage the community, "is to provide Hellenic residents with the love, compassion and dignity they deserve and the help and assistance they need. Our emphasis is on helping each resident achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible."

Another property, Hellenic Senior Living of New Albany, is under construction and expected to open this winter.

Communities managed by Gardant are the Belvedere Senior Housing in Merrillville, Oasis at 30th in Indianapolis and Silver Birch of Hammond.

Other Gardant-managed projects under development in Indiana include Evergreen Village at Bloomington, Glasswater Creek of Lafayette and the Silver Birch communities in Kokomo, Michigan City and Muncie.

Individuals interested in reserving apartments at Hellenic Senior Living of Indianapolis should call 317-885-4446.

For more information about Gardant Management Solutions or the assisted living, senior living and memory care communities the company operates, visit http://www.gardant.com or call 1-877-882-1495 toll-free.
Free Webinar for Health Care Providers & Researchers On an almost daily basis I take care of women struggling with opioid addiction or dependency in pregnancy and the post-partum period.

On an almost daily basis I take care of women struggling with opioid addiction or dependency in pregnancy and the post-partum period. Sarah Obican, MD, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Subspecialist at the University of South Florida, knows shes not alone as the opioid epidemic rages on in America. I actively screen patients in early pregnancy and see them on our antepartum units. Its a crisis she and other birth defects experts from the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) are trying to curb by offering the latest data surrounding opioid exposure in pregnancy and lactation during a free webinar on January 24, 2018 at 11a Pacific/2p Eastern.

The Opioid Epidemic: Its Impact on Pregnancy and Breastfeeding webinar is a joint collaboration with the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and, in addition to OTIS, will include presenters representing the Teratology Society and the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The webinar will cover an overview of the association of opioid use in late pregnancy and the risk of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), the risk for malformations and adverse neurobehavioral effects in fetuses exposed to opioids in-utero, as well as the effects of opioid exposure on the breastfed infant. The webinar is free, aimed at health care providers and researchers, but registration is required at the following link: http://bit.ly/OpioidWeb

Being a part of the Utah Department of Health with access to its data, we are very much aware that overdoses and deaths from opioids have significantly increased over the past decade, said Lynn Martinez, a teratogen information specialist with MotherToBaby Utah, an affiliate of the free service OTIS provides that answers the publics questions about exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Martinez, one of the webinar speakers, plans to address specific opioids clearly rising in popularity. Fentanyl and buprenorphine have become more common exposures among those who contact us through MotherToBaby, so its important we take a closer look at what research is showing about their effects.

Additionally, the risks from chronic use of opioids may not be the same as short term use, according to Beth Conover, APRN, CGC at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who is also one of the webinar presenters representing OTIS as well as the NSGC. This is true for both pregnancy and breastfeeding, she explained. This is why its critical more health care providers recognize pregnancy risks seen with short-term and long-term use associated with opioid treatment in pregnancy, she added.

The opioid webinar is expected to run approximately an hour and presenters will be available to answer questions from attendees.

More about OTIS

The Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) is a professional scientific society made up of individuals engaged in assessing and evaluating risks to pregnancy and breastfeeding from environmental exposures. Members include, but are not limited to, specialists in the fields of: obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, genetics, dysmorphology, perinatal epidemiology, teratology, behavioral teratology, pharmacy, genetic counseling, nursing, midwifery, maternal and child health, public health, and includes experts that provide MotherToBaby services and researchers that conduct MotherToBaby Pregnancy Studies. MotherToBaby is a suggested resource by many federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To be connected with a MotherToBaby expert, please call (866) 626-6847, text questions to (855) 999-3525 (standard messaging rates might apply, check with your carrier) or visit http://www.MotherToBaby.org.

Media Contact: Nicole Chavez, 619-368-3259, nchavez@MotherToBaby.org.
Pavel Groysman D.O. It is a privilege to join the dedicated staff at Queens Medical Associates and Im looking forward to sharing my expertise and passion for individualized supportive care with all of their patients.

Queens Medical Associates, a preeminent cancer care facility specializing in hematology and oncology, has announced the launch of its new Adult Cancer Palliative and Supportive Care Program. The practice has also hired and appointed Dr. Pavel Groysman to lead the program. Dr. Groysman is board certified in Internal and Geriatric Medicine, and board eligible in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Comprehensive palliative and supportive care that treats both a persons emotional needs as well as their medical symptoms is a core component of high quality patient-centered cancer care. At Queens Medical Associates, Dr. Groysman will focus on creating a unique model of patient-centered supportive care, incorporating an integrative approach to effectively address the physical and emotional aspects of patients living with cancer to empower a more active role throughout their journey.

Queens Medical Associates is dedicated to providing the best possible quality of life for patients, and their families, who are facing cancer diagnosis, says Dr. Lihong Wei, oncologist/hematologist at Queens Medical Associates. Our state-of-the-art program will not only greatly benefit patients, but will also provide education and training of staff, along with research on the effectiveness, safety, and implementation of supportive care and supportive services for the adult oncology population.

It is a privilege to join the dedicated staff at Queens Medical Associates and Im looking forward to sharing my expertise and passion for individualized supportive care with all of their patients, said Dr. Groysman.

After graduating with highest honors and as valedictorian from Lenox Hill Hospital  Pace University Physician Assistants Program, Dr. Groysman served as hospitalist Physician Assistant at Kingston Hospital in upstate New York. He subsequently graduated at the top of his class at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.

After completion of his palliative training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he returned to NYU Winthrop Hospital, where Dr. Groysman completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Geriatrics Fellowship training, to became a faculty-attending physician in the Division of Palliative Medicine and Bioethics. During his time at Winthrop, Dr. Groysman served as a founding faculty in creating a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. His passion for taking care of patients with cancer also lead him to develop and grow an outpatient Supportive Oncology program. He is fluent in English, Russian and Ukrainian.

For more information about Queens Medical Associates, visit http://www.queensmedical.com/.

ABOUT QUEENS MEDICAL ASSOCIATES

Queens Medical Associates (QMA) is a well-established physician practice and infusion center which provides hematology and medical oncology care for patients with cancer and blood disorders. Located in Fresh Meadows, New York, QMAs physicians and clinical staff bring decades of experience providing exceptional care and treatment. Approximately 300 patients are served daily translating into over 200 treatments. QMAs team members communicate in five official languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Russian). The practice also offers infusion therapy for many conditions including Crohns disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and organ transplants.
The trust and relationships we have with our franchisees are critical to our success and growth as an organization.

Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs was recently named a top franchise for 2018 by Franchise Business Review. This is the 13th annual ranking of the top 200 award-winning franchise opportunities. The list is available at https://franchisebusinessreview.com/page/top-franchise-opportunities/.

Goodcents has more than 28 years experience providing high-quality deli fresh subs, house-baked breads and pasta. Headquartered in DeSoto, Kan. with nearly 80 locations across the country, the company is known for its signature bread recipes baked fresh in the restaurants every day, slicing sandwich meats and cheeses to order, and hearty pasta meals. With locations currently in eight states, including Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Dakota, Arizona and Minnesota, the franchise has a rapidly growing footprint across the U.S., with plans to also expand internationally this year.

Franchise Business Review, a franchise market research firm that performs independent surveys of franchisee satisfaction, provides the only rankings and awards for franchise companies based solely on actual franchisee satisfaction and performance. Franchise Business Review publishes its rankings of the top 200 franchises in its annual Guide to Todays Top Franchises.

Goodcents was among 307 franchise brands, representing over 28,000 franchise owners, that participated in Franchise Business Reviews research. Goodcents franchisees were surveyed on 33 benchmark questions about their experience and satisfaction regarding critical areas of their franchise systems, including training & support, operations, franchisor/franchisee relations, and financial opportunity.

The Goodcents Franchise Satisfaction Index survey data score significantly exceeded the 2017 Franchise Business Review Benchmark score, with notably high performance in the financial opportunity and training and support categories. Franchisees also rated Goodcents highly in the categories of Enjoy the Business, Trust the organization and said they would recommend the franchise to others.

There are thousands of successful franchise companies operating in North America, but many of those companies do not offer a solid investment opportunity for the actual franchise owners, says Eric Stites, CEO of Franchise Business Review. As an independent research firm, we rate the franchise companies in the marketplace today and identify those that have the highest levels of satisfaction and performance among their franchisees in order to help entrepreneurs when choosing which franchise to invest in. The companies on this years list are the top performing brands in the areas critical to their franchisees success.

The trust and relationships we have with our franchisees are critical to our success and growth as an organization, said Scott Ford, president of Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs. We focus everything we do on providing the most supportive, rewarding experience possible for our franchise family, so it feels good to by recognized by them and nationally recognized by Franchise Business Review.

Visit FranchiseBusinessReview.com to see the full description of the 2018 Top Franchises.

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About Goodcents Deli Fresh Subs

Goodcents has more than 28 years experience providing high-quality deli fresh subs, house-baked breads and pasta. Headquartered in DeSoto, Kan. with nearly 80 locations across the country, the company is known for is signature bread recipes baked fresh in the restaurants every day, slicing sandwich meats and cheeses to order, and hearty pasta meals. It was named one of the Top 50 Best Franchises by FitSmallBusiness.com in 2016. Visit goodcentssubs.com for more information. To connect with Goodcents through Facebook or Twitter @EatGoodcents and Snapchat at GoodcentsSubs.

About Franchise Business Review

Franchise Business Review (FBR) is the only independent market research firm that specializes in benchmarking franchisee satisfaction based exclusively on ratings and reviews from franchise owners. FBR publishes free and unbiased franchisee satisfaction research reports throughout the year online at http://www.FranchiseBusinessReview.com.
We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to collaborate with our customers and are happy to continue this program each year.

Wayne Homes, an Ohio-based custom homebuilder that specializes in on-your-lot custom homes, announced their donation of $25,400 on behalf of their customers and home office employees, benefiting 28 charities, through the companys Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness and Share-A-Christmas programs.

The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program began on November 27, 2017 and ran through December 31, 2017. For every home sold during the promotion, Wayne Homes donated $150 to the buyers charity of choice.

This year, over 80 families participated in the campaign. Donations were made to several charities, including St. Jude Childrens Hospital, The American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project, and a number of local humane societies and homeless shelters.

The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is unique because it allows our customers to give back through the purchase of a new home during the holiday season, George Murphy, President of Wayne Homes, said. We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to collaborate with our customers and are happy to continue this program each year.

Wayne Homes has held the Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness promotion for ten years and has donated more than $60,000 to charities.

Along with the Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program, Wayne Homes employees also hold fundraisers in the office throughout the year to raise money for the Share-A-Christmas fund. Employees raffled off prizes, sold baked goods, designed and sold shirts, initiated penny wars, and held several other fundraisers to collect money.

This year, Wayne Homes adopted 21 children through Doylestown Share-A-Christmas and was able to spend $250 on Christmas presents for each child.

The remaining amount was donated to several Akron area charities, including the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank, Haven of Rest, Project Homeless Connect, Medina County SPCA, Open M, Ronald McDonald House, Akron Rotary Camp, and Summit County Sheriff.

Not only is it a wonderful feeling to help children have a Christmas that they otherwise wouldnt have, but it is great to work for a company that is so supportive of it, Stephanie Yates, head of the steering committee, said. I look forward to this tradition every year and I am excited for the opportunity to continue helping people.

Wayne Homes has raised money for the Share-A-Christmas program since 2009 and has donated more than $75,300 to charities.

The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness and Share-A-Christmas programs are two of the many community involvement programs Wayne Homes carries out every year. Through the programs, Wayne Homes hopes to make a meaningful difference to those less fortunate during the holiday season.

For more information about Wayne Homes community involvement programs, Ask Julie by Live Chat. To find out more about becoming part of the Wayne Homes team, see current job opportunities.

About Wayne Homes

Wayne Homes is a custom home builder in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia (see all Model Home Centers). We offer nearly 50 customizable floorplans and a team dedicated to providing the best experience in the home building industry. For more information, Ask Julie by live chat or call us at (866) 253-6807.
OATI is pleased to announce its market expansion initiatives across Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan. As many of the worlds energy markets are developing and opportunities expand for Distributed Energy Resource management, Electric Vehicle (EV), and other advanced systems, OATI is ready to support organizations by addressing energy challenges and needs with OATIs decades of energy industry experience and leadership.

OATI is the leading solutions provider of Trading/Risk Management, Transmission, Congestion Management, Distribution, and Market Management products and services across North America. OATI's proven success and technical expertise brought to the North American deregulated energy industry, including the Mexico Energy Market, gives energy providers new opportunities to streamline operations and maximize business potential.

We are proud to work together with new customers and interested organizations to provide our proven energy industry solutions in Malaysia and Japan, as well as expanding our offerings in Singapore, said Dr. Sasan Mokhtari, President and CEO of OATI. OATI is devoted to supporting international growth in the energy industry with innovative software technologies that will revolutionize the business of energy.

About OATI

OATI provides innovative solutions that simplify, streamline, and empower the operational tasks required in todays energy commerce and Smart Grid. Serving more than 2,000 customers in North America, OATI successfully deploys and hosts diverse mission-critical solutions committed to industry standards and stringent security guidelines.

OATI (http://www.oati.com) is a leading provider of Smart Grid, Energy Trading and Risk Management, Transmission Scheduling, Congestion Management, Distribution, and Market Management products and services. OATI is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with offices in California, Punjab, Telangana, and Singapore. For more information, please contact sales(at)oati.net.
The blood bank officials in the capital Kampala have reported that they are left with only about 100 units of blood, ten times lower than the thousand-plus units required every day.

Nationally, Uganda needs at least 340,000 units of safe blood annually, but usually only collects 200,000 a year.

A six-day countrywide blood collection drive was launched by the ministry on Monday.

The Uganda Medical Association, an umbrella organisation of doctors in public health facilities, said the shortage was almost [at] crisis level, resulting in the cancellation of hospital operationsand prioritisation of cases.

Mukuzi Muhereza, the associations secretary-general, said: Its a big, nationwide problem. Its emergency level, a crisis. Nearly every hospital is crying [out] for blood. Nearly every regional referral hospital is complaining about blood.

An extra 7 billion shillings (1.4m) is needed to procure donor and testing kits, and to fund blood donation drives, to get the service back on track for the next six months.

The head of the Ugandan Medical Association Dr Mukuzi Muhereza confirmed that hospitals are being compelled to cancel operations due to the blood shortage which puts the lives of patients at risk.

The Minister for Health, Sarah Opendi said extra money had been requested to get the blood transfusion back on track, but that it was up to people throughout the country to become blood donors.
Ex-CIA officer Jerry Chun Lee, who was found to be in possession of classified and top-secret materials long after he left the agency, was arrested on Tuesday after flying into John F. Kennedy Airport from Hong Kong, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

FBI agents found the materials  which included "true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities"  when conducting a search on his Hawaii hotel room in August 2012, according to a newly unsealed affidavit.

The documents in Lee's possession were photographed by FBI agents on August 15, 2012, when Lee and his family arrived in Virginia from Hawaii and checked into a hotel in Fairfax.

"A review of photographs taken during the August 13, 2012, search in Hawaii and the August 15, 2012, search in Virginia revealed that, during his stay in both hotels, Lee possessed two small books (the 'books') best described as a datebook and an address book," the affidavit said. "Each book contained handwritten notes. During both searches the books were located inside LEE's luggage in a small, clear plastic travel pack."

Lee maintained contact with his former CIA colleagues after he left the agency and was interviewed by FBI agents "on five separate occasions in or about May and June 2013 and never suggested that he possessed these books," the affidavit said.

Current and former intelligence officials believe that Lee was passing the top-secret information to China in an effort to help the Chinese government identify CIA informants and employees operating in that counry, at least 20 of whom were killed or thrown in jail.

Lee left the CIA in 2007 and Beijing began cracking down on the CIA's network in 2010, The New York Times reported last year. Between 2010-2012, at least 12 CIA sources were killed by Chinese government officials.

The intelligence community couldn't figure out who had betrayed the agency and the United States, if anyone  some were convinced there was a mole, while others believed that the Chinese had hacked the system by which the agency communicates with its foreign sources, according to The Times.

Lee is now believed to have been that mole. But there are other factors  including basic "sloppy tradecraft," the Times' report said  that could have contributed to the massive breach.

Lee had been living in Hong Kong but was promptly arrested upon his return to the US on Monday night. It is unclear what brought him back to the US, but he was lured back once in 2012 on the promise of a job offer, according to NBC. No charges were filed at that time, even as Lee was the subject of an intense counterintelligence investigation.
LONDON  British people would vote to scrap Brexit and remain in the EU if a second referendum were held today.

Support for scrapping Brexit now has a 10-point lead with almost one-in-five Brexit voters now saying they would vote to remain inside the EU instead, according to a new poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft.

Some 45% of all voters would now vote to remain in the EU, with 35% opposed and 20% unsure. Among all decided voters, Remain now has a 12 point lead of 56% to 44%.

The shift has come from those who voted Brexit in 2016, almost one-in-five of whom now say they would vote to Remain in the EU instead.

The findings come as demands for a second referendum have grown, with even the prominent Leave campaigner and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, saying last week that he was moving towards backing holding another vote.

However, the public still remains largely opposed to the idea of another poll. Overall, 51% are opposed to a second referendum and just 38% are in favour.

However, these positions switched when respondents were asked whether they would support another vote if May fails to get a Brexit deal with the EU.
The Trump administration announced earlier this month it will end temporary protected status for some 200,000 immigrants from El Salvador living in the US.

The administration cast the move as a corrective for a TPS policy it said had been abused, and it comes as as part of President Donald Trump's effort to restrict legal and illegal immigration. The president has said this would preserve jobs and raise wages  claims that are widely disputed.

Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans will not expire until September 2019, giving people with that status in the US 18 months to apply for a new immigration status or leave the country voluntarily.

But during implimentation and afterward, uprooting thousands of Salvadorans and their families is likely to create drag on the economy in US and in El Salvador.

Security is still bad. The economy is bad. Corruption is bad

The Central American country, home to more than 6 million people, has been wracked by violence and is struggling economically.

"El Salvador's economy is not very strong. Its [GDP is] growing roughly 2.5% a year," Mike Allison, a political-science professor at the University of Scranton, told Business Insider. "Unemployment's high. Jobs arent well-paying. There's very few protections for workers."

Salvadorans depend heavily on remittances  382,734 households received them in 2016, according to a government survey, and 97% are sent from the US. The more than $4.5 billion in remittances received in 2016 was used to pay for things like rent, school fees and transportation costs, and utility bills.

Any decline in remittances caused by deportations or removals from the US would reduce consumption and increase poverty in El Salvador, Carmen Aida Lazo, of ESEN University in San Salvador, told The Economist.

Many of the conditions created by the 2001 earthquake that first prompted the TPS designation for immigrants from El Salvador haven't really improved, Allison said.

"Security is still bad. The economy is bad. Corruption is bad. What's helped the country sort of stay afloat has been the billions of dollars sent back each year by Salvadorans living abroad," he told Business Insider.

"The situation in El Salvador today probably will not be any better in 18 months. If anything it'll probably get a little worse."

The absence of Salvadorans in the US sending money back to El Salvador would likely be compounded by the strain their return would put on the government and the local economy.

The official unemployment rate in El Salvador is 7%, but more than 40% of workers are underemployed, and about 66% of them work in the informal sector. The country sees 60,000 people enter the workforce every year, but its economy only creates 11,000 jobs, according to think tank Fusades.

"So the thought that these people are going to be successfully absorbed by the Salvadoran economy is fantastical," Geoff Thale, program director at the Washington Office on Latin America, told Business Insider.

"Whatever the administration says about conditions in El Salvador [having] improved  I don't actually think they have  but it's clear to me that even if they were to have improved, they haven't improved to the condition where the country can accept back that number of people and absorb them into the workforce," Thale said.

What theyll probably do is displace other Salvadorans

The US and Salvadoran governments have an agreement that limits the number of deportation flights to eight a week, each carrying no more than 135 people.

Under the deal, the US can't send more than 56,000 people back to El Salvador each year. A significant increase in the number returnees would further strain the limited resources the government and civil-society groups have to assist people arriving in the country, many of whom haven't been there in more than a decade.

Salvadoran TPS holders in the US are typically in their 40s and are used to wages higher than are offered in El Salvador, and many who return are likely to struggle to find work and settle there. Ones who do enter the labor force in El Salvador may take jobs that are already filled, Thale said.

"While they occupy relative low-skilled jobs in the United States, in El Salvador they would look like mostly bilingual, relatively skilled workers," Thale told Business Insider.

"What they'll probably do is displace other Salvadorans, and those people, who are less skilled and ... pushed out of the workforce in a terrible economy with ... a lot of crime and violence, will probably emigrate to the United States."

The government in El Salvador is looking for a way to relieve the pressure. It is discussing a deal with Qatar under which migrants from the Central American country who lose the right to live in the US could live and work temporarily in the Middle Eastern country.

El Salvador's foreign minister said Salvadorans in Qatar could work in engineering, aircraft maintenance, construction, and agriculture.

"I think they're going to wind up living in illegality here, which will make them more exposed to abuse by employers, make them live more in fear, make them far less likely to cooperate with local police," Thale told Business Insider. "In those communities, in terms of employment, in terms of schools, in terms of people paying their mortgages, there will be economic ripple effects."

Immigrants in the US  Haitians and others from Central America, in particular  often make their living in the US in the service industry, doing jobs in industries like construction, food service, and child and elderly care.

"This policy [is] probably going to worsen poverty and the conditions in El Salvador, but it's also going to do the same thing in the United States," Allison, of the University of Scranton, told Business Insider. "If you end up deporting or taking away the legal status of 200,000 people, they're going to lose the good-paying jobs that they have right now."
A US Marine was killed in a stabbing after a fight broke out at Camp Pendleton's School of Infantry (SOI), according to a San Diego Union-Tribune report published Tuesday.

One Marine was reportedly in custody. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is investigating the incident.

First responders were notified at around 7:45 a.m. of an injured person, according to the Union-Tribune.
The discovery of the new mineral was announced by the Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Kwaku Addai Antwi Boasiako, in an interview with Joy News.

According to him Ghana can now be considered as one of the countries where lithium can be extracted.

He explained that the discovery was made during a nationwide exploration by the Minerals Commission.

The mineral was discovered in three of Ghanas upper regions, namely the Volta, Ashanti and Western regions.

The country can play a leading role in electronic car business if the mineral is discovered in commercial quantity, Mr. Boasiako said.

He further stated that the Minerals Commission will soon begin comprehensive exploration activities in the identified areas.

According to him, the Commission has already started exploring the commercial value of the mineral ahead of its extraction.

He, however, warned prospective illegal miners and encroachers to stay off the identified lithium fields, while disclosing that the Commission will put up 14 new satellite stations to monitor the discovery sites.

Mr. Boasiako underscored that if authorities do not block it and give it the prominence it deserves, then we are going to lose it.

The discovery of lithium in Ghana adds to the many other minerals that the nation is blessed with.
"New California" is swiftly taking over social media.

On Monday, a fringe political group out of California called for the state's central, mostly rural counties to break away from the rest of the state. Organizers gathered in a government building outside Sacramento for a reading of their own Declaration of Independence from California.

Unlike the "Calexit" movements of the past, which gathered steam on Twitter after the election of President Donald Trump, these Californians want to leave the Golden State, not the country.

New California would be made up of roughly 15 million people across 42 counties, leaving the state's coastal urban enclaves like Los Angeles and San Francisco on their own. According to the group's website, the existing California would surrender between 25 and 27 seats in the US House of Representatives to New California, based on 2016 population estimates.

The split would result in, effectively, a blue California and a red California.

The founders of New Califor... @ USA TODAY

Preston believes there's a path to statehood that is legal. The group cites Article IV Section 3 of the US Constitution, which allows for a state to be formed from another state with the consent of the original state legislature and the permission of US Congress.

Preston told CBS Sacramento that the group has representatives from counties across the state, and it plans to organize over the next 10 to 18 months. Then it will engage the state legislature.

"We have to demonstrate that we can govern ourselves before we are allowed to govern," Preston said.

This week, people took to Twitter to express a range of reactions.

Funny how leftist Democrats... @ Patriot Rome #emo##emo#

#NewCalifornia is little mo... @ Cimbrelo vs Keating

New California is like 15 p... @ #emo#netw3rk

A breakaway from California is highly unlikely. The last state to be created out of another state was West Virginia during the Civil War. Farmers living in the western part of the state declared independence only after Virginia left the union, and with approval from President Lincoln.
According to Africafeeds.com, Edet Asuquo, a bus conductor assaulted the little child for being a girl instead of boy. He allegedly said having a girl is of no use.

Speaking to the Punch, a community worker in the community where the incident happened on January 10 said, Rosemary, mother of the poor baby said the baby was crying that morning while the father carried her.

He started abusing the baby and saying a girl would not be useful to him because he wanted a boy.

He slapped the baby. At that point, the baby started convulsing. It was the neighbours who compelled him to get drugs for the girls treatment. She was later taken to a hospital. The mark of the assault is visible on the child, the community worker said.
The girl was accused by her father, Frederick Nettey, 41, a driver of being a witch. She was taken to the fetish priest to drive out the evil spirit.

READ MORE: Koforidua Technical University female student sprayed with acid

According to reports, the JHS 2 student fainted at school which his father was informed about the incident and took her to the fetish priest to cast out the witch and upon arrival, he [fetish priest] inserted a stick into her vagina and subsequently poured an acid to force her to admit she is indeed a witch.

READ MORE: Taxi driver struggling for life after acid attack

The victim who was admitted at the St Gregory Hospital at Kasoa Liberia Camp after she was abandoned by her father speaking to Accra-based Kasapa FM said, her vaginal area has been burnt as a result of the acid bath and has sores all over her body with visible cane marks from beating by the priest.

A nurse at the hospital said the girl has had blood infusions adding that she is anaemic as a result of bleeding.

She said the girl's vagina has been assessed by a gynecologist to ascertain the extent of damage.

READ ALSO: Acid attack victim finds man who is dying to marry her

The father of the victim is alleged to have collected monies from men after allowing them to sleep with the victim and her elder sister.
CBS Los Angeles News reported that the crash happened after the driver of the vehicle hit a center divider which shot it high up into the air.

This information was confirmed by the Santa Ana Police Department which mentioned that the incident affected a center allocated for dental practice.

ALSO READ: Road commuters rescue 3 LASTMA officials after awful accident

Firefighters from the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), were able to promptly put out a fire which occurred following the impact on the structure.

Pictures circulating online media showed a salon car in the firm grip of the wrecked facility.

Emergency service officers were also captured in an attempt to dislodge the car from the building. They were joined by representatives from the Los Angeles County Urban Search & Rescue team.

What appeared to be the highlight of the incident is the fact that the individuals who were occupying the vehicle at the time of the accident such as a passenger and the driver, survived the crash.
The reduction is expected to take effect starting from January 2018, the President said.

Speaking at the opening of the 8th Salon Academy of the National Association of Beauticians and Hairdressers, held at the Mensah Sarbah Hall, University of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo said the reduction was in line with governments policy to boost businesses in the country.

From January this year, the non-residential tariff rate, which is the rate which includes all of you here, is being reduced by an average of 14%. For barbers, it is being reduced by 18%; for hairdressers and beauticians, 15.7%, and for tailors, 9.8%, he said.

He explained that that government is committed to making sure private businesses stand on their feet, insisting the 14% reduction should go a long way to give businesses a tilt.

An average bill last year was GH562 a month. With this reduction from January, it is coming down to GH473 a month, which means GH88 has been taken from the electricity tariff that you pay. We want to encourage private business, and make businesses stand on their feet, he added.

President Akufo-Addo went on to thank the Association for their support during the 2016 elections. According to him, Ghanaians can expect the Free SHS to get even better by 2020, whiles also pledging to fulfil his other campaign promises.

By the grace of God, Free SHS, which some said was not possible or would be possible only after 20 years, is now a reality in our country. Free SHS has come to stay. It is going to be a central feature of the education architecture of our country. We are not going to go back on it. By 2020, all students in form 1, form 2 and form 3, would enjoy the free SHS policy, he said.
He said the Special Prosecutor cannot eradicate all forms of corruption in the public sector.

The president said "Im well aware of the general sense of anxiety in the country and the strong feeling that politicians tend to get away with corrupt practices.

"A significant choice though, that Mr. Amidu is, I do not expect that he will provide all the answers with dealing with the phenomenon of corruption by public officials."

Speaking at the second encounter with the media at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, he said the office of the special prosecutor will put some fears in public officials.

"I do believe that at least the office will remove the fear of partisan prosecution and begin to put the fear of God in all public officials who are intending to go down the path of corruption," he added.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has been established under the Akufo-Addo government as part of his campaign promises of dealing with the corruption menace without the process being tagged as witch hunting by appointees of the erstwhile government.

The appointment which has been lauded by many including the likes of former president Jerry John Rawlings is expected by Ghanaians to deal with corruption in an impartial and independent manner.
The president was speaking at his second encounter with the media at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Wednesday (January 17, 2018).

He praised his government for doing something the erstwhile Mahama administration did not do.

He said the NDC made zero savings in that regard since sole-sourcing of contracts became the norm rather than the exception during that administration.

Youll recall that as part of the election campaign, we said part of the reasons for the difficulties with the economy was the sole-sourcing of procurement by the government.

Let me give you a few figures to illustrate this point. In the year 2016, the Public Procurement Authority had 622 sole-sourced requests. 577 of that number which is 98 percent were approved and there were 25 rejections. There were 592 requests made for restricted tenders and 587 which is 99.15 percent were approved and there were five rejections. A grand total of zero savings were made through the procurement process."

In 2017, our first year in government, 394 sole-sourcing requests were made out of which 223, that is 56.6 percent were approved and 171 which is 43.6 percent were rejected. There were 346 requests for restricted tenders and 167 which is 48 percent were approved and 179 which is 52 percent were rejected. The savings made over the year, as a result, amounted to GHS145million."
A witness, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred on Tuesday morning when the group was on its way to court for a procedural hearing.

"Of the 60 accused in the bus, 19 got out completely naked, taking everyone by surprise," the witness said.

"Security forces immediately led them to an isolation cell opposite the courtroom. We heard them shouting that they were sick of the delays in finishing the investigation so that their process can start."

Several local media, including government daily Habari Leo, said security officers begged the group, all of them men, to get dressed.

But they refused -- and the court said it would only allow those who were dressed to appear.

At the hearing, prosecutor Augustino Kombo once again told the court that the investigation had still not finished, daily Mwananchi said, with the next date set for January 30.

Another prosecutor, Maternus Marandu, who slammed the detainees' behaviour as "immoral", explained the delay by saying it was a very complex investigation which also required work abroad, the Habari Leo newspaper reported.
"For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life," May said.

"I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones -- people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with," the prime minister added.

More than nine million people say they are always or often lonely, out of a population of 65.6 million, according to the British Red Cross.

The charity describes loneliness and isolation as a "hidden epidemic" affecting people across all ages at various moments in their life, such as retirement, bereavement or separation.

The ministerial appointment follows a recommendation from a committee in memory of Jo Cox, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour party who was murdered by a far-right extremist.

"Jo experienced and witnessed loneliness throughout her life especially as a new student at Cambridge University and separated from her sister Kim for (the) first time," the Jo Cox Foundation wrote on Twitter.

"She would be delighted by Tracey Crouch's new job as minister for loneliness and would be saying 'let's get to work!'" the Foundation added.

The prime minister was to host a reception on Wednesday to celebrate the legacy left by Cox, whose killing just days ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum shocked the nation.
Amid a new push for a solution, here is an outline of the row:

Rejected from the start

Macedonia proclaims its independence from the former Yugoslavia in September 1991 but its recognition by the international community is immediately blocked by Greece, which claims the name as part of its own ancient heritage.

Greece also has a northern province bordering the new country that has the same name and fears Skopje may be harbouring territorial ambitions.

A provisional name

It is only with the adoption of a provisional name -- the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) -- that the country is finally admitted into the United Nations in April 1993.

Most countries, including Russia and the United States, later recognise its constitutional title, the Republic of Macedonia.

Greece clamps down

In February 1994 Greece imposes an economic embargo on Macedonia, including stopping the landlocked country from using the port of Thessaloniki, its main trading post.

Greece also demands Macedonia drops from its flag the rayed sun of Vergina, which it claims is an ancient Greek symbol, and certain articles from its constitution.

A thaw in relations

In September 1995 the neighbours sign in New York an accord opening the way for a normalisation of their trade and political ties, but leave hanging the name dispute.

The following month they open liaison offices in their respective capitals and a new Macedonian flag -- with the controversial sun replaced -- is raised for the first time at the United Nations.

In 2001 Greece announces its support for its neighbour as it battles rebels from the significant Albanian minority.

New lows

Macedonia becomes a candidate for membership of the European Union in December 2005 but Greece blocks the start of negotiations, which must be agreed unanimously.

In April 2008 it presents itself as a candidate for membership of the NATO military alliance, under the provisional name, but is again met with a Greek veto.

Relations sink even further with the erection in Skopje in 2011 of a huge statue of Alexander the Great. Athens perceives this as an effort to appropriate the ancient conqueror, one of its greatest military heroes.

The flood of migrants into Europe fuels the tensions. In April 2016 Athens accuses Skopje of using excessive force against hundreds of migrants trying to cross the border into Macedonia.

'A solution is feasible'

Soon after his election in June 2017, new Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev promises a new push to end the dispute and relaunch the drive for EU and NATO membership.
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The NSE is the biggest exchange in sub-Saharan Africa after Johannesburg and is a major entry point for investors seeking investment opportunities in Africa. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the continents most developed stock market, has been a listed company since 2006.

In 2017, the NSE became a publicly listed company after being given the go-ahead by its members which are mostly stockbrokers and institutional investors.

Onyema said that he is expecting the public listing, which is a process known as demutualization, to generate profits that will boost its business and product development capacity.

He said, "In 2017, we amplified our efforts to establish West Africas first derivatives market. We also worked to create and enhance legal and regulatory frameworks which support derivative instruments, and have made significant progress towards securing approvals to operationalize these frameworks."

In 2017, the Nigerian equities market was the third best-performing market in the world after the central bank liberalized the Naira for foreign investors which brought back funds that been pulled out at the peak of a currency crisis.

The performance in 2017 was attributed partly to some of the central bank policies which helped to increase currency market liquidity. Onyema stated that he expected corporate earnings to lift equities this year, despite currency and political risks, after stocks crossed 44,000 points to hit a nine-year high on Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
The US announced it would suspend $65 million in aid to Palestinian refugee group UNRWA on Tuesday, and pledged to give about half of what they had previously offered the agency.

According to UNRWA, the US provided more than $350 million in aid to the organization in 2017.

The State Department said in its daily briefing that it would offer a voluntary package of $60 million to the UN aid group to

Trump's decision to cut aid to Palestinians may also have been influenced by recent comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said last week that UNRWA needs to disappear from the face of the earth because it perpetuates Palestinian suffering. Israel has also previously recommended the US gradually reduce its aid to UNRWA, Israeli media reported, advice that the US seems to have taken.

UNRWA, or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees is a special aid unit created by the United Nations after the end of the Israeli-Arab war in 1948. Israel declared Independence and gained recognition from several international bodies that year, but displaced roughly 750,000 Palestinians living in the disputed land.

The United Nations created the unit in 1949 to provide assistance and development opportunities to the influx of Palestinian refugees created as a by-product of Israel's creation. The aid benefits extend to refugees expelled from their homes in 1948, as well as their descendants, a clause unique to UNRWA.

To date, there are roughly 5 million Palestinian refugees across several countries, including Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, who benefit from UNRWA's assistance programs.

According to UNRWA's website, the organization covers services like education and health care. They also provide social protection services and food aid to improve the physical and social well being of the refugees in refugee camps.

Israel has condemned UNRWA in the past, and has been critical of militant groups in the Gaza strip using UNRWA facilities to store weapons.
The company said in a statement that it would "establish an Apple campus in a new location," to be announced "later in the year," that would "initially house technical support for customers."

Apple declined to give more information on the location of the new campus, though it says it's building a separate new facility in Reno, Nevada.

Apple also says it will make a "direct contribution" of more than $350 billion to the US economy over the next five years through making new investments and purchasing materials from American companies. Apple estimates it will spend $55 billion this year with its more than 9,000 American suppliers and manufacturers.

Apple may bring a lot of money home

Apple said in the announcement that it expected a repatriation tax bill of about $38 billion because of changes from the new tax law.

With the new repatriation tax rate of 15.5%, that means Apple would repatriate $245 billion, or nearly all of its overseas cash, CNBC estimated. Apple declined to comment on CNBC's math.

Apple invests in and purchases parts from American companies like Finisar, a laser company, and Corning, which makes the hardened glass that iPhones use, through its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, which Apple on Wednesday said had increased to $5 billion from $1 billion.

The Trump effect

President Donald Trump has prioritized striking deals with American companies to save or create jobs, one of his campaign promises.

Because Apple manufactures most of its products in Asia, it has become a target for Trump, who has blamed the company for contributing to the long trend of US companies moving their manufacturing overseas and encouraged it to build factories in the US.

That's why Apple makes such a big deal about its supporting American manufacturing and the fact that many of the companies that supply parts for the iPhone and other Apple products have factories in the US.

In late 2016, Apple reportedly asked its Asian manufacturing partners, including Foxconn, to look into building its products in the US.

Cook was one of several elite technology CEOs who met with Trump in December 2016.

The full announcement is below and

Apple accelerates US investment and job creation

$350 Billion Contribution to US Economy Over Next Five Years

Cupertino, California  Apple today announced a new set of investments to build on its commitment to support the American economy and its workforce, concentrated in three areas where Apple has had the greatest impact on job creation: direct employment by Apple, spending and investment with Apple's domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the fast-growing app economy which Apple created with iPhone and the App Store. Apple is already responsible for creating and supporting over 2 million jobs across the United States and expects to generate even more jobs as a result of the initiatives being announced today.

Combining new investments and Apple's current pace of spending with domestic suppliers and manufacturers  an estimated $55 billion for 2018  Apple's direct contribution to the US economy will be more than $350 billion over the next five years, not including Apple's ongoing tax payments, the tax revenues generated from employees' wages and the sale of Apple products.

Planned capital expenditures in the US, investments in American manufacturing over five years and a record tax payment upon repatriation of overseas profits will account for approximately $75 billion of Apple's direct contribution.

"Apple is a success story that could only have happened in America, and we are proud to build on our long history of support for the US economy," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We believe deeply in the power of American ingenuity, and we are focusing our investments in areas where we can have a direct impact on job creation and job preparedness. We have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who help make our success possible."

Apple, already the largest US taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law. A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made.

Growing Apple's US Operations

Apple expects to invest over $30 billion in capital expenditures in the US over the next five years and create over 20,000 new jobs through hiring at existing campuses and opening a new one. Apple already employs 84,000 people in all 50 states.

The company plans to establish an Apple campus in a new location, which will initially house technical support for customers. The location of this new facility will be announced later in the year.

Over $10 billion of Apple's expanded capital expenditures will be investments in data centers across the US. Over the last decade, Apple has invested billions of dollars in data centers and co-located facilities in seven US states, including North Carolina, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and a recently announced project in Iowa.

Today, Apple is breaking ground on a new facility in downtown Reno, which will support its existing Nevada facilities.

All of Apple's US facilities, including offices, retail stores and data centers, are powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources like solar, wind and micro-hydro power, which Apple generates or purchases from local projects. The new campus announced today will also be powered entirely by green energy.

Investing in Apple's Domestic Suppliers and Manufacturing Partners

Building on the initial success of the Advanced Manufacturing Fund announced last spring, Apple is increasing the size of the fund from $1 billion to $5 billion. The fund was established to support innovation among American manufacturers and help others establish a presence in the US. It is already backing projects with leading manufacturers in Kentucky and rural Texas.

Apple works with over 9,000 American suppliers  large and small businesses in all 50 states  and each of Apple's core products relies on parts or materials made in the US or provided by US-based suppliers.

Preparing Students for the App Economy

Apple, which has a 40-year history in education, also plans to accelerate its efforts across the US in support of coding education as well as programs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM).

The iOS app economy has created more than 1.6 million jobs in the US and generated $5 billion in revenue for American app developers in 2017. With demand for coding skills stronger than ever, today there are more than 500,000 unfilled programming-related positions across the country, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million more software development jobs than applicants qualified to fill them.

To address the coding skills gap and help prepare more people for jobs in software development, Apple created a powerful yet easy-to-learn coding language called Swift, the free Swift Playgrounds app and a free curriculum, App Development with Swift, which are available to anyone and are already being used by millions of students at K-12 schools, summer camps and leading community colleges across the country. Over 100,000 students and teachers have also attended coding classes at Apple retail stores.
Facebook is finally launching a standalone investigation into whether Russian groups used its platform to spread misinformation in the run-up to the Brexit vote in 2016.

The firm will look into whether it can "identify any coordinated activity of the spread of misinformation around the EU referendum" that it hasn't already found.

This is the strongest hint yet from Facebook that it thinks Russian meddling took place on its platform ahead of Britain's vote to leave the EU.

Facebook's European policy boss Simon Milner said the investigation would take weeks, and asked for additional intelligence from the government.

The investigation is in response to demands from UK politicians tasked with examining the growing problem of fake news and its spread on social networks. The culture select committee has been quizzing Facebook, Google, and Twitter how Russian groups may have bought ads on their platforms to divide and influence British voters.

Facebook had said in December that a single Russian group had spent just $1 on ads relating to Brexit in the run-up to the referendum. That was in a submission to the Electoral Commission, the UK's election watchdog.

But Damian Collins, the MP leading the select committee's fake news enquiry, said that Facebook hadn't bothered to do a full investigation. Instead, it only identified ads from accounts already identified during a separate US investigation into misinformation during the US presidential election.

Collins said on Wednesday: "I welcome the fact that Facebook have now responded to the Committees request, and will investigate whether the involvement of Russian agencies in the Brexit referendum campaign, may have come from sources other than those previously identified as having been actively connected with the US Presidential election in 2016.

"It is right that companies like Facebook should initiate their own research into issues like this, where there is such clear public concern, and not just act in intelligence that has been passed to them. They are best placed to investigate activity on their platform."

Milner wrote in his letter to Collins: "You expressed a view that there may be other similar coordinated activity from Russia that we had not yet identified through our investigation and asked for us to continue our investigatory work. We have considered your request and can confirm that our investigatory team is now looking to see if we can identify other similar clusters engaged in coordinated activity around the Brexit referendum that was not identified previously."
Google has opened a new office in Shenzen, its third in China.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the news after TechCrunch obtained an internal email announcing the new office.

"Weve heard a lot of feedback that there was a need for a space to work from while in the areaso, after a few months of scouting, we recently signed a lease for a serviced office in Shenzhen. The space opened this week and is now up and running," the email read.

Rather than outfit an entirely new office the tech giant has hired space within another office in Shenzen, which is considered China's Silicon Valley of hardware.

According to TechCrunch, the office is likely to be used by teams that regularly visit the city, including hardware, sales, logistics and sourcing.
In the upcoming decade, tech automation will kill up to one-third of the jobs in the United States, and up to 800 million jobs globally, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.

That means business leaders need to wake up and take responsibility, says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

New technologies like nanotechnologies, robotics, quantum computing, self-driving vehicles and artificial intelligence "are transforming our economies, societies and daily lives." Benioff wrote in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal published on Wednesday.

"There is, however, a dark side. Im increasingly worried that even as these technologies deliver incredible benefits to some, this wave of change will leave behind hundreds of millions of people around the world," he warns.

It's not all bleak. New tech will improve the education, health and daily life for those who have access to them. But those without access to the tech won't get trained for the available jobs, won't have access to the latest health care and so on. Without interference this could create an even bigger world of have and have-nots.

Business leaders, not politicians, can really move the needle

There's only one set of folks who can fix that: "the haves," which Benioff argues are the business leaders, not the politicians.

"A challenge this big and complex cannot be left to politicians alone. Business leaders have a unique responsibility. Indeed, the business of business cant be just about making profits; we have to ensure that our products and wealth narrow inequalities instead of widening them," he warns.

Benioff would also like business leaders to ensure the brave, new, technology-driven world solves historical prejudices and doesn't cement them.

"New technology cant be allowed to perpetuate discrimination based on gender, race, religion or sexual orientation," he writes.

He's calling for companies to "invest more in public education, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and "address the reality of climate change."

Just in time for Davos

He says he's leading by example. Salesforce donates millions of dollars to San Francisco's public schools. He's overseen efforts to ensure women and men and at his company are paid equally. His company has forcefully opposed state laws that limited LGBTQ rights. And he says his company, which just built and moved into a massive new tower in San Francisco, also hit "net zero carbon emissions earlier this year."

Salesforce isn't the only one working on some or all of these issues, although its public commitment to equal pay is unique. For instance, Oracle just opened a high-tech high school right on its corporate campus. IBM is championing the idea of six-year technical training high schools. Apple is close to zero emissions and has pressured its supply chain to do the same for 2018. And a whole slew of companies boycotted North Carolina after its controversial transgender bathroom ban, with PayPal canceling its plans to build a new facility there.

Benioff wrote his editorial as the world leaders gear up to travel to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forums annual meeting later this month.

He's a proponent of the WEF's "stakeholder theory" which says that organizations are accountable to all parts of society  aka customers, employees, neighbors/communities and shareholders  and should not think solely in terms of profits for shareholders.
As most Christians know, this is the period where a lot of churches call for fasts, urging their members to usher in the new year with this spiritual practice.

Some go through with it, others dont. Pulse Religion is here to show you why this is so important for our spiritual lives.

What the Bible says about fasting

The Bible is filled with so many verses about people who fasted, why they did it and what happened afterward.

While it does not command Christians to fast, the Bible does present fasting as something that is beneficial.

In Acts, we see believers fasting before they made important decisions (Acts 13:2; 14:23).

The following verses also highlight why we should want to fast;

John 4:34 says: Father, as my body craves food, I crave Your presence. My food is to do Your will.

Job 23:12 adds: I have treasured the words of [Your] mouth more than my daily bread.

The Psalmist writes, Like the deer that pants after water, my soul longs for You. These three scriptures show us that fasting reignites our desire for God.

Turning from our physical food increases our sensitivity to Gods voice and leaves us with a level of satisfaction that can only come from Him.

This is why Christ said, I have food to eat that you know nothing about.My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.

Fasting for Beginners

For a first-timer, fasting can appear daunting. However, it does not have to be scary if you follow these tips.

1. Start with small goals  Don't aim for 40 days and nights, be reasonable with the number of days.

2. Find a replacement  While fasting, it is important that we focus on God. So, figure out what you will during your usual eating period. You can have a prayer strategy, read the Bible, whatever works for you.

3. Figure out what kind of fasting works for you  It does not have to be food. You can abstain from drinking, social media, complaining, gossiping, whatever you are willing to sacrifice to be a better Christian.

4. Remember to keep it between you and God like Jesus stresses in Matt. 6:1618. It reads: When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Meanwhile, Zambia is embarking on a week of prayer and fasting against cholera.

According to the minister of Religion and National Guidance, the occasion must be taken seriously and be observed by everyone. We are standing on 2nd Chronicles 7: 14. Daniel 9:323 and Isaiah 1:19.
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The beautiful actress who will be turning forty on February 7th, 2018 has a number of events lined up to mark her birthday. The birthday celebration which will be a five-day event kicks off on the 7th of the February with a 'Give And Let Give To Widows And Orphans' event. This would be followed by Couples Retreat themed "Reciprocative, Respect, Mental Health And Avoiding Slavery In Marriage" on the February 8th, 2017.

As part of the five-day event, there will be a Renaissance Trip To Trace The Beginning Of Slavery on February 9th, 2018 which will be followed by a Symposium on "Mental Slavery And The Emancipation Of The Black Race" on February 10th, 2018. The climax of the 5-day event will be on Sunday, February 11th, 2018 with a ball themed "The Omosexy Ball."

ALSO READ:10 hottest female celebrities of 2017

Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde is one of the most talented actors to have come out of Nollywood, from her debut in 1995, the beautiful actress has gone to become not just one of the best but most influential celebrities of our time.

She has in her two decades of acting gotten nominated and also won a number of awards, most recently was the Best Actress' award by the Nollywood Travel Film Festival in Toronto, for her role in the movie, Alter Ego.
The picture which has made rounds on the internet showed the corpses wrapped in plain African fabric, which may present as a gory sight to sensitive viewers.

No detail has surfaced concerning what might have facilitated their deaths.

Social media users have submitted differing opinion concerning the demise of the babies who were perceived to have been murdered at birth.

Some people on Instagram could not comprehend with the idea of how a person may have found the courage to kill the pair.

A make-up artist, Zuzu Mamman, who felt disturbed about the death of the babies made known her desire to have an opportunity to nurture kids in her comments which reads:

"Ya Allah I just want to ask for a favor! Kindly bring these kids my way at least few minutes after their mother drops them, May the almighty Allah Forgive us," she said.

ALSO READ: Kidnap kingpin who collected ransom in Dollars arrested

A desire to nurture a child is perceived as a reason why a woman in Ogun State, named Anuoluwapo Joshua reportedly abducted a a three-year-old girl named Patience at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

The abduction which occurred in July 2017, saw the little girl separated from her family until five months later when the suspect was apprehended.

According to Punch News, Patience's mother discovered that she was missing after returning from an errand. Since this period, there have been futile efforts to recover the little girl until recently.
Channels reports that a statement from the Public Relations Officer for the command, Mr Chike Oti, confirmed the arrest on Tuesday, January 16, adding that the suspect had a female heart and lap in his room.

ALSO READ: Pastor nabbed for human trafficking

A Superintendent of the Police Command, identified simply as Oti, revealed that the cleric was apprehended at Okedumola Street, Off Obadare area of Alakuko.

According to him, the suspect told the police during interrogation that the human parts were given to him by an accomplice who has also been arrested.

Recalling advice earlier given by the state Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, Oti urged members of the public to be aware of the activities of the people living within their vicinity, and report any suspicious behaviour to law enforcement agencies.

ALSO READ: Man nabbed with fresh human head in Oyo

The CP urges members of the public to embark on Operation Know Your Neighbour, because the Alfa was staying in a compound without his neighbours knowing what he does for a living, Oti said.
This is aimed at tackling problems associated with the mental health and social health issues experienced by people living in the UK.

The new role which was announced on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, was facilitated by the late Jo Cox, a former member of Britain's parliament who was killed at an European Union referendum.

"Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected," May mentioned in a statement according to the BBC News.

The appointee, Crouch who is 42 years old, hopes to use her position to address the problems of isolation encountered by nine million occupants of the UK. This will be done "across political parties," says the BBC.

In Nigeria, it was an opposite response when Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, appointed his sister, Ogechi Ololo, as the Commissioner for Happiness & Couples' Fulfillment. In their reaction, the citizens questioned the seriousness of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party member who had previously erected a statue of South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, in Owerri, the state capital.

Ololo's appointment was perceived as a pointer to the fact that individuals occupying positions of authority in government favour relationships over competence in their attempt to appoint personnel for specific roles.

Governor Okorocha in particular has a reputation for inviting members of his family to assume positions in his administration.

An Owerri-based blogger, Cyril Njoku, who attended the investiture ceremony of new Imo State servicemen agreed with this assertion in a chat with the Premium Times News.

His Son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, is the Chief of Staff. His wife, Nkechi Rochas Okorocha, is the Chairman of Imo Amnesty Committee with a huge budget.

His father-in-law and the current Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwuka, was the former Secretary to Imo State Government, he said.

Modernisation in Nigeria, often regarded as the Giant of Africa, has only reached the corridors of technology and social awareness but not in the government which is characterized by policies considered backward and a slow reaction to major issues.

The citizens of the country consider the building of a statue of South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, in Imo State an example of initiatives that have failed to reflect the purpose of having a representative in government.
Speaking with BBC NewsDay, the former military ruler said, "It is essentially a call for what we call decriminalization. If a young man tries to experiment with a wrap of marijuana for instance & because of that we put him in jail" , he said.

I was in prison as a political prisoner & I interacted with these people, some of them just for being caught with a wrap of Marijuana, theyre put in jail. They came out of jail more hardened, more hardened criminals than when they went in. Whereas, if they have been treated as they should be treated & if they need attention, theyll be given attention.", he added.

They will be looked after, given a clean needle like its been done in some parts of Africa already. Harm reduction & safe places where they can listen to people, they can get attention, they can get counsel. This is the sort of thing we are talking about." , Obasanjo continued.

ALSO READ: Greece is set to legalise marijuana use

The ex-president is the chairman of the West Africa Drugs Commission. In his position, he is also a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a group of eminent world leaders and decision makers.

In recent times, the commission has called for a rethink on drugs policy. In many ways, it makes perfect sense that Obasanjo is taking this position because around the world, nations are changing their stance on the legal status of what was once viewed as one of the most dangerous recreational drugs.

It's a global trend

Most persons may remember the Netherlands and particularly Amsterdam when they think about places where marijuana is legal.

However, in recent times, countries have taken a relaxed stance on how marijuana use and possession is treated and the punishment meted to persons who have been found with these drugs.

This new stance has been mostly motivated by research, especially in the United States where medical marijuana is legal in over 13 states and counting.

In other parts, it is driven by economic motivations. Marijuana is a heavily consumed commodity and the potential to make foreign exchange has convinced some countries to decriminalise the cultivation, sale and use of the drug.

Take, Lesotho, for instance.

The South African nation became the first in Africa to grant a marijuana license in September 2017.

In a nation of over 2 million citizens with soil rich in iron, the economic implications of lifting the restrictions on the country's most important cash crop are immense.

Decriminalization is not legalization

If it happens in Nigeria, it will be for a mix of different reasons.

On the one hand however, it is important to know what ex-President Obsanjo suggested. The decriminalisation of marijuana is not the same thing as legalising it.

As it stands, marijuana possession and use is illegal according to the nation's laws.

The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act which establishes the NDLEA empowers the agency to make arrest and prosecute persons found using, cultivating and selling the drug in whatever quantity.

Prison terms vary, and depending on the circumstance, they could be as severe as a couple of years for walking around at the wrong time of day with a blunt in one's pocket.

If marijuana is decriminalised, it would mean relaxing or entirely lifting the heavy sanctions placed on the use of the drug by our nation's laws.

This would mean that a bill for change the existing drug laws would go through the National Assembly. Among the provisions that would be made, it would need to outline that drug use and cultivation is certain circumstances would be allowed.

It is important that these circumstances are expressly stated, because while they are open to interpretation, to totally lift the sanctions on marijuana use would mean that the drug would be used every and any where.

Let's borrow a leaf from the Netherlands. While drug use is not exactly legal in the country, it is allowed in certain places and possession is allowed to certain degrees.

People are allowed to use drugs in outdoor areas, at parties or festivals. However, there is still a strict age restriction.

A similar arrangement would work if implemented in Nigeria.

What is there to gain?

Decriminalising marijuana in Nigeria would mean that fewer people would go to jail for crimes related to the drugs.

Possession in small quantities and use would no longer be crimes. However, large scale dealers of the drug, as well as the famed farmers who cultivate in hidden forests are likely to get the short end of the stick.

The only recourse would be that licences are given, as the case is in Lesotho and the United States.

This is where the good sides come in.

In January 2017, the UNODC suggested that 14.3% of Nigeria's population smokes cannabis making it the third highest consumption rate in the world. Iceland and the United States of America were ranked first and second respectively.

Cultivating marijuana in large quantities will open up massive economic opportunities for thousands of people. Beyond mere farming, entire industries would rise in its wake.

Consider the market for weed-infused drinks, cakes, marijuana-flavoured accessories like condoms, candles, and oils.

The biggest market, however, would be the culture of leisure that it will inspire. Already, marijuana use among young Nigerians is at an all-time high.

Spots like the beaches on Lagos and Victoria Islands and the famed Afrika Shrine are favoured spots because marijuana use is allowed or at worst, condoned there.

If marijuana is decriminalized, marijuana bars, themed clubs and hubs would show up almost immediately.

There's also the potential for another sub-industry of head shops which cater to other products that are used in the consumption of marijuana.

ALSO READ: Marijuana is the favorite drug of young Nigerians

That's not counting the implications on the people who will use them.

Already, drug use is already a major topic in popular conversation. If decriminalised, the youth, already with a voracious appetite, will most likely use it to their fill.
There are still some lands that lie lonely and unclaimed on planet earth.

ALSO READ: 5 fascinating ancient sites in Africa

1. North East Caye

A rare piece of island conveniently located just 8 miles off the coast of Riversdale on the Placencia Peninsula. This property located on North East Caye is ideally situated near Saddle Caye, Cat Caye and Manatee Caye.

And it's currently unclaimed and up for sale!

Currently undeveloped and consists of a sandy beach as well as natural and protected harbour area. It has beautiful coral ridges encircling North East Caye making it a great area for snorkelling.

2. Rockall

The tiny island rock known as Rockall remains unconquered and has no buildings or people on it. The United Kingdom claimed and incorporated Rockall in 1955 but the Republic of Ireland have not recognised this claim, insisting Rockall is Irish.

ALSO READ: How to travel the world without quitting your day job

Geographically, Iceland and the Faroe Islands could also have a claim to it  it is in a remote part of the North Atlantic. The uninhabited rock is a mere 25m (82 feet) wide and 17m (56 feet) high and is actually the remnants of an extinct volcano.

3. Bir Tawil

Perhaps the most famous unclaimed land in the world is Bir Tawil.

So why does nobody own it? And where on earth is it? The reason for its status results from a discrepancy between the straight political boundary between Egypt and Sudan which was established in 1899, and the subsequent irregular administrative boundary established in 1902. Egypt asserts the political boundary is the correct one, and Sudan asserts the administrative boundary is the correct one. On the flipside, the Halaib Triangle is claimed by both countries and is disputed.

4. The Peoples Republic of Podjistan

This land is little more than a huge mansion which declared independence from Northern Ireland in 2010. However, totalitarian leader Simon Stewart has confessed that the future of Podjistan may be in doubt, though he is unwilling to sell out and move back into Northern Ireland.

ALSO READ: 5 ways to make an adventurous travel bucket list

5. Machias Seal Island
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Times published a report in which several women detailed James' alleged habit of coercing women into nudity for his projects, and into non-consensual sex acts.

As James accepted his award for best actor in a comedy on Sunday, women began tweeting about the actor's past behavior. "James Franco just won. Please never ever ask me why I left the film/tv business,"Breakfast Club actor Ally Sheedy wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "Why is a man hosting? Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much. Nite love ya #goldenglobes." Sheedy wasn't the only one:

Sarah Tither-Kaplan, formerly a student at James' acting school Studio 4 (which was shut down in 2017), was more specific in her interview with the Times than she was on Twitter. Sarah alleged that James removed the plastic covering on actresses' vaginas while pretending to perform oral sex on them during an orgy scene she and several other women filmed with him. James reportedly pitched the orgy as a "bonus scene" for his feature film, The Long Way Home (which has yet to be released). Other actresses who appeared in the scene reportedly confirmed Sarah's account. Katie Ryan, who also took classes at the school, said James "would always make everybody think there were possible roles on the table if we were to perform sexual acts or take off our shirts."

Violet Paley, another woman whose tweets gained media attention Sunday, told the Times that James promised to help her with her acting career when she met him in early 2016, then they began dating. She alleges that one night he pressured her to perform oral sex on him while they were sitting in a parked carsomething she didn't want to do. "I was talking to him, all of a sudden his penis was out, Violet told the Times. I got really nervous, and I said, Can we do this later? He was kind of nudging my head down, and I just didnt want him to hate me, so I did it." In hindsight, she told the Times, she believes James exploited the "power dynamic" between them.

Hilary Dusome and Natalie Chmiel, both James' students when he taught at Playhouse West in North Hollywood, told the Times that James lured them under murky pretenseseither to shoot an "art film" or a high-end jean commercialto a strip club and allegedly grew angry when no one in the group of actresses he'd assembled would go topless in front of the camera. "I felt like I was selected for something based on my hard work and my merit, and when I realized it was because I have nice [breasts], it was pretty clear that was not the case," Hilary told the Times.

James has previously come under fire for allegedly trying to pick up a 17-year-old girl on Instagram on 2014, enticing her to meet him in a hotel room. The girl posted screenshots of their alleged conversation, which were shared by Gawker. Per People, James responded to the allegations on Live With Kelly And Michael, saying: "Im embarrassed and I guess Im just a model of how social media is tricky." He added that "I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson."

In a Tuesday interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, James vowed to make amends for any wrongdoing on his part, while also calling the Twitter allegations "not accurate." "In my life I pride myself on taking responsibility for things that Ive done. I have to do that to maintain my well-being. I do it whenever I know that there is something wrong or needs to be changed, I make it a point to do it," he said. "I completely support people coming out and being able to have a voice because they didnt have a voice for so long. So I dont want toI dont want to, you know, shut them down in any way." He also said that he had "no idea" why Ally was upset with him.

He was also questioned about the allegations on Wednesday night during an appearance on Late Night With . When Seth asked James if the Time's Up and #MeToo movements have made him question his own behavior towards women, James answered, "I have my own side of this story, but I believe in, you know, these people that have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will, you know, hold back things that I could say just because I believe in it that much." He added, And if I have to take a knock because Im not going to, you know, try and, you know, actively refute things, then I will, because I believe in it that much." He also told Seth that he hadn't reached out to Ally at all about her allegations, saying, "I guess Im just letting it be."

Regarding the allegations made in the Los Angeles Times story, James either denied or said he had no memory of the behavior the women interviewed described. His attorney, Cynthia Huffman, told the Times that she had received no complaints from actors about her client's behavior, at least not during filming of The Long Way Home. And some students at James' school interviewed by the Times reported positive experiences working with the actor.
This is coming after youths on a revenge mission, exchanged fire with security operatives in Benue state.

You will recall that the National Vice President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association (MACBAN), Husaini Yusuf Bosso said that there will be in Benue state if the anti-grazing law is not scrapped.

The MACBAN VP accused the Governor Samuel Ortom of refusing to meet their demands for grazing lands which they can rent.

According to Channels TV, the herdsmen in this latest raid, attacked communities in Logo, Guma and Okpokwu Local Government Areas of Benue State.

Reports also say that the Benue state Governor, Ortom confirmed the incident on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.

Senate orders IGP to bring trouble makers to book

The Senate recently gave the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr Ibrahim Idris 14 days ultimatum to arrest and investigate the perpetrators of Benue killings.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dasuki is standing trial on allegation bordering on illegal possession of firearms and money laundering.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed went ahead and adjourned the trial until Feb. 8.

He said the trial cannot simply go on following an application for adjournment sent in by the defendant counsel, Mr Joseph Daudu.

The application, which did not give reason for Daudus absence from the trial, was objected to by the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN).

Okpeseyi said the lead defendant counsels absence was simply meant to delay the trial.

He said it was unthinkable for the counsel not to clearly state the reason why he would be away from the court.

NAN recalls that the case, which was originally filed in 2015, was heard by former Justice Adeniyi Ademola until October 2016.

The Federal Government accused Dasuki of illegal possession of five Tavor X95 assault rifles with numbers 45801168, 45801169, 45801175, 45801176 and 4801199.

Other items allegedly found in his residence in Abuja and Sokoto included ammunition and cash, running into millions of Naira.
In a statement signed by the president's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday, January 17, he praised the resourcefulness and patriotism of the diplomat who is the Ichie Adazie of Obosi.

The statement read, "President Buhari congratulates all the professional colleagues, family members and friends of the highly resourceful diplomat and elder statesman whose resume on international diplomacy and community development continues to inspire and instruct on the power of discipline, focus and knowledge.

"As the first and so far the only African Secretary General of the Commonwealth, the President affirms that Chief Anyaoku contributed seminally to Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999, combining his thorough understanding of the peculiarities of the political structures, with his office and international network of friends to garner support for the countrys transition.

"President Buhari extols Chief Anyaoku's unwavering patriotism and commitment to the unity and progress of Nigeria as he continues to contribute to national affairs, through formal and informal advice to Presidents, including chairing the meeting that led to the adoption of the Abuja Accord, by which all the presidential candidates in 2015 committed themselves and their political parties to non-violent campaigns and acceptance of the results in good faith."
Angry residents of the area made bonfires on the road in protest and covered the victim's corpse with leaves in the middle of the road before the arrival of the police to quell further trouble.

An eyewitness said, "There would have been serious riot this morning at Abule Egba but for the intervention of policemen from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

"Those Customs people have started again this year. They shot a young man on the head this morning. They were just shooting like drunkards. Blood is everywhere."
Delivering his welcome address at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, Speaker Dogara noted that the solution to the mindless killings and bloodletting lies in the ability to shun buck passing, while the government lives up to its responsibility of providing security for the lives of every Nigerian, irrespective of where they live.

Reacting to the killings in Benue and other parts of the country, the Speaker there were no sanctuaries anywhere in the country for killers and other hardened criminals who feed on the blood of other people.

We are all painfully aware of the wave of murders of innocent Nigerians that has been sweeping through the nation, Speaker Dogara said

From the senseless killings in Rivers State, to the killing rampages in Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Zamfara, Adamawa, Edo and other States; our dear country is now being painted red with the blood of the innocents on account of unremitting bedlam callously promoted by cold hearted merchants of death.

On behalf of the House of Representatives, I wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to the governments, people, and especially families of those who have lost loved ones in these primitive, mindless and despicable rounds of bloodletting across our dear country.

At these moments of intense outpouring of grief across the nation, it is important that we shun buck passing and accept responsibility for these wanton killings without which we will never find a solution to this evil. We cannot afford to fold our hands and pretend that all is well with our country.

We cannot throw up our hands in defeat. We have a responsibility to all Nigerians regardless of creed or ethnicity in line with the constitutionally stated primary purpose of the government we serve in, which is securing the welfare including the lives and property of our people.

This we must do by ensuring that every law abiding Nigerian is protected where ever he chooses to live in the country and everyone who is up in arms against our citizens is quickly brought to justice where ever they are in the country. That there are no sanctuaries anywhere in the country for killers and other hardened criminals who feed on the blood of our people."

Speaker Dogara urged the federal government to ensure the security of lives of the citizens.

We have a responsibility to all Nigerians regardless of creed or ethnicity in line with the constitutionally stated primary purpose of the government we serve in, which is securing the welfare including the lives and property of our people.

This we must do by ensuring that every law abiding Nigerian is protected where ever he chooses to live in the country and everyone who is up in arms against our citizens is quickly brought to justice where ever they are in the country. That there are no sanctuaries anywhere in the country for killers and other hardened criminals who feed on the blood of our people, he emphasized.
Jang, who is now a senator and represents Plateau-North Senatorial District, is being investigated for alleged N10 billion fraud.

He was said to have arrived the EFCC Abuja office at about 10am and was released around 8pm.

An EFCC source told Punch that "Senator Jang honoured an invitation on Tuesday. He arrived in the morning and was released around 8pm. He was asked to return on Wednesday (today)."

It was gathered that there have a series of petitions written against Jang, who was governor from 2007 to 2015.

The current Plateau State Government led by Simon Lalong is said to be one of the petitioners.

Lalong's administration alleged that the Jang embezzled some special funds released to the state by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

It accused the ex-governor of pocketing N2 billion released by the CBN for the Small and Medium Enterprises.

The fund allegedly went missing just a month before the expiration of Jang's tenure in April 2015.

The EFCC is also investigating a suspicious contract of the computerisation of the Ministry of Finance to a firm, Nix Technologies, for N97, 925, 000 by the ministry.

It was alleged that the money was paid twice for the same contract.

The Jang administration was also accused of siphoning N6.1 billion from the State Universal Basic Education Board, the states Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Further allegation said "Jang collected N982, 526451.02 from the Plateau State Government using a front company, Darmatist Consult, for a purported, non-existent recovery of N7.56bn from Nasarawa State. The money was paid to Darmatist as a consultancy fee."

Jang, however, denied all the allegations against him, saying he meritoriously served the people of Plateau State.
The governor spoke during a peace meeting with Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, farmers, local hunters, security agencies and representatives of the Tiv community in the state.

Fayose also said recent measures put in place by his administration were to prevent violence between farmers and herdsmen.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there there had been tension between the herdsmen and farmers of Benue extraction in the state over allegation of farm destruction and killings.

NAN also reports that a herdsman, Babuga Dengi, was on Monday killed in a bush between Irele and Oke Ako in Ikole Local Government Area of the state.

But Fayose, who warned the herdsmen and farmers against turning Ekiti to a war zone, ordered security agents to fish out the killer of the victim.

I cant accept anybody to be killed. If anybody killed anyone, I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice. Im sad about the killing in Benue but we dont want brutality in Ekiti

I wont accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I therefore plead with everybody to cooperate with us

I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody.

 Cow matter cant cause problems between us. Oke Ako-Irele issue should not be allowed to fester. Cooperate with us and whoever kills would be fished out

When you are entering Ekiti, drop wherever you are coming from at the boundary. You cant kill Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo or Tiv here.

 From the information so far, the deceased died as a result of a clash between Fulani herders and some Tiv people, but at that, we cant condone lawlessness. We dont want that type of Benue issue here,  he said.

ALSO READ:Ortom reveals location of killer Fulani Herdsmen in Benue

NAN reports that a communique read by Fayose at the end of the meeting ordered an expanded forum of leaders of herdsmen, farmers, hunters, council chairmen and traditional rulers from Oke Ako and Irele.

The meeting, while noting that the crisis in Oke Ako was between Tivs and Fulani, resolved that the people must live in peace.

The meeting also ordered security agencies to fish out the killers of the herdsman in the area.
According to a report by The Punch, the doctors marched down to the institution's complex to register their discontent against the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Edmund Banwat.

The doctors were assembled around 8:30am at the Pharmacy Checkpoint of the Hospital by the Chairman, National Association of Resident Doctors, JUTH Chapter, Dr. Paul Agbo, with the coffin as an accessory.

The mismanagements they complained about include the alleged disregard for the order of the National industrial Court to stop the sacking of doctors in the institution, planned implementation of no work, no pay policy (contrary to the memorandum of the terms of settlement between NARD and the Federal Government), and exclusion of the names of some staff from the nominal roll for October 2017.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Fintan Ekochin, made the appeal on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

Ekochin said that though the disease was not prevalent amongst the population, but there was concern about those that travel to and from Ebonyi.

Lassa fever is something that has been a challenge in Ebonyi and they are prone to have issues that may lead to deaths.

Enugu fortunately does not have it being prevalent or endemic in the population and that makes our own risk lower.

Our concern are those commuters that travel to and from Ebonyi and if they contact the disease how we select them from the general public, quarantine and treat them, he said.

Ekochin said that the state had an internationally approved isolation ward ready to handle highly infectious diseases, so we are ready to have such patients and treat them.

The facility was one of the biggest challenges that the ministry faced in the last quarter of 2017 when Monkey Pox was everywhere.

We had three suspect cases. At that time the state government funded the ministry to set up an isolation ward.

The ward gives us the benefit of isolating patients from relations and medical workers.

What happened in Ebonyi is that the doctors and nurses treating the patients got infected and died, he said.

The commissioner appealed to residents of the state to maintain high level of hygiene, adding that food items needed not be exposed to rodents, cockroaches and flies.

If you keep your environment clean and use rodent-proof containers to store your food then they will not be contaminated, he said.

ALSO READ:LUTH discharges 150 people under observation for Lassa fever

He said that the Emergency Preparedness Team of the Department of Public Health of the ministry had already met to brainstorm on the recent outbreak of the disease in Ebonyi.

He said that they instituted proactive measures to avert the possible incursion of the disease into the state.

The meeting was special because we expanded it to include faith-based and private hospitals.

The aim was to discuss what we can do so that we will continue to enjoy medical peace knowing that we are 45 minutes drive from Ebonyi where there are unfortunate challenges with the disease, Ekochin said.
The Commandant of the corps in the state, Hajiya Altine Sani, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Wednesday.

Sani said of the 34, nine were established rapists, convicted and currently serving various jail terms.

She said that after thorough investigations, the remaining 25 were actually cases related to sexual assault, saying no traces of rape was established against them and were released on bail.

According to her, out of the nine cases, two victims were tested and found HIV positive, while others were infected with different Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).

ALSO READ:NSCDC uncovers prostitution ring among students

What we normally do, whenever we make such arrest we have network called Refferal Pathway which includes Security personnel, Medical personnel and Legal practitioners, among others.

They are saddled with the responsibility of establishing rape, Sani explained.

She noted that most of the perpetrators were in their 30s while their victims were between five and 11 years.

The commandant, however, regretted that parents often tended to withdraw cases due to fear of stigma.

We usually tell them that the case is between the state and the perpetrators.
The State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, disclosed this on Wednesday in Benin while briefing journalists.

Kokumo said that the suspects were arrested on Monday.

He said that on the day of the arrest, one of the IEDs in the gangs arsenal exploded and severed the lower limb of one of the suspects.

The gang member was said to have died instantly, a situation that caused panic and pandemonium in the area and environs.

He said the gang leader, Idris Abdulmalik an indigene of Kogi, however escaped, while the three, a male and two females also from Kogi, were arrested.

The commisioner said a Toyota Corolla Saloon car with registration number ABUJA-ABC-371-HK was recovered from the suspects.

He said items found inside the car include: one rocket propelled grenade without the launcher and one berretta pistol N0. 53101466 with seven rounds of 9mm live ammunition.

Other items, he said, were two riot gunners; four smoke pistols; 23 empty fire extinguisher cylinders; 18 plastic bottles of prepared borne IEDs; 21 expended smoke cartridges and 17 pieces of pipes.

Kokumo said two timer clocks; four remote control panel and switches; eight nine volt batteries; eight live teargas cartridges and two smoke grenades were recovered from the suspects.

The rest, he said, were two fire extinguishers borne IEDs; two electric junction boxes; two gallons of gun powder; five empty cans of insecticides; 20 small cans of assorted chemicals; three hydrometers and eight pipette tubes.

ALSO READ:Nigerian Police still profiles people based on moral codes

The commissioner also disclosed that on Sunday, an articulated vehicle with registration number KANO-KMC-592 YD fully loaded with petroleum product suspected to be Automated Gas oil (AGO) parked in polythene bags was seized by the command.

He said the product was suspected to have been illegally siphoned from vandalised pipeline.

He said that three suspects were arrested in connection with the crime.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Mukhtar Aliyu confirmed to NAN that the foreign nationals included two Canadians and two Americans.

The Spokesperson said the nationals were said to be returning to Abuja from Kafanchan, Jemaa local government area of Kaduna state, adding, the kidnappers laid ambush for them and engaged the escorts in gun duel which led to the death of two policemen while the four foreigners were whisked to unknown destination.

ALSO READ:7 tips to avoid being kidnapped in Nigeria

He said the Command had since swung into action as it had deployed its anti-kidnap unit and assured that the abductors would be brought to book.
At a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the lawmakers raised the issues of security in the country and discussed their resolution on the herdsmen crisis.

The National Assembly (NASS) had earlier given the Inspector-General police, Ibrahim Idris, a 14-day ultimatum to arrest the perpetrators of the Benue attacks, which led to the deaths of 73 persons.

They also called on the Federal Government to take a decisive action concerning the crisis.

Speaking to State House correspondents, Saraki said they visited the villa to brief the President on NASS resolution on the herdsmen crisis.

He said, "It's just a follow up, you know I was here with the speaker two nights ago. Today is our first day in session, and if you followed, we debated the issue of the unfortunate incident in Benue.

"We came here to brief the president on some of our resolutions, particularly concerning security."

Commending the Senate delegation, the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters, Ita Enang, said it is impressive to see the lawmakers debate the "issues of security with the greatest passion void of political affiliations."

In the fresh attacks that started on New Year Day, the herdsmen have slaughtered over 70 persons in Benue, Adamawa and other States, with Benue being the most hit.
President Buhari is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, January 17, 2018, Bruce called on the Senate President Bukola Saraki to replace Buhari on the job following his interest in fixing the problem.

The Bayelsa state lawmaker described the security situation in the country as scary adding that the nation was tolling the same lane as Somalia and Liberia.

It seems to me that Nigeria is becoming a lawless country, Bruce, the commonsense lawmaker began.

A country with no rules and regulation, a country where laws are not adhered to. A country where there is no consequence for bad behavior. We have a government, security agents, or we dont.

ALSO READ: Drama at Senate as PDP lawmakers halt colleague from defecting to APC

These are the fundamentals issues at stake today because every day since we have gotten here someone has gotten killed, raped, throat slit, killed at gun point and every day we have resolutions and nothing is being done.

It is as if the senate is now the executive arm of government. I am just sorry for my colleagues, Senator Marafa in a closed door session told us what is happening in Zamfara state but he didnt not say it in open house. What he said here frightened everyone. Zamfara state is being occupied by foreign mercenaries.

That is a fact of life. If that is the case, what are we doing about it. If the people responsible for the protection of lives and proprieties in Nigeria cannot do their job, what happens in civilized countries, they are fired. Shehu sani on TV today explained it eloquently and he was dead on point.

If the FG wants to run a red chamber to become the executive in Nigeria, then let us appoint the senate president to be the President of Nigeria. Let us do the job of the executive because it doesnt make any sense," he added.

Recall that President Buhari had ordered the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris to immediately relocate to Benue in view of the killings in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the items comprised of recharge cards, toilet rolls, beverages, toothpastes and toothbrushes as well as Thank You Cards.

Miss Ruky Patrick, Coordinator of CIS Volt Club, said the gesture was aimed at appreciating the troops commitment in defending Nigerias territorial integrity and protecting the lives and property of citizens.

We decided to put smiles on the faces of soldiers last year and we raised these items and a` thank you card from students in our school to soldiers in 7 Division in Maiduguri.

We are here again and we are happy to say we have 3,000 bags for 7, 6 and 81 Divisions of the Nigerian Army.

We are happy to say that 3,000 soldiers will be happy that they are appreciated by members of the Nigerian community, she said.

She explained that the initiative was purely that of Volt Club of the school.

These items are not only coming from teenagers but children as young as two and a half years old to 16 years of age , saying thank you for protecting everyone, she said.

An ambassador of the group, Patrick Obazele, advised Nigerians to cultivate the habit of giving, especially to the military making the necessary sacrifice to protect lives and property.

The General Officer Commanding, 81 Division, Maj.-Gen. Peter Dauke, who received the items, commended childrens patriotism and passion towards the troops fighting insurgency in the North-East.

I want to thank you for this show of patriotism and compassion to our troops at this auspicious occasion of the Armed forces Remembrance Remembrance Day Celebration in 2018.

There is no doubt that your kind gesture is borne out of deep reflections on our sacrifice in the course of performing duties of defending the territorial integrity of our great nation.

What you have done is very commendable and goes a long way to show that Nigeria is indeed a great country with very responsible young men and women with great potential, he said.

He said that the kind gesture would boost the troops morale to do more in securing the country against terrorism, insurgency and other crimes in order to secure.
A statement signed by SERAPs Deputy Director, Mr Timothy Adewale, in Abuja said that the trust fund would be an important first step towards justice for victims and their families.

Adewale said that it was also necessary for the government to ensure that efforts to combat attacks by herdsmen was grounded in the rights of victims of unlawful killings and their families.

He said that so far governments attempt to address the persistent attacks had overlooked the plight of the victims.

It is important to ensure that any policy to tackle the problem is not used as a ploy to undercut the possibilities of justice and reparation for victims and their families.

It has to be made clear that victims of attacks by herdsmen are entitled to effective remedies regardless of whether they bring their claims against the government in an individual or collective capacity.

Adewale said that it was an imperative demand of justice that the responsibility of the perpetrators of the unlawful killings and destruction of property be clearly established.

He added that the rights of the victims and their families should be sustained to the fullest possible extent.

He said that victims right to an effective remedy and reparation was a legally enforceable human right and not a matter of charity.

ALSO READ:Senate orders IGP to arrest those involved in Benue attacks

It is no coincidence that the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and human rights instruments refer to victims right to effective remedies, including access to justice, reparation and guarantee of non-repetition.

As the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, SERAP believes that Buhari is in a powerful position to end the unlawful killings and destruction of property apparently by herdsmen.
The governor announced the decision on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, when he paid another visit to residents of Omoku in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of the state.

Wike said the state government will ensure that the little girl will be sponsored through school after losing her parents to the massacre.

The girl also sustained gunshot injuries to her left thigh during the incident that was carried out by the criminal gang of notorious killer, kidnapper and militant, Igwedibia Johnson, aka 'General' Don Wani.

While addressing bereaved resident, Wike said, "I am here today to further express my condolences to the families that lost loved ones and also express my sympathy to the injured.

Like I said before, the Rivers State Government will foot the hospital bills of the injured and support support the families of the deceased."

He promised that everyone involved in the attack will be brought justice, expressing confidence that security agencies are doing their best.

"And for all those of you who have been running away, continue to run away we will find you," he warned perpetrators.

Don Wani, 8 others killed

The mastermind behind the massacre, Don Wani, was killed in a shootout in Enugu State on Saturday, January 6.

In what was a joint hunt by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, Don Wani was killed with two of his lieutenants; Ikechukwu Adiele and Lucky Ode.

While addressing journalists on Thursday, January 11, Police spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, announced that six more gang members had been killed after they engaged officers in a shootout in Awara Forest, a boundary between Imo State and Rivers.

Moshood also noted that the police was able to apprehend a senior member of the cult group, Desmond Okotubo, a 32-year-old native of Egbenma from Unelga LGA of Rivers.
Fayemi was a former governor of Ekiti State and the current Minister of Mines and Steel.

A statement by the partys Ekiti State Publicity Secretary, Mr Taiwo Olatunbosun and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also described the white paper as a desperate bid by Gov. Ayo Fayose to embarrass the former governor at all cost and by all means.

It described Fayoses action as a failed desperation that cannot stand the test of judicial scrutiny in both form and content.

The APC further described both the panel and white paper as a kangaroo stunt to nail Fayemi, saying the verdict will not stand in the face of illegality that went into the exercise.

Besides, it described Fayose as a man who cannot survive in a society where the law works, regretting that even lawyers in his government failed to teach him some basic tenets of how law works in placing ban on Nigerian citizens to hold public office.

All Nigerians know that Fayose is recklessly lawless and cannot survive in societies where the law works.

His so-called White Paper is not only laughable but also a disgrace to all Ekiti people home and abroad with the way that Fayose has taken ignorance, vendetta and debauchery to a ridiculous level because we knew all along that this is what Fayose wanted to do.

We had expected his Attorney General, if he knows his onions, to have advised him that only a competent court of law can bar Nigerians from holding public office under the Nigerian Constitution.

A situation where Fayose assembled PDP members and pliable civil servants as a panel with a strict directive to indict Fayemi at all costs and thereafter issue a White Paper banning him from holding public office cannot hold water in a society where the law works.

With the way he is conducting himself desperately to stop Fayemi from holding public office, we are convinced that Fayose is seriously going through a political haemorrhage and therefore his resorting to political desperation and unconstitutional means to nail our leader and a serving Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by any means possible.

Neither Fayose nor Ekiti State Government has the power to bar or prevent Dr Fayemi or any other citizen from holding public office but a competent court of law.

ALSO READ:Fayose escapes death as car catches fire in Lagos

Such wishful thinking cannot stand judicial scrutiny and we advise Fayose and his pitiable undertakers to read the Supreme Court judgment and Atiku Abubakar in similar matter.

We expect someone occupying such an exalted position of a governor like Fayose to be properly briefed and educated on the limitations of his powers as the head of the executive arm of government primarily to formulate policy and implement laws rather than interpreting the law and worst still, assuming the position of a judge in a matter involving him as a party.
According to a report by Vanguard, Duke made this revelation while speaking at the third Mike Omotosho annual lecture titled, "Millennials as Protagonists in Nation Building" in Abuja on Sunday, January 14, 2018.

He said, "I am entitled to run for the presidency of this country. Only on right circumstances I will aspire for it. I don't shy away from responsibility, I will aspire for presidency of this country. I have what it takes to be president of this country.

"It is high time Nigerians begun to project people with the technical know-how to take the country to the Promised Land."

Even though he wasn't specific about when he'll contest, he promised that it will happen at "the right time and circumstance."

Duke further challenged the youths in the country to participate more actively in politics to help contribute better in the act of nation-building, and said Nigeria's problem with governance is just a case of disconnection.

He said, "I hear young people say to me that why would they spend hours queuing and casting their votes when at the end their votes won't count. And I tell that if their parents conceived them they never gave up on them considering the high mortality rate, so why would they not take a chance in building this nation?

"We had young leadership at one stage or the other. Even in our first republic, besides the likes of Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, M. T. Mbu was in his twenties when he became a minister.

"Gowon was 30 when he became the head of state. It comes back to the disaster therein because most of them didn't have experience in governance, which led us into war.

"We need the combination of both. What I think we should be doing is to ensure a government that is youth-friendly to provide opportunities because we need to groom the next set of leadership.

"The challenge we have today is the disconnect. That is the challenge of the governance today. Because if you speak with the folks in government, and I am being candid here, I think we should stop to deceive ourselves here and stop all these political correctness."

"There is disconnecting between the president and even the ministers."

Duke served two terms as the governor of Cross River State between 1999 and 2007.

2019 presidential race

Duke joins the growing list of prominent Nigerians who have dropped hints that they may contest in the 2019 presidential elections.

Founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, PastorTunde Bakare revealed to his congregation on January 1, 2018, that God wants him to run for president despite his plan to quit politics for good. He also failed to reveal if he'll contest in 2019 or later in the future.

Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose,remains the only candidate to have officially declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election after his announcement in September 2017.
The Western-educated lawyer -- who announced his plans to run for the presidency a year ago though a fraud sentence officially makes him ineligible -- has won a young fanbase through viral videos exposing corruption among the Kremlin elite.

Navalny grabbed attention with his uncompromising rhetoric during mass protests in 2011 sparked by vote-rigging allegations in parliamentary elections.

In front of crowds of tens of thousands, he coined phrases such as the "party of crooks and thieves" to slam the governing United Russia.

Two years later the father of two stood for Moscow mayor, coming second against a Kremlin-backed incumbent.

And in 2017 he accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of massive corruption in a YouTube documentary, kickstarting a fresh wave of protests across the country that was met with police violence and mass arrests.

He was jailed three times last year for breaking rules on organising demonstrations and had to travel to Spain for surgery after one of several street attacks left him nearly blind in one eye.

Brother jailed

Navalny has faced a series of other legal cases, which supporters see as a sign the Kremlin is running scared.

In 2013 he was found guilty in an embezzlement case involving an allegedly crooked timber deal and given a five-year suspended sentence that disqualified him from standing for public office.

The European Court of Human Rights threw out the verdict but a retrial issued Navalny the same sentence.

He then had to spend months under house arrest and was often kept incommunicado over another graft case linked to French cosmetics company Yves Rocher.

He was given a further suspended sentence, and his brother Oleg, a co-defendant, was jailed for three and a half years in a decision activists have compared to "hostage taking".

Navalny, who says he learnt about political campaigning from watching the US television series "House of Cards" and once listed Arnold Schwarzenegger among his personal heroes, last year toured Russia in an American-style pre-election campaign to rally his supporters.

But in an environment where the Kremlin tightly controls the media and political landscape, he remains a fringe figure for most Russians, who are more likely to believe the official portrayal of him as a Western stooge and convicted criminal.

Putin has refused to pronounce his name in public, instead referring to him as "the person you mentioned", among other euphemisms, when asked directly about the opposition leader.

'Authoritarian tendencies'

While barred from mainstream politics, Navalny has kept trying to expose the lavish wealth of modern Russia's elites, broadcasting the findings of his investigations to his 2.3 million Twitter followers and to millions more on YouTube.

Trawling through land registries and the filings of offshore companies, Navalny and his team have helped lay bare the mansions and hidden fortunes of high-ranking officials.

Among Navalny's most eye-catching exposes have been details on the palatial homes of Putin's allies in Russia and abroad -- including one kitted out with a vast climate-controlled storage room for fur coats in the residence of Vladimir Yakunin, former chief of Russia's national railways.

But despite tapping into discontent among a largely young urban middle class he is far from a unifying opposition figure.

Liberals have criticised his anti-immigrant nationalist stance while an increasingly high-handed style has also ruffled feathers.

At protests in Moscow last year called after the politician's latest arrest, many demonstrators told AFP they had come out to denounce corruption, not because they wanted to see Navalny president.
The Huthi rebels said on their Al-Masirah television channel that they had fired two missiles at Saudi border provinces but there was no immediate mention of a second from the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting them since 2015.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said that Saudi air defences had intercepted one missile over Jizan province on the Red Sea coast late on Tuesday.

The rebels said they had fired a second at a military base in Najran province, inland and just across the border from their stronghold of Saada.

In a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency, Maliki accused Iran of arming the Huthis "in clear and explicit violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.

Since November, the rebels have fired multiple missiles into Saudi Arabia, all of which Saudi forces say they intercepted.

On November 4, Saudi Arabia thwarted a rebel missile attack on Riyadh international airport that Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman said "may amount to an act of war" involving Iran.

Riyadh and its allies imposed a crippling blockade on rebel-held ports in retaliation for that missile launch which has been only partially lifted despite a mounting international outcry over the humanitarian consequences.

More than three-quarters of Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian aid and some 8.4 million at risk of famine, the UN humanitarian affairs office said on Tuesday.

More than 5,000 children have been killed and 400,000 left severely malnourished, the UN children's agency said.

A report by a UN panel of experts earlier this month found Iran in violation of Security Council Resolution 2216, which imposed an arms embargo on rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi.
"With this resolution we not only recognise and condemn the genocide, we also call on the international community to lead an international investigation," said Rustam Makhmudyan, the Yazidi deputy of a parliamentary human rights commission.

"As a nation that has lived through genocide, the Armenian people understand the significance of this recognition," said Armen Ashotyan, a ruling party lawmaker.

There are around 35,000 Yazidis in Armenia, making them the largest minority group in the ex-Soviet state. The world's biggest Yazidi temple is currently being built in a small Armenian village.

During the massacres, several dozen Yazidi families fled from northern Iraq to Armenia.

Of the world's 1.5 million Yazidis, the largest community was in Iraq where it comprised some 550,000 people before being scattered by an IS offensive.

Kurdish Iraqi officials in December said around half of the Yazidis kidnapped by IS are still missing and that 47 mass graves containing the remains of Yazidis have been found since 2014.

The UN has called the massacres of Yazidis a genocide, arguing that IS had planned them and then intentionally separated men from women to prevent Yazidi children from being born.
Vodafone Ukraine told AFP on Tuesday it could not say how long it would take to restore service because its workers had not received security assurances from the warring parties in a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives in nearly four years.

A spokeswoman said nearly two million users had been affected since mobile phones in the insurgent-controlled parts of Lugansk and Donetsk went dead on January 11.

Vodafone said it had appealed to the Kiev authorities and monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to guarantee safe access to its repair crews.

"It has been futile so far," Vodafone spokeswoman Viktoria Ruban wrote on Facebook.

The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic accused Kiev of deliberately cutting the phone link as part of its "information warfare".

"Kiev has halted Vodafone's work on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic," Alexander Zakharchenko said.

'Stone Age'

The outage has all but cut communication between family members living on opposite sides of the frontline splitting eastern Ukraine.

The two remaining mobile phone carriers are operated by the Russian-backed authorities.

The one in Donetsk called Phoenix only this week introduced a service that is theoretically able to place calls to Kiev-controlled regions at international rates.

These are comparatively high -- 15 euro cents ($0.18 US) a minute -- and a burden for people living in one of the poorest corners of Europe.

AFP reporters succeed in getting through to a mobile phone in various Kiev-controlled regions from Donetsk on one in five attempts. The service to Russia is also sporadic but somewhat better.

"When people who live in the same country 30-40 kilometres (20-25 miles) apart cannot call each other, the situation is completely surreal," said a user in Kiev who gave his name only as Danil.

The 28-year-old has moved to the Ukrainian capital but still has family in the insurgents' de facto capital Donetsk.

The departure of Ukraine's KyivStar in 2015 and Lifecell last year left Vodafone as the only major provider in the region of some 3.5 million people.

This has left Phoenix filling the void in Donetsk.

But it has only 600,000 subscribers and is already operating at full capacity.

"The more people join Phoenix, the worse it works," said Viktoria, a 19-year-old student.

Donetsk "communications minister"Viktor Yashchenko told the separatist DAN news agency that 80,000 people had joined Phoenix since Vodafone went down.

Many queueing to sign up for the insurgent operator expressed their resentment on Tuesday.
Dragnea said the choice is a "clear signal to Brussels, because we want to improve relations between the government and the Commission" following recent tensions over legislation seen by the EU as potentially weakening the battle against corruption.

Assuming Dancila, 54, is approved by President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday, she will also become the first woman to head the government of the European Union's second-poorest country after Bulgaria.

Mihai Tudose, 50, announced his resignation as prime minister late Monday after senior members of the PSD voted to withdraw their support.

Tudose was the second PSD-appointed premier to go after his predecessor Sorin Grindeanu's government was torpedoed by the party following a no-confidence motion last June.

Both appeared to have fallen out with Dragnea, 55, who is himself barred from public office because of an electoral fraud conviction, but who still calls the shots as head of the party.

Dragnea said Monday he had "made two bad choices" for prime minister, adding that he would not make the same "mistake".

In a recent television interview, Tudose had slammed Dragnea for taking key decisions without consulting other senior party members.

Things took a turn for the worst last week when Tudose demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Carmen Dan, a Dragnea ally, after a paedophilia scandal involving Romania's police force.

'Unhappy and concerned'

On Tuesday the centre-right Iohannis, a fierce critic of the PSD, formally accepted Tudose's resignation and put forward Mihai Fifor, defence minister, as interim prime minister.

"We need a new government quickly so that this period of uncertainty doesn't translate into political instability," Iohannis said, adding that he was "unhappy and concerned".

The PSD returned to power in December 2016 after a thumping election victory on promises of boosting wages and pensions and slashing taxes, but it almost immediately hit problems.

In February 2017, the government scrapped proposed changes to anti-corruption laws that would have let politicians off the hook after the biggest protests since the ouster of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

Dancila, the new prime minister designate, had staunchly defended the legislation.

Fresh demonstrations have also greeted other changes that critics -- including Brussels and Washington -- worry will weaken the battle against rampant graft.

That legislation has passed through both houses of parliament and must be approved by the president.

Economic growth has been among the strongest in the European Union, meanwhile, expanding at an annual rate of almost nine percent in the third quarter.

Tudose's resignation also prompted visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on the final stop of a European tour, to cancel talks with the Bucharest government, Romanian officials said.
Many of the new legal provisions "go against the standards of the Polish constitution, in addition to violating the principle of separation of powers, the independence of the courts and judges and the security of tenure of judges," the Supreme Court said on its website.

The statement was adopted by the general assembly of the court's justices. Sixty-nine of the judges endorsed the text, three voted against and three others abstained.

One of the new laws approved last month by President Andrzej Duda ends the mandates of nearly half the Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Malgorzata Gersdorf, who denounced the legislation as a "coup".

Another reform has given parliament the power to choose members of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), whose task is to oversee judicial impartiality. Critics say this change risks reducing the body's independence.

KRS president Dariusz Zawistowski resigned this week "as a sign of protest".

Last month, the European Commission triggered article seven of the EU treaty against Warsaw, which could eventually lead to the "nuclear option" of the suspension of Poland's voting rights within the bloc.

Poland's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who was chosen as part of the governing party's quest to mend strained ties with the EU, said last week that he hoped to explain the basis for the reforms to Brussels without having to make concessions.

The PiS government began making the changes after coming to power in late 2015 and says the reforms are needed to combat corruption and overhaul the judicial system still haunted by the communist era.
No fewer than 35 Burundian refugees were killed and more than 100 others wounded by security forces in eastern DRC Sept. 15, 2017 at Kamanyola, South Kivu.

The special investigation will look into the challenges facing the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) in discharging its mandate to protect civilians and provide recommendations on improving the performance of its troops.

Obiakor has had a long and distinguished career in the Nigerian Army and was the Force Commander of the UN Mission in Liberia from 2006 to 2008.

He also served as Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations at UN Headquarters in New York from 2008 to 2010.

The refugees were killed in Kamanyola area in South Kivu provinces Walungu territory after they allegedly rioted and the Congolese army made an attempt to control the situation.

Reports said no fewer than 18 Burundian refugees were killed on the spot and the others died the following day from the wounds they sustained.

The refugees were protesting against the decision of DRC officials to extradite two other refugees arrested for allegedly making weapons.

There are over 400,000 Burundian refugees in DRC who fled after violence erupted in their country in April 2015 when incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to leave power after serving two terms and stood in elections for a third term.

The opposition in Burundi had gone on a rampage, attacking police and army while also killing supporters of Nkurunziza.

Thousands of Burundian refugees had fled to neighbouring countries, including DRC, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.
In telephone talks, Trump "expressed disappointment that the United States' trade deficit with China has continued to grow," the White House said in a statement.

"President Trump made clear that the situation is not sustainable."

According to figures published Friday by China, the US trade deficit with Beijing grew 10 percent in 2017 to $275.8 billion.

During his presidential campaign and since his arrival at the White House, Trump has repeatedly blamed alleged unfair Chinese trading practices for US job losses and accused Beijing of protectionism.

His administration added new import tariffs to a number of Chinese goods last year.

In late December, Trump called economic competitiveness a matter of national security, insisting he would fight for more equitable trade with China.
Investigators confronted an enduring mystery: How did the names of so many CIA sources, among the agencys most dearly held secrets, end up in Chinese hands?

Some intelligence officials believed that a mole inside the CIA was exposing its roster of informants. Others thought that the Chinese government had hacked the CIAs covert communications used to talk to foreign sources of information.

Still other former intelligence officials have also argued that the spy network might have been crippled by a combination of both, as well as sloppy tradecraft by agency officers in China. The counterintelligence investigation into how the Chinese managed to hunt down U.S. agents was a source of friction between the CIA and FBI.

Lee, who left the CIA in 2007, has been living in Hong Kong and working for a well-known auction house. He was apprehended at Kennedy Airport in New York on Monday and charged in federal court in Northern Virginia with the unlawful retention of national defense information. He appeared in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday and is being held there while awaiting transfer to Virginia. He does not have a lawyer, a Justice Department official said. The FBI apparently learned that Lee was traveling to the United States and scrambled to charge him on Saturday.

Lee had previously traveled to the United States in 2012 to live with his family in Virginia. It was during that trip that FBI agents searched his luggage during hotel stays in Hawaii and Virginia and found two small books with handwritten notes that contained classified information. He later made his way back to Hong Kong after being questioned by FBI agents in 2013.

It is unclear why Lee decided to risk arrest by coming to the United States this month.

In the books the agents found, Lee had written down details about meetings between CIA informants and undercover agents, as well as their real names and phone numbers, according to court papers. Prosecutors said that material in the books reflected the same information contained in classified cables that Lee had written while at the agency.

More than a dozen CIA informants were killed or imprisoned by the Chinese government. The extent to which the informant network was unraveled, reported last year by The New York Times, was a devastating setback for the CIA.

Officials said the number of informants lost in China rivaled losses in the Soviet Union and Russia during the betrayals of both Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, formerly of the CIA and the FBI. They divulged intelligence operations to Moscow for years.

The CIA declined to comment on Lees arrest.

According to court documents, Lee served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1986 and joined the CIA in 1994 as a case officer. Former agency officials said he also served in China during his career. Those who knew him said he left the agency disgruntled after his career plateaued.

Prosecutors said that both before and after he and his family moved back to the United States in 2012, Lee met with former CIA colleagues and other government employees.

As the agency began losing assets in China, it was not clear at first that the losses were systematic, but as the disappearances mounted, the U.S. intelligence community eventually realized it had a major problem.

The case had frustrated counterintelligence officials in the FBI and CIA as they sought to determine how the Chinese had disrupted agency operations in the country.

The FBI suspected an insider had revealed sensitive information to the Chinese government, a theory not initially embraced by the CIA. Lee eventually became a prime suspect in the hunt for a traitor.

Former intelligence officials said that the FBI lured Lee back to the United States as part of a ruse and he was interviewed five times in May and June 2013. The authorities said he never disclosed the two books, described as an address book and a datebook, to investigators.

Formers officials said they were surprised that Lee came back to the United States in 2012, knowing he might be under FBI suspicion. Details about the FBI operation to lure him back were tightly held, but former intelligence officials said he returned with the promise of a possible contract with the CIA. Many former agency officers leave the agency and then return on contract. At some point after the FBI interviewed him, Lee returned to Hong Kong.

Why the FBI did not arrest Lee after originally finding the classified material in his notebooks remains unclear. The FBI declined to comment.

Officials are concerned that Lees case and at least one other represent a troubling pattern of Chinese intelligence targeting former agency officials, an easier task than trying to recruit current CIA operatives.

In June, a former CIA officer was charged with providing classified information to China and making false statements. Prosecutors said that the former officer, Kevin Patrick Mallory, 60, of Leesburg, Virginia, had top-secret documents and incriminating messages on a communications device he brought back from Shanghai.

In March, prosecutors announced the arrest of a longtime State Department employee, Candace Marie Claiborne, accused of lying to investigators about her contacts with Chinese officials. According to the criminal complaint against Claiborne, who pleaded not guilty, Chinese agents wired cash into her bank account and lavished her with thousands of dollars in gifts.
Adm. Frank Caldwell, one of the lead officers assigned to the investigation, said that those charges could include dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide, the Navy said in a statement.

The two commanding officers and three other sailors aboard the Fitzgerald will likely be charged during a preliminary hearing in the coming weeks.

The announcement of a hearing and of court-martial charges is not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses, the statement said.

A chief petty officer from the John S. McCain has already been referred to court-martial for dereliction of duty while eight other crew members, four from each ship, face administrative actions.

Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, the head of the 7th Fleet, the Navys largest overseas, was also relieved last year in connection to the accidents.

In November, the Navy released collision reports that covered the June 17 episode between the Fitzgerald and a commercial ship that killed seven sailors off Japan and the Aug. 21 collision between the John S. McCain and another commercial vessel, the Alnic MC, that left 10 dead as the destroyer approached Singapore.

The Navy concluded that both collisions resulted in a chain of errors, missed warnings and poor training.

The collisions were avoidable, Adm. John M. Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said in a summary of the reports, released in November.

Richardson and the secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer, are set to appear in front of two subcommittees of the House Armed Services on Thursday, focusing extensively on naval operations.
The 11-page report, parts of which were confusing and in some respects misleading, highlighted cases in which immigrants were linked to terrorism plots after being admitted to the country as part of the diversity visa lottery, or because they were related to U.S. citizens or legal residents.

President Donald Trump added to the confusion by writing on Twitter that the report shows that nearly 3 in 4 individuals convicted of terrorism-related charges are foreign-born.

The report actually concluded that 3 out of 4 individuals convicted of international terrorism or terrorism-related charges were foreign-born.

This report shows, once again, that our current immigration system jeopardizes our national security, said a White House fact sheet promoting the findings, which were compiled by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security.

In recent days, the debate over a potential immigration compromise has devolved into a bickering match over racially charged comments and profanity-laced phrases. Tuesdays report was an attempt by the Trump administration to use government-compiled data to make a loftier, policy-based argument about the presidents push for a merit-based immigration system.

Testifying on Capitol Hill, Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, called the reports findings truly chilling data.

She pointed to the case of Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, an Uzbek man who was admitted to the U.S. in 2011 through the diversity visa lottery, a State Department program that allows in immigrants from countries that do not send many people to the U.S. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiring to support the Islamic State after posting a threat on an Uzbek-language website to kill President Barack Obama in an act of martyrdom.

Trump is seeking to end the visa lottery and enact new restrictions on immigrants ability to bring members of their extended families to the United States as part of an immigration compromise currently under discussion.

But the statistics were notable as much for what they did not contain as for what they did.

They included cases  a senior administration official who insisted on anonymity to detail the report could not say how many  in which foreigners were extradited to the United States to face trial. That means they did not, in fact, enter the country through our immigration system, as the White House fact sheet asserted.

The statistics also included terrorism-related charges for attacks or other offenses carried out overseas, rather than in the U.S. Additionally, they omitted domestic terrorism episodes that have accounted for a substantial number of terrorism-related deaths during the same 15-year period.

During Capitol Hill testimony last year, the FBI director, Christopher A. Wray, told lawmakers that the bureau had about 1,000 open domestic terrorism investigations and an equal number into terrorist groups such as the Islamic State. In a bulletin released last May, the FBI reported that white supremacist groups were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016, more than any other domestic extremist movement.

Tuesdays report highlighted cases in which the offender entered through the diversity lottery or because of family ties to legal immigrants, but the White House official could not say what proportion of people in each of those categories had been convicted of terrorism.

Democrats and civil liberties groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the report flawed and politically motivated.

This misleading report relies on manufactured data to perpetuate a myth that immigrants  specifically, those from Muslim countries  are dangerous elements within our country, Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrats on the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, said in a joint statement. The administration then uses these falsehoods as reasoning and license for policies that promote the continued abuse of our rights and civil liberties.

The report was drawn up to comply with an executive order that Trump issued in March to ban foreigners from six predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. The order, which has since expired and been replaced with a new travel ban, required the Justice and Homeland Security departments to collect and publicly release information on the number of foreign nationals in the U.S. who had been charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Drawing on a Justice Department database, the report found that at least 549 individuals had been convicted of international terrorism-related charges in federal courts between Sept. 11, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2016.

A homeland security analysis said 402 of those, or about 73 percent, were foreign-born. That included 254 who were not U.S. citizens, 148 who were naturalized and became citizens and 147 who were citizens by birth.

Under the March order, the report was supposed to have been released in September. On Tuesday, the senior administration official conceded that it was overdue but denied that it was being released now to influence the escalating debate over an immigration compromise.

It will now be updated and issued every 180 days, he said.

(STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.)

According to the Cato Institute, although the report focuses on terrorism-related offenses, Justice Department data shows that about 40 percent of such cases have nothing to do with terrorism. Instead, they include crimes like petty theft, child pornography and immigration offenses, said David Bier, a policy analyst at Cato.

Bier said his research showed that since the Sept. 11 attacks, only 35 foreigners entered the country and went on to commit terrorism offenses of any kind, including sending money abroad or leaving to join a group abroad.

The fact is that despite massive governmental resources, the DOJ-DHS report adds little to our understanding of terrorism threats, he said.

A three-page Department of Homeland Security assessment released last year found that country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity.
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ANDREW Harding took over as managing director and CEO of Australian rail freight operator Aurizon in December 2016 to lead the company into the next phase of its transformation programme. He succeeded Mr Lance Hockridge who had led the company since 2007 and who oversaw the transition, through a successful IPO in November 2010, from the government-owned QR National to the publicly-listed Aurizon.

Prior to joining Aurizon, Hardings 24-year executive career was spent with mining giant Rio Tinto and in its subsidiary companies, acting as global chief executive iron-ore in his most recent role.

One of the challenges facing Harding is the volatility in global commodities markets, and the impact this is likely to have on Aurizons growth and profitability over the next few years. Coal accounts for around 65% of Aurizons revenues and in 2016-17 it hauled 198.2 million tonnes of coal, a decrease of 4% on the previous financial year, impacted to some degree by severe cyclone activity. The companys market guidance for coal haulage in 2017-18 is between 215 million and 225 million tonnes.

Harding is naturally upbeat about the outlook, seeing strong and sustained demand for Australian resources which he says augurs well for Aurizon.

The reasons for this are three-fold: Australias proximity to the worlds fastest growing economies; the high quality of our resources; and our position at the lower-end of the cost curve for most commodities, he explains.

Australia is the worlds largest coal exporter, accounting for around two-thirds of seaborne metallurgical and around a quarter of thermal coal supply, and coal remains Australias second largest export industry.

More than two-thirds of Queensland coal exports use our below rail network or Aurizons trains, so we see ourselves as a critical part of the export supply chain, Harding says. Aurizon will benefit, and so too will our customers, by driving improved performance across the supply chain.

While cautious about a transition to renewable energy sources, Harding believes coal will remain a large part of the global energy mix for many years to come. High-quality Australian coal will help fuel more than 350 new power plants currently under construction in Asia, the majority of which are high-efficiency, low-emission plants.

Australian metallurgical coal will continue to be the feedstock for steel-making for the industrialisation that continues to our north. Many people are surprised to hear, for example, that it is India and not China that is Australias biggest customer for metallurgical coal.

At the same time, were doing a lot of work to deliver better technology solutions for our heavy-haul operations, including, for example, wayside monitoring, in-cab driver assistance systems and the use of drones in infrastructure maintenance and recovery.

We have increased payloads in our coal train fleet and continue to find ways to reduce our energy use. We see technology-enabled solutions underpinning a large part of our transformation in coming years.

Questioned as to what needs to be done to strengthen the rail industry, especially regarding investment and infrastructure in Australia, Harding suggests that there is a strong case for reducing the regulatory burden.

Australia needs to reduce this burden that is inhibiting investment, and adding substantial cost to the economy through project delay and uncertainty, Harding says. No one is advocating that we avoid important environmental and administrative approvals, but rather we streamline and provide greater certainty over the timelines and requirements of approval processes.

Probably the biggest priority for reform is achieving a level playing field in terms of pricing and investment. Reforming heavy vehicle pricing should be focused on introducing direct user charges that are based on clear economic principles and properly reflect the use of road infrastructure by each heavy vehicle and the costs that they impose.

The current indirect charges of fuel excise and registration for heavy vehicles result in significant economic distortions that impede the productivity of land freight transport.

Rail freight operators support the decision of the federal and state governments to introduce a new pricing framework for heavy vehicles, and have advocated the introduction of trials of a new direct charging system for heavy vehicles on corridors where road and rail directly compete.

It is important to emphasise that the rail sector is not seeking any hand-outs, but rather that government set the policy framework for all transport modes to compete on a level playing field, Harding says.

Under-investing

Australia generally has a history of under-investing in rail infrastructure. Harding says that in the resource sector, the private sector has invested substantially in rail infrastructure that delivers broad economic benefits. You can see this with the iron-ore railways in the Pilbara, where I previously worked with Rio Tinto, while here in Queensland, Aurizon has invested more than $A 2bn ($US 1.5bn) in its coal network and train operations since privatisation, he says.

Trucks still carry the majority of long-distance freight along the heavily-congested eastern seaboard from Melbourne to Brisbane. This is a 1800km corridor that should, with the right alignment and track infrastructure, see rail capture a much larger market share.

This is one of the reasons that government and the private sector are supporting plans for the Inland Rail project from Brisbane to Melbourne. The key though is to incentivise more private sector investment in freight infrastructure. Our view is that we need to be targeted, strategic and play the long game in freight infrastructure investment to deliver productivity and economic benefit.

Harding says this should also include brownfield infrastructure where an existing asset can be leveraged to lift efficiency, remove bottlenecks or provide additional capacity.

A good example of this is our proposal to construct rail infrastructure for proposed mines in the Galilee coal basin in Queensland, Harding says. The Galilee contains vast reserves of thermal coal, well positioned to supply future energy demand from Asia and the Indian sub-continent.

The region is a significant distance from ports and not connected to existing rail infrastructure. Indian conglomerate Adani is proposing a 380km greenfield railway to service their mine which is under development. We have an alternative proposal that would be integrated with the Central Queensland Coal Network, already linked to five coal export terminals, he says. This solution would be significantly cheaper than the Adani proposal because it would require only 190km of new track.

Harding also has ideas on how to improve the Townsville - Mount Isa line, which is owned by the state of Queensland, so it can win back traffic lost to road freight transport. Some of Australias best mineral reserves, including copper, lead, zinc and silver, sit in remote parts of northwest Queensland, he says. These mineral reserves and associated industries are serviced by a 1000km railway to the port of Townsville.

On this corridor, where bulk rail should be very competitive, road is typically paying an estimated one-third or less of the access charges that trains are paying for infrastructure. We believe this has been a major contributor to more than 500,000 tonnes of freight on this corridor transferring to road since 2016.

Carefully targeted investments to upgrade the existing Mount Isa line to enable improvements in the operational performance of rail freight operations, combined with policy actions that address the imbalance in access pricing, would offer substantial productivity benefits to the region.

In August 2017, Aurizon announced that it would exit its inter-state intermodal business and at the same time sell its 1067mm-gauge Queensland intermodal operations to freight forwarder Linfox and rail operator Pacific National. While completion of the sale is expected in early 2018, Aurizons last inter-capital intermodal services ran in December.

Harding says that exiting the intermodal business was not a decision that was taken lightly, but over the past decade the company experienced continuing and significant financial losses in this segment of its business. The reality is that in a market already serviced by a number of well-established transport providers, we have been unsuccessful in establishing the scale and customer base needed to make it profitable, he explains.

The intermodal market has not grown and increasingly favours short-haul trucking as the national economy transitions from local manufacturing to importing. In our review, we assessed the options very carefully, but could not find a pathway to profitability.

These decisions are tough for affected employees and local leadership who have worked very hard to create a viable business. We will now focus on opportunities and market segments that best fit with our core strengths and capabilities.
ONE of the defining rail freight trends of recent years has been the spectacular rise in the volume of intermodal traffic between China and Europe. In November, China Railway Corporation (CRC) reported that more than 3000 container trains had run between the two continents since the start of 2017, exceeding the total for the previous six years combined, with services connecting 35 cities in China with 34 destinations in Europe. In Russia, TransContainer reported a 19% increase in the number of containers crossing the country by rail in the first 11 months of the year.

For Far East Land Bridge (Felb), the growth of the market last year exceeded all expectations. 2017 has been a crazy year, CEO Mr Wilhelm Patzner told IRJ at the companys offices in Vienna in November. We doubled our volume compared with 2016, and were up to about 70,000 TEU, which was incredible. We certainly didnt expect to see that dynamic.

Felb aims to compete directly with both sea and air freight, offering door-to-door rail-based services, including the provision of containers, in both directions between South Korea, China and Europe. The company operated its first pilot service in 2007 and has since acquired more than 7000 containers while increasing the frequency of its services from one to six trains per week. Two Block Train Centres (BTCs) have been established in Asia and Europe to consolidate consignments from multiple points of origin into long trains for the journey across Russia.

Transit times fell from 25-28 days in 2009, when Felb launched its first regular services, to less than 17 days in 2016. The continuous reduction in transit times was broken last year when engineering works on the Polish side of the Malaszewicze (Poland) - Brest (Belarus) border crossing generated operational challenges for Asia - Europe rail freight operators at a time when they were grappling with a sharp upturn in traffic.

For us transit time is the key selling point, Patzner says. We promise our clients door-to-door transit times of 14-17 days, and the average in 2017 was 21 days. These problems arose from three major issues - the construction works in Poland, the enormous growth in the market for all participants, and also because of our operational concept. Our strength is that we have a big network in Europe and a big network in China, consolidate our volumes on the borders, and run long, heavy trains across Russia for a good transit time. It was always our advantage to be able to cover the whole of China and Europe with our solutions.

Felb adapted its operating concept with only one consignee per train to reduce shunting and minimise the disruption to its customers while the works were being carried out. Fortunately we are back to normal transit times now, but a lot of customers are very dissatisfied with the performance - and I understand why, Patzner says.

Around 90% of the containers handled by Felb travel via the Trans-Siberian Railway, with the remainder transiting through Kazakhstan, but last year the company ran its first train via Mongolia, and Patzner can see the potential for development on this route. By going this way you can reach new regions of China and it takes the pressure off the Manzhouli [China] - Zabaykalsk [Russia] border crossing, where there are issues with congestion, he says.

Patzner is extremely satisfied with the reduction in transit times that have been achieved in recent years, particularly in Russia. Of the 11,000km haul, 9000km is in Russian territory and trains often cover more than 1000km a day on this section of the route. In Europe however the situation is more challenging, particularly around infrastructure performance. The Russians are very efficient and they are working on being more efficient, he says. I believe they could reduce transit time even more - perhaps by a day or so - but Europe is the biggest challenge. Despite the recent upgrade there wont be any more big capacity jumps at Malaszewicze - Brest, so the challenge is to find new border crossings. I would be happy if we get back to the transit time we had in 2016, so we can offer reliable door-to-door solutions between 14 and 17 days. If we get back to that standard we dont need a further reduction in transit time - we need solid performance, quality, predictability. Thats more important than whether it takes 14 days or 13 days.

With the break-of-gauge at both the European and Asian ends of the Russian leg of the journey, efficient transhipment of containers between 1435mm-gauge and 1520mm-gauge wagons is crucial to maintain fluid operations. However, with traffic growing rapidly, these terminals are becoming bottlenecks. If theres an obstacle to further growth its transloading and the congestion it creates at borders, Patzner explains. If we want to see growth in the future we need either new border crossings or more capacity the existing crossing points. But investing in capacity isnt something you can achieve in a matter of weeks. The Russians and the Chinese have recognised that this is a problem, the Europeans less so. The good thing in Europe is that you have more options for border crossings.

Imbalance

Another issue for all actors in the Asia - Europe rail freight market is the huge disparity between eastbound and westbound volumes. This has resulted in an equipment imbalance which is growing more acute as the volume of westbound traffic continues to rise steadily. The challenge for the whole market is that we have two-thirds westbound, one-third eastbound, Patzner says. The key for further growth is finding European goods that you can put on the train to help equalise westbound and eastbound traffic. Empty containers have also become scarce in Asia - two years ago we paid around $US 300-400 for a container one-way to Europe. Now the market rate is $US 1200.

The price for an eastbound container is currently only around half the westbound rate. Its a pricing issue on one hand, but its also a question of new technology, Patzner explains. Were working on refrigerated solutions, and there are some products from Europe which are in demand in China, but you need reefer supply. There is potential in markets such as foodstuffs, but there is the question of who will invest in the containers.

Patzner also sees air freight as a potential target for growing rails business between Europe and Asia. If our transit time comes down to 12 days we start to be attractive to air freight customers because with customs, loading and unloading, we are not so far from air freight transit times, he says. Our price is 25% of air freight so if the transit time disadvantage decreases, theres potential for rail to break into the air freight segment for eastbound traffic.

The rapid growth in the market during 2017 was driven to a certain extent by Chinese provincial governments offering subsidies for the movement of containers by rail to Europe. The price of these incentives ranges from $US 1000 to $US 5000 per 40 foot container. Patzner believes that significant reductions in these subsidies will come in 2018, or at the latest in 2019. Chinese subsidies have pushed the market, but its only a temporary push, he says. We dont believe that this policy of subsidising containers to Europe will go on for more than 3-5 years. We think subsidy policy will be centralised and prices will be reduced. At the end of the day thats good for us because most of our products are not based on subsidies, while many of our competitors products are.

Looking beyond China, Patzner sees opportunities for growth through the expansion of the Felb network to other countries. We see a lot of demand from Vietnam to Europe, where transit time could matter, he says. South Korea is already a big market for us because of the electronics industry, and India is also a potential new market for us. We see potential for importing goods from these countries to the Moscow region. Sooner or later, I see potential for Chinese investments in Africa, perhaps via Italian ports to northern Africa.

After the surge in volumes in 2017, Patzner predicts a less frantic year ahead, although the story remains one of growth and Felb is still aiming to move 100,000 TEU in 2020. Rumours in the Russian press at the end of 2017 indicate that the government may be about to sanction the sale of part or all of RZDs controlling stake in TransContainer, with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and UCL Holding, Russia, reportedly expressing an interest. TransContainer accounts for around half of container movements in Russia, and any change in ownership in such a dominant player is likely to have repercussions for the Asia - Europe rail freight market.

I dont expect growth to continue like it has, Patzner concludes. As a company ruled by economy, if we can keep profitability and price at the current level, Im more than happy because competition is increasing and thats putting pressure on prices. But a lot depends on Chinese policy - if they want to push Asia - Europe freight, the prospects are going to be good.
The order for 35 trams is worth Zlotys 315m ($US 92.34m), which includes a subsidy of Zlotys 125m under the European Unions (EU) Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment for 2014-2020.

Delivery of the first new trams will take place at the beginning of 2020, with completion expected by the end of the third quarter of that year.

The 33.4m-long three-part low-floor vehicles offer 80 seats and room for 147 standing passengers and one wheelchair. The vehicles will feature air-conditioning, CCTV, LED lighting and a modern passenger information system comprising a voice announcement system and screens displaying the route. Each tram will also be fitted with a special platform to enable ease of access for disabled passengers, while the new trams 1.4m-wide doors will be wider than the current fleet. Passengers will also benefit from USB ports situated on railings for charging mobile devices while ticketing vending machines will be installed onboard the LRVs.

Passenger comfort is aided by the use of a specially-designed bogie frame on each of the vehicles four bogies, which will reduce wear on both the wheels and the track and serve to limit vibrations. Each vehicle will also be fitted with energy absorbers to minimise the effects of collisions with other vehicles.

MPK Krakow confirmed the order with Stadler and Solaris in November. Initially the operator had selected Pesa, which was the lowest-priced bidder for the contract. However, the operator said that Pesa had failed to deliver a Zlotys 29.9m guarantee despite reportedly entering into a credit agreement that could raise up to Zlotys 100m for execution of the order. MPK Krakow had earlier tried to exclude Pesa from bidding for the contract due to the late delivery of a previous order for Krakowiak LRVs, a decision that was overturned by Polands National Court of appeal.

The signed agreement for the delivery of 35 trams marks the start of MPK ninth EU-funded Project, says Mr Rafa Swierczynski, MPK CEO. The value of all EU projects implemented by the Krakow operator already exceeds Zlotys 1.6bn, with EU funding for these projects amounting to nearly Zlotys 1bn.
According to a post on the embassys Facebook page, the ambassador stressed the importance of concluding an agreement between GE and UZ to localise the assembly of Evolution Series locomotives in Ukraine and support the modernisation of existing motive power.

The embassy said the delivery of 30 new GE locomotives will be the first step for a further partnership between Ukraine and General Electric, including cooperation in the energy sphere, infrastructure and healthcare.

In September 2016 a GE T33A locomotive underwent trials on UZs Odessa division.
The contract was signed in Warsaw on January 17 by Stadlers sales director, Mr Peter Jenelten, and owner and chairman, Mr Peter Spuhler, who described the order as the breakthrough in Poland after the company established a plant and founded a subsidiary in the country more than a decade ago.

The plant at Siedlce has produced trains for regional operations in Koleje Mazowieckie, Koleje Slaskie and odzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna, and for state operator PKP Intercity as well as export orders, and is staffed by 700 people.

The 160km/h vehicles will be equipped with ETCS Level 2 and will operate on lines in Mazowiekie. The Flirts will feature air conditioning, optical and acoustic passenger information and WLAN. In addition, defibrillators will be available along with an intercom system to contact the driver in an emergency.
Moscow courts presidium rules to reconsider case of Russian nationalist Potkin

MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI)  The Presidium of the Moscow City Court has ruled to reconsider a criminal case against Russian nationalist Alexander Potkin, who has previously been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for embezzlement and organization of an extremist movement, the courts press-service told RAPSI on Wednesday.

In August 2016, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow sentenced Potkin to 7.5 years in prison and fined him 600,000 rubles (about $10,500 at the current exchange rate). Moreover, the court granted a 4.9 billion-ruble lawsuit ($85.3 million) filed by the injured party against Potkin. In April 2017, the Moscow City Court reduced his prison term to 3.5 years, cancelled part of the sentence related to embezzlement charges and returned that part of the criminal case to prosecutors.The Presidium upheld the April decision of the Moscow City Court and also ruled to reconsider parts of the sentence related to other charges.

According to the original indictment, Mukhtar Ablyazov, former chairman of the Kazakh BTA Bank, who allegedly wanted to destabilize the constitutional order in Kazakhstan, asked Potkin to help him with organizing an extremist group. Potkin allegedly agreed and used funds embezzled from BTA Bank to spread the nationalist ideology in Kazakhstan. Potkin has pleaded not guilty.

Potkin (also known as Belov) was arrested on October 15, 2014 at the Hotel Intourist Kolomenskoe in Moscow on charges related to the embezzlement of $5 billion from BTA Bank. At the time of the arrest, Potkin allegedly had documents on him that effectively tied him to the embezzlement.In December 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded 2,500 in compensation to Potkin for withdrawal of his complaint over long stay in detention from the court.
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Russias lawmakers support bill on fighting remote banking fraud

MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI)  Russias State Duma has passed a governmental bill aimed to counter theft of money from bank accounts via telebanking in the first reading.

The document sets forth the procedure banks should follow when detecting signs of money being transferred without customers consent. In such cases, to prevent unauthorized transmissions, banks or other money transfer operators should be obliged to suspend suspicious transmissions for a term not exceeding two working days, as well as to block respective electronic payment facilities for the same time period. The signs of unauthorized transfers should be defined by Russias Central Bank.

At the same time, banks are to be granted an option to carry out the actions enumerated above when discovering additional signs of money transfers being made without customers consent, the said signs to be independently defined by banks in line with the guidelines provided by the Central Bank.

In the case a money transfer is suspended, and payment facility is blocked, the bank involved should immediately get in contact with the affected customer asking for the confirmation of the transfer and, if given, to immediately carry out the transmission. When failing to obtain such a confirmation, the bank should perform the operation after two working days.

According to the bill, the Central Bank should be empowered to create and run a database of cases, where unauthorized money transmissions were detected.

The bill, according to the State Duma Committee on financial markets, is aimed to prevent unauthorized withdrawal of money from bank accounts and to protect both individuals and legal entities.
Russian priest Grozovsky sentenced to 14 years for pedophilia

ST. PETERSBURG, January 17 (RAPSI)  The Priozersky City Court of the Leningrad Region has sentenced priest Gleb Grozovsky to 14 years in a high security penal colony, finding him guilty of sexual abuse against underage pupils of recreation camps, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The trial lasted over seven months and was held behind closed doors, yet the press was allowed to stay during the sentencing. Grozovsky was found guilty on all charges. In addition to the prison term, he has to pay each victim 400,000 rubles (about $7,000) as compensation of moral damages.

On Monday, a prosecutor demanded a 15-year prison sentence for Grozovsky. Moreover, the prosecutor asked a court to prohibit the defendant from practicing his profession for 2 years.According to investigators, Grozovsky committed several sexual crimes against minors in 2011 and 2013.In April 2014, he was put on the international wanted list.

Israeli police arrested the priest in September. In January 2015, a court in Jerusalem ruled that the priest should be extradited to Russia pursuant to the European Convention on Extradition. The ruling was appealed but rejected.

In April 2016, the Justice Minister signed an order on Grozovskys extradition.

In September 2016, the priest was extradited from Israel to Russia. Defense lawyers claim that charges against Grozovsky are politically motivated.
Two teens charged with attempted murder after stabbing rampage in school

MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI)  Two teenagers have been charged with attempted murder of more than two people after a stabbing rampage in a school in the city of Perm, the Investigative Committees press service reports.

On Monday, the Motovilikhinsky District Court of Perm ordered detention of the defendants, who are currently undergoing treatment in a hospital, the courts spokesperson Yulia Makarova told RAPSI. The teenagers will be put in jail after their discharge from the hospital.

On January 15, a student in the 10th grade and a former pupil of the school intentionally caused multiple stab wounds to nine 4th graders and their teacher. The victims were hospitalized. The accused boys also injured themselves and were put in a hospital as well.

According to Anna Kuznetsova, Russia's children's rights commissioner, one of the defendants was registered with a juvenile affairs commission in 2012 because of addiction to aggression.
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Ask someone what the best zero is, and youll get a response based on personal preference, prior training, and maybe individual needs. If youre in the military or a law enforcement agency, the distance you zero may well be dictated by an official government publication or crusty old training officer. Most of us arent so limited by these restrictions, so why do we revert back to standards that dont apply?

The U.S. Military has hundreds of thousands of both rifles and people, usually all using similarly specd ammunition. They can get away with generalized zeros. And its beneficial for them to keep firearms training standardized. But if you dont have to be basic, you shouldnt be.

In the simplest terms, a zero is the adjusting of the sights/optic so your point of aim matches your point of impact at a specific distance. This convergence is the intersection between your line of sight and bullet trajectory. Bullets arent laser beams like in the movies, and are subject to gravity. If your bore and sight lines were both perfectly parallel, their paths would never cross, and thus no zero could be obtained.

Many prevailing zeros have two convergence points that intersect the line of sight, giving you both a near zero and a far zero. Commonly, these are written as 50/200 or 25/300, though they virtually never actually print on targets exactly in that manner in the real world. This type of zero is a shortcut solution that doesnt maximize your rifles capabilities.

For most types of shooting, we should strive to have the longest Maximum Point Blank Range (MPBR) possible. In popular culture point blank means a shot from an especially close distance; throw maximum into the term and it means the farthest you can shoot and hit your target without having to adjust your sights or hold. You can successfully think of your MPBR as a ballistic tube of Point-Click-Kill.

THE STARTING POINT

Your zeroing distance should be task-oriented. To determine the best zero, answer the following questions:

What is your intended target?

How far do you plan to shoot?

What optic, if any, is on your rifle?

In addition to several variables that go into rifle shooting, your answers to those questions can affect what zero you should actually be using.

The size of the intended target and your anticipated range of engagement determine your required precision standard. If you want to shoot the literal broadside of a barn at 10 feet  your zero doesnt matter at all. If you want the ability to make a head shot at 425 yards or snag a successful hit on a partially obscured target closer in, having a solid zero and knowing your dope matters. So. Much. More. It shouldnt come as a shock to anyone that most things dont just stand there and let you shoot at them.

The larger the intended target, the more leeway you have in your MPBR. If youre a soldier on the streets of Afghanistan, a required 400-yard hit is infinitely more likely than if youre a cop on the beat. If youre a hunter, your MPBR has to measure within the kill zone of the animal. Ultimately, what youre trying to figure out is how far you can shoot your rifle and make a hit while still maintaining the same point of aim.

You can get the most out of your weapon setup by running a zero that makes sense for your optic. A red-dot sight with no magnification has several benefits, but drawbacks occur when shooting at further distances. Depending on what zero you use with a red-dot, you could be holding a lot of space between the dot and the top of your target. Red-dot optics arent used for precision long-range shooting, so running an MPBR zero is beneficial.



[Same caliberdifferent rifles, roles, optics, and zeros]

For precision shooting, a 100-yard zero is hard to beat. Having the rifle zeroed at 100 and dialing or using the MOA or MRAD holdovers is precise and predictable. With a 100-yard zero, there isnt another point of convergence. This is beneficial for long-range shooting because the shooter doesnt have to problem solve whether or not to hold under or over. The correction for every shot is going to require the shooter to either dial up or hold over.

These days, most scopes have more than enough of elevation adjustment. But you may run into a few scopes that either dont have elevation turrets intended to be adjusted on the fly, or they may not have enough clicks, or you may not have enough time to dial. Once again, an MPBR zero is ideal. Maximum MPBR gets the most out of your rifle from your position to the target and onward.

Once you surpass the reach of your MPBR, its imperative to know your data at every distance. With a red-dot, this means knowing your holdover, and with a magnified optic, either the same or how much to dial.

The capabilities of your rifle setup are as unique as a fingerprint. No two rifles are exactly the same, and they never will be thanks to small variances during the build process, and the fact that every bullet that goes down the barrel permanently changes the rifle. This is why slapping a 50/200-yard zero on it isnt good enough. So how do we figure it out?

BALLISTIC CALCULATORS  THE CRYSTAL BALL OF LONGRANGE MATH

Using a ballistic calculator to determine the best zero for your weapon system is like having answers to the test. Were big fans of ballistic engines; no longer do we have to rely on guesswork from trajectory charts online nor old military manuals. Instead, we can tailor a zero to what we want the rifle to do.



[Everything you need to zeroand a bunch of shit you don't]

Thirty years ago the idea of using a ballistic calculator to determine your best zero was probably a nonstarter for most; it involved a lot of books, specialized equipment, and maybe a protractor or graphing calculator. Ballistics was a mystery, relegated to the most nerdy of long-range shooters. This is no longer the case, and if you have an Internet connection you have free access to some of the best ballistic calculators in the world. Right in your pocket at this moment is likely a computer more powerful than any used by the highest-end university a decade ago. By all means look at cute cat photos and porn with it, but utilize that processor for some calculations too.

If you open up a ballistic calculator, youll find several important variables at play  and they all affect where your projectile ends up downrange. Since any minor element or deviation exponentially expands with range, the farther you shoot and the tighter the precision standard, the more each of these components matter.

Stuck at a range that only allows you to shoot 25 yards? Use a calculator to show your offset. At a long range and unsure of your hold? Use a calculator to give it to you. Ballistic calculators arent just for simple holdovers either; with most of them you can save individual data from a given gun and ammunition combination for easy access later. Some apps like Strelok Pro have options where you can display the same reticle in your scope on the screen, and literally show you where to hold to make your hit. Many range finders and weather meters will interface with your standalone or in-phone ballistic app to provide you with the best and most up-to-date information.

You cant rely on the listed velocity on the side of the ammo box if you want your calculations to be anywhere close to reality. Invariably those readings were taken at ideal scenarios  perfect weather, longer barrels, etc. The velocity of a given load is incredibly subject to nuances of your individual rifle. Not only is barrel length a component, but also the cut of the chamber, and even minute differences in barrels on otherwise identical guns. The best way to determine the actual muzzle velocity is to use a good chronograph such as a Magneto Speed or LabRadar. If you dont have a chronograph or a friend with one, the next best thing would be to find someone who has independently tested the rounds in a similar setup to what youre using. Imperfect for sure, but better than going by the box.

FINDING YOUR MPBR

If you want to be able to hold center of your target and hit, use technology to figure out what your zero should be. Heres an example we worked up:

We used the Shooter phone app by Kennedy Development Group LLC. We input all the data for our rifle, ammo, and scope combination. We determined the size of the target we planned to shoot (10 inches). From there, nothing changed except the zeroing distance until finding the MPBR.

Since our intended target is 10 inches round, if we held dead center, we would have a 5-inch radius all the way around our circular target. To relate this to the drop of the bullet, we can only have plus or minus 5 inches of drop in our data if we want to make a hit without adjustment.

We tried the standard 100-, 200-, and 300-yard zeros. The data showed our bullets path would stay within our target size:

Just over 225 yards with a 100- yard zero

Out to 274 yards with a 200-yard zero

At a mere 126 yards with a 300-yard zero the trajectory is out of our allowed radius

After running the data for the standard zeroing distances, we adjusted the zero distance until the highest point of the bullets path was at 5 inches. Doing this allowed us to use the projectiles trajectory to its maximum capability, as related to the size of our intended target. With the very specific 292-yard zero for this rifle/ammo combo, our MPBR is around 340 yards. We should be able to hold center on a 10-inch target, out to 340 yards  and hit.



[This example was gathered with a 6.5 Creedmoor using one specific ammunition. Your rifle/ammo combination will be different, so treat it as such.]

YOUR ZERO IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING

Were not even talking about dropping your rifle. If you zero at sea level in the North Carolina summer, and head over to the peaks of Colorado in the winter, your zero will change. Atmospheric pressure, temperature, elevation, and more will change your point of impact.

Theres an EOTech joke in here, and well address it because we know youre thinking it: It doesnt matter what optic you use, if you have a large temperature change your zero absolutely will shift. Know how to zero your rifle and check your zero before taking any important shots.

THAT BDC DOESNT MEAN WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

Just as with a generalized zero, the military can get away with a Bullet Drop Compensator (BDC). A BDC has lines in the reticle itself for elevation holds at given distances for a particular caliber. Except its not. Not unless youre using an identical ammo/rifle combination and are in the same exact environmental conditions the BDC was designed for and tested in.

You can find a good example of a BDC in this very issue  head on over to check out the U.S. Optics SR-85 with Plumb Reticle. Also note that its setup for (1) caliber, in (1) given barrel twist with (1) kind of ammunition. A designated marksman in the military can get away with that  you can and should do better.

Several optics manufactures have been marketing BDC reticles to the general public as a solution to engage targets quicker without having to remember your Mil or MOA holds. There are also caliber-dedicated scope turrets to ease the thought process of longrange shooting. But, just as we already mentioned, your zero changes with your environment  and your gun and ammunition combination isnt the same as the manufacturer.

Dont rely on these shortcuts when your shots matter.

If youre going to an area with a different density altitude, first confirm your zero and then either use a ballistic engine that will update the environmental conditions or true your rifle data for every distance you plan to shoot.

But all isnt lost, once you accept that the stadia lines of the BDC are just lines, you can use them as points of reference. For example, if your hold for 400 yards isnt exactly center, but instead the bottom of a 10-inch plate, you know thats your hold.

If your accuracy standard is no greater than minute-of-deer at 80 yards, that random BDC made for a 7.62N on your .30-30 will probably work.

LOOSE ROUNDS

It should be said that regardless of what ballistic engine you use, youre going to want to confirm those holds are correct by actually shooting rounds down range. Nothing will give you more confidence in your data than making a successful hit.

Initially we thought we would name this piece Rethinking the Zero, but it wasnt accurate  in reality were asking you to actually think about how and why you zero in the first place. With numerous ballistic engines and boatloads of data at your fingertips, theres little excuse not to spend a modicum of time and consideration on your zero.

If youre the type that thinks a rough zero is good enough and turning dollars into noise is all you want  you do you. But if you want to maximize the capabilities of your unique rifle, optic, and ammunition setup use the tools at your disposal.
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India borrows ideas that we dont need, like the FRDI Bill, and ignores the ones we need, like rewarding whistle-blowers such as the ones who want to save Bombay Mercantile Bank, says Debashis Basu.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The biggest farce in the real life application of the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill is: It would not apply to the only segment that needs resolution and deposit insurance -- the cooperative banks.

These banks, barring a few exceptions, are controlled by politicians, and forced to lend money to fraudulent projects and go belly up at the rate of one a month.

But no regulatory official has lost his job and no politician has gone to jail.

Did we need a Financial Regulation and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, which pretends to ignore this reality?

Rather, we need to regulate cooperative banks like other scheduled banks.

But this is typical of Bills, like the FRDI Bill, which are drafted in India and how politicians implement them.

It is bad enough that most cooperative banks are run by shady politicians and go bust.

But what would you say about a case where investors, employees, and shareholders of a bank are blowing the whistle on malpractices for decades, braving victimisation and threats, but nobody would listen?

That is the story of Bombay Mercantile Bank (BMCB), one of the oldest, multi-state minority cooperative banks, which has been robbed and mismanaged at least since the mid-'90s.

Only the efforts of a few whistleblowing former employees have kept the bank from going bankrupt.

Here is a small sample of the many charges the whistleblowers have slapped, backed by documents:

A Rs 540-million bank guarantee given against six allegedly fake FD receipts of Rs 90 million each;

Loans sanctioned to those close to the directors have gone bad;

Evergreening of bad loans by sanctioning fresh loans without security or fake documents;

Sanction of loans by the managing director, without the boards permission, far in excess of his power;

Investment of Employees Provident Fund money in unlisted companies, violating PF norms;

Illegal transfer of tenancy rights of the bank properties;

No provision for gratuity and leave fare concessions in the balance sheet in some years, in order to show cash profits;

Bogus loans sanctioned against fake documents. These loans were then transferred to nationalised banks and later classified as non-performing.

The RBI and Registrar of Cooperative Society are fully aware of what is going on.

More than a decade ago, with the RBIs intervention, a former secretary to the Government of India was appointed chairman, but mismanagement continued.

Under the RBIs instructions, R M Khan, a retired district judge, investigated various charges and presented a report to the board.

The report confirmed mismanagement. In January 2016, the RBI put in place a new management, which was determined to clean up things.

But in a board meeting held on May 16, 2016, a new chairman and managing director were appointed -- the same directors who had been disqualified by the RBI and Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).

Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank have filed criminal complaints against the two and another director of the bank, for criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct.

Although the RBI has imposed stringent conditions on the banks operations in November 2015 and stopped it from sanctioning fresh loans, whistleblowers allege that the management is alienating assets and weakening the bank.

In June last year, after a lot of goading and pushing, the RBI wrote to the CRCS, confirming that many of the dubious transactions were true, the continued functioning of the chairman was detrimental to the bank, and the CRCS should take action.

However, when CRCS joint secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani issued a show-cause notice to the chairman and the banks managing director, it was too insipid to be of any impact.

BMCB continues to function the same way.

Since both the RBI and Registrar of Cooperative Societies are dragging their feet, the frustrated whistleblowers filed a PIL (public interest litigation) petition in the Bombay high court.

Among their allegations, bad loans worth Rs 2 billion have been sold off to an asset reconstruction company to wipe out a series of crooked transactions; and there have been violation of rules and regulation in the appointment of the bank's managing director.

The petitioner got threats from a dreaded gangster, asking him to stay off the bank.

In October last year, the court issued a notice to the RBI and CRCS, seeking their response.

The CRCS washed its hands off, saying that it was up to the banks board to act.

So, who would be held responsible for BMCBs continued mismanagement if the CRCS has no powers? Only the RBI.

But if the FRDI Bill is passed, how will a case like this be handled? By asking innocent creditors to bail in!

After the financial crisis of 2008, along with new laws like the FRDI, Western governments have made whistleblowers an important source of information, rewarding them with 10 per cent of fines and penalties.

It is commonsensical to prevent an impending crisis rather than have a law for resolution, after the event.

But India borrows ideas that we dont need, like the FRDI, and ignores the ones we need, like rewarding whistleblowers such as the ones who want to save BMCB. What a shame!

Debashis Basu is the editor of www.moneylife.in.
India and Singapore had in 2013 amended the DTAA to help exchange banking and tax-related information more effectively.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Those hiding unaccounted income in banks in Singapore will come under the scanner of the Indian authorities, with New Delhi soon getting information of all accounts opened in the country by Indians since 2008.

The Singapore revenue authority has asked all banks to share details of Indian account holders to pass them on to New Delhi under a double taxation-avoidance agreement (DTAA).

As part of the information-exchange drive to curb back money stashed overseas, many Indians with bank accounts in Singapore have received letters about this.

This is just the beginning. We will have an entire database of information of all current and past account holders in Singapore, and track the trail of money and its movement. Information from other countries is also being shared with us, said a senior government official.

Information shared by Singapore with the Indian authorities is not only about account holders, but also beneficiaries.

We are asking for information about specific assessees, based on information we received from our sources.

"A lot of information exchange is happening. We are also providing information to our treaty partner countries, said a senior tax official.

Information about closed accounts will also be made available to the Indian government.

Even if you have closed the account in Singapore and transferred the money to a tax haven, we will get the information under the exchange drive, the official added.

India and Singapore had in 2013 amended the DTAA to help exchange banking and tax-related information more effectively.

Information-exchange pacts with other countries will make it more difficult to stash black money in overseas accounts.

India is already receiving information from the US under the Indo-US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which came into effect in 2016.

It aims to ensure that tax is paid on income generated from wealth abroad.

Switzerland has started collecting information of Indian accounts and will start sharing it with the Indian authorities from next year.

Although it will provide information prospectively from the time of coming into effect, it may help the tax department detect audit trail for an entitys past transactions.

A joint declaration for the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information between India and Switzerland was signed in November 2017; under it, both would start collecting data in accordance with the global standards in 2018 and exchange it from 2019 onwards.

It is the new order of the day. Information is being exchanged across the globe now, said Rahul Garg, partner, PwC India.
Is he the coolest world leader we have?

Justin Trudeau helps prepare the Pongal meal.

He has earlier helped prepare chapatis for a langar in a gurdwara.

Photograph: @JustinTrudeau/Twitter.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Indian wear is not an uncommon sight.

He has worn kurtas to a gurdwara, to Diwali celebrations, to India Day parades and even done the bhangra wearing one.

But he did even better at the Pongal celebrations in Toronto this year when he attended the event in the traditional south Indian veshti.

Tweeting photographs from the event, he wrote, 'Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal! Had a great time celebrating Tamil Heritage Month and Thai Pongal in Scarborough this evening.'

The Canadian Parliament decided to celebrate January as Tamil Heritage Month in 2016.

Trudeau had earlier issued a statement on Thai Pongal, saying, 'Today, Tamils in Canada and around the world mark Thai Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival...

'In January, we also mark Tamil Heritage Month, and reflect on the important contributions of Canada's Tamil community. Tamil Canadians help make Canada stronger, more open, and more inclusive.

'As we move forward together in 2018, let's continue to honour those values, and work to make Canada an even better, more inclusive place to live.

'On behalf of the Government of Canada, Sophie and I wish everyone celebrating a very happy Thai Pongal.'

Canada has a significant Tamil population.
'If ever there was a decisive moment in the history of the Supreme Court where it has been under attack by the Executive, and the judges have boldly stood up for independence of the Judiciary, that time was now.'

'These four judges did a brilliant thing, they set an example.'

'They showed that they were fulfilling their duty to the Constitution and to God.'

'Don't allow fear to dictate your actions was their message.'



IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and then Chief Justice of India Justice J S Khehar inaugurate the sesquicentennial celebrations marking 150 years of the Allahabad high court in Allahabad, April 2, 2017. Also seen are Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. Photograph: @PMOIndia/Twitter

Supreme Court advocate Colin Gonsalves came out in support of the four Supreme Court judges the day they addressed a press conference on January 12.

Jyoti Punwani spoke to Gonsalves on whether he continues to support the judges after their action drew criticism from some legal luminaries.

Do you still support the four judges speaking out?

My immediate reaction then and today is the same: I applaud without any reservations their action.

Why?

If ever there was a decisive moment in the history of the Supreme Court where it has been under attack by the Executive, and the judges have boldly stood up for independence of the Judiciary, that time was now.

There have been many comments about how the judges have undermined the institution of the Supreme Court, how this could have been sorted out internally, but I think these have missed the point.

Please explain.

You need to go back in time to understand the eruption that took place on January 12. This Executive has increased interference and attacks on the Judiciary 10 times more than what the Manmohan Singh government was doing.

Interference was there under the Congress too. But no government has seen the Judiciary as an enemy of its so-called development plans for the nation. This government does.

The Congress government also saw the Judiciary as an enemy, but that was because the Supreme Court was examining so many corruption cases against it, so the Congress went on the defensive.

This government is not on the defensive. It is very aggressively out to demolish the independence of the Judiciary.

On what basis are you saying this? The government's attempt to push through the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission)?

The signs of this aggression were noticed when certain judges complained in private that their phones were being monitored.

On the 50th anniversary of the Delhi high court (October 2016), Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the presence of the Chief Justice of India and senior judges, as well as the President and the PM, said 'the phones of judges were being tapped'.

The second sign of this aggression is that the Intelligence Bureau is being used to dig up as much dirt as it can to knock down liberal, progressive lawyers and judges with the idea that middle of the road judges or those with a saffron bent should be appointed.

Lively, socially conscious judges can be found unsuitable by the IB, which has its own creative interpretations.

On what basis do you say this?

Partly on the basis of lawyers' perceptions in the corridors of the Supreme Court.

In fact, news reports have appeared that say that the Collegium has been disinclined to go by IB reports of potential appointees. The time has come to X-ray these reports.

The Intelligence arm of the State should not be used to terrorise the Judiciary.

The NJAC judgment also talks about this government's attitude to the Supreme Court. A sentence in Justice Madan Lokur's decision said that the court was addressed in a very disrespectful manner by the government counsel. That was a telling observation.

In the '50s and '60s there was a certain decorum with which a law officer addressed the court. In the 17 years that I've practised in the Supreme Court, I've never seen judges being addressed in such a disrespectful manner as I saw during the NJAC arguments.

In fact, a lot has changed in the last 10 years. Post-Independence, Supreme Court judges would be loath to have a discussion with politicians on the subject matter of a case pending before the court. Ministers too would be very hesitant to influence judges.

But over the last 10 years, the perception of lawyers is that there is a lot of hobnobbing going on between presiding judges -- I'm not talking about the Supreme Court, but generally about the Judiciary -- and politicians.

I have a feeling that the present crisis is related to the central government trying to ensure that certain cases are handled in a particular manner.

The Justice B H Loya case alone, or also the Aadhar matter?

I don't want to mention specific cases.

But there is a concerted attempt by the central government to determine how a court handles politically sensitive cases, so that the high and mighty escape judicial scrutiny.

The persons who facilitate this connection between politicians and judges are law officers in different states, who know both parties.

You say the last 10 years. You mean this was there even before this government took over?

This was true of the Congress too. But it is more pronounced in the present day.

This is the most dangerous development, aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary. The present crisis has arisen because of that.

Yet, the government, which is the culprit in this, says this is an 'intra-judicial fight'. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Given this backdrop, what the four judges are saying is: There must be no Executive interference and no judge should encourage even the slightest interference.

Maybe lawyers got this message. But that's not how the lay person understood the press conference and the judges' letter.

All they understood was that senior judges were not being given politically sensitive cases.

Yes, the layperson was confused. Because talking about the Judiciary is difficult. One can't be frank. It's a situation where one has to speak in a particular manner to convey the truth to those who can understand it.

It's not an issue about junior and senior judges at all. Important cases may be assigned to junior judges.

However, if the Chief Justice is not assigning politically important cases to senior judges, if he is not following the established tradition, then there should be a transparent and fair reason for this.

In the absence of transparency, suspicion grows that politically sensitive matters are being managed.

There are 12 courts. Your Collegium judges must understand why certain cases are being assigned to Court XY. The lack of transparency is the issue.

What's the solution now? What if things just go on as before?

One never knows what the future holds.

We do know that a very bold and decisive first step has been taken to shatter the very evil intention by the Executive to undermine the Judiciary.

A brilliant example has been set for all judges to be fearless.

Whether a second or third step will follow, we don't know.

Many judges in high courts have developed a sort of fear of delivering judgments against the central government. They are very deeply apprehensive that they may be transferred or their chances of becoming chief justice or of going to the Supreme Court may be stopped.

This is a real fear which was not there under the Congress.

There's no doubt that this government doesn't want fearless and independent judges.

Which government does? Did the Congress want such judges?

The difference is that this government is perceived as very vindictive.

That is why these four judges did a brilliant thing, they set an example.

They showed that they were fulfilling their duty to the Constitution and to God. Don't allow fear to dictate your actions was their message.

But they let themselves open to so much criticism. Motives are being ascribed to them on social media.

How could they have avoided that? By keeping silent? Motives are always ascribed.

What motive could they have had?

Three of them are due for retirement. One is slated to be the next Chief Justice of India. If he had any motive, it should have been to keep quiet.

To do such an extraordinary thing must have taken sterling courage.

Will this make it easier for the government to push the NJAC?

This government is not going to back off.

But I don't think this press conference has undermined the Collegium.

Had they remained silent, it would have meant the Collegium has become a passive, insipid body which just goes along with whatever is happening.

Speaking out shows the vibrancy, strength and value of the five-judge Collegium.

In the absence of an alternative system, the Collegium system is alive and kicking.
'I am in mortal danger not personally, but politically,' Mani Shankar Aiyar tells Anjali Puri.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Mani Shankar Aiyar walks into the House of Ming at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi, not in his usual kurta pyjama but in Delhi Gymkhana Club chic -- moss green tweed jacket daringly mismatched with a purple striped tie and a mauve shirt, and a blue pocket square.

The veteran Congressman, who hit the headlines last month for all the wrong reasons, looks jaunty -- and there are flashes of repartee when, for example, he tells a waiter enquiring about food restrictions, "I have none except those imposed by (Narendra D) Modi."

Yet on this winter afternoon in the dying days of 2017, Aiyar is a more rattled man than the one I met in 2009.

Then, he had just lost his seat in Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, in the Lok Sabha elections, and had come across as a pretty good loser -- bruised, yes, but also frank, thoughtful, funny.

He went on to a six-year term in the Rajya Sabha, grew more passionate in his defence of Nehruvian values and more acerbic in his rubbishing of an ascendant Hindutva.

However, this ageing enfant terrible, sought out by the electronic media for his combativeness, also began to achieve a new notoriety with his carelessly worded insults being milked by the Bharatiya Janata Party for electoral advantage -- famously when he mocked Modi's self-projection as a 'chaiwala' and again, when he called him, last month, a 'neech kisam ka aadmi' (lowly person).

Modi repackaged the comment as a caste slur -- no matter that Aiyar denied repeatedly that it was one -- and exploited it to the hilt in the Gujarat elections.

With a skilful blending of truth and lies, Aiyar was turned into a demonic figure.

Yet, on his own side, he had few defenders. He was publicly rebuked by Rahul Gandhi, suspended by his party and criticised by his peers, with a newly minted Congressman, the Gujarat youth leader Alpesh Thakor, even calling him a 'BJP agent, pakki baat (sure thing).'

Our lunch gets off to an awkward start when Aiyar unexpectedly refuses to answer any questions about the fresh controversies involving him.

"Look, I realise now that this was meant to be a working lunch," he says. "But I have to think of my own interests, I am in mortal danger not personally, but politically. I can't speak of these matters."

Our encounter takes a wacky turn as he offers to leave -- even though we are now at a table by a window with waiters hovering around us.

When I tell him our lunch is still on, and ask a few innocuous questions, Aiyar, covering his chest with a table napkin, lapses into a long, colourful reverie on his childhood and Doon School years ("I was the poorest boy at the richest school"), his time at Delhi's St Stephen's College and Cambridge, and his entry into the Indian Foreign Service. (He made a mid-career switch to politics, to join Rajiv Gandhi.)

There is clearly a promising memoir here -- one is being written, in fact -- but only if Aiyar gets himself a ruthless editor.

His effortless recall of every minor twist in his story means that even after we've finished our soup -- vegetable broth with lemon grass for him, hot and sour for me -- and are almost done with our shredded lamb, prawns and hakka noodles, we are still stuck in 1963.

However, I am less mystified now about why Aiyar would dwell inappropriately on succession in Mughal times while talking about Rahul Gandhi becoming Congress president -- he just can't resist the temptation to lecture on history -- and why he snobbishly labelled fellow Congressman Ajay Maken, with whom he was miffed, as 'a BA pass from Hansraj College'.

Inter-college rivalries are for him a living thing. More than half a century later, he still takes delight in having made it to the "right" college instead of going to "the other side". Other side, I ask blankly, just to get him to spell it out. "You know, Hindu College," the 76 year old says with a grin.

When I ask if it's true that Rajiv Gandhi was not his friend at school or college, and they got to know each other later, Aiyar confirms this, and then describes his first encounter with Rajiv.

"A nervous young boy with puppy dog eyes came up to me, his senior, at school and asked, 'Yaar, can I have permission to swim?'" he recalls.

"I said yes, thank god. Imagine how different things would have been if I had said what seniors normally said, which is...". And he quickly bites off the expletive.

Recalling happier times seems to make Aiyar pensive about his current predicament.

While he won't talk about specifics, it's clear, from his ironic asides, that he is puzzled, troubled, even a little outraged, at having his language deemed offensive.

Every now and then he wonders aloud if he will be allowed to play a meaningful role in political life. I am not surprised to hear he has hopes of contesting the next Lok Sabha election.

Even at what he calls his "lowest ebb", it doesn't come naturally to Aiyar to sound abject. When I ask him if he thinks he will change, he mutters: "A tiger can't change his stripes."

For Rahul Gandhi, Aiyar has nothing but unstinting praise. He observes that Rahul's pride in his Hindu heritage is "exactly the same" as Nehru's, quoting chapter and verse from Discovery of India, as is his wont.

"Rahul Gandhi cannot be anything but a successor of Nehru," he declares.

When I mention his temple-hopping in Gujarat, and his failure to reach out to Muslims during that campaign, Aiyar says it doesn't matter.

"For tactical reasons you highlight something, dim the light on something else," he says. "Fundamentally, his philosophy is the same as Nehru's."

Given how much energy he expends on defending Rahul Gandhi, I am curious to know why some of his party colleagues would imply he wants to backstab him with intentional gaffes.

Aiyar's reply is mock-scholarly and acidic: "In all parties, and not just the Congress, those who rise are considered to have risen unjustly and when they decline, there is quiet satisfaction. The Germans call it schadenfreude."

The House of Ming, chosen by Aiyar, used to be a power lunch hub in the 1980s, and with its almost unchanged decor and attentive service, it still seems to cast a nostalgic spell over its former habitues.

While our food strikes me as uninspired and over-salted, Aiyar, with fond memories of being taken to lunch here, and entertaining journalists here when he was the external affairs ministry's spokesman says approvingly that the food "tastes just the same as before".

The restaurant is half-empty, but still seems to attract some of the political-bureaucratic crowd.

Former ambassador K C Singh, shown to the table next to us, opts to sit somewhere else to give Aiyar more "elbow room". (He possibly imagines I am getting a more exciting interview than I actually am.)

When we spot a one-time Congresswallah -- from the Rajiv Gandhi years, no less -- lunching near us, Aiyar says drily: "He was one of those who brought me here for lunch."

Shaking his head gravely, he wonders aloud how the man -- M J Akbar, minister for state for external affairs -- can live with himself after having joined the BJP.

However, he cheers up when I pick up my phone to take a picture of him, and allows me to quiz him on his outfit.

"The Congress has suspended me and I have suspended their uniform," he quips, then adds immediately, "That is off the record."

When I protest, he smilingly relents.
Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Title Comments by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on the Fourth Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Kosovo

Publication Date 21 December 2017

Country Serbia

Citation / Document Symbol GVT/COM/IV(2017)007

Cite as Council of Europe: Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Comments by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on the Fourth Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Kosovo, 21 December 2017, GVT/COM/IV(2017)007, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a5f18324.html [accessed 19 November 2022]
Contributed photo /

LITCHFIELD  A new exhibit, Form to Formless by Port Chester, N.Y. artist, Fernando Martinez will open in the Marie Louise Trichet Art Gallery at Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, Saturday, Jan. 20. The public is invited to an artists lecture by Martinez 3:30 p.m. A reception will follow. The exhibit runs through March 24.

Form to Formless is an eclectic mixture of furniture, paintings and plaster wall pieces. In the furniture work, the artist explores the influences of cultural traditions and socio-economic pressures. These pieces, endeavor to explore the influences of cultural traditions and socio-economic pressure. The paintings and plaster wall pieces render the many aspects of decay, from natural weathering to the gradual rubbing off of surfaces from constant use.
Wood burning season in Connecticut is underway and to protect air quality the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) wants to remind residents to burn only clean, dry, seasoned firewood that has been split and dried for at least 6 months, and avoid allowing fires to smolder.

Many Connecticut residents burn wood to heat their homes, but it also creates air pollution, said DEEP Commissioner Rob Klee, in a written statement. Burning wood efficiently saves money and will let you and your neighbors breathe a little easier. On windy days, wood smoke pollution from your wood burning device can also negatively impact your neighbors without your knowledge so please be a good neighbor and be Air Aware.

Wood burning in fireplaces and woodstoves is the largest source of particle pollution generated by residential sources during the winter. The cold and still winter weather conditions can cause wood smoke pollution to become trapped close to the ground and build up to unhealthy air quality levels, making it difficult for those with respiratory conditions to breathe.

Wood smoke affects everyone, but children, teenagers, older adults, people with lung disease, including asthma and COPD and/or people with heart diseases are the most vulnerable. The smoke from wood-burning stoves and fireplaces contain tiny particles that can linger in the air and are so small that the bodies natural defenses cannot filter them out. Breathing these small particles can cause asthma attacks and severe bronchitis, aggravate heart and lung disease, and may increase the likelihood of respiratory illnesses. Some studies also suggest that long-term exposure to particle pollution can be linked to cancer, and harmful developmental and reproductive effects such as infant mortality and low birth weights.

Residents should check that their wood stoves and fireplaces are EPA-certified and be aware that burning wet wood is an inefficient means of heating your home because most of the energy goes towards drying the wood, not heating your home. Quality, well-seasoned firewood will also help your wood stove or fireplace burn cleaner and more efficiently, while green or wet wood can cause smoking problems, odor problems, rapid creosote buildup and possibly even dangerous chimney fires. Burning hardwoods rather than softwoods is also recommended because hardwoods provide more heat energy and burn more slowly and evenly, which produces less smoke. Visit DEEPs Woodstove webpage to find additional tips for cleaner wood burning.

Adult education classes available

LITCHFIELD  Foothills Adult and Continuing Education, a program of EdAdvance in Litchfield, covering Litchfield County, offers classes in computers, arts & crafts, self-improvement, recreation, finance, cooking, world languages, excursions. Classes are held in several locations.

EdAdvance also offers opportunities for adults to earn their high school diploma. Register online www.edadvance.org, Adult Learners tab FOOTHILLS, or call 800-300-4781.

Submissions sought for library art show

FALLS VILLAGE  The David M. Hunt Library Art Wall in Falls Village, invites artists to participate in the spring 2018 exhibit, KITES: Flights of Fancy.

Inclusive of professional and talented non-professional artists, the exhibit will be entirely focused on kites, whether actual or conceptual, in any media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography or mixed media. This show focuses on the kite as an artistic vehicle and encourages us to expand our thinking and reconsider the humble kite as an artistic expression...they don't have to be "flyable".

The intent to participate is due Feb. 2. For more information, contact garthpkobal@gmail.com or call 860-824-7572.

High-res jpg images including draft drawings, if available, are requested by Friday, February 23. Work needs to be delivered by Friday, April 6. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, April 21 from 4 to 6 p.m.

Salisbury Forum to feature documentary

MILLERTON, N.Y.  The Salisbury Forum will present the documentary, A Plastic Ocean, which explores the issue of how plastics in our oceans effect the marine ecosystems and human health. The movie will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 11:30 am at The Moviehouse on Main Street in Millerton, NY. Admission is free.

In the center of the Pacific Ocean gyre, a large system of circular ocean currents, researchers found more plastic than plankton. Instead of an anticipated solid mass that could be contained, the expedition discovered free-floating microplastics which enter the food chain where they attract toxins like a magnet. These toxins are stored in seafoods fatty tissues and eventually consumed by us.

Producer Jo Ruxton joined an expedition to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1500 miles off the coast of San Francisco, and learned she had to develop a film about the problem. She brought on Craig Leeson, a director and journalist, and Dr. Lindsay Porter, an expert on whales and dolphins. Come and learn how a four-year global odyssey discovered the negative effects on human health from the plastic pollution in our oceans.

Students can apply for scholarships

The Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation is awarding scholarships for the 2018-2019 academic year. Scholarship applications are now available for the more than $150,000 available to area students. Scholarship guidelines, requirements and applications are available on the Community Foundation website.

Scholarship applications for the 2018-19 academic year must be submitted by April 1, 2018. The Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation serves Litchfield County with a collection of more than 270 funds from local donors. These funds support nonprofit organizations and provide scholarships to area students throughout the Northwest Corner.

Most scholarships are awarded to residents of the Foundations 20-town service area. The Foundation serves the towns of Barkhamsted, Bethlehem, Canaan/Falls Village, Colebrook, Cornwall, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Hartford, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Warren, Washington and Winsted/Winchester. For a complete list of scholarships, visit northwestcf.org/scholarships.

Established in 1969, the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation serves 20 towns in Northwest Connecticut. Its total endowment, comprised of more than 250 funds, has grown from initial assets of $15,000 to more than $94 million. Last year, combined grants and scholarships totaled more than $3 million.
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KENT  The ice dam that formed in the Housatonic River over the weekend, flooding Route 7 and forcing evacuations of four homes, was still growing Monday, reaching a mile in length and a thickness of 12 feet.

The Kent School, whose campus lines the river bank west of town, sent all its students home for the week after the water flooded several buildings.

And besides the four homes already flooded, another 22 are potentially affected, said State Rep. Brian Ohler, who was in Kent over the weekend helping town officials marshal their resources.

One of the nearly 600 Kent School students making impromptu living arrangements Monday was Tyler Kim, a sophomore, who waited just outside the campus for a taxi Monday afternoon.

Now Playing: The warm temperatures and rain over the last few days has broken up the ice covering the Housatonic River. The chunks of ice have flowed down river and backed up at Lovers Leap Gorge and the river heading into that area in New Milford, Connecticut. Video: CTGlobal

Kim, 17, plans to stay with his sister in New Haven until school re-opens. He said he was lucky to have a sibling close by, because friends from far-off countries are unsure whether they should go home.

Theyre not really sure how long this will last, Kim said.

State and town officials arent sure either. First Selectman Bruce Adams said the town is in wait-and-see mode.

Ohler said water levels upstream of the dam, which formed south of Bridge Street near downtown Kent and extended north past Kent Furnace, were on the rise Monday afternoon.

In that mile, you have two states worth of ice, Ohler said, noting that the Housatonic begins in Massachusetts before winding its way through western Connecticut. All that ice broke up and began to flow south.

And there is little officials can do other then ready resources such as boats and vehicles, Ohler and Adams said, which is the reason they declared an emergency.

Its impossible to stop a river, Ohler said.

A second, smaller dam formed south of the town center, above Bulls Bridge.

Nearly four miles of Route 7 remained closed Monday, and will likely be closed for the week, Ohler added.

The town has seen ice clot in the river before, he said, but nothing like this ice barge.

And it happened quickly, Ohler said. From 3 p.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, Route 7 went from passable to under four feet of water.

Residents affected are staying with friends and family members, although town officials have opened emergency shelters.

Workers with the Department of Transportation will inspect the roadway when its clear of ice and water, to better determine its strength and integrity, authorities said.

Authorities urged drivers to stay away from Route 7 and Schaghticoke Road. Traffic north- and southbound was rerouted to South Kent Road.

Ohler said several days of warmer weather  around 50 degrees, without rain  will be needed to create a slow thaw that would avoid further flooding.

But according to the National Weather Service, that scenario likely wont occur. Temperatures wont go above freezing through Thursday night and the town is under a winter storm watch from Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

Whats coming? Adams asked. Who knows?

Dirk Perrefort contributed to this report. blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton
Here's the full quote:

"The younger generation now tells me how tough things are. Give me a break. No, no, I have no empathy for it. Give me a break. Because here's the deal guys, we decided we were gonna change the world. And we did. We did. We finished the civil rights movement in the first stage. The women's movement came to be.

So my message is, get involved. There's no place to hide. You can go and you can make all the money in the world, but you can't build a wall high enough to keep the pollution out. You can't live whereyou can't not be diminished when your sister can't marry the man or woman, or the woman she loves. You can'twhen you have a good friend being profiled, you can't escape this stuff.

And so, there's an old expression my philosophy professor would always use from Plato, 'The penalty people face for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves.' It's wide open. Go out and change it."
Cambodias government has said it will closely investigate a new political movement launched by former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Sam Rainsy following the dissolution of his party and take legal action if it is deemed unlawful.



Earlier this week, Sam Rainsywho has lived in exile since 2015 to avoid convictions widely seen as politically motivatedunveiled to supporters in Houston, Texas his plan to launch the Cambodia National Rescue Movement (CNRM) as a way around a ban on the CNRP, which was dissolved by Cambodias Supreme Court in November for its alleged role in a plot to topple the government.



Sam Rainsy called the CNRM a new framework with which we can carry out our activities without anyone daring to take action against us, suggesting that the movement cannot be dissolved because it does not need to register and will not be subject to monitoring by government ministries.



On Tuesday, during an annual review meeting of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication in the capital Phnom Penh, Interior Minister Sar Kheng rejected the former CNRP chiefs suggestion that the CNRM need not register with his ministry.



It is not [illegal] that such a movement be established, but it is important to determine whether the movement is legitimate or not, said Sar Khengwho is also Cambodias deputy prime minister.



If this movement is deemed illegal, the authorities will take [legal] action.



As part of its mission to rescue the nation, Sam Rainsy has said the CNRM seeks a resolution to the political impasse between the CNRP and Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), the release of CNRP President Kem Sokhawho was detained in September on charges of treasonand assurances of free and fair senate and general elections slated for February and July.



He said members of civil society organizations, human rights groups, land and environmental organizations, journalists, and others who cannot back political parties because of the work they do can join a broader movement with concrete goals, and that the CNRM would appeal for mass protests, calling on Cambodias armed forced to stand with the people.



Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak on Tuesday confirmed an investigation into the CNRM is imminent, according to a report by the Phnom Penh Post, and said the movement was created by Sam Rainsy and other illegal rebels intent on overthrowing the Cambodian government.



He said demonstrations would not be alloweddespite protections for the right to demonstrate in the Constitutionand suggested that with Kem Sokha in detention and Sam Rainsy in exile, no one would lead the movement.



[We] wont allow it, and no one dares to do so  There is no leader, the Post quoted him as saying.



The civil society organizations also do not have leaders  There is no leader to give the order, he added, warning NGOs that if they would be subject to legal action if they become involved.



CNRP deputy presidents Eng Chay Eang and Mu Sochuaboth living in exilewere signatories to an announcement of the CNRMs formation earlier this month. It was not immediately clear whether Kem Sokha was in support of the movement.



Call for election review



On Wednesday, Sam Rainsy reiterated calls for free and fair elections in a post on Twitter, saying Hun Sen should postpone the ballot until the opposition can ensure it will meet minimum international standards to avoid violence and Cambodia becoming a pariah state.



In recent weeks, the U.S. and EU condemned the Cambodian governments targeting of the opposition ahead of elections this year, which they said had called the legitimacy of the votes into question, withdrawing electoral support and placing trade agreements with the Southeast Asian nation under review.



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



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



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



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sarada Taing. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A court in Hong Kong has once more jailed Joshua Wong, a former student leader of the citys 2014 pro-democracy movement, after finding him guilty of contempt of court at a trial last October.



Wong was among 16 activists found guilty of ignoring a court injunction to leave a protest area during the 2014 Occupy Central, or Umbrella movement. He was handed a three-month prison sentence.



Wong, 21, had pleaded guilty to obstructing bailiffs trying to implement the clearance of the protest site in the Kowloon suburb of Mong Kok.



According to High Court Judge Andrew Chan, anyone who decided to stand on Nathan Road, Mong Kok, during the clearance operation "knew precisely what they were doing," because it wasn't the first such action, and had been widely publicized.



Protesters were also given several warnings to leave the site by bailiffs before the operation began, calling their continued presence there "a serious interference with the administration of justice."



Judge Chan said Wong's involvement was deep and extensive.



The court also jailed Raphael Wong, vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats, for four and a half months for his "active" role in obstructing court bailiffs.



Both the activists were sent to prison in spite of pleas from the activists defense attorneys to delay the start of their sentences.



The remainder of the activists were handed suspended jail terms, including former Occupy Central student leader Lester Shum.



'Ready to go back'



Wong, who was out on bail on public order charges linked to a separate 2014 incident, had earlier said he was ready to go back to jail.



"They can lock up our bodies, but they can't lock up our minds, he told reporters before the sentencing hearing. Even though we now face a prison sentence, we'll do so without fear.



Raphael Wong said he was ready to serve his time, too.



People who engage in civil disobedience have made full mental preparation for jail, he told journalists. All I can say is, I hope that the people of Hong Kong will keep up their courage, and hold fast to the spirit of the start of the Occupy Central movement.



We want genuine universal suffrage! he said.



Lester Shum agreed. "The whole civil disobedience movement, including some key occupations, relied on using methods that might be regarded as illegal, and on people paying that price to win public attention, and to win over public support," he said.



"The Umbrella Movement achieved that aim, and now the decisions about the legal price we have to pay are out of our hands," Shum said.



Nathan Law, who lost his seat for the post-Occupy Central party Demosisto following a ruling by Beijing, said he was "extremely disappointed" by the prosecution of Occupy Central activists.



"It is a colossal mistake to use court orders and trials in court to try to resolve an issue that comes from a political source; namely, the failure to implement universal suffrage," Law said.



"That the government got the courts involved without resolving the systemic political issues that we currently face will be of no help at at all," he said.



Broken promises



The New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at the time that the arrest and jailing of peaceful Occupy Central protesters raised concerns about Hong Kongs adherence to international human rights standards.



Some 1,000 people were arrested in connection with the Umbrella Movement during its existence, mostly for public order offenses like "unlawful assembly," "obstructing police," "assaulting officers," and "contempt of court," the group said.



While most were quickly released, more than 160 have been charged so far under the citys Public Order Ordinance, a body of rules governing demonstrations that has been criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, HRW said.



Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain to China, but many say the citys traditional freedoms are now a thing of the past, as Beijing seeks to wield ever greater influence over the citys media, publishing, and political scene.



Leaders of the 79-day civil disobedience movement rejected a Aug. 31, 2014 decree from Chinas parliament, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), which required the vetting of candidates for the city's top job by a pro-Beijing committee, as "fake universal suffrage."



Last year, Hong Kong courts stripped six directly elected pan-democratic legislators of their seats following an NPC interpretation invalidating their oaths of allegiance to China.



Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFAs Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has become increasingly repressive, amid ever-tightening controls on the media, online speech, religious groups, and civil society, according to an annual report from U.S.-based freedom-of-speech watchdog Freedom House.



Chinas president is consolidating personal power to a degree not seen in China for decades, amid ongoing arrests and criminal prosecutions of bloggers, activists, human rights lawyers, and religious believers, the report found.



Xis new era, will bring with it further increases in party controls over information, society, culture, the military, and the economy, the report said, adding that the presidents emphasis on a growing international role for China means the likely export of authoritarian ideology to other developing countries.



China and Russia ... have seized the opportunity  to export their malign influence to other countries, which are increasingly copying their behavior and adopting their disdain for democracy, Freedom House reported, adding that freedom is on the decline around the world.



It is a path that includes politicized courts, intolerance for dissent, and predetermined elections, it said.



Meanwhile, a massive program of incarceration and surveillance of ethnic minority, mostly Muslim Uyghurs and Kazakhs in Chinas Xinjiang region has boosted an already massive security presence, it said.



In addition, new and draconian restrictions on religious practice of any kind, particularly by children, have affected Muslim and Christian communities alike, it said.



The report warned that China and Russia must squelch open debate, pursue dissidents, and compromise rules-based institutions beyond their borders in order to maintain power at home, calling on citizens and leaders of democracies to take action to defend the rights of all citizens.



The reality of globalization is that our fates are interlinked, it said.



'Persecution has gotten far worse'

Anhui-based rights activist and former state prosecutor Shen Liangqing said the reports assessment was accurate.



Of course we have had the suppression of religious groups, dissidents and rights activists all along in an authoritarian country like ours; that has never stopped, Shen said. But there have been big variations at different times in how aggressively they are pursued.



The persecution has gotten far worse in the past few years, and the overall trend seems to be that it keeps on getting worse, he said.



This has to do with ideological leadership coming from the highest levels; now it seems that we are taking things further even than during the Mao era, strengthening his dictatorship.



Freedom House said traditional freedoms in Hong Kong, a former British colony promised a high degree of autonomy under Chinese rule, also seem to be on the decline, with the citys freedom score dropping from 61 last year to 59 this year, compared with Chinas score of just 14/100.



Hong Kong political commentator Wu Yisan said Xis administration appears to have dispensed with the promises of autonomy made to the city ahead of the 1997 handover.



Theyre not keeping the promise made by [late supreme leader] Deng Xiaoping, that ... Hong Kong people will run Hong Kong by themselves, Wu said. There has been a rolling back of all of that.



Now it seems that any Chinese official of whatever rank can stick their oar in and mouth off about Hong Kongs business, he said.



Reported by Yang Fan for RFAs Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Chinese authorities in Tibets Chamdo prefecture have forced Tibetan nomads from their land following the discovery of mineral reserves near a local mountain, moving those evicted to resettlement housing set up along a nearby highway, RFA has learned.



The move followed nearly ten years of mining of copper, lead, and gold already carried out around Yulung mountain in Chamdos Jomda (in Chinese, Jiangda) county, a local resident told RFAs Tibetan Service.



Last year, Chinese officials discovered additional reserves in the area of Lhato behind Yulung mountain, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Therefore, early in 2017, they confiscated most of that land from the nomads living there, and they have put fences around the mining area, the source said.



Authorities then warned local Tibetans not to go onto the land to collect caterpillar fungus, which is valued for its purported medicinal properties and was an important source of income for Lhato area Tibetans, the source said.



And on top of that, they have now also lost their livelihood as nomads, which was passed down to them for generations, he said.



About 400 to 500 nomad families in Lhato have been affected by the seizure of their land, with little money paid to them to compensate for their losses, the source said.



In the past, the Tibetans appealed many times to Chinese authorities to stop mining operations in the area, as these have polluted the environment and caused widespread illness from cast-off waste, but the Chinese have never heeded their complaints, he said.



Others also forced to move



In April 2017, nearly 200 Tibetan families were ordered to leave their homes in another Chamdo area to make way for an unspecified government construction project, with the move to new locations to be made at their own expenses, sources told RFA in an earlier report.



The families now live in two towns lying on opposite sides of the Gyalmo Ngulchu, or Salween River, in Chamdos Dzogang (Zuogang) and Pashoe (Basu) counties, sources said, adding that no explanation was given for their order to move.



And in June 2014, police detained 60 men from a village in Dzogang rocked by protests over Chinese plans to excavate gold, sources said.



The protests followed the death in May of a local Tibetan who stabbed himself and jumped from a roof to oppose the project.



Tibetan areas of China have become an important source of minerals needed for Chinas economic growth, and mining operations have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.



Reported by Dawa Dolma for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Rights activists and Uyghur advocacy groups today renewed their calls for the release from prison of Uyghur academic and blogger Ilham Tohti, who was arrested four years ago on charges of promoting separatism and is now serving a life term behind bars.



An outspoken economics professor who regularly highlighted the religious and cultural persecution of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in northwest Chinas Xinjiang region, Tohti was sentenced on Sept. 23, 2014 following a two-day show trial.



The court decision cited Tohtis criticism of Beijings ethnic policies, his interviews with overseas media outlets, and his work founding and running the Chinese-language website Uighurbiz.net, which was shut down by Chinese authorities in 2014.



This week, the Germany-based Ilham Tohti Initiative called again on Beijing to immediately and unconditionally free the jailed writer and professor, calling the conditions of his imprisonment a calculated and cruel deprivation of his rights to family visits and outside communication.



[All this has] been carefully engineered to punish the Uyghur scholar with degrading treatment and psychological torture, while at the same time keeping the attention on his plight from the outside world to a minimum, Initiative President Enver Can said.



We are especially concerned about the reports that his wife and children would not be allowed to visit him during the current year of 2018, Can said.



Instead of urging the separation of Xinjiangthe Uyghur peoples historic homelandfrom China, Tohti had called only for China to implement its own regional autonomy laws and had consistently promoted peace and dialogue between the Han Chinese and Uyghur communities, Can said.



Thus, Ilham Tohti is a prisoner of conscience, who is being cruelly punished for peacefully challenging the Chinese governments policies toward ethnic minorities.



Massive rights violations



In a Jan. 17 statement, the international press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described Tohtis situation as typical of the massive human rights violations taking place under [Chinese] President Xi Jinping.



[Tohti] was calling not for separatism but for a dialogue to reach a peaceful solution to his communitys problems, RSF said.



In his writings, Tohti had made valuable recommendations to the Chinese government to create genuine peace and harmony in East Turkestan, the Munich-based exile World Uyghur Congress (WUC) said in a Jan. 17 statement, using the name for Xinjiang preferred by many Uyghurs to refer to their traditional homeland.



He is not a criminal. He is a voice of reason and peace, WUC President Dolkun Isa said.



China has no reason to fear this moderate Uyghur voice and has no justification to imprison him for life. The international community will not stay silent until the day hes free, Isa said.



Ilham Tohti was awarded Liberal Internationals Prize for Freedom in a ceremony held in absentia in The Hague in November 2017. He was also the recipient of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2016 and the Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award from the PEN America Center in 2014.

Reported by RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
POWHATAN  Two young Powhatan girls have been making their own mark on the movement in Virginia to help bring women one step closer to equal constitutional rights.

An image of 10-year-old Eastan Weber and a slogan coined by 12-year-old Ani Hornung, both of Powhatan, have been at the center of recent marketing materials for supporters of a campaign to see the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratified in Virginia.

The Equal Rights Amendment, among other things, says that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

The amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972, 49 years after it was first introduced in 1923, and sent to the states for ratification. However, by the time the first deadline and then an extended deadline had passed, the ERA had only been ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states as of 1982. Virginia is one 15 states that did not ratify the proposed constitutional amendment.

While the issue remained largely dormant and out of the public eye for many years, supporters gained renewed hope when Nevada ratified the amendment in March 2017, becoming the 36th state to do so.

Some argue that Nevadas ratification was a moot point since it came 35 years after the extended deadline, but others, including womens groups now focusing attention on Virginia and Illinois, say the deadline can be changed by Congress and the ratifications are still what matters.

In Virginia, efforts involving many groups and spearheaded by a nonprofit called Women-Matter have been focused on the ratification of the amendment. In the last several years, the Equal Rights Amendment has been passed by the Senate of Virginia five times but killed in the House of Delegates on crossover, said Eileen Davis, co-founder of Women-Matter.

We have had a fair measure of success, but almost only counts in horseshoes. Almost is getting it half ratified with bipartisan support five times since 2010, but until we ratify it in both houses, it is not done. We move the ball a little bit further down the field every year, but we need to hit the goal and be done with this, she said.

Going into the General Assemblys 60-day session, these local groups are once again lobbying to see the constitutional amendment ratified in both the Senate and House of Delegates.

And the poster children for their efforts, literally, are two Powhatan girls.

Taking a stance

Andrea Weber said that she and her husband, Rory, have raised their two daughters, Ella, 15, and Eastan, 10, to think for themselves and be able to give good reasons for what they believe. With Eastan in particular, basic equality is something she will argue strongly in support of, which came out even more after they participated in the Womens March in 2017, Andrea Weber said.

Eastan said she was scared to go to the Womens March because she didnt know what could happen but did anyway because equal pay matters to her.

I mostly listened because I couldnt see the people on the stage but I learned by listening that there are much more voices in this world than we know about. My favorite person to listen to was this girl that was my age. She was really brave and told her moms story to all of those people in the crowd, Eastan said of a girl whose mother doesnt speak English.

She and Eastan traveled to New York City for the little girls milestone 10th birthday last June, and while there, they made plans to take a picture of her standing next to the Fearless Girl statue that was still installed on Wall Street. The 4-foot bronze statue of a little girl created by artist Kristen Visbal stood opposite the iconic Charging Bull sculpture and represented the need for gender equality.

Eastan, a fifth-grader at Pocahontas Elementary School, looks similar to the statue and Weber said she had even reached out to the artist to talk about its meaning and her inspiration. The mother-daughter duo decided to pay it a visit.

We have a little dress that matches and we went down there and waited for the rain to stop and then we took her picture at the Fearless Girl statue, Weber said.

In the photo, Eastan has adopted a similar stance and looped her arm through that of the statue. Weber said she shared the photo with her sister in Louisiana, who then shared it on Pantsuit Nations Facebook page. It went viral within the group, being shared and commented on thousands of times, she said.

I loved it because she was my kid, but neither one of us were prepared for how other people reacted to it. It is almost like she became this little living mascot for womens rights or girls rights or just fairness in womens futures because that was the basis of that statute, Weber said.

Weber said they had begun to meet others in the region after the Womens March, including Kati Hornung, who also lives in Powhatan. It was also through this friendship that she became aware of the movement to get the ERA ratified and told Eastan about it.

I was horrified to find out that it is OK to pay me less than a boy even though I work as hard as him, am as smart as him and am better for the job, Eastan said. At first when my mom told me the ERA wasnt passed in Virginia but it was in other states I was confused because I thought we had equal rights already, and then in comes pow, in your face that we dont.

When the Women-Matter group asked to use Eastans photo for this purpose, the Webers agreed. Weber said they received permission from the statues artist to use the image in marketing materials but not State Street Corporation, which commissioned it, so it was removed from their marketing materials and what was left was her daughter standing proud.

The advocacy of a new generation, you could feel it in that photograph, Davis said. She saw the photo as showing that the message of the need for the ERA had reached a new generation and that their advocacy is the blood transfusion we needed.

This was not in any way staged or some liberal plot. This was a little girl from Powhatan who went on trip to New York, took a photograph and we found out it even existed. That is the best kind of photograph because it is organic. That is why it is so powerful, Davis said.

The image is on an electronic billboard near where I-95 and I-64 meet so it could greet legislators in the General Assembly as they arrived in Richmond for the new session this month, she said.

All of the attention has surprised Eastan, who struggled to wrap her head around why her picture would be such a prominent part of the fight for womens equality, her mom said.

She really feels there are all of these older ladies who have been working on this issue for so many years. Why is she getting this attention? Weber said. I said part of what her contribution is is she has a genuine and authentic belief in this subject.

Three big letters

On the same billboard that displays Eastans image is a slogan made special by Ani Hornung, a 12-year-old homeschooled Powhatan student and the daughter of Kati and Andrew Hornung.

The simple phrase Not One More GenERAtion highlights the need for the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed so another generation of girls doesnt have to experience the same kind of discrimination as those who came before, said Kati Hornung. Hornung learned that the ERA had not been ratified in Virginia several years ago but didnt really start getting involved until last year.

Hornung said that even at her young age, Ani is a strong feminist, and in 2017, she wanted to do something to support the movement around getting the amendment ratified in Virginia.

I was upset; I think it should have passed awhile ago, Ani said. I want to see the ERA passed very, very badly.

So they made some homemade signs, and on one where her mom had written Not one more generation, Ani noticed ERA was in the word generation and colored them red and underlined them.

Davis was at that rally in front of the General Assembly and remembers seeing Anis homemade sign and her emphasis on the ERA in generation.

I looked at that sign and I said My God it has been staring at us in the face all the time,  she said. The reflection of the new generation is looking at it and saying how long has this been going on? My generation is going to take care of it. She has just caught it. It came from a 12-year-old Powhatan kid, a phrase that is taking off nationally.

In the fall, organizers were saying they needed a good branding campaign. They talked about Anis slogan and her mom mentioned Eastans photograph and it all started to just gel organically on its own, Hornung said.

She created the drafts of the marketing materials and her friend, Rachel Iga, made them into the final products that were used on the billboard and as part of a postcard campaign to legislators.

Ani said she thought her slogan would be used on a few magnets, so to see the reactions and others and the billboard has been surprising.

I thought this is cool and bigger than I thought it was, Ani said.

For her part, Hornung said the main driver for her being involved in this movement is that she is a woman and the mother of two daughters, Ani and Zoe, 10.

I am really more participating just as a human that wants to see it done. I am not a card carrying member of almost anything and I am not really a big joiner. I am just doing this because my kids are really big on it and I think it needs to happen, Hornung said.

Renewed efforts

The involvement of the girls and young women is a good sign of more people learning about the Equal Rights Amendment simply because many people erroneously believe it already passed, Davis said. She said that far too many women dont even know this is still an issue others are fighting for on their behalf.

Proponents of the amendment also face arguments that the ERA is not needed anymore because the rights of women are already protected under laws such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Equal Pay Act and Violence Against Women Act.

Womens groups such as Women-Matter argue those are all laws that can be altered or repealed and have no constitutional standing. Davis cites the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was interviewed by California Lawyer in a January 2011 issue and said, "Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't."

Davis also points out that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when asked in 2014 how she would amend the Constitution, said she would add the Equal Rights Amendment.

In addition to ignorance of the issue, activists are also battling misinformation, she said.

I think there is a lot of misinformation about this issue. I also think when you are used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. I feel there are a lot of people who feel that to give equality to everyone, those who enjoy privilege have to give something up, Davis said. But really equality is not a jar of pennies that there is a finite amount and if I share there is nothing left for me. Equality is like love; the more you give the more you have.

Davis said that the reasons in generations past that the ERA failed to pass have all been negated and it is time to get it done.

Senators and delegates were invited on Monday, Jan. 16 to a screening of the documentary Equal Means Equal at the Byrd Theatre in Richmond. Supporters of the amendment will also continue to lobby on behalf of ratification during the 60-day session and especially focus on getting it out of subcommittee in the House of Delegates, Davis added.

We want the dignity of the debate. We deserve to have this long overdue conversation on the floor of both chambers with debate and with a registered vote, she said. It is time that every delegate in the state of Virginia is accountable to their position on this issue.
A former Petersburg factory building more than a century old that was under renovation was destroyed early Tuesday in a massive fire that spread to a second, occupied building of the development by a connecting catwalk that a fire official said fueled the conflagration.

Two occupants were rescued but no one was injured in the early morning fire that Petersburg Deputy Fire Chief Brian Sturdivant said essentially destroyed the two buildings at 422 and 424 High St. Fire crews managed to protect and save a third building of the development, known as the High Street Lofts, at 420 High St., he said.

The catwalk, Sturdivant said, was the conduit for the heat, the smoke and fire being pushed by the fire from 424 High St. into 422 High St., which is otherwise separated by Lafayette Street.

So it was not a friend of ours at all this morning, the chief said, referring to the catwalk during an afternoon press briefing within sight of the fire. As he spoke, fire crews at 1 p.m. were still pouring water onto smouldering and smoky hot spots within the buildings from aerial ladder trucks.

The former factory buildings, known as the Seward Trunk Co., once contained the nations largest manufacturing operation of steamer trunks and luggage. The buildings are part of the Petersburg Old Town Historic District, a national historic area.

Sturdivant said Petersburg fire crews were dispatched to the scene at 5:20 a.m., and upon arrival firefighters encountered significant smoke and fire in the vacant building under renovation.

The growing size of the fire prompted Petersburg to activate its mutual aid agreement with surrounding localities, which brought crews from Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Fort Lee and the counties of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George. Our mutual aid plans worked exactly as they were designed, he said.

City officials said the renovated portions of the development included 35 to 40 occupied residences, which included town homes, condominiums and apartments. Officials were still trying to determine early Tuesday afternoon how many people were displaced.

The Virginia Red Cross was assisting displaced residents at a makeshift resource center established at the Petersburg Bus Station, providing them with hot meals, health services and comfort items, Red Cross spokesman Jonathan McNamara said at the scene. The Red Cross is also providing hot meals, drinks and other items to firefighters and other first responders, he said.

Were prepared to support that effort for as long as Petersburg Fire & Rescue needs our assistance, McNamara said. I will be working with officials here in Petersburg to determine next steps for anyone who is displaced by the fire.

The cause of the fire hasnt been determined. Sturdivant said he anticipates the investigation wont commence until Wednesday.

We do have an engineer and excavation crew that is on the scene, and they are currently working on a plan to demolish and tear down an 85-foot unstable chimney at the rear of the structure that first caught fire, Sturdivant said.

The buildings that burned are in a section of Petersburg with low water pressure, but Sturdivant said the issue was water volume, not water pressure.

So we really did not have a water issue at this particular fire, because it was all about volume, he said.

Officials said they were required to make adjustments to the citys water supply as firefighters fought the blaze. But Sturdivant said it had no impact on his operation.

Petersburg utility crews increased the flow and volume of water from the citys Mount Vernon water tank to the area of the fire, city Utilities Director Jerry Byerly said.

The low pressure side (of the city) is fed from our Mount Vernon tank, Byerly explained. Mount Vernon also feeds other tanks throughout the system. We cut off all pumps at Mount Vernon to allocate all the water in that tank, which is 6 million gallons, to this fire, he said.
An SUV hit a patch of ice and plunged off a bridge onto active railroad tracks in Richmond on Wednesday  one of dozens of weather-related traffic crashes reported after a storm dumped 2 to 3 inches of snow on the metro area.

Authorities implored drivers to stay off the roads as temperatures dropped throughout the day and driving conditions deteriorated  a concern that was expected to stretch into Thursday, when many school districts are either closing or operating on a two-hour delay.

If you dont have to go out, dont, said Richmond police Capt. Michael Bender. It might look like the roads are dry, but theyre not.

Bender said the weather was a deciding factor in the crash that sent the SUV off Lombardy Street, just north of where it crosses Interstate 95/64, onto train tracks below in Richmond about 3:45 p.m. There is no guardrail on the Lombardy overpass above the tracks  only a thin, metal fence separates traffic from the rail lines below.

The vehicle landed upright and both occupants were able to walk out of the vehicle. Bender said they were being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident was one of 30 crashes in the city of Richmond that officers responded to between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., he said.

In Chesterfield County, a police patrol vehicle was struck Wednesday morning while an officer assisted a disabled motorist, according to the department. The officer was not harmed, police said.

Statewide, Virginia State Police said they had responded to 268 traffic crashes and 126 disabled vehicles as of early afternoon Wednesday.

As in Richmond, most of the reported crashes involved only damage to vehicles.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said all roads in the 14-county Richmond District were in clear to moderate condition, meaning that anything from icy patches to snow coverage is possible. The departments goal is to have all state-maintained roads passable within 48 hours of storms end.

For the latest road conditions, drivers should use Virginias Department of Transportation 511 system. Do not call 911 or #77 unless there is an emergency, police said.

Passable does not necessarily mean bare pavement or clear driving conditions, VDOT said in a statement. But that crews have addressed the roadways at least once with plows/road treatment following the storm and drivers should be able to travel the roadways with caution.
Former Richmond City Auditor Umesh Dalal is headed to Texas.

Dalal, who received the largest payout to a departing city employee in recent memory when he resigned his position in Richmond City Hall last summer, will serve as the internal auditor of Denton, Texas. Its council appointed him to the role at a meeting held Tuesday night. He was one of four finalists for the job, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.

Denton is a wonderful community and I am eager to work with City Council and staff to enhance Dentons commitment to transparency, compliance, and continuous service improvement through the auditing function, the newspaper reported Dalal said at the meeting, reading from a prepared statement.

Dalal, who could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday, agreed to a two-year contract with Denton that will pay him $131,400 annually, the newspaper reported. He starts in late February.

Dalal had earned $150,000 annually in Richmond during his 11 years atop the 14-person city department tasked with investigating fraud, waste and abuse within Richmond City Hall. During his tenure, he led hundreds of investigations and audits, earning praise from some who viewed him as a watchdog and criticism from others who viewed him as a grandstander.

Last spring, Dalal came under fire from current and former employees of his department for his management style and other problems within the office, including high turnover. Richmond City Council ordered an investigation of the claims.

After receiving a report on the allegations, the council agreed to pay Dalal almost $400,000 in severance to secure his resignation. City Council President Chris A. Hilbert said at the time that Dalal set the terms of his exit package, which included about $107,000 for unused vacation time and a $285,000 payment to his retirement plan, allowing him to retire with full benefits four years early.

A few council members lamented the amount of the payout after the fact. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney criticized it as excessive.

Dalal declined to comment on the circumstances that led to his resignation in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch last month, saying at the time, Ive moved on. Whatever is done is done, and Im enjoying my retirement.

Councilwoman Reva Trammell, a vocal supporter of Dalals during his time with the city, said she was happy he found a new job.

Hell do a great job in Texas, Trammell said. Their gain is our loss.

Earlier this month, the council appointed Lou Lassiter, a deputy county administrator in Chesterfield County, as the new city auditor. He will earn $153,000 annually and starts Feb. 1.
A Hampton man who murdered two men on New Years Eve 2013, when he was 16 years old, has died at Red Onion State Prison in what officials have called an apparent suicide.

The Virginia Department of Corrections said the death of Jordyn M. Charity, 20, on Jan. 7 is under investigation as are all unexpected inmate deaths. The official cause and manner of his death were not available from the state medical examiners office Wednesday.

Red Onion was built in 1998 as the states first super-max prison to house the systems most dangerous inmates. It held roughly 850 inmates last year. It is not known whether Charity was being held in solitary confinement or segregation.

Officials said last year that the use of solitary confinement at Red Onion had been greatly reduced since 2011. The Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville said it is still receiving complaints from inmates about the use of solitary confinement at the facility in Wise County.

Charity was serving a 168-year sentence for two counts of murder and related firearm charges. Hampton Circuit Court records show he pleaded guilty last September and was sentenced on Nov. 29.

According to the Daily Press newspaper, Charity was convicted of the murders of Donivan K. Walker Jr., 21, and Kenneth Wilson, 20, in an argument that began over BMX bike parts.

The newspapers account of his Nov. 29 sentencing said his lawyer, Lawrence H. Woodward Jr., told the judge that Charity had tried to commit suicide three times while incarcerated and that he suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse as a child.

Hampton Commonwealths Attorney Anton Bell was quoted describing Charity as pure evil. Bell told the judge that Charity got into an argument with Walker at the Woodlands Skate Park, left the park and stole a shotgun from his stepfathers home.

He returned to the skate park, where he shot Walker and Wilson. After they were down, he shot them again, Bell said. Charity carjacked a vehicle and fled. He returned to the scene and fled again when spotted by police. The police pursuit ended in a crash, the newspaper said.

According to the Daily Press story, before he was sentenced, Charity apologized to the families and said he did not believe he was worth a second chance.

Woodward did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

With roughly 38,000 state-responsible inmates in Virginia jails and prisons, there were five suicides systemwide reported in the year that ended June 30, 2015, according to the most recent figures available.
A couple of months ago, things looked stormy for the Chesterfield County schools budget.

Superintendent James Lane and School Board members laid plans to switch multimillion-dollar school renovations into rebuilds. In the classroom, they chipped away at initiatives to address systemic disparities.

At the same time, the elected leaders wanted to boost teacher salaries, and knew they needed a little more than $1 million to push back some of the earliest school start times in the state.

Then concerns over the cleanliness of the schools facilities boiled over. School Board members outsourced custodial services several years ago to save money, but decided in December to implement a hybrid plan that would place hundreds of custodians back on the payroll and outsource nighttime work.

In addition, school leaders knew they had to put $500,000 toward an employee supplemental retirement program whose dire financial health led to restrictions and reforms in the program last year.

Questions swirled about how the school division would pay for these initiatives, and whether the Board of Supervisors would support any request from school leaders for more money.

Sitting next to Lane on Tuesday, new School Board Chairman John Erbach acknowledged that school leaders faced challenges ahead of the fiscal 2019 budget. But he also expressed confidence that Lanes budget proposal, presented Tuesday, tackled all those headwinds.

Lane proposed a $647 million operating budget, which represented a $25.5 million increase from last years budget. Compared with last year, the budget asks for $8.5 million more from county supervisors.

With the help of state funding, all of the districts 7,166 full-time employees would see a 2 percent pay increase under the proposal. The school division is expecting a total of $10.9 million in additional money from the state.

Some extra state money will come from more students. The district crossed the 60,000-student enrollment mark for the first time last year. Next school year, 500 more are expected, for a total of 60,600 students.

Lane kept the School Boards vision of newly built schools alive in his proposal, announcing the rebuild of four elementary schools: Ettrick, Crestwood, Reams Road and Harrowgate. They are expected to be ready for use in fall 2021.

All of those facilities had been slated for renovations in the bond measure approved by voters in a 2013 referendum, but Lane said school leaders came to realize that a rebuild is more cost-effective in the long term because it allows a facility to last longer than if it were renovated.

That is obviously huge news for us, said Lane, who added that they have been excited to talk about the school rebuilding projects for some time.

The plan also supports the planned rebuild of Manchester Middle and an addition to Matoaca Middle East that allows for a combined Matoaca Middle campus and space for a replacement Matoaca Elementary.

Lane proposed cobbling together the funds for the projects from a variety of sources, including remaining bond referendum funds, grants, proffers and borrowing more money. As a result, the debt service would increase by $2.5 million. Proffers are fees paid by developers to mitigate the local impacts of new homes on county services.

To solve the school start time issue, Lane suggested that the school division absorb the cost, instead of going to county supervisors. He proposed transferring 50 vacant substitute bus driver positions into 30 full-time bus driver positions. That meant the school system could eat the $1.3 million in ongoing costs associated with changing school start times.

Lane said that without those substitute positions, the transportation system will still have coverage should a full-time bus driver not be able to work.

It may be an ingenious solution, but it might warrant a deeper conversation, said School Board member Javaid Siddiqi.

As for the custodial issue, Lane budgeted $7.7 million to pay to implement the hybrid plan approved by the School Board.

To continue to address equity issues within the classroom, Lane wants to put $150,000 toward gifted education and $130,000 to expand ways to measure student growth, which school leaders now consider a better snapshot of a students progress than standardized testing.

Millions in expected savings will help pay for the initiatives. The budget proposal assumes $4.5 million in what is known as salary savings. Those monies come when the school system hires less-experienced staff members after a more-experienced, higher-paid employee leaves or retires.

Other savings include $2 million from benefit rate changes, plus $1.6 million from reducing the number of potential teacher positions kept on retainer in case more students enroll than expected.

School Board member Rob Thompson wanted to see more details on how the school system would manage fluctuations in school enrollments if that pool is reduced.

Lanes proposed budget must be vetted and approved by the School Board before it heads over to the five-member Board of Supervisors, which ultimately controls the purse strings.

Budget discussions going forward will likely touch on what Lanes budget didnt fund. That includes a $1.6 million initiative to reduce pupil-teacher ratios. Last year, the school system used such funds to reduce class sizes for students who dont speak English as a first language.

School Board member Carrie Coyner said she is still hearing concerns from the community about English-learning resources, and wanted more discussion on that topic.

An additional $3.4 million in maintenance projects also went unfunded under Lanes new budget proposal.

Multiple town halls and meetings are planned to gain community input:

Wednesday at Matoaca Middle School East at 6 p.m.;

Thursday at Elizabeth Davis Middle School at 6 p.m.;

Tuesdays School Board work session at Midlothian High School at 4 p.m.;

Jan. 25 at James River High School at 6 p.m.; and

Jan. 25 at Falling Creek Middle School at 6:30 p.m.
A proposed budget for Hanover County Public Schools calls for a raise for all employees, continuing investment in technology and expanding the localitys presence in a regional high school focused on computer science.

On Tuesday, Superintendent Michael Gill presented Hanovers School Board with a proposed total budget of $202.9 million for fiscal 2019. The budget plan reflects a 3.8 percent increase over the current budget.

The proposed operating budget is $185.3 million and uses $89.6 million in state money, $86.6 million in local dollars, $6.8 million in federal money and $2.2 million from other sources.

The proposed budget calls for a 2 percent salary increase for all employees; continuation of a technology plan that began last year; eight additional slots for CodeRVA, a regional magnet school focused on computer science; adding a number of new positions; and a $15,000 visitor management system to serve all of Hanovers 25 schools.

The proposed $78.2 million five-year capital improvement plan calls for renovations at Lee-Davis High School and Patrick Henry High School auditoriums beginning in June, along with smaller projects throughout the school division.

The proposed capital improvement plan includes a $35.7 million elementary school replacement project in fiscal 2022, with construction beginning in fiscal 2023. Gill was not ready to say which school will be replaced, but there are several schools being considered for replacement or major renovations. More details are to be shared later this school year, Gill said.

The superintendent cited a number of challenges during budget preparation, including a dip in state revenue related to an increase in Hanovers Local Composite Index; a spike in health claims; and no money in the governors proposed budget for teacher salary increases.

Changing student needs  for English-language learners, rising kindergartners and special education students  was also cited as a challenge.

In 2013, Hanover schools had 205 English-language learners and saw that number jump to 398 in 2017.

We have a flat enrollment, but the needs of the school division are anything but stagnant, Gill said.

Positions proposed to be added were 2.6 school counselors; two behavioral interventionists; one English as a second language teacher; one special education teacher; a bus driver; and a special education bus assistant.

Hanovers five-year technology plan calls for adding two instructional resource teachers, one technology support position and laptops for all elementary and high school teachers for fiscal 2019.
Dominion Energy plans to place nine of its older, inefficient and rarely used power-generating units across Virginia into a dormant status, including in Richmond and Chesterfield County, the company announced Wednesday.

The change is among dozens being implemented after a monthslong review of the companys power generation group, according to Paul Koonce, president and CEO of that division. Altogether, the initiatives will result in the elimination of about 390 positions, he said.

Other changes will deal with issues such as work management and supply chain decisions, Koonce said in an interview Wednesday.

The company looked at factors such as the increasing affordability of solar and wind energy and the abundance of natural gas, and what changes Dominion needed to make, he said.

The company plans to put nine units at five power plants later this year in whats called cold reserve, Koonce said.

When we look at the time, the materials, the people, when we look at the thermal inefficiency of these plants and we look at the advancement of renewables, we look at continued gas-fired build, we just think this is a progressive step we can take to ensure that our fleet remains competitive, Koonce said.

Altogether, those units currently account for less than 1 percent of the companys generation, spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson said.

The cold reserve units will not run but could be restarted if necessary, according to the company. All but one are either coal-fired or units that were converted from coal to gas.

Dominion says it will maintain environmental permits for the affected facilities and continue paying local taxes.

The affected power stations are:

Bellemeade, in Richmond;

Chesterfield Power Station;

Bremo, in Fluvanna County;

Mecklenburg, in Clarksville; and

Possum Point in Dumfries.

Bellemeade, Bremo and Mecklenburg will no longer have units operating once they go into cold reserve status in April, according to Anderson. At Chesterfield and Possum Point, some units will go into cold reserve in December and others will continue to run.

Anderson said all power stations have held meetings to inform staff about the changes that are coming. The company was also planning to talk with legislators Wednesday about the news, she said.

The number of affected employees, while not immediately clear, should be far less than 390, Koonce and Anderson said. More than 100 vacancies wont be filled, and some employees could move to jobs in other divisions of Dominion.

State Corporation Commission spokesman Ken Schrad said the company had advised the SCC staff of its decision.

Because the units are being placed in cold reserve and still could be called on to provide electricity, if needed, there is no need to seek commission approval, Schrad said in an email.

Will Cleveland, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the units going dormant is a meaningful change but not a surprising one, given the improving economics of solar and wind energy.
Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, isnt sure which Virginian should represent the state in the collection of statues at the U.S. Capitol, but he thinks it shouldnt be Robert E. Lee.

To that end, Levine has filled a bill to remove Virginias Lee statue from the National Statuary Hall Collection  where each state honors two of its luminaries  and set up a state commission to create a new statue to take the Confederate generals place.

Is he the second-best Virginian in all of Virginia history that we need to honor? Is he? Really? said Levine, an attorney who has served in the House since 2016.

Several lawmakers have filed bills to give localities the power to remove Confederate monuments and relocate them to museums, nullifying a state law aimed at preventing local officials from removing or altering war memorials. Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, has filed a bill to set up a state Monument Removal Fund that could accept private donations and gifts to help cover the costs of removing statues.

As Virginia localities continue to debate how to handle the hundreds of Confederate statues throughout the state in the wake of the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville last summer, Levines bill, House Bill 1099, deals with a statue under direct control of the legislature.

Its one thing if we were allowed a thousand statues in Washington, Levine said. We are allowed two.

In a chamber where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority, Levines proposal faces long odds. But he said that if Republicans believe Lee is still worth honoring, let them say so publicly.

In a speech last week marking Lee-Jackson Day, Del. Ben. Cline, R-Rockbridge, recapped the military and educational careers of Lee and Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, saying the events in Charlottesville rightfully brought new attention to the two men and the complicated times in which they lived.

But while times may change, Mr. Speaker, Cline said, greatness does not.

Asked about Levines bill, Cline said he wishes there were space for more than just two statues.

But these two are the ones that we have, Cline said. And I see no reason to remove them at all.

George Washington was the Virginia General Assemblys first pick when Congress invited each state to send statues of two of its most distinguished citizens to Washington for the national collection. Lee got the second spot, but not without controversy.

This decision was arrived not without lengthy discussion and extended comment, read a Richmond Times-Dispatch article published in 1909, the year the statues arrived at the Capitol. While the bill was under consideration some members of the Legislature expressed the fear that its passage might be the occasion of a great storm of disapproval in the North, and thereby rekindle sectional feeling.

In addition to Virginias Lee statue, eight other Confederate leaders are included in the national collection, including a bronze of Confederate President Jefferson Davis given by Mississippi in 1931.

Levines bill would establish a six-member commission made up mainly of lawmakers, historians, the director of the state Department of Historic Resources and a citizen member. Echoing the original criteria for Statuary Hall, the commission would choose a prominent Virginia citizen of historic renown or renowned for distinguished civil or military service.

Levine said he doesnt have a specific replacement in mind, but hed favor an African-American such as Oliver Hill, the Richmond civil rights attorney who fought to end segregated schools.

Last summer, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., suggested Pocahontas as a possible replacement for the Lee statue at the U.S. Capitol, saying Virginia could probably do better.

Its not clear if new Gov. Ralph Northam  who said during the campaign last year that he would advocate for the removal of Confederate statues at the state level  will support the bill.

As a matter of policy the governor is not going to comment on legislation before it hits his desk, said Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel.
A state legislator took to the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates on Wednesday to blast the states 2015 move to strip state regulators of their power to review electric rates, calling it a corrupt law that should be repealed to restore working-class trust in government.

Its no wonder why people are frustrated, said Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke. Its no wonder why we can really give no other explanation than this law was a corrupt law. We had an obligation to protect the people, and we did not.

Rasoul is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers fighting an uphill battle this session to undo the 2015 rate freeze law, which suspended the State Corporation Commissions ability to review base electric rates to ensure Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power are not overcharging their customers.

Referencing the shared economic frustration among supporters of President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rasoul urged the House, especially its 19 new members, to muster up some courage and do the right thing.

If we dont give people the answers, then others will, Rasoul said. If youre frustrated with people saying racist and bigoted comments and those comments sticking, then we have to give them something better to believe in genuinely.

The premise for the law was the then-looming Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era initiative to cut carbon emissions from power plants that Trump has since abandoned. At the time, power companies were planning to incur major costs to comply with the new regulations, and the bill was pitched as a way to prevent those costs from being passed on to ratepayers.

Opponents of the law, including Republican Ken Cuccinelli, a former state attorney general, have called that explanation a flimsy excuse for a law meant to lock in excessive profits.

Last year, the SCC reported Dominion could have overearned in 2016 by as much as $426 million.

Supporters of the 2015 law agree that it should be modified, but theres disagreement over how much of the overearnings should be returned to customers via refunds and how much the power companies should be allowed to keep to invest in infrastructure upgrades and renewable energy.

Earlier this week, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee killed a bill to restore the states regulatory power and refund money to ratepayers. On Thursday, Sen. Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Frank W. Wagner, a Virginia Beach Republican who sponsored the 2015 rate freeze bill, plan to introduce their own legislation to roll back the law in a manner Dominion supports.

After Rasouls speech, it became clear the repeal effort also could face strong opposition in the House.

To say that somehow that was a corrupt action by this House, I take offense to that because it was not corrupt, said Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, the chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee. We were dealt a hand of cards, and we were responding according to what was going on in the market at the time.

Kilgore said the law has protected consumers, but he agreed the legislature should consider letting the SCC resume rate reviews. But he too implied that power companies should be allowed to invest some of the money for such things as new solar and renewable energy initiatives and underground transmission lines.
Virginias economy is strengthening. Joblessness is down. The rewrite of the federal tax law could mean a near-term windfall for the state.

From 50,000 feet, everything appears to be coming up roses, right?

That is until this Friday.

Unless the Trump administration and Congress reach terms on federal spending  its all tied up in the immigration fight  Washington will go dark, casting a menacing shadow over the states economy and budget.

And yet in Richmond on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans quarreled over Virginias changing political landscape, where the former are ascendant and naive; the latter in retreat and shrewd.

Sometimes we huff and puff at the wrong time, said Sen. Emmett Hanger of Augusta, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and among the few centrists remaining in a stoutly conservative Republican caucus.

A government shutdown is bad for Virginia.

The last one, in 2013, dragged on for 16 days, helping lift Democrat Terry McAuliffe to the governorship because congressional Republicans were seen as the heavies. The shutdown erased $217 million a day in federal and contractor wages in the D.C. area, alone. That includes Northern Virginia, the states economic engine.

The shutdown was a harbinger of something worse in 2014: mandatory, automatic and indiscriminate spending cuts, the fancy name of which is sequestration.

It drained $9 billion from the Virginia economy, erased thousands of high-dollar jobs, choked off tax revenue and blew a $2.4 billion hole in the state budget that wasnt fully closed until a year ago, largely with one-time emergency funds.

This body blow to Virginia could be inflicted again  and soon, though politicians and economists said Tuesday that they cant predict when, because Congress could do as its done before: delay the cuts.

The next bite to the budget would be far deeper than what it was nearly four years ago.

The consequences for Virginia  its budget, the tax collections on which it relies and the states ability to borrow money at the best rates  would be a test for its new Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, and its newly depleted Republican legislative majority.

Because of uncertainty over federal spending, one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, Standard & Poors, is slightly less bullish on Virginias economy, though its affirmed the states highest-possible, triple-A debt rating.

A shutdown has a human dimension, perhaps now overlooked, that would likely be most visible in areas of the state where prosperity is a rarity: the idle coalfields of Southwest Virginia, the shuttered factory towns of Southside and the grainary that is the Shenandoah Valley  all Republican strongholds.

A government shutdown is bad in many ways, but there are parts of our state that really need the federal government to be operating because of their health and welfare, said economist Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.

Among the federal programs on which residents in these regions often depend is the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.

Because the Republican-controlled Congress failed to reauthorize funding for CHIP in September, Virginia will lose about $80 million over three years. The state has scrounged up enough money to keep the program going through March.

A federally financed expansion of Medicaid, a health care program for the poor, to meet the coverage requirements of Obamacare is depicted by Northam  much as McAuliffe did  as a safety net for rural Virginians and the struggling hospitals on which they depend.

That was the heart of a nasty dust-up in the Virginia Senate Tuesday.

Democrats killed a licensing bill for a small Patrick County hospital, allegedly  according to its indignant sponsor, Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County  to force him to support Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid expansion, folded into McAuliffes farewell budget, also would free up more than $400 million for such goodies as education and public safety.

Tuesdays sniping wont help efforts at a bipartisan deal on Medicaid  McAuliffe and Republicans deadlocked on the proposal for four years. Nor will a government shutdown and the threat of sequestration.

Everything that alienates one party from the other makes it tougher to negotiate, said Hanger, who believes he can round up enough Republican votes to include a form of Medicaid expansion in the Senate rewrite of the two-year state budget.

House Republicans are promising to broaden health care, but arent saying  yet  whether theyll rely on Medicaid funds.

That Republican-dominated Washington is largely dysfunctional  and likely to remain so, at least for now  means that the federal government is an unreliable partner to the states.

In other words, legislators and gubernatorial aides would tell you, Virginia  where federal spending per person is higher than in any state except Alaska and where it accounts for at least one-quarter of the states economy  should be prepared to go it alone.

Referring to a possible shutdown, Del. Chris Jones of Suffolk, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and another of the increasingly scarce moderate Republicans, said, Its something we probably need to contemplate or look out for because it could be the space we occupy for the foreseeable future.

This is why, in addition to replenishing its mandatory emergency reserve, Virginia has established a supplemental cushion. Currently, it has $157 million. Over the life of the two-year budget that the General Assembly must approve this winter, it will swell to $400 million.

Tuesdays hissing match notwithstanding  there was Republican bleating over Northams State of the Commonwealth message and Democratic braying over committees killing or taking hostage prized bills  November was considered a wake-up call for Virginias politicians to find common ground.

So would another shutdown, auguring another sequestration.

Of the $90 billion that would be erased in the next sequestration  2014 saw about $56 billion in cuts  the majority would be in defense spending. That is likely to ripple through military-rich Hampton Roads, which has yet to recover from the previous cuts. Its work force has been shrinking since October.

Theres no reason why we shouldnt be able to work together now, but a shutdown would compound the urgency, said Brian Coy, Northams communications director. If we have one of these big federal spasms again, everyone is going to have to come to the table.

Perhaps easier said than done.
The first draft of next years Richmond Public Schools budget would give teachers raises and expand the divisions bilingual resources.

The draft was presented Tuesday, the start of a monthslong process to fund city schools. The proposed budget calls for a $9.4 million bump, or 3.2 percent, in the school divisions operating budget and totals $301.6 million.

Tuesday nights presentation to the full School Board started the process of review by the board before a budget is eventually approved and shipped over to the City Council and to Mayor Levar Stoney for final approval.

Here are some aspects of the proposed budget to know:

Salaries and benefits

The proposed budget calls for a 2 percent salary increase for all RPS employees. The raises would cost $3.8 million, part of a $4.5 million increase to salaries and benefits. Employees would also receive a 4 percent health care increase totaling $1.2 million.

The divisions Virginia Retirement System contribution would drop from 16.3 percent to 15.7 percent, a $500,000 change.

Cuts to downtown

The draft budget would eliminate 18 positions that are not related to instruction for a savings of $1.1 million. The total additional staffing cost is $500,000 because of the administrative job cuts.

Materials

The materials allocation per student would climb $50 under the proposed budget, a move that would cost $1 million on a recurring basis. This years budget process has included principals submitting requests for their individual school needs, including materials.

State funding

The division is not currently budgeting any additional money from the state to fund its costs because of changes to the Local Composite Index.

RPS is at risk of losing about $4 million per year if the changes come to fruition, but two local legislators have stepped in to try to salvage the damage to hold RPS harmless. Whether the division loses that money will be a key point in budget talks.

ESL staff

In the draft, 13 more English as a Second Language employees would be hired, including four teachers and nine ESL support staff. The additions would further expand the divisions ESL program, which grew to two middle schools and two high schools. The positions would cost $800,000.

A group of Latino RPS parents last month called on the division to add more bilingual resources, including eight additional support staff members.

The budget also calls for 10 more gifted education teachers at a cost of $800,000.

City funding and fund balance

To compensate for the lack of increase in state funding, the division is turning to the city and itself. The proposed budget asks the city for $5.9 million more and also calls for $3.5 million to be withdrawn from its $24.4 million general fund balance to help pay for the new programs and staffing.

Capital improvement plan

The $224.8 million facilities plan the School Board approved last month is part of the capital improvement plan included in the budget.

Much of the funding ($14 million) in fiscal year 2019 would go to HVAC units. The total capital improvement plan cost for next year is $31 million and included $2.6 million from the fund balance to be used on facilities.

Work on a new Greene Elementary School, Elkhardt-Thompson Middle School, George Wythe High School and George Mason Elementary School are slated to start during the next fiscal year, according to the facilities plan.

Next steps

The board will hold work sessions and a public hearing between now and the budgets approvals.

Parts of the budget will change during the review process.
One of the bigger, and more heartening, surprises of the past year was just how fervently it turned out that Americans supported health care for low-income people.

Republican politicians, after all, had been running against Obamacare  including its Medicaid expansion and income-based subsidies for buying insurance  from the moment the law passed. And the public appeared to back this agenda: The Affordable Care Act polled terribly.

Yet when push came to shove, and Republicans actually tried to dismantle the health care law last year, Americans fought back. Hard.

They marched in the streets. They showed up en masse to town halls, shaming and shouting down lawmakers. They jammed congressional offices and phone lines.

Even Trump voters, in focus groups, said they didnt want to roll back Medicaid or other health coverage for lower-income people. Mostly, they just wanted in on that sweet, sweet Medicaid deal themselves.

Likewise, in broader polling, a majority of Republicans held favorable views of Medicaid and wanted its funding to hold steady or increase. Sizable minorities even said they supported single-payer or a public option.

Clearly, Obamacare itself had a branding problem all these years, but on the more substantive question  whether it was governments role to make sure Americans had health care coverage  Democrats had won the fight.

Or so it seemed. Republican officials have, a bit less conspicuously than last summer, fought on.

Unable to roll back Obamacares health care expansion legislatively, theyre now doing so administratively, through a series of technical, boring-sounding regulatory changes.

This GOP effort ramped up last week, when the Trump administration began allowing states to erect new barriers to Medicaid eligibility.

In the half-century since Medicaid was first created, eligibility has always been based almost entirely on financial circumstances such as income and assets; the programs goal, after all, was to help less-well-off Americans obtain medical care. Last week, though, the Trump administration announced that it would start allowing states to impose other requirements on Medicaid recipients, including proof that they are working, looking for work, volunteering, or in school.

I was raised with a mindset to work, give an honest days work for an honest days pay, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said at a news conference announcing that his state was the first to receive a waiver allowing Medicaid work requirements. Its the very same thinking that we want to bring to people here in Kentucky that are able to participate.

But theres no reason to think, in Kentucky or other states itching to add work requirements, that there are legions of Medicaid loafers. Nearly 8 in 10 Medicaid-enrolled non-elderly adults already live in working families, and most (60 percent) are working themselves, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most who are not working report major impediments to their ability to get a job, such as illness, disability, school enrollment, or caregiving responsibilities.

But that wont necessarily protect eligible low-income people from being kicked off Medicaid rolls anyway.

Verifying that beneficiaries meet work requirements will impose a huge and costly new administrative burden on states, and also on the working poor. As the Trump administration letter approving Kentuckys work requirements acknowledged, the states Medicaid phone lines are already overwhelmed. If working Kentuckians are unable to cut through the red tape, they can get locked out of the system for six months.

The Trump administration argues, somewhat confusingly, that the new work requirements will actually improve public health. Why? Because theyll encourage more poor people to find jobs, and employed people tend to have fewer health problems.

This likely gets the causality backward, though, given how many Americans report illness as a barrier to getting or keeping a job.

Focus groups and state-level studies have found that Obamacares Medicaid expansion helped lower-income people gain work or remain employed; inversely, reducing long-term access to physical, mental and substance-abuse treatment is likely to hurt both health and employment prospects.

If the Trump administration truly wants to help more Americans find jobs  a goal that both parties can surely get behind  there are far more effective tools than taking away health care. Investing in skills, apprenticeships, and job-matching services, for instance. Or expanding the earned-income tax credit, a historically bipartisan program curiously absent from the recent tax bill.

Instead, theyre still fixated on dismantling Obamacare, through this backdoor regulatory repeal.

Republicans are counting on the notion that a raft of wonkish-sounding waivers  unlike last years splashy, failed Trumpcare legislation  will inspire no riots in the streets, no rowdy town halls, no phone-line-jamming, and no mass mobilization to protect health care for the nations most vulnerable.

Who wants to prove them wrong?
Americans should want

to immigrate to Norway

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

President Trump asked two wrong questions during his much-publicized Oval Office meeting on Thursday. The real question he should have asked is, Why would anyone from Norway want to live in the United States?

Norway ranked fourth in the most recent rankings of Happiest Places on Earth to Live by National Geographic and first in the United Nations World Happiness Report (spoiler alert: the United States was, again, not in the top 10), and has held the top spot in the past. It combines a market-style economy with the typical Scandinavian-style welfare model, including universal health care and a comprehensive social security system.

Norway has the fourth highest per capita income, according to the World Bank. Norway has held the highest spot in the Human Development Index ranking since 2009, it held that same place in 2001 and 2006, and it has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking. It is ranked first in the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity, and the Democracy Index.

Why would someone from Norway want to immigrate to the United States? That is the question Trump should have asked.

Thomas Cox.
Snow is starting to wind down just to the west of Richmond, but light flakes should appear on-and-off through 8 p.m.

The tail end of this snow won't add much more to the 2 to 4 inches already on the ground in the metro area.

Towns to the southwest like Crewe and Clarksville have already reported 6 inches as of 3:00 p.m.

Snow will be heaviest across the Tidewater region this evening as the system makes more progress to the east.

Tonight will be breezy and colder with clouds gradually thinning out.

Dropping temperatures could make the wet roads turn icy in spots tonight.

Temperatures will sink through the 20s this evening down to a low in the upper teens by dawn on Thursday, though the wind will be less of a factor by the morning.

Thursday will be clear and cool with an afternoon high in the lower 40s.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Falls Stamping and Welding has so far come up well short of the economic boon the company promised Pulaski in 2013, but an upcoming expansion is set to boost employment and bring the plant closer to meeting its full potential.

The company, which fills the old Renfro sock factory in Pulaski, now employs 15 people at the facility. But that number is set to swell to 55 employees as a new manufacturer  owned by the same parent company  is moving in to share the space, Falls executive Jason Taft said.

Its an improvement, but still comes in below the 112 jobs the company anticipated when it was championed as one of the largest economic development wins the town had seen in years.

Taft said Falls, which builds metal parts for the large Volvo Trucks plant down the road, is reliant on the truck market. When production there slowed over the past couple of years, he said, projects the company had been banking on failed to materialize and the old Renfro building remained largely unused.

Five years after first coming to town, the company had hired about 13 percent of the workforce it had anticipated.

Falls received an incentive package worth $350,000 in 2013, contingent on hitting investment and hiring milestones.

By the time it became clear it wouldnt hit the employment goal and would need to pay back the taxpayer-funded incentive, Taft said he was already working on other ways to use the facility.

Instead of paying back the entire grant, Falls and Pulaski County worked out an agreement.

Falls was in the process of acquiring Holbrook, Massachusetts-based Newcan Corporation. The company agreed to move that corporate headquarters into the old Renfro building, bringing about 40 jobs to the area.

It would also refund $43,000 of the incentive grant, which was half locally funded and half from the states Governors Opportunity Fund.

Falls would be allowed to keep the remaining $307,000, this time under the condition that it grows employment from 15 to 55 workers.

The company has until December to hit the milestone. If it comes up short again, the county could again pursue repayment.

Pulaski County economic development director Michael Solomon said the arrangement works well for all sides. Falls doesnt have to refund all the money, and Pulaski gets the jobs and investment it was hoping for all along.

I feel like its a real success because nobody has given up, Solomon said.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which administers state incentive grants, has drawn harsh criticism for  among other issues  failing to enforce grant repayments when companies fall short of promised milestones.

The agency has recently adopted new policies and has more aggressively pursued refunds.

While Falls and Pulaski County were able to come to an amicable resolution, the same cannot be said for nearby Grede Radford LLC. VEDP has demanded repayment there since 2015, and is considering legal action.

Taft said hes not worried about the new employment target. Newcan Corporation, which makes parts for automotive oil filters and other applications, is an expensive operation for the Boston area.

He said the intention all along has been to move, and now the company has a facility ready to go in Virginia.

All of Newcans employees have been offered positions in Pulaski, though the company anticipates the majority will be new hires.

Newcan will operate as an entirely separate business from Falls, though they will share a factory and management team.

Taft said the Holbrook lease runs out in August, so the move will happen quickly.

In todays competitive market, I commend Falls Stamping and Welding for the innovation and vision to expand its current capabilities with a new business unit, Gov. Ralph Northam said in a Wednesday news release. A key aspect of strengthening our economy is ensuring that existing companies of all sizes continue to thrive in the Commonwealth.
The University of Virginia has awarded more undergraduate degrees nearly every year since 2011, the year then-Gov. Bob McDonnell signed the Top Jobs Act. And a strong application cycle puts UVa on track to enroll even more Virginians, officials say.

In 2011, UVa committed to growing enrollment by nearly 1,200 in-state undergraduates through the fall of 2018, according to spokesman Anthony de Bruyn. In the fall of 2011, UVa enrolled 10,132 undergraduate Virginians, according to data from the Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies. In the fall of 2017, there were 11,118 in-state undergraduates enrolled  the most in the schools history  and officials say the numbers for 2018 are promising.

That could help correct a dip in bachelors degrees awarded.

The university is focusing more attention on high-achieving, underserved high school students, whether in rural Virginia or the center of the District of Columbia, according to Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts.

UVa is a public, flagship university, but its admissions reps travel with the likes of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Wellesley. Roberts said UVa does a four-week whirlwind tour with other elite schools every fall to meet face-to-face with high-achieving students.

We find it beneficial, because we get to hear from students who might not have heard from us but who are interested in schools like ours, Roberts said.

Despite the universitys overall graduation goal, Roberts said his staff doesnt shoot for particular enrollment or degree completion targets when they reach out to prospective students.

However, the office does consider a students ability to succeed, he said.

We only offer admission to students who we believe are capable of academic success at UVa, Roberts said. The graduation rate at UVa is among the best in the country, so I believe we are making sound decisions.

Archie Holmes, vice provost for academic affairs, said UVa has increased the number of in-state first-years by 14 percent over the past five years.

Even though the number of high school graduates in the commonwealth is now growing slower than in past years, the number of in-state applicants to UVa remains high, Holmes said. For most high school students in the commonwealth, the University of Virginia is one of their top schools, if not the top one.

UVa also has continued to add to its advising services, Holmes said, which may help those in-state students remain in school and graduate. 

Virginias public and private colleges and universities combined have awarded the most bachelors degrees in the states history for two years running, according to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. That number includes state records for the number of science, technology, engineering, math and health degrees awarded.

The commonwealth needs a well-educated workforce to succeed in the world economy, Peter Blake, director of the council, said in a news release. Virginians need to keep their skills sharp to succeed in work and life. For all these reasons, The Virginia Plan sets a goal for Virginia to become the best-educated state by 2030. These results show we are on the way.

In 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked Virginia eighth in its listing of the best-educated states.

Virginia and UVas initiative comes amid more competition for prospective students at universities across the country.

Nationally, the number of births and high school graduates is expected to decline. Much of that decline is concentrated in the Midwest, as well as the Northeast, where UVa historically has recruited a large share of out-of-state students.

Over the long term, the number of high school graduates in Virginia could decline, as well, according to Hamilton Lombard, a research specialist at the Demographic Research Group at UVas Weldon Cooper Center.

It would be interesting to see whether UVa managed to increase enrollment as much as it planned to over the past few years despite Virginias slowdown in high school graduate growth and the national decline in graduates, Lombard said. That may provide some ideas on what may happen to UVas undergraduate enrollment when the number of high school graduates starts to decline in Virginia around 2026.

Still, Lombard said, as more high school students take advanced classes and become more academically competitive, even with fewer graduates UVa still might find an increasing share of students who are good fits for its programs.

Last week, UVa said it has a record number of applicants for the third year running. An increasing number of minority and first-generation students applied for the Class of 2023, according to a news release from the university.

In the fall, a decline in early action applications from African-American students was attributed to the violent white supremacist rallies in August. UVa said that while applications from African-Americans remained down during the rest of the application cycle, this years total remains the second-highest in university history.

Darden, the universitys graduate business school, reported a decline in overall applications in its early round.
PLATTSMOUTH  An Iowa man will spend time in state prison for stealing items from garages and vehicles in Cedar Creek last spring.

Emerson, Iowa, resident Bubba D. Mitchell, 23, appeared in Cass County District Court Tuesday afternoon for a sentencing hearing. Mitchell pled guilty in November to one Class IIA felony charge of burglary. The state dismissed an additional burglary charge and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest as part of a plea bargain.

Two Cass County Sheriffs Office deputies went to Cedar Creek March 4 after receiving reports of a suspicious person in the area. They found Mitchell walking on Platteview Road in town and began talking with him. They soon became suspicious about his behavior and asked to search his coat. They found a pair of stolen sunglasses and items such as cell phones, watches and jewelry.

Deputies began contacting other Cedar Creek citizens to see if they had noticed any break-ins on their properties. They discovered Mitchell had entered several garages and vehicles in the community. Many of the garages and vehicles had been unlocked at the time.

Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde told the court a prison sentence was appropriate due to the nature of the offense and Mitchells criminal record. He said Mitchell had served 40 days in jail in Iowa for a possession of methamphetamine charge in 2015. He spent 30 days in jail in Nebraska in 2017 for assaulting a law enforcement officer. Fedde said he was also charged with criminal impersonation in 2017 for providing a false identification.

Defense attorney Michael Ziskey asked the court to issue probation in the case. He said his client had been employed for the past four months and was the sole financial provider for his child. Ziskey said he also felt Mitchell had taken responsibility for his behavior.

Judge Michael Smith said he somewhat agreed with Ziskeys assertion that the crimes were closer to theft than burglary because Mitchell had not broken into a house. He said that was not enough to cancel out the fact that Mitchell had stolen multiple items at several locations in Cedar Creek. He also said probation was not a sufficient consequence for Mitchells actions.

I know defendants sometimes think they are getting off light when they receive probation, but that isnt the case at all, particularly in drug cases, Smith said. There are a lot of office visits, drug tests and treatment requirements that come with probation, so it requires a great deal of work to complete it successfully.

In this case though, if I give probation to you, it may be perceived correctly as getting off light. The risk is also substantial that you would engage in additional criminal conduct if placed on probation. Therefore, its necessary that you receive a prison sentence.

Smith ordered Mitchell to serve a term of six to 18 months in the Nebraska Department of Corrections. He also ordered him to pay all court costs and $300 in restitution for a stolen camera.
The Buchanan Town Council appointed local resident Craig Bryant as mayor Tuesday.

Bryant currently serves as the patient transportation coordinator for Carilion Clinic and as the volunteer fire chief for Buchanan.

Bryant will be taking over as mayor following former Mayor Larry Halls resignation, which took effect Dec. 1.

Hall announced his resignation at the Nov. 27 town council meeting to the shock of the other council members. He had served as mayor of Buchanan for six years, but said controversies in the town were causing his wife to become ill.

The town council faced a tumultuous 2017 with not only Halls resignation but also the loss of their town manager.

Former Town Manager Mary Zirkle resigned when the council voted to uphold a rule in the town charter that required the town manager to live in Buchanan.

Zirkle was commuting from her farm in Bedford County and owned a second home in town.

This and other controversies required at one point last year a mediator to assist with strained relations on the council. This year, its members say, they want to move forward.

Weve opened up communication within this council, Vice Mayor James Manspile said to about 30 residents gathered at Tuesdays meeting. Thats what wed like to see continue.

The council interviewed three candidates for the mayoral position. If the council didnt appoint a new mayor within 60 days following the resignation of the previous mayor, the decision would have gone to a circuit court judge.

Weve shouldered this burden, Manspile said. We wanted to make this decision ourselves.

At Tuesdays meeting, the council also officially appointed an interim town manager, Jon Ellestad, who agreed to take the position at the end of last year. Ellestad will serve as the town manager until the council appoints a new one this year.

Bryant will serve as mayor until the end of the year, when Halls term would have originally ended.

I have an interest in serving the community in a big picture sense, Bryant said following the meeting Tuesday. I want to move my town forward.
RICHMOND  After the violent deaths of WDBJ reporting duo Alison Parker and Adam Ward, Del. Chris Hurst has introduced legislation that he hopes will reduce similar incidents of workplace violence.

Hurst, D-Blacksburg, introduced a measure to grant civil immunity to employers who share information about violent acts or threats made by current or former employees to potential employers or law enforcement.

His bill would also grant civil immunity to employers who take such information into consideration when making hiring decisions.

Under the bill, a job candidate could not sue a current, former or prospective employer for sharing information about that candidates previous violent or threatening behavior or for taking a persons violent history into account when making hiring decisions.

It was not known by WDBJ what kinds of behavior Alison and Adams killer had demonstrated at other, prior television stations, Hurst said. It was only after the fact, by reporting from journalists, that we began to get a more complete picture of his employment history and the aggressive or violent behaviors that he displayed at other TV stations across the country.

Hurst, a former WDBJ (Channel 7) anchor and reporter, began dating and fell in love with Parker when he worked for the local news station. His campaign for elected office stemmed in part from wanting to honor his late girlfriend with action.

Former WDBJ reporter Vester Flanagan shot and killed Parker and Ward in 2015 during a live television interview at Smith Mountain Lake  an incident that stemmed from Flanagans pent-up anger about his former colleagues.

Flanagan was hired by WDBJ in 2012 and fired the following year. When he was fired, he caused a disturbance at WDBJ and was escorted out of the building by law enforcement, but that wasnt the only time he displayed erratic behavior.

A few months after Flanagan was hired, then-WDBJ news director Dan Dennison discussed with Flanagan three separate incidents in which his co-workers felt uncomfortable or threatened by his behavior, according to court documents.

Flanagan quickly gathered a reputation as someone who was difficult to work with, said Jeff Marks, WDBJ president and manager after the 2015 shooting.

Flanagan later sued WDBJ, but the lawsuit was dismissed in July 2014.

In 2000, Flanagan filed a similar discrimination lawsuit against the television station where he worked in Tallahassee.

Flanagan had a troubled employment history that WDBJ was unaware of when the Roanoke TV station hired him.

He worked at stations in San Francisco; Tallahassee, Florida; Greenville, North Carolina; Midland, Texas; and Savannah, Georgia.

Hursts HB 1457 would allow hiring managers to frankly discuss job candidates with their current or former employers. If the law had been on the books beforehand, Flanagan may have never been hired at WDBJ, Hurst has argued.

Ive been talking to a lot of hiring managers in the years since Adam and Alison were killed and theyll tell you that they are afraid to talk about anything else other than dates of employment for fear of being sued, Hurst said.

U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte introduced similar legislation in Congress in the wake of the shooting, but his bill never became law.

A gun violence prevention advocate, Hurst has said he does not blame firearms for his girlfriends death. Stricter gun laws would not have prevented her death because Flanagan obtained his weapon legally, Hurst has said.

The freshman lawmaker has not introduced any gun reform legislation.
Cutting and reforming taxes is key to growing Nebraska. Over the years, together, the Legislature and I have done the hard work needed to hold the line on taxes. Additionally, we have worked together to deliver over $840 million in property tax relief over four years.

While this is significant, Im continuing to make tax relief a top priority. Throughout the state, Senators and I hear stories of how high taxes are hurting Nebraskans. Theres one story that has really stuck with me: This fall, a farmer approached me at an event to let me know that his high property taxes had driven him to sell his farm, leave Nebraska, and move to Missouri.

Stories like this are reflected in how Nebraska ranks on taxes nationally. The Tax Foundation ranks Nebraskas property taxes as 11th highest in the nation, which is the worst among surrounding states. The only surrounding state with an income tax higher than ours is Iowa. Right now, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and their Legislature are lowering their taxes. Additionally, Missouri just lowered their tax rates this month.

If we are going to remain competitive, Nebraska must take action to deliver tax relief for our farmers, ranchers, home owners, and small businesses. To accomplish this, Revenue Chairman Jim Smith and I are proposing the Nebraska Property Tax Cuts and Opportunity Act. This bill reforms our tax code to focus existing property tax relief on Nebraskans, fits within our existing budget, and sets up the state for future relief as our states economy grows. Our proposal has three major components.

First, property tax relief is the number one priority. Our proposal reforms how the state delivers property tax relief, and sets the state up to provide additional major relief in future years. The Nebraska Property Tax Cuts and Opportunity Act restructures existing property tax credits as a new refundable credit on state taxes, which ensures that Nebraskansnot out-of-state landownersreceive the credits. The credit will refund 10 percent of the property taxes paid by Nebraskans on residential or agricultural land. For residential property, the proposal focuses the relief on the average Nebraska homeowner.

Our proposal also provides for major additional relief in future years as the state grows. Every year that revenue exceeds budgeted receipts by one percent, well increase the tax credit until it reaches 30 percent of the property taxes paid by Nebraskans. Over the next 10 years, we expect our proposal would provide over $4 billion in property tax relief for farmers and ranchers as well as home owners. This is major relief that is achieved without raising taxes.

Second, our proposal brings down income tax rates to help put more money back into the pockets of families and small businesses. Right now, 90 percent of individual income taxes paid by Nebraskans are at that top individual rate, and 90 percent of Nebraska businesses pay at the top individual rate. Lowering these rates will lower the burden on small businesses that drive our economy, and help attract new opportunities.

Finally, our proposal provides for an additional $10 million over two years for workforce development. Job training dollars can help us connect more Nebraskans to great opportunities and others looking for a different career.

The Nebraska Property Tax Cuts and Opportunity Act is a framework that can help bring people together to get tax reform done this legislative session. Senator Smith and I will continue to work with senators and other groups seeking tax relief. Pro-growth Senators, groups, and everyone involved will all need to be open to compromise as we work together. It will need to be a bipartisan effort for the good of our entire state.

If you want to see tax relief this legislative session, I encourage you to reach out to your Senator, and encourage them to support the Property Tax Cuts and Opportunity Act. You can find your Senator and their contact information by visiting www.NebraskaLegislature.gov. As always, we also wants to hear your ideas and priorities. You can call my office at 402-471-2244 or email pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov.
MCLEAN, Va. - Patricia Cooper's father was sliding toward death more quickly than anyone had anticipated. His only hope of surviving liver disease was a transplant, which his doctors agreed was all but a fantasy. In a nation with a severe shortage of donor livers, Wayne Cooper was too far down the list to have any chance of receiving one.

At his home in McLean, Virginia, the 70-year-old was losing weight quickly. He slept all day. Patricia, an immigration attorney in Miami, called frequently. "He was too tired to hold the phone," she said.

On Dec. 5, Patricia donated more than half her liver to her father, an obstetrician who 34 years earlier had personally brought her into this world.

"It wasn't even a choice. It's my dad. Of course I'm going to do this," she said. "I knew the mental anguish of him dying and me thinking I could have done something to save his life was going to be worse than any physical pain."

Though living-donor liver transplants have been performed in the United States for nearly three decades, they are still rare. In 2016, 345 of the 7,841 livers used in transplants came from living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates transplant lists. U.S. hospitals more commonly use living donors for kidney transplants. Elsewhere, including Turkey and South Korea, live donors are the standard for liver transplants.

In 2016, more than 14,000 people were on waiting lists for livers across this country. About 1,000 die each year because organs aren't found in time.

The critical difference in live-liver donation is that, unlike other organs, livers regenerate. If the donor and recipient match in a variety of ways, surgeons can take a portion of a donor's liver and transplant it, skipping what can be a years-long wait for a cadaver liver that too often ends in a patient's death.

Yet living-donor transplants expose two people - one of them perfectly healthy - to the rigors and risks of major surgery.

"This is one of the few transplants we do where you could have two people die instead of one person die," said Rolf Barth, director of liver transplantation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, who participated in the surgeries on the Coopers.

They had been turned down by at least one other program, which considered their case too risky. Wayne's age put him near the limit that many physicians will consider for a transplant. He also has diabetes and, most important, heart problems that make liver surgery difficult.

Not long before the operation, doctors had to insert a stent to keep a coronary artery open, something that normally would have put him on blood thinners for six months and precluded surgery. Instead, they used a new kind of device that requires only six weeks of blood thinners.

"We've been a little more expansive in tackling difficult cases," Barth said.

The family's discussion started last summer after Patricia Cooper, the oldest of three children, remembered writing stories for her high school newspaper about a classmate who received a kidney transplant. As she began to bring herself up to date on transplantation, she came across information on living donation.

Her father rejected the idea, until she pointed out that he would have done anything to help his own father, who died at 58 of heart disease.

"She's a lawyer," Wayne Cooper said. "She's good with words. So she turned the tables on me."

Once it was clear that their blood types matched, the family discussed the possibility with one of the transplant centers where Wayne was being evaluated. The main concern was the disparity in their body sizes: Patricia's liver had to be large enough to provide an organ for her father and still leave her with adequate liver function during recuperation. The doctors there said she was too small. The wait for a cadaver liver resumed.

Then Cooper and his wife, Bonnie, brought up the idea of living donation at the end of a conversation with Barth and John LaMattina, director of the medical school's living-donor liver transplantation program. The surgeons were intrigued and began checking into the possibilities.

By October, Wayne was growing sicker and could barely eat. "I knew he was not going to get a cadaver [liver]," Patricia said. "He was going to die of malnutrition in a month or two. I just wanted to give him the chance to live."

The doctors modeled the two livers before surgery. But nothing is ever certain until they see inside the patients. Patricia's liver required an unusual amount of microsurgery to connect to her father's bile ducts and arteries.

On the day of the operations at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the two were placed in adjacent rooms. LaMattina and another surgeon began removing the lobe of Patricia's liver. About 90 minutes later, Barth and a fourth surgeon began preparing Wayne to receive the transplant. Timing was critical to minimizing how long the organ was outside both bodies. In between, it was stored in a cold solution.

Patricia gave her father the entire right lobe of her liver, about 59 percent of its total volume, LaMattina said. Typically, the lobe is between 60 and 70 percent of a donor's liver volume. He said studies suggest the organ grows to most of its original volume - in both donor and recipient - within two months.

In Maryland's program, which does about a dozen live-liver transplants each year, recipients fare as well or slightly better than people who receive cadaver livers, Barth and LaMattina said. The same is true nationally, according to UNOS data. Research has not shown a large impact on living donors, though a small number have suffered complications.

Today, Wayne Cooper is recovering well at home. He is on immunosuppressants so that his body doesn't reject his daughter's organ, and he takes about 20 pills a day, including diabetes and heart medications. The twin surgeries cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, most of which will be covered by Medicare.

Cooper and the doctors expect that he will die one day of something other than liver disease.

"We tell all our patients that's our goal - that they would die of old age in their sleep," LaMattina said.

Patricia recently returned to work part time. A competitive swimmer, she is suffering most from fatigue and the incision made in the thick muscles of her abdomen.

"When these [surgeries] go well, they are wonderful, wonderful things," LaMattina said. "This is a story about the donor. The donor is going through something they don't need; that's a big deal, that's a risk, to do something for someone they care about."
Harry Truman once wrote, If you can read this, thank a teacher.

If President Truman had lived in Cass County, he might have revised the quotation to say, If you can read this, thank Alyce Green.

Green is one of those people that deserve the adoration of a hero, yet would shun even the smallest form of personal praise.

I know this for a fact, because a few years ago I was asked by a couple of people to write a story about this humble and kind woman, and my first response was, You know shes not going to like this.

With firm resolve, however, I called her and basically presented the idea of a story about her using my this-is-an-offer-Im-not-going-to-let-you-refuse voice.

Her response was, Do you really have to?

Yes, I have people who have asked me to write it.

I suppose, but please dont go overboard with it.

Sorry, Alyce. But as the saying goes, That just aint going to happen.

There are few people who come anywhere close to deserving praise and adoration than Alyce. After attending Normal Training at Peru College, she started to teach at a country school near Papillion. She later taught in La Platte, Cedar Creek and, of course, Plattsmouth Community Schools.

She was a top-notch teacher through and through and clear to what I imagine to be the last days of her life.

Alyce retired from earning a salary teaching in a public school in 1991, years before I first met her some 10 to 14 years ago. And yet, retirement never stopped her from being a teacher.

I would see her in downtown Plattsmouth getting out of her car  with difficulty sometimes  and walking to the courthouse where she taught GED classes for many years. A few times I offered to help her, but she didnt want the help. Even if it took her a few minutes to get to her feet and make her way to the courthouse, she wanted to get there herself without anyone taking pity on her.

I always paled a little when I came across her, because she was everything I had ever wanted to be  kind, respected and unselfish. There isnt a brighter star in Hollywood than this simple, devoted and amazing woman even though she liked to hide her light under the proverbial basket.

Occasionally, throughout the past years, she would call me and suggest I put something in the newspaper like the latest phone scam preying on elderly people or some other bit of news that might help the readers.

She read the newspaper and often commented on the stories. She was a longtime friend of The Journal, because she thoroughly understood how important it is to keep abreast of what goes on in the community you live in order to understand it and how to help it.

Alyce also wanted others to have the gift of reading, so they could explore worlds they might never visit, develop a need to understand issues from many perspectives and improve their employment opportunities.

She didnt care if you came from the right or wrong side of the tracks.

She just wanted to empower people with the skills she knew how to teach. If we were all more like Alyce, this world would be a heaven on earth.

Unfortunately, she was a rarity, and in many ways like the virtuous woman as described in Psalm 31 whose price was above rubies.

In 2015, she was presented a National Community Service Award for her volunteer work. She received the award during a Cass County Retired Educators meeting.

The write-up I received about the award noted that Alyce volunteers many hours gathering clothing, food and books to have transported to the Stephen Center in Omaha.

Her philosophy on life was simple and giving, If you see someone has a need, help them. I try to do the best I can.

Alyce was patient and unjudgmental, qualities that made her success as a teacher and as a human being. It doesnt seem that long ago that I saw her at the local thrift store. She was with her daughter, and the three of us chatted for a few minutes before going on with our shopping.

Today, while loading stories onto The Journals website, I noticed Alyces obituary at the top of the page.

My heart sunk to my toes. Even though we know none of us will live forever, I guess I didnt think she would be taken away so soon at age 88.

We all need people like Alyce to live an eternity. Because its people like her that make life better, easier, brighter.

So if you can read this, just remember, thank a teacher.

Thank Alyce Green for giving you a skill that will last your lifetime.
Things are picking up at the legislature in its second week as we began floor debate and continued introduction of new legislation for this session.

Over 300 new bills have already been introduced this session and more are expected until the deadline for new bill introduction on Thursday, Jan. 18.

The legislature began discussion this week of carry-over bills from last session including one of my own bills LB177. LB177 was a bill I introduced last year on behalf of the Department of Motor Vehicles which would make necessary updates to portions of DMV statutes. LB177 advanced to select file.

One 2018 senator priority bill has already been debated this session. LB368, a bill introduced by Senator Lowe last session was reprioritized this year by Senator Krist. LB368 would repeal the helmet law for motorcycle riders. After several hours of discussion on the bill LB368 failed to advance.

The Governor delivered the State of the State Address to the Legislature on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The Governor reported that the state of Nebraska is strong and growing and highlighted economic development projects, international trade deals, and legislation aimed at streamlining government. The Governor also unveiled his new budget and tax plans which include a focus on property tax relief. The Governors proposal will be one of several property tax relief bills that the legislation will look at this session.

Committee hearings start next week on legislation introduced this session as new bills will begin to move through the legislative process. I remain on the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee as well as Vice Chair of the Natural Resource Committee.

The legislature did not meet Monday, Jan. 15 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and reconvened on Tuesday, Jan. 16. I look forward to continuing to work on legislation and issues that affect Nebraskans and constituents of District 23 this year and will keep everyone updated throughout the session.
As the 2018 election cycle approaches, saturating airwaves and stuffing mailboxes with campaign advertisements, a Nebraska state senator is pushing for greater transparency and accountability for candidate-specific materials.

Introduced by Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue, LB839 reworks a bill she introduced last year requiring additional reporting by individuals and organizations buying ads and sending mailers that name specific candidates.

It would require any person who buys more than $250 of campaign commercials, flyers or other electioneering communication materials in the 60 days leading up to an election to report to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

Details regarding who paid for the advertisement or mailer, how much was paid, how it was distributed and the subject targeted by it would be included in the report.

I think its an important issue for us to continue to refine and examine and push, Crawford said.

Last year, the Bellevue senator introduced a similar measure that would have required organizations purchasing campaign materials to disclose the name, address, occupation, employer, and principal place of business of each person who contributed.

That drew opposition from organizations such as Americans for Prosperity, who said the bill would have chilled the free speech of Nebraskans who wished to donate to political causes without fear of reprisal. The bill did not advance out of committee.

But Crawford took that debate from the Legislatures Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee and revised the bill, removing the requirements for organizations to report details about their donors.

The bill attempts to address key concerns the committee members raised, she said, So its my hope they will recognize that and recognize this as an important issue in terms of making sure our election laws are ones that encourage transparency and fair elections.

The call to pull back the curtain a little further on campaign spending began after three incumbent state senators were targeted by advertising campaigns originating beyond Nebraskas borders in 2016.

Former state Sens. Les Seiler of Hastings, Al Davis of Hyannis and Jerry Johnson of Wahoo said so-called dark money campaign materials lied about their voting records and distorted their activities within the Legislature.

For example, one ad stated Seiler had not been present for 75 percent of the hearings for the Judiciary Committee, the committee he chaired, when in fact he had missed only one meeting.

Jack Gould of Common Cause Nebraska said ads targeting Republican senators who had voted to override vetoes cast by Gov. Pete Ricketts were just the latest examples of why more transparency is necessary in the states campaign spending.

I think most of the public is sick and tired of the attack ads and the lies, Gould said. We pride ourselves on being a democracy, but if we allow people to run money through nonprofits and attack candidates without identifying themselves, we run the risk of becoming a plutocracy.

The concern is that wealthy people can run money through these kinds of groups without any accountability, tell lies, attack people and then win in the end by destroying things they dont particularly like, Gould added.

Americans for Prosperity said Crawfords latest bill continues to infringe upon free speech rights of organizations to communicate with the public regarding public policy and the issue positions of elected officials.

It is imperative in a representative democracy that the free exercise of political speech should not be infringed, said Brad Stevens, the regional director. LB839 is broadly written in a way that would not only ensnare organizations but also private individuals from freely expressing their opinions.

Crawford said the difference in this bill is that it does not require individuals who donate to organizations to be identified  only the organizations or individuals who purchase campaign ads targeting specific senators.

LB839 will go back before the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee for a hearing, although no date has been set.
(vedomosti.ru) - Russias Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) asked the Ministry of Finance to amend the terms of the ALROSA gas assets auction. The body cannot continue its examination of these terms after Rosneft has withdrawn its complaint, head of the FAS Igor Artemyev told TASS.

"Given that the Ministry of Finance is in charge of ALROSA, we exchanged views while the complaint was still in progress. We asked the Ministry if they, being the supervising body of the company, can induce ALROSA to change some conditions of the auction," - he explained.

FAS most likely will approve all applications for ALROSA gas assets auction. The regulator may say no to Gazprom only, as "it doesn't need any more (assets) though it does not participate (in the auction) either."

The representative of the Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the current statement by Artemyev, but recalled that initially the terms of the ALROSA auction were agreed with the supervisory board of the company, which includes, among others, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

On January 12, Rosneft withdrew a complaint against ALROSA's action from FAS. Under the law, the oil producer is not entitled to file a complaint on auction results.




The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is probing the countrys former mines minister Walter Chidhakwa over diamonds that allegedly disappeared from Government vaults during his stint at the ministry.

State-owned weekly, The Sunday Mail, quoted unnamed Zacc investigators as saying that Chidhakwa would be soon questioned on the missing stones.

The former mines minister was recently arrested for criminal abuse of office.

He allegedly dissolved the MMCZ board in December 2013 in a corrupt manner and appointed former permanent secretary in his ministry, Professor Gudyanga, to act as the sole board member until 2016.

Gudyanga, who was also arrested on the same charges, later claimed $28 910 in sitting fees when no board was in existence.

Chidhakwa should answer pertinent questions about diamonds which were stolen from the vaults. People are making noise about the so-called missing $15 billion, but we have unearthed that some diamonds were stolen when mining operations were consolidated, said a top Zacc investigator, who preferred anonymity.

The value of the stolen diamonds could not immediately be established.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Signet Jewelers holiday sales fell 3% as issues relating to outsourcing its credit transactions adversely impacted the business.

Signet in October sold its prime credit program to Alliance Data Systems for $960 million, meaning that credit purchases were now outsourced to the third party rather than extended by Signet. However, disruptions in the system, primarily at its Kay Jewelers stores, put a dent in the important holiday period.

Signets total sales came to $1.88 billion, while same-store sales declined 5.3% for the nine-week period that ended December 30.

During the holiday season, we made positive progress on our strategic priorities, offset primarily by the negative impact of the credit-outsourcing transition, as evident [from] the mixed performance across our banners and channels, said Signet CEO Virginia Drosos.

Sales at the Sterling Jewelers division, which consists of Kay and Jared, slid 4.5% to $1.15 billion, and same-store sales dropped 8.5%. Its UK division also disappointed, with sales down 4% to $177.1 million and same-store sales slumping 10.3%.

Signets strongest performer was its Zale division, where sales rose 1% to $556.2 million, and same-store sales increased 4%, thanks to a strong performance in bridal and fashion jewelry, the company noted. Its e-commerce business jumped 48% to $210.5 million, driven by the addition of James Allen, which the company acquired earlier in the year.




Today's Daily Dose brings you news about Juno's suitor; Eiger's failed LIBERTY trial; encouraging hepatocellular carcinoma trial data of Ipsen and Exelixis; MiMedx's progress in recalcitrant plantar fasciitis pain trial; positive FDA feedback related to the design of Athenex's breast cancer trial; MabVax's clinical trial catalysts to watch out for this quarter, and Merck's encouraging data from its KEYNOTE-189 trial.

Read on

Athenex Inc. (ATNX) has received positive feedback from the FDA on the design of the currently ongoing phase III trial for Oraxol in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The trial is investigating the superiority of Oraxol over intravenous Paclitaxel.

The Company has been informed that if the study meets the primary endpoint with an acceptable Benefit/Risk profile, it could be adequate as a single comparative trial to support registration of Oraxol for a metastatic breast cancer indication in the United States.

The study is designed to enroll 360 patients. The study has completed the first of two planned interim analyses, and the second interim analysis based on 180 evaluable patients is planned for the middle of 2018.

ATNX closed Tuesday's trading at $15.95, up 0.50%.

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. (EIGR) slumped more than 49% on Tuesday, following disappointing data from a phase II study of Ubenimex in pulmonary arterial hypertension, dubbed LIBERTY.

The LIBERTY study demonstrated no improvement overall or in key subgroups for both the primary efficacy endpoint of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and the secondary endpoint of 6-minute walk distance (6MWD).

Ubenimex is also being explored as a potential treatment for lymphedema, and a phase II study in this indication, dubbed ULTRA, is ongoing. Data from this study are expected in the second half of 2018.

EIGR closed Tuesday's trading at $8.10, down 49.37%. In after-hours, the stock fell another 1.85% to $7.95.

Ipsen (IPSEY) and Exelixis Inc. (EXEL) announced that their pivotal phase III trial of Cabozantinib, demonstrated significant overall survival benefit in patients with previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

In the trial, dubbed CELESTIAL, the median overall survival was 10.2 months with Cabozantinib versus 8.0 months with placebo. The median progression-free survival more than doubled, at 5.2 months with Cabozantinib and 1.9 months with placebo.

Cabozantinib, under brand name Cabometyx, is approved for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The drug is not approved for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

EXEL closed Tuesday's trading at $29.65, down 2.40%. In after-hours, the stock was up 2.53% to $30.40.

Shares of Juno Therapeutics Inc. (JUNO) soared nearly 43% in extended trading on Tuesday, following reports that the Company could be acquired by Celgene Corp. (CELG).

Juno's lead CAR-T therapy candidate is JCAR017, and it is under phase I/II testing in Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Juno has a ten-year collaboration in place with Celgene that was inked in June 2015, to advance potentially groundbreaking immunotherapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Last month, the Company announced updated data from TRANSCEND study, a phase 1 trial evaluating JCAR017 in adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma Grade 3B, and mantle cell lymphoma.

According to the updated data, at Dose level 2 (DL2 = 100 million cells), the 3-month overall response rate (ORR) was 74% and 3-month complete response (CR) rate was 68%. Of patients that have reached 6 months of follow-up, 50% were in complete response.

JUNO closed Tuesday's trading at $45.60, down 6.46%. In after-hours, the stock was up 42.92% at $65.10.

MabVax Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (MBVX) remains on track to report safety and response data from its phase I studies of MVT-1075 and MVT-5873 in the first quarter of 2018.

MVT-1075 is under phase I trial for the treatment of pancreatic, colon and lung cancer. MVT-5873 is under a phase 1 clinical study in combination with Gemcitabine and Nab-paclitaxel in first line therapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed patients with pancreatic cancer.

MBVX closed Tuesday's trading at $0.94, up 5.71%.

Merck & Co. Inc.'s (MRK) pivotal phase III trial of blockbuster cancer drug KEYTRUDA in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) and cisplatin or carboplatin, dubbed KEYNOTE-189, has met its dual primary endpoints of overall survival and progression-free survival.

In the combination study, KEYTRUDA was evaluated as a first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.

Keytruda is already approved for the treatment of melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, classical Hodgkin lymphoma, urothelial carcinoma, microsatellite instability-high cancer, and gastric cancer.

The drug recorded sales of $1.4 billion in full year 2016, and $2.51 billion in the first nine months of 2017.

MRK closed Tuesday's trading at $62.07, up 5.81%.

MiMedx Group Inc. (MDXG) has randomized and enrolled the first patients in its pivotal phase III trial of AmnioFix Injectable in patients with recalcitrant plantar fasciitis pain.

The study is designed to enroll about 164 patients at 15 centers. Top-line results from this study are expected in the second half of 2019.

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of chronic heel pain in adults, making up 11-15% of the foot symptoms requiring professional care among adults, according to studies published in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.

MDXG closed Tuesday's trading at $13.94, up 0.58%.

Ophthotech Corp. (OPHT) has enrolled the first patient in its phase 2b clinical trial of Zimura in patients with autosomal recessive Stargardt disease (STGD1).

STGD1 is an inherited orphan retinal disease causing vision loss during childhood or adolescence. Currently there is no FDA or EMA approved treatment for patients with STGD1.

The Stargardt disease trial is designed to enroll approximately 120 patients, and the mean rate of change in the area of ellipsoid zone defect is set as the primary endpoint. Initial top-line data is expected to be available in 2020.

A phase 2a clinical trial of Zimura in combination with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy for idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, an age-related retinal disease, has also been initiated. This study is designed to enroll about 20 patients, and initial top-line data is expected to be available during the second half of 2019.

OPHT closed Tuesday's trading at $2.98, up 4.56%.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies extended their sharp fall from Tuesday into Wednesday morning on prevailing concerns of South Korea and China, the two leading crypto , planning severe crackdown on the digital currency market.

As of 2.03 am ET on Wednesday, the largest cryptocurrency by value and market capitalization, Bitcoin, was down 13.91 percent at $11,351.70, data from market data website CoinMarketCap showed . Its main rival, Ethereum, was lower by 17.08 percent at $1,013.24 and the third largest digital currency by market cap, Ripple, plunged 23.78 percent to trade at $1.20.

Among the top 50 crytpocurrencies on CoinMarketCap, Tether, a cryptocurrency backed by equal volume of actual fiat currency, and SmartCash, a community governance and privacy focused token, were the only gainers.

As of 2.23 am ET, Tether, which ranks 22nd on the website's list of top 50 cryptocurrencies, was up 1.69 percent at $1.03. SmartCash, which is at the 42nd position, rose 1.45 percent to trade at $1.10.

South Korea and China have led the group of countries that are planning to clampdown on the meteoric rise in the values of cryptocurrencies, alleging excessive speculation that could eventually end in the bursting of an asset bubble.

Governments are also concerned that these unregulated and decentralized currencies would facilitate money laundering and would be used to fund criminal activities such as drug-dealing and terrorism.

Tuesday's slide in cryptocurrencies was mainly triggered by comments from the South Korean finance minister Kim Dong-yeon, who said in an interview to a local radio that banning digital currency exchanges was "a live option."

The recent slide in the value of cryptocurrencies was triggered last week by South Korean justice minister's comments that the government was planning a legislation to ban cryptocurrency trading.

At the start of this week, however, the government sought to calm concerns saying that such a law would be decided only after several talks and consultations, suggesting it may not materialize in the near future.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said that shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges would require approval from the National Assembly, the Yonhap news agency reported.

In China, the People's Bank of China Vice Governor Pan Gongsheng sought a ban on centralized trading of virtual currencies and individuals and businessess facilitating such activities, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing an internal memo.

Shenzen Stock Exchange, one of China's two major stock bourses, issued a warning notice on Tuesday evening against the indiscriminate use of the term blockchain by businesses to boost their stock price.

In a message on its official WeChat account, the Shenzen exchange said it would punish companies that uses the buying of blockchain-linked stocks or makes false claims of developing blockchain models to prop up their share price, reports said.

South Korea is also implementing new rules that will require real-name accounts for cryptocurrency transactions, starting January 20.

Korean tax authorities raided leading digital currency exchanges, Bithumb and Coinone, last week on concerns over tax evasion.

The number of accounts linked to cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea totaled 111 with a combined deposit value estimated around 2 trillion won or $1.8 billion, Yonhap reported. More than 2 million Koreans own digital currencies.

The country has sought deeper co-operation with regulators in China and Japan in curbing intense speculation in cryptocurrencies.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
Five Democratic members of the US Congress, including the legendary civil rights leader John Lewis, have announced that they will boycott President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address in protest against his racist policies and rhetoric against immigrants.

The President is set to deliver his first State of the Union on January 30 at a joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

All the five members of the House are typical loudmouths of the Democratic Party: Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).

Trump's reported use of foul language while referring to immigrants last week was the main provocation for the lawmakers to stay away from the most important speech of the US President in a year.

John Lewis, one of the organizers of the great Washington March of 1963 that led to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebrated, "I Have a Dream" speech, thinks Trump is a racist after the "s**thole countries remark."

At 23, Lewis was the youngest speaker that day and is the last remaining living speaker.

Lewis, 77, said he cannot go forward with attending the address to Congress, after what President Donald Trump "has said about so many Americans... I wouldn't be honest with myself."

He also told NBC News he believes Trump has racism "in his DNA."

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said she joins Lewis "in refusing to dignify a president who has used the platform of the Oval Office to fan the flames of racism, sexism and hatredmost recently with his vulgar condemnation of Haiti and other African countries."

Calling Trump's path as dangerous and destructive, Pramila accused him of using the highest office to promote hatred as a political tool for his own benefit.

Rep. Maxine Waters was more blunt, asking, "Why would I take my time to go and sit and listen to a liar?"

Frederica S. Wilson said that she will not be attending the president's State of the Union address, which according to her "will be full of innuendo, empty promises, and lies".



Blumenauer said that instead of "listening to yet another destructive and divisive speech by Trump", he will be listening to Oregonians about what they think about the State of the Union.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
A man was not allowed to fly on a British Airways flight from Iceland after he wore "all" his clothes in order to skip $124 baggage fee.

Ryan Carney Williams, who goes by the alias Ryan Hawaii, wrote on his Twitter that he was "being held" at Iceland's Keflavik airport because he had no baggage for his clothes, which he later put on.

"They still won't let me on," he tweeted along with a video of him at the check-in counter. "Can you explain why I can't get on the flight," Hawaii says in the video as a member of staff holds her hand up to block the camera.

The video also shows security officers asking him to turn off his camera, saying: "Do we need to call the police?"

Williams said he could not afford the excess baggage fee of about $124, "as a result of being left homeless in Iceland for over a week." He claims that British Airways officials told him he could board the flight if he wore all of his clothes at once but then rejected him anyway.

"They're really having me dress like this to go on, and they won't even let me go on," he said in the video.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Tina Walker wants to go for the gold.

At a recent meeting of the Keene Memorial Library advisory council, the library director said the local entity qualified at the silver level for accreditation.

We made silver by two points. We squeaked by so were at silver now with 202 points. Our goal is to be gold so were going to figure out how to add 50 points for the next three years, she said on Monday.

Walker distributed copies of a survey the local library completes to determine if it will have accreditation with the Nebraska Library Commission.

In the past, Walker has explained that accreditation is important, because in a worst-case scenario losing it would keep the library from receiving state and federal grants, along with one from the Peter Kiewit foundation.

Public libraries in Nebraska are accredited for a three-year period, but Walker must report statistics annually.

Accreditation is determined by a system of accrued points. The points required at each level are: gold  250 points; silver  200 points; and bronze  175 points.

To receive more points, the advisory board must review policies and procedures annually as well as a technology plan and the strategic plan.

Those are the things we need to get on the schedule for board meetings to make sure we are doing it at least once a year and that will help us with points for accreditation, Walker said.

The survey also gives points when the library director makes monthly presentations to a governing body.

Like the police, fire department and other entities, Walker makes a yearly presentation to the Fremont City Council.

Who else is a group within our governmental agencies that we possibly should be reporting to? asked advisory council member Earl Underwood.

Underwood wondered if the library could report to a governmental entity such as Platte Township.

Walker also said the library would like to readdress a possible inter-local agreement with Dodge County. The library then could report to them.

The library has tried multiple times in the past to go to the Dodge County Board of Supervisors to get countywide library cards approved, Walker said.

There are residents living outside of Fremont city limits who work and buy products in Fremont and whose children attend school here, but still must pay $35 a year for a library card, she said.

Even the adjoining village of Inglewood pays about $300 a year for its residents to have library cards.

Besides attending governmental meetings, Walker also mentioned other points the library could accrue.

She said when the expansion takes place and the library is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, it can receive points. The librarys elevator and entry ways are not ADA compliant at this time.

The library didnt get points for staffing. Compared to peer libraries, Keene is below average in staffing because it lost two positions in 2008 and 2009 due to budget cuts.

During past meetings, Walker has expressed concern about a proposed budget cut and whether the library would reach even the bronze level or be accredited at all.

Walker cut more than $100,000 from the 2017-18/2018-2019 biannual budget of $2.6 million (not including the capital improvement plan)

But the city sought to have the library make another $50,000 cut from its commodities budget, which includes items needed to keep the building open and provides funds for books and materials.

Walker was concerned that cutting funds to buy books and materials could affect accreditation.

That cut will be covered now.

Up to $50,000 will be transferred from an architectural fees allocation into the budgets commodities portion with the understanding that these fees will be covered another way  such as fundraising dollars from the Friends of Keene Memorial Library organization or asking the city for more or through delayed billing of the architect.

More than one survey question dealt with expenditures for materials and collection sizes.

Theres three questions tied to losing money  15 points total you lose if you lose budget funding, Walker said. Losing money in the budget does affect accreditation.

In other business, Walker told the board that the library plans to bring in programs and sessions from Set Me Free, an organization that educates people about how to stop and prevent sex trafficking.

Our area  Lincoln, Grand Island and Omaha  we are the worst (for) sex trafficking in the whole country, because we have Interstate 80, Interstate 29  its the roadways that lead here, Walker said. These folks (Set Me Free) are trying to get into the school system, libraries, communities, to start showing you how to recognize what your kids are doing on the Internet. Its for parents to learn how to keep your kids from getting taken and its for kids to teach them how to be safe on the Internet.

Walker told the board that:

An event with Santa and Mrs. Claus had 121 attendees.

The Winter Reading Challenge is a huge success; 735 people have read 277,303 minutes. We are at 398 percent of our original reading goal (69,750 minutes) and 490 percent of our original participation goal of 150 people), she said.

The library is starting a teen advisory board and has received grant funding for it. Gift cards will be provided for students who join the board.

The library advisory council meets at 3:30 p.m. the third Monday of each month on the second floor of the library. Meetings are open to the public.
Area residents will learn more about an estimated $8 million to $10 million expansion project for Keene Memorial Library at upcoming town hall meetings.

The librarys advisory council reviewed a timeline during its meeting on Monday.

Tina Walker, library director, presented the design schedule from Alley Poyner Machietto (APM) Architects in Omaha.

She told the advisory board that town hall user group meetings will be scheduled in early to mid-February.

Were going to be scheduling events here at the library to bring in the community to give us feedback, she said.

Walker told the Tribune the expansion project would provide for a separate childrens area, more parking and community meeting space, and make the building American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant. The librarys elevator and front doors are not now ADA compliant.

In expressing the projects urgency, Walker also told the Tribune that the Hazel R. Keene Foundation donated a house and a garage east of the facility to the library in 2004 with the stipulation that by 2020 ground would be broken on an expansion.

If that doesnt take place, those buildings can be given back to the foundation and the library no longer has an option for expanding, she said.

She shared the librarys expansion wish list.

The expansion, estimated to be 13,000 square feet, would consist of two stories east of the current building and be connected to it.

Walker said the childrens area will take up the bottom floor of the expansion to provide safety and security for them and to eliminate noise for other readers. This area will include a childrens program room, childrens staff offices and an open teen area.

The upstairs portion of the expansion would have a large community meeting room that can be divided into multiple meeting rooms if needed. It would have high technology and a catering kitchen.

Walker also said the expansion will include new family restrooms, an ADA-compliant elevator and doors.

The bottom floor of the older (current) building will provide a quiet reading area for adults and a computer lab. The top floor will consist of offices and adult non-fiction reading materials.

We made a small want list and were waiting for those community forums in February and March to see what the public wants. We will be including community feedback in our design, Walker told the Tribune.

APM will begin the design phase in March or April.

Their intent is to roll out all the results of the community input and to have a semi-finished product available to show people before the bond issue in May, Walker told the advisory council. Well have a big meeting and say, If you want to see what our architects came up with  come look.

Walker said that meeting probably would take place on April 17  prior to the bond issue vote on May 9.

Last month, Jeff Hoffman, expansion committee chair, talked with the Tribune about a bond issue proposed for $2 million each ($6 million total) for the library expansion, Fremont City Auditorium renovation and the addition of a lazy river to the Splash Station. Walker said there would be a $31-a-year increase in homeowners tax if all three pass.

She also said all cities where libraries are expanding are putting in funds toward those projects. She said $2 million will be needed to get started.

I cant even file for a Peter Kiewit grant until we hit 50 percent of what we need, she said, adding, the total project cost will not be known until April until they get a design finished. Its estimated at $8 (million) to $10 million right now, but we dont know that.

Walker said the architects  based on a library built in Norfolk  provided that estimate.

A schematic design for Fremonts library expansion is planned for July with final construction documents should be ready between September and December.

They want to start bidding and negotiations by December of (2018), she said.

Much fundraising will need to take place.

Were going to start scouring for every grant we can find, she said. Im going to apply for everything I can find.

Walker commended the architect firm.

They know libraries, she said.

Walker also talked about a library that didnt have a library architect and talked about its struggles, including six leaks in its computer area.

She told the Tribune that retired library director Ann Stephens has been trying to get the expansion project underway since the Keene foundation willed the property to the library in 2004.
Leading Indian American tax consultant and certified public accountant Neeraj Bhatia has been conferred with the prestigious Hind Rattan Award for 2018.

Bhatia is an accomplished accounting professional with over 30 years of practice in international and domestic tax planning and compliance for start-ups and multinational entities.

Coinciding with the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas and instituted by the NRI Welfare Society of India, the Hind Rattan Awards honour high achievers of Indian origin from professional disciplines. Over the past 37 years, the NRI Welfare Society has become a strong bridge connecting people of Indian origin with India. Its focus is to "strengthen emotional bonds" between the diaspora and the country.

Bhatia runs a successful tax and accountancy firm in the heart of Silicon Valley with offices in New Delhi as well. He specializes in international tax, audit and review, accounting, compliance and reporting, immigration services and corporate compliance.

Bhatia is a sought after tax professional who has offered extensive commentary on US and India tax issues over the years.

"With India-US trade, corporate and economic relations booming, companies on both sides of the world are always looking for professionals who have expertise in tax and corporate laws of America and India," Bhatia said.

"My firm has the advantage of having accounting professionals who have decades of experience navigating tax laws in the two countries," he said.

During the past two decades of practice in Silicon Valley, Bhatia has helped around 1,000 start-ups get off the ground. It was his insights into the IT sector that led him to be associated closely with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) -- an Indian government undertaking -- in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bhatia has also kept his focus on helping several Indian American organisations representing half a dozen Indian states engaged in charitable causes. He assists them in maintaining their charitable status through strict regulatory compliance.

Bhatia, a Certified Public Accountant in California, Colorado, and New York, has a degree in chartered accountancy from India and holds an LL.M. in international taxation from the US. He was awarded a gold medal and monthly scholarship for three years by India's Central Board of Secondary Education for securing the first rank in India in the Board exam.

He was also awarded a gold medal by Institute of Cost & Works (Management) Accountants of India for securing first rank in north India.

He is vice president and director of Indo American Chamber of Commerce and is also on the Board of the University of Silicon Andhra, a newly-formed university imparting post-graduate degree programmes in Indian languages, literature and arts.
The central government on Tuesday said it has decided to withdraw subsidy given to Muslims for the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Announcing the decision, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it was in line with the government's agenda to empower minorities without appeasing them.



"This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement," Naqvi told reporters in Delhi.



He said the government would utilise the funds saved from withdrawing the subsidy for education of minorities, particularly girls.



Naqvi said the subsidy amount ranged from Rs 500-700 crore, which mainly went to the national carrier Air India that flew the pilgrims to Jeddah, along with Saudi Airlines, in a 50:50 ratio.



With the government already moving ahead with privatisation of Air India, the subsidy would not make sense, he felt.



Naqvi said the withdrawal of subsidy would not make much difference in the airfare from major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata, though it would make travel costlier from smaller cities.



"But to offset this cost hike, we have for the first time given the choice to pilgrims to select their point of embarkation. So, for example, a pilgrim from Srinagar may now embark from Delhi, or a pilgrim from Gaya may embark from Kolkata etc., to avoid extra expenses," Naqvi said.



However, the Minister said that the government would "fulfil all its responsibilities it has towards its citizens" and would make all the arrangements for the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia apart from ensuring their safety, security and comfort.



The government had drafted the policy to abolish the Haj subsidy in phased manner after the Supreme Court asked it in 2012 to withdraw it gradually by 2022.



Last year, the government had formed a committee comprising eminent Muslims headed by retired IAS Afzal Amanullah to revise India's Haj policy. The committee had recommended abolition of Haj subsidy and allowing women above 45 years of age to proceed on Haj without "mehram" (male guardian), among other things.





The government accepted most of the recommendations made by the committee.



This year, the highest number of Indian pilgrims are likely to go for the pilgrimage after Saudi Arabia increased India's quota by 5,000.



A total of 1.75 lakh Indian Muslims can go for Haj this year.
Countries which support terrorism need to be "tackled" and terrorism is here to stay unless the world joins hands to end it, Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday.

He also said that a country which is victim of terror has to fight on its own war.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue here, Gen Rawat stressed on cutting terrorism funding and raised concerns over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

He advocated curbs on Internet to control terror propaganda.

The Army chief said terror cannot be accepted as a new form of war and urged the global community to tackle it head on.

Without naming Pakistan which India accuses of supporting terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir, he said: "Nation states that support terror to achieve their ends need to be tackled first.

"Terrorism is here to stay, unless the entire international community joins hands, comes together and fights this menace. Only then we can see peace... Terrorism cannot be a new form of warfare.

"This is what nations believe, this is going to be a new form of warfare. It has been seen that nations which spread terrorism invariably become victims of terrorist activities. If they want a safe home, it is better to stop this and let the global community work together."

He, however, added that no country will fight a war for another.

"...You have to do your own job, no nation is coming to your help. International community support is required to support your action.

"A nation suffering from terrorist activity has to do its own job, take its own action and deal with the terrorists on its own," he said.

Gen Rawat said that after identifying countries that support terror, the next step must be to address the source of funding.

"...where does the money come from. After all terror organisations have huge sums of money."

Gen Rawat pointed out that drugs trade was a major source of such funding. He suggested that all weapon manufacturers should mark each weapon they sell.

"Whatever weapons are found with the terrorists, at least the origin of the weapon can be traced. As of now, very sophisticated weapons are landing in the hands of terrorists but it is difficult to find the source of that weapon," Gen Rawat said.

"If that can happen, funding can stop, and source of weapon can be identified. I think that to an extent would put a check on the activities of the terrorists."

According to him, the biggest threat was that terrorists may get hold of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. This, he said, "can spell disaster for humanity".

"While weapons is only one issue, the bigger issue is keeping a check on biological and chemical weapons. How do we keep a check on that? This can only happen if countries unite."

Stating that all terror groups had a militant and a political front, the Army chief called for targeting both.

He said even when a militant outfit was curbed, its political front continued to unleash propaganda.

He also called for putting "some checks and curbs" on the "population, Internet and social media and social communication which the terrorist organisations resort to".
Retired Orissa High Court Judge I.M. Quddusi, accused of graft in the Lucknow medical college scam case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi court seeking court-monitored investigation into leakage of transcripts of his alleged telephonic conversations in the case.

Quddusi's counsel Vijay Aggarwal told Special Judge Manoj Jain that the transcripts of the alleged conversations as well as confidential report of a preliminary enquiry have been leaked to media.

The retired judge's move comes a day after Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan filed a complaint against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the medical college scam case and requested five senior most apex court Judges, including the four rebel Judges, to hold an in-house inquiry into the matter.

The case is one of the major reasons for the rift between Chief Justice Dipak Misra and the four judges - Justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph - who criticised him last week at an unprecedented press conference.

Quddusi's counsel Aggarwal requested the court to monitor the investigation of the case and to pass necessary orders regarding conducting of an inquiry into whether criminal misconduct has been committed by the CBI by leaking the documents of the case.

"...whether theft has been committed by the documents having been stolen, which documents are confidential in nature, and as to who are the erring persons responsible for the same," the application read.

The counsel also requested the court to order an inquiry into whether any documents or conversations have been tampered with.

The counsel pointed out that report of the confidential document has not been supplied to the accused persons but it is in the hands of people outside the investigating agency.

"Such things raise grave suspicion and apprehension of interference of third parties in the investigation of the matter," the counsel apprised the court.

The counsel pointed out that though the CBI is outside the ambit of RTI but the documents are in possession of "outsiders".

The court has listed the matter for January 22 for further hearing.

Quddusi, B.P. Yadav, Palash Yadav, Bishwanath Agrawala, and Ram Dev Saraswat were arrested on September 20, 2017 by the CBI on the charge of helping Lucknow-based Prasad Institute that was barred from admitting medical course students for two years by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The sixth accused in the case, Bhawana Pandey, was arrested on September 21.

Later all accused were granted bail in the case.

The CBI had registered a case of criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused on September 19, 2017 and conducted raids at eight locations in Delhi, Lucknow, and Bhubaneswar.

The CBI FIR said B.P. Yadav and Palash Yadav were managing Prasad Educational Trust, which runs the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences.

The institute is among 46 colleges barred by the government from admitting medical course students for two years (till 2019) because of substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of criteria.

It was alleged that the college had bribed some influential people, including Qudussi, to get a favourable order from the apex court which was hearing a case about its future as the college was running without a Medical Council of India (MCI) recognition.
India is expected to become a $5 trillion economy in the next eight-nine years with the manufacturing sector alone contributing 20 per cent towards that, Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Wednesday.

"We are preparing a detailed plan towards achieving that. Experts are busy preparing the roadmap including all the sectors where manufacturing can be promoted. If manufacturing is digitised, it will create a huge opportunity for technology firms," Prabhu said.

Speaking on the first day of the India Digital Summit organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) here, the minister said innnovation cannot be confined to geographical borders.

"In order to reach the $5 trillion economy, manufacturing will contrinute $1 trillion and services will contribute $3 trillion," the minister told the gathering.

Prabhu said he was currently working on a strategy for international trade which will contribute $2 trillion to the economy, where the contribution can come both from manufacturing and services sectors.

Earlier in the day, Niti Aayog Chief Executive Amitabh Kant said that every Indian will have a smartphone in the next five years.

There were nearly 400 million smartphone users in the country, he said, adding this was a period of huge technology disruption in the country.

"Today, 85 per cent of the devices are still unconnected. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The opportunity would be in the range of $70 billion by 2025," Kant told the gathering.

According to him, Artificial Intelligence (AI) alone will generate opportunity to the tune of $32 billion.

"Advanced robotics are already handling 25 per cent of the jobs. This will rise to 45 per cent in the coming years.

"India is already ranked globally as the most active Internet user globally on a monthly basis. Digital transaction will touch $100 trillion in the next 10 years," he told the gathering.

With 99 per cent Aadhaar penetration and bank account opened under Jan Dhan Yojana, he said, the scope was immense for the Fin-Tech industry.

"As far as the start-up community goes, 'Make in India' initiative had brought in a paradigm change in the financial ecosystem. While we have 4,000 start-ups, it will go up to 12,000 by 2020," Kant said, adding that about 600 start-ups were there in the FinTech sector which will become a $14 billion opportunity by 2020.

The challenges today for the country were to provide safe drinking water, create infrastructure and build flyovers. All these give unicorns a unique opportunity to invest and explore, Kant said.

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that for IoT to happen, we need to have a robust 4G ecosystem in the country.

"I am hopeful that by the end of this year, we will have a pan-India 4G network availability," Sundararajan told the audience.

She mentioned that the government has constituted a task force for rolling out the 5G network in the country.

The taskforce will come out with a roadmap soon, she said, adding that the Department of Telecommunications is keen on partnering with key telecom providers in the roll-out stage.

Delivering the inaugural address, Rajan Anandan, Chairman, IAMAI, and Vice President, Google India and South-East Asia, said these are exciting times for the Internet adoption in the country.

"Availability of very low-cost yet high-speed mobile Internet connection in 2017 has moved a slow-speed nation to a high-speed nation," Anandan noted.
B.D. Athani, presently posted as Special DGHS, has been appointed the new Director General of Health Services (DGHS) after incumbent Jagdish Prasad proceeded on 15-day leave, it was announced on Wednesday.

"In pursuance of this ministry's OM No.C-14011'01/2015-Vig./CHS dated January 16, 2018, Dr Jagdish Prasad, DGHS is to proceed on earned leave for 15 days from January 16 afternoon," the Union Health ministry said in an order.

The ministry, it said, has decided to assign the charge of the post of DGHS with "full powers to Dr B.D. Athani, presently posted as Spl. DGHS".

Athani joined the Union Health Ministry as Special DGHS in 2015 after serving as the Medical Superintendent of the city's Safdarjung hospital.

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The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday issued avalanche warning in seven districts of the Valley, an official said

."Avalanche warning has been issued for avalanche-prone areas in Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Anantnag and Badgam districts.

"The warning shall be valid from 5 p.m. today (Wednesday) till 5 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). People living in avalanche-prone areas in these districts have been advised to move about with extreme caution if such movement becomes unavoidable," said the official, adding that officials of these districts have been advised to take precautionary measures.

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Union Home Minister Rajanth Singh will soon held a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the expeditious development in the state's eight most backward districts, an official said on Wednesday.

The Minister also said to visit all the districts in the Uttar Pradesh to review the implementation of the district action plan.

Rajnath Singh's assurance came during at a high-level meeting of officers of the Home Ministry, NITI Aayog and delegated senior officers of the respective districts at his North block office.

"The Union Home Minister has assured he will convene a meeting with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister to accelerate development in eight most backward districts of the state. He will also visit all the districts in Uttar Pradesh to review the implementation of the district action plan," the Home Ministry official said.

Bahraich, Balrampur, Chandauli, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar and Sonbhadra are the eight districts in Uttar Pradesh among those 115 backward districts across the country picked up by the NITI Aayog for rapid transformation by 2022.

The 115 backward districts have been allotted to various nodal Central Ministries for real-time monitoring and ranking, the official said, adding the Union Home Ministry has been delegated responsibility in respect of 35 Maoist-affected districts.

For each of the districts, a senior official in the rank of Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary has been nominated as 'Prabhari' Officer, he said.

Prabhari officers, who have undertaken a visit to their respective districts, said in the meeting that the districts fared poorly in health and nutrition and primary education.

Most districts lacked infrastructure and there was an acute shortage of doctors and paramedics in government hospitals and clinics, they said, while proposing localised recruitment to overcome the shortage of teachers in schools.
Each year, communities from Scottsbluff to Omaha participate in the Nebraska Science Festival in April. Communities can host events in their community to highlight technology and science learning. The event is an initiative of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, who administers the event each year.

Last year students launched high altitude balloons; built 3D objects; walked through an inflatable colon; learned about women in science; read Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) stories; and took part in planetarium and animal shows. Adults learned the science of Madeira, met a stem cell scientist, heard from women in STEM careers, heard from Kari Byron of Mythbusters, and participated in hands-on science activities. In 2017, there were 57 participating sites across the state.

This year Keene Memorial Library will be participating in the event by engaging our Tween Tech Time attendees to help prepare activities, education, and technology examples for the community. We want our Tweens who participate in Tween Tech Time to help set the stage for an April 25th show in which they, along with staff, will present their knowledge and experience to the community. The group currently meets Wednesdays from 4-5 p.m. During these Wednesday meetings, they will plan for the Science Festival and prepare items for the community event in April.

One of our goals from our strategic plan is to increase the number of teens that utilize our library. Wednesdays Tween Tech Time is full of STEM oriented learning and hands-on development and education. The tweens learn about circuitry from Little Bits, computer coding from Osmos and Ozobots, and engineering from projects such as bridge building. The science festival will be an opportunity to highlight what the tweens are working on and to invite more tweens into the library.

Part of the strategic plan is also to develop a Teen Advisory Board. Anyone 13-18 can be a part of this and we encourage new members to give us some fresh ideas for education, learning, and social events for tweens in Fremont. We know that tweens are looking for more opportunities for activities and social engagement beyond school and sports. Our programs can help fill that need. If you have a teen that might be interested, just drop into Wednesdays Tween Tech Time at 4 p.m. or contact Laura England-Biggs at Laura.Biggs@fremontne.gov

If you wish to read more about the Nebraska Science Festival, you can find the event page here http://www.nescifest.com/ . If you would like to see what the library has to offer for STEM learning, please plan on attending April 25. Watch Facebook for the scheduled event or check our calendar.
Bangladeshi immigration authorities have registered more than a million Rohingyas -- or around 95 per cent of the estimated Muslim minority members living in refugee camps in the country, an official said on Wednesday.

The Bangladeshi authorities began a registration process for Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar district in southeastern Bangladesh and the main point of arrival for Rohingya refugees on September 11 after the violence in Myanmar in late August triggered the recent exodus of the Muslim minority, Efe news reported.

"As of Tuesday we have registered 1,004,782 Rohingyas. Our works are at the final stage as we have almost 95 per cent Rohingyas now," said Abu Noman Mohammad Zakir Hossain, Deputy Director of Bangladesh's Passport and Immigration Department.

"When we started the work, our primary goal was so that no Rohingya can take Bangladeshi passport. Now we found this information could be useful in other works like relief operation and repatriation," said Hossain.

Information included in the registration includes a name, a family's name, an address in Myanmar and a person's fingerprints, Hossain added.

According to the UN, nearly 655,500 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, adding to between 300,000 and 500,000 Rohingyas who had already been living in the country.

Bangladeshi authorities recognized some over 30,000 Rohingyas as refugees shortly before the onset of the latest round of crisis.

The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed that the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi territory will be completed within two years from the date it begins.

The current Rohingya exodus began when Myanmar's security forces launched a campaign in late August in response to the Rohingya rebels' attacks on security posts in Rakhine, home to an estimated one million members of the Muslim minority not recognized by the Myanmar authorities.

The UN and various human rights organisations have said there is clear evidence of rights abuses in Myanmar, with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling the Army's operations "ethnic cleansing" and saying there were indications of "genocide".

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There was no need for consultations with the media prior to the passage of the Criminal Libel Act.

So says Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi when he was asked for a comment as to why there was no consultation before the passage of the Act.

Last week, the Pacific Freedom Forum (P.F.F.) criticised the government for reviving the Criminal Libel law without consulting the key stakeholders.

The Criminal Libel has been reintroduced as part of a government-led hunt for online bloggers using anonymous names such as Ole Palemia to attack senior government officials and members of the public.

In a statement, veteran Samoan Journalist and P.F.F. Chair, Monica Miller, says there was a lack of consultation prior to the Bill being introduced in Parliament and passed as law.

Lack of consultation before the Bill was pushed through Parliament is good reason to consult more widely now, Miller is quoted as saying in a statement issued by P.F.F.

According to her, consultations should include a wide range of representatives from across society.

But Tuilaepa said there was no need.

What consultations? This is not a new law, he responded. We just re-introduced it back into law.

Tuilaepa said the consultation period is over. He pointed to a number of consultations before the Media Council was established.

The Prime Minister then pointed out that so far, no one from the Media Council has come to see him about the Criminal Libel.

It was not possible to get a comment from the Media Council.

But Lecturer for the Media School of Journalism at the N.U.S Misa Vicky Lepou, has added her voice to the list of disappointed media officials over the governments decision.

She is especially sad to see the reintroduction of the Act, given the amount of years where the media had been lobbying for it to be removed.

Responding to questions from the Samoa Observer, Misa noted that a lot has been said publically about the issue. She believes there should have been a consultation.

It could have been better consulted if the right advice was given, she said.

Law and ethics are completely two different concepts and whether there were legal implications involved, whether the law should be reintroduced in the face of the justice system, the media and stakeholders should have been consulted or the least, the Council and the Executive to lead the facilitation of such discourse."

Filing lawsuits are costly and the approved passage can only mean that media consumers/public will no longer accept an apology or a retraction, but clear their good name/reputation at the expense of the law and media organisations."

We are not talking about individual journalists being sued but the whole news/programme production."

How much can we do to reverse what has been done will take a lot of work and show proof of professionalism by all means.

According to Misa, the Media Council was set up with a Code of Practice to be widely implemented and monitored.

This wasnt about an individual organisation, but with a focus on addressing industry-specific problems and its relations with the public."

The code defines the service ideal, referring to the publics right to information, democracy, freedom of expression and public responsibility thereby positioning journalists responsibilities to the wider community."

It also refers to journalistic ideals of pursuing truth, honesty, fairness, independence and respect for rights of others and public access to media."

A range of factors can be taken into account in determining the reasonable likelihood of harm including in some circumstances, matters of public interest."

Its application (exemptions) adds a layer of complexity to a simple process of accessing government documents."

Other than lawsuits, media stakeholders must continue to create in house trainings other than formal training to ensure that any publication/broadcast is thoroughly checked and verified by management before release.

She points out the concept of reputation needs to be demarcated as the concerns would fall on the expense of media organisations.

We are looking at conflicting rights here at the same time. The right to privacy is indeed a fundamental right."

The right of an individual to protect his or her good name must be balanced against the public interest in freedom of speech which is also a fundamental right.

Misa says it will not hurt to continue this conversation in the near future and the talk about a freedom of information law should start now.

Access to documents is subject to a range of exemptions and these should also be spelt out in the same Act."

The exemptions must take into account the nature (or quality) of information held by governments."

It relates generally into the responsibilities and operations of government and to third party information held by agencies (such as personal and/or commercially sensitive information)."

Information disclosure though may have adverse effects and where the term public is due should be given discourse and must be absolute. Some documents are deemed to be so sensitive that their disclosure has consequences.

She said the N.U.S. Media School offered appropriate training standards and observing basics of journalism.

The programme is in the progress of completing preparations for the proposed Bachelors degree."

Long term plans also include qualified and experienced journalists to continue on to higher education such as postgraduate and Masters programmes in relation to media and development studies.
HONG KONG (AP)  Chinese tech giant Huawei won a patent infringement lawsuit against South Korea smartphone rival Samsung on Thursday, according to information released by a Chinese court.

The court ruled in the Chinese company's favor over two patents involving fourth generation phone technology, according to a notice released through the court's WeChat account and video of the trial.

The judge ordered Samsung Electronics to immediately stop selling or manufacturing products using the technology and to pay a small court fee. The ruling did not cite specific phone models.

The decision by the Shenzhen Intermediate Court is the latest in a series of deepening patent disputes between the Asian smartphone makers, which have filed lawsuits against each other in the United States and China in recent years.

Huawei Technologies Ltd.'s headquarters is in Shenzhen, in southern China across the border from Hong Kong. The company is the dominant player in China's smartphone market, though globally it trails Samsung and Apple.

The court said it ruled in Huawei's favor after finding that Samsung "maliciously delayed negotiations" that began in July 2011 and was "obviously at fault."

Samsung said in a statement that it would "thoroughly review the court's decision and determine appropriate responses."

Huawei's legal victory comes days after it was dealt a setback in its efforts to expand sales in the U.S. when, according to media reports, a planned deal to sell handsets phones through AT&T fell through.

___

AP researcher Shanshan Wang in Beijing and business writer Youkyung Lee in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
With the deal signed and the trash talking done, Samoas world champion Lupesoliai Laauliolemalietoa Joseph Parker has one more thing to do.

Prove that he can truly smash the glass chin of his more fancied British opponent, Anthony Joshua.

But that is going to be a lot easier said than done.

During their first press conference on Tuesday night, Joshua was visibly upset by Parkers claim that he was king of steroids. The Brit warned Parker that no man on the planet can beat him.

It will take more than a human to stop me from where I am destined to be, said Joshua.

In terms of you, using it as a PR stunt and the rumours you have heard, they are fake news.

Three times Ive been hurt or stopped.

What I have learned from those adversities and storms, it will take more than any human to stop me from this journey.

I know my records are clean every time Im tested  thats why I dont bite at it. If Im not clean youll find out in this fight. If I havent been clean for my fights youll see me struggle against Parker because anything Ive taken would be out of my system.

Youll find out throughout this fight whether Im actually superhuman or if I have something pushing on this superhuman power he thinks I have. Its a shame that people get caught up with that sort of thing.

In response, Parker said: They accused me of being the king of pies, so that was the first thing that came into my head.

Its one of those things you say without thinking and it wasnt the best thing to say. We should just leave it in the past.

About the fight, Parker was in no doubt the upcoming clash would be the most difficult of his career, but he anticipates he will be taking three major world titles back to New Zealand.

Its an exciting time to be a heavyweight, he said. This is going to be the hardest camp and most work as I have a big challenge in front of me in Joshua.

Ive watched him for a long time. I know his strengths, he knows mine. I know his weaknesses and he thinks he knows my weaknesses.

I cant wait to have this fight. I cant wait to put on a great performance, hopefully I will catch him on the chin and knock him out.

Parkers Trainer, Kevin Barry, said Parker must produce the performance of his life to beat Joshua.

Barry said Joshua is the career-defining fight Parker needs to secure his legacy and says the unbeaten W.B.O. heavyweight king must show the world he is ready to seize his chance.

Joseph needs a career-defining fight, he said.

I believe Anthony Joshua got his career-defining fight when he fought Wladimir Klitschko.

Joseph hasnt had that yet and my challenge to my fighter is I need this to be his greatest performance.

If he can show Anthony Joshua and the public what I see from him in the gym when hes at his best, then hes a hard guy to beat.

Parker, 26, who is 24-0, introduced himself to the British public when he defended his title against Hughie Fury at Manchester Arena in September.

Joshua has won all 20 of his professional bouts inside the distance.
The truth is simple enough. Australian Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells might have sounded rather undiplomatic in her criticisms of Chinas aid to the Pacific region but we cannot deny that she does have a very valid point.

Her concern about China saddling the Pacific countries with mounting debt they could end up not being able to pay are particularly poignant and well placed.

The leaders of the Pacific would do very well to listen, take it for what it is worth and use it where needed. And if they feel that Fierravanti-Wells concerns are not relevant, then they can ignore it.

But to do that would be at their peril. We say this because when look at whats happening in some parts of the world today, we cannot be ignorant about the lessons we are seeing. One of them comes from countries that have defaulted on their debt.

Could that happen to Samoa? Of course not if you listen to the official tune being sung by Prime Minister Tuilaepa and his administration. And we truly hope that is the case.

That said; we believe things happen for a reason. And Australias concerns should not be brushed aside and dismissed.

Keep in mind that long before China became a super power in the world, Australia and our traditional partners like New Zealand had always been helping the Pacific in different ways. It might not have been in the grand way that China is helping the Pacific countries today, but it was much needed help nonetheless.

Aid dynamics have changed remarkably over the years of course to the point where other countries are struggling to keep up with Chinas aid programme.

Australia for instance, if Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells comments are anything to judge by, has become a tad annoyed.

Youve got the Pacific full of these useless buildings which no body maintains, which are basically white elephants, Fierravanti-Wells told The Australian.

She added that sustaining debt was a significant threat to economic stability of countries in the Pacific.

We work cooperatively with China and we encourage China to utilize its development assistance in a productive and effective manner, she added. We just dont want to build something for the heck of building it. We just dont want to build a road that doesnt go anywhere.

Her comments are debatable but thats obviously how she feels. This is a free world and she could perhaps be vocalising something many people feel strongly about and yet are afraid to say.

In response, China has lodged a formal protest with the Australian government, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said Fierravanti-Wells comments show scant regard for the facts and are nothing but irresponsible.

For a long time, on the basis of fully respecting the will of the Pacific island countries governments and people and taking into full account their development needs, China has offered a great deal of assistance to them, Lu told reporters. Chinese aid had significantly fueled the economic and social development of these countries and delivered tangible benefits to the local people.

Not surprisingly, Prime Minister Tuilaepa has immediately leapt to the defense of China, to the point where he has even mocked their assistance describing one of the projects as an assorted gift.

I am certainly surprised with the comments made by Australias Development Minister. They are quite insulting to the leaders of the Pacific Island nations, Tuilaepa said.

To me as Chairman of the Pacific Leaders Forum, the comments question the integrity, wisdom and intelligence of the leaders of the Pacific Islands to judge what is good for our own people.

These types of comments can damage the excellent relationships that exist between Australia and the Pacific Island countries, particularly Samoa.

Okay then, if thats how you feel Mr. Prime Minister.

But we disagree. Undiplomatic the comments might be but these things should only strengthen the relationship between the nations, if they are truly genuine about such relationships.

Besides why should China care if they know the comments are incorrect? This is a free world after all where people are entitled to their opinions.

Leaders will only become uncomfortable and resort to cheap and childish name-calling and finger pointing when they know whats being said is true.

Now Australian Minister Fierravanti-Wells might have come across as strange in her comments but Prime Minister Tuilaepa would do well to remember that Samoa needs both Australia and China.

He could have stayed above it all and let Australia and China have their fight. He didnt have to be childish in his response, especially describing Australias aid as an assorted gift.

There is no doubt at all that China is Samoas best friend today. That is as clear as daylight and it will continue to be for a long time.

But perhaps someone should remind Prime Minister Tuilaepa and our leaders not to burn ones bridges; one day we might need them.

What do you think? Write and share your thoughts with us!

Have a great Thursday Samoa, God bless!
The Samoa Trust Estate Corporation (S.T.E.C.) is not a government entity.

They operate as part of the private sector.

This is according to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, in response to questions on why S.T.E.C. is competing with the private sector.

S.T.E.C. Interim Manager, Jasmine Leota, had rejected concerns they are competing with the private sector in exporting coconuts.

What competition, she said. We are helping the small farmers and families in Savaii. We buy the popo off of them to fill our container. There is no competition here.

Leotas response was sought after concerns expressed by some business people in Savaii who say the government shouldnt be competing with the private sector.

The man who spoke to the Samoa Observer asked for his name to be withheld because he fears the repercussions on his business if the government learns of his identity.

But Leota is adamant that S.T.E.C. is lending a helping hand to small farmers.

According to Leota, they have a 300-acre coconut farm in Mulifanua; however they still need the farmers assistance because of the demand for popo.

During the interview with Tuilaepa, he made it clear that S.T.E.C. operates as a private sector.

They are working on big projects, all efforts to utilize all those lands productively, he said.

The Prime Minister also pointed out there is a huge market overseas and one exporter such as S.T.E.C. cannot sustain the export of coconuts for all the overseas market.

There is a huge market overseas and one exporter cannot sustain the exports, he said.

As reported earlier, Leota told the Samoa Observer they send one container a month to New Zealand and this market came through from the Chamber of Commerce.

Keep in mind that we are a corporation, we dont get any financial budget from the Government."

We find ways to collect revenues and so we send the popo and koko Samoa off island."

And we are not competing against anyone."

We help the families in Savaii from the villages of Sapapalii, Paia, Safai and Papa."

And this is because we want to sustain the market and we cannot depend on the coconuts collected from our farm in Mulifanua and so we started a program where we ask the villages to gather coconuts from the families.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has acknowledged with gratitude the Australian government for the provision of emergency Bailey bridges for Samoa.

The project valued at A$1.4m (T$2.6million) was officially presented to the government at the beginning of the week.

In handing them over, Australias High Commissioner, Sue Langford explained that a bailey bridge is a prefabricated bridge that does not require any special tools or heavy equipment to assemble.

The parts can be carried on trucks and lifted into place by people and without a crane. Most importantly they can be erected over affected flooded areas without delay so that people can immediately access much needed services.

Australia is committed to supporting Samoa to upgrade its economic infrastructure because this is vital infrastructure that connects communities; that enables economic growth to continue and ensures that communities remain in touch with each other particularly during emergencies, Ms. Langford said.

We are proud to have co-financed the rebuilding of the new climate resilient Leone bridge and the soon to be constructed Maliolio bridge in Savaii."

I would like to congratulate the Government of Samoa particularly the Land Transport Authority for their hard work and diligence in progressing these important projects. It is my hope that these bridges will be an important resource during emergencies to restore access to affected communities.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa said Samoa is grateful for the bridges and Australias assistance.

After Samoa was hit by Cyclone Evan in December 2012, a Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report was prepared. In this report, the damages and losses to the transport sector was valued at 65 million Samoan Tala and 22.9 million Samoan Tala respectively, Tuilaepa said.

Consequently, the government of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade deployed two Australian Civil Corp engineers to assist the Land Transport Authority in assessing the conditions of bridges and crossings in both Upolu and Savaii."

To continue the work initiated by the two Australian Civil Corp engineers and L.T.A, D.F.A.T. provided further financial assistance through deployment of an Australian consultancy firm namely Cardno Emerging Markets (Australia) Pty Ltd. The work by Cardno in close consultation with L.T.A. included formulating a priority list for bridges and crossings according to two factors:

1. Vulnerability factors such as bridge condition, climate change and

2. Social and economic factors such as traffic volume as well as availability of an alternative route if the crossing is damaged

I am pleased to announce that this priority list for bridges and crossings is currently being used by L.T.A. to support the programming of its works and to validate proposals by our Government for funding towards rehabilitation and maintenance of bridges.

The Prime Minister added that the contract to supply 5 types of bailey bridges inclusive of spare parts has been awarded to Mabey Bridges Ltd from the United Kingdom for $2.6 million.

The Government of Samoa plans to install these bailey bridges at crossings that are a priority for rehabilitation or reconstruction but no funds are available yet, Tuilaepa said.

Also, some of these bailey bridges will be on stand by for use during an emergency when a crossing has been damaged or washed away."

The arrival of these bailey bridges and their intended use is in line with our Governments commitment laid out in Key Outcome 10 of the Samoa Development Strategy which is to provide 'A sustainable, safe, secure and environmentally responsible transport network that supports Samoas economic and social development'.
Its signed and sealed. Samoas Lupesoliai Laauliolemalietoa Joseph Parker will take on Anthony Joshua in what will be the biggest fight of his life. The fight will take place in Cardiff Wales on 31 March 2018. Do you think Lupesoliai is ready for the fight? We asked in todays Street Talk and this is what people said:

Mataafa Iefata Iata Malaela Aleipata, 51

I think Joseph Parker has been fighting for so long, and he hasnt lost any of his professional career fights. I was having a talk with my mates in my village last night about the same issue, and they said that Joseph Parker doesnt have that killer instinct punch like what David Tua had to knockout Anthony Joshua. Anthony Joshua is very good and fast like how Mike Tyson fights. If the fight reaches the last round, then Joseph Parker will definitely win the fight. Im going for Parker.

Simone Mikaele Samatau, 19

Parker is ready. He has been undefeated and you dont have a record like that for no reason. He has not lost any fight because he is good. Anthony Joshua is tough but he can be defeated if Parker is on his game. If Parker maintains his fitness level from his previous fights, I am sure he will do the job for this fight as well. I am 100% behind Parker, that he will win this fight. Parker is a Samoa and I am sure the Samoa blood in him is boiling to win this fight.

Vaa Afoa Siumu, 50

I am confident that Joseph Parker can deliver the job with this fight against Anthony Joshua. The last time I saw Joseph Parker when he was here in Samoa for Christmas, he looked fit and strong and I think he had been preparing for this fight.

Parker has been fighting for so long too and Im pretty sure there is a reason why he didnt lose any of his previous fights; he is the Champion for a reason. So to me, I am sure and confident that our boy Joseph Parker will win this fight for Samoa.

Ioane Mikaele Samatau, 20

I hope he is ready. He really needs to get fit to fight against someone like Anthony Joshua who has been knocking people out. For every sport, it is important to get fit, because if were not fit, foul play will eventually come up. I saw the fight of Joshua against Klitschko and to me that was a mean fight when both fighters equally contested that fight. Im proud of Parker and I hope he is ready because this is a big step up for him.

Samasoni Auvaa Fasitoo, 52

Parker all the way. Anthony Joshua is tough and hes the favourite but thats okay. If Parker sticks to his strength and fights well, he has a great chance. I remember when David Tua was gearing up for his title fight, with all the stories going around, even when Leapai came and we all praised them.

I have nothing against these heroes but my point is that, we have to pray for them but not praise them. We will get the result after and that will be the reason to celebrate. To me its a really hard fight for Parker, and I am supporting him no matter what. But I believe he will put out a great fight. Ou mama na.












The Scripps Research Institute, one of the worlds top biomedical centers, will receive tens of millions of dollars to support students in its graduate program, the institute announced Tuesday. The huge donation comes from foundations established by the Skaggs family, longtime institute benefactors.

With the money, La Jolla-based Scripps Research says it will be able to increase its support of the next generation of researchers, some of whom wind up as Scripps faculty.

The institute is renowned for its research that has led to developing new therapies for immune disorders and other diseases, and even reworking the genetic code of life itself.

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The exact amount of the funding has yet to be determined. The gift is coming from more than one foundation, and the leadership is deciding how the funds will be allocated over a five-year period.

Scripps Research is conducting a $100 million campaign to endow fellowships for all students in its graduate program. In honor of the gift, the graduate program will be renamed the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences.

Scripps Research is a powerhouse in chemical biology that has spawned numerous biomedical companies. Last year, it was rated first in the world for its influence on innovation by the prestigious scientific publication Nature.

Its research has yielded blockbuster drugs such as Humira for rheumatoid arthritis, along with spinoff companies such as Receptos, purchased in 2015 by Celgene for $7.3 billion. Another spinoff, Synthorx, is using a bacterium with partly synthetic DNA to develop drugs for cancer and other diseases.

Scripps Research is also noted for its programs in viral diseases, including HIV, influenza and hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola.

The graduate program helps beginning scientists explore bold ideas and concepts that go beyond commonly accepted beliefs, said Phil Dawson, dean of Scripps Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, who himself took the program.

It was a unique graduate program that had grown sort of out of a desire of the faculty to train the next generation of scientists in the interface between chemistry and biology, Dawson said.

Numerous program graduates have gone on to productive careers, Dawson said, including some who became Scripps faculty. Among them are chemists Phil Baran and Ben Cravatt, and structural biologist Erica Ollmann Saphire, an expert on Ebola.

The institute held its 25th graduate commencement last year, with a speech by Gerald Chan, a biomedical billionaire and Scripps board member.

Biotech investor, philanthropist and TSRI board member Gerald Chan discusses the benefits of basic research and the need to keep investing.

Members of the Skaggs family have donated large sums to Scripps Research and other local biomedical centers over the years. In 1996, food and drugstore pioneer L.S. Sam Skaggs and his wife, Aline, gave $100 million, creating The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology.

Other local beneficiaries of the Skaggs include UC San Diego, which received $30 million in 2004 for the universitys Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Sam Skaggs died in 2013, followed by his wife in 2015. Their children and grandchildren have continued their involvement with Scripps Research. Their son Mark Skaggs has served on the board of directors. Daughter Claudia Skaggs Luttrell is a current board member.

In addition to her familys gift to the endowment campaign, Skaggs Luttrell made a personal donation, as did her adult children, Dallas and Jennifer.

Related reading

The Scripps Research Institute ranked first worldwide in science

To make America great again, fund science, Scripps Research grads told

Celgene buys Receptos for $7.3 billion

Utah businessman L.S. Sam Skaggs dies at 89

Skaggs gives $100 million for research

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
On-demand lawn care app GreenPal is now available in San Diego.

Web and mobile app matches homeowners with local lawn pros.

GreenPal competes with similar providers, including San Diego-based Lawn Love.

Landscaping services industry is an $82-billion-per-year business.

Heres the full story

Nashville startup GreenPal arrived Monday in San Diego to help locals find, schedule and pay for lawn care with just a few taps on their smartphones.

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The company, started in 2012, makes a web and mobile app that homeowners can use to instantly solicit bids from vetted professions for next-day service. Available in 22 U.S. markets, GreenPal put down roots in San Diego after receiving a number of inquiries from interested clients in the area. Theres also the citys climate, which supports year-round care.

Like Uber or Airbnb, the company is technically just a matching service, connecting homeowners to third-party providers and taking a 5 percent cut of proceeds in the process. GreenPal also touts itself as an operating system for lawn care pros, meaning they can use the service to get work, manage jobs and handle payments.

If people were willing to rent a couch (on Airbnb), at some point theyd be comfortable summoning lawn care from an app, co-founder Gene Caballero said of the companys early reasoning for starting the business.

Hes not the only person to think so. A litany of apps have sprung up over the past few years to help consumers outsource all of their chores  grocery shopping, housecleaning, hair and makeup, even gas tank fill-ups  to strangers. And as is usually the case with these kinds of on-demand services, GreenPal isnt the only game in town.

Most notably in San Diego, theres Lawn Love, which is based here and launched locally in April of 2014. The firm has since expanded to attract more than 20,000 customers across 100 U.S. markets.

Having entered GreenPals home turf of Nashville three years ago, were happy to finally welcome them to San Diego, said Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO of Lawn Love.

The two services have their differences. GreenPal, for instance, leaves it to up to vendors to determine pricing for jobs while Lawn Love has set rates for services. And Lawn Love handles the customer service side of the equation, whereas GreenPal does not.

Even still, the two companies purpose of matching homeowners with lawn care pros is the same, and that doesnt appear to be an Uber-sized business  at least not yet.

Altogether, the landscaping services industry is an $82-billion-per-year business, according to IBISWorld, but it remains a mostly low-tech trade.

I think our biggest competitor is still the status quo, Caballero said.

Hes referring to the analog way most people still find and pay for lawn service, as well as vendors continued reliance on pen and paper to manage their clientele.

A shift seems inevitable, especially in todays smartphone-centric world. Plus, after a marked slowdown in funding to on-demand apps, the sector picked up steam in mid-to-late 2017, though primarily through mega-financing rounds to the industrys biggest players. Take the $5.5 billion raised in April by Chinas Didi Chuxing and the $1.5 billion netted by Lyft at the end of the year.

The massive funding deals arent indicative of venture capitalists overall faith in on-demand everything, but they do prove that investors will throw money at what they perceive to be companies facilitating major transitions in how people find and pay for various services.

Meanwhile, GreenPal, which has not raised outside funding, says it has thus far rejected investor interest and has been profitable since 2016.

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jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
Last June, a dozen San Diego philanthropists held a check-passing ceremony to deliver more than $20,000 theyd raised for mental health charities.

The event sounds routine, except for the fact that the philanthropists were all members of the Jewish Teen Foundation, a philanthropic council of local high school students.

Among last years junior philanthropists was Carmel Valley resident Josh Herz, 18, who was invited back this year to serve on the groups leadership committee.

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Herz and other teen leaders are teaching this years newcomers how to choose a charitable mission, find appropriate charities that serve that mission, analyze the groups finances, do site visits and then raise the money they need.

Herz said the teen foundations organizing principle is a tenet of Judaism known as tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase meaning repair the world.

Its always in the back of everyones mind, said Herz, a senior at Canyon Crest Academy. Wherever were going, whatever were doing, its always in line with making the community a better place.

The Jewish Teen Foundation is a program of the Jewish Community Foundation San Diego. The local teen foundation is one of just seven such programs established around the world by the Jewish Teen Funders Network.

The programs goal is to instill the principles of philanthropy at a young age.

What were passionate about is instilling in teenagers the idea that they have so much ability and leadership to change the world around them, said Kimber Wrosch, teen coordinator for the group.

Since its launch in 2014, the JTF has raised nearly $60,000 for causes including mental health, at-risk youth and human rights for women and children. This years goal is to aid the homeless affected by domestic violence and natural disasters.

Herz said he found out about the Jewish Teen Foundation in 2016 at his familys synagogue, Temple Solel. He said giving back to the community was something he and his brother Harrison, 16, were taught from an early age by the parents, Henry and Julie Herz.

They explained to me that I was very blessed to have a roof over my head and food on the table and clothes to wear, Herz said. It just kind of clicked in my head that if I have stuff and others dont, then I should help them get this stuff.

Since he was a little boy, Herz has donated money to the World Wildlife Fund. In 2009, he took part in the Walk for Darfur and since then has walked for cancer and run for the hungry. He has also volunteered at childrens computer camp, a veterinary hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Lately, Herz has focused his volunteer efforts on issues hes passionate about: cognitive science and neuroscience. The subject has personal significance because his grandparents have battled Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases. Last summer he interned at a cognitive development lab at UC San Diego and he recently applied to 13 universities with programs in these sciences.

One of the highlights of the Jewish Teen Foundation for Herz is that its members get to choose their funding mission each year. Last years mental health focus tied in neatly to his intended field of study.

That really fueled my interest, he said. Before that I had been interested in the subject from a research side of my brain, but this was a completely different viewpoint, because here were people with the problems who needed help.

Each year, the teens choose five charities to aid, four of them with local ties and one in Israel. Herz said he liked finding organizations that spent most of their money on clients, not their own administration costs.

One beneficiary last June was a desert camp program for troubled Israeli teens. The Jewish Teen Foundations $5,000 donation was matched sevenfold by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Raising the money wasnt easy, Herz said, but he learned a lot about business, networking and collaboration. And handing over the money to these groups last summer was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.

It showed me how far other people are willing to go to help others, he said. It reinforced the idea that helping repair the world is never going to go away. There will always be people who are extremely devoted and prepared to do whatever it takes to help others.

Wrosch said the she receives up to 50 application a year for the program, which is open to Jewish teens in ninth through 12th grades. Those who are accepted each year, about 70 percent of applicants, are expected to attend 10 four-hour monthly meetings and go on site visits. The teens wear business attire at all meetings and the most engaged members  like Herz  are invited back as leaders the following year.

Josh is such a go-getter, but hes very understated, Wrosch said. Everyone will be talking and he wont say a thing. Then when he does speak up, hes concise, to the point and very clear. He really has tremendous drive and passion, but he isnt your stereotypical kid whos excitable and in your face.

Wrosch said shes inspired by teens like Herz because they will be positive role models for their peers in college and later life.

The concept of Judaism is that we all have tremendous potential in this world to make a difference and one little thing can make a massive change, she said. Its a Jewish belief that throughout our lives we should be constantly growing and changing. With these teens I look at them now and see the future leaders and philanthropists of tomorrow.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
PHOTO: The American Legion Auxiliary Post 149 hosted its annual Girls Day Out for several dozen girls ages 11-18 to learn about different professions. Professional guest speakers and some of the moms played a game similar to Whats My Line where the girls were offered clues in an attempt to guess the speakers job titles. Speakers included an attorney, dentist, map maker, mechanical engineer, physician, respiratory therapist, cosmetician, and a Seabee equipment operator with the Naval Construction Battalion. Visit escondidolegion.org/women-s-auxiliary.

CARLSBAD

Free workshop on Photos App Wednesday

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The Carlsbad Senior Center will offer a free Apples Photos App workshop from 1 to 2:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine Ave. The class for adults ages 50 and older shows how Apple iPad and iPhone users can use the Photos App to organize and edit photos. Instructor Mike McMahon will demonstrate many of the features of the app. Seats are limited and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit carlsbadca.gov/parksandrec or call (760) 602-4650.

Chess buffs to play

Tuesday at center

The Carlsbad Senior Centers weekly Chess Group meets from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday. Play is informal, and all skill levels are welcome. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, and there is no charge. Participants need not be Carlsbad residents. The center is at 799 Pine Ave. Visit carlsbadca.gov/parksandrec or call (760) 602-4650.

ENCINITAS

Silent movie classics to be screened at library

Starting Thursday and continuing at 6 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, the Oceanside Public Library will screen silent classic films in the Foundation Room at the Civic Center Library, 330 N. Coast Highway. The first screening features the comedy of Charlie Chaplin in a series of short films, including Charlie Chaplins 1915 classic The Tramp, and his 1916 films The Vagabond and The Pawnshop. Admission is free; open to all ages. Visit oceansidepubliclibrary.org or call (760) 435-5600.

Counselor offers mini-workshop

A free mini-workshop on Life Is Designed to Work led by Dr. Jane Ilene Cohen, intuitive and transformational counselor, will be from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Bring your issues, questions and concerns to the workshop. Space is limited. RSVP at (760) 753-0733 to reserve your space and for the workshop address in Encinitas. Visit janecohencounseling.com/events.

ESCONDIDO

Meditation class

for seniors offered

A meditation class starts Thursday at San Diego Oasis, Escondido led by Melynnique Seabrook. The four-week class for seniors, Meditation for Stress Reduction, Health & Energy, is from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursdays at 210 Park Ave. Cost is $28 plus $15 registration; class #690. For details, call (760) 796-6020 or email ms@awakeninglight.com.

NORTH COUNTY

Church kicks off

Bible study series

New Hope Church starts a 14-week-Bible study Tuesday at 10330 Carmel Mountain Road. The group meets from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays and will study The Mind of Christ by T.W. Hunt and Claude V. King. Free child care is provided. Call (858) 588-0888 or email vickie@ newhopechurch.com.

OCEANSIDE

Councilman Kern to speak at GOP meeting

The Republican Club of Ocean Hills hosts Oceanside City Councilman Jerry Kern at noon Wednesday at the Broken Yolk Cafe, 2434 Vista Way. Kern will discuss The Decommissioning of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the city of Oceanside mayors position, and Kerns 2018 candidacy for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, District 5. The Meet and Greet, and the optional lunch purchased individually from the restaurant menu, is from noon to 1 p.m. The speaker is at 1:15 p.m. There is no charge to attend the presentation. RSVP at (760) 842-8735.

VISTA

Senior center to hold free eye screenings

The Gloria McClellan Senior Center at 1400 Vale Terrace Drive is offering free eyeglass cleanings, adjustments/maintenance and eye screenings with an eye chart from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Call (760) 643-5281 to reserve a time slot or stop by.

To submit calendar listings for events, or photos of events that have happened recently, please email northcounty@sduniontribune.com. Include the name of the group, date and time of event, address, cost and contact information for readers.

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Tuesday marked the beginning of a new era for the Escondido Public Library, with a private company taking over its staffing and management.

Library officials say the public should notice no changes, but opponents are vowing to continue fighting what they say is a dereliction of civic responsibility by the city in an effort to save a little bit of money.

New library director Patricia Crosby, an employee of Maryland-based Library Systems & Services LLC, (LS&S) said she is excited to be in Escondido though she noted it is a bit different than her last home in South Carolina where she managed a public library.

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Its been an easy transition, Crosby said. We are eager to serve.

She said the general public will likely not notice a change in the way things are done. Several members of the library staff, many of whom have left city employment and now work for the company, quietly said they were waiting to see how everything plays out.

The City Council voted to outsouce library services to a private company to improve service and to save about $400,000 annually, and more in the long haul because it removes about three dozen city salaries and the pension benefits that go with the positions.

An opposition group called SOEL (Save Our Escondido Library) has announced five steps it is taking to put pressure on the city to reverse its decision.

The group suffered a setback last week when a Vista Superior Court judge rejected the groups request for a temporary restraining order to halt implementation of the contract with LS&S.

A lawsuit filed late last year alleges the city council exceeded its authority when it outsourced the library management, citing a part of the states education code that says such decisions should be decided by a Library Board of Trustees.

In his order denying the restraining order, Judge Earl H. Mass said based on the information he has seen so far he doesnt think the lawsuit will be successful.

Though disappointed by the ruling, opponents recently announced five measures they will be taking, highlighted by a new petition drive that states: We, the undersigned, are calling for the creation of an independent library district that would remove all control of the library from the Mayor and City Council. Further, we will oppose any library bond until management of our library is returned to public control and a plan is in place to re-open an East Valley branch library.

In 2016, championed by Councilman John Masson, the council agreed in principle to pursue a bond measure to build a new library adjacent to Grape Day Park. Masson said the goal was to place a measure on the ballot in 2019.

Tuesday, Masson said he cant understand how the outsourcing of the librarys management should impact a future bond vote.

It reminds me of spoiled brats, he said. It doesnt go their way so they wont play in any games. It seems to me if they are truly library supporters then they would support a new library, whether it was staffed by public employees or private employees  I dont get why they would want to fight it other than it just being some sort of threat.

The East Valley branch of the library was shut down in 2011 during the Great Recession. It was a move that angered many who said it especially penalized Latino library users who live in the area.

The opponents also announced they will begin a community monitoring program during which volunteers will visit the library, unannounced, to evaluate operations.

They have also launched a website, escondidoindivisible.com, which shares information critical of how LS&S has performed in other jurisdictions. Hunter said the hope is to keep other public libraries from suffering the same fate that has befallen Escondido.

In addition, they have created a site where the community can file complaints about library service.

The group also says it will mount an Escondido voter registration drive aimed at removing some of the members of the council who voted to outsource the library.

While we are disappointed in the failure of the TRO, Hunter said, we are even more energized, committed and focused on Election Day, Nov. 6, 2018, to achieve a new mandate for change in Escondido.

Three council members who voted to outsource the library are up for re-election this year: Mayor Sam Abed and Councilmen Ed Gallo and John Masson.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
By the time San Diego city officials opened the gates Tuesday morning at the new Linda Vista skateboard park, much of the orange paint was already worn off by skaters who just couldnt wait to grind its many railings and steps.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, City Council members Scott Sherman and Lorie Zapf, a representative from the Tony Hawk Foundation, professional skateboarders and others gathered in Linda Vista Community Park for the grand opening of the largest skate park in San Diego County. At 34,000 square feet, the park is billed as one of the largest in the state.

This is a world class skate park, and its going to challenge skaters of all levels like only a top-notch park can, Faulconer said during remarks at Tuesdays ceremony.

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They tried to actually keep a few folks out of the park while it was being built, Faulconer said later in his remarks. It didnt work.

For months, skaters had been scaling the parks fence to ride the competition-level course near the intersection of Osler Street and Genesee Avenue. When officials opened the gates on Tuesday, amateur and professional skateboarders streamed inside.

Onlookers watched from a bridge over the skate park as some of skateboardings big names and rising talent took turns dropping into the large, pool-like bowl to show off their skills.

Steve Caballero, a famous skateboarder known for tricks and variations he invented, skated the bowl Tuesday. In 1987, he set a world record for highest air on a halfpipe. His record held for a decade.

The Linda Vista skate park has a full pipe, according to information provided at Tuesdays event. It also has a 50-foot bowl resembling an empty swimming pool, various shallow bowls of different shapes and about 20,000 feet of snake runs, rails and steps.

Caballero, of Carlsbad, said in an interview after the event that skate parks have been getting better and better over the years. He said the first skate parks were mostly private facilities that charged admission.

I never would have dreamed of free skate parks, Caballero said at the event Tuesday.

The new skate park in Linda Vista is free to use, but it cost about $3 million build, city officials said Tuesday.

The Tony Hawk Foundation, founded by professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, provided about $40,000 in seed money to get the project off the ground.

Most of the funding came from a $4.6-million grant the state Department of Housing and Community Development awarded the city in 2014 to construct skate parks in Linda Vista and City Heights, according to the information provided at Tuesdays event. The City Heights skate park is slated to open Wednesday in the Park de la Cruz neighborhood.

The new skate park in Linda Vista is likely to get frequent visits from one of San Diegos rising stars.

Tate Carew, 12, a skateboarder who has placed in national and international competitions, said Tuesday that the Linda Vista park had everything he needed to practice.

Its just perfect, he said. This is probably going to be my new local.

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morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
Prior to 1976, Al Stewart was a folk rock artist with an inclination to write songs with historical and geographical references.

After the release of the Year of the Cat album, Stewart still wrote songs with historical and geographical references, but he suddenly was propelled to international stardom as the albums title song became a massive hit.

And nobody was more surprised than Stewart himself.

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When (the record company) said they were releasing Year of the Cat as a single, I thought they were crazy. I put it last on the album because it was the albums longest song (six and a half minutes), and I thought it was the least commercial, Stewart said.

But they said no, we think its a hit.  It wasnt on my horizon that I would have a hit single, especially in America. It just seemed impossible. And I wasnt aiming at that. I wanted to be, I dont know, Leonard Cohen. I wanted to be a serious writer and didnt really want to be a pop star at all, but the powers that be decided that people would go out and buy it and they did.

The albums title song reached No. 8 on the Billboard charts and hit the top 15 in eight different countries.

On Thursday night at the Belly Up in Solana Beach, Stewart will revisit the songs from the album, as well as other tunes from his five decades in the music business. The Empty Pockets, a Chicago-based band, will accompany him, along with a saxophonist.

The song opens with a characteristically Stewart-esque lyric:

On a morning from a Bogart movie

in a country where they turn back time

you go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre

contemplating a crime

Stewart said he still has affection for the song but doesnt consider it his best. In fact, he says two other songs on the album  Lord Grenville and Flying Sorcery  are better.

There are stronger songs, lyrically, on the record, but Year of the Cat is the one everyone seems to like, he said in a telephone interview from his home near Santa Monica. I think its because they like the music, frankly. I dont think its such a big lyrical event, its just something that people like the sound of it.

Now 72 years old, Stewart grew up in England and as a teenager worked his way into the London folk, rock and arts scene in the mid-1960s, developing an almost Zelig-like quality of meeting and mingling with notable names.

He shared a flat with Paul Simon. A kid named Jimmy Page performed on one of Stewarts early recordings. He played in a band that opened for the Rolling Stones, bought a guitar from Andy Summers (who years later became the guitar player for The Police), and knew John Lennon before he met Yoko Ono and knew Yoko Ono before she met John Lennon.

Hanging around an art house, Stewart heard an artist from Japan was looking for people to chip in 100 pounds each to fund an art film she was making.

I said, Tell me about your film. And she said, Its going to called Film No. 4 and its going to be 360 naked bottoms, 15 seconds with the camera on each of them. And thats it. So she talked me out of 100 pounds and I duly became one of the co-producers of Film No. 4, which I think only seven people in the world have seen.

The then-financially strapped Stewart did get his money back, shortly after Lennon began seeing Ono.

My girlfriend at the time said, We really need that hundred pounds,  Stewart said, so he wrote Lennon a letter.

Six days later, I got a check in the mail signed by John Lennon. That created another problem which was, what do I do with this thing? Ive got John Lennons signature on a check and perhaps if I keep it it will be worth more in the future. But we actually needed groceries, so I cashed it.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Where: Belly Up, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach

Tickets: Sold out (must be 21 or older)

Phone: (858) 481-8140

Online: https://bellyupsolanabeach.frontgatetickets.com

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rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday hosted the United States Korean War allies, seeking diplomatic ways to avert the urgent threat of conflict with a nuclear-armed North Korea.

The U.S. approach has so far consisted mainly of economic sanctions and belligerent threats from President Trump  which are matched and upped by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump has derisively called the young leader Rocket Man, and the two have boasted about their nuclear launch buttons.

Tillerson said at the gathering of foreign ministers in Vancouver, a summit co-hosted by Canada, that the U.S.-led pressure campaign on North Korea was having an effect. He credited the efforts with persuading North Korea to talk to South Korea about participating in the Olympic Games, which start next month.

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Its encouraging, Tillerson said.

In fact, though, little that the U.S. or other world powers have done has halted Kims steady march to the testing and development of nuclear weapons.

Foreign ministers from 20 countries pose at a meeting in Vancouver, Canada, on Jan. 16, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, front row, fifth from right, co-hosted the event with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, sixth from right. (Don MacKinnon / AFP/Getty Images )

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono sounded a discordant note.

I am aware that some people argue that now that North Korea is engaging in inter-Korea dialogue, we should reward them by lifting up sanctions or by providing some sort of assistance, he said at the meeting, adding that such a response was premature.

I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs, Kono said. Those who disagree, he said, are just too naive.

Along with the 20 nations represented at the meeting of foreign ministers at the waterfront Vancouver Convention Center, the diplomatic approach is favored by Russia and China, Tillerson noted, although neither was invited to attend.

This Vancouver ministerial is something which supports all of our efforts collectively, Brian Hook, the State Department director of policy planning, said ahead of the one-day meeting. And we have been in touch with China and Russia on this ministerial, and we will be giving them a readout when its over.

I think they will welcome a lot of the actions that come out of the discussion because it all rolls up into the same policy end state, he said in a briefing in Washington with reporters.

While many of those in attendance urged stronger diplomatic pressure on North Korea, Tillerson and his Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, agreed that a truly reversed course of aggression by Kim is probably not obtainable if the saber rattling and personal insults continue on both sides.

We must increase the cost of the regimes behavior to the point that North Korea comes to the table for credible negotiations, said Tillerson. The object of negotiations, if and when we get there, is complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.

Freeland said no real progress can be made until Pyongyang disarms. The foremost threat to Korea is the regime of North Korea, she observed in a line addressed to Kims nation, which is suffering through electrical, economic and food shortages resulting from United Nations sanctions.

The urgency of the standoff was underscored by two accidental missile-launch warnings that sent panic through Hawaii and Japan in recent days.

In the Hawaii case, officials say a state emergency management employee pushed a computer key twice after he selected the wrong line in a drop-down menu. But apparently it can be a challenge to pick the right one: The employee wrongly clicked on PACOM (CDW) - State Only. He should have clicked on Drill - PACOM (CDW) - State Only.

Fail-safe measures prevented a launch. But for 38 frightening minutes Saturday, some Hawaiians huddled in their dusty bomb shelters, others messaged goodbyes to loved ones, and more than a few were still saying their prayers before the all-clear was given.

On Tuesday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK mistakenly sent a news alert about a North Korean missile launch, which it corrected a few minutes later.

Summit diplomats met in private sessions throughout Tuesday, discussing further sanctions, a nonproliferation policy and what steps should be taken next. Tillerson said he was pleased to also see the North and South planning more military talks.

The day before, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by telephone, the White House said. China is North Koreas closest ally, its main trading partner and is looked to by the U.S. as being the key to isolating Pyongyang.

Xi told Trump that tensions must be eased, Chinese state media reported.

Maintaining international unity on the issue is extremely important, Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

ALSO

North Korea is playing a new tune as it gears up for the Winter Olympics

U.S. must accept a new, multipolar world order, Russian foreign minister says

South Koreas president appears to be threading the needle between Kim Jong Un and Trump

Special correspondent Anderson reported from Vancouver and Times staff writer Wilkinson from Washington.

UPDATES:

4:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional Tillerson quotes.

This article was originally posted at 3:15 p.m.
The London-based authors of Our Syria: Recipes From Home came up with their concept for the cookbook in 2014 while working with a nonprofit theater group in Beirut. Through the project, Itab Azzam, a native of Syria, and Dina Mousawi, who grew up in Baghdad, met dozens of Syrian women refugees and found that their conversations often turned to the foods of their homeland.

The war-torn country of Syria has a rich history as a cultural crossroads. Located on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, it shares borders with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. An estimated 5 million people have fled Syria since 2011, the beginning of conflict that escalated into civil war.

Our Syria is a collection of traditional Syrian recipes along with profiles of some of the women refugees. This is possibly the countrys darkest hour, write the authors in the books introduction, but even now in tiny flats in Beirut, Berlin and Bradford [England], Syrian families are searching out the best tomatoes and lemons, pomegranates and parsley, to re-create the dishes that remind them of home.

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This omelet recipe is from a little restaurant called Malik Al Ijja, the King of Omelettes, located in a back alley in Aleppos Old City. The authors say they dont know whether the restaurant has survived the war.

Syrian Omelette (Ijja)

Makes 7 small omelets

6 large eggs

1 onion, grated

1 medium zucchini, grated (optional)

Big bunch of parsley, finely chopped

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground Aleppo pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Vegetable oil, for frying

In a mixing bowl, add the eggs, onion, zucchini, if using, and parsley and mix well. Stir in the flour and add the salt, pepper and spices. It should make a nice, thick batter.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Scoop one small ladle of the batter and pour it into the middle of the pan. Level it out a little with a spatula so that it is about 1/2-inch, but no more. Cook for 2 minutes, then flip onto the other side and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes. Each side should be light brown in color. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil as needed.

Traditionally, this is served with ayran (a cold yogurt drink) or just plain yogurt. It tastes great with a squeeze of lemon juice, too.

Reprinted with permission from Our Syria: Recipes From Home by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi; published by Running Press.

chris.ross@sduniontribune.com
The Marines have identified the student stabbed to death during a Tuesday incident at Camp Pendleton but provided few other details about the ongoing probe.

Pfc. Ethan Barclay-Weberpal, 18, was pronounced dead at the School of Infantry inside Camp Pendleton on Tuesday morning. Another Marine student is in custody.

According to Marine Corps Training and Education Command spokesman Capt. Joshua Pena, Barclay-Weberpal was assigned to the schools Lima Company, Headquarters and Services Battalion.

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He was being reclassified after he attempted to pass the Basic Reconnaissance Course.

The name of the Marine in confinement, also assigned to the same unit, will not be released at this time, Pena said by email.

First responders were called to Area 52, the sprawling section of Camp Pendleton where the School of Infantry is housed, around 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday following reports of an injured person.

Pena referred all further questions to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Spokesmen there declined comment, except to note that Penas command would release the name of the suspect.

Identifying himself on his Facebook page as the father of the slain Marine, Scott Weberpal of Whitewater, Wisconsin, said that he was being inundated with message requests, friend requests, and media inquiries but could not get to all of them.

Its with excruciating sadness and tears in my eyes that Im writing this - my only son, my own blood, Marine PFC Ethan Andrew Barclay-Weberpal, was killed yesterday morning at Camp Pendleton, CA, Weberpal wrote. He was stabbed by another Marine. There are few details at this time as there is an ongoing investigation. Arrangements are pending and I will post an update when I know more.

An online campaign to raise funds for Marines family was established on Wednesday.

NCIS continues to probe another death at the School of Infantry.

Pfc. Michael Michael Philomeno Giannattasio, 22, of Armada, Mich., was found unresponsive during land navigation training on the Basic Reconnaissance Course in August.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com
One Marine is in custody and another is dead following a Tuesday morning fight between students at Camp Pendletons School of Infantry.

Marine spokesman Capt. Joshua J. Pena said that agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are probing the incident and one Marine is in military custody.

The victims next of kin have yet to be notified, Pena said. A full statement identifying the alleged perpetrator and the slain Marine will not be issued until 24 hours after that notification is made.

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NCIS officials did not respond to messages seeking comment.

First responders were called to Area 52, the sprawling section of Camp Pendleton where the School of Infantry is housed, around 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday following reports of an injured person.

Military Videos  On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France  at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal

cprine@sduniontribune.com
Micah Gammons, a licensed blaster with Caltrans, has gotten a lot of practice blowing up boulders recently.

Last year, there were the 300-ton granite boulders that rolled onto Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo County. Now, hes busting sandstone boulders bigger than an SUV in Montecito.

We usually do one to three blasts a year, said Gammons, the District 5 maintenance superintendent for the California Department of Transportation. This year  weve done well over 30.

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A dozen of those explosions have been in Montecito, where a Jan. 9 storm dumped 25% of its water in a single five-minute span. The deluge turned fire-ravaged hillsides into rivers of mud, trees and massive sandstone rocks.

Boulders, some measuring 12 feet in diameter, rumbled down neighborhood creeks and plugged outlets. Gammons was called in because the rocks are too big to move in one piece.

Over two days last week, Gammons team blasted 12 boulders clogging Toro Canyon Creek at Highway 192. The shards then were pulled out of the creek bed.

Workers carefully cross the Ashley Road Bridge over Montecito Creek as crews clear debris, attempt to restore power and reopen roadways. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

The rocks are fractured using a one-third-pound explosive thats a mix of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane  commonly known as a fertilizer bomb.

Crews use a rock drill to bore a 1-inch-diameter hole deep in the boulder and fill the void with explosives. The hole is then packed with angular rock, like one of those Chinese finger-cuffs that keeps it from rifling out, Gammons said.

A 250-foot-long detonation cord is then added, and Gammons and his team take position behind heavy equipment, a vehicle or some type of barrier that is within sight of the boulder.

Then, with spotters stationed in all directions where people could enter the area, the countdown begins with a five-minute warning from an air horn, followed by another when the explosion is one minute away.

The team then does a 20-second countdown before Gammons sets off the bomb.

The blast fractures the boulder but doesnt send pieces flying in all directions, Gammons said. Sandstone absorbs the blow better than granite, limiting the concussion felt by people nearby.

In one instance, the team connected four huge boulders with one line and blasted them all simultaneously. In areas near gas lines where explosions are too dangerous  particularly in creeks to the west  contractors are using an expanding gel that is injected into a hole drilled in the rock. Hours later, the expansion forces the rock to fracture.

Gammons, who has been with Caltrans for 12 years, said this was the first time hes had to do this kind of work in a community.

Ive worked mudslides on Highway 1 a lot, but its just a highway, he said. But dealing with houses and neighborhoods  the pictures on the news dont do it justice.

The job of clearing out the creeks and debris basins is a massive undertaking. At a community meeting Tuesday night, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said just one basin had 100,000 cubic yards of debris that need to be cleared. The trucks coming in to transport that debris can take out only 10 to 20 cubic yards at a time.

So you can imagine how many large trucks are needed to complete this massive task, he said.

A caravan of firetrucks, emergency vehicles, large dump trucks and utility vehicles have been driving through the heart of Montecito at Coast Village and Olive Mill roads as buried sections of town are cleared and repaired.

It looks like Grand Central Station, Brown said. This is constantly happening throughout the day.

Crews are working around the clock in Cold Springs Creek, using excavators to dig out the mud and rocks piled more than 12 feet high along the creek bed.

During last weeks powerful storm, the creek transformed into a highway of destruction, draining a large 2,500-acre watershed that extends up into the steep slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

The massive Thomas fire had left slopes in that area scorched and barren: 77% of the watershed is burned and stripped of the alder trees, willows and cattails that could have soaked up the rain.

The fire burned so hot and thoroughly that a waxy film developed over the dirt and repelled rain, sending a slurry of ash, water, mud and boulders racing down the creek, tearing away whatever stood in its path.

It is like an ice cream scooper came through here and scraped the earth down to bedrock, said Tom Fayram, deputy public works director for Santa Barbara County.

On Wednesday, just a trickle of water flowed through as Santa Barbara County officials toured the damage and workers used an excavator fitted with a powerful hydraulic hammer to break rocks apart.

County officials dont expect Friday mornings forecasted light rain to cause problems. But in time, heavy rain will come back, so a thorough cleanup is crucial.

Workers have cleared about half of the debris from the massive basin along East Mountain Drive that acts as a dam, stopping some of the thick muck from continuing down Cold Springs Creek to where it eventually joins Montecito Creek and slices through a dense patch of homes.

The debris dam, built in 1964 after the Coyote fire burned more than 60,000 acres in the creeks watershed, couldnt stop the massive mudflow, but it did slow it down and hold back many boulders.

Even so, a group of homes along Hot Springs Road was destroyed.

Upstream, the mudflow had taken out Mountain Drive, leaving behind strands of rebar and scattered pavement. Fencing was wrapped around a tree. A boulder a few feet high sat underneath a house on a hill near a bend in the creek.

Clint Greene and Kathy Espino, two doctorate students at UC Santa Barbara, hiked through the debris Wednesday, taking in the sight.

Greene, who used to frequent Cold Springs Trail, couldnt believe this was the same place.

There used to be trees here, everywhere, he said. You could hear frogs.

Serna reported from Los Angeles, Panzar from Montecito. Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.

joseph.serna@latimes.com | @JosephSerna

javier.panzar@latimes.com | @jpanzar

UPDATES:

Jan. 18, 8:20 p.m.: This article was updated with interviews an information about the cleanup along Cold Springs Creek.

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from the sheriff.

This article was originally published on Jan. 17 at 12:20 p.m.
A gunman fired several rounds outside the upscale Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood on Tuesday evening in a fit of rage after the hotel staff made him get rid of his marijuana, authorities said.

The man was told to leave the hotel after the dispute. As he was leaving, he shot four or five rounds into the air, said Los Angeles County Sheriffs Sgt. Charles Duncan. No one was hit.

The man, in his 30s, then got into a silver hatchback waiting at the curb, with a woman behind the wheel. The car was last seen heading east on Fountain Avenue.

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A front desk receptionist who answered the phone at the hotel declined to comment.

Its unclear if the gunman was staying at the hotel or visiting its restaurant or bars. Duncan did not know whether investigators had identified him.

Authorities were canvassing the scene.

Shots fired outside the Mondrian Hotel on Sunset in West Hollywood Sheriffs deputies investigating no injuries @KCBSKCALDesk pic.twitter.com/5KUBJaozmO  stu mundel (@Stu_Mundel) January 17, 2018

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

UPDATES:

10:35 p.m.: This article was updated to reflect that authorities said the gunman was upset over his marijuana.

This article was originally published at 9:20 p.m.
A 35-year-old security guard suspected of sexually assaulting 14 women who worked as prostitutes has been charged with kidnapping and robbery after his latest victim escaped and alerted police, authorities said Wednesday.

Ferdinand Flowers of Long Beach was arrested Jan. 12 by Los Angeles police officers in the 600 block of West Victoria Street near Compton, said LAPD Deputy Chief Justin Eisenberg.

Flowers had picked up a victim near Long Beach Boulevard and Palm Avenue in the early morning hours, police said. He then allegedly drove her to a street in Rancho Dominguez and pointed a gun at her.

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After robbing the victim, Flowers attempted to force the woman to perform a sex act, but she fought back and escaped from the car around 1:30 a.m., police said. LAPD detectives, who were already in the area as part of the investigation into the series of sexual assaults, immediately arrested Flowers.

Flowers was charged with kidnapping with intent to commit rape, assault with intent to commit rape and robbery in the Jan. 12 attack, according to a news release issued by the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday and is due back in court Feb. 15. He faces up to life in prison if convicted, according to prosecutors.

He has yet to be charged in the other attacks, a spokeswoman for the district attorneys office said.

Investigators said Flowers alleged attacks began in January 2014. All of his victims were black women who worked as prostitutes, according to Capt. Billy Hayes of the LAPDs elite Robbery-Homicide Division. Six of the victims were attacked in Los Angeles, and eight were assaulted in other parts of Los Angeles County, according to Eisenberg. Authorities believe more victims are likely to come forward.

I need to stress that we still have much more investigative work to do on these cases, but we believe we have the right predator off the streets who committed these horrific crimes, Eisenberg said.

In each attack, police said, Flowers would drive to an area known for prostitution and solicit a woman. Once the victims entered his car, Flowers would hold them at gunpoint, drive to a remote industrial area and force them to perform a sex act, Hayes said.

Flowers routinely released the women in the same area, a habit that ultimately helped lead to his arrest last week, investigators said.

Hayes said Flowers may have targeted women working as prostitutes because they were vulnerable victims and that was what he was going after with the sex acts.

His youngest victim was 15, Hayes said.

Flowers photograph was not released so that other victims can make a positive identification without being influenced, Hayes said.

Investigators believe Flowers was involved in four sexual assaults in 2014. He has not been linked to any assaults committed in 2015 or 2016, but police said they doubt Flowers was dormant those years.

It would seem the behavior wouldnt just cease like that, Hayes said.

Investigators began to notice a pattern of assaults in May last year, when detectives linked DNA from an attack that began in South L.A. to evidence related to the January 2014 assault.

Many of the attacks happened along Western Avenue in South L.A. or on a stretch of Alameda Street in an unincorporated part of the county near South L.A., police have said. Flowers threatened to hurt the women if they did not cooperate, Hayes said. In one case, he struck a woman who tried to refuse.

He is being held in lieu of $1.25 million bail, according to jail records. Hayes said Flowers was a licensed security guard who worked for a firm that provided security at various sites throughout Los Angeles County. He was licensed to carry a firearm, and police recovered a .40-caliber handgun during a search of his home.

Flowers first became licensed in 2003, according to Department of Consumer Affairs records. He was previously arrested for soliciting a prostitute in Los Angeles in 2010, police said.

Times staff writers Kate Mather and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.

UPDATES:

6 p.m.: This article was updated with the identity of the suspect and additional details about the attacks.

1:40 p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation from an additional source and additional background on the case.

This article was originally published at 12:45 p.m.
It was usually after midnight when Mike Clifford spotted the children from the house across the street.

Some nights, hed see about six children  none of whom looked older than 15  getting into a passenger van with their father and wonder where they could possibly be going at such an hour. Other nights, hed see them through a second-story window in the Murrieta house, walking in circles for long periods of time.



For the record: An earlier version of this story gave David Turpins age as 57. He is 56.

Clifford, an aerospace machinist who works late shifts, tried to make sense of what he saw. Maybe the children had special needs. Maybe the repetitive circling was therapeutic. Maybe it was just their routine.

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It was kind of strange, he said. But there was never anything to say, Oh, my God. I should call somebody.

It was a pattern of thinking followed by neighbors, 20 miles to the north in Perris, who a few years later caught similarly strange glimpses of the small, pale children of David and Louise Turpin.

After seeing them working under floodlights late at night to put sod in the familys yard a few months ago, neighbors said it was odd but not so unsettling that they needed to call police.

The reality was far worse than anything they imagined.

The Turpins 13 children, authorities said, were captives in the couples tract house on Muir Woods Road and appeared to have undergone years of abuse and starvation. Some were shackled to their beds.

Authorities learned of the horrors inside the house after a 17-year-old girl called 911 early Sunday, saying she had escaped through a window from her parents house, where she and her siblings had been trapped. Shed used a deactivated cellphone to make the call, Riverside County Sheriffs Capt. Greg Fellows said at a news conference Tuesday. She had photos to back up her claims.

Sheriffs deputies were shocked by the girls small size and emaciated appearance, thinking she was only 10.

When deputies arrived at the house, it was extremely dirty, Fellows said. There was a strong, foul stench. Three young people were in chains. And yet, Fellows said, the childrens mother seemed surprised to see authorities.

It seemed that the mother was perplexed as to why we were at the residence, he said.

Riverside County Sheriffs Capt. Greg Fellows, shown at a news conference Tuesday, discusses the case of David and Louise Turpin, who are suspected of holding their 13 children hostage and starving them. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times )

No prior law enforcement contact

Sheriffs deputies had no prior contact with the Turpins or calls for service at their house, Fellows said. Likewise, the Police Department in Murrieta, where the family lived from 2010 to 2014 after moving to California from Texas, had no interactions with them, said a spokesman for the agency.

Perris Mayor Michael Vargas said his heart went out to the children.

I can truly say that I am devastated at this act of cruelty.  I cant even begin to imagine the pain and suffering that they have endured.

David Turpin, 56, and Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested this week on suspicion of torture and child endangerment. Each is being held in lieu of $9-million bail.

The youngest of their children is 2. Deputies at first assumed from the childrens frail and malnourished appearance that all of them were minors but later determined that seven of them were adults ages 18 to 29, according to the Sheriffs Department.

County adult and child protective service workers and medical professionals are assessing the siblings, Fellows said. The parents, he said, showed no indication of mental illness at this time that could explain what they did to their children.

Susan von Zabern, director of the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services, said county childrens service officials are seeking court authorization to care for the siblings, including the adult children to the extent that thats necessary.

Von Zabern said the 911 call received Sunday, which was cross-reported to social workers, was the first opportunity we had to intervene.

Although it is too early to know how long the siblings have been malnourished or subjected to abuse, she said, their condition indicates it has been a prolonged period of time.

Social workers, as is custom, will try to identify relatives who could care for the children, Von Zabern said. They would be subject to all kinds of background investigations to make sure theyre suitable and stable.

Hopeful that life will get better

Mark Uffer, chief executive of the Corona Regional Medical Center, said seven of the adult Turpin children  five females and two males  are patients at his hospital and are staying in a secured area where they are being treated together.

Its hard to think of them as adults when you first see them because theyre small and their malnutrition, Uffer said.

Theyre very friendly. Theyre very cooperative, and I believe very hopeful that life will get better for them after this event.

The Sandcastle Day School

Like many California families who choose to home-school their children, the Turpins registered their home with the state as a private school. They called it Sandcastle Day School.

During the last school year, the school was listed in state records as a private, nonreligious, co-ed institution that first appeared on the state registry in 2010, when the family lived in Murrieta. There were six students enrolled: one each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

David Turpin, who was listed as the principal, submitted paperwork each year, but the information sought by the California Department of Education  like the address, type of school and enrollment numbers  likely offered authorities scant insight into the childrens lives.

The annual paperwork is all that California law requires.

Neither the Department of Education nor the local school districts had any legal responsibility to knock on the Turpins door, review their curriculum or assess their childrens academic performance. While state law requires private school employees to submit to fingerprinting and background checks, there is no such demand placed on parents teaching their own children.

We really knew nothing about them, said Grant Bennett, superintendent of the Perris Union High School District. If they were in home school from the beginning, they wouldnt have even been on our radar.

It hit me like a ton of bricks

Authorities said they have reviewed a Facebook page belonging to David and Louise Turpin. A joint account that appears to belong to the couple is filled with recent images of the large family, wearing matching outfits and smiling at Disneyland.

Photos posted in May 2016 depict an apparent marriage vow renewal ceremony between David and Louise, with an Elvis impersonator in a gold suit jacket. Their 13 children surround them  the girls in pink-and-purple plaid dresses, the boys in black suits.

In all of the photographs, the children are thin and short in stature. It is difficult to tell which ones are adults.

Eric Aguirre, the familys former landlord in Murrieta, was shocked when he first saw news reports about the family.

I was scrolling through Facebook going, Why do I know these people? Why do I know these people? he said. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Aguirre said the family rented their former five-bedroom house sight unseen after moving from Texas.

He interacted with the family only once, when he came over to perform routine maintenance. The children slept in bunk beds, he said, but nothing about their behavior or the condition of the house seemed out of the ordinary, he said.

The children, he said, were quiet, shy, well-behaved.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

paloma.esquivel@latimes.com

Twitter: @palomaesquivel

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson

anna.phillips@latimes.com

Twitter: @annamphillips

Times staff writer Esquivel reported from Perris, and Branson-Potts and Phillips reported from Los Angeles. Staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.
He always wanted to be the center of attention. The most talked-about man in the room. The star.

More than 20 years later, San Diego-born serial killer Andrew Cunanan is getting his wish. Again.

The stage where Cunanan struts and vamps is The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the sumptuous and aggravating miniseries that debuts tonight on the FX network.

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Dont let the title fool you. The follow-up to 2016s riveting The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, this installment is ostensibly about the colliding lives of famed designer Gianni Versace and Andrew Cunanan, the charming sociopath and gay hustler who stalked and killed him. But it is really all about Andrew.

In 1997, the boyish graduate of the prestigious Bishops School in La Jolla killed five men in a cross-country spree that ended when he gunned down Versace at the gates of the designers Miami Beach mansion on July 15.

1 / 4 Antonio DAmico was the partner of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. In this photo, DAmico attended the memorial service for Versace inside Milans gothic cathedral. (Luca Bruno / AP) 2 / 4 Donatella Versace was the sister of Gianni Versace. (Victor Boyko / Getty Images for GQ) 3 / 4 Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace. (Jeff Daly / AP) 4 / 4 Marilyn Miglin (center) was the widow of Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin, who was killed by Andrew Cunanan. (Chris Walker / AP)

Police found Cunanan three days later on a houseboat just a few miles from Versaces home. He had killed himself, using the same type of gun he used on three of his victims.

How did a smart, charismatic private-school kid become a serial killer? Why did he target Versace? How did he manage to hide in plain sight, strolling the streets of Miami Beach while he was on the FBIs list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives?

Those were the questions everyone was asking in 1997, and as you begin making your way through the nine-part Gianni Versace, you might find yourself wondering if the series is going to answer any of them. Sometimes it does. Most of the time, it doesnt.

First, the good news. As he did in The People vs. O.J. Simpson, series executive producer Ryan Murphy populates his true-crime stage with truly terrific actors.

In a gripping performance, former Glee star Darren Criss plays Andrew Cunanan as a cunning chameleon who knows how to be the person friends and potential lovers want him to be, until he doesnt need them anymore. And then the charm curdles into something dark and deadly.

Because the story revolves around Cunanan, no one gets as much screen time as Criss, but his co-stars make the best of the smaller, but still juicy parts theyve been given.

Edgar Ramirez paints a subtle portrait of Versace as a mournful genius who lives for beauty, and after a rough patch in the earlier episodes, Penelope Cruz brings empathy and depth to Versaces younger sister, Donatella.

And definitely keep an eye out for New Girl star Max Greenfield (unrecognizable as Cunanans drifter pal, Ronnie); MASH favorite Mike Farrell as the doomed Chicago developer Lee Miglin; and Michael Nouri as Norman Blachford, the La Jolla millionaire who shared a beachfront home with Cunanan.

But all of this talent is in the service of a show that does not have the big-picture sweep or the gut impact of The People vs. O.J. Simpson.

Based on Maureen Orths book, Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History, the Versace series wants to be about a lot of things. It wants to take on the allure of fame (which Cunanan wants but doesnt want to work for); the danger of closeted homosexuality (one episode is called Dont Ask, Dont Tell); and assorted epic law-enforcement fails. But like the fashion magazines Andrew is always poring over, the series never gets much beyond the surface of anything.

A big part of this is due to the series self-defeating structure, which starts with the Versace shooting then moves backwards. Back through Cunanans murder spree and San Diego social climbing, until we finally get to the eighth episode and the lying, embezzling, abusive father who was the well-dressed role model for the psychopath Cunanan would become.

By that time, you may not care anymore. If you watch The Assassination of Gianni Versace for the acting and the snippets of San Diego scenery, you will be diverted. Expect anything more, and youll want to charge FX for stealing your time. This Crime Story should come wrapped in caution tape.

More on Andrew Cunanan

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story: Who is Andrew Cunanan?

20 years later: Cunanan, Versace and celebrity culture

Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.com
Transparency is a hallmark of the Nebraska Legislature, one too often taken for granted.

Every bill is entitled to a committee hearing. With only one legislative chamber, Nebraska has no conference committee between House and Senate, meaning every amendment and change to a bill is introduced and voted on in public.

Despite the states proud history of open government, one critical vote  for committee leadership positions  continues to be held by secret ballot. Those votes must remain secret.

Yes, this may seem a like a paradox. The Journal Star editorial board has long advocated for government to conduct as much business as possible in the public eye as a matter of accountability.

But secret ballots for leadership preserve another integral trait of the Legislature: its officially nonpartisan composition. Publicizing these ballots would reintroduce a form of a chilling effect thats been absent from the capital, at least in this particular arena, since 1973.

Senators must be allowed to vote their consciences freely when choosing their leaders from among their ranks. Without the overt party pressures that come into play in a partisan legislature, Nebraskas lawmakers can vote for the best person for the particular job, rather than being held to the party line.

The system allows a veteran lawmaker whose political beliefs defy the majority of the Legislature to win a chairmanship. Like anything within politics, its imperfect. Just last year, three freshman senators won committee chair positions on their first day in the capitol, before theyd ever introduced or voted on a bill.

Only one such position, chairman of the select Committee on Committees, was open in 2018. Omaha Sen. Robert Hilkemann won the seat on the sessions first day, edging out Hastings Sen. Steve Halloran by a 25-24 margin.

Days later, as the adoption of this legislative sessions permanent rules were being finalized, Bancroft Sen. Lydia Brasch moved  then quickly withdrew  a request for open voting to fill leadership positions. Her action, though, sparked an always robust debate among senators.

In most partisan state legislatures, committee leadership decisions are made in closed rooms, too. Most states committee chairs are selected from within the caucus of the majority party, meaning only some, but not all, of the body has a say in these important positions.

That structure also allows such positions to be used as a powerful prize for those who most faithfully adhere to party doctrine  or a punishment for those who dont.

In our view, Nebraska does it far better  and more democratically  without public tallies.

By enlisting all 49 senators, political affiliations aside, and permitting them to vote their consciences rather than party lines, secret ballots remain best for the Nebraska Legislature as it chooses its leaders.

 Journal Star, Jan. 16, 2018
Efforts moved forward this week to revitalize a 70-mile stretch of the so-called Impossible Railroad between Tecate and Plaster City, which supporters said could generate billions in economic activity and dramatically reduce the number of freight trucks rolling through San Diego County.

Officials with Baja California Railroad  the company with the rights to operate the rail line from Imperial County to Tijuana  said they met Tuesday with federal officials to discuss a key point of contention around moving freight across the border.

Will century-old Impossible Railroad finally thrive, delivering billions in economic activity? 

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Baja Rail would like to build a joint inspection facility with customs officials from both sides of the border, just east of Tecate in Mexico. Company officials have said such a facility would be the most cost-effective way to ensure that everything that crosses the border is properly examined.

This type of infrastructure has been built in other parts of the border, said Jorge Lzquiendo, spokesman for Baja Railroad. It just makes things more efficient, and theres less infrastructure to invest in.

Complicating the issue, the rail line crosses the border through a tunnel that starts out on the Mexican side as a large flat expanse and on the United States side turns abruptly into steep jagged cliffs.

Rather than station agents in Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego has favored building separate inspection facilities, including one in Tecate and another in Campo, according to officials with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, the agency which leases the right to operate desert line.

One of the challenges is the amount of constructible land on the U.S. side of the tunnel across the border, Paul Jablonski, executive director of MTS, said in an interview with the Union-Tribune last month.

I think primarily its a safety issue, he added. When I talked to officials, they just raised a lot of concerns.

Customs and Border Protection in San Diego has yet to respond to a request for comment for this story, but provided this statement in December:

CBP officials have been coordinating to provide information about CBP requirements at an official border crossing into the U.S. and other necessary information. CBP has a long track record of facilitating investments in border infrastructure, but at this time in the process, any additional comments on the project would be premature.

Baja Rail officials said they are meeting with Department of Homeland Security and customs officials next week to discuss both proposals.

If need be, the company is prepared to build multiple inspection facilities in order to move forward with the reconstruction of the line, Lzquiendo said. If the authorities establish it as a must have, well have to comply under the terms of the lease.

Needed repairs on the lines, including on its 17 tunnels and 57 bridges, is estimated to cost roughly $60 million. Officials said if everything goes as planned, they expect to complete the project by 2020.

Since the so-called Impossible Railroad was first constructed by entrepreneur John D. Spreckels roughly a century ago, its suffered everything from fires to floods to intractable politics. The last time cargo was transported along the desert line was in 2008 before the route was embargoed pending tunnel and bridge upgrades.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
The number of cases associated with San Diego Countys ongoing hepatitis A outbreak shrunk from 577 to 576 Tuesday as the public health emergency that killed 20 people in 2017 continued to show lower levels of activity across the region.

Dr. Eric McDonald, chief of the countys Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch, said in an email that a minor clerical error contributed to the shrinkage of the outbreaks case total.

A patient with recurrent hepatitis was admitted at two different hospitals under two slightly different names and two different addresses due to homelessness. We originally had these as two separate cases with two different investigators, but new information clarified the situation, McDonald said.

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It was the second week in a row that the outbreak case total did not increase, supporting the idea that emergency measures, such as hand-washing stations and portable toilets placed in many communities, may no longer be necessary.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors, which declared the emergency on Sept. 1, plans to address whether or not to end the emergency in a meeting in late January.

While focus has largely shifted to the flu, which has infected more than 10,000 people in the county this winter and killed 91, other communities continue to struggle with growing hepatitis A outbreaks. One in Southeast Michigan is now the largest in the nation with 677 cases and 22 deaths. In Utah, 133 people have become infected, with 82 percent of those listed as homeless, drug users or both. No deaths are currently associated with the Utah outbreak, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Hepatitis A is a viral infection that spreads through fecal contamination. Washing ones hands with warm soapy water for at least 30 seconds helps control its spread. If left untreated, infection can cause liver damage that leads to jaundice and other symptoms. Death usually only occurs if other health problems are present.

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
After spending about two-and-a-half weeks in detention, a UC Berkeley student will be allowed to return to campus while his immigration case is pending.

Luis Mora spent about five minutes in front of Judge Ana Partida before she agreed to release him for the minimum possible bond  $1,500.

Eleven people there to support Mora crowded into one side of the small courtroom at Otay Mesa Detention Facility, where Mora was held. Among them were his girlfriend Jaleen Udarbe, several of her family members, advisers from Moras time at Southwestern College, and members of a church that Mora attended with his mother in Chula Vista.

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An attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not oppose Moras attorneys request for minimum bond.

Good luck to you, sir, Partida said to Mora in a matter-of-fact way before moving on to the next case on her docket.

A whisper of Yes! circulated the benches after the judge announced her decision.

Mora walked back to a bench where other detainees waited for their turn in front of the judge. He gave a quick smile to his supporters before sitting down.

A YouCaring fundraiser for Mora raised more than $14,500 by Wednesday morning. Moras attorney, Prerna Lal, said that Mora intends to use money left over after he pays bond to help others whom he met in the immigration detention facility.

Mora, 20, was arrested by Border Patrol on Dec. 30 at a checkpoint between Jamul and Dulzura on Campo Road after his girlfriend missed a turn on the way home around 10 p.m. from a party. Mora was in town for the holidays to see his girlfriend, and they stopped by the party to visit some of his friends from high school.

Luis Mora was found in violation of his visa condition, said Tekae Michael, a spokeswoman for Border Patrol in the San Diego sector.

Mora, who was born in Colombia and also has citizenship in Ecuador, came to San Diego on a tourist visa in 2011 with his mother. She enrolled him in school, and they stayed even after his visa expired, making him an unauthorized immigrant.

He graduated from Otay Ranch High School and attended Southwestern College before transferring to UC Berkeley.

Since he came to the country after 2007, he did not qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which gave certain unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children temporary protection from deportation.

Sally Ramirez, who attended Moras bond hearing, said she met Mora about seven years ago at Mater Dei Catholic Parish in Chula Vista.

She said Moras desire to help others in the detention facility with money raised for him reflects a community service mentality that his mother passed on to him.

Hes a great kid with a great heart, Ramirez said.

Lal and Udarbe left the facility together to pay Moras bond downtown. They hoped that he would be released by Wednesday evening.

Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

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A UC Berkeley student missed the first day of spring classes on Tuesday because he is in a San Diego immigration detention facility.

Border Patrol arrested Luis Mora on Dec. 30 after his girlfriend missed a turn on the way home around 10 p.m. from a party in Jamul, and they ended up at an immigration checkpoint. Mora was visiting his girlfriend, who lives in Chula Vista, for the holidays.

Luis Mora was found in violation of his visa condition, said Tekae Michael, a spokeswoman for Border Patrol in the San Diego sector.

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Mora is scheduled to see an immigration judge on Wednesday morning to determine if he will be detained until his case is heard or if he will be released while he waits.

Prerna Lal, an attorney who represents unauthorized immigrant students at UC Berkeley, hoped to be able to get the judge to agree to a bond amount based on the strength of our legal arguments and on the solid support we have from the community at large.

A YouCaring fundraiser set up on Moras behalf raised close to $14,000 by Tuesday morning to help pay his bond if released.

After Moras arrest, he spent several days in Border Patrol custody before transferring to a long-term detention facility run by ICE. Processing between temporary facilities in the San Diego area and ICE detention have been slowed by a backlog from rising numbers of asylum seekers at the border.

Theres someone right now in Border Patrol custody that needs to be here, and theyre wasting it on someone like me, Mora said.

The conditions during the four days he spent in Border Patrols temporary holding cell were horrifying, he said.

Whether you have a criminal record or not, they treat you like youre a terrorist, Mora said.

Agents called him f---face and exotic, he said, and detainees werent given hygiene products like shampoo or toothpaste. Detainees shared two toilets and one working shower, he said, for about 60 people.

They refer to us as bodies  How many bodies do you got?  as if we were deceased, Mora said. You can be alive. You can be a human being, and they will call you a body. Its shameful.

To stay warm in the notoriously frigid cell, often called a hielera or icebox by immigrants, detainees had emergency blankets. Mora said detainees had to cover even their heads with the blankets for them to be effective.

He recalled looking around while everyone was sleeping.

It looked like a pile of dead bodies, he said.

We take these allegations seriously, a spokesman for the San Diego sector of Border Patrol said. Our detention records indicate that Mr. Mora was temporarily held in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody while awaiting transfer to a long-term holding facility. While in CBP custody, our records also indicate that Mr. Moras detention met the standards of CBP detention policy. CBP remains committed to meeting the care and safety needs of those persons in its custody.

Mora, 20, came to the U.S. from Ecuador on a tourist visa in 2011 with his mother. He stayed after the visa expired, becoming an unauthorized immigrant.

Since he came after 2007, he wasnt eligible for former President Barack Obamas program for those brought to the U.S. as children.

His mother told him they were coming to visit a family friend who was sick and that they would be back in time for school to start, Mora recalled. After they got to San Diego, she enrolled him in school, and they stayed.

His mother, Laura Villota, had breast cancer at the time. She didnt tell her son about it and brought him to the U.S. in what she thought might be one of her final acts of motherhood.

I thought my time was short to fulfill the dreams of my child, Villota explained in Spanish.

When Mora was in high school, his mother sat down with him to explain to him what his immigration status would mean and what he would not be allowed to do as an unauthorized immigrant, he said.

They went to several attorneys to try to find a way to renew his visa or get another kind of visa, but nothing worked.

Mora weighed his options. If he went back to Ecuador, he said, he would lose the years of education hed received in the U.S. as he believed the credits wouldnt transfer. He feared discrimination and lack of opportunity because hed been gone so long.

He resolved to study hard in the U.S., hoping that through education he might be able to change his immigration status.

Before he graduated high school, he found out about his mothers cancer. By that time, doctors in the U.S. had helped her beat it, and she was now cancer-free.

Mora said if hes able to become a permanent resident, he would like to join the military to pay back the U.S. for his mothers health. He said she wouldnt have been able to receive the same treatment in Ecuador.

I love this country despite everything, the discrimination, the labeling, Mora said, noting that some consider him a criminal because of his immigration status. Im grateful to this country for all of the opportunities given to me.

He respects the publics right to have different views on the topic of immigration, he said, because he loves the U.S.s freedom of speech. Still, he disagreed with being labeled as a criminal.

You have one negative and all these positives, he said, listing volunteer work and other ways hes helped the community. We didnt want to be like this. We didnt choose to be like this. We were put in this situation because of immigration laws.

After Moras arrest, his girlfriend, Jaleen Udarbe, a 21-year-old student at Southwestern College, rallied friends, students and other community members to help Mora.

Im kind of speechless. Shes incredible, Mora said. Shes the one that keeps me going.

Immigration Videos On Now New developments in family separation case 9:53 On Now A San Diego woman volunteered as a medic in Texas helping migrant families 2:35 On Now Immigration policy protests in Carlsbad nearly cancelled after permit issue 1:38 On Now When children are separated from their parents at the border, here is where they go next On Now Prospects of a deal for 'Dreamers' may hinge on separating Trump from hard-liners on his staff On Now What is DACA? On Now Border wall prototype contractors selected On Now Video: Ukrainian boxer wins asylum in U.S. On Now 30 apprehended after Border Patrol agents discover tunnel On Now Video: Kurdish diaspora prepare to vote on independence

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

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UPDATES:

5:15 p.m.: This article was updated to include a response from U.S. Border Patrol.
A Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy has been charged with operating a large-scale drug trafficking scheme in which he boasted that he hired other law enforcement officers to provide security to dealers and could assault people for his clients, according to court records.

Deputy Kenneth Collins and three other men were arrested by FBI agents Tuesday morning in a sting operation when they arrived to what they thought was a drug deal, according to records unsealed after the arrest.

Court documents outlining the case show that Collins, 50, has been under investigation for months. He was recorded by agents discussing his extensive drug trafficking network, past criminal conduct, and willingness to accept bribes to use his law enforcement status for criminal purposes, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

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I fix problems, Collins was recorded saying to an undercover agent, court records show. I make a lot of things go away.

U.S. Atty. Nicola T. Hanna said in a statement that Deputy Collins sold his badge to assist an individual he thought was a drug trafficker. The deputy allegedly used his status as a law enforcement officer as a guarantee when he promised safe travels for large quantities of illegal narcotics.

Thom Mrozek, a U.S. attorneys office spokesman, said that the investigation is continuing but that no other law enforcement officers had been implicated so far.

Last year, an undercover agent met with Collins while posing as the relative of a wealthy investor looking to finance an illegal marijuana grow house. The deputy offered to provide security and said he had three teams already working in the region, including one that was protecting an illegal marijuana grow house disguised as an auto repair shop, according to the complaint.

At another meeting to discuss the security plan for the grow house, Collins showed off his sheriffs badge and lifted his shirt to show a gun in his waistband, the complaint said.

He later said that he could provide teams of security made up of cops who travel  with guns and boasted that he and two comrades were hired by a client to set ablaze an $85,000 Cadillac truck in order to intimidate someone, federal authorities alleged.

Collins sold about 2 pounds of marijuana to the agent for $6,000 as a test run to demonstrate his ability to arrange and carry out deals, federal authorities allege. The deputy said he had connections to marijuana operations in Northern California and could sell the agent $4 million of marijuana each month, according to the court records.

His contacts were the best growers you can find in the north, Collins is alleged to have boasted to the agent.

Undercover agents then hired Collins to provide security while they drove several pounds of methamphetamine and other contraband from Pasadena to Las Vegas, the court records said.

When one of the agents initially balked at the price, Collins explained that his services were worth it:

Were cops, Collins said, according to the complaint. We deal with a lot of, you know, kind of high-end clients, and $25,000, theyre like, you know, its like as long as you can make sure my shipment gets from here to there, thats fine.  They make profits in upwards of $5 million on certain, certain transports.

On the drive to Las Vegas, one of the other men charged in the case, David Easter, drove a lookout car while another, Grant Valencia, rode with the undercover agent in the vehicle with the drugs, according to court records. Collins rode in a third car keeping watch from behind.

The methamphetamine the agents were carrying on the trip was not real.

In the complaint, agents said that Collins, Easter and Valencia had agreed to provide security for a large drug transaction Tuesday at the Rosemont Pavilion, an events venue in Pasadena.

In exchange for as much as $250,000, Collins and his team were planning to help oversee the transport of a large cache of drugs and cash, agents alleged in court records. At first, the agent and Collins agreed to a $75,000 payment to oversee the shipment of 20 kilograms of cocaine, 6 kilograms of methamphetamine and cash, but Collins later suggested that they increase the amount of drugs to fill a moving truck and upped the price tag for the job, according to an undercover informant cited in the complaint.

Collins said he had a team of six men, including three other law enforcement officers, who could ensure the cargo made it to its destination untouched, unscathed, the document says.

After a meeting Dec. 11 to plan the transport that was set for Tuesday, Collins called another L.A. County sheriffs deputy to discuss the deal, according to the complaint. The other deputy is not named.

Like Collins, Easter, 51, and Valencia, 34, each face a charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Federal authorities did not publicly detail the allegations against the fourth man who was arrested, Maurice Desi Font, 56.

The Sheriffs Department issued a statement saying the agency notified federal authorities about the criminal allegations against Collins several months ago and had been cooperating with the FBI. Collins, a 15-year-department veteran most recently assigned to provide security at county buildings, was placed on leave and would be suspended without pay during the criminal case, the statement said.

In court Thursday afternoon, Collins was denied bail despite his attorneys argument that he posed no risk to the community and that his wife and mother-in-law would put up $115,000 as assurance he would not flee. Except for a drunk driving conviction in 1999, the attorney said, Collins had no criminal past.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Lindsay Greer Dotson rebuffed the idea of bail, repeatedly calling Collins the mastermind of the alleged drug operation and saying the deputy had indicated in conversations with agents that he had family in Cuba and had recently traveled to the country.

Wearing a plaid shirt, Collins remained expressionless throughout the proceedings and answered the judges questions in a monotone voice.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Kim set Easters bail at $110,000. The other defendants did not seek bail.

Collins has served as an instructor in a life-skills course for former inmates, according to a 2014 article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The Emerging Leaders Academy, run by a retired sheriffs sergeant, features deputies who act as mentors for people with criminal pasts who want to improve their literacy and career skills in order to stay out of prison.

Valencia also is featured in the Tribune article. He is described as an ex-offender who attended the program at the time Collins was teaching.

Collins was quoted in the article as saying he grew up poor before joining the military and later the Sheriffs Department. He said the cognitive behavior program he went through to be able to teach forced him to change his perception of himself from that of a hardcore deputy who busted down doors and chased guns and dope slingers.

I was so used to putting my foot on their neck, he was quoted as saying. This was kind of foreign to me. It goes against what we do  our profession.

A call to the academy was not answered Tuesday morning.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

maya.lau@latimes.com

@joelrubin

@mayalau
In the mountains of western Iran, the province of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari is known for mile-high lagoons, flowing rivers and wetlands that attract thousands of species of migratory birds.

But years of diminishing rainfall have shriveled water sources. Conditions worsened, residents say, after Iranian authorities began funneling water 60 miles away to the lowland city of Esfahan, sparking protests as far back as 2014.

On Dec. 30 of last year, about 200 people gathered in front of the provincial governors office to protest the water transfer project. Their slogans soon morphed into chants of Death to the dictator, the main rallying cry of anti-government protesters who poured into streets nationwide in the biggest spasm of public anger Iran has seen in years.

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The uprising  in which at least 21 people died and thousands were arrested before authorities reimposed order  had many sparks: rising prices, persistent unemployment, bank collapses, a wide wealth gap, corruption in the theocracy.

But an overlooked factor, analysts say, is the impact of climate change and the widespread perception that Irans leaders are mishandling a growing problem of water scarcity.

People believe that this is yet another major crisis the country is facing, and the people at the top are too incompetent and too corrupt to care, said Meir Javedanfar, a professor of Iranian politics at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, an Israeli university.

It does not seem to be a priority of the regime to address the drought issue, he said. As long as its not a priority, nothing will happen until something breaks.

Many environmental activists believe Iran is quickly approaching its breaking point as diminishing rainfall and warmer temperatures have caused lakes to disappear, kicked up blinding dust storms and emptied out once fertile regions as farmers seek economic refuge in cities.

Drought is a concern across the Middle East, but Irans 80 million people are especially at risk. This month, the director of Irans Drought and Crisis Management Center, Shahrokh Fateh, said that 96% of the countrys land area was experiencing prolonged drought conditions, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

In some of the hardest hit areas, including border provinces where ethnic and religious minorities complain of official neglect, concerns over natural resources were a key driver of the demonstrations that began in late December.

People in my area do not want to politicize their environmental concerns, but water shortages and pollution of the air and rivers are seen as political crises, said Yusef Farhadi Babadi, an environmental activist in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari. People want to reclaim their rights to clean air and water and efficient water use.

In the province, which covers an area slightly larger than the state of Connecticut, there were once 3,800 natural springs, but about 1,100 have dried up, Babadi said, citing official statistics. The Iran Meteorological Organization forecast recently that for the Iranian year ending March 20, rainfall in the province would be more than 80% below the long-term average.

Many in the predominantly agricultural region complain about a controversial series of canals the government has built to bring hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water from the Karun River, which runs through Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, to growing populations in central provinces.

Some of the water has gone to state-run steel mills in Esfahan, which Babadi described as bankrupt industries. Meanwhile, with the exception of Shahr-e Kord, the provincial capital of about 150,000 people, towns in the area rely on tanker water that is riddled with chemicals, he said.

Farmers and cattle breeders have occasionally clashed with security forces, including in 2016, when multiple days of protests in the town of Boldaji left one demonstrator dead and nearly 200 injured. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Irans powerful paramilitary organization, reportedly sent troops from 16 units to put down the uprising.

In neighboring Khuzestan, an oil-rich province with a large population of ethnic Arabs on the border with Iraq, desertification and industrial waste have destroyed date orchards and wetlands. The World Health Organization lists the provincial capital of Ahvaz as one of the worlds most polluted cities, and for much of the year a yellow smog blankets the city, sending residents fleeing to the hospital for help with breathing difficulties.

Ahvaz saw large protests for more than a week beginning Dec. 30, but they were the latest in a years-long string of demonstrations over environmental conditions, said Abafazl Abidi, a correspondent for the reform-minded Shargh newspaper in Tehran.

Many are suffering from chronic environmental problems or pollution-related diseases like asthma and skin ailments, Abidi said. People suffer from acid rain, visibility is only a few meters, there are outages of drinking water and electricity. The recent protests seem to me no surprise at all.

The conditions have worsened because of the rampant construction of dams, more than a dozen of which have been built in the province in the last 40 years, many reportedly by businesses linked to the Revolutionary Guard.

Experts say the projects have aimed to benefit regions and industries with better political connections while worsening water access for marginalized people.

They have built them in a way that the consequences are so bad for the environment, Javedanfar said. And there is so much lack of trust that even if the water projects were justified, people would oppose them. If the Iranian regime were to reinvent the wheel, some would complain that its too round.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on the government to manage climate change and environmental threats, but the response from successive governments has been mixed.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised populist schemes to help farmers, but allowed industries to build haphazardly, and he once blamed Irans drought on Western countries. President Hassan Rouhani, elected in 2013, has pumped funds into restoring the depleted Lake Urmia, but when he visited Khuzestan last year he was greeted by a fierce protest.

In every election we try to send defenders of our rights to parliament or elect presidents who can address environmental issuesbut in vain, Babadi said.

Authorities cracked down swiftly on the recent protests in Shahr-e Kord, but Babadi predicted the respite would be temporary.

The drought and water transfer projects are so dangerous and detrimental that environmental protests will resume soon, he said.

Salt appears in rivers surrounding Garmsar, Iran, the result of acidification caused by a lack of vegetation. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Follow @SBengali on Twitter
Before there was #MeToo, there was test them all.

The push to analyze thousands of rape kits that have been sitting in police evidence rooms around the country has been growing for years.

That effort has not gained the prominence of the recent #MeToo movement of women coming forward to reveal they have been victims of sexual assaults, sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, in notable cases by prominent figures such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

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But policies have shifted to expedite the analysis of untested rape kits, a change spurred by sexual assault victims, their supporters and an increasing number of elected officials.

The two movements may not be linked, but they came together at a San Diego City Council meeting last week to discuss when the Police Department tests the kits and when it doesnt.

We have the #MeToo movement, we have women speaking up, Suzanne Morse, founder of Heartfelt Voices United, told the council.

Morse suggested women who previously had been reluctant to pursue a case against an attacker may now be reconsidering and want to have their kits tested. So I am encouraging this City Council to push even harder, she added.

While other jurisdictions have adopted a test-them-all policy  or something close to it  the San Diego Police Department has not.

At the meeting, Chief Shelley Zimmerman and SDPD crime lab manager Jennifer Shen said the department is revising its policy to allow for the analysis of more than 550 additional kits, which are used to collect DNA samples from victims. Thats about a quarter of the untested kits held by the department.

But they still maintain that testing all kits would lead to duplicative efforts in some cases and wouldnt lead to solving a crime in others.

The case they make is complex, nuanced and has solid reasoning behind it.

The case for testing all kits, the other hand, is straightforward, easily understood and also has solid reasoning behind it.

Thats where San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott and District Attorney Summer Stephan stand.

Gov. Jerry Brown also has signed legislation that seeks to ramp up testing statewide, and requires law enforcement agencies to list reasons why they havent analyzed individual kits.

The federal government has recently shifted away from its position against testing all kits, which it had said would not substantially help solve crimes, according to the Union-Tribunes Joshua Stewart.

Now, federal officials say kits should always be tested, even beyond the expiration of statutes of limitations, because its possible that the statute could be extended or the information could be used for civil cases under sexual predator laws, Stewart wrote. The test results could also be used to determine prior illegal behavior and be considered in parole hearings and criminal sentencings.

Zimmerman and Shen spent an hour on Jan. 9 giving a presentation in painstaking detail about why they believe its best to leave some kits untested. Their audience was a City Council whose majority had insisted more than 1,900 kits be tested and had provided $500,000 to get things moving.

Bringing justice to our victims is our number one priority, said Zimmerman, a point she would make a few times.

Shen said rape kits are not tested because they fall into one of several categories: There is no question who the suspect is and that there was sexual contact, but the issue is whether it was consensual; someones been arrested and police already have DNA samples; the perpetrator is already in the DNA database; a Jane Doe victim gave samples but did not want to proceed with a case; the alleged victim recanted; an investigation showed no crime occurred; better evidence was collected to prosecute; or the victim gave samples, filed a police report but ultimately didnt want to pursue the case.

Shen said the department prioritizes cases where a stranger is the suspect, which she said accounted for up to 20 percent of sexual assault cases. The crime lab quickly tests all rape kits taken from victims in those cases.

Shen and Zimmerman said SDPD is reconsidering its policy against analyzing rape kits from victims who declined to participate in a criminal investigation after initially being cooperative. As of last week, there were 558 kits that fell into that category.

Shen said a working group will be created to consider whether it makes sense to test for suspect DNA in all those cases  and, if the decision is to go ahead, how they would contact victims who didnt want to pursue the case. She noted some are very old cases.

Do we call a victim up 25 years later, when the victim signed paperwork saying they dont want us to go forward, to tell them we are going to go forward? Shen asked. Do we just go forward without telling the victims were going forward?

Shen said the working group would include victims rights advocates and added something everyone seemed to agree with: San Diego must take a victim-centric approach.

That should be first and foremost in our minds, she told the council

Morse, the victims rights advocate, not only agreed, but suggested #MeToo has changed the climate  and possibly the minds of those women who once shied away from pursuing the crime committed against them.
Since December, a series of possible arson fires have left some Ocean Beach residents unsettled and have investigators looking for clues.

Police say the number of fires is less than 10, but beyond that they arent sure which are arson because theyre still investigating. Generally, the blazes have been in alleys and were set between midnight and 6 a.m.

On Tuesday, roughly 75 people  including a handful of people who live near the recent fires  showed up for a town hall to address the suspected arson series. A number of community groups, including the Ocean Beach Town Council, hosted the event. Speakers included police and fire officials.

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San Diego police Lt. Matt Dobbs told the crowd that he could not address the details of specific fires, but he did say less than 10 are under investigation. He said investigators are looking at all fires in the area to pare down the list to only those thought to be the result of arson.

We believe that several of them are related, Dobbs said.

Dobbs told the crowd that police dont have a solid suspect. He also said the series is one of the top priorities of the police chief and the fire chief.

Related

Police investigate arson series in Ocean Beach

One fire official told the crowd that the fires were started using the available combustibles found at the scene.

Among the residents who attended the meeting was Allen Baker, who said he believes a mattress fire set in the alley behind his home last week could be linked to the unsolved series. He said he fears that someones gonna get hurt seriously by this. Its more than vandalism.

Its a serious time, Baker said. Weve got to fix it.

He said the burned mattress remains in the alley.

Ocean Beach Town Council member Giovanni Ignolia said people in the community are well aware of the fires, and that led to the decision to hold a town hall.

Theres been a lot of talk about it, Ignolia said. We thought it was best to get ahead of the situation.

The arson series appears to have started Dec. 7, with a total of five alley fires by early Dec. 11. Those fires were set during a time of extreme fire danger, because of low humidity and Santa Ana winds.

Among the tips for residents were suggestions to clean up debris in the alleys. Officials asked the crowd to be vigilant and to report anything they thought might be suspicious.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Tipsters can call the Crime Stoppers anonymous line at (888) 580-8477, or visit the website at sdcrimestoppers.com.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
San Diego police say a 66-year-old man was fatally stabbed early Wednesday and they have arrested the victims 37-year-old nephew in his death.

A resident in the complex called 911 to report the stabbing inside a condominium complex on Diamond Street near Lamont Street around 1:20 a.m. after the gravely wounded victim had fled his home and knocked on the neighbors door seeking help after being stabbed.

Police found the victim lying in a second-floor hallway of the building suffering from multiple stab wounds, said police Lt. Mike Holden.

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Officers provided immediate medical aid to the victim and he was taken by paramedics to a hospital, where he died.

When police checked out the victims condominium, they found the suspect inside. He was arrested without incident, Holden said.

Holden said the stabbing occurred inside the home, where both men lived. He said police dont yet know what led to the attack.

The two have been identified but their names have not been released pending family notification. Holden said they had lived in the condo for several years.

We dont have any prior calls out to that address that we could find, Holden said. We are still trying to determine what led up to the stabbing... We dont have a direct eyewitness to the stabbing that we can find.

Holden said investigators have obtained a warrant and will search the home Wednesday.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
San Diego lifeguards and firefighters rescued a paraglider who apparently crashed into a cliff along the beach below the San Diego Gliderport Tuesday, a fire official said.

Someone called 911 around 11:15 a.m. to report seeing a paraglider crash into the cliff. Rescue workers subsequently located a man in his 20s on the beach, said San Diego FIre-Rescue spokeswoman Monica Munoz.

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The man was found just north of an area known as Hully Gully and rescuers used ropes to pull him up the cliff on a stretcher, she said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries.

Munoz said it was a difficult rescue.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
San Diegos reputation took a battering in late 2017 for local officials slow reaction to a hepatitis A outbreak, primarily among the homeless, that led to 20 deaths and nearly 600 infections in the county. City and county governments finally got their acts together, providing more bathrooms and hand-washing stations and making hepatitis A vaccinations more readily available, among other actions.

Now another local city is in the global spotlight for its treatment of the homeless. El Cajon officials are being scorned after at least a dozen people, including a 14-year-old, were arrested and given misdemeanor citations Sunday at Wells Park after they gave food to the homeless. That violates the City Councils temporary ban on the distribution of free food at public places, ostensibly to combat hepatitis A in the city where 32 infections were reported and where the local outbreak may have begun.

Some reasonable people argue that giving food to the homeless should be part of a coordinated approach that gets them on the right track. But banning such acts of kindness on public health grounds invites suspicion that El Cajon officials real goal is to drive the homeless away. The city must do better.

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Twitter: @sdutIdeas

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Restricting food distribution not a solution to El Cajons homeless problem

El Cajons ban on feeding the homeless is about safety

Citations for people feeding the homeless in El Cajon put spotlight on food distribution ban
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells has insisted the ordinance prohibiting charitable food sharing is not intended to harm the homeless and those lacking food security, yet the city is willing to violate its own ordinance to aid better-off individuals in temporary need.

El Cajon permitted the Red Cross to operate an evacuation center at the citys Bostonia Park that provided food to those displaced by wildfires. A city representative I contacted insisted that while the letter of the ordinance may have been violated, the city acted within its spirit because food was prepared by an accredited organization with a high hygiene standard.

However, when pressed, the representative stated unequivocally that similar exceptions would not be granted to organizations maintaining similar hygiene standards but distributing food to the homeless on city property. El Cajon is clearly targeting the homeless and food-insecure with its inconsistent application of the ordinance and owes us an explanation why.

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Reuven Brandt

Normal Heights

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Re Justice Department ending Obama policy that let legal pot flourish (Jan. 4): The majority of Americans now believe the regulation, sale and control of cannabis to be a states rights issue. I am opposed to re-criminalizing marijuana use for any reason.

California legalized marijuana for medical purposes and recently approved recreational use by 57 percent.

Dispensaries, growers and users that are abiding by current state laws should be afforded protections under those same laws and should not have their rights infringed upon by anyone at the federal level, including the current office of the attorney general.

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I am deeply concerned about the rhetoric coming from Jeff Sessions and I am asking that my representatives in Washington, D.C., ensure the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment is allowed to continue and that it will be included as part of the upcoming spending bill this month.

The cost of interdiction and incarceration is far greater than cost of collecting tax revenue.

Brian Whelan

Rancho Penasquitos

Re Sessions targeting pot, not opioids? Crazy. (Jan. 5): Your editorial about Jeff Sessions targeting marijuana may have missed a point. Early in his tenure, Sessions re-established the federal governments support for private prisons.

By criminalizing marijuana and prosecuting those cases, Sessions provides a way to keep private prisons full, thus ensuring their profitability.

Douglas Cumming

Carlsbad

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The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

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Re Trumps own words show his true colors (Jan. 15): We should all deplore President Trumps vulgar description of certain countries.

In doing so, however, let us not rush collectively to the moral high ground and claim the adjectives we commonly and euphemistically use in the same circumstances like Third World and backward convey an entirely different and more inspiring image that are completely devoid of racism.

Colin Holman

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Solana Beach

ReSomeone must save our nation from Trump (Jan. 5): All I can say is give me a break. We finally have a president who doesnt kowtow to every Third World despot nor bow down to mullahs who call for the death of America and Israel.

For eight long years, we had to hear our leader apologize to the world for us. We owe no one an apology.

We saved Europe twice in two world wars and now the liberals cry bully when our president asked the NATO countries to pay their fair share for their own defense.

In the end, its a no-brainer regarding foreign policy. Ill take Rex Tillerson over Hillary Clinton and/or John Kerry any day of the week.

Larry Kovalchik

Murrieta

The left set a trap for Trump regarding the alleged comments last Thursday and then ran with the accusation he was a racist even though the comments had nothing to do with race.

It was all to deal with DACA or have a government shutdown which is just a trivial event. The government shuts down every weekend as it is. The left is insidious in its tactics. There is no proof he said what Durbin claims and Durbin has a long history of lacking integrity.

Rolla Rich

Spring Valley

Dick Durbin, who apparently leaked the information to the Press, reminds me of the kid in school who, looking for a pat on the back, immediately ran to the teacher, after class, to inform the teacher of who shot the spitball. In Durbins case it was not for a pat on the back, it was for a few more Democrat voters.

What did his tattle accomplish? Absolutely nothing that would lead to a fix of our immigration problems.

Dave Dowler

Valley Center

I didnt appreciate the tough talk and coarse language of the president. But I also dont like the dishonest or ill-informed comments about the presidents talk that are coming from the media and some in Congress. Ive been to Haiti twice and also to Africa. Both places have many nice people I thoroughly enjoyed. But both Haiti and the poor areas of Africa are in large measure wretched places with serious problems. Trump should use proper language but to claim his comments are racist suggests bias in the one making the charge, perhaps a subtle racism that causes one to see race in everything, whether its really there or not. Then why bring up mostly white Norway? Its obvious to someone who doesnt reflexively see race in everything...Trump had just finished meetings with wealthy Norways prime minister. Only bias would keep someone from realizing that.

Richard Robertson

Navajo

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DES MOINES  IPERS officials told Iowa lawmakers it likely will be next year before they ask for legislative changes to allow in-house management oversee the $30 billion public employee retirement fund.

IPERS, the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, is in preliminary discussion of what it is calling internal investment management.

Currently, IPERS contracts for outside management of its funds. But CEO Donna Mueller and Chief Investment Officer Karl Koch told the House State Government Committee on Tuesday they believe millions of dollars could be saved annually through in-house management of investments.

However, they added, the change would require significant startup investment as well as trading, accounting and control infrastructure.

Legislative changes would be needed, too. In order to attract the appropriate personnel, they explained, the state would have to compete with private management firms that typically offer managers bonuses that often are larger than their salaries.

Also, the IPERS 11-member Investment Board would need more authority and autonomy to hire and fire investment professionals, set compensation and oversee management tools and services, Mueller and Koch said.

The Investment Board includes the state treasurer and active and retired IPERS members as well as four non-voting legislators.

IPERS has 355,600 members, with 51 percent paying into the system, 30 percent retired and receiving benefits, and 7 percent vested but not yet receiving benefits.

In fiscal 2017, IPERS paid $2 billion in benefits with $1.7 billion paid to Iowans, according to Muellers presentation.

Legislation pending in the Senate, Senate File 45, would create 401k-like defined contribution plans for future public employees.

However, Rep. Dawn Pettengill, R-Mount Auburn, one of the legislative members of the IPERS board, opposes the plan and says shes finding little support for it among her colleagues.
NEW HAMPTON | The mother of an infant who was found dead in an Alta Vista apartment is asking the court to delay her trial.

Cheyanne Renae Harris, 20, is charged with murder and child endangerment in the death of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn. Also charged is the childs father, Zachary Koehn, 28.

UPDATE: Chickasaw Co. infant died of neglect, parents charged ALTA VISTA  The parents of a baby found dead in an infant swing in an Alta Vista residence 

Trial for Harris had been scheduled for Jan. 31 in Chickasaw County District Court, but her defense attorney, Aaron Hawbaker, on Friday asked the court to continue the trial to allow more time to prepare. Prosecutors didnt resist the request.

A hearing to pick a new trial date will be later this month.

Iowa parents charged in death of infant son had drug history ALTA VISTA  Parents charged with murder in the death of their infant son in August had a hi

Trial for Koehn had also been originally scheduled for January but has since been moved to March.

According to court records, authorities were called to the couples Alta Vista apartment on Aug. 30 when they reported the child had died.

The infant was found in a swing seat, and investigators said maggots found on the childs clothing and body showed he hadnt been bathed, changed or moved from the swing in at least a week.

 Jeff Reinitz
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Saul Tepper was a leading illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post in the 1920s and 30s. He won a strong following for his dramatic and romantic illustrations.

Tepper worked from a large studio in New York City, which sometimes made it difficult to find suitable models for his historical and international subjects.

Teppers search for just the right model took him to unusual places. For an illustration in the February 21, 1948, issue of the Post, he had to find a pretty Cuban woman. Tepper recalled that he could not find such a woman from the New York modeling agencies, So I was forced to spend several evenings in New York City nightspots searching out a model for myself. I made the rounds of clubs popular with the Latins and one night I saw the right girl. After locating the right girl, he needed his full diplomatic skills to persuade her to model. As recounted in the book, Illustrating for the Saturday Evening Post, Not wishing to test Latin jealousy, Tepper waited until the girl departed. Then he approached a young man he had seen talking with her and explained his wishes. With Latin facility, an appointment was arranged.

One day the Post assigned Tepper to illustrate a story about lumberjacks, but there were very few lumberjack types walking the streets of Manhattan. As his deadline loomed, Tepper was sitting in a small cafe near Carnegie Hall when he noticed a man who looked exactly like a lumberjack, sitting alone drinking coffee.

Illustration art expert Fred Taraba interviewed Teppers apprentice who described what happened next:

Saul approached the man. Im an artist and I wonder if you would be interested in modeling for me as a lumberjack for a Post illustration. Im for real. Ill pay you. This is all legithere is my card. If youre interested be at my studio at 10 AM sharp. The man took the card without conversation. At 10:00 AM there was a knock on Sauls door. Tepper invited the man in and gave him a lumberjack outfit from Teppers collection of props. Once the man was dressed properly, Tepper instructed him on how to pose. The man held the position and Tepper started to work. Soon he was satisfied that he had painted an authentic looking lumberjack. After he was paid, the man asked when the illustration would appear. Tepper told him it would be in two weeks. Three weeks later the man came to Teppers door and was ushered in. He told Saul that as he was drinking coffee in the small cafe, he had made up his mind it would be his last cup. Hed picked a nearby alley. He had one swig left. He then would leave the cafe, go to the alley, put the .38 caliber revolver he carried to his head and end it all. He had been fired from a job in his hometown upstatehad been drinkingand left his wife and children. But then entered Tepper. The man said everyone in his hometown that saw the illustration realized it was him. His job was offered back. He was reunited with his family and was a celebrity in town. Tepper touched many peoples lives.

Post illustrations were hugely influential, but that is the only time Im aware of where the illustration actually saved a human life.
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For more about Gay Haubners life in the North Country, read the other chapters in her serialized memoir.

My romance with our dorms drug dealer was torrid, tempestuous, and exhausting. It was almost a relief when school ended in June and Steve went off to Outward Bound, to be molested or not, and I went to spend my first summer in Colorado Springs, where my mother had moved in pursuit of her second husband (third if you count her teenage elopement with Bill Bailey, a traveling salesman). My mom, my two sisters, both of them unhappy with the move and miserable in their new schools, and most of our French Provincial furniture from our six-bedroom house back in Duluth were shoehorned into a two-bedroom apartment that had all the character and quality of a roadside motel. Skyway Village Apartments did have a pool, where during the day I sunned and read and tried to ignore our across-the-hall neighbor who kept plopping down next to me to ask why I didnt own any bras. A few blocks away from Skyway Village Apartments was a restaurant called Mr. Steak, which hired me on the spot before I realized what a complete shithole it was.

Mr. Steak was a grubby, sad place targeted toward unsuspecting tourists on a budget, tourists on their way back from ruining their cars transmissions and brakes making the crazy drive 13,000 feet up the top of Pikes Peak and back down again. The steaks at Mr. Steak looked exactly like rubber dog toys, the baked potatoes were hard as a rock, and most of the lettuce in the skimpy salad was brown. No wonder I so often went home empty-handed. It was amazing that people actually paid to eat that crap, and I should have been grateful that they didnt slug the waitress who brought it.

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I went back to Minneapolis my sophomore year with even less pocket money than the previous fall. I was not returning to the dorm, but to the thrill of a completely unsupervised off-campus apartment. After much cajoling of all parents, my pals Nancy, Liz, and Sarah and I were allowed to leave the protection of the college dorm and move into that rarest of all things, a four-bedroom apartment. My father only agreed because the rent split four ways was less than half of what the dorm cost; I could forage for my own food, or have Steve kill me a squirrel.

Despite the money he saved, my dad was suspicious of the whole set-up and took to making unannounced pop-in visits every time he was in Minneapolis. Early one Sunday morning his pounding on our door woke everyone up and forced us to herd a quartet of half-naked, hungover boyfriends into the farthest back bedroom before putting on robes and nighties and coming out to say hello to Dr. and the second Mrs. Haubner.

We eventually acquired a fifth roommate, my friend from high school, Gretchen. Gretchen was a long-haired hippie chick, with a big heart, a dry wit, and a hooting laugh. Gretchen was also going through a bad time, which we should have suspected when she showed up at our Halloween party wearing only a grass skirt, her breasts painted (with house paint) as twin red, white, and blue targets. Her bad time erupted into kleptomania: Gretchen was a preternaturally talented shoplifter. She was never caught, although after I watched her pull t-bone steaks out of her pants I never again risked going to the supermarket with her. Gretchen slept on the living room couch on top of and under dozens of articles of clothing, all with the price tags still attached. The day Gretchen came back to our apartment proudly brandishing two huge silver candlesticks she had boosted from a Catholic church was the day we put her on a bus back to her family in Duluth. Gretchen did recover, and ended up in Yemen working for the Peace Corps.

My meager savings from waitressing at Mr. Steak quickly evaporated. I found a job at Lancers, a ginormous warehouse of a store, with acres of stacks of jeansLevis, Lees, Wranglersplus weird off brands, in hundreds of colors, styles, and sizes, from pants that would fit a smallish dwarf to ones with a 50 inch waist and 38 inch inseam. My job was to follow customers around, not to help them find a needle in this denim haystack, but to pick up every pair of jeans they had touched, shake them out, refold them, and arrange them back in a perfectly aligned stack of pants. The $2.50 hour I was paid was not enough to make up for the intense hatred I had for every person who walked into that store; I knew their sole intention was to mess up my piles of jeans.

After my first week at Lancers, I realized that everyone was stealing clothes from the joint: the manager, the sales clerks, the delivery guys who dropped off another thousand jeans to be folded and stacked somewhere, and probably even the mailman. Every day more jeans were stolen by the staff of Lancers than were sold to customers. While I would have gladly burned Lancers to the ground, I resisted taking anything until the manager told me that everybody thought I had been planted there by Mr. Lancer as a spy. To prove my innocence, I stole a pair of baby pink, brushed denim elephant bells that billowed around my platform shoes; the three-button fly ended palms width below my navel. There were adorable and fit me so perfectly I felt not a twinge of guilt.

The tiny paychecks I got from Lancers managed to cover my living expenses, even after Gretchen left and I could no longer save money by dining on stolen groceries. But I was not earning enough to afford a Spring Break trip to Florida, the Shangri-La of every Minnesota college student. For me, Spring Break was the impossible dream, a dream I indulged while trudging through snowbanks to campus and back, or spending untold hours folding jeans.

As a kid, all winter long I bundled up and went out even in near-blizzard conditions to build snowmen and make snow angels and join the neighbor kids for snowball fights, until the indigo four oclock twilight fell and I couldnt feel my fingers or toes and required several mugs of hot cocoa to thaw out. As a teenager winter meant high school ski trips, with shared cigarettes on the chair lift, Fitgers beers bought by the kid with the best fake ID, and the erotic possibility of sitting next to a cute boy on the bus ride home. All through my childhood and high school years winter had enough pleasures to totter on the border between bearable and enjoyable.

For students at the University of Minnesota, the only good part of winter was the anticipation of Spring Break, a week away from snowdrifts and wet socks and chapped cheeks and lips. A week dedicated to the best part of college: boys and drinking. As I folded jeans, I imagined myself wearing a cute bikini and holding an umbrella drink, surrounded by handsome college guys. But every time I cashed my paycheck, I was reminded that it was only a dream.

My roommate Liz, however, was determined to enjoy a real Spring Break, and finally convinced me that for our sanity, the two of us needed to get away somewhere it wasnt 10 below. Liz claimed to also be short of ready cash (I believe she said this in solidarity, as her father was a prominent Mayo Clinic heart specialist).

Liz and I pooled our money and devised a plan for a Bargain Basement Florida Spring Break. We would buy one-way plane tickets to Daytona Beach, stay at the cheapest place possible, get guys to buy us drinks and meals, and then hitchhike back to Minneapolis. Yes, we were that young and stupid.

On our flight to Florida, we changed planes in Atlanta with just enough time to have a cup of coffee and split a plate of eggs. A gracious white-bearded black man ushered us into to Dobbs House, the airport cafeteria, where every wall was decorated with murals of Brer Rabbit and friends in a black-face minstrel style that made Disneys Song of the South look like a contender for an NAACP award. As we sipped our coffee and passed the fork for our scrambled eggs, we were surrounded by the most extreme, pop-eyed, thick-lipped depictions of Uncle Remus, who was himself surrounded by grinning, nappy-headed, raggedy black children. I am sure they had only recently taken down the No Negros Served sign: all the customers were white, all the waiters black. Sitting in this homage to racism was shocking; it felt evil, oppressive. (When I was living in Atlanta I could not find a single person who had a memory of these murals, but my pal Liz will attest that they were there.) We choked down our breakfast and ran to catch our plane.

We splurged on a taxi into Daytona Beach and discovered that every motel set their Spring Break prices under the assumption that between eight to ten kids were smashed into a single room. There was nothing Liz and I could afford, as we did not have another six roommates to split the cost of a motel with.

After hours trudging from one place to the next, looking longingly at cute drunk boys and bikinied girls playing chicken in motel poolsjust like I had imagined!we ended up at the Palmetto, an old-fashioned rooming house that had one tiny twin bedded room left. After we had paid our fifteen dollars a night, Liz and I discovered that we were the only people under 80 in the joint, something we should have realized from the pervasive old person smell. The ramshackle house had three bathrooms, one on each floor, which were shared by tenants of both sexes. In a fit of madness on a rainy day, Liz and I locked ourselves in the third floor bathroom, where we dyed my hair blonde while an old man pounded relentlessly on the door, claiming he had to poop.

Worst of all, The Old Folks Arms had a curfew: the front door was locked at midnight. What were those ancient, arthritic codgers getting up to in the middle of the night that they needed a curfew? Liz and I examined the rickety fire escape and decided that we did not want Spring Break Coed Dies in Fall to be a headline in the Minneapolis Tribune. We were doomed to be the Cinderellas of Daytona Beach, unable to stay out too late at the ball.

As it turned out, our Spring Break nights ended well before twelve. At nineteen, Liz and I were not old enough to drink legally in Florida. And contrary to what we had assumed, bouncers did not happily allow cute underage girls into their bars.

We spent our days on the famous Daytona Beach, trying not to get run over by the 70,000 cars and trucks zooming across the sands, driven by drunken, cat-calling yahoos. We were determined to go back tan, proof that we had spent Spring Break in an exotic tropical locale. We managed to achieve not too painful sunburns.

We did accomplish our main goal, to meet boys, some of whom actually took us out to nice restaurants, where Liz and I were spared the indignity of being asked for IDs when we ordered our before-dinner White Russians. On our last night we were picked up by two boys from Ole Miss, who had almost impenetrable accents (Carfish? Were going to eat carfish?). We rode in one of their daddys Lincoln Continental deep into a pitch dark bayou (Did he say the restaurant is a fur piece?). As we bounced around the rutted road, insects smashing by the thousands on the windshield, Liz turned to me and mouthed Deliverance, which we had seen the year before. I shot her back a should-we-jump-for-it look just as we pulled up to a shack where I had my first and most delicious catfish and hush puppy dinner and even managed to get tipsy on Dixie beer, as no White Russians or any other cocktails were served.

Liz and I had to cut our Spring Break short, as we estimated it would take us a day and a half to hitch-hike back to Minneapolis in time for our Monday morning classes. After our bayou adventure, we decided we needed to be on guard on our way home.

One of us should always stay awake in the car.

Were not going to get in if theres more than one person in the car.

No accepting drinks from the driver.

At seven in the morning Liz and I walked to the curb of the main road heading north, stuck out our thumbs, and immediately got a ride. It was a yellow two-door sedan, dented and rusty, with as expected, a male driver on his own. He leaned over, pushed the front seat down, and opened the passenger door. I clambered in the back so long-legged Liz could have the front. From where I sat, I could see the drivers pale nape and unfashionably short hair; the rearview mirror reflected a slice of his eyes, shifting back and forth.

Where you girls headed?

I had a fleeting fantasy that maybe this guy was somehow a solo Spring Breaker, a fellow Golden Gopher, headed back up north straight to Minnesota. I said Actually, were going all the way to Minneapolis. You wouldnt

Liz jumped in. No were not. Were getting out here.

What Liz, no, we

Were getting out here! she yelled while turning around to glare at me, then threw her door open. The car was still moving. The pasty driver hit the breaks, and Liz scrambled out, throwing the seat forward and pulling me out of the car with one motion. She slammed the door, turned and marched back the way we had come.

I caught up with her. What the hell Liz

He had no pants on. This fruitcake was driving around Daytona Beach at seven in the morning dressed only in a tee shirt. He must have thought he hit the pervert jackpot when he came upon two blonde nineteen-year-olds looking for a ride.

Liz and I sat on the curb for a minute to pull ourselves together. We had to get home somehow and we had less than $30 between us. Neither of us were about to call our parents; I dont know how they would have gotten money to us anyway. We waited until we felt sure the pale creep was gone, stood up, and stuck out our thumbs again. The goddesses of youth and hitch hikers smiled upon us: we made it from Daytona Beach to Minneapolis in three rides, all of them with nice guys driving alone, wearing pants. Our third ride was a very concerned dad from Stillwater, Wisconsin, who bought us breakfast and lunch and insisted on driving us all the way to our front door, where he waited until he saw we were safely inside before driving away. God bless you, sir.

In June I shipped my bike out to my mom in Colorado Springs, so I could work somewhere, anywhere other than Mr. Steak. My familys life at Skyway Village had become even more chaotic. Alimony and child support checks from my dad arrived on a schedule of their own and only after several screaming, threatening phone calls from my mom. A second marriage to the man she had followed out to Colorado did not seem to be happening anytime soon, as my moms intended, a former pillar of the Catholic Church and father of six, could not get his wife to divorce him and no fault divorce had not yet been invented. Heidi, my youngest sister, had spent the school year being bullied, beaten up, and having her head shoved in the toilet in the girls washroom and probably could have used professional counseling; fourteen-year-old Lani was working illegally at Kentucky Fried Chicken and dating the manager.

I would have been happy to waitress round the clock to get away from that mess, but settled for the eight p.m. to two a.m. shift at Hofs Hut, a blindingly bright downtown diner a thirty-minute bike ride from Skyway Village Apartments.

During the day, Hofs Hut was a run-of-the-mill vinyl and stainless diner, breakfast served all day accompanied by bottomless white china mugs of coffee. At night, its neon sign and bluish fluorescent lighting drew an ugly bunch of customers. There were drunken GIs and even drunker cowboys trying to sober up over hamburgers and chili and cheese omelets before driving back to barracks and bunkhouses. There was always at least one table of heavy-lidded junkies unscrewing the salt shakers to sweeten their coffee. Worst of all were the completely wrecked underage cadets from the Air Force Academy, who even at their most intoxicated believed in their flyboy status. They shoved their hands up my skirt when I refilled their coffee and thought it was hilarious to stagger into me, steadying themselves with a hand grasped firmly on my left tit. They puked in the mens room, on the front sidewalk, and in the parking lot, and I felt so sorry for the Mexican bus boys and the Sisyphean task they faced every Sunday.

One Saturday night, after six hours of scooping up sticky quarters and grimy dollar bills, wiping down ketchup bottles, and wrestling clammy hands off of my thighs, I wheeled my bike out the back door of Hofs Hut and headed home, down broad, deserted but very well-lit Colorado Avenue. That half hour of thoughtlessly, rhythmically, pumping my legs, gliding through the warm, quiet night was the one moment of calm in my life. I had just started to relax, loosening up my shoulder muscles when out of the corner of my eye I saw a gleam of white and recognized it as a human being, a man, a man with absolutely no clothes on, who dashed out after me. The adrenaline hit me faster than one of Steves Black Beauties and I threw the bike into high gear and Tour de France mode. I cracked my neck back, watched my pursuer dwindle into the dark and wondered: could that somehow be the pantsless guy from Daytona Beach? How had he tracked me here in Colorado Springs?

At least I was making more money than I had at that outpost of hell, Mr. Steak. Drunks tend to overtip cute waitresses. I needed every quarter. I had registered for a grueling schedule of courses for the fall and wanted to save enough money so I could just concentrate on my studies and not have to serve slop to freshmen or fold hundreds and hundreds of Levis.

In August Liz called me to report that over the summer our other two roommates decided they had better things to do with their lives than go to college and had dropped out.

So I drove up to Minneapolis and there were hardly any apartments left, but I found one for us.

I needed to send her a check to cover my half of the security, first months rent, and deposits for telephone and electricity. I scratched down the horrifying large amount and got the OK from my mom to make the dreaded long-distance call. My dad picked up for once; the phone was usually answered by his dumb, heavy-breathing second wife who always lied about him being home. I rushed through the small talk, not caring about what milestones his two toddlers had achieved.

 I need you to send a check to Dr. Hepper in Rochester, hes already paid for everything for our new place.

A few moments of silence passed.

The divorce agreement says that I have to pay for tuition and dorm. Are you going to live in the dorm again? Im not paying for you to live in an apartment. He said the word apartment when he meant whorehouse. My heart sunk. I realized that we had not hidden those boys well enough during my fathers Sunday morning pop-in visits. I hung up, furious.

Yeah, hes a jerk, my mom shrugged. I took a big chunk of my summer savings, bought a money order at the post office, and sent it off to Lizs dad.

On Labor Day I poured coffee for one last drunk cowboy, cleaned my final ketchup bottles, and turned in my Hofs Hut uniform. I kissed my mom and sisters goodbye, and my bike and I flew back to Minneapolis.
PAMPLICO, S.C.  Help 4 Kids Florence is a great organization that reaches out to schools to assist families in need.

The organization gets a total of the students that need food during the week and prepackages bags of food for the students to take home every Friday. The bags contain nonperishable food items that can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It being my first full year working in the guidance department, I have seen just how many students need food on a weekly basis. The need is strong. Thats why we are extremely thankful for the Help 4 Kids organization.

Our students look forward to getting these bags on Friday, and some even ask for two. Many students have said that it fills their pantries up and gives them something hot and filling to eat.

Some students have said that their families are behind on bills and often dont have enough food for the entire family to be full. This is where the Help 4 Kids bags make such a big impact. These students, and their families, are often reliant on these bags.

The bags also allow the students to feel confident that they have food at home and keep them from being embarrassed at school. One student even said that her family occasionally gives some of the food to other people in need. The giving extends beyond the Help 4 Kids organization.

Help 4 Kids has changed the lives of the families it serves. There are many students who rely on the bags and are so excited when Friday comes.

Help 4 Kids also makes sure that the students are prepared for the multiple breaks during the school year. The students often get two bags during Thanksgiving, Christmas and other extended breaks.

Again, we are thankful for the Help 4 Kids organization and what they do to make sure that our students are fed. Being full gives the students one less thing to worry about and allows their performance in school to sharpen.
VINTON | As many as 1,000 small animals were removed after city officials found them living in overcrowded conditions in a Vinton home on Tuesday.

According to Vinton police, the collection filled the home and a detached garage at 607 W. Sixth St. and included rabbits, rats, mice, hedgehogs, chinchillas, turtles, fish, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and a ball python.

Estimates range from between 500 to 1,000 animals were in the house, according to police.

A veterinarian determined that many of the animals were malnourished and dehydrated, and police said the area was contaminated with fecal matter.

Several dead animals were found scattered throughout the residence in various states of decomposition or stored in a freezer, police said in a news release.

Four children were living at the home, and the parents are currently cooperating with the Iowa Department of Human Services, according to police.

Police said the investigation is continuing, and no decision has been made regarding criminal charges or civil sanctions.

Volunteers with the Cedar Valley Humane Society, Friends of the Shelter and Wild Thunder Animal Rescue removed the animals.

The Cedar Rapids-based Cedar Valley Humane Society is asking the public for help in supplying food, animal bedding, cages, nail trimmers and donations to help with the rescue effort.

A post on the organizations Facebook page described the conditions in the home as terrible with rotting food and animals with DIY surgery in process.

Vinton, population 5,257, is located near Cedar Rapids.
HEMINGWAY, S.C.  Owners of the Son and Sister Cafe in Hemingway opened their doors on Dec. 15 to the military to show appreciation for those in service. The cafe fed veterans on Veterans Day and wanted to offer a hot meal to celebrate the Christmas season with local veterans and National Guardsmen in the area.

We always feed the veterans at Christmas, said Ruby Dollard, owner of Son and Sister Cafe. Honestly, I feel we cant do enough to thank them for their hard work and commitment to serving our country, so we wanted to offer them a Christmas meal today.

Hemingway resident Bruce Poston helps get members of the military in the doors by going and inviting them to come.

We dont say thanks enough to veterans," Poston said. "Ms. Ruby has my gratitude for taking care of them in ways like this.

Dollard said she and Poston agree that every day is a time of giving, but Christmas is more special. She said they remember those people who lost their lives while serving in the military, so it is important to do something to thank those who are still here.

We dont expect anyone to do anything like this, so its really special anytime of year to be thanked, local National Guardsman Hunter Watts said.

Its truly heartwarming, National Guardsman Lance McCullough said.

Mitchell Harrelson, a retired Army veteran who is serving in the National Guard, said he thanks Dollard.

People like her make this country great, Harrelson said.

Son and Sister Cafe is located at 303 S. Main St. in Hemingway, across from Food Lion. The cafe serves home-cooked meals and is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
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.

The project, which launched on Jan. 8, 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 League of Women Voters of the Florence Area will hold a program Monday that will address diversity efforts and issues.

The speakers will be Buquilla Ervin-Cannon, executive director at Pee Dee Minority Health, and Les Echols, director of community and minority enterprise at the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

The program will begin at 6 p.m. and will be preceded by networking at 5:30 p.m.

The program will be held in the Family Conference Room No. 173 at Central United Methodist Church in downtown Florence. Enter the building under the alcove,

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Television show hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz will travel to South Carolina this winter in search of people with unique antique collections and interesting stories behind them.

Wolfe and Fritz will film for the History Channel show American Pickers.

In preparation for their trip to South Carolina, the hosts are looking for leads on area collections. American Pickers invites collectors to contact the show by phone at 1-855-653-7878, by email at AmericanPickers@cineflix.com or by sending a private message on its Facebook page.

People are encouraged to submit leads as soon as possible so the show can make plans on where to stop.

Wolfe and Fritz only spotlight private collections, so stores, malls, flea markets, museums, auctions and businesses will not be chosen. Also, they do not spotlight single items.

Wolfe and Fritz try to restore relics to their former glory, according to an announcement from the show.

Along the way, the Pickers want to meet characters with remarkable and exceptional items, the announcement said. The pair hopes to give historically significant objects a new lease on life, while learning a thing or two about Americas past along the way.

Wolfe and Fritz will travel this winter to Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
FLORENCE, S.C.  The sixth annual SC AgriBiz & Farm Expo will have more opportunities for farmers than ever but will still hold true to being rooted in tradition and thriving through innovation.

The expo will take place all day today and Thursday at the Florence Center, previously known as the Florence Civic Center.

Jody Martin, executive director of the S.C. AgriBiz & Farm Expo, said the event exists to help farmers and educate those interested in agribusiness.

The expo is to promote the opportunities for agribusiness in South Carolina and beyond, Martin said. We work with a lot of partners to do that as a team effort and were excited this year because of the new educational tracks, keynote speakers from around the nation and locally we will have. Theres going to be a lot of information that really will educate the farmers on how to make their operations more productive, efficient and profitable.

The expo will be the first event hosted in the newly renovated Florence Center.

Were excited, Martin said. Last year, we dealt with a lot of construction and weve been promoting this knowing that its going to be a lot nicer and have a lot more space. It gives us an opportunity to go into a top-of-the-line facility to have more education and more sessions as a result.

Martin said that through the last 10 months he and many of his colleagues have met with farmers throughout the area to find out what they would like to see and learn more about during the expo.

After last years event, we talked to all of our partners, our Farmer Advisory Committee and farmers from all over the state, Martin said. We got several suggestions and decided to take those to heart and make some changes.

Among those changes included free admission for the sessions, tracks and trade show, adding an educational track for women in the industry and getting several speakers from around the nation that farmers would not be able to hear otherwise.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. with a farmers' appreciation breakfast. A general session will follow and then people will have the opportunity to choose an educational track. The different tracks offered will be Field Crops, Fruit & Vegetables, Women in Ag, Youth Embracing Ag today and a Certified Animal Manure Management Conference track on Thursday.

Sessions are open to the general public and attendees will get to visit with more than 100 vendors and exhibitors from around the area.

The expo will also have the Taste of S.C., which will start at 6:15 p.m. today, and feature food grown from all over the state. Tickets for the event are $25.

The annual commissioners breakfast will be at 8 a.m. Thursday morning and tickets will cost $35 a person. All money raised will go to benefit the S.C. Commissioners School for Agriculture.

Its pretty much a year-round event, Martin said. Its all worth it because we have an opportunity to pull everybody together to connect and help strengthen our industry.

For more information, visit SCAgriBizExpo.com.
GRUNDY CENTER  The family of a Wellsburg man who died in the Grundy County Jail in 2016 is taking the county to court.

Attorneys representing the estate of Jared Martin Slinker allege jail officials didnt flag Slinker as a suicide risk when he was booked on a contempt charge Jan. 26, 2016.

Within two days, Slinker was found with a bed sheet around his neck hanging from a bunk bed. Jailers didnt call for an ambulance for 13 minutes after the discovery, according to attorneys for the estate.

Attorney Dave OBrien of Cedar Rapids filed the suit on Jan. 5 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Plaintiffs include Earl Slinker, who is Jared Slinkers father and the representative of the estate, and Slinkers three children. Named as defendants are Grundy County and jail officials Tim Wolthoff, Zach Tripp, Shane Oltman and Kirk Dolleslager.

Grundy County Sheriff Rick Penning declined to comment on the suit on Tuesday because it is a pending legal matter. A message for an attorney representing the county wasnt immediately returned.

According to the suit, Earl Slinker went to Wolthoff, the jail administrator, with concerns about Jared Slinkers mental health and drug withdrawals Jan. 23, 2016, because Jared had an outstanding warrant, and the father worried about his safety without proper treatment should he be arrested.

Earl Slinker was allegedly told his son should go to jails in Black Hawk or Hardin counties because Grundy County couldnt provide adequate services, the suit states. A Grundy Center doctor also called the jail with concerns about Jared Slinker, records state.

Tripp arrested Jared Slinker on Jan. 26, and during the booking procedure, Jared Slinker said he was depressed and delusional and was taking an antidepressant, the suit states. He was carrying a book about opiate addiction and said he had been addicted to drugs for about a decade.

Booking paperwork indicated the booking officer didnt observe any signs of depression, and Jared Slinker wasnt hearing voices, hallucinating or going through withdrawal, according to the lawsuit. As a result, Jared Slink wasnt given a mental health referral and wasnt put under a higher level of supervision.

If jail officials had determined he was a suicide risk, he would have been subject to checks every 15 minutes or less.

On the night of Jared Slinkers suicide, Oltman was supervising Slinker and one other inmate and also was in charge of dispatch, the suit alleges. He had been working at the jail for less than a month and only had two weeks of training after being told he would have four weeks of training, the suit alleges.

After noticing Jared Slinker with the sheet around his neck around 9 p.m., Oltman radioed Dolleslager and asked if he should call an ambulance and was initially told no, the suit alleges. He was told to call for an ambulance about 13 minutes later, according to the suit.

Jared Slinker was taken to Grundy County Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined his death was a suicide.

The suit alleges denial of medical care, negligence and loss of consortium for Jared Slinkers father and children.
BRITT | The Burgardt Commercial Park is ready for business.

Well, almost.

Thats what Mayor Ryan Arndorfer told the city council earlier this month, when providing an update on the parks progress.

Heres where we stand right now as far as what needs to happen, Arndorfer said, before explaining to the council it needs to finalize the plat and dedication for the commercial park.

He said Earl Hill, the citys attorney, recommends a committee, including two council members, assists him with both items before theyre brought to the council for review.

During that process, thats where we look at any restrictions on what can go in that development, Arndorfer said.

Council members Curt Gast, Stacy Swenson and Paul Verbrugge expressed interest in serving on the committee if their schedules allowed.

Arndorfer also spoke to the city council about pricing the commercial park lots since Britt Industrial Development Corp., commonly known as BIDCO, installed a sign at the site directing interested parties to call City Hall for more information.

The commercial park features nine lots positioned between U.S. Highway 18 and Diagonal Street on land, including the old hotel property and agricultural land from Connie Burgardt purchased by the city for nearly $209,000 in 2016.

Arndorfer said commercial lots in Garner are priced between $25,000 and $32,000 per acre and suggested the city use that as a starting point for its park.

I think we have to be comparable (to Garner), Councilman Bryan Aitchison said, with others on the council agreeing.

BIDCO President Eric Newton suggested because the city owns a small-lot park, comprising about eight acres, it priced the lots individually based on location and size.

To me, $25,000 would seem like a minimum price, he said. Youre not just going to buy anything of this size for that kind of money and have all your infrastructure there. This things shovel-ready.

The city council discussed and agreed on the initial pricing of its nine lots. The prices range from $25,000 for half-acre lots to $100,000 for the 1.76-acre lot with highway frontage.

Lot 6 is probably going to be the first lot you sell, Newton said. Itll either be something fantastic that youll woo somebody to come in or itll sell for cash price. Itll be the highest lot.
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Bigleaf Brings in Successful Funding Round

By Maurice Nagle , Web Editor

As SD-WAN continues its meteoric rise to the mainstream, opportunities mount for service providers. With opportunity and innovation on the rise, this arena is garnering much in the way of attention. And, a space that was once startup riddled is rather quickly becoming a packed house backed by billions in venture capital.







This week, SD-WAN Expo Gold Sponsor Bigleaf Networks announced a successful round of funding with an influx of $4.9 million coming from GoAhead Ventures, Seattle Angel Fund, Oregon Angel Fund and Portland Seed Fund.

Takeshi TK Mori, Managing Partner of GoAhead Ventures noted, While the SD-WAN market has grown quickly with several entrants, Bigleafs vision of using SD-WAN to build connectivity to cloud applications and services stands out. After interviewing several Bigleaf customers and partners, it was obvious that there is market demand and Bigleaf is delivering strong value.

Bigleaf has big plans for the cash, as it intends to build out efforts across the board  from technology development and global network expansion, to operations as well as sales and marketing. These arent Bigleafs only plans for change, as it will name Takeshi TK Mori to and Bigleaf co-founder Jeff Burchett to its board of directors.

This marks a significant step forward for us, said Joel Mulkey, Founder and CEO of Bigleaf. While Im impressed with how well our team has executed over the past few years, I know we can do much more. This funding gives us the resources needed to serve our customers and partners better, at larger scale, in new geographies, and with new features and offerings.

Next months SD-WAN Expo at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida offers Bigleaf CEO Joel Mulkey a chance to share his insights with attendees. Mulkey joins moderator Paula Bernier, Aryaka Networks CMO Gary Sevounts and XRoads Networks Daren French (News - Alert) on the panel discussion, Network Evolution in the Cloud Age. Is it time to migrate to a next generation WAN? Join us to learn more.

Whats in your WAN?

Edited by Mandi Nowitz
Carimin Engineering Services, Dayang Enterprise, Deleum Primera, Petra Resources, Sapura Fabrication and its joint venture partner Borneo Seaoffshore Engineering were selected for a five-year contract each with an option to extend another year, effective last September, local media reported.

Under the terms of the contract, the engineering and maintenance services will include topside major maintenance and facilities improvement projects, Petronas Carigali said.

Petronas Carigali vp of Malaysia assets and ceo Mohd Jukris Abdul Wahab said new requirements were introduced to encourage collaboration across the industry supply chain.

These contracts encompass requirements such as the utilization of marine vessels from Malaysia-owned companies only and the mandatory participation of 20% local state service providers to spur value-added services that ensures growth in Malaysias oil and gas upstream services industry, said Jukris.

With 200 offshore platforms in operation under Petronas Carigali in Malaysia, Petronas continues to encourage merit-based participation from local contractors to achieve value-driven production growth for the long-term progress and sustainability of the oil and gas industry.

No financial details were disclosed.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man previously charged with stealing tools, bicycles and a truck last year has been arrested again for allegedly stealing a law enforcement officer's bike and a pink backpack and carrying steel knuckles.

Joshuah John Hockenson, 22, is charged with three counts of third-degree burglary, carrying a dangerous weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to court documents, Hokenson allegedly went on a short burglary spree between 12:01 a.m. and 1:15 a.m. Saturday in the 1300 to 1400 block of South Carolina Avenue.

He is accused of stealing a Specialized fat tire bike from a law enforcement officer's garage during that time frame, court documents said. An investigation determined Hockenson's shoe prints matched those at the scene, police wrote in charging documents, and a Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's deputy later observed Hockenson with the bike.

A deputy also observed Hockenson wearing a pink backpack, which was taken in a burglary of an unoccupied vehicle on the street during the same time frame, court documents said. A second neighboring vehicle was also burglarized.

In the car burglaries, law enforcement said Hockenson was also identified by shoe prints at the scene.

Hockenson was arrested about 5:55 p.m. Saturday at Fifth Street Southeast and South Georgia Avenue. Police in charging documents said they found steel knuckles in his back pocket and a needle used for drugs concealed in a black case in his groin area.

He is being held on a $2,000 bond. Hockenson is scheduled to appear in Cerro Gordo County District Court Jan. 24.

A non-jury trial for the drug paraphernalia charge is set for July 13.

In previous incidents, Hockensen is accused of driving a stolen pickup truck from Franklin County to Mason City in May. Police say he left it in the parking lot at Walmart.

In mid-October, Hockenson allegedly stole tools and bicycles in a string of garage burglaries.

He submitted a written guilty plea to third-degree burglary and third-degree burglary of an unoccupied motor vehicle last month, according to court documents. He will be sentenced on those charges Jan. 29.

According to a plea agreement, two charges of attempted burglary would be dropped.
Kettering University President Dr. Robert McMahan

Lawrence Technological University's award winning autonomous vehicle now operates as a campus taxi

Brittany Hinton (left), Matthew David, and Joseph Baclawski work with Washtenaw Community College instructor Allen Day to configure and test a dedicated short range communication roadside unit, while WCC technician Jerry Allen looks on

David Agnew and a team at MOBIS are working to disrupt your sleep. But only if you're sleeping behind the wheel of a car.Agnew and his engineers, robotics, communications, and safety experts are hard at work tackling Level 4 autonomous vehicle functioning at the Plymouth Tier 1 supplier. Set by engineering organization SAE International , Level 4 is an industry standard that indicates a high level of autonomy in all driving tasks.This is not the slick "look Ma, no hands" driving experience. Instead, they're developing the Departed Driver Rescue and Exit Maneuver, or DDREM, a system that detects when a driver has fallen asleep, then simply assumes control of the vehicle and pulls safely out of traffic.In the last month, one in 25 drivers reported falling asleep behind the wheel, and as many as 6,000 fatal accidents are caused by sleeping drivers each year."We are doing Level 4 only as a safety system. It's in the car, but always in the background. It's a simple concept that has not been done yet," says Agnew, who directs advanced engineering for MOBIS. DDREM, as a safety mechanism, adheres to less stringent performance standards than full Level 4 autonomous driving.Connected and autonomous vehicle development, or mobility, is growing so rapidly that experts compare it to a rocket being built midflight. Finding the talent to develop it, however, can be a challenge.Michigan universities, colleges, and even K-12 programs are working with mobility leaders to build a talent pipeline to grow and scale the autonomous, connected, shared, and electric vehicle sector and its surrounding infrastructure.Surveyed employers report an insufficient pipeline of qualified workers as their greatest hiring challenge, according to the 2017 Connected Mobility Skills Needs Assessment conducted by Oakland County and the Michigan Talent Investment Agency . The simplest answer is to train engineers at our world-class colleges and universities, just as we always have.Adding more computer, electrical, and mechanical engineers to the workforce is a start, but mobility, from a holistic sense, will impact every sector, requiring a fundamental shift in educating the future workforce, according to Dr. Robert McMahan, president at Kettering University in Flint. In addition to sparking new jobs to address the specific challenges of connected and autonomous vehicles, the sector will require skilled talent to develop and analyze mobility-centered business models, environmental factors, human-machine interface capabilities, in-vehicle operating systems, and much more. Successful candidates will have broad, deep, multidisciplinary skills."Mobility is one of the most exciting things to happen in engineering in a very long time," says McMahan. "The basis of technology is changing, and changing rapidly, and that's exciting. The true answer is almost everything will be impacted."The most valuable employees will be those who reach beyond classroom theory to hands-on development, testing, and problem solving, and Michigan's educational institutions are well equipped to provide this experience.Kettering, along with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan are part of the Smart Belt Coalition , a regional partnership to advance mobility technology across more than 69,000 miles of roadway, and is one of 15 Michigan colleges and universities in the newly-formed academic consortium to train talent at the American Center for Mobility, a future testing ground in Ypsilanti.In addition to Kettering's co-op program, students are getting on-campus mobility experience right now. As one of eight participants in the AutoDrive Challenge , Kettering students engage in a three-year competition to develop a full autonomous Level 4 vehicle, and will open the 25-acre GM Mobility Research Center as a competition venue on campus by spring 2018. The competition will be a multidisciplinary effort across engineering disciplines and other majors."Eventually, someone could sit in Palo Alto and control an autonomous vehicle in our proving ground here in Michigan," says McMahan. "We already see students coming here because of our participation in these programs."Recognizing the value of the real world experience that competitions can provide, MOBIS sponsored the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition ( IGVC ) at Oakland University, which draws student teams from around the globe."We courted a university team from the competition that we could sponsor by donating a vehicle," says Agnew. MOBIS selected Lawrence Technological University for their reputation in robotics. A team of students got to work, and won the Spec2 (now called Self Drive ) category in 2017. The vehicle now serves as an autonomous campus taxi "IGVC isn't about developing the technology. It's about developing the students. That's the big difference," says Agnew.Competitions and co-ops allow students to make mistakes and solve problems, says Frank Judge, engineering manager at Autoliv in Southfield, who works with automotive vision products for OEMs. "For what we do, there isn't a class for writing vehicle algorithms. You have to use your real world experience to get systems functioning together," he says. He recommends First Robotics competitions, even Lego Mindstorms programs, to cultivate in-demand mobility skills among K-12 students.The University of Michigan has been working for years to advance the knowledge base for current students and those already in the industry. As the Midwest USDOT Center for Connected and Automated Transportation ( CCAT ), U-M, together with Washtenaw Community College (WCC) and four Midwest universities, will research transitions to mobility and train the next-generation workforce.The center will live at the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), build on studies conducted at U-M Mobility Transformation Center's MCity , and collaborate with the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment ( AACVTE ), where 3,150 vehicles will interact with 70 infrastructure sites, including 49 intersections, four pedestrian crosswalks, and a roundabout, all updated to 2016 industry standards.Knowledge gained goes directly into newly developed U-M curricula, including publicly available short courses in intelligent transportation, connected vehicle technology, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Law school courses present hypothetical liability scenarios, and apply existing legal framework to study gaps. Master's-level certificate programs will cover mobility fundamentals with lectures by industry experts. An internship program will bring auto tech students from WCC to UMTRI to install connected vehicle components."There is a small group of people who have a huge knowledge base, and it's very important to get this knowledge into the mainstream," says Debra Bezzina, managing director of CCAT. To this point, mobility experts have learned on the job or through trial and error."Engineering job titles may not change, but what professionals will be doing is very different," says Bezzina, who is also senior program manager for AACVTE.Experts predict that substantially developed mobility is 15 to 20 years in the future, with components of driver assistance, connected functionality, and smart infrastructure inching forward until then.Knowing that workforce needs will change progressively, WCC started developing interdisciplinary training that blends intelligent transportation technology, automotive services and repair, and lightweight materials manufacturing, all under the umbrella of the WCC Advanced Transportation Center ( ATC ). Professional development certification will include programming, cybersecurity, and data analytics.WCC also garnered a National Science Foundation grant to partner with Square One Education Network to train K-12 teachers in project-based learning for students to build autonomous vehicles for competition, complete with manufactured lightweight parts."Some of the kids may be college prep, and some vocational, and they all work together," says Dr. Michelle K. Mueller, vice president of economic, community, and college development at WCC. "At the end of the day, an employer doesn't need someone who knows how to pass a test, or theoretically how something is supposed to work. The applied learning of STEM is so important."Holistically, WCC is working to develop "an ecosystem of jobs in multiple industry sectors," says Mueller."That's our bread and butter in Michigan. Wealth comes from producing something and selling it."Images by Doug Coombe, except where indicated
Press Release

January 17, 2018 Transcript of Interview with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon Drilon: Former Chief Justice Puno is of the view that the Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the constitution and how the constitution should be amended, because this is a political exercise and a political question, outside of the sphere of power of the Supreme Court to review actions and decisions of government. I repeat, I concur with the observation of former CJ Puno that the Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the constitution, because it is a political question. In other words, the Supreme Court cannot rule that w4 should vote jointly or separately - that question is left to the discretion of Congress because the process of amending the constitution is a political process lodged in Congress itself. That is very clear. Whether or not we vote separately, the Supreme Court cannot interfere. Q: Paano kung may deadlock? Drilon: Kung may deadlock, then there is nothing to work on. The constitution will stay if there is a deadlock. Q: So the Senate can stop the.. Drilon: The Senate, by not acting on the resolution, effectively stops the process. But we will not do that. We will hear. In my view we should hear it. We are not obligated to act on it and if we will not act on it or we act differently, that cannot be questioned in the Supreme Court. For example, the resource persons seem to be favoring a constitutional convention rather than a constitutional assembly, if the committee recommends that the process be a con-con and the same is adopted by the plenary, then that effectively stops the Cha-cha train of the House. The Supreme Court cannot tell us, "no, it should be a constitutional assembly." In the view of CJ Puno that is beyond the power of the Supreme Court. Q: What will be the minority's next move? Will you support the reso of Sen. Ping? Drilon: It is not the minority bloc; it is the entire senate as an institution. Yesterday we had a caucus. The unanimous vote - no dissent - is that we should vote separately. In my 20 years as a senator, there's just a few times where there is unanimity. The unanimity was shown yesterday when all the senators said "no, we should vote separately." In fact there is a rumor, merong chismis na kapag may nag-attend ng isa of dalawang senador doon sa House, ang interpretasyon ng House ay iyon ay magigign joint session na at pwede nang amyendahan ang Saligang Batas, iyon po ang kumakalat. Kahapon, very serious si Sen. Lacson, kung meron pong gumawa na isa o dalawang senador at pumunta sa House, unang-una ay wala silang authority, but, more importantly, Sen. Lacson said "I will vote to expel the senator" if he or she goes there. Q: Do you support that? Drilon: There was no disagreement but what is significant is that how serious the senators feel about our power to vote separately, so that any indication that any member of the senate will defy that kind of unanimous opinion can be subjected to sanctions. Q: With that unanimous opinion, does that mean, more or less, that you are in agreement with con-ass? Drilon: No, that's why we are having hearings, because the first issue, as clearly defined by the chairman, is do we need to amend? If we have to amend, what is the process? And if it is constituent assembly, do we vote jointly or separately? If it is con-con, can we impose limitations? Interestingly, CJ Puno said you cannot limit the power of the constitutional convention, you cannot even limit the term or the life of the constitutional convention. They can go on perpetually because they can appropriate public funds. These are the views that are of record. Q: Yung non-attendance, if ever, yung snubbing of the constituent assembly sa House, will it not result in a constitutional crisis? Drilon: It cannot be constitutional crisis because that is only a process of amending the constitution. If we do not agree on the process or amending the constitution, then the present constitution remains. There is no crisis. Q: Para po gumana itong Cha-cha, dapat po pareho kayo ng decision palagi - House and Senate? Or else kapag may isang nag-no, hindi matutuloy? Drilon: That's correct. Gannon ang mangyayari. In fact the view expressed is that the redistribution of the powers of government, which will take place in a Federal system, is a revision of the Constitution, which preferably should be done by a constitutional convention rather than a constituent assembly, because it involves an overhaul of the constitution. Q: Do you also prefer con-con? Drilon: My resolution is for con-con. Q: Yung naging decision kahapon during the caucus, what will happen as far as the charter change is concerned, nandoon pa rin under consideration? Drilon: Nandiyan pa rin, under consideration. Everything is open at this point. That is why we are following the process and we are having a committee hearing. Perp pagdating sa issue ng joint of separate voting, maliwanag ang consensus kahapon na lahat ng senador aang aming decision ay dapat separate voting. Q: Did the Senate President give any indication about the timetable or dapat hindi madaliin? Drilon: There is a consensus na dapat huwag madaliin ito. Q: Including the Senate President? Drilon: Yes, including the Senate President. Huwag madaliin ito because it is like a toothpaste, the moment you bring the toothpaste out of the tube, hindi mo na pwedeng madaliin iyan. Q: Yung suggestion ni CJ Puno na, hold a joint session but vote separately? Drilon: The bottomline is that we must vote separately. That was the consensus the causcus. But everything is open at this point... Q: What do you say to suggestions that we should go first on economic provisions to save time? Drilon: Again, the issue is, first, is there unanimity that we should amend the economic provisions. Assuming that there is, how do we amend it? Same issues. And we intend to discuss them...This is an exclusive prerogative of Congress, because Congress is the branch of government which is tasked to amend the constitution and not the President, not the Supreme Court. Whatever is the decision of Congress is submitted to the people insofar as the amendment to the Constitution is concerned. Q: Was it a heated discussion? Drilon: There was no heated discussion. Nobody dissented. Q: Sir, clear ba yung sentiment? According to Sen. Recto, naniniwala siya na majority is against Cha-cha? Drilon: Sa akin hindi pa maliwanag iyan kaya po naghi-hearing tayo...In fairness, that is their view. My view is that let's hear it in the committee. Q: What if one or two senators really attend the con-ass? Drilon: There was a proposal yesterday. There was no dissent. Even assuming na pagdating ng botohan ay hindi ganon ang maging decision, but the point is, that manifests how strong the sentiment of the senators is insofar as the separate voting is concerned. Q: Will the minority support the expulsion? Drilon: When we get to that point, we will decide.
Press Release

January 17, 2018 Former CJ Puno: SC cannot interfere in Cha-cha process; Drilon concurs The Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the constitution, according to former Chief Justice Reynato Puno. "Former Chief Justice Puno is of the view that the Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the constitution and how the constitution should be amended, because this is a political exercise and a political question, beyond the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court," Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said. Responding to questions raised by Drilon whether the Supreme Court can compel Senate to act on the House resolution calling for a constituent assembly, Puno said: "The Supreme Court still does not have jurisdiction to accommodate and decide questions that are political in character. The issue that we are talking about is a political question." At the hearing, Drilon asked the former chief justice: "If we do not act on the House resolution calling for a constitutional assembly, the issue cannot be brought to the Supreme Court?" to which Puno replied in affirmative. "The resolution is lost and you cannot be subject to a writ of mandamus," Puno added. Drilon also pointed to Puno's earlier statement saying, "A no vote in the Senate cannot be reviewed by the Supreme Court because it is a political question. In response, Puno said, "That's right. It is a political decision and the Senate will only be answerable to the people." Drillon responded, "We must not forget that while the Supreme Court is supreme in interpreting the Constitution, we are co-equal branch. We have our own powers. We have our own interpretation," Drilon said. In an interview at the sidelines of the hearing, the minority leader said that he completely agrees with the former chief justice. "I concur with the observation of former CJ Puno that the Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the constitution, because it is a political question and such power is explicitly lodged with the Congress." "The Supreme Court cannot interfere in the process of amending the Constitution because amending the constitution constitutes a political exercise and a political question, outside of the sphere of power of the Supreme Court," Drilon said. Drilon said the court cannot compel Congress to vote jointly or separately as the decision is "left to the discretion of Congress" being the branch of government tasked to amend the constitution. "The process of amending the constitution is a political process lodged in Congress itself, not with the President nor the Supreme Court. Whether or not we vote separately, the Supreme Court cannot interfere," Drilon said. Drilon also maintained that both houses should vote separately. He said there was a consensus among the senators that they should vote separately. He said that the bicameral nature of the legislative branch "leaves no doubt that there should be a separate voting." "Changing the name of a high school or changing the name of a road would require the concurrence of the senate as a separate institution. How much more in amending the constitution and changing the form of government?" Drilon said.
A noisy press is the soundtrack of democracy

For democracy to thrive, a free and untrammelled press is essential. To put a muzzle on independent reporting is to limit the exchange of ideas essential to good governance.

Citizens, whether they blog to their community or broadcast to the country, should not be deprived of this most cherished of rights that our heroes fought for so that we, their descendants, may enjoy it.

We need an uncowed media to tell truth to power, to hold rulers accountable, to right the wrongs, to ask the important questions, to improve policy, "to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable."

Freedom of the press is wasted if solely used to praise. It is not there to airbrush the truth or photoshop the ugly, but, like a national mirror, is hoisted in front of us so we can see the true reflection of ourselves, wrinkles and all.

For government officials, dealing with the press is an occupational hazard. But better a pesky, cantankerous, annoying press than one that is silenced. A noisy press is the soundtrack of democracy.
Press Release

January 17, 2018 Sen. Joel Villanueva's sponsorship speech on Magna Carta of the Out-of-School Youth Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. Mr. President and my distinguished colleagues, it is my honor as Chairman of the Committee on Youth to sponsor Senate Bill No. 1650 under Committee Report No. 223 or the "Magna Carta of the Out-of-School Youth." Sa tuwing mapag-uusapan po ang mga kabataan, may isang pariralang malimit banggitin bilang paglalarawan sa kanila - "pag-asa ng bayan". Nabanggit din ito ni Dr. Jose Rizal halos 140 taon na ang nakararaan, nang isinulat niya ang tulang "A La Juventud Filipina" sa Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas noong siya'y 18 taong gulang pa lamang. Ganito po ang unang saknong: "Itaas ang iyong

Malinis na noo

Sa araw na ito,

Kabataang Pilipino!

Igilas mo na rin ang kumikinang mong

Mayamang sanghaya

Magandang pag-asa ng Bayan kong Mutya!" The poem is a message primarily to emphasize the value of education and praise the rising generation and their role in nation building. Today, we need to ask ourselves whether young Filipinos are indeed the "fair hope of our motherland" knowing that this country has about 3.8 million out-of-school children and youth. Mr. President, about 10 percent of the 39 million Filipinos with age range six to 24 years old are out-of-school according to the 2016 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS). That's one in every 10 Filipino kids. The most common reasons among out-of-school youth for not attending school were marriage or family matters (42.3 percent), high cost of education or financial concerns (20.2 percent), and lack of personal interest (19.7 percent). Nationwide, about 53 percent of out-of-school children and youth belong to families whose income fall at the bottom 30 percent based on their per capita income. Kung magmamasid tayo sa ating paligid, makikita natin ang mga mukha sa likod ng mga datos na ito. Sa mga kalye natin, nagkalat ang mga kabataan araw-araw. Mapapaisip ka kung bakit oras ng eskwela pero nakababad sila sa lansangan. Kahit sa dis-oras ng gabi, sa mga delikadong kalye, naroon sila. May iba, na-i-involved pa sa mga petty crimes, nambabato ng mga sasakyan o humihithit ng sigarilyo o rugby. Sa mga kanayunan, may mga kabataang mula sa mga kapatid nating indigenous peoples ang hindi nakakahawak ng lapis o libro kasi sa lugar nila, walang mga eskwelahan o kaya hindi nararating ng mga guro o mobile teachers. Mas nakakalungkot pa ang malamang may mga kabataang sa halip na pagbasa at pagsulat, paghawak ng baril ang pinag-aaralan. Iyong iba, sa murang edad, sumasabak na sa trabaho o nabibiktima ng child labor kaya hindi na maisip mag-eskwela. May mga batang may disability din ang ikinukulong na lang ng kanilang mga magulang sa bahay sa halip na hanapan ng SPED services. Hindi sila masisi dahil hanggang ngayon, kulang-kulang ang special education services natin at kailangan ring i-address ang discrimination lalo na ang bullying. Kasama rin dito ang mga kabataang nakababad sa internet at social media - malaya nilang nabubuksan ang mga websites na inapproriate sa edad nila tulad ng mga pornographic sites. Mr. President, sa ganitong sitwasyon, sila pa nga ba ang pag-asa ng ating bayan? These young individuals are the main reasons behind the proposed Magna Carta of Out-of-School Youth (OSY). And we thank and recognize our seatmate, Senator Gatchalian, for pushing this measure since he was a member of the House of Representatives. Mr. President, Senate Bill 1650 seeks to define the rights of over 3.8 million out-of-school children and youth in the country. It establishes an aggressive affirmative action program aimed at providing all children and youth who are out of school with expanded government assistance to all types of education and training, including school-based educational opportunities from the primary to tertiary levels, non-formal education under the Alternative Learning System, and most especially, tech-voc training. Senate Bill 1650 also guarantees the right of out-of-school youth against discrimination and to be protected from violence and from human rights abuses. It also provides for a comprehensive system of rights which would entitle OSYs to greater access to basic social services, including health, job-matching, employment and entrepreneurship. Mr. President, the proposed measure is in consonance with the 1987 Constitution recognizing the vital role of the youth in nation-building and to promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being. Furthermore, Mr. President and distinguished colleagues, this proposed measure would help the Philippine government fulfill its commitments under the ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening Education for Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY), adopted by the Philippines and other ASEAN member-states on September 8, 2016 at the ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic. Notable cases Mr. President, we believe that when young Filipinos are given full access to healthcare, child-friendly, multi-cultural and global education, they are empowered to make their contribution to the progress of this country. Last December, Hillary Diane Andales, 18 years old, from the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Eastern Visayas Campus in Palo, Leyte bested 11,000 young learners from 178 countries to bag the third annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge (BJC) Prize. For this competition, she earned over P20-million worth of prizes at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in California. In fact, Andales was one of the recipients of "Mga Bagong Rizal 2017: Pag-asa ng Bayan" last December 30, the Rizal Day. Way back in 2015, I met Sheena Marie Eusena, a young woman in Bohol who felt she was in the pits and had nowhere to go after getting pregnant in her teenage years. She was forced to stop attending school as more and more people talked about her condition. Tech-voc opened the window of opportunity to her after she enrolled in a food processing course and finished it with flying colors. Soon after, she took baking and pastry production and got a National Certificate. This paved the way for her first job in a bakeshop. Saving around P45,000 from her earnings, she was able to buy her own baking equipment and set up her own bakeshop, which she now runs with her family. But there's no stopping Sheena. After two tech-voc courses, she enrolled in commercial cooking. For all her feat, she was recognized as the Batang TESDA awardee, which is given to tech-voc graduates who become role models to fellow youth and epitomize what Rizal envisioned for a young Filipino - "fair hope of our motherland". Through Senate Bill 1650, many more young people who have experienced crisis and forced to leave school could rise above the challenges like Sheena. Walang duda na kung bawat bata sa ating bansa ay may pagkakataong makapag-eskwela o mabigyan ng libro at magabayan ng sapat, magagawa nila ang lahat pati na ang pag-aangat ng mga Pilipino sa buong mundo tulad ni Hillary. Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, we want to nourish the potentials of every Filipino child and youth for their bright future and for the progress of our country. Hence, we will continue to find ways to ensure that they have opportunity to bring out their talents, their "treasure within". We will speak up for their rights because they are the most vulnerable in our society. And if we want them to truly be the "fair hope of the motherland", then let us empower them and shield them from the harm of ignorance and lack of education. Let's give them a meaningful and prosperous start of 2018 and every day of their lives. Let's pass Senate Bill 1650. Thank you Mr. President and distinguished colleagues. God bless us all.
SIOUX CITY | Sioux City police have arrested two male juveniles for alleged vandalism that destroyed more than a half million bees at a Sioux City honey business last month.

The minors, who were not identified by police, have been charged with three felonies  first-degree criminal mischief, agricultural animal facilities offenses and third-degree burglary, as well as misdemeanor possession of burglar's tools.

Court records of juveniles accused of crimes in Iowa are confidential by law, unless the juvenile is charged in adult court or charged with a forcible felony, such as murder or kidnapping.

The juveniles, who are 12 and 13 years old, are accused of destroying all of Wild Hill Honey's hives on Sioux City's west side. The company's losses were estimated at $60,000.

The damage was not covered by insurance. But the public, outraged by the senseless act of vandalism, raised tens of thousands of dollars online for the owners, Justin and Tori Englehardt.
Press Release

January 17, 2018 Villanueva sponsors bill providing for the magna carta of out-of-school youth Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday sponsored before the plenary Senate Bill No. 1650 under Committee Report No. 223 or the proposed Magna Carta of the Out-of-School Youth (OSY) which aims to provide all children and youth expanded government assistance to all types of education and training, including school-based educational opportunities from the primary to tertiary levels, non-formal education under the Alternative Learning System, and most especially, technical and vocational training. Villanueva, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Youth, said that the bill seeks to define the rights of over 3.8 million out-of-school children and youth in the country. "We want to provide a comprehensive system of rights which would entitle OSYs to greater access to basic social services, including health, job-matching, employment and entrepreneurship," Villanueva said during his sponsorship speech. "Our proposed measure is in consonance with the 1987 Constitution recognizing the vital role of the youth in nation-building and to promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being," Villanueva added. Citing the 2016 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey, Villanueva revealed that one in every 10 Filipino kids or about 10 percent of the 39 million Filipinos with age range six to 24 years old are out-of-school youth. Villanueva further shared that the most common reasons among out-of-school youth for not attending school were marriage or family matters (42.3 percent), high cost of education or financial concerns (20.2 percent), and lack of personal interest (19.7 percent). "We believe that when young Filipinos are given full access to healthcare, child-friendly, multi-cultural and global education, they are empowered to make their contribution to the progress of this country," Villanueva said. "Walang duda na kung bawat bata sa ating bansa ay may pagkakataong makapag-eskwela o mabigyan ng libro at magabayan ng sapat, magagawa nilang umangat at magtagumpay sa buhay." "We will speak up for their rights because they are the most vulnerable in our society. And if we want them to be truly "fair hope of the motherland", then let us empower them and shield them from the harm of ignorance and lack of education," Villanueva concluded.
MASON CITY | Mason City police are asking for the publics help in identifying a man who they said assaulted a woman in the Southbridge Mall parking lot earlier this month.

Police responded to a report of an assault at 7:01 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, at Southbridge Mall.

A female victim had been assaulted by a male in the parking lot, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley said. The two were not known to one another prior to the assault.

Brinkley said he does not believe the woman was injured. He would not provide any additional details about the incident.

The man fled the area following the incident. Police would not release a description of him.

People who may have witnessed the incident should call the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636.

 Courtney Fiorini
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Tuesday was a brand-new day at Muir Woods National Monument, where visitors for the first time were required to have a reservation to park at the famous redwood forest.

The National Park Service picked a Tuesday in January  one of the slowest tourist days of the year  to inaugurate a system that requires nearly all visitors to have an advance reservation to get into the popular international tourist destination.

The weather cooperated. It was gray with light rain, which cut down attendance to fewer than 1,000, a perfect day for a quiet walk in the woods, said Mia Monroe, the Park Service liaison for the natural monument.

It was also a perfect day to test the new system, which requires that no one can park anywhere near the woods without an electronic reservation on a cell phone or on a computer printout. The only visitors who wont need a reservation from now on are those who hike or bike into Muir Woods, and those were as scarce as sunlight in the soggy forest Tuesday.

The reservation system is intended to reduce traffic jams and overcrowding at Muir Woods, which attracts 1.1 million visitors a year. Its other purpose is to limit parking, especially on the nearby roads.

Shuttle buses to Muir Woods from Sausalito, Marin City and a park-and-ride lot near Tamalpais Valley also will require reservations. The shuttle buses run on weekends only. Weekday bus service will run in July and August.

The Park Service spent years planning the new system, and there were a few glitches Tuesday, but most visitors seemed to accept the new deal. That is just as well, since the reservation system is probably permanent.

It will never be the way it used to be, Monroe said.

On Tuesday morning, a Park Service crew was busy setting up parking barriers on Frank Valley Road, which leads west toward Muir Beach, 3 miles away. By midmorning it had set up red barriers along the roadside more than a mile from the Muir Woods entrance.

Only the day before  the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday  that road had been lined with parked cars as people walked along its shoulder all the way to the redwoods. That type of situation, with crowds of people dodging cars on the narrow roads, was dangerous and helped trigger the new system.

Jim Fusscas, a Park Service worker installing the parking barriers, remembered it well. Only a few years ago, he said, he and his wife brought a carload or two of family members and friends  10 of them in all  to see Muir Woods. They had to park what seemed like miles away, and walk single file on the side of the road.

That was something, he said.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

But that parking has now been eliminated.

On Tuesday, the smaller crowds meant there was room in the parks 232-spot parking lot for everyone who showed up, even a few who came without reservations. Most of them were accommodated, but only if they drove back to a spot where they could get an Internet connection and make a reservation.

The reservation system relies on electronics, and Muir Woods has no Wi-Fi or cell phone service; there is cell phone service up the hill, although it can be spotty.

Robert Fyles, who said he was born and raised in San Francisco, said he hadnt heard about the reservation system. He and his wife brought friends from out of town to see Muir Woods and were surprised to be turned away. So he dropped his passengers off and drove back up the Muir Woods Road to the intersection with the Panoramic Highway.

There he got connected by phone but couldnt get the reservation system to work. It was unknown whether he ever got connected.

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.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

Jack Moser, who lives in San Diego, just arrived in the Bay Area for a visit and also hadnt heard about parking reservations. He thought it was a good idea. It makes sense, he said. But he thought the implementation needs some work.

There were hardly any signs about reservations, Moser said. I only saw one, and that wasnt enough on a foggy, misty day driving on a winding road.

Adam Lucier, who lives in Santa Clara and works at Stanford University, got his reservation on Jan. 7 and drove right in to a good parking spot Tuesday. He brought along his mother, Rosie Lucier, and other family members from Maryland and Delaware. His mother, in particular, had always wanted to see Muir Woods, she said. She has trouble walking and the parking spot they got was perfect, she said.

More on Muir Woods Muir Woods visit by car or bus to require making reservation,...

The Park Service hopes opening the system in the quiet of winter will help them work out any problems before the next big test  spring break, when visitation begins to pick up.

We want this to be the very best experience in a national park, Monroe said.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf

How to make

a reservation

Reservations cost $8 per car and can be obtained up to 90 days in advance at www.gomuirwoods.com or by calling (800) 410-2419.
The city of Oroville has sued the states Department of Water Resources, alleging that decades of mismanagement were to blame for the Oroville Dams near-failure in February 2017 and the emergency evacuation of 188,000 people.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Butte County Superior Court, calls on the DWR to cover millions of dollars in economic and infrastructure losses incurred by the dams issues.

Now Playing: California has restructured a key water agency in the wake of a scathing independent report on last year's crisis at Oroville Dam. Changes announced Wednesday include naming a new director for the California Department of Water Resources. Gov. Jerry Brown named longtime water official Karla Nemeth as the new agency director. Video: KCRA

The alleged failure of the Oroville Dam represents millions of dollars lost to our California economy and, along with the fires that have devastated California, combine to make our rural areas very difficult to live and work in, said David Janes, one of the attorneys representing the city.

Raging storms in early 2017 caused a crisis at the nations tallest dam, which controls water delivered to 25 million people across California. It was built in 1968 and is 770 feet high and almost 7,000 feet long. The heavy rains last year led dam operators to release flows down the Feather River, but concerns arose when a crater appeared on the main spillway. Water also poured over a previously unused emergency spillway, resulting in the mass evacuation order.

The spillover damaged Orovilles roads and infrastructure and issued a blow to the economy, city officials claim, noting that the cost of evacuating residents also drained Orovilles budget.

The lawsuit attributes the dams near failure to decades of mismanagement, which allegedly carried over to a culture of corruption and harassment, in particular against women and minorities. The complaint also refers to some department officials as the water mafia and alleges that supervisors and employees stole state equipment.

A spokeswoman for DWR said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

At The Chronicles request last February, Robert Bea, a professor emeritus and engineering expert at UC Berkeley, reviewed four dam inspections that were conducted between 2008 and 2016 by the Division of Safety of Dams, which is part of the DWR. The cratering of the main spillway, he determined, occurred in a spot where cracks and other defects had been found repeatedly since 2009.

Orovilles lawsuit alleges that the dam was originally designed by an inexperienced engineer who was hired directly from a university post-graduate program, and that DWR was aware of the structures vulnerabilities. The complaint also said that structural issues with the dam were known to DWR as far back as 2000, and supervisors routinely fabricated reports on cleanup and maintenance projects.

This case calls out for a total evaluation of our water projects and how they are being neglected and mismanaged by those in control of the delivery of water in California, said Joseph Cotchett, one of Orovilles attorneys in the suit.

Since the crisis last year, DWR has received criticism from independent experts for its handling of the dams upkeep, resulting in a shakeup at the department.

Federal regulators tasked a team of six with investigating the dam, and the group released a 584-page report that found both the DWR and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for inspecting all dams that generate electricity, had failed to recognize and address issues with the Oroville Dam before the crisis.

The report also criticized the DWRs culture of complacency, leading Gov. Jerry Brown to name a new senior state water official to head the department  the fourth person to hold that position since 2016.

Karla Nemeth, a deputy secretary and senior adviser at the California Natural Resources Agency, will take over as the head of DWR pending senate confirmation.

Orovilles lawsuit also attempts to link allegations of dam mismanagement to a toxic work culture that included racism and sexual harassment, as well as allegations of theft.

DWR supervisors allegedly allowed a noose to be hung in a meeting room for several months that was used daily by the staff, according to the complaint. The noose, which was pictured in the lawsuit, reportedly remained in the room until an African American employee removed it.

That same employee  one of just two African Americans hired at the dam over a 20-year period, the complaint said  allegedly found a doll hanging in his locker and was called a racial epithet, in addition to being told that his job was not like picking cotton.

The lawsuit also claims that DWRs female employees consistently faced harassment. A work conference held for women was referred to as the Dyke Conference, the complaint said. When women spoke out about harassment, the lawsuit claimed, they were subject to physical threats outside of work.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
The hair is in place and the bronze has been cast, but the bust of former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wont be taking its place at City Hall anytime soon.

We are waiting to see how things shake out, said San Francisco Arts Commission member Dorka Keehn who, along with the lieutenant governors wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, her family and a handful of other Newsom loyalists, raised the $97,000 in private donations to immortalize the mayor who brought same-sex marriage ceremonies to City Hall.

The plan was to have Mayor Ed Lee present at the busts unveiling. But with his death, it doesnt seem like an appropriate time to be having an event right now, Keehn said.

Newsom, now campaigning for governor, tells us that joining Willie Brown, Dianne Feinstein and George Moscone in a prominent spot just outside the mayors office is the furthest thing from his mind these days  even though, according to artist Bruce Wolfe, he did pose for the bust three or four times. The piece renders an informal Newsom, with an open-neck shirt and no suit jacket.

Its so trivial, Newsom said as he walked with two of his daughters in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in San Francisco on Monday. I have zero interest in that topic, or ascribing any importance to it.

If anyone should be honored now, said Newsom, its Lee.

What that honor should look like, Newsom said, is up to the folks at City Hall. But I hope its a lot more significant than a bust, he said.

As the perceived front-runner in the governors race, Newsom is already getting all the attention he can handle  most of it in the form of attacks from Democratic and Republican rivals.

I thought I was back here in San Francisco, Newsom joked of the weekend debate in Los Angeles, at which he was asked if his ties to the politically powerful California Teachers Association would influence his decision-making on education issues and spending.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has also tagged Newsom as a Davos Democrat, after the Swiss town where elites from the business and political worlds gather annually for the World Economic Forum.

Put it all together, and you can understand why the bust is going to stay in storage at an Oakland foundry for the time being.

And theyre off: San Franciscos mayoral race had its unofficial kickoff this week, as all four top candidates mingled with union leaders at the Labor Councils annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast in the hope of winning key endorsements for the June election.

Its not going to be an easy choice for unions, given the labor-friendly track records of the four candidates: Mark Leno, London Breed, Jane Kim and Angela Alioto.

This is going to be the most difficult decision we have ever had, said Tom OConnor, president of the Firefighters Union Local 798.

One question all the labor bigwigs are asking in private: Who stands the best chance of winning?

A new KPIX Survey/USA phone survey of 717 voters taken over the weekend has Leno ahead, with 22 percent of those surveyed listing the former state senator as their top pick.

Thats good to hear, Leno said. But, as you know, this is just a snapshot in time. The campaign is just beginning.

Leno has reason to be cautious. Acting Mayor Breed came in a close second, with 19 percent of the first-pick vote, followed by Supervisor Kim with 13 percent and former Supervisor Alioto with 9 percent.

The poll has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.

Add in that 1 of 4 voters is undecided  and that ranked-choice voting gives people three picks  and you have a race that even the candidates campaign managers say is wide open.

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There were a couple of other interesting findings in the poll, such as whats foremost on voters minds. Survey respondents ranked homelessness, high housing costs and crime as their three top issues.

Another key finding: By 46 to 36 percent, voters say the city is headed in the wrong direction.

In other words, theyre not happy.

Tech boom: The crowd at Mondays annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in San Francisco was bigger than in recent years, at least partly thanks to a boost from Salesforce and others in the tech industry who had more than 2,000 employees and family members in attendance.

Salesforce encouraged employes to use some of their 56 hours of annual paid community service time to join in the parade from Fourth and King streets to Yerba Buena Center. That produced an extra 1,100 marchers.

An equal number of participants from Facebook, eBay, VMware and other tech giants also joined the march.

Beforehand, everyone gathered at AT&T Park for pastries and coffee, and they were joined by a number of senior Salesforce executives.

The whole idea is building a culture of allies, said Salesforce Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet, who was hired 16 months ago by CEO Marc Benioff to bring greater diversity to a company where blacks make up just 2.5 percent of the workforce.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
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Fishermen and swimmers sure have seen a lot of sea lions  some of them snatching salmon off lines or nipping freestylers in the bay  but a study published Wednesday proves the blubbery pinnipeds are, in fact, all over the place.

The sea lion population has not only rebounded after a series of catastrophes  including a lack of food and algae poisonings  but the approximately 250,000 sea lions now living along the California coast also have reached what scientists say is the optimum sustainable population, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That means we have done our job, said Sharon Melin, a wildlife biologist for the agencys Alaska Fisheries Science Center Marine Mammal Laboratory. Its a good, healthy, strong population.

The analysis of 39 years of data, published Wednesday in the Journal of Wildlife Management, found that the number of sea lions along the coast right now is below the high point in 2008, when an estimated 281,450 sea lions were frolicking along the West Coast. The last comprehensive analysis of the sea lion population in the study was in 2014, when 257,000 animals were counted. Melin said three years of unusually warm ocean temperatures have further reduced the population, but the current count is still within the optimal range set by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.

Now Playing: A female swimmer was bit by a sea lion at 7 a.m. Thursday. She was swimming in Aquatic Park when she was bit by the animal. Video: KTVU

The numbers show a dramatic rebound from the days when rampant hunting and commercial exploitation of sea lions reduced their numbers to record lows. There were only about 90,000 of the pinnipeds along the West Coast in the 1970s, when Congress passed the law protecting the species.

But a healthy population of one species isnt always good for other species, said Chris Yates, the oceanic agencys assistant regional administrator for fisheries resources. It means there are more animals stealing catches off fishing lines, munching on endangered salmon and depleting the marine food supply for other predators, like southern resident killer whales in the state of Washington.

At least one sea lion has even taken to biting swimmers at San Franciscos Aquatic Park, creating a fury among the many hardy souls who like to take morning dips.

Theres a lot of California sea lions. Thats a good thing, but it also comes with a lot of pretty significant challenges, Yates said. It certainly doesnt come without controversy and differing opinions about whether having this many sea lions is a good thing.

Yates said experts are working on ways to protect salmon and other species favored by the fishing fleet from the pinniped hordes, but nobody has yet proposed culling the herd. He added that sea lions will remain protected under the act and does not foresee any changes in the management strategy.

Since reaching its carrying capacity in 2008, the sea lion population has fluctuated, weathering periodic setbacks like 2013, when an unprecedented number of sea lion pups were stranded on the beaches along the Southern California coast. The death toll reportedly reached its peak in 2014 and 2015, as atmospheric conditions heated up coastal waters to unusual levels, creating havoc on the local ecosystem.

Roughly 10 times the average rate of sea lions  more than 2,500  ended up stranded on California beaches in 2015, according to the report. But the population began to bounce back in 2016, scientists found, when 18,000 pups were born on San Miguel Island.

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.

If we had looked only at the last five years, we would have thought sea lions were in a tailspin, Melin said, noting that the study changed that viewpoint. Because we know the history of the population, we can put the recent decline in perspective.

It is suspected that domoic acid poisoning was a major killer over the past few years. The poisons are produced by a microscopic, single-celled species known as pseudo-nitzschia that grows thicker and faster in warmer, nutrient-rich seawater. It accumulates in shellfish, mussels, anchovies, sardines and herring, the primary food of sea lions.

The Marine Mammal Center, in the Marin Headlands, says an average of about 70 marine mammals have been poisoned by domoic acid blooms each year since 2009. Although it is clearly a major biological threat, Melin said, recent outbreaks appear to have had a fairly mild impact on female sea lions and older juveniles and it is unlikely to be the primary cause of a reduction in the population.

Unusual wind, weather and atmospheric conditions that heated up coastal waters between 1 degree and 3 degrees and forced many species to migrate north were a factor in recent declines and, while the population is currently stable, could impact sea lion abundance in the future, said Nate Mantua, a climatologist with the administrations Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz.

What weve been seeing is large year-to-year variation, he said. We think long term global warming is making these extremes more likely.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @pfimrite
Money that California utility companies save under the new federal tax overhaul will be returned to their customers in the form of lower rates, state regulators said Tuesday.

The tax law signed by President Trump in December, which slashed the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, has already prompted utility regulators in states from Oklahoma to Maryland to discuss returning some of the money to customers. The California Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday followed suit.

At the CPUCs direction, all of the electric and gas utilities in California are tracking the savings from the tax law changes and will be required to refund the savings to their customers, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper wrote in an email.

The commission typically sets rates for each of Californias three large, investor-owned utilities in multiyear proceedings that take into account many of the companies expenses, not just their taxes. But Prosper said that in this case, given the size of the savings from these tax law changes, the CPUC may take action to refund the money to customers sooner.

The exact impact this will have on bills is unclear, as is the precise size of the savings for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. For example, while PG&E, the states largest utility, faced a statutory federal income tax rate of 35 percent in 2016, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed the company paid an effective tax rate of 3.8 percent after taking advantage of various deductions.

PG&E on Tuesday estimated the annual tax savings could be roughly $500 million. The savings for individual customers, however, could be offset by increased expenses the utility expects to face in dealing with winter storms as well as trees killed by drought and the bark beetle infestation.

These costs are on a similar order of magnitude as the benefits of tax reform over the next couple of years, PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo wrote in an email. We expect to work collaboratively with the CPUC to determine the best way to pass the tax savings along to customers. We have historically worked closely with Commission staff to stabilize rates and bills by using expected cost reductions like these to offset expected cost increases.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

The commissions comments came after state Sen. Jerry Hill, who chairs a subcommittee that deals with utility issues, sent the commission a letter Tuesday saying the companies stood to reap untold savings from the federal tax changes. He urged the commission to figure out how much the utilities will save and lower customers monthly bills accordingly.

I urge you to ensure any savings are returned to Californias ratepayers, Hill wrote.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
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At dusk on a recent Thursday afternoon, Hale Zukas is sitting outside of the Berkeley Public Library, having his photograph taken. Two twentysomethings walk by and ask what is going on before one of them notices Zukas.

Oh, I know him! he says. Hes real Berkeley. Ive seen him all my life.

Zukas would be hard to miss  hes zooming throughout Berkeley on any given day in his electric wheelchair, wearing the signature helmet that hes had since the 1950s. As a child, Zukas was diagnosed with cerebral palsy; physical mobility is limited to his head, which he uses, with a pointer attached to his helmet, to operate his chair and spell words out on a letter board.

But most dont recognize Zukas for what he really is: an unsung pioneer of the disability rights movement that sprouted out of Berkeley in the 1970s. Nor do people talk about the issues or cultural attitudes toward people with disabilities, the largest minority in the world, says San Francisco filmmaker Brad Bailey.

Everyone is on some level affected or connected to it, says Bailey, 43. Its universal.

Baileys short film, Hale, which won best documentary of the Student Academy Awards (the Oscars for works from film schools), focuses on Zukas, 74, providing an overdue spotlight on a leader who helped changed the nature of living with disabilities.

There is a unique sort of stillness and slowness that comes from communicating with Zukas. He indicates his answers letter by letter  often witty responses that elicit a warm, expansive smile from him when the punch line lands. Baileys short film is partially constructed out of countless hours of gradual conversation with Zukas.

Bailey, who recently graduated from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where Hale served as his thesis film, first saw Zukas on campus and was immediately captivated. Part of the connection stemmed from Baileys personal history.

My fathers disabled, says Bailey, who grew up in Georgia. When I was 15 years old, he was leaving to work one morning and was hit by a tractor trailer in his car. So we go from having a very vibrant, active 6-feet-6 father to someone who lived life very differently.

Eventually Bailey came up to Zukas on the street and asked his name.

I Googled him, and I was blown away, Bailey says. I didnt realize that this man was literally responsible for everything that we have today, from ramps to curb cuts to the way we walk and exist in the world.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

Zukas, whose mother refused to institutionalize him, grew up in San Luis Obispo before attending UC Berkeley, where he studied mathematics and Russian. While in school, Hale recounts, he became a quietly major player, alongside such figures as Judith Heumann and Ed Roberts, of the disability rights movement.

Hales policy papers are in the UC Berkeley archives, Bailey says  essentially papers he wrote about this disability issue or this policy angle that needed to be addressed.

While students with disabilities at UC Berkeley were housed in a hospital at the time and underserved, Zukas co-founded the Center for Independent Living, a service and resource center geared toward fulfilled, autonomous existence for people with disabilities. In 1977, Zukas and others led a sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building and eventually traveled to Washington, D.C., to push for the signing of a section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that promised rights for people with disabilities.

As for Zukas own perception of his place in history?

A face in the crowd, he spells out on his board. Next to Bailey, Zukas is quick to shake his head if he perceives hyperbole from Bailey, fact-checking him in self-effacement. But when Bailey professes his belief that Zukas has not been properly recognized, Zukas agrees, reiterating, I have been overlooked.

Zukas remains an active advocate for people with disabilities, fighting for equality on issues from physical access to education to fair employment. Beyond shining a light on Zukas role in landmark progress, Hale is a portrait of his daily life and work.

I need something to occupy my time, Zukas says simply.

The film opens with a look at Zukas morning routine, and eventually follows him as he travels on his own throughout Berkeley, weathering BART  which honored him for his work (including designing the BART elevator buttons) with a plaque at Berkeleys Ashby Station  to attend a transit accessibility board meeting.

Bailey noticed early on how others avoided making eye contact with Zukas when around him. If people do acknowledge Zukas, they still may never come to realize the icon in the chair.

Yet at its showings at festivals and panel discussions, says Bailey (who became the first African American to win the documentary gold in the student awards), Hale has promoted dialogue about what work still needs to be done. As distribution and partnership possibilities for the film are being explored, Bailey only hopes for more of the same.

Asked about his own hopes for the films message, Zukas pauses, tipping his head up and thinking for a long moment. Then, he spells it out, letter by letter.

That one can make a difference even if they are significantly disabled.

Brandon Yu is a Bay Area freelance writer.

Online: Learn more about Hale at https://www.facebook.com/HaleTheMovie

Watch Baileys acceptance speech at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RinFIMt7eXc&app=desktop
MASON CITY | The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health has plenty of flu vaccines available, and is encouraging North Iowans to stop in for a shot as influenza cases increase in the area.

Disease Prevention Specialist Jennifer Stiles said the vaccine is available via a walk-in clinic 10 a.m. to noon and 12:30 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Stiles added no appointment is needed, and most health insurance plans should cover the cost of the shot.

There have been 14 influenza-related deaths in Iowa since Oct. 1, 2017, according to the department. Stiles said local statistics aren't available because they could possibly identify victims in smaller communities.

She added colder weather may cause an increase in influenza cases due to people spending more time indoors. Influenza  which differs from norovirus, known as stomach flu  is a contagious respiratory illness that is more severe than a common cold.

Because of the increase in influenza-related cases, Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa has initiated a Level 3 Visitation Restriction, starting Wednesday, Jan. 17, according to a news release.

The hospital is preventing anyone age 18 or younger from entering, as well as anyone with influenza-like or respiratory symptoms, unless they are seeking care.

Birth Center visitation is limited to the mother's partner, while pediatric department visitation is limited to parents and guardians.

The Level 3 restrictions also limit adult patients to two adults visitors during their stay, and emergency department patients are limited to one adult visitor, according to the news release.

The hospital says it will consider special circumstances for each patient, but the restrictions are for safety-related reasons.

Mercy Infection Prevention Nurse Kim Overbeck said in a statement the strain circulating this year "tends to be more severe."

"Instating stricter visitation in the hospital decreases the opportunity for the spread of influenza to patients who are more vulnerable to the disease," Overbeck said.

The hospital institutes visitor restrictions when certain criteria is met.

Stephanie Duckert, marketing manager for Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, said in an email the following have caused the Level 3 visitation:

 Emergency department influx greater than 150 percent average for the same quarter last year.

 Influenza-like symptoms accounting for 15 to 20 percent of emergency visits.

Stiles, who works for public health, said that while the influenza vaccine isn't a perfect solution, it does prevent more serious symptoms, especially for the elderly and children.

"The flu shot isn't 100 percent going to prevent the flu," she said. "But if you do get the flu, it can make it less serious."
The third location of Locol, Roy Choi and Daniel Pattersons socially-conscious burger outfit, entered a soft open phase today at the Whole Foods in San Jose. The outpost will officially open to the public on Tuesday.

Putting the timing into context, the San Jose Locol is opening about a week after the Locol in West Oakland returned from a holiday hiatus, and only a day or so after the flagship Watts location celebrated its 2-year anniversary.
About two hours into Hiroshi Teshigaharas Woman in the Dunes (1964), I come face to face with one of the most upsetting movie scenes Ive experienced.

A bit of background: A Tokyo schoolteacher (Eiji Okada), moonlighting as an entomologist, has been kidnapped by villagers living in a remote desert. They keep him in a sand pit with a lonely widow (Kyoko Kishida). She tells him they must do like the other villagers and shovel sand out of the pit. The entomologist finds this, as do we, a futile task. What purpose does the shoveling serve? All the sand will just fall back into the pit. But, the woman tells the man, if they dont shovel, they wont receive weekly rations: food, rice, some smokes. Shocked, the man asks the woman, Are you shoveling sand to live? Or are you living to shovel sand?

For most of this 147-minute existential tour de force, screening Friday, Jan. 19, and Feb. 2, at the Pacific Film Archive, we track the entomologists attempts to escape the pit and the sand village. Like Sisyphus in a sandy hell, the more he struggles, the more he becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a bizarre world filled with arbitrary rules and uncaring humans.

The films frightening view of human selfishness comes to a head in the rape sequence. The trapped man has asked one of the leaders if he may leave the pit for an hour, just to get a glimpse of the ocean. The leader says, yes, you may leave  if you have sex with your wife, in front of us. Us? Dozens of people swarm the top of the pit  most wearing masks, one pounding on tribal drums. The man is desperate for freedom, his freedom. So he follows the woman into their house, and, against her gasps, claws at her clothes and tries to force himself on her. She resists. Between the beat of drums and close-ups of manic masks and swirls in the sand, two proto-Lynchian strobe lights flash incessantly at the mad spectacle. As he robs her of all her agency, he tries to defend his actions: Who cares? We live like animals anyway. ... Come on; we can just pretend.

In a film filled with transformations  water becoming sand, order slipping into chaos  we bear silent witness to the most disturbing transformation of all: man to carnivore, woman to carnal flesh, both into animals.

The sobering power of Dunes comes from the melding of many artistic minds to create a panorama of human frailty in the face of absurdity. Writer Kobo Abes Twilight Zone-like scenario cannot be pinned down; like the sandy dunes where it is set, the meaning keeps shifting under the weight of the viewers feet. Kishida and Okada do fine work with their sand-covered bodies and increasingly panicky voices, grounding the film in a strange reality. In his striking compositions, director Teshigahara films his actors as though they were bugs or canyons, never humans. Feverishly equating their bodies with sand in Soviet-style montage and superimpositions, their identities are as unstable as the earth below them.

The harsh strings and flutes of avant-garde composer Toru Takemitsu (Kwaidan, Harakiri, Ran) are the score to the human suffering. Crazily enough, only Takemitsus music approaches godliness in this godless film-world  where the people in control are not heaven-selected, but leering, selfish, uncaring mortals who cheer on the rape of the widow as if they saw their team hit a homer.

When it came out, Dunes caused a sensation on the art-house circuits. Amazingly, it was nominated for two Oscars in 1966: best foreign language film and best director. (Teshigahara lost to Robert Wises direction of The Sound of Music; an OK if safe choice). Almost single-handedly, Dunes helped usher in a new Western perspective on modern Japanese cinema, one that showed Japan boasted auteurs (Shohei Imamura, Nagisa Oshima, Seijun Suzuki) who made films with the energy of the more well-known Europeans like Godard, Antonioni and Bergman.

Teshigahara solidified his presence on the 60s film circuit with a series of collaborations with Abe  not only Dunes, but also Pitfall (1962), The Face of Another (1966), and The Man Without a Map (1968). Separate from Abe, Teshigahara would also make the short masterpiece Ako (1965), part of a Canadian omnibus film on teenagers. This day in the life of a 16-year-old girl hops around in time with the youthfulness of a Truffaut film. At dawn, she works at a drab baking factory; at night, she and her besties tear up the town, with little money and lots of sex drive. But like Dunes, Ako enters disturbing territory when our heroine suffers an attempted rape  at the hands of one of her close friends.

One final word on Dunes  which requires, I suppose, a spoiler warning. Is it just me, or is the films final shot a tad too obvious? The films penultimate twist is disturbing enough: The entomologist refuses to escape when he has the chance, preferring to stay in the pit and perfect his system of water collection, so he can teach it to other villagers and stoke rebellion. Could this be soon? Is this a fools gamble?

Well, the final twist tells us, no and yes: A superimposed police report tells us that Niki Jumpei has been missing for seven years. On the one hand, the twist just pulls us back into a real world space and time that perhaps should have remained more ambiguous and uncertain. On the other hand, theres no denying the sudden eeriness of this voiceless police report: a file of a person who may or may not be alive, lost to the winds of time. The report is bureaucratic; in its official detachment, it is as uncaring as the villagers who cheer on a womans rape.

Carlos Valladares is a freelance writer. You can follow him on Twitter (@cvalladares0896) and Letterboxd (cvall96), or email him at cvalladares0896@gmail.com.

Woman in the Dunes: In 35mm. 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19, and Feb. 2. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center St., Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. www.bampfa.org
The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to appeal directly to the Supreme Court to uphold the presidents order abolishing a program that protects nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation, bypassing a more liberal appeals court in San Francisco.

The Justice Department did not, however, announce an intention to seek a stay of the Jan. 9 ruling by U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco that preserved the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. So far, the government has complied with the ruling, reopening DACA applications on Saturday so that past recipients could renew their status.

DACA, established by President Barack Obamas executive order in 2012, allows immigrants who arrived illegally before age 16, and who have attended school or served in the U.S. military and have no serious criminal record, to seek renewable two-year stays of deportation and work permits.

President Trump ordered the program abolished in September unless Congress enacts it as law by March 5. Alsup blocked the order last week in lawsuits by DACA recipients and institutions including the University of California. He said the president had not stated any rational basis to terminate the program and disrupt the lives of young people who had trusted the government with personal identifying information.

In a statement Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would ask the Supreme Court later this week to take the rare step of considering the case directly, bypassing appellate review, so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved.

It defies both law and common sense for DACA  an entirely discretionary non-enforcement policy that was implemented unilaterally by the last administration  to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district judge in San Francisco, Sessions said.

He did not mention any plan to ask the court to suspend Alsups ruling during the appeal and reinstate Trumps order. The Justice Department declined to comment on that issue.

And in a separate filing Tuesday, the department notified Alsup that it was appealing his ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, not mentioning Sessions plan to ask the high court to pluck the case away. The appeals court, with a majority of Democratic appointees, has ruled against Trumps proposed ban on U.S. entry from predominantly Muslim countries, and has been repeatedly denounced by the president.

The apparent two-track strategy  letting DACA continue while claiming a need for immediate Supreme Court intervention  suggests that the administration hopes Congress will solve the problem, said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor of immigration law at Santa Clara University. With a possible government shutdown looming at midnight Friday, Republicans are seeking rollbacks of current immigration programs in exchange for Democratic demands to write DACA into law.

If such a deal is in the works, it makes more sense to allow DACA to continue as a bridge until the legislative fix, Gulasekaram said. In the meantime, however, its not clear that this case meets the standard of being so exceptional that the Supreme Court has to weigh in, he said.

The Supreme Courts rules allow it to step in, before the normal appeals court review, if the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this court.

The court has taken such actions in the past in a small number of cases, usually involving critical tests of presidential powers: for example, the 1942 ruling allowing the U.S. to try accused German saboteurs in military courts, the 1952 ruling barring President Harry Trumans seizure of steel mills during the Korean War, and the 1974 ruling requiring President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes, leading to his resignation 16 days later.

It would take four votes to grant review by the nine-member court, and five votes to grant a stay.

The courts standards, and the Trump administrations silence on asking for an immediate stay of Alsups ruling, weigh against Supreme Court intervention, said Bill Hing, a University of San Francisco immigration law professor.

Were not at March 5 yet  how is the government being hurt? Hing asked. The Supreme Court always wants to give lower courts a chance ... unless theres some special emergency. Theyre admitting, by not asking for a stay, that that kind of emergency doesnt exist.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @egelko
If any proof is needed of Washingtons gridlocked politics, this week is prime evidence. Come midnight Friday, a government shutdown could occur, cutting off all but emergency programs. Think park closures, darkened offices and worried global markets.

The outcome is avoidable and maybe likely, given such enormous stakes. Both Democrats and Republicans have plenty to lose as fall elections loom and a blame game clicks in to point fingers.

A tangle of issues such as immigration, military spending and social spending are darkening chances. By far the biggest factor is President Trump, who blew up late-inning talks by describing Haiti and the countries of Africa in vulgar terms. His racially tinged language is destroying the deal-making he fancies himself good at.

His unhinged conduct is earning Washington a new label: government by patchwork. Since December, federal agencies have run on financial fumes, getting by on temporary spending plans with a long-term blueprint just out of reach.

Trumps coarse, jittery nature is destroying chances for negotiations, and failure will tarnish both parties. If a shutdown happens, it will hit Republicans far harder given their control of the White House and Congress. Democrats will be targeted as complicit, though the charge wont stick as easily. Trump will preside over a mess he abetted.

The immediate hurdle is immigration. Some 700,000 Dreamers, a quarter of which reside in California, are living on borrowed time. The status of these immigrants, brought here as children by undocumented parents, must be legalized or they face deportation. Party leaders were on the verge of crafting a deal that appeared to swap money for Trumps prized wall along the Mexican border for safeguards for Dreamers.

Thats when things blew up, courtesy of Trump and his now-famous obscenity. He wanted more drastic immigration limits that upended a brewing compromise. True to form, hes denying the word he used and accusing Democrats of splintering negotiations.

There are other tensions. Hawks, including Trump, want more money to build up the military, an expenditure contained in the stalled deal. Democrats want to trade those funds for a pledge to spend more on non-military programs. The Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, is itself a bargaining chip, though both parties favor it, especially in an election year.

Government finances are important but also secondary to a larger point. An erratic, self-justifying president is poisoning the process by putting his wild unpredictability at the center of a major decision. Feuding with both parties, evading responsibility and spewing out insults wont work.

More on Government Shutdown Members of Congress have hope for a Dreamers deal as...

Such is the power of the presidency amid a government stalemate. Instead of leading the way toward a brokered solution, Trump is blasting things apart. Its a lapse in leadership that every American will notice if the federal lights go out this week.

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.
Its now almost a generation since Californians tried to make their state like the country that Donald Trump wants America to be.

We didnt say wed prefer Norwegians over Haitians or Africans  or Mexicans. But with Proposition 187 (Save Our State) in November 1994, we voted by a margin of 59-41 to deny almost all public services to undocumented immigrants, including public education, all but emergency care from any public health facility, and all social services.

Proposition 187, which had the strong support of Gov. Pete Wilson, who linked his re-election campaign to it, also required public employees  cops, teachers, doctors, nurses, among others  to notify federal immigration officials of any undocumented immigrants who came to their attention.

And in a familiar refrain, Proposition 187 declared that the people of California have suffered and are suffering economic hardship caused by the presence of illegal aliens in this state [and] have suffered and are suffering personal injury and damage caused by the criminal conduct of illegal aliens in this state.

A federal judge declared major parts of the initiative unconstitutional, so it never went into effect, but not before Wilson rode it to his re-election victory. Part of that successful campaign was Wilsons TV commercial of shadowy figures running across a freeway against the ominous words They keep coming. ... Two-million illegal immigrants in California.

Proposition 187 was just one of a cluster of California ballot measures that Trump and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, would have cheered. On the same ballot in November 1994, voters passed Proposition 184, Californias Three Strikes criminal sentencing initiative, probably the most punitive such law of modern times.

Two years later, we enacted Proposition 209, banning all affirmative action by race or gender in public education, employment and contracting. That also had Wilsons strong backing.

It goes without saying that California is in a very different place now. Things we ordered police officers and teachers to do in 1994, Californias sanctuary laws prohibit them from doing now.

Instead of lengthening criminal sentences, high prison costs have produced measures to reduce them. Weve legalized marijuana; we allow undocumented university students to compete for financial aid on the same terms as all others. Our attorney general sues the federal government to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals individuals.

As many Californians know, theres a direct link between the California of the 1990s and California now. Proposition 187 drove hundreds of thousands of Latinos to become citizens. And, given the ill-disguised hostility of Wilson and the Republican Party to immigrants, they immediately registered as Democrats.

Since Wilsons re-election, only one Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger in the quirky recall of Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, has been elected governor. Today, a Democrat holds every major state office. The California congressional delegation is composed of 39 Democrats and 14 Republicans  and several Republicans are in trouble. Two are quitting.

More important, despite recent tax increases and tough environmental laws, blue California, the worlds sixth-largest economy, has been outperforming the rest of the nation. Between 2012 and 2016, California accounted for 17 percent of U.S. job growth. In 2016, its gross domestic product grew at nearly twice the rate of the national economy. Some of that growth, maybe much of it, has been driven by the enterprise and skills of its immigrants.

Combine all that with the states tough environmental laws, its energy efficiency, its commitment, rather than its resistance, to science and research  and California, despite its many unsolved problems, becomes the best available model for an alternative to Trumps America. Weve been there and have come out of it. And unlike Congress and Trumps White House, Californias government works.

All of which give California no end of reasons to resist the Washington of Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, as the states leaders have been doing  and which, in turn, have drawn Washingtons attacks on every possible California target, from taxation, immigration and offshore drilling to marijuana controls and greenhouse gas emissions.

It may not be quite the war on California, which is what state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, called it, but close enough. For Americans, even in red states committed to states rights, there couldnt be a clearer choice.

Peter Schrag, a former editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee, is the author of California Fights Back: The Golden State in the Age of Trump, forthcoming Jan. 22 from Heyday Books.
Just two weeks before Christmas, President Trump signed into law the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, a nearly $700 billion wish list of Pentagon programs. Running about $90 billion above last years total budget, it sent a powerful message to voters that Congress and the White House wont let anyone mess with American security.

But as conservatives used to remind us, throwing money at programs doesnt guarantee good outcomes. Spending billions of dollars on missile defense systems that still have serious operational flaws and test failures, and billions of dollars more to modernize our already oversize stockpile of city-busting nuclear warheads, should make Americans feel poorer, not more secure.

Moreover, there are good reasons to question just how committed Congress and the president really are to protecting our nations security.

Just days earlier, for example, Trump signed into law a GOP tax overhaul that will increase the national debt by at least $1 trillion over the next decade  hardly a sign of serious intent to keep paying for a robust and sustainable national defense.

The tax bill also included provisions that run directly counter to U.S. national security interests, as delineated in the defense authorization act itself. The latter act states, It is the sense of Congress that climate change is a direct threat to the national security of the United States and is impacting stability in areas of the world both where the United States Armed Forces are operating today, and where strategic implications for future conflict exist.

The act also warns that rising sea levels will threaten the operations of more than 128 United States military sites, that permafrost melting is jeopardizing radar and communication installations, runways, seawalls, and training areas in the Arctic, and that drought-fed wildfires have damaged roads, runways, and buildings on military bases in the Western United States.

Yet in the recent tax bill, Congress for the first time approved oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Promoting greater use of fossil fuels can only accelerate the threat of global warming, which contributed to storms and fires that cost the United States a record $300 billion in 2017, according to a recent analysis issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In addition, the Washington Post reports, Congressional Republicans allowed a tax on oil companies that generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually for federal oil-spill response efforts to expire at the beginning of the year, a move that amounts to another corporate break in the wake of lawmakers sweeping tax overhaul late last month.

If allowed to stand, this 9-cents-per-barrel tax break on domestic and imported crude oil will give another boost to the production of fossil fuels just when carbon dioxide levels in the Earths atmosphere are accelerating at an unprecedented rate, with potentially dire consequences.

In a letter sent to Trump on Jan. 11, a bipartisan group of 106 members of the House of Representatives asked him to heed the direct threat to Americas national security and to the stability of the world at large posed by climate change. In particular, they decried the failure of his administrations National Security Strategy report, issued in December, to address the issue.

They were right, of course, to sound the alarm. But trying to convince Trump, who once derided global warming as a Chinese hoax, is a losing battle. Reminding him that failing to address this threat ... discredits those who deal in scientific fact ignores the Trump administrations consistent record of attacking science, even blocking federal climate researchers from publicly presenting their findings.

The signers should, instead, be directing their fire at colleagues who profess to be conservative patriots while continuing to put Americas security at risk by sabotaging programs to address the dangers of climate disruption.

The U.S. military has understood for years now that climate change is a national security issue. Its long overdue for our representatives in Congress to stop denying the obvious and get on with finding solutions.
President Trumps Fake News Awards institutionalize his battle with the news media. While the typical style of news coverage will fan the flames of this battle, a more nuanced style informed by behavioral science would minimize the damage from these awards.

And you, the reader, have the power to address the harm from these awards.

An award serves as an institution to promote a cause. The Nobel Prize, for example, draws our attention to scientific and cultural advances, and results in increased public attention to science and culture. The Oscars draw attention to movies, and the Grammys to music.

In parallel, the Fake News Awards, which Trump will hand out Wednesday for the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me)  promote Trumps battle with the media. Donald Trump uses the label fake news to attack accurate news stories that he doesnt like, and therefore undoubtedly will reward media venues that publish unflattering stories about him, regardless of how accurate they are. Because of how our brains are wired, the public will then be more likely to perceive these media venues as purveyors of fake news.

Unfortunately, media coverage will perpetuate this image, because typically, headlines about any awards focus on the recipients. Research finds only 41 percent of readers read beyond the headlines. Many of those do not read beyond the first paragraph, which in most stories would summarize who received the awards and for which category.

Even if the rest of the article correctly points out that the awards are meant to perpetuate Trumps battle with mainstream media, most readers would not get that far.

The small percentage of readers who do get to the end of the article may still carry away the wrong impression. Studies reveal that if you first state incorrect information and then provide evidence of why it is wrong, over time people will tend to forget why it is wrong, and start to misremember the original misinformation as true.

Mainstream media can attempt to prevent this outcome by having headlines such as, In Yet Another Round of Battle with the Media, Trump Issues Fake News Awards, and focusing the first paragraph on how this award institutionalizes Trumps fight with the media. Articles might devote some space to the Press Oppressors Awards issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists to world leaders who have gone out of their way to attack the press and undermine the norms that support freedom of the media.

You, dear reader, can encourage media venues to cover the Fake News Awards accurately by writing letters to the editor suggesting more appropriate coverage, or more simply by tweeting and emailing your views with a link to this article. You can also encourage them to take the Pro-Truth Pledge at protruthpledge.org to commit to truthfulness, and take the pledge yourself.

You can also make sure to share only articles that cover the awards appropriately. When others post articles on social media with problematic coverage, you can make comments that give a more accurate impression.

Gleb Tsipursky is author of The Truth-Seekers Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. He is an assistant professor at Ohio State University and co-founder of the Pro-Truth Pledge, which aims to unite all who care about facts and truth.
MASON CITY | Mason City is two-thirds of the way toward meeting the expectations of the Iowa Economic Development Authority in securing state funding for its downtown renovation project, according to Interim City Administrator Kevin Jacobson.

The missing link is proof of financing from the developer, Philip Chodur, president of G8 Development, San Diego.

The other two components  a signed development agreement and Chodur dropping his lawsuit against the city  have been accomplished.

"We are currently in discussions with the developer on the financing component," Jacobson said.

Attempts to reach Chodur by email and phone messages were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Mason City Council approves G8 development deal MASON CITY | The City Council voted 6-0 Thursday night to formally approve an agreement with

City officials met with IEDA personnel in December to update them on the city's plan, including a change in developer from Gatehouse Mason City LLC to G8.

Jacobson and others anticipated returning in December to give a further update. But Mason City is not on the agenda for IEDA's meeting Friday.

Kanan Kappelman, marketing manager for the IEDA, said Wednesday discussion at the December meeting "included the City Council's recent decision to change developers and documentation the board would require before making final approval.

"The IEDA has not (and did not) put the project on the agenda for this week's board meeting as we continue to dialogue with Mason City officials," she said.

"We will plan on inviting Mason City back," Kappelman said. "The IEDA Board will want to ensure that needed documentation and financing has been secured before we consider placing the Mason City project on the agenda for any future meetings."

The city is seeking up to $10 million in state money to help leverage its $38 million River City Renaissance Project that includes building a hotel in the Southbridge Mall parking lot; connecting it via a skywalk to The Music Man Square; building a conference center inside The Music Man Square; building a performing arts pavilion at the north mall entrance and an ice arena/multipurpose center in the area vacated by J.C. Penney in the mall.

The hotel is a key part of the overall project because the state requires a $10 million private investment in order to qualify for the state funds, and the hotel meets that requirement.

Earlier, Chodur had an agreement with the city to build a hotel next to City Hall as part of a larger project. He was granted extensions on construction starts but was eventually found in default because of the missed deadlines, which city officials attributed to a lack of financing.

The city then sought new proposals and received them from G8 and Gatehouse. In March, the City Council decided to go with Gatehouse.

When negotiations bogged down, a quirk in the law allowed for new bidders.

G8 submitted a bid, and the council voted to give Chodur another chance.
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The fifth edition of Fog Design + Art was atmospherically en pointe Wednesday, Jan. 10, as moody, misty skies enveloped Fort Mason Centers Festival Pavilion where this dazzling art fair unfolded.

Founded by maverick modernist Stanlee Gatti (and his stellar steering committee: Douglas Durkin. Susan Swig, Roth Martin, Katie Schwab Paige and Allison Speer with honorary chairs Abigail Turin and her husband, Jonathan Gans), the dynamic display  a four-day feast of 45 international dealers tantalizing collectors with an array of contemporary and modern fare  is now a highlight of the once-sparse winter social season.

What weve hoped for in the cultural life of San Francisco is that we increasingly become one of the great art capitals of the world, enthused San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Director Neal Benezra. And this week, between all the new galleries here and the increased quality yet intimate size of Fog, were sort of the center of the art world.

The exquisite opening-night gala has become one of the hottest tickets in town. From $175 ducats to $10K sponsorships, 3,000 revelers beelined for the chic, sold-out soiree benefiting the exhibition and education programs at SFMOMA.

This years fair also paid tribute to the late Cathy Topham, an arts patron, SFMOMA supporter and founding Fog steering committee member who died last January. Family members, including her husband, Ned Topham; their sons Ned and Christian Topham; her sister and brother-in-law, Eileen and Peter Michael, were out in force to remember Cathys bright, bohemian spirit.

The event also inspires participants to up their game: McCalls Catering dished up a creative menu starring sushi, delectable mini-lamb chops and roving food carts rife with handily carried bites like jalapeno biscuits topped with Andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo. Yum.

And with the luxe Italian line of Fendi as lead sponsor, fair fashions were off the hook.

Its a bit distracting, noted McCalls executive vice president Lee Gregory. The designs and accessories people are wearing are as interesting as the art!

In addition to numerous panels with heralded creators-influencers as artist-activist Theaster Gates; filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson; Design Miami chief creative officer Rodman Primack; gallerists Anthony Meier, Deborah Rappaport and Martin Muller and Christies celebration of Ray and Charles Eames designs, the fair also honored Chez Panisse culinarian Alice Waters at the Innovators Lunch

A16 restaurateur Shelley Lindgren designed a tribute menu (Andante goat cheese farm lettuce salad, duck confit and breast, Meyer lemon cream puff) honoring Waters leadership in sustainable, local foodstuffs and her Edible Schoolyard nonprofit thats transforming childrens relationship to and understanding of healthy food.

It is important that art lift up ideas. Beauty needs to be present at every event. When you set a bouquet on the table, it expresses a language of care, said Waters, in conversation with Dosa clothing designer Christina Kim. Children deserve a nutritious cafeteria meal. In the face of urgent issues like climate change and rampant diabetes, we must bring a sense of quality to their lives.

Fort Mason Center aside, the fabulousness of Fog has spread its dewy tendrils all around town.

Embracing this art-world moment, new exhibitions bloomed: from Gagosian in SoMa; The Modern Institute group show at Jessica Silverman Gallery in the Tenderloin; Ryan McGinley in the Mission District at Ratio 3; all the way out to Dogpatch, where gallerists Claudia Altman-Siegal, Adrian Rosenfeld and Nion McEvoy hosted a Lee Vilensky Trio hootenanny at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

This year, design is incredibly strong. Yet designers are showing art pieces, and galleries like Ratio 3 feature light installations, said gallerist Jessica Silverman, who exhibits globally at international fairs. Fascinatingly, dealers take their cue from Fogs design-art context to produce booths speaking to the space between those disciplines.

Parties proliferated, too: Photography gallerist Jeffrey Fraenkel, president Frish Brandt and Levy Gorvy gallery hosted Fog-ers at Mission Bowling Club for their now annual down-home Fog kickoff party.

Near the gleaming lanes, Fine Arts Museums Director Max Hollein, an elegant Viennese native, eschewed retro bowling fashions worn by other guests. But he appreciated the mellow dude vibe.

Sarah Morris (whose exhibition just opened at Berggruen) asked how Ive adapted to the San Francisco art scene, Hollein relayed, with a laugh. In Europe, Id attend a well-behaved, philosophical art gathering. But in San Francisco, I go bowling.

Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicles society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow
Five San Francisco supervisors joined forces Tuesday to put a measure on the June 5 ballot that would raise about $100 million a year to pay for 10,000 low- and middle-income housing units and shelter accommodations for the citys homeless population over the next decade.

The ballot measure, dubbed Housing for All, asks voters to raise the tax levied on commercial property owners to 2 percent, a 1.7 percent increase. There would be some exemptions for spaces rented to nonprofits and retailers, including an offset for property owners bringing in less than $1 million per year in rent payments.

The initiative  signed by Supervisors Ahsha Safai, Jeff Sheehy, Malia Cohen, Katy Tang and Mark Farrell  would need the approval of two-thirds of voters to pass. City law allows for ballot measures to be introduced if four or more supervisors agree to be sponsors. The measure, which was also supported by acting Mayor London Breed, had been championed by Ed Lee until his unexpected death last month.

Money collected from the tax increase would be put toward a wide variety of housing programs, including increasing the citys stock of middle-income housing by subsidizing more middle-income units in new housing developments.

For us, the supervisors, we have to address the crisis of the day. And the crisis of the day revolves around housing, housing, housing, said Safai, who helped spearhead the initiative alongside Sheehy. Teachers, janitors, firefighters, nurses  we want all of them to be able to live in this city.

Safai said he has been in contact with the citys business community, which he said was neutral or supportive.

The measure may end up competing directly with one that mayoral candidate and Supervisor Jane Kim and Supervisor Norman Yee have been trying to get on the ballot through a petition. It would raise the same gross receipts tax by 3.5 percent to expand child-care subsidies.

The same tax could not be increased twice, however. So, if both were on the ballot, the one with the most votes would prevail.

Our child-care measure focuses on enrolling all San Francisco infants and toddlers in early education programs so more families arent forced out of our city, Kim said in a text message sent through an aide. Im disappointed any initiative would seek to undercut that important priority.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
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U.S. immigration officials have begun preparing for a major sweep in San Francisco and other Northern California cities in which federal officers would look to arrest more than 1,500 undocumented people while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state, according to a source familiar with the operation.

Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to comment Tuesday on plans for the operation.

The campaign, centered in the Bay Area, could happen within weeks, and is expected to become the biggest enforcement action of its kind under President Trump, said the source, who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public.

Trump has expressed frustration that sanctuary laws  which seek to protect immigrants and persuade them not to live in the shadows by restricting cooperation between local and federal authorities  get in the way of his goal of tightening immigration.

The operation would go after people who have been identified as targets for deportation, including those who have been served with final deportation orders and those with criminal histories, the source said. The number could tick up if officers come across other undocumented immigrants in the course of their actions and make what are known as collateral arrests.

The sweep would represent the first large-scale effort to target the region since Gov. Jerry Brown in October signed legislation enacting a statewide sanctuary law. Supporters say the law allows undocumented immigrants to cooperate with local police and seek education, health care and other public services without worrying they will expose themselves to possible deportation.

Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan slammed Brown for signing SB54, which he said undermined public safety, and signaled he was prepared to take action.

He said at the time that the federal government would not allow California to be a sanctuary state for illegal aliens, and would have no choice but to conduct at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests, instead of focusing on arrests at jails and prisons where transfers are safer for ICE officers and the community.

Early this month, Homan told Fox News that California better hold on tight. He said that if local politicians dont want to protect their communities, then ICE will.

Told of the planned sweep, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed outrage Tuesday, saying immigrants must not be targeted in raids solely because they are Californians. She said a large-scale operation would show that the administration is carrying out its enforcement actions to make a political point and not based on the security of the country.

The source who spoke to The Chronicle said the plan calls for immigration officers to be flown in from other parts of the country to help carry out the operation. The sweep could span more than one day and will include enforcement of work sites suspected of illegally employing undocumented immigrants, the source said.

An ICE spokesman in San Francisco, James Schwab, said in an email Tuesday that the agency doesnt comment on future or current operations.

Liberal-leaning lawmakers in the Bay Area and across California have sparred for years with federal officials over the role local agencies play in immigration enforcement.

The tension intensified after the July 2015 killing of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco Bay pier, when it was revealed that the undocumented immigrant shooter, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, had been released from San Francisco Jail under the citys sanctuary ordinance, even though immigration officers had asked that he be turned over for a sixth deportation.

After Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder charges in November, Homan blamed San Francisco for Steinles death, saying the shooting could have been prevented if San Francisco had simply turned the alien over to ICE, as we requested, instead of releasing him back onto the streets.

The statewide legislation signed by Brown limits the circumstances under which jails turn over undocumented inmates to the federal government. It also forbids police officers from arresting people on civil immigration warrants and from joining federal agents in task forces intended to enforce immigration laws.

Under the Trump administration, ICE has repeatedly warned that if the agency cant detain people from local jails, it will be forced to arrest them in the communities that hold such policies.

Last week, a group of politicians, including Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen requesting a meeting with her and Homan to clarify the remarks he made on Fox News about stepping up enforcement in California.

The statements are a direct threat to Californians, the letter read. These statements are reprehensible and the departments change in policy will instill fear in our communities. ... Acting Director Homans attack on sanctuary cities is not only an infringement of state rights but a direct assault on communities of color.

In recent years, ICE has not made a practice of conducting major immigration sweeps in cities like San Francisco and Oakland. In September, 27 people were arrested in Santa Clara County as part of an operation targeting sanctuary cities across the country that led to 500 arrests. In June, federal officers arrested 54 people in Central California.

Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and an immigration expert, said that a major sweep in Northern California would echo tactics seen under the George W. Bush administration.

This is a bluff since California continues to resist, he said. This is more show than anything else. They want to make it seem like they are carrying through on this threat. ... I highly doubt that ICE, in the way that it is currently funded, has the ability and resources to maintain something like this on a sustained basis.

Gulasekaram said the raid would tear up a lot of lives but have little meaningful outcome on public safety.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
A lawsuit filed Wednesday against the state water agency in charge of the Oroville Dam not only alleges mismanagement and disregard for the publics safety, but also a toxic work environment rife with racism, sexual harassment and theft.

Top officials at the Department of Water Resources are at times referred to as the water mafia in a suit filed by the city of Oroville, which is demanding millions of dollars for infrastructure damage and costs associated with dam spillover and the evacuation of 188,000 in February 2017.

In 2010 or 2011, DWR supervisors allowed a noose to be hung in a meeting room for several months that was used daily by the staff, according to the complaint. The noose remained in the room until an African-American employee removed it, according to the complaint.

That same employee  just one of two African Americans hired at the dam over a 20-year period  allegedly found a doll hanging in his locker and was called a racial epithet, the complaint said.

He was also told the job was not like picking cotton.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims women were consistently facing sexual harassment and a conference for female employees was referred to as the Dyke Conference.

Women who complained were subjected to physical threats outside of work, according to the complaint.

The suit also alleged that employees routinely stole state property and supplies for their own personal use, including gasoline, asphalt and tools.

Furthermore, supervisors had a crony system in place, offering overtime work to employees they considered to be their close friends, the suit said.

A spokeswoman for DWR said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Gov. Jerry Brown named a new senior state water official to head the department nearly a week ago  the fourth person to hold that position since 2016.

Karla Nemeth, 47, a deputy secretary and senior adviser at the California Natural Resources Agency, will take over as head of the department pending senate confirmation.

She previously worked as a project manager for the states Bay Delta Conservation Plan and environmental and public affairs director for the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.

The change is a direct response to the issues faced at the dam last year. Independent experts concluded in a report, ordered by federal regulators, that DWRs work culture contributed to the mismanagement of the dams upkeep.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
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The city of Oroville has sued the states Department of Water Resources, alleging that decades of mismanagement were to blame for the Oroville Dams near-failure in February 2017 and the emergency evacuation of 188,000 people.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Butte County Superior Court, calls on the DWR to cover millions of dollars in economic and infrastructure losses incurred by the dams issues.

Now Playing: California has restructured a key water agency in the wake of a scathing independent report on last year's crisis at Oroville Dam. Changes announced Wednesday include naming a new director for the California Department of Water Resources. Gov. Jerry Brown named longtime water official Karla Nemeth as the new agency director. Video: KCRA

The alleged failure of the Oroville Dam represents millions of dollars lost to our California economy and, along with the fires that have devastated California, combine to make our rural areas very difficult to live and work in, said David Janes, one of the attorneys representing the city.

Raging storms in early 2017 caused a crisis at the nations tallest dam, which controls water delivered to 25 million people across California. It was built in 1968 and is 770 feet high and almost 7,000 feet long. The heavy rains last year led dam operators to release flows down the Feather River, but concerns arose when a crater appeared on the main spillway. Water also poured over a previously unused emergency spillway, resulting in the mass evacuation order.

The spillover damaged Orovilles roads and infrastructure and issued a blow to the economy, city officials claim, noting that the cost of evacuating residents also drained Orovilles budget.

The lawsuit attributes the dams near failure to decades of mismanagement, which allegedly carried over to a culture of corruption and harassment, in particular against women and minorities. The complaint also refers to some department officials as the water mafia and alleges that supervisors and employees stole state equipment.

A spokeswoman for DWR said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

At The Chronicles request last February, Robert Bea, a professor emeritus and engineering expert at UC Berkeley, reviewed four dam inspections that were conducted between 2008 and 2016 by the Division of Safety of Dams, which is part of the DWR. The cratering of the main spillway, he determined, occurred in a spot where cracks and other defects had been found repeatedly since 2009.

Orovilles lawsuit alleges that the dam was originally designed by an inexperienced engineer who was hired directly from a university post-graduate program, and that DWR was aware of the structures vulnerabilities. The complaint also said that structural issues with the dam were known to DWR as far back as 2000, and supervisors routinely fabricated reports on cleanup and maintenance projects.

This case calls out for a total evaluation of our water projects and how they are being neglected and mismanaged by those in control of the delivery of water in California, said Joseph Cotchett, one of Orovilles attorneys in the suit.

Since the crisis last year, DWR has received criticism from independent experts for its handling of the dams upkeep, resulting in a shakeup at the department.

Federal regulators tasked a team of six with investigating the dam, and the group released a 584-page report that found both the DWR and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for inspecting all dams that generate electricity, had failed to recognize and address issues with the Oroville Dam before the crisis.

The report also criticized the DWRs culture of complacency, leading Gov. Jerry Brown to name a new senior state water official to head the department  the fourth person to hold that position since 2016.

Karla Nemeth, a deputy secretary and senior adviser at the California Natural Resources Agency, will take over as the head of DWR pending senate confirmation.

Orovilles lawsuit also attempts to link allegations of dam mismanagement to a toxic work culture that included racism and sexual harassment, as well as allegations of theft.

DWR supervisors allegedly allowed a noose to be hung in a meeting room for several months that was used daily by the staff, according to the complaint. The noose, which was pictured in the lawsuit, reportedly remained in the room until an African American employee removed it.

That same employee  one of just two African Americans hired at the dam over a 20-year period, the complaint said  allegedly found a doll hanging in his locker and was called a racial epithet, in addition to being told that his job was not like picking cotton.

The lawsuit also claims that DWRs female employees consistently faced harassment. A work conference held for women was referred to as the Dyke Conference, the complaint said. When women spoke out about harassment, the lawsuit claimed, they were subject to physical threats outside of work.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
MASON CITY | The City Council approved a unique plan Tuesday night to have mental health professionals assist Mason City police with troublesome cases.

The council approved an agreement with County Social Services to collaborate on creating a law enforcement mental health care coordinator.

"The Mason City Police Department is continuing to see an increase in calls for service related to mental health," said Police Chief Jeff Brinkley.

He said in the past three years, the calls for service involving mental health situations has risen 22 percent.

Brinkley said the challenge has become finding ways to reduce the impact on public safety resources while providing better outcomes for mental health patients.

"The solution is a partnership with County Social Services," he said.

The law enforcement mental health coordinator will be County Social Services professional who will work with police on mental health situations and will have office space and other in-kind services at the Police Department.

Brinkley said the goal is to work with patients before they reach crisis status.

"We also hope to build a better network of family, community, provider and medical support  supporting clients ahead of crisis," he said.

Bob Lincoln, head of County Social Services, said the program is another piece in meeting the needs of both the police and the mental health community.

Councilman John Lee said, "This is a great program" and noted that mental health issues are increasing statewide.

Councilman Tom Thoma, a retired Globe Gazette newsman, said he spent many nights listening to mental health calls on the police scanner. "This is a terrific idea," he said.

The agreement is effective immediately and is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2019, but can be extended, said Brinkley.
San Franciscos Instacart Inc. plans to acquire Toronto startup Unata Inc., giving the grocery-delivery company new kinds of e-commerce tools and a path to expand in Canada.

The deal totals about $65 million, according to two people familiar with the matter, and signals where Instacart is headed in its battle with Amazon.com. Unata specializes in making and tracking digital coupons and circulars. The company is also developing a voice-activated tool to allow customers to purchase goods online from midsize retailers using devices like Google Home.
An Alameda County Sheriffs deputy suspected of playing a role in the attack of an inmate at the Santa Rita Jail was arrested Wednesday on suspicion felony assault, officials said.

Joseph Bailey, 28, of Tracy was additionally booked on suspicion of assault under the cover of authority in connection with a fight between inmates that occurred Oct. 24.
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LOS ANGELES  Orange County prosecutors charged a former schoolmate of Ivy League college student Blaze Bernstein with murder on Wednesday.

Samuel Woodward, 20, was arrested Friday after DNA evidence at the crime scene in Borrego Park and inside his car tied him to the slaying, authorities said.

Woodward was charged Wednesday morning with a felony count of murder and a sentencing enhancement of personal use of a knife, said Orange County district attorneys spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden. If convicted, he could face 26 years to life in prison, she said.

Bernstein, 19, was reported missing Jan. 3 by his family, who became concerned after he didnt show up for a dental appointment and they found his wallet and glasses in his bedroom. He was on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania, visiting his parents in Lake Forest, when he disappeared.

Detectives used Bernsteins Snapchat account to identify Woodward, who had picked up Bernstein the night before, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said.

Bernsteins body was found partially buried Jan. 10 near the park, after rain runoff exposed parts of the remains.

Barnes said investigators found inconsistencies in what Woodward told authorities.

A search warrant affidavit, obtained by the Orange County Register, said that Woodward had dirty fingernails and scratches and abrasions on his hands, and could not provide the last name or address of a girlfriend he said he visited after dropping off Bernstein.

When asked about the abrasions by detectives, Woodward allegedly said that they were from a fight club he participated in and that his fingernails were dirty because he fell into a dirt puddle during sparring.

Barnes said DNA results led to Woodwards arrest. He had been under surveillance and was taken into custody after leaving his house about 1:15 p.m. Friday.

Barnes said Bernstein and Woodward had attended the same high school, identified in the warrant as the Orange County School of the Arts.

On Tuesday, Bernstein said its possible their son was the victim of a hate crime.

Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein wrote in an email to The Times that our son was a beautiful gentle soul who we loved more than anything. We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community.

They noted the investigation was continuing.

If it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of (a) hate crime, they wrote.

Anh Do, Cindy Carcamo and Sonali Kohli are Los Angeles Times writers.
If you consider yourself to have an exquisite, discerning palate, with a refined taste for frozen food, then there's a job in England that's perfect for you.

An ad for a job at retail chain B&M in England has gone viral after the company advertised its coveted position of "Chicken Nugget Connoisseur" last week.

It seems B&M stores are launching a new fresh and frozen food selection, and they're looking for one person who could give feedback on the new items and "help evolve the range."

The cheeky job description included relevant employee experience that the business felt would help its perfect future taste-tester get the job. Those qualities include:

Getting the 20 share box of nuggets from McDonald's and keeping them all for yourself

Being the first in the office kitchen whenever someone says there's cake

That time you tripped and fell at a buffet and saved the plate before yourself

All interested applicants need do is submit a paragraph on why he or she should get the job, and any other relevant experience one has for the position. The company is offering 25 British pounds (or about $35) in vouchers to spend on fresh and frozen food at their local store.

No other compensation is discussed, but hey  at the very least it's free food if you have time to jot down some thoughts on it for the company. It's also a pretty funny job advertisement worth a read.

The position of Chicken Nugget Connoisseur also serves a dual purpose and is not just a boon to whoever lands the job, but is also a great bit of promotion for the store. Anything would help if it'll help customers forget about one B&M store's other viral moment from last fall: namely a rat so big a child thought it was a "bunny rabbit."
The lesson we might draw from the Russian documentary The Road Movie is that something bad is going to happen sooner or later, and more likely sooner than later. The film is a compilation of found footage taken by dashboard cameras depicting many incidents of vehicular mayhem and some plain weirdness  after a while, it feels like we must be watching a real-life demolition derby.

Dash cams are evidently common in Russia, and we can see why, given the strange, deranged and simply scary events we behold. Some of the bits are even funny, and overall theres a keen sense of absurdity, such that, if you choose to believe the Russian people have a fatalistic streak, The Road Movie suggests why.

Theres no commentary or explanation provided for the events; we simply overhear the words of the drivers and passengers, whose language is remarkably full of profanity, if the English subtitles are accurate. Trucks jackknife on snowy roads, cars plunge into bodies of water, or flip over without explanation, or pile up on a freeway.

In a textbook case of road rage, one flipped-out driver pulls a handgun from his car and begins firing at the front of the vehicle filming the scene. In a nighttime incident, some men quiz a roadside prostitute about her rates for various activities, then guffaw about it as they drive off. A woman pumping gas in the evening flicks on a lighter to check how much fuel shes purchased, with spectacularly fiery results.

When two cars on a narrow street approach each other head-on, any possibility of confrontation ends abruptly when one of the drivers takes a sledgehammer from his car and begins walking toward the other vehicle. And the most out-and-out frightening event has a lunatic leaping on the hood of a car driven by a terrified woman who is unable to dislodge him.

A few sequences show events with an apocalyptic edge: We see a comet streak across the sky, or a plane heading downward toward a crash, or find ourselves being driven through the middle of a forest fire.

At no point does filmmaker Dmitrii Kalashnikov push an interpretation on us, but he hardly needs to. Despite the sometimes wacky nature of the content, the movie has no trouble inspiring a sense of dread in the viewer, as catastrophe succeeds catastrophe. Kalashnikov is also smart enough to keep The Road Movie down to 67 minutes, which is all he needs to create this particular vision of hell. (And, by the way, he does so without showing bloody or mangled bodies.)

Stick around for the credits, which include some bits of information about each incident, including how many online viewers have seen uploaded versions of each sequence.

Walter Addiego is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: waddiego@sfchronicle.com

The Road Movie

Documentary. Directed by Dmitrii Kalashnikov. In Russian with English subtitles. (Not rated. 67 minutes.)
Maybe you think you had the worst 2016 election night party in America  you know, the one that ended early. But no, that distinction belongs to then-U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, as evidenced in the new documentary The Final Year, about foreign policy during President Barack Obamas last year in office.

Power decided that it would be really fun if she invited every woman representing a country in the United Nations, nearly 40 of them. They came, and so did Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as secretary of state. To top it off, Power even had Gloria Steinem in attendance. After all, if youre going to celebrate a womans cracking the highest and hardest of glass ceilings, who better to have on the couch sitting next to you but one of the premier feminists of the past half century?

Think of it: Watching Hillary Clintons election with Gloria Steinem. That would be as glorious and appropriate as going out to vote for the first time in 1920 with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony! Except, wait, Stanton and Anthony were both dead in 1920 and never saw the fruition of their lifes work. And so it has always been in American history: Feminism has never been a career path for those looking for instant gratification, or anything close to it.

But anyway. There they all are, all these prominent women, gathered around the television, smiling in anticipation. And at first, things are going well. Power gives the thumbs-up to the cameras. But then Florida starts to look a little funny, and then North Carolina. And then theres an odd smell coming off of Ohio, followed by some very puzzling vibrations in Pennsylvania. Next thing, some dreaded, awful TV person is standing by a blue and red map of Wisconsin and saying unsettling things. And by this time, of course, the room is half empty.

The scene emphasizes the essential challenge of The Final Year in its quest to find an audience. People who dont like Obama wont want to see it, because they wont want to spend 90 minutes watching Obama and Obamas administration. And as for people who like Obama . . . well, they might not want to spend 90 minutes getting seriously depressed.

Directed by Greg Barker, The Final Year was intended as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, in the great tradition of Robert Drews John F. Kennedy documentaries, tracing the mechanics of the Obama administrations Middle East policy. We see Power, Secretary of State John Kerry and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, among others, working on initiatives with regard to Syria and Iran, while battling the Russian Federation in the United Nations.

But thats not what were thinking about as we watch. Rather the experience of this movie is like being transported by film to southern Italy in early A.D. 79, to see a vigorous discussion as to whether to build the new City Hall in Pompeii or Herculaneum. You dont even wish you could go back and tell them that the volcano next door will soon render the conversation moot. Its all too depressing, to see these intelligent, concerned public servants while knowing who has since replaced them.

Midway through the documentary, a foreign diplomat asks Rhodes if he thinks its possible that Donald Trump will get elected president. A smirk forms on Rhodes face  the same smirk I felt on my own face many times when I traveled in Europe that year  as he says, no way. Forget it. Never happen. Dont even think about it.

Later, in the immediate aftermath of the election, the normally loquacious Rhodes is asked for a comment, and he literally goes about 30 or 40 seconds, struggling to put two or three words together. Finally, he gives up.

So The Final Year is that kind of experience. It is, for what its worth, a good documentary, though I imagine its true worth and true nature can only be revealed in time. At the starting gate of 2018, we can have no idea how this film will be perceived in 10 years, and maybe we dont want to know. Then again, maybe we do.

Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle

The Final Year

Documentary. With Barack Obama, John Kerry, Ben Rhodes and Samantha Power. Directed by Greg Barker. (Unrated. 89 minutes.)
PERRIS, Riverside County  From the outside, the brown-and-beige four-bedroom home looked fairly orderly. The couple who owned it had purchased the house new in 2014 and soon arrived in the Los Angeles suburb of Perris with their 12 children.

They lived there quietly for at least three years and had another baby. Then on Sunday, one of the children jumped out of a window, called 911 and led authorities to what they described as a torture chamber.
MIAMI  The 29-year-old Mexican farmworker was stressed and afraid. Her husband had just been detained by immigration authorities as he left a South Florida construction site and was about to be deported. She feared the same would soon happen to her. What would become of her two kids?

So she called Nora Sandigo, an immigration activist who has accepted responsibility for 1,250 children, becoming an essential part of emergency planning for people who are in the U.S. illegally and now face an increasing prospect of being caught amid a crackdown under President Trump.

Dont worry, Sandigo told her on a recent morning. Come see me tomorrow.

Hundreds of immigrant parents have signed a document known as a power of attorney that enables Sandigo to care for their children if they are detained, at which point it might be too late to make such an arrangement.

People are desperate to do this to protect their kids, she said after hanging up with the woman from Mexico. Once they are detained, theres very little that can be done for them.

The power of attorney allows Sandigo to sign documents on behalf of children at schools, hospitals and court. She can help the minors pursue legal residency if they are not citizens or travel abroad to be reunited with their families.

At least once a week, Sandigo, a 52-year-old mother of two daughters, drives south to the city of Homestead and drops off donated clothing and food for some of them, mostly people from Mexico and Central America who work on nearby farms.

Sandigo can relate to the immigrants she helps. She fled Nicaragua as a teen, leaving her own parents behind, after the socialist Sandinista government confiscated her familys farm.

She became a U.S. citizen in 1996 and became active in immigration issues, helping fellow refugees from Nicaragua. Sandigo has since become well known for broader efforts, which include filing a lawsuit last week against the Trump administration on behalf of children with citizenship whose parents have been deported.

More than 110,500 immigrants were detained on suspicion of being in U.S. illegally in the first nine months under Trump, a 42 percent increase over a year earlier, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gisela Salomon is an Associated Press writer.
A 51-year-old Hawaiian man suffered a massive heart attack shortly after saying goodbye to his children over the phone during Saturday's bogus missile alert, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported.

Now, his girlfriend is blaming the false alarm for triggering his cardiac arrest.

Sean Shields had just talked to his 10-year-old daughter and grown son for what he thought could be the last time when he started vomiting violently at Sandy Beach on East Oahu.

Somehow Shields managed to drive himself and his disabled girlfriend, Brenda Reichel, to a nearby clinic. He collapsed in the waiting room. Emergency medical technicians had to perform CPR to keep him alive so he could be transported to Straub Medical Center for emergency surgery. There, doctors put four stents in his heart.

"This whole thing just took him over the edge. There's no doubt. The stress brought on a heart attack. What they did was so harmful," Reichel told the Star-Advertiser. "The doctors even agreed that the stress from the event did this. They told him he died. They told me he wasn't breathing, and he had no heartbeat. He had no heart problems ever."

Fortunately, Shields survived the attack, despite flatlining for what Reichel said felt like five to 10 minutes. He is now recovering at the hospial

Shields' medical emergency appears to contradict Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell's assurances that there were no injuries or accidents related to the ensuing panic and confusion following the false alert.

Honolulu Police Department's 911 dispatch system was overwhelmed with more than 5,000 telephone calls after the alert was issued.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evrim Resources Corp. (TSX-V:EVM) (Evrim or the Company) is pleased to announce additional drill results from its Ermitano gold project in Sonora, Mexico under option to First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX:FR) (First Majestic). First Majestic provided assay results for the remaining six holes of a ten hole 3,156 metre diamond drill program completed in early 2017. These drill holes follow up on the discovery hole EW16-04 that returned 11.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 86 g/t silver over 18.0 metres at Ermitano West (announced January 17, 2017). The Ermitano West prospect is located approximately 3.5 kilometres southeast of First Majestics operating Santa Elena gold-silver mine.



Ermitano West Drilling Highlights

Drill Hole EW16-05

26.2 metres grading 4.2 g/t gold and 52 g/t silver, including 12.3 metres grading 7.3 g/t gold and 72 g/t silver

Mineralization was intersected approximately 200 metres west of EW16-04

Drill Hole EW16-06

32.8 metres grading 3.8 g/t gold and 187 g/t silver, including 8.2 metres grading 11.5 g/t gold and 633 g/t silver

Mineralization was intersected approximately 130 metres west of EW16-04

Drill Hole EW16-09

13.8 metres grading 3.3 g/t gold and 72 g/t silver, and 3.3 metres grading 6.2 g/t gold and 27 g/t silver

Mineralization was intersected approximately 60 metres east of EW16-04

Drill Hole EW16-10

16.4 metres grading 2.2 g/t gold and 35 g/t silver including 5.5 metres grading 4.8 g/t gold and 65 g/t silver

Mineralization was intersected approximately 310 metres west of drill hole EW16-04

True widths are estimated to be approximately 50%-80% of the reported intervals

Charles Funk, VP of New Opportunities and Exploration commented, We are very excited by the development of the Ermitano West vein. Drilling to date has traced a zone that is 590 metres in strike and up to 210 metres deep with an average thickness of approximately 11 metres. Mineralization remains open at depth and to the west while the main shoot has demonstrated the presence of high gold and silver grades with the potential for significant additional mineralization and tonnage. According to First Majestic their plans for Ermitano West in 2018 include 20,000 metres of drilling to define a resource, expand the extent of known mineralization and explore for additional veins in the area.

Ermitano West Results

Hole From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) Gold

(g/t) Silver

(g/t) Gold-Equiv

(g/t) EW16-01 96.6 105.4 8.8 0.8 10 0.9 EW16-02 157.1 170.3 13.2 1.1 29 1.5 Including 164.0 168.2 4.2 2.5 58 3.3 EW16-03 195.8 205.4 9.6 1.8 24 2.1 Including 199.6 202.7 3.1 4.9 36 5.4 EW16-04 224.5 242.5 18.0 11.4 86 12.6 Including 228.1 240.1 12.0 15.7 107 17.1 EW16-05 126.4 152.6 26.2 4.2 52 4.9 Including 132.7 144.9 12.2 7.3 72 8.3 EW16-06 268.8 301.6 32.8 3.8 187 6.3 Including 271.3 279.5 8.2 11.5 633 19.9 EW16-07 191.5 212.6 21.1 0.3 10 0.4 EW16-08 347.7 371.5 23.8 2.0 37 2.5 EW16-09 268.5 282.3 13.8 3.3 72 4.3 Including 271.3 279.5 8.2 4.4 87 5.6 and 318.0 321.3 3.3 6.2 27 6.6 EW16-10 147.4 163.8 16.4 2.2 35 2.6 Including 147.4 152.9 5.5 4.8 65 5.7

Note: Holes EW16-01 to EW16-04 were announced on January 17, 2017 (see press release at http://www.evrimresources.com/s/news-releases.asp?ReportID=775849. Gold equivalent (Gold-Equiv) is calculated using a gold to silver ratio of 1:75. Recoveries of 100% are assumed for the calculation of gold-equivalent values.

About the Ermitano West Drill Intersections

Every drill hole to date intersected a quartz vein with associated stockwork on either side hosted in strongly silicified rhyolite tuff or the contact between rhyolite tuff and andesite tuff. The quartz veins are composed of green to cream coloured, colloform banded, chalcedonic and locally crystalline quartz, common adularia bands, zones of quartz-healed breccia with milled vein fragments, iron oxides after sulphide and minor manganese oxide. Zones with better grades including holes EW16-04, EW16-06 and EW16-09 are in the core of the interpreted boiling zone and exhibit greater brecciation as well as quartz replacing bladed calcite. EW16-06 is distinctive as it contains native silver from 280.4 to 281.6 metres down hole. Evrim geologists have not yet visually inspected Hole EW16-10.

http://www.evrimresources.com/i/maps/Plan_Map_Ermitano_Fig1.png

Figure 1: Plan map of Ermitano West prospect.

About the Ermitano West Vein System

Drill holes EW16-01 to EW16-10 intersected a wide, east-west trending, low-intermediate sulphidation epithermal vein with an accompanying hangingwall stockwork zone that has been mapped over 1,200 metres long and 600 metres wide. The principal east-west striking vein is up to 3.5 metres wide on surface with a hanging wall of sub-parallel east-west striking veins and north-south striking stockwork veining over 200 metres wide. Vein textures, including banded quartz, quartz replacing bladed calcite, and an elevation more than 100 metres higher than the pit at Santa Elena suggest that drilling has intersected mineralization with significant depth potential. Mineralization at Santa Elena continues for over 600 vertical metres.

http://www.evrimresources.com/i/maps/Long_Section_Ermitano_Fig2.png

Figure 2: Long Section of drilling at Ermitano West.

Qualified Person Statement

Evrim's disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Stewart Harris, P.Geo. Vice President, Technical Services for the Company. Mr. Harris serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.

Option Agreement



First Majestic can earn a 100% interest in the Ermitano Property by paying Evrim US$50,000 each year and delivering a Production Notice by January 30, 2019, specifying that it intends to commence commercial production on the property, supported by the required permits, a detailed mining and construction schedule and forecasted economics as determined at the discretion of First Majestic. Upon vesting, First Majestic will no longer be required to make the annual payments and Evrim will retain a 2% Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR").

On November 17, 2017, Evrim received a Production Notice from First Majestic delivered to its office in Hermosillo, Mexico. The Production Notice did not contain mining and construction schedules, permits or any forecast economics. To the best of Evrims knowledge, First Majestic has not applied for any permits related to mine construction or mining operations on the Ermitano project. On November 20, 2017, Evrim received at its office in Vancouver a nine-page conceptual Project Start Plan based on ten drill holes still with no reserve or resource estimate, no permits and no economic forecast. The Production Notice received in Mexico contained a Notice of Option Exercise with a request to appear before a notary by December 1 in Mexico City to sign over title to the Ermitano project.

On November 23, 2017, Evrim engaged First Majestic in a discussion regarding the Production Notice and its deficiencies. Evrim also advised First Majestic that the delivery and receipt of the Production Notice was a material event for Evrim and consequently that Evrim would need to disclose the receipt of the Production Notice and be forced to comment on its deficiencies. In a telephone meeting held on November 27, 2017 First Majestic withdrew its request for Evrim to appear before a notary and sign over title to the project by December 1, 2017.

During the same telephone meeting held on November 27, 2017, Evrim was asked by First Majestic to consider selling the Ermitano and Cumobabi projects (both under option to First Majestic) outright and to propose a value at which such transaction could be consummated.

On December 5, 2017, Evrim submitted a presentation to First Majestic with an indicative value for both projects based on the very limited available data. On December 13, 2017, First Majestic responded that the proposed valuation was significantly more than they were prepared to consider and that they would instead pursue obtaining permits for Ermitano over the course of 2018.

On December 18, 2017, Evrim delivered a letter to First Majestic stating that it was Evrims understanding that First Majestic was not pursuing the Notice of Option Exercise pursuant to the Production Notice due to the fact that First Majestic on December 13th indicated it intended to pursue the requisite permits in 2018 and thus that Evrim considered the Production Notice to have been withdrawn. During a telephone call on January 10, 2018, First Majestic stated that it would not withdraw the Production Notice and in so doing forced Evrim to again consider the validity of the Production Notice and its deficiencies.

The option agreement for Ermitano, entered into between Evrim and Silvercrest Mines Inc. on January 10, 2014 and subsequently acquired by First Majestic, gave the optionee five years to explore the property and make a decision to commence commercial production. The documents delivered to Evrim did include an Ermitano Project Start Plan prepared by First Majestics Technical Services Team; however, it was based on ten drill holes with no resource, reserves, metallurgical information, waste management, environmental data, economics or permits  all prerequisites for an assessment of commercial production which meets professional standards that could reasonably be expected from a public Canadian mining company. Even though the support documents for the Production Notice are at the discretion of First Majestic, the agreement explicitly calls for a detailed mining and construction schedule, forecast economics and permits. Consequently, Evrim does not consider the submitted Production Notice to be a bona fide decision on behalf of First Majestic to commence commercial production at Ermitano, which is a prerequisite for the exercise of the option.

Evrims Board of Directors and Management would like to take this opportunity to state publicly that the Company will do whatever is reasonable to assist First Majestic with its efforts to exercise the option and that it looks forward to working with First Majestic to potentially bring a mine into operation at Ermitano. The mineralization discovered at Ermitano West is only 3.5 kilometres from First Majestics Santa Elena mine boundary and therefore First Majestic is the natural partner for Evrim to develop the Ermitano project. Nonetheless, Evrim expects any exercise of the option to be in compliance with the requirements of the option agreement.

We are very excited by the drill results at Ermitano and encouraged by First Majestics plans to embark on an aggressive exploration program this year, commented Paddy Nicol, Evrims President and CEO. We look forward to working with First Majestic through open and honest dialogue and we remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached between the companies that will see future potential ore at Ermitano processed at the Santa Elena mine.

About Evrim Resources

Evrim Resources is a mineral exploration company whose goal is to participate in significant exploration discoveries supported by a sustainable business model. The Company is well financed, has a diverse range of quality projects and a database covering substantial areas of Mexico and portions of southwestern United States. The Companys projects are advanced through option and joint venture agreements with industry partners to create shareholder value. Evrims business plan also includes royalty creation utilizing the Companys exploration expertise and existing projects.

On Behalf of the Board

EVRIM RESOURCES CORP.

Paddy Nicol

President & CEO

To find out more about Evrim Resources Corp., please contact Paddy Nicol, President or Charles Funk, VP New Opportunities and Exploration at 604-248-8648, or visit www.evrimresources.com.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward looking statements". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that Evrim Resources Corp. (the "Company) expects to occur, are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur.

Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
This article first appeared on The Oregonian/OregonLive.

A salmon fisherman who abandoned ship by leaping into the frigid waters of the Columbia River last summer -- an instant before another motorboat crashed into his -- has filed a $372,500 lawsuit against the other driver.

Clatsop County sheriff's deputies accused boat driver Marlin Lee Larsen of several crimes after the 75-year-old told investigators he couldn't see where he was driving because he was sitting down and the dash of his boat was blocking his view. Larsen said he probably should have been standing, according to the sheriff's report, which notes Larsen uses a motorized scooter to get around on land.

Larsen's son-in-law, who also was on the boat, told investigators that he had warned his father-in-law to pay attention, that he sometimes sees his father-in-law using his cell phone while driving the boat and that his father-in-law had been off-and-on his cell phone the morning of the crash, according to the sheriff's report.

Although Oregon law heavily restricts cell phone use while driving, there are no such specific laws governing boating. But it is against the law to operate a boat without due care.

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The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, claims Larsen was boating while distracted by his cell phone on the morning of the Aug. 12, 2017, when the crash occurred near the mouth of the Columbia at the Pacific Ocean, just east of Fort Stevens State Park.

The suit was filed by Bryan Maess, 47, an off-duty Hermiston police officer fishing with a law-enforcement co-worker, Christopher McMahon, 46. Another friend, Roni Durham, 57, a Clatskanie resident, also was aboard.

A GoPro camera mounted to the Weldcraft fishing boat captured the frantic seconds as Larsen's Bayliner Trophy motorboat speeds directly at them. McMahon can be seen waving his arms and yelling in an attempt to get Larsen to steer clear -- just before the trio jump into the water.

The video was shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive by the publication Salmon Trout Steelheader and Angling Oregon, the latter of which is an online fishing website of McMahon's. The video encourages boaters to wear life jackets. Maess and McMahon weren't wearing life jackets. Durham was, but it didn't inflate.

Sheriff's investigators wrote that it was likely Maess and the others would have been seriously injured or killed if they hadn't jumped into the water.

Maess suffered vision problems, headaches and injuries to his ankle, leg and arm from jumping into the water or being struck by debris, according to the suit. Five months after the crash, he wears a knee brace, the suit says.

McMahon and Durham also suffered injuries, including cuts or hypothermia. They haven't filed suit against Larsen but have hired attorneys who say they plan to. Portland attorney Josh Lamborn said his client, Durham, also has suffered psychological trauma and, even though fishing is a big part of her life, hasn't been able to go back out on a boat since the crash.

Larsen, a Roseburg resident, told The Oregonian/OregonLive by phone Friday that he wasn't using his cellphone while driving his Bayliner and referred to such allegations as "fake news." Larsen also said a lawsuit seemed unnecessary because the people in the Weldcraft weren't hurt badly.

The criminal case is ongoing. Larsen has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor crimes of reckless operation of a boat, fourth-degree assault and recklessly endangering the lives of others.

The suit was filed in Clatsop County Circuit Court. Portland attorney James McCandlish is representing Maess.

This article first appeared on The Oregonian/OregonLive. Subscribe to the OregonLive.com newsletter to see more.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SENS Research Foundation (SRF), a leading Silicon Valley nonprofit focused on diseases of aging, announced today that it received over $5 Million in donations during its year end fundraising campaign. These donations included $1 Million in Bitcoin from the Pineapple Fund; $1 Million in Bitcoin from an anonymous donor; and $2.4 Million in Ethereum from Vitalik Buterin, the cofounder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine.



SENS Research Foundation is pleased by the strong support we have received from members of the tech community who are innovative leaders in utilizing cryptocurrency. We appreciate their support and look forward to partnering with them going forward, said Aubrey de Grey, CSO.

We are very grateful to all of our donors for their incredible support of our Year End Campaign, said Jerri Barrett, VP of Outreach. Our initial campaign goal was $250,000. We were thrilled to receive over 1400 donations totaling over $5 million in just ten weeks.

Achieving this level of donation in such a short period of time shows that the momentum SENS Research Foundation has achieved is continuing, said Michael Kope, CEO. We are looking forward to engaging even more of the tech community in our work and to continue to accelerate our progress through the expansion of our research programs. Their support makes this growth possible.

To learn more and to donate to the SENS Research Foundation please go to www.sens.org.



About SENS Research Foundation (SRF)

SENS Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to research, develop, and promote comprehensive regenerative medicine solutions for the diseases of aging. SRF is focused on a damage repair paradigm for treating the diseases of aging, which it advances through scientific research, advocacy, and education. SENS Research Foundation supports research projects at universities and institutes around the world with the goal of curing such age-related diseases as macular degeneration, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimers disease. Educating the public and training researchers to support a growing regenerative medicine field are also major endeavors of the organization that are being accomplished though advocacy campaigns and educational programs. For more information, visit www.sens.org.

Media Contact:

Jerri Barrett

jerri.barrett@sens.org

408-204-7229
SEATTLE, Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued under the same headline on December 21, 2017 by Arzeda, we are advised by the company that "OP Fund" in the second paragraph should have read "OS Fund." The corrected release follows:

Arzeda , The Protein Design Company, today announced that biotechnology veteran William Bill Baum has joined the companys board of directors. Baum is a highly respected biotech executive who has held leadership positions at numerous companies, from biotech startups to publicly-traded companies.



Baum joins Jeff Klunzinger, Co-Founder and General Partner at OS Fund, as the latest additions to the board in the wake of Arzeda closing a $15.2 million Series A fundraising round.

Baum is an accomplished biotech business strategy and transaction consultant. During his career he has secured and negotiated more than $500M in partner funded biotech and renewable business deals, and has held leadership positions with some of the most dynamic and innovative companies in biofuels, biobased chemicals, agbiotech and human nutrition.

There are very few people as well respected as Bill that also have his combination of expertise in both startup and commercial-scale biotechnology businesses, said Alex Zanghellini, founder and chief executive officer of Arzeda. Were thrilled that hes chosen to help Arzeda achieve our aggressive innovation and corporate growth goals.

Baum served on the board of Genomatica for 10 years, where he served as Board Chairman and Chief Business Development Officer from 2010-2014, negotiating partnership and licensing deals with industry leaders such as Waste Management; Tate & Lyle; M&G; Novamont; Versalis/ENI; BASF; DuPont/Tate & Lyle JV and DSM. He also serves as a board director at Gevo, Inc., a publicly traded biofuels company based in Colorado; and Leaf Resources, an Australian public company converting plant biomass into fermentable sugars.

From 1997 to 2010 Baum served in various roles at Diversa/Verenium Corporation, a protein discovery and engineering company later acquired by BASF. Baum has also held leadership positions with International Specialty Products, Inc., a $600M intermediates and specialty chemicals company, and Betz Laboratories, a specialty chemicals company.

Arzedas protein design technology will dramatically improve how we make food, chemicals, and the advanced materials we need for daily life, including many that have never been possible before, said Baum. Arzedas founders have built an incredible team and I believe we are just scratching the surface of what their technology can accomplish.

Arzeda has already successfully developed proteins for global manufacturers, such as DuPont, Mitsubishi Chemical, INVISTA and others to: improve crop yield and resilience; increase the performance and sustainability of advanced polymers; and reduce the cost of producing high-value food ingredients.

About Arzeda

Since 2008 Arzeda has been harnessing the power of computational and synthetic biology to create new enzymes and chemical products that can compete on performance, cost and sustainability. In partnership with Fortune 500 companies and industrial leaders, the company has developed a portfolio of enzymes and specialty chemicals for polymers, advanced materials and health and nutrition products. Arzeda's proprietary platform and validation process rapidly create "cell factories" that can be used at an industrial scale to solve problems and create opportunities that otherwise would be impossible.
The U.S. Supreme Courts 2003 ruling that declared a constitutional right to intimate conduct such as gay sex didnt apply to sex for sale, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in upholding Californias 146-year-old ban on prostitution.

Three former prostitutes, a would-be client and the Erotic Service Providers Legal, Educational and Research Project had argued that the high court, in striking down state laws against gay or lesbian sexual activity, recognized an adults right to engage in consensual sex without state interference. They maintained that the ruling extended to adults who consent to sex for a price.

A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco seemed receptive to that argument at a hearing in October, suggesting that the 1872 state ban might need closer scrutiny.

One panel member said prostitution had been historically subjected to the same sort of moral disapproval that had once condemned gay sex, and might be more acceptable under the Supreme Courts current view of individual rights. Another asked why it should be illegal to sell something that its legal to give away.

But in a 3-0 ruling Wednesday, the panel ruled that the Supreme Court had not legalized prostitution with its 2003 decision.

Although the scope of the ruling was not clear, the Supreme Court specified that the gay sex case does not involve ... prostitution, Jane Restani, a judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade temporarily assigned to the appeals court, wrote in the panels decision.

That means the California law is constitutional as long as the state can show a rational basis for it, Restani said, noting that federal courts since 2003 have upheld prostitution laws in other states. She said the state had presented a number of legitimate reasons for prohibiting commercial sex, including discouraging human trafficking and violence against women, discouraging illegal drug use, and preventing contagious and infectious diseases.

The Constitution protects freedom of intimate association, Restani said, but that right extends only to highly personal relationships and not a prostitutes relationship with a client, which lasts  as the court observed in another case 20 years ago  only as long as the client is willing to pay the fee.

Banning the commodification of sex is a substantial policy goal that all states but Nevada have chosen to adopt, Restani said. The ruling upheld a 2016 decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland.

H. Louis Sirkin, a lawyer for the Erotic Service Providers group and other plaintiffs, said they were disappointed by the ruling and would ask the full appeals court for a new hearing. Another plaintiffs lawyer, D. Gill Sperlein, said the justifications the state offered for the law would be served better if prostitution were legalized and regulated.

I think any reasonable study would demonstrate that workers in an underground economy are more subject to human trafficking than a field of endeavor thats in the light of day, Sperlein said. If it were decriminalized or entirely legal, then people would be more willing to come out of the shadows and uncover any kind of abuses.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@egelko
The post-political lives of civil servants can often be obscured from the public eye.

Though the ongoing political careers of Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, David Chiu and Mark Leno continue to grab headlines (some more than others), many politicos have come and gone through the city's revolving door without as much chatter.
MIAMI, Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Technology Corp. (OTC:WCOR) (World Technology or the Company), a technology company in the Quantified Self wellness market, monetizing its proprietary life sensing technology and big data, today announced the launch of its next-generation wearable device, Helo LX+, Helo LxPro and Helo 2, at CES 2018 which took place January 9-12, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Company also demonstrated non-invasive, Sugar Trend monitoring technology which was first announced at CES 2017. Helo wearers can expect to measure their Sugar Trends using Helo devices later in 2018. WCOR also previewed its alcohol sensing technology which is currently under development.



The Helo LX+ is an enhancement of the Helo LX model, featuring more sensors and improved accuracy designed for those wearers who seek additional benefits. Over 500,000 Helo have been shipped worldwide since its launch in the third quarter of 2016. The Helo LX+ will be available worldwide through the Companys exclusive marketing and distribution partner, World Global Network Pte. Ltd. (WGN), in February 2018. For more wearer information about the Helo LX+, please visit WGNs website at www.worldgn.com.

Helo LX+, which launches next month, is the ideal complement to our existing Helo LX model. It provides wearers with access to additional Life Sensing technologies such as UV sensing, EKG clinical grade sensors as well as more accurate Sugar Trend monitoring, all of which enable Helo app developers to create meaningful new wellness apps for Helo wearers to download and these apps will soon open up a new revenue stream for WCOR, said Sean McVeigh, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

We are particularly excited about the positive feedback and reviews received at CES which continue to confirm our strategic direction. As we position ourselves as a leading developer in life sensing technology and as a big data provider, we expect our product pipeline and recently launched OpenAPI platform will bring us earnings and profitability in 2018, concluded McVeigh.

About World Technology Corp.

We are a technology, design and data company. Our Life Sensing Technology is embedded into innovative, connected, wearable devices that we design and we are a Big Data global provider that has developed software capable of aggregating our wearer data into actionable data. Our database contains extensive multi-ethnic, biometric and vital signs data, which not only informs our in-house development, but is also available on an anonymized basis to corporate partners and third-party app developers. We continuously gather data from our wearers in an effort to build a leading database which may enable our partners to determine new insights and identify new trends generated from our wearer data. For further information, see www.worldcorp.com

Forward Looking Statement

This news 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 as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this press release are forward-looking statements and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates, but involve a number of unknown risks and uncertainties, Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

For more information, please contact investors@worldcorp.com
ANTIOCH (BCN)

A person was injured in a fire at an Antioch apartment complex this afternoon, officials with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.

The two-alarm fire was reported at 3:20 p.m. in the 2200 block of San Jose Drive, just near the Delta Fair Shopping Center, fire Capt. George Laing said.

The fire was under control by about 3:50 p.m.

Laing said the victim was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
SAN JOSE (BCN)

Seven adults and five juvenile residents were arrested last Wednesday in a sting targeting a gang, according to San Jose police.

The operation involving more than 50 officers focused on what police described as a "violent criminal gang" that is believed to be responsible for a series of robberies, carjackings, burglaries and a shooting.

The adults arrested were identified as San Jose residents Diego Diaz, 18, Ezekial Brown, 18, Javis Anthony, 18, Aida Gutierrez, 42, Jose Hernandez Pedroza, 22, Anwar Mohammad, 21 and Rafael Quintero, 18.

Police said the crew was responsible for at least 30 robberies and carjackings since the summer of 2017. During one of the robberies, a victim was assaulted and suffered a serious head injury.

During the crimes, the gang often used stolen vehicles and firearms, according to police.

During the arrests, police seized seven firearms, one carjacked vehicle, $2,000 in cash, ammunition, replica firearms, a stun gun, pepper spray, knives, and stolen property such as laptops, tablets, keys and key fobs as evidence.

Authorities served eight search and arrest warrants in the city of San Jose and one in the city of Morgan Hill in order to make the arrests.

The adults were booked into Santa Clara County Jail and the juveniles, ranging from 15 to 17 years of age, were booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. The suspects were booked on offenses including robbery, carjacking, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, child endangerment, possession of a loaded firearm, possession of stolen property, possession of drugs and gang enhancement. police said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Detective Michael White or Detective Tedros Habib of the San Jose police's robbery unit at (408) 277-4166.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may either call the Crime Stoppers tip line at (408) 947-7867 or can click the "Submit A Tip" link on the San Jose police website.
ANTIOCH (BCN)

Forty-nine patients were evacuated from an Antioch assisted living center this afternoon after a dryer inside the center caught fire, officials with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.

The fire was reported at 1:14 p.m. at Country Place Assisted Living at 1715 Olive Lane.

A dryer caught fire in the commercial laundry area of the center. A sprinkler system turned on, however, and kept the fire from spreading, fire Capt. George Laing said.

The center sustained smoke and water damage and the residents were taken to another facility in Antioch, according to Laing.
OAKLAND (BCN)

A six-time felon whose crimes date back to 1988 has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old man in Oakland in November, prosecutors said.

Kyle Lee Jackson, 50, is scheduled to enter a plea in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday for the murder charge in connection with the shooting of Terrell Gardner of Oakland, who was found dead in the 1800 block of East 12th Street, a mostly commercial area near Interstate Highway 880, at about 3:16 a.m. on Nov. 22.

Jackson was identified as the person who shot and killed Gardner through witness statements and surveillance video, Oakland police Sgt. Bradley Baker wrote in a probable cause statement.

Jackson was arrested in the 600 block of Alice Street in Oakland on Dec. 28 but denied in an interview with police that he was involved in Gardner's death, Baker said.

Jackson was charged with murder and being an ex-felon with a gun on Jan. 2 and is being held without bail at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Prosecutors said Jackson has two prior convictions for receiving stolen property and one conviction each for assault, second-degree burglary, possession for sale of a controlled substance and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.

His first conviction was in 1988 and his most recent was in 2015.

272-6213
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision by a federal judge in San Francisco to keep protections for undocumented young people in place for the time being.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup last week issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the administration of President Donald Trump from canceling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said lawyers from his office will ask the Supreme Court later this week to take up the case. If the high court agrees to do so, the dispute would bypass the normal intermediate review by a federal appeals court.

"We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved," Sessions said in a statement.

The Department of Justice also filed a notice of appeal today with an intermediate court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The DACA program, established by President Barack Obama in 2012, now covers 689,000 people, according to Alsup's Jan. 9 ruling. It allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to apply for deferment of deportation and authorization to work, renewable every two years.

In September, the Trump Administration announced it was canceling the program on a phased basis and that DACA recipients could not renew documents expiring after March 5. Thus, up to 1,000 people per day could lose deportation protection beginning March 6, Alsup estimated.

Unless the Supreme Court or 9th Circuit overturns it, Alsup's preliminary injunction will remain in effect until he holds a full trial on five lawsuits that challenged the program's cancellation.

On Saturday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that in accordance with the injunction, it is resuming acceptance of renewal applications from current DACA recipients. Alsup's order does not require the agency to accept new applications, however.

Alsup said in his decision that Sessions' conclusion that the DACA program was illegal was based on a "mistake of law."

The judge said that previous use of deferred immigration action by the executive branch "has been blessed by both the Supreme Court and Congress as a means to exercise enforcement discretion."

The lawsuits pending before Alsup were filed by the University of California; the states of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota; the city of San Jose; six individuals; and Santa Clara County together with the Service Employees International Union.

Two other lawsuits are pending in federal court in New York.

A possible measure to continue DACA is also being debated in the current budget negotiations in Congress.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A federal judge in San Francisco began hearing evidence today on whether a planned coal shipment terminal at the former Oakland Army Base would endanger the health of city residents.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria is conducting a three-day nonjury trial this week on a developer's challenge to an Oakland law barring the shipment, handling and storage of coal in the city.

The City Council passed the law in 2016 after concluding the project would jeopardize West Oakland residents by increasing air pollution and posing dangers of fire and spontaneous combustion.

The developer, Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal LLC, or OBOT, wants to allow a subtenant to transport several million tons of coal per year to the terminal from Utah via 100-car trains and then transfer the coal to ships for export to Asia.

OBOT claims the Oakland law violates its 2013 development agreement with the city, which allows the company to pursue projects in keeping with the land use laws then in effect.

But Oakland claims it was entitled to pass the 2016 law under a contract clause that allows it to apply new laws if needed to prevent "a condition substantially dangerous" to the health or safety of neighbors or occupants of the site.

Chhabria said at a pretrial hearing last week that the main purpose of this week's trial is to provide evidence on whether dust from the coal is indeed a substantial health danger.

One of today's witnesses was Victoria Evans, a consultant from Environmental Science Associates who prepared a report for the City Council in 2016 summarizing public comments and materials concerning the health and safety impacts of the coal project.

OBOT has contended the report was biased and intended to justify an allegedly "foreordained" conclusion by the City Council.

Evans testified the report estimates that transporting the coal along 1.5 miles of tracks within Oakland would produce 6 extra tons per year of fine particles of coal dust less than 2.5 microns in diameter.

But she acknowledged the estimate was incomplete in several ways.

On the one hand, she said, the 6-ton number didn't account for "re-entrainment," which she defined as the process in which coal dust drops off a train onto the tracks and then "gets re-suspended when another train comes through and stirs up the dust."

Evans told Gregory Akers, a lawyer for Oakland, that the amount of coal dust re-suspended in this way could be "significant, over time." But she said that since no studies were available, the report simply noted that the 6-ton figure was a conservative estimate.

On the other hand, Evans said, the estimate also didn't account for the possible beneficial effect of sprays or covers to hold in the coal dust on train cars. OBOT has argued such measures can be used.

Evans said that again, "there was no scientific literature or peer reviews" about the effectiveness of the measures. She said a spray "doesn't hold over the long haul from Utah."

Both sides have promised to call experts on air quality effects as witnesses later in the trial, which continues Wednesday and Friday.

OBOT's 2016 lawsuit also includes claims that the Oakland law unconstitutionally interferes with interstate commerce and is preempted by federal laws regulating railroads and shipping.

Chhabria said in a ruling last week that the current trial will concern only the breach-of-contract claim and that he will consider the other arguments in later proceedings, if needed.

(650) 801-5000

Oakland City Attorney's Office spokesman Alex Katz (510) 238-3148
HO CHI MINH, Vietnam, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vietnam will host Vietnam Blockchain Week - its first global conference dedicated to blockchain technology and development.

Blockchains Explosive Growth in Southeast Asia

Malaysian banks piloting blockchain payment systems, Singaporean incubators investing heavily in 4.0 technology startups, India putting land rights on blockchain and Indonesian regulators developing technology sandboxes - Southeast Asia is quickly establishing itself as a region eager to adopt, explore and innovate blockchain technologies. Vietnam is the latest country to gain attention for its potential as a major hub.

Why Vietnam?

Vietnams potential as a blockchain leader will be highlighted at the nations first major blockchain conference. The nation is one of the worlds fastest growing economies (6-7% growth per annum) with a young population (over 40% of the 95 million population are under the age of 24) that is hungry for blockchain and other 4.0 technologies. In 2017, universities across the country began offering exclusive blockchain courses and the motivated graduates along with Vietnams forward-looking and robust tech talents are exploring blockchain-driven innovations for the nations rapidly expanding technology and service sectors. Vietnam Blockchain Week will discuss impacts to these fields inside and outside the region.

Why Vietnam Blockchain Week?

Vietnam Blockchain Week will showcase the significant growth of blockchain in the country as well as the many involved companies, institutions and organizations. Two uniquely curated panel and presentation tracks will be available - one for business/regulators and one for developers. Key topics will include incubation efforts, how blockchain can impact the unbanked, global supply chains, digital payment systems and IoT. Blockchains role in Regtech will be highlighted, including discussions about blockchain regulations, government partnerships and compliance services. Special attention will also be paid to examining Vietnams blockchain landscape.

Technology, regulation and development experts from blockchain startups and major corporations from Vietnam and around the world will share their experiences, insights, and knowledge with more than 1,500+ attending professionals. Speakers include executives at Hong Kong Fintech Association, NEO, Hyperledger and National Payment Corporation of Vietnam.

Vietnam is in a rare position to leapfrog to the front of the global blockchain community and this conference will provide a revealing survey of its future impacts.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/deac5fd7-8b50-450b-a7b7-917c5bfb4a99
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A former driver for a San Francisco health clinic was found not guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter this afternoon in the death of a woman in a wheelchair who he fatally struck in the crosswalk at Seventh and Market streets nearly two years ago.

James Harris, a 69-year-old Antioch resident who drove for the city's South of Market Mental Health Services, was charged following the Feb. 5, 2016 death of Thu Thi Phan.

Phan, a 38-year-old Berkeley resident who worked for the U.S. Department of Labor, was crossing Market Street at Seventh Street when Harris struck her as he turned left on to Market from a red bus lane around 9:50 a.m.

Prosecutor Kara Lacy argued that Harris was guilty of negligence in failing to see and stop for Phan, and presented witnesses in the case who testified that Harris was driving "aggressively" before the crash.

Videos presented during the trial showed him making an illegal left turn from the bus lane, entering the intersection without stopping and trying to cut off a male pedestrian who entered the crosswalk from the south side, Lacy said.

Defense attorney Dana Drusinsky, however, argued that Harris had driven in a normal manner and stopped quickly when he saw Phan. She placed some of the blame on Phan in closing arguments, saying she had entered the intersection shortly before the light turned red at a speed of 6 mph, making it difficult for Harris to anticipate her actions.

Drusinsky today said she was relieved, and thought the jurors had reached the right verdict.

"There was no evidence that he did anything a reasonable person wouldn't do," Drusinsky said. "This was just a series of tragedies that led to this situation, it wasn't a crime."

Drusinsky had also presented evidence during the case suggesting that Phan, who suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta and was only three feet tall and 50 pounds, had been treated improperly at San Francisco General Hospital. However, a medical examiner's report found that she died of blunt force trauma rather than any medical malpractice.

Juror Don Henvick, a retired mailman, said the jury had not considered Phan's medical treatment to be a significant factor in the case.

Rather, he said, the decision came down to whether the prosecution had proved negligence.

"We were all mostly of the opinion that he might have been somewhat negligent but it didn't rise to the level of overcoming reasonable doubt," Henvick said.

Prosecutors today declined to comment in detail on the verdict.

"The circumstances around this woman's death are certainly tragic, but we respect the jury's decision," Max Szabo, a spokesman for the district attorney's office said.

The death of Phan, an activist who worked for disability rights, prompted calls from pedestrian safety and disability advocacy groups for safety improvements at the busy Market Street intersection where she was hit.

The city has since improved signage at that intersection to clarify who is allowed to use the red bus lane for left turns and changed some traffic lights in the area to give pedestrians more of a head start in the crosswalk. The city is also working on a larger plan to improve pedestrian safety on that section of Market Street.

Phan's family settled a civil lawsuit against the city in March 2017 for $2.875 million.
The death of an inmate at a prison in Monterey County is being investigated as a homicide after the inmate died Monday, officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said today.

Jose Alcantar-Ortega, 19, was pronounced dead at 5:52 p.m. at a hospital after he was found lying in his cell Friday in Salinas Valley State Prison.

Prison staff responded at about 11:20 a.m. Friday to an alleged disturbance in Facility B and found Alcantar-Ortega lying in his cell.

Corrections officials said an alarm was sounded and staff removed Alcantar-Ortega from his cell and began life-saving efforts.

Alcantar-Ortega was taken to a hospital outside of the prison with multiple stab wounds to his head, neck and upper chest.

Prison staff found two weapons that were allegedly manufactured by inmates.

Corrections officials said staff removed two other inmates, who have been identified as suspects, from Alcantar-Ortega's cell.

The suspects were identified as 26-year-old Alberto Cortez and 25-year-old Jaime Romero.

According to corrections officials, the two are now being held separate from other inmates.

Alcantar-Ortega went to prison Nov. 16, 2016, from San Mateo County to serve 16 years for two-counts of second-degree robbery. Last year, however, he was convicted of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and he was sentenced to seven more years in prison.

Corrections officials said Cortez entered the prison system Nov. 17, 2014, from Monterey County to serve 35 years to life without parole for first-degree murder. In 2016, he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer/firefighter and criminal gang activity and sentenced to nine more years.

Corrections officials said Romero entered the California prison system in August 2014 from San Mateo County to serve 17 years and four months for assault with a semiautomatic weapon, resisting a peace officer resulting in death or serious injury and possessing/owning a gun by a felon or addict.
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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board Tuesday approved a new residential parking permit program for some Bernal Heights streets, but asked city transportation staff to find solutions for teachers and nonprofit employees who need to park in the area.

The parking permit program adopted for 16 blocks in northwest Bernal Heights allows one permit per person and up to two per household.

Residents living in the area said a permit program was needed in part because the lack of time limits or street cleaning on many streets meant that some vehicles parked in the area for days or even a week at a time.

However some argued that the restrictions could cause parking issues to spill over to neighboring streets. Concerns were also raised about the effect on teachers at the nearby Flynn Elementary School who need to park in the area, as well as employees at a nonprofit.

Board members approved the permit program unanimously, but asked staff to begin meeting with officials at the nonprofit and school to look for possible solutions including the possibility of issuing some parking permits to employees.

Residential parking permit programs have traditionally been intended to prevent commuters and outsiders from parking in a neighborhood for long periods.

In most parts of the city with a permit program, households are allowed up to four permits.

However city transportation officials are testing out a new, stricter approach in the Bernal Heights neighborhood allowing fewer permits in an effort to deal with crowding caused by high parking demand from residents.

Within the area affected by the new residential parking program, a 2015 survey found that parking space occupancy was over 80 percent and 59 percent of the parked vehicles were registered to non-residents, according to the SFMTA.

Of the residents who signed petitions seeking the residential parking program, 49 percent said they do not have off-street parking.

Only those blocks where more than 50 percent of residents signed a petition seeking a residential parking permit program are included in the pilot program that was set for approval Tuesday.

Residents will have the option of applying for permits for health care or childcare workers or seeking a waiver to allow up to four permits for a household, but fees are higher for additional permits.
Alameda police are asking for help this afternoon in identifying a man at a hospital.

The man is at Alameda Hospital and emergency room staff and police are trying to identify him.
KING CITY (BCN)

King City police responded to two calls of negligent discharges of firearms within the same hour on Tuesday night but did not find suspects or even a crime scene at either location, police said.

At 9:10 p.m., officers responded to the 1200 block of Amherst Drive and San Antonio Drive after receiving a call that four men wearing blue bandanas had jumped the fence into a property on the block.

One gunshot was heard, according to police.

Police from King City, Greenfield and Soledad, California Highway Patrol officers and Monterey County sheriff's deputies searched but did not locate the victims or a crime scene, King City police said.

At 10 p.m., King City officers responded to the 300 block of South Third Street when they received a call of gunshots being fired. Police searched the neighborhoods surrounding that location, but no victims or crime scene were located either.

The investigations into both cases are continuing, police said.

Anyone with information on either case should call King City police at (831) 386-5980 or the WeTip line at (800) 78-CRIME. The WeTip line allows citizen calls to be anonymous.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A sex workers' advocacy group lost a bid to a federal appeals court in San Francisco today to overturn a 146-year-old California law that criminalizes prostitution.

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the law and dismissed a lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland in 2015 by the Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research Project.

A three-judge panel unanimously rejected the group's claims that the law violates the constitutional rights to sexual privacy, intimate association and free speech.

It said that commercial prostitution is not the type of intimate sexual relationship protected by a landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, that decriminalized homosexual conduct.

Judge Jane Restani wrote, "The duration of the relationship between a prostitute and a client does not suggest an intimate relationship.

"Furthermore, the commercial nature of the relationship between prostitute and client suggests a far less selective relationship than that which previously has been held to constitute an intimate association," Restani wrote.

The panel said the state had a rational basis for enacting the law to reduce trafficking and violence against women and children and to cut down on the use of illegal drugs and spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Restani, a visiting U.S. Court of International Trade judge temporarily assigned to the appeals court, was joined in the decision by Circuit Judges Consuelo Callahan and Carlos Bea.

The California prostitution law was enacted in 1872 and amended since then. The statute makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, to engage in a "lewd act between persons for money or other consideration."

Maxine Doogan, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group, said it will appeal. The first step in the appeal will be to ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider the case, she said.

The group was joined in the lawsuit by three unidentified former prostitutes and a disabled man who said he wanted to be a respectful client of erotic services.

The appeals court upheld a ruling in which U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland dismissed the lawsuit in 2016.
NAPA (BCN)

Napa police are investigating two shootings that occurred near schools in the city this morning.

The first shooting occurred around 8:25 a.m. in a Starbucks parking at Lincoln Avenue and Jefferson Street across the street from Napa High School, police Capt. Pat Manzer said.

Police found a man in his 20s suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen. The victim was taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa for surgery, Manzer said. Witnesses to the shooting gave aid to the victim.

While police were at that shooting, a second shooting was reported around 10 a.m. 3 or 4 miles away in the Baywood Lane area of northwest Napa, Manzer said.

Police found a man between 60 and 70 years old suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest. He also was taken to the Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Manzer said.

Police arrested a male suspect in his 20s near Baywood Lane and were questioning him at police headquarters late this morning, according to Manzer.

Police recovered a firearm at the site of the second shooting and are investigating whether the two shootings are related, Manzer said.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco police responded to three shootings this weekend including one that killed a man in the Union Square area and another that caused life-threatening injuries.

The fatal shooting occurred Sunday morning near Union Square, when Manuel Valladares, 35, was shot at Mason and Geary streets around 4:41 a.m.

Valladares was transported to San Francisco General Hospital but later died of his injuries.

Police today said they are searching for a male suspect but did not release a detailed description.

Valladares' death was the third homicide to occur in the city so far this year, following fatal stabbings on Thursday and Friday.

Prior to that, a man in his early 20s suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting early Saturday in the Mission District at 20th and Shotwell streets.

The victim was found on the ground and taken to the hospital after police responded to a report of a shooting at 12:47 a.m.

Police said the suspect or suspects were unknown as of this morning, and released few details in the shooting.

A third shooting occurred early Sunday on Mission Street just south of Cesar Chavez Boulevard.

A 24-year-old man was in the rear passenger seat of his friend's car when a suspect approached the vehicle and shot him around 1:30 a.m., police said.

The victim transported himself to the hospital and is expected to survive his injuries.

The suspect remains unknown as of this morning, police said.
A person died after police deployed a Taser on the individual during a struggle Tuesday night in Daly City.

Officers were dispatched to the 900 block of Brunswick Street at 11:22 p.m.

They found some kind of altercation occurring between family members and restrained one of them, using the Taser to get the person into handcuffs.

Shortly after that the officers noticed he had become unresponsive. Medical personnel transported him to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Police referred questions about the victim to the San Mateo County district attorney.

A King City resident died Tuesday night after his vehicle veered off the roadway and overturned, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Edward Tully, 80, was traveling east in his Chevrolet pickup truck on Bitterwater Road at an unknown speed at 5:20 p.m. when he lost control of his car for reasons yet to be determined and the vehicle flipped, CHP said.

As a result, Tully sustained fatal injuries.

The incident is under investigation by the CHP.

A lockdown has been lifted at schools in the Napa Valley Unified School District this morning following two reports of shootings in Napa, a district spokeswoman said.

The first shooting occurred outside a Starbucks across the street from Napa High School at 2475 Jefferson St. and the Napa Valley Adult Education building. The area was locked down between 8:30 and 9:47 a.m., school district spokeswoman Elizabeth Emmett said.

Three schools near Barbara Road and Linda Vista Avenue in west Napa also were locked down in response to a second reported shooting, Emmett said. That lockdown was lifted within 10 minutes.

Napa police issued a Nixle alert around 8:30 a.m. about police activity in the Jefferson Street and Lincoln Avenue area.

Police engaged in a standoff with a suspect who allegedly threatened an officer Tuesday afternoon in Pleasanton.

At 12:49 p.m., a Pleasanton police officer saw a white Chevrolet Silverado truck driving erratically on First Street. The driver, later identified as 55-year-old Scott Hagan, was speeding and making unsafe turning movements, police said.

The officer activated his vehicle's emergency lights and pulled over the Chevrolet. Hagan exited the truck and allegedly advanced toward the officer in a threatening manner, police said.

After yelling threats at the officer, Hagan returned to his truck and sped away from the scene, police said.

Another officer pursued Hagan, but the pursuit ended abruptly when Hagan drove to his former home on Stanley Boulevard and ran inside to the home's basement, police said.

Officers tried to communicate with Hagan, but he allegedly yelled at them and refused to comply with their orders to exit the basement, police said.

After exhausting all attempts to communicate with Hagan, and believing he may be in crisis, officers did not enter the home. They have since sought an arrest warrant for Hagan, police said.

Further details were not immediately available.

A 19-year-old man was injured in a drive-by shooting in Berkeley on Tuesday night, according to police.

Officers responded at 10:12 p.m. to a call from Alameda County sheriff's deputies who reported that a victim had been brought in to a hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg, police said.

The victim and his girlfriend, also 19 years old, told investigators that they were driving south on West Frontage Road from University Avenue and had stopped at a stop sign when a vehicle pulled up along the right side of their car, police said.

Someone fired multiple rounds into the vehicle, striking the victim multiple times in his right leg as he sat in the front passenger seat, according to police.

The victim's girlfriend was not struck by the gunfire and drove to the hospital so her boyfriend could be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening, police said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call Berkeley police at (510) 981-5741.

A male victim was injured in a shooting Tuesday evening in West Oakland, according to police.

The shooting occurred at 7:11 p.m. in the 2300 block of Market Street near McClymonds High School. The victim suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital, police said.

Police said that the suspect in the case was arrested.

Further details were not immediately available.

Police arrested an Oakland man who allegedly robbed a victim at a business in Berkeley on Monday.

At 12:05 p.m., an employee at a business in the 2200 block of Fulton Street called police to report that a masked suspect armed with a handgun had just robbed them of their MacBook computer, police said.

Moments later, an officer saw a masked suspect running through the parking lot of the Touchless Car Wash across the street. The suspect was trying to hide a pistol in his waistband, police said.

The officer chased after the suspect and called for backup.

Officers eventually stopped the suspect in the 2100 block of Shattuck Avenue. He was identified as 20-year-old London Gix of Oakland, police said.

Police said that Gix had an airsoft pistol tucked into his waistband. He was arrested without further incident on suspicion of robbery, possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and wearing a mask while in the commission of a crime, police said.

Santa Cruz County sheriff's officials restored order to the main county jail Tuesday afternoon after inmates became disruptive and refused to obey jail staff orders.

Over the last several days, male inmates residing in a housing unit at the jail became increasingly concerned about cold temperatures in the unit, sheriff's officials said.

Maintenance crews worked to increase the temperature above 70 degrees and jail staff provided inmates with extra blankets.

According to sheriff's officials, on Monday inmates became increasingly disobedient and disruptive. They also used mattresses as makeshift barricades and prepared tools for combative purposes.

Correctional staff spent hours trying to resolve and deescalate the disturbance, but inmates refused to comply with orders, sheriff's officials said.

Just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, sheriff's officials entered the jail's housing unit to restore safety and order. No one was seriously hurt, sheriff's officials said.

King City police responded to two calls of negligent discharges of firearms within the same hour on Tuesday night but did not find suspects or even a crime scene at either location, police said.

At 9:10 p.m., officers responded to the 1200 block of Amherst Drive and San Antonio Drive after receiving a call that four men wearing blue bandanas had jumped the fence into a property on the block.

One gunshot was heard, according to police.

Police from King City, Greenfield and Soledad, California Highway Patrol officers and Monterey County sheriff's deputies searched but did not locate the victims or a crime scene, King City police said.

At 10 p.m., King City officers responded to the 300 block of South Third Street when they received a call of gunshots being fired. Police searched the neighborhoods surrounding that location, but no victims or crime scene were located either.

The investigations into both cases are continuing, police said.

Anyone with information on either case should call King City police at (831) 386-5980 or the WeTip line at (800) 78-CRIME. The WeTip line allows citizen calls to be anonymous.
A former driver for a San Francisco health clinic was found not guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter Tuesday afternoon in the death of a woman in a wheelchair who he fatally struck in the crosswalk at Seventh and Market streets nearly two years ago.

James Harris, a 69-year-old Antioch resident who drove for the city's South of Market Mental Health Services, was charged following the Feb. 5, 2016 death of Thu Thi Phan.

Phan, a 38-year-old Berkeley resident who worked for the U.S. Department of Labor, was crossing Market Street at Seventh Street when Harris struck her as he turned left on to Market from a red bus lane around 9:50 a.m.

Prosecutor Kara Lacy argued that Harris was guilty of negligence in failing to see and stop for Phan, and presented witnesses in the case who testified that Harris was driving "aggressively" before the crash.

Videos presented during the trial showed him making an illegal left turn from the bus lane, entering the intersection without stopping and trying to cut off a male pedestrian who entered the crosswalk from the south side, Lacy said.

Defense attorney Dana Drusinsky, however, argued that Harris had driven in a normal manner and stopped quickly when he saw Phan. She placed some of the blame on Phan in closing arguments, saying she had entered the intersection shortly before the light turned red at a speed of 6 mph, making it difficult for Harris to anticipate her actions.

Drusinsky Tuesday said she was relieved, and thought the jurors had reached the right verdict.

"There was no evidence that he did anything a reasonable person wouldn't do," Drusinsky said. "This was just a series of tragedies that led to this situation, it wasn't a crime."

Drusinsky had also presented evidence during the case suggesting that Phan, who suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta and was only three feet tall and 50 pounds, had been treated improperly at San Francisco General Hospital. However, a medical examiner's report found that she died of blunt force trauma rather than any medical malpractice.

Juror Don Henvick, a retired mailman, said the jury had not considered Phan's medical treatment to be a significant factor in the case.

Rather, he said, the decision came down to whether the prosecution had proved negligence.

"We were all mostly of the opinion that he might have been somewhat negligent but it didn't rise to the level of overcoming reasonable doubt," Henvick said.

Prosecutors Tuesday declined to comment in detail on the verdict.

"The circumstances around this woman's death are certainly tragic, but we respect the jury's decision," Max Szabo, a spokesman for the district attorney's office said.

The death of Phan, an activist who worked for disability rights, prompted calls from pedestrian safety and disability advocacy groups for safety improvements at the busy Market Street intersection where she was hit.

The city has since improved signage at that intersection to clarify who is allowed to use the red bus lane for left turns and changed some traffic lights in the area to give pedestrians more of a head start in the crosswalk. The city is also working on a larger plan to improve pedestrian safety on that section of Market Street.

Phan's family settled a civil lawsuit against the city in March 2017 for $2.875 million.

Four people who attended a speaking event in Berkeley featuring the controversial right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos that turned violent last February have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of California and the city of Berkeley.

Plaintiffs John Jennings, Katrina Redelsheimer, Trever Hatch and Donald Fletcher argue that their Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by university officials and police who exposed them to the "unlawful actions of an angry mob of violent anarchists" when officers retreated from the scene on Feb. 1.

The Fourteenth Amendment states that the government shall not deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process and that any person in its jurisdiction shall not be denied equal protection under the law.

The lawsuit argues that the plaintiffs were denied their rights to due process and equal protection when law enforcement vacated the areas around Sproul Plaza and the MLK Center, where Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak, regrouping nearby in a position where they could "ensure their own safety while leaving plaintiffs exposed to violent assaults."

"By their failure to intervene or employ reasonable tactical methods to ensure the safety of the plaintiffs and the public, government actors conducted their official duties with indifference to the plaintiffs' safety, permitting hordes of violent rioters to swarm the university campus in a violent rage," the lawsuit states.

The suit says that police, university and city officials should have been better prepared to contain and mitigate violence associated with the event.

It names the regents of the University of California, UC president Janet Napolitano, current UC Berkeley chancellor Carol Christ and former chancellor Nicholas Dirks, interim vice chancellor of student affairs Stephen Sutton, associate vice chancellor and dean of students Joseph Greenwell, campus police Chief Margot Bennett, various other employees of the campus Police Department, the city of Berkeley and the Berkeley Police Department, as well as the city of Berkeley itself.

University spokesman Dan Mogulof declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon, saying that while the suit may have been filed, it has not yet been served to the defendants.

Once that happens, university officials plan to issue a public response, according to Mogulof.

A Hayward man was arraigned Tuesday on a murder charge for allegedly killing a California Highway Patrol officer in a crash on Interstate Highway 880 in Hayward on Christmas Eve.

About a dozen CHP officers attended the arraignment of Mohammed Ali, 22, in connection with the crash on southbound I-880 at about midnight on Dec. 24 in which he allegedly rear-ended a parked patrol car and killed Officer Andrew Camilleri, 33, of Tracy, and injured Officer Jonathan Velasquez.

The officers' car was parked on the highway's right shoulder while they patrolled for dangerous drivers.

Authorities believe that Ali was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana at the time of the crash.

Camilleri's mother, Sharon Camilleri, and several other family members attended Ali's brief hearing Tuesday, as did about a half dozen of Ali's family members.

After the hearing, Sharon Camilleri said, "Our hearts are broken and our lives are shattered. We loved Andrew so much."

Ali's family members declined to talk to reporters.

Ali's attorney, Philip Schnayerson, said, "There are no winners in a situation like this. Both people (Camilleri and Ali) were fathers and have kids and family members that are bereft."

In addition to murder, Ali is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or higher causing injuries to Velasquez, driving under the influence of a combination of drugs and alcohol and driving at speeds of over 100 mph.

Ali was hospitalized for several weeks following the Dec. 24 crash and wasn't released until last Friday, when he was then booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he's being held without bail.

Ali is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 26 to possibly enter a plea.

A federal judge in San Francisco began hearing evidence Tuesday on whether a planned coal shipment terminal at the former Oakland Army Base would endanger the health of city residents.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria is conducting a three-day non-jury trial this week on a developer's challenge to an Oakland law barring the shipment, handling and storage of coal in the city.

The City Council passed the law in 2016 after concluding the project would jeopardize West Oakland residents by increasing air pollution and posing dangers of fire and spontaneous combustion.

The developer, Oakland Bulk & Oversized Terminal LLC, or OBOT, wants to allow a subtenant to transport several million tons of coal per year to the terminal from Utah via 100-car trains and then transfer the coal to ships for export to Asia.

OBOT claims the Oakland law violates its 2013 development agreement with the city, which allows the company to pursue projects in keeping with the land use laws then in effect.

But Oakland claims it was entitled to pass the 2016 law under a contract clause that allows it to apply new laws if needed to prevent "a condition substantially dangerous" to the health or safety of neighbors or occupants of the site.

Chhabria said at a pretrial hearing last week that the main purpose of this week's trial is to provide evidence on whether dust from the coal is indeed a substantial health danger.

One of Tuesday's witnesses was Victoria Evans, a consultant from Environmental Science Associates who prepared a report for the City Council in 2016 summarizing public comments and materials concerning the health and safety impacts of the coal project.

OBOT has contended the report was biased and intended to justify an allegedly "foreordained" conclusion by the City Council.

Evans testified the report estimates that transporting the coal along 1.5 miles of tracks within Oakland would produce 6 extra tons per year of fine particles of coal dust less than 2.5 microns in diameter.

But she acknowledged the estimate was incomplete in several ways.

On the one hand, she said, the 6-ton number didn't account for "re-entrainment," which she defined as the process in which coal dust drops off a train onto the tracks and then "gets re-suspended when another train comes through and stirs up the dust."

Evans told Gregory Akers, a lawyer for Oakland, that the amount of coal dust re-suspended in this way could be "significant, over time." But she said that since no studies were available, the report simply noted that the 6-ton figure was a conservative estimate.

On the other hand, Evans said, the estimate also didn't account for the possible beneficial effect of sprays or covers to hold in the coal dust on train cars. OBOT has argued such measures can be used.

Evans said that again, "there was no scientific literature or peer reviews" about the effectiveness of the measures. She said a spray "doesn't hold over the long haul from Utah."

Both sides have promised to call experts on air quality effects as witnesses later in the trial, which continues today and Friday.

OBOT's 2016 lawsuit also includes claims that the Oakland law unconstitutionally interferes with interstate commerce and is preempted by federal laws regulating railroads and shipping.

Chhabria said in a ruling last week that the current trial will concern only the breach-of-contract claim and that he will consider the other arguments in later proceedings, if needed.

One person died when an Amtrak train and an occupied vehicle collided in unincorporated Solano County near Dixon Tuesday afternoon.

The Capitol Corridor Amtrak train was carrying 65 passengers from San Jose to Sacramento when the incident occurred, Amtrak spokesperson Kimberly Woods said.

There were no injuries on the train and service on the Capitol Corridor was temporarily suspended, Woods said.

The incident was reported in the area of 7118 Batavia Road outside Dixon around 2:59 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol

CHP Officer David Harvey confirmed there was at least one fatality.

A 65-year-old woman was fatally stabbed in San Francisco's Oceanview neighborhood Friday night by a man who appears to be her son.

Hoda Nasar, a San Francisco resident, was found dead in the 300 block of Randolph Street around 10:30 p.m.

Police released few details about the incident but indicated she was deceased at the scene and said they had arrested a 32-year-old man.

Police did not immediately release the suspect's identity. However, jail records indicate that police arrested 32-year-old Islam Moustafa on suspicion of murder the next morning and booked him into San Francisco jail, where he is being held without bail.

Moustafa has been charged with murder with an allegation for use of a deadly weapon and assault with a deadly weapon, and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, according to court records.

Nasar and Moustafa are both listed as plaintiffs on a lawsuit filed in June 2015 by them and other tenants in a building at 333 Randolph Street.

The lawsuit, which alleges that the property owners rented out illegal units, failed to maintain and repair the property and operated an illegal gambling den in the basement, says the two lived in a unit there with Duaa Moustafa, Hoda's daughter and Islam's sister.

That lawsuit was settled in December of 2016.

Nasar's stabbing was one of six police responded to this weekend in San Francisco, two of which involved life-threatening injuries.

Nasar's death is also one of three homicides reported so far this year and the second fatal stabbing.

The first occurred on Thursday when 59-year-old Mark Camacho died following a stabbing at 8:11 p.m. in the 1200 block of Potrero Avenue near Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

Police arrested 48-year-old Jesus Ramirez in Camacho's death on Friday and he has since been charged with murder with an allegation of use of a deadly weapon. Ramirez remains in custody.

The cities of San Jose and Santa Clara have reached a settlement over disputes related to proposed large developments in their respective cities.

The settlement was finalized on Friday for City Place, a proposed mix of office, retail, residential and hotel spaces on a city-owned site adjacent to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, and Santana West, an office and retail project on a 13-acre site at the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Olsen Drive in San Jose.

San Jose and Santa Clara opposed each other's projects, alleging they would contribute to some of the Bay Area's biggest issues: traffic congestion and the lack of affordable housing, according to San Jose City Attorney Richard Doyle.

"The cities came to terms with a plan that I wouldn't say solves everything, but does help to address these issues," Doyle said.

According to the website of Related Companies, the company carrying out the City Place development, the location will include 5.7 million square feet of office space, 1.5 million square feet of retail room, 1,360 residential units and 700 hotel rooms. The proposal also includes a public open space and a 30-acre public park.

San Jose city officials say the Santana West project includes demolition of two movie theaters, Century 22 and 23, and an existing restaurant. In total, it will include 970,000 square feet of office space, 29,000 square feet of retail stores and a re-use of an existing theater, Century 21.

San Jose agreed to dismiss its appeal of a November judgment by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner that upheld the City Place environmental impact report, while Santa Clara agreed to dismiss their challenge of the Santana West project that was scheduled to be heard by Weiner Tuesday.

The city of San Jose will be paid $4.5 million by Related Companies for the first phase of the project for traffic improvements in North San Jose, and other payments that can be reduced or eliminated by the production of both market-rate and affordable housing in Santa Clara.

The settlement for City Place does not require Santa Clara to build housing, nor does it create any financial obligation to San Jose.

The settlement demands that San Jose invest $2.5 million of traffic improvements in their city before issuance of occupancy for the first 300,000 square feet of rentable space.

It also requires that $1.2 million goes to the city of Santa Clara for traffic improvements before the issuance of that same rentable space as well as a $5 million payment to Santa Clara upon issuance of a building permit.

By July 1, 2022, that money could be used for transportation and affordable housing in Santa Clara.

In addition, San Jose guarantees that any traffic impact funds that they would waive for the Santana West project or any other developments that would affect traffic in Santa Clara would be replaced with alternative funding by the city.

A payment of a portion of Santa Clara's attorney's fees estimated at $145,000 will be paid by the city of San Jose.

The cities have agreed to meet regularly to discuss development and traffic issues in North San Jose that may arise as housing development increases in the area as well as addressing traffic in the Stevens Creek corridor.

Both San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor believe that the agreement will have a positive influence on efforts toward better housing and driving environments in their cities.

"We've reached a fair settlement that will benefit both of our cities' residents," Liccardo and Gillmor said in a joint statement. "In addition to allowing these important projects to move forward, this settlement will help our two cities better address the significant affordable housing and traffic congestion problems gripping our region and provide higher quality of life for our residents, employees and visitors."

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision by a federal judge in San Francisco to keep protections for undocumented young people in place for the time being.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup last week issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the administration of President Donald Trump from canceling the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said lawyers from his office will ask the Supreme Court later this week to take up the case. If the high court agrees to do so, the dispute would bypass the normal intermediate review by a federal appeals court.

"We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved," Sessions said in a statement.

The Department of Justice also filed a notice of appeal Tuesday with an intermediate court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The DACA program, established by President Barack Obama in 2012, now covers 689,000 people, according to Alsup's Jan. 9 ruling. It allows undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to apply for deferment of deportation and authorization to work, renewable every two years.

In September, the Trump Administration announced it was canceling the program on a phased basis and that DACA recipients could not renew documents expiring after March 5. Thus, up to 1,000 people per day could lose deportation protection beginning March 6, Alsup estimated.

Unless the Supreme Court or 9th Circuit overturns it, Alsup's preliminary injunction will remain in effect until he holds a full trial on five lawsuits that challenged the program's cancellation.

On Saturday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that in accordance with the injunction, it is resuming acceptance of renewal applications from current DACA recipients. Alsup's order does not require the agency to accept new applications, however.

Alsup said in his decision that Sessions' conclusion that the DACA program was illegal was based on a "mistake of law."

The judge said that previous use of deferred immigration action by the executive branch "has been blessed by both the Supreme Court and Congress as a means to exercise enforcement discretion."

The lawsuits pending before Alsup were filed by the University of California; the states of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota; the city of San Jose; six individuals; and Santa Clara County together with the Service Employees International Union.

Two other lawsuits are pending in federal court in New York.

A possible measure to continue DACA is also being debated in the current budget negotiations in Congress.

California lawmakers in an announcement Tuesday with the state insurance commissioner put forth several bills and proposals intended to ease the recovery process for wildfire survivors.

The announcement came in Sacramento where Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones gathered with state legislators who have introduced some of the bills.

"These are very common sense, reasonable proposals," Jones said.

Most of the ideas in the package will not have any effect on survivors of this year's wildfires but would affect survivors of future disasters, Jones said.

Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Ukiah, introduced Senate Bill 897, which seeks to amend the coverage for contents, allowing policyholders to settle for 80 percent of the contents limit without having to compile a home inventory during a declared state of emergency.

The bill, if it becomes law, would be retroactive for the North Bay fires and the Thomas Fire in Southern California.

Some insurance companies have already dropped the requirement to provide an inventory, McGuire said.

Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, has proposed SB 894, which among other things, would require insurance companies to guarantee two renewals or renewal protection for 24 months, whichever is greater.

Also, insured people could collect additional living expenses benefits for 36 months rather than 24 months.

Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, has introduced AB 1722, which would extend the time to rebuild and collect full replacement costs from 24 to 36 months after a declared disaster.

Aguiar-Curry introduced the bill because often after a disaster, there is a shortage of construction workers and an increased demand for construction workers in areas affected by the disaster.

Assemblymember Marc Levine, D-Marin County, introduced three bills. AB 1797 would require insurance companies to perform a replacement cost estimate for both new policies and at each annual renewal.

"One major issue is underinsurance," Levine said.

The yearly estimate would keep replacement costs up with rising costs of construction over the life of the policy.

Levine, when he looked at his homeowner's policy, said he thought, "Wow, this is a woefully inadequate number to rebuild."

AB 1799 would require insurers to provide residents with a copy of their complete policy upon request, while AB 1800 would allow an insured person to collect the full replacement cost of their property whether they decide to rebuild at the same location, rebuild at another location or purchase a home at a new location.

Assemblymember Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara, who was not present at the announcement, is proposing a bill, which has yet to be introduced, that would add the consolidated debris removal program to the insurance code.

The bill would require insurance companies to participate in the program after a wildfire or other disaster, but Limon's office couldn't immediately say how.

According to Sonoma County officials, the Army Corps of Engineers has coordinated the cleanup of 865,872 tons of debris from the North Bay wildfires, with 694,607 tons from Sonoma County.

Jones did not say whether insurance rates would go up or if coverage would drop because of the package of bills and proposals.

He said the state's insurance market is robust and thinks it can accommodate the package without significant impacts.

Forty-nine patients were evacuated from an Antioch assisted living center Tuesday afternoon after a dryer inside the center caught fire, officials with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.

The fire was reported at 1:14 p.m. at Country Place Assisted Living at 1715 Olive Lane.

A dryer caught fire in the commercial laundry area of the center. A sprinkler system turned on, however, and kept the fire from spreading, fire Capt. George Laing said.

The center sustained smoke and water damage and the residents were taken to another facility in Antioch, according to Laing.

Twelve people, including a family of four, were displaced Tuesday afternoon when a two-alarm fire broke out and damaged two apartment buildings in San Francisco's Nob Hill neighborhood.

The blaze was first reported at 3:47 p.m. in the 1400 block of Taylor Street, near Pacific Avenue.

Crews arriving at the scene found heavy fire affecting two different three-story structures with a total of 20 residential units between them.

The fire was under control by 4:33 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

Fire officials said the blaze appeared to be accidental in nature, however, the official cause is under investigation.

Seven adults and five juvenile residents were arrested Jan. 10 in a sting targeting a gang, according to San Jose police.

The operation involving more than 50 officers focused on what police described as a "violent criminal gang" that is believed to be responsible for a series of robberies, carjackings, burglaries and a shooting.

The adults arrested were identified as San Jose residents Diego Diaz, 18, Ezekial Brown, 18, Javis Anthony, 18, Aida Gutierrez, 42, Jose Hernandez Pedroza, 22, Anwar Mohammad, 21 and Rafael Quintero, 18.

Police said the crew was responsible for at least 30 robberies and carjackings since the summer of 2017. During one of the robberies, a victim was assaulted and suffered a serious head injury.

During the crimes, the gang often used stolen vehicles and firearms, according to police.

During the arrests, police seized seven firearms, one carjacked vehicle, $2,000 in cash, ammunition, replica firearms, a stun gun, pepper spray, knives, and stolen property such as laptops, tablets, keys and key fobs as evidence.

Authorities served eight search and arrest warrants in the city of San Jose and one in the city of Morgan Hill in order to make the arrests.

The adults were booked into Santa Clara County Jail and the juveniles, ranging from 15 to 17 years of age, were booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. The suspects were booked on offenses including robbery, carjacking, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, child endangerment, possession of a loaded firearm, possession of stolen property, possession of drugs and gang enhancement. police said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact Detective Michael White or Detective Tedros Habib of the San Jose police's robbery unit at (408) 277-4166.

Those who wish to remain anonymous may either call the Crime Stoppers tip line at (408) 947-7867 or can click the "Submit A Tip" link on the San Jose police website.

A 56-year-old Novato woman died when she was struck by a vehicle on Novato Boulevard Tuesday afternoon, Novato police said.

The woman was hit in the 1900 block of Novato Boulevard around 1:20 p.m. The vehicle was traveling east on Novato Boulevard between Simmons Lane and McClay Road when the incident happened, police said.

The woman suffered traumatic injuries to her head and extremities and she was taken to Marin General Hospital where she died, police said.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation.

Anyone who witnessed the collision is asked to call Novato police at (415) 897-4361.

Today will be mostly cloudy with highs in the upper 50s. West winds will be between 5 and 15 mph.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy with lows in the lower 50s. Southwest winds will be between 5 and 10 mph.

Thursday will be cloudy and breezy with a chance of rain. Highs will be in the upper 50s. South winds will be between 10 and 20 mph, increasing to southwest winds between 20 and 30 mph in the afternoon.
BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seurat Technologies today announced it has closed a $13.5 million Series A round of funding led by True Ventures. Additional investors include GM Ventures, Porsche SE, next47 on behalf of Siemens Power and Gas, and Maniv Mobility. The funds will be used to accelerate the commercialization of Seurats breakthrough metal additive manufacturing technology. Seurat previously raised $3.41 million in a seed financing led by True Ventures in June 2016.

Seurat will bring to market an industrial metal printer with unparalleled speed and resolution. Weve been able to hit some significant milestones over the past few months, said Erik Toomre, CEO of Seurat Technologies. These funds will give us the fuel we need to rapidly accelerate our ability to commercialize this breakthrough with an initial focus on the automotive, energy, and aerospace sectors.

Metal additive manufacturing in its current form is still rooted in decades-old technology, said Rohit Sharma, venture partner at True Ventures. We believe the Seurat team is primed to take metal printing from rapid prototyping and custom prints to industrial-grade scale.

Seurats pioneering approach includes technology originally developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) by a team that included Seurats Chief Technology Officer, James DeMuth. Seurat has developed significant core technology since its inception and has applied for more than 20 patents. Our ability to create this new technology would not have been possible without the leading-edge laser and optical engineering work performed at LLNL, DeMuth said.

Its our goal to encourage rapid commercialization of technology developed at LLNL, especially when it can have the potential impact that this additive manufacturing breakthrough will bring to manufacturing, said Richard Rankin, Director of the Innovation and Partnerships Office at LLNL.

About Seurat Technologies

Founded in July 2015, Seurat Technologies is creating the next generation of metal printers designed for industrial scalability. Seurats technology will allow manufacturers to cost effectively print metal at scale combining unprecedented speed, precision, part integrity and reliability. Learn more at www.seuratech.com.

About True Ventures

Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With capital under management in excess of $1.4 billion, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in todays fastest growing markets. With more than 200 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the current True portfolio has helped create over 8,500 jobs. Learn more at www.trueventures.com.

About Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (www.llnl.gov) provides solutions to our nations most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Media contact:

Erik Toomre | CEO | Seurat Technologies Inc. | Tel: (617) 517-9752 | news@seuratech.com
Press Release

Nokia cloud-native packet core solution selected by Telia Company to deliver enhanced mobile broadband and manage mobile network data demand

Nokia selected as sole vendor for cloud packet core for the whole Telia Company in Nordics and Baltics, covering Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania

Nokia's Cloud Native Packet Core provides flexibility, scale and performance to meet demands of enhanced mobile broadband, prepare for enhanced digital services

Solution also allows Telia to deliver on its objectives for competitive operations by increasing automation of service introduction and operations

17 January 2018

Espoo, Finland - Telia Company has chosen Nokia's cloud packet core solution to profitably deliver enhanced mobile broadband, and to provide the massively scalable platform required as part of Telia's Next Generation Core. Nokia's AirGile cloud-native design enables Telia to benefit from a full cloud architecture, allowing it to streamline engineering and operations to run on a common infrastructure across all six countries in which it operates. This will contribute to Telia's ambition for competitive operations, lowering the cost of introducing and operating data services, substantially accelerating time-to-market for differentiated services and expanding business productivity.

As a next step towards harmonization for a more efficient packet core network, Telia Company will evolve their physical common multi-country evolved packet core to a common cloud native solution on a shared cloud infrastructure. Nokia's industry leading and field-proven cloud-native packet core, including its Cloud Mobility Manager and Cloud Mobile Gateway is a key enabler in this transformation . Nokia will begin the deployment of Telia's new core network in multiple data center locations across the company's operations.

As part of its AirGile cloud-native core portfolio, Nokia's packet core design provides the reliability, scalability, flexibility and performance Telia needs to meet the networking requirements and economics for a diverse and demanding range of digital services and applications for consumers and enterprises. The Nokia solution anchors multi-technology access across wireless licensed, shared, unlicensed spectrum and fixed network technologies, and delivers automated cloud networking with dynamic lifecycle management capabilities. These capabilities will help Telia improve service delivery, agility and operational efficiency for its mobile customers.

Sri Reddy, senior vice-president of Nokia's IP and Optical business, said: "There is tremendous potential with the continued growth of mobile broadband, and with new services and 5G in the near future. To take advantage of these opportunities, Telia must deploy a new generation cloud-native packet core that is able to connect to a greater variety of devices and deliver a broader range of services over multiple access technologies. Nokia uniquely combines field-proven cloud-native software, cloud technologies and mobile and IP routing expertise to help Telia speed up service delivery, deliver greater scale and capacity and operate its network more efficiently. Plus, because our cloud packet core is built on our robust, field proven router software (SROS), it provides Telia with a solid foundational framework for the evolution of its 4G and the path forward to 5G."

Did you know?

Elements of Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution, including the Cloud Mobile Gateway, were assessed by the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) and put through the industry's most stringent performance and scale test scenarios. In all cases Nokia's software gear performed with exceptional results, confirming it is ready for today's large-scale deployment including next generation 5G services.

Key Resources

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About Nokia

We create the technology to connect the world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. nokia.com

Media Inquiries:

Nokia

Communications

Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Datametrex AI Limited (the Company or Datametrex) (TSXV:DM) (FSE:D4G) and its San Francisco based joint venture partner Bitnine Global Inc. (Bitnine) are pleased to announce the closing of a non-brokered private placement (the Financing) for Graph Blockchain Limited (Graph or the Joint Venture). As a result of increased demand for the Financing, Graph increased the size of the offering from $1,000,000 to approximately $3,500,000. Pursuant to the terms of the Financing, an aggregate of 35,253,764 common shares in the capital of Graph were issued at a price of $0.10 per common share.



The use of proceeds from the Financing will provide Graph with the funding to continue to build its Graph Blockchain solutions for corporations and government agencies. Graph is developing a prototype for a utility company to analyze electric vehicle charging stations. Graph is also developing the blockchain component dedicated to the medical cannabis industry.

The graph database and blockchain technology being developed by the Joint Venture provides a unique way of organizing, analyzing and displaying blockchain transactional data in real-time. The Graph Database technology being developed by the Joint Venture processes blockchain data up to 1,000 times faster than traditional methods from 7 transactions per second (TPS) to 7,000 TPS. It is believed to be one of the most effective technologies to store, manage and present blockchain transactions specifically in peer-to-peer networks making it ideal for fintech, banking and other mission critical environments.

We have deep domain expertise in Graph Databases and its inherent value in analyzing and presenting data much faster than traditional table based data structures. Bringing this process to the various private and public blockchain platforms is the mission and mandate of the JV, where we can increase performance of the blockchain and data presentation layer considerably, says CheolSun Kang, CEO of Bitnine.

Having to upsize this Financing is a great vote of confidence for the Joint Venture. We look forward to moving forward with our planned spin-out of Graph as previously announced. Graph Blockchain technology is truly compelling for the industry, by not only improving transactional blockchain performance but by presenting data through graphs which is more effective than traditional relational databases, said Andrew Ryu, CEO and Chairman of the Company.

About Graph Blockchain

Graph Blockchain is a joint venture formed between Datametrex and Bitnine. The JV mandate is to bring the value of graph database technology to the blockchain environment where there is a great need to speed performance and present the verified and authenticated data more effectively. Datametrex through Nexalogy and Bitnine graph technology will add tremendous value to blockchain processing and the presentation of its data.

About Bitnine Inc.

Bitnine is a San Francisco based leader of graph business solutions. Bitnine transcends big data problems by creating solutions that are consistently evolving. Bitnine was founded on principles of collaboration, innovation, science and creativity. Bitnine specializes in Graph Database technology solutions for key and unique data analysis.

About the Company

Datametrex AI Limited is focused on the collection of retail sales data, providing Government Agencies and Fortune 500 corporations with Artificial Intelligence solutions and implementing Blockchain technology for secure Data Transfers and Cryptocurrency Mining.

Additional information on Datametrex is available at: www.datametrex.com.

To stay informed about Datametrex, please join our Investor Group on 8020 Connect http://bit.ly/2fPUNwF for all upcoming news releases, articles comments and questions.

For further information, please contact:

Jeffrey Stevens  President & COO

Phone: (647) 400-8494

Email: jstevens@datametrex.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking information and statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company`s belief regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control.

Generally, such forward-looking information or statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, will continue, will occur or will be achieved.

The forward-looking information contained herein includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the terms, timing and completion of the proposed spin-out of Graph. By identifying such information and statements in this manner, the Company is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements.

Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information or statements contained in this press release.

The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that is contained or referenced herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice.
English Finnish

Sponda Plc Press release 17 January 2018 at 11:15

Sponda to open a new MOW hub in Tampere

Sponda's award-winning coworking concept MOW (Mothership of Work) is expanding as Sponda opens a new coworking space in the Ratina shopping centre in Tampere in autumn 2018.

MOW in Ratina will provide flexible working space for 300 entrepreneurs and employees in the best location in Tampere. The coworking space will be established in the former Autotuonti building that will be completely renovated. This functionalist building will have a direct connection to the Ratina shopping centre. In true MOW style, the two-storey space will have lounge areas, more quiet areas with work desks, meeting rooms and spaces suitable for various types of events. In addition, the services provided by MOW, such as office technology, IT support and lobby services, will be available to everyone working in the premises.

The MOW hub to be opened in Ratina is Sponda's first coworking space located in a shopping centre, further expanding the operating environment of MOW. The hybrid concept in Tampere is a novel approach to bringing MOW closer to people and services. Sponda has previously established two MOWs in Helsinki - one in the city's creative centre on Pieni Roobertinkatu and the other in Ruoholahti, area favoured by large companies.

Pia Arrhenius, Sponda's Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning and Coworking, believes that MOW will be the edgy newcomer in the office space market in Tampere. "As a major growth centre, Tampere is an excellent location for us to expand our coworking concept. Tampere has a large number of big and small companies, and MOW is the perfect meeting place for these companies. MOW in Ratina will be a hub for top entrepreneurs in the city's best location, with all the services of a modern office readily available. In addition, the premises will be connected to the lively shopping centre and its services, ensuring that everything you need can be found under the same roof," says Arrhenius.

Major emphasis in the future of communal and flexible office premises

Sponda is confident that the demand for flexible and communal working spaces will grow. In addition to opening new MOWs, the company has made significant investments in its coworking business, which will be celebrating its second anniversary this February. The coworking hubs were established as a separate business unit at the beginning of this year, and Pia Arrhenius, was appointed as the head of the coworking unit. Arrhenius has steered Sponda's MOW concept since the very beginning, and she sees the revolution in work as a major driver for change in the office space market.

"The future of working life is a hot topic of discussion in the office space market, but the revolution in work is already happening. At Sponda, we are boldly creating new working spaces and ways of working. Companies need flexible spaces without having to commit themselves for years, and all the necessary services are already thought through and available. There are also small entrepreneurs and employees who, instead of working remotely, want be part of a supportive community that helps them in their work. That's exactly what MOW is," states Arrhenius.

More details on the opening of Ratina's MOW in the autumn will be published later. The Ratina shopping centre, which will be opened on 19 April, is the largest shopping centre in Tampere and will be a major concentration of services and businesses.





More information: Pia Arrhenius, Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning and Coworking, +358 40 527 4462

Sponda Plc is a property investment company specialising in commercial properties in Finland's largest cities. Sponda's business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centres into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda's investment properties is approximately EUR 3.9 billion, with a total leasable area of around 1.2 million m2.
On 16 January 2018, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (the "MPE") announced the awards of new production licenses through the Awards in Pre-defined Areas (APA 2017) licensing round.



Based on the offered awards, Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (the "Company" or "EMGS"), expects to realise net uplift revenues of approximately USD 1 million from data-licensing agreements related to the Company's multi-client library.



The uplift revenues, which are subject to the Company's customers' formal approval of the awards offered by the MPE, will be recognised in the first quarter of 2018.



Contact

Hege Veiseth, EMGS Chief Financial Officer, +47 992 16 743



About EMGS

EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give exploration experts a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel.



EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Villahermosa, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur.



For more information, visit www.emgs.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday Health Advance Inc. (OTC PINK:HADV) filed a Form 8-K Report, adopting a new Board Resolution to appoint new executive managers and officers of the Company to take effect immediately.



The Company has appointed Chairman and Executive Director, Greg Shusterman as the new Acting President of Health Advance Inc. Shusterman was appointed as Director and Vice Chairman at Health Advance in 2017 and was the Acting Chairman and Executive Director through January 2018. Before joining Health Advance he served as a consultant to national robotic surgical clinics MiVIP Surgery Centers and oBand Inc. Additionally, Shusterman was co-founder and Executive Vice President at Gubagoo Inc., a leading customer communications solution platform serving thousands of clients including Ford, Fiat, Chrysler, BMW, Volkswagen, Kia and Land Rover. His entrepreneurial experience has helped bring start-up companies through growth and expansion phases, to maturity and exit.



Furthermore, the Company has appointed Board Director, Christian Diesveld as Vice President of Investor Relations who will assist the Company with fund-raising goals. Diesveld previously worked various senior leadership positions for a number of companies, including, but not limited to, Hantian Labs Limited, a pending acquisition of the Company, where Mr. Diesveld was recently named UK CEO of the Year  Small Enterprise in the Health and Wellness sector. Additionally, Diesveld brings over twenty years experience in capital markets, specializing in private equity and venture capital with FCA licensed firms. Diesveld attended York University where he majored in International Business and worked at Nesbitt Burns as an Investment Advisor.



Micro Medtech Ltd. remains active with the Company under a license agreement, working on developing two patented medical food formulations derived from NSAID alternatives and botanical extract blends that contain kava, cannabidiol ("CBD), and mitragyna speciosa (better known as kratom)- Med-patents, known as Polyoxyfen and Cebidiofen. An exhibit from the recent most quarterly report for the Company filed in December displayed that there are plans for clinical trials and a medical research program titled KLEAN beginning early this year at a government accredited medical college in Pohnpei, Micronesia.



For more information about Health Advance visit www.hadvinc.com and www.staycleanmed.com.
Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Comedian, actor, and producer Russell Peters is ready to sell his Malibu, CA, beach house at a bargain price. Peters has relisted his mansion for $8.8 million, which is about $3 million less than what he was asking for in 2016.

But have no fear, the notoriously thrifty funnyman might still clear a profit. He purchased the property in 2015 for $4.73 million.
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

MLB pitcher Mike Leake has left the St. Louis Cardinals via a midseason trade in 2017. Now, the righty is also saying goodbye to his Missouri home, which is on the market for $3.5 million.

The starting pitcher was traded to the Seattle Mariners only a year and a half after signing a long-term deal with the Redbirds, so it's likely he has no more use for a home thats a convenient drive to Busch Stadium.
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Broke and needing to return to his home in England, Ryan Hawaii had no money to pay a 90 ($124) excess luggage charge for his flight from Iceland to London.

But Hawaii  whose real name is Ryan Carney Williams  couldn't fit all his clothes in his stuffed suitcase. His solution was to wear everything he couldn't pack.

That meant putting on eight pairs of pants and 10 shirts.

At the British Airways gate at Iceland Keflavik airport Wednesday, the multi-layered Hawaii was denied a boarding pass, the Icelandic news site MbI.is reported. The reason given was that he was acting rudely.

When he refused to leave the flight desk, security tried to escort him out, but he refused. Eventually police were called in.

Hawaii, who has dreadlocks and wears flashy clothes, claims he was sprayed with mace and forced to the ground despite acting politely. In a tweet posted later, he wrote, "Racial profiling?"

The next day, after proceeding through check-in and security successfully, the overdressed Hawaii tried to board an EasyJet flight, but was again blocked at the gate. Word about the previous day's incident had spread, and the EasyJet captain and ground crew were reportedly uneasy about Hawaii coming aboard.

Hawaii finally caught a Norwegian Air flight to London. British Airways and EasyJet eventually gave him full refunds.

British Airways denied that any racial profiling had taken place.

"The decision to deny boarding was absolutely not based on race," a spokeswoman for the airline said. "We do not tolerate threatening or abusive behavior from any customer, and will always take the appropriate action."
Sunnyvale, Calif., USA, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- News Highlights:

Zulu Enterprise commercial support offerings for OpenJDK address new production challenges introduced by the recently announced OpenJDK and Java SE release cadence and update plan

Zulu Enterprise eliminates the support cliffs created once public Java SE releases are no longer updated and maintained, providing support period overlaps and smooth transitions for production deployments

Zulu Enterprise introduces unique Medium Term Support (MTS), enabling practical production use of new Java features well ahead of alternative JVMs/JDKs

Azul Systems (Azul), the award-winning leader in Java runtime solutions, today announced a new Zulu Enterprise support roadmap designed to help businesses adapt to the changing Java SE release cadence. Azuls Zulu Enterprise offering provides certified 100% open source builds of OpenJDK compliant with Java SE specifications supported across a plethora of operating systems, containers and on-premises and cloud deployments.

The OpenJDK and Java SE release cadence and update plans have gone through radical changes recently. Starting with the release of JDK 9 (aka Java 9), the official new release cadence for Java SE consists of Long Term Support (LTS) releases along with a new class of feature releases. General availability of LTS releases is scheduled every 3 years, with additional feature releases every six months. These feature releases enable new capabilities to be added to the Java SE platform in a more rapid manner than the historical multi-year release intervals between for example JDK 6 and 7, and JDK 7 and 8.

The new Java SE release cadence has several challenges for production environments:

The availability of public updates for LTS releases are planned for only 6 months after general availability (GA). LTS updates after the first 6 months are available only through paid commercial support from Oracle.

are planned for only 6 months after general availability (GA). LTS updates after the first 6 months are available only through paid commercial support from Oracle. Beginning with JDK 11, Oracles public JDK updates end concurrent with the GA of a new release. For example, Oracle will no longer offer public updates for JDK 8 once JDK 11 is released in September, 2018.

As JDK 11 will take time to become production-worthy, this support cliff presents major challenges and stability risks, forcing users of public updates to choose between using an immature release or one with known security vulnerabilities.

The frequent feature releases enable access to new capabilities in the JDK/JVM well before the next LTS, but their zero-overlap support cliff makes them problematic for production use, as there is no smooth transition path from one stable and updated version to the next.

Azul is addressing these challenges with an updated Zulu Enterprise support roadmap as follows:

Zulu Enterprise releases will align with Oracles and OpenJDKs scheduled GA for all releases of Java SE, but offer overlapping support coverage from one release to the next .

. Zulu Long-Term Support (LTS) releases will align with Oracle and OpenJDK LTS releases, and will be supported with bug fixes and security updates for a period of at least 8 years from the GA date.

Zulu Enterprise also provides Medium-Term Support (MTS) for certain Java releases. MTS releases enable practical use in production deployments of the new capabilities available in feature releases without having to wait for the next LTS release. Azul designates one MTS release per year in the years between LTS releases and provide support, bug fixes and security updates for 18 months past the GA date of the following LTS release, ensuring support overlap and a smooth transition path for production deployments.

for certain Java releases. MTS releases enable practical use in production deployments of the new capabilities available in feature releases without having to wait for the next LTS release. Azul designates one MTS release per year in the years between LTS releases and provide support, bug fixes and security updates for 18 months past the GA date of the following LTS release, ensuring support overlap and a smooth transition path for production deployments. Finally, Zulu Enterprise provides Short-Term Support (STS) for the remaining Java SE feature releases. STS support allows users the earliest access to new Java features with sufficient support and updates to allow a smooth transition to a newer JDK release.

Zulu Enterprise lifecycles for specific Java SE releases are available at www.azul.com/products/azul_support_roadmap.

Industry perspectives on Azuls new Zulu Enterprise Support Roadmap

While we are delighted that the Java SE platform is now evolving at a far more rapid pace, we were concerned with the very short lifecycles of the new planned feature releases said Attila Bukta, Director of OMS Service Reliability Engineering at Workday, Inc. We like having the ability to try new Java features as they become available, but are not at all interested in releases that reach end-of-life in only six months. We are very pleased with how Azuls Zulu Enterprise support plans ensure that we can take advantage of interesting new features without having to wait 3 or more years between Javas major releases.

Azuls new Zulu Enterprise Support roadmap ensures that Payaras customers can take advantage of the latest features of the JDK before the next long-term release is available, said Steve Millidge, Payara Founder and Technical Director. Our customers can develop and deploy mission critical applications on Payara Sever and Zulu Enterprise knowing that they will have time for a controlled transition between JDK releases on a fully supported platform.

While Oracles latest announcements provide a welcome path to accelerate the Java SE platform evolution, many Java users may find the short support lifespan of new feature releases incompatible with their best practices, said John Abbott, Founder and Research VP at 451 Research. Azuls new Zulu Enterprise support roadmap provides an alternative for users and enterprises who wish to selectively standardize on new features without the three-year wait for long-term support releases of Java.

We applaud the changes in the Java SE roadmap and the commitment to include new features in a more rapid manner, said Scott Sellers, Azul Systems president and CEO. Azuls Zulu Enterprise offering allows Java users to embrace new platform releases at the pace they desire, secure in the knowledge that they will not be driven off a support cliff when the public builds of Java SE are no longer being updated and maintained.

Zulu Enterprise builds of OpenJDK are freely available for immediate download and use, without restrictions, from the Azul Systems website. For additional details on Zulu Enterprise support options and pricing, visit https://www.azul.com/products/zulu-and-zulu-enterprise/zulu-enterprise-java-support-options or contact an Azul representative or reseller at info@azul.com.

About Azul Systems

@Azulsystems

Azul Systems, the industry's only company exclusively focused on Java and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), builds fully supported, certified standards-compliant Java runtime solutions that bring the power of Java to the enterprise, cloud, and embedded/IoT. Zing is a JVM designed for enterprise Java applications and workloads that require any combination of low latency, high transaction rates, large working memory, and/or consistent response times. Zulu is Azuls certified, freely available open source build of OpenJDK with a variety of flexible support options, available in configurations for the enterprise, cloud, as well as custom and embedded/IoT devices. For additional information, visit https://www.azul.com.

Azul Systems, the Azul Systems logo, Zulu, Zing and ReadyNow! are registered trademarks. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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BANGKOK  Activist Nyo Tun spent 10 years as a political prisoner locked away by Myanmars military in the notorious Insein prison, where he endured beatings and other cruelty for his efforts to bring democracy.

The military government was so brutal for many years, he said of the former junta, which ruled the country for decades until 2012 and then by proxy four more years  and still has a final say on security matters. All they knew was how to torture anyone who was against them.

Myanmar, long isolated both by choice and by international sanctions, has undergone a transformation in recent years. Another former political prisoner, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was elected the head of a civilian government, which led to the easing of most sanctions and an influx of foreign investment.

Yet the most striking change may be the majority Buddhist Burman populations view of its military: An institution once despised has seen its popularity surge alongside a rise in nationalism that has accompanied a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state in western Myanmar that has left thousands dead and more than 650,000 displaced.

While most of the outside world is appalled by what U.N. and U.S. officials have called ethnic cleansing that has grown into Asias worst refugee crisis in decades, many in Myanmar support it. They see the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh who are a threat to national security and bristle at international condemnation of rights abuses.

That includes Nyo Tun, who says he was beaten, slapped, denied food and water and access to the toilet for days during his interrogation.

The military dictatorship was in the past and the new military institution is much different, he said, adding it was unlikely that the military was committing crimes in Rakhine. They are defending the country and thats how they get the support from people because its all about the national spirit for everyone.

Thousands have rallied in cities across the country in support of the troops, known locally as the Tatmadaw. Commander-in-chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who remains constitutionally beyond the control of Suu Kyis government, is regularly praised by the public on his official Facebook page.

The military said in November an internal investigation has absolved its forces of allegations of atrocities. However, citing credible evidence of mass killings, rapes and villages being burned, the U.S. announced last month it had sanctioned Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Soe, who until recently was chief of the armys Western Command responsible for security operations in Rakhine.

Long live the army and commander in chief, said one recent Facebook comment. The army has done well for the country, we are very proud of it, said another. Thank you for clearing all the Bengali terrorists, read another.
1 False alarm: In a sign, perhaps, that the world is on edge about a potential nuclear war, Japans public broadcaster on Tuesday accidentally sent news alerts that North Korea had launched a missile and that citizens should take shelter  just days after the government of Hawaii had sent a similar warning to its citizens. The broadcaster, NHK, corrected itself five minutes later and apologized for the error on its evening news. The initial texts cited J-Alert, a system used by the government to issue warnings to its citizens about missiles, tsunamis and other natural disasters.

2 Treason charge: Irans supreme leader has accused Saudi Arabia of treason against Muslims because of its alleged ties to Israel. Addressing representatives from the Muslim-majority countries in Tehran on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said governments that help the United States and cooperate with the Zionist regime to fight Muslim brothers are committing treason, like what Saudis are doing. However, he also said Iran is ready to adopt a brotherly attitude toward countries that have been hostile toward it, and called for Muslim unity. Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties in 2016 and support opposing sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen.
BEIRUT  Syrias dominant Kurdish party on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to act quickly to ensure the safety of Kurdish-controlled territories in the countrys north, including an enclave that Turkey has threatened to attack.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will launch a military offensive in the coming days against territories controlled by the dominant Syrian Kurdish militia in northwestern and eastern Syria, and in particular the enclave of Afrin, where an estimated 1 million people live.

Turkey views the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces as terrorists, and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast. It has criticized the U.S. for extending support and arming the Kurdish forces as part of the campaign that drove the Islamic State from large parts of Syria.

The Kurdish militia, which forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, now controls nearly 25 percent of Syrian territory. It is the U.S.-led coalitions chief ally in the campaign against Islamic State in Syria.

The U.S.-led coalition recently said it is planning a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border force, further angering Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that those plans were a perilous step that would seriously endanger ties. The two met in Vancouver Tuesday.

Such a development would damage Turkish-American ties in an irreversible manner, the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying on Wednesday.

Erdogan said the imminent military operation is to purge terror from near its borders. Along with Afrin, Erdogan has also threatened Manbij, a town the Kurdish-led SDF seized from Islamic State in 2016.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, the political arm of the main Kurdish militia, said that if Turkey launches an operation against Afrin, the world will bear responsibility for the lives of people residing there. The PYD called on the Security Council to move immediately to ensure the security of Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria.

Such a responsible behavior will lead to the desired result in finding a resolution for the Syrian crisis, the PYD said in a statement.

The Syrian government of President Bashar Assad has meanwhile accused the SDF of being traitors for cooperating with the United States.

On Monday, Erdogan accused the United States of creating an army of terror in Syria along the border with Turkey, a reference to the plans for the border force. He vowed to crush the border force and called on NATO to take a stand against the United States, a fellow ally.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists said Turkish military activities near the borders with Afrin have continued, as well as shelling of the outskirts of the town.

Sarah El Deeb and Suzan Fraser are Associated Press writers.
BANGOR, MAINE, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Husson Universitys Southern Maine campus in Westbrook announced today that it will be embarking on a series of new initiatives designed to help meet the educational needs of area businesses and individuals looking to further develop their careers.

Husson is ready to assist employees in moving their careers to the next level with flexible classroom hours that fit into the busiest of schedules, and online learning programs for those who need to balance work and family life as they earn a degree, said William Watson, general manager - Westbrook campus and director of corporate partnerships.

Students and businesses looking for a professional educational provider dedicated to providing students with the skills necessary to achieve career success should definitely consider Husson. Our goal is to ensure our graduates are job-ready on day one.

Husson is offering a new online certificate in data analytics. This certificate program is ideal for students who are interested in solving problems. The data analytics program uses tools from computer science, mathematics, statistics, and communication to collect, organize, and analyze information in order to make informed decisions.

Data analytics can be applied to a wide range of fields including business and finance, energy, the environment, healthcare, logistics, and security. Designed to fit in easily with other courses of study, the online data analytics certification can be completed independently or as part of programs leading to a Bachelor of Science in business administration, a Bachelor of Science in healthcare management, a Bachelor of Science in healthcare studies and a Bachelor of Science in integrated technology.

Students interested in pursuing a career in information technology can also enroll in the universitys integrated technology program online, or take classes at Hussons Southern Maine, Northern Maine or Bangor campuses. With concentrations in computer information systems; software development; and web design and development, graduates of this program will be qualified to work in a number of important technology-related positions.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting increased job demand for individuals pursuing careers in computer and integrated technology. According to the Bureaus Occupational Outlook Handbook, job opportunities for computer and integrated technology professionals are projected to grow 12 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. As of May 2016, these jobs have a median annual wage of $82,860.

The biggest growth in Maines economy, however, will be in the healthcare sector due to Maines aging population. According to current projections, over 8,000 new jobs will be created in the state by 2024 in the healthcare and social assistance sector.[1] This will be largest sector of employment growth during the next decade.

In an effort to meet employer demand, Husson is offering students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Science in healthcare studies at its Bangor campus or online. Healthcare leaders are essential to the success of hospitals, clinics, doctors offices, public health departments, nursing homes, mental health organizations, rehabilitation centers, biotechnology companies, and research institutions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for medical and health services managers, healthcare executives, and healthcare administrators was $96,540 in May 2016.[2]

Students want to work with an educational provider they know they can trust to be there for them today, and for the years to come. Husson University has been in Maine for over 119 years, continued Watson. With over a century of educational leadership in our state, students in Southern Maine and beyond can count on us to provide them the education they need to reach their professional goals.

Husson University prepares future leaders to handle the challenges of tomorrow through innovative undergraduate and graduate degrees. With a commitment to delivering affordable classroom, online and experiential learning opportunities, Husson has come to represent superior value in higher education. Our Bangor campus and off-campus satellite education centers in Southern Maine, Wells, and Northern Maine provide advanced knowledge in business; health and education; pharmacy studies, science and humanities; as well as communication. In addition, Husson University has a robust adult learning program. For more information about educational opportunities that can lead to personal and professional success, visit Husson.edu.

# # #

[1] Maine Workforce Outlook 2014 to 2024, Center for Workforce Research, Maine Department of Labor, http://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/data/projections/2024/2024_Outlook.pdf

[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Medical and Health Services Managers, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/Management/Medical-and-health-services-managers.htm

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Attachments:

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Attachments:

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HARTSVILLE, S.C., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonoco (NYSE:SON) today announced it is implementing a $50 per ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) in the United States and Canada, effective with shipments beginning February 19, 2017.



A positive of the robust economy is solid backlogs at our mills. A challenge that the growing economy presents is inflating input costs such as we are seeing in freight, energy and a host of other paper-making consumables. Sonoco must seek to recover these inflating costs in the market, said Palace Stepps, division vice president of sales and marketing for Sonocos U.S. and Canada paper and adhesives.



Sonoco is one of the largest integrated manufacturers of uncoated recycled paperboard in the United States and Canada, producing more than one million tons annually from 11 mills. For more information about Sonocos complete line of URB paper products, or to learn more about current pricing, please visit the Companys website at www.sonoco.com or contact the Company at 1-800-377-2692.



About Sonoco

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $5 billion, the Company has 20,000 employees working in more than 300 facilities in 33 countries, serving many of the worlds best known brands in some 85 nations. For more information on the Company, visit our website at www.sonoco.com.

Contact:

Roger Schrum

+843-339-6018

roger.schrum@sonoco.com
VistaJet ideally positioned to seize even larger market share in 2018



Flew over 50,000 passengers in one year for the first time

Investment from Rhone Capital values companys equity at over $2.5bn  making VistaJet one of the only companies in the business aviation market to be valued in excess of $1bn and one of Europes most valuable Unicorns

Double digit growth in flight hours in the US and Asia

Market outperformance in the Middle East  number of new Program customers grew by 50% year-on-year in the region

45% of US Program customers who joined in 2017 have booked additional hours

Increased market share in all markets, including the US and the Middle East

Now have 72 long range aircraft, making its fleet one of the largest in the private aviation sector

Average flight times increasing, and expected to rise still further in 2018

Focused on taking advantage of sector leading position in Middle East and building market share in North America and Asia

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VistaJet, the first and only global business aviation company, today announced that it had its strongest ever year in 2017, with flight hours up markedly year-on-year. It also made significant progress on its core strategic priorities, increasing market share across the globe, and recording double digit growth in flight hours in both the US and Asia. Also, following investment from funds affiliated with Rhone Capital, the companys equity is valued well in excess of $2.5bn, cementing VistaJets position as one of the top five European unicorns by funding.1

If current trends continue, 2018 is expected to be another momentous year for the company. The upper-end of the sector historically tracks the global economy, and with Europe, the US and the Middle East seeing growth once more, demand is only set to build in 2018. While the more budget end of the sector is struggling, trading for premium brands such as VistaJet is strong, as business leaders, corporations and UHNWIs are becoming ever more selective in their booking choices.

Where previously customers were most interested in speed and efficiency, in 2018 the key will be attention to detail, additional services, and a personalized experience. Generations that have grown up with having the world at their fingertips are increasingly searching for travel options that match their lifestyles, preferences, and attitudes. On top of that, the options created by exciting new long-range aircraft models such as the Global 7000 will only add to the positive momentum in the sector. Customers are also choosing to fly ever more globally, meaning that average flight times are rising. As a result, demand for larger aircraft is building; in the private aviation market, only VistaJet is able to meet this need all over the world.

With the growth of the tech sector on the West Coast of the US and a growing body of entrepreneurs in key global financial hubs such as Dubai, the audience for private aviation will get even younger in 2018. After many years of stability, the private aviation industry is finally beginning to innovate to meet this burgeoning demand. VistaJet is at the forefront of these steps; its On Demand solutions and Direct app give entrepreneurs transparency over pricing, and its business model is based on access over ownership, an approach users of Uber and Airbnb are familiar with.



Other 2017 highlights include:

VistaJet performed strongly in the Middle East, with the number of new Program customers growing by 50% year on year. The company recorded a particularly robust performance in the UAE, and the growing markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman. The UAE accounted for the majority of flights in the region (at 28%), and the number of flight hours (37%).

Heading into 2018, VistaJet is seeing very positive trends in the Middle East, with both flight hours and flight numbers increasing significantly. In the fourth quarter of last year, the number of flights to the UAE grew by 44%, and to Oman by 300%.

VistaJet continued to grow its market share in the key markets of the US and Asia. While the market as a whole in the US grew by low single digits, VistaJet saw its flight hours increase by 38% year-on-year, and the number of flights by 49%. One of the main drivers of this growth was the sustained demand on the West Coast of the US, particularly from the Tech sector.

Strong growth in Asia, with flight hours increasing by 16%. The fastest growing countries in the region were China and India. With its growing economy and increasing number of global entrepreneurs, India is set to be one of the most exciting markets for the private aviation sector in the world over the next 5 years. In addition, the economy in China is proving more resilient than many expected, meaning that the private aviation sector is likely to flourish in the country throughout 2018.

VistaJet cemented its position as one of the leading operators in Europe in 2017. Europe accounted for 41% of the total hours flown by the company in the period, with the UK making up 26%, France 19% and Italy 11% of regional flights.

VistaJet continued to lead the market in 2017 in terms of innovation and technology. Over the last twelve months, the company launched VistaJet Direct, its new digital membership which offers priority access to VistaJets one-way and empty leg flights at preferential rates. The new offer is expected to be a key driver of the business growth over the coming years.

Thomas Flohr, VistaJet's Founder and Chairman, said:

Last year was undoubtedly a transformational year for VistaJet, and a turning point in its history. With the investment from Rhone Capital, we are now firmly established as one of Europes leading and most exciting unicorns, and one of the only companies in the business aviation market to be valued in excess of $1bn.

We had our strongest ever year in 2017. Along with seizing market share from our rivals in all of our core markets, including the largest market in the world  the US, we reinforced our position as the brand of choice for the worlds leading business leaders and entrepreneurs. In the last twelve months, we have flown more Chief Executives and Chairmen to more destinations than we ever have before.

We head into 2018 in a fantastic position. While some of our smaller competitors are finding trading challenging, with our unicorn status and robust operational foundations we are ideally placed to lead the market and seize any new opportunities that arise. We are committed to becoming the No.1 player in every market in which we operate, and we are on course to make great strides towards that goal over the next twelve months.

Looking ahead to 2018, the company remains focused on building its share in the largest markets in the world, namely North America and Asia, while also taking advantage of its sector leading position in the rapidly growing markets in the Middle East. VistaJets subscription business model will continue to be a central pillar in its business, and with more customers than ever before expected to choose to increase their hours in 2018, the global trend away from full and fractional ownership is set to continue.

Information

Jennifer Farquhar

VistaJet International

T: +44 (0) 203 617 3077

M: +44 (0) 7834 335505

jennifer.farquhar@vistajet.com

James Leviton

Finsbury

+44 207 251 3851

VistaJet@finsbury.com

About VistaJet

VistaJet is the first and only global aviation company. On its fleet of silver and red business jets, VistaJet has flown corporations, governments and private clients to 187 countries worldwide. Founded in 2004 by Thomas Flohr, the company pioneered an innovative business model where customers pay only for the hours they fly, free of the responsibilities and asset risks linked to aircraft ownership. VistaJets signature Program service offers customers a bespoke subscription of flight hours on its fleet of mid and long-range jets, to fly them anywhere and at any time.



____________________________

1 https://www.nanalyze.com/2017/10/8-biggest-startups-europe/

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Rockville, MD, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emulsifier and co-emulsifiers are increasingly used in the food production as it makes oil-in-water emulsion possible. Food processing industry is using both natural and synthetic emulsifiers. The use of emulsifier and co-emulsifiers in foods have also increased as manufacturers are focusing on providing food products with low fat content, and also maintaining flavor and texture of the food products. The most commonly used raw materials for producing emulsifiers are soy bean oil, palm oil, and sunflower oil. Natural food emulsifiers are gaining lot of popularity in the market as apart from maintaining freshness of the food for a long time, it also prevent growth of molds in food. Foods including biscuits, cakes, soft drinks, frozen desserts, bread, and caramels are some of the largest users of natural emulsifiers.

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However, stringent regulations by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and governments across different countries on safety of preservatives is hampering the growth of the market. Moreover, lot of food emulsifiers are banned in various parts of the world.

As per the report compiled by Fact.MR, the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market is expected to witness strong growth, growing at a CAGR of 7.8% in terms of value throughout the forecast period. The global emulsifier and co-emulsifiers market is also projected to generate revenue of US$ 2,421.3 million by the end of 2026. Meanwhile, in the terms of volume, the market is expected to reach 2,178000 tons by 2026 end. Emulsifier and co-emulsifiers are being used on a large scale in various food products as it helps in reducing fat content in the food along with enhancing taste and maintaining food quality. Following are some insights on how the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market will perform in the coming years.

4 Forecast Highlights on Global Emulsifiers and Co-emulsifiers Market

1- Europe is expected to dominate the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market in terms of revenue. By the end of 2026, Europe is projected to reach nearly US$ 1000 million revenue. Increasing use of food additives in various food products is driving the market growth in the region.

2- North America and Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) are also expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. The U.S. is one of the major consumer of emulsifying products. Moreover, clean label trend going on in the country is also expected to boost the use of natural emulsifiers.

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3- Mono, Di - Glycerides & Derivatives are expected to witness the highest growth in the global emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers market. By the end of 2026, mono, di - glycerides & derivatives are projected to bring in more than US$ 2,000 million in terms of value.

4- Food & Beverages industry is expected to be the largest user of emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers. Food & beverages industry is projected to exceed US$ 1,200 million revenue by the end of 2026.

The report provides profiles of the leading players in the global market for emulsifiers and co-emulsifiers, which will operate in the market through 2026. These include companies such as Lonza Group, Danisco A/S, Cargill, Inc., Palsgaard A/S, BASF SE, Beldem, Adani Wilmar Ltd., Solvay S.A, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Lubrizol Corporation, CSM N.V., Spartan Chemical Company, Inc., and other players.

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About Fact.MR

Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.
Albany, NY, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Semiconductor packaging provides protection to substrate and wafer. The materials used in packaging semiconductor are metal, plastic, ceramic or glass. However, manufacturers have started using some of the advanced semiconductor packaging technologies such as flip-chip, Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FO-WLP), Fan-In Wafer-Level Packaging (FI-WLP) and 2.5D and 3D packaging. Although 2.5D technology emerged as a bridge technology between 2D and 3D ICs, it has evolved as largely used package solution alongside 3D ICs. The demand for 3D packaging is increasing due to constantly evolving wearable and portable devices, and rapid development of electric vehicles. Also, High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) technology is which is already implemented in 2.5D packaging is also expected to improve the power efficiency of IC packages.

Top three emerging trends that are contributing towards the growth of the advanced semiconductor packaging market are the integration of semiconductor in vehicles, changes in the size of wafer, and increasing number of companies moving towards mergers and acquisitions. Increasing demand for automation in vehicles is resulting in the need for semiconductor devices of small size, thus driving the demand for advanced semiconductor packaging solution in the automotive sector. Increasing number of merger and acquisitions are taking place in the semiconductor packaging market. New companies are also using M&A route to compete in already highly competitive market.

Major companies currently active in the global advanced semiconductor packaging market are ASE Group, Kyocera, Avery Dennison, Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd., Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Hitachi Chemical, Amkor Technology, AMD, and Intel Corp.

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Global Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Market to Witness Significant Growth during the Forecast Period

As per the report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global advanced semiconductor packaging market is expected to witness strong growth, registering a CAGR of 10.9% during 2017-2026. The global advanced semiconductor packaging market is also estimated to reach US$ 67,208.2 million revenue by 2026 end.

The global advanced semiconductor packaging market is segmented into application, packaging type, end user, and region. Based on the packaging type, the market is segmented into 2.5D/3D, Flip Chip (FC), Fan-In Wafer-Level Packaging (FI WLP), and Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging (FO WLP). Flip Chip (FC) is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period.

By application, Central Processing Units/Graphical Processing Units are anticipated to witness significant growth during 2017-2026.

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End Users are further segmented into consumer electronics, medical devices, aerospace and defense, automotive, telecommunications, and other end users. Among these, consumer electronics are expected to be the largest users of advanced semiconductor packaging during the forecast period.

APEJ to Remain Dominant in the Global Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Market

Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) is likely to dominate the global advanced semiconductor packaging market from 2017 to 2026. Presence of the major market players in the region is one of the factors driving the market growth. Companies are also investing in countries such as China to develop research and development facility and chip packaging manufacturing facilities. As emerging economies such as China are focusing more on advanced technologies, 2.5D IC and 3D ICs are being used on a large scale for chip packaging. Also, low labor cost and availability of cheap raw material are leading towards the significant growth of advanced semiconductor packaging market.

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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.

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Mr. Atil Chaudhari

Transparency Market Research

State Tower,

90 State Street,

Suite 700,

Albany NY - 12207

United States

Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Namaste Technologies Inc. (Namaste or the Company) (CSE:N), (FRANKFURT:M5BQ), (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) would like to reaffirm its commitment to operations exclusively within medical or recreational cannabis legal jurisdictions. Further to the Companys Nov 28, 2017 press release, and in lieu of the recent rescission of the Cole Memorandum by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Namastes position on staying out of the US cannabis market remains firm. The Company would like to express very clearly that it does not hold any US assets nor does it intend on participating in any US operations or investments. Namaste is highly focused on the expansion of its Canadian operations through the launch of its online medical cannabis marketplace. Management will have no involvement in operations or investments in any illegal jurisdictions which present any risk to the Company and/or its shareholders.



On January 12, 2018, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued a statement following the rescission, whereby the CSA gave notice that it would re-examine its disclosure-based policy in relation to Canadian cannabis companies with any US operations or investments. Namaste believes that the CSAs statement is in-line with the Companys position and short-term outlook on the cannabis market in the United States.

Namaste will continue to focus on expansion of its international operations in progressive, legal markets by leveraging its technology and existing databases of cannabis consumers in countries around the world. Namaste, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cannmart Inc. (Cannmart) is developing an online marketplace for medical cannabis that will offer patients the largest variety of product sourced from domestic and international producers. The launch of Cannmart is significant to Namaste, as the Company intends to follow the same strategy in other legal markets where it has established a strong presence.

Management Commentary

Sean Dollinger, President and CEO of Namaste comments: Were very pleased to have divested our US assets and operations. Namaste will continue focusing its efforts on progressive, legal markets like Canada and emerging legal cannabis markets like Australia and will remain uninvolved with any US cannabis operations until there are major changes to US federal laws.

About Namaste Technologies Inc.

Namaste is the largest online retailer for medical cannabis delivery systems globally. Namaste distributes vaporizers and smoking accessories through e-commerce sites in 26 countries and with 5 distribution hubs located around the world. Namaste has majority market share in Europe and Australia, with operations in the UK, US, Canada and Germany and has opened new supply channels into emerging markets including Brazil, Mexico and Chile. Namaste, through its acquisition of Cannmart Inc., a Canadian based late-stage applicant for a medical cannabis distribution license (under the ACMPR Program) is pursuing a new revenue vertical in online retail of medical cannabis in the Canadian market. Namaste intends to leverage its existing database of Canadian medical cannabis consumers, along with its expertise in e-commerce to create an online marketplace for medical cannabis patients, offering a larger variety of product and a better user experience.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law.

Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's disclosure documents which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The CSE has neither reviewed nor approved the contents of this press release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Sean Dollinger

Chief Executive Officer

Direct: +1 (786) 389 9771

Email: info@namastetechnologies.com

Further information on the Company and its products can be accessed through the links below:

www.namastetechnologies.com

www.namastevaporizers.co.uk

www.everyonedoesit.co.uk

www.australianvaporizers.com.au
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Driving through the sleepy streets around Lincoln Close in Chapman, it's hard to imagine the devastation that ripped through the street in just a few minutes on January 18, 2003. The quiet street that borders the Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve still bears the marks of the fires that claimed four lives and damaged or destroyed more than 500 homes, but you have to look hard to see them.

Five of the 11 homes on Lincoln Close were destroyed that day, with 12 in the neighbouring streets also lost to the fire.

Lincoln Close neighbours David Mackenzie, Jenny Manning, and Joe and Janet Walker have maintained a close friendship through good times and bad, including when their Chapman street was hit by the 2003 Canberra fires. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

It's in the home of Joe and Janet Walker, rebuilt since 2003, that the picture is painted - how the firestorm hit, claiming homes and damaging others, and how the community pulled together in the years since. The Walkers and their friends, David Mackenzie and his wife Jenny Manning, who live two doors down, say the area has regenerated with many new families moving in to the area, but those who stayed after surviving the fires have been brought closer together by the experience.

"All of us talked about our own personal experience and everyone just listened and used empathy and we became quite like a family in a way," Mrs Walker said.
Child and adolescent mental health patients can now see specialised clinicians on weekends, after a $1.6 million boost to the Canberra Hospital service.

ACT Mental Health Minister Shane Rattenbury said the weekend assessment service will complement a new inpatient mental health unit for children and teenagers, planning for which is currently under way.

Minister for Mental Health Shane Rattenbury. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

The service went from five to seven days after after a recent recruitment drive to boost the number of metal health professionals in Canberra.

"Previously someone has gone to the hospital on the weekend and they've been assessed by an adult clinician but they'll now be assessed by someone who specialises in children and adult mental health," Mr Rattenbury said.
Canberra's first tram will soon be joined by the rest of the fleet as the consortium behind stage one of light rail claims it is on track to finish the project by the end of the year.

Canberra Metro chief executive Glenn Stockton said one tram a week will start arriving in Canberra from the end of March, with testing on an electrified track to begin in April.

Canberra's first light rail vehicle at its depot in Mitchell. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

In all, 14 trams will ferry up to 207 people each up and down the 12-kilometre track from Civic to Gungahlin.

The first tram arrived more than a month ago but no one from Canberra Metro will be allowed inside it until the Spanish company that built it comes to Australia in a few weeks to commission it.
Many Canberrans will be able to say exactly where they were on this day 15 years ago, when bushfires hit the city. But for many others, today is a day to learn about the fires that devastated hundreds of houses -- and not just because they are too young to remember.

While many residents of Duffy, Chapman and Giralang still have vivid memories, the high turnover of the ACT population means that many locals didn't experience the fire or its aftermath.

More than a million people have left the ACT since 2003, meaning many locals have a lot to learn about the bushfires. Credit:Sean Davey

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that through internal migration -- people moving within Australia instead of out of the country -- 1,047,620 people left the ACT between 2003 and 2016, while 1,047,750 moved into the area in the same time. The statistics include the same people moving in and out of the territory, but on average 75,000 people move in and out of the ACT from other states each year. It's not just people coming and going as their careers change -- the 2016 census showed that the ACT population had grown by 11.2 per cent in five years, with the population at 406,403 people on census night. The population in June 2003 was 322,800, meaning the collective memory of the city doesn't always go as far as it may in other places.

Simon Kuestenmacher, director of research at the Demographics Group says the data shows that the two years following the fire show an increase in people moving out of the ACT, with 7260 more people leaving than arriving in 2003 and 4570 more people leaving than arriving in 2004. Other changes in the population around the country can be attributed to the mining boom and the worldwide recession in 2009.
Albany, NY, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Manufacturers in the sun care industry are primarily concerned with after sun exposure, sun protection products. The main focus of manufacturers is to provide after sun products that can absorb Ultraviolet (UV) rays and protect skin from various problems. With the rising demand from consumers, manufacturers are introducing multi-functional products with waterproof protection, long-lasting effect, etc. Development of these products is centered around the use of ingredients such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These ingredients help in producing better products. Also, against the backdrop of increasing concerns over allergic reactions and toxicity due to the chemicals in the after sun products, the formulations including natural and organic ingredients are being produced on a large scale.

After sun products for sensitive skin including various ingredients such as GMO free and hypo-allergic oat ingredients, with mild formula are also being used on a large scale. Use of sun care products in form of sheet masks is also increasing offering cooling and soothing experience. However, in the recent years, BB creams acting as the foundation for makeup, moisturizer, and sunblock have become popular among the consumers. The increasing demand for such creams can hamper the growth of the after sun products. Hence, researchers are focusing on developing better after sun products with added skin care benefits.

Leading companies in the global after sun products market are Christian Dior SE, Unilever PLC, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, Shiseido Co., Ltd, Kao Corporation, Avon Products, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc., Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft, and L'Oreal S.A.

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Global After Sun Products Market to See Sluggish Growth throughout the Forecast Period 2017-2026

A new study by Transparency Market Research (TMR) projects the global after-sun products market to experience sluggish growth throughout the forecast period. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.4%. The global after sun products market is also estimated to generate revenue of US$ 2,928.7 million by the end of 2026.

The market for after-sun products is segmented on the basis of end users, product type, source, sales channel, and region. On the basis of the product type, among various after-sun products, cream and lotion is expected to be the largest segment witnessing the highest growth.

The end users segment is further divided into female and male. Female as the end users are expected to witness the highest growth as compared to the male segment. Based on the sales channel, modern trade is expected to be the largest sales channel in the global after-sun products market.

By source, the market is further segmented into natural and organic, and conventional. Among these two sources, the conventional source is expected to witness growth during the forecast period.

Europe to Dominate the Global After-Sun Products Market through 2026

Among various regions, Europe is expected to remain dominant in the global after-sun products market. Countries such as Germany, U.K., and France are anticipated to witness the highest growth. Several factors such as growing skin concerns, increasing awareness about after-sun products, and ongoing research and development activities to produce better after-sun products are driving the growth of the market in the region. The region is also witnessing increasing demand for after-sun products due to the harsh climatic conditions. Also, producers of after-sun products are introducing products with an attractive texture, easy-to-apply, and protection against pollution and skin aging.

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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.

Contact

Mr. Atil Chaudhari

Transparency Market Research

State Tower,

90 State Street,

Suite 700,

Albany NY - 12207

United States

Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com

Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Research Blog: http://www.techyounme.com/
The morning after Canberra radio presenter Frank Vincent was sacked following allegations of sexual harassment, the chair at 2CA's breakfast program was filled by Marc McCreadie.

No decision has yet been made on who will replace Vincent permanently on the program, after he was stood down from his job with Radio Canberra on Tuesday.

Former 2CA present Frank Vincent. Credit:Facebook

In a statement to The Canberra Times, Radio Canberra, which runs 2CA and 2CC, said the decision had been made "unanimously" by the board when it received a report from an independent investigator appointed last year to look into harassment allegations.

The station has not disclosed any detail of the report, including its findings. The sacking came the day after The Canberra Times put questions to the station's management about Vincent's treatment of a junior journalist and other staff.
Rio Tinto and two former top executives have asked a US court to throw out fraud charges relating to the allegedly deliberate concealment of the collapse in value of one of the companys coal projects.

Lawyers for former Tom Albanese asked the court to dismiss the claim by the Securities Exchange Commission that he hid a $US3 billion ($A3.78 billion) writedown on Rios Mozambique coal project in part because he relied on his underlings to make the decision.

While lawyers for the former chief financial officer of the $US100 billion miner, Guy Elliott, argued that Mr Elliott also relied on junior staff, while adding he was not an accountant by training to have the case dismissed.

Former Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese Credit:Sasha Woolley

The SEC charged Rio Tinto, Mr Albanese and Mr Elliott in October with fraud for allegedly inflating the value of its Mozambique coal reserves it acquired in 2011 for $US3.7 billion and sold just three years later for only $US50 million.
Community groups have criticised the NSW governments approval of the Wallarah 2 coal mine on the states Central Coast.

The mine has been in limbo for more than a decade since a mining application was first lodged in 2006. The then Minister for Planning rejected the application in 2011 due to issues relating to impacts on drinking water.

The $800 million thermal coal mine has stalled a number of times following these early rejections, including when negotiations broke down between its owner, Korean government-owned Kores, and the local Darkinjung Aboriginal Land Council over a $300 million land agreement for rail access.

The miner overcame this issue by using an overland conveyor system, rather than a rail system, to transport the coal, bypassing the need to negotiate with local indigenous groups.

Following a series of new applications and operational amendments, the NSW Planning Assessment Commission has given its approval for the mine.
Perhaps the only comment one can make about work that is unchanging, is that work is changing. It always has of course, but there is a big difference between continuous change and discontinuous change.

As many of us start the new year determined to place less of a burden on our scales, we know that healthy weight loss is a slow continuous process. Discontinuous change would be to wake up after a night on the donuts to find you've doubled your weight and then it promptly doubles again during the following day. Discontinuous change is scary. We may be experiencing a period of discontinuous change in how we work right now.

Illustration: Kerrie Leishman

First there was ability. If you were strong you did manual or military work. If you were intelligent you did clerical or leadership work.

Then there was flexibility. After the industrial revolution, workers who were flexible enough to head for the cities found work in the newly established factories and offices.
You know you're in Maotai when you smell it. The picturesque town of about 100,000 in southwestern China is home to the world's most valuable liquor company - and the soy-sauce-like scent of the Chinese grain alcohol baijiu, made by the eponymous Kweichow Moutai, permeates the main street.

But inside the liquor stores along the road, the distiller's main brands are all sold out. Lines form wherever bottles are available. The buying frenzy - and resulting inventory shortages - extend nation-wide.

Blistering demand has pushed Kweichow Moutai's market value to more than $181 billion, making it the most valuable liquor company in the world. Credit:NELSON CHING

Moutai baijiu's fiery flavour and potential to appreciate in price is driving the blistering demand. That in turn has pushed its market value to more than $US145 billion ($181 billion), well past British whiskey giant Diageo. The Chinese firm sells each bottle of its main Flying Fairy brand to distributors for 969 yuan ($188) and sets a suggested resale ceiling of 1,499 yuan, yet they routinely go for double online and off. Its website is out of stock. On shopping site JD.com, an 80-year bottle is listed for 196,888 yuan ($38,250).

Chinese buyers say they like Moutai's baijiu for its complex flavour and a purity that prevents hangovers - but its special manufacturing process also puts limits on its production. The grain and water used to make it must come from Maotai town and the brew must be buried in urns for at least four years before it's sold. As the state-owned giant grapples with shortages, smaller rivals like Wuliangye Yibin are already starting to win more business.
"The wayward wallaby (C8) skipping the bridge e-toll" reminds Pasquale Vartuli of Wahroonga "of the episode in Skippy, when the ranger (actor, Ed Devereaux), being unintentionally cashless, offered to pay the toll collector the (then) bridge toll of 20c by cheque. Quaint!" Adrian Booth of Kirribilli suggests that it might have been a case of "illegal gambolling" while Simon Dixon of Blackalls Park said "the wallaby was obviously heading home".

"I hope we won't have to wait too long before Australia Day is Republic Day" opines Barbara Brady of Waverton.

Garth Clarke of North Sydney says the "confusion between pawn shops and porn shops (C8) could possibly be avoided by calling them hock shops. My mother, who frequently had to pawn her wedding ring during hard times, would euphemistically declare she was off to see 'Uncle'. Perhaps this was a common expression in the 1940s."

"On an Aeroflot flight back in 1975 in the days of the USSR, I was sharing a row of seats with an English-speaking Russian passenger and an Australian wharfie," writes Gisele Mesnage of Ashfield. "The Russian could not understand the Australian, so here I was with my French accent doing the 'translation' in English. The same wharfie had to seek my help again when an English-speaking doctor in Moscow could not understand him and asked, 'Don't they speak English in Australia?'" Could this be the last word on accents?

Stephanie Edwards of Roseville bemoans the lack of vanilla Paddle Pops. "Best treat on a heatwave day. Tough on those of us who loathe flavours like banana and bubblegum!"
Imagine a tax that Coalition voters actually wanted. They certainly don't want more income tax (only 12 per cent do, according to an Essential poll), they certainly don't want more company tax (they want less) and they will cop an increase in GST only if it brings down other taxes.

But then there is sugar. This week's Essential poll reveals the sort of disdain for sugar there is for tobacco.

An extraordinary 57 per cent of Liberal and National Party supporters say they want a special tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. That's more than the 54 per cent of Labor voters that want it.

It is sugar's tobacco moment. When the tobacco question was asked two years ago a massive 70 per cent of Coalition voters wanted higher taxes on it along with 67 per cent of Labor voters. For both tobacco and sugar, it's the university-educated Coalition voters who want the higher taxes the most.
New research has sharply narrowed the likely estimate of how much the Earth will warm with a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, potentially honing estimates that have stood for a quarter century.

The long-standing estimate for the so-called equilibrium climate sensitivity used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had been that surface temperatures would rise between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees for each doubling of CO2 or equivalent greenhouse gases.

Estimating how much the planet will warm as we lift greenhouse gas levels has been an active area of research. Credit:NASA

The new study by UK scientists, published today in Nature journal, used year-on-year global mean temperature fluctuations rather than trends to discount the extreme ends of that range.

"Our study all but rules out very low or very high climate sensitivities, so we now know much better what we need to [do]," said Peter Cox, a professor of climate system dynamics from the University of Exeter, and the lead author of the paper.
I'm 72, receive a full age pension and have assets of $175,000. My wife is in a nursing home. We own our house and I plan to build a granny flat in the backyard. Would the granny flat be considered an asset and included in the assets test and would it affect my age pension or would it be considered as part of the house and therefore not a separate asset? G.C.

When an age pensioner rents out a granny flat to anyone other than a member of the immediate family, it will be counted by the assets test and its value will be based on a pro-rata percentage of the floor space of the overall property. For example, if the flat covers an area equal to 30 per cent of the total area of the house and flat, then 30 per cent of the value of the property will be counted.

Illustration: Michael Mucci

If you have a home in a capital city, this asset value could amount to many tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars and would obviously affect your pension. Furthermore, the net rent, after expenses, is counted by the income test. And when the property is eventually sold, there will be a capital gains tax liability in proportion to the area rented and the length of time it was rented.

However, if you take in a lodger, and the area being rented is an integral part of your home, for example, a room with an en suite and a shared kitchen and lounge area, it will not be counted by the assets test. Again the net rent would be counted by the income test but you can choose a simpler formula that counts expenses as 30 per cent of the rent. A CGT liability again arises in proportion to area and time.
NSW has been ranked the worst for healthcare affordability among older patients in the latest survey that pits Australia's most populous state against international health systems.

The results released on Thursday showed a larger proportion of NSW patients 65 and older struggled with their medical costs than their counterparts in Australia overall and 10 other OECD countries.

NSW has been ranked the worst for healthcare affordability among older patients in the latest survey that pits Australia's most populous state against international comparators.

NSW fared worst when it came to the percentage of respondent who said they had problems paying their medical bills (15 per cent), compared to just 1 per cent in Sweden and 10 per cent in the US, found the survey of 24,000 people including 1175 in NSW.

More than one in five (22 per cent) reported spending $1000 or more in out-of-pocket healthcare costs, the third largest proportion after Switzerland (53 per cent) and the US (37 per cent), and well behind the top performer France (3 per cent), according to the the 2017 Commonwealth Fund International Health survey findings released by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI).
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ScholarChip, the largest provider of automated school safety and operations services, is now a signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge developed by The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). The Pledge safeguards student privacy on the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information.



ScholarChip is dedicated to protecting the data we collect. We use the highest industry standards, and our servers, databases, backups, and firewall technologies actively guard the information entrusted to us, said Craig Lockwood, president, ScholarChip. We stand together with this important organization and we are proud to sign and commit to The Privacy Pledge.

ScholarChip collects attendance data for close to a half-million students on a daily basis, which requires an advanced and vigorous system. Its approach is to provide schools with the most robust, yet simple to use devices to collect data, and then provide all services in a single central location where skilled developers and technicians can maintain a close watch over system operations.

In addition to its K12 services, ScholarChip provides high speed financial services to 1.8 million post-secondary students attending 490 colleges and universities. ScholarChips K12 system and higher education financial services share the same database infrastructure, with data security certifications that are the most stringent. These standards are verified by quarterly, independent, third-party testing.

All electronic communication is encrypted or sent via a private link to approved recipients. ScholarChip uses industry-standard hardware and software in combination with authentication and certification by third parties, and it encrypts all sensitive information and financial data.

About FPF

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) is a Washington, DC based think tank that seeks to advance responsible data practices. The forum is led by Internet privacy experts Jules Polonetsky and Christopher Wolf and includes an advisory board comprised of leading figures from industry, academia, law and advocacy groups. For more information, visit fpf.org.

About SIIA

SIIA is the leading association representing the software and digital content industries. SIIA represents approximately 800 member companies worldwide that develop software and digital information content. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to the leading companies that are setting the pace for the digital age. For more information, visit www.siia.net.

About ScholarChip

ScholarChip is the largest provider of smart ID cards used for attendance, payment processing, visitor management, secure door access, and behavior management services in K12. It was first to market in centralizing and integrating School Safety and Operations System with a true one card solution, which operates seamlessly with popular Student Information Systems and NFC mobile devices. ScholarChip's Higher Education services include Tuition Payment Plans, Loan Servicing, Student Retention Services, and a compliant Payment Gateway. For more information visit http://www.scholarchip.com.

ScholarChip is a registered trademark of ScholarChip. Other product and company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
More than 20 outages have hit the Tax Office's IT systems in two years, prompting calls for the Coalition to stop further tech failures at the agency.

The Australian Taxation Office has told senators six incidents downed parts of its IT in 2016 before a massive outage that barred tax professionals from all of its systems for multiple days in December that year.

The Tax Office says 22 IT outages hit its systems in 2016 and 2017. Credit:Louie Douvis

While the agency had previously revealed it was plagued by 10 outages in 2017, including another major, two-day tech failure in February, the ATO said in a response to a Senate estimates question on notice a further five outages troubled its systems that year.

Four of its 22 outages since 2016 stopped tax professionals reaching all of its systems, including one lasting 3.5 hours and another ending after two hours in July 2017, while other IT failures lasted from 30 minutes to eight hours.
The Coalition should cap contractor numbers, dump a $65 billion corporate tax cut and invest money in its agencies to rebuild services, the main public sector union has said ahead of the federal budget.

In a submission to the government lashing its growing use of contractors, and rejecting its controversial push to relocate agencies to the bush, the Community and Public Sector Union also called for more Tax Office funding to increase revenue made stopping corporate tax avoidance.

New minister assisting for the public service, Kelly O'Dwyer. Credit:Ben Rushton

The CSPU attacked the Coalition's multibillion dollar contractor spend saying caps on staff numbers had created a "perverse incentive" to outsource work and increase costs.

Agencies were using labour hire and contractors to get around a staffing cap imposed by the Coalition, while outsourcing was "hollowing out" the Australian Taxation Office, and the Human Services department overseeing Centrelink, it said.
Friends have posted tributes to 22-year-old Amelia Blake, a young British backpacker who had been travelling Australia before her life was cut short in Sydney last week.

The bodies of Ms Blake and a 30-year-old man were discovered in a unit above a restaurant on Newtown's King Street about 5.30pm on Friday, January 12.

Police were called to the unit when a friend raised concerns for the pair's welfare, where they discovered the bodies.

Investigators were treating the deaths as a murder-suicide, and a police spokeswoman said the nature of the relationship between Ms Blake and the 30-year-old man would form part of their investigation.
A planned 24-hour train strike later this month could cost the local economy more than $100 million, the Sydney Business Chamber says, labelling the strike "simply outrageous".

Patricia Forsythe, executive director of the Chamber, also said the rail union's call for people to stay home on the day of the planned strike on January 29 was irresponsible.

"It's one of the busiest days of the work year: the Monday after the Australia Day holiday is traditionally one when basically all of the workforce is back from summer holidays, schools are returning. It is a significant day in our economy," she said.

"If they were going to pick a day for maximum disruption they've certainly done that."
Hannah Ferguson had just spent six wonderful days at her family's farm with boyfriend Reagen Skinner when the pair made the fateful decision to travel to Dubbo so Reagen could catch a train home.

As the pair sat in a queue of six vehicles at roadworks just 20 kilometres from their destination, a prime mover careered into them.

Hannah and Reagen, both aged 19, were killed in the crash that also injured 10 people.

"Wrong place at the wrong time," Hannah's devastated father, Ian Ferguson, told the Herald.
When computer models designed by tech giants Alibaba and Microsoft this month surpassed humans for the first time in a reading and comprehension test, both companies celebrated the success as a historic milestone.

Luo Si, the chief scientist for natural-language processing at Alibaba's artificial intelligence research unit, struck a poetic note, saying, "Objective questions such as 'what causes rain' can now be answered with high accuracy by machines."

The eyes have it: Book reading robots at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Credit:AP

Teaching a computer to read has for decades been one of artificial intelligence's holiest grails, and the feat seemed to signal a coming future in which AI could understand words and process meaning with the same fluidity humans take for granted every day.

But computers aren't there yet - and aren't even really that close, said AI experts who reviewed the test results.
A facility for contaminated waste, located just 950 metres from homes in Melbourne's south-west, is expected to start operating as early as March despite protests from residents.

Enviropacific Services will operate the Solve plant in Altona on the Dow Chemical site in Kororoit Creek Road.

Bulldozers have started clearing land at the site of the toxic waste plant in Altona.

The plant will take contaminated soil from all over Australia and have the capacity to treat greater than 20 tonnes an hour.

Enviropacific purchased the business from Innova, which in 2013 successfully appealed to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to overturn Hobsons Bay councils refusal to grant a permit.
Corina Horvath after she was allegedly assaulted by police.

A woman allegedly bashed by a policeman in her home more than 20 years ago has told a court she heard a group of officers screaming her name before they smashed their way into her house.

Corinna Horvath suffered a broken nose, suspected broken jaw, chipped tooth and bruising to the back of her head on the night of March 9, 1996, when officers forced their way into her Hastings home. She was 21 at the time.

The police raid was found to be unlawful by a County Court judge in a civil trial, and in 2016 Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission charged Leading Senior Constable David Jenkin with intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing serious injury, intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury.

Leading Senior Constable Jenkin, 48, is yet to enter a plea but his lawyer on Wednesday said he would plead not guilty.
A Bandyup Prison inmate has been charged over an attack which left murderer Trudi Lenon in hospital with serious burns.

Lenon, who is in custody at Bandyup Women's Prison awaiting sentencing for the murder of Kwinana teenager Aaron Pajich, was attacked by the prisoner on New Year's Day.

Trudi Lenon.

A fellow inmate allegedly poured a container of boiling water over her, and guards rushed her to the prison showers for treatment.

A second prisoner, a 47-year-old woman, also received minor burns in the attack.
Washington: The United States on Tuesday said it would withhold about half the initial aid it planned to give a United Nations agency that serves the Palestinians, two weeks after President Donald Trump questioned the value of such funding.

The State Department announced it would provide $US60 million ($75 million) to the UN Relief and Welfare Agency while withholding a further $US65 million for now, saying the aid group needed to make unspecified reforms.

A Palestinian medic gives a vaccination to a baby at a UN Relief and Welfare Agency-run clinic in the Shati refugee camp, Gaza City. Credit:KHALIL HAMRA

The agency funds schools and health clinics that serve nearly two million people in Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As funding declined recently, the agency began significant layoffs of teachers and health workers.

Palestine Liberation Organisation official Wasel Abu Youssef immediately criticised the US move, casting it as a deliberate effort to deny the Palestinians their rights and linking it to Trump's widely criticised December 6 decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (France) on behalf of the mutual funds and mandates it manages (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree GKN (GB0030646508) (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 16th January 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" NO

If YES, specify which:

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



Equities



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 18 479 960



1.08% (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 18 479 960



1.08%

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit Equity Purchase



19600 4.4275



Equity Sale 92000



4.4596





(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit





(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO





Date of disclosure: 17th January 2018 Contact name: Nathalie Megarbane Telephone number: e-mail +33 1 40 17 89 27

n.megarbane@edr.com

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
Abuja, Nigeria: Kidnappers have abducted two Americans and two Canadians in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, killing two police officers, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Kidnappings are rife in Nigeria, where domestic security is weak, though they overwhelmingly target other Nigerians. However, abductions of foreigners are not uncommon.

The foreigners were ambushed by unknown gunmen on their way from the town of Kafanchan, , Mukhtar Aliyu, a spokesman for the Kaduna state police.

Kafanchan is about 3 hours' drive northeast of the state's capital Abuja.

"The two police escorts attached to them engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, which resulted in the unfortunate death of the two police officers," Aliyu said.
London: Nuclear war, cyber attacks and environmental disasters top the list of man-made threats to global stability in 2018, according to a survey of 1000 international leaders from business, government, education and service groups.

The threat of another global financial meltdown, more likely in past years, has ebbed because of economic expansions underway worldwide, the annual World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report found. It was released on Wednesday in advance of the forum's meeting next week in Davos, Switzerland.

Mother Nature topped the most significant risks facing the world for a second year in a row, the survey showed. That includes natural disasters and extreme weather events that human-caused climate change may be abetting.

The risk of nuclear war climbed up the list of concerns as a result of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's tests of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, and US President Donald Trump's bellicose vows to annihilate North Korea if it launches an attack.
Washington: Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has done a deal with US Special Counsel Robert Mueller that will see him avoid appearing before a grand jury, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Bannon, who was a close adviser during President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign and in his first months in office, had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Mueller's probe of links between Russia and Trump's campaign. The subpoena could prove pivotal.

But the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mueller offered Bannon the option of being interviewed by his investigators instead, and that Bannon accepted. It was unclear when the interview would take place.

An interview with prosecutors would allow Bannon to have an attorney present during his appearance, as lawyers are not permitted in grand jury rooms.
Belgrade: Serbian police have arrested three Australian men suspected of being part of an international drug-smuggling group that tried to bring more than a tonne of cocaine into Sydney last year.

Police allege that the men "are linked to" the discovery of 1280 kilograms of cocaine that was seized in April 2017 on a Chinese container boat docked in Sydney.

The drugs, which were found in 2576 packages concealed within steel tubes on the ship, were said to be worth $500 million.

Serbian police released dramatic footage of the arrests that took place overnight in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel.
Tokyo: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will attend a meeting of Japan's National Security Council when he arrives in Tokyo on Thursday, Japanese media has reported.

The NSC was formed under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and will take the lead role in "crafting Japan's military build up", the Japan Times separately reported this month.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Malcolm Turnbull during Mr Abe's visit to Australia in early 2017. Credit:AAP/David Moir

China News Service, citing Japanese media, said Turnbull has been invited to attend a special meeting of the NSC as Japan seeks to expand security cooperation with Australia and build trust.

A source from Abe's office was quoted as saying Australia was a "quasi ally", and had been invited to the NSC which was the "control tower of security policy".
CUPECOY:--- Four months after Hurricane Irma caused American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) to evacuate students and faculty from Sint Maarten, AUC has resumed classes on its Sint Maarten campus. The medical school has begun a phased return to Sint Maarten after holding its September 2017 semester on the campus of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, United Kingdom.

The last four months have required a tremendous amount of teamwork, support, and resilience from our students, faculty, and colleagues as well as from UCLan, which welcomed AUC and provided immense support, said Heidi Chumley, MD, Executive Dean of AUC. Now we are excited to be back in our campus home, engaging with our community partners in Sint Maarten, and looking forward to playing our part in advancing the countrys continued recovery.

The category 5 hurricane, which swept over Sint Maarten on September 6, 2017, had a major impact on the island, where AUCs students complete their first two years of medical school. After evacuating more than 700 students, faculty, family members, and staff to the U.S., AUC and its parent organization, Adtalem Global Education, commenced planning to find a temporary site in which to continue classes. Faculty and students mobilized to the UK quickly in September and completed the semester in the first week of January.

Now, as Sint Maarten continues to recover and rebuild, AUC is pleased to return for the January 2018 semester. While first, second, and third semester students will be based in Sint Maarten, fourth and fifth semester students will continue their studies in the UK, taught by AUC faculty. These students will benefit from clinical learning opportunities at our affiliated hospital sites in the UK.

Throughout the semester, AUC students and colleagues will mobilize to help the country rebuild. In February, the medical school will host Community Action Day, a day dedicated to volunteer work throughout the island. Students will also continue their work on public health, health education, and other programs to benefit the people of Sint Maarten.

AUC Press Release
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE-- SkyFidelity, Inc./Tricascade, Inc. (OTC Pink:SRMX) SkyFidelity, Inc.s subsidiary, TriCascade, Inc., an Internet of Things (IoT) technology company has entered into a product development deal with AT&T to develop the first of its kind IoT SIM card that will used in the TriCascades 4G/LTE Gateway Hub known as the SkiQ Super Router.



Building upon the AT&Ts commitment to moving forward with IoT solutions for broadband applications including WiFi routers and the Smart Home, TriCascade has been working with AT&T certified module developer, Westron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) to create an IoT module specifically designed for 4G LTE internet connectivity.



TriCascade expects to take delivery of One Thousand IoT SIM modules from Westron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) in January 2018 and will use these modules in the development of the first One Thousand SKiQ Routers.



The WNC IoT module delivery will provide TriCascade with the foundational technology for its SKiQ Super Router device and strongly positions TriCascade as a device and module partner supporting AT&Ts 4G/5G LTE ecosystem deployments.



TriCascade demonstrated the SKiQ to the public as well as to several potential customers at the CES show last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SKiQ device as well as the other SmartHome devices demonstrated at the show including the Smart Thermostat/Smart Outlet/Smart Light Switch were well received and the company expects to obtain sales orders based upon this event.



4G and 5G LTE Routers are essential to Telecom carriers cellular IoT strategies. The creation of SKiQ- an LTE Smart Home Eco-System Hub in collaboration with AT&T- will significantly enhance TriCascades position in the deployment of all future Smart Home devices.



About CES:



The Consumer Electronics Show (abbreviated as CES) is the world's most popular trade fair for the consumer electronics. It is a meeting point for the sector's top experts who present their newest and most innovative inventions and products. Since its first edition in 1967, CES has been shaped as an event which guides the electronics industry trends and the everyday use of hi-tech devices. Thousands of journalists, internet publishers and media representatives will attend the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas. This cements the status of the event and ensures that a well-presented business will be a global triumph.



About SkyFidelity/TriCascade



SkyFidelity, Inc.s subsidiary, TriCascade, Inc., an Internet of Things (IoT) technology company has created a 4G/LTE Gateway Hub that provides consumers with the ability to access the internet directly from a SIM-based 4G/LTE Super Router called the SkiQ. The Company has designed this innovative communication device that will disrupt the traditional communications hardware industry, making routers, modems, satellite dishes, set top boxes and media boxes obsolete. By taking advantage of the ability to connect simultaneously from both a fiber/cable internet connection as well as 4G/LTE, the Gateway Hub will replace the need for satellite internet (Hughes Net), Cable Internet (COX, Time Warner, Comcast) and ADSL Internet at a fraction of the cost, while supporting future expansion of 5G networks.

Contact:



SkyFidelity,Inc

timothy.peabody@skyfidelityinc.com

7146979748
English French

OTTAWA, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As violence rates in the health care sector continue to escalate, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) has convened a two-day roundtable of 17 unions representing health care workers from across the country.



Every day nurses and frontline care providers go to work knowing they may be kicked, punched, spat on, sworn at or worse, said Linda Silas, President of the CFNU. This reality can no longer be tolerated, and we are gathering over the next two days to build towards a plan of action.

In a recent CFNU poll, 61% of nurses reported a serious problem with violence in the past year, including bullying, emotional or verbal abuse, racial or sexual harassment, or physical assault. A full two thirds (66%) pondered leaving their job to work for a different employer or in a different occupation.

Its a pressure cooker out there for workers on the frontline, said Silas. Violence is intensifying as staff is cut to the bare bones and left to manage more and sicker patients than ever before.

The number of violence-related lost-time claims for frontline health care workers has increased by almost 66% over the past decade, three times the rate of increase for police and correctional service officers combined.

The roundtable will take place over the next two days, featuring experts in occupational health and safety, and profiling success stories from the Ottawa Hospital, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Michael Garron Hospital, three facilities that have undertaken comprehensive efforts to proactively prevent incidents of violence. The roundtable will culminate in a collaborative strategy session among participants.

As individual health care unions, we have been talking about violence in the workplace for more than two decades, said Silas. Its time to move beyond discussions towards a plan of action that governments, employers, unions and frontline workers can implement together.

The unions participating in the roundtable are: Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Federation interprofessionnelle de la sante du Quebec, Manitoba Nurses Union, New Brunswick Nurses Union, Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, Ontario Nurses Association, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Prince Edward Island Nurses Union, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Registered Nurses Union of Newfoundland & Labrador, Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, SEIU Healthcare, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, Unifor, Union of Health and Environment Workers (PSAC) and United Nurses of Alberta.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) is Canadas largest nurses organization representing nearly 200,000 nurses and student nurses. The CFNU advocates for national discussions on key health priorities, such as a national prescription drug plan, a comprehensive approach to long-term and continuing care, greater attention to health human resources, and federal government engagement on the future of public health care.
By Irish Mae Sylvestre

New Canadian Media

Journalist Manny Mogato is more accustomed to writing news reports than being the subject of the story.

Last year, the Reuters Philippines Correspondent made headlines when he was targeted by pro-Duterte supporters who hacked his Facebook account. It was eye-opening, he said. It had a chilling effect, not just for me, but for Filipino journalists.

Concerned about his security, editors considered relocating them. But Manny convinced them that it wasnt necessary; it would all blow over after a while. And, luckily, save for the occasional attacks on social media, the issue eventually died down.

Still, Mogato managed to find the humor in the situation. They changed my profile picture to that of pro-Duterte blogger Mocha Uson, he said, chuckling. And my banner to say, Duterte is my president.

Mogato has since changed his Facebook settings. Nonetheless, his editors had every right to worry; the threat to journalists in the Philippines is all too real. With the 2009 Ampatuan massacre still fresh on peoples minds, the deaths of at least 32 journalists serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of reporting about politics and conflict in a country where those two topics often go hand-in-hand.

But Mogato is certainly no stranger to conflict  hes made a career out of reporting about it, along with insurgencies, human rights, international affairs and politics. For over 30 years, the reporter has found himself in the front row to some of the most turbulent times in the Philippine political landscape: the end of the Marcos dictatorship, the countrys transition under the Aquino administration, and the time when President Estrada used his political clout to shut down The Manila Times, where Mogato worked as an assistant news editor.

Its this grit and storied career that has made him the latest recipient of the Marshall McLuhan Award for Investigative Journalism. Joining an esteemed line of media professionals, Mogato was in Toronto on December 5 to speak in a forum attended by Filipino community media and others and organized by the Filipino Canadian Writers and Journalists Network. In addition to sharing his knowledge and experience as a professional lecturer at the University of the City of Manila, Mogato is a member and three-time president of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP).

Launched in 1997, the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship is a public diplomacy initiative launched by the Embassy of Canada to foster responsible journalism in the Philippines. Canada places a lot of importance on press freedom, said Carlo Figueroa, the Public Affairs Manager for the Canadian Embassy. It believes that in helping build capacity of journalists in the Philippines, it further strengthens the tenets of democracy and good government in the country. Thats the aim of projects such as these.

As the 20th McLuhan Fellow, Mogato concluded a two-week speaking tour across Canada at Wilson Hall, University of Toronto where he discussed key media issues during his lecture titled, Journalism Under Attack: The Phenomenon of Fake News and Challenges of Accountability in the New Media.

Fake news has been there for a long time, its not new, said Mogato. There have been many stories in the media that are false to mislead people.

Such is the alarming effect of spreading false information that when a fake news site fabricated a quote by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding President Rodrigo Duterte, the Canadian Embassy in Manila was forced to issue a statement denying the comments.

Post-elections, however, fake news has taken on a whole new meaning. According to The Washington Post, stories that politicians like Trump or Duterte consider unfavorable are labeled by both leaders as fake news despite the accuracy of the reports. And such statements are detrimental to journalists efforts to uncover the truth.

This time, fake news has a direct impact on news media, explained Mogato. They tend to discredit the credibility, not only of the news agencies but, in the Philippines particularly, the journalists themselves are under attack.

Lately, he has been reporting about conflicts such as the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. Recently, Mogato was part of a team of Reuters journalists who received the Special Merit Award at the Human Rights Press Awards for their multimedia series titled, Dutertes War. He said that people are dying in a drug war where theres no accountability. The police are only making excuses but they dont follow the rule of law, said Mogato. These people arent given a day in court, theyre killed.

Another topic he discussed was the importance of trust and transparency. When Reuters reports on the drug war, we always give the government the right of reply, he said. The only weapon is to continue doing journalism [and] building trust, which is very important in traditional media  if you lose your credibility and people dont trust you, youll lose readers and youll lose your business.

Mogato also addressed the role of social media in politics. We have to be critical in finding out if this information is true, [if its] actual fact and information because social media now has been polluted by so many vested interests, he said.

He urged the responsible use of social media and warned against its potential to shape peoples perceptions based on what they choose to follow online. Whatever you want to see is what appears so if youre a follower of Duterte, what will come up on your feeds are all pro-Duterte, he explained. In a way, its clouding your reality; you think its the truth.

When asked why he continues despite the risks, he said, The attacks [against journalists] wont go away. But we do our jobs by practicing good journalism because thats a responsibility.

The forum was organized by the Filipino Canadian Writers and Journalists Network (FC-WJNet) and Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media.

See http://newcanadianmedia.ca/component/k2/43002-2017-marshall-mcluhan-fellow-journalist-manny-mogato-fake-news-a-threat-to-journalism
OTTAWA and WASHINGTON, D.C, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canada-US Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders (the Council) has announced recommendations for the first pillar of their groundbreaking bilateral initiative, Advancing Women in Business. GE Canada President & CEO, GE Vice President Elyse Allan and NRStor Inc. Chair & CEO Annette Verschuren are leading this pillar, which specifically aims to help growth-minded women entrepreneurs scale up their businesses.



Supporting and Growing Women Owned Businesses is the first of five pillar reports to be released by the Council. The recommendations of the Council aim to increase the number of female business leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as contribute to the economic development and competitiveness of the Canadian and US economies.



Extensive research has proven that women make exceptional entrepreneurs and business leaders. However, the Council found that women face four significant barriers when scaling up their companies: access to growth capital and large contracts; lack of access to talent, networks, and expertise; a different cost-benefit equation when it comes to balancing entrepreneurship and unpaid care (referred to as family economics); and persistent social and psychological biases.



To overcome these hurdles, the Council has made four recommendations:

Challenge accelerators and professional networks to track gender representation and adopt best practices for cultivating women entrepreneurs.

Expand the use of private sector supplier diversity programs and increase outreach to women entrepreneurs.

Enhance the U.S. Women-Owned Small Business targeted procurement program, implement a similar program in Canada within twelve months, and consider linking the programs once implemented.

Look at ways to lower the cost of unpaid care to level the family economics playing field for women.



For further information on the first pillar recommendations visit https://advancingwomeninbusiness.com/pillar-one/



The Council is delivering these recommendations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald J. Trump as well as the private sector to help reduce the barriers limiting womens participation in business, supporting their professional advancement and assisting them in starting and scaling their businesses.



The Council will release the remaining four pillar reports in intervals through July 2018. The reports will focus on: increasing the number of women in STEM; attracting female entrepreneurs; increasing womens access to capital; and advancing women as leaders in the private sector.



The Canada-United States Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders is comprised of ten of the top female business executives in the United States and Canada. Their mandate is to develop recommendations that can reduce barriers that limit womens participation in business, support and develop womens professional advancement, and assist women in starting and scaling their businesses. Their mission is to increase the number of women business leaders and entrepreneurs, and contribute to the economic growth, and competitiveness of the Canadian and US economies. The Council is an independent and autonomous group that makes recommendations to inform the governments as appropriate. The Council is co-chaired by Linda Hasenfratz, Chief Executive Officer of Linamar Corp and Julie Sweet, Chief Executive Officer  North America of Accenture. www.advancingwomeninbusiness.com



Elyse Allan, M.C. is President and CEO, GE Canada and Vice President GE. Elyse leads GE Canadas growth across its business portfolio while also building GEs innovation and digital capacity. She contributes to building Canadas competitiveness and public policy framework through the Business

Roundtable; board work at the C.D. Howe Institute, Conference Board, and MaRS DD; and service on several government advisory boards. She sits on the Brookfield Asset Management Board of Directors. Elyse is a recipient of several honorary degrees and continues to serve her alma mater, Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business, as incoming Advisory Board Chair. She is a Member of the Order of Canada.



Annette Verschuren, O.C. is Chair and CEO of NRStor Inc., an energy storage development company. Formerly she was president of The Home Depot Canada and Asia, overseeing the growth of the companys Canadian operations from 19 to 179 stores between 1996 and 2011. Ms. Verschuren is a board member of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Air Canada, Saputo Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Limited. Her not-for-profit work includes board membership of CAMH Foundation, Rideau Hall Foundation, Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment and the MaRS Discovery District. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and author of Bet On Me.


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Boston, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Center for Education Statistics has found that approximately two-thirds of eighth-grade students in the United States cannot read proficiently; that percentage has held relatively steady for 25 years. To help schools and districts close the achievement gap for non-proficient readers in grades six and above, Lexia Learning, a Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) Company, has released Lexia PowerUp Literacy. The new program is designed to simultaneously accelerate the development of both fundamental literacy skills and higher-order thinking skills through adaptive learning paths.



Developed specifically for adolescent students, PowerUp identifies skill gaps and provides personalized and systematic instruction in word study, grammar and comprehension. By engaging students with a range of relevant, high-interest authentic texts; instructional videos; and game-based motivational elements, PowerUp is intended to help students take ownership of their learning, acknowledging their growing autonomy and building their confidence.

Schools and districts need to prepare all middle and high school students, including non-proficient readers, for college and careers, so closing the literacy achievement gap in grades 6-12 is often a matter of special concern. Thats especially true when teachers dont feel they have the training or tools to support non-proficient readers, said Lexia President Nick Gaehde. PowerUp equips teachers with the knowledge, data and instructional resources they need to support and motivate those readers.

PowerUp is the newest addition to Lexias pre-K12 portfolio of literacy solutions. The companys award-winning Lexia Reading Core5 program is research-proven to accelerate the development of fundamental literacy skills for students of all abilities in grades pre-K5. Lexia RAPID Assessment is a computer-adaptive universal screener for K-12 students that assesses the skills most predictive of end-of-year reading success. Lexia has designed each of these products to address the specific needs of the target age group, whether emergent readers or adolescent readers.

Lexia gave us exactly what we needed with RAPID and PowerUp, said Nancy Talley, Curriculum Director, River Valley Middle School, Caledonia, Ohio, who beta-tested the product. After discovering through our use of RAPID that our entire middle school population lacked proficiency in grammar, we turned to PowerUp to help close these skill gaps. RAPID had uncovered a gap in our whole class literacy instruction and identified our non-proficient readers. PowerUp, in turn, gave these students the personalized, student-driven learning they required and supported teachers with targeted offline instructional materials.

With more than 30 years of experience in reading pedagogy and research and several peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the efficacy of our instructional approach, we have always put the needs of teachers and students at the core of what we do, added Gaehde. PowerUp is our latest extension of this mission. We want to empower teachers who might otherwise feel unprepared to support non-proficient readers. And we want to meet the needs of a wide range of studentswhether they are struggling or nearly proficient readersthrough a highly engaging and personalized instruction experience that we believe will effectively address the decades-long gap in reading proficiency across our country.

Additional information about Lexia PowerUp Literacy can be found at www.lexialearning.com/pr/introducing-lexia-powerup-literacy.

# # #

About Lexia Learning

Lexia Learning, a division of Rosetta Stone, empowers educators through adaptive assessment and personalized instruction. For more than 30 years, the company has been on the leading edge of research and product development as it relates to student reading skills. With a robust offering that includes solutions for differentiated instruction, personalized learning and assessment, Lexia Learning provides educators with the tools to intensify and accelerate literacy skills development for students of all abilities. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.

About Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) is dedicated to changing peoples lives through the power of language and literacy education. The companys innovative digital solutions drive positive learning outcomes for the inspired learner at home or in schools and workplaces around the world.

Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stones language division uses cloud-based solutions to help all types of learners read, write, and speak more than 30 languages. Lexia Learning, Rosetta Stone's literacy education division, was founded more than 30 years ago and is a leader in the literacy education space. Today, Lexia helps students build fundamental reading skills through its rigorously researched, independently evaluated, and widely respected instruction and assessment programs.

For more information, visit www.rosettastone.com. Rosetta Stone is a registered trademark or trademark of Rosetta Stone Ltd. in the United States and other countries.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- In a searing speech on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, Sen. Jeff Flake denounced President Donald Trump for his sustained attacks against the news media, going so far as to compare his rhetoric to that of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.



In Flake's remarks Wednesday, he pointed to Stalin, the Soviet Union's 30-year dictator as a seeming inspiration for Trump's attacks against the press, singling out a phrase that each used to refer to their interpreted opposition.



"It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies," Flake said. "It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader."



Flake, long an outspoken critic of the president, said his speech coincides with the planned date of Trump's "Fake News Awards," which he announced in a Twitter post at the beginning of the month. Already delayed once, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called such a ceremony a "potential event" Tuesday and did not provide details about it when asked at the day's press briefing.



2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government, said Flake, R-Ariz., adding, "2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it."



Last February, Trump drew widespread condemnation when he tweeted that the "FAKE NEWS media" was not his enemy, but rather "the enemy of the American people," a charge his critics felt took his disdain for coverage of his administration beyond his usual attacks.



Flake characterized the president's attacks as "shameful" and "repulsive" Wednesday and accused him of inspiring autocratic leaders throughout the world  citing denials of news reports by heads-of-state in Syria, the Philippines, Venezuela, Myanmar and Singapore.



"This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr. President," said Flake, addressing Trump. "Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language. This is reprehensible."



The speech was the senator's second such address targeting Trump from the Senate floor in the last three months.



In October, Flake passionately decried what he called the "regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals" under the president as he announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018. An emotional Flake said at the time: "We must never meekly accept the daily sundering of our country," including "the flagrant disregard for truth and decency."



The senator concluded his speech Wednesday by calling on his Senate colleagues -- whom he acknowledged have all likely faced news coverage they "felt was jaded or unfair"  to "stop excusing, ignoring  or worse, endorsing  these attacks on the truth."



"For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost," he said.



Responding to Flake's speech later on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the senator's criticisms are a result of "terrible poll numbers" and that Flake is "looking for attention."

"He's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression," Sanders told reporters. "I think it's unfortunate and our position here at the White House is that we welcome access to the media every day."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Narrative Science, the leader in Advanced Natural Language Generation (Advanced NLG) for the enterprise, today announced the availability of its third annual research report, "Outlook on Artificial Intelligence in the Enterprise 2018." In partnership with the National Business Research Institute (NBRI), Narrative Science surveyed business executives from a wide array of functions, including business intelligence, finance, and product management, to understand the use, value, and impact of AI throughout their businesses. Narrative Science's analysis of the data revealed key findings, including the compelling discovery that almost two-thirds of enterprises utilized AI in 2017. The report explains in further detail:



AI adoption grew over 60% in the last year: In 2016, 38% of survey respondents said they had implemented AI within their businesses. In 2017, that number rose to 61%.



Tech innovation is driving business strategy: 71% of respondents noted that their company has an innovation strategy to drive investments in new technologies like AI.



Artificial intelligence is to combine with business intelligence: 90% of respondents in the business intelligence function reported that they would be interested in incorporating AI to make their data analytics tools smarter.



Enterprises are experiencing ROI challenges: 31% of respondents are either not tracking ROI or are not seeing returns on their current AI investments.

This years survey illustrates that AI technology is being widely used today and its impact and application within the enterprise is growing, said Stuart Frankel, CEO of Narrative Science. Through comparison with our previous report, it is evident that AI implementation has significantly increased and the conversations around AI have turned from awareness to adoption. In 2018, the focus will be on ensuring enterprises get value from their AI investments.

To download the full research report, visit: https://narrativescience.com/Resources/Resource-Library/Article-Detail-Page/outlookonai2018report





About Narrative Science

Narrative Science is the leader in Advanced Natural Language Generation (Advanced NLG) for the enterprise. Quill, its Advanced NLG platform, learns and writes like a person, automatically transforming data into Intelligent Narrativesinsightful, conversational communications full of audience-relevant information that provide complete transparency into how analytic decisions are made. Customers, including Credit Suisse, Deloitte, MasterCard, USAA, and members of the U.S. intelligence community, use Intelligent Narratives to make better business decisions, focus talent on higher-value opportunities, and improve communications with their customers.

Connect with Narrative Science

Read our blog: http://www.narrativescience.com/blog/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/narrativesci

Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarrativeScience

Contact Information:

Andrea Watts

Marketing Associate

+1-312-219-8111

awatts@narrativescience.com


FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Kames Capital Plc (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Informa plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 16/01/2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" No

If YES, specify which:

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



Ordinary Share



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 13,516,530 1.6403 0 0.00 (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



475,255 0.0577 0 0.00 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: 0 0.00 0 0.00



TOTAL: 13,991,785 1.698 0 0.00

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit

(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?





Date of disclosure: 17/01/2018 Contact name: Stephen Adams Telephone number: 0131 549 6714 For any issues relating to this disclosure please contact 0131 549 3288 or kamestradeoperationsmb@kamescapital.com

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RANE (Risk Assistance Network + Exchange) announced today a number of appointments to help guide the growth of RANEs community-based approach to risk management. RANE is an information and advisory company focused on managing enterprise risk and enabling better outcomes for its members.



Joining RANE as executive directors are Serina Vash, Executive Director of Governance, Risk & Compliance, and Matt Boccia, Executive Director of Expert Relations.

Serina Vash, Executive Director, Governance, Risk & Compliance

Vash joins RANE from NYU Law School, where she was the executive director of the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement. A seasoned former federal prosecutor and litigator, Vash brings with her two decades of practical experience and a passion for tackling the issue of deterring crime. Before joining NYU, Vash served for 12 years in the United States Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey. While at the U.S. Attorneys Office, Vash supervised and prosecuted a wide range of federal crimes, including cases involving securities fraud, money laundering, structuring, organized crime and racketeering, cybercrime, national security, and other financial frauds. In 2010, Vash was named the first-ever chief of the Offices General Crimes Unit. Vash also served as acting deputy chief of the Criminal Division, senior litigation counsel in both the Organized Crime/Gang Unit and the National Security Unit, and a member of the Offices Trial Mentorship Program.

Matt Boccia, Executive Director, Expert Relations

Boccia joins RANE from Global Guardian, where he was the chief operating officer offering comprehensive security and duty of care services to corporate and individual clients. He was responsible for oversight of firm-wide operations and client service delivery in over 75 countries and served as the president of the firms global medical evacuation division. Before that, Boccia spent ten years in federal law enforcement, serving as a Special Agent with both the Secret Service and FBI, where he was involved in a wide range of complex criminal investigations and physical security and protective assignments both domestically and abroad. At RANE, Boccia is responsible for the development and management of RANEs expert risk network, including new expert recruitment, onboarding, engagement, and relationship management.

In addition, RANE announced the appointment of Dan Wachtler as Senior Advisor, Cybersecurity, and James Holohan, Senior Director, Business Intelligence.

Dan Wachtler joins RANE from his prior role as president of root9B Holdings, Inc., an advanced cybersecurity firm and creator of the first-ever commercial HUNT Model. Previously, he was CEO of global risk advisory and consulting firm, IPSA International. James Holohan is a 20-year-veteran of the NYPD and has conducted and supervised complex investigations involving financial fraud, stock price manipulation, money laundering, bribery and corruption, asset misappropriation, employee misconduct, and data breaches.



Access to a global network of credentialed risk experts and service providers

RANE subject matter experts provide actionable stewardship to proactively address and mitigate risk, said Steve Roycroft, CEO of RANE. Through strategic counsel and pragmatic advice, our experts have the deep knowledge and real-world experience that drive better outcomes for our clients most pressing risk challenges.

These in-house subject matter experts work with RANEs network experts to deliver on a range of defined risk management programs for clients, including regulatory readiness and training, due diligence and investigations, and comprehensive offerings in cybersecurity, physical security, and enterprise safety. Together, they provide consultative support on preparing for these exposures in advance, in response, and in repair.

RANE members benefit through improved situational awareness of risks and threats, efficient access to information and expertise, and more proactive and effective risk mitigation and preparation.

To learn more about becoming a member of the RANE community, visit www.ranenetwork.com.

Contact:

Tim Allik

508.310.3876

timallik@slotkincommunications.com
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The descriptions of the crimes provided on the website are often erroneous. The website lists 205 of the 291 incidents reviewed as cases of rape. But reporting into the claims found that rape was only suspected in 59 of the cases. Although these should not be downplayed, many of the cases in question were less severe incidences of sexual assault or harassment. In 47 cases, the authorities determined that the incident did not meet the criteria to be considered a criminal act. In other words, the map seems to involve some strong exaggeration, at least when compared to the findings of police and judicial officials.

Twenty-six suspects or perpetrators were refugees in the rapes investigated. Each of the crimes committed is, of course, one too many, but the ultimate figure is low compared to what the map suggests.

Eighteen refugees were convicted on charges of rape, and courts also convicted or upheld rulings against 51 refugees -- for sexual abuse or sexual assault in more than half of the cases. An additional 18 foreigners have been convicted who are not refugees but whose residency status remains unresolved, including Turks and Afghans, several Serbians, an Azerbaijani and a Ukrainian tourist who sexually abused an inebriated woman at Oktoberfest in Munich. Six of those convicted are EU citizens and eight are German. They include a 46-year-old man who attacked a blind woman in the Bavarian town of Pfaffenhofen from behind on an open street and sexually assaulted her.

On the Rapefugees.net map, the case is noted as a "cover-up attempt." But no information is provided about what might have been swept under the rug.

A closer inspection of the crimes for which refugees were convicted showed that many took place in refugee camps. In most cases, the victims were the children of other refugees. In August 2016, for example, a young Eritrean man lured a six-year-old girl, likewise from Eritrea, into his room in a Hamburg camp and abused her. Police arrested the man.

Twenty-four of the reports investigated on Rapefugees.net appear to be false claims. They include the rape in Rostock that was likely fabricated, but nevertheless remains listed on the map. And the case of a 15-year-old school girl from the city of Mochengladbach, who claimed in January 2016 that she had been raped near the city's central train station. The perpetrator had a "tanned face" she said and spoke with a foreign accent. In response, angry local residents formed their own vigilante group. A week later, the police announced that the crime "had not happened" in the way described by the teen. The alleged perpetrator was an acquaintance who said everything had happened with mutual consent. Public prosecutors opened an investigation into the 15-year-old for making up a crime, but later dropped it.

A Less Dramatic Reality

For most of the news reports on the Rapefugees map, it's unclear at first glance whether the story is true or false. With most, the only takeaway is that there was some kind of encounter between the perpetrator and victim. Nevertheless, the incidents on the map are often listed as attempted rape, gang rape or, rather inventively: "GANG RAPE Attempt and Beating Attacks by ISIS Sex Jihadists." The actual incidents as reported by police seem a lot less dramatic.

To cite but a few examples:

May 13, 2016, in Hagen, Germany: At midnight, three young men harassed a 13-year-old girl at the train station and groped her. The 13-year-old boy accompanying her intervened and the three young men then attacked him. Passersby arrived and the three young men fled. The description given of the men: "North African appearance."

May 21, 2016, Dusseldorf: A couple was walking along the banks of the Rhine River when the young woman was suddenly hugged from behind and fondled. As her boyfriend stepped in, he was hit by several people. The description of all perpetrators: "Mediterranean appearance."

July 2, 2016, Nuremberg: A young women was walking home at 3 a.m. when someone approached her from behind and touched her sexually. She screamed and he fled. The physical description provided: "Mediterranean appearance."

Aug. 28, 2016, Turkismuhle in rural Saarland: An unidentified man approached a 38-year-old woman at the train station. He pushed her against the wall, grabbed her from behind and attempted to kiss her. As she "energetically spoke to him," he fled. Description: "Mediterranean appearance."

There's no question about the seriousness of the four cases, but contrary to the claims made by Rapefugees.net, they were not rapes. And there was no indication of alleged "ISIS sex jihadists."

Prosecutors dropped the investigations in all of these cases because they were unable to identify any assailants. The same is true of the investigations into about 29 percent of the incidents listed on the map: The question as to whether the perpetrators were refugees will likely never be resolved. It is certainly possible that it is true in some of the cases. And theoretically, it's also possible that all of the unidentified assailants were asylum-seekers. But that's unlikely in the case that unfolded at the train station in Hagen. Witnesses say there was only one perpetrator and that he spoke accent-free German.

Research into this data is highly detailed and complex, but it's the only way of getting a true grasp on what these kinds of claims really amount to and the way in which right-wing websites operate. It is the convergence of many things that unsettle people in Germany: the refugee crisis, concern about domestic security and the loss of trust in politics and the traditional media. It also demonstrates the growing influence of websites and forums where people can mutually affirm their questionable worldviews.

Spreading Fear

There has been an assumption in Germany -- one that goes deep into even the middle class -- that the traditional media made a pact with Chancellor Angela Merkel to hide widespread criminal activity in order not to threaten support for her refugee policies.

In the past two years, many readers have written to DER SPIEGEL imploring the newsmagazine to stop hiding the truth and clearly state the danger: that refugees are raping women and children in Germany. One woman wrote that it was imperative "to report about the cover-up of information about rapes committed by migrants." She also frequently sent links to internet sites collecting alleged rape cases purportedly perpetrated by refugees.

The classical media find themselves in a quandary here. If we don't write about the issue and about the rumors circulating on the internet, skeptics see that as proof that something is being hidden. Yet if we do write about specific websites like the one covered in this story, we run the risk of enhancing the profile of pages meant to incite hatred online.

The people behind Rapefugees.net, who spend so much time filling the map with content, are apparently equally fastidious in their efforts to conceal their identities. The imprint refers to a person named F. Mueller in Uruguay and the page is hosted on a server based in the United States. Queries made by DER SPIEGEL went unanswered. Facebook deleted the site's page on the social media platform in May 2016.

The site's operators exploit the fundamental fear of foreignness -- a latent fear that most people can harbor. To make the world simpler, people have a tendency to ascribe certain traits to certain groups of foreigners, meaning that whole groups of people can quickly get lumped into certain problematic stereotypes: Roma steal, Italians like to flirt and refugees, most of whom are Muslims, are dangerous and rape women.

Amplifiers

Why this specific prejudice is attached to refugees is something that Wolfgang Benz is trying to explain. The professor emeritus at the Technical University of Berlin, who researches prejudice, believes that the arrival of the refugees has "reactivated" an image that has long existed in the minds of Germans -- one of a country occupied by foreign forces behaving like barbarians.

"Today, the horde that is invading us, is no longer the Russians but the refugees, and the rapes, as in every past war, are part of the conduct of war," says Benz, describing the most recent iteration of that image. He says the events of new year's eve 2015 in Cologne and the tone of the reporting on them has exacerbated that prejudice. Every report of a refugee committing sexual assault or harassment, he says, acts as an amplifier, and reports to the contrary are no longer taken seriously.

The public does, in fact, only hear about a small number of the sexual assaults that are committed each year, although this is not because they are covered up. There are so many that you could fill an entire newspaper with reports about them every day. According to police crime statistics, approximately 47,401 alleged criminal offenses against sexual self-determination were recorded in 2016, committed by Germans as well as by non-Germans. That represents about 130 reported crimes per day. The true number is likely much higher than that, but many victims don't go to the police.

When the term "rape" comes up, many people instinctively think of an unknown assailant pulling women into the bushes at night. But according to calculations by the Center for Criminology, a research institute run by Germany's federal government in conjunction with state governments, the alleged perpetrator is only a stranger in one-fifth of all reported rapes and serious sexual assaults. Most often, the alleged perpetrator is an acquaintance, friend or relative.

For the past several years, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has released an annual situation report on crime across the country, with a special emphasis on criminality among immigrants. The term "immigrants" in this context includes; asylum-seekers; those who have been allowed to stay temporarily despite not having received asylum status; illegal immigrants; and refugees who have been brought into Germany on the basis of quotas. Suspects whose asylum applications have been approved are not included. At least one immigrant was indentified as a suspect in 3,404 of the sexual offenses committed in 2016. That's more than twice as many cases as in the previous year (see graphic below). The increase proved especially dramatic in cases of sexual assault and the sexual abuse of children.
Pretoria, Jan 16, 2018 (SPS) - The African National Congress (ANC) has reaffirmed its support for the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence.

In a speech delivered by the Hon. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the ANC in commemoration of the 106th anniversary of the African National Congress movement, the South African leader condemns the withdrawal of Morocco from the peace process supervised by the United Nations and calls on the United Nations to put the parties to the conflict at the same negotiating table.

The ANC and the POLISARIO maintain solidarity links and excellent relations at a high level, with shared visions on the anti-colonial struggle and the emancipation of Africa. SPS

125/090/TRA
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TV anchors are the celebrities of the news business, and as celebrities do, they take home some big paychecks.

Moneyinc.com recently ranked the richest TV anchors by net-worth and two of Connecticut's most famous made the top 10.

Click through the slideshow above to see the top 10 richest TV news anchors. Visit Moneyinc.com for the full list.

Matt Lauer whountil November 2017hosted the Today Show on NBC, came in at number four on the list with a net-worth of $60M. This was prior to the sexual misconduct allegations that led to his firing.

In late November 2017, allegations against Lauer came out claiming that Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy, and berated another who refused to have sex with him after he showed her his penis.It was also reported that Lauer had a device with which he could lock his office door without leaving his desk.

Now Playing: More than a month has passed since Matt Lauer was fired from the Today show, and his former longtime colleague, Katie Couric, is now opening up about the former NBC anchors shocking dismissal Video: People

Friends of Matt Lauer from Greenwich were shocked, saddened and puzzled after learning the longtime "Today" show host was fired for "inappropriate sexual behavior."

Those who've known Lauer, who graduated from Greenwich High School in 1975, said the alleged activity that got him fired from NBC was jarringly at odds with the man they know. Some friends said they would support him.

New Canaan resident Brian Williams also made the list at number six with a net-worth of $40M.

In 2015, NBC suspended Williams as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News for six months without pay for saying he was aboard a Chinook military helicopter when it was struck by a hostile grenade over the desert outside Baghdad in 2003. After veterans began to question Williams' account and the story gained momentum, the newsman came forward and acknowledged another helicopter had been struck, and apologized for misleading the public.

Coming at number 17 and 14 on the top 20 were New Canaan's Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and Darien's Scott Pelley, longtime anchor for CBS News and corespondent on "60 Minutes."
Andrew McDonald was running for state Senate for the first time in 2002 when a telephone poll raised the issue of whether voters would support a gay candidate.

Republicans denied paying for the poll; some accused Democrats of orchestrating it.

Democrats predicted an attempt to launch a whisper campaign about their candidate would backfire.

To whatever coward pulled those strings, heres a news flash: kaboom!

Last week  16 years after the poll  Newsweek blared the headline that Andrew McDonald Could Become First Openly Gay Leader of a State Supreme Court.

Back in 2002, we had spirited discussions in the newsroom about whether a story about the poll required us to add a certain clause behind McDonalds name for the first time: who is gay.

McDonalds opponent, future lieutenant governor Michael Fedele, responded that he didnt want sexual identity to become a campaign issue. It never seemed to be one for voters, who elected McDonald to five terms before Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recruited his old friend as his legal counsel and subsequently appointed him to the state Supreme Court.

The targeted candidate summoned the right words at the time.

I am not a gay candidate for the state Senate, McDonald responded. I am, however, a dedicated, hard-working, honest and caring candidate who happens also to be gay.

The same is true today. That clause may have mushroomed into an emboldened adjective in the national media, but the bottom line is that the Judiciary Committee will decide if McDonald is qualified to be the states next chief justice based on his record.

Just two years after the poll, McDonald had to endure an equally surreal accusation. We were doing a story about whether his opponent, Rick Giordano, resided in the 27th district, which covers Stamford and Darien. Giordano, who had been living in Norwalk for 27 years, declined to meet a reporter at his Stamford apartment. Instead, he suggested McDonald be questioned about where he lays his head.

Our diligent reporter showed up unannounced at McDonalds Glenbrook home. The then-senator was delighted that she found him and his partner drinking wine and listening to Ethel Merman.

McDonalds bigger public challenge to winning legislative approval may be shaking off accusations that the appointment is a political favor from Malloy.

The many other identifiers next to McDonalds name illustrate the depth of his experience: lawyer; former member of Stamfords Board of Finance and Board of Representatives; corporation counsel for Stamford; co-chair of the state Judiciary Committee. And, oh yeah, Supreme Court judge for five years.

McDonald has used a different description of himself: political junkie.

Hes been in politics since he was 8 years old, his mother, Anne McDonald, once said of Andrew, who listened to Board of Representatives meetings on the radio as a kid.

That part of his resume reaches deeper than his childhood, into his DNA. Alex and Anne McDonald printed NAACP pamphlets in their Stamford home during Martin Luther King, Jr.s heyday, before Andrew was born 51 years ago.

The toughness McDonald has needed to endure homophobic hokum can be traced to his mom, a state representative who once dragged her oxygen tank onto the House floor after a two-week brawl with pneumonia. Anne McDonald, who died in 2007, would have made one helluva flinty judge. She suffered no fools, armed for battle with unrivaled research, and distinguished herself by a passion for truth and an unyielding demand for justice. She once wrote an op-ed shaming Stamford officials for having the distinction of spending a lower percentage of the city budget on education than any other Connecticut municipality.

She fueled bonus descriptives that belong behind Andrew McDonalds name. I would add another: wiseguy.

A few years ago, I was entering a restaurant to meet my wife and mother-in-law. I spotted them through the glass from the sidewalk, along with McDonald, who was at the table behind them. He kept mining humor from this, pretending to be a waiter and delivering fries and the like to our table.

Weve continued to encounter one another at random places. In September, my son was anxious to show off a toy while navigating the crowd at the Bedford Street crafts show. He engaged a stranger. I kept apologizing, only to look up at McDonald. My son had apparently recognized him from the many early mornings we saw him trying to run laps at Cove Island Park.

McDonald reliably pauses to say hello. Theres always a mutual awareness of the collision between his appetite for gossip and his learned wariness around journalists.

Do you ever complete a lap without someone stopping you? is my go-to interview question.

I sometimes have to just put my head down, he has confessed.

There are many laps to go. But no one should dismiss the miles McDonald has already logged.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time. Jbreunig@scni.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (TSX:CGG) (HKEx:2099) (the Company) is pleased to announce the establishment of a technical advisory committee (the Committee) to assist in the assessment of the Companys exploration and resource expansion programs and geological and production models, as well as in the evaluation of potential acquisition targets. The Committee will be led by independent director, Gregory Hall and comprised of a select group of highly skilled and experienced international consultants with varied technical expertise ranging from geology and exploration to mining and process.



The Companys CEO and Executive Director, Mr. Bing Liu, stated: We are pleased to formalize the Committee and are confident that the Committee will greatly benefit the Company as we look to optimize our existing operations and mine expansions and also review potential acquisition targets.

About China Gold International Resources

China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and operates both profitable and growing mines, the CSH Gold Mine in Inner Mongolia, and the Jiama Copper-Gold Polymetallic Mine in Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. The Companys objective is to continue to build shareholder value by growing production at its current mining operations, expanding its resource base, and aggressively acquiring and developing new projects internationally. The Company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:CGG) and the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEx:2099).

For further information on China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd., please refer to its SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com or contact Tel: 604-609-0598, Email: info@chinagoldintl.com, Website: www.chinagoldintl.com.

Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding China Gold International Resources contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although China Gold International Resources believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. China Gold International Resources cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what China Gold International Resources currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and subject to change after that date.
STAMFORD  A former Oregon man who police say ripped off Connecticut homeowners following Superstorm Sandy with a generator installation scheme was arraigned this week.

John Mech, 56, of Seaside, Ore., was extradited to Connecticut in September and faces charges for stealing generator deposits from homeowners in Stamford, Monroe and Westport.

At his arraignment Tuesday at the Stamford courthouse, his attorney Alan Friedman told Judge John Blawie his client has made restitution in three of the cases. Blawie said the restitution will help lesson the penalty for Mech.

According to his three-page Stamford arrest warrant, Mech took a $7,500 deposit for a $12,000 generator to be installed at a Sawmill Road home on Feb. 21, 2013, four months after Superstorm Sandy hit.

The homeowner left a message for Mech in April after not hearing back from him for weeks. A woman returned the call and said Mech would install the generator in May, the warrant said.

Mech never installed the generator and police were alerted to three other complaints from homeowners by December of that year, the warrant said. All of the deposit checks were cashed, but the work was not completed, the warrant said.

Police determined Mechs company, Affordable Generators for Everyone LLC, was not registered as a home improvement contractor in the state.

When investigators interviewed Mech this past September, he blamed his wife for gambling away the deposits, the warrant said.

Blawie ordered Mech held in lieu of a $50,000 court appearance bond.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Miami, FL, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biorasi, a leading full-service global CRO, is pleased to announce today the opening of their new Japanese office, located in Tokyo. This milestone marks Biorasis first regional headquarters located in East Asia, and dramatically expands Biorasis capabilities to manage trials in Japan and surrounding territories. The new office will become the command center for all East-Asian operations.

We had two major objectives with our Japanese office. The primary objective grew out of our sponsors needs for a Japanese component in increasingly complex studies. While a traditional CRO may have simply used a subcontractor, the challenging nature of modern drug trials requires direct management and optimization processes to succeed, said Dr. Boris Reznik, Chairman of Biorasi. But additionally, we recognize that Japan is a leader in healthcare innovation, and more than ever Western companies are reaching out to Japanese partners to accelerate the development of their breakthrough products. Opening a Japanese office allows us to better serve the future needs of our sponsors, and fits into our continuing mission to be the partner of choice for companies seeking global, optimized clinical development.

Biorasi has conducted trials in Japan and other Asian countries for more than a decade through its global CRO partnership network, but the opening of the new corporate office in Japan represents a significant new commitment to supporting both the Asian domestic market and the American and European markets as they collaborate with Japanese pharmaceutical companies. The Tokyo office is the 6th regional headquarters Biorasi has opened, following Miami, Moscow, Kiev, Dusseldorf, and Mumbai. With growth remaining strong, however, the company looks forward to expanding even further in the near future.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4e5888bc-e689-42f2-8246-a68e30507404
CALGARY, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. (DIRTT or the Company) (TSX:DRT), a leading technology-enabled manufacturer of custom prefabricated interiors, today announced highlights of its go-forward plan for the quarter ending March 31, 2018, in addition to reaffirming the senior leadership teams commitment to DIRTT.



Company co-founder and executive chair, Mogens Smed, confirmed his continued focus on the revenue generation aspects of the business, including sales and marketing activities, and partner engagement and success. DIRTT is built on a culture of empowerment to drive change and make things happen, and thats not always comfortable, but its worth it, says executive chair Mogens Smed. Were determined to push DIRTT forward and Im committed to helping this team succeed.



Michael Goldstein, DIRTTs interim president and CEO, has laid out a 90-day plan to build momentum:

Deliver on near-term growth: The Company reaffirms its commitment to capitalize on the significant investments made throughout 2017, to drive revenue growth and focus on improvement to Adjusted EBITDA.

Integrate senior leadership initiatives: Changes to DIRTTs senior management team announced on January 2, 2018, establish a leadership group that is driven to realize the Companys growth and profit potential. Company founders and other members of the senior management team have confirmed their commitment and support. The team is actively engaged with integration work related to new executive team members and roles. The Company diligently continues its search for a permanent CFO, and management and the board are participating in the search process.

Launch strategic growth analysis: The Company believes its opportunity for growth and increased earnings generation is substantial. As such, it is undertaking a strategic assessment to sharpen its strategy for growth and to support a renewed resource focus on significant markets and opportunities to evolve.

Implement shareholder engagement initiatives: The Company will implement a program to increase its connection and communications with shareholders and to encourage open dialogue and the exchange of ideas with its shareholders.

We believe DIRTT has a compelling opportunity to dominate significant portions of this market, says Goldstein. I have never experienced a more committed, engaged and motivated team than what DIRTT has. What the founders have created here is truly remarkable, and we are committed to reinforcing and building upon the capabilities of this team and the Companys technology to fully realize the potential of DIRTT.

An updated investor presentation is now available on DIRTTs Investor Relations website at ir.DIRTT.net.

Forward Looking Information

Except for historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events including its opportunities for future growth and to increase its market position. These forward-looking statements are based upon information which is currently available to the Company and which is believed to be reasonable in the circumstances; however, such statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from such forward looking statements. In particular, the Companys ability to predict future financial performance is highly uncertain due, in part, to the lumpy nature of customer orders, the variability of product mix, and the timing of the underlying construction projects that DIRTT is selling in to. The Companys success will depend, in part, on its ability to maintain and manage growth effectively. To take advantage of future growth opportunities and manage the growth of the Companys operations and personnel, DIRTT will need to continue to improve its operational, financial and management controls and reporting systems and procedures. Failure to effectively manage growth could result in difficulty in implementing products or securing customers and Partners; declines in quality or customer satisfaction; increases in costs; and difficulties in introducing new features or other operational difficulties. Any of these difficulties could adversely impact the Companys business performance and results of operations. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under the Company's continuous disclosure obligations.

Non-IFRS Measures

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures, meaning that they do not have standardized meanings as prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Other companies may calculate similar measures in a different manner and, therefore, non-IFRS measures are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented and calculated by other companies. EBITDA represents an indication of the Companys capacity to generate income from operations before taking into account managements financing decisions and costs of consuming tangible and intangible capital assets, which vary according to their age, technological validity, and managements estimate of their useful life. Accordingly, EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is EBITDA adjusted for noncash foreign exchange gains or losses on debt revaluation; gains or losses on disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets; writeoff of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets; noncash stockbased compensation expense; transaction costs; and any other nonrecurring gains or losses. The Company believes these non-IFRS measures are useful supplemental measures that may assist investors in assessing its business. The Company uses them to assess its ability to generate cash flows, service debt, pay current taxes, and fund capital expenditures. Non-IFRS measures should not be considered as the sole measure of the Companys performance and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, any other measure of performance under IFRS, including net income (loss) or profit as determined in accordance with IFRS.

About DIRTT | www.DIRTT.net

DIRTT Environmental Solutions uses its proprietary 3D software to design, manufacture and install fully customized, prefabricated interiors. DIRTT's manufacturing facilities are in Phoenix, Savannah, Kelowna and Calgary. DIRTT's team supports nearly 100 Partners throughout North America, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia. DIRTT trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "DRT."
Dublin, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Colocation Data Center Industry: Global Markets to 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Key Report Highlights:

The global market for colocation data center industry is expected to grow from $30.9 billion in 2016 to $54.8 billion by 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4% for the period of 2016-2020.

Americas as a segment is expected to grow from nearly $16.8 billion in 2016 to $26.4 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 12.0% for the period of 2016-2020.

Asia-Pacific as a segment is expected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2016 to $13.2 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 25.0% for the period of 2016-2020.

The goal in performing this study was to determine the global market and future demand growth for colocation data centers over the four-year period from 2016 through 2020. Of particular focus was characterizing and quantifying the potential of the market for colocation data centers by geography, and product.

The report also evaluates the market segments. Opportunities in lucrative segments have been discussed in detail. Factors that affect the market such as drivers, restraints, and trends have been discussed. The key objective was to present a comprehensive discussion of colocation data centers market and forecast the future potential for the key market segments/geographies.

This discussion provides a basis for companies to make strategic choices about developing new products and markets or deciding which applications are needed in their organizations. The study will benefit colocation datacenter providers, new entrants, users of colocation services, cloud service providers, various industry verticals such as Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, governments around the world, and others.

The increasing presence of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and IoT across all the industries has led to increasing demand for data storage globally. Global industry leaders and large organizations see an increasing trend of outsourcing their data needs across various industries.

Increasing demand from cloud companies in the technology, financial services and healthcare industries is expected to drive this market. Many companies are expanding their geographical presence inorganically through the mergers and acquisitions. Moreover, there is an increasing government support for IT initiatives driving growth. The cloud market is expected to increase with more hyperscale providers. These factors are expected to drive the global colocation data centers market.

The market for colocation data centers is fragmented with only a few large players having more than 5% market share. Major players in the market include Equinix, Digital Realty, NTT Data, Century Link (Cyxtera), Cyrus One and others.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Summary and Highlights

Chapter 3: Market Characteristics

Definitions

Data Center

Colocation Data Centers

Types of Colocation Data Centers

Classifications

Customer Landscape

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance

Telecom and IT

Government and Defense

Education

Retail and E-commerce

Energy and Utilities

Manufacturing

Healthcare

Others (Media, Entertainment, Transportation and Logistics)

Supply Chain and Key Participants

Real Estate, Building and Infrastructure Developers

Equipment Manufacturers

Power and Connectivity Providers

Colocation Data Center Providers

Managed IT Service Providers

End Users

Drivers

Digitalization

Increasing Demand from Cloud Operators

Increasing Impact of Virtual Reality on Storage

Increasing Presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Growth in Big Data Analytics

Rise in Media and Entertainment

Increasing Demand from Health Care Organizations

Outsourcing Data Centers Needs is Driving Demand for Colocation

Restraints

Technologies are Getting Obsolete Faster

Pressure on Colocation Pricing

Infrastructural Barriers

Impact of Government Policies

Market Trends

Rise in Mergers and Acquisitions

Interconnection Supporting Edge Computing

Advances in Technologies/Processes for Utilization of Server Space

Modular Data Centers are Preferred Over Customized Data Centers

Changing Customer Preferences

Increasing Infrastructure Management

Adoption of Green Technologies in Data Centers

Major Certifications in The Colocation Data Center Industry

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

PCI Data Security Standard Council

SSAE 16 - Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16

Service Organization Control (SOC)

Chapter 4: Market Size and Forecasts

Global Colocation Data Centers Market Size

USA Colocation Data Centers Market Size

Chapter 5: Market Breakdown by Region

Chapter 6: Customer Landscape

Global Colocation Data Centers Market Break Down by Industry

USA Colocation Data Centers Market Size, Break Down by Industry

Chapter 7: Global Colocation Market, Pricing Analysis

Average Price Analysis

Colocation Pricing, USA

Chapter 8: Competitor Landscape

Leading Players, Global Colocation Market, 2016

Wholesale vs Retail Comparison

Chapter 9: Company Profiles

Equinix

Digital Realty

Ntt Communications

Level 3 Communications

Verizon Communications

Cyrusone

Global Switch

Chapter 10: Conclusions and Recommendations

Market Attractiveness

Recommendations

Chapter 11: Appendix

Primary Research - Interview Transcripts

Interview-1-Equinix

Interview-2-Digital Reality

Interview-3-DuPont Fabros

Interview-4-Equinix-India

Interview-5-Equinix

Interview-6-Cyrus One

Interview-7-Equinix

Interview-8-Cyrus One

Interview-9-Digital Reality

Interview-10-Cyrus One

Interview-11-Cyxtera

Email 1 -Global Switch - Spain

Email 2 - Cyrus One - USA

Chapter 12: References



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/x6l5v6/global_colocation?w=12




CRESCO, PA, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Net Savings Link, Inc. (OTC: NSAV), announced today that all $240,000.00 of toxic convertible debt has been eliminated from its books and can no longer negatively impact the Company or its shareholders. The current management of NSAV inherited these five toxic convertible notes from the prior management, all of which dated back to 2014. Since taking over in 2016, the Companys current management has not authorized the issuance of a single share of its common stock, except for a restricted stock dividend enacted in May 2017. The Company wants to assure all NSAV shareholders that it is firmly standing by its previously stated commitment of no dilution.



The Company also announced today in response to numerous shareholder inquiries, that NSAV is categorically not planning or even considering a reverse split of its shares. Since the current management took over in February 2016, the Company imposed a strategy of building the company from the ground up and reverse stock splits are almost always detrimental to shareholders.

NSAV also announced that the collaboration between its subsidiary, Shanghai based Vital Strategic Research Institute (VSRI) and Eli Lilly and Company ( www.lilly.com ) is proceeding according to schedule. VSRI and Eli Lilly signed an agreement on December 5, 2017. Under the terms of the agreement, VSRI will provide Eli Lilly with an assessment of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) among newly diagnosed diabetes patients at increased risk of CVD in China. China is facing the largest diabetes epidemic in the world with around 11 percent of its population suffering from the metabolic illness, while nearly 36 percent are pre-diabetic. CVD in China has also reached epidemic proportions, with over 200 million Chinese suffering from the worlds leading cause of death. A copy of the NSAV/VSRI-Eli Lilly agreement can be viewed on the NSAV corporate website by accessing the link below.

http://nsavholdinginc.com/files/VSRI-Eli-Lilly.pdf

James Tilton, president of NSAV stated, I am thrilled that we have been able to eliminate this huge amount of toxic convertible debt from our books, which has been hanging over the Companys head for over three years. Now we can look forward to a great 2018.

Mr. Tilton went on to state, I am not sure where these continued rumors of a reverse split keep coming from. As I have stated on numerous occasions, NSAV will never do a reverse split as long as I am its president.

Mr. Tilton went on to further state, I am so pleased that the Eli Lilly deal is progressing nicely. I can assure all NSAV shareholders that we are working on more major deals like this one.

NSAV's vision is the establishment of a fully integrated technology and software company that provides turnkey technological and software solutions to the medical industry. Over time, the Company plans to provide a wide range of services such as software solutions, e-commerce, advisory services, financial services, patents and trademarks and information technology.

For further information please contact NSAV at 1 (585) 520-2102 or investorgrowthllc@gmail.com

The NSAV corporate email address is info@nsavholdinginc.com

The NSAV corporate website can be accessed at http://nsavholdinginc.com

The NSAV Twitter account can be accessed at https://twitter.com/NSAV_MJTechCo

The NSAV Facebook account can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/NSAVHolding

This press release contains certain 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the ability of Net Savings Link, Inc. to accomplish its stated plan of business. Net Savings Link, Inc. believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward- looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Net Savings Link, Inc. or any other person.
SAN FRANCISCO  Apple Inc. will open a new campus as part of a 5-year, $30 billion U.S. investment plan and will make about $38 billion in one-time tax payments on its overseas cash, one of the largest corporate spending plans announced since the passage of a tax cut signed by President Donald Trump.

The company has been under increasing pressure to make U.S. investments since the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump targeted the iPhone maker for making products in Asian factories.

Though Apple has announced no plans to change that practice and experts say it would be economically impractical to make iPhones in the United States, the company has begun to emphasize its U.S. economic impact, from developers who sell software on its App Store to the tens of billions of dollars per year it spends with U.S. suppliers.

Between the spending plan, hiring 20,000 people, tax payments and business with U.S. based suppliers, Apple estimated Wednesday that it would spend $350 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.

It did not, however, say how much of the plan was new or how much of its $252.3 billion in cash abroad, the largest of any U.S. corporation, it would bring to the United States. In addition to the $38 billion in taxes it must pay, Apple has run up $97 billion in U.S.-issued debt to pay for previous share buybacks and dividends.

Some investors said the Apple U.S. investments would give the company room to make more stock buybacks or pay dividends without criticism, and Apple shares rose 1.7 percent for the day.

Walter Piecyk, managing director for TMT Research at BTIG Research, said he could not tell whether the U.S. expansion was an increase from a previous plan or meant investment abroad was being refocused in the United States. Reuters Breakingviews estimated that Apple could have increased U.S. headcount by 24,000 in the last five years.

Apple services push

About a third of Apples new spending will be on data centers to house its iCloud, App Store and Apple Music services, a sign of the rising importance of subscription services to a company known for its computers and gadgets. The company has data centers in seven states.

The announced U.S. spending would be a significant part of Apples overall capital expenditures. Globally, the company spent $14.9 billion in 2017 and expects to spend $16 billion in 2018, figures that include both U.S.-based investments in data centers and other projects and Asian investments in tooling for its contract manufacturers.

If Apples overall capital expenditures continue to expand at the same rate expected this year, the $30 billion investment in the U.S. could represent about a third of its capital expenditures over the next five years.

The announced tax payment was roughly in line with expectations, said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross. The tax bill requires companies to pay a one-time tax on foreign-held earnings whether they intend to bring them back to the United States or not.

Apple had set aside $36.3 billion in anticipation of tax payments on its foreign cash, meaning the payment would not represent a major impact on its cash flow this quarter.

James Cordwell of Atlantic Equities said Apples U.S. investment plan could make it easier for the company to give more cash to shareholders.

Being seen to just hand the cash back to shareholders could spark some political sensitivities, and the spending announcement could be part of Apples efforts to manage this issue, Cordwell said.

Apple also said it would boost its advanced manufacturing fund, which it uses to provide capital and support to suppliers such as Finisar Corp. and Corning Inc., from $1 billion to $5 billion. Apple said it plans to spend $55 billion with U.S.-based suppliers in 2018, up from $50 billion last year.

A new campus

Apple joins Amazon.com Inc. in scouting for a location for a new campus. Amazon finished taking applications from cities in October for its second headquarters.

Apple has not said whether it has settled on a new campus location, and it did not make any commitments on the size of new spending or hiring specific to the campus. It did say it would initially house technical support for customers and would announce the location this year.

The facility would be in addition to its spaceship Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.; a campus in Austin, Texas, that houses customer service agents and some manufacturing; and a unit in Elk Grove, Calif., with several thousand customer service agents and iPhones refurbishing technicians.

Apple also has built its own data centers in North Carolina, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and a recently announced project in Iowa and leases data center space in other states.
EDMONTON, Alberta, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Visionstate Inc., a wholly owned division of Visionstate Corp (TSX VENTURE:VIS) is pleased to announce it will be showcasing its proprietary IoT solution, WANDA to the leading building services companies in the United Kingdom over the next week.



Visionstate, which specializes in Internet of Things (IoT) technology and advanced analytics, will be demonstrating the value of WANDA to building services companies during the Bunzl Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies 2018 Annual Conference being held in Nottingham, England on January 19, 2018. Executives from Visionstate will be on hand for the supplier innovation conference and for one-on-one presentations highlighting the technical aspects and numerous tangible benefits of WANDA.

This is the Companys first foray into the European market, said Debra Williams, Executive Vice President for Business Development and Global Strategy. This is an exciting launch point upon which to build relationships and strategic partnerships as we rapidly expand to meet the demand in the European markets.

Visionstates WANDA is a sophisticated IoT solution that collects data pertaining to the cleaning, supplying and maintenance of public areas including restrooms. The data collected by WANDA is presented utilizing an analytics dashboard, which is used by operations and facility managers to identify inefficiencies in the cleaning and supply process.

WANDA is setting a new industry standard in this digital age, explains Williams. The new currency is data and the monetization of that data, from which comes significant operational efficiencies, cost containment and reduction, customer satisfaction, and a crucial digital audit trail that replaces the traditional paper-based systems.

About Visionstate Inc.

Visionstate Inc., a division of Visionstate Corp (TSX Venture:VIS) specializes in the Internet of Things and analytics. The Companys core product, WANDA, is a 10/15 inch smart device used to monitor cleaning, supplies, and maintenance activities in large facilities. WANDA is installed in locations throughout North America and Europe, including hospitals, airports, office buildings, public facilities and shopping centers. More information can be found at visionstate.com.

Contact:

Debra Williams

EVP Global Strategy & Business Development

Visionstate Inc.

debra@visionstate.com

cell: 416.996.4500

John Putters, CEO

Visionstate Inc.

Ph: 780-425-9460

Email: jputters@visionstate.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.  Arkansas lawmakers recommended regulators move forward Tuesday with efforts to ban an herbicide that farmers in several states say has drifted onto their crops and caused damage, advancing the prohibition despite a lawsuit by a maker of the weed killer.

A legislative subcommittee supported the state Plant Board's proposal to ban the use of dicamba from April 16 through Oct. 31. The proposed ban is scheduled to go before the Legislative Council, the Legislature's main governing body when lawmakers aren't in session, for a final vote on Friday.

The Plant Board earlier this month stood by the proposed ban after lawmakers urged the panel to consider revising the proposal.

Dicamba has been around for decades, but problems arose over the past couple of years as farmers began to use it to kill invasive weeds in soybean and cotton fields where specially engineered seeds had been planted to resist the herbicide. Because it can easily evaporate after being applied, the chemical sometimes settles on neighboring fields planted with seeds that are not resistant to dicamba.

Lawmakers endorsed the ban after hearing from farmers who have been sharply divided over the restriction. The Plant Board last year approved a temporary ban on the herbicide's sale and use, and has received nearly 1,000 complaints about dicamba. Farmers have also complained about dicamba causing damage to their crops in other states, including Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee.

"We are only asking for a pause in this until we get our hands around this and figure out what we can do," David Wildy, a farmer from east Arkansas, told the panel. "We can't allow this to happen again."

Opponents of the ban said it would put Arkansas at a competitive disadvantage with other states that haven't gone as far in restricting the weed killer.

"Give the farmers in this state an opportunity to compete with the rest of the U.S.," said Joe Mencer, a soybean farmer from southeast Arkansas.

Sen. Bill Sample, the Legislative Council's co-chairman, said he backed the ban even though he had initially asked the board to reconsider its proposal.

"I was satisfied that the science was proven," the Republican lawmaker said.

Monsanto, which makes dicamba, has filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court challenging the ban and claiming the Plant Board exceeded its authority in prohibiting the weed killer. A hearing is scheduled next month in the Creve Coeur-based company's lawsuit, which seeks to block the state from enforcing the ban.

"This vote would put Arkansas farmers at a serious disadvantage and we ask the executive committee to set this right for growers. We will continue to pursue our legal challenge. We will continue to stand with Arkansas growers who need new tools for weed control," Scott Partridge, Monsanto's vice president of global strategy, said in a statement.
Pat Gauen Pat Gauen is a former assistant metro editor, public safety, for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Pat Gauen 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

At least several times over the years, a harried boss dispatched me to East St. Louis City Hall on a report that one federal police agency or another was hauling out filing cabinets, boxes, computers or some combination.

Taciturn agents, usually in FBI jackets, would cart load after load to a van. Indictments typically arrived six months to a year later.

Search warrants served at Madison County administration building Officers raided several offices inside the Madison County administration building Wednesday, including that of County Administrator Doug Hulme.

I missed the similar show last week at the Madison County Administration Building, in Edwardsville, which involved state, county and local raiders working under a Madison County Public Corruption Task Force recently formed by States Attorney Tom Gibbons.

Published reports say that mainly computers were removed from several offices. Elected officials such as the county clerk, treasurer, auditor and others apparently were not targets.

The feds have been in the building before, a few years ago, building a case against then-county treasurer Fred Bathon, who went to prison for rigging sales of tax-delinquent property to benefit campaign contributors.

But locals investigating locals is a less usual course, and one that will raise political suspicions among some Republicans.

Over recent years, the GOP made significant inroads in the once-uber-blue territory, electing a county board majority and new board chairman, Kurt Prenzler. Hes the guy who was elected treasurer after Bathon, a Democrat, went down.

Prenzlers policies, including investment decisions as treasurer and his conduct of meetings as chairman, have been the subject of attacks by Democrats. While his office was not searched last week, officers did seize things from one used by County Administrator Doug Hulme, who was Prenzlers choice for the post and had been his deputy in the treasurers office. They have said they dont know what the raid was about.

Prosecutor Gibbons and Sheriff John Lakin, whose deputies participated, are Democrats. Both have strong reputations for professionalism and fairness, but may take some flak from the right  at least until the circumstances become clearer.

In a separate development, a political scandal in Missouri has relieved Illinoisans of an annoying and confusing TV ad.

It claimed that Michael Madigan, longtime speaker of the Illinois House, more or less personally drove good jobs and economic growth to the adjacent states of Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri.

Thanks, Mike Madigan, was the sarcastic theme from Republican Govs. Scott Walker, Eric Holcomb and Eric Greitens, respectively. They spoke in support of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican whose pro-business agenda has been stymied by pro-labor Madigan and his large Democratic legislative majority.

The spot, run by Citizens for Rauner, was aired 3,100 times and rated as one of the five most seen nationally since October, according to Politico. It also was one of the most confusing I ever saw.

Next, Madigan is running, but only in a Chicago district where a majority of about 30,000 voters have elected him every two years since 1971. The states other 8 million registered voters have no say. Replacement of enough House Democrats with Republicans would end Madigans power, but the TV spot never connects those dots.

No evidence was offered to support the smiling governors claim that Illinois failures created their states successes. It would have been more persuasive with some source citation in small print.

And there was no explanation for the absence of the Republican governors of Iowa and Kentucky.

So it may be to Rauners benefit that his ad is gone, although the reason is unfortunate. Greitens, who has (or had) pretty transparent presidential ambitions, suddenly became a pariah after an allegation that he threatened to release a photo he took of a woman  bound and partly nude  if she revealed their relationship.

After the womans ex-husband spilled the beans recently, Greitens admitted that he had had the affair just before his campaign for governor. But he denied taking a picture or threatening the woman. Given his family-values platform, it appears that he already confessed the deadliest political crime: hypocrisy.

My home state of Illinois has had hardly any scandals involving sex. Only two come to mind.

One was straightforward: In the 1990s, U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds, a Chicago Democrat, went to prison for having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker.

The other was mild by scandal standards: In 2004, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, Jack Ryan, abandoned the race after publicity about his ex-wifes complaint in a court document that he had tried to get her to have semi-public sex at clubs in New York and Europe.

I dont know about Wisconsin or Indiana, but Illinois probably does lag behind Missouri in this particular category.
UPDATED with response from circuit attorneys spokeswoman.

ST. LOUIS  Two weeks before a St. Louis man accused in a 2015 homicide was set for trial, the Circuit Attorneys Office dropped charges against him, citing witness issues.

The trial for Trevion D. Holmes, 24, was to to start Jan. 22 on charges stemming from the Aug. 30, 2015, fatal shooting of Joshua Buie. Holmes had been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. A co-defendant, Corey L. Palmer, 27, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in May after he pleaded guilty in the case.

Police said the shooters were looking for stolen drug money when Buie, 27, of the 1300 block of Sharondale Circle in Ferguson, was fatally shot in the 3300 block of Texas Avenue. Buie was shot in the back, side, chest, buttocks and foot. A woman, 40, suffered bullet wounds to her thighs. Police said the shooters threatened the woman because they believed she knew how the drug money had been stolen.

Prosecutors had reduced Holmes charges to first-degree assault and armed criminal action, then dismissed those counts on Jan. 5, records said.

Holmes had spent about 2 years in jail awaiting trial before his release Jan. 6. His public defender Brian Horneyer said he had been unable to reach Holmes and could not comment on the case without authorization from him.

After this story was published online Wednesday following several unanswered inquiries about the case, Susan Ryan, a spokeswoman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, said she learned that the case had witness problems and that charges had been amended to assault some time ago.
ST. LOUIS  A man from Nigeria was sentenced Wednesday to 35 months in federal prison for stealing identities and using them to file false tax returns that yielded $734,000 in bogus refunds.

Olusola Luke, 38, pleaded guilty in October in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a charge of conspiracy to steal government funds.

He admitted that he and co-conspirators stole the identities of dozens of U.S. citizens and filed false tax returns using their names, resulting in unearned tax refunds.

Luke lived in St. Louis in 2013 and 2015. He left the country when he learned that a co-conspirator was being sought by the authorities, court documents say. He was arrested in April at Dulles International Airport in Virginia upon his return.

U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey ordered Luke deported after he serves his sentence and banned him from returning without authorization. Autrey also ordered Luke to repay the money to the IRS. Luke shares that responsibility with St. Louis musician Olufunsho Adeshina, one of his co-conspirators. Adeshina was sentenced to 40 months in prison in 2016.
A judge is being asked to reverse the Missouri Board of Educations controversial removal of the state education commissioner in light of new testimony from a State School Board member.

Springfield teacher Laurie Sullivan sued the board in November for violating the Missouri Sunshine Law and is now saying the board abused its power in closing two meetings to the public on Nov. 21 and Dec. 1.

A few board members had called for the Nov. 21 meeting in an attempt to fire then-Commissioner Margie Vandeven, but the vote failed 4-4. On Dec. 1, after Gov. Eric Greitens replaced one board member who had voted to keep Vandeven, the board voted 5-3 to remove Vandeven.

But according to a deposition from board member Eddy Justice recorded by Sullivans attorney, the board used those closed meetings to talk about matters that should have been discussed in the open, the lawsuit alleges.

For example, Justice said that during the Dec. 1 closed meeting the board discussed student test scores, whether to defer the vote to remove Vandeven, students with dyslexia, fourth-graders reading proficiency and the culture of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. These discussions were not recorded in the Dec. 1 meeting minutes.

On Tuesday, Sullivan and her attorney Duane Martin amended the lawsuit to demand that all votes taken by the board during the boards closed meetings, which include its vote to remove Vandeven, be voided.

Sullivan had originally sued the board for discussing an issue of board membership during its Nov. 21 closed meeting, which she says is not a matter that can be closed to the public.

Sullivans lawsuit also notes that the board had announced it would hold the two closed meetings to discuss hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting employees, personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment or information related to records otherwise protected from disclosure by law.

But according to Justice, the board did not discuss the personnel records, performance ratings or merits of Vandeven or anyone else during the closed meetings, the lawsuit alleges.

Justices deposition also revealed that he, as well as board member Jennifer Edwards and Scott Turk, who works for Greitens, met at the Baymont Inn in Jefferson City the night before the Nov. 21 meeting to discuss board procedure. It wasnt until the morning of Nov. 21 that Greitens office had announced the governor had appointed Edwards.

Sullivans lawsuit is just one piece of the fallout following Greitens controversial effort to remove Vandeven and shake up the state education department.

The State Board is currently powerless because it lacks a quorum until the Missouri Senate takes action on the five board members appointed by Greitens. All state board appointees must be confirmed by the Senate.

Another lawsuit by former board member Tim Sumners against Edwards is pending. Sumners alleges that Greitens wrongfully replaced him with Edwards without a hearing, which is required by law.
Ashley Jost Ashley Jost is the higher education reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Ashley Jost 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

St. Louis Community College's governing board is expected to vote this week on a series of new policies for the public comment portion of their meetings.

Among the 10-point document is a rule that would bar demonstrations from future Board of Trustees meetings.

The proposed change comes less than two months after students stopped a meeting for a few hours with loud protesting. The demonstration was meant to deter the board from voting on layoffs of up to 18 percent of the full-time faculty.

The vote still happened, and 58 faculty members were given notice. Some jobs could be saved depending on how many professors accept the college's buyout offers.

Aside from prohibiting demonstrations, the proposed changes don't allow insults, violence, repetitive comments, comments that aren't relevant to the agenda and comments that go past two minutes.

St. Louis Community College professor assumes he's fired. The college says he's not. The adjunct faculty member, Steve Taylor, assumed that meant he was fired when he received a letter from the college telling him that walking onto campus is grounds for his arrest.

If approved, the board chairperson will give violators a warning, but additional offenses could get the public speaker kicked out of the meeting  possibly by a police escort.

The board meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at Corporate College, 3221 McKelvey Road in Bridgeton.
ST. LOUIS  The citys public school district should be governed by an elected board, a special task force decided Wednesday after weeks of studying input from experts and residents.

The groups decision was largely driven by a desire to hold a school board accountable to voters and to give representation to city residents. There was little discussion of what would be best for students.

The vast majority of school boards in the U.S. are elected, and there is not much evidence showing one type of school board is structurally better than another, task force member and St. Louis teachers union member Ray Cummings said at Wednesdays meeting.

Task force members said they thought individual board members integrity and ability to work together to implement best practices  rather than the structure of a school board  were the most important keys to a boards success.

Some task force members also said they wanted to avoid having to go to the Missouri Legislature for a change in state law, which would have been required for any model but an elected board.

All but one task force member voted to support an elected board. Stephanie Hudson, a lawyer from St. Louis, abstained.

Hudson challenged the idea of going back to an elected board. To me, what is most important right now is whats best for the children.

The task force did not specify how long the transition should take and what it should look like. The districts Special Administrative Board, which has governed St. Louis schools since 2007, could choose to recommend a transition process at its Thursday meeting.

The task force also voted to recommend six of eight fail-safe or guardrail measures  in case the elected board sends the district back into decline  that had been suggested by an informal committee of St. Louis civic leaders, including late civil rights champion Frankie Freeman and former Washington University Chancellor William Danforth, both of whom helped design the states intervention in the St. Louis district more than a decade ago.

Those six recommendations included a referendum in 2024 to ask voters if they want to continue with an elected board, expanding the power of the Missouri education commissioner to intervene if board members stray from their duties and requiring a two-thirds vote for a school board to fire its superintendent. St. Louis Public Schools attorney Jonathan Dalton said at the meeting that the recommendations would require legislative approval.

Wednesdays decision is a recommendation to the districts three-member governing board.

The Special Administrative Board, which assembled the task force in October, will take Wednesdays decision and make a recommendation to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In 2007, the State Board of Education installed the administrative board in place of the seven-member elected board. The elected board has stood on the sidelines ever since, hoping to regain control of the district someday.

The administrative board was intended as a temporary move to help the district reverse years of decline.

The task force collected survey responses from about 1,400 people and held three public meetings to gather input on what kind of board should run the district. The task force considered going back to the elected board, creating a new appointed board or establishing a hybrid of both board types.

While the overwhelming majority of people who gave public comments at the meetings said they wanted an elected board, the favorite board type among online survey respondents was the hybrid model. About 46 percent of survey respondents said they preferred a hybrid board, 43 percent preferred an elected board and 11 percent preferred an appointed one.

People who gave public comments at the three meetings said they wanted an elected board on the basis of democratic principle and because the idea of an appointed board insultingly assumes that St. Louis voters are incapable of choosing district leaders.

About 52 percent of the people who attended the public meetings identified themselves as city residents; 31 percent said they were district educators; and 16 percent said they were parents. Among those responding to the online survey, 38 percent were parents, 31 percent were educators and 19 percent were residents. Only a handful of students participated in either the survey or the meetings.

Online survey respondents generally said they wanted the future board to be held accountable, focus on improving academic outcomes, hear community input and represent city residents.

Many, if not most, state and school leaders agree that the SAB has done its job and, together with Superintendent Kelvin Adams, brought a stability to the district it hadnt seen in years.

Some leaders consequently worry that a transition from the board could jeopardize or erase that progress. The administrative board is expected to leave the district by the time its contract expires at the end of next school year.
Washington, DC, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) applauds Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on his leadership to improve transparency and accountability in the 340B Drug Discount Program with the introduction of the Helping Ensure Low-income Patients have Access to Care and Treatment (HELP ACT).

As a physician, Dr. Cassidy understands that the 340B program is critically important to the health care that uninsured and underserved patient populations across the country receive. That is why it is imperative that hospitals shine the light of transparency on their 340B programs to ensure that the program is helping patients in need, not feeding hospital profits.

340B is an invaluable program for patients in need at community and safety-net providers, including rural hospitals. However, after 25 years, it has gone horribly wrong. I regularly hear about how the patients that 340B is intended to help are often actually being harmed by the program, cut off from timely and high-quality care by hospitals seeking to make profits from it. This is outrageous and must be stopped, said Jeff Vacirca, MD, FACP, oncologist, CEO of NY Cancer Specialists in Long Island, NY, and president of COA. Policymakers in DC need to act to ensure that we have a clear understanding of the scale of the 340B program, where funds are going, and accountability so that patients are directly benefiting.

Since its inception, the 340B program has been the subject of countless research studies, white papers, and analyses looking at its substantial growth and role in the U.S. health care system. Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the results of an exhaustive, two-year-long investigation into the 340B program. It details problems with program oversight, reporting requirements, and data, and recommends Congress make significant changes to improve it.

COA is a non-profit organization controlled by community oncologists dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and, most importantly, the patients they serve. The opportunity for hospitals to make substantial profits from cancer drugs purchased through the 340B program has created substantial financial incentives for hospitals to expand oncology services, either through internal expansion or acquisition of independent, community oncology practices. The resulting shift of cancer care to the much more expensive hospital setting is costing cancer patients, Medicare, and all taxpayers more. At the same time, there is mounting evidence that the exploding volume of 340B discounts is putting upward pressure on drug prices for all Americans. In December 2017, COA released a study by the Berkeley Research Group (BRG) that found the average profit margin on oncology drugs purchased by hospitals through the 340B program have grown to 49 percent in 2015. At the same time, 340B discounts provided by manufacturers have exploded, leading to pricing pressure on cancer drugs.

After more than 25 years in operation, the 340B program has grown so large and unwieldy in the shadows of Washington that policymakers have no idea how big it is, where the savings go, or who is really benefitting, said Ted Okon, executive director of COA. The 340B HELP ACT, other legislation, and administrative actions are finally shining a light on the 340B black hole in hospitals so that there is finally some transparency and accountability. It is critical that Congress push through the misinformation and rhetoric and get a true understanding of how this critically important program is truly operating.

The 340B HELP ACT is one of many recent efforts in Washington to improve 340B program operations, introduce transparency, and reign in program abuses. In late December, Representatives Larry Bucshon (R-IN) and Scott Peters (D-CA) introduced H.R. 4710, the 340B Protecting Access for the Underserved and Safety-Net Entities Act, also known as the 340B PAUSE Act. COA also strongly supports H.R. 4710 which would also temporarily pause enrollment of hospitals in the 340B program so that Congress can examine the growth of this critically important, but runaway, program. Similar to the 340B HELP ACT, it would also require 340B hospitals to submit to the same, basic reporting and transparency requirements of other program grantees.

COA stands ready to help Senator Cassidy advance this important legislation, as well as provide continued insight into the impact of the program on cancer patients, providers, and the overall health care system.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fe6a8dbf-e04c-4203-ac01-2005cd5328b9
ST. LOUIS  Washington University is joining schools such as Yale and Princeton in an effort to become more accessible to future scholars who cant foot the bill of an elite college education.

The university is partnering with QuestBridge, a nonprofit that matches low-income, high-achieving high school students with some of the countrys top colleges for full-ride scholarships.

Washington U. is the first school in Missouri to participate in QuestBridge.

The nonprofit partners with 39 other colleges, including six of the eight Ivy League universities. Only seven other institutions in the Midwest participate, including Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame .

The program is similar to a residency match program for medical students.

High school seniors submit application details and essays, ranking up to 12 colleges that they are interested in. Similarly, participating colleges provide their preferences to QuestBridge, which selects finalists and matches some of them to attend one of the schools.

We are very excited to join QuestBridge, which has a proven track record of helping talented, low-income students navigate the college application process, Ronne Turner, Washington U.s vice provost of admissions, said in a statement.

This is the latest in a series of initiatives Washington University has rolled out to build a more socioeconomically diverse student body.

In 2012, just 5 percent of its undergraduates qualified as low-income. Leaders acknowledged at the time that they should do more.

The percentage has grown to at least 13 percent with the help of a series of initiatives, such as meeting financial needs for accepted students whose families earn $75,000 or less.

In 2016, Washington U. offered to meet all financial needs of students who previously attended KIPP charter schools and who are admitted to the university. Almost all local KIPP students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating theyre coming from low-income homes.

More recently, the university announced in October that it is waiving application fees for low-income students.

QuestBridge has matched more than 5,000 students with full-ride scholarships in almost 15 years. Its unclear how many students from the St. Louis region have been matched through the program.
JEFFERSON CITY  The House approved legislation Wednesday allowing people who braid hair for money to not be required to undergo the same licensing requirements as cosmetologists or barbers.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, introduced the measure, which died in the Senate last year. Proponents argue Missouri's current regulations, in which hair braiders must undergo 1,500 hours of training and become licensed with the state, are onerous and create an incentive for under-the-radar hair braiding.

"It gets the government out of people's hair," Dogan said on the House floor Wednesday.

Some Democrats criticized the measure because it only would require a self-test on controlling infections. They argued it presented a public health risk.

Rep. Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson, said on Thursday before the members approved the legislation that she hoped hair braiders would be required to understand the health risks involved.

"When you're dealing with women especially, African-American women typically get their hair braided," she said, "there's the potential for more hair loss, scalp damage, all kinds of issues related to people who are not trained well to do the braiding."

Last week, a judge ruled against hair braiders who filed a suit over the licensing requirement, according to the Associated Press. State officials contended the licensing is needed to ensure consumer protection from hair loss or scalp infections.

The proposal now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The legislation is House Bill 1500.
JEFFERSON CITY  Republicans inside the capital city on Tuesday debated whether Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens should resign after revelations of his extramarital affair and related allegations of possible blackmail surfaced last week.

Five GOP lawmakers publicly called on Greitens to step aside or said the governor should consider doing so. Their statements came Tuesday, the first workday after the holiday weekend. Other Republicans said it was too early to call for his resignation or expressed hope that the distraction would not derail the partys legislative agenda.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, stayed silent on Tuesday as he entered and exited a GOP caucus meeting, declining to take questions from reporters.

The speaker has told us that everybody has to do what they think the right thing to do is, said Rep. Kathie Conway, the term-limited St. Charles Republican who said Greitens should consider resigning. The speaker would never ask us to toe a line, and I dont even know what his opinion is.

Greitens infidelity and the allegations of threats or blackmail have dominated media attention and hallway chatter this past week. KMOV (Channel 4) first reported last Wednesday night that Greitens had an extramarital affair as he prepared his run for governor; he has acknowledged the affair, but he denied related allegations that he took a compromising photo of the woman and threatened to release it if she ever spoke of their relations.

On Tuesday evening, Greitens posted another statement on social media, asking Missourians again for forgiveness.

Much has now been written about this, and many of the assertions made have not been truthful and have proven extremely hurtful to Sheena, as well as to me, Greitens wrote on Facebook. For us, the allegations that go so far beyond the facts have made this much more difficult. I made a mistake, I regret it, and Sheena and I have dealt with it between us.

House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, said it was past time for Greitens to answer questions about the allegations directly.

Although the governors attorney says his client engaged in no wrongdoing, the people of Missouri need to hear that directly from the governor himself for it to have any credibility, she said. By canceling his scheduled appearances, Greitens only delays the public reckoning that must eventually take place. The longer the governor attempts to hide from this scandal, the more the denials of his surrogates ring false.

The four House members who said Greitens should either resign or consider doing so represent a small fraction of the 112-member GOP House caucus. Though Republican lawmakers interviewed have said they are concerned about the allegations, calling for the governor to resign was a move, at least on Tuesday, that the vast majority of Republicans were unwilling to make.

Our focus should be on doing the peoples work, said Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters, who said calls for Greitens to resign were premature.

State-paid attorney who asked about Greitens scandal raises questions A staff attorney paid by taxpayers probed a lawyer about allegations involving Greitens, recording reveals.

Adding yet another layer to the controversy, the Post-Dispatch reported Monday that at least one of Greitens taxpayer-paid employees was on an intelligence-gathering mission in the hours leading up to the television report. That generated ethical and legal questions about whether state-paid employees should work on an elected officials private business.

The Post-Dispatch report also appeared to factor into two GOP House members statements on Tuesday.

Last nights news of state employees being involved in attempting to control the scandal is further proof that this will not be going away anytime soon, said Rep. Nate Walker, R-Kirksville, who was one of Greitens early backers. It is my belief the governor should resign so that the state can move forward focusing on the issues that we all care about.

Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-south St. Louis County, mentioned that report and other controversies as reasons Greitens had to go. Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican, has already launched an investigation of the governor and his teams use of a text message-deleting app called Confide. Haefner also decried Greitens reliance on dark money contributions during his tenure.

I find no pleasure in saying this, Haefner said, but I believe Governor Greitens is no longer fit to hold Missouris highest office.

A fourth House Republican  term-limited Rep. Steve Cookson of Poplar Bluff  also issued a statement calling on Greitens to step aside.

Im calling for him to step down and resign as governor of the State of Missouri so that the work on the many issues he has expressed concern for can resume without these distractions, he said.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, perhaps the most vocal Republican critic of Greitens, also said the governor should step down.

Once dreaming of the presidency, Greitens now strategizing for survival He could weather the affair revelation, observers say, but proof of blackmail would finish him.

Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, said the focus in the GOP remains on approving legislative priorities. He expected the House to approve a lobbyist gift restriction proposal this week and another proposal dealing with sex trafficking  despite the ongoing controversy.

We have to stay the course, he said after the GOP caucus meeting.

One notable Republican, Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, has stayed silent on the ongoing controversy. If Greitens left office, Parson would be sworn in to take his place.

On Tuesday, the House did give first-round approval to legislation that Republicans said would remove onerous regulations on training for hair braiders. Instead of 1,500 hours of training, said the sponsor, Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, hair braiders would only have to register with the state and take a self-test.

It gets the government out of peoples hair, Dogan said. Were trying to bring hair braiders out of the shadows and into the regular economy.

Post-Dispatch coverage of Greitens' affair scandal From Greitens' initial statement to calls for his resignation, read the Post-Dispatch coverage of the governor's affair scandal.

Outside of the Capitol, former Missouri Republican Party Chairman Ed Martin on Tuesday added his voice to those calling for Greitens resignation.

Lying to the people of Missouri, lying to all of us ... Hes not trustworthy ... At this point, theres just no way that Eric Greitens can continue, Martin, now a conservative commentator, said on his radio show on KXFN-AM 1380.

Former Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, a Republican, implied on Twitter that the scandal was timed to derail the GOP effort at tax reform.

If you had any political sense ... you would question the bizarre timing as to when this scandal was dropped, he wrote.

Meanwhile, a White House official told the Post-Dispatch that Greitens last spoke with his former adviser Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff, in November. The official said there has been no contact between the two since news of the scandal broke last week.

Ayers is a close political associate of Greitens campaign director and current political adviser, Austin Chambers.

Chuck Raasch, Kevin McDermott and Sky Chadde, all of the Post-Dispatch, contributed to this report.
As Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner heads into what could be a tough re-election fight this year, national Democrats are turning a newly acquired weapon on him: his ties to fellow Republican Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri.

Meanwhile, state-level Democratic organizations in Iowa and Tennessee also are using the embattled Missouri governor to go after their own Republican officeholders for their connections to Greitens  who had been positioned as a future national star in the GOP prior to last week's revelations.

In a news release to reporters, the Democratic Governor's Association on Wednesday highlighted the fact that Greitens had, until recently, been appearing in a television ad in support of Rauner.

Post-Dispatch coverage of Greitens' affair scandal From Greitens' initial statement to calls for his resignation, read the Post-Dispatch coverage of the governor's affair scandal.

The ad stopped running last week, on the same day Greitens publicly acknowledged having an extramarital affair in 2015 while denying a related allegation that he threatened his lover with a compromising photo.

Rauner's office has said the ad was pulled as part of the normal rotation of ads, but the timing with Greitens' scandal has created some skepticism about that. In addition to featuring Greitens in the ad, Rauner's campaign fund donated $100,000 to Greitens' 2016 election as Missouri governor.

The DGA, which views Rauner as one of its top targets nationally this year, also distributed a video in which Rauner was recently asked by Illinois reporters whether Greitens should resign, and he sidesteps the question, noting there is a criminal investigation underway.

"Rauner has failed to show any moral leadership this week and giving political support to an accused blackmailer is sending the wrong message, DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro is quoted as saying in the group's news release.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Democrats are going after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds for funds she received through a fundraiser with Greitens last year. "We are calling on Governor Reynolds to denounce Governor Greitens of Missouri and return the funds" from that event, the Iowa Democratic Party said in a statement.

And Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who also serves as national chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is being called on by the Tennessee Democratic Party to remove "disgraced MO. Gov. Greitens" from his RGA leadership team.
LADUE  The City Council here opted Tuesday night to let voters decide whether to keep or end a local sales tax on the titling of motor vehicles, trailers, boats and outboard motors purchased from a source other than a licensed Missouri dealer.

The proposition on the April 3 ballot will say that rejection of the measure "will result in a reduction of local revenue to provide for vital services for the city and would place Missouri dealers at a competitive disadvantage with dealers in other states, including those online.

Assistant to the Mayor/City Clerk Laura Rider said projected revenue to the city from continuing the sales tax would be about $143,000 per year.

City officials decided against asking voters to approve a use tax to capture out-of-state motor vehicle sales tax and internet sales. However, Rider said, based on estimates from the Missouri Municipal League, that proposal would have provided about $21,000 in revenue per year to the city, though that amount would have grown in the future.

Also, a purchaser with more than $2,000 of sales of such items per year, under a use tax, would be required to file a use tax return with the state, and Rider said it was unknown if that procedure would be enforceable.

I feel that self-reporting would not necessarily be a high priority, Mayor Nancy Spewak said.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree GKN plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:



(e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 16 January, 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" YES, Melrose Industries plc

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



10p ordinary



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



22,900,000 1.3334



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 22,900,000 1.3334





All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit





(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 3,250,000 4.4223 GBP 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 2,100,000 4.4000 GBP 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 450,000 4.4077 GBP 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 250,000 4.4200 GBP 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 247,243 4.4047 GBP 10p ordinary CFD Increasing a long position 102,757 4.4036 GBP

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



NONE





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO

Date of disclosure: 17 January, 2018 Contact name: James Gange Telephone number: 212-446-4029

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
CAMDEN, S.C.  While recently perusing unread books gathering dust on my shelves, one tome caught my eye and, upon being loosed from the grip of neglect, fell open to a random page from which leapt the following sentence: The ancestors of a critical and growing mass of present-day Americans existed in dung heaps of humanity amidst rotting vegetables.

Naturally, the line seemed providential  if you happen to be a columnist.

Did he say dung heap?

Of course, the difference between dung heap of humanity and shithole, as Donald Trump recently described countries of origin for unacceptable immigrants, is about the width of a sheet of bathroom tissue. Trumps comment has been analyzed to within an inch of its life, with most commentators concluding that this was simply another example of the presidents racist attitudes.

The book in question, The Idiocy of Assent, was written by F. Reid Buckley, youngest brother of William F. Buckley. As a friend for 30 years before his death in 2014, I never heard or witnessed any suggestion of racism, though he did observe cultural differences among nations and peoples as any seeing-eye human, or anthropologist, would. On the subject of cultural equivalence, hed bat away the notion with a flick of his wrist and utter, The Aztec pyramids were dripping with the blood of human sacrifice.

It is only because of Buckleys dung heap and Trumps shithole that I noticed the similarities in their immigration views. Buckley would surely never use Trumps word, partly because he thought insults should be more artful.

For those who slept: At an immigration meeting last week, Trump reportedly said that he didnt know why we were accepting people from shithole countries such as Haiti, El Salvador and all the ones in Africa, where people coincidentally tend to have darker skin than Trump. He cited mostly white Norway as a better place from which to cull new citizens.

The inference, of course, is that Trump is pigmentation averse.

Or, racist, if you prefer. This conclusion is a low hurdle to leap given Trumps history spearheading the birther movement against Barack Obama, as well as his having tossed racial chum to his base throughout the campaign.

When Trumps ratings go low, his race baiting goes high.

Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, it isnt necessarily racist to concern oneself at all with the qualities and characteristics of people one invites to join the American experiment. Or, is it? Shouldnt we care about job skills, education, economic mobility, or, if youre Buckley, a deep understanding of what it means to be a free people?

Perhaps, we are becoming culturalists rather than racists.

Buckleys proposition, which Im not endorsing, is that when a critical mass of people, if not yet a majority, comes to the U.S. from countries that dont have a heritage of doctrines of personal freedom ... along with the desire to stand tall on our [sic] own two feet, we might easily revert to the status of serf dependent on the lord or, in contemporary Americas case, on Big Daddy.

Loose translation for the Trump crowd: Bring in people looking for a handout and Democrats will ruin the country.

Buckley, who spent the last third of his life running the Buckley School of Public Speaking, a modest think tank (still operating) where conferees are taught to think and therefore to speak more clearly, enjoyed debating the proposition that Americans unconsciously hanker for a king, a strongman, or a ruling elite.

He wrote: It seems to elude us that a nation is great not because of its government but because of its people, and that there is an inverse relationship in that maxim: The greater the government, the weaker the people.

Do you suppose this is what President Trump meant to say with his blurt?

But I jest. Such a presumption would be a charitable stretch. It may be charitable as well to presume Buckleys better angels were at work. For within his own arguments  and in Trumps febrile mind  is an implicit lack of faith in another American idea articulated by George W. Bush. Freedom isnt a gift from us, he said, but rather Gods gift to humanity, which can be understood to mean that the yearning for liberty, independent of all other concerns, is entwined in the hearts and souls of all people, regardless of which shithole they were born in or from which dung heap amidst rotting vegetables Americas earliest immigrants escaped.

Kathleen Parker

Copyright The Washington Post
Reference is made to the notification sent on January 15th regarding a potential new unsecured bond issue by Aker ASA.

Aker ASA has successfully completed a new senior unsecured bond issue of NOK 1,500 million with maturity in January 2023, carrying a coupon of 3 months Nibor + 2.65% p.a. with quarterly interest payments. The bond issue was substantially oversubscribed.

Settlement date will be 31 January 2018. An application will be made for the bond to be listed on Oslo Stock Exchange, and the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Arctic Securities, Nordea and SEB acted as joint lead managers of the bond issue.

END

For further information, please contact:

Investors:

Per Kristian Reppe, Head of Investor Relations

Phone: +47 24 13 00 67

Mobile: +47 90 03 32 03

Media:

Atle Kigen, Head of Corporate Communications

Phone: +47 24 13 00 08

Mobile: +47 907 84 878

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
In 2012, Dion Giolito introduced La Grand Classe as a small-batch exclusive for his Fumare store in Reno, Nevada. The project appeared short-lived, with only one follow up, La Grand Classe Rex, which appeared in 2013.

Then, at last years IPCPR Trade Show, Giolito, who also owns the Illusione brand, announced La Grand Classe Rex was returning as part of an Illusione-branded La Grand Classe line.

The cigars feature a reddish-brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. It measures 4.9 inches long with a ring gauge of 40 and sells for $5.50 per cigar. It comes un-banded in gold foil bundles of 25.

Flavors include roasted cashews, dry earth, and light leather in a medium- to full-bodied blend. The profile also features cinnamon and nutmeg spice, which starts out light and builds after the midway point.

Its a balanced cigar that provides surprising nuance in such a small vitola. The draw and burn are excellent, although keep in mind that the ash produced by small ring gauge cigars has a tendency to fall off unexpectedly.

If youre looking for a smaller cigar to enjoy this winter (because you dont have the time or warmth for something longer) this is one to try. For providing pleasing flavors and excellent value, Illusione La Gran Classe Rex earns a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

Patrick S



photo credit: Stogie Guys
PC Catherine Morgan, of Warwickshire Police's Wellesbourne Safer Neighbourhood Team. (Submitted photo)

A SUMMIT meeting organised by Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe has heard that Community Speed Watch schemes continue to play a vital part in reducing road casualties in the county.

The event, held earlier this month, brought together representatives from schemes operating across the county with police and officials from the Warwickshire and West Mercia Road Safety Partnership.The aim was to allow all concerned to air their views on how speed watch schemes are currently operating and how communications between all agencies can be improved in future.

Community Speed Watch is a locally-led initiative where members of the community join together with the support of the police to monitor the speed of vehicles using speed detection devices. Vehicles exceeding the speed limit are referred to the police with the aim of educating motorists to reduce their speeds.

Volunteers receive appropriate training and are supported by their local Safer Neighbourhood Team. The scheme aims to cater for both the problems of real or perceived speed-related offending in communities across the county.

Speaking after the meeting, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: I know from the correspondence I regularly receive from the public that speeding is a topic that causes considerable concern and is one that communities are keen to come together to address. Community Speed Watch schemes can make a valuable contribution to this through encouraging safer and more responsible driving, so I was keen to bring all parties involved together to explore ways to ensure they can be as effective as possible.

The discussions were wide-ranging, open and honest and I felt the meeting overall was very positive. The groups now have an established single point of contact which they can feed into, while the Safer Roads Partnership and Warwickshire Police were able to re-affirm their commitment to support the Community Speed Watch schemes for issues such as training and equipment calibration.There was also discussion around the wording of letters sent by police to persistent speeders and how this might be revised to get across stronger messages about the unacceptability of such behaviour and the potential consequences.

Sadly, there are still too many people being killed or seriously injured on our roads, with more than 30 fatalities last year. With more and more vehicles on our roads, the issue of road safety is only likely to become even more prominent in the coming years, so we need to have the right mix of education, enforcement and engineering to make our highways safe for all users.This is something I will be promoting over the next 12 months, as I think we need a societal change to the way we view speeding and risk-taking on our roads if we are to see the numbers of deaths and serious injuries substantially reduced.
SAN CARLOS, Calif. , Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alliance Memory today extended its offering of 256Mb high-speed CMOS SDRAMs with new x8 and x4 devices in the 54-pin 400-mil plastic TSOP II package.



Alliance Memory is the markets SDRAM leader, offering the broadest product lineup of any vendor, with densities from 16Mb to 512Mb in a wide range of configurations and packages, said TJ Mueller, Vice President of Marketing at Alliance Memory. We are excited to add these new 256Mb devices to our portfolio, which complement our existing x16 and x32 parts.

Internally configured as four banks of 32M x 8 bits and 64M x 4 bits, respectively, the AS4C32M8SA and AS4C64M4SA provide reliable drop-in, pin-for-pin-compatible replacements for a number of similar solutions used for image storage and video buffering in consumer and industrial products, and wearables. The SDRAMs offer a synchronous interface, operate from a single +3.3V ( 0.3V) power supply, and are lead (Pb)- and halogen-free.

The devices released today feature fast access time from clock down to 5.4 ns and clock rates to 166 MHz, and they are available in commercial (0 C to +70 C) and industrial (-40 C to +85 C) operating temperature ranges. The SDRAMs offer programmable read or write burst lengths of 1, 2, 4, 8, or full page, with a burst termination option. An auto pre-charge function provides a self-timed row pre-charge initiated at the end of the burst sequence. Easy-to-use refresh functions include auto- or self-refresh, while a programmable mode register allows the system to choose the most suitable modes to maximize performance.

Device Specification Table:

Part number Configuration Temperature Max. clock AS4C32M8SA-7TCN 32Mx8 Commercial (0C to +70C) 143 MHz AS4C32M8SA-7TCNTR* 32Mx8 Commercial (0C to +70C) 143 MHz AS4C32M8SA-6TIN 32Mx8 Industrial (-40C to +85C) 166 MHz AS4C32M8SA-6TINTR* 32Mx8 Industrial (-40C to +85C) 166 MHz AS4C64M4SA-7TCN 64Mx4 Commercial (0C to +70C) 143 MHz AS4C64M4SA-7TCNTR* 64Mx4 Commercial (0C to +70C) 143 MHz AS4C64M4SA-6TIN 64MX4 Industrial (-40C to +85C) 166 MHz AS4C64M4SA-6TINTR* 64MX4 Industrial (-40C to +85C) 166 MHz

*Tape and reel package

Links to product datasheets and ordering information:

https://www.alliancememory.com/datasheets/AS4C32M8SA/ (AS4C32M8SA-7TCN and AS4C32M8SA-6TIN)

https://www.alliancememory.com/datasheets/AS4C64M4SA/ (AS4C64M4SA-7TCN and AS4C64M4SA-6TIN)

Samples and production quantities of the new SDRAMs are available now, with lead times of four to eight weeks for large orders.

About Alliance Memory Inc.

Alliance Memory is a worldwide provider of critical and hard-to-find DRAM and SRAM memory ICs for the communications, computing, consumer electronics, medical, automotive, and industrial markets. The companys product range includes DRAMs and SRAMs with commercial, industrial, and automotive operating temperature ranges and densities from 64Kb to 8Gb. Privately held, Alliance Memory maintains headquarters in San Carlos, California, and regional offices in Europe, Asia, and South America. More information about Alliance Memory is available online at www.alliancememory.com.

Editor resources:

Link to product image:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alliancememory/albums/72157690673842801

Link to detailed product info:

https://www.alliancememory.com/datasheets/AS4C32M8SA/ (AS4C32M8SA-7TCN and AS4C32M8SA-6TIN)

https://www.alliancememory.com/datasheets/AS4C64M4SA/ (AS4C64M4SA-7TCN and AS4C64M4SA-6TIN)

Agency Contact:

Bob Decker

Redpines

+1 415 409 0233

bob.decker@redpinesgroup.com

Alliance Memory Contact:

TJ Mueller

VP of Marketing

+1 650 610 6802

tj@alliancememory.com




MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elastic, the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack, the most widely-used collection of open source products for solving mission-critical use cases like search, logging, and analytics, today announced that it has appointed Elizabeth Betsey Nelson to its Board of Directors and Janesh Moorjani as Chief Financial Officer.



We are very pleased to welcome Betsey to our board, where she can share her wealth of experience in working with some of the most prominent names in technology, said Shay Banon, Elastic Founder and CEO. Janesh is a strong addition to our executive team, which includes leaders from some of the top names in enterprise and open source software companies."

Betsey Nelson served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Macromedia (acquired by Adobe) from 1997 to 2005, and currently is on the board of directors of Nokia, Zendesk and DAI. Previously, Nelson held board seats at Ancestry.com, SuccessFactors, Pandora and Autodesk. In 2017, she was named as one of Business Insiders 20 Women in Finance You Should Add to Your Company's Board.

Nelson joins non-executive board members Peter Fenton, General Partner at Benchmark Capital; Mike Volpi, Partner at Index Ventures; Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Steven Schuurman, Elastic Founder on the Elastic Board of Directors.

Elastic is a real innovator, helping organizations solve complex problems with data, and it has demonstrated increasing leadership in how it expands the depth, breadth and availability of the Elastic Stack and commercial extensions, said Nelson. I am thrilled to join Elastics board at such an exciting time in the companys growth trajectory.

Janesh Moorjani previously served as Chief Financial Officer at Infoblox, Senior Vice President of Finance at VMware and in finance and sales positions at Cisco. Prior to working in the tech industry, Moorjani worked at Goldman Sachs, serving as Vice President in the firms merchant banking division.

The Elastic Stack and its commercial extensions are becoming indispensable for a rapidly growing number of organizations to address critical business issues, including fraud detection, log management, enterprise search and more, said Moorjani. I am very excited to join Elastic to help the company in its next phase of growth.

Learn More

About Elastic

Elastic builds software to make data usable in real time and at scale for search, logging, security, and analytics use cases. Founded in 2012, the company develops the open source Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash), X-Pack (commercial features), and Elastic Cloud (a hosted offering). To date, there have been more than 150 million cumulative downloads. Backed by Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, and NEA with more than $100 million in funding, Elastic has a distributed workforce with more than 700 employees in 30 countries. Learn more at elastic.co.
Phoenix, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- College Success Arizona, an organization leading the way to increase Arizonas college graduation rates by providing financial and other support to Arizonas low-income students, welcomes Richard C. Daniel, Ph.D., as Chief Operating Officer.

Dr. Richard Daniel brings a long history of working to improve education outcomes for students, particularly first-generation and low-income students. His most recent position was as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement for Saint Michaels College, in Burlington, Vermont. He has also held leadership positions with the University of Texas at El Paso, South Mountain Community College, and Arizona State University.

Richards experience in, and deep understanding of, higher education, coupled with his local connections and history, make him a perfect fit to support College Success Arizonas mission to assist all Arizona students in attaining postsecondary degrees and certificates, said Rich Nickel, President and CEO of College Success Arizona. We are thrilled to welcome Richard to our team.

Daniel was born in Superior, Arizona, where his father worked in the copper mines. After graduating from Superior High School, he moved to Phoenix, where he continued his education. Daniel was the first in his family to attend college, earning his bachelors degree in Exercise Science (Pre-Med) from Arizona State University. Daniel returned to ASU to earn both his Master of Education, in Higher Education Administration, and Doctor of Philosophy, in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

I am eager to join College Success Arizona and support the statewide collaboration among K-12, higher education, and the civic and business sectors, said Daniel. College Success Arizonas efforts to elevate higher education are essential to improve the prosperity and quality of life for the residents of Arizona.

Daniels first day with College Success Arizona was January 16.

About College Success Arizona

College Success Arizona is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization working to significantly increase the post-secondary attainment rate of students in Arizona, particularly for those who otherwise would not be able to attend or graduate. The organization was started as the Arizona College Scholarship Foundation in 2005. For more information about College Success Arizona and its partners, visit www.collegesuccessarizona.org.

###

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a95bbebd-c25a-4da0-b7ff-8000df6db182
Dont frighten leopards out of existence By Malaka Rodrigo Experts urge care in human collisions with top predator View(s): View(s):

Last weeks commotion over a cornered leopard reinforces the need to handle such encounters with care to prevent an escalation into intense leopard-human conflict, warn experts Andrew Kittle and Anjali Watson.

A few close encounters with leopards occur every year in the hill country; last weeks incident was at the Panmore tea estate in Hatton.

There are many versions of the story but according to local sources it began when a female tea plucker came upon the leopard at night while it was feeding on a dog it had killed.

Caught by surprise, the leopard sprang past her, causing minor injuries. It withdrew to a nearby forest patch while fellow estate workers and management came to her aid.

Estate workers called the police and the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) officers to the scene and wanted the animal captured immediately.

Free-ranging leopards are not tranquillised except as a last resort as the pain inflicted by the dart could frighten the leopard into leaping out of range of capture and because the animal could die if drugs to reverse the tranquilliser were not administered in time, according to DWC chief veterinary surgeon Dr. Tharaka Prasad.

The wildlife officers explained this to the estate workers and promised to set up a cage trap to capture the animal in days to come. The workers wanted the DWC to seize the leopard then and there and take it away.

The mob become unruly and began trying to chase the leopard away.

The cornered leopard, in fear of its life, sprang out of its hideout and in its attempts to escape injured five estate workers.

A few days later, the DWC set up a cage with bait but the leopard has not visited the area since then, perhaps more traumatised by the incident than the people who were injured.

Leopard researcher Anjali Watson emphasised that leopards always try to avoid encounters with people. If the tea plucker made a noise, making her approach clear, the leopard would have stealthily retreated, avoiding the encounter, she said.

Almost all the leopard incidents in these areas happen due to the animal being surprised or when mobs try to chase a leopard.

There have been no incidents of a leopard stalking a human with intent to kill, Ms. Watson said.

Through the Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Ms. Watson and Dr. Kittle have been conducting research on leopards in the hill country since 2011 as understanding their ecology is the key to protecting them.

They have observed how leopards live outside protected areas and have adapted well to living even in habitats close to human settlements. Leopards inhabit a wide variety of landscapes in the hill country, from large intact forest swaths to small (less than 5 sq km) isolated patches of heavily degraded secondary forest.

The leopard is amazingly adaptable and can live in a wide variety of habitats given an adequate prey base and some sort of vegetative cover, Dr. Kittle said.

In the hill country, leopards roam a range of landscapes including established and regenerating forests, forest plantations of eucalypt and pine, tea estates and areas near human settlements.

Most of the national parks of the country are within the dry/arid zone; the montane (mountain) zone currently has only one declared park (Horton Plains), one Strict Natural Reserve (Hakgala) and three other protected areas of lesser status (Peak Wilderness Sanctuary, Pedro Forest Reserve and the Knuckles Range (currently undergoing status change).

Although some small forest reserves are interspersed throughout the zone these areas have not been considered wildlife refuges, let alone leopard habitat.

Large tracts of wilderness in the sub-montane and montane zones were cleared and cultivated into coffee and tea plantations in the late 1800s under British rule. This greatly reduced the extent of forest cover but higher montane forests (higher than 1900m) still exist and are used by leopards.

Sadly, more and more highland forests are being cleared for agriculture, forcing leopards to use areas closer to human settlements. It is mostly the males, particularly the young ones, that roam around while females prefer to stay in the forest patches, according to the researchers.

Leopards have learned to become elusive creatures to avoid encounters with humans. One sign of this is that they are active at night, particularly outside protected areas.,

There are two spikes of activity: early in the morning as leopards retreat to their hideout forest patches, and just after nightfall, when they come out to look for prey and mark their territories.

In the highlands, this nocturnal behaviour is even more pronounced in comparison to dry zone study sites. Researchers warn estate workers to be extra careful at these times and to make enough noise when approaching leopard habitat to avert unexpected encounters.

When there is an incident people want the animal relocated but translocating wildlife, especially top predators such as the leopard, should only be used as a last resort, Dr. Kittle said.

Wild animals, particularly higher order mammals such as the leopard, know how to survive in their native habitat from the experience of having grown up there.

Transfer to an alien habitat usually results in the inability of the animal to adapt to its new surroundings. A new prey base, new competitors and the potential of a new climate can have tremendously adverse effects on survival potential.

Moving a leopard from the hills to Yala, the Knuckles Range or even to Horton Plains, for instance, is unlikely to be successful given these areas already have resident animals who would not welcome a new arrival. Well-documented Indian studies show that translocating leopards is unsuccessful, with high leopard mortality, Dr. Kittle said.

Despite knowing this the DWC is sometimes forced to take the difficult option of translocation to prevent the leopard being killed by worried residents.

Ms Watson recalled an incident that shows the difficulties faced by wildlife officials. A leopard fell into a well in Nawalapitiya in 2011; the researchers and wildlife officers wanted it rescued and released into nearby forest patches but local villagers vehemently protested.

It was not easy for wildlife officials to find a suitable alternative habitat as leopards, especially males, are territorial, and introducing a stranger into anothers territory could result in fights that could be fatal. The loser might be forced to find living space elsewhere and could stray into more populated areas, instigating conflict with humans.

Ultimately, the researchers and wildlife officers selected the Kandapola forest reserve in Nuwara Eliya. An adult male leopard had been killed after having been caught in a snare there some months previously so the researchers felt the area was available for another male to claim it as its territory.

Most people want such animals rescued and to survive  a praiseworthy attitude that has allowed Sri Lanka to still have so much wildlife within its tiny borders  yet often they do not want them in their backyards even though these backyards are, in fact, forest.

Older villagers who are used to living together with wildlife are usually willing to allow a leopard to remain in its habitat nearby: it is often newcomers, formerly from urban areas, who are unwilling to live in co-existence.

The Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust and wildlife department conduct community awareness programmes in border settlements and tea estate communities to help reduce human/animal conflict.

You cannot conserve leopards by restricting them only to protected areas. Protecting their habitats and co-existence will decide this magnificent creatures future, Ms Watson pointed out.

Plantation companies are supportive of protecting biodiversity in their estates, she said.

The WWCT team conducts its research work from the Dunkeld Conservation Station, which was set up in partnership with the Resplendent Ceylon/Dilmah Conservation and sits within the Dilmah tea estate, Dunkeld, in the Dickoya area.

This partnership is an example of the positive attitude the tea management companies and private estate owners in the region have towards leopard conservation in the highlands.

It is through such collaborative partnerships and working together with these estate management and the workers that the conservation of Sri Lankas highland leopard can occur, Ms Watson said.
HARTSVILLE, S.C., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a release issued under the same headline earlier today by Sonoco (NYSE:SON), please note in the first paragraph the effective date of the price increase should be "February 19, 2018" rather than "February 19, 2017" as originally issued. The corrected release follows:

Sonoco Implementing Price Increase for All Uncoated Recycled Paperboard Products

Sonoco (NYSE:SON) today announced it is implementing a $50 per ton price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) in the United States and Canada, effective with shipments beginning February 19, 2018.



A positive of the robust economy is solid backlogs at our mills. A challenge that the growing economy presents is inflating input costs such as we are seeing in freight, energy and a host of other paper-making consumables. Sonoco must seek to recover these inflating costs in the market, said Palace Stepps, division vice president of sales and marketing for Sonocos U.S. and Canada paper and adhesives.



Sonoco is one of the largest integrated manufacturers of uncoated recycled paperboard in the United States and Canada, producing more than one million tons annually from 11 mills. For more information about Sonocos complete line of URB paper products, or to learn more about current pricing, please visit the Companys website at www.sonoco.com or contact the Company at 1-800-377-2692.



About Sonoco

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $5 billion, the Company has 20,000 employees working in more than 300 facilities in 33 countries, serving many of the worlds best known brands in some 85 nations. For more information on the Company, visit our website at www.sonoco.com.

Contact:

Roger Schrum

+843-339-6018

roger.schrum@sonoco.com
Changes are being made nationally to the way student pilots are assessed for the transition from dual to single seat aircraft.

The call comes following a glider crash at Tauranga Airport on May 1 2016 resulting in the death of pilot Gavin Harvey, age 40.

The CAA safety investigation finds the accident happened as a result of Gavin losing control of the glider during a steep left turn after a discontinued landing approach to the intended runway.

Due to the low altitude when the loss of control occurred, Gavin was unable to effect a recovery before the glider struck the ground.

Gavin survived the crash but died from head injuries the following day.

The crash happened during his first flight in the Tauranga Gliding Clubs single seat PW-5 glider.

Gavins previous dual and solo gliding experience was on board the gliding clubs PZL Puchacz two seat gliders.

He began training in June 2015 and had completed a first solo flight in March 2016 after 16 hours 12 minutes of dual flight time.

At the time of the accident Gavin was nearing the completion of the training required for the gliding A Certificate.

During the course of the training, he completed three solo flights in the Puchacz two seat glider.

The last two solo flights were carried out 11 days before the fatal flight.

At the time of the accident, Gavin had a total of 49 minutes of solo flight time attained during three flights and a grand total of 19 hours six minutes flight time attained during 40 flights as recorded in his log book.

The student pilot had minimal solo flight experience gained in the two seat training gliders prior to the flight in the single seat PW-5 glider, states the CAA report on the accident.

During the safety investigation, a number of gliding clubs in New Zealand were surveyed regarding solo flight experience before pilots transitioned onto a single seat glider. The average flight experience requirements prior to advancing to a single seat glider was 10 solo flights and approximately two to three hours solo flight time.

The solo flight time was required for the glider pilot to consolidate skills and gain further solo experience prior to moving onto a single seat glider. Based on the information gained during the survey, its likely Gavin was insufficiently experienced for his first flight in the single seat PW-5 glider, says the CAA report.

There was also A lack of guidance material available in the Gliding New Zealand Instructors Training Manual with regards to single seat glider conversion.

Following a CAA requirement, the training manual now recommends 10 to 15 solo flights and around 1.5 to 2 hours solo time for someone who has flown only a limited number of two seat glider types.

Following the accident Tauranga Gliding Club introduced a peer review process to evaluate a student pilots progress from dual to solo flight.

During Gavins training he flew with a number of instructors, which CAA regards as not ideal.

A review of his pilots log book and training records revealed that the gliding instructor who was checking him for his first flight in the PW-5 glider had spent little dual instructional time with him. While the instructor had many years of gliding experience, given the little instructional time spent with Gavin the CAA regards it as unlikely that the gliding instructor was fully cognisant of Gavins performance and ability.

Normally, just after solo, a pilot has neither the ability nor the experience to move on to more advanced training sequences or flights. A number of solo flights should be made to consolidate what the trainee has recently learned, states the report.
A teenager is suspected to have suffered a spinal injuries after falling from a rope swing in the Bay of Plenty.

The Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Te Kaha Medical Centre just before 11.30pm on Tuesday, to meet a road ambulance who had a 15-year-old male on-board with a suspected spinal injury.

The teen had been on a swing when the rope broke causing him to fall and land on his back, says a spokesperson for the rescue chopper.

He was flown to Whakatane Hospital for further assessment. The flight was conducted under the use of Night Vision Goggles.

Early that day, the rescue helicopter had been tasked for an emergency transfer of a 47-year-old woman at Tauranga Hospital who required immediate surgery for a brain haemorrhage.

The woman was flown on a rapid response flight to Waikato Hospital.
LONDON, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JobDiva's leadership is proud to celebrate their first anniversary in the United Kingdom.



As the leading global Applicant Tracking, Talent Management and Customer Relations Management System, JobDiva is honoured and delighted to have serviced the UKs recruitment and temporary staffing industry for the past year, doubling and even tripling recruiter effectiveness and advancing industry technology by leaps and bounds.

JobDivas software has become a bedrock for temporary staffing and recruitment agencies across the UK, digitising daily work processes to render recruiters, managers, and back-office professionals more efficient and effective. This has enabled JobDiva-powered organisations to grow at levels never yet realised.

We couldnt be more excited to play a firm role in the United Kingdoms exciting, fast-moving staffing and recruitment industry, said Alexandra Gorog, JobDivas Director of Business Development for the UK. Within the first year, weve already made a sizable footprint on the industry. As JobDiva grows and expands throughout the UK, we fully expect the organisations who leverage its solutions to grow and expand in turn.

Indeed, JobDivas solutions have already begun to have an impact. As in evolutionary adaptation, talent powerhouses throughout the UK are turning toward JobDiva, because theyve seen that competitors equipped with these software tools are recruiting faster and with higher accuracy than they ever have.

JobDiva isnt only having a ripple effect. JobDivas software solutions are making waves.

"Service is becoming important in our industry, so having information at your fingertips is critical," said Wade Newell, Head of Operations for Darwin Rhodes. "JobDiva ensures you can see what you've done in the past, you can see what you've done the day before, and you can give that information to the client straightaway."

JobDiva provides the only software service that embraces the whole of the recruitment processa broad swath of solutions for each task and duty performed in recruitment agencies of all sizes.

JobDiva's leadership looks forward to many more years of empowering recruiters and the organisations they work within, and to driving growth for firms both large and small.

Twitter

Facebook

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c8d9a617-d2db-4519-85d5-e87249950307
CHESAPEAKE, W.Va. (AP) -- A domestic battery charge against an actress on the former hit show "Glee" has been dismissed in West Virginia.

WCHS-TV reports that the case against 30-year-old Naya Rivera ended after her husband decided not to seek prosecution.

An order was filed Friday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office said Rivera was arrested Nov. 25 for domestic battery in Chesapeake after Ryan Keith Dorsey told a deputy that Rivera struck him in the head and face.

Agency spokesman Sgt. Brian Humphreys said the two were arguing over their child and Dorsey didn't require medical attention.

Rivera was released after being arraigned.

She is known for playing Santana Lopez on "Glee." Dorsey is also an actor and has appeared on shows including "Pitch" and "Nashville."
Warner Bros.

Utica native Ron O'Neal starred in the original 'Super Fly' film, featuring the theme song by Curtis Mayfield, in 1972.

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Glenn Frey's widow sues

The Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey's widow is suing a hospital for wrongful death. Cindy Frey filed a lawsuit against Mount Sinai Hospital and gastroenterologist Steven Itzkowitz, accusing them of negligence and failing to properly treat and diagnose the musician. Glenn Frey died in January 2016 from complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis  an inflammatory bowel disease  and pneumonia. Cindy Frey is seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering, wrongful death and the loss of services of a spouse.

>> Read more at Rolling Stone

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Chris Pizzello | AP

Honorees Glenn Frey and his wife Cindy arrive at the 10th Annual Lupus LA Orange Ball in Beverly Hills, Calif., Thursday, May 6, 2010.

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'Super Fly' remake

Another "Super Fly" remake is in the works, less than a year after another production shot their own version in Syracuse. Joel Silver and rapper Future are co-producing Sony's upcoming take on the 1972 blaxploitation classic, which starred Utica native Ron O'Neal as a cocaine dealer named Youngblood Priest and featured the hit theme song "Superfly" by Curtis Mayfield. Director X, who has helmed music videos for Drake, Usher and Justin Bieber, will direct the film starring Trevor Jackson ("Grown-ish") as Youngblood Priest and Jason Mitchell ("Straight Outta Compton") as Eddie. Last year, KomfortZone ENT recruited actress Robin Givens and "Notorious" star Jamal Woolard to film a trailer for a remake called "Priest the Lost Son" in an effort to raise money for a full-length production.

>> Read more at Billboard

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Fake news awards

President Donald Trump has been teasing his own proposed Fake News Awards, but Jimmy Fallon beat him to the punch(line) with a parody version called the Fakies. "The Tonight Show" host dressed up as Trump, praising CNN as the fakest cable news network and The New York Times as the fakest newspaper -- with help from Gina Gershon as First Lady Melania Trump and Rachel Dratch as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. And guess who won the Lifetime Achievement Award?

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'Ant-Man and the Wasp'

Marvel fans are getting excited for the upcoming "Ant-Man" sequel. Disney Studios released a new photo showing Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly in their superhero suits for "Ant-Man and the Wasp," and it looks awesome. Peyton Reed returns to direct, with Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne and Michael Douglas in the cast. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" opens July 6.

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Suit up for Marvel Studios' #AntManAndTheWasp, in theaters July 6!  pic.twitter.com/1bUhdAV7Us  Ant-Man and The Wasp (@AntMan) January 17, 2018

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Dermot Mulroney vs. Dylan McDermott

Fans have mixed up Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney for 30 years, partly due to the similar names, looks and types of roles. Finally, they meet to decide who's the best (Mc)Dermot(t) on Fox's "LA to Vegas" comedy. Mulroney guest-starred on Tuesday's episode as a rival airline pilot to McDermott's Captain Dave Pratman, punching him in the face. "I would have to admit that somewhere deep inside it was somewhat satisfying," Mulroney said. "When great art and real life -- when they do mix and you as an actor can experience something cathartic like that -- it really sets off that experience. It was well worth the wait."

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I interviewed Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney. Or maybe I interviewed one of them twice. Not quite sure what happened, actually. https://t.co/SgnX9QTpNR pic.twitter.com/QpgM6EGjss  Dan Snierson (@dansnierson) January 16, 2018

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More Buzz

Paul McCartney sings 'Helter Skelter' with Muse members ( BB

Katy Perry denies getting plastic surgery, admits filler under eye ( DM

Michelle Williams engaged to Andrew Youmans ( DN

MGMT announces new album, tour; no Upstate NY concerts ( BB

The Chainsmokers' Alex Pall caught cheating on girlfriend ( Spin

Naya Rivera gets domestic battery charge dropped ( TMZ

Ashley Graham poses topless in bold new V magazine shoot ( E!

Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' hits 1B views on YouTube ( DM

Amber Rose to get breast reduction surgery ( NYDN

Study: 1 in 6 Americans now own a smart speaker ( Blbrd

'The Flash' movie hires 'Vacation' reboot writers ( SF

Ellen Pompeo renews contract for 2 more 'Grey's Anatomy' seasons ( TVL

Dylan Farrow stands by claims Woody Allen molested her ( DM

Dennis Rodman to enter rehab, facing jail for DUI arrest ( DN

Billy Corgan teases Smashing Pumpkins reunion ( BB

AM Buzz is a weekday morning feature on syracuse.com where we'll post the latest in viral videos, trending topics, celebrity gossip and entertainment news.
ROME, N.Y. -- A missing 16-year-old from Illinois was located in Rome Wednesday and the 27-year-old man she was with was charged, according to Rome police.

The Rome Police Department was contacted Wednesday morning by the Will County Sheriff's Office in Illinois regarding the missing teen who was believed to be in the company of an adult male. During the investigation, Will County deputies received information that the teen may be in Rome, police said.

The Rome Police Patrol Division responded to The Red Roof Inn, located at 799 Lawrence St. in the city of Rome, and located the man's vehicle in the parking lot of the motel. Through further investigation the missing teen and adult male were located in one of the motel rooms, police said.

The 27-year-old man, who was identified as Dakota S. Adair, was wanted out of Illinois for child abduction, and was transported to the Rome Police Department for questioning. The 16-year-old female who was uninjured was also transported to the Rome Police Department, police said.

Rome Police Detective Ed D'Alessandro, currently assigned to the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center, led the investigation and was assisted throughout by Detective Michael DeMatteo.

Adair was charged with third-degree rape, a felony, and was held in the Rome Police Department pending arraignment, police said.

Third-degree rape, a felony, includes a person more than 21 years old having sex with a person less than 17 years old, according to New York law. It also includes a person having sex with someone who is incapable of consent, the law says.

The investigation is still ongoing and further charges are pending, police said.

The teen was offered counseling through the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center, police said.
WATERLOO, N.Y. -- A Seneca Falls man has been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child after police say he followed a mother and two children and then touched one of the children.

Harry W. Ward, 55, of Seneca Falls, followed the three and got into a car with them on Jan. 11, according to the Waterloo Police Department, before touching one of the children. The mother stopped Ward, police say, and he left.

Police believe Ward was "highly intoxicated" after talking to witnesses and reviewing video footage of cameras in the downtown business district.

The Waterloo Police Department is also investigating a separate incident of a man following a woman and a child after they left a mall. Police say a man followed the woman and her child and stood outside of their car. He approached another car as the two drove away, but went back inside the mall instead of getting into the car.

Police say the two incidents do not appear to be related.
ATLANTA, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) has named James Armstrong vice president  Investor Relations.



Armstrong brings more than 12 years of experience in investment analysis on both the sell and buy sides, specializing in the paper and packaging industry.

Most recently, Armstrong covered the paper, packaging and building materials industry through his own investment research firm. Prior to starting his own firm, he was vice president and chief technology officer of Vertical Research Partners, where he helped cover the paper, packaging and building materials industry. His previous experience includes analyst positions with Credit Suisse, Citi and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.

Armstrong received his Master of Business Administration degree from Ohio State Universitys Fisher College of Business, his Master of Science degree in plasma physics and non-equilibrium dynamics from Auburn University and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati.

About WestRock

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks 45,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 300 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Learn more at www.westrock.com.

WestRock

Investors:

James Armstrong, 470-328-6327

Vice President  Investor Relations

james.armstrong@westrock.com

John Stakel, 678-291-7901

Senior Vice President  Treasurer

john.stakel@westrock.com

Media:

John Pensec, 470-328-6397

Director, Corporate Communications

mediainquiries@westrock.com
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

MONTREAL, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Goldstar Minerals Inc. (Goldstar or the Company) (TSX-V:GDM) is pleased to announce that it has received additional results from detailed prospecting completed last November at its Lake George Property, located in New Brunswick, Canada.



The prospecting was following up a regional geochemical antimony soil anomaly and a relative magnetic high outlined by the previous airborne survey done in May 2016, both located southwest of hole LG-16-01.

An outcrop sample consisting of a weakly altered metasediments, containing approximately 25% of centimetric rusty quartz veins returned 0.6% tin (Sn). To the knowledge of the Company, it is the first time that anomalous tin is reported at Lake George. Several other outcrops present nearby and of a similar nature were also sampled and will be assayed for tin in the next few weeks.

This new tin area is believed to be associated with a different geological environment from where prospecting has identified gold bearing outcrops. The tin bearing context possibly relates to late stage felsic intrusions and is several hundred metres to the south west of the gold bearing outcrops previously identified.

Assays were performed at AGAT Laboratories located in Mississauga, Ontario using peroxide fusion and ICP finish. This is a grab sample that is not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property. Four (4) standards were inserted every 100 samples for QC/QA procedures. No duplicates or blanks were inserted.

Next steps

Geosig from Quebec City, Quebec was commissioned to perform a detailed ground gravity survey that will encompass all the areas on the property where gold was discovered in 2016 and 2017. Mobilization is under way and Goldstar expects to receive these new data shortly.

The exploration team will then prepare and design the drilling program set to begin in March 2018 that will investigate the newly defined gold zones, namely the WLF and the Coyote gold zones. Access for drilling is excellent all year long and easy logistics are expected.

Benoit Moreau, President and CEO of Goldstar comments: This tin discovery is exciting and requires some serious following-up next summer. However, as we have already identified significant gold bearing zones including the WLF zone with 100 m by 25 m at surface grading an average of 1.0 g/t Au, our efforts remain focused on gold. We are looking forward to the upcoming 2018 drilling program which will be devoted to understanding how gold zones outlined in 2016 and 2017 can be expanded vertically and laterally.

Disclosure

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Benoit Moreau, P.Eng., CEO and director of the company. Mr. Moreau is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For more information, please contact:

Benoit Moreau

President and Chief Executive Officer

514-591-8058

bmoreau@goldstarminerals.com

Francois Perron

Director

416-312-4811

fperron@goldstarminerals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.
English French

OTTAWA, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadas unions are welcoming the federal governments announcement that it will appoint an ombudsperson to ensure Canadian corporations respect their human rights obligations abroad.



The new position, formally titled the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), was announced today by Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade. The ombudsperson will be mandated to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Canadian mining, energy, and textile companies operating abroad. Their mandate will expand to include other industries over time.

Todays announcement comes after a decade of hard work by unions and by our allies, and will finally help ensure that Canadian corporations are compelled to respect their human rights obligations abroad, said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

About 1,500 Canadian-owned mining and exploration companies operate in over 8,000 properties in more than 100 countries around the globe. Many have been accused of grave human rights abuses including murder and gang rape, or forcing workers into life-threatening labour conditions. Just weeks ago in November, two workers were murdered while on strike at a Canadian-owned mine in Mexico.

Human rights abuses are present in the textile industry as well. The collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013 left 1,100 workers dead and thousands more injured; the tragedy stands as a stark reminder that this industry, which includes and supplies prominent Canadian companies, must be held to account for its actions.

All of us want Canada to be a human rights leader around the world; we dont want to find out that the products we buy are contributing to human rights violations and abuses elsewhere, said Yussuff.

The Canadian government actively promotes and supports these companies abroad with loans, loan guarantees and insurance and diplomatic trade support  all of that should be contingent on respecting human rights, he added.

A coalition of organizations, including Canadas unions, human rights, environmental, faith-based and international solidarity groups, have said that in order for the ombudsperson to be effective, they must be:



Independent, impartial and arms-length from government;

Mandated and adequately resourced to investigate incidents. That means being able to compel documents and testimony;

Able to make public findings and recommendations that tie subsidies, loans, loan insurance and other trade support from government to respect for human rights;

Able to monitor and follow up on recommendations;

Transparent. To be effective, the ombudspersons findings, recommendations, approved settlement agreements and policy proposals must be publicly available.

Yussuff added that the creation of a strong and independent human rights ombudsperson is also important given calls by the G7 and G20 on all member countries to create and strengthen mechanisms to fulfill their commitments under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The move will also help Canada fulfill its obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international norms, he said.

The CLC is a member of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, along with over 30 other unions and human rights, environmental and faith-based and solidarity groups. Union members of the coalition include the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Unifor, the United Steelworkers, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the British Columbia Teachers Federation.

For more information, please contact:

Chantal St-Denis

CLC Communications

cstdenis@clc-ctc.ca

613-355-1962
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Dutch English

Regulated Information

17 January 2018 at 19.00 CET

Nyrstar plans to release its 2017 Full Year Results at 7:00am Central European time, on Thursday 22 February 2018.

Nyrstar management will host a conference call with the investment community on 22 February 2018 at 9:00am Central European time.

The conference call will be webcast live and can be accessed through webcast link

https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/pji2sxqc The webcast will also be available in archive.

The call can also be accessed using the following dial-

in numbers: Country Toll Number UK +44 330 336 9411 Belgium +32 2 400 6926 France +33 1 76 77 22 57 Germany +49 69 2222 2018 Netherlands +31 20 703 8261 Switzerland +41 44 580 1022 USA +1 323 794 2551 Canada +1 647 794 4605 Australia +61 2 9193 3761

If your country is not listed above please dial the international number: +44 330 336 9411.

1. Please dial in 5 minutes prior to the call

2. Ask for the Nyrstar call (confirmation code 8264712), advise your name and company name

3. You will then be placed on hold until the conference starts

About Nyrstar

Nyrstar is a global multi-metals business, with a market leading position in zinc and lead, and growing positions in other base and precious metals, which are essential resources that are fuelling the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation of our changing world. Nyrstar has mining, smelting, and other operations located in Europe, the Americas and Australia and employs approximately 4,300 people. Nyrstar is incorporated in Belgium and has its corporate office in Switzerland. Nyrstar is listed on Euronext Brussels under the symbol NYR. For further information please visit the Nyrstar website: www.nyrstar.com

For further information contact:

Anthony Simms - Group Manager Investor Relations T: +41 44 745 8157 M: +41 79 722 2152 anthony.simms@nyrstar.com

Franziska Morroni - Group Manager Corporate Communications T: +41 44 745 8295 M: +41 79 719 2342 franziska.morroni@nyrstar.com

The full press release can be downloaded from the following link:
KFC Canada announced that it will be selling a bucket of chicken that can only be bought using bitcoin. The bucket costs whatever bitcoin value is equal to CA$20 or about $16.

The offer is only available for a limited time and it's called "The Bitcoin Bucket." It sold out almost immediately after it was released.

Bitcoin Bucket

KFC Canada's Bitcoin Bucket will only be available online. Customers in Canada were not able to head to their local KFC to buy the Bitcoin Bucket.

"Despite the ups and downs of Bitcoin, the Colonel's Original Recipe is as good as always. So, trade your Bitcoins for buckets and invest in something finger lickin' good," said KFC Canada in the page for the offer.

Payments for the bucket went through Bitpay and also carried a $5 shipping fee.

The bucket came with 10 Original piece tenders, waffle fries, a medium side, gravy, and two dips.

The offer paid off as it sold out almost immediately. Earlier on Friday, KFC Canada told its customers that the Bitcoin Bucket sold out but they are "mining for more as fast as we can."

While it's a fun way to end up in the press, the move is interesting since there are high transaction fees to transfer bitcoin. KFC Canada also promised that if Bitcoin creator reveals his/her identity, his bucket will be on them.

Strange Marketing

Recently, KFC has been into strange marketing techniques. In November, the company released a Faraday cage to escape the internet while customers eat. For $10,000, they could own a KFC Internet Escape Pod. Only one model exists and features a giant Colonel Sanders over the cage  protecting them from the internet.

While it isn't the first fast food restaurant to release a video game, it certainly had one of the more interesting games. It's a virtual reality game named The Hard Way. It looks like Bioshock and inspired by Saw. It also trains players how to make the Colonel's chicken.

Keeping with the strange ways that KFC is marketing, it has also released a record. The vinyl record features a song done by comedian Fred Armisen. More strange marketing ploys include a fried chicken scented candle and even a comic book featuring the Colonel as the protagonist.

Companies have been using the popularity of bitcoin, and cryptocurrency to gain more attention. Recently, beverage company Long Island Iced Tea changed its name to Long Blockchain corp.  the change sent the company's stock soaring.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ford has announced plans to electrify its fleet of vehicles and release 40 fully electric and hybrid cars by 2022. Until then, the automaker plans to pour $11 billion into electric vehicle technology.

With the changing auto scene, self-driving cars and electric vehicles have become two of the most prominent trends in the transportation industry. Major automakers are already making efforts in these areas, aiming to adapt and stay on top of market trends, and the EV market shows great promise.

Ford's rival, General Motors, already announced plans to launch at least 20 new EVs by 2023, which might finally bring EVs into the mainstream. GM's plans for EVs boosted its stock prices and stirred great interest, but Ford is coming up with its own plans for the space.

Ford Electric Vehicle Plans

At the Detroit Auto Show on Sunday, Jan. 14, Ford Chairman Bill Ford said that his company will add 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles to its range by 2022. The executive detailed that 24 of those vehicles will be plug-in hybrids, while 16 will be fully electric.

Ford did not mention any specific vehicle models at this point, but he did say that the company will primarily focus on electrifying existing Ford models that are already popular rather than coming up with new ones altogether.

"We're all in on this and we're taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we're electrifying them," explained Ford. "If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular."

Automakers Focus On Electric Vehicles

At a time when automakers are facing increasing pressure worldwide to raise their efforts to reduce carbon emissions, Ford's announcement regarding its EV plans is bound to spark huge interest.

Other major carmakers have announced similar plans as well, pledging to invest more in electric vehicles. Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG, for instance, announced that all of its vehicles will get electric versions by 2022. Volkswagen plans to electrify everything by 2030, while Volvo plans to stop making gas-only cars by 2019.

Amid serious competition, Ford is significantly ramping up its efforts. Back in late 2015, the automaker pledged to invest $4.5 billion in electric vehicles, which would have involved getting 13 EVs on the market by 2020. With the new plans, however, Ford is doubling down on its promise with more ambitious plans than ever for the EV market.

EVs have yet to drive wider adoption, but basing its upcoming EVs on popular Ford cars that customers already know and love could help the automaker sell its future EVs.

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It appears that virtual reality and 4K support will not be arriving any time soon to the Nintendo Switch, according to a Nintendo executive.

The Nintendo Switch's rivals are developing these technologies, with the PlayStation VR, PlayStation 4 Pro, and the Xbox One X. However, after the dominating success of the hybrid console since its March 2017 launch, does it really need these features?

Nintendo Exec Reiterates Lack Of Interest In VR And 4K

In an interview with French publication Les Numeriques, Nintendo France General Manager Philippe Lavoue reiterated the company's disinterest in pursuing virtual reality and 4K support.

In the translation by Nintendo Life, Lavoue expresses doubt that virtual reality headsets will appeal to the mainstream audience. High-end VR experiences require expensive equipment, and while work has started to improve the performance of cheaper set-ups, the technology is far from becoming something that casual gamers will purchase.

Meanwhile, for 4K support, the Nintendo executive questions the usefulness of investing in the development of technology that has not yet been adopted by most consumers. Lavoue most likely refers to the fact that 4K TVs are still expensive, which is why most households have not yet bought the technology.

"If we do the exact same thing than everyone else, we're bound to die because we are smaller than them," Lavoue said, revealing Nintendo's mindset in differentiating the Nintendo Switch from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and showing that lessons were learned from the failed Nintendo Wii U.

Nintendo Switch VR Still A Possibility

Lavoue's statements show that Nintendo is still not interested in pursuing new technology such as virtual reality for the Nintendo Switch. However, this does not mean that Nintendo Switch VR is not a possibility.

Months before the Nintendo Switch was launched, Nintendo patents revealed that there were plans to create what appeared to be a virtual reality headset for the hybrid console. The patent showed a device that will have a slot for the Nintendo Switch to be inserted into, similar to how smartphones are used to power Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream View headsets.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima later admitted that Nintendo Switch VR is a possibility as the hybrid console is powerful enough to handle the technology. Kimishima noted that Nintendo will first have to figure out the best way to translate virtual reality into a fun experience for its gamers.

However, given the current Nintendo Switch success, it does not look like Nintendo needs to provide the hybrid console with virtual reality components to attract gamers.

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Nothing is foolproof, especially if it's a birth control app on a smartphone. A popular contraception app in Europe is now blamed for dozens of unplanned pregnancies.

A Swedish hospital is blaming a popular contraceptive app for over dozens of unplanned pregnancies in the last quarter of 2017.

European Union-certified Natural Cycles app that claims 99 percent efficacy on perfect use and 93 percent effectiveness on typical use is now under fire for falling short of its promise to prevent pregnancies.

The app touted as the first certified "digital contraceptive" that is as reliable as birth control pills is used by over half a million women across 160 countries.

Just A Fertility Tracker

Natural Cycles is basically a fertility monitoring app that tracks a woman's daily body temperature. Using an algorithm, the app analyzes the woman's body temperature and predicts the time of the month when a woman is in cycle and in need to use protection to prevent a pregnancy.

The Sodersjukhuset hospital in Sweden participated in a study on the contraceptive last September and found that least 37 out of more than 600 pregnant women who had sought abortion at the hospital used Natural Cycles.

"To have 37 unwanted pregnancies out of the 668 mentioned in this study at Sodersjukhuset means that 5.5 percent of women who stated they used Natural Cycles also had an unwanted pregnancy," according to a statement issued by the hospital. "This is in line with what we communicate as the risk of unwanted pregnancy with typical use, and which is comparable to other types of contraception."

Natural Cycles, however, responded that "no contraception is 100 percent," and unwanted pregnancies is an unfortunate risk as with any type of contraception.

Pill Replacement

Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that the app is as effective as the contraceptive pill but without the side effects and mood swings.

After it was first launched in 2013, the app gained popularity from the recommendations of several medical institutions and researchers of its 99 percent efficacy compared to the pill's 91 percent effectiveness.

In its own study, Natural Cycles said its product has a perfect use failure rate of 1.0, or one out of 100 women who use the app for a year may become pregnant due to several reasons, including wrong use of the app.

The app, created by Dr. Elina Berglund and Dr. Raoul Scherwitzl, was granted medical certification as a natural contraceptive to be used in the EU, including Sweden, Germany, and the UK. The start-up received a $30 million funding in November last year.

Green Is Go, Red Is No

Algorithms used by the app depend on a users' individual data. Users input daily temperature using a body basal thermometer that is included in a one year-subscription to the app.

The app will indicate the safe days as green days when the woman is not fertile, so it is safe to have intercourse, and the pregnancy rate is zero to low. Red days are fertile days, and the app recommends the use of protection such as condom unless the woman wants to get pregnant.

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Last week, a video was shared on YouTube that supposedly previewed the new features of firmware 5.0 for the Nintendo Switch, which included video streaming.

Prior to the footage, gamers already speculated that the company has plans to include Netflix and other services to enhance the console's multimedia capabilities. The short clip similarly showcased other functions that fans have always wanted on their device, but never got due to the gaming firm's odd decision.

Several industry insiders quickly pointed out that the video was clearly a fake due to some inconsistent data that was shown on screen.

Meanwhile, hopes of getting the popular video streaming service on the Switch were sadly quelled as a Twitter post confirmed its absence.

Nothing Definite Yet

Over the weekend, a user posted a question on Twitter regarding the estimated timeframe for Netflix to arrive on the Nintendo Switch. However, someone from the customer service group explained that it will not see a release on the hybrid game system until further notice.

On the other hand, it supposedly does not mean that its doors are closed. The company is allegedly in talks with the Japanese gaming firm to hopefully develop an app for the new console.

"We are still exploring the opportunity with Nintendo, but don't have definitive plans to share at this time," said a representative from the video streaming company. "The incorrect original tweet has been removed."

Nintendo's Plans

During an interview with Nintendo, before the Switch was released, the firm clearly noted that console was intentionally launched without video streaming support to keep its customers focused on gaming.

Even if it sounded like there is no chance for the video streaming service in the future, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president, had something else in mind.

"All of our efforts have gone toward making the Nintendo Switch system an amazing dedicated video game platform, so it will not support any video-streaming services at launch. However, support for video-streaming services is being considered for a future update," Fils-Aime explained.

Hacking Threat

A few weeks ago, during the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, a group of hackers teased Nintendo about their plans to release a hack that is supposedly resistant to future firmware updates. If this ever comes to light, users will be able to run homebrew applications, pirated games, and even enable functions that are supposedly missing.

There have been past cases wherein hackers simply created an exploit to allow owners to maximize the platform's potential. Perhaps the absence of an official Netflix app on the Nintendo Switch will prompt users to tweak their systems for a bootleg version.

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Apple certainly has a lot on its plate these days as more complaints related to the iPhone battery slowdown debacle continue to pile up.

Consumers groups from the United States and other countries have directed their concerns to the Cupertino tech company. Now, China joins the chorus as its own consumer group questions the motive behind the smartphone's degraded performance post firmware updates. The Chinese are reportedly demanding that the manufacturer furnishes a reply before Friday.

Formal Complaint

On Monday, sources confirmed that the Shanghai Consumer Council drafted a letter to Apple in order to discuss the aforementioned issue. Last month, after a series of complaints supported by research results from various tech experts, the firm eventually admitted that it deliberately cut-down system performance to offset instances wherein the battery is no longer optimized.

Reports claim the Chinese want a detailed explanation as to why the American electronics firm came up with their unexpected decision, as well as its policies to resolve the ongoing fiasco.

Motive Behind Their Demand

Tech industry analysts are curious as to why the consumer group from China still demanded an explanation from Apple. After all, the company publicly shared its side via an open letter last month.

Moreover, as a temporary fix, the company will offer out-of-warranty iPhone owners a battery replacement discount of $50 for users with an iPhone 6 or newer until the end of 2018.

In addition to the abovementioned workaround, a future iOS update will reportedly give users a detailed view of their smartphone's battery integrity. Yet, it seems like the device's performance will still be dependent on how well its battery sustains it power requirements.

Given all of this publicly available information, It becomes understandable why many are intrigued by Chinese group's requirements.

Reputation On The Line

Before Apple's revelation last year, it was already a popular speculation that the company intentionally cut performance short as the battery loses its ability to hold a charge. Some groups suspect that it was a business decision to encourage consumers to replace their units with the newest model.

Nevertheless, despite the company's explanation, the damage has already been done. Some consumers who were exclusively using iPhones before the battery fiasco have now reportedly switched to the competition.

Meanwhile, there are some recent reports concerning the Apple's battery. A few days ago, unexplained iPhone battery explosions happened in Zurich, Switzerland and Valencia, Spain just days apart. Maybe the Chinese consumer group would likewise want the company to furnish an explanation for those incidents.

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In the midst of the powerful #metoo movement that has been rapidly gaining ground, CVS has vowed to stop materially altering images for beauty products.

The fashion industry has long been criticized for setting unrealistic body and image standards that can have a negative impact on girls and young women. However, the practice is still widely used to sell various products for women.

CVS To Stop Materially Altering Photos

Airbrushing beauty images to make them unrealistically perfect is still common practice, but CVS is stepping away from it. The U.S. pharmaceutical company said it will no longer use materially altered photos to present its beauty products in marketing materials, in stores, or online.

Come April, the photos women see when checking out a CVS-brand moisturizer, lipstick, or some other product will not be retouched to make them look smoother, color-corrected, or otherwise significantly altered. This aims to prevent the shopper from feeling insecure when faced with an unrealistically perfect image.

New CVS Standards For Post-Production Alteration

As part of its new bid to combat unrealistic body images, CVS is setting new standards for post-production alterations and requiring more transparency for materially altered beauty images. These standards and increased transparency will have to be in place by the end of 2020.

Helena Foulkes, CVS Pharmacy president and CVS Health EVP, says that the company has to carefully consider what message it sends to its customers.

"The connection between the propagation of unrealistic body images and negative health effects, especially in girls and young women, has been established," says Foulkes. "As a purpose-led company, we strive to do our best to assure all of the messages we are sending to our customers reflect our purpose of helping people on their path to better health."

CVS Beauty Mark

In the name of that transparency it seeks, the company will implement the "CVS Beauty Mark." This watermark will appear on images that present no material alterations.

For this delimitation, CVS considers various changes as material alterations: modifying the model's shape, size, eye or skin color, proportion, wrinkles, or other individual characteristics.

To ensure transparency and consistency, CVS Pharmacy will collaborate with industry experts as well as key brand partners to develop clear and specific guidelines.

With these new efforts, customers should be able to more easily distinguish between materially altered photos and authentic ones. Beauty images from CVS Pharmacy will start displaying the CVS Beauty Mark in 2018. The company, however, wants to have the watermark on all images featured in CVS Pharmacy stores beauty sections by the end of 2020.

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Google is building three new undersea cables to increase its competitiveness in the cloud business market. It is currently third in market share behind Amazon and Microsoft.

The cables will be built to connect five new regions for the company  Montreal, the Netherlands, Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong.

New Undersea Cables

Google outlined its new plan to connect to new regions with the help of three new undersea cables. This is an effort to boost its cloud computing infrastructure, which would connect the United States to three new regions of the world.

Three new undersea cables will be built connecting the country to other regions of the world. The Curie cable will connect Los Angeles to Chile, the Havfrue cable will connect the east coast of the United States to Denmark and Ireland, and the HK-G cable connecting Guam to Hong Kong.

Google's previous cables have been built with contributions from other companies, its new Curie cable connecting Los Angeles to Chile will be the company's longest and fully private cable at 6,200 miles. A data center was built in Chile in 2015. The cable is named after scientist Marie Curie. It will be Chile's largest single data pipe.

The Havfrue cable will be built along with Facebook, Aqua Comms, and Bulk Infrastructure. This 4,500-mile cable will connect the east coast of the United States to Denmark with a stop in Ireland. Havfrue is Danish for mermaid.

The shortest cable HK-G cable which is only 2,400 miles. Google partners with RTI-C and NEC to create this cable. This will help connect to major hubs in Australia, East Asia, and North America.

These new cables will help connect customers in five new regions that Google will be opening this year. The Netherlands and Montreal regions will open at the beginning of 2018 with Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong to follow.

All three new cables are expected to be completed by 2019.

Investment in three new cables brings Google involvement to 11 cables. In the last three years, Google says it has invested $30 billion improving its infrastructure. Google parent company Alphabet owns a massive network of fiber-optic cables and data centers. This infrastructure adds up to the world's biggest private network, it handles 25 percent of worldwide internet traffic.

The new cables are being built to speed the transfer of data and reroute users in case a region fails or gets overloaded.

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Pennsylvania-based frozen cheesesteak company Steak-umm succeeded in its goal to become verified on Twitter. Steak-umm's campaign to get the blue-checkmark on its Twitter account began back in August.

Twitter gives verification to well-known figures, celebrities, companies, and others.

#VerifySteakUmm

Steak-umm launched a campaign to get verified in August. Ever since launching the campaign, Steak-umm has posted bizarre memes and inspirational posts and confronted Twitter. The campaign was masterminded by Nathan Allebach.

Steak-umm responded to how it feels now that it is finally verified.

"The truth is that the power of the people and the magic of our meat finally tore down the corrupted corporate walls of twitter," said Allebach through the Steak-umm Twitter account. "We've been mounting pressure for months with our followers doubling in size every few weeks, celebrities getting involved like William Shatner and Joey Diaz, coverage from press like HuffPost and Philly Inquirer, as well as a constant outpouring of content every day. We broke them."

Allebach says through the Steak-umm Twitter that the company was verified without being previously notified about it but does add that Twitter kept telling the company that their "verification department is down" ever since it verified "Nazis" in the fall.

Benefits Of Twitter Verification

Twitter's blue checkmark is a status symbol. It sends a signal to the world that a company, brand, product, or personality finally made it. The checkmark isn't usually requested by those who want it. It is bestowed upon accounts by Twitter. Later, it did add an application for the status.

Twitter outlines how accounts go through a verification process.

"An account may be verified if it is determined to be an account of public interest. Typically this includes accounts maintained by users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas."

Verification from Twitter allows users to know that accounts are an official source. It adds authority to accounts that receive the blue checkmark. Twitter was the first social network that added a verification system for accounts.

Some of the first accounts to be verified include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kim Kardashian, and Oprah.

Twitter will also suspend account that fake any form of verification.

"Verified badges must be applied by Twitter, and accounts that use a badge as a part of profile photos, background photos, or in any other way that implies verified status, are subject to permanent account suspension."

Twitter verification allows companies to have authority and clout in the social media world.

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On Tuesday, Japanese broadcaster NHK sent an alert warning that North Korea fired a missile. A similar mistake occurred in Hawaii days earlier.

The error was corrected almost immediately, unlike in Hawaii which took longer to correct.

Missile Panic

North Korea and the United States are currently locked in a war of words over the former testing new missiles. North Korea threatens the United States and close ally Japan with missile strikes.

NHK issued the warning adding that people should take shelter. There weren't any reports of panic among Japanese residents like there were when Hawaii received the missile warning over the weekend.

The alert appeared on NHK website and was also sent to phone users who subscribed to its updates.

"North Korea appears to have launched a missile..." said NHK. "The government urges people to take shelter inside buildings or underground."

The warning was corrected five minutes later with an announcer apologizing for issuing the news update.

"This happened because equipment to send a news flash onto the Internet had been incorrectly operated. We are deeply sorry," said the announcer while bowing deeply.

NHK also put out a statement apologizing for the news story on the English version of its website.

"NHK is apologizing after issuing a false alert that said North Korea had probably launched a missile and warned people in Japan to take cover," said NHK.

North Korea fired two missiles over Japan last year.

Hawaii Alert

On Saturday, Hawaii went through a similar panic when the emergency alert notification system sent out a warning to residents of Hawaii.

"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

The alert went out on television, radio, and phones. A correction to the original message was sent to residents 38 minutes later.

Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency announced that the mistake took place during a routine drill run after a shift change. The agency did not name the officer responsible for the mistake. It did say that the officer selected the wrong template.

A spokesman for the agency said that the officer "selected the wrong menu option."

During this time there was a sense of confusion, alarm, and people generally not knowing what to do in this situation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Trump are engaged in a war of words regarding the North Korean missile program.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On January 16, 2018, Dolby Laboratories hosted the Seventh Annual San Francisco Chapter GRAMMY Nominee Celebration at The Regency Center. Photo credit: James Butler, Dolby Laboratories.



Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/68d7d47c-0a3d-40bc-abc4-bdc1ba41e9f3

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c3ad40cb-d7a2-45dd-9ba2-656605b6e80b

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Dolby, Dolby Atmos, and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. DLB-G

Media Contact

Dolby Laboratories

Gentry Bennett, +1-415-645-5361

Gentry.Bennett@dolby.com
Former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski is again being accused of stealing trade secrets, this time against Tesla. A fresh accusation is being thrown at Levandowski, this time through different source.

The new source of the accusations is Erika Wong  Levandowski's former nanny who is suing him for breaking California labor laws.

Stealing From Tesla

Levandowski was previously accused of stealing trade secrets with about 14,000 documents from Waymo to use at Uber.

In the new lawsuit, Wong details Levandowski's reaction when Waymo filed its lawsuit against Uber. During the process of being sued by Waymo, former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick visited Levandowski bringing hardware and legal documents for the former employee to sign.

The biggest revelation in the court papers filed by Wong shows that Levandowski was paying a Tesla employee named Pat Green for information. Green provided Levandowski updates on Tesla's self-driving truck technology.

The complaint also shows that Levandowski was selling microchips abroad and was setting up new startups with stolen trade secrets. Wong also described that Levandowski thought about running away to Canada to avoid prosecution and even going as far as saying that he will not go to prison. It is also alleged that Levandowski had a hand in the creation of other self-driving car companies such as Argo AI and JingChi Corporation.

Levandowski's spokesperson was dismissive about the lawsuit.

"On January 5, a frivolous lawsuit was filed against Anthony Levandowski in US District Court. The allegations in the lawsuit are a work of fiction. Levandowski is confident that the lawsuit will be dismissed by the courts."

Wong is seeking $6 million in damages.

Levandowski's Other Problems

Levandowski was the former head of Uber's self-driving car unit. He started the self-driving car company after leaving Google, and that company was bought by Uber in 2016 for almost $700 million.

Levandowski allegedly told Uber that he took the files from Google in order to ensure that he was paid his bonus by the company. A judge didn't allow Uber to introduce this into evidence because Uber's general counsel was present when Levandowski admitted this.

Levandowski previously invoked fifth amendment rights to avoid self-incrimination. A judge later ruled that while Levandowski can invoke fifth amendment right, he can't stop Uber from turning over documents that might incriminate him.

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A plastic surgeon in Lexington, Kentucky allegedly showed up drunk to a scheduled operation, resulting in him being arrested and taken into custody for public intoxication.

There are certain acceptable circumstances for being drunk, such as when celebrating New Year's Eve. Needless to say, it is inappropriate to be intoxicated right before you perform a surgery.

Lexington Surgeon Arrested For Showing Up Drunk For Operation

Dr. Theodore Gerstle had a scheduled operation at about noon on Jan. 15 at the Baptist Heath Lexington. However, hospital staff received reports that Gerstle was apparently intoxicated, according to Ruth Ann Childers, the spokesperson for the hospital.

After the chief medical officer confronted Gerstle on the allegations, the surgeon walked away from the hospital. Staff then called the authorities to report the incident.

Gerstle was then arrested after a short time, after he was found by the police near the facility.

According to Childers, Gerstle's scheduled operation had not yet started when the chief medical officer talked to him about the alleged intoxication. It is unclear what type of operation he was about to perform.

"Patient safety is always our number one concern, every day," said Childers. "We take these things very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated."

Gerstle was brought to the Fayette County Jail on charges of public intoxication. The surgeon was not an employee of Baptist Heath Lexington, but held staff privileges and was tapped to perform certain procedures at the hospital. These privileges are suspended as the investigation into the incident unfolds, the hospital said.

Surgeon Horror Stories

Unfortunately, the drunken state of Gerstle before his scheduled operation is not the only surgeon horror story in recent memory.

In December, a surgeon admitted that he signed his initials on the livers of two of his patients using an argon beam, which is typically used for marking areas or stopping bleeding. The surgeon was recently charged with a 10,000 ($13,600) fine and a 12-month community order.

There were also recent reports of a woman from Washington who sued a hospital and the doctor who performed surgery on her, claiming that nude pictures of her were taken. The hospital claimed that the photos were a part of a prank, but the woman said that the pictures of her naked body were taken without her consent.

Another woman, from New York, sued a surgeon for talking on the phone while performing an operation on her. The situation resulted in emotional distress and panic, claimed the 70-year-old patient.

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Mexico City, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aeromexico, Mexicos global airline, celebrates its fifth anniversary operating the Mexico City-London route. In 2017 the carrier was recognized as the airline with the best on-time performance at the London Heathrow Airport for six months in a row, in addition to carrying more than 127,000 passengers during the year which represents a 19.88% increase over 2016.

For more than 60 years, Mexicos global airline has positioned itself in the European market by serving different destinations such as Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam and London. Aeromexico currently serves these destinations by offering 35 flights with 17,800 seats per week.

For several years now, Mexico and the United Kingdom have maintained the strongest bilateral relationship in their history. The UK is the sixth largest trade partner in the Latin America region and the 18th largest trade partner worldwide. It is also the fourth nation in the European Union that most invests in Mexico, holding the sixth place worldwide. Having a bridge in the skies that facilitates the relationship between both countries was fundamental to consolidating these ties, and currently serves to create new investment opportunities.

Aeromexicos service quality has also made it the customers airline of choice. In 2012 Aeromexico started serving the market with three nonstop flights per week. In May 2017 it added new frequencies to offer seven flights with more than 3,200 seats on the route per week, where it expects to increase its capacity by 7% this year.

London -Mexico City* AM 8 22:30 p.m. 4:20 a.m. (+1) Daily

Mexico City-London* AM 7 23:25 p.m. 15:55 a.m. (+1) Daily

*Times are published in local time and are subject to changes without notice.

Aeromexico operates the Mexico City-London route with its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern commercial aircraft in the skies with 243 passenger seats 32 in Clase Premier, Aeromexicos Business Class cabin, featuring more space between seats, larger touch-sensitive windows, individual touchscreens and Sky Interiors LED lighting.

Thus, Aeromexico reaffirms its commitment to building bridges in the sky that not only increase connectivity but also promote commercial, tourist and cultural exchanges between Mexico and the world.

oo00oo

About Grupo Aeromexico

Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. is a holding company whose subsidiaries provide commercial aviation services and promote passenger loyalty programmes in Mexico. Aeromexico, Mexicos global airline, offers more than 600 daily flights and operates its main hub out of Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport. Its route network spans more than 90 cities on three continents including 43 in Mexico, 23 in the United States, 15 in Latin America, four in Canada, four in Europe and three in Asia.

Grupo Aeromexicos fleet of 126 aircraft includes Boeing 787, 777 and 737 jet airliners and next generation Embraer 170 and 190 models. In 2012 the airline announced the most significant investment strategy in aviation history in Mexico, to purchase up to 100 Boeing aircraft including 90 MAX 737 airliners and 10 B787-9 Dreamliners.

As a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which is celebrating its 17th anniversary, Aeromexico offers customers more than 1,000 destinations in 177 countries served by the 20 SkyTeam airline partners rewarding passengers with benefits including access to 672 premium airport lounges around the world. Aeromexico also offers travel options with its codeshare partners Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines and WestJet with extensive connectivity in countries like the United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

www.aeromexico.com www.skyteam.com

Attachments:

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Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/57b1d540-a68f-4aef-8abc-06e393fac1c5
Pulse Films has signed Academy Award winning director James Marsh to its director roster for global representation.

Writer and director of documentary, narrative feature films, scripted TV and commercials, James Marsh has won awards including Academy Awards, EMMYs and BAFTAs.

His documentary Man on Wire won the Oscar for Best Documentary, a BAFTA for Best British Film and an Independent Spirit award. The Theory of Everything won the best british film BAFTA, marking Marshs second win in the category, and Best Actor at the Academy Awards for Eddie Redmaynes portrayal of Stephen Hawking. The film also went on to win three Golden Globe awards.

In 2015 Marsh directed part of the HBO series The Night of, starring Riz Ahmed and John Turtorro  and was nominated for an EMMY for his work.

Marshs most recent film, The Mercy, with Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, is released in February 2018. The film tells the true story of Donald Crowhust, an amateur sailor who entered the first race to circumnavigate the globe in 1968.

He is currently finishing up post production on The King of Thieves  a film inspired by a real-life security vault robbery in London undertaken by a bunch of geriatric criminals. The film features Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay and Ray Winstone.

Alongside his big screen work, Marsh is a director of commercial campaigns for global brands including Audi, Coca Cola and BBC.

James Marsh commented: Pulse is the ideal company for me. Their diverse interests and belief in the power of the visual image reflect my own identity as a filmmaker. Its a company that gives filmmakers a bridge into the future of all visual storytelling.

Davud Karbassioun, Global President of Commercials & Branded added: Ive been a big fan of James work over the years. He has a uniquely versatile and considered approach to storytelling across multiple formats. He blurs the lines between fact, fiction and feeling. His interests and experience across multiple film formats and genres plays perfectly into our model and wider ambitions. Pulse Films are so proud to be in his corner.

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Jane Featherstones drama indie Sister Pictures is to launch its new rolling writer-in-residence scheme.



Led by ex-Kudos boss Featherstone and Sister Pictures Development Executive, Alice Tyler, the new scheme is designed to nurture emerging voices, offering one new writer at an early stage in their career the opportunity to join the Sister development team on a biannual basis.



Working closely with the selected writer on a slate of their own original ideas, Sister will also offer shadowing opportunities, designed to give practical insight into the development and production process.



Each writer will be attached to a specific project, allowing them to attend development meetings and story-lining sessions that relate to it, and the opportunity to shadow established writers and experienced execs.



Founder Jane Featherstone said: I have been struck by the need to take responsibility in nurturing the much-needed next generation of voices. I hope that our new scheme will provide a series of new writers with an invaluable development opportunity in a safe, salaried and supportive environment, as well as helping to refill the pipeline of talent coming through the industry.



Applications are now open and will close Friday 26th January 2018. Writers should apply, via their agent, with a CV, a 500 word statement of why they would benefit from the scheme and a sample of their original dramatised work  a short film, spec TV or feature script, or a stageplay.



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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAN) (OTCBB:WSCRF) (CUSIP:65704T 108) (the "Company" or NAN) is pleased to provide an exploration update and summary of significant results on its 100% owned Maniitsoq nickel-copper-cobalt-PGM project in Southwest Greenland.

In 2017, the Company implemented an $11.1M exploration program consisting of 8,767 metres of diamond drilling in 23 holes, two regional and four detailed induced polarisation (IP) surveys covering 13km2, surface and borehole electromagnetic (EM) surveys, borehole gyro, optical televiewer and physical properties surveys, a comprehensive review of geochemistry and petrology of the noritic intrusions, a surface geology sampling and mapping program, and 3D modeling of the mineral zones.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS



In 2017, the Company continued its systematic evaluation of the depth extent of known mineral zones to identify thicker and more extensive sheets of breccia-style mineralization. This work continues to advance the understanding of the host intrusions and refine geophysical targeting tools. The result has been the intersection of significant nickel-copper sulphide mineralization at multiple locations.

The Mikissoq zone was extended by 60 meters down plunge; the P-013 SE mineral zone was extended for 140m down-plunge and the P-058 zone at Fossilik was extended to a vertical depth of 650 m. Extensive zones of melanorite were mapped in the footprint of the mineral zones of the Imiak Hill Complex (IHC) as well as Fossilik.

Petrological and geochemical studies of the differentiated mafic intrusions underscores the importance of melanorite as a host to high grade semi-massive breccia style nickel-copper sulphides enveloped in a halo of lower grade mineralization.

Interpretation of IP and gravity data coupled with petrology and geochemistry highlights the potential for the known mineral zones to expand in width within the adjacent melanorite intrusions.

Follow-up in 2018 will focus attention on the larger differentiated intrusions where more continuous zones of high Ni tenor breccia style sulphide mineralization can be identified by EM methods. The program of work will be driven by electromagnetic methods that are sensitive to the core zones of high grade Ni sulphide.

NAN CEO, Keith Morrison commented: The extensive occurrence of sulphide mineralization with high nickel, copper and cobalt concentrations in sulphide continues to provide the focus for exploration in depositional environments where geological processes have concentrated the mineralization. The importance of the larger bodies of melanorite as hosts to more continuous zones of breccia style sulphide mineralization within a halo of disseminated sulphide is an important driver to the discovery of mineralization. Exploration in 2018 will focus attention on potentially more continuous breccia style mineralization contained in melanorite bodies at Fossilik and the IHC.

DRILLING

Drilling expanded the Mikissoq zone by 60 metres in a down plunge direction (News Release dated October 10, 2017), extended the P-013 SE mineral zone by 140m down-plunge (News Release dated November 14, 2017), extended the P-058 zone to a vertical depth of 650m (News Release dated November 23, 2017), and encountered new nickel intersections at the P-004 target at Fossilik (News Release dated December 18, 2017). The potential for the mineralized zone at P-058 to extend into a larger melanorite body is supported by geological, gravity, and IP data. The Mikissoq zone breccia sulphide mineralization is also open at depth, but the EM signature points back to the heart of the known mineral zone, and the IP response related to the known near-surface disseminated sulphide.

Table 1 gives a summary of selected drilling highlights for each of these mineralized areas and a location map (Figure 1) may be viewed using the link provided at the end of the release.

TABLE 1: Selected 2017 Assay Results from Mikissoq, Spotty Hill, P-058, P-004 and P-013 SE

Hole

Number



From

(m)



To

(m)



Core

Length

(m) Ni

%



Cu

%



Co

%



S %





Pt

g/t



Pd

g/t



Au

g/t



*Ni Eq

%



IHC: Mikissoq MQ-17-135 359.85 435.60 75.75 1.10 0.43 0.03 4.02 0.03 0.02 0.07 1.54 incl. 359.85 370.10 10.25 2.29 1.33 0.05 8.83 0.03 0.03 0.21 3.43 and 416.35 435.60 19.25 1.89 0.26 0.04 6.70 0.03 0.02 0.02 2.32 incl. 417.00 423.00 6.00 2.94 0.29 0.07 10.72 0.02 0.02 0.01 3.55 and 425.90 426.20 0.30 9.55 0.80 0.24 28.98 0.31 0.19 0.11 11.57 IHC: Spotty Hill MQ-17-143 381.00 388.80 7.80 1.35 0.26 0.04 5.42 0.25 0.28 1.32 2.30 incl. 381.00 386.00 5.00 1.69 0.33 0.05 6.89 0.33 0.34 2.04 3.02 incl. 381.00 382.00 1.00 1.62 0.93 0.04 6.15 0.34 0.37 10.00* 5.94 Fossilik: P-058 MQ-17-146 408.30 410.20 1.90 2.51 0.15 0.08 14.94 0.00** 0.02 0.01 3.10 incl. 408.30 408.90 0.60 4.70 0.40 0.18 30.89 BD 0.03 0.03 5.99 and 409.80 410.20 0.40 4.73 0.07 0.12 23.67 0.01 0.04 0.01 5.51 451.50 462.20 10.70 2.53 1.26 0.07 14.63 0.06 0.02 0.03 3.70 incl. 452.50 456.00 3.50 4.97 2.30 0.13 28.26 0.09 0.04 0.07 7.10 and 458.00 460.20 2.20 3.35 1.31 0.10 19.16 0.13 0.02 0.01 4.74 Fossilik: P-004 MQ-17-153 201.60 216.70 15.10 0.51 0.13 0.02 2.05 0.06 0.01 0.06 0.74 incl. 208.00 216.00 8.00 0.76 0.18 0.03 3.18 0.08 0.02 0.07 1.07 P-013 SE MQ-17-140 247.35 268.20 20.85 0.65 0.47 0.02 2.77 0.11 0.05 0.22 1.13 incl. 247.35 261.60 14.25 0.75 0.64 0.02 3.35 0.15 0.07 0.30 1.39 and 267.00 268.20 1.20 1.65 0.12 0.04 5.61 0.05 0.09 0.05 2.00 MQ-17-142 298.00 303.70 5.70 0.50 0.51 0.02 2.48 0.07 0.06 0.66 1.13

Notes:

Intervals represent core lengths, not necessarily true widths

*Ni EQ was calculated based on the following formula using London Metal Exchange cash offer prices for Ni, Cu and Co on January 12, 2018 and London Bullion Market Association metal prices for Pt, Pt and Au on January 12, 2018 (PM) and assuming 100% metal recoveries:

*Ni EQ = Ni% + (Cu% x3.21/5.75) + (Co% x 34.25/5.75) + ((Pt g/t / 10000) x (991*14.5833/5.75)) + ((Pd g/t / 10000) x (1098 *14.5833/5.75)) + (Au g/t / 10000) x (1326.80*14.5833/5.75))

(Metal prices are per pound and in $US).

* Sample returned > 10 g/t and was cut to 10 g/t.

** Assay values for Pt is between 0.001 and 0.005 g/t, rounds to 0

BD = Below Detection

Assays previously reported in news releases provided in the text.

GEOLOGICAL SETTING, MAPPING AND 3D MODELLING

In 2017, NAN geologists completed additional detailed mapping in and adjacent to the IHC and Fossilik areas, identifying new norite gossans and providing important structural information. Downhole gyro and optical televiewer surveys facilitated the collection of systematic subsurface structural data and downhole physical properties surveys provided magnetic, gamma, chargeability and resistivity data for comparison to surface geophysical survey results. Surface and borehole geochemical sampling results are being used to help identify melanorite stratigraphy. SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. continued to provide structural geology support and is currently completing updated 3D models for mineralized zones and the larger IHC and Fossilik areas.

This work, which will ultimately help direct exploration targeting in 2018, is leading to a better understanding of the geometry of the mineralized zones; the effects of structural offsets; the calibration of geophysical responses to sulphide volume and content and; and the importance of melanorite as sulphide hosts.

GEOPHYSICAL RESPONSE TO MASSIVE SULPHIDE

Maniitsoq mineralization comprises disseminated, blebby, net-textured, semi-massive and massive sulphides. Secondary structural processes have affected primary sulphides resulting in the formation of stringers, veins, fracture fillings and sulphide breccia veins. The sulphide zones are commonly represented by multiple discrete EM plates and this is interpreted to be due, at least in part, to the remobilization and disruption of primary magmatic sulphides. In 2017, large (13km2) IP surveys, were carried out in the IHC and Fossilik areas to define the overall envelope of existing zones and extensions of mineralized norite stratigraphy. These surveys respond well to larger disseminated sulphide haloes that surround the breccia style of mineralization

The EM method remains a critical workhorse, and the application of this method in less deformed melanorite bodies where the mineralization is connected will be a focus for exploration in 2018.

MELANORITE FOCUS FOR FUTURE EXPLORATION

The Maniitsoq mineralization hosted in melanorite typically consists of disseminated sulphide containing a higher grade discontinuous breccia style of semi-massive sulphide mineralization. Previous work has established the very high nickel concentrations in 100% sulphide that support the economic viability of not just breccia styles of mineralization, but also the higher grade disseminated sulphide style of mineralization. Work in 2017 has focused on the identification of the most extensive melanorite intrusions using surface and borehole geochemistry, WV-3 satellite imagery, and information from previous EM and IP surveys.

In 2018, NAN plans to implement a large exploration program at Maniitsoq primarily comprising drilling and geophysical surveys supported by the collection of geological, geochemical and structural information and 3D modeling. These efforts will be focussed on targeting the melanorite portions of prioritized intrusions, such as Fossilik, which are viewed as having the best potential to host economic accumulations of nickel sulphides.

PROJECT PIPELINE

In the context of rising nickel prices and positive developments in the electric vehicle market, NAN will look to enhance shareholder value by aggressively expanding its nickel sulphide project pipeline. NAN staff are proceeding with compilation work on prospective geological environments related to North American Archean cratonic margins where structural space controls the development of mafic-ultramafic intrusions. The objective of this work is to identify underexplored or unexplored open system intrusions where high large zones of high grade sulphide mineralization are controlled within the footprints of very small intrusions.

Ongoing work continues to improve the geological understanding and provide focus for exploration on the Post Creek Property at the NE margin of the Sudbury Basin. The property lies along the extension of the Whistle Offset dyke structure. Surface mapping and petrology has identified pods of quartz diorite and extensive domains of Sudbury Breccia along strike from the Whistle Offset.

Technical Information; Qualified Person

The Company is not aware of any legal, political, environmental or other risks that could materially affect the potential development of the project other than those set out in its annual information form filed on www.sedar.com. Please see below under the heading "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements" for further details regarding risks facing the Company.

All technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Peter C. Lightfoot, P.Geo. (Chief Geologist) and Patricia Tirschmann, P.Geo (VP Exploration), who are the Qualified Persons for the Company.

About North American Nickel

North American Nickel is a mineral exploration company with 100% owned properties in Maniitsoq, Greenland and Sudbury, Ontario.

The Maniitsoq property in Greenland is a Camp scale project comprising 2,985 square km covering numerous high-grade nickel-copper sulphide occurrences associated with norite and other mafic-ultramafic intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB). The >75km-long belt is situated along, and near, the southwest coast of Greenland accessible from the existing Seqi deep water port with an all year round shipping season and abundant hydro-electric potential.

The Post Creek/Halcyon property in Sudbury is strategically located adjacent to the past producing Podolsky copper-nickel-platinum group metal deposit of KGHM International Ltd. The property lies along the extension of the Whistle Offset dyke structure. Such geological structures host major Ni-Cu-PGM deposits and producing mines within the Sudbury Camp.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of the Company. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the success of exploration activities; impact of mineralogy, estimation of mineral resources at mineral projects of the Company; the future economics of minerals including nickel and copper; synergies and financial impact facilities; the benefits of the development potential of the properties of the Company and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include variations in metal grades, changes in market conditions, variations in recovery rates, risks relating to international operations, fluctuating metal prices and currency exchange rates, and other risks of the mining industry, including but not limited to the failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements 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 those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed.

Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbours created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from the expected results. For further information on the project, please see National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical report prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (SRK) dated effective March 17th, 2017, titled Updated Independent Technical Report for the Maniitsoq Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGM Project, Greenland, available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com or at www.northamericannickel.com .

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mark Fedikow

President

North American Nickel Inc.

For more information contact:

North American Nickel Inc.

Jaclyn Ruptash

Corporate Communications

(604) 770-4334

Toll free: 1-866-816-0118

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

A PDF accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e6dabace-2e88-4798-a6fe-7391e1e7db6e
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NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against RYB Education, Inc. (RYB or the Company) (NYSE:RYB) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Southern District of New York, and docketed under 17-cv-09261, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired RYBs American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): (1) pursuant and/or traceable to RYBs false and misleading Registration Statement and Prospectus, issued in connection with the Companys initial public offering on or about September 27, 2017 (the IPO or the Offering); and/or (2) on the open market between September 27, 2017 and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by defendants violations of the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act).



If you are a shareholder who purchased RYB securities between September 27, 2017, and November 22, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until January 26, 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 amount of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

RYB Education, Inc. offers educational services. The Company operates kindergarten and pre-schools. RYB Education provides training in a variety of subjects and languages, teacher recruitment, guidance, innovative learning, development of children, rating systems, parents consulting, and other services.

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) RYB failed to establish safety policies to prevent sexual abuse from occurring at its schools; (ii) RYBs failure to remedy problems within its system exposed children to harm and unreasonable risk of harm while in the Companys care; and (iii) as a result of the foregoing, RYB securities traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, and class members suffered significant losses and damages.

On November 24, 2017, various news outlets reported that police have opened an investigation into RYB after numerous parents accused a RYB nursery of drugging and molesting their children. Beijings education authority confirmed the police investigation in a statement. According to Chinas leading newspaper Xinhua News Agency, RYB has suspended multiple teachers at RYB Education New World after kindergarten students were reportedly sexually molested, pierced by needles, given unidentified pills, and forced to undress and locked in a dark room. Parents reported that at least eight children have been abused at the school and that the children had given similar accounts with respect to their abuse.

On this news, RYBs ADR price fell $10.28 per share, or over 38% from its previous closing price, to close at $16.45 per share on November 24, 2017.

On the following day, several news outlets reported that Chinese police had detained teachers in connection with its RYBs child abuse inquiry. According to police reports, one of the teachers was arrested after needle wounds were found on at least eight children aged 2 to 6 years at the kindergarten. In a statement issued later that day, RYB announced it had fired the detained teachers, as well as the head of one of its kindergartens.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, 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
Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission
Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge is planning to add a battery of new courses this fall that will allow ninth and 10th graders to prepare to take the challenging Advanced Placement courses when they reach junior and senior year.

The public high school is just one of 100 schools nationwide selected by The College Board, the publisher of Advanced Placement, to road test its new Pre-AP program starting with the 2018-19 school year.

Principal Scott Stevens said an administrator with AP told him last week that Woodlawn High was the only school in Louisiana selected for the program. The College Board said Tuesday it has not "finalized" its list of participating schools.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board provided its preliminary approval last week for the new program and is set to give final approval when it meets again Thursday night.

The high school, located at 15755 Jefferson Highway, is paying the College Board $10,400 a year to try out the new courses. Stevens said that covers everything except for teacher travel expenses for training.

"That was a lot cheaper than I thought it was going to be," Stevens said.

Woodlawn High currently offers 19 Advanced Placement courses. The eight new Pre-AP courses cover all of the core subjects as well as some new areas such as drama, music, theater and visual arts. In 2019-2020, the high school plans to add 10th-grade Pre-AP courses in geometry, chemistry and English.

It's Baton Rouge High vs. Ben Franklin in race of best AP test-takers Baton Rouge Magnet High School led the way in Louisiana this past year when it came to Advanced Placement with more students taking the colleg

Woodlawn had 119 students take the AP exam in 2016-17, with 31 percent of them passing. Baton Rouge Magnet High led the state last year with 896 test-takers, with 53 percent of them passing.

According to its agreement with the College Board, the objectives of the Pre-AP program are to significantly increase the number of students who are able to access and complete college-level work before leaving high school and to improve the college readiness of all students.

As part of that, participating schools will have to make these new Pre-AP courses open to all students. That will be a change for Woodlawn. Students who want to take their AP courses now need a minimum GPA of 2.5, and must have completed all of their prerequisite courses.

Woodlawn has a growing cadre of high-achieving students. It's had a gifted program since 2009. Last August, it added a new academic magnet program with minimum admission requirements.

+6 Woodlawn-area schools launching new magnet program to blunt St. George interest In a bid to make southeast Baton Rouge public schools more competitive with private schools  and also to head off interest in creating a city

According to the agreement with The College Board, an estimated 275 ninth-graders at Woodlawn High will take the world history & geography, algebra and English Pre-AP courses, while about 100 ninth-graders are expected to take biology. During their courses, the students will take tests online through The College Board as well as complete performance tasks. Students in the new Pre-AP arts courses will just have to do two performance tasks. By 2019-20, the College Board will offer end-of-course exams for its non-arts Pre-AP course.

Stevens said students who take Pre-AP courses won't be required to take AP courses later in high school. He said there are some students who prefer dual enrollment and other courses instead.

"Its not that you have to take AP, but you will be ready if you do," Stevens explained.
Amid a freeze in key results, public school achievement in Louisiana again ranks 49th in the nation, according to a report issued Wednesday by Education Week magazine.

The study, called Quality Counts 2018, annually rates states in three areas: school achievement, chances for success and financing.

The overall rating for Louisiana is 46th among the states and a D plus.

The rating for academic achievement is the same as last year.

Report: Louisiana again ranks 49th in public school achievement Louisiana public school achievement ranked 49th in a report done by Education Week magazine and released Wednesday.

Sydni Dunn, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said the latest report uses the same data as that cited last year for academic achievement.

Dunn said the release of key statistics used for that category, results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, have been delayed until spring.

Louisiana has made steady but considerable progress over time," Dunn said in a statement.

"We are committed to continually raising the bar for our students, and we look forward to seeing the report next year that will reflect how our students have improved.

Despite gains, Louisiana still lags in U.S. education rankings Earlier this month, state Superintendent of Education John White trumpeted the fact that Louisiana public high school students showed greater 

Louisiana's rating in the chances for success category is C minus. School finance also got a C minus.

Both are the same as last year and both are based on up-to-date results.

The national average is a C.

"The nation's grade of C reflects continued struggles with achievement and funding gaps even as postsecondary participation and graduation rates are higher they were last year," Holly Yettick, director of the Education Week Research Center said in a statement that accompanied the report.

The U. S. average score is 74.5.

The Louisiana score is 68.3.

Public school achievement, which was last updated in 2016, studies both current and previous classroom performance and gaps that stem from poverty.

About two-thirds of public school students in Louisiana qualify for free and reduced lunches, a key indicator of poverty.

The chance for success category is a bid to measure the role of education in promoting positive outcomes for residents of Louisiana and elsewhere.

Louisiana finished 49th.

The school finance section examines the equity of funding in districts statewide.

The state finished 28th in that category.

Texas got a C minus overall. Mississippi got a D plus.

Overall Louisiana finished ahead of Idaho, Mississippi, New Mexico and Nevada.

The national leader is Massachusetts, which is common on key public school ratings.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, left, shakes hand with Dept. of Transportation & Development Secretary Shawn Wilson, center, at a ceremony marking the start of the state's expansion of I-10 from Highland Road to La. 73, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, is seated, right, and Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, is seated, center. The project will add one lane in each direction, on the 6.5 mile stretch.
Dutch English

ABN AMRO convenes Extraordinary General Meeting

Today ABN AMRO Group N.V. publishes the convocation and meeting materials for its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to be held on Wednesday 28 February 2018 in Amsterdam.

The materials, including the agenda and explanatory notes are available on the ABN AMRO website (www.abnamro.com/meetingdocuments).

There is only one item on the agenda of this Extraordinary General Meeting, and that is the intended appointment of Mr Christian Bornfeld as member of the Executive Board and Chief Innovation & Technology Officer (CI&TO) by the Supervisory Board of ABN AMRO. The appointment is to be effective as per 1 March 2018 for a period of three years. The EGM is notified of the intended appointment of Mr Christian Bornfeld and will not vote on this agenda item.

The Extraordinary General Meeting will be held at ABN AMRO's head office at Gustav Mahlerlaan 10, 1082 PP Amsterdam at 14.00 am CET. The meeting will also be webcast on www.abnamro.com/webcast.
Mr Dutkiewicz's car at the Rivers Bushfire Brigade shed on Cotter Road was burnt. Credit:Matt Dutkiewicz "I think anyone who faces a situation where your life is truly in danger would feel the same about the event." While he and his team were being ambushed by fire, Mr Dutkiewicz tried to coordinate what was happening on the ground infront of him as he feared for the life of his brother and their home. "During the time that the truck I was on was being overrun by fire, I had conversations with Jamey and he said the back shed was on fire and there were lots of homes around our home on fire and then lost touch with him for several hours," he said "His fiance at the time called me to say that she also couldn't find him. It was overwhelming."

"I really wanted to be at home to help but we were trapped." Thankfully, Jamey was safe. He had tried to save the home, but was forced to flee. Mr Dutkiewicz managed to reach his parents who were on the south coast at the time. "They obviously wanted to come home when the skies turned black from the smoke of the fires at Malua Bay where they were."

The extent of the devastation in Duffy wouldn't be known to the Dutkiewicz family until the next day. "One of the crew on my truck had been injured so I travelled with him in the helicopter to Canberra hospital and once in the helicopter I became aware of my injuries and ended up in hospital myself." After being discharged, he joined his parents and brothers as they headed to Duffy. "As we travelled from Tuggeranong to Weston creek it became a sadder and sadder story," Mr Dutkiewicz said. "Despite having been in the bushfire brigade for more than 10 years at that time, I had never witnessed such devastation."

Their street was decimated. The house was burnt to the ground. "We dug about to see if anything could be found in the ashes of our house but there was only fine ash." After being made homeless, the cost of rebuilding was too much for the Dutkiewicz, so his parents retired to the south coast, and after spending some time away Mr Dutkiewicz moved back to Weston Creek in 2010. "I have lots of fond memories of growing up in Weston Creek and horrible memories of that day in 2003," "While life goes on, an experience like what all Canberran's went through on that day will live with me forever."

The experience of watching his parents lose their home, and losing all his possessions forced him to grow up "very quickly". "Having to rebuild your life from the ground up requires decision making like you've never experienced decision making before," "From absolute essentials in the days after the fires to getting back to work and then working out what's next. "One step forward and six steps back was a common practice for a long time after the fires." He learnt the values of possessions and importance of home.
Academics examining abuse and bullying in the Australian Defence Force say the military "desperately" needs to improve diversity in order to stamp out outdated attitudes and behaviours.

UNSW Canberra researcher James Connor and Flinders University associate professor Ben Wadham will spend the next three years finding and interviewing people affected by abuse within the military to track how those behaviours have changed over time.

A new study will examine abuse in the Australian Defence Force. Credit:Glenn Campbell

The pair aim to find out why such behaviours manifest within macho environments and what can be done to address the issue, with the hope their findings will inform cultural change within other male-dominated institutions such as the police and churches.

"The military has made great strides in trying to improve itself but we still see pockets of resistance to that change, we still see areas where there's risk of abuse, and indeed we still see examples of bastardisation and assault and hazing and all the things that supposedly are meant to have been stamped out," Dr Connor said.
The NT News' top brass have been accused of striking a deal with the territory government to monitor emails sent by its then political reporter due to concerns his 'negative' reporting of the government's activities could cost the paper advertising revenue.

The recently departed NT News political reporter Christopher Walsh made the allegation in an unfair dismissal claim lodged in the Federal Circuit Court on Monday.

Former NT News political reporter Christopher Walsh, from Facebook. Credit:Facebook

In his court application, Mr Walsh alleges his editor Matt Williams and the paper's general manager Greg Thomson entered into a "blind copying arrangement" with the Department of the Chief Minister chief executive Jodie Ryan for her to blind copy in Mr Thomson and Mr Williams into all correspondence with the government and public service agencies.

It is alleged the agreement was struck "because Ms Ryan did not like the exposure from articles written by the applicant in which she was held accountable to the public".
Authorities have been urged to investigate the safety of parts of Brisbanes South Bank precinct after cyclists and pedestrians were forced to dodge an alleged drunk driver on a boardwalk.

Vision released by police on Wednesday shows the white Mitsubishi Magna driving along the riverside bike and pedestrian path outside the cultural precinct about 6.50pm on Tuesday.

The car passes cyclists and pedestrians before officers stop the 40-year-old behind the wheel and ask her to get out of the car, which appears to have a dog in the back seat.

Vision from Seven News shows several Victoria Bitter stubbies on the floor of the car, which police allege the 40-year-old woman drove from her home in Atkinsons Dam, about 85 kilometres' drive away.
Queensland Rail is keeping mum about whether its new trains will stay on the tracks if an application to the Australian Human Rights Commission is rejected.

The New Generation Rollingstock was due to be operational in mid-2016, but delivery was halted due to myriad issues - including the toilets being too small for wheelchairs.

It is unclear what will happen if the Australian Human Rights Commission rejects an application for a temporary exemption for the New Generation Rollingstock.

Numerous issues were fixed, but the first of the trains entered service in December, before the toilets were redesigned.

QR and the Department of Transport and Main Roads applied to the AHRC for a temporary exemption to discrimination laws while QR completed works to change the toilet layout to make the NGR trains disability-compliant.
Former phone-maker BlackBerry is making more moves on the burgeoning smart car market, launching new software that can scan the systems used by connected vehicles and protect them against hacking.

The Canadian software-maker's CEO John Chen announced the product, called Blackberry Jarvis, at the North American International Automotive Show in Detroit. The cloud-based scanning solution is being marketed first to automakers  a group of customers BlackBerry is hoping will power its turnaround efforts  but could also have applications in healthcare and industrial automation.

BlackBerry's John Chen announces Jarvis in Detroit.

"Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed, creating a significant challenge for automakers who must ensure the code complies with industry and manufacturer-specific standards while simultaneously battle-hardening a very large and tempting attack surface for cybercriminals," Chen said.

Once initiated, automakers will have online access to Jarvis and can scan files at every stage of software development.
Business folds: Mossgreen director and co-owner Paul Sumner said a rescue deal had fallen apart. Credit:Michael Rayner

The art world is reeling with the news that high-profile auction house Mossgreen has collapsed under $12 million in debt.

The companys administrators, BDO, said Mossgreen director and co-owner Paul Sumner was not in a position to proceed with his proposed restructure of Mossgreen, and therefore an orderly wind-down of the business will begin.

In an interview with The Age on December 26, Mr Sumner vowed all creditors would be paid. Not one vendor or one buyer will lose $1 in this process, he said.

But the BDO statement made no reference to whether the companys 400 creditors will get any of their money back, and what has happened to proceeds due to vendors from past auctions.
West Australians are more in favour of rehabilitation, as opposed to detention, for young offenders than most people might think, according to new research by Edith Cowan University.

Those who led the research say the findings cast doubt on the perception the public was united when it came to tougher sentences for young offenders.

Perceptions of youth crime has been put in the spotlight in a new study. Credit:Angela Wylie

ECU researchers, in conjunction with the Perth Children's Court, surveyed more than 500 West Australian adults last year and carried out 72 interviews as part of the study.

The research team gave the survey participants a scenario in which two youths had assaulted and robbed a 20-year-old man at a train station.
Shocking footage of a brutal assault in Perth's CBD has once again raised concerns over one-punch attacks.

The assault took place near the Murray Street mall about 10:15pm and was captured by an on-looker.

It shows a sickening attack on a lone man by two boys.

One of the boys punches the man so hard, the victim falls to the ground and hits his head.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dajin Resources Corp. (Dajin) (TSX-V:DJI) (OTCQB:DJIFF) (Germany:C2U1) management is pleased to report that Dajin has staked additional ground in the prospective Alkali Lake valley area, also known as Alkali Flats. Eighty-seven (87) new placer claims were staked, covering an area of 1,740 acres (704 hectares). The additional claims bring Dajins 100% owned property in the Alkali Lake area up to 278 claims with a total acreage of 5,591 acres (2,262 hectares).



Previously Dajin carried out a gravity survey in the Alkali Lake valley that confirmed the expanded claim area is underlain by a circular basin estimated at 4,000 feet in depth (1,200 metres). The gravity survey also identified a second basin approximately 3 kilometres to the east. The two basins are separated by a northwest  southeast trending geological structure likely related to the Walker Lane Shear Zone. The depth of the eastern basin ranges from 3,000 to 4,000 feet (1,000  1,200 metres).

Surface sampling in March and April, 2015, confirmed the presence of near surface lithium-bearing sediments in the western basin. No further work has been carried out in Alkali Lake valley while Dajin focused exploration on the Teels Marsh valley, where preparations for road and drill pad construction are currently underway.

Dajins work in Alkali Lake valley has focused on moving forward with the water right application that it originally filed for in 2015. Dajin has retained the services of Mr. Chris Mahannah, P.E., of Mahannah and Associates, LLC, Reno, Nevada, to work with Esmeralda County and the Town of Goldfield to address the concerns they raised. Additionally, Chris Mahannah and Dajin Directors Dr. Catherine Hickson and Dr. Mark Coolbaugh met with Esmeralda County and Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR) elected officials and staff to inform them that Dajin would be seeking a non-consumptive water right with a small consumptive portion which would not result in any significant additional consumption from the valley. Dajin, Esmeralda and NDWR continue to work toward resolution of the protest issues such that the water rights can be issued.

Alkali Lake valley is situated approximately 7.5 miles (12 kilometres) east-northeast of Albemarles Silver Peak lithium mine, the only producing brine-based lithium mine in operation in North America. In addition, the Alkali Lake claims are 12 miles (20 kilometres) east-northeast of Pure Energys Clayton Valley project. Like Clayton Valley, Alkali Lake valley is a classic, fault bounded closed basin with an internal drainage system.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and has been reviewed and approved on behalf of Dajin Resources Corp. by Dajin Directors, Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo and Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG, the Qualified Persons.

About Dajin:

Dajin, is an early stage Lithium exploration company. Through its interest in Dajin Resources S.A. (Dajin S.A.), it holds concessions or concession applications in Jujuy Province, Argentina that were acquired in regions known to contain brines with Lithium, Potassium and Boron values. These land holdings exceed 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and are primarily located in the Salinas Grandes and Guayatayoc salt lake basins. Dajin S.A. is partnered with LSC Lithium Corporation (LSC) who has agreed to spend $2,000,000 to earn a 51% interest in Dajin S.A.s Lithium properties while building a significant presence in Argentina. The Cooperativa San Jose recently received exploration permits for a portion of the land package now part of the earn-in agreement with LSC. Exploration of the 4,400 hectares (10,873 acres) San Jose  Navidad minas is commencing under the management of LSC, the operator of the earn-in agreement.

In Nevada, Dajin holds a 100% interest in 403 placer claims covering 7,914 acres (3,202 hectares) in the Teels Marsh valley of Mineral County, Nevada. These claims are known to contain Lithium and Boron values and are adjacent to the birth place of US Borax Corps first borax mine. Dajin also holds a 100% interest in 278 placer claims covering 5,591 acres (2,262 hectares) in the Alkali Lake valley of Esmeralda County, Nevada, located 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) northeast of Albemarles Silver Peak Lithium brine operation in Clayton Valley.

ON BEHALF OF DAJINS BOARD OF DIRECTORS



Brian Findlay

President & CEO



For further information please contact:

Julie Hajduk at 604-609-6151 or julie@dajin.ca

Head of Corporate Development



The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




Santiago: Pope Francis has publicly expressed "pain and shame" over the rape and molestation of children by priests in Chile and later listened, prayed and cried at a private meeting with sexual abuse victims.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the meeting took place in the Vatican embassy in Santiago.

"No one else was present. Only the pope and the victims," the spokesman said. "This was so they could speak of their suffering to Pope Francis, who listened to them and prayed and cried with them."

It was only the second time on his overseas trips that the pope has met victims of sexual abuse, although he has met some at the Vatican. The last meeting on a trip was in Philadelphia in 2015.
London: Britons are ecstatic. A famously long and gory depiction of Anglo Saxon defeat at the hands of a European dynasty is coming home.

Truly, history is embroidered by the winners.

But rarely has a symbolic gesture been loaded with so much symbolism, especially in the age of Brexit. Is it a stitch-up by the French?

The UK woke on Wednesday to the news that the Bayeux Tapestry, the famous depiction of (and propaganda for) the Norman conquest of England in 1066, could be coming to England, the first time the artwork has been seen outside France since the 11th century, if ever.
screencapture

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdoms 1958 state visit to the Netherlands has been in conversation lately because of a rare appearance from the Cullinan III and IV Brooch. ( Read more about that over here! ) Today, Ive got a glittering survey of some of the grandest jewels worn at the gala events during that state visit  in motion!

One of the trio of tiara events during the visit was a dinner and reception at the palace

Queens Elizabeth and Juliana were seated next to each other at the table, and the candlelight made their diamonds sparkle brilliantly

She pinned the sash of the Order of the Netherlands Lion with Queen Marys Lovers Knot Brooch

The Duke of Edinburgh was seated between Juliana and Princess Beatrix, who wore the familys diamond laurel bandeau and the sash of the Royal Victorian Order

Queen Juliana was resplendent in diamonds, including the Dutch Diamond Bandeau , the Diamond Festoon Necklace that belonged to Queen Wilhelmina, large diamond drop earrings, and one of the familys large devant de corsage ornaments. Shes wearing the sash of the Order of the Garter here, but its strangely arranged around and under the strap of her gown, which is adorned with diamond star ornaments from the family vaults

Behind Juliana, you also get a peek at Mary, Duchess of Devonshire, who was the Mistress of the Robes in 1958. Shes wearing the familys grand diamond diadem; I recently published an article on the piece, which you can learn more about over here

Princesses Beatrix and Irene are also visible in this footage. Irene wears the familys ears of wheat ornaments on a tiara frame; I believe shes also wearing the magnificent diamond trellis necklace and the sash of the Order of the Netherlands Lion

Jewels are always at their most sparkly under the lights of a theater, and the concert event from this state visit provided an astounding amount of royal glitter

Queen Juliana wore the most glorious of the Dutch royal jewels: the Stuart Parure , which includes a diamond that belonged to King William III and Queen Mary II of England. ( Read more about that over here!

Princess Beatrix again wore the Laurel Bandeau, pairing it this time with pearls

We get one more excellent view of the jewels of Mary Devonshire here; shes wearing the familys diamond diadem , plus her own diamond and sapphire necklace

Britannia. Weve only got a distant view of Queen Elizabeths jewels, but I believe shes wearing The third tiara event of the visit was a return dinner aboard the. Weve only got a distant view of Queen Elizabeths jewels, but I believe shes wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara with the original setting of the Brazilian Aquamarine Parure Necklace

We also got a brief hint of the glitter worn by Beatrix and Irene, but neither view allows me a sufficient look to identify their jewelry
New Board and New Executive Management Team

Committed to Enhancing Companys Integrated Cancer Care Services

Kimberly Commins-Tzoumakas appointed Interim CEO

FORT MYERS, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc., the largest global provider of integrated cancer care services, announced today that it has emerged from Chapter 11 under new owners, including certain funds and accounts managed by Beach Point Capital Management LP, Governors Lane, LP, J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc. Oaktree Capital Management, LP, Roystone Capital Management LP, and HPS Investment Partners LLC. The owners are providing new growth and working capital to the Company and have high expectations for the Company's long-term success. With a substantially improved balance sheet and operating footprint, the Company has greater financial flexibility to enhance its ability to provide critical medical care and services to oncology patients across the world.

The leadership of the reorganized 21st Century Oncology includes a new Governing Board, which includes Thomas Gordon, Mark Stolper, Fulton Collins, Nilay Mehta, Robert Cook and Jeff Goldberg. Collectively, the new Board has significant healthcare and corporate leadership experience. As its first order of business, the Board unanimously appointed Kimberly Commins-Tzoumakas as Interim Chief Executive Officer.

Kim has been a key part of the executive team for the past few years, and during the Chapter 11 process she was instrumental in achieving a resolution of various key issues that ultimately allowed us to obtain approval of the Plan earlier this month, said Mr. Goldberg, chair of the new Board. Kim will provide important leadership, stability and continuity as we transition into the post-Chapter 11 phase and conduct a search for someone to fill the role on a permanent basis.

Mr. Goldberg added, "We have amazing physicians, a talented senior leadership team and incredible employees across the organization. I know I can speak for the full Board and our new ownership when I say that our team is our greatest asset, and it adds greatly to our confidence that we can execute on our business plan and become an even stronger provider of integrated cancer care services. We all are aligned on the long-term strategy and are fully committed to what will always be our top priority  providing the best medical care possible to our patients.

Ms. Commins-Tzoumakas said, "I am very excited about this opportunity to help lead 21st Century Oncology during an important time in the Companys history. The successful financial restructuring provides a fresh start and an infusion of capital from our new ownership group, which demonstrates their confidence in the Company and its future. We now have the opportunity to fully leverage the strengths of our business and the skills of our medical professionals and other employees. We are very grateful that our physicians, patients, partners and employees stood by us as we went through the Chapter 11 process. The Board and I intend to work as hard as we can to reward their loyalty, support and patience and to make sure the Company reaches its full potential.

NEW LEADERSHIP BIOGRAPHIES

Thomas Gordon

Thomas Gordon has over 20 years of experience in managing medical organizations. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Cedars-Sinai Health System, as Chief Executive Officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Network Services, and as Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Group of Beverly Hills. Mr. Gordon teaches a course on Leadership in the Executive MPH Program, is a preceptor in the graduate program in Health Policy and Management, and is a member of the Professional Advisory Council for the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also is a guest lecturer at UCLAs Anderson School of Business. Mr. Gordon currently serves as the chairman of the board of the DSL Construction Corporation and a co-trustee of the Don Levin Trust.

Mark Stolper

Mark Stolper is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of RadNet, Inc., the largest owner and operator of freestanding medical diagnostic imaging centers in the United States. Mr. Stolper also currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Rotech Healthcare (the third largest provider of respiratory services, sleep apnea and durable medical equipment to patient homes in the U.S.) and RTI Surgical, Inc. (a developer, manufacturer, and distributer of orthopedic and other surgical implants). Mr. Stolper has also previously served on the board of directors of several public and private health care companies.

George Fulton Collins

George Fulton Collins currently serves as a partner of Collins Investments, a privately held family investment company and as CEO of Collins Capital. Mr. Collins previously served as the Chairman and CEO of Network Communications Inc. (nci.com), one of the largest national media companies serving multi-family and home improvement real estate markets. His professional career began in the consumer products industry working for industry leading companies like E&J Gallo and Nestle S.A. Mr. Collins has served on the board of several privately held companies, including Euramax International, a multinational building products company, and Envirotest Systems Holdings, an international leader in vehicle emissions testing and technology. Mr. Collins served as the worldwide Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Board for 2013-2014 and was a member of the board of directors from 2010-2015.

Nilay Mehta

Nilay Mehta is a Senior Vice President at Oaktree Capital Management. Prior to joining Oaktree in 2014, Mr. Mehta was a managing director at ALJ Capital Management, where he was responsible for sourcing and evaluating distressed and special situation investments, and a managing director at Par-Four Investment Management. Mr. Mehta began his career as a senior research analyst with W.R. Huff Asset Management before joining BNY Capital Markets, most recently as a Vice President.

Robert Cook

Robert Cook is a Managing Director and the global head of the High Yield team in the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) group at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Based in Indianapolis, Mr. Cook is the lead portfolio manager and is responsible for overseeing high yield total return strategies, sub-advised mutual fund assets and absolute return credit products. Prior to joining the firm in 2004, Mr. Cook spent ten years at 40|86 Advisors, most recently as co-head of the Fixed Income investment process, responsible for managing high yield total return assets and directing credit research. Previously, he worked at PNC Banks investment banking division in Pittsburgh, where he was involved with syndicated loans, M&A, private placements and structured products.

Jeff Goldberg

Jeff Goldberg is chair of the board of LifeCare (a post-acute care health services company), chair of the board of Corizon Health (a company providing correctional health care services), and chair of the board of M*Modal (one of the countrys leading providers of clinical-documentation-improvement services to health care systems). In the past, Mr. Goldberg has served as chair of the board of Physiotherapy Associates (one of the countrys largest physical therapy companies), co-chair of the board of Surgical Specialties Corporation, a supplier of surgical devices, and president of IncuMed (Al Manns technology incubator for development-level companies). Mr. Goldberg has held executive management positions in the health care industry, including with Advanced Bionics Corporation, Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital (in alliance with UCLA Healthcare), and the Doheny Eye Institute (affiliated with UCLA Healthcare).

Kimberly Commins-Tzoumakas

Kim Commins-Tzoumakas has served as a member of 21st Century Oncologys executive team, as an advisor to the board, and as General Counsel since November 2014. Before that, she served in an executive legal role with Carondelet Health Network and was a key founder of the Michigan office and a board member of Hall Render, a national health care law firm.

About 21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc.

21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc. is the largest global provider of integrated cancer care services. The Company offers a comprehensive range of cancer treatment services, focused on delivering academic quality, cost-effective patient care in personal and convenient settings. As of December 31, 2017, the Company operates 167 treatment centers, including 131 centers located in 17 U.S. states and 36 centers located in seven countries in Latin America.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words believes, expects, anticipates, intends, projects, estimates, plans, may increase, forecast and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as will, should, would, may and could are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations or beliefs about the Companys future plans, expectations and objectives. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward looking statements including, but not limited to reductions in Medicare reimbursement, healthcare reform, state and federal investigations, claims and litigation matters, decreases in payments by managed care organizations and other commercial payers, liquidity, leverage ratios and compliance with other debt covenants and other risk factors that may be described from time to time in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers of this release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained herein, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect changed events or circumstances after the date of this release, unless required by law.

Media Contacts

Sard Verbinnen & Co.

Andrew Cole 212.687.8080 / Steven Goldberg 310.201.2040

21CO-SVC@sardverb.com
Classes at Texas A&M University will start on time Wednesday, campus officials announced Tuesday.

Blinn College announced early Wednesday that classes at all campuses would start at noon.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said all agency offices in the area would open to the public at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The Navasota school district announced that schools will continue to be closed on Wednesday and that all extra-curricular activities are canceled.

The Iola school district posted on their website that due to a power outage in the area and on campuses that classes are canceled on Wednesday.

The Bryan school district will start school two hours late on Wednesday, school officials have announced. Harmony Science Academy in Bryan will also have a two-hour late start.

The Snook school district will start at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Buses will run two hours late.

The Bryan Adult Learning Center will be closed on Wednesday.

Central Church of Christ Mother's Day Out and Preschool will open at 10 a.m.

The College Station school district will start on time Wednesday.

In Bryan, officials said morning pre-K classed would be canceled. All bus pickups, school start times and employee arrival times will be two hours later than normal.

A recorded phone message to parents said the decision was made to allow students and teachers to arrive at school during the daylight.

In its announcement, the district said school officials reached the decision after driving area roads and consulting with local agencies and emergency management officials.

School campuses across the Brazos Valley were closed Tuesday as the area braced for a winter storm that brought icy conditions.
Dallas, TX, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa, the industrys largest community management company, promotes Craig Talley as the new regional sales director for the eastern region.



Mr. Talley joined Associa in 2017, supporting the Columbus and Cincinnati offices, where he led the branches to an impressive addition of 37 new accounts within his first year before transitioning to the national sales team.



In his new role with Associa, Mr. Talley will utilize his vast experience and strong business acumen to assist branches in the eastern region in realizing their maximum growth potential. He will continue to focus on the evolution, growth, and success of Associa's largest sales team.



Mr. Talley has more than 30 years of experience in business development, sales, marketing, manufacturing, operations, distribution, and quality assurance. He held senior management positions with various companies including Alcyone Inc., Go BIG Media, Verify Inc., Goodrich AeroStructures, Honeywell and Blue Shield. His executive leadership experience includes responsibility for revenue generation, proposal generation, strategic marketing, strategic planning, assessing the business landscape to identify competition, potential partnerships, acquisition targets, corporate restructuring, customer satisfaction, prospect acquisition, and P&L, reducing costs and increasing shareholder value.



Craig has been a huge asset to our sales team and his unique approach to serving clients and customers has made him a perfect fit for this new position, stated Sean West, Associa vice president, sales. He has continued to excel at delivering unmatched customer satisfaction and exceeding expectations. Expanding his role and broadening his community reach was the undeniable next step for Craig and Associa.



Mr. Talley received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Ohio State University with a focus on Operations Research and Economics.



With more than 180 branch offices across North America, Associa delivers unsurpassed management and lifestyle services to nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 10,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise and trailblazing innovation. For more than 40 years, Associa has provided solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.





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Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f245b16a-5f1a-458a-9268-e05ee9e62b07

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bf488d2b-db8a-409d-8989-bf0fd0c490cf
After leaving office, President Ronald Reagan created the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to recognize individuals who have fought to spread liberty worldwide. Nancy Reagan continued the tradition after her husband's death, and in 2008 she bestowed the honor on human rights icon Natan Sharansky, who credited Reagan's strong defense of freedom for his own survival in Soviet gulags. Reagan recognized that as leader of the free world, his words carried enormous weight, and he used it to inspire the unprecedented spread of democracy around the world.

President Donald Trump does not seem to understand that his rhetoric and actions reverberate in the same way. He has threatened to continue his attempt to discredit the free press by bestowing "fake news awards" upon reporters and news outlets whose coverage he disagrees with. Whether Trump knows it or not, these efforts are being closely watched by foreign leaders who are already using his words as cover as they silence and shutter one of the key pillars of democracy.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2017 was one of the most dangerous years to be a journalist. Last year, the organization documented 262 cases of journalists being imprisoned for their work. Reporters around the world face intimidation, threats of violence, harassment, persecution and sometimes even death as governments resort to brutal censorship to silence the truth.

The committee's report revealed a bleak global climate for press freedom, as more governments seek to control access to information and limit freedom of opinion and expression. They do this not only by arresting journalists but also by fostering distrust of media coverage and accusing reporters of undermining national security and pride. Governments dub the press the "enemy of the people," weaken or eliminate their independence, and exploit the lack of serious scrutiny to encroach on individual liberties and freedoms.

This assault on journalism and free speech proceeds apace in places such as Russia, Turkey,China, Egypt, Venezuela and many others. Yet even more troubling is the growing number of attacks on press freedom in traditionally free and open societies, where censorship in the name of national security is becoming more common. Britain passed a surveillance law that experts warn chills free speech, and countries from France to Germany are looking to do the same. In Malta, a prominent journalist was brutally murdered in October after uncovering systemic government corruption. In Poland, an independent news outlet was fined (later rescinded) nearly half a million dollars for broadcasting images of an anti-government protest.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration's attitude toward such behavior has been inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst. While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit. The phrase "fake news" - granted legitimacy by an American president - is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens. CPJ documented 21 cases in 2017 in which journalists were jailed on "fake news" charges.

Trump's attempts to undermine the free press also make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable. For decades, dissidents and human rights advocates have relied on independent investigations into government corruption to further their fight for freedom. But constant cries of "fake news" undercut this type of reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent.

We cannot afford to abdicate America's long-standing role as the defender of human rights and democratic principles throughout the world. Without strong leadership in the White House, Congress must commit to protecting independent journalism, preserving an open and free media environment, and defending the fundamental right to freedom of opinion and expression.

We can do this by encouraging our partners and allies to review their laws and practices, including the abuse of defamation and anti-terrorism laws, to better protect press freedom and ensure that they do not unduly shrink the space for free speech. We can authorize U.S. foreign assistance to support independent media outlets and programs that create greater media pluralism. We can do more to foster conditions in which freedom of expression and information can thrive, including working to change increasingly political attitudes toward journalism. And we can condemn violence against journalists, denounce censorship and support dissidents and activists as they seek to speak the truth.

Ultimately, freedom of information is critical for a democracy to succeed. We become better, stronger and more effective societies by having an informed and engaged public that pushes policymakers to best represent not only our interests but also our values. Journalists play a major role in the promotion and protection of democracy and our unalienable rights, and they must be able to do their jobs freely. Only truth and transparency can guarantee freedom.

---

McCain, a Republican, represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate.

trump-press-comment
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PIMCO Canada Corp. (PIMCO Canada) today announced the estimated January 2018 cash distributions for the ETF series (ETF Series) of the PIMCO Canada mutual funds (Funds). The estimated distribution amounts may differ from the actual amounts.



Unitholders of record of the ETF Series, at the close of business on January 24, 2018, will receive a per-unit cash distribution payable on January 31, 2018.

Details of the per-unit cash distribution amounts are as follows:

Fund Name Ticker Cash Distribution per Unit ($) PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PMIF 0.01816 PIMCO Investment Grade Credit Fund (Canada) IGCF 0.01533

Final distribution amounts will be announced by PIMCO Canada on or about January 24, 2018.

The Manager, PIMCO Canada, administers and manages the PIMCO Canada ETFs, and retains Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO) to provide sub-advisory services to the Funds.

About PIMCO

PIMCO is a leading global investment management firm, with offices in 11 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Founded in 1971, PIMCO offers a wide range of innovative solutions to help millions of investors worldwide meet their needs. Our goal is to provide attractive returns while maintaining a strong culture of risk management and long-term discipline. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions expect, intend, will and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Funds, PIMCO Canadas and/or PIMCOs current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with an investment in the ETF Series Units. Please read the prospectus and ETF Facts carefully before investing. The ETF Series Units are not guaranteed, their value may change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

For a summary of the risks of an investment in the Funds, please see the specific risks of mutual funds section of the prospectus. Units of ETF Series trade like stocks, fluctuate in market value and may trade at a discount to their net asset value, which may increase risk of loss. Distributions are not guaranteed and are subject to change and/or elimination.

The products and services provided by PIMCO Canada may only be available in certain provinces or territories of Canada and only through dealers authorized for that purpose. PIMCO Canada has retained PIMCO as sub-adviser. PIMCO Canada will remain responsible for any loss that arises out of the failure of its sub-adviser.

Contact:

Agnes Crane

PIMCO  Media Relations

Phone: +212 597.1054
Making a return to our two favourite summer locations, Mount Maunganui and Nelson in early January 2023, we've got whiff of the first release lineup and me oh my, yes boy
By Mata Press Service

New Canadians from South Asia, China and the Philippines are more likely to donate to charitable causes than the general population, a new survey has found.

The survey by the Angus Reid Institute and CHIMP or the Charitable Impact Foundation, found this segment of Canadians  many of whom are motivated to give by their personal religious faith  are more likely to donate to charitable causes than the general population, and more likely to say that they should be doing even more than they already are.

The key findings stated;

 From poverty reduction, to faith-based issues, to human rights, people born outside Canada are more likely to have donated to each of the 11 charitable areas canvassed in this survey;

 While three-in-ten respondents from the general population (30%) say they should be doing more to contribute to charitable causes, this sentiment increases to four-in-ten (41%) among those born outside Canada

 Seven-in-ten immigrants surveyed (71%) say their religious beliefs have a strong influence on their giving habits, while fewer than half of the general population say this (46%)

 Money sent to family overseas is a significant source of giving for immigrants  one-in-four (27%) are currently sending money in this way

The survey sample was primarily drawn from individuals who were born in the top three emigrating nations  China, India, and the Philippines  though a handful of respondents say they were born in another country outside of Canada.

In addition to the sample of 439 residents born outside the country, this survey also captured a large group of second-generation Canadians.

With the percentage of Canadas population who are immigrants expected to grow in coming years, this segment becomes more important to the Canadian story with each passing year, said Shachi Kurl, the executive director of the Angus Reid Foundation.

The survey authors said in their report that Canadians as a whole population can be divided into four groups in terms of their charitable behaviour: The Non-Donors, The Casual Donors, The Prompted Donors, and The Super Donors.

The Non-Donors (14% of the general population) are just that: People for whom donating money is simply not something they do. At most, members of this group donate less than $100 dollars and support just one charitable cause in a typical year. The vast majority of this group is even less charitably active.

Slightly more active in their charitable activities are the Casual Donors (31%). Members of this group spread their money around, with most donating to at least two different charities each year, but none of them report donating more than $250 annually.

The other two groups  the Prompted Donors (34%) and the Super Donors (21%)  are each significantly more likely than Casual and Non-Donors to support a variety of charities and to spend more than $250 per year.

Those born outside Canada are much more likely to fall into the Super Donor category. More than one-in-three (36%) may be considered members of the most generous segment of the population, compared to one-in-five (21%) within the overall population, said Kurl.

Across each of the 11 donation areas canvassed in this survey, those born outside of Canada are more likely than the general population to have volunteered or donated to all of them, with the exception of animal welfare causes.

Notably, second-generation Canadians as likely as immigrants to volunteer or donate in many charitable areas. This means that they are also much more likely than the general population to be involved. There is however, a large disparity between first and second generation Canadians in two areas  religious causes and involvement in their own ethnic community.

The role of personal faith is evident among Canadians born overseas. While just three-in-ten (31%) among the total population say they are involved with a religious or faith-based cause, this number jumps to six-in-ten (61%) among immigrants and four-in-ten (43%) among second-generation Canadians.

When looking at the impetus to give, faith is again a factor. Seven-in-ten immigrants to Canada (71%) say their own personal faith has a strong influence on their views of charitable activities. Just under half (46%) of the general population says this. Second-generation Canadians fall in between these two groups (55%):

One-in-four immigrants (27%), are also currently sending money to family overseas in the form of remittances. This represents double the number of second-generation Canadians who say the same (13%), while just a handful of general population Canadians say they are currently remitting.

The group remitting in the greatest numbers, by a large margin, are Filipino immigrants. Among this group, 43 per cent say they are sending money back overseas currently, while those from South Asia (25%) and China (15%) report doing so at a much lower rate.

New Canadians also ranked higher in the should be doing more to support charitable causes segment when compared to the general population.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

 Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Rarely in modern times have these words of lasting wisdom from the spiritual leader of the civil rights movement seemed more relevant  or more prescient  than they do today.

Writing in his groundbreaking early 1960s collection of sermons, King, then still young in the scope of his tremendously achieving life, had illuminated in those coupled sentences a truth about humanity that few had so succinctly captured: that acts of hatred cant carry the day on behalf of justice.

We need to fully understand this wisdom in the fractious and chaotic political environment today. Local residents had a chance to delve into Dr. Kings philosophies in different events Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and will have another chance at least one more time this week.

Hundreds of Franklin County residents packed the Pigg River Community Center to honor the civil rights leader in a soldout breakfast with the theme If Not Now, When? where the keynote speaker, Juanita Epps, talked about making a difference today and teaching children skills to lead a better tomorrow.

If the right time for justice is not today, when will the right time be? she asked rhetorically. If today is not the day to help your neighbors or community, when will that day come?

Epps demonstrates a keen understanding of Martin Luther King Jr.s urgent approach to the problems of his time, and to the divisions and injustices of our country -- many of which endure today in ways that might be different from the 1960s but no less painful.

People need look back only in the past year since the last Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at events here in Virginia, to see how the insidious patterns of past racial and social strife keep re-emerging, to the dismay of many who think weve moved beyond it.

As Epps, who runs the community development nonprofit Pathways-VA Inc., pointed out, not enough has changed in society to warrant complacency in any form  a view we are sure King would share if still alive. I did not come to give you answers to your deepest questions or urgent needs, but I need to challenge you to work together, to find those answers, she said. But at the heart of the work has to be engaging young people in the discussion.

Later in the morning, the celebration of Kings life took a different form, as students, faculty and staff at Ferrum College enjoyed a chance to tour The True Black History Museum, founded by Fred Saffold, which teaches black history through the use of authentic and rare artifacts.

Throughout the year the museum, which more than 50,000 people have visited, will travel the country to teach black history.

The biggest message that I want to get across is that African Americans have value, Saffold said.

There will be more opportunities to learn about the sermons, lessons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. this week. For example, also at Ferrum College, an event will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Blue Ridge Mountain Room in Franklin Hall on campus. This event will include speeches from peace activist, video journalist and YouTube personality Ken Nwadike Jr., the founder of the Free Hugs Project. This event is free and open to the public, and we encourage strong participation. In todays society swirling with political rancor, disagreements over how to fix and shine a light on the deep-seated injustices of generations past, and new uncertainties about the future of unifying national ideals like equality and justice, taking a moment to reflect on what Dr. King worked so hard to get across can really be uplifting, and we greatly appreciate all the hard work of the organizers of this weeks activities.

Just as one more reminder of his message on how we can expel social ills, he wrote in Strength to Love the following, to urge a total change in order for his fellow citizens to confront societal wrongs:

Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.
READING, Pa., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnerSys (NYSE:ENS) the global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications will host a conference call to discuss the Companys third quarter of fiscal 2018 financial results and to provide an overview of the business. The call will conclude with a question and answer session.



The call, scheduled for Thursday, February 8, 2018 beginning at 9:00 am Eastern Time, will be hosted by David M. Shaffer, Chief Executive Officer, and Michael J. Schmidtlein, Chief Financial Officer.

A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the Companys website at http://www.enersys.com under the "Investor Relations" link. Presentation materials to be used in conjunction with the conference call will become available under the aforementioned link the evening before the conference call. There will be a free download of a compatible media player on the companys web site at http://www.enersys.com.

The conference call information is: Date: Thursday, February 8, 2018 Time: 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time Via Internet: http://www.enersys.com Domestic Dial-In Number: 877-359-9508 International Dial-In Number: 224-357-2393 Passcode: 4499229

A replay of the conference call will be available from 12:00 p.m. on February 8, 2018 through midnight on March 10, 2018.

The replay information is: Via Internet: http://www.enersys.com Domestic Replay Number: 855-859-2056 International Replay Number: 404-537-3406 Passcode: 4499229

For more information, contact Thomas O'Neill, Vice President and Treasurer, EnerSys, P.O. Box 14145, Reading, PA 19612-4145, USA. Tel: 610-236-4040 or by emailing investorrelations@enersys.com .

About EnerSys:

EnerSys, the global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications, manufactures and distributes reserve power and motive power batteries, battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories and outdoor equipment enclosure solutions to customers worldwide. Motive power batteries and chargers are utilized in electric forklift trucks and other commercial electric powered vehicles. Reserve power batteries are used in the telecommunication and utility industries, uninterruptible power supplies, and numerous applications requiring stored energy solutions including medical, aerospace and defense systems. Outdoor equipment enclosure products are utilized in the telecommunication, cable, utility, transportation industries and by government and defense customers. The company also provides aftermarket and customer support services to its customers from over 100 countries through its sales and manufacturing locations around the world.
NORWALK  An extended school day will offer the citys elementary students to explore a new subject area next year.

An agreement between the Board of Education and the Norwalk Federation of Teachers will allow for a 30-minute school day extension, which will be rolled out over the next two years, and requires a fourth special subject teacher at the elementary schools to provide a daily planning period for elementary classroom teachers.

I think all schools are excited about this opportunity, Adamowski said. This is going to provide an exciting opportunity to enhance the educational experiences received by their students. You find in the very best schools, including many of the Connecticut schools of distinction, the fact that there is more than the three traditional specials of art, music and physical education.

Half of the districts schools will have an extended school day in the 2018-19 academic year, with the second half following suit in the 2019-20 year.

The six schools that will implement the new subject in the 2018-19 academic year have yet to be determined, but Adamowski said the additional 30 minutes will be added at the beginning of the school day.

The district is working with a transportation consultant to address the transportation needs associated with the extension of the elementary school day without extending the budget.

We are looking at the transportation ramifications of this, Adamowski said. We have to do this in a way that is cost neutral.

While most of the details of an extended school day for half of Norwalks elementary schools are yet to be determined, Superintendent Steven Adamowski offered suggestions for elementary school leaders as they begin to consider the subject area that will be the best fit for their schools.

The choice of which special course will be added will be left to the elementary schools and their School Governance Councils, which are given the autonomy to determine the special subject that best fits the culture and ideals of the school.

Traditionally, schools have offered art, music and physical education as the special course options in elementary schools. The extended school day will offer an opportunity for schools to break from tradition.

The options Adamowski listed include a library/media center class, an English language arts writers workshop, experiential science with an elementary lab, foreign language, extended time for early intervention and support, expanded learning time for schools participating in the initiatives of the National Center on Time and Learning, and special subjects related to magnet school themes.
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NORWALK  A local conservation group has sued the state and federal governments over their plan to replace the Walk Bridge over Norwalk River.

In the civil action filed in U.S. District Court in New Haven on Wednesday, the Norwalk Harbor Keeper and Fred Krupp maintain the defendants failed to conduct an adequate environmental review of the project.

The lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration and the Connecticut Department of Transportation as defendants.

Last August, as part of compliance with the Connecticut and National Environmental Policy acts, the DOT and FTA published a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision. The reports concluded that the proposed vertical-lift span replacement bridge would have no significant impact on the environment.

Norwalk Harbor Keeper believes otherwise.

The wrongful, inadequate NEPA analyses performed by the Defendants in selecting a bridge design failed to consider the reasonable alternative of a fixed bridge at the level of the existing bridge  which would promote resiliency, shorten construction time, significantly reduce construction costs, and otherwise reduce environmental impacts, reads the lawsuit. As such, the FONSI and ROD which rely on these inadequate analyses are invalid.

DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said Wednesday evening he was looking into the suit, and could not yet comment.

Mayor Harry Rilling said he would look into the lawsuit, but expressed doubt that a fixed bridge is a reasonable alternative given costs, construction length and the age of the existing Walk Bridge.

They (the DOT) did, as far as I know, weigh the alternatives of a fixed bridge and found it would not reduce time, Rilling said. It might take longer and it probably wouldnt save as much money as people are saying it would. And they cant leave that bridge in place and just close it. Its a 124-year old structure thats on pilings.

Norwalk Harbor Keeper, a nonprofit organization dedicated to safeguarding the ecological, recreational, aesthetic, and commercial integrity of the Norwalk River, was among a number of groups to weigh in as state and federal agencies invited input on the nearly $1 billion project, which the DOT plans to start in 2019.

In a press statement released Wednesday afternoon, the organization said the state and federal agencies failure to consider (a) cheaper, more resilient fixed bridge will cost taxpayers millions in fees and disrupt the South and East Norwalk neighborhoods.

The plan put forward by Connecticut DOT and backed by the U.S. DOT and the Federal Transit Administration is costly, disruptive and makes no sense, said Fred Krupp, a member of the Norwalk Harbor Keeper and plaintiff in the lawsuit. It unlawfully disregards better options, such as restoring and keeping in place the existing bridge as a fixed bridge, or bringing in a new fixed bridge at the existing height.

Robin Penna, another Norwalk Harbor Keeper member, said the organization doesnt oppose replacing the Walk Bridge to eliminate the possibility of it getting stuck and delaying Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad trains.

What we favor, and what is clearly in the public interest, is for the state to fully consider an existing height fixed bridge option, which costs less, is less disruptive, is less vulnerable to severe weather and future failures to close, and is more practical in every way, said Penna.

Penna is co-owner of A.J. Penna & Son Excavating Contractors, which was forced by the DOT last year to leave its property on Goldstein Place to create staging space for the bridge replacement. The DOT helped the business find a new home at the old National Guard Armory on New Canaan Avenue.

Tony DAndrea, former Norwalk Harbor Commission chairman and Norwalk Harbor Keeper member, said the defendants lack of a thorough review of the projects environmental, economic, and social impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, including the improper segmentation of the projects components during the review process, has done a disservice to the many Norwalk residents and businesses affected by this project and to the Norwalk Harbor and waterfront.

During an information meeting at the Maritime Aquarium in December 2016, DOT consultants said the department considered 70 design concepts before arriving at the preferred design, a 240-foot, vertical-lift span bridge.

I know that theres some question about why dont we just lock down the bridge and not make it movable anymore, said Chris Brown, senior project manager with HNTB, the consultant firm engaged by the DOT. Well, doing that doesnt address everything on the bridge that needs to be done.
There's no denying the beauty of a diamond, but some of these stones have ugly origins. Conflict diamond sales can be used to finance violence, and human rights abuses can run rampant in diamond mines. Of course shoppers don't want this shadow hanging over their jewelry.

That's where "conflict-free" diamonds come in. These are diamonds whose origins are purportedly tracked and are certified to have a violence-free pedigree. There's just one problem: An estimated 5% to 10% of diamonds are traded illegally  and consumers may be paying a big upcharge for ethical gems that are anything but.

We'll tell you why real conflict-free diamonds are so hard to find, then offer tips on how you can get truly ethical gems.

Conflict-Free Diamond Certification Is Flawed

The diamond industry has a certification process to assure buyers their gems aren't involved in violence: the Kimberley Process. But the certification has loopholes that allow blood diamonds to go into circulation.

It's easy for gems to slip into the market from anywhere and still have all the paperwork to assure they're conflict-free.

The first flaw is in the definition of a blood diamond. The Kimberley Process explicitly defines a conflict diamond as a rough diamond "used by rebel movements or their allies to finance armed conflicts aimed at undermining legitimate governments." The problem with this phrasing is perfectly illustrated by Zimbabwe, where the government kills and tortures mine workers  but the diamonds the country mines are still certified as conflict-free by the Kimberley Process.

As you can see, these conflict-free gems are only guaranteed to be free of one very specific type of conflict. Kimberley Process stones still can (and do) fund human rights abuses.

But the Kimberley Process' limited definition of what makes a conflict diamond actually isn't the biggest issue when it comes to ensuring conflict-free diamonds. The second part of the problem is that it's difficult (or even impossible) to track exactly where an individual diamond comes from.

The Kimberley Process only tracks batches of gems, as opposed to individual stones. Diamonds may change hands up to 30 times before they reach the reseller you're buying from, and each time there's a chance an unknown diamond has been added to the batch.

Because every step in the process isn't tracked and audited for every stone, it's easy for gems to slip into the market from anywhere and still have all the paperwork to assure they're conflict-free.

Even if the Kimberley Process has banned a country from exporting diamonds  as it does with countries that don't meet its standards  those diamonds can be smuggled across borders and then sold as KP-certified gems.

SEE ALSO: You Need to Have These 5 Money Talks Before You Get Married

How Do You Know if You've Bought a Conflict Diamond?

Physically, there's no difference between a conflict diamond and any other diamond. An expert can't examine a diamond and tell you whether it came from a Zimbabwean mine or a Canadian one. Once the gem has changed hands repeatedly and been cut, it's impossible to trace it back to its source.

The sad truth is, you'd probably have no idea if you purchased a conflict diamond. As we've noted, even gems that are Kimberley Process certified or advertised as "ethical" could well be blood diamonds.

What to Look for When Diamond Shopping

It's difficult to be certain a diamond is fully conflict-free, but shoppers can take some steps. Ignore all advertisements about how "ethical" a diamond seller is, and instead ask for proof of where the diamond came from. A responsible reseller should be able to trace the stones to the country (or mine) of origin and provide documentation from its suppliers stating its gems are conflict-free. Any seller who dodges the question is suspicious.

Expect to pay more for a genuine Canadian diamond, but you can buy guilt-free.

If the diamond you're considering is from Zimbabwe or Angola, you may want to say no. While there's no guarantee it's a conflict diamond, both countries have bad track records with human rights abuses in their mines. Instead, look for diamonds from a country with a solid human rights reputation, like Namibia or Botswana.

Diamonds from Canada  the third-largest diamond-producing country in the world  offer easy reassurance to shoppers. The country lacks the kind of conflict that might result in a blood diamond, and ensures stones are mined sustainably and ethically. Expect to pay more for a genuine Canadian diamond, but you can buy guilt-free.

A Canadian diamond should come with paperwork verifying its authenticity, and most retailers will allow you to check the diamond's ID online to verify it. A couple of resources to consider are the Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct and CanadaMark, which allow you to verify gems by serial number.

What About Brilliant Earth?

This online diamond retailer advertises that its gems are "beyond conflict free." However, the claim is specious at best  and outright deceptive at worst. A recent investigation by The Next Web suggests the company makes that assertion by not paying very close attention to where its diamonds come from.

SEE ALSO: Everything You Need to Know About Synthetic Diamonds

Though Brilliant Earth gives you its word that its conflict-free stones come from Canada  and gives them the price tag to match  the company can't independently verify the source of its stones. As we mentioned above, Canada keeps close track of its diamonds, which often have unique identification numbers that can tell you exactly where the stones came from. This makes Brilliant Earth's lack of proof tough to believe.

Whoever you're shopping with, remember that if you want an ethical diamond, ask where it came from. If anything the company tells you seems off, just walk away.

Consider Synthetic Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds have just as much sparkle as their mined counterparts, but you can be assured they aren't blood diamonds. As a bonus, they're often cheaper  especially if you're looking for diamonds in specific colors. You really can't find a better deal in the diamond market.

Readers, have you ever shopped for a conflict-free diamond? What was your experience like? Tell us about it in the comments below.
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Slate Office REIT (TSX:SOT.UN) (the "REIT") announced today that it has agreed to acquire seven office properties located in the Greater Toronto Area and Atlantic Canada for an aggregate purchase price of $191.4 million (the Acquisitions) representing $192 per square foot.



In conjunction with the Acquisitions, the REIT has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters co-led by BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Inc. (the Underwriters) to issue $90 million of subscription receipts and $25 million aggregate principal amount of convertible unsecured subordinated debentures, in each case on a bought deal basis (collectively, the Offerings).

The Acquisitions are part of a portfolio of real estate assets to be sold by Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (Cominar) and which are the subject of a sale contract among Slate Acquisitions Inc. (on behalf of Slate Canadian Real Estate Opportunity Fund I (SCREO)) and Cominar. The REIT will acquire the assets that comprise the Acquisitions for $191.4 million.

Highlights of the Acquisitions



The purchase price for the Acquisitions is $191.4 million, representing $192 per square foot

The Acquisitions are expected to be immediately accretive to the REITs 2018 AFFO per unit on a leverage-neutral basis

Strategically located in markets where the REIT has an existing presence with scale

93% occupied

Weighted average lease term of 4.9 years

Total of 995,091 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA), increasing total GLA to 7.4 million square feet

The Acquisitions will increase the occupancy of the REITs portfolio by approximately 100 basis points

Summary of the Acquisitions

Asset Location GLA (square feet) Occupancy 81 Albert Street Moncton, NB 64,954 100 % 84-86 Chain Lake Drive Halifax, NS 77,666 97 % 570 Queen Street Fredericton, NB 69,708 87 % 225 Duncan Mill Road Toronto, ON 155,872 89 % 105 Moatfield Toronto, ON 248,981 100 % 95 Moatfield Toronto, ON 156,426 100 % 5500 North Service Road Burlington, ON 221,484 80 % Total/weighted average 995,091 93 %

Subscription Receipts

In conjunction with the Acquisitions, the REIT has agreed to sell to the Underwriters, on a bought deal basis 11,112,000 subscription receipts (the Subscription Receipts) of the REIT at a price of $8.10 per Subscription Receipt for gross proceeds of approximately $90 million. The REIT has also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Subscription Receipts (or in certain circumstances, units of the REIT (Units)) on the same terms and conditions, exercisable at any time, in whole or in part, up to 30 days after the closing of the Offering. On closing of the Acquisitions: (i) one Unit will be automatically issued in exchange for each Subscription Receipt (subject to customary anti-dilution protection), without payment of additional consideration or further action by the holder thereof, (ii) an amount per Subscription Receipt equal to the amount per Unit of any cash distributions made by the REIT for which record dates have occurred during the period that the Subscription Receipts are outstanding, net of any applicable withholding taxes, will become payable in respect of each Subscription Receipt, and (iii) the net proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts will be released from escrow to the REIT. The net proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts will be used to fund a portion of the purchase price for the Acquisition and will be held by an escrow agent pending the fulfillment or waiver of all outstanding conditions precedent to closing of the Acquisitions. The Acquisitions will be conditional upon the satisfaction of certain conditions including completion of the sale of the Subscription Receipts and minority unitholder approval at a meeting of unitholders (the Unitholder Meeting). There can be no assurance that closing conditions will be met or that the Acquisitions will be consummated. If the Acquisitions fail to close as described above by July 31, 2018, or the Acquisitions are terminated at an earlier time, the gross proceeds of the sale of the Subscription Receipts and pro rata entitlement to interest earned or deemed to be earned on the Subscription Receipts, net of any applicable withholding taxes, will be paid to holders of the Subscription Receipts and the Subscription Receipts will be cancelled. The Acquisitions are expected to close by the end of March 2018.

Debentures

The REIT has also agreed to sell to the Underwriters, on a bought deal basis, $25 million aggregate principal amount of convertible, unsecured subordinated 5.25% debentures (the Debentures). The REIT has also granted the underwriters an over-allotment option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the Debentures (or in certain circumstances) on the same terms and conditions, exercisable at any time, in whole or in part, up to 30 days after the closing of the Offering.

Each Debenture will be convertible into freely tradeable Units at the option of the holder at any time prior to the close of business on the earliest of (i) the last business day before February 28, 2023 (the Maturity Date); or (ii) if called for redemption, the business day immediately preceding the date specified by the REIT for redemption of the Debentures, at a conversion price of $10.53 per Unit (the Conversion Price), being a ratio of approximately 94.9668 Units per $1,000 principal amount of Debentures, and representing a premium of approximately 30% to the offering price of the concurrent offering of Subscription Receipts. The conversion right shall be subject to standard anti-dilution provisions. Debenture holders converting their Debentures will, in addition to the applicable number of Units to be received on conversion, receive accrued and unpaid interest, if any, for the period from the last interest payment date on their Debentures to and including the last record date set by the REIT occurring prior to the date of conversion for determining the unitholders entitled to receive a distribution on the Units.

The Debentures may not be redeemed by the REIT prior to February 28, 2021. On and from February 28, 2021, and prior to February 28, 2022, the Debentures may be redeemed by the REIT, in whole at any time, or in part from time to time, at a price equal to the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest on not more than 60 days and not less than 30 days prior written notice, provided that the volume weighted-average trading price of the Units on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the TSX) for the 20 consecutive trading days ending five trading days preceding the date on which notice of redemption is given (the Current Market Price) is not less than 125% of the Conversion Price. On and from February 28, 2022, and prior to the Final Maturity Date, the Debentures may be redeemed by the REIT, in whole at any time or in part from time to time, at a price equal to the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest on not more than 60 days and not less than 30 days prior written notice.

The net proceeds from the sale of the Debentures will initially be used to reduce outstanding indebtedness under the REITs credit facility (which may be subsequently redrawn and applied as needed to fund future acquisitions and for general trust purposes).

Closing of the Subscription Receipts and Convertible Debentures

The Offering is being made under the REIT's base shelf prospectus dated September 7, 2016. The REIT intends to file a prospectus supplement relating to the issuance of the Subscription Receipts and Debentures by January 19 , 2018 with the securities commissions and other similar regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. The Offering is subject to the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX. Closing of the Offering is expected to take place on or about January 26, 2018. The Subscription Receipts and the Debentures have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and accordingly will not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly within the United States, its possessions and other areas subject to its jurisdiction, or to, or for the account or for the benefit of, a U.S. persons, except pursuant to applicable exemptions from the registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any Subscription Receipts or Debentures in the United States or to, or for the account or for the benefit of, U.S. persons.

Unitholder Approval

Pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101), the transactions could be considered a related party transaction for the REIT by virtue of the relationship between the REIT and SCREO, and as such, the REIT will obtain minority unitholder approval of the Acquisitions at the Unitholder Meeting.

The board of trustees of the REIT (the Board) appointed a Special Committee of independent elected trustees for purposes of, among other things, considering the transactions, supervising the process to be carried out by the REIT and its professional advisors in connection with the transactions, determining whether the transactions in the best interests of the REIT and, as the Special Committee may determine to be necessary or advisable, report and make recommendations to the Board with respect to the transactions. The Special Committee retained Blair Franklin Capital Partners to prepare independent appraisals of each of the properties to be acquired by the REIT. The Special Committee has advised the Board that, based on a number of factors, the Acquisitions are in the best interests of the REIT. As a result, the Special Committee unanimously recommended to the Board that it recommend that unitholders vote in favour of the transactions at the Unitholder Meeting. The Unitholder Meeting is expected to be held on or prior to March 15, 2018.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information herein constitutes forward-looking information as defined under Canadian securities laws which reflect managements expectations regarding objectives, plans, goals, strategies, future growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities of the REIT. The words plans, expects, does not expect, scheduled, estimates, intends, anticipates, does not anticipate, projects, believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements to the effect that certain actions, events or results may, will, could, would, might, occur, be achieved, or continue and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Some of the specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to statements with respect to the following: the timing for the filing of the prospectus supplement; the intention of the REIT and the vendor to complete the Acquisitions and the Offering on the terms and conditions described herein; and the date on which the closings of the Acquisitions and the Offering are expected to occur. Such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations, including that the transactions contemplated herein are completed. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management as of the date hereof, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, the REIT cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these statements, as forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties and should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not the times at or by which such performance or results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Additional information about risks and uncertainties is contained in the filings of the REIT with securities regulators, including the REITs base shelf prospectus dated September 7, 2016 and the REITs annual information form dated March 6, 2017.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

The REIT has employed certain non-IFRS financial measures including AFFO and NOI, which are not generally accepted accounting principles as defined under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Management believes that in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, investors in the real estate industry use these non-IFRS financial measures to evaluate the REITs performance and ability to generate cash flows. Accordingly, these non-IFRS financial measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. In addition, they do not have standardized meanings and may not be comparable to measures used by other issuers in the real estate industry or other industries.

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Slate Office REIT is an open-ended real estate investment trust. The REIT's portfolio currently comprises 38 strategic and well-located real estate assets located primarily across Canada's major population centres. The REIT is focused on maximizing value through internal organic rental and occupancy growth and strategic acquisitions. Visit slateofficereit.com to learn more.

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Three members of the Edwardsville Police Department were sworn in to new positions at Tuesdays City Council meeting.

Following the recent retirements of Deputy Chief Jeff Mills and Sergeant Todd Ramirez, the EPD is set on filling its vacancies with three new staff members moving up in the ranks.

Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven addressed Council members at the beginning of the meeting and recommended the appointment of Lt. Mike Fillback to the rank of Major/Deputy Chief, taking the previous position of Mills. For Fillback to be sworn into the position, the motion requires both an appointment recommendation from Keeven and Council approval.

Born and raised in Alton, Fillback has 21 years of service with the EPD so far, and Keeven said he has worked his way up the ladder after first starting as a patrol officer with the department.

Mike has been with our police department for 21 years. Mike served our country in the military as well. Mike received his bachelors degree in finance from SIUE in 1996 and hes currently working at SIUE to obtain his masters degree in public administration, Keeven said. Mike was hired on as a patrol officer in 1996 and 2001 he was promoted to sergeant. In 2013, he was promoted to our patrol commander and then he was moved to the support services position in 2016.

Fillbacks new position as Deputy Chief/Major in the department will include overseeing lieutenants and also writing policy and general orders for the police department.

Keeven said similar to that of Mills, Fillback will succeed in the position and is ideal to take on the job.

Mikes a well-rounded officer, well-rounded supervisor within our police department. I stood before you when I asked you to elevate Jeff Mills to the rank of major and told you that his work ethic was second to none. With Jeff being gone, Mikes work ethic is second to none. He and Jeff were very, very much in that same lane and I would call it a fast lane of phenomenal work ethic, Keeven said. Hes extremely dedicated to the citizens of this community. I think youve all had the opportunity to work with him at one time or another and I think hell make a fantastic candidate for the rank of major in the police department.

Alderman Craig Louer made the motion to approve Fillbacks appointment, seconded by alderman Art Risavy.

All were in favor of the motions approval and City Clerk Dennis McCracken performed the swear-in.

Two other members of the EPD were also sworn-in to their ranks and did not require Council approval.

McCracken also swore in Ryan Grimes as a patrol officer and Matthew Senci as a sergeant.

Both Grimes and Senci repeated the following, with right arms raised: "I (Grimes, Senci), having having been appointed to the position of (patrol officer, sergeant) in the city of Edwardsville, do solemnly swear and affirm that I will support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Illinois and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the position of (patrol officer, sergeant) to the best of my ability."

All three staff members will begin their roles within the department immediately.

For more information about the EPD, visit the citys website at www.cityofedwardsville.com.
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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 08:23 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c165a82 4 Editorial #Editorial,Bambang-Soesatyo,#DPR,Indonesian-politics,Golkar,#GolkarParty,house-of-representatives,House-speaker Free

The nation witnessed on Monday the inauguration of the third House of Representatives speaker in as many years, a testament to the topsy turvy nature of Indonesian politics, or more precisely the power struggle between the Golkar Party elites.



Bambang Soesatyo, known by his acronym Bamsoet, assumed the Houses top post after winning approval from the new Golkar Party chairman, Airlangga Hartarto. Airlangga and Bambang take over the posts relinquished by Setya Novanto after his arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for his alleged role in the e-ID card corruption case last November.



In early 2016 Setya gave up the House speaker job to Ade Komaruddin following allegations that he and a heavyweight businessman held talks with then PT Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin to ask for shares in one of the worlds largest gold producing firms. In less than a year, Setya regained his post after the Houses ethics council found Ade guilty of an ethics violation.



Like Ade, who is now ailing, former journalist Bambang hails from the Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (Soksi), one of Golkars three founding organizations. Quite recently, Bambang was named an executive of the Communication Forum of Indonesian Veterans Children (FKPPI), an organization formerly linked to Golkar.



And where was Bambang during Golkars internal wrangling that sapped the nations energy and disrupted the legislative program mandated to the House? Known as a loyal party member, he simply followed the partys directives, including when he was named Golkar representative in the controversial House inquiry into alleged abuse of power committed by the KPK.



Needless to say Airlanggas choice of Bambang for the strategic portfolio is designed to take care of not only Golkars interests but also those of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who the party has nominated as presidential candidate for the 2019 race. Thus Bambangs nomination should have received Jokowis prior approval; otherwise the legislative body would block his programs.



Like it or not, Bambangs catapulting into the House speaker job is the result of a compromise among power brokers, who have now set their sights on the 2019 legislative and presidential elections. He must ensure the political landscape is trouble-free until the nation elects its House representatives and national leader in 2019.



Bambangs immediate leadership test is looming now that the Houses inquiry into the KPK is reaching its finale. As the House speaker he should exercise wisdom and do his best to keep the inquiry committee from pushing for amendments to the KPK Law that will only weaken the antigraft body, simply because corruption is a threat to Indonesian democracy.



With only about one year of service and with political years ahead, we cannot expect Bambang to bring about changes to the way the House performs its legislative mandate. For decades, the House has been notorious for its underachievement in its legislative task, while dozens of its members have been embroiled in graft cases.



Nonetheless, we wish you luck Mr. Speaker.
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Linkedin Fahmi M. Nasir and Hidayatul Ihsan (The Jakarta Post) Kuala Lumpur/Padang  Wed, January 17, 2018 14:11 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c17715e 3 Opinion waqf,university,funding,Education,educational-expenditure,#university,#education Free

Over the last couple of years, concerted efforts have emerged across various Malaysian universities to establish endowment funds to finance their institutions. Their effort was inspired by the successful story of Al-Azhar University in Cairo and Al-Qarawiyin University in Fez, Morocco, among others, which were established through endowment funds.

Historical records note that Merton College of Oxford University was established through a charitable trust in 1274 by Walter de Merton, with similarities to the Islamic waqf, generally defined as the endowment of property to be held in trust and used for a charitable or religious purpose. As of July 2017, Merton had a financial endowment of GBP 251 million (US$ 345 million).

The effort of our Malaysian counterparts should encourage Indonesian higher education institutions to follow the positive steps. After all, the idea of financing education is not foreign in Indonesia.

We have already been familiar with the waqf boards of the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) Yogyakarta, Sultan Agung University (Unissula) Semarang in Central Java, and of the Muslim University (UMI) Makassar in South Sulawesi.

Endowment funds also exist for the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the University of Indonesia (UI). However, the financing of universities through waqf is far from a nationwide practice, and where there are waqf boards at particular universities their achievement is very minimum to say the least.

This is despite the fact that the 2012 law on higher education mentions waqf as a source of funding for universities in Indonesia.

Lets take a closer look at Harvard University as one of the universities with the largest endowment assets. Harvard Management Company, a non-profit entity formed in 1974, manages Harvard Universitys endowment and related financial assets. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, the endowment value was US$37.1 billion.

In the fiscal year of 2016, it was reported that the distribution from the endowment contributed to over a third of Harvards operating budget. This is a truly remarkable achievement by HMC which has shown its single mindedness to achieve its mission in ensuring Harvard University has the financial resources to maintain and expand its outstanding level in teaching, learning and research for future generations.

The same success has also been achieved by the International Islamic University Malaysia through their IIUM Endowment Fund (IEF), established in 1999. IEFs main purpose is to assist the poor and needy students who are academically good but incapable to finance the tuition fees and the cost of living.

For fiscal year ended 2016, IEF managed to accumulate a total fund of RM10.6 million. Recently, IEF, through the IIUM Perpetual Endowment Property Fund program, has managed to build three buildings named after their respective donors: Azman Hashim Complex, Hostel HH Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi and Hostel Armed Forces Fund Board, which were built at a total cost of RM18.4 million.

The success of IEF most likely has inspired other universities in Malaysia such as University Malaya, University Putra Malaysia, and MARA University Technology of Malaysia.

Hence, we would like to suggest for all universities in Indonesia to establish endowment funds as a source of their financing other than receiving annual budgets from the government and tuition fees from their students.

The funds at the higher education institutions could also receive donations from other sponsors, local or foreign, in the form of movable or immovable goods, cash, and shares to support the educational and research activities at a particular university. Part of the donation could be utilized as a seed fund to be invested in various businesses, such as building a student hostel, to obtain profits to be allocated as scholarships, research funds or to supplement staff salaries.

The university could also launch a program called adopt-a-student whereby the alumni or other interested parties could provide a scholarship for a student. For example, in the case of a student in need of about Rp 1 million in monthly expenses, whoever is interested to help could become a full sponsor or one half, one third, one quarter or one fifth for every needy student. They could also pay for this program on a monthly basis, every two or three or four months, every semester, or on annual basis. This would help many students from poor families.

Based on the track records of endowment fund abroad and the massive potential and strong tradition of philanthropy in our society, the time has come for all Indonesian universities to take the initiative to establish and optimize endowment funds as a source of their financing. This could be a game changer for a brighter future of our education.

***

Fahmi M. Nasir is the founder of the Center for Study and Consultancy of Waqf, Jeumpa DMeusara and Ph. D Student in waqf law and governance at Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Hidayatul Ihsan is a lecturer at Padang State Polytechnic in Padang, West Sumatra.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to academia@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Anne A. Jambora (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network)  Wed, January 17, 2018 07:09 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c16406b 2 Science & Tech dogs,cats,pets,animals Free

Understanding what your dog is feeling can be as easy as talking to him or her. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will, 10 years from now, allow you to talk to your pooch or cat.

Before you get too excited, this technology doesnt mean youll soon be having a meaningful, heart-to-heart conversation with your pet. But the algorithm, still in its early stage, will someday allow you to finally understand, with scientific accuracy, what a bark or a wag means.

In a report by NBC News, Dr. Con Slobodchikoffa professor emeritus of biology at Northern Arizona University and author of Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animalshas been studying prairie dogs for 30 years and discovered that these North American rodents converse in a sophisticated form of vocal communication that is nothing less than a language.

To alert the group to the presence of a predator, for example, the prairie dogs would make high-pitched calls that vary according to the type of predator and its size. They can even use this form of communication to indicate the clothing color of a nearby human. But it doesnt stop there.

Read also: Dogs more intelligent than cats, scientists say

Slobodchikoff, with a computer scientist colleague, developed an algorithm that turns these vocalizations into English. Last year he founded a company, Zoolingua, whose goal is to develop a similar tool that can translate pet sounds, facial expressions and body movements.

He is collecting thousands of videos of dogs showing various barks and body movements. These videos will teach the AI algorithm about these communication signals, although the algorithm still needs to define what each bark or tail wag means.

For now, humans are allowed to offer their own interpretations to these signals, but Slobodchikoff aims to incorporate scientific research that uses careful experiments to decipher the true meaning of a dogs behavior.

I thought, if we can do this with prairie dogs, we can certainly do it with dogs and cats, Slobodchikoff told NBC News.

The ultimate goal is to create a device that can be pointed at a dog and translate its barks into English words, such as, I want to go for a walk or I am hungry.

Read also: Humans more sympathetic to dogs than people, study claims

Skeptics

Naturally, not everyone is convinced. The Guardian reported that Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at University of Portsmouth who studies interactions between humans and dogs, doesnt think the way a dog barks can be viewed as a language.

Dog barks are context-specific, she said, like giving out different yaps and yowls during play or when theyre missing their owners. She pointed out that a translation device could make things easier for people who lack intuition.

Dr. Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University and author of What Its Like To Be A Dog: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience, is slightly more optimistic. Berns told NBC News that he could see a device applicable to dogs.

He has been training dogs to lie still inside brain scanners while the machine reads their brain activities. Through this, he found that dogs see their owners as friends, not just hands that feed them.

Their reward system in the brain is driven as much by praise as food, Berns told NBC News. This reinforces the notion that the dog enjoys the social bond with humans by itself.

But the ability to communicate with animals would mean more than just forging closer emotional ties with them, but also no more guesswork in caring for animals. That alone can save their lives.

There are 3 million unwanted cats and dogs euthanized in the United States. Most of these cases, according to NBC News, are due to their poorly understood behavioral problems.

But an aggressive dog could simply be one that is afraid, and if theres a technology that understands fears in dogs, then there might be a way to spare their lives.

You could use that information and instead of backing the dog into a corner, give the dog more space, Slobodchikoff said.

Topics : dogs cats pets animals

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This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Paris  Wed, January 17, 2018 19:34 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c185300 2 Lifestyle designer,Louis-Vuitton,Kim-Jones Free

British designer Kim Jones is to quit Louis Vuitton after he shows his final men's collection for the label on Thursday, the brand said Wednesday.

His departure from one of the plum jobs in men's fashion is likely to set off a fresh round of musical chairs, with speculation mounting that he may be on his way to Versace.

The 44-year-old has led the luxury French brand since 2011 after he was poached from British heritage house Dunhill, which he dusted down and gave a new lease of life.

Vuitton said that Jones "has been the driving force behind some of the house's most successful projects and collaborations", with eye-catching hook-ups with hip New York streetwear brand Supreme and the iconoclastic British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman.

Jones brought his passion for wildlife and for exotic travel to his ultra luxurious collections for Vuitton, mixing a lingering nostalgia for British colonial chic with a streetwise edge.

Read also: This Louis Vuitton sneaker is Silicon Valleys latest status symbol

Vuitton's chairman Michael Burke praised Jones' ability to "set trends" and for making the label "the leading brand in luxury menswear today.

"All of us who have been fortunate to work with Kim wish him continued success in his next venture," he added in a statement.

Women's Wear Daily, the fashion industry bible, had reported that the designer was in talks with Versace in September, but the Italian brand would not comment on the rumours.

WWD praised the Briton in September as one of the "small clutch of marquee designers who can straddle the luxury and streetwear worlds, which is why Versace might have come knocking."

Jones could also be a contender for the British brand Burberry which has been looking for a creative director to replace Christopher Bailey, who is leaving in March.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Beirut  Wed, January 17, 2018 18:30 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c1843f8 2 Art & Culture Lebanon,Steven-Spielberg,The-Post,ban Free

Lebanon's interior ministry will allow the release of Steven Spielberg's latest film, "The Post", overturning a ban by the General Security authority, a senior official said Wednesday.

The security body had on Monday announced it was banning the Hollywood thriller to comply with an Arab League boycott targeting supporters of Israel.

In a rare move, the interior ministry chose not to sign off on the decision by General Security, which in addition to controlling Lebanon's borders, is responsible for censoring films, plays, and books.

"Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouk is going to allow the film to be shown," a senior ministry official told AFP.

Read also: Turning weed into wine in Lebanon

The company distributing the film in Lebanon confirmed that the film, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks would be released in cinemas in Beirut and elsewhere on Thursday.

The acclaimed production tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1971 publication by The Washington Post of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies behind US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Lebanon is divided on the boycott-driven bans, with some welcoming them as a bulwark against the "cultural normalisation" of Israel's occupation.

Banned films can often be found in bootleg movie shops across the country for as little as one dollar, and even blacklisted books can sometimes be found in regular bookstores.
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OAKVILLE, Ontario, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (Saint Jean or the Company) (TSX-V:SJL) is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 10,000,000 units (Common Units) at a price of $0.05 per Common Unit for gross proceeds to the Company of up to $500,000 (the Offering). Each Common Unit will consist of one (1) common share in the capital of the Company and one (1) common share purchase warrant (each a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one (1) additional common share in the capital of the Company (each a Warrant Share) at an exercise price of $0.05 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from the date of issuance.



Closing of the Offering is subject to customary conditions, including receipt of all regulatory approvals, and is anticipated to occur on or about January 30, 2018. All securities issued as part of the Offering will be subject to a four month and one day hold period.

The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Offering for general corporate and administrative purposes.

The Company intends to pay a cash finders fee to arms length finders (the Finders) of up to 7% of the gross proceeds raised under the Offering from purchasers introduced to the Company by the Finders. In addition, the Company intends to issue non-transferable warrants (Finder Warrants) equal to seven (7%) percent of the total number of Common Units sold under the Offering. The Finder Warrants will be exercisable by each Finder at a price of $0.05 for a period of thirty six (36) months from the date of issuance.

About Saint Jean Carbon

Saint Jean is a publicly traded carbon science company, with specific interests in energy storage and green energy creation and green re-creation, with holdings in graphite mining and lithium claims in the province of Quebec in Canada. For the latest information on Saint Jeans properties and news please refer to the website: http://www.saintjeancarbon.com/

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Saint Jean Carbon Inc.

Paul Ogilvie, CEO and Director

Information Contact:

Email: info@saintjeancarbon.com

Tel: (905) 844-1200

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, concerning Saint Jeans business and affairs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, intends budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements include those with respect to the Companys intention to complete the Offering and use the proceeds of the Offering as working capital to fund the continued development of the Companys business.

These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ materially. The forward-looking statements in this news release assume, inter alia, that the conditions for completion of the Offering, including regulatory approval will be met.

Although Saint Jean believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct. There are risks which could affect Saint Jeans ability to complete the Offering, the impact of general global economic conditions and the risk that they will deteriorate, industry conditions, that required consents and approvals from regulatory authorities will not be obtained.

Statements of past performance should not be construed as an indication of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors, including those discussed above, could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release, and Saint Jean assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Hundreds of people flocked Sunday to the 2,800 square meter Mugi Dance studio in Pucangan village, Kartasura district, Sukoharjo regency, Central Java, which hosted the annual International Rain Festival.

"The festival is our way to celebrate the rain, a gift from the sky. Rain is a blessing that we must cherish, not avoid," said Mugi Dance manager Nuri Aryati.

For the entire day, dozens of art performances were showcased at the festival. In addition to Indonesian artists, artists from Mexico participated in the event. Last year, it was joined by delegations from the Philippines and Singapore. Participants from Bali, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Palu, Padang, Lampung and Papua put on a show as part of a collaborative effort.

The event opened with traditional art performances by SD Widya Wacana elementary school, SMA Penerbangan Yogyakarta high school and the Mugi Dance Junior music group. The performances took place in several areas outdoors in close proximity to bamboo trees, a cow shed and the studio's pendapa (hall).

Read also: Ancient cow statue found in Sukoharjo

Marvel Gracia, the son of choreographer Mugiyono Kasido, showcased his own work, the Sepeda Santai (Fun Bike) dance, in a group performance.

After Marvel, the Pasah Pambelom dance from East Kalimantan, which depicts farmers harvesting their paddies, was performed by five female dancers.

Meanwhile, a group from Surakarta performed the story of Kentrung Rock N Roll, a historical fable of Nyi Ageng Serang, accompanied with kentrung music.

A fashion show featuring recycled attire by the Gropesh Surakarta Community was also held. Involving local children, the creative outfits were made from plastic and cardboard.

In addition to art performances, the festival also featured a workshop on utilizing rainwater and biopore. Led by Sedulur Banyu Udan and Sibat communities, dozens of children learned how to convert rainwater into healthy drinking water. (kes)
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Linkedin Tim Ross (Bloomberg) London, United Kingdom  Wed, January 17, 2018 22:29 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c18ae0c 2 World trump,Theresa-May,Royal-Family,wedding Free

Prime Minister Theresa May tried to paper over the cracks in the UKs so-called special relationship with the US, after Donald Trump scrapped a planned visit to London.

Trumps decision not to attend next months opening of the new US Embassy building has left Mays team scratching their heads -- with some speculating that he might be annoyed at reports that he wont be invited to Prince Harrys wedding to the actress Meghan Markle.

May also advised Queen Elizabeth to invite Trump on a state visit -- the highest honor the UK can give a foreign leader -- but he has so far not set a date. Amid warnings that any such trip will spark street protests, British officials think its possible that the president may never make the trip across the Atlantic.

We have a special and enduring relationship with the United States, May told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Im not responsible for invitations to the royal wedding.

Mays relationship with Trump has been troubled since his election victory, with arguments over anti-terror measures, intelligence leaks, and a very public clash over the presidents re-tweeting of a far-right anti-Muslim activist.

Read also: Trump seizes on London attack to push domestic crackdown
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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post) Timika  Wed, January 17 2018

The Health Ministry has brought back the Flying Health Care program to remote Asmat regency in Papua to tackle a health emergency that has claimed the lives of dozens of toddlers, ministry spokesman Oscar Primadi has said.

First launched in 2011, the healthcare program provides mobile health services to remote areas in the country.

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Linkedin Catherine Marciano (AFP) Santiago, Chile  Wed, January 17, 2018 08:38 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c166916 2 World Chile,Pope-Francis,sex-abuse,sex-abuse-scandals,pedophile Free

Pope Francis met alone Tuesday with a small group of victims of sexual abuse by priests in Chile, after he publicly asked for forgiveness and riot police broke up a protest near the first public mass of his South American visit.

During the "strictly private" meeting at the Vatican's Apostolic Nunciature embassy in Santiago, the victims "spoke of their suffering to Pope Francis, who listened to them and prayed and cried with them," the Vatican said.

Earlier, the 81-year-old pontiff said: "I cannot begin to express the pain and shame that I feel over the irreparable harm caused to children by some ministers of the church," vowing to commit to ensure the abuses would never happen again.

Francis made those comments during a visit to President Michelle Bachelet's official Moneda Palace residence, drawing applause from pilgrims watching on giant screens in a Santiago park where he later celebrated an open-air mass for some 400,000 people.

But the pope did not receive a universal welcome, with scuffles breaking out between riot police and demonstrators in the vicinity of O'Higgins Park.

Police used armored vehicles to fire water cannons at the demonstrators and arrested several people, bundling them into vans.

- 'Pedophile accomplices' -

Many of the demonstrators chanted "pedophile accomplices" as they approached the park.

A man dressed as the pope and two other people dressed as nuns unfurled a banner from the balcony of a nearby building that read: "Francis, accomplice of pedophile crimes."

Under the 1973-1990 Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship, the church was admired for its human rights advocacy role. But today, Chile is the Latin American country most critical of the Vatican.

Francis's visit -- his first to Chile as pope -- has been overshadowed by a report outlining the depth of sexual abuse in the local church, and his appointment of a bishop who many here believe covered up the country's most prominent sex abuse scandal.

The US-based NGO Bishop Accountability said ahead of the visit that almost 80 Roman Catholic clergy members had been accused of sexually abusing children in Chile since 2000.

For some victims, the pope's request for forgiveness did not go far enough.

"We need concrete actions that the pope has not taken with the Chilean church," said Juan Carlos Claret, spokesman for a lay association in the southern city of Osorno.

Claret's group is demanding Francis remove Osorno bishop Juan Barros, whom he appointed in 2015, despite Barros's ties to a disgraced pedophile priest Fernando Karadima.

- A heavy price -

The pope later told representatives of Chile's clergy at a packed Santiago cathedral that he was "attentive to what you are doing to respond to this great and painful evil."

The pain was shared not only by victims and their families, he told them, but also by the clergy.

"I know that at times you have been insulted in the metro or walking in the street, and that by going around in clerical attire in many places, you pay a heavy price," Francis said.

"Have the courage to ask to be pardoned," he summoned them.

In his homily at the mass, where the congregation included Mapuche women in traditional dress, Francis called for the rights and culture of indigenous people to be respected, so they could be treated as "a worthy child of this country."

Earlier, he said in his speech to officials that indigenous peoples "can make a great contribution" to the environmental protection of the planet.

"We can learn from them that there is no true development in a population that turns its back on the earth and everyone and everything around it," he said.

However, there was no specific mention of the Mapuche, with whom the pope is scheduled to meet Wednesday during a visit to Temuco, over 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of the capital Santiago.

Three Catholic churches were vandalized on Tuesday, including one in the Araucania region, where most of the Mapuche people live.

In a first for Francis, he visited a women's prison, telling inmates at Santiago's San Joaquin Female Penitentiary that "losing our freedom does not did not mean losing our dreams and hopes."

About 100 inmates welcomed him with songs and excited applause, some of them with their small children.

A jail sentence must offer opportunities for personal growth, he said.

"Public order must not be reduced to stronger security measures, but should be concerned primarily with preventive measures, such as work, education, and greater community involvement." (**)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 16:56 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c17ea47 4 Business tax-office,regulation,CbCR Free

The Directorate General of Taxation has issued a regulation on taxes for subsidiaries of global companies, an official has said.

Finance Ministry Regulation No. 29/2017 on country-by-country (CbC) reporting is based on Finance Minister Regulation No. 213/03/2016 on anticipating tax avoidance through transfer pricing.

Foreign corporations that become parent companies of business groups with a gross turnover of Rp 11 trillion (US$770 million) are required to produce, maintain and release CbC reports, according to the regulation signed by Director General of Taxation Robert Pakpahan as reported by kontan.co.id on Tuesday.

In addition, subsidiaries will also be required to conduct CbC reporting as long as the countries in which the corporations are based do not have a cooperation with Indonesia, or they do not require the business entities to create CbC reports, according to the tax offices spokesman, Hestu Yoga Saksama.

He added that the requirement was needed because the government does not have access to the necessary information on these businesses.

Hestu said the tax office would list the related countries on its official website.

At least 200 companies will have to conduct CbC reports, including those from Singapore, which does not require CbC reporting. (bbn)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 19:39 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c18614c 1 Business fishermen,protest,Jokowi,Susi-Pujiastuti Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti received fishermen, mostly from Central Java, at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The fishermen, who protested the ban on cantrang (seine net) use, held a demonstration in front of the palace on Wednesday morning.

At 2 p.m., Jokowi decided to receive some of the fishermen. The President was accompanied by Susi, State Secretary Pratikno, Tegal Regent Ki Enthus Susmono, Tegal acting mayor Nursholeh, Pati Regent Haryanto, Rembang Regent Abdul Hafidz and Batang Regent Wihaji.

Tegal Regent Ki Enthus Susmono said that the meeting aimed to bridge the differences between the government and fishermen on cantrang use.

Susmono said the fisherfolk community had worked with research institutions, including the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) to assess whether the use cantrang negatively affected the environment.

"The fishermen have conducted technical tests with five research institutions. They believe cantrang does not disrupt the ecosystem, he said. (bbn)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 17:31 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c17f595 1 Politics jusuf-kalla,Jokowi,joko-widodo,Cabinet-reshuffle,Airlangga-Hartarto,Golkar Free

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has backed President Joko Jokowi Widodos decision to retain Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartarto as a Cabinet minister despite the Presidents previous statements that he would not allow his ministers to double up as political party executives.

In the latest cabinet reshuffle announced on Wednesday, Jokowi retained Airlangga as industry minister. Airlangga took the helm of the party in December sparking speculation that he would be replaced in the Cabinet.

However, Kalla said Airlangga had the ability to do both jobs.

"He (Airlangga) can do the party's job at night. The case is different with Khofifah who will be in East Java. As he is still in Jakarta, there is time to do both jobs," he added on Wednesday referring to former Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa who resigned from her post following her bid to run in the East Java gubernatorial elections.

Airlanggas Golkar colleague secretary-general Idrus Marham has been appointed to replace Khofifah in the Cabinet.

Despite stating that a party chairman could double up as a minister, Kalla suggested that Idrus' position in the party would be filled.

"A chairman does not have to be at the party's office every day, but a secretary-general does. The decision to replace Idrus is in Airlangga's hand," he said.

Early in his administration, Jokowi vowed that he would not allow his ministers to hold positions at their respective political parties in order to focus on their work in the government. (rin)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah and Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 16:26 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c17a3e3 1 National Air-Force,Indonesian-Military,TNI,Sukhoi-jet-fighters,sukhoi,Yuyu-Sutisna Free

The procurement of Russian-made Sukhoi SU-35 jet fighters and radar top the list of the first priority programs for the newly sworn-in Air Force chief of staff Air Marshall Yuyu Sutisna.

Speaking after his inauguration at the State Palace on Wednesday, Yuyu said he was waiting for the contract to be signed to procure 11 Sukhoi units that would replace the F5-E Tiger jet fighters.

"I want the Sukhoi [purchase contract] to be signed as soon as possible, hopefully this month," Yuyu told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) had announced the planned acquisition of the 11 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker jet fighters last year. Russia has pledged to buy Indonesian commodities for half of the value of the contract, which was worth some US$1.14 billion, and provide a transfer-of-technology (ToT) worth another 35 percent.

Last week, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the contract documents have been ready since early January and the signing would take place in Jakarta in the near future.

The Flanker deal is the first major arms deal during the presidency of Joko Jokowi Widodo to adhere to the 2012 Defense Industry Law, which requires every foreign arms purchase to include a combined deal of 85 percent of countertrade, local content and offset. The local content is set at a minimum of 35 percent.

Yuyu, who was previously the Air Force deputy chief of staff, was sworn in on Wednesday to replace Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, who was appointed as TNI commander in December. (rin)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 15:53 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c178f3f 4 Business rice-imports,protest,regional-administrations Free

The Indonesian Regency Administrations Association (APKASI) has called on the central government to review its plan to import rice, as it will cause farm-level prices for unhusked rice to drop ahead of the harvest season in the coming weeks.

Based on the data, facts and aspirations from regents, APKASI calls on the central government to review the rice import plan, APKASI chairman Mardani H. Maming said in a statement on Wednesday, as reported by Antara news agency.

Mardani, who is the regent of Tanah Bumbu in South Kalimantan, added that without a thorough study on regional rice production, the import policy would harm farmers whose livelihood depended on the agriculture sector.

Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita announced last week that the government would import 500,000 tons of medium-grade rice from Thailand and Vietnam to ease the commodity's price, which had exceeded the government's ceiling price.

Banten's Serang Regent Ratu Tatu Chasanah made a similar statement, saying that the central government needed to listen to the farmers' aspirations before introducing a policy that might affect them directly.

She said the people in her regency would be hard hit by the policy, as they relied on the income they made from rice sales. She added that Serang's harvest season would commence in the third week of January.

North Sumatra's Serdang Berdagai Regent Soekirman echoed her concerns, saying that the harvest season in his regency would start this week. I am concerned about the rice import plan, he said. (bbn)
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Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 16:55 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c17e39f 1 City becak,Sandiaga-Uno,revival Free

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno admitted that allowing the operation of becak (pedicabs), after years of prohibition in the city, was one of the political contracts he and Governor Anies Baswedan made during the gubernatorial election campaign last year.

The political contract was handed down to Pak Anies [] We have some political contracts and we will fulfill them all, Sandiaga told journalists at City Hall on Wednesday without elaborating more on other political contracts they made during the campaign.

Anies recently stated that he would issue a political decree to regulate the revival of becak in several residential areas in Jakarta, especially in North Jakarta where many they are still operating.

Anies said issuing the decree did not mean that he would allow becak to return to the citys main streets. Only in some residential areas where there is still a demand for its services, he added on Wednesday.

Becak drivers have welcomed Anies decision, saying that they are fed up playing cat-and-mouse with officers from the Jakarta Public Order Agency.

Becak, which first appeared in Jakarta in the early 20th century, have been banned in the city since the late 1990s. In 2007, the administration reinforced the ban under a bylaw on public order.
Miami, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Ocean Bank has been named a finalist as the Top Business of the Year in the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerces Top Entrepreneurial Awards.

This is a great honor for Ocean Bank, because it recognizes not just our financial performance, but our community participation, said Agostinho Alfonso Macedo, president and chief executive officer of Ocean Bank. We grew to be Floridas largest independently owned state-chartered bank through high standards in customer service.

We are proud of the fact that many of our customers have been with the bank since its early days more than 35 years ago, and we have grown together, along with Miami. And we are proud of the fact that the business and civic community of Miami recognizes our achievements.

Ocean Bank has been recognized time and again as a corporate leader in South Florida. The Chamber honored Ocean Bank in 2017 with the Community Outreach award for its financial support, employee outreach and experience in its support of local charities and organizations. It honored Ocean Bank three times with the Top Hispanic Business Community Involvement Award, and once with the Julia Tuttle Award for Community Service. The Beacon Council gave the bank its Beacon Award for Financial Services in 2016.

The bank received the Commissioners Business Recognition Award from the Florida Department of Education in 2002 and 2007 and also received the Donor Next Door award from Leave A Legacy. In 2003, The March of Dimes honored Ocean Bank with the Building our Community Award.

The South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce honored Ocean Bank with the Hispanic Leadership Award in 2012 and in 2016 named Macedo as Banker of the Year. The Latin Builders Association and CAMACOL also have named Macedo Banker of the Year.

In 2014, the South Florida Business Journal recognized Ocean Bank with Turnaround of the Year for 2014 for its CFO awards. This was followed in 2015 with the Florida Diversity Councils Glass Ceiling Award to Senior Vice President Yuni Navarro and in 2016 with the United Negro College Funds MASKED Award for the banks efforts in providing financial aid to students at Florida Memorial University.

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Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cd2e66bb-8a05-4b26-9832-648727dc0d03
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 15:57 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c179475 1 City Sandiaga-Uno,embezzlement,police Free

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno says he has yet to receive a summons from the Jakarta Police in relation to a case of land embezzlement, in which a colleague has been implicated.

I havent received any letter today but there has been communication with the City Halls legal team because they need to be involved in this matter. God willing, we will clarify it this evening, Sandiaga said on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He gave an assurance that he would cooperate with the legal process in the case.

I certainly will be cooperative and assure you there is nothing to hide. All is squeaky clean, Sandiaga added.

Sandiaga is reportedly being summoned because the suspect in the case, Andreas Tjahjadi, is his business colleague.

Investigators from the police general crime unit have scheduled an examination of Sandiaga for Thursday. He will be questioned as a witness in the case involving alleged land embezzlement and money laundering.

According to the police, Sandiaga missed questioning on Oct. 11 last year. His lawyer at that time asked for the questioning to be postponed to allow for his inauguration ceremony as deputy governor. (wnd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 17:45 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c181911 1 Business Sari-Roti,factories,Gresik,Lampung Free

Publicly listed company PT Nippon Indosari Corpindo, the producer of bread brand Sari Roti, is expanding its business with the construction of two new factories in Lampung province and Gresik in East Java this year.

The construction of the two factories is set to begin in the first quarter of this year and they are expected to start production in 2019, said Nippon Indosari Corporindo corporate communication Stephen Orlando on Wednesday, without giving details of the production capacity.

The construction of the two factories was part of the efforts to increase sales, he said, adding that the two were among five new factories to be constructed within the next five years.

The company has 45 new products including white bread, sweet bread and cakes that are produced in 10 factories across Indonesia.

Nippon Indosari Corpindo held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on Jan. 17 to make a change in the companys board of commissioners and directors.

The meeting officially appointed Jaka Prasetya and Arlina Sofia as commissioner and director, respectively. (fny/bbn)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 10:56 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c16cb82 1 National private-island,private-islands,island-properties,Indonesian-islands,Ajab-Island,Tojo-Una-Una Free

Two of the country's islands have been listed for sale on privateislandonline.com, an international property website managed by Ontario-based Private Island Inc. that specializes in island properties.

Ajab Island in Riau Islands Province and Tojo Una Una Island in Central Sulawesi have been listed on the website as of Tuesday.

According to the website, Ajab Island, only a 20-minute boat ride from tourist destination Bintan Island, is being offered for US$ 3.3 million (Rp 44 billion) under a freehold title.The island was described as an undeveloped 74.13-acre (30-hectare) property with a white sandy beach.

"Although Ajab Island, also known as Pulau Ajab, is not developed, development is permitted," the website read.

The website listed Tojo Una Una Island, located only 10 minutes from the nearest island of Wakai, as "upon request" with a leasehold title.

It claimed that Tojo Una Una, which was described as an undeveloped island of more than 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares), was surrounded by pristine waters and coral reefs that were ideal for diving.

"This large 3000+ acre island has been in the family for over 120 years and is remote, but accessible enough to create the perfect tourism destination," the website read.

"The island is also suitable for for the 'jabon wood industry'," it added. (ebf)
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Linkedin Michel Comte and Dave Clark (AFP) Vancouver/Washington  Wed, January 17, 2018 08:51 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c166e5e 2 World US,North-Korea,China,South-Korea,Rex-Tillerson,Nuclear,missile,DonaldTrump,Donald-Trump Free

The United States urged allies to escalate pressure on North Korea over its nuclear missile program Tuesday, despite a cautious tone from key US partner South Korea.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was joined by his hawkish Japanese counterpart at 20-nation talks in Vancouver in calling for tougher punitive measures against Pyongyang.

But South Korea, while publicly maintaining faith with US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign, struck a markedly more optimistic tone, arguing that renewed North-South talks show sanctions are already working.

Key players China and Russia were not invited to the meeting of the powers that united under UN command to fight North Korea in the 1950-1963 war, and denounced the gathering as a Cold War throwback.

Tillerson, hosting the event with Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, called for North Korean ships to be intercepted at sea and for new international measures to be implemented every time Pyongyang tests new weapons.

"First, we all must insist on a full enforcement of UN Security Council sanctions, as this is the letter of the law. We especially urge Russia and China in this matter," he said.

"Second, we all must work together to improve maritime interdiction operations. We must put an end to illicit ship-to-ship transfers that undermine UN sanctions.

"And, third, there must be new consequences for the regime whenever new aggression occurs."

He received backing from his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono in public opening remarks, but South Korea's Kang Kyung-Wha sounded a more cautious note and told the 20 senior envoys that sanctions pressure is already making progress.

- Is North Korea 'buying time'? -

Some observers have welcomed North Korea's decision to meet with Seoul's representatives and to send a delegation to the South's upcoming Winter Olympics as a sign that tensions may be lowered.

But Kono urged the allies not to let their guard down as they seek to force Pyongyang to agree to negotiate its own nuclear disarmament.

Without explicitly pointing to South Korea, Kono warned that Kim Jong-Un's regime "must be intending to drive a wedge between those tough countries and those that are not so tough."

"I am aware that some people argue that because North Korea is engaging in inter-Korean dialogue, we should reward them by lifting up sanctions or by providing some sort of assistance," he said.

"Frankly, I think this view is just too naive. I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear missile programs," he said.

For her part, Kang welcomed international support for the sanctions regime, but her opening remarks in Tuesday's session carried a more optimistic message than that of her Japanese neighbor.

"I believe that the two tools, tough sanctions and pressure on the one hand and the offer of a different brighter future on the other, have worked hand in hand," she said.

"Indeed the concerted efforts of the international community has begun to bear fruit," she explained.

"We should take note that the North has come back to inter-Korean dialogue for its participation in the Winter Games, as evidence and observations accumulate to show that sanctions and pressure are beginning to take effect."

- 'Bark of a rabid dog' -

If the sanctions regime is to survive and eventually force Kim to the table, it will require Russia and especially China to continue to support the measures they agreed to in UN Security Council resolutions.

Moscow and Beijing were not represented in Vancouver and angrily dismissed the talks.

"The most important relevant parties of the Korean peninsula issue haven't taken part in the meeting so I don't think the meeting is legal or representative," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing.

Lu denounced the "Cold War mentality" of "relevant parties," without naming the United States, which is urging Beijing to cut off fuel oil supplies to Pyongyang to force it to negotiate its own nuclear disarmament.

With China absent from Vancouver, US President Donald Trump spoke with his counterpart Xi Jinping.

According to the White House, the pair expressed hope that a recent resumption in face-to-face talks between North and South Korea "might prompt a change in North Korea's destructive behavior."

But Trump also "committed to sustain the United States-led global campaign of maximum pressure to compel North Korea to commit to denuclearization."

Trans-Pacific tensions have been running high for months, despite the recent return to direct talks between Kim's regime and Moon Jae-In's South Korea.

Over the weekend, a false alarm in Hawaii warning of an incoming ballistic missile rattled nerves, and earlier this month, Trump and Kim traded saber-rattling bluster.

As the talks got underway, Pyongyang issued its first response to Trump's argument that his nuclear arsenal dwarfs the North's fledgling missile batteries.

Official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun dismissed Trump's "swaggering" as the "spasm of a lunatic" frightened by North Korea's power and the "bark of a rabid dog."

The Vancouver meeting kicked off late Monday with a dinner and several bilateral meetings, before Tuesday's talks to hammer out next steps in the standoff.

Further bilateral talks between the North and South are scheduled for Wednesday, after the Vancouver meeting.

In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said while he believed war was "avoidable," peace was far from "guaranteed." (**)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra  Wed, January 17, 2018 21:57 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c189a07 1 National Medan,arson,murder,North-Sumatra Free

The North Sumatra District Court has declared a woman guilty of starting a house fire that killed four people, sentencing her to life in prison.

Presiding judge Richard Silalahi handed down the life sentence against Jaya Mita Ginting who was proven guilty of the crime.

During the hearing, the panel of judges also sentenced three other defendants in the case, Cari Muli Ginting, Maju Suranta Siallagan and Rudi Suranta Ginting, to 20 years' imprisonment each.

"The defendants were proven to have violated article 187 of the Criminal Code on arson causing death," Richard said during the trial on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, another defendant, Zulpa Nitra Purba, was tried in a separate hearing and was sentenced to 18 years in prison..

The panel of judges told the court that the defendants were proven to have set fire to a house owned by Ganti Ginting in April 2017, resulting in the deaths of four people who lived inside. Gantis wife, child and two grandchildren died from smoke inhalation.

Judge Richard said the act was motivated by Jaya and Cari Mulis anger toward Ganti for failing to complete the payment for the house, which he had bought from Jaya for Rp 102 million (US$7,140). Jaya and Cari then asked the other defendants to set fire to the house as a warning to Ganti, and also to ensure the property was vacated. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie and Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 17, 2018 10:37 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c16b78d 1 Politics Jokowi,Joko-Widodo,Cabinet-reshuffle Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has inaugurated Air Chief Marshal Yuyu Sutisna as the new Air Force chief of staff to replace Hadi Tjahjanto, who was installed in December as Indonesian Military (TNI) commander.

Yuyu, who was the Air Force deputy chief of staff, was sworn in on Wednesday during a ceremony at the State Palace.

The President also promoted Yuyu to the rank of four-star Air Chief Marshal so the 55-year-old would be eligible for the post.

(Read also: Jokowi inaugurates new Cabinet ministers)

Yuyu, a 1986 Air Force Academy graduate, was among the three Air Force chief of staff candidates Hadi had proposed to the President in December through the State Secretariat.

The post of Air Force chief of staff was left vacant for more than a month after Hadi was inaugurated as TNI commander on Dec. 8 to replace Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, who will retire in March.

Yuyu, who graduated in the same batch as Hadi, served in 2012 as the Indonesian Defense Attache in Washington D.C. Before his promotion last October to Air Force deputy chief of staff, Yuyu was the commander of the National Air Defense Command. (ebf)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Bangkok, Thailand  Wed, January 17, 2018 21:50 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c188b58 2 SE Asia Thailand,junta-government,military,Watch-Collection Free

Thailand's junta number two has been snapped with 25 different luxury watches worth $1.2 million since a 2014 coup, social media sleuths said Wednesday, a day after the ex-general vowed to resign if a graft panel finds him guilty of wrongdoing.

Prawit Wongsuwan has been under pressure since December when the 'CSI LA' Facebook page began to catalogue luxury timepieces worn by the deputy prime minister from photos and internet news reports.

The concerted social media campaign is urging the kingdom's anti-graft body to probe how the luxury watches came into Prawit's possession -- and is hugely embarrassing to Thailand's military government.

It toppled the government of Yingluck Shinwatra in 2014 vowing to purge the country of graft, a scourge it blamed on Thailand's civilian rulers.

Prawit was one of the architects of the coup.

On Wednesday the Thai-language 'CSI LA' page raised the watch tally after finding a fresh photo of him wearing a Patek Phillipe model at a temple ceremony in 2014.

"We have found 25 luxury watches worth more than $1.24 million, including 11 Rolexes, eight Patek Philippes and three Richard Millies," a post said, urging its near-750,000 followers to unearth more photos.

Prawit has so far not disputed the number of watches.

But on Tuesday he told reporters his "friends lent" him watches which he duly returned.

Thailand's National Anti-Coruption Commission (NACC) has let a deadline for Prawit to issue a formal explanation over the watches slip several times.

The NACC is headed by one of the junta top brass' former subordinates, raising fears of a whitewash.

If the NACC rules "that I am wrong, I will quit," Prawit told reporters.

The slew of bad headlines engulfing Prawit comes as his main ally, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha remodels himself from a strongman general into a politician ahead of elections slated for the end of this year.

But the watch issue has angered both junta critics and erstwhile supporters in a divided country where politics is usually a strictly partisan affair.

Observers say that outrage represents fatigue with junta rule, which is widely seen as top-heavy and ineffective, and a wider yearning for a return to elections.

"The watch issue is a sign that a new political proposition is emerging," Sirote Klampaiboon, a political commentator told AFP.

"This is the first time since the junta took over in 2014 that political groups of different sides have come together, leaving their conflicts in the past."
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Hanoi, Vietnam  Wed, January 17, 2018 20:06 1766 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c186931 2 SE Asia trial,graft,Vietnam Free

A former oil executive in Vietnam facing a possible life sentence for graft issued a tearful apology Wednesday before a verdict in a case tied to a rare wide-ranging purge in the secretive Communist country.

Trinh Xuan Thanh, the ex-head of state-run PetroVietnam Construction, said sorry to the communist leadership and "people of the whole country" at a Hanoi court in his final appearance before the ruling.

Thanh's case has drawn a spotlight because of the intrigue surrounding it. He was allegedly kidnapped from a park in Berlin in July, sparking a diplomatic row with Germany.

Vietnam denies the accusation, insisting Thanh returned home voluntarily to face charges.

"I am very regretful, and at this court, I hope the jury would convey my apology and regret to party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong," Thanh said while sobbing, according to video of his remarks posted on state media.

Clips of the apology and that of his former boss and co-defendant Dinh La Thang went viral in a country captivated by the one-party state's rare crackdown against dozens of former bankers, officials and state executives.

The men, who denied the bulk of the accusations but said they would take responsibility, are on trial for allegedly causing $5.2 million in losses for the state during an investment by PetroVietnam into a thermal power plant.

20 state officials are also defendants in the trial that has been closed off to international media.

In a linked case, Singapore earlier this month deported fugitive Vietnamese intelligence officer Phan Van Anh Vu, who held a senior rank in the secret police.

Vu was trying to seek asylum in Germany, his lawyers said, arguing he may have information about Thanh's kidnapping on German soil.

In addition to mismanagement Thanh is accused of embezzlement, which can carry the death sentence. Prosecutors, however, asked for life imprisonment instead.

Facing up to 15 years in prison, Thanh's co-defendant Thang also asked for forgiveness and a "fair, objective and humane" verdict after apologizing to numerous people and institutions, including "generations of staff in the oil and gas industry".

Observers say the government's anti-corruption campaign is politically driven, mirroring a similar graft crackdown in next-door giant China.

Topics : trial graft Vietnam
Earlier this month, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman cut a deal with the former owner of Rivington House, requiring the Allure Group to pay $2 million in fines and other penalties. Now the for-profit nursing homes owners  Joel Landau, Marvin Rubin and Solomon Rubin  are chiming in with their spin on the settlement agreement.

Allures decision to sell the former Lower East Side nursing home for $116 million to luxury condo developers and the citys move to lift deed restrictions triggered several investigations. The state AG determined that there was no legal way to void the deal, but that Allure had violated the states not-for-profit corporation law. In addition to paying fines, the agreement requires Allure to open a new nursing home on the Lower East Side, and one in Brooklyn.

In a piece posted overnight, Crains reports that, Allure is finally poised to pursue its stalled growth plans after the state investigation came to an end. Even before the Rivington House controversy erupted, Allures executives said they were planning to open a new nursing home somewhere in the neighborhood. Now theyre free to move forward with that plan.
Caveat, the fairly new performance venue on Clinton Street for, playful, intelligent nightlife, offers a pretty diverse and often wacky lineup. Tonight, for example, its a Ded Talks, which is described as a, lecture series highlighting the life and ideas of your favorite dearly departed celebrities. But today we want to mention another event with special relevance on the Lower East Side: Convergence: Coastal Cities Confront Rising Seas.

Convergence is a live show and podcast which, brings together two people from vastly different fields to explore how emerging science and tech will affect culture, society, and politics in the near future. Tomorrow evening, host Meehan Crist will be joined by Robin Bell of of Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and and Daniel Zarrilli, whos in charge of New York Citys resiliency efforts.

Bell has coordinated 10 exhibitions to Antartica and Greenland to examine what makes ice sheets collapse. Zarrilli is spearheading the citys climate change initiatives, including the multi-million dollar flood protection system that will one day be built along the East River.

The program takes place tomorrow (Thursday) from 7-9 p.m. at Caveat, 21 Clinton St. More info here.
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serinus Energy Inc. (Serinus, SEN or the Company) (TSX:SEN) (WARSAW:SEN), is pleased to announce the following management appointments at the Companys business units in Tunisia and Romania.



In Tunisia, the Company is pleased to appoint Mr. Haithem Ben Hassen as President of Winstar Tunisia BV, Serinus Energys wholly-owned operating subsidiary in Tunisia. He is replacing Dr. Trent Rehill who has resigned his position for personal reasons. Mr. Ben Hassen joined Winstar Tunisia in November 2014 as Senior Project Engineer and was then promoted to Project Manager in June 2015. During this time, he has been responsible for the completion of numerous capital projects undertaken by the Company, including the vital seconded role as Project Manager for the Moftinu Gas Development Project in Romania. Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Ben Hassen had numerous senior engineering roles with Pireco Tunisia, Mondial Contractors, and Frimar SA in Tunisia. He has a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada.

The Company is also pleased to appoint Mr. Arafet Mansali as Chief Operating Officer and Mr. Chedly Maghraoui as Finance Director of Winstar Tunisia BV.

Mr. Mansali joined Winstar Tunisia in February 2014 as Senior Production Engineer before being appointed Production Manager in May 2017. He has significant petroleum engineering and operations management education and experience. Mr. Mansali will work closely with the Calgary technical team to implement capital programs to increase production efficiency from our Tunisia fields.

Prior to joining Winstar, Mr. Maghraoui was Finance Accounting and Administration Manager for Ensco PLC, overseeing the financial reporting functions for all of Enscos projects in the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean region. He will work closely with the Calgary finance team in the financial reporting requirements of the Tunisia business unit as well joint venture financial reporting. He has significant training and experience in financial controls and audit compliance.

In Romania, the Company is pleased to announce that it has promoted Ms. Alexandra Damascan to the position of President of Serinus Energy Romania SA from her previous role of Country Manager, Romania. This change in title better reflects her significant role and contributions as the head of the Romanian Business Unit as the Company moves forward in the construction and commissioning of the Moftinu Gas Project. Ms. Damascan has been with Serinus Energy Romania since 2008 and has proven to be an invaluable member of the Serinus team. She has degrees in Political Economics, an MBA in Business Transactions from the Academy of Economic Studies, a Law Degree and LLM in International Arbitration from the Romanian-American University, as well as being currently enrolled in the MBA Oil & Gas Program at the Oil and Gas Institute in Ploiesti, Romania.

In addition to the promotion of Ms. Damascan, Serinus Energy Romania has also appointed Mr. Florin Georgescu to the role of Vice President, Production & Development. In this position, Mr. Georgescu will oversee the Romanian commercial and production operations, working closely with the Calgary team. Mr. Georgescu has an MBA in Business Management, an MBA in Oil & Gas Management from the Oil & Gas University in Ploiesti, Romania as well as significant education and experience in Commercial, Financial and Banking and working experience in oil regions such as North America and Middle East.

Serinus Executive Management is very pleased to appoint and promote these very competent and experienced individuals to their positions. These are important organizational steps for the Company as it positions itself for future years of growth in both Business Units.

About Serinus

Serinus is an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company that owns and operates projects in Tunisia and Romania.

For further information, please refer to the Serinus website (www.serinusenergy.com) or contact the following:

Serinus Energy Inc. Serinus Energy Inc. Calvin Brackman Jeffrey Auld Vice President, External Relations & Strategy Chief Executive Officer Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 Tel.: +1-403-264-8877 cbrackman@serinusenergy.com jauld@serinusenergy.com

Translation: This news release has been translated into Polish from the English original.
Its a big loss for Loisaida. Friends, loved ones and loyal customers today are remembering Adela Fargas, the beloved owner of Casa Adela on Avenue C.

Adela has been cooking authentic Puerto Rican food (as the sign in the window announces to passersby) since 1976. An announcement went up yesterday on Casa Adelas Facebook page:

With our Deepest Sorrow, We announce the passing of our Beloved Adela, a Respected Woman, Mother, and Hero to us all We love you so much and you will be missed, but not forgotten.

City Council member Carlina Rivera, a life-long Lower East Side resident, posted a tribute on social media, saying of Adela, She was a Puerto Rican patriot and an icon of the LES. As Rivera noted, Casa Adela has for decades been a center of Latino life in this neighborhood, hosting locals, tourists and celebrities alike. My heart goes out to her family, said Rivera. Her smile, island pride and magic touch in the kitchen will be missed by so many.

In 2015, the New York Times profiled Casa Adela in its Neighborhood Joint column:

Ms. Ferguson (this is the last name used by the Times in the 2015 story) has been cooking since she opened a luncheonette one block down on Avenue C in the 1970s. That is where she concocted a knockout seasoning and the perfect timing for roasting a chicken, though its pointless to ask for the recipe. If I told you, Id have to kill you, said Luis Rivera, 56, a manager of the restaurant for the past 20 years. He is also Ms. Fergusons son. She makes people feel like they are eating from Grandmas hand, he said. Many people, their grandmothers are back home, he said, meaning in Puerto Rico. So they come here.

A couple of years ago, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation named Casa Adela its Business of the Month. Richard Ramirez, who noted the restaurant, wrote:

(Adela) is an urban icon, she is a modern day phenomenon, she is eighty years young and she is at the restaurant on any given day between the hours of four thirty and five in the morning, getting her kitchen ready for her patrons. To see her in action is worth the visit; to taste her food is just an added delight. Upper Manhattan has Sylvias (soul food); Lower Manhattan has Adelas best Puerto Rican cuisine in town! If you come once I can assure you will come back again.

As EV Grieve reported, a memorial has gone up outside Casa Adela on Avenue C near East Fourth Street. A viewing takes place Friday afternoon and evening at Ortiz Funeral Home, 22 First Avenue.
New York City Police Commissioner James ONeill is making a lot of personnel changes to start 2018, as 29 captains were reassigned this week. Here on the Lower East Side, the 7th Precinct will be seeing new leadership.

After about two-and-a-half years on the job, Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman is moving up to the 13th Precinct, which covers Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, Gramercy and Union Square. His replacement as commanding officer at the 7th is Deputy Inspector Rhonda OReilly-Bovell, who most recently was in charge of Transit District 2. Previously she was captain at the 30th Precinct in Harlem and served in the 63rd Precinct in Brooklyn (Bergen Beach/Flabush/Marine Park).

We would like to wish Deputy Inspector Hellman good luck on his transfer to the 13th Precinct and we would also like to welcome Deputy Inspector Oreilly Bovell to the @NYPD7Pct Community!  NYPD 7th Precinct (@NYPD7Pct) January 17, 2018

The Daily News earlier today reported on the NYPDs reshuffling:

The 23rd Precinct, 25th Precinct and 30th Precinct in Harlem and the 7th Precinct on the Lower East Side all lost their current commanding officers in favor of new blood, sources said. The transfers also moved three women into more high-profile leadership positions.

Its not the first time in recent years that the 7th Precinct has had a woman as commanding officer. Captain Nancy Barry was the top cop in the 7th from the middle of 2009 until August of 2011.
The 11th century Bayeux tapestry is to be displayed in the UK, after being allowed to leave France for the first time in 950 years.

It is expected that French President Emmanuel Macron will announce the historic loan during his visit to the UK on Thursday.

The artwork, which is 225 feet long, is currently on permanent display in Bayeux, Normandy, and has not been taken out of France for 950 years.

The piece will not be transferred until at least 2020, subject to the outcome of tests ensuring that it is safe to move. In fact the transfer may not take place until 2022, when the Bayeux museum is set to close for refurbishment.

The tapestry tells the story of William the Conquerors Norman conquest of England, culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the death of King Harold.

Embroidered onto a series of linen panels, the exact origins of the tapestry are unknown. The earliest known reference to it is in a 1476 inventory from Bayeux Cathedral. Some historians argue that it was created by a team of nuns in England, not France.

The artwork has only been displayed outside of Normandy twice  once in Paris by Napoleon in the run up to his planned invasion of England, and again in 1944 when the Nazis took it to the Louvre.

It is thought that there have been several unsuccessful British requests to display the tapestry in the past  among them for the Queens Coronation in 1953 and the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966.

If the tapestry is allowed to come to the UK, it will most likely be exhibited in the British Museum. Director Hartwig Fischer said the museum would be honoured and delighted to display the piece, and that this could be the most significant loan ever from France to the UK.
Tory MP Ben Bradley has sparked anger after saying that unemployed should get vasectomies.

via Wikimedia Commons

The MP was appointed as Vice Chair of the Conservative Party by Prime Minister, Theresa May, six days ago. He was given the task of reconnecting the party with young people and driving the party's appeal amongst voters younger than 40.

Since the comments emerged this morning, the Prime Minister has been under pressure to fire him.

Bradley, a rising star in the party, was elected in Parliament in 2017 and was the first Tory since 1885 to win in Mansfield. Before being elected as MP, he was an activist and councillor in Conservatives politics.

In his comment Bradley said that Britain would be "drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters" if people with benefits have too many kids, and thus those out of work should limit the number of children they can have.

The comment was made on Mr Bradleys blog "consbradders32" in January 2012, when he was aged 22. Yet, it was only revealed yesterday and has been deleted after Bradley was approached by Buzzfeed News.

The headline of the post was "Give us the benefits cap - before we all drown!" with tagged key words including "chavs" and "wasters".

The blog post was used to support the controversial benefit cap from the Conservatives-Lib Dem coalition. His post contained the following:

"Vasectomies are free Families who have never worked a day in their lives having 4 or 5 kids and the rest of us having 1 or 2 means it's not long before were drowning in a vast sea of unemployed wasters that we pay to keep!"

The Labour Party has also been outraged by the comments. Cat Smith, Labours Shadow Youth Affairs Minister, said: "These repulsive comments expose the Tories' disgraceful attitude to unemployed people."

Since then, the Bradley has issued an apologise by email: "I apologise for these posts. My time in politics has allowed me to mature and I now realise that this language is not appropriate."
After a US release on BBC America, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency has finally been added to Netflix, bringing a much-needed sense of wackiness to the streaming service.

Picking up after the frankly unfair cliffhanger that season one left us with back in 2016, Dirk Gently picks back up a couple of months later.

Todd (Elijah Wood) and Farah (Jade Eshete) are at their wit's end, as they are on the run from the authorities and simultaneously searching for any traces of Blackwing and Dirk (Samuel Barnett). Meanwhile, Dirk is subjected to meticulous testing by a hopeless Friedkin (Dustin Milligan), who doesn't realise his methods are just the same as the ones of the original Blackwing.

As expected, Amanda is now a full-fledged badass, trying to use her own paralibulitus to look for the rest of the Rowdy Three with Vogel (Osric Chau).

Surprisingly, out of the last pair of returning characters, it is Ken (Mpho Koaho) who ends up in Blackwing custody and not Bart (Fiona Dourif) like many expected. That leads to a lovely dynamic between Ken and Friedkin, and possibly the best character development in a series that prides itself on colourful personages.

Where the first season gave us crazy time travel, this one steps up its game by giving us alternate dimensions. One of the Blackwing subjects (more of whom we get to know this season), Project Moloch is capable of bringing his dreams to life. The catch? He is mentally a young boy, having been in a coma for the last couple of decades. As such, Wendimoor (anagram for weird moon) is just as wacky as you would imagine a young boy's fictional world to be. The problem, however, is that the boy - now an old man - is not capable of controlling the nitty-bitty details of the world. That is how the villain receives so much power, and looks towards the real power - he has gone beyond what he has been designed for.

In terms of the new characters, there's certainly a plethora of them. The new police duo in the face of Sherlock Hobbs, old and seasoned and sweet (yes, that one, played by Tyler Labine) and Tina Tevetino, the young and constantly bored counterpart to him (played by Izzie Steele) are worthy heirs to Estevez and Zimmerfield.

The Mage, Suzie Boreton and the Priest are interesting villains each in their own right. The Mage tries to circumvent his destiny and while he ultimately fails to do that, he comes dangerously close to. The Priest, played by Alan Tudyk, is genuinely creepy in a show that tends to mask its dark parts with cheer, whereas the story of Suzie Boreton is a wonderful unreliably narrated tale.

The Wendimoor characters, however, take the show completely. Panto and Silas are the only example of an interracial gay couple in a high fantasy setting that I am aware of, which is great representation. The interplay between the two big families, and Panto and Silas's forbidden romance are direct callbacks to Romeo and Juliet (though they don't suffer the same fate), while Suzie's story somehow reminds us of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

From all this, you'd be forgiven for thinking the plot to be convoluted and hard to follow, but it manages to weave together lots of plot points and take them to places where the audience would not expect. The fact that this season got ten episodes is also a plus, as it allows for more hints to be set up and for the the characters to breathe, develop and interact, which is amazing with such a rich roster of different characters.

Although BBC America has refused to greenlight the show for a third season, there is a campaign going on for its renewal, as Netflix are still willing to go along with it. The petition can be signed here.
This underrated psychological crime drama follows in the footsteps of Mindhunter as it unravels the motives for a violent and seemingly random murder on a public beach.

After all the noise about psychological crime drama Mindhunter, its understandable if its understated partner-in-genre passed you by. But with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and two Golden Globe nominations, if you havent seen it already, its time to schedule The Sinner into your next Netflix binge session.

This murky thriller delves into the reasons behind an apparently random act of violence and unravels a mystery that manages to hold your attention from start to finish without falling into any cliche pitfalls. The show opens with a seemingly normal suburban housewife spontaneously stabbing someone to death on a beach. And she has no idea why she did it.

As everyone deals with the immediate aftermath of such a savage crime, you soon find yourself dragged into an increasingly dark world of repressed memories and a convoluted investigation into her motives for murder. Jessica Biel shines as the troubled killer, jumping unpredictably from shy mother Cora Tannetti to unstable criminal and back throughout the eight-part series.

Her inconsistent memories and untrustworthy perspective add to the tension as she works with detectives and doctors to unravel the trigger to her horrific crime. But its Bill Pullman (Torchwood: Miracle Day) that carries the show as the Columbo-esque Detective Ambrose, who is determined to find the truth. The interactions between the two troubled characters are fraught with tension.

For a drama largely reliant on flashbacks and discussions of the past, it manages to maintain the suspense by leaving a tantalising breadcrumb trail of clues which make the show so addictive. While mystery dramas that lead up to a final moment of revelation can often struggle to make the answer as gripping and dramatic as the build-up promises, The Sinner makes the ending as compelling as the beginning. Its relentlessly nerve-wracking as the past is unravelled bit by bit in a series of half-accurate flashbacks - wallpaper, a mysterious woman walking down an eerie staircase, a school bus in a swamp - every hint of an answer just leads to more questions.

If you want a slick drama that keeps you rushing to press 'Next Episode' every time, then this is the show you need. If the quality of the drama itself isnt enough of a reason to watch, the show must also be credited for its subtle commentary on relevant aspects of society in America today. Over the course of the story, the series explores the frightening depths and potential repercussions of drug abuse, religious fanaticism, and attitudes to healthcare and mental health issues.

Not only must Cora fight with her own trauma and fractured memories, the American court and healthcare system is set up against her and unwilling to acknowledge her mental instability. The show makes these issues central to the plot without moralising, and provide an unsettling reminder of deep-rooted societal issues that exist today.

This genuinely scary thriller manages to stand out in an increasingly diluted market of heavy crime dramas. It crafts a truly unpredictable story with expert pacing, stellar casting, and a fragile balance between grotesque violence and unsettling calm. This was the number one cable show in America of 2017 for a reason and it doesnt disappoint.

If youre looking for a show to fill the horrifying-crime-drama-shaped gap in your life, then The Sinner is what you should be watching.
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The Agricultural BusinessInitiative (aBi) Trust is supporting agribusiness development in the privatesector to achieve the objective of the Government of Ugandas Competitivenessand Investment Climate Strategy (CICS). The Trust is a multi-donor entityjointly founded by the Governments of Denmark and Uganda. The mandate of aBiTrust is to support the private sector actors to increase their contribution tothe agricultural sector by increasing land and labour productivity, and marketcompetitiveness thereby contributing to poverty reduction through economicgrowth, wealth, and employment creation.
Organisation: Uganda

Christian University (UCU)

Duty Station: Mukono, Uganda

Reports to: Standard

Supervisor

About UCU:

Uganda Christian University was founded when the historic Bishop Tucker

Theological College was promoted as a university in 1997. Bishop Tucker

Theological College trained clergy and educators during its 84-year history from

1913-1997. The local chief, Hamu Mukasa, granted land for the college to

operate in Mukono. International partnerships were part of the Colleges

missionary history. The Church Mission Society teamed with Ugandan leaders and

others to assure the College had the necessary intellectual and other capital.

By the late 1990s, the Church of Uganda sought to have a broader impact on

society through the higher education  not only of clergy but of other

professionals as well. Uganda Christian University was established in 1997.

Job Summary: The Staff

Writer Intern will be part of the team that will write news stories, features

and take photographs of events about or affecting the university and the

community. He or she will also sift through views and opinions of the members

of the community and write about them for the purpose of informing the rest of

the community about the change in the thinking of the community towards issues

of common concern. The successful applicant will, in addition, be given

professional hands on training in the modern journalistic practice.



Key Duties and Responsibilities:



The Intern will be establishing news sources in

the UCU community for effective journalism practice.



Conduct interviews and coverage of events in the

UCU community and its neighborhood.



Writing stories, articles and developing areas

of news coverage.



In charge of designing newspaper pages for The

Standard.



Perform any other official duties assigned by

The Standard Supervisor.











Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:



The ideal candidate for the UCU Staff Writer

Intern job opportunity must be a recent degree in Mass Communication,

preferably Print major (Must have graduated not earlier than 2012).



Must be competent in the use of In Design and

have the ability to design pages for the newspaper.



Possess good writing skills, a desire to look

for stories and deliver them in a timely manner.



Strong photojournalism skills.



Must be able to work under minimum supervision

for long hours, weekends inclusive.



A committed Christian who is honest and

trustworthy.

How to Apply:

All qualified candidates should send two (2) copies of an application

letter clearly demonstrating suitability together with updated Curriculum Vita and two (Academic, Leadership, Pastoral) references. Please attach copies of academic and professional certificates and transcripts on each application. Send to:

The Manager, Human Resource & Administration,

Uganda Christian University,

Pilkington Building,

P.O. Box 4, Mukono, Uganda





Deadline: 19th January 2018 by 5:00 pm



find us on our Facebook page

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com orfind us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline






Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said that technology and young people are the future and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is changing India by revolutionising the country as one of the world's great powers.

Netanyahu said, "I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more 'i' that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate."

Netanyahu was speaking at a function at Bavla, about 34 kilometres away from Ahmedabad, where he and Modi inaugurated iCreate. Established as an autonomous centre of excellence, the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology has come up in a 34-acre campus.

The centre will facilitate new age entrepreneurial pursuits of youth that will focus on innovative application for wealth generation, employment creation and global competition.

Benjamin said, Let us rise like a flame and iCreate does that. He appreciated the infectious optimism of the young that an idea can change the world. He said that both Modi and he were optimistic and young in thinking, and that he was very excited about the countries' cooperation in technology and innovation.

Netanyahu and Modi also inaugurated a facility of mobile water treatment in the remote village of Suigam in the border district of Banaskantha. Gifted to India by Israel, the mobile treatment vehicle has a capacity to treat 20,000 litres of sea water in a day. Resistant to all weather conditions, the vehicle can treat water from any water source as per WHO standards.

Modi said that the water purifying technology would help BSF jawans get potable drinking water.

Netanyahu ended his speech by chanting Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel.

Modi pointed out in his speech that Israel proved that it was not the size of the country, but the determination of the people that enables it to rise.

"When I launched iCreate a few years ago, I said I want to link it with Israel. My motive was that this institution and our youth are benefited by Israel's experience and their startup environment, Modi said.

The prime minister said that a lot of cooperation between the two countries can happen in water conservation, agriculture production, food processing, cyber security and a host of other fields.

If the energy and enthusiasm of youth is given encouragement and institutional support, the results would be bigger, said Modi.

He said that the Centre is making efforts to make the entire system in the country innovation-friendly, which would, in the end, lead to the formation of a 'New India'.

"Never stop dreaming and never let the dreams die. It is good for children to have high curiosity quotient", he continued.

Benjamin and his wife Sara are on a day-long visit to Gujarat. Earlier in the day, they had visited the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.

(With ANI inputs)
Come February, all roads will lead to Greater Noida for Indias largest Auto Expo, scheduled to take place from February 9th - February 14th, 2018 at the India Expo Mart. While the Auto Expo has, in the past, received upto 100,000 foot falls each day, several auto giants as well as two-wheeler giants have decided not to participate in one of Indias leading auto events. The reasons for doing so are aplenty, from return on investment not being good enough to not attracting the right buyers for their products.

Perhaps the biggest blow will come from the Volkswagen Group which is going to be conspicuous by its absence, and that automatically means Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Ducati, MAN and Scania are not going to be present with their product offerings. In an email reply to THE WEEK, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Indias spokesperson said, Volkswagen Group as part of the structured approach and the evolving global business environment has decided to not participate in the upcoming India Auto Expo 2018. This is in-line with its global review of the Groups event and show strategy as it entails huge commitments of time and planning. Volkswagen will however continue to focus and stay committed to the India market.

While American giant GM exited India last year, the other American carmaker, Ford has other plans for showcasing its products in India. Fords spokesperson wrote to THE WEEK saying that The Delhi Auto Show is a great event. For 2018, however, at Ford, we have decided to take a new approach. We will invest our resources and energy in creating Ford exclusive event platforms and experiences to bring awareness to the line-up of vehicles, technologies and mobility solutions in India. The Ford Mustang India Tour or the recently held City of Tomorrow Symposium are examples of this approach, which helped us to engage directly with our consumers.

Japanese carmaker, Nissan, also, will not be present at the Auto Expo 2018. When THE WEEK contacted Nissan India, they replied saying, We reviewed our activity plan in consideration of the various event and show possibilities. For our current priorities and business objectives, we plan to reach out to our target customers through innovative platforms and channels.

Triumphs MD, Vimal Sumbly told THE WEEK, The Auto Expo is a great place to be. It is a large format auto show in India and Triumph has been there twice in the last four years since we launched in India. The Auto Expo has given us an edge whenever we launched new products and it is indeed a great platform. However, this time around because the BS III to BSIV happened at a two-day notice period, along with GST, which had an impact on our available stock in India, as our products are imported into the country, it has affected our planning. However, next time, we will be associated with Auto Expo again.

American motorcycle giant Harley Davidson would also skip this year's Auto Expo and will focus its resources on independent events. Peter MacKenzie, Managing Director, Harley Davidson India and China told THE WEEK that, "Auto Expo is definitely India's finest mega product showcase event. However, given our priorities and business objectives at present, our full attention and focus is required on our independent brand events with the aim of providing the best experience to our consumers."



Despite some of the biggest names such as Jaguar Land Rover, Fiat Chrysler, ISUZU, Harley Davidson and Royal Enfield, among others, not being there, the Auto Expo will still see some new brand-new launches and unveilings as MG, Kia and Kawasaki make an entry into India.
Actor Alec Baldwin has expressed support for Woody Allen after a number of Hollywood stars distanced themselves from the veteran director.

In recent days, actors such as Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Hall and Mira Sorvino had expressed regret over starring in Allen's films.

Chalamet and Hall have announced that they will donate their salaries from Allen's upcoming film A Rainy Day in New York.

Baldwin, who starred in three of Allen's films, tweeted his support for the director.

"Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed. The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose," Baldwin wrote.

"But it's unfair and sad to me. I worked with WA (Woody Allen) 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career," he added. Baldwin also said that sexual abuse complaints should never be dismissed but he argued that accusations should also be "treated carefully".

"Is it possible to support survivors of paedophilia and sexual assault/abuse and also believe that WA (Woody Allen) is innocent? I think so," Baldwin tweeted.

"The intention is not to dismiss or ignore such complaints. But accusing people of such crimes should be treated carefully. On behalf of the victims, as well," he added.

Dylan Farrow, Allen's adopted daughter, accused the director of sexually abusing her in the early 1990s while she was a child. She reiterated her allegations in a 2014 New York Times op-ed and other articles. She has often criticised Hollywood actors for not taking her claims seriously.

Dylan's allegations have picked up steam in wake of the #MeToo movement following her brother Ronan Farrow's expose of Harvey Weinstein. Ronan is Allen and Mia Farrow's biological child.
Renowned cinematographer W.B. Rao passed away this morning at a suburban hospital.

Rao, known for his works in Bollywood hits like Rangeela, Hum and Khuda Gawah, breathed his last at the Bhartiya Arogya Nidhi Hospital, sources close to the family said.

In a career spanning four decades, Rao's first break as a cinematographer happened in 1987 with Mukul Anand's Insaaf starring Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. Some of his other notable films include Dhadkan, Judwaa, Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega and others.

Actor and host Naved Jafri and filmmaker Sangeeth Sivan took to twitter to offer their condolences.

"Legendary craftsman of indian cinema passes away, ace cinematographer W B Rao sahab has left us, May his soul rest in peace, may the almighty give strength and patience to the family, deepest condolences," Jafri said on Twitter.

Sivan said, "W B Rao, the much respected and revered cinematographer is no more."
Sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Wednesday said there was no immediate necessity for him to float a new political party and added that he would move the court seeking permission to function as AIADMK (Amma).

He had already moved the Madras High Court challenging the validity of AIADMK general council meeting, which had annulled the appointment of his aunt V.K. Sasikala as party interim general secretary. A decision in this regard is pending, Dhinakaran said.

Legal sanction would be sought for functioning as AIADMK (Amma) and a decision would be taken later, he told reporters. He was responding to questions about reports that he was planning to float a new party.

Following a revolt against jailed leader Sasikala by now deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam early last year, the Election Commission had, in an interim order, frozen the AIADMK two leaves symbol.

It allotted the name AIADMK (Amma) to the group led by Sasikala and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) to the erstwhile faction led by Panneerselvam.

In its final order last year, the EC had allotted the two leaves symbol to the unified AIADMK led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, dealing a blow to the Sasikala faction.

ALSO READ: With Dhinakarans win in the R.K. Nagar byelection, uncertainty returns to Tamil Nadu politics

Palaniswami led group, which had earlier rebelled against Sasikala, and Panneerselvam group merged in August last year.

Dhinakaran, who won the R.K. Nagar assembly by-election in December last as an independent, said he had many options, including floating a new party.

Claiming that Paneerselvam and Palaniswami were using the name AIADMK and two leaves symbol only temporarily, he said there were four options, including starting a new party, before his consideration.

"In view of this, there is no immediate necessity to start a party and if we are barred to use the AIADMK (Amma) name, there is no no other way but to float a new party which will be to retrieve the AIADMK and symbol," he said.

READ MORE: Why R.K. Nagar byelection unleashes a political storm in Tamil Nadu

Dhinakaran said his "sleeper cells" (in AIADMK) will come out during the test of strength in the assembly.

He had been claiming that several MLAs in the ruling camp were his supporters and would vote against the government when the occasion arose.

MGR birth anniversary celebrated

Meanwhile, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam distributed biryani to the party workers at the AIADMK party office in Chennai on the 101st birth anniversary of M.G. Ramachandran.

Earlier in the day, party workers took out a procession to the statue of M.G. Ramachandran and garlanded it on the occasion.

Scores of fans and supporters gathered to remember MGR on his birth anniversary.

The actor-turned-politician, MGR, founded his party AIADMK after a feud with DMK chief M. Karunanidhi in 1972. He served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987.
The Haryana Police on Wednesday said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been in a canal near Jyotisar.

The body was found on Tuesday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra when she went to attend a tuition class.

The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

"On the complaint of the girl's parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found yesterday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the postmortem will reveal the exact cause of his death," Kurukshetra SP, Abhishek Garg said.

The Class X student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

The incident triggered nationwide outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery, the Congress had also asked the M.L. Khattar led BJP government to resign on moral grounds.

Police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one.

However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

"It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few persons. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles," he said.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gang-raped in a moving car in Faridabad.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B.S. Sandhu on Tuesday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to cases.
The greetings from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 'Dhanyavad Mere Pyare Dost' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and 'Aliechem Shalom' by Modi to his Israeli counterpart depicted the bonhomie between the two leaders during their visit to Gujarat on Wednesday.

While Modi expressed his dream of achieving the goal of doubling farmers' income by 2022 through Israeli technology, the Israeli prime minister hoped that under the able leadership of Modi, India would achieve that.

Both the leaders dedicated a centre of excellence for date farming at the Kukma centre in Kutch district through a digital switch, during their visit to the horticulture centre at Vadrad near Prantij. "Since the Biblical days, Israelis have been growing dates, wheat, and conventional produce. We have created new parameters in agriculture through scientific methods in a desert like Israel," said Netanyahu.

He expressed his delight at knowing that the farmers could increase their output through the Vadrad centre of excellence formed with Israeli help. "India and Israel both believe in the policy of knowledge is the future. India has the vision and leadership under Modi," said Netanyahu. Both leaders also unveiled the Memory Tower to mark 25 years of Indo-Israeli cooperation at the Vadrad centre.

"Israel shows the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core. As we work towards doubling farmers income by 2022, the factors such as optimum utilization of land resources, minimum wastage and understanding the needs of the market assume prime importance," Modi said to the gathered audience of farmers, agriculture scientists and expert researchers.

Both the leaders expressed optimism of developing future technologies jointly by forging entrepreneurial alliances amongst youth, while they inaugurated the newly-built campus of International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) near Ahmedabad. The centre was formally dedicated to the nation by both the dignitaries.

An autonomous centre for start-ups, 'iCreate' was formally launched in 2011 when Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister. "I am delighted to be here. The world knows about iPads and iPods, there is one more i that the world needs to know about, that is iCreate. Israel wants to build partnership with you," Netanyahu said before concluding his speech by chanting, "Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Israel."

Narendra Modi said, "We are working towards making the entire system innovation-friendly, as intent leads to ideas, ideas to innovation and innovations would help form a New India. When I had visited Israel for the first time, I had decided that we should have relationship with this nation."

The Israeli prime minister gifted the Gal-Mobile, a water desalination and purification vehicle, to India and both the prime ministers witnessed the demonstration of a vehicle that was stationed at Suigam, a village several kilometres away in the border district of Banaskantha, where BSF and villagers would benefit from clean drinking water using Gal-Mobile. The Gal-Mobile can purify around 20,000 liters of sea or salty water daily. The vehicle was dedicated by both the leaders through a video link.

The leaders began their one day visit to the state with host Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart embarking on an eight-km-long roadshow on their arrival in Ahmedabad, amidst heavy security blanket and thousands lined up to greet both. The leaders witnessed glimpses of India's rich cultural heritage showcased at 50 stages erected alongside the route to Sabarmati Ashram.

Playing a perfect host at the Ashram, Modi showed his guest the possessions of Mahatma Gandhi. Netanyahu even tried his hand at Bapu's 'Charkha' and after spending about 20 minutes at the Ashram, the Israeli Premier penned his thoughts, "An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspirationMahatma Gandhi."

The leaders also experienced the thrill of the popular kite festival in GujaratUttarayanthat was celebrated a couple of days ago by flying kites on the banks of the Sabarmati river. The Indian Prime Minister taught Netanyahu how to fly the kite.
A chargesheet against seven Kashmiri separatists and a businessman in a case of funding terror in the Kashmir Valley will be filed by the NIA on Thursday, the day their judicial custody ends, officials said.

According to National Investigation Agency (NIA) sources, the agency will file the chargesheet against the arrested separatist leaders and a businessman under various sections of money laundering and waging war against country as the judicial custody ends on January 18.

A Delhi court on January 12 extended the judicial custody of the eight accused till January 18.

The eight have been charged with receiving funds from Pakistan to sponsor terror activities and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir was rocked by violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces on July 8, 2016.

An official of the agency said that they will be charged under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAP Act of 1967) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 121 Waging, or attempting to wage war against the state and Section 120 B entering into criminal conspiracy.

According to a senior official of the agency, the main chargesheet prepared by the NIA contains close to 50 pages and the annexure attached to the chargesheet, may run into nearly 5,000 pages.

On July 24, 2017, the NIA arrested seven of themAftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullahon charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against India.

Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan. Islam is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.

Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, accused of acting as a conduit for channelling funds for separatists and terror activities in the Kashmir Valley, was arrested on August 17 last year.

He was allegedly collecting funds from Pakistan and banned terrorist organisations and transferring the same to Hurriyat leaders.

Watali is known to be friends with Pakistani leaders as well as separatists, besides leading politicians in Kashmir, the NIA said.

The NIA has filed a case against the separatist leaders on May 30 following a sting operation by a television channel after the Geelani-led Hurriyat suspended Nayeem Khan confessed that Hurriyat leaders had been receiving funds from Pakistan for subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley.

Hafeez Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ul Dawah, the front of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), has been named in the FIR as an accused besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Dukhtaran-e-Milat.

The NIA had questioned the arrested persons after the May 2017 expose. The counter-terror probe agency had also conducted raids in Srinagar, Jammu, Delhi and Haryana and reportedly seized incriminating evidence against those involved in receiving, acting as intermediaries and final beneficiaries of funds coming from Pakistan.

India has for decades accused Pakistan of arming, financing and training militants fighting to end Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad says it provides only political and diplomatic support.
Jeremy Michael Sullivan, 44, of Boulder, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years supervised release, and a $100 surcharge by United States District Court Judge Sam E. Haddon on Wednesday for possessing a firearm as a prohibited felon.

Sullivan was arrested after being investigated for selling a stolen handgun. He was previously convicted of felony theft in Utah.

The charge against Sullivan is the result of an investigation by the Boulder Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Bartleson prosecuted the case.
It's been over a year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi floated the idea of one nation, one election, according to which simultaneous polls could be held for Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but consensus still eludes political parties. Now, a RSS and BJP-affiliated think tank is pushing for building a debate around the issue.

Newly appointed chairperson of Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said holding simultaneous elections would save the government several thousand crores of rupees. Sahasrabuddhe, who wears many hats one among which is looking after the functioning of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhnia Mumbai based research and training institutewill organise a two-day seminar, pushing for simultaneous elections. Sahasrabuddhe is also a Rajya Sabha MP and BJP's national vice president.

Sahasrabuddhe has invited Haryana Chief Minister M.L. Khattar, BJD MP Baijayant Panda, constitutional expert Subash Kashyap and Niti Ayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar to discuss the issue. The seminar will be held in Mumbai on January 20-21.

Modi's call for simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies was favoured by the Niti Ayog and the Election Commission. The idea behind such an exercise is to save humongous amount of money besides helping the parties and government focus on running the administration, instead of getting frequently involved in electioneering. As state elections are held very a few months, it leads to shifting of focus especially by the Central government on polling issues.

But beyond the issue of governance, holding simultaneous polls will help BJP and Modi the most. In the past nearly four years, Modi has been involved in campaigning in all the states that went to polls since 2014. If polls were to be held together, then even in state polls, electorate may end up voting on the national issues, thus diminishing the role of regional leaders, but helping national leaders. Critics of the one nation, one election say the idea favours Modi as he would then be holding presidential kind of election campaign, annihilating the regional parties.

Sahasrabuddhe termed the concept as mother of all reforms.

But the concept holds several practical problems as state governments may be dismissed midway, thus again affecting the schedule of simultaneous polls. Sahasrabuddhe countered saying country was maturing and in the process was also dealing with the situation.

Now, even as Modi keeps on pushing for simultaneous polls, many think though it is difficult but 2019 is when maybe it can happen.
Police said on January 16 they were still seeking answers after finding 13 siblings starving in their parents squalid Southern California home, some of them chained to beds under horrific conditions in an otherwise ordinary suburb.

The grim situation was discovered on Sunday after an emaciated 17-year-old girl escaped through a window of the home in a newer subdivision of Perris, about 70 miles (113 km) east of Los Angeles, and called 911, police said.

I wish I could come to you today with information that would explain why this happened, said Captain Greg Fellows of the Riverside County Sheriffs Department. But we do need to acknowledge the courage of the young girl who escaped from that residence to bring attention so they could get the help they so needed.

The parents, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were arrested at their darkened, foul-smelling house after the girls 12 siblings were found there.

The shocking case quickly prompted questions of how the victims, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 years old, could have been kept in such grim conditions without raising suspicions of neighbours or authorities.



Read more: 13 children rescued from California home, parents arrested

But some experts said it may have been easier for the parents to shield their children from scrutiny because they were home-schooled.

One of the things that was interesting was, he (Turpin) set up his own home school so the kids were accounted for and not really seen by anybody, said Sherryll Kraizer, a child-abuse prevention expert and the founder of the Coalition for Children.

The California Department of Education lists the Turpin address, where the family has lived since 2014, as the location of the Sandcastle Day School, with David Turpin as principal.

Six of the couples children are minors, while the rest are over 18, according to neighbours, meaning they are adults under the law.

David and Louise Turpin were each charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment. They were being held on $9 million bail, with an initial court hearing scheduled for January 18.

Police who responded to the girls 911 call saw that the children were malnourished, Fellows said, calling conditions horrific. Even so, he said, the mother appeared perplexed about why the police were there.

If you can imagine being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10-year-old, being chained to a bed, being malnourished, and injuries associated with that, Fellows said. I would call that torture.

Authorities quickly began seeking court authorization to take custody of the children. The state Child Protective Services agency was assisting in an investigation.

Kimberly Milligan, 50, said she only saw the infant in the mothers arms and three other children since she moved in across the street two years ago, describing them as small and pale.

Why dont we ever see the kids? Milligan said she asked herself. In hindsight, we would have never thought this. But there were red flags. You never dont hear or see nine kids.

Two years ago, while walking around the neighbourhood admiring Christmas lights, Milligan said she had encountered three of the Turpin children and complimented them on the manger with a baby Jesus set up outside the house. She said the children froze, as if by doing so they could become invisible.

Twenty-year-olds never act like that, she said. They didnt want to have a social conversation.

Nicole Gooding, 35, who has lived in the neighbourhood for three years, said the first time she saw the family was two months ago when the mother and children were cleaning up their yard, which was full of weeds and overflowing trash cans.

I had never seen them at all until that day, she said.

The parents home-schooled the children strictly and required them to memorize long passages from the Bible, David Turpins parents, James and Betty Turpin of West Virginia, told the media.

In 2010, David Turpin left his job at Lockheed Martin Corp, a company spokeswoman said. He also worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman Corp. Both are aeronautics and defence companies.

Unable to keep up with the familys expenses, Turpin filed for bankruptcy in 2011, an attorney who represented him, Ivan Trahan.

At the time, the lawyer said, the couple spoke highly of their children.



 Reuters
His relatives and neighbours remember Fardeen Ahmad Khanday, 16, as a polite, helpful and studious boy. But, the class 10 student from Tral in south Kashmir had been gradually losing interest in studies. His father Ghulam Muhammad Khanday, a policeman, was not oblivious to the change. Intelligence sources said Ghulam Muhammad had shared his worries about Fardeen, who had allegedly got in touch with militants on social media, with his bosses.

Together, they attempted to deradicalise Fardeen. Ghulam Muhammad tried every trick. From trying to persuade his son to move out and pursue higher education in another city, to an emotional appeal by his mother. Everything failed, and one day, Fardeen left home, said a J&K police officer who requested anonymity. When Fardeen went missing, the police concluded that he had turned to militancy.

On December 31, 2017, they were proved right when Fardeen and two companions attacked the Central Reserve Police Force camp at Lethpora in Pulwama district. The Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. The fidayeen [who attacked the camp] were a mix of local and foreign terrorists, said CRPF Director-General R.R. Bhatnagar. This phenomenon has been observed over a period of time. We have come to know about Fardeens background and involvement only now. The J&K Police is looking into the matter.

Counterterrorism experts said that sponsors of terror in Pakistan have once again found value in the JeM, which had lost its hold in the valley after Lashkar-e-Taiba became the first choice of the Inter-Services Intelligence. Today, the JeM is on an upward surge, and Kashmiri youth, particularly in south Kashmir, are joining its fold, said Arun Choudhary, former special director in the Intelligence Bureau. [JeM chief Masood] Azhar had been keeping a low profile, unlike Lashkar patron Hafiz Saeed. But, over the last two decades Azhar has made several attempts to unite the jihadi outfits in the valley. Azhars united jihad concept is now bearing fruit, and the biggest beneficiary of this is Pakistans terror machinery.

Notably, the area in south Kashmir from where Fardeen hails has remnants of Harkat-ul-Ansar, the JeMs parent organisation. It was after the Kandahar hijacking, orchestrated by Azhar in 1999, that Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Ansar joined to form the JeM. Since then, it has carried out several strikes both in the valley and in other parts of India, the biggest being the attack on the Parliament in 2001.

Masood Azhar is a potent force, said Choudhary. The fact that the JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack shows that it wants to prove its capabilities. The JeM has always been most potent and violent in its activities. The resurgence of this group becomes evident from the fact that the number of recruits are on the rise. Clearly, it has the ISIs support once again.

Intelligence officers said they had precise information about the attack on the CRPF camp and inputs had been shared with the paramilitary force. The Research and Analysis Wing had also provided inputs. The CRPF campus is huge and some of the area is not fenced. The fidayeen used one of these unfenced areas to enter the campusthey used under-barrel grenade launchers to aid their progress.

I would commend the CRPF personnel who effectively countered the attack, said Bhatnagar. One terrorist was intercepted at the outer cordon itself. But, the other two entered the buildings during the exchange of fire. The operation took some time, but all terrorists were killed. The casualties we suffered were during the retaliation. He added that there has been effective coordination of the CRPF with the police and the Army in carrying out counterterrorism operations in the area.

Official data with THE WEEK shows that more than 100 militants were recruited in the valley in 2017, of which 60 per cent joined Hizbul Mujahideen, 30 per cent joined Lashkar and 10 per cent joined JeM. There are, at present, more than 230 active militants in the valley, of which 51 per cent are locals and 49 per cent are foreigners, intelligence sources said. The rise in local militancy is definitely making the security establishment sit up and take note.

Counterterrorist operations have been carried out by security agencies, including the J&K Police, paramilitary forces and the Army, to wipe out the menace. Last year, 217 terrorists were killed, of which about 40 per cent were locals.

But, the security top brass in the state as well as the Centre concede that counterterrorism operations are not enough. There is a need for sustained counter-radicalisation measures to save the youth, particularly teenagers, from the sustained indoctrination that is going on in J&K and other parts of the country.

No one could agree more than J&K Police chief S.P. Vaid. We have launched concerted efforts to prevent the youth from joining militant outfits, Vaid told THE WEEK. He said 75 indoctrinated youth were deradicalised in 2017. Ten others, who had actually become militants, were also brought back, he said. Huge efforts were made by us with the help of their families, especially their mothers, to make them realise what they were doing was wrong and how much their families needed them.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, last week, exhorted the police chiefs of all states to focus on similar efforts. A special division has also been created in the ministry to coordinate such efforts by states.

The National Investigation Agency and the IB had recently infiltrated WhatsApp groups created by ISI-sponsored terror groups to recruit youth from J&K. Vaid said the society at large needs to come together to prevent gullible youth from new age methods of radicalisation and recruitment.
A little birdie is causing quite a flutter in a village pond in Haryana. Birdwatchers are thronging Dighal in Jhajjar district, a mere 70km drive from Delhi, to catch a glimpse of the horned grebe or Slavonian grebe. But, spotting the waterbird, which is just about 40cm long and weighs between 300g and 500g, is easier said than done.

Dighal is dotted with about a dozen ponds and has fields that lie submerged throughout the year, making it the perfect retreat for the grebe away from the extreme cold of its home in Eurasia and North America. Rakesh Ahlawat, a field assistant in the Nature Conservation Foundation, was the first one in Dighal to spot the bird this migratory season. He has an eye for feathered friendshe has spotted 285 birds in his village so far. A wildlife enthusiast since childhood, the 28-year-old maintains a register of avian visitors to his village and creates awareness about the importance of the flora and fauna that attract migratory birds.

It, however, takes a village to help spot the horned grebe that gives out a trilling call. Women guide the birdwatchers to vantage points, as kids scurry to admire the fancy camera gear and binoculars. But, it is Dharamvirs house, on the edge of the pond, that has become an observatory of sorts. And, it doesnt disappointon a misty morning, a sudden ripple in the pond reveals the winged beauty, with its golden ear tufts (also called horns) that can be raised and lowered at will. Belonging to the Podicipedidae family, the horned grebe is considered an excellent diver, foraging underwater. It is the United Kingdoms most attractive breeding grebe, with its red and white plumage. During the non-breeding season, it has monochrome feathers.

Aravind Amritharaj, a wildlife photographer from Chennai, says he planned a special trip to Delhi with his wife only to catch the horned grebe on camera. He, however, couldnt get a great shot of the bird as it was far away in the marshes.

District forest officer Sunder Sambharya estimates there are almost two lakh migratory birds this season in Jhajjar alone. Dighal and nearby villages, he says, are ideal for resident and migratory birds owing to the waterbodies. But, it is the people who make these seasonal visitors at home here.
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

A seven-year-old Gaza girl arrived in Israel with her dad for medical treatment and was then abandoned. The girl was left waiting in a Jerusalem police station for over three hours, but her dad did not appear.

The girl was first quite scared, but due to quick actions of a policewomen, and some sweets, she calmed down and was smiling as they waited with her for her father. She was given food and drink and they played with her to occupy her while waiting.

Police on Monday afternoon 28 Teves summoned the driver of the vehicle which drove the two for medical care. The driver explained to police they were on their way back to the Erez Crossing following treatment when the dad asked that he stop on the side of the road to allow his daughter to relieve herself. As soon as the door to the vehicle opened, the dad fled, leaving the girl alone crying.

Police responded to the scene and tried to comfort the child, then bringing her to the Lev HaBira station in the capital. Simultaneously, efforts began by IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officials to locate the father. Officials were aware the mother was waiting for their return at Erez.

After a few hours, the father was located in the center of the country and he was taken into custody. He was reunited with his daughter, who was given some gifts by police prior to leaving, and the two were taken to the Erez Crossing and sent back to Gaza.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Authorities have released the name of the man killed last week in a shooting in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Eric Kaylor, 47, was shot Wednesday night, said Kevin Sessions of the Sheridan County Coroners Office. Kaylor had gotten into a fight with his roommate, Christopher Macloughlin Labuy, 33, and died of a single gunshot wound to the head, Sessions said.

Sheridan police received a call around 11:15 p.m. that a homicide had occurred at an apartment building at 1410 N. Main St.

A man at the apartment told officers his friend, Labuy, had knocked on his door and told him hed shot another man in the building.

Kaylor was dead when law enforcement arrived.

Labuy was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Sheridan County Circuit Court at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
MBABANE  Approximately 400 jobs have been created, 950 hectares of cane planted and E170 million invested towards expansion of the Mhlume Factory.



This is the story of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) in its quest to be globally competitive.

The corporation has spelled out strong intentions to reduce the unit cost of production as Southern African Customs Union (SACU) markets continue to be under pressure from Brazil imports.

The removal of import quotas in October, which has also put the whole of Europe under price pressure, motivates one of the most pivotal reasons why reducing production costs remains a priority for one of the largest sugar producing companies in the kingdom.



Managing Director (MD) Nick Jackson informed the Business Desk that the multi-million mill expansion and highly increased sugar cane plantations ought to improve production which would culminate in profitability of the business.

We want to improve our capacity of the Mhlume Factory by investing up to E170 million, Jackson disclosed.



He mentioned that cleaning works were being undertaken on the factorys evaporators which would help make it to operate more hours in the year. Through funding from the European Union (EU) Jackson said they had been able to establish two grower groups with about 100 members. He said growers had planted cane at 950 hectares in December to improve production this year.

The growers are: Umbombo Wendlovu and Myangombili.



In terms of job opportunities presented the overall factory upgrade and increased plantations, Jackson explained that about 200 people had been engaged for the upgrade through contractors, 100 jobs created through planting undertaken in December. The corporation has also set its eyes on planting 400 hectares.
MBABANE  The notion that old money can be sold at a good price has allegedly tempted a security guard to steal old coins amounting to E50 000 from an elderly woman.



According to the elderly woman, Vera Adam, her money was kept in a trunk in her house when Nhlanhla Ndlangamandla, who was employed by her son, allegedly stole it.



Adam alleged that Ndlangamandla broke into her house after he learnt that she was at Big Bend. Upon her return from Big Bend, the elderly woman said she found her items, including blankets, scattered all over the floor. Her trunk, which was containing the money bags with the old coins was broken and the money was nowhere to be found.



I was hurt to the extent that I lost weight because I had kept the money so that my future generation could see how the first coins looked. I do recall that among the coins were Tiki and the old 2c coin dating back to 1932, she said.

Adam added that the money amounted to E50 000 because the culture of saving started when she was young and was getting money from her mother who died in 1979.



She mentioned that apart from the money that she used to get from her mother, she always made sure that every coin, especially change went to the box.

Adam stated that there was a time where old coins were in demand but she decided to keep hers for her grandchildren.

I am very sad about my money and I want it back, even if 20 years may pass, the elderly woman said angrily.
Julia Galloway, a Missoula potter and University of Montana ceramics professor, has won a $50,000 fellowship grant.

United States Artists, a Chicago-based philanthropic organization, selected 45 artists across the country from a pool of 500 applicants in nine fields, from architecture to music, theater and writing. Galloway fell into the craft category.

The grant is unrestricted, meaning Galloway can use it to pursue her work however she sees fit.

The fellowships were announced Tuesday. The advance phone call last month left Galloway, a native Bostonian who regularly gives visiting art lectures, searching for words.

"Talking is not a problem for me," she said. "I was completely rendered speechless."

Galloway said the grant will give her "a cushion" to expand her ideas and develop them over a longer period of time. She's been researching and testing a new project to document 647 extinct or endangered species in the United States and Canada on the surfaces of her pottery.

The concept was influenced by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, made in honor of those who died from the disease. She admired how it allowed people to view the enormity of a problem through effects on individuals.

The money also could go toward new equipment and upgrades at her home studio.

In her application, Galloway described that project and her service-based activities, including a website, Field Guide for the Ceramic Artisan, that provides resources for recent graduates. It covers everything from artist residencies, advice on taxes and pricing work to setting up a studio.

Galloway is one of a string of western Montanans who have received the grant. Previous winners from western Montana are radio and media producer Barrett Golding of Bozeman in 2010; potter Sarah Jaeger of Helena in 2010; and Galloway's friend and recently retired UM colleague, ceramicist and artist Beth Lo of Missoula in 2009.

The grant is unrestricted, a rarity for artists, Galloway said. The news release underscores that feature: "Artists may use the funds for whatever they need, be it medical expenses, housing, their artistic practice, or anything else. This flexibility allows fellows the financial freedom to take risks and push their careers forward in ways that might not otherwise have been possible."

***

Galloway makes functional porcelain pottery that she decorates with narratives, often relating to domesticity, which she called a "taboo subject" in the art world.

The theme dovetails with her love of pottery, and the way they "champion the quieter times in our day," she said.

"People want a beautiful view from their window. A handmade pot is not unlike that," she said.

She believes they "make a connection with the person using them, which is different than looking at a large sculpture. That's equally valid, but it's about something else. I'm a little bit more interested in that quiet way of bringing something into your day."

She began making pottery in high school, and found she had the hand-eye coordination for throwing on the wheel. She liked the way she could make something useful for people and cultivate a connection with them. She saved up her babysitting money to buy her own wheel, which she carried home herself on the subway.

Through undergraduate and master's degrees, and her busy schedule of UM classes and outside workshops, pottery has been an inexhaustible passion.

"My road isn't wide, but it's very, very long," she said. While she's been making vessels for decades, she said, the facets of the craft move to the foreground: its complex chemistry, technical challenges, intellectual overtones and tight-knit community. It even has aspects of "small-business" politics: if you buy from the "village potter," the money stays in the community, she said.

Decades into her career, ceramics is "how I interact with and understand the world," she said.

***

In 2009, she moved to Montana for her teaching job at UM after a decade at the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She had served as a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena in the late 1990s and had always wanted to be closer to the state's busy ceramics community. During that residency, she'd taught for a day at UM and was impressed by the studio and the students' energy.

She said she brings a sense of idealism to teaching  she sees it as an expansive activity that requires her to constantly learn new skills and techniques to share with her students. It's also a public counterpoint to the solitary studio time required of professional artists.

Moving to Big Sky Country naturally had an effect on the work that Galloway produces, and she credited her surroundings for her success.

"I wouldn't be able to do these projects or have this career if it wasn't for the support of the community around me, through the school or around the state," she said. After moving here, she started a statewide group, Montana Clay, to help bring ceramicists together, including an annual gathering to exchange ideas.

She likes to start larger projects once every year or two. The endangered species project builds on a few previous ones in which she tackled ambitious narrative and exhibition concepts.

In a prior series, she made hundreds of cups decorated with drawings of North American birds based on the illustrations of John James Audubon. She remembers reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magic realist novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and having a very magic realist thought: what if she could take a sip from one of the cups and sing like the bird that was on it? Following that intuition, she displayed the cups, in alphabetical order so people could find their favorite bird. If they lifted the cup off its shelf, a motion sensor would trigger a sound sample of that bird. While she had imagined that it would be a typically quiet gallery showing, the popularity triggered an aviary of bird calls.

For another project, she decorated vases with drawings of her home and created a website for them, allowing a personal tour in on the impersonal medium of the Internet.

The state's unbroken skylines inspired another project, "Sky Vault," comprising about 450 plates in the shape of clouds. To make their inspiration even more clear, she hung them in clusters from the ceiling of a gallery in the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls. At the opening, attendees could eat off them.

She's still early in her endangered species project, researching and consulting with scientists so that it's accurate.

She wants to create one urn for each endangered species since the term was coined in the early 1800s. Like the AIDS Quilt, she wants to exhibit them as a group and travel the exhibition. Each urn will be decorated with a drawing of the species. Many will be carefully sized so that they could hold the ashes of the species if it were cremated. She set a minimum size for small ones, such as the amargosa toad, since its vessel would be no longer than a thimble if she held to her concept. Others will require a large scale: the California grizzly bear's urn will be almost three feet tall. With the complexity of the research and the number of urns, she imagines it will take up to four years.

To give herself some parameters and a sense of urgency, she's limiting herself to species in the United States and Canada, hoping that proximity will inspire action on an issue so vast and anxiety inducing.

If there's something you can do nearby, though, change "starts at home and ripples out," she said.

The grant, meanwhile, has given her a sense of validation, and importantly, will give her breathing room to execute the project the way she wants.

"It's given me the time to develop new techniques," she said.
The Montana State Prison has opened a 30-bed chemical dependency treatment program for inmates approaching their release dates.

Warden Reginald Michael says the goal is to give inmates the tools they need to cope with the stresses of living in society without relapsing into drug and alcohol use and possibly being returned to prison.

The treatment, which will last from 90 to 180 days, will take place in the facility that previously housed the boot camp program. The 2017 Legislature eliminated a law that required the Corrections Department to operate a boot camp.

The new program accepted its first inmates on Tuesday. Prison officials plan to expand the capacity of the treatment center.
Rotterdam

Spectrum customers across the Capital Region may soon be able to pay for "gigabit" internet service that up until now has only been available mostly to businesses and schools.

Charter Communications, which operates under the Spectrum brand, has started offering internet service in New York City and the lower Hudson Valley with speeds of 1 gigabit per second, which is 10 to 40 times faster than typical internet service in the Capital Region.

Gigabit internet speeds have generally only been available to government entities and businesses in the Capital Region, although Verizon recently started offering 1 gigabit service to residential customers on its FiOS network, which is only available in certain parts of Schenectady and Albany counties.

Charter's plan would open up gigabit internet service to most residents locally for the first time.

Although most people can get by with average internet speeds, downloading times, streaming quality and the number of devices that can be operated at once improve with higher internet speeds to the home.

Netflix, for instance, says that its viewers can experience ultra HD streaming quality with just 25 megabits per second, but large files and video game files can be downloaded much more quickly with higher speeds.

But don't expect the gigabit era to begin right away. In the Capital Region, getting 1 gig internet service from Spectrum will depend on when the transition to an all digital signal can be completed.

Plus, many customers are still in their old Time Warner Cable internet plans that have lower speeds.

"We're currently in the process of upgrading the Capital Region to all-digital, which is an important first step to enabling faster speeds, including gigabit connections for residential customers," said Andrew Russell, a Charter spokesman. "We intend to launch gigabit connections in additional markets in 2018 but haven't announced any plans yet."

The digital conversion process is being done on a community-by-community basis and making its way through the entire Capital Region.

That process has to be completed for gigabit internet to be offered, and it may cost Spectrum TV customers extra.

When the digital conversion happens in their community, Spectrum TV customers will have to have a digital receiver connected to each of their TVs in the home. That rollout is expected to be completed by March.

Spectrum will charge $6.99 a month for those boxes, although most customers will be able to get them free of charge for a period of time ranging from one to five years.

Spectrum customers in legacy Time Warner Cable TV packages, however, will be charged $11.75 a month per box.

Spectrum has rapidly been trying to upgrade the internet speeds available to its customers in upstate New York, first offering a baseline internet service of 60 Mbps that has since been bumped up to 100 Mbps.

That basic 100 Mbps service costs $64.99 a month, although new customers (to both Spectrum and Time Warner Cable) are eligible for a promotional rate of $44.99, a $20 discount.

However, getting into Spectrum's 100 Mbps internet plan has not been automatic. Those who are in old Time Warner Cable plans are not switched out automatically by Spectrum.

Russell, the Charter spokesman, says those who would like to switch can call a customer service representative and ask to be taken out of a legacy Time Warner Cable deal and move into a Spectrum offer, but the company is not going to switch someone without permission.

When Spectrum was officially launched in New York in March 2017, it stopped selling Time Warner Cable's plans, but didn't take away those plans for customers who were already in them.

"They can keep their legacy Time Warner Cable package or switch to Spectrum, if they prefer," Russell said. "We believe they will find Spectrum is a better value with superior products and services, like the 100 Mbps starting speed for Spectrum internet.

Time Warner Cable had many different packages and many different promotional pricing structures, and customers could often haggle on the phone with a customer service rep to get into a better deal.

"You had to call in," Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge said back in May at a telecom industry conference. "It was a Turkish bazaar. You'd call in, bargain, you come up, and there would have been a package."

Spectrum has been wary of forcing customers out of those deals because of that, allowing the former Time Warner Cable promotional rates to expire on their own. The expectation is that people will see that the Spectrum packages are a better deal and people will make the switch.

Rutledge has been straightforward about this strategy.

"We don't take our existing customer base and say, 'You have to change,'" Rutledge said at the May 2017 conference. "You can keep your package whatever it is. What we do, though, is start marketing a high-value product package, the triple-play that we offer, set some branded package, and people move into it. But it takes time to move them into it, and they move in at their own pace."
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Schenectady

Transfinder, the Schenectady-based transportation software company, generated record revenue of $13.67 million in 2017, an 8 percent increase over the previous year when it brought in $12.65 million in revenue.

Transfinder sells bus routing software to school districts but has been branching out into municipal and health care transportation software as it looks to diversify its customer base and keep growing.

The company has more than 2,000 school district customers, adding 184 new clients in 2017.

Typical multi-year contracts for Transfinder's software and services can range from $19,000 to $50,000 according to a small sample of school district contracts with the company. Transfinder has about 100 local employees and offices in Austin, Texas and China.

Although Transfinder is unusual in making public its revenues (it keeps its bottom line profit figures confidential), CEO Antonio Civitella has said he believes the numbers are a tribute to his employees and are a source of civic pride to them.

Civitella said Wednesday that he unveiled the company's results on Monday at his annual "state of the union" address he gives each year to his employees. Civitella said he spoke for four hours, with only a short break.

Civitella said he stressed keeping up the momentum at the company, which he demonstrated with the so-called "mass in motion" physics equation that take mass and multiplies it by velocity to get momentum.

The equation, which is written as M x V = P, also spells out MVP, or most valuable player, which Civitella said he called his employees this year after pulling off the 20th year of record results. Civitella said it gets harder every year to keep growing at the same speed.

"It's a lot of work," Civitella said.
Each new film from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson now arrives on a wave of expectation and mystique. With its evocative use of period and place, his work moves from a sweeping philosophical expansiveness to refined details with startling ease.

His new film, "Phantom Thread," has added expectations because star Daniel Day-Lewis has announced he intends to retire from acting, so this could likely be his last screen role.

Anderson and Day-Lewis collaborated on 2007's "There Will Be Blood," which resulted in three Oscar nominations for Anderson and the second of his now-record-breaking three best actor Oscar wins for Day-Lewis. That film was recently named the best film of the 21st century so far by the critics of The New York Times. Their reunion ramped up anticipation even further.

Until "Phantom Thread" began screening for press just after Thanksgiving, precious little was known about it, with minimal promotional materials released. Like a bespoke suit or designer gown, delicate, careful attention has been given to all the details in Anderson's latest work, protecting its exquisite, ineffable tone.

More Information At a glance "Phantom Thread" Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Opens: Friday See More Collapse

The film is both swooning and unhinged, sexy without being explicit, at once somber and witty. Feeling at the same time classical and unconventional, "Phantom Thread" manages to remain buttoned up while knowing how to throw down.

"I never like the idea of trying to figure out how to talk about a film before it's done or before it's out; that seems crazy to me. And too hard," Anderson said in Los Angeles, where he lives. "But on the other hand, it's really important to find the ways to get the people to understand what the film is, create trailers and materials that are interesting. Mysterious but, hopefully, not obtuse."

"Phantom Thread" is set in the world of 1950s couture fashion in London  making for Anderson's first feature set completely outside the American West  and casts Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, a designer of high-end women's clothing. Woodcock's tightly organized world, aided and overseen by his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville), is thrown into disarray by the arrival of Alma (Vicky Krieps), a waitress in a seaside hotel who enters his world as muse and disruptor.

"This was something that really came fresh and unexpectedly. And that was really an exciting thing," Anderson said of the story's origins. "There's always the feeling, like, 'Will I ever have a good idea again?' And so to get at one that felt really good, 'Oh, I want to follow through on this, I want to keep pursuing this.'

"And it got me to places  usually writing is just an excuse for research, anyway, half the time. It's an ability to take time to do reading that you have not had time to do in the past year that you've been finishing a film or shooting one."

Among that research were the ghost stories of the British writer M.R. James, at once cozy and spooky  a tone also evoked by "Phantom Thread." An avid watcher of old movies and TCM, Anderson also turned to the works of Powell and Pressburger, David Lean's "Brief Encounter" and "The Passionate Friends," Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and "Vertigo." Anderson's exploration of the shifting dynamics of a romantic partnership and unexpected tension between control and spontaneity has roots in these influences.

He reached out to Day-Lewis when he had, in his own words, "probably 20 or 30 pages of just sort of random notes and random scenes and random ideas and random samples of dialogue without much weight to it."

When Anderson mentioned something about the Spanish fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga, he says Day-Lewis' eyes lighted up and they were off. Anderson would check in with the actor as he was writing, leaning into or away from certain ideas as Day-Lewis was doing research and preparations of his own.

Day-Lewis suggested Manville, best known for her films with Mike Leigh, including "Another Year" and "Mr. Turner," for the role of Woodcock's watchful, considered sister Cyril, who manages his business and keeps his temperament at an even keel. For the role of Alma, Anderson knew he wanted to find someone new, or as he put it, "a face that hadn't been overused."

That would lead to Krieps, a Luxembourg-born actress living in Berlin. Anderson first noticed her in the 2014 German drama "The Chambermaid," and she has also had small roles in the English-language films "Hanna" and "A Most Wanted Man."

"Straight off the bat, she looked right," Anderson said. "She had a face that looked exactly right. From a certain angle she can look kind of sad even if she's not sad. And then step around to the other side and she's absolutely fashion model gorgeous."

But it wasn't just her looks that got Krieps the role, as Anderson said, "It was the inner strength that won above all. So, yes, you have this outside gloss  yeah, great  but she has this thing when she sort of stuck out her jaw that she was going to win a fight."
THE PATH

Hulu

Season Premiere! As Season 3 begins, a miracle by Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul) has gone viral, and Meyerism has grown exponentially across the world. As the new Guardian of the Light, Eddie is forced to face the question of whether he can grow the movement without becoming a cult leader. Michelle Monaghan and Hugh Dancy also star.

RIVERDALE: "CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE"

The CW, 8 p.m.

Midseason Premiere! It's a new year with new drama as tensions mount when the sudden shutdown of Southside High forces Jughead (Cole Sprouse) and his fellow Serpents to transfer to Riverdale High.

"THE BLACKLIST" 100TH EPISODE

NBC, 8 p.m.

"Abraham Stern," the 100th episode of the James Spader-led series, guest-stars Nathan Lane as the titular Blacklister.

NATURE: "ARCTIC WOLF PACK"

PBS, 8 p.m.

Discover the white wolf, one of the most hardened predators on the planet, in Ellesmere Island's unforgiving ice and snow. In a fight for survival, these roaming hunters must travel far from the den to feed their cubs, putting them all at risk.

MODERN FAMILY: "IN YOUR HEAD"

ABC, 9 p.m.

When Luke (Nolan Gould) goes missing after a night out in a sketchy neighborhood, Manny (Rico Rodriguez), Phil (Ty Burrell) and Gloria (Sofia Vergara) team up to track him down. Haley (Sarah Hyland), desperate to land an interview with the creator of a popular lifestyle website, interrupts Alex (Ariel Winter) during one of her college classes.

SEAL TEAM: "THE UPSIDE DOWN"

CBS, 9 p.m.

In the new episode "The Upside Down," Jason (David Boreanaz) and the SEALs are on a mission to retrieve a downed top-secret drone, but they are sidetracked when Clay (Max Theriot) becomes trapped beneath a room full of armed terrorists.

DYNASTY

The CW, 9 p.m.

Midseason Premiere! This juicy soap returns with the news that at some point this season, former Desperate Housewife Nicollette Sheridan will play Alexis Carrington, an iconic role that Joan Collins played with shoulder-padded perfection.

THE MAGICIANS: "HEROES AND MORONS"

Syfy, 9 p.m.

Eliot (Hale Appleman) embarks on a quest, while Quentin (Jason Ralph), Kady (Jade Tailor) and Josh (Trevor Einhorn) continue their search for magic.

RELATIVE SUCCESS WITH TABATHA

Bravo, 10 p.m.

New Series! Tabatha Coffey is on a mission to help family-owned businesses succeed so they can be passed on to new generations. In each episode, Tabatha has three intense weeks to force families to put aside their resentment, grudges and personal issues and work toward the common goal of getting their business, and family, back on track.

CRIMINAL MINDS: "BAD MOON ON THE RISE"

CBS, 10 p.m.

The BAU is called to New York City to investigate brutal crimes in Central Park in the new episode "Bad Moon on the Rise."

CORPORATE

Comedy Central, 10 p.m.

New Series! This new dark workplace comedy follows Matt (Matt Ingebretson) and Jake (Jake Weisman) as they train to become junior executives at a soulless multinational corporation.

Matt and Jake find themselves at the mercy of a tyrannical CEO, his sycophantic underlings and an ever-revolving series of disasters.

THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY

FX, 10 p.m.

Season Premiere! The second chapter of executive producer Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story saga explores the remarkable life of fashion icon Gianni Versace and his senseless death as part of a 1997 cross-country killing spree by Andrew Cunanan. The all-star cast includes Edgar Ramirez as Versace, Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella, Ricky Martin as Versace's partner Antonio D'Amico and Darren Criss as Cunanan.

CHICAGO P.D.: "CAPTIVE"

NBC, 10 p.m.

When Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) disappears at the house of a convicted felon, the evidence doesn't look promising  with his belongings and his blood left behind. Intelligence rallies to rescue him before it's too late, digging into his past to discover why he's been taken.

Brought to you by the publishers of TV Guide.  TV Guide 2018
It's that time of year again, time for the annual meeting of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein. The year is 1956 and the ladies, mostly widows, are looking forward to reuniting and sharing a delicious quiche breakfast. The meeting will be led by the five-member board but new members are always welcome.

That's the setup for "5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche," a comedy being produced over the next two weekends by the new theatrical troupe known as Going Dark Productions. For an added dose of realism, the performances will take place in the Capital Pride Center's downstairs space, a modestly sized and appointed meeting room with metal folding chairs  not unlike the kind of room where the society would gather.

"The show focuses on lesbians just being lesbians," says cast member Merrily Rose Owens. "We all come out at some point in the show and express joy and pride in being gay. You don't see much in media that portrays lesbians as other than a male fantasy or butch types."

For Owens, who identifies as queer, the opportunity to appear in "5 Lesbians" came as a relief.

More Information If you go "5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche" When: 7 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. Where: Pride Center of the Capital Region, 332 Hudson Ave., Albany. Tickets: $10-$12. Call (518) 281-5260 or visit: goingdarkproductions.com. See More Collapse

"I am mixed race with crazy colored hair and tattoos, so I might not fit in normal roles," she says. According to Owens there is one other cast member who identifies "under the spectrum of queer," while the balance of the cast is straight.

Owens' personal style will be an anachronism amidst the 1950s-style costuming. But she'll be attired in a manner appropriate to the era. With her hair slicked back, Owens will be clothed in slacks, a bowling shirt and saddle shoes. Other cast members will be in period skirts and dresses, some with pin curls and one wearing a pillbox hat.

"I've been told time and time again that actors don't tattoo their bodies because it might affect a job," says Owens, who adds that other women in the show also have tattoos. "It's just who I am and doesn't take away form my character," she adds.

As to what the ladies spend their time talking about, quiche is a big and important subject. They're all fans of the dish. With each repeated reference "quiche" takes on a coded meaning for lesbian desire and the female anatomy.

"They just love quiche," says Owens. "The joke is out there."

What prompts a more explicit discussion is the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Luckily their meeting space is also a bunker. They survive though they'll be confined together for years to come.

"They realize that if the whole world is gone, then it's OK to say I'm gay, I'm a lesbian," explains Owens. "And as time goes on, they all come out."

"5 Lesbians" is directed by Carmen Martin, who is the president and artistic director of Going Dark Productions. The company was formed in 2016 and last year presented two fully staged productions at the Albany Barn. The group's name refers to that moment of darkness before the theatrical lights go up and a show begins.

"Our purpose is to produce theater that doesn't often come here and allow audiences to expand their horizons," says Owens.

The actor and the director met while they were attending Hudson Valley Community College. "She's practically my sister. We have like the same brain," says Owens. "That makes it easy to work on productions together."

Owens and Martin's first show together was a college staging of "The Vagina Monologues." Having plays like that and "5 Lesbians" is a boon Owens realizes. She's saddened by the isolated plight of the characters in the current show, saying: "They had to have these secret societies and had to lie and say they were widows, all because their sexuality is frowned upon and was wrong."

Joseph Dalton is a freelance writer based in Troy.
ALBANY - A jury acquitted a city man who authorities accused of repeatedly stabbing a 27-year-old man while yelling "I'm going to kill you."

Jorge Obregon-Castro, 23, told jurors he acted in self defense and jurors sided with him.
Washington

The Department of Justice said Tuesday that it will ask the Supreme Court to immediately review a federal judge's ruling that ordered the government to restart a program that shields some young unauthorized immigrants from deportation.

The administration's request is unusual, and it comes amid an ongoing political battle over immigration. The program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, is at the center of it.

The Justice Department said it had also appealed the decision, issued by Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. His ruling imposed a nationwide stop on the Trump administration's decision to end the program until litigation can be heard.

Elaine Duke, the acting homeland security secretary at the time, "acted within her discretion to rescind this policy with an orderly wind-down," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "We are now taking the rare step of requesting direct review on the merits of this injunction by the Supreme Court so that this issue may be resolved quickly and fairly for all the parties involved."

The Justice Department's request means that the case, brought by the University of California system and its president, Janet Napolitano, herself the former secretary of homeland security, could be heard by the Supreme Court even before it goes through the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judges in individual cases have increasingly used their powers to put a nationwide stop to executive actions.

Federal courts in Texas used sweeping, national injunctions to stop President Barack Obama from implementing policies on transgender rights, overtime pay and other initiatives. More recently, judges in Hawaii, California and other states have used cases to push back on President Donald Trump's immigration and travel orders.

Legal scholars have questioned the practice of using an individual case to apply broad orders, saying that it encourages plaintiffs' lawyers to shop around for sympathetic judges who will use the power of the court to impose their strong views on the country.

Sessions echoed that worry.

"It defies both law and common sense" for the beliefs of a single district court "to somehow be mandated nationwide," he said.

After Trump used vulgar language to describe why he does not want people from certain countries in Africa and the Caribbean to immigrate to the United States, chances for a broad deal on immigration and spending began to unravel in Congress, increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown unless lawmakers reach a short-term spending agreement that puts off the big decisions.
Two state-of-the-art Japanese power plants will receive Montana coal under an agreement announced Tuesday by Cloud Peak Energy.

The coal company said that up to a million tons of Spring Creek Mine coal would be shipped to Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, over 30 to 40 months beginning at the end 2019.

Spring Creek mine is located near Decker. The purchaser under the term export sales agreement is JERA Trading of Singapore.

The power plants, created by Mitsubishi, are designed to convert coal to synthetic natural gas. The process is intended to cut down significantly on the amount of coal carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

The first of the two 540-megawatt power plants is expected to begin operation in September 2020, according to the announcement.

After a 2011 tsunami destroyed the TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Japan began developing coal-fired facilities. The agreement announced Tuesday is a step toward bringing coal power online.

Cloud Peak President and CEO Colin Marshall said in the announcement that he's hopeful the same technology will lead to new coal-fired power plants in the United States.

Cloud Peak Energy is pleased to be part of the Fukushima IGCC project and to help support Japans investment in next generation coal technology, said Marshall. If similar plants were to be built in the U.S. it would go a long way to addressing concerns about CO2 emissions while providing low-cost reliable electricity. Todays announcement also demonstrates the strategic importance of American energy resources to key Asian allies.

Commercial-scale, gasified coal power plant development in the United States has struggled mightily. The largest coal-gasified power project, Kemper County Power Plant in Mississippi, converted to natural gas last year after several cost overruns and construction delays.
Naomi Wescoat (left), owner of Tarrs Country Store and Florist, helps Megan McKinney choose an item from one of the stores shelves. Wescoat announced that the store, located at the corner of West Spring and West Walnut streets, in Titusville, will be closing its doors on Feb. 17.
[January 16, 2018] WCOR (formerly WRMT) unveils its Wearable Devices at CES 2018 and previews non-invasive Sugar Trend monitoring and alcohol sensing technologies

MIAMI, Jan. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Technology Corp. (OTC:WCOR) (World Technology or the Company), a technology company in the Quantified Self wellness market, monetizing its proprietary life sensing technology and big data, today announced the launch of its next-generation wearable device, Helo LX+, Helo LxPro and Helo 2, at CES 2018 which took place January 9-12, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Company also demonstrated non-invasive, Sugar Trend monitoring technology which was first announced at CES 2017. Helo wearers can expect to measure their Sugar Trends using Helo devices later in 2018. WCOR also previewed its alcohol sensing technology which is currently under development.

The Helo LX+ is an enhancement of the Helo LX model, featuring more sensors and improved accuracy designed for those wearers who seek additional benefits. Over 500,000 Helo have been shipped worldwide since its launch in the third quarter of 2016. The Helo LX+ will be available worldwide through the Companys exclusive marketing and distribution partner, World Global Network Pte. Ltd. (WGN), in February 2018. For more wearer information about the Helo LX+, please visit WGNs website at www.worldgn.com. Helo LX+, which launches next month, is the ideal complement to our existing Helo LX model. It provides wearers with access to additional Life Sensing technologies such as UV sensing, EKG clinical grade sensors as well as more accurate Sugar Trend monitoring, all of which enable Helo app developers o create meaningful new wellness apps for Helo wearers to download and these apps will soon open up a new revenue stream for WCOR, said Sean McVeigh, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.



We are particularly excited about the positive feedback and reviews received at CES which continue to confirm our strategic direction. As we position ourselves as a leading developer in life sensing technology and as a big data provider, we expect our product pipeline and recently launched OpenAPI platform will bring us earnings and profitability in 2018, concluded McVeigh. About World Technology Corp.

We are a technology, design and data company. Our Life Sensing Technology is embedded into innovative, connected, wearable devices that we design and we are a Big Data global provider that has developed software capable of aggregating our wearer data into actionable data. Our database contains extensive multi-ethnic, biometric and vital signs data, which not only informs our in-house development, but is also available on an anonymized basis to corporate partners and third-party app developers. We continuously gather data from our wearers in an effort to build a leading database which may enable our partners to determine new insights and identify new trends generated from our wearer data. For further information, see www.worldcorp.com Forward Looking Statement This news 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 as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this press release are forward-looking statements and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates, but involve a number of unknown risks and uncertainties, Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. For more information, please contact [email protected]

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[January 16, 2018] The Consumer Goods Forum Unveils New China Office - a Hub for Promoting Sustainable Business Growth

BEIJING and PARIS, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global consumer industry association looks to ensure Chinese companies have their say in development of global industry; help create global alignment on how to increase consumer trust and positively impact people and planet CGF's Managing Director joined on stage by CEOs and executives from Alibaba Group, Bubugao (Better Life), COFCO, Colgate-Palmolive, IGA and WuMart The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has opened a new office in China to promote its "Better Lives through Better Business" message and to help provide Chinese companies with a voice in the global arena. As the only organisation bringing consumer goods retailers and manufacturers together globally, the CGF is uniquely positioned to help Chinese companies engage and collaborate with their peers on the international stage and ensure the needs of local companies and consumers are considered when global actions are developed, such as those around halving food waste, achieving zero-net deforestation and providing greater transparency to consumers. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/556222/The_Consumer_Goods_Forum_Logo.jpg )

To mark the opening, CEOs and delegates yesterday attended the CGF's first China Day, featuring speeches from the CGF's Managing Director, Peter Freedman, Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group; Ian Cook, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive; Wenzhong Zhang, Chairman of WuMart Group; Tian Wang, Chairman of Bubugao (Better Life); Jeroen De Groot, Pesident, METRO China; and Mark Batenic, Chairman of IGA Inc.



Speakers discussed the importance of consumer transparency in supply chains, the need to empower consumers through healthier lifestyles, along with food safety and environmental sustainability in China. Sustainable development is a critical socio-economic issue for China and was again emphasised as a priority by President Xi in his recent Report to the 19th Party Congress. The Consumer Goods Forum has been heavily involved in spreading the "Better Lives through Better Business" message in China, and is looking forward to increasing its activity in the country through the new hub.

Xiao An Ji, Chairman of Beijing Hualian, has been a long-time member of the CGF's Board of Directors, while Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, is a more recent addition. Peter Freedman, Managing Director, The Consumer Goods Forum, stated, "We are really excited to be launching our new China office. As one of the world's superpowers, China has the influence to set the tone for the global economy, which is why we are so keen to promote sustainability and encourage our members to support the 'Better Lives through Better Business' vision. Our new office will allow us to build on the work we have done to date in China on food safety and extend our collaborative approach to other dimensions of positive change". Ian Cook, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive and co-chair of The Consumer Goods Forum, commented, "Creating a healthier and greener society is a key business objective at Colgate-Palmolive and collaboration is essential if we are to achieve our goals - with retailers, manufacturers, governments and many other stakeholders. China is a key market for us, so we are delighted to support the extensions of The Consumer Goods Forum's work in China". Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, stated, "Alibaba Group is proud to be a member of The Consumer Goods Forum, which brings together stakeholders for constructive dialogue and collaboration. China is at the forefront of the global digital economy, and will play an important role in bringing technology to bear on issues like supply chain transparency and the environment". Patrick Yu, President of COFCO, said, "The CGF is a critical voice in the sustainability debate and we're really excited to see its new venture in China. We are looking forward to discussing and overcoming key industry challenges through greater collaboration and see the new office as a critical forum for achieving this". About The Consumer Goods Forum The Consumer Goods Forum ("CGF") is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members to encourage the global adoption of practices and standards that serves the consumer goods industry worldwide. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 3.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises more than 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs. For more information, please visit: http://www.theconsumergoodsforum.com. SOURCE The Consumer Goods Forum

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[January 17, 2018] Business Leaders Pick 50 Most Innovative Companies in BCG Survey

BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Samsung top the list of the worlds 50 most innovative companies, according to a survey by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) of over 1,000 senior innovation leaders from a wide variety of countries and industries. The findings of the survey are detailed in a report, titled The Most Innovative Companies 2018: Innovators Go All In on Digital, that is being released today.

Eleven of the 50 most innovative companiesincluding seven of the top tenare digital nativesthat is, they have always been digital businesses with digital offerings. Two digital natives pushed their way into the top ten this year: Alibaba Group, which joined the top 50 for the first time, and Uber. Among the top 20, Tencent is new to the list, and Airbnb, SpaceX, Cisco Systems, Orange, and Marriott moved up significantly. Overall, 12 companies either joined the list or returned to it in 2018. Most companies on the list have built digital technologies into their innovation programs. One standout takeaway from this years survey is that companies are focusing significantly more than in the past on four elements of digital innovation: big data analytics, the fast adoption of new technologies, mobile products and capabilities, and digital design. Meanwhile, other areas of innovationsuch as new products and new serviceshave become less of a focus for innovation executives. Slow movers on digital innovation risk being left behind by those that invested sooner and more decisively, said Michael Ringel, a BCG senior partner and a coauthor of the report. Competitive advantage increasingly depends less on products and more on the digitally enabled services that surround them. From todays predictive maintenance offerings forindustrial goods to tomorrows Internet of Things, digital strategists need to explore and master new innovation domains. And as more advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, enter the mainstream, the stakes will keep getting higher.



Strong Innovators Are Doubling Down on Digital Investments and Capabilities The report describes a gap, which may continue to widen, between strong innovators and weak innovators in terms of their ability to make the most of digital technology. For example, while 79% of self-defined strong innovators reported that they have properly digitized innovation processes, only 29% of weak innovators made the same claim. More than one-third of survey respondents said that digitized processes arent really doing much for their companya sign that they havent yet found a way to embrace the new possibilities. Moreover, the largest gaps between strong and weak innovators occur with regard to the embrace of digital-innovation techniques.

Strong innovators are disproportionately investing in digital technologies. For example, 43% of strong innovators are actively investing in big data versus 26% of weak innovators; 42% of strong innovators are actively investing in mobile capabilities versus 16% of weak innovators; and 39% of strong innovators are actively investing in digital design versus 14% of weak innovators. Moreover, strong innovators were much more likely to report that their organizations embrace key elements of the agile product development approaches that characterize digital leaders. Eight out of 10 strong innovators reported that they take steps to bring together, in one place, cross-functional teams that include people with a full spectrum of relevant skills. By contrast, at weak innovators, only 35% of teams work in the same place, only 41% have all the relevant functions represented, and only 43% contain people with all the relevant skills. Digital technologies present a trifecta of innovation challenges: they blur boundaries and invite new competitors, they increase the speed of innovation, and they lower the cost at which new competitors can enter a market to seize share, said Hadi Zablit, a BCG senior partner and a coauthor of the report. Traditional companies, no matter how large, cant afford to pursue innovation, R&D, and product development in traditional ways. To do so cedes competitive advantage to the disruptors. All companies need to determine their own digital strategies and start playing the innovation game by todays rules. A copy of the report can be downloaded at http://on.bcg.com/2CTxnNf. To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected]. About The Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the worlds leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with offices in more than 90 cities in 50 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.

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[January 17, 2018] NTT Com Granted Microsoft's Gold Cloud Platform Status Globally

NTT (News - Alert) Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT Group (TOKYO:9432), is pleased to announce that it has been granted Microsoft (News - Alert) Gold Cloud Platform status, the highest accreditation currently available, for its competency in delivering on quality, expertise and differentiated managed services in the cloud. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180116005911/en/ "Gold status is an important recognition of our competency in the cloud arena," said Damian Skendrovic, CEO, NTT Com Managed Services. "With Microsoft Cloud Platform Competency we are helping enterprises to manage their hybrid cloud infrastructures, delivering on SaaS (News - Alert) and PaaS solutions available in the Azure and Azure Stack marketplace that will enable our customers to optimize on performance and reach their business goals," As part of its global strategy, NTT Com has been part of the early adopter initiative for Azure Stack for nearly a year and is currently leveraging its Nexcenter data center footprint. Taking advantage of being one of Microsoft's ExpressRoute partners, and leveraging our low latency cloud connection service such as Multi Cloud Connect and Software-Defined Exchange Service, we have achieved fast and secure connections to Azure, which enabled us to provide fully managed Azure solutions to its customers, including SAP on Azure. For more details visit: https://www.ntt-azurestack.com/



Microsoft's Gold Cloud Platform status has now been awarded to the following NTT Com groups worldwide: NTT Communications (News - Alert)

NTT Com Manages Services SAU

NTT America

NTT Europe

NTT Com Asia (Hong Kong)

NTT Singapore

NTT Com ICT Solutions (Australia)

As well as two Asian based subsidiaries; Emerio and Netmagic. About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimize the information and communications technology (ICT) environments of enterprises. These offerings are backed by the company's worldwide infrastructure, including the leading global tier-1 IP network, the Arcstar Universal One VPN network reaching over 190 countries/regions, and over 140 secure data centers worldwide. NTT Communications' solutions leverage the global resources of NTT Group companies including Dimension Data (News - Alert), NTT DOCOMO and NTT DATA.

www.ntt.com | [email protected] Com | [email protected] Com | [email protected] Com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180116005911/en/

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[January 17, 2018] Qoo10 to launch its very own virtual supermart at its biggest shopping event - Qoo10 Super Sale - CNY Edition at Suntec City

SINGAPORE, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Qoo10, Singapore's largest e-Commerce marketplace, will be holding its biggest ever offline event -- Qoo10 Super Sale - CNY Edition over at Suntec City Convention Centre Halls 401 - 403, from 25th to 28th January 2018, 11am to 9pm. Building on the success of Qoo10's previous event, the 'Qoo10 10.10 Shopping Evolution' held at Plaza Singapura back in October 2017, Qoo10 Super Sale is now more than four times bigger in retail space, covering two convention halls, with more than 100 participating merchants. Qoo10 sees this as opportunity to venture into the online-to-offline (O2O) concept by organising offline events to give merchants, especially small business owners (SMEs) who do not have sufficient resources to set up their own physical retail store, the opportunity to tap onto a larger pool of customers. Furthermore, and more interestingly, Qoo10 will also be having its first-of-its-kind virtual supermart as one of its main highlights at the 'Qoo10 Super Sale 2018'. The virtual supermart will essentially be walls of product images, showcasing products from Qoo10's merchants from different product categories such as smart gadgets, household essentials, and more. This can be viewed in much the same way as they are in retal shops, and each item will be accompanied by a QR code for shoppers to purchase or find out more about the product on Qoo10's app or website on their smartphones.



This new initiative aims to create a new, all-encompassing retail shopping experience for customers at offline events and at the same time minimise operational costs for merchants in terms of logistics, transportation, and manpower since their products will be displayed virtually in the virtual supermart. Havaianas, one of Qoo10's merchants, who believes in the O2O concept, will also be bringing this concept to life with their very own virtual booth, for the very first time. Shoppers will be able to browse through their popular styles of Havaianas footwear in a vending machine-like setup.

"Shopping is ever-changing and there is a need to think of new ways to make the consumer purchase journey experience more fun, entertaining, and different from the typical retail shopping process. One of it will be through the virtual supermart, where shoppers can just browse, scan the item QR code, and purchase the item just by using their smartphone. In short, this could be the future of retail shopping," said Mr HyunWook Cho, Country Manager of Qoo10 Singapore. Event Highlights Virtual supermart featuring a wide range of products from different product categories such as food & beverages, household essentials, electronics, beauty essentials, and even baby products

featuring a wide range of products from different product categories such as food & beverages, household essentials, electronics, beauty essentials, and even baby products More than 100 merchant booths selling products from all product categories that are available in Qoo10

Daily Flash Deals at massive markdowns

'Snap and Win' Contest and stand a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Catch our Mamemons and stand a chance to win a S$8 Qoo10 gift card Event Details Qoo10 Super Sale 2018 @ Suntec City

25th to 28th January 2018, 11am to 9pm daily

Suntec City Convention Centre, Halls 401 to 403

1 Raffles Boulevard, Suntec City, 039593 For more information, please visit http://www.qoo10.sg/sp/177143 About Qoo10 Singapore Qoo10 Singapore was launched in June 2010 and is now the No. 1 Singapore-based e-commerce platform (Alexa Country Rank#10), with 2.5 million registered users. With Singapore as the headquarter, Qoo10, a joint venture established between founder Mr. Ku Young Bae and eBay, has expanded its marketplaces to Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and mainland China. Our mission is to establish a decentralised and open market e-commerce platform which provides everyone with the opportunity to buy and sell almost anything. With a holistic customer-centric business model, Qoo10 offers a fun shopping experience for shoppers. For more information about the company, please visit our website at http://www.qoo10.sg/ Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180117/2034348-1

Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170928/1953880-1LOGO SOURCE Qoo10 Singapore

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When you get a big tax return, its tempting to spend it right away on a gift or vacation. But we all know its responsible to use the savings to pay bills or invest for the future.

That responsible approach is whats needed now from electric utilities that are about to get a big corporate payout from the new tax law. Instead of enriching their executives and shareholders, power companies should support local communities and workers. One community that merits investment for its future is Colstrip, Montana.

The coal power plant in Colstrip has powered homes and businesses from Montana to Idaho to Washington State for decades, but is no longer cost-competitive with less expensive energy sources. The utilities that own it have a responsibility to support new economic opportunities for the workers and residents of the Colstrip area and to clean up the water contaminated by years of coal-ash waste storage. The tax windfall coming to Colstrips owners provides a place to start.

The new tax bill gives corporations a 40 percent tax cut. One Montana utility regulator estimates that NorthWestern Energy could get back as much as $30 million each year under the law. Every power company invested in Colstrip is likely to see a similar windfall.

Investor-owned utilities, like any business, strive to make money for shareholders, so it is natural for utility executives to try to steer some of the gain from the tax break to their investors. But lets be clear: utility shareholders didnt generate the money that power companies are about to save under the new tax law. That money came from families and businesses paying their electricity bills based on the old tax rate. Utilities were saving that money to pay taxes, which just decreased significantly. Thats why consumers should insist that the tax cut should assist impacted communities, not further line shareholders pockets.

Investing in economic diversification, supporting workers, and cleaning up contaminated water in Colstrip should be a top priority for these utilities. The tab for cleaning up water polluted by Colstrips coal-ash waste will be hundreds of millions of dollars for customers of Colstrips owners like NorthWestern Energy. Setting aside this tax windfall revenue will help make sure consumers arent stuck paying utilities a profit to clean up the contamination they caused.

Puget Sound Energy, which serves Western Washington, recently took a huge step towards taking care of the community of Colstrip by committing to provide $10 million for an economic transition fund. Half of those funds are from PSE shareholders, not ratepayers. Gov. Steve Bullock and Attorney General Tim Fox have set up a task force to guide the funds use.

In addition, PSE is setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars to pay its share of cleanup costs. To date, Northwestern Energy has yet to do the same. Montanas largest utility should show the same concern for Eastern Montana and start contributing to this fund to help ensure workers and the communities arent left stranded when the plant inevitably closes.

Colstrips owners could show their commitment to the Colstrip area by investing now in economic diversification and water restoration. The power companies owe it to workers, residents and local businesses to help fund an economic transition. Thats something consumers who have been powered by the Colstrip plant can get behind, too.
[January 17, 2018] Billionaire Jim Mellon to Host Charlotte Ransom and Merryn Somerset Webb in Master Investor Show Panel Discussion

LONDON, January 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the City's most prominent female entrepreneurs and founder of Netwealth Investments confirmed as speaker for Master Investor Show 2018. On Saturday 17 March 2018, the Business Design Centre in London will host the 16th annual Master Investor Show. In a panel discussion compered by renowned UK financier and entrepreneur Jim Mellon and joined by market commentator Merryn Somerset Webb, attendees will hear first-hand about Charlotte's role in changing the face of private wealth management and how Netwealth is leading the way in fintech. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/629467/Master_Investor_Show_2018.jpg )

Swen Lorenz, Director at Master Investor said: "Our full-day event is an opportunity to meet the Good and Great of the British investment industry. Private investors can get up close to leading entrepreneurs and investors, and get first-hand insights how to maximise the value of their portfolios, pensions, and savings."

Charlotte Ransom made her mark at Goldman Sachs, before setting up Netwealth - the online wealth management service with , a former JP Morgan managing director. They are backed by an impressive line-up of high profile City investors, including Edward Bonham Carter, Vice Chairman of Jupiter Asset Management and Ed Wray, co-founder of Betfair.



Jim Mellon, notched up one of the biggest ever successes on the AIM market with Uramin, the company he co-founded in 2005 with $100,000 and sold in 2007 for $2.5 billion. Jim is a highly experienced and successful private investor whose public appearances draw huge crowds. Merryn Somerset Webb is the editor in chief of MoneyWeek, a regular contributor to the Financial Times, and is a sought-after speaker and commentator on financial matters. Merryn is a Netwealth advisory board member.

During the 30-minute stage discussion on the Gallery Suite stage, Jim will quiz Charlotte and Merryn on what the future holds for private investors in private wealth management as well as explore their roles as respected investors and market commentators. Charlotte Ransom of Netwealth Investments commented: "We are delighted to be part of the Master Investor show and look forward to discussing our approach with investors on 17th March." About Master Investor Ltd. Master Investor Ltd. is an investment media and events company that delivers independent, financial commentary and analysis to UK private investors and traders. The company operates the annual Master Investor Show, an event introducing its 5000+ private investor audience to companies they can invest into. It offers its clients the opportunity to generate leads to an audience with significant investable funds.

www.masterinvestor.co.uk About Charlotte Ransom / Netwealth Investments Charlotte is the founder and CEO of Netwealth Investments, a leading UK online wealth manager. Having started her career at JP Morgan she spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs, serving as a partner for 10 years. Her leadership roles spanned relationship management, marketing and product development in the Securities Division. From 2006 to 2011, Charlotte was head of Institutional Wealth Management and the Market Solutions Groups for Europe, Middle East and Asia in the Investment Management Division. From 2012, she explored the impact of digital technologies on a variety of industries before founding Netwealth in 2015. Netwealth brings together a highly qualified team, a powerful online service and a robust investment framework. For a fraction of the traditional industry cost, clients have access to fully managed portfolios and experienced advice while benefiting from cutting edge financial technology. https://www.netwealth.com Contact: James Hudson, [email protected]

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[January 17, 2018] Advanced Discovery Introduces Advanced Message Review?; Patent-pending Automation and Integration for Defensible Mobile Data eDiscovery

AUSTIN, Texas and LONDON, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advanced Discovery, a global eDiscovery and risk management provider, today announced the company has launched Advanced Message Review, a patent-pending eDiscovery solution for global mobile data.

Mobile devices now dominate the share of total minutes spent online: 71 percent in the U.S. and 61 percent in the U.K. (source: comScore). This growth includes the continued acceleration of text and chat messaging with nearly 23 billion messages being sent every day, or 16 million messages per minute across the globe (source: Statistic Brain). Even though mobile data is one of the fastest-growing sources of discoverable electronically stored information, eDiscovery providers have been dependent on manual and linear workflows, explains Jim Burke, CEO, Advanced Discovery. Data collected from mobile devices (SMS, IM, third-party chats, linked photos, videos, voicemails) has typically been extracted in one bulk comma-delimited report or Excel file with unlinked exported loose files for photos, videos and voicemails. These types of communications are often reviewed outside of the standard review platform, without the ability to integrate automated workflows or tools, including analytics to reduce and prioritize documents. Conversations become rows and columns in a spreadsheet, creating an inefficient, time-consuming and disconnected review process, Burke explains. dvanced Message Review is designed to automate and integrate the review of mobile data within all major review platforms, including Relativity. This solution:



Converts mobile device images into a format that allows fully functional native review.





Normalizes texts and chats from multiple sources and formats, including Facebook Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, Snapchat and many more.







Organizes mobile data into formats usable in all major review platforms for parallel review with all other nonmobile data sources.





Threads individual messages to display relationship-based communication patterns between two or more parties.





Formats and displays data with all the visual messaging cues of the mobile device for faster and higher-quality review and coding.





Enables the application of analytics features, like conceptual search and visualization, to mobile data to reduce and prioritize documents for review. We are technology-enabled advisors to our clients, explains Brandi Walkowiak, vice president, Review and Professional Services, Advanced Discovery. Using innovative tools like Advanced Message Review means we can improve review workflows, enhance substantive understanding of documents and stay ahead of the growing scale and complexity of mobile data. To learn more about Advanced Message Review, watch a short video by visiting www.advanceddiscovery.com/mobile-device-ediscovery. About Advanced Discovery Advanced Discovery is an award-winning and leading global eDiscovery and risk management company, partnering with law firms and corporations since 2002. Advanced Discovery and its global family of companies, Altep, Millnet Document Services and Legal Placements Inc., offer a complete suite of solutions to clients around the globe, including eDiscovery, information governance, Riskcovery and compliance risk assessment, cybersecurity, legal operations consulting, data forensics and investigations, paper discovery and digital printing, as well as legal recruiting and placement. The company employs leading professionals in the industry, applies defensible workflows and provides patented and industry-proven technology across all phases of the eDiscovery and risk management life cycle. This devotion to excellence has earned Advanced Discovery inclusion in the Inc. 5000 Hall of Fame for being named to the fastest-growing companies list for six successive years and recognition as the highest-level Best in Service Relativity solutions partner for five consecutive years. For more information, please visit www.advanceddiscovery.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Media Contact:

Vicki LaBrosse

Edge Legal Marketing for Advanced Discovery

651-552-7753

[email protected]

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[January 17, 2018] Digital Health Company Peerfit Closes $8 Million Series B Investment Round

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Peerfit, a digital platform that makes it easy for insurance carriers, brokers and employers to offer fitness classes and wellness services to their clients and employees, announced today the closing on their Series B funding round. With the closing of this round, Peerfit raised $10.3 million by private investors in the last year's offering. "Our growth in 2017 has set the bar for us as we move forward," said Ed Buckley, III, PhD, Peerfit's CEO. "This round of funding, along with some major milestones in Q4 really graduates us from a start-up to a growth company. It allows us new levels of experience at leadership, and will fuel overall company growth." Peerfit's team more than doubled in size in 2017, and its Peerfit Studio Network exponentially increased nerly 800% across 43 states, growing to more than 2,000 fitness studios. The number of fitness classes taken also increased by 241%.



Jeff Vinik, Owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL), Lee Arnold, Colliers International Florida Executive Chairman, and Bob Smith, Chairman and CEO of PAR, Inc. were among the most active investors in Peerfit in 2017. Alongside the investment was the announcement of the new Board of Directors. Co-founders Ed Buckley, III, PhD and Scott Peeples will continue to serve with the additions of Jeff Vinik, Lee Arnold, Marc Blumenthal, and Jim Philip.

For more information on Peerfit and its mission to redefine wellness, visit Peerfit.com. About Peerfit

Peerfit is a digital platform that's helping insurance carriers, brokers and employers redefine corporate wellness programs. Peerfit gives employees access to a network of premium fitness studios  offering a variety of classes that cater to all levels of fitness  using workplace wellness dollars. Companies only pay for employees who use Peerfit, which allows organizations to instantly upgrade their wellness programs without a premium price. For more information, visit Peerfit.com. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/digital-health-company-peerfit-closes-8-million-series-b-investment-round-300583621.html SOURCE Peerfit

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[January 17, 2018] UnionPay is accepted at 90% of ATMs and POS terminals in Spain

MADRID, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionPay International announced today that it has cooperated with Banco Cooperativo in Spain to enable the latter's 81,000 POS terminals and 2600 ATMs to accept UnionPay cards, further expanding the acceptance scope of UnionPay in the small and medium towns in Spain. Now, UnionPay is accepted at 90% of ATMs and POS terminals in Spain and will realize fuss-free usage both online and offline within this year. According to the Report on China to Europe Travel Trend in the First Half of 2017 recently issued by China Tourism Academy together with major travel agencies in China, the number of Chinese tourists to Europe grew by 65% year-on-year during the first half of 2017, and Spain has become one of the most popular destinations among Chinese tourists. In 2017, the transaction voume of UnionPay cards in Spain increased by over 30% year-on-year.



To date, UnionPay is accepted at over 2.3 million merchants in 39 European countries and regions, accounting for half of all the bankcard-accepting merchants in Europe. To further improve tourists' payment experience in Spain, UnionPay International is accelerating its cooperation with major institutions in Spain to improve its acceptance environment. Now, UnionPay is extensively accepted at duty-free shops, department stores, tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and many other cities. UnionPay-accepting merchants include World Duty Free, El Corte Ingles and quite a few hotel groups. Repsol gas stations, Eurostars and Exe hotel group will start accepting UnionPay cards soon. Banco Cooperativo is affiliated with El Grupo Caja Rural, and its merchants are across Spain. UnionPay International's cooperation with the Bank will extend the acceptance scope of UnionPay cards to the small and middle merchants in Spain.

In addition, UnionPay cardholders may enjoy abundant discounts and privileges in Spain. For instance, El Corte Ingles stores in Madrid and Barcelona offer three-fold privileges to UnionPay cardholders: shopping card worth 20 Euro, cash rebate worth 10% of the spending amount, and free wine/drinks and snacks. About 15 famous merchants in Passeig de Gracia business district offer discounts up to 30%-off to UnionPay cardholders too. SOURCE UnionPay International

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[January 17, 2018] MH Business Exchange Episode 5 informs businesses how to minimize risk when terminating an employee

CLEVELAND, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The fifth episode of McDonald Hopkins' bi-weekly podcast series MH Business Exchange has been released. This week, host Mike Witzke is joined by James Boutrous, managing member in the firm's Detroit office. In the episode titled "Terminating an employee, while protecting your business," Boutrous informs listeners about the necessary steps their business must take when terminating an employee to avoid potential legal action. This is part one of a two-episode labor and employment discussion on MH Business Exchange. To listen to this and previous episodes, subscribe to the podcast or sign-up to receive announcements when new episodes of MH Busines Exchange are released, listeners may visit mcdonaldhopkins.com/podcasts.



On January 30, David Schelberg will complete the labor and employment discussion when he sits down with Witzke to discuss actions employers should take to help navigate legal disputes with their employees. About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com. CONTACT:

Deborah W. Kelm

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5733

Email: [email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mh-business-exchange-episode-5-informs-businesses-how-to-minimize-risk-when-terminating-an-employee-300583879.html SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

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[January 17, 2018] EVOTEK Expands to San Francisco, Appoints Ben Escobar as Head of the Bay Area Region

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EVOTEK (www.EVOTEK.com), the nation's premier enabler of digital business, announced today that it is expanding operations into the San Francisco Bay Area and has appointed Ben Escobar to lead the effort. San Francisco is the sixth new market EVOTEK has entered in the past two years, joining San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, and Portland. "Ben will be invaluable as EVOTEK establishes our presence in the Bay Area," said Jeffrey Klenner, President of EVOTEK. "Our unique capability to support customers at any point on the spectrum, between data center and public cloud, continues to capture the attention of our industry's top performers. I am delighted to have him lead our newest expansion team." In his new role, Escobar is responsible for all revenue and customer-facing functions in the Bay Area. He has a proven track record of building high-performing teams that thrive on providing exceptional service to clients. Before joining EVOTEK, Escobar led a team in the Bay Area at InterVision Systems. Escobar holds a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from San Jose Stae University.



EVOTEK was purpose-built to address the evolving technology landscape. With offerings in both data center and cloud, EVOTEK is uniquely equipped to assist customers with the industry shift from traditional IT computing to multi-cloud. With services offerings in mobility, security, and DevOps, EVOTEK has the unique ability to connect the business side of digital transformation with the underlying technology. "Clients are looking for innovative partners that facilitate and execute next generation solutions," stated Escobar. "EVOTEK has the unique ability to support businesses at any point on their digital journey. This is an exciting time to join the world-class team at EVOTEK."

About EVOTEK EVOTEK is North America's premier enabler of digital business with a focus on innovation. With technology offerings in both data center and cloud, EVOTEK is uniquely equipped to enable customers with the industry shift from traditional IT computing to multi-cloud. With services practices in security, mobility, and DevOps, EVOTEK is moving up the value chain, closer to the part of digital business that matters most. In both 2016 and 2017, EVOTEK was named to The San Diego Business Journal's Best Places to work and recognized in CRN's Solution Provider 500 list, CRN's Next-Generation 250 list and highlighted CRN's Top 150 Growth Companies, holding the #1 spot, as the fastest growing system integrator in the country. To learn more about how EVOTEK can enable your digital business, visit http://www.EVOTEK.com/. Follow EVOTEK:Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook Contact:

Torrie Bradley

6199625470

[email protected] View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evotek-expands-to-san-francisco-appoints-ben-escobar-as-head-of-the-bay-area-region-300583864.html SOURCE EVOTEK

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[January 17, 2018] NSS Labs Joins Global Leaders During the Week of the World Economic Forum to Advance its Mission for Defining Cyber KPIs Around Measurement, Metrics, Monitoring, and Communication

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NSS Labs, Inc., a global leader and trusted source for independent, fact-based cybersecurity guidance, today announced that Vikram Phatak, CEO of NSS Labs, will join a select group of global leaders during the week of the World Economic Forum at the Inaugural Cyber Future Dialogue at Davos, presented by SINET and Cyber Future Foundation. An industry thought leader with more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience, Vikram is at the forefront of NSS Labs endeavors to define new industry standards and KPIs for measuring cybersecurity effectiveness. At the Cyber Future Dialogue in Davos, Vikram will participate in a panel titled How can we measure, monitor, and manage cyber risk for organizations? What are macro and micro considerations? This global executive dialogue will serve as a pioneering group to drive critical actions and establish basic tenets of cyber engagement in society. The worlds largest and most demanding enterprises are adopting the NSS Labs Continuous Security Validation Platform to measure and monitor the ongoing effectiveness of their security controls, said Vikram Phatak, CEO of NSS Labs. We have gained a wealth of real-world insights through our work with enterprises worldwide and believe that measuring cybersecurity programs in language that businesses can understand paves the way for effective decisions. I look forward to sharing our vision for continuous monitoring and measurement with the global leaders in Davos. WHO: Vikram Phatak, CEO of NSS Labs WHAT: How can we measure, monitor, and manage cyber risk for organizations? What are





WHERE: The Inaugural Cyber Future Dialogue 2018 in Davos, Switzerland WHEN: Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Vikram Phatak is CEO at NSS Labs and is responsible for leading the companys endeavors to advance transparency and accountability within the cybersecurity industry. He is one of the industry's foremost thought leaders and has more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience. Under his leadership, NSS Labs has become recognized globally as the most trusted source for independent, fact-based cybersecurity guidance. Prior to NSS Labs, Vikram founded and led several Internet and cybersecurity companies, including Lucid Security and Intermedia Sciences Group, one of the first Internet service providers and security consulting firms in the US. He has been featured in numerous business and technology publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CSO Magazine, CyberScoop, Dark Reading, eWeek, SC Magazine, ZDNet, and many others. Additional Resources:

 Learn more about NSS Labs

 Learn more about the Cyber Future Dialogue Series

 Learn more about NSS Labs CAWS Continuous Security Validation Platform

 Follow NSS Labs on Twitter

 Follow NSS Labs on LinkedIn

 Browse the NSS Labs Research Library

About NSS Labs, Inc.

NSS Labs, Inc. is recognized globally as the most trusted source for independent, fact-based cybersecurity guidance. Our mission is to advance transparency and accountability within the cybersecurity industry. We empower enterprises by providing them with timely, relevant information on which to base their decisions. Our unmatched foundation in security testing, along with our extensive research and global threat analysis capabilities, provide the basis for our CAWS Continuous Security Validation Platform. CAWS measures the ongoing effectiveness of security controls, providing a real-time score card to help business leaders substantiate their security investments. Businesses can also leverage the threat data delivered by CAWS to strengthen their cyber risk posture and mitigate threats to their operating systems and applications. CISOs, Chief Security Architects, SOC and Threat Analysts, and information security professionals from many of the world's largest and most demanding enterprises rely on trusted insights from NSS Labs. For more information, visit www.nsslabs.com. Contact:

Tom Resau

W2 Communications

Phone: +1 703-877-8103

[email protected]



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[January 17, 2018] Dragos Announces New 5-Day, Hands-On Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Course on Assessing, Monitoring and Hunting Industrial Threats

HANOVER, Md., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity company Dragos, Inc. announced today the addition of a new, 5-day ICS cybersecurity course: "Assessing, Monitoring, and Hunting ICS Threats." The course is hosted at Dragos' state-of-the-art training center in Hanover, Maryland and is aimed to help information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) security professionals increase their industrial cybersecurity best practices expertise, expand their knowledge of industrial environments, and more effectively secure their environments. The course also leverages the team's software technology, the Dragos Platform, to better enable customers and introduce them to complex environments and attacks outside of those they might face at their own organizations. "Assessing, Monitoring, and Hunting ICS Threats" offers students: 5 days of in-depth training on ICS basics, best practices, environment assessments, threat hunting, and industrial network monitoring

Access to ICS cyber ranges and individual training stations equipped with control system kits

Immersion into real-world ICS scenarios through various hands-on labs and exercises

Instruction from Dragos' team of ICS experts and practitioners who have boots-on-the-ground experience securing industrial control systems and surrounding infrastructure "The industrial community faces shortages of both the talent and echnology required to keep pace with threats and the methods they use," said Robert M. Lee, Dragos CEO and Founder. "Dragos training classes are a key element of Dragos' response to these challenges and just one of the ways we transfer our team members' knowledge and experience as ICS defenders back into the community."



The next class is scheduled for February 26, 2018. More details about the course can be found at www.dragos.com/training/. Contact [email protected] for more information. About Dragos

Dragos applies expert human intelligence and threat behavioral analytics to redefine industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity. Its industry-first, ICS cybersecurity ecosystem provides industrial security practitioners with unprecedented situational awareness over their environments, with comprehensive threat intelligence, detection, and response capabilities. Dragos' solutions include the Dragos Platform, software providing ICS-specific asset discovery, threat detection, and response capabilities; Dragos Threat Operations Center, providing ICS threat hunting, incident response services, and ICS cybersecurity training; and Dragos ICS WorldView, providing global, ICS-specific threat intelligence in the form of weekly reports. Headquartered in metropolitan Washington DC, Dragos' team of ICS cybersecurity experts are practitioners who've lived the problems the industry faces hailing from across the U.S. Intelligence Community to private sector industrial companies. For more information, please visit dragos.com.

Media Contact

Liz Tippitt

901-413-5080

[email protected] http://www.twitter.com/dragosinc https://dragos.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dragos-announces-new-5-day-hands-on-industrial-control-systems-cybersecurity-course-on-assessing-monitoring-and-hunting-industrial-threats-300583488.html SOURCE Dragos, Inc.

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[January 17, 2018] Nintex Study Pinpoints Corporate America's Most Broken Processes and the Resulting Impact on Employee Performance and Retention

BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the recognized global leader in workflow and content automation (WCA), today released a new study revealing the top five most broken processes in American workplaces and how they contribute to employee satisfaction and performance. Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8146751-nintex-american-workplace-broken-processes-study/ The study, called the "Definitive Guide to America's Most Broken Processes," found that a third of employees at U.S. companies (with more than 1,000 employees) are currently looking for new jobs, with the vast majority (86 percent) citing their company's broken processes as a driving factor behind this decision. One commonality found in the research is that the top five issues are unspecialized, repetitive tasks that fall in the long tail of business processes, which must be automated to drive efficiency, efficacy and employee satisfaction. The complete study findings are available as a downloadable ebook at https://www.nintex.com/brokenprocesses. The top five most broken corporate processes cited by survey respondents include: Technology troubleshooting Access to tools and documents that enable good job performance Annual performance reviews Promotions Employee onboarding "Broken processes within American enterprises like trouble contacting IT and inconsistent performance reviews are taking a serious toll on employee morale and increasingly becoming a top concern for C-suite leaders," says Nintex CEO John Burton. "Given the Nintex study findings, it's clear that automating the long tail of business processes can no longer be postponed. By automating processes, business leaders can ensure a strong foundation for positively improving employee retention and productivity." STUDY HIGHLIGHTS Inefficient IT Teams Cause Shadow IT and Security Threats

Sixty-two percent of employees observe broken IT processes within their organization, making this the most problematic department across today's workplaces. Only 24 percent of employees report very prompt service from in-house IT teams, and that number dropped to a mere 7 percent for remote IT teams.



As a result, employees increasingly threaten enterprise security by engaging in shadow IT (using an unsanctioned app or device at work), with nearly half of millennials (46 percent) doing so in direct response to delayed IT troubleshooting and over-complicated technology that is difficult for the line of business to navigate.



What's more, the biggest culprits of shadow IT are, in fact, IT professionals themselves; 60 percent have used unsanctioned apps or devices because of unresolved IT problems.



Sixty-two percent of employees observe broken IT processes within their organization, making this the most problematic department across today's workplaces. Only 24 percent of employees report very prompt service from in-house IT teams, and that number dropped to a mere 7 percent for remote IT teams. As a result, employees increasingly threaten enterprise security by engaging in shadow IT (using an unsanctioned app or device at work), with nearly half of millennials (46 percent) doing so in direct response to delayed IT troubleshooting and over-complicated technology that is difficult for the line of business to navigate. What's more, the biggest culprits of shadow IT are, in fact, IT professionals themselves; 60 percent have used unsanctioned apps or devices because of unresolved IT problems. Untapped Potential and Unclear Career Paths Drive Employee Turnover

With more than two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents believing their company's broken processes prevent them from maximizing their potential, it's no surprise inefficiency is a driving force behind employee turnover.



While digitally-native millennials are particularly likely to cite broken processes as a reason for quitting, 35 percent of Gen X employees are also actively job hunting (revealing a broader, cross-generational issue).



Additionally, 53 percent of employees observe broken administrative processes (like promotions) in their workplace, among which only 13 percent say their career path is "very clearly" defined.



Without a clear path for advancement, employees don't stick around long; 63 percent of employees who say processes for advancement are not clearly defined are looking for new jobs.



With more than two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents believing their company's broken processes prevent them from maximizing their potential, it's no surprise inefficiency is a driving force behind employee turnover. While digitally-native millennials are particularly likely to cite broken processes as a reason for quitting, 35 percent of Gen X employees are also actively job hunting (revealing a broader, cross-generational issue). Additionally, 53 percent of employees observe broken administrative processes (like promotions) in their workplace, among which only 13 percent say their career path is "very clearly" defined. Without a clear path for advancement, employees don't stick around long; 63 percent of employees who say processes for advancement are not clearly defined are looking for new jobs. Most Employees Don't Know Who to Blame for Broken Processes

When it comes to addressing broken processes, most employees don't agree on who's to blame. For IT shortcomings, a quarter of IT employees blame the CEO, but only 13 percent of total respondents do.



When it comes to broken onboarding processes, a much larger percentage (20 percent) hold the CEO accountable, yet 53 percent blame HR. "In many organizations, broken processes are everywhere. But, due to IT's countless other priorities, most companies have designated them asunsolvable issues," says Nintex SVP Technology Strategy Ryan Duguid. "Fortunately advancements in intelligent process automation solutions are changing all of this. In 2018 and beyond, American workers should feel empowered as the technology is available today to easily automate, orchestrate and optimize their own business processes, eliminating frustration and ensuring everyone is better equipped to reach top potential."



Nintex views intelligent process automation (IPA) as the key to realizing untapped opportunities in the long tail of automation. IPA solutions offer a unique blend of 'simplicity and sophistication' and are designed to be used by information workers to accelerate digital transformation for corporations around the world. Nintex will be unveiling the new era of IPA during its annual conference, Nintex xchange, taking place February 26-28, 2018 in San Diego, Calif. To register for Nintex xchange visit www.nintex.com/xchange.

Study Methodology

The study by Nintex was conducted by Lucid Research in July 2017 and completed by 1,000 full-time employees at U.S. enterprises with more than 1,000 employees. The individuals surveyed hold roles in key functional areas like HR, sales, finance, and IT. Media Contact

Kristin Treat

[email protected]

cell: (215) 317-9091 About Nintex

Nintex is the recognized global leader in workflow and content automation (WCA) with more than 7,500 enterprise clients and 1,700 partners in 90 countries who have built and published millions of workflow applications. With its unmatched breadth of capability and platform support delivered by unique architectural capabilities, Nintex empowers the line of business and IT departments to quickly automate hundreds of manual processes to progress on the journey to digital transformation. Nintex Workflow Cloud, the company's cloud platform, connects with all content repositories, systems of record, and people to consistently fuel successful business outcomes. Visit www.nintex.com to learn more. Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nintex-study-pinpoints-corporate-americas-most-broken-processes-and-the-resulting-impact-on-employee-performance-and-retention-300583836.html SOURCE Nintex

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[January 17, 2018] Putnam Investments to Form Two Funds to Pursue Environmental, Social and Governance Investment Strategies

Putnam Investments today announced plans to offer two funds with dedicated environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies to the marketplace toward the end of Q1 2018, pending SEC (News - Alert) staff review. The new funds, to be named Putnam Sustainable Leaders Fund and Putnam Sustainable Future Fund, will bring two distinct investment lenses to identify opportunities driven by corporate sustainability practices and solutions, respectively. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006051/en/ Katherine Collins, Head of Sustainable Investing at Putnam Investments. (Photo: Business Wire) Following the creation of Putnam's Sustainable Investing team last year, which is headed by Katherine Collins, the firm has been exploring a variety of sustainability-focused solutions - for both the retail and institutional markets - and has been increasingly embedding ESG analysis across its broader investment platforms. "The true value of active anagement is being able to find compelling, differentiated investment opportunities that are often undiscovered and away from underlying benchmarks - ultimately seeking to add meaningful alpha to clients' portfolios," said Robert L. Reynolds, President and CEO, Putnam Investments. "Our ESG product developments are part of a larger continuing effort by Putnam to use its evolving product line-up to help clients capitalize on a broad range of market dynamics through an effective mix of innovative traditional and non-traditional investment strategies."



The two new Putnam ESG funds will be formed through the repositioning of two existing products offered by the firm. Putnam Multi-Cap Growth Fund will become Putnam Sustainable Leaders Fund, a multi-cap fund - with $4.3 billion in assets at the end of December 2017 - focused on identifying companies with demonstrated commitment to sustainable business practices. The fund will be managed by Katherine Collins, Head of Sustainable Investing and Shep Perkins, Co-Head of Equities. They will be joined by Assistant Portfolio Manager Stephanie Henderson, an analyst on the firm's sustainable investing team. Rob Brookby, who previously managed Putnam Multi-Cap Growth Fund, will be leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. Additionally, Putnam Multi-Cap Value Fund will become Putnam Sustainable Future Fund, a mid-cap fund - with $450 million in assets at the end of December 2017 - focused on identifying companies with products and services that provide solutions directly contributing to sustainable social, environmental, and economic development. The fund will continue to be managed by Katherine Collins, who will be joined by Assistant Portfolio Manager Stephanie Henderson.

"There is a growing realization in the marketplace that companies engaged in sustainability often show enhanced fundamental and financial performance," said Aaron Cooper (News - Alert), Chief Investment Officer, Equities, Putnam Investments. "These ESG offerings are a powerful recognition by our firm that clients and investors, who are increasingly intrigued by sustainable investing, stand to benefit from focused strategies in this area in the years ahead," explained Cooper. The two Putnam ESG-focused funds are expected to be available in the marketplace in March 2018. About Putnam Investments Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a global money management firm with 80 years of investment experience. At the end of December 2017, Putnam had $171 billion in assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit putnam.com. Putnam mutual funds are distributed by Putnam Retail Management. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006051/en/

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[January 17, 2018] Teleperformance Wins Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Awards for Asia Pacific, Europe and North America Regions

Regulatory News: Teleperformance (News - Alert) (Paris:RCF), the worldwide leader in omnichannel customer experience management, today announced it received three prestigious Contact Center Outsourcing Company of the Year Awards from Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), recognizing its entire regional operations in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. The awards honor Teleperformance for a high degree of innovation in services, technologies, and leadership with a focus on customer value and market penetration. This is the sixth consecutive year Teleperformance operations in Asia Pacific were honored with this award, the fourth consecutive year for North America and the second time for Europe. Specific Teleperformance initiatives that impressed Frost & Sullivan include: - Anticipating Cybersecurity Needs and Protecting Client Data: Teleperformance creates technologies and provides the experience and skills needed to offer unparalleled security solutions for clients. Its latest innovations include state-of-the-art enhanced security platforms and processes. - Investment in Omnichannel: Teleperformance operates a state-of-the-art Customer Experience Lab (CX Lab) which extracts data insights and informs clients on evolving customer satisfaction and preferences across channels. Additionally, its "Customer Experience Journey" Showrooms take clients and prospects through a seamless omnichannel experience using internally developed tools and technologies. - Strategic Multilingual Hubs: Teleperformance set up "Multilingual Euro Hubs", which covers the European market from a small number of centers by offering servicesin approximately 30 European languages. The company operates similar multilingual hubs around the world.



"Teleperformance's commitment to exceeding client standards and expectations is exemplified by its technology expertise, process excellence, global footprint, and capability to customize for local markets," said Jeff Frigstad, Global Senior Vice President, Best Practices, Frost & Sullivan. "The company is at the forefront of both innovation and human interactions - they continue to impress us with new strategies, technologies and processes that benefit clients and further strengthen its position as an industry leader." Daniel Julien, Chairman and Global CEO, Teleperformance Group, said: "Being named Contact Center Outsourcing Company of the Year in three regions in the same year by Frost & Sullivan is a historic industry milestone. This is exceptional independent validation of the value we provide to clients and the superb work by our teams around the world. We remain totally committed to global excellence for our clients by serving as a safe and innovative personal link between their brand and their customers."

ABOUT TELEPERFORMANCE Teleperformance (RCF - ISIN: FR0000051807 - Reuters: ROCH.PA - Bloomberg (News - Alert): RCF FP), the worldwide leader in outsourced omnichannel customer experience management, serves companies and administrations around the world, with customer care, technical support, customer acquisition (Core Services), as well as with online interpreting solutions, visa application management services, data analysis and debt collection programs (Specialized Services). In 2016, Teleperformance reported consolidated revenue of 3,649 million (US$4,050 million, based on 1 = $1.11). The Group operates 163,000 computerized workstations, with 217,000 employees across 340 contact centers in 74 countries and serving 160 markets. It manages programs in 265 languages and dialects on behalf of major international companies operating in a wide variety of industries. Teleperformance shares are traded on the Euronext Paris market, Compartment A, and are eligible for the deferred settlement service. They are included in the following indices: CAC Large 60, CAC Next 20, CAC Support Services, STOXX 600, SBF 120, and MSCI Global Standard. They also have been included in the Euronext Vigeo Eurozone 120 index since December 2015, with regard to the Group's performance in corporate responsibility. For more information: www.teleperformance.com

Follow us: Twitter (News - Alert) @teleperformance View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117005947/en/

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[January 17, 2018] Synteract Adds Karl Deonanan as Chief Financial Officer to Take Company Into Next Phase of Growth

Synteract, a full-service, international contract research organization (CRO), announced today that Karl Deonanan has joined as chief financial officer (CFO). Deonanan joins Synteract from IQVIA (formerly Quintiles) where he was CFO of the organization's Research and Development Solutions segment. He will lead Synteract's Finance and Contracts Proposals organizations as it gears up for its next phase of growth. "Karl brings deep pharma services expertise, with international experience, and an extensive finance background across corporate finance, operational finance, investor relations, and strategic planning and risk management. His skills will provide the finance vision, strategy and leadership to suppor our organization as we grow and scale our global capabilities," said Steve Powell, CEO of Synteract. "We are thrilled to have Karl as a member of our executive team as we partner with our customers to navigate the very complex and dynamic nature of drug development."



Deonanan draws on more than 20 years of finance leadership experience across publicly traded and privately-held companies. Prior to his role as CFO of IQVIA's Research and Development Solutions segment, Deonanan held key leadership positions with increasing responsibility over his 14 years with the company. These included vice president of Investor Relations, where he supported the initial public offering of Quintiles; CFO of the Asia and Australia region, based in Singapore; and executive director Finance - Global Data Management and Biostatistics. He started his career in public accounting, working at Dixon Hughes (News - Alert) Goodman and later Arthur Andersen. Deonanan is a licensed CPA and holds a Master of Science degree in accounting from East Carolina University and a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

About Synteract With 800 staff members across 21 countries, Synteract is an international full-service contract research organization supporting biopharmaceutical companies in all phases of clinical development. Synteract has conducted Phase I-IV studies on six continents and in more than 60 countries, offering a notable depth of expertise in oncology, CNS, ophthalmology, respiratory indications, as well as rare and orphan, pediatric and immunotherapy studies. With its "Shared Work - Shared Vision" philosophy, Synteract provides customized services collaboratively, ensuring on-time delivery of quality data to help bring tomorrow's treatments to patients. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006149/en/

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[January 17, 2018] INVESTOR ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Reminds Investors of an Investigation Involving Possible Securities Fraud Violations by the Board of Directors of Aflac Incorporated

Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws. On January 11, 2018, post-market, The Intercept published an article entitled "Behind the Duck: Former Aflac Employees Allege Fraud and Abuse in Nearly Every Aspect (News - Alert) of Company." Citing "interviews with multiple current and former employees, as well as three previously unreported lawsuits," the article reported that "Aflac has exploited workers, manipulated its accounting, and deceived shareholders and customers." Among the allegations, the article suggests Aflac employees were pressured "to meet sales goals selling policies without customer authorization or consent" and to engage in illegal bundling policies. In addition, the article suggests that whistleblowers faced retaliation an that the Company engaged in earnings statement manipulation "moving sales earned in certain weeks into different quarters to hit numbers." On this news, Aflac's share price has fallen sharply during intra-day trading on January 12, 2018. To obtain additional information, go to:



http://www.zlkdocs.com/AFL-Info-Request-Form-6366 or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006185/en/

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[January 17, 2018] Envoy Welcomes COO Manu S. Sivanandam

Envoy, the technology leader in global immigration and workforce mobility, announced today that Manu S. Sivanandam will be joining the company as its new Chief Operations Officer. Sivanandam joins Envoy with more than 15 years of operations, strategy and marketing experience. In this role, Sivanandam will oversee Envoy's service delivery, which streamlines and centralizes the process of securing global work authorization and managing talent mobility for companies around the world. Sivanandam's responsibilities will include managing relationships with Envoy-affiliated service providers, growing global service delivery, and continuing to evolve Envoy's offerings for its customers. Prior to assuming the COO role at Envoy, Sivanandam served as vice president of marketing and strategy at Upright Law, a leading tech-enabled legal services provider focused on bankruptcy, and vice president of customer marketing and business operations at Orbitz Worldwide. He was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company (News - Alert). Sivanandam holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Cambridge University. "Manu's expertise, not just in strategy, but also in managing makes him an excellent addition to our team," said Envoy CEO Dick Burk. "He has the experience and potential to expand Envoy's global capabilities, and increase our ability to offer the best in work authorization solutions to our array of clients. We couldn't be happier to have him join our team."



Manu joins Envoy during a period of record growth, scaling and product innovation. Envoy grew 25 percent in 2017, secured a $21 million investment from Catalyst Partners, and evolved their technology with new budgeting and workforce planning tools, compliance features, and multi-factor data security. "The legal industry is an increasingly open space for innovation and disruption-especially as it pertains to highly complex and process-driven work like global immigration," Sivanandam said. "I'm thrilled to join Envoy in this exciting time as we continue innovating and delivering the best of solutions to our customers - empowering them to move their best and brightest talent around the globe."

About Envoy Founded in 1998, Envoy is the technology leader in global immigration services. Envoy combines expert legal representation - for both inbound and outbound immigration - and proprietary technology, making it seamless for companies to hire and manage an international workforce. This platform empowers companies to acquire the best talent regardless of where they are in the world, mobilizes employees around the world to take advantage of business opportunities, and enables the management of their entire global workforce. Envoy has handled more than 30,000 cases and served more than 2,000 customers in a broad range of industries. Website, technology platform and administrative services are provided by Envoy Global Inc., a Delaware corporation. Legal services are provided by Envoy-affiliated attorneys. Please visit envoyglobal.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180117006201/en/

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WASHINGTON  Five officers involved in two Navy ship collisions last year that killed a total of 17 sailors, including 23-year-old Logan Palmer of Harristown, are being charged with negligent homicide, the Navy said Tuesday.

A Navy spokesman, Capt. Greg Hicks, said the charges, which also include dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, will be presented to what the military calls an Article 32 hearing to determine whether the accused are taken to trial in a court-martial.

The disciplinary actions were decided by Adm. Frank Caldwell and are the latest in a series of moves the Navy has made in the aftermath of the deadly collisions, which investigators concluded were avoidable. It fired several top leaders, including the commander of the 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, and several other senior commanders in the Pacific.

The Navy has been reeling from tough questions arising from the two collisions. Palmer, a Sangamon Valley High School graduate, was one of 10 sailors killed when the destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in coastal waters off Singapore in August. The collision followed the deaths of seven U.S. sailors in June when the destroyer USS Fitzgerald struck a commercial ship off the waters of Japan.

Hundreds attended Palmer's funeral Sept. 11 in Life Foursquare Church in Decatur. He was buried with full military honors in Harristown Cemetery, and was posthumously promoted to petty officer 2nd class.

The Navy said the USS McCain's commander at the time, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, is being charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship. A chief petty officer, whose name was not disclosed, faces a charge of dereliction of duty.

At least three charges are being filed against four officers of the Fitzgerald, including the commanding officer, who was Cmdr. Bryce Benson at the time. Benson suffered a head injury in the collision and was airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan. A Navy investigation found that Benson left the ship's bridge before the collision. Also facing charges are two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade, whose names were not disclosed. The Navy said all four face criminal charges, including negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship.

In a statement, Hicks said the announcement of charges Tuesday is "not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses. All individuals alleged to have committed misconduct are entitled to a presumption of innocence."

In addition to the criminal charges, administrative actions are being taken against unidentified members of both crews, including non-judicial punishment for four from the Fitzgerald and four from the McCain, Hicks said.

As a result of the two deadly accidents, at least eight top Navy officers, including the 7th Fleet commander, were fired from their jobs last year, and a number of other sailors received reprimands or other punishment that was not publicly released. Among the senior officers relieved of duty, in addition to Aucoin, were Rear Adm. Charles Williams and Capt. Jeffrey Bennett. Williams was the commander of Task Force 70, which includes the aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers in the 7th Fleet, and Bennett was commander of the destroyer squadron.

In a report released last November, the Navy concluded that the two crashes, as well as a third collision in May and a ship grounding, were all avoidable, and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders who didn't quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies.

The 72-page report described in detail the circumstances of both collisions  and the ways they might have been avoided. It said Palmer and the other sailors who died on the USS McCain were all in the same sleeping quarters, which likely flooded in less than a minute. Two sailors were able to escape the quarters as water poured in.

A few minutes before the collision, the Navy said, the USS McCain's commanding officer ordered speed control of the ship to be transferred from one crew member to another. Steering control was also inadvertently shifted, and crew members were confused and thought they had lost steering for several minutes, according to the report.

The commanding officer and others on the bridge lost situational awareness, according to the report, and did not understand the other ship's course and speed relative to their own before the collision. Neither of the ships sounded the five short whistle blasts required by the International Rules of the Nautical Road to warn one another of danger, the Navy said.

A second report called for about 60 recommended changes to address the problems. They ranged from improved training on seamanship, navigation and the use of ship equipment to more basic changes to improve sleep and stress management for sailors.

The extensive training and leadership failures prompted the top Navy officer, Adm. John Richardson, to order all naval commanders around the world to review their staffs and ships to see if they had similar problems.

The Navy's investigation of the two collisions found that in addition to bad judgment, the crews were not adequately prepared.

"In the Navy, the responsibility of the Commanding Officer for his or her ship is absolute," it said. "Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision making of the Commanding Officer. That said, no single person bears full responsibility for this incident. The crew was unprepared for the situation in which they found themselves through a lack of preparation, ineffective command and control, and deficiencies in training and preparations for navigation."

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Taylorville Republican who was in contact with the Palmer family he was missing, has called for changes to Pentagon policy to ease travel for the families of fallen service members as a result of the Palmers' experience.

The family sought help from an outside organization to pay for their travel expenses to meet Palmer's remains at Dover Air Force Base because the U.S. Department of Defense did not provide funding, Davis said.

If Palmer had died in combat, the department would have covered the cost automatically, but waivers must be requested for deaths outside of combat.

The congressman said earlier this month that he has gotten a verbal commitment from Navy officials to look at changing the policy.

Managing editor of digital Allison Petty contributed to this story.
Two people have been charged in connection with the murder of a Blue Springs 18-year-old. Jack Price was found shot around 9:30 p.m. Friday in the 100 block of Northwest Vesper Street. He was rushed to an area hospital but later died. Police later said they were speaking with two persons of interest in this case.
Royals pitcher Danny Duffy pleads guilty to DUI Royals pitcher Danny Duffy has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in Overland Park and has been placed on a year's probation. Sean Reilly, a spokesman for the city of Overland Park said Tuesday Duffy entered the plea last week and will pay $1,220 in fines and court fees.

Aftermath of local celebrity enduring far less hassle than his working-class fans who usually suffer a major financial hit fighting DUI charges. The fine and proaion probably don't amount to lunch money for this local hero. Read more:
Apropos For Kansas City Arctic Temps

Penguin chick now on display at KC Zoo A king penguin chick is now on display at the Kansas City Zoo. The chick, named Louis, hatched on Nov. 8, after the zoo was given the egg by the St. Louis Zoo and incubated at the Kansas City Zoo. Louis was hand raised behind the scenes by zookeepers.

Rock Chalk Space Man

The University Of Kansas Student Who Wants To Be A Martian Bailey Miller, an engineering graduate student at the University of Kansas, has a compelling goal: to be among the first astronauts to land on Mars. He's off to a good start. Miller was the leader of a seven-member team that won an international competition hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

New Kansas Cash Crop???

Advocates of industrial hemp production, research shift focus to Kansas Senate Advocates of industrial hemp production in Kansas sought support Tuesday for members of the Kansas Senate with a bill making it legal for state universities to conduct research on a plant capable of being processed into food, fabric, paper and other materials.

Local Boozy Biz Report

Tap List | Whalez Candles Launched With Hunt for Elusive Craft Beers Matt Wiley quietly launched Whalez Candles in late 2017 as a side project. Unlike commercial candle lines with a uniform look and packaging, Wiley uses empty bottles and cans of hard-to-obtain brands of craft beer to make his candles from scratch.

Show-Me Lower Pay Lesson

Missouri Teachers Making Slightly More Than Last Year, But Less Than National Average Missouri teachers have made incremental salary gains since last school year, but educator pay continues to trail the national average. The average Missouri teacher is making $49,760 for the 2017-18 school year, according to a Missouri State Teacher Association report on educator pay.

JoCo #MeToo Chicken Little???

Overland Park #MeToo Push Back

Overland Park police to file charges against woman who made false report of assault on Indian Creek Trail OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Overland Park police say they will file charges against a woman who filed an unfounded report of assault on the Indian Creek Trail last weekend. Police said a woman reported she had been assaulted early Saturday morning on the trail near Lamar and West 103rd Street in Overland Park.

TV News Goes All Buzzfeed

Unique Date Night Ideas in Kansas City What's more Kansas City than BBQ? Well, Char Bar combined award-winning BBQ with beer and lawn games for a combination that can't be beat for a distinctive date night. After you fill up on "slow and low" cooked meat and "Meat Mitch" sauces, step into the backyard for a friendly game of croquet, ping pong, bocce ball or cornhole.

Old School Streetcar Economy

Streetcar expansion spurred development of this Squier Park block Many parts of what is now Midtown Kansas City are called "streetcar suburbs," and this block of the Squier Park neighborhood from Forest to Tracy between 36 th and 37th demonstrates the impact the transit system had upon development.

Lots more to talk about tonight but let's offer celebration of Lucy and a peek at some of these Kansas City links for right now. Take a look:And this is thefor tonight . . .
"Before I was elected Governor, I made a mistake. It was a personal mistake, and I am sorry. I am sorry for the pain it caused to everyone impacted, including Sheena, our boys, our families, our friends, and people who have relied on me. I took responsibility with my family back when this happened, asked for Gods forgiveness and Sheenas, and Sheena and I dealt with this together, privately. I was, and today I still am, grateful for her forgiveness and love.





"Much has now been written about this, and many of the assertions made have not been truthful and have proven extremely hurtful to Sheena, as well as to me. For us, the allegations that go so far beyond the facts have made this much more difficult. I made a mistake, I regret it, and Sheena and I have dealt with it between us. For us, that is where this story starts, and that is where this story ends. We again ask for privacy for everyone involved.





"Then and now, we are focused on moving forward. I ask for your forgiveness and hope you can find it in your heart to do so. I assure you that this personal mistake will not deter us from the mission we were sent here to do. We have been, and we will, continue to work for and to fight for the people of Missouri. We will take our state in a new and better direction. There is still much work to be done, and we are back to work for the people of Missouri."













STL Biz Journal: Greitens indicates he'll stay in office after GOP lawmakers call for his resignation





Better than any media outlet in Missouri . . . Two days ago we suggested that Guv Greitens offer a real apology. He did it. Now we want to know from TKC denizens how this community of readers can help the Guv & Missouri move past this hot mess. It seems that that alleged conflict involving a state-paid worker is the most significant obstacle to overcome and/or address. You decide . . .

Missouri Republicans struggle to regain the moral high-ground but Guv Greitens makes a bold move in his latest statement that deserves recognition.Check the links as it now seems the involvement of a state worker is next obstacle for the Guv to confront . . .Now . . .Developing . . .
And so . . . The Guv is going to have to get back out there and risk uncomfortable showdowns against media questions. On the bright side, he'll build sympathy from supporters if newsies are too hard on him because voters hate journalists slightly more than politicians. Getting back to his agenda in the midst of a crisis will the be the greatest test of his political career and offers him an opportunity to prove his claims about the strength of his leadership.





NY Mag: Missouri Governor Eric Greitens Is in a World of Trouble





The next part of his fight to restore public confidence for Guv Greitens isn't gonna be pretty . . . He's gotta get back out in public.He has offered his 2nd apology which was a lot more convincing than the 1st and now it's up to investigators and his GOP critics toAs always in politics, it's questions about a coverup that could prove to be the undoing of an elected official and not the initial misdeed.Check the links . . .Developing . . .
A Grandview man has been charged with murder after a woman's body was on fire near a dumpster on Sunday. Kasanova Callier, 27, has been charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action.
Edgemoor still faces two hurdles in KCI build - labor and the city council A meeting was held Tuesday to discuss the labor side of the issue.

Another look at discussion of the new Kansas City airport from a firm that clings to the desperate hope that Burns & Mac along with union leaders & the heavies aren't killing their
Hearing Tomorrow: Council Committee will start the process to overturn your vote.

We asked every member of the City Council whether they would stand behind their constituents and insist your vote be honored as cast. The only Council members answering our request were Heather Hall who insisted she will back her constituents and Alissia Canady who told us she would review the ordinance to overturn your vote.





We have to assume all other council member will support this ordinance and over turn your vote to demand a citywide vote before any streetcar expansion. They will quote all kinds of silly reasons like constitutional infirmities . If they over throw this vote, they set a precedent to overthrow every vote they dont like. Elections are coming and we need to remind the council they work for us!





The Streetcar advocates (Streetcar Authority, KCATA ) are LOBBYING City Hall to overturn the voters decision to eliminate any streetcar expansion without a city wide public vote. We cannot let this happen. We voted for this law and we want if enforced. Ordinancewill be discussed.Elected officials must represent the majority of the people and the majority have spoken. Call / Email / or Both this week. Remind our City Council Representatives that elections are not far away and you will be watching how they represent the voters. Those of you in the Northland and on the Eastside should be the most vocal as you did the most to get the law passed. Stand up, be heardIf we allow the City Council to nullify this election, they will nullify anything the voters pass if they dont like it. They could establish a very dangerous precedent herein we dont stop them.##########Developing . . .
Jackson County Democrats: So Where Does All This Leave Us?

Editorial by Executive Director Geoff Gerling

Our state government is in total chaos and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In 2016, this state elected a Governor we didn't know because he hit the right notes of anger and mistrust while offering a fresh view as an outsider. He promised traditional family values, an end to Jefferson City corruption and a clear vision for the future of the state. All Greitens has delivered has been the opposite; fueled by a never-ending river of dark money, Greitens has been inaccessible to the media, voters and other elected officials alike, he has acted as a bully in Jefferson City whenever possible, he leaves the state for fundraising events and Washington DC photo ops every chance he gets, and the only policy visions he has remain either a mystery or the same old attacks on the working class citizens we have seen destroy economies before. Like his political idol Donald Trump, his hollow promises to "drain the swamp" have only further polluted it.The State of Missouri is facing economic drought conditions and the biggest losers will be public schools, our already crumbling infrastructure, senior citizens and those in need of healthcare access. The "leadership" of Eric Greitens and Republican legislators is not helping these problems, they are making them worse in a hurry.The scandals and legal questions are largely out of our hands and things are certainly going to get worse for our Governor before they get better. Greitens has made few friends since being sworn in aside from his nameless donors around the country. That means he has almost no one to turn to in Jefferson City to help him now that his back is against the wall. His glossy finish has been stripped away and we all see Greitens for the fraud that he is. As Democrats, we need to call him out for his policy failings and work to elect members of the House and Senate that will stand up to the destructive Republican agenda. Even if Greitens resigns, the GOP holds a super-majority in both chambers and Lt. Governor Mike Parsons will work well with them to pass bills.Our area has a great opportunity to flip THREE State Senate seats and no less than SIX House seats in 2018. November will be here before we know it. The more work we put into supporting our suburban candidates, the easier it will be to win races at the top of the ballot as well (McCaskill, Galloway).Wave elections don't just happen; they require a large group of people pledging to vote for a dramatic change and working to get others to do the same. Missouri may be a state on the brink now, but voters can do a lot to bring us back this November. We nearly swept all statewide elections in 2012. There is no reason we can't do it again in 2018 and 2020.############You decide . . .
It is unfortunate the Legislature is having to take legal action to enforce an ordinance passed by this body since the County Executive continues to ignore the current rule of law, Scott Burnett, chair of the Jackson County legislature, said Tuesday in a statement. It is our moral obligation to ensure accountability for the taxpayer dollars and given concerns about the administrations questionable use of these funds, a decision was made to return the administration of COMBAT to the Prosecuting Attorneys Office. We have complete confidence in Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to faithfully execute the duties asked of her office by this body.









Today, local elected officials confront an inevitability that our blog community has been talking about for weeks.The statement:Check today's news:Developing . . .
How often do last-minute rush jobs crash and burn? Frequently is likely the best answer.

But when the work of Congress is involved, and the issue includes a multi-trillion tax reform measure, the terms crash and burn are not supposed to be linked in the same sentence describing the outcome of a legislative initiative.

Oooops!

Just moments before the Senate was scheduled to vote, Republican Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota and John Thune South Dakota replaced a provision in the IRS tax code pertaining to taxable income farmers would derive from selling grain to an elevator owned by a farmer cooperative.

The provision, known as Section 199(A), reduced a farmers taxable income by 20 percent on grain sold to a cooperative, such as Heritage Grain at Dalton City, but not to grain sold to a corporation such as Archer Daniels Midland Co. or to a privately-owned elevator such as Osbernville Grain Co.

As a result, Jeff Adkisson, executive vice president of Illinois Grain and Feed Association, said corporate and private member elevator companies have been receiving calls from farmers wanting to withdraw their grain delivery commitments so they can re-sell to a cooperative. And his Washington-based affiliate, the National Grain and Feed Association, has been in constant meetings in an effort to restore order in the grain industry.

Right now there is measured chaos. The coops say they lobbied hard to get the IRS provision inserted in the tax reform bill, and do not want to give that up.

In addition to being part of the grain and feed network, the coops are also part of the National Council for Farmer Cooperatives, which wants to ensure its members don't lose their advantage.

Time is of the essence in restoring order because the tax law applies to grain sold in 2017 and taxable in 2018 and farmers will soon be meeting with their tax advisors to prepare tax returns due on March 1.

Those farm tax specialists know how they read the new law, but are not certain that the IRS will implement it in the same way. Advice letters from the IRS have not yet been forthcoming, so 2017 tax liabilities for farmers are in limbo.

On Capitol Hill, staff members in the Senate offices of Hoeven and Thune are taking the heat for their effort to preserve legislation that would have been lost when the new tax code was adopted. Thune and Hoeven say their attempt to create an equivalent to the old tax code had backfired by incentivizing grain sales to coops at the expense of other elevators. It may have been as simple as a staff member thinking all grain companies were alike, and the use of the term sell grain to a cooperative was a universal action by all farmers.

Thune has been quoted as saying he believes tax laws should not sway where farmers sell grain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which works closely with all involved, expressed hope for a quick solution. Undersecretary for Marketing Greg Ibach said, The federal tax code should not pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

While conference rooms on Capitol Hill are booked for seemingly continuous meetings about the issue, many interested parties are filling the available seats, including companies like ADM and Cargill, corporations owning ethanol plants and cattle feedlots, and others at the point of first purchase from farmers. They want to ensure their access to needed grain does not change, but the new tax law as it is written has that potential.

And if the parties agree on how an amendment should be worded, the question is when its going to be considered in the Congress. The House and Senate will not halt their schedule to address an ooops. And if such an amendment would require a 60 percent majority vote in the Senate, the Democrats will want another run at other portions of the new tax reform law.

And farm groups representing members with 10-year low grain prices will likely lobby the White House to not allow the loss of such a tax benefit, putting direct pressure on the Treasury Department and the IRS to carefully reconsider any innovative way of interpreting the intent of Congress, regardless of that intent.
TKC REMINDER: HOOPZ WILL TALK TO KANSAS CITY PARTY PEOPLE TONIGHT!!!

On January 17, 2018, P.S. Welcomes Jenee Osterheldt, The Kansas City Star's Culture Columnist and 2017 Harvard Nieman Fellow.

As Kansas City emerges from arctic Winter weather, here's a reminder from the best and brightest among our blog community regarding good times and the local discourse.To wit . . .On the bright side, this kinda sounds like a good time because harsher critics who are no fun don't usually venture out into social settings with better looking nightlife denizens. And so, once again the local echo chamber is reinforced as boozy socializing trumps political chatter. To be fair, TKC advises anybody with an axe to grind to stay away and simply bother their friends & loved ones with nasty opinions via Facebook . . . Meanwhile, more curious souls could learn more about why this high-profile writer tags the Prez as a white supremacist, supports national anthem protest and takes local Catholic schools to task.Checkit the deets:Join us for a new series, Cocktails & Conversation at P.S. Speakeasy!Hear from notable Kansas City business men and women telling the story of their path to success, over fresh cocktails, under ground, under the radar and off the cuff.Your ticket includes admission and one complimentary house brand drink.Jenee Osterheldt was named a diversity advocate by the NAACP of Olathe and we have seen her work appear in Essence, Rolling Out, KicksOnFire.com and most recently, Very Smart Brothas. She joined the Kansas City Star in 2001 as an intern covering pop culture and hip-hop before moving on to intern for The Contra Costa Times in California and The Pioneer Press in Minnesota. She returned to the Star in 2002 as a music critic and nightlife columnist.She transitioned into a lifestyle colomnist and spent her fellowship year at Harvard exploring the role of pop culture and the arts in shaping identity and social justice movements. Her beat covered everything from Rachel Dolezal to the unapologetic blackness of Beyonce's Formation.She recently returned to The Star as a culture columnist, where her columns speak truth to power. She concentrates on identity through the lens of pop culture, politics and the arts. She's taken on Trump, sexism and is unafraid to write about controversial topics. For her, being a journalist is not simply a job or a career. It is a responsibility.Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 7 PM - 8 PMP.S.106 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105########You decide . . .
Debt settlement in Greece's stricken economy is critical for further promotion of its booming tourist industry

JP Morgan has hired the former chief of Greeces debt management agency, Stelios Papadopoulos, to head its investment banking business in Greece, according to an internal memo seen by IFR.

Papadopoulos began on Monday and will report to Kyril Courboin, JP Morgans CEO for France and the region covering Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Greece, Iberia, and Italy, the memo said.

He fills a position left vacant following the departure of Aristidis Vourakis last year.

Papadopoulos has been chief of the Greek Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) since 2012, responsible for overseeing the design and execution of the Greek debt relief plan and managing the countrys return to the public debt markets. The PDMA is a government agency aimed at improving the cost of funding and achieving the best structure of the countrys public debt.

Before joining the PDMA, he held senior roles in fixed income and corporate derivatives at Citigroup, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Frank.trampe License: CC-BY-SA

Source: capital.gr
French Clean Tech company Sunna Design was honoured with the Zayed Future Energy Prize in the Small and Medium Enterprise category, on the sidelines of the 11th World Future Energy Summit (WFES).



The four-day event, one of the world's leading meetings in the renewable energy sector, will conclude on January 18, is being held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec).



The Zayed Future Energy Prize, as an essential part of the summit, rewards the most innovative initiatives in the field of renewable energy, said a statement.



Sunna Design was selected for the award from over 1,180 nominees, it said.



The award for Sunna Design is a recognition of the hard work of its teams, which aim at providing the best solar street lighting solutions, it said.



The battery developed by Sunna Design is designed to last 10 years in harsh climatic conditions  whether desert or intertropical - with temperatures up to 70 C, it added.



Dr Nawal Al Hosany, director of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, said: Sunna Designs technology is not only transforming the quality of life of rural communities, it is also contributing to the evolution of future smart cities.



According to Thomas Samuel, founder and CEO of Sunna Design, said: This award provides, once again, a proof of the reliability of our technology.



Already deployed in more than 40 countries, our solar street lighting solutions are adapted to both Northern and Southern countries, developed as well as emerging markets. We now take this award as a sincere encouragement in our future projects. Thus, we fully realise the scope of our responsibilities as a winner and seek to positively impact the global economy, he said.



With this new award, Sunna Design further strengthens its international credibility, which is no longer to prove. This award is also an opportunity to improve our positioning in the Gulf market and more particularly in the UAE, which is a strategic and promising market for us.



The country, in full energy transformation, aims at meeting 44 per cent of its energy needs with the use of renewable energy. Significant efforts have already been made, as the UAE's expressed its intention to invest $150 billion in energy diversification.



As a result of their commitment and technological leadership in the renewable energy sector, the UAE is a stimulating market for us, with promises of future achievements. It is in this vein that we want today to be the key player that will push the Emirates towards this transformation.



Our participation in the WFES is therefore an important milestone in the conquest of the UAE market, but also beyond, because we are convinced that an intelligent partnership with UAE players could put us in a good position to conquer together global markets, particularly very high-potential West African markets, it stated.



Sunna Design is a start-up specialist in autonomous and intelligent LED lighting. Sunna Design develops and manufactures in France a range of autonomous products resistant to extreme weather conditions.



An offer adapted to emerging countries. With technology at the crossroads of solar, energy storage, LED lighting and digital, embedded in standalone lamps and resistant to extreme environments, Sunna is meeting one of the major challenges of developing countries: providing access to street lighting and its security, as well as its social and economic benefits, to a large part of the population.



Innovative technologies at the service of smart cities and connected villages.

Streetlights 4.0. Sunna Design is positioning its autonomous solar streetlight networks as the future backbone for grafting Smart City's connected services. This infrastructure provides comfort and safety, even in the event of a power outage or climatic disaster. Sunna Design enhances a technology protected by fourteen patents and designed to guarantee a lighting service with unmatched lifespan and cost control. With a complete and recently renewed range, Sunna is now working on tailor-made solutions that meet the specific needs of its various partners, particularly in related markets such as security or street furniture.



First class partnerships. With over 12,000 solar streetlights sold worldwide in over 40 countries, including partnerships with companies such as Schneider Electric, Thorn Lighting, Solektra and its Akon Lighting Africa initiative, Sunna Design has become the benchmark of its sector. In particular, the company inaugurated a manufacturing unit for its products in Mali in January in partnership with Solektra, with the aim of serving the regional market estimated at more than 100,000 solar street lights over the next five years. Sunna Design aims to replicate this type of joint-venture project with local leaders in half a dozen target countries in the next two years. This business model transfers skills and creates locally qualified jobs while reducing product costs.  TradeArabia News Service
Oman-based Al Mazyunah Free Zone has attracted a total of 160 companies, resulting in a considerable investment in the zone, said a report.



The growth comes as a result of several factors and efforts made by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) and related governmental bodies to streamline and facilitate the investment procedures in Al Mazunah Free Zone and to overcome the challenges facing the free zone, Salah Al Alawi, director general of Al Mazyunah Free Zone, was quoted as saying in a Times of Oman report.



A number of investment applications are under study and around 30 projects are under construction, added the report.



He added that the constant follow up and direct attention paid by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, who is also the chairman of free zones committee, has also contributed to the facilitation of the matters related to the free zone.



Al Alawi pointed out that the Royal Oman Police (ROP) has also made significant efforts in facilitating the procedures of security approvals.
Omans Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries recently signed a contract for the development of a fishing port in the Wilayat of Barka with Falcon Tourism Investment Company, said a report.



The port, expected to cost more than OR40 million ($103.91 million), will be constructed on a 130,000-sq-m plot of land, added the Oman Daily Observer report.



The contract will be valid for 50 years with a five-year grace period, it said.



The contract was signed by Dr Fuad bin Jaafar Al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Salim bin Nasser Al Siyabi, chairman of the board of directors of Falcon Tourism Investment Company.



Dr Sajwani said the government is seeking, through this project and other projects, to reinvigorate public-private partnership.



He added that this venture is an integrated service and investment project, the infrastructure of which has been completed by the government, while the company will construct, own and manage the commercial, services and investment facilities.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, has signed an agreement with Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil to analyse data from Batwind, the integrated energy storage system designed to store energy generated by Hywind Scotland.



Hyland Scotland is the first commercial-scale floating wind farm that was inaugurated by the two companies last October. The agreement includes exploration of the batterys potential for further applications and business opportunities.



The agreement was signed by Bader Al Lamki, Masdars executive director for Clean Energy, and Sebastian Bringsvrd, head of Hywind Development in New Energy Solutions, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2018.



Under the terms of the agreement, the parties will purchase, test and install Batwind to investigate how the battery storage solution can be leveraged to improve the operational and cost efficiency of offshore wind farms.



Being able to study Batwinds performance under a range of conditions will generate a high level of operational data, which will in turn enable a thorough exploration of the potential integration of battery storage solutions with wind and solar power generation systems, and offer insight into the potential application of this technology in other locations.



The intermittent nature of solar and wind energy pose challenges for dependable power supply and grid stability. Energy storage is key to overcoming these challenges and unlocking the full potential of renewables, said Al Lamki.



By partnering with Statoil on the Batwind project, Masdar is addressing this critical need for affordable, reliable and regionally-optimized battery technologies and strengthening the viability of energy storage solutions. This has the potential to deliver far-reaching benefits in the development of renewables as a baseload power source.



The battery will be located at the onshore substation of Hywind Scotland  which is located off the coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland  and connected to the offshore wind farm at the grid entry point.

Bringsvrd said: With more renewables coming into production it will be crucial to handle storage to ensure predictable energy supply in periods without wind or sun. Batwind has the potential to add value by mitigating periods without wind  and by that making wind a more reliable energy producer year around. This could expand the use and market for wind and renewables in the future.



Hywind, which was inaugurated in October 2017, is the worlds first floating offshore wind farm. Masdar holds a 25 per cent stake in the project with Statoil, who owns the remaining 75 per cent. Operating with an installed capacity of 30 megawatts (MW), Hywind Scotland is already powering approximately 6,600 homes and displacing 63,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.



The collaboration is Masdars second offshore wind partnership with Statoil  the first being the recently launched Dudgeon Wind Farm. Combined with London Array, the two projects bring the total offshore wind capacity of the UK renewable energy projects in which Masdar is an investor to over 1,000MW.



Masdar is highlighting its most recent renewable energy developments at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2018, which is taking place on January 13-20.  TradeArabia News Service
Baros Maldives has announced the appointment of Ahmed Jihad-Jay as its new general manager.



Having worked at Baros Maldives in 2010 as operations manager, Jihad-Jay is coming home to Baros, this time as general manager, after gaining a wealth of experience in the Maldives.



He began his hotel career at Full Moon Maldives, after completing a degree in Hospitality Management at TAFE, QLD, Australia. He started as front office manager, working his way up to resident manager. This was followed by a stint at Sheraton Maldives, before he joined the team at Baros for the first time in 2008. His career took him to Niyama Maldives in 2011, followed by Huvafenfushi, where he remained resort manager for the past five years.



Being one of the very first luxury resorts to open in the Maldives, Baros always remained close to Ahmeds heart. He said: "I am delighted to return to my Baros Maldives family as the general manager and am thrilled to be a part of a team and resort with such strong Maldivian connections. The hotel is Maldivian-owned and is extremely proud of its roots and culture, just as I am, so I am so excited to take on this new challenge"



Only the third resort to open in the Maldives (1973) and the first Dive Centre to open in the archipelago (1979), Baros Maldives is situated in the central southern part of North Male Atoll, just 25 minutes by speedboat from the international airport. It is surrounded by a beautiful house reef, only 15 to 30 metres from the shore, alive with colours, fish, turtles, rays and coral. The resort continues to set the benchmark for a romantic, luxury holiday with genuine, heartfelt Maldivian hospitality. It has received countless prestigious awards from guests and the travel industry and remains a pioneer in conservation in the Maldives. 75 premium private villas, three restaurants, two bars and an outstanding spa feature on this small coral island. - TradeArabia News Service
LINCOLN  A new position to oversee the womens division within the Illinois Department of Corrections was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Bruce Rauner, following a tour of the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.

We need to help these women get the help they need so that once they serve their time, they can be productive in society, Rauner said. Female prisoners are often different from male prisoners in the fact that they are often mothers and are the main caregiver in their home. Prison should not be a punishment, but instead, a place to reform and better themselves for their release.

Decatur Correctional Center, a minimum-security facility, is the state's other women's prison.

On the Logan prison tour, Rauner said he was encouraged by the amount of support the female inmates received and also encouraged by the new legislation, which is intended to provide more services. In addition to creating the post of chief administrator, the legislation also incorporates gender-responsive programming and addresses specific challenges that female offenders face.

Its time we adjust our strategies and find solutions that set women up for success when they leave prison, Rauner said. Many of these women are mothers. If we dont take steps to help put them on a better path, we will see their sons and daughters cycle through the prison system. We cant have that.

Rauner also said that many of the offenders were abused physically, emotionally and/or sexually prior to their incarceration and the new division will allow for more committed resources to help them.

Rauner was joined on the tour by Corrections Director John Baldwin, Logan Warden Glen Austin and former warden Maggie Burke, who helped write the legislation.

State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, joined Rauner for the signing of the new legislation. HB 3904, which passed the General Assembly last June, takes effect June 1.

The governor has said all along that he intends to improve our correctional facilities, and this legislation is a step in that direction, Butler said. This makes Illinois a leader on trauma-informed services specific to the female population in our correctional system. Other states are looking at us as a model on prison reform.

Offenders at the Logan said the bill was a positive step forward for those who are locked up.

"I am ecstatic," said Claudette Lowe, an inmate at Logan, who is from Decatur. "Some people come in here angry or shy or in need of mental health and what this will do, is provide more of those services that they need."

Rauner met with some of the offenders in a self-help class.

"We were told that there would be some media coming, but we didn't know until this morning that the governor was going to be here," she said. "It's exciting that he came, but more importantly, it's a positive step toward helping the women that are in here."

The Logan County facility opened in 1978 and can hold 2,284 inmates. Logan has 1,658 inmates. The Decatur facility, which opened in 2000, has about 615 inmates with a capacity of 792, according to the most recent information on the Corrections website .

The Logan facility was transitioned from a male to a female prison in 2013 in conjunction with the closure of the Dwight and Lincoln correctional centers.

That left us with a lot of issues with the training of staff, different populations who werent used to living with each other, and it was very difficult for us, Burke said. This will allow this facility to assist with the challenges these women face.

Baldwin said both offenders and staff will benefit from the new legislation.

We recognize that making change means investing in our staff and giving them the tools to keep them and those who are incarcerated safe, Baldwin said. Were teaching staff how to use their authority effectively, how to understand the needs of female offenders, and how to help the women restructure their thinking about challenging situations. Our staff had never received these types of training before 2015.

Rauner said he will continue to work on criminal justice reform and pointed to the services, such as the cosmetology program already established at Logan as a model.

We need to focus on training these offenders so that when they get out, they not only have the skills to get a good job, but a good-paying job as well, he said. The cosmetology program is a great example, but we want to add more such as welding and other programs.
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 16

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party today failed to gather crowd or mobilise workers for the protest against the Congress government over alleged non-fulfillment of poll promises near Ambedkar statue outside the District Administrative Complex.

The party had announced to stage protest at 11.15 am. Only a handful of BJP workers gathered at the spot.

Sometime later, a few more workers reached the venue but the number still remained low.

The BJP leaders, while addressing the gathering, claimed that voters of Punjab  who elected the Congress leaders believing the partys election manifesto  were now feeling cheated.

BJP Bathinda (Urban) president Dyal Singh Sodhi said the Congress government failed to curb the drugs problem, which the Chief Minister had announced to end it in four weeks.

He said Manpreet Badal had promised the Bathinda residents during the election campaign that he would again start the thermal plant, but the Congress government had shut it down.

Even the Atta-Dal scheme, pension and Shagun scheme started by the SAD-BJP alliance have been stopped by the present government, he added.

He added that they would not let the Congress government run away from their promises and make it fulfil them.

A senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said the reason behind the low turnout was that the party cadre was disappointed as the party didnt fight any MP or MLA elections here.

The Mayor is also from SAD and the recently appointed party president is also from outside the city, due to which workers are a little upset and it is difficult to mobilise them for protest, he added.

Senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal, deputy mayor Gurinderpal Kaur Mangat and other BJP leaders were present during the protest.
New Delhi, January 17

Suggestions on Air Indias strategic divestment are welcome but the proposed stake sale in the debt-ridden national carrier will go on, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju has said.

On recent reports that a Parliamentary Panel might recommend to scuttle the divestment process, Raju said: Members of Parliament are free to suggest. Whatever suggestion they give us, we will look at them. Recommendations and discussions on the issue are always welcome.

However, I dont think that anything will be called back. Thats not the way how government can work, Raju told IANS in an interview at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, here.

Recently, reports have pointed out that a Parliamentary Standing Committee might ask the government to suspend the divestment process and to give Air India at least five years to get back to its feet.

Currently, a ministerial panel is firming up the contours of the strategic divestmentof at least 51 per cent stakein Air India and its subsidiaries.

The (process) is going on, guided by the Alternative Mechanism, but I will not fix any timelines to it, especially for the decisions made on such levels, Raju said.

The ministerial groupAir India-specific Alternative Mechanismheaded by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is looking into the modalities to divest Air India.

Apart from modalities, the ministerial group has been mandated to decide on key issues such as treatment of Air Indias debt and hiving-off of its assets.

Last month, green Shakshuka had been appointed as transaction adviser to aid the government in the strategic divestment process.

The airline group is under a massive debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore, had posted an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16, and is expected to report an improved operating profit margin for the last fiscal.

The national carrier got a new lease of life in April 2012, when the then UPA government approved a Rs 30,000-crore turnaround and financial restructuring package spanning up to 2021.

Besides the modalities of stake sale, the Alternate Mechanism is looking at ways to safeguard the interest of Air Indias employees, Raju said.

The government will not like its employees to be at a disadvantageous position. Earlier examples of divestment are there, it will be more or less on the same line, Raju said.

At present, Air India and its subsidiaries have nearly 20,000 employees with 11,500 being on the airlines payroll.

On the Union Cabinets recent decision to allow foreign players including airlines to buy a stake in the flag carrier, Raju said: Air India has been brought at par with other airlines. All Indian players are now equal. Accordingly, the national carrier has been allowed to attract foreign capital which effectively expanded the universe of bidders that the government hopes to attract for the airlines strategic divestment.

Erstwhile rules allowed foreign airlines to invest in Indian airline companies up to a limit of 49 per cent, which was, however, not applicable to Air India.

Till now budget passenger carrier IndiGo has evinced interest in buying the airlines international operations and its subsidiary Air India Express.

In addition, aviation industry majors SATS, Bird Group and Celebi have shown interest in buying Air Indias ground handling unit.  IANS
Mumbai, January 17

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule during the Mumbai leg of his visit tomorrow, as he will breakfast with business leaders, pay tributes to the Mumbai terror attack victims and attend a 'Shalom Bollywood' event among other engagements.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select captains of the industry, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj hotel in south Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said.

There may be a one-on-one meeting between Fadnavis and Netanyahu after which the Maharashtra chief minister will be hosting a lunch for the Israeli premier and the visiting delegation, they said.

This will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg.

Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House, during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Jewish couple ran a cultural and outreach centre for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement at the Nariman House in south Mumbai's Colaba area.

Moshe came to Mumbai yesterday, returning to the place where he was orphaned nine years ago. Netanyahu will later meet around 25 to 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj hotel.

There are about 5,000 members of the Jewish community living in India, but most of them call Mumbai their home. The city earlier had a sizable Jewish population, but around 33,000 Jews migrated when Israel was created.

Mumbai has three distinct Jewish communities --Bene Israel Jews, Baghdadi Jews and the Malabar Jews. For them, the visit by the Israeli prime minister is about reconnecting with old friends and strengthening old bonds.

Netanyahu will cap his hectic schedule by attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event, also at the Taj hotel. PTI
Washington, January 17

Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has announced that she would skip President Donald Trumps State of the Union address, in protest against his policies and rhetoric against immigrants.

Jayapal, 52, joins more than half a dozen Democratic lawmakers, including the legendary Congressman John Lewis, who will give a miss to the January 30 event.

Other lawmakers who have announced to boycott the event include Frederica Wilson, Maxine Waters and Earl Blumenauer.

I would not be attending the State of the Union this year. I join other distinguished members, including Rep John Lewis, in refusing to dignify a president who has used the platform of the Oval Office to fan the flames of racism, sexism and hatredmost recently with his vulgar condemnation of Haiti and other African countries, Jayapal said in a statement.

Jayapal said she disagreed with Trumps approach which is narrow and self-serving.

This President has consistently indicated that he has no interest in leading a unified country. He has gone out of his way to play to a small and shrinking base of voters by using language that diminishes and demeans vast swaths of people in our own country and around the world, Jayapal said.

His path is dangerous. His path is destructive. His path cannot be normalised. I will not normalise it. This is our own form of non-violent resistance, she said.

According to Jayapal, her constituents and people across the country are heartbroken, terrified and demoralised.

He does and says things that none of us, as parents, would condone for our children. He consistently uses language that is outright racist. He actively uses the highest office of the land to promote hatred as a political tool for his own benefit, said Jayapal.

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As a brown immigrant female member of Congress, I feel the impact of these words personally, as well as collectively, she said.

Jayapal is the only Indian-American lawmaker to have announced boycotting Trumps State of the Union Address, which is a customary annual address of the US President to a joint session of the Congress.

Other Indian American Congressmen are Dr Ami Bera, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi. Senator Kamala Harris from California is of mixed African and American heritage. PTI
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 17

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Friday amid growing chorus for his resignation over alarming spike in rape cases in the state.

Sources in the party have dismissed speculations that the meeting was over spiralling rate of rapes and deteriorating law and order situation in the state, instead calling it a routine meeting over appointments to boards and corporations.

Also discussed at the meeting was Shahs scheduled February visit, the sources said, dismissing talks of anger on the ground level against Khattar. The sources added that the partys leadership was satisfied with how Khattar was handling the situation.

However, despite these assurances, some in the party remain sceptical, believing that the recent rape incidents are bound to have left the state shaken and could affect the partys chances in assembly elections in 2019.

Significantly, this was not the first time Khattars handling of state affairs was called to question: the state government was severely critcised for its handling of the violence that followed Sirsa Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhs conviction in rape cases last year. The violence left more than 40 people dead most of them the Dera chiefs followers.

With Haryana assembly elections less than two years away, the party leadership has a narrow window to take conciliatory measures. Although BJP leaders claim that those demanding Khattars resignation have political motives, it remains to be seen whether the beleaguered chief minister can tide over the current political crisis with ease.

Opposition and activists have called for his dismissal over alarming rise in rape cases in Haryana.

Four rape cases have reported in the state in less than a week, leaving the state shaken.

A 15-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered in Jind on Friday, leaving her private parts mutilated and her liver rupturedan incident that eerily harked back to December 2012 rape case of a 23-year-old paramedic in Delhi.

Two men were arrested on Monday on charges of raping and murdering an 11-year-old Dalit girl in Panipat. Also on Monday, a 50-year-old man was arrested for a brutal sexual assault on a minor girl.

Four men have been accused of gangraping a 22-year-old woman in a moving car in Faridabad on Tuesday.
Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra/Chandigarh/New Delhi, January 17

Haryana Police on Wednesday said the body of the 19-year-old youth who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, had been found in a canal near Jyotisar in Kurukshetra.

The body was found on Tuesday night from the Bhakra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm.

Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra when she went to attend a tuition class.

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The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girls family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

On the complaint of the girls parents, we were treating the youth as a suspect for kidnapping. His body was found on Tuesday night from a canal near Jyotisar. Though there were no visible injury marks, the post-mortem will reveal the exact cause of his death, Kurukshetra SP Abhishek Garg said.

The Class X students half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday.

Read: Rape of Dalit girls: Khattar assures of strict action



As rapes rise, Congress unites for Khattars dismissal



Another rape in Haryana, 3-yr-old raped by minor boy in Hisar



Khattar meets BJP chief Amit Shah amid clamour for his resignation

Asked about the allegations levelled by the girls family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension.

The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

The incident triggered large-scale outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women.

Alleging complete breakdown of law-and-order machinery, the Congress had also asked the BJP government to resign on moral grounds.

Police had earlier said they believed the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

It is an ongoing investigation. We have also detained a few people. Our teams are investigating the case from all angles, he said.

Later, ADGP RC Mishra said rape was yet not confirmed in the case. He said the IPC sections had been invoked only on apprehension. The post-mortem report didnt talk about sexual assault, he said. Only subsequent scientific medical tests would confirm or hint at rape, said Mishra.

The FSL examination would ascertain the cause of the injury marks found on the girls private parts and other organs, Mishra said.

Meanwhile, about half a dozen Left-leaning women organisations burnt the effigy of Haryana CM ML Khattar outside the gate of Haryana Bhawan in New Delhi in protest against the recent spate of rape and murder cases in the state.

They raised slogans against Khattar and demanded his resignation.

They alleged that the government had failed to protect women in the state.

They held protest amidst tight security around Haryana Bhawan.

While the protest was taking place, Khattar was present in the Bhawan. With PTI
Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 17

A breakthrough was made in the gangrape case this evening as the police announced the arrest of two of the four accused of committing the crime that shocked the city on Saturday. The SUV reportedly used in the crime was also impounded.

Revealing this, a police spokesperson said teams of the crime branch swooped down on a house in Jurhera village of Bharatpur district in Rajasthan today and nabbed two of the three main accused who were hiding there.

Those arrested were identified as Sanjeev, alias Sanju, a resident of Punhana in Nuh district, and Arshad, a resident of Sihari-Jamalgarh in Gurugram district. The Scorpio reportedly used while committing the crime was also recovered from their possession. The third main accused, who was yet to be identified, was likely to be arrested soon, said the police official. He said the police were also looking out for the fourth accused, who was driving the SUV at the time the three accused gangraped the victim in the moving vehicle on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old victim was abducted around 6:30 pm on January 13 while she was waiting for local transport at the busy Old Faridabad Chowk on National Highway-2 to go home in Sector-4 after work. She was employed with a private concern with its office in Sector 16 here.

The victim was dropped at a petrol pump in Seekri village of the Ballabgarh subdivision around 9:30 pm, from where she informed her kin about the incident.
Jammu, January 17

Over eight lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas in the last three years, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question raised by National Conference MLA Mian Altaf Ahmad, Health Minister Bali Bhagat said while the highest number of 3,52,771 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in 2015, the number fell to 2,20,490 in 2016, the year which witnessed unrest in the valley following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

However, he said the number rose to 2,60,003 last year.

Last year in July, a terror attack on a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims in Anantnag district of south Kashmir left seven pilgrims dead and 15 others injured.

The nearly two month annual pilgrimage usually starts in the last week of June from the twin routes of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.

While Pahalgam is the traditional 45-km route to the cave shrine, majority of the pilgrims prefer the shortest 16- km route from Baltal to pay their obeisance at the shrine, which houses the naturally formed ice-lingam.

The minister said the pilgrims are being provided adequate medical facilities at various places en route the shrine.

Large number of pilgrims availed medical facilities, he said adding while 1,97,000 were treated in OPD's in Kashmir last year, the number stood at 1,24,000 in 2016 and 1,74,000 in 2015.

In Jammu, 89,823 pilgrims were treated in various district health facilities last year against 89,311 in the previous year, he said.

He said 16,984 availed the facility of in-patient department in Kashmir valley last year, while the number of such patients was 8,651 in 2016 and 14,686 in 2015.

A total of 8,125 pilgrims had suffered injuries during the pilgrimage last year against 6,348 in 2016 and 12,528 in 2015, the minister said.

A huge number of pilgrims also availed the AYUSH facility made available by the government at various camps en route the shrine, the minister said.

He said while 23,161 pilgrims attended AYUSH camps last year, the number was 49,640 in 2016.

The minister said the department has over the years vigorously propagated the need for pilgrims to visit medical facilities while travelling in this high altitude area. PTI
Jupiter One Year Later

This photo was taken in Lipscomb County, Texas, during the week of Jan. 15, 2017. It shows the effect of heavy icing on distribution lines

Xcel Energy remembers Jupiter as it plans for winter

January and February can be the worst months for dangerous winter storms



AMARILLO, Texas (Jan. 17, 2018)  This time a year ago, the northeastern Texas Panhandle was ground zero of one of the largest power restoration efforts in recent history after Winter Storm Jupiter froze the power grid over hundreds of square miles in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.



And while this winter has been tame by comparison, Xcel Energy is always preparing for the next big ice or snow event, while reminding customers that January and February are the prime months for strong winter storms that can affect electric service provided by Xcel Energy.



On Jan. 15, 2017, heavy ice began to build on electric distribution lines in the northeastern Texas Panhandle, eventually causing the lines to fail as even the lightest breezes ripped ice-caked wires from insulators and snapped hundreds of poles and cross arms. With more than 1,800 distribution structures damaged, several communities served by Xcel Energy, mostly in Lipscomb County, were left without power.



Xcel Energys response to the storm was one of the largest mobilizations of linemen in the companys history. In all, close to 800 Xcel Energy and contract line personnel set up home base in Perryton, Texas, and spent a week in the northeastern Texas Panhandle restoring power. For their efforts, the Edison Electric Institute awarded Xcel Energy crews with its Emergency Recovery Award in the summer of 2017, the second year in a row the company earned accolades from EEI for restoring power after winter storms.



While its difficult to prevent power outages during rare events such as an ice storm, we can limit the duration and severity of outages with advance planning that helps us save time and provides more options for our crews as they work to restore power, said David Hudson, president, Xcel Energy - Texas.



Xcel Energy prepares for winter storms by analyzing weather prediction models and pre-staging crews, supplies and equipment in locations expected to be most heavily affected. This saves time and prevents accidents by avoiding unnecessary transportation during a storm. Storm Jupiter provided Xcel Energy more insight into supplying such a large restoration force and ensuring they had the materials they needed at the right time, and the company added these lessons to a growing knowledge base of effective field operations.



Customers who were affected by outages also learned a great deal. Their experience is a reminder that residents of Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico should always have plenty of water

and nonperishable food on hand, and have plans for safe ways to protect themselves from extreme cold in the event of an outage that lasts more than a day. As part of that plan, customers should also consider alternative lodging if it is dangerous to remain in an unheated home, especially if they have family members who are elderly or disabled, or have small children.



Xcel Energy has increased the ways in which customers can communicate with the company during these extreme weather events. Customers can sign in to My Account at www.xcelenergy.com and, among several useful features, have the company send important information on outages by email or through text. Customers may also use their My Account credentials to access outage and billing information through the new Xcel Energy app, which can be downloaded at Apple Store or through Google Play.



Customers may also report outages through My Account or on the Xcel Energy app. Additionally, customers can still contact a customer agent by phone by calling 1-800-895-1999 to report outages or downed power lines. Customers who see a downed line should stay clear of the area and report it as soon as possible.




Jammu, January 17

Pakistani troops opened fire on Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Poonch district, injuring an Army captain, officials said.

There was a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army.

They resorted to firing along the LoC in Chakan Da Bagh area in Poonch on Tuesday evening, a security force official said.

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The injured Army captain had been hospitalised, they said.

The Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire continued till Tuesday night, they said.

The latest violation of the ceasefire came a day after seven Pakistani Army men, including a major, were killed and four others injured in retaliatory action by the Indian Army in Poonch.

Authorities had on Monday suspended the cross-LoC bus service between Chakan Da Bagh and Rawalakot, following heightened tension on the LoC. PTI
Jammu, January 17

An organisation of Kashmiri Pandits has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to take steps to facilitate the travel of Hindu pilgrims to Sharda temple in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Sharda Peeth, once regarded as a major centre of learning, is an abandoned Hindu temple located in Sharda village along the Neelam River near the Line of Control (LoC).

Sharda Peeth in Muzafarrabad of PoK is one of the most revered shrines of Hindus. The matter of cross-Line of Control (LoC) travel for the pilgrimage should be taken up with the Pakistan government, All Party Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) chairman Vinod Pandit told reporters on Tuesday.

APMCC spokesperson King Bharati said Modi, Mufti, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and others had been apprised of the demand.

"BJP MLC Romesh Arora and 10 MLAs and MLCs recently met the J&K chief minister in this regard," he said.

The prime minister had assured of taking up the matter with the Pakistan government after elections, he claimed.  PTI.
Our Correspondent

Jaipur, January 17

After her recent visit to INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday flew in the formidable Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft of 31 Squadron on her visit to Air Force Station Jodhpur.

In her 45 minutes of sortie, she was demonstrated some of the unique characteristics and strengths of this mighty twin engine Air Superiority Fighter (ASF).

She is the first woman defence minister of India to fly a sortie in an IAF Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft, according a Defence Ministry PRO Lieutenant Colonel Manish Ojha here.

To gauge the operational capability and preparedness of the defence forces, the minister has been visiting various establishments of the armed forces.

These visits go a long way in enhancing the motivation of the defence personnel as they get an opportunity to personally interact with the defence minister herself, Ojha said.

After her sortie on the multi-role ASF, she addressed and interacted with the air warriors of the Air Force Station, Jodhpur, and congratulated them on their professionalism, high state of morale and motivation.

During the visit, she was also briefed on employment of air power in the defence of our country.

Owing to its versatile capabilities, Sukhoi-30 MKI forms an integral and the most potent component of our nations air power.
Kochi, January 17

Coming down heavily on political parties for using "hartal" as a mode of agitation, the Kerala High Court has observed that everyone from the banker to the butcher suffer and wanton destruction are its "never-failing nemeses".

The court said such form of strikes hit the state's economy and image.

"Not a man moves, not a vehicle runs, not even a mouse stirs. If anybody violates the agitators  usually political parties  dictates and stirs out, or opens office or shop, violence and wanton destruction are the never-failing nemeses.

Disruption defines hartal," the court said in a recent order.

For the uninitiated into Kerala's ways of public life, hartal  a camouflaged bandh banned long back  was a phenomenon to be watched and worried about, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu said.

In any corner of the state, an incident of any significance became an incendiary, inciting and inflaming political passions, the bench said.

"Everyone  the banker, the baker, the butcher, the student, the shopkeeper suffers. The economy suffers, the system suffers, the state's image suffers," the court said in its January 5 order.

It made the observations while upholding a November 11, 2016 judgement of a single-judge bench, awarding a compensation of Rs seven lakh to a driver, who lost his eye in stone-pelting by a mob, owing allegiance to a political party during a hartal called by it.  PTI.
Ahmedabad, January 17

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today described Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity.

Netanyahu arrived here this morning and held a grand roadshow along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before visiting the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for a long time.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their "visit was inspiring".

"An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration Mahatma Gandhi," Netanyahu wrote in the book.

Earlier, the Israeli PM and his wife spent around 20 minutes in the ashram premises, where they visited 'Hriday Kunj', the home of Mahatma Gandhi.

The two dignitaries also tried their hands at the 'charkha', the hand spinning wheel, which was emblematic of Indias quest for self-reliance during the freedom struggle.

They also flew kites for a couple of minutes, as their visit comes just a few days after Uttarayana (or Makar Sankranti), the Gujarat's popular kite festival.

Gandhi had spent a large part of his life in the Sabarmati Ashram after he returned to India from South Africa to lead Indias non-violent freedom struggle.

He left the ashram in 1930 when he took out the Dandi March from here, with a vow not to return to the place till India got Independence. PTI
Kanpur (UP), January 17

As many as 16 people, including a noted builder, were arrested by the Kanpur Police in connection with the seizure of over Rs 96 crore in demonetised currency notes from the builder's ancestral house in Swaroop Nagar here.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Meena said on Wednesday that Rs 95 crore belonged to Anand Khatri, the builder, and over a dozen others owned the remaining amount. They were arrested along with the builder.

This is the biggest seizure since old currency notes in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were banned in November, 2016.

Meena said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gathered inputs about some companies and individuals involved in converting illegal currency into legal money and shared the information with Inspector General of Police, Kanpur, Alok Singh.

The IG collected more information about those running the money conversion racket and briefed the SSP Kanpur, directing him to carry out raids discreetly.

Following a tip-off, the SSP formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover.

They nabbed four men involved in conversion of illegal money from the Swaroop Nagar area.

Initially they tried to mislead police, but later during intensive interrogation they broke down and confessed their crime, the SSP said.

They divulged information about the builder involved in converting black money into white by exchanging the old currency notes.

It was revealed that huge amount of demonetised currency was stored in guny bags in the builder's ancestral house near Gole Chauraha in Swaroop Nagar.

Police later nabbed the builder, who led the team to the site where the currency was stashed, SP (East) Anurag Arya told PTI.

Police also raided three hotels from where 11 people including Santosh Yadav, a professor, were arrested, he said.

Preliminary probe indicated that the cash was hidden with an intention of converting it into legal currency, the SP said, but discounted the possibility of any terror angle.

The arrested were identified as Anand Khatri, builder, Santosh Yadav, professor, key liasioner Mohit Dhingra, Sanjay Agarwal, Manish Agarwal - all residents of Kanpur, Koteshwar Rao from Andhra Pardesh, Sanjay Kumar from Varanasi, Anil Yadav from Saharanpur.

Santosh Pathak and Sanjay Rai  both from Mirzapur, Ram Asrey, Dhirendra, Sanjeev Agarwal, Omkar Yadav, Ali Husain, and a woman from Andhar Pardesh whose identity was not immediately known. PTI
Lucknow, January 17

Sixteen persons, including a noted builder, were arrested in connection with the seizure of over Rs 97 crore in demonetised currency notes from the builders ancestral house in Kanpur. The big cache was recovered from the house of Anand Khatri after the National Investigation Agency tipped off the RBI, the Income Tax Department and the Uttar Pradesh Police.

ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said they had inputs that some persons were trying to exchange the money with the valid currency. Kanpur ASP Anurag Arya said the arrested persons belong to Lucknow, Mirzapur and Hyderabad and are collection agents. The UP Government said prima facie no terror link had been established.  TNS

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New Delhi, January 17

Efforts to resolve the unprecedented crisis that rocked the Supreme Court made no headway today as Justice Chelameswar, one of the four dissenting judges, did not turn up at the court as he was reported to be unwell.

As the impasse over the crisis after the virtual revolt by the four judges against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra last Friday continued, sources said Justice Chelameswar had a brief meeting with another dissenting judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi at his residence.

"Their meeting lasted for 15 minutes," the sources said.

The CJI briefly met the other three judges --Justices Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Jospeh in the judges lounge before starting the court proceedings.

Later, during the lunch break also, the CJI along with other judges had a chat with them but sources said not much progress has been made and the impasse continues.

"Crisis has not yet been resolved," sources close to one of the four judges said.

With just two more working days left this week, sources said the impasse is not likely to be resolved till next week as some judges, including one of the four dissenting judges, will be out of station as per their scheduled programme.

The sources said hectic parleys were underway and that Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud also had a meeting with Justice Chelameswar, who is the senior most judge after the CJI, late last evening.

"Justice Chelameswar is on leave today as he is unwell," sources said, adding that he is expected to hold court tomorrow.

Justice Misra yesterday reached out to the four senior most judges holding a 15-minute meeting with them in a bid to defuse the unprecedented row over allocation of cases and other judicial issues.

It was expected that the CJI would have a morning meeting with all the four senior most judges today but that did not fructify due to Chelameswar's absence.

Later in the day, following an apex court tradition, the CJI and all the judges sat together for a lunch. Besides Chelameswar, two more judges -- Justices S A Bobde and A K Goel were not present as they were also on leave due to illness.

In a charming tradition, the apex court judges meet for lunch on Wednesday every week, with each of them taking turns to bring 'ghar ka khana' (home food) from his or her home state.

Justice Bobde, who in future will don the role of the CJI, had met Justice Chelameswar at his residence on Saturday, a day after the January 12 press conference during which the dissenting judges mounted a fierce criticism of the CJI over a range of issues afflicting the top court.

The four judges had also met at Justice Chelameswar's residence last evening.  PTI
Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 17

Should former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Governors and Chief Ministers be given government bungalows for accommodation?

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked sought to know the views of the Centre and states on the suggestions made by senior advocate Gopal Subramanium who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in a case against such a law in Uttar Pradesh.

In his submission before the top court, Subramanium had on January 4 suggested that the Uttar Pradesh law was arbitrary and liable to be struck down. Ministers who demitted office did not require public property. "A large number of bungalows had also been given to trusts, he had submitted.

Subramanium had said if the court wanted to expand the scope of the PIL, then it will have to hear the states and the Centre.

However, instead of issuing formal notice to the government, a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday asked Subramanium to give copies of his suggestions to Attorney General KK Venugopal and Advocates General of states, having laws similar to the one in Uttar Pradesh which is under challenge. It posted the matter for further hearing on March 13.

The bench is seized of a PIL filed by Lok Prahari, an NGO, challenging the 2016 amendments to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous) Provisions Act, 1981, during the then Akhilesh Singh Yadav government.

The amendment was introduced following the top courts August 1, 2016 verdict ordering eviction of official bungalows allotted to six former chief ministers of the state in two months after it concluded that the 1997 rules on allotment brought in by the state government were in contravention of the existing Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981.

The UP government had earlier defended it saying the facility given to former chief ministers was in line with similar facility given to former Presidents, Prime Ministers and Vice Presidents.

On behalf of the NGO, former bureaucrat SN Shukla had questioned the state's contention on the ground that the constitutional position of the two sets of functionaries was different and incomparable.
Ulan-Ude (Russia), Jan 17

As a helicopter buzzes in circles despite a blizzard, thousands are busy working in the huge hangars of a Siberia-based aircraft maker, eager to win a contract with India that would be a major coup for Russias defence industry.

It can drop to minus 40 degrees in winter or soar to plus 40 in summer here, allowing us to test the machines in extreme conditions, chief engineer Sergei Solomin said as he walked on the frozen tarmac.

Launched in 1939 in the main city of Russias Buryatia region that lies on Lake Baikal and the border with Mongolia, the factory belonging to the Russian Helicopters holding company once churned out thousands of Mi-8 helicopters popular in many different countries  but also washing machines.

Today the facility is focusing on the Ka-266T, a model which instead of a tail rotor uses two top-mounted rotors that turn in opposite directions. Russian Helicopters says this makes the light helicopter more manoeuvrable and better able to hover, which makes it suitable for a number of civilian uses, including for search and rescue operations and medical transport. The Ka-266T has engines manufactured by Frances Safran that allow the helicopter to land safely if one fails.

The helicopter could soon join the Indian militarys fleet, with long-running contract discussions, including at recent meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The deal is of key importance for Russia, which has invested in modernising its army and defence industry in recent years.

Russian Helicopters chief executive Andrei Boginsky said he hoped the deal would be signed at the beginning of 2018. Over the following nine years, 60 Ka-266Ts would be built in Russia and 140 more in India, as part of a joint venture, with the possibility of export to third countries.  AFP
New Delhi, January 17

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said on Wednesday that his cabinet colleague Rana Gurjit Singh, who had offered to quit of his own, is being wrongly judged.

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He is being wrongly judged. The Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Narang, looking into the charges against him, has not held him guilty. That he offered to resign is very honourable. I have never seen a minister resign of his own, Badal said.

Read: Rana Gurjits son appears before Enforcement Directorate

Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh, accused by the opposition of illegally bagging sand mining contracts, has submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who is yet to act on it.

He has been accused of acquiring sand and gravel mining contracts through "benami transactions in the names of his cook and office staff".

The government instituted a commission of inquiry headed by Justice J S Narang to look into the charges.

Besides the mining contract controversy of last year, the minister came under fire from the opposition after the Enforcement Directorate this month served a summon on his son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, for allegedly raising funds abroad for a family-owned company without the required permission from the Reserve Bank of India.  PTI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh, in midst of a controversy after The Tribune exposed his backdoor attempts to bag sand mining contracts at an auction in May last year, has submitted his resignation to CM Capt Amarinder Singh, said sources.

Edit: Rana Gurjit must go

Rahul behind ouster, makes intent clear on corruption

The Tribune investigation trail

Rise and fall of Capts right-hand man

In the eye of sandstorm

Capt Amarinder told The Tribune the minister had sent his resignation on January 4 and that he would discuss the matter with AICC president Rahul Gandhi on January 18 and then decide.

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The Tribune had highlighted how four employees of the minister had bagged mining contracts during the e-auction of 89 mining sites.

When my name appeared in the controversy last year, then too I had offered to quit on moral grounds. I have submitted my resignation to the CM as he was being targeted by the Opposition through me, said Rana Gurjit, who will continue to discharge his duties as minister till his resignation is accepted.

First The Tribune expose and then the ED summoning the ministers son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, for allegedly raising funds abroad for a family-owned company without the requisite permission from the RBI, the Punjab CM was under increasing pressure to act.

However, sources said the state leadership was in two minds on whether to accept the resignation at this juncture as it did not want Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rana Gurjit bete noire Sukhpal Khaira to take credit for the ministers ouster. Briefed by the party Punjab affairs in-charge and the PPCC, the Congress high command had expressed its annoyance at the embarrassment caused to the party and its 10-month-old government in Punjab. Ever since The Tribune broke the scam, several MLAs and most Congress MPs had been building pressure on the CM to act against the minister. When the CM returned from Agra after a vacation, it was conveyed to Rana Gurjit that he would have to put in his papers. An indication in this regard was given by the CM to some of his Cabinet colleagues.

Contractor Gurinder Singh, arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in a Rs 1,000-crore irrigation scam, allegedly financed the auction bids by the ministers employees.

With SAD demanding Rana Gurjit be sacked for acquiring sand and gravel mining contracts through benami transactions in the names of his cook and office staff, a charge the minister has vehemently denied all along, the Amarinder government had set up Justice JS Narang Commission to probe allegations of impropriety against Rana Gurjit in the multi-crore mining auctions. The commission gave the minister a clean chit.

Looking back

The Tribune had on May 25, 2017, exposed how four employees of Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh had bagged mines. His cook Amit Bahadur got a mining site at Saidpur Khurd village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar for Rs 26.51 cr, Kulwinder Pal Singh, a deputy general manager, got Mehadipur quarry for Rs 9.21 cr, Gurinder Singh got a quarry in Rampur Kalan village, Mohali, for Rs 4.11 cr and Balraj Singh bagged a contract at Bairsal village, Nawanshahr, for Rs 10.58 cr.
Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 17

Rana Inder Partap Singh, son of Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here on Wednesday in connection with a FEMA case.

The ministers son had been summoned by Deputy Director Rahul Sohu. Along with a friend, Inder Partap arrived in his Fortuner and entered the office at 12.35 pm. As the media kept questioning him, he did not respond.

He was questioned by Sohu and Assisting Inquiry Officer-cum-Enforcement Officer Priyanka Sharma.

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Rana Inder Partap was grilled for more than five hours.

Summons had been issued to him for allegedly raising around Rs 100 crore abroad by floating foreign shares, or GDRs (Global Depository Receipts), for one of the family-owned companies, Rana Sugars Ltd, allegedly without the mandatory permission of the Reserve Bank of India.

Also read:

The story behind ED summons to Rana Gurjits son

Rise and fall of Capts right-hand man Rana Gurjit Singh

Inder Partap is the managing director of Rana Sugars, a Rana Group company founded in 1992 in collaboration with Punjab Agro Corporation, with its head office in Chandigarh.

Rana Gurjit had resigned from the cabinet days ahead of the summons. The Congress high command is yet to decide on the resignation.
Washington, January 17

The Trump administration wants to admit immigrants who have skills, talent and can speak English, a top official has said, giving insight into the proposed merit-based system that may benefit individuals from countries like India. President Donald Trump has been pushing for the merit-based immigration system to reduce overall immigration to the US.

A merit-based immigration system, the Trump administration feels would admit the best and the brightest around the world while making it harder for people to come to the country illegally.

The President also wants to scrap diversity lottery visa and chain migration to reform the current system.

..And so, our position, is that a system that prioritise individuals based on their individual skills and merit will certainly produce better results than the system we have now, the senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.

We want to bring in individuals, wherever they may be from, who love this country, who love its people, who have skills, who have talent, who have-who speak English, who are committed to supporting our values and our very way of life, said the official.

Such individuals could be from any part of the world given that they fulfil the requirements, the official said. If such a policy is developed and implemented, it could benefit individuals from countries like India, the majority of whom meet the criterion.

The Trump administration wants to reform the immigration system to serve the US' national interest, the official said. The official said some of the existing programmes for immigrants ignored such requirements which are important for individuals to succeed in the US.

So, what we have with the Diversity Lottery Programme or through chain migration is that in these cases there are identified examples of individuals who were not selected to come to the US based on their love of this country, skills, merit, and individual attributes that will lead them to their success, the official said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the President is pushing for a merit-based system irrespective of the country, religion and ethnicity of an applicant. He wants immigrants to come in from everywhere, but he wants to do that through a merit-based system, said Sanders.  PTI

No to chain migration, visa lottery

The White House said the current immigration system jeopardises the US' national security, reiterating its call to end the chain migration and visa lottery system

By failing to impose meaningful selection criteria, such as skills or likelihood to assimilate, our current family- based system is incompatible with national security, the White House said

The remarks came soon after the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security released a new report showing three out of every four convicted terrorists entered the US through the current immigration system

H-1B puts American workers at risk
Santiago, January 17

Pope Francis publicly expressed pain and shame on Tuesday over the rape and molestation of children by priests in Chile and later listened, prayed and cried at a private meeting with victims.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the meeting took place in the Vatican embassy in Santiago.

No one else was present. Only the pope and the victims, the spokesman said. This was so they could speak of their suffering to Pope Francis, who listened to them and prayed and cried with them.

It was only the second time on his overseas trips that the pope has met victims of sexual abuse, although he has met some at the Vatican. The last meeting on a trip was in Philadelphia in 2015.

Burke declined to give details, but his statement came at the end of an intense day for the pope, during which he spoke of sexual abuse twice, once asking forgiveness for abuses he said had done irreparable damage to victims.

The Argentine pontiff made his first remarks at the presidential palace, La Moneda, an unusual choice because the pope usually talks about sexual abuse to Church leaders and not politicians.

But the scandal has gripped the nation, prompting many politicians to criticise the Church in the staunchly Catholic country, where the crisis has scarred its credibility.

Here I feel bound to express my pain and shame at the irreparable damage caused to children by some ministers of the Church, he said, drawing sustained applause, including from President Michelle Bachelet and diplomats.

I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask for forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again, he said.

The crisis centered on the popes appointment in 2015 of Bishop Juan Barros to head the small diocese of Osorno in south-central Chile.

Barros, who attended a papal Mass on Tuesday, has been accused of protecting his former mentor, Father Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing teenage boys over many years. Karadima has denied the allegations, and Barros said he was unaware of any wrongdoing.

There have been many lies told about my situation, he told Reuters after the Mass.

It was not clear if the victims the pope met were molested by Karadima. Burke would only say that they were all victims of abuse by priests.

Along with growing secularization, the scandal has hurt the standing of a Church that defended human rights during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

A poll by Santiago-based thinktank Latinobarometro this month showed that the number of Chileans calling themselves Catholics fell to 45 percent last year, from 74 percent in 1995.

Francis returned to the theme of abuse on Tuesday evening in an address to priests and nuns in Santiagos cathedral. He spoke of this great and painful evil which had led victims and their families to see the trust they had placed in the Churchs ministers betrayed.

But he said he also understood the pain of priests and nuns who had nothing to do with abuse and had been unfairly tainted, including being insulted in the metro or walking on the street.

Anti-Pope graffiti

At least eight Catholic churches were attacked in Chile in the past week.

Police in riot gear dispersed some 200 demonstrators trying to make their way to a park in Chilean capital Santiago, where the pope - the first Latin American head of the Church - said Mass for some 400,000 people.

Hours after the pope arrived in Chile on Monday, two small wooden churches were burned to the ground near Temuco, where Francis is due to visit on Wednesday.

The indigenous Mapuche in the area accuse the state and private companies of taking their ancestral lands. The Mapuche say the popes ceremony will be held on seized land.

A church in the capital was attacked during the night, causing minor damage. Vandals burned Chilean and Vatican flags at the site and tossed pamphlets with threats against the pope.

At one attack which involved a homemade bomb, a pamphlet was left that read: Pope Francis, the next bomb will be in your robe.

Graffiti scrawled on one Santiago church read: Burn the pope.

About 10 blocks from Tuesdays Mass, riot police clashed with people protesting against the sexual abuse scandal and the $17 million cost of the papal visit. Complicit Pedophiles, read one of the banners.

But the welcome most Chileans have given Francis has been warm, with tens of thousands lining the streets. Reuters
London, January 17

India-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor has pledged his $1-million Genesis Prize money, dubbed the Jewish Nobel, to refugee causes.

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The 63-year-old artist, born to an Indian father and a Jewish mother, was awarded the 2017 prize for outstanding professional achievement and commitment to the Jewish people and Jewish values.

Kapoor yesterday said the prize money would go to five prominent NGOs engaged in alleviating the global refugee crisis  International Rescue Committee (IRC) led by its president and former British foreign secretary David Miliband, as well as the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA), HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), Help Refugees, and Hillel International.

"Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees. Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution," he said.

Kapoor and the Genesis Prize Foundation have teamed up with the IRC to improve community health services for refugees in northern Uganda and to provide life-saving access to safe water for the Rohingya ethnic minority group in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Genesis funds will also support the expansion into Italy of Refugee.

Info, a digital platform, which harnesses social media and other digital tools to ensure that refugees have access to the critical information they need to make informed decisions about their lives.

"Grants like the one from The Genesis Prize Foundation are vital to supporting our work as we grapple with the largest displacement crisis since the Second World War, affecting a staggering 65 million people," IRC CEO Miliband, himself a son of Jewish refugees, said.

Kapoor is an award-winning artist and vocal human rights campaigner, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 for services to visual arts and has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government.  PTI
London, January 17

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday appointed the country's first-ever minister in charge of tackling loneliness and combating social isolation.

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Tracey Crouch, currently minister for sport and civil society in the UK government, will take on the additional role created in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing fanatic in June, 2016.

"Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected," May said in a statement.

The new ministerial role will take forward the recommendations of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, with the post holder working with the commission, businesses and charities to create a government-wide strategy.

According to research, more than 9 million people always or often feel lonely, around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month, and up to 85 per cent of young disabled adults  18-34 year olds  feel lonely.

"For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones  people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with," May said.

Crouch, Tory MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said she was determined to make significant progress in "defeating loneliness".

"This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness," she said.

Loneliness can be triggered by a life event, such as a bereavement or becoming a parent, with certain groups, such as the elderly, young people and carers, particularly at risk.

Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen who was stabbed to death outside her parliamentary office in West Yorkshire, had campaigned to combat the problem.

"One of the awful things about losing Jo is knowing how much difference she would have made in the world," her husband Brendan tweeted.

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, has spent the last year considering what the government and others can do to help.

They have been working with 13 charities, including Age UK and Action for Children to develop ideas for change.

"We are really pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said, young or old, loneliness doesn't discriminate," said Reeves.

An estimated half the people aged 75 and over live alone in Britain, with many saying they can go days, even weeks, with no social interaction at all.

The UK government has also announced that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) will devise a method of measuring loneliness, and a fund will be set up to help tackle the problem through activities which connect people.  PTI
Alternators like this one will probably disappear from the front of engines, replaced by a starter generator built into the transmission. Photo: Jim Park

Within a decades time we will probably have very different electrical systems on trucks than those in use today. Electrical demands on todays highway trucks have pushed systems to their capacity. Current electrical demand on a typical on-highway truck is about 3-5 kW, but that is projected to increase to 40 kW by 2030. Development of advanced powertrain technology is stalled because of capacity constraints. Theres much more we could be doing with electricity if the systems were up to it.

In short, we need to upgrade our electrical systems. But do we migrate up to 24 volts or 48?

I dont think the industry has converged on 24 or 48 volts at this point, says Craig Jacobs, Eatons director of engineering and program management for Controls & Protection, Transportation, Military and Aerospace Division. There are a couple of different camps on this. The 24-volt supporters point to Europe where 24-volt systems are used, so theres already some standardization and components are readily available. The 48-volt camp says if were going to make a change, lets go all the way.

Jacobs says 24 volts might take us out 10 or 15 years, but then wed be at capacity again, with very limited potential for expansion. Going right to 48 volts would last longer before having to upgrade again. It also gives OEMs a lot more flexibility in how they design vehicles.

The Australian trucking industry uses both 12- and 24-volt electrical systems because they use both European and North American equipment. Mathew Jenkins, global engineering and sales director for lighting system supplier, Optronics International, is based in Australia, and has some first-hand experience using both systems.

Australia leans to the 12-volt architecture, he says. Our trailers are 12-volt, but some of our [power units] are 24-volt. That forces us to deal with reducing voltages, but that is fraught with other problems.

Voltage reducers are not linear, he says. They will take 24 volts and turn on and off very quickly, producing an average voltage of about 11 volts over time. Thats very much like how an AC circuit works, so devices like electronics, motors, LED lighting, etc. do not respond well to that sort of signal. Voltage-drop over distance, like with our multi-trailer road-trains, makes it even more problematic.

In North America, we can avoid those challenges, making the jump only once  if its carefully orchestrated.

As an industry, we should have gone to 24 volts years ago, says Bruce Purkey, chief creative engineer at Lowell, Arkansas-based Purkeys Electric. Wed be further ahead than we are today, but wed still be close to the same capacity limits on the system. 24-volt systems would still not be up to some of the advanced technologies engineers are talking about today.

Purkey suggests going to 24 volts would help, but it would be costly and of limited value in the long run because of future demands on the system.

When one looks at mild hybrids and the likes, 48-volt electrical systems for accessories can be desirable, says John Bennett, general manager of global product strategy and advanced engineering for Meritor. They will require roughly four times less current than a 12-volt system, reducing the amount of copper required and reducing costs. With mild hybrids, 48 volts could also mean all electrified components operate at the same voltage, simplifying the system.

Thinner wiring can be used with 48-volt systems. That opens up opportunities for component packaging and truck wiring. Source: TMC

Hurdles for 48-volt migration

Systems operating at 48 volts would open up huge possibilities for fuel savings and emissions reductions while fundamentally transforming the basic vehicle electric and electronic (E/E) architecture and the way Class 8 trucks are designed and built. Switching to 48 volts would probably take close to a decade and would come with a long list of challenges. But that list would still be significantly shorter than the list of opportunities.

In December 2015, the Future Truck Committee of the American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council issued a discussion paper on the topic, Exploring the Potential for 48-Volt Commercial Vehicle Electrical Systems: Changing the Electrical/Electronic Face of Trucking.

In it, the authors outlined some of the challenges:

While 48 volts is not far from 12 volts in physical terms, real world issues are a cause for concern. Current 12-volt designs wont automatically work at 48 volts; even simple fuses will not migrate, let alone dimmers and active load controllers. Some fuse panel and harness makers have found that common 12-volt mini- and maxi-fuses do not behave properly at 48 volts. They can fail to interrupt excessive currents properly, causing serious overload conditions. Also, interconnection technologies have evolved for optimal cost and performance in a 12-volt environment. The present design of connectors, circuit breakers, and relay contacts may not be optimal at 48 volts. Therefore, manufacturers must re-evaluate component suitability for the higher voltage...

As Purkey puts it, at 48 volts, none of the electrical components we use today would work anymore. They will all have to be redesigned, tested and approved for the higher voltage. But once we get to 48 volts, theres almost no end to what we can do with emissions reduction and fuel efficiency.

Changing to 48 volts would have profound implications for almost every component supplier at every level, from the OEM all the way through to aftermarket. For technical reasons, the components will need to be almost impervious to damage and electrical shorting. They will need more robust insulation, different contacts and wholly different designs. They would need to develop a coding system where 48-volt parts are readily distinguishable from 12-volt components. Systems will also have to be designed with fail-safes to ensure that inadvertent use of the wrong parts, or improper connections  jump starts, for example, or drivers hooking up their own electronics  do not cause catastrophic damage to other parts of the system.

Since they will be handling higher voltage, the components will experience greater electrical stress, and will therefore be likely to wear out sooner. They will also cost more. But thats not the end of it.

When you increase the voltage by a factor of four [from 12 to 48], youll increase the potential for corrosion in the system by a factor of 10, says Purkey.

Any moisture wicking into a connector will kill that circuit 10 times faster than today, so that will call for impermeable connectors and lots more training for technicians on how to work with 48-volt systems.

Thats a daunting but far from complete list of the challenges of moving to 48-volt systems. You may think, do we really want to go there? Experts agree that its not only inevitable, but the sooner it happens the better. The TMC paper suggests that the time is right for this sort of a move because truck designs in other parts of the world are facing similar electrical shortcomings.

Such a move on a world-wide scale would uniformly advance automotive electronic technology and achieve, for the first time, a global truck design, since both the Western European 24-volt system and the North American 12-volt system would likely be superseded simultaneously.

This schematic drawing illustrates some of the potential for off-boarding drive components to lessen parasitic loads on engines. Source: Eaton

Transformative technologies

With all those challenges, why would we want to move to 48-volt systems?

Unless you understand the basic principles of electricity, it might seem counterintuitive that you can use thinner wire and smaller components with 48 volts as opposed to 12, but that is in fact the case. When you double the voltage, you reduce the current by half. If you quadruple the voltage, you cut the current by a factor of four.

Headlight wires, for example, could go from the present 12-gauge to a much thinner 28-gauge. High-amperage cables like those on starters and alternators could similarly use much thinner cable. In transmissions at 48 volts, we could use smaller and lighter actuators that are actually more powerful, says Jacobs.

The same goes for things like fans, compressors, pumps, etc. To comprehend the benefits of using 48 volts rather than 12, you have to re-imagine the heavy truck powertrain.

For example, we presently use a big broad or tall radiator mounted in front of a giant engine-mounted fan. Beside the engine we have components such as alternators, AC compressors, power-steering and coolant pumps. They are placed there only because of the proximity to the gear train on the front of the engine.

If the radiator could be moved to a side position on the truck, with the big cooling fan replaced by several smaller electric fans, you eliminate the need for a large, relatively square front to the truck. All the pumps and compressors we drive off the engine today could be replaced with electric pumps and located elsewhere on the chassis and controlled so that they operate only as needed. That nearly eliminates the need for the drive mounts on the front of the engine, while reducing the parasitic losses associated with turning compressors, fans and pumps that not in use. With electric air compressors or power steering pumps, you energize them only when theres demand. And that power comes not from the engine, but the battery.

If you take a lot of that stuff away from the front of the engine, it would give the OEMs a lot of freedom they never had before to redesign the front of the truck, Jacobs says.

Taken to its ultimate potential, as explained in the TMC paper, its likely that wed see engine camshafts disappear, replaced by electro-mechanical valve actuators that would give very precise and independent control of the operation of the intake and exhaust valves to optimize the combustion process. It could also facilitate a sort of internal EGR process where not all the spent gas is ejected from the cylinder before the next intake stroke, eliminating the need for troublesome EGR valves and coolers and the associated plumbing.

Here are just some of the other potential innovations that will come with 48-volt electrical systems and the off-boarding of current engine-mounted components:

Smaller and lighter HVAC systems that can be packaged independently of the engine, likely leading to a single set of evaporators and condensers, rather than the separate cab and sleeper systems used today.

Integrated starter/generator units, likely built into the transmission, can provide much more efficient power generation than current belt-and-pulley systems while being unobtrusively packaged. Because the transmission is always turning while the vehicle is in motion, it allows for energy generation even if the engine is not running, as could be the case in coasting situations.

Electric turbo-compounding could use a high-speed generator built into the compressor side of a turbocharger to generate electricity to charge batteries.

Hybridization through electric motors in the drivetrain, or as some manufacturers like Dana, Meritor and others are thinking about, electric-powered drive axles in a 6x2 arrangement.

Ryan Laskey, vice president, driveline and commercial vehicle engineering at Dana Inc., sees 48-volt architecture lending itself to hybridization of on-highway trucks as a bridge between diesels and pure battery-electric vehicles.

Power demand from the average Class 8 highway truck over a 100-year span of time. Generator peal power of average commercial vehicle (watts). Source: TMC

We see axle-mounted electric propulsion units possibly acting in a start-up or boosting application with downsped drivelines, he says. That would take some load off the engine, possibly opening the potential for lower horsepower engines or another source of tractive effort in a 6x2 setup. Bear in mind that such a system would be used only for short periods of time as needed, not run constantly, so the 48-volt architecture would support that kind of application.

We havent discussed batteries here, but the size and type of battery used with a 48-volt system will have a major bearing on how this advanced technology works. There are several technology contenders, including lead-carbon, nickel-metal-hydride, lithium-ion, lithium-polymer, carbon nanotube and even lead-acid. Depending on the 48-volt method used, it could consist of a 48-volt battery source and E/E system, one 48-volt battery source and one 12-volt battery source with two E/E systems, or one 48/12-volt battery source combination and two E/E systems, notes the TMC 48-volt discussion paper.

While a wholesale switch to 48 volts could take a decade, some of the technology may be here much sooner than you think.

Eaton is working with a couple of major OEMs now, and were tentatively targeting some of this technology for production in 2021, says Jacobs. There are really no technical roadblocks to implementing it. We want to ensure the technology is ready for the market and the market is ready for the technology. Its a major change.

Major indeed, especially when you consider the impact on the supplier side of the industry. Still, its all part of the evolution of the heavy truck powertrain, and it should all prove beneficial in the long run, even if it is expensive.

Theres opportunity ahead of us to harvest more energy as efficiently as possible from smaller or less-polluting engines, says Optronics Jenkins. We need to understand the reason for the change, and that the change is for the positive. Its for our futures and for the environment; its not just for the sake of change.

Related: Is Your Electrical Maintenance Doing the Job?
JENKS  The City Council may have violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act last year when it passed an ordinance making it easier for the city manager to fire other city officials, including the Oklahoma Aquariums executive director, a former city attorney alleged at Tuesday nights council meeting.

The council unanimously passed the ordinance in August, two months before the aquariums director was placed on administrative leave. But the council meetings agenda did not clearly explain what was being decided or convey its significance, said Stephen Oakley, who served as Jenks city attorney for 34 years before he retired at the end of 2016.

State law requires an agenda item to be easily understood by average people, Oakley said. But even he, an experienced attorney, struggled to decipher the legal jargon in the councils August agenda, which obscured the sweeping changes that the new ordinance made to protections for city employees, Oakley said.

It was sold as a mere housekeeping item, he said. But it was a lot more than that.

Oakley threatened to refer the issue to the state Attorney Generals Office if the City Council doesnt repeal the ordinance.

Oakley spoke during the public comments section of Tuesdays regular City Council meeting, and council members have a longstanding policy of listening but not responding to public comments. After the meeting, however, City Manager Chris Shrout reaffirmed his support for Ordinance 1429.

The agenda item clearly identified that the ordinance dealt with personnel policies and conformed to the same standards of transparency that Oakley himself enforced when Oakley was the city attorney, Shrout said.

You can go back and look at 30 years of agenda items, Shrout said, and theyve been done the same way.

The new ordinance simply updated personnel policies to agree with modern state laws, and it had nothing to do with changes at the Oklahoma Aquarium, Shrout said.

Jenks officials confirmed Dec. 6 that Teri Bowers had been fired as the Oklahoma Aquariums executive director, ending weeks of speculation about the leadership at one of the Tulsa areas most popular tourist attractions.

Officials, however, have offered little explanation for Bowers dismissal. Her status had been in limbo since Oct. 13, when the Jenks city manager put her on administrative leave but refused to say whether she would be fired.

Bowers, remembered in Tulsa as an anchor for KTUL Channel 8 before taking the aquarium job in 2007, has threatened to file a lawsuit.

I had offered a proposal to allow for a more orderly transition which would have protected everyone from this disruption and helped to avoid litigation, Bowers said in a written statement to the Tulsa World in December. Regretfully, my next step is now to take legal action.

The aquarium is governed by the Jenks Aquarium Authority, which is overseen by a seven-member board. Three board members come from the nonprofit Oklahoma Aquarium Foundation and four from the Jenks City Council, with the city manager automatically serving as the aquariums general manager.

While Bowers has not been replaced, the aquarium staff is already working on long-term plans to improve the facility and boost revenues.

During an aquarium board meeting that preceded the City Council meeting, aquarium officials presented a list of 15 potential future projects ranging in cost from roughly $50,000 to $5.5 million.

The top priority should be remodeling the aquarium cafe and expanding its limited menu, said Deputy Director Kenny Alexopoulos. And other improvements in the aquariums left wing, away from the sea creature exhibits, would make the facility more attractive for special events, he said.

We want it to turn a profit, Alexopoulos told the board. We want to see money start to roll in.

Speculation over Bowers firing has centered on the aquariums finances, with the city of Jenks providing about $400,000 in subsidies last year, or roughly 6.5 percent of the facilitys budget.
After video of an angry Edison Preparatory School teacher throwing desks emerged last week, Tulsa Public Schools superintendent said it was unlikely he would ever set foot in a district classroom again.

District officials now wont discuss the incident or whether he remains at TPS, where he was among more than 200 teachers working under the emergency certification program.

Shortly after the video surfaced, TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist said the teacher wasnt in the classroom and wouldnt be for the rest of the week.

Of course he was not at school today and will not be tomorrow. I cant imagine hell be back in a Tulsa Public Schools classroom, Gist said last week.

The man is his first year with the district, according its employee database. He received his emergency certification  a program designed to alleviate teacher shortages in certain subjects  from the Oklahoma State Department of Education in August.

This week, TPS officials had little to say about the investigation into the incident.

District spokeswoman Emma Garrett Nelson said the investigation is ongoing and the district has no estimate of how long it will last.

She declined to say whether the teacher was in the classroom because it was a personnel matter and not subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

The Tulsa World filed a public records request for any record of final disciplinary action, which includes suspension, demotion, loss of pay or termination. Such actions are subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

We do not have any records responsive to your request, said TPS general counsel Jana Burk.

Teacher suspensions are not final disciplinary actions. They provide teachers paid leave during an investigation, Burk said.  There is nothing more we can provide  in response to this inquiry, including an acknowledgment that any particular employee was suspended.

In the video, which made the rounds on social media, the teacher told what appears to be a male student, Get out now.  Dont come back. After the student left, the teacher threw two desks and yelled, Is that what Im supposed to do?
OKLAHOMA CITY  The head of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections had a message for lawmakers on Tuesday: The state needs two new prisons to handle its still-problematic prisoner population, and the facilities it does have need millions in repairs.

The price tag for all that, DOC Director Joe Allbaugh reported: $1.5 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of slightly more than $1 billion from last year.

Allbaugh made his comments to a joint legislative panel as part of ongoing budget hearings at the Capitol. He recounted problems at the agency such as crumbling facilities, inadequate programs, high staff turnover due to low pay and a soaring prison population.

When asked after the meeting about seeking such a big increase at a time when the state is dealing with large budget holes, Allbaugh said funding is the responsibility of elected officials.

I am asking for what the agency needs, he said. It is not up to me to figure out how to fund government.

Allbaugh said he has been realistic about the state of the Department of Corrections, which is less than poor.

He said Oklahomas incarceration rate ranks second in the nation. The prison system is operating at 112 percent of capacity; without the use of three private prisons, the figure would be 151 percent, Allbaugh said.

Allbaugh said in a statement that the department expects Oklahomas incarceration rate to eventually be the countrys highest because of limited results of criminal justice reform in our state.

The bulk of the agencys budget request, some $813 million, is to build one male and one female prison to accommodate population growth.

Given the difficulty in hiring staff in rural areas, a new prison would need to be built near a metropolitan area, Allbaugh said.

The agency also is seeking slightly more than $10 million for salary increases and benefits.

We dont have enough correctional officers and we dont pay them very well, he said.

The agency pays starting correctional officers $12.78 an hour. Even convenience stores pay more, Allbaugh said, while jobs in the oil and gas industry pay over $20 an hour.

About 74 percent of the agencys correctional officers have been with the agency less than five years, according to the DOC. In fiscal year 2017, correctional officer turnover was 25 percent.

During fiscal year 2017, the agency received and processed 9,683 offenders, and since 2008, paroles have dropped 77 percent, he said.

The agencys request includes $107 million for repairs and upgrades to facilities.

Allbaugh showed lawmakers pictures of leaking roofs at William S. Key Correctional Center in Fort Supply and a failing floor in the control room at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

In addition to the agencys staffing woes, about 20 percent of the prison population is affiliated with a gang, Allbaugh said. Gangs are responsible for bringing in most of the contraband into the system, he said.

It is ugly, Allbaugh said.

Sen. David Holt, R-Oklahoma City, said the DOCs situation cries out for criminal justice reform and tax reform.
The United Nations Foundation today announced that Rajesh Mirchandani has been named the Foundations new Chief Communications Officer to lead the Foundations strategic communications work supporting the United Nations and UN causes. Mirchandani brings to the Foundation a wealth of experience communicating international issues to global audiences as an experienced BBC News journalist and broadcaster and, most recently, as Vice President of Communications and Policy Outreach at the Center for Global Development, a leading voice in innovative and critical thinking about international development.

Rajesh Mirchandani is taking the communications helm at the UN Foundation at a pivotal time in world affairs when making the case for the United Nations, global engagement, and collaborative solutions is more vital than ever, said Kathy Calvin, President and Chief Executive Officer of the UN Foundation. Rajesh is a strategic and creative communicator who will help us engage global audiences in even more powerful and innovative ways at a time when communications tools and technologies are changing by the minute and audiences are hungry for smart and purposeful content.

Mirchandani has over 20 years of global journalism experience with the British Broadcasting Corporation, including five years based in the U.S. He has covered a wide variety of stories and issues, from two U.S. presidential elections to the Haiti earthquake, global health security in the Horn of Africa to green energy investments in California. More recently, Mirchandani has helped the Center for Global Development navigate a redrawn political map, bringing the substance and relevance of the Centers pioneering economics research to wider audiences. On a wide range of issues, he has helped bring hard evidence to heated political debates at a time when power and influence in the world are shifting, attention spans are shrinking, and the traditional consensus around international cooperation is fraying.

For me the UN Foundation has always played a unique and powerful role, said Mirchandani. It connects individual action to global progress through phenomenal campaigns and alliances, as well as through mobilizing expertise to help advance UN priorities. At this critical time for human progress, I am excited to join the great team at the UN Foundation and its wider network of friends and influencers to support the UN and UN causes.

In 2012, Mirchandani was awarded a graduate degree in public diplomacy from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Over the years, he has been a frequent collaborator of the UN as a moderator and commentator.

Mirchandani will join the UN Foundation in February and will be based in the Foundations Washington, D.C. office. He will lead a team of skilled communicators working to advance progress on important global issues.

###

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors.
Charles Elliott, 61, and wife Catharine, 55, have been hosting Hussein, 20, from Ethiopia since October 2016.  UNHCR/Aubrey Wade

LONDON - Charles Elliott, 61, and wife Catharine, 55, have been hosting Hussein, 20, from Ethiopia since October 2016.

Hussein fled because his father is a political prisoner. Charles parents were refugees from Germany, so hosting people in need of international protection resonates strongly with him.

The big smiles and gratitude, its beautiful to live with. You just learn how to communicate even if you dont speak the same language, Charles said, Its very difficult to resettle."

Catharine has raised two boys who have now moved out. The difference between London-born and Ethiopia-born teenage boys is minimal. Teenage boys the world over are the same. They dont realise sheets need changing and that laundry doesnt walk away on its own, she said. You just have to train them in the nicest way.

Hussein said his journey has been extremely difficult but he is happy in the UK.

I often wake up scared because when I escaped through Libya they were shooting people in front of me," he said. "It was too much. Sometimes I think too much, get sad, and cant sleep. But generally I am happy now. I enjoy class, I want to study, learn more and maybe one day become a neurologist.

This story is part of a Great British Welcome, the UK chapter of No Stranger Place, which was developed and photographed by Aubrey Wade in partnership with UNHCR, profiling refugees and their hosts across Europe. Great British Welcome will be on display at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 16 January - 16 March 2018.
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett addresses staff at the UN Refugee Agency's headquarters in Geneva.  UNHCR/Susan Hopper

GENEVA  UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett today said her work with refugees has left her shaken and enriched, and praised the UN Refugee Agency for providing a vital "moral compass" amid the global displacement crisis.

Blanchett visited UNHCRs headquarters during a two-day trip to Geneva, speaking to hundreds of staff members assembled in the atrium.

Since becoming part of the UNHCR family in 2014, the two-time Oscar winner said her life has been both shaken and enriched.

Shaken by the scale of the ever-growing displacement crisis, from Syria to South Sudan, to Bangladesh  Shaken by the moving individual stories of tragedy that lie behind the vast numbers.

But enriched too by the privilege of meeting refugee families who have shown the most incredible resilience, dignity and generosity in the face of unfathomable circumstances. Once you have borne witness, you cannot turn away.

"Once you have borne witness, you cannot turn away.

Since Blanchett became a Goodwill Ambassador two years ago, the numbers of men, women and children driven from their homes by wars and persecution worldwide has climbed to a record 65.6 million, including more than 21 million refugees.

Ive been shocked, and Ive been profoundly moved by the stories of refugees that Ive heard, and also, like you, been frustrated and angered by the lack of global momentum to permanently reverse the factors that contribute to the global displacement crisis, she said. The numbers alone beggar belief.

In her role as a Goodwill Ambassador, Blanchett has undertaken fact-finding missions to Lebanon and Jordan, to meet refugees and stateless people who have been displaced by the Syrian conflict.

She paid tribute to the patience, passion and compassion of the UNHCR staff she met in the field, and said witnessing the vital work that they undertake has been remarkable and energizing.

You talk of course about giving refugees hope, and that is absolutely vital. But for what its worth, you  as an organization  give me hope," she said.

You have seen it all. You navigate these difficult waters on a daily basis, and what I really want to say today is thank you  Its clear that this organization truly has a moral compass that is so vitally important to the world right now.

"This organization truly has a moral compass that is so vitally important to the world right now.

In her role as Goodwill Ambassador, Blanchett, an Australian, has also met refugee and asylum-seeker families who had previously been transferred by Australia to Christmas Island, Nauru and Papua New Guinea. She heard first-hand of the immense harm they had suffered under Australias offshore-processing approach.

Speaking in Geneva, she said that the open-hearted, welcoming country that she grew up in had been positively built on immigration and its humane treatment of refugees and prided itself on being multicultural.

But bit by bit, and certainly over the last decade specifically, its become a fortress, she said.

This compelled her to take up advocacy for refugees: I couldnt ignore it any longer. Not just what was happening on my own home turf but around the world.

Concluding her visit, Blanchett said she looked forward to working closely with UNHCR in the year ahead, and thanked staff from the bottom of my heart, for so warmly welcoming me into your remarkable family."

Were at the beginning of a potentially game-changing year. The convening role you are playing in forging a new blueprint for a more equitable and sustainable response to the refugee crisis is to be applauded.

See also: Cate Blanchett video highlights what refugees taken when they flee
Former President Barack Obama was the first guest on David Letterman's new monthly Netflix show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."
Retailers that want to include alcohol in their click and collect service would need to expand their licensed premises to include a designated area outside the store where customers can pick up their online order.
STATEMENT BY SIMONETTA DI PIPPO

DIRECTOR

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR OUTER SPACE AFFAIRS

ACUNS Vienna UN Conference

10 January 2018

Vienna, Austria

Good morning everyone!

As the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and as an International Gender Champion, it gives me great pleasure to address you here today at the ACUNS Vienna UN Conference on 'Achieving Gender Equality and Female Empowerment: A collaborative vision of SDG 5', a topic which is close to my heart and in which I have been personally involved almost all my career in one way or another.



As you all know the United Nations declared the 11 February as International Day of Women and Girls in Science as part of our joint efforts to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and celebrate the potential of women and girls in science-related topics. In my function as Director of UNOOSA I applauded this decision and I am proud to inform you that my office is supporting these goals through a dedicated Space for Women project. As humankind makes significant scientific and technological advancements, there is still persistent gender inequality in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. While there is encouraging improvement, women's contributions and potentials are still not fully utilized. It is frustrating that in the 21st century and in fields that are known for breaking boundaries, we are still not making the most of what women have to contribute.



According to UNESCO's Science Report from 2015: 'Towards 2030' women are actively chasing bachelor's and master's degrees and even outnumber men at these levels, but their numbers drop off at PhD level. Then women account for only 28 percent of science researchers across the world, with the gap increasing at the higher levels of decision-making. Studies have found that women generally have less access to funding, to networks, to senior positions. We really need to examine why, and how we can change it.



And, while the share of female graduates in scientific fields is on the rise, UNESCO's Science Report also notes that women dominate the broader fields of health and welfare, but are least likely to be among engineering graduates.



Research has also found that the lowest ratios of women to men tend to be found in low income countries. What can we do to support our colleagues in these countries? And to what extent does this also reflect wider societal imbalances?



Turning to the space sector specifically, a new and exciting era in space exploration is about to begin. From a pool of more than 6000 candidates, NASA has selected, for the first time, a class of astronauts comprising 4 men and 4 women. This is very encouraging. Perhaps the first human to walk on Mars will be a woman - a step in the right direction, in every sense. However, the laudable achievements of female astronauts, are still occurring in a sector with a significant gender imbalance. And, even with strong and well known female astronauts as role models, young girls and women also need to see that this is not the only aerospace pathway open to them. We still have a lot to do to make Space for Women and to raise awareness on the many different career paths in Science and Technology.



UNOOSA is eager to lead the process on 'Space for Women' as endorsed during the United Nations Expert Meeting on Space for Women in 2017. The final recommendations highlighted the importance of the establishment of a coordination model under the Office's leadership and already drafted basic structure following the three levels of



1. The Institutional / Industry Level in order to address internal structures, policies, procedures and the organisational effect



2. The Enabling Environment Level to promote necessary social norms, rules, laws policies as well as monitoring and review tools



3. The Individual Level, which is shaped by 1 and 2, focussing on capacity-building, education and training



The 'Space for Women' Project was designed with the targets to facilitate the strengthening of the awareness, capacity and skills of individuals and institutions related to the importance of promoting gender equality in the space sector and its fundamental educational fields and it will focus on:



1. Communicating the opportunities of STEM education and facilitate access to the space sector education as well the space sector itself;

2. Providing policy-relevant advice, knowledge management and evidence-based awareness raising, research and data to institutions and governments on "Space for Women" and "Women for Space";

3. Facilitating capacity-building / training of individuals on access to and use of space-technology in order to train, generate skills and foster knowledge;

4. Promoting a mentoring platform on 'Space for Women' Champions for advocacy and awareness raising purposes.



Distinguished participants,



60 years have passed since the launch of Sputnik and since then the world has become more and more dependent on outer space activities and the wealth of information that is generated. Space today is a major growth sector, valued at around 320 billion USD. Currently over 70 space agencies operate more than 1,500 satellites and the number of commercial players is already outgrowing governmental operators.



It is, therefore, important to remind ourselves that space is a "global commons" and a limited resource that has to be protected through one joint vision. The advancements of space technology benefit all member states of the UN, in one way or another, and space technology supports our common goals and our efforts in addressing global challenges and implementing the goals of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.



The task for the international community is therefore to preserve outer space as a limited resource for the benefit of humankind. In that regard, the year 2018 and UNISPACE+50 will mark an important milestone for the Office and the international space community. But, what is UNISPACE+50? Well, UNISPACE+50, while marking the fiftieth anniversary of the first UNISPACE conference, and also being an opportunity to take stock of the contributions of three global UNISPACE conferences, convened in Vienna in 1968, 1982 and 1999, will look at the future of global space activities and it is therefore the first UN Global space summit of the 21st century.



We will examine the practical benefits of space science and technology and their applications with special focus on the needs of developing countries, global and regional development agendas, and the benefits for society at large. We will, in practise, try to maximize the use of space research, technology, services and applications to help Member States to fulfil their commitments for the SDGs, across the board. It is therefore imperative to underline that UNISPACE+50 is an all-inclusive gathering which will offer, among other things, a unique platform to exchange on the way forward of gender parity and to jointly progress on achieving Space 50/50 and for promoting equal opportunities for all in the space sector.



To conclude, allow me to quote Shannon Lucid, a famous retired NASA astronaut. Ms Lucid said: 'Basically, all my life I'd been told you can't do that because you're female. So, guess I just didn't pay any attention. I just went ahead and did what I could and then, when the stars aligned, I was ready'

Well, together, looking at the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow, UNOOSA is eager to align the stars to:



1. Make space work for the development of women

2. Make space in the aerospace industry and STEM fields for women

3. Work on more 'Space for Women'



Allow me to call for all of you who want to contribute to join the Space for Women project which is our reality of tomorrow.



Thank you, Merci, Gracias, Spasibo, Xie Xie and, in particular in honour of Doha, Shukran, for your attention.
January 17 2018

Full planning permission is being sought to build a dedicated retirement village in Newton Mearns including 252 flats and houses, an 80-bed care home, a multi-purpose village centre and associated loop road.Situated off Netherplace Road Newton Mearns Retirement Village has been conceived by Jewitt & Wilkie Architects on behalf of Newton Mearns Projects to cater exclusively for the over-55 market.Occupying 6.2 hectares of land at a former dyeworks the masterplan seeks to avoid an institutional appearance by adopting a modern aesthetic with specialist adaptations such as chair lifts and easy access bathrooms to ensure occupants can live independent lives for as long as possible.Outlining their approach the architects wrote: Whilst little remains of the original dyeworks it was felt appropriate to celebrate the former industrial heritage of the site with the use of facing brick, contrasted by selective panels of colours representing the dyed thread which was once produced at Netherplace Works.Within the facades of the respective blocks it is also proposed to introduce a series of different textures, offering distinct identity to key areas within the development. This would be combined with an interlocking concrete roof/slate effect tile within a industrial roofscape to reflect the previous arrangement of sheds and structures on the site, within a contemporary interpretation of that industrial form, set within a landscaped campus.Bright colours and textures are employed to ease navigation and tie-in with the sites history as a centre for the fabric industry.
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Published: January 16, 2018

UT to Welcome (Forte)Pianist Mike Cheng-Yu Lee Jan. 23

On Tuesday, Jan. 23, The University of Tampa will welcome (forte)pianist Mike Cheng-Yu Lee, whose performances have been described as absolutely radiant, a lesson in refinement mixed with deep devotion (Herald Times, Bloomington, IN). The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values and is free and open to the public.



Lee will perform Mozarts Sonata in C major, K. 330, Haydns Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI: 48 and Beethovens Sonata in C-sharp minor quasi una Fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2.



Awarded Second Prize and Audience Prize at the 2011 Westfield International Fortepiano Competition, Lee has appeared with the New World Symphony and collaborated with musicians including Joseph Lin (Juilliard String Quartet) and the Formosa Quartet, among others, that integrate modern and period instruments.



He has performed and given master classes at The Royal Academy of Music (London), Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, the 23Arts Festival (NY), the Mayfest Chamber Music Festival (NY), the Bloomington Early Music Festival (IN) and others.



Current projects include the complete cycle of Mozarts piano sonatas and Beethoven Perspectives, a series of lecture-recitals that explore connections between works by Beethoven and others.



Lee is lecturer of piano/keyboard performance at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Music and director of the ANU Keyboard Institute.



For more information, contact music@ut.edu.
Presentations on UW Science Initiative Jan. 22 and 25 in Casper

Two University of Wyoming faculty members and a graduate student are scheduled to speak about UWs Science Initiative at Rotary Club meetings in Casper Jan. 22 and Jan. 25.

Chip Kobulnicky, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and botany graduate student Kali Nicholas Moon will discuss the initiative that aims to revolutionize scientific education and discovery in Wyoming.

They will be at the Casper Rotary Clubs regular meeting Monday, Jan. 22, at noon at the Ramkota Hotel. They will be joined by botany Professor Greg Brown, associate dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences.

Kobulnicky and Moon will speak to the Casper Five Trails Rotary Club Thursday, Jan. 25, at noon at the Ramada Plaza Hotel.

The Science Initiative, initiated by Gov. Matt Mead and the Legislature in 2014, is an effort to enable world-class research and education related to pillars of Wyomings present and future economy. Through life and data sciences research that impacts areas including mineral extraction, agriculture, tourism, resource management and high technology, the initiative will impact Wyomings economy and give UW students a leading-edge skill set.

The Wyoming Research Scholars Program, one of the components of the Science Initiative, provides scholarships for undergraduates to study and conduct research with top UW researchers.

Central to the Science Initiative is construction of a $100 million facility at the northwest end of the UW campus, featuring flexible laboratories for interdisciplinary science research; the Center for Advanced Scientific Imaging; state-of-the-art greenhouses for plant research; a 200-seat active-learning classroom; and student collaboration areas to foster science innovation.

Mead, who describes the facility as a unique research and teaching environment that will transform interdisciplinary research and education, has recommended that the 2018 Legislature release $100 million previously appropriated for the project.
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State Debate: Blogger John Peterson says Dems ought to counter Scott Walker's 'Move to Wisconsin' campaign
House Speaker Paul Ryan, shown here shaking hands with President Trump on Dec. 20 following passage of the GOP tax bill, said amid the outcry over Trumps immigration remarks: "I read those comments later last night. So, first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS


Theres an old saying that goes something like starting a casino is like printing your own money and, for the most part, this seems to be a lot closer to true than not. With the launch of the first online casinos back in the mid-nineties, that old saying received a new lease on life, as the virtual (online) casino industry boomed.

So, it doesnt really sound like theres a downside to owning a casino, regardless of whether that establishment is a traditional brick and mortar concern, or a virtual one. However, what if there was a downside and it took the form of a bunch of clever, inventive, gutsy and sometimes dangerous individuals and syndicates, all hell-bent on taking the casino for everything they can?

This is any and every casinos worst nightmare, the clever plot, the conniving scheme to stick it back to the house. So, without further ado, lets take a look at three of the most audacious scams that have taken place in casinos that stretch from good old Las Vegas all the way to the Great White North in Canada.

Roulette Switch  Big Apple Style

So, as the title of our first entry to our top 5 most audacious casino scams from Vegas to Canada hints at, we begin with a little New York story. Actually, the casinos that got scammed here werent in the Big Apple but a little further west, in Ohio.

According to the Ohio Casino Control Commission, a syndicate consisting of up to seventy members worked their way through a number of top casinos. Working in teams, one member would place a low value bet at a roulette table, then slip a few chips of a certain colour in their pocket while another member distracted the croupier.

The chips would then be passed on to another member who would then play at a new table, assigning a higher value to the colour chips and cashing out at a higher rate. According to the commission, the scam was valued at around $1,000-$2,000 per scam (per casino), not too bad!

Cutting Cards

A rather ingenious casino scam took place at several Las Vegas casino in and around 2011. A group of scammers, known as the Cutter Gang, worked out a rather clever and high-tech way to gain an unfair advantage at the baccarat tables.

The gang used a precise technique to cut the cards (allowed in baccarat) and film certain revealed cards through micro cameras hidden in their sleeves. However, the gangs luck ran out at the Cosmopolitan Casino in Vegas, where they were apprehended and held, pending further criminal investigation.

Canadas Casino Rama Drama

One of Canadas most popular casinos, Casino Rama near Orillia, Ontario lost over $2 million in a baccarat scam that involved several of the casinos own employees. The deed took place in 2007 and involved over fifteen individuals at the baccarat tables.

Casino dealers working for Casino Rama had been recruited by an outside syndicate to predetermine the outcome of each baccarat hand. At the time, investigators believed it to be the biggest single sting operation in recent memory, following an incredible 44 month-long investigation into the scam.

In fact, not only were local law enforcement in Ontario (OPP) involved in the investigation and subsequent bust, the entire operation had drawn in officers from Windsor police as well as police from several US states and FBI specialists. The baccarat syndicate had targeted several casinos in the US as well as Canada and had already netted close to $4 million!


Hussongs Cantina Las Vegas is celebrating 8 years on The Strip at The Shoppes at Mandalay Place with a night of festivities on Jan. 19 (Pictured: Hussongs Original Margarita).

As the official Home of The Original Margarita, Hussongs Cantina Las Vegas as will offer their original margaritas for $8, as well as their grilled corn bites for $.88.

The restaurant will also have a rock n roll mariachi band playing from 6 to 10 p.m. with a toast celebrating 8 years at 8 p.m.

Since 1892, Hussongs Cantina has brought authentic Mexican cuisine to Baja California. Hussongs family still owns and manages the cantina in Ensenada, and in keeping with tradition, it only serves The Original Margarita hand-shaken with only fresh ingredients.

In 2010, Titan Brands brought the restaurant to Las Vegas, opening the first location at The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, then a second at Boca Park shortly after. The cantina-style restaurant and bar offers an extensive lunch and dinner menu, combining traditional Mexican cuisine with an upbeat atmosphere.
By: Dezan Shira & Associates

Editor: Koushan Das

Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has made changes to the pilot implementation of self-certification of goods origin as per the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). This will be applicable for Laos, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Earlier, only enterprises with an export turnover of US$ 10 million could conduct self-certification of goods origin. But now, even small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or larger firms will be able to do so. These changes, already in effect from December 2017 are expected to boost Vietnamese exports to ASEAN markets, further increasing their regional integration.

RELATED: Pre-Investment Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

Self-certification of product origin

As per the self-certification of product origin, traders or exporters may declare the origin of their exported products through their commercial invoice instead of the C/O form D (Certificate of Origin). This reduces the documentation for traders while claiming preferential tariff treatment.

RELATED: Vietnam: New Laws to be in Effect in 2018

Changes in the self-certification scheme

The new Circular No.27/2017/TT-BCT supplements and amends some items of Circular No.28/2015/TT-BCT, issued on August 20, 2015.

As per Circular 28, a firm could conduct self-certification of goods origin if its total export turnover to ASEAN member states was at least US$ 10 million. In the amended Circular 27, this regulation is removed, allowing small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or larger firms to conduct self-certification. SMEs are defined as enterprises with less than 200 social insurance payers and having a capital resource not higher than VND 100 billion (around USD4.4 million) or total preceding year income under VND 300 billion (around USD13.2 million).

To be entitled to self-certification of goods origin as per Circular 27, the trader must be the producer and the exporter of the produced goods. Furthermore, they should not have committed violations against goods origin regulations in the two years preceding their application date.

In addition, as per Circular 27, at least one of the traders employees should have completed a training course in goods origin certification from the MoITs Department of Export and Import or a government-appointed training institution.

RELATED: Vietnam: FDI Strategy for 2018-2023

What it means for SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises continue to play a major role in Vietnam, accounting for 98 percent of all enterprises, 40 percent of GDP, and 50 percent of employment. However, they have suffered from limited market access and competition. Even larger firms were unable to meet the export revenue criteria of US$10 million from ASEAN markets, as most of the SMEs major export markets are not the ASEAN countries but US, EU, China, Republic of Korea, and Japan. Until now, only Vinamilk and Nestle Vietnam were the firms eligible to self-certify their goods origin within the ATIGA.

The new changes will allow exporters of all sizes (SMEs and larger) in Vietnam to conduct self-certification of goods origin, as long as they also meet the remaining conditions mentioned in Circular 27. This will give the firms access to the ATIGA tariff incentives, leading to an increase in exports to the ASEAN markets.

Vietnams 2017 exports to the ASEAN member states reached US$21.7 billion, an increase of 24.5 percent year-on-year. However, Vietnam had a trade deficit of US$ 6.3 billion with ASEAN, same as 2016. Now with the self-certification of goods origin, Vietnamese SMEs will be able to boost their exports and reduce the countrys growing trade deficit with the ASEAN member states.

Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure

Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide.

An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017

An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam. Compiled by Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist foreign direct investment practice, this guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, payroll, and social insurance in this dynamic country.



Managing Contracts and Severance in Vietnam

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the prevailing state of labor pools in Vietnam and outline key considerations for those seeking to staff and retain workers in the country. We highlight the increasing demand for skilled labor, provide in depth coverage of existing contract options, and showcase severance liabilities that may arise if workers or employers choose to terminate their contracts.
Firefighters rescue a man following the collapse of a building at the Paardenmarkt in Antwerp, after an explosion. (DIRK WAEM/BELGA/AFP)

Belgium's French-language broadcaster RTBF reported that a gas leak was suspected as the cause of the blast at around 9.30pm (2030 GMT) Monday (Jan 15), though it had yet to be confirmed.

Police said in a statement that 14 people were taken to hospitals, including one in critical condition and five in a serious condition.

They said emergency services pulled several people from the debris of the buildings in the Paardenmarkt area of central Antwerp, a Dutch-speaking northern city, but could not rule out finding others as searches continued.

Police said the explosion was not related to terrorism, while Belgium has been on a high state of alert since 16 people were killed in suicide bombings in the capital Brussels in March 2016.

Several buildings either collapsed or were badly damaged in the blast, police said.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear AFP/Rene PRIEBE

The accident, whose cause was not immediately clear, occurred at about 7.00am (0600 GMT) en route to a school in the southwestern town of Eberbach.

"The fully occupied school bus drove, for reasons that were not immediately clear, at full speed into several other vehicles and then into the wall of an electronics shop," police said in a statement.

Forty-three of those hurt were children and a total of 10 victims suffered grave injuries. The driver was slightly hurt, a police spokesman told DPA news agency.

Three rescue helicopters helped rush victims to local hospitals while first responders and ambulances were dispatched to treat the more lightly injured at the scene, the police statement said.

The site of the accident was cleared of traffic as investigators began work to determine the cause of the crash.
The Australian government is offering funding to research ways to protect the Great Barrier Reef after repeated bleaching episodes that scientists say are putting the reef in jeopardy AFP/JODIE RUMMER

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed reef is reeling from significant coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

The 2,300-kilometre site is also under pressure from farming runoff, development and predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, with experts warning it could be suffering irreparable damage.

On Tuesday, the Australian government announced a AUD$2.0 million (US$1.6 million) funding pot available to people with bright ideas on how to save the reef.

"The scale of the problem is big and big thinking is needed, but it's important to remember that solutions can come from anywhere," said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

He said the money would be available to the world's "greatest scientific minds, industry and business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs".

"Solutions could focus on anything from reducing the exposure of corals to physical stressors, to boosting coral regeneration rates by cultivating reef-building coral larvae that attract other important marine species," Frydenberg added.

Up to AUD$250,000 is available for an initial feasibility stage, where researchers can test the technical and commercial viability of their proposals for up to six months.

More than one proposal is expected to be accepted at this stage, the government said.

A further AUD$1 million will then be made available to the best solutions at the proof of concept stage, where applicants develop and test their prototypes for up to 12 months.

Those that are successful will retain intellectual property rights and will be able to try to commercialise their innovation.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee last year decided not to place the Barrier Reef on its list of sites "in danger" despite concern over the mass coral bleaching.

The 2017 bleaching marked the second-straight year that corals have been damaged by warming sea temperatures, an unprecedented occurrence that scientists said would give the invertebrate marine creatures insufficient time to fully recover.

Coral reefs make up less than one per cent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 per cent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish.
Foreign tourists stroll in downtown HCMC. Operators of local tours still have to place a VND100 million deposit while the deposit requirement for firms organizing local, inbound and outbound tours is kept at VND500 million

According to Nguyen Quy Phuong, head of the Travel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the 2017 tourism law stipulates a VND100 million deposit for companies offering local tours, VND250 million for those offering inbound tours and VND500 million for those arranging outbound tours. However, since providers of outbound tours can offer local tours, companies with outbound and inbound tours do not need to make additional deposits for local tours, or those with a VND500 million deposit can cover three travel segments.

Beside the deposits, travel companies have to meet other requirements but the new law does not impose higher deposits, Phuong told a meeting on the law last Friday.

Vietnam now has around 1,800 travel companies with outbound tour operating licenses, 80% of them active in local, outbound and inbound travel services.

As for companies licensed to offer international travel services before the 2017 tourism law came into force, they do not have to seek new licenses but they have to meet the new business requirements in 12 months.

As explained by VNAT deputy director general Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, to obtain travel service licenses, investors were previously required to have three years experience. But now, they have to possess travel operating certificates and need 12 months to obtain them.

Vietnam welcomed 12.9 million international tourists and 73.2 million local tourists last year. Tourism revenue was estimated at VND510.9 trillion, or US$23 billion.
The central city of Hue offers a wide range of historical sites, such as the Tomb of Khai Dinh, an intricate tomb especially erected for the twelfth Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty (the last ruling family of Vietnam); Dai Noi, the 19th-century citadel housing the former imperial palace and temples and the Tomb of Tu Duc, an artistic architectural complex especially built for the Nguyen Emperor Tu Duc.

Gourmets will have plenty of indulgence with flavourful local dishes, such as mussel rice (com hen), rice vermicelli soup with beef (bun bo), cold rice vermicelli dish topped with grilled pork (bun cha thit nuong), cassava cake, and Hue sweet soup.

Regarded as the best city for living in Vietnam, the coastal city of Danang offers visitors a broad spectrum of shopping highlights and historical sights within close proximity to the popular My Khe and Lang Co beaches

Conquering Mount Chua (Nui Chua) with cable cars

Travellers could immerse themselves in the glimmering lights and the shadows cast by the silk lanterns of Hoi An (Soucre: CNN)

The one and only cao lau, a Vietnamese regional dish featuring noodles, pork, and local greens that can only be found in the ancient town of Hoi An (Source: TheGuardian)

Folk music performances by local musicians in Hoi An

Unwinding at the clear blue water in the coastal city of Nha Trang

Freshly served local specialties bursting with the flavours of the sea

A seemingly-endless green peninsula hugging the coastline in the central province of Binh Dinh
Foreign animal feed and livestock producers are seizing the opportunity to expand in Vietnam, Photo: Le Toan

Dang Dinh Quyet, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments Livestock Production Department, told VIR that last year, the rate of foreign enterprises asking permission from the ministry for importing animal feed materials into Vietnam climbed 20-25 per cent year-on-year.

Foreign animal feed producers are strongly expanding their business in Vietnam. Many are working with the ministry on their upcoming projects in Vietnam, he said. Import tariff slashes under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) are the main reasons, in addition to Vietnams great potential.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, under its commitments this year, Vietnam will have to remove 669 tariff lines under ATIGA, and 588 tariff lines under ACFTA. Average import tariffs for livestock-related products will be reduced to nearly 0 per cent.

These products include beef, pork, sheep, goat, poultry, and many types of frozen aquatic products, as well as dairy products, animal feed, and poultry eggs.

Under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ACFTA, investors may concentrate production lines in a chosen partner country, and then export finished products tariff-free to other ASEAN countries as well as to ASEANs free-trade partners in the region (China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand).

Chinas New Hope Group is reported to have a plan to invest $407 million into constructing several pig-raising complexes in Vietnam this year, with a combined annual capacity of 2.3 million pigs. Construction will likely begin in September. Currently, the firm has six animal feed mills and an egg-hatching facility in Vietnam.

Thailands GreenFeed JSC is building its sixth animal feed mill in the southern province of Vinh Long, in addition to its five operating mills in other localities. The total annual capacity of these six mills will be 1.8 million tonnes per year.

South Koreas CJ Vina Agri Company will also officially open its sixth animal feed factory in the south-central province of Binh Dinh in this years first quarter, after one year of construction. The factory has a capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year, and total investment capital of VND448 billion ($20.36 million).

Presently, foreign firms hold the lions share of the local animal feed market in Vietnam, led by Thailands CP (18 per cent), Frances Proconco (12 per cent), Chinas New Hope (10 per cent), US firm Cargill (8 per cent), and Thailands Green Feed (8 per cent).

According to a recent survey by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research on the impacts of AEC on Vietnams livestock sector, local livestock production will most likely decline due to fiercer competition from AEC partners.

Consumers and importers will gain, while exporters and producers will lose out due to an increase in competition with imported goods, said the institutes head Nguyen Duc Thanh.

The survey revealed that within AEC, tariff cuts by Vietnam in the livestock sector negatively affect the total production value of the sector mainly due to higher competition from imported goods.

Animal, meat, and dairy products are the livestock sub-sectors most affected by tariff cuts. Once the tariffs are removed by AEC, substitution for cheaper imports of meat products reduces the demand for domestically-produced meat products, and this effect is projected to result in a $107 million loss for the livestock sector.

Under the impacts of AEC tax cuts, livestock exports  mainly in pigs and poultry  from Vietnam to other ASEAN nations are projected to drop. Decreases of 7 per cent to the Philippines, 82 per cent to Thailand, and 3 per cent to Indonesia are expected.
Dust clouded the lobby after a mezzanine floor collapsed at Indonesia's stock exchange in Jakarta. (Photo: AFP/Amailia Putri Hasniawati)

No deaths have been reported from the collapse on Monday but dozens of people, many university students visiting the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), are being treated in hospitals.

Bourse officials said the rest of the building complex was operating normally.

"Main structure wise, this building has no problem," said Samsul Hidayat, a director at the IDX. "We have blocked the mezzanine floor."

The high-rise building, constructed in the late 1990s, is part of a two-tower complex in the heart of Jakarta's financial district and houses dozens of offices including the World Bank.

It was the target of a car bombing by Islamist militants in September 2000. Police have ruled out a bomb as a cause of Monday's collapse.

The second tower was reopened for business on Tuesday, with the parts of the floor that were still intact propped up by makeshift columns.

Some employees felt nervous about going to work.

"I am so wary. I work underneath the bridge," said Nur Septi Febriananda, a receptionist, referring to another part of the same mezzanine floor that fell.

AUTHORITIES PROBE CAUSE

A police forensics team was combing through the rubble for clues as to why the walkway, which overlooks the main lobby, crumpled without warning, said Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono.

Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan has ordered an "audit" of the building, which was last inspected by authorities in May, 2017.

A group of nearly 100 university students were on the mezzanine floor when it gave way, and many fell one storey to the lobby. Several students are being treated for broken bones and concussions.

National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said the investigation team is hoping to gather crucial evidence by the end of Tuesday, though the results of the probe will not be known for several weeks.

Officials have described the collapse as an accident and not the result of an explosion - the tower was bombed by Islamist militants in 2000.

"If they (investigators) are done today, everything can be cleaned up and the scene can be re-opened," Wasisto told AFP.

"Some tenants are a bit cautious even though building management said it's safe. They are also going to check the other mezzanine floor today."

Safety standards are often loosely enforced in Indonesia. Last year, a fire that ripped through a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Jakarta killed around 50 people in one of the country's worst industrial accidents. A police investigation found multiple safety violations.

The exchange was operating normally on Tuesday, with the year's first listing going ahead as scheduled. Telecommunication construction company PT LCK Global Kedaton Tbk, debuted its shares, which jumped 50 per cent in early trade.
An aerial view of the "Jungle" camp in Calais which was home to over 9,000 migrants until French authorities dismantled it last year. (Photo: AFP/Philippe Huguen)

In a closely-watched speech in Calais, Macron promised a more orderly immigration policy with zero tolerance for camps like the Jungle, the squalid shantytown near the northern city's port that was once home to some 10,000 migrants dreaming of Britain.

"There will be no reconstruction of the Jungle and no tolerance for the illegal occupation of public space," Macron said in a speech at a police station in the port city.

While the Jungle was demolished in late 2016, hundreds of migrants remain in Calais, trying night after night to stow away on trucks heading across the Channel to England.

Calais has long been a sore point in relations with Britain and ahead of his first trip to London as president on Thursday, Macron called for better cooperation in managing the border.

Gearing up for his talks with Prime Minister Theresa May, Macron called for "specific responses" from Britain on the thorny issue of unaccompanied minors stranded in France - some of whom have relatives in Britain.

May's spokesman responded that Britain has "taken a significant number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children" already, with the issue set to be a point of tension at Thursday's talks.

ALLIES ATTACK

As Europe struggles with a historic wave of arrivals, Macron blasted EU migration policy as "insufficient and incoherent", repeating his call for the bloc to set up a shared asylum office.

He joined a chorus of criticism for the "Dublin" asylum rules which say asylum seekers must be dealt with in the country where they arrive, creating a huge burden for frontline states like Italy.

But he ruled out suggesting migrants should be able to apply for asylum in any EU country from any other, saying this would would "strip the entry country of their responsibilities".

France gave out 262,000 residence permits last year - a 13.7 per cent hike in a year and 35 per cent of them to refugees, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Immigration poses a tricky political challenge for Macron, with his newly formed centrist Republic On The Move (LREM) party divided on how to greet new arrivals.

On Tuesday, his former senior aide Jean Pisani-Ferry penned a hard-hitting open letter along with several centre-left trade union and think-tank chiefs claiming Macron risked betraying his image as a humanist.

Writing in Le Monde newspaper, they urged him to "live up to our ideals" and put an end to efforts that seek to dissuade asylum seekers from coming to France in the first place.

Macron has said he wants to step up expulsions of economic migrants, while speeding up waiting times for asylum applications - an approach he touts as mixing "humanity" and "efficiency".

It currently takes 18 months on average to process an asylum claim in France - and Macron promised on Tuesday to cut this to just six months.

"For years we've been doing things backwards," Macron said.

'GAS YOU WHILE YOU'RE SLEEPING'

Near the ferry port in Calais, close to the site of the razed Jungle, dozens of migrants queued for hot tea and food from an NGO after spending a cold night camped out in the woods.

A group of young men from Oromia in Ethiopia described nightly police operations to clear the camps, with NGOs accusing officers of using pepper spray on migrants as they sleep.

"They gas the tent while you're sleeping or gas you in your face," said Dawit, 21. "The tent, they take it; the sleeping bag, they take it."

Macron defended frazzled local police, stressing they were working in difficult conditions as they struggle to stop migrants blocking the roads in an attempt to slow trucks enough to jump onboard.

But he insisted they must be "exemplary" in their policing of migrants, respecting their rights and not confiscating their property.

He also criticised some pro-migrant groups active in Calais, accusing them of helping migrants to break the law by encouraging them to stay in the area or even helping them to stow away.

He announced that the government would take over from NGOs in providing food for the migrants, "without tolerating the setting up of illegal camps".

Macron also said he would appoint a new government coordinator on refugee issues next week.
Fierce public objections about its proposal to impose value-added tax (VAT) on the transfer of land-use rights have forced the Ministry of Finance to shelve the move.- Photo thanhnien.vn

In August last year, the ministry drafted a bill to amend and supplement articles of the tax law. Regarding VAT on land-use rights transfer, it proposed to tax it at the standard VAT rate of 10 per cent.

This proposal immediately faced adverse reactions from the real estate sector. According to many experts, the increase of VAT will increase the price of properties and significantly affect the absorption rate of the market by putting a damper on housing demand.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association, told Phap Luat (HCM City Law) newspaper that imposing VAT could cause double taxation, which would push up land prices. Current taxes and fees applied to the transfer of land-use rights already include taxes on transfer of these rights, registration fees and personal income tax on sellers.

The real-estate market ultilises thousands of products from more than 90 sectors, such as the manufacturing, construction and service sectors. Therefore, the imposition of VAT will lead to higher prices of raw materials and labour, lifting the price of houses, Chau added.

Sharing the same idea, economist Ngo Tri Long said the newly-proposed VAT would put a massive burden on home buyers and the whole real estate market.

Nguyen Duy Minh, director of the L&L Group, agreed, saying that applying VAT would put real-estate businesses in difficulties, forcing them to increase house prices.

Therefore, he said the abolishment of the VAT would help stabilise the real-estate market. Stable tax policies help prevent houses price from fluctuating, encouraging people to invest more, Minh said.

Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that applying VAT on the transfer of land-use rights would result in market fluctuations, indirectly affecting other sectors.

Houses price increases would make people tighten spending. Real-estate companies would find it difficult to sell houses, would lose profits and the State would lose tax, Hieu said.
Chairman of KinderWorld Education Group Ricky Tan (left), and BIDV Binh Dinh director Nguyen Quang Dong at the contract signing ceremony

This strategic co-operation between two organisations further strengthens the development of the unique outdoor educational project Outward Bound Vietnam.

Located at Tan Thanh Tourism Zonepart of the province's Nhon Hoi Economic ZoneOutward Bound Vietnam is part of the Pegasus Intergrated Education and Eco-tourism Development project with a total area of 60.86 hectares and three development phases.

As part of the Outward Bound International network with 38 member countries worldwide, Outward Bound Vietnam hopes to inspire young people to be responsible to society, the community, and the environment through a holistic learning and development model adhering to the highest standards of training and security of all Outward Bound schools.

In addition, the project will be developed with the combination of an eco-tourism and wellness centre to provide comprehensive services to customers, including families and business organisations.

The plan for Pegasus Intergrated Eco-tourism Development in Binh Dinh

Ricky Tan, chairman of KinderWorld Education Group, shared that as part of the corporate social responsibility initiative to support the development of local youth and students, Outward Bound Vietnam has committed to offering 100 training scholarships for Cat Hai Secondary School students and Binh Dinh Youth Union.

Moreover, KinderWorld Education Group commits to investing VND500 billion ($22.01 million) into the province through the establishment of Pegasus Integrated Eco-tourism Development and Singapore Vietnam International School (SVIS).

The implementation of the eco-resort component will commence in April 2018. KinderWorld looks forward to receiving support from local authorities and the continued collaboration with BIDV in this upcoming venture.

In Vietnam, KinderWorld plans to develop several Outward Bound Vietnam campuses in Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Quang Tri, Danang, and Binh Dinh. Particularly, the project in Binh Dinh commenced operation in 2016 offering a variety of courses for students, the local Youth Union, and internal training for the group's employees.

In 2018, Outward Bound Vietnam plans to expand its training programmes to participants from Singapore, including Outward Bound Singapore, Republic Polytechnic, Hwa Chong Institute, and National Trade Union Congress of Singapore (NTUC)a union of 58 affiliated organisations, two associations, 10 social enterprises, and 6 organisations with about 900,000 members.

Nguyen Tuan Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the Binh Dinh Peoples Committee expressed great hopes for the project

Speaking at the ceremony, Nguyen Tuan Thanh, Deputy Chairman of the Binh Dinh Peoples Committee, emphasised that Outward Bound Vietnam contributes greatly to both education and tourism in Binh Dinh. He strongly believed that this sponsorship is an important milestone marking the progress of the project and expressed the provinces commitment to creating a favorable environment for investors.

Outward Bound Vietnam is hoped to promote provincial tourism and education in equal measures

Nguyen Quang Dong, director of BIDV Binh Dinh, said that as a pioneer in consulting and supporting foreign invested enterprises in investing in the province, BIDV Binh Dinh is willing to co-operate and commit to meeting the demand for credit and banking services of Pegasus to implement Phase 1 of Outward Bound Vietnam.
To respond to the trend, Thailands Reed Tradex, a leading event organiser in ASEAN, is launching an international conference exhibition named Shop and Store Vietnam, which is an industry event that defines new business concepts for retail and franchising. Reed Tradex deputy managing director Suttisak Wilanan sheds some light on the event.

How did the Shop and Store Vietnam idea come about?

As the consumer business continues to embrace the wider international community, multinational retail and franchise groups have taken active steps to penetrate the Vietnamese market. They are attracted by the large and young population of consumers, with 60 per cent aged under 30.

According to figures from Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam witnessed the arrival of 164 foreign franchises bringing 201 brands between 2007 and 2016. Food and beverage franchises alone account for 40 per cent of them.

Meanwhile, local retailers with the upper hand as first movers will also need to prepare themselves for more intense competition. Its not just in a high-quality location that is affordable.

Technology is now also a key competitive issue for any franchisor and retailer considering the rapid change of the consumer market.

The idea for the event came from the markets demand. Reed Tradex started researching the retail and franchise industry in Vietnam, especially the latter, which is not new but still has ample space to develop.

We found out that every prospective franchisee has the same questions. How can you guarantee success in franchising? What is the most important in the relationship between franchisor and franchisee? How do training and support work? Is the investment worth it and is the marketing support effective?

The retail and franchise industry has a promising future, while specialised playgrounds providing practical knowledge to develop the industry are scarce. To respond to these opportunities and challenges, Reed Tradex decided to launch the international conference-exhibition (confex) Shop and Store Vietnam 2018 (SSV18), which will cater to the needs of all businesses in expanding their business comprehensively. The proposed date for the first edition is March 28-30, 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City.

What is the concept and mission of Shop and Store Vietnam?

We will introduce the new concept of a confex, which focuses on delivering enriched content and a 360-degree view of the industry through a combination of conference and exhibition.

The Shop and Store Vietnam exhibition will gather world-class solution providers from retail technologies, finance software, store management systems, catering and hospitality equipment, professional retail services, and e-commerce systems.

The exhibition is also designed to be a business meeting place and a hub for franchise brands to meet with aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and potential buyers who are eager to join world-class franchising networks or retailer brands.

During the exhibition, the participants will have a chance to meet face-to-face with representatives of more than 100 companies from over 15 countries and territories.

At the same time, the Shop and Store Vietnam conference offers a unique lineup of useful advice and tips from experts on both professional and personal levels, local insight information for investors, new trend updates for local businessmen, and networking in the simplest and most effective way.

There will be many inspirational activities such as a digital supermarket, which showcases a demonstration of tomorrows store, showing the way toward a cashless society.

Do you have any advice for prospective new businesses who are in the middle of searching for the right opportunity?

The Vietnamese consumer industry is set to continue on a stable and positive trajectory. In the research report ASEAN connected 2016, HSBC confirmed that Vietnams middle class has the fastest growth rate in Southeast Asia and is expected to grow from 12 million in 2012 to 33 million by 2020.

Consumer spending is on the increase due to a young population, rapid urbanisation, and an increasingly open economy with increased employment, business, and income opportunities. More than ever, this is a golden time to start or expand a business, in order to serve this increasing consumer demand.
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and Standard Chartered APR Limited were the two largest strategic shareholders of ACB. Source: Zing.vn

The engagement between Standard Chartered and ACB started in 2005 when Standard Chartered spent $22 million buying 8.56 per cent of ACBs shares for more than six times the initial price (at VND62,000), according to Zing.vn.

The two sides signed a comprehensive technical support agreement. Besides training and upgrading human resources, ACB upgraded its banking technology, including servers, software, and ATM machines with Standard Chartereds help. 12 years ago, these were breakthroughs in the banking sector.

Moreover, Standard Chartered acquired all shares of International Finance Corporation (IFC) in ACB (6.16 per cent) and 7.1 per cent of the banks convertible bonds in 2008 to become the largest strategic shareholder.

Since then, Standard Chartered has been constantly sending officers to work at ACB in the fields of credit and debit cards, risk management, human resources administration, even crisis management.

Before the entrance of Standard Chartered, ACB accommodated a number of foreign shareholders, including Connaught Investors Ltd. (under Jardine Matheson Group), LG Merchant Banking Corp. (under LG Group), and Dragon Financial Holdings Ltd. (DC) since 1996.

In 2004, IFC bought out all the shares of LG Group to become a shareholder of ACB. Thus, the three foreign shareholders owned 24 per cent of ACBs total shares before Standards Chartereds entry.

At ACBs annual shareholders meeting at the end of 2016, Julian Fong Loong Choon, the representative of Standard Chartered, resigned. He said that ACB had been strong enough to develop itseft without Standard Charter's helps.

One year later, on January 9, 2018, Standard Chartered APR Limited and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited sold a total of 154 million ACB shares (at around VND40,000 apiece) and gained over VND6 trillion ($264.3 million) after 12 years of engagement.

Standard Chartered PE pours $40 million in Vietnamese lifestyle platform Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE), the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has poured $40 million into acquiring a significant minority stake in N Kid Corporation (N Kid), a Vietnamese lifestyle platform for kids and teenagers. The information was published on the website of BDA Partners, the exclusive financial advisor to N Kid.
Felony charges are pending against six people after La Crosse police seized stolen electronics and $57,000 worth of drugs at a house near a North Side school Friday, according to the department.

The agencys Emergency Response Team searched 1018 Gillette St., across the street from Northside Elementary, after an investigation into burglaries in the campus housing area.

Several people in the basement tried to escape after breaking a window but were stopped by an officer and his K9.

Inside the house, police found stolen televisions, video gaming systems, computers and other electronics, plus a loaded handgun, $7,450 cash, 336 grams of Ecstasy, 137 grams of cocaine, 37 grams of crack cocaine, 26 grams of marijuana, 10 grams of heroin and 3 grams of fentanyl, police stated.

Jerrad Simms, 32, of Harvey, Ill.; Debrian Hayes, 22, of La Crosse; Jesse Stringer, 30, of La Crosse; Lennell Davis Jr., 28, of Chicago; and Gwenee Lawson, 30, of La Crosse all face charges of possession with intent to deliver Ecstasy, THC, heroin and cocaine when they return to La Crosse County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Simms, Hayes, Stringer and Davis also face charges of possession with intent to deliver a schedule II narcotic and possession of drug paraphernalia, and Stringer faces added charges of felon in possession of a firearm by a felon and receiving stolen property.

DaiTwon Cowson, 20, of Toledo, Ohio, faces charges of burglary, fraudulent use of a credit card and receiving stolen property.

Hayes, Stringer and Davis are jailed on cash bonds; the others were issued signature bonds.
MOUNT PLEASANT  A Racine teen is facing 27 felony charges after he allegedly struck and severely injured two Union Grove residents Sunday in a hit-and-run crash that severed one victims left arm and leg.

The crash occurred as the driver was attempting to flee from a traffic stop in a stolen vehicle, according to authorities.

Isaiah D. Degroot, 17, of the 2000 block of Hickory Grove Avenue, is charged with two counts of hit-and-run, great bodily harm; two counts of knowingly operating a motor vehicle without a valid license, causing great bodily harm; two counts of first-degree reckless injury; operating a motor vehicle without owners consent; 18 counts of bail jumping; and possession with intent to deliver or manufacture THC. All of the charges are felonies.

According to the criminal complaint and earlier reports by law enforcement:

At about 10:40 a.m. Sunday, a Racine County sheriffs deputy identified a vehicle traveling north on Highway 31 at Newman Road and noticed that the license plate did not match the vehicle.

The vehicle, a 2001 Toyota Sequoia, turned north onto Newman Road. The deputy followed and activated the lights and sirens on her unmarked squad to attempt a traffic stop.

The suspects vehicle sped up and abruptly turned left into the parking lot of the Village Center shopping center, near the Kohls department store, 5740 Washington Ave. As soon as the deputy saw the Toyota turn into the busy area, she stopped her pursuit.

The Toyota reportedly continued past the stores west of Kohls at a high rate of speed before the operator, identified as Degroot, lost control of the vehicle and crashed, striking two pedestrians, a husband and wife. The victims were later identified as Cheryl L. Coopman, 47, and Jeffery J. Coopman, 53, of Union Grove.

The complaint said the deputy immediately began to render aid to Cheryl Coopman. She was transported by Flight for Life helicopter to Froedtert Memorial Hospital in Wauwatosa.

Jeffrey Coopman suffered a broken leg and pelvis. He also was taken to Froedtert, where he was reported to be in critical condition on Tuesday, according to a hospital spokesman.

On Monday, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling said Cheryl Coopman was in critical but stable condition at Froedtert.

The Coopmans daughter died in September at age 32. Since then, the couple had been caring for their young granddaughter.

GoFundMe set up for hit-and-run victims MOUNT PLEASANT  A GoFundMe account has been set up to help raise funds for the couple severely injured Sunday during a hit-and-run crash in Mount Pleasant outside of Festival Foods.

Driver flees scene

Witnesses to the crash and surveillance video provided a description of Degroot, who reportedly left the Toyota and ran west from the scene. He was subsequently found in a weedy patch in the 600 block of Emmertsen Road by deputies and Mount Pleasant police. He reportedly admitted to having been the driver of the Toyota.

Officers determined the Toyota had been stolen in Milwaukee. They also found two Mason jars reportedly containing marijuana and a Taurus 9mm handgun that was reported stolen in Racine.

At the time of the crash, Degroot was out on bond for felony charges of discharging a firearm from a vehicle as the driver and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety as a party to a crime. Those charges were filed in connection to a shooting on Oct. 30 in the 1600 block of Albert Street.

Degroot had reportedly followed another vehicle after cutting it off, became confrontational with the driver, then shot at the vehicle as the victim drove away. No one was injured in the incident.

On Nov. 13, Degroot posted a $2,500 bond for those charges and was released.

During Degroots initial appearance in court Tuesday, his cash bond was set at $300,000. He remained in custody as of Tuesday afternoon, online records show. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 24 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help raise funds for the Coopmans. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/jeff-cheryl-coopman-accident-fund.
UW-Madison political science professor Kathy Cramer was honored to find out that Jon Stewart had read her book, The Politics of Resentment, but little did she know that the comedians interest in the book would lead to her spending two days with him.

Cramer, whose 2016 book examined discontent among rural Wisconsin voters, got an email in October saying the comedian wanted to talk to her by phone. That call led to Stewarts early December visit to Madison, and 10 hours traveling around the state in a rented SUV  just Cramer, Stewart, and Stewarts associate, Caity Gray.

It also led to Cramer taking the former Daily Show host to visit her parents in Grafton, 25 miles north of Milwaukee, for an hour.

They were driving in Columbus, about an hour from Grafton, when Cramer told Stewart shed feel bad if she didnt at least say hello to her parents.

And in typical Jon Stewart fashion, he kind of rolls his eyes, acting like hes all put out, like Geez, and then he goes, Of course we can go see your parents, my goodness, of course, Cramer said.

Stewart told her that his production company is looking into making a movie set in Wisconsin. He doesnt have a script yet, just a sketch of a script, Cramer said.

Its a fictional movie, its not a documentary, she said. Hes like so many people, really concerned about the national political environment, and this would be his way of commenting on it, I guess.

Stewart wanted to visit some of the towns and talk to some of the people Cramer spent time with while researching her book just to get a better feel for the place.

When she first heard from Gray, Stewarts assistant, Cramer said she was hesitant to respond because she gets many emails from people claiming to be making a movie, who are absolutely sure they want to talk to me, Cramer said.

But then she Googled Stewarts production company and realized it was legitimate. During the half-hour phone call that followed, Cramer said Stewart was just really gracious and funny. He is definitely just one of these naturally funny people. Its just kind of amazing.

The most interesting thing she learned about Stewart during their time together was how much he loves his children.

I knew very little about his personal life, but he just has really close relationships with his kids and it was really an honor to get to see that part of him, Cramer said.

They would call him up while we were driving and hed have these really sweet, loving conversations with his kids on the phone. It was just a privilege to be able to hear that.

Cramer, who is teaching this semester, gained national attention after the 2016 election when The Politics of Resentment became a bellwether of the cultural shift that led to the presidency of Donald Trump. She isnt working on any new books of her own but is involved in a number of ventures, including a collaboration with a lab at MIT. Shes also working with a team of scholars in the UW-Madison journalism school on a political communication project.

Then shes starting a project with Larry M. Bartels, a friend and political scientist at Vanderbilt University, who is a leader in the field of public opinion, and wrote the book, Unequal Democracy, which argues the national government really represents the interests of only its very wealthiest citizens.

Cramer initially brought up her time with Stewart during a standing-room-only talk hosted by The Capital Times Tuesday night at the High Noon Saloon. She expanded on Stewarts visit Wednesday in a phone call with the State Journal.

She tells one last Stewart story about a breakfast she, Stewart and Gray had at La Brioche on University Avenue. Cramer said most people were well behaved and didnt bother Stewart. But there was one family, a mom and dad with their daughter, whos in med school at UW-Madison, and they stopped by the table as her group was getting ready to leave.

One of them said, Wow, what are you doing in Madison? and thank you so much for what you do, which was kind of fun, Cramer said.
Chief Minister to Meet President of Junta de Andalucia

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo will be meeting with the President of the Regional Government of Andalucia Susana Diaz on 25 January in Seville.

The meeting follows a contribution from the Junta de Andalucia to a report published by the EU Committee of the Regions on the impact of the departure of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar from the European Union.

The Chief Minister wrote to the President of the Junta, as a consequence of that report, in order to have a discussion on the potential consequences of Brexit on businesses and citizens in Gibraltar and in Spain. He made the point that Gibraltars departure from the EU should be handled in a positive and constructive manner that creates the minimum amount of disruption.

The Governments of Gibraltar and Andalucia will explore increased cooperation with the objective of generating more economic activity and employment in a way which provides shared benefits and prosperity for all.
The recent cold and snowy weather has brought back memories of days spent playing in the snow.

In that spirit, I wanted to share again some thoughts first published here January 19, 1994.

If you never spent an evening tobogganing at Olbrich Park in January when the temperature was well below zero and the wind shipped up chill factors off Lake Monona, you dont know what you missed.

Tobogganing within thick blocks of ice the width of a standard toboggan, and side ice curbs to prevent straying off course and into people or trees, brought screams of laughter and nightmarish pleasures Southerners would never understand. Toboggan slides were one of the joys of many Madison winters that ended after an episode of unseasonal February thaws.

Our toboggan was an eight-seater with a khaki-colored canvas cushion, padded just enough to prevent tailbone crush when we hit the ice from an airborne position. It was daring and exciting and required a warm snowsuit, boots, heavy mittens, a wool cap and a scarf that wrapped around the face to allow just a squint of sight and nothing more. It also required double joints, or something pretty close, to achieve what you might call leg-wrapping.

My father always opted for the front seat to protect the rest of us from frost-bite. That meant he would climb the ladder first to reach the top of the toboggan slide, pulling the sled on a snowy flatbed adjacent to the steep stairs to the roofless room at the top. Two park employees waiting for the next thrill-seeker would place the toboggan high on the wooden platform, then help each one of us take our positions. The person in front crossed his or her legs, tucking feet under the curl of the toboggan. The next person sat snugly behind, wrapping his or her legs over the front riders legs, and so on. Once we were in place, looking like some kind of a season insect, wed hang on tightly as the back of the platform was lifted, jettisoning the front of the toboggan, and us, through the air and downward to the ice path that sent us merrily on our way.

The further we went, the longer the trek back up to Oakridge Avenue, but before we knew it we were back on the toboggan platform ready for another flight through winter. Bitter cold and tobogganing always meant cocoa when we arrived home. Sipping on cocoa was like the calm after a storm and necessary to thaw us before bedtime.

Bitter cold is conducive to baking, too, and spending the day making bread seemed to poke fun at the thermometer that hung by the window near the sink. I never paid much attention to the preparation of homemade bread, but I did know that bread hot from the oven didnt rest on a rack to cool in our house. As soon as it was removed from the oven, it was thickly sliced, then drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. It was a nostalgic reminder of how bread was eaten in the Old Country and was savored with eyes closed.

Recipes featured during that month in January included some favorites you might enjoy being reminded of, the first one was from the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Brennans onion soup au gratin

8 tablespoons butter

1  cups thinly sliced white onions

 cup all-purpose flour

2 cans (13 ounces each) beef broth

1  teaspoons salt

Dash of cayenne

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons light cream

4 thin slices French bread

 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Saute onions in butter until very soft. Blend in flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, salt and cayenne. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Lower heat; simmer for 15 minutes. Beat egg yolk and cream in a small bowl; blending in about 1 cup of the hot soup. Stir mixture into saucepan. Ladle soup into 4 individual heatproof bowls. Float a slice of French bread on each and top with Parmesan cheese. Broil, watching carefully, 4 inches from heat, just until cheese turns golden.

Yield 4 servings.

New Orleans brings to mind a column a few weeks later that featured a recipe shared by New Orleans Take-out owner John Roussos, who recently closed shop, left Madison, and will be missed forever.

Sweet potato pie-pecan pie

9-inch pie crust

Sweet potato filling:

1 cup sweet potatoes or yams

 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoons white sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon cream

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

 teaspoon cinnamon

 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

 teaspoon salt

Pecan mixture:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

 cup dark corn syrup

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of salt

 cup pecans, whole or pieces (more if desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake sweet potato or yam, cool, skin and mash. Mix with brown sugar, white sugar, egg, cream, melted butter and vanilla. Sprinkle cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt over sweet potato mixture and blend thoroughly. Spread with spatula into bottom of 9-inch pie crust, smooth evenly.

Beat 3 eggs. Add 1 cup sugar and beat together. Add  cup dark corn syrup and beat. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla and blend. Add a pinch each of cinnamon and salt. Add pecans. Pour mixture over sweet potato filling. Cover surface with more pecans, if desired.

Bake 50 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees. If pie browns too rapidly, then reduce heat to 325 degrees. Center should be firm when pie is shaken.

Two more recipes that will warm your heart have appeared here before and are from beloved local restaurants no longer in business. Shared by the Schiavo family, here is a favorite from Antonios when it was on S. Park Street.

Chicken scaloppine piccata

2 6-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts

Flour

Salt and pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces dry white wine

4 ounces low-salt chicken broth

Wedge of fresh lemon

1 tablespoon capers, drained

Lightly pound chicken breasts between two sheets of waxed paper. Dip in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and shake off excess flour. Heat oil and saute chicken until lightly browned. Remove to heated plate. Add garlic to pan and saute 1 minute. Add wine, chicken broth and juice from lemon wedge and cook on medium-high flame to reduce liquid to about one-third, or until a glazelike consistency to coat a spoon. Return chicken to pan with capers and heat through.

Another unforgettable favorite restaurant was Ross Parisis Rossarios on Monona Drive.

Rossarios artichokes and tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

 cup dry white wine

 cup clam stock or chicken stock

1 tablespoon fresh basil

1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1 pint cherry tomatoes, or 1 15-ounce can of Italian-style tomatoes, chopped and undrained

1 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and cut into halves

Tomato paste, optional

Using a 19-inch skillet, saute onions in oil and remove. To same pan, add walnuts, cheese, salt and pepper and stir over medium heat until nuts are coated and golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add wine, clam stock, parsley and basil and simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Return onions to skillet and add tomatoes and cook about 3 to 4 minutes. Add artichokes and continue cooking for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. This should be the consistency to toss with heavier type pastas such as penne or fusilli. If you prefer a thicker sauce, a tiny amount of tomato paste can be added

Yield: 4 servings
Photo: FX Networks/Getty

As has become a tradition for Ryan Murphy programming, the day has finally come  FX promotional materials aside  that we can gaze upon the actors hes hired to portray historical figures for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Since the world can only handle so much suspense in being exposed to Penelope Cruzs bleach-blonde Donatella, we put together side-by-side comparisons of Versaces actors and their real-life counterparts to give you a taste of whats to come, as well as some historical information to appraise you on whos who. Knowledge is power, readers!

Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan

Photo: FX Networks/Getty

Cunanan, a gay gigolo with a genius-level IQ who lived his formative years in California, is known to have murdered at least five people throughout his 1997 killing spree, which began with his murder of an acquaintance in Minneapolis. Cunanan is believed to have suffered from antisocial personality disorder, which in turn made him crave the limelight and aspire to the top, whether through charm or falsehood, according to Vanity Fairs Maureen Orth. Eight days after killing Versace, he committed suicide on a houseboat in Miami.

Edgar Ramirez as Gianni Versace

Photo: FX Networks/Getty

At the time of his death, the Versace empire had amassed a reputation as one of the most innovative and popular fashion houses in the world, during which time Gianni also absorbed a devoted celebrity clientele. (A good designer must cultivate himself. Read, absorb everything, he once told Charlie Rose in an interview. To be superficial, you have to be profound.) He was also open about his sexuality, becoming one of the first prominent celebrities to reveal he was gay in the 80s. He was 50 years old when murdered by Cunanan.

Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace

Photo: FX Networks/Getty

While Donatella is now known as the spunky HBIC and artistic director of Versace, things were different back in 1997. At the time of her brothers murder, she was running her own diffusion label of the brand, Versus Versace, which was created specifically for her by Gianni. Upon his death  which she did not witness  Donatella was given full creative control of the Versace brand, eventually guiding it through numerous iconic and memorable collections throughout her continuing tenure. Shes rarely spoken about Gianni, though she spoke to the Guardian about him on the 20th anniversary of his death. When my brother was murdered, I had the eyes of the whole world on me and 99 percent of them thought I wasnt going to make it, she said in part. And maybe I thought the same, at first. My brother was the king, and my whole world had crashed around me. In the days following his murder, Donatella and most of the Versace family retreated to a private Caribbean resort due to safety concerns.

Ricky Martin as Antonio DAmico

Photo: FX Networks/Getty

DAmico, an Italian model and fashion designer for Versace Sport, was Giannis companion for 15 years. He was eating breakfast inside the Miami mansion when the murder occurred, later describing how he fell into a deep depressive state in the subsequent years. I had never been through a depression and never saw a therapist as I was advised to: why did I need to tell someone else what had happened when I knew I was this way because Giannis death had torn me in two? he recently told the Guardian in a rare interview. I was in a nightmare, I felt nothing and gave no importance to anything  the house, the money  because it felt false to have expectations of life. DAmico has been living a simple life in the Italian countryside with his new long-term partner for several years now.

Mike Farrell as Lee Miglin

Photo: Getty Images

Miglin  a real-estate mogul based in Chicago, who rose from a poor background to achieve his success  was the third victim of Cunanans murder spree prior to Versaces murder. The extremely gruesome May 1997 crime scene, which was widely covered at the time by the Chicago Tribune, was described as a murder that would be considered vicious in any Chicago neighborhood, let alone the citys most expensive. The Miglin family has repeatedly denied that Lee, or anyone else in the extended family circle, ever had a personal connection to Cunanan.

Judith Light as Marilyn Miglin

Photo: FX Networks/HSN

A former dancer who built a beauty empire at the Home Shopping Network, Miglin was married to her husband, Lee, for nearly 40 years. She has rarely spoken about her husband in the years since his murder, with her only substantial interview appearing in the Chicago Tribune a year after Lees death. I dont think you heal  you never close up that gaping wound  but you adjust, she said at the time. I lived the life of a fairy princess and I had a prince for 38 years, and then one day my prince went to war and didnt come back. Miglins products on HSN continue to be wildly popular.
Ellen Pompeo. Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images

Meredith Grey may be stuck in a continual hell of romantic tragedy and inventive medical trauma, but Ellen Pompeo is doing really, really great. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Pompeo has renewed her contract on Greys Anatomy through seasons 15 and 16, becoming, in the process, the highest paid dramatic actress on television. Though Greys hasnt officially been renewed past this season, and Shonda Rhimes recently signed a deal with Netflix, all signs point to a likely pick-up. The deal would get the actress more than $20 million a year in earnings, with $575,000 per episode, a seven-figure bonus, back end points on the series, as well as a producing credit on Greys, and an executive producing credit on the upcoming spin-off.

Im 48 now, so Ive finally gotten to the place where Im OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age, Pompeo said in a conversation about her new deal. Because Im not the most relevant actress out there. I know thats the industry perception because Ive been this character for 14 years. But the truth is, anybody can be good on a show season one and two. Can you be good 14 years later? Now, thats a fuckin skill. In other words, pick me, choose me, pay me what I deserve.
migrant crisis

What Happens When You House More Than 1,000 Refugees on a Cruise Ship?

What Happens When You House 1,300 Refugees on a Cruise Ship?
Photo: Courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection / Yesica Uvina

Artist Christoph Buchel has created an online petition to declare Donald Trumps eight border-wall prototypes  now standing in California  a permanent national monument. This is brilliant. When I read the proposal I was struck with the thunder of what Emerson called alienated majesty  that feeling of seeing ones own rejected thoughts in another persons idea. These beige, pale, terra-cotta and desert-colored slabs have a very specific presence; they exist as a nullity that designates, enforces, and arcs out at all of us.

The pictures of the prototypes have been widespread and are the subject of numerous articles. Each prototype is monolithic, corporate, severe. Made of combinations of reinforced steel, concrete, metal bars and rods, or barbed wire, all look to be a couple of feet thick, and are around 30 feet high, 30 feet wide, and are separated from one another by about that distance. They are arranged in a row on a barren patch of borderland, only feet from Tijuana, with the already-existing fence in sight. The structures were built by six different companies, none of them major firms; one is affiliated with an Israeli defense contractor. The Department of Homeland Security has allocated around $20 million to build and study them.

The rules are telling for the construction of the prototypes for what Trump calls a great, great wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for. All exposed hardware must be on the American side of the wall to protect it from Mexican tampering; the wall must extend at least six feet beneath the ground to prohibit tunneling; the wall shall be built to prevent scaling even with climbing aids and must be able to withstand a half-hour of attack by sledgehammer, car jack, pick ax, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools. (Not 45 minutes? Not dynamite? Not a tunnel seven feet below the wall? Not a lightweight, portable, 31-foot aluminum extension ladder?) It is stated that the U.S. side should be aesthetically pleasing in color  to be consistent with the general surrounding environment. The walls look like generic prison, industrial, and institutional architecture. Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne aptly describes them as reflecting medieval construction, marketing and promotion  and the new nativism rolled uncomfortably if somehow inevitably into one.

Buchels proposal is straightforward. It begins, President Trump proposed the continuous border wall between Mexico and the United States as a centerpiece of his 2016 election campaign. Buchel claims that as they now exist in this place in this configuration, the prototypes have significant cultural value worthy of being designated a monument. This act of redefinition echoes the aesthetic-conceptual strategies employed by Marcel Duchamp, who in the early 20th century designated already-existing objects as art (urinal, bicycle wheel, snow shovel, etc.). Buchels petition does something similar. He pulls back the curtains on several pressing ideas at once  ideas that deserve to be taken seriously, not dismissed as simple provocation or the disrespectful sanitation of a serious situation. On the contrary: Buchels proposal allows us to see through layers of flimflam, illusion, posturing, and political theater, while also revealing a dark side of one of arts most respected recent art movements.

Trumps Border Wall Prototypes Are Minimalist Art  and Should Be a National Monument

Even before reading Buchels proposal, I could see that these eight looming prototypes looked exactly like minimalistic works of sculpture and environmental interventions made by artists like Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Robert Morris, Maya Lin, Walter De Maria, Nancy Holt, Donald Judd, James Turrell, Michael Heizer, Tony Smith, and many others. This art, as with these prototypes, was often critically site specific and had everything to do with exactly where they were placed and exactly what materials were employed  namely steel, concrete, mesh, and barbed wire  industrial, utilitarian, corporate materials arranged in repeating patterns, laid out in ordered, geometric, logical configurations that demarcated territory, claimed space. The art was often on federal or state land, and executing it could involve vast bureaucracies, including government officials, land permits, bankers, ranchers, technicians, suppliers, law enforcement, and enormous amounts of money. These earthworks  like these prototypes  were done on a massive scale in panoramic landscapes, often in the deserts of the West.

Trumps eight prototypes fit the visual trope to a haunting tee and call to mind that under Mussolini and Hitler, fascist architects appropriated the look, materials, and visual languages of classical architecture in order to create new gigantic, intimidating structures stadiums, government buildings, monuments, and marching grounds that could contain half a million soldiers. These eight prototypes show the American right wing colonizing what were once radical, left-wing, and avant-garde ideas in order to re-radicalize them  while the left has been tasked with trying to maintain order and enforce existent rules.

On top of all that, Trumps prototypes  especially when viewed in light of Buchels proposal  make you see something thats always been there in minimalism but that weve always turned away from, flinched at, denied, or still deny. This ism is still one of the most revered in institutions, galleries, academia, and by the market. And I love it a lot, too; it changed my life. But while none of the artists making this work may have meant it this way, theres still no way not to see much of their aesthetic tenets and foundational ideas as verging on the absolute, macho, authoritarian, faceless, banal, isolated, or aloof, technological, totalizing, theatrical, and colonizing  works that involved forceful industrial rearrangements of the landscape via grandiosity and hubris. The even darker Freudian sides of control, emasculation, the fetishizing of phallic power, and the proximity to something almost fascistic is here, as well. Indeed, De Maria made a swastika made of shiny metal troughs; Frank Stella named a work Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes You Free, the slogan over the gates of Auschwitz); Morris created cages and famously posed shirtless wearing a Nazi helmet; Judd said he was interested in plain power; Dan Flavin even referred to an erection when using the phrase diagonal of personal ecstasy to describe one of his fluorescent-light sculptures.

Apologists often claimed these works were aesthetically charged and radical but were nevertheless still neutral. But in her incredibly prescient 1990 essay Minimalism and the Rhetoric of Power, critic Anna Chave took issue with these tendencies as domineering, sometimes brutal  display(s) of power. In these assertive blank works she saw talisman[s] against castration and impotence, a symbolic surrogate for the female bodys absent penis.

Which fittingly brings us back to Trump. As with much minimalism, these prototypes are hard-edged geometry and impervious materials brought into the American landscape of the West and arranged to impose order, inspire awe, and try to manage and align mystic political forces  and to make something that while instantly obsolete, like some useless Stalin Gulag project, meant to last forever. Trump has made something that evokes a real monument  one that may correctly be said to stand for everything he believes in. And I think mustnt be forgotten. The structures represent a menacing presence that imparts brutal cruelty, fear, contempt, and coldhearted malice  something nihilistic and destructive that doesnt believe in the substance of the American creed but only in the appearance of being cocksure, in theatricality, and manipulative statecraft.

Buchels proposal made me see glimmers of hope in the hopelessness. In imagining these prototypes as a true monument  one that would endure for generations, and looking in the desert almost like they already had  I glimpsed a time after Trump, a time when his nativist policies have been overturned, rounding up family members for deportation ceased, and all other signs of his visitation on America removed and gone. I saw a day when this administration is gone, America is recovering, having not broken into several countries  a time when these eight walls will be the only thing left of his memory. From that vantage, these prototypes will be a perfect memorial to how close the United States came to giving in to the ghosts of racism, xenophobia, nativism, white nationalism, mediocrity, and a cosmic fear of the other. And this Trumpian monument will stand for this last gasp of the mythical infatuation with race. They will stand as a reminder of how D.H. Lawrence saw America reflected in Moby-Dick: A mad ship, under a mad captain, in a mad, fanatics hunt afraid of its white abstract end.
Jameela Jamil. Photo: Getty Images

A big, beautiful, utterly perfect cartoon giraffe. A hot, rich fraud with legs for days. Tall and glamorous and has cappuccino skin and curves everywhere. If you watch The Good Place, you already know that these quotes describe Tahani Al-Jamil, the NBC sitcoms resident faux-lanthropist, who leaned into the high-society benefits of charitable work during her time on earth, but now faces the tough road of actually becoming a good person in the afterlife. On one hand, Tahanis effort to improve herself has opened up a trove of insecurities and inferiority complexes that stem from her elite family. On the other, shes still a pretentious chatterbox wholl stop at nothing to remind people about her trips to Johnny Depps private bird sanctuary and Malala Yousafzais foreword to her diary. Ah, what a life she lived!

Jameela Jamil, who portrays Tahani, recently hopped on the phone with Vulture to discuss all things Good Placerelated. We talked about why Tahani deserves her own Passive Aggressive Narcissistic Place, why Ted Danson is the perfect dance partner, and the story behind her mortifying dessert on The Great British Bake Off.

I think people would be surprised to learn that this is your first professional acting role, as youre just so perfect as Tahani. When did you decide to make the transition from presenting to acting?

I didnt, actually. I heard about the audition from my manager and she put me up for it. I was like, No. I dont know how to act! Ive never acted before. My team wanted to send me to an audition to see if I could act, out of a morbid curiosity. [The Good Place creator Michael Schur] was looking specifically for a woman of Middle Eastern descent, and they said, Why dont you just go and see what happens? I wanted to make the transition from hosting to comedy writing, so my manager was like, Youre going to meet the comedy writer. Maybe you can meet him and get a comedy-writing job if you cant act. So I went to the audition, and I was so sure there was no way he would think I was good, so I just relaxed. They mustve mistaken that for actually knowing what I was doing, which was a huge mistake because I had no idea and I had anxiety for the entirety of season one. [Laughs.] It was a crazy twist of fate. I guess every other Indian actress in Los Angeles was dead, and I was the only one left.

And you had no idea what you were auditioning for, right?

I read fake scripts under a fake name with a fake premise. I genuinely was like, Oh my God, what if this is Mike Schurs first porno? I had no idea who I would be playing. I couldve been playing a gimp. And youre booked in a seven-year deal before the final audition happens  literally sign on the dotted line seven years of your life. Its a testament as to how much of a freak Mike is. It couldve been a franchise of The Fast and the Furious. Zero idea.

Tahani was originally written to be much kinder and less inherently pretentious than how she behaves now. Why was it important for you and Mike to steer the character away from that direction?

Thats more London, especially a socialite in London. Youre not going to find a genuinely warm and authentic socialite from London. It just doesnt happen! And I know because Im from there. I believe American people have a very romantic view of what English people are like. They think its all Mary Poppins and soft and warm and Princess Dianaesque  charm and manners, and everything we say is nice and sweet. No! I wanted to break through that stereotype and make sure people know that Londoners have a bit more bite to them.

I didnt want anyone to feel sorry for Tahani that Eleanor didnt like her. I wanted it be like theyre both triggering each other. And then we get to learn Tahanis backstory and figure her out. I came up with so many people who were in that scene, because I was a DJ at the kind of parties those kind of women frequented. I had a lot of experience and based so much of Tahani on people who I knew and met. It was my chance to exorcise all of the demons of the things Ive ever found annoying about people. [Laughs.] Its fun to get the chance to play with that.

Do you think Tahani deserves to be in the Bad Place?

I think the concept of hell and heaven is so extreme. You can only get into the Good Place with no sins? No thanks! That doesnt make sense! The point system is too extreme. I dont know anyone who would get into the Good Place. Were all just human. I dont think Tahani was that bad. I dont think she should be in the Bad Place with Adolf Hitler or actual evil people. She probably deserves a Middle Place where all of the Tahanis of the world should go! Or maybe a Passive Aggressive Narcissistic Place.

How much do you think shes changed in the grand scheme of this Bad Place experiment? Ive found that people are the most divisive over Tahanis development  especially with her relentless insistence on elaborate name-dropping.

I think shes changed despite those hundreds of reboots. Of course, she has her habits and is still name-dropping this far into the series. Now that she knows she had such empty motivations and she was so vain and so self-contrived and self-obsessed, that in itself is a huge transformation for any person. The transition shes had into actually catching herself to not be a nightmare has been quite fast and swift.

Do you have a personal favorite name-drop? Mine is her adventure on James Francos ironic trolley.

Im going to recite this as verbatim as possible: I havent been this upset since my good friend Taylor was rudely upstaged by my other friend Kanye, who was defending my best friend Beyonce. Its so good. Shes such an asshole. Im sorry, an ashhole. Shes a nightmare. I could never be friends with someone like Tahani, but that makes her all the more fun to try and love. Ive grown to love her over season two. I couldnt stand her in season one  I love playing her, but couldnt stand her. But in season two, Im warming to her, and thats the power of Mike and the writers.

You mentioned an interest in comedy writing. Have you been able to sit in with the writers room and pitch ideas?

This is going to make me sound so weak. All of us do a little bit of improvising, which is the coolest thing in the entire world when that happens and our lines stay in. But Im far too intimidated to contribute anything else. I had no idea how unbelievably talented our writers were going to be. Three scripts in, I became too afraid to write or do anything else on the show. Theyre an elite group of people, and so young. Most of them are younger than me! I dare not. Eventually, I would love to, but now Im too intimidated by how talented they are.

Id love to be a fly on the wall in that writers room. Hear the creative process for food-pun names.

Im so proud of them and so in awe of them. Were actually not allowed to know a lot of whats going on in the show. Mike keeps everything secret, even from us. Its to make sure we dont play things differently, so it makes it fun to constantly be talking among ourselves about whats coming. Were always trying to pry information out of Mike and the producers, but theyre always tight-lipped.

Im eagerly anticipating the arrival of this Eternal Judge!

Youre in for a very big treat. You wont believe it. Im not allowed to say who it is, but youre going to shit your pants. Sorry, shirt your pants. Its funny because I asked DArcy [Carden] the week before, Who would you most like to work with in the world? And she said someones name, and then a week later we found out that person would be joining the cast. Now I think DArcys a witch. Im not even overhyping it, its so insane. Im privileged to be a part of this mad journey.

Nearly every time we talk to someone from The Good Place, the conversation leads to funny stories about Ted Danson. Manny Jacinto told us about a disgusting Swedish Fish prank. What is your most memorable story of the guy?

Hes America. To English people, Ted Danson is America. This is going to make him sound like a dick, but its really funny. I was going through a breakup during the show, and instead of pandering to me in any way since I was openly depressed, he would randomly come up to me and start singing sad girl. Saaaaaaad giiiiirl. Singing my worst fears to me to make me realize how overdramatic I was being. Whenever he noticed me being over-the-top after a fight with my boyfriend, he knew what my internal monologue was and would sing until I would laugh and cheer up. And it would change my whole day. He never doesnt notice when youre sad, and he never doesnt pick up on your mood. Him and Mary [Steenburgen] I think are serial killers, because theyre too great and too perfect.

Actually, I have a better answer thats much more important to me. Its not funny, per se. I got to dance with Ted in the middle of the night to Nat King Cole  in an old-fashioned-movie way, like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Ive never danced with anyone before, ever, and so my first-ever dance was with Ted Danson, and that was one of the best moments of my life. It was essentially Ted Danson teaching me how to dance. Im quite tall, and no one has ever tried to twirl me around. Ive occasionally had men rub their genitals on me on a dance floor, because thats what dancing has become in our generation. So to have someone in a gentlemanly way twirl me around on a dance floor as light as a feather was amazing. And there were fairy lights all over. It was, hands down, a top-three moment of my whole life.

After that big twist in season one, fans have tried to sniff out future plot developments  some of the popular theories Ive heard is that Michael is actually in the Bad Place, or even that hes God. Have you found yourself theorizing about season three, now that its been renewed?

I dont have to because I know what season threes premise is already. [Evil laughter.] Its bloody brilliant and so exciting, and nobody has guessed it so far. I do some internet-digging every now and then to see what people are guessing, but nobody has thought of whats to come yet. Only one person online guessed what the ending of season one was going to be, and we kept watching this Reddit person to see if anyone picked up on it. The commenters were like, Nah, thats not gonna happen. But I know what happens, and its so exciting and lives up to everything youve seen so far. Im such a fan of the show, which is probably a bit sad because Im on it, but I dont care.

As a major Great British Bake Off fan, Id be remiss if I didnt bring up your episode of the show

Oh my God. Oh my God.

Especially because its in the Mary-Paul era. How did this wonderful thing come about?

It was so mortifying. Theres a top-ten highlights of the series going around Channel 4, and No. 4 was Jameela Jamil sets fire to everything. My reputation took a hit after that show. More people stop me in America because of that episode than they do because of The Good Place. The greatest failure of my life has been on a show thats watched by bloody everyone. Outside of pasta, Im useless in a kitchen and dead to the world. I had the only dessert in the history of The Great British Bake Off that was deemed unsafe to eat.

What!?

It was my meringue. They thought I was going to kill Mary Berry. Can you imagine if thats how I went down? Can you imagine if thats how Mary Berry died, by eating my dessert? Its very embarrassing. I hate that youve seen it!

Honestly, Id get on the next plane to Heathrow if it meant hanging out with Mary Berry. And I cant bake at all.

Exactly. I flew back and forth from America for it, just because Im such a lover of Mary Berry. To meet her and then disappoint her face-to-face is really still one of the greatest things to happen to me.
Photo: 20th Century Fox

Maze Runner: The Death Cure was my first Maze Runner, and I think I did a pretty good job watching it, all things considered. Before the Mazehead community gets on me for this, Ill submit, by way of excuse, that I have been haunted by a persistent eye-strain headache for the past week, and watching the first two Maze Runners did not seem quite like the death cure for me. Also, I mean, I got it. I put it all together rather quickly, and whats more, I had a pretty great time. I dont know if I could have said the same thing if I stepped into, say, The Return of the King completely blind.

Which speaks more to the skill of director Wes Ball and his engaging cast, all of whom are able to wordlessly communicate dynamics and histories that Im grateful the script did not spend too much time rehashing. I could tell that Brenda (Rosa Salazar) had a crush on Thomas (Dylan OBrien) but was obviously doomed to Eponine status. I knew Kaya Scodelario was in these movies, and she was absent, and I was pretty sure that there was a boy who missed her, and it was probably our dewy-eyed Thomas. And the rest of the boys have the feeling of soldiers-in-arms who bonded over many a maze run together. (Just one, it turns out, but I suppose it only takes one.) The Maze Runner films are the more boy-driven, combat-oriented rejoinder to the fading post-apocalyptic YA boom, which consequently makes them lighter on their feet as action films.

The Death Cure picks up after the betrayal of Scodelarios Teresa, who has joined the big bad WCKD organization (pronounced Wicked, somehow the jurys still out at the start of the film whether theyre completely evil or not) to try to find a cure for the Flare disease thats been wiping out the human population and turning them into zombies. While the rest of the gang pulls off daring rescues of captive would-be Maze Runners, Teresa wears a lab coat and works on science stuff with Patricia Clarkson. Their current test subject is Thomass buddy Minho (Ki Hong Lee), and the gang decides to set off on a rescue mission to retrieve him from the gleaming, impenetrably walled Last City, where WKCD is headquartered.

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The film draws its sci-fi tropes from everything from Blade Runner to The Road Warrior to 28 Days Later to Final Fantasy VII, but at teen-movie scale, where theres a ceiling to the violence and the cursing (boy, do these kids like to say shit, though), and theres something delightfully accessible about it all. The young cast give great face, particularly Salazar and Lee, and theres always some emotional teen to root for in the midst of Balls numerous, seemingly never-ending action set pieces. This is the sort of action film where the bad guys often hold their fire for no discernible reason, and are terrible at dodging things, but if one suspends ones disbelief long enough, theyre rewarded with a rollicking, highly competent popcorn movie.

The problem is that at two hours and theres an awful lot of this popcorn movie, and it suffers from the same too-many-climaxes ailment that affects movies much bigger and more expensive than this. Honestly, when was the last time the climax was your favorite part of a movie, outside of the Fast and Furious franchise? I rather enjoyed the moral murk when it seems like selective teen torture could provide a cure for the zombie apocalypse, I liked our characters (and our) uncertainty about which way Theresa would swing, I particularly liked a ludicrous, video-game-worthy rescue involving a bus and a crane (I figured it was part of the climax but turned out to be nearly an hour out from it). But when it comes time to devote multiple scenes and shoot-outs to Aidan Gillens WCKD big bad Janson, nearly a nonentity at this point in the story, it feels like its stalling, down to the very last death-defying leap. But for what? Everything else in The Death Cure moves along assuredly and relentlessly, but like so many final installments of series, it has a hard time letting go.
Photo: 20th Century Fox

The Post tells the ripped-from-the-headlines true story of the Washington Posts decision to publish the Pentagon Papers  after the New York Times had already broken the story, of course. Many were puzzled to learn that Steven Spielbergs Pentagon Papers movie would focus not on the Gray Lady  which got the leaked papers from Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, vetted the pages, and published them (and later won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting)  but on the D.C. daily that hustled to keep up. To its credit, The Post zeroes in on Post publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), and the businessmen that doubted her authority, but still, that hasnt stopped the New York Times from being just a little bit shady.

The Times hasnt owned up to this bitterness, at least openly. On Tuesday, a Times reporter tweeted a photo from a panel about how the paper broke the Pentagon Papers story, a panel that has nothing at all to do with a certain 2017 movie:

The NYT is holding a panel on how the NYT broke the Pentagon Papers because were not outraged at all about The Post pic.twitter.com/UDqgbUXHZo  Vivian Yee (@VivianHYee) January 16, 2018

That panel was the latest in a series of sneak disses: In December, the paper published a full-page ad for its Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War. The added twist: At the top of the ad sat a a rave review from the Washington Post (The most significant leaks of classified material in American history.). Former Times staffers huffed their disappointment to the Columbia Journalism Review last May:

I found it incredible, says James Greenfield, 92, who coordinated the Pentagon Papers project as the Times foreign editor, recalling his reaction upon hearing about The Post. I was furious. Its all wrong. I find it quite inconceivable. This movie is a rip-off.

James Goodale, 83, the Times general counsel at the time of the Papers, also uses the term rip-off, specifically in regard to the rival newspapers coverage. Ive been so pissed off, he says. It really gets you pissed when you think about it.

I do not care to speak of it, wrote Max Frankel, 87, the Times Washington bureau chief when the Papers were published, and eventually executive editor, in an email to CJR. He did, however, call The Post a stupid project.

An unnamed Times staffer still at the paper dished to CJR that the movie is getting under their skin. We find it annoying and silly that we are being relegated to being a minor player in what is one of the biggest moments in our journalistic history, a high-level Times source told CJR. Somewhere on 41st Street, Dean Baquet is sipping his tea.

Update, 6 p.m.: New York Times reporter Vivian Yee added more context to her tweet about the papers panel. It had nothing to do with The Post, of course, just with reporters who wanted to know the, ahem, real story behind the big scoop:
In both contests at the top of the ticket  the races for governor and U.S. Senate  tens of thousands of voters opted for one of the party's candidate but not the other.
Photo: Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch

Being an optimist there is this part of me  especially having studied Weimar Germany extensively  Im like, This is our moment. Donald Trump is going to make punk rock great again. Were all going to crawl down staircases into basements and speakeasies and make amazing satirically political art.  Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls, speaking a month after Trumps election.

President Trumps gonna make punk rock great again? Well, when I picture that, I imagine a ham-fisted, slapped-together punk song with lyrics about Trump directly, like, quoting his shitty tweets, and other things that will be date the track nearly instantly.  Ryan Walsh, of Hallelujah the Hills, speaking in an interview earlier this month.

At some point not long into this presidential election, you surely heard someone say something to the effect of  Well, at least well get some good music out of it. When I first heard it, I cringed. The idea that good art would be the countrys salvation was bizarre. Just as off, though, was the idea that an artist responding directly to a news cycle could be a productive way to make good art.

One year in to Trumps presidency and we have indeed been flooded with resistance anthems. For the most part they have all been complete trash. And what a wide variety of trash!

Some have come from the well-intentioned old guard. The 60s folk vanguard Joan Baez put out a song called Nasty Man full of shouts about a future dictator with dangerous pathological disasters. Billy Bragg just went ahead and redid Dylan, shoving in lyrics about Mexicans, Muslims, LGBT, and Jews into what he called The Times They Are A-Changing Back.

Fiona Apple got in the mix with a little awkward throwaway called Tiny Hands.We dont want your tiny hands, she mumbled, anywhere near our underpants. Via The Hamilton Mixtape we got a thudding number called Immigrants (We Get The Job Done), featuring a carefully curated selection of multicultural artists. Never one to be out-earnest-ed, Macklemore gave us Wednesday Morning, a reaction to election night. When she wakes up, will the world be the same? he cooed. Will my girl be afraid in the home of the brave?

Toward the end of the year Eminem parachuted in with quite possibly the worst offender. It was a BET freestyle called The Storm and it was four and a half minutes of impotency. Fork and a dagger in this racist 94-year-old grandpa / Who keeps ignoring our past historical, deplorable factors, he huffed with righteousness. Everyone seemed to love it. The words demolish and shredded and ethered were thrown around a lot.

The problem is the pedantry. Everything here is unblinkingly correct and on message. These are direct responses to a massive social upheaval that carry all the fury of a college application essay.

Over the last century, with regularity, waves of American protest music have cropped up in conjunction with a dizzying array of social movements: labor, civil rights, anti-war. In the 60s, then-ascendant, now-iconic acts flooded the streets with righteous yearning. At their best the songs echoed true populism, and felt universal because of it. (At their worst they, too, were predictable and pedantic.) But consciously or otherwise, when people say Well get some good music out of this about Trump, theyre echoing a much narrower, less fruitful genre than popped up in the early 80s: anti-Reagan punk. It was a strange, interesting time  bands were actually naming themselves things like Reagan Youth! But most of that rapid response material hasnt lasted, and with good reason.

Heres Paul Westerberg of the Replacements (via Bob Mehrs Trouble Boys) explaining why his band never fell into the wave: Theres nothing that bores me more than a hard-core band that says Reagan sucks. Thats about as overused and easy and silly as Lets make love tonight, baby. I mean, yeah, Reagan sucks  so?

The songs of the Trump era that have worked have been more sly and less concerned with propriety. In December Superchunks Mac McCaughan went solo with an acoustic release that captured the jokey pessimism so much of the country was stuck in. Things would be better in 2018, because they couldnt be as bad as 2017: Happy New Year/ Prince cant die again. Before Trumps election we had YG and Nipsey Hussles Fuck Donald Trump, an angry song that doesnt feel the need to yell to make its point. Theres no indignation; theres no gasping about national values. Its honest and simple and direct. Just as catchy, though, was a track called CIT4DT from teen Baltimore rappers Dooley, Tlow, and Lor Roger. Winkingly, they chanted We got a choppa in the trunk / for Donald Trump.

For my money, though, only one band managed to look Trump in the eyes and to write a truly great song while doing it  to channel a modern energy and a topical news story and make a banger out of it. Thats Downtown Boys from Providence, Rhode Island. And that song is A Wall.

We hear a rolling bass line, some smashed downstroke guitar, and a rising saxophone. Then, the powerhouse vocalist Victoria Ruiz punches in for work: How much is enough?!! And who makes that call?!!! The call and response vocals kick in: Fuck yeah! The guitar goes squirrelly and sideways. But it all comes back up for the big shouts. From the broad side  to the hidden side  a wall is a wall  a wall is just a wall.

Its a response to an infamous campaign promise. Its defiant  classically, punkishly defiant. You cant ball the fuck on us  I wont let that go! But its also resigned and nihilistic. And so its truer to our times. A wall is a wall  and nothing more at all, Ruiz shouts, and were left to make of that what we will.

Downtown Boys are big Bruce Springsteen fans. You can hear it here  in the sax, but also in the fuzzier, woozier, ephemeral bits. I interviewed Ruiz once about her love of Bruce. To my surprise, she explained it via Dancing in the Dark  a great song, to be sure, but also one of his cheesier, synth-ier 80s hits. The song, she said, is all about desiring darkness to feel free in. And I think that people of color, who are dark, we feel the word so often comes off as negative: Its associated with death, or the antagonist. That reclaiming of the word dark  I think it really works for Downtown Boys. That says a lot about this band  they can reimagine Dancing in the Dark as a rallying cry for the oppressed.

Political music is handicapped by its ambitions. Theres a place and a time to talk policy and its not in song lyrics. When any music is preemptively presented as political I think of it as Walsh describes it above  ham-fisted, instantly dated. And most of the time, thats true. But a song like A Wall reminds us that its worth trying, because its possible to pull this off with grace. A Wall is not pedantic, its not proper, and its not about Trump. Not really. Its about what it feels like, right now, to be alive.
Photo: Jay Maidment/StudioCanal

Oftentimes, actors seem to appear in kids-only movies under great duress. But the casts of the Paddington films, all stellar British thespians, elevate the genre of earnest, goofy performance to a new level of art. Ben Whishaw, who replaced Colin Firth at the last minute before the first movie, delivers the titular bears lines with a kind of rounded goodness. Nicole Kidman, who played a nefarious taxidermist in the first film, deserves some sort of award for the way she pronounces the word marmalade. In the sequel, Paddington 2, however, Hugh Grant steals the show, with his delightfully absurd performance as Phoenix Buchanan, an actor who adopts a series of ridiculous disguises to get his way, each more absurd than the last.

Paddington 2, a miraculous movie too good and kind and polite for this fallen world, follows Grants Buchanan as he frames our bear hero for larceny. Why? Because he wants to own a pop-up book of London thatll lead him to a secret treasure trove that will help him fund his one-man West End show. Why, in a larger sense? Because, according to Julie Walterss character, Mrs. Bird, actors are some of the most despicable, devious people on the planet, and Phoenix Buchanan might be the best example of all their worst traits. Like many actors, he loves attention, hates other people, and has an attic full of costumes that he talks to as if they are people.

In the U.K., where Paddington 2 came out last year, Grant has already earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In the U.S., where Grant wont be in the race for any awards in the immediate future, we thought it would be best to celebrate his character by ranking his disguises, which to be clear, are all pretty fantastic  some are just more fantastic than others. Since were focusing on full-body disguises, were going to have to leave off Phoenixs many cravats, which deserve a post of their own, and the outfit he shows up in the films epilogue (no spoilers, but its quite something). Anyway, onto the main event:

6. Beefeater/woman in hat

Photo: StudioCanal

Sadly, we dont get to see Phoenix don all of his disguises in the film, but thanks to some visual hints, we learn that he puts some of them on offscreen in order to carry out his many breaking and enterings at historic sites across London. Among them: a Beefeater, and, as we can see on Sally Hawkinss corkboard above, an Eliza Doolittle-ish woman in a hat. Give us deleted scenes with Hugh Grant in more silly hats!

Rating: 2/5 cravats

5. Bearded burglar

Photo: StudioCanal

In his first crime, Phoenix breaks into a novelty shop and steals the pop-up book while dressed up as a bearded burglar with a cockney accent. Its effective, but not much of a chance for Grant to show off any flair. Still, its delightful when Phoenix gives himself away later in the film by waxing poetic about the burglars (i.e. his own) dazzling blue eyes.

Rating: 3/5 cravats

4. Bald businessman

Photo: StudioCanal

Im not sure why Phoenix feels a need to disguise himself as a bald man in order to sneak onto a train at Paddington station, nor why he decides that disguise needs voluminous sideburns. Still, he is a bald man nonetheless, until he quickly rips off the disguise when he gets involved in the films third act train chase (yes, there are action set pieces with moving trains in Paddington 2).

Rating: 4/5 cravats

3. Dog

Photo: StudioCanal

To be fair, this is less a disguise and more the actual costume that Phoenix wears in dog food ads, which he has to film in order to make money. Still, wed be remiss to leave it out. In the films fake dog food ad, Phoenix eats fake dog food. Hugh Grant looks as miserable to be there as he does in most other non-Paddington movies.

Rating: 4.5/5 cravats

2. Knight

Photo: StudioCanal

Phoenix tromps across the tour of London in this getup, which is both physically impressive and very funny.

Rating: 5/5 cravats

1. Nun

Photo: Jay Maidment/StudioCanal

First of all, thank you Paddington 2, for this delightful image of Hugh Grant as a nun slipping out of a line of nuns while holding a candle. It feels very useful in some very specific way. Secondly, we have to discuss the fact that this nun disguise is, as the film reveals, reversible and can be flipped inside out into a priest disguise. Its a magnificent bit of costume work; perhaps this actor should have pursued a career in sewing rather than spending his time terrorizing nice neighborhood bears.

Rating: 5.5/5 cravats
In the wake of a settlement last month with the owner of a chain of Madison-area convenience stores over the sale of so-called synthetic marijuana, the state Attorney Generals Office sent warnings Tuesday to other Dane County retailers about the consequences of selling the products.

In December, Farooq Shahzad, owner of Capitol Petro stores, agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million in civil forfeitures, assessments and costs as part of a consent judgment approved by a Dane County judge, settling a civil forfeiture case brought against him by the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

According to the judgment, Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn partially ruled in favor of the state Department of Justice in July, finding that Capitol Petro had violated state law by selling synthetic cannabinoids, sold variously as Spice and K2 or Kush, at its Madison stores.

The consent judgment, signed by Bailey-Rihn on Dec. 21, found Capitol Petro and Shahzad civilly liable for 16,444 violations of state law for selling the products.

The judgment bars Capitol Petro from selling the product in the future.

Shahzads attorney, Andrew Erlandson, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Capitol Petro has paid $100,000 of the judgment so far, according to court documents, and will make another payment of $1.15 million at a later date. The company also agreed to pay $33,000 for the cost of investigating the case.

According to court documents filed during the case, on June 25, 2015, Madison police executed search warrants at Capitol Petro locations at 2702 and 3505 E. Washington Ave., seizing nearly all of the stores Spice inventory. Shahzad was issued municipal ordinance citations.

On Aug. 15, 2016, Internal Revenue Service agents and officers from other agencies executed search warrants at six Capitol Petro locations, which was followed by testimony by some Capitol Petro employees before a federal grand jury. To date, no indictments have been issued, although Shahzads attorney noted in an October 2016 court filing that his client had received a letter from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Madison notifying him that he may be the target of a criminal investigation.

Maya Longfield, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys Office, said Tuesday that the office cannot comment on any pending investigation or matter thats been before a grand jury.

DATCP filed its forfeiture case against Shahzad and Capitol Petro on June 15, 2016.

Warnings issued

to other retailers

On Tuesday, Attorney General Brad Schimel sent a letter to 20 other convenience stores, tobacco shops and other retailers warning about the consequence of selling synthetic cannabinoids, according to a statement issued by DOJ.

(DOJ) will aggressively pursue action against businesses who choose to sell synthetic cannabinoids, states the letter, signed by Deputy Attorney General Paul Connell. The business and you may personally be subject to a substantial civil forfeiture from litigation pursued by this office, as well as criminal penalties from appropriate officials.

DOJ is not releasing a list of the businesses that were sent the letter enforcement because it is sensitive information that will be used to conduct additional follow up investigative work by local agencies, DOJ spokesman Johnny Koremenos said.

DOJ said that the products, sold sometimes as incense and potpourri, are unpredictable and dangerous, and while they contain compounds that are similar to the active chemical in marijuana, they have slightly different chemical compositions. The products are made in clandestine labs, DOJ said, using an ever-changing number of new chemical formulae. They can be highly addictive, and have been linked to harmful health effects, including death.

In court documents, DOJ cited the case of an Edgerton man, Ross C. Cotter-Brown, who struck and badly injured two Middleton girls in April 2016 while driving under the influence of the substance. In April, Cotter-Brown was sentenced to eight years in prison.

A former employee of Capitol Petro who gave deposition testimony in the civil forfeiture case, Lawrence R. Keehn, 53, of Madison, was charged in November with possession with intent to deliver synthetic cannabinoid, after police executed a search warrant at an apartment in July and found a large quantity of the products and $16,000 in cash. Keehn told police he sold the product because he saw how much his former employer made selling it, the complaint states.
A Madison man who was driving drunk and was also high on so-called synthetic marijuana was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for a 2016 crash that injured four people, two of them seriously, whose vehicle was sent crashing into a Williamson Street coffee shop.

Todd A. Tantillo, 55, told the victims of the crash that he was sorry for what he had done, understood their anger against him and would do anything he could to pay them back for the medical expenses theyve incurred because of their injuries.

If there was anything I could do to take it all back I would, Tantillo said.

Tantillo pleaded no contest in October to causing great bodily harm by drunken driving, causing injury by drunken driving and third-offense drunken driving, all related to the Aug. 21, 2016, crash that left an SUV carrying six people inside Mother Fools Coffeehouse, 1101 Williamson St., on Madisons East Side.

A criminal complaint states that Tantillo was driving a van south on South Ingersoll Street in the early morning hours when he went through a flashing red light at Williamson Street and broad-sided the SUV. Tantillo tried to hide from police, and when police found him hiding in some bushes he claimed someone else was driving, but he later admitted that he was the driver in the crash.

Heather Corpora, one of the people seriously injured in the crash, asked Circuit Judge Ellen Berz to sentence Tantillo to the maximum sentence he could receive.

All of our physical and mental health has suffered greatly because of your actions, Corpora said to Tantillo. You have put a great financial burden on all of our lives and we may have to file bankruptcy because of that. But today, you cannot run from us.

Assistant District Attorney Tim Helmberger asked for a five-year prison sentence, while Tantillos lawyer, Eric Schulenburg, sought probation. Helmberger cited Tantillos extensive criminal record, which includes multiple trips to prison. Schulenburg, however, said that Tantillo has done well while free on bail monitoring, getting a job and staying sober, despite enduring challenging conditions on the street while homeless.

He has never felt better physically than he does now, Schulenburg wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He is more focused and clear-headed than he has ever felt. In his words, it is like a light switch has been turned on.

A few months of doing well is a pittance compared to decades of criminal behavior, Helmberger countered.

Berz said that she was taking into account Tantillos recent good behavior in formulating a sentence. But his lengthy criminal record and lack of success in completing treatment programs in and out of prison made a prison sentence necessary, Berz said.

A tentative restitution order seeks $166,905, plus $16,690 in administrative costs, from Tantillo, almost all of it for medical expense incurred by two of the six crash victims.
Ridgecrest Retirement and Health Care, 1900 W. State Highway 6, will host a free seminar on elder law open to the public at noon Thursday in its auditorium.

James Rainey, attorney with the law firm Rainey and Rainey, will speak on several topics including estate planning, probate and Lady Bird deeds.

A meal will be provided and reservations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis by calling 776-9681. Seating is limited.

Young Marines registration

The Heart of Texas Young Marines unit is accepting applications for its next recruit training class, which begins Feb. 3. Applications will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at 3310 N. 15-A St.

Registration fee is $40 with a boot camp fee of $100. For more information, call 405-0649.

The Central Texas Young Marines unit will be holding registration for new recruits from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Jan. 27 at the BrucevilleEddy United Methodist Church, 404 W. Third St.

Direct questions to Master Sgt. Dale Kidd at 631-7266 or Marscia Giesler at 624-1894.

Business leaders panel

The Community Race Relations Coalition will host its quarterly program Leaders of Color in the Business Sector from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Albans Episcopal Church parish hall, 305 N. 30th St.

The program is a panel including Sherman Ayres, Steve Cook, Ken Hampton and Dr. Scheherazade Perkins, who will share their life stories and discus how their experiences in life have influenced how they live and work.

The program is open to everyone, but reservations are required. Call 717-7903 or email Jo@welterfamily.org to reserve a space.

Dinner is provided by the CRRC board, with donations accepted.

NARFE meeting

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will meet from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday at the West Waco Public Library Conference Room, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Speaker Robert Wiggins will present a program on federal sentencing guidelines, the abolition of federal parole and how judges calculate a penalty for an offender convicted in a federal court.
Patty Schachtner defeated Republican state Rep. Adam Jarchow for an open state Senate seat Tuesday in an upset victory for struggling Wisconsin Democrats, signaling voter anger toward President Donald Trump that could cost the GOP more legislative seats in the fall elections.

Jarchow tweeted his concession to Schachtner late Tuesday evening, with returns nearly complete across five counties and Schachtner leading by more than 1,600 votes. Schachtner, the St. Croix County medical examiner and a Somerset school board member, had entered the race in northwestern Wisconsins traditionally conservative 10th Senate District as the clear underdog.

The district has trended conservative for years. Republican Sheila Harsdorf held the Senate seat for 16 years before she resigned in November to become Gov. Scott Walkers agriculture secretary and every county in the district voted for Trump in 2016. Jarchow is in the middle of his third term representing the area in the Assembly and had built a formidable base.

But Democrats banked that anti-Trump backlash could even the playing field. Republicans sensed it, too. Conservative groups Americans for Prosperity and the Republican State Leadership Committee both ran ads supporting Jarchow, and Republican state Sen. Leah Vukmir, who is running for U.S. Senate, traveled to the district to campaign for him.

It wasnt enough.

Schachtners victory doesnt change the balance of power in the Senate. Republicans will go into the fall campaign season with an 18-14 majority with one vacancy.

But her win is a sign of hope for Democrats, who have been pushed to the brink of irrelevancy after seven years of Republican control of both legislative houses and the governors office.

Also Tuesday, Democrat Greta Neubauer of Racine won a special election for an open seat in southeastern Wisconsins 66th Assembly District. She replaces Democrat Cory Mason, who is stepping away to serve as mayor of Racine. Neubauer was unopposed.

Republican Rick Gundrum of Slinger defeated Democrat Dennis Degenhardt for an open seat in eastern Wisconsins solidly red 58th Assembly District. The seat opened up in October after incumbent Republican Bob Gannon died.
A data breach involving customers of Jasons Deli locations around the country, including Wacos, may have jeopardized the personal information of up to 2 million people dating back to mid-June.

The Beaumont-based restaurant chain first reported in December that it apparently had become the victim of computer malware. Last week, the company released a list of locations possibly impacted, including Wacos at Valley Mills and Waco drives.

A notice on the Jasons Deli website urges customers to monitor their credit or debit card account and report any suspicious activity to the issuer of the card.

Jasons Deli was notified by payment processors on Dec. 22 that credit card security personnel had informed it that a large quantity of payment card information had appeared for sale on the dark web, and that an analysis of that data indicated that at least a portion may have come from various Jasons Deli locations, according to the notice.

The company immediately activated its response plan and notified forensic experts and members of law enforcement, the notice states.

The companys research revealed the scam used RAM-scraping malware at restaurants point-of-sale registers.

Our investigation has determined that approximately 2 million unique payment card numbers may have been impacted, according to the companys notice. Specifically, the payment card information obtained was full track data from a payment cards magnetic stripe.

Magnetic stripe information varies by card company and can include the cardholders name, card number, expiration date and service code.

Data on the strip reportedly does not include PIN numbers.

Thomas McDonald, who manages the Jasons Deli in Waco, said he has fielded questions from customers expressing concern about the breach. Steps have been taken to remove the threat, and customers should not fear using their debit or credit cards, McDonald said.

We have almost become a cashless society now, and technology is great. But criminals and bad guys are literally one step behind us from a technology standpoint, said Adam Price, regional director for the Better Business Bureau.

The magnetic strip on the back of payment cards implicated in the Jasons Deli problem eventually will go away, replaced by a metal chip already appearing on many cards and providing more security, Price said.

If you go to a vendor and insert or dip the chip-bearing card, it takes several more seconds for the process to go through, but you receive an extra level of protection, Price said. Unfortunately, many stores have not made the equipment upgrades needed to become chip compliant.

He said consumers need to remain vigilant in checking their monthly credit card statements, a habit that may slip their minds in a marketplace where cashless and paperless transactions are becoming invisible.

Jasons Deli has grown to 266 locations in 28 states, and about 160 restaurants had their data compromised, including 71 in Texas, according to information provided by the family owned chain.
The Waco City Council by a 6-0 vote Tuesday approved a compromise plan to phase out city janitors in favor of a private contractor.

Starting in late February, UBM Enterprise will take over cleaning of 14 buildings, totaling about 400,000 square feet.

Existing city workers would be retained at 16 buildings, maintaining 182,000 square feet of space. In time, city officials hope to transition all janitorial services to the firm, saying the move would save the city some $428,000 off its $1 million annual cleaning bill.

But for the coming year, the city would only save about $31,000, assuming the 13 full-time janitors and 2 part-timers on staff remain city employees and do not go to work for UBM.

The janitors had objected that outsourcing would undermine the benefits, especially retirement, that they had earned over time. Council members Noah Jackson Jr. and Alice Rodriguez had voiced misgivings about outsourcing for that reason, but they were satisfied with the compromise that allows UBM to gradually expand as janitors get other jobs or retire.

Councilman Dillon Meek said the city staff went the extra mile to take care of the employees.

Theres competing interests here, and its difficult, but I think you did an excellent job, Meek said. I feel like this represents a good balance.

I do as well, Rodriguez said.

Mayor Kyle Deaver called the compromise appropriate and compassionate.

City staffers first proposed outsourcing in summer 2016, and six of the 19 full-time janitors have quit since, leaving the city to fill the gap with temporary workers. At the same time, the amount of janitorial work the city needs has grown, and trying to meet all the demands with full-time city staff would drive up the cleaning bill dramatically, staffers said.

The new contractor has said it would offer health insurance, sick and vacation pay, with hourly pay at $10 to $13, close to the citys compensation. City Manager Wiley Stem III said he expects the company will try to recruit some of the existing city janitors.
When officials determined four students at Rapoport Academy had participated in bullying at one of their schools in December, the officials also decided the students actions were severe enough to administratively remove them for the rest of this school year and all of next year, Superintendent Alexis Neumann said.

And since September, Waco Independent School District has investigated three students in separate incidents allegedly targeting classmates through cyber bullying on social media, Waco ISD spokesman Kyle DeBeer said.

One of the incidents resulted in a stay-away agreement between the students involved, and one resulted in disciplinary action. Waco ISD was unable to discipline the third student because the student moved out of the district before action could be taken, DeBeer said.

Though officials at both schools declined to provide details of the incidents, citing privacy laws, three of the four were directly related to a more proactive approach schools are taking to address bullying because of a new law passed this summer during the 85th Legislature.

Ultimately, we all have the same goal for our parents, students and staff, DeBeer said. We want schools that are safe and welcoming learning environments for our students and a great place to work for our staff. If theres something that is happening that leads a student to feel unsafe at school or have concerns about interacting at school, its something we want to know about and address.

Davids Law, which expanded the definition of bullying to include cyber bullying among minors and public school students, gave public education systems more authority to intervene in instances of bullying beyond school grounds and events. It also increased the potential criminal penalty for students who are found to have committed such an act and required school districts to provide a notice to parents of the incident.

The law, which took effect Sept. 1, was established after David Bartlett Molak, 16, died by suicide Jan. 4, 2016, following harassment, humiliation and threats through text messages and social media from a group of students.

We know sometimes things that happen outside of the school, especially on social media, can spill over into the school and affect the learning environment, like spur on a fight, DeBeer said. It allows us to intervene in those situations earlier and potentially intervene before they escalate.

Jeni Janek has taught crisis prevention training for 12 years and digital citizenship training for the last two as an education specialist at Education Service Center Region 12.

Before the new law, involvement in Janeks digital citizenship training was sparse, she said. Now, because of the added bullying reporting process under Davids law, she has seen an uptick in the number of schools requesting the training to dive deep into how the influence of social media can impact the overall development of a student, she said.

Since August, Janek has trained students, parents and staff at 10 McLennan County schools about the new law. What most parents and teachers are surprised by are the statistics, she said.

More than 90 percent of students are online in some way every single day, she said. More than 70 percent have multiple social media accounts, and more than half the students online say they have felt they have been cyber bullied before, she said.

Even though the age students are legally able to have social media is 13, were seeing a lot of kids start social media accounts much, much younger, Janek said. Thats concerning because they may not have social media etiquette.

As much as Davids Law is about holding students accountable, it is also about showing teachers and parents the authority and responsibility they have to intervene and educate students about the impact of social media without villainizing it, she said.

Our kids are in a digital age unlike anything youve ever seen when it comes to sharing information, and weve got to be there for them, Janek said.

Of the instances at Rapoport Academy and Waco ISD, none of the students are facing criminal charges, and not all were directly tied to cyber bullying, school officials said. But the investigations have allowed for a more open dialogue on the campuses about the use of social media and how to identify bullying in hallways, they said.

Ive talked with students and Ive heard students conversations, and a lot of the conversation has been that everything is watched, everything matters, Neumann said. Weve had a lot more screen shots presented to the school than weve ever had before. Students are getting better about (understanding), that for Instagram or Snapchat, it doesnt go away. Once its up, somebodys going screen shot it, so theres no such thing as disappearing information, and I think our students are getting very aware of that.

Some student posts have reached administrators in a matter of hours, Neumann said.

Rapoport officials are often telling students their social media posts can be long-lasting and impact future employment opportunities, college applications and the emotional and physical well-being of their peers, she said. And students are often surprised when they realize criminal charges are possible in some cases, she said.

The apps are going to change, the website are going to change, Janek said. Whats not going to change are the development stages our kids are going through  the building self-esteem and character development  thats the part as a human being thats not going to change.
McLennan County will ask the state to reimburse $600,000 in costs associated with the first trial stemming from the deadly shootout in 2015 at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.

The county received about $270,000 in October 2016 from the states County Essential Services Program, primarily for costs incurred the day of the incident and shortly thereafter, including housing people at the Jack Harwell Detention Center. At the same time, the city of Waco received almost $250,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice.

County commissioners agreed Tuesday to reapply for the state program. County Administrator Dustin Chapman said the reimbursement would cover expenses related to the trial of Jacob Carrizal, Dallas Bandidos chapter president. The county spent about $572,000 for sheriffs deputies overtime during the trial. The countys request to the state also seeks to cover juror-related expenses, Chapman said.

The countys grant request from the state is for $571,609 in overtime costs; $81,419 for professional services, including court reporters and expert consultation; and $23,557 for other expenses, including meals, travel and security items.

During their meeting Tuesday, commissioners also approved moving $3,500 out of the countywide contingencies line item to the jury meal and lodging line item. County Auditor Stan Chambers said the move is to cover expenses from the first trial.

Overtime

Chambers reminded commissioners that during discussions leading up to the adoption of the budget for fiscal year 2018, which started Oct. 1, the court agreed to fund Twin Peaks-related costs as they arose. Commissioners decided not to approve advance funding requests from department heads for potential Twin Peaks-related costs, he said.

Commissioners agreed in February to allow deputies to work overtime in anticipation of the trials. Previously, deputies received time off to offset any overtime they worked. However, county leaders said with 154 Twin Peaks-related indictments, the sheriffs office would never be staffed if deputies were required to take time off to offset overtime.

Commissioners have had to pay for the overtime out of the countywide contingency line item. Commissioners put $1,016,000 in the line item at the start of the fiscal year in October, and about half is already spent.

Commissioners have said they hope to hear from the sheriffs office on its assessment of security efforts for the first Twin Peaks trial and its plans for the next one. It remains unclear when the next trial will be.

Historic pieces

Chapman said the county has received a few inquiries from entities about housing the Themis statue original to the courthouse. Now that a duplicate statue is in place, commissioners are looking for ideas for what to do with the original Greek goddess of divine law. The 18-foot statue crowned the courthouse for 116 years.

Former Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe Mashek asked the court to consider placing the original, two courthouse eagle statues and a historical county tower clock together in the parking lot facing the courthouse. A clock tower was considered for display at one point, but the idea died because of politics, Mashek said. The county clock and bell were in the old courthouse in 1884.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Jones said commissioners voted in November 2012 to display one of the original courthouse eagles in the buildings rotunda, but more than five years later, nothing has been done.

County Judge Scott Felton said it is past time to get moving on that.

We just kind of dropped the ball, he said.
She was born on May 20, 1930 in Cobden, MT. to Cecile James and Ora Bell (Mayhan) Riddle. She was known to her friends as June and to her grandchildren as Nanny. June lived a life full of adventure and love, traveling across the United States even into Alaska. At 87 years old, she traveled to Alaska. She was fiercely independent and was able to drive until her dying day. To her sisters, she was like a second mother, doing what she could to make their lives better. To her husband, she loved him and was married to him for more than 50 years through the adversities and tribulations of life. To her children, she was a mother who raised them in a stable home and did her best to provide for their needs. To her nieces and nephews, Aunt Junnie was fun loving and devoted. To her grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Roy Henry Pursche

July 27, 1926 - January 14, 2018

Mr. Roy Henry Pursche, age 91, peacefully passed away at his home in Riesel on Sunday morning, January 14, 2018. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, January 18, at Adams Funeral Home. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m., Friday, January 19, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Riesel, with Pastor Robert Kitson officiating. Interment to follow in Trinity Lutheran cemetery in Riesel.

Roy was born July 27, 1926, to Ottomar and Anna (Korger) Pursche in Otto TX. On January 5, 1945, he entered the military and served his country during WWII as a motor machinist's mate third class in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, Roy met his future wife, Ruby Jean Peters of Tulsa, Oklahoma through letters they wrote back and forth to each other. After being honorably discharged on August 16, 1946, he and Ruby were married two years later in Tulsa on November 11, 1948. They resided in Tulsa for a number of years where he worked in construction as a carpenter. They eventually relocated back to Riesel with their growing family. He purchased a small farm in Riesel on Sunset road where he tried his hand at farming and ranching. After a few years farming, he was hired at General Tire and Rubber Company in Waco and retired in 1986 after 30 years of service.

Roy was blessed with 68 wonderful years of marriage to Ruby and together they had 3 beautiful children. He was a longtime resident of Riesel and a longtime and faithful member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Riesel. Throughout the years, he served his church as a member of several boards and as a Sunday school teacher. He belonged to various clubs including the German Heritage Club and the Riesel Lion's Club, and he served his community as a volunteer firefighter. Roy will best be remembered for his love of fishing and playing dominoes where he made many wonderful memories with his family and friends.

Roy was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Ruby; son, Dwight; granddaughter, Jennifer Pursche; and brother-in-law, Jimmy Koester.

Roy leaves behind to cherish his memories, sister, Ruth Koester of Riesel; son, Phillip Pursche of Riesel; daughter, Janet Drapela and husband, Gary, of Riesel; grandchildren: Angela Harp and husband, Dennis, Crystal Pursche, JD Pursche and wife, Sarah, Taylor Drapela, Dylan Drapela and Cody Drapela; great-grandchildren: Aaron and Peyton Harp, Jon and Cooper Pursche, Gavyn and Grant Tijerina.

Roy was a wonderful provider and he left us with a strong foundation of faith to pass along to our families. He will be dearly missed.
Clinton was born on December 17, 1943 in Lubbock, Texas, to the late Clinton "CE" Elijah, Sr. and Leah Morris Worley. Clinton began driving big rigs at a young age and continued throughout his life. Most of his career was short runs so that he could remain close to home for his family. He did work for a short period of time as a long haul truck driver. Clinton was a an avid John Wayne fan, enjoyed watching him take on the bad guys and even tended to be feisty and ornery like John Wayne. He also enjoyed a good two step in his day. Clinton was preceded in death by his parents, CE and Leah Worley; and his sister, Ann Morris.
The Madison City Council approved hiring eight additional police officers early Wednesday morning after hours of debate.

The council voted 17-2 to reallocate already-budgeted funds to hire more patrol officers after Madison did not receive a federal police hiring grant last year. Several council members in support, though, noted conflicted feelings and urged continued conversation on alternative ways to prevent crime.

"We have a lot of work to do as a community to demand and support and invest in having a community that is safer and realizing the underlying nature of that is only partially informed by the police," Ald. Maurice Cheeks, 10th District, said.

Madison police officials said Tuesday the approximately 180 patrol officers are currently overworked -- particularly during instances of shots fired and when police respond to "priority only" calls -- and the additional officers would provide relief to let officers engage in more proactive, community-involved work.

Ald. Paul Skidmore, 9th District, said the extra officers could "fill the voids, provide backup and support, and provide some respite."

The 2018 budget included $750,000 as a local match to a $1.87 million federal grant Madison had applied for to hire 15 more officers. But the city learned shortly after the budget was finalized that it would not receive any federal funds.

Instead, about $580,000 of the $750,000 will go toward adding eight recruits to the 21 people expected to be in the academy class that starts in May, while also purchasing three new squad cars.

While the OIR Group report, a yearlong study into the Madison Police Department's policies and practices, didn't provide a recommendation to if more officers should be hired as a staffing study wasn't part of it, some council members said the other recommendations from the report could provide insight to staffing levels once changes are implemented.

"We don't know how that the cause of officer burnout is not enough staffing. We don't know. We can hear people say that's the cause and assert that," said Ald. Rebecca Kemble, 18th District. "The answer could be we need to reallocate the resources within the department."

The remainder of the $750,000, about $170,000, will go into the city's contingent reserve fund.

It is estimated the annual cost of the eight officers and three vehicles will be $621,300.

For the second time, the Madison City Council upheld Tuesday Mayor Paul Soglin's veto of a liquor license for a Taco Bell on State Street.

The council voted 12-7 in favor of overturning the veto, but it failed to get the 14 votes needed to override Soglin's veto of a license that would have let a Taco Bell Cantina at 534 State St. serve beer and wine.

Ald. Mike Verveer, who represents the core of Downtown, requested a reconsideration of the veto override as he was absent from the Jan. 2 City Council meeting when the veto was originally upheld.

"At every single occasion, this applicant has done this right by agreeing to make concession after concession," Verveer, 4th District, said.

The Taco Bell Cantina, which originally sought a full liquor license but dropped down to beer and wine only, would have been able to serve alcohol until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Soglin and others, though, argued the license adds to the cumulative effect of alcohol-fueled problems Downtown.

"If you're worried about the reputation of the city, I think you ought to consider how we rank in regards to the abuse of alcohol," Soglin said.

The Madison lawmakers also voted to scale back the scope of and appropriate additional funds to cover two major infrastructure projects slated for this year that were under budgeted.

A combination of new appropriations, transferring money, increasing special assessments and reducing the project's scale will cover the $4.7 million gap for the expansive reconstruction project of Monroe Street that was originally estimated to cost $17.7 million.

City officials also closed a gap through reallocating funds within the Madison Fire Department for the $5.8 million Fire Station No. 14 on the Southeast Side after it became apparent that the project would cost at least $6.39 million to build.

In other action, council members passed a new ordinance that will allow stores to deliver alcohol directly to customers waiting in their cars.

The ordinance will let businesses, such as grocery stores, designate parking spots for "click and collect" service -- ordering items online and having them brought directly to a vehicle -- that would let customers pay for alcoholic purchases outside of the store.

The policy requires a four hour waiting period after placing an order before it can be picked up, and customers placing orders after 2 p.m. cannot pick up alcohol until the following day.

Soglin has previously threatened to veto the ordinance if it passes, saying people who select alcohol online should have to pay for it inside the store.
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free, is the Bible verse adorning the main building at the University of Texas and living in the hearts of millions. In those words are the most important concepts in law: truth.

In a free society, truth is the basis of law, and law is the foundation of justice. Texas attorney Leon Jaworski was called upon to defend truth and law in the most challenging political periods America has faced, the Watergate scandal.

Leonidas Jaworski was born in Waco in 1905. His parents were immigrants, and his father was a minister. Known to his friends as Leon, he proved a bright and hard-working student, often studying by candlelight. He graduated from Waco High School, where he excelled at debate, and enrolled at Baylor University.

In 1925, he completed his law degree and became the youngest lawyer in state history, not quite 20 years old. He later received a masters degree at George Washington University Law School.

He moved to Houston in 1930. His skills soon attracted the attention of some of the most powerful lawyers in the city. In 1931, Jaworski joined the growing firm of Rufus Fulbright, and within a few years, he became a partner in the firm, which became the largest and most influential firm in Houston.

Army Lawyer

During World War II, Jaworski served as a lawyer for the U.S. Army. At the end of the war, the Allies began putting Nazi officials on trial for crimes against humanity. Jaworski directed the prosecutions of war criminals. He ensured that those who slaughtered so many civilians and soldiers would face justice.

One case that he prosecuted personally stemmed from the 1944 Russelsheim Massacre in which 11 German civilians murdered six American prisoners whose plane had been shot down nearby. Jaworski passionately argued that in spite of whatever orders the Nazis gave or however they incited the population, each individual was responsible for his own actions and must answer for those actions. Ten of the 11 defendants were convicted.

After the war, Jaworski returned to Houston. He served on numerous civic boards. In 1960, he was elected president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce. In 1961 and 1962, he was president of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He then served as president of the Texas Bar Association for the 1962-63 term.

Starting in late 1963, President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to several presidential commissions to study such issues as violent crime and investment law. In 1971, fellow lawyers honored Jaworski by electing him president of the American Bar Association.

Watergate

In the meantime, President Richard Nixon had embroiled himself in a scandal during his 1972 re-election campaign. Nixon had ordered his employees to break into private offices to steal information or plant wiretaps and paid their silence with a secret slush fund of corporate donations.

The most notorious break-in was the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex. While Jaworski had become a respected member of the legal community, the Watergate scandal would make him a household name.

In May 1973, former Solicitor General Archibald Cox was named special prosecutor to investigate the case. Nixon grew increasingly paranoid as Cox moved closer to the evidence, zeroing in on conversations that Nixon had taped in the Oval Office. Nixon aides admitted these tapes existed, and Cox demanded they be submitted as evidence. Nixon refused.

On Oct. 20, 1973, Nixon fired Cox in what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre, where Nixon also forced the resignations of the attorney general and the assistant attorney general in order to dismiss Cox.

Reluctantly, Nixon appointed a new special prosecutor, tapping Jaworski. Though Jaworski had been a Democrat, he had voted for Nixon in 1968 and 1972. Jaworski had not worked as a prosecutor in decades, but he gave the appointment his full effort and left no legal stone unturned.

Jaworski quickly demanded that Nixon hand over the tapes. Nixon insisted that the tapes were privileged while Jaworski insisted that Nixon could not impede a criminal investigation.

Jaworski took the case to the Supreme Court in July 1974, arguing that Nixon must cooperate. The Supreme Court agreed unanimously, and ordered Nixon to hand over the tapes. As it turned out, the tapes ultimately showed Nixon plotting to obstruct a criminal investigation and became his political downfall. He resigned in disgrace on Aug. 9. In the end, Jaworski showed that everyone is subject to the law.

He wrote several books on his experiences. In 1961, he published Fifteen Years After, detailing his work with the war crimes trials. In 1976, he wrote The Right and The Power, reflecting on his Watergate experiences.

His work ensured that honor and justice would remain at the heart of American law. Jaworski died at his ranch in Wimberley in December 1982.
It was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday in Geelong as politicians from all levels of government and different political parties came together for an announcement about co-operating to create jobs for regular people.

"I don't want this to be an awkward conference because this is a very positive announcement," acting Victorian premier James Merlino told gathered journalists.

"There's love bursting out all over the place," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joked.

Both agreed: people want to see politicians of all stripes working together to solve problems.
What does it take to be a model? A good walk? A steely gaze? Something a little different to the norm?

All of the above, and when it comes to trying out for the David Jones Autumn/Winter launch, looking good in a suit doesn't go astray either.

A nervous wait before the David Jones model castings. Credit:AAP

More than 150 hopefuls lined Bourke Street Mall on Tuesday morning for an outdoor open casting for the department store's new-season launch, to be held in Sydney next month.

And it wasn't just for show, assured Teneille Oakley, David Jones' womenswear buying manager, who was on a panel with ambassador Jessica Gomes, Aje designer Edwina Robinson and production stylist Kirsty Barber.
A 71-year-old man has been charged over allegedly indecently assaulting two 13-year-old boys during his employment as a teacher at two Perth Catholic schools between 1979 and 1986.

All incidents allegedly occurred at school and during a school camp. The man also acted as school nurse and student counsellor.

The Royal Commission triggered the arrest of a former Perth Catholic schoolteacher. Credit:AAP

Joondalup Detectives and Perth Detectives laid the charges as the result of an investigation into allegations made during the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual offences.

They allege that while teaching at a school in Bedford, the teacher twice indecently assaulted a 13-year-old in 1979 and further assaulted him when he was 14.
The amount of land "disturbed" by mining companies in Western Australia is roughly equivalent to the size of Hong Kong, new figures have revealed.

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety data was made public just before Christmas, and found more than 118,730 hectares of land had been disturbed by mining tenements across the state over a number of years.

An exploration bulldozer in the Kimberley last year. Credit:Environs Kimberley

The area is equivalent to 1187.3 square kilometres  slightly bigger than the size of Hong Kong (1104 km2).

This is around 0.05 per cent of WA's total landmass.
A rare win by a Democrat in a northwestern Wisconsin Senate district sent shock waves through the state and national political worlds Wednesday.

Democrats heralded the win in a district Republicans have held since 2001 as evidence of a building blue wave that could lead to more victories in November  including in the larger 7th Congressional District held by Republican Rep. Sean Duffy. Republicans sounded the alarm that they need to hone their message and cajole their grassroots supporters in order to maintain full control of state government.

WAKE UP CALL: Cant presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin. Help us share the good news, Gov. Scott Walker tweeted along with half a dozen other similar tweets early Wednesday. His campaign later sent out a fundraising appeal warning everything we have done is at risk if we dont win in November.

Walker also announced a corps of volunteer coordinators in all 72 counties to help with his re-election campaign and the Republican Party of Wisconsin announced a plan to double the number of field offices. Walker holds a significant fundraising advantage over a sprawling field of Democrats, but faces his first re-election with an unpopular Republican president in the White House.

Political observers and activists involved in the District 10 Senate race said several factors helped St. Croix County medical examiner Patty Schachtner defeat Rep. Adam Jarchow, R-Balsam Lake, in Tuesdays special election.

Some pointed to a surge in Democratic enthusiasm ignited by the unpopularity of Republican President Donald Trump, whom Jarchow supported in 2016. Others said voters were tuned into local issues and angered by Jarchows sponsorship of bills that have reduced environmental protections and local zoning control.

We absolutely believe local issues motivated people in this race, said Staush Gruszynski, political director for the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. All of our communications were very positive about Patty and the impact she can have on the local environment. We heard a lot from our members about Jarchows anti-conservation background.

Jeff Smith, an organizer for liberal advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin, said efforts to clean up the Red Cedar Watershed have been hampered by bills Jarchow has championed limiting local zoning control.

There is a lot of angst toward Jarchow because of his anti-environment/pro-corporate stance, Smith said.

Jarchow didnt respond to a request for comment, though his campaign manager Mitch Sands said everyone the campaign engaged through door-to-door campaigning responded positively.

People we talked to were excited to vote for Adam, but in the end not enough of our people came out, Sands said. Coming into the fall  were going to have a lot of work to do to hold our seats.

Republicans have held the seat since former Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, whom Walker recently appointed to his cabinet, was first elected in 2000. Before that, Democrat Alice Clausing held the seat since 1992.

Jim Villa, a former Walker political adviser who worked on Harsdorfs 2000 campaign, said Tuesdays result wasnt the bellwether some claim it to be because the district includes many independent-minded voters who care about local issues. He noted Harsdorf won by tying Clausing to Madison liberals and Schachtner was better able to connect with voters on issues such as agriculture and the environment.

Villa, the head of a real estate trade association, said there are two takeaways from the result: Local issues matter and Republicans have to re-evaluate how theyre talking about them district by district and making sure they are connecting with voters more intimately (and) is there an enthusiasm gap and how do you work to bridge that for the fall?

Significant victory margin

Schachtner won with 54.6 percent of the vote to Jarchows 44.2 percent, a remarkable victory given Harsdorf won the district 14 months ago by a 26-point margin.

Turnout in the special election was a quarter of what it was in 2016, though Republican strategist Brian Fraley said Republicans tend to do better in low-turnout elections.

Fraley called Schachtners win the most significant political development in Wisconsin since Walker won the recalls.

The Republicans dont understand what the Trump victory was, Fraley said. It wasnt about their agenda, because he didnt run on their agenda. It was about Trump. So it doesnt transfer. The Trump positives dont transfer to the Republican candidate, but the Trump negatives do clearly.

Schachtners victory boosts state Democrats who have been struggling to make gains since Republicans took over state government in 2010.

In 2016, Trump won the district 55 percent to 38 percent; in 2012, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney won the district 52 percent to 46 percent for former President Barack Obama.

UW-River Falls political science professor Neil Kraus said the district, part of the growing Twin Cities suburbs but still dominated by rural towns, has become more conservative over time.

On Wednesday morning, the district was the talk of the national political media, with The Washington Post noting the race is different than a surprise Democratic win in last months Alabama Senate race because Jarchow was a credible candidate and conservative groups had spent heavily to help him win the seat. It was the first legislative race in which conservative group Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin had endorsed a candidate.

Here I am watching Morning Joe (on MSNBC) and theyre talking about the Senate District 10 race  its remarkable, Kraus said. Its interesting because the quote thats getting national play from Schachtner is this notion of her being kind. This notion of being decent, being kind, sounds radical, but it seems like a lot of folks are sort of looking for that.

Democrats celebrated the win as a sign of a wave of Democratic support overturning seats held by conservatives, including in the governors office and on the state Supreme Court  both of which are up for election this year.

Id attribute this win to a great candidate, a robust field program we ran, and Pattys message resonating with voters who are dissatisfied with the Republican agenda, said Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse. For someone who claims to be unintimidated, Gov. Walkers unhinged late night tweet storm shows hes worried for whats to come this fall.

Democrats also credited Schachtner, a Somerset School Board member, with running a positive campaign that highlighted health care and education issues. Shes also a bear hunter who appeared on a 2006 episode of the reality TV show Wife Swap.

Jarchows supporters attacked Schachtner for a more than decade-old court case involving an unpaid school lunch bill, but in the end the attack line proved ineffective.

Open Senate seats

Republicans still control the state Senate 18-14, but even before the special election Walker announced he wouldnt fill a seat in northeastern Wisconsin vacated by Sen. Frank Lasee, R-De Pere, as required by law. Democrats on Wednesday urged Walker to hold special elections for that seat and another vacated by Rep. Keith Ripp, R-Lodi.

Walker spokeswoman Amy Hasenberg said if special elections were held the seats wouldnt be filled until after the Legislature adjourns for the year, so they would be a waste of money.

Fraley, the Republican strategist, said the Lasee seat as well as those held by Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Sen. Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, could be at risk for Republicans in November.

The state Senate majority is definitely in play in the fall, Fraley said.

Senate Majority Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, didnt respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 17, 2018 | 06:33 AM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A deputy was injured during an overnight pursuit in McCracken County.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, deputies spotted a recently reported stolen vehicle on Oaks Road just after midnight Wednesday. Deputies made numerous attempts to stop the vehicle, but were unsuccessful.

A low-speed pursuit continued into Graves County, then onto Said Road to Old Benton Road, and then back into the city of Paducah. The vehicle was stopped in the residential area of Marlboro Way, and the suspect was arrested. His name has not been released.

Sgt. Todd Ray suffered a possible knee injury after setting spike strips in front of the Food Giant in Reidland. Police say the suspect swerved his vehicle toward Ray and he was injured trying to get out of the way.

Ray was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated. Sheriff Jon Hayden said more detailed information will be released later.
By The Associated Press Jan. 17, 2018 | 12:06 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A cancer care executive has told a legislative panel that smoking-related diseases are causing a higher death toll in Kentucky than the epidemic from opioid overdoses.

Dr. Jason Chesney, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, says raising the state cigarette tax by at least $1 per pack would combat the "cycle of death" caused by smoking.

Doctors told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday that the higher tobacco tax would reduce Kentucky's smoking rates. Chesney says deaths from smoking-related diseases are six times higher than opioid overdose deaths in Kentucky.

The committee didn't have a tobacco tax bill before it. Supporters of the higher tax hope to have a bill considered this year, or to have the issue included if lawmakers take up a tax overhaul.
By The Associated Press Jan. 17, 2018 | 10:42 AM | OWENSBORO, KY

A judge has dismissed the rape, sodomy and witness bribery charges against a former University of Kentucky board chair.

The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports that special Circuit Judge Kelly Mark Easton dismissed the charges against 78-year-old Billy Joe Miles on Tuesday, but the manner of the dismissal has yet to be resolved.

A home health worker had accused Miles of sexually assaulting her, leading to a 2016 indictment. Assistant Attorneys General Jon Heck and Barbara Maines Whaley filed an affidavit earlier this month, saying the woman's attorneys told prosecutors she didn't wish to proceed with the case because of her "fragile psychological condition."

Defense attorney Scott Cox argued that the case should be dismissed with prejudice, which prevents prosecutors from bringing the charges back to court in the future.

___

Information from: Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, http://www.messenger-inquirer.com
North Korea test-fires missile with range to strike all of U.S.
Welcome to The Independent Herald E-Edition! Check back each week on Tuesday to see our[Read More]
In the summer of 2016, four college students  three from Winona State and another from Luther in Decorah, Iowa  exerted the least amount of effort they ever have to form a band.

Mason Smith said he wanted to do music and be in a band again. So he recruited friends Dante DeGrazia (keyboard) and Ryan Amble (drums), with Jake Nielsen (bass) replying to a Facebook post. The four of them decided on the name Karate Chop, Silence, and on Aug. 17, 2016, they played their first show on Winona States campus with Sleeping Jesus, another local Winona band started by Winona State alum Nick Elstad.

We put in a lot of practice for that show, DeGrazia said. It was cool because professors came up to us afterward and told us they thought our band was cool.

Since then, theyve played dozens of shows and went on a mini-tour last summer, including making it to the finals of Big Muddy Brew N Ques Battle of the Bands competition.

On Friday, Karate Chop, Silence releases its debut album No MSG after almost a year spent recording and engineering the project. On Saturday, the band will share the stage with Minneapolis bands Koo Koo Kangaroo and General B and The Wiz, and St. Louis band Super Fun Yeah Yeah Rocketship for an album release party at Eds No Name Bar.

The band has developed a reputation for its on-stage theatrics with quirky ad libs and comedic audience engagement, but band members describe their album as an entirely different experience than their live set.

They wanted to create an all ages sound everyone can enjoy and dance to.

Its creative, but in terms of content Id say its down the middle, Smith said. Were entertainers just as much as we are musicians.

Though they differ on their favorite show, all of them are proud of how far the band has come in just a year and a half.

At a fundraiser show for the #NoDAPL (No Dakota Access Pipeline) movement last winter, the crowd sang along to the bands songs for the first time.

I thought that was awesome, Amble said.

Last spring at Mid West Music Fest, the band headlined at the Root Note in La Crosse with Minneapolis hip hop artist Toki Wright, who went on stage and freestyled with the group during their set.

That was huge, Smith said. Toki is a huge influence on me.

Last summer, KCS played a show with General B and The Wiz, a band most members hold in high regard.

That was one where we let go and had a really fun time on stage, Nielson said. Seeing the crowd dance to something I was playing was a really huge moment for me.

Now the band is ready to throw the best dance party of 2018 with General B and The Wiz, and Super Fun Yeah Yeah Rocketship, and the self-proclaimed dance-along show Koo Koo Kangaroo.

Saint Marys University alum Bryan Atchinson, one half of the Koo Koo Kangaroo duo, said February will mark 10 years since he and fellow Saint Marys alum Neil Olstad formed the comedic dance-pop duo.

We have played some pretty awesome shows in Winona, Atchison said. Its a pretty special city to us ... and nothing beats Eds.

They pride themselves on their ability to engage the audience and get them dancing along to their set. Their first show was a battle of the bands at Saint Marys Page Theatre. Atchison said they used every inch of the stage for their performance, which set the tone for how theyd continue performing for the ensuing decade.

We just love to dance and get total inclusion from the audience, Atchison said. Get ready to dance ... dont come if youre going to stand there with your hands in your pockets.
One person was injured when their vehicle hit a tree and caught on fire in Wabasha on Wednesday morning.

Gayle Grace Grippen, 71, of Wabasha was traveling north on Hwy. 61 just south of Wabasha around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, when she lost control of the vehicle, drove off to the right of the roadway and hit a tree, causing her car to start on fire.

Grippen was taken to St. Elizabeths Medical Center in Wabasha with non-life threatening injuries. She was not wearing her seat belt at the time of the accident, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The Wabasha fire and police departments and ambulance service and the Wabasha County Sheriffs Office assisted on the scene of the accident.
Opal Fitch wasnt merely president of Pickwick Mill Inc. and a guardian of the 160-year-old limestone flour mill.

No, to many of the people who knew her, Opal Fitch was Pickwick Mill.

I dont think Pickwick Mill would exist as it is without her efforts, said Douglas Hubbard, who sits on the mills board of directors and got to know Opal well over the years. Now, after Opals death Dec. 24, Hubbard and others face the colossal task of running Pickwick Mill without the help of a woman who not only loved the place  but who shared an address with it.

We need more volunteers, and were going to need everyone to step up, said Hubbard, himself a longtime volunteer. Were going to survive, but it's impossible to replace Opal.

As a girl, Opal Fitch would visit Pickwick Mill whenever her family needed to grind corn into cornmeal or draw water from the creek out back.

Over the years, she learned of the mills significance to her tiny town  Pickwick Mill produced flour for the Union Army and was a hub of activity in southeastern Minnesota for generations  and felt more and more drawn to the place.

She lived in a white farmhouse just down the road from the mill, and as recently as this fall, when she was 93, Opal baked pies and made signs for the annual Pickwick Mill Day.

For many years, nothing happened at the mill without her knowing about it; she held board meetings at her dining room table.

Pickwick Mill, the old general store across the road and the church next to that  those were the anchors of her life and her existence, Hubbard said. She was the mover in this whole process. She was the fuel that kept the furnaces going.

In 1980, after torrential rains, Pickwick Mill was hit with the worst flood that Opal or anyone else could remember. The dam and the mills spillway were destroyed, and the building itself was critically damaged. There was talk of tearing it down.

Opal and others rallied to save the mill, forming the nonprofit known as Pickwick Mill Inc. and raising enough money to purchase and restore the old building.

They asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study flood prevention measures, and in 1987, the group raised nearly $400,000 to rebuild the dam and install erosion-control dikes.

We did what they said we couldnt, Opal told the Daily News in September 2016. Maybe thats why I like doing this.

Opals absence comes just four months after the death of Gene Gunderson, the mills vice president and longtime handyman. The mill has struggled over the years to recruit younger volunteers  a fact lamented by Opal  but it seems to Hubbard that the mill, for now, should be all right.

Weve picked up a few younger people, a couple guys in their 30s, he said. Our temporary president is in their late 50s, and we have some younger people on the board now. We have some people who I think will continue to support our efforts.

Though Pickwick Mill is open to the public from May to October, the job of maintaining the mill and preserving its place in the community is a constant one.

Hubbard said volunteers are in the process of collecting the mill-related documents that Opal kept at her house.

Theyre working on a marketing campaign to draw more people to the mill and its annual celebration.

And in April, the board will appoint a president and vice president to fill the empty seats.

We have plans in place to hopefully make everything more efficient, and now that Opal has passed, we all have to rededicate ourselves, said Hubbard, who believes the mill is far too valuable to risk losing.

Its a look at how this area was developed, how pioneers came here and enhanced their lives," he said. "It shows the substance that existed in the people who lived here. And its just a huge edifice thats well-built, that can withstand the test of time.
There is not a small amount of irony here  the guy who spawned the term fake news is the primary person in the nation creating it and disseminating it. There are so many examples  more than 2000 since his (poorly attended) inauguration  that are well documented elsewhere.

But the most recent example of the guys disseminating fake news  i.e., lying  yet again lays bare not only this nasty behavior but also far more about why he is doing damage to the republic.

In an Oval Office meeting with senators on Jan. 11, the President said, Why are we having all these people from sh**hole countries come here? When asked about what he said, he issued a statement that included this: The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.

That is a lie. It was verified multiple times, and one Senator present said he used the derogatory language repeatedly.

So, he is a knee-jerk liar.

But what about the nature of the content of this particular lie, and what does it have to say about the character and core beliefs of this most mean-spirited and arrogant of Presidents?

One person who DOES disseminate fake news, political satirist Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker, heads his witty news columns as Not the News. He of course had a column about the Presidents sh**hole statement, but the last paragraph of that column was what most grabbed my attention because it rang so true. In Borowitzs imagined take on the incident, a bunch of representatives of the nations maligned by the President got together to issue a statement of their own. In part, it read as follows:

We do not understand President Trumps aversion to so-called sh**hole countries, since he is doing his best to turn the United States into one.

Who the President is -- what he says and what he does and how he comports himself  reflects on everyone in our nation, and says to all the other nations of the world who we are as a nation. Shame on him.

Tim Hatfield, Winona
The Klingons are recruiting in Baraboo. Their pitch? Join or die.

A local couple has created a chapter of the Klingon Assault Group, an international Star Trek fan organization. Lifelong Trekkie Bob Poole and wife Eilene Sullivan will hold a meeting Saturday in hopes of filling their ranks.

Their goal? Defeating Starfleet, of course. But also, making friends and having fun.

Youre like a big family of geeks, Poole said. Im always meeting new old friends.

He has turned heads at Fair on the Square and the Paws for a Cause walk, walking the grounds in full Klingon regalia. He and his wife are effective fundraisers for the Sauk County Humane Society. The menacing grin and a prop gun make Poole rather persuasive.

We do everything and anything we can for the Humane Society, Poole said.

He is a veteran of science fiction fan conventions, where he isnt the only guy walking around in a Klingon costume. If he can drum up enough support, hed like to bring small, starter conventions to Baraboo.

Its fun to play dress-up and be somebody else for a while, Poole said.

A Muscoda native and former private investigator, Poole moved back to Wisconsin four years ago to be near his aging mother. In 2013, he married Sullivan, in costume, at a convention in St. Louis.

It interested her to be silly and goofy, he said. She firmly embraces geekdom.

Theyre very much a family, Sullivan said. Its a lot of fun.

A decade earlier, Poole left the enemy  he was a four-star general in a Starfleet fan group  to play the villain. He liked that the Klingons ask for no membership dues and enforce only one rule: Have fun.

Someones got to be the antagonist to the protagonist, Poole said.

Also, the Klingons lack Starfleets tiresome rules of succession. Among the Klingons, the only way anyone could take Pooles job as leader of the local group would be to kill him. You never know, that might come in the not-too-distant future, Sullivan said with a smile, because Im the next one in line.

Shes kidding about wanting to take control, and there are no assassinations in the Klingon Assault Group. For now, the local chapters only activity is supporting the Humane Society. Meetings will be held the third Saturday afternoon of each month at Pizza Ranch.

For the inaugural meeting, Poole will don his costume and makeup, an hourlong process. This involves putting on a wig and headpiece while wearing a plastic bag over his head. I keep threatening him that Im going to tie it, Sullivan said.

Poole said all sci-fi fans are welcome, whether theyre fans of the original TV Star Trek series, the spinoffs or the movies. We dont discriminate, he said.

His voyage toward becoming a Klingon began the instant he saw the USS Enterprise flash across his black-and-white television in 1966. When Star Trek first appeared on the screen, I was in love, he said.

Poole has roped his wife into his boyhood obsession, and hopes to enlist reinforcements to conquer Baraboo in the name of the Klingon Empire. Come on out; meet us all, he said. Get to know us, get to know Klingon Assault Group, get to know who you really are.
Sauk County voters wont get a chance this spring to tell lawmakers how they feel about the process of drawing political districts to benefit one party.

A proposed countywide referendum on redistricting reform died Tuesday when a committee voted 3-2 against sending it to the Sauk County Board for an up-or-down vote.

Citizens from around the county poured into a room in the West Square Building in Baraboo to witness the debate. All 21 members of the public who spoke to the committee expressed support for the referendum  and an end to gerrymandering.

Everybodys been saying enough is enough, said Trish Henderson of Reedsburg. Give us a chance to document it and show how we want things done.

During the debate that followed, committee member Wally Czuprynko of Lake Delton said people in the room had been misled. He said the county board already had expressed its support for nonpartisan reforms in a September resolution that it sent to the Legislature.

Czuprynko echoed the view of a Wisconsin Counties Association attorney, who said it seemed odd for the board to consider an advisory referendum after it already had passed its own resolution.

Im totally confused, Czuprynko said. We already did this for you. Why do you want to do it again?

Members of the public gave committee member William Hambrecht of Prairie du Sac a round of applause when he responded, saying the ballot question was different because it would give citizens a chance to express their views.

Hambrecht said an advisory referendum would provide lawmakers an exact hard count number of Sauk County voters who want reform.

If you look at the amount of people we have here at this meeting, you can see its a big deal, Hambrecht said. Weve never had this many people here, even for controversial issues.

Hambrecht asked Sauk County Clerk Becky Evert how much it would cost to add the advisory referendum to April 3 ballots. There were gasps and laughter throughout the room when Evert replied with the price tag: $68.

Supervisor Becky Hovde of Baraboo, one of several non-committee members who attended the meeting, offered to pay for the referendum herself.

Members of the public also disputed referendum opponents who worried that it would irritate those in the Legislature who dont want redistricting reform. They said lawmakers work for the public, not the other way around.

One referendum opponent, committee member Dennis Polivka of Spring Green, a one-time Republican candidate for Wisconsin Assembly, stood by the idea that the county shouldnt upset state legislators.

Polivka said lawmakers from both parties provide assistance to local governments, and that the county shouldnt kick people that we work with in the groin, because they help us.

Committee member Marty Krueger of Reedsburg, the board chair who previously had invoked the same argument, seemed less concerned about irritating lawmakers Tuesday.

Im not going to support this, because I believe that if this is going to go on a referendum  if the county board is going to cause it to be on a ballot  it should be in November, when the state races are up, when the folks that have to answer to these issues and have charge of them are up for election, he said.

Krueger also took aim at the media, alleging the Baraboo News Republic had not published comments a former Republican lawmaker made during an interview praising the board for its September resolution.

A Jan. 9 article that explained former state Sen. Dale Schultzs position on the proposed Sauk County referendum stated, Schultz said the county board deserves credit for calling on state lawmakers to enact nonpartisan redistricting reform in its September resolution.

A Jan. 10 article rehashed Schultzs position on the referendum, but did not include his comments about the boards previous action.

Committee member Joan Fordham of Baraboo, the boards vice chair, did not vocalize any support for or opposition to running an April 3 advisory referendum. She previously has expressed concerns about its timing in light of a U.S. Supreme Court case over gerrymandering.

Fordhams opponent in the spring election, Tim Reppen of Baraboo, spoke during public comments Tuesday, and said he supported the referendum.

Fordham and Hambrecht voted to send the referendum on to the board for an up-or-down vote. Krueger, Polivka and Czuprynko voted that down.

When the full board convened for its monthly meeting minutes later, the referendums sponsor, Supervisor Peter Vedro of Baraboo, attempted a parliamentary maneuver to allow consideration of the referendum despite the committees vote.

He cited a county board rule that says under emergency conditions the board may consider resolutions that have not been approved by a committee.

After consulting with the county attorney, Krueger ruled that the referendum could not be considered. Vedro appealed the ruling, and the board voted 18-10 against the appeal.

Vedro then called for a division of the house, in which board members were asked to register their votes by standing.

If it had been approved, the referendum would have placed the following question on April 3 election ballots: Should the Wisconsin legislature create a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional redistricting plans?

The referendum was to be advisory, meaning it would have given voters a chance to express their views to lawmakers. It could not have compelled the Legislature to act.
A lot of people are upset with the president for embarrassing our country last week, but he might have done me a favor.

Any guy who, like me, sometimes stoops to profanity in moments of pique can point to President Donald Trump as an example of how any man  even the leader of the free world  can understandably let slip with the occasional obscenity.

During a conversation with lawmakers on immigration, Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as (blank)hole countries, a remark that appeared verbatim in many  but not all  newspapers. My employer has opted not to print the term, but I have permission to use alternatives such as (blank)hole, poop hole and doody hole. I hope you get the idea.

And I hope one day Trumps trail-blazing profanity will yield benefits for a guy who, for the sake of a good punchline, sometimes wouldnt mind pushing the bounds of what words are appropriate to publish in a family newspaper. If its suddenly OK to put the term dookie hole on the CNN news crawl and on the front page of the paper, who knows whatll come next? Trump has set a new, lower standard. A presidents precedent.

There are all kinds of bad words Id love to sneak into this column  not the big ones, mind you, but something stronger that turd hole. Until last week, I never couldve hoped to swear in the paper. But now that the Associated Press quoted Trump cussing in a lead paragraph on a top national story, theres no going back. One day, even family-friendly papers like the one youre holding will cave to cursing. Thanks, Mr. President!

Many Americans were shocked not only by the vulgarity of Trumps language, but by the thought that the man in charge of our melting pot considers arrivals from certain countries to be, in the parlance of the Hillary Clinton campaign, undesirables. Many believe the president embarrassed the U.S.

But lets be honest with ourselves: That ship has long since sailed. It left port 20 years ago when we found out where Bill Clinton puts his cigars. And under Trump, its been full steam ahead. After claiming Mexico only sends us criminals, accusing China of raping our economy and calling Germany a total mess, weve gotten used to making waves overseas.

And those are just his missteps on the international scene. At home, he has mocked a disabled reporter, called CNN fake news and committed a multitude of other gaffes too numerous to mention. Its a bit late for us to start blushing.

Theres little doubt the president is taking America down a peg in the worlds estimation. It was one thing for George W. Bush to speak English like it was his second language, but its quite another for Trump to call Kim Jong Un rocket man and stoke a pissing contest that could incite nuclear war. (I also have permission to use the term pissing.)

I know some readers arent comfortable with foul language. I could claim Im not, either, but then my wife might share with the world her suspicion that I suffer from an undiagnosed case of Tourettes syndrome. Before last week, a litany of profanities uttered in a moment of frustration  perhaps while watching the dreaded Minnesota Vikings win a playoff game in improbable fashion in the final seconds  wouldve seemed juvenile. Now it seems presidential. But perhaps Im repeating myself.

In any event, its an exciting new world for those of us in media hoping to add salty language to our comedic repertoire. Just look at Saturday Night Live, which used Trumps term  despite being instructed to say s-hole  several times during last weekends broadcast, along with a few other choice words, including an F bomb inadvertently dropped by host Sam Rockwell.

Lots of us are watching the president and following his example. Its coarse, of course, but some of us cant wait to see which curse will be next to get the presidential seal of approval.
JUNEAU  Preparing for the worst, Dodge County officials acted out a frightening scenario at the Dodge County Courthouse Monday in which a gunman burst through security and began shooting people.

Dodge County Emergency Management Director Amy Nehls said the exercise allowed the countys first-response community to test its ability to respond to an active shooting incident.

When we do these exercises, we are not here to find fault, Nehls said. We see how the plans play out. If it doesnt work well, those are the things you fix.

Staff from Dodge County as well as 24 other agencies participated. Although the courthouse was closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day, Nehls said county employees were at work, and many of the state employees, such as the district attorneys office and judges, volunteered to participate in the exercise.

First response and county agencies are regularly staffed and know of no threat, Nehls said during the briefing. It is a busy day in the Dodge County Courthouse.

A majority of the people entering the courthouse through the secured entrance were going to the second floor for a homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle trial in the simulation. But it was an initial appearance on the first floor that caused the incident.

Courthouse security witnesses a man jump the line for screening and go running toward Branch 5, Nehls said, describing the exercise. One officer radios for additional assistance and continues to staff the security station while the other pursues. Courthouse employees are notified to lock down their offices. As the man runs towards Branch 5, shooting people along the way, he is neutralized and additional resources start to arrive.

Law enforcement had their live weapons taken away during the exercise as an added safety measure. Nehls said the participants were told not to flee the building during the drill due to the wintry weather outside. Normally, she said, people should respond by hiding, fleeing or fighting.

Starter guns were shot on all the floors of the courthouse to allow those there to realize what a gunshot would sound like in the building.

We try to play this as realistic as possible, Nehls said.

Law enforcement rushed past the victims in order to deal with the shooter, but Nehls said there is a plan in place to take care of victims. Rescue Task Forces have two EMTs that are escorted by four officers. The walking wounded were directed to a casualty collection point. The deceased were left for the medical examiner. The EMTs then addressed the more seriously injured at the scene as soon as it was safe to do so.

Law enforcement continued to go through the entire building to make sure there are no additional threats.

If this was a real incident, youd hear a lot more screaming, Nehls said. Youd hear a lot more of everything.

It was the third part of a training series that was paid for by a federal Homeland Security grant. Nehls said they also practiced the lockdown procedure at the Henry Dodge Office Building, Dodge County Highway Department and Dodge County Administration Building.
JUNEAU  The Dodge County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved participating in an agreement with Iron Ridge to reconstruct the portion of Highway S that is in the village.

According to the resolution, Dodge County is the projects sponsor and responsible to pay the costs for the project. However, Dodge County and the village of Iron Ridge have agreed to the village reimbursing the county for the entire cost of the project.

The project on Highway S will go from Highway WS to Highway 67. It is estimated to cost $900,000.

Dodge County Highway Commissioner Brian Field said a majority of the costs will be paid back to Dodge County in 2018.

The project will be performed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation contractor and will include some village utility repairs and replacements.

In addition, the county board unanimously approved the purchase of a melter machine for the highway department. The 350-gallon mastic mixer, which is designed to help mix adhesive repair and bridge joint material, will be purchased from Mid-State Equipment and Supply for $66,000.
The Beaver Dam areas representative in the state Assembly shared his insights into current and future legislation at the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Network meeting Tuesday at the Beaver Dam Veterans Center.

Mark Born, a Republican from Beaver Dam who represents the 39th District, said the overall two-year state budget is set at $76 billion.

Thats all funds including federal money that comes in and goes to some of the welfare programs and the university system and segregated funds, he said.

While Republicans achieved many goals with their control of state government, not all news is positive.

To me, transportation is the most disappointing part of this budget, Born said. We werent able to do what I think we needed to do. There were increases in local road and bridge aids, which is good. Its something townships, cities and counties have all been talking about.

Local bridge funding and road improvement funding were increased by $10 million each.

On a related note, registration fees were increased by $75 for hybrid vehicles and $100 for electric vehicles, in part to compensate for the gas taxes that are not being paid by those drivers. Gas taxes, Born noted, support road repair and replacement costs.

Its not punishing the people who want to help the environment, Born said. What it boils down to is its a user fee so we all pay for the roads.

People always say, What about those big trucks? Theyre the ones who are damaging the roads. Well, the big trucks already pay more than half with the gas tax, vehicle registration and other fees. So its not like were not collecting from them.

Born suggests that ultimately tolls will provide the fairest way to fund road repairs and replacement.

Its a true use fee and captures the trucks and the cars in the same manner if youre driving on our Interstate system, Born said. There are issues with it because we have to get federal approval, and we need to do some studies to see how it will work. Weve already done two of the required studies and we put the third one into this budget. Unfortunately, the governor vetoed that study, so well try to put it into the next one and keep trying.

Its not a slam dunk, but I think its the best user fee available to us.

Overall bonding for road construction projects was reduced  making it the lowest level it has been in 10 years.

We had reached the point where too many of our transportation funds were going to the banks and not for building roads, Born said. So rather than fixing the revenue side, we kind of slowed down the debt. Its better than the alternative of continuing that climb.

He showed a pie chart with all the funds Wisconsin taxpayers contribute.

If you take income tax and sales tax, thats 80 percent of what the state collects, Born said. Most of the money goes into education (nearly $15 billion) including K through 12 and the states portion of higher education. Thats followed by human relations and resources ($11.4 billion), which includes things like Medicaid and other health and welfare programs  that also includes corrections, and how we interact with people outside of education. Shared revenue and tax relief just under ($5 billion) is money that we send back to local governments as well as stuff that we use like first-dollar credit to buy down your property tax.

One of the biggest changes from past budgets is a huge investment in education, with a $636 million increase to K-12 education.

Thats the largest dollar increase in state history for K-12 education, Born said. It was something the governor started out with and the Senate and Assembly agreed with. Most of that money is the $200 increase per pupil in the first year and $204 per pupil in the second year. Thats aid that goes directly to schools.

He is proud of his role in supporting special education supplements.

Education is a big spend and it needs to be, Born said. Its where our future workforce comes from and its also our constitutional responsibility. Its also necessary to build our economy and our future here in Wisconsin.

The budget keeps taxes lower than they were in 2010 and 2014  although Born noted that Beaver Dam residents will not see a reduction because of they approved a $49 million school referendum in November 2016.

Welfare programs are being targeted as an ongoing effort to get people back to work.

Its all continuing in the same direction of doing more to get people to work and making sure that the welfare program is offering a helping hand but not  as Governor Walker describes it  a hammock, Born said. Its not a place for people to hang out. They have to get back to work.

With this budget, were at the point where every program has some work component where able-bodied adults without dependents will have to do either worker training or actual work in order to get some of their benefits. All of the programs will also have a drug-testing component because again, how do you get and keep a job without staying off of drugs?
Communities impacted by the opioid epidemic may soon have hope of compensation in a new lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.

Juneau County has entered into a lawsuit with 12 other Wisconsin Counties. They are represented by the firms Crueger Dickinson and Simmons Hanly Conroy. The firms have experience in high-stakes litigation, consumer protection and mass tort actions. They also filed similar suits on behalf of 48 Wisconsin counties.

Opioid overdose in Wisconsin deaths rose by 645 percent over the last 16 years, from 111 deaths in 2000 to 827 deaths in 2016.

The defendants in the case are Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman; and Dr. Lynn Webster.

Juneau is accompanied in the suit by Brown, Crawford, Iron, Kewaunee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Portage, Racine, Richland and Winnebago Counties. The counties seek compensatory and punitive damages for the substantial costs they spend to combat the problems caused by addiction to the opioids manufactured by these companies.

Juneau County Board Chairman Alan Peterson said the county has been considering joining the lawsuit since about September. Peterson said he preferred counties file the lawsuit rather than states so they could directly receive compensation from a potential settlement or ruling.

When they get done, they expect all 72 counties will be in on it, Peterson said.

Juneau County Corporation Counsel David Lasker called the opioid epidemic an equal opportunity misery, saying it has affected communities regardless of income. Lasker said other similar cases are being currently litigated in other states.

According to the department of human services, hospital visits involving opioid acute poisoning (including overdose) increased from 25.3 to 52.0 per 100,000 between 2006 and 2014. Younger men are the most affected demographic.

Juneau County Health Officer Barb Theis said a full-time professional will likely be required to adequately fight the problem of drug addiction. We are writing for a drug free communities grant so we can have someone full-time, Theis said.

Families have been impacted as well as individuals. Director of Human Services Scott Ethun, said he has seen addiction in his area of work. Weve probably never had this many children in foster care or in placement, Ethun said. Ethun said staff report Seventy to 75 percent of those children were removed due to their parents having addiction issues the addiction is so strong for these people that their ability to parent is really compromised. Ethun believes addiction accounted for a smaller share of cases in the past.

The 81 page complaint has four main causes of action: deceptive trade practices, public nuisance, unjust enrichment, and intentional misrepresentation.

Lasker said the cause for deceptive trade practices is due to companies being having sucked in the public and the medical profession into believing that these substances are helpful and good for people. The cause for public nuisance gets at the fact that they have created this problem so that it is a problem for all of us in the community. Unjust enrichment is included because they have made themselves rich off the backs of people who are suffering. And intentional misrepresentation is included because it is alleged the companies are making claims about these things that they know are falls.

Opioid addiction has affected law enforcement as well. A lot of people in our jail are there because of addiction issues, Ethun said.

Some have drawn parallels between this lawsuit and the recent suit against tobacco companies which ended in a settlement. Lasker agrees with the assessment, but believes this case to be more egregious. There are many similarities, except I would say this is worse than tobacco in terms of impact on the public and the individuals who were victimized, Lasker said.

A court date has not been set for the case, but Lasker predicts the counties will prevail in some degree, if not completely.
A Madison woman faces criminal charges for crashing in to a semi truck and attempting to flee an officer.

Sarah Bires, 35, is charged with second degree recklessly endangering safety, attempting to flee or elude a traffic officer, and hit and run. She faces up to ten years imprisonment for the first charge.

According to the criminal complaint:

A Wisconsin State Trooper was informed of a hit and run complaint on Jan 7 at approximately 2:45 a.m. and dispatched to a rest area in Juneau County.

The complainant reported a maroon colored hatchback with a Wisconsin license plate had backed in to his semi and fled the scene. The car reportedly fled eastbound in the westbound lanes on I-90/94.

The trooper observed the damage to the semi, reporting the front bumper and deer guard were severely bent in and damaged.

Juneau County Dispatch aired a report of a wrong way driver on I-90/94 at milepost 67 at approximately 3:05 a.m.

A police officer proceeded to enter I-90/94 via the eastbound ramp and observed a vehicle coming towards him in the eastbound lanes. The officer reported the vehicle was moving very slow and noticed the vehicle swerving between lanes.

The vehicle eventually came to a stop and the officer activated his spotlight on the driver, later identified as Bires. Bires then backed up and drove around the officer down through the median and back onto the eastbound lanes headed westbound.

The officer pursued the vehicle in his squad car with emergency lights and siren active. The officer reported there were times all four tires were off the road way passed the fog lines. After a pursuit of approximately a mile, the driver stopped on the median side of the roadway.

The officer ordered Bires to exit the vehicle. She complied and was placed in handcuffs. The officer observed her eyes to be bloodshot and droopy. She was unable to walk straight and had a hard time balancing on her own. The officer asked how much shed had to drink. Bires replied two beers.

Later, the trooper who observed the damage to the semi met the officer on scene and found Bires in custody. Bires license plate and physical description matched the description given by the driver of the semi truck. Her vehicle had heavy damage to the rear area consistent with the damage to the semi truck.

Bires is not currently in the Juneau County Jail. She was released on three bonds totaling $1,439.3. Her next appearance in court is scheduled for Feb. 28.
When Kimberly Milligan moved into her California home in 2015, she was told her grandson might soon have a playmate, since a family of 12 lived across the street.

But Milligan never saw children scampering in the backyard, never heard playful screams.

A few times, Milligan saw a woman across the street with an infant cradled in her arms. She occasionally noticed three other children, who looked like they were 14 years old or younger.

Milligan and her neighbors in the quiet, nondescript suburban Perris neighborhood said they were shocked to learn that David Allen Turpin, 57, and his wife, Louise Anna Turpin, 49, are accused of holding their 13 children captive. Authorities said some of the children were shackled to beds with chains and padlocks.

"I'm devastated. It's so close to home -- literally," Milligan told CNN Tuesday.

Early Sunday, the Turpins' 17-year-old daughter climbed out of the house through a window and called 911 from a deactivated cell phone she found in the home, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.

The teenager, who authorities said "appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated," told officers her 12 siblings were being held against their will.

Sheriff's deputies went to the home on Sunday and found the 12 victims who "appeared malnourished and very dirty." Several children were shackled to their beds "in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the sheriff's department said.

Authorities arrested the couple that day on torture and child endangerment charges. The victims range in age from 2 to 29.

The suspects are being held in the Robert Presley Detention Center, each on $9 million bail, the sheriff's department said Monday. The couple is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, according to online records.

One neighbor told CNN affiliate KABC that she saw the parents being arrested early Sunday. The children were taken from the home in their pajamas, she said.

"They were very, very pale-skinned, almost like they've never seen the sun," said the neighbor, who did not wish to be identified.

"And it was mostly girls ... kind of small-framed," the neighbor said.

Jennifer Luna, another neighbor, shook her head in astonishment.

"It's so sad, so horrible," Luna told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS. "I can't believe this. I can't believe this."

The adult children are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona, and the six minor children are at Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley.

'They just froze'

Milligan was surprised to learn that the three children she believed to be adolescents were actually adults.

"I thought they were like 12, because they looked so malnourished, so pale," Milligan told KCAL/KCBS.

One encounter with them stood out to her in particular.

She and her son had finished putting up their Christmas decorations, when they noticed the three children across the street putting up a Nativity scene in front of their house. The Milligans walked over to compliment the children on the decorations.

"They froze," Milligan said. "They immediately shut down."

They seemed "scared to death," she said. "You could tell they were terrified."

Milligan said the children seemed to be on the defensive, "where they're trying to deter a threat, where they were like 'I'm invisible. You can't see me.'"

She and her son tried to reassure the children that they were neighbors from across the street.

"We're not trying to harm you. ... We just wanted to talk about your Christmas decorations," Milligan recalled them saying.

But the Turpin children stayed frozen.

"They didn't utter one word," Mulligan said.

Milligan said she never saw the Turpin kids decorating outside again.

CNN's Madison Park, Sonya Hamasaki, Stephanie Becker, Cheri Mossburg, Ray Sanchez, Braden Walker, Amanda Jackson, Artemis Moshtaghian, Holly Yan and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
A former CIA officer who allegedly kept small notebooks with handwritten lists of the real names of covert agency employees was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday night, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a 13-year veteran of the spy agency, was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The notebooks, described in a court filing as a datebook and an address book, were discovered in FBI searches of hotel rooms Lee stayed in in 2012, wrapped in a "small, clear plastic travel pack" inside his luggage, according to the court documents.

Written in their pages were the names and phone numbers of CIA assets and undercover employees, as well as the addresses of covert facilities and operational notes -- pieces of secret and top secret information "the disclosure of which could cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States," the government wrote.

Lee, 53, made an initial court appearance in Brooklyn on Tuesday and did not enter a plea, the Justice Department said. His attorney could not be immediately reached Tuesday evening.

A trained CIA case officer, Lee maintained a top secret security clearance from 1994 through 2007, when he left the agency, court documents say.

Lee, a naturalized US citizen currently living in Hong Kong, was in the process of moving to northern Virginia from Hong Kong when the FBI conducted the hotel room searches in August 2012. Lee and his family lived in northern Virginia until June 2013, court documents say.

Monday, when Lee was arrested in New York, was his first time back in the country since he moved in 2013, a person familiar with the case said.
As a vote on his fate draws near, state Ethics Administrator Brian Bell is ripping the former state ethics agency, the Government Accountability Board, saying he left it in 2015 because it enforced the law unevenly and one of its top attorneys, Democrat Shane Falk, displayed open partisanship.

In a memo released to lawmakers Wednesday, Bell gave his sharpest public denunciation yet of the now-defunct accountability board. It comes as the state Senate is poised to hold pivotal votes Tuesday on the confirmations of Bell and the state Elections Administrator, Mike Haas.

Wisconsin civic groups signaled Wednesday they may go to court over whether Republican legislators can forcibly remove the states Ethics and Elections administrators  as Fitzgerald is vowing to do through the confirmation vote.

Both Bell and Haas have held their positions since 2016. They have full-throated support from their employers, the bipartisan Ethics and Elections commissions.

But Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos say the administrators must go because they worked at the accountability board  which was officially nonpartisan and overseen by retired judges. GOP lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker disbanded the board, effective in 2016, after the state Supreme Court ended a secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers 2012 recall campaign. The GAB helped in that investigation.

Bell, in a memo to lawmakers Wednesday, singled out Falk  the accountability boards former staff counsel  saying he displayed open partisanship, defied his supervisors and enabled a climate at the GAB that made it acceptable to make offensive or disparaging remarks about political parties, candidates and elected officials.

Other staff, including some in management, furthered and tolerated such a climate, Bell wrote.

Falk, in an email response to the State Journal, said Brian must be under some extraordinary stress.

I barely (worked) with him at the GAB because he was in a low entry level position. I have no idea what he is referencing. It is really sad that he made such generalized and broad statements without any support, Falk wrote.

Bell also wrote that the accountability board didnt properly train staff or give them opportunities to advance and experienced high employee turnover. It also gave staffers great latitude to interpret and apply elections, ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws, he wrote.

These practices created and permitted inconsistent, subjective and biased actions of unevenly enforcing the laws, Bell wrote.

Fitzgerald said a Senate vote to not confirm Bell and Haas would forcibly remove them. Elections Commission chairman Mark Thomsen, a Democrat, has said the law only allows the Ethics and Elections commissions to do that.

At a press conference Wednesday, civic groups signaled their opposition to ousting Bell and Haas.

Well certainly reserve the right to go to court after the confirmation vote, if there is one, Jay Heck of Common Cause of Wisconsin.

Chris Ott, director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said the Senate does not have authority to oust the administrators if the six-member commissions  each of which include three Democrats and three Republicans  want them to stay.

Both commissions, whose members were appointed by state lawmakers, have been unanimous in their support for Haas and Bell.

They created these commissions and gave them the authority to hire and fire, Ott said.

Fitzgerald and others disagree. The nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau has said state law allows the administrators to serve with the Senates advice and consent. A Senate vote to not confirm them would mean their appointments are no longer valid and their positions vacated, according to the bureaus general counsel, Rick Champagne.

The calls for Bell and Haas to step aside came shortly after the state attorney general released a report last month into leaked documents from the investigation of Walkers 2012 recall campaign, known as John Doe II. The report by Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, called for discipline against 10 current or former public officials in connection with the leak. Neither Bell nor Haas were on that list.

Fitzgerald has refused to hold hearings in the Senate to allow the administrators to argue their case.

Matt Rothschild, director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said hes not convinced Republican senators are united in a desire to oust Haas and Bell. Republicans currently hold an 18-13 edge in the Senate, with two seats vacant due to senators resignations.

Democratic senators are expected to support the Bell and Haas confirmations  meaning at least three Republicans would need to join them in order to confirm the administrators.

Rothschild said he has been in contact with four GOP senators about the issue: Sens. Rob Cowles of Green Bay, Luther Olsen of Ripon, Jerry Petrowski of Marathon and Roger Roth of Appleton.

Roths office cited a December tweet in which Roth said he would oppose the Bell and Haas confirmations after reviewing the DOJ report into the John Doe leak.

The offices of Petrowski and Cowles did not immediately respond to inquiries about how theyll vote.

Olsen said hes leaning toward supporting confirming Haas and Bell, adding that hes scheduled to meet with Fitzgerald Thursday to discuss the matter.

Olsen said he read the Schimel report but found no evidence that Haas or Bell were involved with wrongdoing at the accountability board. He said he respects the will of the Ethics and Elections commissioners, who want to retain Bell and Haas.

Theyre a lot closer to the situation than I am, Olsen said.
The greatest threat to the United States is our conservative Congress.

We know that Russia interfered with our 2016 presidential election. Several members of President Donald Trumps campaign have admitted to, or been indicted on, charges involving Russian contacts. The Trump campaign may have colluded with Russia.

Conservatives, who used to accuse liberals of being soft on Russia, are not only ignoring Russian involvement but are trying to stop special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. What are they covering up, and why?

Greedy conservatives ignore Trumps sins  lying, racism, harassment of women, failure to acknowledge Russian involvement, etc.  because they are making money. They ignore the facts that the United States was recovering from the Great Recession long before Trump took office, and that stock markets around the world are doing better than ours.

We must restore our system of checks and balances. Our conservative Congress has been derelict in its duty to check our apparently unbalanced president. We need a more mature president than one who claims, My button is bigger than your button, and I am a very stable genius.

Now it is the conservative swamp that needs to be drained. We can do it in November.

Dave Wester, Baraboo
Portage Mayor Rick Dodd anticipated that Tuesdays quarterly listening session might be like the previous four  mainly a state of the streets address.

It was that, and much more. About a dozen people gathered at the Portage Public Librarys Bidwell Room for what turned out to be a free-wheeling discussion about how to make Portage a better place to live.

On the whole, Dodd said, hed rather such discussions took place in venues like this, instead of taking the form of anonymous poison-pen comments on social media.

If we cant hear the bad with the good, he said, we will never start turning around  and Ive heard a lot of bad about streets and housing.

Christopher Krause said his impressions of Portage are from the viewpoint of a newcomer, who liked what he saw  such as a vibrant-looking downtown retail district, the citys historic character and a movie theater within easy walking distance of his house  when he and his family settled in Portage a year and a half ago.

But when he drives to Baraboo to shop at one of the big-box retailers, he said he perceives that Baraboo has a vitality that Portage lacks.

They seem to showcase what they have a little better than we do, he said. We could capitalize on more things here in Portage.

Dodd said past Common Councils have made big-box merchants jump through hoops in their efforts to locate in Portage and as a result, the only current Portage enterprise that fits that description is Walmart at 2950 New Pinery Road.

But people who say theres not enough parking downtown may not realize that parking and shopping downtown are, on the whole, more convenient than walking across a huge parking lot and through the aisles of a massive store, Dodd said.

Besides, Dodd observed, Portages downtown is almost certain to get a shot in the arm when the Columbia County Department of Health and Human Services moves to its new building at 111 E Mullett St.  bringing between 50,000 and 60,000 more people into the downtown area annually, who will be looking for places to eat and shop.

Ken Grieb noted, however, that successful economic development requires a skilled workforce, and he said he wondered what the citys role should be in making sure that businesses have plenty of local people who want to, and are able to, work at the available jobs.

Where is the citys responsibility, he asked, for getting some qualified staff?

Dodd pointed to the Portage Enterprise Center, where Madison Area Technical College offers training for manufacturing workers, as one way in which the city helps boost the skills of the local workforce. Also, he pointed to recent efforts to address the transportation challenges of would-be workers.

Bill Barthen talked about the importance of citizen involvement, and went on record with his willingness to serve on one of the citys boards and commissions  to which Dodd replied, You may be hearing from me in April.

Dodd said the citys Historic Preservation Commission is the one that is, right now, in the most critical need of new members. That commission may have up to seven members, but now it has just four, and if one of the members follows through on plans to step down, it will not have a quorum and can neither meet nor plan activities.

As for the state of the streets, Dodd talked about:

Plans next year for major construction on West Carroll Street, followed in subsequent years on other streets in southwestern Portage, including Summit, West Pleasant and Conant streets.

A proposal to extend the citys multi-purpose trails to encompass the area along the Wisconsin River banks near Pauquette Park.

The wheel tax  a surcharge on vehicle registration fees expected to generate $250,000 this year, for crack-filling and chip-sealing streets, thereby extending their life.

Dodd reiterated a message hed given last week to the Womens Civic League of Portage, about the challenge of addressing aging infrastructure in one of Wisconsins oldest cities.

Overall, however, Dodd said he feels pretty good about the citys direction.

I think were making the right moves, in the right direction, he said. It just takes a while for it to catch on.
And now for something completely different  a worm with three sexes

Three-sexed worm: Diane Shakes is one of the authors on a paper examining the odd genetics of a nematode species, knowledge that has important human-health implications. Photo by Joseph McClain Photo - of - Hide Caption

Diane Shakes shakes her head. A trisexual arrangement is really not so different. Three sexes  male, female and hermaphrodite  are part of the plan for many organisms. Theres even a word for it: trioecious.

And Shakes points out that hermaphroditism has a rich, varied and distinguished place in natural history.

Its pretty common among invertebrates, she said. Whats not quite so common are self-fertile hermaphrodites. Think about earthworms: Theyre hermaphrodites, but it still takes two, because of the way the sex works, theyre not self-fertile.

Other organisms display sequential hermaphroditism, she said. Oysters and other shellfish change from male to female as they age. And in some organisms, when the leader of the pack dies, another changes sex to be the new leader, she explained.

Shakes is a professor in William & Marys Department of Biology. She and her collaborators have been examining Auanema rhodensis, a species of nematode that brings a completely different take to hermaphroditism. She is co-author on a paper in Current Biology that examines the genetics behind the worms curious trisexual reproductive strategy.

Were talking about three sexes, here, she explained. Theres males and females  and also hermaphrodites. Their bodies look like a female, but they make both eggs and sperm.

Like most animals, human reproduction relies on sex chromosomes labeled X and Y. Human females are XX and males are XY. Males produce a 50:50 mix of X and Y sperm, and the winning sperm ultimately determines the sex of the children.

Shakes explained that consistent with Mendelian genetics, individual families may not have a 50:50 ratio of boys and girls  but the overall human population stays right at this mark. In A. rhodensis, both the females and hermaphrodites are XX, whereas the males have a single X and no Y. This species not only manages three sexes, but its inheritance patterns confound the predictions of Mendelian genetics.

What weve figured out is that A. rhodensis has developed ways to stray from the genetics rulebook  specifically in regards to how it handles its X chromosome, she said.

Shakes is one of the authors of Sex- and Gamete-Specific Patterns of X Chromosome Segregation in a Trioecious Nematode, published in the journal Current Biology. The co-authors also include Maureen Farrell M.S. 15, now at medical school at Drexel University, and Penny L. Sadler, a former senior research associate in the William & Mary bio department. The work was partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

In previous studies, Shakes and colleagues discovered that the sperm-producing cells in A. rhodensis males have hijacked a cellular program normally used to streamline sperm in order to produce exclusively X-bearing sperm. Thus, when males cross with females, they produce only female offspring.

If that wasnt crazy enough, in this new study, weve found that the hermaphrodites are also manipulating the genetic dice, she said.

Shakes explained that standard genetic rules predict that XX hermaphrodites should produce 1X eggs and 1X sperm. They found that A. rhodensis hermaphrodites break these rules by producing sperm with two X chromosomes and eggs with none.

We are still figuring how exactly they do this, but this setup yields pretty interesting genetics, she said.

Shakes explained that A. rhodensis is fully and truly a trisexual species. The hermaphrodites may be self-fertile, but they also are sexually versatile, happy to breed with males and females of the species.

When hermaphrodites produce offspring through self-fertilization, they produce mostly XX females and XX hermaphrodites, she said. However, when hermaphrodite cross with males, the joining of 1X male sperm with no-X eggs yields a jackpot of male offspring!

The trisexual A. rhodensis is an interesting animal in its own right, but the scientists exploration of oddities in nematode chromosome segregation has important human-health implications.

Chromosome segregation refers to the tango of DNA strands in both meiosis (which produces egg and sperm cells) as well as mitosis (which produces new body cells). When the dance of chromosome segregation gets out of step, bad things can happen.

Abnormalities in chromosome segregation, in most cases, cause an embryo to be spontaneously aborted in the first couple of weeks, Shakes explained. The ones we hear about are the ones that survive to term. The most famous, of course, is Downs syndrome, where there's one extra copy of one tiny chromosome.

In addition to missteps in embryo development, Shakes points out that chromosome segregation errors raise their ugly heads in the development of many cancers.

If you look at a cancer cell, there's going to be weird numbers of chromosomes. You will have broken and reattached chromosomes, those sort of things, she said. When you go from a benign tumor into malignant cancer, its really common to find defects in chromosome segregation.

Nematodes offer an excellent proxy for the study of human genetics. Both humans and the model nematode C. elegans have roughly the same number of genes, and many of these genes are functionally identical.

However, Shakes noted that the C. elegans genome is much more compact, with less DNA per cell. Nematodes have only six or seven chromosomes, whereas humans have 23. The relative compactness of the nematode genome led to C. elegans being the first multicellular organism to have its genome sequenced.

It became the working model for the Human Genome Project, she said. C. elegans has about 20,000 genes. Learning that was a sort of humbling experience because it's got about the same number of genes as a human.

But there is a difference in the two nematode species. C. elegans has two, not three, sexes  males and hermaphrodites. For A. rhodensis, having three sexes gives it additional reproductive tactics. In A. rhodensis, being a hermaphrodite with the ability to make both eggs and sperm is coupled with passage through a specialized, developmentally rugged larval stage.

These hermaphrodites are the explorers, Shakes said. They go find a new food patch and when they get there, they can reproduce all by themselves. During their rugged larval stage, they have features that help them resist environmental stressors, and they exhibit behaviors that maximize their dispersal.

The adaptive advantages of being a self-fertilizing hermaphrodite are obvious. Theres none of that tedious mate-selection and courtship nonsense. If youre a hermaphrodite A. rhodensis all alone on a desert island, you wont be for long. And the DNA of the offspring is all pure you, of course.

But there is a price to pay for those advantages. Self-fertilizing hermaphrodites dont endow their offspring with the genetic diversity that come from male-female breeding and that benefits progeny in the long run.

Another disadvantage of their self-service sex life is that for hermaphrodites, passage through that rugged larval stage delays the onset of sexual maturity. Whereas males and females grow from embryo to sexual maturity in three to four days, the larval program of a hermaphrodite adds a whole day to the nematodes maturation, Shakes explained.

One day, in the context of three or four days, is significant, she said. So if you make males and females, they're going to produce grandchildren for you faster.

Shakes says her hypothesis on the reproductive strategy of the three-sexed A. rhodensis can be summed up as canny evolutionary hedge-betting.

I think of the species as a gambler, she said. It's always placing bets on if life is going to get bad or if it's going to get good.

Those bets take the form of the mix of offspring sexes, Shakes explained: The ultimate goal is to make as many great-grandchildren as possible.

A good life for a colony of nematodes is pretty basic. Shakes sums it up: I've got plenty of bacteria to chew on and my progeny will have the same  but the environment could change very quickly.

When life is good, a male-female mix will pay off. When things begin to change for the worse, a worm will want to breed a lot of tough little hermaphrodites who will go out into the wider world to explore new food patches and start new colonies.

The curious thing is that we don't actually know that much about what they are doing in the wild, she said. There's not a lot of research on that, but there are a lot of features that suggests that in the wild, there are a lots of hermaphrodites.

A. rhodensis was found only twice in the wild, Shakes said. One was in Connecticut and another was in Appalachian Virginia. Both specimens were found associated with other animals, a dead tick and a beetle. She says the tough, exploring nematodes were probably interested in transportation.

They're probably not infecting those beetles or ticks, but theyll actually sit there and flail in the air. They're trying to get picked up by an insect. They want to ride. they're only a millimeter long  they can only crawl so far, Shakes explained. If they can get picked up by a beetle or a tick or something, they can move much further.




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US uranium producers call for 'level playing field'

17 January 2018

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The USA's two main uranium producers yesterday filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) seeking an investigation into the effects of uranium imports on US national security. Energy Fuels Inc and Ur-Energy are calling for a limit to imports that would reserve 25% of the US nuclear market for domestic uranium production.

White Mesa uranium mill (Image: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission/Energy Fuels)

The petition, filed under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, describes how the loss of a viable US uranium mining industry would have a "significant detrimental impact" on the country's national, energy and economic security and its ability to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle.

Imports from Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan now fulfil nearly 40% of US demand, the companies said. Such imports of uranium and nuclear fuel - produced by enterprises that are state-owned and state-subsidised - have "in large part" been responsible for a decrease of domestic US uranium production to "near historic" lows in 2017. Production is likely to be even lower this year, they said.

Further pressure will be placed on US uranium producers from China, which has significantly grown its state-owned enterprises and announced its intention to enter the US nuclear fuel market in direct competition with US miners, the companies said. The expiry in 2020 of the US-Russia Antidumping Suspension Agreement - which limits US imports of uranium from Russia - will add further pressure.

A healthy uranium mining industry is vital to US national security both to supply fuel for nuclear power plants and to support national defence, the companies said. The DOC in 1989 launched a Section 232 investigation, at the request of the US Department of Energy, because of concerns that uranium imports exceeded 37.5% at that time. "The problem is far worse now," they said.

According to the 2017 edition of the US Energy Information Administration's annual uranium marketing report, 11% of the 50.6 million pounds U3O8 purchased by the owners and operators of US nuclear power plants in 2016 was of US origin. Uranium originating in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan accounted for 38%, with uranium of Australian and and Canadian origin accounting for 40%. The remaining 22% originated from Brazil, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, South Africa, and Ukraine.

"Today's extreme dependence is not a matter of foreign competition legitimately underpricing domestic production. It is the result of certain foreign state-subsidy policies that undermine US companies who could otherwise compete fairly on a global basis," the companies said.

The remedies sought under the petition would set a quota to limit imports of uranium into the USA, effectively reserving 25% of the market for domestic production. It also suggests that federal utilities be required to buy US uranium in accordance with President Donald Trump's 'Buy American' policy. These remedies, the companies say, are expected to result in US utilities purchasing about 12 million pounds U3O8 per year from domestic production, creating a "healthy" US uranium mining industry, bolstering national defence and improving diversity of supply.

Production would come from existing US producers, other US producers that are currently on standby because of low uranium prices, and new producers.

"US uranium producers will continue to compete with global uranium producers, but on a more level playing field," the companies said.

The price of US uranium would be expected to increase through domestic competition to levels more consistent with unsubsidised global uranium production costs, but modelling has shown the average price impact to consumers will be negligible.

"There can be no certainty of the outcome of the investigation or the recommendation of the Secretary, and therefore the outcome of this process is uncertain.

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorises the Secretary of Commerce to conduct comprehensive investigations to determine the effects of imports of any article on the national security of the United States. Once the DOC initiates an investigation, the secretary has 270 days to prepare a report to the President, who then has 90 days to act on the secretary's recommendations.

Energy Fuels Inc and Ur-Energy are both based in Denver, Colorado. Energy Fuels' uranium production includes the country's only currently operating conventional uranium mill, White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch in-situ leach facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa ISL project in Texas, which is currently on care and maintenance due to low uranium prices. Ur-Energy operates the Lost Creek ISL facility in Wyoming.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS: AkzoNobel speciality chemicals said that it is investing more than 12 million to expand production capacity and upgrade its organic peroxides facility in Los Reyes, Mexico. Organic peroxides are essential ingredients in the manufacturing of a wide range of polymers.

The project involves a construction of a new facility to make Perkadox CH-50 organic peroxides, which are sold primarily into the thermoset resin market, where the company is a global market leader. One of the key growth segments for this market is ambient temperature curing of acrylic resins, which are used in road marking, resurfacing and roofing applications.

The investment is the latest in a series of recent investments at the Los Reyes site by the companys polymer chemistry business. In January 2017, it finalized a 22 million organic peroxides expansion, followed in May by the completion of a project which increased overall peroxyester capacity in North America by 40 percent. The latest expansion project is expected to be completed by May 2019.

We have a growing portfolio of customers, so continued investment to increase production capability at Los Reyes is critical to ensure we continue to meet demand while positioning ourselves for sustainable growth. Mexico is an important market for us. Expanding our operations in Los Reyes also means we will need to hire more people, which is good news for the local economy, said Johan Landfors, executive committee member responsible for polymer chemistry.

The investments have reinforced our leadership position in the global market for chemicals to the polymer industry. We are committed to investing in production capabilities across all our businesses so we can support the growth of our customers in key markets around the world, added Werner Fuhrmann, CEO of AkzoNobel speciality chemicals.

 Worldofchemicals News
A woman who made history for being the first female Somali immigrant to become a police officer got arrested.

24-year-old Zahra Abu of Portland, Maine, was arrested at a concert in Massachusetts on Saturday night.

Abu was charged assault and battery, trespass, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace, according to Portland police Chief Michael Sauschuck.

Abu has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Abu was arrested during the concert featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti because she was acting unruly and pushing people, police said.

She was asked to leave numerous times, and when she refused, police were called and she was arrested.

Abu made headlines in 2016 when she became the first member of the Somali immigrant community in Maine to become a police officer in the state.

Abu was born in a Kenyan refugee camp and moved to Maine with her family when she was 2-years-old. She graduated from Deering High School and the University of Southern Maine.
Bucket collections at local supermarket delivers a major hospice donation

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 17th, 2018

Staff and customers at a local supermarket have raised over 1700 for a local hospice following monthly bucket collections at the store.

The team at Iceland in Gwersyllt donated a grand total of 1712 to Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham following success of the fundraising.

The collections have been underway on the first Saturday of every month for the past ten months.

Store Manager James Roberts said: We have many requests for collections at the store and when Nightingale House Hospice approached us, we were more than happy to accommodate a regular collection for them as their work has touched the lives of so many of our staff and customers.

Nightingale House Hospice Area Fundraiser Sam Eastwood said: We are so grateful for the support of local stores to help us collect money.

Staff and customers at Gwersyllt Iceland have been so generous and have raised a substantial amount for our Hospice.

We are here for the local community and it is so good to know that the community is here for us too.
Weather warning issued with strong winds forecast to hit Wrexham overnight

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 17th, 2018

Theres more bad weather on the way for Wrexham with gusts expected to reach nearly 50mph overnight.

The Met Office have issued a Yellow Weather Warning covering Wrexham, Wales and large parts of the north west of England, between 12:05am and 11am on Thursday 18th January.

It it forecast that some parts of the country, including coastal areas, could be hit by gusts of between 50-60mph.

Current forecasts for Wrexham show that gusts will reach 32mph at midnight, before peaking at 48mph at 3am. However it will still be a blustery morning for those heading out and about first thing, with gusts of 34mph at 6am.

Details released by the Met Office state that the strongest winds are expected to transfer eastwards across the warning area before clearing by mid morning

The Chief Forecasters assessment, adds: Gusts of 50-60 mph are likely quite widely. There is some uncertainty over the peak gusts, but there is a small chance of winds reaching 70 mph in places  most likely across coastal north Wales and northwest England during the middle part of the night and then across parts of Lincolnshire and East Anglia early on Thursday morning.

It is the second weather warning issued by the Met Office this week, with ice and snow flurries hitting the Wrexham area overnight.
Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images(VANCOUVER, Canada) -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is "ready for serious negotiations" if North Korea shows itself to be a "credible partner."

Tillerson made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart at the conclusion of a global summit on the security situation on the Korean peninsula, known as the Vancouver Group.

"We had constructive discussions about how to push our diplomatic efforts forward, and prepare for the prospects of talks," Tillerson told reporters in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday. "But productive negotiations require a credible negotiating partner. North Korea has not yet shown themselves to be that credible partner."

He added that the U.S. has sent "clear messages" to North Korea that they are "ready for serious negotiations," but the regime must pause its nuclear and ballistic missile tests -- what Tillerson called an "indicator of whether the regime is truly ready to pursue a peaceful diplomatic solution to the security threat that it has created."

Tillerson would not comment on remarks President Donald Trump made to The Wall Street Journal last week that he had a "good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump has accused The Wall Street Journal of misquoting him.

The Vancouver Group on Tuesday consisted of the original U.N. Command Sending States -- the countries that provided troops and supplies to U.N. forces to defend South Korea in the Korean War. Allies like South Korea, Japan, Sweden and India were also invited to the summit, but noticeably absent were China and Russia.

A senior State Department official defended the decision to not invite those nations, emphasizing they were not U.N. Command Sending States. The official said Tillerson will give readouts to his counterparts in Beijing and Moscow after the summit.

Tillerson said the "unity" with others in the region, "most particularly China and Russia," will remain despite North Korea's attempts to divide them. At the same time, the secretary called on China and Russia specifically to fully implement sanctions against North Korea agreed upon in U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Strengthening the enforcement of existing sanctions was a key goal of Tuesday's meeting, which included how nations can better counter sanctions evasion through smuggling. Tillerson called on nations to "strengthen global maritime interdiction operations to foil illicit ship to ship transfers."

"I think that because [North Korea is] feeling bite of sanctions, they're looking for ways to cheat and to smuggle illicit goods. And interdiction is just one option," the senior State Department official said.

South Korea has already seized two ships accused of smuggling goods into North Korea, including a Hong Kong-flagged oil tanker in December.

The official emphasized that every country has a role to play in interdiction, whether it's reporting illegal activity, sharing intelligence, refusing to allow ships that have engaged in illicit activities from coming to their ports, or de-flagging ships found complicit in violating U.N. sanctions.

"No nation is too small to play an effective role implementing sanctions against North Korea, to deepen their financial and diplomatic isolation," the official said.

When asked about the threat of war with North Korea, Tillerson mentioned the regime's latest nuclear test in September, as well as progress made on their 15 ballistic missile tests in 2017, saying, "We have to recognize that that threat is growing and if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation, then they themselves will trigger an option.

"The situation only gets worse, it gets worse with each step they take, it gets worse with time," Tillerson added. "That is not working to their objectives of wanting to be secure. They are not more secure; they are becoming less secure."

He said he did not believe that message was "resonating" with North Korea, but that there was a "realization" on the regime's part that the world would never accept them as a nuclear power.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
TUSCOLA -- The Douglas County Ag Center Committee is accepting scholarship applicants for students with an interest in agriculture to apply for the Douglas County Ag Center Scholarship, according to a press release.

Previous scholarship winner Thomas Titus had the ultimate goal of continuing his education to seek a career field that he could be passionate about. Receiving the Douglas County Ag Center Scholarship gave him the opportunity and exposure to network with ag professionals and further shape the direction he wanted to take his education and career

As a young person with a strong agricultural background and upbringing, I knew attaining a higher education in agriculture was something of great importance, said Titus.

I wanted to continue to broaden my outlook, experience, and career opportunities within the agricultural field. It would provide me with great opportunities. With the continued diversification and specialization of agriculture, there were endless opportunities for an individual like myself, continued Titus.

Titus attended Arcola High School. At the time, there were no agriculture classes, but Arcola High School now offers an agricultural curriculum to its students. After graduation, Titus attended Lake Land College for two years. He was a member of the Lake Land Livestock Judging team. He continued his education at the University of Illinois with a major in Agricultural Education.

Titus also served on the U of I livestock judging team and the U of I Meats Judging team. During college, Titus served one year as the IL Pork Youth Ambassador for the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Livestock evaluation was a rather time intensive extracurricular activity for me, so receiving the Ag Center Scholarship gave me the opportunity to place greater focus on my education and livestock judging with less focus on the continual rise of tuition, stated Titus.

One of the great benefits of scholarship opportunities is to be able to collaborate with ag professionals across a diverse platform; and after completing my education, I developed this network to determine what career path would be the most appropriate fit for me, said Titus.

After college, Titus wanted to seek out a work environment that focused on employee development and provided key learning and career opportunities for him. Titus worked nearly six years for Cargills Pork Business Unit, training and working at their facilities in Illinois and Iowa, and later accepted a position at their headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.

That work experience allowed me to develop a greater business acumen while still being able to maintain my passion for the pork industry, he said.

The work and life experiences Titus received along the way have proven valuable to him as he is a grain and livestock farmer with his wife, Breann Conrady-Titus, family near Elkhart. They are the parents of two children. Titus served in 2014-16 as the US Farmers and Ranch Alliances Faces of Farming & Ranching spokesperson and is a graduate of the National Pork Producer Councils (NPPC) Leadership Academy.

Titus still continues to share his farm stories using social media and attending consumer-driven events to help rebuild the relationship with the American farmer and maintain trust in the food system.

As a farmer, I am always looking for opportunities that allow me to do my job better with an effort to leave the farm and the land in a better state for the next generation. We are always seeking to better care for our animals and land through conservation, better animal care practices, and a continued focus upon involvement of the next generation of farmers, continued Titus.

This scholarship is a unique opportunity for young individuals with aspirations within agriculture. I highly encourage them to apply and use this as a springboard to add value to their agricultural career, said Titus.

To be considered for the 2018 Douglas County Ag Center Scholarship, successful applicants must meet the following requirements:

From Douglas County and enrolled in an agriculture-related field of study.

Completed one semester of college course work.

Submit a copy of college transcript.

Submit a letter of application telling about yourself (500 word maximum)

Scholarships for the Douglas County Ag Center Scholarship should be submitted to the Douglas County Farm Bureau at 105 N. Main Street, Tuscola, IL 61953 by Feb. 23. For more information about the Douglas County Ag Center Scholarship, contact Pat Titus at 217-202-5204 or Dennis Ochs at 217-202-2333.
The jobs, wages and pensions of tens of thousands of workers along with vital public services are in danger, following on the collapse of Carillion into liquidation on Monday.

Carillion employed 20,000 workers in the UK and 23,000 overseas. It went into compulsory liquidation with more than 2.2 billion debts, of which an estimated 800 million are in pension liabilities.

A major government contractor, it was involved in 450 contractsinvolving schools, hospitals and prisonsand key infrastructure projects, including the HS2 high-speed rail network, the largest infrastructure contract in Europe.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May has said it will guarantee the salaries of those affected in the public sector. This is necessary to avoid an immediate collapse in key areas of social provisionincluding school meals and hospital services. But it is no guarantee for the future of these services, much less the jobs and conditions of those directly involved. Nor does it address the impact on workers pensions, which are now to be taken over by the already strapped state-run Pension Protection Fund.

The situation for private sector employeesincluding many agency workersis even more precarious. Carillion spent almost 1 billion with local suppliers in 2016, many of them small firms that are now facing insolvency. The government said it would only guarantee the wages of private sector workers for 48 hours, until today.

Potentially thousands of employees can be made unemployed overnight. The government says it hopes other companies will take over Carillions contracts buteven if this happensthere is no doubt it will be at the expense of workers existing pay and conditions.

Already there are reports of workers being turned away from construction sites in the Midlands and Liverpool. Contractors, including Speedy, Van Elle, and Balfour Beatty, report they will be left millions out of pocket, sending their share prices tumbling.

Calls have been made for a public inquiry into Carillions collapse, especially given that the government continued to award the firm key public sector projectsincluding the 1.2 billion HS2 joint venturedespite repeated profit warnings over the last six months.

The Department for Business has called for a fast-track investigation into the conduct of Carillions directors, after the firm rewrote its pay policy to make it more difficult for executives to lose their bonuses in circumstances of corporate failure. This meant that former CEO Richard Howson, who resigned in disgrace last July, will continue to receive a 660,000 salary until October.

Demands are also being made for the Financial Reporting Council to examine Carillions accounts, including the actions of its auditors, KPMG. Only last year, the accountancy giant, which oversaw Carillions accounts since 1999 and received 29.4 million in fees, approved the firms viability for at least three years.

The extent of the political fall-out was indicated by the revelation that Carillion Chairman Philip Greenwho oversaw the firms collapsehad been appointed as adviser on corporate responsibility to then Tory Prime Minister David Cameron under the previous Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

So great is the stench of corporate corruption emanating from these events that Rupert Murdochs Sun newspaper editorialised, Capitalism gets a bad name when failing executives get unjust deserts. Carillion bosses must instead be held liable.

Likewise, the conservative Daily Telegraph warned that what taxpayers will emphatically not put up with is any sign that those at the company responsible for this mess walk away enriched. There have been too many instances of failure being rewarded. It is time it stopped.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has described Carillions collapse as a watershed moment and has promised that a Labour government will end the PFI [Private Finance Initiative] rip off and run our public services for the benefit of the many, not the profits of the few.

Along with the trade unions, Corbyn now calls for Carillions operations to be nationalised and the services it provided taken in-house.

Those responsible must indeed be held to account. But the naming and shaming of certain individuals is intended to conceal the more fundamental question of how and why they were able to get away with their socially criminal actions.

When CEOs, accountants, regulators and governments are all implicated in such events, it is not the failure or undoubted corruption of a single corporate entity that is at issue but the workings of the capitalist profit system itself.

The practices in which Carillion was involved are not peripheral to the world capitalist economy, but at its very heart. From the collapse of Enron in the United States in 2001, and Railtrack in the UK the same year, throughmost significantlyto the 2008 financial crash and the multi-trillion bailout of the worlds leading financial institutions, a fundamental truth has been laid bare.

The profit-making operations of the global economy are not undertaken to meeteven in partsocial needs. Rather, they are driven by the greed of a parasitic financial oligarchy and their political sponsors in government, and predicated on the destruction of the jobs, wages, services and social rights upon which billions of working people depend.

The Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnerships in which Carillion was so heavily involved are only one of the forms that this speculative mode of accumulation, which dominates the entire world economy, has taken in the UK.

First initiated by the Conservative government of John Major, and vastly expanded by the Blair Labour government, this involved major cuts in public spending along with the privatisation and asset-stripping of social services.

In 1999, the heavy building materials firm Tarmac was recreated as Carillion. In addition to a guaranteed government-supplied income from PFI projectsat extortionate rates of returnfirms like Carillion were able to borrow heavily, inflating their profit rates that were then used to justify gargantuan payouts to its CEOs, shareholders and lenders.

The primary factor in ensuring the success of such firms was the political consensus across all parties on mounting an offensive against the working class through austerity, deregulation and the driving down of wages and conditions. In 2016, Carillion was among eight multinational building contractors who admitted in court that that they were involved in the blacklisting of up to 800 trade union members, who had protested health and safety conditions.

With CEOs, banks and shareholders reaping massive dividends, the opening of a revolving door between the corporations and Tory and Labour governments alike, and a trade union movement complicit in these conditions, Carillion was held up as one of the UKs great export storiesuntil it was revealed to be completely worthless.

The wages, conditions and pensions of all workers impacted by Carillions collapse must be guaranteed. But to do so means recognising that what is at stake is not merely a single business model that can be replaced by some other form, such as the nationalisation and in-house model now proposed by Corbyn.

The government has, at least in part, already nationalised Carillionin the same way it nationalised the banking industry in 2008by offloading its debts onto taxpayers. Moreover, so extensive has the privatisation of the UKs public services been that to speak of taking them in-house is meaningless.

What is required is breaking the stranglehold of the super-rich and their political defenders over society, and reorganising the economy to serve social need, not private greed. Politically, it involves not fruitless tinkering with the existing set-up but the recognition that it is beyond repair and that only a social revolution can provide a way forward.
The Trump White House is escalating the efforts of the previous Obama administration to circumvent and criminalize encryption of electronic communications and mobile devices used by billions of people around the world.

This was the theme of a speech by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Christopher Wray on January 9 in New York City before an audience of technology corporation heads and government officials. Wray referred to the use of electronic encryption as the going dark problem, a phrase coined by former FBI director James Comey as part of the Obama administrations drive to remove any impediment on government spying. He explained that the issue comes up in almost every conversation I have with leading law enforcement organizations, and with my foreign counterparts from most countriesand typically in the first 30 minutes.

Wray claimed that the agency had not been able to act upon warrants to search 7,775 electronic devices because it could not break through their encryption. On this basis, he demanded that technology companies install backdoor systems into all of their devices that could be used by the intelligence agencies.

In a speech last October, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went even further, singling out not only encryption of electronic devices, but the use of so-called end-to-end encryption in messaging systems, which are incorporated in mobile phone applications such as Whatsapp and Signal by default. The number of people using these applications has exploded to more than one billion, particularly in the wake of Edward Snowdens 2013 exposure of mass NSA spying.

End-to-end encryption relies on the principle of a public-private key system. Each user has a public key which others can use to encrypt messages to them, but which can only be decrypted with the private key that only the user possesses. In principle, this means that even the administrators of the messaging application server cannot access the message contents, because they are encrypted from end to end.

Rosenstein declared that Billions of instant messages are sent and received each day using mainstream apps employing default end-to-end encryption. The app creators do something that the law does not allow telephone carriers to do: they exempt themselves from complying with court orders.

Rosenstein openly admitted that the governments main concern is not a relatively small number of criminal suspects, but the mass communications of the entire working class. Encrypted communications and devices pose the greatest threat to public safety, he declared, when they are part of mass-market consumer devices and services that enable warrant-proof encryption by default.

The deputy attorney general hinted that the Trump administration was moving to criminalize encryption. He complained that the approach taken in the recent pastnegotiating with technology companies and hoping they will eventually assist law enforcement out of a sense of civic dutyis unlikely to work. Technology companies operate in a highly competitive environment. Even companies that really want to help must consider the consequences. Competitors will always try to attract customers by promising stronger encryption.

In other words, the problem facing both the government and the CEOs of technology companieswhich are already integrated into the mass surveillance of the populationis that ordinary people are opposed to government surveillance. Rosenstein concluded: There is no constitutional right to sell warrant-proof encryption. If our society chooses to let businesses sell technologies that shield evidence even from court orders, it should be a fully-informed decision.

This is the pseudo-legal rationale for dictatorship. The logical corollary of Rosensteins claim that files and communications are illegal which are warrant-proof is that the government must have access to every email, text message, phone call and document of every person in the country. The Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, is rendered meaningless.

Rosensteins claim that the government is concerned only with communications for which it possesses a warrant is transparently absurd, given that the government already illegally spies on the communications of millions of people, including US citizens, operating with the strategy to sniff it all, collect it all, know it all, process it all and exploit it all, as one NSA document leaked by Edward Snowden put it. This month, Democrats and Republicans voted together to maintain Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for the warrantless spying on individuals outside the US, as well as all of their contacts, including US citizens.

The bipartisan drive to illegalize encryption was escalated under the Obama administration in 2015 in the wake of the November Paris terror attacks and the December mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. The FBI claimed at the time that it could not break the iPhone passphrase of one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook, who was killed by police in the attack.

The Obama administration organized a public lawsuit against Apple in February 2016, to force it to install a new version of the iOS operating system on Farooks phone, which would allow the FBI to crack the phones passphrase. Apple refused, at least publicly, to do so, arguing that such an action could be replicated on other users devices and would set a precedent for the government to access the phone of any individual (see: White House steps up drive to outlaw encryption). In the end, the FBI dropped the lawsuit because it claimed it had been able to use an unnamed third party to crack the phone.

The purpose of the lawsuit was to utilize the initial shock and confusion among the population that accompanies such disasters to mobilize support for an attack on the rights of the entire population. Last November, the Trump administration served Apple with another subpoena to force it to unlock the iPhone of 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, the attacker at the Sutherland Springs, Texas shooting.

The Trump administrations push to criminalize encryption is part of an international campaign. On July 31, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd called on WhatsApps owner Facebook to remove end-to-end encryption, arguing that it aids terrorists. The Australian government has introduced legislation seeking to force companies to provide the contents of encrypted communications.

The ruling class is being driven by its extreme fear of mass opposition to its right-wing policies and a growing political radicalization among workers and young people after more than 25 years of permanent war, growing social inequality, and more than 16 years of attacks on democratic rights under the fraudulent banner of the war on terror.

In the fight against this campaign, no confidence can be placed in the social media and technology corporations, such as Facebook and Google. While collaborating in mass spying, they are acting in lockstep with governments internationally to suppress growing political opposition by censoring left wing and oppositional websites.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held a briefing Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Public Health Response to Severe Influenza. Without explanation, the live webcast replaced a previously planned CDC briefing on the public health response to a nuclear attack.

The CDC reports that there is widespread flu activity in the entire continental USsomething that has not previously occurred in the 13 years since the agency began tracking the spread of influenza. This years flu season started earlier than in past years and may be peaking, but CDC officials warn that flu activity may still rise and persist over the next few months.

Flu season is an annual phenomenon and causes from 12,000 to 56,000 deaths every year. More than 80 percent of this years cases so far involve the H3N2 virus, a particularly virulent strain that evolves more rapidly and requires more vaccine changes. The vaccine developed for the 2017-2018 season is thought to be only 30 percent effective against it, although being vaccinated may lessen the severity of the illness if caught.

This years epidemic is currently ranked among the three most severe years since the CDC began tracking the flu, taking into account hospitalizations, outpatient visits and deaths. The total number of child fatalities, the only death statistic that state and local authorities are required to report to the CDC, now stands at 20. During the 2014-2015 flu season there were 700,000 hospitalizations and the current outbreak is matching the beginning of that period.

While many flu cases can be treated with rest and fluids at home, some cause breathing problems, including pneumonia, and can be fatal. The intensity of the outbreak has strained hospitals and outpatient facilities, which are struggling with shortages of medical supplies and an influx of sick patients. This comes after years of cutbacks in the US public health budget and the continued subordination of the US health system to the profit motives of the pharmaceutical industry.

While the flu outbreak is widespread, the US South and West Coast have been particularly hard hit. The state of Alabama has declared a public health emergency and schools have been shut in San Antonio, Texas, as well as in Oklahoma and other locations.

Since the flu season began in California in October, 27 people under the age of 65 have died, compared to three or four in previous years. The death toll is actually much higher, as the state does not collect data on deaths of those over 65, a particularly vulnerable population.

Among people of all ages, Los Angeles County has counted 33 dead from the flu. In San Diego County, the toll is 91 dead. California state epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez said in a call with reporters, This appears to be one of the worst seasons weve had in the last 10 years. Were early and were trending up.

Throughout California, thousands have shown up at hospitals with flu symptoms. The Los Angeles Times reports that hospitals across the state are flying in nurses from out of state. Staff members at Loma Linda University Medical Center have been triaging so many flu patients that they have assembled a giant surge tent in the emergency room parking lot. At Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, staff began clearing out an area used for storage when they saw that flu cases were mounting.

Hospitals and pharmacies are dealing with dangerous shortages of vital medical supplies. With half of Puerto Rico still without power more than 100 days after Hurricane Maria, Baxter International, the major medical supply manufacturer on the island, has been unable to keep up with the production of small IV bags.

These IV bags are critical for hospitals across the US, and the shortage has forced hospital staff to improvise. Puerto Rico, which is struggling under the weight of a natural disaster compounded by criminal US government indifference, produces $40 billion in pharmaceuticals for the US each year.

Nurses in the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital have been using stomach tubes to pump in Gatorade to combat dehydration and to administer treatments that would typically be done intravenously with IV bags. The hospital is considering halting nonemergency surgeries.

Oral medications are being used elsewhere when possible. Joel Hennenfent, assistant director at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, told the Kansas City Star that the hospital is using more small glass vials to mix medications and inject them directly into veins.

Some areas report sporadic shortages of oseltamivir, a prescription antiviral known by the brand name Tamiflu used to treat flu symptoms. Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, L.A. Countys interim health officer, told the Los Angeles Times that he has been hearing of people having trouble finding Tamiflu. Doctors in California have also reported shortages of flu testing kits as well as flu shots at pharmacies.

The IV and Tamiflu shortages are just one symptom of the heavy dependence of many medications and medical supplies on just a few manufacturing facilities. If one falters, such as Baxter in Puerto Rico, health care providers are forced to improvise, with dangerous implications for patients.

Deborah Pasko, director of medication safety and quality at the American Society of Health System Pharmacies, told the Associated Press, If we cant support patients coming in emergency rooms who have the flu, more people are going to die. I see it as a crime.

The US Congress has steadily cut public health budgets for more than 15 years. As the government struggles to pass a budget with a federal government shutdown looming later this week, there are no planned increases in funding for agencies to prepare for flu epidemics or other health emergencies.

The CDC estimates total yearly expenditures for flu outbreaks, in both direct and indirect medical costs, amounting to $87.1 billion. But last years budget provided a miserly $57 million for influenza pandemic planning. The Health and Human Services Department has also taken down the flu.gov website, which represented a cabinet-level organization dedicated to helping Americans prepare for the flu.

Each year, the health care system gets a thinner and thinner veneer of preparedness, Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told NBC News. It takes less and less impact for a health care system to go from routine to crisis.

The CDC estimates that vaccination of all those ages six months and older would reduce flu outbreaks by about 50 percent. But there are no federal government programs to fund vaccines and promote their use. Except for some local free clinics set up to administer the vaccines, people are left to their own devices to obtain and pay for them. Access depends on the whims of the giant pharmaceuticals and insurance companies.

As with all such medical or weather-related disasters, in a flu epidemic it is the working class and poor who face the biggest struggle to obtain timely and effective care. In Alabama on Christmas night, Felicia and Adam Yorks three children had just gotten over the flu when Adam, 38, began feeling terrible. He was coming down with what the kids had, his wife told ABC News.

The couple decided they would ride it out. But by New Years Day his symptoms began to worsen. You could hear the flu in his lungs, his wife said. They went to the emergency room, where doctors told her he tested positive for the flu and he needed to be admitted. Within 24 hours his condition drastically deteriorated and he was placed in a medically induced coma as a last resort.

While her husband remains in a coma, Felicia York is struggling to take care of her family and pay her husbands hospital bills. He is self-employed and does not have health insurance. The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with the medical costs.

They have said that it all depends on Adam, Felicia wrote on the campaign page, but it could take anywhere from one to three weeks for him to be taken off of the ECMO bypass [life support] and ventilator. The campaign had raised about half of its $10,000 goal as of early Tuesday.
Around 1,500 people, including survivors and the families of those who died in last years Grenfell Tower fire on June 14, staged their monthly commemoration Silent March on January 14.

Marchers carried photographs and placards with details of their loved ones who perished in the fire. They held large green heart-shaped banners and placards with slogans including Justice for Grenfell and Truth.

Flowers and candles were carried by many marchers through the streets of North Kensington. Along the route, people stood by to pay their respects, while others watched in silence from their windows.

In reference to the fact that the vast majority of survivors have still not been rehoused months after the fire, one participant carried a placard reading Homes and Justice for Survivors and Families!

Firefighters from the Red Watch at North Kensington fire stationthe first to arrive at the scene of the firelined the street at Ladbroke Grove tube station. Several survivors went to shake the hands of the firefighters.

Just days before the march, KPMGthe project managers of the official government inquiry into the firewere forced to stand down after it was revealed the firm had audited the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council and two companies involved in the cladding of Grenfell Tower in flammable material, Rydon and Celotex. All are supposed to be under investigation by the Inquiry and Metropolitan Police for their role in the fire.

The previous day, the Socialist Equality Party-initiated Grenfell Fire Forum held its fifth meeting in North Kensington. Members and supporters of the forum distributed hundreds of copies of the article, Fraud of official inquiry into Grenfell fire exposed by forced withdrawal of project management adviser to marchers.

Natasha, from Willesden in north west London, read the leaflet before the march started. She told us that the response from the authorities since the fire was far from satisfactory. There is no solid investigation. The sentence that struck me in the leaflet was the line that 70 people perished in homes managed by the state.

Its sad because people thought straight away this [cover-up] would happen. People thought, We need a real inquiry. And theyve done exactly what we thought they would do. Its confirming that the state doesnt care and they dont value workers lives.

Looking around at the growing crowd ahead of the march, Natasha said, This response shows that people are not going to stop meeting every month till they get justice. I think they will win eventually.

I live relatively near. I came straight down here the morning after the fire with some blankets and gave them to one of the hand-out shelters. Seeing the building like that was one of the most shocking sights I will ever witness.

It really hit me that its been seven months and people have not been rehoused. You dont want people to forget about this. Its a continuing tragedy.

Asked her thoughts on the police inquiry and why no one had yet been arrested or charged for the deaths, she said, Why isnt it being treated as a crime? Right at the start people were saying that some people might go down for it, but it wont be the people at the top.

In response to why she thought that the victims of the Grenfell tragedy had been treated appallingly, she said, Its the capitalist state that are not treating people right. The same reason why the fire happened is the same reason why they are not being treated right. Its a continuation of that treatment.

Describing the housing conditions in Willesden, Natasha said, Its not got as many rich [people] as here, but its got Queens Park, which is just 15 minutes over there and is very wealthy. In Queens Park, a rich house would go for a million pounds or two. Willesden and Harlesden are being gentrified slowly. I think most of London has estates two minutes from rich, big detached houses.

Natasha noted that the fire could have easily been in a tower block in Willesden: Lots of people from my school know families who lived in Grenfell. Some people live in Trellick Tower [a 31-storey block of flats in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea].

Asked if she had noticed a change in workers consciousness since the fire, Natasha said she had: People now talk about the Triangle Factory fire in New York about a century ago, and I think it is pivotal. Grenfell crosses so many things like class and housing and safety. It brings up so many issues that Londoners are facing today.

Regarding the Triangle fire, she said, This is different as this is housing and Triangle was workers being locked-in. But laws were changed after that fire and people just said, This cant happen again. Grenfell has made people realise that things are not fine. You can still die if you are placed in a certain situation.

Alim Karim is a teacher. This was the first Silent March he attended. He said, The Grenfell victims deserve justice. My view is that there is enough evidence for a criminal prosecution.

Its very important we stay here and make it clear this is not going to go away.

From what you were saying about KPMG, if they had connections with the council and two companies responsible for the cladding, whoever appointed KPMG to the inquiry has some questions to answer.

I think those responsible are those who made the decisions to put the cladding on. Ultimately the council are responsible. The management company [who ran Grenfell towerthe Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation] was created by the council. The chain of command leads to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Fire safety regulation has been taken away from the public sector through private companies, so they are just paying for a certificate and concern for the public is not there anymore. I think these problems are a nationwide issue.

Communities are being forced to leave town centres. The knock-on effect is what you are seeing with all this homelessness. Housing should go back to its original function, which is about housing people, not making money out of people.

Antonio is from Italy. He said, Look, there is no investigation to be done. We already know what happened. The fact is that in this country, people are put in a ghetto, put in a building in terrible conditions in a very wealthy neighbourhood where workers, immigrants and refugees are not to be shown. The authorities just hide them there in Grenfell, trying to make the building look better by placing flammable cladding on it, and because of that, all these people died.

The hypocrisy of the investigation simply shows clearly there is nothing to investigate. This is a class war. Capitalism is killing everyday through different facets, and this just another facet of class warfare.

The victims need housing and should be housed in the empty apartments in and around the borough, in Notting Hill, in Hammersmith, etc. I live around here, and I know how many apartments remain empty. Can these buildings and apartments remain empty while the victims must remain in hostels in a life deprived of human dignity? We should forget about the laws and start to think in terms of class and social justice.
MATTOON (JG-TC) -- A man and a woman were arrested on Monday for allegedly committing credit card-related crimes.

A Mattoon Police Department press release reported that Loyal W. Foote Jr., 35, homeless in Mattoon and formerly of Danville, was arrested on a charge of misuse of a credit card at 8:20 p.m. in the 2200 block of Prairie Avenue. The charge alleges that Foote used another individual's credit card to obtain cash, without the cardholders knowledge or consent. Foote was taken to the Coles County jail.

The investigation also led to the arrest of Stevie R. Simpson, 30, of Mattoon at the same time and location on a charge of theft. The charge alleges that Simpson assisted Foote in stealing funds from the account associated with the stolen credit card. Simpson was issued a court date.

In other matters, Stephanie E. Givins, 25, of Charleston was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery at 2:34 p.m. Friday at the police station. The charge alleges that Givins and another female battered a third female on Dec. 29, causing great bodily harm. Givins was taken to the jail.

Separately, Susan E. Sayers, 54, of Mattoon was arrested on a charge of violating a bail bond at 11:49 p.m. Monday in the 2200 block of Prairie Avenue. The charge alleges that Sayers was found to be on the property of and around a person she is to have no contact with on Monday, per orders of her bail bond. Sayers was taken to the jail.

In another matter, Brittany Y. Williams, 28, of Chicago was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass to property at 3:28 p.m. Jan. 7 in the 1800 block of South Ninth Street. The charge alleges that Williams was found to be on the property of Sunrise Apartments on Jan. 7 after having previously been banned from being there by management. Williams was issued a court date.

Separately, Angelene J. Wilson, 38, of Mattoon was arrested on a charge of criminal damage to property at 4:17 p.m. Monday in the 2000 block of Western Avenue. The charge alleges that Wilson damaged numerous food items while inside County Market and then refused to pay for the damaged food. Wilson was issued a court date.
Nearly a quarter of a million people have viewed the online video of Gary Michael Hunt being assaulted and handcuffed by a Kentucky state trooper because he criticized local authorities at an emergency public meeting of the Martin County Fiscal Court and demanded clean and safe water for the areas residents.

As the WSWS reported, an estimated 1,400 residents of the eastern Kentucky county have been without water for days because of leaking pipes and decaying infrastructure in the economically depressed former coal mining area. The cash-strapped water district cut off water to residents after water pressure decreased rapidly due to freezing temperatures. Nine days after the shutoff, area residents still do not have regular water service.

The incident took place just days after a deputy marshal in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana threw down Deyshia Hargrave and arrested the young middle school teacher because she challenged the vote by local school board authorities to give the school superintendent a hefty raise while school employees have not had a pay increase in a decade.

Hunt, 38, worked in the coalmines for eleven years until he badly injured his back and knee on the job. The father of two children spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about the attempt to forcibly silence him. The state trooper choked me and had his hand around my throat. Im not a pushover and I said you can put me in jail for 20 years; when I get back, youll still hear my opinion.

Hunt said he was told he was being arrested for disorderly conduct and removed from the meeting. The trooper later told Hunt he was not under arrest, but he issued him a citation for menacing. Hunt is due in court on February 26.

On Tuesday, Hunt said water at his home was trickling in at about the size of a pencil, with too little pressure to shower. The Hunt family has gone a full five days without a drop of water and four days with only a dribble.

I am tired of begging people for water. I went to that meeting to speak up. Its about my kids. Ill stand up for my kids until the day I die. Its about the future. Why should my child have to bathe by pouring a barrel of rainwater over him? They showed me what they really think the night of the meeting. They treated me like a dog because Im poor.

Commenting on the efforts to silence other workers at public meetings, Hunt told the WSWS, The coal miners, shoe shiners, teachers, it doesnt matter. We have to come together. They choked me because I was telling the truth.

Not only is the availability of water a major issue, with water outages all too frequent, but the quality of water in the area has been an ongoing problem for years. Many trace the problem to the coal mine owners who made billions in profits from the labor of the working class and then abandoned the area, leaving behind an environmental and economic disaster.

Martin County was the scene of the October 11, 2000 disaster when the bottom of a coal slurry impoundment owned by Massey Energy broke, sending an estimated 306 million gallons of thick, black waste into two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. I remember the Massey spill, it was crazy, Hunt told the WSWS. People were hysterical. The authorities didnt take any precautions. All they did was to clean up the eyesores. It was like covering over crap with orange paint and calling it an improvement.

Cynically posturing as a friend of the miners, Trump is lifting whatever environmental and safety regulations remain on the coal bosses.

All we know is coal, said Hunt, who told the WSWS he voted for Trump in hopes that conditions would improve. The former coal miner responded to the class issues when this reporter said the entire political system, from the billionaire president and the Republicans, to Obama, Clinton and the Democrats, all served the interests of the super-rich at the expense of the working class.

Its not fair. You have teachers not getting raises, Hunt said, while we taxpayers end up paying the salaries of the top people. Judges and politicians have stolen from the honest hardworking people. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and maybe the Wal-Mart ownersthose handful is whats killing the working class people today. Im for the working class. Its all over the world. Those born with a silver spoon in their mouth never worked a day in their life. Theyre the only ones who can make money. People need to realize that the same people are getting richer and richer. Its absolutely sad the way this country has gotten. One hundred percent of both parties are filthy rich. They never worked a day in their life. But for us, if you want a job here, you have to go 100 miles to get one.

Significantly, 54 years ago, Martin County was the site where President Lyndon Johnson declared his War on Poverty in 1964. Along with neighboring Pike and Harlan counties, the area was the scene of fierce class battles from the 1930s all the way to the 1980s. The decades-long deindustrialization of the area and the betrayals of struggles like the AT Massey and Pittston strikes by the United Mine Workers union, along with the repudiation by the Democratic Party of past social reforms, have left the area in destitution and ill-health.

Today, nearly every family in Martin County has harrowing stories about the prevalence of cancer. The water throughout the county has excessive amounts of two chemicalstrihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, or THMs and HAA5sleft over from the authorities efforts to disinfect the local rivers after the Massey slurry dam disaster. At elevated levels, THMs and HAA5s can irritate the eyes and skin, and they have been shown to cause cancer in lab animals. Warnings on the districts water bills suggest that infants, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems consult their doctors about exposure risks.

Martin County officials insist the water is fine, however, despite repeated violations of federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits. But Kentucky Division of Water records show the countys drinking water has exceeded EPA limits for certain chemicals multiple times every year since 2005. The county has been over the federal limits in eight of the last 10 tests for HAA5s and six of the last 10 tests for total TTHMs.

Incredibly, notices of the violation of federal drinking water standards are frequently printed on the back of the water bills for Martin County Water District customers! In September 2017, the notice stated that TTHMs and HAA5s were above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for the second quarter of 2017.

The notice read:

Some people who drink water containing TTHMs in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys, or central nervous system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer. Some people who drink water containing haloacetic acids in excess of the MCL over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

The county is seeking to address its financial problems by forcing residents to pay 49.5 percent more for the poisoned water. Hunt, who told the WSWS that water rates are already very high, said, Last month I paid $193 for water and went several days without water. It is time for the working class to take this country back. We need to stand up for whats right.

The plight of workers in Martin County has struck a chord in Flint, Michigan, where working class residents have fought a years-long battle against the lead poisoning of their water and the criminal indifference of Democrats and Republicans alike. The similarity of the situations in Kentucky and Flint underscores the fact that all workers, regardless of race, face the same struggle and the same enemies.

Tony Palladeno has been fighting the water poisoning in Flint for nearly four years. Last April, Tony, his wife Leah and four others were arrested at a public meeting for demanding answers about the threat to foreclose on homes of those who either would not or could not pay for water that was not safe to use.

Tony, who formerly worked in the mail room and maintenance department at the Flint Journal newspaper, told the WSWS, What is going on today is the attempt to take everything from us that has been fought for through the sit-down strikes in Flint to the fight of the coal miners against black lung. Like the worker in Kentucky and the teacher in Louisiana, six of us from Flint were arrested at a public meeting. They slammed down my wife Leah and bruised her badly. Arrests at public meetings are becoming the new norm. But dont get used to it! We workers have to stick together. My message to the people in eastern Kentucky is dont let them divide you. The Democrats and Republicans are the same! Theyre trying to eliminate the working class.
On Monday, Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper, was deported from Lincoln Park, Michigan to Mexico on the orders of US immigration officials, sparking condemnation both locally and nationally.

Garcia leaves behind his wife, Cindy Garcia, a retired Ford Dearborn truck autoworker; 15-year-old daughter Soleil; and 12-year-old son Jorge Garcia Jr., all US citizens. Garcia has been fighting for years to stay in the US with his family. Cindy told the Detroit Free Press that the family has spent over $125,000 since 2005 on attorney fees in attempts to obtain legal residency status

Neighbors, friends, family and coworkers protested the deportation at Detroit Metro Airport, holding signs reading Stop separating families. Garcia hugged his wife and children in an emotional departure captured on video that went viral on social media, sparking national outrage.

In comments reported on CNN, Cindy Garcia said, Hes not a criminal... His case needs to be looked at individually, because he deserves to be here in a country that hes known, not Mexico

Jorge Garcia told the Free Press on Sunday, I got to leave my family behind, knowing that theyre probably going to have a hard time adjusting. Me not being there for them for who knows how long. Its just hard.

An undocumented family member had originally brought Garcia to the US from Mexico when he was 10 years old. He had been facing a removal order but received temporary stays of deportation. However, under the immigration crackdown ordered by the Trump administration, authorities refused any further stays. In November, immigration officials told Garcia he would be detained. Our faces just went pale, Cindy Garcia told CNN. Jorge Garcia was told to leave after the Thanksgiving holiday but that was extended until the New Year.

Garcia had asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for an extension until the final decision on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to give him more time with his family; however, that was denied. Garcia is just over the age requirement to officially qualify for DACA, which permits the children of undocumented workers to attend school and/or work in the US.

Garcias deportation comes in the wake of an increased assault on undocumented workers around the country as part of the Trump administrations effort to purge the US of immigrants. Soon after taking office, Trump signed an executive order that expanded the number of ICE agents, ending exemptions for any class of immigrants. As a consequence, the number of immigrants arrested has risen by more than 30 percent since 2016.

Following the round up of Iraqi Chaldean immigrants last year, four metro Detroit 7-11 convenience stores were targeted last week as part of a nationwide sweep to intimidate undocumented immigrants.

Garcias case exemplifies the brutal and arbitrary character of US immigration policy. According to Cindy, Jorge Garcia may be barred from reentering the US for 10 years, in spite of the fact that he has no criminal record. He had tried to fix his immigration status in 2005 by applying for a green card, but his attorney turned out to be incompetent and filed the wrong paperwork. He was ordered out of the country in 2006 by an immigration judge, but Garcia appealed the ruling. In subsequent years Garcias deportation was delayed by immigration officials.

Despite the immigration crackdown ordered by the Trump administration, total deportations under his administration declined by nearly six percent from 2016, the last year of President Obamas term. During 2017 the number of immigrants detained at the US border fell to 310,531, the lowest number in 17 years. The worst year for deportations was 2012, under Obama, when 409,849 were sent out of the country. Most of those detained were stopped at the US-Mexico border.

The deportation of Garcia is the latest atrocity in the ongoing war on immigrants. It follows Trumps racist outburst last week denouncing immigrants from Haiti and Africa. The incident served as an embarrassment for Democrats, who are working with Republicans on new immigration legislation to further militarize the US-Mexico border and expand the attacks on immigrants. It also follows the decision by the Department of Homeland Security to end protected status for 250,000 immigrants from El Salvador, refugees from that countrys devastating civil war, who have been living in the US for decades.
Workers in Ontario and across Canada have expressed outrage at actions taken by employers seeking to cut the take-home pay and benefits of minimum wage workers in the wake of the Ontario provincial Liberal governments implementation of new employment standards.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynnes misnamed Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, which became law on January 1, is a key initiative of the provincial Liberals to rescue their abysmal poll numbers in the run-up to this Junes election. A central provision of the new law boosts the minimum wage for most workers from $11.60 (US$9.33) per hour to $14 (US$11.26) effective immediately, with another hike to $15 (US$12.06) scheduled for next January.

Prior to its implementation, the law was effusively praised by the trade unions and pseudo-left groups as a tremendous step forward for workers, with the International Socialists proclaiming it historic. However, the Liberals made sure there were so many loopholes in the legislation that employers have been able, notwithstanding the minimum wage hike, to reduce workers paychecks.

Within days of the wage increase, workers across the province began to receive notifications from their employers announcing reductions in take-home pay and benefits, and changes to workers employment status.

In a particularly scandalous move that has received much attention in the Canadian media, Ron Joyce Jr. and Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce, the owners of two Tim Hortons franchises, and heirs to billionaire Ron Joyce Sr., the co-founder of the Tim Hortons coffee shop empire, ordered their workers to sign a document acknowledging their loss of paid breaks, paid benefits and other monetary incentives. Workers at their franchises have calculated that the cutbacksentirely legal under Wynnes new standardswill cost a veteran full-time worker $51 per paycheck which, despite the minimum wage hike, means an actual wage cut.

Other employers have sought to exploit the gaping loopholes in the employment standards provisions to maintain their profit levels. Rainbow Foods has eliminated paid breaks. Car dealerships have shifted drivers status from wage labourers to independent contractors. Department store workers have reported cuts to their scheduled hours of work. A province-wide, all-day breakfast chain, Sunset Grill, boosted their prices and ordered a 25 percent increase in tip clawbacks to offset a 20 percent minimum wage hike.

With this increase, its like a double whammy for us, one Sunset Grill server told Vice News. Its like we dont even get a wage increase at all. Another said, We basically run the restaurant. At the end of the day, this is an insult. We work our asses off.

Under Ontario law, servers and other staff in tip intensive industries receive a lower minimum wagecurrently just $12.10 per hour.

The cutbacks reach into every aspect of low-wage work. In industries requiring uniforms, workers have now been ordered to buy their own.

These loopholes are not an unfortunate by-product of the legislation. The trade union-backed Liberal government bent over backwards to assure businesses that their bottom lines would not be impacted. Shortly before the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act came into force, the Liberals handed a 1 percent corporate tax rate cut to small businesses on the first $500,000 of profits to offset the cost of any wage increases.

Moreover, the government added outright exemptions for some employers. For example, the new law gives workers in Ontario 10 days of personal emergency leave, two of which are paid. In a provision kept secret by the government in the run-up to enactment of the legislation, the act denies all workers in the auto sector those same minimal protections. Instead, autoworkers will be entitled under provincial law to seven days of sick or emergency leave and three days of bereavement leave, all unpaid. (Canada: Ontario Liberals impose two-tier employment on autoworkers)

Due to a decades-long marketing campaign to sell the Tim Hortons coffee chain as a cornerstone of Canadian cultural identity (although, awkwardly for nationalists, its current majority owner is the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital), media attention has focused on the cuts at those franchises.

Reacting to the firestorm of outrage at the cuts, Premier Wynne branded the franchise owners who had imposed benefits cuts as bullies and called on them to follow the spirit of the law. This is rich coming from a premier who has repeatedly outlawed strikes to force workers to accept rotten concessionary contracts, slashed social spending and presided over public sector job cuts.

Andrea Horwath, leader of the provincial New Democratic Party, which propped up the strike-breaking, pro-austerity Liberal minority government from 2012 to 2014 and campaigned to the right of the Liberals in the last provincial election, questioned independent contractor re-classifications, but otherwise simply called on employers to follow the law.

None of these politicians cared to address the fact that the employers offensive against low-paid workers is entirely legal under the Liberals legislation. Together with the unions, they seek to present the issues involved as purely local in character, even though there is a relentless drive by big business in Canada and around the world to gut workers social rights and accelerate the transfer of wealth from working people to the rich and super-rich.

The response of the trade unions has been equally cynical.

At a protest outside a Toronto Tim Hortons, Toronto and York Region Labour Council President Jim Cartwright called on franchisees to seek permission for price increases from their home office to offset the wage hike. Ontario Federation of Labour President Chris Buckley, appearing at another protest, echoed Wynnes remarks, while avoiding any criticism of the Liberal government. For good measure, Buckley added some bluster about stepping up pressure on franchise owners for fairness. Buckley, as autoworkers who got to see him up close when he was the president of Canadian Autoworkers Local 222 know full well, has a long history of delivering such blather while presiding over the imposition of concession contracts and the elimination of jobs, including the CAWs infamous scuttling of opposition to the closure of the Oshawa GM Truck plant.

The union bureaucrats studious silence on the Liberal governments role in launching the latest round of attacks on workers in Ontario comes as no surprise. With a provincial election approaching, the unions have already opened their war chests to fund yet another multi-million dollar pro-Liberal election campaign, conducted on the bogus pretext of stopping the Tories. In reality, the unions consistent support for the Liberals over the past 15 years has enabled the ruling class preferred party of government to enforce right-wing, anti-working class policies that go far beyond those implemented by the Progressive Conservatives under Mike Harris and his Common Sense Revolution. These include the privatization of public utilities, brutal social spending cuts and further tax handouts to big business and the richest 1 percent.

What the unions want to avoid at all costs is a broad-based working class mobilization against the political establishment and the capitalist profit system, because this would undermine their cozy corporatist relations with Liberals and big business as a whole. As part of the unions open transformation over the past three decades into pro-corporate entities with interests diametrically opposed to those of the workers they claim to represent, top union bureaucrats have been integrated into tripartite business-government-union committees and Liberal-led government consultative bodies. A prime example of this was the months-long independent review that laid the basis for the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act.

A mass working class movement directed against the entire political establishment and their accomplices in the trade unions is precisely what is required. Recent events in Ontario have once again thoroughly exposed the rotten politics of the pseudo-left groups who have promoted campaigns such as Fight for $15 and Fairness, which are aimed at boosting the pro-capitalist unions much diminished authority and helping them to develop a new dues base among low-wage, service workers. It is not possible to conduct a struggle for better wages and working conditions in alliance with organizations which seek to prop up the political parties responsible for decimating workers wages, living conditions and public services.

Workers at Tim Hortons and other companies must take the struggle into their own hands. Action committees must be formed, controlled by rank-and-file workers, to lead the struggle for a livable income, which in major cities like Toronto or Ottawa would be well above $20 per hour. This is above all a political struggle, requiring the fight to develop the independent activity of the working class in opposition to all of the capitalist parties. This can be accomplished only through the adoption of a socialist and internationalist program to connect the struggles of workers in Ontario and across Canada with their class brothers and sisters internationally.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders issued a call, published Sunday in the Guardian, for a global effort to overcome mounting economic inequality. It cites evidence of gross disparities in wealth, but offers not the slightest prospect for a genuine struggle against the economic system that has produced such levels of social inequality. Indeed, it is aimed at preventing such a movement.

What is most remarkable about the statement issued by Sanders is that in the course of nearly 1,200 words, there is not a single mention of either capitalism or socialism.

Sanders notes that the six richest people on Earth now own more wealth than the bottom half of the worlds population3.7 billion people. Further, the top 1 percent now have more money than the bottom 99 percent.

He continues: [A]s the billionaires flaunt their opulence, nearly one in seven people struggle to survive on less than $1.25 (90p) a day andhorrifyinglysome 29,000 children die daily from entirely preventable causes such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.

Sanders goes on with a litany of the terrible realities confronting working people on a global scale. But what does he propose to do about it?

Sanders offers the emptiest of abstractions: a new and international progressive movement that will be committed to tackling structural inequality both between and within nations. It must aim at raising living standards for poor and working people while seeking to rein in corporate power.

Who will join and lead this international progressive movement? What role will existing parties, trade unions and political leaders play? Sanders does not say.

There are myriad political forces claiming to be progressive, ranging from pseudo-left groups like Syriza in Greece, now ending its third year in power as the policeman of austerity and inequality for the European Union, to openly pro-imperialist parties like the Democratic Party in the United States, whose presidential nomination Senator Sanders sought in 2016.

Sanders takes care to offer no names as potential partners in his international progressive movement other than Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the most reactionary institutions on the planet, a pillar of the social order that has produced the devastating social conditions cited in Sanders column.

Perhaps Sanders aspires to become a secular version of this pope, offering high-flown homilies about social justice while in day-to-day politics he works in the trenches with Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, who has received more Wall Street cash than any other member of Congress.

The senator is quite aware of the subjects he is avoiding. He has based his political career on professions to political independence and support for democratic socialism. This stance attracted the support of millions in the 2016 Democratic primary campaign, shocking and dismaying not only the bourgeois political establishment, but Senator Sanders himself.

Sanders was the beneficiary of a leftward movement of broad sections of workers and youth, but he did not represent this sentiment. His task was to channel opposition back behind the Democratic Party, culminating in his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the preferred candidate of Wall Street and the military. For his services, Sanders was elevated to a top leadership post in the Democratic Party caucus in the US Senate.

For the past year, the Democrats have sought to work with the Trump administration on its reactionary domestic agenda, including tax cuts for corporations and an escalation of the assault on immigrants. Sanders indicated his own support for the latter when he declared last week: I dont think theres anybody who disagrees that we need strong border security. If the president wants to work with us to make sure we have strong border security, lets do that.

One day after Sanders column, the New York Times reported that top Democrats are preparing to work with Republicans in removing all remaining restraints on banks imposed after the 2008 crash.

Perhaps most significantly, Sanders says nothing about the growing danger of imperialist world war, one that would be waged with nuclear weapons. He makes no reference to North Korea, Iran, Syria and other global hotspots, or to the record of the Democratic Party under Obama in bombing Libya, escalating the war in Afghanistan and making drone warfare a staple of American foreign policy. Military is another word that makes no appearance in his Guardian column, because Sanders is a supporter of American imperialism.

The last thing Sanders wants to see is a mass anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist movement among working people in the United States and worldwide. That is why he begins his column with a dismissal of revolutions, which he claims havent changed anything. This year has already seen significant manifestations of working class anger, including demonstrations and strikes in Iran, Greece, Tunisia, Germany and India. The American ruling class is well aware of the substantial growth of left-wing sentiment and desperate to direct it away from revolutionary politics.

Hence the passive and anemic character of his calls to action. He implores, Lets wrench power back from the billionaires. No, there should no longer be billionaires. The international working class must overthrow the ruling class and expropriate its wealth. The giant corporations and banks must be transformed into public utilities owned and democratically controlled by the entire population, not a handful of super-rich individuals.

Sanders epitomizes the type of political fraud long associated with Democratic Party politics, combining hollow progressive rhetoric with pro-capitalist politics. Only Sanders makes previous figures in this tradition look like revolutionaries. All those who promoted his socialist and left-wing credentialsJacobin and the Nation magazines, the Democratic Socialists of America, the International Socialist Organization, Socialist Alternativeare complicit in this fraud.

A genuine movement against social inequality must be based on the only social force that is unalterably opposed, by its position in society, to the profit system: the international working class. The World Socialist Web Site has every confidence in the growth of a worldwide movement of the working class against capitalism and for socialism.

This movement must be politically educated in the struggle against those who, in the guise of its friends, seek to administer political sedatives to the working class. Those who wish to become conscious participants in this political struggle should join the Socialist Equality Party, in the United States and other countries, united as sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International.
MATTOON (JG-TC) -- Participants involved in the ongoing Mattoon in Motion community planning effort are scheduled to meet Thursday evening.

Last fall, the participants established six community planning goal areas for Mattoon -- workforce training, economic development, tourism promotion, youth development, parks and recreation upgrades, and housing improvements. They also formed subcommittees to develop projects related to these areas.

The Mattoon in Motion participants will discuss their initial progress and the challenges they have faced with their projects during the meeting at 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday in Lake Land College's Webb Hall, room 081. They also will make plans for holding a town meeting to spotlight the community planning goals and they will discuss the organizational structure for Mattoon in Motion.

Mattoon in Motion is part of the MAPPING program offered by the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University. The Mattoon Chamber of Commerce recruited a cross-section of about 60 residents to take part in the initial planning meetings last fall.

The Mattoon Area Community Foundation helped arrange for the program to be offered locally. Monetary donations from the community are paying for the program costs.
Anton Miller, concertmaster of Lincolns Symphony Orchestra, takes the stage as soloist in the symphonys next classical concert, "Anton & Tchaik 5," at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.

Led by Music Director Edward Polochick, the program will open with Miller performing two French solo violin works, displaying both his virtuosity and expressiveness in a pairing of Chausson and Saint-Saens.

I have no greater joy in life than to make music with Anton Miller, Polochick said. He is so special to me and so dear  its a real privilege to be able to perform with him.

Miller will then return as concertmaster on the second half for Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64, famous for its ominous fate motif.

Ive often found a tremendous affinity of linking French and Russian music, Polochick said. And the Chausson and Saint-Saens is a great setup for the Tchaikovsky  one of the most Romantic symphonies of all time. It is just such an audience-pleaser, and is so filled with emotion and romantic drama. It is really one of his greatest symphonies.

And the first time I performed Tchaikovskys Fifth with LSO, Denny Schneider was playing principal (trumpet)  so I thought of him as we pieced together this program, as well.

Dennis Schneider, who passed away in February 2016, performed with Lincolns Symphony Orchestra for 46 years. The evenings performance will be dedicated to him, along with a premiere of "Mentor" by David Sharp, commissioned by LSO in memory of Schneider.

Tickets are $35 and $15 and $5 for students. For reservations, go to lincolnsymphony.com or call 402-476-2211.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - State representative Sean Shaw, a Tampa Democrat and the son of the first black chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, entered the campaign for attorney general Tuesday and took issue with the performance of outgoing attorney general Pam Bondi.

Shaw announced his candidacy outside the Florida Supreme Court, where his father, the late Leander Shaw Jr., was a justice from 1983 to 2003, serving as chief justice from 1990 to 1992.

Shaw says, he's not running against Bondi, but painted himself as the Republican's opposite, saying he would be a "watchdog" on health care, issues involving the LGBTQ community and the opioid epidemic.

"The people of our state should be able to count on their attorney general to protect them and always enforce the rule of law, not to have someone more concerned about how their comments will play out on FOX News," said Shaw. "Soon, they're going to have one."

The Republican Attorneys General Association was quick to label Shaw as quote "an extreme liberal."

Shaw is the 4th member of the state house of representatives to enter the contest, joining republicans Jay Fant, Frank White and Ross Spano.

Former Hillsborough County circuit judge Ashley Moody is also in the running.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Some Florida lawmakers are proposing regulations when it comes to lost or stray pets from natural disasters.

It was quite the sight at the capitol Tuesday, with furry friends in front of the house chamber. Adorable as they may be, they're the face of a serious issue in the state.

"Pets can be almost an extension of your own family, and to lose one inadvertently, because a shelter doesn't have the right procedures and policies in place can be devastating," said Rep. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), who is a co-sponsor of HB 823.

The ASPCA says hundreds of pets were lost in Florida due to Hurricane Irma, prompting a bipartisan effort to reunite families called House Bill 823.

"Scanning dogs for microchips, making sure that we're checking for ID tags, making sure that we're trying to contact pet owners who are looking for their lost pets,"said Jen Hobgood, the director of state legislation at the southeast region of ASPCA.

House Democratic leader Janet Cruz says she saw firsthand how serious the problem was in Puerto Rico.

"Was triple of anything that I've seen, maybe perhaps quadruple, so I saw what could happen in time of true devastation, and that's why I bring this bill forward," said Cruz (D-Tampa).

Andy was rescued from Puerto Rico, where thousands of stray dogs were left behind after Hurricane Maria. The hope is that this legislation will help Floridians reconnect with their pets.

"What Leader Cruz is trying to do with this legislation is standardize and elevate this life-saving practice across the state," said Hobgood.

Giving humane societies and animal shelters the guidance they need to find where these guys belong.

A similar bill has been filed in the Florida senate. Republican senator Greg Steube from Sarasota and Manatee counties is sponsoring Senate Bill 15-76.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) - A Florida woman has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her mother and burying her in their back yard.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that 46-year-old Amy Day was sentenced Tuesday after an Osceola County jury found her guilty of first-degree murder.

Authorities say 79-year-old Ora Hawkins's body was found wrapped in garbage bags, a pink blanket, a rope and coaxial cable in September 2015. Earlier that month, financial records show a $2,500 check from Hawkins to Day.

Hawkins was reported missing by another daughter after calling and saying she was moving to Colorado with a friend from church. Detectives found the body after two days of searching.

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LOWNDES COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - A Lake Park man died in a crash Tuesday evening when his car hit another car and left the road and hit a tree, the Georgia State Patrol said.

Guy Carl Gaulke, 60, of Lake Park died in the crash at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday on Loch Laurel Road, troopers said.

Troopers say Gaulke was traveling south on Loch Laurel Road and a car driven by Lori Ann McGuire of St. Augustine, FL, was traveling north on Loch Laurel Road.

Both vehicles were negotiating a curve and approaching each other from opposite directions when Gaulke's car crossed into the other's lane.

Gaulke's car ultimately hit the other car, overturned and struck a tree. Gaulke was pronounced dead at the scene.

McGuire did not sustain any injuries.

Troopers said this is the fifth fatal crash in Lowndes County since Thursday.

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Last year, a bill that would prohibit cities and counties from restricting short-term rentals in Nebraska such as Airbnb never got a first-round vote in the Legislature.

This year, Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced his own bill, changing it slightly to address some of the concerns that kept Sen. Tyson Larson's bill from advancing.

Morfeld said his bill (LB756) allows for ordinances and regulations that deal with public health and safety, and does not affect homeowners associations' regulations. And he has proposed an amendment to allow the state tax commissioner to make an agreement with an online hosting platform to collect and pay sales taxes on behalf of rental hosts.

"The big key here is we simply do not want them to be outright prohibited, short-term rentals in general, by the cities. We want them to be able to take care of nuisance properties, take care of properties that may have illegal activity going on, anything like that," Morfeld said.

It was enough to get a positive response in Tuesday's hearing from the Nebraska Lodging and Hotel Association, and neutral testimony from the League of Nebraska Municipalities, both of which had opposed Larson's bill.

No one at the hearing opposed the bill.

Scott Merritt of the Nebraska Lodging and Hotel Association said he would support the bill with the amendment offered to address sales and occupation taxes. He did have concerns about a section that allows taxes to be collected only on accommodation fees, he said.

"We are not opposed to the concept. We are a very free-market oriented group. And we welcome the competition as long as it will be a level platform to work from," Merritt said.

Lincoln has short-term rentals by such online companies as Airbnb and VRBO.

Monisha Merchant, representing Airbnb, said Nebraska had 2,700 hosts in 2017 with 46,000 guest arrivals. Hosts typically earn $4,700 annually from their rentals with 72 percent hosting fewer than 60 nights a year.

A number of Airbnb hosts told the committee about their positive experiences, and how people who rent Airbnb or other short-term rentals tend to stay longer and spend more money in the state. The rentals promote tourism and allow hosts to earn extra spending money.

Samuel Lyon of Lincoln is new to Airbnb. Since July he and his wife have hosted more than 100 guests from 32 states, Canada and Beijing.

"Many of them mention the homey feel that they get when they stay with us," Lyon said. "Some of them are very excited that they can bring their pets with them."

Some like the option of an extended stay; one recent guest had a new job in Lincoln and stayed in four areas of the city for 10 days each to explore neighborhoods.

"It is for these reasons and many others that travelers specifically search for cities that allow Airbnb when they travel," he said.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Though an Arctic front is anticipated to bring freezing temperatures to North Florida and South Georgia Wednesday, Leon County Schools say they're planning to be open.

We're monitoring schools in both North Florida and South Georgia for any school closings.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional information and updates.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man will spend the next 60 years in prison after being found guilty of crashing into a car and killing three Florida State University students.

Stanley Jaboin was sentenced Tuesday.

The fatal accident happened in September of 2015 on Pensacola Street at White Drive.

Police say Jaboin was driving nearly 100 miles an hour and had a blood alcohol level of .237.

Kevin Boos, Vincenzo Libio and Morgan Carr all died due to injuries sustained in the accident.

The father of one of the victims spoke out after the sentencing.

MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL First Alert Weather app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A big protest at the Florida Department of Corrections turned physical as police stepped in.

WTXL ABC 27's Stephen Jiwanmall spoke with protesters about what they wanted to accomplish.

For several hours Tuesday, more than 80 protesters were at the Florida Department of Corrections as part of a statewide demonstration. They say they want to see change in Florida's prison system.

Protesters from different organizations, including the Dream Defenders, were in the lobby of the Carlton Building with a megaphone and signs asking to meet with DOC Secretary Julie Jones.

Protesters say things got out of hand when Tallahassee Police came in and started pushing them out of the building.

"We were met with force after five hours of waiting in the lobby asking for her to come down... it was high-energy and passionate,"said Panagioti Tsolkas, the organizer of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons. "There were people who have family members on the inside, people who have been on the inside themselves speaking out about their experiences, about what has happened to their family members and their communities."

Protesters say this demonstration is part of a movement that started nationwide on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They say prison workers are being treated as slaves and they also want Florida to reinstate parole.

"Operation PUSH is an initiative by prisoners statewide who said they plan to go on strike by laying down and refusing work assignments all across the state," said Tsolkas.

A Gainesville activist was arrested. Police say 19-year-old Mariam Mohamed was arrested for breaking glass.

She has been charged with property damage/criminal mischief $1000 or more, resisting an officer, and trespassing. Mohamed has since bonded out of jail.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Corrections issued a statement saying no state prisons had interruptions to daily operations and there were no reports of inmates stopping work.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man who served prison time for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon has been arrested again on that charge.

Michael Leonard Griffin, 32, was booked into the Leon County Detention Center on Monday and remained there Wednesday on $12,500 bond.

Griffin was arrested for possessing a firearm by a convicted felon, removing the serial number from a firearm, resisting an officer without violence and possessing narcotic equipment.

On Jan. 11, 2018, Griffin was arrested on narcotics charges, according to a probable cause affidavit completed by a Tallahassee Police Department officer.

His most recent arrest came as he was a passenger in an SUV on which an officer made a traffic stop.

As Griffin stepped out of the vehicle, the officer wrote, a gas mask bong, which is used to smoke illegal narcotics, fell from Griffin's lap onto the floorboard.

When an officer handcuffed Griffin, Griffin pulled away from him and ran away until the officer pulled Griffin backward, causing Griffin to fall to the ground.

Another officer helped the first one control Griffin and put him in a patrol car.

Searching the SUV, the officers looked into a basket on the back seat and, under clothes, found a loaded handgun and magazine. The gun's serial number had been sanded or scratched off, the officer wrote.

Also found on the backseat were a glass jar with marijuana "shake" inside of it and an electronic scale, the court document said.

After the men were read their Miranda Warnings, the driver said he did not own the basket and said it belonged to Griffin.

Griffin told the officer the basket and its contents were his and his girlfriend had packed his belongings after they had argued. He said he was in the process of moving from her house.

But, when the officer asked Griffin specifically about the gun, Griffin said his girlfriend has a gun and claimed no knowledge of the gun or the ammunition that were in the laundry basket.

MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL First Alert Weather app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go.

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GEORGIA (WTXL) - Georgia State Troopers are warning drivers to take extra caution if they're driving through Wednesday morning's wintry mix.

For most of the morning commute, drivers saw black ice. That's expected again for some of our counties.

Troopers are warning drivers to travel at much slower speeds. In fact they say you should be driving at about half your typical speed on icy roads.

Also, be on the lookout for black ice. Typically the near invisible ice forms near bridges and overpasses.

"If you hit black ice, the common thing is don't hit your breaks," said Sgt. John VanLandingham.

Troopers also say now's the time to make sure you have a full tank of gas. It's also a good idea to check out your tire pressure.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-16 01:02:49|Editor: Yurou

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Mourners carry the body of 24-year-old Palestinian Ahmad Saleem during his funeral in the West Bank village of Jayous near Qalqilya, on Jan. 16, 2018. Saleem was shot dead during clashes with Israeli troops on the previous day. (Xinhua/Nidal Eshtayeh)

RAMALLAH, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian young man was shot dead on Monday evening by Israeli troops' gunfire in the village of Jayoos, close to the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, medical sources said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that the 24-year-old Palestinian young man was shot dead during clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli soldiers in the village.

The statement said that the young man was shot in the head and he arrived dead at Qalqilia Hospital.

Eyewitnesses said that clashes broke out on Monday afternoon between Palestinian young men, who threw stones at Israeli soldiers who fired tear gas and live bullets to disperse the young stones throwers.

There has been no immediate Israeli army response to the reports of the young man's death.

However, the Palestinians carry on with popular confrontations with the Israeli army in protest to U.S. and Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.

Since the U.S. declaration of Jerusalem as Israeli capital, 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,000 injured during protests in the West Bank and Gaza.
Ellen Reasonover was a newlywed in 1983 when she was falsely accused, arrested and convicted of the murder of a gas station attendant, just because she had been at his station that day.

The 24-year-old had walked to the station window to get change for a visit to the laundromat, then left. When she heard later the young attendant had been killed, she called police to report descriptions of two men she had seen at the station that morning and the car they were driving.

But the police turned their attention on her, instead. And the case against her appeared to be manipulated to convict her, including the use of two jailhouse informants. Prosecutors hid from the court that the two were given leniency for their testimony.

The two women who Reasonover encountered in the county jail both testified Reasonover had confessed to the murder while they shared cells, and both denied receiving any consideration from the district attorney in exchange for their testimony. The prosecutor didn't correct them, said Michelle Feldman, legislative strategist with the Innocence Project.

"That was the only evidence that was used to convict Ellen," Feldman said. "Without that testimony she wouldn't have been convicted."

Reasonover was one vote away from getting the death penalty; instead she was sentenced to 50 years with no chance for parole.

In 1993, Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey-based non-profit that investigates wrongful convictions, looked into Reasonover's case and uncovered other withheld information. In 1999, a U.S. District Court judge granted Reasonovers petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus and vacated her conviction. She was released from prison.

Reasonover is scheduled to testify Thursday on behalf of a bill (LB878) in the Nebraska Legislature, introduced by Judiciary Chairwoman Laura Ebke. The bill would ensure that if jailhouse informants are being used, the defense has the ability to adequately question them and ascertain their reliability. Sometimes it's not easy to find out what deals are being made in an informant's case, Ebke said.

"In any other circumstance, a person has the right to face their accusers and to determine whether or not a jailhouse informant, or whether or not the accuser, is believable," Ebke said. "And really this is just a matter of civil liberties."

State law now allows police to use jailhouse snitches as undercover informants. There had been restrictions on informants, but a bill was introduced in 2009 to reduce gang violence through stiffer penalties, which at the same time repealed a ban on the use of prison inmates and people on probation or parole as informants.

Former Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers had sponsored the law prohibiting prosecutors from using prisoners as undercover agents saying prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to manipulate criminals and ex-cons in legal cases.

Ebke's bill says the interests of justice may be thwarted by unreliable testimony at trial, and safeguards should be provided when the reliability of testimony may be compromised through the receipt or promise of a benefit such as bail consideration, reduction or modification of a sentence, immunity or financial payment.

Reasonover said the hardest part of serving 16 years for a crime she didn't commit was being taken away from her 2-year-old baby girl, missing her childhood. While her family would bring the toddler to see her, they were separated by glass.

"And she would just cry and reach and try to get to me and she couldn't even touch me. That killed me. That was terrible," she said.

It affects their relationship to this day, she said.

Reasonover has put the nightmare in the past because when she talks about it, it still hurts. Almost 20 years later, it can bring tears to her.

She said she's not bitter.

"I don't think about it. I don't let them bother me at all. I wasn't bitter when I got out. I was like, they just can go to hell, burn in hell. My faith is strong. I don't let nothing bother me," she said.

Jailhouse informants are the most unreliable witnesses because they have every reason to make up a story that says somebody confessed, Feldman said. That's why it's so important to disclose the benefits to the judge, jury and the defense, she said.

A small survey of Nebraska attorneys showed that not disclosing information about the reliability of informants happens in some cases here, she said.

The Judiciary Committee will hear the bill on Thursday in Room 1113 of the Capitol. It is one of five scheduled for the hearing that will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 02:34:33|Editor: yan

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THE HAGUE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A 33-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man were recently arrested at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after returning from conflict areas in Syria and Iraq, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced on Tuesday.

An international arrest warrant was issued for the two by the Dutch National Public Prosecutors' Office. The suspects were recently apprehended when they separately crossed the border with Turkey. Under the supervision of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, they both arrived at the Dutch airport on flights from Turkey.

The OM reported that the woman from Ede, who was arrested on Friday afternoon, has twice left the Netherlands to go to conflict zones. In 2014, she stayed in the battle zone for a prolonged period of time, and in 2015 she travelled there again.

The man, who was living in Amsterdam before he left the Netherlands, was arrested on Monday evening. He is suspected to have left the country in 2013 to take part in the armed struggle.

Both returnees are suspected of participating in a terrorist organization. The woman was put in custody for two weeks on Tuesday by the examining judge in Rotterdam, the man will be brought before an examining judge on Friday.

The OM stressed that its approach focuses on the trial of all persons who have travelled to join terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 03:39:54|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Airbnb has grown rapidly in Switzerland where hotel beds are pricy, Swiss media reported Tuesday.

This has led to several of Switzerland's 26 cantons wondering how to recover tourism taxes from the newly-found income gains' for citizens who own homes or rooms to let out.

Swiss news agency SDA reported that cantons in the alpine country are negotiating with the U.S. tourist accommodation platform to recover tourist taxes.

The Californian company, which has more than doubled its offers in Switzerland in the past two years, has said it is willing to work with the cantons in finding a solution with minimal bureaucracy.

So far, Zug in south of Zurich is the only canton which has reached an agreement with Airbnb. Since July 2016 the website has been collecting a tourist tax on rentals on behalf of the cantonal tourist body, SDA reported.

Geneva Tourism in the west of the country aims to finalize an agreement by the end of 2018, spokesperson Lucie Gerber said.

This would include tax questions as well as a maximum number of days that a private apartment can be offered on the site each year.

While the government believes that federal legislation is relevant to regulating issues related to tourist accommodation platforms, people using vacation homes present a complication around leasing laws.

This has heightened discussions at the national level, mainly around the issue of rental law, said the report.

Switzerland faces a myriad of laws from canton to canton -- even from municipality to municipality -- and these may present a stumbling block to an efficient solution to a tourist tax.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco, in California, Airbnb is present in more than 65,000 cities across 191 countries, according to its website. The platform offers 4 million homes.

The group says it has signed an agreement with over 340 cities for the automated collection of the tourist tax via its platform.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 04:10:01|Editor: yan

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RIYADH, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi Presidency of State Security announced on Tuesday that a local terror fugitive was killed in a crossfire, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The Saudi fugitive, who was wanted in several terror crimes in Al Qatif region in the Eastern Province, shot at the security personnel when the police tried to stop his car, and was then killed in the crossfire.

The statement confirmed that no policemen or passersby were injured, while a Kalashnikov, a pistol, bullets and four masks were seized from his car.

The statement confirmed the police would arrest the remaining fugitives as part of the counterterrorism efforts.

Al Qatif region witnesses on-and-off violence and terrorist attacks against police personnel by Shiite groups that demand more rights in the Sunni conservative state.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 04:50:09|Editor: yan

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CARACAS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol confirmed on Tuesday seven members of a "terrorist cell," including its leader Oscar Perez, were killed after a clash with security forces on Monday in Junquito in the northern state of Miranda.

In a statement read on state television VTV, Reverol said the clashes also left two policemen dead and eight more seriously injured.

Reverol explained that the recent interview given by members of the cell to the international press, as well as information obtained by political leaders during peace talks, had helped the police to locate the cell.

He added that two men were also detained on charges of "providing materials and supplies" to the terrorist group.

Perez and his terrorist group stole a police helicopter from an air base in Caracas and used it to shoot on and lob explosives at the court building and the Interior Ministry in late June.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 04:55:11|Editor: yan

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AMMAN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Tuesday condemned an Israeli order to stop all maintenance and restoration works in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Al-Momani stressed that all affairs related to Al-Aqsa Mosque are under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Awqaf Department, affiliated with the Jordan Ministry of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, in accordance with international and humanitarian laws.

The minister added that the Israeli occupation authorities have nothing to do with any of the maintenance and restoration work in the holy shrine.

He voiced Jordan's absolute rejection of such acts of provocation, saying Jordan is determined to continue fulfilling its responsibilities in defending Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, Israel warned officials at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque against undertaking any restoration works inside the mosque compound, threatening to arrest those who carry out the restoration work.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is sacred to Muslims, who regard it as the third holiest site in Islam, and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 05:15:16|Editor: yan

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RABAT, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Ethiopia expressed here on Tuesday their shared willingness to boost bilateral trade ties.

This pledge was made during talks between the Moroccan secretary of state in charge of foreign trade, Rkia Derham, and Ethiopian minister of public enterprises, Girma Amente.

The meeting was an opportunity to examine means to promote bilateral trade relations, Derham said, underlining that the current level is far below the political relations between the two African nations.

According to the minister, trade turnover is largely dominated by Morocco's fertilizers exports.

The Ethiopian minister called on the two countries' public sector to take advantage of investment and business opportunities to further strengthen relations and cooperation.

Amente also hailed the momentum witnessed recently in the two countries' ties, the signing of an agreement to set up an integrated platform for producing fertilizers in Ethiopia.

During the visit of Moroccan King Mohammed VI to Ethiopia last November, the two African nations signed several deals, including a 2.4 billion dollars partnership deal for the development of a world-class fertilizer platform in the East African country.

The Ethiopian official is heading a delegation of his country on an official visit to Morocco. He also met the Moroccan minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water, Abdelkader Amara and discussed means to reinforce cooperation, notably in the sector of road, railway and port transport.

The delegation visited on Monday Morocco's Tangier-Med port in the Mediterranean.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 05:15:17|Editor: yan

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HAVANA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 819,749 Cubans have traveled abroad in the last five years after Havana approved in January 2013 a landmark migratory reform that allows its people to visit any country in the world.

According to a report published on Tuesday in Granma daily, the nation's influential newspaper, Cuban authorities would continue to work to "update and modernize" its migratory policy.

"Despite the hostility of the new U.S. administration and the implementation of measures that hamper the flow of people between the two countries, Cuba continues to update its migration policy to adapt it to the new times run and ensure that it occurs in a legal, orderly and safe way," the daily said in a report.

As part of the measures approved five years ago, Havana made easier for its emigrated citizens to return to the country and establish legal residence once again.

Just in 2017, 11,476 Cubans living abroad decided to permanently return to live in Cuba.

In the last five years, over 1.5 million Cubans that live in the U.S. have made at least one trip to the island while just in 2017 that figure reached 432,786.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 05:45:20|Editor: Yurou

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White House physician, Navy doctor Ronny Jackson, speaks about U.S. President Donald Trump's health during a press briefing at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 16, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump's overall health "is excellent" and he did well on cognitive screening, the White House physician said on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's overall health "is excellent" and he did well on cognitive screening, the White House physician said on Tuesday.

Trump has a "very strong and a very probable possibility" of completing term "with no medical issues," his White House physician, Navy doctor Ronny Jackson, told a news briefing following Trump's first physical on Friday at the Walter Reed military hospital.

Trump, 71, is the oldest U.S. president at this point in his tenure and has faced questions about his health.

Weeks ago, Trump drew scrutiny after he appeared to get a dry mouth and slurred his words when delivering remarks, but White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said it was because the president's throat was dry.

Last year, Trump released a clean bill of health but some pointed out that the record lacked details and had an over-the-top portrait of the president's health conditions.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 07:20:49|Editor: Yurou

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conversation With the Women of America panel at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 16, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 07:20:39|Editor: Yurou

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MINSK, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The gross domestic product (GDP) of Belarus increased by 2.4 percent year on year in 2017, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said Tuesday.

The official said at a cabinet meeting that Belarus' GDP growth reaches 2.4 percent in 2017 while the forecast was 1.7 percent.

The government managed to reach the economic growth parameters specified by the five-year program and compensated for the lag of 2016, he added.

Kobyakov stressed that the key tasks of balanced economy growth is increasing and diversifying export, raising investments, and creating jobs primarily in the small and medium business sector.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses a special event to mark World Children's Day at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on Nov. 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world has gone in reverse as peace remains elusive.

"I took office last year calling for us to make 2017 a year for peace. One year later, we must recognize that peace remains elusive," Guterres told an informal meeting at which he presented his priorities for 2018. "In fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse."

Conflicts have deepened and new dangers have emerged; global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War; climate change is moving faster; inequalities are growing, he said. "We see horrific violations of human rights. Nationalism, racism and xenophobia are on the rise."

Those are all indications that the world needs greater unity and courage -- unity and courage to meet today's most urgent needs, to ease the fears of the people and set the world on track toward a better future, he said.

He listed 12 priorities for 2018, including globalization that benefits all, fight against climate change and terrorism, migration, and de-nuclearization. He highlighted one cross-cutting imperative: the empowerment of women.

The UN chief appealed for promotion of a true "new deal" for globalization that is fair for all.

"Poverty and inequality are not unavoidable, nor is the unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization," he said. "It's not by chance if eight individuals possess as much wealth as half the poorest population in the world."

The secretary-general called for enhanced ambition on climate action. He warned that commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change are not enough to achieve the goal of limiting global temperature rise in this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In 2016, carbon dioxide emissions rebounded for the first time in three years, and the past five years were the hottest on record, he noted.

Guterres asked member states to take the advantage of human mobility, saying migration is a positive phenomenon that helps promote economic growth, reduce inequalities, and address demographic challenges.

The adoption of a global compact on migration is one of the priorities of the United Nations in 2018, he said.

Guterres emphasized the role of women in addressing today's global challenges and therefore the importance of empowerment of women and girls.

"Women's meaningful participation in peace and security has been proven to make peace more sustainable. Women's equal participation in the labor force and equal pay would unlock trillions of dollars for our economies," he said.

To achieve such gains, however, greater action is needed, particularly the empowerment of women and girls. "Power is the heart of the matter."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 08:11:03|Editor: Yurou

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Demonstrators who want Britain to remain in the European Union (EU) wave flags of the EU and Great Britain outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on Jan. 16, 2018. MPs in the House of Commons began the report stage debate and third reading of the European Union withdrawal bill on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 08:50:53|Editor: Yurou

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TOKYO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks opened lower Wednesday as a the yen's firm tone against the U.S. dollar pressured exporters and dragged down the broader market.

As of 9:15 a.m. local time, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 178.06 points, or 0.74 percent, from Tuesday to 23,773.75.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 10.59 points, or 0.56 percent, at 1,883.66.

Oil and coal product, marine transportation and bank-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most in the opening minutes after the morning bell.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 08:55:58|Editor: Yurou

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CANBERRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The cost of Australia's Future Submarine Program (SEA 1000) is likely to blow out by billions of dollars, a Senator and defence expert has warned.

The 50-billion-Australian dollar (39.8-billion-U.S. dollar) Collins-class submarine replacement project is the largest, and most complex defence acquisition project in Australia's history.

Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) Senator and former Royal Australian Navy submariner Rex Patrick said on Wednesday that military insiders had told him privately that the program was "starting to go a little bit off the rails."

French shipbuilder DCNS has been given the contract to build 12 new submarines based on its Shortfin Barracuda design.

The Department of Defence in December last year insisted that there had been "no delays to key milestones" and no "cost or schedule impacts" on the program despite two key planning documents not being delivered on time.

"Given that the project is running across three to four decades and is a (39.8-billion-U.S. dollar) program, these sorts of delays, they cascade through -- it could be a (790-million to 1.6-billion U.S. dollar) blowout on the evidence that we have at the moment," Patrick told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Patrick, who joined the Senate following former NXT leader Nick Xenophon's resignation, said that having a naval officer run the program instead of a project manager was the source of many of the issues.

"Rear Admiral (Gregory) Sammut is a highly respected and highly capable naval officer, however he's never run a major project, he's never run a minor project," he said.

"There are a number of highly qualified, highly experienced project managers in the mining industry, in the chemicals industry, in the IT industry that can be brought in to offer assistance for this extremely important program."
Glowing lava is seen as it flows from the crater of Mayon Volcano in Albay Province, the Philippines, Jan. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

MANILA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines placed Albay province under a state of calamity on Tuesday as glowing red lava continues to creep down the slopes of Mayon volcano.

The volcano, located approximately 300 km southeast of Manila, has been spewing ash into the skies since last Saturday afternoon, prompting the government to evacuate the people around the danger zone.

In light of ongoing volcanic and seismic activity, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised the alert level to 3, warning that the areas around the volcano are "currently in a relatively high level of unrest as magma is at the crater and hazardous eruption is possible within weeks or even days."

Governor of the province Al Francis Bichara said the provincial board on Tuesday approved his request to declare a state of calamity, thus allowing the local government to fully mobilize all agencies and resources to respond to emergencies.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Bichara said there are now about 25,000 evacuees in the province from 25 affected villages.

"We have to support the operation and we need to feed the evacuees so we need to use the calamity fund," he said, adding that the local government can only have access to the calamity fund if the province is under a state of calamity.

He said the province is bracing for more expenses as the number of evacuees will increases in the coming days.

Moreover, Bichara said the local government needs to keep the people away from the danger zone.

Phivolcs said it observed quiet lava effusion from a new summit lava dome, lava flow down and lava collapse events during the past 24 hours.

Moreover, it said it recorded a total of nine tremors "four of which accompanied short-duration lava fountaining," and 75 lava collapse events that triggered rockfalls.

The institute warned people anew "to be vigilant and desist from entering the 6-km radius permanent danger zone and the 7-km extended danger zone on the southern flanks (of the volcano) due to the danger of rockfalls, landslides, and sudden explosions or dome collapse that may generate hazardous volcanic flows."

Mayon Volcano is on the southern tip of the Philippine main island of Luzon. It is a popular tourist destination in the Bicol region. It is famed for its near-perfect cone but has a long history of deadly eruptions. It has erupted 51 times during the last 400 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 09:00:59|Editor: Yurou

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YEREVAN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Armenia voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the massacres of Yazidis which occurred in Iraq in 2014 as genocide.

The Armenian parliament issued a statement which "recognizes and condemns the genocide committed against the Yazidi people in Iraq's territories occupied by terrorist groups in 2014."

The assembly urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid security to the Yazidi people, a Kurdish religious minority.

Expressing support to the Iraqi people and government, the assembly also called on the international community to thoroughly investigate the atrocities by proper international organizations and bring the perpetrators of those crimes to justice.

In 2014 in the Sinjar province of northern Iraq, about 2,000 to 4,000 Yazidis were seized and reportedly killed by the group "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," while about 50,000 Yezidis were forced to leave their homes.

Yazidis mainly live in Iraq, Syria, Germany, Russia and Armenia. There are about 35,000 Yazidis in Armenia.

As monotheists, the Yazidis have a religion called Yazidism based on Zoroastrianism with elements of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 09:26:03|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- About a year ago, a man surnamed Song, a programmer in Shenzhen, received a mysterious call and lost 280,000 yuan (43,460 U.S. dollars) via Alipay, one of China's most popular online payment platforms. This was odd as Song did not have a single penny in his Alipay account.

It turned out the swindlers had taken three steps to transfer his loan via Alipay's micro-loan provider Ant Micro.

Almost at the same time, about 1,400 km away, Lin Liangquan rushed to the police department, reporting that more than 27 million yuan missing from his company account in Haining City, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Lin said a stranger called up and faxed a wanted poster, claiming the company had been involved in a pyramid scheme and demanded an immediate check of their bank accounts. A malware program was later implanted and the vast sum of money was soon transferred via multiple third-party payment platforms.

China has been cracking down on rampant online and telecom fraud in recent years. It has tightened the number of multi-function accounts a person can open and stipulated a "frozen time" of 24 hours for money transfer on ATMs. However, third-party payment platforms have emerged as a leading method for fraudsters to bypass such obstacles.

The Public Security Bureau of Beijing said that since 2015 up to 70 percent of stolen money has been scammed through third-party payment platforms. In the first three quarters of 2017, the anti-fraud center in Shenzhen had frozen more than 9,800 suspected accounts, retrieving 315 million yuan.

"The money recovered was only a small fraction, most of it was untraceable," said Wang Zhengtu at the center. "It was easier to track the flow of money when most transactions were done through bank cards. But now, the swindlers first transfer the money to third-party payment platforms before putting it into their bank accounts. These platforms are like a big pool, it is almost impossible to track its origin," Wang said.

It is estimated that over 20 trillion yuan of capital was transacted via third-party payment platforms in 2016. There are currently 270 licensed such platforms, and a large quantity are operating without proper qualifications.

"I bet no one could catch me if I were a swindler," a police officer said.

Many people have complained about the complex procedures and extremely long feedback period in dealing with online and telecom fraud cases.

Chinese banks now demand strict real-name registration in the application of bank cards, leaving almost no room for fraudsters. But opening an account on a third-party payment platform needs nothing much more than an email account. Moreover, a person can hold multiple accounts, making it the perfect channel to move money.

During police investigations, gathering evidence is very complicated.

Enquiries for online transactions from the company often need at least three days, more than enough for money to be transferred elsewhere. Fake IDs are often used for online registration, leaving the police little evidence.

Wen Yanbing, associate professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, said the government should improve the cybersecurity law to set up a cross-sector supervision mechanism to intensify the crackdown on fraud through third-party payment platforms. The authorities should also take the responsibility to supervise these platforms to improve regulation on registration and operation.

"Fake online information is the fundamental reason for rampant fraud," said Xu Shengjie with the Zhejiang Public Security Department. "Some small third-party payment platforms overlook system security and supervision, and this has offered opportunities for lawbreakers."

"Third-party payment platforms should be included in the investigation platform targeting telecom fraud set up by the Ministry of Public Security," said Wu Shenkuo, associate professor at Beijing Normal University. "Therefore, police can retrieve the account information and freeze the money immediately after the report."

"Companies running third-party payment platforms are often headquartered in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and it is hard for police in other regions to investigate. Therefore, a unified enquiry center should be established in every province and be connected to the national system to raise investigation efficiency," Wang said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 09:56:11|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Several Chinese doctors have raised doubts over whether an immuno stimulant called Pidotimod is as effective as manufacturers claim, saying the drug has been overused among children.

It is claimed that pidotimod boosts the immune response and reduces recurrent infection. Doctors said it can be often used in cases of acute infections.

Ji Lianmei, a pharmacist at United Family Healthcare, a private hospital in Beijing, was the first doctor to bring public attention to the drug. She published an article online questioning its efficacy.

Ji said she had searched databases such as PubMed and Cochrane for results and failed to discover reliable clinical research that could testify to its effectiveness and safety. The drug first appeared in Italy and has been used in a number of countries, including China.

She said sales of the drug were estimated to be 4 billion yuan (about 600 million U.S. dollars) a year, mostly prescribed to children by pediatricians.

Hicin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., one of the main producers of the drug, told Xinhua that the drug had been on the market for years and worked well for children suffering from repeated cold syndrome.

Another producer Jiangsu Wuzhong Pharmaceutical Group Corporation said the drug was approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and its efficacy had been confirmed in clinical studies.

According to the CFDA website, at least seven companies in China are licensed to produce the drug.

Hicin's prospectus said sales of the drug were 287 million yuan (about 43 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, more than double the figure in 2010. The company said the drup was its main immuno product.

Adjuvants such as Pidotimod are often dubbed wonder drugs as they are believed to work as an across-the-board panacea. Opposing doctors have said children's immune systems are developing, and they should not be overly-prescribed with such medicines. They also warn that overuse may lead to risks.

"Some clinical research did show the result after taking Pidotimod, but the level of evidence, number of samples and the research design are still not quite persuasive," said Wang Yuedan, deputy director of immunology school of Peking University Health Science Center. "Compared with other drugs, there lacks research showing how it functions at a micro-level."

Public doubts over wonder drugs have intensified after doctors questioned another overly-used drug, Shapuaisi, a type of eye drop. The CFDA has asked its manufacturer to conduct more clinical tests.

Doctors said there should be a channel for medical authorities to respond to expert and public opinions on medicine. They also said the public should have better knowledge on how to use medicine.

According to a health literacy test conducted by National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2016, only 12.76 percent of the population have basic medical literacy including knowing how to use the drug properly.

"We face an urgent task to help the public use medicine reasonably and safely," said Ding Yuansheng, deputy director of the School for Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, in Nanjing-based China Pharmaceutical University.

"Strict regulations are also needed to prevent medical workers to over-prescribe certain types of medicine," he said. Enditem
Afghan government and the humanitarian community have appealed for 430 million U.S. dollars to help needy people in 2018, the Afghan Chief Executive Office said Tuesday. The funding was expected to provide food as well as the access to health care, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation for an estimated population of 2.8 million within the year.

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Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 10:46:21|Editor: Lifang

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HEFEI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tourist sites in the mountains are using glass bridges to attract visitors looking for excitement.

Last month, a glass bridge called "Flying Dragon in the Sky" was opened in Marenqifeng tourist area in Wuhu City, east china's Anhui Province. The management of the tourist area touts it as a "skyhigh" high-tech glass bridge that "combines cultural elements and a unique experience."

"There is a dragon made of fiber reinforced plastics at both ends of the bridge, and smoke can billow from their mouths," said an employee at the site.

"The bridge also has light emitting diode displays on the surface, and when visitors step on the bridge, the equipment will show images and give out the sound of glass being shattered," the employee said. "It is very exciting."

The 388-meter-long bridge hangs 180 meters above the ground, between two mountains.

Marenqifeng is a national-level tourist attraction. It is also a national forest park and a national geopark.

Similar bridges have popped up in China's tourist attractions in recent years.

Last month, a 488-meter-long glass suspension bridge opened to the public in Pingshan County in north China's Hebei Province. The glass-bottom bridge stands four meters wide and hangs between two cliffs around 218 meters above the ground, about as high as a 66-story building, at Hongyagu scenic spot in the county.

In Zhangjiajie, a famous tourist destination in central China, a 430-meter-long, six-meter-wide bridge hangs between two steep cliffs 300 meters above the ground.

According to The Earth magazine under the Geological Museum of China, by the end of November 2016, more than 60 such glass bridges were being built or had been completed across the country. In 2017, more glass bridges appeared, particularly in provinces with many mountains, such as Jiangxi, Hunan and Yunnan. These provinces boast at least five glass bridges on average.

"Walking on a transparent bridge is both exciting and nerve-racking," said Li Jinxiang, a resident of Hefei, capital of Anhui Province. Li has walked on a glass bridge once.

"You get nervous at every step you take," he added. "Hearing the sounds of glass breaking and seeing the cracks on the display is a bit scary."

The fervor for glass bridges also led to viral videos recording tourists walking on the bridges, with many of them crying, laughing and lying on the bridges, refusing to walk on.

But the phenomenon has also raised a few eyebrows.

In Anhui's Anqing City, a glass-bottomed platform was built on a giant rock, the main attraction of the tourist area Jushi Mountains. Some people say that the building of the structure can damage the natural scenery.

Yimu, a seasoned tourism expert, said that the fervor behind the glass bridges needs to cool off.

"It is understandable to add some new elements to traditional tourist attractions, but it is also important not to damage the attractions," Yimu said. "Instead of blindly following the bridge-building trend, authorities should consider spending more money to improve tourism infrastructure at the tourist attractions."
Promising a basket of options for lawmakers to consider, Sen. John Murante on Wednesday introduced a trio of bills he said ensure future integrity in Nebraskas elections without suppressing votes.

As he promised in December, Murante once again introduced a voter ID bill (LB1066) that would require voters to present a current form of identification before they could vote.

According to the bill, appropriate forms of ID include drivers licenses, state, college or university-issued ID cards, passports or military IDs  which 97 percent of Nebraskans already carry, Murante said.

Voters could apply to the Secretary of States office for a free photo ID that would comply with the state law, which would come at some cost to the states general fund, Murante said, particularly during a budget squeeze.

Civic Nebraska, a civil rights group focusing on voting rights protections in the state, said in addition to costing the state millions of taxpayer dollars over time, LB1066 might be unconstitutional, because it would still impose some cost on voters to cast a ballot.

Nebraskas constitution makes it really tough to pass any type of voter identification laws, which basically make elections not free, said John Cartier, Civic Nebraskas director of voting rights.

Furthermore, Cartier said there was no evidence of voter impersonation fraud in Nebraska, and LB1066 would empower election commissioners with more power to decide who can vote based on how closely a person resembles their photo ID.

Another Murante bill, LB1065, would have Nebraska join a growing list of states requiring electronic poll books that combine a list of registered voters with a sign-in for voting precincts complete with a photo image and digital signature of the individual voter.

But the bill also changes how provisional ballots could be counted in Nebraska, requiring those individuals to appear before the election commission or county clerk within seven days after election day to have their identity confirmed if a poll worker indicated they did not resemble their identification photo within the electronic poll book.

Failure to do so would mean the provisional ballot would not be counted. Civic Nebraska said that could make it harder for ballots collected during voter drives to be included in the election.

Murante also introduced a measure (LB1064) requiring county election commissions to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to determine if an individual registering to vote is eligible.

It would also require the Secretary of State to check the citizenship status of each registered voter in Nebraska against the SAVE database. Voters found ineligible would be removed from the voter rolls and that information would be turned over to the attorney general.

Since 1987, SAVE has been administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, to review immigration status of individuals seeking benefits such as Medicaid and not to verify voter eligibility.

Opponents to similar initiatives introduced in other states have pointed to a 2012 letter from the U.S. Department of Justice that said the program does not include a comprehensive and definitive listing of U.S. citizens, and does not include, for example, those born in the United States.

Citizens who recently participated in naturalization ceremonies may not be included in the SAVE database, for example, or the children of U.S. citizens born abroad who have obtained a certificate declaring their citizenship.

Murante said the program, which has been adopted in other states, would ensure to all Nebraskans that everyone on the voter rolls is legally entitled to vote, while also ensuring future voters are eligible based on information contained in the SAVE database.

Election commissioners were asked last fall if they checked voter eligibility or whether they even had the tools to conduct verification.

The answer was no, Murante said. Today, we are providing them with those tools. It is extremely important that we have some reasonable protection in place to make sure the people on our voter rolls are legally entitled to vote.

This is a first step in that direction, he added.

But other civil rights organizations in Nebraska said despite some tweaks from previous bills, Murante's proposals still amount to voter suppression.

Rebecca Gonzales, immigrants and communities program coordinator for Nebraska Appleseed, said the bills address issues that have "never been shown to be a problem in Nebraska.

"All they will do is make it more difficult, expensive and time-consuming for Nebraskans to participate in elections that affect their day-to-day lives," Gonzales said in a statement.

Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, said while it's important to ensure Nebraska's elections are safe and secure for all people, "voter ID laws do nothing to prevent fraud."

She called on the Legislature "to focus on real solutions to increase confidence in Nebraska's election system and to reject failed ideas that weaken our democracy."

Murante said he believes his introduced legislation will provide Nebraskans an assurance their elections are not tainted by voter fraud.

"We can't say with any authority that it's not a significant problem until we check," he said. "When we pass that bill, I think we'll take a very important step toward knowing for sure."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 11:21:26|Editor: Lifang

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- International Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that promotes international trade and partners Singapore companies to go global, said on Wednesday the country's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 3.1 percent year-on-year last December.

The growth was lower than the growth rates of 9.1 percent in November 2017. The authority attributes the month's rising to the growth in non-electronic exports which outweighed the decline in electronics.

On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX declined by 5 percent in December to 15.1 billion Singapore dollars (about 11.45 billion U.S. dollars), following the previous month's 8.6-percent growth, due to the decreases in both electronic and non-electronic NODX.

According to the agency, Singapore's electronic NODX dropped 5.3 percent year-on-year in December, after the revised 5.1-percent expansion in November. Non-electronic NODX grew 6.8 percent year-on-year, lower than the 10.6-percent growth in the previous month.

Among the top NODX markets of Singapore, European Union 28 countries, South Korea and Malaysia were major contributors to the NODX increase in December, according to the authority. The NODX to them grew 22.1 percent, 47.5 percent and 17.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the non-oil re-exports (NORX) declined by 7 percent year-on-year in December, after the 3.9- percent growth in November, due to the lower shipment of electronic and non-electronic re-exports.

Singapore's oil domestic exports grew by 19.1 percent year on year in December, following a 31-percent expansion in the preceding month. Higher sales to Indonesia, Malaysia and Chinese mainland contributed the most to the year-on-year increase. The three markets saw oil domestic exports from Singapore increase 39.3 percent, 23.7 percent and 34.3 percent, respectively. In volume terms, oil domestic exports increased by 8.4 percent in December, comparing to a revised 4.9-percent rise in November.

The total trade of Singapore grew 1.1 percent year-on-year in December 2017. Total exports grew by 9.6 percent in the month, and total imports increased by 10.7 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 11:21:26|Editor: Lifang

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VANCOUVER, Jan.16 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan on Tuesday reiterated Canada's firm support to working with allies and partners on a diplomatic solution for denuclearization on the Korean peninsula that ensures security and prosperity.

Sajjan met with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis to discuss a broad range of mutual defence and security priorities, according to the news release by the Canadian National Defense on Tuesday.

During this meeting, Sajjan and Mattis reaffirmed their long-standing support for the Ukrainian people as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, read the news release.

The two defence leaders also exchanged views on peace support operations in the future. Sajjan emphasized Canada's commitment to helping ensure that the UN peacekeepers remain an effective tool to resolving conflicts.

They also discussed countering extremist organizations and their ongoing collaboration as part of the Global Coalition against Daesh.

Canada and the United States are fully committed to continental defence and the recognition of the North American Air Defense Command as the cornerstone of their defence and security, stressed the Canadian Defence Ministry.

Both Sajjan and Mattis attended the Foreign Mininsters Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, which was held at the Vancouver Convention Center on Tuesday.

Listed in the meeting-agenda, a series of bilateral meetings were held behind closed doors. Issues discussed in this one-day meeting included the pressuring and sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Tuesday that the meeting "has no legality and representativeness at all, and China has been opposing it all along."

During a press conference on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov labelled the Vancouver meeting as counterproductive, because it sought to work out new mechanisms to pressure Pyongyang. "I think that, with all due respect to those who came up with this initiative, I do not expect anything productive," Lavrov stressed.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 11:46:29|Editor: Xiang Bo

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by Feng Yingqiu

NAY PYI TAW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to repatriate refugees fleeing to Bangladesh to escape conflict in Myanmar's western Rakhine state starting from Jan. 23.

Under the agreement on the repatriation reached at a meeting of foreign ministries of the two neighbors in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday, Myanmar will receive verified returnees at the Taung Pyo Letwe reception center and repatriate them by land routes, while at the Nga Khu Ya reception center, refugees will be repatriated by river routes.

Myanmar will also use Hla Pho Kaung as the transit camp for the returnees, while the Bangladesh side will establish five of its kind to facilitate the process. The repatriation will take place five days a week.

Given the activities of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremists, the Myanmar side also spoke of preventive measures to be taken in anticipation of possible attacks by ARSA terrorists during the process of repatriation.

The ARSA extremist terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in Rakhine on Aug. 25 last year, displacing residents from a number of areas in Maungtaw district.

Myanmar has reiterated acceptance of refugees from Bangladesh after citizenship scrutiny under three processes, inviting the international community to help in the process.

The three processes cover acceptance under the principles of humanitarianism, resettlement and rehabilitation, and regional development and freedom from conflicts, said U Zaw Htay, director-general of the Ministry of the State Counselor's Office.

Under the 1993 agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh, if the refugees are found to be true that they used to live in Myanmar, they will be repatriated to their places of origin.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar government has been implementing short-term projects in Rakhine state after the region, especially in northern part, regained security and stability destroyed by extremists.

On Oct. 17, 2017, the Myanmar government formed the Union Enterprises for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development (UEHRD), led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, for long-term projects of freedom from conflict.

With related ministries engaged in rehabilitation tasks, Myanmar has also formed nine private sector task forces to join the UEHRD.

The newly-established mechanism aims to allow the government as well as local and international organizations to work for the development of Rakhine.

The groups were tasked to draw up long-term and short-term plans to increase trade and investment for businesses and job creations in the state.

Suu Kyi prioritized three main tasks to be done in Rakhine -- repatriation of refugees who crossed over to Bangladesh and providing humanitarian assistance effectively; resettlement and rehabilitation; and bringing development and establishing lasting peace in the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 11:51:31|Editor: Xiang Bo

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning on Tuesday to foreign travelers headed to Sao Paulo state, the most populated in Brazil, cautioning the state was at risk for yellow fever.

The warning was issued after an unusually large outbreak of the disease, which is spread by the same mosquito that transmits other tropical diseases, including Zika, in much of Brazil last year.

According to the Brazilian Health Ministry, 470 suspected cases of yellow fever have been reported in Brazil since July 2017, with 35 of the cases confirmed, including 20 in Sao Paulo state.

Last week, the ministry reported 11 confirmed cases, a significant rise in only one week, but the ministry denied an outbreak.

The Brazilian government has said that it is acting with excess care in order to prevent an outbreak and is vaccinating people in affected areas. In southeastern states, residents spend hours in long lines to be vaccinated.

"We have enough vaccines to inoculate the entire population if necessary," said Antonio Carlos Nardi, executive secretary of the Health Ministry.

According to the ministry, so far no confirmed cases originated in urban areas; all cases occurred among residents of rural regions or tourists who had access to those areas.

Brazil eradicated urban transmission of yellow fever in the 1940s.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 11:51:32|Editor: Xiang Bo

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GENEVA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Klaus Schwab, founder and chief executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF), said Tuesday that he expects an "important moment" in Davos when China shares with the world new information about its economic development.

Some 70 heads of state and government and 38 leaders of international organizations will attend the Davos forum slated for Jan. 23-26.

China will be represented by Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.

"We are pleased to see this year his Excellency Mr. Liu He will lead the Chinese delegation. We know his crucial role in shaping the economic policies in China," Schwab said.

Noting that 2019 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Chinese delegation to the Davos forum, Schwab said that he felt fortunate to become a partner of China from the very beginning of its reform and opening-up drive.

With the theme of "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World," this year's Davos forum will have some 400 sessions with 3,000 participants and 12 Nobel laureates joining.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:06:36|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HANOI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam sent nearly 134,800 local people to work abroad in 2017, up 6.7 percent against 2016, the country's Department of Overseas Labor said on Wednesday.

Vietnam's biggest labor export market last year was China's Taiwan which received over 66,900 Vietnamese guest workers, followed by Japan with over 54,500, South Korea with about 5,200, Saudi Arabia with more than 3,600, and Malaysia with nearly 1,600.

In 2017, some foreign countries and regions had high demand for Vietnamese guest workers in the fields of healthcare and industry, said the department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Vietnam will need over 1.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (58.3 million U.S. dollars) to assist training and labor export activities to send nearly 58,400 local people with academic qualifications, mainly unemployed graduates, to work abroad in the 2018-2025 period, the department said.

From 2018 to 2020, Vietnam plans to send some 17,700 local people, mainly graduates from universities, colleges and vocational training schools, to Germany, Japan and South Korea to work mostly in the fields of information technology, electronics, telecommunications, engineering and healthcare, said the department.

In the 2021-2025 period, Vietnam will send nearly 40,650 people to work in the three above countries and some other nations such as the United States, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates, to work mainly in the fields and some new ones, including biotechnology and services.

Over 500,000 Vietnamese people are working abroad as guest workers, remitting home 1.7 billion to 2 billion U.S. dollars annually, according to the ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:16:39|Editor: Lu Hui

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Palestinian refugee children are seen outside their house on the outskirts of Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, on Jan. 16, 2018. Over 1.2 million refugees are registered in Gaza. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States have informed a UN body in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees that the nation will withhold 65 million U.S. dollars in a bid to push for the agency' s "reform", a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The the United States had delivered a letter earlier on Tuesday to the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in the Near East to inform it the decision, U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told a press briefing.

The money being frozen would be held for future consideration, rather than being canceled, she said.

"One of the things that the United States would like to do is see some revisions made in how UNRWA operates," she said. "One of the things this administration would like to do, just as we talk about UN reform ... it's not a lost cause at all. We would like to see some reforms being made."

Despite the suspension, the United State wills still commit a voluntary contribution of 60 million U.S. dollars in 2018 to ensure that the agency will not face a shutdown.

The decision was claimed to not have been aimed at punishing the Palestinians for bringing President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision to the UN Security Council for vote last year.

Washington "would like other countries - in fact, other countries that criticize the United States for what they believe to be our position vis-a-vis the Palestinians, other countries that have criticized us - to step forward and actually help with UNRWA, to do more," she said.

Trump was reportedly planning to withhold tens of millions of dollars for UNRWA, which was created in 1949 as a relief and human development agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Also on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the cut, saying the agency, a UN institution, is providing vital services to the Palestinian refugees, both in the occupied territories and in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Related:

UN chief concerned about possible U.S. cut in aid for Palestinian refugee agency
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:16:39|Editor: Xiang Bo

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world has gone retroprogressive as peace remains elusive.

"I took office last year calling for us to make 2017 a year for peace. One year later, we must recognize that peace remains elusive," Guterres told an informal meeting where he presented his priorities for 2018. "In fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse."

Conflicts have deepened and new dangers have emerged; global anxieties about nuclear weapons are at the highest since the Cold War; climate change is moving faster; inequalities are growing, he said. "We see horrific violations of human rights. Nationalism, racism and xenophobia are on the rise."

Those are all indications that the world needs greater unity and courage -- unity and courage to meet today's most urgent needs, to ease the fears of the people and set the world on track toward a better future, he said.

He listed 12 priorities for 2018, including an all benefiting globalization, combatting climate change, fighting terrorism, migration, and de-nuclearization. He highlighted one cross-cutting imperative: the empowerment of women.

The UN chief appealed for promotion of a true "new deal" for globalization that is fair for all.

"Poverty and inequality are not unavoidable, nor is the unequal distribution of the benefits of globalization," he said. "It's not by chance if eight individuals possess as much wealth as half the poorest population in the world."

The secretary-general called for an enhanced ambition on climate action. He warned that commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change are insufficient to achieve the goal of limiting global temperature rise in this century below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or even lower, to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In 2016, carbon dioxide emissions rebound for the first time in three years, and the past five years were the hottest on record, he noted.

Guterres asked member states to take the advantage of human mobility, claiming that migration is a positive phenomenon which helps promote economic growth, reduce inequalities, and address demographic challenges.

The adoption of a global pact on migration is one of the priorities of the United Nations in 2018, he said.

The UN chief asked for efforts to achieve the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula "without sleep-walking our way into calamity."

He welcomed the firm decisions of the Security Council in response to the nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and requested for the full implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions.

The council's unity also paved the way for diplomatic engagement, he said.

He welcomed the reopening of inter-Korean communication channels, especially for the military-to-military dialogues.

"This is critical to lower the risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding and to reduce tensions," he added.

He said he was also encouraged by the decision of the DPRK to participate in the upcoming Winter Olympics in the Republic of Korea. He himself will personally be present at the opening ceremony, he said.

"We need to build on these small signs of hope, and expand diplomatic efforts to achieve the peaceful de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the context of regional security," he said.

At a news conference later Tuesday, Guterres cautioned that such symbols of goodwill might create delusions for people.

"My only concern is sometimes that we look at these symbols of goodwill and positive indications, and we forget that the main problem is yet to be solved," he said.

"I believe war is avoidable. What I'm worried is that I'm not yet sure that peace is guaranteed," he said.

The UN chief saw unprecedented challenges for UN peacekeeping. "Many times ill-equipped, our peacekeepers are now deliberately targeted. This situation is not sustainable. It is time to sound an alarm."

"Our missions are increasingly deployed in difficult environments where there is little peace to keep," he added.

The secretary-general expressed his determination to "improve how peacekeeping performs, to better protect ourselves and the populations we serve."

He noted that there are distinct links between conflicts and the spread of terrorism and stressed the importance of globally coordinated responses to defeat terrorism and the need to address the root causes of the scourge.

"We must avoid approaches that feed the grievances and narratives that may generate the very violence we seek to eliminate," he said.

Guterres emphasized the role of women in addressing today's global challenges and therefore the importance of empowerment of women and girls.

"Women's meaningful participation in peace and security has been proven to make peace more sustainable. Women's equal participation in the labor force and equal pay would unlock trillions of dollars for our economies," he said.

To achieve such gains, however, greater action is needed, particularly the empowerment of women and girls. "Power is the heart of the matter."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:21:39|Editor: Xiang Bo

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VIENTIANE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The governments of Laos and Slovakia have signed an agreement aimed at boosting bilateral business relations and finance cooperation between the two countries, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday.

This comes after an official working visit to Laos by a delegation of senior government officials of the Slovak Republic led by the Minister of Finance, Peter Kazimir.

The official visit of a Slovakian delegation from Monday to Thursday for the Laos-Slovak Business Forum aims to enhance friendship and boost economic ties.

As part of its bilateral cooperation efforts, the Lao Ministry of Finance has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on financial cooperation with the Export-Import Bank of Slovakia. This move will support the future financial and business ties between the two sides for both the public and private sectors.

Tthe EXIM Bank Slovakia will assure the risk management of loans, support export credits, and provide trade-related aid. Slovak banks will also open up their loan facilities to Lao nationals.

The signed document also refers to several important cooperation deals that the two sides will continue to strictly monitor. The implementation of the agreements will come into effect on the first day of next month.

In terms of trade volume, Laos exported beverages to Slovakia worth over 4.39 million U.S. dollars in 2016 but there was no record of any goods imported during the same year.

In the first nine months of 2017, most products imported from Slovakia to Laos were vehicle parts totalling just over 12,000 U.S. dollars, according to a recent report from Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:21:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

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DUBAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A new observation tower named the "Dubai Frame" officially opened on Jan. 1, attracting global visitors while jogging people's memory about an intellectual property lawsuit filed by a Mexican-born architect in 2016.

Possibly the biggest picture frame on the planet, the building caused controversy as Fernando Donis claimed the idea was stolen from him and accused the Dubai municipality of infringing his copyright.

The 150-meter-tall and 93-meter-long Dubai Frame is located in Dubai's Zabeel Park. The hollow frame is designed as a "virtual boundary" between the old Dubai in the north and the newer city in the south.

After learning the city's growth in a museum built at the base of the landmark, people could enjoy different city views on the top glass-bottomed bridge. They could also do this when taking the elevators.

The design was the result of a worldwide architecture competition held in 2009. Selected as the ultimate design from over 900 proposals, the frame idea however materialized sans its creator.

Fernando Donis claimed that after the competition he has received a contract from the Dubai municipality, which demanded the architect to hand over his intellectual property and limit several other rights.

Donis refused to sign the contract and the project just went ahead with the hiring of other companies.

The architect filed suit in a U.S. court in December of 2016 against the Dubai municipality and one of the organizers of the 2009 competition.

"The UAE puts itself out there as a country that respects intellectual property, yet it will blatantly infringe copyright," Edward Klaris, lawyer who represented Donis was quoted by the Guardian.

According to Klaris, their winning of the case would be hard as the Dubai municipality gives itself "sovereign immunity against any lawsuit."
Nebraska State Patrol troopers arrested a New York City man Tuesday after finding more than a half-million dollars worth of ketamine in a search of his car after a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Kearney.

Huan Lin, 40, hadn't yet been charged Wednesday but was booked into the Buffalo County jail on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and driving under suspension.

Just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, a trooper spotted Lin speeding while westbound in a 2017 Nissan Altima near a Kearney exit. The trooper stopped the car, ran Lin's name, learned he was driving on a suspended license and arrested him, patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said.

He said an inventory search of the car uncovered a variety of controlled substances, including 617 vials of ketamine, a tranquilizer, weighing 41 pounds and with an estimated street value of $617,000.

Troopers also found 3.5 grams of marijuana, 1 gram of methamphetamine, 1 gram of suspected cocaine, and unmarked tablets, Thomas said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:26:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

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by William M. Reilly

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday issued a "red alert" because of protracted conflicts, the spread of terrorism and other front-burner issues in the world.

"We face a Gordian knot in the Middle East and potential nuclear catastrophe on the Korean Peninsula," said Guterres at his first news conference of the year at UN Headquarters, just after briefing UN members at an informal session of the 193-member General Assembly.

The UN chief touched on many topics, ranging from UN reform, sexual exploitation by peacekeepers to gender parity in UN positions.

He opened with a focus on peace and security and what he saw as a failure of diplomacy.

Guterres recalled his first day as secretary-general last year issuing "an appeal for peace and called for a surge in diplomacy to end the crises that were causing so much suffering."

He noted that "At the beginning of 2018, we must recognize the many ways in which the international community is...falling short."

"Climate change is moving faster than we are...Inequality and nationalism are on the rise," Guterres said, adding that instead, trust and solidarity are on the decline.

He further explained that the world needs "bold leadership" in the face of today's challenges. "We need less hatred, more dialogue and deeper international cooperation."

The world's chief diplomat told reporters that he was going to South Korea next month for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

"I hope the Olympic spirit of friendship among nations will spread across the region and beyond," Guterres said, referring to the Korean Peninsula threat.

At the session attended by representatives of member states, he said he was "encouraged by the decision of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to participate in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

"We need to build on these small signs of hope, and expand diplomatic efforts to achieve the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the context of regional security," Guterres said, calling it one of his priorities for 2018.

"I welcome the reopening of inter-Korean communication channels, especially military-to-military," he said, adding that it is critical to lower the risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding and to reduce tensions.

He also said that he welcomed "the firm decisions the Security Council has taken in response to nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the DPRK."

"They must be fully implemented," he said, referring to the additional sanctions recently imposed.

Guterres believed that the council's unity also paves the way for diplomatic engagement, and that's why he sent UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman to Pyongyang last month for the first in-depth political exchange of views between the UN Secretariat and DPRK officials in almost eight years.

The UN chief further explained that the situation in the broader Middle East has become a Gordian knot. "With so many inter-related flash points, the risk of an escalatory cycle is real."

He called for a return to negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. "There is no alternative to a two-state solution. Recent signals of diminishing support for this undermine moderates and empower radicals. There is no plan-B."

He asked for efforts to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and stability, and strengthen state institutions.

In war-torn Yemen, he said, it is time for the parties to enter into meaningful peace negotiations beyond efforts to ease the dramatic humanitarian catastrophe.

For the Gulf region, he urged parties to seize all opportunities to establish and strengthen platforms for regional dialogue, avoid escalations and allow for political solutions to emerge.

In Syria, Guterres said the United Nations will continue its engagement toward genuine, representative and direct intra-Syrian negotiations in Geneva, leading to a political settlement of the conflict.

He also reiterated support for efforts to ensure Iraq's territorial integrity, pursue inclusive governance and ease sectarian tensions.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:26:40|Editor: Xiang Bo

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SAO TOME, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Tuesday called on African countries not to miss China-Africa cooperation opportunities.

At a press conference in Sao Tome and Principe, Wang said he hoped Sino-African cooperation will not omit any African country.

Wang was in Sao Tome and Principe Tuesday in the last leg of his new year African trip. Sao Tome and Principe resumed its diplomatic relations with China about a year ago after cutting "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan.

While emphasizing there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory, Wang hailed Sao Tome and Principe's right decision to restore diplomatic relations with China.

Since then, exchanges between the two countries have resumed in all fields and have brought tangible benefits to Sao Tome and Principe, the foreign minister said.

Wang said China is now speeding up its comprehensive cooperation with Africa under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative, and supports Africa's pursuit of independent development.

However, some African countries' "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan have prevented them from having normal relations with China and from joining Sino-African cooperation, he said.

Wang said he hoped no African country will miss the historic opportunities brought by a fast-developing China.

Wang said he believed that all African brothers and sisters will "stand with the Chinese people in China's cause of reunification."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:31:41|Editor: Lu Hui

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Photo taken on Dec. 21, 2015 shows the sign of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

HONG KONG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is not a "China's bank," but a multilateral development institution operating by international standards, AIIB President Jin Liqun said at a financial forum in Hong Kong.

"AIIB is a bank initiated by China, but it's not a 'China's bank'," Jin said, adding that AIIB, which was created through negotiations of all the 57 founding member countries and now has 84 members, is a multilateral development bank "operating by international standards and with 21-century governance."

"We will work with all the countries regardless of their membership ... We recruit professionals from across the world ... (and) we have international competitive bidding (that) any company can participate," Jin said in a dialogue on the impact of China's policies on global economic development during the two-day Asian Financial Forum that concluded on Tuesday.

According to Jin, China's idea to propose this new bank is "to supplement the efforts of existing institutions like the World Bank and ADB."

On the relationship between AIIB and other Chinese-proposed initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Jin said that since lots of projects related to the initiative are for AIIB member countries, the bank is "duty-bound" to support these projects.

However, he stressed that AIIB will consider financing the projects only if they are financially sustainable, environmentally friendly and acceptable to local people.

"We are not going to do loss-making business ... We are not going to do an infrastructure project leaving a big footprint in the environment ... (and) we should bring benefit to the local people, not to create problems," Jin said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:36:42|Editor: Xiang Bo

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ISLAMABAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan will privatize the core business of its national airline Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)) before mid-April this year, according to local reports Tuesday.

Quoting Minister for Privatization, Daniyal Aziz, the reports said that the country will finalize the privatization process of the core business of the airlines relating to management and flight operation.

The minister said that all other properties of the airlines would remain in custody of the federal government. "The government was also planning to establish another company under which all the fixed assets of PIA would be managed," the minister said.

Aziz said that during privatization process, all legal rights and monetary benefits of the employees of the airlines would be fully protected.

He said that PIA is a burden on the country's economy as it has been suffering losses since decades, adding that total losses recorded by the government till March 2017 were 2.093 billion U.S. dollars.

He said that the privatization process of the national flag carrier would be highly beneficial for the country's economy, as it will help overcoming the losses faced by the airlines.

Aziz said that people would enjoy more competitive flights with state-of-the-art international facilities by the privatization of PIA.

He added that the money generated from the privatization of the airlines would be spent on the development sectors at gross root level.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 12:36:42|Editor: Lu Hui

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People attend a wreath-laying ceremony in front of Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C., the United States, Jan. 15, 2018. Various activities are held on the third Monday of January each year throughout the United States to honor the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was born on Jan. 15, 1929 and was assassinated in 1968. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

by Xinhua writer Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr.'s assassination, the famed civil rights activist's dream has yet been realized. Racism remains a serious problem in a still divided America.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," said MLK in his iconic "I Have A Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963.

If MLK were still alive today, "he would be disappointed by our large homeless populations, our failing schools and struggling healthcare system," said Tchanori Kone, a fifth-grade girl from Houston, Texas, in her speech, which won first place last weekend at the Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory Competition.

Few Americans would disagree with Kone. Although racism and race-based discrimination are considered evil by the majority of Americans, racism is still a serious problem in the United States today. Often it can be more subtle or even built into the system, as seen by racial profiling by law enforcement officers and other government officials, as some experts pointed out.

Radical U.S. fringe groups came into the spotlight last August in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a violent white nationalist rally resulted in the death of a 32-year-old woman, who was killed by a white supremacist when he plowed a car into a crowd of counter protesters.

The number of hate crimes in 2016 stood at 6,121, almost a five percent rise from 2015, according to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. About half of those incidents were motivated by race.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which keeps tabs on hate groups, documented 917 active hate groups in the United States in 2016. The number was 892 in 2015.

Also on the decline, is America's economic inequality. In 1980, the top one percent of adult Americans earned on average 27 times more than the bottom 50 percent. Today, they earn 81 times more.

As of 2016, the latest year of data publication, the average hourly wage for black workers is 14.92 U.S. dollars, 25 percent less than that of white workers, according to an analysis of the current status of economic equality between black and white Americans published recently by the Economic Policy Institute.

However, the wealth gap significantly widens when measured by median household income and is even worse by median family net worth, the report said. Median income for black households is 40 percent lower than that for white households. Median household net worth is just one-tenth of their white counterparts.

According to a 2012 UNICEF study on childhood poverty, the United States ranked 34th out of 35 countries with a childhood poverty rate of 23.1 percent. Other studies place the number a little lower, at about 20 percent, but both numbers are much higher than in other advanced countries. For black and Hispanic American children, the poverty rate is even higher, at 36 percent and 31 percent respectively.

"I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land," said MLK at his final address in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968. Fifty years later, America still has a long way to go to the Promised Land.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 13:31:52|Editor: Yurou

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ISLAMABAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A senior police officer has escaped unhurt in a suicide blast targeting his vehicle in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, local reports said early Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Police Rao Anwar was on his way home when his convoy was targeted by unknown militants in Malir area of the city late Tuesday, Samaa News said.

The officer said that the suicide bomber rammed himself into his vehicle while his accomplices opened fire at it, adding that two of the gunmen were killed in retaliatory fire by his guards whereas others fled the scene under the cover of night darkness.

Anwar remained unhurt in the attack as he was traveling in a bomb proof vehicle, and the suicide bomber, who ambushed the convoy, was killed in the incident.

No group or person has claimed the attack yet.

Police cordoned off the area and kicked off a search operation to track down the fleeing militants.

Anwar is known as an encounter specialist in the police circles of Karachi as he has killed many members of the proscribed organizations in various encounters and raids at their hideouts in the city.

This was the third attack on him since 2012. The earlier two attacks, one in 2012 and the other in 2015 left five people killed and several others injured, but the Anwar escaped unhurt in both of the attacks.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 13:41:55|Editor: pengying

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An Afghan security force member checks a man at a security checkpoint in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Jan. 16, 2018. Six militants including a senior Taliban commander were killed after security forces aircrafts targeted a hideout of Taliban group in the eastern Nangarhar province, the provincial government said on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi)

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Six militants including a senior Taliban commander were killed after security forces aircrafts targeted a hideout of Taliban group in the eastern Nangarhar province, the provincial government said on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the security forces, acting upon intelligence reports stormed by aircrafts a hideout of Taliban militants in Khogiani district on Tuesday evening, killing six insurgents including a notorious commander Mohibullah alias Yaser on the spot.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment on the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 14:11:59|Editor: Yurou

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ISLAMABAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan will privatize the core business of its national airlines Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by mid-April, before the end of the current government's tenure this year.

Daniyal Aziz, minister of Privatization Commission, said the government would sell core business regarding management and flight operation of the airlines, whereas all other properties would remain in custody of the government.

He said the PIA had been in loss for decades and a huge burden on the national kitty, therefore the agenda of divesting the national airlines had always been on the top of the list of every government. Sharing the figures, the minister said the airline has suffered up to 325 billion rupees (2.093 billion U.S. dollars) till March 2017.

The parliament has passed a bill in 2016 under which the government can park the national flag carrier's liabilities and surplus staff with a new entity and enabled the divestment of up to 49 percent shares to the private sector.

Aziz said the government is also planning to establish another company under which all the fixed assets of PIA would be managed.

The Pakistani government is bound to privatize the national airlines because of its understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it gave loans to the country under the condition that it will sell at least 26 percent of PIA's assets to strategic investors.

Local TV channel Express quoted sources from the airlines as saying that Gulf airlines Etihad and Emirates showed interest in buying the airlines.

The process of privatization of the PIA was initiated in 2016 by the government but it faced a fierce backlash from most the airline's 15,000-member staff, who rallied at major airports across the country, asking the government to cancel its privatization plan.

The government deferred the privatization process after two protesters were killed in clashes with police and several others got injured, but the government passed a law under which it could only sell the management of the airlines.

It was not allowed to sell the ownership as it had been decided by the parliament that the state will keep 51 percent share of the national flag carrier and will assure the rights of the employees.

At a recent press briefing, Aziz ensured that during the privatization process, all legal rights and monetary benefits of PIA employees would be fully protected.

He said the privatization would be highly beneficial for the country and the people as it would not only help overcoming huge losses to the national kitty, but also the people would enjoy more competitive flights with state-of-the-art international facilities.

The airline was founded on Oct. 23, 1946, in the pre-independence era as a private company called Orient Airways. It was nationalized in 1955 and was renamed as Pakistan International Airlines.

The government is hopeful that the privatization process will complete before the end of its term, or mid-April, but the reaction of the move from the employees of the airlines is yet to been seen.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 14:37:03|Editor: Xiang Bo

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CHANGCHUN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Global automaker Ford Motor delivered more than 1.19 million automobiles in China last year, down 6 percent year on year, according to Ford Motor (China).

Changan Ford Automobile sold 826,740 vehicles to Chinese customers in 2017, down 14 percent year on year, while Jiangling Motors Corp. sold 292,942 vehicles last year, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

Driven by the strong demand of China's luxury car market, Ford luxury brand Lincoln reported sales of more than 54,000 units in China last year, soaring 66 percent compared with the year before. It is the third consecutive year for the luxury marque to break the annual sales record.

Ford plans to launch over 50 new types of vehicles in China by 2025, including at least 15 electric vehicles.

Founded in 1995, Ford Motor (China) serves as the headquarters for Ford's business operations in China.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 14:37:03|Editor: Yurou

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CANBERRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has flown its final strike mission over Iraq in the fight against Islamic State (IS), an RAAF chief marshal said on Tuesday night.

Australian F/A-18 Hornets have conducted operations in Iraq since October 2014, providing support to troops as they fought to reclaim Mosul and other cities from IS.

Marise Payne, Australia's Defence Minister announced in December that Australia's operations in Iraq would be wound back after the Iraqi government declared victory over the extremist group.

Mark Binskin, an Air Chief Marshal in the RAAF, said Australian fighter jets had made a significant contribution to the fight against IS.

"Over more than three years, hundreds of Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have deployed to the Middle East as part of the Air Task Group (ATG) strike element," Binskin said in a media release.

"With each deployment, they have demonstrated the highest levels of skill, courage and professionalism.

"Our aircrew and their support crews have consistently delivered in extremely difficult and challenging conditions.

"The Air Strike Group and their families can be proud of their achievements and their important contribution to help the Iraqi Security Forces liberate their country from Daesh."

Six Australian super hornets conducted the strikes in Iraq on their last mission, which were coordinated by a U.S.-led coalition, and will now fly back home.

The end of the air strikes does not mark the end of Australia's military involvement in Iraq, Binskin said. The ATG will stay on and support the coalition air campaign.

"The ADF will continue to work with our coalition and Iraqi partners over the coming months to establish their ongoing requirements and assess where they can make the most valuable contribution, as we work to maintain the gains in that region," Binskin said.
Members of a pro-police group Wednesday launched a statewide campaign to raise money to help build a memorial for police dogs at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Memorial in Grand Island.

Matt Anderson of Tag Ink and Thread and Back the Badge Nebraska said Wednesday the goal is to help raise $30,000 for the memorial.

In January 2016, Omaha's police dog Kobus was shot and killed during a standoff with a man.

The dog was sent inside a home after officers had used a flash bang they thought would disorient the suspect, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

"As we know, K-9 officers and mounted patrol are a portion of law enforcement that doesn't get a lot of the headline news," Anderson said.

At Kobus' memorial service, many in the law enforcement community there realized they didn't have a proper way to further commemorate the dog's service, Anderson said.

Memorial statues for Kobus have since been erected at the Omaha police training facility and in Midtown Omaha's Turner Park.

The 6-foot granite slab planned for Grand Island will have an engraving of Kobus on one side and a patrol horse on the other, Anderson said. The memorial would honor all police service animals who die while on active duty.

Back the Badge Nebraska is selling apparel and merchandise that allow people to show their support for police, and the proceeds go to the proposed memorial.

T-shirts begin at $25, Anderson said.

The Lincoln Police Department has five K-9 units and the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office has two, said Capt. Danny Reitan, who is oversees LPD's K-9 program.

These dogs are paid for by public donations, Reitan said.

In recent years, two of LPD's police dogs died while not on duty, Reitan said. One got loose and was hit by a car, and the other died from cancer a week before it was going to be retired.

"They're really our coworkers," Reitan said.

Donations can be made at Backthebadgene.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:12:10|Editor: pengying

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and his visiting Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, met on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan and bilateral ties among other topics.

In the statements released by the White House, the two presidents vowed to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan, pledging to deepen cooperation against violent extremism and international terrorism.

They also issued commitments to addressing shared challenges in Central Asia through regional formats, such as the C5+1 dialogue among Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States, and welcomed future Afghan participation in C5+1 projects.

Nazarbayev promised to continue to provide critical logistical support and access for Western troops fighting terrorism, adding that Kazakhstan has also provided Afghanistan humanitarian and technical support worth 75 million U.S dollars, and spent 50 million dollars training Afghan civilian specialists.

Last April, Trump announced his Afghanistan strategy, saying the United States, instead of withdrawing its troops from the war-torn nation, will increase its military presence there. At the end of 2017, the U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan has been increased to some 15,000.

As Kazakhstan holds the rotating presidency on the United Nations Security Council this month, the U.S. government said it will continue to discuss international challenges with Kazakhstan during its tenure.

Aside from cooperation on regional and international issues, the two countries are committed to promoting "an enhanced strategic partnership for the 21st century."

"In bilateral relations, I think economic relations play a key role. And in Kazakhstan, we have major American companies operating for many years," Nazarbayev told the press Tuesday.

Bilateral trade in goods grew to 1.9 billion dollars in 2016, said the U.S. Department of State, and both countries aim to further expand the economic ties.

"We also agree that fair and reciprocal ... trade benefits both of our countries," Trump said.

During the visit, Nazarbayev promised to sign with the United States 20 commercial contracts worth 7.5 billion dollars.

In civil aviation, for example, Kazakhstan ordered six Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, making itself the first nation in Central Asia to own and operate the type of passenger planes.

Moreover, its national airline carrier Air Astana announced it would purchase three Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are scheduled for delivery in 2021.

In railways, General Electric and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) railway company concluded two new strategic initiatives valued at over 900 million dollars, including manufacturing locomotives for KTZ, an expansion of the main rail facility in Astana and others.

The two nations also signed contracts on collaboration in areas such as digital infrastructure, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, education, finance, space exploration and healthcare.

Nazarbayev said that since Kazakhstan offers visa-free entry into the country for U.S. visitors, he expects "reciprocity" from the U.S. side. The two nations are also working on opening a direct flight between them.

During his visit, Nazarbayev also invited Trump to visit Kazakhstan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:22:13|Editor: pengying

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by Xinhua writers Mahmoud Darwesh and Nawas Darraji

TRIPOLI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- As the motives behind the recent attack on Tripoli airport in Libya were heatedly discussed, relations to terrorist groups and their arrangements and coordination came into the spotlight, analysts have pointed out.

The Tripoli airport witnessed fierce clashes on Monday which killed 21 people and injured dozens. The clashes happened between the Special Deterrent Force in charge of airport security and an armed militia based in the suburbs of Tripoli and led by a man named Bashir Khalafallah, also know as Baqara.

According to the government backed by the United Nations and the Special Deterrence Force, the motive of the attack was to free terrorist prisoners inside the Reform and Rehabilitation Foundation, or M'etiga prison, which is located inside the Tripoli airbase.

"The official statement by the Government about the motives of attack being to free terrorists is a logical explanation of the incident. However, there are other links revealed by the attack, mainly the link and coordination between terrorist groups despite their weakness and decreased influence," Mohamed Khoja, a Libyan analyst on terrorist groups, told Xinhua.

"When the militia led by Baqara attacked M'etiga airport, it was not a coincidence or an absurdity. It came in accordance with certain arrangements and alliances between terrorist and Islamist groups allied with it, especially in the east of the country, and particularly in Derna." Khoja explained.

"The fighting in the area caused great damage to a number of houses nearby, and panic and fear among women and children," said Khaled Abdul-Rahman, a resident of the area near the airport.

"When I was about to leave my house at 7:30 a.m., I was surprised to see gunmen entering the neighborhood near the airport, carrying light and medium weapons and chanting 'we will free our brothers from the airport prison.' After that, I rushed to the house and left my car open for fear of being shot," Abdul-Rahman told Xinhua.

"A few minutes later, sounds of guns, tanks and weapons were heard from every direction," Abdul-Rahman added.

"A few hours after the attack, the terrorist Shura Council of Mujahideen of Derna blessed the operation on the airport. The Council even called on (the attackers), whom it described as Mujahideen, freemen, and freedom fighters, to support operations to control the airport and defeat and expel the Deterrent Force, the only body capable of fighting terrorists and outlaws in Tripoli, from their headquarters at the Tripoli airbase," Khoja said.

"This means that the capital would enter a street war between rival militias, especially if the extremely dangerous prisoners were freed." Khoja explained.

The expert said that the militia that attacked the airport has a strong link with a number of terrorist groups, especially in eastern Libya. Therefore, a successful operation means that terrorism would find a foothold in major cities such as Tripoli.

Ismail Sharif, an Eastern Parliament member, believes that "all motives are possibly linked to the recent clashes in Tripoli."

"I think the argument about an attempt of terrorists to exploit the attack is possible. It could also be an attempt to disrupt the positive climate of preparation for the upcoming elections," Sharif told Xinhua.

"Some powerful parties in official institutions are trying to spoil any new political transition so that they can remain longer in their positions and personally gain more from their posts," he said.

"I believe that the failure to implement the political agreement, especially the security arrangements on dissolution of all armed formations and surrender their weapons and integrating them into security institutions, is the basis of the imbalance and the recurrence of such security tensions, which kept Libya in a state of continuing chaos," said Sharif.

The airport is currently operated by the aviation authorities after the destruction of Tripoli's main international airport in July 2014 due to clashes between rival militias.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:32:14|Editor: pengying

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XI'AN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has issued a red alert for severe air pollution, with elementary and high schools and kindergartens suspended Wednesday.

The red alert, the most serious in the four-tier alert system for air pollution, came into effect Wednesday, as did the introduction of odd-even plate restrictions on vehicles, cutting traffic on roads by about half.

Outdoor activities have also been suspended, according to the city's heavy air pollution emergency response office.

Companies and public institutions are encouraged to ask their employees to work from home under the red alert.

The provincial weather bureau said heavy air pollution would last for days in Xi'an and the neighboring city of Xianyang and would not disperse until after Saturday in some parts of Xi'an.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:32:14|Editor: pengying

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JAKARTA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Loose or corroded joints may be the main reason of the sudden collapse of a middle floor at the Indonesian Stock Exchange building Monday, an initial report by the public works ministry has released.

Over 70 people were injured in the incident, most of which are university students from Palembang city taking a study tour of the stock exchange.

The CCTV footage showed a walkway collapsed when a group of students passed by, burying some in the debris.

According to the report, the suspended walkway collapse might be caused by the break-away of several cables and bolts from the ceiling due to a "concentration of weight" in one spot, where nearly 100 students gathered.

The report also said the walkway was a part of the original structure which was built in the late 1990s, and hasn't been maintained so far.

The public works ministry said that further investigation is underway for the final result.

Jakarta police have ruled out a bomb attack as the cause of the collapse.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:37:15|Editor: pengying

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese ride-sharing giant DiDi Chuxing launched a bike-sharing platform within its mobile app Wednesday.

Riders in Beijing and Shenzhen can use two popular shared bikes companies, ofo and Bluegogo, via DiDi's latest version of app, with no deposit required for riding Bluegogo bikes.

DiDi is an investor in ofo, and it announced last week that it was taking on parts of Bluegogo's business, as the company had previously been undergoing financial difficulties.

Under the trusteeship of DiDi, the Bluegogo brand name, deposits, debt and other related properties are retained by Bluegogo, while users will also have the option of converting Bluegogo deposits and privileges into DiDi bike and car ride coupons of an equivalent value.

"DiDi will upgrade its short-trip mobility strategy and provide various mobility options and better travel experiences for travelers on the 'last three kilometers,'" said Fu Qiang, Senior Vice President of DiDi.

The company will work with local authorities and other partners to improve bike-sharing user experience and expand the service to other cities.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 15:57:19|Editor: pengying

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ZHENGZHOU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Mongolian archaeologists have unearthed rare artifacts in a joint excavation in Mongolia.

The artifacts include iron belts inlaid with gold and silver and iron swords with wooden scabbards, said Zhou Ligang, head of the Chinese archaeological team.

They include pottery, ironware and bronze items typical of grassland culture, as well as items produced during China's Han Dynasty (202 B.C. -- A.D. 220) such as bronze mirrors, Zhou said.

"This shows that China had close exchanges with the Xiongnu group during the Han Dynasty," he said.

The Xiongnu people were an alliance of nomadic tribes also known as the Huns that emerged around the end of the third century B.C. and had a huge impact on Chinese and world history. During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu and China clashed several times.

Launched in July 2017, the collaborative team has been cooperating on surveys, mapping, excavation and research on a Xiongnu cemetery in Arhangay Province in Mongolia. The site has more than 400 known tombs.

The project was livestreamed on Sina Weibo.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:02:21|Editor: pengying

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VANCOUVER, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from 20 nations on Tuesday said they would not accept a nuclear-armed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and maintain maximum pressure against Pyongyang at a meeting in Vancouver, which was criticized by China and Russia as illegal and counterproductive.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated her country's commitment to a diplomatic solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis.

"What we do want is to resolve this crisis peacefully to achieve what is in our collective best interests, and that is security and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Freeland said during the Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula at the Vancouver Convention Center.

The meeting, co-hosted by Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was attended by foreign ministers of Britain, Japan and South Korea, among others. They discussed issues that included pressuring and imposing sanctions against the DPRK.

It came as the DPRK and South Korea have resumed talks after Pyongyang decided to join the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month.

During a routine press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that without participation of some of the most important direct parties to the nuclear issue, the Vancouver meeting had no legitimacy and was not representative.

"Since this meeting does not have legitimacy or representativeness, China has opposed the meeting from the very beginning," he said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday labeled the meeting as counterproductive, saying it sought to work out new mechanisms to pressure Pyongyang.

"I think that with all due respect to those who came up with this initiative, I do not expect anything productive," Lavrov said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:17:26|Editor: pengying

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LONDON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- In mid-16th century, 15 million people, or about 80 percent of the population of Mexico's legendary Aztec Empire, were wiped out by a mystery epidemic in just five years. However, until now, scientists had little clue about the nature of the epidemic.

But Monday, they identified an "enteric fever" as a highly likely cause of the massive devastation nearly 500 years ago, based on DNA evidence from the teeth of the long-buried victims, The Guardian reported.

In 1545, people in the Aztec state started suffering high fevers, headaches and bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose, generally dying just three or four days later.

The epidemic, which was called "cocoliztli" by locals, was one of the numerous epidemics to ravage Mexico after the Europeans arrived, and one of the three "most devastating" ones that led to unbelievable human losses.

Just two decades before the 1545 cocoliztli pestilence, a smallpox epidemic killed roughly 5 to 8 million people. Later in the 1570s, another outbreak killed half of the remaining population.

The scientific study was published in the science journal "Nature Ecology and Evolution" by Ashild Vagene of the University of Tuebingen in Germany, and others.

The research team found traces of a strain of the Salmonella enterica bacteria after analyzing DNA from 29 skeletons, the report said. Salmonella enterica is known to have been present in Europe prior to the epidemic in Mexico.

Salmonella strains may have traveled with the domesticated animals brought by the Spanish, and spread via infected food or water, the team said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:22:27|Editor: pengying

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NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Following the verbal instruction, an acoustic piano started playing on its own. If members of the audience close their eyes, they'd probably believe a real pianist playing the song "I'll remember you."

The scene was part of an event on Tuesday in Manhattan, New York in the United States, where Yamaha presented musical instruments featuring engineering innovation and Amazon Alexa integration.

The instruments introduced include Venova, a lightweight "saxophone" with a special split pipe design and Clavinova Smart Pianist electronic keyboard that can teach any new song by telling users where and when to hit the key. On display was also a self-play Disklavier piano controlled by Amazon's voice assistant Alexa.

The magic pulled by the Disklavier piano could be done without Yamaha's multi-room audio system, MusicCast, which controls many of the company's smart products. By connecting Alexa with MusicCast, customers can play music in their houses only through voice commands.

Alexa has more than 30,000 skills or third-party apps. People use them mostly for day-to-day tasks like controlling room lights or playing music and news through devices such as the Echo smart speaker. Several new partnerships Amazon announced earlier this year will make Alexa enter television sets, PC computers and cars.

Tom Sumner, senior vice president of Yamaha Corporation in America, told Xinhua that the company's goal is to inspire musicians to play more music and help them compose music more efficiently.

"We want to bring more people into music and keep them playing music," said Dennis Webster, marketing manager of Yamaha's guitar division.

Having displayed a cheaper version of their TransAcoustic Guitar that has built-in reverbs and chorus effects, Webster said the new guitar and other technology-powered products would motivate the next generation and advance music education.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:32:29|Editor: pengying

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- One year into Donald Trump's presidency, the uncertainties and anxieties over his unconventional playbook appear to have not diminished.

As he seeks to implement his campaign promises, which seem controversial and even unacceptable to many, rifts, feuds and controversies dogged the year and 2018 would probably not be any different.

THE FISSURES

Since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017, the divide between Republicans and Democrats intensified with the two parties seldom trying to meet each other halfway or make any compromise on GOP-led legislative pushes.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank Pew Research Center said in a report that the divisions between the two sides on fundamental political values, which had reached record levels during the Obama presidency, "have grown even larger" in Trump's first year as president.

What has been more frustrating for the Republican president is that he can't even bridge the gap within his own party, which led successive efforts to repeal Obamacare, the healthcare measure introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama, to fail. Thus one of Trump's core campaign promises could not be fulfilled legislatively.

Though the administration subsequently notched up a victory by pulling off the largest tax overhaul in 30 years, the fact that the bill didn't gain support from a single Democrat was another example of the gaping political divide.

Public opinion remains starkly divided as well. According to a just-released Gallup poll, Trump's first-year job approval rating has averaged 39 percent since his inauguration, lower than that of any of his predecessors. Some 83 percent of Republican voters, however, continue to approve of him, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

THE FEUDS

In the past year, "feud" became a keyword to describe some of Trump's interactions with others, especially his ongoing tit-for-tat battle with the U.S. mainstream media. As a result, the expression "fake news" is now a global buzzword.

A frequent Twitter user, the president has routinely labeled negative coverage of him or his presidency as "fake news", casting aspersions on the credentials of the news organizations behind it.

In response, the media has become more critical of Trump's words and deeds while putting his presidency under greater scrutiny, forcing the White House to urge "due attention" to the administration's achievements.

Another source of feud is the ongoing probe into the alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Trump has repeatedly denied any tieup with Russia, dismissing the probe as a "hoax" and "witch hunt". With the investigation inching toward Trump's inner circle, the feud is expected to continue as Republicans, including the president, raise more questions on the credibility of the probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller while Democrats urge that the special counsel be protected.

THE CONTROVERSIES

Besides divisions and feuds, there has been no shortage of controversies either.

Trump fired former FBI director James Comey amid the Russia investigation, displayed reluctance to condemn white supremacists following violence in Charlottesville, banned transgender recruits, and backed scandal-hit Republican candidate Roy Moore for a Senate seat, to name just a few.

One of the biggest controversies was his hardline stance on immigration. His proposed immigration reform included travel bans and termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected illegal immigrants who had reached U.S. shores during their childhood from being deported.

He also repeatedly called for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stave off illegal immigrants, blamed Democrats for lack of progress on the immigration deal, and asked for a merit-based immigration system while suggesting an end to chain migration and the Diversity Visa Program.

While Trump's supporters see him as a keeper of promise who seeks to safeguard national interests and the interests of the American people, his critics argue that a visible border wall and an invisible policy wall wouldn't necessarily mean a safer environment for the United States.

Instead, they could sow hatred and discord, shaking the foundation of a nation whose prosperity has relied primarily on the labor of generations of immigrants.

Very recently, Trump's alleged use of profanities when describing Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting with lawmakers on immigration policies sparked international outrage, becoming the first major controversy to engulf him in 2018 and signaling the trend would probably continue.
The pension plan for police and fire is in adequate shape  actuarially speaking  though it is still recovering from the stock market crash in 2008, based on a report to the City Council this month.

Investment returns of 11.2 percent last year, plus some changes the council made last year relating to the plan, helped put the plan on more sound financial footing.

The plan covers defined benefit retirement plans for more than 1,100 current and former police and firefighters.

Defined benefit means the employee is guaranteed a specific monthly benefit at retirement primarily based on years of service and end-of-career salary.

Most city employees have defined contribution plans, similar to 401k savings plans for employees with private companies.

The city government is responsible for the defined benefit retirement plan's monthly benefit no matter what happens with investments.

The city should contribute about $8.33 million next fiscal year and another $8.43 million the following year in order to maintain stability in the pension fund, based on the recent actuarial report from Cavanaugh Macdonald Consulting.

For those few who understand this complicated topic, the funded ratio for the pension plan (as of Aug. 31) was 81 percent, up from a low of 63.9 percent in 2015. That's one measure of the financial health of the plan.

Prior to the stock market crash, the funded ratio for the plan hovered between 95 to more than 100 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:37:31|Editor: Mengjie

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QINGDAO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Ocean University of China said its new deep ocean scientific research ship Dongfanghong No. 3 was launched Tuesday in Shanghai.

The 103-meter-long and 18-meter-wide research ship with a tonnage of 5,800 tonnes has a maximum speed of 15 knots.

The vessel will be put into service by the end of the year, said the university, adding that"Dongfanghong No. 3 would work with other scientific ships to conduct surveys and analyses of air, water and the seabed

The new vessel is an important project of the Ministry of Education. The 2,500-tonne Dongfanghong and 3,500-tonne Dongfanghong No. 2, built in the 1960s and 1990s, respectively, have made a great contribution to ocean research in China.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:37:32|Editor: pengying

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NEW DELHI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Indian police seized a huge cache of banned currency notes in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said Wednesday.

The haul was seized in Kanpur city.

"We have seized a huge cache of demonetised Indian currency notes here," a police official posted in Kanpur said. "It's estimated to be around a billion of rupees. The counting is on to ascertain what was its worth."

According to the police, they raided a residential house on intelligence information about the presence of the demonetised currency.

"We are interrogating the people involved," A.K. Meena, a senior police official in Kanpur told media.

The police have also informed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Income Tax (IT) department officials.

The seizure includes the banned 500 and 1000 denomination currency notes.

Reports said the owner of the house has a money exchange business.

In Nov. 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly announced that the currency notes of 500 and 1000 Indian rupees would cease to be legal tenders.

His decision took 86 percent of the currency out of circulation overnight from India. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:47:37|Editor: Mengjie

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GUANGZHOU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba shut down 240,000 online stores suspected of selling fake products in 2017, according to a report published by the company.

Alibaba also helped catch counterfeiters in offline cases worth about 4.3 billion yuan (668 million U.S. dollars). The company provided tips about fake products to public security bureaus across the country, which led to the detention of 1,606 suspects.

Alibaba said that as the world's biggest retail platform, the company is committed to the anti-counterfeit battle and protecting intellectual property rights.

Last January, Alibaba joined 20 brands to fight counterfeit goods through big data analysis. So far, 30 brands have joined the "alliance to fight counterfeits with big data."

Despite Alibaba's continuous efforts to cleanse its platforms of fake goods, its customer-to-customer marketplace, Taobao.com, returned this month to the U.S. Trade Representative's blacklist of "notorious markets" known for selling counterfeit goods and violations of intellectual property rights. Taobao was first put on the blacklist in 2011 but removed in 2012 after effective rectification.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:52:39|Editor: Mengjie

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BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming second ministerial meeting under the framework of China and the Forum of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will deepen cooperation and strengthen the complementary relationship between the two sides, a prominent political analyst has said.

Patricio Giusto, a public policy expert and director of the consulting firm Diagnostico Politico (Political Diagnosis) in Buenos Aires, told Xinhua in a recent interview about the meeting scheduled for Jan. 19-22 in Santiago, Chile.

"The forum establishes a mechanism for dialogue, where you have China on one side and the 33 countries on the other. This mechanism is working, that's the interesting thing," Giusto said.

According to a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the meeting of the China-CELAC Forum.

The overriding theme at the upcoming forum is bound to be innovation, a subject that is at the heart of China's current development plans, Giusto said.

"China, which previously imported innovative technology to be able to produce, today produces cutting-edge technology. And what it is trying to do is offer the world's different regions access to this new technology, precisely to countries that need it," the consultant said.

Therefore, what can Latin America bring to the equation?

"We have a surplus of food, that's the case for almost all of Latin America, but we lack investment in infrastructure and high technology, which China can supply," said Giusto.

"Further exploring and further deepening this natural complementarity is going to be one of the central points of the forum," he added.

The China-CELAC forum serves as an ideal venue for examining ways the two sides can help each other, he noted.

The first ministerial meeting, held "on China's initiative" in Beijing in January 2015, led to the creation of the 2015-2019 cooperation plan, which made possible "multimillion-dollar investments, especially in energy, mining and food cooperation," according to Giusto.

"The expectation for the gathering in Chile is to accomplish a lot more," he said.

BEYOND TRADE

Trade ties between China and Latin America have evolved notably, yet the potential for cooperation exists "not only in trade" but also "in Chinese investment in the region," said Giusto.

Cooperation between the two sides has expanded beyond trade in recent years to seeing "great advances" in the realms of politics and culture, and to a lesser degree in tourism, reflecting better developed ties, he said.

Giusto cited cooperation between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and local parties, independent of ideology but with an eagerness for talks.

"There has been an open, comprehensive proposal in which the different parties have begun to establish dialogue with China," he noticed.

The number of Confucius Institutes in Latin America is on the rise as regional interest grows in learning more about the Chinese culture and language.

"It is very interesting to see how new Confucius centers are being inaugurated and the projects to open more," said Giusto.

"Tourism has enormous potential. In Argentina, we have only received 30,000 Chinese tourists when there are hundreds of thousands that travel throughout the world and we could be providing them with a more interesting offer," he said.

"There's also the matter of financial cooperation ... through RMB reserves for central banks in the region," he added.

EVOLUTION IN TIES

Latin America needs to seize the moment and make the most of this evolution in ties with China, according to Giusto.

"The region cannot continue to waste the opportunity China is offering to expand trade, investment, finance, cultural exchange and a whole bunch of other areas that could be explored, without any shadow of doubt," he said.

At the forum, "we have the possibility to agree on a common position on China to be able to better capitalize on this relationship," said Giusto.

"From China's point of view, the forum is also very important, because it is a unique chance for China to sit down with 33 regional countries to better explain its plans and that long-term vision that is often so hard for us Latin Americans," Giusto continued.

In short, the forum stands to strengthen the complementarity that exists between the two sides, said Giusto.

"I see the forum as the kick start to what the governments of the different countries have to hammer out later. This is an unrivaled opportunity for the region to have as a partner and to exploit that for the benefit of our peoples," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:57:41|Editor: Zhou Xin

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CANBERRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Australia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports have hit a record high on the back of strong demand from China, according to a top energy consultant.

Figures released by consultancy firm EnergyQuest revealed that Australia exported 56.8 million tons (Mt) of LNG in the calendar year 2017, up 26.3 percent from 2016.

While the volume of gas exported rose only 26.3 percent, the revenue generated by the exports rose 44.1 percent on the back of high prices to 20.49 billion U.S. dollars.

Graeme Bethune, Chief Executive Officer of EnergyQuest, said growth in demand from China was the stand-out success story, telling Xinhua that export to China grew 40.5 percent in 2017 to account for 31 percent of Australia's total exports.

Exports to other Asian countries also increased significantly in 2017 with the amount shipped to Japan up 18.1 percent and South Korea becoming the third-largest market for Australian LNG.

He said that despite speculation that Australia could not continue to export so much gas, many gas projects were either not operating at full capacity in 2017 or had not yet begun operation.

"The current high rate is certainly sustainable because (Western Australia's) Gorgon gas project is yet to achieve plateau production," Bethune told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"Wheatstone LNG is just starting up and two further projects, Ichthys and Prelude will not be coming into production until later this year."

Australian Prime Minister (PM) Malcolm Turnbull threatened to curb gas exports in September, saying too much of Australia's LNG was being exported while states endured a shortfall, and has not ruled out doing so in the future.

However, Bethune said his opinion was that the controls on gas exports would not be imposed.

The record 2017 means that Australia is the second biggest exporter of LNG in the world, trailing only Qatar.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 16:57:43|Editor: pengying

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ABU DHABI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) top diplomat said on Wednesday that the Qatari interception of two UAE aircraft on Monday reflects its "desperate attempt" for fear of marginalization.

It was "an escalation of concern and confusion" and "our response will be balanced and legal," Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said on his twitter account.

On Monday morning, the UAE civil aviation authority GCCA said Qatari fighter jets intercepted two UAE passenger aircraft in one hour on their scheduled routine flight routes from Dubai to Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

Both airliners landed safely at the Al Bahrain International Airport but with a delay at the destination, it added.

According to Gulf news, the first plane was Emirates Airline flight 837. An Emirates Airline spokesperson, however, declined to comment when contacted on the phone over the incident.

Qatar has denied all the charges.

The incident came days after Qatar filed a complaint to the United Nations about a UAE military jet's alleged violation of its airspace in December.

The complaint was rejected by the UAE as "incorrect and confusing," and the UAE authorities said they were working to respond officially with evidence.

On Tuesday, the UAE government said in a statement that "the military aircraft was flying outside of Qatari airspace," UAE state news agency WAM reported.

In June 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties as well as all air, sea and land links to Qatar, accusing the gas-rich Gulf state of supporting terrorism and aligning with Iran against Arab interests, which Doha has repeatedly denied.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 17:17:46|Editor: Zhou Xin

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YANGON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Local police dispersed demonstrators gathering for the right of celebrating the event marking the fall of the Arakan Kingdom in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine state on Tuesday night, and caused casualties, the Rakhine State Police Head Quarter said here on Wednesday.

There were no figured reports of casualties from the incident so far.

Over 1,000 protestors gathered around the government building, where the memorial ceremony marking the 233th anniversary of the fall of the Arakan Kingdom and Arakanese sovereignty was prohibited, at 10:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, an official from local police department told Xinhua.

Further detailed investigation on the incident is underway by the authorities, an official from the Rakhine regional government told Xinhua.

The Arakan Kingdom of Mrauk U was conquered on 31 December 1784 by the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty.

The diaspora Arakanese, who moved to live in several countries including Bangladesh, India, Thailand and the United States after they lost their kingdom, annually held such memorial ceremonies.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 17:37:49|Editor: Zhou Xin

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PHNOM PENH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Wednesday that the government planned to build two international airports to accommodate the high growth of tourists to the kingdom.

Speaking to about 17,000 garment factory workers on Phnom Penh's southwestern suburb, the prime minister said the government had approved plans to construct two new airports to accommodate travelers to Phnom Penh and to northwestern Siem Reap province, the home of Angkor world heritage site.

"We have planned to develop 2 new airports -- one in Phnom Penh and the other in Siem Reap -- because the capacity of the existing airports is not big enough for our long-term goal," he said, adding that the number of tourists to the kingdom has been steadily increasing.

Cambodia received up to 5.6 million foreign tourists in 2017.

According to government documents, the country approved last month an investment proposal from Cambodia Airport Investment Co. Ltd to build a 1.5-billion-U.S.-dollar airport on the area of 2,600 hectares in Kandal province, about 30 km south of Phnom Penh.

And in August last year, the country approved an investment proposal from China's state-owned Yunnan Investment Holdings Ltd (YIHL) to construct a 962-million-U.S.-dollar airport in Siem Reap province.

Cambodia is expected to welcome 7 million foreign tourists in 2020, generating 5 billion U.S. dollars in revenue and creating 1 million direct jobs, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 17:47:52|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MOGADISHU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) captured five Al-Shabaab militants in an operation south of Baidoa town, the administrative capital of Southwest State, officials said Wednesday.

Spokesman for the Southwest State Presidency Nuradin Yusuf Abukar said SNA and Southwest State forces jointly carried out the operations at Manaas location.

"SNA and Southwest State forces conducted very successful operation against the terrorist militant group at Manaas location this morning, they captured five Al-Shabaab fighters and recovered four motorbikes during the operation," Abukar said.

He confirmed that some soldiers sustained slight injuries during the operation, adding that the joint forces liberated several areas in and around the area so far.

The latest operation came hours after Al-Shabaab claimed to have captured Daynuney and Gof-gudud locations east and north of Baidoa town on Tuesday.

But Security Minister for the Southwest State Hassan Hussein Mohamed told Xinhua that their forces killed several Al-Shabaab militants Tuesday, and the militants' attempt to capture two areas was thwarted.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 17:47:52|Editor: Zhou Xin

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DOHA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A controversial member of Qatar's royal family has flown to Kuwait after his alleged detention by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), local media reported Wednesday.

"My father is on his plane to Kuwait with his two daughters," said Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah al Thani, the son of Sheikh Abdullah, who emerged as a negotiator and one of the most prominent figures speaking out against Qatar in the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Qatar and other Gulf nations.

When asked about his father's possibility of returning to Doha, Sheikh Ali did not give a definite answer.

"After arriving in Kuwait and checking his health, he will decide to return to Qatar or travel abroad for treatment," he said.

Sheikh Ali also said his father's health was "not stable" as he was suffering from heart disease and diabetes.

On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah posted a video saying he was detained in the UAE.

"I am afraid something could happen to me that will be blamed on Qatar," he said.

The UAE, however, denied that Sheikh Abdullah was being held against his will and said he was "free to leave."

Last June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and transport links to gas-rich Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and establishing close ties with Iran against Arab interests, which Doha has repeatedly denied.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:07:59|Editor: Zhou Xin

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by Abu Hanifah

JAKARTA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Valuable historical collections kept in Indonesia's national maritime museum were burned down or damaged after a fire recently gutted most part of the museum building.

The museum blaze that took place on Tuesday has fiercely consumed at least 60 percent of the museum building, police said. Efforts are underway to assess the loss and save the remaining collections.

Jakarta police spokesperson Argo Yuwono said that police have deployed a forensic team to investigate the incident in the museum, located at the old city tourism spot in north part of the capital city.

Citing initial results of police's investigation, Argo said that the fire was possibly prompted by electrical shortcut in the building.

The Indonesia's national maritime museum was built during the era of Dutch colonial rule in 17th century. Its renovation was completed in November last year.

Deputy of Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Arief Oegroseno deeply regretted the fire incident in the museum, which he said may lead to credible loss of Indonesia's historical collections showing the nation's maritime might in the past.

Head of the maritime museum Husnuzon Nizam said the fire has severely affected the A and C sections in the building, which comprises of three A, B and C sections.

"The fire initially razed the C section in the north side and eventually rattled to the other sections. The C section has exhibition room that displays various historical collections," he said, monitoring the extinguishing process in the building carried out by the fire squad.

The fire also burned down the newly-installed set of diorama depicting the Java Sea Battle event during World War II contributed by the Indonesian Maritime Affairs Ministry.

He said that among the burned collections were sets of navigation instrument used by Indonesia's ancient seafarers, models of old Indonesian vessels as well as models of Dutch colonial ships and collections donated by foreign countries.

"We are now still identifying and verifying the exact number of historical collections razed by the fire," he said, adding that the museum kept around 700 historical collections before the fire.

Husnizon said that it may take at least six months to carry out works to repair and renovate the museum building.

During the Dutch colonial era, the building was used as warehouse and spice packing facility of Dutch East Indies company (VOC).

The building, which was gradually built from 1652 to 1771, facilitated the VOC's packing process on various spices and other commodities it collected from regions across Indonesia before being shipped to Europe.

The building compound was converted into state institutions' offices after Indonesia seized its independence in 1945. It was later on initiated as National Maritime Museum in 1977.

The fire in the maritime museum drew concerns among heritage preservation activists, who said immediate works to bring back the museum needs to be carried out soon.

Asep Kambali, co-founder of Indonesian Historia Community, said that the fire has drawn a deep sorrow among enthusiasts of Indonesian heritage sites and to the nation's tourism sector in general.

"The fire may vanish part of our past identities as a nation of seafarers," Asep said.

He expected replicas of the collections burned by the fire also needs to be crafted as well.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:13:01|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese military will be subject to "stricter" discipline checks as efforts to root out corruption, a senior military official said Wednesday.

Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), said at a meeting of the CMC's discipline inspection commission that the armed forces under the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s absolute leadership will unwaveringly follow the Party's call to strengthen governance.

Zhang said the military will enhance Party building and keep "fighting tigers and swapping flies" -- a reference to investigating both senior and low-level corrupt officials.

"We should concentrate our resources on cracking big [corruption] cases while building a sound supervision system," Zhang said. "The cases our servicemen complain most about should also be looked into."

"We should always keep a sober mind and be firm as the anti-corruption campaign never ends," he said.

Zhang's comments came as a graft probe recently caught two high-ranking military officials.

On Jan. 9, the authorities said former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department Fang Fenghui was being investigated for corruption.

Last November, Zhang Yang, former head of the CMC Political Work Department, killed himself at home amid a discipline probe. Investigators found he had seriously violated discipline and law, including offering and taking bribes.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:13:02|Editor: Zhou Xin

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HONG KONG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) should in principle be open on a 24-hour basis, a Hong Kong official said here on Wednesday.

Chan Fan, the Secretary for Transport and Housing Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), attended the meeting of the Legislative Council of HKSAR and replied the questions of the legislators.

Chan said that the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have already reached a consensus that 24-hour clearance should be implemented from the date of the commissioning of the bridge, for which the "separate locations" mode of clearance arrangement will be adopted.

Chan said that the connection of the viaduct, tunnel and at-grade roads of the Hong Kong Link Road of HZMB have been completed in May 2017, while road surfacing works and road facilities will be completed within this week. The remaining works in progress mainly include the final installation and testing of the Traffic Control and Surveillance System, as well as the final works of some ancillary facilities.

Chan said that the consultants engaged by the three sides estimated that the daily traffic volume of the HZMB would be at around 29,100 and 42,000 vehicles in 2030 and 2037 respectively, while the daily passenger flow would be 126,000 and 175,000 passenger trips respectively.

The estimations, however, may vary with external factors such as the respective developments of the three places and new planning initiatives, he said.

Chan said that HZMB is an unprecedented project connecting Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. With HZMB, travelling time between Hong Kong and western Pearl River Delta (PRD) will be reduced significantly and thereby bringing western PRD within easy reach at just three hours' drive from Hong Kong.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:28:06|Editor: Zhou Xin

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HARARE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe has denounced the United States President Donald Trump's alleged utterances describing African states as "shithole" countries.

In a statement published by The Herald Wednesday, the Zimbabwean foreign ministry said such comments were hurtful and prejudicial and did not have a place in modern times.

It said the words attributed to the Trump earlier this month "has shocked and dismayed us."

"The USA is a prominent country of which the world expects the best example in its projections of democratic values, commitment to the fight against bigotry, upholding the civil rights of all of its people and generosity towards the less fortunate countries in the world."

The Zimbabwean government said it joined fellow African countries and others in rejecting "this unfortunate characterization of our peoples and countries".

U.S. media reported that during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, Trump described Africa, together with Haiti and El Salvador, as "shithole countries" supplying undesirable immigrants to the United States.

The demeaning comments, which Trump has since denied, has received broad condemnation from across the globe.
Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (3rd R) meets with his Sao Tome and Principe counterpart Urbino Botelho (2nd L, front) in Sao Tome, capital of Sao Tome and Principe, Jan. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Qiao Benxiao)

SAO TOME, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Tuesday called on African countries not to miss China-Africa cooperation opportunities.

At a press conference in Sao Tome and Principe, Wang said he hoped Sino-African cooperation will not omit any African country.

Wang was in Sao Tome and Principe Tuesday in the last leg of his new year African trip. Sao Tome and Principe resumed its diplomatic relations with China about a year ago after cutting "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan.

While emphasizing there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory, Wang hailed Sao Tome and Principe's right decision to restore diplomatic relations with China.

Since then, exchanges between the two countries have resumed in all fields and have brought tangible benefits to Sao Tome and Principe, the foreign minister said.

Wang said China is now speeding up its comprehensive cooperation with Africa under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative, and supports Africa's pursuit of independent development.

However, some African countries' "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan have prevented them from having normal relations with China and from joining Sino-African cooperation, he said.

Wang said he hoped no African country will miss the historic opportunities brought by a fast-developing China.

Wang said he believed that all African brothers and sisters will "stand with the Chinese people in China's cause of reunification."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:48:11|Editor: pengying

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HANOI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming 26th annual meeting of Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) to be held here will foster cooperation among parliaments, contributing to peace, innovation and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region, home to almost 3 billion people, organizers said on Wednesday.

Under the theme of "Parliamentary Partnership for Peace, Innovation and Sustainable Development", delegates will discuss four key matters, namely politics and security, economy and trade, regional development cooperation and APPF's future work from Jan. 18-21, Nguyen Van Giau, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee under Vietnam's National Assembly, the country's top legislature, said at a press conference.

The discussions will provide a parliamentary perspective to efforts in promoting friendship and cooperation, combating terrorism and other trans-boundary crimes, expanding trade, investment, prosperity and sustainable development which revolve around the agenda of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit 2017, and addressing regional cooperation on climate change responses and regional cultural and tourism cooperation.

The Hanoi Declaration is scheduled to be issued to mark the 25th founding anniversary of APPF and chart out the course of development for the forum in the future, said Giau.

The forum is expected to see over 350 foreign delegates, including 20 from China, according to the organizers.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:53:12|Editor: pengying

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) plans to begin celebrating its 50th anniversary at the Singapore Airshow 2018 in February, according to a media briefing on Wednesday.

The air force plans to put its assets and platforms on static display at the air show, which will be held from Feb. 6 to 11.

Singapore's President Halimah Yacob will officially launch the anniversary celebrations, which is called RSAF50, on Feb. 7 at the airshow, and unveil the commemorative 50th-anniversary-themed F-15SG aircraft.

Brigadier-General Kelvin Khong Boon Leong, Chairman of the RSAF50 steering committee, said the RSAF50 celebration event at the Singapore Airshow 2018 will feature RSAF50 pavilion, aircraft simulators, helicopter experiential flights, aerial display with two F-16Cs and one F-15SG aircrafts, and almost twice as many as RSAF assets on display compared to the Singapore Airshow 2016.

Other RSAF50 celebration events to be launched later this year include the aerial flypast comprising more than 20 RSAF flying assets after the National Day Parade in August.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 18:58:13|Editor: pengying

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YANGON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed with 12 others injured in Tuesday night's clashes between demonstrators and the police in Mrauk U , Myanmar's western Rakhine state, said a release of the Information Ministry Wednesday.

The incident was sparked by a ban of holding literary talks show to mark the 233rd anniversary of the fall of ethnic Arakan Kingdom and its loss of sovereignty.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the ban, an estimation of over 1,000 demonstrators, slanting slogans, gathered around the local administration office building at about 7 p.m. local time to lodge protest and clashes occurred with the police, the release said.

Despite prohibition by the police, the situation became worse forcing the police to fire warning shots to disperse the crowd.

Stoned by the protestors, about 20 police force members were injured with some motor cars and cycles, office rooms and windows of the local administration office being destroyed.

The local authorities are taking measures for restoring peace and stability in the region, the release added.
Source:Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:02:56|Editor: Mengjie

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Zhao Lei checks growing of goats at a cooperative in Zhaiya Village of Zaoyang Township in Ankang, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 16, 2018. In 2011, the migrant worker Zhao Lei returned to his hometown Zhaiya from east Zhejiang province and tried to breed goats. As the expansion of breeding, Zhao cooperated with other villagers in breeding and shared incomes with them. In 2017, Zhao's breeding business brought extra earning for 53 poor families in the village. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:08:16|Editor: pengying

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ISLAMABAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A person was injured as an alleged U.S. pilotless aircraft fired a missile in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a Pakistani Urdu media reported on Wednesday.

According to media reports, a missile fired from the aircraft landed outside a house in the Badshah Kot area of Kurram Agency, one of the seven tribal agencies in Pakistan's federally administered tribal areas.

Panic gripped the area following the attack, reported Geo News, adding that the identity of the injured was not immediately known.

The aircraft kept on hovering over the area for some time before launching the strike, causing panic among the local people which constitute a large number of women and kids.

This is the first drone strike in the country this year, according to local media reports.

Pakistan has repeatedly protested these attacks as an infringement of its sovereignty and because civilian deaths have also resulted, including women and children, which has further angered the Pakistani government and people.
A federal judge Tuesday allowed nearly all of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of disabled inmates to go forward against the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Board of Parole.

Still, the state didn't describe the decision as a loss.

"We appreciate the court's partial dismissal of this lawsuit and look forward to defending the remainder of this case," Attorney General Doug Peterson said in an emailed statement.

His office had argued for the case to be dismissed. But U.S. District Judge Robert Rossiter Jr. rejected arguments that the claims brought on behalf of the inmates by the ACLU of Nebraska weren't yet ripe for litigation, that the inmates had failed to establish they were eligible for parole or that they had any concrete injury from the Parole Board's actions.

The judge wrote that at least four of the 11 inmates who sued were eligible for parole and all but three had begun the process giving them standing.

In the lawsuit, the ACLU alleges that the Board of Parole evaluates prisoners at parole hearings using improper factors that disproportionately screen out those with disabilities and that the board has no policy or procedure for providing services to prisoners with disabilities.

"Being denied parole due to criteria that improperly discriminate against those with disabilities would be an actual injury," Rossier said in his order.

In the end, the judge only dropped civil-rights claims originally brought by the ACLU against the Department of Corrections and Board of Parole. Attorneys for the ACLU conceded the claims.

By law, state agencies are immune from those types of lawsuits.

But the judge allowed all of the claims alleging Americans with Disabilities Act violations to go forward, as well as civil-rights claims against Scott Frakes, the prisons director; Julie Micek, the parole administrator; and Harbans Deol, the director of health services for the prisons.

"Today's court decision allowing litigation against the prison and parole system to move forward is yet another sign that Nebraska can no longer avoid addressing the crisis in our prisons. Since the filing of this lawsuit, there has been no plan from the Department of Correctional Services addressing the reality that the system is housing nearly 2,000 more individuals than it was designed for," said Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska.

The ACLU has asked the court to direct Corrections and the Board of Parole to immediately address overcrowding, and the lack of adequate medical, dental and mental health care, as well as provide accommodations for prisoners who are blind, deaf, hard-of-hearing or have other disabilities.

In its response to the claims, the state said the ACLU had "overreached," with the lawsuit including ADA claims on behalf of inmates alleging "hypothetical future injuries" that rest on events that may not even occur.

On Tuesday, Conrad, with the ACLU, said: "We are grateful to our clients in the prison system who stepped forward to pursue this case on behalf of all incarcerated Nebraskans, and are pleased that their case continues."

Lawmakers have an opportunity to act now, she said, on bills that impact "overly harsh sentences," put resources behind treatment and rehabilitation programs, support people leaving prison and address "both the causes and symptoms of Nebraska's overcrowding crisis."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:08:17|Editor: pengying

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CAIRO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army killed a terrorist and arrested 22 suspects in North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Second Field Army in North Sinai, in cooperation with the Air Forces, managed over the past few days to kill a highly dangerous terrorist element with a machine gun and communication devices in his possession," military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in the statement.

He added that 22 others, "suspected of providing support to the terrorist element," were also arrested during the riads.

"The forces also destroyed a storehouse containing a large amount of projectiles, bombs and explosive devices," he said.

The raids came during a renewed partial three-month curfew in North Sinai that started on Saturday, along with a similar renewed nationwide state of emergency.

North Sinai has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

The attacks later extended to reach several other provinces including the capital Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority via church bombings.

Most of the attacks were claimed by the so-called Wilayat Sinai (Sinai state or province), a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group.

Terrorism in Egypt did not stop at targeting security men and Copts, as a terrorist operation last month against a mosque in North Sinai's Arish city killed at least 310 Muslim worshippers and injured 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.

President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the army's chief of staff in late November 2017 to restore security and stability in the restive part of the Sinai Peninsula within three months.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:13:19|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland will continue to guide and support the development of cross-Strait industrial cooperation zone, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference.

Ma said that the mainland has introduced policies supporting Taiwan-funded enterprises to develop in mainland's central and western regions and encouraging them to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Two cross-Strait industrial cooperation zones, including six industrial parks, were established in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province last year, according to Ma.

In the meantime, Ma said the mainland would continue to enable Taiwan compatriots on the mainland to enjoy the same treatment as local people when they pursue their studies, start businesses, seek jobs, or live on the mainland.

"The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council will work with other departments to carry out new policies this year to facilitate Taiwan compatriots on the mainland," Ma said.

According to the annual survey on cross-Strait relations released by Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News last November, about 40 percent of 1,017 Taiwanese respondents said they were willing to work on the Chinese mainland, reaching the highest level since 2010.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:48:30|Editor: pengying

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RIYADH, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Wednesday ordered the transfer of 2 billion U.S. dollars to the Central Bank of Yemen, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The contribution aims to alleviate the suffering of Yemeni people and help them cope with the economic burdens imposed by Iran-backed Houthi militias, the Saudi authorities said in a statement.

The Saudis also accused Houthis of looting the state by seizing government revenues.

Their actions have resulted in a steady devaluation of the currency, which has significantly damaged the lives of Yemenis for years, the statement noted.

With the current financial aid, the total contribution of Saudi Arabia to the Central Bank of Yemen will reach 3 billion dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:53:31|Editor: Mengjie

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CHONGQING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chongqing Municipality in southwest China has introduced a smoke-free device to allow residents to make smoked bacon -- a delicacy once banned and blamed for causing foul air.

The environmentally friendly machine consists of three parts -- a metal smoking box, and cooling and purifying systems. The bacon is hung in smoke produced by burning cypress branches, and the smoke is cooled before it is purified and emitted by the device into the air.

"The smoked bacon made by this machine can preserve the original taste and protect the environment," said Zhang Zhong, owner of a designated meat-smoking site in Chongqing.

Eating preserved pork and sausages is a long-held tradition in Chongqing and the neighboring provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou, and many families make smoked bacon before the Chinese lunar new year.

Traditionally, people hang the meat above a metal bucket that contains burning tree branches.

Chongqing residents were banned from making smoked bacon in major districts of the city in 2015 as the delicacy was blamed for causing foul air.

"The heavy choking smoke caused people to call fire fighters and led to conflicts among neighbors," said Liu Jiao, an official with a residential community in the city.

But the ban invited public ridicule and skepticism on the Internet.

This winter, the Chongqing government asked an environmental protection equipment business to make a smoke-free machine for smoked bacon fans.

According to the city's Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center, with the help of the new machine, the density of particulate matter and cooking fumes has been reduced to around 3 milligram per cubic meter and 0.6 mg per cubic meter respectively.

The levels reached 500 mg per cubic meter and 40 mg per cubic meter, respectively, when using traditional bacon smoking methods.

The government has installed the machine at designated meat-smoking sites on every street and in every residential community. In Yubei district alone, there are more than 90 such sites.

"Each machine costs more than 30,000 yuan (around 4,600 U.S. dollars). They are purchased or rented by local governments or site owners," said Li Liaoyuan, an official with a subdistrict office in Yubei.

Resident Li Yanfang has made more than 25 kg of smoked bacon, sausages and pigs' feet at a designated bacon-smoking site.

"Although making smoked bacon is a small thing, the new machine shows the local government's shift from 'banning' to 'solving' issues," Li said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:53:31|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson has said that rising speculation of "non-peaceful reunification" should be blamed on the increasing "Taiwan independence" separatist activities on the island.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stressed at a press conference Wednesday that the mainland was willing to use its "greatest efforts and utmost good will" in pursuing peaceful reunification of the Chinese nation.

"However, it will never tolerate 'Taiwan independence' or allow such forces to split China," he said.

Ma made the remarks with regards to increased speculation that "non-peaceful measures" may be used in pursuit of China's reunification, though he said the Taiwan authorities leader believed such a prospect would not occur.

"Our policies toward Taiwan have been clear and consistent," Ma said.

The spokesperson said "Taiwan independence" was the greatest threat to cross-Strait peace and stability, while the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations was the fundamental guarantee for peace and stability.

Ma said the Taiwan authorities's refusal to accept the 1992 Consensus, undermined the political basis for cross-Strait ties, and its actions to unscrupulously develop arms would exacerbate tension across the Taiwan Strait.

"Whether the Taiwan authorities will follow the good trend and return to the 1992 Consensus or do the opposite depends on its own decisions," the spokesperson said.

In response to a question on the island's activities to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of former Taiwan leader Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, Ma acknowledged Chiang's efforts in upholding the one-China principle, opposing "Taiwan independence" and pursuing national unification.

"Based on the common political basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing 'Taiwan independence,' we are willing to enhance dialogue and cooperation with all parties, organizations and personages in Taiwan to jointly maintain and promote the interests of people on both sides of the Strait and safeguard the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 19:58:31|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China saw over 598 million exits and entries across the border in 2017, a 4.76-percent increase from 2016, the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said Wednesday.

According to the Bureau of Exit and Entry Administration of the MPS, 292 million of the trips were made by Chinese mainland citizens, while foreign citizens made about 58.36 million entries and exits.

Residents of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan made 221 million trips to and out of the Chinese mainland over the year.

More than 30.97 million vehicles and carriers were involved in the 598 million trips, up 6.84 percent from the previous year, including 29.52 million motor vehicles.

Some 925,700 planes, 60,000 trains and 466,300 ships also made trips, according to the bureau.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:08:33|Editor: Mengjie

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Picture grabbed from a video provided by Zoo Negara (national zoo) on Jan. 17, 2018 shows female giant panda Liang Liang and her baby giant panda at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Liang Liang, the female giant panda on loan from China to Malaysia, has given birth to a second baby giant panda, a senior Malaysian official said Wednesday.The baby panda was born on Jan. 14 at the national zoo with a weight of 150 grams, 89 days after the its parents, Xing Xing and Liang Liang mated. (Xinhua/Zoo Negara)

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Giant pandas are known to have a low fertility rate, due to their indifference to sex, but a giant panda has given birth to a second cub since it was loaned from China to Malaysia in 2014, both via natural mating.

Wan Junaidi Bin Tuanku Jaafar, Malaysia's minister of natural resources and environment, said on Wednesday the baby panda was born on Jan. 14 at the national zoo with a weight of 150 grams, 89 days after its parents, Xing Xing and Liang Liang mated.

Both the new-born and the mother are in healthy condition, but the gender of the baby panda is yet to be determined as it is still under the mother's protection, Wan Junaidi said. They are being quarantined and will not meet the public for the time being.

A video released by the national zoo showed that the mother panda Liang Liang was holding the cub in her belly, keeping outsiders from coming near.

Usually, giant pandas only have one estrus every year, and only for three months, said Mat Naim Bin Haji Ramli, director of the Giant Panda Conservation Center of the national zoo. While the breeding season in China is from March to May, in Malaysia it starts from October due to climate difference, he said.

After its separation with the first cub Nuan Nuan, which flew back to China in November, the zoo began to monitor the behavior changes and physical changes such as hormone level of the female panda Liang Liang, according to Mat Naim.

The panda pair had a successful mating on Oct. 18, after which, Liang Liang's hormone level began to slow down.

But only when Liang Liang started to build a wooden platform in early January, a major sign of parturition, did the zoo keepers know for sure that it was having another baby, as pandas often send false pregnancy signals.

"So if you select the perfect time, you will get the perfect result," said Mat Naim, noting that the Malaysian zoo was more prepared and experienced for the second cub.

Mat Naim also highlighted the role of the male panda. "Xing Xing proves that captive male also can perform very well in natural mating. It's a good sign for conservation. Because not many -- only a few male born in captivity have good libido," he said.

When asked about the secrets of panda breeding in Malaysia, Wan Junaidi attributed to the care and love shown by the Malaysian caretakers, also noting the environment, the design of the cage as well as food provided.

One reason the Malaysian government decided to send the first panda baby back to China, according to Wan Junaidi, was because the current facilities in the zoo can only accommodate two giant pandas.

But he said on Wednesday that the Malaysian government plans to expand the giant panda conservation center so that the cub can continue its stay in Malaysia even after it grows up.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:08:33|Editor: pengying

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LONDON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The workhorse helicopters fleet of the British Army bid a final farewell Tuesday with a spectacular flight over London.

The fleet of Lynx helicopters retired after 40 years of service, with the army describing them as one of its most ubiquitous aviation assets.

Described as a primary battlefield utility helicopter, the Lynx entered service in 1978 and has been used to: destroy tanks, evacuate the wounded, gather intelligence, provide humanitarian support, rescue those in peril and wow crowds at airshows.

A British Army spokesperson said: "Age has finally caught up with the Lynx and although it'll be a tough act to follow, the Wildcat will replace the Lynx. With its superior avionics uprated engines and improved capability it too will prove a formidable force over any battlefield of the future."

To mark the Lynx's decommissioning from British Army service, the Army Air Corps flew five of the last remaining Lynx from the Royal Air Force base at Odiham in Hampshire, where they are based, on a commemorative tour around England. The flight culminated in an impressive "air procession" along the length of the River Thames over Central London.

The Lynx Mk9 helicopter holds the world record for the fastest helicopter, travelling at 412.93 km/h on Aug. 11, 1986. It has a range of 518 kilometers.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:23:35|Editor: pengying

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TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied that Tehran has agreed to negotiate over its missile program, Press TV reported.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi called the reports "unfounded" and said his country's "policy and stance concerning its defensive missile program are completely clear and transparent, and that other countries are well aware of that position."

The Financial Times report on Tuesday said that Iran has agreed to enter negotiations over its missile program as well as its regional role during a recent meeting in Brussels with the EU representatives.

According to the report, the Europeans have stepped up pressure on Iran over such issues as they struggle to respond to President Donald Trump's latest threat that he would pull Washington out of the nuclear deal if some "disastrous flaws" were not fixed.

Everyone knows that Iran's defense program is not up for negotiation, Qasemi said, stressing that Tehran's position has not undergone any changes.

The Iranian missile work is of completely "defensive and deterrent nature" and is not targeted against any country, Qasemi said, adding that no hollow and baseless claims would change this "principled and substantive" position of the Islamic Republic.

"The Islamic Republic does not allow any interference in its domestic affairs and defensive policies, especially its missile program," he was quoted as saying.

Besides, Iran's regional policy is "constructive" and "in line with the promotion of peace and stability in the region and the entire world," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:28:37|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's petrochemical industry profit in 2017 grew at the fastest pace in six years, according to the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation on Wednesday.

The sector's 2017 profit is estimated to exceed 850 billion yuan (about 130 billion U.S. dollars), up 30 percent.

Revenue from core operations totaled 14.5 trillion yuan last year, up 12.5 percent, while imports and exports as a whole increased by 22 percent to 560 billion U.S. dollars.

The petrochemical industry has been hindered by overcapacity along with security and environmental constraints. A State Council guideline issued in August 2016 said China must increase the competitiveness of the industry.

By 2020, energy consumption per yuan of output should be cut by 8 percent from the 2015 level, with carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption reduced by 10 percent and 14 percent.
Saturday will mark President Trumps first year in office and just under a month from the time he signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 into law.

For the most important sector of Nebraskas economy, both dates have been a boon, with expectations for continued business growth and job-creation. That sector comprises the 99 percent of Nebraskas businesses that are small businesses.

For the last 45 of its 75 years as Americas voice of Main Street, mom-and-pop enterprises, the National Federation of Independent Business has published its Small Business Optimism Index, taking the pulse, over 10 variables, of those who sign the front of a paycheck -- the largest, longest data set on small business economic conditions in the world.

The index released Jan. 9 showed the most remarkable year in the 45-year history of the NFIB Optimism Index, according to Juanita Duggan, NFIBs president and CEO. With a massive tax cut this year, accompanied by significant regulatory relief, we expect very strong growth, millions more jobs, and higher pay for Americans.

Added William Dunkelberg, NFIBs chief economist: Weve been doing this research for nearly half a century, longer than anyone else, and Ive never seen anything like 2017. The 2016 election was like a dam breaking. Small-business owners were waiting for better policies from Washington, suddenly they got them, and the engine of the economy roared back to life.

I want to give a whole lot of credit for the continued optimism found on the Main Streets of Nebraska to our congressional delegation for its heroic effort in passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law.

Small businesses owe a debt of gratitude to Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse and Reps. Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry, and Adrian Smith for their steadfastness in doing the right thing for the people who give the vast majority of Americans their first rung up the ladder of the working lives, know all their employees and their families by name and provide someone a second chance to regain the self-respect only work can deliver.

Around 95 percent of small businesses are organized as pass-through entities, not as corporations. These include sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, S-corps. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:

 gives a 20 percent passthrough deduction for all businesses below $315,000 in taxable income with certain limitations and exclusions phased in over the next $100,000.

 doubles for eight years the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for joint filers.

 raises for small-business owners thinking of buying new equipment Section 179 expensing to $1 million per year from $500,000. Business expansion is a vital step toward more hiring.

 provides Nebraskas family farmers with some assurance they can pass their lifes work on to their children by keeping from the taxmans grasp roughly $11 million per individual filer and $22 million per joint-filers.

 expands the ability of small businesses to use the cash method of accounting.

 increases the threshold for those wanting to use the Alternative Minimum Tax to $500,000 for an individual filer and $1 million for joint-filers.

Its hard to make a case for this being a giveaway to the rich at the expense of the middle class. Sens. Fischer and Sasse didnt buy the argument, and neither did Reps. Bacon, Fortenberry, and Smith.

What all five did was walk arm in arm with small business toward tax reform, not step on the backs of small business to get there.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:28:38|Editor: Mengjie

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Photo taken on Jan. 16 shows a female giant panda named Jin Bao Bao (Lumi), at the Dujiangyan base of the China conservation and research center for the giant pandas, in Dujiangyan city of southwest China's Sichuan province. A pair of giant pandas left the center for Finland on Wednesday and will live in Ahtari zoo for 15 years. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin)

CHENGDU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A pair of giant pandas Wednesday departed a panda base in southwest China's Sichuan Province for Finland for a 15-year research project.

The pandas will leave Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 6 a.m. Thursday and arrive in Helsinki, capital of Finland, at 10 a.m. Thursday local time.

A send-off for the pandas was held at the Dujiangyan base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda on Wednesday morning.

Brought up in the base, the male Hua Bao is four and a half years old and the female Jin Baobao is three years and four months old.

During their flight, they will be accompanied by a keeper and a veterinarian from Dujiangyan.

"The two pandas have big appetites and eat 40 kilograms of bamboo every day," said keeper Huang Shan.

The flight's "meal service" includes 120 kilograms of bamboo, and 30 kilograms of bamboo shoots and carrots.

The two pandas's new home is in Ahtari zoo, Finland's largest wild zoo.

China and Finland signed a research agreement on giant panda last April.

According to the document, a pair of pandas will live at Ahtari for 15 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:28:40|Editor: pengying

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KAMPALA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday met with the UN special team investigating the recent attacks on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that left 15 Blue Helmets dead.

In state house statement issued here on Wednesday, Museveni told the team led by Dmitry Titov of Russia that the UN is responsible for preserving terrorism in the neighboring DRC.

"The UN operation in DRC and to some extent in Somalia was conservation of terrorism. The terrorists are weak. They have had freedom of movement and space but made no progress in their ventures. If they were strong they would have made a big impact," said Museveni.

The president observed that DRC has a combination of conventional, irregular and terrorist groups, like Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) blamed for the deadliest attack on peacekeepers serving under the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) last month.

"It must be the people of the affected country to fight and defeat terrorism within their territory, friendly forces, like the UPDF [Uganda People's Defense Forces], should come in not to replace the people but to strengthen them," he said.

Titov said that the UN looked forward to Uganda's assistance in finding answers into the killing of the Tanzanian peacekeepers in eastern DRC's North Kivu Province.

"He [Titov] observed that the terrorist ADF is a common enemy adding that MONUSCO has got the task of eliminating ADF rebels," said the statement.

Titov's team is visiting DRC and relevant countries in the Great Lakes region in their probe into the Dec. 7 attack, which left 15 Tanzanian peacekeepers, 5 DRC soldiers killed and 53 others wounded.

The UN probe team will examine the circumstances surrounding attacks, evaluate MONUSCO overall preparedness and response to the events and provide recommendations on how to prevent such attacks from occurring in the future.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:43:43|Editor: Mengjie

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Zhang Dejiang (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, meets with President of the Senate of Gabon Lucie Milebou in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang met with President of the Senate of Gabon Lucie Milebou on Wednesday.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), said Gabon is China's friend and important partner in Africa and the two countries have cooperative achievements in various fields.

Zhang called on two sides to implement the consensus reached by their leaders and promote China-Gabon comprehensive cooperative partnership to benefit their people.

China's NPC attaches importance to its ties with Gabon's Senate and the Gabonese National Assembly, Zhang said, noting that the Chinese side is willing to work with Gabon to enhance political trust, economic and trade cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, national governance and legislation.

Milebou said Gabon attaches importance to its relations with China and will increase exchanges with China's NPC to promote friendly ties and pragmatic cooperation.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:53:44|Editor: pengying

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KAMPALA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and 23 others critically injured in a road accident on Wednesday in the western Ugandan district of Kiruhura.

The Ugandan police in a statement said the accident occurred after the driver of Kasaba Isuzu Bus lost control and overturned at Rwebitwete, along the Kampala-Mbarara Highway.

"Three persons died on spot, two male juveniles and a female adult. The driver is on the run," said the statement.

At least 15 victims were rushed to Mbarara Hospital and eight others to Lyantonde Hospital for treatment.

The police have launched inquiries into the accident, which is likely to be caused by speeding and reckless driving.

The East African country registers at least 20,000 accidents with over 2,000 deaths each year, making it one of the countries with the highest road accident fatality rates in the world, according to police figures.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 20:53:44|Editor: pengying

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MANILA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Philippine women's group on Wednesday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to make "a concrete and clear position" on the issue of "comfort women" who were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese imperial army during World War II.

Joms Salvador, the secretary general of GABRIELA Alliance of Women, stressed the need to have a "concrete and clear national policy on the issue of comfort women."

"The Philippines needs to have a national policy on these women's quest for justice. We lack a concrete and clear policy on this," Salvador told Xinhua via telephone.

She said that Duterte also needs to have a "black and white stand" on the "comfort woman" statue that now stands along a scenic bayside boulevard in Manila City.

The Philippines erected a seven-feet bronze "comfort women" sculpture in December along a public promenade in Manila's busy Roxas Boulevard. Japan has asked the Philippine government to remove the sculpture.

GABRIELA asked Duterte anew to reject Japan's demand to remove the statue. GABRIELA and Lila Pilipina (League of Filipino Women) have earlier urged the Philippine government to ignore Japan's request.

GABRIELA is at the forefront of the Filipino women's struggle for freedom and democracy while Lila Pilipina is an organization of wartime sex slaves.

Both groups have been demanding justice on behalf of the aging comfort women in the Philippines, demanding an official apology from the Japanese government, just compensation, and inclusion of the comfort women issue in Japan's historical accounts and textbooks.

If Japan really wants to settle the "comfort women" issue, it should "officially recognize the horrors of state-sponsored sexual slavery" and apologize to the victims. "Raising petty issues about statues won't make the issue go away," she said.

It should be made clear to Japan that Filipino 'comfort women' are a national issue subject to official negotiations in a victim-centered process that will restore much of their dignity, she said.

In a recent interview with local media MindaNews, Duterte commented on the newly erected monument honoring the "comfort women." The interview, which took place last Friday night in Davao City, was made after Duterte met with Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication Seiko Noda.

Duterte told MindaNews that the Japanese government did not demand the removal of the statue but expressed regret.

Duterte said he informed Noda that he "cannot stop the relatives or even the comfort women still living from their freedom to express what they are expressing through the statue."

"That is a constitutional right which I cannot stop. It's prohibitive for me to do that," MindaNews quoted Duterte as saying.

Moreover, Duterte told MindaNews that removing the statue is up to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, adding that the issue "has not been raised to national policy" and that the government was (blind and deaf) about its installation."

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said last week that the Philippine government has created an inter-agency fact-finding group that will look into the controversial monument.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:03:48|Editor: pengying

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SOFIA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria's opposition on Wednesday filed the first no-confidence motion against the coalition government of the center-right GERB party and the nationalist United Patriots that was elected in May.

The parliamentary group of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which holds 80 seats in the 240-seat parliament, filed the motion because of the inability of the government to cope with corruption, "the main problem facing the country."

Korneliya Ninova, leader of BSP, told reporters that 83 percent of Bulgarian citizens considered corruption as their main problem, and it should be resolved as soon as possible.

According to the parliamentary rules, the motion has to be discussed within one week, and voted not earlier than 24 hours after the closure of the debate.

To be passed, the motion must be supported by more than half of the legislators.

All no-confidence motions in Bulgaria in the last 28 years have been unsuccessful.

In recent months, corruption has been a major field of confrontation between BSP and the GERB-led parliamentary majority.

On Dec. 20, the majority adopted an anti-corruption law, but on Jan. 2, the BSP-nominated Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the law saying that the measures in the law, though necessary, would not be enough to effectively counteract corruption.

However, last Friday the Parliament overcame the veto, and Radev was supported only by BSP legislators.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:03:48|Editor: pengying

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LJUBLJANA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two weeks since Slovenia began fully implementing the border arbitration award, presented on June 29, 2017 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague, the ongoing tensions and flare-ups with Croatia confirm that the border settlement will take more time.

In the past seven months, Slovenian authorities have recorded over 1,400 incidents in sea waters now considered Slovenian thanks to the arbitration award. However, Croatian fishermen, usually escorted by Croatian police boats, systematically reinforce what they consider within their border, according to Slovenian local media reports.

The two countries have been at odds over the maritime and land border ever since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The arbitration gives more maritime interests to Slovenia.

Although the maritime border can now be directly enforceable as the arbiters in The Hague determined it in a series of coordinates, the implementation is very complicated in terms of practical application.

Meanwhile, the land border has yet to be demarcated. It can only be determined in situ by a joint interstate commission, which requires mutual cooperation between Slovenia and Croatia.

While Slovenia regards the implementation of the arbitration award an obligation under international law, Croatia continues to reject it. The government in Zagreb insists the arbitration process was compromised and is not ready to implement the Tribunal's decision.

Even though the two countries maintain a dialogue, meetings between the two countries' prime ministers, Miro Cerar and Andrej Plenkovic, have so far not yielded any fruit.

While Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic admits that 90 percent of the arbitration ruling is acceptable to Croatian side, he insists in solving the border issue through bilateral talks and continues to ignore the arbitration award.

He argues that the ruling is not obligatory for Croatia, which had withdrawn from the arbitration process.

The Slovenian government maintains that Croatia must accept the entire ruling and that adherence to the arbitration award is the only real path to the resolution of the border issue.

For that reason, the Slovenian government intends to continue to work for the arbitration award's implementation through legal means. It is determined to file a lawsuit against Croatia at the EU Court of Justice over infringement of international law.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor has called on the European Commission to become more actively involved in implementing the arbitration award. The European Commission maintains that the enforcement of the arbiters' ruling is binding on the two countries.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recently stated that in the future, any unresolved border issues in the Western Balkans will have to be resolved before the accession of those countries to the European Union (EU).

Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec has warned that Slovenia would not let Croatia become a member of the Schengen area nor would it support its membership to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) until Croatia implements the border arbitration agreement.

While Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, Croatia's accession in 2013 was made conditional on its acceptance of international arbitration. By failing to recognize the ruling, Croatia is in violation of a condition for its accession to the EU and in violation of international and European law.

Juncker is expected to invite the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia for talks in Brussels, in an attempt to resolve the dispute, local media reported.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:03:48|Editor: pengying

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ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A senior officer of the UAE-backed Yemeni security forces was assassinated on Wednesday by gunmen in the country's southern port city of Aden, a local government official told Xinhua.

"Unidentified assailants gunned down a senior officer of the newly-recruited security forces in Aden while he was on duty in the district of DarSaad," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The assassinated security officer, identified as Qassim alHariri, was a member of the anti-terror troops backed by the United Arab Emirates, the source added.

Witnesses said the assailants managed to escape on their motorcycles.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Aden is considered as the temporary capital of Yemen. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government has been there since 2015.

Over the past two years, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other terrorist groups including the Islamic State were active in southern Yemen.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily in 2014, seizing all northern provinces including the capital Sanaa.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Yemen is facing severe humanitarian crisis, with seven million Yemenis being on the brink of famine and 2,000 people killed by cholera.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:18:50|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Leading Party members with the State Council on Wednesday pledged to closely follow the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core.

At a meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, the leading Party members' group of the State Council discussed work on achieving full and rigorous Party management within the government.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:23:53|Editor: pengying

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ROME, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Italian banks are looking healthier now than they have for the past few years and will continue to heal in 2018, Standard & Poor's Global Ratings said in a report on Tuesday evening.

The ratings agency said improved private-sector creditworthiness, coupled with banks' efforts to repair their balance sheets, have paved the way for "a return to some moderate profitability" in the current year.

Lenders strengthened their capital, bolstered loan-loss reserves, reduced their stocks of nonperforming loans (NPLs), and cut costs, according to S&P analysts.

On the downside, S&P estimated that at year-end 2017, banks still held toxic loans worth 275 billion euros on their books.

This was down from 349 billion euros' worth of gross NPLs held by Italy's banks at the end of 2016, according to the finance ministry's 2017 Economic and Financial Document (DEF).

According to the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), keeping NPLs on the books too long, even if the banks cover them with provisions, is bad for the real economy in the long run.

"The presence of an elevated NPL stock is a symptom of broader solvency problems in the real economy. All these factors adversely affect potential economic growth," the ESRB wrote in a July 2017 paper titled "Resolving NPLs in Europe".

Italy is slowly pulling out of two economic recessions that were sparked by the global financial crisis of 2008 and by the sovereign debt crisis of 2010.

According to the Bank of Italy, national GDP contracted 7 percent and industrial production plunged 25 percent in 2007-2012.

The prolonged downturn caused households and businesses to default on their loans, and deteriorated credit jumped from 4.5 percent at the end of 2007 to 12.3 percent by mid-2015, according to the Italian central bank.

Government intervention to support troubled institutions has helped preserve financial stability and restore market confidence, and this in turn has contributed to the ongoing recovery, S&P analysts said.

Among such intervention was a European Union-approved move early in 2017 to increase public debt by 20 billion euros to rescue the country's third-largest lender, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), and other ailing banks.

That measure is being widely criticized by the opposition as a handout to banks ahead of the next general election on March 4.

However, Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan explained on his ministry's official website that it was necessary to rescue the banks, rather than let them fail, because their clients include hundreds of thousands of small and medium businesses, which are the backbone of Italy's economy.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:33:55|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to streamline administrative approval and cut red tape to improve business environment, according to a statement released after an executive meeting Wednesday.

Premier Li Keqiang, who chaired the meeting, called for more efforts to remove barriers to market access and lower transaction costs.

Services should be improved while the supervision should be strengthened, said the statement.

All local governments should create healthy business environment for fair competition to enable market players to provide products and services of high quality.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:33:55|Editor: pengying

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ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish military CASA-type cargo plane on Wednesday afternoon crashed in the southern Anatolian province of Isparta while on training exercises, killing three Turkish crew members.

Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) confirmed in a statement that two pilots and one technician were on the aircraft and all the three were killed in the crash near Egirdir Lake.

Radar connection was lost with the plane around 12:50 local time (0950 GMT), and rescue teams reached the plane's wreck about 1.5 hours later, the statement said.

Isparta Governer Sehmus Gunaydin said the cause of the crash is still unknown but noted that weather conditions were foggy during the flight.
Source:Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:53:41|Editor: Mengjie

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Villagers dance to celebrate farmers' New Year in Chusong Village of Nyarixung Township in Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Jan. 17, 2018. In Xigaze and other farming regions of Tibet, people celebrate New Year on the 1st day of the twelfth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. According to local farming tradition, spring ploughing season always begins as the fall of New Year, thus celebrating one month earlier is to meet the needs of local agriculture. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:53:59|Editor: pengying

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CAIRO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian and Ethiopian foreign ministers discussed here on Wednesday the negotiations on Ethiopia's dam building on the shared Nile River, Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The talks between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Ethiopian counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu came ahead of a joint meeting at the presidential level for the first time.

"Convening the committee at the presidential level will be a positive message for the public opinion in both countries," Egyptian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the statement.

Ethiopia started the project of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in April 2011 when Egypt was suffering turmoil following an uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

Previous tripartite meetings of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the GERD were fruitless, as Ethiopia and Sudan expect massive benefits from the dam construction while Egypt sees it as a threat to its share of the Nile River water.

Egypt is concerned about its annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile River water amid the reservoir's rapid construction.

Last December, Egypt recommended the World Bank as a technical mediator in the issue of Ethiopia's dam building, a proposal that has not been accepted by Ethiopia and Sudan.

Shoukry's talks with Gebeyehu also covered the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in various fields as well as regional issues of mutual concern including the conflicts in Somalia and South Sudan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 21:59:00|Editor: pengying

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MANILA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- More than 34,000 people from a danger zone around Mayon volcano have been evacuated due to the threat of hazardous eruption, Philippine authorities said on Wednesday.

Romina Marasigan, the spokesperson from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said at a press briefing that the evacuation figure due to the eruption of Mayon volcano was brought to 34,003 on Wednesday.

Marasigan said now the evacuees are staying in 30 evacuation centers provided by the local government.

"We want to be sure of their safety because intermittent rain showers are being experienced by the people in that region."

Mayon Volcano continues to ooze lava and shoot up plumes of hot ash, sending fear to affected residents but also a joy to tourists who started to flock Albay, a province on the island of Luzon about 330 km southeast of Manila, to witness the "silent eruptions."

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in its Wednesday bulletin that it had recorded 143 "lava collapse events" and a tremor in the past 24 hours.

The volcano's alert Level 3 remains in place, meaning there is a threat of the hazardous eruption in weeks or even days.

The province of Albay, where the Mayon volcano is located at, has been placed under a state of calamity amid the threat of the eruption.

Mayon volcano is on the southern tip of the Philippine main island of Luzon. It is a popular tourist destination in the Bicol region. It has erupted 51 times during the last 400 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:04:01|Editor: pengying

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KIEV, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Ukrainian government soldiers were killed and five others injured when a military vehicle hit a landmine in Ukraine's conflict-torn eastern Lugansk region Wednesday, authorities said.

The injured servicemen, who were not in a life-threatening condition, were taken to local hospitals, said the press service of the government military operation.

The accident occurred when the soldiers were performing a combat mission, the press service said, without giving further details.

The explosion marked the third deadly landmine accident in eastern Ukraine this year. One soldier was killed as a result of a landmine blast on Jan. 1 in the Lugansk region, while two others were killed on Jan. 10 in the neighboring Donetsk region.

About 700,000 hectares of battlefields in eastern Ukraine are littered with explosive devices following years of fighting between government troops and pro-independence insurgents.

The Ukrainian government has estimated it would take between 10 to 15 years to clear the landmines that had been planted during the conflict that started in April 2014.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:09:02|Editor: pengying

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LONDON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Women's pay has increased more than the wages earned by men in Britain, but the gender pay gap remains at almost 10 percent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a new report Wednesday.

ONS said the gender pay gap for full-time workers was entirely in favor of men for all occupations.

The pay gap has fallen from 10.5 percent in 2011 to 9.1 percent in 2017, but remains positive in value, meaning that on average men are paid more than women, said ONS.

The headline measure for the gender pay gap shows the median gross hourly earnings shows men's pay has grown between 2011 and 2017 by 10.4 percent from 13.12 pounds (18.10 U.S. dollars) to 14.48 pounds per hour while women's pay has grown by 12.0 percent from 11.75 pounds to 13.16 pounds per hour. In 2017, men on average were paid 1.32 pounds more per hour than women, which, as a proportion of men's pay, is a pay gap of 9.1 percent.

For full-time workers, the pay gap is entirely in favor of men, the gap is largest in the skilled trade occupations group at 24.8 percent and smallest in sales and customer service occupations at 3.6 percent.

When looking at age groups, the gap for full-time workers remains small at younger ages, however, from age 40 onwards the pay gap widens reaching its peak between ages 50 to 59, the report added.

The ONS figures show that men and women working full time in the highest-paid occupation group (chief executives and senior officials) earned a median hourly pay of 48.53 pounds and 36.54 pounds respectively. Men also had 72.8 percent of the full-time employment share in this occupation.

A spokesman for ONS said: "The gender pay gap has always been a topic of interest, but in an attempt to increase awareness and improve pay equality, the UK government introduced compulsory reporting of the gender pay gap for organizations with 250 or more employees by April 2018. For the UK as a whole, the gap has reduced in the last 10 years, but is still in favour of men."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:09:02|Editor: Yamei

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Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates victory after the men's singles second round match against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina at Australian Open 2018 in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 17, 2018. Nadal won 3-0. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

MELBOURNE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Many of the top seeds at the Australian Open struggled through their second round matches on Wednesday, as the tournament's young guns put on a show for the 70,000 fans in attendance at Melbourne Park.

What was supposed to be a routine match up for second seed Caroline Wozniacki, soon turned into the most exciting tussle of the day.

Down one set to 19-year-old Croatian Jana Fett, Wozniacki looked like she would be making an early exit in the tournament.

With clear signs of frustration, including a moment when the Danish star threw her racket on the ground in anger, Wozniacki managed to compose herself and survive multiple match points in the third set to break serve three times and eventually get the win 6-3, 2-6, 5-7.

It was a similar story for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was pushed to the limit in a 5-set thriller by 18-year-old Canadian player, Denis Shapovalov.

In the end, the experienced Frenchman hung on to win the battle 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5.

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov also had a grueling 5-set encounter with 22 years old American Mackenzie McDonald.

But the Bulgarian managed to clinch the victory 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6, after looking down and out in the fourth set.

Other top contenders like Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic and Pablo Busta Carreno managed to cruise through their second round clashes, while crowd favorite Nick Kyrgios found things a little more difficult.

There was certainly no problem with the way the Aussie was playing, taking out the contest in four sets.

The issues came with a bizarre series of disruptions off-court, that saw a helicopter halt play, a heckler in the crowd get ejected from the venue after shouting and a problem with the arena's audio speakers that caused feedback issues for both players.

"The guy in the crowd was crazy," Kyrgios said.

"I didn't really know what was going on. [With] the helicopter, that's when I was thinking like, of course it's at my match...there were a lot of things going on there today," he explained after the match.

In the women's bracket, fourth seed Elina Svitolina eased her way to the third round, while world number 7 Jelena Ostapenko was too strong for China's Duan Yingying.

Belinda Bencic crashed out against her little-known Thai opponent Luksika Kumkhum, just 48 hours after defeating last year's finalist Venus Williams, in straight sets.

Frenchwoman Alize Cornet shocked Germany's Julia Goerges in straight sets, while China's 25th seed in the tournament Zhang Shuai bowed out to the Czech Republic's Denisa Allertova in an entertaining back and forth battle.

But the story of the day belonged to 15-year old Ukrainian Marta Olehivna Kostyuk, who became the youngest women to make it into the third round of a Grand Slam in over 20 years, after beating out home town hero Olivia Rogowska.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:09:02|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MACAO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Macao Year of Gastronomy was launched Wednesday in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), featuring a series of activities to preserve and display the SAR's cultural legacy with gastronomy as a key element.

The event, organized by the SAR government, is also one of the key events to promote Macao SAR's image as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, which was entitled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) late in October last year.

When delivering his speech at the opening ceremony, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO Getachew Engida said that the event is expected to provide an opportunity for Macao to develop regional and international cooperation and strengthen its reputation as a hub of gastronomy.

Alexis Tam, the secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR government, said that Macao aims to provide more training opportunities for the next generations of culinary arts talent, and ensure the inheritance of local cuisines.

He also said that Macao will enhance its collaboration with other cities within the network, and encourage more cooperation between gastronomy and creative industries.

Following the opening ceremony, the Macao Gastronomy Carnival was held, with guests visiting the delicacy stalls and tasting an array of local cuisines.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:44:15|Editor: yan

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TRIPOLI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government said on Wednesday that it is considering a cabinet reshuffle in the near future.

"The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord headed by Fayez Serraj held its first meeting in 2018 in Tripoli," the media office of the prime minister said in a statement.

"The discussion included a ministerial reshuffle with an expansion of the government as soon as possible," the statement added.

The meeting also covered security, financial and economic crisis in the country, as well as the financial arrangements for 2018 and the measures to improve the performance of the service sector, it noted.

In May 2016, the Presidential Council of the Government appointed 18 ministers, but the cabinet was rejected by the eastern-based House of Representatives, which accused the government of "exercising functions without legal basis."

Libya has been suffering political division with eastern and western authorities, despite a UN-sponsored political agreement signed between rival parties.
MADISON  A newly released memo projects the public cost for the planned Foxconn manufacturing project could near $4.5 billion  nearly 50 percent more than the $3 billion cost initially cited by the projects chief proponent at the state Capitol, Gov. Scott Walker.

The figures were compiled by the Legislatures nonpartisan fiscal bureau in a memo requested, and released Tuesday, by Assembly Democratic leader Gordon Hintz. The individual cost figures are not new, but have not previously been compiled in a single document.

They reflect costs to state government, mostly through tax credits for Foxconn over a 15-year period. They also include costs to local governments near the proposed site of the Foxconn campus in Mount Pleasant.

The breakdown of public costs from the project, according to the memo, is as follows:

State tax credits, $2.85 billion

Local government incentives, $764 million

U.S. Interstate 94 North-South project, $408 million

Utility costs, $140 million

State sales tax exemption, $139 million

Road improvements, $134 million

Worker training, $20 million

Local government grants, $15 million

Walker and Republican lawmakers who helped him pass the incentive package for Foxconn say it will give the states economy a transformative boost. The Taiwanese company says it plans a $10 billion liquid-crystal display manufacturing plant that could employ as many as 13,000 people.

Walkers office noted the public incentives are tied to job creation and investment, and the local government incentives will be repaid by the taxes Foxconn generates.

Governor criticizes Democrats

Walker said in a tweet Tuesday that once upon a time, Democrats claimed to be for good-paying, family-supporting jobs. Now they seem to find new ways to attack them.

Hintz, D-Oshkosh, said the figures validate Democratic lawmakers predictions that the cost of the project to the public would exceed the $3 billion amount originally cited by Walker and his state jobs agency, Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Hintz also emphasized that public incentives for the project siphon those dollars away from other parts of the state budget.

That money is not going to be available for higher education, is not going to be available for K-12 education, is not going to be available for infrastructure, Hintz said.

I-94 costs

At least one of the figures cited in the memo might have been incurred without the Foxconn project: the Interstate 94 North South project. That project, which will widen and rebuild I-94 from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee to the Illinois state line, had been on the short list of projects in line for state funding prior to the Foxconn announcement. After the announcement, lawmakers expedited it and included funding for it in the Foxconn legislation.

The local government incentives are tax increment financing incentives to fund the costs of public improvements associated with the Foxconn development, according to the memo. They are structured to be repaid with payments connected to the increased property value generated by the new development.

The utility costs, to build an electricity transmission line to power the Foxconn campus, are to be absorbed by American Transmission Co., not state or local governments. The memo says its impact on individual rate-payers is not expected to be significant because the cost will be borne by many consumers during a period of 40 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:54:18|Editor: yan

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BANGKOK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Thailand is preparing for the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Tourism Forum (ATF) 2018 in Chiang Mai scheduled from Jan. 22 to 26 under the theme of "Sustainable Connectivity, Boundless Prosperity".

Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said on Wednesday that the TAT will have a dedicated area called "Thailand Prestige" highlighting Thai local experiences through the country's rich culinary tradition in line with its marketing focus on Thai gastronomy tourism.

"Thai food continues to gain worldwide acclaim and is a major attraction for the millions of tourists who visit Thailand every year. ATF 2018 will draw on Chiang Mai's outstanding reputation for tasty Thai gastronomy tourism that is so engrained in its traditional Lanna culture both for international and domestic tourists visiting Thailand's Northern Region,"said the governor.

According to Yuthasak, the "Premium Product Display" will also showcase kitchen products and decorative items featuring a Thai design for international markets in the field of food innovation and the award-winning itineraries helps promote Thai local experiences.

Highlights include an interactive cooking demonstration by celebrity chefs from Chiang Mai.

For first-hand experiences of Thai gastronomy tourism, the "Premium Product Display" features some of the Thailand Tourism Awards "Best Itineraries" including a Hivesters' Talat Noi Neighbourhood tour of Bangkok's old community; Andaman Island Group's The Phuket Explorer that features the charming Peranakan culture; and NG River Guide' Fly Fishing Project Season 2, which highlights the way of life of the local hill tribe in the northern province Lamphun.

All the member countries of ASEAN are invited to showcase their uniqueness at the "ASEAN Product Showcase" section.

The ASEAN countries are collectively Thailand's largest visitor source markets in Asia. Thailand welcomed more than 8.19 million ASEAN visitors during last January to November.

Malaysia is the largest market with a total of 2.98 million arrivals, followed by Laos with 1.45 million and Singapore with 898,965.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 22:54:20|Editor: yan

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BISHKEK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has reached a new level, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sapar Isakov said Wednesday.

Isakov said this when meeting with the new UNDP representative and coordinator in Kyrgyzstan Ozoniye Zhizhelo, said the press service of the Kyrgyz government.

"Over the past years, cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the UNDP has significantly increased, within the framework of which a number of projects aimed at socio-economic development of the country have been successfully implemented," said Isakov, while expressing the hope for continued cooperation.

"I want to express my readiness to continue partnership with UN institutions in this direction, as UNDP programs play an important role in improving the livelihood of our people," he said.

Isakov meanwhile stressed the socio-economic and cultural areas as the "priority areas of cooperation with the UN for our country."

The UNDP has been working in Kyrgyzstan since 1993, providing support in areas such as poverty reduction, governance, environmental protection, public health and prevention of natural disasters.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:29:28|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The port of Helsinki became the busiest passenger harbor in the world in 2017, narrowly surpassing the British port of Dover, Finnish news agency STT reported on Wednesday.

In scheduled passenger services last year, 11.8 million people used the port of Helsinki, while in Dover the figure was 11.7 million, said STT.

The main reason for the growth of the Helsinki port are the thriving passenger services between Helsinki and Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Thousands of Estonians commute between the two cities as workers.

The two cities are separated by the 80-km-wide Gulf of Finland. Both Finland and Estonia belong to the Schengen area and as such, there are no customs or ID control formalities, albeit passengers must have a passport or EU identity card.

Tallinn has shown a similar growth. STT reported that 10.5 million passengers used that port in 2017. In Dover, meanwhile, the number of passenger has been declining for years. Some ten years ago, some 14 million people used Dover annually.

There are plans for a tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn, but they are still at the feasibility study level.

Cheaper alcohol in Estonia is a travel incentive for Finns. There is no restriction on the quantity of alcohol imported, but a person needs to carry all the alcohol bought in Estonia to Finland in order to prove that they are not conducting commercial imports.

A DJ on Finnish national radio said Wednesday that Helsinki would beat out Dover by a much greater amount if it was not on passenger count but on "beer can" count.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:39:33|Editor: yan

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WINDHOEK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's biggest diamond miner, Namdeb, announced Wednesday the start of an early retirement or voluntary separation exercise targeting at least 130 workers, in an effort to ensure sustainability at its land-based operations.

Namdeb, a 50/50 joint venture company between the Namibian Government and Anglo American's diamond unit De Beers, announced the start of a business optimization process, which will see at least 130 of its 1,700 workforce go on early retirement or apply for voluntary separation.

"The business optimization process includes options for all employees to apply for early retirement and voluntary separation," company spokesperson Pauline Thomas told Xinhua.

She said the process provides an opportunity to ensure that Namdeb retains specialized and experienced skills whilst adhering to its Affirmative Action and Gender Diversity and Inclusion aspirations.

Thomas said ongoing engagement sessions with shareholders, employees, including the local Mineworkers Union, have resulted in a collective understanding on how the company needs to do the right things today to ensure a better tomorrow.

She did not say when the retrenchments would start or how many workers would be affected, but Mineworkers Union of Namibia Oranjemund branch chairperson Shavuka Mbidhi said that at least 130 workers would be targeted.

Last year, Mbidhi said the diamond miner had told its members that it would gradually cease operations, starting with Elizabeth Bay Mine end of this year, Daberas at the end of 2019, Sendelingsdrift in 2020 and the main one, Southern Coastal, in 2022.

Diamonds generate about 20 percent of the Southern African nation's foreign export earnings.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:44:37|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will roll out more measures to support rural startups in order to further promote rural vitalization, according to a decision at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday.

It was decided at the meeting that public financial support to rural startups will be bolstered. Migrant workers, college students and veteran soldiers who choose to start businesses in rural areas will enjoy the same policy incentives as locals. Returning migrant workers whose business startups have been running for one year and above will be eligible for a lump sum subsidy for their entrepreneurship. Where public finances allow, rural business startups will also be entitled to subsidies for bringing back or purchasing production equipment.

Li said that rural startups help promote the rural vitalization strategy, and enable more resource elements, including talent, technology and capital, to flow to rural areas.

Empowered by the initiative of massive entrepreneurship and innovation, these business startups will open new channels for employment, inject new impetus to the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, he said.

A total of 7 million people, of whom 68.5 percent are migrant workers returning home, had started businesses in rural areas as of last September, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. These entrepreneurs are 44.3 years of age on average, and 40.7 percent of them have had senior high school, vocational high school or junior college education.

According to a decision at the meeting, financing services and land-use support will be bolstered for rural entrepreneurship, so will the guarantee policies. The financing model covering government, bank and insurance will be extended to rural business startups. Rural entrepreneurs will be allowed to launch small processing programs using rural homestead plots to build factories. More investments will be made to upgrade rural infrastructure, including transportation and electricity. Broadband network coverage will be expanded, and faster internet services will be provided at a lower cost.

"China is still under considerable pressure in job creation. To encourage rural business startups, the government must press ahead with the reform to streamline administration, enhance compliance oversight and improve services to create enabling conditions for rural entrepreneurship," Li said.

"Meanwhile, the government should provide policy incentives," he said.

According to a decision at the meeting, the government will step up training services and offer more administrative services online in rural communities with full guidance and help. A special training campaign targeting rural entrepreneurs will be carried out with the support of government subsidies. The government will encourage experts, academics and technicians with specialized skills to work in rural areas, and encourage investment in rural startups.

A risk control mechanism will be established for rural entrepreneurial activities, and insurance companies will be encouraged to develop related products. Those starting businesses in rural areas will also be covered by employment assistance, social insurance and social aid schemes. Wage arrears of migrant workers must be fully paid up.

Li stressed in conclusion that all the above policies must be fully implemented to deliver hope and support to all those trying to start their businesses in rural areas.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:49:40|Editor: yan

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Singapore, as this year's ASEAN chairman, will make efforts toward positioning ASEAN as a region of seamless economic activities, especially in the fields of innovation and digital economy, a senior Singaporean official said here Wednesday.

Koh Poh Koon, senior minister of state for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, made the remarks while addressing the ASEAN Outlook Conference, which was hosted by the Singapore Business Federation and ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC).

In this regard, Singapore will work with other ASEAN member states to strengthen interconnetivity and promote e-commerce growth, seek to pursue trade facilitation within ASEAN to foster the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises, deepen services and trade and reduce the impediments to investment and plan to reaffirm and forge stronger ties with ASEAN's partners, according to the senior minister.

Robert Yap, chairman of ASEAN BAC, noted that ASEAN is an important economic region with a combined GDP of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, the seventh-largest economy in the world.

However, ASEAN is now influenced by new technologies and new business models which have been disrupting many traditional businesses and creating new ones, he cautioned.

According to him, companies doing businesses in the region would have to face the music and find ways to survive and prosper.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:49:41|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a meeting of the Leading Party Members' Group of the State Council to discuss how to realize full and rigorous Party management within the government, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2018.(Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Leading Party members with the State Council on Wednesday pledged to closely follow the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core.

At a meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, the leading Party members' group of the State Council discussed work on full and rigorous Party management within the government.

The State Council will "firmly safeguard Xi's status as the core of the CPC Central Committee and the whole Party, and the authority and centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee," said the statement issued after the meeting.

The cabinet will strictly follow political discipline and fully implement decisions by the Party leadership in government work, the statement said.

The State Council will better discipline and encourage civil servants to be devoted and innovative.

Leading officials of the State Council should set an example of abiding by rules against undesirable work styles, refuse privileges and cut bureaucracy, the statement said.

The cabinet will root up corruption through reforms, such as simplifying administrative procedures, delegating powers and cutting tax and fees.

Improving transparency and supervision will be another means to curb corruption. The State Council decided to tighten up fiscal management, expand publicity of budgets, strictly oversee transactions involving public resources and state-owned enterprises.

Vice Premiers Zhang Gaoli and Wang Yang attended the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:54:44|Editor: yan

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YANGON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03, carrying a team of scientists, arrived at Myanmar's Thilawa Port Wednesday morning to jointly conduct oceanographic research in Myanmar's waters.

Speaking at the welcoming ceremony, Qiu Yun, chief scientist of the vessel, expressed his belief that the research could contribute to better understanding on regional variations in response to climate change and support the marine ecological protection in Myanmar's waters.

A multi-disciplinary observation including physical oceanography, marine chemistry and marine biology will be carried out during the three-day winter cruise using the research vessel, he added.

Five local experts will take part in the research activities.

"We believe that relations with the Chinese government in terms of oceanographic research will be strengthened, which is an expanding area beyond politics, economics and socio-cultural relations," Dr. Zaw Minn Aung, an official from the Myanmar Foreign Ministry said.

The first visit to Myanmar by the Chinese research vessel is aimed at conducting comprehensive ocean observation in the Indian Ocean to promote prevention and reduction of natural disasters. The Indian Ocean plays a vital role in seasonal and inter-annual climate variations over South and East Asia.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-17 23:59:46|Editor: yan

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VIENTIANE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- An annual bilateral meeting between the Ministry of Public Security of Laos and the Ministry of Interior of Cambodia was held Wednesday in Lao capital Vientiane.

The meeting was co-chaired by Somkeo Silavong, Minister of Public Security of Laos and Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of Cambodia.

Both sides informed each other about progress in the implementation of the memorandum of understanding the two ministries signed in 2017 and their cooperation on keeping peace and order along the common border of the two countries, drug inspection and control efforts, anti-human trafficking efforts, immigration facilitation and visit exchange, Lao News Agency (KPL) reported on Wednesday.

Both sides noted that they were quite satisfied with the implementation of the memorandum of understanding on drug inspection and control cooperation by relevant sectors of the two countries at both central and provincial levels, said the Lao state-run news agency.

Provincial and district drug suppression officers have maintained their exchange of information and strengthened their cooperation on the prevention and suppression of drug trafficking along the common border.

They noted that their cooperation has contributed to enhancing the relationship between the two neighboring countries as well as to the keeping of peace and order along the common border.

The two ministers also signed a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation between the Ministry of Public Security of Laos and the Ministry of Interior of Cambodia for 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 00:14:50|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China has introduced its toughest regulation on land reclamation along the country's coastline, vowing to demolish illegally reclaimed land and stop approving general reclamation projects.

The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said Wednesday that it would demolish or shut down all illegally reclaimed land and illegally established waste discharge outlets that damage the marine environment.

Lin Shanqing, deputy director of the SOA, said at a press conference that reclamation projects that did not concern the national economy and people's livelihoods would not be approved in future.

"Reclamation projects that have been approved but have not started and do not comply with the current policy will all be stopped," Lin said, adding that the administration would also stop giving annual land reclamation quota to provinces.

"Using reclaimed land for commercial real estate development is prohibited and all reclamation activities in the Bohai Sea area will be banned," Lin said. "Reclaimed land that has remain deserted for a long time will be confiscated."

The power of granting administrative approval for land reclamation projects must not be delegated to lower authorities and administrators, who have behaved improperly in project approval, and supervision will be held accountable.

Since the law on administration of maritime space use was put into use in 2002, China legally approved a total of 158,000 hectares of land reclamation by the end of 2017, accounting for about 12 percent of the newly added construction land area in coastal areas over the same period.

Gross ocean production accounts for 9.5 percent of China's GDP, statistics show.

Last year, the SOA dispatched inspectors to 11 coastal provinces, municipalities and regions. The first six, Fujian, Guangxi, Hebei, Hainan, Jiangsu and Liaoning, were cautioned over reclamation projects and coastal pollution.

Also on Wednesday, the SOA disclosed the findings of a nationwide survey on land-based sources of marine pollution, identifying a total of some 9,600 such sources, including about 740 rivers, 7,500 sewage outlets and 1,350 emergency flood outlets.

Among the sewage outlets, only 8 percent were licensed, and about one-quarter were established in ecologically sensitive areas.

The SOA found that the marine environment near more than 80 percent of sewage outlets failed to meet standards. About 80 percent of the marine ecosystem under watch was rated unhealthy or sub-healthy.

To address the issue, the SOA will monitor sources of pollution and introduce real-time monitoring.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 00:19:50|Editor: Liangyu

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CHENGDU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A pair of giant pandas have departed a panda base in Sichuan Province bound for Finland on a 15-year research project.

The pandas will leave Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 6 a.m. Thursday and arrive in Helsinki, capital of Finland, at 10 a.m. Thursday local time, according to China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

A send-off for the pandas was held at the center's Dujiangyan base on Wednesday morning. In attendance were Finnish ambassador to China Jarno Syrjala, base staff and Sichuan forestry department officials.

Brought up in the base, the male Hua Bao is four and a half years old and the female Jin Baobao is three years and four months.

During their flight, they will be accompanied by a keeper and a veterinarian from Dujiangyan.

"The two pandas have big appetites and eat 40 kilograms of bamboo every day," said keeper Huang Shan.

The flight's "meal service" includes 120 kilograms of bamboo, and 30 kilograms of bamboo shoots and carrots.

The two pandas' new home is in Ahtari zoo, Finland's largest wild zoo.

Located in central Finland, the zoo has spent three years building a luxurious panda house for the two pandas. At a cost of about 8.2 million euros (10 million U.S. dollars), the panda house covers 6,000 square meters.

The pandas' five Finnish keepers and veterinarians have been to China to prepare the pandas for Finland.

"It will snow in winter in Finland, similar to the native habitat of pandas," said Jukka Salo, director of Ahtari zoo.

Ahtari zoo has signed a 10-year deal with a Dutch agricultural company that will provide 22 different kinds of bamboo.

The two pandas have been given Finnish names. Hua Bao will be known as Pyry (snowfall) and Jin Baobao has been named Lumi (snow).

Their original Chinese names will be preserved, but the zoo wants the newcomers to have Finnish names that will be easy for Finns to remember.

During the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Finland last April, China and Finland signed an agreement on joint research program. China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has research ties with 15 zoos in 13 countries, and 34 pandas are currently overseas.

A total of 18 panda cubs have been born abroad, with 12 returned to China.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 00:24:53|Editor: yan

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BUCHAREST, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appointed Social Democrat nominee, European lawmaker Viorica Dancila, as prime minister on Wednesday and handed her a mandate to form a new government.

Dancila will become the first woman prime minister in the history of the Eastern European country.

"Having weighed all arguments, taking into account the concrete situation in Parliament, I have decided to give the Social Democratic Party (PSD) one more chance," said the president, stressing that now the Social Democrats must show a strong performance.

"Romanians have great expectations, I have great expectations as well."

The head of state called on those involved in forming the government to get moving so that the entire procedure can be completed by Feb. 1.

Under the constitution, Dancila will seek a vote of confidence from Parliament regarding her governing program and complete list of the government within 10 days of her designation.

Dancila, 54, became a member of the PSD in 1996. In 2014, she was elected as deputy in the European Parliament for a second term.

Before entering politics, she was an engineer with the then National Oil Company Petrom SA and prior to that a teacher at a secondary school.

Her predecessor Mihai Tudose was forced to resign after the leadership of the ruling Social Democratic Party decided to withdraw its political support for him late Monday.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 00:34:57|Editor: Liangyu

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Huang Kunming (3rd L), head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, speaks at a national teleconference in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 17, 2018, calling for more effective work to combat illegal publications and online pornography. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday called for more effective work to combat illegal publications and online pornography.

Huang Kunming, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, spoke of a positive and healthy social and cultural environment at a national teleconference.

Authorities should strengthen supervision and punish the online spread of pornographic and vulgar information and make the Internet a cleaner space, said Huang.

He called for punishing fake journalists, unauthorized news organizations and reporter stations.

Huang also stressed the importance of combatting pirated publications and copyright infringement.

Several institutions and individuals were commended for their performance in the area during the teleconference.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev shake hands as they speak to the press at the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 16, 2018. (Xinhua/AFP)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and his visiting Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, met on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan and bilateral ties among other topics.

In the statements released by the White House, the two presidents vowed to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan, pledging to deepen cooperation against violent extremism and international terrorism.

They also issued commitments to addressing shared challenges in Central Asia through regional formats, such as the C5+1 dialogue among Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States, and welcomed future Afghan participation in C5+1 projects.

Nazarbayev promised to continue to provide critical logistical support and access for Western troops fighting terrorism, adding that Kazakhstan has also provided Afghanistan humanitarian and technical support worth 75 million U.S dollars, and spent 50 million dollars training Afghan civilian specialists.

Last April, Trump announced his Afghanistan strategy, saying the United States, instead of withdrawing its troops from the war-torn nation, will increase its military presence there. At the end of 2017, the U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan has been increased to some 15,000.

As Kazakhstan holds the rotating presidency on the United Nations Security Council this month, the U.S. government said it will continue to discuss international challenges with Kazakhstan during its tenure.

Aside from cooperation on regional and international issues, the two countries are committed to promoting "an enhanced strategic partnership for the 21st century."

"In bilateral relations, I think economic relations play a key role. And in Kazakhstan, we have major American companies operating for many years," Nazarbayev told the press Tuesday.

Bilateral trade in goods grew to 1.9 billion dollars in 2016, said the U.S. Department of State, and both countries aim to further expand the economic ties.

"We also agree that fair and reciprocal ... trade benefits both of our countries," Trump said.

During the visit, Nazarbayev promised to sign with the United States 20 commercial contracts worth 7.5 billion dollars.

In civil aviation, for example, Kazakhstan ordered six Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes, making itself the first nation in Central Asia to own and operate the type of passenger planes.

Moreover, its national airline carrier Air Astana announced it would purchase three Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are scheduled for delivery in 2021.

In railways, General Electric and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) railway company concluded two new strategic initiatives valued at over 900 million dollars, including manufacturing locomotives for KTZ, an expansion of the main rail facility in Astana and others.

The two nations also signed contracts on collaboration in areas such as digital infrastructure, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, education, finance, space exploration and healthcare.

Nazarbayev said that since Kazakhstan offers visa-free entry into the country for U.S. visitors, he expects "reciprocity" from the U.S. side. The two nations are also working on opening a direct flight between them.

During his visit, Nazarbayev also invited Trump to visit Kazakhstan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 00:39:58|Editor: yan

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RIGA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis on Wednesday urged Georgia to continue reforms while reiterating Latvia's support for a further deepening of European Union (EU)-Georgia relations.

Georgia has made remarkable progress on its reforms, setting an example to other countries aspiring to join the European Union (EU), Vejonis said during his meeting with Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze in Riga, according to the presidential office.

The Latvian president underlined that it is essential to carry through with the reforms to achieve their goals.

"The practical implementation of the reforms has to continue, particularly in the spheres of the judiciary, rule of law, good governance and economy," Vejonis told the Georgian parliament speaker.

He also urged Georgia to keep working on the implementation of its association agreement with the EU because the future dynamic of EU-Georgia relations will largely depend on the agreement's success.

"It is important to demonstrate that the association agreement promotes Georgia's economic growth and greater prosperity of its people," Vejonis said.

The two officials also noted that 2018 is a special year for the two countries' bilateral ties as both Latvia and Georgia are marking the centenary of their statehood and the 25th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conversation With the Women of America panel at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 16, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

HARARE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe has denounced the United States President Donald Trump's alleged utterances describing African states as "shithole" countries.

In a statement published by The Herald Wednesday, the Zimbabwean foreign ministry said such comments were hurtful and prejudicial and did not have a place in modern times.

It said the words attributed to the Trump earlier this month "has shocked and dismayed us."

"The USA is a prominent country of which the world expects the best example in its projections of democratic values, commitment to the fight against bigotry, upholding the civil rights of all of its people and generosity towards the less fortunate countries in the world."

The Zimbabwean government said it joined fellow African countries and others in rejecting "this unfortunate characterization of our peoples and countries".

U.S. media reported that during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, Trump described Africa, together with Haiti and El Salvador, as "shithole countries" supplying undesirable immigrants to the United States.

The demeaning comments, which Trump has since denied, has received broad condemnation from across the globe.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:05:06|Editor: yan

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TIRANA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The continuity of justice overhaul will allow Albania to catch up with neighboring countries that have started the European Union negotiations, Albanian foreign minister Ditmir Bushati said at a conference Wednesday.

Bushati said Albania expected concrete proposals from the European Commission in its enlargement strategy that will be outlined by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker next month.

"We expect concrete proposals in terms of the next steps ahead in the process of adherence to EU," Bushati noted.

Bushati said that EU enlargement policy was crucial to Albania and the region as a whole.

He considered the enlargement strategy as another positive step for Western Balkan region because in his view, it brings enlargement policy into the political focus and puts it into perspective in the face of skepticism about further EU enlargement.

"It is clear that the quality and momentum of key reforms, particularly those pertaining to reinforcement of rule of law, are directly linked with the concrete perspective and positive pressure that EU can put on our countries," Bushati said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:10:07|Editor: yan

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sunni major coalition in the Iraqi parliament Wednesday demanded postponement of upcoming general elections for six months to ensure displaced people of Sunni community returning to homes after the liberation of their cities and towns from the Islamic State (IS).

"The Iraqi Forces Alliance had requested the Iraqi parliament to postpone the polls scheduled for May 12 for six months, so that the displaced people can participate in larger numbers in the coming elections," Ahmed al-Jubouri, a Sunni lawmaker for Nineveh province, told Xinhua.

"The voter registration update is currently no more than 2 percent of the total eligible voters of Nineveh province and if it goes ahead (for May 12 elections), it will not reach 15 percent of total voters," Jubouri said.

Most of the provincial population were displaced in refugee camps, and large numbers of them still living away from their destroyed houses in other neighborhoods or even other towns, making the registration update process very difficult.

Jubouri noted that the elections under such circumstances will result in weaker representation for the Arabs, 82 percent of Nineveh's provincial population, and most of the parliamentary seats will go for other minorities.

"That will draw a new political map in the province and the majority Arabs will be the biggest victims," Jubouri added.

"We have submitted a request (from the parliament) to postpone the elections to October to ensure the participation of the largest number of displaced people and to ensure better representation for all the people of the liberated areas," Jubouri said.

However, Jubouri predicted the Sunni request, which is backed by the Kurdish lawmakers, would face strong opposition by the majority Shiite lawmakers in the parliament, who insist to hold the elections as scheduled. Moreover, the postponement request could be rejected by the Iraqi federal court.

Earlier, the cabinet of the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in coordination with the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) decided May 12 as date for the coming elections.

According to the Iraqi constitution, the parliamentary elections must be held at least 45 days before the end of the current legislative term.

The elections date must be ratified later by the current parliament before the endorsement of the Presidential Council to be fully approved.

Iraq's previous general election was held on April 30, 2014, when Iraqis elected 328 lawmakers for the parliament, which in turn elected Abadi to form an inclusive government from the Shiite alliance, Kurds and Sunnis.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:15:10|Editor: yan

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ADDIA ABABA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (CSA) on Wednesday said that close to 180,000 tablets have purchased from Chinese technology giants, Huawei and Lenovo, to conduct Ethiopia's Fourth National Housing and Population Census.

The CSA revealed on Wednesday that the products had been tested and approved by the agency.

The East African country will, for the first time, apply a modern population and housing census procedure, which includes the use of mobile tablets for data collection.

Following the Ethiopian Public Procurement and Property Disposal Services international bid on behalf of the Central Statistics Agency, the two Chinese companies have agreed to provide the mobile tablets that will be applied for the registration process.

According to Biratu Yigezu, Director General of CSA, the products were purchased as part of the 3.5 billion Ethiopian Birr (128 million U.S. dollars) total budget that was secured for the census.

The two companies have provided 90,000 mobile tablets each as per the agreement.

According to experts at the CSA, the use of mobile tablet technologies during the data collection procedure will ease the census process by establishing effective data registration system so as to avoid duplication and double counting.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:15:10|Editor: yan

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NAIROBI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday pledged to partner with Kenya's Ministry of Health to help contain the highly infectious and mosquito-borne Chikungunya disease in the coastal city of Mombasa.

WHO said a partnership with the ministry of health and Mombasa county government will strengthen monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of new cases.

"We expect these cases to be contained as those affected report to health facilities for proper assessment and management," Rudi Eggers, WHO Representative in Kenya said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

He revealed that WHO technical team is already on the ground to help the county government of Mombasa respond effectively to Chikungunya in the wake of soaring infections.

The initial cases of Chikungunya were reported in the middle of December last year in Mombasa Island while new infections surged early this month due to logistical hiccups and limited public awareness.

Kenya's Ministry of Health on Jan. 4 reported 69 cases of Chikungunya across the Mombasa County and pledged intensified surveillance along timely diagnosis to help contain the epidemic.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has already deployed a rapid response team to strengthen diagnosis of the viral disease whose symptoms include fever, joint pains, headache and nausea.

So far, no casualty has been reported since the Chikungunya outbreak escalated during the festive season thanks to combined efforts of the national and county governments to boost its diagnosis, treatment and management.

The UN agency hailed the county government of Mombasa for setting aside funds to support spraying of mosquito breeding sites, distribution of insecticide-treated nets and public awareness targeting vulnerable communities.

"We support the call by the county government to urge members of the public to report to health facilities for proper assessment and management and to clear bushes and garbage to avoid further breeding of the mosquitoes," said Eggers.
RACINE  With only one name on the ballot, it will come as no surprise to many that Greta Neubauer, 26, will be the next state representative for Assembly District 66, which encompasses most of the City of Racine.

Neubauer won the seat in a special election on Tuesday with 551 votes to 17 write-in votes. No Republicans or independents registered as candidates.

The seat became open after Cory Mason announced he would be stepping down after he was elected mayor of Racine in October. Neubauer defeated Racine Alderman John Tate II in the Democratic primary in December.

Im really excited to get to work, Neubauer said from her home Tuesday night. Ive been having great meetings with people around Racine, talking about the work that people are doing here and how I can be supportive  Im excited to get up to Madison and start serving and fighting for the people of Racine.

Before winning the seat, Neubauer worked as an aide for Mason in Madison and as the director of Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network, now called the Sunrise Movement, which focuses on environmental issues. She is the daughter of former state Rep. Jeff Neubauer and Lisa Neubauer, a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

I will be hiring staff soon  I would love to have people from Racine or in the area apply to work in Madison, Neubauer said.

Neubauer said she plans on being sworn into office later this month and taking to the Assembly floor in February, and shes looking to work on legislation related to the Foxconn Technology Group project.

Ill likely be working on some legislation around regional transit, particularly knowing that Foxconn is coming to this area very soon, we need to get people from Racine out to that facility, Neubauer said.

Getting prepared for session

With the start of the next legislative session just around the corner, Neubauer said shes going to prepare herself in the coming weeks.

I am going to read all the bills that are coming up in the next month, Neubauer said. And co-sponsor ones that I think will be good for the people of Racine.

Besides learning about proposed legislation, Neubauer is also going to be setting up her office in Madison and is looking forward to taking calls from constituents.

I want to make sure we get the office up and running so we do a great job with constituent work like Cory did, Neubauer said. The phone number will stay the same. Im sure a lot of folks have that number saved and they should feel free to reach out to that office any time.

Views from some voters

Despite having only one person to vote for on Tuesday, voters nonetheless made their way to the polls to cast their ballots.

Kathleen Packard voted for Neubauer at the John Bryant Community Center, 601 21st St., and said she thinks Neubauer will do well in the Assembly.

Im really excited for this, Packard said. I think shes got her head screwed on, but we need younger folks (in office) because I really want the Senate and Assembly turned over.

Terrence Woods also voted for Neubauer at the Bryant Center. He met Neubauer during the campaign when she was knocking on doors.

She was canvassing in the neighborhood and I really didnt speak to her at length, but I already made up my mind that Id be casting a ballot for her, Woods said. I kind of wish the primary was the election. It sort of seems odd not having someone to run against  it would have been nice to have someone else in the mix to keep it fluid.

Woods said he hopes Neubauer does a good job.

I think you can say that about everyone, Woods said. You have hope that theyll leave a mark.

Michael Martin voted for Neubauer at St. Edwards School, 1435 Grove Ave., in West Racine.

When asked if he thought Neubauer would be a good representative for Racine, Martin said: I dont know, but I look at it this way  somethings got to change.

Because nothing is getting done as it is, Martin said. I think with her having the experience of following behind Mason she has a good chance of having a good running start.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:20:12|Editor: yan

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ISTANBUL, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkish aid organizations are making efforts to help refugees fleeing Syria's Idlib province, where the government troops have been fighting against the rebels, the Turkish Red Crescent said on Wednesday.

"The total number of refugees who have been displaced since the airstrikes begun in the southern part of Idlib has reached 400,000 while the figure of those who approached Turkey's border has already exceeded 200,000," Kerem Kinik, president of the Turkish humanitarian group, told Xinhua.

The Turkish Red Crescent, in cooperation with Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), has established a new camp that can house 3,000 refugees in Idlib's northern village of Kelbit.

"The camp with its 500 tents became fully operational today," said Kinik.

He said hundreds of refugees are coming to the camp area each day and Turkish aid workers are doing their best to meet their growing demands despite the camp's limited capacity.

"We are also providing all kinds of support, including health service, and meeting the urgent needs of those who came with their own tents," Kinik added.

Turkish aid agencies have also set up a temporary refugee center with 94 tents for refugees who arrived at Idlib's Kafr Lusein region at the end of last December, delivering food to over 3,500 families per month.

According to Ibrahim Altan, director general of the Turkish Red Crescent, the distribution of bread has increased from 35,000 to over 70,000 per day for refugees in Kelbit and Kafr Lusein, while brand new clothes have been delivered to 15,000 of them.

Mehmet Gulluoglu, head of the AFAD, visited Kelbit on Sunday, where he said babies, children and the elder were in need of urgent protection and care.

Russia, Turkey and Iran have declared de-escalation zones in rebels-held Idlib in efforts to make peace in Syria, but the Syrian troops have renewed air and ground offensives against the rebels to retake lost towns and villages.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conversation With the Women of America panel at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 16, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- One year into Donald Trump's presidency, the uncertainties and anxieties over his unconventional playbook appear to have not diminished.

As he seeks to implement his campaign promises, which seem controversial and even unacceptable to many, rifts, feuds and controversies dogged the year and 2018 would probably not be any different.

THE FISSURES

Since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017, the divide between Republicans and Democrats intensified with the two parties seldom trying to meet each other halfway or make any compromise on GOP-led legislative pushes.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank Pew Research Center said in a report that the divisions between the two sides on fundamental political values, which had reached record levels during the Obama presidency, "have grown even larger" in Trump's first year as president.

What has been more frustrating for the Republican president is that he can't even bridge the gap within his own party, which led successive efforts to repeal Obamacare, the healthcare measure introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama, to fail. Thus one of Trump's core campaign promises could not be fulfilled legislatively.

Though the administration subsequently notched up a victory by pulling off the largest tax overhaul in 30 years, the fact that the bill didn't gain support from a single Democrat was another example of the gaping political divide.

Public opinion remains starkly divided as well. According to a just-released Gallup poll, Trump's first-year job approval rating has averaged 39 percent since his inauguration, lower than that of any of his predecessors. Some 83 percent of Republican voters, however, continue to approve of him, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

THE FEUDS

In the past year, "feud" became a keyword to describe some of Trump's interactions with others, especially his ongoing tit-for-tat battle with the U.S. mainstream media. As a result, the expression "fake news" is now a global buzzword.

A frequent Twitter user, the president has routinely labeled negative coverage of him or his presidency as "fake news", casting aspersions on the credentials of the news organizations behind it.

In response, the media has become more critical of Trump's words and deeds while putting his presidency under greater scrutiny, forcing the White House to urge "due attention" to the administration's achievements.

Another source of feud is the ongoing probe into the alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Trump has repeatedly denied any tieup with Russia, dismissing the probe as a "hoax" and "witch hunt". With the investigation inching toward Trump's inner circle, the feud is expected to continue as Republicans, including the president, raise more questions on the credibility of the probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller while Democrats urge that the special counsel be protected.

THE CONTROVERSIES

Besides divisions and feuds, there has been no shortage of controversies either.

Trump fired former FBI director James Comey amid the Russia investigation, displayed reluctance to condemn white supremacists following violence in Charlottesville, banned transgender recruits, and backed scandal-hit Republican candidate Roy Moore for a Senate seat, to name just a few.

One of the biggest controversies was his hardline stance on immigration. His proposed immigration reform included travel bans and termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protected illegal immigrants who had reached U.S. shores during their childhood from being deported.

He also repeatedly called for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stave off illegal immigrants, blamed Democrats for lack of progress on the immigration deal, and asked for a merit-based immigration system while suggesting an end to chain migration and the Diversity Visa Program.

While Trump's supporters see him as a keeper of promise who seeks to safeguard national interests and the interests of the American people, his critics argue that a visible border wall and an invisible policy wall wouldn't necessarily mean a safer environment for the United States.

Instead, they could sow hatred and discord, shaking the foundation of a nation whose prosperity has relied primarily on the labor of generations of immigrants.

Very recently, Trump's alleged use of profanities when describing Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting with lawmakers on immigration policies sparked international outrage, becoming the first major controversy to engulf him in 2018 and signaling the trend would probably continue.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:30:16|Editor: yan

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ACCRA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday said Ghana is a safe place to live in despite terrorist attacks in neighboring countries.

Answering questions from journalists at a media encounter to mark his first year in office, Akufo-Addo said Ghana, in principle, could not be exempt as a potential target for terrorists so its security preparedness is an extremely important matter.

"I think that, as far as our status is concerned, compared to many of the states in our region, so far so good, on our path. Ghana is stable, secure and safe and I am going to do anything I can to make sure that that image, the reality of Ghana continues," he said.

"But it is an area where we can never let our guard down and we will have to continue to do all those things -- sharing intelligence with others, beefing up our own capabilities," he said, pledging his government's commitment to dealing with some of the long-term causes of terrorism such as economic development, youth employment.

Akufo-Addo's assurance comes three days after the police intercepted objects they believed to be varied species of explosives here in the capital, Accra.

The media encounter assembled some editors and selected journalists who asked the president questions on his stewardship and the state of Ghana in the last one year. This is the second of such encounters since Akufo-Addo assumed office on Jan. 7, 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:35:16|Editor: yan

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TIRANA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Albania's foreign minister Ditmir Bushati and Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bujar Osmani voiced here Wednesday the need to further bolster cooperation in 2018.

The two officials focused on the need to foster bilateral and regional cooperation, particularly within the commitment of the two governments at Pogradec meeting to build Albanian-Macedonian relations in a new qualitative stage, foreign ministry said in a press release.

They also talked about cooperation on the construction of a European region in accordance with the commitments of the Summit of Trieste and the aim of approximation with the European Union (EU).

Bushati welcomed achievements of reform agenda undertaken by Macedonian Premier Zoran Zaev to accelerate Macedonia's membership in the EU and NATO, and strengthen good neighborliness.

Bushati assured Osmani that Albania would continue to support Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration.

Talking about forthcoming developments, the two senior officials shared the view that the European Commission's (EC) expected strategy and the Bulgarian EU Presidency constitute a moment of special importance for revitalizing and promoting the prospect of enlargement in the Western Balkans.

On his part, Osmani said at the joint press conference with Bushati that Macedonia sees 2018 as a golden opportunity to get closer to EU and NATO integration, and he voiced hope that the EC would issue positive strategy for both countries next month.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 01:55:20|Editor: Jiaxin

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Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2018 shows Viorica Dancila interviewed by reporters in Bucharest, Romania. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Jan. 17, 2018 appointed Social Democrat nominee, European lawmaker Viorica Dancila, as prime minister and mandated her to form a new government. (Xinhua/Agerpres)

BUCHAREST, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appointed Social Democrat nominee, European lawmaker Viorica Dancila, as prime minister on Wednesday and handed her a mandate to form a new government.

Dancila will become the first woman prime minister in the history of the Eastern European country.

Iohannis made the decision after consultations earlier Wednesday with parliamentary parties when main opposition parties had neither concrete proposals for the prime minister's position, nor a political understanding between them.

"Having weighed all arguments, taking into account the concrete situation in Parliament, I have decided to give the Social Democratic Party (PSD) one more chance," said the president, stressing that now the Social Democrats must show a strong performance, as "Romanians have great expectations, I have great expectations as well."

The president called on those involved in forming the government to get moving so that the entire procedure can be completed by Feb. 1.

Under the constitution, Dancila will seek a vote of confidence from Parliament regarding her governing program and complete list of the government within 10 days of her designation.

PSD leader Liviu Dragnea stated after the designation that the president chose stability by appointing Dancila as Prime Minister, "despite the pressure of the opposition parties."

"We thank him for this, and we really appreciate this very much," he said in a press statement.

Dancila, 54, became a member of the PSD in 1996. In 2014, she was elected as deputy in the European Parliament for a second term.

Before entering politics, she was an engineer with the then National Oil Company Petrom SA, and prior to that, a teacher at a secondary school.

Dancila will become the third head of government of the Social Democrats which won the parliamentary elections at the end of 2016.

Her predecessor Mihai Tudose, being recently in disagreement with party chairman Liviu Dragnea, was forced to resign after the PSD leadership decided to withdraw its political support for him late Monday.

Tudose took over as prime minister last June, from Sorin Grindeanu who lost power in a no-confidence vote brought by his own party also due to a conflict with party leader Dragnea.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 02:05:23|Editor: yan

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LISBON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a fire that broke out in a village community center in northern Portugal on Saturday rose to 9, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to the Jornal de Noticias newspaper, the victim's name was Jose Correia and he was 67 years old. He died in hospital in Porto.

Eight of the nine deceased were male and all were aged over 50. There are still 28 people in hospital, 16 in a critical condition.

In a more positive development, a 15-year-old girl injured in the fire has been taken out of intensive care. A source at the Dona Estefania Hospital in Lisbon told the Lusa Portuguese News Agency that the girl was recovering well and had been moved to a regular ward on Wednesday morning.

The fire occurred on Saturday night in the Cultural, Recreational and Humanitarian Association center of Vila Nova da Rainha, a village in Tondela province, 250 km north of Lisbon.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 02:25:26|Editor: yan

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DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains have destroyed at least 8,652 hectares of paddy and maize field in Tanzania's eastern region of Morogoro, leaving 6,300 people homeless, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Steven Kebwe, the Morogoro regional commissioner, said the rains have caused flash floods in Kilosa district where more than 1,600 houses have been damaged.

"The Morogoro regional authorities in collaboration with Kilosa district authorities have started taking precaution measures against epidemics such as cholera," Kebwe told the region's defense and security committee.

He added that authorities were also organizing the acquisition of relief supplies to the victims sheltered in schools and churches.

Last week, heavy rains left at least 2,500 people homeless after they had destroyed 106 houses in Tanzania's central region of Dodoma.

Simon Odunga, Chemba District Commissioner in Dodoma Region, said the heavy rains mostly affected three villages of Mrijo Chini, Kaloleni and Olborot.

"Most of the houses in these villages have been destroyed, leaving over 2,500 people homeless," Odunga told a news conference in Chemba district.

Odunga said most of the victims were being sheltered by relatives and friends, with some accommodated in special camps.

He said the victims, including children and women, were in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including medicines, mattresses as well as food.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 02:40:31|Editor: yan

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LISBON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Police in Portugal and Spain have seized 745 kg of cocaine hidden inside pineapples, the Portuguese Judicial Police announced here on Wednesday.

The seizure came as the result of a joint investigation, known as "Operation Japy", conducted between Portugal's National Anti Drug-Trafficking Unit and Spain's National Police Corps. The operation began in April 2017.

The pineapples were transported in containers from an unnamed Latin American country to the Iberian Peninsula.

The police have arrested nine men, representing a range of nationalities, and dismantled a processing laboratory where the cocaine was to be doctored and cut.

Besides the cocaine itself, the police seized 400,000 euros (490,967 U.S. dollars) in cash and ten cars.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 02:50:34|Editor: yan

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BUCHAREST, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Romanian Prime Minister-designate Viorica Dancila late Wednesday vowed to go all out to implement the governing program, as well as to prepare to take over the Council Presidency of the European Union.

"I wait for the vote in the parliament," Dancila told a press statement she held together with Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea in the parliament.

According to her, it is important to put into practice the governing program, to celebrate 100 years since the Great Union on Dec. 1 of 1918, but at the same time, to make preparations in order to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on Jan. 1 of 2019.

Dancila was appointed by President Klaus Iohannis as prime minister Wednesday afternoon to form a new government. She will almost certainly get a vote of confidence in parliament at the end of the month, becoming the first woman prime minister in the history of this eastern European country.

Dancila, 54, became a member of the PSD in 1996. In 2014, she was elected as deputy in the European Parliament for a second term.

Before entering politics, she was an engineer with the then National Oil Company Petrom SA, and prior to that, a teacher at a secondary school.

Dancila will become the third head of government of the Social Democrats which won the parliamentary elections at the end of 2016.

Her predecessor Mihai Tudose, being recently in disagreement with party chairman Liviu Dragnea, was forced to resign late Monday after the PSD leadership decided to withdraw its political support for him.

Tudose took over as prime minister last June, from Sorin Grindeanu who lost power in a no-confidence vote brought by his own party also due to a conflict with party leader Dragnea.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 03:05:39|Editor: yan

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ROME, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Italy's chocolate giant Ferrero bought the U.S. candy business of Swiss food group Nestle for 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in cash, making the Italian firm the world's third largest in its sector, local media reported Wednesday.

The company announced the deal in a statement on Tuesday, highlighting the operation would strengthen its worldwide position overall.

"Ferrero will acquire more than 20 historic American brands, including iconic chocolate labels such as Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, 100 Grand, Raisinets, Wonka," it said.

With the deal, Ferrero will also gain exclusive rights on the Crunch brand in the United States, as well as on candy brands SweeTarts, Laffy Taffy and Nerds.

Nestle's business in the U.S. market generated a turnover of about 900 million U.S. dollars in 2016, according to Ferrero.

The deal would allow the Italian family-owned company "a broader offering of high-quality products to consumers of chocolate snacks, candies, confectionary and seasonal products", Ferrero Group executive chairman Giovanni Ferrero said in the statement.

Besides, the acquisition would offer "exciting new opportunities of growth in the world's largest confectionary market", the chairman added.

With the acquisition of U.S. Nestle, the producer of famous Nutella and Ferrero Rocher brands will become the third largest chocolate manufacturer in the United States and in the world, behind American Hershey and Mars, Italy's leading business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said Wednesday.

Founded in the northern city of Alba, Piedmont, in 1946, Ferrero opened its first branch in Europe in 1956, with a factory in Germany. It launched its first product on the U.S. market -- the small Tic Tac candies -- in 1969.

It now operates through 22 plants in some 55 countries with 32,990 employees overall, selling its products in more than 170 countries, according to the company presentation.

The Ferrero Group posted a consolidated turnover of 10.3 billion euros (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, with an 8.2 percent increase over the previous year.
RACINE  One person was transported to the hospital for possible smoke inhalation following a house fire Tuesday night.

The Racine Fire Department was dispatched at 9:24 p.m. to the 1600 block of Rapids Drive for a report of a structure fire that started on a couch. All occupants of the home were reported to be out of the residence when firefighters arrived.

Fire Department Battalion Chief Willie Hargrove confirmed the fire started on a couch and the fire spread from there.

Hargrove said the fire was out by 9:34 p.m. Crews remained on scene for about an hour doing overhaul and cleanup work.

A cause of the fire and the extent of damage was not available Tuesday.

The condition of the person transported from the fire scene was unavailable Tuesday. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 03:10:40|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday stressed the importance of an international deal on Iran's nuclear issue on the second anniversary of the implementation of the agreement.

"The secretary-general remains convinced that the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is the best way to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program and to realize the promised tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people," said Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a statement.

JCPOA refers to the Iran nuclear deal reached in Vienna in July 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

"The JCPOA constitutes a major achievement of nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy, and has contributed to regional and international peace and security," said the statement.

The secretary-general noted that UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has repeatedly confirmed that Iran is fulfilling its nuclear-related commitments under the deal, it said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday waived nuclear sanctions against Iran, but warned that he would not do it again unless the deal is to be fixed. Tehran has said it will not renegotiate the nuclear deal.

Under the agreement, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
Yemen's Houthis fire a ballistic missile at a regional airport in Saudi border province of Jizan on Tuesday, but Saudi defense forces shot down it. (AFP Photo)

SANAA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi movement said Tuesday it fired a ballistic missile toward a regional airport in Saudi border province of Jizan, Saba news agency reported.

Houthis said the missile is a short-range one, giving no further details.

However, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV channel reported that the Saudi defense forces shot down the missile over Jizan.

It is the sixth ballistic missile attack by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on the neighboring oil-rich Gulf state in two months.

Last week, Houthis fired a long-range ballistic missile toward a military airport of Apache helicopters at the Saudi Special Forces camp in the Saudi border province of Najran.

Al Arabiya reported that the Saudi air defenses intercepted the missile and destroyed it over Najran.

Also last week, the Houthis threatened to cut off the Red Sea shipping line if the Saudi-led coalition forces keep advancing toward the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition of Arab forces, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's conflict to back the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The coalition has launched thousands of airstrikes on the Houthis, in attempts to roll back rebel gains and reinstate Hadi in the capital Sanaa.

The war has killed more than 10,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, and pushed the country to the brink of mass famine.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 03:20:43|Editor: yan

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ABUJA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ten people were killed and 65 others injured in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri following two suicide blasts on Wednesday, the police and rescue officials said.

Two people suspected to be members of the terror group Boko Haram detonated their explosive devices at a local market in Muna Garage area located on the outskirts of Maiduguri, capital of the northern state of Borno, the police said.

The blasts caused huge damage, said Damian Chukwu, the police chief in Borno.

The first blast occurred at the entrance of the market while the second blast went off at the center of the market, Chukwu said.

Abdulkadir Ibrahim, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, said a total of 65 people were wounded in the attacks. They have been taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The attacks occurred close to a camp of the Internally Displaced Persons in Maiduguri, Ibrahim said.

Fruits and consumables were seen scattered in the market after the blasts, witnesses said.

The Muna area of the city witnessed no fewer than 12 suicide attacks last year, with Wednesday's attack marking the first of its kind this year.

Boko Haram is blamed for the death of over 20,000 people and displacement of millions of local people since 2009.
Iranian President Rouhani on Wednesday blasts Israel for seeking to create division in Lebanon. (Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday Israel seeks to create division in Lebanon for its own interests.

"Undoubtedly, Zionists (Israel) benefit from creating division in Lebanon," Rouhani said in a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Tehran on Wednesday, according to state TV.

However, the Lebanese nation and government have managed to foil enemies' "divisive plots," he was quoted as saying.

"The Iranian nation and government have always stood by and will continue to stand by the Lebanese nation and government in the resistance against the Zionist regime's aggression," he said.

Rouhani called for regional convergence, saying that "All regional nations need to do their utmost to help restoration of stability and security to the region, and there is no other option."

He also urged Muslim states not to allow foreign powers like the United States and Israel to go ahead with their plans to sow discord and spread animosity.

For his part, Berri hailed Iran's support for Lebanon and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in the face of Israeli acts of "aggression."

Iran has played a positive role in settling regional crises, he said.
Delegates from 20 countries participate in the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula hosted by the United States and Canada in Vancouver. (Xinhua/Liang Sen)

VANCOUVER, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from 20 nations on Tuesday said they would not accept a nuclear-armed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and maintain maximum pressure against Pyongyang at a meeting in Vancouver, which was criticized by China and Russia as illegal and counterproductive.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated her country's commitment to a diplomatic solution to the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis.

"What we do want is to resolve this crisis peacefully to achieve what is in our collective best interests, and that is security and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Freeland said during the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula at the Vancouver Convention Center.

The meeting, co-hosted by Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was attended by foreign ministers of Britain, Japan and South Korea, among others. They discussed issues that included pressuring and imposing sanctions against the DPRK.

It came as the DPRK and South Korea have resumed talks after Pyongyang decided to join the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month.

During a routine press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that without participation of some of the most important direct parties to the nuclear issue, the Vancouver meeting had no legitimacy and was not representative.

"Since this meeting does not have legitimacy or representativeness, China has opposed the meeting from the very beginning," he said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday labeled the meeting as counterproductive, saying it sought to work out new mechanisms to pressure Pyongyang.

"I think that with all due respect to those who came up with this initiative, I do not expect anything productive," Lavrov said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 04:15:56|Editor: yan

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DUBAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said Wednesday it will follow "all official international channels" against Qatar's alleged interception of two regular UAE passenger flights en route to Bahrain.

The Gulf state's official news agency WAM reported that the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Qatar's move "endangered air safety and passengers' lives."

The statement added that the UAE will follow "all official international channels," including contacting the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO," regarding the interception.

The statement was released during a briefing organized by the ministry in Abu Dhabi earlier Wednesday for the ambassadors of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to the UAE and those of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt.

The latter three countries, along with the UAE, form the "Arab Quartet" which cut diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5, 2017 on allegations that it was supporting "terrorism," a charge which Qatar denies.

On Monday morning, the UAE civil aviation authority GCCA said Qatari fighter jets intercepted two UAE passenger aircraft in one hour on their scheduled routine flight routes from Dubai to Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said at the briefing that the Qatar's action showed it is determined to escalate the situation.

"A disaster was about to happen. However, the UAE will not escalate and will follow legal channels and we have strong grounding for this," said Gargash.

However, Qatar on Monday denied the interception, saying the claim is "completely false."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 04:15:58|Editor: yan

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LUSAKA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Wednesday barred public workers from using social media to discuss issues affecting them.

Dickson Chasaya, the chairperson of the Civil Service Commission, said public workers should stop discussing government issues on social media with the people they socialize with.

He told journalists during a press briefing that no public worker below the rank of permanent secretary should discuss anything with the media on government issues.

Any public worker who fails to observe the ban will be dealt with, he added, without specifying what punishment entails.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 05:21:17|Editor: yan

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KHARTOUM, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday said peaceful demonstrations against prices hike is a constitutional right and do not bother the party.

"Peaceful demonstrations are constitutional right and a political expression that does not bother the party," said Kabashour Koko, Chairman of NCP's Shura (consultation) Council.

"However, any disorder or sabotage against State or private properties should not be allowed," he added.

Koko further acknowledged that there is an economic crisis with negative effects in citizens, saying "there are arrangements, procedures and some revisions."

The Sudanese police and security authorities on Tuesday and Wednesday dispersed hundreds of protesters who demonstrated against prices hike.

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Omdurman city in response to a call by Sudan's opposition National Umma Party, while on Tuesday similar protests took place in the capital Khartoum near the Presidential Palace in response to a call by the opposition Communist Party.

Late last December, the Sudanese parliament approved the general budget for 2018, which included devaluating the Sudanese pound against the U.S. dollar, with one dollar exchanging 18 Sudanese pounds from 6.9 Sudanese pounds, besides raising the electricity tariff for the industry, agriculture and trade sectors and liberalizing the price of wheat.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 05:56:24|Editor: Jiaxin

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KHARTOUM, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Wednesday welcomed a United Nations (UN) report which stressed that Sudan government's arms collection plan in Darfur led to improvement of security in the region.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the recent regular report of the UN Secretary-General on Darfur which included affirmation of stability of conditions in Darfur," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry in a statement Wednesday.

The statement said that the arms collection campaign conducted by the government in the region has led to stability and enhanced peace and security.

It reiterated that the government would continue cooperation and coordination with the United Nations- African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

It further stressed the importance of joint work to support the peace-building, development and rehabilitation operations in the region.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a recent report to the UN Security Council that he was optimistic over the result of the arms collection campaign launched by the Sudanese government.

He said the steps taken towards the disarmament of armed militias were promising and should continue in accordance with the provisions of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

On Aug. 7, 2017, the Sudanese government launched a campaign for collecting arms and unlicensed vehicles in the Darfur region.

The government does not have official figures for the number of weapons owned by the civilians in Darfur, but UN statistics estimated it to be around 2 million pieces.

The Darfur region has witnessed an armed conflict between the Sudanese army and rebel groups since 2003, which has left around 300,000 people dead and nearly 2.5 million displaced.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-18 06:46:37|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Wednesday approved a possible huge military sale to Saudi Arabia of continuation of missile system support services for an estimated cost of 500 million U.S. dollars.

According to an announcement published by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency under the U.S. Defense Ministry, the agency has notified the Congress of this sale later on Wednesday.

According to the document, Saudi Arabia has requested to purchase continued participation, technical assistance, and support in the Patriot Legacy Field Surveillance Program (FSP), the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) FSP and the Patriot Engineering Services Program (ESP).

The purchase list also included Patriot and HAWK Missile System spare parts and repair and return management services and component repairs, and other related elements of logistics and program support.

The principal contractors are Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, MD for the FSP and Raytheon Company, Andover, and MA for the ESP. Support teams of four to 10 people will travel to Saudi Arabia on a temporary basis for one to three weeks at a time.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said this proposed sale, a continuation of current support, would help improve Riyadh's security.
SUNNYSIDE, Wash.  Ostrom Mushrooms has secured funding for construction of its new facility in Sunnyside.
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YORK  Prolific writer, historian and professor, Dr. Tim McNeese has been announced as this years winner of the Focus on York Award.

This award is not given on an annual basis but rather only when determined to be warranted.

The criteria for the award is for the recipient to bring positive statewide and national attention to the York community.

Dr. Tim McNeese is in his 26th year as an associate professor of history at York College. A writer on historical topics, McNeese has authored more than 120 books for children, middle-grade, high school, and college readers, on everything from The Great Wall of China to landmark Supreme Court decisions. His writing has earned him a citation in the library reference work Contemporary Authors. He has appeared on several cable television programs as an historical expert and was recently featured on a documentary on General Pershing, which aired on NET Television.

McNeese focuses on historical themes ranging from American history to the history of Western civilization. McNeeses books deal with elements of history from battles to presidents, as well as methods of transport and construction. A former teacher of history at the middle school and high school levels, McNeese brings the training of a professional researcher and educator to his books, which are known for their accuracy of detail and use of contemporary materials and eyewitness accounts.

McNeese holds degrees from York College, Harding University, and Southern Missouri University, and recently completed a PhD at Faulkner University while continuing to teach full time and author books and articles. He is married to Beverly McNeese who teaches English at York College. The couple has led summer study trips across the U.S., combining literary, cultural, and historical elements; they have also planned and presented many events in the York community on topics ranging from the King James Bible, to the Titanic, to Revolutionary Spies.

Since the opening of the Clayton Museum of Ancient History at York College in 2015, more than 10,000 people have visited York to view the collection, participate in classes and attend special events and lectures. Dr. McNeese serves on the advisory board of the museum, providing valuable insight and leadership for this community resource. He has also been involved in planning special events and was the featured speaker at last years Ides of March dinner.

Those who nominated him for the award also noted that in 2015, should also mention that in 2015, he coauthored a book with Christi Lones and Bev McNeese about the history of York College in time for its 125th year celebration.

In 2006, McNeese was invited to appear on the History Channel program, Risk Takers, History Makers: John Wesley Powell and the Grand Canyon. Although serving as the programs historian, McNeese participated in a location film shoot in and around Moab, Utah, where he and a team of experts, including mountaineer Chris Warner and survival specialist Greg Davenport reenacted some of explorer Powells exploits. These included scaling 2,000-foot cliff walls in Dead Horse State Park and the Canyonlands, as well as rowing through rapids on the Colorado River in a 19th Century replica boat.

He was also featured as an on-camera historian on four episodes of America: Fact vs Fiction, which aired on the American Heroes Channel in 2015 and 2017.

Also of interest: McNeese was invited to serve as a faculty member at the 2006 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference in Albuquerque, where he spoke on American Indians of the Southwest, including those tribes whose members serve as characters in Hillermans Leaphorn-Chee mystery novels.
Euro trades at 4.6573 lei The exchange rate of the national leu currency resulting from the quotations announced on Wednesday by the banks authorised to operate on the currency market is as follows:

CURRENCY SYMBOL RON

1 Euro EUR 4.6573

1 US dollar USD 3.8067

1 Swiss franc CHF 3.9531

1 British pound GBP 5.2524

100 Japanese yen JPY 3.4395

1 Moldovan leu MDL 0.2245

1 Russian rouble RUB 0.0672

1 new Turkish lira TRY 0.9972

1 Chinese renminbi CNY 0.5915

1 gram of gold XAU 163.7883

1 SDR XDR 5.4810



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VILLANOVA, Pa.  Villanova University today announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Trustees. Joseph P. Campolo, President, Arbor Investments; Michael R. Kourey, Chief Financial Officer, Medallia; and Susan M. Ward, Head of M&A and Commercial Finance-Americas, Shell Oil Co., joined the 36-member Board effective Jan. 1.

At Villanova, we are fortunate to have dedicated alumni and parents who are deeply committed to the University and its mission, said the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, Villanova University President. Joe, Mike and Susan have all experienced tremendous professional success and graciously given their time and talents to further the University. I am extremely pleased to have their experience, knowledge and expertise to draw upon as we continue our work to realize Villanovas ambitious goals for the future.

Joseph P Campolo 90 VSB is President of Arbor Investments, a Chicago- and New York-based private equity firm he co-founded in 1999. Arbor is one of the leading private equity firms in North America focused on investing in the food and beverage industries. The firm has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal and Buyouts magazine for its investing success over the last two decades. Prior to co-founding Arbor, Campolo was Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions for Reyes Holdings, the 12th largest privately held company in the United States. He is an active member of the Villanova community, serving as a member of the Presidents Advisory Council and the Campaign Executive Committee for the Universitys comprehensive capital campaign For the Greater Great: The Villanova Campaign to Ignite Change. Campolo has served on numerous corporate and charitable boards.

Campolo graduated from the Villanova School of Business (VSB) in 1990 and earned his MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He resides in Winnetka, Ill.

Michael R. Kourey, is Chief Financial Officer of Medallia, a global customer experience management company recognized by Forbes as one of the top private cloud companies in the world. In this position, Kourey leads the companys finance, corporate development, IT and real estate functions. Prior to joining Medallia in 2015, he was a partner at Khosla Ventures, which provides venture assistance and strategic advice to entrepreneurs working on breakthrough technologies. Kourey also served as Executive Vice President, CFO and Director of Polycom, a telecommunications company, retiring in 2012 after 20 years. He is a former member of the Parents Executive Committee, a select group of parents who demonstrate their commitment to Villanova through leadership, philanthropy and active volunteerism. He also has served as a member of the Deans Advisory Council of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis, and has lectured at Stanford University, in the graduate schools of Business and Engineering.

Kourey graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree and earned his MBA from Santa Clara University. He resides in Danville, Calif.

Susan M. Ward 80 COE has served at Shell Oil Co. since 2010 as the Head of M&A and Commercial Finance for Shells businesses in the Americas. Between 2014 and 2017, she also held the roles of Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and GP Board Member of Shell Midstream Partners, Shells publicly traded MLP. She is currently a Trustee and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Shell Pension Trust, and Chairman of its Investment Committee. From 2007 to 2009, Ward served as Vice President of Upstream Commercial Finance for Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., based in The Hague, Netherlands. From 2007 to 2016, she also served on the Board of Directors of Shells Bully deepwater drillship joint venture. Before joining Shell in 1998, she worked as an investment banker in the energy sector for 11 years at Kidder, Peabody & Co., PaineWebber and UBS. She is a current member of the Presidents Advisory Council at Villanova.

Ward was a member of the first class of Presidential Scholars at Villanova, graduating from the University in 1980 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. She received her MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She resides in Houston.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova Universitys Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six collegesthe College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nations top universities, Villanova supports its students intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu.
New Delhi: Honda recently celebrated 20 years of the most popular sedan the Honda City. The Japanese Auto major has rolled out 20th Anniversary Edition of the Honda City for the Indian market

The Anniversary Edition offers an exterior uplift that increases the style quotient of the car. The new model comes with 20th Anniversary Edition insignia at the rear, chrome garnish around the front bumper and the doors and trunk end molding.

Honda is also offering free one month Honda Connect subscription that comes with a host of safety and security features. These include the Honda Impact Alert, Geofencing, car calendar and more.

The prices for the Honda City petrol CVT is Rs 13.75 lakh, and the Diesel MT is Rs 13.82 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Honda City is available in the top 'ZX' variant.

Honda Cars India has also launched upgraded special editions of the Amaze and WR-V. Amaze has got a Pride Edition and the WR-V comes with the Edge Edition.

The special editions are available in a single variant. The WR-V Edge Edition is available on the S variant and Amaze Pride Edition is available on the S(O) variant.

The Honda Amaze Pride edition is priced at 6.30 lakh for petrol and 7.84 lakh for the diesel MT powertrain. Honda WR-V Edge Edition is priced at 8.01 lakh for the petrol MT whereas the diesel MT is priced at 9.04 lakh.
New Delhi: Rahul Yadav, son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, on Wednesday evaded the Enforcement Directorate summons for questioning over a Rs 1 crore loan he had given to his mother-in-law Rabri Devi in connection with an ongoing probe into the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case, officials said.

An ED official told IANS that Rahul Yadav did not depose before the agency for questioning during the day. The official said the agency will issue a new date for questioning soon. The ED has asked Rahul Yadav, husband of Lalu Prasad`s fourth daughter Ragini Yadav, to appear before it at its headquarters in south Delhi`s Khan Market area.

The financial probe agency wanted to question Rahul Yadav to know the source of the money given to Rabri Devi as it suspects that it may have been used to buy a three-acre plot in Patna. The three-acre land worth Rs 45 crore in Bihar's Patna was attached by the agency on December 8 in connection with the money laundering case against Lalu Prasad and his family members.

According to agency officials, the case pertains to alleged money laundering of funds by Delight Marketing Private Ltd. The officials suspect that the money was used to buy shares of Delight Marketing between 2010-11 and 2012-13. The ED is probing financial irregularities in the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Lalu Prasad, his son Tejashwi Yadav and other family members. On July 27, the ED had registered a case under the PMLA following an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and is probing the trail of funds allegedly transferred through shell companies.

The CBI registered a corruption case on July 5 against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts for two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm when the RJD chief was Railway Minister. The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar, allegedly in lieu of bribe in the form of a plot of prime land in Bihar, the CBI said.

According to the CBI, by 2014, Delight Marketing`s shares were taken over completely by Lalu Prasad`s family members for just Rs 64 lakh, against the circle rate of Rs 32.5 crore for the property and market value of Rs 94 crore. The company`s name was later changed to Lara Projects and then turned into a limited liability partnership firm. Apart from Ahluwalia Contractors` promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia, who has also been questioned in the case, former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta`s wife Sarla Gupta and then IRCTC Managing Director P.K. Goel are also accused in the case.

In a separate case of money laundering, the financial probe agency has questioned Lalu Prasad`s daughter Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha member, and her husband Shailesh Kumar several times.
Happy Birthday Aaron Finch: Check his TOP records and know about GORGEOUS wife Amy Griffiths
Mumbai: Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who has shot a film titled God, Sex and Truth with American porn star Mia Malkova, says a woman's body is beautiful and monumental to capture.

"I truly believe that there's no location on earth which is more beautiful and more monumental than a woman's body," Varma on Tuesday tweeted alongside a snapshot from God,Sex and Truth, focussing on Malkova's bare abdomen.

The film was shot with Malkova in Europe. Its trailer was launched on Tuesday, and the full film will be launched on Republic Day, January 26.

The filmmaker says the video is about a "revolutionary sexual philosophy" as professed by Malkova and encapsulated by him.

"It's about telling the truth behind sex as intended by God," he added.

In a detailed note issued on Tuesday, Varma said: "It will have explicit nude imagery which will showcase each and every part of Mia Malkova's beautiful naked body in a never before seen magnifique.

"The camera will literally worship not only every square inch of her extraordinary body but it also captures her every thought in the process of projecting it in almost a spiritual context within her deeply felt and also inbuilt sexual emotions.

"She also speaks graphically and shockingly hard sexual words and that's because the whole point of this endeavour is to enhance and elevate whatever people conventionally look down upon."
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday asked the centre to reconsider its decision to revoke Haj subsidy.

We came to know that the union government has withdrawn Haj subsidy. We demand the government to review its decision, said Palaniswami.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday announced that the "Subsidy on Haj is over from this year.

He further added that the money saved will be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls.

Almost everyone from the Muslim community has welcomed this move including many organizations, said Naqvi.

Nearly 1.75 lakh Muslims, highest number so far, will go on Haj pilgrimage this year.
New Delhi: AAP MLA and former chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, Amanatullah Khan, on Wednesday resigned as a member of the Board, saying that his step might prompt the Lieutenant Governor to reconstitute the panel.

The process of the reconstitution of the Waqf Board is underway and Khan was elected as its member in November last year. Amid allegations of corruption involving Khan, the Delhi Waqf Board was dissolved by then Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and a CBI probe was ordered by him in October 2016.

"Due to me, the L-G is not forming the board (Delhi Waqf Board). I am resigning as the member of the board and now, I hope that the L-G will form the board, which will benefit our community," Khan told reporters here.

He said that he has sent his resignation letter to Lt Governor Anil Baijal, through the Delhi Assembly Speaker. "The BJP and the Congress do not want me to become the Chairperson of the board that is headless for around one-and-a-half years," Khan alleged.

The BJP MLAs had met Baijal complaining that Khan is "set" to become Waqf Board chairman. Khan alleged that the Lt Governor was under "pressure" not to appoint the new chairperson of the Waqf Board. "The L-G should tell under whose pressure he is not appointing the chairperson," he charged.

The issue was today also discussed in Delhi Assembly with ruling AAP alleging that Lt Governor Anil Baijal does not want to appoint the chairperson of the Delhi Waqf Board, which is leading to "corruption and misuse" of its property. Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot sought to know why the Lt Governor was not appointing the chairperson despite the fact that all laid down procedure have been followed.

The minister appealed to the L-G to appoint the Waqf Board chairperson while participating in a discussion over the issue in the Delhi Assembly. Khan, the MLA from Okhla, had held the post of the Waqf Board chairman for nearly six months, and resigned in September 2016, amid allegations of irregularities.
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for inclusion of Petroleum and Natural Gas under GST at the earliest. Till such time as this is done, C Forms should be continued to avoid high tax incidence on these products, said CII.

GST has been rolled out from 1 July 2017 by subsuming most of the Central and State indirect taxes into a single tax. However, Petroleum and Petroleum products (Crude Oil, Natural Gas, HSD, MS, and ATF) are outside the ambit of GST as of now. Though the understanding is that the previous VAT and CST rules would continue to apply to the excluded products, however, the related sectors continue to incur huge GST impact on all inputs without any set-off, as sale of crude oil and natural gas are outside the purview of GST and are subject to existing OIDA Cess, Central Sales Tax Act and State Value Added Tax, said a CII press release.

As per the earlier provisions of CST Act, a purchaser can make the interstate purchase of the non GST goods (petroleum and petroleum products) by availing concessional rate of CST @2 percent against Form-C for (i) re-sale by him, or (ii) use by him in the manufacture or processing of goods for sale, or (iii) use by him in the telecommunication network, or (iv) use by him in mining, or (v) use by him in the generation or distribution of electricity or any other form of power. Hitherto, fertilizer manufacturers, power producers, automobile manufacturers and other industries were buying natural gas and other petroleum products by paying CST @2 percent against Form-C being purchased in other states. However, after introduction of GST, credit on VAT paid on petroleum products including natural gas is not available and the amendment of the CST act has significantly altered inter-state sale of the products. Therefore, post GST, there has been an increased tax cost on the products, which was not the intent of the government, pointed out CII.

The Central Government vide Taxation Laws Amendment Act 2017, amended the definition of Goods under the CST Act, to include only- Crude Petroleum; HSD; Petrol; ATF; Natural gas; and Alcoholic liquor for human consumption. Consequently, certain State Commercial Tax Departments have taken a narrow interpretation that the concessional rate of 2 percent against C Forms can be availed only if the specified goods are used for resale, or manufacture of the same goods and not for manufacture of any other goods, or in telecommunication, or mining, or generation of power.

As a result, fertilizer companies are not eligible for C Form as the gas is used to manufacture Urea and not for manufacture of Natural Gas or any of the above mentioned categories. Likewise, automobile manufacturers are not eligible for C form for inter-state purchase of Diesel, Petrol or Natural Gas which they have to mandatorily fill in the tanks of new vehicles. Further, after the GST Law, if purchasing dealer is not engaged in inter-state supply of goods (as defined under the CST Act); then he will not be liable for registration and thus not eligible for the issuance of Form-C which imposes an additional tax cost burden, stressed CII.

CII further pointed out that the basic objective of providing benefit vide Form-C was to negate the effect of high rate of taxation when the inter-state transaction of goods takes place for specific purposes. It was to safeguard the interest of consumers so that they dont have to pay high cost for certain products and also, to promote inter-state transactions. However, post GST, since Form-C is not available for such inter-State purchase of goods, therefore, the extra tax burden will be shifted to the consumer.

Further, it will also hamper the inter-state movement of goods by creating an artificial taxation barrier and natural gas users may switchover to liquid fuels which are not environment friendly. Though upstream sector requires additional fiscal incentives to sustain, withdrawal of concessional CST rate will tantamount to a regressive step for the trade and industry, stated CII.

CII has earlier suggested that Petroleum Products, Natural Gas, Electricity, Alcohol and Real Estate should be covered under GST. This will ensure that the input taxes receive setoff credits and there are no stranded costs. CII further requested that the practice of issuance of C Form under CST law should be continued till petroleum products are covered under the GST and the required amendment in CST law be issued. Alternatively, since VAT is non-creditable tax, VAT rate should be reduced to 4 percent or lower which was the effective rate when credit on VAT was available before July 1, suggested CII.
Army to have own DPR for expressway

Nepal Army, the government appointed developer of the Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track, has decided against purchasing the highways detailed project report prepared by an Indian consultant.
NEW DELHI: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday described Mahatma Gandhi as one of the great prophets of humanity. Netanyahu arrived in Gujarat's Ahmedabad on Wednesday morning and held a grand roadshow along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before visiting the Sabarmati Ashram, the abode of Mahatma Gandhi for a long time.

In a four-line message jointly signed by Netanyahu and his wife Sara in the visitor's log book at the ashram, the Israeli dignitaries said their 'visit was inspiring'. "An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration- Mahatma Gandhi-," Netanyahu wrote in the book.

However, instead of writing 'Gandhi', the Israeli Prime Minister made a spelling error and referred to him as 'Ghandi'. As expected, the Twitter users were quick to have a go at Netanyahu's error. Here's how Twitterattis reacted:

Mahatma Ghandi is one of humanitys greatest prophets of inspiration, writes @netanyahu in Sabarmati Ashrams visitors book. But who is this man Ghandi? pic.twitter.com/xI8z1LFOkF  Leela Prasad (@theblcksheep) January 17, 2018

Gandhi ki spelling galat hai January 17, 2018

If Israel PM don't know the spelling of Inspiration is somewhat Okay, but misspelling the World's greatest leader Last Name is no less than Blasphemy! !!



Its Gandhi not Ghandi, come out of colonial mindset, ur Jewish not British! !!  Sonal Borkar (@BorkarSonal) January 17, 2018

Yikes Mr. @netanyahu! Spelling! Spelling! You're right there in his ashram. You could've looked around ANYWHERE to get the right spelling! This note will stay there for generations of leaders to see. And you didn't even need to write his name! pic.twitter.com/opsDEMzib3  Vijay Venkataramanan (@7th_Samurai) January 17, 2018

Earlier, the Israeli PM and his wife spent around 20 minutes in the ashram premises, where they visited 'Hriday Kunj', the home of Mahatma Gandhi.

The two dignitaries also tried their hands at the 'charkha', the hand spinning wheel which was emblematic of India's quest for self-reliance during the freedom struggle. They also flew kites for a couple of minutes, as their visit comes just a few days after 'Uttarayana' (or Makar Sankranti), the Gujarat's popular kite festival.

Gandhi had spent a large part of his life in the Sabarmati Ashram after he returned to India from South Africa to lead India's non-violent freedom struggle. He left the ashram in 1930 when he took out the Dandi March from here, with a vow not to return to the place till India got Independence.
Bharatpur: The Haryana Police on Wednesday arrested two absconding accused from Bharatpur's Jureha village in connection with the rape of a girl in Faridabad.

On January 13, three men in Faridabad abducted a 22-year-old woman when she was returning home after work and gangraped her in a moving car for several hours. The accused later dropped her near a petrol pump at Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh.

Following the incident, an FIR was registered and a special investigation team (SIT) was formed to nab the culprits.

The incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

In the past four days, five incidents of rape and gang rape have been reported in the state.

In three of these incidents, minor girls were not only raped but also brutalised by the accused. In one case, the private parts and internal organs of the 15-year-old victim were inflicted with wounds, while in another the accused committed necrophilia on the minor victim of 11 years. In a separate incident, an 11-year-old girl was raped and killed in Panipat last week.

In December last year, a six-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district.

In the wake of recent incidents of rape and murders being reported from different parts of Haryana, DGP B S Sandhu on Tuesday held a meeting with senior officers of the police department and asked field units to accord priority to the cases.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress on Wednesday demanded the dismissal of the M L Khattar government in Haryana, alleging a complete breakdown of law and order in the state after two minor Dalit girls were allegedly raped and murdered in separate incidents.

A Congress delegation, led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, submitted a memorandum to the Governor today and sought the imposition of President's Rule in the state. Alleging that lawlessness prevails in the state and there was a complete breakdown of the law and order machinery, the Congress urged the Governor to recommend to the Centre to dismiss the Khattar government.
CHANDIGARH: In the wake of rising incident of rape and murders reported from different parts of Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday transferred three IG level officers and an SHO in the state.

"Such incidents are unfortunate. We'll take strict action and tie up all loose ends. We have made changes in the police administration and have transferred a few officers," CM Khattar said on recent rape incidents in the state.

Such incidents are unfortunate. We'll take strict action & tie up all loose ends. We have made changes in the police administration & transferred a few officers. I appeal political parties to not politicise the issue: ML Khattar, Haryana CM on multiple rape incidents in the state pic.twitter.com/HAM3m7bgLi  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

He also enumerated the steps taken by the state government in the direction of women safety saying, "We started Dial 100 Project, will also begin 1090 Project so women in danger can immediately contact police. Well look into matters, take help of counselling or legal action as the need be. Weve set up special courts for speedy trials of such cases."

We started 'Dial 100 Project', will also begin '1090 Project' so women in danger can immediately contact police. We'll look into matters, take help of counseling or legal action as the need be. We've set up special courts for speedy trials of such cases.: ML Khattar, Haryana CM pic.twitter.com/2xy7o5u0tE  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

The Congress has slammed the Khattar government over its alleged failure to ensure safety and security of women and asked the Chief Minister to step down from the post on moral grounds. Alleging complete breakdown of law and order machinery in the state, the party is planning to hit the streets to protest against the BJP government.

We met Guv over failure of law & order in the state. Multiple rape incidents make us hang our head low in shame. State govt must resign on moral grounds. We've asked the Guv to dismiss govt, if they don't resign, & implement President's rule here: BS Hooda, former Haryana CM pic.twitter.com/jtkw5McC60 January 17, 2018

Meanwhile, several people today took to streets to protest against the government and burnt effigies of Haryana CM outside the Haryana Bhawan.

The Haryana Police today said the body of a 19-year-old youth, who was named in the FIR as the alleged abductor in the savage rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from a village in Kurukshetra district, has been in a canal near Jyotisar. The body was found late yesterday night from the Bhakhra Canal.

Police said the body of the Class XII student was found in a decomposed condition and was identified by his parents from a tattoo on his arm. Police had earlier launched a hunt to nab the accused who is alleged to have abducted the girl from Kurukshetra when she went to attend a tuition class. The youth had been named as the alleged abductor in a complaint lodged by the girl's family after the teenager had gone missing last week from her village in Kurukshetra after leaving home to attend a tuition class.

The Class X student's half-naked body was found on Saturday from near the bank of a canal in a village in Jind district after she had gone missing last Tuesday. Asked about the allegations levelled by the girl's family that local police did not immediately act upon the complaint lodged with them when the girl had gone missing, the Kurukshetra SP said the SHO concerned had been placed under suspension. The girl was brutally assaulted, her private parts mutilated and some of the vital organs ruptured, police had said earlier.

Police had earlier said they believe the number of accused in the crime could be more than one. However, with the body of the youth being found, the mystery of how the girl reached 100 km away from her home in Jind district where her body was found has further deepened.

The shocking incident came close on the heels of another incident last month, in which a six-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed in Haryana's Uklana area in Hisar district. Besides, an 11-year-old girl was also raped and killed in a separate incident in Panipat last week while a 23-year-old woman was allegedly kidnapped and then gang-raped in a moving car in Faridabad.
NEW DELHI: During the hearing of the matter related to the constitutional validity of linking Aadhaar card to a number of government schemes, the Supreme Court was on Wednesday told that sharing Aadhaar data may cause the death of the civil rights of citizens.

"Aadhaar may cause death of citizens' civil rights. A people's Constitution is being sought to be converted into a State's Constitution," senior Supreme Court lawyer Shyam Divan, appearing for petitioners said.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is hearing the matter related to the constitutional validity of Aadhaar.

The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four other judges Justices AM Khanwilkar, Adarsh Kumar Sikri, D.Y.Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan is hearing a number of petitions filed challenging the validity of the identification number.

There have been many doubts regarding the possibility of leakage of data leading to a breach in the privacy of people. The top court has also received petitions regarding the linkage of this 12-digit number with mobile phones, bank accounts and so on, the last date for which was extended to March 31 this year.

While data breach has been widely debated in the recent past, the government had refuted all claims of the same.

Recently, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) decided to enable 'Face Authentication' infusion mode on registered devices by July 1, so that people facing difficulty in other existing modes of verification such as fingerprints, iris, and one-time-password (OTP) could easily authenticate.
Chinese media run by the country's ruling Communist Party returned to the rhetoric act against India on Wednesday. They published editorials warning India of grave consequences to belligerent comments by the Indian Army leadership, including General Bipin Rawat.

Predictably, the script of the editorials was pretty much what the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson had said a couple of days ago. Editorials such as these are watched closely as they are tools of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and government, and offer insight into policy priorities and insecurities.

This round of warnings and foreboding from the mouthpiece media outlets has come in response to statements by General Rawat on the situation in Doklam and India's preparedness to go toe-to-toe with rising Chinese adventurism along the India-China border.

It is ironic that the editorials that advised caution to the Indians were published in the Global Times and China Daily, two outlets that raised the rhetoric sky high during the Doklam standoff between the two Asian giants.

Between the two outlets, it was predictably Global Times that took the more aggressive tone. It noted that the Indian Army's increased and active prevention of Chinese road construction across the border, and said this showed India was keen on blocking China's infrastructure efforts. But the crux of its complaint was different.

" the Indian media has been magnifying everything obtained from the military, applauding hawkish army remarks and fabricating scenes of China infringing upon and provoking India Coordinated interactions between the Indian Army and media have fed many Indians' negative impressions of China," the Global Times editorial read.

Going on about India's efforts to counter China's assertion against smaller South Asian nations like Nepal and Bhutan, the mouthpiece resorted to its aggressive posturing. "The Indian army seems to have failed to learn its lesson from the Doklam standoff. If India continues making provocations, it should expect harsh punishment from the Chinese army. Confronting China entails an unbearably high strategic cost for India," it said.

The China Daily editorial took a softer line. "The mistrust and misgivings harbored by high-ranking Indian officials toward China have more often than not only helped to fan an aggressive patriotism in India, which has done a disservice to the efforts of the two countries to build trust and establish rapport," it said.

" a head-on clash on the border, even on a limited scale, would squander the consensus achieved by the two sides and shatter the delicate trust that needs to be nurtured," it said, however observing that both sides had demonstrated they do not want to descend into violence.

"After all, China and India, if they bear in mind that their common interests far outweigh their differences, are bound to discover they can coexist and prosper peacefully together," it concluded," it concluded.
New Delhi: Chief Justice Dipak Misra is likely to meet the four rebel judges - Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph - on Thursday to resolve issues relating to the allocation of cases and the functioning of the court.



The meeting that was expected to take place on Wednesday did not materialise as Justice Chelameswar did not attend the court because of his indisposition. He is expected to attend the court on Thursday.



An uneasy truce was reached on Tuesday after the CJI reached out to the four dissenting judges to resolve a rift with them over the allocation of cases in the Supreme Court.



Recusal of Justice Arun Mishra from hearing the matter of Judge Loya's death is seen by some as an indication of thaw between the CJI and the warring judges who had raised the issue of important cases being listed before judges who are relatively junior to them in terms of years spent in the top court.



During the Tuesday meeting, the sources had said, Justice Misra and the rebel judges had discussed all the outstanding issues, point of contentions and differences.



The sources said the Chief Justice took the initiative of meeting the four judges on January 16 as they were not satisfied with the outcome of a meeting of all judges held the previous day.



On January 15 a misplaced impression was generated that all the issues were resolved after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had said that the events since January 12 were a "storm in a tea cup" and that "everything is settled".



An informal full court meeting of all the judges took place on Monday when they came to the Judges' lounge for the customary morning tea before the start of the court.



The country's top court was hit by unprecedented crisis, after the four senior most judges at a press conference last week expressed their unhappiness about the functioning of the court and how cases were being allocated arbitrarily.



They complained that "administration of Supreme Court is not in order and there have been things less than desirable that have happened in the court".



The judges also released a letter they had written to the Chief Justice questioning how he was arbitrarily deciding which bench should decide which case and though he is the "master of the roster" that did not make him a "superior authority".



"The Chief Justice is only the first amongst equals - nothing more or nothing less," the letter said.



Efforts by sitting judges and advocate bodies to mediate a solution to the crisis have not succeeded.



The Bar Council of India had even set up a seven-member delegation and met Justice Misra and 14 other judges on Sunday. The Supreme Court Bar Association also met the Chief Justice and other judges.


New Delhi: Welcoming Centre's move to discontinue the Haj subsidy, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said the most members of the Muslim community are happy about it.

Almost everyone from the Muslim community has welcomed this move including many organizations, said Naqvi.

Dismissing negative reaction from few outfits, the Minority Affairs Minister said, Some people have a habit of criticising every decision of Modi Govt. They get stomach ache. Accha faisla hai lekin.. unka 'lekin' bada confusing hota hai (It's a good decision but... Their 'but' is very confusing, said Naqvi.

The minister on Tuesday announced the Centre's decision to discontinue Haj subsidy. The money saved from it will be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls, he added.

"Haj subsidy funds will be used for educational empowerment of girls and women of minority community," Naqvi said.

Nearly 1.75 lakh Muslims, highest number so far, will go on Haj this year.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs had in 2017, constituted a committee to review the Haj policy and suggest a framework for a new Haj policy for 2018-22.

Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) asked the government to allow pilgrims choose any airline of their choice.
NEW DELHI: Five days after four rebel Supreme Court judges publicly questioned the Chief Justice of India of assigning cases of importance to select benches, the top court is all set to listen to eight important cases on January 17, Wednesday.

Here's a quick look the cases:

1. Aadhaar card and mandatory linking

The SC will listen to petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar card and its mandatory linking with government services, banks, mobiles phones etc. Several petitioners have argued that Aadhaar violates their fundamental right to privacy as it enables the government to act as the Big Brother.

2. Section 377 of the IPC

The SC will re-examine the Constitutional validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalises homosexuality. After declaring privacy a fundamental right, the top court will now take up a plea seeking decriminalisation of sex between two consenting adults. In 2013, the SC had ruled that under Section 377, homosexuality will continue to be treated as an offence irrespective of age and consent.

3. Entry of women in Kerala's Sabarimala temple

The top court will examine the ban on the entry of women in Keralas Sabarimala temple. The temple, situated in Pathanamthitta district, restricts women aged between 10 and 50 from taking the pilgrimage to Sabarimala temple.



4. Religion of a Parsi woman post marriage

The constitutional bench will examine whether a Parsi woman loses her religious identity after marrying a man of another religion.

5. Adultery law

The SC will re-examine the provisions of adultery as a criminal offence in India and the penalty for the same. The law has been in the centre of controversy for being discriminatory towards men. Currently, the law punishes a man for an extra-marital sexual relationship with another married woman. However, sexual relations with widow or unmarried woman does not attract any penalty.



6. Tax Issue

The SC will listen to arguments on M/s Shanti Fragrances v Union Of India over Tax Issue And Revisit Of Prevailing Rule Of Precedence

7. Consumer rights

The top court will examine the 30-day limitation stipulated in Section 13 of the Consumer Protection Act.

8. Disqualification of legislator

Can a legislator facing criminal trial be disqualified at the very stage of framing of charges against him by the trial court? The SC will listen to arguments today.
Lucknow: A day after the Centre scrapped Haj subsidy for 2018, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has called for giving liberty to pilgrims to choose any airline of their choice.

The apex Muslim body also said that scrapping of Haj subsidy by the Centre is no big issue.

"We are not rejecting the government's proposal to scrap subsidy for Haj pilgrims, we, along with several other Muslim organisations, will demand that pilgrims be allowed to fly with any airline of their choice. It has been observed that fares of Air India are double that of other carriers. The government must permit Haj pilgrims to choose an airline of their choice," AIMPLB's Zafaryab Jilani told ANI.

The remarks from Jilani came after the Centre scrapped the Haj subsidy for pilgrims and said that the fund will instead be used for the empowerment of minorities from this year.

The announcement was made by Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who said that the Haj subsidy funds will now be used for the education of girls and women of the minority community.

"When we say development with dignity, then we must also say Haj with Dignity. Around 1.75 lakh people will go to Haj this year. We are in support of strengthening the minority. Haj subsidy funds will be used for educational empowerment of girls and women of the minority community," he told the media.

However, there is an exception to the rules for the poor and people over 70 years of age.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs had, in 2017, constituted a committee to review the Haj policy and suggest a framework for a new Haj policy for 2018-22.

"A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had, during the Congress regime in 2012, directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with. Hence, in the new policy, as per the recommendations of a committee, we have decided to do away with the Haj subsidy gradually," Naqvi had then said.
The results of the ICAI CA CPT 2017 is slated to be released at 8 pm on Wednesday. The results will be declared by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI).

A message on the official website of ICAI said: "Result of the Chartered Accountants Final Examination held in November 2017 and Common Proficiency Test (CPT) held in December 2017 are likely to be declared on Wednesday, the 17th January 2018 around 8:00pm".

The Common Proficiency Test (CPT) was conducted in December 2017 while the final examination of Chartered Accountancy (CA) was held in November 2017.

All students expecting their results can do the same on the official website of ICAI regularly.

As many as 1,28,853 students had appeared for the CA final examination while 63,035 students took the CPT.

The CA examination was conducted at 346 centres while the CPT was held at 327 centres.

All aspirants need to secure a minimum of 55 per cent marks to make it to the merit list of CA final examination. Besides, they are also supposed to score at least 40 per cent marks in all four papers.

Heres how you can check ICAI CA CPT 2017 results:

- The results can be checked on three websites - icaiexam.icai.org, caresults.icai.org and icai.nic.in.

- An aspirant will need to log in to the website using his/her user ID and password.

- The result can also be obtained directly on the email id.

- To get the result directly in email, one needs to register ID on www.icaiexams.icai.org.

- The results can also be obtained through SMS.

- To get the result directly through SMS. For CA results, one needs to type CAFNL <space> 6-digit roll number in message box and send it to 58888.

- For CPT results, aspirants need to type CACPT <space> 6-digit roll number in message box and send it to 58888.
Around 200 TUTH nurses quit job in 3 yrs seeking career abroad

Around 200 nurses have resigned from their jobs in the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in the past three years in pursuit of better opportunities and career abroad.
Gandhinagar: The greetings from Benjamin Netanyahu, 'dhanyavad mere pyare dost' to Narendra Modi and 'aliechem shalom' by Prime Minister to Israeli PM depicted the bonhomie between the two leaders during their visit to Gujarat on Wednesday.



Both the leaders dedicated a centre of excellence for date farming at the Kukma centre in Kutch district through a digital switch, during their visit to the horticulture centre at Vadrad near Prantij.

"Since the Biblical days, Israelis have been growing dates, wheat, and conventional produce. We have created new parameters in agriculture through scientific methods in a desert-like Israel," said Netanyahu.



He expressed his delight at knowing that the farmers could increase their output through the Vadrad centre of excellence formed with Israeli help. "India and Israel both believe in the policy of knowledge is the future. India has the vision and leadership under Modi," said Netanyahu.

Both leaders also unveiled the Memory Tower to mark 25 years of Indo-Israeli cooperation at the Vadrad centre.

Gujarat extends a warm welcome to Mrs. Netanyahu and PM @netanyahu. pic.twitter.com/aiw8Opb8ku  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 17, 2018

Visited the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables with PM @netanyahu. We were briefed on the progress in India-Israel agriculture cooperation and interacted with hardworking farmers. https://t.co/ThpKWckK1y pic.twitter.com/4guRSfLyy9  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 17, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara visited Gujarat, where they were welcomed in Ahmedabad by @PMOIndia @NarendraModi, as thousands of residents lined the streets waving Israel and Indian flags. pic.twitter.com/u9lshxmQD6  PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 17, 2018

Thank you to the thousands of Indians who welcomed us to Ahmedabad today with Israeli flags and tremendous support! pic.twitter.com/8PArVrpUPo  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) January 17, 2018

The leaders began their one day visit to the state with host Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart embarking on an eight-km-long roadshow on their arrival in Ahmedabad, amidst heavy security blanket and thousands lined up to greet both.

PM @narendramodi receives @IsraeliPM Netanyahu at Ahmedabad, India's first world heritage city. The two leaders will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram, inaugurate iCreate Centre at Deo Dholera and visit Centre of Excellence for Vegetables at Vadrad. #ShalomNamaste pic.twitter.com/haww6GCEIc  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2018

From Vadrad in Sabarkantha, PM @narendramodi and @IsraeliPM Netanyahu e-inaugurated the Centre for Excellence for Date Palm, in Kukama under the India Israel Agriculture Plan. Another step that jointly addresses the issues of water-harvesting and agriculture! #ShalomNamaste pic.twitter.com/WOo9Vdg4vN  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 17, 2018

The leaders witnessed glimpses of India's rich cultural heritage showcased at 50 stages erected alongside the route to Sabarmati Ashram.



PM Modi showed his guest the possessions of Mahatma Gandhi. Netanyahu even tried his hand at Bapu's 'charkha' and after spending about 20 minutes at the Ashram, the Israeli PM penned his thoughts, "An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanity's great prophets of inspiration - Mahatma Gandhi."

Honoured to take Mrs. Netanyahu and PM @netanyahu to the iconic Sabarmati Ashram. We paid homage to the venerable Bapu and remembered his noble thoughts. pic.twitter.com/0cv5KinQvc January 17, 2018

The leaders also experienced the thrill of the popular kite festival in Gujarat - Uttarayan - that was celebrated a couple of days ago by flying kites on the banks of the Sabarmati river. PM Modi taught Netanyahu how to fly the kite.

PM @netanyahu trying his hand at kite flying. Like a kite soaring high, India-Israel friendship is scaling new heights and will benefit not only our citizens but also the entire humankind. pic.twitter.com/gOLRsjMGpE  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 17, 2018

Both the leaders expressed optimism of developing future technologies jointly by forging entrepreneurial alliances amongst youth, while they inaugurated the newly-built campus of International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) near Ahmedabad. The centre was formally dedicated to the nation by both the dignitaries.

The Israeli Prime Minister gifted the Gal-Mobile, a water desalination and purification vehicle, to India and both the Prime Ministers witnessed the demonstration of a vehicle that was stationed at Suigam, a village several kilometres away in the border district of Banaskantha, where BSF and villagers would benefit from clean drinking water using Gal-Mobile.

The Gal-Mobile can purify around 20,000 liters of sea or salty water daily. The vehicle was dedicated by both the leaders through a video link.

(With IANS inputs)
JODHPUR: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday took off in the Indian Air Force's frontline combat jet Sukhoi 30 MKI from the air base in Jodhpur.

Dressed in the pilot's G-suit, the country's first woman Defence Minister sat in the rear seat behind the pilot. She is the first full-time woman Defence Minister to fly the sortie.

She is reportedly reviewing the operational preparedness and combat capabilities.

Sukoi-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable aircraft which can penetrate deep into enemy territory.

'

She also met the Air Warriors at the Air Force Station in Jodhpur before her sortie on the Sukhoi-30 MKI.

Jodhpur: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the cockpit of the Sukhoi-30 MKI, before taking off for a sortie. pic.twitter.com/M3k72B56Jv  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

This sortie comes soon after she visited INS Vikramaditya last week to witness the naval operations and maritime prowess of the Indian Navy.

This flight is being seen as a part of the minister's continued efforts to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the armed forces.
New Delhi: Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital Army Chief Bipin Rawat said on Tuesday that the bonhomie between India and China has returned to what was prior to Doklam.

However, he added that one has to be always prepared.

"As far as Doklam is concerned PLA soldiers are there in a part of the area, although not in numbers that we saw them in initially. They have carried out some infrastructure development which is mostly temporary in nature," the Army chief said.

He added, "While troops (PLA) may have returned and infrastructure remains, it is anybody's guess whether they would come back there or is it because of the winters that they could not take their equipment, but we are also there, so in case they come, we will face them."

Rawat further said, "But mechanisms that we have of defusing tensions between our two countries are working very well and after Doklam we've started our Border Personnel Meeting, we are meeting regularly, exchanges are taking place, communication between commanders at ground level is on."

"I think the bonhomie (between India and China) has returned to what was prior to Doklam, so I don't visualise a very serious trouble, but then one has to be prepared for it always," he said.

I think the bonhomie (between India & China) has returned to what was prior to #Doklam, so I don't visualize a very serious trouble, but then one has to be prepared for it always: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat at in event during #RaisinaDialogue  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

On January 15, 2018, China had hit out at General Bipin Rawat for calling Dokalam a disputed territory and had said that his "unconstructive" comments were not helpful for maintaining peace at the borders.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said that his comments went against the consensus reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in September 2017 to bring ties back on track and preserve peace on the border.

The Chinese reaction had come following comments by General Rawat that India needs to shift focus from its border with Pakistan to that of China and had spoken of pressure being exerted by Beijing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

"Last year, India-China relations have witnessed some twists and turns," Lu had said and had referred to Modi-Xi consensus and the high-level talks since December 2017 to improve the ties. The dialogue and consultation have shown sound momentum of improvement and development," he had said.

"Under such background, the unconstructive remarks by the Indian senior official (Gen Rawat) not only go against the consensus reached by the two heads of state but also do not conform to the efforts made by the two sides to improve and develop bilateral relations," Lu had said.

He had reiterated that China's stand that the Sikkim section of the India-China boundary has been delimited by the 1890 "historical convention" between the then British government and China, which Beijing claims settled the boundary in that particular section spanning to about 200 kms.

China wants India to settle the boundary in that particular section based on the treaty while the two sides negotiated for a settlement for the rest of the LAC which spans about 3,488 kms.

Chinese troops began building a road in the Doklam area in June 2017. Indian troops had objected to the construction of the road resulting in a 73-day standoff.

The standoff was resolved after Chinese troops stopped road building and India withdrew its troops from the area.

(With ANI and PTI inputs)
New Delhi: India is expected to become a $5 trillion economy in the next eight-nine years with the manufacturing sector alone contributing 20 percent towards that, Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Wednesday.



"We are preparing a detailed plan towards achieving that. Experts are busy preparing the roadmap including all the sectors where manufacturing can be promoted. If manufacturing is digitised, it will create a huge opportunity for technology firms," Prabhu said.



Speaking on the first day of the India Digital Summit organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) here, the minister said innovation cannot be confined to geographical borders.



"In order to reach the $5 trillion economy, manufacturing will contribute $1 trillion and services will contribute $3 trillion," the minister told the gathering.



Prabhu said he was currently working on a strategy for international trade which will contribute $2 trillion to the economy, where the contribution can come both from manufacturing and services sectors.



Earlier in the day, Niti Aayog Chief Executive Amitabh Kant said that every Indian will have a smartphone in the next five years.



There were nearly 400 million smartphone users in the country, he said, adding this was a period of huge technology disruption in the country.



"Today, 85 percent of the devices are still unconnected. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The opportunity would be in the range of $70 billion by 2025," Kant told the gathering.



According to him, Artificial Intelligence (AI) alone will generate the opportunity to the tune of $32 billion.



"Advanced robotics are already handling 25 percent of the jobs. This will rise to 45 percent in the coming years.



"India is already ranked globally as the most active Internet user globally on a monthly basis. Digital transaction will touch $100 trillion in the next 10 years," he told the gathering.



With 99 percent Aadhaar penetration and bank account opened under Jan Dhan Yojana, he said, the scope was immense for the Fin-Tech industry.



"As far as the start-up community goes, 'Make in India' initiative had brought in a paradigm change in the financial ecosystem. While we have 4,000 start-ups, it will go up to 12,000 by 2020," Kant said, adding that about 600 start-ups were there in the FinTech sector which will become a $14 billion opportunity by 2020.



The challenges today for the country were to provide safe drinking water, create infrastructure and build flyovers. All these give unicorns a unique opportunity to invest and explore, Kant said.



Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that for IoT to happen, we need to have a robust 4G ecosystem in the country.



"I am hopeful that by the end of this year, we will have a pan-India 4G network availability," Sundararajan told the audience.



She mentioned that the government has constituted a task force for rolling out the 5G network in the country.



The taskforce will come out with a roadmap soon, she said, adding that the Department of Telecommunications is keen on partnering with key telecom providers in the roll-out stage.



Delivering the inaugural address, Rajan Anandan, Chairman, IAMAI, and Vice President, Google India and South-East Asia, said these are exciting times for the Internet adoption in the country.



"Availability of very low-cost yet high-speed mobile Internet connection in 2017 has moved a slow-speed nation to a high-speed nation," Anandan noted.


Chennai: Ending weeks of uncertainty over his foray into the murky world of politics, veteran actor Kamal Haasan has announced that he would commence his political journey from his hometown Ramanathapuram on February 21.

On the same day, the actor will also reveal the name of his party, ANI reported.

#TamilNadu Actor Kamal Hassan to begin a state-wide tour on Feburary 21 from his home town Ramanathapuram. He will also announce the name of his political party and its guiding principles at the commencement of the tour. (File Pic) pic.twitter.com/IHReSp3EGG  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

The southern superstar made the announcement in a statement issued late on Tuesday, saying his purpose in life is to "challenge the status quo that has been plaguing the politics of Tamil Nadu for some time now".

The Tamil superstar will also embark on a state-wide of Tamil Nadu from the same day.

"I intend to embark on a journey across the state from February 21, 2018, to truly understand as to what the needs of my people are, what is afflicting them, what their aspirations are?.'' he said.

"Further, this momentous journey of meeting people across Tamil Nadu is neither an act of rebellion nor is it a gathering for glamour. Simply put, this is a journey of discovery and learning and an opportunity for me to truly understand my people," Haasan, 63, said.

This is being planned and executed in phases and over a period of time,'' he added.

"I believe it will be truly appropriate if my political journey commences from the place of my birth and hometown Ramanathapuram. Following this, I intend on meeting and spending time with the people from the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Sivagangai.''

"In addition, at the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by," Haasan informed

With his political foray, the actor said that he intends to "question mediocrity and raise the bar on governance and welfare for the people of Tamil Nadu".

"The journey is intended towards that goal. I begin this journey with your support. Join hands with me to empower our country and state," said the acclaimed actor, who feels the love he has for people of the state needs to be "manifested in action and deed".

The veteran actor had in September last year returned the donations which he had received from his fans for his soon-to-be-launched political party.

The veteran Tamil superstar made his intentions clear through a column in a weekly Tamil news magazine.

"It'll be illegal to keep the money without any infrastructure," he had written in the weekly column.

The 57-year-old actor had earlier said that his fan clubs had helped him in raising nearly Rs 30 crores to assist the needy.

However, he also said that there should be no ambiguity over his plans to enter politics.

Though the actor maintained that he has ''not fixed a date or name for the new political venture''.

"The party has to be first named and formed," he wrote in the column.

"This doesn't mean I am backtracking, it doesn't mean I won't accept money," he added.

He had also landed in a controversy for making a controversial statement regarding 'Hindu terrorism'.

However, the actor later sought to assuage those offended by his comments.

In an earlier column, the veteran actor had spoken of "Hindu terror" and said that there was a new trend among right-wing groups to resort to violence instead of debate to make their arguments.

The veteran actor later apologised for his remarks and said that he was misquoted.

"I didn't mean that. I come from a Hindu family," he had said.

In the article, Haasan had asked the Hindus to act like 'older brothers'.

"Hindus are in a majority, (so) they have the responsibility of an elder brother. When Hindus say we are big, their hearts too ought to be big. They should embrace others and correct them if they do wrong," he wrote.

Later, Kamal Haasan, on his birthday, said that he will launch an app which would allow him to collect feedback on what voters want and enable whistleblowers to post crucial information.

He had first disclosed his intent to turn politician in July.

(With Agency inputs)
In a shocking incident, a minor girl was allegedly raped and three others sexually assaulted in a madrasa in Nanded, Maharashtra. The madrasa is known for teaching Arabi and students from the age of 5 to 14 years study there.

The first case against the madrasa was filed by the mother of minor girl on January 14.

According to the complainant, her 11-year-old daughter was allegedly raped while her other daughter was sexually assaulted.

On January 15, another case was filed against the madrasa wherein it was alleged that girls face sexual exploitation in the institution.

The madrasa has over 100 students who are taught by Maulana Saber Farooqui. The maulana has been accused of sexually assaulting the girl students.

Since the information was brought to the notice of the police, the maulana has gone absconding.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in a fodder scam case, on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to the removal of Haj subsidy by the Narendra Modi government, the RJD supremo said that the Prime Minister was troubling Muslim people with his actions.

The former Bihar chief minister made the remarks after his appearance in court in connection with another fodder scam related case.

He also targeted Vishwa Hindu Parishad international working president Pravin Togadia, who on Tuesday alleged an encounter bid to assassinate him. Lalu questioned as to where Togadia went leaving his z-plus security.

He pointed that Togadia is yet to tell people where he disappeared before being found in an unconscious state.

The attack by the RJD chief on PM Modi comes a day after the government declared that Muslim pilgrims will no longer be given subsidy for Haj from 2018. The announcement was made by Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

The minister added that 1.75 lakh Muslims, highest ever number, will go on Haj this year. He also said that the removal of the subsidy would not affect the cost of the travel for Haj.

He further added that the money saved will be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls. "Haj subsidy funds will be used for educational empowerment of girls and women of minority community," Naqvi said.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs had in 2017, constituted a committee to review the Haj policy and suggest a framework for a new Haj policy for 2018-22.

Naqvi had then said: "A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had, during the Congress regime in 2012, directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with. Hence, in the new policy, as per the recommendations of a committee, we have decided to do away with the Haj subsidy gradually."
The producers of Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat, which has been embroiled in controversy since the beginning of its shoot, have moved the Supreme Court to challenge the ban on release by some of the states.

The top court has accepted the plea and is slated to hear the matter soon, since the film is scheduled to release on January 25.

Notably, the film has already been given clearance by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which had formed a panel comprising historians and members of royal family to take a call on certifying the film.

Several states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, have declared that they wont allow the film to be released in theatres, alleging distortion of historical facts.

Also, not refusing to budge from its stand, the Rajput Karni Sena has maintained that they will not accept anything short of a country-wide ban on the film starring Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in lead roles.

"We want nothing less than a nation-wide ban on the movie," Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi said.

He added that he is urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of all states to understand the feelings of the community.

The movie was mired in controversy after various Rajput groups, including Rajput Karni Sena, raised their objections towards the content of the film.

During the certification process of the film, Bhansali appeared before a parliamentary panel where he said that the film is an adaptation of Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi's "Padmavat".

Featuring Deepika Padukone as Rani Padmavati, Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh and Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji, the film was given a U/A certificate from CBFC recently.

The board had asked the producers to change the title, along with four other modifications.

Rajput Karni Sena had also raised objection to an apparent dream sequence between Deepika and Ranveer, but in the latest advertisement, the makers have clarified there is no such scene in the lavishly-mounted period drama.
Jerusalem: Israeli media on Wednesday quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that India will buy Israel's Spike anti-tank guided missiles.

The deal was cancelled a few weeks ahead of Netanyahu's visit to India and its renewal is considered to be a "major strategic achievement", the Jerusalem Post reported.

"India will buy Israel's anti-tank spike missiles," the paper quoted Netanyahu as saying. The final details and scope of the deal are still in the process of being worked out, the Daily said.

Another leading Israeli Daily 'Haaretz' reported that the deal is "back on the table". Quoting Israel's National Security Adviser Meir Ben- Shabbat, the paper said that current talks are trending in a positive direction, and more details will be disclosed later.

The Israeli arms firm, Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd, had earlier this month confirmed that India had cancelled the deal and had expressed "regret" over the decision.

As per the original proposal, India had planned to acquire the ATGMs for the Army at a cost of USD 500 million.

Official sources in New Delhi had earlier indicated that the proposal to acquire the missile system faced hurdles when Israeli side apparently expressed reservations in ensuring full transfer of technology as per the provisions of the 'Make in India' initiative, PTI reported.

On January 3, 2018, Ishai David, a spokesman for the Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd had said, "Rafael has now received an official notification from India's Ministry of Defence concerning the cancellation of the Spike deal."

"It should be emphasised that the cancellation was made prior to the signing of the contract and despite Rafael's compliance with all the demands," the company had said in a statement.

"Rafael regrets the decision and remains committed to cooperating with the Indian Ministry of Defence and to its strategy of continuing to work in India, an important market, as it has for more than two decades, to provide India with the most advanced and innovative systems," it had added.

The company had not given a reason for the cancellation of the deal.

Spike, in use by 26 countries around the world, is said to have been selected by India after a long and rigorous process and after complying with all the defence procurement regulations.

Netanyahu is on a six-day visit to India.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Taking a tough stance on terror-related activities, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday claimed that it is the biggest threat to society.

Terrorism is undeniably the mother of all disruptions today. Our attitude towards terrorism has evolved in the last few decades, said Swaraj at Raisina Dialogue 2018 event in New Delhi.

The challenge of terrorism is even more serious in the digital age with greater propensity to radicalisation, further added the minister.

Referring to 9/11 Twin Tower attack in the United States, she added, "We are all now clear that terrorism anywhere can threaten societies anywhere. After 9/11 attack, we associate terrorism with ungoverned spaces."

Earlier today, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warned that militants' getting access to nuclear warfare could mean doom for mankind.

Speaking at the same event, General Rawat said, The threat of nuclear and chemical weapons falling in the hands of terrorists can be a disaster for humanity.

He further stressed that countries sponsoring terrorist organisations need to be singled out.

The terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. Need to identify nations who are sponsors, he said.
Banking system sound despite huge withdrawals

Withdrawal of billions of rupees from banks and financial institutions to settle income tax liabilities did not affect the liquidity situation of the banking system as drastically as feared, as interbank rates have not fluctuated much and none of the bank has so far exceeded the regulatory lending limit.
New Delhi: Terrorists infiltrating India have access to high-tech weapons, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2018 event in New Delhi, General Rawat warned that militants' access to nuclear warfare could mean doom for mankind.

The threat of nuclear and chemical weapons falling in the hands of terrorists can be a disaster for humanity, he said.

In a veiled attack on Pakistan, General Rawat stressed that nations sponsoring terrorist organisations need to be singled out.

The terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. Need to identify nations who are sponsors, he said.

The Army Chief also recommended imposing restrictions on social media to tackle the well-oiled terrorist network.

In a democratic country, people won't like it but have to take a call on whether we want safe and secure environment or willing to accept curbs (on social media) temporarily so terrorism can be dealt with, he said.

This is not the first time the Army chief has warned against the possible use of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) weapons by terrorist organisations.

"The threat of the use of CBRN (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) weapons is becoming a reality, particularly from the non-state actors," he said last week.
In a shocking incident, an ex-serviceman in Uttar Pradesh held his own family members, along with his landlords kin, hostage at gunpoint for more than 25 hours. The incident occurred in Etah and the situation could be resolved after efforts by police for almost 17 hours.

The ex-serviceman, whose identity has not been revealed yet, held eight people, including members of his own and his landlords families, hostage at gunpoint.

According to Etah police, the ex-serviceman was mentally stressed. After the police got the information, they rushed to the spot but could rescue those held hostage only after a 17-hour operation.

This comes just days after another ex-serviceman murdered as many as six people with a rod within a time span of two hours in Palwal in Haryana.

He used an iron rod to kill the people and the incident was caught in a CCTV camera.

The accused, a retired Army jawan, first killed a woman on the second floor of Palwal hospital. The woman was an attendant of a patient undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Following this, he walked out of the hospital and killed four people who he met on his way while escaping.

He was later arrested from Adarsh Nagar area of Palwal. According to reports, he tried to confront the cops who went to arrest him. However, the cops retaliated and managed to arrest him.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to have a field day as he visited Gujarat for a roadshow with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides paying tributes to the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, and holding the roadshow, Netanyahu also tried his hand at kite flying.

#WATCH PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu fly a kite at Sabarmati Ashram. #NetanyahuInIndia pic.twitter.com/sN4TJBqLYp  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2018

In a video released by ANI, Netanyahu, along with his wife Sara and PM Modi, could be seen holding the strings of a kite. Being the good host that he is, PM Modi is seen helping him fly the kite. He also helped Sara Netanyahu fly the kite.

Ahmedabad: PM Modi and Israel PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu fly a kite at Sabarmati Ashram. #NetanyahuInIndia pic.twitter.com/DQ1WnXs1Zs January 17, 2018

Earlier, Netanyahu termed his visit to the Sabarmati Ashram as inspiring. He wrote in the visitors book: An inspiring visit to the hearth of one of humanitys great prophets of inspiration  Mahatma Gandhi.

The Israeli premier and his wife also spinned a charkha at the Sabarmati Ashram.

They were accorded a grand welcome as PM Modi received them at Ahmedabad airport. Cultural programmes were also held at the airport to welcome the guests.

Netanyahu had arrived in India on Sunday on a six-day visit. India and Israel have earlier signed nine MoUs for cooperation in various sectors including cybersecurity, energy and defence.
(Reporting by Vishal Pandey)

Uttar Pradesh is all set to mark its first foundation day this month. The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to mark January 24 as the foundation day of the state.

Speaking to Zee Media, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dr Dinesh Sharma said that it is the first time that the government will mark the states foundation day, adding that grand grand celebrations would be held on the occasion.

He further said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will launch a slew of welfare measures on the occasion of UP Day. Several new initiatives will also be launched by the state government on the occasion.

According to the Deputy Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh will be transformed on a Japan-Thailand model.

The total estimate of the schemes and projects that the Yogi government plans to launch on UP day is around Rs 50,000 crore. One of the schemes expected to be launched is a pension scheme for the poor.

Those likely to attend the event on January 24 are Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and BJP chief Amit Shah.
New Delhi: A chargesheet against seven Kashmiri separatists and a businessman in a case of funding terror in the Kashmir Valley will be filed by the NIA on Thursday, the day their judicial custody ends, officials said.

According to National Investigation Agency (NIA) sources, the agency will file the chargesheet against the arrested separatist leaders and a businessman under various sections of money laundering and waging war against country as the judicial custody ends on January 18.

A Delhi court on January 12 extended the judicial custody of the eight accused till January 18.

The eight have been charged with receiving funds from Pakistan to sponsor terror activities and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kashmir was rocked by violent protests after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight with security forces on July 8, 2016.

An official of the agency said that they will be charged under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAP Act of 1967) and Indian Penal Code (IPC) including Section 121 Waging, or attempting to wage war against the state and Section 120 B entering into criminal conspiracy.

According to a senior official of the agency, the main chargesheet prepared by the NIA contains close to 50 pages and the annexure attached to the chargesheet, may run into nearly 5,000 pages.

On July 24, 2017, the NIA arrested seven of them -- Aftab Hilali Shah alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah -- on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against India.

Altaf Ahmad Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who advocates Jammu and Kashmir`s merger with Pakistan. Islam is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Khandey is the spokesperson for the Geelani-led Hurriyat.

Businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, accused of acting as a conduit for channelling funds for separatists and terror activities in the Kashmir Valley, was arrested on August 17 last year.

He was allegedly collecting funds from Pakistan and banned terrorist organisations and transferring the same to Hurriyat leaders.

Watali is known to be friends with Pakistani leaders as well as separatists, besides leading politicians in Kashmir, the NIA said.

The NIA has filed a case against the separatist leaders on May 30 following a sting operation by a television channel after the Geelani-led Hurriyat suspended Nayeem Khan confessed that Hurriyat leaders had been receiving funds from Pakistan for subversive activities in the Kashmir Valley.

Hafeez Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the Jamaat-ul Dawah, the front of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), has been named in the FIR as an accused besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Dukhtaran-e-Milat.

The NIA had questioned the arrested persons after the May 2017 expose. The counter-terror probe agency had also conducted raids in Srinagar, Jammu, Delhi and Haryana and reportedly seized incriminating evidence against those involved in receiving, acting as intermediaries and final beneficiaries of funds coming from Pakistan.

India has for decades accused Pakistan of arming, financing and training militants fighting to end Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad says it provides only political and diplomatic support.
In a shocking incident, a class 1 student in a Lucknow school was hit with a sharp weapon allegedly by a senior wing girl student. The accused reportedly attacked the class 1 student, Ritik, inside the school washroom with a sharp weapon and fled.

The incident occurred in Bright Land school in Triveninagar area of Aliganj in Lucknow.

Whats even more unfortunate that the school authorities did not even take note of the incident on immediate basis. They informed the police a day after the incident took place.

After getting the information, police personnel rushed to the school where they sealed the washroom.

The school administration later said that prime facie it seemed that the attack was carried out by a senior wing girl student.

Soon after the incident, Ritik was rushed to Devki hospital, which referred him to trauma centre for further treatment. The school has claimed that the student is out of danger.

The father of the victim, who works as a peon in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court, said that he was informed by the school authorities about his son getting hurt. Therefore, he sent his wife to school, who later discovered that her son was attacked with a sharp object.

Meanwhile, school administration official Reena Manas claimed that the parents were immediately informed about the happening and the student was also rushed to Devaki hospital without any delay. She added that there are 70 CCTV cameras in the school premises and they are being scanned for any clue.

According to her, the student has said that a senior girl student took her to the washroom and attacked him. They are on lookout for the accused girl student.
Mumbai: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a packed schedule in Mumbai on Thursday, when he will have breakfast with business leaders and pay tributes to Mumbai terror attack victims, among other engagements.

He arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday night from Gujarat and was received at the airport by Maharashtra cm Devendra Fadnavis.

Netanyahu will have a 'power breakfast' with select business personalities, including Anand Mahindra, Ajay Piramal, Adi Godrej, and Chanda Kochhar.

He will later address the India-Israel Business Summit at the iconic Taj Hotel in South Mumbai. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the summit, sources said, as per PTI.

Fadnavis will host a lunch for the Israeli PM and his delegation. This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony for 26/11 Mumbai terror attack victims.

Tomorrow I will be joining Hon @netanyahu in Business Forum Meet in the morning and at wreath laying ceremony at 26/11 memorial in the afternoon. @IsraeliPM  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) January 17, 2018

Netanyahu will then proceed to the nearby Nariman House, where he will meet 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg. Moshe's father Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and mother Rivka were killed at the Nariman House during the 2008 attacks.

He will later meet around 30 members of the Jewish community at the Taj Hotel.

(With PTI inputs)
Nanded: A cleric in a Nanded madrassa allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl and molested another minor, police said on Wednesday.

Shockingly, three local politicians from Majalgaon village, from where the girl who was allegedly raped hailed, tried to pressurise her mother not to file a case against the cleric, identified as Maulavi Saber Farooqui, who is at large, a Nanded police official said today. On the complaint lodged by the girl's mother in Itwara police station in Nanded, the three leaders were arrested from Majalgaon today, he said.

They are identified as Khalil Patel, Nawab Patel, and Ibrish Bagwan. While Nawab Patel is said to be former Nanded city unit president of the NCP, Bagwan is Majalgaon taluka president of the AIMIM. Khalil Patel is a former councillor. The alleged incident occurred at Islamia Arabia seminary located in Deglur Naka area of Nanded a few days back, according to police.

Many girl students from Marathwada region take Islamic studies at the madrasa. According to the police official, Farooqui allegedly raped the 12-year-old girl after showing her a pornographic clip on his mobile phone and molested another girl (8). A Special Investigative Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the incident.

SIT head Sunita Borgaonkar said more complaints could be filed against the accused. "Police have seized documents from the madrassa and teams have been fanned out to trace the cleric," she said. According to unconfirmed reports, Farooqui had approached the girl's mother in Majalgaon to settle the matter, but was allegedly thrashed by local youths.

However, police refused to confirm the reports. Police have registered a case against the cleric on charges of rape and molestation of the IPC and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. However, it is not known which sections were slapped on the three leaders.
Mumbai: Raising concern over the deaths of jawans in incidents of cross-border firing, the Shiv Sena today wondered how long will the country tolerate the attacks by Pakistani troops and terrorists.

At the same time, it lauded Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat's warning of stronger reaction to Pakistan-supported terrorism and assertion that the force will not let anti-India activities succeed in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Sena claimed that without any war, over 1,600 personnel were killed in cross-border firing in the last 13 years which, it said, was a serious matter.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed on Monday in retaliatory firing by the Indian Army after a ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir where an infiltration bid was also foiled with the elimination of five militants of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The Sena said, "Though the Indian Army killed some insurgents on Army Day, it has also emerged that on every third day an Indian jawan is killed in cross-border firing."

"Hence, the real question arises that for how long we have to tolerate such an act of Pakistan?" it asked in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"Without any war, the Indian Army has lost 1,684 jawans in the last 13 years. This information is serious because the jawans were killed in firing from Pakistan and terrorist activities," the Sena said.

It welcomed Army chief Gen. Rawat's warning of initiating major strike if Pakistan failed to control cross-border activities.

In the last few years, the Army has "killed many terrorists and Pakistani jawans as well", it noted.

The Sena also expressed concern over rising prices of petrol and diesel in the retail market.

"We cannot control the global issues of the Middle East but we can control issues related to the common man, such as the price rise," said the junior alliance partner of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

It said 2018 and 2019 are "election years in the country" and demanded that the government take some steps to keep the petrol and diesel prices on the lower side.
New Delhi: Ye Hai Mohabbatein star Vivek Dahiya, who is married to popular TV actress Divyanka Tripathi went through a shocking incident.

As per reports, the actor was busy shooting for his upcoming horror drama at around 2 am when a group of drunk men attacked him with swords.

A source told Tellychakkar.com-

All necessary permissions had been taken to shoot and the shooting was happening late at night as its a horror genre show. While shooting at 2 am at night, two drunk men with swords were lingering and all of a sudden started attacking the unit. They even slashed the directors car and there was chaos on the sets as everyone was running around trying to save their lives. Luckily no one was hurt and eventually the police was called as the two were arrested.

The report quotes Vivek-

Yes sadly we had such an incident while shooting! Its making me wonder what kind of security measures are taken while we shoot in outdoor locations. While we had four security guards on the premises, they were the first to run, leaving the entire unit exposed to danger!"

Divyanka got married to her Yeh Hai Mohabbatein co-star Vivek Dahiya on July 8, 2016 in Bhopal.
Cabinet likely to name governors today

The government is likely to appoint provincial chiefs and to name the temporary venues for the swearing in of newly elected provincial parliamentarians, on Wednesday.
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday reiterated the legal tender status of rupees 10 coins of different designs.

So far, the RBI has issued Rs 10 coins in 14 designs and public has been informed of their distinctive features.

All these coins are legal tender and can be accepted for transactions, RBI has said.

It may be recalled that in September last year, rumours had surfaced that that Rs 10 coins have been declared invalid by the RBI. The rumors spread spread like wildfire in market with confusion among the shopkeepers, vendors and customers regarding the same.

Various cases were reported where people had asked banks to exchange Rs 10 coins with notes. The rumours were initiated through a messages on WhatsApp and Facebook which went viral.
CHURU: Infamous for his role in over 30 criminal cases in Rajasthan and Haryana, undertrial Ajay Jaitpura was on Wednesday assassinated in full public view.

He was shot at while being taken to the Sadulpur court for hearing. He was attacked by four unknown assailants.

He was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries.

Along with him, two others including a lawyer, suffered bullet injuries. The firing triggered panic among the people in Sadulpur town.

The incident took place when Ajay arrived for a court hearing at 1 pm. Three-four unidentified men opened fire on Jaitpura, leaving him, advocate Ratan Lala and another person seriously injured, police said.

The assailants then fired in the air and fled the spot in an SUV parked outside the court complex.

The injured persons were referred to Hisar in Haryana for treatment in a critical condition. A search is on to nab the assailants, SP Churu Rahul Barhat said.

Police suspect the shooting was related to past rivalry, they said.
CHENNAI: DMK leader M.K. Stalin on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the death of a Tamil Nadu doctor who was found dead in his flat in Delhi earlier in the day.

S. Sharath Prabhu, a postgraduate student of University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) under Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Delhi, hailed from Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur.

Stalin said a similar incident was reported in 2016 when Saravanan, also from Tamil Nadu and a student of the AIIMS, was found dead in his flat in Delhi.

In a statement, he said in order to prevent such murders of Tamil Nadu students in future, a Central Bureau of Investigation probe should be ordered immediately.

Stalin, referring to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami`s statement that students going to other states for studies should register themselves with the state government, said the Chief Minister was washing his hands of the matter.

Former Union Health Minister and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss also demanded a probe into Prabhu`s death.

Ramadoss said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences tried to hush up the murder of Saravanan, saying he had committed suicide but subsequently it was proved that he was murdered.

He said that similarly the UCMS authorities said Prabhu had committed suicide by injecting a large dose of insulin
CHENNAI: Actors-turned-politicians, Rajinikanth, and Kamal Haasan were on Wednesday took part in the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of Tamil Nadu chief minister MG Ramachandran.

The two guests were present for the pooja launch of the late chief minister's dream project Kizhakku Africavil Raju, a motion capture film. The film is being made by Prabhu Deva Studios in association with Vels Film International.

The late MGR had in 1970s announced an action-adventure film to be shot around the world, titled Kizhakku Africavil Raju. However, since the actor had taken a plunge int politics, he could not complete the film.

On the 101 birth celebration of the star, the film is being revived.

The launch of the iconic project was held at the MGRs Sathya Studio in Adyar.

Rajnikanth's presence at the event holds importance since it comes at a time when he is being seen as the next MGR in the making.

Earlier in the day, Kamal Haasan announced the beginning of his political tour and released a detailed plan of his pitstops across the state. The tour will commence on February 21 and will be undertaken in multiple phases.

On this tour, which will be flagged off from his hometown of Ramanathapuram, Kamal Haasan will be proceeding to the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Sivagangai, where he will be interacting with locals.
NEW DELHI: In a major twist to the suspicions surrounding the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, a relative of jailed AIADMK leader on Wednesday claimed that Jayalalithaa died on December 4, 2016 and not on December 5, as officially announced by Apollo Hospitals.

Participating at the AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran (MGR) birth centenary celebrations in Tiruvarur district, V Divakaran said "Jayalalithaa died at 5.15 p.m. on Dec 4, 2016 and not the next day late night and the official declaration was delayed by a day so as to provide adequate security to the chain of Apollo Hospitals across the state." His statement comes at a time when a Commission of Inquiry is probing into the circumstances that led to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa.

"Announcement of Jayalalithaa's death was postponed by a day for law and order reasons," Dhivakaran said.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital in September 2016 for dehydration. Later her condition got complicated. On December 5, 2016, rumours were floating about Jayalalithaa's death in the evening which Apollo Hospital denied but later it was announced that she died at around 11.30 pm on that day. She was in the hospital for 75 days before she breathed her last.

Recently on January 12, the Apollo Hospital, where former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was treated, submitted documents pertaining to her treatment to an inquiry commission set up by the state government to investigate the matter. According to ANI, the top management of the Apollo Hospital handed over the treatment record of Jayalalithaa, packed in two suitcases, to the one-member commission, formed by the Tamil Nadu government.

The commission had also ordered jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala's advocate Raja Senthurapandian to appear before it on January 22. On January 6, Sasikala had sought the copies of testimonies given by various witnesses against her in connection with Jayalalithaa's death. Sasikala, who has been jailed in a multi-crore disproportionate assets case, had filed an affidavit through her lawyer Raja Senthurapandian in this regard.

Earlier on December 22, the commission had summoned Sasikala and Apollo Hospital founder-Chairman Pratap Reddy in this matter. Following Jayalalithaa's death in December 2016, allegations of foul play began to do the rounds and state forest minister Dindigul Sreenivasan later claimed that all cabinet ministers had lied to the people about hospitalisation and death of the former Tamil Nadu CM.

Subsequently, a one-man commission was constituted and a probe under a retired Madras High Court judge, Justice Arumugasamy, was initiated on October 30. The commission, whose constitution was challenged in the Supreme Court through a plea, which the apex court later rejected, is likely to submit its findings in the first quarter of this year.
New Delhi: Indian television's famous faces Shilpa Shinde and Hina Khan were the top two finalists in reality game show Bigg Boss 11 where the former won with a thunderous support from her fans. Shilpa Shinde won the Bigg Boss 11 title beating Hina and Vikas Gupta who got the second and third spot respectively.

Shilpa and Hina were never really friends inside the house yet managed to stay cordial with each other. The latter often found herself in trouble for making controversial statements about fellow contestants and also about Telly celebrities outside the BB 11 house.

Now, several celebrities wished Shilpa on Twitter and one such popular face happens to be Ravi Dubey. Interestingly, he participated in Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi along with Hina Khan.

Ravi congratulated Shilpa for her massive win and wrote a heartwarming message. He wrote: Dear Shilpa we barely know each other but I am highly impressed with hw u hv been abl to transform evry deadlock u faced in d past few months into a pedestal for growth m inspired by hw u have literally converted poison into medicine,congratulations on the resounding victory.

Dear Shilpa we barely know each other but I am highly impressed with hw u hv been abl to transform evry deadlock u faced in d past few months into a pedestal for growth m inspired by hw u have literally converted poison into medicine,congratulations on the resounding victory pic.twitter.com/H4GWEAuuug  Ravi Dubey (@_ravidubey) January 17, 2018

We really wonder what Hina has to say to that.

Shilpa has indeed won many hearts and viewers have liked her stint inside the Bigg Boss 11 house. It will be interesting to see what upcoming projects she features in.
Myanmar: Myanmar police opened fire on a mob of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as they tried to seize a government office late Tuesday, killing seven and injuring 13 more, police said.

"Seven people were killed and 13 injured during last night`s violence in Mrauk U," police spokesman Colonel Myo Soe told AFP after rioting broke out at a rally attended by some 5,000 Rakhine Buddhists in the febrile state.
China has already begun work on infrastructure required to station nuclear submarines at the Gwadar Port in southwestern Pakistan. This vindicates India's long-standing discomfort over the possibility that the true purpose of China's involvement in Gwadar is strategic more than trade.

Gwadar Port, which China has financed and built, would give Beijing the direct strategic access and to the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) that it has always craved, and give it blue water naval capability. The stationing of a submarine fleet there would also allow China to keep close tabs on the operations and influence of the Indian Navy.

Nuclear submarines are called so only because they are powered by a nuclear reactor onboard. They do not necessarily carry nuclear weapons. Nuclear submarines can remain at sea for extended periods of time since they do not need to keep returning to land for fuel.

It is learnt that a high-level delegation of Chinese officials recently visited Islamabad and held meeting with key figures in the Pakistan Navy, to expedite the nuclear submarines base projects.

China is eager to have three submarine bases operationalised on the southern Pakistan coast.

Beijing had recently denied speculation that it was setting up a harbour in Jiwani Port, close to the Iran border. This harbour was meant exclusively for Chinese warships, with Gwadar being portrayed as a trade hub.

The Pakistani Navy is constructing a VLF station for strategic submarine communications. VLF, or Very Low Frequency, stations enable one-way communications with submarines operating in deep sea. Submarine communications tend to be one-way most of the time, because a submarine that doesn't transmit is extremely difficult to detect.

China is working with the Pakistani Navy on the civil works. Work has already begun on the foundation for a 205-foot antenna tower, underground VLF building and power station. Work has also begun on activating Forward Operating Bases, which would allow repair, maintenance and other logistics work to be carried out on Chinese and Pakistani Navy ships.

Indian military intelligence agencies have already reported instances of Chinese submarines hanging around close to the Indian coast.

China also recently operationalised a military base in Djibouti, on the coast of the African mainland, at the entry to the crucial Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to the Red Sea.
New Delhi: Extreme weather events have been seen as the single most prominent risk to the global economy by business leaders and policymakers, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.



Its annual Global Risks Report says that in 2017, the environment was by far the greatest concern raised by experts.



The report was made public just a week ahead of the World Economic Forum's 48th annual meeting that will take place on January 23-26 in Switzerland.



This year Prime Minister Narendra Modi will open the forum, while US President Donald Trump will close it, according to organisers.



The report says among the 30 global risks the experts were asked to prioritise in terms of likelihood and impact, all five environmental risks - extreme weather, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, major natural disasters, man-made environmental disasters and failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation - were ranked highly on both dimensions.



The report has a message - the prospect of strong economic growth presents leaders with a golden opportunity to address signs of severe weakness in many of the complex systems that underpin the world, such as societies, economies, international relations and the environment.



The report, which every January shares the perspectives of global experts and decision-makers on the most significant risks that face the world, cautions that "we are struggling to keep up with the accelerating pace of change".



It highlights numerous areas where "we are pushing systems to the brink, from extinction-level rates of biodiversity loss to mounting concerns about the possibility of new wars".



The annual Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) suggests that experts are preparing for another year of heightened risk.



"When we asked nearly 1,000 respondents for their views about the trajectory of risks in 2018, 59 percent of their answers pointed to an intensification of risks, compared with seven percent pointing to declining risks," said the World Economic Forum.



A deteriorating geopolitical landscape is partly to blame for the pessimistic outlook in 2018, with 93 percent of respondents saying they expect political or economic confrontations between major powers to worsen, and nearly 80 percent expecting an increase in risks associated with war involving major powers.



John Drzik, President - Global Risk and Digital at Marsh & McLennan insurance group, said: "Geopolitical friction is contributing to a surge in the scale and sophistication of cyber attacks. At the same time, cyber exposure is growing as firms are becoming more dependent on technology."



"While cyber risk management is improving, business and government need to invest far more in resilience efforts if we are to prevent the same bulging 'protection' gap between economic and insured losses that we see for natural catastrophes."



Economic risks, on the other hand, feature less prominently this year, leading some experts to worry that the improvement in global GDP growth rates could lead to complacency about persistent structural risks in the global economic and financial systems.



Even so, inequality is ranked third among the underlying risk drivers, and the most frequently cited interconnection of risks is between adverse consequences of technological advances and high structural unemployment or under-employment.



Steve Waygood, Chief Responsible Investment Officer with Aviva Investors, said: "It is important that the World Economic Forum is once again recognising the risk that the unchecked climate change poses to global prosperity."



"As a global insurer, we recognise that a world that warms by four degrees would pose an existential threat to our sector."
US authorities said Tuesday they had arrested a former CIA agent, Hong Kong resident Jerry Chun Shing Lee, after discovering he had an unauthorized notebook that had the identities of undercover US spies.

Lee, a naturalized US citizen also known as Zhen Cheng Li, was arrested late Monday after he arrived at JFK International Airport in New York.

The Department of Justice said Lee, 53, grew up in the United States and served in the US Army before joining the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer in 1994.

He served in unnamed overseas locations and left the agency in 2007, later apparently taking a job in Hong Kong.

In a complaint filed in a New York federal court, the Justice Department said that in 2012, FBI agents with court-ordered warrants secretly searched Lee`s luggage while he was travelling in the United States and found he was carrying top secret materials he was not authorized to have.

"Agents found two small books containing handwritten notes that contained classified information, including but not limited to, true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities," the Justice Department said.

Lee was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, a charge that can bring up to 10 years in prison.

Officials did not say why it took so long to bring charges against Lee, or whether he had leaked any materials to foreign countries.

But the case takes place amid concern in the US intelligence community that the Chinese government has been able to cripple their operations in that country.

The New York Times reported last year that starting in 2010, to the end of 2012, the Chinese killed "at least a dozen" sources the CIA had inside China and imprisoned six or more others.

A hunt for a "mole" in the agency led to one person, a "former operative" now living elsewhere in Asia, the Times said. But there was not enough information to arrest him.

But others in the agency blamed sloppy work and not a mole, the Times added.
Calling for press freedom

Nepals press freedom seems to be improving compared to previous years for three reasons: First, not a single journalist (including citizen journalists or media assistants) was killed or displaced from their workplace due to their journalistic performance in 2017.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has sparked a row by extending his support to Jamaat Ud Dawa chief and 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed. He said that there is no case in the country against the JuD chief.

The Pakistani Prime Minister referred to Saeed as Hafiz Saeed sahab while making the remark during an interview to a television channel.

This comes just days after Saeed hit out at the Pakistan government for not ushering Islamic rule in the country.

Earlier, the Pakistan government had blacklisted Saeeds JuD after US blocked $255 million military aid to the country, even as he opened the first office of Milli Muslim League (MML), the political outfit of the JuD. The office was opened in Lahore.

This was a snub to countrys authorities as Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan had banned Saeeds group from collecting any donation.

Saeed has been grabbing headlines often since his release from house arrest in November. He was placed under the same in January 2017.
WASHINGTON: A former United States diplomat has described Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's statement to support 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed as alarming.

Very alarming statement by Pakistan PM because Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist, said Zalmay Khalilzad, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

In an interview to a television channel on Tuesday, Pakistan PM openly supported Saeed, the Jamaat-ud Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Toiba co-founder.

Referring to him as Hafiz Saeed sahab (Sir), Abbasi said that there is no case in the country against the JuD chief.

Supporting India's fight against terrorism, Khalilzad said, "Time has come for the world to cooperate and India needs to take a leading role with us in orchestrating a global response on Pak to take concrete actions to increase pressure."

Meanwhile, former Pakistan Diplomat Husain Haqqani said that the Pakistan PM furnish proofs of his claim that there is no substantial evidence to try and convict 26/11 terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, reported ANI.

"I think that the international community has offered evidence, and, if the Pakistan Prime Minister feels there is no substantial evidence against Hafiz Saeed, then he should talk to the international community," said Haqqani on the sidelines of the ongoing Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.

Saeed, who was released from house arrest by a Pakistan court last year, is a designated international terrorist with a bounty of $10 million on his head.

Unhappy over his release, the US froze a $255-million military aid to Pakistan, accusing the country of sheltering terrorists and militant outfits.

Ignoring all warnings from the Pakistan government, Saeed said opened the first political office of Milli Muslim League (MML) in Lahore district.

With agency inputs
NEW YORK: A second winter storm in as many weeks is causing hundreds of flight cancellations across the United States, airlines reported on Tuesday, potentially dealing a further blow to carriers' first quarter outlooks.

As the storm sweeps across southeast Texas and up the East Coast dumping snow, sleet and freezing rain, airlines have already cancelled flights into Wednesday in anticipation of difficult conditions.

American Airlines , the world`s largest airline by passenger traffic, had cancelled some 270 flights between Tuesday and Wednesday as a result of the storm, it said.

Rival Delta Air Lines, the No. 2 U.S. carrier by passenger traffic, said it had cancelled about 275 Tuesday flights and expected additional cancellations in New York and Boston as the storm tracked north.

The third-largest U.S. carrier, United Airlines , said it had cancelled more than 700 flights on Tuesday. United was offering to waive fees for changes to flights to and from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other affected airports for scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday flights.

The storm itself is relatively minor compared to other winter weather events, and several hundred flights represent only a tiny percentage of airlines` overall operations. But such storms are still a nuisance to carriers and can cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue.

A massive winter storm at the onset of the year caused thousands of cancellations, as several inches of snow and ice paralysed the U.S. Northeast and forced the closure of some of the region`s biggest airports.
Demonstration in Dang demanding capitalhood

Local people staged a demonstration at Ghorahi on Wednesday demanding Dang be declared temporary capital of Province 5.
Enjoy the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. More than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional international examples.

For Immediate Release: October 24, 2016 (Santa Fe, NM) The Museum of International Folk Art presents No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art, the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. The exhibition will present more than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional examples from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to demonstrate the far reach this art form has had. Additionally, the show will analyze and dismantle the myths and misperceptions about tramp art, particularly as they relate to assumptions related to class, quality, and the anonymity of the makers.

Tramp art describes a particular type of chip-carved woodwork that was practiced in Europe and the United States between the 1870s and 1940s, making use of discarded cigar boxes or crates that were then notch-carved along the edges and layered. Objects made were primarily boxes and frames, but other household objects such as small private altars, crosses, medicine cabinets, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture can be found.

"Tramp art's place in art history has been troublesome. It has had detractorspeople who regard it as 'the ugly duckling' of folk artbut also numerous champions," said Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, and the show's curator. "This exhibition will erase any doubts about the quality and craftsmanship of the work and situate tramp art as a practice at the crossroads of cultural transformation at the turn of the 20th century," she said. Addison also pointed out that by juxtaposing historic pieces with those by contemporary artists working in the tramp art style, the exhibition frames this art form as an ongoing tradition that continues to capture the public's imaginationmyths and all.

"The ingenious objects in the Tramp Art exhibition use recycled or repurposed wood, and highlight a moment in time a century ago when artisans, many of them immigrants to the US, created a new variety of folk art," said Khristaan D. Villela, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. "They are a testament to the ability of untrained artists to produce objects of immense beauty and complexity," he said.

For many years, tramp art was believed to have been made by itinerants and hobos, thus its name. It has been demonstrated, however, that this belief, first put in print by Frances Lichten in a 1959 Pennsylvania Folklife article, is erroneous. Nonetheless, the name "tramp art" has remained the only terminology used for this practice, and the paucity of scholarly studies to dispel the mistaken notions about tramp art have allowed the myths to persist.

Whittling objects such as wood chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common pastime, including among railriding "hobos," and some examples of tramp art were likely by the hand of itinerant laborers or artisans. However, this style of carving was more commonly the practice of family men and blue-collar factory workers making functional domestic objects or gifts for the women in their lives. Efforts have been made in recent years to identify makers by name and unearth their biographies; these personal narratives illustrate a very different story of the makers of tramp art. As these makers and their stories come to light, it has become obvious that home and family are central to an understanding of the practice of tramp art.

No Idle Hands will present tramp art objects according to four primary areas: Introduction/historical context, home & nation, frames & boxes and devotional objects. Works in the exhibition will come from the Museum of International Folk Art permanent collection as well as loans from a number of private and museum collections across the country. An exhibition publication will accompany the exhibition, with essays by Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art, Museum of International Folk Art; Leslie Umberger, a curator in the area of folk art and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Eric Zafran, a retired curator of European art, most recently at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

The Museum of International Folk Art Museum Shop is located in the museum at 706 Camino Lejo (Museum Hill just off Old Santa Fe Trail). 505-982-5186.

MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART

The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Museum of International Folk Art's mission is "to enrich the human spirit by connecting people with the arts, traditions and cultures of the world." Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the museum holds the world's largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations.

The museum's collections represent a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure. The museum's historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice.

Over 90,000 national and international visitors visit the Museum International Folk Art every year. Through folk art, the museum encourages all to find a common ground upon which to craft better lives for all.

Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its Director's Leadership Fund, Exhibitions Development Fund, and Fund for Museum Education, as well as by the International Folk Art Foundation, also established by museum founder Florence Dibell Bartlett.
EC hints at early election results if hurdles removed

The Election Commission has hinted that results of the proportional representation category of the House of Representatives could be presented to the President soon if the parties and the government resolve the constitutional hurdles.
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!)
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The international community cannot comply with the threat posed by North Koreas nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, Canadas minister of foreign affairs Chrystia Freeland said at a press conference summing up the ministerial meeting results in Vancouver, Interfax reports.

Minister Freeland reiterated Canadas unequivocal commitment to diplomatic efforts that increase pressure on North Korea to abandon its current path and set the conditions for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

The meeting of foreign ministers initiated by Canada and US was attended by the FMs of US, Japan, South Korea and etc.

Russia and China were not invited to the meeting.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the ministers agreed that in order to reach success the UN member states, especially China and Russia should completely implement the sanctions.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Parliament session kicked off with 91 lawmakers in attendance.

Members of Parliament will vote for bills debated during the previous session.

At 16:30 a Q&A will begin with the Cabinet.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. US President Donald Trump and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed to strengthen the cooperation in several fields during the meeting in the White House, the White House said in a statement, reports Armenpress.

President Trump received President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the White House to discuss strengthening the strategic partnership between the US and Kazakhstan, the statement says.

The leaders agreed to strengthen the cooperation on political and security issues, trade and investments, the statement says.

The US Department of State said Kazakhstan purchased US goods and services worth 2.5 billion USD as a result of President Nazarbayevs Washington visit.

The Kazakh presidential office said more than 20 agreements on investment and trade-economic cooperation were signed during Nazarbayevs US visit.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The US is deeply concerned over the cases of restrictions of fundamental human freedoms in Turkey, State Department spokesman Heather Nauert told a press briefing.

Commenting on the new Freedom House report, which included Turkey among not free countries, Nauert said: Weve been talking for a long time that we are deeply concerned over the developments in Turkey. We are concerned over the actions which the Turkish authorities are taking, restricting the freedom of speech.

She stressed that the Turkish government is targeting people whose views differ from theirs.

We are closely following this issue, she said.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Diken reports.

During the phone talk the officials discussed the US plans to create security forces in Syria. Erdogan told the NATO chief that the US such step is unacceptable for Turkey. He added that Turkey is ready to take any step to ensure its national security concerning the ongoing developments in Syria.

According to the Turkish media reports, the NATO chief said the US has not consulted with them on creating the security forces in Syria. He expressed confidence that the best way for solving the issue is an open dialogue between the allies.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. According to Britains The Independent, Manchester United has reached an agreement with Arsenals Alexis Sanchez, however Mkhitaryans possible transfer to Arsenal is still unclear. According to the newspaper, the Armenian midfielder doesnt want to join the team, rather intends to return to Borussia Dortmund.

But according to The Mirror, Sanchez will be substituted with Mkhitaryan during the week.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Armenias PM Karen Karapetyan extended condolences to Irans first vice president Eshaq Jahangiri on the sinking of the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi near the eastern shores of China, which claimed the lives of dozens of crew members.

With deep sorrow I learnt about the painful news on the dozens of deaths as result of the fire on the Iranian oil tanker, the PM said in a letter.

On behalf of the government, the Armenian PM extended deepest condolences to the Iranian first vice president, and asked to convey words of support to the families of the victims.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres outlined the organizations areas for action in 2018, Armenpress reports citing the UN website.

Among the areas for action the UN chief included the settlement of the Ukrainian, Syrian and other crisis, fight against terrorism, countering global climate change and migration issue.

The UN chief urged to treat the paralysis that led to escalation and freezing of the conflicts in Europe. Taking into account that the two World Wars started here, as well as keeping in spotlight Europes resources and potential, conflicts in this region should not continue, he said.

Antonio Guterres also stressed the need for pushing back the dangerous tide of nationalism in Europe, and the need for revitalizing the relevant mediation initiatives for Eastern Ukraine, Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia and Transnistria. A concerted effort is also urgently needed for solutions leading to long-term stability in the Western Balkans, he added.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Regardless of who will be the prime minister of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan will remain Armenias most influential political figure in the near future, political analyst Karen Kocharyan told reporters on January 17, reports Armenpress.

He said he doesnt understand the talks in media over the possible candidates for the president and prime minister.

I cannot understand this since both the opposition, the leadership, the analysts and political scientists constantly stated that it is the internal issue of the Republican Party, and no other forces, except the RPA, can affect these processes, the political analyst said.

According to him regardless of who will be the next prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan will remain Armenias most influential political figure in the near future. The main political processes will begin after April 9 since during this time the new political cycle will launch. In this case each part of the opposition has a task to fix its leadership in the political field, Kocharyan said.

President Serzh Sargsyans powers will be suspended on April 9, 2018. After this the government will resign. Thereafter, the parliament will elect a prime minister who will form a new government.
Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Reality TV superstar, model and actress Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West welcomed their baby girl via surrogate, reports Armenpress.

Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl. We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care. North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister, Kardashian said in her blog.

Kim Kardashian made a decision to hire a surrogate after doctors told her that a third pregnancy would put her life and health under danger.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. 'United we stand strong': by this slogan Bulgaria assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Bulgarian Ambassador to Armenia Maria Pavlova Tzotzorkova-Kaymaktchieva said during a press conference in Yerevan, reports Armenpress.

Its a great honor for us to assume the presidency. We will do everything to do our job at best. We have chosen this slogan by taking into account not only the historical experience, but also the status in the European program. The experience shows that Europe overcomes when it is united. Our main message is that we will do everything to strengthen the EUs unity, the Ambassador said.

Talking about priorities, the Ambassador highlighted the stability, security, unity, as well as reaching the goals by mutual consent. She considered a priority having a digitized competitive economy and the work on this path. There is no doubt that our future will be digital. We plan to strengthen the development of the whole digital market, she said. The Bulgarian Ambassador stated that they also consider the youth employment, their involvement in different programs a priority issue.

Maria Pavlova Tzotzorkova-Kaymaktchieva said they plan to continue the Eastern Partnerships dimensions, strengthen the democratic institutions and implement different programs. She noted that Armenia will be included in these programs and will be an active participant.

As a chairing country Bulgaria will pay a special focus on security issues. The Ambassador informed that they will make efforts to strengthen security in the EU, as well as for the effective migration programs.

Having a Bulgarian Embassy in Armenia enables to present our countrys presidency priorities here. We, together with the team of the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, will closely coordinate all works deriving from the Armenia-EU agreement. Its very welcoming that interesting discussions are being held in Armenia over this new agreement, as well as its expectations, the Ambassador said.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan on January 17 held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazayev, the Prosecutor Generals Office told Armenpress.

During the meeting the prospects of deepening the cooperation in criminal justice field at bilateral and multilateral formats were discussed.

The officials highly appreciated the partnership relations between the two countries in different spheres and touched upon the legal mutual assistance between the prosecutions of Armenia and Kazakhstan, as well as on a number of other issues of mutual interest.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has displayed very strong dedication to the implementation of the Eastern Partnership agenda, advancing, strengthening ties with European Neighborhood, EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalski told a press conference.

We are now in the stage when we must ensure the maximal implementation of the recently signed Armenia-EU agreement. We are working with our Armenian colleagues to prepare a good roadmap which will guide the entire implementation. The Armenian government is diligently working in the direction of the national implementation mechanism, which is very important for us, he said.

Speaking about the ratification process, the Ambassador mentioned that Estonias recent ratification is a clear signal for all colleagues.

The ratification process is usually based on legislative processes. The process simplicity or difficulty depends on the legislation of each country. Particularly, in federation states any international agreement requires a scrutinized process, hard work. We are optimistic, the most important is that the agreement can start to be implemented this year, hopefully from spring, this requires ratification from Armenia only, he said.

Of course certain parts of the agreement will be able to implement without the full completion of the ratification, it is difficult to say when it will be possible, but judging from the signals we can say that we definitely have basis to be optimistic, he said.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir sent a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu, calling on the Turkish authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Court decision in the cases of imprisoned journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay is implemented and that the journalists are released without any further delay, the OSCE Office told Armenpress.

According to the decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court, which was published on 11 January 2018, the ongoing detention of Altan and Alpay is disproportionate and infringing upon their rights to liberty, freedom of expression and freedom of the media.

However, the lower courts later refused to follow the Constitutional Courts ruling and the journalists remain in prison.

This refusal to implement the Constitutional Court decision is of grave concern, as it is related to the freedom of individuals, in that case of two journalists. It seriously infringes upon their rights including freedom of expression and freedom to work as journalists, which should be protected by the rule of law. I call on the authorities to ensure that the Constitutional Court decision of 11 January 2018 in the cases of Altan and Alpay is implemented and that they are released without any further delay, Desir said.
YEREVAN, 17 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 17 January, USD exchange rate down by 0.02 drams to 482.99 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 0.31 drams to 591.13 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.03 drams to 8.53 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.47 drams to 666.33 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 84.72 drams to 20712.67 drams. Silver price down by 3.58 drams to 265.46 drams. Platinum price down by 117.11 drams to 15443.08 drams.
DETROITWhen Brad Mitchell founded his company back in 1999, he probably never expected that one day he would be inducted to the AVN Hall of Fame. On January 27th that is exactly what will happen, and Mitchell is excited to be part of the elite circle alongside world famous porn stars.

"We pride ourselves on having won many awards over the years, but there are a few that really stand out in my mind," Mitchell said. "The first award we ever won was a milestone for us that we were doing something right, and having won Businessman of the Year was a very personal one for me. 'Hall of Fame' says something much more. It symbolizes lifelong dedication and a true lasting legacy."

"Brad is one of the most caring and kind people I've had the pleasure to call my friend in this industry," said Julie Larson of JuicyAds. "I admire the way he runs his business and the way he is able to focus on family while managing his company. He is someone we can all look up to and aspire to be like."

However, being a "good guy" who built a company can only take you so far. At some point, performance is really what matters to clients and the retention of customers. Beyond its humble beginnings, MojoHost has met that challenge and now powers a large number of adult websites. If you make a couple quick Domain WHOIS searches you'll see that MojoHost hosts some of the largest and most well-known companies in the adult industry, the ones that are synonymous with the industry itself. Recognizable brands such as New Sensations, CAM4, Flirt4Free, Penthouse, and Clips4Sale all call MojoHost home.

MojoHost, based in Bingham Farms, Michigan, has reached several milestones in its long history. Its global expansion to the newest European data center location in Amsterdam and the upcoming launch of cloud hosting services shows that they are operating in a leading position and at the forefront of their business segment.

"This induction is very well-deserved and long overdue," said Joey Gabra, business development at New Media Services. "Brad Mitchell has consistently remained on the forefront of the tech solutions the whole team provides at MojoHost. Brad has made MojoHost a household name in the adult tech space... and he is proof that you can still be a tremendous success in business while being kind and courteous to everyone he comes in contact with."

MojoHost strives to offer 'more than managed' hosting, which has led to more than 2000 clients using the MojoHost service over its lifetime. Mitchell is often found taking matters personally that most other CEOs or founders would delegate to lower level sales or tech support. His attention to detail and the value in each client has pushed the brand ahead of the rest.

"Ive been hosting with Brad for several years now and I feel Im at the perfect spot," said Patrick The Hun, founder of The Hun. "Especially the 24-hour support is great. We internet peeps dont always work at regular office hours and our visitors come 24 hours a day. A 24 hour a day support is a necessity in that case! Theyre ready to think out of the box and act fast. On a more personal level, I do love to hang out with Brad and the whole MojoHost crew. You got to love the shirts!"

The Hun was referencing the "painted shirts" frequently worn by Brad, designed lovingly by his children.

Brad has led MojoHost through the dot-com bubble, the financial crisis, and the more recent struggle for survival of the adult industry itself. Growing into the role, one would never know at his first conference in May 2000 at the age of 24, Mitchell was 'the shy guy in the back of the room' with social anxiety. Every company achievement has been eclipsed by the next and the greatest accomplishments that are happening right now.

Mitchell's generosity and hospitality to clients and non-clients alike is so widely known that it has become traditional. The company modestly refers to these acts simply (and fittingly) as "Good Mojo." Time has shown that in the case of this company, the characteristics of a company's leadership can become symbiotic with the company itself.

"Three Cheers to Brad Mitchell from everyone at Paxum!" said Ruth Blair, head of marketing for Paxum. "Brad is professional, dedicated, intelligent, highly approachable and a great person all-around! We can't think of anyone more deserving to be inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame. As Brad himself often says, 'That's good Mojo!'

MojoHost is probably better known for its customer service than the actual services they sell, that now include hosting, CDN, virtual private servers, domain registration, and more. Brad and the MojoHost team will be in attendance at the Internext Expo in Las Vegas January 19-23. MojoHost and its co-sponsors CAM4 and Paxum are hosting the must-attend InterNEXT pre-party this Friday.
Tate & Lyle has appointed Nick Hampton as its new chief executive with effect from 1 April 2018.

Hampton joined the business as chief financial officer in September 2014 from PepsiCo and will succeed Javed Ahmed, who will step down from his role to retire.

During his 20-year career at PepsiCo, Hampton held senior finance and operational roles.

Ahmed said it was a great privilege to lead Tate & Lyle for the past eight years and that the company was in great hands with Hampton.

Hampton said he was looking forward to driving the business forward with chairman Gerry Murphy, the board and its employees.

As global demand for healthier and tastier food continues to grow, this business has the opportunity to deliver meaningful benefits for our customers, employees, shareholders and society at large in the years ahead, said Hampton.

The recruitment process for the chief financial officer position is under way.
Nomad Foods is to buy Goodfellas pizza supplier Green Isle Foods from 2 Sisters Food Group.

Birds Eye owner Nomad is to pay around 225m (199.3m) for the frozen pizza business of Green Isle Foods, which includes brands Goodfellas and San Marco, as well as ongoing supply of own-label frozen pizza contracts to UK and Irish retailers.

Nomad will take on two frozen pizza-manufacturing facilities, which it said would provide a foundation for future expansion in the category. The company expects the acquisition to increase its revenue by around 150m (132.8m) in two years.

With strong organic revenue growth momentum, the time is right to expand into new strategic categories such as pizza, which offer adjacent avenues for further growth and synergies, said Nomad Foods co-chairman and founder Noam Gottesman.

The Goodfellas Pizza brands and team broaden our product offering and customer reach, and solidify our market leadership within the UK and Ireland.

2 Sisters is to retain ownership of the frozen pastry, frozen vegetable and frozen fish parts of Green Isle Foods businesses, which include brands UpperCrust, Green Isle and Donegal Catch.

2 Sisters Food Group chief executive Ranjit Singh said the company had received a number of approaches over the past few years for the pizza business, and had talked to several interested parties.

But a sale had to be at the right time, with the right buyer, and it had to be a deal that fitted with our long-term strategy, he added. This deal represents our first major step to transform 2 Sisters and build a better business.

Nomad Foods is a fabulous new home and this deal will enable the business to continue to flourish with a new owner who are experts in the frozen category.

The transaction is expected complete in the first quarter of 2018, subject to conditions.
The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day?

Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount.

Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what so called "Democracy" does exists.
Govt conspiring to foil NA election: UML

The main opposition CPN-UML has accused the government of hatching conspiracies to foil the National Assembly (NA) election.
Wow, Sen. Jeff Flake had some powerful words to say against Donald Trump and his disregard for the truth today on the Senate floor. Some of the highlights:

"An American president who cannot take criticism  who must constantly deflect and distort and distract  who must find someone else to blame  is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the President adds to the danger."

"2017 was a year which saw the truth, objective empirical evidence-based truth more battered and abused than at any time in the history of our country at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the white house enshrine 'alternative facts' into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be called old fashioned falsehoods.

"Mr President, it is a testament to our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Joseph Stalin to describe his enemies," Flake said. "It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader."

"For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last."

Flake will not be running for re-election in 2018, which gives him, a Republican, the freedom to speak out against Trump's bullshit. Too bad those seeking re-election can't do the same.

Via CNN
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

Government will soon lower tax brackets for various economic players as an incentive to encourage investment in the country and grow the tax base.Addressing Zimbabweans and investors in Namibia on Monday where he had accompanied President Mnangagwa on a working visit, Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa, conceded the country had a higher tax regime.President Mnangagwa's administration has placed economic recovery high on its agenda and has been on an offensive creating an environment that promotes business growth as well as luring new investment.Responding to contributions from participants that the country was losing out on investment opportunities due to comparatively higher taxation, Minister Chinamasa said Government is aware local taxes are high.Minister Chinamasa, however, said Government is working on lowering the same, a move he said will grow the cake."Taxation, I agree with you is too high," said Minister Chinamasa. "It's a matter that we are going to address so that we can proceed to a position where we get more taxes from more volumes," he said.Despite slow growth of the economy in 2017, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), managed to meet its annual revenue target that played a part in reducing the country's budget deficit.With an annual target of $3.4 billion, Zimbabwe in 2017 recorded its highest revenue receipts with a gross total of $3,978 billion that translated to $3,75 billion in net collections.The collections for the year were 17 percent higher than what had been targeted for.The target for 2018 has, however, been revised by 26.47 percent to $4.3 billion and Zimra has promised to upscale and redouble its efforts not only to achieve, but to surpass the target.President Mnangagwa also used the same meeting to urge Zimbabweans in the diaspora to come back home and play a part in the country's quest for economic recovery and growth.The President highlighted investment opportunities in such sectors as mining, agriculture, education, tourism and infrastructure development among other sectors.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa says they are agreed with his counterpart President Filipe Nyusi that government ministers of the two countries must work hard to deliver services to millions of their respective citizens.The President was speaking at a luncheon hosted for him by President Nyusi on the 4th leg of his visit to SADC countries.President Mnangagwa has already visited South Africa, Angola and Namibia.The President's visit to Mozambique is to brief his counterpart on the change of leadership in Zimbabwe which has seen him assume the presidency.
News / National

by Staff reporter

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will today visit Mozambique where he is expected to meet his counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi and Zimbabweans resident in that country. The President has embarked on a regional tour to apprise fellow Sadc leaders on political developments in Zimbabwe following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe on November 21 last year.Mnangagwa has already visited South Africa where he met President Jacob Zuma, who is the chairperson of Sadc. Las Friday the President visited Angola and met his counterpart Jao Manuel Goncalves Laurenco who chairs the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation before visiting Namibia on Monday where he met President Hage Geingob.He is also scheduled to visit Zambia this Friday where he will meet President Edgar Lungu.Mnangagwa's ascension to the Presidency has received widespread local, regional and international endorsement with higher expectations that the new political dispensation would deliver robust economic development and reposition Zimbabwe on the international scene. Since his takeover Mnangagwa has been preaching peace, unity and his main focus is on economic turnaround. His Government has clearly articulated its keen desire to normalise relations with the international community for increased investment and also wants to rope in the Diaspora to participate in national development as Zimbabwe is now open for business.President Nyusi, the fourth president of Mozambique since independence, attended Mnangagwa's inauguration on November 24 last year where he said Mozambique stood with Zimbabwe in its transition. Zimbabwe and Mozambique enjoy cordial relations dating back to the liberation struggle when Mozambique provided training and refugee camps for Zimbabwean guerillas.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE charm offensive by President Emmerson Mnangagwa since his inauguration in November last year promises a positive redirection of the country in its interactions with the international community that would yield benefits for the country most importantly on the economic side.Since the beginning of a new era, many countries regionally and internationally have expressed commitment to work with Zimbabwe towards the restoration of the country to its former glory.Individual corporations have also expressed interest to invest in the country with South African business tycoon Mr Robert Matana Gumede meeting Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga (Retired) this week expressing an interest in establishing projects in different sectors of the economy in Zimbabwe to the tune of $1,2 billion.The President, within his 100 days in office, has also embarked on a visit to neighbouring heads of state within Sadc to brief his colleagues on the transitional process that led to the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe and his (President Mnangagwa) subsequent elevation as the country's head of State.The visits are also meant to cement the mutual friendship and cooperation in various sectors with the neighbouring countries.He started by visiting South Africa's President Jacob Zuma who is also Sadc chairperson followed last week by a visit to his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco who is also the chairman of the Sadc Organ on Politics Defence and Security.This week, President Mnangagwa has visited Namibian President Hage Geingob and today visits his Mozambican counterpart Fillipe Nyusi.He is also expected to visit Zambia then Botswana on a state visit. in February he visits other Sadc countries and in April goes to China.Besides being fraternal neighbours, Zimbabwe shares a history of cooperation with South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Angola and Namibia.The initiative by President Mnangagwa should be appreciated in the context of the repositioning of the country under his new administration in pursuit of mutually beneficial relations and in the broader sense the pursuit of Zimbabwe's national interest with a bias towards the economy.After years of isolation, the new administration under President Mnangagwa has set the path to change the country's fortunes through re-engagement and cooperation with other states.It is also against these positive developments that the rantings by the bitter and defeated G40 functionaries questioning the Government's legitimacy should be dismissed if not totally ignored.What is evident is that Zimbabwe is headed towards a recovery path and no amount of wild barking would stop the new trajectory that the country has taken.Speaking during his visit to Namibia, President Mnangagwa said the country was focusing on economic development that would translate to an improvement on the lives of Zimbabweans."We are focusing now on issues of development of our economy and bettering the conditions of our people and we are receiving support from all Sadc member countries as well as from countries beyond our region," he said."We are receiving positive signals of cooperation in the area of economic cooperation."The engagement by President Mnangagwa is in line with his inauguration speech in November last year when he said that the country was ready to engage on mutually beneficial relations with all nations including those with whom relations had soured in the past."Whatever misunderstandings may have subsisted in the past, let these make way to a new beginning which sees us relating to one another in multi-layered, mutually beneficial ways as equal and reciprocally dependent partners. In this global world, no nation is, can or need be an island, one unto itself.Isolation has never been splendid or viable; solidarity and partnership are and will always be the way."We are ready to embrace each and all, on principles of mutual respect and common humanity. We will take definite steps to re-engage those Nations who have had issues with us in the past. Equally, we will take measures to ensure that we acknowledge and begin to show commitments towards settling our debts. Of course our resources remain sparse, especially at this stage when we face a myriad of pressures, but we count on the goodwill of those we owe to give us a chance. We remain committed to honouring the debts and to enter into new relationships," said President Mnangagwa."Above all, all foreign investments will be safe in our country and, we will fully abide by the terms of Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements which we have concluded with a number of nations. I ask you to join us in exploiting our potential to make a difference in the lives of our people."In an interview with our sister paper Business Weekly last week, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Lieutenant General Sibusiso Moyo (Retired), explained that President Mnangagwa had merged the International Trade component to the old Foreign Affairs ministry in line with the country's foreign policy with a bias towards economic state craft.He said the country's diplomacy will focus on mending broken bridges of cooperation, the nurturing and consolidation of new friendships while at the same time strengthening relations with those nations that stood by Zimbabwe in her most difficult times in the past two decades."First and foremost, I should say that the Foreign Policy and economic policy are non estranged bedfellows. Since Foreign Policy mirrors domestic policy, it is configured by economic policy among other domestic policies."To this end, economic policy can be used as a tool to project Foreign Policy stance. Similarly, foreign policy can be designed in response to another state's domestic economic policy."Thus, the inclusion of the International Trade portfolio is in tandem with the new thrust of our foreign policy premised on a heavy bias on economic state craft," said the Minister."We will redynamise our diplomatic efforts towards vibrant trade and quick-win investment as we are cognisant that politics and economics are two sides of the same coin in diplomacy, which complement each other."
News / National

by Staff reporter

Financial markets experts, investors and executives from various industries will descend on Johannesburg in March for the fifth Financial Markets Indaba.The one-day gathering which is scheduled for Sandton Hilton Hotel on the March 1 is part of a series of investment conferences held in the three cities strategic to Zimbabwe's capital markets namely Harare, Johannesburg and London.Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government will soon lower tax brackets for various economic players as an incentive to encourage investment in the country and grow the tax base.Addressing Zimbabweans and investors in Namibia on Monday where he had accompanied President Mnangagwa on a working visit, Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa, conceded the country had a higher tax regime.President Mnangagwa's administration has placed economic recovery high on it's agenda and has been on an offensive creating an environment that promotes business growth as well as luring new investment.Responding to contributions from participants that the country was losing out on investment opportunities due to comparatively higher taxation, Minister Chinamasa said Government is aware local taxes are high.
News / National

by Staff reporter

FORMER President Robert Mugabe will have to wait for the European Union (EU)'s annual meeting in February to know whether a travel ban issued against him will be lifted, NewZimbabwe.com reported.EU envoy to Harare, Ambassador Philippe van Damme recently told journalists that Mugabe's sanctions will be considered when Brussels reviews the situation in Zimbabwe next month."Every year at this time I am asked the same question and my answer remains the same."It (possible review) is council decision which will be made in February and I cannot prejudge what they will say," said van Damme at a breakfast meeting in Harare last week.It remains to be seen whether Mugabe's changed circumstances will factor in the consideration of the 27-nation groping.Brussels has scrapped most of its sanctions against Zimbabwean but maintained its measures against Mugabe and wife, Grace that include a travel ban.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A Grade 8 student has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing to death a Zimbabwean teacher he accused of failing him.The 15-year-old allegedly went to the teacher's home in the early hours of Saturday and started breaking all the windows with stones.When Kingston Vhiya, a teacher at Bosele Middle School in Manyeding Village near Kuruman, Northern Cape, went outside, the boy is alleged to have hit him with a stone on the chest before stabbing him to death.A friend who had been with the murdered 42-year-old teacher at the time of the incident said Vhiya had been stabbed after stepping out of the house to try talk to the boy."The boy started by throwing stones, breaking windows of the house. He accused Kingston of failing him at school. Kingston told him that he could not blame him for failing and that he should speak to individual subject teachers."The boy had broken the windows and was able to pull out Kingston's phone, which was in the charger, through one of them (windows). Kingston then opened the door but was hit by a stone on his chest," Zeky Mangei said.He said he had tried to stop his friend from going out because he feared that the pupil might not have come alone.Vhiya, from Masvingo in Zimbabwe, started teaching at the school last year."Kingston convinced me that they would just talk, to stop the boy from causing more damage to the house. When Kingston opened the door again and stepped outside, the boy repeatedly apologised for his behaviour, saying he was under the influence of drugs."The boy said he would come with his parents and they would fix the windows."The situation seemed calm and I went back inside the house. A few minutes later, I heard Kingston cry out loud. He said he had been stabbed. I rushed out and found him rolling on the ground."It was unbelievable," Mangei said, adding that the pupil also charged at him with the knife and stones, and then ran off.They loaded Vhiya in a car and rushed him to Kuruman Hospital."On our way there, Kingston kept saying that I should pray for him. I had hope that he would pull through. When nurses told us that he had passed away at about 4.30am, I could not believe it."My friend was a humble person and he loved teaching," Mangei said.Northern Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Dimakatso Mooi confirmed the incident, saying Vhiya had been stabbed with a sharp object.She said the pupil was expected to appear in the Mothibistad magistrate's court today on a charge of murder.Mooi said investigations were continuing.Northern Cape education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.Vhiya's sister, Mpho Mthetha, said the family was devastated. She said his brother had been living in South Africa since 2008."I last spoke to Kingston on Monday I'm so sad. He was not fighting with anyone but he was killed."It will cost us between R30 000 to R50 000 for the repatriation of Kingston's body to Zimbabwe. We do not have that kind of money," Mthethwa said, adding that Vhiya had not been married and had no children."It is better that the boy has been arrested. He must face the consequences," Mthethwa said.This is not the first incident in which a teacher was killed or was assaulted. In March last year, Priscilla Mncunu, 54, the deputy principal of Laduma High School in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, was gunned down in front of Grade 12 pupils.In August, Kate Chiloane was shot and killed by her husband in front of pupils at Sediba-Sa-Thuto Primary School in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.In October, a Randfontein pupil was suspended after he allegedly assaulted a teacher with a brick.
News / National

by Coconuts

A Zimbabwean family of eight is still stranded at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, three months after they were denied boarding flights to Spain because they had overstayed their Thai tourist visas - at the same time, having overstayed, they could not re-enter Thailand and have refused to go back to their country, citing fears for their safety.Immigration Police told Khaosod English yesterday that the family, with four children between the ages of 2 and 11, has not been moved to a detention center but are awaiting help from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), hoping that agency will process their asylum requests and move them to a third country, since Thailand does not officially recognize refugees.They have previously attempted to reach Spain via Ukraine, an attempt that was thwarted due to their not possessing Spanish visas.Over the holidays, Panupat Danpanich, an assistant liaison officer with UNHCR Thailand said they had accepted the case and were trying to "find the best solution for them."Immigration police said the family entered Thailand in May on tourist visas. When they attempted to leave for Barcelona on Oct. 23, they were barred from boarding at passport control because they had overstayed their tourist visas by five months.Thailand then attempted to send the family back to Zimbabwe, but they refused.Since they had overstayed their Thai visas by several months, they were also banned from re-entering the country, as is standard procedure.Zimbabwe's military pushed out 93-year-old despot Robert Mugabe in November, paving the way for a transition from decades of mismanagement and authoritarian rule.But there has been little unrest and the new president has encouraged Zimbabweans who fled under Mugabe's rule to return home.The family's situation received media attention last month when airport employee Kanaruj Artt P. posted a photo of him giving one of the children a Christmas gift.
Jajarkot-Dunai road nears completion

The long-awaited Jajarkot-Dunai road, touted as the fate and future of Dolpalis, is in the final stages of completion. The road links Jajarkot, Rukum and Dolpa districts in remote western Nepal.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has passionately called for peace during the election saying people are free to belong to the parties of their choice.The president made the remarks through his newly created twitter account."When we go to the elections you should not fight.When people support their parties it's their choice.We should work for the people and not be selfish," Mnangagwa said."There should be justice and national reconciliation because we cannot progress when communities are in conflict.God bless Zimbabwe."
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The villagers who settled themselves at Maganga farm in Marondera are reportedly still stranded after they were displaced by the anti riot police.Zimbabwe Peace Project's latest report states that inhabitants of Maganga farm in Marondera had their homes destroyed."Maganga villagers were told to vacate the farm by the Zimbabwe Republic Police on the pretext that they were illegal settlers. Villagers without transport were told to move their possessions close to the main road awaiting transportation back to their places of origin," said ZPP."An ultimatum stipulating that by 6 November all Maganga residents were to relocate or face eviction was verbally communicated. On 7 November door to door evictions were carried out by the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Hundreds of families were displaced and their houses torched during the process."ZPP said it was recorded that the police would force villagers to burn their own structures."Families' lost property worth thousands of dollars and their coping strategies and livelihoods were destroyed. We were denied access into the tent where registration was taking place. The Zanu PF youths told them that due to the overwhelming number of people who have registered, they were not allowing anyone to pass through," said ZPP."This infuriated the MDC-T members who asked to get clarification from the ZEC officers. An altercation arose resulting in the intervention of two police officers manning the centre. The Zanu PF youths insulted and intimidated the ZEC officers saying they were registering non residents of the ward. On trying to explain the process to the Zanu PF youths the officers were also intimidated and harassed."ZPP said the ZEC officers temporarily closed the centre and phoned the District Elections Officer, a Mr Gororo. Armed soldiers were deployed to the registration Centre and ordered the Zanu PF youths away before ordering the re-opening of the centre."The registration process continued under the watchful eye of the armed soldiers. Zanu PF activists' assaulted three MDC-T supporters in Marondera at Mushandira shopping centre Ward 10 on 26 December. It is alleged that, Jairosi Kashiri, Kenias Chikafu and Mark Chikafu affiliated to MDC-T were severely assaulted by a Zanu PF group led by Oni and Obadiah Chisango. The trio were assaulted after a heated verbal political party confrontation. The case was reported at Mahusekwa police station but no arrests have been made."The ZPP said the victims were referred to CSU and were assisted.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Heal Zimbabwe has expressed concern over utterances attributed to newly appointed ZANU PF national political commissar, Retired General Engelbert Rugeje.The trust said in his address on the 11th of January 2018, Rugeje warned people who had gathered at Mawungwa Business centre in Gutu to be "mindful of the violence unleashed onto the country after ZANU PF lost the 2008 general elections"."He also highlighted that people must always be aware and remember "2008" as the nation prepares for the 2018 general elections. Heal Zimbabwe notes that given that atrocities committed in 2008 are yet to be addressed by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), threatening people using the 2008 violence is not only criminal but irresponsible. Following Rugeje's sentiments, the organization has recorded numerous cases of intimidation from Gutu West wards 29,33,24 and 08 of community members by ZANU PF activists who are misinforming people that they have the backing of the army and will not hesitate to perpetrate violence on people who will vote for opposition parties," said the trust."It is Heal Zimbabwe's expectation that violence and intimidation should be vices of the past given that from the time President Emmerson Mnangagwa came into power, his message to the nation has been pregnant with calls for peace and unity. Heal Zimbabwe expected Rugeje in his capacity as ZANU PF national commissar to preach a message of unity and peace in order to actualize the President's call."Heal Zimbabwe said it notes that as long as past electoral violent episodes such as the 2008 violence remain unaddressed, that culture of impunity and retribution will continue to thwart efforts towards healing and reconciliation."The NPRC, a commission charged with developing mechanisms for early detection of conflicts must without delay initiate robust programmes that seek to prevent conflicts and to promote peace before, during and after the 2018 elections. The NPRC must also set up an early warning and early response system in partnership with other key stakeholders such as civil society organizations and churches for early detection of areas of potential conflicts and disputes, and to take appropriate preventive measures. This will ensure that the 2018 elections are conducted in a peaceful and violent-free environment," said the trust.
News / National

by Staff reporter

GENIUS GINIMBI KADUNGURE was on Star FM yesterday with the popular 326 hosts KVG and Phathisani and he was at his flamboyant best even picking up fights with the likes of Prophet Walter Magaya and Wicknell Chivayo.Ginimbi blatantly stated that he is the richest person in the country - aged 35 and under. Phathisani had asked him if he was one of the top 10 richest people in Zimbabwe and his reply had been a humble, "No I'm still you," until he later decided to add, "But if you say Under 35 ndovadonhedza (I can knock them out)".Magaya is 34 years old whilst Wicknell is 35.However, the inference to Ginimbi's reference to the duo is not drawn from merely looking at their ages. The 326 hosts bluntly drew these comparisons from the outspoken businessman.Phathisani asked Ginimbi if he is in the habit of posting shoes that he buys on social media when he goes out shopping  in obvious reference to Wicknell who has lots of such pictures on Facebook and Instagram  and the reply was just short of an attack on Wicknell."Shoes are too cheap! You can't swipe to buy a car but you can swipe to buy shoes meaning it's a small amount. We need transactions that you can transfer  money with enough zeros you know."Asked how many shoes he has, Ginimbi laughed, "If I can't count the cars (I have) then I can't count the shoes!"And with that statement, he was done with Wicknell.A listener sent a question which was read by KVG asking if Ginimbi was saying he is richer than Magaya with his statement quoted above?Again Ginimbi's reply came close to confirming the assertion,"Haaaa ndiri bho, ndiri correct, ndiri correct chaizvo chaizvo! Handina hangu church but ndakaipa!"H-Metro threw these implications to Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries founder, Walter Magaya last night and he said he did not have the capacity to compete with Genius materially.Magaya was in KwaZulu Natal yesterday and revealed that he had been inundated with messages from church members, who were telling him what Ginimbi had said on Star FM."I am in KwaZulu Natal donating to the elderly and helping the sick. I got a number of messages from church members telling me of Genius who was on Star FM with KVG and Phathisani. What I hear is that there was a comparison of riches between myself and him and I am told he said he was better."That is very true, he is way better than me for all what I have is for Jesus and his people. Surely I have nothing for myself. I bless you boss Genius, continue to glow," said Magaya last night.Ginimbi also spoke on other issues highlighted below.GINIMBI ON JANUARY DISEASE"There is January disease? Maybe ask KVGbecause when I am driving in my car there is air con, there is wifi, there is no problems, when I get out of my car I get into my big house that looks like a hotel. So at what stage do I experience this January disease? I have no reason to complain and, I think, if I complain God will not be happy.NEW GOVERNMENT"I think everyone was waiting for this. I am happy, more than happy, extremely happy. I was actually based in Joburg but after the new government came in the new President and the new Vice President I can actually say I have moved back to Zimbabwe."WHY THE NAME GINIMBI?"Mazita emari haana PO Box, unongosiyana nazvo"
News / National

by Staff reporter

United Family International Church (UFIC) founder and leader Emmanuel Makandiwa and his wife Ruth have a case to answer after a High Court judge ruled that there is merit in a US$6,5 million lawsuit lodged by former congregates over alleged false prophecies.In a fresh twist to the US$6.5 million false prophecies lawsuit pitying Oceane Perfumes business couple Blessing and Upenyu Mashangwa, High Court judge Justice David Mangota has ruled in favour of the business couple.The Makandiwas through Advocate Lewis Uriri had sought the quashing of the US$6.5 million claim by the Mashangwas on the basis that secular courts cannot deal with issues of faith and church related practices and doctrines.The Mashangwas approached the court after allegedly losing millions to the man of cloth under the blindfold of faith and the belief that the religious couple had the spiritual gift of foretelling their future.They lodged 6 claims in which they accused the Makandiwas of deliberately making false statements during church services with the specific intention to defraud them and other congregants.They further said the misrepresentations induced them to part away with millions of dollars.They were represented by Advocate Thabani Mpofu and instruction from Jonathan Samukange.They gave an example of being paraded by the church leaders before the entire church being edified and showered with praise as the chosen people of God and successful business people.They said such statements made them contribute more.They say they lost their Marlborough home over a ZB Bank loan of US$500 000 following a prophecy by Makandiwa which stated all their debts would be cancelled.The Makandiwas applied for exception to the claims on the basis that they were vague and embarrassing and did not disclose a cause of action among other issues.Justice Mangota, however, ruled that it was evident that the Mashangwas case in four claims was water tight as there was nothing vague or embarrassing in each of the claims, the cause of action was clear and to the point.He added that the two parties enjoyed very good social and possibly spiritual ties.Justice Mangota noted that the Mashangwas stated that they had acted upon the misrepresentations by the Makandiwas because they had not known the true facts.Justice Mangota dismissed the Makandiwas application for exception with costs and the matter shall proceed to be heard on merits in terms of the High Court rules of 1971.
Opinion / Letters

Dear Ms. Rita LikukumaRe: Mashava Mine resurrects, significant ground coveredMY attention was brought to a story published by the Sunday Mail dated 14 January 2018 under the title: " Mashava Mine resurrects - Significant ground covered ,"It is the case that in the public domain, any story associated with SMM Holdings (Private) Limited ("SMM) and related matters is invariably directly and indirectly linked to me because of a history that unfortunately is difficult to whitewash and ignore.As you may appreciate, the title to the story speaks to the resumption of the operations of the two asbestos mines and also to alleged significant ground covered.On the face of the title, the presumption by any reasonable mind would be that such a development could never be contemplated and implemented without the knowledge and involvement of the only shareholder known to the general public in respect of the affairs of the concerned companies.You will agree with me that the facts related to the purported extra-judicial reconstruction of SMM and related companies that were associated with me are generally not shared in the public domain save to state that the closure of the mines and attendant social and economic costs occurred under the watch of a state-appointed Administrator who was ostensibly appointed to reconstruct the very companies that collapsed against a background of direct state intervention.I make the assumption that you were of a mature age in 2004 when laws were invented in the name of reconstruction or the new self-serving parlance "restoration" to divest the shareholders and directors of SMM of the control and management of a number of companies including SMM without their knowledge and consent.One would expect any reasonable person to have known the content and context of the measures used in the name of government to create a new reality and/or normal which to date no one has boldly sought to claim any credit for creating it; using public power which in any democratic republican constitutional order ought to be reserved to uphold and protect the rule of law and principles of constitutionalism.It is reported in the said article that: "Shabanie Mashava Mines (SMM) Holdings will resume asbestos production at Mashava Mine by end of March this year after securing the initial funding required to restart operations," confirming that the control and management of SMM is still vested in parties who could only have acquired such power as a consequence of the operation of the laws referred to above.It is only when I read of the involvement of you as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Chairperson in the affairs of SMM that I was naturally ignited and inspired to write this open letter principally because to the best of my knowledge you were at all material times not directly, let alone indirectly, related to the affairs of SMM.Perhaps you will care to provide any details of how you became related to SMM and also Turnall Holdings, a company that you seem to be a Chairman of now. It is not clear from the above-referenced article in what capacity you said this to the reporter:"I have said efforts are underway to help the asbestos fibre producer get access to required foreign currency for key mining equipment."It is also reported that you told Turnall workers last week that significant ground has been covered in making sure that Mashava resumes production early this year. It is also reported that you said that the resumption of Mashava is critical as Turnall will stop importing asbestos fibre.It is stated as true and fact that: "SMM, which also operates Shabanie Mine in Zvishavane, shut down mining operations in 2004 after the Government annexed assets from proprietor Mutumwa Mawere through a reconstruction order, amid indications that the mining company was State-indebted and insolvent," when in truth and fact the mines were not shut down in 2004 as the government moved into the company pursuant to an order issued by Hon. P. Chanamasa in his capacity as the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and not by any court order as would be expected in any democratic constitutional state; SMM was operating as a going concern.I am sure you will agree that no reasonable person would push for the reconstruction of a dead thing or operate on a dead body.It cannot be denied even by a person like you whose relationship with both SMM and Turnall could only be as a consequence of the introduction of a new reality that can only be best described as a "soft corporate coup" using powers reserved for the judiciary by a member of the executive branch of government. I am confident that you will agree with me that the legality and constitutionality of your purported relationship with SMM and Turnall cannot escape the accusation of State managed theft.I hope that you will no doubt dig deeper in your well of conscience and morality to reflect on what you are doing to undermine the promise of independence and wealth creation. I have no other way of inducing or negotiating with people like you who believe that harvesting where they have not sown is fair game and, more significantly, that public power can legitimately be used to leverage a person into wealth and personal aggrandizement.
People

Stanford University Names First CIO

Harvard Business School CIO Stephen Gallagher to lead Stanford's IT operations, strategic planning

Stanford University (CA) has named its first chief information officer. Stephen Gallagher, currently CIO at Harvard Business School, will join Stanford in March to oversee an IT organization with approximately 550 staff members and an annual budget of $150 million.

Among Gallagher's first tasks will be leading a review to determine which technology, systems and data should be moved to the cloud and which computing should remain managed within the university.

His portfolio will include enterprise business applications, e-mail and calendar systems; data warehouse and reporting environments; networking and telecommunications; research computing; data centers; help desk and distributed client support; and web design and development services.

In addition to collaborating with distributed IT departments across campus, he will also co-lead the CIO Council, consisting of CIOs from each of Stanford's schools and departments. He also will work closely with the CIOs of the Stanford Medicine entities. Information Security reports to both the CIO and chief risk officer.

Gallagher will report to Randy Livingston, vice president for business affairs, chief financial officer and university liaison for Stanford Medicine. "As CIO, Steve will be expected to provide a vision for how technology can drive better delivery of Stanford's mission, while balancing the need to keep current technology operations at this scale running efficiently," Livingston said in a prepared statement.

Gallagher has been CIO at Harvard Business School since 2013, overseeing 275 information technology staffers and contractors with responsibility for the administrative systems, academic technology and research platforms for the school. In addition, he has co-chaired the Harvard University Enterprise Architecture Committee and the University Data Management Common API Initiative.

He worked at the University of San Francisco from 2004 to 2013, where he became CIO and vice president for information technology services. Before joining USF, Gallagher served in senior leadership roles in the venture capital and financial technology sectors in the Bay Area and Boston, including roles as chief technology officer at Fidelity Investments Capital Technology and vice president of internet development at State Street Corp.
High-Stakes Testing

More Colleges Backing off SAT and ACT Admissions Rule

A running tally shows that more than a thousand accredited, four-year colleges and universities now make their admissions decisions about all or many applicants without considering ACT or SAT test scores. The count is being maintained by FairTest, a non-profit that advocates against high-stakes testing in university admissions and public schools because of its potential negative consequences.

According to FairTest Public Education Director Bob Schaeffer, half of the top 100 liberal arts colleges listed by U.S. News & World Report show up on the test-optional list, as do most of the colleges and universities in New England and more than half in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The list covers colleges and universities in every state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The fastest growth of institutions leaving the ACT and SAT "mandates," said Schaeffer, has occurred since the SAT was redesigned. Since then, "more than 100 colleges and universities reduced standardized exam requirements in that period."

Top-rated "test-optional" schools include American, Brandeis, George Washington, Wake Forest and Worcester Polytechnic. The latest to drop the admissions requirement was New Jersey's College of St. Elizabeth, which made sharing exams results optional last fall. As President Helen Streubert explained at the time, "We feel that academic achievement, particularly a student's overall grade point average and grades in core areas and teacher recommendations, are far better indicators of how a student will perform in college than the results of a standardized test."

"College and university leaders are sending a clear message," Schaeffer concluded. "Test scores are not needed to make sound educational decisions. It's time for K-12 policy makers to pay attention and back off their testing obsession for public schools."
Journo attack: Case against assailants

Tanahu court has remanded the suspected attackers of the Post correspondent Sudip Kaini to six days investigative custody.
Note : The Cigar of the Year Countdown will not publish on Thursday January 18th, 2018. We will announce our winner for the Prime Time Award for Person of the Year. The countdown resumes on Friday January 19th with the unveiling of the #1 and #2 Cigars for 2017.

When Shah released Gaaja Natural last year, he knocked it out of the ballpark. Now with the Gaaja Maduro, Shah hits another home run The end result is (he) created another stellar cigar and a great complement to the original Gaaja. Flavor-wise, this is one of the finest Brazilian Mata Fina box-pressed cigars I have smoked.

Wrapper : Brazilian Mata Fina

Binder : Ecuador HVA Seca Mejorada

Filler :

 Seco: Peru Hybrid Habano

 Viso: Ecuador Criollo 98, Paraguay Hybrid Habano 2000, Dominican Criollo 98.

 Ligero: Dominican HVA Mejorado

Country of Origin: Costa Rica (Tabacos de Costa Rica SA)

Torpedo: 6 1/2 x 54 (Box Pressed)

Price: $15.50

Review: Gaaja Maduro Torpedo by Bombay Tobak (3/14/17)

Brand Appearances on Countdown: 3 (2015, 2016, 2017)

Coming in at #3 is the Gaaja Maduro Torpedo. In 2016, Bombay Tobak launched a new brand called the Gaaja. Its the maduro counterpart to the Gaaja Natural  which captured the #5 Cigar of the Year in 2016.

Gaaja (pronounced Gaa-ya) is a name that traces back to the Sanskrit name Gaja (pronounced guy) which means elephant. Gaaja was a project that was worked on for three years and the connection with the name elephant represents the slower and patient pace by which Shah brought this brand to market. Gaaja was Bombay Tobaks first box-pressed offering, but what was more interesting was the incorporation of tobacco from Paraguay into the filler  something not often seen in premium hand-made cigars.

The Gaaja Maduro replaces the Hybrid Ecuadorian wrapper found on the original Gaaja Natural with a Brazilian Mata Fina one. The remainder of the Gaaja Maduro uses similar components to the Gaaja Natural, but some of the proportions were adjusted to accommodate the new wrapper. This includes an Ecuadorian HVA binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, and even tobaccos from Paraguay. The box-pressed Gaaja Maduro Torpedo measures 6 1/2 x 52. The cigar is produced in Costa Rica at the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory.

The Gaaja Maduro Torpedo lands Bombay Tobak on the Cigar Coop Countdown for the third consecutive year. While this is the first entry on the 2017 Countdown for the nation of Costa Rica, it also becomes the highest placed cigar in the history of the Countdown from that country. For those also keeping score, Gaaja Maduro is the eleventh maduro on the 2017 Countdown and the fifth box-pressed cigar. It is also only the third figurado to make this years Countdown,

Flavor-wise, the Gaaja Maduro Torpedo delivers notes of mocha, cedar, white pepper, citrus, and herbal spice. Along the way, there are plenty of flavor transitions. This is a cigar that starts out medium in strength and body before both attributes progress to medium to full in the second half.

The Gaaja Maduro Torpedo is a unique and enjoyable cigar. Its one of the best of the best from the pool of cigars eligible for the Countdown  and worthy of a top three spot on the Countdown.





For details of the 2017 Cigar of the Year Countdown, see our 2017 criteria.

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
The battle against Warning Label Regulations for premium cigars issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is going to get some more attention in 2018. Last week, a group of businesses filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas stating that the FDAs Warning Label requirements are in violation of the First Amendment. This group includes Texas retailer En Fuego Tobacco Shop, El Cubano Cigars (Cuba Libre Enterprises LLC), and the Texas Cigar Merchants Association (TxCMA).

After some delays, Warning Label Regulations are set to take place August 10, 2018. Several key points of the case include:

The requirement to submit a Warning Label Plan 12 months in advance. This also constrains cigar companies from talking about new products  something the group argues is in violation of the first amendment.

The parties argue that The FDAs rule (on Warning Labels) requiring manufacturers and retailers to blare the Governments message on their own packages and advertisements plainly violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment prohibits government restrictions of speech, as well as mandates compelling a person to speak as the Government wishes, except under limited circumstances.

Many larger companies already use a set of Warning Labels that are used as a part of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission. The FDAs rule states that 30 percent of a package must be used for warning labels  a 475 percent increase from the FTC warnings. The group argues these labels take up space where manufacturers and retailers speak to customers.

The parties point out that the FDA has said it is re-opening deliberations on how to look at regulating premium cigars. The parties also contend, The First Amendment forbids the Government from restricting or compelling speech with regard to a class of products before it has completed its study of the need for the regulation.

The lawsuit filed by the Texas parties is concurrent to the cigar industrys lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Warning labels are currently front and center with that case. A motion for summary judgment has been filed by the trade associations (Cigar Association of America, Cigar Rights of America, and the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers). Oral arguments were heard in court last month, and currently, the trade associations are awaiting a ruling from Judge Amit Mehta in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

For detail on Warning Label Requirements, refer to our article:
At the 2017 IPCPR Trade Show, Plasencia Cigars unveiled the Plasencia Cosecha 146. For over 150 years, the Plasencia family has been synonymous with growing tobacco and handling the production of cigars. Over the past year, the Plasencias have launched their own brand, Plasencia Cigars. The name Cosecha translates to harvest and for the Cosecha 146, it refers to the 146th harvest by the Plasencia family. This is a crop that the Plasencias have considered to be exceptional from their farms. The tobaccos were harvested back in 2011-12 and have been aging since then. Today we take a look at the Plasencia Cosecha 146 in the San Agustin (Torpedo) size.

The idea of a Cosecha (single harvest year) cigar is not a new one. Weve seen several releases into the market over the past year. Cosecha projects are interesting because variations in the profile of tobacco can vary from year to year. As a result, while the blend components can remain the same, using a different harvest year can bring out different subtleties in the blend. Given the Plasencia familys long history in growing, they are an ideal brand to bring a project such as the Plasencia Cosecha 146 to life.

Without further ado, lets break down the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The Plasencias grow tobacco in many countries including Honduras in Nicaragua. The Cosecha 146 uses tobaccos harvested from its farms in both of those countries.

Wrapper: Honduran

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (Plasencia Cigars SA)

Vitolas Available

The Cosecha 146 is available in five sizes. Each size is packaged in 20-count boxes. The name San Agustin refers to a region in the Western part of Honduras.

La Musica: 5 x 50 (Robusto)

La Vega: 5 1/4 x 52 (Robusto Gordo)

San Luis: 5 3/4 x 54 (Toro)

San Agustin: 6 1/4 x 52 (Torpedo)

Monte Carlo: 6 x 58 (Gordo)

Appearance

The Honduran wrapper of the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin has a beautiful Colorado red color to it. This was a wrapper that didnt have much oil on it, but it had more of a silky complexion. This was a smooth wrapper where there were some visible veins. Any visible wrapper seams were on the thin side. There was some steepness on the tapered head of the San Agustin Torpedo.

There are three bands on the Plasencia Cosecha 146. The primary band is highlighted by a thick gray stripe on the upper portion of the band and a thick white stripe on the lower end. The band also has a chrome stripe across the top and bottom. On the gray stripe is the text PLASENCIA in large white font. On the white stripe is the text 146 COSECHA in large chrome font.

One of the secondary bands for the Plasencia Cosecha 146 is above the Plasencia Cigars band. The upper band is gray with the Plasencia P logo in white arranged in a repeating pattern. The other secondary band is on the footer. This band is gray with white pinstripe trim across the top and bottom. The text COSECHA PRIVADA is white and prominently featured on the footer band.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

To kick off my experience with the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin, I went with a straight cut that removed both the cap and pig-tail. I opted to use my Credo Special T cutter using the 36 ring gauge hole to get an ideal cut for this figurado. I then moved on to the pre-light draw experience. The dry draw delivered a mix of dusty earth, cedar, and citrus. Overall, I considered the pre-light experience of this cigar to be satisfactory. At this point, I removed the footer band of the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin, lit up the cigar and moved into the smoking phase.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin delivered a mix of earth, herb, cocoa, and cedar notes. Throughout the smoking experience, there was an underlying creamy texture. The earth and herbal notes settle into the background early on. As the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin moved through the first third, there were times the cocoa crept into the forefront. The cedar notes were prominent on the after-draw and on the retro-hale.

The second third of the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin saw the cedar notes moved toward the forefront joining the earth notes. Both of these notes varied in intensity. Meanwhile, the herbal notes moved into the background joining the cocoa notes in the background.

The last third saw the cedar notes become the main flavor. If you look at cedar as a combination of sweetness and spice, I found the sweetness had the slight edge here. Meanwhile the herbal, cocoa, and earth notes remained secondary notes  balancing the cedar in the forefront nicely. This is the way the Plasencia Coscheca 146 San Agustin came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin is a well-constructed cigar and this reflected nicely on the burn and draw. There was a slight amount of jaggedness from time to time on the burn line, but overall I found the San Agustin maintained a relatively straight burn path. This was a cigar that didnt require any excessive touch-ups. The resulting ash had a light gray to it. This was an ash that wasnt overly firm, but it wasnt loose or flaky either. The burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

The draw to the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin struck a nice balance of resistance and openness. Overall this was a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

In terms of strength and body, the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin started out in the mild to medium range. By the second third, both attributes progressed into medium territory. The increase in intensity of strength and body leveled off in the second third and remained more constant for the duration of the smoking experience.

Looking at strength versus body, I found both attributes balanced each other very nicely with the San Agustin vitola with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

The Plasencias have certainly been making great cigars for a long time, and they arent missing a beat with their own blend. While the Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin isnt going to be a cigar that has a radically unique flavor profile, the flavors that are delivered are solid. This isnt going to be a cigar that hits you with spice and nicotine. Instead, with every puff the flavors simply shine. The Plasencia Cosecha 146 San Agustin is a cigar that I could recommend to the novice or experienced cigar enthusiast any time of the day. As for myself, this is a cigar that I would easily smoke again  and its worthy of having multiples in the humidor.

Summary

Key Flavors: Earth, Cedar, Cocoa, Herbal Notes

Burn: Excellent

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium Plus

Strength: Mild to Medium (1st Third), Medium (Remainder)

Body: Mild to Medium (1st Third), Medium (Remainder)

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Buy Multiples

Score: 91

References

News: Cigar News: Plasencia Cosecha 146 Released into U.S. Market

Price: $13.50

Source: Purchased

Brand Reference: Plasencia

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 17, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- The most commonly prescribed medicine for morning sickness may not work, a new report contends.

The drug, Diclegis, failed to meet minimum effectiveness goals in the clinical trial relied upon by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its approval in 2013, Canadian researchers reported.

"There was a very small difference between the women who got a placebo and the women who got this medicine," said Dr. Nav Persaud, a researcher and family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

Given that, the FDA should reconsider its approval of Diclegis, Persaud said.

"I think medications should only be approved and prescribed if they're proved to be effective," Persaud said. "The very basic question that needs to be answered is if it's effective. If the medication is not effective, it doesn't matter if it's safe or not."

But one of the nation's leading medical associations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), responded to the new paper with the equivalent of a yawn.

Just this month, ACOG updated its practice guidelines for treating nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, maintaining that Diclegis "is safe and effective and should be considered first-line pharmacotherapy," said Dr. Mark Turrentine, chair of ACOG's Practice Bulletin Obstetrics Committee.

"If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the authors of the original studies, or the drug manufacturer correct or retract any of the evidence used to develop ACOG's guidance, we will reassess and consider the conclusions at that time," Turrentine said in a statement.

Diclegis is the combination of an antihistamine, doxylamine succinate, with a form of vitamin B6 called pyridoxine hydrochloride.

This combination drug had been available for in the United States starting in the 1950s, but was voluntarily pulled from the market in the 1980s over concerns that it was linked with birth defects.

But lawsuits related to those claims were eventually dismissed, and efforts began in the 2000s to get the drug back onto the U.S. market, Persaud said. The drug has always been available in Canada and is currently sold there as Diclectin.

Persaud and his colleagues reviewed the 9,000-page clinical study report submitted by the drug's manufacturer, Duchesnay Inc., based in Quebec, Canada. Results of the short two-week trial, which involved 187 women at six U.S. medical centers, were published in 2010.

The clinical trial had set a goal of improving symptoms by 3 points on a 13-point scale, but the researchers found that Diclegis had only resulted in a 0.73-point improvement.

While the results were statistically significant, they were not large enough to be noticeable by women taking the medication, the Canadian researchers argue. Most women given a placebo had few or no symptoms by the end of the two-week trial.

There's no evidence that Diclegis produces birth defects on the scale of a drug like thalidomide, Persaud said, but some concerns do remain about its safety.

"No medication is ever going to be perfectly safe," Persaud said. "If this medication was proven to be effective, you could look at those small potential risks and say overall if it's going to make women feel better it's probably worth it, but if the medication is not proven to be effective then it's not clear what would balance off those risks."

Duchesnay responded to the new paper with a statement noting that the safety and effectiveness of Diclegis has been proven in at least 20 different studies and evidence reviews, and that ACOG, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics all recommend the drug as first-line therapy for morning sickness.

"It has been thoroughly studied for both safety and efficacy, but equally as important, it has been successfully used for decades by pregnant women to manage [morning sickness]," the company said.

Given how well the drug has worked in practice, the new paper is "much to do about nothing," said Dr. Fahimeh Sasan, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

No one would argue that it was a very small study, and that the improvement in symptoms didn't reach the benchmark initially set, Sasan said.

But in everyday life the drug has proven very effective, said Sasan, who works at a "very bustling, busy" obstetrics practice on the Upper East Side of Manhattan that performs 750 to 800 deliveries a year.

"Anecdotally, from our practice, we do see a significant benefit," Sasan said. "It actually has been quite effective and our patients are very pleased while they take it."

In addition, nothing in this study raises any red flags regarding the overall safety of Diclegis, Sasan said.

"It's safe, and within our practice we are finding that women only have to take it once a day," Sasan said, adding that other nausea/vomiting drugs require multiple daily doses and come with more significant side effects.

The study was published online Jan. 17 in the journal PLOS ONE.

More information

For more on morning sickness, visit the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
TUESDAY, Jan. 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- It sounds counterintuitive, but researchers report that writing a to-do list just before you hit the pillow might send you off to sleep more quickly.

The lab study included 57 university students who took five minutes before going to bed to either write down what they needed to do over the next few days, or to list the tasks they had completed during the previous few days.

Those who made a to-do list fell asleep faster than those who listed tasks they had already completed, according to the Baylor University scientists.

"We live in a 24/7 culture in which our to-do lists seem to be constantly growing and causing us to worry about unfinished tasks at bedtime," said study author Michael Scullin. He is director of Baylor's Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory.

"There are two schools of thought about this. One is that writing about the future would lead to increased worry about unfinished tasks and delay sleep. The alternative hypothesis is that writing a to-do list will 'off-load' those thoughts and reduce worry," Scullin explained in a university news release.

"Most people just cycle through their to-do lists in their heads, and so we wanted to explore whether the act of writing them down could counteract nighttime difficulties with falling asleep," he added.

The researchers had the students stay in the sleep lab on a weeknight, to avoid weekend effects on bedtime. The likelihood of having unfinished tasks was also probably higher on a weeknight, Scullin noted.

One group was asked to write down everything they needed to remember to do, while the other group was asked to write about tasks completed during the previous few days.

All of the students were told they could go to bed at 10:30 p.m. "We absolutely restricted any technology, homework, etc.," Scullin said. "It was simply lights out after they got into bed."

Despite the promising findings, a larger study is still needed to confirm the results, he added.

"Measures of personality, anxiety and depression might moderate the effects of writing on falling asleep, and that could be explored in an investigation with a larger sample," Scullin said.

Also, "we recruited healthy young adults, and so we don't know whether our findings would generalize to patients with insomnia, though some writing activities have previously been suggested to benefit such patients," he pointed out.

About 40 percent of American adults have trouble falling asleep at least a couple of times a month, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on sleep.
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New York, January 16, 2018The arrest of a lawmaker accused of plotting the murders of two journalists in 2015 is an important step against impunity in Guatemala, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Guatemalan authorities arrested Congressman Julio Juarez Ramirez, who allegedly ordered the attack that killed Danilo Lopez and Federico Salazar, near his home on the morning of January 13 and charged him with murder, according to reports.

Too often cases of journalist murders in the Northern Triangle of Central America end with the conviction of some low-level gun for hire, or in total impunity, CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney said. The arrest of the alleged mastermind is a significant step toward justice for Danilo Lopez and Federico Salazar. We hope Guatemalan authorities will pursue all those responsible, and break the cycle of impunity with this case.

Lopez, a reporter for the Guatemala City newspaper Prensa Libre, and Salazar, a reporter for the Guatemala City station Radio Nuevo Mundo, were shot and killed by two unidentified gunman while walking in a park in Mazatenango, the capital of southwest Suchitepequez department, in March 2015, CPJ documented at the time.

According to investigators with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Juarez ordered the attack on Lopez because he was working on a story about corruption in the local government of Santo Tomas La Union where Juarez was mayor at the time. In December 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Juarez under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for his alleged involvement in the murders.
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Beirut, January 17, 2018Authorities should immediately release two journalists from the independent news website Jfranews who have been charged under Jordans Press and Publication Law and Cybercrime Law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

An Amman prosecutor yesterday ordered the arrest of the papers editor-in-chief, Shadi al-Zinati, and editor Omar Sabra al-Mahrama after Jordanian Finance Minister Omar Malhas filed a complaint against Jfranews, according to news reports and an article by the journalists employer.

A post on the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeeras official Facebook page said that the journalists were arrested over an article published earlier this month about the finance minister. News reports said that the article accused Malhas of tax evasion. The director of the Department of Income and Sales Tax said the report was inaccurate, according to reports.

Jordanian authorities must not use broad and vaguely defined laws to imprison journalists and stifle media freedom, said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour in New York. We call on authorities to immediately release Shadi al-Zinati and Omar Sabra al-Mahrama and allow them to do their job safely and without fear of retaliation.

The prosecutor charged the journalists with violating articles 5, 7, and 38 of the Press and Publication Law, and Article 11 of the Cybercrime Law, according to news reports, regional press freedom groups, and Daoud Kuttab, a regional press freedom advocate based in Jordan.

The journalists outlet, Jfranews, did not immediately respond to CPJs request for comment.

Jordans Press and Publication Law sets vague limits for what publications can publish and states that reproduced or quoted press material should be treated as original material. According to Freedom House, the law carries fines of up to US$40,000 for speech deemed to denigrate the government or religion. Those convicted under the Cybercrime Law, which penalizes online defamation, face up to four months in prison and a fine of 5,000 Jordanian dinars (US$7,000).

Journalists held a sit-in at the Jordanian Press Association today demanding the release of the al-Zinati and al-Mahrama, according to news reports.
KMG statement on its coverage of Sumargis financial transactions

The Kantipur Media Group (KMG) has been practicing professional journalism for the last 25 years, putting public interest at the core. Lately, we have been carrying a series of news reports about the activities of agents involved in financial misconduct under political protection.
Some might be surprised to know that labor union violence, exploitation, and coercion are still legal today as a result of a loophole in the 1946 Hobbs Act.

It is absurd that under so-called legitimate circumstances, such as seeking higher wages, union members can potentially get away with slashing tires or detonating pipe bombs in order to coerce their opponents. U.S. laws do not fully protect employers, nonmembers, and non-striking members from union threats.

Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) proposes to close the union loophole by introducing the Freedom from Union Violence Act of 2017 (H.R. 4422). The proposed bill states that nothing shall be construed to preclude Federal jurisdiction over any violation of this section, on the basis that the conduct at issues occurred during the course of a labor dispute or in pursuit of a legitimate business or labor objective. This would eliminate the legitimate cause loophole created by the Supreme Court and increase the probability of convicting union members who use or threaten the use of violence as a coercive measure.

The Hobbs Act was enacted in 1946 to regulate extortion and robbery by prohibiting the interference with commerce by threats or violence. It was intended to stop violence and sabotage of interstate commerce, regardless of whether it was union-related. Violators were fined up to $10,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 20 years.

The union loophole originated with a 1973 Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Enmons. The case was based in Louisiana and filed by the federal government under the Hobbs Act. The federal government argued that union members affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers violated the law during a labor strike by firing rifles at company transformers, draining oil from a transformer, and blowing up a company substation.

Although the evidence clearly pointed to union violence, the Supreme Court ruled that under the Hobbs Act the use of violence did not break the law as long as union members were pursuing legitimate objectives. This means that under the Hobbs Act the use of violence is not punishable by state and federal laws (although it is still punishable under normal state law). The case made it legal for unions to use or threaten violence and extortion as long as they could provide evidence that it was for a legitimate cause.

Since 1997, many members of Congress have proposed legislation to modify the Hobbs Act, but with no success. Union members have successfully downplayed the role of union violence and extortion, leading to lack of legislative remedies. A 1999 study by the John M. Olin Institute for Employment Practice and Policy counted 9,785 criminal acts between 1975 and 1996 that could be attributed to unions. Additionally, recent indictments of unions, such as Bostons Teamsters Local 25 which terrorized Top Chef Host Padma Lakshmi and coworkers for crossing their picket line, suggest that violence is not unusual.

Opponents of amending the Hobbs Act note that many union perpetrators of threats and violence have been convicted, as was the case with union leader Joseph Dougherty of Iron Workers Local 401. Although this may be true, there is no reason to leave a loophole in the legislation. The law should be consistent in its stance on union violence.

As Ken Boehm and Peter Flaherty of the National Legal and Policy Center have written, Many [perpetrators], in fact, have been indicted and convicted. But that does not mean that current law is sufficient to the task of bringing such criminals and their accessories to justice.

All workers, union and non-union, should be treated fairly and with respect. By allowing the union violence loophole in the Hobbs Act to persist for so long, Congress has condoned illegal acts by union members as they pursue so-called legitimate objectives. It is time for union threats, violence, and extortion to be deemed illegal. Congress should finally pass the Freedom from Union Violence Act in order to make the workplaces safer for all.

Emily Top is a research associate at Economics21.

Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning Ebrief.
On the morning of January 9th, Chechen authorities arrested Oyub Titiev, head of the Chechen branch of Memorial, Russias leading non-governmental organization that monitors human rights in Russia and other post-Soviet states. Authorities initially denied that Mr. Titiev was in custody, preventing his timely access to his lawyer, but later announced that they had found 180 grams of a marijuana-like substance in a bag in Titievs car and charged him with illegal possession of drugs. [If convicted,] Mr. Titiev could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.

Oyub Titiev took over as head of the Chechen branch of Memorial in 2009, after his predecessor, human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, was abducted from her home and murdered. According to her colleagues, she had been working on extremely sensitive cases of alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Indeed, Chechen authorities under the head of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, have long targeted the human rights watchdog organization Memorial, its employees, as well as others who speak out against alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya. The U.S. government recently imposed sanctions on Mr. Kadyrov for his involvement in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture.

Framing people for drug crimes has become an increasingly frequent tactic used by Chechnyas authorities to punish and discredit their critics in the eyes of conservative Chechen society, writes Human Rights Watch Russia Program Director Tanya Lokshina. In recent years, Kadyrov has often publicly smeared and threatened rights activists, and some of those activists also suffered attacks and harassment by local security officials or pro-government thugs.

Oyub Titievs arrest, said State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert in a written statement, is the latest in a string of recent reports of [what appear to be] alarming human rights violations in Chechnya. We call on Chechen authorities to release Mr. Titiev immediately and allow independent civil society to operate free from harassment and intimidation.

Given well-founded concerns about potential mistreatment of Mr. Titiev in custody, we urge Russian federal authorities to ensure that Mr. Titievs rights are protected in accordance with the Russian constitution and Russias human rights obligations.
President Donald Trump has once again approved the waiver of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran which were first lifted under the 2015 Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.The same day, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new non-nuclear sanctions targeting 14 individuals and entities in connection with serious human rights abuses and censorship in Iran, and with support to designated Iranian weapons proliferators.

In a statement, President Donald Trump said he approved waiving the nuclear sanctions only to secure our European allies agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal. This, he declared, is a last chance. In the absence of such an agreement, the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.

President Trump also wrote that he is open to work with Congress on changes to a U.S. law that governs U.S. participation in the deal. Those changes, he emphasized, would need to include four critical components: that Iran would allow necessary inspections at all locations requested by international inspectors; that Iran never comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon; that the provisions of the modified law have no expiration date; and that Irans development and testing of missiles be subject to severe sanctions.

President Trump reiterated his belief that the Iran deal gave Iran far too much in exchange for too little.

President Trump called on European allies to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the [Iran nuclear] deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people.
Moroccan students during a Spanish class at the Cervantes Institute in Rabat. INSTITUTO CERVANTES

The strengthening bond between Spain and Morocco is reflected in their cooperation on illegal immigration, terrorism and the economy. Indeed, Spain replaced France four years ago as Moroccos main trading partner. However, when it comes to the Spanish language, Spain has lost ground in the last decade as Moroccan students choose to study French and English instead.

Mohamed Dahou, a Spanish translator who finished his degree in Spanish language in 2008 at Fez University, is now 33 and seeking work in Rabat while studying English. If you want a good job in Morocco, first you have to have a very good level of French because its our second official language after Arabic. Besides French, English offers an increasing number of opportunities. Spanish is no more than a bonus. I should have studied law and learned Spanish on my own.

Officially, its English, English, English and parents also demand English is taught in high school Fatiha Benlabbah

Dahou adds that when he started studying, universities had teaching jobs, but by the time he had finished, demand for such positions had dried up. You can still study a degree in Spanish in Fez, Agadir, Casablanca, Rabat, Tetouan and Nador, but there are fewer and fewer lecturers because they hardly have any students, he says. Most of my classmates who graduated with me dont even use Spanish in their private lives, only to read the odd article. Some make their living from French translations and others changed direction completely.

Fatiha Benlabbah, director of the Institute for Spanish and Portuguese Studies in Rabat, says that it is almost impossible to obtain current official figures on Spanish in Moroccos state education system. A veteran Spanish teacher, she is probably responsible for digging out most of the data available. From the 1990s until 2007-2008, there were more than 400 students signing up for Spanish at university a year, she says. But at Casablanca University, between new students and those repeating, there were scarcely 107 by 2013-2014. This number fell to 69 the following year, then to 64 in 2015-2016 and 50 in 2016-2017.

There is a lot of talk about getting closer and getting to know each other better so we can stop stereotyping, says Benlabbah, but the reality is what it is. When we went from Rabat to Tetouan or Tangier in the 1980s, you heard Spanish. In Rabat, it was French that was spoken automatically and in the north it was Spanish. You got to Tangier and you would find Spanish television on. It is what characterized the north of the country. The government trained Spanish secondary teachers to meet the demand. Now Spanish teachers are only trained in Tetouan. Theres a drop in the number of students studying Spanish in both high schools and universities. Officially, its English, English, English and parents also demand that English be taught in high school.

Javier Galvan, who coordinates all the Cervantes Institutes in North Africa, says its a case of being realistic. He also argues for the creation of an entity to study the evolution of Spanish so that the current situation can be properly measured. We dont know exactly how many students are signed up to academies, he says.

A Moroccan improves his French, which allows him to improve his job. Next he learns English, which he speaks with tourists Yolanda Soler

The Cervantes Institute has six centers in Morocco, scattered between Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier and Tetouan. In 2008, they had 13,542 students between them, a figure that fell to 11,409 by last year. In a country with a population of 34 million, most of the students are from middle- and upper-class backgrounds. But the data becomes less clear in the public sector.

Still, Galvan agrees that the role of the Spanish language has diminished in Moroccan society. We have to face up to whats happening now. Spanish has to be considered a complementary language as opposed to one competing with French. If we are realistic, we cant expect that simply because of our proximity to each other and our common history, people here are going to study Spanish.

There is not even a big demand for Spanish in Marrakech, Moroccos biggest tourist center. According to Yolanda Soler, the director of the Cervantes Institute there, A Moroccan improves his French, which allows him to improve his job. Next he learns English, which he speaks with tourists. Years ago, five star hotels would ask us for courses in Spanish, but not any more. And in the Medina or in any restaurant, the shopkeepers and waiters Spanish is enough to sell their product.

Cervantes goes south Morocco has six Cervantes Institutes scattered between Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier and Tetouan. In 2008, they had 13,542 students between them, a figure that dropped to 11,409 in 2017. The number of universities offering Spanish courses have fallen. From the 1990s until 2008, there were around 400 students a year. Now there are 50. The economic crisis and the lack of employment in Spain have reduced interest in learning the language.

The new director of Cervantes in Casablanca, Maria Jesus Garcia recently organized the Spanish as a Foreign Language in North Africa Congress. When I arrived in Casablanca [four months ago], the teachers told me that in the last few years the students had lost interest in learning Spanish due to the economic crisis and the lack of jobs in Spain, she says.

Garcia is, however, optimistic about the future. She points out that the Casablanca center has more than 3,000 students, which is not just more than all the Cervantes Institutes in Morocco, it makes it the seventh most popular Cervantes center in the world. She also points out that there are a large number of Spanish firms in Morocco. And other foreign companies employ Spanish professionals to manage their branches here, to achieve a better understanding between the two cultures, she adds. I prefer to be optimistic about the future.

Fatiha Benlabbah, however, believes that a Spanish speaking elite is emerging due to the lack of Spanish in public education. There is a Moroccan elite that goes to Spanish schools and then sends their children to Spanish universities. But its the majority that matters, she says. I want the progress of Spanish in the world to reach Morocco too.

English version by Heather Galloway.
Roger Torrent (l) greets former speaker Carme Forcadell. MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI

Roger Torrent, a 38-year-old deputy with the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left (ERC), has become the speaker of the new Catalan parliament that emerged from the December 21 election, which yielded a majority of seats for separatist parties.

On Wednesday, lawmakers meeting at the first session voted in the members of the Mesa del Parlament, the permanent board of officials that sets the chambers agenda. The outcome of the vote, which had been widely expected, gives control of this pivotal body to the separatist bloc. During the last political term, the separatist-controlled Mesa allowed the votes that resulted in the passing of self-made laws and a unilateral declaration of independence.

Mending society

In his opening address to the new parliament, Torrent used a much more conciliatory tone than Ernest Maragall, the veteran lawmaker who provisionally presided the session until the speakers appointment.

Torrent said he will work tirelessly to restore the Catalan institutions

I want to contribute to mending Catalan society, said Torrent, calling Catalonia a society of crossed identities and a plural country. He underscored that as mayor of Sarria de Ter (Girona), he always tried to reach across the aisle, and said he intends to do the same now as speaker of the Catalan parliament.

Torrent announced that he will work tirelessly to restore Catalan institutions, a reminder that regional self-rule has been temporarily taken over by central authorities in Madrid after invoking Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.

The new speaker also mentioned the eight absent deputies who are either in pre-trial custody in Madrid in connection with the rebellion probe, or in flight from justice in Belgium. I would not be honest if we didnt denounce this fact resoundingly, said Torrent, who pledged to defend the rights of all deputies,  especially those who are not here.

The members of the new Mesa del Parlament.

Two rounds

Torrent failed to secure the 68 votes necessary for an absolute majority in the first round of voting, and won in a runoff with a simple majority of 65 votes from the separatist parties Junts per Catalunya, ERC and the far-left CUP.

There were 56 votes for Jose Maria Espejo, the candidate for Ciudadanos, the pro-unity party that was the winner of the December election with a majority of seats (37) and a majority of votes. The unionist bloc, however, is not large enough to outnumber the separatists inside the 135-seat assembly.

Besides Ciudadanos, the Popular Party (PP) and the Catalan Socialists (PSC) also voted for Espejo, while the eight representatives of the officially unaligned Catalunya en Comu-Podem group cast blank ballots.

Mystery vote

There was one additional blank vote by a deputy whose identity remains a mystery, as ballots were cast inside a box following a roll call. The Socialists have categorically denied the possibility that the rebel deputy may be one of their own, specifically Ramon Espadaler, a former chief of internal affairs in the government of Artur Mas  under whose tenure the independence drive gained new traction  and a former leader of the now-defunct party Unio Democratica de Catalunya. Espadaler has denied on Twitter that he is the deputy who broke with the party line.

Torrent will be replacing Carme Forcadell, the former speaker under whom the regional parliament passed controversial self-made laws last year despite protests from the opposition and warnings by the parliamentary counsel. Forcadell has been targeted in a Supreme Court investigation into rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds by secessionist officials, and was briefly remanded in custody. After telling the judge that the independence declaration of October was merely symbolic, and pledging to obey constitutional laws, she was released on bail.

Separatists will hold four of the seven seats on the Mesa  two for Junts per Catalunya and two for ERC  while Ciudadanos gets two and the Socialists one.

Josep Costa (Junts per Catalunya) and Jose Maria Espejo (Ciudadanos) will be the first and second deputy speakers, respectively. The four secretaries are Eusebi Campdepadros (Junts per Catalunya), David Perez (PSC), Joan Garcia (Ciudadanos) and Alba Verges (ERC).

English version by Susana Urra.
Deputy Transport Minister of the Islamic Republic, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan has warned that Tehrans multi-billion-dollar deal for buying Airbus planes will be off the table if the US leaves the nuclear deal, ILNA reported on Wednesday, January 17.

When the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA was signed between Iran and world powers, sanctions on technology and financing were lifted and Iran got the chance to buy Western planes renew its aging commercial fleet.

"As long as uncertainties are not resolved, we will not provide down payments, Fakhrieh Kashan told ILNA, adding, We will wait to see whether US remains committed to JCPOA or not, and then, make our final decision.

The sales chief of Airbus, John Leahy had earlier on Monday noted that Tehran would take delivery of dozens of European jets it has ordered, but warned that the transactions could take longer to complete than planned.

"Considering Mr. Trumps stance on pulling out of JCPOA, we must make sure the licenses will remain valid--- regardless of any decision taken by the US," Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan cautioned.

The US treasurys office of foreign assets control (Ofac) issued licenses in 2016 for Airbus to sell 100 planes to the national carrier Iran Air, which has also ordered 80 planes from Boeing. The European firm requires US export licenses because some of its parts are manufactured there, AFP reported.

"Ofacs licenses are valid until December 2020, but these licenses have been issued under the JCPOA," said Fakhrieh Kashan. "In the most pessimistic case, if America wanted to pull out of the JCPOA, then it can be expected that the executive departments, too, will obey this decision."

Fakhrieh Kashan had earlier insisted that US decision on staying in or dropping out of the JCPOA would not have any impact on Tehrans deal to buy Boeing and Airbus jets.

On Friday, January 12, President Donald Trump issued a statement declaring that he will renew suspension of nuclear sanctions for the last time.

While announcing that the White House is ready to cooperate in composing a bipartisan resolution, listed tough requirements for keeping JCPOA alive.

America's European allies have insisted that JCPOA must be respected and adhered to. The Trump administration is discussing ways with the allies to bring them on board and pressure Tehran.

The Islamic Republic top leaders have repeatedly insisted that Iran will not relent to any renegotiation of JCPOA or any attempt to revisit it.
Nurses begin service boycott across country to protest their exploitation

Nurses across the country have begun boycotting the services to end labour abuse against them.
Foreign messaging apps are to blame for recent protests across Iran, according to a group of 170 members of Irans parliament.

In the wake of widespread demonstrations throughout the country over increasing economic hardships, the MPs want other branches of government to join them in supporting the creation of domestic versions of popular foreign messaging apps.

In recent months, the enemies of the Iranian nation made maximum use of foreign messaging apps to create insecurity and chaos in Iranian cities, the MPs wrote in a letter read out in a public session of the parliament January 16.

They claim these apps were also used in the attack on the parliament by Islamic State (IS) militants in June 2017, and must therefore be replaced by domestic equivalents as soon as possible. They also demanded the government do more to prevent the use of anti-filtering software to circumvent existing blocks on apps and websites.

Messaging apps are highly popular in Iran. Nearly 40 million Iranians, half of the countrys population, use the messaging app Telegram for personal and professional purposes.

Media outlets, including foreign-based radio and TV stations such as Radio Farda, have channels on the app through which they reach audiences inside Iran despite a severe Internet censorship regime.

Telegram was temporarily blocked by the government during the recent protests, but could still be accessed via anti-filtering software and proxies, which are widely used in Iran to bypass the censors.

Conservative politicians have been pressuring President Hassan Rouhani to block Telegram permanently, but he has so far resisted the pressure, arguing that thousands of businesses depend on the app.

The proposal to replace apps like Telegram with domestic versions is viewed by many as unrealistic as the quality of Iranian messaging apps is far behind international standards.

In order to fill the gap, Hassan Firouzabadi, head of Irans High Council for Cyberspace, announced that the government will provide a $1.25 million loan at zero percent interest to companies developing domestic messaging apps. However, even if a domestic app could compete with international products from a technical standpoint, the other issue is trust, said Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.

Due to poisonous propaganda against domestic apps, people do not trust them and think their privacy will be violated or they will face problems, which is not correct, he said.

But with dozens of Iranians serving prison sentences for criticizing the regime and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei online, privacy fears and reluctance to use government-backed messaging apps are legitimate.
Referring to the recent widespread protests in more than 100 cities across Iran, former President Mohammad Khatami has urged Tehran authorities on January 16 to listen to peoples demands and avoid humiliating them.

In a message of condolences for the disaster of the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi, Khatami, who was president from 1997 to 2005, mentioned the bloody protests in passing.

Sanchi, carrying 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, exploded and sank last Sunday after more than a week listing off the coast of China. All aboard are presumed dead.

The enemy grabs any opportunity to damage the country, Khatami said, but all state institutions must accept their share of blame for the shortcomings highlighted by the recent protests, Khatami said.

Khatamis comment echoed comments by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attributing the uprising to the enemy, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Khatami called for creating an environment in which people could safely express their wishes and demands without any stammering or hesitation.

The message, published online, also maintains, Without endangering the countrys stability, people should be free to hold official institutions responsible, force them to correct and reform their attitudes, and address peoples problems by designing wise and measured plans.

Khatami had previously been criticized for keeping silent through weeks of protests that left more than 20 dead.

Based on official figures, more than 400 people are still behind bars, many of them barred from contact with their families.

In fact, no one knows exactly how many protesters were arrested and how many have been released. Estimates of arrests go as high as 5,000. There are no independent human rights monitors in Iran.

Advocating citizen rights and accusing the ruling system of abuses usually lands activists in jail.

Apparently referring to the detainees, Khatami urged the leaders to avoid adding insult to injury lest people lose their confidence in official state proclamations and the voting system.

Losing their confidence in the ruling system, Khatami cautioned, might lead them to media outlets and groups that do not have good intentions for the country. This is a general reference to opposition and independent voices, which criticize or reject the Islamic Republic.

The former president also took the opportunity to repeat his call for national and social solidarity, which has been repeatedly dismissed as unwarranted by Khamenei.

Iran belongs to all Iranians and responsible state institutions, who have achieved their credibility and legitimacy from the people, and are accountable to these people. They have the responsibility to respect the people, Khatami concluded.

Earlier, conservative Friday Prayer leader of the capital, Tehran, mid-ranking clergy Kazem Sadiqi, described the recent protesters as garbage and trash.
100 of the Islamic Republics top officials are US permanent residency (green card) holders, a member of Iranian parliaments research arm has disclosed.

In an interview with Tasnim news agency, run by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, a conservative MP, Hossein-Ali Haji-Deligani said on Tuesday, January 16, that research concerning senior officials who are green card holders, has been delivered to the parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Commission last Monday.

The Islamic Republic ratified a motion last November, paving the way for investigating the cases of top Iranian officials who have dual citizenship or carry US green card.

The 33-page report, with forty pages of documents and appendices, show that one hundred of the senior officials of the country have either dual nationality or carry US green cards, maintained Haji-Deligani.

Insisting that the names of these top officials have been listed in the report, Haji-Deligani implicitly accused Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif of negligence, While probing the case, we found out that there was no supervision over those with dual citizenship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Directly criticizing the Interior Ministry, the conservative MP said, The Interior ministry has failed to identify those who have dual citizenship.

But if American dual-citizens hold top positions in the Islamic Republic, it could also be an issue under U.S. law.

The State Department website cautions, Dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries, and either country has the right to enforce its laws. It is important to note the problems attendant to dual nationality. Claims of other countries upon U.S. dual-nationals often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other.

Moreover, it would be interesting to find out if any Iranian officials obtained U.S. permanent residency or citizenship, while they already served the Islamic Republic.

The case of top Islamic Republic managers with dual citizenship has once again emerged at a time when President Hassan Rouhanis office on August 17, 2017 described a conservative MPs comments as disgraceful for the position of legislators and repeating the criminal act against national security and interest.

The conservative representative of Mashhad, Javad Karimi Qoddousi had earlier claimed that some of the members of Rouhanis administration have dual nationality, while one of Rouhanis nominees for serving as minister has a non-Iranian wife.

The case of top managers with dual nationality triggered a heated debate after the Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Irans National Bank (Bank Melli), Mahmoud Reza Khavari fled Iran in 2011, after being allegedly involved in $2.6 billion embezzlement scandal.

Last December, Khavari was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for "disrupting the economic system," Iranian news agencies cited the head of Tehran's Revolutionary Court, as saying on December 9.

Khavari, who obtained Canadian citizenship in 2005, joined his family there in 2011 in the wake of the $2.6 billion fraud scandal, described as the largest-ever such case in Iran.

Tehran has appealed to Canada for assistance, but Ottawa has refused, citing the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty.

The judiciary officials have repeatedly cautioned Rouhanis government for employing people with dual citizenship who intend to infiltrate the core of the Islamic Republics ruling system.

Nevertheless, Rouhanis Intelligence Minister, mid-ranking clergy, Mahmoud Alavi dismissed allegations, insisting that There are no managers with dual citizenship serving at Rouhanis administration and highlighting the case of dual nationals is a scenario written by governments opponents.

Mahmoud Alavi also insisted that people who are carrying US green cards are not counted as dual nationals and installing them in governmental positions, wherever the law permits, is acceptable.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of parliament National Security Commission, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini has cited Alavi as saying, The case of nearly 300 people suspected of having dual citizenship have been studied and fifty of them who had dual nationality were sacked, since 2016.

The Islamic Republic does not recognize dual citizenship.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

A new escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone could provoke a regional conflagration, said Magdalena Grono, Europe and Central Asia Program Director at International Crisis Group.

Grono, in her article titled 'Politics and Security hold each other hostage in Nagorno-Karabakh', said that there is refreshed hope that diplomacy can prevent a new escalation, which in the worst case could provoke a regional conflagration, given Armenias and Azerbaijans respective defence and strategic partnership and mutual support agreements with Russia and Turkey.

She further said that the Jan.18 meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will discuss an increase of the number of OSCE observers, according to diplomats close to the peace process.

Grono stressed that the presidents' October 2017 meeting recommitted both to CSBMs and substantive talks.

But there is also a risk that meetings, if unproductive, will lead to a renewed sense of frustration with diplomacy, and a temptation to view the use of force as a legitimate means to solve the conflict.

"For this to be avoided, progress has to be made on security while political discussions need to resume. But as in many conflicts, security and politics hold each other hostage. The Armenian side insists on confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) before the substance of a future settlement can be discussed. Azerbaijanis, for their part, have been reluctant to commit to CSBMs that would risk cementing the status quo, without discussions on the content of a future deal."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Head of the Turkey-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group Necdet Unuvar will address the Great National Assembly of Turkey in connection with the January 20 tragedy.

The January 20 tragedy will never be forgotten and people will always remember its victims, Unuvar told Trend Jan. 17.

On the night of January 19-20, 1990, 137 people were killed, 744 were injured and 841 were illegally arrested after Soviet troops entered Baku.

The Soviet troops also destroyed 200 apartments and houses, 80 cars, including ambulances, and a large number of private and public property.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, during his visit to the Republic of France, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message Jan. 17.

At the meeting the sides expressed their satisfaction with the current level of bilateral and multilateral relations between Azerbaijan and France. They highlighted the existence of vast potential for further development of relations between the countries in different spheres.



Noting the official visit paid to Azerbaijan as the first member of newly formed French Government, the Secretary of State highly appreciated the results of the visit and the meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.



The interlocutors exchanged views on the current status of negotiations for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mammadyarov provided thorough information on the latest negotiation process on resolution of the conflict, adding that he will meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the Armenian foreign minister on January 18 in Krakow, Poland.



Touching upon the illicit relations of some towns in France with the illegal regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and entry of agents of puppet regime into the territory of France, Mammadyarov underlined the importance of taking necessary measures by central government of France to prevent such ill actions.



Reviewing the economic-trade relations between Azerbaijan and France, the sides highlighted the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation in energy, transport, subway, cosmic, industrial, agriculture, education, culture and other fields. It was also noted that more than 50 French companies operate in Azerbaijan in various sectors.



Underlining the close cooperation between Azerbaijan and France in the field of education, the sides noted the joint Azerbaijani-French University as a vivid example of this cooperation.



Touching upon the Azerbaijan-European Union relations, Mammadyarov said that negotiations on the strategic partnership document between Azerbaijan and the EU are going on, and the relations develop successfully.



At the end of the meeting, agreements on framework and cooperation in financing and dissertation were signed in the presence of ministers between Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Montpellier University. The agreements were signed by Akif Alizade, President of ANAS, and Francois Henn, vice-president for international relations at Montpellier University.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the French Republic Philippe Etienne during his working visit to France, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message Jan. 17.

The sides expressed satisfaction with the development of political dialogue between the two countries and stressed the importance of high-level visits in further deepening of political relations.

Mammadyarov briefed Etienne about the negotiations to settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reiterated Azerbaijan's fair position on the settlement of the conflict, based on the norms and principles of international law.



During the meeting the development of humanitarian and economic-trade relations between the two countries was commended. In this regard, the joint Azerbaijani-French University, the activities of the French lyceum, the support provided for teaching of French, exchange of students, the establishment of relations between the regions of two countries, and the expansion of trade relations were noted.



Mammadyarov spoke about the transport and energy projects implemented in the region with the initiative and support of Azerbaijan and the fundamental reforms and measures taken to develop non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. He invited French companies to be more closely involved in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector.



The sides with satisfaction noted the support provided by France for the development of Azerbaijan's relations with the European Union.



During the meeting, the sides also praised Azerbaijan's tradition of multiculturalism and its contributions to intercultural and interfaith dialogue.



Furthermore at the meeting, the sides exchanged views on regional and global issues.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations Curtis Scaparrotti and Chief of General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov are currently coordinating their meeting in Baku, TASS reports Jan. 17.

Following a two-day session of the NATO Military Committee, Scaparrotti said in September the sides agreed to meet.

This will be the first meeting since 2013 as former US President Barack Obamas administration imposed a ban on personal contacts between Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations and top Russian military commander.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Etibar Najafov has been appointed head of the department for interethnic relations, multiculturalism and religion in the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration.

The position of the head of this newly established department remained vacant for some time.
SC sentences Manange to five years in prison

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday upheld the Patan Appellate Courts decision to imprison Rajib Gurung aka Deepak Manange in attempted murder conviction.
Details added (first version posted on 17:10)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

Azerbaijan welcomes and supports the call of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to revitalize the OSCE Minsk Groups activity on settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict among the conflicts existing in Europe, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend Jan. 17.

Guterres made the remarks at an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly on Jan. 16.

Hajiyev said the UN secretary general noted correctly that the unresolved conflicts against the background of existing resources, opportunities and institutions in Europe can not be justified.

"Although the indivisibility of security is perceived as a single principle in Europe, unfortunately, the reality is far from this," he noted.

The aggressive Armenian separatism, which began in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in late 1980s, resulted in Armenias military aggression against Azerbaijan, the occupation of 20 percent of the countrys territory, bloody ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, and more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs, said Hajiyev.

In contravention of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, the continuing occupation of territories of Azerbaijan, which is an OSCE member state, by another OSCE member state  Armenia  is still a serious threat to regional peace and security, noted the official.

Hajiyev said that Armenia ignores the UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884, demanding full and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Armenias aggressive policy, its attempts to obtain land by force, can be compared with unpleasant experience of Europe in the 30s and 40s of the 20th century, he added.

Hajiyev said that Azerbaijan will continue to work with the co-chairs and the international community to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensure lasting peace and security in the region based on relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the Helsinki Final Act, which mandate the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree Jan. 17 to increase the workload and salaries of teachers working in state primary professional and specialized educational institutions, who passed diagnostic knowledge and skills assessment.

Moreover, the decree envisages increasing the salaries of employees engaged in administrative and educational activity.

Thus, the teachers' training load increases 1.5 times, while the monthly salaries double.

The decree is in force from January 1, 2018.
Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov met a Managing Partner of Ernst &Young (EY) in Azerbaijan Ilgar Veliyev and EY Cleantech and Sustainability Senior Gunel Farajova.

The rector highlighted the guests on activities, structure, achievements and development prospects of the Higher School. Having said that the workshop on Climate Changes and Sustainability conducted by Gunel Farajova at BHOS raised vivid interest from the students, he emphasized the importance of such seminars. Elmar Gasimov expressed his confidence that EY in Azerbaijan would hold similar workshops for BHOS students more often and that the cooperation with the company would successfully develop.

Having extended his gratitude for the interest in strengthening partnership relations with EY in Azerbaijan, Ilgar Veliyev spoke about his company, calling it a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. In his words, EY office in Baku is ready to provide consultations on increasing efficiency of BHOS work and consider opportunities to employ the Higher School graduates in the future.

The sides discussed ways of future cooperation, especially on preparation of the BHOS Sustainability Report, arrangements for the Higher School undergraduates internship at the company to enhance their skills in management, and holding workshops and training courses on career growth and sustainable development. They reached an agreement on several issues related to enhancing partnership between BHOS and EY.

EY (formerly Ernst & Young) is one of the largest multinational professional services firms in the world and it has been operating in Azerbaijan since 1994.

About EY

EY is a global leader in delivering Assurance, Tax, Advisory and Transaction Advisory Services. After opening its office in Baku 23 years ago, the company commenced to provide services in Azerbaijan and the region. Today the EY company in Azerbaijan is not only a leading company, but also the leader in its field.

Expert knowledge and solid experience allows EY to help both national and international companies and state organizations to overcome difficulties caused by global economic problems. Today, more than 200 staff members work at EY office in Baku and provide services to clients in the Azerbaijan Republic. Strong position in the Caspian region and self-sustainment of EY have a great importance for the development of companies operating in the region.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Deputy Chairman of the Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan Shahin Baghirov attended CEO Lunch as an honorary guest.

Having greeted the guests, Baghirov said that regular conduction of CEO Lunch meetings is a positive fact.

He said that a close high-level cooperation has been so far established between the State Customs Committee and the Club, which contributes to the economic development of our country.

State Customs Committee finds support and cooperation with the private sector of Azerbaijan as one of the priority lines of its activity, he said.

Baghirov told the guests about current underway projects and further plans of the Customs Committee. At the end of the meeting he wished all the CEO Lunch participants achievement of all goals set in the New Year.

Chief Executive Officer of the Caspian European Club Mustafa Abbasbeyli thanked all the attendees of the event for their active participation and fruitful discussion. He said that CEO Lunch Baku is one of the key tools for establishing a dialogue between the public and private sectors, and at the same time it creates additional opportunities to communicate in an informal environment and establish new contacts.

Taking the opportunity, Abbasbeyli invited all the official guests and participants of CEO Lunch Baku to attend the 5th International Caspian Energy Forum Tbilisi to be held on April 12, 2018 with the support of the Government of Georgia and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and all members of the Government of Georgia in charge of the economic bloc are expected to attend the opening ceremony of Caspian Energy Forum Tbilisi.

The Forum organizer is the Georgian company Caspian Energy Georgia.

The presentation of Nabucco A&C was held for the events attendees. About 80 businessmen took part in the event.

Problems facing entrepreneurs and issues concerning business doing in different regions of the country, as well as proposals on expansion of cooperation in different sectors of economy were discussed during CEO Lunch Baku.

Certificates were given to the companies, which joined and extended their membership in the Caspian European Club.

Abbasbeyli recalled that the Caspian European Club was established in June 2002 with the support of the largest oil and gas companies operating in the Caspian-Black Sea region.

Abbasbeyli added that since the very establishment the Caspian European Club has promoted attraction of the oil industry revenues for the development of the non-oil sector. The Caspian European Club, which brings together more than 5,000 member companies and organizations, operates in 70 countries around the world and is active in supporting the dialogue between the government agencies and the private sector.

Caspian Energy, Caspian Energy Forum, Caspian Energy Award, Caspian Energy Club, Caspian European Club, Caspian Business Club, Caspian American Club, Caspian American Forum, CEO, CEO Lunch, Brand Award and many others are the registered trademarks and belong to the Caspian Energy International Media Group.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.17

Trend:

The growth of the GDP in Tajikistan in 2017 amounted to 7.1 percent compared to 2016, Sputnik Tajikistan reported citing the Tajik Statistics Agency.

Tajikistan's GDP amounted to about 61.1 billion somoni ($6.9 billion) in 2017.

Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing and fish farming dominate in the GDP structure, making up 21.1 percent of the total GDP volume. The share of agriculture increased by 0.4 percent in 2017.

The industry increased its contribution by 1.9 percent to 17 percent in the total GDP structure.

Among other industries with the largest contribution to GDP, the Statistics Agency has classified trade, repair of cars, household goods and personal items, hotels and restaurants - 14 percent.

Earlier it was reported that Tajikistan's exports in 2017 increased by 33.3 percent compared to 2016 and the volume of imports decreased by 8.5 percent.

In 2017, the total volume of trade turnover amounted to $3,973 billion, which is 1.1 percent more than in 2016.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

The Kazakh parliament has approved a bill aimed at expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan in the tax sphere.

The bill entitled "On the ratification of the protocol between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on the introduction of amendments and additions to the Convention between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion with respect to income and property", dated Sept.16, 1996 .

The document aimed at developing cooperation between the tax authorities of both states by increasing the exchange of information, as well as applying domestic legislation when tax evasion and abuse of the provisions of the Convention are revealed.

Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan grew by $3 million last year. In 2017 the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan amounted to $127 million, and in 2016 this figure was estimated at over $124 million.

Economic cooperation is developing in industries like energy and agriculture. Currently, 700 Azerbaijani companies work in Kazakhstan.

With the modernization of the ports and launch of new railway branches between the two countries, the cargo flow has significantly increased. The next stage of development is the study of promising energy projects.

Over the past 10 years, Azerbaijani investments in Kazakhstan amounted to $ 168 million, and investments from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan about $ 20 million.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The US based General Electric (GE) and Kazakhstan Railways have concluded two new strategic initiatives worth nearly $900 million.

The initiative was concluded amid Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayevs visit to the USA, the press service of the Kazakh president said in a message.

The mentioned deal will support and create 3,500 job places in the US.

General Electric Transport will develop and produce up to 300 coupling locomotives for Kazakhstan Railways, which will be delivered in 2019.

General Electric Transportation also signed an 18-year service agreement to service and support 175 Kazakh passenger locomotives starting from 2018. The deal will include the expansion of the main railway production of Kazakhstan Railways in Astana.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstans airline companies signed agreements worth $1.3 with Boeing, amid the visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to the United States and his meeting with the US President Donald Trump, Kazakh media reported.

Both leaders welcomed individual deals between Boeing and Kazakhstan based airlines, supporting the opening of 7,100 direct and indirect job places in the USA.

In particular, SCAT Airlines ordered six Boeing-737 MAX 8 aircraft. Taking into account the planned delivery of the first aircraft in March 2018, these aircraft will be the first 737 MAX models owned and operated in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, expanding the regional and an international network of SCAT.

Kazakhstans national airline Air Astana has also confirmed its commitment to purchase three 787 Dreamliner aircraft with scheduled delivery in 2021, in accordance with the terms of the existing contract.
Apple today highlighted its plan to to bolster the U.S. economy through job creation, existing investments, and new investments, with the company on target to contribute $55 billion to the economy in 2018 and $350 billion over the course of the next five years.



Along with its $350 billion contribution through direct employment, investment with domestic suppliers, and the App Store economy, Apple will increase its Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $1 billion to $5 billion.

The Advanced Manufacturing Fund is designed to create jobs in the United States through investments in Apple suppliers. Apple has already invested $200 million in Corning, maker of Gorilla Glass, and $390 million in Finisar, a supplier that makes vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) components found in the iPhone X's True Depth camera.

Apple plans to repatriate much of its overseas profits and expects to pay taxes of $38 billion when doing so, which Apple says is likely to be the largest payment of this kind ever made. That tax payment, combined with its U.S. investments and planned capital expenditures, will account for $75 billion of its projected $350 billion contribution.



Apple will be paying 15.5 percent in taxes to repatriate its overseas cash, suggesting the company plans to repatriate approximately $245 billion, or nearly all of its foreign money.



Apple will create 20,000 new jobs and spend $30 billion hiring new employees at its existing campus and opening a new campus. Apple has a new campus in the works that will "initially house technical support for customers." Its location will be announced later in the year.



More than $10 billion of Apple's planned capital expenditures will be investments in data centers across the United States, with Apple breaking ground on a new facility in Reno, Nevada starting today.



Apple's final plan to bolster the economy is through education. The company will expand its current coding initiatives that are designed to help people learn how to create iOS apps using Swift and it will increase funding for ConnectED to help students in "historically underserved communities" learn coding skills.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

Azerbaijans mobile communication operator Bakcell LLC has deployed LTE (4G) network in the Baku Metro, the company told Trend Jan. 17.

Bakcells network covers 21 metro stations, except for Sahil metro station which is being currently repaired.

High-speed internet service over LTE network is available on the metro station platforms. The network may be unavailable in the metro tunnels.

The data transfer speed in Bakcells LTE network is 225 Mbit/s. Bakcells LTE network was launched in commercial operation May 2015.

Bakcells LTE network has been deployed in Baku, Absheron peninsula and Ganja city and the company will continue its development there. The company also plans to develop the 3G network in Azerbaijans districts.
Sirahas local Governments fail to hold crucial council meet

Even after four months of the local elections in Siraha, the majority of local units in the district have still not held their council meetings, which has affected the local development works.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.17

By Nigar Guliyeva - Trend:

Uzbekistan Airways, the flag carrier of Uzbekistan, announces a tender for provision of consulting services for 2018.

Description:

Determination of the maximum prices, issuance of a conclusion on the correspondence of the proposed prices to the world average and current market conditions for the equipment to be purchased in accordance with tenders conducted by Uzbekistan Airways in 2018.

2. Expertise of import contracts, and the issuance of an expert opinion.

Tender is open for companies that are accredited in Uzbekistan and have experience in providing these services. The validity of the offer should not be less than 12 months.

Bids are accepted until 5 pm on Jan. 30, 2018: Uzbekistan, 100060, Tashkent city, Amir Timur Avenue, 41.

The competitive commission, Chairman of Uzbekistan Airways Competitive Commission.

Phone: (99871) 140-45-74, Fax: (99871) 140-45-64, E-mail: [email protected]
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Arab investors show interest to the hotel business in Azerbaijan, mainly to the "economy segment" hotels, Chairman of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Azerbaijan Samir Dubendi told Trend.

However, according to him, no hotels have been purchased in Azerbaijan so far.

"We do not have information on the sale of Azerbaijani hotels to Arab investors, but there is an interest. Last year, investors from Saudi Arabia, who were mainly interested in economy-class hotels, two- and three-star hotels approached us. But no agreement was reached, and the reasons remained unknown for us," Dubendi said.

"Currently, the association is compiling a registry of tourist accommodation facilities, where, among other things, information on their owners and managers is collected. We have already completed the work in Baku and now we are continuing to work in the regions of Azerbaijan. I want to say that we have not seen hotels owned or managed by Arabs. Of course, this does not include hotels belonging to well-known hotel chains, " Dubendi said.

Dubendi also said that presently there is no need to attract Arab investments in the hotel business.

"We are not supporters of the sale of our hotels to Arabs, which is not necessary, as a big number of professionals have appeared in Azerbaijan. So we will rely more on locals," he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Kazakhstan and the US have concluded three intergovernmental agreements as part of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's official visit to the US and his meeting with President Donald Trump, the press service of the Kazakh president said in a message Jan. 17.

The countries concluded an agreement on non-deduction of charges for air navigation services for state aircraft, a protocol to the agreement on provision of commercial railway transit through the territory of Kazakhstan, and an agreement on improvement of international tax compliance.

The countries also signed more than 20 commercial documents on investment, trade and economic cooperation to implement projects in aviation and space research, petrochemical and agricultural industries, as well as infrastructure development projects, worth nearly $7 billion.

Representatives of both countries agreed that the visit strengthened close commercial and trade ties between Kazakhstan and the United States.

The president of Kazakhstan stressed that these efforts are important for achieving Kazakhstan's goal of entering the world's 30 most developed global economies by 2050. The US President Donald Trump, in turn, expressed satisfaction with the improvement of the business climate in Kazakhstan, stressing that the work done in this direction will create new opportunities for American companies in Kazakhstan.

Representatives of business communities from the two countries, including Boeing, GETransportation, GEDigital, Chevron, Air Astana, Kazakhstan Railways, SKAT and Samruk-Kazyna also signed a number of commercial contracts and documents on purchase of American products and services worth over $2.5 billion.
President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov met with World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Cyril Muller, Kabar with reference to the press service of the President reported.

Jeenbekov and Muller discussed prospects for cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the World Bank for the coming years, exchanged views on priority areas of partnership, the report said.

The Kyrgyz President specified that the World Bank is one of the main partners for the development of Kyrgyzstan and expressed gratitude for the support provided in the socio-economic development of the country.

He mentioned that within the framework of joint cooperation, projects were implemented to strengthen such important sectors as transport, agriculture, energy, health, education, public administration, social protection of the population.

Cyril Muller stressed with satisfaction that the level of poverty has decreased by half in Kyrgyzstan during the years of independence, which is in line with the tasks of the World Bank to improve the well-being of the population.

"The results of a comprehensive research of Kyrgyzstans economy conducted by the World Bank showed that the country's poverty reduction efforts have been successful and further measures should focus on developing the private sector and improving the quality of services provided to achieve overall well-being. Kyrgyzstan citizens have access to education, medicine, energy, now it is necessary to improve the quality of services," Cyril Muller recommended.

The Head of State and the WB Vice President also discussed the priorities for further work under the Decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic "On the Announcement of 2018 as the Year of Regional Development".

Muller emphasized that the World Bank supports an integrated and systematic approach to the development of regions, specified in the framework of the Decree. "We plan to implement our own programs and projects on infrastructure development in the regions together in order to ensure their greater effectiveness," he said.

Jeenbekov specified that the country's policy will be aimed at developing small and medium-sized businesses, creating jobs in the regions, taking into account the peculiarity of each region and the cluster approach to reduce the imbalance in the development of regions and population migration. "To implement our plans, the Decree "On the Announcement of 2018 as the Year of Regional Development" will be a good start and help. A single integrated program will be developed for several years ahead, taking into account the specifics of each region," the President stressed.

In conclusion, Jeenbekov stated that support of the World Bank and other development partners in implementing strategic goals and forthcoming tasks to ensure economic growth and welfare of citizens is very important for Kyrgyzstan.
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 17

By Kamyar Eghbal  Trend:

Irans exports of oil, gas and petrochemical products have significantly increased since the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/ nuclear deal) in January 2016, a deputy oil minister told Trend.

Amirhossein Zamaninia, Iranian deputy oil minister for international affairs, has said that the exports of oil and condensate have almost been doubled following the implementation of the nuclear pact.

According to the official, Iran currently exports 2.6 million barrels of crude and condensate per day. The figure during the sanctions bottomed at 800,000 barrels per day.

Speaking about Irans gas exports, he said that Irans exports of gas over the first eight months of the current fiscal year (starting March 20) reached 37 million cubic meters per day. The figure during the sanctions era stood at 25 million cubic meters.

The exports of petrochemical products have also surged after the removal of the international sanctions, he mentioned.

The volume of exports of petrochemical products reached 20.9 million tons from 12.8 million tons during the sanctions era.

The nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers lifted economic sanctions in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 18

By Kamyar Eghbal  Trend:

Iran has expressed interest in increasing the volume of its gas exports to Azerbaijan.

Voicing Irans readiness to increase the gas exports to Azerbaijan, Amirhossein Zamaninia, deputy oil minister for international affairs, described the regional and neighboring countries as the best trade partners and markets for Iran.

"The talks between Iran and Azerbaijan in this regard have not been finalized so far," he told Trend.

The deputy minister touched upon talks between the two countries on cooperation in the issue of the development of oil and gas fields and blocs in the Caspian Sea, saying the sides had proper talks regarding the issue, which can improve in future.

He also described Oman, Iraq and Turkey as proper gas markets, saying Iran has held talks with Turkey regarding the plans to increase exports of gas.

Turkeys gas imports from Iran in January-October 2017 stood at 7.6 billion cubic meters (bcm), according to Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Body.

Zamaninia added that talks are underway to improve gas cooperation between Iran and Oman.

He said that Iran currently exports about 35-36 million cubic meters of gas per day.

By the end of 2017, about 280 million cubic meters of gas were supplied to Azerbaijan from Iran for the needs of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

In January-July 2017, the Azerbaijani state-owned SOCAR imported 970 million cubic meters of gas from Iran.

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Tehran, Iran, Jan. 17

By Kamyar Eghbal  Trend:

Iran hopes to boost its gas exports by 170 percent over the next four years.

Amirhossein Zamaninia, Iranian deputy oil minister for international affairs, has said the country would be capable of exporting 100 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2023.

Our gas exports within four years will surely reach 100 million cubic meters per day, he told Trend.

Irans exports of gas over the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20) reached 37 million cubic meters per day, the deputy minister said.

Zamaninia further added that the country plans to use LNG technology in order to enter the international gas market.

Iran signed first ever contract to export natural gas form of LNG (liquefied natural gas) in October 2017.

Under the contract, Irans natural gas is expected to be converted to LNG in a floating LNG vessel (FLNG), belonging to Belgium's Exmar.

The vessel, Caribbean FLNG, which is chartered by IFLNG company, will have a capacity to produce 500,000 tons of LNG per year.

The 20-year contract is expected to come into force in late February 2018.

Launching FLNG and mini-LNG facilities will help Iran to diversify and expand its natural gas market, and take advantage of being the worlds largest natural gas holder.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Relations between states are, to some extent, reminiscent of the relationship between people. In the end, states consist of people who take decisions regardless of which president or leader is now in power.

The root cause of the implacable US hatred toward the Islamic Republic is a sense of revenge, which turns out to be peculiar not only to individuals but to whole states.

Iran, or to be precise, the existing ruling regime, has become the number one enemy of the US since the revolutionary events of 1979, when the United States received coffins with their commandos sent to free the American diplomats, taken hostage in November of that year in Tehran.

American citizens were held hostage for 444 days, and each of those days was a slap on the face of America. Those events have become one of the most humiliating moments in U.S. history of the 20th century.

To this day, the same regime is in power in Iran, and to this day the urge for vengeance for the affront to America has not been fulfilled.

America cant forget it and forgive it as it couldnt forgive the Japanese for Pearl Harbor, dropping A-bombs on Japan being already on the verge of surrender. No one can talk to a superpower in such way, and that's not irony.

Neither UK nor France havent had such an experience. Maybe that's why they are more rational and less aggressive towards the Islamic Republic.

The current US attitude will remain until lances holding the dignity and greatness of the United States are someday steeped in blood of the "oppressive regime".

All the charges and issues against Iran - support for terrorism, malign activities in the region, spread of revolution, human rights, the nuclear program, etc.  although critical, yet are derivatives from the main cause.

It could have gone the other way.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

Trend:

Rossiya Airlines charter flight from Mexico was delayed, an official representative of Rossiya Airlines told RBK.

The reason for the flight delay was the demand of the representatives of the Mexican immigration department to deport four Armenian citizens who were on board. The airport did not give permission for the aircraft to take off due to this requirement.

The incident occurred due to a family of four Armenians who claimed asylum in America and was deported from Mexico. After a 10-hour waiting for the departure, those individuals were kicked off the plane.
Georgias Parliament and Latvias Saeima, the two countries legislative bodies, have signed a partnership deal, Agenda reports.

The agreement envisages the deepening of parliamentary relations between the two nations, coordination activities in international legislative organizations and the enhancement of exchange programs between Georgian and Latvian lawmakers.

"I am sure the agreement will upgrade Georgian-Latvian parliamentary relations to a new level, Georgias Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze said.

The document was signed by Kobakhidze and the head of Saeima Inara Murniece.

Kobakhidze also held a meeting in the Foreign Ministry of Latvia, where the country's top officials vowed their support to Georgia's European integration.
Trickle-down democracy

The deeper nuances of electoral numbers in the recent elections bear further analysis, particularly in regards to the number of voters, turnout, invalid votes, and votes garnered by political parties.
A Republican senator has accused Donald Trump of echoing Joseph Stalin in his repulsive attacks on the press.

Jeff Flake said Mr Trump had borrowed from the Soviet dictator when he said journalists were the enemy of the people, Yahoo News reports.

Mr Flake, who represents Arizona, said the phrase would precede killings and was even banned by one of Stalins successors because of its connotations.

The speech, delivered on the floor of the Senate, also hit out at pernicious fantasies pushed by Mr Trump, not least his claim Barack Obama was not born in America and that an official investigation into Russian election meddling is a witch hunt.

Mr Flake said the presidents fake news rhetoric had inspired dictators and authoritarians around the world, citing examples of when the words had been used to dismiss serious allegations.

And he appeared to call for his fellow congressmen to be more forthright with the president, saying his actions brought shame on the Senate - not least among Republicans.

Mr Flake is one of the most prominent critics of Mr Trump from within his own party and is stepping down later this year.
The Czech government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis approved its resignation on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said, a compulsory move after the minority cabinet lost a confidence vote on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The government will remain in office pending negotiations on forming an alternative administration that could take weeks or months. Milos Zeman, who as president appoints prime ministers, has said he will give Babis another go at forming a government.
France and Britain will sign a new immigration treaty at a summit between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Theresa May in Britain on Thursday, French officials said, Reuters reports.

The treaty will complement but not replace the 2003 Le Touquet border agreement, which has drawn criticism in France after the town of Calais became a hub for migrants and refugees on their way to Britain, just 33 km (20 miles) across the English Channel.

France wants Britain to provide more money and resources to tackle the migrant flows and has suggested that the Le Touquet accord may have to be ended if a compromise or a new set of arrangements cant be reached.

Under Le Touquet, Britain has its border in France and France runs border checks in Britain, a deal that French officials say favors the United Kingdom.

Both parties can withdraw from the treaty, which would mean a return to hard national borders. That move that would symbolically cut Britain off from the continent just as it is implementing Brexit.

A French official said issues of unaccompanied children, asylum requests, border police cooperation and possible British support to the economic development of the Calais region will be part of the new agreement, which is still being discussed.

Well boost British financial support to the securitization of transport infrastructure, border police and security and well raise this question of economic development, the presidential adviser said.

Pro-Brexit lawmakers from Britains governing Conservative Party have dismissed as absurd suggestions that London should pay more, saying Britain already provides extra security to France, including border infrastructure.
About 200 people gathered in the Czech capital on Tuesday protesting against billionaire Andrej Babis, who was proposed by incumbent Czech President Milos Zeman to form the government. The meeting took place near the building of the parliament, Sputnik reported.

"We would like to show our protest against the situation, when the formation of the government has been ordered to a person suspected of a financial crime by police, as well as by the European Anti-Fraud Office," Tomas Pecinski told reporters.

Meanwhile, the new Czech government may be approved only with another person than Andrej Babis at the post of Prime Minister due to a police investigation on fraud suspicions launched against him, the parliament's member from the Social Democratic party, Jaroslav Foldyna, told Sputnik.

"President Milos Zeman announced in advance that he would allow Babis as the leader of the movement that had won in the October parliamentary elections a second attempt to form a cabinet, warning that Babis should agree in advance on the support by more than 100 lawmakers, but I think that this is an unlikely option. Members from all parties, except for the ANO movement, do not want to see the cabinet led by the person under investigation," Foldyna said.

The Social Democrats' faction will be ready to negotiate the support of a cabinet, only if there are no people under investigation in it, the lawmaker said.

"A certain way out of the situation may be the ANO movement's decision to delegate to a post of prime minister a different person than Babis," he noted.

According to the lawmaker, the second round of presidential elections, which will take place on January 26-27, may have some influence on the further development of the situation with the creation of a new government.

The first round of election in the European country took place on Friday and Saturday. Incumbent Czech President Milos Zeman and Jiri Drahos, the former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences, came first and second in the first round, gaining support of some 38 and 26 percent of voters, respectively.

On Tuesday, the Czech parliament rejected the minority government headed by Babis in a 78-117 no confidence vote, with only lawmakers from Babis-led ANO movement voting in favor of the cabinet. Babis and his political and business ally Jaroslav Faltynek are suspected by the police of fraud while receiving an EU grant to one of the Babis's firms in the amount of about two million euros (some $2.45 million). Members of the parliament's mandate committee discussed the police's request and advised colleagues to deprive Babis and Faltynek of parliamentary immunity.

It is expected that the ministers might announce their resignation at a government meeting on Wednesday.
Charges have been brought against two teenagers who used knives to attack school students in the city of Perm, Russian Investigative Committee Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said, TASS reports.

"The Russian Investigative Committees Main Investigations Department continues a criminal investigation into an incident occurring at a Perm school," she said. "Two underage defendants have been charged under Articles 30.3 and 105.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (attempted murder of two or more people, committed by a group of individuals acting in collusion)," Petrenko added.

According to investigators, on January 15, a tenth grader and his underage acquaintance came to the school bearing knives. They entered a room where junior students were having a class and deliberately stabbed nine kids and their teacher. According to the Investigative Committees spokesperson, the second attacker is a former student of the same school. The attackers also wounded each other and were taken to hospital.

A court have arrested them both for two months, so after being discharged from hospital they will be taken to a pre-trial detention center.

"Investigators continue efforts to establish all the circumstances of the incident and the reasons for the crime," Petrenko pointed out. "Investigators will also assess the actions or inactions of the schools personnel, the teenagers parents and those responsible for ensuring security at the school," she said.

The Russian laws stipulate that teenagers over 14 years of age should be sent to a pre-trial detention center for underage children in case they are arrested. In Russia, the age of criminal responsibility concerning crimes such as willful killing, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm is 14 years. According to lawyers, the instigators of the knife fight may face up to ten years in prison.
Turkey may expand its operations in northern Syria to Manbij city and east of the Euphrates River after Afrin has been cleared, Turkeys foreign minister said late Tuesday, Anadolu reported.

Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to reporters after meeting with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Vancouver, Canada, where he was attending the Vancouver Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Turkeys precautions against YPG/PKK cannot be limited to only Afrin. There is also Manbij and east of the Euphrates River, Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu also said the US plan to establish a border guard in northwest Syria irreversibly harms US-Turkey ties.

On Sunday, Ryan Dillon, spokesperson for the US-led coalition against Daesh, announced plans to establish a 30,000-strong border security force in Syria with the SDF -- a US-backed group drawn up largely of PYD/PKK terrorist elements.

The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.

Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish Armed Forces have shelled the Syrian city of Afrin, the Turkish media reported Jan. 17 citing a military source.

According to the preliminary data, more than 20 members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian wing of PKK (YPG) were killed.

The Turkish Armed Forces also subjected to artillery fire the positions of YPG terrorists in Afrin on Jan. 14.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Syrian crisis, the Turkish media reported Jan. 17 referring to the diplomatic sources.

Reportedly, during a telephone conversation, Cavusoglu also discussed the possible military operations in Syrias Afrin city against Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian wing of PKK (YPG).

The telephone conversation was held on the initiative of the Russian side. Other details have not been revealed.

The Turkish Armed Forces shelled Afrin Jan. 17 morning.

According to the preliminary data, more than 30 terrorists were killed.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed hope during a phone call on Monday that the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and South Korea might prompt change in Pyongyangs destructive behavior, the White House said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Trump also committed to sustain the United States-led global campaign of maximum pressure to compel North Korea to commit to denuclearization, the White House said in a statement.
President Trump said Wednesday he is willing to negotiate directly with Kim Jong Un over North Koreas nuclear weapons program but expressed doubts it would ultimately work.

Id sit down, but Im not sure that sitting down will solve the problem, Trump said in an Oval Office interview with Reuters.

Trump would not say whether he has spoken with Kim, whom he has dismissively nicknamed little rocket man.

He pointed out that negotiations undertaken by previous administrations with the North Korean regime had not been successful.

Im not sure that talks will lead to anything meaningful, Trump said. Theyve talked for 25 years and theyve taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents.
Young Women Entrepreneurs Summit slated for Jan 20

Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs Forum (NYEF) is organising the Young Women Entrepreneurs Summit on January 20, with an objective to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship. The theme of the summit is Connect, Collaborate and Create.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 16, 2018 - 14:33 | All, World

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to pay his first official visit to China in the spring, a senior Pentagon official said recently, the prospective trip coming as East Asia faces down North Korea's nuclear ambitions among a host of other security challenges.

"In the spring. That's where we're looking," Defense Department spokesperson Dana White said, in reference to what would be the first visit to China by a Pentagon chief in four years.

During the planned visit, Mattis and senior Chinese officials are expected to discuss measures to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs, as well as to expand military-to-military exchanges between Washington and Beijing.

In possible meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and top defense officials, Mattis is likely to ask Beijing to step up efforts toward achieving a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue.

It is believed the Pentagon chief will also express concern about China's assertive territorial claims in the East and South China seas.

Referring to Beijing's attempts to expand its sphere of influence in Southeast Asia and beyond, such as Africa, White said, "The issue is how it does it, and whether or not it's undermining the very systems that have allowed for its rise."

"We would love for it to use its influence more in Pyongyang" for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, she said of China, the biggest trade partner and a major oil supplier to North Korea. "We need their influence."

During the planned trip, Mattis is expected to explain the China policy of U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration.

In its national security strategy released in December, the administration called China a "competitor" in political, economic and military spheres, and a "revisionist power" seeking to "shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests."

"There are many things that the United States and China can cooperate on, but we'll confront China when we need to," White said.

Asked about Thursday's incident that saw a Chinese frigate sailing just outside Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, White avoided speculating on Beijing's intention, but said the action may reflect "China's growing confidence in blue water."

The group of East China Sea islets is administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

Referring to Beijing's militarization of outposts in disputed areas of the South China Sea, White observed, "China has become more muscular with respect to the South China Sea."

China has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which over one-third of global trade passes.

On the rising anxiety among residents of Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa over a series of incidents involving U.S. military aircraft -- including emergency landings by two military helicopters recently -- White said the U.S. military will step up measures to prevent similar cases and ensure the safety of local residents.

"It's imperative that we always work to address the problems and smooth out the rough spots," she said. "We're always looking at what we can do" to improve the situation.

U.S. troops "respect and appreciate the ability" to be stationed in Okinawa, the Japanese prefecture that hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities.
KYODO NEWS - Jan 17, 2018 - 19:47 | World, All

A Hong Kong court on Wednesday handed democracy activists Joshua Wong and Raphael Wong prison terms of three and four and a half months, respectively, for criminal contempt in relation to a pro-democracy demonstration in 2014.

The High Court also gave suspended sentences of 12 or 18 months to 14 others, some of whom such as Lester Shum were also fined between HK$10,000 (around US$1,280) and HK$15,000.

Both Wongs will file for appeal after the court denied their applications for stay of execution, according to Nathan Law, who like Joshua is a member of the political group Demosisto.

"We are very disappointed with the ruling," Law said after the court denied bail to the Wongs. "Using court injunctions to solve political issues is unprecedented."

He added that instead of prosecuting protestors, the government should bear its constitutional responsibility, while Beijing "should honor its promise of allowing Hong Kong universal suffrage."

The 16 activists had already been convicted of contempt of court for obstructing bailiffs who were ordered by the court to clear a site in Mong Kok district, one of several parts of the territory occupied by tens of thousands of protesters during the 79-day demonstration calling for a democratic leadership election.

High Court Judge Andrew Chan said in Wednesday's ruling that Joshua Wong's "involvement in obstructing the clearance operation was deep and extensive," adding that he played a leading role. "The only appropriate punishment for (Wong) will be one of immediate imprisonment."

On Raphael Wong, Chan said he "played a significant and active role in obstructing bailiffs" during the clearance operation and so gave him the longest prison term.

Joshua Wong said Wednesday he has no regrets.

"They can lock up our body, but they can't lock up our mind," Wong said. "Even if we need to face prison sentencing, we will still continue to fight for democracy for the future."

His three-month sentence would be served consecutively to a six-month term earlier meted out to him for unlawful assembly in relation to the same protest. He is currently free on bail appealing that ruling.

Before the hearing, Raphael Wong said the government has not responded to activists' demand for "real universal suffrage" in the territory's leadership election.

"Rather, they keep using the law as a tool to solve their political problems. Isn't that a contempt of court?" said the member of the radical political group League of Social Democrats.

Four others prosecuted for criminal contempt over the case were given a suspended sentence of one-month imprisonment last November.

The mass street protest, which was known as "Occupy Central," ended with more than 1,000 people being arrested but failed to press Beijing for a democratic reform plan.

According to the Basic Law, the mini-constitution in effect since Hong Kong's handover to China, Beijing promised to allow elections of the city's leader and legislators by universal suffrage as an "ultimate aim" under the "one country, two systems" arrangement.

In 2014, a package of electoral reforms endorsed by China would have allowed Hong Kong residents to directly vote for their next chief executive in the 2017 election, but only from a list of pre-approved, pro-Beijing candidates. It was rejected by the local legislature, with critics dismissing it as "fake universal suffrage."
BOSTON (Jan. 16, 2018)--Data collected during a long-term health study provides additional evidence for a link between increased risk of cancer in individuals with advanced gum disease, according to a new collaborative study led by epidemiologists Dominique Michaud at Tufts University School of Medicine and Elizabeth Platz of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Kimmel Cancer Center.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, used data from comprehensive dental exams performed on 7,466 participants from Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, and North Carolina, as part of their participation in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study who were then followed from the late 1990s until 2012. During the follow-up period, 1,648 new cancer cases were diagnosed.

The research team found a 24 percent increase in the risk of developing cancer among participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those with mild to no periodontitis at baseline. Among patients who had no teeth-- which can be a sign of severe periodontitis -- the increase in risk was 28 percent. The highest risk was observed in cases of lung cancer, followed by colorectal cancer.

When the researchers did sub-group analyses, they found that participants with severe periodontal disease had more than double the risk of developing lung cancer, compared with no/mild periodontitis. An 80 percent increase in risk of colon cancer observed for participants who were edentulous at baseline, which is consistent with prior findings, and among never smokers, a two-fold higher risk was noted for participants with severe periodontitis, compared to those who had no/mild periodontitis.

"This is the largest study addressing the association of gum disease and cancer risk using dental examinations to measure gum disease prior to cancer diagnosis," said first and corresponding author Dominique Michaud, Sc.D., professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. "Additional research is needed to evaluate if periodontal disease prevention and treatment could help alleviate the incidence of cancer and reduce the number of deaths due to certain types of cancer."

Michaud noted that the findings were particularly interesting in light of research, including a recent study in Science, which determined that colorectal cancer tissues contain bacteria that are present in the mouth, including bacteria that have been associated with periodontal disease.

The researchers also uncovered a small increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer in patients with severe periodontitis. Although not significant statistically, the association has been seen in other similar studies, including a number of studies led by Michaud of Tufts.

The research team accounted for the impact of smoking among the participants, since people who smoke are more likely to get periodontal disease, and smoking raises the risk of lung and colon cancers.

"When we looked at data for the people who had never smoked, we also found evidence that having severe periodontal disease was related to an increased risk of lung cancer and colorectal cancer," said Elizabeth Platz, Sc.D., deputy chair of the department of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

The ARIC data were especially useful to study because unlike most previous research linking gum disease and cancer risk, periodontitis cases were determined from dental examinations performed as part of the ARIC study rather than participants' self-reports of the disease. The dental exams provided detailed measurements of the depth of the pocket between the gum and tooth in several locations in the mouth. The ARIC data include both Caucasian and African-American participants.

The researchers found no links between increased risk of breast, prostate or blood/lymphatic cancer and periodontitis. The link between periodontitis and increased cancer risk was weaker or not apparent in African-American participants from the ARIC study, except in cases of lung and colorectal cancer. "Additional research is needed to understand cancer-site specific and racial differences in findings," wrote the authors. The researchers caution that the study was limited in size for subgroup analyses, and less common cancers. The findings, however, suggest the need for further study.

Michaud and Platz said the study also points to the importance of expanding dental insurance to more individuals. "Knowing more about the risks that come about with periodontal disease might give more support to having dental insurance in the way that we should be offering health insurance to everyone," Platz said.

Advanced gum disease, also called periodontitis, is caused by bacterial infection that damages the soft tissue and bone that support the teeth. Previous research has shown a link between periodontitis and increased cancer risk, although the mechanism connecting the two diseases is still uncertain.

###

Additional authors on the study are are Jiayun Lu, John Barber, and Corinne Joshu from Johns Hopkins; Alexandra Peacock-Villada from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine; Anna Prizment from the University of Minnesota; and James Beck and Steven Offenbacher of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

This work was supported by awards from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01CA166150, P30CA006973 and U01CA164975). The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, ARIC, was supported by awards from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services (HHSN268201700001I, HHSN268201700003I, HHSN268201700005I, HHSN268201700004I, HHSN268201700002I). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Michaud, D.S., Lu, J., Peacock-Villada, A.Y., Barber, J.R., Joshu, C.E., Prizment, A.E., Beck, J.D., Offenbacher, S., Platz, E.A. Periodontal disease assessed using clinical dental measurements and cancer risk in the ARIC study. Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). Published online Jan. 12, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djx278

Written by Johns Hopkins and Tufts.

About Tufts University School of Medicine

Tufts University School of Medicine is an international leader in medical and population health education and advanced research. Tufts University School of Medicine emphasizes rigorous fundamentals in a dynamic learning environment to educate physicians, scientists, and public health professionals to become leaders in their fields. The School of Medicine is renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, the biomedical sciences, and public health, as well as for research at the cellular, molecular, and population health level. The School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine undertakes research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical and prevention science.
An expensive PC with the best specs will run games perfectly. However, the gaming experience is incomplete without a good keyboard. Many people take this for granted by buying a cheap keyboard from the local store. Not only does the lighting that the gaming keyboards provide make your setup look even cooler, they can also help you perform better in games and are the preferred choice in competitive online multiplayer games.

If youre not sure on which keyboard you should get, this list contains few of the best gaming keyboards available. In no particular order, here are the best keyboards of 2018:

Corsair K95 RGB Platinum

The Corsair K95 RGB Platinum keyboard is a mechanical keyboard with plenty of versatility to meet all your needs. It further improves and builds upon the foundation laid down by its predecessor the K95 Vengeance.

This keyboard has new Cherry MX Speed silver switches which have lower actuation point and travel distances as compared to its predecessor. The keyboard is also backlit by up to 16.8 million colors. Some minor aesthetic changes also help elevate its design.

The keyboard has an aluminum finish and also comes with a wrist rest. A couple of buttons are put in place to help in quickly switching between onboard profiles, adjusting the backlighting and disabling the Windows key. Theres also a dedicated row of media controls which has a resemblance to the traditional keycap.

The keyboards versatile RGB lighting allows for some great color combination options. A lot of effort has been put into the design and look of this keyboard to make it look premium.

According to the makers, using the keyboard for a substantial amount of time will have no effect on its look and itll still look as good as new. However, the premium look also comes with a premium price tag of almost $150. You can purchase it from Amazon here.

PROS: Dedicated media controls, amazing lighting, classy aluminum finish.

CONS: Expensive, no audio jack, awkward software.

Cougar Attack X3 RGB

The Cougar Attack X3 is a fine gaming keyboard especially if youre looking for real Cherry MX keys which are so hard to find these days. Its also a great keyboard to have if youre on a budget as it goes for a fairly cheap price of almost $100. Many full-sized keyboards with Cherry keys start above $100 so this keyboard is quite a steal at its current price.

The keys of this keyboard are the real deal, as mentioned it comes with Cherry keys. Different keys such as volume control keys are placed in convenient positions making a comfortable easy-to-use layout for the users.

However, there are a few small issues such as the placement of the spacebar. The WASD and spacebar keys are the most important keys for any gamer and they must be close to each other for the optimal gaming experience. However, the spacebar is placed in such a way that makes it very hard to have both keys under your grasp. but, as mentioned its just a minor issue, nothing that a bit of practice on this keyboard wont be able to fix.

The keyboard also has RGB lighting with up to 16.8 million colors. The keyboard also has a durable body with an aluminum finish thus making it one of the best out there. You can purchase it from here.

PROS: Great build quality, RGB lighting.

CONS: No wrist rest, U.S button layout.

Corsair K63 Mechanical Keyboard

This keyboard is the latest addition to Corsairs arsenal. Announced at CES 2018, this keyboard is a wireless keyboard with no lag issues. It uses Cherry MX Red mechanical keys for the keyboard and can connect to your computer via either Bluetooth or through a dongle.

Corsair claims the keyboard can also protect you from wireless eavesdropping. Also, if you still dont believe that the keyboard wont perform as well as a wired keyboard, you can also plug it in via USB. Perhaps the most important feature of this keyboard is the battery life.

According to Corsair, this keyboard can run for 75 hours! That is an insane amount of battery life especially given the fact that the keyboard also has customizable backlighting. If Corsairs claims are true then this could be a serious contender in the market and you wont need to worry about running out during an intense match. You can check out the full details about the keyboard here.

Logitech G610

The Logitech G610 is a well-built, simple keyboard (as far as features are concerned) that comes with Cherry MX switches. Cherry MX switches are considered as one of the best options out there for mechanical keyboards and youd expect nothing less from Logitech to work with nothing but the best. This keyboard is a good option for Cherry enthusiasts who are also on a budget.

This keyboard isnt one of those stylistic gaming keyboards. Its minimalistic in design but that doesnt take away from what it has to offer. All the keys are backlit with a white LED and the keys look perfectly normal when the LEDs are turned off. The keyboard hosts a number of control buttons on the top right such as the mute button and a volume wheel is also present to conveniently adjust volume as per your needs.

A drawback for the keyboard is the lack of a wrist rest and not being able to change the colors of the backlighting. However, you can customize the lighting effects.

The keyboard also allows for disabling certain keys when in a game thus making the gaming experience a more enjoyable one without having to worry about pressing certain keys (such as the Windows key) by accident and ruining your game. The keys are pretty responsive and overall its a solid keyboard with an affordable price tag. You can purchase it from here.

PROS: Solid build quality, reliable Cherry MX switches, programmable white lighting.

CONS: No USB or audio ports, doesnt feel as durable as some other Cherry keyboard options out there.

Logitech G413 Carbon

Logitechs first affordable mechanical keyboard comes in the form of the G413 Carbon. RGB lights may be one of the defining features of a gaming keyboard, however, it all comes down to performance and design which Logitech focuses on. It has opted against the lighting and a few macro keys for a frameless design and a set of Romer-G switches.

The keyboard is made to last through its solid aluminum-magnesium alloy plate. Although it may look simplistic in design, dont let it fool you as this keyboard is one to be reckoned with. The Romer-G switches are responses and hardly make any noise. It has an insanely fast actuation point of 1.5mm and the switches are also built to last as theyre rated for 70 million actuations.

The keyboard also comes with 12 different keycaps that you can use to replace the WASD and a few number keys. This, in particular, is a great tool for gamers looking to differentiate keys while theyre gaming.

The keyboard surprisingly doesnt have any dedicated media buttons which, is odd because almost all Logitech keyboards seem to have those. Although it has a USB pass through, its only USB 2.0 which is extremely slow in the age of high data. However, its extremely affordable at only $75.99 and one of the best frameless options out there. You can purchase it here.

PROS: Mechanical and silent switches, solid design, good build quality.

CONS: No dedicated media button(s), USB 2.0 pass through.
After speculation about President Donald Trumps mental health escalated in recent weeks, White House doctor Ronny Jackson revealed Tuesday afternoon that the president passed a cognitive assessment during his Friday physical at Walter Reed Medical Center.

The highly unusual decision to administer the test appears to have been made in response to speculation that arose from Michael Wolffs explosive tell-all, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which painted the president as an unstable man not fit for office. Presidential medical evaluations typically do not include a mental health check; former President Barack Obamas last medical summary listed the results of a series of physical tests and noted which medications the president took. Illustrating their concern, however, a group of more than 70 psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals implored Jackson to test Trumps cognitive ability.

Im totally unaware of this ever being done before, Jackson said Tuesday when asked whether such a test had ever been given to a president as part of his routine exam. As far as Im aware, this is the first time.

According to Jackson, who was first appointed presidential physician in 2013 by Obama, the 71-year-old president was administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a well-known screen. Out of 30 possible points, Trump scored a full 30, and Jackson said he does not believe the president should undergo any further mental testing.

Heres what the MoCA is all about:

1. The test typically takes 10 minutes.

Its 11 sections are designed as a quick screen for mild cognitive impairment, useful in detecting conditions such as dementia and Alzheimers. Points are earned by successfully completing each section. Its intended to test a patients attention, concentration, memory, language and conceptual thinking, among other skills.

The whole test is easy to find online, although mental health professionals would prefer to administer it themselves.

Story continues

2. Tasks include copying a cube, drawing a clock, remembering a series of words and repeating sentences.

During his medical evaluation, the president would have been asked to name a lion, a rhinoceros and a camel based on drawings. He would have been required to repeat the words face, velvet, church, daisy and red twice, and again after five minutes as a memory test.

Other tasks include repeating a sequence of three numbers backward and describing the similarity between a train and a bicycle. Sentences the president would have been asked to repeat are mildly complex, for example: The cat always hid under the couch when dogs were in the room.

Actual question from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. President Trump scored a 30/30. This question is worth three of those points. pic.twitter.com/VXpJI7ZcEY  Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 16, 2018

3. Its reliable, although not definitive.

Its a brief exam that assesses general cognitive function, but it lacks sensitivity to subtle cognitive decline, according to Dr. David Knopman, chairman of the Alzheimers Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council and a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Knopman called the test reliable and valid, noting that its been around about 10 years, but said it doesnt tell us everything.

Because its a brief examination, it is not considered a definitive assessment of cognitive function, Knopman told HuffPost. More detailed neuropsychological testing should be performed if there are suspicions that a person has cognitive dysfunction despite their store on the MoCA.

Whoever got that 30 points answered all the questions correctly. Thats all you can say, he said. At face value, thats in the normal range.

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.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Faced with significant airport constraints in its hometown of Seattle, Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) shifted much of its growth to California last year. However, Alaska now needs to digest that growth while completing the integration of Virgin America, which it acquired in late 2016.

As a result, Alaska Airlines plans to concentrate more of its growth in the Pacific Northwest this year. Last May, it announced plans to start serving Paine Field -- an airport 23 miles north of Seattle in Everett, Wash. -- beginning in late 2018. On Tuesday, the carrier confirmed and expanded those plans.

Seattle's main airport is stretched to the limit

Thanks to its vibrant tech sector, Seattle has one of the fastest-growing regional economies in the United States. That's helped Alaska Airlines become one of the most profitable airlines in the world, despite Delta Air Lines' (NYSE: DAL) rapid growth in Seattle since 2013.

However, the two carriers' simultaneous growth has created massive overcrowding at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport -- currently the only Seattle-area airport with commercial flights. Sea-Tac Airport is responding by gradually adding gates and terminal space to support more flights.

A rendering of an Alaska Airlines plane flying over clouds

Overcrowding has constrained Alaska Airlines' growth in Seattle. Image source: Alaska Airlines.

Still, Sea-Tac is likely to remain overcrowded for the foreseeable future. Passenger traffic rose from 33.2 million in 2012 to 45.7 million in 2016 and probably ended 2017 just shy of 47 million. As long as Seattle's supercharged growth continues, it won't take long for Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and their rivals to fully utilize the additional gates being built. This growth highlights the need for a secondary airport to take some pressure off Sea-Tac Airport.

A second airport will get a passenger terminal

The Seattle metro area has several secondary airports, but there has been significant resistance to the idea of opening them for commercial flights. Concerns range from noise to costs to traffic impacts.

Story continues

Nevertheless, Propeller Airports, a private company, received approval last year to build and operate a small passenger terminal at Paine Field. It will have just two gates, meaning it could support no more than two dozen daily round trips, and possibly less. The terminal is on track to open this fall.

Alaska Airlines quickly expressed interest in operating at Paine Field. The carrier's preliminary plans called for nine daily flights to six destinations. (At the time, it did not reveal which cities were being considered for service.) Alaska claims that Everett residents could save up to 80 minutes in driving time during rush hour by flying from Paine Field instead of Sea-Tac.

A few months later, United Continental Holdings announced that it will operate six daily flights from Paine Field to its hubs in Denver and San Francisco. Thus far, no other airlines have said they will fly to Paine Field. Among the legacy carriers, Delta probably wants to focus on connecting traffic at its Sea-Tac hub, while American Airlines Group has a fairly small footprint in the Pacific Northwest due to the location of its hubs.

Growing the franchise

With relatively little demand from other airlines for gate space at the new terminal, Alaska Airlines has expanded its ambitions. The carrier now plans to fly up to 13 daily round trips from Paine Field starting this fall, serving eight destinations.

Alaska will probably operate several flights a day to Portland, Ore. -- its second largest hub -- to better serve business travelers. It also plans to fly to Las Vegas and Phoenix, popular warm-weather leisure destinations. The other five destinations are all in California: San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. This move will allow Alaska Air to continue growing in California while capitalizing on its existing Seattle-area customer base.

More broadly, Alaska's plans for Paine Field reflect its goal of being the preferred airline for people on the West Coast. From day one, it will fly nonstop to all of the top business and leisure markets in the western United States. Alaska Airlines' strategy of solidifying its position in its core markets is likely to pay off in the form of continued profit growth in the years ahead.

More From The Motley Fool

Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Alaska Air Group and Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Tech giant says it will repatriate some overseas cash holdings

Apple has faced sustained criticism for tax evasion policies

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said: We have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country. Photograph: Brian Powers/AP

Apple said on Wednesday it would make a one-time payment of $38bn to repatriate some of its vast overseas cash holdings.

The company, which has faced international criticism for its tax evasion policies, also said it would spend $30bn in the US over the next five years, creating 20,000 new jobs.

Lawmakers in the US, European Union and the UK have criticized Apple over its tax policies. The company holds $246bn in low-tax countries. During the election campaign, Donald Trump attacked Apples policy of building its phones, tablets and other gadgets overseas.

In June, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that Apples chief executive officer, Tim Cook, had promised to build three big, big, big plants in the US as part of a discussion about tax reform.

The company is the latest to announce a one-off payment as a result of recent changes to US tax law, which allows companies to pay a levy of 15.5% on overseas cash holdings that are repatriated to the US.

Commenting on the companys plans, Cook said: We have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who help make our success possible.

Apple has not specified how much of its cash pile it intends to repatriate.

In 2013, a Senate committee accused Apple of using a highly questionable web of offshore vehicles to avoid paying taxes in the US. Senator John McCain said his constituents were mad as hell to learn that the worlds biggest company was paying tax rates that were sometimes lower than 1%.

Ive never seen anything like this, he said.

According to the Paradise Papers, a leak of 13.4m files from offshore service providers and tax havens company registries published by the Guardian and other international media, in the wake of the US and EUs criticisms Apple secretly shifted parts of its empire to Jersey as part of a complex rearrangement to keep its low tax rates.

In December, the Irish government was forced to start collecting $15bn that the European Union says Apple has unfairly avoided in taxes. Apple is fighting the decision.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a German newspaper ahead of talks with German counterpart Angela Merkel that he was sceptical about the creation of a new euro zone budget after German parties agreed to back the idea.

Merkel's conservatives and the SPD last week agreed on the blueprint for a governing coalition in which they also raised the prospect of an "investment budget" for the single currency bloc, a nod to French President Emmanuel Macron's call for a budget to help the euro zone cope with external economic shocks.

When asked to comment on the coalition blueprint, Kurz told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in an interview to be published on Wednesday that he shared the goals of making Europe more transparent and increasing its competitiveness.

"I'm much more sceptical about certain considerations regarding the euro zone, such as a possible euro zone budget," Kurz said.

Germany and Austria normally have the same stance on euro zone issues and Kurz's comments could signal a rare rift between the two countries on a subject seen as crucial for strengthening the 19-member single currency bloc.

Merkel will host Kurz for talks on Wednesday, with both expected to give a news conference in the early afternoon.

The question of how to improve governance of the euro zone will also be discussed when Germany's acting Finance Minister Peter Altmaier hosts his Portuguese counterpart Mario Centeno, president of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, for talks in Berlin on Wednesday.

(This version of the story has been refiled to delete redundant word from first paragraph)

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Too often over the past couple of years, whenever the price of bitcoin sank, even by 5%, mainstream media would rush to call it a crash. Given the volatility of bitcoin, the price would frequently regain its losses within a day or two, making the alarmist headlines look silly.

But this time, its a bona fide crash.

The entire cryptocurrency market was seeing deep red on Tuesday morning, with most of the top coins down by more than 15%, and they were still plunging Wednesday afternoon. Bitcoin fell below $10,000 for the first time since before Thanksgiving, and is down nearly 50% in the past month; ether, the token of the Ethereum blockchain, fell below $1,000; and XRP, the token of the Ripple payment network, erased $32 billion of its market cap in a few hours.

So, what happened? Bad news out of China and South Korea.

Yahoo Finances cryptocurrency heatmap as of 6am EST on Jan. 16, 2018

China: cracking down on crypto

Just a few months ago, China was the worlds largest market for bitcoin trading activity. Then came bad news, followed by more bad news.

In September, China banned initial coin offerings (ICOs), a red-hot but risky new method for cryptocurrency startups to raise money in a token sale. Two weeks later, Chinese government officials shut down local bitcoin exchanges like OKcoin and Huobi, at that time two of the largest exchanges in the world.

Those moves were enough to make Japan the new No. 1 bitcoin market by trading volume on exchanges (three of the top five global exchanges are in Japan), and the Japanese yen the No. 1 currency used to buy bitcoin (by a healthy margin over USD). Take a look at the below charts for a visual.

From bitcoincharts.com on Jan. 17, 2018

This week, the news out of China got worse. According to reports from Chinese media, officials there want to crack down on bitcoin mining (the vast majority of the worlds bitcoin mining happens in large mining pools in China) and block local internet access to international cryptocurrency exchanges.

In other words: Chinas government already killed Chinese bitcoin exchanges, but now it wants to stop Chinese consumers from buying on foreign exchanges, too.

Story continues

South Korea: mixed signals

Last week, a South Korean official said that the country is preparing a bill to ban bitcoin trading. The major coins plummeted.

There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and the justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges, Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said at a press conference, according to Reuters.

But within a few hours, South Korean President Moon Jae-in appeared to pull back on Park Sang-kis claim, saying the ban is not a finalized decision and will be finalized through discussion and a coordination process with each government ministry. Coins rallied on the news.

But a few days later, it remains unclear what actions South Korea is going to take. And any uncertainty from South Korea, one of the three biggest global markets for bitcoin trading activity, isnt good for investor sentiment. It didnt help when a third South Korean official said on a radio interview this week that the bitcoin ban is still under consideration.

Add that lack of clarity to the news out of China, and you have a mountain of anxiety still driving the entire coin market down further.

Remember also that the price of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is all about sentiment. Bad news leads to bad headlines, which foments negative sentiment. But the true bitcoin believers are all likely holding their coins, and theres nothing to stop sentiment from turning around in the next few days, and that would buoy prices.

So: Wheres the bottom?



Daniel Roberts covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

Read more:

The latest cryptocurrency rout is about more than South Korea

An ICO is not like an IPO

What is bitcoin?

How to buy bitcoin

What is ripple?

What is litecoin?

The 11 biggest names in crypto right now
Bitcoin's price has halved in the last month - REUTERS

The price of Bitcoin has fallen below $10,000 (7,300), cutting its value in half since its peak just a month ago.

The digital currency was trading as low as $9,958 on Wednesday morning as its value fell for a second straight day.

Although the price recovered slightly on Wednesday morning it has still collapsed dramatically since mid December, when it was trading at almost $20,000.

Fears of governments cracking down on digital currencies, combined with a wave of panic selling, have led many of them to drop heavily in the last few days. Bitcoin has fallen 25pc in three days while others including Ethereum and Ripple have also suffered heavily.

Authorities in China, South Korea and Germany have all indicated they are preparing crackdowns on digital currencies in the coming days. While Bitcoin's price has surged in the last year, many investors and financial regulators have continued to warn about its risk.

Bitcoin price last two weeks

Potential action in South Korea in particular has spooked investors, since the country is a hub of cryptocurrency trading. Last week the country's government suggested it would ban trading.

On Tuesday night, fears were compounded when the anonymously-run online exchange BitConnect said it would shut down, saying that a string of regulatory warnings and cyber attacks had forced it to stop operating.

BitConnect allowed users to exchange Bitcoin for its own cryptocurrency, BCC, and claimed they could earn 40pc interest a month, was accused by many of being a Ponzi scheme. The value of BCC fell 95pc overnight, leaving investors who had thrown money into the alternative currency panicking.

These are actual digital gravestones of Bitconnect bagholders having their savings evaporate before their eyes.



The bitconnect subreddit is a cemetery. R.I.P. 



There will be more in many different subreddits. pic.twitter.com/l9yfuZq9q8  Francis Pouliot (@francispouliot_) January 17, 2018

BitConnect had been warned by financial regulators in Texas and North Carolina about issuing its own cryptocurrency.

Some investors now fear the wave of momentum that led Bitcoin's price to shoot up last year is reversing and could continue if owners take the recent drop as a sign they should cash out.

Bitcoin's peak in January coincided with the launch of Bitcoin futures contracts, a moment that was seen as the digital currency entering the mainstream. The first month-long contracts are due to expire on Wednesday, with investors nursing heavy losses.
Bitcoin (Exchange:BTC=) fell below $10,000 for the first time since November, as a sell-off in cryptocurrencies continued for a second day. The world's largest cryptocurrency dived as low as $9,199.59 Wednesday morning, falling almost 19 percent within 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. CoinDesk tracks prices from cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit and Bitfinex. Bitcoin then recovered slightly to $10,123 at 11:56 a.m. ET. The last time bitcoin fell below the $10,000 mark was November 30. The red-hot digital asset soared to a record high of $19,783.21 on CoinDesk last month, but has since been on a gradual decline. At its current price, it is now down almost 50 percent from that all-time high. More than $30 billion was shaved off the cryptocurrency's market value in the last 24 hours. "Focus has shifted to negative regulation with headlines out of South Korea, China, and even minor headlines from France and the U.S.," Ari Paul, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency investment firm BlockTower Capital, said in an email. "These headlines are having an outsized effect because cryptocurrency as a whole was overbought and sentiment reached exuberant levels, setting the stage for the violent correction that we're seeing." Ethereum (Exchange:ETH=) and ripple (Exchange:XRP.BS=)  the second and third-biggest digital assets respectively  continued to move lower. According to CoinMarketCap data, ethereum was trading 15 percent lower near $885 a coin, while ripple fell nearly 14 percent to around $1.02. Cryptocurrencies appeared to sell off shortly after South Korea's Finance Minister, Kim Dong-yeon, said the country was still mulling a shutdown of crypto exchanges . Initial reports of South Korea  one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in the world  moving to clamp down on virtual currency trading last week sent the price of bitcoin and a number of other major digital assets down sharply. "The action we're seeing may seem dramatic but is really quite normal for this market," Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, told CNBC via email. "All in all, this drop has brought us back to the prices that were traded about a month ago for most coins." Greenspan said Tuesday that South Korean and Japanese investors often pay a premium of "20 percent or more per coin," but on Wednesday said they appeared to be falling.

Story continues

"The premiums that were being paid by Japanese and South Korean crypto traders is also coming down, so that's a good sign as well," he said.

'No other justification than fear' China was also reportedly looking to deepen its crackdown on the cryptocurrency market this week. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that authorities in China were planning to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralized trading. Regulators will also target people and companies that provide market-making, settlement and clearing services for centralized trading, the publication said, citing unnamed sources. And on Tuesday, a Chinese central bank official reportedly said that authorities should ban the centralized trading of digital currencies , adding weight to concerns of further suppression of the country's cryptocurrency market. Charles Hayter, chief executive of CryptoCompare, said that many expected the cryptocurrency market to decline. "The market was very overheated and had significantly dislocated from trend. A large percentage of investors were expecting this correction and reversion to mean." Hayter said that panic was "leading the herd to sell with no other justification than fear," but added that it was "difficult to say" where the market would be headed next. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile assets. Many experts believe that the introduction of futures contracts for bitcoin from the likes of CME (CME) and Cboe (CBOE) would tame the digital currency somewhat and bring in more institutional money.  CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report. WATCH: Digital currency has real value  Here's why



More From CNBC


Per reports, biotech bigwig Celgene Corporation CELG is looking to acquire smaller biotech Juno Therapeutics JUNO.

Rationale of the Deal

Celgene is on the look-out of new deals and acquisitions given a lacklustre 2017. Celgene suffered a series of setbacks over the last few months. The company suffered a setback when a late stage study on its lead cancer drug Revlimid in combination with Rituxan failed.

Earlier in Jan 2018, Celgene announced it will acquire Impact Biomedicines for an upfront amount of $1.1 billion. The acquisition will add a late stage candidate, fedratinib, a highly selective JAK2 kinase inhibitor, to Celgenes pipeline. The candidate is being developed for the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera. Fedratinib demonstrated statistically significant improvements in the primary and secondary endpoints of splenic response and total symptom score, respectively in a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase III pivotal trial (JAKARTA-1) for treatment-naive MF.

We note that the slowdown in mature products compelled prominent biotechs to acquire smaller ones with promising pipelines. Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD acquired Kite Pharma and subsequently obtained FDA approval of Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), the latters chimeric CAR-T therapy candidate.

Why is Celgene Mulling Over the Acquisition?

Celgene already has a collaboration and investment agreement with Juno for the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The agreement became effective in July 2015. Per the terms of the agreement, Celgene has the option to be the commercialization partner for Junos oncology and cell therapy auto-immune product candidates, including Junos CD19 and CD22 directed CAR T-cell product candidates.

Per the deal, Juno will have the option to enter into co-development and co-commercialization arrangements on certain Celgene-originated development candidates that target T-cells.

Story continues

In April 2016, Celgene exercised option to develop and commercialize Junos CD19 program outside North America and China. The company also entered into a pre-negotiated license agreement with Juno with respect to such program by making a $50.0-million license payment.

Celgenes stock has loss 22.3% of its value in the last six months compared with the industrys decline of 2.4% while Junos stock surged significantly following the news.

CAR-T Therapy Holds Promise

The CAR-T therapy space was in the spotlight in 2017 as the FDA approved the first CAR-T therapy, Kymriah for the treatment of patients upto 25 years of age with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia that is refractory or in second or later relapse stage.

Given the immense potential of the therapy, Celgene too wants to go the Gilead way. Meanwhile, Celgene also has a partnership with bluebird bio, Inc. BLUE for CAR-T therapy candidates. Last month, the company also announced results from the ongoing CRB-401 phase I clinical study on investigational anti-B-cell maturation antigen CAR-T cell therapy, bb2121. The data showed ORR of 94% in patients in active dose cohorts (doses above 50 x 106 CAR + T-cells) and CR rate of 56% observed in patients in active dose cohorts.

Zacks Rank

Celgene currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here..

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chinese automaker GAC Automobiles' plan to sell vehicles in the United States ran afoul of Washington trade politics on Wednesday, as the top U.S. Senate Democrat and U.S. President Donald Trump separately criticized Chinese trade practices.

GAC Automobiles, formally known as Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd, said Monday it plans to start selling vehicles in the United States in late 2019, potentially through a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. The southern Chinese automaker initially said it had hoped to start selling vehicles in the United States in 2017.

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, cited GAC's plans announced in Detroit on the Senate floor Wednesday and argued that Chinese automotive trade rules are "manifestly unfair, and a typically unfortunate example of Chinas rapacious trading policies."

Chinese-built cars shipped to the United States face just a 2.5 percent tariff, while U.S.-built cars sent to China are hit with a 25 percent tariff.

Trump told Reuters in an interview Wednesday that "we have helped to build China because they have taken out so much money in terms of trade deficits with this country."

He said that "when China or another country charges us 50 percent tariffs  more than that in some cases  and we charge them nothing, thats not fair. Thats not fair."

While Schumer and Trump have clashed on many issues, the interests of Democrats and the Republican president are more aligned on automotive trade. Both want to win votes from auto workers in industrial states such as Michigan or Ohio whose jobs could be threatened should Chinese vehicles come to the United States in high volume. Leaders of the United Auto Workers union regularly raise concerns about U.S.-China automotive trade.

In 2016, General Motors Co became the first major automaker to sell a Chinese-made vehicle in the United States, importing its Buick Envision. GM sold 41,000 of the small SUVs in 2017.

Volvo Cars, a unit of Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, has also been exporting vehicles from China to the United States since 2016. In June, Ford Motor Co said it would move some production of its Focus small car to China from Mexico and import the vehicles to the United States by 2019.

GAC could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday but confirmed this week it planned to change the name of vehicles sold in the United States from its flagship brand, Trumpchi to avoid confusion with Trump. It also plans to eventually sell vehicles in Europe. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Joseph White and Lisa Shumaker)
Donald Trump received a perfect score in the cognitive test - Abaca Press

The cognitive test on which Donald Trump received a perfect score is considered a good screening tool for mental decline in an otherwise healthy person, medical experts said.

The US president asked to be administered a mental test and was given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as part of a medical exam by Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, who on Tuesday said he had absolutely no concerns about Mr Trump's neurological function. The president scored 30 out of 30.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Cognitive testing looks for signs of mild cognitive impairment and/or Alzheimers disease. It focuses on cognitive functions including memory, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall and orientation.

Sample questions on the Montreal test include repeating a set of numbers in order both forwards and backwards and remembering a list of common words.

Test takers are asked to identify animals, and draw a clock face, putting in all of the numbers and setting the clock hands to a specific time. It takes about 10 minutes to administer.

One memory test involves memorising the words 'face', 'velvet', 'church', 'daisy', 'red' and recalling them after five minutes.

Another test challenges participants to name as many words as they can in one minute that begin with the letter F.

In general, patients with good or average memory forget one of the five words and can still be within the normal range, said Dr James Mastrianni, an expert in memory disorders and other neurodegenerative conditions at the University of Chicago Medicine.

"It's a screening assessment that we use routinely in the clinics to determine whether someone has some degree of cognitive impairment or not," he said.

"If they score poorly on that assessment, then usually there is more detailed evaluation that follows. But if they score well that usually indicates there is pretty good cognitive function. They are essentially intact," Mastrianni added.

Story continues

How the Presidents' physicals compare

The test was was created by Dr Ziad Nasreddine, a neurologist who graduated from University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1996.

Recognising the need for a more expeditious cognitive function test, he adapted his comprehensive screen and created a much quicker assessment which could be adapted to first line specialty clinics.

The test is designed to precisely measure cognitive impairment, assess major cognitive domains by acting as a cognitive brain scan and help detect early stages of impairment for the most common neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimers disease.

It is also been sensitively designed so that it does not falsely label someone who is normal as being impaired.

The MoCA has been found to be useful to detect mild cognitive impairment in many conditions including Alzheimers disease, Vascular Cognitive Impairment, Parkinsons disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntingtons disease and head trauma.

Test instructions may be repeated once, however items listed in the memory section may not. The MoCA is used in 100 countries around the world.

The standard version of the test is "pretty good" but "not definitive" said Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimers disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Petersen said he could not comment specifically on the presidents cognitive health.

The test does not assess the presidents psychiatric fitness and the president did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to his doctor.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, there is no single test that proves a person has Alzheimer's disease. That diagnosis is made through a complete assessment that considers all possible causes.
France became the latest country Monday to crack down on cryptocurrency, as finance minister Bruno Le Maire called for new guidelines on the trading of tokens. The driving force behind this move was to prevent cryptocurrencies being used to evade taxes or finance criminal organizations.

We want a stable economy. We reject the risks of speculation and the possible financial diversions linked to bitcoin, stated the Le Maire in speech.

The ministers office did not go into detail on what these new rules might involve, but it could take the form of a ban on token exchanges if they take cues from South Korea or China.

Recently, national governments have come out en masse to take a stance against unregulated cryptocurrency by either beginning talks for stricter regulations or outright shutting down local cryptocurrency trading exchanges.

However, Joachim Wuermeling, a member of the board of Germanys Bundesbank, believes that national regulations against cryptocurrencies wont do much to a system that isnt tied to any one specific country. He believes that only sweeping international regulations would being to bring a halt to the misuse of cryptocurrencies.

Effective regulation of virtual currencies would therefore only be achievable through the greatest possible international cooperation, because the regulatory power of nation states is obviously limited, said Wuermeling at an event, according to Reuters.

Until actual guidelines are drafted up, this is only speculation, but the mere talk of regulating the free trade of cryptocurrencies has seemingly wrought havoc on the market.

At the time of writing, the worlds top 20 cryptocurrencies are all down by at least 25 percent, according to Coinmarketcap. Bitcoin went from being valued at just over $14,000 to $10,500 within the day. Ethereum started Tuesday at just under $1,300 and slid to $926. Ripple, which was hit the hardest, is currently down 47.70 percent and is currently valued at $1.

Story continues

The golden age of cryptocurrencies seems to have come to a screeching halt at the mere mention of government regulations.

Photos via Unsplash / raquel raclette

Photos via Unsplash / raquel raclette

Written by Danny Paez

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Google's often fractious relationship with China may be softening on the news that the search giant is opening a new office in the country. The company already has two facilities in China, located in Beijing and Shanghai, but will now rent space in a building in Shenzhen, the Chinese equivalent to Silicon Valley. The province, which borders Hong Kong, is the home of Huawei, Tencent, ZTE, OnePlus -- not to mention the massive Foxconn plant that is also situated there.

As TechCrunch explains, Google Shenzhen is currently based out of a serviced office block, and will start out as little more than a glorified employee co-working space. An internal email, obtained by our sister publication, explains that "a number of Googlers in China [...] travel to the Shenzhen area for business." Consequently, it makes sense to cluster workers in one place, rather than leaving them to work in hotel rooms or elsewhere.

The move could be interpreted as another sign that Google wants to move beyond its decade-long feud with the country. Back in 2010, Google shut down its Chinese search engine in protest against the country's heavy-handed censorship, which blocks references to anything the Communist Party dislikes. That includes references to pro-democracy campaigns, documents of internal corruption, police brutality, the Taiwanese independence movement and the Tiananmen Square massacre.

But the company can't ignore such a vast potential market forever, and it's thought that other pro-China initiatives are laying the groundwork for a return. It doesn't hurt that Shenzhen is home to key hardware partners, and now that it owns a big chunk of HTC's business, the need for face-to-face communication is key. And if Google is planning to make nice with China, it's going to need to make plenty of new friends in a very short amount of time.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) and Maersk have partnered up to create what they call a way to speed up the trade industry.

IBM

Source: IBM

The companies are rolling out a new blockchain platform designed to save up billions of dollars, while also managing and tracking tens of millions of shipping containers around the globe. IBM and Maersk will do so by digitizing the supply chain process from end to end.

Its been a while since the global shipping industry has seen any technological changes as the container invented in the 1950s marks the last major breakthrough for it. Sending items still requires plenty of paperwork and bureaucracy.

InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips

The new IBM and Maersk platform will be made available to the ocean shipping industry starting in mid-2018, and it is dependent on whether or not the companies can lure in shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customer authorities to adopt its new tech.

Blockchain technology is used to power bitcoin, ethereum and other digital currencies, sharing data across a network of individual computers. Customs and port authorities in the United States, China, Singapore and the Netherlands have expressed interest in using the platform.

The big thing that is missing from this industry to digitize and unleash the potential of the technology is really to create a form of utility that brings standards across the entire ecosystem, Maersks Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Clerc said in an interview.

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To extend its primacy in blockchain technology, International Business Machines Corporation IBM is joining forces with the largest container shipping firm in the world, A.P. Moller-Maersk. The partnership is intended to deliver a secure and efficient industry-wide trading platform using blockchain technology.

IBM and Maersk will use blockchain technology to power this new platform, as well as artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and analytics imperative delivered through IBM Services. Primarily aimed at cost cutting and speeding up trade, the platform will address the need to provide more transparency and simplicity in tracking shipments across borders and trading zones.

Further, this platform will deliver much needed innovation in the ocean shipping industry and aid IBM in branching out its foothold in this space.

Per market data, goods worth more than $4 trillion dollars are shipped each year, of which 80% are transported by the ocean shipping industry. Offering this platform for use to the global shipping industry will boost IBMs top-line.

International Business Machines Corporation Revenue (TTM)

International Business Machines Corporation Revenue (TTM) | International Business Machines Corporation Quote

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is the technology that allows cryptocurrencies to exist as it tracks transactions relating to digital assets. But it can also track documents which make it especially attractive to those in the banking, finance and insurance industries.

Blockchain technology is projected to reach $2.3 billion by 2021 from $210.2 million in 2016 at a CAGR of 61.5%, per data from MarketsandMarkets.

IBMs Blockchain Initiatives

IBM is currently a dominant player in the blockchain market, which is touted as the next game-changer in the technology sector.

IBM is involved in a number of blockchain initiatives as the technology gains rapid mainstream adoption. Recently, CNBC quoted Juniper Research, which placed IBM above Microsoft Corporation in blockchain-related advancements.

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The company has been an early adopter of the blockchain technology and has already worked with more than 400 clients to implement blockchain applications. It has struck bank guarantee deals with ANZ and Westpac as well as a multi-line insurance contract with American International Group and Standard Chartered PLC.

Moreover, IBM uses Hyperledger technology for blockchain applications and is also a key member of the Hyperledger committee. This enables the company to gain prior notification of any changes in the underlying infrastructure, which is the main reason behind its increasing deal wins.

Per a market research report published by Orbisresearch.com, blockchain technology is anticipated to be used by 65% of enterprises by 2020. Given its market presence and growing collaborations with industry leaders, IBM is well positioned to reap the benefits.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

IBM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Broadcom Limited AVGO, Analog Devices, Inc. ADI and Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. MLNX, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Broadcom, Analog Devices and Mellanox have a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 13.75%, 10.40% and 16% respectively.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

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UBM runs Black Hat, an annual gathering of computer hackers in Las Vegas - UBM

Nearly a decade after a merger attempt collapsed, the trade show organisers Informa and UBM are again in talks about a combination, investors were told this evening.

The pair were forced to reveal their rekindled romance at the end of trading on the stock exchange, after rumours filtered through the market during the day and drove 5.2pc increase in UBMs shares.

This time the suggested deal is a cash and shares Informa takeover of UBM to create the worlds largest business events company. If successful, Informa will overtake Relx and bring together industry jamborees such as its own World of Concrete with the likes of Black Hat, an annual gathering of computer hackers in Las Vegas.

The two companies have a combined stock market value of more than 9bn and overall revenues of 2.2bn, and run exhibitions all over the world across a multitude of industries.

Informas ambition represents a power shift compared with 2008, when the pair, then with a combined value of only 3bn, attempted to engineer a nil-premium merger of equals. Speculation about a deal has followed them since.

UBM was founded as a newspaper publisher at the end of the First World War by David Lloyd George

In the meantime UBM, founded as a newspaper publisher at the end of the First World War by David Lloyd George, has sold off PR Newswire to focus on events and associated business information. Trade magazines including The Publican and Property Week have also been offloaded and it sold its last title, Building, only last week.

UBM still retains some legacy of its past as a media owner, however, including a 20pc stake in the television news producer ITN from its time as an ITV franchisee in the Nineties.

Informa, meanwhile, remains a significant academic publisher and business information provider, although under chief executive Stephen Carter has made expanding its events operation its main growth strategy. It has made a string of acquisitions, including in 2016 the 1.2bn takeover of Penton, an Ohio-based events organiser and publisher of trade magazines including Aviation Week.

The sector has been consolidating rapidly as major players seek scale and diversity of brands and territories to shield them from industry and economic shifts. Penton fell prey to Informa two years after losing out to UBM in a bidding war over Advanstar, another trade show operator and business information provider.

Under takeover rules Informa has 28 days to make a firm offer to bring all the assets together. The companies last attempt to merge was complicated by interest from private equity bidders, who remain active in the events and business information markets.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Monday unveiled the 2019 model year Ram 1500, a half-ton truck thats lighter, quieter, more fuel efficient, and loaded with tech. And its gunning for the big players in the full-size truck segment: the Ford F-150 and GMs Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.

FCA introduced the truckthe flagship model of its Ram brand at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The automaker didnt just make a few tweaks to the truck. FCA overhauled the Ram 1500, shaving 225 pounds off its total weight, even while making the vehicle longer and wider. The Ram 1500s wheelbase and cab are up to four inches longer, which FCA says gives the truck improved proportions and better aerodynamics.

It even got a new redesigned logo.

FCA was able to reduce the trucks weight by using aluminum in all the right placesthe tailgate and engine mounts are just a couple of spotsas well as an increase in steel in the frame and body.

The bed height has been raised by 1.5 inches, which aligns it with the beltline of the body to create a stronger, consistent horizontal profile with aero benefits. Designers also add a new spoiler on the aluminum tailgate, which drivers can drop using an interior switch or with the key fob, that helps reduce drag.

Wind tunnel profile shows the aerodynamics of the 2019 Ram 1500.

The Ram 1500 has two engine options: a 3.6-liter Pentaster V-6 or a 5.7-liter Hemi V-8. Both engines come standard with an upgraded eight-speed automatic transmission. The standard 3.6-liter Pentaster V-6 engine can produce 305 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque. The 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 can deliver 395 horsepower and 410 lb-feet of torque.

Ram has added a new eTorque mild-hybrid system, which replaces the traditional starter on the engine with a belt-drive motor with a 48-volt battery pack. The system starts the engine, gives some extra torque, provides brake energy regeneration, and even a start/stop feature that can help save gas.

The truck can tow 12,750 pounds and carry 2,300 pounds of payload. Pricing and fuel economy ratings have not yet been released. The vehicle will head to dealers later this year.

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Inside the new truck, future drivers and passengers will notice more tech. The Ram 1500 is equipped with a fourth-generation version of its Uconnect infotainment system, which drivers and passengers can interact with an upgraded 12-inch touchscreen or the standard 8.4-inch one. The vehicle also comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, in-car software platforms that brings the functionality of a smartphone to the vehicles screen.

The navigation system accommodates one-step, voice-controlled destination entry and enhanced 3-D navigation map graphics and theres also a new version of SiriusXM radio thats designed to offer more smart features that are attuned to the drivers listening tastes. Ram 1500 owners will receive a one-year subscription to SiriusXM All Access with the purchase of equipped 2019 model vehicles.

The vehicle also comes with a 360-degree camera that provides a birds-eye perspective of vehicle and a new Harman Kardon audio system with 19 premium speakers, 900-watt surround sound amplifier, 10-inch subwoofer, and active noise cancellation.

2019 Ram 1500  Forward Collision Warning-Plus

It also comes with several advanced driver assistance features, including adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning. The vehicle will warn the driver if impact appears imminent, and assist by deploying brakes. The Ram 1500 also has a lane departure warning alert and parking assist that uses ultrasonic sensors to help the driver perform technical maneuvers.
The Trump administration said it wants more car manufacturing to be done in the U.S., but that may be difficult to do economically, said Sergio Marchionne.

Car companies may have a hard time bringing as much manufacturing back to the United States as the Trump administration would like, said Fiat-Chrysler (FCA-IT) CEO Sergio Marchionne.



Current NAFTA rules require just over 60 percent of a vehicle's manufacturing to be done in the United States, Mexico and Canada to avoid tariffs. The Trump administration has said it wants to raise that to 85 percent and wants 50 percent of that to come from the United States.

The next big battle for carmakers will be making sure those percentages are reasonable as the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement heats up, Marchionne told CNBC at the North American International Auto Show on Tuesday.

Fiat-Chrysler said in early January it would shift some production of its Ram Heavy Duty truck from Saltillo, Mexico, to Detroit in 2020, adding back 2,500 jobs. But the company may still have to produce some components in Mexico, he said on Tuesday.

"There is a limit to what I think can be economically produced in this country, and I sincerely hope this administration understands this," Marchionne told CNBC.

It is unclear how much a change in NAFTA would affect U.S. consumers, he said.

"Tax reform is going to compensate some of the cost differential in building the car here as opposed to building it in Mexico," he said, "so we feel comfortable that we have now found the economic framework within which to get this done."
Major cryptocurrencies plunge in double-digit selloff

Investing.com - The prices of major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and ripple plunged on Tuesday, recording double-digit percentage losses amid a broad based selloff.

Bitcoin was trading at $12,106 by 03:49 AM ET (08:49 AM GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange, down 10.96% from its previous close.

Ethereum, the worlds second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was last at $1,124.7 on the Bitfinex exchange after peaking at $1,423.20 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ripple's XRP token was trading at $1.41 on the Poloniex exchange, down around 23% for the day.

That pushed ethereums market capitalization down to $108 billion and lowered ripples value to $53 billion. Bitcoin remained the largest cryptocurrency by market cap with a value of $208 billion.

Cryptocurrencies have experienced a volatile start to the year after a massive rally in 2017. Increased regulatory scrutiny from South Korea has hit investor sentiment.

Cryptocurrency prices plummeted late last week following reports that South Korea may be preparing to ban all virtual currency trading in the country.

South Koreas justice minister said the government was preparing a bill to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges. The country is one is one of the largest markets for major coins like bitcoin and ethereum.

Cryptocurrency trading in South Korea is highly speculative and digital currencies are often traded at a premium, meaning that they are priced significantly higher in the country's exchanges than elsewhere in the world.

The South Korean government said on Monday that its plans to ban virtual coin exchanges had not yet been finalized as government agencies were still in talks to decide how to regulate the market.

South Koreas unease over cryptocurrency trading follows drastic moves taken by China, which shuttered cryptocurrency exchanges last year and is now trying to shut operations that produce bitcoin, a process known as mining.

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Story continues

Bitcoin slides 14 percent on crackdown fears, hits four-week low

PBOC official says China's centralized virtual currency trade needs to end: source

Any rule on Bitcoin must be global, Germany's central bank says
An attempt to oust President Donald Trumps hotel business from managing a luxury hotel in Panama has turned bitter, with accusations of financial misconduct.

Trump Hotels is contesting its firing, and its staff ran off a team of Marriott executives invited last month to visit the property during a search for a new hotel operator, according to two people familiar with the matter.

After the owners association accused Trump Hotels of mismanagement and financial misconduct in a $15 million arbitration claim, the company owned by the president fired back with a $200 million counterclaim and refused to turn over the propertys financial records. When a team from Marriott International Inc. came to the property at the invitation of the hotels majority owner, Trump staff asked them to leave, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly what happened behind the scenes.

The head of Trump Hotels, Eric Danziger, also called Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson to complain about the visit, the two people said.

Marriott generally steers clear of properties facing ownership and management disputes. But the call from a senior Trump executive to the CEO of Marriott, which manages more than 6,000 hotels, raised the awkward matter of how American companies interact with a business owned by the president.

Marriott, like most major international companies, has significant business and public policy interests before the Trump administration. Federal employees who travel and hold government conferences pay to use its properties, and Marriott has been lobbying the administration and Congress over U.S. tourism, trade and legal restrictions against property ownership in Cuba, disclosures to consumers about resort fees, and other issues.

Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten said the call was not intended to pressure Marriott.

We have a great relationship with Marriott, Garten said. They were appreciative that we let them know that we have a valid contract.

Story continues

A spokeswoman for Marriott declined to comment.

The matter highlights potential ethics concerns raised by Trumps decision not to divest himself from his businesses, said Larry Noble, head of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based public interest group that studies issues of democracy.

I dont know if theyve got a valid contract or not, Noble said. But if youre a big company, youd really have to think twice before getting into a fight with one of the presidents companies.

Since Trump took office, Trump hotels in New York and Toronto have quietly reached deals to separate themselves from Trumps brand.

But the Panama dispute is shaping up as a brawl.

In a letter to fellow owners, the investor leading the hotel owners board of directors accused Trump Hotels of gross mismanagement, breaches of contract, conversion and breaches of fiduciary duties. Conversion is a legal term for the misuse of someone elses property for ones own gain.

Our investment has no future so long as the hotel is managed by an incompetent operator whose brand has been tarnished beyond repair, Orestes Fintiklis, the managing partner of Miami-based Ithaca Capital Partners, wrote in the letter. Trump Hotels, he wrote, is refusing to maintain its last shreds of dignity and peacefully vacate our property.

Fintiklis did not respond to emails from the AP seeking comment.

Trump Hotels accused Ithaca of deceiving its fellow hotel owners and illegally terminating the Trump contract.

Unfortunately, it is YOU, the unit owners, who will ultimately be the ones to bear responsibility for the bad acts of Mr. Fintiklis and his cohorts, said Trump Hotels executive vice president Jeff Wagoner in an earlier letter to the owners last week.

Rising 70 stories in the shape of a wind-filled sail, the Trump hotel promised investors a chance to become the part owner of one of Central Americas finest hotels. It has struggled to sell units after its completion in 2011. Occupancy rates are low enough that some owners receive no income from their properties and must reach into their own pockets to pay maintenance costs.

The effort to remove Trump hotels from managing the hybrid condo-hotel units on the property began last year, after Ithaca Capital Group purchased 202 unsold hotel units from the buildings struggling developer.

After buying the units in August, Ithaca and the other owners voted in November to fire Trumps directors, clearing the way for terminating Trumps contract and the $15 million arbitration claim against Trump Hotels.

Not all the hotel unit owners were represented at the meeting, but those contacted by The Associated Press support the effort to fire Trump.

They wanted to remove him quietly, said Al Monstavicius, a retired Nevada doctor who owns a penthouse hotel unit in the building, of Ithacas efforts. That didnt work.

Monstavicius said Trumps statements regarding Mexicans and his determination to strip hundreds of thousands of Central Americans of their protection from deportation have made Trumps brand toxic in Panama.

Occupancy in recent days  considered peak high season  has ranged from 26 to 28 percent, according to Trump Hotels figures.

Overbuilding and general weakness in the Panama hotel market have contributed to problems. Trumps team said it was proud of the hotels financial performance. It told owners Trumps hotel has outperformed its peers for 81 of the last 84 months, but Fintiklis dismissed the claim as simply delusional.

The hostilities extended to Ithacas invitation of Marriott executives to the property.

We were obviously concerned about their presence there, Garten said, adding that he believed Marriott did not know of the circumstances.

The heart of Trump Hotels claim against the hotel owners is a February 2017 agreement. When it bought 202 units, Ithaca agreed not to act in any manner adverse to the interests of Trump Hotels. In his letter, Fintiklis acknowledged the language in the agreement but said mismanagement and misconduct by Trump Hotels rendered it invalid.

If the owners in Panama succeed, it wont be the first time that Trump has been ousted there. In 2015, amid the early months of Trumps presidential campaign, the owners of apartments in the same building voted to fire Trumps management company over budget issues and allegations of misspent funds.

Since then, the propertys overall finances have improved. Its annual deficits, which exceeded $1 million, have since turned into a surplus, according to financial documents provided to the AP by an owner.
By Enrico Dela Cruz

MANILA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Opposition members of the Philippine Congress raised concern on Wednesday that China Telecom Corp Ltd, which may enter the Philippine industry, could be a "Trojan horse" aimed at giving China access to state secrets.

The Southeast Asian country aims to name a third telecom operator within the first quarter that will break the duopoly of PLDT Inc and Globe Telecom Inc. State-run China Telecom has been named as a possible investor in that third entity.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who has warned both PLDT and Globe to shape up or face competition, has welcomed Chinese entities specifically to become the third telecoms operator.

Beijing has selected China Telecom to invest in the Philippines, according to Philippine officials, but it would need to partner with a local company as it cannot operate alone under the law.

China Telecom's presence in the Philippines, however, does not sit well with some lawmakers, given China's telecommunications expertise and sophisticated technology.

Despite Duterte's warm relations with China, the Philippines has a long history of mistrust of it, due largely to its maritime assertiveness and its challenges to Philippine claims of sovereignty over various islands, reefs and waters.

"While we agree that telecommunications and connectivity are serious problems in our country, it behooves us to scrutinize the China deal," the House minority bloc said in a statement.

"Is China Telecom a Trojan horse?"

The lawmakers sought a congressional inquiry and cautioned the government against rushing into any deal.

"Giving China access to the country's communications infrastructure is a serious threat to national security," they said, adding that even the United States was aware of such risk.

Two U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill this week that bars the U.S. government from using or contracting with Chinese telecom firms Huawei or ZTE Corp.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment on the lawmakers' security concerns.

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The Philippine Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) sought to allay the lawmakers' concern on Wednesday.

A National Cybersecurity Plan is in place to provide measures and controls against security risks, DICT Assistant Secretary Allan Cabanlong told Reuters.

"Rest assured that there is no problem. What is important is that we are focused on the development of the country," he said. (Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in MANILA and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Martin Petty, Robert Birsel)
donald trump

Getty Images/Pool

48% of respondents to an MSN poll said it was racist of President Donald Trump to refer to African nations and Haiti as "shithole countries."

Americans were sharply divided along partisan lines: 83% of Democrats considered the comment racist, compared to 10% of Republicans.

Trump's comments have sparked widespread condemnation, including from the African Union, and several commentators and writers have accused Trump of racism.



Americans are divided on whether the latest provocative remark from President Donald Trump was racist.

The comment in question was Trump's reported use of the word "shithole" to describe African nations and Haiti during a meeting with top senators about immigration last week.

According to a poll from Business Insider's partner MSN, 48% of respondents thought Trump's comment was racist, while 51% said it wasn't and 1% wasn't sure.

The results were split heavily along party lines: 83% of Democrats considered the comment racist, while just 10% of Republicans felt the same. Exactly 50% of independents said Trump's comment was racist.

MSN Poll results are analyzed to represent the US adult population or specific sub-demographics. MSN describes the US adult population by thousands of combinations of age, gender, education, location and several other demographics. MSN takes the raw polling data and models how demographic groups answered each question, and then projects those answers onto the true distribution of the demographic groups. The method was tested in the 2016 election and proven to be as accurate as other polling methods  more details can be found here.

Trump's comments sparked outrage from Democratic lawmakers, and prompted numerous commentators and columnists in the media to accuse Trump of racism.

A day later, the African Union, comprising all 55 African nations, condemned Trump's remarks, saying they "dishonor the celebrated American creed and respect for diversity and human dignity." The union demanded that Trump retract the statement and deliver "an apology not only to the Africans but to all people of African descent around the globe."

Story continues

Trump has denied that he used the specific word in the meeting, which was first reported by The Washington Post, citing several people briefed on the meeting.

"Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump said, according to the report.

The comments were later confirmed by other news outlets. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who was in the meeting, also confirmed Trump made the remark, although some Republican senators in the room said they did not remember hearing it.

The Post added that Trump said he would prefer if the US accepted more immigrants from Norway, which is predominantly white.

Exactly 50% of the respondents in the MSN poll said they were offended by Trump's remarks. And more than half  54%  said it was appropriate for the media to repeat Trump's language. Several news outlets, including The Post, included the word "shithole" in its headlines, and CNN broke with tradition and featured the word prominently in its chyrons.

NOW WATCH: Here's what Trump's tax plan means for people at every income level from $20,000 to $269,000 a year

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SEE ALSO: TRUMP: 'I am not a racist'

DON'T MISS: Top Republicans are taking aim at a Democratic senator who said Trump made 'shithole countries' comment
blaze bernstein

Orange County Sheriff's Department

Blaze Bernstein, the University of Pennsylvania sophomore who was found dead in California last week, was stabbed more than 20 times, police said.

Bernstein's former high school classmate Samuel Woodward was arrested on suspicion of homicide.

More details are emerging about what happened between the two the night of Bernstein's death.



Authorities have revealed that Blaze Bernstein, the 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania sophomore who was found dead in California last week, had been stabbed more than 20 times, according to an Orange County Register report Monday night.

The Register added that Bernstein's killing is being investigated as an act of rage.

Police with the Orange County Sheriff's Department arrested 20-year-old Samuel Woodward, Bernstein's former classmate from high school, on suspicion of homicide on Friday, after DNA evidence linked him to Bernstein's death. No murder weapon has been found, the Register reported.

Bernstein was visiting family in his hometown of Lake Forest before the start of the spring semester at UPenn. He was reported missing more than a week before police found his body in Borrego Park.

According to police, Bernstein had previously texted friends that Woodward was about to "hit on me" and that "he made me promise not to tell anyone." Police said on the night of Bernstein's death, the two former classmates drove to multiple locations before arriving at the park. At one point in the evening, Bernstein tried to kiss Woodward, who pushed him away.

Authorities later confirmed that blood found on a sleeping bag in Woodward's rental car was Bernstein's. He had become the primary suspect in the teen's death because of inconsistencies in his story  for example, he said he dropped Bernstein off at the park to meet with his girlfriend, but couldn't remember her name or where she lived. When questioned about scratches on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, he said he had been participating in a "fight club."

Story continues

Bernstein's death rocked the small town of Lake Forest, which according to CBS News, hadn't seen a homicide in at least four years. Meanwhile, his death is the latest tragedy for UPenn, which has lost nine students and faculty members since the start of 2017.

Bernstein's parents Jeanne and Gideon Bernstein said in a statement they were "saddened to hear  that gruesome details of the cause of his death were published."

"Our son was a beautiful gentle soul who we loved more than anything," they said. "We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community."

"There is still much discovery to be done and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime."

NOW WATCH: Watch Tony Robbins bring someone to tears in a one-on-one motivational session

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SEE ALSO: A UPenn sophomore was found dead  the ninth student or faculty member to die in a year
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not deny that Donald Trump had called Haiti and some African nations "s***hole countries" on Tuesday, saying the President himself had never denied using harsh language on immigration.

Asked why Mr Trump had defended the comments privately but denied them publicly, Ms Sanders said: The President hasnt said he didnt use strong language."

"This is an important issue, hes passionate about it, hes not going to apologise for trying to fix our immigration system," she added.

Several attendees at an Oval Office meeting on immigration last week said the President wondered aloud why the US took in immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, asking: Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?

The White House did not initially deny the report, but after a bipartisan backlash  in which many accused the President of being racist  Mr Trump fired back.

"The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used," he tweeted.

But Mr Trump spent the evening before calling friends and advisers to defend his remarks, according to the Associated Press. The President told confidants that he was not racist and that the press had distorted the meaning of his words, a person familiar with the situation said.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin confirmed that Mr Trump had used the word "s***hole," while Republican Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue said they heard the President say "s***house" instead, according to the Washington Post. Mr Durbin called the comments "hate filled, vile and racist".

Ms Sanders responded to allegations of racism on Tuesday by attempting to paint Mr Trump's critics as hypocritical.

"Why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV, why did Chuck Schumer and all of his colleagues come and beg Donald Trump for money?" Mr Sanders said, referring to Mr Trump's career as a businessman and host of The Apprentice before he ran for office.

Story continues

"Why did they want to be with him for years and years for various activities?" she asked. "...I think its just an outrageous and ludicrous excuse."

Mr Trump's alleged comments sparked a diplomatic backlash across the globe. Former Haitian President Laurent Lamothe called the remarks "totally unacceptable," and said they showed "a lack [of] respect and ignorance never seen before in the recent history of the US by any President".

South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Botswana and Haiti all called on US diplomats to meet with government officials to address Mr Trump's comments. Botswana has called on the US to clarify whether it, too, is considered a "s***hole" country.
Shares of big lithium players, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM), or SQM, Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), and FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) dropped 6.6%, 4.1%, and 3%, respectively, on Tuesday. For context, the S&P 500 edged down 0.35%.

While these daily declines are notable, they're a drop in the bucket relative to the stocks' soaring returns in recent years, driven by booming demand for lithium to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). For the two-year period through Tuesday, shares of SQM (the world's second largest lithium producer), Albemarle (the top lithium producer), and FMC have returned 290%, 176%, and 177%, respectively, versus the broader market's 54% return.

Here's what you should know about Tuesday's action in the lithium space.

Lithium salt flats with a mountain and blue sky in the background.

Lithium salt flats. Lithium-containing brine is pumped above ground into evaporation pools. Image source: Getty Images.

SQM's possible big lithium output boost triggered price concerns

SQM could soon receive permission from Chile's state-run economic development agency Corfo to boost its annual production of lithium considerably more than the market was anticipating, Reuters reported over the weekend. (Tuesday was the first trading day after the release of the news, as the U.S. markets were closed on Monday.) If and when this comes to fruition, the law of supply and demand tells us that lithium prices should be under some pressure. Lower-than-expected lithium prices have the potential to negatively impact lithium producers' revenue and profits.

SQM and Corfo have been locked in a disagreement since 2014 over whether the chemical and fertilizer company is fulfilling its contractual obligations related to its lease of the government-owned Salar de Atacama, home to some of the world's most valuable lithium deposits. (Albemarle also has a lease for "mining" lithium from brine at the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama desert of northern Chile.) The key point of contention is whether SQM is underpaying royalties it owes, though its compliance with environmental regulations is also reportedly under dispute.

Story continues

Citing newspaper La Tercera, Reuter's said on Saturday that Chile's government wants Corfo to resolve its dispute with SQM when the two sides meet at an arbitration hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 17. SQM and Corfo failed to reach an agreement in October, with Corfo demanding that SQM end its lease early, Reuters reported at the time. That would be catastrophic for the company, as SQM generates the bulk of its profits -- 61% of its consolidated gross profits in the first nine months of 2017 -- from its lithium business, with Atacama currently its sole source of the mineral.

Under the expected new agreement, Corfo would reportedly raise SQM's annual lithium production quota to 180,000 metric tons through 2030. SQM currently produces about 50,000 metric tons of lithium per year, according to Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein, who wrote on Tuesday that the firm's "lithium supply and demand model had assumed SQM would produce slightly more than 100,000 metric tons of lithium by 2025."

The bottom line

The SQM news is material, as it has the potential to impact lithium prices, so investors should monitor the arbitration situation.

One lesson from the SQM-Corfa dispute has to be that companies that rely on leasing valuable assets don't have full control over their destinies. Albemarle owns two of its three lithium sources, with one a joint venture, though its leased Atacama operation is its biggest source, while FMC Corp. owns its source, the Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina.

More From The Motley Fool

Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
By Fiona Lau and Julie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) - Xiaomi has tapped CLSA, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as joint sponsors for its proposed IPO, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, in what could potentially value the Chinese smartphone maker at up to $100 billion. The initial public offering could be the worlds biggest tech float in 2018 and is expected to come in the second half of the year, IFR reported on Monday. Xiaomi has separately tapped Credit Suisse and Deutshe Bank to work on its IPO, another source told Reuters. The source, however, added that the roles for global banks haven't been decided and that no formal mandate has been given to any Chinese bank. A spokesman for Xiaomi [IPO-XMGP.HK] declined to comment. IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, first reported on the IPO sponsors. The smartphone maker last month told bankers that it would beat its 2017 sales targets by up to 18 percent as it continues to benefit from a business overhaul that followed its over-expansion and fierce competition from domestic rivals including Oppo and Vivo. Bankers expect Xiaomis profits to rise sharply in 2018 as its rebound continues, and have told the company  valued at $46 billion in a 2014 funding round before its slump - that a $100 billion valuation at the IPO is possible. The smartphone maker will add more banks to its IPO later in the process, according to IFR, which reported that Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and two Chinese banks were expected to get the nod for roles as joint global coordinators. Xiaomi's potential IPO - most likely in Hong Kong, according to sources - would headline a series of hotly-anticipated Chinese tech floats in the city this year. Other expected listings include Lufax, the wealth management platform backed by insurance group Ping An. Lufax, China's largest online wealth management platform, is expected to sell $6 billion to $9 billion of shares in its IPO, and is seeking a valuation of $60 billion, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday. In all, bankers anticipate tech companies worth up to $500 billion could seek IPOs in Hong Kong or New York over the next two years, encouraged by investor enthusiasm for recent tech floats and buoyant stock markets. (Reporting by Julie Zhu and Fiona Lau of IFR; Writing by Jennifer Hughes and Kane Wu; Editing by Malcolm Foster and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has questioned a recent Pakistani religious ruling declaring suicide bombings un-Islamic.

Speaking at a gathering in the capital, Kabul, on January 17, Ghani asked how the January 16 antiterror edict could only be limited to Pakistan.

" Aren't Islamic religious principles universal for all Islamic countries? Or can they be limited to one country? he asked. Unlike [Joseph] Stalins socialism, Islamic teachings cannot be limited to one country because they are universal.

Repeating his governments longstanding stance that the insecurity in Afghanistan is prompted by Islamabads support for the Afghan Taliban and its military wing, the Haqqani network, he added, This is why this fatwa first needs to be implemented in relation to Afghanistan.

In a book titled Pakistans Message published by the government, more than 1,800 Pakistani clerics representing various Islamic sects declared suicide bombings to be forbidden or "haram" under Islamic principles. They also called for a complete ban on violence in the name of jihad by non-state groups.

"This fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society," Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain wrote in the book, adding that Pakistanis can "seek guidance" from the fatwa "for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism in keeping with the golden principles of Islam."

Ghani, however, said that by supporting groups such as the Afghan Taliban Islamabad is undermining the stability of its neighboring Islamic country.

Supporting terrorism is similar to rearing snakes, he noted. Those who raise snakes in their backyard are ultimately bitten by them.

For decades, Afghans have blamed Pakistan for acting to undermine their countrys stability. In the 1970s, Islamabad began training Afghan Islamist guerrillas long before the communist coup and subsequent Soviet invasion of the country.

For many Afghans, the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 didnt change Islamabads calculus when it continued supporting hard-line Islamists, which ultimately led to the Taliban controlling most of Afghanistan by the turn of the century.

Islamabad supported the U.S. war on terror in ending the Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. But months after the demise of the Taliban, U.S. and Afghan officials accused Islamabad of allowing the hard-line movement and its international allies to retreat into Pakistan.

For the next 16 years, Washington celebrated Islamabad as an ally while frequently criticizing its counterterrorism efforts. It gave Pakistan billions of dollars in military and development assistance but also conducted hundreds of drone strikes inside the country. The United States also claimed credit for killing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 and Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur in 2016, both inside Pakistan.

Washingtons frustration with Islamabad appeared to reach a tipping point when U.S. President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving safe haven to terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan. In a January 1 post on Twitter, he also accused of Pakistan of taking $33 billion in aid over the past 15 years while offering back "nothing but lies and deceit."

In Kabul, Mawlawi Abdul Basir Haqqani, the head of a clerical association, says the Pakistani religious ruling or fatwa is connected to the latest warning from Trump.

Why didnt they issue the fatwa a few years ago? he asked in an apparent reference to a decade of violent attacks by militant groups that killed more than 60,000 Pakistani civilians and soldiers. It is also important to note that the religious scholars of other Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, had no role in framing this fatwa.

In a hint at how Ghani wants to end the war in his country, he called on the Taliban to make peace with his government.

If you are Afghan, do not allow a neighboring country to decide on your behalf, he said. Do they want peace to return to this country?

The Pakistani religious edict is unlikely to placate domestic and international critics who frequently accuse the countrys security services of covertly supporting Islamic militants to utilize their irregular warfare expertise and act as proxy forces to achieve Islamabad's goals in Afghanistan and India.
More than 1,800 Pakistani clerics from different schools of Islamic thought have issued a fatwa declaring that suicide bombings are un-Islamic.

The clerics declared that suicide bombings are forbidden, or "haram," under the principles of Islam.

The Islamic directive was revealed on January 16 in a book unveiled by Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain and the state-run International Islamic University.

Hussain wrote in the book that the fatwa "provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society."

He said Pakistanis can "seek guidance" from the fatwa "for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism in keeping with the golden principles of Islam."

Pakistan has been plagued for decades by Islamic militants who teach followers that suicide bombers are "martyrs" in a "holy war" to impose Islamic rule.

Foreign and domestic critics accuse the government and Pakistan's security forces of collaborating with Islamic militants in order to use them as proxies in Afghanistan and India to achieve Islamabad's political and military goals.

They say the government has turned a blind eye to radical clerics in Pakistan's mosques for too long.

Although Pakistani authorities frequently condemn suicide attacks as fanatical and immoral, especially when civilians are killed, insurgents see the tactic as one of their most effective weapons.

Based on reporting by Reuters and GEO-TV
BOSTON and LONDON , Jan. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SV Health Investors, the venture capital and growth equity firm, has promoted Michael Balmuth to Managing Partner from Partner and Houman Ashrafian to Partner from Venture Partner and Entrepreneur in Residence.



SV manages seven funds that aim to support entrepreneurs and companies that create breakthrough treatments and healthcare solutions. The firm has a multi-sector focus; it invests in early-stage opportunities in biotechnology; early-stage and revenue-stage opportunities in medical devices; and growth equity opportunities with healthcare services and digital health companies.

Mr. Balmuth focuses on the healthcare services and digital health sector. Since he joined SV in 2014, he has furthered the firms relationships with VCs, entrepreneurs and other members of the digital health ecosystem. His work has led to SVs investments in Aligned Telehealth and Centauri. He has also served on the SV deal teams for such portfolio companies as Ximedica, Aerocare and Maestro, and has supported the firms fundraising activities. He is based in SVs Boston office.

Mr. Balmuth joined SV from Edison Ventures, where he was a general partner and head of the firms healthcare information technology practice. Before that, he was a general partner at Summit Partners, where he led the East Coast activities of the firms Accelerator Fund. He was previously an investment banker at Broadview International. He began his career at IBM. He holds a BA in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mike Balmuth has helped advance SVs goals of creating value for our limited partners, supporting promising entrepreneurs and helping transform healthcare to improve patients lives. The past year was notably active, and Mike was a key driver of our work and progress in identifying promising investments in the digital health area. We are delighted to elevate him to Managing Partner, said Gene Hill, Chairman of SV Health Investors.

Dr. Ashrafian joined SV in 2016 and was charged with creating innovative new biotechnology companies in which SV could own significant equity as a founding and co-founding investor. He has since launched two companies that are now in the firms portfolio: Sitryx and Ervaxx. Dr. Ashrafian also supports SV deal teams, as well as companies and projects of the Dementia Discovery Fund, a novel venture capital fund, managed by SV, devoted to developing breakthrough therapies for dementia including Alzheimers. Dr. Ashrafian is based in SVs London office.

Before coming to SV, Dr. Ashrafian was vice president and head of the Clinical Science Group at UCB Pharma. He is a co-founder of the company Heart Metabolics that developed a treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. The drug, Perhexiline, is now in advanced clinical trials and has orphan drug designation. He is also an honorary consultant cardiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, and visiting professor and head of experimental therapeutics at the University of Oxford. Dr. Ashrafian is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and holds BM BCh and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford.

Houman Ashrafian has accomplished a vast amount in his short time at SV, and all of his work has the potential to make an important difference for patients. We are honored to promote Houman to Partner, said Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SV Health Investors.

SV Health Investors funds have approximately $2 billion of capital commitments under management. Over the past 20 years, SV has invested in over 175 companies. During 2017, the firm closed on its sixth flagship fund at its target of $400 million.

Contact:

Katarina Wenk-Bodenmiller

Sommerfield Communications

+1 (212) 255-8386

katarina@sommerfield.com
TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Compass Gold Corp. (TSX-V:CVB) (Compass or the Company) is pleased to provide a one-month update on its previously announced gold exploration program on its Sikasso Properties in Southern Mali (see Compass news release dated Dec. 18, 2017).



Dr. Madani Diallo, Compasss Exploration Manager, and his team of four local geologists, initiated a new exploration program in early December 2017. They are examining the first priority anomaly target identified on the Ouassada property, part of the Yanfolila permit block in the northwestern portion of Compasss property area (see map below). This is the first of 35 near-surface gold targets the Company plans to examine on its properties during 2018.

This first targeted anomaly, which was previously identified by Dr. Diallo and his team and partners, primarily through the interpretation of high-resolution airborne geophysics, covers an area of approximately 60 sq. km. Since the first drilling rig was mobilized to the site in mid- December, 295 auger holes have been drilled for a total of 3,611 m. A second auger drill was mobilized on December 28th. It is anticipated that approximately 600 auger holes will be drilled on this first target to an average depth of 15 m, for a total of some 9,000 m of drilling.

The objective of this first stage of the drill program is to explore the 12 broad gold targets previously identified on the Ouassada permit area. This work will be combined with a geochemical and auger drilling orientation survey to determine the most efficient method of assessing geophysical and geochemical targets in the permits. Compass is also prepared to initiate a follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drill program on the most promising auger geochemistry targets based on drill results.

As at January 9th, a total of 2,831 samples (including an appropriate number of international standard reference material samples) have been sent for assay to the SGS laboratory in Mali. Compass expects to report the first assay results before the end of February.

Compass CEO, Larry Phillips, said, It is extremely gratifying that we have been able to bring together such an experienced field team in Mali, including the key members of the group that helped to build our solid inventory of gold targets. With our recent successful financing in hand to support their exploration efforts, we look forward to keeping our investors informed of our progress during what should be a very exciting 2018.

Added Compass Director and Exploration Manager, Dr. Madani Diallo, We are pleased with the progress that we have achieved in our first month of exploration since the Companys reorganization. We plan to continue aggressively examining each of our targets and to seeing what they reveal in an area that we know is rich with gold.

About Compass Gold Corp.

Compass, a public company having been continued into Ontario, is a Tier 2 issuer on the TSX-V. Through the recent acquisition of MGE and Malian subsidiaries, Compass holds gold exploration permits located in Mali that comprise the Sikasso Property. The exploration permits are located in three sites in southern Mali with a combined land holding of 1,179 sq. km. The Sikasso Property is located in the same region as several other multi-million ounce gold projects, including Morila, Syama, Kalana and Kodieran. The Companys Mali-based technical team, led in the field by Dr. Diallo and under the supervision of Dr. Sandy Archibald, P.Geo, is initiating a new exploration program. They are examining the first of at least 35 gold targets noted for further investigation in Dr. Archibalds August 2017 National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Sikasso Property, Southern Mali.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Sandy Archibald, P.Geo, Compasss Technical Director, who is the Qualified Person for the technical information in this news release under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

ForwardLooking Information

This news release contains "forwardlooking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the Companys planned exploration work and management appointments. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forwardlooking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by such information. The statements in this news release are made as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forwardlooking information except as required by applicable law.

For further information please contact:

Compass Gold Corporation Compass Gold Corporation Larry Phillips  Pres. & CEO Greg Taylor  Dir. Investor Relations & Corporate Communications lphillips@compassgoldcorp.com gtaylor@compassgoldcorp.com T: +1 416-648-4767 T: +1 416-605-5120

Website: www.compassgoldcorp.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cccba194-f3a9-435d-9687-75bb21c8ae2f
One product to protect all your devices, without slowing them down.

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the infosecurity community, that giving away free USB sticks only leads to trouble.

On countless occasions weve seen businesses embarrassed as they hand out thumb drives which are not only stuffed to the brim with marketing material, but are also unwittingly hiding malware.

And yet, companies continue to put the public at risk by giving away cheap USB sticks at trade shows, with often little consideration as to what may also be lurking on the device.

In perhaps the most ironic example of Danger USB! yet, we hear that Taiwans cybercrime-fighting investigators recently handed out malware-infected USB sticks to winners of a cybersecurity quiz.

Taiwans Criminal Investigation Bureau has apologised after handing out 54 infected flash drives at a data security expo hosted by the government from 11-15 December. An event which had the noble aim of raising awareness of cybercrime. Ho hum!

As local media reports, distribution of the 8GB devices was halted on the afternoon of 12 December after early winners of the quiz warned that their anti-virus software had warned them that the drives contained malware.

The Windows-based malware was designed to steal personal information from infected PCs and send it via an IP address based in Poland to parties unknown.

However, it seems unlikely that Taiwans computer crime-busting cops, or the event itself, were deliberately targeted by hackers. Instead, as is often the case, there is a more down-to-earth explanation for what happened  and why only 54 of the 250 giveaway USB drives are believed to contain the malware.

According to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the infections have been traced back to a single PC at an external contractor. It seems that a random sample of the USB drives were plugged into the infected PC in order to test their storage capacity, and the malware was unwittingly transmitted to 54 of them at that time.

Its the kind of security goof that is all-too-familiar. Readers with long memories may recall that, in 2010, IBM handed out USB sticks at the AusCERT security conference infected by not one but two pieces of malware.

Seven years later, IBM found itself in the embarrassing position of having to admit that it had shipped malware-infected USB sticks to enterprise customers.

How can you protect yourself from unsolicited, unwanted USB sticks? Well, theres one simple fool-proof method that guarantees your computer wont become infected.

No prizes if you guessed correctly. Simply throw it in the rubbish bin.
At the end of last year, the people took to the streets to participate in massive protests to express their discontent and to call for regime change. Once again, the Iranian regime has responded with a brutal crackdown, with reports of gunfire in the street and deaths as a result of torture.

The Iranian regimes main opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has said that at least 50 citizens have been killed and over 8,000 arrested. It is believed that at least five of the deaths are a result of torture.

Faced with these figures, it is incredulous that the West has remained largely silent. The United States, however, has spoken out against the regime and President Trump has warned the Iranian regime that it is being watched.

Furthermore, last week, the US Treasury Department issued more sanctions on Iran. Sadeq Amoli Larijani, the head of the regimes judiciary, was sanctioned for the use of torture, amputation and a number of other cruel punishments. As the top official of the judiciary, it is shocking that he has had a direct role in such acts of oppression. It can be described only as an abuse of power.

The people have taken to the streets to make their voices heard. They have reached their limits and know that nothing is going to change in the country until the regime is removed from power. The economic conditions in Iran are horrendous and the people are finding it hard to even afford the most basic of necessities. At the same time, the people are watching the Iran regime spend huge amounts of the countrys wealth on the spread of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism and the funding, arming and training of numerous militias and proxy groups including the notorious Hezbollah.

The NCRI expressed its concern about the death of university graduate Kianoush Zandi who went missing on 4th January. His body was returned to his family a few days ago. They were told that he was killed during the protests, but there were signs of torture on his body.

The body of another young man, Mohammed Nassiri, was returned to his family after authorities claimed he committed suicide. The details the family were given are sketchy and they believe the authorities have lied.

The NCRI calls for an investigation into the actions of the regime. Amnesty International has also commented on the suspicious deaths. The deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi, said: The shroud of secrecy and lack of transparency over what happened to these detainees is alarming. Instead of rushing to the judgment that they committed suicide, the authorities must immediately launch an independent, impartial and transparent investigation, including independent autopsies.

It is essential that the whole international community criticises the regimes brutality. Our silence legitimises its actions.
The European reaction to this has been rather underwhelming. The Europeans are failing to grasp the severity of the issue and do not want to rock the boat with Iran. However, by ignoring Trump and failing to respond to his concerns, the Europeans are putting the nuclear deal in great danger.

The leaders in Europe have four months to change their policies with regards to Iran and to find solutions to the loopholes that Iran is currently able to exploit before Trump makes his next move.

Federica Mogherini, the top EU diplomat, also acts as the coordinator of the Joint Commission that oversees the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement. She has made it very clear, as Iran did during the deal negotiations, that the nuclear deal and Irans regional behaviour are separate issues that must be dealt with separately. However, this basically involves the West in turning a blind eye to Irans belligerence across the Middle East and its disregard of human rights. Furthermore, this makes the EU look like it is complicit with Iran by allowing it to get away with some of the most horrific abuses of international law.

The deal was negotiated under the Obama administration. Obama viewed the deal as his legacy and went to great trouble to ensure that Iran signed it while he was in office. This led to numerous concessions and Obama turned a blind eye to many of Irans dangerous regional policies. He effectively, along with the other signatories of the deal (France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia) legitimised Irans interference in Syria and its use of proxies and militias. They are also responsible for legitimising Irans violation of human rights and its brutality towards the people of Iran.

Numerous officials in Europe have prioritised trade with Iran. It is shocking that while human rights are so valued in the EU, some of its officials can push this to the side when it comes to trade deals. While trade is ongoing, no rhetoric will be effective. Actions speak louder than words.

It is for this reason that Trump is calling on Europe to reverse its idiotic policies and to make the situation right. He wants Irans interventions across the Middle East to be taken into account with regards to the deal. He will not accept that such issues must be ignored in order to protect the nuclear deal.

If European leaders insist on ignoring Trumps concerns, there is a very big danger that Trump will pull the plug on it altogether. This will ultimately make the situation in the Middle East even worse as well as deteriorate EU-US relations.
To date, the British government has, on a number of occasions, failed to take the opportunity to ban the entire organisation. Jennifer Gerber, the director of Labour Friends of Israel, said that the debate at the end of the month has the aim of increasing pressure on the government so that it finally puts banning the group in its entirety on its agenda, without further delay or excuses.

The cross-party parliamentary debate was organised by MP Joan Ryan who is the head of the pro-Israel Labour Party.

Labour Friends of Israel has said in a statement that it has repeatedly called for the complete proscription of the terrorist group Hezbollah. At the minute, the United Kingdom has banned the groups military wing, but not its political one. However, it must be noted that Hezbollah itself does not recognise two different wings and its deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, has said that the whole group is dedicated to destroying Israel.

The statement also said that the distinction made by the United Kingdom means that the flags of Hezbollah can be displayed on streets in the country  as seen last year when the annual al-Quds Day parade took place in the English capital. Last year, the vice chair of LFI called on the Mayor of London to review the policing of the parade. A few months later, she spoke with the Metropolitan Police to discuss it.

A host of other countries have designated the terrorist organisation as such, including Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Israel and the Arab League.

Hezbollah has been involved in a number of terrorist attacks such as the 2012 attack on an Israeli tour bus in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Muslin bus driver and five Israelis were killed in the attack.

Almost five years ago, a member of Hezbollah was convicted in Cyprus for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Israelis. Taleb Yaacoub held both Swedish and Lebanese passports and was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Two years later, a court in Cyprus sentenced Hussein Bassam Abdallah, another Hezbollah operative, to six years in prison for his role in collecting explosives to use against Israelis.

Iran and Hezbollah have close links and it has been established that the Iranian regime uses it to spread terror across the world.

President Trump who has spent months trying to curb the threat of Iran urged all countries last week to outlaw the full Hezbollah organisation. He said: I () call on all our allies to take stronger steps with us to confront Irans other malign activities. Among other actions, our allies should cut off funding to [Irans] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its militant proxies, and anyone else who contributes to Irans support for terrorism. They should designate Hezbollah, in its entirety, as a terrorist organization.


A new report warns that democratic values are weakening in countries around the world.

The report found that values such as fair elections and freedom of the press have worsened in each of the past 12 years.

The findings are from Freedom House, an American-based non-governmental organization.

Freedom House works in support of political freedom and democracy worldwide. While the group is independent, some of its money comes from the United States government.

For the new report, researchers studied information about conditions in 195 countries over the past year. Freedom House rated 88 of those countries as free. Fifty-eight others received a partly free rating. It identified 49 countries as not free.

Arch Puddington is a researcher with Freedom House. He said that the study confirmed a drop in political freedoms in each of the past 12 years.

For the 12th consecutive year, freedom was on the decline across the globe. And by that we mean that there are more countries, in this case, in the case of 2017, many more countries that showed declines in freedom than showed improvements...

North America

Freedom House reported a weakening of the United States as a leader of democracy in 2017. It said that Americas standing was affected, in part, by reports of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. government officials are investigating possible ties between Russia and aides to then presidential candidate Donald Trump.

There are problems with the elections that you dont find in most well-established democracies, said Arch Puddington. He noted the large amounts of money spent on U.S. election campaigns and state laws making voting more difficult.

In written comments, Freedom House pointed to ethical concerns facing the administration of President Donald Trump. It said they include the Trump familys business ties and the possibility for conflicts of interest, as well as the presidents decision not to release information about his taxes.

The administration has noted an ongoing investigation by tax experts as a reason for not releasing Trump's tax returns.

Asia

The Freedom House report noted the intensification of repression under Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a reason for Chinas generally downward move and "not free" rating.

Weve noticed efforts by China to influence the way other countries deal with China, talk about China, what scholars write about China, what journalists write about China, said Puddington.

He added that the report noted a kind of creeping policy of trying to expand Chinese restrictions to Chinas neighbors and other countries, such as Australia, Canada, and even the United States.

Yet Freedom House researchers praised what they consider continued signs of political development for South Korea and the island of Taiwan.

The report described Myanmar, also known as Burma, as "partly free. Researchers said their findings on the country are mixed. They noted its move from military rule toward democracy and a worsening humanitarian crisis, following the movement of Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh.

Latin America

Even with economic and political unrest in Nicaragua and Venezuela, Freedom House welcomed political developments in other Latin American countries.

In 2017, Lenin Moreno took office as Ecuadors president. Freedom House noted how Moreno has cancelled some of the measures that former president Rafael Correa put in place.

Puddington praised Moreno for showing a willingness to have serious discussions with reformists and to take legal action against officials accused of corruption.

The report noted increased U.S. involvement with Cubas government and the Cuban people. Yet Freedom House rated Cuba as not free in the report. It said freedom of the press and open political debate are two areas in need of improvement.

Middle East

The Freedom House report also gave "not free" ratings to Afghanistan and Iraq.

It doesn't necessarily mean that the country is moving in the wrong direction or in the right direction, noted Arch Puddington. It just means that there are a lot of things going on in that country. And we that anticipate there will be changes in the next year.

Observers say progress toward democratic elections and effective civilian governments could signal major developments for both countries.

Africa

Following the ouster of Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwes longtime leader, Freedom House listed the country as "partly free."

Arch Puddington explained the rating.

Zimbabwe declined in our scores for 2017, but this was largely due to the fact that, you know, President Mugabe was pushed out by non-democratic means, and he was succeeded through non-democratic means..."

Im Dorothy Gundy. And Im Caty Weaver.

Elizabeth Cherneff reported this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

globe  n. a round model of the Earth

scholar  n. a person who has studied a subject for a long time

journalist  n. a reporter or news media worker

creep  adj. moving very slowly

anticipate  v. to think of; to expect

means  n. something that helps you get what you want; wealth

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The Japanese public broadcaster NHK mistakenly sent out a message Tuesday warning of a likely North Korean missile launch.

The false alarm for a missile attack was the second in the Pacific area since the U.S. state of Hawaii gave a mistaken warning on Saturday.

NHK sent the message out on its website and through its mobile telephone app at 9:55 UTC.

The message said, North Korea likely to have launched a missile. The warning urged people to take shelter in buildings or underground.

About 10 minutes later, NHK sent out another message calling the alert a mistake. NHK blamed human error for the alert.

There were no immediate reports of widespread panic as a result of the false warning.

Similar to false alarm in Hawaii

The event in Japan was somewhat like one that took place earlier in Hawaii over the weekend.

However, in the U.S. Pacific island state, the Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency released the alert. It warned of a BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. The alert urged people to immediately seek shelter saying the message was not a test.

Hotel workers sent guests into basements and people fled and struggled to find places to take shelter as a result of the wrong message.

The mistaken alert was discovered within 20 minutes. But it took about 38 minutes for officials to send a correction.

The states governor David Ige said the false alarm was sent out during an employee shift change. He added that there was no automated process to let people know that the warning was false. The governor apologized and said officials were taking steps to ensure that such a false alarm does not happen again.

Hawaiian Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard criticized officials for the long delay in correcting the mistake. She said the delay is something that has to be fixed, corrected with people held accountable.

In November, North Korea tested a ballistic missile that, officials say, could reach all of the U.S. mainland. It was the latest in a series of long distance missile launches by the North.

Hawaii is home to the U.S. Navys Pacific Command and its Pacific Fleet. In December, the state restarted its monthly tests of a warning siren system to warn residents of any coming nuclear attack.

Im Mario Ritter.

Mario Ritter adapted this report for VOA Learning English with materials from Reuters and other sources. Hai Do was the editor.

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Words in This Story

false alarm n. a warning of danger that does not exist

app n. (application) a computer program designed to do a specific task or set of tasks

alert n. something like a message or loud sound that tells people of danger

shift n. a planned or scheduled period of time that someone works

automated adj. done automatically by a machine or system, not done by a person

siren n. device that make loud sounds that are meant to warn people of danger

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On a recent program, we told you the stories of some English words borrowed from Japanese. Today, we will tell you about words English has taken from languages of the Americas.

The Americas include North America, South America and the Caribbean.

When Europeans arrived in the land now known as North America, millions of indigenous people were already living there.

Indigenous Americans are often called Native Americans and sometimes American Indians. Archaeologists say that indigenous people had inhabited North America for some 30,000 years before Europeans settlers arrived.

Eventually, the settlers would forcibly remove many of them from their land. Others died of European diseases.

Native Americans lost nearly all of this land during the American conquest. Today, they make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population.

And yet, English has kept a large number of indigenous words, including the names of places, animals, plants and foods.

Most of the words that English has borrowed come from the Algonquian group of languages. The word Algonquian also refers to the group of tribes that speak those languages.

Algonquian languages were spoken  and some are still spoken  along North Americas Atlantic Coast, from Canada to South Carolina, and west to the Great Plains.

Let's start with U.S. place names.

U.S. state names

It is not very well known  even by Americans -- that 26 U.S. states are named after Native American tribes or their lands. That is more than half of the states.

For example, Alabama is named for the Alibamu tribe and Kansas is named for the Kansa, or Kaw, tribe. The word Kansa is believed to mean "people of the south wind, though that is probably not its original meaning.

Many of our town, river and lake names are also Native American in origin. For example, two of the Great Lakes  Erie and Michigan  are Algonquian words. The word "Michigan" comes from the word mishigamaa, meaning "large lake." Michigan is also the name of the state next to this lake. And Erie comes from the Eriehonon people.

Gary McCone is the head of Library and Information Services for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

He told VOA that the reason so many Native American place names were used is likely because early European explorers needed a way to communicate with local native people. Changing place names would have made that more difficult.

The names of dozens of common American animals are also from Algonquian languages. They include chipmunk, moose, caribou, opossum, raccoon and skunk.

In addition to Algonquian languages, English has borrowed words from the Nahuatl language of Central America and the Arawak languages of the Caribbean and South America.

Coyote

For example, the name of another animal common to America, the coyote, comes from Nahuatl. A coyote is a small, dog-like animal with large ears. The original Nahuatl word was coyotl. The word first passed through the Spanish language before becoming part of English.

Chocolate

Heres another example from Nahuatl: chocolate. Spaniards also first borrowed this word before it reached English. The Nahuatl word for chocolate is xocolatl. Mesoamericans grew and consumed cacao for centuries before Europeans came into contact with it.

The word xocolatl was originally the name for an ancient, fermented Mesoamerican drink made from ground cacao seeds. Then, in the early 1500s, Spanish conquistadors observed how native people valued cacao beans. They took them back with them to Spain.

The Arawak languages of the Caribbean and South America, such as the Taino language, have also given the English language many words. Two of them are hammock and barbecue.

Hammock

In English, the word hammock is a kind of hanging bed made from cloth. The cloth is hung between two poles or trees. It comes from the Taino word hamaka of the indigenous people of the island of Hispanola. It once meant stretch of cloth. Hammock is another example of a word that passed through Spanish first before reaching English.

Native people of Central and South America first developed and used hammocks. Years later, sailors used them on boats to sleep more comfortably and make good use of a small space. Explorers and soldiers also used them in forested areas.

Today, hammocks are very popular among Americans.

Barbecue

Another word of Taino origin is barbecue. The English meaning refers to a method of cooking over an open fire using wood (or charcoal) and a grill. Barbecue is also the word for the cooking device used in this cooking method.

The indigenous word was barabicu and meant structure of sticks set upon posts. It referred to the raised wooden structures that indigenous Caribbeans used to cure meat on or to sleep on. Other language research says it meant "sacred pit."

After Christopher Columbus reached America in 1492, Spaniards came across indigenous Taino people roasting meat barbecue style. In 1526, a Spanish explorer was the first person to use the word in Spain, when he wrote of "barbecoa" in a Spanish dictionary.

Back in the Americas, as Spanish conquistadors began to travel north into what are now the southern United States, they brought along the barbecue cooking method.

Today, most Americans use at least one Native American word each day as they talk about places, foods, animals and other things. Join us again soon to learn the history of English words borrowed from other languages.

Im Alice Bryant. And I'm Phil Dierking.

Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

indigenous  adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment

conquest  n. the act of taking control of a country, city, etc., through the use of force

Mesoamerican  n. relating to or characteristic of the region of the southern part of North America or its inhabitants.

cacao  n. the dried seeds of a tropical tree that are used to make cocoa and chocolate

conquistador  n. a leader in the Spanish conquests of America, Mexico, and Peru in the 16th century

charcoal  n. a hard black material that is made by burning wood with a small amount of air

cure  v. to change something through a chemical or physical process so that it can be preserved for a long time
Telecom Argentina S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Argentina and internationally. The company offers telephone services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, as well as public telephone services; and other related supplementary services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, conference calls, caller ID, voice mail, itemized billing, and maintenance services. It also provides interconnection services, such as traffic and interconnection resource, dedicated Internet access, video signals transportation in standard and high definitions, audio and video streaming, dedicated links, backhaul links for mobile operators, data center hosting/housing services, dedicated links, layer 2 and layer 3 transport networks, video links, value-added services, and other services. In addition, the company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches under the Personal brand. Further, it provides internet connectivity products, including virtual private network services, traditional Internet protocol links, and other products; data services; and programming and other cable television services. The company was formerly known as Cablevision S.A. and changed its name to Telecom Argentina S.A. in January 2018. Telecom Argentina S.A. was founded in 1979 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Escola Oficial Zheng Guan Ying opened its new campus this month at the Rua Marginal Do Canal Das Hortas/ Terminal. The expanded campus now occupies an area of 2,417 square meters. School director Wu Kit said the new campus will conduct classes in Portuguese and Chinese, with 30 students selected for enrolment to date. The director described the outcome of the opening as satisfactory. Established in July 2011, the Zheng Guan Ying school currently has 12 grades and 19 classes, with a total of approximately 360 students.

UM proposes medical research, teaching cooperation

The University of Macau (UM), the University of Oxfords Saint Annes College and Center for Personalised Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Dr Stanley Ho Medical Development Foundation recently held a seminar where representatives of the organizations discussed opportunities for collaboration in teaching, research and the training of professionals. According to a statement from the UM, the universitys council chair, Lam Kam Seng, shared the institutions educational philosophy with the participants. He said that information technology and medical research were advancing rapidly and so it was important to push Macau towards international standards in this area, as well as promote collaboration between different education institutions.
A casino company said yesterday it never had a problem with the shuttle boat that burst into flames off Floridas Gulf Coast, leading to the death of a female passenger.

Tropical Breeze Casino spokeswoman Beth Fifer said the company does not know what caused Sundays huge blaze, which gutted the 12-year-old shuttle boat and forced about 50 passengers to jump into chilly waters off Port Richey.

We are deeply saddened for the loss of our passenger, the 14 injured and anyone else who was affected by this tragedy, Fifer said.

Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point spokesman Kurt Conover said that the passenger arrived at the hospitals emergency room at 10 p.m. Sunday and died shortly afterward. He said she had apparently gone home after the fire but became ill.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiners Office identified the woman as Carrie Dempsey, 42, of Lutz, Florida. Her cause of death has not been released.

Conover said eight other passengers were treated at the hospital and released.

Authorities originally said no injuries were life-threatening.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Michael De Nyse said investigators will determine the cause of the fire and examine the history of the boat and Tropical Breeze Casino.

Helicopter video taken by WTSP-TV early Monday shows the boat was burned down to its hull, with only an American flag on its bow uncharred.

The shuttle boat regularly carried people back and forth from the Tropical Breezes offshore casino, about a 45-minute ride into international waters. There, passengers would play games such as black jack, which is illegal at non-Indian casinos in Florida, and roulette, which is illegal statewide.

The shuttle boat caught fire about 4 p.m. Sunday, quickly engulfing the boat close to shore near residential neighborhoods. Officials said the boat was headed out to the casino ship at the time.

Port Richey Police Chief Gerard DeCanio said the shuttle boat experienced engine problems after leaving the dock at Port Richey, a suburban community about 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of Tampa. But as the vessel turned back, flames kicked up and people began jumping overboard into shallow water, according to witness accounts.

Larry Santangelo, 57, said he had just driven into his neighborhood when he saw smoke and fire and thought a house  possibly his own  was ablaze. But then he realized it was the boat just about 90 meters offshore.

He told the Tampa Bay Times that he then saw people wandering about confused, wet and cold, after they reached land. One woman collapsed upon reaching shore and vomited, he said. AP
Pope Francis begged for forgiveness yesterday for the irreparable damage done to children who were raped and molested by priests, opening his visit to Chile by diving head-first into a scandal that has greatly hurt the Catholic Churchs credibility here and cast a cloud over his visit.

Francis also faced controversy on another front: Overnight three more Catholic churches were torched, two in the southern Araucania region where Francis will visit today [Macau time] to meet with Chiles indigenous peoples. While not causing any injuries, the nine church firebombings in the past few days have marked an unprecedented level of protest against historys first Latin American pope on his home turf.

In Santiago, though, tens of thousands of jubilant Chileans turned out in droves for his first public Mass, a massive gathering in the capitals OHiggins Park where St. John Paul celebrated Mass three decades ago. Before the service began, Francis took a long, looping ride in his popemobile through the grounds to greet well-wishers, some of whom had camped out overnight to secure a spot.

In his first event of the day, Francis met privately with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and addressed lawmakers, judges and other authorities at La Moneda palace. They interrupted him with applause when he said he felt bound to express my pain and shame that some of Chiles pastors had sexually abused children in their care.

I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again, he said.

Francis didnt refer by name to Chiles most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was sanctioned in 2011 by the Vatican to a lifetime of penance and prayer for sexually molesting minors. Nor did he refer to the fact that the emeritus archbishop of Santiago, a top papal adviser, has acknowledged he knew of complaints against Karadima but didnt remove him from ministry.

Karadima had been a politically connected, charismatic and powerful priest who ministered to a wealthy Santiago community and produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops. Victims went public with their accusations in 2010, after complaining for years to church authorities that Karadima would kiss and fondle them when they were teenagers.

While the scandal rocked the church, many Chileans are still furious over Francis subsequent decision, in 2015, to appoint a Karadima protege as bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Bishop Juan Barros has denied knowing about Karadimas abuse but many Chileans dont believe him, and his appointment has badly split the diocese.

Sex abuse is Pope Francis weakest spot in terms of his credibility, said Massimo Faggioli, a Vatican expert and theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia. It is surprising that the pope and his entourage dont understand that they need to be more forthcoming on this issue.

The Karadima scandal and a long cover-up has caused a crisis for the church in Chile, with a recent Latinbarometro survey saying the case was responsible for a significant drop in the number of Chileans who call themselves Catholic, as well as a fall in confidence in the church as an institution. AP
Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, Cotai Central is presenting a variety of dining offers to celebrate the Year of the Dog, where guests can take their pick from traditional Chinese New Year dishes to family-style feasts.

This Lunar New Year, Xin at Sheraton is adding a number of hot dishes that can be ordered as part of its traditional hot pot buffet, for both lunch and dinner. Highlights include Abundance, (braised pig feet and lotus root with sea moss), Perennial Joy (Wok-fried prawns with Sichuan-style) and Happiness (Braised lamb shank with bamboo shoots and black mushroom).

Meanwhile Feast will offer an array of dishes from fresh seafood and sushi to pizzas and a live waffle station.

Between February 15 to 20, guests can celebrate Chinese New Year throughout the day with Palms Prosperous Afternoon Tea Set.

The menu features all-time favorites, such as Parma ham rossettes, pear and gorgonzola chutney; hokkaido scallop, black pudding and apple jam; and Mini Breton tartlets with almond cream and apricots.

Mercedes-Benz delivers 5,400 new vehicles in 2017 to Hong kong, Macau

Mercedes-Benz recorded its most successful year in 2017, the company announced in a statement, increasing its unit sales by 9.9 percent to almost 2.29 million vehicles.

The car divisions growth last year was driven in particular by the new E-Class Saloon and Estate and the SUVs.

As a result of its success in all three core regions  Europe, Asia-Pacific and NAFTA  Mercedes-Benz was the best-selling premium brand in the automobile industry for the second consecutive year.

In Hong Kong, Mercedes- Benz delivered more than 5,400 new vehicles in Hong Kong and Macau.

In its first full year, the new E-Class became the best-selling model in its class with more than 1,390 units sold.

SUV stayed strong in 2017. With more than 1,000 units sold, the new GLC has achieved more than 23 percent increment in sales.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, AMG has completed its GT family with the GT C Roadster and GT R.
The trial that puts lawmaker Sulu Sou and former president of the New Macau Association (ANM) Scott Chiang in the defendants seat finally started its first session yesterday morning at the Court of First Instance (TJB).

Contrary to what was initially planned, the session, which only lasted for 50 minutes, did not serve as an opportunity to hear any of the accused but instead, only to facilitate a discussion between the Judge, Cheong Weng Tong, and the defense lawyer of Sou, Jorge Menezes.

At the beginning, Judge Cheong requested explanations from Menezes regarding the two appeals filed by the lawyer regarding the suspension of his clients mandate as a lawmaker by the Legislative Assembly (AL), and the appeal filed to the Court of Second Instance (TSI) calling for a suspension on the decision that removed Sou from the status of lawmaker so that he could be trialed.

According to the Judge, the TJB was only informed yesterday morning (just before the court sessions commencement) that an appeal was running in TSI, an issue that Judge Cheong said was due the fact that Menezes had not informed the TJB in advance that he had filed a request for an appeal.

Judge Cheong called on Menezes to explain.

Menezes explained to the court that he had not informed the TJB in to order to avoid hassle and confusion between cases, as, in his opinion, the two proceedings are unrelated. He noted that at the time, he thought that both proceedings could take place simultaneously without disrupting the hearing that was already scheduled in the TJB.

The Judge in charge of the criminal case disagreed and noted that in the courts opinion the cases are quite related and one could influence the procedures and outcomes of the other.

After the exchange of arguments and opinions, Menezes asked to have a quick word with his client. Chiang and his newly appointed lawyer, Pedro Leal, participated in this conversation.

Menezes, representing Sou, then addressed the Court saying, My client wishes to express that if, in order not to delay this case [hearing], the court would accept a declaration of his withdrawal [from the TSI appeal] he [would be] willing to do that.

The declaration did not elicit any comments from Judge Cheong; the minutes for the session do not record any comment. Cheong decided to suspend the trial until the TSI arrives at a final decision on the appeal submitted by Sou.

Menezes said that his client has decided to withdraw the appeal and that this should allow for the main case to proceed.

Judge Cheongs decision was followed by a call for the opinion of both defendants lawyers as well as the Public Prosecutor who said, Since the appeal [for the TSI] of the decision involves an immediate effect  that is the [revoking of the] suspension decision  that means that he can take back his position immediately and if this happens the criminal process cannot continue.

We are at a crossroads here, he continued. We dont know what the decision of the TSI will be. Its not that we cannot continue today [as Menezes advocated] but we do take a serious risk and besides we need to follow the principle of the continuity of the process.

His comments thus make it clear that he was advocating for the trials suspension.

The lawyer of the first defendant, Leal, agreed with the Public Prosecutor, noting that it was possible to continue if the judge thought she could finish the trial before a sentence is reached by the TSI on the appeal.

In the end, Menezes agreed that the position from the prosecutor was very lucid and acknowledged that he had mistakenly not accounted for all factors in the concurrent cases.

Menezes said, eventually I ended up interfering with the work of this court [but] that was actually the opposite of my intentions, and he went on to note that it is sometimes difficult to understand the correct procedures as the regulations of the AL do not have very clear rules [and this] gives way to different interpretations.

After these developments the court sessions on the case have now been halted and according to the Judge in charge of the process, a new hearing will only be scheduled after the TSIs decision on the appeal.
A judge at the Court of First Instance (TJB) decided to adjourn the trial of Sulu Sou (and Scott Chiang) sine die pending a decision by the Court of Second Instance (TSI) over a request filed by the defendant with the TSI to suspend a deliberation made by the Legislative Assembly last month  namely, the plenary vote for the suspension of the lawmakers mandate.

Interestingly enough, Judge Cheong Weng Tong of TJB rejected the opinion of Sous lawyer by stating loud and clear that the two cases are related and therefore her court cannot go ahead with the proceedings while an appeal stands at a higher instance court (see report on these pages).

On the one hand, as Jorge Menezes argued, the cases are of a totally different matter and it would not be uncommon if all the actions run concurrently.

On the other hand, the cases are related and therefore, as lawyer Pedro Leal put it, it would be a waste of time if they continue with the proceedings and even conclude the trial of the criminal offense at the first instance if the second instance rules in favor of the appeal.

It is a conundrum, that the public prosecutor recognized at the trial, We are at a crossroads here. We dont know what the decision of the TSI will be.

Yes we are and no we dont.

What came out of this first hearing over an alleged offense of civil disobedience by the two New Macau activists has far larger political implications that reaches Sous suspension and reverberates to Vongs controversial draft resolution on parliamentary immunity. The debate and vote concerning these topics was postponed for today by the AL.

The decision to adjourn by Judge Cheong implicitly says that the courts have the authority to scrutinize the legislative branch actions and their compliance with the law.

Judge Cheong just ruled out the Vong bill  in a first reading.
Brokerage firm Sanford C Bernstein is predicting a deceleration in Macaus VIP gaming growth this year on the back of a number of political and economic factors in mainland China.

A report by Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Cathy Huang warned that there is a rising risk to VIP gaming brought about by tighter capital controls, Xi Jinpings ongoing anti-corruption campaign and increased local regulation of Macaus junket promoters.

VIP strength was largely driven by stronger than expected macro environment, robust liquidity, and strong consumer/business confidence environment coupled with a robust junket capital base with increasing credit issuance to players, the Bernstein analysts noted.

Although it is likely to continue to show strength over the next few months (or even the next two quarters in 2018), the VIP model is likely to face structural headwinds [] from instituted cooling measures on Chinese real estate, a credit tightening in China, an increasing regulatory environment in Macau and continued Chinese government focus on capital outflows in China, their report continued.

The analysts also warned that, to some extent, the premium mass segment might also be affected by the politico-economic situation in mainland China.

The VIP segment grew approximately 26 percent in 2017, while total gross gaming revenue increased by 19.1 percent year-on-year to MOP265 billion, the highest posting since 2014. This implies that the VIP segment remained the driving force behind last years gaming recovery.

Though December 2017 registered a slight weakening in the segment, Bernstein expects VIP growth to hold steady in the first few months of 2018 and for the slowdown to become more noticeable as the year progresses.

All in all, the analysts predict full-year VIP growth to slow to around 8 percent, while mass-market revenue may record 11 percent growth as its contribution to gross gaming revenue is on the rise.

While growth will decelerate from 2017, 2018 will still show respectable growth (driven more by mass), the report said.

Meanwhile, a contrary report was released by Morgan Stanley indicating that the VIP segment might perform stronger than most analysts are anticipating. The firm said that it expects VIP gaming to grow 20 percent in 2018 and mass-

market growth to trail with a 12 percent rise. DB
Real estate firm JLL Macau is calling on the government to focus on social housing, and to take economic housing as supplementary when formulating public housing policies rather than imposing new restrictions or measures.

The firm urged the government to set up a property ladder that provides opportunities for home upgrading  for example, moving from the public housing segment to private housing.

Managing director of the firm, Gregory Ku, suggested that the government should work on solving the regions long-term housing problems using sustainable development principles by re-examining the existing ratio between social and economic housing.

Given that Macau doesnt have land supply or good planning for future land supply, the total supply for social housing or public housing, which is 49,000  [should be] well planned, Ku said, during a press conference held by the firm.

The managing director proposed that these housing units therefore should be available as leasing units in different categories rather than simply putting them up for sale to applicants.

Once sold, you dont have new supply [to replace it]. But if you lease it, once the occupants have income and improved housing income, they can go out into the private market to buy, he added.

JLL believes these measures would mean that housing is more adaptable, which is especially important given the small size of the region.

Under the current system, owners of public houses must own the unit for 16 years before being able to sell it to the market.

The real estate and consultancy firm considered this timeframe too long, adding that owners should release their property back to the public housing pool once they vacate their premises, rather than sell it to the private market.

Meanwhile Jeff Wong, head of residential at JLL Macau reiterated the importance of addressing the issue of housing shortage through setting up regular land sales programs in accordance with other measures.

The executive believes that one of the reasons why property prices continue to surge is due to the rational expectations of the public. To evidence this claim, he cited the publics awareness of the land shortage, which causes property price growth in the future.

The total residential sales transaction volume in Macau continued to grow in the second half of 2017, while for the leasing market, rental values for high- end and mass-to-medium residential properties grew by 8.4 percent and 8.1 percent year-on- year respectively.

Wong recalled that the mortgage ratio tightening measures targeting non-first-time homebuyers, which the government implemented in the first half of 2017, have not proved sufficiently effective.

Wong also mentioned the unsuccessful initiative proposed by the government at the end of 2016; the government announced it would put some sites up for sale by means of public auction in 2017 but this did not eventuate.

To address the problem of housing shortage, perhaps the government can consider setting up regular land sales programs, promoting urban renewal and refining the procedures and timeline requirements on construction work, he said.
A leading Serb politician in northern Kosovo was gunned down yesterday in broad daylight, an attack that raised ethnic tensions in the Balkans and prompted the suspension of EU-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

Assailants opened fire on Oliver Ivanovic, 64, close to the offices of his political party in the Serb-controlled northern city of Mitrovica. He was taken to a hospital but doctors were unable to save him.

The doctors said Ivanovic had received at least five gunshot wounds to his upper torso. The assailants escaped in a car that was later found burned out. Kosovo police sealed off the area of the shooting and began a manhunt for the attackers.

Ivanovic was one of the key politicians in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, a former Serbian province where tensions still remain high a decade after it declared independence in 2008. Serbia does not recognize that independence.

Ivanovic was considered a moderate who maintained relations with NATO and EU officials even after Serbia lost the control of its former province following NATOs 1999 bombing to stop a deadly Serb crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

A Kosovo court convicted Ivanovic of war crimes during the 1998-99 war. That verdict was overturned and a retrial was underway.

In Pristina, the Kosovo government strongly denounced the slaying, saying it considers the attack a challenge to the rule of law and efforts to establish the rule of law in the whole of Kosovo territory.

In Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held a top security meeting to discuss the shooting. Afterward, he called the killing a terrorist act and said Serbia is demanding that international missions in Kosovo include Serbia in their investigation into the slaying.

Serbia will take all necessary steps so the killer or killers are found, he said.

At the news of Ivanovics slaying, the Serb delegation at the EU talks in Brussels immediately left to return to Belgrade.

Delegation leader Marko Djuric said whoever is behind this attack [] whether they are Serb, Albanian or any other criminals, they must be punished.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo to express the EUs condemnation of the killing. She appealed for both sides to show calm and restraint.

The head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Jan Braathu, said he was shocked and deeply saddened and considered Ivanovic among the most prominent Kosovo Serb representatives for almost two decades. AP
Deliberations at the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Vong Hin Fais immunity resolution and whether lawmaker Sulu Sous suspension should be regarded as a political act or not have been postponed to today.

Yesterdays AL agenda was piled up with five issues, including the establishment of the laws of Macaus sea management and administration, the amendment of the regulations of civil servants holidays, and the immunity resolution in regards to Sulu Sous December 4 suspension.

Several lawmakers managed to pose their questions regarding the amendment of civil servants work regulations, however, after a first round of questions, government representatives did not have enough time to answer all the lawmakers questions.

Under these conditions, and given the potential for debate over Sous suspension, the vote scheduled last on the ALs agenda was postponed.

The last item of the agenda also resolved to discuss Vong Hin Fais controversial immunity resolution. The immunity resolution seeks to classify these suspensions as political acts, barring administrative courts from ruling on whether they  or presumably the procedures leading up to the decisions  are lawful.

Before yesterdays AL commenced, Vong claimed that Macaus judiciary operation will not be affected by the results of the vote.

Lawmaker Jose Pereira Coutinho said, in his speech before the agenda, that I hope that we all understand the importance of the independence of the courts and the judges, and we all [need to] not interfere, restrict or damage the courts and judges work as well as Macaus judiciary system.

The immunity resolution contains just two articles. The first states that deliberations of the Legislative Assembly that lead to the suspension or loss of a lawmakers mandate are acts of a political nature that are excluded from administrative, fiscal or customs appeal.

The second article establishes that the measure would have retroactive effects dating back to December 1999, when the MSAR was created. JZ

The first 120 days



SULU SOU was elected as one of Macaus 33 legislators approximately 120 days ago, but formally took up his seat in the Legislative Assembly just three months ago. In that time, the young democrat has developed a reputation for breaking with tradition and unnerving the citys political elite. Now he stands on the brink of expulsion from the legislature.

Heres a look at his turbulent first 120 days:

September 17  The night of the election. Dozens of young activists gather at the New Macau Association headquarters to await the results and find out whether 26-year-old Sulu Sou has won a seat.

September 18  It is officially confirmed that New Macau Progressives has won a seat in the Legislative Assembly with a total of 9,212 votes. Sou says that he wants to see 100 percent of legislature seats filled via direct elections and warns Chief Executive Chui Sai On not to underestimate the power of young people.

October 16  The 33 elected lawmakers take their oaths at the governments headquarters in the presence of the chief executive. The ceremony passes without incident.

November 2  Sou irritates his fellow lawmakers by pledging to broadcast comments made in their closed-door meetings on social media. He follows through on this pledge on several occasions.

November 13  It emerges that Sou might have his mandate suspended via a vote in the Legislative Assembly. The suspension will allow for his prosecutorial immunity to be lifted so that he may stand trial accused of aggravated disobedience dating back to a 2016 demonstration.

November 15  Sou calls on Chui to take more accountability over the handling of Typhoon Hato during a Legislative Assembly debate, in what becomes an embarrassing public episode for the chief executive.

December 4 Lawmakers resolve to suspend Sous mandate with a secret ballot vote; 28 in favor and four against. Legislator Pereira Coutinho points out several procedural irregularities with the vote.

January 4  Sou appeals to the Court of Second Instance to determine whether the irregular procedures leading to his suspension were lawful.

January 9  Sou is expected to begin his trial on aggravated disobedience at the Court of First Instance, but asks for a postponement while his new lawyer, Jorge Menezes, studies the case documents and has them translated into Portuguese. The postponement is approved.

January 11  Lawmakers Vong Hin Fai and Kou Hoi In submit their immunity resolution, which seeks to classify suspensions as political acts, barring administrative courts from ruling on whether they are lawful. The proposal is widely criticized by lawyers, political analysts, and other lawmakers.

January 16  The Court of First Instance says it cannot rule on the charges of aggravated disobedience until the Court of Second Instance has handled Sous appeal. Meanwhile, lawmakers postpone a detailed discussion on the immunity resolution until today. DB
Macau is soon to leave the European Unions (EU) tax haven blacklist. This change is part of a proposal on the part of EU officials which aims to remove eight out of 17 jurisdictions from the list, which was most recently updated last month.

Under the proposal, several news agencies reported that problematic jurisdictions  including Panama, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Barbados, Grenada, Mongolia, Tunisia and Macau  will be tentatively delisted this month.

Citing documents included in the proposal, Reuters say that Bahrain was another of the jurisdictions initially considered but then rejected from the group of territories recommended for de-listing.

Although there is no indication as to what the jurisdictions improved or changed in order to comply with the EU regulations, it is implied that a significant advance has been made to justify the removal.

Reuters also noted that the proposal will be discussed at a meeting of EU ambassadors today and that it is expected that EU finance ministers will adopt the resolutions when they meet next week in Brussels for their regular monthly talk.

In the meanwhile, and as proof that there was definitely something achieved by Macau in complying with EU regulations, another group, which includes American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa, and Trinidad and Tobago, is set to remain on the blacklist.

The proposal for the de-listing was made by the Code of Conduct Group, which gathers tax experts from the 28 EU member states to constantly monitor the commitment of countries and regions to abide by EU standards on tax matters.

The blacklist was initially drawn in a bid to discourage the most aggressive tax dodging practices. It is expected that the strongest critics of the taxing policies that are conducted in some of the jurisdictions may see this de-listing as a blow to their campaign against tax avoidance.

Most notably, the shrinking of the blacklist is likely to be criticized by tax transparency groups. In December, some activists denounced the listing process as a whitewash and called for the inclusion in the blacklist of even some EU countries accused of facilitating tax avoidance, such as Luxembourg, Malta, Ireland and the Netherlands.

In response, EU officials said the purpose of the blacklist is to convince jurisdictions to become more transparent. They say that having fewer on the list means more countries have committed to change. RM
Three Hong Kong activists will have to wait to learn the outcome of their final appeal to overturn prison sentences for their roles in sparking 2014s massive pro-democracy protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city.

Judges at Hong Kongs top court said yesterday they would issue their decision at a later, unspecified date following the appeal hearing for Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow against the sentences of up to eight months. Bail for the three was extended.

The three were initially let off with suspended or community service sentences after they were convicted of taking part in or inciting an unlawful assembly by storming a courtyard at government headquarters to kick-off the protests.

But the case sparked controversy when the justice secretary requested a sentencing review that resulted in stiffer sentences, raising concerns about rule of law and fears that the citys Beijing-backed government is tightening up on dissent.

The trios lawyers said the lower court overstepped its boundaries and put too much emphasis on the need for deterrence in handing down the revised harsher sentence.

Laying down a heavy sentence will have a deterrent effect, but a balance has to be held between a deterrent and stifling young idealistic people, Laws lawyer, Robert Pang, told the judges.

Wongs lawyer also argued that under Hong Kong law, the 21-year-old shouldnt have been sent to prison because he was a minor at the time.

Speaking on the courthouse steps before the hearing, Wong estimated he had a 50-50 chance of going back to prison. However I still believe that when people are united we will not be defeated.

Wong made world headlines and starred in a Netflix documentary after leading the Umbrella Movement protests while still a teenager. The protests, which brought parts of the busy Asian financial hub to a halt over Beijings plan to restrict elections for top leader, ended without resolution after 11 weeks.

The three were given revised sentences ranging from six to eight months of prison time in last years ruling but were bailed partway through when they won permission to appeal.

Wong could end up back in prison as soon as today, when he is due to be sentenced in a separate court case also related to the 2014 protests. Kelvin Chan, Hong Kong, AP
Several oil slicks have been found in waters around a sunken Iranian tanker ship in the East China Sea in a spill that is growing and whose potentially major impact on the marine environment is still being assessed.

The State Oceanic Administration said late Monday oil slicks around the site of the sunken ship were much larger than the previous day. The Sanchi sunk on Sunday after burning for more than a week following a collision with a Hong Kong-registered tanker. All 32 members of its crew  30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis  are believed dead.

The State Oceanic Administration said a 15-kilometer-long oil slick was found southwest of the site of the sinking and another slick stretched 18 kilometers to the east. The site is about 530 kilometers from Shanghai and 310 kilometers from Naha, Japan.

The administration said two ships and an aircraft were on the scene monitoring developments, but described no further action being taken at present.

The ship was carrying natural gas condensate, which continued to burn on the ocean surface. Condensate is highly toxic but readily evaporates or burns off in a fire. If trapped underwater, however, it could seriously harm the marine environment.

The cause of the Jan. 6 collision between the Sanchi and the Chinese freighter CF Crystal, which was carrying grain, remains unclear. The ships voice data recorder was reportedly recovered Saturday, possibly helping reveal how the collision and resulting fire occurred.

Authorities need to first assess the amount of condensate leaked and the size of the area contaminated, said Paul Johnston, of Greenpeace Internationals Science Unit at Britains University of Exeter.

Surveillance and assessment by authorities is critical to understand the extent of the potential environmental impact and for deciding on the appropriate next steps in terms of salvage and recovery of the potential condensate spill, Johnston wrote in a Greenpeace news release.

Because most of the condensate would have burned off or evaporated, the disaster will not result in the sort of thick, black oil slick typical of crude oil spills, Greenpeace said.

However, it will be much more difficult to separate from water because the condensate is so light, colorless and partially soluble. A major concern is that, now that the tanker has sunk, any condensate which did not yet burn off could continue to leak underwater, disperse and break down quite quickly, significantly complicating clean-up operations, Greenpeace said.

Authorities and environmentalists have said its too early to know the impact on fisheries, although Greenpeace said the area is spawning ground for bluefin leatherjacket and swordtip squid and the winter habitat of blue crab, chub mackerel and yellow croaker. AP
Scientists are using information gleaned from both illegal ivory art and elephant dung to provide clues that could help save the lives of pachyderms that are being slaughtered for their tusks in Africa.

The wildlife detective work involves cutting up seized artifacts including bangle bracelets and statues of Chinese deities and subjecting them to carbon dating to determine when the elephants were killed. DNA from the ivory art is then compared to a DNA database derived from elephant dung to pinpoint where they lived.

What scientists learn may not put a particular poacher in jail, but will tell the story of where and when an elephant died on an African savannah so its tusk could be carved in Asia to make a goddess statue priced at USD72,000 in a Manhattan antique shop.

Its going to be really helpful not only for scientific purposes, but also to be able to tell people about the individual lives of elephants that ended up as artwork on our streets, said Wendy Hapgood, director of the Wild Tomorrow Fund, which supports African wildlife preserves, anti-poaching enforcement and efforts to shut down the ivory trade.

The group cut chips from 21 statues, bracelets and mounted tusks that were among $4.5 million in illegal ivory artifacts seized from a Manhattan antiques shop and dramatically destroyed in a rock crusher in Central Park last August. The chips will be analyzed by scientists at Columbia University and the University of Washington.

Previous work by the researchers has provided valuable information to focus poaching law enforcement in Africa and prosecute ivory traffickers elsewhere.

Once numbered at more than a million, the population of African elephants fell 30 percent between 2007 and 2014, to about 350,000, according to the Great Elephant Census funded by wildlife organizations. The decline, at a rate of 8 percent per year, is attributed mainly to poaching for ivory.

The sale of ivory across international boundaries has been banned since 1990. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instituted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial ivory trade and barred sales across state lines.

Hapgood and colleague John Steward were in Albany recently to saw samples from two massive tusks that were spared the Central Park crusher and locked in a state Department of Environmental Conservation warehouse. The chips will be sent to Columbia University geochemist Kevin Uno, whose radioisotope analysis measures carbon-14 deposited by atomic bomb tests to date the ivory and determine when the elephant died.

Samples were also sent to biologist Sam Wasser, of the University of Washington, who extracted DNA from elephant dung all over Africa in the 1990s to map elephant genetics across the continent. Now he compares DNA from seized ivory to the map to determine where it came from.

Uno and colleagues published a study in 2016 looking at 230 elephant tusks from 15 seizures of shipping containers being illegally transmitted out of Africa. The goal was to determine whether the ivory was from older stockpiles held by African national governments or from elephants recently poached.

We found 90 percent of the ivory was coming from elephants that died within three years of the seizure date, Uno said.

In a study published in 2015, Wassers DNA studies on large seizures of ivory found shipments tended to come from a few poaching hotspots. Identification of areas of Tanzania and Zambia as hotspots helped persuade a United Nations agency to deny requests from those countries to sell their ivory stockpiles.

The DNA and radioisotope analysis can also help prosecute traffickers. In 2013, Wassers lab helped convict an ivory trafficking kingpin in Togo by providing evidence that his ivory came from Cameroon and Gabon, two of the hardest hit countries in the elephant slaughter. Radioisotope analysis by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California showed the ivory came from elephants killed as recently as 2010, not before the 1989 ban as the trafficker claimed.

The big study we did was on shipments leaving Africa, Uno said. Now were coming at it from the retail side, so if they seize pieces from a shop, how much of it is recent and how much is old.

The ultimate goals are to help law enforcement and policy- makers shut down the ivory market and raise public awareness of the plight of pachyderms.

The extension of that is to slow the killing of elephants and prevent their extinction, Uno said. Mary Esch, Albany (N.Y.), AP
(HealthDay)Liquid biopsy that identifies circulating tumor cells in a blood sample has high accuracy for detecting colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held from Jan. 18 to 20 in San Francisco.

Wen-Sy Tsai, M.D., from Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues conducted a prospective study to assess a novel assay for detecting and enumerating circulating tumor cells in a blood sample for early CRC detection. The study was conducted among 438 subjects with adenoma, polyps, or stage I to IV CRC and 182 controls. For each subject, 2 mL of peripheral whole blood was collected through a routine blood draw and processed using the CellMax biomimetic platform (CMx). Disease status was evaluated by a standard clinical protocol, including colonoscopy and biopsy results.

The researchers found that the overall accuracy for the CMx test was 88 percent for all stages of colorectal illness, including precancerous lesions. The sensitivity and specificity were 84 and 97.3, respectively, overall (76.6 and 97.3 for precancerous lesions).

"There is still some reticence among patients to use stool-based tests or have an invasive exam like colonoscopy to detect colorectal cancer," Tsai said in a statement. "Our results may point to a solution for people who are reluctant to get an initial screening colonoscopy or are not compliant in returning stool-based test kits that they get from their doctors."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to CellMax Life.

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay)Scientists may have discovered what makes a creative mind tick: stronger connections among brain regions that usually work in opposition to each other.

For eons, researchers have wondered what sets the da Vincis, Shakespeares and Einsteins apart. Results from this new study offer more evidence to debunk the popular notion that creativity is a "right brain" activity.

"There's a lingering myth about the 'right brain' and 'left brain.' But creativity involves the whole brain," said Roger Beaty, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University who led the research.

The study, of 163 young adults, found the most creative thinkers had greater "connectivity" across three brain areas: the default mode, salience network, and executive systems.

The findings offer a clearer idea of exactly what happens in the brain during creative thinking. And it all makes sense, according to Beaty.

The default mode network, he explained, is involved in our capacity to daydream and be "unconstrained" in thinking.

The salience network jumps in to help us focus on what's deserving of further attention, and then the executive network allows us to evaluate, elaborate and revise.

Highly creative people, Beaty explained, seem better able to "sync" those three networks.

Rex Jung is a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico who studies the relationship between creativity and brain structure and function.

He agreed that the study shows, once again, that creativity is not the domain of the "right brain."

"It's not coming from just one place in the brain. It involves a network," said Jung, who was not involved in the study.

So are highly creative people born with stronger connections among those key brain networks? Or does being creative from an early age onward help build those connections?

"It's the classic 'chicken-or-egg' question," Jung said. But he suspects there is a combination of nature and nurture happening.

This study cannot give an answer. But, Beaty said, it's "an interesting and important one for future research."

The findings are based on 163 young adults recruited from one college and the surrounding community. The students were mostly music, art or science majors.

Creativity, Beaty noted, is not limited to the arts. Any time people see ordinary things in a different way, or try to find solutions to problems, for example, they are being creative.

For the study, the participants performed a "divergent thinking" task, which measures an aspect of creativity. Test-takers were given an ordinary objectlike a brick or a ropeand then had a couple minutes to think of new uses for it.

Their creativity was gauged not only by the number of uses they conjured upbut also by how original and diverse their ideas were.

Beaty's team used functional MRI scans to watch people's brain activity as they performed the task. Overall, the investigators found, the most highly creative people showed stronger connections among the three brain networks.

The study has its limitations. It's possible, said Jung, that to some extent, the brain findings also reflect qualities other than creativitylike the ability to remain focused.

Plus, Jung said, any creativity test that researchers use in the lab may not truly capture real-world creative abilities.

Beaty said it would be interesting to run the same experiment using various measures of creativity, not just the divergent thinking task.

Why study the brain origins of creativity at all? For one, creative thinking is a vital human function, Jung pointed out.

"Artists are creative, scientists are creative, accountants are creative," he said.

And in an "increasingly complex world," Jung added, human beings' creative capacitywhatever their profession or hobbiesis critical.

"I think we'll increasingly need our creative thinking to get us out of trouble," he said.

The findings were published online Jan. 16 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information: Roger E. Beaty el al., "Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity," PNAS (2018). Roger E. Beaty el al., "Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1713532115 The National Endowment for the Arts has more on creative thinking. Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Harvard University

Psychiatrist Mark Epstein '75 studied Buddhism alongside social relations as a Harvard undergrad, forging a path he would follow through Harvard Medical School and beyond. Based in New York, Epstein is the author of several books, including "Thoughts Without a Thinker," "Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart," and the just-published "Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself."

GAZETTE: The subtitle of your new book seems to suggest the impossible. Can you talk about it, and your thoughts on the challenge of making peace with ego?

EPSTEIN: I wanted to write from a place of being a mature therapist. A lot of my earlier books were written from the perspective of having just discovered Buddhism. This is 40 years later and I thought it was worth writing from the place I am at, having had a psychiatry practice for 35 years. I've always been very cautious in laying mindfulness on my patients, who might not be so interested. I've tried to work in my therapy practice in a traditional manner to let a patient's concern take the lead, but the Buddhist influence on me, which really came first, does influence the way I think and it must influence the way I work. I was letting it happen on its own accord rather than striking a Buddhist posture. What I realized is that the ego is the common ground between Western psychotherapy and Buddhist psychology. Both recognize that an overreliance on the ego is a cause for suffering.

All too often we think we are the ego and that identification constrains us, limits us, and makes us less than we could be. The ego is all about maintaining control. It comes from a place of fear and separation. It emerges in childhood when we are just beginning to figure out who we are. We need the ego, but if we give it full reign we actually become more insecure. We think of it as giving us high self-esteem, but the ego can be [just] as attached to self-judgment and self-loathing. It's always trying to think its way out of whatever predicament it finds itself in, and it doesn't make room for the more mysterious qualities that also constitute us. The point is not to get rid of the ego. It's to change our relationship to itit not being our master and we its slave.

GAZETTE: Patients come to you with their own experiences and struggles. How do you determine how to use Buddhism in therapy, and vice versa?

EPSTEIN: The goals of both Buddhism and Western psychotherapy are interlocking. I see them as threefold. Firstly, we all need a sufficient amount of self-esteem. We have to feel good enough about ourselves to function sufficiently in the world. Buddhism recognizes this in the concept of the "precious human birth," and Western therapy is very concerned with healing the psyche's childhood scars. Some amount of ego or self is very important. But we also need the ability to observe our own mind, thoughts, and feelings. This is the second important thing. That's something that both meditation and psychotherapy encourage, in different ways. Therapy is built on a therapeutic split in the ego that promotes a kind of watchfulness of our inner lives. Meditation does that by training the mind to observe itself. Finally, both therapy and meditation can help us get past the ego's need to control everything. There's so much in life we can't control. In my work as a therapist, influenced so much by Buddhism, I think I'm working on all three levels depending on what people need.

GAZETTE: How did Buddhism play a role in your time at Harvard?

EPSTEIN: I was fortunate to actually discover Buddhism in a world religion class my freshman year. It was a class I took by chance because I met someone taking it and she seemed interesting so I followed her. I had no real interest in world religion, but the whole first half of the semester was Eastern religion and I was really excited about what I learned.

We read a collection of Buddhist verse called the Dhammapada, which is written for laypeople. I loved it. It really spoke to me. There is a chapter called "Mind" that I identified with. It described an anxious mind as a fish flapping on dry ground. That opened up the Buddhist world for me. There were a lot of later courses that touched on Buddhism peripherally and I found them all, and created a few for myself in independent study.

GAZETTE: You worked as an apprentice for the Dalai Lama's physician during your time at HMS. How did that experience shape your medical journey?

EPSTEIN: During my fourth year, I, along with a Herbert Benson [a cardiologist and a pioneer in mind-body medicine], got a grant from the National Science Foundation to travel to India to do physiological measurements on the Tibetan monks who were practicing a kind of heat yoga where they could raise their temperatures at will. As part of that, I spent a lot of time with the Dalai Lama's physician every morning. One of the things I discovered working with the Tibetan Buddhist tradition was that they have an understanding of a meditation-induced anxiety disorder. It's possible to strive with too much effort, even in meditation, which makes people more stressed. The Buddhists were very familiar with this. As a young psychiatrist in training, I had some indication this might be true, but I was very interested to find that this was a well-documented phenomenon among the Tibetans.

GAZETTE: "Advice Not Given" is filled with personal storiesyours and your patients'. Is there one that stands out?

EPSTEIN: One that comes to mind is of a teacher of Buddhism who discovered he had colon cancer after completing a three-year retreat. One of his students cared for him, and recounted his final words: "No, no, no. Help, help." She was disturbed because he was so experienced as a meditator: Why would he still have fear at death? But I was comforted by that because it made me feel that any pretense I might have about how it would be for me, I could drop. If there's one thing we don't know, it's how we will be at death. Maybe he was just being honest.

I have some faith as a therapist that if I can encourage my patients to be with their fears in as open and vulnerable a way as this man was, that they will find a way through. It's the pushing away because we think we'll be overwhelmed by some sadness or anxiety or shame that keeps us locked up. If we can experience them fully, without aversion, that's where the sense of freedom comes from.

This story is published courtesy of the Harvard Gazette, Harvard University's official newspaper. For additional university news, visit Harvard.edu.
Previously unpublished information from the clinical trial that the US Food and Drug Administration relied on to approve the most commonly prescribed medicine for nausea in pregnancy indicates the drug is not effective, according to a new report by Dr. Nav Persaud, a researcher and family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Credit: St. Michael's Hospital

Previously unpublished information from the clinical trial that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration relied on to approve the most commonly prescribed medicine for nausea in pregnancy indicates the drug is not effective, a new report says.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital obtained thousands of pages of documents from Health Canada relating to the randomized clinical trial that was reported in 2010 as showing pyridoxine-doxylamine was effective in reducing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.

The trial found that on a 13-point scale, women who took the drug sold as Diclectin in Canada (Diclegis in the United States) reported symptom reductions that were 0.7 points greater than women who took a placebo.

But Dr. Nav Persaud, a researcher and family physician at St. Michael's, said the manufacturer's detailed 9,000-page "clinical study report" he obtained from Health Canada specified that the findings would be clinically important only if there were a three-point reduction in symptoms.

"That information was hidden until now," he said.

His analysis was published today in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Dr. Persaud said that while the findings reported in 2010 may be statistically significant, they were not large enough to be noticeable by women taking the medication. By the end of the two-week trial, most women given a placebo had little or no symptoms.

Dr. Persaud said there was also "selective reporting" of secondary outcomes in the 2010 publication that made Diclectin appear effective. The 2010 paper indicated apparent benefits of the drug such as a reduction in the time lost from employment due to nausea and vomiting. But the 2010 publication did not include outcomes where there was no difference between the two groups, such as time lost from household tasks or number of visits to health-care providers.

The clinical trial was sponsored by Duchesnay Inc., the manufacturer of the drug. It was conducted at six university medical centres in the United States. The published results were based on 101 women who took pyridoxine-doxylamine and a control group of 86 women; the original enrollment was higher, but many women dropped out during the trial.

Dr. Persaud said that when Duchesnay approached the FDA in the early 2000s to approve pyridoxine-doxylamine, the regulatory agency said it needed evidence from a clinical trial. The FDA approved the drug in 2013, after this trial was done, and it has been prescribed in 33 million women worldwide according to the company. There is at least one prescription filled for every two births in Canada.

In the 1980s, the drug was voluntarily withdrawn from the American market in the midst of legal claims about birth defects that were eventually rejected by courts. Recently, Kim Kardashian was censured by the FDA for inappropriately promoting the drug on social media.

Dr. Persaud said the FDA should revisit its decision, as should Health Canada and provinces that offer the drug through publicly funded prescription drug plans. Clinicians could stop prescribing it and pregnant women could seek effective treatments instead of this drug, he said.
Psychologists from the University of Granada, together with researchers from the Andalusian School of Public Health (Escuela Andaluza de Salud Publica - EASP) have conducted an in-depth study on the effects of evictions on mental health. Their research, which was recently published in the Spanish Journal of Psychology, demonstrates that those who have been evicted from their homes suffer from very high levels of anxiety and depression. Specifically, 88 percent of participants in the study suffered from anxiety and 91 percent from depression.

Gender differences were found in both instances, with women displaying more acute symptoms of anxiety and depression than men. Scores in perceived stress were also high, although no gender differences were found. 205 research volunteer participants from the Stop Evictions Platform (Plataforma Stop Desahucios), which operates in Granada and its metropolitan area, were interviewed on an individual basis in order to conduct the study.

Psychopathological symptoms

Dr. Humbelina Robles Ortega, a senior lecturer at the University of Granada and one of the researchers behind this significant research project, says, "Without a doubt, one of the most striking pieces of data that we have obtained is the high incidence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among individuals going through a dramatic event such as an eviction. Years can elapse between the very beginning of the process, when it becomes difficult to pay the mortgage every month, and the moment when a family is evicted from their home."

This entails a prolonged period of stress. "These people must deal with a threatening situation and deep uncertainty when they wake up every morning and when they go to bed every night, which affects their physical and psychological well-being." PTSD can develop when a person undergoes a traumatic experience in a state of fear, helplessness, and dread.

"We have established that a very high proportion of the participants (72.50 percent of those interviewed) experience the threat of losing their home in a state of fear, helplessness, and dread," Dr. Robles Ortega says. Gender differences were also observed in the appearance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, with women also scoring higher than men in this area.

These findings have important clinical, social and political implications which, according to Dr. Robles Ortega, "call for urgent measures to be introduced in order to adequately protect the mental health of those affected." Moreover, effective policies are required to develop alternative solutions to the final stages of the eviction process in its current form.

More information: Humbelina Robles-Ortega et al, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology in People affected by Home Eviction in Spain, The Spanish Journal of Psychology (2017). Humbelina Robles-Ortega et al, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology in People affected by Home Eviction in Spain,(2017). DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2017.56
Credit: National Cancer Institute

A unique platform that resulted in a promising HIV vaccine has also led to a new, highly effective vaccine against tuberculosis that is moving toward testing in humans.

The new vaccine completely protected 41 percent and reduced overall TB disease by 68 percent in vaccinated rhesus macaques, according to a study published as an Advanced Online Publication of Nature Medicine. In contrast, there was no measurable protection in the rhesus macaques - a monkey species that is closely related to humans - treated with today's standard TB vaccine, the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine.

"With more than 1.7 million people dying globally from TB each year and the rise of strains that are resistant to drug treatment, we need a better way to prevent this disease," said the study's principal investigator Louis Picker, M.D., who is the associate director of the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and a professor of pathology, molecular microbiology, and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine.

"Because rhesus monkeys are significantly more susceptible to TB than humans and, given how effective our new TB vaccine has been in these monkeys, we feel that the human version of our vaccine could have the potential to be even more effective in protecting humans," Picker said.

TB disease is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is spread through the air, and can lead to violent cough attacks involving spitting up blood. Most people infected with TB don't even know it; only five to 10 percent show symptoms. A vaccine already exists, but it largely only protects children and its efficacy varies widely.

Picker and his colleagues have taken a different approach to vaccination. They use a weakened form of a common Herpes virus - cytomegalovirus, or CMV, which infects most people without causing disease. In collaboration with the TB nonprofit Aeras, they wove tiny bits of a disease-causing pathogen into the CMV. This re-engineered CMV creates and maintains a high state of immunity against the pathogen in vaccinated monkeys. This approach has the potential to work better than standard vaccines for aggressive pathogens that infect quickly, overrun a person's immune response, or can hide from the immune system.

The new TB vaccine reduced overall disease by 68 percent in vaccinated monkeys. About 41 percent of vaccinated monkeys were completely protected from TB, while 30 percent had less severe disease than unvaccinated monkeys, and another 30 percent showed no benefit from the vaccine. This level of protection has never been seen before in rhesus macaques with the standard TB vaccine.

Next, Picker and colleagues will work to better define the biological mechanisms by which their new TB vaccine works. They will also work with Vir Biotechnology, Inc. of San Francisco, which has licensed aspects of their CMV-based vaccine approach, to expand testing with plans to start a human clinical trial in 2020.

Vir Biotechnology plans to manufacture the HIV/AIDS vaccine, which is also made with CMV, in 2018 and a human clinical trial is slated for 2019.

The success of both vaccines thus far in stringent monkey models has led Picker and his colleagues to believe their CMV-based approach to making vaccines has the potential to be engineered to tackle a variety of infectious diseases.

More information: Scott G Hansen et al, Prevention of tuberculosis in rhesus macaques by a cytomegalovirus-based vaccine, Nature Medicine (2018). Journal information: Nature Medicine Scott G Hansen et al, Prevention of tuberculosis in rhesus macaques by a cytomegalovirus-based vaccine,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/nm.4473
ViLim Ball technology created at a Lithuanian startup company Fidens helps to reduce uncontrollable shaking hands, which is one of the symptoms of essential tremor. The technology is effective in 7 out of 10 cases, and it can also be used to alleviate morning stiffness of joints for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. Credit: KTU

Technology created at a Lithuanian startup company Fidens helps to reduce uncontrollable shaking hands, which is one of the symptoms of essential tremor. The technology is effective in seven out of 10 cases, and it can also be used to alleviate morning stiffness of joints for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

According to various data, around 1 percent of the population suffers from essential tremor (ET). The incidence of ET rises with increasing age. Approximately 4 percent of adults 40 years of age and older are affected by the condition. Although usually considered benign, essential tremor greatly influences the quality of life of those suffering from the conditioneveryday tasks, such as pouring, writing or drinking become a challenge.

"My grandfather had this problem. Seeing a relative suffering from the condition, it becomes clear that any device that could reduce the symptoms would be of great assistance. To be honest, there are not many of them in the market today," says Dr. Mantas Venslauskas, researcher at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU).

According to Dr. Venslauskas, the ViLim Ball created by the Lithuanian company is a more specialised version of a vibro trainer. "In our laboratories, we have modified the technology by applying certain features to the deviceViLim Ball can also be used for reducing hand stiffness in the morning, which is a characteristic symptom of rheumatoid arthritis," says Venslauskas.

According to recent research, ViLim Ball is efficient in alleviating symptoms for 7 out of 10 essential tremor cases, and is beneficial in 9 out of 10 cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Credit: KTU

He says that the main inspiration for creating the hand tremor-reducing technology originated during his doctoral study years. With KTU professor Vytautas Ostasevicius, who was Dr. Venslauskas' Ph.D. supervisor, they often discussed the need of similar technologies for sustaining and enhancing society's well-being. In KTU's Biomechanics Laboratory, the researchers have been developing and experimenting with various devices for improving circulation in body extremities, which is important for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. The technology for circulation enhancement has been tested and patented together with the researchers of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU).

"However, while communicating with researchers from LSMU Neurology Clinic we found out that the technology can also be used for tremor diminishing. Therefore, at Fidens we have created a thoroughly new technology and concept of a device for reducing hand tremor and stiffness. At the moment, our device is being tested with human subjects in order to examine its impact on physiological parameters," says Dr. Venslauskas, Fidens' director.

According to recent research, ViLim Ball is efficient in alleviating symptoms for seven out of 10 essential tremor cases, and is beneficial in nine out of 10 cases of rheumatoid arthritis.

In January 2018, a beta version of ViLim Ball was released into the market. Although at the moment, the device is aimed at Lithuanian market, after refining based on further testing and correction, it will be also available in the U.S.
Increased property sales figures and prices across the board in Spain



ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Notary data for the third quarter of last year show average prices up by 6.6 per cent

The new year has seen a plethora of statistical bulletins being released in relation to the Spanish property market, and one of the latest is a very encouraging set of data produced by the countrys notaries concerning sales and prices during the third quarter of 2017.

The notaries data show that sales figures were higher than in the equivalent period the year before in all 17 of Spains regions, producing an overall increase of 13.5 per cent to 118,951, while the feeling that the recovery in the market is spreading to more and more areas of the country is strengthened still further by the fact that the most significant year-on-year rises were those observed in Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja and Cantabria (all between 23 and 26 per cent).

The average sale price of residential property is also reported to have gone up, this time by 6.6 per cent over the last 12 months, and stood at 1,533 euros per square metre. The sharpest rises are reported in the Canary Islands (17.9 per cent), the Balearics (10.7 per cent) and Catalunya (10.2 per cent), although on this occasion there are three regions where the average market value of housing fell slightly, all of them in the north (Galicia, La Rioja and Aragon). In terms of both sales volume and average price the notaries have now reported increases in each of the last nine quarters.

The data regarding mortgages on properties purchased are also positive, with the number of loans constituted having risen by 14.6 per cent to 52,297, and the average loan capital up by 2 per cent to 134,261 euros. This indicates that 44 per cent of all purchases were financed by means of mortgages, although among the regions that proportion varies from 66.3 per cent in the Basque Country to just 30.6 per cent in the Comunidad Valenciana.

To view a wide range of properties for sale across Spain consult the Spanish property page.

Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Murcia region: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/.

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Pope Francis publicly expressed pain and shame on Tuesday over the rape and molestation of children by priests in Chile and later listened, prayed and cried at a private meeting with victims, Reuters reported.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the meeting took place in the Vatican embassy in Santiago.

No one else was present. Only the pope and the victims, the spokesman said. This was so they could speak of their suffering to Pope Francis, who listened to them and prayed and cried with them.

It was only the second time on his overseas trips that the pope has met victims of sexual abuse, although he has met some at the Vatican. The last meeting on a trip was in Philadelphia in 2015.
Philippine President, Canadian PM have sock battle at APEC summit

World's 3rd richest man is considering opening family office in Dubai or New York

Global energy industry is at turning point

Lagarde says ECB may have to slow growth to control inflation

Orban: Europe is drawn into war

Australia prefers US nuclear submarines despite French criticism

Terrorist group detained in Iran

Dodon released from house arrest in Moldova

Soldier who carelessly kills colleague arrested in Armenia

Armenian Defense Ministry denies reports on shooting at Azerbaijani positions

Criminal case opened over injury of Armenian soldier

Tehran denies Washington's statement about supplying explosives to Yemen

Foreign Ministry: Azerbaijani President keeps threatening Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian population

Kamala Harris says US is committed to Asia for the long term

Iranian authorities impose sanctions on French carmakers

Armenian Security Council Secretary and Indian PM's Advisor discuss security cooperation

Artsakh MFA replies to Baku: Any discussions will be acceptable only if the principle of equality is maintained

Macron hopes for resumption of talks between Ukraine and Russia

Prosecutor General's Office: Azerbaijan makes every effort to terrorize peaceful population of Artsakh

Armenian and Georgian heads of parliamentary committees sign memorandum on cooperation

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

CNN: US is running out of weapons and ammunition to transfer to Ukraine

Kyiv residents are recommended to stock up on water and food

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

Turkey expects to start work on the gas hub in early 2023

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

Armenian CC President and Ambassador of Poland discuss cooperation issues

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

Pope reiterates Vatican's readiness to mediate between Moscow, Kyiv

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

Indian drunk man wrapps python around his neck and almost dies from strangulation

Finland to spend 139 million euros on building border fence with Russia

Politico: Ukraine warned allies it may not recover from new Russian attacks on energy systems

Singapore to not take sides in geopolitical conflicts

Boris Johnson paid 276,000 to speak to US insurers

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
STEPANAKERT.  All mosques in Artsakh are under state protection.

Davit Babayan, Head of the Central Information Department of the Office of the President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) and Deputy Head of the NKR Presidents Office, stated the aforesaid. He noted this commentingat the request of Armenian News-NEWS.amon respective accusations by Azerbaijan.

In Babayans words, the three mosquestwo in Shushi, and one in Aghdamin Artsakh have been preserved.

There have been no other monument of Azerbaijani heritage in the territory of Artsakh, Babayan stressed noting that this is due to the absence of a developed Turkic ethnic community. The existing three mosques have been restored; they are under state protection.

At the same time, he recalled the Azerbaijani authorities treatment of the monuments of Armenian cultural heritage.

A state which ranks murderers among heroes, the president of that country threatens to down Armenian civil aircrafts, all monuments of Armenian heritage are being destroyed, noted Davit Babayan.

We [Artsakh] have nothing to hide, and we are not against the UNESCO mission, he added. However, such monitoring missions should be conducted also in the territory of Azerbaijan.

There is, in Azerbaijan, a huge Armenian cultural heritage, which is being destroyed by the efforts of the countrys authorities.

But I believe that Azerbaijan will in every way hamper the conducting of monitoring in its territory.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the paralysis that led to the freezing of conflicts in Europe. Guterres identified 12 main directions of work for the organization in 2018 when delivering a speech to members of the UN General Assembly.

Guterres called the settlement of the conflicts in the Middle East and the frozen conflicts in Europe among the main problems that the UN will have to tackle, according to a report posted on the UN website on Tuesday, January 16.

UN Secretary General noted that to settle the conflicts in Europe it is necessary to withstand the dangerous wave of nationalism and to revitalize the work of mediation initiatives. According to his words, it is about the Norman format and the Tripartite Contact Group on Eastern Ukraine. He also mentioned the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh, the Geneva international discussions on Georgia and the 5 + 2 process on Transnistria.

Guterres emphasized that solving the problems like combating terrorism and climate change, and protecting human rights, will require a lot of resources. He called on countries to fulfill their commitments in the area of financing for development. He also invoked the countries to work out mechanisms that would not allow them to evade taxes, to be engaged in money laundering or conduct illegal flows of capital.
Many different working groups are working on the development of the EU strategy, and Bulgaria has also made a significant contribution to this, EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalski said on Wednesday, during the briefing organized by Embassy of Bulgaria in Yerevan.

He wished Bulgaria successes during its presidency in the EU and noted that the achievement of consensus is an extremely important element during any chairmanship.

Switalski noted that when Bulgaria was included into the EU, some people worried that there can be prerequisites for the conflicts as it is known that when Bulgarians nod, it means "no". But now, the European familygot used to these national peculiarities and traditions, EU Ambassador joked.

Speaking about Armenia, the head of the EU delegation added, the state showed great persistence and contributed to the implementation of the Eastern Partnership, strengthening ties with neighbors. Now Brussels and Yerevan have an opportunity to make the most effective implementation of the agreements reached earlier.

At the same time, as Piotr Switalski noted, the Armenian leadership worked hard and worked to implement the mechanisms envisaged by the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.


YEREVAN.  The Minister of Agriculture of Armenia, Ignati Arakelyan, has traveled to the German capital city of Berlin to attend the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture 2018.

Also, Arakelyan on Saturday will participate in the 10th Berlin Agriculture Ministers Conference, the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In addition, the minister will visit Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences to discuss the matter of preparing and training Armenias agrarian specialists.

Furthermore, Ignati Arakelyan is scheduled to be on hand at the official opening of the annual Berlin Green Week international agricultural and food industry exhibition.
YEREVAN.  A World Bank Group advisory project has helped save businesses in Armenia up to $20 million in terms of time and money spent on inspections, boosting improvements in the countrys business environment.

The Armenia Investment Climate Reform Project has provided advisory support to the government on strengthening its risk-based inspections system, which has reduced inspections of businesses whose risk levels are low, while retaining the protections the process provides. The project has also helped streamline inspection bodies by removing overlaps and ensuring better governance.

The improvements were confirmed by a survey of 600 businesses conducted by the project between July and September 2017. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said the inspections system had improved over the last three years, while a clear majority  76 percent - believed inspectors were fair. Sixty percent said the burden of inspections had decreased and 65 percent felt it was now easier to check inspection rules. More than half said the length of inspections had been reduced.

A favorable investment climate is key for private sector growth, the main driver of job creation and economic growth, said Jan van Bilsen, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus. Confidence and trust in the inspections system is one of the prerequisites of an improved investment climate, so were delighted to see progress in Armenia in that direction.

The project has implemented training programs to help improve professionalism and enable inspectors to guide businesses on how to comply with rules, rather than punishing for non-compliance. It has also conducted a public awareness campaign to allow entrepreneurs to provide feedback about the inspection process.

The three-year Armenia Investment Climate Reform Project, which is due to finish in March 2018, has been implemented by IFCa sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Groupin partnership with Austrias Federal Ministry of Finance and Hungarian Partnership Funding/Hungary EXIM Bank.

Armenia became an IFC member in 1995. Since then, IFC has provided over $480 million, including nearly $118 million mobilized from other lenders, to finance 49 projects across a range of sectors, including financial markets, manufacturing, agribusiness, services, and mining. In addition, IFC has also supported trade transactions worth more than $130 million through its trade finance program, and implemented advisory projects focused on private sector development.
YEREVAN.  We will organize discussions in the near future regarding the names for the candidate of the President of Armenia, and everyone will know about it.

Vahram Baghdasaryan, head of the National Assembly (NA) faction of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), on Wednesday told the abovementioned to reporters at Parliament.

To the remark that various RPA names for the Presidents office are already circulated and there is even information that the likely candidate has already returned to Armenia, Baghdasaryan responded as follows:

If you are specifically mentioning [Armenias ambassador to UK] Armen Sarkissians name, its possible that this candidacy will also be discussed. It seems to me it can be fitted in the [respective] standards; but we [RPA] have not yet reflected on the persons.

Its not so that there must be one [RPA] candidate and we run that discussion around one candidate. We could choose one candidate from several candidates and present [him]; we will see as a result of discussions.

The NA RPA faction leader, however, stressed that the ruling party shall select a presidential candidate who will be acceptable for all political forces in Armenia.
Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu have discussed preparations for the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi in a telephone conversation, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"The two ministers discussed preparations for the Syrian National Dialogue Congress as a milestone on the way towards the Syrian political settlement as part of the UN-brokered negotiations based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254," the ministry said.

The two top diplomats also discussed "issues related to alleviating the humanitarian problems of the civilian population in Syria and compliance with the ceasefire in the de-escalation zones in accordance with the agreements reached in Astana."

The Syrian National Dialogue Congress is scheduled to be held in Sochi on January 29-30.
The EU should focus on the need to secure its external borders, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurtz at a press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

Angela Merkel said that the parties discussed bilateral relations, migration and finance during the meeting, AP reported.

Europe should be operational in security and migration policies, protecting external borders and partnership with Africa, noted Merkel.

According to Kurtz, he remained convinced that the solution for the migration question is in the orderly protection of exterior borders.
Moscow strongly denounces double terrorist attack in Baghdad on January 15, in which over 30 people were killed and nearly 100 were injured, Russian Foreign inistry said in the statement.

Moscow strongly denounces these attacks by militants on the long-suffering nation of Iraq, which demonstrate the inhuman character of the violent radicals. Their acts are aimed at undermining efforts to reach national accord and come at a pivotal moment for the country, which is a source of particular concern, the statement said.

We reaffirm our solidarity with the leaders and people of the friendly Iraq in the face of persisting challenges and threats. At the same time, we emphasise the importance of a continued resolute and uncompromising struggle against terrorists, regardless of the slogans they use.
WASHINGTON, DC.  Congressional Armenian Caucus founding Co-Chair Frank Pallone today called on his Congressional colleagues to break down artificial barriers to unrestricted travel and open communication between the United States and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), with the introduction of the U.S.-Artsakh Travel and Communication Resolution, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The United States should be supporting the free flow of dialogue and ideas across the globe, said Rep. Pallone. Artsakh has a successful democratic government and it should not be precluded from interacting with the United States and other nations. My visit to Artsakh in September further revealed the enormous strides that Artsakh has made in recent years, and others should be given the same opportunity that I had. Rather than hindering fast developing nations like Artsakh through non-recognition, the United States should embrace and encourage through official actions, concluded Rep. Pallone.

We thank Congressman Pallone for taking a legislative sledgehammer to the walls that have, for far too long, prevented the very type of open dialogue that is so very necessary for a durable and democratic Artsakh peace, said ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian. Our U.S. interests and American values are served by the open and unrestricted exchange of views among all regional stakeholders, the ability of U.S. policymakers to travel to Artsakh and witness first-hand the progress of this proud republic in the face of ongoing Azerbaijani aggression, and, ultimately, by a greater level of understanding among U.S. leaders and all regional stakeholders of the imperative of peace and the necessity of avoiding a renewed war.

The U.S.  Artsakh Travel and Communication Resolution praises the Artsakh Republic for having developed democratic institutions, fostered a pluralist political system, and, over the past quarter century, held parliamentary and presidential elections that have been rated as free and fair by international observers. It also highlights Artsakhs commitment to common-sense peace initiatives, first advocated by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), calling for the removal of snipers and heavy artillery from the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, the deployment of additional Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitors, and the placement of gun-fire locator systems along the lines of contact. The measures, which have been embraced by Armenia, Artsakh, and the OSCE Minsk Group peace negotiators, have been thus far blocked by Azerbaijan.

The U.S.-Artsakh Travel and Communications Resolution notes that current State Department policies place self-imposed restrictions on travel and communications between the United States and Artsakh, limiting oversight of United States taxpayer-funded assistance programs and discouraging the open dialogue and discourse that can contribute to a peaceful resolution of Artsakh-related status and security issues.

The measure calls for a U.S. policy which would:

1) allow officials at all levels of the United States Government, including cabinet-level national security officials, general officers, and other executive branch officials, to travel to the Artsakh Republic and openly and directly communicate with their Artsakh counterparts;

2) encourage ongoing open communication, meetings, and other direct contacts between officials of Artsakh and the Executive and Legislative branches of the United States, state and local governments, and American civil society; and

3) seek the full and direct participation of the democratically-elected government of the Artsakh Republic in all OSCE and other negotiations regarding its future.
Tom Fitton: Judicial watch has document after document proving Clintons have been looting and abusing Haiti for years (Video)

Prompted by President Trumps alleged comments about Haiti being a s***hole, Judicial Watchs Tom Fitton took to YouTube this week to go over document after document, proving the Clintons have been looting and abusing, Haiti for years.

(Article by Joshua Caplan republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)

Fittons report underlines the country has been going through strife, in part, due to the Clinton Foundations role in rebuilding Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

Video Source: Judicial Watch

In the video above, Fitton references a Judicial Watch report from July 2013, revealing Roughly half of the $1.14 billion that the U.S. government allocated to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake, went towards wasteful and outright failed projects. A whopping $170.3 million was blown on a disastrous port and power plant project that was heavily promoted by former President Bill Clinton and his wife, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

You can have 17 special prosecutors looking at the Clinton-Haiti angle, concluded Fitton at the end of the four and a half minute video.

Judicial Watch reported in July of 2013:

Can you say scandal? The former president, who has been heavily involved in distributing Haiti earthquake reconstruction funds, pushed hard for the power plant and port for an industrial park in northern Haiti billed as the centerpiece of the United States effort to help the ravaged island nation rebuild. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined her husband in the effort, making several trips to Haiti to promote the project and encourage foreigners to invest in it. [] Not really, according to a federal audit of the $1.14 billion that Congress approved to help Haiti recover from the powerful earthquake that killed more than 200,000 and left over 1 million homeless. [] The investigation focused on $651 million that American taxpayers have given Haiti via the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2010.

The Clinton Foundation is back in the news after reports resurfaced that Bill and Hillary Clinton allegedly used charity cash to help pay for Chelsea Clintons wedding,

Deeply ticked off about the accusation, Bill Clinton took to Twitter to dispel the news.

No Clinton Foundation fundsdedicated to Haiti or otherwisewere used to pay for Chelseas wedding. Its not only untrue, its a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc, tweeted former President Bill Clinton.

No Clinton Foundation fundsdedicated to Haiti or otherwisewere used to pay for Chelseas wedding. Its not only untrue, its a personal insult to me, to Hillary, and to Chelsea and Marc.https://t.co/YEHqqYrsxW  Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) January 13, 2018

Following Clintons denial, Wikileaks replied, Bill Clinton claims that no Clinton Foundation funds were used to pay for Chelsea Clintons wedding. However, the leaked email from then top Bill Clinton aide Doug Band doesnt say funds it says resources

Bill Clinton claims that no Clinton Foundation "funds" were used to pay for Chelsea Clinton's wedding. However, the leaked email from then top Bill Clinton aide Doug Band doesn't say "funds" it says "resources": https://t.co/hHY9OUwry3 https://t.co/mU2xJhASnL  WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 14, 2018

Was the Clinton Foundation caught red handed by WikiLeaks, once again?

Read more at TheGatewayPundit.com

Submit a correction >>
Watch: Rand Paul reveals what Trump did for Haiti as a private citizen, delivers blow to racist narrative

On Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) delivered a major blow to the medias narrative that President Donald Trumps supposed s***hole remark about Haiti proves that he is racist.

(Article by Ryan Saavedra republished from DailyWire.com)

Paul appeared on NBCs Meet the Press with host Chuck Todd where he revealed that Donald Trump, as a private citizen, was a major financial backer of medical mission trips to Haiti which resulted in life-changing surgeries for hundreds of Haitians.

Speaking about Trumps alleged s***hole comment, Paul said, You know, I dont think the comments were constructive at all, but I also think that to be fair we shouldnt draw conclusions that he didnt intend.

I know personally about his feelings towards Haiti and toward Central America because when I was not a candidate for president and he wasnt a candidate for president I went down there on a medical mission trip, Paul continued. I did about 200 cataract surgeries with a group of surgeons in Haiti and the same in Central America, and when we asked Donald J. Trump as a private citizen to support those trips, he was a large financial backer of both medical mission trips.

So I think its unfair to sort of draw conclusions from a remark that I think wasnt constructive is the least we can say, and its unfair to all of a sudden paint him as hes a racist when I know for a fact he cares very deeply about the people in Haiti because he helped finance a trip where we were able to get vision back for 200 people in Haiti, Paul concluded.

Read more at DailyWire.com

Submit a correction >>
That is really nice of her to offer

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Love ha

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Larry Nassar deserves a slow and painful death.



Chrissy 



Edited at 2018-01-17 03:33 am (UTC)

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It's so disgusting that an NDA would apply in this situation.

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I think only in court. She can't go to the press.

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that's awesome of her



rolling my eyes at kristen offering after she posted that pro-aziz article tho

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Same here sis



Funny how people pick and choose which women to believe and help out

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i don't think she even read the article because she liked a bunch of anti-aziz tweets. she's just dumb.

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Beautiful 

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It really is disgusting that NDAs can be applied in situations where one party is accused of something illegal.

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this made me tear up this am when i read it.





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NDA's shouldn't be able to stop people from speaking out in a criminal sentencing. USA Gymnastics disgusts me.



Awesome of Chrissy.

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I love that multiple people are willing to pay to help her speak out. Good for them <3

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McKayla deleted all of her social media, but her legal team gave E News this statement:



"Im not on social media right now, but I wish I was for this! Im shocked by your generosity, and I just want you to know how much hope your words bring to all of us! I just cant get over the fact that someone I dont personally know is sticking up for me, let alone a strong women that Ive looked up to for years! Thank you Chrissy, youre so inspiring, and things are starting to change because of people like you! Just saying that was worth the decision to speak up regardless of a fine. Youre heart pure gold. God bless. All my love, McKayla."



Also USAG made a statement that said McKayla can make her victims statement without being charged any money.

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Also USAG made a statement that said McKayla can make her victims statement without being charged any money.





Not surprised, trying to enforce the fine for the NDA would be POISON for them right now.

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Also USAG made a statement that said McKayla can make her victims statement without being charged any money.



That's good. Otherwise, I was going to say that I'd rather not give any money back to those fuckers because the guy's going down with everyone else's statements.

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I thought that too but surely it would be eaten up in lawyer fees.

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That's really good of all of them.



And 140 women have come forward??? What the fuckkkkkkkk.

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Yes, Nassar worked as a doctor for decades. There have been complaints about him since 1997 or maybe even earlier. In 2015, he was allowed to quietly retire from USAG after Maggie Nichols' coach reported him. And he was still working at MSU and Twistars where he continued to abuse girls afterwards. In 2016, Rachael Denhollander publicly spoke out about him and reported him to the police and Jamie Dantzscher filed a lawsuit against him and USAG after a report about USAG covering up sexual abuse was written by IndyStar. Then 140+ women came forward in lawsuits or publicly. And since the #MeToo movement, very high profile gymnasts have publicly come forward like McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Maggie Nichols, and Simone Biles.

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Wow. I just havent been keeping up to date with this but I know about the recent ones, the high profile ones. I didn't know that there have been complaints about him since 1997!!!



This makes me so angry. I want to break things. The poor girls. :((

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A gymnast named Kyle Stephens testified today and told him Little girls dont stay little forever. They grow into strong women that return to destroy your world. Ill try to find video of it.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gymnastics-usa-nassar/victim-of-ex-usa-gymnastics-doctor-says-abuse-led-to-dads-suicide-idUSKBN1F52MS



I was reading her story. OMG it's so sad. She came forward when she was 12 after 6 years of abuse and her parents didn't believe her. When they finally realized she was telling the truth her dad committed suicide. So awful.



Edited at 2018-01-17 03:50 am (UTC) It's embedded in this article.I was reading her story. OMG it's so sad. She came forward when she was 12 after 6 years of abuse and her parents didn't believe her. When they finally realized she was telling the truth her dad committed suicide. So awful.

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Oh my god, I cant even imagine the guilt she must feel. Thats horrific. I hope shes got a strong support system and is doing alright.

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Oh man, I missed the stuff about her dad when I read about it earlier. Thats awful.



USA Gymnastics should be destroyed

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That is horrific.

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How can he be punished appropriately? Theres no punishment for this.

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Reminds me of this, made by Emily McDowell

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What's even more disgusting is that USAG made McKayla sign the NDA in December 2016 when the news about Nassar had already come out in September 2016. Over 30 girls had already filed lawsuits against Nassar and USAG by then, including Rachel Denhollander, Jamie Dantzscher, and McKayla's teammate, Mattie Larson (she was also coached by Artur Akoypan at AOGC). So they didn't care about any of the survivors and only cared about their reputation or the news blowing up in the media from a more famous gymnast like McKayla coming out.

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That piece of shit organisation needs to burn. They deliberately put young girls in harm's way for decades and then silenced them while profiting off their work, there is no reason they shouldn't face the consequences of what they've done.



I hope the victims find some measure of peace and strength in knowing Larry Nassar has been exposed and will only ever be known as the paedophile he is but USAG is damn well culpable and I hope the court backs those girls up.

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Thiiis

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ummmm that seems cute if you turn off all your critical thinking skills lol

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Uhhh. Oh dear.



This looks like a movie I'll watch at 1 am on cable when I can't sleep

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I've seen so many incredibly terrible movies this way.

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The fuck...did I read that summary right?

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This is in... poor taste, to say the least

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This seems to be based on tankies twitter.

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Katie is giving me some serious Diane Keaton style vibes in those pics.

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Don't insult Katie like that

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why was this necessary

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who thought this would be a good idea

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seems questionable lol

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omg nononononono

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no ty

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lmao wut





tbh i would def stream this on a lazy saturday

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this is so... white lol

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Joey Potter WYD?? JFC!!

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IA with all this

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I just read her letter and it was in bad taste.

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Same. Leaving aside any possible connection to Scientology, her letter was incredibly ignorant and callous about the obstacles faced by sexual assault survivors when reporting crimes.

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ia

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would scientology still even be coming for haggis? damn, it's been decades.

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He's been a major component in helping take scientology down

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His exwife came to his defence as well and wrote to deadline. We are just going to have to wait and see.

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His Ex-wife was there?

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I feel bad for her if she is telling the truth, but I also think CO$ would do something like this.



I think CO$ could easily find people not affiliated with the cult and pay them off to lie. There are no consequences, they are anonymous.



And the first accuser seems not possile, Haggis can proved that he just had back surgery the day before.

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This is absolutely something the Co$ would do, but i also don't want to dismiss her so il go with tentatively believing her.

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Y'all sit here and cast shade and anger (rightfully) against any and all people who've doubted the accusations against Aziz Ansari, but, y'all JUMPED at the chance of disproving this woman's claim based on the accused history with Scientology, regardless of the fact that the accuser had no known affiliation whatsoever.



And the fact that y'all are STILL doing it in these comments (though, I'm sure some of the latter comments will air on the opposite side just to be "safe") shows how hypocritical you are.



You JUMP at the chance to say "Oh, Scientology would TOTALLY do this" (and they would) but you act APPALLED by the assertion by some that somebody would orchestrate a false accusation against a successful man of color (they also would).



The truth is, in any an all accusations, there's a reason, be it small or large, valid, or just surface, to disbelieve a sexual assault accuser. ONTD is just usually much smarter than this. I'm just taken back to being 8 years old basically being "proven" to be a liar by the principal and a police office about being assaulted in my elementary school bathroom by an older kid because I couldn't get his name straight...because he gave me a false name.



You can't actually support this movement if you literally bend-over backwards to find invisible proof that the victim is lying.

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There is a big difference between outright saying someone is lying and expressing rational doubts about a particular accusation. I think this story could be true, but I also think that the Co$ is extremely capable of using the #MeToo movement to discredit its enemies. Ultimately, this is a war waged in the arena of public opinion. Key word being opinion. You can support #MeToo without throwing your capacity to doubt and question individual accusations out the window.

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No. Stop.



You're questioning her accusation by superimposing a story over it that has nothing to do with it.





She NEVER had any known ties to Scientology. Y'all can't try to invent a connection, and then act like you have a valid reason.



There is far more reason to defend Aziz than to believe that this girl is a Scientology plant out to destroy Haggis. I wouldn't do it (defend him) myself, because, like I said, you can ALWAYS find a reason to pick apart a victims case, and I've been through it myself. But, creating a narrative without any ounce of evidence is repugnant in a situation like this.

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Go back to the original post.



Even entertaining the idea that Scientology is involved is gross.



People are only now staying quiet or airing on the other side because they know it looks better.



Comments like "does she have any known ties to Scientology" are vile. The original context had no Scientology mention, and it was a notion originated in the comment section that first brought it up.



I even made a comment saying something like "how long until he blames Scientology?".



His issue with Scientology is HIS issue, you shouldn't apply it to the accuser.

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this is all such a mess

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Maryland Smoke Alarm Law Now in Effect

Residents must replace any smoke alarm operated only by battery that is more than 10 years old with a unit powered by a 10-year, sealed-in battery having a "Hush" button feature. The requirement affects more than 800,000 homes statewide.

A state law that went into effect in Maryland on July 1, 2013, requires residents to replace any smoke alarm operated only by battery that is more than 10 years old with a unit powered by a 10-year, sealed-in battery having a "Hush" button feature. The requirement affects more than 800,000 homes statewide, and the effective date for it has only just arrived: Jan. 1, 2018.

The Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal posted a reminder about the law last month. It said while the law emphasizes the use of sealed-battery smoke alarms with a long-life battery and a silence/hush feature, "it is critical to understand these devices are appropriate only where battery-only operated smoke alarms presently exist or in locations where no smoke alarms are present." It says it is never acceptable to remove required wired-in smoke alarms and replace them with any battery-only operated device, and a 110-volt electrically powered smoke alarm may be replaced only with a new 110-volt unit with a battery backup.

A graphic included in the reminder shows the recommended locations for smoke alarms in single-level and multi-story occupancies.
Phuket  17 January, 2018: Cucina, an Italian restaurant of The JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, hosted its first Michelin Star dining experience, in collaboration with the One Michelin-Starred Chef Andrea Cannalire, from Ostuni, Italy recently.

The rising Michelin Star Chef Andrea Cannalire impressed the hotels guests and Phuket eateries with his exceptional four-day culinary programs, during 12  15 January, at JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. His divine wine & dine programs began with the live cooking demonstration and followed by a 5-course contemporary Italian set menu on the first night. The culinary event continued to a delectable 8-course dinner, the Michelin-Starred Chef Andrea worked hand in hand with JW Marriott Phuket Chefs to delight the eateries taste buds on the second night. On Sunday, the Cucina restaurant was fully booked on The Italian Job buffet dinner. The fourth night, The Michelin Star Chef Andrea presented a lavish 6-course gala dinner. His signature dishes included Prawn, watermelon, Greek yogurt, cucumber and dill; Liquid Bruschetta with squid, artichoke, clams and clam foam; Beef tartare, parmesan cheese, lemon and basil pesto sauce; Caciocavallo cheese Risotto with capers and rock melon; Iberico pork toploin with locally produced Burrata and sea urchin; signature black forest cake and more.

We are very pleased to have The Michelin-Starred Chef Andrea Cannalire here. It was a great success and exclusive event that we cooked 2018 of JW culinary up in style. We promise to bring excellent dining offerings for our guests and Phuket diners, who are looking for unique gourmet experiences. Please stay tuned with us said Mr. Oriol Montal, General Manager.
Overall topology of the FGF23FGFR1cecto-klothoecto complex. a, Cartoon (left) and surface representation (right) of the ternary complex structure. The -klotho KL1 (cyan) and KL2 (blue) domains are joined by a short proline-rich linker (yellow; not visible in the surface presentation). FGF23 is in orange with its proteolytic cleavage motif in grey. FGFR1c is in green. CT, C terminus; NT, N terminus. b, Binding interfaces between -klothoecto and the FGF23FGFR1cecto complex. The ternary complex (centre) is shown in two different orientations related by a 180 rotation along the vertical axis. FGF23-klothoecto (red) and FGFR1cecto -klothoecto (pink) interfaces are visualized by pulling -klothoecto and the FGF23FGFR1cecto complex away from each other. The separated components are shown to the left and right of the ternary complex. Credit: Nature (2018). DOI: 10.1038/nature25010

A new study reveals the molecular structure of a protein called alpha()Klotho, and how it helps to transmit a hormonal signal that slows aging.

Led by researchers from NYU School of Medicine and published online Jan. 17 in Nature, the study refutes 20 years of conjecture that Klotho - named after the Greek goddess who spins the thread of life - is a major anti-aging hormone. Instead the results attribute this function to fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), and explain how Klotho simply helps FGF23 to mediate its anti-aging action.

Studies as far back as 1997 had shown that mice genetically manipulated to lack either Klotho or FGF23 suffered from premature aging, including early onset cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline. By providing a first look at the structure of the associated group of proteins that includes FGF23, its receptor protein (FGFR), and Klotho, the current study overturns the dogma that Klotho acts on its own as a longevity factor.

"By showing that all the ways in which Klotho was supposed to protect organs come instead from its ability to help FGF23 signal, we have shed new light on the underlying cause of aging," says lead study author Moosa Mohammadi, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Langone Health. "Our new structural data also pave the way for the design of novel agents that can either encourage or block FGF23-Klotho signaling as needed."

Structure Solves Mystery

To determine the atomic structure of the FGF23 signaling group of proteins, Mohammadi and colleagues used X-ray crystallography. The team first coaxed the FGF23 hormone, along with its receptor protein (FGFR) and Klotho, to settle out of a solution and form stacks of repeating, orderly crystals. They then exposed the crystals to X-rays, and used the reflected patterns to compute the atomic structure of the proteins.

The new study provides the first evidence of how FGF23 can only signal to cells by forming a complex with Klotho, its receptor, and another partner in heparan sulfate. Made by bone cells, the FGF23 hormone is known to travel via the blood stream to cells in other organs, where it delivers its message by docking onto and turning on its receptor. The newly solved complex structure reveals how Klotho tethers FGF23 to its receptor with enough tenacity to activate it.

The study also sheds new light on how kidney disease leads to an abnormal thickening of heart muscle tissue called hypertrophy. Heart hypertrophy is a leading cause of death in people with damaged kidney tubules, caused (for example) by high blood pressure and diabetes. When damaged kidney tubules can no longer adequately eliminate phosphate in the urine, FGF23 rises in an effort to keep blood phosphate in check, in part by controlling levels of vitamin D. A prevailing hypothesis has been that very high levels of FGF23 cause hypertrophy in the heart, but the theory remained controversial because heart tissue does not have Klotho, which must be present if FGF23 is to signal.

Past studies had shown that the best known form of Klotho is immobile, being bound to the surface membranes of cells in kidney tubules, the parathyroid gland, and certain regions of the brain. Then researchers learned that a part of the Klotho protein that protrudes from cell surfaces, the ecto domain, can be cut off and shed into circulating bodily fluids, and therefore might reach the heart. Early evidence, however, suggested that shed Klotho was incapable of acting as an FGF23 co-receptor. The new study integrates these observations by showing that circulating Klotho can indeed function just like its membrane-bound form to enable FGF23 signaling.

The researchers say that their findings will launch another drug development race in kidney disease. Mohammadi had already shown that a key piece of the FGF23 hormone (its C-terminal tail peptide), when injected into mice, competes with intact FGF23 to reduce its signal and prevent heart hypertrophy. In addition, the team is already designing new molecules that alter the FGF23/shed Klotho signal based on the newly discovered protein structures.

The study also suggests that a related protein, beta-Klotho, serves as the same kind of co-receptor to help FGF21, a hormone related to FGF23. FGF21 functions by sending signals that keep blood sugar and fatty acids in balance, with implications for diabetes and obesity.

More information: -Klotho is a non-enzymatic molecular scaffold for FGF23 hormone signalling, Nature (2018). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature25451 Journal information: Nature
Female and juvenile California sea lions on San Miguel Island, California. Santa Rosa Island is visible in the background. Credit: Jeff Harris/Alaska Fisheries Science Center/NOAA Fisheries

California sea lions have fully rebounded under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), with their population on the West Coast reaching carrying capacity in 2008 before unusually warm ocean conditions reduced their numbers, according to the first comprehensive population assessment of the species.

The sea lion population is healthy and robust, the new research found, and its recovery over the past several decades reflects an important success for the MMPA. The landmark 1972 legislation recognized marine mammals as a central element of their ocean ecosystems, setting population goals based on levels that would contribute to the health and stability of those ecosystems.

The MMPA calls those levels the Optimum Sustainable Population (OSP), and provides options for states to take over management of species that have reached their OSP.

California sea lions have now reached those levels, according to the new assessment by scientists from NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Southwest Fisheries Science Center. They published the results of the long-term collaborative study today in the Journal of Wildlife Management.

"The population has basically come into balance with its environment," said coauthor Sharon Melin, a research biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who has tracked sea lion numbers in Southern California's Channel Islands for years. "The marine environment is always changing, and their population is at a point where it responds very quickly to changes in the environment."

Scientists combined the results of sea lion pup counts in the Channel Islands, aerial surveys of sea lion rookeries, survival rates and other information to reconstruct the growth of the sea lion population from 1975 to 2014. They gained enough insight into the dynamics of the population to fill in gaps from a few years with little data.

California sea lion pup numbers have grown steadily since the 1970s, with big dips during El Nino periods, as described in a new population assessment by NOAA Fisheries. Credit: Alaska Fisheries Science Center/NOAA Fisheries

Market hunting, bounties, pollutants such as DDT and other forces depressed sea lion numbers in the middle of the last century. The new study found that the species then rose from less than 90,000 animals in 1975 to an estimated 281,450 in 2008, which was roughly the carrying capacity for sea lions in the California Current Ecosystem at that time. It then fluctuated around that level, reaching a high of 306,220 in 2012 before declining below the carrying capacity in the years since as ocean conditions changed.

Such a long-term reconstruction of the sea lion population has never been done before, said Robert DeLong, leader of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's California Current Ecosystems Program and a coauthor of the new research.

The researchers found sea lion numbers very sensitive to environmental changes, especially changes in ocean temperatures that affect their prey. Their models based on past population shifts predict that an increase of 1 degree C in sea surface temperature off the West Coast will reduce sea lion population growth to zero, while an increase of 2 degrees will lead to a 7 percent decline in the population.

"When the California Current is not productive, they respond pretty fast and dramatically," Melin said. "They're out there in the ocean sampling it all the time. That makes them a very powerful indicator of what's happening in the marine environment."

Marine conditions since 2012 have illustrated that. An unusual marine heat wave off the West Coast known as "the blob" combined with an El Nino climate pattern reduced pup production and survival, with thousands of malnourished pups stranding on Southern California beaches. NOAA Fisheries declared the elevated number of deaths an Unusual Mortality Event in 2013.

The sea lion population dropped to just over 250,000 in 2013 and 2014.

Thousands of California sea lions gather on the beaches of San Miguel Island each year for breeding season. NOAA Fisheries scientists conduct regular counts and examine pups on the island. Credit: Alaska Fisheries Science Center/NOAA Fisheries

"This is not just a story about continued growth of the population," DeLong said. "These last several years have brought new environmental stresses to the California Current, and we've seen that reflected by the sea lions."

Understanding the relationship between sea lion numbers and the environment can help scientists detect signals of coming change. Wildlife managers can then use that information to anticipate and prepare for shifts in the ecosystem and its inhabitants.

"It helps us to understand the factors driving this population, because we can incorporate them into management decisions," said Chris Yates, Assistant Regional Administrator for Protected Resources in NOAA Fisheries' West Coast Region.

The general recovery of sea lion numbers has had other consequences on the West Coast, including conflicts with people over beach access where sea lions haul out and concern about sea lion predation on threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Northwest. NOAA Fisheries has authorized Oregon, Washington and Idaho to remove individually identifiable sea lions near the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam that have been spotted repeatedly preying on fish protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The species maintained OSP levels even when small numbers of adult males were being removed to protect salmon runs in the Columbia River and climate events were depressing growth. That suggests that the removal of a limited number of sea lions in such programs is unlikely to affect the population as a whole, Melin said.

She stressed the value of long-term data in understanding the dynamics of the population. "If we had looked only at the last five years, we would have thought sea lions were in a tailspin," she said. "Because we know the history of the population, we can put the recent decline in perspective."

More information: Jeffrey L. Laake et al, Population growth and status of California sea lions, The Journal of Wildlife Management (2018). DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.21405 Journal information: Journal of Wildlife Management
A new study published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases describes the first documented case of canine distemper virus in a wild Far Eastern leopard. Credit: Land of the Leopard National Park

The Far Eastern or Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is already among the rarest of the world's big cats, but new research reveals that it faces yet another threat: infection with canine distemper virus (CDV). A new study published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases describes the first documented case of CDV in a wild Far Eastern leopard.

The case involved a two-year-old female leopard that was found along a road that crosses the Land of the Leopard National Park, in the Russian territory of Primorskii Krai.

"The leopard was extremely sick when she was brought in, and had severe neurological disease" said Ekaterina Blidchenko, veterinarian with the National Park and the TRNGO Animal Rehabilitation Center. "Despite hand-feeding and veterinary attention, her condition worsened, and a decision was made to euthanize her for humane reasons."

Although CDV is well known in domestic dogs, it also infects a wide range of carnivore species, including big cats. In 1994, a CDV outbreak in Tanzania killed over 1,000 lions in the Serengeti National Park.

Said Nadezhda Sulikhan, a scientific staff member of Land of the Leopard National Park and Ph.D. candidate at the Federal Scientific Center of East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity (part of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences): "The leopard virus was genetically similar to infections we've diagnosed in wild Amur tigers. But we think these infections have spilled over from a disease reservoir among domestic dogs, or common wild carnivores like badgers and foxes."

Unlike the situation for a social species like lions, outbreaks of CDV are likely to spread more slowly among more solitary cats like leopards and tigers. However, even infrequent transmission can have profound consequences for the species concerned. Research has estimated that extinction of small populations of tigers is 65 percent more likely when they're exposed to CDV.

Globally, carnivore populations are being pushed into smaller and more fragmented islands of habitat. If these trends continue, infectious diseases are likely to become a greater threat to carnivore survival in the future.

Said Dr. Martin Gilbert, Wildlife Health Cornell Carnivore Specialist with Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine: "As carnivore numbers decline, they face a greater risk from chance events like outbreaks of disease. With such a limited breeding population, even a small number of deaths from disease can be the difference between the survival of a population or extinction."

The combined pressures of habitat degradation, hunting and prey depletion have already marginalized this subspecies to a single population of approximately 80 individuals along the border of the Russian Far East and neighboring northeast China. Conservationists now need to understand the severity of this new-found threat, and also where it is coming from, as this information is critical for developing measures that counter the disease's impact.

Said Dr. Sulikhan: "Until we know where the virus is coming from, it is impossible to target vaccinations or other interventions to prevent infections in leopards. We are now working to unlock this riddle, and understand the importance of domestic dogs versus wild sources of the virus."

For now, the most effective way to combat this new disease threat is through traditional carnivore conservation approaches; reducing hunting and protecting habitat.

Dr. Dale Miquelle, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Russia Program and co-author of the paper, said: "By increasing the size and connectivity of leopard populations, they become more able to cope with losses from infectious disease, vastly reducing the risk of extinction"

Said Tatiana Baranowska, Director the Land of the Leopard National Park which holds the majority of Far Eastern leopards left in the world: "We are doing our utmost, in concert with our Chinese colleagues, to improve and expand leopard habitat to enlarge the existing population. Although disease and other threats are looming, we have great hope that our current and planned efforts will secure a future for this unique big cat."

More information: Nadezhda S. Sulikhan et al, Canine Distemper Virus In A Wild Far Eastern Leopard (Panthera Pardus Orientalis), Journal of Wildlife Diseases (2017). DOI: 10.7589/2017-03-065 Journal information: Journal of Wildlife Diseases
An adult monarch butterfly rests on blooming milkweed. Jack Boyle, a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow of Environmental Science and Policy at William & Mary, has been using the web to mine millions of century-old botany records to track abundance patterns of American milkweed and its impact on monarch butterflies. Credit: R. A. Nonenmacher

Naturalists' records dating back more than 100 years may be instrumental in determining the fate of the monarch butterfly in the 21st century.

Jack Boyle, a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow of Environmental Science and Policy at William & Mary, has been using the web to mine millions of century-old botany records to track abundance patterns of milkweed in America.

His hope is to solve the puzzle of how innovations in agriculture have affected the natural habitat for monarch butterflies. Using recently digitized herbaria records to get a picture of the past, Boyle aims to predict what the future may look like for milkweed.

"The source of these records are these old timey field taxonomists, who were going out and collecting specimens and then sitting in a museum and labeling them," Boyle said. "Probably, with most of these collections, no one even dreamed that this sort of research was possible."

Common milkweedor Asclepias syriacais best known for its symbiotic relationship with the monarch. The plant serves as the insect's primary breeding habitat. The butterflies lay eggs on milkweed, they hatch on milkweed, eat milkweed leaves and spend the next two stages of their lives on milkweed.

Historically, milkweed has made its home in corn and soy fields, growing just between the rows or on the edges of farmland.

"That's the disturbed environment that milkweed really likes," Boyle said.

The decline in family farms in favor of industrial agriculture has dramatically changed the habitat for milkweed, Boyle says. One of the largest contributors to loss of milkweed in America has been the advent of genetically modified organisms (or GMOs) and mega crops that were designed to resist herbicides, he says.

"Based on research over the last decade or two, we've grown concerned that milkweed is declining because of the use of herbicides on herbicide-resistant crops," Boyle said. "We started spraying all these fields with herbicides. The crops were fine, but it killed all the milkweed. Since milkweed is the main host plant for monarchs, this might affect how many monarch butterflies there are. So indirectly, these herbicide-resistant crops are connected to a decline in butterflies."

Over the past century, changes in American agriculture have led to a fundamental shift in the nation's landscape. Crops have been engineered to resist pests and withstand weed-killing chemicals. The country has seen rapid growth in average farm size, accompanied by an equally rapid decline in the number of farms. Since 1900, the number of American farms has fallen by 63 percent, while the average farm size has risen 67 percent, according to a report by the USDA.

For scientists like Boyle, innovations in farming lead to larger questions. Specifically, what do changes in the natural world mean for milkweed and the monarch butterfly? Boyle has spent the better part of the past year studying milkweed with W&M biologists Harmony Dalgleish and Joshua Puzey.

Over the past century, the United States has seen rapid growth in average farm size, accompanied by an equally rapid decline in the number of farms. Credit: USDA

The results so far look grim. Boyle says he's found what looks like a "big boom" in milkweed up through 1950, but the population has been declining ever since. According to the USDA, the rapid development of inexpensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides began in the mid-1940's. Today, use of chemicals in agriculture is widespreadas crops have been genetically engineered to withstand their effects.

Meanwhile, monarch butterfly populations have declined at an alarming rate. In the past 20 years, scientists estimate the iconic butterflies may have lost more than 165 million acres of habitat, which is roughly an area the size of Texasincluding nearly a third of their summer breeding grounds.

"The butterfly's dramatic decline has been driven in large part by the widespread planting of genetically engineered crops," read a 2017 report by the Center for Biological Diversity. "The dramatic surge in the use of Roundup and other herbicides...has virtually wiped out milkweed plants in the Midwest's corn and soybean fields."

While Boyle agrees that herbicides have played a major role in reducing milkweed populations, his research points to other factors that may be just as important. In particular, the shift from small farms to large-scale cash crops.

"During the period when milkweed was increasing, there was an increase in the amount of farmland being used across the United States," Boyle said. "That factor is pretty important when it comes to understanding how many milkweeds there are nowand, in turn, how many monarchs we might expect if humans weren't busy taking all of these once prairies and turning them into big monocultures."

GMOs allow farmers to expand agriculture onto land where it never would have survived before,

Boyle says. While industrial farming in the U.S. has primarily relied on the consolidation of small farms, other parts of the world are using GMOs to grow crops in entirely new climates. For example, Mozambique planted its first confined GMO field trial for drought resistant corn in February 2017.

"While that may be considered a bad thing, at least from a strictly conservation standpoint, it brings in a whole bunch of other questions," Boyle said. "Like, how do you weigh keeping people from starving versus species and habitat conservation?"

These are just the type of ethical questions Boyle plans to pose to undergraduate students in a new course this spring titled "Promises and Perils of Biotechnology for Conservation."

"In the case of GMOs, a lot of what we're going to be talking about are the actual impacts of GMOs on agriculture," Boyle said. "How they have changed agricultural practices and how it has affected the wild landscapes that are nearbyor aren't existing anymore because now they are crops."

Other topics he plans to touch on are de-extinction, such as the ethics of bringing back the wooly mammoth, and planned termination, such as altering the genes of malaria-carrying mosquitoes to spur their extinction.

"The question of what we value is pretty important," Boyle said. "A lot of people would say that species have an intrinsic value of their own. If that's the case, then that's a pretty high cost in driving a species extinct. It would have to do a lot of good before you're even considering doing some of these sorts of things."
The pixelated spatial gene expression tool can analyze an entire tissue sample and identify cancer cells in a process that takes less than two hours. Credit: University of Illinois Department of Bioengineering

A University of Illinois and Mayo collaboration has demonstrated a novel gene expression analysis technique that can accurately measure levels of RNA quickly and directly from a cancerous tissue sample while preserving the spatial information across the tissue something that conventional methods cannot do. The team's gene expression technique is described in a paper published in the online edition of Nature Communications.

According to Illinois Bioengineering Professor Rashid Bashir, existing gene expression methods have limitations. "They are cumbersome and slow, taking hours or even many days to do the analysis across just one tissue sample," said Bashir, co-leader of the research team, who is a Grainger Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine executive associate dean. "Our technique does the entire analysis across the tissue slice in two hours or less."

Existing methods can measure proteins, which are produced after genetic information or instructions have flowed from DNA and RNA. Those protein-measuring methods are complicated and require antibodies that don't exist for certain proteins.

"Our method can detect messenger RNA expression, which can provide additional insight than just the final protein concentration," said Bashir.

The pixelated spatial gene expression tool can analyze an entire tissue sample and identify cancer cells in a process that takes less than two hours.

The pixelated spatial gene expression tool can analyze an entire tissue sample and identify cancer cells in a process that takes less than two hours.

Research team co-lead Dr. Farhad Kosari, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Mayo Clinic, envisions their new technique could someday be used in research labs as well as the clinic. "If you were studying tumor microenvironments, you'd want to know what genes are expressed at a specific location of the tumor," said Kosari. "This ability to look at localized expression of genes is currently done with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), but our technique is a lot faster and more quantitative."

In addition, the messenger RNA (mRNA) will elicit more accurate genetic information. "When analyzing animal models and xenografts, there can be cross reactivity of the target antibody with the host antigen leading to false positive signals and error in analysis," said Illinois Bioengineering doctoral student Anurup Ganguli, the first author of the study.

The team created a fingernail-size silicon chip that contains an array of more than 5,000 pyramid-shaped wells with razor-sharp edges. When a centimeter-sized cancer tissue sample is placed on the chip it is automatically cut up into hundreds or thousands of tiny pieces that are analyzed in parallel using an existing technology known as loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).

According to Ganguli, once the tissue is cut and placed into the underlying wells on the microchip, thousands of independent picoliter volume LAMP reactions are performed in each well directly from the tissue without the need for any analyte purification.

"Laser capture microdissection (LCM) followed by downstream purification and amplification has been used in the past to look at specific regions of stained tissue samples and analyze the heterogeneity within the sample," Kosari said. "Our technique is similar to performing more than 5,000 LCM steps with the downstream amplification in a single step on a microchip."

Ganguli demonstrated the new technique using frozen human prostate tissue xenografts grown in mice. In less than two hours, he was able to amplify and analyze the mRNA of TOP2A, a nuclear enzyme and known marker of prostate cancer's aggressiveness.

"Our approach pixelates the entire tissue sample and can identify those very few cells that may be cancerous," said Bashir. "There isn't any technique in existence that takes raw tissue to nucleic acid amplification while keeping the spatial information preserved."

The new technique may also be useful someday for helping physicians and pathologists determine tumor margins, which could enhance the outcome of cancer surgeries.

The team continues to work on the gene expression technique and aims to use it to map genetic mutations for lung and breast cancers, in addition to prostate cancer. They are also working to reduce the size of the wells on the chip below the current 100 x 100 microns. This modification will result in being able to examine individual cells at higher resolution.

More information: A. Ganguli et al, Pixelated spatial gene expression analysis from tissue, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02623-9 Journal information: Nature Communications
Credit: Freer/Shutterstock.com

The digital economy has created new opportunities and ways of working. But it has also created millions of tasks or jobs that involve intense competition, unregulated working conditions and extremely low rates of pay.

Driven by the rapid rise of cloud and algorithmic computing, the "platform economy" is dominated by operators such as Uber, Facebook and Google and Amazon Web services. Airbnb and Uber, for example, use the latest cloud tools like Amazon Web services to drive their dominance and cull competition in a wide range of sectors.

While workers in the "app-driven economy" do often make a decent wage, with some measure of legal protection, many others who do "crowdwork" or "micro-tasking" on platforms can find themselves being paid below the minimum wage and without the basic, ethical protections provided by mainstream employers. A growing body of research shows that large numbers of skilled and semi-skilled virtual workers routinely offer their services on such platforms for extremely low pay, with no recourse to the rights and protections accorded to "mainstream" workers and with little hope for alternative ways of making ends meet.

There is also evidence that a majority of these workers are young, relatively skilled and unable, for many reasons, to find decent work that pays a living wage. Sometimes called the "cybertariat", these workers are unseen, unheard and paid very small amounts of money to do things like write a book or edit a document or manufacture "likes" on a web page.

Click farms

Crowdworking, in particular, is beginning to spread rapidly across the world as a way to survive in an increasingly precarious global economy  at least for those without a significant amount of formal education, capital or connections. Crowdwork is defined literally as crowds of geographically dispersed and culturally heterogeneous people who work without guarantee of frequency or pay. It attracts millions of people who cannot get jobs that promise career advancement, who are unable to make ends meet with a "day job", who are unable to get on welfare or benefits, or who have profound caring responsibilities or health problems that make full-time work impossible to maintain.

Few of us realise that keeping the internet relatively benign, amusing, safe and lucrative for consumers and businesses requires such workers to do millions of "micro-tasks".

Workers scramble for hours on end, for example, to succeed at bidding for pieces of micro-work posted on Mechanical Turk, ListMinute, Elance.com or TaskRabbit. While many freelancers also offer their skills on platforms like Fiverr.com, there is very little research on how any of these service providers calibrate their workloads or manage highly critical reviews from clients.

Other workers spend their days increasing the number of "likes" on corporate websites. Still others trawl through distressing or even gruesome images online to render cyberspace fit for human consumption. Even when pay is constant, regular and stable, "gig" workers are often among the first to suffer the negative consequences of policies introduced, often with little warning, by regulatory bodies, local councils and corporations. Uber drivers in London are only one recent example of this kind of thing.

All of these examples point to a profoundly asymmetrical relationship between the skills people acquire and the pay they can (or cannot) sustainably command in a digital economy that is increasingly powered by platforms.

Liking. Credit: Pe3k/Shutterstock.com

Virtual work

While there is data to show that median pay for such jobs can be as high as 20 per hour, these tasks involve high responsibility and little flexibility. They require the worker to show up at a particular location and at particular times, such as dog-walking or taking care of disabled children. These tasks are not often taken up by workers  for reasons that are unclear.

And while a very small number of virtual workers are relatively well-remunerated  such as business consultants or project managers working for "flash" organisations set up to serve clients on high-value, high-cost platforms  the vast majority spend considerable time and energy picking up enough work to support their families or to support themselves. There is therefore intense competition for low-paid, virtual work. Most of those in the latter group are young people in developed countries. Many of these work from internet cafes, public or university libraries, or where there is free WiFi.

On platforms such as Mechanical Turk (Amazon), Upwork and Crowdflower, the pay for microtasks ranges from pennies to a few dollars, rarely much more, wherever one is geographically based in the world.

This can equate to a great deal below minimum wage standards in developed economies; as the situation stands, only the EU and UK governments have signalled that basic protections must be provided for so-called "gig" workers. But these debates are at an early stage. Whether  and how  such legislation actually comes to pass is anybody's guess at the moment.

Digital slavery?

There are an increasing number of calls to understand such work in the context of what we typically understand as slavery. Historically, slavery has been understood as the condition of working very hard for very little or no pay whatsoever. Going from "gig" to "gig" or "micro-task" to "micro-task" might not call slavery to mind, but gig workers are beginning to emerge as the slaves of the new economy.

Of course, there are many differences between historical slavery and digital slavery of the kind I have described here. This time, the chains are not so visible  but the scars may well be as lasting. First person accounts of digital click farm work are still thin on the ground but almost all of them testify to the extreme fear and sense of bondage engendered by such work.

The question is not so much who or what is driving these digital work inequalities. One cannot lay blame on the platform owners themselves nor the buyers of such services. Rather, it is the nature of perfect competition, in which profits to sellers are quickly eroded and no clear winner emerges.

The platform economy has risen so quickly and spread so rapidly across the globe that its implications for workers, policy makers and labour rights organisations have not entered popular consciousness. It is time they did. We need to think about what we want working life to look like in the future.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Forty-year-old elephant Seruni (L), a critically endangered Sumatran elephant, is shown with her newborn baby on the Indonesian island of Sumatra

A critically endangered Sumatran elephant has given birth to a new calf in Indonesia, the country's conservation agency said Wednesday.

Sumatran elephants are a protected species, but rampant deforestation for plantations has reduced their natural habitat and brought them into conflict with humans.

The newborn was found with its 40-year old mother Seruni, who was being closely monitored by the agency in anticipation of the birth inside a conservation forest in Riau on the island of Sumatra.

Officials expressed jubilation at the arrival of the baby who is believed to be a week old. Its gender has not yet been determined.

"The birth of the elephant is a conservation gift," the agency said in a statement.

"The calf is constantly being guarded by its mother and two other adult elephants."

Dozens of elephants were found dead in Sumatra last year, including an adult without tusks in Aceh, along with its abandoned 11-month-old calf.

Most were killed by humans, according to conservationists.

Last month, a pregnant elephant was found dead in a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, in what authorities suspected was a deliberate poisoning.

There are believed to be around 2,000 Sumatran elephants left in the wild.

 2018 AFP
Yongqiang Wang, right, and Muaz Ahmad look at a smart phone that has been tricked through GPS spoofing into thinking it was four days earlier than the actual date. Credit: Pat Wright, Clemson University

Cyberattacks with the potential to expose sensitive information and cripple basic services could start with what would seem to be the most harmless of computer functions.

Timekeeping.

It's a vulnerability that has raised growing concerns as more homes, businesses, utilities and other critical services rely on the internet and GPS to function and each week brings news of another devastating cyberattack. But new defenses could be on the way with the help of Clemson University.

Yongqiang Wang, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading a team that is receiving $1 million from the National Science Foundation to fortify computers and devices against cyberattacks associated with timekeeping.

The research could have wide ranging effects from making cell phones more secure and protecting the power grid against terrorism to ensuring that scientific data remains sheltered. The team's focus will be on "GPS spoofing" and attacks on Network Time Protocol, commonly called NTP.

"The impact of our research will be to make sure the timing service is more reliable," Wang said. "In a network where time has to be aligned, such as the internet, cellular communication networks, and power systems, if the time on one device goes wrong, then there could be catastrophic consequences. So we want to provide secure timing solutions, by securing the two most commonly used time distribution approaches,GPS receivers and NTP."

Rolling back time on a computer can make it relatively easy for hackers to break open encrypted documents, he said. They could also access accounts with login information that should be expired, Wang said.

Muaz Ahmad, a master's student in Wang's lab, demonstrated how simple GPS spoofing can be. All he needed was a software-defined radio purchased available on a popular shopping website for about $300.

With a few taps on a keyboard, Ahmad had the software-defined radio send signals to a smart phone sitting on the desk next to him. The GPS chip in the phone interpreted the signals as GPS signals beamed from satellites.

Ahmad was able to trick the phone into thinking it was four days earlier than the actual date and that it was sitting about a mile away from its actual location.

"This is what we're trying to prevent," Wang said.

The experiment was harmless, but GPS spoofing carries the potential for devastating consequences. The same GPS system built into smartphones and cars also helps guide ships, trucking fleets and intelligent cars.

As recently as last year, GPS told two vessels that they were at Sochi Airport in Russia, but they were actually in the harbor 12 miles away, USA Today reported.

Wang and his team plan to counteract GPS spoofing by setting up a server at Clemson University.

Every 10 seconds, two GPS receivers in Clemson and Anderson will sample secret code embedded in GPS signals and upload them to the server. Users elsewhere in the United States will be able to access those samples to verify that the signals they are receiving actually come from the genuine satellite source.

Researchers plan to test their server on several battery-powered sensors that have been deployed along the Savannah River to measure flooding and water quality as part of the Intelligent River Project.

At the same time, researchers will be working to defend against attacks on NTP. One of the oldest computer protocols still in use, NTP helps computer systems synchronize clocks.

It's an increasingly important function as more infrastructure ranging from the power grid to water systems rely on computer networks to keep them functioning smoothly. Each system typically has facilities in different locations, and time accuracy at each location is critical, Wang said.

For example, a flood gate that opens to soon or too late could have catastrophic consequences.

As crucial as it is, NTP is among the vulnerabilities in denial-of-service attacks, Wang said. Those attacks flood computer systems and servers with traffic, making it difficult for legitimate users to access them.

Wang and his team plan to combat NTP attacks by creating a complement to NTP they call "pulse synch protocol." It would be a secure way of cross-checking whether computers are closely synchronized under NTP.

The team plans to test its pulse synch protocol by synchronizing clocks of five weather stations deployed around Clemson's campus.

Daniel Noneaker, chair of the Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said the grant is well deserved.

"The research that Dr. Wang and his team are doing will help advance the technologies and techniques that protect cyberinfrastructure in academia and beyond," he said. "It's a critical challenge as the cyberinfrastructure ecosystem becomes more interconnected, even as resources are distributed in different locations."

The team plans to use the research in the classroom, including a new graduate class, Secure Network Science. Researchers also plan to start a new Creative Inquiry course aimed at undergraduates and a new cybersecurity program that will be part of the Project WISE summer camp for middle school girls.

Co-principal investigators on the grant, all from Clemson University, are Kuang-Ching "K.C." Wang, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Kumar Venayagamoorthy, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Christopher Post, professor of environmental information science.

Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, said that the grant will help secure cyberspace, one of the grand challenges facing society in the 21st century.

"I congratulate Dr. Wang and his team on the grant," he said. "The amount of the award is a testament to the strength of their approach and the urgency to develop new ways of protecting our cyberinfrastructure."
GRACE-based data is readily available, free, can be applied at a large scale such as the Indus basin, and is reliable. Moreover, there are no data sharing issues as compared to traditional datasets. Credit: Ashraf Muhammad, PCRWR

The largest contiguous irrigation system on Earth, the Indus Basin provides water to 100 million people across South Asia. This basin is estimated to irrigate 45 million acres of farm land, and it's considered the bread basket of Pakistanessential for sustaining the agriculture and economy of the nation.

Until recently, monitoring the amount and location of available irrigation water could be a large undertaking of both labor and equipment. "Data were being collected manually, on a bi-annual basis... the collection, organization, and analysis of the data were time consuming and a tedious job," noted Ashraf Muhammad, chairman of the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR).

A Passion and Purpose

Enter Earth-observing satellites. Now, that enormous task is being expedited and enhanced with help from space, thanks to PCRWR, other South Asian government agencies, and an Applied Sciences project.

Faisal Hossain, associate professor at the University of Washington, led this project with both passion and purpose. "I'm originally from Bangladesh, so my heart is in the South Asian region," said Hossain. "It was pretty clear to me that a lot of [the information] NASA satellites provide, somehow people didn't really know about... It didn't make sense not to use these observational capabilities."

These space-based views included information from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission to help monitor groundwater storage, as well as rainfall data from the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite. The project also developed and implemented a land-surface water model to give Pakistan the opportunity to look at its future water supply.

And in a novel approach, the project team used a fasttrack way of making the nation self-sufficient with this new data.

GRACE and Diplomacy

After meeting a bright and motivated PCRWR hydrologist named Naveed Iqbal at a GRACE training workshop, the project team wanted to try a new way of teaching Earth observation applicationswhich they dubbed their "backward-forward hybrid training model." In this model, Hossain invited Iqbal to the University of Washington to attend a long-term satellite "boot camp."

Iqbal jumped at the chance. "This training was an excellent opportunity to learn about the different applications of Earth observation technology for water resource management," he said. "It was a great experience to work with experts."

Hossain added, "He spent six months learning in a very intense laboratory residency framework on how GRACE works and how to process satellite data. We are finding this training model to be not only more effective, but also cost-effective."

And when Iqbal had completed the course, he brought both his newfound knowledge and its uses back to his homeland and PCRWR.

The Flow of Information

Since Iqbal's training, Pakistan has taken charge of its own water managementperforming duties such as monitoring ground water storage, regulating ground water pumping, and augmenting surface water supplies.

With groundwater now monitored on a monthly basis, Muhammad emphasized the benefits of this new technology. "GRACE has empowered us to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of the groundwater system at the basin scale. Now, PCRWR is in a good position to play its advisory role."

Iqbal agreed, and explained, "Using these satellites, we can indicate the areas that are most threatened by groundwater depletion. We can tell the farmers and help decision-makers formulate better and more sustainable policies."

The project team hopes to help other countries in the region become self-sufficient as the project continues and expands. "Ideally, we would love to see all the South Asian water management agencies be able to control their water management destiny," Hossain remarked, "And that can happen through these wonderful Earth-observing satellites and data which are made freely available."

Provided by NASA
The European Space Agency has successfully launched a series of satellites as part of its ambitious Copernicus project tracking the Earth's changing land cover and pollution

The European Space Agency (ESA) is drawing up contingency plans for projects, commercial deals, and staffing that may be adversely affected by Brexit, senior officials said Wednesday.

Programmes throw in flux by Britain's pending departure from the European Union (EU) include the Copernicus satellite constellation to monitor environmental damage, and the Galileo satellite navigation system.

"It is not an easy situation at all, I can tell you. We are going through the options," Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA's Earth observation activities, told journalists in Paris.

"What we have to do as ESA, we have to get ready for all these eventualities."

Britain's EU-linked participation in both programmes will come to an end after Brexit, unless it negotiates a specific deal, the ESA has said. When this would happen, is not clear.

But Britain will likely stay in the ESA, which is autonomous from the European Union.

The UK is one of 20 EU members of the agency, which also includes non-EU countries Norway and Switzerland.

The EU has forked out the bulk of Copernicus' budget of about seven billion euros ($8.5 billion) since 2002, though ESA also contributes.

So far, Europe has launched six satellites for Copernicus, which is designed to monitor Earth's atmosphere, forest cover changes, land and water pollution, and the aftermath of floods and earthquakes.

Copernicus will also improve emergency responses after natural disasters.

UK-based companies hold contracts worth tens of millions of euros from ESA to supply hardware for Copernicus and Galileoa rival to America's GPS which should be fully operational by 2020.

What next?

According to Philippe Michel of ESA's Galileo programme, Brexit has thrown up "several situations" for which solutions must be found.

These included "the issue of security" in a project that involves the sharing of military and other classified information between countries.

"There are situations of contracts which have already been placed, there are situations of procurements which are ongoing, or future procurements... We are discussing of course all that with the European Commission," Michel added.

ESA director general Jan Woerner insisted the agency was not "directly affected" by the British withdrawal, though "indirectly, we have some things where we are working on."

They include visas, medical insurance, retirement plans and other complications that will arise for British staff in Europe, and continental workers in the UK, once the rules change under Brexit.

"We are also looking in the discussion with the European Union, the European Commission, what happens with industrial activities coming from the UK," said Woerner.

ESA's EU policy office head Jean Bruston has previously said Britain could contribute to Galileo and Copernicus if it negotiated a third-party agreement with the EU, as Norway and Switzerland have done.

 2018 AFP
Following the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Emile Bruneau noticed a pattern: howls from the far right condemning all Muslims for the attack, followed by passionate counterarguments defending the vast majority of Muslims who are blameless. The tactics were all over the map: heartstring-tugging stories of Muslim refugees overcoming adversity, logical statistics detailing the miniscule percentage of Muslims who actually commit violent acts, interviews with stereotype-defying Muslims.

A research scientist who directs the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, Bruneau counted dozens of tactics being used. Which, he wondered, were actually effective? He designed a study to find out.

Bruneau and his collaborators discovered that while most of the approaches people use are not persuasive, one method - namely, exposing hypocrisy - can reduce prejudice, even a month later.

"People tend toward sharing empathy-inducing techniques on social media," says Bruneau, "because we think that the best way to change someone's opinion is to pull on their heart strings. However, our research indicates that the best way to change someone's heart is to change their mind first."

The researchers, which also include Nour Kteily of Northwestern University and Emily Falk of the Annenberg School at Penn, began by evaluating 60 real-world video clips that had been used on social media to combat collective blame. Based on their knowledge of psychological principles, they narrowed to eight clips and screened them to 2,000 people after first assessing baseline beliefs from non-Muslim Americans about Muslims and their collective responsibility.

The most effective clip at reducing collective blame was an Al Jazeera interview with a Muslim woman who said that blaming all Muslims for a terror attack is like blaming all Christians for the actions of Westboro Baptist Church or the KKK. The video pointed out the hypocrisy, and it worked. Participants who viewed this video were the only ones to report a significant reduction in collective blame of Muslims.

But, Bruneau says, "If you accuse people of hypocrisybasically using it as a weaponyou'll probably get a defensive backlash right away." To see if this was a method that could change minds on a broad scale, researchers then designed a second component to the study: a method to help people recognize their own hypocrisy.

A new group of participants then were asked to read a short bio of American white supremacist and mass murderer Dylan Roof, and asked to report how personally responsible they felt for Roof's actions, and how responsible they thought all White Americans were for Roof's actions. Next, the exercise was repeated with passages about white supremacists and mass murderers Anders Breivik and Wage Page.

The activity then transitioned to bios of individual Muslims, and participants were asked how responsible these individuals were for recent terror attacks in Europe committed by a Muslim. Lastly, the exercise asked the crucial question: How responsible should all Muslims be for an individual's act of terror?

The degree to which participants blamed all Muslims after completing the activity was half that of those who served as the control group for the study. "This activity is very gentle," he says, "and it allows people to come to a conclusion on their own, without setting off their brain's threat sensors."

Bruneau is now testing this technique with advertisements on a major urban train system in the hopes of developing interventions that help reduce intergroup conflict and hatred.

"Although the conventional wisdom is that attitude change is difficult to achieve and even harder to maintain," says Bruneau, "these interventions suggest that when people are provided with the awareness of their own inconsistencies and the tools to change their minds, they can readily do so."

The paper, "Interventions Highlighting Hypocrisy Reduce Collective Blame of Muslims for Individual Acts of Violence and Assuage Anti-Muslim Hostility," was published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

More information: Emile Bruneau et al, Interventions Highlighting Hypocrisy Reduce Collective Blame of Muslims for Individual Acts of Violence and Assuage Anti-Muslim Hostility, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2017). DOI: 10.1177/0146167217744197 Journal information: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Scientists from three UK universities are to test one of the fundamental laws of physics as part of a major Europe-wide project awarded more than 3m in funding.

Experts from the University of Southampton, Queen's University Belfast and UCL have formed a consortium with European universities and British photonics technology company M Squared to test the limits of one of the core principles of quantum mechanics - the mind-boggling physical laws that allow microscopic particles such as atoms and electrons to be in two places at once.

Established at the beginning of the 20th century, quantum theory is a mathematical framework that provides, to date, the most accurate understanding of the results of experiments conducted on physical systems as small as single atoms, very small molecules and very faint light.

The consortium has devised an ambitious experiment to test the so-called quantum superposition principle (QSP) - the law that allows microscopic systems to appear in two different, perfectly distinguishable, configurations at the same time.

The validity of QSP at the microscopic level is accepted by scientists, and confirmed by an enormous amount of data. But what prevents it from applying to the 'large-scale' world around us? In other words, why do everyday objects such as cars, trees and people not behave in a quantum mechanical manner and exist in two places at once?

Unproven theories advanced since the 1980s suggest the existence of a universal background 'noise' that destroys QSP of larger objects, such as particles that can be seen using an optical microscope.

The 'Project TEQ' consortium, led by the University of Trieste, in Italy, will test the existence of this noise thanks to a 4.4m (3.9m) award from the European Commission.

Its experiment will involve a tiny particle of glass, one-thousandth of the width of a human hair, being levitated by an electric field in a vacuum at a temperature close to absolute zero (-273C). A laser will be shot at the particle, and the scattering of the laser's light measured for signs of movement of the particle.

If there is no movement, it means that quantum mechanics still apply at this scale and there is no universal background noise.

However, if movement is detected, it indicates the existence of a noise that prevents QSP applying at this scale. This would represent the first observed failure of quantum theory, setting a limit on the scale at which quantum mechanics apply and having implications for large-scale applications of any physical system based on quantum principles.

Professor Hendrik Ulbricht, of the University of Southampton, said: "The vast majority of phenomena and events that occur in our daily lives can be accounted for by the laws of physics established by Isaac Newton, but the microscopic world obeys the rules of quantum mechanics, which are so strange that they can seem counter-intuitive.

"Whether it's possible to observe quantum behaviour in macroscopic objects is the great unanswered question in quantum physics. If it turns out we can, this could eventually open the way for us to use the amazing characteristics of quantum mechanics in a much larger set of physical systems beyond the microscopic world. We're about to embark on a very exciting journey."

Professor Mauro Paternostro, of Queen's University Belfast, said: "Our research programme could prove that we do not have to deal with extremely small systems in order to see quantum effects, which is currently the main limitation of quantum technology.

"If you can prove that quantum theory extends to larger systems, it will offer a much more robust way of processing information: all the chips and integrated systems in computers could be shrunk to a much smaller scale and we would be able to manage quantum for daily applications.

"This would mean larger data-processing rates, larger memories and larger transmission rates of data across these larger networks."

Dr Graeme Malcolm OBE, CEO and co-founder of M Squared, said: "This fund for TEQ is an excellent example of the EU's continued support of quantum research and allows established thinking behind quantum mechanics to be tested to its limits.

"If this work does prove that quantum effects can be seen on a larger scale, it widens the potential commercial applications of quantum technology - in particular, the areas of sensing and metrology will see significant commercial opportunities in the coming decades. It's an honour to be part of the team exploring the potential of technology operating at the very limits of physics.

If the experiment proves that quantum mechanics can be applied to larger-scale systems, it could make creating quantum technologies for use in space easier, with satellites being used to transmit quantum information rather than relying on fibres on the ground or under the sea."

Other potential applications include the development of ultra-sensitive measuring devices that could outperform existing sensors to measure the effects of gravity.
Tova Williams, a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University, does research relevant to the 75 percent of American women who color their hair and the stylists who apply it. Williams received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study principles of sustainable hair color design. Credit: North Carolina State University, Becky Kirkland

North Carolina State University researchers have created the largest publicly available chemical database of hair dye substances as a resource for developing a new generation of hair color products that are safer for consumers, stylists and the environment.

The online Hair Dye Substance Database contains detailed information about the structure and properties of 313 substances in current and past commercial hair dyes. Using computer-based classification - what's known as cheminformatics - researchers grouped the dyes into clusters with similar structures and properties. The results revealed some surprises and promising new avenues for research.

"The database can definitely help drive design, not just of hair dyes but of other types of dyes, using the same approach," says Tova Williams, NC State doctoral student and lead author of a journal article about the research.

Coloring hair is a multibillion-dollar global business that's growing rapidly. Hair dyes are divided into three basic types, depending on how long they last. Temporary dyes, which coat the hair surface, wash out with one or two shampoos. Semi-permanent dyes last a bit longer - through six to eight washings.

About 80 percent of commercial hair dyes on the market, however, are permanent, created through the chemical process of oxidation. When permanent hair dye is applied, it's initially colorless. Tiny precursor molecules slip inside the core of hair fibers, where they "join hands" to form larger molecules and impart color, Williams says. Permanent hair color resists washing out because it's inside the hair shaft and chemically bonded.

Researchers can use the database to help identify dyes that are less likely to cause allergic reactions or increase cancer risk. Safety is a key concern for consumers because hair color sits on the scalp, as well as for stylists who work with dye products repeatedly over time.

"Using computer modeling allows us to make predictions about which substances in the database would be likely to cause skin sensitization or that might have a greater likelihood of health risks," Williams says. "This can lead to development of dyes that have better properties and are more sustainable."

Cheminformatics can expedite the research and development process, making it possible to analyze and compare the properties of hundreds of substances in the database - a feat that wouldn't be possible otherwise, says co-author Denis Fourches, assistant professor of chemistry at NC State.

"If you had to do this work with the hair dyes in a lab, it would take several years of work and several million dollars," Fourches says. "With more than 300 substances, it would be very challenging without computer modeling, which provides a transparent and reproducible way to characterize and classify dyes."

While creating the database, researchers found an intriguing group of dyes that didn't fit into established categories: a subcluster of semi-permanent dyes that seemed to have properties similar to the precursors in permanent dyes.

In fact, there's a whole tray of these dyes in NC State's Max A. Weaver Dye Library, a collection of thousands of dye and fabric samples that the Eastman Chemical Company donated to the university, says co-author Harold Freeman, professor of dye chemistry at NC State.

"One of the things that jumped out at us was the potential to connect this study with the dye library, with its 100,000 unique dyes," Freeman says. "By modifying the structure of key compounds in the dye library, we expect to design novel dye precursors that are environmentally benign, put them into hair and then transform them into colors to take advantage of the unique parent structures.

"There's so much potential now to use this group of dyes waiting in the wings to help us with design of hair dyes that will be not only effective but safe."

Researchers also considered the environmental impact of dyes. They linked the hair dye database with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's internal chemistry dashboard. Co-author Antony John Williams works at the EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

"Now that we've released the database into the public domain, other modelers are already interested in this group of hair dyes, which is a step toward designing new substances that are more sustainable and greener - less toxic," Fourches says. "They're calculating new types of properties that we aren't even thinking about right now, which is very exciting."

The study appears in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.

More information: Tova N. Williams et al, Toward the Rational Design of Sustainable Hair Dyes Using Cheminformatics Approaches: Step 1. Database Development and Analysis, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b03795
Coesite is a polymorph of silica that only forms under extremely high pressure10,000 times more, on average, than normal atmospheric pressure. The presence of coesite indicates either that material has pushed up through Earth's crust from the mantle, or that a comet, meteor or meteorite struck the site. Coesite can also be created in nuclear explosions.

The mechanism whereby silica (SiO2) is transformed into coesite is poorly understood by the scientific community. It has now been elucidated by atomistic computer simulation in a study conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, China, and the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.

The article, "Multiple pathways in pressure-induced phase transition of coesite," was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Coesite is silicon dioxide. Its chemical composition is the same as that of quartz. The difference is that high pressure destructures the crystal lattice characteristic of quartz and compresses the silicon and oxygen atoms into an amorphous system. The result is high-density glass. Once the pressure has surpassed a certain threshold, the amorphization process becomes irreversible and the material can no longer return to a crystalline configuration," said Caetano Rodrigues Miranda, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Physics Institute (IF-USP) and lead author of the article.

There are commercial applications of the findings, but for now, the main interest is to use them as markers of high-pressure scenarios. "Coesite is the characteristic 'signature' of these scenarios," said Miranda.

In the study, the researchers resolved divergences that existed with regard to the transformation of coesite into other phases (a high-pressure octahedral phase, coesite-II and coesite-III) and arrived at a model consistent with the observational data. They also described the molecular mechanisms associated with these transformations. "It would be very difficult to reproduce in the lab the high-pressure conditions found in Earth's mantle," Miranda said. "We used a computer simulation, describing the interactions among atoms as realistically as possible, and mapping, step by step, the transformations resulting from pressure changes."

The best way to follow this evolution is via the Raman effect, observed experimentally in 1928 by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970). The Raman effect relates to the inelastic scattering of light by matter. When a sample is excited by a laser pulse, most of the photons are scattered elastically, i.e., at the same frequency as the incident photons, by the molecules or atoms in the material. However, a small portion of the photons scatters inelastically, generally at a lower frequency. Analysis of this inelastic scattering by means of Raman spectroscopy determines the composition and structure of the material. "You could say it provides the material's fingerprint," Miranda said.

The researchers performed molecular dynamics simulations of the Raman spectrum for the different structures of coesite under various pressures. They obtained correlations between the structure of the material and the external pressure, mapping step by step the multiple paths in the transformation of coesite until it was completely amorphized, or those in the crystalline phases of silica under high pressure.

"Each structure displays a very characteristic pattern in the Raman spectrum," Miranda said. "As the structure changes owing to pressure variation, this pattern also changes. And this enables us to know which structures are present and how they are transformed under pressure. A comparison with experimental results validates the model adopted.

"Bond lengths and angles, as well as atomic vibrational modes, are variables supplied by the procedure. Although it's an amorphous structure and has a much less regular configuration than quartz, for example, which is crystalline, coesite has a characteristic fingerprint in Raman spectroscopy.

"In a crystal, the distances between lattice atoms and the angles made by the segments bonding the different atoms are always the same. This produces a clearly defined peak in the spectrogram. As the material amorphizes, the peak changes into an elongated plateau."

An interesting study performed by Miranda in parallel consisted of the "sonification" of the spectral data collected. In this case, "sonification" entailed converting the high frequencies characteristic of light into low frequencies typical of sound. "Sonification allows you to use hearing instead of sight to analyze data. From the scientific perspective, the advantage of this procedure is that when you hear sounds, you can identify small variations or more complex data more precisely. They're easier to hear than to see. In addition, there's an advantage from the artistic standpoint: music can be composed using the sound fragments obtained. So a bridge can be built between science and art," Miranda said (click to hear audio).

The discovery of coesite in the Chicxulub Crater under the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico was significant evidence that this geological formation resulted from the impact of a comet or large asteroid. The circular crater has a diameter of more than 180 km, and is buried deep below the surface of the peninsula. It was discovered in the late 1970s by Antonio Camargo (Mexico) and Glen Penfield (United States), geophysicists who were prospecting for oil. In 1990, Penfield obtained samples of rock formed under high pressure that suggested it was an impact feature.

In 2016, scientists drilled hundreds of meters below the ocean floor into the peak ring of the crater, obtaining samples of coesite and other rocks, and all but closing the debate by supplying robust evidence that it was indeed an impact crater.

The impact that produced the crater was two million times more powerful than the largest nuclear device ever tested, a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba, detonated by the Soviet Union in 1961.

The date of the impact, estimated at slightly less than 66 million years ago, converges with the hypothesis that worldwide climate disruption in this period caused a mass extinction event in which 75 percent of plant and animal species on Earth suddenly became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. The impact would have caused a mega-tsunami and a colossal shock wave, followed by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires and other phenomena on a global scale, including a cloud of dust and aerosols covering the entire planet for over a decade.

More information: Wei Liu et al, Multiple pathways in pressure-induced phase transition of coesite, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1710651114 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by FAPESP
Top view of the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible/Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro. Credit: CENIEH

A team of scientists from the Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH) has just published a paper in the journal PLOS ONE on the Middle Pleistocene Montmaurin-La Niche mandible, which reveals the complexity of the origin of the Neanderthals.

This mandible was found by Raoul Cammas on 18 June 1949 in the karstic cavities of Montmaurin within the La Niche cave (France), where stone tools and fossil remains of different species of canids, equids and ursids also appeared, helping to place it in time.

The presumed age of this mandible, between 200,000 and 240,000 years, had led to the presumption of a close morphological similarity to the mandible of European Neanderthals, particularly in the teeth, but the mathematical techniques applied to the study of a wide variety of mandibles, including those of a group of recent African ones, show that it is more in line with the most archaic specimens from Europe, including those from Dmanisi.

"We find here an archaic mandible, and dental pieces which taxonomically are indisputably Neanderthal, which helps to support the hypothesis that the Neanderthal lineage did not evolve linearly but in mosaic," explains Bermudez de Castro.

Comparative studies

Considered for two decades to be the oldest human fossil found in France, the mandible has formed part of different comparative studies, and the description published by G. Billy and Henri V. Vallois in 1977 stands out. That work was undertaken more than 40 years ago, in the context of what was then known and of the theories then current on the colonization of the European continent.

However, human evolution in Europe was undoubtedly more complex than was thought only a couple of decades ago, as is explained in this paper entitled A reassessment of the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible (Haute Garonne, France) in the context of European Pleistocene human evolution, in which Mario Modesto, Maria Martinon-Torres and Marina Martinez de Pinillos also participated.

The possibility that there could have coexisted at least two hominin lineages, and that interbreeding, prolonged periods of isolation, genetic drift and other processes were habitual in the Middle Pleistocene in Europe is gaining momentum, while at the same time linear hypotheses such as "accretion" are losing ground.

"The appearance of the classic Neanderthals in the Late Pleistocene is a question by no means finally settled. There remain many open questions, and the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible now joins the list of X-files," concludes Bermudez de Castro.

More information: Amelie Vialet et al. A reassessment of the Montmaurin-La Niche mandible (Haute Garonne, France) in the context of European Pleistocene human evolution, PLOS ONE (2018). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189714 Journal information: PLoS ONE

Provided by CENIEH
The Nepenthes pitcher plant (left) and its nanowrinkled 'mouth' (centre) inspired the engineered nanomaterial (right). Credit: Sydney Nano

A team of chemistry researchers from the University of Sydney Nano Institute has developed nanostructured surface coatings that have anti-fouling properties without using any toxic components.

Biofouling - the build-up of damaging biological material - is a huge economic issue, costing the aquaculture and shipping industries billions of dollars a year in maintenance and extra fuel usage. It is estimated that the increased drag on ship hulls due to biofouling costs the shipping industry in Australia $320 million a year a b.

Since the banning of the toxic anti-fouling agent tributyltin, the need for new non-toxic methods to stop marine biofouling has been pressing.

Leader of the research team, Associate Professor Chiara Neto, said: "We are keen to understand how these surfaces work and also push the boundaries of their application, especially for energy efficiency. Slippery coatings are expected to be drag-reducing, which means that objects, such as ships, could move through water with much less energy required."

The new materials were tested tied to shark netting in Sydney's Watson Bay, showing that the nanomaterials were efficient at resisting biofouling in a marine environment.

The research has been published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

PhD candidate Sam Peppou Chapman in Watsons Bay, Sydney, next to the test samples of the nanomaterials attached to a shark net. Credit: University of Sydney Nano Institute

The new coating uses 'nanowrinkles' inspired by the carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plant. The plant traps a layer of water on the tiny structures around the rim of its opening. This creates a slippery layer causing insects to aquaplane on the surface, before they slip into the pitcher where they are digested.

Nanostructures utilise materials engineered at the scale of billionths of a metre - 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Associate Professor Neto's group at Sydney Nano is developing nanoscale materials for future development in industry.

Biofouling can occur on any surface that is wet for a long period of time, for example aquaculture nets, marine sensors and cameras, and ship hulls. The slippery surface developed by the Neto group stops the initial adhesion of bacteria, inhibiting the formation of a biofilm from which larger marine fouling organisms can grow.

The interdisciplinary University of Sydney team included biofouling expert Professor Truis Smith-Palmer of St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, who was on sabbatical visit to the Neto group for a year, partially funded by the Faculty of Science scheme for visiting women.

In the lab, the slippery surfaces resisted almost all fouling from a common species of marine bacteria, while control Teflon samples without the lubricating layer were completely fouled. Not satisfied with testing the surfaces under highly controlled lab conditions with only one type of bacteria the team also tested the surfaces in the ocean, with the help of marine biologist Professor Ross Coleman.

Test surfaces were attached to swimming nets at Watsons Bay baths in Sydney Harbour for a period of seven weeks. In the much harsher marine environment, the slippery surfaces were still very efficient at resisting fouling.

The antifouling coatings are mouldable and transparent, making their application ideal for underwater cameras and sensors.

More information: Cameron S. Ware et al, Marine Antifouling Behavior of Lubricant-Infused Nanowrinkled Polymeric Surfaces, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b14736 Journal information: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
From left: Donatella Torretta, William Badgett and Angela Fava fine tune the White Rabbit synchronization system for the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Program. Credit: Reidar Hahn

Being on time is important  just ask Lewis Carroll's leporine friend  and one group who knows this more than most are particle physicists, whose work revolves around keeping track of near-light speed blips of matter.

As particle accelerators and experiments have become increasingly complex and choreographed over the decades, technology behind the scenes has had to innovate to keep up. One such example is White Rabbit, a clever timing and data transfer system that is playing a key role in modern particle physics.

"We are always pushing our experiments to higher and higher precisions," said Angela Fava, scientist on Fermilab's ICARUS neutrino detector and part of the team exploring White Rabbit at Fermilab. "White Rabbit is really useful because it can reach time precisions down to less than a billionth of a second."

Keeping time

In modern particle accelerators, many separate components have to be activated in sequence in a timely manner to identify and track particles passing by at the speed of light. This requires very precise synchronization and timing systems to determine when these events should occur  an egg timer won't cut it here.

Until recently, this timing has usually been achieved with devices that are hard-wired into experimental equipment, such as the General Machine Timing (GMT) system at CERN. But GMT has limitations, including a low data bandwidth, the capacity to only send signals one way through the network, and an inability to self-calibrateto internally calculate how long a signal has taken to travelwhich results in timing errors.

As experiments grow in complexity and require nanosecond coordination, physicists have been left with a need for a one-size-fits-all system that can provide the required time synchronization and still be compatible with systems from multiple sources and vendors that are already in place.

The solution is White Rabbit, an open-source system that builds on common and accessible Ethernet technology  the same technology behind wired internet access. The system works kind of like an everyday computer network, too, with circuit boards called "nodes," controlled by a specially written program.

Up to around 1,000 nodes can be linked in one White Rabbit network, all connected together with a web of optical fibers  up to 10 kilometers long  to exchange information. As the technology develops, the system will likely be able to support even more nodes separated by greater distances.

Since precise timing is so important in modern experiments, White Rabbit's power comes in its ability to keep itself synchronized, no matter the cable length between nodes or other external factors. Even relatively small changes in cable temperature can affect travel time on the scale of nanoseconds, for example.

Pulses on the oscilloscope indicate when the particles arrive in the detector. Credit: Reidar Hahn

A White Rabbit system works kind of like a hierarchy, where one of the nodes in a network is designated a "master" and is responsible for keeping all the other nodes in check. The external time is fed into the master from high-precision atomic oscillators via orbiting GPS satellites, the same technology on which Google Maps navigation is based.

This exact time is digitally attached to blips of data  which, for example, include control instructions for accelerators  that constantly fly around the network. By sending the time tags back and forth between nodes, which GMT isn't able to do, the system can calculate the time delays it takes for data to travel through cables and correct for them, keeping all the nodes in synchronization with the correct time and ensuring experimental events are kept coordinated.

Fava and scientist Donatella Torretta, together with William Badgett at Fermilab, are currently working on installing White Rabbit into some of Fermilab's experiments, including the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program, which will study neutrinos  tiny, elusive particles. The first use of White Rabbit in North America, the system can be used to time-tag the neutrinos from their production at the beam source through to the detector at the end of the experiment.

On the SBN ICARUS detector, White Rabbit can also be used to get an extremely accurate tagging of unwanted cosmic particles that come from space and get in the way of the experiment, potentially hiding the neutrino signatures.

"It would be possible to run ICARUS without White Rabbit, but it's lot easier if we use it," said Fava. "And it's all in real-time too, so it saves on our computing power and storage."

White Rabbit was first conceived in around 2008 as an international collaboration between CERN, the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Germany, and other partners, and was introduced to boost the abilities of the Large Hadron Collider.

From the beginning, the collaboration has made both the hardware and software for the timing system openly available to anyone around the world. The physical equipment can be purchased from commercial vendors, while the software is completely free and easily accessible online.

"Everybody benefits when science is open," said Torretta, who learned about White Rabbit at a demonstration workshop at CERN. "As the technology develops, it's becoming more and more popular."

Torretta has since attended further workshops to learn more, including one recently in Barcelona, which was organized by White Rabbit experts from CERN.

The CERN development team also took care to ensure the design was as general as possible, so as to allow a large range of practical applications for the technology, including outside of science. A group in the Netherlands has even used White Rabbit to transmit official time between Dutch cities with nanosecond accuracies.
Katy Sparrow 17 (PhD) and John Kessler collaborated with researchers from several universities, as well as researchers from the US Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. From left to right: Kathryn Schreiner, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry (Univ. of Minnesota Duluth); PhD candidate Fenix Garcia-Tigreros (UR); Sparrow; and Kessler, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, aboard the research vessel in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Credit: University of Rochester photo / John Kessler

Ocean sediments are a massive storehouse for the potent greenhouse gas methane.

Trapped in ocean sediments near continents lie ancient reservoirs of methane called methane hydrates. These ice-like water and methane structures encapsulate so much methane that many researchers view them as both a potential energy resource and an agent for environmental change. In response to warming ocean waters, hydrates can degrade, releasing the methane gas. Scientists have warned that release of even part of the giant reservoir could significantly exacerbate ongoing climate change.

However, methane only acts as a greenhouse gas if and when it reaches the atmospherea scenario that would occur only if the liberated methane travelled from the point of release at the seafloor to the surface waters and the atmosphere.

With that in mind, environmental scientist Katy Sparrow '17 (PhD) set out to study the origin of methane in the Arctic Ocean.

"While a logical suspect for arctic methane emissions is degrading hydrates, there are several other potential methane sources. Our goal was to fingerprint the source of methane in the Arctic Ocean to determine if ancient methane was being liberated from the seafloor and if it survives to be emitted to the atmosphere," says Sparrow, who conducted the study, published in Science Advances, as part of her doctoral research at the University of Rochester.

Sparrow; her advisor, John Kessler, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences; and a team of scientists from the Universities of Rochester, California Irvine, Minnesota Duluth, and Colorado Boulder, as well as the US Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, conducted fieldwork just offshore of the North Slope of Alaska, near Prudhoe Bay. Sparrow calls the spot "ground zero" for oceanic methane emissions resulting from ocean warming. In some parts of the Arctic Ocean, the shallow regions near continents may be one of the settings where methane hydrates are breaking down now due to warming processes over the past 15,000 years. In addition to methane hydrates, carbon-rich permafrost that is tens of thousands of years oldand found throughout the Arctic on land and in seafloor sedimentscan produce methane once this material thaws in response to warming. With the combination of the aggressive warming occurring in the Arctic and the shallow water depths, any released methane has a short journey from emission at the seafloor to release into the atmosphere.

The researchers used radiocarbon dating to fingerprint the origin of methane from their samples. By employing a technique they developed that involves collecting methane from roughly ten thousand gallons of seawater per sample, they made a surprising discovery: ancient-sourced methane is indeed being released into the ocean; but very little survives to be emitted to the atmosphere, even at surprisingly shallow depths.

"We do observe ancient methane being emitted from the seafloor to the overlying seawater, confirming past suspicions," Kessler says. "But, we found that this ancient methane signal largely disappears and is replaced by a different methane source the closer you get to the surface waters." The methane at the surface is instead from recently produced organic matter or from the atmosphere.

Although the researchers did not examine in this study what prevents methane released from the seafloor from reaching the atmosphere, they suspect it is biodegraded by microorganisms in the ocean before it hits the surface waters. Mihai Leonte, a PhD candidate in Kessler's research group, observed this processin which microbes aggressively biodegrade methane as methane emissions increasein a paper published last year.

"We found that very little ancient methane reaches surface waters even in the relatively shallow depths of 100 feet. Exponentially less methane would be able to reach the atmosphere in waters that are thousands of feet deep at the very edge of the shallow seas near continents, which is the area of the ocean where the bulk of methane hydrates are," Sparrow says. "Our data suggest that even if increasing amounts of methane are released from degrading hydrates as climate change proceeds, catastrophic emission to the atmosphere is not an inherent outcome."

Sparrow and Kessler's results on the role of ancient methane sources are consistent with the findings of their Rochester colleague Vasilii Petrenko, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences, who also radiocarbon dated methane. However, while Sparrow and Kessler dated methane found in modern-day seawater, Petrenko radiocarbon dated methane from the ancient atmosphere that was preserved in the ice of Arctic glaciers.

"Petrenko and his co-authors studied a rapid warming event from the past that serves as a modern-day analog," Sparrow says. "They found that the emissions of methane from ancient methane sources during this warming event were minimal relative to contemporary sources like wetlands."

Kessler adds, "Our results agree with this conclusion, showing that ancient methane emissions to the atmosphere in an area that is experiencing some of the greatest warming today, is actually quite small, especially when compared to more direct emissions from human activities."

More information: Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf, Science Advances 17 Jan 2018: Vol. 4, no. 1, eaao4842, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao4842 , advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao4842.full Journal information: Science Advances
Complex network of individuals involved in corruption scandals in Brazil from 1987 to 2014. Each vertex represents an individual, and the edges between vertices indicate that both individuals participated in the same corruption scandal. Credit: Ribeiro et al. 2018 Journal of Complex Networks

According to the World Bank, corruption scandals siphon more than $2 trillion per year from the global economy, making corruption one of the major causes of slow economic growth and socioeconomic inequality. Now in a new study, researchers have demonstrated that it may be possible to predict who will play a role in future scandals by modeling current scandals using networks. The results may provide a tool for detecting corruptive practices and reducing the high cost of corruption to society.

The researchers, led by Matjaz Perc at the University of Maribor in Slovenia and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna in Austria, along with Haroldo V. Ribeiro from the University of Maringa and coauthors from two other universities in Brazil, have published a paper on their analysis of political corruption using network science in a recent issue of the Journal of Complex Networks.

In their work, the researchers constructed a dynamic network of 27 years' worth of political corruption scandals in Brazil, and used time series analysis to study how the network evolves over the years. The model involves more than 400 nodes that represent individuals, along with links connecting individuals who were involved in the same scandal, for a total of 65 well-documented scandals. Overall, the results showed that such networks reveal a great deal of information about the intricacies of the scandals.

"Despite all odds, going against the veil of secrecy that surrounds corruption, and going against the people who are doing their best to remain anonymous and undetected, we show that applying methods of network science uncovers the gist of politically corrupt behavior," Perc told Phys.org.

Among the findings are that political scandals typically rise and fall in time with election cycles, that scandals often involve small groups of 8 or so people (presumably because smaller groups are easier to conceal), and that it's possible to identify individuals who have played central roles in multiple scandals.

To test the network's predictive power, the researchers applied several different algorithms to predict missing links based on the similarity between nodes. They found that the best algorithms have statistically significant predictive power, with more than 25% of the top 10 predicted links appearing in future stages of the corruption network.

"We show empirically that corruption boils down to self-interested behavior in small groups that exist in hierarchical small-world networks," Perc said. "We observe that the number of politicians involved in corruption increases with an oscillatory undulation that is linked to the four-year election cycle in Brazil. We also find that only a few well-linked individuals dominate a modular network structure, which often changes suddenly as the government changes. And ultimately, we show that future 'partners in crime' can be accurately predicted based on the dynamical structure of corruption networks. In short, we show that politically corrupt behavior gives away nearly all of its secrets when analyzed in the realm of corruption networks."

In the future, the scientists plan to apply these techniques to a problem which they are all too familiar with: the ethics of research funding, particularly in Slovenia.

"The biggest challenge lies in obtaining comprehensive and reliable data," Perc said. "We may therefore look next at relatively overseeable public sector operations in Slovenia, from state-funded research to the national award system, which appear to be off their hinges in recent years. These operations are failing to support capable young people in exchange for keeping utterly useless but politically loyal individuals and institutions happy. Hopefully, our research will help with the transition towards a sustainable and more meritocratic spending of public research funds."

More information: Haroldo V. Ribeiro et al. "The dynamical structure of political corruption networks." Journal of Complex Networks. To be published. Also at arXiv:1801.01869 [physics.soc-ph]

 2018 Phys.org
Dissolution of crystals happens in pulses, marked by waves that spread just like ripples on a pond. Credit: MARUM - University of Bremen

When German researchers examined time-lapse images of dissolving crystals at the nanoscale, they found a surprise: Dissolution happened in pulses, marked by waves that spread just like ripples on a pond.

"What we see are waves or rings," said lead investigator Cornelius Fischer, who conducted this research at the University of Bremen in the group of Prof. Andreas Luttge. "We have a pit in the middle, and then around these pits are rings of mass removal." The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Fischer and Luttge specialize in studying minerals-fluid interactions, and have collaborated for more than 15 years in the US and Germany.

In everyday life, dissolving crystals is as simple as stirring sugar into a glass of water. And as any child who has made rock candy knows, the process also works in reverse: Crystals of sugar will form as water evaporates from the glass. Luttge said scientists have long known that crystals form through a continuous process as molecules are deposited from solution into the regular crystal lattice of the solid they're forming.

"We always thought dissolution was a continuous process, kind of like crystal formation in reverse, and we were astonished when these experiments showed this was not a continuous process," Fischer said. "Instead, what we saw were pulses occurring around these pits."

The pulses show up clearly in rate maps, high-resolution still images that capture the rate at which material dissolves over time from the surface of a crystal. In experiments at MARUM, Cornelius Fischer modified an imaging technique called "vertical scanning interferometry" that Luttge pioneered at Rice University (Houston, U.S.) in the early 2000s to make "surface reaction rate maps."

"The maps show the distribution of the material flux and thus illustrate the surface reactivity," said Fischer, a former MARUM postdoctoral researcher who's now head of a research group at the independent German research laboratory Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. "During the routine analysis of rate-map data, we discovered the existence of a remarkable pattern of surface reactivity. This was the starting point for a systematic analysis of pulsating rate map features."

Using samples of first zinc oxide and later calcium carbonate, Fischer made maps that showed every dip and rise on the surface of the crystal to a resolution of 1 nanometer, or 1 billionth of a meter. Each scan collected more than 4 million measurements from a surface measuring no more than a square centimeter. Taking subsequent snapshots of a crystal's surface as it dissolved allowed them to measure the rate at which the crystal dissolved as a function of surface height.

Scientists have long understood the importance that tiny surface defects play in crystal dissolution. Miniscule divots called "etch pits" expose crystal edges and increase the likelihood that a solvent, like water, will chemically react with atoms from the crystal. The process is similar to how rust eats away at iron or steel.

When they examined their rate maps for dissolving calcite and zinc oxide crystals, Luttge and Fischer found "rhythmic fluctuations of the reactive surface site density," or dissolution pulses that spread like rings from etch pits and screw dislocations, much like ripples that spread from the point where a pebble is dropped into a pond.

"The complex superimposition of pulses defines the overall result, and we are now able to understandand, most importantly, to quantifysuch patterns as the starting point for the formation of porosity in solid materials during dissolution," Fischer said. Luttge said the discovery adds to scientists' fundamental understanding of crystal dissolution and could aid researchers in fields as diverse as corrosion prevention and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
A farmer harvests cranberries from a flooded marsh at Cranberry Creek Cranberries Inc. in Necedah, Wisconsin. UWMadison engineers have invented a device that automates the process of counting cranberries on the bush and estimating the harvest. Credit: Jeff Miller

It's a quintessential cranberry scene: Thigh-deep in a flooded bog full of millions of floating berries, two farmers extol the merits of products made from the tart red fruit.

Most of the year, however, the bog is dry and the ripening cranberries cling to a dense tangle of woody, low-growing vines.

That's when people like Ben Tilberg start counting cranberries.

"When we do crop estimations, we pick all of the fruit in a square-foot area and then we hand-count the berries," says Tilberg, a Babcock, Wisconsin-based scientist with the grower-owned cooperative Ocean Spray Cranberries. "There might be anywhere from 300 to 500 berries per square foot, and we count hundreds of squares each crop year."

It's a time-consuming, laborious endeavorbut one that yields important information about everything from berry quality to the projected harvest. "We freeze almost the entire crop and cranberries are processed throughout the year," says Tilberg. "Not only do we need to gauge our freezer capacity, we also want to make sure the best fruit goes into the freezer."

In big cranberry-producing states such as Massachusetts and Wisconsin, that's a big deal: With 21,000 acres of cranberry bogs in 20 counties, Wisconsin is the nation's top cranberry producer, growing more than half of all cranberries in the world.

The sheer labor involved in counting cranberries the old-fashioned way prompted Tilberg to pursue a more efficient, technologically advanced method. After reading news stories about imaging techniques used to study rainforests, he contacted University of WisconsinMadison electrical and computer engineering professors Susan Hagness and John Booske with his idea.

"It was sort of a microwave radar concept he was envisioning," says Booske.

The result is a new device that essentially automates the counting processwithout having to pick any berries, and with the potential to paint a more accurate picture of the crop and the harvest as a whole.

This prototype device counts cranberries by analyzing microwaves bounced off the ground and through the plants. Credit: Alex Haufler

To create the device, Hagness and Booske conducted feasibility studies in their lab with electrical and computer engineering graduate student Alex Haufler. The results were promising enough for the researchers to secure grants from the Wisconsin Cranberry Board and Ocean Spray.

"The funding has enabled us to develop a microwave-based cranberry sensing technique," says Hagness.

The team's first-generation prototypea small box-shaped device suspended above a square-foot section of cranberry beddraws on technology similar to that used in medical imaging and weather radar.

"We transmit a microwave signal that is reflected back from the cranberry bed, and the strength of the reflected signal indicates the number of berries within the canopy," says Haufler.

In weather radar, says Haufler, the strength of the reflected signal indicates how much water is contained within the clouds. That holds true for cranberries, also.

"The cranberries have a significant water content compared to the surrounding stems and leaves, making them more responsive to the microwaves," he says.

In the fall, Haufler joined Tilberg in plots at the Dubay Cranberry Co., of Junction City, Wisconsin, and the Remington Cranberry Co., of Necedah, Wisconsin, to conduct a preliminary round of data collection using the prototype sensing device. Located in the heart of cranberry country in Central Wisconsin, both farms are members of the Ocean Spray cooperative.

A substantial portion of Tilberg's job is working directly with growers on everything from nutrient and pest management to fruit quantity and quality. He says growers easily would be able to use the device to scan an entire cranberry bed.

"They want to know what areas of their beds produce higher or lower yields, and why that is," says Tilberg. "Accurately mapping the bed gives us a starting point."

With 21,000 acres of cranberry bogs in 20 counties, Wisconsin is the nations top cranberry producer, growing more than half of all cranberries in the world. Credit: UWMadison video

Ocean Spray has a longstanding research relationship with UWMadison. Tilberg also collaborates closely with cranberry geneticist Juan Zalapa, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research geneticist and UWMadison associate professor of horticulture who also helped to inform the cranberry-counting device's development. Zalapa's aim is to develop new cranberry varieties that offer increased yield; improved quality, taste and nutritional content; and better response to factors such as extreme weather, insects and disease pressure.

"We have to select from thousands and thousands of genotype clones," says Zalapa. "We identify promising ones by collecting yield and quality data."

Zalapa's living laboratory consists of hundreds of 5-by-5-foot cranberry plots, all of which annually require a crew of 10 people many daysor even weeksto hand-harvest and count fruit. He says the new technology could be a huge boon not only for his research, but for the industry as a whole.

"I'm very interested because this will greatly impact the development of new varieties," Zalapa says. "Cranberry growers don't all plant one and the same variety, but there are many choices and this kind of technology can help growers adopt new varieties or pick multiple varieties that can be sustainable and produce well in their particular operation. It would really change my work and change the industry for yield-prediction purposes."

Using the data he collected in fall 2017, Haufler now is optimizing the algorithms used to convert the measured microwave signals into estimates of cranberry numbers and improving the technology so it's ready for another round of testing in 2018.

For that phase, the team is planning to attach the device to a boom, or long cabled beam, that extends 80 feet out over a cranberry bed.

"If we can attach this microwave sensing unit to the boom, we'd be able to stop at multiple areas across the bed and take measurements," says Tilberg. "We could take as many measurements as we wanted, and we'd be able to accurately estimate yield across the entire marsh."

Ultimately, says Hagness, the goal is to transfer the technology directly into the hands of the people who will benefit from it.

"I think there's a mechanism down the road for this to be accessible to any grower," she says.
Cow and calf in hail storm on Alberta ranch by Colby Stopa. Credit: CC by 2.0

Alberta's predator compensation program offsets costs of conserving wildlife habitat on private lands in the province.

"Our research shows that private ranchlands provide important habitats for carnivorous wildlife, including wolves, cougars, bears and eagles," explained Mark Boyce, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Alberta Conservation Association Chair in Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Alberta.

In Alberta, where there is no system that incentivizes ranchers to maintain wildlife habitat, the compensation program plays an important role in offsetting costs for ranchers.

For the study, researchers reviewed nearly 4,500 claims from 2000 to 2016. Results showed that the distribution of ungulate hunters on private lands is highly correlated with predator compensation claims, indicating depredation occurs on private lands that contain important habitat for wildlife.

"While compensation programs don't prevent the death of livestock, they do effectively support the maintenance of wildlife habitat on private lands," said Boyce. "In short, the predator compensation program is a good idea, because it supports wildlife in Alberta."

A simple model

The compensation program is simple. When livestock such as cattle are killed by wolves, cougars, eagles or bears, ranchers receive payment for the market value of the animal. "In other provinces, predator compensation is a subsidy from provincial agriculture agencies," explained Boyce. In Alberta, the majority of funds come from the Alberta Conservation Association, funded partly by revenue from hunting and fishing licences.

Researchers also identified a substantial increase in compensation claims in the last 20 years. Boyce explained this is due to an increase in the wolf population, responsible for about 70 per cent of livestock deaths tracked in the program. The cost of the compensation program also rose during this time, bringing the amount paid in 2015-16 to nearly $800,000 from less than $100,000 in 2000.

Though ownership of the compensation program has shifted hands a number of times during the last 25 years, one thing is clear: the program contributes to maintaining wildlife habitats on private lands in Alberta.

"Predator compensation requires a sustainable, forward-thinking funding model," said Boyce.

The paper, "Coexistence With Large Carnivores Supported by a Predator-Compensation Program," was published in Environmental Management.

More information: Andrea T. Morehouse et al. Coexistence with Large Carnivores Supported by a Predator-Compensation Program, Environmental Management (2018). DOI: 10.1007/s00267-017-0994-1 Journal information: Environmental Management
An international science team has developed an innovative therapeutic complex based on multi-layer polymer nano-structures of superoxide dismutase (SOD). The new substance can be used to effectively rehabilitate patients after acute spinal injuries, strokes, and heart attacks. Credit: NUST MISIS

An international science team has developed an innovative therapeutic complex based on multi-layer polymer nanostructures of superoxide dismutase (SOD). The new substance can be used to effectively rehabilitate patients after acute spinal injuries, strokes, and heart attacks.

One of the most devastating forms of trauma to the human body is a spinal cord injury, a serious clinical problem around the globe. In addition to the direct damage to nerve fibers, subsequent problems like the overproduction of free radicals and inflammation also pose serious risk.

Spinal cord injuries, strokes and cardiac arrest are caused by impacts, ruptured blood vessels and tissue necrosis. When blood arteries contract or become clogged inside an organ's adjacent tissues, this leads to hypoxia, a pathological process linked with oxygen shortages. This factor blocks the final link of the respiratory chain at the cellular level and creates an excessive number of so-called free radicals or active forms of oxygen. They, in turn, destroy cellular membranes and initiate a sequence of reactions that damage and destroy body cells and tissues. These complications damage the spinal cord still further and kill neurons, making the clinical picture even more complicated.

An international team of scientists from Russia and the United States, organized by Maxim Abakumov, the head of the NUST MISIS Biomedical Nanomaterials Laboratory, has identified a solution to the problem of the pathological formation of free radicals in cases of spinal injuries or strokes. An innovative therapeutic complex based on synthesized nanoparticle antioxidants will help to create an effective rehabilitation system. The research results were recently published in the Journal of Controlled Release.

A special ferment/antioxidant called superoxide dismutase (SOD1) acts as an effective agent that naturally absorbs free radicals. If delivered quickly enough to a damaged organ, it can mitigate the stressful oxidization process caused by an excessive number of free radicals, and hence stop the process of tissue destruction. However, it is unstable in the bloodstream during intravenous injections, disintegrating quickly and failing to neutralize free radicals on time.

"In order to create a stable therapeutic complex based on the SOD1 substance, we developed catalytically active forms of superoxide dismutase, or nanozymes. For example, we obtained the SOD1 poly-ion complex for the first time in history. This complex features additional poly (amino acid) block co-polymers and PEG/poly-glutamine acid acting as a surface cover," said Maxim Abakumov, project co-author, Head of NUST MISIS' Biomedical Nanomaterials Laboratory.

This made it possible to develop a porous polymer capsule measuring between 40-50 nanometers. It acts as a reusable trap that not only absorbs but also neutralizes free radicals. "We developed nanozymes with high fermentative activity levels that can preserve and protect SOD1 compounds in physiological conditions. This increases the circulation time of active SOD1 compounds inside the bloodstream, as compared to free SOD1 molecules. The substance's half-life increased from six to 60 minutes," Abakumov said.

A research team headed by the University of North Carolina Professor Alexander Kabanov obtained encouraging laboratory results during experimental tests. A single intravenous nanozyme injection containing 5,000 equivalent SOD1 units per one kilogram of body weight sped up the restoration of kinetic functions in rats with moderate spinal cord injuries. Swelling/edema was reduced, the spinal cord contracted, and post-traumatic cysts formed.

The successful test of the SOD1 ferment's nanozymes on rodents proves that it can effectively eliminate free radicals, reduce swelling and edema levels, and more quickly rehabilitate patients after spinal cord injuries, strokes or cardiac arrest. Team members are set to launch pre-clinical tests in the near future.

More information: N.V. Nukolova et al, Multilayer polyion complex nanoformulations of superoxide dismutase 1 for acute spinal cord injury, Journal of Controlled Release (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2017.11.044 Journal information: Journal of Controlled Release

Provided by National University of Science and Technology MISIS
Credit: University of Queensland

Tiger sharks appear to be genetically monogamous  and it could be putting the species at risk.

University of Queensland research has found tiger sharks differ from many other sharks in that they don't use multiple paternity as a reproductive strategy.

UQ researcher Dr. Bonnie Holmes said multiple paternity occurred when a single litter of offspring was fertilised by multiple males, resulting in pups from the same brood having different fathers  which may ultimately increase the genetic diversity of a species.

Dr. Holmes said it was previously believed this was a wide-spread reproductive strategy among sharks, with half-siblings born at the same time.

"The DNA of 112 tiger shark pups from Cairns, Rainbow Beach and the Gold Coast was tested to see if they had different fathers," Dr. Holmes said.

"Surprisingly, all pups in each litter appeared to have the same father, except one."

Dr. Holmes said this provided critical information for managing the sustainability of tiger sharks globally.

"It is the first genetic assessment of the reproductive strategy of these sharks," she said.

"On the Australian east coast, the species is targeted heavily in shark control operations, recreational game fishing activities and commercial fishing operations.

"Tiger sharks in this region may have a reduced capacity to withstand significant fishing pressure, compounded by a reproductive strategy that may make them more vulnerable to loss of genetic diversity and reductions in effective population size."

Dr. Holmes said successful mating in sharks might depend on the rate of encounter between potential mates.

"Because tiger sharks roam widely, multiple mating is probably less common as they are less likely to encounter a member of the same species."

She said further studies of tiger shark litters were required to corroborate the findings.

"Although multiple paternity is widely accepted as a common reproductive strategy in elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and skates), the frequency and prevalence may vary between species and populations.

"If multiple paternity does occur in tiger sharks, it does so at extremely low frequencies within litters."

The research is published in Royal Society Open Science.

More information: Lack of multiple paternity in the oceanodromous tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Royal Society Open Science, rsos.royalsocietypublishing.or  /10.1098/rsos.171385 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science
Empa's sweat torso ejects precisely defined quantities of liquid through a large number of small nozzles during the experiments. Credit: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Empa's sweat torso now meets the ISO standard. How protective clothing affects the human body can be investigated in future with Empa's torso in a standardized way.

If a firefighter enters a burning building in full gear, the heat of the fire must not harm him. Appropriate protective clothing protects the wearer from burns, but at the same time it must enable him/her to compensate for the high ambient temperatures by sweating. The human skin produces around two liters of sweat per hour under these extreme conditions. However, if the evaporated sweat accumulates inside the clothing, this will jeopardize the cooling effect. At the same time, the clothing protects the wearer less effectively due to the increased thermal conductivity of the trapped water vapor. Clothing for such extreme applications must thus transport liquid from the inside to the outside in a particularly efficient manner.

But how can we find out whether or not a firefighter's jacket supports the physiological needs of the wearer? The sweat torso developed by Empa researchers in St. Gallen some time ago provides precise data that can be used to record physiological parameters for protective clothing. The column-like apparatus is located in a climatic chamber, which can simulate various stressful situations for the human body by varying room temperature and humidity. Depending on the question, the torso ejects precisely defined quantities of liquid through a large number of small nozzles during the experiments.

If the torso now wears a protective jacket to be tested, it is possible to predict exactly how the clothing will affect the wearer  without having to send a firefighter into a burning house. The more moisture accumulates inside the garment, the worse the result will be. The method developed at Empa will become an ISO standard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) this spring. This means that, for the first time, a standardized assessment of the physiological effects of protective clothing on the human body will now be available. Due to the new standard, quality classes can be created for clothing of this kind, which can then be adopted as product standards in the trade.
Hawaii's False Alarm Leads to Changes in Emergency Communication Systems

On Saturday, people in Hawaii received an emergency notification warning of an imminent nuclear missile attack.

For nearly an entire hour on Saturday, the people of Hawaii prepared for the worst. Parents called their children, students ran for the nearest underground shelter and families hid in their bathtubs and basements after receiving an emergency notification from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HEMA) that a "ballistic missile threat" was inbound to the state.

Thirty-eight minutes later, they received another notification. This time, the message informed Hawaiians that the missile threat was a "false alarm."

In the hours after the false alarm notification, HEMA explained the whole ordeal was a simple mistake made by an employee during a shift change.

On Sunday, Federal Communications Commissions Chairman Ajit Pai called the false alert, "absolutely unacceptable" and said a full investigation was "well underway."

"Based on the information we have collected so far, it appears that the government of Hawaii did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert," Pai said in a statement. "Federal, state and local officials throughout the country need to work together to identify any vulnerabilities to false alerts and do what's necessary to fix them. We also must ensure that corrections are issued immediately in the event that a false alarm goes out."

Wireless emergency alerts are typically dispatched during emergency situations - to warn the public of dangerous weather, missing children, and security threats - and are a partnership of the FCC, FEMA and the wireless industry. While the FCC establishes rules and regulations surrounding emergency alerting, responsibility for sending those messages typically falls to emergency management officials, according to The Washington Post.

The situation on Saturday was worsened when Hawaii officials realized that there was no system in place at the state emergency agency for correcting the error. The state agency had standing permission through FEMA to use civil warning systems to send out the missile alert, but not to send out a subsequent false alarm notification.
Catching up with Vans Shop Riot 2017 UK winners Skate Warehouse  a day out in Devon with Aaron Jago, Alex Decunha and Adam Keats.

The UK leg of Vans 2017 Shop Riot event took place in Hull over the final weekend of July. Despite the sweltering summer heat and never-ending pints of free locally brewed ale courtesy of the guys at Atom Beers, the level of skating was at an undeniable all time high. Shop crews from all over the country descended upon Rock City Skatepark to get involved with the proceedings, with teams from the likes of Rollersnaks, Division 24, Black Sheep, Ideal, The House, Fifty Fifty, Skate Pharmacy, Slick Willies and more all putting in sterling performances, though it was ultimately Devons Skate Warehouse that found themselves occupying the top spot on the Shop Riot podium, earning themselves 1500 and an all expenses paid trip to the finals in Holland a few months later.

In November, the three man wrecking crew of Aaron Jago, Adam Keats and Alex Decunha found themselves heading to Area 51 Skatepark in Holland for the 2017 Shop Riot finals where they did it all again. After a weekend of hammering out video part level tricks in a contest environment, Skate Warehouse were kept off the top spot by Skate Boutique, but returned back home with a second place win under their collective belt, beating the likes of Titus, Street Market, Clockwise, Welcome (the Madrid one) and Flame Shop in the process.

As 2018 slowly kicked into action, we decided to head to Devon and catch up with Skate Warehouses ever productive trio to find out what they made of their Shop Riot experience in 2017, find out their hopes for 2018, and get a session in at Prime Skatepark in Plymouth.

Check the edit now, then have a scroll below for the photos

Photos by CJ, video by Ryan Gray.
One of Paul Haggis anonymous accusers has penned a column in the Hollywood Reporter, denying claims that the Church of Scientology is behind her allegations and explaining why she came forward in the way that she did.

The womanone of three who spoke to the Associated Press after Haggis countersued rape accuser Haleigh Breest, alleging her experience lined up with their ownsaid that she had never intended to share the story of her almost-assault publicly, even post-Weinstein, but felt compelled when she heard Haggis was suing another accuser for defamation.

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Outraged, I read the horrifying details of this womans story. She wasnt as fortunate; she didnt get away. I couldnt let this woman battle this serial predator and bully alone. I decided to speak out.

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The writer alleges that she was assaulted by Haggis at work in the late 2000s, when he told her I need to be inside you, before forcibly grabbing her. The AP account adds that this took place during a one-on-one pitch meeting in Haggis office, and when she tried to flee, Haggis pursued her. (Haggis has denied the anonymous misconduct claims).

The anti-Scientology movement has attempted to portray the writer and her fellow accusers as part of a Scientology conspiracy targeting Haggis because he is a prominent former memberand therefore enemyof Scientology. In a blog post on Mike Rinders website, he and Scientology and the Aftermath co-host Leah Remini suggested that the anonymous accusations have been concocted from files the group keeps on its members:

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We expect the next revelations about Paul Haggis in this campaign to destroy him to be based on information culled from his scientology files in the form of more anonymous accusers, hiding behind a lawyer who will never have to disclose who is paying their bill.

In the Hollywood Reporter column, the accuser clarified why she came forward anonymously, adding that anonymity didnt make her story any less true:

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I solicited advice from every communications expert I know. Each one urged me to hide my identity. They said Haggis could sue me, just like his first rape accuser. They said my job would be affected and asked whether I wanted my name forever linked to his. They warned me that Haggis would use his powerful friends to denounce us, which is precisely what he has done. I decided using my name would be too much. By speaking anonymously, I could help protect other women and still protect myself.

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She wrote that the Scientology claims were offensive and false, and called out Remini for trying to silence her fellow women:

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I have no connection with Scientology or its practitioners. For those people  including actress Leah Remini  who have stated publicly that all of Haggis accusers are part of a Scientology conspiracy, shame on you. Isnt now the time to be listening to your sisters? Such baseless statements attempt to silence all of us and the entire #MeToo movement.

While very few men have acknowledged the harassment allegations against them are true, Haggis and his defenders have been exceptionally aggressive in painting his accusers as lying, profit-seeking, and maliciously motivated. Haggis behavior, added the nameless columnist, has only confirmed that remaining anonymous was the correct decision.

Many have questioned accusers rights to make claims anonymously, but there is no reason why women shouldnt be allowed to protect their identities and themselves, assuming their claims are reported by journalists who have corroborated their storieseven when accusing prominent enemies of Scientology.
Scotland Yard has confirmed that it is investigating yet another complaint of sexual assault against actor Kevin Spacey. In a statement to Variety, Londons Metropolitan police service said that on 13 December we received an allegation that the man sexually assaulted a man (Victim 3) in 2005 in Westminster. Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating. This is the third such complaint against Spacey to Scotland Yard; two others regard alleged assaults in 2005 and 2008.

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Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp was the first to publicly accuse Spacey, alleging that Spacey had made an advance when Rapp was 14 years old. (Spacey responded by saying that he did not remember the encounter but did apologize for inappropriate drunken behavior.) The accusations have since multiplied, with the Old Vic theater in London, where Spacey served as artistic director, receiving at least 20 new reports of Spaceys inappropriate behavior.

The allegations against Spacey led director Ridley Scott to reshoot his film All the Money in the World, which was released late last year, to replace Spacey with actor Christopher Plummer.
In an article for New York magazine that went viral on Friday, Andrew Sullivan joined a chorus of voices urging women to prevent the #MeToo movement from spinning out of control. It is at least the second pre-emptive war hes attempted to enlist his readers in, and it promises to be as futile as the last. Still, his timing was prescient. A month or so ago, a friend and I mulled over when exactly the backlash to the then-peaking #MeToo moral panic would set in, he wrote. Mid-January, we guessed, and sure enough here we are.

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He was referring mostly to a controversial upcoming Harpers article about allegations of misconduct in media, but one might as well fold in the backlash that has greeted the article about Aziz Ansari that recently ran in the online publication Babe. The piece, which features an account of a date with Ansari from a young woman pseudonymously called Grace, is long and graphic in its description of behavior thatwhile absent the workplace power dynamics that have characterized stories about the serial predations of Harvey Weinstein or Matt Lauerwas still, according to Grace, unsettling and even assaultive. (In a response, Ansari stated that the sexual encounter by all indications was completely consensual.) Almost immediately after its publication, a flurry of critics furiously insisted not only that Graces story should never have been told, but that Graces telling of it was morally monstrous, perhaps more so even than Ansaris behavior.

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On Monday, Ashleigh Banfield, an anchor for Headline News, a network defined by prosecutorial hysteria, accused Grace of recklessly destroying Ansaris career and chisel[ing] away at the #MeToo movements gains for women in the workplace. What exactly is your beef? she asked. That you had a bad date with Aziz Ansari? Is that what victimized you to the point of seeking a public conviction? And a career-ending sentence against him? Is that truly what you thought he deserved for your night out? In closing, Banfield intoned severely that what Ansari deserved was not a Hollywood blackball but rather a bad case of blue balls.

To argue that young women are somehow incapable of making fine distinctions is to argue that young women are droolingly stupid.

This followed a piece in the Atlantic on Sunday titled The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari by Caitlin Flanagan. In it, she laments how weak and diffident young women have become in the face of male aggression since around the time of the Falklands War. Apparently there is a whole country full of young women who dont know how to call a cab, and who have spent a lot of time picking out pretty outfits for dates they hoped would be nights to remember, she huffs at the end. This sentiment is joined to the rather astonishing suggestion that criticism of Ansari might be racially motivated, a contract kill by a hit squad of privileged young white women. Twenty-four hours agothis is the speed at which we are now operatingAziz Ansari was a man whom many people admired and whose work, although very well paid, also performed a social good, she wrote. He was the first exposure many young Americans had to a Muslim man who was aspirational, funny, immersed in the same culture that they are. Now he has beenin a professional senseassassinated, on the basis of one womans anonymous account.

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It would indeed be tragic if Grace hadin a professional sensefatally shot without reason the only good young Muslim man in America as he was riding through town in an open convertible, but that isnt precisely what has happened here. As of about noon Tuesday, Ansari has yet to face any professional consequences whatsoever for Graces disclosure. That could well change, and if it does, we can surely expect more caterwauling from similarly minded critics. They would do well to read another piece in the Atlantic titled To Hell With the Witch Hunt Debate, a refreshing rebuttal to warnings that #MeToo could bring about a sex panic that would subsume good men for breathing in the general direction of malevolent and vindictive women, of which there are apparently many. In the America of earlier generations, the author noted, one thing that silenced women who wanted to report unwanted sexual acts was how important it was not to damage a mans career, his reputation, his family. A shrewd observation made, the byline says, by one Caitlin Flanagan.

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Flanagans about-face about Grace, like other emerging critiques of the story, elides many of the details of her account to paint a picture of a not-quite-abnormal awkward, fumbling evening. This happens most egregiously and predictably in a Monday op-ed in the New York Times by Bari Weiss, which will, for many thousands of people, be the authoritative rendering of what happened:

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Mr. Ansari persistently tried to have penetrative sex with her, and Grace says she was deeply uncomfortable throughout. At various points, she told the reporter, she attempted to voice her hesitation, and that Mr. Ansari ignored her signals. At last, she uttered the word no for the first time during their encounter, to Mr. Ansaris suggestion that they have sex in front of a mirror. He said:  How about we just chill, but this time with our clothes on?  They got dressed, sat on the couch and watched Seinfeld. She said to him: You guys are all the same. He called her an Uber. She cried on the way home. Fin.

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The following hews closer to what was actually reported: Grace tells the reporter that, after initially engaging Ansari in oral sex, she squirmed and pushed him awayeven getting up and moving elsewhere in the apartment at multiple pointsas Ansari continued to follow her, grope her, and move her hand toward his penis. At one point she collected herself in the restroom and returned to tell Ansari that she didnt want to feel forced. Ansari didnt relent for long, and she performed oral sex on him again before he rammed his penis against her ass in front of a mirror and asked her how she wanted to be penetrated. At this point, Grace says she said no, I dont think Im ready to do this. As Weiss relates, Ansari then asks Grace if shed like to relax, clothed, on the couch and they do. But in a section of the text completely omitted from Weiss retelling, Ansari then tries to kiss her, undo her pants, and stick his fingers down her throatall after shes said no to him firmly and clearly. She curses men, and Ansari, were told, tries to force kisses on her again after shes turned away.

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The title of Weiss piece is Aziz Ansari is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader. Deducing that a visibly uncomfortable woman whos rebuffed sex physically and verbally might not, in fact, want your fist in their mouth is evidently an act of clairvoyance. This is the rhetoric of female inscrutability. On the one hand, Ansari might have thought, Grace seemed distraught and rejected his advances. On the other, she hadnt Maced him or run away screaming. This is a mixed signal.

The main concern of Weiss and the others is that weve crossed a new threshold, where men who engage in minor sexual misbehavior, however uncomfortable they may be, are publicly scorned and ostracized just like the obviously worse men who have been in the headlines since the fall. Lumping Ansari in with the same movement that brought down men who ran movie studios and forced themselves on actresses, or the factory floor supervisors who demanded sex from women workers, Weiss admonishes, trivializes what #MeToo first stood for. But Grace did nothing of the sort. While the piece makes clear that she considered Ansari assaultive, it says that Grace compares Ansaris sexual mannerisms to those of a horny, rough, entitled 18-year-old a disappointment, given Ansaris public persona as a sensitive, empathetic voice on dating and gender relations. At no point does she suggest hes a Weinsteinher behavior during the encounter can be read, really, as her trying desperately not to think the worst of himand youll be hard-pressed to find anyone, since the pieces publication, who seriously has. A Vox article on Graces encounter argues its worthy of discussion precisely because it was ordinary. A piece at Bustle says that Ansari, like the titular character of the viral short story Cat Person, was not a bad man, but rather blind to or unwilling to acknowledge, in his eagerness, signs of discomfort.

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The responses to wrongs we see and understand now must be tempered to prevent a bloodbath against the innocent that is perpetually on the cusp of arriving.

Those pieces have come in the wake of what Weiss calls digital hosannas by young feminists, who insisted that consent is only consent if it is affirmative, active, continuous and [] enthusiastic. As she suggests, these standards would implicate perhaps most men in misconduct that until recently would simply have been characterized as bad sex. But thats precisely the point. A sexual culture in which it is deemed all right for women not to be affirmative and enthusiastic partners in sex is a culture that enables sexual coercion. Id argue that these young feminists dont want to criminalize all dubiously consensual encounters, as Weiss alleges, but rather subject them to criticism. In the cases of public figures like Ansari, that criticism will inevitably be public; it seems hard to remember now, but the standard for reporting bad or unflattering behavior by celebrities has not typically been a dozen or so alleged cases of assault.

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A detailed expose about uncomfortable sex with a prominent comedian wouldve been published by gossip mags 10, 20, or 30 years ago, albeit in a different cultural milieu and without speculation from people like Weiss about the torching of a reputation for all time. Graces critics dont bother offering explanations as to why theyre so certain Ansari is finished, which is emblematic of the reactionary impulse. According to this line of thinking, any significant changeagainst racism or sexism, in the interest of this or that previously unrecognized and disadvantaged minoritymay bring about some grand and catastrophic upheaval. The responses to wrongs we see and understand now must be tempered to prevent a bloodbath against the innocent that is perpetually on the cusp of arriving.

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These narratives obliterate the very nuance they call for. Last week, television showrunner Dan Harmon issued a heartfelt, self-conscious, and candid apology for serially harassing one of his former writers, Megan Ganz. Ganz not only accepted Harmons apology, but urged others to read it as a model of earnest and deep contrition. Search all youd like for any reference to this episode in Weiss or any of the other recent declamations against power-mad feminists gone wild. You will not find it.

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It is true that women are being made to reckon with the fact that most of the men in their lives, including many they like and love, have behaved badly by the standards of an emerging sexual culture. It is obvious they cannot all be thrown into exile. To argue that young women, speaking as broadly and generally as #MeToo critics have, are somehow incapable of understanding this and making fine distinctions is to argue that young women are droolingly stupid. It seems like its own kind of misogyny. It is likely, even probable, that misjudgments and miscalculations will be made in a few cases. There is a difference between suggesting caution about this and implying that this generation of young women has the characteristics of a rampaging mob.

It is by no means clear what were all to do with a man like Ansari. But one thing is for certain: if #MeToo is to be a movement that merely indicts the worst of the worst, then we might as well start winding it down. It will never, then, be truly useful to the vast majority of women who have not been preyed upon by millionaire moguls promising them roles or bosses who can lock doors from their desks.
Danny Lavery is online weekly to chat live with readers. Heres an edited transcript of this weeks chat.

To get advice from Prudie:

 Send questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)

 Join the live chat Mondays at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the discussion.

 Call the voicemail of the Dear Prudence podcast at 401-371-DEAR (3327) to hear your question answered on a future episode of the show.

Q. Should I be more embarrassed?: My husband and I dont have kids or pets. Wed love both or either but we havent been blessed, so we sort of started a game of pretend with a beloved stuffed animal. It started as a joke, but four years later, our stuffed animal has a personality, talks, and even has a fleshed-out backstory.

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We both know she isnt alive, nor do we wish her to be, but I feel like this is something I should hide from others even though were not doing anything that weird. Or is it super weird for adults to anthropomorphize a teddy bear? Why cant I continue to play my harmless game without guilt? Is this the most pathetic letter ever?

A: This is at worst harmless and at best charming and enjoyable! All adults play various games of pretend. This particular game sounds playful, self-aware, and like it brings you both joy.

Its also perfectly reasonable to want to keep it relatively private, in much the same way that the voice I use to address my 14-year-old spaniel when we are alone in the house is not the same voice I use to answer a phone call or record the Dear Prudence podcast. There is nothing wrong with the voice I use to speak affectionately to my dog, but its a very particular sort of voice thats only appropriate under very specific circumstances.

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As for your more general questionhumans anthropomorphize everything. There are blogs devoted to cataloging houses that sort of look like faces! This is a completely average impulse, and its not a sign that you and your husband have an arrested emotional development or need to channel your energies elsewhere. You are fine!

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Q. Son wont have children: We are concerned our only son isnt having children. Every time we bring it up with him, he seems to have a new excuse. Recently when we tried to discuss this with our daughter-in-law directly, she said her high-powered career would be severely impacted if she didnt plan child-bearing carefully because she doesnt get paid parental leave at her workplace. We tried to encourage her by saying that she doesnt even need to work since our son is very successful and we have considerable means. This seems to have offended her greatly. How do we convince them that we only want them to be happy?

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A: A great way to convince your children that you want them to be happy is to stop directly contributing to their unhappiness by repeatedly badgering them about their life choices and assuming you know what will make them happy better than they do.

Apologize to your son for pressing the issue, take his excuses at face valuewhat you consider excuses may be, to him, excellent reasons to delay or avoid having children altogetherand apologize to your daughter-in-law for presuming she should quit her job and have children simply because you would find it convenient, and then drop the subject entirely. You have forfeited the right to ask innocently about whether or not theyre planning on having children because you have repeatedly failed to do so politely, respectfully, and appropriately.

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Q. I think my dad is forcing me to commit fraud: I moved out of my parents house almost two years ago and bought new car insurance at my new address that same month. My dad immediately advised me to add my sister, who still lives at home, to my policy to save us both money, and I didnt think anything of it at the time because my dad has always handled my financial planning. Now he wants me to add an additional car that will be driven primarily by her fiance, who lives at a third address, without actually adding him as a driver.

I asked my dad outright if this was fraudhe said no. Everything Ive found through a cursory Google search disagrees. Im angry that my dad is being so cavalier about the risks to my record, but theres no way for me to clarify the legalities without tipping off my insurance provider. What should I do?

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A: Dont add the additional car, and have your sisters name removed from your insurance policy (its possible that Im missing something, but Im not sure how adding your sister to your policy saved you both money, so much as it saved your father money). In the future, do not take financial advice from your father.

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Q. Retirement: I am lucky enough to be looking at early retirement. I have grand plans to travel and not sit at home babysitting. I love my grandchildren wholeheartedly. My daughters kids are old enough to take care of themselves while my sons children are infants. His wife and I dont see eye to eye. She has firm opinions on parenting practices, which I dont share, but I learned from my wonderful mother-in-law that the best gifts you can give to your in-laws are an open door and sealed lips.

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My daughter-in-law does not share this view. She loves to dictate how other peoples homes should be run, from meals to cleaning products. Now that my retirement is coming up, she has been making noises about Grandma bonding with the grandbabies, meaning they want to stop paying for their expensive day care by making me do it for free. If it were an emergency situation I would be happy to help, but it isnt.

I know it will end in tears. How do I head off this situation without offending my daughter-in-law? My son is useless as a go-between and my relationship with both of them is very delicate; I have no desire to wreck it.

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A: There are definitely situations where its possible, even desirable, to finesse a nonanswer or arrive at some sort of diplomatic compromisethis is not one of those situations. The worst possible outcome here is not that you say No upon being asked to open a day care and your daughter-in-law throws a tantrum. The worst possible outcome is one where you end up giving in despite your misgivings because your daughter-in-law tries to make your life miserable until you say yes, and then things go badly (as you know they will) because she wants both free child care and the right to micromanage the manner in which you provide it.

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If your daughter-in-law is a steamroller and your son is useless, then it falls to you to become the cheerful-yet-firm enforcer of the word no. No, that doesnt work for me. No, Im not able to do that. No, Im going to travel during my retirement. You dont need to provide justification or furnish arguments as to why you dont want to become a full-time child care provider after you retire; you simply need to say No and let the chips fall where they may.

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Its possible that all your daughter-in-law ever does is make noise about having you replace their expensive day care service (its always charming when someone phrases something that would benefit them as if it is something that you secretly want or need, like shes doing you a favor in giving you grandma bonding time by asking you to provide her with free, daily child care). If she never asks you directly, then thats a bullet well-dodged. But if she does, I dont see a way for you to head off any sort of conflict, because you absolutely have to say no.

Q. Cousins, not siblings: About three years ago, my parents became guardians for two of my cousins, ages 2 and 4. They soon started calling my parents mom and dad. Thats completely fine by me, as my parents stepped into their parental roles. However, my parents also started insisting I refer to them as my brother and sister, and I cant do that.

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I have been living out of state for years and I have no basis for referring to my cousins as my siblings. I expressed this view to my mother once and she was extremely upset with me and told me I was wrong, making light of family ties. I dont see it that way at all, and I feel its healthy to refer to family members correctly. The children know that my parents are actually their aunt and uncle, so its not even like theyre trying to keep it secret. My cousins are not adopted, and may end up moving back in with their biological parents eventually.

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I get my cousins gifts, celebrate special events with them, and theyre included in all family photos. When I got married, I didnt make an issue of it when my mom insisted that my cousins be in all of my wedding photographs involving immediate family, and theyre front and center even though I would have preferred an actual immediate family photo.

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I do my best to treat my cousins the same as I treat my siblings, so am I being selfish to refuse to call them my brother and sister?

A: If your parents had suddenly had late-in-life biological children, those children would still be your siblings, even if you did not grow up together or consider yourself especially close to them. Your parents have stepped into their parental roles with your cousins; they are now, in every sense, your cousins mother and father. Even a pedant can see that; as your cousins are now your parents children, they are also your siblings. Its not incorrect to refer to them as such, and you are of course free to clarify with your own friends the slightly unconventional way in which you came to acquire two new siblings a few years back.

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You say that you do your best to treat your cousins the same as your biological siblings, but its very clear from your letter that you consider this a temporary and inconvenient arrangementyou didnt make an issue when your parents asked to have the children theyve been raising for three years included in a family photo. It doesnt sound like your parents are asking you to treat your youngest siblings the same way you treat the ones you grew up with, or that theyre asking you to refer to anyone incorrectly. I think you have a real opportunity to let something relatively unimportant go here, and you should take it!

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Q. Regret: I got pregnant 10 years ago and let my husband pressure me into carrying it to term. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I never bonded with my daughter. I listened to my mother, the nurses, my doulathe bliss, the love, the affection was never there. I looked at my baby and only saw a greedy, grasping nightmare and I hated myself more for feeling that way. I went to work as soon as I was able and got a live-in nanny.

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I tried asking for help from my husband and mother once. They tried to pass it off as postpartum depression because only a monster could not love her child. I tried going to a therapist twice, only to get a similar reaction. My husband left without looking back when our daughter was 4. I offered him physical custody, he declined. He moved away and skipped seeing her except on holidays and for a week during the summer.

He remarried last year in a big production. His new wife seemed to genuinely want my daughter, at least until she got pregnant. Now they have scheduling conflicts when his turn comes around. My daughter hasnt seen her father in six months. My mother and our housekeeper do most of the heavy raising with my daughter. My work involves a lot of travel, often weeks at a time. I try to play the part of attentive motherI talk to my daughter over the phone or Skype, make notes on important events at school, remember the names of friends, et cetera.

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My daughter, by all accounts, is a healthy, happy child. I am terrified of screwing her up. I tell her that I love her back when she says I love you, Mommy and it is completely devoid of any emotion. I am numb. I cant see a light at the end of this tunnel. Maybe you can. I dont know what to do. Please help me.

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A: Lets start by taking a look at all the things youre doing right. Youve developed a shared child care/housework arrangement between your mother, your housekeeper, and yourself that seems to be working right now. Your child is doing well in school and you two, while not the closest mother-daughter pair, talk regularly and have positive interactions, and youre involved in the workings of her daily life. You behave lovingly toward her even though you did not want to become a parent and dont feel an emotional connection with her. Frankly, if youre terrified of screwing her up, thats a pretty significant indicator that you do care for her. You may not feel a rush of emotionalism when you think about her or want to be a stay-at-home parent, but you care deeply about her well-being and dont want her to come to harmthats a very real sort of love. Theres a lot of good here. That doesnt mean that your anxieties arent justified, or that your daughter isnt already aware on some level that you dont feel warmth and affectionate toward her, but I think youre being much harder on yourself than you need to be.

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When it comes to making sure your ex-husband is holding up his end of your custody agreement, I think your best bet is to consult with your divorce lawyer and figure out what options are available to you. I also think, even though youve been burned before, you should seek out a new therapist and be very clear from the outset that you want to be able to discuss the fact that you dont have strong, loving feelings for your daughter, and are looking for strategies to manage your feelings of distance, detachment, and guilt while also remaining a stable, involved presence in her life. You have the right to get therapeutic support without judgment. Hiring nannies and housekeepers and getting your mother to help (as long as shes willing and able) are perfectly legitimate things to do, and you should continue to take help where you need it. As your daughter gets older and more self-sufficient, youll be able to develop a different sort of relationship with her, one thats based less on dependence, which should go a long way toward removing that trapped feeling.

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Q. Hes engaged but wont leave me alone: I (25, female) have been seeing this guy for almost two years now. He (33, male) has a girlfriend of eight years, and they recently got engaged. I was very hurt, and I told him to leave me alone, but he wouldnt stop contacting me. He would contact me on different apps when I didnt respond.

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Over these two years, we tried to break things off multiple times, but wed end up getting back together somehow. I even moved to another country a year ago just to stay away from him because I love him too much. He was devastated when I told him that I was moving away. He texts and calls me when hes with his girlfriend even when they were going on trips together. And weve met up in various countries this year; we went to L.A., Dubai, Bali, and Hong Kong together (we were originally in Australia). He also checks on guys whom Ive gone out with and gets jealous.

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Im single and feel like Ill forever be single because of him. Does he really like me? If he likes me, then why did he get engaged? What does it mean when a guy goes through all the trouble to keep a girl in his life but then proposes to his long-term girlfriend?

A: It means hes a jerk who is going to continue to waste your time for as long as you accept his calls, agree to meet up with him, and tell him which guys youre seeing. He may like you, but he doesnt care about your well-being, and he wants to keep you constantly available to him on the side while he marries someone else. If you dont want that for your future, then it doesnt matter how far away you movethe real distance you need to set between the two of you is emotional.

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Its incredibly difficult to break a long-term habit like the one youve established with this guy, especially when youve become addicted to the inconsistent hit of attention you get from him when he reappears in your lifealternately distant and wildly jealousso ask for help from friends, family, and a therapist as you set and enforce a real no-contact limit with him and figure out how to live your life in such a way that youre not writing to me in another 10 years about your now-married boyfriend.

Q. Re: Retirement: Make plans. Loudly. Obnoxiously. Ask your daughter-in-law if she thinks Fiji is better than Tahiti. Keep the momentum moving so your daughter-in-law cant derail you. When she tries to spring the bonding with the grandbabies, play dumbI am so sorry, daughter-in-law, but I cant. Going to Fiji, remember I asked you about it a month ago!

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A: I think this is a great strategy after the original clear, direct No, but its absolutely a good idea to make your own plans for your life clear and not to simply clam up and let your daughter-in-law direct the conversation about what youre going to do with your retirement.

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Q. Is it cat stealing if the cat keeps coming back?: My landlord/neighbor has an outdoor cat who is very friendly (and has a heated outdoor house of his own). Last week it was minus 40 degrees for several days, and when I came home, the cat was sitting on my porch making strange sounds. I invited him in, thinking he may be dehydrated; he drank two bowls of water and then went to sleep on the floor.

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He hasnt left. All he wants is to sleep on the floor or couch and cuddle. I have put him outside on warmer days, but he comes back every day. I spoke to my landlord and told her where her cat was, and she said it was fine and she wasnt worried. Did I steal this cat? Or am I ethically in the clear to keep letting this cat inside?

A: If you spoke to the cats owner and shes OK with him staying with you, then by absolutely no definition have you stolen anything. You are doing fine!

Danny Lavery: Thanks, everyone! See you all next week.

If you missed Part 1 of this weeks chat, click here to read it.

Discuss this column with Dear Prudence on her Facebook page!
Danny M. Lavery is online weekly to chat live with readers. Heres an edited transcript of this weeks chat.

To get advice from Prudie:

 Send questions for publication to prudence@slate.com. (Questions may be edited.)

 Join the live chat Mondays at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the discussion.

 Call the voicemail of the Dear Prudence podcast at 401-371-DEAR (3327) to hear your question answered on a future episode of the show.

Danny M. Lavery: Good morning, gentles! Lets get cracking.

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Q. Nieces wedding and my son: My son Glenn screwed up big-time at a family wedding and its causing problems between me and my sister, Carrie.

Carries daughter got married last fall and she had an elaborate reception. Glenn had just turned 21 and unfortunately decided to take extreme advantage of the open bar. He got so drunk that he stumbled into the wedding cake table and toppled it over, then threw up on the dance floor near the bridal couple.

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Needless to say, my husband and I were mortified, hustled him out of the venue, and apologized for his behavior. The next day, Glenn also apologized in person to his cousin and her new husband. But my niece refuses to forgive him; she and her husband barely spoke to him at Christmas, and their animosity was plain to the entire family. This caused a resurrection of the ruined reception stories among the guests and it put a damper on the entire day.

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I think its time to let it all go. I know his behavior was pretty awful but hes very young, these things happen, and a reception is nothing more than a party in the end. I asked Carrie what Glenn could do to make amends and she said nothing since her daughter considers what he did to be unforgivable. I think my niece is being childish since Glenn didnt do any of this on purpose. I told Carrie that, and now were barely speaking. Im truly sorry, but I cant go back in time and change what Glenn did. What can I do to put this incident firmly in the past and get back to the close friendship my sister and I used to have?

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A: This will not be an answer you will enjoy, I dont think, but the best way forward for you is to parent your adult son a little less. Hes 21 years old, and its not your job to manage his reputation or his relationships with any of his relatives. If your niece is angry with your son, then thats between the two of them. I can imagine it feels painful to watch anyone ostracize or ignore your child, but part of the deal when it comes to having kids is that eventually they become adults with their own lives who make mistakes and deal with the resulting consequences without parental intervention.

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Of course, youre a part of this family too, and you cant act completely indifferent or impartial if your niece is angry with your son, but youre currently doing way too much on Glenns behalf. Why on earth would you ask your sister what your son could do to make amends to her daughter? Theyre not 6-year-olds fighting on the playground. They dont need direct parental intervention to resolve this. Glenn can continue to respect his cousins current need for space, figure out how to drink responsibly, work on repairing their relationship in the long run if such an opportunity ever presents itselfall on his own. Apologize to your sister for trying to manage her daughters reaction to your sons bad behavior, and then drop the subject; its not yours to litigate.

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Q. Where do I go next?: Im a senior at an Ivy League university, and I failed all my classes last semester. Now Im academically suspended and I dont know what to do. I was supposed to graduate in May, but I didnt do any of my work. I was and am paralyzed by anxiety and fear, and am in the process of being diagnosed with ADHD. In some ways its a relief, but the hardest part is that I dont know how to go about my day without this part of my identity. What do I do from here? How do I tell my friends? My parents are in anguishhow do I help them?

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A: Do not worry about helping your parents right now. They have their own friends, therapists, and emotional support networks they can turn to if theyre having a difficult time. Your only responsibility is to deal with your recent diagnosis and work on developing strategies for managing your paralysis and anxiety, whether thats medication, seeing an ADHD-specific therapist to develop time management skills and deal with self-esteem and motivation-related issues, attending a support group for other adults who share your diagnosis, or some combination thereof. At some point, if you decide to return, you should check in with your schools office for student disabilities services to learn more about what accommodations are available to you.

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I can imagine that if youve been attending an Ivy League school, you already feel plenty of achievement anxiety and pressure to constantly outdo yourself, so acknowledging failure to your friends seems daunting, if not impossible. But as you yourself point out, youre currently experiencing a sense of reliefyoure not trying to pretend that everythings fine, and youre getting treatment for something that requires it. Theres no shame in getting help when you need it. That doesnt mean you should plaster on a cheerful face and act like youre totally fine if thats not how you feel, but going through college with untreated ADHD and absolutely no support must have been terrible, and it is, in fact, very good news that you no longer have to do that. Your friends will be relieved to hear that youre no longer suffering in silence and (one hopes!) eager to support you in whatever way they can.

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It may not look like this right now, but you are doing the absolute best thing for yourself and your future in getting a diagnosis and seeking further treatment.

Q. Dont ask, dont tell: In November, my co-worker Sara experienced the horrible tragedy of her youngest childs suicide. Jeff was a nice kid, straight-A student, popular at his high school, and the last person youd ever expect to harm himself. Sara is obviously devastated, and since shes been back to work, comments frequently that if she only knew why (he didnt leave a note) that she might be able to have some closure.

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Heres my problem: Im one of the facilitators of our local PFLAG group. Jeff had been coming to our meetings for almost two years. He struggled with being gay in the beginning, but was getting more comfortable about it and was actually out to a few close friends, but not his family. Had he lived, I think he would have been able to tell them eventually.

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The other facilitator in our group knows that I work with Sara and what shes going through, and he believes that I should tell her about Jeff being in our group and being gay. But I dont think hes right. Jeff always knew he could trust me not to out him to his mother or anyone else, and I believe that I still owe him that. Plus, theres the fact that we honestly dont know if being gay was the reason he took his life. Never once in the group did he mention suicide or harming himself, and I have no idea what else might have been going on in his life.

Even though my heart breaks for Sara and I wish I could help her, I dont know that disclosing Jeffs sexual orientation to her would particularly help. And I strongly believe in the confidentiality of our group. My co-facilitator keeps insisting that since hes dead, confidentiality is no longer necessary, but I feel like I would be betraying Jeffs trust in me. What do you think?

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A: I dont see what good can come from telling your co-worker that you facilitate a PFLAG group that her son attended. As you say, you have no idea to what degree Jeffs orientation played a part in his suicide, and you do not have any answers that might provide his mother with closure as to why he may have killed himself. Moreover, it may make working together impossible if she were to think of you as someone she could go to in order to learn more about the possible inner workings of her sons mind before he died.

Im also inclined to agree that, unless you have a strong inducement, its better to respect the confidentiality of the dead. The inducement here is insufficiently strong, and you should offer Sara your compassion and support, but also recognize that there is no information you could give her that would make her sons suicide bearable.

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Q. Follow-up re: Out-of-character behavior leads to horrendous breakup: I wrote to you a few weeks ago because my boyfriend dumped me after I got drunk at a holiday party and wouldnt tell me what Id done to instigate the breakup. You rightly assessed that my life had been coming off the rails, and Im currently in the process of finding a counselor.

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Ive also discovered that during the party, I harassed and belittled my ex-boyfriends sister to the point where she broke down. Ive never liked her, and that has something to do with the fact that shes overweight and happy. One of the truths Ive had to face over the past month is that I am desperately insecure and hate people who arent. I have a deep dislike for overweight people, and Ive always told myself its because theyre ugly to look at or lazy. But I think its because of my insecurity, and I want to get rid of this disdain.

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I am still heartbroken, still raw, but I want to get better. I want to be happy. I have a really rough road ahead, and I hope I have the courage to see this through.

A: Im glad to hear that youre looking for a counselor and that youre committed to organizing your life along different principles. Its deeply sad and cruelas you seem awarethat your response to seeing happiness in another human being was to attack it on the basis of that persons weight. Although your exs sister may not be interested in hearing from you, I hope you have at least attempted to communicate how deeply sorry you are for harassing her. I wish you the best in dealing with this insecurity, not only for your own sake, but to spare any other people the pain you caused her.

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Q. Another child: My wife and I have been married for 10 years. We have a 4-year-old son, and she has a 16-year-old son by a previous marriage. She wants to have another baby girl. Shes 42, Im 49. I dont want to have any more kids, and the pressure shes putting on me is too muchshe says shell leave me and take our son with her and fight against joint physical custody, even though she knows it would be best for him and shes admitted that Im a good father.

There are many reasons I dont want more kids (health, age, money, et cetera). I tell her shes going to destroy the family she has for the family she wants, but it doesnt sink in. I dont want to have a heart attack or a stroke, or live to be blamed for her not having what she wants. What do I do?

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A: Do not have another child. If you and your wife are still having sex (it doesnt sound like you are, based on how things stand between you two emotionally, but anythings possible!) make sure you practice more than one form of birth control. See a therapist with your wife, if shes willing, but by yourself if she isnt. If she leaves you, hire a good divorce lawyer and/or mediator and pursue joint physical custody.

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But whether you and your wife stay together or not, the important thing is that you dont allow yourself to be worn down into bringing a child into the world that you dont actually want to parent.

Q. Always singled out: I am in my mid-twenties living as young professional in a major city. I feel very lucky to have good friends, a great living situation, and stability in general. Over the past year, my friends have all entered into serious relationships, including a few that have gotten engaged. I am very happy for them all.

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The only problem is that since I am (happily) single, I find myself getting excluded quite often from dinners and such. Its much easier to reserve a table for eight than nine, I suppose, but I still feel hurt by it. I have brought it up with some of my closest friends in the past and they usually laugh it off, or launch into a narrative about how I need to put myself out there, et cetera. I do not feel that I need to have a plus one in order to spend time with people that I have known and been friends with for several years.

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Are there effective conversation starters you recommend? Or do I try to come to terms with the fact that our lives will most likely part ways over this?

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A: I want to talk to you seriously about something weve discussed only briefly before. Ive told you that I miss being invited out to dinners just because Im not in a couple, and at the time you dismissed what I had to say and told me I just had to put myself out there and get a partner. I dont want to feel like I have to get a boyfriend or a girlfriend in order to stay a part of our circle of friends, and I dont think Ive made it clear to you how much hearing you say that hurt me.

If your friends are otherwise good and caring people, they may be surprised and chagrined to realize how unkind their initial response to you was, apologize, and reach out. If they continue to dismiss your concerns, then I think you should probably back off and invest in other friendships. Lots of people in their twenties and thirties encounter difficulties as some of their friends couple up and have childrenits not an uncommon challengebut its another thing entirely when your friends suggest you remove yourself from your social circle unless and until you can return as part of a couple.

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Q. Re: Where do I go next?: Underlying the writers story was the shame attached to what happened. But this happens all the time, even at Ivy League schools. I worked as a graduate assistant in a house at an Ivy League school and saw this happen on many occasions. The issue is, for ones real friends, family, and the faculty and mentors at school, your health is the No.1 concern. Nothing else matters.

But you will be able to return to school and finish your degree. The percentage of Ivy League undergraduates who take at least one semester off during their course of study is surprisingly high (it varies, but 20 percent is a good ballpark).

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A: The letter writer is absolutely not alone! This can feel like such a profound setback because college is such an all-encompassing experience, but a few years from now, its not going to matter whether the letter writer graduated in four years or five. Lots of people are in a similar boat.

Q. Broke maid of honor: A good friend of mine has just gotten engaged and has asked me to be her maid of honor. Its my first time being in a wedding, and I am very excited for her and excited to be part of the celebration.

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Heres the problem: She is supported by her fiance, who is very well-off. I know they want a destination wedding, and Im sure things like the dress and the bachelorette party are going to be expensive. I live and work in a country with a lower currency rate than where she lives, and I started my own business last year so I have almost no liquid savings at the moment. I already have a plan to start saving for her wedding, but Im worried the cost will still be too much.

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Is it acceptable to ask her fiance, whom I have only met once, if he would be willing to pay a portion of what it will cost me to be in the wedding, or is that totally inappropriate?

A: I think it makes more sense for you to talk to your friend directly, since youre her maid of honor and not her fiances. Be honest and realistic about your budget for the wedding; rather than asking for money flat-out, I think it makes more sense to say, I can budget X amount for travel, lodging, and my dress. If theres anything above and beyond that, I wont be able to participate. If its important to her that you participate in one of the many other expensive add-ons to her wedding, then she can offer to pay for it; if not, then youll have let her know early on that you cant go into debt in order to host a big blow-out bachelorette party.

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Q. Re: Dont ask, dont tell: Please dont tell Sara about Jeffs orientation. She is already probably questioning the things she did not know about her son due to his suicide. Its incredibly common for family and friends to blame themselves. Please do not compound that by offering additional information that will make her potentially question if she really knew him at all. She did, and she clearly loved him desperately.

A: Another reader pointed out that, were other members of the support group to learn a facilitator had shared information about a former members sexuality to his family after his death, it might make them shy away from sharing confidential information themselves. I think thats an additional inducement for the letter writer not to say anything to their co-worker.

Discuss this column with Dear Prudence on his Facebook page!
Better Life Lab is a partnership of Slate and New America

Last week, the president of the United States wondered aloud why America takes so many immigrants from poor countries (lest you forget, shithole was his term) and so few from places like, say, Norway. The comment was widely seen as crude, ungenerous, un-American, and more than faintly racist; it also displayed surprising ignorance of the many reasons why Norwegians of all people might choose to stay put. Following news of Trumps reported (and disputed) remark, commentators pointed out that thanks to oil wealth and generous social policies, Norway ranks as the worlds happiest country.

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As the Atlantic pointed out, once-poor Norway now has higher life expectancy at birth than the U.S., lower rates of infant mortality, low unemployment, and access to the European Unions labor market. It also ranks first in prosperity and political and press freedommuch higher than the United States.

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Somehow, Norway looks even better from a working parents perspective: Norway has one of the worlds most generous paid leave plans for new parents, who, together, are entitled to roughly a year of paid leave after the birth of a child. Like a growing number of countries, particularly (but not only) in Scandinavia and Europe, Norway ensures that children can be cared for by parents in their vulnerable early months and that families dont have to face poverty or unemployment as a result.

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Norway ensures that children can be cared for by parents in their vulnerable early months and that families dont have to face poverty or unemployment as a result.

More than that, Norway requires that a certain percentage of leave be taken by fathers if a family wants to qualify for the full leave period. This daddy days approach is backed by social science showing that men who take paternity leave are more likely to share parenting and housework, not only at birth but going forward. Paid paternity leave permanently recalibrates the household balance of labor, enabling mothers to stay in the workforce and making women more likely to work full time. Norway also provides subsidized child care and encourages a corporate culture where afternoon meetings are scheduled with pickup times in mind. The country has a female prime ministerErna Solbergand a commitment to gender parity: There is a quota system in which public companies must have 40 percent board representation from both genders.

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Which is not to say that everything is Disney-perfect, as members of the Better Life Lab team at New America (myself included) learned on a fact-finding mission hosted by the Norwegian Royal Consulate several years ago. (Norways former General Consul in New York Elin Bergithe Rognlie is a past member of the advisory council of the Better Life Lab at New America, though she had no role in the research for or writing of this post.*) There is still some workforce gender segregationwomen tend to be better represented in the public sector than the private one, and theres a gender pay gap of about 15 percent. And no global society is immune from violence and social ills, nor from xenophobia, white supremacy, and neo-Nazi adherents. The 2011 mass shooting of teenagers at a summer camp by a homegrown far-right terrorist left permanent trauma. (There are also social democracy policies that would make most Americans squirm; neighbors and others can request to see your tax return, meaning everybody knows what you make.)

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But the country is committed to gender fairness and family life. All of these policies work together to keep women engaged in the economy; Norway has one of the worlds highest labor participation rates for women, a fact that, some argue, powers the economy even more than oil reserves do.

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In all of these things, Norway is in sync with many other European countriesunusually generous, maybe, but not all that different from, say, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, or France, all of which subscribe to the notion that quality child care and paid leave are services a good government should provide. There are even countries, like Estonia, that are more generous in the amount of paid leave they provide. All these countries are notably distinct from the United States, which offers no universal child care, no universal early education, and no universal right to health care. The closest thing America has to federally mandated leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act, an outdated law that permits American workers in larger workplaces to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off to care for a child or parent. We have no guarantee of paid parental leavenot a single day, including the day a woman gives birth. Unsurprisingly, we also have shockingly high infant mortality rates.

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Indeed, as long as were evaluating countries from the point of view of working parents and children, the real news is that even the so-called shithole countries have better parental leave policies than the United States. Its a wonder that any working parent wants to come to America from anywhere. One of the places Trump disparaged was Haiti, a country that not only has contributed many literary and political notables to American life but also, for all its economic challenges, offers paid leave to its own working mothers. Another target of his contempt, El Salvador, offers paid leave to mothers and fathers alike. Trump also cast aspersions on Africa, a continent in which virtually every single country provides paid leave to mothers. Many African countries also guarantee some paid leave to fathers, among them Algeria, Chad, Mali, Kenya, Togo, Congo, and Tanzania, as shown in this great map by UCLAs WORLD Policy Analysis Center.

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Around the world, emerging and struggling economies have achieved widespread buy-in to the idea that infant health, family life, and national prosperity benefit when mothersand, ideally fatherscan take time to nurture a newborn without worrying about losing a job. And all these countries seem to have accepted the fact that women are in the workplace to stay and that helping women to do so also helps the economy.

Only a tiny handful of countries, such as Suriname and Papua New Guinea, provide no paid leave to parents. The mighty and prosperous United States is the only wealthy economy with this distinction. In his next meeting to hash out immigration policy, the president might well ask why American working parents dont emigrate to Estonia or Japan or Canada or, especially, a country like Finland, where the government sends every newborn a baby box containing clothes, bedding, medicine, diapers and other essentials (the box itself serves as a bassinet) as a way to encourage infant health and well-being regardless of ethnicity or income level.

The real question is when the United States will catch up to the rest of the world in the domain of family policy. There is more than one way to be poor, after all, and spiritual poverty, as evidenced by our approach toward workers and their families is, unfortunately, where America leads the pack.

*Correction, Jan. 18, 2018: Due to an editing error, this post originally said Elin Bergithe Rognlie is Norways general consul in New York. In fact, she is the former general consul.
Speaking on CBS This Morning for her first network television interview since leaving the Today show, Ann Curry told the shows hosts on Wednesday that she had witnessed a climate of verbal and sexual harassment at NBC during her time there and that she was not surprised by the allegations of sexual misconduct by Matt Lauer.

Curry, who abruptly left her position as a Today anchor five years ago, resisted commenting on anything specific about Lauers behavior, saying she didnt want to hurt people. At the time, many attributed Currys departure to Lauer. Media reporter Brian Stelter, in his book about morning television, wrote about Lauers efforts to push out Curry while negotiating a new contract. According to CNN Money, Today took years to recover from the hit it took from her ousting. Lauer was fired from the show in November after being accused of sexual misconduct. Other shocking allegations followed.

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I can tell you Im not surprised by the allegations, Curry said on Wednesday. I would be surprised if many women did not understand there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed.

When pressed to elaborate, Curry acknowledged she considered there to be a problem with verbal and sexual harassment at NBC, but she did not speak of any specific incidents with Lauer or anyone else.

.@AnnCurry says she is not surprised about the allegations against former TODAY co-host Matt Lauer. #AnnCurryThisMorning pic.twitter.com/2nPl3By1tS  CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 17, 2018

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She also said she did not know if Lauer was behind her ousting. I know it hurt like hell, she said. Ive learned a great deal about myself. Ive let it go.

She did speak to the general problem of sexual and workplace harassment and said she had experienced harassment at several of her jobs. I think that the real question in my view is what are we going to do with all this anger, she said. We clearly are waking up to a reality of injustice that has been occurring for some time.

CBS This Morning fired Charlie Rose, one of its co-hosts, in November after the Washington Post reported on allegations of sexual misconduct in connection to his PBS show.
Short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government open, North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker said Tuesday night following a meeting of the House GOP, are always crap sandwiches. And yet, Walker and the large conservative bloc he leads, the Republican Study Committee, are leaning toward voting for the crap sandwich presently before them.

Such was the overwhelming sentiment among Republicans following Tuesday nights gathering. No one in Washington is pleased to be voting for the fourth stop-gap bill since the start of the fiscal year last fall, which represents yet another failure of Democrats and Republicans to reach a budget deal. The House Republican leadership, anticipating rage from conservatives, defense hawks, appropriators, and the not-insignificant group of moderate House Republicans who want to see a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals deal, attempted to soothe tempers by providing catered Italian food for the group before presenting the crap sandwich for dessert. It seemed, upon hearing the initial reactions from members leaving the meeting, that the ploy had mostly worked.

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The spending bill that House leaders are attempting to pass would advance the ball a little bit. In addition to funding the government for four weeks, it would reauthorize for six years the Childrens Health Insurance Program, which has lapsed for months now. The bill would also delay two Obamacare taxesthe medical device tax and the Cadillac taxfor two years, and the health insurance tax for one year. Its a clever play from Speaker Paul Ryan. The delay in taxes obviously appeals to Republicans while taking the CHIP reauthorization off the table, in Walkers words, offers the party a retort to those who would say Republicans dont care about health insurance for children. Those provisions are also attractive to Democrats, who want to see CHIP reauthorized and have no love for the medical device or Cadillac taxes, either. Most House Democrats, smarting over the lack of a DACA deal, wont vote for the crap sandwich. But the design gives Republican leaders the opportunity to pick off a few Democratic votes.

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They may not need them. Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, an appropriatori.e., someone whos not especially happy that he doesnt have a budget framework to work with yetsaid yes, flatly, when I asked him whether this plan would get a majority from Republicans alone.

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I think theres an acceptance that its got to get done, Simpson said. Nobody wants to be here Saturday.

Other members who are hardly allies of the House leadership sounded resigned to it as well. Both Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks and South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford, two conservative Freedom Caucus members who can be difficult to corral, told reporters after the meeting that they were leaning toward supporting the bill because it was either that or a shutdown.

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That was not the consensus view of the Freedom Caucus. Its not in their constitution to allow leaderships first offer on anything to skate through without a challenge. One could almost see the wheels spinning inside the head of the groups chairman, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, as he tried to come up with a play following the meeting. The Freedom Caucus met after the full House GOP meeting Tuesday night, and when Meadows emerged, he insisted that GOP leaders did not yet have 218 Republicans on board. Though the Freedom Caucus didnt take an official position against the continuing resolution, it could try to persuade leaders to either pursue a different course or offer a concession elsewhere on the agenda. Meadows proposed a hybrid bill that would fund defense spending for a year at higher levels while funding the rest of the government in the short term. We already know such a bill would fail, though, since Ryan proposed such a cromnibus in December and scrapped it shortly thereafter, once it became clear it was dead on arrival in the Senate. Senate Democrats are not going to agree to a bill that takes their sole source of leverage, the defense spending boost, off the table while punting on everything else.

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Other Freedom Caucus members, like Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, wanted some sort of commitment from the speaker on DACA, such as an agreement to move a more conservative immigration bill, like the one authored by Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte. Leaders may have to offer up a show vote or some other tweak to mollify these conservatives ahead of the vote.

If the House GOP can resolve these issues and pass the crap sandwich with all (or nearly all) Republican votes, the pressure would then fall on Senate Democrats. Few on Capitol Hill think that the many Senate Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won would vote against a spending bill that doesnt contain a DACA fix. Theyve already shown their cards in the past two short-term spending votes. Theres an extraordinary amount of pressure from the Democratic base on Sen. Chuck Schumer not to let slide another spending bill that doesnt contain a DACA deal. But even if he chose to whip against it, Schumer might not possess the persuasive powers necessary to keep nine Senate Democrats from voting to keep the government open and reauthorize CHIP for six years.

The House is expected to vote on Thursday at the earliest. If the funding bill passes, expect the Senate to take it up soon after. This process could certainly fall apart in the next 24 hours, but as of now, there is a surprisingly viable strategy for keeping the government open. Never underestimate the allure of the crap sandwich.
No Senate Republican, with the possible exception of John McCain, has taken a stronger verbal stance against President Trump than Arizonas Jeff Flake, who has declared the president a threat to the stability of the entire world. On Wednesday, Flake plans to make a speech in advance of Trumps Fake News Awards that compares Trumps anti-press rhetoric to Joseph Stalins. As much as this might delight a president who worships dictatorsespecially dictators of RussiaFlake means it as a harsh criticism.

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If Flakes formidable speech last year announcing his retirement at the end of this congressional session is any guidehe lambasted the regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms and ideals and said that all Trump represents is dangerous to a democracyhis remarks on Wednesday are sure to be robust. But from what his office has leaked of his comments, and in his public remarks about his hopes for the future of the Republican Party, Flake continues to misunderstand and underestimate his own not insignificant power. The result is that, no matter how forceful his words or genuine his objections, Flakes opposition to Trump has been essentially token.

He can do better but only if he starts reconceiving his place in the Senate.

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This past weekend, Flake went on television to outline his speech, which has already enraged Republicans. (Flake is expected to say, in part, The president has it precisely backwarddespotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despots enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.) But in the process of defending his approach to Trump, Flake was forced to explain why he has overwhelmingly voted for Trumps agenda. Im a conservative, and when something like health care reform comes up  I voted some 30 times to repeal and replace Obamacare, he told Christiane Amanpour on CNN:

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Why should somebody expect, because I have disagreements with the president on some policy and behavior, for me to change my vote and vote differently? Should I do it just out of spite? Or to hobble the presidency? I find it interesting when people expect me, because I have disagreements with the president, to want to hobble him, or to vote against what I consider good policy just out of spite. I dont do that and I dont think I should.

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On the surface, this approach makes a certain amount of sense. Flake is a staunch conservative with an extremely conservative voting record. Trump, eschewing the phony populism that characterized aspects of his campaign, is now pursuing a typical conservative legislative agenda. Why wouldnt Flake vote for it? But if Flake legitimately believes that Trumps presidency is dangerous to a democracy, then wouldnt hobbling him be the right thing to do, regardless of what policy goals get sacrificed in the process?

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The clear upshot of Flakes remarks over the past year is that this is an extraordinary time, and in extraordinary times, you  know the rest. But Flake seems entirely unwilling to take actions commensurate with either the timeswhich he correctly recognizes as frighteningly dangerousor his own words. He seems to believe that anything too radical would be a violation of his conservative principles, when in fact he should be willing to temporarily put aside his commitment to those principles for his commitment toby his own accountlarger ones.

The Republicans have a 5149 advantage in the Senate and control all major committees by a single vote. This is why Flake, McCain, and Bob Corkerwho has implied Trump may bring about a nuclear holocaustneed to threaten the GOP agenda, which in many ways is their own. If they dont want to switch partiesan idea that is sneered at, but should upset Republicans less than the prospect of nuclear warthey need to threaten to withhold their committee votes. (Flake sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, for instance, and the confirmation of judges remains arguably the most important Republican policy priority after tax cuts.) By simply demanding certain things, Flake and a colleague would force the GOP majority to go along with some circumscription of Trumps power.

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A small list of things they could demand, none of which are an affront to small-c conservative principles: a bill protecting Robert Muellers investigation, actual oversight of Trumps business dealings and Emoluments Clause issues, a new look at the presidents power over nuclear weapons, promises from Trump to refrain from attacking ethnic and racial minorities and the media, promises from Trump to cease attacking the Justice Departments integrity, ethics compliance among members of the executive branch, acceptance of 2016s election results, and a promise to not try and restrict the franchise.

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These are merely some ideas. They may have others. And, indeed, you might say that all of these things are far-fetched or pointlessthat Trump will never comply with them or that his promises are made to be broken. All the better: In that case Trumps agenda must be made to suffera prospect that is the only thing that could force other Republicans to begin putting pressure on Trump.

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So Flake jumps ship or withholds his votes, paving the way for another Republican Trump critic who isnt seeking re-election to do the same, paving the way for the above scenario to play out. I know it sounds absurd, and I understand why Flake and his saner colleagues are hesitant to threaten to vote against things they believe in. But if Flake wants us to believe that we are living in perilous times, he needs to start acting like it. Only creative solutions will be effective. His words on Wednesday might be inspiringand are certain to be more honorable than the sniveling abjectness of most of his colleaguesbut they are unlikely to do anything to stop the president he quite obviously detests.
The Navy filed negligent homicide charges Tuesday against two former commanding officers of Navy destroyers involved in deadly collisions in the Pacific Ocean last year. Five officers in total are facing charges for the two unrelated incidents, which killed 17 American sailors and led to the dismissal of handful of senior officers, including the commander of the Seventh Fleet. A Navy investigation last year found the collisions were the result of human error by sailors aboard each ship and could have been avoided.

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In June 2017, the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald, with Cmdr. Bryce Benson in command, rammed into a Philippine-flagged container ship off the coast of Japan killing seven American sailors. In August, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez was commanding the USS John S. McCain when it struck a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near Singapore, killing ten sailors and wounding 5 others. In both cases, the 300-crew destroyers collided with ships more than three times their size in gross tonnage, NPR notes.

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From the Associated Press:

The Navy said it is filing at least three charges against four officers of the Fitzgerald, including the commanding officer, who was Cmdr. Bryce Benson at the time. Benson suffered a head injury in the collision and was airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Yokosuka, Japan. A Navy investigation found that Benson left the ships bridge before the collision. Also facing charges are two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade, whose names were not disclosed. The Navy said all four face criminal charges, including negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship. Fewer officers from the McCain are being charged. The Navy said the ships commander at the time, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, is being charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and endangering a ship. A chief petty officer, whose name was not disclosed, faces a charge of dereliction of duty.

In a report released last November, the Navy concluded that the two crashes, as well as a third collision in May and a ship grounding, were all avoidable, and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders who didnt quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies, the AP reports. A second report called for about 60 recommended changes to address the problems. They ranged from improved training on seamanship, navigation and the use of ship equipment to more basic changes to improve sleep and stress management for sailors.
On Saturday, Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand provided a pertinent reminder that the road to mass incarceration is paved with good intentions. In a trio of tweets, Gillibrand, a likely contender in the 2020 presidential race, expressed her support for the campaign to recall Aaron Persky, the judge who sentenced Brock Turner to just six months in jail for violent sexual assault. She even included a fundraising link to the campaign. Can you give to help make sure justice wins? Gillibrand asked, imploring her supporters to stand with survivors by financing the recall effort, which has already received enough signatures to go on the ballot in June.

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Turners crime is, indeed, an outrage. But the recall campaign against his sentencing judge will not ensure that justice wins. Instead, the crusade against Persky threatens to exacerbate injustice by frightening other judges into imposing longer sentences across the board. Gillibrand is right to question whether Turner got off easy on account of his race and class. But her attempt to punish Persky via recall is a dangerously misguided mistake, one that will mostly harm lower-income racial minorities.

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Turner was a 19-year-old swimmer at Stanford when he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party. A jury convicted him of three felony sex offenses. The victim wrote an eloquent impact statement, while Turners father wrote a grotesque defense of his son that dismissed the assault as 20 minutes of action. Under state guidelines, Persky, who sits on the superior court of Santa Clara County, California, should have sentenced Turner to a prison sentence of two to 14 years. Instead, he gave Turner six months, justifying this lenient (though still lawful) punishment by explaining that a prison sentence would have a severe impact on Turner.

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That reasoning, taken together with the bare facts of the case, paints a picture of a sexist, retrograde judge with little sympathy for rape victims and excess empathy for their assailants, particularly white and privileged ones. The recall campaign has seized upon that impression, asserting that Persky reduced Turners sentence because he was an elite athlete at a top university and that alcohol was involved.

The truth is more complicated. While explaining his decision from the bench, Persky did note that Turner was drunk during the crime, stating that his inebriation may slightly mitigate his moral culpability. The judge added, though, that he didnt attach very much weight to that sentiment. Instead, Persky focused on three factors that judges must evaluate under California law: age, remorse, and criminal history. The judge noted that Turner is youthful, has no significant record of prior criminal offenses, and has expressed a genuine feeling of remorse. All of those factors weigh against a lengthy prison sentence. Thus, Persky sentenced Turner to six months in jail, as well as three years probation, requiring him to register as a sex offender for life.

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To be clear, Persky erred badly. He should not have mentioned Turners intoxication given that he did not ultimately view it as a major mitigating factor. (Especially when taken out of context, the reference to alcohol has a victim-blaming undertone.) Nor should he have given so much credence to Turners hollow contrition; in a statement to the court, Turner blamed his crime on the party culture and risk taking behavior at Stanford, claiming that it shattered him. Moreover, regardless of his age and record, Turner clearly deserved several years in prison for his heinous assault, as California guidelines indicated.

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But Persky does not seem to have handed out a light sentence because of a personal bias toward young white men. Rather, he appears to have followed the recommendation of the Santa Clara County Probation Department, which suggested six months jail time for Turner. An Associated Press analysis found Persky routinely follows the probation offices sentencing recommendations, imposing relatively lenient sentences across racial and class lines. Palo Alto deputy public defender Gary Goodman told the AP that Persky often issues lighter sentences because he has progressive ideas about the potential rehabilitation of first-time offenders.

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If Gillibrand plans to campaign against mass incarceration, she should withdraw her support for the recall immediately.

None of this means Persky should be immune from criticism. His comments during Turners sentencing were tone-deaf, and his reliance on the probation office in this case was plainly unsound. (Perhaps in recognition of these facts, Persky transferred himself to civil court.) But the recall campaign seems unlikely to infuse the judiciary with the feminist values that Gillibrand espouses. Instead, it seems poised to send a ripple of fear through judges who might favor holistic sentencing and rehabilitation over lengthy incarceration.

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We already know that judicial elections have pernicious effects on the administration of justice. A famous Brennan Center study found that trial judges in Washington and Pennsylvania hand out longer sentences the closer they are to re-election. It also found that state supreme court justices rule less frequently in favor of criminal defendants during election cycles that feature more television ads, and that Alabama judges are more likely to override a jurys recommendation of life in prison and impose the death penalty during election years.

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This data comes as little surprise, since a majority of judicial election ads focus on criminal justice. These ads typically tout a candidates tough on crime approach or attack an opponent as soft on crime by citing rulings that favored criminal defendants. Elected judges know a single soft on crime decision can end their careers, so they tend to become more stringent as a re-election fight looms.

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There is not yet data on the specific impact of recall campaigns, in part because only eight states permit judicial recalls, while 39 elect their judges. But many legal experts agree a high-profile recall campaign against a judge who imposed a light sentence would have a similar effect as a contested judicial election, driving up sentencing across the board.

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The current recall movement, Harvard Law professor Jeannie Suk Gersen wrote in the New Yorker, could have the effect of pressuring judges to play it safe by sentencing more harshlyand there is no reason to believe that will be true only in cases with white male rape defendants. University of San Francisco School of Law professor and Slate contributor Lara Bazelon agreed, writing that the recall campaign would lead to other judges looking over their shoulders at an image of Judge Persky burning in effigy and factoring in considerations designed to save their jobs. Georgetown Law professor Paul Butler put it best in the New York Times:

[Perskys recall] would inevitably lead to harsher punishment because, politically, its always safer for a judge to throw the book at a convicted criminal rather than give him a breakeven when giving him a break is the right thing to do. The people who would suffer most from this punitiveness would not be white boys at frat parties. Almost 70 percent of the people in prison in California are Latino and African-American. Those are the groups that would bear the brunt of zealous punishment.

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Many local attorneys have also leapt to Perskys defense. Santa Clara County public defender Molly ONeal said she was alarmed by the hysteria regarding Turners sentence. We need to be very careful were not hanging judges out to dry based on one decision, ONeal noted, especially because he is considered to be a fair and even-tempered judge. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who tried Turner, also opposes Perskys recall. The Santa Clara County Bar Association issued a statement condemning the recall effort as a threat to judicial independence, and pointed out that there were no other allegations of impropriety during Perskys tenure. And California public defender Sajid A. Khan wrote that the recall would have a chilling effect on judicial courage and compassion and deter other judges from extending mercy, instead encouraging them to issue unfairly harsh sentences for fear of reprisal.

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I fear, Khan concluded, that this shift will disproportionately impact the underprivileged and minorities in our communities and perpetuate mass incarceration.

Khan is right to worry. Backlash to Turners sentence has already spurred California to pass a new mandatory minimum law. As Cornell Law professor Joseph Margulies has noted, this measure will primarily burden racial minorities since so many white defendants have the means to avoid the most draconian consequences of the carceral state.

Perskys opponents have a noble goal in wanting to stamp out sexism from the criminal justice system. Their chosen tactic, however, will have tragic unintended consequences. If Gillibrand plans to campaign against mass incarceration, she should withdraw her support for the recall immediately. Penalizing Persky will only send a message to members of the judiciary that their job security depends upon being as harsh as possible to every defendant.
Earlier this month, the president of the United States announced he would be making his own contribution to awards season.

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

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While Trump surely meant he would coronate the slimiest members of the lyin press, his syntax appeared to know something he didnt. In suggesting that the awards themselves were dishonest and corrupt, Trump ended up encapsulating an Im rubber, youre glue White House in which each insult betrays the executive branchs own woes.

But the MDCMAY had bigger problems. Explaining that the interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated, Trump soon announced hed have to postpone the (presumably online) ceremony from Jan. 8 until Jan. 17. (Update, Jan. 16, 5 p.m.: On Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Fake News Awards were now merely a potential event.) A more leisurely run-up gave comedians, including Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Jimmy Kimmel, time to campaign for fakies by taking out newspaper ads and renting billboards in Times Square. The New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists, meanwhile, feted Trump for Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom, citing his coziness with oppressive regimes and hostility to government programs that promote free speech worldwide. Chef Jose Andres also promised free lunches at any of his establishments to recipients of the journalistic honor.

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Trumps attempt to take the spit out of reporters felt impotent even before the rollout of this tasting menu of mockery. A president grousing about unfair press coverage and name-calling like a schoolyard bully makes for a pathetic spectacle. And the gambit seemed reflexive, a transparent maneuver to soothe Trumps own fears. In the perpetual White House horse race between menace and stupidity, idiocy has been surging into the lead over the past few monthsand Trump knows it. The president is beset by rumors about his unfitness to serve; he recently declared himself, risibly, a stable genius. Theres only one cure for the self-doubt that now preys upon our chief executive. He needs a literal incarnation of other peoples esteem. He needs an award.

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The ritual of picking losers rather than winners is a characteristically Trumpian one.

Trump has long been obsessed with external validation. According to Michael Wolffs tell-all Fire and Fury, he unironically bragged that Melania Trump was a trophy wife. His attunement to poll numbers and television ratings and crowd sizes is legendary. As Jacob Brogan observed in 2016, Trumps phony empiricism sustains a fantasy that sits at the foundations of his self-image. His ordinal fetishconsider that he built a campaign around the slogan America Firstconflates worth with winning, substance with show. Only profoundly insecure people, those who feel their inner lives to be in constant, agonizing retreat, fixate on rankings the way Trump does. The problem here is that the president already possesses an awardthe biggest, brightest oneand it has somehow failed to prop him up. If a desk in the Oval Office cannot guarantee Trump inexhaustible plaudits, he needs a different strategy, one that brings his enemies down to his own miserable level.

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The ritual of picking losers rather than winners is a characteristically Trumpian one. Episodes of The Apprentice built to the moment in which the worst contestant was identified, humiliated, and sent packing. Trumps Fake News Awards, then, dont simply reveal his mania for superlatives. They also reflect a performers instinct to gamify his grudges, to express anger in the language of reality television.

Like a victor on Survivor or Top Chef, Trump won the presidency by process of elimination. He was the last man standing in a crowded primary field, so clearly the candidate of last resort that his opponents within the Republican Party branded themselves Never Trumpers. The Fake News Awards suggest a fantasya subconscious attempt to re-enact, on the political stage, the scene in which the big boss points out the duds and they disappear forever. In office, Trump has already exiled, one by one, those he considers liabilities or threats: James Comey, Reince Priebus, Michael Flynn, Sean Spicer, Steve Bannon. His most recent dismissals are slick with desperation, I wrote in August, as if he could save the gangrenous White House by lopping off the correct limb, as if he himself werent the source of the rot.

But Trumps most loathed targets in the media wont vanish like ousted reality TV contestants or shrubbery-encased press secretaries. Rather, they are sure to earn credibility, fame, goodwill, and free meals at the nations fine dining establishments. They will also, it must be said, likely be subjected to a buffet of harassment and abuse at the hands of the presidents Twitter defenders. While Trump may not have acquired the constitutional right to fire everyone, hes proved adept at transforming American political life into a tawdry drama of victims and heels.
This article is part of a weeklong series on President Trumps first year in office.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the president of the United States paid $130,000 to a famous porn actress to stop her from revealing details of an alleged affair between them. For Barack Obama or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or George H. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carteror really, for just about any of their predecessorsthe mere hint of such a payoff would have become the defining scandal of their presidency. But somehow, the sordid story of Stormy Daniels has barely entered public consciousness. Few papers featured it on the front page. Within 48 hours, the conversation had already moved on to the next Trumpian controversy. The normal rules of politics simply do not apply to this particular president.

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Granted, the payoff to Daniels is hardly the most egregious of Trumps misdeeds. If nobody cared about it because the political class was too busy chronicling the larger and more consequential outrages committed by his administration, there might have been something redeeming about this silence. But it doesnt seem as though this is whats going on here. Instead, we have simply revised down our expectationsbig as well as small, public as well as private.

This alone shows that there was something to the biggest fear that the burgeoning class of Trump-watchers expressed after his ascent to the highest office in the land: that America might quickly start to normalize the president. In the face of the impulse to normalize, Masha Gessen wrote the day after the 2016 election, it is essential to maintain ones capacity for shock. Washington is going about its business talking about whos going to get what jobs, David Remnick observed a few days later. You would think that Mitt Romney had won. Its a hallucination.

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Thankfully, though, the most extreme fears about normalization have not materialized. In part because of Trumps insistence on acting like the worst cartoon version of himselfand in part because many of us took Gessens and Remnicks warnings to heartthe president, by and large, continues to be treated as the aberration he really is. Newspapers that had once insisted on quoting two points of view on every conceivable issue openly state when the president lies. Business leaders who were initially willing to play ball with the administration have deserted his advisory councils in droves. Even Republican congressmen and senators who have supported his legislative agenda time and again have repeatedly felt the need to distance themselves from his most shocking comments.

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Trump himself has not been normalized. But the fact that the president of the United States is deeply abnormal has.

But while we have mostly managed to resist treating Trump as a normal president, Im increasingly worried that we have simultaneously fallen into a more subtle trap: Even the private citizens, the business executives, and the politicians who are fully conscious that the president of the United States is a peculiar aberration have not changed their behavior in the day-to-day; despite knowing everything that there is to know about Donald Trump, they go about their personal and professional lives as though we lived in perfectly ordinary times.

Many Republican congressmen and senators, for example, have not only distanced themselves from Trumps most outrageous comments in public; in private, they have also acknowledged that he is a dangerous fool who will most likely do immense damage to their party, their country, and the world. And yet, they have spectacularly failed to walk that wise talk, neglecting to put real limits on Trumps ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or launch nuclear weapons.

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Many of the countrys CEOs are concerned about the ways in which this administration creates uncertainty about economic policy and undermines the rule of law. And yet, the markets barely seem to have priced in the possibility of real disruption: over the past year, the stock market has soared from one record to the next as though these risks did not really exist.

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Self-declared members of the #Resistance outcompete each other with apocalyptic predictions about the effect Trump will have on the American republic. And yet, public protests against the president have become smaller and smaller with every passing month.

The journalists who cover the administration are probably in the best position of anyone to understand the deep dysfunction at the center of poweras well as the extraordinary ways in which Trump has attacked the press over the past twelve months. But while they have broken some amazing stories, they too have proven reluctant to heed their lessons off the page.

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And so the year-end memo which the White House Correspondents Association penned for the administration at the beginning of 2018 listed a series of positive notes from the year now behind us, lauding Sarah Sanders, the White House spokesperson, for such unremarkable courtesies as being accessible to individual reporters and returning to the longstanding, bipartisan tradition of on-camera briefings.

Even when the report acknowledges Trumps severe attacks on the media, it does so in an astoundingly milquetoast manner. While the WHCA complains about the public denigration of the free press, for example, it does not call it a shocking and unprecedented attack; instead, it gingerly describes it as one of a number of areas for improvement.

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All of these indicators point in the same direction: Trump himself has not been normalized. But the fact that the president of the United States is deeply abnormal has.

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There is a hopeful way of reading this, and over the past weeks leading pundits have become increasingly tempted to indulge in this kind of optimism: Our institutions, they are starting to claim, are much more solid and resilient than the pessimists might have thought a year ago.

The first days of Trumps presidency felt like vertigo. After an inaugural speech which George W. Bush fittingly described as some weird shit, the White House instituted a chaotic travel ban, floated a rapprochement with Russia, called the future of NATO into doubt, and threatened to end NAFTA. For a few weeks, it seemed as though Trump might move to change the country with scary speed and efficiency.

But that, of course, is not what transpired. The travel ban was, again and again, overturned by the courts; the version that is now being implemented is much-changed and somewhat-attenuated. Americas alliances have undoubtedly suffered a real battering, with levels of support for the United States in countries from Germany to Greece at record lows; but NATO still exists and the U.S. has so far continued to take a tough stance on Russia, selling weapons to Ukraine and implementing sanctions against Putin cronies. Finally, Trump has talked smack about China and stopped the ratification process for the Trans-Pacific Partnership; but for now, the global trade order mostly remains intact. Even Trumps attacks on independent institutions have ultimately proved reasonably ineffective: though he still insists that he can do what he wants with the FBI, for example, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller is, for now, continuing apace.

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Perhaps, then, it is perfectly rational for all of us to play-act normality. Since our institutions are capable of functioning reasonably well even with a strange and terrible chief executivesince the economy is humming along, since Americas courts continue to adhere to age-old procedural standards, and since a devastating war has not yet broken outit would seem to make sense both to recognize how bizarre Trump is and to keep going about our daily life as though he werent. Eventually, Trump will lose re-election, a more traditional politician will move into the White House, and the nightmare will run its course of its own accord.

This is perfectly plausible. A large portion of Americans long ago made their mind up about the presidentand about 50 percent cannot stand him. So long as Democrats run competent campaigns this year, they should make big gains in the House and the Senate. And so long as they run a candidate who isnt widely hated in 2020, they should have every chance of winning back the White House less than three years from now. Trumps humbling may not be so far away.

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Nor does it seem especially likely that Trump will manage to destroy American democracy in the next few years. While the past 12 months have done little to make me more confident about the stability of our institutionsthe serious threat to the independence of law enforcement agencies and the shameful failure of congressional Republicans to hold the president to account are just two of the most obvious warning signsit takes real competence and strategy to amass power in the hands of the executive. Unlike Hungarys Viktor Orban or Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Donald Trump has so far proven totally lacking in these qualities.

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So the optimistic story has a lot going for it. And yet, I ultimate find it to be dangerously quietist. Why? Because it assesses the degree of danger we face, and the right way to respond to our dire situation, by the most likely outcome rather than the wide range of plausible outcomes.

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As Nassim Nicholas Taleb persuasively argued in his book, The Black Swan, human beings are terrible at dealing with scenarios in which there is a very small probability of a very bad outcome. Every time I expose myself to a small risk of something really bad happening, and find that the worst case did not materialize, I am likely to conclude that I made the right decision in ignoring the possibility from the start. And yet, what I did was probably irrational for two reasons.

First, if I run a very small risk of a bad outcome over and over again, the cumulative probability of something very bad happening can quickly grow to be substantial. If the likelihood of me being hit by a car when I rush across the street is 1 in a 100,000, for example, but I do so 10,000 times over the course of many years, this gives me at least a 1 in 10 chance of being involved in a serious accident at some point in my life.

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Second, it may be deeply irrational to expose myself to the possibility of something very bad happening even if the cumulative risk remains reasonably low. Out of 10 people who consistently run a small risk of getting run over in the street, nine will lead somewhat better lives as a result: They will spend less time waiting around at intersections, and perhaps they will even seize some opportunities that their more risk-averse compatriots missed. But unless they believe that those small benefits justify a 10 percent chance of suffering very serious injuriesor dying a premature deaththey will have acted irrationally. In cases involving a black swan hindsight is not 20/20.

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This is directly relevant to the Trump era. For in the end, all of the people who are acting cravenly, or cowardly, at the moment are likely to be vindicated. If we somehow manage to muddle through the next three yearsif we avoid war with North Korea, if Russia does not go on any more foreign adventures, if the economy does not crater, and if our independent institutions manage to put up enough resistance to retain some degree of independencethey can point at the fortunate outcome and proudly pronounce their wisdom. Werent you silly to get all freaked out? they will say. In the end, the threat wasnt all that bad. After all, everything turned out just fine!

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But this would be far too self-congratulatory a way of reading our collective behavior during the Trump presidency. For the truth of the matter is that we are proving unwilling or unable to take the radical steps that would be justified by the very real danger of black swan events. That failure should give us pause. For it suggests that humanitys tendency to act normal in circumstances that are anything but is a much greater political danger than we usually recognize.

If some of the worst-case scenarios do yet come to pass, we will have but ourselves to blame. And even if they dont, our inability to react to the clear threat posed by Donald Trump should make us more skeptical about whether humanity will prove able and willing to confront dangers like climate change in the decades to come. If we are capable of living life as though everything was normal even though we know that a deeply dangerous man has his fingers on the nuclear button, we will also be capable of continuing to drive our SUVs even as Miami Beach is submerged in seawater.
Navy physician Ronnie Jackson conducted Donald Trumps annual physical last week. On Tuesday, Jackson gave a press conference at the White House and a member of the press asked him about the December event during which Trumps speech became slurred. Jacksons response was  it will  good Lord, why?

I had given the president some medicationspecifically some Sudafedover the days previous and I think I had inadvertently dried up his secretions a little but more than I intended to.

This is a bipartisan issue: The public doesnt need official updates about Barack Obamas secretions either. And weve definitely already heard enough for one lifetime about Bill Clintonsam I right, late-night talk show hosts?

In summary: No! Gross!
Facebook, as it announced last week with a stock-sinking splash, is changing what you see when youre on Facebook. Now, according to Adam Mosseri, the companys news feed chief, youre more likely to see posts from friends and family than from pages you follow, like from media outlets, your favorite record labels, or businesses and nonprofits. The point is to increase meaningful interaction on the site, a metric that Facebook says can be measured by the number of comments on a post. While youll still see news (whether shared by friends or from an organizations page), the company says its less interested in passive forms of activity on the site, like reading headlines and articles without lunging into comments sections.

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One way of interpreting all of this is that Facebook is in a way returning to its rootsa place where people shared photos and snippets of their lives, not a hornets nest of click-bait, conspiracy theories, and possibly Russia-concocted fake news. Another is that Facebook thinks the news is bumming out too many of the people who spend their days on its platform, and it wants less to do with it. Then theres the purely mercenary explanation: Facebooks growth in bringing on new users has been in a rather steady decline since its peak around 2011, which could be read as evidence that the platforms evolution into a hub for news in the years since has stunted its potential appeal.

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It may be true that it will ultimately be good for the media to break some of its Facebook-stoked habits, even if the industry also endures some short-term suffering, as my colleague Will Oremus argues. But for a lot of usnot just those of us who enjoy finding news on Facebookit will also mean more posts from people we happen to be friends with but also happen to find really, really boring. Some of us liked breaking up all those photos of toddlers and complaints about Comcast service with current events, even if the latter happened to have been grown in a St. Petersburg troll farm.

Certainly, Facebook doesnt undertake a major overhaul of its products without extensive research, and the company probably knows the exact type of posts that will keep people engaged on Facebook, time that it monetizes by selling targeted ads. (Still, Wall Street seems convinced the changes will result in people spending less time on Facebook, and the company has said thats one likely result.) But I wonder if Facebook could be underestimating how deeply uninterestingobnoxious, evenmany people find the comments posted by their friends and family on the site and how useful they find information supplied by organizations Facebook pages.

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First, the grating part: Long-winded posts and comments from ill-informed people I barely talk to anymore are some of the main reasons Ive stopped using Facebook as much in recent years. I dont have to time to correct these people, and Im not interested in reading their comments on the articles Ive shared, particularly when they take it as an opportunity to prove that they too have a college degree. Especially bad are acquaintances who use Facebook to perpetuate prejudicial stereotypes. If Facebook is going to boost the types of posts that spark passionate discussions, no matter the quality of said discussion, I may find myself logging on even less.

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Bluntly emphasizing the personal does nothing to improve the ways individuals, not news organizations, choose to use Facebook.

For a lot of us, some of the personal content Facebook wants to boost isnt much better. It is fine that so many people use the platform to share how sad they are, or what a hard day theyre having, or how happy they are, or how awesome their life is. If people are having a hard time, it makes sense to reach out to friends for a jolt of positive feeling from their likes or encouraging comments. Ive certainly done it. But if Facebook incentivizes this kind of self-narration even more, I fear people will start to lean on the company for interaction and affirmation in ways that are probably not healthy. Maybe that means sharing even more intimate details of their lives online. Though Facebook is fairly private in the sense that you can adjust who does and does not see your posts, theres nothing stopping anyone from screenshotting your more personal missives and sharing them elsewhere. Nor do we really know what Facebook could do in the future with the information we share. The company could, for example, help to tailor ads to people based on the emotional state revealed through their posts.

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Of course, not everyones Facebook is the same. And the company wouldnt be successful if lots of people didnt use it to interact with their personal networks in edifying ways. But thats not the only use case.

In some other universe, perhaps there is an idyllic Facebook where everyone is able to share glimpses of their lives and be rewarded with feelings of connection and goodwill. That might be what Facebook would like to achievea safe space bubbled off from our toxic, demoralizing news cycles. Eliminating incentives for publishers to game Facebook might offer some respite from our depressing, never-ceasing politics, but bluntly emphasizing the personal does nothing to improve the ways individuals, not news organizations, choose to use Facebook. If the platform cant do that, Id rather have a news feed that balances my friends personal missives with other kinds of content.

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Facebooks demotion of posts that come from organizations of all types is, in a sense, an attempt to depoliticize the platform. But Facebook has become a central tool for political organizing and messaging that many people do find meaningful. Its how activists assemble rallies and how nonprofits share articles about whatever issue concerns them. Its how vulnerable groups get together to support one anotherand find allies whom they may not know personally. Decreasing the visibility of those posts means people who looked to Facebook to stay informed on issues outside their personal lives may have to turn elsewhere to stay plugged in.

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If youre in the camp of people who primarily saw Facebook as a place to learn about interesting or important news and information from the media and organizations and companies you follow, prepare for a less usefuland possibly more annoyingexperience. You may even join the club of people who see Facebook as nothing more than a glorified address book for staying loosely connected to people from your past, scrolling to maintain an ambient sense of where they now work and what kid theyre on. But only, that is, if you dont end up giving up on Facebook altogether.
The search for extraterrestrial life is ramping up among eccentric billionaires and government officials alike. (NASA, as Slate has argued, is pivoting to astrobiology.) One possibility for what might be out there thats, relatively speaking, one of the most plausible theories has so far also been overlooked: space viruses. While some might dismiss microscopic phages as considerably less thrilling than fluorescent green humanoids, theyd actually be a hugely exciting first find.

All of this might sound wildastrobiology is, after all, the kind of scientific specialization that gets name-dropped in Star Trekbut its the direction were taking. Congress has ordered NASA to take on the search for lifes origins, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe. Here on Earth, all of those big ideas are tied to viruses. The problem is that viruses importance to life on Earth isnt necessarily widely knownamong scientists or members of the public. Ken Stedman, the co-chair of NASAs Virus Focus Group, is hoping to raise viruses profile and repair their reputationlast week, he published a review in which he and two other scientists, Aaron Berliner of UCBerkeley and Tomohiro Mochizuki of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, lay out the case for how, where, and why we should be looking for these tiny not-quite life forms.

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Its a convincing argument. For one thing, viruses are an excellent indicator for life itself: Wherever theres life on Earth, there are viruses, too, and almost invariably in far greater numbers. Some scientists think thats been true from the very beginning. While we know that RNA, the genetic material that makes up some viruses, came before DNA, the genetic material required by everything else, the fact that all modern viruses depend on cells to reproduce has led to something of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. The NIHs Eugene V. Koonin has spent decades investigating the evolution of life. In a landmark paper from 2006, he made the case for a virus worldan origin story in which viruses predated cells, only becoming intracellular parasites (losing the ability to replicate independently in the process) once they had bacteria and other lifeforms to prey on. Its hard to know for sure whether this is how it played outits clear that viruslike entities came before cells as we know them today, but no one has been able to confirm that modern viruses are their direct descendants. But even if the nature and extent of viruses involvement in the origins of life is still contentious, their role as drivers of current evolution is indisputable. As one report from the American Academy of Microbiology put it, Without viruses, life on Earth would be very different, or perhaps there would be no life at all.

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Wherever theres life on Earth, there are viruses, too, and almost invariably in far greater numbers. Some scientists think thats been true from the very beginning.

That line gets at something important: Contrary to popular belief, some viruses can be a major force for good. Far from harming everything they touch, the genes they insert into their hosts can actually allow them to inhabit areas that would otherwise be totally inhospitable. For example, once infected, some cyanobacteriaocean-bound bugs that rely on sunlight for energyare able to undergo photosynthesis and generally thrive under conditions in which uninfected bacteria couldnt. While uninfected cells can sustain serious damage or even die if sunlight gets too intense, these bacteriophages, in seeking to protect themselves, also protect their hosts. In fact, we have these virus-infected cells (and specifically the genes the viruses provide) to thank for 5 percent of all oxygen on Earth. Viruses have a bad rap, Stedman said. Unfortunately, when most people think about viruses, they think about things that make you sick, but thats a vanishingly small proportion of the viruses on our planetand maybe on other planets.

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In allowing organisms to adapt to new environments, viruses have shaped (and continue to shape) countless ecosystems. And viruses dont only play a huge role on our planet; theyre also here in huge numbers. I think the really crucial thing to know about viruses is that there are literally astronomical numbers of them, said Stedman1031, according to the latest estimate. Thats a ridiculously, insanely large number [10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, for those keeping track], and the data are very good on that. This means individual viruses outnumber cellular organisms by a staggering 10 to 1and a single milliliter of ocean water can hold up to 10 million viral particles. Its no wonder that Stedman wants to see what Europas oceans might be hiding.

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Of course, finding viruses in outer space wouldnt be the same as finding life. Stedman and his colleagues class them as indirect evidence of life, and the debate over what a virus actually is, considering its need to co-opt cellular machinery in order to reproduce, continues. (Renowned immunologist Sir Peter Medawars working definition was said to be a piece of bad news wrapped up in a protein.) Still, the researchers contend that if a virion (or a viruslike particle) were to be unequivocally detected in an extraterrestrial sample, very few people would claim that this would not be evidence for lifewherever that sample was from. This makes sense: If these hypothetical viruses, unlike the ones weve found so far on Earth, are actually self-sustaining, they do meet NASAs criteria for a life form; if not, it means that an actual living organism must be nearby to play host.

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Unfortunately, it might be a while before we have the technology necessary to search for viruses in spaceStedman acknowledges that transmission electron microscopes are unlikely to be loaded onto a spaceship anytime soon, and scanning electron microscopes, the more rocket-ready alternatives, dont always yield images at a high enough resolution to spot them. But with the right instrumentation in place, he believes there could be viruses waiting to be found just a few planets away. His own ideal experiment would entail sticking a TEM underneath the ice on Europa (widely held to be the best shot at extraterrestrial life within our solar system). When asked about Dragonfly, one of the two possible mission concepts for NASAs mid-2020s launch, he said it was distinctly possible that the voyage might yield evidence of viruses on Titanits just a matter of the equipment well be able to fly there.

If we have a way to detect themand thats a really big ifyou find viruses first, said Stedman, adding, I think that would tell us something fundamental about life itself. If we find life in space thats also associated with viruses, that will lend strength to the viruses-are-essential-to-life hypothesis and perhaps tell us something about why. And if we find life that isnt, well know its totally unlike anything weve found on our own planet. That seems like a pretty strong case for getting started.
Gov. Chris Christie signed a law on Monday, his last day in office, making it illegal in New Jersey for people under the influence of drugs or with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher to pilot a dronethe same restrictions that apply to driving a car. Penalties include a six-month jail sentence, a $1,000 fine, or a combination of the two. The law also prohibits people from flying drones to surveil prisons, interfere with first responders, or chase wildlife.

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Drunken drone excursions have landed at least one person into trouble in the past. In 2015, an inebriated federal employee accidentally crashed a drone onto the White House grounds. Authorities, however, decided not to press charges after tracking him down.

While it doesnt appear that flying a drone under the influence has caused any serious damage thus far, it isnt hard to imagine how even a sober pilots unsteady hands could wreak havoc in the skies. In October, a drone flying 1,500 feet above the ground in Quebec crashed into a passenger plane, which sustained minor damage but was able to land safely. Canadas transportation minister told reporters that the drone could have damaged the engine, potentially leading to catastrophic results. The next month, a drone operator in New York flew his unmanned vehicle into a Black Hawk helicopter owned by the U.S. Army, cracking its window frame and leaving a one-and-a-half-inch dent in a rotor blade. (Theres no indication that either drone pilot was under the influencebut imagine if they had been.)

More than 3.1 million drones were sold in the U.S. in 2017, a 28 percent increase from the year before. As recreational drone flying becomes more popular, we can expect more regulations similar to New Jerseys to come in the near future. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 38 states are looking into laws regulating drone use this year.

So remember: Dont drink and drone.
The post-9/11 wars, the rapid advancement of technology, the explosion of Internet of Things devices, extreme stress on the supply chain, a lasting security workforce shortage, and the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to a change in perception that will usher in the moment for security convergence. That seems to be the finding in the most recent research on the topic, Security Convergence and Business Continuity: Reflecting on the Pandemic Experience.

More than 60 percent of those respondents indicated that their organizations had now fully or partially converged their security functions (29.3 percent complete, 31.2 partially, and 39.5 percent not converged). Similar to a report from 2007, the foundation convergence research focused on the melding of cyber and physical security with business continuity planning.

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Related: Research Finds Full Convergence Is Far from Commonplace

Recommended: How to Bridge the Gap
2018 as the European Cultural Heritage Year will be marked mostly by educational events stressing the value of cultural heritage and by efforts to manifest to the public that the cultural heritage in Europe is a common asset of all nations of the continent.

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Our common European heritage has universal roots and, despite its wide variety, it basically connects all Europeans, Slovak Culture Minister Marek Madaric told the SITA newswire. He also added that initiatives and events on European, national, regional and local levels will take place in 2018, the European Cultural Heritage Year. It will be marked mostly by educational events stressing the value of cultural heritage. At the European level, the project will be organised by European institutions, while on the national level this will be done by coordinators selected by individual European Union member states.

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Thousands of various activities and celebrations are expected across the EU, and the main European initiatives shall secure that this common project has impact in the future, brings about novelties and changes, according to SITA. The 10 main initiatives concern issues revolving around heritage and various aspects like education, tourism, science, etc. and they are divided into four goals: engagement, sustainability, protection and innovation.

In Slovakia, events and exhibitions connected to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War II and the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic will be fundamental in the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018 (ECHY2018), Simona Lukacova of the Culture Ministry's press department told The Slovak Spectator. She added that these will be organised together with the biggest galleries and museums in the country.

Specific events of the European Cultural Heritage Year

For February, an expert seminar and exhibition are slated to present a topical issue in Slovakia  the renovation of castle architecture. A conference on the history of institutional conservation and protection of monuments has also been organised by the Czech and Slovak Monument Boards.

The centre for traditional arts ULUV, Pro monumenta, and the Centre of Construction Heritage in Banska Stiavnica plan several workshops and courses focused on developing traditional crafts, Lukacova added.

Other active Slovak players include ICOMOS Slovensko and The Association of Historical Cities and Villages of Slovakia, who will coordinate with the September Days of European Cultural Heritage, such as an international conference on pre-romanesque architecture.

At the end of 2018, the public-service broadcaster RTVS will bring the documentary film Four Sides of Slovakia aimed at presenting the beauties of rich national monuments, Lukacova reported.

The plan of events and activities will be updated and the calendar is still open for organisers to include their projects. More information can be found (in Slovak) at the ministerial website www.culture.gov.sk/posobnost-ministerstva/kulturne-dedicstvo-/ochrana-pamiatok/europsky-rok-kulturneho-dedicstva-31d.html.

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Representative of private doctors complained that the recently launched system of electronic health care does not work properly yet, and that it makes the work of GPs difficult.

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The launch of eHealth into practice, starting from January 1, 2018 has been accompanied by a number of problems that are making it difficult for general practitioners to carry out their work properly, Private Doctors Association (ASL) President Marian Soth said on January 16, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

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Soth said that neither electronic recommendation papers, nor electronic prescriptions are working properly, and doctors have even less time for their patients than before, as they have to deal with various technical issues.

Private Doctors Association (ASL) President Marian Sot (Source: TASR)

Were working in an environment in which were meeting our legislative obligations, but we cannot see the results of our efforts from a practical point of view, Soth told a press conference about the eHealth system, noting that doctors do not see any benefits in joining the system. He went on to say that doctors lose an average of one-and-a-half hours per day working with eHealth, and they could see around ten patients in the same amount of time. Now I mainly look at the monitor to see whether its working or not, he complained, showing the journalists specific error messages that doctors have to deal with on a daily basis.

National centre failed to inform

His association has not officially received any materials from the National Health Information Centre (NCZI) providing instructions for eHealth implementation processes, while doctors themselves have not received any information from the NCZI, either, Soth complained for the SITA newswire. As we announced, since November 2017 the frequency of retirement of outpatient doctors has increased due to uncertainty and an additional duty to introduce eHealth and there is nobody to replace them. Many outpatient surgeries have been left without a health-care provider.

The eHealth project is undoubtedly an objective obstacle to providing patients with proper health care and theres a legitimate reason for not joining the eHealth system or disconnecting from it..., said member of the Slovak General Practitioners Association committee Peter Liptak, according to TASR.

State officials deny serious problems

Outpatient doctors are repeatedly asking to avoid sanctions for failing to join the electronic health-care system. Both Health Minister Tomas Drucker (a Smer nominee) and head of the NCZI Peter Blaskovits have already promised that no fines will be levied in this regard in 2018.

The recently launched electronic health caresystem is not suffering from any chronic or fatal disease, Blaskovits reacted on January 16, describing the problems related to eHealth as minor childhood illnesses. He also said, as cited by TASR, that the technical problems that have accompanied its launch are under control and can be resolved.

Weve managed to launch it, and its working, he argued. Were aware of the fact that it has its childhood diseases, but thats totally natural, he said, adding that its a rather common thing for such a huge project. People and doctors cannot expect it to run absolutely flawlessly from the beginning, he stressed.

Blaskovits continued to say that the NCZI is working on a comprehensive change in legislation related to eHealth. The change involves, in particular, scrapping sanctions for health-care providers that do not join the eHealth system on time. Both the NCZI and the Health Ministry have already promised to adopt changes in this regard.

Drucker does not think that the state has underestimated the situation surrounding the launch of eHealth, describing it as only slight labour pains. He said, too, that some doctors might have underestimated the situation a little by leaving the process of signing up to the system to the last minute. On the other hand, the minister admitted that some logistical problems with supplying outpatient software might have occurred as well.
Main challenges for development of the automotive industry is lack of qualified labour and increasing wage costs

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This piece has been replaced with a story written by the Spectators staff.

Last year, carmakers in Slovakia again exceeded the magical level of one million cars produced, Slovakia still the biggest car producer per capita in the world. But representatives of the automotive sector fear that the accumulated problems regarding the lack of qualified labour, a malfunctioning education system unable to generate a labour force as well as intensifying pressure on higher wages could make Slovakia less attractive for new projects by carmakers. They are pinning their hopes on resolutions, upon which they agreed with the government in late 2017. If these are met, the industry will remain competitive.

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This year will be critical in terms of the sustainability and competitiveness of our economys key sector, said Juraj Sinay, president of the Slovak Automotive Industry Association (ZAP) on January 16, when assessing 2017 in the countrys automotive industry. If we fail to remove the main barriers in the development of the automotive industry, it wont be possible to sustain these results for long and this sectors productivity will take a downward turn.

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Read also: Automotive industry keeps growing Read more

The automotive industry is one of the pillars of Slovakias economy, accounting for 13 percent of its gross domestic product and 35 percent of its exports. It employs, directly as well as indirectly, more than 300,000 people.

The parameters defining Slovakias competitiveness for investors within the automotive industry are starting to near their limits, claims ZAP. As a consequence, suppliers of carmakers are pondering the building of new plants outside Slovakia. The absence of qualified labour may significantly affect decision-making by the managers of carmakers parent companies about where to place new investments and the extension of existing ones.

ZAP has identified five main barriers for the further development of the sector. The first is the lack of a qualified labour force and the malfunctioning education system failing to generate the labour force for the industrial sector in general. The low number of workers has caused an increase in wages.

ZAP estimates that the automotive industry will need approximately 14,000 workers by 2020. While it originally expected that it will be primary, the dual education scheme followed by the requalification and import of workers from abroad will generate new labour, now seeing foreign workers as the primary source of the labour force to fill the vacancies.

Thus ZAP requires the government simplifying procedures for employing workers from third countries. In the time being this lasts even as much as six months.

The Labour Ministry is planning a change for selected jobs for which companies are unable to find workers and in districts with the jobless rate below 5 percent.

In such a case labour offices will issue approving stands for the foreigners police automatically, Branislav Ondrus, state secretary of the Labour Ministry told the private TV network Joj. This change should become effective from the start of May.

Other barriers are social conditions, including measures the government is taking within its social packages; the underdeveloped research and development sector; as well as university education and new technologies in mobility, either alternative flows, connectivity or autonomousness so that Slovakia becomes a more suitable environment for their development.

These five barriers will or could prevent the development of the automotive industry in Slovakia, said Sinay.
After Slovak Roma proxy and Justice Minister expressed worries and dissatisfaction with the draft bill on suppressing criminality in Roma settlements by Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is taking the ministry to court over discrimination.

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The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is taking the Slovak Interior Ministry to court over discriminatory policing relating to Roma, the centre reported on its website. The ERRC has been collecting evidence of discriminatory practices against Roma in recent years by police, including ethnic profiling and Roma-targeted police raids.

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Most recently, Minister Robert Kalinak has also announced a new law to collect statistics on Roma crime and increase police powers, the website reads, adding that the ERRC finds this announcement to be further evidence for the institutional racism present in the ministry.

The legislation announced on January 11 could easily be misused to persecute already marginalised communities, and is based on racist stereotypes and inaccurate conclusions drawn from data collected by the Ministry last year, which the ERRC refuted.

The case, based on evidence of police targeting Roma communities under Code-Action 100 interventions, as well as plans to increase police units in areas with large Roma populations, will be heard before the Bratislava I District Court.

Kalinak's statistics do not add up

Statistics are necessary, according to Kalinak, but the ERRC point out that the figures are not accurate and do not add up. The centre claims that according to the governments own data, there is no strong correlation between a high percentage of Roma in a municipality and increased crime rate.

The ERRC also challenges the search-focused police interventions termed Code-Action 100, deemed to be carried out overwhelmingly in areas with a high percentage of socially excluded Roma and frequently involving police entering the homes of Roma and using excessive force against them, claiming that they are searching for persons or objects.

There is a definite prejudice existing in elements of the Slovak police force against Roma people. Connecting crime with someones ethnicity is absurd, ERRC President ore Jovanovic said. There is also strong evidence for institutional racism in the Interior Ministry. They are specifically targeting Roma areas, first with discriminatory policing, then disproportionate increases in police numbers, and now with this new anti-Roma law. Legal action is the only way to show these people that the targeting of Roma communities is illegal.

Read also:

Read also: Proxy for Roma criticises minister Kalinak for ethnical and group discrimination Read more

Last month, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination tasked Slovakia with taking effective measures to cease biased policing.

Beginning this week, Government Proxy for Roma Communities Abel Ravasz, his predecessor Peter Pollak and Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska all expressed reservations concerning the planned legislation announced shortly before by Kalinak and Police President Tibot Gaspar. Prevention should take priority instead of repression, Ravasz argues, while Zitnanska notes that each and every law should apply to all citizens, and not just a specific ethnic group.
The highway company warns companies involved in the construction of the Visnove D1 highway tunnel about a possible 2 million fine for delay.

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The two 7.5-kilometer-tubes of the Visnove tunnel failed to be dug at the end of last year. The National Highway Company (NDS) is preparing an announcement that will warn the Italian-Slovak consortium Salini Impregilo and Duha about a possible 2 million fine for their delay, NDS spokeswoman Michaela Michalova confirmed for the Hospodarske Noviny daily.

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This announcement will be made until January 19 and subsequently will be delivered to the construction supervisor, ideally on that day, Michalova said. The supervisor will evaluate the entire process.

Read also:

Read also: Construction of Zilina stretch will take longer Read more

The original deadline was the end of 2017, which prompted the National Highway Company (NDS) to start preparations for proceedings regarding this matter. Salini Impregilo-Duha filed an application in autumn 2017 to have the deadline postponed, arguing that this was necessary for geological reasons, the daily wrote. This causes, according to the consortium, a loss of approximately 200 metres against the planned performance under good geology.
Vice-president of the Adient company, which produces car seats, suggests in an interview that the Trencin-based branch could develop airplane seats.

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Adient, the company that produces mostly car seats, wants to enter the aviation industry, the Sme daily wrote on January 17. It could develop seats for the aircraft producer Boeing in Trencin, company vice-president Jeff Stafeil told the newspaper. But he added that it would probably not produce them. It may make this move thanks to the contract on cooperation signed with Boeing in the past. Moreover, he said that their excellent expertise and know-how from car seat production can be used in the aviation industry.

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Read also: Adient technology centre announces major growth phase Read more

Adient decided on this step after it failed to receive the order from the Bratislava plant of the Volkswagen carmaker. Overall, the company received more orders than it lost, Stafeil noted. Their business has grown 22 percent globally. This success will be connected not just with opening new plants but with opening new jobs, vice-president added.

Thus they plan to hire new people next year, also in Slovakia. The country is crucial for Adient, since it has a business centre in Bratislava and a technology centre in Trencin. The company produces car-seat covers, plastic foams and the metal parts of headrests in the country, in the just-in-time concept in a specific plant where the seats are then finalised  close to the planned car plant.

Read also:

Read also: Adient will shut down its Lozorno plant in 2018 Read more

The firm plans to announce the new plant for seat production within this quarter.
One room inside a residential building was completely damaged by fire, while almost 50 people were evacuated and four hospitalised.

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Four people ended up in the hospital after a night fire in a residential building on J.G. Tajovskeho Street in Trnava. One room inside a flat on the third floor caught fire, probably from a candle, the SITA newswire wrote.

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Fire-fighters were summoned to the site shortly before 2:00. One of the inhabitants, aged 48, probably lit a candle and then fell asleep, Trnava police spokesperson Maria Linkesova informed the newswire.

The fire in Trnava completely destroyed one room. (Source: TASR)

One room was completely destroyed, and the interiors of the residential building were full of smoke, Regional Presidium of the Fire and Rescue Corpse reported. More than 40 people had to be evacuated. Several people suffered smoke inhalation, including children and two police officers who had to be treated in hospital.

The damage has been initially estimated at 25,000. Police have launched an investigation of general threat caused by neglect.
After a serious fall in the tenth leg, Slovak motorcyclist Stefan Svitko resigned from the 40th year of the Dakar Rally due to pain in his upper body.

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Slovak motorcyclist Stefan Svitko, who was eighth in the overall preliminary ranking, gave up in the 40th year of the off-road endurance desert race Dakar Rally (which since 2009 has taken place in South America instead of between Paris, France, and Dakar, Senegal). He fell in the 10th leg and due to severe upper body pain, the Slovak racer resigned on January 17. The vice-champion from 2016 was injured a day earlier, the SITA newswire wrote.

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The Slovak public-service broadcaster RTVS reported on Facebook that Svitko has problems with his collarbone.

Svitko, aged 35 and coming from the village of Zaskov, was in the eighth preliminary place in overall classification. In his ninth participation, this is the third time he fails to finish the race.

On Tuesday, January 16, he ended 25th, due to the fall and ensuing problems. However, he initially believed he could recover and continue the race open both for cars and motorbikes.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/0CpcZuFhzgc

About 20 kilometres before the first part of the special ride, I suffered a terrible fall  I got kicked and I over above the bike, he said in a video. The site was not even marked in the roadbook. I also discussed it with Van Bevern and Walkner  they had problems there, too.

I'm doing quite poorly, my shoulder aches and I'm waiting for an X-ray examination, he said immediately after the fall. He added that he hoped everything would be OK and the next morning he would be able to continue. This was not the case, though.
Those who have experienced farewells in other crematoria know what makes it special. Now the best work by the architect Ferdinand Milucky is getting a monograph

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The crematorium designed by architect Ferdinand Milucky in Bratislava from 1962-1968 is like a revelation. It is a world-class work, masterfully embedded in the landscape. In my opinion, this is the most significant creation in the territory of the former Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, wrote historian and architect Zdenek Lukes back in 2010 in his article for the Czech Lidove Noviny daily, describing the elegant white oblong building leaning against the forest at the foot of the Small Carpathians. The director of the Slovart publishing house, Juraj Heger, remembered his words very well. So he was really pleased when architect Matus Dulla approached him in October 2016 with the idea of writing a monograph about this unique work.

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The Bratislava Crematorium and its creator, the architect Ferdinand Milucky, absolutely deserve it, Heger said during the ceremonial launch of the book At the End of the Road at the crematorium in Bratislava last November.

Ferdinand Milucky Milucky was born on September 26, 1929 in Rajec, close to Zilina. He studied architecture in Bratislava at the Slovak Technical University and was one of its first graduates. In design he demonstrated a feeling for terrain. Apart from the crematorium, he demonstrated his exceptional ability when designing Ruzinov real estate or todays Andrej Hlinka Park. He also designed the House of Art in Piestany and the no longer existing exhibition pavilions in the former PKO on the bank of the Danube River. His greatest architectural work is the crematorium with the urn grove in Bratislava.

In this exceptional Slovak-English book, author Matus Dulla not only points out what makes Miluckys architecture so exceptional but sets the process of its creation in historical context, a local as well as foreign one. This makes the book interesting not only for architecture experts but is easily readable for all those interested in art, history or Bratislava.

The book contains photos by Olja Triaska Stefanovic. Her pictures sensitively capture the transformations of the crematorium and its surroundings in all four seasons.

It was a great challenge because the function of this building is very serious, said the photographer. But already during the first walk throughout the whole area I realised that its connection with nature was very strong and that it had a very strong emotional code embedded in it. When we are parting here from a close person, nature and the changing seasons tell us about the cycle of life.

Unique architecture

Dulla considers this crematorium to be unique. Its architecture is not closed in on itself like many Czech-Slovak crematoriums built before it.

Milucky designed it in such a way that we are looking out of it into nature, said Dulla. He embedded it into the terrain and along with the arch of the access path these are all the great things that came out during the exceptionally favourable times of the 1960s.
Farmers boxes are gaining customers in Slovakia as people slowly become more conscious about quality and the origin of the food they eat.

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When Terezia Kollarova and her husband Tomas moved to Kosice with their freshly-obtained university degrees, they found that the city lacked a company providing good-quality homemade products.

I come from a village where my parents have always grown fruits and vegetables and kept animals, and I did not want to give that up in the city where I settled down, Kollarova told The Slovak Spectator. The couple now runs a business in the regions surrounding Kosice and Presov in eastern Slovakia, delivering boxes of fruits, vegetables and other products directly to their customers homes.

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Several companies have mushroomed around Slovakia, particularly in Bratislava, in the past few years, as a response to consumers demand for fresh food and local products. As an alternative to green markets or local green grocers, farmers box businesses are based on the home delivery of their products.

Farmers boxes are the connecting element between the farmer and the end consumer, Lucia Gallova, the president of Vidiecka Platforma, an association that supports the rights of small farmers, told The Slovak Spectator. In Slovakia, small farms can fill the gap left after the large cooperative farms and state-run companies, typical of the Communist era.

We can distribute the food quickly and effectively to households, said Karolina Bobrikova, marketing manager of the Svet Bedniciek company. We often buy farmers whole production and they dont have to worry about finding other markets.

Traditional food, new technology

The founders of Svet Bedniciek (The World of Crates), Andrej and Peter, decided to open an online shop delivering goods from farmers upon graduating from university.
United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.
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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Learning Tools

EarthEcho Launches Free Collection of STEM Resources About Water Conservation

EarthEcho International has unveiled a collection of free curriculum resources, EarthEcho Expedition: Water by Design, that aims to bring STEM experiences from the real world into the classroom.

The resources are built on a program from EarthEcho and sponsored by Northrop Grumman, also called EarthEcho Expedition: Water by Design, that brought 26 middle school teachers to Southern California last October to learn about water scarcity before helping to design and vet the new materials. The company's expeditions program is a yearly event "that leverages the rich Cousteau legacy of exploration and discovery to bring STEM education to 21st century learners and their educators," according to a news release.

Educators who participate are dubbed "EarthEcho Expedition Fellows" and work with the organization's team to "use their first-hand experiences to develop engaging and relatable classroom-based education materials to support high-quality environmental STEM programming in schools and communities anywhere in the world," according to information released by EarthEcho. "Throughout expedition and after, the fellows are active in the process of developing, field-testing and promoting materials for each new EarthEcho Expeditions module online."

The resources will be available beginning Jan. 17 and will include lesson plans, design challenges, videos and a virtual field trip. Features of the collection include:

"Adventure-based" STEM learning modules focused on topics such as aquaponics, desalination, precision irrigation and more. Modules include design challenges and other activities designed to encourage active learning with hands-on cross-curricular lessons tied directly to real-world water conservation issues;

STEM career close-up videos offer the perspectives of scientists, engineers and other experts at organizations such as Northrop Grumman, NASA and the West Basin Municipal Water District for insight into careers related to water conservation and related areas;

Expedition videos show students the environmental science and engineering solutions of conservation challenges; and

Youth in action videos show how young activists work for positive change related to water conservation.

"EarthEcho Expeditions provides teachers and students around the world with access to classroom resources that open the door to amazing science and engineering and the women and men who are making a positive difference in our world each and every day," said Philippe Cousteau, Jr., founder of EarthEcho International, in a prepared statement. "At EarthEcho, we believe every classroom should have access to materials and tools that engage, inspire, and support new generations of problem solvers and leaders in STEM disciplines."
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
At least three were killed and several injured when the scaffolding at a construction site in Hanoi collapsed on Wednesday, sending a dozen workers to the ground.

The accident happened at around 2:00 am at a construction site on To Huu Street in Hanois Nam Tu Liem District, according to district officials.

Nineteen men were working on the site at the time of the accident, including twelve workers on the five-meter-high scaffolding and seven on the ground.

Three workers were announced immediately dead, while three others were rushed to the hospital with severe injuries.

The dead victims have been identified as Tran Van Tuc, 31, Doan Van Manh, 28, and Doan Van Banh, 22, who were all from northern Yen Bai Province.

Emergency responders are working to rescue those still trapped under the rubble.

The construction site in Hanoi where scaffolding collapsed on January 17, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Chu Van Duc, chief construction inspector of Nam Tu Liem District, said the construction site belonged to a multi-storey car park developed by Hanoi-based Viet Nhat Investment and Tourism Company.

Construction on the parking ramp had begun on November 16, 2017, Duc added.

It is not immediately clear what caused the accident. What we know at the moment is that the workers were in the middle of concreting when the tragedy struck, Duc said.

Authorities inspect the construction site in Hanoi where scaffolding collapsed on January 17, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Check out what is in the news today:

Politics

-- Speaking at a conference jointly organized by the World Bank on Tuesday, Minister Mai Tien Dung, head of the Government Office, confirmed Vietnams ongoing efforts in establishing the e-government model.

Society

-- A number of streets in downtown Ho Chi Minh City will be re-routed starting January 21, the municipal Department of Transport has announced.

-- Airport road tolls continue to raise eyebrows in Vietnam as drivers of any four-wheeled vehicle are still required to pay a fee at most aerodromes across the country despite the Government Inspectorates conclusion outlawing the collection nearly three months ago.

Business

-- Vietnamese mobile carriers are allowed to offer up to 20 percent discount rates to prepaid subscribers in a bid to keep a better check on junk and fraudulent text messages, which have been a perennial grievance for cellphone users, while postpaid subscribers are still entitled to a 50 percent rate, according to a circular recently released by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

-- Real estate firms in Ho Chi Minh City have showered their potential clients, particularly apartment buyers, with promotional gifts as the lunar year is nearing its end to recoup investment and get ready for new projects.

-- GrabBike drivers in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have complained about their low pay and limited clientele amid protests launched over the past few days by their Grab and Uber counterparts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City against the ride-hailing apps regarding their commission policies.

Lifestyle

-- The Department of Information and Communications in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Tuesday announced a cherry blossom festival will take place for the first time at a national tourist complex in Da Lat from January 26 to 28. The province will also receive the recognition of Da Lat as being an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) environmentally sustainable city.
Two GrabBike drivers were assaulted by a group of xe om in the southern city of Bien Hoa on Tuesday, the latest in a series of physical confrontations between the app-based and conventional motorbike taxi drivers in Vietnam.

A video of the scuffle, which shows the xe om chasing and aggressively beating two of their app-based competitors with sticks, made the rounds of social media on Tuesday.

In the footage, believed to be filmed at the Amata Industrial Park in Bien Hoa, the capital of Dong Nai Province which borders Ho Chi Minh City, one GrabBike driver suffering from a bleeding head is seen being taken to the hospital by his coworker.

The video sparked social media outrage, and is not the first time the rivalry between the app-based and conventional xe om drivers has turned violent.

Local police confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper late on Tuesday that they were looking into the incident following a complaint by the injured GrabBike driver.

According to police officers, the conflict broke out at 9:00 am, with the injured GrabBike driver identified as 35-year-old Nguyen Quang Tuoi, a Bien Hoa resident.

Tuoi was parking his motorbike inside the Amata Industrial Park when he saw his coworker being surrounded and attacked by a group of xe om, so he immediately rushed in to help him.

However, the conflict then intensified and the xe om eventually grabbed some sticks to assault the GrabBike drivers.

Tuoi fell to the ground during his escape and was struck several times by the armed xe om drivers. He was later admitted to a local hospital and received five stitches to a wound on his head.

Many GrabBike drivers then flocked to the park to protest the assault and only dispersed when police appeared.

A group of GrabBike drivers are seen at Amata Industrial Park in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam, on January 16, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

In September 2017, another GrabBike driver was hospitalized after being attacked by a group of xe om near the An Suong Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City.

In June of the same year, a similar incident occurred near the Mien Tay (Western) Bus Station, prompting police to fire into the air to stop the scuffle from becoming more violent.

Series of protests

In a separate development, numerous GrabBike drivers in the southern city of Can Tho, one of the latest markets to open up for the ride-hailing app in Vietnam, are also complaining that fares stipulated by the app are too low to make the business profitable.

Like other ride-hailing apps, Grab applies dirt cheap fares to lure passengers, putting a burden on the drivers shoulders.

In one example, it costs only VND33,000, or less than $1.5, to travel 7km from Ben Thanh Market to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

GrabBike launched in Can Tho and five other cities, namely Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Vung Tau, in mid-December last year.

The app lured local residents into becoming its partners by promising monthly incomes of up to VND14 million ($617); however some drivers have claimed that they are only able to make VND1 million ($44) a week in reality.

Other drivers have said that they merely book an average of 30 rides a week, each with fares as low as VND12,000-20,000.

A group of GrabBike drivers is seen in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Grab Vietnam has repeatedly made local headlines since the beginning of this year, with GrabBike drivers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi taking turns to protest the companys commission policy.

Grab previously charged GrabBike drivers 20 percent of their revenue per ride, but requested an additional 3.6 percent for personal income tax deduction from January 1.

Following a strike by drivers in Ho Chi Minh City last week, the company was forced to revert back to their original commission of 20 percent.

Inspired by their victory down south, GrabBike drivers in Hanoi staged their own strike on Monday, demanding that the commission be slashed to 15 percent.

Uber drivers in the Vietnamese capital also held their own walkout on the same day, opposing a whopping 29.5 percent commission charged by the U.S.-based app.
The clearance was made official by a government resolution issued on Tuesday, as signed by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

Hundreds of thousands of tablets of the two cancer-treating drugs Glivec 100mg and Tasigna 200mg are expected to arrive in Vietnamese hospitals as early as next week, following the express decision.

The resolution was issued on the same day that Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper published an article reporting on the fact that thousands of cancer patients in Vietnam were at risk of abandoning their treatment due to a lack of the medication.

The two crucial drugs are sponsored by Swiss-based Novartis Pharma Services AG as part of a program in which the company works with Vietnams state-run health insurance provider to provide the drugs for free to insured patients.

Although the program had been set to last until 2019, supply of the drugs at seven partnered hospitals in Vietnam had either been exhausted or was quickly running out due to a government decree last July requiring importers of the sponsored drugs to present a range of documents assuring their quality.

The documents, according to Novartis, requested confidential information regarding the drugs formula and production that they were not prepared to divulge to anyone other than Vietnams Ministry of Health.

The bureaucratic back-and-forth resulted in the drugs being barred from being imported into Vietnam, forcing hospitals to reduce the dosage for thousands of cancer patients, who cannot afford to purchase the expensive medication on the open market.

Cancer patients at the Hospital of Oncology in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A sigh of relief

Tuesdays resolution by the government cleared the two sponsored drugs for import based on the requirements of previous regulations, rather than those included in last years decree.

According to Dr. Phu Chi Dung, director of the Hospital of Blood Transfusion and Hematology in Ho Chi Minh City (BTH), all procedures are being rushed through so that patients can receive the drugs as early as next week.

A representative from Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City said shipments had already arrived at a local sea port and were waiting to be cleared.

The news came as a relief to thousands of patients diagnosed with leukemia and gastrointestinal cancer in Vietnam, all of whom had been suffering without the medication for months.

Im a freelancer with a monthly income of only VND5 million [US$220]. The cost of my treatment without the sponsored drugs would be over VND500 million [$22,000] a year, said H., a 48-year-old leukemia patient in Hanoi.

B., a patient from Ho Chi Minh City diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, said he had been forced to buy his medications on the open market at an inflated price in order to maintain the recommended dosage over the past few months.

I burst into tears of joy when I was told by my doctor this morning to come and receive my free medications. Not everyone can afford to buy their own medicine, B. said.

I cherish every pill because this is the last chance of survival for terminal patients like myself, said C., another patient from Hai Phong.

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A man has been sentenced to three years in jail for sending death threats to the chairman of a province, and a police department director, in northern Vietnam.

The Peoples Court of Bac Ninh Province imposed a three-year jail term on Nguyen Trong Phuong, 38, on Tuesday, after he was found guilty of texting death threats to Nguyen Tu Quynh, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, in early 2017.

According to the indictment, Phuong, who resides in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, established a construction company in 2014.

In 2017, Phuong submitted a document to the Bac Ninh administration, requesting his firm be allowed to dredge a section of the Duong River and make use of the sand in various construction projects.

The proposal was denied as it was deemed that the activity could bring about serious subsidence along the rivers banks.

Phuong then discussed the matter with Tran Anh Thuan, deputy director of a Bac Ninh-based import-export and transport firm, about his intention to send death threats to Chairman Quynh, as well as to Pham Hong Son, director of the Bac Ninh Department of Police.

The man then bought a new SIM card and used it to send multiple text messages to the two officials on the night of January 23, 2017.

He expected that this would cause the provincial chairman to allow all dredging projects along the Duong River, and thus his previous request would be approved.

Phuong and Thuan were both arrested in March 31.

The first trial began on September 26, 2017, during which Phuong was charged with terrorism, while Thuan was prosecuted for failing to denounce the crime.

In late October, the Bac Ninh Department of Police decided to change Phuongs offense from terrorism to sending death threats, and spare Thuan from criminal charges.

In a similar case, the Peoples Court in the central city of Da Nang began the trial of Dao Tuan Cuong on Tuesday, the former branch director of Petrolimex Aviation Fuel JSC, who had sent death threats to Huynh Duc Tho, chairman of the municipal administration.

Cuong subsequently submitted a request to postpone the trial, as he was being treated for an illness at a local hospital.

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A woman in Ho Chi Minh City has borne triplets by natural birth.

L.T.N.T, 35, living in District 7, has given birth to three babies at Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center, the infirmary said on Wednesday.

She and her infants currently enjoy good health.

One of the children is a boy, and the other two are girls.

All of them weigh practically the same: about 2.3 kilograms.

The woman noticed signs of going into labor after having been pregnant for thirty five weeks.

She was taken to the hospital and was recommended to give birth to her children the natural way, as her health was in adequate condition.

According to doctor Le Thi Kieu Dung, the director of the department of obstetrics, this is the first occurrence of a triplet birth at the medical center.

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he would be happy to welcome Britain back into the EU even after it leaves the 28 member bloc in March 2019.

Speaking to the European Parliament, Juncker said Britain could return under Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty.

The comments come a day after European Council president Donald Tusk said he was open to a "change of heart" from the UK.

Mr Tusk and I once again reached out to the British government yesterday and said that if the British people, the British parliament, the British government, wish for another way than Brexit, we would be prepared to discuss it. We are not throwing out the British, we want them to stay, he said.

"And if they want to, they should be able to. But I noticed that in London, they have reacted almost upset at this reaction. Be it as it may, once the British have left under Article 50 there is still Article 49 which allows a return to membership and I would like that. I would like us now to treat each other with respect and not abandon each other.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union last March which started the two-year legal process of Britain's exit.

Article 49 is the mechanism for a country to join the bloc. Any new candidate state needs the unanimous consent of the members on the European Council, European Parliament, and consultation with the commission.
After years of delays Londons underground service has finally caught up with cities such as Berlin, Barcelona and New York as the night tube takes its first ever run on Saturday.

At 0034 the first night tube will take off from Brixton station. The service will run for 24 hours each Friday and Saturday on the Victoria line and most of the Central line. The Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines will be rolled out in autumn.

The night tube is thought to boost the citys night time economy. Transport for London said it would add about 6.4bn to Londons economy by 2030, 77m to the UKs economy per year and create 500,000 jobs.

Apart from the boon to party revellers in the city, the night service would aid the capitals many night workers. TFL said more than half of the people who take the night buses use them for going to or from work.

London First, a lobby group, said that night activity accounted for about 8% of London economy and supported one in eight jobs in the city.

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, said: It will support thousands of workers who have to travel to or from work at night, it will provide huge economic benefits to our vital night-time economy and it will help Londoners get home quickly and safely after a night out.

Londons transport commissioner, Mike Brown, said: The night tube is going to be a massive benefit for our half a million and more customers who use the Tube after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Its introduction is a historic step in the modernisation of the Underground and our continuing work to make life easier for Londoners and to support Londons economic growth."

The night tube had several delays since its first inception three years ago from funding and strikes from unions, as staff demanded higher pay and had safety concerns. Former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, had hoped to get the service underway by July, but new Mayor Sadiq Khan will travel on its maiden journey from Brixton.

Khan told the BBC: "Think of the theatres, the live music venues, the restaurants. I'm really pleased and proud that finally the night tube is here. Boris Johnson deserves credit for talking about the night tube, but it was important to get the details right. I'm really pleased and proud that finally it's going to happen."

London is playing catch-up to other big cities. Berlins U-bahn runs all hours at the weekend, Barcelona metro runs all night on Saturdays, New Yorks subway runs 24 hours a day every day, and Stockholms metro runs all hours at the weekend.

Trains will run every 10 minutes from the Victoria line and on the Central line between White City and Leytonstone. Between Ealing Broadway and White City and between Leytonstone and Loughton trains will run every 20 minutes.
In a bid to recover from the diesel emissions scandal German automotive giant Volkswagen is turning to technology startups in Silicon Valley.

Volkswagens digital chief Johann Jungwirth told Reuters that the company is trying to pursue new business acquisitions and partnerships.

Jungwirth, who joined the company in November 2015 after the scandal, said: "Yes, there are further opportunities. We have quite a few things in the pipeline.

He said that Volkswagen is playing catch-up as it is a latecomer to the new technologies arena.

"We have a massive need to now work with the same passion for detail and the same focus on software and services as on hardware".

In May, Volkswagen bought a $300m stake in ride-hailing app and Uber rival, Gett. The company expects to generate billions of euros in sales by 2025 as Gett builds it service business, but has a long way to go as Uber is already valued at $62.5bn and counts Goldman Sachs and Googles parent company, Alphabet as investors.

The company is also developing fully self-driving cars through its Audi luxury brand. Jungwirth said it is expanding the companys presence in Silicon Valley, a technology startup hub, to speed up development, and should be at the forefront of the self-drive cars market by 2021.

Similarly, in August Uber formed a partnership with Volvo to test driverless car systems in Volvos and Fords in Pittsburgh.

Shares in Volkswagen AG were down 1.60% to 119.80 cents at 1707 CEST.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have plunged to four-week lows due to a loss of confidence sparked by regulatory proposals in South Korea and the unknown result of the expiry of initial futures contracts.

Traders in digital currencies were also eyeing the expiry of the first bitcoin futures contract on the CBOE after launch on 10 December. The first CME futures contract expires on 26 January.

Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 on Wednesday, taking the losses to around 50% since the cryptocurrency was testing $20,000, with some analysts expecting another potential halving in the price before long.

This has led to a massive sell-off across the digital currency market. Rivals currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple lost around a quarter and a third respectively, with all but two the largest 100 cryptocurrencies dropping at least 20% in the last day and half.

Analysts at Citi said a possible fall in Bitcoin to the $5,605-$5,673 area "looks very likely to be very speedy".

With bitcoin coming under substantial selling pressure once again on Wednesday, market analyst Craig Erlam at Oanda said: "While $10,000 even two months ago would have been seen as a huge success for Bitcoin enthusiasts, the euphoria towards the back end of 2017 saw prices sky rocketing on a daily basis driving many to claim it was in dangerous bubble territory.

"While that in itself doesnt mean bitcoin will crash and burn, the warnings have proven to be legitimate in recent weeks. The question now is how long it will take bitcoin  as well as other cryptocurrencies that have had an equally awful month, some worse  to find its feet again."

REGULATORY RISK

The plunge occurred after the South Korean government said it was considering banning the trading of cryptocurrencies. The countrys finance minister Kim Dong-yeon said on a local radio station that banning trading of digital currencies was a live option.

The minister confirmed that although banning trading altogether could happen it still had to be thoroughly reviewed by the government ministries.

On the other hand he said that even if it isnt banned there will be regulations put in place, like using real-name accounts and levying taxes on trading. He argued that because there is an irrational speculation around cryptocurrencies there should be a rational regulation.

These regulations arent being considered only in South Korea, the EU agreed in December on harsher rules to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing on cryptocurrencies exchange platforms.

The Chinese government also shares these concerns and have banned ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). Its also looking to drive out Chinas bitcoin miners who are believed to account for the majority on the planet.

More recently, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has also commented that the country will seek to reguate the digital currency's market more tightly.

This yo-yoing of the price of cryptocurrencies has left bitcoin more than 40% lower of its record high in December 2017 when it reached $20,000. This has taken $130bn off its market value.

Analyst Neil Wilson at ETX Capital said the break below $10k marked an "important breach of key technical and psychological levels", with potential technical support at around $9,600 before the $9,000 that was an old support from late November.

"A move to the $9,400 region would mark another important technical level ticked off as it would be a 61.8% retracement of the move from the September low from $3k to the December all-time high."

Wilson said the this bout of selling appears to have been sparked by a tightening of the regulatory noose on the wider cryptocurrency market.
London has reclaimed its title of Most Expensive City in Europe for renters for a third straight year as average monthly rents in the capital rose to stand almost 4,000 above those of any other major UK city.

On average, renting in London cost 3,693 more each month than in Europe, making it the continent's most expensive city at 5,398 per month.

Outside of London, the UK saw its biggest rent increases in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow due to considerably increased levels of demand, but still managed to maintain an average monthly rental cost for an unfurnished, mid-market, three-bedroom apartment of 1,427 per month.

"The biggest rent increases in the UK have been in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow due to high demand for rental property. In Aberdeen, the downturn in the oil and gas industry means that many employers are returning staff back to their home locations - and their healthy rental budgets along with them - meaning the Aberdeen rental market has suffered a downturn of 16%," said Alec Smith, accommodation services manager at data experts ECA International.

Elsewhere in Europe, Dublin moved into the top ten list for the first time, and several Eastern European cities, such as Prague and Warsaw, saw sharp increases in rental prices of almost 2,000 a month, shooting up more than ten places in the ECA's ranking.

"The local economies of Prague, Warsaw and similar major Eastern European cities have strengthened relative to the Eurozone as a whole in recent years. International companies are setting up or expanding their operations in these economies, bolstering demand for quality accommodation," explained Smith.

Rents in Hong Kong remained the most expensive in the world, averaging over $10,000 a month for the same three-bedroom apartment in an area commonly inhabited by professionals.

New York also retained its place is the most expensive rental location for expats in North America, despite prices falling throughout 2017 and other US cities such as San Francisco and Miami starting to catch up.
Hammerson said on Friday developments towards achieving a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) are at an advanced stage.

The listing is expected to take place on 1 September after approval from the Financial Surveillance Department of the South African Reserve Bank. The property development and investment company is now awaiting formal approval from the JSE.

Hammerson is pursuing the secondary listing in order to improve the depth and spread of the shareholder base of the company, thereby improving liquidity and tradability of its shares and ensuring the company is accessing a wider pool of international capital, the group said in a statement.

The secondary listing will provide South African investors, both institutional and private, with an opportunity to participate in the future income and capital performance of the company.

Deutsche Securities Proprietary Limited is acting as joint corporate advisor, sole corporate broker and joint sponsor. Java Capital Proprietary Limited is acting as joint corporate advisor and joint sponsor and Werksmans Attorneys is acting as South African legal advisors.
Orange S.A. provides various fixed telephony and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, and other value-added services to customers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators in France and internationally. It operates through France; Spain and Other European Countries; The Africa and Middle East; Enterprise; International Carriers & Shared Services; and Mobile Financial Services segments. The company offers mobile services, such as voice, SMS, and data; fixed broadband and narrowband services, as well as fixed network business solutions, including voice and data; and convergence packages. It also sells mobile handsets, mobile terminals, broadband equipment, connected devices, and accessories. In addition, the company provides IT and integration services comprising unified communication and collaboration services, such as LAN and telephony, consultancy, integration, and project management; hosting and infrastructure services, including cloud computing; customer relations management and other applications services; security services; and video conferencing, as well as sells related equipment. Further, it offers national and international roaming services; online advertising services; and mobile virtual network operators, network sharing, and mobile financial services, as well as sells equipment to external distributors and brokers. Orange S.A. markets its products and services under the Orange brand. The company was formerly known as France Telecom and changed its name to Orange S.A. in July 2013. Orange S.A. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France.
Motorola Solutions, Inc. provides mission critical communications and analytics in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and video security devices and infrastructure, as well as the implementation, and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, public safety, and commercial customers who operate private communications networks and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce. Its land mobile radio communications and video security and access control devices include two-way portable and vehicle-mounted radios, fixed and mobile video cameras, and accessories; radio network core and central processing software, base stations, consoles, and repeaters; and video analytics, network video management hardware and software, and access control solutions. The Software and Services segment provides repair, technical support, and hardware maintenance services. This segment also offers monitoring, software updates, and cybersecurity services; and public safety and enterprise command center software, unified communications applications, and video software solutions through on-premise and as a service. It serves government, public safety, and commercial customers. The company was formerly known as Motorola, Inc. and changed its name to Motorola Solutions, Inc. in January 2011. Motorola Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Trinity Industries, Inc. provides rail transportation products and services under the TrinityRail name in North America. It operates in two segments, Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group, and Rail Products Group. The Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group segment leases freight and tank railcars; originates and manages railcar leases for third-party investors; and provides fleet maintenance and management services. As of December 31, 2021, it had a fleet of 106,970 owned or leased railcars. This segment serves industrial shipper and railroad companies operating in agriculture, construction and metals, consumer products, energy, and refined products and chemicals markets. The Rail Products Group segment manufactures freight and tank railcars for transporting various liquids, gases, and dry cargo; and offers railcar maintenance and modification services. This segment serves railroads, leasing companies, and industrial shippers of products in the agriculture, construction and metals, consumer products, energy, and refined products and chemicals markets. It sells or leases products and services through its own sales personnel and independent sales representatives. Trinity Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1933 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Cenovus Energy Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and natural gas in Canada, the United States, and the Asia Pacific region. The company operates through Oil Sands, Conventional, Offshore, Canadian Manufacturing, U.S. Manufacturing, and Retail segments. The Oil Sands segment develops and produces bitumen and heavy oil in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. This segments Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Sunrise, and Tucker oil sands projects, as well as Lloydminster thermal and conventional heavy oil assets The Conventional segment holds assets primarily located in Elmworth-Wapiti, Kaybob-Edson, Clearwater, and Rainbow Lake operating in Alberta and British Columbia, as well as interests in various natural gas processing facilities. The offshore segment engages in the exploration and development activities. The Canadian Manufacturing segment includes the owned and operated Lloydminster upgrading and asphalt refining complex, which upgrades heavy oil and bitumen into synthetic crude oil, diesel fuel, asphalt, and other ancillary products, as well as owns and operates the Bruderheim crude-by-rail terminal and two ethanol plants. The U.S. Manufacturing segment comprises the refining of crude oil to produce diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, asphalt, and other products. The Retail segment consists of marketing of its own and third-party refined petroleum products through retail, commercial, and bulk petroleum outlets, as well as wholesale channels. Cenovus Energy Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Autonomous vehicles are getting real, declared panelist Sherif Marakby, vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification at Ford Motor Co.

But the acceleration to bring self-driving technology into the mainstream might not be good, argued panelist Joan Claybrook, a co-chair at the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. We think it ought to be a more gradual implementation, not a rush to judgment," she said.

Bills in the U.S. House and Senate are intended to make sure there is overall federal regulation of autonomous vehicles. Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) said, We couldnt have 50 states and the District of Columbia out there writing laws, creating a patchwork of dos and donts that would inhibit development of driverless vehicles.

But in Claybrooks opinion, both bills (H.R. 3388 and S. 1885) have too many exemptions from safety regulations. We think this legislation is inadequate, she insisted, noting that the bills dont contain any requirement for the technology in the cars, the cybersecurity that could make driverless systems safer.

Regardless of how quickly self-driving vehicles make their way onto U.S. roads, auto and technology industries and legislators need to consider the needs and concerns of older consumers, said AARPs executive vice president, Nancy LeaMond. Being able to get around without getting behind the wheel is particularly important for older Americans who want to stay in their homes and communities as they age.

But she added that the "potentially transformative technology might not be easily embraced, since most boomers  85 percent, according to LeaMond  say they are afraid to ride in a self-driving car. That's a significant trust gap, she said, that must be overcome for older people to fully benefit from driverless vehicles.

Panelists emphasized the safety benefits that could come with the new technology, noting that about 95 percent of the estimated 37,000 traffic fatalities each year are caused by driver errors. Were going to save tens of thousands of lives a year with driverless cars, said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

Maybe not, according to Claybrook: Lets not have the arrogance of the algorithm.  Its never been shown that there is going to be more safety with driverless vehicles. She supports the view of auto-industry publishing magnate Keith Crain, who wrote in his Automotive News in October 2017 that driverless cars seem like something that no one wants, no one is willing to pay for and, on top of that, may not be perceived as being safe.

Crains editorial also noted, though, that there is a built-in market for self-driving cars among elderly and disabled people.

Despite a sense of urgency among panelists about preparing for autonomous vehicles, its unlikely theyll be generally available and in wide use by individuals  rather than by fleets such as car service Uber  until about 2030, according to forecasts.

Beyond safety and trust issues, Theres no question this new technology is disruptive.  No question employment will be impacted, and people who drive for a living are crowded out of work, said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

Still, autonomous vehicles have a very personal appeal. Citing his aging parents, Upton said, It was real hard taking away the keys from them.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Gov. Susana Martinez sounded an upbeat but unrelenting tone in her final State of the State address, calling on lawmakers Tuesday to approve bills dealing with crime, education and the states tax code, many of which have stalled in previous legislative sessions.

The two-term Republican governor, who took office in 2011 and is barred from seeking a third consecutive term, touted recent job growth and an improvement in the states revenue outlook as evidence of a stronger state economy after several years of painful budgetary belt-tightening.

To the surprise of lawmakers, Martinez also said the amount of new money available in the coming year will rise to roughly $330 million  up from an estimated $199 million as of last month  based on updated revenue tracking figures. A new revenue estimate is expected to be unveiled next week.

As we emerge from the fiscal and economic adversity we have faced, I am proud to say the state of our state is strong  and getting stronger, Martinez said in her 54-minute speech.

But some majority Democrats described the governors speech as lacking in new ideas and signaled many of her initiatives could face long odds in the 30-day session that began Tuesday.

There was literally nothing today she hasnt said before, Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, said shortly after Martinezs speech.

As she has done in previous legislative sessions, Martinez called on the Democratic-controlled Legislature to bring back the death penalty for individuals convicted of killing a child or a law enforcement officer and to expand the states three-strikes law for violent felony offenses.

Martinez also renewed her call for an overhaul of the states gross receipts tax code, which stalled during last years legislative session due to concerns about possible unintended consequences.

House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, expressed optimism about a more conciliatory tone between the Governors Office and legislative leaders but acknowledged there may be policy disagreements in the weeks to come.

Just because we dont agree on three-strikes legislation doesnt mean we cant agree on the need for more cops on the street, Egolf told reporters.

Republican lawmakers largely praised Martinezs remarks, noting the governors agenda has not wavered despite consistent opposition.

She has not moved off the things she wanted, Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, told the Journal.

Immigration protests

Youthful immigration rights advocates delayed the start of Martinezs address, chanting and unfurling banners before they were escorted out by State Police officers.

The demonstrators banners encouraged U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both Democrats, to vote for passage of the federal DREAM Act, which would offer protections for young immigrants.

Once it finally got underway, the governors speech was largely focused on serious policy issues, though it did feature some lighter moments.

At one point, Martinez referenced a still-pending lawsuit that leading lawmakers filed against her last year over 10 bills that were vetoed after being passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Since you all sued me and ask that I explain myself more, sit back and relax, Martinez said to laughter. Ive got things to say.

Meanwhile, the governor also recognized several New Mexicans in her speech, including Aztec High School custodian Emery Hill, who alerted students and teachers during a school shooting last month.

The shooting left two students dead  17-year-olds Francisco Paco Fernandez and Casey Marquez  but Martinez said more would have died if Hill had not acted quickly.

She did not propose any gun control legislation in her address, but did call for stiffer penalties for individuals who use a firearm while committing a crime.

Crime is costly, said Martinez, who was a longtime prosecutor before becoming governor. It inhibits economic growth, and Ive seen firsthand how it destroys the lives of victims, their families, witnesses and perpetrators alike.

Democratic response

Sen. Howie Morales, a Silver City Democrat and candidate for lieutenant governor, delivered a response to Martinezs speech on behalf of Senate Democrats.

Democratic legislative priorities, he said, include increased funding for early childhood programs and education, a balanced approach to public safety that doesnt rely entirely on stiffer penalties, and repairing the states finances after several lean years.

He also noted  more than once  that a new governor will be in office within a year.

Im confident theres a brighter future for the people of our state, Morales said, and change is just around the corner.

Journal Capitol Bureau reporter Dan McKay contributed to this report.



(Video courtesy NMPBS)
The caffeine-laced weekly meet up 1 Million Cups may soon be offering a morning-brew venue for entrepreneurs in Santa Fe.

The weekly gatherings, created in 2012 by the Kansas-City-based Kauffman Foundation, are growing rapidly, with its fresh coffee aroma now wafting through entrepreneurial meetups in 163 cities nationwide, said Kauffman Program Associate Jordan Marsillo. Thats up from 100 a year ago, and just 60 when Albuquerque launched it in 2014.

Given its broad popularity here, Kauffman is now encouraging expansion to Santa Fe.

Given the close proximity to Albuquerque and its success there, we want to spread that energy into another community, Marsillo said. Theres a wonderful bubble of entrepreneurial activity in New Mexico, but Albuquerque is the only local city right now with 1 Million Cups.

The weekly event brings together aspiring and veteran businesspeople to discuss startup initiatives, share ideas and support one another.

One local firm, or an individual with a business idea, presents to participants each week. Speakers share their goals and strategies, as well as achievements, failures and challenges, to get feedback from peers.

The Albuquerque meetup attracts an average of about 70 people every week, said Charles White, lead organizer in Albuquerque. Hundreds more watch through live-streaming video or recordings of past presentations, he said.

Its unclear if Santa Fe can replicate that success, said Sean OShea, program director at the Santa Fe Business Incubator and a local organizer for the initiative.

We have concerns about who will organize it and what the right structure and frequency would be here, OShea said. Albuquerque is a great place to do it weekly, but Santa Fe is about one-quarter the size. It might be a struggle to find presenters every week.

1 Million Cups depends entirely on local entrepreneurs to organize and coordinate it, although Kauffman provides a web platform with tools, resources, and training. We help prepare organizers and then take a step back, Marsillo said. The magic comes from the community.

Santa Fe may be ripe for such entrepreneurial gatherings, said Melanie Lenci, a marketing consultant who is organizing a new monthly meetup called Kick Ass Entrepreneurs of Santa Fe. That groups inaugural event is Feb. 1.

The South Valley Economic Development Center began hosting a weekly Spanish-language 1 Million Cups in November 2014, making it the first such Spanish-language venue in the nation.

Impact and Coffee  a separate weekly venue for nonprofits inspired by 1 Million Cups  has also been meeting three times monthly in Albuquerque since 2015, attracting 20 to 30 people each week, said co-organizer Mariah Harrison.
The FBI is looking for a man who they say robbed a Belen bank Tuesday morning wearing dark clothing and a skull bandana. (Source: FBI) The FBI is looking for a man who they say robbed a Belen bank Tuesday morning wearing dark clothing and a skull bandana. (Source: FBI) The FBI is looking for a man who they say robbed a Belen bank Tuesday morning wearing dark clothing and a skull bandana. (Source: FBI) Prev 1 of 3 Next

The FBI is asking the publics help finding a man who robbed a Belen bank Tuesday morning.

Spokesman Frank Fisher said the man walked into the US Bank, at 620 West Reinken, around 9:30 a.m. and demanded money from a teller.

He said the suspect was given cash and left in a white four-door sedan, possibly a 2000s model Kia, with a stolen yellow New Mexico plate and large custom black wheels.

The robber is described as around 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a slim build.

Fisher said he wore sunglasses, dark gloves, black hooded sweatshirt with a dark blue jacket, dark pants and dark shoes. He also wore a hood over his head and concealed his face with a black bandana with a white skull pattern.

The FBI may pay a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (505) 889-1300, or Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at (505) 843-STOP
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

The man whom officers shot and killed in a vacant apartment off East Central a week and a half ago had jumped out at them from a closet, armed with a 3-inch knife and a metal pipe, officials from the Albuquerque Police Department said Tuesday.

In an afternoon news conference with interim Police Chief Michael Geier, Lt. Ray Del Greco of the Force Investigation Team, laid out the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Del Greco said eight seconds elapsed between the time when 24-year-old Daniel Saavedra-Arreola leapt out of the closet in an ambush style attack and when he was shot dead on the scene.

The lieutenant said four officers fired a total of 17 times, although he did not know yet how many times Saavedra-Arreola had been struck. Saavedra-Arreola was identified as Daniel Arreola-Saavedra last week by his father, and has used many variations of his name in court records.

Although the shooting unfolded in eight seconds, the call started nearly an hour and 40 minutes earlier, Del Greco said. He said all four officers  Amy ODell, Elisa Valdez, Emmett Fritz and Bryce Willsey  had their lapel video cameras running the entire time, and he played snippets of those videos. The full videos will be released to the public today.

Del Greco said shortly before midnight on Jan. 6, an apartment manager of the Luna Lodge complex on Central, east of Wyoming, called police to say he had seen and heard a man break into a vacant unit in the back northwest corner. When the officers arrived, they made announcements for more than an hour to try to get the suspect to exit but were unsuccessful.

He said the officers eventually decided to enter the apartment and cleared each room and closet before entering the back bedroom.

They werent fully sure there was even someone in the room, Del Greco said. They took their time in clearing the place. The fact that someone was actually in that room was not priority in their mind. At that time this was just another house they were clearing.

But shortly after they entered the bedroom, the video shows Saavedra-Arreola jumping out of the closet into the room, erratically swinging a knife and a metal pipe at an officer and backing him into a corner. One of the officers deployed a Taser but it did not immediately appear to have an effect.

Del Greco said all four officers in the room fired. A sergeant, Andrew Quillmann, was also on the scene but not in the room and did not shoot.

An APD spokesman, Gilbert Gallegos, said all of the officers were put on paid administrative leave, which is standard, and two have since returned to work.

ODell is a 9-year veteran of the department. Valdez has been with the department four and a half years, Willsey more than two years and Fritz for a year and a half. Only Willsey has been involved in a prior shooting. He shot at an attacking dog about six months ago.

Saavedra-Arreolas history with police includes a conviction for conspiracy to commit second degree murder in the Downtown shooting of a 16-year-old in 2011. He was released from prison in July.

More recently he had been charged with armed robbery of a Churchs Chicken restaurant in early October. A judge denied a request by the District Attorneys Office to hold him until trial and he was released from jail with an ankle monitor in late October.

In mid-December, police say Saavedra-Arreola cut off the ankle monitor and he was wanted on a warrant at the time of the shooting.

However, Del Greco said officers on the scene did not know any of that.

Attorneys representing Saavedra-Arreolas father, Jesse Arreola, filed a tort claims notice to the city Tuesday morning indicating an intention to file a lawsuit. Chief Geier said he had not heard about it yet, but it is not uncommon for families to do so.

Attorney Greg Payne said Saavedra-Arreola was homeless and had not been a threat to anyone before the officers entered the apartment. He questioned the fact that the officers only gave the Taser two or three seconds to take effect before they opened fire.

It appears once they had that encounter and confrontation everyone freaked out, Payne said.

However, Geier stood by the officers, saying the videos showed that they were in danger in the tight quarters of the apartment.

We think they acted appropriately and heroically defending not only themselves, but that one officer especially who was backed into a corner, facing possible injury from a stabbing type assault, Geier said.
He was among the American prisoners of war forced on what became the Bataan Death March, imprisoned by the Japanese for more than three years, and regularly beaten by his captors.

Despite that horror, World War II veteran Pedro Pete Amor Gonzalez never lost his sense of humor, said his son, Pete A. Gonzalez Jr.

He was a no-nonsense individual. He wasnt a joker, but he retained his sense of humor, and regardless of the brutality of his war experience, he was a pleasant, courteous and compassionate man throughout the remainder of his life.

The elder Gonzalez died Jan. 6 in Texas, where he had gone to live with his namesake son. He was 96.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated today at 10 a.m. at St. Therese Little Flower Church, 3424 Fourth NW. Internment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 7999 Wyoming NE.

Gonzalez was born in Las Cruces but his family later moved to Los Lunas, where he graduated from high school. Shortly after his graduation, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940. Following basic training he was assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group at Clark Field in the Philippines. From there he was sent to Bataan, to defend it against the Japanese, who ultimately captured it in April 1942, along with 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American prisoners of war.

The prisoners were forced to march more than 60 miles to internment camps along the coast. It was horrible. All along the way prisoners were shot or beheaded if they didnt keep up, said Gonzalez Jr. In October 1943, his father was put on a ship and sent to Japan to work as slave labor in factories.

The U.S. soldiers were liberated in August 1945 and Gonzalez returned to the U.S. for medical attention at a number of hospitals, including facilities in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. He was discharged from the military in May 1946 with the rank of sergeant, with two Purple Heart medals and a Silver Star. He remained in Albuquerque where he had relatives and began his own family.

Gonzalez took a job at what was then Sandia Base and ended up working for the Department of Defense as an inventory specialist for nuclear weapons and as financial officer for the different branches of the military. He retired in the mid- to late 1980s with a combined 35 years in the military and civil service.

Gonzalez filled his retirement with outdoor pursuits, particularly fishing and hunting. He also continued to stay involved with veterans organizations and was the local commander of a chapter of former POWs, his son said.

He did not, however, talk much about his war years, Gonzalez Jr. said. Back then they didnt know much about PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

It wasnt until 2012, when the local PBS affiliate began research for a documentary, Bataan: 70th Anniversary Commemoration, that Gonzalez, with the prodding of his son, sat for interviews and began to talk more openly about it.

I asked him to consider doing it because its of historical significance, and its part of our family heritage and we needed to know.

Gonzalez was preceded in death by his wife, Mabel R. Gonzalez and a granddaughter, Lori Gonzalez-Trembley. Immediate family survivors include sons Pete A. Gonzalez Jr., and his wife, Inga, and Bob Marquez and his wife, Maria; a sister, Carmen Cover; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The Dec. 9 Albuquerque Journal editorial City needs to step up, do right by wounded officers was spot on. How can the citys Risk Management Division justify not paying a wounded officers duty-related medical bills in full? These folks are putting their lives on the line for us citizens, and to not have their backs when injured is simply wrong  very wrong!

Injured Albuquerque Police Department officer Lou Golson said, financially, he would be worth more to his family dead than alive. How sad is that! Retired officer Golson had hoped the city would pay him $120,000 for future medical bills and in exchange he would no longer file workers compensation claims. He said the city offered $4,000.

Risk Management, at the same time, is denying him treatment recommended by his surgeon, some of which is time-sensitive, meaning that he has, or had, a time window in which he could get repairs done, with a reasonable assurance of success, but due to delays by Workers Compensation, that time frame has passed. Unconscionable! I have to ask myself how do the folks at Risk Management and Workers Compensation sleep at night? They have assumed adversarial stances from the get-go. This is certainly not the kind of support a wounded law enforcement officer deserves.

Corrales police officer Jeremy Romero, severely injured in an auto crash in a high-speed chase when trying to make a traffic stop is in the same situation, likewise is devastated financially under his mounting medical bills.

Mayor Tim Keller wants to increase APD rolls by 400-plus officers. Good luck with that! Who in their right mind would want to become a police officer or a firefighter, knowing full well, if injured in the line of duty, they would be on their own to cover their medical bills?

Four years ago Bernalillo County Sheriffs Deputy Robin Hopkins had her leg shattered in Los Ranchos by a gunman while on duty, and the thanks she received was having to undergo major financial hardship, including a subsequent pay cut. I was so moved by her positive attitude throughout her ordeal that I contributed a monthly donation for a year through a Bank of America trust fund that was set up to help cover her mounting medical bills. The YMCA of Central N.M., of which I am a board member, even offered her a free membership to help with the physical therapy.

Surely my monthly donation barely made a dent in her expenses, but nonetheless I am in the process of making arrangements to do the same for both officers Golson and Romero to help with their medical bills. I implore anyone who is as incensed with the City Risk Management and Workers Compensation bureaucracy as I am, to step up and donate to this cause. Collectively, monies accrued, may have a significant impact on the burden they are facing. It is the least we can do. Please join me in this effort.
Thanks to the new tax law, trillions in corporate profits could start flooding back to America, creating thousands of jobs in the process. And local officials everywhere  including in New Mexico  will be looking for a way to bring some of that money to their communities.

Right-to-work (RTW) is a great place to start.

Right-to-work laws allow workers to opt out of union membership and dues. RTW doesnt do away with unions, or preclude workers from organizing if they wish. Nevertheless, union bosses prefer to organize where they can force every employee to pay dues, so they tend to steer clear of RTW areas. Business leaders know that, and therefore view RTW as a welcome sign to job creators. No wonder 28 states have such laws on the books. And now thanks to a landmark decision from one of the highest courts in the land, local governments can pass RTW as well.

One of the authors of this piece, Mr. Yessin, represented 12 Kentucky counties who passed their own local RTW laws in 2014-2015. Kentucky has since passed a statewide law, in part based on the successful experience of its counties.

Unions threatened those counties with legal action, but only Hardin County was actually sued. The unions lost  Hardin Countys local RTW was upheld by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, with the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear the unions appeal late last year.

The court based its decision on a growing number of Supreme Court cases upholding basic tenets of federalism: The states are free to delegate their authority to their political subdivisions, including counties, and sometimes municipalities. Some do that with home rule statutes, others through the Constitution.

The 6th Circuit didnt rely on the home rule statute in Kentucky as justification for upholding Hardin Countys RTW, and in fact many states like New Mexico create the counties in their states Constitution devolving state authority to that political subdivision.

Since the Kentucky RTW bombshell, the towns of Lincolnshire, Ill., and Seaford, Del., have passed their own local ordinances. Sandoval County is poised to do the same  the County Commission there is expected to vote on the measure Jan. 18.

The sponsors of the Sandoval ordinance, commissioners Jay Block and David Heil, feel RTW is desperately needed for their county to stay competitive. As Block writes on nmpolitics.net:

New Mexico competes for jobs with our neighbors in Arizona, Texas, Utah and Oklahoma. More often than not, we lose. And what do our neighbors have that we dont? All of those states are right-to-work. They have the jobs and we are left behind.

The Kentucky counties were motivated by that kind of proximity to RTW states like Tennessee, Virginia and Indiana, knowing they were losing jobs and people to those areas. What happened when counties passed RTW themselves?

Warren County, Kentucky  the first to pass a local ordinance  was on the list for more site selection opportunities in the first year after its ordinance passed than the rest of the state combined. And no wonder  Site Selection magazine notably called RTW The Box That Must Be Checked.

Block and Heil are certain that a RTW ordinance in Sandoval County will provide an economic shot in the heart of a state already competing at a disadvantage for high-paying jobs in manufacturing, tech and health care. As has been widely reported, Albuquerque is vying to become the new headquarters of Amazon.

But perhaps nearby RTW Sandoval County will prove more alluring to the tech giant and begin to attract those re-patriated billions themselves!
There is a very easy way for Democrats to get major concessions from President Donald Trump on immigration: Give him his wall.

This is the key to a deal codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Obama-era de facto amnesty for a segment of so-called Dreamers. All it takes is giving Trump a plausible start to the wall that the president can then, in his inimitable way, promote as the greatest structure built on a border since Hadrian began his famous handiwork at the northern limit of the Roman Empire in 122.

That the Democrats very likely wont do this speaks to their irrational aversion to a wall that they cant view dispassionately any more than Trump can.

It used to be that enhanced security on the border  and yes, a physical structure that in places is effectively a wall  had bipartisan support. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 passed the House by a vote of 283-138 and the Senate 80-19. It called for building roughly 700 miles of double-layer fencing on the border, and no one seemed to believe that the United

States had irreparably sullied its reputation.

This wasnt the first time anyone had thought of a fence, of course. There had been barriers in the San Diego area for a very long time, although not particularly robust ones. Beginning in the 1980s, more serious structures were built.

According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, there are 46 miles of fencing overall and 13 miles of double fencing in the San Diego-Tijuana corridor, where there used to be a nightly influx of undocumented immigrants. In some sections, the barriers are 10-foot-tall military helicopter pads indistinguishable from a wall. Again, no one believes San Diego has closed itself off from the world.

But Democrats now find physical barriers on the border offensive, especially if they have enough solidity to be called a wall. Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight notes that in 2006, almost 40 percent of Democrats supported building a wall. By February of last year, Democrats were against it by 89 percent to 8 percent.

This forecloses the most basic legislative give-and-take. If Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer gave Trump something significant on the wall, they would be able to find their way home  as John Jay said after concluding an unpopular treaty with the British in 1795  by the light of their own burning effigies. Their voters would scorn them as traitors complicit in the alleged horrid bigotry of Donald J. Trump.

So, they will probably fail to capitalize on a president almost certainly desperate to fall into their arms. Trump cares about one thing above all, and thats the wall.

He knows it was a signature campaign promise. Hed love to be able to go back to his voters with something, with almost anything, that he could brag about as the wall.

This means that even a partial step toward a wall might entice Trump into a deal. On the substance, Democrats who are latitudinarian on immigration should prefer this to any other agreement. The wall is an enhancement of the status quo rather than a departure from it, and even if Democrats go along for now, its not clear that it would ever get built.

The Secure Fence Acts bold promise of hundreds of miles of double fencing petered out under bureaucratic resistance and congressional backtracking.

Democrats could easily, if they take the House in 2018 or win the presidency in 2020, defund the wall or otherwise sabotage it. But if they got a lawful amnesty for 700,000 illegal immigrants or even more, depending on the parameters of a deal, thats never going away.

Thats why restrictionists worried about Donald Trumps reliability on this issue have an important backstop against a bad deal: the recalcitrance of Democrats who oppose the wall more than they support amnesty for Dreamers.

Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry @national-review.com.  2017 by King Features Syndicate.
WASHINGTON  President Trumps intent could not be more explicit: He wants immigration policies that admit white people and shut the door to black and brown people. That is pure racism  and the Republican Party, which traces its heritage to Abraham Lincoln, must decide whether to go along.

Silly me. The GOP seems to have made its choice, judging by the weaselly response from most of the Republicans who were in the Oval Office on Thursday when Trump made vile and nakedly racist remarks.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., heard the president clearly: Trump referred to African nations as shithole countries, a shocked Durbin reported. At another point, discussing potential relief for groups of immigrants  including Haitians  who are losing their temporary permission to remain here, Trump reportedly said, Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.

According to Durbin, Trump asked why the U.S. wasnt welcoming more immigrants from places such as Norway, whose prime minister had visited the White House the day before.

To Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the presidents message apparently came through. His colleague Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who was not at the meeting, said Graham told him that Durbins account was basically accurate. Graham himself would say only that I said my piece directly to the president and that Ive always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals.

Other Republicans at the meeting cravenly claimed deafness or memory loss. Perhaps they simply agree with Trumps race-based immigration approach.

Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., issued a joint statement saying they do not recall  specifically the shithole countries slur; Perdue later went further, flatly denying the words were spoken. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she did not recall that exact phrase. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. and Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., apparently have been stricken mute.

I mention them all because they deserve to be enshrined in a Hall of Shame.

I suppose I should also mention that Trump now denies making the statements, but there is absolutely no reason to believe him. On the subject of immigration he has been remarkably consistent: At another White House meeting last month, according to The New York Times, the president said that Haitians all have AIDS and opined that once Nigerians saw the United States, they would never go back to their huts.

Trump ridiculously told reporters Sunday that Im the least racist person youve ever interviewed. In fact, his long history of racism is well documented, going all the way back to the 1970s, when he and his father were sued by the Justice Department  Richard Nixons Justice Department, no less  for refusing to rent apartments to African-Americans.

Without the support of Republicans, Lyndon Johnson never could have pushed through the landmark Civil Rights legislation that outlawed discrimination and put an end to Jim Crow. That was then; this is now, when minorities overwhelmingly vote for Democratic candidates because they perceive the GOP as indifferent or hostile.

There is nothing inherently racist about the free-market conservatism that Republicans cherish and advocate. But there is everything racist about the white ethnocentric theory of American identity that Trump champions with remarkable frankness.

Thats what the immigration battle is really about. When Trump and his allies say they want to end chain migration  in which family members sponsor other family members for entry  they mean they want to halt the influx of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries. When Trump says he wants to bar Haitians and Africans, he aims to admit fewer black people. When he pines for more Norwegians, he wants to welcome more white people. Not that Norwegians, at the moment, are that eager to move to Trumps America.

Republicans say they want a merit-based system of immigration. That has a nice, neutral sound. Who can argue against merit?

But Trump has made clear that what he means to do is halt or reverse the demographic trends that are making this nation increasingly diverse  trends that are wholly consistent with American history.

A century ago, there were nativists who railed against Irish, Italian and east European immigration, claiming that unwashed hordes from poor countries were mongrelizing the nation. We now have a president who rejects American ideals of diversity and inclusion in favor of racial purity.

Sens. Cotton and Perdue, Secretary Nielsen, Reps. McCarthy and Goodlatte, do you want a race-based immigration system, too? Please dont pretend you didnt hear the question.

Robinsons columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion  look for the syndicated columnist link. E-mail: eugenerobinson@washpost.com; copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.
In large bureaucracies, things can slip through the cracks. But that absolutely cannot include 11-month-old babies. And yet it does.

It is once again glaringly apparent that in New Mexico some children do not fare well within a system that is supposed to protect them. The most recent tiny victim is Ariza Barreras.

She and two siblings, ages 3 and 2, were in foster care with the states Children Youth and Families Department. On Dec. 28, the children were placed in the Belen home of a respite licensed foster caregiver because the full-time foster mother was going out of state for a family gathering.

Three days later, baby Ariza was found dead in a car seat with her arm caught in a strap in a cold, filthy house strewn with unwashed dishes, animal feces and urine, and an unbearable stench. The fill-in caregiver, Stephanie Crownover, was arrested on charges of child abuse and child abuse resulting in death.

This tragic outcome might have been prevented had other adults paid attention to  and acted upon  signs of neglect.

What is so grievous is that just two days before, Crownover had taken the children to a neutral visitation center so their biological parents could see them. At the Small Steps center, the father expressed concern to a facilitator because the children were unwashed, without socks and shoes and appeared not to be well cared-for. He said Ariza was in a soiled diaper and when he went to change it he found she had severe diaper rash.

However, those concerns were not immediately passed along to CYFD, although according to a criminal complaint the father said the facilitator had told him they would be. Had that been done, perhaps CYFD would have responded quickly and removed the children from Crownovers care; perhaps baby Ariza would still be alive.

Furthermore, Crownover should have taken the children to see a doctor that weekend because, as she later told investigators, all three children had severe diarrhea, runny noses and coughs; she did not because it was too cold outside and she did not want to subject them to the weather.

The children apparently had seen a doctor the week before for earaches, the regular foster father later told investigators. At that time, Ariza was diagnosed with a respiratory virus and given antibiotics. One wonders if that was passed along to Crownover; if it was, it would appear to be negligent not to follow up when the children still seemed to be sick. Another missed opportunity to perhaps save the babys life.

CYFD says an agency worker visited Crownovers home in early December and found nothing amiss. Its surprising that within weeks the home situation would devolve into the mess deputies found when they responded to her 911 call.

The agency has two investigations underway  one looking into the allegations against Crownover as well as an internal review of the steps and actions CYFD took, including why the fathers concerns raised at Small Steps were not forwarded to CYFD before the childs death.

Reforms in how child abuse and neglect are investigated were instituted in the state after the December 2013 death of 9-year-old Omaree Varela, who was kicked to death by his mother. Questions and public outcry arose over missed opportunities by CYFD and the Albuquerque Police Department to remove him from his mothers care.

Now, Arizas death calls out for more efforts to close these cracks in communication and judgment. CYFD must again do some serious soul-searching to improve its response and policies to protect these precious children  children already traumatized by situations and adults in their lives, children entrusted to the state to be placed into the care of adults who are paid with public money to ensure each ones safety.

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.
The Colorado Rockies are beginning to feel right at home in Albuquerque.

That was perhaps the biggest takeaway from the teams caravan stop Tuesday at Isotopes Park.

Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich and four players spent two hours getting to know roughly 200 Albuquerque Isotopes season-ticket holders during the lunchtime gathering. The Rockies contingent signed autographs, answered fans questions and basically waved the Colorado organizations purple banner.

The Rockies, who fell to Arizona in last seasons National League wild-card game, are trying to build fan enthusiasm after their first postseason appearance since 2009. It doesnt stop in Denver, Bridich said.

It has been more noticeable, people wearing purple, he said, and its fun to see. We hope to carry that over all around the Rocky Mountain region. This is our area.

The players in attendance Tuesday included three current Rockies  pitchers Jon Gray, Jeff Hoffman and utility man Pat Valaika  who spent time with the Isotopes in recent seasons. The fourth was relief pitcher/Albuquerque native Austin House, who spent last season with the Isotopes, Colorados Triple-A affiliate, and is trying to take the final step in his climb to the majors.

Being part of this (caravan stop) is a big-time deal for me, House said. I recognize a lot of faces here and get a lot of support in Albuquerque. Hopefully, I can continue being successful with the Rockies organization.

Gray, Hoffman and Valaika all credited Albuquerque as an important step toward the major leagues. Both pitchers said adapting to Albuquerques elevation was good preparation for Denvers Coors Field.

I always had a slider and a fastball, Gray said, but this is where I added a curveball and really learned how to use it. You figure out that the break is a little shorter at altitude and learn to adjust. Playing here is very similar to Denver, so I feel like my time here was an advantage.

Gray, who appeared in 21 games in Albuquerque in 2015, advanced to the front of the Rockies pitching rotation in 2017. He went 10-4 and was Colorados starter in the wild-card game. He also became known for his long blond hair and full beard  a look he was asked about during Tuesdays question-answer session.

I like the whole primal deal, Gray said with a grin. Its been working for thousands of years. Why mess with it?

Gray ultimately donated his hair to Locks of Love last season, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children. He plans to make a similar donation at some point this year.

Players were asked about their favorite memories from playing in Albuquerque. Hoffman, who pitched for the Topes in 2016 and 17, said Fourth of July games made a lasting impression.

Seeing 15,000 people in the stands, Hoffman said, getting that kind of support from the community was unbelievable.

Bridich followed Hoffmans recollection with a quip.

If Jeffs at the major league level in July, he said, well be sure to option him out.

Bridich was a bit less committal when responding to other fans questions, including one about Houses chances of making the Rockies roster in 2018.

Austin had a heck of a season (in 2017) and took the next step, Bridich said. Kudos to him. He earned a major league spring training invitation and well see what he does with it.

Another fan asked whether the Rockies will consider playing spring training games in Albuquerque in the future. Bridich detailed some of the scheduling complications involved but finished with, Its a possibility.

Tuesdays caravan stop was the Rockies third in Albuquerque since the Isotopes became affiliated with the organization in 2015. It may have been the most upbeat stop to date.

Last year didnt end the way we wanted, Hoffman said, but success feels good and were itchin to get back at it. Im going to spring training with one goal: pitch my butt off and earn a spot on what I know will be a special team.
FARMINGTON  A civil lawsuit filed against the state by Magistrate Court judges and employees in Aztec seeks to reclaim secret recordings made in the courthouse building by former Judge Connie Johnston.

Four plaintiffs are asking the 11th Judicial District Court to order the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission to return hundreds of hours of recordings the commission was given by Johnston that she made during a nine-month period on the bench, according to a copy of the complaint.

They also request that the commission cover attorneys fees and costs but are not seeking monetary damages.

Randall Roybal, executive director and general counsel for the Judicial Standards Commission, declined comment due to pending litigation.

Steve Murphy, attorney for the plaintiffs, said since Johnston was removed from the bench, the commission has no jurisdiction over the recordings, and attempts to recover the tapes have been unsuccessful.

He added Roybal said he would give the tapes back but changed his mind.

Why would the commission want those tapes? Murphy said. That is beyond me.

Magistrate Judges Barry Sharer and Trudy Reed-Chase along with court manager Lori Proctor and lead worker Amy Verhulst are the plaintiffs in the suit.

Johnston was removed from the bench as the judge for Division I of the San Juan County Magistrate Court on Oct. 23 by the New Mexico Supreme Court. She was also permanently barred from holding a judicial office statewide.

The removal followed a Judicial Standards Commission petition filed on April 10 after it was determined Johnston had violated the states Code of Judicial Conduct.

During a hearing on Feb. 10, 2016, attorneys for Johnston told the state Supreme Court she had recorded hundreds of hours of oral and telephonic communications within the Aztec Magistrate Court Building, according to the complaint.

Recordings devices were placed in the private offices of Sharer, Reed-Chase and Proctor and in the workspace of Verhulst, according to court documents.

The complaint states Johnston disclosed the secret recordings to the Judicial Standards Commission, and the commission took possession of the recordings.

The recordings contained information about the plaintiffs, including intimate details of their personal lives and details about their relationships, families and marriages, along with protected medical information, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs were also part of a separate civil lawsuit filed on Feb. 26, 2016, which accused Johnston of placing recording devices around the courthouse.
TEMUCO, Chile  Pope Francis took the Chilean state and the countrys largest indigenous group to task Wednesday over their failure to forge a truly unified nation, saying the government must do more than just negotiate elegant agreements and radical Mapuche factions must stop violence.

Francis pointed homily in the heart of Chiles restive Araucania region came hours after two more churches and three helicopters were torched  attacks blamed on Mapuche radical groups demanding the return of ancestral lands and the release of Mapuche prisoners. No arrests have been made.

The outdoor Mass at the Maquehue Air Base was steeped in symbolism because of its own history: The land was taken from the Mapuche in the early 20th century and the location was also used as a detention and torture facility in the early years of Gen. Augusto Pinochets military dictatorship.

Leading some 150,000 people in a moment of silent prayer, Francis said the fertile green fields and snow-capped mountains of the Mapuche heartland in Chiles southern Araucania region were both blessed by God and cursed by man, the site of grave human rights violations during the 1973-1990 dictatorship.

We offer this Mass for all those who suffered and died, and for those who daily bear the burden of those many injustices, he said.

Francis also referred to the recent violence that has flared in Araucania, Chiles poorest region, and beyond. No one has claimed responsibility for the 11 firebombs that have damaged, or in some cases, burned churches to the ground in several parts of Chile in recent days. Investigators have found pamphlets promoting the Mapuche cause at some of the torched churches and by the helicopters set ablaze overnight.

The Argentine Jesuit pope took radical factions to task, saying violence wasnt the answer to their grievances.

You cannot assert yourselves by destroying others, because this only leads to more violence and division, he admonished in his homily. Violence begets violence, destruction increases fragmentation and separation. Violence eventually makes a most just cause into a lie.

At the same time, he demanded the government not just negotiate elegant agreements with indigenous peoples, but actually implement them.

He called such accords that yield nothing a form of violence because it frustrates hope.

After the Mass, Francisca Linconao, a Mapuche leader who has been implicated in the burning deaths of a couple in 2013, tried to approach Francis as he passed in his popemobile, but police kept her away. She said she wanted to give him an open letter asking him to intervene in the long-standing conflict and proclaiming her innocence.

The pope could speak, could mediate in Araucania region about the situation of the Mapuche who are being incarcerated, Linconao told The Associated Press.

The Argentine pope is particularly attuned to indigenous issues and their campaigns for recognition of their land, culture and traditions. He hopes to use his weeklong trip to Chile and Peru to put the issue on the global agenda and set the stage for a church meeting next year on the Amazon and native peoples who live there.

The Mass was replete with Mapuche cultural references and symbolism, with traditional music and prayers sprinkled throughout. The pope uttered Mapuche greetings throughout his homily.

The worlds first Latin American pope knows well the conflict-ridden modern history of his home continent: He was a young Jesuit superior during neighboring Argentinas Dirty War, when thousands of suspected leftists were killed, imprisoned or disappeared at the hands of the military junta.

In Chile, the government estimates 3,095 people were killed, including about 1,200 who were forcibly disappeared.

Some of them washed ashore along the river that runs through Maquehue, said Patricia Aravena, a 44-year-old secretary who said she grew up hearing stories from her parents and grandparents of the atrocities committed at the base.

My father-in-law told us that in 1973 the military entered the air base with trucks full of people and then left with them empty, she told AP. They would also hear shooting and would go to see bodies that were left on the riverbanks.

Francis gesture of celebrating Mass on the site of some of the militarys worst atrocities recalled St. John Paul IIs famous 1987 visit to Chile during the waning years of the Pinochet regime. In one of the most poignant moments of that trip, the Polish pope delivered a speech to young people gathered in Santiagos national stadium, which had been used as a detention and torture center.

With the wounds of the regime still fresh, John Paul urged Chiles youth to look forward with hope, even from a place of pain and suffering.

Francis repeated those words Wednesday in his Mass, which began with Mapuche natives performing a traditional horn and drum ceremony at the altar as Francis and other priests looked on.

After the service, Francis had lunch with eight Mapuche, breaking bread over a sumptuous meal of mushroom ragout, octopus carpaccio, crab claws, osso buco with saffron rice and vegetables, and flan. They were joined by a woman the Vatican described as a victim of rural violence as well as a descendant of the German-Swiss colonizers who clashed for centuries with the Mapuche.

Francis had raised the plight of the indigenous in his first speech on Tuesday to government authorities, urging Chileans to listen to indigenous peoples who are often forgotten, whose rights and culture need to be protected lest that part of this nations identity and richness be lost.

His words were already reverberating among many in the Mapuche community when Francis celebrated the Mass on Wednesday.

The recognition (of the Mapuche people) has to come from the state and not from the church, said Daniel Antiman, a Mapuche representative.

How likely that is remains to be seen, as the conflict is one of Latin Americas longest involving indigenous peoples. Their disputes date back to the late 19th century, when the Chilean military finally defeated the Mapuche, who had ferociously resisted Spanish and other European settlers for centuries.

Mapuche groups are pushing for ownership of ancestral lands, legal recognition of their language and culture, and a stop to discrimination that leaders say often makes them police targets.

While the vast majority of Chiles estimated 1 million citizens of Mapuche descent oppose violence, a small number rely on it to push their agenda.

In recent years dozens of churches have been targets. Outside one of the churches attacked last week, pamphlets extolling the Mapuche cause were found.

Some 4,000 police officers were deployed in Temuco, the Araucania capital, as protests were expected but largely failed to materialize.

I think many people were afraid to come out because of everything going on, said Karina Birchmeier, a housewife who attended the Mass with her daughter.

In recent decades, the Mapuche community has made significant strides. Some ancestral lands have been returned, though the program is controversial. University scholarships have been set aside for Mapuche young people and Mapuche foods and culture have become part of the mainstream.

Still, myriad problems persist and many Mapuche complain of discrimination.

Jackeline Martinez, a food worker who attended the Mass, said the conflict needs to be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Burning the churches is an embarrassment, she said. A church isnt to blame.

___

Associated Press writer Peter Prengaman in Santiago and AP video journalist Mauricio Cuevas in Temuco contributed to this report.
It snowed a year ago, the night before thousands of women and an encouraging number of men descended upon the state capitol in Santa Fe with posters and pink hats and the promise that something better was still possible if we came together and spoke up.

And marched.

Already, that frosty morning we had heard news accounts that the Womens March in Washington, D.C., and in 673 sister marches around the world was attracting some 5 million people, exceeding all expectations and becoming the largest day of protest in U.S. history.

In Albuquerque, about 1,700 marchers had pledged to show up that Jan. 21, and while estimates varied widely it was safe to calculate that the number who packed Civic Plaza was at least nearly twice that many.

In Santa Fe, where snow had given way to clear skies and sun by march time, we were about 11,000 strong  nearly four times as many marchers than had been predicted.

The march had been like the sun breaking through a very dark time  enlightening, warming, energizing. If you were at one of these marches, I hope you can remember how it felt to be surrounded by folks inspired like never before, there for a peaceful, purposeful protest devoid of violence or hate.

It was, as they say, a moment.

And let me take a moment to say that last year several of you readers commented that the marches were hate-filled because in D.C. a few celebrity speakers spoke about nasty women and blowing up the White House and a certain new occupant of the White House. But theres a difference between hate and outrage, and its folly to judge an event that went off without a single act of violence or vandalism on a few sound bites.

One reader also offered this prediction: The march will be quickly forgotten and a footnote in history for 2017.

Well, not quite.

Once the posters and the pink hats were put away, the activism awakened by the Womens March persisted, manifesting itself in a variety of ways, from the Indivisible movement that promotes social and economic justice to the surge in the number of women across the country running for  and winning  political office to the reckoning that is the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in which women are taking back their bodies and their power from the men who for too long believed they were entitled to both.

So here it is, another year. Little snow has fallen this winter, but to many the country is still dark and polarized and imperiled, if not more so.

So once again, women  and, one hopes, an encouraging number of men  prepare to take to the streets and plazas Sunday for a second Womens March.

I never thought of this as a onetime thing, said Samia Assed, a very active Albuquerque activist and lead organizer for Womens March New Mexico with the assistance of Peaches Blackbird of Power Through Peace and Beva Sanchez-Padilla of the SouthWest Organizing Project. The mission is to empower women and build a broad-based coalition that promotes and supports womens rights and what we are fighting for. We know that we have to be the change we want to see. We have no choice but to activate now.

Last years march was reactive, Assed said. This years march is proactive, centered on the theme of Power to the Polls, an effort to register voters, engage marginalized communities by getting them to the voting booths to support candidates, especially women, and progressive policies that align with the movements unity principles on ending violence and supporting reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, workers rights, civil rights, disability rights, immigrant rights and environmental justice.

This year is about being busy, about taking action and not just getting mad, said Rayellen Smith, president of Indivisible Nob Hill, one of the many groups helping to organize the Albuquerque march. Its about every single person down to little bitty child having the same rights without limitations.

This years flagship march is in Las Vegas, Nev., and will help launch a yearlong voter registration tour. Like before, Albuquerques march is at Civic Plaza with guest speakers and booths and plenty of chanting and cheering, posters and, yes, perhaps a few pink hats.

Both women say that while this years march may not draw the same numbers, the energy unleashed last year remains just as strong.

Americans are waking up, Assed said. Theres an awareness in the community about the situation around them and what is happening. What encourages me is the number of women  and men, actually  who have never participated in organizing a movement coming in and saying, we want to help, we want to do something.

And so they will do something Sunday.

Im hoping for clear skies.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
The Senate narrowly voted Tuesday to advance a bill to extend a powerful government authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, after leading Democrats joined senators opposing the legislation for not providing better protections for Americans.

The 60-to-38 vote barely cleared a procedural threshold for moving the bill toward a vote on final passage later this week, which would send to the presidents desk the measure reauthorizing the National Security Agencys ability to collect from U.S. companies the emails and other communications of foreign targets located overseas.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., referred on Tuesday to the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008, as the single most important national security tool we have.

But privacy advocates have long railed against the program for putting little or no restrictions on federal law enforcement agencies ability to query the database of Section 702 communications for information about Americans who may have been in touch with foreigners under surveillance. The bill on offer, which passed the House last week, requires law enforcement to obtain a court order before viewing the content of searches for Americans information, if they intend to use it as evidence in a criminal case. But privacy advocates believe those steps do not go far enough, and they are pushing instead to require warrants to access the information in question.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., appeared to sympathize with the opposition on Tuesday, saying on the Senate floor that the measure should go somewhat further in balancing legitimate concerns about privacy with the crucial national security imperatives of the program. He added that the pace with which the bill was slated to proceed through the Senate was too quick for too much, considering that the measure extends the program for six years, noting we ought to have some amendments and some discussion.

Senate leaders have not allowed votes on any amendments to the legislation on the Senate floor. Part of that is driven by the fact that Congress is working under a tight deadline: the statutory authority for the program formally expires Friday, though the intelligence community argues that even without an immediate reauthorization, the program can continue operationally until the spring.

Schumers call left the Senates vote in unexpected limbo for approximately 90 minutes, as leaders awaited the late arrival of Sens. John Neely Kennedy, R-La., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to cast the decisive votes. Both voted in favor of advancing the measure, giving it the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdle. The bill is expected to pass the full Senate late Wednesday or early Thursday and will be then sent to the presidents desk.
WACO, Texas  As a fearsome weapon, the Bowie knife recently donated to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum speaks for itself.

The Waco Tribune-Herald reports it is 17 inches long, with a bison horn hilt and a sturdy high carbon steel blade featuring the Texas clip characteristic of knives made famous by James Bowie, the Alamo hero.

But a closer look at the silverwork on the knifes scabbard gives a tantalizing sign of its true significance. Engraved in a flowery script are the words: R.P. Bowie to Capt. Wm. Y. Lacey.

That would appear to be Rezin Pleasant Bowie, Jims big brother, who helped popularize the Bowie knife in the 1830s and was known for giving them as gifts. William Lacey, or Lacy, is obscure today but accompanied Jim Bowie in his rambles around Texas and later served as a Texas revolutionary soldier, a Texas Ranger and mayor of Palestine.

The knife and a folder full of research on it arrived at the museum in December in a FedEx box from Rudolph W. Gleichman, a Pennsylvania arms collector. Ranger museum officials want to continue researching its authenticity but say it is potentially a marquee artifact for their collection. It will likely go on display this spring.

It was a nice Christmas gift for Waco, museum director Byron Johnson said. It would be very significant given his association with his brother and the fact that its inscribed to someone who was a Texas Ranger. That makes it very worthwhile for us. I would say it will be one of the treasures we have in the museum.

Johnson said the authenticity of the knife may never be proven, but so far he sees no reason to doubt it.

Gleichman, a former insurance underwriter who served as president of the Maryland Arms Collectors Association, spent about $400 for the knife in 1982.

I bought the thing in the parking lot of a gun show from a picker, Gleichman said. I saw it for what I thought it was, an important item. I spent a year researching it. . It turned out the gentleman who owned the knife was an intimate friend of the Bowie family. Everything seemed to fall into place.

Gleichman collected opinions of silversmiths and knife experts and published descriptions of the knife in arms collecting publications. Around 1988, he also showed it to Gaines DeGraffenreid, founding director of Wacos Ranger museum, who was impressed and hinted that the museum would like to acquire it.

Now 91, Gleichman decided he was ready to part with his treasures.

I dont need money per se, he said. I just thought it would be wonderful since the gentleman who owned it was an important person who had a relationship with the Bowie family, it would be nice to give it to the museum that authenticates and collects these things. . Its a treasure for anyones collection.

Johnson said the knifes story may end up like a lot of forensics investigations, based on circumstantial evidence.

He said the artifact has all the marks of a Bowie knife manufactured in the 1830s, when the knife became popular across the frontier. He said the knife is undated but may precede Jim Bowies death at the Alamo in 1836.

Johnson said it would not be unusual to find a forged inscription on a Bowie knife, but it seems unlikely that a forger would have chosen William Lacy as the recipient.

Theres only about half a dozen historians who have heard of William Lacy, he said.

William Lacy, a Kentucky native, moved to San Augustine, Texas, with his father in 1830, according to the 1881 Encyclopedia of the New West.

He was about 18 in 1834, when he headed out to the Tarrant County area with Jim Bowie to prospect for gold.

By this time Bowie and his knife were already a legend thanks to the notorious Sandbar Fight on Sept. 19, 1827, across the Mississippi River from Natchez, Mississippi. Bowie, who was a second to one party in a duel, ended up being attacked himself by the other party. Using a large hunting knife, he reputedly killed one opponent, badly wounded another and was hospitalized for a shot to the lung.

Bowie family lore holds that R.P. Bowie had invented the knife several years earlier on their plantation in Louisiana after Jims encounter with a rogue bull. The handle guard was intended to keep the blade from slipping and injuring the hand.

The knife became popular throughout the country immediately after the Sandbar fight, and R.P. Bowie had blades forged in Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Four other knives that R.P. Bowie inscribed as gifts to friends are known to exist.

Jim Bowie moved into Texas in 1830 to snap up land grants from the Mexican government and hunt for gold.

During the Texas Revolution in 1835-36, he won lasting fame as a military leader, dying in the siege of the Alamo in San Antonio.

Lacy briefly served as a captain in the revolution, then went on to organize Texas Ranger militias in East Texas in 1837. He surveyed parts of East Texas and went on to become a prosperous landowner and mayor in Palestine after the Civil War. He died in 1892.

In later life he remembered Jim Bowie as a gentleman with no trace whatever of the border ruffian that these same wild tales have handed down to us.

Nothing is known of what happened to the knife before or after Lacys death, if in fact it belonged to him.

Gleichman said that mystery has always been an intriguing part of owning the knife.

Ive looked at it a million times and said, If you could just tell me your background history, what youve been through,' he said. Thats one of the things that just grabs you.

___

Information from: Waco Tribune-Herald, http://www.wacotrib.com

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Waco Tribune-Herald
Mayor Tim Keller on Wednesday signed an executive order that he says will ultimately help the city clear a staggering number of untested rape kits, a backlog thats been building for years.

The order signed Wednesday calls on the Albuquerque Police Department to work with the Albuquerque Sexual Assault Evidence Response Team to create a comprehensive plan for clearing the backlog, which includes determining how much that effort would cost and finding vendors and federal grants.

The plan is supposed to be submitted to the mayor no later than March 15.

Keller, in his former position as state auditor, issued an audit in December 2016 that found there were more than 5,400 untested kits throughout the state, and more than 4,000, or 75 percent, of those kits were from the city of Albuquerque.

Connie Monahan, the statewide coordinator for sexual assault nurse examiners, said each untested kit would cost at least $600 to $1,000. Keller estimated clearing the entire backlog would be around $4 million.

Its an affordable item, he said. Its achievable, which is rare for some of these issues.

And even if the time to prosecute an offender for a particular rape has run out, Keller said theres still reason to test the kit. He said initiatives to clear a backlog of rape kits in cities around the country, including Detroit and Cleveland led to hundreds of investigative leads in other cases.

Make no mistake, this is law enforcement. This is getting criminals off our streets, he said.

A rape kit is a collection of swabs taken from a victim, which can then be analyzed for DNA, which is then put through an FBI database to see if it matches a person who has already been arrested and had their DNA taken.

Keller credited the state, including the governor and the Department of Public Safety, for moving to address the backlog of untested kits after the audit came out. He described Albuquerques response as sluggish.

The backlog is larger than when we did the original audit, he said. I would characterize their response as interested and sluggish, and at the end of the day it only scratched the surface.

Former Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry last year announced that the city had been selected for a nearly $2.5 million federal grant to test some of the rape kits. The city hasnt yet received the money.

One of the problems in Albuquerque is a lack of analysts at the citys crime lab, said Teresa DAnza, the director of Albuquerque SANE. She said Albuquerque only had three analysts and in the past six months hired six more, giving the city nine, though the six are still receiving training. She said the city should have 10 analysts.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trumps use of the terms fake news and enemy of the people is shameful and reminiscent of words infamously used by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to describe his enemies, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Flake, of Arizona, called Trumps repeated attacks on the media repulsive and said Trump has it precisely backward. Despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despots enemy and a guardian of democracy, Flake said.

Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring this year, said that when Trump calls news stories he doesnt like fake news, he should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Flakes criticism hypocritical, considering hes the one that was recently defending an actually oppressive regime during a visit to Cuba.

Hes not criticizing the president because hes against oppression, Sanders said of Flake. Hes criticizing the president because he has terrible poll numbers. And he is, I think, looking for some attention. I think its unfortunate.

The White House provides access to the news media every day, Sanders said, noting that she was answering questions at a daily briefing. Trump routinely answers reporters questions, she added.

To act as if were anything but open to that back-and-forth exchange is utterly ridiculous, she said.

Flake has said he is not comparing Trump to Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of millions, but said Trumps use of a term favored by Stalin, enemy of the people, is chilling.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the presidents party,' Flake said.

Arizonas other Republican senator, John McCain, also decried Trumps use of the term fake news and said Trump was encouraging autocrats around the world to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens.

In an opinion column in The Washington Post, McCain said Trumps attempts to undermine the free press make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable. Constant cries of fake news undercut legitimate reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent, McCain wrote.

Trumps first year in office was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government, Flake said, referring to the president.

In a direct attack on Trump, Flake said the impulses underlying Trumps attacks are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.

Trumps use of the term fake news has encouraged authoritarian leaders around the world, who now routinely dismiss criticism as fake news, Flake and McCain said, citing comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, among others.

As a Republican, Flake said he is ashamed of Trump and said politicians in both parties must stand up to his attacks.

No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions, Flake said.

Flake also denounced Trumps frequent claim that investigations into Russias interference in the 2016 election are a hoax and said ignoring or denying the truth about Russias actions leaves the U.S. vulnerable to future attacks.

We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security, Flake said, yet Trump has done little or nothing to investigate the Russians or defend America against future attacks.

A president, such as Trump, who cannot take criticism, who must constantly deflect and distort and distract  who must find someone else to blame  is charting a very dangerous path, Flake said. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this story.
FLORENCE, Ariz.  A 93-year-old southern Arizona man charged with killing an Eloy man will not stand trial after he was declared mentally incompetent.

The Casa Grande Dispatch reports the parties in the case agreed that Eusebio Ysaguirre would not be able to understand court proceedings following his mental health evaluations.

Ysaguirre was charged with second-degree murder for the death of 63-year-old Guadalupe Bustos.

Ysaguirre was arrested in August after authorities say he stabbed Bustos to death over an unpaid debt.

Judge Joseph Georgini initiated proceedings last week for Ysaguirre to undergo court-ordered treatment. The charge against Ysaguirre is expected to be dismissed.

Ysaguirres attorneys say the case has been halted as authorities search for a suitable hospital bed for him.

Ysaguirre is currently being held in a Maricopa County jail.

___

Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch.
FARMINGTON, N.M.  Judges and employees of a court in northwest New Mexico have filed a lawsuit against the state in an effort to reclaim secret audio recordings made in the courthouse by a former judge.

The Daily Times reports the four Aztec Magistrate Court judges and employees are asking the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission to return the hundreds of hours of recordings that were made by former Judge Connie Johnston.

The suit claims the recordings contain information that includes intimate personal details and protected medical information.

Commission executive director and general counsel Randall Roybal declined to comment on the case.

The New Mexico Supreme Court removed Johnston from office in October for misconduct that included the surreptitious recordings and abuse of her judicial power of contempt.

___

Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.daily-times.com
SANTA FE, N.M.  The leader of New Mexicos largest Roman Catholic diocese said Wednesday he believes comments about immigration attributed to President Donald Trump reflect bigotry and that immigrants from poor countries made the U.S. great.

Archbishop John C. Wester said the United States is prosperous because of people who came from developing countries and that he is bothered by Trumps circle the wagons approach to immigration and diplomacy.

Last week, while meeting with lawmakers about a potential deal on immigration, Trump questioned why the U.S. should allow more people from Africa or Haiti.

Several people who attended the meeting said Trump disparaged those countries in vulgar, racially tinged terms. He also said he would prefer more immigrants come from countries such as Norway.

Those kind of quotes reflect bigotry, and bigotry is just wrong, period, Wester said. Were great because of the people who came from developing countries in past years, countries that were less fortunate, countries that may not have been able to do much for us.

Wester spoke on the sidelines of a breakfast sponsored by the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops for state lawmakers at a parish hall in Santa Fe.

The curb outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish is a meeting spot where day laborers who are mostly immigrants seek work.

Wester said he believes in the right of any sovereign nation to determine its immigration policies.

I agree with that right, he said. But we cannot forget  were blessed in this country and we have to share those blessing.

Westers advocacy for immigrant rights predates his appointment in 2015 as archbishop of Santa Fe by Pope Francis.

He previously criticized the Obama administration for not giving due process to detained migrant children from Central America.
Myntra recently launched a digital campaign featuring one of its most consistent shoppers, Shristi, from Patna. This video is the second in the Myntra Unforgettables series that pays tribute to some of its most loyal customers.

Over 50 per cent of Myntras customers belong to Tier II and III cities and towns and one such customer is Shristi, who was identified using data driven insights. In the 2 minute video, we see how Shristi, who was once shy and conservative and perceived fashion as a means to look good for the world rather than to feel good from within, underwent a transformation. A setback in her personal and professional life changed the way she sees the world today. She came to realise that in the end all that mattered is you and how you perceive the world. Her story is not just about shopping, brands or style, but also about feeling elated.

Taking note of her enthusiasm for fashion, Myntra decided to honour and celebrate her as one of its most valued customers.

Shristis story

The video, titled Myntra Unforgettables with Shristi, shows Shristi narrating her experience as a fashion forward individual from Patna.

The film begins with the everyday hustle bustle of the city, and a mirror reflection of Shristi applying Kajal in her eyes, reminiscing the old days when such embellishments were insignificant for her. She considered fashion to be more of a demonstration for the outer world and not necessarily an everyday essential. We see her aunt entering the picture at this point, recollecting Shristis farewell day at school, when she considered attending the event wearing her uniform, while her friends were busy deliberating on dressing up for the day. All her life she never bothered about fashion and would even consider wearing Hawaii chappals to a wedding. However, she was struck with a setback in her life, where she lost her job, a relationship and her confidence, all at one go. This transformed her as a person and she began to grow stronger and soon came to realise that all that mattered was her individuality and how she is being perceived. Thus, began Shristis journey to a fashion forward and a more confident person.

As she describes this, the video takes us back to Shristi getting ready for a morning jog, down the streets of Danapur in Patna, where access to brands has always been a challenge. However, all this changed when Shristi and her family began shopping on Myntra. Over the years, they have vested their trust on the platform and have become loyal patrons, to the extent of having a product or two delivered to her almost every day.

In the closing scene, everyone is seen getting ready at home with Shristi dressed beautifully in a Kanjeevaram saree. She exclaims that her life has changed so much that she now enjoys dressing up for the little things in her life, all thanks to Myntra. She then joins the rest of the family who are delighted to see her in the beautiful saree and head together for the Ganga Aarti.

Watch the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t0VPuPODWc&feature=youtu.be
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We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain.
Without being allowed to push on economic side of their proposal, Paris will undoubtely face difficulties to affect the Belgian final choice. In late December 2017, Belgian medias suggested, based on Dassault documents, that the french planemaker is promising around 20 bn of economic compensation over 20 years, and more than 5,000 high-technology jobs. An information that Vandeput said "to be too good to be true", finding that Dassault was doing an "economic blackmail".



Moreover, Vandeput rightly points out that the French team "chose to communicate by press instead of introducing a proposal into the procedure we launched". He also confirmed that "the governement position didn't change since my answer to the (National Defense) committee in December 20, 2017", when Vandeput declared that he "personally had neither formal nor informal contact about it (the French proposal)" with its French counterpart.



On February 14, Belgium will officially select the best and final offer. It will then be evaluated by no less than 33 experts, splitted in seven different teams.



Strongly criticized by the Belgian MoD, Steven Vandeput (N-VA), the French proposal is currently being screened by the Belgian government, in order to avoid any legal process from the two other contenders, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. Needless to say, Belgium will do everything to avoid a new AgustaDassault Scandal, after which Brussels in the 1990s thoroughly revised its arms procurement process.



Belgium approved in December 2016 the purchase of 34 new fighter aircraft to be acquired from Spring 2018 for an amount of 3,573 billion euros ($4.2 bn) . Two contenders are officially competing: Lockheed Martin with its F-35A JSF, and BAE Systems with the Eurofighter Typhoon.
January 17, 2018

CAIRO  The National Electoral Commission (NEC) in Egypt officially announced Jan. 8 the dates for the presidential elections, which look like a replay of the 2014 elections, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the forefront. The voting will begin in March, and the winning candidate will be announced in early May.

According to the Egyptian Constitution, preparations for the presidential elections begin four months before the current presidential term ends. The results are announced at least a month before the end of the term. Sisi began his current term in early June 2014 and it will end May 31.

The elections will take place amid the state of emergency imposed as per a presidential decree Jan. 3  under the supervision of the electoral commission. The elections will be the commission's first since its formation in October.

Electoral commission Chairman Lasheen Ibrahim said in a press conference Jan. 8 that the electoral timeline for candidacy requests to be submitted will last 10 days, starting Jan. 20. The electoral campaign begins Feb. 24 and ends March 23.

The first round of elections outside Egypt will take place over three days on March 16-18 and inside Egypt on March 26-28. The results will be announced April 2. The runoff for the elections, if necessary, will be held inside the country on April 24-26 and outside Egypt on April 19-21. The final results will be announced May 1.

The electoral commission was criticized for the candidacy request timeline, which was considered too short to collect signatures from citizens, thus making it harder for potential candidates to run. According to Article 142 of the constitution, a presidential candidate must collect 25,000 supporting signatures from citizens from 15 governorates or recommendations from 20 members of parliament.

Former parliamentarian Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, whose name was among the proposed candidates, told Al-Monitor that it will be difficult for a candidate to collect 25,000 signatures from 15 governorates within the timeline, and that any candidate who wanted to enter the competition would then reconsider. He also said it would be tough to get the recommendations from legislators.

The director of candidate Khaled Alis presidential campaign, Hala Fouda, told Al-Monitor, The timeline is pressing. She said more time should have been given to allow potential candidates to organize themselves and collect signatures, adding that candidates have less than three weeks to collect 25,000 signatures before the deadline.

So far, Sisi has not clearly stated he would run for a second term, but observers say that he has the biggest chance to win. The state institutions are supporting him, especially after former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq  who is considered a supporter of Hosni Mubaraks regime and almost won the 2012 elections after the January 25 Revolution  withdrew his decision to run for president at the end of November. Reportedly, he faced pressure from the regime to withdraw.

When the signature collection started Jan. 9, 516 parliamentarians out of a total of 593, and in particular Speaker Ali Abdel Aal, rushed to write recommendations nominating Sisi. Ali has not received any parliamentary recommendation, according to his campaign director.

President Mohammed al-Suweidi of the Egypt Support Coalition, which has the parliamentary majority, defended in a Jan. 10 statement parliaments support for Sisi in the upcoming elections and said Sisi deserves a second term to continue the accomplishments he began in the first term, such as the economic reform program.

Ali declared his official candidacy for the presidential elections in a Jan. 11 press conference attended by Al-Monitor. He said in an enthusiastic speech before his supporters, The battle will be tough, and some consider it impossible, but our bets are on these people. He pledged to submit his candidacy papers by Jan. 25.

Fouda said that despite the regime crackdown against potential candidates, ostensibly due to the state of emergency that is coinciding with the elections, citizens have signed petitions for Ali to be able to run, pushing him to stand his ground in the presidential race. Fouda said the campaign requested but did not get guarantees from the regime that included halting the state of emergency and ending pro-Sisi propaganda.

Sadat said, The security institution is clearly interfering  far from the NEC radar  in favor of the current regime. This is the real problem. He said state institutions consider the president as being worthy of all this support in the elections.

On Oct. 30, the Ashan Tebniha (To Build It) campaign led by Egyptian members of parliament close to the regime collected more than 3 million signatures, including those of citizens, officials, public figures and artists in various governorates to nominate Sisi for a second presidential term.

The restrictions and interference pushed Sadat to back out of the presidential race. He said at a press conference Jan. 15 that the current political climate is not favorable for free elections.

Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said that according to the data on the ground, the stage is set for Sisi to have a second presidential term. He said there are no major players in the presidential race, as figures such as Shafiq who are capable of leading the country have withdrawn.

Nafaa said, I think Shafiq was forced not to run. It was obvious that the regime would not allow any military or prominent figure to run in the elections.

The professor added, The current environment is not suitable for real elections, and all the indications coming from the regime show that it does not want real elections. Media outlets made many attempts to tarnish the image of potential candidates and pursue them legally.

He said Alis candidacy would benefit Sisi by showing the public that the elections allowed opponents to run against the president, which would be proof of his popularity should he win. These elections are likely to resemble 2014, when Hamdeen Sabahi got 3% of the vote as opposed to 96% for Sisi.

Fouda said that even if Ali fails to win, this will transmit an important message to the regime of a rejection of its policies.

Egyptian author Mohammad Shouman wrote in Al-Hayat on Jan. 10 that Sisis accomplishments ensure him a worthy victory in any election, despite his decreasing popularity. He said Sadat's and Alis chances against Sisi are almost nonexistent.

Shouman said many challenges await the elections, mainly the loss of credibility due to the absence of strong candidates such as Shafiq. As a result, citizens might refrain from voting and the elections might resemble a referendum, rather than a contested vote between candidates, renewing Sisis mandate.
January 17, 2018

A full appreciation of the root causes of the recent protests in Iran requires deep and concise analysis of the socio-economic and socio-political realities in the country. Notwithstanding, even prior to these protests, there were enough signs to recognize a certain degree of discontent about the level of social and economic injustice in Iran. Besides the income gap, the phenomena that have fed that sense of injustice have been corruption and mismanagement. In fact, the televised debates of the presidential candidates ahead of the May 2017 elections provided enough evidence of the existence of corruption and mismanagement in various state institutions. Fighting corruption has also been one of the goals of the administration of President Hassan Rouhani since first taking office in 2013. There have also been various calls in the past to draft and implement the needed laws and regulations to prevent corrupt dealings.

On Dec. 10, when Rouhani presented his new budget bill to parliament, many focused on the disclosure of information about the allocations to various cultural and religious institutions. While that transparency deserves to be noticed, there are more important nuances, especially structural reforms, that should be appreciated. One noteworthy aspect of the new budget was its reference to performance-based budgeting [PBB], which is one of the best tools to prevent corrupt dealings with state allocations. In fact, the author of the new budget bill, the Management and Planning Organization (MPO), was quick to highlight this important nuance. Concurrent with the presentation of the budget to parliament, MPO expert Nematollah Akbari named PBB, transparency, financial discipline and decentralization as the main features of the new budget bill. He also underlined the fact that the budget framework has been simplified and that more budgetary control has been transferred to the provinces.

Parliament member Mohammad Hosseini, a member of the planning and budget commission, has also commented that the PBB approach is the main strength of the new budget bill. Now that the bill is being debated in parliamentary commissions, it is important for lawmakers to maintain the provisions of the bill to increase the overall efficiency of government allocations.

Within state structures, PBB is an administrative methodology through which public funds are released to programs and projects based on their performance and the actual achievement of defined goals. As such, PBB allows funds to move toward projects that are achieving their goals as opposed to allocating resources to half-finished projects and programs that may draw resources without producing the desired results. The PBB system does not intend to penalize or reward state institutions or agencies, but rather maximize the use of available resources. PBB also introduces a higher degree of flexibility into shifting priorities due to new needs on a regional level. This is why the introduction of PBB makes more sense if it is accompanied by genuine decentralization in budgetary affairs.

In a country like Iran, where allocations have rarely focused on actual performance, billions of dollars of state budgets have flown into projects that have never been finalized, partly due to corrupt dealings or mismanagement and partly due to the changing nature of actual needs. The best example for such a scheme has been the Mehr housing project that started under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), where a large segment of the original investments is unfinished, having wasted public and private investments in the process. Generally, tackling unfinished projects has always been a challenge to Iranian administrations.

According to the MPO, if the structural provisions of the new budget bill are passed by the parliament, about 34% of the national allotments will be supervised and released based on the PBB approach. This is an important first step in preventing the misappropriation of the countrys resources. Furthermore, 868 national projects have been transferred to provincial management, facilitating the regional allocation of funds and better control on the actual performance of these projects.

Looking at international benchmarks, there is ample evidence that a PBB approach can help prevent corruption and increase accountability. PBB has also been an ingredient of the United Nations Development Programs anti-corruption initiatives in different countries. As a case study, the anti-corruption campaign in Chile is another good example where so-called performance-based incentives pushed back against corruption. However, international experiences have also underlined that the successful implementation of PBB and other programs will require strong governance structures. In fact, weak governance  especially at the local and provincial levels  may be the biggest impediment to actually use the PBB approach to fight corruption. In other words, implementing a PBB approach without the appropriate governance and supervision structures will merely create a new platform for corrupt dealings.

One smart move by the Rouhani administration would be to shift some of the supervisory functions over the performance of state institutions to the nongovernmental sector. This would allow civil society to be engaged and also reduce the likelihood of corruption in the performance assessments. In some fields, capable nongovernmental entities are already in place  such as the Society of Iranian Consulting Engineers. In other sectors, the government has to create the legal and political space for nongovernmental organizations to take shape and engage in assessing the actual performance of state institutions. This is more relevant in those sectors where the goals relate to social or socio-economic phenomena, such as the creation of sustainable jobs or providing educational and cultural opportunities to various social and ethnic groups.

The fact remains that in Iran, with its very diverse and young society, it is impossible for the central government to develop satisfactory policies and approaches for all population groups. Decentralizing the decisions on how state allotments are utilized and introducing a PBB approach will help reduce the sense of injustice among the neglected segments of Iranian society while maximizing the benefits of the resources that are available.

There is no doubt that Irans structural deficiencies cannot be addressed through one single budget bill, but the abovementioned structural approaches can be the most significant instrument within the current legal and political realities to push back against administrative corruption. Once the current budget bill becomes law, the government needs to make sure that the needed administrative and governance capacities are created to supervise the flow of funds based on real performance of various state and nonstate institutions. In the absence of the appropriate administrative structures and procedures, this very approach will also become a platform for corruption.
January 16, 2018

While the recent unrest in Iran has eased, discussion on its various aspects  including its causes and implications  is still heated and ongoing among domestic as well as foreign analysts and observers. One important part of the debate about the reasons behind the protests is what some refer to as the foreign policy angle.

The argument is that slogans such as Leave Syria alone, think about us, which were heard during the protests in Tehran and other cities, is a representation of the Iranian peoples discontent over the direction of the Islamic Republics foreign policy, and especially the level of its involvement in regional crises. As such, the reading is that Iranians are urging the government to adopt a more inward view, redirecting its financial sources toward satisfying their economic needs.

This has caused some observers as well politicians around the world to speak of the possibility, or even the inevitability, of a shift in Irans foreign policy and especially in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump was among the most vocal supporters of this idea, depicting the Iranian peoples assumed discontent over foreign policy as one of the most important motives behind the protests. Some Arab officials also took the opportunity to condemn Irans regional policy. In this vein, speculations have been raised about the recent unrests possible implications for Irans regional policy and whether this would lead Iran to reduce its involvement in the region.

Putting aside the disputed extent of foreign policy-related slogans during the protests, there are other reasons to suggest that they will not bring about a major change in Irans regional policy or even foreign policy more broadly. This matter can be analyzed through assessing both the domestic and international contexts.

At the domestic level, it should first be noted that as the protests lacked clear goals and an agenda, let alone a specific ideational framework, even liberal-minded or Reformist figures usually critical of the Islamic Republics conduct abroad refused to show support for the more radical slogans targeting Irans foreign policy or even the protests in general. Ironically, one of the main reasons behind this restraint appears to have been derived from the drawing of comparisons between what was transpiring in Iran vis-a-vis similar experiences in the region. Indeed, as the protests started to become more and more violent, a growing concern emerged that if the unrest were to continue along the same trajectory, it might lead to widespread chaos or even turn Iran into another Syria.

Second, it is agreed by most observers that the most public and extensive case of Irans current regional involvement is that in the Syrian conflict. However, it is noteworthy that given the complicated nature of the conflict, it has been effectively tied to both Iranian religious and nationalist sentiments  especially given the number of Iranian soldiers who have lost their lives fighting in Syria. As such, the Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, is considered by many young Iranians to be a symbol of patriotism and national strength. Thus, it is far from easy to speak of a unified public opinion opposed to Irans regional involvement in the precise meaning of the word.

Third, one should bear in mind that decisions on Irans broader approach in the Middle East are taken at the highest level of the Islamic Republics political system, and that its not just the executive branch that has a say in this process. While accepting the core logic of peoples grievances over difficult economic conditions, the dominant view among top Iranian officials is that the real forces behind the radicalization of the recent protests were foreign adversaries  namely Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Naturally, these officials would likely deem it necessary for Iran to preserve its regional fronts and perhaps even reinforce them in order to establish deterrence and pursue what can be described as an external balancing policy.

As for the international dimensions, it should be noted that the highly fragmented scene of regional interactions in the Middle East has caused the external pressures on the Islamic Republic to shift its policy not to exceed a certain point. On the one hand, Turkey, as one of Irans main regional rivals, has experienced rapprochement with Tehran over the last year. Meanwhile, the Astana process to help establish peace in Syria has become a venue for Iran and Turkey to work together on a regional issue. Therefore, it came as little surprise that Ankara took a supportive stance toward the Iranian government, expressing concern over violence during the protests.

At the same time, the ongoing diplomatic spat between Qatar on the one hand and Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries on the other has left Sunni Arab countries unable to adopt a unified stance against the Islamic Republic. It has been reported that in contrast to other Arab states, the Qatari government instructed its media to adopt a low-profile stance regarding the unrest in Iran.

A similar gap has been visible in the West when it comes to the matter of how to react to the unrest. While the United States has been vocal in its support of the protests, the European Union avoided taking any strict stance against the Islamic Republic. Such a modest stance is indeed derived from Europes concern that the Trump administration may try to use the protests as a pretext to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. Given that such a move could mean the full collapse of the landmark accord, the Europeans are understandably cautious about putting the result of years of intensive multilateral diplomacy at risk.

International relations scholars have found that the international system has over the past decade experienced a transitional period in which the roles of emerging powers in determining the global and regional equations has increased. In this vein, it should be noted that Iran enjoys close relations with two of these powers, namely Russia and China. When it comes to the Middle East, it now seems that the role of Russia as Irans close partner in Syria has made Moscow more sensitive than ever to any destabilizing factor within Iran that could potentially challenge the Kremlin's shared plans with Tehran in the region. The outcome of this is clear: Iran is more confident in pursuing its established goals in the region.
January 16, 2018

Iraq is backing off plans to more than double the number of its US-trained elite counterterrorism forces following heavy losses in the war against the Islamic State (IS).

Originally formed as an elite unit shortly after the US invasion of Iraq, the Counter Terrorism Service faced the brunt of the IS onslaught in Mosul, suffering a 40% casualty rate according to Pentagon estimates. That has led Counter Terrorism Service commanders to reassess efforts to recruit 20,000 troops over the next three years, US Marine Brig. Gen. James Glynn, the deputy commander for special operations in the US-led fight against IS in Iraq and Syria, told reporters at the Pentagon today.

Theyre getting right back to focusing on building their capabilities, and are less concerned with what number they need right now, Glynn said. Iraq's counterterrorism forces have a very deliberate plan to get themselves re-fit and refurbished and ready for any emerging threats. This week alone, they have had the opportunity to rotate some folks [out]  and get some well-deserved leave, and begin to focus on their training plan, and some of their equipment updates that need to be provided.

The US-led effort has trained more than 100,000 Iraqi security forces since the beginning of the anti-IS mission in October 2014. That figure includes 14,800 anti-terrorism troops, an umbrella designation that includes the Counter Terrorism Service unit as well as other elite units, according to coalition figures published last month. A separate report by the Pentagon Inspector General found that 5,000 core Counter Terrorism Service forces have been trained since 2015.

With 75-80% of US operations in Iraq now focused on advising and assisting the Iraqi security forces, an estimated 5,200 American troops still on the ground are focused on getting the countrys nascent military and police units ready to conduct missions on their own. US-backed cooperation now focuses on intelligence and clearance operations, including efforts to clear improvised explosive devices designed to prevent civilians from returning home.

We dont accompany the Iraqi security forces hardly ever at this point, Glynn told reporters. He said the US effort primarily aims to erode IS remaining capabilities, including the militant group's finances and branding. The United States has also curbed its air campaign against IS fighters, as the amount of weapon releases in December dropped to 584, the lowest level since the first month of the anti-IS campaign in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Despite a recent uptick in fighting in Iraqi cities such as Tuz Kormato and Hawija, US officials are reluctant to call the remaining IS contingent in the country  estimated at perhaps less than 1,000 fighters  a true insurgency.

I certainly look for those types of indicators, however, its just too soon, Glynn said, citing a lack of coordination between disparate IS cells looking to gain recognition. There are still remnants of [IS] who reside in a cellular structure who seek to bring instability into local areas, in particular population centers.

As the Counter Terrorism Service shifts away from major combat operations such as Mosul and Tal Afar, they will seek to prevent IS from forming into a network or something that could look like an insurgency, Glynn said. For now, the elite unit will focus on stopping coordinated plots  such as a pair of suicide bomb attacks in a Baghdad shopping district on Monday that killed 38 people  especially as Iraq heads into national elections later this spring.

What you saw in the double suicide vest attack in Baghdad, Glynn said, is a disruptive act on behalf of an organization focused on violence.
January 17, 2018

On Jan. 15, the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) adopted a decision calling on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to suspend its recognition of Israel until Israel recognizes an independent Palestinian state, abrogates its 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem and stops settlement construction in the West Bank. In the final communique of the two-day council meeting, representatives also called on the PA to stop all forms of security coordination with Israel and turn its back on the Paris Accord  an annex of the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace agreement that regulates the economic relationship between the two sides. All Palestinian commitments under the Oslo Accord, they said, are null and void.

On Jan. 14, the first day of the meeting held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a fiery speech to the 86 delegates representing all Palestinian movements that make up the PLO. He described in despair what everyone knew: The PLO and PA are facing a dramatic watershed moment. We will not make the mistakes of the past  of 1948 and 1967  again, he said, referring to the two wars between Israel and Arab states (where Palestinians fled from their homes). We will stay here and not move. We are at a crucial crossroads, and our future is at stake, he said.

The PCC was convened following US President Donald Trumps Dec. 6 announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announcing plans to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. However, the sense of urgency in convening the session was born of the understanding that the era of negotiations with Israel was over. The Fatah movement, which is the dominant force within the PA, had totally lost the support of the Palestinian street. Its way had failed and alternatives must be found at once.

The question raised by all participants was whether there was a new path that had not been tried in all the many crises with Israel since the signing of the 1993 accords. Is there a way to call off the agreements  which defied expectations of resulting in a Palestinian state and only worsened the economic circumstances of its people  and still preserve the structure of the PA and its institutions? Neither hawks nor doves had good answers to those questions.

The PCC decisions will now be put before the PLOs Executive Committee, which is empowered to carry them out. Still, they will probably quickly be exposed as empty threats. The PA is in a bind. It cannot exit the Oslo Accord and survive.

An Israeli security source told Al-Monitor that the PA had not indicated to Israel in any way that the security coordination was at risk. He referred to last months comments by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman who argued that the coordination served the interests of the PA as much as it served Israel. Abbas, he added, was still alive thanks to the security coordination.

According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Abbas and the PLO representatives who adopted militant decisions know full well that their recommendations are not feasible. On the day the PA, backed by the PLO, decides to suspend recognition of Israel and cast off the Oslo and Cairo accords [another name for the economic agreements], it will collapse, he said.

The PAs entire structure and that of its security, economic and civilian institutions are based on the Oslo Accord. If Abbas decides to adopt the PCCs recommendations, he will be signing the death warrant of his rule and of the PA he is heading.

Speaking with Al-Monitor, a Fatah movement source conceded that both the decisions and the tone of the two-day meeting were largely designed to buttress the support of the Palestinian public for the movement. Fatah, the largest component of the PLO, had reached a dead end. The Palestinian public had once again realized that Abbas policies of diplomacy and nonviolence toward Israel had failed, and the movements leaders knew they had to come up with a new diplomatic-political horizon.

The Oslo Accord promised a Palestinian state at the end of the diplomatic process with Israel. Today, 24 years after its signing, such a state appears further away than ever. The resulting despair has alienated the Palestinians  especially the young generations  from Fatah. Its leadership knows that support for Abbas is at its lowest ebb since he was picked to lead the movement following the 2004 death of PLO chief Yasser Arafat, which could explain the fiery speech he gave and the series of impractical decisions adopted by the PCC.

Their main problem will arise in a few days or weeks, when the Palestinian public discovers that the decisions adopted with much fanfare are not being carried out, said the Israeli security source. The most sensitive and problematic issue, he added, was the security coordination, which is not expected to stop. What will Abbas tell his people then? the official asked.

Israels security agencies do not believe a collapse of the PA is in the cards. Its not remotely likely, said the official. However, a series of populist decisions adopted in the coming weeks or months under pressure and despair, and especially guided by considerations relating to the political survival of Abbas and the PA leadership, could result in a severe crisis of government in the West Bank.

For now, Abbas has already made one serious mistake in his struggle for survival that could cost him significant international support. In his harsh speech he claimed that various countries, mainly the United States and Britain, were complicit in the move to bring Jews to Palestine after the Holocaust because they wanted to solve the Jewish problem at the expense of the Palestinians.

He added, We will continue to demand an apology from the British for the Balfour Declaration and demand that it recognize a Palestinian state. The 1917 Balfour Declaration by the British announced support for a national home for the Jewish people.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pounced (justifiably) with glee on Abbas comments. During his visit to India this week, he told reporters that Abbas had revealed his true beliefs and helps us present the truth. Netanyahu may well be right, this time.
January 16, 2018

It took more than a week for a senior Jordanian official to react to US threats to cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the international body responsible for the welfare of almost 5 million registered Palestinian refugees. Some 2 million of the refugees reside in Jordan, making the kingdom the biggest host country.

On Jan. 2, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley threatened that the United States would cut funding to UNRWA, estimated at $319 million annually, in retaliation for the decision by the Palestinian leadership to go to the Security Council and the General Assembly to extract a resolution condemning President Donald Trumps Dec. 6 proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. On Jan. 5, reports circulated that the United States had suspended a $125 million payment to UNRWA because of the Palestinians' refusal to return to peace talks, but the State Department said the decision was still being reviewed.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi only put forward the kingdoms position in a phone call to UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl on Jan. 11. He was quoted by Ammon News as saying that it was necessary to continue to support the agency in order to maintain its services to refugees whose case should be resolved within the final status talks based on international laws, especially UN Resolution 194, and the Arab Peace Initiative, guaranteeing their right of return and compensation. There was no direct criticism of the US move.

Before Safadis comments, Yasin Abu Awwad, director general of the Department of Palestinian Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, had said Jan. 9, UNRWA will continue its operations and providing services to the Palestinian refugees until the Palestinian issue is resolved in line with UN Resolution 194. His remarks were made in response to the Jan. 7 call of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for UNRWA to be shut down and its responsibilities transfered to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Jordans notable hesitation in dealing with the UNRWA issue stands in contrast to its strong reaction to Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem and relocate the US Embassy there. King Abdullah II had led an intensive diplomatic campaign to rally Arab, Muslim and international support for the Palestinians and to reject the unilateral move by the United States. Now that Amman has toned down its rhetoric, it has become clear that the government has been reviewing its position in an attempt to keep its channels of communication open with the Trump administration.

The change in tone and direction was evident in Abdullahs Jan. 10 statements  published by local news websites but not the official news agency, the royal court or the daily press  to retired members of the army.

The Palestinian cause is the responsibility of the international community and not only Jordan and Palestine, the king was quoted as saying. Jordanian interests come above all considerations. Abdullah also said, There are variations in priorities and strategies of the agendas of Arab countries, and described the current situation, in the aftermath of Trumps decision, as regrettable.

There is no doubt that Jordan was hoping for a stronger Arab front to confront the fallout from Trumps move against UNRWA. Safadi and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir underscored the brotherly ties between their countries in a Jan. 6 meeting in Amman apparently held to dispel news and rumors that differences in views exist between Jordan and Saudi Arabia over Trumps much-touted Middle East peace plan.

That does not, however, mean that Jordan is unconcerned about the repercussions of weakening or defunding UNRWA. Amman is abuzz with conspiracy theories about Trumps ultimate deal or deal of the century, whose ultimate goal, many believe, is to liquidate the Palestinian cause. There is a strong belief here that Trump and his Middle East team are following an Israeli far-right playbook on dismantling the main elements of the Palestinian cause. It starts with Jerusalem, followed by the refugee issue and ends with linking Palestinian population centers on the West Bank to Jordan.

In Jordan's eye, defunding UNRWA and incorporating Palestinian refugees into the mandate of the UNHCR can only lead to permanent settlement in host countries, a contentious and divisive issue among Jordanians. On Jan. 13, political analyst Oraib al-Rantawi wrote in Ad-Dustour, Cutting US funding to UNRWA can only mean one thing: removing the international symbol of the Palestinian cause and suffering and paving the way for settlement [in host countries].

The settlement angle is looking increasingly like a strong possibility in the view of local observers. An informed foreign source who requested anonymity told Al-Monitor that a draft of the Trump peace plan is in the Saudis' hands, and last week a senior Palestinian official was briefed on it in Riyadh. On the refugee issue, it calls for a just solution, without reference to international resolutions or the right of return or compensation, according to the source.

For Jordan  already complaining that international donors are not meeting their financial obligations to cover the cost of hosting Syrian refugees  the defunding of UNRWA, which runs 171 schools, with more than 120,000 students, would add a huge burden to the kingdoms cash-strapped treasury. The bigger challenge would be handling the settlement issue, especially with refugees lacking Jordanian nationality.

For now, Jordan appears to have opted for quiet diplomatic engagement with the United States rather than confrontation, which could prove costly and futile. This is the approach the king plans to take when Vice President Mike Pence visits Amman on Jan. 20.
January 11, 2018

On Dec. 15, Star Forum, a female organization affiliated with the Movement for a Democratic Society, staged a protest in Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, condemning the murder of Maryam Mohammad Ali by her brother-in-law. The circumstances of the crime have not been revealed and investigations are ongoing, but the story circulating is that 25-year-old Maryam, a mother of two, had approached Asayish, the security forces of the Kurdish self-rule administration in northern Syria, to lodge a complaint of sexual assault by her brother-in-law and father-in-law. Her brother-in-law was furious, and the two clashed. He shot her twice, in the head and right shoulder.

Womens organizations have been working in northern Syria, specifically in al-Jazira province, for more than six years, but the event in December was the first time a womens organization had publicly demonstrated against the area's social norms. The objective behind establishing the Star Forum was to help women break free from societal restraints, according to Walida Bouti, the Star Forum's director.

The protest, in which dozens of men, women and children participated, was organized against the patriarchal thinking that legalizes killing women under the pretext of honor, regardless of sect, religion or race, Bouti told Al-Monitor. The main goal behind this step is to protect womens rights, curb ignorance and eliminate the idea that women are inferior [to men]. We want to show society that no matter what the offending action, we strongly condemn murdering women.

Najah Amine, a member of Sara, a Qamishli-based nongovernmental organization working to fight violence against women, told Al-Monitor that around the time of Mohammad Alis murder, a man from Amuda had burned his wife alive. No other information was available. Sara, a social and civil organization, has been actively documenting violence against women for the past four years as well as challenging all forms of discrimination against them.

The awareness campaigns about womens rights by womens organizations in northern Syria, including Sawiska and the Free Kurdish Womens Organization, in addition to Sara, might be the main reason behind the declining cases of violence against women. Statistics published Dec. 30 by the Social Justice Council in al-Jazira indicate that murders of women have dropped, from 22 cases in 2016 to 7 in 2017. Rape cases also declined, from eight to three, for the same time period. Child marriage dropped from 31 cases to 13.

Some crimes against women are committed but shelved as suicide, Amine told Al-Monitor. The security forces and the office against organized crime, which follows up on criminal cases, are not cooperative enough and claim that they have to protect the privacy and sensitivity of investigations into such cases. She noted that Sara, in its mission to expose the truth and punish culprits, is seeking to be able to bring charges against individuals alleged to have committed violent acts.

According to Amine, in 2017 Sara noticed a positive change in the self-rule tribunals behavior toward it. Whereas previously they would not allow Sara and other observers to attend trials, concerned organizations can now be present to listen to the testimony, follow cases and review investigative files on the cases. She sees this as a step forward in developing civil society. Cases related to women, she said, are insufficiently investigated. They have been rushed and closed, because they are socially sensitive.

The Free Kurdish Womens Organization based in Qamishli is one of the oldest women's groups in northern Syria and has branches in Turkey and Germany. Yousra Zabir, the organization's director, told Al-Monitor that its members have been harassed by Syrian security since its establishment in 1994.

Zabir explained that her group has come a long way in raising womens awareness about their rights, but without encouraging them to rebel. She said that societys acceptance of a role for civil society organizations (CSOs) is key in helping them reach their goals. Alternatively, by raising womens awareness of their rights and taking advantage of the tools available to that end, CSOs can influence responses to violence against women.

She said her organization wants not only to raise awareness, but also to empower women socially and encourage them to learn new skills. It regularly provides training sessions in nursing and computer programs as well as foreign languages. Such activities, Zabir remarked, nurture a culture of openness toward women, instead of their only being seen, as is common, as housewives. She noted that some families and individuals do not accept women even leaving the house and interacting with their environment.

Rojine Habbo, director of the womens department at Shar for Development, told Al-Monitor, The direct results of civil society organizations in al-Jazira working on womens issues, like violence against women and raising awareness about their rights to work and divorce or other basic rights, cannot be immediately felt. Work on these cases takes time to reach the desired results.

Habbo observed that CSOs are not reviewing the impact of their work closely, as some programs are slowly implemented or not at all. She stated, Some social constraints, such as a patriarchal mentality, can be a factor hindering women-related organizations from reaching oppressed women. Social constraints also prevent these organizations from tackling sensitive issues like honor killings.
January 16, 2018

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree dated Jan. 3 to reinstate the collection of taxes on the Gaza Strip. This decree abolished two previous decrees  one issued in 2007 and another from 2017  exempting all citizens in the governorates of the Gaza Strip from paying taxes and fees.

Article 3 of Abbas freshly issued decree states that the decree shall be submitted to the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah and put to a vote in order to be endorsed at a future session.

The taxes to be reimposed in the Gaza Strip include the 17% Value Added Tax (VAT) on imports, the 20% income tax imposed on companies, the income tax on citizens, and other local taxes and levies such as the property tax and the tax on cigarettes. This is in addition to the increase in customs duty.

When Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah exempted Palestinians in Gaza from paying taxes on government transactions, income tax and VAT to limit local revenues to the Hamas-led government in Gaza. Now, after the PA took administrative control of the Gaza Strip under the Palestinian reconciliation agreement, the abolition of the tax exemption would increase its revenues to balance its expenses. All taxes paid by the Palestinian citizens will be transferred to the consensus government.

The PA relies on local taxes as a source of funding of its expenses, including income tax, VAT and property tax. The proceeds collected from these taxes account for 25% of the PAs total revenues and are estimated at $1.1 billion annually.

In a related context, Palestinian economists agreed that the decision to reapply taxes will worsen the economic situation in Gaza amid a total collapse of the economic system. Raising fiscal revenues in light of a severe unemployment crisis will push the political and economic situation toward a precipice.

Economic expert Mohammed Abu Jiyab is the editor-in-chief of local Al-Iqtisady newspaper, which was the first to report the news of the reimposition of taxes on Gaza. He told Al-Monitor, The decision to raise fiscal revenues was taken according to the legal rules set by the Ministry of Finance in Ramallah without taking into consideration the collapsing economy in the Gaza Strip. This decision will be directly reflected in all types of goods and services provided by private sector institutions, especially telecommunications and electricity companies. It will also increase the income tax.

Abu Jiyab explained that the decision comes amid a sharp decline in public spending and an acute cash crisis in the Gaza Strip. The Rami Hamdallah government is seeking to provide spending allocations for the Gaza Strip from revenues collected in Gaza by raising the fiscal revenues without relying on any funds received from outside the besieged enclave. This is a recipe for bankruptcy, he added.

Abbas is well-aware that this will not increase the revenues of the PA and its Ministry of Finance as much as it will worsen the economic and psychological burden on Gazas citizens.

After the signing of the reconciliation agreement on Oct. 12, 2017, the Palestinian government in Ramallah took several measures to increase its fiscal revenues at intermittent intervals. The PA had improved its tax collection on goods entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. It also increased the price of Egyptian fuel and cigarettes.

Mohammad al-Ashi, a professor of finance at the Islamic University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, Ever since the government of consensus took administrative control over the crossings of the Gaza Strip, customs tariffs increased threefold compared to the tariffs applied by Hamas. This slashed by more than half the number of trucks making the crossings daily to the Gaza Strip, falling from a daily average of 700 to 300 trucks.

He added, As of Nov. 14, 2018, customs adjustments agreed upon with Israel will apply. These include an increase in customs duty on clothing items from 6% to 15%, on furniture from 12% to 20%, on footwear from 12% to 27% and on aluminum products from 8% to 16%.

Although the customs duty rates to be applied in the Gaza Strip are the same as those applied in the West Bank, Ashi argued that there are economic differences between Gaza and the West Bank that were not taken into consideration.

He explained that about 70,000 Palestinians in the West Bank work on the Israeli side with an average of 500 shekels [$142] a day, not to mention the uninterrupted electricity service in the West Bank ensuring continuity of production. The salaries of PA employees in the West Bank were not subject to the deductions made on the PA employees salaries in Gaza. Reimposing taxes would be catastrophic in Gaza.

Ashi pointed out that farmers would suffer the most from the reimposition of taxes, which will increase the price of chemical and agricultural products and thus the cost of production. The decision will increase by 16% the bill paid by citizens to phone and internet companies, he said.

It should be noted that the decision that was taken by the consensus government on Nov. 6, 2017, to unify the license fees for owning a new diesel car between Gaza and the West Bank has yet to be applied. The license fee is still 2,100 shekels ($614) in Gaza compared to 660 shekels ($193) in the West Bank.

Speaking about Fatahs position on the reimposition of the tax on the Gaza Strip, Fatah spokesman in the Gaza Strip Fayez Abu Eita said the PA is going through a severe financial crisis and the reimposition of the tax would empower the government of consensus in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He told Al-Monitor, Despite the bad economic situation in Gaza, we trust the Palestinian leadership to take steps to support the economy of Gaza in the next phase.

In an earlier statement for Arabi21 website on Jan. 10, Osama Nofal, the director general of Studies and Planning at the National Economy Ministry in Gaza, said, The PA collected $720 million in clearance revenues from the Gaza Strip last year while the exemption was still applied. When taxes are reimposed in Gaza, the PA's revenues will rise by 35% to about $1 billion a year, excluding the excise tax on industrial diesel whose revenues are annually allocated to the Gaza power plant."

Meanwhile, Riyad Halasan, an economic researcher at the PLOs Palestinian Planning Center, said, Taxation is generally in the citizens best interest, but the Gaza Strip lacks a stable environment allowing the state to use fiscal revenues to finance citizens services.

He told Al-Monitor, The alternative is to revive the Gaza Strip economically by adopting government policies aimed to increase employment rates, break the siege on the freedom of movement of individuals and goods, ensure an investment-friendly environment and give citizens their financial rights without any deductions.

It seems that the national unity government is imposing new fiscal policies on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian reconciliation agreement. This, however, is not coupled with any measures to improve the economic situation in the enclave.

The sanctions imposed by Abbas against Gaza have yet to be lifted. This is likely to fuel protests and popular strikes threatening the Palestinian reconciliation.
January 17, 2018

As speculation rages over the probability of a Turkish military incursion against Kurds in Syria, the propaganda war between the sides is already in full swing.

Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency turned to a pair of Syrian Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG), the US-backed militia that has been fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, to press the case for Turkish intervention. The fighters, who are in Turkish custody, claimed in an interview that civil administrators affiliated with the YPG in Afrin, the Syrian Kurdish enclave Turkey is threatening to invade, had ordered digging equipment from the United States. The machines were purportedly going to be used to dig tunnels from Afrin to the Turkish side of the border, thus allowing YPG fighters to infiltrate Turkey, where they would go on to plan attacks.

The pair agreed that the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey, were the same. The only thing that is different from the organization in Syria is their name, one of them said. Anadolu reserved the biggest bombshell for last. When the YPG/PKK or the [YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces]  launched attacks on [IS]  they used to [provide] the United States [with] coordinates, one of the captive fighters revealed. After giving intelligence [on their] whereabouts, those places were hit by the US on short notice.

Pro-government dailies joined in the chest-pounding with headlines ranging from The final countdown to Afrin is target, PYD in panic. A recurring theme is the United States being the YPGs puppet master, all part of a broader campaign to destroy and dismember its NATO ally, Turkey. The US-led coalitions comments over the weekend about its ongoing effort to set up a 30,000-strong force of YPG fighters to protect Syrias borders with Iraq and Turkey against terrorist infiltration havent helped. In Turkeys view, the YPG are the terrorists and the United States is mentoring them.

The mass circulation Sozcu claimed that the United States had provided the YPG with MANPADs and offered a photograph of a Kurdish fighter carrying one as proof.

The pro-Islamic Millet screamed in its banner headline, Terror is rising from Incirlik. It was referring to the Turkish air base in the southern province of Adana that is used by the US-led coalition in its campaign against IS both in Syria and in Iraq. The sad truth, it said, was that the terror army the United States is training was being supplied from Incirlik. Shut it down, Millet demanded.

The mildly oppositionist conservative Karar took a kinder view, asserting in its front-page headline, USA approves Afrin offensive. Karar was extrapolating from comments made to Anadolu by a Pentagon spokesman who underlined the well-established truth that the United States partnership with the YPG is confined to areas lying to the east of the Euphrates River and Iraq. Afrin is viewed as Russias sphere of influence. Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway wrote, We dont consider [the YPG in Afrin] part of our defeat [IS] operations, which is what we are doing there, and we do not support them.

Pro-government columnist Abdulkadir Selvi noted that negotiations were underway with Russia for it to open Syrian airspace to Turkish war planes and that air support is critical to any operation against Afrin. Selvi claimed that the initial stage of the campaign would involve establishing a 6-kilometer (4-mile) deep security belt between Turkey and the enclave and that probably with prodding from the United States, YPG fighters had begun to withdraw to the city of Afrin proper where they were digging trenches in residential areas and preparing for urban warfare.

Ilham Ehmed, the co-chair of the Democratic Council of Syria and a member of the YPGs political arm, the Democratic Unity Party, apparently believes that Russia may greenlight a Turkish incursion against Afrin. The quid pro quo, she explained in her weekly column for the pro-Kurdish Ozgurlukcu Demokrasi, was Turkish support against the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose core members are the group known as Jabhat al-Nusra, in Idlib. If Russia is calculating that it can help the [Syrian] regime win back control of Idlib it will be proven wrong.  Idlib is on Turkeys border.  [Jabhat] al-Nusra is acting in concert with Turkey. Turkey is continuing to help them dig into Syrian soil, she warned.

Ehmed, a frequent visitor to Capitol Hill, took a swipe at Washington as well. The United States does not feel much responsibility with regard to Turkeys attacks on Afrin, because it has no power there. Russia has greater control. Can the United States [use this argument] to evade responsibility? No.  On one hand, [the United States] supports the Kurds. On the other, it permits attacks against the Kurds. This is a big contradiction.

The pro-YPG Hawar News Agency carried a broad array of commentary on its website, lashing out at the fascist Turkish state. Syrian Arabs joined in the Turkey-bashing. Arab clan leader Sheikh Abadi Najam al-Fajr of the al-Bou Shaban clan told Hawar, We, as tribal sheikhs, respond to them and say, You have nothing but the badness of the soul.  [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan] is the source of terror.'

Meanwhile, Firat, an online news portal openly sympathetic to the PKK, published footage of what it claimed was a PKK operation against the Turkish military in the province of Hakkari bordering Iraq. Firat reported that 10 Turkish soldiers had been killed in the assault. There has been no independent verification of those claims.
January 17, 2018

As Moscow prepares for its Syrian National Dialogue Congress this month, the guest list might still be in flux. Russia hopes to broker peace between the Syrian regime and its opposition while appeasing major stakeholders  who at the moment aren't playing nicely.

On Jan. 11, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Syrian situation. This was two days after Turkey had summoned the Russian and Iranian ambassadors over cease-fire violations in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Under the preliminary peace agreements reached in Astana, Kazakhstan, the three guarantor countries for the four Syrian de-escalation zones are Turkey, Russia and Iran.

Ankara couldnt be more displeased with the recent offensive in Idlib by Syrian government forces with the support of pro-Iranian militias and Russian air power. Al-Monitor correspondent Amberin Zaman reported Jan. 10 that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized Moscow and Tehran for failing to stop the offensive.

But Moscow had its own grievances with Ankara, whose peace-monitoring forces entered Idlib in October and chose to coexist rather than curb" the actions of al-Qaeda-linked group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The mutual suspicions were topped off with speculation that Turkey might have played a role in the recent attacks on Russia's Khmeimim air base in Syria, threatening to upset the fragile balance among the Astana guarantors. Therefore, the phone call between Putin and Erdogan was an attempt to douse the flaring fire. Following the conversation, Putin dismissed the speculation, saying Jan. 11 he was positive that neither the Turkish military nor the Turkish government had anything to do with the attacks.

Indeed, [the attacks on Khmeimim] came from the area that is supposed to be under Turkeys control, but honestly weve also not always been able to control what we have to control over there. Its complicated. According to our agreements, our Turkish partners were supposed to set up some checkpoints there, which they havent yet, but its difficult to do, he said.

Putin referred to the Khmeimim attacks as provocations.

We know who the provocateurs were. We know whom they paid and how much. But these were not Turks.  The attacks had two goals: one, to derail previous agreements, [and] two, to destroy our relations with our partners, Turkey and Iran. We understand this very well and will act in solidarity.

The next day, the Russian Defense Ministry launched a precision-guided strike on what it called "the subversion group" allegedly behind the Hmeimim attacks. Therefore, even if there were objective or subjective grounds to suspect a Turkish hand in the incidents, the Kremlin made it clear it wasnt going to let the rumors determine its attitude regarding Turkey and made a political decision to patch up its relations with Ankara at an early stage.

Against this background, Moscows relations with another Astana partner, Iran, look more stable. On the ground, Russian military and various pro-Iranian forces fight side by side with the Syrian government against opposition militants while keeping their contradictions to themselves. Russia also scored points with Iran's leadership by taking the stance that Iran should be able to deal with its own matters regarding the recent protests there, and by taking advantage of the President Donald Trump-gifted opportunity to publicly demonstrate, yet again, its unity with Iran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Nevertheless, Russias disagreements with Turkey over the Syrian government offensive in Idlib couldnt have been fixed with a phone call. Neither can Moscow's JCPOA stance smooth over its tacit rivalry with Iran for influence over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syria. The Russia/Iran/Turkey trio's lack of trust is barely news, and incidents such as the Khmeimim attack or the ongoing fight in Idlib are fueling suspicions and not-so-deeply buried grievances. Therefore, its of principal importance to Moscow at this point to ensure that the working coalition of the Astana troika continues to function at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress, set for Jan. 29-30 in Sochi, and that the trio stays more or less united on major issues and is able to produce fateful decisions around which the subsequent political process is going to evolve.

It's of principal importance to Moscow  that the trio stays more or less united on major issues and is able to produce fateful decisions around which the subsequent political process is going to evolve.

Politically, Moscow continues to play good cop to Tehrans bad cop with the opposition at negotiation venues, including Geneva. Some rebel factions have come to think of Moscow as the lesser of two evils, while others see little difference between the two and seek to closely engage with Turkey. While Moscow is aware of these contacts, it hopes Turkey will stay the course, comply with its Astana obligations and not impede Russias pet project of the Sochi Congress.

Turkey and Iran have their own reservations about Russia's true motives behind the Sochi initiative. Moscow is aware of this and finds it necessary to discuss  but not necessarily address  these concerns. Therefore, Putin and Erdogan thoroughly discussed preparations by phone, as did Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, during the latter's visit to Moscow. Both Turkey and Iran are reviewing a list of Russia's 1,700 proposed congress participants. On Jan. 11, Putins Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentyev was sent to Damascus to meet with Assad to settle the most difficult and complex issues so that the parties could move forward.

The original idea for the Sochi Congress was not to make it a separate process, but rather for it to serve as a booster rocket for the Geneva payload. The Geneva talks have been grounded by the uncompromising positions of the Syrian government and the opposition. As more Syrian opposition factions began opting not to participate in the meeting, Moscow saw its task as host to assemble the right group of Syrian representatives to legitimize their further role in the countrys future. Politically, the Kremlin hopes the congress will further establish Russia as the chief firefighter of the Syrian conflict.

Even if the congress seems detached from Geneva at the initial stage, the Sochi conference can continue to exist separately without harming the Geneva talks, simply because it doesn't have the UN-mandated international legitimacy. Moscow, therefore, discards opposition claims that the congress threatens the Geneva process. Moscow views those claims as merely a political effort to get Europeans and Americans to counter Russian initiatives and thus save the opposition's cause of getting rid of Assad.

Moreover, Moscow doesnt see the Geneva effort as a failure because, first, its an ongoing process, and second, because the initial expectations for what it could produce were moderate if not low.

On the other hand, as the Astana talks have shown, if the UN venue  the Geneva process in this case  doesn't produce results, Moscow will not hesitate to create its own platform, invite those willing to join it, work something out there and then make the rest of the stakeholders, including the United Nations, deal with it. That would provide the process and the subsequent results with the needed legitimacy.

In this case, getting Turkey and Iran on Russia's side will require more hard work than countering resistance from the opposition.

A Russian diplomat with knowledge of the process told Al-Monitor, Over the course of the civil war in Syria, some opposition groups morphed  disbanded or merged with radical terrorists. Some of those who spearheaded the anti-Assad movement are no longer around. Today, former opposition leaders are telling us that those who are now claiming to be the opposition barely represent 10% of the Syrians, and what once may have been a genuine Syrian anti-Assad movement has now been hijacked by outside forces. So whats the opposition mandate, and are they truly able to implement the decisions they want to discuss?

If this view reflects Russian thinking at the top level, it signals that Moscow is inclined to do everything in its power to see the Syrian political transition start in 2018. But engaging Turkey and Iran may be quite a challenge given the political and on-the-ground conditions.
January 15, 2018

The European Council on Foreign Relations once called Russia and Iran the "power couple" of the Middle East. That was two years ago, and it appears they're still making the relationship work.

On Jan. 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, as part of the latters visits to Russia and the European Union to discuss conditions of the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA). These meetings took place right before US President Donald Trumps deadline Jan. 12 to decide if the United States is going to uphold the 2015 deal. According to a press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow and Tehran reaffirmed their adherence to the JCPOA and stated that attempts to undermine its consistent implementation by Washington will have a negative impact for the regional security and stability, as well as the value of multilateral diplomacy as applicable to the international nonproliferation regime.

Prior to his Jan. 12 announcement agreeing to continue waiving sanctions against Iran, Trump spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, to US allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to his national security team. Trumps previous foreign policy decisions have proved that even when everything and everyone argues against taking a certain radical step, the United States may still go for it. This time, however, Trump did what was expected of him  he recertified the deal but cautioned it would not happen again.

Indeed, despite Trumps fervor to sink or renegotiate the deal, the recurring decision appears tricky even for him. First, instead of taking responsibility when he refused Oct. 12 to certify that Iran was complying with the deal, he passed the ball to Congress to decide within 60 days whether to amend the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) of 2015. (INARA requires the president to certify Iran's compliance every 90 days.)

Second, any Trump attempt to completely abandon the JCPOA would face opposition both at home and abroad and damage the country's reputation as a signatory to international treaties. Iran continuously reminded Trump about this credibility risk, which was echoed by the Russian and European parties to the JCPOA. Waiting for the US decision on the sanctions relief  or their extension  had been irritating Tehran since October 2017. The bigger problem, however, was what Americas next step would be if Trump ultimately pulled out of the deal. The issue was discussed at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference in October, and Zarif also planned to speak to EU members about it.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who is responsible for Iran-related nuclear negotiations, claimed in mid-October that Moscow was already preparing for the worst-case scenario of the United States withdrawing from the JCPOA. But both Iran and Russia insisted there was no viable alternative to this "non-ideal deal." Trump, Iran and Russia all acknowledge the JCPOA has its flaws, but each preferred to adhere to it for their own reasons.

Trump says the JCPOA fails to address Irans missile program and its aggressive activities in the region. But Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his Nov. 1 visit to Tehran that unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA under any pretext is not acceptable, and there is no connection between the international agreement and the ballistic and defensive capacities of Iran.

Moscow certainly doesnt think Americas problem with Tehran is really Iran's national nuclear energy program, but rather Irans influence in the region and concern that sanctions relief might provide Iran with resources to expand. Thus, Russia has even more motivation to stand united with Iran, to prove Moscow's crucial role on the ground and in diplomatic processes in the Middle East, even if it might disagree with Iran on certain issues in Syria. At the meeting with Zarif, Lavrov reiterated that the main authority in this regard  the International Atomic Energy Agency  certified Irans full compliance with the JCPOA.

Russia also seeks to remind everyone of the pivotal role it had in resolving the international impasse with the JCPOA in 2015.

Besides their ability to develop close cooperation on Syria, which many analysts called strategic despite all odds, Russian and Iranian officials tried to maintain at least the appearance of close cooperation in many other fields. For instance, at the Jan. 10 meeting, the foreign ministers agreed that the Russia-Iran bilateral trade commission would meet early this year.

On another thorny issue beyond the JCPOA, Russia was critical of the United States' call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to get the council to weigh in on the recent uprisings in Iran. Even EU representatives, including France and the United Kingdom, opposed the idea. Russias UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, was harsh in his remarks about US Ambassador Nikki Haleys accusations against Iranian authorities. Nebenzya described the US attitude as an irrational allergy to Iran that precludes sober assessment of the real events.

During his trips to Moscow and Brussels, Zarif repeated points he made in his recent opinion piece in the New York Times by personally lobbying officials of Russia and the EU3 (Germany, France and Italy). He stressed that it's not enough for the international community to just speak out against the irresponsible actions of the American administration." Rather, he said, all JCPOA supporters should pressure the United States to stop its disruptive actions.

Zarif pointed out that this trip was his 21st to Moscow since he became foreign minister of Iran about four years ago  which, he said, proves the importance and scale of the relationship between Iran and Russia. Yet the special relationship with Russia puts the Iranian foreign minister in an uncomfortable position. Zarif was praised elaborately in 2015 for the nuclear deal but nowadays is heavily criticized by the Iranian public basically for the same effort. The JCPOA, implemented in January 2016 with Russia's involvement, hasn't brought any substantial economic relief, which adds to a wave of unfulfilled expectations that culminated in the recent protests in Iran. This irritation now multiplies any suspicion the public holds about Moscows potential underlying intentions in interacting with Tehran. Zarif's tweets about the trips received many angry comments in response, including some calling for the minister to answer for being on Russias payroll or lackeying before Russia and China, as well as some others addressing the Iranian public's more historical grievances with Russia.

It's not clear what developments might trigger Trumps decision on the JCPOA in another 120 days, but Moscow and Tehran  fortified by their need of each others support on Syrian issues  will work to keep the deal intact. On Jan. 13, Ryabkov made it clear that Moscow will counter US attempts to undermine the JCPOA.
January 17, 2018

ANKARA, Turkey  Just two days after the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016, Turkish presidential adviser Seref Malkoc said on public television that the government should make it easier for citizens to obtain licensed guns to protect their right to self-defense against coup attempts. His words failed to generate much debate in the heat of the events, which had claimed the lives of more than 200 civilians among the crowds that took to the streets to resist the putschists.

Then on Dec. 24, 2017, the government issued a legislative decree that granted judicial immunity to civilians involved in the suppression of the coup attempt, ensuing events and acts of terrorism. Alarmed by the vague wording of the provision, opposition parties argued that such immunity would encourage the formation of militia groups and individual armament, warning of uncontrollable consequences and even a civil war.

Some believe the provision is a sign that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to create his own armed militia force as another means to suppress dissent and opposition. Of note, retired Brig. Gen. Adnan Tanriverdi  the head of SADAT, a controversial military consultancy and training company  had joined Erdogans team of senior advisers weeks after the coup attempt. Besides SADAT, other entities supportive of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)  such as the Ottoman Hearths, a youth organization, and the Peoples Special Forces (HOH), an association founded by a former special forces soldier  have stoked public apprehension. Several months after the coup attempt, the head of the Ottoman Hearths 1453 association had appealed on social media to like-minded brothers to arm themselves in the name of the motherland, the [Turkish] flag and Erdogan. According to Veli Agbaba, the deputy chair of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), entities such as SADAT and the Ottoman Hearths are the armed militia of the AKP.

Amid growing outcry over the impunity legislation, SADAT denied it was involved in covert military training camps for civilians, insisting it was a law-abiding defense consultancy company, the first of its kind in Turkey. According to a Jan. 4 statement, images of armed combat on the SADAT website date back to the pre-retirement days of former soldiers who are now working for the company.

In a country already sharply polarized and mired in political tensions, those dubious entities coupled with an uncontrolled trend in individual armament are the source of deepening apprehension in light of an election cycle looming next year, including crucial presidential polls. Earlier this month, former Interior Minister Meral Aksener, who in October founded her own party to challenge Erdogan, spoke of concerns that those [armed] people will play a role in the elections.  They will provoke chaos if the results are unfavorable [to the government].

Erdogan, for his part, seems bent on a strategy of ratcheting up tensions ahead of the elections. He has drawn the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to his side and portrays the AKP-MHP alliance as the true patriots while maligning the other parties. In a Jan. 9 speech in parliament, he described next years elections as a race between those who are native and national and those whose reins are in the hands of other quarters.

Senior CHP member Yasemin Oney Cankurtaran believes the judicial immunity clause is encouraging individual armament and violence between people of opposing political views. Speaking in the eastern city of Van on Jan. 11, she said, [The decree] will lead to an individual armament craze because it has caused grave concern among people about their future.  Some people we talk to say they would not even utter the word gun in the past but are now thinking about acquiring guns. The responsibility lies with the AKP, which has left no peace in the country. And [the immunity clause in] the legislative decree is coming on top of all this.

Besides the increase in individual armament, there is mounting concern over the apparent ease with which people are able to obtain unlicensed weapons. The murder of Helin Palandoken, 17, in October is a case in point. The high school student was shot dead by a lovelorn young man who had purchased his pump rifle online. Many internet sites have come to sell new and second-hand guns at rather cheap prices, complete with shipping and cash-on-delivery services.

The Interior Ministry denies that individual armament is on the rise, arguing that the number of license applications has actually fallen. Regarding online sales, the ministry says it has tightened controls and penalized 55 internet sites.

In a statement in late December, the Directorate General of Security said license applications in 2017 stood at 73,038 as of December, down from 84,268 in 2016, 100,836 in 2015 and 78,332 in 2014. The statement put the total number of licensed weapons in the country at 706,877, owned by both public servants and ordinary citizens.

According to the polices 2017 report on individual armament, licensed firearms were used in 25,547 criminal incidents last year, while the number of crimes committed with unlicensed guns was more than six times higher, standing at 159,123. This figure alone indicates how easy it has become to obtain guns illegally.

In short, the essential problem lies in the scale of illegal armament and the authorities failure to control the illegal trade of firearms and thus their inability to identify and track the owners of such weapons. Hence, the decrease in license applications could be seen as a sign that individual armament has increasingly shifted to the illicit realm, with more and more people unwilling to be registered as gun owners.

The Umut Foundation, the leading campaigner against individual armament in Turkey, estimates that the number of individual guns in the country stands at 25 million, and 85% of them are unlicensed and illicit. Ayhan Akcan, a board member of the foundation, said the online sale of firearms has spiraled out of control and calls for urgent measures.

In remarks to the BBC Turkish service earlier this month, Akcan argued that the judicial immunity clause for civilians was a recipe for bloodshed. The coup attempt, he observed, has resulted in an incredible atmosphere of fear and insecurity, leading many to advocate the armament of civilians. This is very dangerous, he said, warning of uncontrolled and risky groups with a swollen ego who see themselves as close to the government and the state or the owners of this state. According to Akcan, those groups could take courage from the immunity clause to engage in political violence. The government must not provide grounds for that, he said, stressing that the scope of the clause should be narrowed or there could be massacres on an incredible scale.

Turkey is no stranger to political violence and civil strife. The lead-up to the 1980 military coup saw deadly clashes between leftist and rightist groups, and in 1978, rightist mobs attacked Alevis and leftists in Kahramanmaras, massacring more than 100 people. In recent years, Alevi homes have been marked in a chain of incidents in various cities, sparking fears of similar attacks. The armament trend, coupled with the impunity clause and mounting political tensions, is further stoking the fears.

Last week, the Interior Ministry launched a probe into HOH, but few expect the move to result in sanctions. Despite the public outcry and the warnings of jurists, the government has refused to back down from the impunity clause for civilians. In this atmosphere, apprehension is growing over the security of the polls next year. Many appear convinced that Erdogan will do anything to hold on to power  even if he loses the elections.
January 16, 2018

In December 2017, Iran and Iraq signed an oil swap deal, and on Jan. 14, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi announced that Iraq will start exporting oil from the northern Kirkuk fields to Iran before the end of January. This new level of Iran-Iraq cooperation, which brings back memories of the so-called Friendship Pipeline between Iran, Iraq and Syria, is liable to disturb leaders in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, especially as controversy flares over Turkeys surreptitious oil trade with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Saudi Arabia realizes that 2017 oil export increases from Iraq and Iran may have consequences on the kingdoms export monopolies and power within OPEC.

Iraq's plan to start exporting crude oil from the northern Kirkuk fields to Iran before the end of January depends on logistics, Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told Argus Media in November 2017. As Reuters reported last December, The agreement signed  by the two OPEC countries provides for Iran to deliver to Iraqs southern ports, on the Gulf, [refined] oil of the same characteristics and in the same quantities as those it would receive from Kirkuk. Tanker trucks from Kirkuk will deliver crude oil to the Kermanshah border area where Iran has a refinery.

Both parties agreed to swap up to only 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude produced. This is below 25% of the 2014 Iran-KRG pipeline's expected capacity, and it is much less than the 90,000 bpd that Baghdad ships to Ceyhan, Turkey. Nevertheless, it can be a game-changer for both parties, opening the way for increased oil trade. As Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told state-run news agency IRIB during the 173rd OPEC meeting, Although it [the oil swap deal] is considered a small contract in the oil industry, it is a strategic partnership. Iranian authorities also announced that they are planning to build a pipeline to carry the oil from Kirkuk. The pipeline could replace the existing export route from Kirkuk via Turkey and the Mediterranean by pipeline. It was originally planned to transit the oil via Syria before that country descended into civil war.

In a further sign of the agreements strategic importance, Irans Oil Ministry newsletter noted that Iraq entering Irans energy transit routes can expand Irans role as an energy hub in the region and boost economic benefits. A closer relationship between the two countries that are competitors in the oil market, an increase in the export of crude oil from Kirkuk, less reliance on Turkey and finding new routes to export are among the positive implications of this agreement for the Iraqi side.

The Iraqi parliaments vote to ban Kurdish engineering firm Kar Group from operating in Kirkuks oil fields is a further sign of support for this trend. Moreover, for Iran, the oil swap deal with Iraq represents an opportunity to counterbalance the Saudi-Iraq ties renewed by the 18 memorandums of understanding signed between Baghdad and Riyadh in December.

For Iraq, the deal opens a new trade route for its northern fields and enhances its position in front of Turkey for oil export routes. It also has the advantage of muddying up Saudi Arabias ranking in the market.

Turkeys Ceyhan port has served as the export point for Kirkuk since 1977, despite a host of political and technical disruptions. Since 2013, the KRG has used the port for an independent pipeline operated by the KRG without Baghdads approval to connect the twin Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipelines on the border with Turkey. After Iraqi military forces advanced on the KRGs fields in October 2017, pumping in the fields was supposed to be on hold. However, Ankara seems not to be strictly adhering to Baghdads decision and may be continuing with some business with the KRG. Groups such as Argus Media have reported the KRGs pumping rate to Ceyhan is still reaching some 320,000 bpd. While this is a 40% decrease from the usual 550,000 bpd before the independence referendum crisis, it is enough to question Ankaras support for Baghdad's objective of sanctioning the KRGs independent oil exports.

In a period of growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the oil-trade rapprochement between Iran and Iraq will certainly influence Riyadhs relationship with Baghdad. And if this deal turns into a strong energy cooperation, it might be enough to grab the market and challenge Saudi Arabias position as OPECs de facto leader and the largest player in the global oil market.

In 2017, Iran and Iraq both challenged Saudi Arabias oil export volume. According to ship tracking data from Bloomberg, in October 2017, Iraq exceeded Saudi Arabia in both its exports to the United States and its exports to India. (Bloomberg noted Iraqs average sales to India were 794,000 bpd in 2017, compared with 738,000 bpd by the Saudis.)

Iran has ramped up output as well, doubling its exports. For example, Iranian exports to China have almost equaled Saudi numbers. According to Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia shipped 833,000 bpd to China in September 2017, compared with 600,000 bpd from Iran.

It remains unclear if Turkey or Saudi Arabia should panic over this oil swap deal. After all, Iran and Iraq have gone through a number of tentative cooperation initiatives before that ultimately fell through (e.g., the Friendship Pipeline). However, if the deal does ultimately turn into a larger strategic partnership, then Ankara and Riyadh may need to start preparing to rework their own energy strategies as well.

Ali Kiani contributed to this report.
January 17, 2018

Concerned that time is running against Turkeys interests in the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered a military operation into Syria aimed at taking the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin, only a stones throw from the Turkish border.

Turkish press reports say the army has already started shelling the enclave from across the border. Whether the main operation will go ahead is not certain, though. If it does, it will be a high-stakes move whose outcome, analysts say, remains uncertain.

Many believe this development reflects Ankaras anger with the United States and Russia. Both powers are supporting Syrian Kurdish groups that Turkey considers to be its enemies.

Turkeys failure to convince the United States to end its support for the Kurds and Moscows refusal to accept Ankaras demand to prevent the same Kurds from participating in efforts to reach a Syrian settlement have left Ankara deeply frustrated.

Addressing supporters in the Black Sea city of Tokat over the weekend, Erdogan said Turkeys operation would begin over the next few days. He said this would be a follow-up to Operation Euphrates Shield, the operation Turkey launched in August 2016 in northern Syria, with its Free Syrian Army allies, against the Islamic State (IS).

Ankara said at the time that the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian Kurdish group it considers a terrorist organization linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, would also be targeted. Washington and Moscow prevented it from carrying out this threat.

The disclosure by US military that the US-led coalition in Syria was establishing a Border Security Force (BSF) to patrol the Turkish and Iraqi borders poured more fuel on Erdogans anger with the United States.

News about this force broke immediately after Erdogan said the operation against Afrin was imminent. Ankara interpreted this as a veiled warning that any Turkish incursion into Syria would be challenged.

Erdogan blasted the United States in a speech he delivered in Ankara on Jan. 15, saying, America has announced that it has established a terrorist army on our borders. Our duty is to strangle this terrorist army before it is even born.

In the meantime, Ankara is reportedly reinforcing its proxies in Syria under the name the National Army (Al-Jaysh Al-Watani) to fight IS and the YPG. This 22,000 force is said to comprise elements considered unsavory by Russia and the United States.

Operation Euphrates Shield, which was assisted by these elements, was supported at the time by the United States  albeit reluctantly  because it targeted IS. The operation succeeded eventually in clearing the lands between the towns of Jarablus in the east, Azaz in the west and al-Bab in the south from IS.

Operation Euphrates Shield also fulfilled Turkeys desire to gain a strip of land in Syria for its forces. It also drove a wedge between YPG-held territories east and west of the Euphrates River, preventing the Kurds from gaining a corridor along the Turkish border, which would have an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea.

Afrin was left as an isolated YPG enclave, and it has remained a thorn in the side of Turkey ever since. Turkeys efforts in 2017 to take the city were, to Ankaras surprise and annoyance, thwarted by Russia, which deployed forces there between the Turkish army and the YPG.

For the past three years, Erdogan has been saying that Turkey will take Afrin and Manbij, another YPG-held town immediately west of the Euphrates, but this has not happened. He seems more determined this time despite the criticism likely to come from Washington and Moscow.

Some analysts believe Turkey cant carry out this operation in defiance of the United States or Russia. Retired Brig. Gen. Haldun Solmazturk, who is a senior fellow in the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute, told the Xinhua News Agency that it was unthinkable that the United States and Russia would allow such an operation.

Solmazturk listed Turkeys refusal to recognize the Syrian regime and the continuing prioritizing by the United States and Russia of the fight against IS as reasons why Ankara would meet resistance from Washington and Moscow.

Ankara has continually downplayed the political support the YPG and its parent organization, the Democratic Union Party, get from Russia in order not to cloud the ties it is trying to develop with Moscow as a counterbalance to its deteriorating ties with the United States.

This has not prevented suspicions about Russias ultimate aims in Syria, though, despite the fact that Turkey, Russia and Iran are spearheading efforts for a settlement to the Syrian crisis under the so-called Astana process.

Ankaras misgivings about Russia increased after Moscow said Kurds from regions held by the YPG would be invited to the Syrian National Dialogue Congress planned for later this month.

These misgivings spilled over recently after attacks by Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian forces on the city of Idlib. The Russian and Iranian ambassadors were summoned by Ankara last week to receive a protest over what Turkey said was the targeting of moderate opposition elements under the guise of fighting Islamic terrorist groups.

Turkey has troops in Idlib, which were deployed to monitor cease-fire violations in the de-escalation zone set up there under an accord with Russia and Iran. This presence also provides another military foothold for Turkey in northern Syria, which Ankara warns will be used against the YPG.

Moscow rejected Turkeys protest, saying only Islamic terrorist groups, particularly Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), were being targeted in Idlib. This episode, which immediately preceded the crisis with the United States over the BSF, also highlighted the potential for discord between Ankara and Moscow over Syria.

Moscow also rejected Erdogans recent labeling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a terrorist, saying this was a baseless claim.

A statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Jan 15, in which he said the BSF threatened Syrias territorial integrity and added that this force would not help resolve the crisis surrounding Afrin either, heartened some in Ankara.

Lavrov, however, also underlined that "the Kurds are definitely part of the Syrian nation," and he went on to emphasize the need to respect the Kurds interests as preparations for the Syrian National Dialogue Congress continued.

Erdogans former press secretary, Akif Beki, who currently writes for daily Karar, is among those who believe that an operation against Afrin would not get Russian support. Beki also warned that the YPG could use this operation to undermine Turkeys position in the Astana process.

He added that this operation would also destroy any possibility of Turkish-US cooperation in Syria and said Russia is unlikely to help carry out Erdogans threat to strangle the BSF.

After Erdogans angry remarks, Turks are wondering whether Turkey is on the brink of a military confrontation with the United States in Syria. In an effort to dispel this notion, US Army spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon told Turkeys semi-official Anadolu Agency that the US-led coalitions mission in Syria did not include Afrin.

Dillon said their operations against IS were concentrated along the Middle Euphrates River Valley and east of the Euphrates River. He appeared to be throwing the ball in Moscows court, given that the Russian military has a presence in Afrin.

Dillons remarks, however, show that the United States will continue to act with the YPG east of the Euphrates in an area along Turkeys border larger than Lebanon. The US military is also reportedly entrenching itself in the region with a view to remain there.

If Erdogan decides to give the final order for an operation against Afrin over Russian and US objections, and manages to achieve his aims partially, if not wholly, this will still boost his image at home. That may be all that he is aiming for at the end of the day, given that Turkey has already started debating the presidential elections in 2019.
AirHelp is a company which looks to assist airline customers in establishing whether they are eligible for compensation when flights are either canceled or delayed. As as extension of this, the company has today announced the launch of a new tool which looks to improve on the experience offered through its service. The newly-launched tool is now available directly through the companys website, as well as through the Android app (available for free from the Google Play Store).

What makes the tool more powerful than what was previously offered is its ability to back-check eligibility. With the company stating that frequent flyers will now be able to automatically check as far back as three years to identify any missed compensation for canceled and/or delayed flights. In addition, once a user is signed up for the service they will also be able to benefit from updates going forward. In other words, if you fly often and do sign up for the service, AirHelp will automatically inform you of compensation eligibility for flights taken in real-time. The need for this new feature is something that is increasingly growing according to the companys CEO, Henrik Zillmer, who was noted in the release stating that at present there are more than nine million passengers who are currently unaware of compensation they are not only eligible for, but entitled to.

Along with the improved compensation eligibility, irHelp also announced this latest update includes the ability for passengers to create a personal adventure map where flights are collated and shown on a virtual map, which in turn can be shared with others via various social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. According to the company, this colorful map will not only highlight previous (and currently booked) flights but also flight-specific data, such as the amount of time spent in the air, the countries visited, and more. Both of these new features build on the companys general approach to using newer forms of technology as a means to improve the airline passenger experience, and in particular, drawing on artificial intelligence-based solutions. For example, back in November AirHelp unveiled Lara. A feature which makes use of artificial intelligence (and a searchable database of successful claims) to determine a consumers likelihood of success for compensation claims made through the courts.
A new spyware tool has been discovered by security firm Kaspersky Lab, dubbed Skygofree. The software is capable of infecting Android devices and can track the location of the user, record audio files, and upload sensitive data stored in the device like calendar entries, text messages, and Whatsapp conversations. Researchers from the security firm discovered the spyware after observing a number of landing pages that mimic actual websites of local network operators in Italy. The company notes that all of the affected users are in Italy, and it is likely that most of them were infected back in 2015. However, researchers note that the development of the spyware is still continuing, suggesting some individuals may have been infected only recently.

A total of eight background services are initiated by Skygofree once it is launched. In addition, the spyware hides an icon and pushes a welcome notification to the user. Some of the background services initiated by the malware can record audio clips, access and steal data stored in the operating systems clipboard used for copy-paste actions, and track location. Moreover, the malware initiates the AndroidFileManager service, allowing the software to upload all data it mined from the device. The malware can also take advantage of the Command and Control (C&C) protocol, and the attackers can send commands to the smartphone infected by the spyware through the use of HTTP, SMS, or even Googles own Firebase Cloud Messaging protocol. One of the commands that the attacker can send is the geofence one which instructs the handset to start recording audio once the user is in a specific location

Given the complexity of the software and its exploitation of multiple operating system vulnerabilities, researchers from Kaspersky described the Skygofree malware as one of the most powerful spyware tools they ever encountered. It is likely that the software was developed by an Italian IT company that specializes in surveillance, according to the security firm. However, Kaspersky mentioned that it had only observed ten individuals who have been affected by the vulnerability. To prevent being affected by the spyware, Kaspersky advises users to stay clear of unfamiliar websites and regularly run anti-malware tools on their smartphones.
One of the worlds leading investors in early-stage IoT businesses, namely Breed Reply, has announced a respectable result for is efforts over the course of last year. According to a recent press release, the investment company is currently invested in more than 18 different companies in the market and a third of those managed to gain more than $50 million in funding during 2017  with the funds resulting from completed series A funding rounds. The company says those results show the value of its own business since preparing companies to gain further funding is a primary part of what it does.

With regard to the companies in question, those are reported to include those involved in cybersecurity, smart home, smart building, industrial, big data and IoT platforms segments of the industry. For example, CallSign is responsible for Intelligence Driven Mobile Authentication technologies which link A.I. to both identity and data beach protection. Another company backed by Breed Reply, which also did well during series A funding is Cocoon  which developed a single device to provide in-home security through sound and vibration sensing technologies. Meanwhile, enModius goes in a completely different direction with smart buildings, creating technologies that allow for monitoring, control, and internet connectivity of any mains powered device. Thats followed by Senseye, which offers predictive maintenance for industrial-level IoT implementations via a cloud-based solution in order to avoid downtime and reduce costs. WePredict has a similar offering, in the form of a what it calls a cost-effective and installation-free insights service. Effectively, the company offers predictive-analytics conducted over big data, providing companies with actionable insights. Finally, Zeetta Networks is an open platform for software designed networks delivered in the form of NetOS. Specifically, the company aims to enable smart cities and to help service providers and other enterprise industry participants to drive down networking costs without negatively impacting scalability or flexibility

Beyond those successes, Breed Reply CEO Emanuele Angelidis also revealed that the company is nowhere near done with its endeavors. According to Angelidis, the strong response to those IoT companies demonstrates that there is a clear demand for more and better IoT products to meet the needs of customers in both home and enterprise settings. Coming off of that response to its efforts, the exec says the company looks forward to helping to continue the rapid and accelerating expansion of the industry. Thats something it hopes to accomplish through both its current investees and further investments as innovations come forward from new start-ups in the industry.
China is using IoT sensors to monitor its Danjiangkou Reservoir, but not just the reservoir itself, rather its monitoring the entire 1,40o kilometer canal that connects the reservoir to Beijing and Tianjin. From a consumer standpoint the Internet of Things is most often positioned as a series of connected devices in the home, from smart lights to smart refrigerators to other smart appliances like dishwashers, washers and dryers, and even water heaters.

The Internet of Things covers a vast majority of stuff, however, and for China with this specific project its using IoT sensors to help with a number of different things like checking for structural damage to the canals and checking the quality of the water. The sensors will even monitor for unintended persons or animals that arent supposed to be within the proximity of the canal. Helping with all of this is a total of 100,000 IoT sensors which includes 130 different types of sensors in all, from infrastructure sensors to video cameras, and which were reportedly needed to aid in overseeing all of the different elements that are part of the project. With the canal being as long as it is, various bits of information like flow rates were important to have to ensure that only the amount of water that was needed would be traveling to the intended destination.

The sensors are essentially acting as a tool to prevent any of the water from being wasted as the reason for Chinas South-To-North Water Diversion Project, of which this particular canal is a part of, was to help route some of the water from Southern China to Northern China where water is more scarce. Each of the tasks that the sensors are helping perform have a specific reason for being implemented, too. The structural damage monitoring for example was put into place as an intended action for the sensors because the canal travels through land area which is more likely to see earthquake activity, which could in turn cause damage to the man-made canals and lead to other potential problems with the diversion project.

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The whole point of the Internet of Things is that the internet acts as the tunnel which data is able to travel through. To make sure all of the data could be collected from the sensors being used as part of the IoT network for the diversion project, a smart gateway was developed that would allow the data from the sensors to be collected using any available network connection at the moment the data was being requested, which could be anything from 2G to Wi-Fi. While this particular application for IoT technology has little direct impact on consumers, it does at the very least show whats possible, and it paints a very real picture of the types of uses for IoT outside of the home.
According to a new statement released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairman Ajit Pai is now proposing new provisions for small carriers and cooperatives in the rural areas in a bid to give more Americans access to high-speed internet. The newly suggested order would collectively provide those businesses with up to $500 million for their development efforts. In order to prevent abuse, it would also include strong new rules intended to oversee the program. In addition to that, the proposed order would include new reforms to the FCCs Connect America Fund in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Part of that would include reforms aimed at helping to enable more and better access to services on Tribal lands.

According to Pai, the ultimate goal is to close the digital divide which currently exists between rural areas and more suburban environments. As things currently stand, rural access is typically limited in both the number of options consumers have when choosing an internet service provider and in terms of access speeds. For example, many areas across the country still only have access to speeds that are well below the average  with recent reports suggesting that average is around 18.7Mbps  and a substantial portion doesnt have access to broadband services at all. Worse still, there are many communities that only realistically have access to a single carrier or provider. According to Pai, fixing that is the FCCs top priority and the program needs to be revamped in order to encourage those providers to build out and update their infrastructure.

Although the move to add $500 million in funding will undoubtedly be much less controversial than some other recent undertakings of the FCC, it isnt probable that it will pass by without scrutiny. Questions about the new order will likely center around where the funding will come from and what exactly is contained in the new rules and reforms. As of this writing, those aspects of the order have not been made available to the public and the order itself has not been released. So it is still impossible to determine what impact, if any, will result from the suggested changes. However, as technology and IoT in particular continue to advance, it is at least clear that some sort of action is needed to get more and better access to more people in the U.S.
Google has reportedly confirmed that Chinas Maps platform hasnt been changed following reports that Google Maps had finally come back to the region. According to Google spokesperson Taj Meadows, Maps has been available to Chinese users for years via the desktop platform, otherwise known as the Google Maps website that you would visit from an internet browser. Google also clarified that there is no available application for Maps on the Android or iOS platforms in the country while stating that earlier reports of a Maps app being reintroduced within China were not true.

The earlier report seems to have stated that some users in China were able to find a Maps application but werent able to use it for things like navigation, while Google says that only the browser version has been accessible. A Maps app in China would be big news if it were true, due to Google having some of its services, like Search and YouTube, blocked in the country, and although Maps on desktop is available, having Maps on Android and iOS in China would allow Google to tap into a huge market of users in a region where smartphone use is relatively high as China is the worlds largest smartphone market.

Google originally pulled Maps along Search, YouTube, and other services it offers in many other countries around the world from China back in 2010, and although Google has made some attempts to reenter the Chinese market it has yet to do so with most of what is still currently blocked from users. Maps, which is one of Googles most popular and primary apps for Android in the U.S. and other regions, has received quite a few updates over the past few months to make it a more usable application with functionality that goes beyond directions and navigation features. Such as the get off the bus notifications that were added to the app in the middle of December 2017. Google has also spent plenty of time upgrading the usability for local guides with the capability to add videos for places theyve visited. Since China is such a large market for smartphone users and Maps is one of Googles largest apps in terms of popularity, the company is likely to make it known officially when and if it offers a Maps mobile app to Chinese users in the future.
Web giant Google has announced that it will be laying three new undersea cables and expanding its data center presence into 5 new regions. Specifically, Google is planning to open up new data centers in the Netherlands and Montreal first, and those will be up and running within the first quarter of the year. There are no dates announced for Los Angeles, Finland, or Hong Kong, the three other regions where the company has announced that it will be adding in new data centers. According to Googles blog post on the matter, more are coming on a to-be-announced basis. Presumably, those first five data centers will be up and running by 2019, because thats when Google will begin building out the three new undersea cables. Two of these will be for consortium use, while a third will be private, usable for Google-related traffic only.

The private cable will be called Curie, and it will run from Chile to Los Angeles, a distance of just over 9,000 kilometers. Meanwhile, Google will be building out a second cable called Havfrue that runs from Denmark to the United States, and a third called the Hong Kong-Guam Cable system, which will not only connect the countries in its name, but will connect to a number of major underwater communications centers throughout Asia. These latter two cables will be available for consortium use, though Googles blog post did not name what entities are allowed usage.

This latest project comes after the company has already spent around $30 billion in recent years on network expansion, laying undersea cable and putting down new data centers in such a fashion as to give its cloud customers and users of its services 100 different points of presence to choose from when putting traffic through Googles servers. Naturally, the companys satisfied cloud customers are finding this latest move to be a boon. According to the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Google Cloud customer PayPal, Google puts the worlds largest network at the companys disposal. The many points of presence may not make too big of a difference to casual internet users whose traffic goes through them, such as Google Search and Google Drive users, but for businesses that process millions of transactions and pieces of data each day, those small differences in ping between servers can mean the difference between smooth sailing and angry customers calling in to report slow services.
Googles engineers are internally referring to the next major iteration of Android as Pi, according to two commits recently uncovered in the Android Open Source Project repository. The Mountain View, California-based tech giant traditionally names its annual operating system upgrades after dessert names and is also expected to do so this year. While the term Pi doesnt fit that description, it may be short for Pie, possibly the most obvious candidate for the official moniker of Android 9.0 that also happens to denote a well-known mathematical constant.

Even though the Alphabet-owned company has yet to confirm the next revision of its ubiquitous OS will debut with the version number 9.0, previously discovered AOSP commits are indicative of that possibility, as are Googles Android update practices in recent years. The first developer preview of Android P is expected to launch in the coming months, with its predecessor being introduced in late March 2017. The mobile OS is likely to go through numerous revisions before being officially launched in the second half of the year, which is when its official name should be revealed. The next iteration of the Google I/O developer conference is likely to be at least partially focused on Android P which should already be available in an experimental form by then. Not much is known about the OS itself, with recent reports and previously discovered commits only suggesting the software will put a larger emphasis on its secondary applications such as Android Go and Android Things. Google has been expanding the Android ecosystem beyond the realm of smartphones for years now and none of the companys recent moves suggested that strategy is going to change over the course of this year.

Mishaal Rahman of XDA Developers who discovered the commits referring to Pi also noted that the code suggests support for Googles Project Treble will only be fully integrated into the next major iteration of the OS. While the development of the platform is still ongoing, the current version of the service implemented into Android 8.0 Oreo is already capable of achieving its main purpose  facilitating the process of creating firmware updates for custom versions of Android.
It seems like Meizu had managed to sell 20 million smartphones in 2017, less than the company was able to ship a year earlier. This info was revealed during the companys briefing in Beijing, China, a couple of days ago. The companys Senior Vice President, Yang Xun, was at the event, and he said that the company sold around 20 million smartphones in 2017, in a total of 40 countries around the world. In addition to that, he revealed that the revenue from those sales exceeded 200 billion yuan.

That being said, this China-based company was able to sell 22 million smartphones back in 2016, so the difference is not all that big, as it seems like Meizu did release considerably fewer devices in 2017, though that was not confirmed. According to the source, Meizu did say that the company was quite profitable in 2017, and that it managed to achieve its goal, despite the fact it was able to ship fewer devices than in 2016. The sales decline is not specific to Meizu, though, the Chinese smartphone market is slowing down, and a number of companies felt that in 2017. Some stats even say that the Chinese smartphone market experienced sales decline of 32.5 percent in 2017. It seems like the Meizu M5 Note and M6 Note, the companys mid-range smartphones, were among the best-selling Meizu-branded smartphones in 2017, which is not all that surprising, the same happened with their predecessors in the past.

Having said that, Meizu did restructure its business in 2017, and is now separated into three divisions, Meizu, Blue Charm and Flyme, and those three divisions are in charge of flagship products, budget phones / accessories, and software, respectively. Meizu has big plans for 2018, and if some recent reports are to be believed, the company will focus on high-end products more than in the past. In addition to that, the company is expected to utilize more Snapdragon and Exynos processors than in the past, as the company is trying to make a step forward and appeal to consumers. The company is expected to introduce its first full screen smartphone in the Spring, the Meizu 15 Plus, though we still do not know when exactly will it arrive.

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Samsung Electronics is developing a new chip that mimics the manner in which the human brain operates, seeking to deliver a solution for artificial intelligence platforms of the future. The tech giant enlisted the help of a number of Korean experts such as the KAIST public research institute and the Seoul National University, with the partners already working on turning their idea into a reality.

The concept of a chip designed to operate like a human brain is far from new and has been iterated and revised for many years now. At its core, Samsungs chip is meant to work in much the same way like numerous solutions that preceded it, with its components being dedicated to simulating a nervous system. Coupled with an extreme level of energy efficiency thats said to require a hundred-millionth of electricity used by contemporary chips, the device is meant to deliver a next-generation platform for a wide variety of AI use cases. Samsung is reportedly committing approximately $8.5 million to financing initial research required for the chip which is estimated to take three years, after which the company is expected to ramp up its investment, though no full timeframe for the project has yet been provided.

Simulating neurons is an expensive ambition and one that the tech industry has yet to bring anywhere close to the level capable of mimicking an actual human brain which has around 100 billion neural cells on average. Intel came the closest to doing so until now but even its high-end TrueNorth chip simulates only 260 million neurons and hence hasnt even reached the processing capacity of many insects. Its presently unclear what artificial neuron count is Samsung targeting with its supposedly revolutionary chip and whether the company is even able to surpass whatever the current industry leaders come up with several years from now. Potential use cases of the chip itself are practically endless, just like AI applications in general are; Samsungs current commitment to the segment largely revolves around its smartphones and Internet of Things offerings but an energy-efficient AI platform would also be able to improve all of the companys other products, services, and even manufacturing operations.
Samsung announced a special edition of the Galaxy Note 8 meant to commemorate the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, having designed it in partnership with the PyeongChang Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee. The limited revision of the Android flagship will be given to all Paralympians competing at this years iteration of the Paralympic Winter Games, with the South Korean tech giant claiming the move is not just meant to showcase how its latest mobile technologies can improve the accessibility of digital content but is also yet another milestone in its efforts to support athletes with disabilities which started with its sponsorship of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Other athletes competing at the upcoming Olympics will also receive the newly announced revision of the Galaxy Note 8 free of charge along with their staff members, with Samsung planning to distribute approximately 4,000 units in total. The Seoul-based original equipment manufacturer said nothing to suggest the phablet will eventually be available for purchase and likely isnt planning to retail it at all. The official moniker of the device doesnt contain any mention of the Galaxy brand, with Samsung unveiling the offering as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games Limited Edition. The units meant to be given to athletes before the next Olympics begin early next month will also be accompanied by equally rare protective cases, with the phone itself coming with a custom version of Android Nougat-based Samsung Experience software which also boasts a number of Olympics-themed wallpapers.

Samsung didnt clarify which exact model of the Galaxy Note 8 was used as the basis for the newly announced smartphone but its previous limited editions of the phablet suggest the latest one boasts 256GB of internal flash memory. The rear plate of the device is largely white and has golden accents, much like the S Pen accompanying the flagship. The packaging of the new Galaxy Note 8 was also reworked and is much larger than the retail box housing the regular variant of the smartphone, presumably to accommodate its protective case. The next Olympics run from February 9th through 25th and will end just a day before the company is expected to officially announce the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus.
Sony is set to announce new Android smartphones on February 26th, with the Japanese tech giant confirming its intent to be present at the 2018 iteration of the Mobile World Congress. The Barcelona, Spain-based happening is the mobile industrys largest annual trade show and Sony has a long history of attending the event; last year, the company used MWC 2017 as an opportunity to announce a variety of new offerings such as the Xperia XA1 and the high-end Xperia XZ Premium. The original equipment manufacturer provided no hints in regards to what can be expected from its next MWC conference but recent rumors suggest the company is planning to unveil multiple devices, with at least one of them being a full-fledged flagship possibly marketed as the Xperia XZ Pro.

The Tokyo-based phone maker is also expected to unveil a new product design language at MWC 2018 and detail the successor to the OmniBalance aesthetic which served as the basis for its mobile offerings for many years, touting its unique focus on symmetry and minimalism. The new design language is rumored to be called Mirai and place a large focus on minimizing bezel size but may not pair full-screen looks with an elongated 18:9 aspect ratio like most other OEMs did over the course of 2017, according to recent reports. The successor to the Xperia XZ Pro is also widely expected to feature a 4K screen, much like many other Sony-made flagships released in the last three years. The biggest change on the mobile display front may arrive in the form of a decision to embrace OLED technologies which high-end Xperia offerings avoided until now.

While Sonys next Android flagship is almost certain to be powered by the Snapdragon 845, its chip of choice will likely push its release to mid-2018. As was the case with the Xperia XZ Premium, Sony will presumably be forced to wait with commercializing its premium offering as the initial batches of Qualcomms latest high-end chip were reportedly already reserved by Samsung for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, both of which are now rumored to be announced on the day of Sonys MWC 2018 conference.
ZTEs Axon M foldable smartphone is official in the companys home country as of Tuesday and is now also making its way to select European markets, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer said. The handset will go on sale in the Far Eastern country on Saturday, January 20th, being offered by JD.com, China Telecoms brick-and-mortar stores, and ZTE itself. While the manner in which the firm launched the Axon M in China was much more extravagant than its U.S. announcement from mid-October, with the smartphone being unveiled on top of the Olympic Tower, Beijings highest skyscraper, the overall message behind the product remained unchanged; ZTE presented the Axon M as a transformational offering meant to reimagine the concept of a smartphone, claiming the device will allow users to consume content and multitask in unprecedented ways.

The tech giant has yet to provide many details on its European plans for the Axon M, having only confirmed that Vodafone and TIM will be carrying the device on the Old Continent. The full list of its wireless partners has yet to be disclosed but its first two names suggest the device will at the very least launch in the United Kingdom, Germany Italy, Russia, and Spain. No specifics in regards to the pricing of the smartphone have yet been disclosed but a price tag below 700 seems unlikely. Outside of product launch events, ZTEs executives arent claiming the Axon M is the ultimate foldable smartphone but still insist the offering is much more than a proof of concept and has the potential to see commercial success. Regardless, the companys management sees the Axon M as only the first step toward a truly foldable mobile device and intends to iterate on the concept moving forward, with the handsets successor possibly being set for a release as early as this year.

The Axon M will start retailing in Europe by the end of the current calendar quarter and ZTE promised to share more details on its availability in the coming weeks. The tech giant is expected to attend MWC 2018 next month but is unlikely to announce many new smartphones at the Barcelona-based trade show and will presumably focus its conference on 5G technologies.
The Estonian Centre for Defence Investment has renewed the public contract with Milrem LCM, provider of defence vehicle lifecycle management, for repair and maintenance of the Patria XA-180 and XA-188 armoured vehicles. Milrem LCM is part of Patria Group.



An Estonian Patria XA-180 6x6 Armored Vehicle in Afghanistan (Credit: Wikipedia)

"Since 2014, the Defence Forces have worked closely with Milrem for better management of the lifecycle of our defence vehicles. Our partnership has been effective. The knowledge that there are efficient Estonian defence companies with growth potential provides confidence that we can face the challenges in all circumstances," said MAREK SUGIS, Head of the Technology Section of the Support Command at the Estonian Defence Forces.

"The renewal of this contract shows that close cooperation can lead to the best results in meeting the needs of the Defence Forces. All parties to the contract - the Centre for Defence investment, the Estonian Defence Forces, and Milrem - are interested in continuing to work together to provide the best possible support to the units of the Defence Forces," said MARGUS PADJUS, Head of the Armament Procurement Bureau, Centre for Defence Investment.

"Milrem wants to be a strong and reliable partner for the Defence Forces of Estonia, both in peace and at times of conflict. We want to develop and become an increasingly strong benchmark for military competence in Estonia and, therefore, the Defence Forces' strongest partner," said KULDAR VAARSI, member of the Milrem LCM management board. "Since the majority owner of Milrem LCM is Patria, the original equipment manufacturer of the XA vehicles, we now have an even better engineering know-how to further improve our life cycle management capabilities," he

added.

The contract held by Milrem LCM in question is a public contract awarded in October 2013. Under the contract, Milrem has been providing lifecycle management services for the Defence Forces' Patria XA-180 and XA-188 armoured vehicles since 2014. The contract was initially awarded for four years, with an option for renewal for a further four years. The first four-year period expired at the beginning of this year. The second contract period will expire at the beginning of 2022.

Milrem LCM's owners are Finnish Patria Group and Kuldar Vaarsi through OU Sinrob.
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In 2016, the FAA terminated its certification of certain ELTs manufactured by Ameri-King, and this week, Orolia announced it has developed a new version of its Integra model that has been specially adapted and packaged to make it easy to replace the affected ELTs. The new Kannad Ameri-Fit pack is available through Aircraft Spruce, Mid-Continent and other avionics suppliers. Weve produced more than 65,000 ELTs through the years, said Christian Belleux, aviation product line director at Orolia, in a news release this week. The Integra, with its 10-year warranty, is one of our most popular models, and now weve made it even easier to install as a replacement for the affected Ameri-King models.

The FAA terminated its certification of the Ameri-King units after it determined that the manufacturer, based in California, had manufactured, sold or distributed parts for installation on FAA type-certificated aircraft that did not conform to an approved design, but were otherwise represented as FAA-approved. In September, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive stipulating that the affected units must be inspected once a year until they are replaced by an FAA-approved unit. The FAA estimated about 14,500 aircraft are affected by the AD.
17 January 2018 12:56 (UTC+04:00)

By James Q. Whitman

See if you can guess the author of this quote: The American Union feels itself to be a Nordic-German state and by no means an international porridge of peoples. This is revealed by its immigration quotas ... Scandinavians  then Englishmen and finally Germans have been accorded the largest contingent.

Those words were written by Adolf Hitler in 1928, in praise of American immigration laws at the time. To be sure, references to Hitler should not be invoked lightly. For all the ugly things coming out of President Donald Trumps White House, not least his denigration of Haiti, El Salvador, and African states as shithole countries, the United States is still a long way from resembling Nazi Germany.

Trump is a kneejerk authoritarian and a throwback to the old days of white supremacy in America, but many more institutional checks would have to fail before he could bring about the end of American democracy. And even with respect to immigration policy, there is a profound difference between the Trump administrations mass deportations, however cruel and stupid, and mass murder.

Nonetheless, it has become increasingly clear that the 2016 US election installed an ignorant, racist president in the White House. Worse still, Trumps statements in office hark back to a period in history when Hitler found inspiration in US immigration law.

Specifically, Hitler admired the US Immigration Act of 1924  also known as the Johnson-Reed Act  which had erected openly racist barriers to immigration on the basis of a national quota system. The law banned Arab and Asian immigration outright, and made immigration from Africa close to impossible. As Hitler noted, it also favored Nordic-German candidates for immigration and eventual US citizenship over Southern and Eastern Europeans, including Jews. (My own Jewish ancestors made it to Ellis Island in 1922, just under the wire.) It was this restrictive law that served as the legal basis for not accepting Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in the years before the Holocaust.

The 1924 law is getting a lot of media attention in the wake of Trumps suggestion that the US should take more immigrants from Norway (who are unlikely to immigrate), rather than places like Haiti. But it is hardly the only example of racist immigration policies in the US. During the period of the so-called Yellow Peril in the late nineteenth century, the US enacted a raft of anti-Asian legislation, including an 1882 law banning immigration from China outright. And all the way back in 1790, the US Congress revealed its racist outlook by offering naturalization to any alien, being a free white person.

Hitler, for his part, was not the first or only right-wing racist to find inspiration in these dark chapters of American history. By the time he came along, everyone on the European hard right was already well acquainted with the US model of race-based immigration barriers. After all, Theodor Fritsch, one of Europes most vile anti-Semites, had touted it decades earlier, in his 1893 Handbook of the Jewish Question.

In Hitlers manifesto, Mein Kampf, he praised America as the one state that was making progress toward becoming a racially healthy order. And when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, Nazi lawyers carefully studied the USs long history of policies to close its doors to non-whites.

Looking back, it is important to remember that it was not until the 1965 US Immigration and Nationality Act that the US began to separate itself from the worst aspects of its racist past. And, as Trumps presidency makes clear, that past has yet to be permanently overcome.

Trumps recent vulgar remarks about immigration should prompt all Americans to remember that Hitler and his fellow Nazis were once big fans of America. And as we approach the first anniversary of Trumps inauguration, his immigration policies should give pause to those taking comfort in the idea that American democracy has not yet been fatally undermined.

Whether or not American democracy will survive is not the standard by which to judge Trumps presidency. After all, for white males at least, American democracy has always been alive and well, even when racist immigration laws were passed in 1790, in the late nineteenth century, and in the 1920s.

Americas history of democratically enacted racism is too sordid for people to be complacent about Trumps recent comments and toxic immigration policies. Americans who love their country should feel sorrow when reading what Hitler said about it in 1928. And they should be dismayed to hear their president openly yearning for an immigration policy that would put Nordic people at the front of the line once again.

Copyright: Project Syndicate: Trumps quest to make America white again

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17 January 2018 11:56 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

More and more people today prefer to go traveling rather than to waste their free time staying at home. The travelers stuff their backpacks with everything they need during the journey and hit the road. One of the main problems they face on the trip is the inability to charge their gadgets while being outside. Here a backpack with solar batteries can help out.

Students of the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University have developed a backpack with built-in solar panels, the project manager Rusif Huseynov told Trend on January 16.

He noted that the backpack has additional batteries that can be charged while the backpack is in the sun.

The backpack can be in demand by the military, as well as be used in long travels, for example, to charge mobile devices, Huseynov said.

The project manager added that the team currently wants to implement a joint project with Ukrainian partners that will increase the functionality of the backpack, making it a more interesting product.

It is about the possibility of combining the functionality of the backpack with a portable installation for water purification called Owl, which was created in Kiev. Such an installation is capable of filtering 30 liters of contaminated water within an hour.

Backpacks similar to the one created by Azerbaijani students have recently became innovation in the world. This is indeed convenient, since now people do not need to search for a source of electricity when their smartphones, tablets or cameras discharge. Now such a source, allowing people to charge their gadgets on the go, can be always with them.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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17 January 2018 11:45 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan will hold next auction on privatization of state property on February 13, where 246 state objects will be put up for sale.

The auction will offer 84 small state enterprises, 132 non-residential areas, 19 joint-stock companies and 11 vehicles.

The joint-stock companies, put up for the auction, include enterprises specializing in cotton growing, poultry farming, agriculture, transport, construction, repair, trade, production, processing and others.

The small state enterprises are located in Baku, Ganja, Yevlakh, Sheki, Mingachevir, Ismayilli, Siyazan, Shamkir and other cities and regions of the country.

Moreover, 110 of the non-residential areas to be put up for the auction are located in the capital city, the rest-in other regions of the city.

In order to buy property at auction two procedures must be passed: Firstly, it must be made an order through the website of the State Committee (www.e-emdk.gov.az) and secondly, 10 percent of the lot value must be paid.

The portal for privatization  privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as develop the business environment of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the State Committee on Property Issues conducts electronic auctions starting from July 4.

The "electronic auction" service, which is available on the website privatization.az, combines the privatization procedure of vehicles and equipment. In the future, it will be possible to privatize small state enterprises and facilities, joint-stock companies through electronic auction. Now, the corresponding work in programming is being implemented.

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17 January 2018 13:56 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

One of the main tasks of Azerbaijan is to eliminate the dependence of the economy on the oil industry and ensure the development of the economy in rural areas.

The government does its utmost to support and encourage entrepreneurs, specializing in agricultural sector.

Thus, The State Service for Project Management and Credit in the sphere of agriculture plans to introduce an automated credit system for online applications in order to minimizes peoples interference in the lending process and ensures full transparency on the appeals of clients.

Deputy Head of the State Service, Zaur Aliyev state in his article in the newspaper Respublika that the new system there is a problem of crediting in the sphere of agriculture in the country and also there are no agricultural credit products that could meet the new economic conditions and requirements.

To eliminate this problem, we started implementing an automated credit system for online applications, Aliyev said.

After the introduction of the system, Aliyev noted, it will be possible to coordinate the work of all participants (customers, financial organizations, appraisers, insurance companies) online, introduce a centralized system of credit accounting and online monitoring tools.

The fertile lands, abundance of water and climatic diversity create favorable foundation for ever-strengthening agro-sector.

Azerbaijan has 4.8 million hectares of agricultural land, which comprises over 50 percent of its total territory, of which39.6 percent is arable. Meanwhile, the food-processing sector constitutes an important component of the national economy and accounts for over 38 percent of total manufacturing industry.

Agricultural producers are exempted from paying all taxes (except tax for land), in accordance with the Law On granting tax benefits to producers of agricultural products, adopted on November, 2001.

Moreover, since 2007, the state has been offering preferences for agricultural producers and entrepreneurs involved in agricultural sector, in order to provide comprehensive support to producers, which helps to create competitive environment.

Over the last five years the growth in the number of employed in the processing industry was 9.3, and in agriculture 2.5 percent. Over 1 million new work places were created under the Regional Economic Development Programs, according to the State Statistical Committee.

By implementation of the Strategic RoadMmap, during the period from 2016 to 2020, it is expected to fulfill nine strategic goals to create an enabling environment in terms of the formation of a sector for the production and processing of competitive agricultural products in the country, guided by the principles of sustainable development.

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17 January 2018 14:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the Czech Republic Farid Shafiyev has met Ivana Straska, the South Bohemia Region Governor to discuss the development of cooperation within the visit to Ceske Budejovice city.

At the meeting, the sides discussed establishment of cooperation relations, economic, including mutual investment projects, opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, as well as in fishing industry between the regions of Azerbaijan and Czech Republic.

Ivana Straska expressed her readiness to contribute to the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic.

Diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and Azerbaijan were established in 1993.

Today, Azerbaijan significantly increases the energy security of the Czech Republic since the national oil provides a third of the annual consumption of the country. Therefore, Azerbaijan, which has made a significant contribution to the diversification of Czech energy resources, has become an important strategic partner of this European country.

Czech entrepreneurs, in turn, play active role in Azerbaijans economy, investing about $1.3 billion so far. Czech companies as contractors are involved in various projects in the country, totaling $16 billion.

Currently, there are 19 companies with Czech capital in Azerbaijan, and to date the Czech Republic has invested $1.3 billion in Azerbaijans fixed capital

Moreover, in the end of 2017 the management of Ganja Automobile Plant and representatives of the Czech Automobile Plant signed a memorandum, according to which, starting from 2018 various Tatra trucks will be produced in Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Czech Republic reached $924 million in ten months of 2017. As many as $846 million accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products, while the import of Czech products to Azerbaijan totaled $78 million.

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17 January 2018 12:04 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stressed the need to revitalize the OSCE Minsk Group mediation for the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

In his informal briefing to the UN Member States on his top concerns for 2018, Guterres said that conflicts have deepened and new dangers have emerged. He also noted that global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War, and climate change is moving faster than counter-measures.

Identifying 12 main lines of the UN activities for 2018, Guterres stressed the need for pushing back the dangerous tide of nationalism in Europe, and the need for revitalizing the relevant mediation initiatives for protracted conflicts in Europe, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He noted that the countries of the continent have the levers necessary to overcome these problems.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijans territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Unfortunately, peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no tangible results so far due to Armenia's unconstructive position on the issue.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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17 January 2018 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

The mud volcano, which began to erupt in the morning of January 15 in Gushchu village of Azerbaijans Shamakhi region does not pose a danger to the population and cultivated areas.

The Chief Architect of the Executive Power of the region Rustam Aliyev told Trend that the situation is controlled.

Its a small volcano. Mud volcano erupts once a year on this territory A few days ago there was another eruption, which was informed by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. The Ministry and the Shamakhi Executive Power keep the situation under control. At the moment, the volcano is not active, said Aliyev.

He added that the mud volcano is 300-400 meters from the village.

Bashir Bakhramo, the resident of Gushchu village said that there are no agricultural works on the territory in one hectare around the volcano.

Mud spread to the territory of 60 square meters. Now the situation is stable, he said.

The volcano began to erupt on January 15 at about 1:00am. The local residents were awakened by the sound of the volcano.

The mud lava rose to a height of about 10 meters and spread to a territory of 1.5 hectares, APA reported. The last time this volcano erupted in 2005. There are about 15 houses in the distance of 20-30 meters from the eruption site. The houses were not damaged.

Mud volcanoes are extremely common on Earth, while over 400 of about 1,000 mud volcanoes of the world are located in Azerbaijan, with the majority in Absheron and Gobustan. They can range from a few metres across to the size of a small mountain.

Every 20 years or so, volcano ignites and its flame height can reach hundreds of meters.

For instance, Keyraki mud volcano erupted in Baku on June 12. The Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry reported that the eruption lasted for 15 minutes and the mud waste covered an area of 3.5 hectares.

Lokbatan mud volcano erupted on the shore of the Caspian Sea oil field in May. A depth of the volcano reached 4 kilometers, while the eruption lasted for only 4 minutes.

Otman Bozdag volcano, is one of the biggest in the world, erupted in the suburb of Baku in February 2017. As a result of the volcanic eruption, the flame rose to the height of 350 meters. Mud waste covered an area of about 10-12 hectare.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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17 January 2018 10:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Azerbaijan is interested in the French government's increasing the number of its scholarships, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in a meeting with Frederique Vidal, French minister of higher education, research and innovation, during a visit to France, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on January 16.

During the meeting, the ministers expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral relations in all spheres of cooperation, including education.

Mammadyarov noted that cooperation between Azerbaijan and France in education is based on historic and symbolic roots, and added that about 50 Azerbaijani students got education at various universities of France during the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the 100th anniversary of which is celebrated in 2018.

He added that students from Azerbaijan were trained in various universities, such as Paris University, Nancy University, Lyon University, Toulouse High Tech School, and Nancy High School of Carpet Weaving in shipbuilding, medicine, physics, chemistry and geology.

The ministers also emphasized the importance of continuation of successful experience on language and culture training. In this regard, the addition of the Azerbaijani language into the curricula of the French National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations, the opening of the Baku French Lyceum, and the expansion of the French language teaching in Azerbaijan were highly appreciated.

The ministers noted the establishment and operation of the Azerbaijani-French University as a successful example of cooperation in education between Azerbaijan and France.

Mammadyarov emphasized that one of the directions of education cooperation between the two countries is the granting of scholarships to the Azerbaijani citizens by the French government.

Vidal noted that in 2017, 50 scholarships were granted to Azerbaijan and that student exchange within the ERASMUS program was successfully continued.

Ministers also discussed the cooperation between the French University of Strasbourg and the Azerbaijan University of Languages, mutual research of archives, which are rich with documents on the activities of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in France, as well as diplomatic, cultural and other documents relating to France in Azerbaijan.

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17 January 2018 12:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Aygul Salmanova

Students of the Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry have developed a 'smart greenhouse' that surpasses foreign analogues in terms of functionality.

Rusif Huseynov, a source close to the project, said that the project provides for the full automation of the process of growing vegetables in a green house.

The students created an easy-to-use and reliable system, with good performance. Today, Azerbaijani entrepreneurs import such solutions from Germany and the Netherlands. The solution developed by our students is in no way inferior to, and in many ways even exceeds the functionality of foreign analogues. Unfortunately, local developers are the most difficult to promote their solutions in the domestic market. We intend to present the smart greenhouse project to the Ministry of Agriculture, he said, Trend reports.

Smart Greenhouse allows to automatically control the climate in the greenhouses, so that weather changes do not have a negative impact on plants. This solution also contributes to reducing costs when growing agricultural products, saving energy, minimizing the impact of the human factor, etc.

Azerbaijan has three major greenhouse vegetable production areas: the western part of the country (mainly Ganja and Shamkir regions); the central region (mainly Absheron peninsula); and the southern region Lankaran and Astara area. Of this area, which is approximately 280 hectares, about 20 percent are antiquated Soviet style greenhouses. Many of these are currently being updated and repaired by their owners.

Additionally, new structures of Israeli, Dutch, Turkish and Italian companies have been built or are in the planning stages of construction.

Furthermore, about 30 percent of these greenhouses are home built polyethylene covered greenhouses with mixed wooden and steel frame materials.

Regardless of geographic location, the majority of greenhouse cultivation systems in Azerbaijan, consist of fundamental climate control components. Additionally, they can provide a greater or lesser amount of climate control, and subsequent plant growth and productivity depending on their design and complexity.

It should be noted that recently, President IIham Aliyev, opened a new greenhouse in Baku Agropark, which covers 11 hectares areas for cultivation of tomatoes.

The first phase of this tomato greenhouse project in Azerbaijan was started by the Dutch greenhouse construction company, Debets Schalke on December 2016. Last July, this project was completed and the cultivation started.

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17 January 2018 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on January 17.

The new edition includes articles about OPECs success depends on what happens in U.S., TANAP to help Azerbaijan to diversify its gas export markets, Lankarans rice to be exported under national brand, How to safeguard from avalanche? Tips for mountaineers etc.

AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
17 January 2018 17:23 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

The Southern Gas Corridor CJSC is expected to allocate about $1.3 billion to finance Azerbaijan's share in the Southern Gas Corridor project.

Director General of the CJSC Afgan Isayev said that this year it is planned to spend $232 million on the Shah Deniz project (including Shah Deniz 1), the South Caucasus pipeline / South Caucasus pipeline expansion - $144 million, TANAP - $728 million and TAP - $182 million.

In order to ensure the delivery of Azerbaijani gas to the European markets, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree in October, 2013, establishing a State Commission with the purpose of ensuring state control over and providing state support in regard to the effective implementation of the full-field development of Shah Deniz gas-condensate field, South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, implementation of Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects.

Subsequently, the head of state signed a decree dated February 25, 2014 on the establishment of Southern Gas Corridor CJSC with the purpose of consolidating, managing and financing the states interests in these projects. SGC was founded by the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan (51 percent) and SOCAR (49 percent).

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union, which aims to diversify routes and sources of energy supplies and thereby improve the energy security of the EU.

The Southern Gas Corridor is intended to deliver gas from the Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz to Europe.

Gas as part of the second stage of the field development will be exported to Turkey and the European markets through the expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of the TANAP and TAP gas pipelines.

The first gas within the Shah Deniz-2 project will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and to Europe in 2019.

The cost of the Southern Gas Corridor project is estimated at $41.5 billion.

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17 January 2018 10:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Turkey will never accept a force in Syria led by the SDF, a group dominated by the terrorist PYD/YPG, Turkeys president told the chief of NATO on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.

The phone conversation followed a recent U.S. decision to form a border protection army in Syria with the terrorist PYD/PKK.

Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary general, that in the face of recent developments in Syria, Turkey will take all necessary measures to protect its national security.

Erdogan said the creation of a force expected to be led by the SDF command and controlled by the PYD/YPG terrorist organization is entirely unacceptable to Turkey.

Stressing that Turkey -- a 65-year member of the alliance -- is an important country for NATO, Stoltenberg said that NATO was not consulted on the matter of creating this so-called army.

Earlier on Tuesday, Erdogan called on NATO to fulfill its responsibilities.

"NATO! You are obliged to take a stand against those who harass the borders of one of your partners," he said.

On Saturday, Turkish security forces hit several PKK/PYD targets in Afrin to prevent a "terror corridor" from forming along Turkey's borders.

An Afrin operation would follow Turkey's successful seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield, which ended in March 2017.

The U.S.-led Syria coalition issued a statement on Sunday saying that it was working with the SDF to set up and train a Syrian border protection force.

Turkey has long protested U.S. support for the PYD/PKK, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, while Washington has brushed off Turkeys concerns, calling the PYD/PKK a "reliable ally" in its fight against Daesh in Syria.

Listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU, the PKK has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years.

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17 January 2018 12:10 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree abolishing individual customs, tax and other benefits, as well as preferences granted to individual companies for the importation of food products as of February 1, 2018.

Today, the situation, when separate players due to receiving individual benefits gained a dominant position and completely monopolized the market of food products, often artificially creating conditions for a deficit and overstating of prices, and hence, receiving super-profits, has emerged in the country.

The decree is aimed at putting an end to such situation. The document prohibits the Cabinet of Ministers from making decisions that provide economic entities with individual customs, tax and other benefits, as well as other preferences for the importation of food products into the country.

In case of violation of these requirements, the perpetrators will be held liable in accordance with the legislation, up to criminal liability.

The President also instructed the government to develop a set of measures to find and attract food suppliers, create equal conditions for them to enter the market, assist them in concluding contracts, transporting and storing imported products.

In addition, until mid-April this year, a law on food security, which will establish measures on saturation of the market with safe and affordable food products, timely elimination of threats to market stability, flexible customs and tariff regulation of imports, should be drafted.

The constant problems of importers at the customs were not ignored. The head of state instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct a critical study of customs procedures and the system of transportation of goods across the border of the republic within two months.

As a result, the prosecutor's office should work out proposals for eliminating unnecessary barriers and obstacles, simplifying customs clearance of goods and reducing the cost of export-import operations.

Such analysis will be carried out in the sphere of legislation regulating retail trade and provision of services. The Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Justice and tax authorities, based on this study, will have to propose measures to eliminate unnecessary barriers and unreasonable measures of state regulation.

Since February 1, 2018, the ban on the sale (purchase) of consumer goods on commodity-raw stock exchanges of the republic will be canceled in Uzbekistan

Also, sugar producers are released from the payment of value added tax in part of the volumes produced on the basis of imported raw materials until January 1, 2019.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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17 January 2018 13:35 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Kazakhstan and the U.S. signed contracts worth $2.5 billion following the visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Washington, the State Department's press service reported.

During the visit, numerous commercial contracts and documents were concluded, including new agreements between The Boeing Company, GE Transportation, GE Digital, Chevron, Air Astana, KazTemirZholy, SCAT Airlines, and the Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund for the purchase of U.S. products and services valued at over $2.5 billion, the message said.

It was noted that the U.S. and Kazakhstan will continue to cooperate in the World Trade Organization. The sides collaborate on implementing WTO obligations, resolving outstanding disputes, improving the Kazakhstani investment climate, and promoting greater bilateral investment.

The two countries recently concluded an air navigation agreement, which will strengthen bilateral ties by easing the travel of senior officials between the U.S. and Kazakhstan, according to the State Departments message.

The volume of bilateral trade in 2016 reached $1.9 billion and both sides are keen to develop relations in this area.

During their visit, the two leaders welcomed two separate deals between Boeing and Kazakh airlines totaling over $1.3 billion, sustaining an estimated 7,100 direct and indirect U.S. jobs.

Specifically, SCAT Airlines ordered six Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes. With the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in March 2018, these will be the first 737 MAXs owned and operated in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, bolstering SCATs regional and international network.

Furthermore, Air Astana, the national air carrier of Kazakhstan, affirmed its commitment, under the terms of an existing contract, to purchase three 787 Dreamliners, which are scheduled for delivery in 2021.

At the same time, General Electric and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) concluded two new strategic initiatives for $900 million, which will sustain or create over 3,500 U.S. jobs.

GE Transportation will design and manufacture up to 300 shunter locomotives for KTZ, which will be delivered in 2019.

GE Transportation also signed an 18-year service agreement to maintain and support 175 current KTZ GE Evo locomotives starting from this year. The deal will include an expansion of the main KTZ rail facility in Astana.

The development in cooperation can be viewed also with regards to the digital sphere. GE Digital and Kazakhstans Samruk-Kazyna National Wealth Fund signed a strategic partnership agreement aimed at accelerating the digital evolution of the Fund's portfolio of industrial companies.

The agreement demonstrates the companies progress in creating a sustainable digital ecosystem in Kazakhstan, and provides for the joint assessment of GE digital solutions based on the Predix platform.

The president of Kazakhstan is on an official visit to the U.S., which began on Tuesday and will last till Thursday. As part of this trip, Nazarbayev will also visit New York. On January 18, the United Nations Headquarters will hold debates on the topic Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: confidence-building measures chaired by the leader of Kazakhstan.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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17 January 2018 15:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Mergengeldy Khojaev has been appointed as deputy chairman of the Turkmen Highways (Turkmenawtoyollary) State Concern, according to a presidential decree.

Currently, the state concern is building the Turkmenbashi-Farap and Ashgabat-Dashoguz highways, which will allow linking various regions of the country, as well as increasing the level of passenger and cargo transportation.

Local and foreign companies are involved as subcontractors.

Turkmenistans parliament adopted the draft Law on Transport Security in early 2018.

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UMass Memorial Health Alliance-Clinton (Mass.) Hospital revealed plans to close its endoscopy services last week, giving less than three weeks' notice before the closure, according to a statement from the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The MNA sent a letter to the state Department of Public Health asking for intervention in the closing, as the hospital's nurses feel its endoscopy services are essential to diagnose and treat colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal conditions. The nurses argue under state law, providers are required to notify DPH of plans to close a specific service, allowing the agency time to determine whether services are essential to the community. The law also requires a minimum of 90 days' notice before the services are closed so DPH can conduct a public hearing.

According to the report, Health Alliance Management told nurses last week the unit would close, and many attended a public form on the changes yesterday. Here are five things to know about the closure:

1. Initially, Health Alliance Management announced the hospital would close endoscopy services on Jan. 26. However, after the public forum Clinton Hospital's CEO Deborah Wymouth agreed to a further hearing and Clinton Hospital informed MNA it would postpone the closing for the 90-day period, according to The Telegram. If the endoscopy services department closes, six registered nurses as well as a licensed practical nurse and other support staff would be laid off from the hospital. At least one of the nurses has worked in endoscopy services at the hospital for more than 15 years.

2. Clinton Hospital made a significant investment in the endoscopy service two years ago with the purchase of new diagnostic equipment. The equipment also increased the number of physicians who utilized the service.

3. In October 2017, Clinton Hospital merged with UMass Health Alliance, which also owns Leominster (Mass.) Hospital and Burbank (Mass.) Hospital. The healthcare organization reported plans last year to stop infusion services at the day surgery center, preceding the endoscopy services closure at Clinton Hospital.

4. MNA's chair at Clinton Hospital is concerned the closure is an attempt to consolidate services at other facilities, which would require local residents to travel farther for care. "The state has rightfully established a process to follow to protect the public when services are closed and we believe our administration should follow that process," she said.

5. UMass Health Alliance reportedly informed MNA the organization didn't have an obligation to notify DPH of the closure.
The U.S. Department of Defense and Cerner will halt the agency's EHR rollout for roughly eight weeks beginning Jan. 16, according to the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter.

Here are five things to know about the delay.

1. The rollout for the DOD's EHR, called MHS Genesis, kicked off at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, Wash., in February 2017. Tacoma, Wash.-based Madigan Army Medical Center, which went live on the EHR in October 2017, marked the fourth and final pilot site for the project.

2. During the eight-week break, officials from the DOD and Cerner plan to evaluate these four pilot implementations. Physicians and IT experts familiar with the matter told Politico some clinicians using the MHS Genesis system have cited workflow problems, such as issues with lab report requests.

An unidentified senior Navy physician told Politico MHS Genesis was developed without adequate insight from clinicians at the DOD. "They took the flows they'd designed for [Salt Lake City-based] Intermountain Healthcare, put them into rigid constructs and said, 'This is what you're going to use," the physician said.

3. U.S. Representative Phil Roe, MD, R-Tenn., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, told Politico he supported the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' recent decision to delay awarding its EHR contract  which builds off the DOD's system  to Cerner.

4. A spokesperson for the MHS Genesis project told Politico the pause will allow the EHR rollout to get back on track. The project will continue at other sites, beginning with facilities in San Diego, after an independent assessment approves the project's initial work.

5. In an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review Jan. 16, a Cerner spokesperson said the company is committed to working with the project's partners to "ensure the successful delivery of MHS Genesis."

"We are pleased with the adoption, performance and value that is being generated at the first four sites," the statement reads. "It is imperative to have an effective and efficient deployment process and system that can be standardized across all branches and at all U.S. military treatment facilities going forward. Our immediate goal is to work with DOD to make any necessary adjustments before the final deployment decision is made, allowing MHS Genesis to be deployed around the world."
A third-party investigation commissioned by British Columbia, Canada, Minister of Health for Vancouver-Kingsway Adrian Dix concluded the Cerner EHR rollout at British Columbia-based Vancouver Island Health Authority should be temporarily halted, according to the Times Colonist.

Here are five things to know about the controversial EHR implementation.

1. Mr. Dix commissioned the independent review by professional-services firm Ernst & Young in late 2017, following several physicians' protests regarding the EHR. Island Health initially signed a 10-year, $50 million contract for the systemwide EHR with Cerner in 2013. Shortly after the EHR, dubbed IHealth, went live March 2016 at Nanaimo (British Columbia) Regional Hospital, physicians reverted to using paper to complete orders, claiming Cerner's EHR system lost, buried or changed orders for drugs and diagnostic tests.

2. Ernst & Young noted in its investigation the IHealth project was over budget, costing at least $54.1 million more than the $173.5 million in funding the health system initially received. Ernst & Young also argued the project had been mismanaged by Island Health, with officials opting to implement the EHR system at Nanaimo Regional Hospital before the hospital staff was adequately trained.

"I would describe the review as highly critical, even quite devastating, of how the system was implemented here in Nanaimo and has been implemented on Vancouver Island," Mr. Dix said, according to the Times Colonist.

3. The Ernst & Young report found less than half of staff and physicians surveyed at Nanaimo Regional Hospital indicated it would be possible to work with other stakeholders to make IHealth a successful program.

4. The Ernst & Young report specified the EHR project should not expand its rollout across the health system until officials address various implementation issues. These issues include investigating patient safety concerns, reviewing governance structure for the project, developing a new funding model and assessing appropriate training for clinicians who use the software, according to the Times Colonist.

5. To address this recommendation, Mr. Dix said he would appoint a mediator for the remaining systemwide rollout, who will take on leadership of the project. Island Health officials, who previously led the project, would instead be consulted alongside other stakeholders.
General Electric is considering a wealth of options, including breaking up the company into separate divisions, following a significant charge the company received related to its legacy insurance business, CEO and Chairman John Flannery said during a conference call with analysts Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Mr. Flannery told analysts the company is considering several options to restructure its portfolio and has not made any concrete restructuring decisions.

"We are looking aggressively at the best structure or structures for our portfolio to maximize the potential of our businesses," he said, adding a review of the company may "result in many, many different permutations, including separately traded assets really in any one of our units, if that's what made sense."

Mr. Flannery revealed tentative plans in November to restructure operations and focus on the company's aviation, energy and healthcare businesses. He also previously said GE would sell roughly $20 billion in other assets, the report states.

Sources told CNBC Tuesday GE is likely to embrace a major breakup of the company.

Mr. Flannery also informed analysts Tuesday GE received a $9.5 billion pretax charge related to GE Capital's North American Life & Health portfolio, according to the Los Angeles Times report. The after-tax amount, $6.2 billion, will be adjusted to $7.5 billion following the recent U.S. tax overhaul. The Los Angeles Times reports GE's finance business will pay $15 billion over a seven-year period to fill a shortfall in reserves. The company has not conducted any new business in the long-term care market since 2006, according to the report.

"Our results over the past several years including 2017 and the insurance charge only further my belief that we need to continue to move with purpose to reshape GE. We will continue to rigorously review our alternatives to deliver shareholder value, and report out to you as we make progress this spring," Mr. Flannery said Tuesday.

Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to GE for comment and will update the story as more information becomes available.
Florida Hospital in Orlando is implementing a canine guard unit to help improve hospital security, according WLRN.

Six dogs and their handlers have been training to begin in February, but the hospital said it could hire up to six more dogs before the end of the year. The dogs are trained to smell gunpowder and other substances and were brought in as part of a $3.5 million security revamp in the wake of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.

"We've chosen [the dogs] because as a large multi-campus facility, built to be friendly and open and welcome people, we have a real challenge in decreasing the opportunity for people who have bad intentions," said Eric Stevens, Florida Hospital's CEO, according to WLRN.
Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System will take over Murphy (N.C.) Medical Center, pending approval by both organizations' boards, according to the Times Free Press.

Under the change of control agreement, Erlanger plans to assume control of the 25-bed critical access hospital and its imaging center by April 1. Erlanger will both manage and own Murphy Medical Center once the acquisition is finalized.

The acquisition of Murphy Medical Center would be Erlanger's first hospital acquisition outside of Tennessee. However, Erlanger is not unfamiliar with Murphy and its healthcare landscape. Last year, the health system stationed an air ambulance in the city.

Polk County, N.C.-based Copper Basin Medical Center also closed in 2017, which puts more pressure on Murphy Medical Center to provide regional support for healthcare, Kevin Spiegel, president and CEO of Erlanger, told Becker's.

"I could see Erlanger looking at other acquisitions that make sense for our region because we're the only regional, academic, tertiary medical center in the entire region," he said, according to the Times Free Press.

Editor's note: This article was updated Jan. 17 at 9:00 a.m. to provide additional information.
Registered nurses at Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Medical Center are moving closer to a potential strike.

The nearly 800 BMC workers, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted for a second time in the past 12 months to authorize a potential one-day strike if necessary, union officials said in a statement. The vote was 82 percent in favor of strike authorization. Nurses would still have to call a strike for one to occur. If nurses decided to strike, they must give the hospital 10 days notice.

"Our community and our patients need to be able to hold Berkshire Medical Center accountable for providing safe patient care at all times," Alex Neary, co-chair of the BMC RN Bargaining Committee, said in the statement. "We brought our concerns to the public with a one-day strike in October and since then hospital administrators have refused to move on our key issues. This is completely unacceptable. It is why today nurses have sent a clear message to BMC: Negotiate a fair contract that protects our patients."

The news comes about a week after the MNA revealed workers would hold a strike authorization vote. At the time, Brenda Cadorette, RN, vice president of acute care and CNO at the hospital, expressed surprise and disappointment in the union's decision to hold the vote.

"Our positive experience in the three negotiating sessions since October led us to believe that we could work collaboratively with the union," she said in a letter to RNs Monday, according to The Berkshire Eagle.

"We were, therefore, both surprised and disappointed to learn that the MNA had scheduled votes on Jan. 11 and 16 to authorize a second strike."

Both sides have been in contract negotiations since September 2016. Nurses went on strike in October 2017. Following that one-day strike, nurses were prevented from working for an additional four days because the hospital hired replacement workers for a minimum five-day contract.

Now, months after the October strike, staffing issues persist, according to nurses. The Berkshire Eagle reports the union requested "charge" nurses are not assigned direct care of patients, so they can help other nurses fill staffing needs.

Another negotiating session, with a federal mediator, is slated for Jan. 25.

Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to BMC and will post additional details as they become available.

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Two attorneys who filed a lawsuit in Indiana claiming nearly 69 hospitals in the state overcharged patients for their electronic medical records  defrauding taxpayers of $324 million  agreed to dismiss state claims after Indiana's attorney general questioned the case's merits, according to court documents.

After experiencing difficulty obtaining medical records from four Indiana hospitals in their work on personal injury and medical malpractice cases, attorneys from Anderson, Agostino & Keller sued the hospitals in September 2016. They alleged the hospitals falsely certified they were meaningful users of EHR technology.

The lawsuit was filed under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provision of the False Claims Act, and the move to dismiss the state claims strikes a part of the lawsuit that alleges the hospitals received incentive payments through the state's Medicaid program. Now, the case will proceed with similar allegations that the hospitals  and EMR vendor CIOX Health  violated federal false claims and antikickback laws.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a motion Dec. 29 to dismiss claims about the hospitals' failure to meet Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements that ensure hospitals fill medical records requests within three business days in order to receive the incentive payments. According to Mr. Hill, the case has "little, if any, merit."

"The State has limited resources to investigate fraud, and this case will divert funds and personnel from other investigations without recovering funds for the Indiana Medicaid Program," reads a court filing. "The cost-benefit analysis is clear  it is not in the public interest to spend taxpayer dollars to respond to discovery and monitor this case."

On Jan. 12, the two Anderson, Agostino & Keller attorneys elected not to oppose the attorney general's motion to dismiss the state claims, according to a separate court document. Though they expressed disagreement with the state's legal analysis, they wrote the state "is entitled to substantial deference in deciding what claims are prosecuted on its behalf."
A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly impersonating a physician at a California hospital, according to a San Diego Union-Tribune report.

Zaid Bassam Jeorge, 27, who claimed he was a Harvard Medical School-educated anesthesiologist at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Calif., was arrested after visiting the hospital physicians' lounge, according to the report, which cites hospital and police officials.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports a hospital security alert indicates Mr. Jeorge was wearing scrubs and a physician's coat with the name "Zaid Jorge, MD Anesthesiologist" in the lounge. The Sharp logo was also on the coat.

According to the report, among his other possessions were a stethoscope, a cellphone with Arabic messages displayed and rental vehicle keys.

The memo says Mr. Jeorge, who had no credentials with him, told security he was doing an apprenticeship, according to the report. The physician Mr. Jeorge claimed was his sponsor denied the assertion he was the 27-year-old's sponsor. That physician had previously accepted a LinkedIn connection request from Mr. Jeorge. Mr. Jeorge's LinkedIn page was unavailable Tuesday, but it stated he had a medical degree.

According to the report, La Mesa police found two passports and a San Diego County address inside Mr. Jeorge's rental car parked near the hospital. Mr. Jeorge was charged with suspicion of false impersonation and attempting to practice without a license, according to the report, which cites jail records.

An investigation is ongoing.

Read the full report here.

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A 24-year old former campaign staffer for President Donald Trump recently took over as deputy chief of staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, following a series of staff turnovers and vacancies at the office, according to an investigative report from The Washington Post.

The ONDCP is responsible for coordinating the federal government's antidrug initiatives and is meant to play a key role in President Trump's response to the opioid crisis. The office lacks a permanent director, a post commonly referred to as "drug czar."

Here are five things to know about Taylor Weyeneth and his sharp rise within the Trump administration.

1. Mr. Weyeneth earned his bachelor's degree in legal studies from Saint John's University in New York City in May 2016. His only professional experience prior to becoming a political appointee was as a staffer on President Trump's campaign. While three resumes obtained by the Post list "MA Political Science" at Fordham's Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy, one does not provide the dates he attended the program and the others list course work from 2016 to June 2017. Fordham spokesman Bob Howe told the Post there was a student by the name of Taylor Weyeneth enrolled in Fordham's "Master's program for electoral and campaign management. He has not completed his degree yet."

2. An official with the Trump administration, who spoke with the Post on the condition of anonymity, said ONDCP hired Mr. Weyeneth "after seeing his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction." The unnamed official said Mr. Weyeneth was affected by the death of relative who overdosed on heroin several years ago.

3. Mr. Weyeneth initially served as a White House liaison for the ONDCP. He garnered the title of deputy chief of staff at the office while taking on additional roles amid staff vacancies. At least seven Trump administration ONDCP appointees have left their positions over the last year, including the general counsel and acting chief of staff. Mr. Weyeneth has been responsible for assuming some additional duties created by these vacancies.

"ONDCP leadership recognizes that we have lost a few talented staff members and that the organization would benefit from an infusion of new expert staff," said Richard Baum, ONDCP's acting director in a Jan. 3 memo obtained by the Post. "The functions of the Chief of Staff will be picked up by me and the deputy chief of staff."

4. The unnamed official said Mr. Weyeneth's work at the office has been primarily focused on administrative duties, rather than policy work. Mr. Weyeneth did not respond to the Post's request for an interview.

5. Current and former ONDCP officials  who have served both Democratic and Republican presidents  told the Post turmoil at the ONDCP, including the ascension of Mr. Weyeneth, hinders efforts to rally the government to take action against the opioid crisis.

"It sends a terrible message," Gil Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief and former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection who ran the ONDCP under the Obama administration, told the Post. "It's a message that we're not taking this drug issue seriously."

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Johnson City, Tenn.-based Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Medical Center reduced opioid prescriptions by 49 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to federal data updated Monday.

Over the five-year period, the number of patients prescribed opioids at the facility dropped from 19 percent in 2012 to 10 percent in 2017. The decrease represents one of the most substantial reductions in the Veterans Affairs health system, according to a report from WJHL.

"It's been a hard effort, not just on one group, the primary docs who are on the frontline, but a whole range of people that have made this happen," David Hecht, MD, chief of staff at the Johnson City VA hospital, told WJHL. "Our job is to do no harm as physicians, and so when we find out that a medication that we're prescribing is doing harm or has the potential to do significant harm even if it hasn't done so already, our job is to try to find alternatives."

Mountain home initiated its opioid reduction program in 2016. The program involves the promotion of alternative forms of pain management, including acupuncture and yoga.

To read the full WJHL report, click here.

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Former North American Spine Society President William Watters, MD, of Houston Medical, discusses the biggest spine technology, clinical and business trends for 2018.

Question: What is the most important spine technology trend for 2018?

Dr. William Watters: The most important trend for the coming year will be the continued migration to minimally invasive technology and techniques for many standard spinal interventions. There also is the possibility for a major breakthrough in biologics and regenerative treatments of disc pathology.

Q: What is the biggest clinical or business challenge spine surgeons will face this year?

WW: The major business challenge for spinal surgeons this year will be the continued reimbursement shortfalls and devaluation of spinal procedures along with the increasing penetration of value-based reimbursement schemes and bundled payments.

Q: What is the best opportunity for spine surgeons in 2018?

WW: Spinal surgeons should continue to affiliate with non-surgical spinal treatment specialists to better capture reimbursements under these bundled reimbursement schemes.

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There are job fears over the Carillion crisis (Yui Mok/PA)

Construction giant Carillion may have been granted a temporary lifeline in Northern Ireland, as it's understood the firm has been given a line of credit to continue some of its key operations here.

But subcontractors still face an uncertain future, with potential losses of up to 150,000 in the case of one firm.

"Large scale redundancy" is on the cards, according to trade union Unite, after workers at the infrastructure giant were sent home on Monday when it entered liquidation.

Carillion has three major maintenance contracts with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) worth around 35m a year.

It also has contracts with the Ministry of Defence and Power NI.

It's believed the firm has been granted a lifeline in the form of a line of credit with another Northern Ireland company, which will see it continue key contracts, such as the ones with the NIHE.

The Housing Executive said: "Carillion contracts with the Housing Executive continue to be in operation.

"As the Housing Executive advised yesterday, there has been some disruption to services.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused tenants.

"We have been working with Carillion and other contractors to ensure that heating and repairs are carried out, especially given the cold weather spell."

Carillion employs around 500 staff here, 230 for the NIHE. Its UK workforce is 20,000.

Unions have warned that thousands of workers could lose their jobs.

Firms working for Carillion on private sector contracts will only have Government support untiltoday, Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington has said.

Union leaders met Business Secretary Greg Clark yesterday evening and warned him that their members should not be left to "carry the can" for the failure of the massive business.

GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: "The clock is ticking for Carillion's 8,500 private sector workers."
General view of Carillion's office in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Independent subcontractors and small businesses in Northern Ireland could be left with debts of up to 150,000 amid the collapse of infrastructure giant Carillion.

Hundreds of jobs are now at risk in Northern Ireland, after the listed company entered liquidation yesterday.

It has three major contracts with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), worth around 35m a year, for maintenance.

Alfie Watterson, executive officer for the Specialist Engineering Contractors Group (SEC) in Northern Ireland, said the liquidation of Carillion will cause a "ripple and a wave which goes right through the industry".

Speaking about one electrical sub-contractor, which could lose out on 150,000, he said: "They are a medium sized company.

"It's 150,000 in this climate... you don't have the same margins (nowadays). That can equate to 1.5m in turnover. There is always a fear. The industry is rife with poor payment practice.

"Carillion are a major public sector contractor, and a client of the public sector. They had a 120 day payment schedule, when government guidelines are within 30 days."

Gavin McGuire, Northern Ireland director of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), commented: "Where we would be, the FMB is based right across the UK, and we work with 8,500 companies.

"We are getting information as to how many of our members are affected by this... considerable numbers in that situation.

"Here in Northern Ireland, I probably haven't had as many calls about it. We are finding our members doing other work.

"But where you have specific areas - subcontractors such as electricians and plumbers, then there are definitely problems."

Mr McGuire said it's likely others are set to be hit by Carillion's financial collapse, and face an uncertain future.

He said: "The guys come in to do the work for them... short term, you are going to see problems where that is.

"Will the work get picked up by someone? It probably will.

"The challenge is, with ongoing contracts that Carillion is involved with, people may have walked off site, and don't know where they stand with that."

The NIHE has warned that "there may be some disruption to routine services in forthcoming days". But it's understood Carillion is still continuing to carry out its maintenance contracts. A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said last night: "Carillion contracts with the Housing Executive continue to be in operation. As the Housing Executive advised yesterday, there has been some disruption to services, and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused tenants.

"We have been working with Carillion and other contractors to ensure that heating and repairs are carried out, especially given the cold weather spell."

Carillion employs approximately 500 staff here, with around 230 working for the NIHE. Across the UK, around 20,000 employees now face an uncertain future.

The union Unite said that, following a meeting with staff on Monday, members were "instructed to go home" when they came to work.
Liam Neeson says ageism does not only affect women (Laura Hutton/PA)

Liam Neeson has said being an older actor in Hollywood can be tough on guys too.

The Irish heartthrob said men are not safe from age discrimination when it comes to the film industry but that it is much harder for women.

I think its, certainly in Hollywood, I think its tougher on girls, on ladies, actresses, said the star.

Yeah, I do. I have lots of friends who are brilliant actresses and they havent worked as much as they should have done. On film.

It can be tough on guys too, but its really hard for women.

Now 65, Neeson has starred in a series of action movies such as the Taken films and his latest project The Commuter.

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He is hopeful he will know when it is the right time to go for something less physically demanding.

He told the Press Association: Id like to think that I know when an audience is going to look at me and go, Oh come on! You cant outrun a train! You cant outrun a horse! Dont be stupid.

Do you know what I mean? So, then Ill get out of that genre I think.

But, at the moment, Im fit and I keep healthy. Well see how it goes.
Far-right activist Paul Rimmer has appeared in court charged with inciting hatred during a speech made at a Britain First-linked rally last summer.

The 55-year-old, from Modred Street, Liverpool, faces two charges of using threatening, abusive, insulting words or behaviour at the Northern Ireland Against Terrorism Rally outside Belfast City Hall in August 2017.

He appeared before a sitting of Belfast Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Defence solicitor Darren Duncan requested a two-week adjournment. After the hearing, the lawyer confirmed to the court that his client would be pleading not guilty.

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Rimmer is the third person charged in connection with the controversial demonstration.

Britain First leader Paul Golding, 35, and the groups deputy leader Jayda Fransen, 31, appeared at separate hearings earlier this month.

Fransen also faces four unrelated charges after alleged threatening behaviour concerning remarks which were made on December 13 beside a peace wall dividing Catholics from Protestants in Belfast.

The comments, about Islam, were posted on social media.

Rimmer was arrested as part of a joint operation involving detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) working with officers from Merseyside Police.

A PSNI detective constable told the court she believed she could connect him to the charge.

Expand Close Britain First leader Paul Golding leaves Belfast Laganside Court showing the V-sign with deputy leader Jayda Fransen and supporters after a previous court hearing (Liam McBurney/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Britain First leader Paul Golding leaves Belfast Laganside Court showing the V-sign with deputy leader Jayda Fransen and supporters after a previous court hearing (Liam McBurney/PA)

Grey-haired Rimmer, who wore a green overcoat and navy jumper, spoke only once during the brief hearing to confirm that he understood the charges against him.

His lawyer said he would be requesting legal aid.

Despite having a small income, about 150 a week, this man also has to travel to and from Liverpool, added Mr Duncan.

The court was also told a transcript and video footage of the speech had been shown to Rimmer during police interviews.

Adjourning the case until January 31, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said the application for legal aid would be considered.

Britain First has gained increased prominence after US President Donald Trump retweeted three unrelated anti-Muslim videos posted by Fransen.

Two featured violent scenes, including someone being pushed off a roof and another person being assaulted.

The group has since boasted that it received hundreds of new membership applications and said its Facebook posts were reaching hundreds of thousands more users.

Neither Golding or Fransen were in Belfast present for the hearing.

Rimmer attempted to cover his face with a hood as he left the court alone. There were no supporters outside the Laganside building.
A south Belfast grammar school will remain in formal intervention because officials were unable to complete a follow-up inspection due to industrial action by teachers.

Wellington College was placed into formal intervention in 2015 after a report by the Education Training Inspectorate (ETI) found that areas required significant improvement and should be urgently addressed, including levels of attainment in public exams, teaching and assessment, and leadership.

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The school has been working on the issues raised, however the ETI was unable to complete its follow-up inspection last March due to teachers taking part in industrial action and refusing to co-operate with the inspectors.

The report following that inspection states that due to the impact of the action short of strike being taken by the teachers, the ETI is "unable to assure parents/carers, the wider school community and stakeholders of the quality of education being provided for the pupils".

However, the report does note improvements, including that since the last inspection the percentage of pupils attaining seven or more GCSE examinations or equivalent at grades A* to C, including English and maths has increased and is now in line with the Northern Ireland average for similar schools.

It also notes that most of the parents they spoke to felt the school is led and managed well, and almost all were happy with their child's experiences at the school.

Across Northern Ireland a number of ETI inspections at schools have been similarly affected due to the industrial action ongoing due to a disagreement with management over pay and conditions.

The NASUWT, the teachers' union with one of the largest memberships in Northern Ireland, said the industrial action is part of a wider campaign.

Justin McCamphill from the union said: "It is important to note that our action short of strike action is not directed specifically at Wellington College but is part of a wider campaign of action in relation to pay, pensions and workload. As part of this campaign we are instructing members not to cooperate with ETI.

"Our members in Wellington College are fully committed to delivering for the young people in the school and while no lessons were observed in the recent inspection, ETI did make many positive comments on the progress which the school has made. There has been a significant increase in performance at GCSE level which was achieved by the hard work and dedication of our members who continue to deliver every day despite the relentless attacks on school budgets and on their salaries."

Wellington College principal David Castles said: "The ongoing action short of strike by teaching unions affects all schools, but means that inspections cannot grade the quality of provision by observing teaching in the classroom. This has a particular impact in cases where outcomes have improved, such as at Wellington College.

"Wellington's mission, to engage, educate and empower, has become a driver for change. We all want the best for our students, and have worked in partnership with parents to deliver improvement. We are pleased to have positive acknowledgement of the improved outcomes and approaches from both the ETI, and the Department of Education, but it is regrettable that due to the action short of strike, the college remains in formal intervention. This year our students have been national Young Enterprise Award winners, BBC School Choir of the Year finalists, successful in the Sutton Trust USA Scholarship scheme, and include the overall Northern Ireland winner of BT Young Scientist and Engineer. These successes reflect a thriving, supportive and aspirational school - it is a shame that due to action short of strike it has not been possible for this to have been sufficiently evidenced in order to be acknowledged by the ETI."

The Department of Education said it will work with the Education Authority to support Wellington College. "Wellington College has been receiving tailored support through the Formal Intervention Process (FIP) since November 2015.

"A follow-up inspection was undertaken by the Education and Training Inspectorate in October 2017. In this instance, due to the action short of strike being taken by teachers, only the senior managers in Wellington College participated, and therefore could provide ETI with only partial evidence of the improvements made by the school since its entry into FIP. The department will liaise with the Education Authority to ensure that Wellington College continues to receive the necessary support to build on the improvements made to date."

There are currently 33 schools here in formal intervention.
Victims campaigner Raymond McCord pictured at the High Court in Belfast where he was continuing his case to find out where the British government stands regarding a border poll. See copy by Alan Erwin/Laganside Media. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

A victims campaigner taking legal action over holding a border poll has accused the British Government of a policy failure on the biggest decision since Northern Ireland's formation.

Raymond McCord also called on new Secretary of State Karen Bradley to clarify the terms and conditions for calling a referendum on Irish unity.

Following a hearing at the High Court in Belfast on Tuesday he said: "I want her to declare her hand on the issue.

"It is quite obvious that the British Government's policy on a border poll is that they haven't got one.

"This is the biggest decision since the formation of Northern Ireland and no such policy is in place."

The staunch unionist is mounting separate challenges in Belfast and Dublin over the current provisions for going to the public on the constitutional issue.

His case against the British administration questions the legality and transparency of current provisions for holding a border poll.

Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement a referendum can be called if the Secretary of State believes a majority of people in Northern Ireland no longer want to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Mr McCord, an outspoken critic of loyalist paramilitaries since a UVF gang beat his son Raymond Jr to death in 1997, is not pressing for such a poll.

But the Belfast man believes authority for calling such a significant ballot should not rest with one individual.

Insisting his action is an attempt to take the "fear factor" out of politics, he also claims the current criteria is too vague and undermines the Agreement.

During the latest court hearing counsel confirmed the Government's position remains the same since Mrs Bradley took over from James Brokenshire.

Tony McGleenan QC said: "It's not the case that the new Secretary of State has made a new decision about this, although no doubt she will keep the matter under review."

Following submissions the judge, Sir Paul Girvan, listed the case again in March for further arguments on the scope of the challenge.

Mr McCord has already been granted leave at the High Court in Dublin to pursue similar judicial review proceedings against the Irish State, Taoiseach, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Attorney General.

Outside court he stressed: "This has to be taken out of the hands of one individual, and can't be determined by the political agendas of Sinn Fein and the DUP."

His solicitor, Ciaran O'Hare of McIvor Farrell law firm, added: "The new Secretary of State appears to have simply adopted the position of James Brokenshire."
Snow lies on Tan Hill in North Yorkshire, as others parts of the country are bracing themselves for wintry showers. Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Cars drive through snow on the A26 in Ballymena, Co Antrim, as blizzard conditions are set to sweep in, bringing "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Niall Carson/PA Wire

A dog walker in the snow in Ballymena, Co Antrim, as blizzard conditions are set to sweep in, bringing "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Niall Carson/PA Wire

Snow covers a road sign in Greenloaning, near Stirling, as blizzard conditions are set to bring "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Sheep in the snow in Ballymena, Co Antrim, as blizzard conditions are set to sweep in, bringing "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Niall Carson/PA Wire

Snow on the outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Snow on the outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Drivers battle through the snow on the outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

A farmer battles through the snow on the outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Walkers threw the Snow on the Outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland, as snow fall hits across the country with more expected. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

This is a view from my window in Rathfriland, the Mournes at the far back left of the picture. Submitted by Lucy Barry - January 2017

Loving the snow are my pups Murphy, Lexi and Dexter. Submitted by Kathy Mackin-Jackson, from Armagh. Jan 2017.

Loving the snow are my pups Murphy, Lexi and Dexter. Submitted by Kathy Mackin-Jackson, from Armagh. Jan 2017.

Snow begins to fall on the Stormont Estate in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Snow begins to fall on the Stormont Estate in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Snow begins to fall on the Stormont Estate in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Snow falls in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Snow falls in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Young Boys play in the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Salting the foot patch as Snow falls in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Snow time in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Snow falls in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

People make their way to work as snow falls over Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly

People make their way to work as snow falls over Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly

Snow has fallen over Belfast. Tourists have their pictures taken in the snow at Clarendon dock Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly

People make their way to work as snow falls over Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly

People make their way to work as snow falls over Belfast. Picture Colm O'Reilly

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Eoin Donnelly plays football in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Walking the dogs in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Children Ruben and Zara McGlinchey , Nathan McCann and Shea McLaughlin enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 A dog enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08-12-2017: Heavy snow showers overnight have led to disruption across parts of Northern Ireland. Dozens of schools have been closed due to the wintery conditions. The snowfall means an unexpected day off for some young people. Police are advising road users to use extreme caution on the roads. Patrick Morgan pictured enjoying the snow. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker.

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Children Ruben and Zara McGlinchey enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08-12-2017: Heavy snow showers overnight have led to disruption across parts of Northern Ireland. Dozens of schools have been closed due to the wintery conditions. The snowfall means an unexpected day off for some young people. Police are advising road users to use extreme caution on the roads. Patrick Morgan pictured enjoying the snow. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker.

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08-12-2017: Heavy snow showers overnight have led to disruption across parts of Northern Ireland. Dozens of schools have been closed due to the wintery conditions. The snowfall means an unexpected day off for some young people. Police are advising road users to use extreme caution on the roads. Snow in North Belfast. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker.

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Battling threw the snow on Divis Mountain in Co Antrim , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Children Ruben and Zara McGlinchey , Nathan McCann and Shea McLaughlin enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

General views of Snow in Belfast on December 8th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Battling threw the snow on Divis Mountain in Co Antrim , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 A Snow Man on Divis Mountain in Co Antrim , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08-12-2017: Heavy snow showers overnight have led to disruption across parts of Northern Ireland. Dozens of schools have been closed due to the wintery conditions. The snowfall means an unexpected day off for some young people. Police are advising road users to use extreme caution on the roads. Paul and Ollie Forbes pictured enjoying the snow. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker.

General views of Snow in Belfast on December 8th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 A Snow Man on Divis Mountain in Co Antrim , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 A dog enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Children Ruben and Zara McGlinchey , Nathan McCann and Shea McLaughlin enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press Belfast 08-12-2017: Heavy snow showers overnight have led to disruption across parts of Northern Ireland. Dozens of schools have been closed due to the wintery conditions. The snowfall means an unexpected day off for some young people. Police are advising road users to use extreme caution on the roads. Anne Curley pictured enjoying the snow. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker.

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 A dog enjoying the snow in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 Four-year-old Noah Adams enjoys the snow at Stormont in east Belfast as it continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 A view of Stormont from the Castlereigh Hills outside Belfast as snow continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 A view of Stormont from the Castlereigh Hills outside Belfast as snow continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 Faith Adams(4) and Gracie Worth(7) enjoy the snow at Stormont in east Belfast as it continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 Four-year-old Noah Adams enjoys the snow at Stormont in east Belfast as it continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 Snow continues to lie across Northern Ireland as this robin red breast is pictured in the Fourwinds area outside Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 Children enjoy the snow at Stormont in east Belfast as it continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 A man walks his dog in Fourwinds outside Belfast as snow continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

10/12/17 PACEMAKER PRESS People make the best of the snow in the grounds of Stormont. Brian Buckley with his two children Finn and Jenna take their sled out. PICTURE MATT BOHILL PACEMAKER PRESS

10/12/17 PACEMAKER PRESS People make the best of the snow in the grounds of Stormont. PICTURE MATT BOHILL PACEMAKER PRESS

10/12/17 PACEMAKER PRESS People make the best of the snow in the grounds of Stormont. PICTURE MATT BOHILL PACEMAKER PRESS

10/12/17 PACEMAKER PRESS People make the best of the snow in the grounds of Stormont. PICTURE MATT BOHILL PACEMAKER PRESS

10/12/17 PACEMAKER PRESS People make the best of the snow in the grounds of Stormont. PICTURE MATT BOHILL PACEMAKER PRESS

PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 9/12/2017: Teal-Bella Alexander from Bangor has fun in the snow at the Enchanted Winter Garden which opened on Saturday in Antrim's Castle Gardens. The annual Christmas event is now in it's fifth season. Enchanted Winter Garden is running to 20 December in Antrim Castle Gardens, Antrim. For event information and tickets visit www.enchantedwintergarden.com PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON

PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 9/12/2017: Sarah and Ethan Gillespie from Limavady have fun in the snow at the Enchanted Winter Garden which opened on Saturday in Antrim's Castle Gardens. The annual Christmas event is now in it's fifth season. Enchanted Winter Garden is running to 20 December in Antrim Castle Gardens, Antrim. For event information and tickets visit www.enchantedwintergarden.com PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON

PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 9/12/2017: Ella and Bobby McMullan from Aghalee have fun in the snow at the Enchanted Winter Garden which opened on Saturday in Antrim's Castle Gardens. The annual Christmas event is now in it's fifth season. Enchanted Winter Garden is running to 20 December in Antrim Castle Gardens, Antrim. For event information and tickets visit www.enchantedwintergarden.com PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Jack (5) sledges down the hill at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Jack (5) sledges down the hill at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Mia (10) pictured at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Mia (10) pictured at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Jack (5) along with his sister Mia (10) and friend Rachel (11) pictured at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Presseye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 9th December 2017 Children enjoy the recent snow fall at Stormont in east Belfast. Jack (5) sledges down the hill at parliament buildings. Mandatory Credit Matt Mackey / Presseye.com

Snow in Ballymena, Co Antrim, as blizzard conditions are set to sweep in, bringing "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Niall Carson/PA Wire

Snow covers a fence in Greenloaning, near Stirling, as blizzard conditions are set to bring "a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK". Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Snow time in Crumlin , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Pacemaker Press 08/12/2017 Battling threw the snow on Divis Mountain in Co Antrim , as heavy snow falls across Northern Ireland on Friday morning, leaving difficult driving conditions for motorists and some schools closed. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

Walkers trudge through the Snow on the Outskirts of Armoy in Northern Ireland. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 16th January 2018 Vehicles on the M1 outside Belfast as the Met Office upgrades its warning for snow and ice from yellow to amber across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

16/1/2018 A rear wheel drive BMW cant make its way through the icy roads in Lisburn. Mandatory Credit  Stephen Hamilton

16/1/2018 Horses pictured at Divis mountain in Belfast during a fall of snow. Mandatory Credit  Stephen Hamilton

16/1/2018 Peter Wachs pictured at Divis mountain in Belfast during a heavy fall of snow with dogs Muppet and Lulu Mandatory Credit  Stephen Hamilton

Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 16th January 2018 Vehicles on the M1 outside Belfast as the Met Office upgrades its warning for snow and ice from yellow to amber across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Peter Wachs from Belfast out with dog Muppet at Divis Mountain. Mandatory Credit  Stephen Hamilton

Heavy snow has caused widespread travel disruption in Northern Ireland, with bus and rail services affected and some roads closed.

Horses as Snow falls near Divis on the outskirts of West Belfast in Co Antrim on Tuesday , as heavy snow falls across the country. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

General view of a Transit van which skidded off the road on the Hannahstown hill. Mandatory Credit  Stephen Hamilton

Rush hour traffic on the Ballygowan Road in east Belfast after snow fell across Northern Ireland overnight. - 17th January 2018

Vehicles on the M1 outside Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

General views of Snow in Belfast on December 8th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Press Eye Belfast - Northern Ireland 10th December 2017 A view of Belfast from the Castlereigh Hills as snow continues to lie across Northern Ireland. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com

A number of schools have had to close as a result of the snow across Northern Ireland.

There has been treacherous conditions across Northern Ireland on Tuesday as snow hit. Roads became impassable and the Ambulance Service reported 10 crashes by 10.30am.

The Education Authority, which is responsible for the administration of schools said it would be up to each individual school to decide whether or not it should close.

The weather warning for the province has been upgraded to amber.

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The schools closed are:
An Englishman accused of inciting hatred at a rally in Belfast is to plead not guilty, a court has heard.

Paul Rimmer's lawyer confirmed he will be fighting charges connected to a speech he gave at an event also attended by the leaders of far-right group Britain First.

Rimmer, 55, of Modred Street in Liverpool, faces two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words during last summer's demonstration.

He allegedly intended to stir up hatred or arouse fear by his comments, according to the police and prosecution case.

Appearing for the first time at Belfast Magistrates' Court, Rimmer spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges, nodding his head and replying: "Yes."

Defence solicitor Darren Duncan disclosed that his client is to enter not guilty pleas to both alleged offences.

The charges relate to speeches made at a 'Northern Ireland Against Terrorism' rally at City Hall on August 6.

Demonstrators had gathered on the same day as a republican march organised to mark the use of internment without trial by the British Army at the height of the Troubles in 1971.

Similar charges have also been brought against Britain First leader Paul Golding, 35, and his 31-year-old deputy Jayda Fransen.

They are set to stand trial together in April.

Rimmer was arrested in Liverpool last month and brought to Northern Ireland by PSNI officers investigating the incident.

A detective involved in the case told the court she could connect him to both alleged offences.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall heard three witness statements have been obtained.

They are to be supplied to the defence, along with video recordings from the rally, within the next two weeks.

Mr Duncan submitted: "Actual footage of the speech was available and played during the course of interviews.

"Can I ask if that could be forwarded or disclosed to ourselves."

Rimmer was released on continuing bail to return to court on January 31.

A date for his contested hearing is expected to be set at that stage.
A music teacher has pleaded not guilty at Crown Court in Londonderry to sexually abusing five school girls, all of them under the age of 13.

Brian Bergin (59), a father of three from Brookhill in the Culmore Road area of the city, denied 10 charges of engaging in sexual activity with the girls between August 2011 and May 2014.

Defence barrister Stephen Mooney told Judge Philip Babington that complaints against the defendant had been made by parents and teachers.

The case was adjourned until January 30 when a date for the trial will be fixed.

The defendant was released on continuing bail.
A 16-year-old boy who claimed he was dragged backwards into bushes then raped in a west Belfast park told police he believed he was going to be killed, a jury heard yesterday.

Gerard Scannell is on trial at Belfast Crown Court, accused of sexually assaulting the teenager in the early hours of July 16, 2016.

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Scannell, who is originally from Ballymurphy Road and who is now living at an undisclosed address in another area of Belfast, has been charged with three counts of rape, and of sexually assaulting the teenager.

The 40-year old has denied all charges, and has made the case that while he was socialising in local pubs prior to the alleged sex attack, he had no knowledge of or contact with the teenager.

As the Crown opened its case against Scannell to a jury of six men and six women, prosecuting barrister Jackie Orr QC said that when they had heard all the evidence in the case, they would be satisfied Scannell was guilty of the offences.

The jury heard that before the alleged incident, the teenager had been drinking with friends, and was walking alone along Norglen Parade in the early hours when he first became aware of an older man standing in the street.

The teenager said that as he walked along the road, the older man shouted "Yo" at him a couple of times, before asking his name.

He proceeded along the road and entered Falls Park via a gate. He became aware the older man was following him, and as he walked along the pathway in the park, he was "trailed back" by the t-shirt and "dragged backwards" into bushes.

It is here, the teenager claimed, that the older man took his own top off, then subjected him to a series of sexual assaults.

He later told police that after having been dragged backwards into the bushes, "I actually thought I was going to be killed, instead of what actually did happen".

The teenager, who is now 18, claimed Scannell forced him to perform a sex act on him twice. He also claimed that during one of the attacks, he told Scannell to stop, that he wanted to go, and that he was "screaming and shouting for help".

He also told police that his ordeal came to an end when Scannell pushed his head back which sent him "flying back" - and at this point he got up and was able to flee. The teenager said: "As I was running away, he was shouting, 'Get back over here now'."

He was able to run to a relative's house, but said he couldn't tell them what happened immediately as he "couldn't get the words out ... I was crying".

Crown barrister Ms Orr QC said that when police were informed, a search of the bushes was conducted and several items were recovered and forensically examined.

She also said that when Scannell's home was searched, clothes matching the description given by the teenager of what his attacker wore were located.

When he was arrested and interviewed about the alleged sex attack, Scannell said that on the evening in question he had been drinking in two bars in the area, that he left around 1am, and the next thing he remembers is waking up in his mother's house the following morning.

He consistently denied having any knowledge of or contact with the teenager, and denied allegations he had raped and sexually assaulted him.

At hearing.
Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy has described proposed changes to Northern Ireland's electoral boundaries as "gerrymandering to placate the DUP".

An official map obtained by the Press Association shows changes to electoral seats in Northern Ireland to facilitate a reduction from 18 seats to 17 - something which comes as part of an overall reduction in parliamentary seats from 650 to 600.

Earlier this week, a map titled 2018 revised proposals was available for a period of time on the website for the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland before being later deleted.

The new map includes the creation of a Causeway constituency on the north coast, which would merge parts of East Londonderry with parts of North Antrim and a section of East Antrim.

The remaining parts of East Londonderry - currently held by the DUP's Gregory Campbell - will be absorbed by West Tyrone and and Mid Ulster.

The Boundary Commission proposed and consulted on new electoral boundaries in 2016 as part of an overall plan to reduce the number of MPs here from 18 to 17, Mr Molloy said.

Unsurprisingly, the DUP rejected the plan despite the fact that the proposals reflected the terms and remit under which the Boundary Commission was established."

A previous proposal made by the commission in 2016 aimed at cutting Belfast down from four seats to three seats, which drew the ire of the DUP.

"Sinn Fein warned at the time that any attempt via the Tory-DUP pact to subvert this process would represent an anti-democratic attempt to gerrymander electoral boundaries in that partys favour," he said.

"These new proposals will also impact upon electoral boundaries for Assembly elections, ensuring gerrymandered constituencies reminiscent of those drawn up by the unionist one-party state decades ago."

Mr Molloy called on the Boundary Commission to issue a clarification on whether or not the map published on their website was accurate.

A spokesman for the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland told PA: During the preparation for our Revised Proposal consultation, which begins on 30 January 2018, the functionality of the website was being tested including the interactive map facility. The interactive map facility was accessed during this testing phase. The Commission will be proceeding with the Revised Consultation on 30 January as planned.
Press Eye - Belfast - Northern Ireland - 16th January 2018 The scene on the Hightown Road as the Met Office upgrades its warning for snow and ice from yellow to amber across Northern Ireland. Mandatory Credit Pressye.com / Matt Mackey

Translink has suspended all Metro and Ulsterbus services.

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This comes as weather conditions continue to deteriorate across Northern Ireland.

The public has been urged to heed weather warnings and avoid all but essential journeys.

The Northern Irish Ambulance Service has said it has attended at least 15 incidents related to the snow and ice.

An amber weather warning is in place across Northern Ireland until 8am on Wednesday.

Amber means there is an increased likelihood of bad weather which could potentially disrupt plans and possibly cause travel delays, road and rail closures, interruption to power and the "potential risk to life and property".
General views of the Ulster University building on Royal Avenue in Belfast on January 10th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

The University and College Union have criticised Ulster University for failing to pay compensation owed to 143 dismissed employees after an industrial tribunal ruling.

It is understood the delay is due to the University miscalculating payment amounts.

The deadline for payment of the 'protective award' of 90 days' salary was January 8.

Following an industrial tribunal judgement, former employees are due to receive 90 days worth of salary. 8% interest per day is due beyond the deadline.

The University and College Union (UCU) who represents over 110,000 academics and training organisations across the UK have said that the delay could leave the University facing an additional bill.

UCU have written to Ulster University management to request that they write immediately to the dismissed employees providing reasons for the missed deadline, the date the payments will be made, and an assurance that the 8% interest per day will be included in the payment.

In response, Ulster University said: "Payroll trained staff are now working on this as an urgent matter and we expect to make the remaining payments this week but by next Monday at the latest.

"We will ensure that staff/recipients affected are contacted tomorrow with an update on where they are."

Tracy Irwin, UCU at Ulster branch president stated: "This lack of payment really adds insult to the injury our members have suffered."

Katharine Clarke, the UCU Northern Ireland Official said: "The failure to make these payments complaint with the court deadline which attracts8% interest per day is the very definition of squandering public money.

"The level of incompetence and maladministration at the university has reached the stage now where the DfE need to commission an independent inquiry about these repeated institutional failures, the cost to the tax payer. and the absence of effective governance and accountability at Ulster University."

Clarke added: "If the university does not voluntarily make the interest payment to affected ex-staff, those individuals can bring further civil claims against the university to recoup the monies owed which will incur further court costs. It really is a mess."
Sinn Fein's Mairtin O Muilleoir has established himself as one of the most visible politicians on the local political scene.

During his year as the Lord Mayor of Belfast he became almost omnipresent, zipping across the city to multiple appointments and visits, all of which he chronicled in his extremely active Twitter account.

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However yesterday in the aftermath of the resignation of his party colleague Barry McElduff, Mr O Muilleoir was noticeably less visible. Even his famous Twitter feed fell to a duller pace following the social media warning he received from his party leader Michelle O'Neill after he shared Mr McElduff's controversial tweet earlier this month.

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West Tyrone MP McElduff finally resigned following days of public pressure on Monday after he caused outrage by posing with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the 42nd anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre on January 5.

Almost 40,000 people signed an online petition calling on McElduff to quit.

While McElduff was initially suspended from Sinn Fein, the party said that it accepted Mr O Muilleoir's apology for retweeting the post and he was not disciplined.

The Belfast Telegraph visited Mr O Muilleoir's snow-covered Belfast Media Group office in west Belfast yesterday in our bid to see what he had to say about sharing Mr McElduff's video.

However, we were told that he was not in the building, and were unable to secure any comment from the MLA. Across the city at Mr O Muilleoir's constituency office on the bustling Ormeau Road, he was also nowhere to be seen.

When this newspaper turned up at the premises, the shutters were down. A neighbouring shop worker said there had been "little life about the place" that day.

Yesterday, the DUP's Sammy Wilson called on Sinn Fein and the public to stop allowing Mr O Muilleoir to hide behind McElduff's resignation.

But around Mr O Muilleoir's office many shoppers, business owners and students in the area remained steadfastly loyal to their MLA and insisted that they supported his work as their local MLA. Despite visiting a number of local shops, all those we spoke to voiced their support for Mr O Muilleoir, and emphasised that they did not believe he should resign.

Earlier this week, Sinn Fein leader Michelle O'Neill said she felt no further action was needed, but that Mr O Muilleoir should "be more responsible" with his tweets in future.

Over the last week, he has been noticably quieter on social media, only returning to form yesterday as he urged his followers to take care in the frozen weather, and shared images of the "appalling conditions for travel out there" in south Belfast and made residents aware of bags of grit available in the area.

The 59-year-old later enjoyed an "amazing tour of St Dominic's Convent with Tony McCusker of Heritage Lottery".

In another post, he thanked Clanmill Housing for plans to build more than 200 new homes.
The experiences of thousands of Irish women who travel to the UK every year for an abortion have been recounted during a key debate on a proposed referendum on the controversial issue.

Health Minister Simon Harris said: Women from every county in the Republic of Ireland travelled to the United Kingdom to access an abortion and I think we have to acknowledge them all.

Its the sad reality that weve been exporting this issue.

The debate came as an expected referendum looms on repealing the Eighth Amendment, the section of the Constitution which gives an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn.

Last December, a report by a specially convened Oireachtas committee found that Article 40.3.3 was not fit for purpose and called for it to be repealed.

In its 40-page report the committee recommended abortion should be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without a woman having to explain her decision, and that the procedure should be allowed if the life or health of the woman was at risk.

It also called for expectant mothers to be allowed an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if doctors diagnosed a foetal abnormality that was likely to result in death before or shortly after birth.

At the start of a Dail debate that gave TDs the opportunity to state their position on the issue, Mr Harris said that in 2016 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK alone to have an abortion.

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He added it is estimated that 170,000 Irish women have travelled for an abortion since 1980.

These are not faceless women, it might be convenient for us sometimes to think that they are, theyre not, he said.

They are our neighbours, our sisters, our cousins, our mothers, our aunts, our lives.

This time around lets be honest about this. This is not a decision or a procedure that anyone takes lightly. Women agonise about it.

Fianna Fail TD Billy Kelleher said politicians had a duty to address the issue because there was a huge number of people in Ireland who have never had the opportunity to cast their vote on the matter.

This is an issue that I have been grappling with, he said.

We have to acknowledge that people have deeply held views, morally, ethically, and even religiously.

At the same time my personal or political discomfort is nothing compared to the discomfort that is caused to women every day of the week grappling with a crisis pregnancy, or an unwanted pregnancy or the devastating news of a fatal foetal abnormality.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said of repealing the Eighth Amendment: It is the right thing to do, it will correct an historic wrong.

Earlier in the Dail, opposition TD Ruth Coppinger voiced her concern that four weeks after the publication of the committees report some politicians still had not read it.

The number of deputies who have not had time to read it, youd think they had been asked to read War and Peace, she said.

Debates are being held in both the Dail and the Seanad on the matter so that all TDs and senator can express their views.

As the debates got under way, anti-abortion and pro-choice groups gathered outside Leinster House.

The debates are set to conclude on Thursday.
Leo Varadkar said the case "reflects the extent to which Ireland was such a different place in the 1980s" (Niall Carson/PA)

The Government may offer compensation to the woman at the centre of the Kerry Babies murder investigation, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar said Joanne Hayes had been very badly treated by the state and society.

As he issued an apology to Ms Hayes Mr Varadkar said the Government would discuss the issue of compensation with her representatives.

The Fine Gael leader added that the case reflects the extent to which Ireland was such a different place in the 1980s.

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Ms Hayes was arrested following the discovery of a babys body on a beach in Co Kerry in 1984.

Advances in DNA profiling have confirmed that Ms Hayes, as she always maintained, was not the mother of that baby, who was named John.

Ms Hayes had given birth to a baby on the family farm in Abbeydorney, but that baby died and its body was found on the property after the discovery of Baby John had been made.

She was arrested and charged with murder.

The murder charge was later dropped and a tribunal of inquiry was set up to probe the Garda handling of her case.

Mr Varadkar said: I absolutely want to reiterate the apology that the gardai have made to Joanne Hayes and also to make that apology on behalf of the state as well.

I cant offer compensation here and now but it is something that I think we can discuss with her representatives in the period ahead, said Mr Varadkar on Wednesday.

He added: She evidently is a woman who was very badly treated by our state and by our society in a way that so many other women have been in the past and that needs to change.

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Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said Ms Hayes was subject to a prolonged ordeal that was simply wrong on every level.

This was unacceptable even at the time and as Minister for Justice and Equality, and on behalf of the State, I am deeply sorry that this happened, he said.

Mr Flanagan welcomed a decision by the Garda to conduct a fresh investigation into baby Johns death.

This review team has had some success investigating historic cases and I note the sensitivity with which they have approached the appeal for new information, he added.

In the Dail, Tanaiste Simon Coveney also apologised to Ms Hayes.

I think people would like to think it was a very different Ireland in terms of the approach to women and pregnancy in those days, but I also accept the point thats being made that there were real policing mistakes made, he said.

There were also mistakes made in the subsequent tribunal in terms of how a woman and her family was questioned.

It was described afterwards as insensitive, very, very frightening, harrowing and quite horrific and shameful.

Fianna fail leader Micheal Martin described Joanne Hayes treatment as shameful.

The complete lack of empathy shown at that time through agencies of the State was shameful and represented a damming indictment on the institutions of the state and on society at the time, he said.
Operation Desert Storm was a world-changing moment in time, a former RAF navigator who was shot down and tortured by the Iraqi regime during the first Gulf War has said.

January 17 1991 marked the onset of the US-led coalition campaign to drive Saddam Husseins forces from the oil-rich Gulf state, which they had illegally seized the previous summer.

Now, 27 years on from the start of the campaign and his capture, Flight Lieutenant John Nichol said he has absolute admiration for the RAF pilots targeting Islamic State in the region.

Mr Nichol told the Press Association he finds it staggering how the Tornado fighter jet he flew in has been used every single day on operations since.

The 54-year-old said when he joined the military he was a Cold War warrior, and that no one expected to fight, as conflict would have meant nuclear Armageddon.

It was almost incomprehensible to think about. So when we went to war in 1991 it was an absolute and utter shock  not just for us but for the world, he said.

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There were 500,000 allied men and women there deployed, fighting. It was an amazing, almost unbelievable thing to be a part of that we never expected.

Now those 27-year-old young men and women who are flying, who were not born, expect to go to war. They fully expect to go to war.

It was very different back then and people forget about that  people forget that this was an absolute world-changing moment in time.

Describing the first Gulf War as a completely successful conflict, Mr Nichol said it was the aftermath that was handled badly.

The military won that war  the military did everything right. The politicians lost the subsequent peace and we are still seeing those ramifications today, he added.

He also said part of the rise in extremism and terror attacks can be traced back to that moment in time, and the current conflict in Syria can be linked to it as well.

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There are ways all of these things followed on from the first Gulf War and the second Gulf War to the situation that we are in today, he said.

Mr Nichol was held hostage by the Iraqi dictators regime after he and pilot John Peters were captured when their jet was brought down following a massive aerial bombardment to clear the way for the ground invasion.

Shot down on the first day of the campaign, the pair were beaten and tortured before being paraded on Iraqi television, with their battered faces quickly becoming one of the defining images of the conflict.

The two airmen were finally freed after 47 days in captivity, while Operation Desert Storm was largely judged a success in driving Saddams forces out of Kuwait.

Mr Nichol said the past three decades have gone both quickly and slowly and that Operation Desert Storm was a life-defining moment for him and many others.

He also highlighted how his admiration for pilots currently flying over the region as part of the global coalitions efforts to eradicate IS is boundless.

Whilst it was pretty crap for us and we certainly feared for our lives, there were elements of hope and elements of a sense that we might survive the ordeal (if we we were captured), he said.

I think that the young men and women today know that, God forbid if any of those get shot down in that region, the chances are, they know what the results will be.

They have seen the videos, they know what will happen, and so I have utter and absolute admiration for the work the young men and women are doing now.
Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it would not be undemocratic to hold a second Brexit referendum.

After addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Varadkar was challenged by former Ukip leader Nigel Farage who accused him of trying to overturn the UKs split from Europe.

The Taoiseach declined to say whether the referendum should be re-run and denied being part of a secret plot to reverse the vote.

I dont think it would be constructive or helpful for the leader of another country to be advising that other country whether they should or should not have a second vote, he said.

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Mr Varadkar said referendums had been re-run in Ireland  including the contentious second vote on the Lisbon Treaty which helped pave the way for a bigger EU  but he said Ireland made those decisions alone.

And he added: I dont think its anti-democratic for people to change their minds or have a second vote but any decision on the second referendum must only be one for the UK parliament and the UK people.

We shouldnt tell them to do that or put any pressure or expectation on them in any way. I think that would be counter-productive.

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The Taoiseach also denied being part of a conspiracy with the likes of former British prime minister Tony Blair and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to thwart Brexit.

Im certainly not party to any plot against the United Kingdom. Im a friend of the United Kingdom and certainly want to be a friend of the United Kingdom, he said.

Mr Farage told the Taoiseach: You dont want Britain to leave because you know if you do others will leave too.

And I would just say this to you. I dont want a second referendum on Brexit. Absolutely not but I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure we get the worst possible deal.

I say that because I have seen it all before. The difference is if you force the Brits to do it again it will be a different outcome.

Mr Farage branded the Taoiseach a European unionist.

Earlier Jean Claude Juncker has said he would be happy to help Britain rejoin the European Union if it wants to after Brexit.

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The European Commission president said the UK could apply to rejoin under Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty even after it leaves the EU in March 2019  if the Government or British people want to find a way out of Brexit.

It comes after European Council president Donald Tusk said on Tuesday he was open to a change of heart from the UK.

Mr Juncker described Brexit as a lose-lose situation for Britain and the EU and a catastrophe.

And addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, he went on: Mr Tusk said that our hand remains outstretched.

The British people, the British Government, may wish to find a different way out of the Brexit situation and we are very much willing to deal with them.
Following publication of an article of headlined, I felt sorry for my ex when we split. Now I live in constant fear and carry alarms because he stalked me in revenge, published online on 21 June 2016, a man complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that the Belfast Telegraph breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors Code of Practice. The complaint was upheld and lPSO required The Belfast Telegraph to publish this adjudication.

The article reported on claims made by a named woman in an interview she had given to the newspaper; it said that after years of being harassed by an obsessed former boyfriend, she was now campaigning for the law to be changed to protect victims. It said that in March 2016, she had secured a full order against her former partner.

The complainant said that the claims made by his former partner were inaccurate: he had not stalked, harassed, or threatened to shoot her. He also said that she had not obtained a court order against him: he had signed an undertaking which was not an acceptance of guilt of the allegations which she had made against him.

The newspaper said that the article was based on the testimony of a woman who had a right to tell her story, which was on a subject which was a matter of public interest. It said that the womans campaign for legislative changes in Northern Ireland had gained significant support from members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly.

Nothing in the Committees decision should be taken as a finding about the truth of the claims made by the parties. The primary question for the Committee was whether the newspaper had taken care to publish an accurate account of the claims which had been made by the woman at interview, and had done so in a way that was not misleading.

The complainant had not been given the opportunity to deny the allegations which had been made against him, or have this recorded in the article. The newspaper had made no attempt to contact him for comment, nor had it sought to obtain corroborating evidence to support the womans serious claims. The failure to put the allegations to the complainant, and the resulting omission of his denial in the article and the overall manner in which the claims were presented, created the significantly misleading impression that his former partners claims were undisputed fact.

The article had reported that the complainants former partner had secured a full order against him in March 2016. While it was accurate to describe the document as an order, reporting that it had been obtained against the complainant, rather than that the undertakings had been provided by him voluntarily to the court, created the impression that there had been a finding by the court about the complainants conduct. The full position had not been made clear in the article by, for example, including an explanation of the basis upon which the order had been made. The articles presentation of this document in a way which suggested a judicial finding had been made, particularly where its terms had been explained to the newspaper at interview, and was available to them upon request, represented a failure to take care over the accuracy of the article. The complaint was therefore upheld as a breach of Clause 1.

The Committee expressed significant concern that the newspaper had not responded to the complainant during the referral period and had not provided sufficient justification for its failure to do so. The Committee also noted that there had been several delays, on the part of the newspaper, to provide a response to the complaint during lPSOs investigation. Given the newspapers failure to correspond directly with the complainant and the delays to the process, the newspapers conduct during lPSOs investigation was unacceptable. lPSO will consider separately what further action is appropriate to address what appear to be serious concerns.

To read the full adjudication, go to: https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has urged Saudi Arabia to keep aid flowing to Yemen (Nick Ansell/PA)

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been urged to keep ports open to allow the flow of aid into Yemen amid concerns the blockade could be reimposed.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt promised 1.3 million and British expertise to help ensure that arms destined for rebel forces are not shipped into Yemen alongside vitally needed aid.

A window allowing aid into the key port Hodeidah is due to close on January 19 but Ms Mordaunt said unrestricted access must be maintained.

The Saudi-led coalition originally imposed a blockade amid concerns about the flow of arms to Houthi rebels.

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To address those concerns the UK is providing 1.3 million to the UNs Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to provide assurance against weapons smuggling.

British experts have been seconded to UNVIM in Djibouti to assist with the inspections process.

Ms Mordaunt, who visited the region in December, said: I heard about some of the heartbreaking tragedies suffered by Yemenis when I met with refugees and international aid workers last month.

I am pleased restrictions on access have since been eased at the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef, allowing 19 ships to deliver food and critical fuel.

This is already saving lives by ensuring hospitals can continue delivering essential medical care, water can be pumped into major cities, grain can continue to be milled into flour and food transported to those most in need.

But the situation in Yemen remains dire and will deteriorate rapidly unless unhindered access is maintained, especially to the north of the country.

With Yemen importing 90% of its food and fuel, its essential that Hodeidah and Saleef ports remain fully open to help millions of people who are at risk of starving to death.

We recognise Saudi Arabias legitimate security concerns and will continue to provide support to prevent illegal arms smuggling into Yemen  this does not require stopping humanitarian and commercial supplies from reaching those in need.
Theresa May made a vow to the children of murdered MP Jo Cox to wipe out loneliness in her memory.

At a Downing Street reception to celebrate the Labour politicians legacy, the Prime Minister said the ideals the campaigner stood for would not be forgotten.

Tracey Crouch has been made minister for loneliness following a series of recommendations made by the Jo Cox Commission set up to tackle the issue.

Mrs Cox, who was brutally murdered by a far-right terrorist, campaigned across the political divide before her death to find ways to combat loneliness.

Expand Close Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox, with their children Cuillin and Lejla, (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox, with their children Cuillin and Lejla, (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

Widower Brendan Cox has previously described how son Cuillin, aged just five when his mother was killed, wrote a song in tribute to her that went: I love my mummy, I will not leave her behind.

At a reception in No 10 attended by Mrs Coxs family, the PM said: Cuillin, dont worry. None of us will leave your mummy behind.

None of us will forget her life, her ideals or what she stood for and all of us will do all that we can to see that in her memory we bring an end to the acceptance of loneliness in our society.

Parties in honour of Mrs Cox will be held across the country on what would have been her 44th birthday.

The Great Get Together, which was held last year on the anniversary of Ms Coxs death, will be held from June 22.

Expand Close Jo Cox's widower Brendan and her mother Jean Leadbeater (left) and father Gordon Leadbeater (right) attended a Great Get Together event in 2017 at The Green in Heckmondwike, Yorskshire (Danny Lawson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Jo Cox's widower Brendan and her mother Jean Leadbeater (left) and father Gordon Leadbeater (right) attended a Great Get Together event in 2017 at The Green in Heckmondwike, Yorskshire (Danny Lawson/PA)

Mrs Coxs parents, Jean and Gordon Leadbeater, were among the guests and told of their pride in the work she did to bring people together.

Mrs Leadbeater said last years gathering was ever so difficult for us but moving the date to mark her birthday was  more apt.

From the minute Jo was murdered we decided we would celebrate her life, so I think it is a wonderful thing and it certainly helped us as a family last year to get through the year.

Mr Cox said: Jo went into politics because she had this huge empathy with people and one of the things that worried her most was loneliness and the sense that you live in communities but those communities are less close than they used to be.

I think today, with the appointment of the minister and with the agreement that there will be a strategy to tackle loneliness, those two key things are the beginning, they are certainly not the end, of a blueprint for how we can tackle loneliness and what has become a social epidemic in our country.
A Republican senator has denounced US president Donald Trumps use of the terms fake news and enemy of the people to describe the news media and stories he does not like.

Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said Mr Trumps attacks were reminiscent of words infamously used by Russian dictator Josef Stalin to describe his opponents.

In a speech on the US senate floor, Mr Flake called Mr Trumps repeated attacks on the media shameful and repulsive, and said the president has it precisely backward.

Mr Flake said that the true enemy of the people is despotism, while a free press is the despots enemy and a guardian of democracy.

The senator, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring this year, said when Mr Trump calls stories he does not like fake news, he should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

Mr Flake has said he is not comparing Trump to Stalin, who was responsible for the deaths of millions, but said the US presidents use of a term favoured by the Russian dictator, enemy of the people, is chilling.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the presidents party, Mr Flake said.

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Arizonas other Republican senator, John McCain, also decried Mr Trumps use of the term fake news and said the president was encouraging autocrats around the world to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens.

In an opinion column in The Washington Post, Mr McCain said Mr Trumps attempts to undermine the free press make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable.

Constant cries of fake news undercut legitimate reporting and strip activists of one of their most powerful tools of dissent, Mr McCain wrote.

Donald Trumps first year in office was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government, Mr Flake said, referring to the president.

Mr Flake said the impulses underlying Mr Trumps attacks are not benign, adding: They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behaviour on our democracy cannot be overstated.

Mr Trumps use of the term fake news has encouraged authoritarian leaders around the world, who now routinely dismiss criticism as fake news, Flake and McCain said, citing comments by Syrian president Bashar Assad, Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte and Venezuelan premier Nicolas Maduro, among others.

As a Republican, Mr Flake said he is ashamed of the US leader and said politicians in both parties must stand up to his attacks.
Bombed out: a sign on the H-1 freeway in Honolulu informs people that there was no missile threat

The Pope has a point. According to his holiness, the world is now but one step away from nuclear war. One quick button push.

One accident would be enough, he warns, to spark catastrophe.

And, as we know, accidents do happen...

At the weekend some bloke in Hawaii, signing off his shift for the night at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, somehow managed to hit the wrong button and in the process sent a false ballistic missile alert to the entire local populace.

"Hi love, that's me finished for the night. Be home in half an hour. Fancy going out for a bite tonight? Jeez... what did I just do there?"

A pre-prepared text pinged out to phones across the state.

"Missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill," it read.

Be honest. You would have had kittens.

Some stoics insist they just opened a bottle of Chateau Armageddon and sat there facing the sunset awaiting the apparently inevitable. Others sought shelter where they could.

One man live-tweeted that he was in the bathtub with his partner, the kids and the in-laws(!) with a mattress over all their heads. How, in such confined circumstances, he found room to manoeuvre the phone for his Twitter updates he didn't say.

Obviously it must have been terrifying for all concerned. For 38 horrible, long minutes people genuinely believed that they and their nearest and dearest were about to be obliterated.

Recent bellicose statements from North Korea have heightened tension in the region. Hawaiians know they are now within striking distance of Pyongyang.

Eventually another message pinged in (you do feel for people whose mobile batteries may have run down in the meantime).

"There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm."

The authorities knew it was a mistake a mere three minutes into the "alert". The reason for the delay in getting a retraction out was that no such message had been pre-prepared.

Obviously they had never envisaged a situation where the original "incoming" text could have been sent in error.

And you do have to wonder how on earth this could happen. One employee shuts down his computer at knocking off time and manages to simultaneously send a message of impending nuclear holocaust to millions. The Hawaiian authorities may need to consider tightening up their alert procedures.

Also, if a nuclear alert can be fired off that easily, it would be good to know just what barriers are in place to stop someone from mistakenly launching an actual missile. Inevitably in the wake of the ballistic scare things have since gone, well... even more ballistic.

There have been death threats against employees of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

Of course there have.

That is how we deal with crises and drama in these hair-trigger times of ours. With death threats and vitriol. Mostly spewed on social media.

True, the Hawaiians need, as has been acknowledged by the agency, to "let off some steam".

But it's not just the genuinely distressed or even the despots going nuclear any more. We're all going nuclear.

Self restraint is a thing of the past. In 2018 we glory in going ballistic.

And we're certainly doing our bit for hysteria here in Northern Ireland too, bearing in mind some of the local bile online in recent days.

Why do people do this? What do they get out of spewing such hatred?

Online screeching and grandstanding is all about making yourself look big to your fellow posters. If you want to get a reaction you push other people's buttons. That's the way it works. It's that infantile.

Most of us look on, mouths agape, at the spectre of two world leaders slugging it out on Twitter over who's got the biggest, best positioned button.

But in the age of 140 character cruelty and bombast, they're only doing what countless other mega-mouths all round the globe also do to make themselves look important.

Mouthing off. Then hitting send. The fear of nuclear holocaust has been around a lot longer than social media itself. But the Pope does have a point.

The way this "civilisation" of ours is headed, we're all doomed.

Jason's weight loss invention uses the head

Congratulations to neuroscientist Jason McKeown from Portglenone (near where I come from) who has developed a weight loss headset that's causing some excitement in the US.

You strap the gadget over your head where - and now for the science bit - it stimulates the hypothalamus to boost your metabolism.

As ever with these breakthroughs though, it's advised that a certain degree of self discipline and self denial will still be required for optimum results.

Might work better then, if you were just to strap it in across your gob...

Killer storyline shows Corrie's no soft soap

With so much real violence in the world, should we be worried about fictional killer Pat Phelan (left) stalking the streets of Weatherfield?

Coronation Street viewers have complained, not so much about his killing spree but that he has been killing people before the watershed. Corrie is no longer the soft soap it used to be.

It's McMafia with cobblestones. And sadly not all lowlife get their comeuppance. Another Corrie killer, Tracy Barlow, has been reinstated as a sharp-tongued stalwart of the show.

Proof that in soaps too, just because you have a past doesn't mean you can't have a future.
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The sensor emits a small electrical charge when pressure is applied against it.

A group of engineers at the University of Connecticut have created a biodegradable pressure sensor that could help doctors monitor chronic lung disease, swelling of the brain, and other medical conditions before dissolving harmlessly in a patient's body.

The sensor emits a small electrical charge when pressure is applied against it and thus could be used to provide electrical stimulation for tissue regeneration. Other potential applications include monitoring patients with glaucoma, heart disease, and bladder cancer.

The small, flexible sensor is made of medically safe materials already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in surgical sutures, bone grafts, and medical implants. It is designed to replace existing implantable pressure sensors that have potentially toxic components.

The research group is investigating ways to extend the sensor's functional lifetime. The lab's ultimate goal is to develop a sensor system that is completely biodegradable within the human body. The team has already filed for a patent for the new sensor.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/01/2018 (1767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Angele Regnier uses a very Canadian analogy to explain why the Catholic Church has held onto the grisly-looking forearm of St. Francis Xavier for 465 years and is now touring it across the country.

Its like the Stanley Cup, she said Tuesday, as hundreds of people lined up in the centre aisle inside downtown Winnipegs St. Marys Cathedral, waiting for their turn to view the glass-encased arm and hand still sheathed in shrivelled, blackened flesh.

When the Stanley Cup tours Canada, nobody wants to see a replica, said Regnier, co-founder of the Catholic Christian Outreach missionary organization who also helped organize the relics 15-city, month-long Canadian tour. And as I touch the Stanley Cup, Im thinking, OK, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky hoisted the Cup above their heads.

There is a connection, just like touching the Stanley Cup.

Another organizer of the event had a different explanation: Its just what Catholics do, she said.

The mummified right arm of the Jesuit missionary who died in 1552 at the age of 46 is enclosed in a glass case and laid inside a brass-like indenture.

During the relics lone Winnipeg stop, some people caressed the glass case gently with their fingertips or brushed it with a prayer card provided by the cathedral. Other people rolled their rosary beads along the case. Some were there to seek healing of an affliction.

The relic reflects the Catholic reverence of the body and of their saints, Regnier said. We believe in the communion of saints. Theyre our friend in heaven.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The severed arm of St. Francis Xavier is on a tour of Canada.

When we have relics, were touching something of their eternal life, agreed Rev. Darren Gurr of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Roman Catholic Church, in an earlier interview with the Free Press. This is the way of touching something of the saint in our midst.

Organizers were expecting up to 2,000 people would see the holy relic Tuesday, but it appeared that estimate would be low; about 700 had already viewed it by noon, following a special morning mass. There was another mass at noon, and viewing was to be open from until 10 p.m.

The relic will then be transported to Saskatoon for a one-day viewing Thursday, marking roughly the midway point of its 15-city tour that ends Feb. 2 in Ottawa.

The arm rarely leaves its home in the Church of the Gesu in Rome. In 2012, it was taken on tour in Australia. It also toured the United States in 1953.

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, a Jesuit, wanted to bring the relic to Canada, in part, because St. Francis Xavier was one of the founders of the Jesuits.

When we have relics, were touching something of their eternal life. Rev. Darren Gurr

St. Francis Xavier is also the patron saint of missions. He spent his life in the 16th century preaching and converting people to Catholicism in Asia, particularly India, Japan and Malaysia.

Another factor was the Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) agreed to bring the holy relic to cities where the missionary organization is based.

The CCO feels an affinity to St. Francis Xavier because he was converted by his two roommates while a student in university, said Regnier. The organization has a chapter at the University of Winnipeg.

St. Francis is buried in Goa, India. However, his right forearm, used to baptize so many people, was severed and kept as a holy relic.

Regnier said the church wouldnt keep the body part of a deceased saint today. But sensibilities were different a half-millennium ago during the Middle Ages, when public torture and executions were regularly staged.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The arm and hand of the saint is said to have blessed and baptized thousands.

The flesh on the arm today looks more like a well-worn glove. Regnier said it is incorrupted, meaning its flesh has defied natural decay.

After St. Francis Xavier died in China in 1552, his corpse did not decompose. The Catholic Church says the incorruptibility of Xaviers body is a sign he was a saint.

St. Marys Cathedral visitor Miriam Licera found Tuesdays viewing very spiritual. She said shes from the Philippines, which is more than 90 per cent Catholic.

We get our Catholic Christianity from the Spanish, she said. Explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521 and began colonizing the region, forming alliances with some natives and conquering others, and converting people to Catholicism.

Another woman, Janine, who didnt want her last name published, said she came looking for an intercession into the life of a family member.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

For me, its another occasion to ask for special grace. Its asking in person for (St. Francis) to intercede for someone who has substance-abuse issues, she said.

Ray La Fleche of Ste. Anne said he came to see the relic because hes a Jesuit. I have a Jesuit education and it was the best thing that ever happened to me, he said. Anything in the Jesuit tradition, I will support.

However, he cautioned the relic is not an idol and shouldnt be treated that way. Its a relic of someone who did missionary work.

About 70,000 Canadians are expected to see the relic during its cross-country tour.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/01/2018 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The agriculture industry on both sides of the border remains committed to the North America Free Trade Agreement, Manitobas agriculture minister says.

I can tell you that if NAFTA goes south on us in any way, it wont be because of agriculture, Ralph Eichler told media following his address at Manitoba Ag Days on Tuesday, which included an announcement that premium rates to insure acres in Manitoba would drop an average of seven per cent from last year.

Agriculture (in the United States) has been very clear about their support. They were there for us during BSE, They were there for us when we had COOL, Eichler said, referring to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis and the country of origin labelling law passed in the U.S.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Provincial Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler speaks to members of the media after delivering an agricultural outlook on the first day of Manitoba Ag Days at the Keystone Centre on Tuesday.

Theyre there for us now under trade. They respect Canada. They understand that trade has to be both ways.

Eichler said the agriculture sector is unified in supporting the free trade agreement, in spite of U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to withdraw unless major changes are made.

Agriculture groups want to modernize NAFTA, Eichler said, referring to discussions with North American agriculture leaders at the State Ag and Rural Leaders summit this month in Kansas City.

In Manitobas case, remaking the agreement would hopefully address the provinces trade deficit. Eichler referenced the livestock sector, which produces more than the province consumes.

At Ag Days last year, days before Trumps inauguration, Eichler was optimistic the president-elect would be swayed by the smart, influential voices who had his ear.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Six-year-old Thompson Charlton of Kenton tries to guess the weight of a leg while listening to a farm safety presentation by Robin Anderson, communications co-ordinator for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, during Manitoba Ag Days on Tuesday.

Eichler maintains this belief today.

I think he sees opportunities for trade, Eichler said of Trump. However, you just follow his comments from what he said Tuesday to what he said Friday is entirely different than what he said on Tuesday, so I guess the jury is always out.

That said, Eichler said he believes we have all the right people in our camp to ensure a suitable arrangement is reached.

In a 16-minute address beforehand, likened to an update on the provinces agriculture industry, Eichler announced a reduction in premium rates for AgriInsurance coverage this year. Total coverage is expected to be $2.7 billion on 9.4 million acres.

He said premium rates would drop an average of seven per cent versus last year.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Three-year-old Jamie Gerrard looks over a new Massey Ferguson front-end loader during Manitoba Ag Days on Tuesday.

With the increase in crop production over the last year, and very little payouts, we were able to accomplish a significant reduction in those premiums, Eichler said.

The agriculture minister rattled off a series of industry accomplishments in his speech, including company expansions and enticing a $400-million pea processor to Portage la Prairie. He stated the province set a record in farm cash receipts last year. The total surpassed $6.2 billion for the first time.

Improving the provinces livestock numbers is one target of Eichlers.

Cattle numbers, which were around 485,000 head last year, grew by 38,000. A significant increase, Eichler said, but its not where Id like it to be. He wants Manitobas production to approach pre-BSE levels, around 750,000.

He also wants 1,500 more hogs to be processed per day to meet demand.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Visitors to Manitoba Ag Days at the Keystone Centre check out a New Holland combine on Tuesday.

In an interview, Eichler shared that soybean processors are interested in building a plant in Manitoba, which surely pleases the coalition of local leaders behind the Westman Opportunities Leadership Group.

I can tell you this much: Ive had several inquiries but I havent seen any cheques yet, Eichler said.

Ag Days organizers said in a media release that attendance for the first day of the largest indoor agriculture show in the country was well above average.

The kickoff breakfast Tuesday morning raised $2,400 for Ag In The Classroom, an initiative supporting youth education.

Ag Days continues until Thursday.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Luke Poirier and Logan Schoenberger of Beausejour have fun at the Ag Days selfie station on the first day of Manitoba Ag Days at the Keystone Centre on Tuesday.

 ifroese@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ianfroese
From today, Ryanair passengers will only be allowed bring wheelie luggage into the cabin if theyve paid for priority boarding.

The airline says its to reduce airport delays and customers will still be allowed check the luggage into the hold for free.

Spokesperson Kenny Jacobs has this advice for those travelling: "If you have checked in a bag that is absolutely fine, if youve got a wheelie bag and a small bag with you and you have not booked priority boarding, I would suggest you could just go to the gate and the bigger wheelie bag will be taken from you at the gate. It will be tagged and put in the hold."

"If you are particular about having your bag with you in the cabin, you will be able to purchase priority boarding."

According to Mr Jacobs, the restrictions are being introduced to reduce delays at airport gates.

"Everybody will continue to get two free bags, that continues for all customers," Mr Jacobs explains.

"Non-priority customers can bring two bags but they will be now required to put their wheelie bag - their bigger bag - in the hold, free of charge, at the boarding gate."

Our new baggage policy is commencing on Monday January 15th. Don't forget to familiarise yourself here. pic.twitter.com/deTjCEBYvX  Ryanair (@Ryanair) January 9, 2018

Meanwhile, Ryanair has said that it will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour on its flights.

It comes after a Ryanair flight from Spain to Dublin had to make an unscheduled stop in Santander last week after two Irish passengers became disruptive on board.

They were escorted from the plane by the Civil Guard and Ryanair says its now a matter for local police.

Mr Jacobs says theyve been calling for over a year for stricter restrictions on the sale of alcohol at airports.

"Were saying that no one should be allowed to purchase more than two drinks at the airport," he said.

"We are also saying that there should be no alcohol sold before 10 in the morning.

"This is something that becomes a problem that the airlines have to fix. That flight diverted from Alicante to Santander rather than going on to Dublin.

"That was disruptive for all the other customers on board, it is a cost for the airline and it is something that needs to be stopped and the easiest thing to do to stop it is at the airport and controlling the amount of alcohol sold there."
Technology is revolutionising the way supermarkets do business but Australian shoppers aren't yet ready to embrace some of the futuristic innovations retailers are trialling, Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci says.

"Technology has become crucial to the future of retail - this is the key for us," Mr Banducci told Fairfax Media on the sidelines of the National Retailers Federation's annual expo in New York City.

Mr Banducci was scouring the expo on Tuesday looking for the latest innovations from tech giants and start-ups that could be used in Woolworths' almost 1000 stores.

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says shoppers aren't yet ready to embrace some of the futuristic innovations retailers are trialling. Credit:Jessica Hromas

Among those that caught his eye was a new barcode scanning technology from software company Digimarc which embeds a code that is imperceptible to the human eye into a product's packaging design, meaning any part of the item can be scanned at checkout.
A paedophile labelled a high risk of sexually abusing more children has been freed to live in the dementia unit of a south-east Queensland nursing home.

Denis Winston, 69, would be housed in a secure area of the greater Brisbane area facility, reducing his risk of reoffending to an acceptable level, according to a Supreme Court of Queensland decision made in November last year and published on Tuesday.

A convicted paedophile has been released from jail. Credit:Viki Lascaris

He had been behind bars for almost 21 years on a string of child sex offences committed in the mid-'90s when Justice Martin Burns ruled he should be released, detailing a list of security measures aimed at preventing him from reoffending.

Winston was first convicted in January 1996 and after reoffending was eventually sentenced to 12 years behind bars on a string of child sex offences.
A man accused of groping two female joggers on the Gold Coast has been charged with sexual assault.

Its alleged the 40-year-old from Hope Island on the coasts north approached a 24-year-old Gold Coast woman on the way to her Southport apartment about 7.30am on Sunday and touched her bottom several times.

CCTV captures the alleged sexual assault of a woman on the Gold Coast. Credit:ABC.

CCTV captured a man approaching victim Jesse Ratu, who told News Corp he said: Sorry, I just had to do it. You have the best arse.

He handed himself in to police on Tuesday evening and was charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Fish who live without fear of sharks have different body shapes, researchers have found, highlighting the impact of the ocean's top predator on marine ecosystems.

Samples of species collected from coral reefs subject to commercial shark fishing have shown the eyes and tails of fish are up to 46 to 40 per cent smaller respectively, as their need to detect and escape from predators has fallen.

Removing sharks from the ocean was increasingly recognised as far-reaching. Credit:iStock

"Eye size is critical for detecting predators," lead researcher Neil Hammerschlag said, "especially under low-light conditions when many sharks usually hunt, and tail shape enables burst speed and rapid escape."

The study reported the consequences of removing sharks from the ocean was increasingly recognised as far-reaching.
A judge who helped design Victoria's anti-corruption watchdog says it remains weak and defective, and has warned Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull not to adopt it as the model for any federal corruption body.

Mr Turnbull opened the door to establishing a national watchdog last month  after years of Coalition resistance to the idea  and suggested its powers would emulate Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) rather than the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Former judge Stephen Charles has warned Malcolm Turnbull against adopting Victoria's anti-corruption model federally.

But former Court of Appeal judge Stephen Charles, who helped the Baillieu Coalition government design IBAC, says the body continues to fall short despite improvements made by the Andrews government.

"It has a narrow jurisdiction, weak investigative powers and a limited ability to use them, including public hearings, which are critical to exposing corruption to the public," he said. Mr Charles argues it should be able to use the full suite of its investigative powers at the start of any investigation, unhampered by thresholds  much like ICAC.
Washington: A former CIA officer suspected by investigators of helping China dismantle US spying operations and identify informants has been arrested. The collapse of the spy network was one of the US government's worst intelligence failures in recent years.

The arrest of the former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, capped an intense FBI inquiry that began in around 2012, two years after the CIA began losing its informants in China. Investigators confronted an enduring mystery: how did the names of so many CIA sources, among the agency's most dearly held secrets, end up in Chinese hands?

A woman looks up near a sculpture of a golden bull in Beijing, China. Credit:NG HAN GUAN

Some intelligence officials believed that a mole inside the CIA was exposing its roster of informants. Others thought the Chinese government had hacked the CIA's covert communications used to talk to foreign sources of information.

Still other former intelligence officials have also argued that the spy network might have been crippled by a combination of both, as well as sloppy tradecraft by agency officers in China. The counterintelligence investigation into how the Chinese managed to hunt down US agents was a source of friction between the CIA and FBI.
Phnom Penh: Declaring that journalism is not a crime, accused Australian spy James Ricketson was ordered returned to one of Cambodia's harshest prisons on Wednesday after judges delayed announcing whether he could be released on bail.

"I have a right to free speech under the Cambodian constitution," 68-year-old Ricketson said as guards led him from the country's Supreme Court.

"I would like to think the Australian government would defend my right to free speech," he said.

Ricketson arrived at the court almost an hour after the delay was announced in an apparent jail transfer mix-up.
London: A Japanese city has warned its residents to be vigilant after lethal blowfish were accidentally sold at a supermarket.

The store in Gamagori sold five portions of blowfish which had not had their toxic livers removed, the warning said. The blowfish, or fugu, is a delicacy, but before it is eaten, the livers must be removed because they contain a deadly poison that is 1200 times more lethal than cyanide. It can kill within minutes of consumption.

A fugu, or a blowfish, is shown at a restaurant in Shimonoseki, southwest of Tokyo. Credit:ITSUO INOUYE

The threat is so real that chefs in Japan must undertake three years of specialist training to obtain a licence to prepare the fish, which holds tetrodotoxin in its liver, ovaries and skin. Three of the five portions were located, and no one has yet been harmed, but two are still missing.

Local officials have warned the population not to eat blowfish until the missing portions are recovered.
Caracas: Rogue Venezuelan helicopter pilot Oscar Perez was killed in a police operation on Monday along with six other anti-government militants, the interior minister said on Tuesday, spurring opposition complaints of human rights violations.

Perez, a photogenic former police officer who once starred in an action film, last year used a hijacked helicopter to attack government buildings. He also stole weapons from a military base in what he called a rebellion against President Nicolas Maduro.

He appeared with a bloody face in nearly a dozen Instagram videos early on Monday, saying he was surrounded by authorities shooting at him with grenade launchers even though he was promising to surrender.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said seven "terrorists" including Perez were killed in the operation outside Caracas along with two police officers involved in the raid.
More than a third experienced hardship in last quarter, says NAB
EU Chief Executive Jean-Claude Juncker renewed an offer to Britain on Wednesday to stay in the European Union and said he hoped that even if it goes through with Brexit it would apply to rejoin the bloc.

Speaking to the European Parliament, where he had endorsed a statement on Tuesday by European Council President Donald Tusk that Britain would be welcome to remain Juncker said he accepted a share of responsibility for the British referendum vote in 2016 to leave the Union.

"I still feel the exit of Britain is a catastrophe, yes, a defeat we all have to take responsibility for," he said, responding to a written question from a German lawmaker who had asked if Juncker felt responsible for Brexit.

"But the reasons for the British exit lie deeper. As Prime Minister (Theresa) May has said, the British never felt at ease in the EU and for 40 years they haven't been given the chance to feel more at ease. That is why the blame is on many."

"Mr. Tusk and I once again reached out to the British government yesterday and said that if the British people, the British parliament, the British government, wish for another way than Brexit, we would be prepared to discuss it. We are not throwing out the British, we want them to stay. And if they want to, they should be able to.

"But I noticed that in London, they have reacted almost upset at this reaction. Be it as it may, once the British have left under Article 50 there is still Article 49 which allows a return to membership and I would like that. I would like us now to treat each other with respect and not abandon each other."

There has been a surge in debate this month in Britain on whether there should be a second vote to endorse the terms on which Britain leaves. However, May's spokesman said on Tuesday that there was no question of not following through in March next year on the referendum vote of June 2016 to leave the EU.

Constitutional lawyers are divided on whether Britain can withdraw its two-year notice to quit but the exchanges underline a view in Brussels that an EU political consensus could be found to avert Brexit -- even if most are now resigned to Britain leaving and believe the Union will weather the disruption.

Among those who have spoken of a willingness to help Britain stay or to rejoin have been French President Emmanuel Macron. Asked about the current debate, one of his advisers said on Wednesday that France would still welcome a change of heart.

"If tomorrow, or the day after, the United Kingdom decided to change its mind, it's clear that we would look at this with kindness," the adviser said. "But it's not up to us to say if the UK wants to change its mind." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Morgan McKinley has today released its latest Salary Guide which anticipates that salary increases this year are likely to be in the region of 3% on average, rising to a 10 -15% increase for niche skills in demand.

The report predicts that Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics and Data Analytics will continue to be key drivers of business transformation in 2018. The areas tipped to expand further in Ireland over the next year include advanced process engineering and automation, autonomous drive technology development/analytics, cybersecurity, data analytics, data governance and digital transformation in insurance and financial services, R&D scientists and engineers accompanied by growth in business management and administration functions across most professional sectors.

In 2017, there was a wealth of new opportunities for the tech community from a range of high investment new entrants to the marketing across e-commerce, AI, IOT, block-chain and advanced analytics.

Morgan McKinley believe the most in demand technology skills going into 2018 will be Java, Python, .NET, C++ and PHP. It also beleived that opportunities for Data Scientists, Data Miners, Data Modellers, Big Data Solutions Engineer and Data Analysts will continue to be in very high demand for 2018

Morgan McKinley say that with 80,000 tech professionals currently working in Ireland and over 8,000 jobs forecast to open in the year ahead (Tech Ireland), the growth in tech opportunities shows no signs of slowing down

Over the last year, the report records a weighted overall average movement from the mid to the higher point of the same salary bands across a number of sectors including Technology, Life Sciences and Engineering. However, many companies having completed market benchmarking assessments in the prior year, have recognised that competitive and holistic benefits packages are now key in the pursuit of top talent and have reviewed and restructured their offerings as a result.

Speaking this week, Chief Operations Officer with Morgan McKinley, Karen OFlaherty said, "There remains significant geopolitical risks for Ireland going into 2018 including Brexit, the continuing lack of devolution in Northern Ireland, the future direction and stability of the EU and uncertainty around the future direction of US economic and foreign policy. Each of these come with risks and opportunities. Ireland must be vigilant to remain cost competitive and attractive as a location to live work and do business. Ireland must also ensure continued strong alliances within the EU and capitalise on new trading prospects including the CETA trade agreement between the EU and Canada."

she added, "While Brexit represents a significant challenge for Ireland, the opportunity has arisen to attract the highly skilled EU workforce currently residing in uncertainty in the UK, while also seeking to attract back our own diaspora from London and the larger cities of the UK, as well as the internationally based talent who would previously have chosen the UK as a default location. Evidence has suggested that this has already begun to take shape. The return of Irish emigrants is a welcome feature of the market and this must be encouraged as their international experience is highly sought after."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced this week that Bank of Ireland and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) have renewed their partnership for a further three years, continuing a long-standing relationship between the Bank and SCSI.

In addition to sponsoring the Societys upcoming annual dinner, a landmark event in the Property Industry calendar, the Bank will also expand its support to include the Cork Regional Dinner in 2018.

Speaking on the announcement, Head of Property Finance at Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking, Paul McDonnell said, "We share many of the same values and responsibilities  to our customers, our communities and the economy as a whole. Through our expanded partnership, we will use our pooled resources for the benefit of the industry, in broader areas such as research, education and thought leadership."

Director General of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, Aine Myler added, "Bank of Irelands sponsorship renewal until 2020 comes at an exciting time for the property and construction sector. The SCSI Annual Dinner is the major event for property and construction professionals and is a sell-out event this year. We particularly welcome the extension of the Banks support to the Southern Regional Dinner in Cork. We look forward to working with the Bank on developing both events in the coming years."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd. released its new M6 and M6 Plus models in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Jan. 6. The smartphone-maker is planning to introduce its products to more Central and Southeast Asia nations this year. Photo: Visual China

Gionee, a strong second-tier player in Chinas smartphone market, said it will expand its footprint to more Southeast and Central Asian countries this year as it attempts to return to growth in the intensely competitive space.

Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd. is one of the more globally diverse among a crowded field of Chinese smartphone brands, and was also one of the first to discover an Indian market that has gone on to attract most of its hometown rivals. But the company has stumbled in the past year as it was overtaken in India by more-market-savvy Chinese rivals, and sales in its home market also slipped.

Building on its launch in Thailand last year and presence in the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam, Gionee plans to launch in other Southeast Asian markets this year, the company said without elaborating. It added it will also target Belt and Road countries, a reference to Chinas plans to help develop infrastructure for countries along the ancient Silk Road that passed through Central Asia, and a maritime Silk Road passing around the Horn of Africa.

In the upcoming era of FullView Display, the company will further explore the vast overseas markets and bring its leading products and mobile experiences to more global users, the company said, in reference to its newest models that follow an industry trend to boost the size of a phones display as a percentage of total surface area. Gionee is banking on those new models to rekindle its flagging growth, which dipped into negative territory last year.

In addition to its current Southeast Asian presence, the company now sells its phones in the African markets of Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt, as well as the Asian markets of Nepal, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

Despite that diversity, the company still gets the lions share of its sales from China and India, which combined accounted for 96% of its total shipments in the first nine months of last year, according to data tracking firm IDC. The company was the worlds 11th-biggest smartphone brand with about 2% of the global market during that period, though its global sales were down 12% during that time due to stiff competition from more aggressive rivals like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Xiaomi Inc. and Oppo Electronics Corp.

A few years ago, Gionee showed some signs of promise by getting into the critical India market a year or so ahead of some of its Chinese brethren like Xiaomi and Oppo, said IDC analyst Bryan Ma. But just being early doesnt guarantee success. Xiaomi in particular outgunned it by developing a strong following via ongoing engagement and interaction with its users.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)
Modified On Jan 29, 2018 06:33 PM By Dhruv Attri

The never seen before products might sport Tatas new Impact 2.0 design philosophy.

Tata Motors has released a video disclosing some of its plans for the upcoming big ticket event, the Auto Expo 2018. Guenter Butschek, CEO and MD, Tata Motors, talks in the video about the companys long term goals of contributing to Indias aim of building smart cities with its connected cars. There are three covered vehicles parked in the background, and these will break cover at Tatas smart pavilion at the expo.

Tatas video has certainly aroused our interest and increased the mystery surrounding its lineup for the Auto Expo 2018. Silhouette of all three vehicles clearly reveals that these will be a lot different from the existing Tatas. The one on the left seems to resemble some kind of an SUV while the one in the center, with its narrow and upright silhouette, looks like a compact tall vehicle. The last vehicle, parked on the extreme right, behind Guenter, looks like a hatchback and could very well be the X451. Tata will soon bring the X451 in the premium small car segment to lock horns with the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Hyundai Elite i20.

The upcoming Tata products will be wearing the Impact 2.0 design scheme, an evolution of the current Impact design language seen on the Tiago, Tigor, Nexon and Hexa. These models will be underpinned by the advanced modular architecture (AMP) and the old Land Rover Freelander 2 platform. So expect these new products to be a step up from the existing offerings on multiple fronts. Related: Tata To Introduce Impact Design 2.0 At Auto Expo 2018

Were expecting these cars and more at Tata Motors pavilion at the Auto Expo 2018. Join us to see what the Indian carmaker has in store for the near future. Related: Tata Readying Hyundai Creta Rival For 2018

Visiting the Auto Expo 2018? Know more about the venue and schedule here.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has released the date sheet for Postgraduate Entrance Test (PET) on the official website. Candidates appearing for the exam can view the entire schedule at the official website. The PET exam is being conducted for admission into various postgraduate courses in the university.

The PET exams will commence from May 20, 2018, and will continue until May 27, 2018. The first shift will be conducted from 8 am to 10 am, second from 12 pm to 2 pm and the third from 4 pm to 6 pm.

Date Day Shift Course/Subject May 20, 2018 Sunday 1st M.Sc. in Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Computer Science, Geology

Master of Agri-Business Management 2nd M.C.A. 3rd

M.A./M.Sc: Geography, Mathematics, Home Science, Psychology,

M.A. in Education,

M.Com.,

Master in Business Economics and Management May 21, 2018 Monday 1st M.Sc. (Ag), M. Ed , M.A. in Energy Economics 2nd M.Sc. in Food Science & Technology

M. A. in Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Persian, Pali, Sanskrit, Telugu, Urdu, Nepali, English, French, I.P.R., German

M. A. in Economics, History, Political Science, Sociology

M.Sc. in Biochemistry, 3rd M.F.A. (Theory)

M. P. Ed. (Theory)

M.Sc. in Health Statistics

M.A./M.Sc.- Statistics

M.Sc. in Statistics and Computing

M. Ed. (Spl.) V.I.

M.Sc. (Ag) in Soil Science - Soil and Water Conservation May 22, 2018 Tuesday 1st M.Sc. (Tech.) in Geophysics

M.Sc. (Ag.) Agroforestry 2nd M.Sc. in Environmental Science (Environmental Technology),

Common exam:

LL.M. (1-year)/ LL.M.(2 Year)/LL.M. (HRDE) 3rd M.A. in A.I.H.C. & Arch.,

M.A.-History of Art, Philosophy, Linguistics, Acharya

M.Sc. in Forensic Science May 23, 2018 Wednesday 1st M.Tech. in Agricultural Engineering (Soil and Water

Conservation Engineering)

M.Sc. in Computational Science and Applications in Signal

Processing

M. A. in Manuscriptology & Paleography

MPA- Vocal, Instrumental & MPA Dance (Theory)

MBA in Agri-Business

M.Sc. in Applied Microbiology 2nd Common exam: [MBA (Financial Management/MBA

(Foreign Trade/Risk and Insurance] 3rd Common exam:

Master of Vocational Programme:

Master of Vocation in Retail and Logistics Management

Master of Vocation in Hospitality & Tourism Management

Master of Vocation in Food Processing & Management May 24, 2018 Thursday 1st Master of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations (MPMIR) 2nd M.A. in Mass Communication 3rd M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology

M.A. in Public Administration May 25, 2018 Friday 1st Master of Tourism & Travel Management 2nd M.A. Social Work 3rd M.A. Prayojanmoolak Hindi (Patrakarita) May 26, 2018 Saturday 1st Master in Corporate Communication Management 2nd M.A. Anthropology,

M.A. in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy

M.A. in Integrated Rural Development and Management 3rd M. Lib.I.Sc. May 27, 2018 Sunday 1st M.A. in Conflict Management and Development 2nd M. Sc. in Bioinformatics

M.A. (Museology) 3rd M. Sc. in Environmental Sciences,

About BHU:

According to the official website, the following are the objectives of Banaras Hindu University:

To promote the study of the Hindu Shastras and of Sanskrit literature generally as a means of preserving and popularizing for the benefit of the Hindus in particular and of the world at large in general, the best thought and culture of the Hindus and all that was good and great in the ancient civilization of India.

To promote learning and research generally in Arts and Sciences in all branches.

To advance and diffuse such scientific, technical and professional knowledge, combined with the necessary practical training as is best calculated to help in promoting indigenous industries and in developing the material resources of the country.

To promote the building up of character in youth by religion and ethics as an integral part of education

Also Read: Rajasthan Board (RBSE) Class 10 & Class 12 Datesheet Released: Check Now!
Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) has released admit card for Combined Civil Services Main Exam 2016 post. Candidates can download their respective admit card from the official website.

JPSC Vacancy Details:

Name of the post: Combined Civil Services Preliminary Exam.2016

No. of posts: 326

Educational Requirements For JPSC:

Candidates must hold a Bachelor Degree from a recognized university.

Age Limit For JPSC:

Candidates maximum age must be 35 years.

How To Download Admit Card For JPSC Civil Service Main Exam 2018?

Candidates have to open the official website of JPSC

The link for downloading the Admit Card for CCS Main Exam 2016 will be displayed on the Home page.

By clicking on the link, following details have to be filled up by the candidate:



Registration Number, Date of Birth, Captcha Code.

Click on Download Admit Card.

Candidates will be able to download the admit card.

The candidates must carry two stamp size photograph and valid Photo ID Proof with them at the time of examination.

JPSC 2018- Important Dates:

The first shift will be conducted from 10 AM to 1 PM & the second shift will be conducted from 2 PM to 5 PM.

January 29, 2018: Paper I/ Paper II

February 1, 2018: Paper III

February 3, 2018: Paper IV

February 5, 2018: Paper V

February 7, 2018: Paper VI

For more information about the JPSC notification, click here

About Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC):

The state of Jharkhand came into existence on 15 November 2000 by carving out 18 districts of Bihar. The Jharkhand Public Service Commission was constituted under the provision of Article 315 of the Constitution of India by the Governor of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) was established with the aim of making a commission fully responsible for recruiting candidates for the government posts in the state. The main objective of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) is to conduct written competitive examinations and interviews for the selection of the candidates for any government post in the state.

UPSC Releases NDA & NA (I) 2018 Notification: Check Now!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: In Atlanta, Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@cartercenter.org



(En Francais)

BAMAKO, MALI  The Carter Center today announced that it has chosen former U.S. Ambassador Bisa Williams to spearhead its efforts as the official independent observer of Malis 2015 Peace Agreement.

Jean Ntole Kazadi, a former African Union official from the Democratic Republic of Congo, will serve as Williams deputy, the Center said.

Last November, the Peace Agreement Monitoring Committee requested that The Carter Center serve as the independent observer  a position outlined in Article 63 of the peace agreement. In December, the United Nations Security Council welcomed the Center as the independent observer in U.N. Security Council Resolution 2391.

According to Article 63, the observer is responsible for evaluating and reporting on the implementation of the agreement, identifying any hindrances, outlining responsibilities, and formulating recommendations on the steps to be taken to advance implementation. To inform its assessments, the observer will meet regularly with the signatories of the agreement and civil society.

The Carter Center has a long history in Mali, having worked for nearly three decades to assist the government in its efforts to improve health in every corner of the country. The Center also sent a small delegation to the 2002 election, helped promote food security, and worked to improve access to public information.

Today, Mali faces new and daunting challenges, first and foremost the challenge of peace, said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The Carter Center was asked to serve as the independent observer of the peace agreement. It is an important responsibility. We approach it with deep humility and an absolute commitment to impartiality.

We are confident that we can count on the support of the signatories and their firm will to build lasting peace in Mali. If peace is to endure, it will be because of actions undertaken by the people of Mali for the benefit of all citizens. We will do our best to defend peace and stand with the people of Mali in the coming period.

Background

Bisa Williams, special advisor on Mali: Williams, a former foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, served as the United States ambassador to Niger from 2010-2013 and deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2015. Prior to those postings, she was the State Departments coordinator for Cuban affairs (2007-2010) and acting deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere (2010). She now runs her own strategy and advising firm.

Jean Ntole Kazadi, deputy special advisor on Mali: Kazadi, former chief of staff and political advisor to the secretary-general of the International Organization of the Francophonie, was most recently head of the political unit and chief advisor for the African Union Mission to Mali and the Sahel.

Languages

Le Centre Carter entame ses efforts en tant quObservateur independant de lAccord pour la paix du Mali >

###

"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
Haiti bans cement imports by road from the Dominican Republic

17 January 2018

This week there was a chaotic scene on the Dominican Republic-Haiti border as over 20 Dominican products, including cement, were barred from entering the French-speaking Caribbean nation.



According to Haitian officials, the ban on 23 products from the Dominican Republic is nothing new and they are only banned from entering by road.



Haiti's Finance Ministry says the measures are adopted to provide "better quality control and to better ensure the safety of the population" and to enable the country to recover millions lost due to smuggling.

Published under
home World Christ statue in Peru catches fire days before papal visit

A large statue of Christ caught fire in Peru on Saturday, just days ahead of Pope Francis' scheduled visit to the South American nation.

According to the Associated Press, the statue, called "Christ of the Pacific," was donated by Brazilian company Odebrecht, which is at the center of a corruption scandal involving many of Peru's high-profile politicians.

Two dozen firefighters responded to fight the blaze that charred nearly the entire back of the 69-foot (21-meter) statue. It was initially thought that the fire was caused by an act of arson, but the police stated that it was sparked by electrical cables that had short-circuited due to humidity.

Many Peruvians saw the statue as a reminder of Odebrecht's illegal activities, including its bribe offers to high-ranking officials in exchange for lucrative public works contracts. In January 2017, the statue was vandalized with messages like "Out of the country Odebrecht."

Two former presidents have been accused of accepting money from the Odebrecht while current president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was nearly impeached in December over his alleged links to the company.

Documents uncovered by opposition lawmakers have reportedly shown that Kuczynski's private consulting firm received $782,000 from the company over a decade ago when he was serving as a government minister. The president denied knowing about the payments, saying he had recused himself from all consulting business when he took office.

The burning of the statue came five days before the pope's arrival in Peru. Francis is hoping to call attention to the need to protect the Amazon rainforest, but Peruvians are waiting to see whether he addresses corruption.

On Monday, Francis landed in Chile, where three Catholic churches where firebombed in the capital city of Santiago.

In one church, the perpetrators reportedly left a direct threat to the pope, saying the next bombs will be "in your cassock."

The message was written in Spanish but all letters that signify grammatical gender were reportedly replaced with "x"s, a common practice among activists on the radical left.

"We will never submit to the dominion you want to exercise over our bodies, our ideas and actions, because we were born free to chose the path we want to take. Against every monk and nun and against every preacher. Bodies free, impure and wild," it read.

The perpetrators further threatened to attack the pope's "disgusting morals" with the "fire of combat."

"Freedom to all the political prisoners of the world! Free Wallmapu [indigenous territory]! Autonomy and resistance! Pope Francis the next bombs will be in your cassock!" the message concluded.
home World Masked men gun down Coptic Christian in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

Masked men have reportedly gunned down a Christian man in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday in the latest attack targeting members of the Coptic community.

Egyptian security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the attack was carried out by three masked gunmen and the victim has been identified as 35-year-old Bassem Attallah.

No group has claimed responsibility for the shooting, which was said to bear the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which has launched a years-long insurgency in the region.

The shooting came after two Egyptian Christians were killed by a gunman earlier this month as they celebrated the New Year at a liqour store.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 93 million, according to The New Arab. There are about 10 to 15 million followers of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, with another 18 to 25 million followers in other places. It is said to be the largest Christian minority in the Middle East, and its situation is often considered a bellwether for broader Christian prospects in the region.

Since December 2016, members of the terror group have killed more than 100 people in a series of deadly attacks targeting the country's Christian minority. Last month, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least nine people at a Coptic church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo.

In February, ISIS militants released a propaganda video vowing to "wipe out" Egypt's Copts and "liberate Cairo." A series of attacks that took place over the summer had prompted a Cairo priest to describe the murder of Copts as "the most aggressive campaign against them in the history of modern Egypt."

At least 49 people were killed in two church bombings during Easter celebrations, while 28 were killed in May when militants attacked people traveling to an Ascension Day service at a monastery in Upper Egypt.

According to persecution watchdog group Open Doors, as many as 128 Christians were killed in religiously motivated attacks in Egypt last year.

"Last year, 128 people were killed in Egypt simply for being Christian. For many more it is an act of quiet resistance to continue attending their churches a not to be scared into staying at home. The violent deaths hit the headlines, but the slow, suffocating discrimination and abuse Christians face every day goes unreported," said Lisa Pearce, CEO of Open Doors U.K. and Ireland.

Egypt has been ranked in the Open Doors 2018 World Watch List as the 17th most dangerous country for Christians.
home World US pledges $55 million to help Christians rebuild their homes in Iraq

The U.S. government has pledged to donate $55 million to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) to help Christians and other religious minorities rebuild their homes following the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq.

In October, Vice President Mike Pence announced that will no longer rely on the U.N. to provide aid to Christians in Iraq and vowed to work instead with faith-based groups and private organizations to help persecuted minorities.

According to The Christian Post, President Donald Trump's administration recently announced that it has renegotiated a deal with the U.N. to ensure that vulnerable Christians, Yazidis and other minorities will receive the U.N. assistance that they were previously denied.

Iraqi Christian leaders and human rights advocates have lamented that thousands of persecuted minorities have not been receiving their fair share of U.N. assistance for rebuilding their communities.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) stated in a press release that it has ensured that $55 million out of $75 million pledged to the UNDP Funding Facility for Stabilization in Iraq "will address the needs of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority communities" in the Nineveh Province."

"The modified agreement ensures that the U.S. contribution will help the populations of liberated areas in Ninewa Province resume normal lives by restoring services such as water, electricity, sewage, health, and education," the release stated.

USAID officials said that another $75 million has been pledged but it will be dependent on the UNDP improving its "accountability and transparency record."

The Trump administration also announced that it is accepting proposals from private organizations on the ground in Iraq to receive direct aid from the U.S. government to help religious minorities rebuild their ancestral homelands.

Human rights expert Nina Shea, who previously served as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), had voiced her skepticism about the renegotiated deal between the Trump administration and the U.N.

"I have no confidence in the UNDP," Shea said in an email to The Christian Post on Friday. "As USAID is now willing to admit, UNDP has been grossly mismanaged, is not transparent, and has deliberately marginalized the genocide that targeted Christian and Yazidi minorities for over the past two years," she continued.

Shea further stated that the success of the agreement "will depend on the vigilance of USAID overseers." She asserted that the overseers need to monitor the funds, not just on paper, but also through field checks and regular communications with church leaders on the ground.

The new agreement between the U.S. government and the UNDP were negotiated largely by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and her office, according to Fox News.
Church warden and magician arrested over murder of church lay preacher and neighbour

A church warden and a magician have been arrested on suspicion of murder after two neighbours, one of whom was a lay preacher, died in mysterious circumstances within 18 months of each other in a Buckinghamshire village.

Peter Farquhar, 69, a retired teacher and university lecturer, was at first believed to have died of natural causes when he passed away in October 2015 at his home in Maids Moreton, near Milton Keynes.

However, police became suspicious last summer when his neighbour three doors away, 83-year-old Anne Moore-Martin, another retired teacher, also died suddenly after a short illness.

After months of investigation, detectives yesterday arrested two of Farquhar's former University of Buckingham students, one of whom, 27-year-old Ben Field, had church connections to Farquhar and had been lodging with him before he died, according to the Telegraph.

Field, a former English literature and journalism student, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the pair, attempting to defraud them and also burglary.

Field was a deputy church warden at Stowe Parish Church, where Farquhar was a respected member of the congregation, sometimes acting as a lay preacher. The pair would reportedly often visit sick and elderly members of the community together.

The Telegraph reported that another former student, Martyn Smith, 31, from Redruth in Cornwall, who works as a part-time magician, was also arrested on suspicion of the same offences.

The newspaper said that a third man, aged 22, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false representation.

Neighbours in the village expressed their shock. Betty Cooke, 87, who had known Farquhar for almost 20 years, said: 'Peter was the nicest man you could meet. A real gentleman. He took a man in as a lodger and I didn't see much of Peter after that.'

Field and Smith became friends of Farquhar while studying at the University of Buckingham and months before he died, the pair persuaded him to publish a handwritten manuscript that he had written 20 years previously. They also set up a company called Farquhar Studies, becoming directors of the business.

Farquhar was a Cambridge graduate who was single. He taught English at Manchester Grammar School for 34 years before moving to Stowe private school.

He fell ill in the autumn of 2015, having been fit and active, according to the Telegraph. One neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the paper: 'He was normally very fit and very well  never ill. Suddenly he started to go downhill and was feeling ill. He spiralled downwards and was taken to the Red House Nursing Home, which is just around the corner from his home.'

He returned home in October 2015 and died there in his sleep a short time later.

It was only in May last year, when Mrs Moore-Martin, who lived at her detached home just three doors away, also took ill and died, that police started to treat both deaths as suspicious.

Moore-Martin, who also never married, was a former headmistress at a Catholic primary school in Bicester and was also reportedly 'very religious'.

Neighbours said they had known Moore-Martin for more than 30 years, and that she had lived there with her elderly mother Isabel until she died in the 1990s.

A neighbour said that just days before she died, police had conducted door-to-door inquiries, during which they asked who she had been associating with. 'They wanted to know about her and if she had friends in the area. We asked what was happening and if Ann was all right, and they said, "No, she's not. She's very ill",' the neighbour said.

Another local resident, James Hancock, said: 'Anne was a friend of ours. You saw people coming and going and you didn't know who they were. With hindsight you think you could have done something. Anne became ill. She became vulnerable.'

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said last night: 'We have made three arrests in connection with a murder investigation after two elderly residents died in Buckinghamshire. The causes of death are yet to be determined.'
Ex-Muslims blast Pope Francis for saying Islam is a good religion

Thousands of Muslim converts to Catholicism and their allies have written an open letter to Pope Francis demanding to know why he praises Islam as a good religion and pointing out they risked their lives to become Christians.

The converts ask Pope Francis: 'If Islam is a good religion in itself, as you seem to teach, why did we become Catholic? Do not your words question the soundness of the choice we made at the risk of our lives?'

Muslims are forbidden from converting to other faiths under Sharia law and conversion is considered by some Muslim countries to be a crime punishable by death.

The letter, which first emerged on Christmas day in French and signed by only ten people, has now gained over 3,700 signatures, though it is not clear whether or not some are merely non-Muslim opponents of Islam.

The organisers say that they have written after repeatedly attempting to gain meetings with Pope Francis to discuss Islam and their predicament.

According to LifeSiteNews.com, the organisers are not commenting on how many Muslim converts to Catholicism have signed the letter, though they say the names of the former Muslim signatories and the associations to which they belong would be revealed to the Pope only, were he to ask.

They told the news website in a statement: 'As we said in the presentation of our letter, the ex-Muslims, in general, knowing themselves condemned to death by Islam, avoid making themselves known.'

The letter specifically raises the Pope's teaching on Islam in the 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (paragraphs 252 and 253), in which Francis wrote that 'authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence'.

The letter says: 'You do not like to beat around the bush, and neither do we, so allow us to say frankly that we do not understand your teaching about Islam.

'Because it does not account for the fact that Islam came after Christ, and so is, and can only be, an Antichrist, and one of the most dangerous because it presents itself as the fulfilment of Revelation (of which Jesus would have been only a prophet).'

The letter also raises comments by Pope Francis in August 2016 in which he appeared to compare 'Islamic violence' with violence by some individual Catholics.

He was asked why he never talks of 'Islamic violence' by a journalist aboard the papal plane in the wake of the brutal murder of Father Jacques Hamel, the French priest who was slain while celebrating Mass.

The Pope replied: 'I don't like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy ... this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law ... and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence.'

The letter states: 'Islam prescribes death for apostates (Quran 4.89, 8.7-11), do you know? How is it possible to compare Islamic violence with so-called Christian violence?'

It continues: 'In accordance with His teaching (Luke 14:26), we preferred Him, the Christ, to our own life,' they add. 'Are we not in a good position to talk to you about Islam?...Where the Gospel proclaims the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection for the salvation of all, and the fulfilment of the Covenant initiated with the Hebrews. Allah has nothing to offer but war and murder of the "infidels" in exchange for his paradise.

'In fact, as long as Islam wants us to be its enemy, we are, and all our protestations of friendship cannot change anything.'

The letter does clarify that they it does not confuse Islam with ordinary Muslims, but also says that 'naivete in the face of Islam is suicidal and very dangerous'.

It questions Pope Francis about his January 20, 2014, remarks for World Migrants and Refugees Day, in which he encouraged a primarily Muslim audience to find hope in the Qur'an.

It asks: 'That the Pope seems to propose the Quran as a way of salvation, is that not cause for worry? Should we return to Islam?'

The letter takes a stance against Islamic immigration, taking issue with Pope Francis for preaching 'the welcoming of migrants regardless of the fact that they are Muslims'.

It warns of impending danger from 'Islamization', stating: 'This is a matter of life and death, and any complacency towards Islam is treasonous. We do not wish the West to continue with Islamization, nor that your actions contribute to it. Where then would we go to seek refuge?'

And it cites 2 John 1:10-11: 'If anyone comes to you but refuses this Gospel, do not receive him among you nor greet him. Whoever greets him participates in his evil works.'

The signatories tell Pope Francis: 'Also, we do not understand that you are pleading for Muslims to practise their religion in Europe. The meaning of Scripture should not be supplied by the proponents of globalism, but in fidelity to Tradition. The Good Shepherd hunts the wolf, He does not let it enter the sheepfold.'

The letter requests a synod on the dangers of Islam, saying: 'In the interest of justice and truth, the Church must bring to light why the arguments put forward by Islam to blaspheme the Christian faith are false. If the Church had the courage to do that, we do not doubt that millions, Muslims as well as other men and women seeking the true God, would convert.'
Mormons welcome 93-year-old heart surgeon as new leader

Mormonism has a new leader. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has named Russell M Nelson as its 17th president.

Nelson, 93, was formally welcomed into his new role during a live broadcast from Utah's Salt Lake Temple yesterday in a first for the Church. The announcement was made in 29 languages.

He said: 'I express my deep love for you  love that has grown over decades of meeting you, worshipping with you and serving you.'

At a news conference, Nelson paid tribute to his predecessor Thomas Monson, who died aged 90 on January 2. 'No words can do justice to the magnitude and magnificence of his life,' Nelson said.

Nelson was ordained into his new position on Sunday. He was the longest-serving member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, meaning his succession to the presidency was automatic.

Like mainstream Christian Churches, the Mormon Church has faced pressure over its rejection of same-sex marriage. Nelson is a traditionalist on the issue and has defended the policy that prevents children of gay parents from being baptised without special approval, according to KUER's Lee Hale.

A pioneering heart surgeon during his working life, Nelson has 116 great-grandchildren, some of whom were present at the announcement of his presidency.
New monasticism: Why are so many young people choosing to become temporary monks?

'Spiritual but not religious' has become a catchphrase for the interested-but-uncommitted as numerous studies document the relentless decline in church attendance in the UK.

But as religious affiliation continues its tailspin, with most of British adults professing 'no religion' for the first time last year, interest in spirituality is on the rise.

'There is a deep spiritual yearning for substance and depth,' says Rev Ian Mobsby of St Luke's Camberwell in Peckham, London. 'But people immediately assume the church has nothing to offer to that. That is why people call themselves spiritual and not religious.'

Mobsby finds himself at the heart of a trend developing across the Church of England, billed as 'new monasticism'  a rediscovery of an ancient religious practice.

'People are asking, "What are the anchors to life? What is life about?"' he says. 'New monasticism is trying to say to a world increasingly interested in spirituality that Christianity has a lot to say.'

This month another new monastic community for young Christians is opening in Leicester. The Community of the Tree of Life is aimed at young Christians aged between 20 and 35. Members must be single and they must live together for a year, taking vows to pray three times a day, eat together and work on voluntary projects.

'I definitely think there is a renewal of prayer and religious life in the Church,' says Rev Rachel Bennetts, Prior of The Community.

'There is a real hunger for an authentic way of life, a deeper way of life. There is a cultural challenge in this which says "I do not want to do life the same as everyone else is."'

Leicester is far from an anomaly. As well as more established and well-known monastic groups such as The Iona Community off the coast of Scotland, The Community of the Tree of Life joins Mobsby's own Wellspring Community in Peckham, The Community of St Margaret the Queen in the Diocese of Southwark, Moot in the City of London and St Frideswide's religious community opening in Oxford among many more.

Perhaps the most prominent of all is the Community of St Anselm, based in Lambeth Palace and set up by the current Archbishop of Canterbury. Again aimed at young Christians between 20 and 35, participants live together at the Palace, commited to regular prayer and serving a local church or charity project.

'I think generally there is an interest in exploring intensive forms of discipleship,' Justin Welby's chaplain, Isabelle Hamley, says. 'You can see a similar desire in wider society in the interest in mindfulness. There is a very rich tradition of Christian practice that can meet some of the anxieties that people find in a fast-changing world.'

After joining Lambeth Palace a year ago this month, part of Hamley's role is to oversee the programme alongside its new prior Revd Dr Rosalyn Murphy. Hamley says the combination of prayer and working with a local project is key.

'It is not about escaping. It is about engaging and having the space to reflect on how we engage with the world and with one another.

'Instead of people coming and making life vows, the majority are time limited,' she says. 'It aims to build habits of life that will last for the future and transform the way people live their secular lives afterwards.'

The relatively short-term nature of new monasticism, with most participants taking vows for one year rather than for life, is one way in which it differs from the traditional monasticism found in the earliest centuries of Christianity.

Rather than signing up to a 'rule', members sign to a 'rhythm of life' and while singleness is desired in most cases, married couples are allowed to join some projects, whereas ancient monasticism was strictly celibate.

But 'new monasticism' should not be seen as a soft alternative to the real thing, says Bennetts. 'It is a big challenge and not a way for the faint hearted.'

Many new monastic groups, including The Community of St Anselm, ask members to either give up or restrict use of social media as part of living with 'simplicity'. Others adopt certain dress codes for some or all of their activities.

'We are not going to be living like the Desert Fathers but it is an opportunity to step away from some of the distractions,' says Bennetts.

And Mobsby adds: 'It is not about being a monk. It is about saying these traditions have something very deep for us to draw on.'

Mobsby, like Justin Welby, is one of a number of advocates of new monasticism to emerge from the Church of England's evangelical wing. Broadly speaking, evangelicals tend to shun traditional and elaborate forms of religion in favour of an approach based more directly on the Bible. With this in mind one of the criticisms of new monasticism is that it is simply evangelicals discovering something that the Church has done for centuries and claiming it for themselves.

But Mobsby insists it is broader than just an evangelical movement. 'It is renewing the breadth of the Church,' he says. 'It is made up of a balance of some people who are spiritual but not religious, plus Anglo-Catholics who are serious about faith, and charismatic evangelicals who are serious about teaching. The great thing about new monasticism is that it draws on the full breadth of these traditions.'

The sudden growth of new monastic communities is partly in response to an increasingly consumeristic and individual society.

'I think people reach their mid 20s and think: "Is this all there is? "Is there a deeper way of living than this?"' says Bennetts.

'Rather than just attending worship services people are now looking for a way of life. "How do I live in a culture that seems increasing uncertain where world powers seem to be working not toward progress but towards a sense of real worry?"',' adds Mobsby.

But the growth in interest is not just a reaction against a consumeristic society, says Mobsby. It is also a reaction against the Church: 'There is such big gap in where people are and where churches are.'

Most Anglican churches, particularly evangelical ones, were formed in a culture characterised by reason, thinking and believing, Mobsbey says. But now people are more focused on authenticity and emotion.

'The Church is always 20 or 30 years behind culture generally. The Church is in a modernist culture which is all about thinking and believing.

'People aren't like that now. They want transformation and meaning. What I am seeing is a need for a much better balance between experience and reason.'

Hamley, the archbishop's chaplain, admits there can be a lack of depth in regular churches. 'People are dissatisfied with the depth they find in local church and want a place they can explore at a deeper level,' she says. 'There is a desire to find something deeper.'

She goes on: 'If all you do is go once a week it is not as relational as it could or should. We all need more than once a week meetings. A lot of churches do lots of good things during the week with home groups etc but new monasticism takes that community to a further level. I think often it gives a coherence to what you do.'

Bennetts agrees the movement is in part a reaction against a common way of doing church.

'In church we get caught up in how much we have to do and achieve. There are anxieties in the church about how we must be growing about how we must reach people,' she says.

Mobsby says this stress and pressure on clergy to reverse the decline in churchgoing  for instance through popular evangelistic courses  has created a consumeristic approach to church itself.

'We have got a real focus on a course for six weeks and then making a commitment. But then we are expected to cope for the rest of our lives. Actually we're on the discipleship course for the rest of our life.

'How do we be in a consumer culture but not part of it?' he asks. 'I am worried that some expressions of church dumb down what Christianity is all about.' He's concerned about 'business practices' being absorbed into church leadership.

'There is a danger of losing what church is supposed to be about. It is a radical reorientation of life.'

He is not the only one to raise concerns about a business-led approach to church and the need for growth. The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, Martyn Percy, told bishops to stop acting as CEOs 'chasing growth targets' and said the increasingly 'organisational and bureaucratic' approach leaves clergy feeling 'guilty' if they don't succeed in getting more people into church.

In a speech in November he calledfor an end to 'blue-sky' thinking and warned that 'every step that the Church takes down the road of managerialism and organisation is a step away from the public'.

But Welby's chaplain, Hamley, denied there was a dichotomy between depth and growth.

'Growth in numerical terms will only happen when you have growth in depth,' she says. 'That should feed into growth in numbers and it is also integral to what we see the Church as being about.

'I think one of the mistakes we make is to think new monasticism is time out. It is not time out. It is engaging at a deeper level. The idea is to enable people to engage and reflect on how they are going to engage with a secular society in a more spiritual way when they come out.'

Analysts split the Church of England into 'deniers', who think its plight isn't nearly as bad as people think, and 'panickers', who are convinced all-out evangelism is all that stands between it and extinction.

Perhaps  just perhaps  this new monasticism represents a way forward that shows evangelical activism can co-exist with real spirituality.
Nigerian student 'arrested after converting to Christianity from Islam'

A Nigerian university student who converted from Islam to Christianity has been arrested by state security forces along with the man who introduced her to Christianity, according to World Watch Monitor (WWM).

The young woman who was arrested last week is Nabila Umar Sanda, 19, a student at Bingham University in Karu, in the central state of Nasarawa. The university is owned by one of Nigeria's major churches, Evangelical Church Winning All.

While studying there she became friends with Simput Dafup, a 33-year-old Christian, who invited her to meet a local church leader, Jeremiah Datim, after she expressed an interest in the faith.

Speaking to the press in Jos, the capital of neighbouring Plateau state, Datim explained that after the young woman decided to become a Christian, he immediately made contact with the local Islamic organisation, as has become customary according to WWM.

Datim said: 'Knowing the sensitive nature of conversion from lslam to Christianity, and given that between the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the [Islamic group] Jama'atu Nasril lslam (JNI) ... there is a working understanding, or protocol, that where such issues or situations arise relating to any of the two religions, the leaders of the affected religion should contact the leadership of the other religion from which the convert is coming, I immediately contacted the leadership of JNI in the state and informed them that I had one Miss Nabila Umar Sanda in my possession and that she had converted to Christianity.'

WWM reports that Datim then went to meet a JNI leader, who made contact with Sanda's parents. Datim claimed that later that day  8 January  detectives from the Department of State Security Services 'stormed my house, assaulted my wife, daughter and eight-month-old baby, and took Nabila away'.

Dafup was arrested that same day, and both are still being held in an unknown location.

Religious conversion is not illegal in Nigeria.

Datim said: 'I want to state, for the avoidance of doubt, that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees the right to anyone to propagate his faith and the right to also practise any religion of one's choice. Miss Nabila told me she is 19 years old and therefore free to choose a religion for herself.

'After I met Miss Nabila for the first time ... I interacted with her and asked her a lot of questions about both the Christian faith and Islamic faith. Nabila clearly said that she had made up her mind to join the Christian faith and was willing to be a Christian no matter what obstacles were placed on her way.

'I understand that her father has said he has all the "connections" in this country to deal with me, Dafup and any other person found to have been involved in the conversion of his daughter to Christianity, and that he will ensure that we rot in jail. l want to state here without fear of contradiction that neither Dafup, myself or any other person that has established contact with Nabila has breached any law of this land.

'I also learnt that Nabila's father reported to the DSS that we forcefully abducted and brainwashed her into becoming a Christian. l challenge the DSS to produce Nabila and put us side by side so they can ask her if she was forcefully converted to Christianity or abducted or brainwashed.'

Dafup's mother, Lydia, also addressed the media in Jos, saying: 'The men who stormed my son's premises, heavily armed, in five...vehicles, blocked everywhere and assaulted even passers-by. It has become so worrisome for me to let you know about this, because, as I speak with you now, I don't know where my son is. Nobody has contacted me or any member of the family as to his whereabouts.

She continued: 'As a mother and a widow, l am worried about the safety of my son. I beg you journalists to help me to trace where my son is please.'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle news: Lifetime to chronicle love story

British Royal Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle are set to have a film based on their love story, under the care and production of Lifetime television movies. The film will be chronicling just how Markle and Prince Harry came to be, and the pre-production is already under way.

According to reports, the news of the movie, titled "Harry & Meghan: The Royal Love Story," was announced last Sunday, Jan. 14, by Lifetime's head of programming, Liz Gateley, during the network's Television Critics Association press tour. Gateley then explained that the story will encompass how the couple had met, starting from the story of how they were set up by mutual friends, the lengthy courtship that ensued, up until they had completely fallen in love.

It is safe to assume that a vast number of people are highly interested in catching a glimpse of just how the relationship between Markle and Prince Harry unfolded. Prior to the engagement, the two had kept their relationship a secret from the public. When the relationship was finally announced, it became highly publicized and turned into a global sensation, up until now.

Perhaps, this is the reason why the story could potentially become such a compelling one. As of now, actors are being cast by the production. There are no speculations or news regarding on which actors could take on the roles of Markle and Prince Harry, as well as a definite release date. However, if Lifetime is to follow the previous Royal love story movie of William and Kate, "Harry & Meghan: The Royal Love Story" could come out even before the wedding.

The movie already has a designated director in Menhaj Huda, who was previously tasked with directing the American television show "The Royals."

The soon-to-be couple publicly announced their engagement back in November, and will tie the knot in May of this year.
Samsung Galaxy X specs, release date rumors: Smartphone might have limited supply

While Samsung has not revealed any concrete details about the "Samsung Galaxy X," recent speculations give everyone something to be excited about.

The multinational South Korean corporation announced the production and design of an upcoming smartphone, dubbed as the Galaxy X, last 2017. This is presumed to be a move that would rival Apple's very own iPhone X.

The latest Samsung Galaxy X trailers unveiled key concept designs that fueled more rumors surrounding the product.

Perhaps, the biggest game changer that Samsung revealed is the smartphone's foldable, two-in-one design. Particularly, the Galaxy X can be "unfolded" and changed into a tablet that is assumed to span around seveninches.

However, other sources point out that buyers will be given a choice in terms of tablet size. This could potentially hint two versions or more of the Galaxy X.

Besides the size, other reports on its specs include similarities with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. It was recently revealed that the project has a model number of SM-G929F, which is close to the Galaxy Edge Plus' SM-G928 code.

Much like the iPhone X, this project of Samsung is expected to have a full screen design. While this feature, along with the foldable mechanic, does not seem fitting, it is nonetheless made possible thanks to the expected use of the OLED panel.

This use of the OLED panel in the Galaxy X and Samsung's other upcoming foldable smartphones is labeled as "Samsung Project Valley."

Project Valley is where most of the speculations are coming from, particularly regarding the release date, availability, and price of Samsung's new smartphone.

For instance, there are reports fromSamMobile.com that Project Valley will be limited to a few countries in its initial stages. These countries are France, Germany, United Kingdom, South Korea, Poland, and the Nordic countries.

Of course, the supply of the upcoming smartphone will greatly affect its price, something that is still unknown today. Still, Kim Dong-Jin, President of Samsung's mobile business, hinted a 2019 debut for the highly-anticipated product.

"As the head of the business, I can say our current goal is next year," he said in an interview with Bloomberg, adding, "When we can overcome some problems for sure, we will launch the product."
'The Last Jedi' news: Director explains decision behind Rey's parents

"Star Wars" fans were quite shocked or disappointed at the revelations of Rey's (Daisy Ridley) parentage since they were revealed to be "nobodies" by none other than antagonist Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi."

In response to this, director Rian Johnson explains to Hollywood Reporter why he came to such a decision instead of making Rey the daughter of a significant figure in the saga. The 44-year-old showrunner has stated that Rey's existence was supposed to be driven by the future and not the past, where dwelling on the latter notion could eventually make her become like Kylo.

"It was hinted at in [Episode] VII when Maz (Lupita Nyong'o) says the answers lay ahead, not behind, but it was something that was obviously still on Rey's mind and the audience's mind. It felt like a powerful thing that she was still holding onto this notion of the past defining her. And I guess I was entirely looking at it from a perspective of...what would be the thing that would be the most difficult for her to hear?" claimed Johnson.

While this makes Rey's existence in the franchise subjectively a lot more meaningful and less shackled by determinism, some fans were still left with the burning question of how she relates into the franchise's big characters. Still, Johnson argued that this would be quite easy and perhaps even cliched for a protagonist, where having a well-established parentage and past would be too unchallenging for a character.

Instead, Johnson's opinion on what makes Rey an interesting character is that her identity and role in the galaxy was not handed to her and that she had to stand on her own two feet. This makes Rey's character relatively a nobody who has risen up to take the challenge of finding what her worth in the galaxy. Still, this can be quite a hard pill to swallow for some "Star Wars" fans, but they need not worry as Rey's ambiguous parentage could still change in the final movie, "Episode IX."
The Landscape of Faith: How the ancient Creeds speak to us of Christ

I discovered Christianity back in 1971. I had been one of those brash and overconfident atheists who happily dismissed people with religious commitments as mad, bad, or sad. Yet I don't think I ever really grasped what Christianity was all about, or the weaknesses of my own atheism.

I discovered Christianity while I was a student at Oxford. It was like entering a strange new world, and struggling to cope with its ideas. It took a long time to settle down in this new place. It was like arriving on an island, and gradually getting a sense of its geography, and learning how to live. I longed for some kind of guide to this island, which would help me learn about it, and settle down there. I knew that there were some wonderful things to be discovered. But what were they? Where were they? Who could tell me about them?

As a boy, I took delight in reading books about faraway places, such as RM Ballantyne's The Coral Island, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. They captured my youthful imagination, setting me alongside people who arrived on mysterious islands with hidden secrets waiting to be discovered. I realised that my discovery of the Christian faith was like being washed up on the shores of one of these mysterious islands, and challenged to explore its landscape. I've tried to rise to that challenge.

So, more than 40 years later, I wrote this book. The Landscape of Faith is basically an explorer's guide to the Christian faith. In it, I try to provide a map of this rich and intriguing landscape, to help others explore it. I share my insights into some of basic Christian ideas, trying to explain why these make sense, and how they help us live our lives well and meaningfully.

My basic approach is simple. Let's listen to (and learn from!) those who have made this island their home. Let's allow them to tell us what they found, and how it can enrich our own lives and thinking. You probably won't be surprised to learn that I use CS Lewis a lot. I admire the clarity and elegance of his writing, and the helpful ways in which he opens up some basic Christian ideas. But there are lots of others I draw on as well.

It's about allowing those who have lived on that island for some time to take us on a journey around the island, pointing out its main features, and explaining how they understood and valued them. As I grew in my faith, I came to value mentors or travelling companions, who would help me to understand particular issues or ideas, passing on their wisdom, so that I could in turn pass it on to others.

The book is organised around the statements of the Creeds. I have to tell you that my own first encounters with those Creeds were decidedly unpromising. Perhaps they even reinforced my atheism! They seemed so dry and dull, lacking any sense of vibrancy or excitement. Who could get interested in them, let alone enthusiastic about them?

Yet as I grew in my faith, I began to realise that the Creeds were like maps of the landscape of faith, helping us to find our way, and telling us what to look out for. There was no way that they communicated the joy and wonder of the Christian gospel. But that's not what they are meant to do. They tell us what to look for  and invite us to discover it for ourselves.

The Creeds set an agenda of discovery as we explore the landscape of faith. They are not, and were never intended to be, substitutes for an experience of the love of God, or capturing a glimpse of the glory of God through contemplating the solemn stillness of the night sky. The Creeds sketch the territory through which we will travel, and invite us to fill in the detail from our own experience of journeying through that landscape, our conversations with fellow travellers, and our reading of the key resources of faith, such as the Bible.

In my own case, I discovered this island of faith. I thought I already knew something about Christianity, and regarded it as moribund and barren. Only later did I realise that I had rejected a caricature and failed to appreciate what it was really about. And having discovered this island, I set out to explore its landscape.

Yet others will want to rediscover this island of faith. Maybe some of us are over-familiar with its vistas, and have become used to them. You may feel the need to renew and refresh your vision of faith, perhaps by seeing things in a new way, or appreciating aspects of the island that you don't know much about. My hope is that this short book might be helpful for those who feel the need to start all over again, and try and grasp the rich vision of our faith.

The Landscape of Faith won't answer all your questions. It's far too short for that. Instead, it tries to do something much simpler, and perhaps more important. It gives you a new way of looking at the Creeds and helps you with the process of exploring and discovering. It is a tool for study, a resource for wisdom in leading an intelligent, reflective, and grateful life of Christian discipleship.

Having now inhabited this world for more than 40 years, I feel confident enough to write this book, aiming to help others to discover, encounter, appreciate, and understand its rich and sumptuous, yet often puzzling, features. My aim is to help my readers develop their own map of the island of the Christian faith by telling them what I have found as I travelled, and how I built this into my own 'big picture' of faith.

I hope that this book will prove useful to those inside the Christian faith who want to go deeper, and also to those outside the Christian faith who are wondering what it is all about.

Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Gresham Professor of Divinity in the City of London. 'The Landscape of Faith' is published by SPCK, price 14.99.
Who are the Mormons, and are they Christians?

In 2018, the Mormon Church appointed a new leader. Retired heart surgeon Russell M Nelson was installed as its new president; at 93, it's only realistic to assume that his tenure may not be very many years long.

Mormonism has a much wider following in the US than in the UK, where its tenets are not widely known. So who are the Mormons  and are they Christians?

1. Mormons belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the Church's website, 'Mormonism describes the doctrines of the Church that were restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.'

2. Smith (1805-1844) was the Church's founder. He claimed to have been led to a book of buried golden plates containing the story of an ancient American civilisation. The 'translation' of these plates was the Book of Mormon, published when he was 24 years old. By the time of his death he had accumulated tens of thousands of followers. Smith was killed when a mob stormed a jail where he had been imprisoned for destroying a printing press that had published criticisms of him. The golden plates, he claimed, were returned to the Angel Moroni and are no longer in existence.

3. The Book of Mormon is regarded as 'another testament of Jesus Christ' in addition to the Old and New Testaments, according to the Mormon faith.

4. Mormons believe the Christian church fell away from the original pure doctrines of Jesus and that Joseph Smith was sent to restore it. They reject the historic Christian creeds. They do not believe in the orthodox Christian Trinity, preferring to speak of the 'Godhead': 'Latter-day Saints believe God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are one in will and purpose but are not literally the same being or substance, as conceptions of the Holy Trinity commonly imply.'

5. Mormons believe their 'apostles' receive revelations from God: 'The First Presidency (consisting of the president or prophet of the Church and his two counselors) and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles receive inspiration to guide the Church as a whole.'

6. Women cannot be priests, though they can preach and lead congregational prayers.

7. Mormons have not practised polygamy since 1890, though it is still found in fundamentalist splinter groups.

8. Mormons practise baptism for the dead, but deny that this controversial practice amounts to post-mortem conversion: 'According to Church doctrine, a departed soul in the afterlife is completely free to accept or reject such a baptism  the offering is freely given and must be freely received.'

9. Mormons believe they will be reunited with their families when they die: 'Church members understand that families are the most important unit of society. Accordingly, those who follow Christ and keep His commandments are promised to live with their families forever in divinely instituted eternal relationships.'

10. Mormons have an unorthodox view of the Atonement, stressing Jesus' experience in Gethsemane, and of salvation, believing it must be partly earned.

So, are Mormons Christians? They use much Christian language and many of their spiritual practices are close to mainstream evangelicalism  prayer and study, for instance. They are socially conservative and place a high value on ethical behaviour. In that sense they are 'Christian'.

However, they do not believe Jesus was the Son of God in the orthodox Christian sense. They do not believe in original sin or in the orthodox Christian view of salvation and atonement. The Book of Mormon is another Testament on a level with the Bible, which Christians would deny. They believe the historic Christian faith has been corrupted and that Joseph Smith was a genuine prophet.

So it's fair to say that Mormonism comes out of the Christian tradition. But though they are adamant they are Christians, they cannot be accepted as such by the worldwide church because they have departed so far from the faith.
The ice storm that glazed over the Houston area Tuesday has inspired some brave residents to venture outside in search of social media gold.

Houstonians have shared photos of their pets, cars, and homes coated in ice on social media while the entire southeastern region remains under a winter storm warning.
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WASHINGTON  Republican lawmakers were hammering out a stop-gap deal Wednesday to avert a weekend government shutdown of the federal government this weekend, setting aside a long-sought disaster aid package for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and other natural disasters.

Frustrations are rising among officials in Houston and Austin over the inaction. As Texas officials feared, an $81 billion storm relief bill passed by the House in December continues to languish amid congressional brinkmanship over a wider budget agreement, with Republicans insisting on funding President Donald Trump's border wall and Democrats holding out for a deal to protect young immigrants from deportation.

A spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the standoff a disappointment.

"The governor has been in frequent contact with leaders in Congress and the administration advocating the necessity for funding to rebuild Texas," said the spokeswoman, Ciara Matthews. "He has received assurance after assurance. Yet every day that goes by without funding is another day that Texans who have been upended by Hurricane Harvey go without the resources needed to rebuild their lives."

With time running out on a midnight Friday deadline to keep the lights on in Washington  the third since last September  GOP leaders unveiled a plan Tuesday night to pass another stop-gap funding measure until February 16.

With most Democrats expected to reject the plan, GOP leaders were whipping up support Wednesday to pass the funding extension with Republican votes alone. It remained uncertain, though, whether the plan could win the support of conservative Freedom Caucus members and defense hawks pushing for a full year of military spending.

Freedom Caucus Leader Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, sounded a skeptical note Tuesday night, telling Capitol Hill reporters, "There's not enough support to pass it with GOP-only votes in the House."

Some conservative activists also appear to be wary of pushing the next government funding deadline closer to the March 5 date that Trump set for ending the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which could give Democrats added leverage in forcing a legislative solution extending protections for the DACA beneficiaries, or "Dreamers."

Democrats also face increasing pressure from immigration rights activists who oppose any government funding deal that doesn't offer a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers.

READ ALSO: Lone Star College offering free classes to help Houstonians rebuild after Harvey

Now Playing: Hard-line conservatives are threatening to scuttle Republican leaders' plans to prevent a weekend government shutdown and saying GOP leaders lack the votes to push their proposal through the House. Video: Fox5DC

The disaster aid, sought by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the powerful Texas congressional delegation, has long been caught up in the politics of a broader 2018 spending agreement.

The House passed a separate $81 billion supplemental appropriation for disaster assistance in December at the same time that it passed its last temporary government funding bill. The Senate, however, only passed the extension of government funding  lasting until Jan. 19, or midnight on Friday.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, addressing the City Council, decried any further postponement of federal funds to aid in the recovery from Hurricane Harvey, which slammed into the Texas coast on Aug. 25, flooding the Gulf region with drenching rain and causing more than $180 billion in damage, making it the costliest storm on record.

"History says the rains will come again in a major way, and so to not vote on the Harvey relief package, let's say on the 19th, and if it's postponed another month or however long it's postponed, it's just not going to put people in the best position to get prepared for the next storm or next weather event, and that's disappointing," Turner said. "The storms are not going to wait."

Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and a top negotiator on the immigration standoff, has said the Senate planned to revise the House-passed disaster aid package and wrap it into a final 2018 spending bill.

The House-passed bill included aid for storm victims in Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as for recovery from last year's California wildfires.

Cornyn, working with Abbott, has been pushing Congress to direct more money to the Gulf region affected by Harvey. Matthews said Abbott believes it is essential that funding be included for bayous and a third reservoir in the next funding package.

But Cornyn also said earlier this month that he did not expect to see more funding devoted to Texas in the current aid proposal, even as he held out hope for a resolution to the standoff over Dreamers.

Short of an immigration deal, House Republican leaders are seeking to avert a shutdown this week by stocking a short-term funding plan with measures that have broad constituencies in Congress.

CHIP extension

It would include a six-year renewal of a popular health insurance program for low-income children known as CHIP, and delay for two years controversial taxes on medical devices and high-cost health plans  both components of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

But hopes for wide-ranging spending agreement including DACA appear to have broken down in recent days amid partisan sniping between Trump and Democrats who accused him of favoring white immigrants from countries like Norway and making vulgar remarks disparaging immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and several African countries.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president supports the short-term funding deal as a bridge to resolve the larger policy battles in Congress.

"We would like to ... get a budget deal done," she said, "a two-year budget deal, a clean budget deal  and then focus on negotiations, following that deal, with finding a permanent solution to DACA and responsible immigration reform."

The continuing budget standoff in Washington has forced Texas officials to pony up more state money in the interim.

Texas earlier got an agreement from federal officials to reimburse the state for 90 percent of its expenses, rather than the usual 75 percent, because of the extent of Harvey damage and the fact that Texas was hit by three weather emergencies  two hits by Harvey and then flooding from record rainfall.

By the beginning of December, Texas had shelled out more than $437 million through various agencies, more than $100 million from a gubernatorial disaster fund, approximately $90 million for debris removal and related cleanup operations, and $400 million in school expenses.

Texas already has received about $30 billion in federal aid for Harvey recovery. Congress approved more than $15 billion in emergency funding in September. That was followed by another tranche of about $36.5 billion in October for general disaster relief, about half of which was expected to benefit Texas.

Houston Republican John Culberson, one of those who helped craft the $81 billion House aid package, also has become a vocal advocate of restoring the practice of congressionally mandated "earmark" spending for state-approved flood and highway projects.

Culberson said Wednesday that while he doesn't want to return to the earmark abuses of the past, there is a pressing need for targeted spending for Houston. "Houston has suffered three catastrophic floods in the last three years, and we cannot wait another fifteen to twenty years to finish the flood control projects that must be built to protect our city."

The plan also has received support from Trump, though it's an anathema to conservative groups like the Club for Growth, which is now targeting Culberson with network and digital ads titled "Hangover."

Rebecca Elliott contributed to this report.
Catholic Wars

To the editor:



Any essay, like this one [Anne Hendershott, Taking the Catholic Out of Catholic Universities, Autumn 2017], that labels gender studies, diversity studies, and so on as politically correct fads loses credibility. Those departments or programs are especially needed at Catholic colleges because Catholicism has such a long history of oppression of women, shaming of gay people, and collusion with political regimes that brutalize poor and nonwhite people all over the world. You can keep the traditional Catholic emphases on intellectual rigor without giving up commitments to inclusion. American Catholicism has always had a different relationship to issues such as birth control, abortion, and LGBTQ rights because in the U.S., we do have principles of individual autonomy and civil rights. Those principles are not antithetical to Catholicism. There is not only one Catholic identity.

Isabel Whitebird

To the editor:



We need to do away with single-sex schools and educate people in the heterosexual life. Many public schools do this better than Catholic ones. Also, let priests marry and women become priests. Jesus raised the status of women; the Vatican belittles them. We must stop trying to run the social lives of people and instead emphasize Christian love and kindness. The message of love is the best antidote to abortion and homosexuality and true to the basic Judeo-Christian dogma.

Jarod Smith

Anne Hendershott responds:



Both Isabel Whitebird and Jarod Smith would be at home on the majority of todays secularized Catholic campuses. Most on the faculty and the administration at these schools would agree with them. For example, on many campusescontrary to official Catholic teachingsfaculty members lobby for reproductive rights, access to marriage for same-sex couples, and womens ordination. Clubs supporting reproductive justice are entrenched on many of the most prestigious Catholic campuses in the country; and womens ordination is demanded.

A few years ago, there was even a female law professor at the University of San Diego, Jane Via, who got herself illicitly ordained by an illicit female bishop. The only problem is that the Church can never recognize her as a priest. The all-male priesthood is a magisterial teachingit can never change. Christ ordained the first apostlesall mento the priesthood. We do not know why, but in understanding official Church teachings, we, as Catholics, have to form our beliefs and behaviors on the revealed word of God. We are not free to invent the priesthood according to our own contemporary values and normsjust as we are not free to change Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, or marriage as a union between a man and a woman. All these are magisterial teachings of the Church. Catholics are supposed to believe in themand Catholic colleges are supposed to teach what the Catholic Church believes is true.

Whitebird is correctunfortunatelyin stating that there is not only one Catholic identity. Catholic colleges have spent the past two decades defining down what it means to be Catholic. On many of these campuses, students never learned what the Church truly teaches about the dignity of women, the love between husband and wife, and the respect that must be shown for all life, at all stagesespecially for the most vulnerable among us. Many students will sadly never learn that a true Catholic identity for a Catholic college or university is one that is based upon revelationnot on human expectations.
Consonant with the start of a new national administration and (by purists reckonings) the dawn of a new millennium, the keynote of this issue of City Journal is optimism. Its an optimism more of the skeptical than the Panglossian all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds variety, of course; and it rests on the proven truth that we are not the passive playthings of vast forces beyond our control but rather the active shapers of our destiny.

Its a fact of nature, pundits said, that American cities are ungovernableuntil Rudy Giuliani and other smart mayors began to govern them. We have to live in careful balance with the Soviet Union, foreign-policy pundits saiduntil Ronald Reagan won the Cold War. Demographic changes mean that crime will explode, criminologists predicteduntil enlightened policing cut crime dramatically. Elite culture is lost in political correctness, we conservatives lamentexcept that, as Heather Mac Donald elegantly shows in The Mets Triumphant Democratic Elitism, Philippe de Montebello, through sheer determination (and talent), has preserved the Metropolitan Museum as a temple of high culture and high scholarshipand New Yorks Number One tourist attraction. Human will is crucial, both in public matters and in individual lives.

Understanding this truth is half the battle, as Fred Siegel and Van Smith make clear in their absorbing report from Baltimore. For years, the mantra of Baltimore politics was: Cant be done, dont even try. Little wonder that epidemic crime and economic decline ensued, driving some 16 percent of the population out of town during the nineties. The most important of new mayor Martin OMalleys governing principles is that he can change things for the better, and in that spirit he has already started pushing Baltimore in the right direction.

You would think such an understanding is a no-brainer. But a meeting of would-be education reformers with two leading experts on public schools some years ago made clear why it is not. To one suggestion after another, the experts replied: Oh no, cant be done. The union wont stand for it. . . . The State Legislature wont permit it. . . . We tried to do it 15 years back, and the governor stopped us. The result of all their considerable expertise and intelligence was passivity and paralysiswhich they took to be political savvy and hard-nosed realism.

So you have to think boldly and then just do it. Thats the message of our new contributing editor Steven Malangas gripping saga of how New York City began to succeed in pushing the mob out of town. For years, prosecutors and pols had assumed that the mob was a given of city life, like pigeons. D.A. Morgenthau, prosecutor (later Mayor) Giuliani, and Governor Pataki had a different view, and todays cleaned-up garment district, garbage-carting industry, and Javits Convention Center show that once you decide to accomplish something, sooner or later, if you keep trying, you will figure out a way to get it done.

This optimistic idea is, as Norman Podhoretz explains in America the Beautiful, fundamental to the American spirit, which licenses everyone to pursue his own definition of happiness in his own waya way that, in practice, will normally turn out to be the pursuit of material advancement. For that reason, Podhoretz says, elite intellectuals, contemptuous of materialism and mistakenly convinced of its inevitable opposition to the spiritual, cant see that the American idea has created one of the worlds greatest civilizations. A similar can-do spirit today pervades whole segments of the population, as Kay S. Hymowitz shows in Ecstatic Capitalisms Brave New Work Ethic, and it has become a dynamo of creativity and prosperitythough, as Hymowitz cautions, the new economys workamania comes with an inevitable set of costs, too.

The one place in the nation where that optimism is missing, as new contributing editor John H. McWhorter demonstrates in his profound Whats Holding Blacks Back? is among African-Americans. To be sure, McWhorter observes, blacks have made great stridesgreater than they themselves admit; but what bars them from even more dramatic progress isnt racism but their own attitudes about American society and their proper identity within it. Educational excellence? Shapers of our own destiny? Cant be done, dont even try, is the orthodox African-American response. But all it would take is some optimism and effort, McWhorter rightly says, and the whole world would change.

Brian C. Anderson
Peers have criticised the governments attitude to charities during a debate in the House of Lords yesterday.

During a debate to consider the recommendations from the House of Lords Select Committee on Charities peers criticised the government for taking ten months to respond the committee. They also criticised the lack of commitment to action when it did respond, and the delay in appointing the next chair of the Charity Commission.

In response the government apologised for the delays, which it blames on the election and subsequent reshuffle, and said that recommendations in the report are being taken seriously.

Lukewarm response to report

Baroness Jill Pitkeathley, who chaired the committee, said she was disappointed by the brevity governments response and questioned why it had taken so long.

The committee published its report in the spring and the government took ten months to respond.

Opening the debate she said: I am bound to say that when committee members read [the government response], their most frequent reaction was, What on earth took you so long?. The governments response to the committees inquiry addresses its recommendations point by point, it is true, but most recommendations are dealt with only briefly.

She said that there is little reference to the specific challenges the charity sector faces, that it lacks a sense of co-ordination regarding how the government, and particularly the Office for Civil Society, plan to respond to some of the challenges and opportunities the sector faces and that it is largely focused on actions that the Government have already taken or are considering through a proposed civil society strategy.

She said there was some consolation in the announcement that a new civil society strategy was in the works, but called for further details.

Lord Rooker, a Labour peer who was on the committee, described the response as lukewarm.

Another Labour peer, Baroness Warwick, said it was bland and criticised the government for not acting on the recommendation that people should be able to take time of work for trustee responsibilities.

This would rightly put trustees on a par with school governors and magistrates. It would be a really positive step towards greater diversity and take-up of board places, it would promote trusteeships to employees, and give greater recognition to trustee roles when recruiting and promoting staff, she said.

Lack of Charity Commission announcement

Pitkeathley also raised concerns about how long it is taking to appoint the next chair of the Charity Commission, with William Shawcrosss term ending in two weeks time.

She said the lack of information from the government about who would replace him is undermining for the both the regulators staff and the wider sector.

It is understood that the names of suitable candidates were approved by the DCMS at the beginning of December and passed to Number Ten some four weeks ago at least," she said. "Still no announcement has been made. This is extremely undermining for the Commissions staff and, of course, unsettling for the whole sector, as this is a most significant appointment for charities.

She asked whether this is because the appointment is seen as insufficiently important or is some kind of political influence perhaps being exerted?

It has been rumoured that former minister for civil society, Rob Wilson, was among the six candidates interviewed for the role, and Pitkeathley added that the new chair must, above all, be totally neutral politically.

Charities need core costs

A number of peers also spoke about the importance of core costs for chariites, including Baroness Prosser, Labour.

She said: The governments mantra regarding reduction of back-office costs is seriously misplaced. Of course, no one should tolerate waste, but this discussion is conducted as though back-office costs were a luxury and bore no relation to the work of an organisation overall. Charities need secure core costs.

Front-line staff cannot do their jobs effectively or efficiently without the day-to-day work of administrative and support staff. The irony of the governments argument does not escape me when I meet with ministers who are always accompanied by a phalanx of civil servants and advisersback-room staff writ large.

Government response

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen spoke on behalf of the government and began with an apology for the delay in the government response.

I apologise that we were able to publish our response to the report only just before the Christmas recess, and I know that this has upset many noble lords who have spoken in the debate. This was due in part to the ministerial changes resulting from the general election and in part to ensure that our response could dovetail with our plans for the development of the civil society strategy, she said.

She paid tribute to the sector and the sheer amount of good work, and also to the royal family for its support charities and to William Shawcross, but could not offer any update on his successor.

The new chair of the Charity Commission will be announced in due course. I know that that is a maddening thing to say but in this case 'in due course' means really shortly, she said. The new chair will be the best person for the role and will be expected to be independent and impartial.

She also said that the issue of core costs will be discussed as part of the civil society strategy.

Our civil society strategy will provide a clear vision for the governments work with and for civil society. The strategy will reaffirm the value that we place on civil society and explore what more we can do to support its work in building a stronger and fairer society. It will be developed through open dialogue and debate, she said.

She also sought to reassure peers that their report was being taken seriously.

All speeches today have mentioned the fact that your lordships feel that the government have not responded properly and have taken a long time to do so. All I can say is that in the short time I have been involved in this our minister, Tracey Crouch, feels very strongly about it.

From the meetings I have been in at DCMS, this really is at the forefront of the departments thinking. The speeches that we have heard today mean that I can take some really powerful things back to the department, which I assure the house I will do.




Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport and civil society, has been asked by the prime minister to lead the cross-governmental strategy tackling loneliness and social isolation.

Crouchs work will build on that of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, which had been set up the former Labour MP for Batley and Spen before her death in June 2016. She had formed an independent, cross-party Commission of MPs and charities to highlight the fact that we can all do something to help lonely people in our community.

Crouch said: "I am privileged to be taking forward the remarkable work done by Jo Cox, the foundation and the commission. I am sure that with the support of volunteers, campaigners, businesses and my fellow MPs from all sides of the house, we can make significant progress in defeating loneliness.

This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness."

Work with 13 charities

The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, has spent the last year considering what the government and others can do to help. They have been working with 13 charities including Age UK, Royal Voluntary Service and Action for Children to develop ideas.

The prime ministers appointment of the ministerial lead on loneliness was the first of the Jo Cox Commissions recommendations to be implemented. Crouch will lead a cross-government group which will take responsibility for driving action on loneliness across all parts of government and keeping it firmly on the agenda.

A cross-government strategy will be published later this year. This will bring together government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness, and build more integrated and resilient communities.

Work has also begun on a dedicated fund which will see government working with charitable trusts, foundations, and others to stimulate innovative solutions to loneliness across all ages, backgrounds and communities; provide seed funding for communities to come together to develop activities which enable people to connect; and scale-up and spread existing work offering practical and emotional support to help lonely individuals reconnect with their communities.

Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, co-chairs of the commission said: "We are really pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that young or old, loneliness doesnt discriminate.

Throughout 2017 we have heard from new parents, children, disabled people, carers, refugees and older people about their experience of loneliness.

We very much welcome that government has accepted the commissions recommendations including the appointment of a new ministerial lead who will have the responsibility for creating a national strategy to tackle loneliness. We look forward to working with minister Tracey Crouch, businesses, community groups and the public to create a world less lonely."
Two years ago, as peace negotiations began to show promise of ending Colombias 50-year civil war, international organizations leapt in to fortify the precarious process and help repair a fractured society. Alongside money for education, infrastructure, judicial action, and landmine removal, the contributions included funding for journalism.

Almost $500,000 flowed from groups like the European Union, the UN, and the German embassy, which viewed well-resourced, on-the-ground reporting as a crucial part of Colombias recovery.

The result is Colombia2020, a project of El Espectador, the countrys oldest newspaper. Bolstered by the international funding, its reporters travel deep into former and current conflict zones to recount stories obscured during decades of violence, and to foster dialogue between parties that, until recently, were trying to kill each other. The project appears as a page in the daily print edition and has its own website.

ICYMI: Another independent voice is silenced in Dutertes war on the media

We dont try to show a rosy reality, says Gloria Castrillon, director of Colombia2020, which is named for a vision of a peaceful Colombia by decades end. Were generating conversations that many times have not been easy to generate.

In 2016, the Colombian delegation of the European Union wanted to finance a project that could help move the national conversation forward. In the big cities, too much ink was spent analyzing winners, losers, and legal tenets of the budding peace accords, according to journalists of El Espectador. Too little was spent assessing what impact peace would have on the lives of rural Colombians, who bore the brunt of the brutal conflict.

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Castrillon, then editor of a magazine published by El Espectador, had been thinking the same thing for years. She had even pitched the idea to the newspaper publisher. He agreed with the importance of dedicating coverage to how Colombians would move beyond a conflict that divided communities. But he lamented a lack of funding for such endeavors.

When EU officials met Castrillon a few months later, she had all the conceptual framework for a project that was virtually ready to launch. An EU spokesman said El Espectador was the only outlet with a plan for special focus on the peace process, so the Union pledged about $300,000 to launch Colombia2020. Other funds eventually came from the UN and the German embassy.

The possibility to associate the EU with this campaign was a sort of win-win, says Francisco Garcia, chief of cooperation for the EU delegation in Colombia. It gave some prestige to the campaign carried out by El Espectador, and at the same time it allowed the EU to play a role in the consolidation of peace, which is our main purpose in Colombia.

Castrillon and EU officials agreed that reporters funded in part by Colombia2020 would have a mission: recentering the conversation from polemicizing experts to affected communities, and illuminating seldom-discussed themes like gender and race in the conflict.

They agreed the project would go beyond journalism and include an educational campaign about the peace process. So Colombia2020 got some creative license.

Journalistically speaking, we have the task to make visible some subjects and voices that havent been visible in the Colombian press for many years, says Natalia Herrera Duran, the projects editor. One of our biggest frustrations is that many Colombians dont want to leave behind habitual conversations or official discourse.

In Colombia, media has been centralized in the big cities. Any excursions into the conflict zone were usually made alongside the national army, producing war coverage slanted toward the military perspective, with militarized language and steely statistics in place of human stories, she says. Consequently, Colombias urban public came away with a dark and one-sided understanding of the guerillas.

Herrera Duran says the public in some cases has been unwilling to even listen to stories of former militants. Social media comments on any story that focuses on a former combatant devolve into name-calling, with commenters proclaiming former militants monsters, animals, or murderers. In spite of the often hostile reception, Durans team puts in the shoe leather to gather these tales.

Nicolas Sanchez, a reporter with Colombia2020, has traveled the country in search of marginalized voices. He travels about twice a month, he says, for up to five days at a time. Those trips have taken him deep into regions he calls abandoned by the Colombian state, without public health or education, and where people rely on coca cultivation to survive, or on the illusory promises of guerrilla recruiters.

Hes seen people struggling to survive amid random killing by armed groups, and he once had to flee a shootout in the city of Tumaco.

You cant cover these issues from Bogota, because it ends up with a very Bogotanized perspective, Sanchez says. People there have a very moral view of what the conflict was. They say who was good and bad. But when you begin, not to justify, but to understand, and to help the country understand, it appears much more complex.

You cant cover these issues from Bogota.

Colombia2020s charter from the European Union calls for activities that go beyond journalism, including an educational campaign to help the country understand its war. Reconciliation, says Castrillon, doesnt mean merely hugging and moving on, but rather understanding what has made the many factions different.

Colombia2020 tours the country with free events that bring experts and actors from the conflict to universities. In one example from October, a guerilla leader and a paramilitary leader spoke together civilly.

By the end of the chat, these two warriors who had committed every atrocity that you can imagine, they ended up practically recognizing that the war was meaningless for them, Castrillon says.

The two men shook hands and asked forgiveness from the war victims in the audience.

At another event, a former guerilla shared her story of recruitment and combat onstage at Colombia2020s booth at the Bogota Book Fair. The talk ended with audience members hugging the woman and thanking her for her story.

Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, who previously covered Colombia as a foreign correspondent for Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Brasil, said Colombia2020 provides an interesting case study as the nation embarks on the most overwhelming peace process ever weathered in the hemisphere. And he said it shows a growing role for philanthropically funded journalism as the traditional business model continues to suffer across the world.

This is an example for other countries, Alves tells CJR. I have not seen so many concerted actions among the media in other countries in Latin America that had similar situations.

MORE FROM CJR: Europe tries to fight hate, harassment, and fake news without killing free speech

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Dylan Baddour is a freelance journalist based in Colombia and a former business reporter at the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @DylanBaddour.
A toxic combination of misinformation, hate speech, and online harassment is pushing several European countries to take action against social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. But some believe their actionshowever well-intentionedrun the risk of stifling free speech and putting dangerous restrictions on freedom of the press.

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom are all either discussing or are already in the process of implementing requirements for social networks to take measures to remove or block online hate speech, harassment, and so-called fake news.

ICYMI: Reporters terrible error on a tech story goes viral

The real concern here is that all of these measures cede control to unaccountable actors, says Jillian York, the Berlin-based director for freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. These are knee-jerk proposals that fail to take into account the ways in which companies have failed to protect important speech, and are therefore unqualified to do the job.

Facebook, for example, routinely removes content or blocks accounts without saying why, and even if the content or accounts are later reinstated, the company rarely explains why it made the decisions it did, except to cite its community standards rules.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech to journalists last week that he is considering legislation that would require social networks such as Facebook to be more transparent about who pays for sponsored content, and is also thinking about giving the French media regulator more power to block or remove fake news content.

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If we want to protect liberal democracies, we must be strong and have clear rules, Macron said, adding that Frances media watchdog, the CSA, would be given the power to fight against any attempt at destabilization by media outlets controlled or influenced by foreign states, such as the Kremlin-linked TV network Russia Today.

ICYMI: Former New York Times employees are angry

Observers say the topic of fake news is of special interest for the French president because he sees himself as the victim of fake news stories that ran during the most recent election, including rumors that he was bankrolled by Saudi Arabia, that he has offshore bank accounts, and that he is engaged in a secret homosexual affair.

Critics, however, say Macrons proposed legislation would not actually solve the problem. The law focuses on the trees rather than the forest, French law professor Alberto Alemanno wrote in an essay for Politico. As such, it will remain irrelevant and aggravate the root causes fueling the fake news phenomenon.

In Germany, meanwhile, the primary concern is hate speech, and the government is much farther down the road than most other European nations when it comes to enforcing new rules. The recently implemented Enforcement on Social Networks Act requires social networks to remove specific kinds of content or face fines as high as $60 million.

The risks of this kind of measure backfiring have also quickly become obvious: Citing the German law, Twitter recently removed an account belonging to Titanic, a satirical magazine that posted tweets designed to be a parody of anti-Muslim sentiment.

In Germany, social companies face fines as high as $60 million.

Despite such incidents, observers say that a number of other European countries including France and the UK are watching Germany with interest, and are considering following its lead when it comes to introducing legislation aimed at forcing social networks to police their content.

Alison Langley, a freelance journalist and adjunct professor of communications at Webster University in Geneva, says that the moves by France, Germany, and the UK come amid growing concern about the actions of the Russian government in conducting a misinformation war online, something that she says predates the US election. A recent report by the US Senate came to a similar conclusion.

The EU has been fighting this for some time, and even NATO is worried about how this is affecting the Baltic states and Ukraine, Langley says. The problem with disinformation in general is a lot more sophisticated than what people see in the United States. And when it comes to hate speech, Europe has been rocked by self-radicalized extremists, and they feel they need to combat that problem while still keeping the right to free expression.

That line is a difficult one for social networks to find in some cases. Within days of the new German hate-speech law going into effect, the network suspended the account of Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of the countrys right-wing Alternative for Germany party, after she made racist comments about Muslims.

While France is concerned about fake news and Germany worries about hate speech, in the United Kingdom the government has put pressure on the social networksand raised the threat of potential legislationbecause it believes that online harassment aimed at politicians and other public figures puts democracy at risk.

The UK government worries that online harassment aimed at politicians puts democracy at risk.

A recent report from the Committee on Standards for Public Life took Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to task for aiding and abetting the harassment of politicians.

Social media can lead to widespread access to ideas and information, but they can also facilitate abuse by those who seek to see certain individuals pushed out of public life, the authors of the report said. Some MPs and candidates have disengaged entirely from social media due to the intimidation they have received.

Among other things, the committee recommended new legislation to make social-media companies liable for illegal content and to force them to remove content that might be legal but could also be seen as intimidatory.

Critics in the UK such as the Index on Censorship, however, say a requirement that media outlets consider whether their content might undermine public trust in the political system would be a gift to any politician who wants to challenge a news story, according to Index on Censorship Chief Executive Jodie Ginsberg. Rather than enhance democracy and freedoms, as this report claims to want to do, this risks damaging it further, she said in a public statement.

While the US has the First Amendment, which provides even hateful speech with significant legislative protection, many European countries have a much more nuanced view of the balance between free speech and social order. But that is making it even harder for them to figure out where to draw the line, or where to have social networks draw it for them.

ICYMI: A potentially seismic change comes to Facebook

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.
Storms are a major priority on the Florida Legislatures agenda this year following Hurricane Irmas rampage across most of the state. Lawmakers will consider proposals ranging from making evacuations more efficient to helping the devastated citrus industry.

The 60-day session opened last Tuesday with the House of Representatives and Senate taking different approaches. The House is concentrating on storm preparations and recovery efforts while he Senate is focusing on economic damage. Hurricanes have hit the state the past two years following a more than decade-long lull. Florida is also handling an influx of Puerto Ricans fleeing the devastation Hurricane Maria unleashed on their island.

House Speaker Richard Corcoran formed a select committee on hurricanes last September following Irma, which knocked out power for millions across most of the state, destroyed homes and disrupted lives. The 21-member committee will vote on Tuesday on nearly 80 recommendations to refer to committees for legislation.

Rep. Jay Trumbull, Republican from Panama City, recommended that state transportation officials study how to strategically locate petroleum distribution centers so that residents are less likely to face gasoline shortages before and after storms.

The committee as a whole would like to direct the Public Service Commission to assess strengthening power grids, including placing more lines underground, to avoid some of the outages caused by hurricanes.

Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, a Republican from Saint Augustine, has recommended stressing shorter evacuation options as part of community education efforts. That would be welcomed by Jan Wesner Childs of Cocoa Beach. It took Childs and her husband, Mark, 12 hours, rather than the normal seven, to get from Cocoa Beach to Tallahassee to reach safety.

There has to be a better way of communicating what to do instead of just, Get out, she said.

Both chambers also have bills that would make backup generators mandatory at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. The bills were filed after 14 residents died at a nursing home just outside Ft. Lauderdale when power was out at the facility in the aftermath of Irma.

Republican Rep. Danny Burgess from Zephyrhills has suggested forming a statewide registry of special needs shelters and another listing the states more vulnerable residents during a storm.

Senate President Joe Negrons biggest post-Irma priority is helping out the citrus industry through either tax cuts or other financial aid. State officials estimate that Irma caused $2.5 billion in agricultural damage overall.

The citrus industry was on the verge of having its best year in a decade when the storm hit and at a point when it was just getting back on its feet, he said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that Irma caused $50 billion in total damages from the Caribbean to Florida. State officials though have yet to issue their estimates on total costs. The states Office of Insurance Regulation on its website estimates that $7.21 billion in property damage claims have been filed.

Florida also is dealing with an estimated 300,000 residents from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, with most relocating to Orlando or South Florida. State and federal agencies are still grasping the scope of how many residents have come to the state, especially in schools. Gov. Rick Scott on Friday announced renewed efforts to identify more housing and job needs for those displaced.

Rep. Bob Cortes of Altamonte Springs has made multiple trips to the island since the storm and said the biggest problem hampering recovering is getting additional supplies. The Republican also noted that all the storms from last year provided a huge snapshot on how devastating they can be.

There will always be a storm if it is a year or five years, Cortes said, adding that we have to always be prepared and make sure what happened in Puerto Rico doesnt happen here.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
China's banking regulator chief warned that a "black swan," or an unforeseen event could threaten the country's financial stability, official People's Daily reported on Wednesday.

In an interview with the paper, Guo Shuqing said that while risks in the financial system are manageable, they are still "complex and serious."

Since his appointment as the head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission early last year, Guo has introduced a flurry of new rules to reign in lender risks including from curbs on shadow banking activities to the crackdown on loan fraud.

Guo said the dangers stem from the pressure of rising bad debt, imperfect internal risk systems at financial institutions, the relatively high levels of shadow banking activities and rule violations.

All of these risks could upend financial stability through a "black swan" event, Guo told the People's Daily, referring to major, unexpected occurrences.
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1. Take a profit

Cramer's No. 1 rule is one of his most common sayings: no one ever got hurt taking a profit. In a rallying market like this one, investors tend to forget that their gains aren't really winnings until they ring the register. That can burn them when the market takes a hit. "In this red-hot bull market, there are hundreds of stocks that you own with outsized gains where you'd be foolish not to do some profit-taking. I'm not saying you should sell the whole position  I like this market too much," Cramer said. "I just want you to understand that profits on paper don't count; it's not a real gain until you've taken something off the table."

2. Keep an eye out

Rule No. 2? You never know when an unexpected geopolitical or market-moving event might happen, so be prepared. For example, Cramer has been guiding that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross might recommend that President Donald Trump use Article 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to prevent Chinese steel dumping. The article reserves the right to protect key domestic industries, in this case steel, for national security purposes. By invoking it, the United States would effectively push back against China's practice of artificially suppressing steel prices. The move would "be a huge positive for the domestic steelmakers, but there's so much collateral damage. It will hurt the stocks of our international companies that do a lot of business in the People's Republic as investors start worrying about Chinese retaliation," Cramer said. "Something you need to keep in mind is this retaliation."

3. Don't be greedy

Cue one of Cramer's best-known aphorisms: "Bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered." While this rule applies more loosely for those saving for retirement, investors using their mad money should have some cash on the sidelines to be able to buy in at lower stock prices, Cramer said. "These days, the conventional wisdom is that the only real money that ever goes into the stock market is retirement money. That's supposed to go into index funds and it's never supposed to be touched, no matter what," he said. "I'm not telling you to mess with your 401(k), but if you do own individual stocks in your discretionary portfolio ... I'm saying take something off the table!"

4. Don't fall in love

Cramer has tried to explain Rule No. 4  don't fall in love with your investments  to cryptocurrency buyers time and time again. "I fear for my life whenever I use the words 'bitcoin ' and 'sell' in the same sentence," the "Mad Money" host said. "Still, the darned thing is in free-fall and the cryptomaniacs aren't doing themselves any favors by getting so attached emotionally to it." Instead, Cramer recommended investors stay humble, stay on top of their investments and, most of all, stay detached.

5. Stay diversified

Finally, different areas of the market may have their heydays at different times, which is why investors must stay diversified, Cramer said. For example, after the market reversed on Tuesday, the drug and health insurance stocks were still able to log strong gains. But the industrial stocks, red-hot just last week, were taken down along with last week's other winners, the oil and retail names.

Final thoughts

"Here's the bottom line: do not be greedy, take some profits [and] stay diversified, since you never know what's going to come from left field and send us lower," the "Mad Money" host concluded. "Simple rules to live by. Don't screw it up."

WATCH: Cramer's 5 'rules of engagement' with the bull
Most major digital currencies sold off sharply on Tuesday, but the declines in bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin prices weren't as bad as much of the rest of the market.

All of the top 20 digital currencies  by market value  suffered double digit losses over the last 24 hours, according to data from industry website CoinMarketCap.

For example, ripple was down 26 percent, bitcoin cash was down 19 percent, iota was down over 23 percent and monero was almost 20 percent as of 11:55 a.m. London time.

In fact, at their low point on the day, many cryptocurrencies with large market caps saw their prices essentially halved.

B itcoin was down 16.5 percent at that time, ethereum was down 20 percent and litecoin was down 19.3 percent, according to the same site.

The declines followed speculation in the market about what regulators in Asia may be planning for digital tokens.

On Monday, a report from Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, said Beijing plans to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralized trading.
Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is viewed next to a Ferrari after ringing the Closing Bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 13, 2014 in New York City.

Ferrari plans to make a high-end electric car, said CEO Sergio Marchionne on Tuesday.

The auto executive, who also heads Fiat-Chrysler , told reporters at the North American International Auto Show that whatever Tesla has done with high-end electrics can be done by others in the industry.

The plan would be a significant change of direction for Marchionne and Ferrari. While the Italian carmaker equips some cars with hybrid technology, Marchionne once called the idea of a completely electric Ferrari "almost an obscene concept."

Some Ferrari fans would agree. An all-electric Ferrari, without a brash-sounding internal combustion engine the cars are known for, would be about as appealing as a "3-D printed soy donut," said one owner. That means to some purists, such a car might look like a Ferrari, but would not really be one.

But Tesla's high-performance P100D versions of is Model S and Model X cars deliver eye-popping performance and generate buzz among customers. Furthermore, in November, Tesla unveiled a second-generation Roadster the company said will go zero to 60 miles per hour in a record 1.9 seconds.

CNBC's Silvia Berzoni contributed to this story.
Unregulated investing opportunities, like initial coin offerings, may prove a risky prospect for entrepreneurs  but that doesn't mean that all bitcoin-related products are bad, tech investor Jillian Manus told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" on Tuesday.

"It's dangerous, it's very dangerous. On one hand, we want to be supportive of this, because this gives opportunities, definitely, to fuel new companies. But on the other hand, there's a lot of irresponsibilities that go with this. There's a lot of fraud that's being created," Manus said.

"I think this is the Wild West without a sheriff," she later added.

Initial coin offerings are just one of many applications being tested for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In an initial coin offering, investors are given a token of digital currency in exchange for their investment.

"ICOs  if they're based on just a white paper, and they're just raised on that  then that's a problem and that's a scam," Manus said. "But on the other hand, if they have SEC filings, if they have [due diligence] packages, if there's some product that we can invest in  then I think that's an interesting opportunity."

Manus is a general partner at Structure Capital and has made an impact in industries including venture capital, marketing, media and philanthropy. Structure Capital invests in start-ups that take advantage of wasted resources, and blockchain she said, has many "effective, efficient and legitimate" applications.

Blockchain  a technology that underlies many cryptocurrencies  is gaining popularity as a tool in the mainstream business community, thanks to its ability to create immutable ledgers.

For instance, Manus said, Kodak announced earlier this month it would release a new platform for digital photography bolstered by blockchain  solving the societal problem of dwindling payment opportunities for photographers. There could be "tremendous" potential for healthcare applications of blockchain, Manus said, pointing to the growing focus on health technology at Alphabet 's Verily and Amazon .

But cryptocurrencies on the whole? Maybe not the most innovative application, she said.

Manus' comments come after an overnight plunge in the price of bitcoin future contracts . Cryptocurrency prices have exploded over the past year  but the decentralized digital cash is also volatile and subject to intense regulatory scrutiny.

Manus has become a well-known figure among start-ups in Silicon Valley, thanks to her coveted charity balls and her appearances on the podcast "The Pitch." She noted that companies like eBay, YouTube and Instagram were also tough sells to investors at the time.

"There's a danger in these young start-ups with no responsibility," Manus said. "Until we have some sort of understanding of the applications  of course there's going to be volatility. But coming from Silicon Valley, everything that's innovative is criticized at first."
President Donald Trump's mental fitness for office is not up for debate, according to the president's personal physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson.

That's because Trump scored a perfect 30/30 on a test called the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Jackson told the White House press corps on Tuesday.

Developed in 1996, the MoCA uses 30 questions to test for mild cognitive impairment in adults. It takes about 10 minutes to do, and requires one administrator per test taker. The questions range from identifying certain kinds of animals, to repeating back specific sets of words.

If you want to take the test, find someone to administer it, and then have them click here to read the instructions for administering the MoCa.

If you're the test taker, here it is.

Good luck.
"It's a fishing expedition to see if Bannon can provide them with confirmatory evidence regarding the firing of [former F.B.I. Director James] Comey and obstruction of justice," said David Shapiro, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with FBI experience and a financial crimes specialization. "That might be the stronger charge here, rather than Russian collusion."

It isn't surprising that Mueller would want to interview a figure who had as much access as Bannon, experts say, even if only to corroborate the information the special counsel's team already gathered. Now, the question becomes: What is Mueller trying to get out of Bannon?

The court order, which arrived last week, was first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday.

FBI agents, at the time unaware that Bannon had retained lawyer William Burck the same day, arrived at his house in Washington, D.C., to serve him with the subpoena, people familiar with the events told NBC News . Burck is also representing two other witnesses involved in Mueller's probe into possible contacts between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.

Former White House chief strategist and Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon has reportedly been ordered to testify as part of special counsel Robert Mueller 's investigation  the first instance of a close Trump staffer or confidante being bound by a grand jury subpoena.

The use of a grand jury subpoena to bring Bannon in for questioning, however, did spur intrigue among some experts, breeding speculation.

"It's somewhat surprising" that Mueller would take this tack, said Jennifer Taub, author and professor of white collar crime law at Vermont Law School.

One explanation for the subpoena is that Bannon was refusing to cooperate with the special counsel voluntarily, requiring a more forceful invitation. "Maybe he just said no," Taub said.

Some sources told NBC that Mueller's move may have been to prevent the White House from stifling Bannon's cooperation. Indeed, Bannon on Tuesday told members of the House Intelligence Committee that the White House had instructed him not to answer questions about his role as an advisor to Trump. The committee subsequently issued a subpoena of their own to compel him to talk.

Another suggestion is that Bannon didn't want to appear as though he was running into the special counsel's arms to give his secrets away. With the subpoena over his head, he can credibly claim that his hands are tied and that he has no choice but to testify.

Yet Bannon received the subpoena at arguably the lowest point of his relationship with the president. Bannon had been gone from the White House for months by the time excerpts began to leak from Michael Wolff's tell-all book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." Up until that point, Trump had been mostly complimentary when asked about his former advisor.

That facade crumbled soon after Bannon was alleged to called a Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians "treasonous," among other statements. Bannon also insulted Trump's children Donald Jr. and Ivanka, according to the book. In turn, Trump attacked Bannon, both on Twitter and in a lengthy press release.

Trump tweet

Wolff's book might have played a part in the special counsel's decision, said Michael German, a former FBI special agent and current fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security Program.

"It is interesting timing that the subpoena would come out after the book has gained so much attention, and that could certainly be part of it," German said. "That heightened sensitivity might have given Bannon more reason to say, 'hey, give me a subpoena.'"

German stressed, however, that there's no ruling out a coincidence.

"Having been involved in a ton of investigations, there are more coincidences than you can imagine," he said.

"That investigation is running on its own timeline that is completely opaque to the public."
More than $200 billion has been wiped off the value of global cryptocurrencies at the peak of the recent sell-off, which extended into Wednesday morning.

At around 7 a.m. London time on Tuesday, the total market capitalization or value of every digital coin stood at $653.8 billion, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com, a website that tracks the price of cryptocurrencies by taking into account the prices across different exchanges.

This was when the sell-off began to take hold. As the price of major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin , ethereum and ripple fell sharply, that market cap declined by Tuesday evening to a low of $450.5 billion. The market cap, and the price of some coins recovered slightly from that low, but are still significantly lower.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was higher at around 2.565 percent at 2:12 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was slightly lower at 2.832 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

The yield on the benchmark 2-year Treasury note hit 2.0431 percent, its highest level since Sept. 2008, when it yielded as high as 2.128 percent.

Data was of importance during Wednesday trade as an uptick in utility output carried U.S. industrial production higher. U.S. industrial production rose 0.9 percent in December versus expectations of a 0.4 percent increase.

The Federal Reserve's so-called Beige Book revealed that the central bank believes the U.S. economy and inflation are expanding. Multiple Fed districts documented increases in manufacturing and construction, while the body remains optimistic that latent pricing will rise in 2018.

Bonds have been of key importance recently, after big swings in U.S. Treasury yields and news surrounding China.

Last Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that officials in Beijing had recommended that China's government lowers  or even potentially ceases  its . China's currency regulator has since , which helped ease sentiment for investors across many markets.

Markets remain on edge, as concerns over a possible government shutdown weighs on sentiment. By the end of Friday, ; however, Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over an immigration bill that the Democratic Party wants to pass.

CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report
Investors should heed Bank of America 's warning on bitcoin and other virtual currencies, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

During a post-earnings call Wednesday morning, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan responded to a question about cryptocurrencies after the company banned financial advisors from buying bitcoin-related investments for their clients.

"We have limited our relationships," Moynihan said about cryptocurrencies in a media call. "We basically told people they could buy at other accounts, not at Merrill Lynch."

"I think they're right," Cramer said about BofA on "Squawk on the Street." "I mean they have a lot of consumer business that's digital. They'd rather not deal with a currency that's not a currency."

Bitcoin was falling for a second day on Wednesday, breaking below $10,000 for the first time since November. Ethereum and ripple, the second- and third-biggest digital assets, respectively, continued to move lower as well.

"I'm not saying they think it's going to die," said Cramer, host of "Mad Money." "I'm just saying that they think, 'Why the heck do we need this?'"

Later on the call, Moynihan reiterated his worries that cryptocurrencies make it difficult to track fund flows by criminals.

Meanwhile, BofA reported better-than-expected adjusted fourth-quarter earnings earlier Wednesday, but revenue fell slightly short of expectations. Despite not helping customers invest in bitcoin, the bank has applied for patents in blockchain technology.

 CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
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Bitcoin fell below $10,000 for the first time since November, as a sell-off in cryptocurrencies continued for a second day. The world's largest cryptocurrency dived as low as $9,199.59 Wednesday morning, falling almost 19 percent within 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. CoinDesk tracks prices from cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit and Bitfinex. Bitcoin then recovered slightly to $10,123 at 11:56 a.m. ET. related investing news Cathie Wood adds to holdings in Coinbase, other crypto stocks amid FTX fallout The last time bitcoin fell below the $10,000 mark was November 30. The red-hot digital asset soared to a record high of $19,783.21 on CoinDesk last month, but has since been on a gradual decline. At its current price, it is now down almost 50 percent from that all-time high. More than $30 billion was shaved off the cryptocurrency's market value in the last 24 hours. "Focus has shifted to negative regulation with headlines out of South Korea, China, and even minor headlines from France and the U.S.," Ari Paul, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency investment firm BlockTower Capital, said in an email. "These headlines are having an outsized effect because cryptocurrency as a whole was overbought and sentiment reached exuberant levels, setting the stage for the violent correction that we're seeing."

Credit: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum and ripple  the second and third-biggest digital assets respectively  continued to move lower. According to CoinMarketCap data, ethereum was trading 15 percent lower near $885 a coin, while ripple fell nearly 14 percent to around $1.02. Cryptocurrencies appeared to sell off shortly after South Korea's Finance Minister, Kim Dong-yeon, said the country was still mulling a shutdown of crypto exchanges. Initial reports of South Korea  one of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in the world  moving to clamp down on virtual currency trading last week sent the price of bitcoin and a number of other major digital assets down sharply. "The action we're seeing may seem dramatic but is really quite normal for this market," Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, told CNBC via email. "All in all, this drop has brought us back to the prices that were traded about a month ago for most coins." Greenspan said Tuesday that South Korean and Japanese investors often pay a premium of "20 percent or more per coin," but on Wednesday said they appeared to be falling.

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"The premiums that were being paid by Japanese and South Korean crypto traders is also coming down, so that's a good sign as well," he said.

'No other justification than fear'

China was also reportedly looking to deepen its crackdown on the cryptocurrency market this week. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that authorities in China were planning to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralized trading. Regulators will also target people and companies that provide market-making, settlement and clearing services for centralized trading, the publication said, citing unnamed sources. And on Tuesday, a Chinese central bank official reportedly said that authorities should ban the centralized trading of digital currencies, adding weight to concerns of further suppression of the country's cryptocurrency market. Charles Hayter, chief executive of CryptoCompare, said that many expected the cryptocurrency market to decline. "The market was very overheated and had significantly dislocated from trend. A large percentage of investors were expecting this correction and reversion to mean." Hayter said that panic was "leading the herd to sell with no other justification than fear," but added that it was "difficult to say" where the market would be headed next. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile assets. Many experts believe that the introduction of futures contracts for bitcoin from the likes of CME and Cboe would tame the digital currency somewhat and bring in more institutional money.  CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

WATCH: Digital currency has real value  Here's why
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, at the 2015 CGI Annual Meeting in New York.

John Chambers, the ex-CEO of Cisco who spent 20 years running the networking giant before stepping down in 2015, is turning his attention to venture capital.

The self-funded firm, JC2 Ventures, will back at least a dozen companies that have the potential to go public, according to multiple media reports. Chambers will focus on areas like the Internet of Things, digital communications, security and agriculture.

The firm has 8 companies in its portfolio so far, including drone software developer Airware and social media management company Sprinklr.
Facebook, Google and Twitter told Congress Wednesday that they've gone beyond screening and removing extremist content and are creating more anti-terror propaganda to pre-empt violent messages at the source.

Representatives from the three companies told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that they are, among other things, targeting people likely to be swayed by extremist messages and pushing content aimed at countering that message. Several senators criticized their past efforts as not going far enough.

"We believe that a key part of combating extremism is preventing recruitment by disrupting the underlying ideologies that drive people to commit acts of violence. That's why we support a variety of counterspeech efforts," said Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, according to an advance copy of her testimony obtained by CNBC.

Bickert said that in addition to using image matching and language analysis to identify terror content before it's posted, the company is ramping up what it calls "counterspeech."

Facebook is also working with universities, nongovernmental organizations and community groups around the world "to empower positive and moderate voices," Bickert said.

Google's YouTube, meanwhile, says it will continue to use what it calls the "Redirect Method," developed by Google's Jigsaw research group, to send anti-terror messages to people likely to seek out extremist content through what is essentially targeted advertising. If YouTube determines that a person may be headed toward extremism based on their search history, it will serve them ads that subtly contradict the propaganda that they might see from ISIS or other such groups. Meanwhile, YouTube supports "Creators for Change," a group of people who use their channels to counteract hate.
Despite a handful of high-profile announcements, the recent cuts in corporate taxes haven't yet had a meaningful impact on American companies' plans to boost investment or raise workers' pay, a CNBC survey of large companies found.

The latest announcement came Wednesday with the news that Apple plans to repatriate billions of dollars stashed overseas. The company said it will make a $350 billion "contribution to the US economy," while promising to create 20,000 new jobs and open a new campus. Apple did not provide details on specific investment or plans to boost compensation for current employees.

Proponents of the recent tax reform law, which cuts the top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, argue that a significant portion of those savings will flow to workers in the form of higher wages. The Trump administration has estimated that the average American worker could see their annual wages grow by $4,000 as a result of the drop in corporate taxes.
David Solomon, Goldman Sachs' president and co-chief operating officer, has a thing for fine wine. And now his former personal assistant has been accused of stealing hundreds of bottles worth $1.2 million from his private collection.

Nicolas De-Meyer, 40, was identified in an indictment unsealed Wednesday by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who say he used a fake name, "Mark Miller," to sell hundreds of bottles of the stolen wine to a North Carolina wine dealer he had found on the internet from 2014 to 2016.

The indictment didn't name Solomon, but Goldman confirmed his identity after press inquiries. De-Meyer was an employee of Solomon's household, not the bank. "The theft was discovered in the fall of 2016 and reported to law enforcement at that time," a Goldman spokesman said in an email. "They have been pursuing the matter."

That would correspond with the sale of Solomon's 5,400-square-foot apartment around the same time. The four-bedroom unit with a Central Park view and a 1,000-bottle wine storage area sold in November 2016 for $21.5 million.

According to the indictment, De-Meyer worked for an "individual who collects rare and expensive wine" from 2008 to November 2016, and his duties included receiving shipments of wine at his boss's Manhattan apartment and transporting wine from there to a property in East Hampton, New York.

Among the stolen items were seven bottles from the French estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, or DRC, which prosecutors say is considered among the best, most expensive and rarest in the world. The average price of a bottle of the pinot noir from Burgundy is $17,134, according to Wine-searcher.com. The victim had bought the bottles for $133,650, prosecutors said.

De-Meyer stole the Romanee-Conti wine in October 2016 from his boss's Manhattan apartment, the indictment said.

De-Meyer was arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office in New York. He is to be presented in court in Los Angeles on Wednesday and ultimately to be arraigned in New York.
"Democratic Governors like Cuomo and Jerry Brown should make sure the super-wealthy and the biggest corporations continue to pay their fair share."

First, states can close loopholes that Congress refuses to close.

A perfect example is the carried-interest loophole, which allows hedge fund billionaires and private equity titans to pay lower tax rates than teacher and truck drivers. Campaign cash and furious lobbying kept the loophole alive, despite Trump's promises to kill it.

State legislation has been or will be introduced in ten states to tax carried interest at the state level until Congress takes action  Governor Cuomo included it in his budget proposal, Governor Murphy is set to follow, and lawmakers in other states are pushing bills forward.

Those bills should pass this year, and they will raise billions for urgent public needs  including tax relief for working people hit by the new GOP tax laws.

Second, every state in the country should calculate the windfall that's coming to the biggest corporations and the richest families and take back a reasonable percentage of the ill-gotten gains.

Corporations that don't invest in jobs and pay raises for their front-line workers should be penalized. Congress and Trump claim it will happen, but they didn't put any real teeth behind their assertions.

The first governors and lawmakers who propose a "money-back guarantee" for taxpayers to take tax breaks and subsidies away from big corporations that don't create jobs will deserve every bit of the massive applause they'll get.

"Clawback" or "recapture" provisions can and will raise billions more to invest in our public schools, affordable, quality healthcare, clean-energy mass transit infrastructure and the safety net for seniors and the very poor.

Third, every state in the country should consider inheritance taxes, land taxes and stock-transfer taxes to reduce extreme inequality and broaden economic prosperity.

State lawmakers should increase inheritance taxes on the heirs and heiresses of billionaires who get new tax breaks under the GOP tax plan  and they won't have to touch any family farms or small business owners.

We should make the wealthiest landowners in the biggest cities pay their share for infrastructure and mass-transit improvements that benefit them as well as the broader public.

And we should crack down on dangerous high frequency trading on Wall Street by imposing a small stock-transfer tax, known as the "Robinhood tax" that will hit the wildest speculators and the "flash boys"  not the small investor.

Finally, activists from all over the country can and will hold the GOP Senators and House members who voted for this plan accountable.

The GOP tax bill marked a victory for the insiders, the system-riggers and the huge campaign contributors  but it also provided a first-hand view of how the super-rich and multinational corporations use their wealth and power to get even more wealth and power.

After passage of the bill, no lawmakers should get to vote for the interests of lobbyists and billionaires, hurt their constituents, and still keep their seat in a vigorous, functioning democracy.

People power can fight back.

And when we take action at the state and local levels, then vote out those who looted our government, we will be taking big, important steps towards undoing the GOP tax scams and rebuilding an economy that works for everyone.

Commentary by Jennifer Flynn, the director of Healthcare Justice at the Center for Popular Democracy and Michael Kink, the executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition. Follow them on Twitter @jenniferflynn and @mkink.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Nearly a year after former U.S. President Barack Obama left office on January 20, 2017, he revealed how he spent his first day off in an interview on David Letterman's Netflix show, "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction."

And it was pretty mundane: "I slept in, which I was pretty happy about," Obama told the former late-night television host. "It was great, I did not miss the trappings of the office," Obama added. "I sort of enjoyed puttering around the house, trying to figure out how does the coffee maker work and fighting with Michelle for closet space."

Former U.S. president Barack Obama sits on stage with David Letterman for interview on "My Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman." Courtesy of Netflix

Without much delay, Obama took his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, on vacation to billionaire Richard Branson's own private island Necker Island, located in the British Virgin Islands. "I took Michelle on a holiday. I missed my wife, we hadn't kind of hung out. So we spent 10 days and had a wonderful time," Obama said. In an interview for the release of his book "Finding My Virginity" in 2017, Branson recalled several moments with the former president and his wife. twitter "The first words Michelle said as she stepped onto the island were, 'we're free!'" Branson said. "They had 10 wonderful days, they could let their hair down. Barack spent the whole time out on the water learning to kitesurf and we had a friendly competition which wasn't so friendly, he won. He's a fit, healthy guy." Branson noted on the last night of the couple's stay, Obama threw a party for the staff and by the end, he knew every single person's name, down to the cleaners and dishwashers.
A tourist takes a selfie with the Statue of Liberty as cloud hover over it in New York.

International tourism is growing at its fastest clip in seven years, but the U.S. is on pace for its sharpest drop in foreign travelers since the wake of the recession.

It's a worrying trend for the travel and retail industries. International travelers tend to stay longer and spend more than their domestic counterparts.

In the first seven months of 2017, the U.S. took in 41 million international visitors, a 4 percent decline from the year-earlier period, according to the Commerce Department. That follows a more than 2 percent drop a year earlier.

It's a worrying trend for the travel and retail industries. International travelers tend to stay longer and spend more than their domestic counterparts.

Tourism and retail industry leaders this week launched the Visit U.S. Coalition, which wants backing from the Trump administration to help stem the decline. The coalition was founded by U.S. Travel, a lobbying group whose members include Marriott International and Macy's .

"Fewer visitors means fewer hotel stays, fewer meals eaten in our restaurants, fewer goods purchased in our retail stores, and fewer visits to our national attractions. It also means fewer American jobs and a loss to our economy," said Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a coalition member. "We are committed to working together with the Administration to balance a welcome message with strong security to ensure we don't fall behind to other countries."

Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel, called some of President Donald Trump's rhetoric "not helpful" but stopped short of blaming him or his policies for the drop directly. Dow pointed to a strong dollar and competition from other nations.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

U.S. Travel, whose aim is to boost tourism in the United States, has had its share of headaches under the administration and has weighed in during various travel bans, the short-lived laptop ban and more stringent visa checks for international visitors.

"Mr. President, please tell the world that while we're closed to terror, we're open for business," Dow said last March. "Imbalanced communication is especially susceptible to being 'lost in translation'  so let's work together to inform our friends and neighbors, who could benefit from reassurance, not just who is no longer welcome here, but who remains invited to invest and vacation here."

If the U.S. had maintained its market share of global long-haul travel over the past two years, it would have meant 100,000 new jobs and more than $32 billion in spending, U.S. Travel estimated this week.
The Treasury Department's Inspector General issued a report on virtual currencies, recommending that the IRS more clearly define its policy.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has written to the IRS, asking the agency to "release additional, much needed, guidance on virtual currency."

A woman touches an ATM machine for digital currency Bitcoin in Hong Kong on December 18, 2017. Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images

Back in 2013, Tyson Cross, a tax attorney in Reno, Nevada, helped a few dozen of his clients report cryptocurrencies on their tax returns. Today, that business has mushroomed. "I did close to 1,000 consultations last year where I talked to people who have income from cryptocurrencies and tax questions," Cross said. "They realize the wild west days are coming to an end." "The IRS knows many people have made tremendous wealth with cryptocurrencies," Cross said. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance on how taxation should be applied to virtual currencies. For one, the government decided it was not actually a currency. "They said, 'Yes people call them currencies, but we're not legally treating it as a currency because it's not issued by a sovereign'," said Jeff Bandman, former FinTech advisor for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "The IRS was relatively forward-thinking for a government body." Today there's a virtual currency team within the IRS. The agency also hired a cryptocurrency software company called Chainalysis to "trace the movement of money through the bitcoin economy," according to a contract obtained by the Daily Beast. In 2016, the agency summoned Coinbase, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, for data on U.S. taxpayers. As a result, Coinbase had to disclose information on more than 14,000 users.

The IRS was relatively forward-thinking for a government body. Jeff Bandman former FinTech advisor for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

As more people come to realize that virtual currency is on the minds of government officials, they're trying to figure out how to report cryptocurrency transactions on their tax returns. Since 2014, the IRS has not issued any more guidance. The American Institute of CPA's has written to the IRS, asking the agency to "release additional, much needed, guidance on virtual currency." And the Treasury Department's Inspector General issued a report on virtual currencies, recommending that the IRS more clearly define its policy. "The main question we're seeing is: How is bitcoin taxed?" said Lisa Lewis, a CPA at TurboTax. For example, Lewis said: "People don't understand that if you're holding bitcoin, you're not taxed." Here are some measures you can take to stay ahead of any tax problems.

1) Keep thorough records

The IRS has ruled that virtual currencies are property. That means that profits and losses are to be taxed at an individual's capital gains rate, which should be applied at every "taxable event"  when a person buys, sells or uses their cryptocurrency to make a purchase. Unlike other investment accounts, you may not get a Form 1099 summarizing those gains. "That places a big burden on taxpayers," he said. "Cryptocurrency investors can have tens of thousands of exchanges." Because it can be close to impossible to count all of those events, Cross recommends people regularly download a transaction report from their cryptocurrency exchange. Most exchanges provide this option. If it does not, however, you'll have to personally record every transaction you make with cryptocurrency.

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In any case, that's probably a good idea. Cross said he's had clients who were unable to download their transaction reports because an exchange shut down. "When you have lost records, it's your job as a taxpayer to reconstruct those records as best as possible," Cross said.

2) Calculate your gains and losses

Once you have all of your transactions recorded in one place, there's another challenge: how to calculate your gains or losses from each one. If you've held the cryptocurrencies less than a year, it's a short-term gain. More than a year, it's considered a long-term gain. "It's no different than any other asset," said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a cryptocurrency think tank. "If you bought a currency and hold it more than a year, your tax rate is probably going to be less than you'd otherwise pay." Cross recommends that investors use one of the software services that help people calculate their losses and gains. Those include Bitcoin.tax and Cointracking.info.

We have no answers from the IRS on the finer details. Tyson Cross bitcoin tax lawyer

"It will calculate all of your capital gains, and then you can export that as a report and use it to file your taxes," Cross said. People can chose between the "first-in, first-out" method, by which gains are calculated from the first purchases or "last-in, first-out," which calculates gains from the most recent purchases. Although the IRS has not offered any information on which method to use for cryptocurrencies, Cross recommends people select the former. "When there's not a prescribed method, you have to use the method that is most reasonable," he said. "First-in, first-out is certainly going to be considered reasonable; it's the most common method." This transaction report then goes on Form 8949 of your tax return, which then becomes part of Schedule D.

3) Find an accountant who has cryptocurrency experience

"One issue people are having is that their CPA just doesn't know what to do," Cross said. "They should find a tax preparer who is familiar with cryptocurrencies." Bitcoin.tax maintains a directory of such accountants.

4) Check for more information
Former Italian Prime Minister and leader of Forza Italia Party Silvio Berlusconi attends the debate show Porta a Porta at RAIOs Broadcasting studios Alessandra Benedetti | Corbis via Getty Images

There's a key moment coming up in Italian politics that could have repercussions for the entire European Union. Italy is holding a general election on March 4, but it is unclear whether it will manage to form a solid government, which is raising concerns among market participants.

Why does this election matter?

Italy has been under the caretaker leadership of Paolo Gentiloni since December of 2016  when Matteo Renzi resigned from the position after his proposals to reform the Italian Senate were not approved in a referendum. There are deep concerns that increasing support for populist ideas will make Italy derail from a sustainable fiscal path in the coming years  a problem for its own finances but also for Europe. "The election signals the return of serious political risk to the euro area's third largest economy, which has a debt stock of around 2.3 trillion euros ($ 2.77 trillion)  by our estimate, 133 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, and over 20 percent of the euro-area total," Peter Ceretti, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC via email. "The vote also comes at a time when the economy is gaining pace, but real GDP is still nearly 6 percent below its pre-crisis peak. The next government is unlikely to implement reforms that will raise productivity and potential growth," he added. Adding to the pile of problems is the European Central Bank's plan to gradually reduce its stimulus, meaning that there could be an uptick in market volatility, making it more expensive for the Italian government to borrow from capital markets. Such a risk could spread to other euro zone countries, due to the interlinks between the 19-member economy. Furthermore, if the outcome of the election produced a weak Italian government, unable to pass major legislation, current efforts from France and Germany to integrate the euro zone further could be at risk. Such integration would probably be at a slower pace or even blocked.

What are the main issues at stake?

"The main campaign issues in the election are all related to tax  flat tax, television tax, or university fees (which are also a form of tax). We should hear a lot about pensions as well," Erik Jones, director of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told CNBC via email. "We will hear less about participation in the euro , although there is still some ambiguity on the side of the M5S (Five Star Movement) and admitting that the LN (Northern League) remains in favor of some kind of withdrawal. European issues are not really central in the debate. This is a domestic contest," he said.

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The populist Five Star Movement previously campaigned for the Italian withdrawal from the single currency, but a recent leadership change has eased the party's stance on the country's euro membership. On the other side of the political spectrum the Northern League, an Euroskeptic party, running in a three-party coalition, believes that Italy would be better off without the euro.

Who's leading the polls?

The current caretaker government managed to approve some reforms over the last year, including a new electoral law, which means Italy's system is now a mix of proportional representation and first-past-the-post. It's expected to benefit parties that form pre-election coalitions and reduces the chances of the populist Five Star Movement leading the country by themselves. "We have seen a change in the electoral law, so that's a positive as far as if you have concerns about the Five Star Movement, maybe that's a positive indicator that you can hold on to, but nonetheless if you look at the polls and you agree with the polls, we do see them as the strongest party," John Raines, head of political risk at IHS Markit, told CNBC Wednesday.

Alessia Pierdomenico | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake delivered a searing condemnation of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, specifically the way he has employed the term "fake news" to dismiss objective reality and undermine the credibility of the free press.

Trump's attacks on journalists and those who would hold him accountable are "eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them," Flake said. "The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated."

The senator's 15 minute speech painted an ominous picture of a world where dictators are emboldened and free speech is under siege. It also represented a stunning indictment of an American president from a senator of his own party, albeit one who has made little secret of his disgust with Trump's style of governing.

But whereas, in a Senate speech last October, Flake decried the effect that Trump's "undignified" behavior was having on his party, Wednesday's address made it clear that the senator sees Trump as more than merely a domestic menace: To Flake, the president of the United States threatens freedom around the world.

"2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth  more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government," Flake said in a speech on the Senate floor. 2018, he said, "must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power."

The Arizona Republican described how Trump had borrowed a phrase from Stalin, when he called the press "the enemy of the people." The phrase was so dangerous, Flake said, that the Soviet dictator's successor prohibited people from using it.

"So fraught with malice was the phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader," the retiring lawmaker said.

Today, dictators are again waging war against the free press, only this time, they're using Trump's term  fake news  as a cudgel, said Flake. He cited chilling examples, including Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of "fake news" to describe an Amnesty International report, and a state official in Myanmar who denied the existence of the entire Rohingya ethnic group by labeling them "fake news."

"Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language," Flake said. "We are not in a 'fake news' era, as Bashar Assad says. We are, rather, in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself, to challenge free people and free societies, everywhere."

But the junior senator from Arizona was not the only representative from the Grand Canyon State Wednesday to publicly condemn Trump's assault on journalism: Flakes colleague John McCain, the state's senior senator, also warned of the long-term damage Trump's "fake news" rhetoric is doing to democracies around the world.

"The phrase "fake news"  granted legitimacy by an American president  is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens," McCain wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. In the absence of presidential leadership, he said, it falls to Congress to do more to advance press freedoms, both at home and abroad.

Flake, on the Senate floor, also emphasized the role of Congress in fighting the erosion of trust in the free press. "2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it," he said. "And in this effort, the truth needs as many allies as possible.

"We have it within us to turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism."
Ride-hailing app Lyft has hit a few milestones within the last few months. In October, Google's parent company Alphabet invested $1 billion into the startup and the company completed half a billion rides since its founding. In November, Lyft opened a permanent office in New York as it looks to grow its team of engineers.

Now valued at $11.5 billion, Lyft is seeking top talent as it continues to expand its operations. So how does one go about scoring a job at the company? Emily Nishi, Lyft's Chief People Officer, says the No.1 trait she looks for in candidates is authenticity.

"We really believe that applicants should be themselves and live authentically," she tells CNBC Make It.

Showing your authentic self can be demonstrated in a number of ways, Nishi explains, primarily by being transparent about your background. For new graduates, she says to discuss your university experiences and share your five or 10-year plan.

Meanwhile, mid and senior-level applicants should give detailed information about your work history and what's important to you. Nishi says that she also wants candidates to freely ask questions about the company when the opportunity arises.

"I want the candidate to ask me everything that's on their mind because choosing a job is a big commitment," she explains. For example, you may have to uproot and move your family to a new location. If you're a recent graduate, you may have student loans that could factor into your decision-making.

Being authentic and open about what you're seeking and your background also gives hiring managers a comprehensive overview of who you are and allows them to determine how you would fit in with their company culture, according to Nishi, who worked at YouTube prior to starting at Lyft.

At Lyft, the HR team looks for candidates who exemplify their core values and who are able to "create fearlessly," be proactive, make things happen and, most importantly, uplift others.

She also wants candidates who are customer-focused. "We care a lot about our passengers and the driver experience," she says. In fact, Nishi explains that Lyft was the first ride-hailing app to introduce tipping drivers.

With headquarters in San Francisco and a large operation in Nashville, Lyft now employs over 2,000 workers and is looking to hire more. Nishi says that the company is looking to fill many roles in various sectors including engineering, product and design, and operations.

Though technical skills are necessary for some of these roles, the HR exec says "what we look for fundamentally is someone who really demonstrates or values."

"We are looking for great people who want to build the company," Nishi adds.

Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook.

See also:

Why these IBM and Microsoft execs say you shouldn't be afraid of robots stealing your job

LinkedIn HR exec says this is the No. 1 mistake people make during the hiring process

An Amazon recruiter reveals how to get a job at the online retailer
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Qantas has been identified as the most polluting airline to fly across the Pacific Ocean to North America. A report by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) analyzed 20 carriers and concluded that the Australian airline was 64 percent less fuel efficient than the top performers, All Nippon Airways and Hainan.

Fuel efficiency of 20 airlines on transpacific passenger routes, 2016 Source: ICCT

The report said Qantas recorded poor fuel efficiency because it used older, fuel-intensive aircraft, carried a low amount of freight (therefore making it less efficient) and also had relatively low numbers of passengers on each plane. In a statement Tuesday, Qantas Head of Fuel and Environment Alan Milne said the airline ranked poorly because "we use larger aircraft, fly very long distances and have premium cabins that naturally have fewer people on board." Milne added that the airline's Sydney to Dallas route, as one of the longest in the world, had a magnifying effect on emissions because at take-off there was so much fuel to carry Qantas was the only airline in the list to have the Airbus A380 as its most prevalent aircraft on transpacific routes. The carrier said it is committed to lowering emissions and would soon be switching old 747's for Boeing's more fuel-efficient Dreamliner range.

A Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner for All Nippon Airways Co. Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is synonymous with a "revolution" taking place in U.S. politics and society, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, but not in a good way.



Speaking to CNBC ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) , Shiller, a renowned economist and academic who is also attending the Forum, said he was concerned about the changes in society and politics heralded by the president.



"Trump is a revolution unfortunately, (and one) who's reaffirming nationalism and he's showing that Americans are no better than anyone else," Shiller told CNBC ahead of the Forum. "It's troublesome to me. I'm concerned."



"So far we've gotten through a year of him and we're optimistic that so he might be defanged," the Yale University economics professor added.



WEF aims to bring global leaders, policymakers and private and public enterprises together to find shared solutions to the world's most pressing problems such as climate change, inequality and poverty  not areas that Trump's anti-globalization "America First" policy has touched upon much in his first year in power.

.



Shiller said Trump's reception by the Davos audience was going to be interesting to see.



"He's coming to Davos this year and he's going to try out his rhetoric on the least sympathetic audience I can imagine. He likes sympathetic audiences so I don't know how he's going to manage this one."



While Davos does attract criticism, with some calling it a "talking shop" for the well-off that fails to bring about concrete change, Shiller was supportive of the event. He said the 2018 theme  "creative a shared future in a fractured world"  reflected the problems facing the world, namely what he saw as "the problems of the international growth of populism and nationalism, racism and religionism that is quite striking

right now."



"Those fractures are re-assertions of traditional fractures and so it's like we're back to history again. We were in a period of enlightenment following the horrors of World War II and now the people who remembered that are disappearing so we're going to go back and make the same mistakes," he said.
"I'm looking for something that President Trump supports. And he's not yet indicated what measure he's willing to sign," McConnell told reporters Wednesday. "As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I would be convinced that we were not just spinning our wheels going to this issue on the floor but actually dealing with a bill that has a chance to become law and therefore solve the problem."

As negotiations continue, GOP senators say they need to see what Trump would sign before they can proceed.

Talks on crafting a bill that would protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants while boosting border security measures and revising other immigration policy hit a snag in recent days, partly due to Trump's rejection of a bipartisan Senate deal presented to him Thursday. Only eight days ago, Trump told lawmakers that he would sign essentially whatever they put in front of him to resolve several immigration issues.

They just need to figure what President Donald Trump would sign, first, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell .

Senate Republican leaders said Wednesday that they want to take up a bipartisan immigration bill.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump insisted that the plan presented by senators is "the opposite of what I campaigned for." Trump, who promised to crack down on immigration, did not go into further detail about what changes he would want to see, during the portion of the interview published by Reuters.

Immigration talks have complicated efforts to fund the government beyond Friday. Democrats have threatened not to support a must-pass spending bill unless lawmakers can also approve legislation shielding those young immigrants by Friday.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he met Wednesday with his No. 2-ranking counterparts from both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate on an immigration deal. The group  which is considered the deciding factor on a path forward  will meet again Thursday, he said.

"We all want to get to a solution here. But the president has made clear there are four components to that: there's a DACA solution, there's a border security solution, and then we need to deal with the diversity lottery visa and chain migration," Cornyn told reporters.

He said the lawmakers are "all committed to getting to 'yes.'"

Some senators were confused by Trump's rejection of their previous deal. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., one of the senators at Thursday's White House meeting, has said the proposal presented to Trump included everything he sought.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who also attended the meeting, expressed dismay at Trump's change in tone from eight days ago, when he encouraged bipartisan lawmakers to pass a bill and said he would sign it, to Thursday, when he shot down the senators' deal.

"Tuesday we had a president that I was proud to golf with, call my friend, who understood immigration had to be bipartisan," Graham said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. "I don't know where that guy went. I want him back."
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on January 31, 2014 in New York City.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Goldman Sachs  Goldman reported adjusted quarterly profit of $5.68 per share compared to the $4.91 a share consensus estimate. Revenue also beat Wall Street forecasts. CEO Lloyd Blankfein noted the strong 2017 performance in the face of a "challenging" market-making environment.

Bank of America  The bank reported adjusted quarterly profit of 47 cents per share, 3 cents a share above estimates, Revenue fell below forecasts. Bank of America took a charge related to the new tax law but expects to benefit from lower rates going forward.

Tiffany  The luxury goods retailer said holiday season comparable-store sales rose by 5 percent compared to a year earlier, with overall sales up 8 percent. Tiffany attributes the increase to stronger demand for higher end jewelry. Tiffany did say it expects full-year 2018 earnings to be flat to slightly lower compared to 2017.

IBM  Barclays upgraded IBM to "overweight" from "underweight," saying IBM's long revenue decline may soon end and that the current mainframe cycle will allow additional time for IBM's strategic moves to take hold.

Apple  The stock was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at Longbow Research, which sees iPhone shipments coming in below consensus for fiscal 2018.

Dollar General , Dollar Tree  Oppenheimer began coverage of both discount retailers with "outperform" ratings, citing attractive long-term growth prospects and a stronger lower-income consumer segment.

Ford Motor  The automaker issued 2018 financial guidance that fell short of expectations. Ford officials said higher input costs and currency volatility are among the factors weighing on the company's projected results.

CSX  CSX reported adjusted quarterly profit of 64 cents per share, 8 cents a share above estimates. The railroad operator's revenue was slightly shy of forecasts due to a drop in shipment volume. Its bottom line was helped by higher prices and better expense controls.

Boeing  Boeing formed a joint venture with Adient Aerospace to develop and manufacturer airplane seats. Each company is contributing $50 million to the project.

Juno Therapeutics  Juno is in talks to be acquired by drugmaker Celgene , according to The Wall Street Journal. People familiar with the matter told the paper a deal could be announced within weeks.

Pearson  The publishing company said its sales of U.S. higher education course materials fell 3 percent. That figure disappointed investors after the company had said in October that pressures in that segment were easing.

SandRidge Energy  SandRidge is planning to meet with its largest shareholder, investor Carl Icahn, to discuss his call to shake up the company's board of directors. Icahn had said last month that he was considering a proxy contest.

Oracle  Oracle issued a security patch to fix flaws in Intel chips contained in some of the business software giant's products.

Intercontinental Exchange  ICE will start another NYSE-branded market  named NYSE National  to be launched during the second quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. The new market will only be a trading venture rather than a listing market.

Signet Jewelers  A U.S. judge overturned an arbitrator's ruling that had allowed 70,000 women to take part in a sex discrimination case against Signet unit Sterling Jewelers. That group had not originally opted to join the suit.

Rio Tinto  Rio Tinto called for the dismissal of an SEC case against the mining giant. The suit had accused Rio of overstating the value of coal assets in Mozambique that it had bought in 2011.

Papa John's  Papa John's Chief Financial Officer Lance Tucker will leave the pizza chain in March to take the same position at restaurant operator Jack In The Box .

Sanderson Farms  The poultry producer said supplies of antibiotic-free chicken are exceeding demand, which could hit the profits of poultry processors like Sanderson and rival Tyson Foods .
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake commanded the Senate floor on Wednesday to deliver a much-anticipated speech directly attacking President Donald Trump and the White House for launching an "unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press."

This is not the first time Flake has discussed principles and the state of America under Trump from the Senate podium. After announcing that he would not run for re-election in October, Flake took to the chamber to give remarks about "the state of our disunion" in America.

In Wednesday's speech, Flake defended on the principles of truth and free expression, and warned of a creeping authoritarianism around the world.

Read the full speech below:

Mr. President, near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident..." So, from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America.

As the distinguished former member of this body, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, famously said: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." During the past year, I am alarmed to say that Senator Moynihan's proposition has likely been tested more severely than at any time in our history.

It is for that reason that I rise today, to talk about the truth, and its relationship to democracy. For without truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last.

2017 was a year which saw the truth  objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine "alternative facts" into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods. It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. "The enemy of the people," was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017.

Mr. President, it is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase "enemy of the people," that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of "annihilating such individuals" who disagreed with the supreme leader.

This alone should be a source of great shame for us in this body, especially for those of us in the president's party. For they are shameful, repulsive statements. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward  despotism is the enemy of the people. The free press is the despot's enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn't suit him "fake news," it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

I dare say that anyone who has the privilege and awesome responsibility to serve in this chamber knows that these reflexive slurs of "fake news" are dubious, at best. Those of us who travel overseas, especially to war zones and other troubled areas around the globe, encounter members of U.S. based media who risk their lives, and sometimes lose their lives, reporting on the truth. To dismiss their work as fake news is an affront to their commitment and their sacrifice.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, 80 journalists were killed in 2017, and a new report from the Committee to Protect Journalists documents that the number of journalists imprisoned around the world has reached 262, which is a new record. This total includes 21 reporters who are being held on "false news" charges.

Mr. President, so powerful is the presidency that the damage done by the sustained attack on the truth will not be confined to the president's time in office. Here in America, we do not pay obeisance to the powerful  in fact, we question the powerful most ardently  to do so is our birthright and a requirement of our citizenship -- and so, we know well that no matter how powerful, no president will ever have dominion over objective reality.

No politician will ever get to tell us what the truth is and is not. And anyone who presumes to try to attack or manipulate the truth to his own purposes should be made to realize the mistake and be held to account. That is our job here. And that is just as Madison, Hamilton, and Jay would have it.

Of course, a major difference between politicians and the free press is that the press usually corrects itself when it gets something wrong. Politicians don't.

No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions. And Mr. President, an American president who cannot take criticism  who must constantly deflect and distort and distract  who must find someone else to blame  is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to the danger.

Now, we are told via twitter that today the president intends to announce his choice for the "most corrupt and dishonest" media awards. It beggars belief that an American president would engage in such a spectacle. But here we are.

And so, 2018 must be the year in which the truth takes a stand against power that would weaken it. In this effort, the choice is quite simple. And in this effort, the truth needs as many allies as possible. Together, my colleagues, we are powerful. Together, we have it within us to turn back these attacks, right these wrongs, repair this damage, restore reverence for our institutions, and prevent further moral vandalism.

Together, united in the purpose to do our jobs under the Constitution, without regard to party or party loyalty, let us resolve to be allies of the truth -- and not partners in its destruction.

It is not my purpose here to inventory all of the official untruths of the past year. But a brief survey is in order. Some untruths are trivial  such as the bizarre contention regarding the crowd size at last year's inaugural.

But many untruths are not at all trivial  such as the seminal untruth of the president's political career - the oft-repeated conspiracy about the birthplace of President Obama. Also not trivial are the equally pernicious fantasies about rigged elections and massive voter fraud, which are as destructive as they are inaccurate  to the effort to undermine confidence in the federal courts, federal law enforcement, the intelligence community and the free press, to perhaps the most vexing untruth of all  the supposed "hoax" at the heart of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

To be very clear, to call the Russia matter a "hoax"  as the president has many times  is a falsehood. We know that the attacks orchestrated by the Russian government during the election were real and constitute a grave threat to both American sovereignty and to our national security. It is in the interest of every American to get to the bottom of this matter, wherever the investigation leads.

Ignoring or denying the truth about hostile Russian intentions toward the United States leaves us vulnerable to further attacks. We are told by our intelligence agencies that those attacks are ongoing, yet it has recently been reported that there has not been a single cabinet-level meeting regarding Russian interference and how to defend America against these attacks. Not one. What might seem like a casual and routine untruth  so casual and routine that it has by now become the white noise of Washington - is in fact a serious lapse in the defense of our country.

Mr. President, let us be clear. The impulses underlying the dissemination of such untruths are not benign. They have the effect of eroding trust in our vital institutions and conditioning the public to no longer trust them. The destructive effect of this kind of behavior on our democracy cannot be overstated.

Mr. President, every word that a president utters projects American values around the world. The values of free expression and a reverence for the free press have been our global hallmark, for it is our ability to freely air the truth that keeps our government honest and keeps a people free. Between the mighty and the modest, truth is the great leveler. And so, respect for freedom of the press has always been one of our most important exports.

But a recent report published in our free press should raise an alarm. Reading from the story:

"In FebruarySyrian President Bashar Assad brushed off an Amnesty International report that some 13,000 people had been killed at one of his military prisons by saying, "You can forge anything these days, we are living in a fake news era."

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has complained of being "demonized" by "fake news." Last month, the report continues, with our President, quote "laughing by his side" Duterte called reporters "spies."

In July, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro complained to the Russian propaganda outlet, that the world media had "spread lots of false versions, lots of lies" about his country, adding, "This is what we call 'fake news' today, isn't it?"

There are more:

"A state official in Myanmar recently said, "There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news," referring to the persecuted ethnic group.

Leaders in Singapore, a country known for restricting free speech, have promised "fake news" legislation in the new year."

And on and on. This feedback loop is disgraceful, Mr. President. Not only has the past year seen an American president borrow despotic language to refer to the free press, but it seems he has in turn inspired dictators and authoritarians with his own language. This is reprehensible.

We are not in a "fake news" era, as Bashar Assad says. We are, rather, in an era in which the authoritarian impulse is reasserting itself, to challenge free people and free societies, everywhere.

In our own country, from the trivial to the truly dangerous, it is the range and regularity of the untruths we see that should be cause for profound alarm, and spur to action. Add to that the by-now predictable habit of calling true things false, and false things true, and we have a recipe for disaster. As George Orwell warned, "The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it."

Any of us who have spent time in public life have endured news coverage we felt was jaded or unfair. But in our positions, to employ even idle threats to use laws or regulations to stifle criticism is corrosive to our democratic institutions. Simply put: it is the press's obligation to uncover the truth about power. It is the people's right to criticize their government. And it is our job to take it.

What is the goal of laying siege to the truth? President John F. Kennedy, in a stirring speech on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America, was eloquent in answer to that question:

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

Mr. President, the question of why the truth is now under such assault may well be for historians to determine. But for those who cherish American constitutional democracy, what matters is the effect on America and her people and her standing in an increasingly unstable world  made all the more unstable by these very fabrications. What matters is the daily disassembling of our democratic institutions.

We are a mature democracy  it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring  or worse, endorsing  these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.

I sincerely thank my colleagues for their indulgence today. I will close by borrowing the words of an early adherent to my faith that I find has special resonance at this moment. His name was John Jacques, and as a young missionary in England he contemplated the question: "What is truth?" His search was expressed in poetry and ultimately in a hymn that I grew up with, titled "Oh Say, What is Truth." It ends as follows:

"Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first,

For the limits of time it steps o'er.

Tho the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst.

Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,

Eternal unchanged evermore."

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to members of the media in the basement of the U.S. Capitol prior to a Senate Republican Policy Luncheon January 17, 2018 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump supports Republicans' short-term spending bill and will pin the blame on Democrats if it fails to pass, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.

Democrats have threatened to oppose a continuing resolution to fund the government if they cannot also pass a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants.

But the White House may have blame to put on some of the majority Republicans, too. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday that he is against a short-term funding measure.

Sanders said the White House seeks two-year spending legislation but would prefer a stop-gap measure to a government shutdown.

"The president certainly doesn't want a shutdown, and if it happens I think you only have one place to look  and that's the Democrats," she told reporters on Wednesday.

If Congress cannot pass a funding bill by the end of Friday, parts of the government will run out of money. Republicans control the House, Senate and White House and can pass a funding bill with only GOP votes in the House. A funding plan will need some Democratic support to pass the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he expects the Senate to take up the continuing resolution as soon as the House can approve it. He said he thinks the Senate "has a good chance of passing it," especially because it reauthorizes the Children's Health Insurance Program for six years, a Democratic priority.

Even some Republicans have threatened to vote against it, hurting its chances of passing this week. Graham said Wednesday that he would vote "no" on the measure, arguing that Congress has strung together too many short-term funding bills, according to NBC News.

"We've just got to let folks in this body know enough is enough," he said.

The bill introduced by House Republicans would extend government funding through Feb. 16. It would reauthorize CHIP for six years and delay some Affordable Care Act taxes.

While Democrats have made extending CHIP a priority, the GOP does not plan to move to pass a bill to shield the immigrants protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Trump ended the program in September with a six-month delay, and those immigrants could start to face deportation after March 5.

Congressional leaders started to dole out blame earlier Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that a shutdown "will fall squarely on the majority leader's shoulders and the president's shoulders."

McConnell suggested Wednesday that Democrats were "manufacturing a crisis" on immigration before the March deadline. Ryan accused them of playing politics with immigration.

Bipartisan senators reached a deal last week on protecting the young immigrants, increasing border security funding and revising extended family migration rules and the visa "lottery" system. Trump rejected the plan when they presented it to him.
The Trump administration reportedly is preparing to offer job protections for health-care workers who refuse to perform abortions or to treat transgender patients because of moral objections to doing so.

News of that proposed rule broke Tuesday night, hours before White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced that President Donald Trump on Friday will become the first sitting president ever to address the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C.

The proposed rule comes on the heels of the administration's attempts to block undocumented immigrant teenage girls in federal custody from obtaining abortions.

And the reported effort comes days after the Department of Health and Human Services either fired or accepted the resignation of a hard-line abortion opponent as head of HHS' family planning programs and replaced her with a leading skeptic of birth-control-promotion efforts.

Politico first reported Tuesday on the administration's plans for a proposed rule that would "shield health workers who refuse to perform abortions or treat transgender patients."

The news site reported that the rule also seeks to "punish organizations" that do not permit their workers to express their moral objections to providing certain medical procedures or treating certain kinds of people.

The article noted that Roger Severino, who is head of HHS' office of civil rights, "has a long record of advocating for religious groups and arguing against LGBT projections."

"Severino also has been a strong critic of providing procedures to transgender patients seeking to transition," Politico's article said.

HHS, which did not respond to Politico's request for comment on the proposed rule, did not immediately respond to CNBC's own request for comment for this story.

The Democratic National Committee blasted the proposed rule Wednesday.

"Once again, women and the LGBTQ community are under attack from the Trump-Pence administration," said DNC director of women's media Elizabeth Renda and director of LGBT media Lucas Acosta in a prepared statement. "Days before the anniversary of the Women's March, Republicans are giving health workers a license to discriminate against women and members of the LGBTQ community."

"It wasn't enough to try to strip transgender Americans of their right to serve, roll back access to birth control, and attempt to defund Planned Parenthood," they wrote. "Now Trump, Pence, and their Republican cronies want to allow health care workers to discriminate and rip away access to medical care. This rule is unethical and dangerously undermines public health."

Dr. Ben Brown, an OB-GYN in Chicago and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, said the proposed rule could have a negative effect on patients, by leading to unnecessary delays in urgent care needs.

"And that causes harm," Brown told CNBC.

The doctor said that as a Quaker, he is sensitive to the moral concerns of his fellow health-care workers.

But Brown also said, "I'm a doctor because I'm a Christian."

"While it is absolutely important to respect the diversity of beliefs among providers, our basic job is to serve these patients and meet their basic needs," he said. "Imposing one's beliefs on someone else is contrary to that value."

"The important thing is that the patients get the care that they need."

On Sunday, an undocumented teenage girl who had been in federal custody and whose desire for an abortion was being thwarted by HHS was released into the care of a sponsor.

The girl, known in court papers as "Jane Moe," was the fourth pregnant undocumented teen publicly known to have sued HHS with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union over a new Trump administration policy that bars federal shelters from helping women in getting an abortion.

It is not known if Jane Moe has since obtained an abortion, but the other three girls have done so.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday aligned himself solidly with conservative Republicans on immigration, criticizing a proposed bipartisan deal as "horrible" on border security and "very, very weak" on reforms for the legal immigration system.

The Senate proposal  aimed at addressing Democrats' demands for protections for young adults dubbed "Dreamers" brought to the United States illegally as children  fell far short of what most Republicans believe needs to happen, Trump told Reuters in an interview.

"It's the opposite of what I campaigned for," Trump said.

Many Democrats have said they will not vote for the bill without an immigration deal, and Republicans will need at least some Democratic votes to pass the funding extension in the Senate.

Trump said he thinks a deal on immigration is still possible. "Time is running out," he said.

Trump also said a federal government shutdown "could happen" by the end of the week, insisting that Democrats would be blamed if that happened. Trump did not rule out signing a short-term spending measure by a Friday deadline to prevent a shutdown.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
President Donald Trump said he hopes the escalating tensions with North Korea can be resolved "in a peaceful way," but warned that "it's very possible that it can't."

Trump made his remarks on North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un, in an Oval Office interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

With North Korea persisting as the major global challenge facing Trump this year, the president cast doubt during the 53-minute interview on whether talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be useful. In the past he has not ruled out direct talks with Kim.

"I'd sit down, but I'm not sure that sitting down will solve the problem," he said, noting that past negotiations with the North Koreans by his predecessors had failed to rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

"They've talked for 25 years and they've taken advantage of our presidents, of our previous presidents," he said.

He declined to comment when asked whether he had engaged in any communications at all with Kim, with whom he has exchanged public insults and threats, heightening tensions in the region.

Trump said he hoped the standoff with Pyongyang could be resolved "in a peaceful way, but its very possible that it can't."

Trump praised China for its efforts to restrict oil and coal supplies to North Korea but said Beijing could do much more to help constrain Pyongyang.

The White House last week welcomed news that imports to China from North Korea, which counts on Beijing as its main economic partner, plunged in December to their lowest in dollar terms since at least the start of 2014.
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Department of Veterans Affairs employee, Kristen Ruell (L), Veterans Benefits Service Representative Ronald Robinson (C), and Former Veterans Benefits Representative Javier Soto (R) speak at the House Hearing on Veterans Benefits in the Cannon House Office Building on July 14, 2014 at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Dan Martin is chief engineer for Veterans Affairs hospitals in northern Indiana, but he hasn't done much engineering for almost a year  or much of anything for that matter.

After he reported concerns about possible contracting improprieties at the hospitals, managers stripped him of his duties last March, alleging he had been mean and used inappropriate language with his employees. They isolated him in an out-of the-way office in Marion, Ind., his lawyers say, and in December, moved to fire him.

Such stories have been legendary for years at the VA, but since President Trump created a whistleblower-protection office at the agency by executive order in April, the office has stepped in to help Martin and more than 70 other VA employees by delaying discipline against them until further investigation can be conducted.

It's unclear what the end results will be  the director of the office, Peter O'Rourke, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview that 41 of those cases remain open and a "very small number" of the others were decided in favor of the employees.

The office, which has operated largely in secret until now, had a rocky start and still faces staffing challenges and deep skepticism among some whistleblowers that it will succeed in the long run.

But the early moves to help them are nonetheless drawing praise from longtime advocates who say they are unprecedented.

"There's no agency in the executive (branch) that's come close to providing temporary relief for over 70 people in less than a year," said Tom Devine, who is legal director at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project and has worked on federal whistleblower cases since 1979.

Devine, whose group is representing Martin and a handful of other alleged whistleblowers at the VA, said if only a fraction of cases are decided in the employees' favor, it would represent an improvement. He said whistleblowers historically get relief in only 2% to 5% of cases.

Since June, the VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection has fielded more than 1,000 complaints about operations at the VA, according to statistics compiled by the office.

They included roughly 300 alleging employees had violated rules or laws, abused their authority or were engaged in mismanagement. In 28 other cases, the office determined they involved threats to public health or safety. A total of 232 complaints alleged retaliation against whistleblowers for speaking out about problems.

O'Rourke, a member of Trump's transition team who landed at the VA as part of his administration's beachhead team at the agency, said he designed the office to take quick, decisive action on complaints and track them until they are resolved.

They are triaged, investigated, and if founded, shared with all levels of the agency, from headquarters in Washington to regional and local officials in the field.

"In the past, people make a complaint, who knows who saw it? Maybe the medical center saw it, maybe they didn't, maybe my supervisor never sent it anywhere," said O'Rourke, a Navy veteran and former business consultant. "The process we have now, that disclosure now gets visibility so these things cannot be hidden."

He said the identities of employees reporting wrongdoing are kept secret unless the employees give permission to reveal them. In cases of retaliation, he said that permission may be necessary to fully vet the complaints.

The office has faced some challenges that have drawn sharp criticism and fueled skepticism that it will be different from previous initiatives that failed to fix problems at the agency and protect whistleblowers.

Read more from USA Today:

Navy to file homicide charges against ship commanders after deadly crashes

'How dare you': Women address Larry Nassar at his sentencing hearing

Good genes? How can Trump eat a lot of fast food, exercise little and be healthy?



The office inherited a number of employees and cases from the now-defunct VA Office of Accountability Review, an Obama-era effort that targeted senior leaders for discipline but that some whistleblowers viewed as ineffective.

That meant some complainants received emails about their cases from an investigator at the Obama-era office one month and then from the same investigator at the new Trump whistleblower office a few weeks later, sowing doubt that it was a new office at all.

O'Rourke also interviewed a prominent whistleblower, Katherine Mitchell, a physician who has testified before Congress about threats to patient care at the Phoenix VA and is well-connected to dozens of VA whistleblowers. She said he offered her a position at the new office in August but then reversed himself in a two-sentence email in October and hasn't responded since.

Mitchell also hasn't seen any progress on a case she filed with the office alleging she is still suffering retaliation because the agency has not allowed her to perform duties related to specialty care contained her job description. She is now working in a regional office performing unrelated tasks, including reviewing and distributing policies from headquarters.

"As far as I can tell, they're not doing anything substantially beneficial for anyone," Mitchell told USA TODAY. "I've not heard anybody say that the office of whistleblower protection has helped them at all."

Those sentiments were echoed by others, including Shea Wilkes, a social worker who exposed problems with wait lists at the VA in Shreveport, La., and co-founder of a national group of whistleblowers, VA Truth Tellers.

"Most of us are trying to figure out what exactly the Office of Accountability & Whistleblower Protection does," Wilkes said in an email.

To some degree, that's because the office has operated in virtual secret. O'Rourke has never participated in a media interview before, the number of whistleblowers the office has helped was not public, nor was Martin's or other cases.

The VA says it is still working on Mitchell's case, trying to match her with a position that meets her needs. The agency contends she wasn't officially offered a job with the new whistleblower office, and she turned down an offer in October to work in a VA ethics office.

O'Rourke concedes not everything has been smooth sailing. The office is still staffing up. Currently, it has only 65 of the roughly 100 employees expected. And he said many of the complaints received so far have not been fully vetted or addressed.

"We're kind of building the airplane as we fly it, is the analogy that's been used quite a bit," O'Rourke said.

One of the most high-profile moves he made was hiring a different whistleblower from the Phoenix VA, Brandon Coleman, and tasking him with outreach.

Coleman, who suffered retaliation in Phoenix after he disclosed poor treatment of suicidal veterans, started work at the office in August and said he has seen first-hand the progress it has made, both in uncovering problems with veteran care and in forestalling disciplinary actions against whistleblowers.

"I was here when we did one of our first holds, and it brought a tear to my eye because that didn't exist when I was going through my stuff," Coleman said in an interview.

O'Rourke said Coleman provides valuable insight on cases and policies from a whistleblower's perspective.

"I thought it was just a no brainer to have a subject-matter expert on the field that I'm supposedly managing be able to tell me when I'm full of crap or not," he said. "There's not much that we do that he doesn't at least get to have an opinion about."

For many in the whistleblower community, though, it's too soon to tell if the office will be a success.

Representatives of the Office of Special Counsel, which has been working regularly with the office on whistleblower cases, and the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit that works with whistleblowers, both said they are reserving judgment.

"The jury's still out on the office," said Nick Schwellenbach, director of investigations at POGO. "I have heard almost nothing about what it's concretely doing to protect whistleblowers, making the VA a culture where employees feel comfortable raising concerns, and improving the quality of VA healthcare."
Saudi Arabia will deposit $2 billion into Yemen's central bank in an effort to help the war-torn through an ongoing economic crisis, the kingdom's state news agency reported Wednesday.

The cash injection  ordered by Saudi Arabia's King Salman  comes one day after Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr issued a public plea for international support. He called on allies to help shore up the country's currency and save Yemenis from "inevitable starvation."

Yemen has been polarized by almost three years of civil war with Saudi Arabia and Iran backing different sides in what is widely seen as a proxy conflict for regional and religious influence. The internationally-recognized government, backed by Riyadh, is based in the south of Yemen. Meanwhile, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement is situated in the north  which includes the capital Sana'a.
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Chris Grayling is MP for Epsom and Ewell, and Secretary of State for Transport.

Be careful what you wish for Almost every time that something goes wrong with a business linked to the public sector, the Labour Party today shouts nationalise.

Its a long way from the days of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who for all their failings at least recognised that business and jobs were integrally linked, and that we need to support business if our economy is to succeed.

Such attitudes are a world away from the political universe that Jeremy Corbyn and his team operate in today. They want a socialist-style planned economy, to confiscate the assets of private business, and to take large parts of our economy into government control.

Now lets be clear. Business sometimes gets it wrong, and badly so. It also sometimes behaves completely inappropriately, and worse. As Justice Secretary, I had to refer two of Britains biggest companies to the Serious Fraud Office. As Transport Secretary, I am dealing with a major firm that overbid for a contract  though contrary to the Labour Partys claims, we have not agreed any bail out.

Its very difficult to defend some executive pay packages as well. There can be no excuse for the massive salaries of some housebuilding bosses at the same time as they are trying to use the freehold and leasehold system to squeeze every last penny they can out of homebuyers.

But only those who do not want to learn from history would argue that the state can do things better. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, when the state owned large parts of the economy, we saw an endless stream of heavy losses and failure  and very poor customer service.

In those days, all telephone services were provided by first the Post Office and then British Telecom. You could only get one type of phone, and it took months to order one. The public water companies presided over a crumbling sewerage network. The government ran truck companies, car makers, ports, airlines, railways, and many more businesses.

And most had one thing in common: they were starved of investment.

Because all the money had to come from Government. Private companies can borrow privately and deliver better services from the investment that results. By contrast the public sector had to scrabble for cash from the resources that the Treasury could fund each year. An annual competition for money to pay for schools, hospitals, defence equipment and so on. There was never enough to go around.

So innovation in the car industry was rare, and it fell rapidly behind its international competitors. I remember television reports at the time showing the state of the water infrastructure and how it was literally falling to pieces. British Rail closed lines, and ran trains that grew older and older  or it occasionally made up cheap and cheerful replacements.

Contrast that with today. Take the water industry. The Thames Tideway project is a multi-billion pound project to expand Londons sewer system. It comes after twenty years of upgrades to tackle the years of decline and decay. Without the Tideway, Londons sewers would not be able to cope with the capitals growth. But its questionable that five years ago, with all the funding pressures on Government, it could have been afforded from the public purse.

Likewise on the railways. The private sector is currently in the process of replacing trains right across the network, including the multi-billion pound inter-city express programme. The first of the new trains are already operating from London to Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol, and they will soon arrive in the North and Scotland. If the Treasury had been forced to pay itself, at the same time of financial pressure, its hard to see that the programme would be going ahead in its current form.

All this at a time when a nationalised energy system would have had to pay for a huge investment in renewables, taking us to the point where on many occasions in the past year more than half our electricity generation has come from such sources.

Its easy to claim that you can just borrow, borrow, borrow to pay for everything, and somehow it will all be alright on the night. But it wasnt last time. It was a period where large parts of the economy struggled for a lack of investment and with old-fashioned technology. With high unemployment and poor job prospects.

As Conservatives we need to make this point again and again to a generation of voters who did not experience it, and who may be tempted by a concept that seems laced with motherhood and apple pie.

We need to stand up to big business when it behaves badly. But if we become anti-business as a nation, we will all pay a heavy price.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The new Executive Director of Big Brothers/ Big Sisters (BBBS) Cornwall has a long history with the organization.

Ron Graham was one of the first matches for the Cornwall chapter in 1973 at the age of seven. Graham said that he entered the Big Brother program after his father passed away to find a male mentor.

He found one in Wilford Tyo, who Graham says taught him skills like woodworking, hunting and fishing. Wilford Tyo was named Big Brother of the Year in 1973.

Graham himself became a Big Brother later in life and remained close with his Big and his Little throughout his life.

Graham was announced as the new Executive Director of BBBS on Friday, Jan. 12. Before taking on his current position, Graham was working at Equipe psycho-sociale.

Graham has been involved with BBBS Cornwall throughout the years. In addition to being a Little Brother and a Big Brother, he has also been a member of BBBS Cornwalls governing board, and has served as its president, he was on the nominating committee for Big of the Year and, with his Big Brother Wilford, served as honourary chair of Bowling for Kids Sake.

Tim Hortons Bowling for Kids Sake is in its 40th year. Graham has been on the job for less than a week and said that one of his immediate focuses is to make sure that this years Tim Hortons Bowling for Kids Sake is another success. Tim Hortons Bowling for Kids Sake takes place on Saturday, Feb. 3.

This years Tim Hortons Bowling for Kids Sake is likely to be the biggest yet, and Graham is encouraging people to get their teams in as soon as they can.

Graham said that he also wanted to increase the number of kids matched by BBBS Cornwall.

Id like to see the agency do well and I want other kids to have this advantage, he said. There are a lot of great volunteers here in Cornwall. Some are hesitant to take that first step, but Im here to encourage them.
CORNWALL, Ontario  From 1897 to 1969, Registered Nurses and Registered Nurse Assistants were trained in the Cornwall General Hospital.

In 2004, the Cornwall General Hospital (CGH) closed and was amalgamated with the Hotel Dieu Hospital into the new Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH).

Services slowly wound down at CGH and the building became empty for several years until developers Matt Cinnamon and Dan Orr bought the property and transformed it into the Care Centre. The Care Centre is a seniors residence that currently has 30 members.

Now Cinnamon and Orr are offering to help members of the Cornwall General Hospital Nurses Alumni Association commemorate their history at the hospital.

The Association and the Cornwall Community Museum will be decorating two hallways with class pictures and memorabilia from the nurses program with the consent of Cinnamon and Orr.

The class pictures for all of the Registered Nurses and all of the Registered Nurses Assistants have been taken out of storage and put into three large frames that will adorn the hallways. Also included will be a list of donors to the program, old photos of the hospital and other items provided by the Cornwall Community Museum.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, every hospital had their own nursing education program. The first nurses to graduate from the program at the CGH graduated in 1901. The last class of Registered Nurses at the Cornwall General Hospital graduated in 1969, after which the program was replaced by the Registered Nurses Assistant program.

It was a wonderful hospital, said Catherine Poirier, President of the Cornwall General Hospital Nurses Alumni Association. They were very very good to us. We worked for the hospital, they looked out for us. The food was free, our uniforms were free, it was a great education for very little money.

Don Smith, Manager/ Associate Curator of the Cornwall Community Museum said that this is an opportunity to remember one of Cornwalls original hospitals.

This can be a true representation of a historical aspect of our community, he said.

He pointed out that the Hotel Dieu Hospital, which also opened in 1897 and was consolidated with the Cornwall General to form the CCH, already has a commemoration for their nurses program at the Hotel Dieus original site, which is now St. Josephs Continuing Care Centre.

The vision of our group is that this is not a memorial, but a place of honour, said Sharon Porter, a member of the last Registered Nurse class at the CGH.
Why use hack-back tactics when you can drop a nuke on your cyber attackers?

According to the draft for the Pentagons 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the U.S. would consider using nuclear weapons to respond to non-nuclear attacks.

While the Pentagons proposed policy change suggests the U.S. should only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners, large cyber attacks are considered extreme circumstances.

After reviewing threats posed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, the document reads:

The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies, and partners. Extreme circumstance could include significant non-nuclear strategic attacks. Significant non-nuclear strategic attacks include, but are not limited to, attacks on the U.S., allied, or partner civilian population or infrastructure, and attacks on U.S. or allied nuclear forces, their command and control, or warning and attack assessment capabilities.

Notice that cyber attack is not specifically mentioned, but officials who asked to remain anonymous told The New York Times that large cyber attacks could warrant a nuclear response.

Three current and former senior government officials said large cyber attacks against the United States and its interests would be included in the kinds of foreign aggression that could justify a nuclear response  though they stressed there would be other, more conventional options for retaliation.

The NPR draft acknowledged that Russia has a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, undersea autonomous torpedo and is developing and deploying new nuclear warheads and launchers. Russia, the document claims, believes that limited nuclear first use of low-yield weapons would give it an advantage. Correcting this mistaken Russian perception is a strategic imperative, it says.

Therefore, the U.S. should develop smaller nukes, new low-yield nuclear weapons, which would enhance deterrence. One new nuke would be a cruise missile fired from submarines and another a low-yield warhead for ballistic missiles from subs.

The U.S. doesn't need more nukes

But Alexandra Bell, a former senior adviser at the State Department and current senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, told the Huffington Post, the U.S. already has 4,000 nuclear weapons in our active stockpile, which is more than enough to destroy the world many times over. So I dont think it makes a convincing case that we somehow lack capabilities. And, in fact, I dont think you can make the case that this president needs any more capabilities.

Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump was bragging about having a much bigger and more powerful nuclear button that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

During the Cold War, nukes guaranteed mutually assured destruction. That same mutual assured destruction has been applied to large-scale cyberwar  knock out our power grid, and we will knock out yours type thing. It remains to be seen if the threat of nuking a country for pulling off large cyber attacks would serve as a deterrent or be the start of doomsday.

Almost everything about this radical new policy will blur the line between nuclear and conventional, Andrew C. Weber, an assistant defense secretary during the Obama administration, told The New York Times. If the draft is adopted as is, the new policy will make nuclear war a lot more likely.

The draft, called pre-decisional by the Pentagon, is currently being reviewed by the White House. The final version is expected to be released in February.
Cybersecurity Ventures predicts global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed $1 trillion cumulatively, from 2017 to 2021.

Where there is opportunity, there will be venture capital firms. Heres a list of 200 cybersecurity startups that received VC funding in 2017, according to the Cybersecurity Venture Funding Report.

2017 deal flow, by most recent

Dec. 19  Ataata, a cybersecurity training platform designed to reduce human error in the workplace, closed $3 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Next Frontier Capital, with participation from TEDCO, 2M, SaaS Ventures, and ARRA Capital, among others.

Dec. 14.  Proficio completed a round of funding led by Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. The deals dollar amount was not disclosed.

Dec. 13.  Upstream Security, an automotive cybersecurity startup, announced a $9 million Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Charles River Ventures, with participation from existing investors.

Dec. 12.  Cog announced $3.5 million in Series A funding from private investment company Grok Ventures and Australian tech venture fund Rampersand.

Dec. 11.  Menlo Security received $40 million in new investment from JPMorgan Chase, American Express, HSBC, Ericsson Ventures, General Catalyst, Sutter Hill Ventures, Osage University Partners, and Engineering Capital.

Dec. 11.  Tempered Networks raised $7 million to fund its identity-defined networking technology. Investors in the round include Ignition Partners, Ridge Ventures, Rally Capital, and Fluid Capital.

Dec. 7.  Alcide emerged from stealth by debiting its cloud-friendly network security platform and announcing a $5.2 million round of financing from Intel Capital and Elron.

Dec. 7.  Ecommerce fraud prevention solutions firm NS8 raised $7.5 million in a seed funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm Arbor Ventures.

Dec. 7.  Contrast Security landed strategic corporate investments by AXA Strategic Ventures and Microsoft Ventures, following a Series C round announced in October.

Dec. 6.  Prevoty, a creator of autonomous application protection, secured $13 million in a Series B funding round, led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity.

Dec. 5.  Continuum Security raised an investment round of 1.5 million, led by Swanlaab Venture Factory, a Spanish-Israeli VC fund with offices in Madrid and Tel Aviv.

Dec. 6.  Tel Aviv-based Ironscales, an automated phishing prevention, detection and response provider, secured $6.5 million in Series A funding. K1 Investment Management LLC led the round with participation from return backer RDC.

Dec. 4.  At-Bay launched out of stealth mode late and announced $6 million from a seed funding round led by LightSpeed Venture Partners.

Dec. 1.  Criptext, a startup that provides secure email and messaging for governments and large enterprises, raised $1.2 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.

Nov. 29.  Pwnie Express, a company focused on the IoT security gap, secured $8 million in funding from existing investors.

Nov. 29.  Terbium Labs, a startup that scans the dark web for stolen information, raised $6 million in a funding round led by Glasswing Ventures.

Nov. 29.  ReversingLabs closed a $25 million Series A funding round, led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity and JPMorgan Chase. In related news, Sean Cunningham of Trident Capital Cybersecurity will join the companys board of directors.

Nov. 21  SCADAfence, an Israeli IoT cybersecurity company, raised $10 million in Series A financing. Investors included Jerusalem Venture Partners, NexStar Partners, 31Ventures and Global innovation Fund.

Nov. 16  NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. invested an undisclosed amount in CounterTack, a provider of behaviour and memo-based Endpoint Detection and Response technology.

Nov. 16  Tortuga Logic raised $2 million in seed funding from Eclipse Ventures to fund their chip-level system security technology.

Nov. 15  ReFirm Labs secured $1.5 million in seed-stage capital from DataTribe.

Nov. 14  Israeli startup Medigate announced $5.35 million seed funding round led by YL Ventures and Blumberg Capital. Medigate plans to continue developing its medical device security platform.

Nov. 14  WireWheel.io, the developer of a cloud-based data privacy and protection platform, completed a $3.1 million seed round of funding led by PSP Growth.

Nov. 13  ThreatQuotient completed a Series C round, receiving $30 million in new financing led by Adams Street Partners.

Nov. 7  NeuVector raised $7 million in Series A funding in a round led by Nummer Winblad Venture Partners.

Nov. 9  EclecticIQ announced a Series B investment of 14 million. The investment round was led by Keen Ventures Partners, with participation from existing investors.

Nov. 9  Enveil, a data security company, secured $4 million in strategic funding. The investment was led by Thomson Reuters.

Nov. 6  MetricStream completed a $65 million financing round led by Santa Monica, California-based Clearlake Capital.

Nov. 3  NuID raised $1.64 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Jemison Investment, 8VC, and several angel investors.

Nov. 1  BigPanda, Inc. raised an additional $23 million in Series B funding  expanding the round to a total of $49 million. Leading this round was Greenfield Partners.

Oct. 31  Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, landed $25 million in a Series E round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners.

Oct. 25  Skybox Security, a cybersecurity management company, raised $150 million in growth equity investment from CVC Capital Partners Growth Fund and Pantheon.

Oct. 25  PacketSled, a company that provides customers with automated network visibility, detection, incident response, and forensics in the cloud, announced a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Keshif Ventures.

Oct. 24  Nanolock Security, Inc., a company that specializes in protecting connected and Internet of Things (IoT) devices against malware attacks, received $4.5 million from the Awz Homeland Security Fund, a Canadian venture capital fund that invests exclusively in Israeli cybersecurity, intelligence, and physical security technology.

Oct. 24  Averon, a developer of mobile identity verification technology, closed a $8.3 million Series A financing round headed by Avalon Ventures.

Oct. 24  KnowBe4, which operates in the security awareness and simulated phishing attack market, secured $30 million in growth capital financing in a round led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity group and Elephant. The companys total financing has now hit $44 million.

Oct. 23  Shift Technology completed a $28 million Series B funding round, with investment from Accel, General Catalyst, Elaia Partners, and Iris Capital.

Oct. 23  Wells Fargo & Company announced that innovative cybersecurity software startup SimSpace has joined the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator.

Oct. 19  Contrast Security, a pioneer in self-protecting software with security safeguards built into applications, completed a $30 million Series C financing round. It was led by new investor Battery Ventures.

Oct. 19  Intezer, a startup focusing on malware and detection, raised $8 million in Series A funding in a round led by Intel Capital. Magma and Samsung NEXT were co-investors.

Oct. 18  Duo Security joined the billion-dollar startup club by closing $70 million in a Series D funding round led by Meritech Capital Partners and Lead Edge Capital. The companys valuation now reaches $1.17 billion.

Oct. 17  Feedzai, a company that harnesses artificial intelligence to manage risk and fight fraud, secured a $50 Series C funding round led by an undisclosed investor. Existing investor Sapphire Ventures also participated in the round.

Oct. 13  Norwind Capital led a $5 million capital raise into Munich-based cybersecurity software company DriveLock.

Oct. 13  Blue Hexagon attracted the attention of Benchmark. The venture firm just lead a $6 million Series A round, marking Blue Hexagons first institutional funding round.

Oct. 12  Cybersecurity rating and risk-monitoring platform SecurityScorecard raised $27.5 million in a Series C round of funding led by Nokias global venture capital arm, Nokia Growth Partners.

Oct. 11  Shift Left, a cloud security company, closed a $9.3 million Series A funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures and Mayfield.

Oct. 11  Attivo Networks, which provides deception solutions for cybersecurity defense, raised $21 million in Series C venture capital funding. The round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity, with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Omidyar Technology Ventures.

Oct. 5  Evernym, a developer of self sovereign identity technologies, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Outlier Ventures.

Sept. 27  Bastille confirms $27 million in Series B funding round from Bessemer Venture Partners, Spinnaker VC, Comcast, Keel Funds, Ballentine Partners, and individual investors. The Series B brings Bastilles funding total to date to $40 million.

Sept. 26  Kanatas inBay Technologies landed $1 million in seed financing from Netherlands-based Ramphastos Investments and a local super angel represented by Ottawas Tongda One Partners.

Sept. 21  Cybersecurity firm Securonix raised $29 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Volition Capital. Eight Roads Ventures also participated in the round.

Sept. 20  Evident raised $8.8 million in Series A financing. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates.

Sept. 20  Digital Shadows, a British cybersecurity firm, raised $26 million in a Series C funding round led by venture capital firm Octopus Ventures.

Sept. 19  Brooklyn-based Capsule8 closed $6 million in Series A funding in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Sept. 19  Aqua Security, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity startup, raised $25 million in a Series B round of financing led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Sept. 19  Threat Stack, a comprehensive intrusion detection platform, announced that it raised $45 million in a Series C funding round, led by F-Prime Capital Partners.

Sept. 18  AppGuard LLC secured more than $30 million in a Series B financing round, led by Japans JTB Corporation.

Sept. 12  Cybersecurity training course provider Cybrary closed on $3.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Arthur Ventures.

Sept. 11  Vertex Ventures backed a $4 million seed investment in Israeli cybersecurity firm Axonius.

Sept. 7  Israeli cybersecurity company SIGA Data Security raised $3.5 million from Canadian venture capital fund Awz Homeland Security.

Sept. 5  Identity Management startup ForgeRock announced an $88 million Series D investment round led by Accel with participation from KKR, Meritech Capital Partners, and Foundation Capital. This brings the total to more than $140 million raised to date.

Aug. 30  Cybersecurity start-up Qadium raised $40 million in second-round funding led by later-stage venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners.

Aug. 29  LookingGlass Cyber Solutions raised $26.3 million. New investors include Eastwood Capital and Triangle Peak Partners. Current investors Alsop Louie Partners, Neuberger Berman, and New Spring Capital also contributed.

Aug. 28  Anonyome Labs closed a $20.4 million Series B round. Existing investors, including Symantec CEO Greg Clark and Crosspoint Ventures founder John Mumford, and new investors, including LifeLock founder Todd Davis, Ariba co-founder Ken Eldred, and Hanna Ventures, all participated in the funding round.

Aug. 23  Forward Networks announced $16 million in Series B venture capital. The round, which brings the companys total fundraising to $27 million, was led by DFJ, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and A.Capital Ventures.

Aug. 23  Emailage received a $10 million growth equity investment. Anthos Capital led the investment, with participation from Radian Capital, Wipro Ventures, Mucker Capital, and Tallwave Capital.

Aug. 22  Cybersecurity company Druva raised $80 million in a round led by Riverwood Capital. The round also included participation from previous backers Sequoia Capital India, Nexus Venture Partners, and Tenaya Capital, among others.

Aug. 22  Versive announced it raised an additional $12.7 million in funding from investors, including Vulcan Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Goldman Sachs, and Formation 8.

Aug. 17  ZingBox, a leading IoT security solution provider, announced it raised $22 million in a Series B funding round led by Dell Technologies Capital and Triventures.

Aug. 16  Respond Software, a provider of automated cybersecurity threat protection, emerged from stealth and announced it raised $12 million in Series A funding led by CRV and Foundation Capital.

Aug. 14  Dragos, Inc. announced it received a $10 million Series A round of venture capital from co-lead investors Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and Allegis Capital, with additional support from DataTribe

Aug. 9  Socure announced it closed a $13.9 million Series B round of funding led by Commerce Ventures, with participation from Flint Capital, Work-Bench, Santander InnoVentures, and Two Sigma Ventures, among others.

Aug. 8  MagicCube announced completion of an $8.5 million Series A funding round. Bold Capital Partners led the round, with participation from Epic Ventures, Social Starts, and Silicon Valley Bank.
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BRIDGEPORT  As downtown continues to welcome restaurants, the latest addition to the Bijou Square is serving up hot ramen and noodle soups in minutes.

Easton resident Skye Kwok opened Eat Noodle in downtown Bridgeport on Jan. 8 at 269 Fairfield Ave. The eatery opened in the space that once housed Can Tiin, which closed last summer.

A former Bridgeport resident, Kwok said the area has changed since his days growing up in the Park City. As residential development and the office market has grown over the years, he said a community vibe has developed that he felt his restaurant could thrive in.

Bridgeport is growing right now, he said. When I came to this area I was surprised (at how) it changed a lot, and I saw a lot of potential.

Kwok began working in the restaurant industry 22 years ago, after attending Sacred Heart University, and has since opened restaurants in other parts of Fairfield County. He also owns Sweet Basil in Fairfield and Pink Sumo Sushi & Sake Cafe in Westport.

According to the business owner, he wanted to bring his own spin on the growing noodle soup market to the city, with options like pho, ramen and specialty items like curry soup.

Curry soup is definitely in high demand here, Kwok said. Other restaurants dont have that because its so hard to get the curry-soup-based ingredients and do it right. Everybody has their pho and ramen noodles. You can go to YouTube or Google to get (a recipe), but with curry to do it right, you have to know the ingredients.

Now Playing: Any ramen lover will tell you--it's all about the broth. We build layers of rich umami flavor with the help of mushroom stems, fresh ginger, kombu (a type of edible kelp), sesame oil, and, of course, low and slow heat. Video: MyRecipes

The Eat Noodle space has also previously housed Bare Tapas & Vino and Cafe Roma.

Like his other restaurants, Kwok said he opted to open Eat Noodle in a smaller space where customers can get a quick bite during their lunch break.

In his first week, the Easton resident said his staff cut their customers wait time from a half-hour to within 10 minutes. The goal in coming weeks is to cut that time in half, as well, Kwok said.

While he wants the new business to thrive, Kwok said his goal goes beyond financial success.

I do want to make money fast, but my biggest interest is I want to see the downtown Bridgeport (area) grow, he said, adding that hed like to see more opportunities for people to shop along with dining out.

You want people who live upstairs to head out into the area to eat and drink, and thats the main thing, Kwok added. Then, if you have a shopping area where they can buy a phone or buy clothing or something, we dont need to go to Stamford or we dont need to go to downtown Fairfield or Norwalk.

While this is his first restaurant in Bridgeport, Kwok said he wants  if business is good  to expand and open more lunch-style spots in the city with different themes. But first he wants to create a positive community feel around Eat Noodle.

When people come in, I want everyone to know each other, Kwok said. Thats how you create a family-type (place with) a warm feeling.

Eat Noodle is open Monday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 3 to 10 p.m.

jordan.grice@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @JordanEGrice
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Ned Lamont, the progressive crusader who gave Joe Lieberman a re-election scare and later fell to Dannel P. Malloy in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary, entered the race for the states top office Wednesday.

The Greenwich cable television entrepreneur has been exploring another statewide candidacy since late November. He commissioned a poll to gauge the longevity of his political brand, one in which he invested $26 million of his own money with his previous runs for the U.S. Senate and governor.

Lamont, 64, joins a record number of Democrats and Republicans vying to succeed Malloy, who is not seeking a third term. Malloys job approval ratings have cratered amid budget deficits, tax increases and the loss of corporate headquarters such as General Electric and Alexion.

This is not Malloy 3.0, Lamont told Hearst Connecticut Media. This is going to be a new start for the state of Connecticut. Everybody knows Im my own man. Im a different type of Democrat. Im not afraid to take on the status quo, even in my own party.

Its been 12 years since the underdog Lamont shocked the political world by upsetting Lieberman in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The former one-term Greenwich selectman tapped into strong opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq and the hawkish reputation of Lieberman, who was infamously kissed on the cheek by President George W. Bush during his 2005 State of the Union address.

At the time, a number of major figures from the political left came to Connecticut to campaign for Lamont, including the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who made an appearance with the nominee at Bridgeports Mount Aery Baptist Church. Lieberman survived Lamonts insurgency campaign in the general election, but was forced to run as an independent petition candidate.

Sidelined by another progressive

In 2010, Lamont appeared to have the inside track to his partys nomination for governor, but was derailed by Malloy, the former longtime Stamford mayor. In that race, Malloy was the first major beneficiary of public campaign financing under the states clean-elections program. Lamont went the self-funding route, which could again become a major plotline.

Lamont said he will emphasize small-dollar donations from grassroots supporters to go along with his personal funds.

While Im not going to take the public financing myself, Im going to fight for the program because it allows more people to compete, and thats good for our democracy, Lamont said.

On the Democratic side, Lamont is expected to face competition from the mayors of Bridgeport (Joe Ganim) and Hartford (Luke Bronin), former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, the former commissioners of consumer protection (Jonathan Harris) and veterans affairs (Sean Connolly), and former state party vice chairwoman Dita Bhargava.

Im sure that he has the finances to make a big splash in this field of inexperienced, unknown or ethically challenged candidates, said Scott McLean, a political science professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden. He can say Im none of those things. Hes well known. He has a large bank roll to finance this. He doesnt have any government record to have black spots on, unlike Ganim.

Bridgeport voters returned Ganim to the mayors office in 2015 after he served seven years in prison for corruption.

State GOP Chairman J.R. Romano said that Democrats have become the party of the rich, noting that Lamont, Bhargava and Bronin all have Greenwich ties. Bronins parents live in same part of town as Lamont, who is the great-grandson of Thomas W. Lamont, an early chairman of J.P. Morgan & Co.

I think that its absolutely hysterical and ironic that the Democratic field is basically Greenwich guys at this point between Luke Bronin, Lamont and Dita, Romano said. According to Democrats, I thought (Greenwich residents) were evil.

A GOP gubernatorial candidate, hedge fund mogul David Stemerman, is also from Greenwich.

Wasting no time

Lamont has already started staffing up with veteran political operatives, hiring Lt. Gov. Nancy Wymans spokeswoman Juliet Manalan, former Bill Finch press aide Brett Broesder and Ted Kennedy Jr. political adviser Rob Blanchard, who is a member of Middletowns Common Council. Broesder has also done work for Bronin.

Lamonts entry into the race comes less than a week after Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, who tried to position himself on the progressive left flank of the party, abandoned his bid for governor. Drews campaign racked up debt and the mayor lost his seat on the Democratic Town Committee in Middletown.

Lamont said he would be reluctant to raise taxes, but wont rule it out, and that it would have to be part of a comprehensive tax reform. In contrast to Republicans, he said he would not try to reopen a state employee union concessions deal that passed along party lines last summer. The deal is expected to save the state $1.5 billion over the next two fiscal years, but was uniformly criticized by Republicans for its no-layoff guarantee for the next four years.

I think a contract is a contract, Lamont said. We know that in business. These are teachers, firemen cops, nurses. We have a commitment to these folks.

One thing Lamont would tax would be marijuana, which is legal for medical but not recreational use in Connecticut.

Legalize it, he said.

Lamont also supports a high-speed tolling system on the states highways, where toll plazas were eliminated after a spate of accidents in the 1980s.

Were the town that gave you the Mianus Bridge collapse, Lamont said of Greenwich. Look, I think one of the worst things this state has done is not invest in our transportation infrastructure. Its a disaster.

While hes had his differences with Malloy, expect Lamont to stick to the immigration policies of the current administration, whether its bucking the Trump administrations deportation orders or protecting so-called Dreamers from deportation.

Im proud of the fact that we welcome people from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds, Lamont said. Thats what Connecticut is all about.

http://twitter.com/gettinviggy ; nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436
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Tim Herbst hasnt always been a political foe of Stamfords Andrew McDonald, the governors chief justice pick.

When it looked as if Bridgeport might renege on the terms of a land swap with Trumbull to build the Fairchild Wheeler Multi-Magnet School, it was McDonald who helped settle an impasse between Herbst and his longtime adversary Bill Finch.

At the time in 2012, McDonald was Gov. Dannel P. Malloys general counsel, Finch was Bridgeports mayor and Herbst Trumbulls first selectman.

Finch balked at giving up 20 acres of land for a Trumbull greenway initiative that was home to a city parks department garage and office space.

I wanted to try to make the deal better for Bridgeport, Finch recalled Tuesday. Andrew said, A deals a deal and youve got to stick with it. 

Herbst publicly thanked the governors office for interceding in the border dispute at the time.

I want to thank Governor Malloy, Andrew McDonald and Christopher Drake of Governor Malloys Office, Graham Stevens from the Office of Policy and Management, officials from the (state) Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, as well as our town attorneys in finalizing the terms of this lease agreement, Herbst said. I am confident that the Trumbull Town Council will recognize the hard work and diligence of our state and local officials in completing this lease agreement.

That stands in stark contrast to Herbsts recent criticism of McDonalds judicial and legislative record, in which he called on the General Assembly to reject Malloys pick to lead the seven-member state Supreme Court.

Herbst, who is one of a dozen GOP gubernatorial hopefuls, said his prior praise of McDonald wasnt contradictory. He said that the parks department garage at the center of the dispute still hasnt been transferred to Trumbull, and that Finch and McDonald were in cahoots dating back to their time as state senators.

Shortly after I praised Justice McDonald for his involvement as legal counsel in the land transfer between Trumbull and Bridgeport  a decision that was unanimously blessed by the Connecticut General Assembly, Bill Finch reneged in bad faith, Herbst said. Justice McDonald reversed his position in favor of Mr. Finch as soon as his former Senate colleague was looking for a favor. This reversal happened as soon as politics entered the equation. This is illustrative and emblematic of the concerns I have raised. A person that is this political does not have the unbiased nature required to lead the states top court.

McDonald, who is poised to become the first openly gay chief justice in the nation if he is confirmed by the Legislature, declined to comment. Hes been an associate justice of the high court since 2013.

Finch, who was ousted by fellow Democrat Joe Ganim in the 2015 Democratic primary and is the new executive director of the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, said McDonald was an honest broker in the land deal.

He is a man of utmost integrity, Finch said. I cant say that about everybody involved in the process. Thats the kind of person I would love to see running our state Supreme Court.

Herbst stood by his criticism of McDonald, saying that the justice also should have recused himself from ruling on the constitutionality of the states death penalty, a repeal that he advocated for when he was in the Senate.

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Detectives arrested an 80-year-old man Saturday for the armed robbery of a branch of the $154 million Pyramid Federal Credit Union in Tucson, Ariz.

Whats more, authorities are investigating whether the accused armed robber was allegedly involved in a multimillion-dollar jewel theft and bank robbery in Arizona in 1981. He also was reportedly convicted of embezzlement in 1966 when he worked for a Chicago bank as a teller, according to an Associated Press article.

Tucson Police Department detectives said Robert Francis Krebs was armed with a weapon and demanded money from a teller at the credit unions branch on North Oracle Road on Friday at about 4 p.m. After the teller gave Krebs an undisclosed amount of cash, he ran from the credit union.
Here's where to find deer on public hunting grounds in Pennsylvania
On New Year's Eve, President Xi Jinping delivered an 11-minute televised speech to extend his greetings to all Chinese and friends all over the world. Xi said that Beijing is dedicated to safeguarding peace. "China will act as a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and an upholder of the international order."

Will this translate in peace on the border in 2018? Probably not! Rumours are circulating that troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have intruded in Gelling sector in the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh.

Standoff

China has not fully digested the fact that India stood up for Bhutan when the PLA was trying to build a road in June near the trijunction between Sikkim and Chumbi Valley in Tibet.

Quoting "experts", a PLA website admitted that China will be better prepared "next time": "the recent Doklam standoff had propelled China to perfect its strategy in its western part" said chinamil.com.cn.

Zhao Xiaozhuo, a research fellow at the Academy of Military Sciences is quoted by the same newspaper: "India never takes road construction as an opportunity and only thinks about its own interest."

Was the road on Bhutanese territory really an opportunity for India? It makes no sense.

During a recent press conference, the spokesperson of the China's ministry of national defence said India "should strictly control its troops".

While China is getting ready for another standoff, Beijing deeply dislikes Delhi developing its side of the border.

The Global Times resented the recent visit of the Indian Union home minister Rajnath Singh to Nelong Valley in Uttarakhand; Singh spent the New Year with Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

"An Indian road construction project connecting all border posts along the China-India frontier could lead to new military standoffs between China and India," warned another Chinese expert.

China is unhappy because Rajnath Singh asserted that "a number of border posts had already been connected with roads and many would soon be linked this would enhance the operational efficiency of the officers and reduce mountain-related sickness among them."

While Beijing is going full steam to build infrastructure on its side of the McMahon Line, it complains about Delhi building roads on India's borders; amazing double standards.

Nelong Border Outpost (BoP), located at the height of 11,700 feet, is manned by the ITBP. Accompanied by ITBP director general, RK Pachnanda, the minister later visited Pulam Sumda (14,200 feet) and interacted with jawans and officers.

Investment

The area is disputed by the Chinese only because Beijing refuses to adhere to the universally-accepted principle of "watershed" used for demarcating borders. In Nelang, the watershed in the area is located at Tsangchok pass, beyond Pulam Sumda.

At the same time, Beijing does whatever it wants on its side of the border.

The China Daily recently reported: "Investment in infrastructure in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is helping to lift 628 villages along the border out of poverty."

The Chinese newspaper further asserted: "After getting access to electricity and the construction of new roads, tea farmers and herdsmen in a village some 200 kilometres southwest of Lhasa in Tsona county founded a cooperative that provides skills training and job opportunities for villagers."

Lepo, a tiny village, north of Khenzimane, the last border post on the McMahon Line is said to have received several thousands of visitors last year and adequate lodging facilities have been provided to them.

China further admitted: "Starting last year, more than 100 million yuan (Rs 99.4 crore) has been invested in infrastructure in villages of less than 100 families as a part of a broader construction project to build model villages in the border area."

Infrastructure

The China Daily estimated that by 2020, the road access rate in the area will reach 100 per cent and the per capita disposable income will double. Last week, Xinhua reported that China's least populated township had been connected to the national grid. It is Yume (also spelt Yulmed), the first hamlet north of Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.Remember, at that time of the 19th Congress, Xi Jinping had written a letter to two young Tibetan herders who had introduced their village to the Chinese president. It was the same Yume.

The Global Times commented: "A sparsely populated township has been connected to the state electricity grid, ending life without electricity for its 32 residents."

The contractor, a Xining-based electric power company who worked on the project is quoted saying: "The 15-kilometer 10-kilovolt power line, which took five months to complete, is connected via 108 electric poles over a 5,000-meter-high mountain."

There are many such examples along the Tibetan side of the McMahon Line. Year 2018 may not be serene despite the peaceful vows of President Xi.
Nucor Corporation manufactures and sells steel and steel products. The company's Steel Mills segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet steel products; plate steel products; wide-flange beams, beam blanks, and H-piling and sheet piling products; and bar steel products, such as blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing and merchant bars, and special bar quality products. It also engages in the steel trading and rebar distribution businesses. This segment sells its products to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Its Steel Products segment offers hollow structural section steel tubing products, electrical conduits, steel racking, steel joists and joist girders, steel decks, fabricated concrete reinforcing steel products, cold finished steel products, steel fasteners, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, steel grating and expanded metal products, and wire and wire mesh products primarily for use in nonresidential construction applications. This segment also engages in the piling distribution business. The company's Raw Materials segment produces direct reduced iron (DRI); brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron, and DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal, as well as engages in the natural gas drilling operations. This segment sells its ferrous scrap to electric arc furnace steel mills and foundries for manufacturing process; and nonferrous scrap metal to aluminum can producers, secondary aluminum smelters, steel mills and other processors, and consumers of various nonferrous metals. It serves agriculture, automotive, construction, energy and transmission, oil and gas, heavy equipment, infrastructure, and transportation industries through its in-house sales force; and internal distribution and trading companies. Nucor Corporation was incorporated in 1958 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. provides early education and child care, back-up care, educational advisory, and other workplace solutions services for employers and families. The company operates through three segments: Full Service Center-Based Child Care, Back-Up Care, and Educational Advisory and Other Services. The Full Service Center-Based Child Care segment offers traditional center-based child care and early education, preschool, and elementary education services. The Back-Up Care segment provides center-based back-up child care, in-home child and adult/elder dependent care, school-age camps, virtual tutoring, and self-sourced reimbursed care services through child care centers, school-age campuses, and in-home caregivers, as well as the back-up care network. The Educational Advisory and Other Services segment offers tuition assistance and student loan repayment program administration, workforce education, and related educational consulting services, as well as college admissions advisory services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,014 child care and early education centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, and India. The company was formerly known as Bright Horizons Solutions Corp. and changed its name to Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. in July 2012. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.
Ford Motor Company is the second largest US auto manufacturer by market cap and market share and ranks 4th globally. The company was founded in 1903 by Henry Ford following a series of cars that led to the introduction of the Model T. The Model T revolutionized the automobile industry not only because it made vehicles affordable for the budding middle class but it changed the way manufacturing was done. The Ford factory features the worlds first moving assembly line, an introduction that not only improved the pace of production but lowered the cost of its vehicles.

Other prominent innovations made by Mr. Ford include the strict standardization of parts that allowed for easy construction and repair and the standardized workweek. Henry Fords switch to a $5 workday and 8-hour shifts allowed him to run 3 shifts per day and improve productivity while providing his employees with the power to buy their own products.

Today, Ford Motor Company makes and markets a large lineup of cars, trucks, SUVs, EVs, and Lincoln luxury vehicles globally. The companys iconic F-series of trucks is the worlds best-selling pickup truck for decades running and the new all-electric Lightning is on track to dominate the top spot in the EV market. Other iconic brands in the Ford lineup include the Thunderbird introduced in 1954, the Mustang in 1964, and the Transit work van in 1965. The Mustang, notably, was created for the Worlds Fair and expected to sell 100,000 in its first year but shocked the industry with 22,000 units sold on the first day.

The company operates through four segments including Ford Blue (ICE vehicles), Model e (EVs) Mobility, and Ford Credit. The Ford Blue and Model e segments sell Ford and Lincoln vehicles, parts, and accessories while the Mobility segment designs and builds advanced technologies including but not limited to self-driving autonomous car systems.

The Ford Credit segment primarily offers commercial and retail loans to auto dealers and car buyers. This segment not only provides financing for new purchases and dealer inventory but makes loans for new dealerships and expansions of old ones.

Ford has fully embraced the switch to EV and is planning for an all-EV future. To that end, the company pledged to spend up to $50 billion on EV infrastructure by 2026. The plans include the build-out of an entirely new campus dedicated to EV manufacture from batteries to motor platforms, manufacturing capacity, and new vehicles. In regard to total capacity, the company is targeting 2 million in total annual EV sales by that same year.
Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. The company also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. As of March 01, 2022, it operated through a network of 1,300 banking offices and 2,000 automated teller machines across the South, Midwest, and Texas. Regions Financial Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.
Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao engages in the retail of food, clothing, home appliances, electronics, and other products through its chain of supermarkets, specialized stores, and department stores in Brazil. It operates in Brazilian Retail, Grupo Exito, and Other Businesses segments. The company sells non-perishables, beverages, fruits, vegetables, meat, breads, cold cuts, dairy products, cleaning products, disposable products, and personal care products; and home appliances and other non-food products, such as clothing and baby items, shoes and accessories, household articles, books, magazines, CDs and DVDs, stationery, toys, sports and camping gears, furniture, mobile phones, mattresses, pet products, and gardening equipment and tools, as well as electronic products, including personal computers, software, computer accessories, and sound and image systems. It also offers medications and cosmetics at its drugstores; and non-food products at gas stations, as well as rents commercial spaces and e-commerce sales. The company operates its supermarkets under the banners of Pao de Acucar, Extra Supermercado, Mercado Extra, and Compre Bem; hypermarkets under the banner of Extra Hiper; and proximity stores under the banners of Mini Extra, Minuto Pao de Acucar, Pao de Acucar Adega, and Aliados Minimercado; and gas stations and drugstores under the banners of Extra and Pao de Acucar, as well as sells its products through its Websites. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 667 stores, 74 gas stations, and 68 drugstores in 16 Brazilian states and the Federal District, as well as 15 distribution centers and warehouses across Brazil. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao operates as a subsidiary of Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A.
Tableau Software, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business analytics software products. It offers Tableau Desktop, a self-service, powerful analytics product with data; Tableau Server, a business intelligence platform for organizations; Tableau Online, a hosted software-as-a-service version of Tableau Server; Tableau Prep, a data preparation product for combining, shaping, and cleaning data; and Tableau Public, a cloud-based platform for analyzing and sharing public data. In addition, it offers Visual Query Language (VizQL) for databases, which is a computer language for describing pictures of data, including graphs, charts, maps, time series, and tables of visualizations; Live Query Engine that interprets abstract queries generated by VizQL into syntax understandable by database systems; and Hyper, an in-memory data engine technology that helps customers to analyze a range of data sets by evaluating analytical queries directly in the transactional database. Further, the company provides support, maintenance, training, and professional services. It serves organizations in various industries, including business services, energy and telecommunications, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing and technology, media and entertainment, public sector, and education, as well as retail, consumer, and distribution industries. The company sells its products directly, as well as through indirect sales channels, such as technology vendors, resellers, original equipment manufacturers, independent software vendor, and distributors in the United States, Canada, and internationally. Tableau Software, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the 5th largest bank in the world and the largest in the U.S. The current company is the result of a series of mergers that began in the earliest days of American banking history and include more than 1,200 original banks. The oldest predecessor is The Bank Of The Manhattan Company which was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr. At the time, The Bank Of The Manhattan Company was the 3rd oldest bank in the U.S. and the 31st oldest in the world. The Chase Manhattan Bank, a precursor to JPMorgan Chase, was later formed when The Bank Of Manhattan Company purchased Chase Bank which was established in 1877.

JPMorgan & Co came to life in 1895 in order to finance the United States Steel Corporation. Itself a result of merger, the company also financed other early American businesses as well as aided the federal government by backing a bond offering. It wasnt until the year 2000 and after several more mergers that JPMorgan Chase & Co was born. It will be four more years before the merger with Bank One which is notable because it brings CEO Jamie Dimon into the picture.

JPMorgan Chase & Co was instrumental in aiding the US government during the 2008 financial crisis. It backed the accounts of several major banks including Bear Stearns and eventually took over their operations. Today, JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide with operations on every continent and in more than 60 countries.

JPMorgan Chase & Co operates through four segments that are Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). Services are available in branches in 48 of the 50 US states and around the world. Services are available via ATM, online, mobile, and telephone.

The CCB segment offers traditional banking services to consumers that include but are not limited to deposits, loans, mortgages, and lines of credit. The CIB segment provides investment banking products and services to businesses, institutions, and governments that range from prime brokerage, insurance, corporate strategy, and access to capital markets, to lending, cross-border financing, and derivative instruments. The CB segment provides financial services for small, medium, and large businesses including commercial real estate banking of all types.

The AWM segment provides investment management solutions to institutional and retail investors. This segment also provides retirement products, brokerage, trusts and estates, and investment management products.
SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc. engages in the wholesale distribution of landscape supplies in the United States and Canada. The company provides a selection of approximately 135,000 stock keeping units, including irrigation supplies, which comprise controllers, valves, sprinkler heads, and irrigation pipes; fertilizer, grass seed, and ice melt products; control products, such as herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides, and other pesticides; landscape accessories that include mulches, soil amendments, drainage pipes, tools, and sods; nursery goods, which consist of deciduous and evergreen shrubs, ornamental, shade, evergreen trees, field grown and container-grown nursery stock, roses, perennials, annuals, bulbs, and plant species; hardscapes, such as pavers, natural stones, blocks, and other durable materials; and outdoor lighting products that include lighting fixtures, LED lamps, wires, transformers, and accessories. It also offers consultative services consisting of assistance with irrigation network design, commercial project planning, generation of sales leads, business operations, product support services, and a series of technical and business management seminars; and distributes branded products of third parties. The company offers its products under the LESCO, SiteOne Green Tech, and Pro-Trade brand names. It markets its products primarily to residential and commercial landscape professionals who specialize in the design, installation, and maintenance of lawns, gardens, golf courses, and other outdoor spaces through branch network and direct distribution. As of January 2, 2022, the company had approximately 590 branches in 45 U.S. States and six Canadian provinces. SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Roswell, Georgia.
Bank of America has a rich history dating back to 1800 and even earlier. It was begun by immigrants as a group of separate and unrelated banks that, over the years, merged and grew together. One such is the Bank of Italy which was founded in 1904 by Amadeo Giannini to serve Italian immigrants that were facing discrimination. He later buys out the Banca de America e de Italia (Bank of America and Italy) which was also located in San Francisco. Over the years additional mergers and changes in Federal banking legislation, as well as the boom brought on by WWI and then WWII, helped boost the bank to national prominence.

Things turned sour, however, in 1998 with a major bond default that led to yet another merger, this time with Charlotte, NC-based Nations Bank to officially become the Bank of America that exists today. At the time, the merger was the largest bank merger in history and the company has only grown in the time since.

Other additions to the new Bank of America include MBNA (a major credit card operator), Fleet Boston (then the US 7th largest and one of its oldest banks), and Merril Lynch, now Merril, which was added to the group in 2008 to provide an investment banking branch. Together the company dominates as one of the Big Four Banks in America. Bank of America lays claim to nearly 11% of all US deposits which ranks in line with its peer group and Bank of America Securities is listed as the worlds 3rd largest investment bank.

Today, Bank of America Corporation provides banking and financial services for individuals, small businesses, institutions, corporations, and governments worldwide. The bank operates in three segments Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management, and Global Banking bringing in a combined revenue greater than $90 billion in 2022.

As of 2022, Bank of America serves approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,200 retail financial centers. The bank also operates more than 16,000 ATMs and digital banking platforms with approximately 41 million active users.

Its Consumer Banking segment offers traditional banking and investment products for retail clients. These range from deposit accounts to savings, credit cards, consumer loans, and IRAs. The Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment and wealth management solutions including, brokerage, banking, and trust and retirement products. The Global Banking segment provides lending products and services, including commercial loans and leases for businesses of all varieties. The Global Markets segment offers market-making, clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as risk management, derivatives, and FX exchange services.
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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BorgWarner Inc. provides solutions for combustion, hybrid, and electric vehicles worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Air Management, E-Propulsion & Drivetrain, Fuel Injection, and Aftermarket. The Air Management segment offers turbochargers, eBoosters, eTurbos, timing systems, emissions systems, thermal systems, gasoline ignition technology, smart remote actuators, powertrain sensors, canisters, cabin heaters, battery modules and systems, battery packs, battery heaters, and battery charging. The E-Propulsion & Drivetrain segment provides rotating electrical components, power electronics, control modules, software, friction, and mechanical products for automatic transmissions and torque-management products. The Fuel Injection segment develops and manufactures gasoline and diesel fuel injection components and systems. The Aftermarket segment sells products and services to independent aftermarket customers and original equipment service customers. This segment provides a range of solutions, including fuel injection, electronics and engine management, maintenance, and test equipment and vehicle diagnostics. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers of light vehicles, which comprise passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks; commercial vehicles, including medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks, and buses; and off-highway vehicles, such as agricultural and construction machinery, and marine applications, as well as to tier one vehicle systems suppliers and the aftermarket for light, commercial, and off-highway vehicles. The company was formerly known as Borg-Warner Automotive, Inc. BorgWarner Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
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.
Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. It offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; and Jardiance, Trajenta, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes. The company provides Alimta for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and malignant pleural mesothelioma; Cyramza for metastatic gastric cancer, gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma, metastatic NSCLC, metastatic colorectal cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma; Erbitux for colorectal cancers, and various head and neck cancers; Retevmo for metastatic NSCLC, medullary thyroid cancer, and thyroid cancer; Tyvyt for relapsed or refractory classic Hodgkin's lymph and non-squamous NSCLC; and Verzenio for HR+, HER2- metastatic breast cancer, node positive, and early breast cancer. It offers Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis; and Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis. The company offers Cymbalta for depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain; Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache; and Zyprexa for schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and bipolar maintenance. Its Bamlanivimab and etesevimab, and Bebtelovimab for COVID-19; Cialis for erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia; and Forteo for osteoporosis. The company has collaborations with Incyte Corporation; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; AbCellera Biologics Inc.; Junshi Biosciences; Regor Therapeutics Group; Lycia Therapeutics, Inc.; Kumquat Biosciences Inc.; Entos Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Foghorn Therapeutics Inc. Eli Lilly and Company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Entravision Communications Corporation operates as an advertising, media, and technology solutions company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Digital, Television, and Audio. It reaches and engages Hispanics across acculturation levels and media channels. The company's portfolio encompasses integrated end-to-end advertising solutions, including digital, television, and audio properties. It also offers a suite of end-to-end digital advertising solutions, including digital commercial partnerships services, as well as advertising customers billing and technological and other support services, including strategic marketing and training; and Smadex, a programmatic ad purchasing platform that enables advertising customers or ad agencies to purchase advertising electronically and manage data-driven advertising campaigns through online marketplaces. In addition, the company provides a branding and mobile performance solutions, such as managed services to advertisers looking to connect with consumers on mobile devices; and digital audio advertising solutions for advertisers. Further, it sells advertisements and syndicated radio programming solutions through its Entravision radio network. As of March 3, 2022, the company had 50 television stations; and 46 Spanish-language radio stations. It serves advertisers from various industries, such as e-commerce, retail, entertainment, gaming, delivery services, financial technology, communications, lifestyle, and travel. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. provides various financial services to individuals, corporations, financial institutions, governments, and governmental agencies worldwide. It operates through three segments: Retail, Investment Management, and Wholesale. The Retail segment offers various financial products and investment services. As of March 31, 2022, this segment operated a network of 119 branches. The Investment Management segment engages in the management of funds, investment trusts, and other investment vehicles; and provision of investment advisory, custodial, and administrative services. The Wholesale segment is involved in the research, sale, trading, agency execution, and market-making of fixed income and equity-related products. It also engages in underwriting various securities and other financial instruments, such as various classes of shares, convertible and exchangeable securities, investment grade and high yield debts, sovereign and emerging market debts, structured securities, and other securities; arranging private placements, as well as other capital raising activities; and the provision of financial advisory services on business transactions comprising mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, spin-offs, capital structuring, corporate defense activities, leveraged buyouts, and risk solutions. In addition, this segment offers various financial instruments. The company was formerly known as The Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Nomura Holdings, Inc. in October 2001. Nomura Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1925 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L  Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar Northwest Inc., Lennar OHB LLC, Lennar PI Acquisition LLC, Lennar PI Property Acquisition LLC, Lennar PIS Management Company LLC, Lennar Pacific Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Management Inc., Lennar Plumsted Urban Renewal LLC, Lennar Point LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core GP LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core LP LLC, Lennar Realty Inc., Lennar Reno LLC, Lennar Riverwalk LLC, Lennar Sacramento Inc., Lennar Sales Corp., Lennar Sierra Sunrise LLC, Lennar Spencer's Crossing LLC, Lennar Sun Ridge LLC, Lennar Texas Holding LLC, Lennar Ventures LLC, Lennar West Valley LLC, Lennar Winncrest LLC, Lennar at Franklin LLC, Lennar at Jackson LLC, Lennar at Marlboro 79 LLC, Lennar at Monroe LLC, Lennar.com Inc., Longleaf Acquisition LLC, Lori Gardens Associates II LLC, Lori Gardens Associates III LLC, Lori Gardens Associates L.L.C., Lorton Station LLC, Lyons Lennar Farms LLC, Madrona Ridge L.L.C., Madrona Village L.L.C., Madrona Village Mews L.L.C., Majestic Woods LLC, Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Stanley Black & Decker: 2315708 Ontario Inc., 3-V Fastener Co. Inc., 3xLOGIC Dalian Technology Company Limited, 3xLogic Florida LLC, 3xLogic Inc., 3xLogic Indiana LLC, 8 Commerce Drive LLC, ADT France, ASIA FASTENING (US) INC., Advanced Turf Technologies LTD, AeroFit LLC, AeroScout (US) LLC, AeroScout Industrial, AeroScout LLC, AeroScout Ltd., Aeroscout (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Al Khaja Pimex LLC, Allan Brothers, Automatic Doors Systems, Automatic Entrances of Colorado, Avdel Holding Limited, Avdel Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited, Avdel UK Limited, Aven Tools Limited, B&D Holdings Inc., B.B.W. BAYRISCHE BOHRERWERKE GmbH, BD Precision (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Suzhou (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Suzhou Power Tools (Hong Kong) Limited, BD Xiamen (Hong Kong) Limited, BDB Ferramentas do Brasil Ltda, BDC International Limited, BDK FAUCET HOLDINGS INC., BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) POWER TOOLS CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER (SUZHOU) PRECISION MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER ASIA MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS 1 S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER ASIA MANUFACTURING HOLDINGS 2 S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER DE REYNOSA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., BLACK & DECKER GLOBAL HOLDINGS S.a.r.l., BLACK & DECKER GROUP LLC, BLACK & DECKER HOLDINGS LLC, BLACK & DECKER INC, BLACK & DECKER INDIA INC., BLACK & DECKER INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS S.A.R.L., BLACK & DECKER INVESTMENT COMPANY LLC, BLACK & DECKER SHELBYVILLE LLC, BLACK & DECKER SSC CO. LTD., BLACK & DECKER TRANSASIA S.a.r.l., BLACK AND DECKER S.A. de C.V., Bagley Road LLC, Baltimore Financial Services Company Unlimited Company, Baltimore Insurance Designated Activity Company, Bandhart, Bandhart Overseas, Bed-Check, Belco Investments Company Unlimited Company, Besco Investment Group Co. Ltd., Besco Investment Holdings Ltd., Besco Pneumatic Corporation, Besco Pneumatic Corporation, Best Lock Corporation, Black & Decker, Black & Decker (Czech) s.r.o., Black & Decker (Ireland) Inc., Black & Decker (OVERSEAS) GmbH, Black & Decker (Thailand) Limited, Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc., Black & Decker Argentina S.A., Black & Decker Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Black & Decker Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Black & Decker Distribution Pty. Ltd, Black & Decker Europe, Black & Decker Far East Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Finance, Black & Decker Finance (Australia) Ltd., Black & Decker Finance SAS, Black & Decker Funding Corporation, Black & Decker Hardware Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Healthcare Management Inc., Black & Decker Holdings (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Black & Decker Holdings B.V., Black & Decker Inc., Black & Decker International, Black & Decker International Finance (UK) Limited, Black & Decker International Finance 1 Unlimited Company, Black & Decker International Finance 3 Designated Activity Company, Black & Decker International Finance Holdings (UK) Limited, Black & Decker International Holdings B.V. & CO. KG, Black & Decker Investments (Australia) Limited, Black & Decker Investments LLC, Black & Decker Limited BV, Black & Decker Luxembourg S.A.R.L., Black & Decker Mexfin LLC, Black & Decker No. 4 Pty. Ltd., Black & Decker Puerto Rico Inc., Black & Decker de Colombia S.A.S., Black & Decker de Panama LLC, Black & Decker del Ecuador S.A., Black & Decker del Peru S.A., Black & Decker do Brasil Ltda., Black and Decker de Costa Rica Limitada, Blick Plc, Bostitch-Holding L.L.C., Bristol Industries LLC, Bulldog Barrels LLC, C&C Enterprise Co. Ltd., CAM International Holdings Inc., CAMACC Systems Inc., CONNEXCENTER SA, CPE Acquisition Co., CRC-EVANS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., CRC-EVANS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, CRC-EVANS WELDING SERVICES INC., CRC-Evans B.V., CRC-Evans Canada LTD., CRC-Evans International LLC, CRC-Evans Offshore Limited, CRC-Evans PIH Servios De Tubulao do Brasil Ltda, CRC-Evans Pipeline International Inc., CRC-Evans Pipeline International Sdn Bhd, CWS Industries (Mfg.) Corp., Chesapeake Falls Holdings Company Unlimited Company, Chesapeake Investments Company S.A.R.L., Chicago Steel Tape, Chiro Tools Holdings B.V., Christie Intruder Alarms Limited, Clarke Security Services Incorporated, Columbia Manufacturing Company Incorporated, Compass Corporation, Compass II Co. Ltd., Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing LLC, Constellation (Luxembourg) Holdings S.a r.l., Contact East, Craftman, Cub Cadet LLC, DADO Inc., DEVILBISS AIR POWER COMPANY, DIYZ LLC, DeWalt Industrial Tools S.p.A., Dewalt Industrial Power Tool Company LTD., Doncasters US Holdings Inc., Dubuis et Cie SAS, E.A. Patten Co. LLC, ELU B.V., ELU Power Tools LTD, EMHART TEKNOLOGIES LLC, Eastern Vault & Security, Emhart Guangzhou (Hong Kong) Limited, Emhart Harttung A/S, Emhart Harttung Inc., Emhart International Holdings Limited, Emhart International Limited, Emhart Teknologies (Thailand) LTD., Excel Industries, Excel Industries Inc., F. Robotics Acquisitions Ltd., Facom, Facom Belgie BV, Fastener Jamher Taiwan Inc., First National AlarmCap LP/Premiere Societe en Commandite Nationale Alarmcap, First National AlarmCap. Trust, Frisco Bay Industries, GDX Technologies, GMT China, GRUPO BLACK & DECKER MEXICO S. DE R.L. DE C.V., GUANGZHOU EMHART FASTENING SYSTEM CO. LTD., Gamrie Designated Activity Company, Garden Way LLC, Generale de Protection, HSM Electronic Protection Systems, Hangtech Limited, Hardware City Associates Limited Partnership, Hefei INTACA Science & Technology Development Co. Ltd., Herramientas Stanley S.A. de c.v., Horst Sprenger GmbH Recycling-tools, Hustler Turf Equipment Inc., I.D.L. Techni-Edge LLC, INFASTECH CAMCAR MALAYSIA SDN BHD, INFASTECH DECORAH LLC, ISR Solutions, IguanaFix, Infastech (China) Limited, Infastech (Korea) Limited, Infastech (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Infastech (Mauritius) Limited, Infastech (Shenzhen) Limited, Infastech (Singapore) Pte. Ltd, Infastech Company Limited, Infastech Fastening Systems (Wuxi) Limited, Infastech Holdings (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Infastech Intellectual Properties Pte. Ltd., Infastech Receivables Company Pte. Ltd., Infastech/Tri-Star Limited, InfoLogix, InfoLogix Systems Corporation, Infologix - DDMS Inc., Infologix Inc., Innerspace Products, Interfast B.V., Irwin Industrial Tool Ferramentas do Brasil Ltda., JAFFORD LLC, JRB Attachments LLC, JennCo1 Inc., Jewel Attachments LLC, Jiangsu Guoqiang Tools Co., Jiangus Guopiang Tools Co. Ltd., Jointech Corporation LTD., K.And.M. Holdco Products Ltd., Kodiak Mfg. Inc., Lista International Corporation, Lux Star International S.a r.l., M. HART DO BRASIL LTDA., M.P.N. HOLDINGS LIMITED, M.T.D. France SAS, MTD Asia Hong Kong Limited, MTD Austria Handelsgesellschaft m.b.H., MTD Consumer Group Inc., MTD Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, MTD Deutschland Verwaltungsgeschellschaft mbH, MTD Europe Holding GmbH, MTD Holdings, MTD Hungaria Kft., MTD International Operations Inc., MTD Investments Australia Pty Ltd., MTD LLC, MTD PRODUCTS ITALIA S.R.L., MTD Poland Sp. z.o.o., MTD Products AG, MTD Products Australia Party LTD, MTD Products Benelux B.V., MTD Products Company, MTD Products Czech Spol. s.r.o., MTD Products Denmark ApS, MTD Products Inc., MTD Products India Private India Limited, MTD Products Limited, MTD Products New Zealand Limited, MTD Products Nordic AB, MTD Products S.A. de C.V., MTD Products Singapore, MTD Schweiz AG, MTD Southwest Inc., Mac Tools Canada Inc., Maquinas y Herramientas Black & Decker de Chile S.A., Microalloying International Inc., Microtec Enterprises, Moeller Manufacturing & Supply LLC, Monarch Mirror Door Co., NEWFREY LLC, NFASTECH COMPANY LIMITED, NIscayah, NSW Fabristeel Netherlands B.V., National Manufacturing, Nelson Bolzenschwei-Technik GmbH & Co. KG, Nelson Bolzenschwei-Technik GmbH Verwaltungs GmbH, Nelson Fastener Systems, Nelson Fastener Systems de Mexico SA de CV, Nelson Saldatura Perni S.r.l., Nelson Soudage de Goujons SAS, Nelson Stud Welding (Tianjin) Company Ltd., Nelson Stud Welding Canada Inc., Nelson Stud Welding Inc., Nelson Stud Welding India Private Limited, Nelson Stud Welding International LLC, New FEP Co. LLC, Newell Brands - Tools Business, Nippon Pop Rivets & Fasteners LTD., Niscayah Asia Limited, Niscayah Group AB, Niscayah Holdings Limited, Niscayah Investments Limited, Niscayah Teknik AB, Novia SWK SAS, OSI Security Devices, Onglin International Limited, P I H Holdings Limited, P&B Re Holdings LLC, PIH Services Limited, PIH Services ME LLC, PIH Services ME Ltd., PIH Services ME W.L.L., PIH U.S. LLC, PIPELINE EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES SARL, PORTER-CABLE ARGENTINA LLC, PT Stanley Black & Decker, Pacom Group AB, Pacom Systems (North America) Inc., Pacom Systems Espana S.L., Pacom Systems Pty Limited, Paladin Brands Group Inc., Paladin Brands Holdings Inc., Paladin Brands International Holdings Inc., Panalok Limited, Pengo Corporation, Pillo Health, Pinnacle Electronic Systems, Pipeline Induction Heat Limited, Pipeline Induction Heat Limited, Powers Fasteners Australasia Pty Limited, Powers Fasteners Inc., Powers Fasteners Inc. (Panama), Powers Rawl Pty. Ltd., Powers Shanghai Trading Ltd., Precision Hardware, Prikos & Becker LLC, Pro One Finance SAS, QRP Inc, RCTENN LLC, RIGHTCO II LLC, Rawl Australasia Pty. Ltd., Rawlplug Unit Trust, Refal Industria e Comercio de Rebites e Rebitadeiras Ltda., Remington LLC, SBD Cayman LLC, SBD European Investment Unlimited Company, SBD European Security Holdings S.a r.l., SBD European Security International Unlimited Company, SBD European Security Investment Unlimited Company, SBD Holding AB, SBD Insurance Inc., SBD MDGP Partnership Holdings LLC, SBD MDGP Partnership Holdings S.a r.l., SBD Manufacturing Distribution & Global Purchasing Holdings L.P., SBD Niscayah S.a r.l., SBD Property Holdings LLC, SBD UK Canada Holdings Inc., SPIRALOCK GLOBAL VENTURES LIMITED, STANLEY BLACK & DECKER HUNGARY KORALTOLT FELELOSSEGU TARSASAG, STANLEY BLACK & DECKER IBERICA S.L., STANLEY BLACK & DECKER MOROCCO SARL, STANLEY BLACK AND DECKER CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LTD, STANLEY BLACK AND DECKER CYPRUS ONE HOLDINGS LTD, STANLEY BLACK AND DECKER CYPRUS S1 HOLDINGS LTD, STANLEY BLACK AND DECKER CYPRUS S2 HOLDINGS LTD, STANLEY ENGINEERED FASTENING EASTERN EUROPE SP.Z O.O., SWK (U.K.) Holding Limited, SWK (UK) Limited, SWK Utensilerie S.r.l., Scan Modul, Security Group, SecurityCo Solutions Inc., Shanghai Emhart Fastening System Co. Ltd., Sidchrome Tool, Sielox Security Systems, Societe Miniere et Commerciale SAS, Sonitrol, Sonitrol Distribution Canada Inc., Sonitrol Security Systems of Buffalo Inc., Southern Monitoring Services Limited, Specialty Bar Products Company, Spiegelberg Manufacturing Inc., Spiralock Corporation, Stanley Access Technologies LLC, Stanley Atlantic Inc., Stanley Black & Decker (Barbados) SRL, Stanley Black & Decker (Hellas) EPE, Stanley Black & Decker Asia Holdings LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Asian Holdings B.V., Stanley Black & Decker Australia Pty Ltd., Stanley Black & Decker Austria GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Belgium BV, Stanley Black & Decker CCA S. de R.L., Stanley Black & Decker Canada Corporation, Stanley Black & Decker Cayman Holdings Inc., Stanley Black & Decker Cayman International Financing LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Centroamerica S. de R.L., Stanley Black & Decker Chile L.L.C., Stanley Black & Decker Colombia Services S.A.S., Stanley Black & Decker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stanley Black & Decker Deutschland GmbH, Stanley Black & Decker Distribution SAS, Stanley Black & Decker Finance 1 LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Finance 2 LLC, Stanley Black & Decker Finance Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Finance Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Finland Oy, Stanley Black & Decker France SAS, Stanley Black & Decker France Services SAS, Stanley Black & Decker Hermosillo S. de R.L. de C.V., Stanley Black & Decker Holdings Australia Pty Ltd, Stanley Black & Decker Holdings S.a r.l., Stanley Black & Decker IP Holdings Limited, Stanley Black & Decker India Private Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International FZE, Stanley Black & Decker International Fiance 2 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 1 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 2 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 3 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 3 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 4 Limited, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 4 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance 5 Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker International Finance L.P., Stanley Black & Decker Ireland Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Italia S.r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Latin American Holding BV, Stanley Black & Decker Latin American Investment Unlimited Company, Stanley Black & Decker Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Limited Liability Company, Stanley Black & Decker Logistics BV, Stanley Black & Decker MEA FZE, Stanley Black & Decker Manufacturing SAS, Stanley Black & Decker Middle East Trading FZE, Stanley Black & Decker NZ Limited, Stanley Black & Decker Netherlands B.V., Stanley Black & Decker Norway AS, Stanley Black & Decker Partnership Japan, Stanley Black & Decker Partnership Japan Holdings S.a r.l., Stanley Black & Decker Polska Sp. z o.o., Stanley Black & Decker Precision Manufacturing (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stanley Black & Decker Romania SRL, Stanley Black & Decker Slovakia s.r.o., Stanley Black & Decker Sweden AB, Stanley Black & Decker Turkey Alet Uretim Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stanley Black & Decker UK Group Limited, Stanley Black & Decker UK Limited, Stanley Black & Decker de Monterrey S. de R.L. de C.V., Stanley Black and Decker Commercial Private India, Stanley Black and Decker Security Solutions Mexico S.A. de C.V. (fka DEWALT INDUSTRIAL TOOLS S.A. DE C.V.), Stanley CLP3, Stanley Canada Holdings L.L.C., Stanley Chiro International Ltd, Stanley Convergent Security Solutions Inc., Stanley Engineered Fastening Benelux B.V., Stanley Engineered Fastening France SAS, Stanley Engineered Fastening India Private Limited, Stanley Engineered Fastening Industrial Deutschland GmbH, Stanley Engineered Fastening Italy S.r.l., Stanley Engineered Fastening Spain S.L.U., Stanley Europe BV, Stanley European Holdings B.V., Stanley European Holdings II B.V., Stanley Fastening Systems Investment (Taiwan) Co., Stanley Fastening Systems L.P., Stanley Fastening Systems Poland Sp. z o.o., Stanley Feinwerktechnik GmbH, Stanley Grundstuecksverwaltungs GmbH, Stanley Healthcare Solutions France Sarl, Stanley Housing Fund Inc., Stanley Industrial & Automotive LLC, Stanley Infrastructure LLC Formerly f/k/a International Equipment Solutions ("IES"), Stanley Inspection L.L.C., Stanley Inspection US L.L.C., Stanley International Holdings Inc., Stanley Israel Investments B.V., Stanley Logistics L.L.C., Stanley Pipeline Inspection L.L.C., Stanley Safety Corporation LLC, Stanley Security AS, Stanley Security Alarmcentrale B.V., Stanley Security B.V., Stanley Security Belgium BV, Stanley Security Canada ULC (fka 3xLogic Holdings Inc.), Stanley Security Denmark ApS, Stanley Security Europe BV, Stanley Security Federal Systema LLC, Stanley Security Holding AS, Stanley Security Limited, Stanley Security Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Stanley Security Nederland B.V., Stanley Security Oy, Stanley Security Singapore Pte. Ltd., Stanley Security Solutions (NI) Limited, Stanley Security Solutions - Europe Limited, Stanley Security Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Stanley Security Solutions Inc., Stanley Security Solutions India Private Limited, Stanley Security Solutions Limited, Stanley Security Sverige AB, Stanley Technical Services Ltd., Stanley Tools SAS, Stanley U.K. Holdings Ltd., Stanley UK Acquisition Company Limited, Stanley UK Services Limited, Stanley Works (Europe) GmbH, Stanley Works (India) Private Limited, Stanley Works (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Stanley Works (Wendeng) Tools Co. Ltd., Stanley Works Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Stanley Works China Investments Limited, Stanley Works Holdings B.V., Stanley Works Limited, Stanley-Bostitch S.A. de c.v., Stanley-Bostitch Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Stichting Beheer Intellectuele Eigendomsrechten Blick Benelux B.V., SureHand Inc. f.k.a. SBD Aura Inc., Sweepster Attachments LLC, THE BLACK & DECKER CORPORATION, TOG Holdings Inc., TOG Manufacturing Company Inc., TSI Monitoring LLC, TSI Sales & Installation LLC, The EAP Acquisition Co. LLC, The Farmington River Power Company, The Ferry Cap & Set Screw Company, The Stanley Works (Langfang) Fastening Systems Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works (Zhongshan) Tool Co. Ltd., The Stanley Works Israel Ltd., The Stanley Works Limited, The Stanley Works Pty. Ltd., Tong Lung Metal Industry, Troy-Bilt LLC, Tucker Fasteners Limited, Tucker GmbH, Tucker S.R.O., Universal Inspection Systems Limited, Venus Enterprise Co. Ltd., Visiocom International Pte Ltd, Voss Industries Inc., Wintech Corporation Limited, XMARK Corporation, XMARK Corporation., Yong Ru Plastics Industry (Suzhou) Co. Ltd, and Zag USA Inc..

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Schlumberger Limited provides technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. It offers software, information management, and IT infrastructure services; consulting services for reservoir characterization, field development planning, and production enhancement; petro technical data services and training solutions; reservoir interpretation and data processing services; asset performance solutions; open and cased-hole services; exploration and production pressure and flow-rate measurement services; pressure pumping, well stimulation, and coiled tubing equipment for downhole mechanical well intervention, reservoir monitoring, and downhole data acquisition; and integrated production systems. The company also provides mud logging and engineering support services; drilling equipment and services for shipyards, drilling contractors, energy companies, and rental tool companies; land drilling rigs and related services; drilling tools; well cementing products and services; and well planning and drilling, engineering, supervision, logistics, procurement, contracting, and drilling rig management services, as well as supplies engineered drilling fluid systems; and designs, manufactures, and markets roller cone and fixed cutter drill bits. In addition, it offers well completion services and equipment; artificial lift production equipment and optimization services; valves; process systems; and integrated subsea production systems comprising wellheads, subsea trees, manifolds and flowline connectors, control systems, connectors, and services, as well as designs and manufactures onshore and offshore platform wellhead systems and processing solutions. The company was formerly known as Societe de Prospection Electrique. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1926 and is based in Houston, Texas.
United Parcel Service, Inc. provides letter and package delivery, transportation, logistics, and related services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States. The International Package segment provides guaranteed day and time-definite international shipping services in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America, the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and Africa. This segment offers guaranteed time-definite express options. The company also provides international air and ocean freight forwarding, customs brokerage, distribution and post-sales, and mail and consulting services in approximately 200 countries and territories. In addition, it offers truckload brokerage services; supply chain solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry; shipping, visibility, and billing technologies; and financial and insurance services. The company operates a fleet of approximately 121,000 package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles; and owns 59,000 containers that are used to transport cargo in its aircraft. United Parcel Service, Inc. was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Snap-on Incorporated manufactures and markets tools, equipment, diagnostics, and repair information and systems solutions for professional users worldwide. It operates through Commercial & Industrial Group, Snap-on Tools Group, Repair Systems & Information Group, and Financial Services segments. The company offers hand tools, including wrenches, sockets, ratchet wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, punches and chisels, saws and cutting tools, pruning tools, torque measuring instruments, and other products; power tools, such as cordless, pneumatic, hydraulic, and corded tools; and tool storage products comprising tool chests, roll cabinets, and other products. It also provides handheld and computer-based diagnostic products, service and repair information products, diagnostic software solutions, electronic parts catalogs, business management systems and services, point-of-sale systems, integrated systems for vehicle service shops, original equipment manufacturer purchasing facilitation services, and warranty management systems and analytics. In addition, the company offers solutions for the service of vehicles and industrial equipment that include wheel alignment equipment, wheel balancers, tire changers, vehicle lifts, test lane equipment, collision repair equipment, vehicle air conditioning service equipment, brake service equipment, fluid exchange equipment, transmission troubleshooting equipment, safety testing equipment, battery chargers, and hoists, as well as after-sales support services and training programs. Further, it provides financing programs to facilitate the sales of its products and support its franchise business. The company serves the aviation and aerospace, agriculture, construction, government and military, mining, natural resources, power generation, and technical education industries, as well as vehicle dealerships and repair centers. Snap-on Incorporated was founded in 1920 and is based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Wabash National Corporation designs, manufactures, and distributes engineered solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment provides dry van and platform trailers; refrigerated trailers; converter dollies; van bodies for dry-freight transportation; cutaway van bodies for commercial applications; service bodies; insulated van bodies; stake bodies; refrigerated truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. This segment also offers stainless steel and aluminum tank trailers for the dairy, food and beverage, oil, gas, and chemical end markets; dry bulk trailers; and fiberglass reinforced poly tank trailers. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; aluminum and steel flatbed bodies, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, and thermal solutions; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. This segment also offers stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech end markets; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products. The company offers its products under the Wabash, DuraPlate, DuraPlateHD, DuraPlate AeroSkirt, and AeroSkirt CX brands, as well as EcoNex brand. It distributes its products directly, as well as through its retail operations and independent dealers to truckload common carriers, leasing companies, private fleet carriers, less-than-truckload common carriers, and package carriers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.
The Army Chief also listed the importance of biological chemical weapons and the threat that comes with it. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, on Wednesday, said that it was important to put checks and curbs on the internet and social media to counter terrorism.

I understand that in a democratic country people might have issues when we put curbs in place. But it is important to restrict the use of social media to tackle terrorism, the Army Chief said in his address at the Raisina Dialogue in the national capital.

Terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. Need to identify nations who are sponsors, General Rawat added.

The Army Chief also said the threat of nuclear and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists could spell disaster for humanity.

Terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. We need to identify nations who are sponsors. the Army Chief said.

The Army Chief further said terrorism had two sides to it - militant and political.

It is important to tackle both. Many may argue that there is no point in banning political outfits since they dont indulge in terror activities directly, but we should not forget that they support it, he added.

Commenting on ways to counter terrorism, General Rawat said it was imperative to identify who terrorists were and which are the nations that support terrorism.

Anyone who uses violence as a means to an end is a terrorist. We need to identify the nations that have a state-sponsored policy to support terrorism, he said. Once they are identified, General Rawat added, The nations had to do their own job. While there should be international support, the nation still needs to work on countering its own terrorists.

The Army chief also said it was important to identify where the terrorists get funds from. General Rawat added that one must look at where poppy and cannabis grows.

The Army Chief also listed the importance of biological chemical weapons and the threat that comes with it.

Terrorism is here to stay. Unless all countries come together. Terrorism cannot be the new warfare. It has been seen that those nations that support terrorism often become victims of it eventually. So if you want a safe home, then we need to work towards ending it, General Rawat said.

On Kashmir, General Rawat claimed that the people have realised that what they desired for cannot be achieved. People of Kashmir in general are getting tired of terrorism. It has not given them what they desired for. You cannot cede away from India. People have realised that. Some have got radicalised I feel most of them want to join the mainstream,

The Army Chief added that the deradicalisation campaign needs to continue. If that continues, we will soon be able to put an end to terrorism in Kashmir.

Commenting on the media coverage of terrorism, the Army Chief said it was important that terrorists should not be made into heroes. The more you give coverage to terrorist activities, the more you give them popularity. But can we control the media? We must ensure that terrorists are not made into heroes, he said.

Former Pakistan Diplomat Husain Haqqani also addressed the Raisina Dialogue 2018. Speaking at the event Haqqani said: Good terrorist or bad terrorist basically means when you actually allow somebody who is continuously engaged in terror and its not to secure end of their activity but to justify it you say this is a good terrorist, that is where terminology comes in.
Bengaluru: Owners of rooftop bars and restaurants who are under the impression that by installing fire safety equipment and following procedures prescribed by the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services they could open their establishments, they could be wrong.

After the Kamala Mills tragedy in Mumbai, local fire department officials woke up and issued notices to 70 rooftop bars and restaurants across the city, asking them to adhere to the fire safety norms or else face action. Even the BBMP health department started hunting down illegal rooftop bars and pubs without permanent structures. They identified over 125 such outlets and issued closure notices to them with a week's deadline from January first week.

BBMP chief health officer M.N. Lokesah told Deccan Chronicle, "Units cannot start functioning just by installing fire safety norms. According to the Karnataka State Municipal Corporation Act, there is no provision for rooftop bars to function just by erecting temporary structures. Of the 125 units we have slapped notice against, more than half have already closed."

He said that the notices served by the fire department related to installation of fire safety equipment, providing emergency exits and making the place safe, while notices served by the BBMP were based on the KMC Act which bans rooftop outlets with temporary structures.

BBMP health officials said that over 90 percent of rooftop bars and restaurants were operating under temporary structures that are made out of wood, bamboo, plastic sheets, steel and metal. They said all these are illegal and were erected by violating building bylaws.

The officials said that an owner might have taken the permission to run a restaurant or bar on the second floor of a building, but would have extended the operation to the rooftop by erecting temporary structures. They have to restrict to the floor for which they have been granted permission, officials said.

Mr Lokesh warned that units that do not adhere to BBMP closure notices will be dealt with severely and reminded the owners that the BBMP is empowered to slap hefty fines and register FIRs.On rooftop bars and restaurant owners planning to meet the BBMP, he said, "We have not received any such request."
Chennai: All states should take cue from Tamil Nadu and support organ transplantation, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday. He said the state government, under the leadership of the late Jayalalithaa, had taken up the "noble" programme of extending government support to organ transplantation.

"I want every state to follow (it). A government hospital doing transplantation, that is praiseworthy," he said at a function here. The Vice President honoured Dr Mohamed Rela, chairman and director, Institute of Liver Disease and Transplant, Gleneagles Global Health City, and his team on successfully completing 1,000 liver transplants in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. Dr Rela had performed the first liver transplant in August 2009 and has individually performed more than 4,000 liver transplants. Heading the Institute for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Dr Rela has performed 278-deceased donor and 722 live donor transplantations.

Congratulating Dr Rela and Dr K. Ravindranath, chairman, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, on achieving the landmark of 1,000 liver transplants in the state within a span of seven years, Venkaiah Naidu said, Liver transplantation at that time was very challenging due to poor awareness of public, doctors were skeptical and issue of affordability. Against all odds, Dr Ravindranath and the team of Dr Rela have established a pioneer centre for liver transplantation in the country, he said.

The transplantation programme has now grown to become one of the largest centres in the world for liver transplantation in children. In all, 278 children (youngest child aged four months) have benefited from the programme.

Patients from all over India and also from more than 20 countries all over the world have been benefited from the transplantation programme. Liver transplantation was not well known as a successful procedure even to many physicians in India when we first started. Our experience has helped to create a huge awareness about the liver disease, organ donation and liver transplantation among the public, patients, and medical fraternity, said Dr Rela.

His team has offered both deceased donors and live donor transplantations in the state. Tamil Nadu was awarded for performing highest number of organ transplants in the country for the third consecutive year in 2017 by the Government of India and completion of 1,000 liver transplants adds to the honour of the state.
Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday expressed his concerns over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad international working president Pravin Togadia's safety in the Bharatiya Janata Party's rule. (Photo: PTI)

Gandhinagar: Two days after Pravin Togadia's mysterious "disappearance" and subsequent hospitalisation in an unconscious condition, Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday expressed his concerns over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president's safety in the Bharatiya Janata Party's rule.

Patel took to his Twitter page and said, "Pravin Togadia was safe during Congress' reign, but today, under BJP rule, he feels unsafe and insecure."

On Tuesday, Patidar leader and Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia met Togadia in the hospital.

Togadia alleged that attempts were being made to frame him in different cases.

Meanwhile, on addressing the media, Togadia moved to tears, claiming that efforts have been made to silence his voice and not let him speak on the issues like the Ram temple, welfare schemes for farmers and the law on cow slaughter.

Read: Attempts to kill, frame me in fake cases: Togadia after being found unconscious

Togadia's remark came a day after he had reportedly gone missing and was later found admitted in a hospital in Gandhinagar.

He said that someone might be trying to get him killed in a fake encounter.

Earlier in the week, Togadia, who was traced to Chandramani Hospital in Shahibuag area in Gandhinagar, was detected with low blood sugar.

Lack of knowledge regarding Togadia's whereabouts created a ruckus in the state, as the VHP workers laid a siege on the Sola police station, shouted slogans, and blocked traffic on the main Sarkehj-Gandhinagar highway.

On a related note, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court earlier in January had issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against Togadia and 38 others, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Daskroi (Ahmedabad), Babu Jamnadas Patel, in a 1996 attempt to murder case.
Thiruvananthapuram: CPI mouthpiece Janayugam has called for caution while considering Chief Ministers financial advisor Gita Gopinaths suggestions on economic reforms and austerity measures.

In an editorial, the party mouthpiece said Gita Gopinath observations on states economy and emphasis on austerity measures have raised apprehensions. She shared her views during an informal chat with a section of media on the sidelines of the recently concluded Loka Kerala Sabha.

On the face of it suggestion for austerity measures is acceptable especially in the backdrop of the financial crisis being faced by the government. However, her reference to salary, pension, subsidy, welfare schemes, loss making PSUs as governments liability and thrust on participation of private sector in infrastructure development and GST have thrown clear hints, the editorial said.

As the advisor to CM, she has indicated that she would a driving force in getting more investments. Gopinaths thrust on development and enthusiasm to bring foreign investment are praiseworthy. However, the Chief Minister and LDF are expected to approach economic reforms including austerity measures with caution.

The editorial said there were no two opinions on the need to avoid splurge at the government level and to control expenditure. However, the authorities concerned should be watchful enough to ensure that austerity measures dont turn out to be a replication of similar measures adopted in Greece, Spain and other Western countries.

Austerity measures have been the main characteristic of economic reforms of the western capitalist world. But the after-effects of such reforms is mainly faced by workers, farmers and the unemployed. These policies had led to huge economic problems and political instability in Greece, Spain and Britain. Gita Gopinath's approach on salary, pension and welfare schemes needs to be read along with the crisis in western capitalist world, the editorial said.
Having written previously about the ghosts of this area, a number of people have recounted old ghost stories that they have heard over the years.

It seems, from these accounts, that one of the most haunted areas of County Louth is Carlingford.

Many of my readers will know the story of the 'Headless Ghost of Taaffe's Castle' who was supposed to have been Nicholas Taaffe, 2nd Earl of Carlingford, who died at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, fighting for King James.

One author of a book about Irish ghosts, written over thirty years ago, went to so far as to claim that the old Rectory at Dundalk Road, Carlingford, was 'the most haunted building in Ireland'. This writer had come from England to examine so called 'psychic phenomena' and spent several nights in what was also know as the 'Glebe House', demolished in 2008.

He claimed that he had taken a number of photographs which, when developed, had shown ghostly figures. My late brother Paul, however, told me that he had developed the negatives of these photographs at his studio at St. Mary's Road but had noticed 'absolutely nothing' unusual in them.

One of the most intriguing ghost stories connected with Carlingford that I have read about was the story of the 'White Knight of Carlingford Castle'. It was included in an interesting book written about 100 years ago, called 'Legendary Stories of the Carlingford Lough Area'. The author was William George Crawford from Warrenpoint who died in 1919. He named the story 'Carlingford's Haunted Castle'.

The story is set in 1210 when King John visited Carlingford Castle which been built about ten years earlier by Hugo de Lacy who acquired the lands of Carlingford from Bertram de Verdon, the founder of the New Town of Dundalk.

De Lacy was the arch rival of John de Courcy, who conquered the eastern part of Ulster and used Dundalk as his base for this expedition. Hugo de Lacy was in favour with King John in 1210 and arranged a great jousting tournament at Carlingford to impress him.

At this tournament a young knight from Cooley named White, after whom the townland of Whitestown is supposed to be named, won all his bouts and was named the Champion of the Tournament. All went well until this young knight met de Lacy's eldest daughter and fell in love with her.

Now de Lacy had arranged a marriage for this girl with another Norman Baron to increase his influence at John's court but a rival, believed to be de Courcy, got to hear about the tryst and arranged a secret meeting of the lovers outside the castle walls.

A spy informed de Lacy of the meeting and the enraged father had the young knight seized at his home and dragged to Carlingford Castle. The Whitetown knight refused to renounce his love for the girl and, as a result, he was thrown in to a dungeon where he was kept without food or water.

The young man died in agony and a short time afterwards a knight in full armour was seen to stalk the stairways and halls of the Castle at night-time.

According to Crawford's story, de Lacy was unable to sleep because of the hauntings while he resided at Carlingford Castle and continued to be troubled by the visions of the 'White Ghost' until he died in his castle at Trim in County Meath around Christmas time 1242.
Louth Deputy Declan Breathnach has hit out at Minister Michael Ring and the Department of Rural and Community Development for failing to spend the allocated budget of 163m last year.

Breathnach made the comments after Fianna Fail obtained new information which shows that 19m of allocated funds remained unspent.

Deputy Breathnach said: The information we have received shows that the Government simply isnt taking rural Ireland seriously. There was over 11m, which should have been spent on infrastructure projects in rural areas as well as a further 8m which could have been used for day to day spending.

This underspend comes as no surprise - it has been forecasted throughout 2017, that there would be a very significant underspend by this Department as it was evident in the replies Fianna Fail was receiving from the Minister and his officials. In fact, if it wasnt for the late approval for the Local Improvement Scheme, which Fianna Fail had been pushing for, the underspend would have been much more significant.

It is absolutely imperative that the Minister lays out clearly, how he intends spending the money allocated to him this year, as well as the carryover of 7.7m in capital, being brought forward from 2017, fully and in good time.

This Government repeatedly claims that it has not enough money to provide services and basic infrastructure, so it is difficult to understand how Minister Ring can fail to spend such a high percentage of the budget in any one year. This is particularly significant when this Departments budget is by far the smallest budget of any of the government Departments.

It once again highlights the fact that rural Ireland is not a priority for this government and that it is more interest in lip-service than action.
Chairman of the Dundalk Municipal District Cllr John McGahon welcomed Ms Yamamitsu, Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission from the Japanese Embassy to County Hall this morning.

Ms. Yamamitsu was in Dundalk to meet with both Cllr. McGahon and the staff of National Pen on the aftermath of the death of Yosuke Sasaki.

Ms. Yamamitsu first called to County Hall and meet with Cllr. McGahon for 45 minutes before concluding her visit in National Pen where she met with staff and friends of Yosuke.

Commenting on the visit Cllr. McGahon said "Ms. Yamamitsu spent the morning in Dundalk to show the Japanese Embassy's appreciation and thanks for the show of support that Dundalk provided after the tragic death of Yosuke.

Ms. Yamamitsu mentioned that the huge turnout at the vigil surpassed all their expectations and they wanted to convey their gratitude to everyone who turned out that evening.

She also said that the family of Mr. Sasaki were extremely grateful for the warmth and generosity that Dundalk has shown to Yosuke and his family in recent weeks.
The group of traders and residents of Bridge St who launched a campaign in December for local council leaders to encourage the regeneration of the busy street say they are still pushing ahead with their campaign.

However, spokesperson for the group Joanne Lavelle revealed that the campaign had made some progress.

The group received notice that the Chief Executive of Louth County Council, Joan Martin informed the group she will support their campaign by encouraging the design consultants involved in the regeneration of the high street (Clanbrassil Street) to include Bridge Street in their plans.

We want to be pro-active and work with Louth County Council to help improve Bridge St. What we're looking for is a strategic plan, Joanne Lavelle explained.



Joanne also told of the tremendous support the St. Nicholas Quarter: Bridge Street Community & Traders Area Regeneration Group had received from locals following their public campaign at the end of November 2017.



The support we had was huge. Everyone is really keen to help Bridge Street get a much-needed makeover.

I had people calling into me every day here in Lavelle's property agents asking what they could do to help, Joanne explained.



And for an area which is in such a state of disrepair, there was a tremendous amount of support, she continued.



In December 2017, the group met with Louth County Council and their consultants to preview the plans for the investment of 4.4 million in street regeneration across Dundalk.



Speaking in December, a spokesperson for the group said: The Council secured funding to improve the town from the Square to the Bridge, but theyve since decided to cut Bridge Street out of the plan for budget reasons.



Historically, Bridge St has been repeatedly excluded from improvement works and investment, and now suffers from almost 40% vacant rates, much of which is due to properties having fallen into significant disrepair and dereliction."



The group expressed the disappointment local residents and traders felt once they learned their street had been overlooked for funding.

There is a lot of structural work to be done on Bridge Street because it's been let go for so long. It's no longer attractive to use as a thoroughfare.

However, there remains a strong community of independent traders and residents who want their environment regenerated and treated as part of the town centre .

If you would like to support the regeneration of Bridge Street, you can join the Facebook group created by traders and residents here: St. Nicholas Quarter (Bridge Street Community & Traders Area Regeneration)
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted 3-2 to repeal Obama-era Net neutrality rules that prevented Internet service providers from blocking, throttling or otherwise giving preferential treatment to customers. Backers of the repeal characterized it as promoting greater technological innovation and freedom to conduct business.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who spearheaded the reversal of the Title II Net neutrality regulations, was joined by Commissioners Michael OReilly and Brendan Carr. Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel strongly dissented.

The repeal would restore light touch oversight and open the doors for ISPs and other businesses to give consumers more choice and offer new technologies in a way that has flourished for more than two decades, Pai said in remarks prior to the vote.

It is not the job of the government to pick winners and losers, he told attendees at the meeting.

Chairman Ajit Pais presentation was interrupted briefly when the meeting room was cleared on the advice of security officials, who brought in a canine team to search the area.

The FCCs Wigfield declined to elaborate on what, specifically, prompted the measures.

FTC to Take Over

The reversal of the Title II framework means that broadband Internet service once again will be regulated as an information service rather than as a utility.

The vote also means that the Federal Trade Commission will take the lead in regulating broadband Internet and will be responsible for investigating complaints of unfair, deceptive or anticompetitive business practices.

The new rules will take effect after final clearance by the Office of Management and Budget, which could take months, according to FCC spokesperson Mark Wigfield.

The move to repeal the rules was hotly contested by numerous consumer advocates, Silicon Valley companies, and others who feared the so-called light touch oversight would allow major broadband and telecom providers to limit access to some content providers and potentially force consumers to pay higher fees for faster speeds.

The FTC is ready to resume its role as the cop on the broadband beat, said Maureen Ohlhausen, acting chairman of the commission.

Broadband providers will be required to disclose their traffic management practices, she noted.

Net Neutrality Proponents Push Back

A coalition of multiple state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, announced they will file legal action to block the repeal.

The state AGs had requested that the FCC postpone the vote, pending their investigation into charges that as many as 2 million citizen comments regarding the issue were created fraudulently, but the commission rejected that appeal.

The 2 million suspicious comments appeared to be associated with stolen identities, Schneiderman said.

The FCC has given an early Christmas gift to big telecom companies, he commented following the vote.

The new rule will let ISPs charge more for access to social media companies, Schneiderman added, and favor certain viewpoints over others.

Netflix was among the companies that opposed repeal of the rules.

Were disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity & civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large & small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.

 Netflix US (@netflix) December 14, 2017

The vote was a historic mistake, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., as he and 15 cosponsors introduced the Congressional Review Act to the U.S. Senate. The resolution would roll back Thursdays repeal and restore the 2015 Net neutrality rules with a simple majority vote in the U.S. House and Senate.

The rules reversal will favor communications providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, suggested Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

It will work against the over the top services, he told the E-Commerce Times, unless theyre big enough, like Netflix, to demand a seat at the table.

Users likely will have to pay more, on average, Kay said, adding that vanilla service will be crappy.

Building Blocks

There is a valid argument to be made for the rules repeal, suggested independent analyst Jeff Kagan.

We have to remember if you want companies to make investments in the Internet infrastructure to bring high speed [access] to Americans, they must be profitable, he told the E-Commerce Times. Trying to get companies to bring Internet to America with little or no profitability is a nonstarter.

Although Thursdays vote to repeal Net neutrality will please broadband providers and displease consumers and companies that use the Internet, he said, it wont end the debate.
If you havent read last weeks Vanity Fair article on the institutionalized sexual exploitation going on in tech companies, you should.

This is on top of the realization that social media companies like Facebook are destroying the U.S., and former Facebook executives have been dissociating themselves from the company.

Further, news recently broke of what initially was reported to be an Intel flaw, but turned out to be a bigger industry-wide problem. Behind it was the report that Intels CEO dumped every share he legally could during the period when Intel knew of the problem but had not reported it. This may be an optics rather than an insider trading problem, but it does imply a severe lack of confidence in Intels future on the part of its own CEO (though it may be just a lack of confidence in the Trump administration).

I think we may be looking at a potentially catastrophic collapse of Silicon Valley. Given that the Valley supports the Democratic party almost exclusively, it doesnt bode well for the 2018 mid-term election  which, before this, was expected to be a Republican rout. Individually, each of these events is bad. Collectively, they are catastrophic.

Ill share some thoughts on that this week and close with my product of the week: an interesting way to keep your outdoor spa both warm and accessible during the winter months.

The Sport of Extreme Sexual Harassment

I get the need for the Valley to overachieve, but in this era of Harvey Weinstein and career-killing events, the concept of powerful men driving drug-induced sexual orgies seems to me to be suicidal. You need to read the linked Vanity Fair article, but in short what allegedly has been happening, is that the top Silicon Valley executives, bankers, VCs, and Ill bet some politicians have gone a tad sex-crazy.

They have been holding and attending what appear to be orgies, where women are given drugs to make them receptive, and then they engage in group sex. Many of the women apparently work for some of the men, and many of their spouses attend. This is not a well-kept secret, and the drugs allegedly used are for the most part illegal.

Recall that Harvey Weinstein reportedly abused a lot of women before one spoke up, and the entire thing cascaded until he lost his job, his company, and his position on boards. The father of one of his accusers reportedly even threatened to kill him. A parents reaction to this kind of behavior, as Sorvino demonstrates, takes anger to the extreme. The Democrats, who have a zero-tolerance policy regarding this kind of thing, likely will run from these folks like they have the plague, and the Republicans have no love for the Valley in the first place.

All it would take is a trigger event  say an underage woman alleging drug-induced rape at one of these parties, or a Justice Department raid (or both)  to cost most of these folks their jobs, companies and much of their net worth. Granted, many likely could get on their jets and avoid immediate arrest, but you dont recover from something like this. Just ask Roman Polanski. People dont forget this kind of thing (but they all could move to Switzerland).

From women who are abused through this practice, to politicians who want to gut Democratic Party funding, to law enforcement that wants to stick it to rich jerks who are abusing the law, to countries like China that would love to cripple Silicon Valley, the number of people who might use this to cripple the U.S. tech industry are legion.

Social Media Meltdown?

When executives start treating past jobs as if they were criminal activities, its a sign of a serious problem. The combination of a growing realization that Facebook is doing massive harm to the country with ex-Facebook executives treating their time there as if they had a substance abuse problem suggests things arent looking good.

There already have been a massive number of social media-fueled tragedies, including suicide and murder. Just last week, a YouTube star became infamous for showing the body of a suicide victim in a video.

Given that I was almost killed myself during a rave organized on Facebook, Im very aware of the risks surrounding the use and adverse impact of social media.

Personally, I find social media to be way too dangerous  particularly when it looks like your job prospects could be killed over posts taken out of context. The amount of false (fake) news generated on these platforms is incredibly troubling, and I find the arguments that social media didnt corrupt the elections to be so poorly researched as to be laughable.

The realization that a poorly worded tweet might start a nuclear war doesnt let any of us sleep very deeply now. (The idea of buttons on desks that could launch nuclear payloads is just wrong in so many ways.)

Maybe the words that will doom the world will be: Damn it I told you not to put my breakfast on my desk, youve just launched World War III you covfefe! In case you wonder what that word means

Brian Krzanichs Ill-Advised Share Sale

The problem with the Intel chips being a manufacturing defect of some kind appears to be fake news (though the Linux folks are less than amused), but selling every share you legally can sell during the window between when Intel learned of the problem and when it was disclosed appears not to be.

This leaves us with two possible obvious choices, both of which are bad. Either Krzanich sold the shares to make sure he didnt take the loss (insider trading), or he lost confidence in Intels ability to execute. My guess is that this likely had nothing to do with Intel at all, but with concerns that the market is going to correct massively when the U.S. president is indicted. (Krzanich was one of the early CEOs to abandon the president.)

This is a reminder of how important optics are, but the appearance of wrongdoing or lack of confidence in his firm adds to the overall impression that the valley is about to implode. Much of the valuation of a company is based on confidence in it, and if the CEO doesnt have confidence, regardless of the performance of the firm, investors, employees and customers wont either.

You can kill an industry or company with bad optics.

Wrapping Up: Silicon Valley Has Become Suicidal

In the post-Weinstein world, the idea of group sex parties with subordinates and drugs alone seems just nuts  but on top of that, the ability of the U.S. or a foreign government to use these things effectively to wipe out much of the market is unprecedented. In some strange way, you can almost hear Harvey Weinstein say, I was stupid and bad, but I wasnt THAT stupid and bad.

Then layer on the massive damage social media is doing to the country  damage that has caused executives to detach themselves from their own company backgrounds  and you get what could be termed a suicidal complex.

Finally, if you look at what one of the most powerful CEOs just did with his own shares well, while any one of these things would be bad individually, collectively they provide a picture of a segment that is behaving suicidally.

We thought 2018 was going to start with a bang, but I doubt that any of us were thinking that it would be the sound of the tech segment imploding.

My wife and I have a swim spa, which is basically a swimming treadmill. The problem last year was that it snowed so much, we often couldnt open the damn cover to get into the thing  it was covered with snow. Even when it wasnt, running around in a wet bathing suit trying to close the thing back up again when done was a nonstarter after the first time.

Finally, this spa is big, so the cover was heavy all by itself, and my wife had issues both getting it open and closed, so the spa basically would sit out the winter, which is when you kind of need to be able to use it. We needed something that handled the snow, was far easier to open and close, and didnt require you to run around the pool in near zero-degree weather while wet to close it up again.

What I found was the Covana Motorized Spa Cover. This isnt a cheap date, but it powers up and down, and it has the added benefit of not only being able to lift a lot of snow but also providing a cover for you while you are swimming or using the Jacuzzi side of the spa.

Covana Hot Tub Cover

Covana also makes smaller versions for hot tubs, and one of them has internal lights, privacy curtains, and a peaked roof that allows the snow to slide off.

It uses a solar-charged battery, so it is surprisingly easy to wire up (though you typically would have it professionally installed, which is what we did). Weve been using it for a few weeks now and love it  not to mention it looks cool opening and closing, though I think Ill rig a remote switch, so I can do that from inside the house.

One interesting feature is the escape hatch, in case someone closes the spa while youre in it (which could come in handy with that remote switch). We all need to exercise more, and part of the fun of a hot tub is using it in the snow. However, the power bill for leaving it open takes a lot of the fun out of it. The Covana motorized spa cover does both (we got the Legend), so it is my product of the week.
By Matt Blois

A neighbor knocked on Rick Burgesss door at about 9:30 p.m. to tell him a fire was coming towards his home in Ventura, California. When he looked outside he saw a column of smoke, and the hills were already starting to turn orange. He loaded up his truck with a collection of native plants he was using to write a countywide plant guide, and barely had enough time to get out.

Shortly thereafter the lights went out, he said. Then the engine came around and on the loud speaker said you must evacuate.



Frank DeMartinowho runs a shop in Ventura that sells bird feeders and birdseedhas organized the last three counts in Ventura. He started the 2017 Christmas Bird Count in Ventura harbor. Matt Blois

Burgess and his wife drove to a friends house in a different part of town. The first night, they just wanted to know that their home was safe, and thankfully it was. The Thomas Fire burned many of their neighbors homes that night, but their cul-de-sac was spared. Burgess spent the two weeks following the fire living at a friends house, organizing the northern sector of Venturas annual Christmas Bird Count.

The count in Ventura was originally scheduled for Dec. 17, 2017 but the Thomas Firenow the largest ever recorded in Californiaburned more than half of the survey area, and organizers had to postpone it until Dec. 30, 2017 because they couldnt get to many of the those areas.

For the first few weeks of December, smoke filled the Ojai Valley where Burgess leads a count, and fire crews had taken over the Lake Casitas Campground where groups normally search for birds by boat. Even weeks after the worst of the fire had passed, the city of Ventura wouldnt let the birders into several parks damaged by the fire. While the fire made it difficult to organize the count, surveying birds immediately after the fire also presented a unique opportunity.

With nearly four decades of Christmas Bird Count data from Ventura, scientists will be able to compare this years observations with historical data to understand how birds respond to fire. While the fire was devastating for the people who lost their homes, many species of wildlife in Southern California are adapted to live with fire and in some cases take advantage of it. For scientists, it can be difficult to find funding for research immediately following a fire, but citizen scientists like the volunteers at the Christmas Bird Count can fill that gap.

Every year since 1900 bird lovers across the U.S. have ventured out into their communities around Christmas to count birds, reporting their observations to the Audubon Society so that scientists can use the data. Birdwatchers in Ventura started collecting data in 1980.

This year, Frank DeMartinowho has organized the last three counts in Venturastarted at the Ventura harbor. DeMartino runs a shop in Ventura that sells bird feeders and birdseed. About 10 others showed up to help count.

The Thomas Fire was still burning in parts of the Los Padres National Forest on the count day, but near the beach there were few obvious signs of it. Instead of looking for clues about the fire in burn areas, DeMartino looked for birds.

He spotted a small, grey bird flitting through the branches of a tree near a freshwater pond. It had a dark black eyebrow and a yellow stripe on top of its head. Much to his delight, it was a species he had only seen once before, a golden crowned kinglet. These birds are usually in the mountains, DeMartino said. You can draw whatever conclusions you like from that.

While its hard to find a pattern in one unusual bird, DeMartino said its possible that some of the species that normally live in the hills above Ventura have temporarily moved to the unburned areas in town. He made a special effort this year to get more people to count birds in their backyards because he suspected thats where many displaced birds might have gone.

Mark Mendelsohn, a biologist for Mountains Restoration Trust who works closely with the National Parks Service in Southern California, said birds likely did flee to urban areas or islands of vegetation within the burn. Obviously, the ones that can will often fly away, he said. Wildlifeincluding birdskind of hunker down or take refuge in those unburned areas. He said fires dont generally kill birds directly because they can usually escape the flames. Its when the birds start returning to burned areas that fires really start to affect them.

Mendelsohn had published a study in the journal Fire Ecology in 2008 showing that changes in vegetation following a fire can affect which species inhabit a burn area. The study found that for several sites near San Diego the diversity of bird species stayed about the same following a large fire, and in one area diversity actually increased. However, the fires did reduce shrub and tree cover in two types of shrub habitat, opening up a landscape that was previously covered with vegetation.

Birds that prefer areas with lots of vegetative coversuch as wrentits and spotted towheesstarted to disappear from areas of burned coastal sage scrub. Meanwhile, birds like lazuli buntings, which prefer open areas, started to show up in areas of burned chaparral that normally have lots of vegetative cover.

However, getting this kind of information immediately following a fire can be difficult, Mendelsohns study, for instance, used bird survey data collected before the fires, but the researchers didnt survey birds again until about 18 months after the fire.

Marti Witter, a fire scientist with the National Parks Service in Southern California, said its hard for scientists to start a study right after a fire because they cant plan for it ahead of time. When they start a new project, scientists normally need to apply for grants and design experiments. By they time the study starts, much of the interesting data has already come and gone.

Some of the best studies have data starting a year after, a year and a half after, she said. People are not going out and doing surveys immediately post fire  Youre missing the manpower and research infrastructure to go out and do it in those first few months.

Witter said thats where citizen scientists, like the birders from the Christmas Bird Count, can step in. Citizen scientists dont need to wait for grants, they can start studying the effects of fire as soon as its safe.

At the end of the Christmas Bird Count in Ventura, all the birders gathered at a church near the edge of the burn area. Everyone brought some food, and there were ice chests with beer and wine. Volunteers sat around folding tables telling war stories while they ate dinner. Eventually, Frank DeMartino called for everyones attention towards the front of the room. He started reading off the names of all the bird species in the county. Participants shouted out if they had seen the bird that day, and DeMartino checked off the species they found. He tallied 172 species, more than many were expecting given the low turnout after the fire.

In many ways it wasnt that different from any other year. The most notable observation was DeMartinos sighting of the golden crowned kinglet, but in general volunteers found the same species they normally do.

While the Thomas fire destroyed hundreds of homes, and killed a firefighter, most of the birds had apparently kept on living. They flew out of harms way into unburned patches of forest or into backyards in Ventura County. As the vegetation starts to regenerate, theyll slowly return to the hills they normally inhabit where another group of birders will find them in a future Christmas Bird Count.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Earth Island Journal.
By Sharon Kelly

Over the past few years, natural gas has become the primary fuel that America uses to generate electricity, displacing the long-time king of fossil fuels, coal. In 2019, more than a third of Americas electrical supply will come from natural gas, with coal falling to a second-ranked 28 percent, the Energy Information Administration predicted this month, marking the growing ascendency of gas in the American power market.

But new peer-reviewed research adds to the growing evidence that the shift from coal to gas isnt necessarily good news for the climate.

A team led by scientists at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed that the oil and gas industry is responsible for the largest share of the worlds rising methane emissionswhich are a major factor in climate changeand in the process the researchers resolved one of the mysteries that has plagued climate scientists over the past several years.

Missing Methane

That mystery? Since 2006, methane emissions have been rising by about 25 teragrams (a unit of weight so large that NASA notes youd need more than 200,000 elephants to equal one teragram) every year. But when different researchers sought to pinpoint the sources of that methane, they ran into a problem.

If you added the growing amounts of methane pollution from oil and gas to the rising amount of methane measured from other sources, like microbes in wetlands and marshes, the totals came out too highexceeding the levels actually measured in the atmosphere. The numbers didnt add up.

It turns out, there was a third factor at play, one whose role was underestimated, NASAs new paper concludes, after reviewing satellite data, ground-level measurements and chemical analyses of the emissions from different sources.

A drop in the acreage burned in fires worldwide between 2006 and 2014 meant that methane from those fires went down far more than scientists had realized. Fire-related methane pollution dropped twice as much as previously believed, the new paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, reports.

Using this data, the team showed that about 17 teragrams per year of the increase is due to fossil fuels, another 12 is from wetlands or rice farming, while fires are decreasing by about 4 teragrams per year, NASA said in a Jan. 2 press release. The three numbers combine to 25 teragrams a yearthe same as the observed increase.

A fun thing about this study was combining all this different evidence to piece this puzzle together, lead scientist John Worden of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said in a statement.

Shale Boom, Methane Boom

Less fun, unfortunately: the implications for the climate. Methane is a major greenhouse gas, capable of trapping 86 times as much heat as the same amount of carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after it hits the Earths atmosphere. So relatively tiny amounts of methane in the air can pack a massive climate-changing punch.

The sharp increase in methane emissions correlates closely with the U.S. fracking boom, said Jim Warren, executive director of the climate watchdog group NC WARN. Leaking and venting of unburned gaswhich is mostly methanemakes natural gas even worse for the climate than coal.

The new NASA study is not the first to call attention to the connection between oil and gas and methane leaks. A study in March last year found that natural gas power plants put out between 20 and 120 times more methane pollution than previously believed, due in part to accidental leaks and in part to deliberate venting by companies. And as far back as 2011, researchers from Cornell University warned that switching over from coal to gas could be a grave mistake where climate change is concerned.

The NASA study may help settle the science on the oil and gas industrys role in rising methane emissions.

To conduct their research, the scientists examined the methane molecules linked to different sources, focusing on carbon isotopes in the molecules, which helped them match the methane to different sources. Methane molecules rising from wetlands and farms have a relatively small concentration of heavy carbon isotopes, oil and gas-linked methane higher amounts, and methane from fires the most heavy carbon. The scientists also cross-checked their findings by looking at other associated gases, like ethane and carbon monoxideand the numbers all fell into place.

It turns out that fires worldwide burned up roughly 12 percent less acreage during 2007 to 2014, compared to the prior roughly half-dozen yearsbut the amount of methane from those fires fell more sharply, plunging nearly twice as fast, measurements from NASAs Terra and Aura satellites revealed.

Theres been a ping-pong game of explanations going back and forth about what might explain this, Penn State University atmospheric scientist Ken Davis told Mashable. Its a complicated puzzle with a lot of parts, but [the studys conclusions] do seem plausible and likely.

That 2006-2014 lull in fires may be part of a larger trend. Historically, burning during the past century has been lower than at any time in the past 2000 years, one 2016 study points out, due in large part to the spread of fire suppression techniques.

But dont expect the lower methane emissions from less burning worldwide to last forever. One of the impacts of climate change is to make large wildfires more likely, the Union of Concerned Scientists points out.

Wildfire seasons (seasons with higher wildfire potential) in the United States are projected to lengthen, with the southwests season of fire potential lengthening from seven months to all year long, the group said. Additionally, wildfires themselves are likely to be more severe.

In the meantime, even while fires declined worldwide, methane emissions overall have continued to rise sharplyand, according to NASAs latest research, it turns out pollution linked to the oil and gas industry is responsible for the biggest chunk of that growing problem.

Reposted with permission from our media associate DeSmogBlog.
Nearly all members of the National Park Service advisory panel abruptly quit on Monday in protest of the Trump administrations policies, which they say have neglected science, climate change and environmental protections.

From all of the events of this past year I have a profound concern that the mission of stewardship, protection, and advancement of our National Parks has been set aside, the head of the panel, Tony Knowles, wrote in a letter of resignation addressed to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who oversees management of the countrys national parks and monuments.

The letter was signed by nine of the panels 12 members. The bipartisan panel was appointed by former President Obama. The terms of the members who quit were due to expire in May.

The advisory board, first authorized in 1935, advises the director of the National Park Service and the interior secretary on matters relating to the National Park Service and the National Park System.

Environmental advocates have criticized Sec. Zinkes policies, from his recommendations to President Trump to shrink and reduce protections for public lands, to opening up the nations thousands of miles of coastline to offshore oil drilling.

We resigned because we were deeply disappointed with the department and we were concerned, Knowles told the New York Times.

Knowles added that Sec. Zinke appears to have no interest in continuing the agenda of science, the effect of climate change, pursuing the protection of the ecosystem.

According to the letter, the board had repeatedly tried but failed to secure a meeting with Zinke.

[Our] requests to engage have been ignored and the matters on which we wanted to brief the new Department team are clearly not part of the agenda, the letter states.

Knowles, who has served on the board for seven years, said the board is supposed to meet twice a year but was told things were suspended. Prior administrations met with the board immediately, he noted.

This discourteous and disrespectful treatment of the Board is inexcusable and, unfortunately, consistent with a decidedly anti-park pattern demonstrated by Secretary Zinkes department. Phil Francis, chairman of the Coalition to Protect Americas National Parks, an advocacy group of current and former national park employees, told the Times.

As for the remaining board members, the Washington Post reported:

The three board members who did not resign include Harvard University public finance professor Linda Bilmes, University of Maryland marine science professor Rita Colwell and Carolyn Hessler Radelet, the chief executive of Project Concern International. Terms for the first two end in May, while Radelets term does not expire until 2021.

In an email, Bilmes said she did not resign her post because she is conducting research with other colleagues funded by the National Park Foundation, and wanted to complete her project.

Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, who is the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, offered her support of the board members who quit.

The President still hasnt nominated a director for the National Park Service and Secretary Zinke has proposed tripling entrance fees at our most popular national parks, she said in a statement. His disregard of the advisory board is just another example of why he has earned an F in stewardship.
Energy Transfer Partners troubled $4.2 billion Rover pipeline has spilled nearly 150,000 gallons of drilling fluid into wetlands near the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, Ohiothe same site where it released 2 million gallons in April.

The 713-mile pipeline, which will carry fracked gas across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan and Canada, is currently under construction by the same Dallas-based company that built the controversial Dakota Access pipeline.

Horizontal directional drilling work to lay the pipe beneath highways and rivers was temporarily halted in the wake of the major April spill, but work was allowed to resume in December. Energy Transfer Partners said it is continuing to follow a plan approved by the federal government and the state EPA, WOSU reported.

According to Kallanish Energy, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency inspected the horizontal directional drilling site on Jan. 10 and reported 146,000 gallons of drilling fluids lost down the hole, referring to the pilot hole installation under the Tuscarawas River. Three attempts to seal the hole have failed, the state agency said. No inadvertent returns have been detected.

The Rover Pipeline spilled another 150,000 gallons of drilling fluid into Ohio's wetlands, in the same spot where it leaked 2 million gallons last April. https://t.co/BfGivaRbur  WOSU News (@wosunews) January 17, 2018

Energy Transfer Partners is currently flying drones around the site to monitor the situation.

The Ohio EPA said it intends to closely monitor this situation if loss of returns continues and pledged to work directly with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on the next course of action.

In September, Energy Transfer Partners was fined $2.3 million for numerous water and air pollution violations across Ohio. Over the last two years, the Rover pipeline has racked up more noncompliance incidents than any other interstate gas pipeline.
Ed-tech company Clever has made its way into 60,000 U.S. schools by keeping things simple, offering free solutions to often-mundane problems, and mostly managing to avoid controversy.

Now, though, the six-year old San Francisco-based company is pushing against those guardrails, launching a new service that takes aim at one of the most vexing technology challenges schools face: keeping track of how students are using all the technology in their classrooms.

The idea of Clever Goals, CEO Tyler Bosmeny said in an interview, is to give overwhelmed teachers and administrators a single dashboard where they can quickly get a snapshot of every students activity on a wide range of learning programs and applications.

Educators around the country have told us theyve never had more data to work with, but that its never been more difficult to access and understand, Bosmeny said. Our aim is to help them make sense of the data they already have, in a way thats safe, easy, and smart.

Experts in the K-12 and ed-tech arenas say theres a glaring need for such a service. Many districts have invested considerable money in technology, but remain unable to answer basic questions about whether the tools theyve purchased are being properly utilized, if theyre improving student learning, and whether taxpayer dollars might be better spent elsewhere.

It remains to be seen, though, whether Clever Goals can make a dent in those problems. This will be the first time the company is asking schools to pay directly for one of its services. Other companies have offered analogous solutions, but none have yet taken widespread root. And the most high-profile effort to date to use data to better connect schools and vendors, a Gates Foundation-funded nonprofit known as inBloom, crashed and burned after fierce backlash from parents and privacy advocates. (Education Week receives financial support from the Gates Foundation for coverage of continuous improvement strategies in education. Education Week retains sole editorial control.)

Given the stakes, and given Clevers track record to date, this new effort will be important to watch, said Jennifer Carolan, a partner at Reach Capital, a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm that is not invested in Clever.

There is a huge need, Carolan said. And Clever is in a unique position to offer this product because they have such a large footprint.

Addressing Aggravating Challenges

Clever initially made its mark in K-12 by helping schools solve a banal but aggravating challenge: getting class rosters and student accounts set up correctly in ed-tech programs and apps. Half of U.S. K-12 schools now use that service, Bosmeny said.

In 2014, the company also began offering a single sign-on service that makes it easier for students to log in to roughly 300 different programs and apps.

Now, after an extensive pilot involving 20 school districts and 30 third-party vendor partners, Clever is launching Goals.

Nikolaus Namba, the director of 21st century learning at one of those partners, Californias 4,200-student Lindsay Unified schools, described the challenge his district hopes the new product might help address.

Lindsay Unified currently makes district-wide use of five online learning programs, Namba said. For years, principals and teachers who wanted to see how students were using those tools have had to spend hours logging in to each program, downloading data from each, and manually merging the results.

As a result of that tedious process, he said, its hard to know whos doing what, hard to know the quality of the data youre getting out [of the different systems], and you cant ever keep up.

With Clever Goals, though, Lindsay Unified educators and administrators can now quickly access a snapshot showing how many minutes each student spent on each of those five programs, Namba said. For each program, theres also an indicator of student progress on a specific learning activityfor example, how many texts each child has read in an application called Reading Plus.

Teachers can also set usage and progress targets for individual students, and they can see on their dashboard how students are progressing towards those goals.

The service will initially work with the 30 vendor partners Clever has already lined up, including the developers of such widely used digital and online tools as Lexia, Newsela, and ST Math. Clever hopes that dozens of other companies with whom it already partners for its other services will soon take part in Goals, also.

Why are such functionalities significant?

One of the biggest problems in education technology, said Hal Friedlander, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Technology for Education Consortium , is that many schools end up using digital and online learning tools for far less time, and far less strategically, than the companies behind the tools say is necessary for students to actually learn.

The result has been an increasingly fraught debate over whether ed tech is failing, or whether its just being implemented incorrectly.

If an app says it requires two hours a week, and kids are only getting 20 minutes, its hard to say the app doesnt work, Friedlander said. It sort of pulls the rug out from under everybody.

Competitor Critiques Strategy

Still, there are many questions about how big a difference Clevers new dashboard might actually make for most schools.

Clever competitor BrightBytes, for example, offers an analogous service that is currently used in about 2,800 districts across 47 states. In an email, BrightBytes Chief Revenue Officer Ken Goldstein said the limited data Clever will offer through Goalsusage data, plus a single progress metric per programare just one piece of the puzzle.

In order to really understand the impact of ed tech, Goldstein argued, educators also need data on how technology usage affects academic achievement, how that relates to the amount that was invested in the technology, and even how students perceive the tools being used in their classrooms.

Our approach is about creating a more complete picture, he said.

On the flip side, Paige Kowalski, a prominent proponent of effective data use in schools, worries that many educators will require extensive training before they can make effective use of even the comparatively limited data Clever offers.

Teachers need help understanding what they can do with this information once they have access to it, said Kowalski, the executive vice president of the nonprofit Data Quality Campaign . If theres not a conversation about how to make change in the classroom to help students, this is all for naught.

Indeed, for all its excitement about Clever Goals, even Lindsay Unifieds experience piloting the product highlights some of its potential limitations.

As a national leader in the personalized-learning movement, Lindsay Unified has two things many more-typical districts lack: an extensive, thoughtful process for vetting the research behind any new software or app before it can be used in the classroom, and a culture in which administrators and teachers regularly use student data to drive classroom decisions.

As a result, Namba said, Clever Goals has been overwhelmingly beneficial in terms of giving us additional data points to see whether were sticking to the tools weve committed to and done research on, but we dont use it to tell us which programs are effective or not effective.

That would be oversimplified, he said.

Impact Yet to Be Seen

For his part, Clever CEO Bosmeny acknowledges that his company is trying to thread multiple needles with its new product.

He hopes Goals will ultimately help the field gain a clearer picture of the impact that various ed-tech tools can havebut downplayed the idea that Clever will help determine which products are effective and which are not.

Bosmeny also said he believes everyone can benefit from Goalsbut acknowledged that some districts will inevitably be better than others at using the product to make decisions about buying and deploying technology.

And as Clever positions itself as an intermediary that controls an expanding universe of student data, some districts and parents are likely to have big questions about privacy and security protections.

Its one thing to collect a little bit of data from each app, but as you push all that information together, you can build pretty complete profiles of individual students, said Friedlander of the Technology for Education Consortium. Clever is going to get asked questions about that by any reasonably sized district.

When asked how much data is the right amount for a third-party intermediary to collect, store, and feed back to schools, Bosmeny trod carefully.

Since its early days, Clever has shied away from the kind of extensive data collection that other efforts have embraced. Bosmeny touted his companys privacy policy and terms of service, and he said that the trust Clever has built up with districts should help allay privacy-related fears . In addition, he said, the company will still refrain from collecting the types of student behavior or discipline records that were to be part of inBloom, or the types of open-ended clickstream data that some ed-tech companies seek to use.

At the same time, though, Bosmeny acknowledged that tracking how much time students spend using technology can only tell schools so muchand carries some risks of its own.

Using technology should never be seen as a goal in and of itself, he said.

But on the district side and the vendor side, everyone in education is hoping to see more consistent implementation and utilization of ed-tech products, Bosmeny said. We think we have a role to play in that.
Editors note: The state scores and grades referenced in this article have since been updated to reflect the most current results from federal reading and math tests. This article does not represent the latest scores and grades given states in Quality Counts 2018, which are available here .

States that rank high on Quality Counts annual report cardincluding this years top fivetypically share common strengths when it comes to supporting their education systems. They may enjoy good economic climates, for example, or built-in advantages like a large proportion of parents with strong educational backgrounds.

But while factors like a states underlying economy or family demographics are important, some high-performing states also make the most of strategies that can prove useful to policymakers elsewhere, no matter what cards theyre originally dealt. And even the high-performers can face daunting challenges in sustaining the factors that put them in the front of the pack.

Here are examples from the current playbooks of some top performers, some of them long-standing policies, others still taking place. Also noted: caution lights in a few tricky policy areas.

Robust Economic Environments

Parents in top-performing states tend to earn more and have stable sources of income. Such families move less frequently throughout the school year, spend more on in- and out-of-school academic support, and own plenty more political capital to demand change.

Despite all that, there are still pitched battles in leading states over how to best use states wealth to more efficiently spend dwindling dollars and close achievement gaps between wealthier and poorer students.

Vermonts $21,000 adjusted per-student average spending, one of the highest in the nation, is partly a result of small class sizes and an expansive voucher program that pays for its students to attend expensive private schools in surrounding states.

Amid a crushing budget deficit and rapidly aging population, the state last year started forcing its hundreds of districts to consolidate.

Connecticut, one of the wealthiest states in the nation, has attempted to close its achievement gap by racially and socioeconomically integrating its schools.

But Connecticuts efforts came under attack last year by a state judge whose ruling described the states school funding formula as confusing and inconsistent; its standards as inadequate; and its teacher-evaluation system as ineffective. The states supreme court is expected to rule in the case soon.

High K-12 Test Scores, Graduation Rates

Quality Counts weights academic achievement more heavily than any other factor. States with high NAEP reading and math scores tend to have high teacher-quality and learning standards, a strong and consistent accountability system, and aggressive and effective school turnaround models that garner plenty of public support.

Massachusetts, which has topped the Quality Counts list for the last four years, has displayed many of these qualities ever since the state passed in 1993 its Massachusetts Education Reform Act. The act sparked a series of reforms in the state including establishing a more equitable funding formula, holding schools accountable for academic achievement, and establishing statewide learning standards.

In recent years, the state also has been lauded for its school improvement strategies, which incorporate both state and local input, and for its stable leadership. Its most recent state commissioner, Mitchell Chester, died last year after almost a decade in office, five times the tenure of the average state chief. The state is currently searching for his replacement.

Relatively High Spending on Schools

High-ranking states tend to spend more money on their students, but dont always spread their K-12 money more equitably among all their schools. Wyoming, by contrast, has long been lauded for its complicated funding formula that in years past has redistributed the states vast coal and oil wealth to its poorest school districts. That system was designed after the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1995 deemed the states funding formula inequitable and unconstitutional.

But that funding formula is now under political threat because of economic pressures from the crash in coal and oil revenues.

The states political leaders have told school leaders and its state courts that the funding formula must be dismantled and that school funding will have to be dramatically reduced. This year Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, is proposing that the state cut $66 million out of its $1.8 billion in school spending. A state-hired consulting firm recently recommended to the states legislature that it avoid cuts hitting English-language learners and at-risk students.

Strong Foundations in Early Childhood

The top-scoring states tend to have parents with high levels of education, and some also have made swift and long-lasting policy shifts to provide even the poorest of their population access to high-quality preschool programs.

In December, for example, a statewide early-education blue-ribbon committee in New York, ninth on the list, proposed that the legislature set aside $2 million to establish five Early Learning Regional Technical Assistance Centers to train educators how to provide mental health services and the best educational settings for the states neediest children, and $700,000 to screen for learning disabilities before they enter kindergarten.

And New Hampshire provides literacy screenings of its earliest learners and offers free pre-K summer camp to those who score in the 49th percentile.

Widespread Postsecondary Participation

Leading states tend to get large portions of their student body into and through college.

In eight-ranked Pennsylvania, where close to 66 percent of the high school graduates went on to pursue a postsecondary education, the state education department set up as part of its standards review process in 2015 a robust K-12 curriculum for college and career planning. Last year, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, signed into law a bill that allows students who earn credentials through one of the states many career and technical education programs, to opt out of the states high school exit exam.

In Minnesota, which ranks tenth, the legislature required that starting in 2013 all 9th graders create a personal learning plan that includes academic scheduling and career and college access exploration.
Editors note: The state scores and grades referenced in this article have since been updated to reflect the most current results from federal reading and math tests. This article does not represent the latest scores and grades given states in Quality Counts 2018, which are available here .

As a new presidential administration nears the close of its first year in office and educators across the country grapple with the challenges and opportunities in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the nations educational performance earns a grade of C from Quality Counts 2018 , the 22nd annual report card issued by the Education Week Research Center.

The nations score of 74.5 is about the same as last year, when it posted a 74.2, also a C gradecontinuing years of flat performance noted in the annual report, which weighs a host of academic, fiscal, and socioeconomic factors.

Looking deeper, this years score reflects a mix of strengths and weaknesses, along with substantial disparities between high- and low-performing states. Nationally, high school graduation and postsecondary participation rates are up. But schools continue to struggle with wide achievement and funding gaps.

Massachusetts finishes first in the nation for the fourth straight year, with a B-plus and a score of 86.8. Four states with grades of B are its closest competitors: New Jersey (85.9), Vermont (84.1), New Hampshire (83.7), and Connecticut (83.0).

At the other end of the spectrum, Nevada receives the nations lowest score (65.0), a D. New Mexico also gets a D, with a score of 66.2.

Pacesetters and Standouts

The grades for the nation and the states in Quality Counts are based on results across 39 distinct indicators capturing the overall environment contributing to a young persons success, school funding, and student achievement.

The overall A-F letter grades reflect the average of numerical scores on a traditional 100-point scale for three custom indices developed by the Research Center:

The Chance-for-Success Index uses a cradle-to-career perspective to examine the role of education in promoting positive outcomes throughout an individuals lifetime.

The school finance analysis evaluates spending on education and equity in funding across districts within a state.

The K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in 2016, scores states on current academic performance, change over time, and poverty-based gaps.

For the 11th year in a row, the nation earns a C-plus on the Chance-for-Success Index. Perennial stalwarts, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, lead the pack in this category with grades of A-minus and scores of 91.7 and 90.7, respectively. New Mexico (67.0) and Nevada (67.8) score lowest with D-plus grades.

As it has for nearly a decade, the nation receives a C for school finance, but its numeric score inched up by a half point since last year. Wyoming, consistently a star in this category, is again at the top of the rankings and finishes with the only A-minus (91.4). Idaho ranks last with a score of 59.7 and a D-minus. The finance indicators in Quality Counts 2018 are based on data from 2015, the most recent available from the federal government.

Read our second installment of Quality Counts:

School Finance Report & Rankings :

See how much gets spent state by state, and how fairly its divvied up.

Results for the K-12 Achievement Index, which make up one-third of this years overall grade, rely largely on National Assessment of Educational Progress scores. Because of a delay in the release of new NAEP scores, results for the index remain unchanged from Quality Counts 2016. High school graduation rates and Advanced Placement exam scores make up additional components of the analysis.

The nation earned a C-minus for K-12 Achievement, with a score of 71.0. Massachusetts (85.2) posted the highest score, receiving the sole B. Mississippi (60.0) and New Mexico (61.8) finished with the nations lowest marks at D-minus.

A Closer Look at State Performance

In 1997, the editors of the first Quality Counts wrote that the state report card was being published to help Americans hold their representativesand themselvesaccountable for the quality of their public schools. If anything has become even more clear in recent years, its that the onus for driving student achievement will be on state-level policymakers. Since the new latitude that ESSA gives state leaders to develop customized accountability systems could either help to narrow disparities across states or widen them, monitoring state performance remains critical.

This years Quality Counts results indicate that many states fare well in some areas, but struggle in others. The majority of states (31) post mediocre grades between C-minus and C-plus, in line with the nation as a whole.

The states with the best overall grades typically perform well across many of the metrics, but especially on indicators related to educational foundations in early childhood. Those factors help children get off to a good start and to enter the pre-K-12 system ready to learn. For instance, the overall top-scoring states, Massachusetts and New Jersey, rank in the top 10 for parent education.

Research suggests that children facing fewer risk factors, such as living in poverty, are more likely to succeed academically. States with the top overall grades generally have higher family income levels and are often nestled in more affluent and prosperous regions of the country, most commonly the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. New Hampshire and Massachusetts, for example, rank first and second in family income.

The school finance analysis examines education spending and equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state. The states with the highest overall grades on the report card tend to have relatively high spendingbut they dont always rank near the top in equity. The Quality Counts analysis finds wide disparities in funding across districts in some generally high-performing states. Vermont, for example, is second for spending and 48th for equity. Still, per-pupil expenditures and other spending metrics demonstrate that these states devote substantial resources to education.

While early foundations in childhood and income-related metrics play a role in the grading, academic indicators make up the largest component. Leading states tend to fare well with respect to NAEP reading and math scores, along with high school graduation rates. Massachusetts and New Hampshireboth in the top five states overall in Quality Countslead the nation in 4th grade reading on NAEP.

Postsecondary education can open doors allowing young people to access career opportunities and states to enhance their economic competitiveness. Moving students into postsecondary pathways is a critical goal of K-12 education systems. Leading states are often near the top of rankings for postsecondary participation. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York all rank in the top 10 states this year and were among the top five for postsecondary participation.

In states that struggle in the grading, schools and students often face stumbling blocks in early-childhood education, higher poverty, lower academic achievement, and reduced opportunities for postsecondary schooling. These states also often have lower spending on K-12 schools.

Progress in a Handful of States

Four statesCalifornia, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oregonsaw gains of a point or more in their overall grades between 2017 and 2018, a small but meaningful increase in the context of this years report.

Californias overall grade improved the most of any state (1.3 points). The jump in its overall score was largely driven by a gain in the school finance category, specifically gains in per-pupil spending (as adjusted for regional cost differences) and the percent of students in districts spending at or above the U.S. average.

Mississippi boosted its results across a range of metrics, including family income, preschool enrollment, and high school graduation. By contrast, North Dakota lost some ground on family income and preschool enrollment but gained substantially in school finance. Oregon made strides in postsecondary participation and annual income, among other areas.

It might take a crystal ball to accurately forecast the precise mix of conditions and programs that each state would seek to promote changes. But education policies and shifting economic outcomes can influence results on the scorecard. As the editors of the first Quality Counts wrote more than two decades agowhen the nation also received a grade of C overallpublic education systems in the 50 states cannot be transformed quickly, but they can be significantly improved.
Ive now been doing the Education Week RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings for about a decade, striving to recognize scholars who do academically significant research while also contributing to the public square. After all, Ive long argued that on an issue like education, our impassioned public debates benefit when scholars take the time to engage. Of course, encouraging this kind of activity always runs the risk of introducing perverse incentives.

As Ive written each year for most of the past decade, I have addressed two common questions while unveiling the rankings: Can somebody game this rubric? And are you concerned that this exercise will encourage academics to chase publicity?

In years past, Ive dismissed these worries, noting that if scholars were motivated to write more relevant articles, pen more popular books, or communicate more accessibly, that would be great. And, while theres obviously a point where communication turns into sleazy self-promotion, most academics were so far from that point that I wasnt unduly concerned.

Commentary Collection In this special collection of Commentary essays, Frederick M. Hess and four education scholars discuss the pros and cons for academics who want to wade into public debate. Read more from the collection.

However, I make no such assurances in my discussion of the rankings scoring rubric this year. To tell you the truth, Im no longer confident on this count. Mind you, I havent decided that the exercise is counterproductive (if I had, Id have stopped doing it), but I am wrestling with second thoughts.

I still want scholars to contribute to public debates on education and offer their insight, analysis, and perspective. Scholars have the training, independence, and opportunity to master bodies of knowledge. To delve deeply into data. To scrutinize programs and practices. To challenge popular assumptions and empty slogans. All this is especially true when it comes to a field as public and democratic as educationwhere I believe that responsible scholars accept a professional obligation to share the fruits of their labors.

At the same time, we inhabit a hyperpolarized era of ubiquitous hot takes. Public debate is dominated by 24/7 social media and short-lived feeding frenzies. In such a world, scholars can be tempted to settle into the attention-getting habits of a media-saturated culture, offering up easy talking points and pat answers. Outlets like cable news, Twitter, and Facebook reward hashtag tirades and fuel a desire for dopamine-inducing retweets, likes, and clicks.

Meanwhile, there seems to be emerging a new consensus that the usual rules no longer applyeither for President Donald Trumps enthusiasts or for the resistance that opposes him. (Of course, few academics are aligned with Trump, so this is, in practice, a one-sided show.)

Its become remarkably easy for those entering public discussions to fall into the rhythms of rote partisanshipwhich undermines the whole point of asking scholars to engage in public debate in the first place.

Take Twitter, for example. The Twitter-sphere has become a popular outlet for education scholars to share their work. Nearly two-thirds of this years 200 RHSU Edu-Scholars have an account, a sea change from a few years back. This can be a fine thing; indeed, I include scholars Klout scorea measurement of an individuals social-media influenceas one metric of influence. But, not infrequently, what academics offer on the platform reads more like the ravings of unprofessional ideologues or our emotionally stunted president than like the insights of the scholarly mind.

Things get even thornier when we combine all of this with the ever-expanding universe of advocacy groups, education-specific media, think tanks, and foundationsall of whom are busily seeking out mission aligned scholars they can channel and promote.

Meanwhile, more than a few universities are investing in expanded public relations operations, new-media facilities, and the like. This has all yielded growing opportunities for scholars who are regarded as useful (by one side or another) to be celebrated for taking sides in debates over school choice, student discipline, college costs, and more.

Whats going on, I think, is the product of evolving professional incentives. Funders focused on evidence of impact are increasingly looking to metrics like media hits. Meanwhile, as the world keeps moving online and old outlets decline in importance, algorithms and web traffic carry more weight. This means that some conventional forms of scholarly engagement which fail to generate excitement or clickssuch as serving as a voice of caution and experienceare less and less appreciated. Meanwhile, attention-getting activitiessuch as offering cable-newsworthy hot takes, catering to popular enthusiasms, and devising politically appealing agendasglean larger and larger rewards.

This has all colored my thinking about just what publicly engaged scholarship does and what it should mean.

Put plainly, I worry about when publicly engaged scholars cease to be ambassadors of reasoned discourseand begin to import the excesses of 21st-century, hyperbolic bombast into the academy. In universities that already strike me as too often politicized, ideological, and given to self-regarding posturing, this can snowball in a hurry.

After all, Ive always thought the biggest contribution of scholars is not this analysis or that study, but their ability to challenge assumptions and push public debates beyond predictable party lines. Public scholarship can and should force us to wrestle more deeply with how discipline reform, social-emotional learning, or free college actually works in the real worldand not just in theory. Yet that kind of work (to the extent it even gets pursued in the first place) constitutes only a sliver of what enters the public debate. What crosses over instead seems to be the simpler, one-dimensional declarations about what works and about who is morally right.

So, heres where I come out: I dont want less scholarly engagement, but I do want scholarly engagement that strives to enrich public deliberation. For what its worth, here are six questions I ask in trying to determine if a scholar is clearing that bar:

1) Are scholars deliberate in describing what we actually know, clear about the limits of the data theyre discussing, and transparent when shifting from analysis from advocacy?

2) Do scholars make an attempt to model respectful, reasoned debate, avoid ad hominem invective, and acknowledge that most big educational questions offer plenty of room for good-faith disagreement?

3) When championing programs, policies, or practices, are scholars attentive to how they will play out in the real worldand not just in white papers and flashy PowerPoints?

4) Do scholars complicate partisan narratives by evincing an awareness of past missteps, possible perverse incentives, budget constraints, and other factors that will determine how well-meaning ideas actually play out?

5) If scholars op-eds, radio appearances, or television interviews were used in a classroom, would they come across as educational resources or as exercises in partisanship?

6) In using social media, are scholars snide, uncivil, and dismissive, or are they modeling the behavior wed hope to see from professional educators?

Scholarly engagement is a complex beast. Its always a mix of the good and the bad. But taking care to set and responsibly police norms can go a long way toward helping us distinguish between the twoand perhaps encourage scholars to stay on the right side of that line.
24-month clinical trial shows no negative health impact on smokers who used vaping products, and no increase in body weight

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 17th January 2018 - A new peer-reviewed clinical trial to be published in the February edition of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology shows that regular use of e-cigarettes does not have any negative health impact on smokers.

The study, "Evaluation of the Safety Profile of an Electronic Vapour Product Used for Two Years by Smokers in a Real-life Setting", examined 209 volunteer smokers who used a typical closed-system e-cigarette for 24 months while researchers monitored for adverse events, as well as lung function, electrocardiogram results, and exposure to nicotine and tobacco constituents.

"This study shows that after two years of continual e-cigarette use, there were no signs of serious health complications in smokers." said Tanvir Walele, Director of Scientific Affairs at Fontem Ventures, the owner of e-cigarette brand blu.

During the trial, no serious safety concerns were recorded among the participants and no clinically relevant findings were observed in all other medically-defined safety criteria. Further, the use of the vaping products was associated with a reduction in nicotine withdrawal symptoms, reduced exposure to cigarette smoke constituents, and no increase in body weight.

"Clinical data over a two-year period gives us a much clearer picture about longer term vaping, and the potential implications for the health of smokers, so they can make an informed decision." said Walele.

A recently updated Cochrane Review1, whilst acknowledging the small number of published clinical studies currently available, reached a similar conclusion to this study: that e-cigarettes with nicotine can help smokers to reduce or replace smoking with no increased health risks associated with short- to mid-term (up to two years) use.

"Governments and policy-makers should ensure that regulatory frameworks reflect this emerging scientific consensus, as more long term research demonstrates the safety profile of e-cigarettes," said Walele. "This research suggests we need e-cigarette regulation that is not modelled on tobacco product regulation, but encourages innovation and compliance with robust product quality, manufacturing and safety standards."

###

1 http://www.cochrane.org/CD010216/TOBACCO_can-electronic-cigarettes-help-people-stop-smoking-and-are-they-safe-use-purpose

Abstract

The safety profile of Puritane, a closed system electronic vapour product (EVP), was evaluated when used by smokers of conventional cigarettes (CCs) for 24 months in a real-life setting.

The study was a two-centre ambulatory clinical study with 209 healthy volunteers. Outcome measures included adverse events (AEs), vital signs, electrocardiogram, lung function tests, exposure to nicotine and selected smoke constituents, nicotine withdrawal effects and smoking desire.

No serious AEs related to EVP use were observed. The most frequently reported AEs were headache, nasopharyngitis, sore throat and cough, reported by 28.7%, 28.7%, 19.6% and 16.7% of subjects, respectively, which dissipated over time. Small decreases in lung function were not considered clinically relevant. No clinically relevant findings were observed in the other safety parameters. From Month 2, nicotine withdrawal symptoms decreased. Smoking desire and CC consumption steadily decreased over time in all subjects. EVP use was associated with reduced exposure to cigarette smoke constituents, whereas urinary nicotine levels remained close to baseline. Body weight did not increase in CC subjects switching to the EVP.

In conclusion, the aerosol of the EVP at study was well tolerated and not associated with any clinically relevant health concerns after usage for up to 24 months.

About Fontem Ventures

Fontem Ventures, a division of Imperial Brands PLC, is the owner of the blu e-cigarette brand. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and with a Research & Development centre in Liverpool, UK, Fontem Ventures' purpose is to drive electronic vaping technology forward, and deliver something better to smokers and vapers around the world.
Older adults are more likely than younger adults to develop critical illnesses that require hospitalization and intensive care. These illnesses include severe pneumonia and other serious respiratory conditions, congestive heart failure), heart attacks, and sepsis (a life-threatening complication from bacterial infections).

Until now, the role of strength before hospitalization has not been well-studied. Strength's effects on how well older adults do following an intensive care unit (ICU) stay also have not been well-studied. To fill this knowledge gap, a research team created a study. The study wasto learn how older adults' strength before they became ill affected how long they stayed in the hospital after being admitted to an ICU. They also learned whether or not the older adults died while in the hospital or within a year after discharge. Their study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The researchers enrolled 575 people who had been admitted to the ICU one or more times. Participants were between the ages of 70 and 79 and lived in Memphis, TN, and Pittsburgh, PA, between March 1997 and July 1998. The participants had taken strength tests within two years before their admission to the ICU. Tests included walking 20 meters (about 64 feet), completing repeated chair stands, and assessing balance and grip strength.

The researchers learned that:

Participants with the slowest walk speeds had an 80 percent higher risk of dying within 30 days of their ICU admission. They had twice the risk of dying within one year of their ICU admission, compared to participants with the fastest walk speeds.

Participants with the poorest balance had a 77 percent higher risk of dying within 30 days of their hospital admission compared to participants with the fastest walk speeds.

Participants whose balance was rated as "moderate" had a 52 percent higher chance of dying within 30 days of their ICU admission.

What's more, the researchers found that older adults who were weaker had longer hospital stays.

The researchers also noted that slower pre-hospital walk speed in particular was very strongly linked both to death and longer hospital stays.

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This summary is from "The Influence of Pre-hospital Function and Strength on Outcomes of Older Critically Ill Adults". It appears online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study authors are D. Clark Files, MD; Rebecca Neiberg, MS; Julia Rushing, MStat; Peter E. Morris, MD; Michael P. Young, MD; Hilsa Ayonayon, PhD; Tamara Harris, MD; Anne Newman, MD, MPH; Susan Rubin, MD; Eric Shiroma, MEd; Denise Houston, PhD; Michael E. Miller, PhD; and Stephen B. Kritchevsky, PhD.

About the Health in Aging Foundation

This research summary was developed as a public education tool by the Health in Aging Foundation. The Foundation is a national non-profit established in 1999 by the American Geriatrics Society to bring the knowledge and expertise of geriatrics healthcare professionals to the public. We are committed to ensuring that people are empowered to advocate for high-quality care by providing them with trustworthy information and reliable resources. Last year, we reached nearly 1 million people with our resources through HealthinAging.org. We also help nurture current and future geriatrics leaders by supporting opportunities to attend educational events and increase exposure to principles of excellence on caring for older adults. For more information or to support the Foundation's work, visit http://www.HealthinAgingFoundation.org.

About the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Included in more than 9,000 library collections around the world, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) highlights emerging insights on principles of aging, approaches to older patients, geriatric syndromes, geriatric psychiatry, and geriatric diseases and disorders. First published in 1953, JAGS is now one of the oldest and most impactful publications on gerontology and geriatrics, according to ISI Journal Citation Reports. Visit wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/JGS for more details.

About the American Geriatrics Society

Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has--for 75 years--worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org.
ITHACA, N.Y. - Using the now-complete Cassini data set, Cornell University astronomers have created a new global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan that has opened new windows into understanding its liquid flows and terrain. Two papers, recently published in Geophysical Review Letters, describe the map and discoveries arising from it.

Creating the map took about a year, according to doctoral student Paul Corlies, first author on "Titan's Topography and Shape at the End of the Cassini Mission." The map combines all of the Titan topography data from multiple sources. Since only about 9 percent of Titan has been observed in relatively high-resolution topography, with 25-30 percent of the topography imaged in lower resolution, the remainder of the moon was mapped using an interpolation algorithm and a global minimization process, which reduced errors such as those arising from spacecraft location.

The map revealed several new features on Titan, including new mountains, none higher than 700 meters. The map also provides a global view of the highs and lows of Titan's topography, which enabled the scientists to confirm that two locations in the equatorial region of Titan are in fact depressions that could be either ancient, dried seas or cryovolcanic flows.

The map also revealed that Titan is a little bit flatter - more oblate - than was previously known, which suggests there is more variability in the thickness of Titan's crust than previously thought.

"The main point of the work was to create a map for use by the scientific community," said Corlies; within 30 minutes of the data set being available online, he began to receive inquiries on how to use it. The data set is downloadable in the form of the data that was observed, as well as that data plus interpolated data that was not observed. The map will be important for those modeling Titan's climate, studying Titan's shape and gravity, and testing interior models, as well as for those seeking to understand morphologic land forms on Titan.

Other Cornell authors on the paper are senior author Alex Hayes, assistant professor of astronomy, doctoral candidate Samuel Birch and research associate Valerio Poggiali.

The second paper, "Topographic Constraints on the Evolution and Connectivity of Titan's Lacustrine Basins," finds three important results using the new map's topographical data.

The first result is that Titan's three seas share a common equipotential surface, meaning they form a sea level, just as Earth's oceans do. Either because there's flow through the subsurface between the seas or because the channels between them allow enough liquid to pass through, the oceans on Titan are all at the same elevation.

"We're measuring the elevation of a liquid surface on another body 10 astronomical units away from the sun to an accuracy of roughly 40 centimeters. Because we have such amazing accuracy we were able to see that between these two seas the elevation varied smoothly about 11 meters, relative to the center of mass of Titan, consistent with the expected change in the gravitational potential. We are measuring Titan's geoid. This is the shape that the surface would take under the influence of gravity and rotation alone, which is the same shape that dominates Earth's oceans," said Hayes.

The paper's second result proves a hypothesis that Hayes advanced in his first paper, in graduate school: that Titan's lakes communicate with each other through the subsurface. Hayes and his team measured the elevation of lakes filled with liquid as well as those that are now dry, and found that lakes exist hundreds of meters above sea level, and that within a watershed, the floors of the empty lakes are all at higher elevations than the filled lakes in their vicinity.

"We don't see any empty lakes that are below the local filled lakes because, if they did go below that level, they would be filled themselves. This suggests that there's flow in the subsurface and that they are communicating with each other," said Hayes. "It's also telling us that there is liquid hydrocarbon stored on the subsurface of Titan."

The paper's final result raises a new mystery for Titan. Researchers found that the vast majority of Titan's lakes sit in sharp-edged depressions that "literally look like you took a cookie cutter and cut out holes in Titan's surface," Hayes said. The lakes are surrounded by high ridges, hundreds of meters high in some places.

The lakes seem to be formed the way karst is on Earth, in places like the Florida Everglades, where underlying material dissolves and the surface collapses, forming holes in the ground. The lakes on Titan, like Earth's karst, are topographically closed, with no inflow or outflow channels. But Earth karst does not have sharp, raised rims.

The shape of the lakes indicates a process called uniform scarp retreat, where the borders of the lakes are expanding by a constant amount each time. The largest lake in the south, for example, looks like a series of smaller empty lakes that have coalesced or conglomerated into one big feature.

"But if these things do grow outward, does that mean you're destroying and recreating the rims all the time and that the rims are moving outward with it? Understanding these things is in my opinion the lynchpin to understanding the evolution of the polar basins on Titan," said Hayes.

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The research was supported by grants from NASA and the Italian Space Agency.
Astronomers using ESO's MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered a star in the cluster NGC 3201 that is behaving very strangely. It appears to be orbiting an invisible black hole with about four times the mass of the Sun -- the first such inactive stellar-mass black hole found in a globular cluster and the first found by directly detecting its gravitational pull. This important discovery impacts on our understanding of the formation of these star clusters, black holes, and the origins of gravitational wave events.

Globular star clusters are huge spheres of tens of thousands of stars that orbit most galaxies. They are among the oldest known stellar systems in the Universe and date back to near the beginning of galaxy growth and evolution. More than 150 are currently known to belong to the Milky Way.

One particular cluster, called NGC 3201and situated in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails), has now been studied using the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile. An international team of astronomers has found that one of the stars [1] in NGC 3201 is behaving very oddly -- it is being flung backwards and forwards at speeds of several hundred thousand kilometres per hour, with the pattern repeating every 167 days [2].

Lead author Benjamin Giesers (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen - http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/1.html, Germany) was intrigued by the star's behaviour: "It was orbiting something that was completely invisible, which had a mass more than four times the Sun -- this could only be a black hole! The first one found in a globular cluster by directly observing its gravitational pull."

The relationship between black holes and globular clusters is an important but mysterious one. Because of their large masses and great ages, these clusters are thought to have produced a large number of stellar-mass black holes -- created as massive stars within them exploded and collapsed over the long lifetime of the cluster [3][4].

ESO's MUSE instrument provides astronomers with a unique ability to measure the motions of thousands of far away stars at the same time. With this new finding, the team have for the first time been able to detect an inactive black hole at the heart of a globular cluster -- one that is not currently swallowing matter and is not surrounded by a glowing disc of gas. They could estimate the black hole's mass through the movements of a star caught up in its enormous gravitational pull [5].

From its observed properties the star was determined to be about 0.8 times the mass of our Sun, and the mass of its mysterious counterpart was calculated at around 4.36 times the Sun's mass -- almost certainly a black hole [6].

Recent detections of radio and X-ray sources in globular clusters, as well as the 2016 detection of gravitational-wave signals produced by the merging of two stellar-mass black holes, suggest that these relatively small black holes may be more common in globular clusters than previously thought.

Giesers concludes: "Until recently, it was assumed that almost all black holes would disappear from globular clusters after a short time and that systems like this should not even exist! But clearly this is not the case -- our discovery is the first direct detection of the gravitational effects of a stellar-mass black hole in a globular cluster. This finding helps in understanding the formation of globular clusters and the evolution of black holes and binary systems -- vital in the context of understanding gravitational wave sources."

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Notes

[1] The star found is a main sequence turn-off star, meaning it is at the end of the main sequence phase of its life. Having exhausted its primary hydrogen fuel supply it is now on the way to becoming a red giant.

[2] A large survey of 25 globular clusters around the Milky Way is currently being conducted using ESO's MUSE instrument with the support of the MUSE consortium. It will provide astronomers with the spectra of 600 to 27 000 stars in each cluster. The study includes analysis of the "radial velocity" of individual stars -- the speed at which they move away from and toward the Earth, along the line of sight of the observer. With radial velocity measurements the orbits of stars can be determined, as well as the properties of any massive object they may be orbiting.

[3] In the absence of continuous star formation, as is the case for globular clusters, stellar-mass black holes soon become the most massive objects present. Generally, stellar-mass black holes in globular clusters are about four times as massive as the surrounding low-mass stars. Recent theories have concluded that black holes form a dense nucleus within the cluster, which then becomes detached from the rest of the globular material. Movements at the centre of the cluster are then thought to eject the majority of black holes, meaning only a few would survive after a billion years.

[4] Stellar-mass black holes -- or collapsars -- are formed when massive stars die, collapsing under their own gravity and exploding as powerful hypernovae. Left behind is a black hole with most of the mass of the former star, which can range from a few times the mass of our Sun to several tens of times as massive.

[5] As no light is able to escape black holes because of their tremendous gravity, the primary method of detecting them is through observations of radio or X-ray emissions coming from hot material around them. But when a black hole is not interacting with hot matter and so not accumulating mass or emitting radiation, as in this case, the black hole is "inactive" and invisible, so another method of detection is required.

[6] Because the non-luminous object in this binary system cannot be directly observed there are alternative, although much less persuasive, explanations for what it could be. It is perhaps a triple star system made up of two tightly bound neutron stars, with the observed star orbiting around them. This scenario would require each tightly bound star to be at least twice the mass of our Sun, a binary system that has never been observed before.

More information

This research was presented in a paper entitled "A detached stellar-mass black hole candidate in the globular cluster NGC 3201", by B. Giesers et al., to appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The team is composed of Benjamin Giesers (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany), Stefan Dreizler (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany), Tim-Oliver Husser (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany), Sebastian Kamann (Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen, Germany; Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom), Guillem Anglada Escude (Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom), Jarle Brinchmann (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Porto, Portugal), C. Marcella Carollo (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland) Martin M. Roth (Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany), Peter M. Weilbacher (Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany) and Lutz Wisotzki (Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and by Australia as a strategic partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

Links

Research paper - https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1802/eso1802a.pdf

Information about the MUSE instrument on the VLT - http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/muse/

Photos of the VLT - http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/

Contacts

Benjamin Giesers

Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen

Gottigen, Germany

Email: giesers@astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de

Stefan Dreizler

Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen

Gottigen, Germany

Email: dreizler@astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de

Richard Hook

ESO Public Information Officer

Garching bei Munchen, Germany

Tel: +49 89 3200 6655

Cell: +49 151 1537 3591

Email: rhook@eso.org
In the winter of 2015/16, something happened that had never before been seen on this scale: at the end of December, temperatures rose above zero degrees Celsius for several days in parts of the Arctic. Temperatures of up to eight degrees were registered north of Svalbard. Temperatures this high have not been recorded in the winter half of the year since the beginning of systematic measurements at the end of the 1970s. As a result of this unusual warmth, the sea ice began to melt.

"We heard about this from the media," says Heini Wernli, Professor of Atmospheric Dynamics at ETH Zurich. The news aroused his scientific curiosity, and a team led by his then doctoral student Hanin Binder investigated the issue. In November 2017, they published their analysis of this exceptional event in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

In it, the researchers show how these unusual temperatures arose: three different air currents met over the North Sea between Scotland and southern Norway, carrying warm air northwards at high speed as though on a "highway".

One air current originated in the Sahara and brought near-surface warm air with it. To begin with, temperature of this air was about 20 degrees Celsius. While it cooled off on its way to the Arctic, it was still above zero when it arrived. "It's extremely rare for warm, near-surface subtropical air to be transported as far as the Arctic," says Binder.

The second air current originated in the Arctic itself, a fact that astonished the scientists. To begin with, this air was very cold. However, the air mass - which also lay close to the ground - moved towards the south along a curved path and, while above the Atlantic, was warmed significantly by the heatflux from the ocean before joining the subtropical air current.

The third warm air current started as a cold air mass in the upper troposphere, from an altitude above 5 kilometres. These air masses were carried from west to east and descended in a stationary high-pressure area over Scandinavia. Compression thereby warmed the originally cold air, before it entered the "highway to the Arctic".

Poleward warm air transport

This highway of air currents was made possible by a particular constellation of pressure systems over northern Europe. During the period in question, intense low-pressure systems developed over Iceland while an extremely stable high-pressure area formed over Scandinavia. This created a kind of funnel above the North Sea, between Scotland and southern Norway, which channelled the various air currents and steered them northwards to the Arctic.

This highway lasted approximately a week. The pressure systems then decayed and the Arctic returned to its typical frozen winter state. However, the warm period sufficed to reduce the thickness of the sea ice in parts of the Arctic by 30 centimetres - during a period in which ice usually becomes thicker and more widespread.

"These weather conditions and their effect on the sea ice were really exceptional," says Binder. The researchers were not able to identify a direct link to global warming. "We only carried out an analysis of a single event; we didn't research the long-term climate aspects" emphasises Binder.

High-pressure systems cause sea ice to melt

However, the melting of Arctic sea ice during summer is a different story. The long-term trend is clear: the minimum extent and thickness of the sea ice in late summer has been shrinking continually since the end of the 1970s. Sea ice melted particularly severely in 2007 and 2012 - a fact which climate researchers have thus far been unable to fully explain. Along with Lukas Papritz from the University of Bergen, Wernli investigated the causes of these outliers. Their study has just been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

According to their research, the severe melting in the aforementioned years was caused by stable high-pressure systems that formed repeatedly throughout the summer months. Under these cloud-free weather conditions, the high level of direct sunlight - the sun shines 24 hours a day at this time of year - particularly intensified the melting of the sea ice.

Areas of low pressure "inject" air masses into the Arctic

These high-pressure systems developed through an influx of air from temperate latitudes. Low-pressure systems in the North Atlantic and North Pacific areas, for example, "inject" air masses into the Arctic at a height of about eight kilometres. This raised the height of the tropopause, the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere, in the region of the "injections". As a result, surface air pressure below rose and a high-pressure system was established. While it dissipated again around ten days later, an unusually high amount of sea ice melted in the interim, and the remaining ice thinned.

The climate scientists' investigation demonstrated that in the summers of 2007 and 2012, during which these high-pressure situations occurred particularly frequently, they led to cloud-free conditions every third day. The high level of solar radiation intensified and accelerated the melting of the sea ice. "The level of solar radiation is the main factor in the melting of the ice in summer. Unlike with the winter anomaly, the "injected" air at about 8 kilometre altitude from the south is not warm - with minus 60 degrees it's ice-cold," says Wernli.

"The air temperature therefore has very little effect on the ice." Furthermore, the northward transport of warm, humid air masses at the edge of the high-pressure systems reduces (heat) emission, which further intensifies melting.

Their analysis has allowed the researchers to understand the meteorological processes leading to significant variations in summertime ice melt for the first time. "Our results underline the fundamental role that weather systems in temperate latitudes play in episodes of particularly intense ice melt in the Arctic," says the ETH professor.

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(Jena, Germany) Climate protection and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions have been on top of global development agendas. Accordingly, research and development projects have been conducted on national and international levels, which aim for the improvement of the CO 2 -footprint in diverse processes. Apart from particularly energy-intensive sectors of the industry, the building sector in particular is among the biggest CO 2 -emmitters: from residential homes, manufacturing facilities and storage depots to big commercial buildings, about 40 percent of the energy consumption within the EU are due to the heating, cooling, air conditioning and lighting of buildings.

Considering next-generation smart windows and facade devices, one aspect of this problem is addressed in the research project Large-Area Fluidic Windows (LaWin) which has been coordinated at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany, since 2015. A new type of such smart windows was now presented in the upcoming issue of Advanced Sustainable Systems. In their paper 'Large-Area Smart Window with Tunable Shading and Solar-Thermal Harvesting Ability Based on Remote Switching of a Magneto-Active Liquid' the Jena materials researchers introduce prototypes of a window that changes its light permeability at the touch of a button, and, at the same time, can be used for solar-thermal energy harvesting (DOI: 10.1002/adsu.201700140). The subject will be featured on the title page of the journal.

Liquids in windows and facades

"Our project's key feature is the use of liquids in windows and facades, for example, as heat carriers or to enable additional functions," explains Lothar Wondraczek, the project's coordinator. "To this end we develop new glass materials, into which large-area channel structures are integrated. These are used for circulating functional fluids."

In latest prototypes, the liquid is loaded with the nanoscale magnetic iron particles. These can be extracted from the liquid with the help of a magnet. Vice versa, they can be re-suspended by simply switching-off the magnet. "Depending on the number of the iron particles in the liquid, the liquid itself takes on different shades of grey, or it will even turn completely black," Wondraczek explains. "Then, it becomes possible to automatically adjust the incidence of light, or to harvest solar heat which can then be put to further use within the building." The efficiency in terms of heat gain per area is comparable with that of state-of-the-art solar thermal facilities. But unlike those, the present system can be readily integrated in a vertical facade. Switching between on and off - the release or capture of particles - happens in a separate tank. An electrical connection at the windows is not necessary.

Indoor air conditioning, tunable shading and harvesting of solar heat

"The greatest advantage of large-scale fluidic windows is that they can substitute air conditioning systems, daylight regulation systems and for instance warm water processing," stresses Wondraczek, who holds the chair of Glass Chemistry at the University of Jena. Developing cost-effective large-size window glass modules is key. On the one hand the glass elements need to include the channels, on the other hand they maintain their performance over the whole lifespan of the building. Finally, they have to provide the ability for integration with standard window manufacture technologies in frames of double or triple glazings. With the present prototypes which were manufactured on a scale of around 200 square meters, the research consortium demonstrated that those requirements can be fulfilled.

Over the period of 2015-2017, the project received a grant of 5.9 million Euros from the European Union within the framework of the Horizon-2020-Programme for Industrial Leadership. A further 2.2 million Euro have been added by eleven industry partners who have been members of the consortium. After the end of the first funding period, commercialisation of first applications is planned for this year.

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It's often said that creative people see the world differently than the rest of us - and a Harvard researcher is providing one answer why.

Scientists studying brain scans of people who were asked to come up with inventive uses for everyday objects found a specific pattern of connectivity that correlated with the most creative responses. Researchers were then able to use that pattern to predict how creative other people's responses would be based on their connections in this network. The study is described in a January 15 paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"What this shows is that the creative brain is wired differently," said Roger Beaty, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Psychology and the first author of the study. "People who are more creative can simultaneously engage brain networks that don't typically work together. We also used predictive modeling to show we could predict, with some degree of accuracy, how creative people's ideas were (based on brain scans) that had already been published." Beaty and colleagues reanalyzed brain data from previous studies and found that, by simply measuring the strength of connections in these peoples' brain networks, they could estimate how original their ideas would be.

While the data showed that regions across the brain were involved in creative thought, Beaty said the evidence pointed to three subnetworks - the default mode network, the salience network and the executive control network - that appear to play key roles in creative thought.

The default mode network, he said, is involved in memory and mental simulation, so the theory is that it plays an important role in processes like mind-wandering, imagination, and spontaneous thinking.

"In terms of creativity, we think that's important for brainstorming," Beaty said. "But you're not always going to stumble onto the most creative idea that way, because you might be drawn to something unoriginal from memory, so that's when these other networks come online."

The salience network, he said, detects important information, both in the environment and internally. When it comes to creativity, researchers believe it may be responsible for sorting through the ideas that emerge from the default mode network.

Lastly, Beaty said, the executive control network works to help people keep their focus on useful ideas while discarding those that aren't working.

"It's the synchrony between these systems that seems to be important for creativity," Beaty said. "People who think more flexibly and come up with more creative ideas are better able to engage these networks that don't typically work together and bring these systems online."

To identify the brain network involved in creativity, Beaty and colleagues recruited a total of 163 volunteers, and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to scan their brains as they tried to conceive of creative ideas for everyday objects, like a brick or a knife or a rope.

The team then trained "raters" to review the responses from participants and evaluate how creative their ideas were.

"Creativity is typically defined as the ability to come up with new and useful ideas," Beaty said. "We correlated the connectivity strength in this network while they were thinking creatively with the quality of their responses."

Based on the results of that test, Beaty and colleagues developed a predictive model and tested against brain scan data collected for earlier studies on creativity.

"We used already-published data...we found that based on how strong the connections are in this network, we could guess pretty accurately how creative you're going to be on a task," Beaty said.

Ultimately, Beaty said he hopes the study dispels some myths about creativity and where it comes from.

"One thing I hope this study does is dispel the myth of left versus right brain in creative thinking," he said. "This is a whole-brain endeavor."

It's also not clear that this can't be modified with some kind of training. "It's not something where you have it or you don't," he added. "Creativity is complex, and we're only scratching the surface here, so there's much more work that's needed."

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How did Borneo get its elephant? This could be just another of Rudyard Kipling's just so stories. The Bornean elephant is a subspecies of Asian Elephants that only exist in a small region of Borneo. Their presence on this southeastern Asian island has been a mystery. Now, in a study published in Scientific Reports*, a research team led by Lounes Chikhi from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC, Portugal) and CNRS, Universite Paul Sabatier (France), and Benoit Goossens, from Cardiff University (Wales), and Sabah Wildlife Department (Malaysia), found that elephants might have arrived on Borneo at a time of the last land bridge between the Sunda Islands in Southeast Asia.

Until recently, two opposing theories have been under debate to explain the origin of Bornean elephants: they could have been recently introduced by humans, maybe 300 years ago, or they could have diverged from Asian elephants a long time ago. Indeed, there are historic records reporting that, in the 17th century, neighbour Sultans offered elephants as gifts to the Bornean Sultan. Current elephants would thus be non-native elephants that turned feral. On the other hand, about 15 years ago a genetic study showed that the DNA of Bornean elephants was very different from that of other Asian elephants, suggesting a very ancient separation, on the order of 300,000 years ago. However, no elephant fossils have yet been discovered in Borneo, even though fossils from other large mammals such as orang-utans have been found.

To shed light on the mystery of Bornean elephant's origin, Chikhi and Goossens' team used genetic data analysis and computational modelling to study the past demographic history of these animals. It is very difficult to track ancient demographic history of animals, even more when there are no fossil records to guide the work. "What we did was to create computational models for different scenarios that might have happened. Then, we compared the results from these models with the existing genetic data, and used statistical techniques to identify the scenario that best explained the current genetic diversity of the elephant population in Borneo", explains Lounes Chikhi.

"Our results suggest that the most likely scenario to have occurred is a natural colonization of Borneo around 11,400 to 18,300 years ago. This period corresponds to a time when the sea levels were very low and elephants could migrate between the Sunda Islands, a Southeastern Asia archipelago to which Borneo belongs. We cannot exclude more complex scenarios, but a historical human introduction seems very improbable, and so does a very ancient arrival", adds Reeta Sharma, researcher at the IGC and first co-author of the paper.

With less than 2000 individuals surviving today in an increasingly fragmented environment, and with regular news of poisoned or killed Bornean elephants, the future is grim for this endangered species. "Its very limited geographic distribution and reduced genetic diversity compromise the future of the population. Understanding their origins and past demography will be useful for the development of a long-term conservation strategy, especially at the time we, Sabah Wildlife Department, and partners are drafting a new 10-year State Action Plan for the Bornean elephant", said Goossens. The researcher notes "in the light of the recent killings of elephants in the state for ivory trade and during conflicts, Sabahans must realise that it is their natural patrimony that is targeted, they need to stand for their wildlife and condemn those who kill those magnificent creatures. We should take pride of our wildlife, elephants are part of Sabah's patrimony and we cannot afford losing more animals."

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This work was conducted by an international team of researchers from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (Portugal), Cardiff University (UK), Danau Girang Field Centre (Malaysia), Sabah Wildlife Department (Malaysia), Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique (France), CNRS and Universite Paul Sabatier (France), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), University of Leicester (UK), and University of Bristol (UK). This study was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), Laboratoire d'Excellence (LABEX) TULIP (France), Laboratoire International Associe BEEG-B (France), Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (UK), US Fish and Wildlife Service Asian Elephant Conservation Fund, Elephant Family and Columbus Zoo, and by Danish Research Council and Villum Foundation.

* Sharma, R., Goossens, B., Heller, R., Rasteiro, R., Othman, N., Bruford, M.W., Chikhi, L. (2018) Genetic analyses favour and ancient and natural origin of elefants on Borneo. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17042-5 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17042-5
Aerosol indirect effect (AIE) can significantly affect climate change and is one of the largest uncertainties in climate change studies. To date, only a few AIE studies using satellite measurements have been carried out in China, and no such study has been done using ground-based measurements. The AIE can only be assessed accurately from aircraft or ground-based measurements. The first comprehensive investigation into the AIE over this polluted region is presented, based upon extensive ground-based measurements, in a recent paper published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

The authors of the paper, Dr. Jianjun LIU and Prof. Zhanqing LI, from the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center of the University of Maryland, USA, began by investigating the AIE over the polluted region of southeastern China, based on extensive measurements of clouds, aerosols, radiative properties, and meteorological factors, during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility experimental campaign in China. They found significant AIEs observed by the surface-based measurements; however, the AIEs studied based on satellite measurements had large uncertainties over this region because of some inherent limitations.

Next, the authors examined the influence of aerosols on cloud microphysical properties and the diurnal cycle of cloud properties. Dr. Jianjun LIU explains that "the aerosols significantly affected the cloud microphysical properties, based on the surface-based measurements. The relationship between the CER [cloud droplet effective radius] and AI [aerosol index] is very weak in summer because the cloud droplet growth is least affected by the competition for water vapor. The sensitivities of CER and LWP [liquid water path] to aerosol loading increases are not significantly different under different air mass conditions. There is a significant correlation between the changes in hourly mean AI and the changes in hourly mean CER, LWP and COD. The calculated AIEs based on two cloud parameters are similar in magnitude and close to the typical FIE [first indirect effect] value of ~0.23. The satellite-derived FIE is contrary to the FIE estimated from surface retrievals and may have large uncertainties due to some inherent limitations."

Prof. Zhanqing LI goes on to say that "the use of ground-based measurements is one of the important approaches to quantify the magnitude of the AIE and investigate the underlying mechanisms".

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Testing new clinical drugs' effect on heart tissue could become quicker and more straightforward, thanks to new research from Harvard University.

The study, published today in the journal Biofabrication, sets out a new, faster method for manufacturing a 'heart-on-a-chip', which can be used to test the reaction of heart tissue to external stimuli.

Co-lead author Dr Lisa Scudder said: "One of the major challenges in drug discovery and development is failure at the clinical testing stage due to cardiac toxicity. A way to overcome this is to develop new preclinical tests for new drugs using engineered tissues that mimic the native organs of the human body such as the heart."

Co-lead author Dr Janna Nawroth said: "Our work focuses on building new platforms for the testing and development of new drugs for safety and efficacy, which are more predictable for human physiology. We do this by engineering functional units of human organs, using human tissue. For heart on a chip units, we strive to build a tissue that is as contractile and organized as the human heart, so we can measure contractile force - a major determinant of heart pumping performance.

"The chip we've made is an extension of our previous work, which established a new platform using the miniaturised structural formation of cardiac muscle on a cantilever of hydrogel. We use hydrogel because its mechanical properties are similar to the extracellular matrix of the heart. This pre-patterned substrate results in an organised growth of cardiac muscle. The end goal is to put these tissue structures into a microfluidic environment, where we can closely regulate and monitor the flow of the new drug being tested."

However, for these chips to become a next-generation tool for drug development and biomedical research in industry, they need to be manufactured on a large-scale continuous, automated, and quality controlled basis, as opposed to the small batch manufacture used in academic research.

Dr Scudder said: "The existing way of engineering cardiac tissues involves using photomasks, stamping, and manually moulding gelatin to create patterns in the hydrogel for tissue alignment, but this was taking too long and was not practical for our chip manufacturing needs. Our new heart-on-a-chip fabrication method uses a UV laser to pattern the hydrogel, employing riboflavin to sensitise the gel for optical ablation. This patterning method then allows the cardiac cells to align into organised laminar tissue structures like in the native heart. The UV micropatterning method creates features on the gel much faster, but with the same resolution and reproducibility, as traditional moulding techniques."

Dr Nawroth added: "As well as being scalable, our new process gives great uniformity, doesn't alter the properties of the hydrogel, and is up to 60 per cent faster than the old process. It is another step towards the mass production of organs on a chip, which is essential if large pharmaceutical companies are going to accept and utilise them."

Principal Investigator Professor Kevin 'Kit' Parker said: "Our team has moved aggressively over the last several years to develop organs on chips that are amenable to mass manufacturing. This advance is part of our strategy of building systems so that the pharmaceutical scientist is fighting the drug, not the chip."

Dr Scudder added: "We found this method of organ on a chip manufacturing works to engineer cardiac tissues and assess their physiology. We were able to generate aligned cardiac tissue and muscular thin films with UV micropatterning, which beat and contract in response to external stimuli like electrical pacing.

"This method could be useful for manufacturing other organs-on a chips, such as a brain or skeletal muscle-on-a-chip. In the future, we hope to expand on this fabrication method to mimic disease states like fibrosis, or to create more complex three-dimensional tissue structures that could provide new tools for the preclinical drug development process."

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Not quite caregivers, but definitely health supporters, they may be a key group for physicians and policymakers to consider

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- People with diabetes, heart failure and other chronic diseases often live independent lives, without a traditional 'caregiver.' But many of them have a family member or friend who plays a key supporting role in their health care.

A new study finds that many of these 'health supporters' wish they could understand their loved one's condition better, or get more involved in helping them navigate a long-term illness. But it also reveals that many aren't getting the information or access from health providers that could help them do that better.

In a paper published in the journal Families, Systems and Health, a team from the University of Michigan and University of Pittsburgh reports the results of a national survey of more than 700 adults who said they helped at least one adult family member or friend manage a common chronic illness. The survey focused on those who assisted with tasks related to medications, medical appointments, health care forms and cooking healthy food.

The results suggest that there's a pent-up need for health care teams to involve such supporters more in their loved ones' care, if the patient is willing.

"A lot of people who are providing this kind of care don't think of themselves as caregivers, but the average adult with chronic illness gets a lot of support from family and close friends," says Ann-Marie Rosland, M.D., M.S., who co-led the study while at U-M.

"Past studies have shown the people with chronic conditions who have more support from family and friends are more successful in managing their health," she says. "So it's important to understand more about what these health supporters are actually doing, and what they need from health care providers."

Time and effort - at home or from afar

The team, based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and the VA Center for Clinical Management Research, explored data from health supporters who helped at least one adult loved one manage at least one chronic condition from a list that included diabetes, heart diseases, chronic lung diseases, depression and arthritis.

On average, these health supporters spent two hours a week helping their loved ones with health matters, the majority of them doing it outside the patient's home and half from a distance of more than 20 miles away.

Just over 20 percent went into the examination room at their loved one's health appointments, and an equal percentage spoke to their health provider on the phone.

The supporters were a mix of patients' parents, spouses, siblings, other relatives and friends; just under 7 percent were the patient's adult children. Most were over age 50. Many health supporters reported helping with issues critical to patients with chronic disease.

Nearly half said they had talked with their loved one about the side effects of their medication, and nearly a third said they had talked about problems paying for those medications - both key issues that can cause people with chronic illness to cut back or stop taking important medicines that can ward off problems in the long term. Three-quarters had talked to their loved ones' about bothersome symptoms such as pain.

"We were surprised by the extent to which these chronic disease health supporters are in a position to be able to provide support for key aspects of health care, and the sheer amount of help they provide," says lead author Aaron A. Lee, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the VA CCMR. "But we were also surprised by their concerns about not being involved" in their loved ones' care by health providers.

For instance, 41 percent of the respondents said they didn't feel they knew enough about their loved one's condition and treatment regimen to be able to help them as much as they needed. And only about 12 percent worried that they were getting too involved in their loved one's health.

Connecting with health providers - or not

The researchers then focused on the 45 percent of supporters who said they had had contact with their loved one's health providers.

While more than two-thirds of these supporters said that their loved one's health care providers had answered questions for them, just under half said those providers had involved them in decisions about their chronically ill loved one's health or suggested ways they could help. And about a third said providers had not been willing to share information with them, perhaps missing opportunities for the providers to hear about side effects and symptoms they'd noticed.

Rosland notes that providers may shy away from involving non-caregiver family members in these ways because of time constraints or concerns about privacy - or because they never asked the patient if someone close to them helps support them.

Just asking this question, and asking whether the patient wants to bring that person to an appointment or allow the doctor or nurse to talk to them, is an important first step, she says. The federal health privacy law, called HIPAA, allows patients to designate individuals who are allowed to receive information about their condition and care.

Improving communication

With online access to individual medical record and appointment systems becoming more common, this kind of access can help even family members who live miles from their loved ones be effective health supporters, Rosland notes.

But providers' office staff and others must be trained to ask patients if they want to grant someone access or the right to receive information in other ways. Such questions could even be added to the screening questionnaires that increasingly ask patients about 'social determinants of health', and other aspects of their lives that could affect their ability to care for themselves.

Patients who are competent to manage their own care should always have the right to decide what kind of family involvement they want, Lee and Rosland note. That includes young adults whose parents helped manage their chronic conditions when they were minors, but now have the legal right to make their own decisions about whether they still want that involvement.

For patients with complex health conditions who desire family involvement in their care, "health insurers could consider reimbursing providers for phone or in-person encounters with patients' family members," says Rosland.

Providers that receive additional payments for population management or care coordination could use some of those resources to coordinate care with health supporters who are playing key roles in chronically ill patients' health management.

Once family members and friends are involved in a patient's chronic disease management, they may need training and support to help them have the most positive impact on patients, the researchers note.

For instance, learning how to talk to a parent about her diabetes, or help a spouse manage his heart failure-related medicines, could improve the quality of the support family members can give. Lee is studying the impact of communication styles used by family members on the health outcomes of patients, and Lee and Rosland are leading studies in the VA to examine the best ways to design this type of training.

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In addition to Lee and Rosland, the paper's authors are IHPI members John D. Piette, Ph.D., Michele Heisler, M.D., MPA; Mary Janevic, MPH, Ph.D., and Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D. The research was supported by the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research and Michigan Center for Diabetes Translational Research, both of which receive NIH funding.

Reference: Families, Systems, & Health, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000293
ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- While immunotherapy has made a big impact on cancer treatment, the fact remains that only about a quarter of patients respond to these treatments.

"This begs the question: Why does it work in those patients? We don't understand the mechanism at work very well," says Weiping Zou, M.D., Ph.D., the Charles B. de Nancrede Professor of Surgery, Pathology, Immunology and Biology at the University of Michigan.

Zou and colleagues offer a clue in a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Researchers studied mice with colon cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma and lung cancer to understand how expression of the protein PD-L1 affects response to its blockade. This is a key target of immunotherapy drugs. The researchers found a key link in the antigen presenting cells - macrophages and dendritic cells found in the tumor microenvironment and in the nearby lymph nodes.

"The antigen presenting cells are the real guide. PD-L1 expression in these cells is responsible for response to therapy. This reshapes our understanding of checkpoint blockade therapies and the biomarkers that may predict clinical efficacy," Zou says.

Interestingly, his team first pinpointed the human cancer associated antigen presenting cells in 2003, in a paper published in Nature Medicine. That paper demonstrated dendritic cells express PD-L1 and blockade of PD-L1 on antigen presenting cells causes tumor regression in model systems. But this was when immunotherapy research was in its very early stages, before any of today's therapies were introduced.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved immunotherapy drugs designed to block PD-L1 and PD-1, the indication said patients' tumors must express PD-L1. But these therapies have worked in patients whose tumor cells did not express PD-L1. And they have failed in patients whose tumor cells do.

"Clearly, that's not a reliable biomarker," Zou says.

In the new study, researchers examined tissue samples from melanoma and ovarian cancer patients treated with immunotherapies. In both cancers, researchers found a link between the percent of antigen presenting cells expressing PD-L1 and an objective clinical response to treatment.

Currently, tumor tissue is tested broadly for PD-L1 expression. Without looking at individual cells within the tissue, it could mask the true source of PD-L1 expression. This study suggests a more complicated analysis looking for additional markers might be more informative in guiding treatment.

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Additional authors: Heng Lin, Shuang Wei, Elaine M. Hurt, Michael D. Green, Lili Zhao, Linda Vatan, Wojciech Szeliga, Ronald Herbst, Paul W. Harms, Leslie A. Fecher, Pankaj Vats, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Christopher D. Lao, Theodore S. Lawrence, Max S. Wicha, Junzo Hamanishi, Masaki Mandai, Ilona Kryczek

Funding: National Cancer Institute grants CA123088, CA099985, CA156685, CA171306, CA190176, CA193136, CA211016 and 5P30CA46592; MedImmune

Disclosure: Hurt is an employee of MedImmune. Wicha and Zou received sponsored research grants from MedImmune. Hamanishi and Mandai received support from Ono Pharmaceutical Company Japan and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Fecher received clinical trial funding from Bristol Myers Squibb.

Reference: Journal of Clinical Investigation, published online Jan. 16, 2018

Resources:

University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, http://www.mcancer.org

Michigan Medicine Cancer AnswerLine, 800-865-1125

Michigan Health Lab, http://www.MichiganHealthLab.org
North Carolina State University researchers have created the largest publicly available chemical database of hair dye substances as a resource for developing a new generation of hair color products that are safer for consumers, stylists and the environment.

The online Hair Dye Substance Database contains detailed information about the structure and properties of 313 substances in current and past commercial hair dyes. Using computer-based classification - what's known as cheminformatics - researchers grouped the dyes into clusters with similar structures and properties. The results revealed some surprises and promising new avenues for research.

"The database can definitely help drive design, not just of hair dyes but of other types of dyes, using the same approach," says Tova Williams, NC State doctoral student and lead author of a journal article about the research.

Coloring hair is a multibillion-dollar global business that's growing rapidly. Hair dyes are divided into three basic types, depending on how long they last. Temporary dyes, which coat the hair surface, wash out with one or two shampoos. Semi-permanent dyes last a bit longer - through six to eight washings.

About 80 percent of commercial hair dyes on the market, however, are permanent, created through the chemical process of oxidation. When permanent hair dye is applied, it's initially colorless. Tiny precursor molecules slip inside the core of hair fibers, where they "join hands" to form larger molecules and impart color, Williams says. Permanent hair color resists washing out because it's inside the hair shaft and chemically bonded.

Researchers can use the database to help identify dyes that are less likely to cause allergic reactions or increase cancer risk. Safety is a key concern for consumers because hair color sits on the scalp, as well as for stylists who work with dye products repeatedly over time.

"Using computer modeling allows us to make predictions about which substances in the database would be likely to cause skin sensitization or that might have a greater likelihood of health risks," Williams says. "This can lead to development of dyes that have better properties and are more sustainable."

Cheminformatics can expedite the research and development process, making it possible to analyze and compare the properties of hundreds of substances in the database - a feat that wouldn't be possible otherwise, says co-author Denis Fourches, assistant professor of chemistry at NC State.

"If you had to do this work with the hair dyes in a lab, it would take several years of work and several million dollars," Fourches says. "With more than 300 substances, it would be very challenging without computer modeling, which provides a transparent and reproducible way to characterize and classify dyes."

While creating the database, researchers found an intriguing group of dyes that didn't fit into established categories: a subcluster of semi-permanent dyes that seemed to have properties similar to the precursors in permanent dyes.

In fact, there's a whole tray of these dyes in NC State's Max A. Weaver Dye Library, a collection of thousands of dye and fabric samples that the Eastman Chemical Company donated to the university, says co-author Harold Freeman, professor of dye chemistry at NC State.

"One of the things that jumped out at us was the potential to connect this study with the dye library, with its 100,000 unique dyes," Freeman says. "By modifying the structure of key compounds in the dye library, we expect to design novel dye precursors that are environmentally benign, put them into hair and then transform them into colors to take advantage of the unique parent structures.

"There's so much potential now to use this group of dyes waiting in the wings to help us with design of hair dyes that will be not only effective but safe."

Researchers also considered the environmental impact of dyes. They linked the hair dye database with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's internal chemistry dashboard. Co-author Antony John Williams works at the EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

"Now that we've released the database into the public domain, other modelers are already interested in this group of hair dyes, which is a step toward designing new substances that are more sustainable and greener - less toxic," Fourches says. "They're calculating new types of properties that we aren't even thinking about right now, which is very exciting."

The study appears in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.

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Note: An abstract of the paper follows.

"Toward the Rational Design of Sustainable Hair Dyes Using Cheminformatics Approaches: 1) Database Development and Analysis"

Authors: Tova Williams, Melaine Agnes Kuenemann, George Arlen Van Den Driessche, North Carolina State University; Antony John Williams, Environmental Protection Agency; Denis Fourches, and Harold S Freeman, NC State University

Published: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

Abstract: Herein, we report on the initial step of the design process of new hair dyes with the desired properties. The first step is dedicated to the development of the largest, publicly-available database of hair dye substances (containing temporary and semi-permanent hair dyes as well as permanent hair dye precursors) used in commercial hair dye formulations. The database was utilized to perform a cheminformatics study assessing the computed physiochemical properties of the different hair dye substances, especially within each cluster of structurally-similar dyes. The various substances could be differentiated based on their average molecular weight, hydrophobicity, topological polar surface area, and number of hydrogen bond acceptors, with some overlap also observed. In particular, we found that dyes such as C.I. Basic Orange 1 and 2 were clustered among the precursors, suggesting that their diffusion behavior is similar to that of permanent hair dye precursors. We anticipate taking advantage of this interesting knowledge in the second design phase of our investigation. As a step in that direction, we used QSAR models and noted that 65 percent of the substances were predicted to be mutagenic (22 with confidence thresholds > 90 percent) while 79 percent were predicted to be skin sensitizers (37 with confidence thresholds > 90 percent). We discuss the relevance of these primary calculations in view of literature-extracted experimental data.
California sea lions have fully rebounded under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), with their population on the West Coast reaching carrying capacity in 2008 before unusually warm ocean conditions reduced their numbers, according to the first comprehensive population assessment of the species.

The sea lion population is healthy and robust, the new research found, and its recovery over the past several decades reflects an important success for the MMPA. The landmark 1972 legislation recognized marine mammals as a central element of their ocean ecosystems, setting population goals based on levels that would contribute to the health and stability of those ecosystems.

The MMPA calls those levels the Optimum Sustainable Population (OSP), and provides options for states to take over management of species that have reached their OSP.

California sea lions have now reached those levels, according to the new assessment by scientists from NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Southwest Fisheries Science Center. They published the results of the long-term collaborative study today in the Journal of Wildlife Management.

"The population has basically come into balance with its environment," said coauthor Sharon Melin, a research biologist at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center who has tracked sea lion numbers in Southern California's Channel Islands for years. "The marine environment is always changing, and their population is at a point where it responds very quickly to changes in the environment."

Scientists combined the results of sea lion pup counts in the Channel Islands, aerial surveys of sea lion rookeries, survival rates and other information to reconstruct the growth of the sea lion population from 1975 to 2014. They gained enough insight into the dynamics of the population to fill in gaps from a few years with little data.

Market hunting, bounties, pollutants such as DDT and other forces depressed sea lion numbers in the middle of the last century. The new study found that the species then rose from less than 90,000 animals in 1975 to an estimated 281,450 in 2008, which was roughly the carrying capacity for sea lions in the California Current Ecosystem at that time. It then fluctuated around that level, reaching a high of 306,220 in 2012 before declining below the carrying capacity in the years since as ocean conditions changed.

Such a long-term reconstruction of the sea lion population has never been done before, said Robert DeLong, leader of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's California Current Ecosystems Program and a coauthor of the new research.

The researchers found sea lion numbers very sensitive to environmental changes, especially changes in ocean temperatures that affect their prey. Their models based on past population shifts predict that an increase of 1 degree C in sea surface temperature off the West Coast will reduce sea lion population growth to zero, while an increase of 2 degrees will lead to a 7 percent decline in the population.

"When the California Current is not productive, they respond pretty fast and dramatically," Melin said. "They're out there in the ocean sampling it all the time. That makes them a very powerful indicator of what's happening in the marine environment."

Marine conditions since 2012 have illustrated that. An unusual marine heat wave off the West Coast known as "the blob" combined with an El Nino climate pattern reduced pup production and survival, with thousands of malnourished pups stranding on Southern California beaches. NOAA Fisheries declared the elevated number of deaths an Unusual Mortality Event in 2013.

The sea lion population dropped to just over 250,000 in 2013 and 2014.

"This is not just a story about continued growth of the population," DeLong said. "These last several years have brought new environmental stresses to the California Current, and we've seen that reflected by the sea lions."

Understanding the relationship between sea lion numbers and the environment can help scientists detect signals of coming change. Wildlife managers can then use that information to anticipate and prepare for shifts in the ecosystem and its inhabitants.

"It helps us to understand the factors driving this population, because we can incorporate them into management decisions," said Chris Yates, Assistant Regional Administrator for Protected Resources in NOAA Fisheries' West Coast Region.

The general recovery of sea lion numbers has had other consequences on the West Coast, including conflicts with people over beach access where sea lions haul out and concern about sea lion predation on threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead in the Northwest. NOAA Fisheries has authorized Oregon, Washington and Idaho to remove individually identifiable sea lions near the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam that have been spotted repeatedly preying on fish protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The species maintained OSP levels even when small numbers of adult males were being removed to protect salmon runs in the Columbia River and climate events were depressing growth. That suggests that the removal of a limited number of sea lions in such programs is unlikely to affect the population as a whole, Melin said.

She stressed the value of long-term data in understanding the dynamics of the population. "If we had looked only at the last five years, we would have thought sea lions were in a tailspin," she said. "Because we know the history of the population, we can put the recent decline in perspective."

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A new study reveals the molecular structure of a protein called alpha()Klotho, and how it helps to transmit a hormonal signal that slows aging.

Led by researchers from NYU School of Medicine and published online Jan. 17 in Nature, the study refutes 20 years of conjecture that Klotho - named after the Greek goddess who spins the thread of life - is a major anti-aging hormone. Instead the results attribute this function to fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), and explain how Klotho simply helps FGF23 to mediate its anti-aging action.

Studies as far back as 1997 had shown that mice genetically manipulated to lack either Klotho or FGF23 suffered from premature aging, including early onset cardiovascular disease, cancer, and cognitive decline. By providing a first look at the structure of the associated group of proteins that includes FGF23, its receptor protein (FGFR), and Klotho, the current study overturns the dogma that Klotho acts on its own as a longevity factor.

"By showing that all the ways in which Klotho was supposed to protect organs come instead from its ability to help FGF23 signal, we have shed new light on the underlying cause of aging," says lead study author Moosa Mohammadi, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Langone Health. "Our new structural data also pave the way for the design of novel agents that can either encourage or block FGF23-Klotho signaling as needed."

Structure Solves Mystery

To determine the atomic structure of the FGF23 signaling group of proteins, Mohammadi and colleagues used X-ray crystallography. The team first coaxed the FGF23 hormone, along with its receptor protein (FGFR) and Klotho, to settle out of a solution and form stacks of repeating, orderly crystals. They then exposed the crystals to X-rays, and used the reflected patterns to compute the atomic structure of the proteins.

The new study provides the first evidence of how FGF23 can only signal to cells by forming a complex with Klotho, its receptor, and another partner in heparan sulfate. Made by bone cells, the FGF23 hormone is known to travel via the blood stream to cells in other organs, where it delivers its message by docking onto and turning on its receptor. The newly solved complex structure reveals how Klotho tethers FGF23 to its receptor with enough tenacity to activate it.

The study also sheds new light on how kidney disease leads to an abnormal thickening of heart muscle tissue called hypertrophy. Heart hypertrophy is a leading cause of death in people with damaged kidney tubules, caused (for example) by high blood pressure and diabetes. When damaged kidney tubules can no longer adequately eliminate phosphate in the urine, FGF23 rises in an effort to keep blood phosphate in check, in part by controlling levels of vitamin D. A prevailing hypothesis has been that very high levels of FGF23 cause hypertrophy in the heart, but the theory remained controversial because heart tissue does not have Klotho, which must be present if FGF23 is to signal.

Past studies had shown that the best known form of Klotho is immobile, being bound to the surface membranes of cells in kidney tubules, the parathyroid gland, and certain regions of the brain. Then researchers learned that a part of the Klotho protein that protrudes from cell surfaces, the ecto domain, can be cut off and shed into circulating bodily fluids, and therefore might reach the heart. Early evidence, however, suggested that shed Klotho was incapable of acting as an FGF23 co-receptor. The new study integrates these observations by showing that circulating Klotho can indeed function just like its membrane-bound form to enable FGF23 signaling.

The researchers say that their findings will launch another drug development race in kidney disease. Mohammadi had already shown that a key piece of the FGF23 hormone (its C-terminal tail peptide), when injected into mice, competes with intact FGF23 to reduce its signal and prevent heart hypertrophy. In addition, the team is already designing new molecules that alter the FGF23/shed Klotho signal based on the newly discovered protein structures.

The study also suggests that a related protein, beta-Klotho, serves as the same kind of co-receptor to help FGF21, a hormone related to FGF23. FGF21 functions by sending signals that keep blood sugar and fatty acids in balance, with implications for diabetes and obesity.

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Along with lead author Moosa Mohammadi, the study authors from NYU Langone Health were Gaozhi Chen, Yang Liu, Regina Goetz, and Lili Fu. Other study authors were Seetharaman Jayaraman (New York Structural Biology Center), Ming-Chang Hu and Orson Moe (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas); as well as Guang Liang and Xiaokun Li (Chemical Biology Research Center at Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang, China).

This work was primarily supported by National Institute of Health (NIH) grant R01 DE13686. Funding was also provided through National Key R&D Program of China grant 2017YFA0506000, NIH grants R01 DK092461, P30 DK079328, R01 DK09139, and the Beamlines Northeastern Collaborative Access Team Facility at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory.
Integrated Si photonics incorporates the essence of the two pillar industries of "microelectronics" and "optoelectronics", which is expected to bring new technological revolution in a variety of fields such as communication, sensing, lighting, dispalay, imaging, detection, etc. Si lasers are the key to achieve integrated Si photonics. However, the optical gains of Si are lower than those of III-V compound semiconductors by one order of magnitude or two, due to its indirect bandgap feature. Although the fabrication of matured III-V compound lasers on Si substrates has been proposed to circumvent this problem, the development of all-Si laser is still in high demand for integrated Si photonics, due to its better compatibility with modern Si techniques.

Recently, a joint research team led by Prof. X. Wu, Prof. M. Lu and associate Prof. S.-Y. Zhang from Fudan University developed the world's first all-Si laser using Si nanocrystals with high optical gains. First, they enhanced the Si emission intensity greatly by developing a film growth technique for high-density silicon nanocrystals (Physica E, 89, 57-60(2017)). Then, they developed a high-pressure low-temperature passivation approach, which contributed to a full saturation of dangling bonds, leading to increased optical gains that were comparable to those achieved by gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP). On this basis, they designed and fabricated distributed feedback (DFB) resonance cavities and successfully achieved optically pumped all-Si DFB lasers. The optically pumped all-Si laser also paves the way towards the realization of electrically pumped all-Si laser.

It was found that the optical gain of Si nanocrystals was constantly enhanced as the passivation proceeded and eventually reached the value comparable to those of GaAs and InP. Lasing characteristics - the threshold effect, the polarization dependence, the significant spectral narrowing and small spread of divergence angle of stimulated emission - were fulfilled, suggesting the realization of an optically pumped all-Si laser. The lasers also showed reliable repeatability. The lasing peaks of the four additional samples made under the similar fabrication conditions were within the spectral range of 760 nm to 770 nm. The variation in the lasing peak was due to the slight difference in effective refractive indices. The full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the emission peak was narrowed from ~120 nm to 7 nm when the laser was pumped above threshold. This program is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51472051, 61275178, 61378080, 61705042) and Shanghai Sailing Program (16YF1400700).

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Dong-Chen Wang#, Chi Zhang#, Pan Zeng, Wen-Jie Zhou, Lei Ma, Hao-Tian Wang, Zhi-Quan Zhou, Fei Hu, Shu-Yu Zhang*, Ming Lu*, and Xiang Wu*. An all-silicon laser based on silicon nanocrystals with high optical gains. Science Bulletin, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095927318300069
A new original research article in SLAS Discovery presents a fast, sensitive, and robust methodology for screening small molecule inhibitors against CD73/Ecto-5'-Nucleotidase, a promising target for developing anti-cancer drugs.

The methodology described by authors Gejing Deng (Sanofi) et al., uses multiple stable isotope-labeled substrates for carrying out CD73 reactions followed by sample pooling then simultaneously quantifying multiple reaction products using ultra-fast RapidFire-MS/MS.

In contrast to other optical based methodologies, this methodology allows identifying molecules with diverse inhibition modalities and characterizing inhibitors using both recombinant CD73 and CD73+ cells.

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A Robust Multiplex Mass Spectrometric Assay for Screening Small-Molecule Inhibitors of CD73 with Diverse Inhibition Modalities can be accessed for free at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2472555217750386. For more information about SLAS and its journals, visit http://www.slas.org/journals.

A PDF of this article is available to credentialed media outlets upon request. Contact nhallock@slas.org.

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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international community of nearly 20,000 professionals and students dedicated to life sciences discovery and technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS DISCOVERY: 2016 Impact Factor 2.444. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN (USA). SLAS Discovery (Advancing Life Sciences R&D) was previously published (1996-2016) as the Journal of Biomolecular Screening (JBS).

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TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018--Previously unpublished information from the clinical trial that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration relied on to approve the most commonly prescribed medicine for nausea in pregnancy indicates the drug is not effective, a new report says.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital obtained thousands of pages of documents from Health Canada relating to the randomized clinical trial that was reported in 2010 as showing pyridoxine-doxylamine was effective in reducing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.

The trial found that on a 13-point scale, women who took the drug sold as Diclectin in Canada (Diclegis in the United States) reported symptom reductions that were 0.7 points greater than women who took a placebo.

But Dr. Nav Persaud, a researcher and family physician at St. Michael's, said the manufacturer's detailed 9,000-page "clinical study report" he obtained from Health Canada specified that the findings would be clinically important only if there were a three-point reduction in symptoms.

"That information was hidden until now," he said.

His analysis was published today in the online journal PLOS ONE.

Dr. Persaud said that while the findings reported in 2010 may be statistically significant, they were not large enough to be noticeable by women taking the medication. By the end of the two-week trial, most women given a placebo had little or no symptoms.

Dr. Persaud said there was also "selective reporting" of secondary outcomes in the 2010 publication that made Diclectin appear effective. The 2010 paper indicated apparent benefits of the drug such as a reduction in the time lost from employment due to nausea and vomiting. But the 2010 publication did not include outcomes where there was no difference between the two groups, such as time lost from household tasks or number of visits to health-care providers.

The clinical trial was sponsored by Duchesnay Inc., the manufacturer of the drug. It was conducted at six university medical centres in the United States. The published results were based on 101 women who took pyridoxine-doxylamine and a control group of 86 women; the original enrollment was higher, but many women dropped out during the trial.

Dr. Persaud said that when Duchesnay approached the FDA in the early 2000s to approve pyridoxine-doxylamine, the regulatory agency said it needed evidence from a clinical trial. The FDA approved the drug in 2013, after this trial was done, and it has been prescribed in 33 million women worldwide according to the company. There is at least one prescription filled for every two births in Canada.

In the 1980s, the drug was voluntarily withdrawn from the American market in the midst of legal claims about birth defects that were eventually rejected by courts. Recently, Kim Kardashian was censured by the FDA for inappropriately promoting the drug on social media.

Dr. Persaud said the FDA should revisit its decision, as should Health Canada and provinces that offer the drug through publicly funded prescription drug plans. Clinicians could stop prescribing it and pregnant women could seek effective treatments instead of this drug, he said.

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About St. Michael's Hospital

St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

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Alberta's predator compensation program offsets costs of conserving wildlife habitat on private lands in the province.

"Our research shows that private ranchlands provide important habitats for carnivorous wildlife, including wolves, cougars, bears and eagles," explained Mark Boyce, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Alberta Conservation Association Chair in Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Alberta.

In Alberta, where there is no system that incentivizes ranchers to maintain wildlife habitat, the compensation program plays an important role in offsetting costs for ranchers.

For the study, researchers reviewed nearly 4,500 claims from 2000 to 2016. Results showed that the distribution of ungulate hunters on private lands is highly correlated with predator compensation claims, indicating depredation occurs on private lands that contain important habitat for wildlife.

"While compensation programs don't prevent the death of livestock, they do effectively support the maintenance of wildlife habitat on private lands," said Boyce. "In short, the predator compensation program is a good idea, because it supports wildlife in Alberta." A simple model

The compensation program is simple. When livestock such as cattle are killed by wolves, cougars, eagles or bears, ranchers receive payment for the market value of the animal. "In other provinces, predator compensation is a subsidy from provincial agriculture agencies," explained Boyce. In Alberta, the majority of funds come from the Alberta Conservation Association, funded partly by revenue from hunting and fishing licences.

Researchers also identified a substantial increase in compensation claims in the last 20 years. Boyce explained this is due to an increase in the wolf population, responsible for about 70 per cent of livestock deaths tracked in the program. The cost of the compensation program also rose during this time, bringing the amount paid in 2015-16 to nearly $800,000 from less than $100,000 in 2000.

Though ownership of the compensation program has shifted hands a number of times during the last 25 years, one thing is clear: the program contributes to maintaining wildlife habitats on private lands in Alberta.

"Predator compensation requires a sustainable, forward-thinking funding model," said Boyce.

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The paper, "Coexistence With Large Carnivores Supported by a Predator-Compensation Program," was published in Environmental Management.
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 17, 2018 -- Barbara Dosher and Etel Solingen, both University of California, Irvine scholars in the School of Social Sciences, have been honored by the National Academy of Sciences for major contributions to their fields.

Dosher, UCI Distinguished Professor of cognitive sciences, will share the Atkinson Prize in Psychological & Cognitive Sciences with Richard Shiffrin of Indiana University. Dosher is recognized for her groundbreaking work on human memory, attention and learning. Each recipient will receive $100,000.

Solingen, the Thomas T. & Elizabeth C. Tierney Chair in Global Peace & Conflict Studies, will be presented with the William & Katherine Estes Award for trailblazing work on nuclear proliferation and reducing the risks of nuclear war. She will receive a $20,000 prize.

"I am delighted that the National Academy is recognizing these exceptional individuals for their tremendous contributions," said Enrique Lavernia, UCI provost and executive vice chancellor. "Like so many members of the UCI faculty, Professors Dosher and Solingen are advancing our understanding of the world and helping develop innovative solutions to worldwide challenges."

Since the 1980s, Dosher has conducted paradigm-shifting research into the behavior and neurology of human memory, attention processes and learning using a combination of novel psychological techniques and elegant computational models. The latter describe, in explicit mathematical detail, how the brain represents information, makes decisions and learns over time. Dosher served as dean of UCI's School of Social Sciences from 2002 to 2013, was awarded the Howard Crosby Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2013, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011 - one of the highest honors bestowed upon a U.S. scholar.

Solingen is an internationally recognized political scientist and one of the world's foremost experts on nuclear proliferation and the global political economy. Her book Nuclear Logics: Contrasting Paths in East Asia & the Middle East won the American Political Science Association's 2008 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award for best book across all fields of political science, as well as its Robert L. Jervis & Paul W. Schroeder Award for best book on international history and politics. Solingen also was president of the International Studies Association from 2012 to 2013.

"These awards acknowledge the social and behavioral sciences at UCI as a true center of excellence. That they were given to two outstanding women representing very different fields - cognitive sciences and international relations - speaks to the breadth of our strengths as well as the seriousness of our commitment to expanding the horizons of our sciences," said Bill Maurer, social sciences dean.

Dosher and Solingen will receive their awards during an April 29 ceremony during the National Academy of Sciences' 155th annual meeting. They will be among 19 honorees in fields spanning the physical, biological and medical sciences.

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About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.
Small no-fishing zones around colonies of African penguins can help this struggling species, new research shows.

Working with the South African government, researchers from the universities of Exeter and Cape Town tested bans on catching "forage fish" such as sardines and anchovies - key prey for the endangered penguins - from 20km around their breeding islands.

The body condition and survival of chicks improved when the no-fishing zones were in place.

More research is needed, but the scientists say the fishing closures should continue in South Africa and should be considered elsewhere.

"The amount of forage fish caught worldwide is increasing and - although the effects are disputed - the impact on marine ecosystems could be severe," said Dr Richard Sherley, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"Forage fish are a key link in the food chain as they eat plankton and are preyed on by numerous species including tuna, dolphins, whales and penguins.

"We need to do more to understand the circumstances in which small no-fishing zones will improve the food available to predators, but our research shows this is a promising way to help African penguins."

The test areas were on a small scale compared to some no-fishing zones worldwide, which can cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometres.

Researchers examined colonies at Dassen Island, Robben Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island, and compared fishing bans of about three years with similar periods when fishing was allowed.

The study says evidence for overall effects was "subtle and inconsistent", with clear benefits for penguin populations at only two of the four islands.

Dr Sherley said it was difficult to discover the full effects of the no-fishing zones because many other factors also affect the birds.

"Decades of research may be needed to be absolutely certain of the impact on the penguins' population size," he said.

However, the researchers used a statistical method called Bayesian inference to demonstrate beyond doubt that the zones improved the health and survival rates of penguin chicks.

"There's never going to be a quick answer to problems in complex ecosystems," Dr Sherley said.

"However, without conservation action, there's a good chance African penguins will go extinct in at least some of their current colonies.

"We are calling for a precautionary and adaptive approach - no-fishing zones to protect this species, with an open mind to change as more evidence emerges."

Dr Stephen Votier, senior author of the study, added: "This is an excellent example of how a collaboration between government, fisheries and scientists can lead to positive outcomes for conservation.

"Statistics have played an important role here - only by using the approach we adopted was it possible to understand fully that these fisheries closures do indeed work."

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The paper, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is entitled: "Bayesian inference reveals positive but subtle effects of experimental fishery closures on marine predator demographics."
Scientists from three UK universities are to test one of the fundamental laws of physics as part of a major Europe-wide project awarded more than 3m in funding.

Experts from the University of Southampton, Queen's University Belfast and UCL have formed a consortium with European universities and British photonics technology company M Squared to test the limits of one of the core principles of quantum mechanics - the mind-boggling physical laws that allow microscopic particles such as atoms and electrons to be in two places at once.

Established at the beginning of the 20th century, quantum theory is a mathematical framework that provides, to date, the most accurate understanding of the results of experiments conducted on physical systems as small as single atoms, very small molecules and very faint light.

The consortium has devised an ambitious experiment to test the so-called quantum superposition principle (QSP) - the law that allows microscopic systems to appear in two different, perfectly distinguishable, configurations at the same time.

The validity of QSP at the microscopic level is accepted by scientists, and confirmed by an enormous amount of data. But what prevents it from applying to the 'large-scale' world around us? In other words, why do everyday objects such as cars, trees and people not behave in a quantum mechanical manner and exist in two places at once?

Unproven theories advanced since the 1980s suggest the existence of a universal background 'noise' that destroys QSP of larger objects, such as particles that can be seen using an optical microscope.

The 'Project TEQ' consortium, led by the University of Trieste, in Italy, will test the existence of this noise thanks to a 4.4m (3.9m) award from the European Commission.

Its experiment will involve a tiny particle of glass, one-thousandth of the width of a human hair, being levitated by an electric field in a vacuum at a temperature close to absolute zero (-273C). A laser will be shot at the particle, and the scattering of the laser's light measured for signs of movement of the particle.

If there is no movement, it means that quantum mechanics still apply at this scale and there is no universal background noise.

However, if movement is detected, it indicates the existence of a noise that prevents QSP applying at this scale. This would represent the first observed failure of quantum theory, setting a limit on the scale at which quantum mechanics apply and having implications for large-scale applications of any physical system based on quantum principles.

Professor Hendrik Ulbricht, of the University of Southampton, said: "The vast majority of phenomena and events that occur in our daily lives can be accounted for by the laws of physics established by Isaac Newton, but the microscopic world obeys the rules of quantum mechanics, which are so strange that they can seem counter-intuitive.

"Whether it's possible to observe quantum behaviour in macroscopic objects is the great unanswered question in quantum physics. If it turns out we can, this could eventually open the way for us to use the amazing characteristics of quantum mechanics in a much larger set of physical systems beyond the microscopic world. We're about to embark on a very exciting journey."

Professor Mauro Paternostro, of Queen's University Belfast, said: "Our research programme could prove that we do not have to deal with extremely small systems in order to see quantum effects, which is currently the main limitation of quantum technology.

"If you can prove that quantum theory extends to larger systems, it will offer a much more robust way of processing information: all the chips and integrated systems in computers could be shrunk to a much smaller scale and we would be able to manage quantum for daily applications.

"This would mean larger data-processing rates, larger memories and larger transmission rates of data across these larger networks."

Dr Graeme Malcolm OBE, CEO and co-founder of M Squared, said: "This fund for TEQ is an excellent example of the EU's continued support of quantum research and allows established thinking behind quantum mechanics to be tested to its limits.

"If this work does prove that quantum effects can be seen on a larger scale, it widens the potential commercial applications of quantum technology - in particular, the areas of sensing and metrology will see significant commercial opportunities in the coming decades. It's an honour to be part of the team exploring the potential of technology operating at the very limits of physics.

If the experiment proves that quantum mechanics can be applied to larger-scale systems, it could make creating quantum technologies for use in space easier, with satellites being used to transmit quantum information rather than relying on fibres on the ground or under the sea."

Other potential applications include the development of ultra-sensitive measuring devices that could outperform existing sensors to measure the effects of gravity.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

The TEQ consortium is led by the University of Trieste, Italy. UK members are: University of Southampton, UCL, Queen's University Belfast, and M Squared. European members are: Aarhus Universitet, Denmark; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy; Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Austria; Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands. The project is supported by a 4.4M grant awarded by European Commission's Horizon2020 research framework programme. The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top one per cent of institutions globally. Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 24,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www.southampton.ac.uk Queen's University Belfast is ranked in the top one per cent of universities in the world (QS World Rankings 2018 / webometrics.info) and is part of the Russell Group of universities, combining excellence in research and education with a student-centred ethos. Queen's is ranked 8th in the UK for Research Intensity with over 75% of its research assessed as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' in REF 2014, and is one of the UK's leading institutions for research commercialisation. For more information about UCL visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ M Squared is a leading developer of photonics and quantum technology, harnessing the power of light to drive society changing innovation.

The tools it designs and manufactures are used in collaboration with Nobel Prize-winning scientists, some of the world's top universities and innovative manufacturers. From idea, to lab, to real life - the company plays a part in every step of the journey. Its light-based applications are used in a number of fields, including quantum technology, biophotonics and chemical sensing.

Founded in Scotland, M Squared has offices in the UK, Europe and the USA, serving its international customer base. Its contribution to science and industry has been recognised with the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation and the Institute of Physics Business Innovation Awards. It has also featured in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and The Sunday Times Fast Track 100.

Learn more about M Squared at m2lasers.com

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One of the key principles in asset pricing -- how we value everything from stocks and bonds to real estate -- is that investments with high risk should, on average, have high returns.

"If you take a lot of risk, you should expect to earn more for it," said Scott Murray, professor of finance at George State University. "To go deeper, the theory says that systematic risk, or risk that is common to all investments" -- also known as 'beta' -- "is the kind of risk that investors should care about."

This theory was first articulated in the 1960s by Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965), and Mossin (1966). However, empirical work dating as far back as 1972 didn't support the theory. In fact, many researchers found that stocks with high risk often do not deliver higher returns, even in the long run.

"It's the foundational theory of asset pricing but has little empirical support in the data. So, in a sense, it's the big question," Murray said.

ISOLATING THE CAUSE

In a recent paper in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Murray and his co-authors Turan Bali (Georgetown University), Stephen Brown (Monash University) and Yi Tang (Fordham University), argue that the reason for this 'beta anomaly' lies in the fact that stocks with high betas also happen to have lottery-like properties - that is, they offer the possibility of becoming big winners. Investors who are attracted to the lottery characteristics of these stocks push their prices higher than theory would predict, thereby lowering their future returns.

To support this hypothesis, they analyzed stock prices from June 1963 to December 2012. For every month, they calculated the beta of each stock (up to 5,000 stocks per month) by running a regression-- a statistical way of estimating the relationships among variables -- of the stock's return on the return of the market portfolio. They then sorted the stocks into 10 groups based on their betas and examined the performance of stocks in the different groups.

"Theory predicts that stocks with high betas do better in the long run than stocks with low betas," Murray said. "Doing our analysis, we find that there really isn't a difference in the performance of stocks with different betas."

They next analyzed the data again and, for each stock month, calculated how lottery-like each stock was. Once again, they sorted the stocks into 10 groups based on their betas and then repeated the analysis. This time, however, they implemented a constraint that required each of the 10 groups to have stocks with similar lottery characteristics. By making sure the stocks in each group had the same lottery properties, they controlled for the possibility that their failure to detect a difference in performance between in their original tests was because the stocks in different beta groups have different lottery characteristics.

"We found that after controlling for lottery characteristics, the seminal theory is empirically supported," Murray said.

In other words: price pressure from investors who want lottery-like stocks is what causes the theory to fail. When this factor is removed, asset pricing works according to theory.

IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE

Other economists had pointed to a different factor -- leverage constraints -- as the main cause of this market anomaly. They believed that large investors like mutual funds and pensions that are not allowed to borrow money to buy large amounts of lower-risk stocks are forced to buy higher-risk ones to generate large profits, thus distorting the market.

However, an additional analysis of the data by Murray and his collaborators found that the lottery-like stocks were most often held by individual investors. If leverage constraints were the cause of the beta anomaly, mutual funds and pensions would be the main owners driving up demand.

The team's research won the prestigious Jack Treynor Prize, given each year by the Q Group, which recognizes superior academic working papers with potential applications in the fields of investment management and financial markets.

The work is in line with ideas like prospect theory, first articulated by Nobel-winning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman, which contends that investors typically overestimate the probability of extreme events -- both losses and gains.

"The study helps investors understand how they can avoid the pitfalls if they want to generate returns by taking more risks," Murray said.

To run the systematic analyses of the large financial datasets, Murray used the Wrangler supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Wrangler was built to enable data-driven research nationwide. Using Wrangler significantly reduced the time-to-solution for Murray.

"If there are 500 months in the sample, I can send one month to one core, another month to another core, and instead of computing 500 months separately, I can do them in parallel and have reduced the human time by many orders of magnitude," he said.

The size of the data for the lottery-effect research was not enormous and could have been computed on a desktop computer or small cluster (albeit taking more time). However, with other problems that Murray is working on - for instance research on options - the computational requirements are much higher and require super-sized computers like those at TACC.

"We're living in the big data world," he said. "People are trying to grapple with this in financial economics as they are in every other field and we're just scratching the surface. This is something that's going to grow more and more as the data becomes more refined and technologies such as text processing become more prevalent."

Though historically used for problems in physics, chemistry and engineering, advanced computing is starting to be widely used -- and to have a big impact -- in economics and the social sciences.

According to Chris Jordan, manager of the Data Management & Collections group at TACC, Murray's research is a great example of the kinds of challenges Wrangler was designed to address.

"It relies on database technology that isn't typically available in high-performance computing environments, and it requires extremely high-performance I/O capabilities. It is able to take advantage of both our specialized software environment and the half-petabyte flash storage tier to generate results that would be difficult or impossible on other systems," Jordan said. "Dr. Murray's work also relies on a corpus of data which acts as a long-term resource in and of itself -- a notion we have been trying to promote with Wrangler."

Beyond its importance to investors and financial theorists, the research has a broad societal impact, Murray contends.

"For our society to be as prosperous as possible, we need to allocate our resources efficiently. How much oil do we use? How many houses do we build? A large part of that is understanding how and why money gets invested in certain things," he explained. "The objective of this line of research is to understand the trade-offs that investors consider when making these sorts of decisions."

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How does the honeybee manage to visit the flowers that bloom exactly at the right time? How do bees find their way back to the hive even when the sun, which they use as reference point, has changed its position in the sky? How do they communicate this information to other bees? And which molecular processes control this behaviour and in which anatomical structures do they take place?

Chronobiology is the discipline that examines these and other questions about the circadian clocks of all living organisms from protozoans to humans. Professor Charlotte Helfrich-Forster is an expert in this discipline at the University of Wurzburg. She holds the Chair of Neurobiology and Genetics and does research at the Biocenter with a focus on the circadian rhythms of insects. Now she and her team have uncovered new details of these processes in the honeybee. The scientists published their findings in the journal Open Biology of the Royal Society.

Tracking down a peptide

"In our current study, we focused on the concentration of a specific peptide in the bee's central nervous system," Charlotte Helfrich-Forster explains. This peptide is called "pigment-dispersing factor" or short PDF in scientific language. It has been known to play a central role in the circadian clocks of insects for some time. Previous measurements also revealed that special nerve cells, the so-called clock neurons, produce PDF.

Helfrich-Forster with fellow researchers from the universities in Regensburg and Jerusalem have now scrutinized these nerve cells more closely. Their goal was to analyse the neuronal processes and anatomical structures of the circadian clock in detail. For this purpose, the scientists used high-resolution images of the bee's central nervous system combined with a continuous measurement of the local PDF concentration throughout the day and subsequent analysis. Additionally, the researchers administered artificial PDF peptides to the bees and studied the consequences.

Anatomical bridge in the clock network

Charlotte Helfrich-Forster sums up the central findings of these experiments as follows: "Our analyses show that PDF neurons head for brain areas that are essential for learning, memory and orientation to the sun. The concentration of the PDF proteins is subject to considerable fluctuations throughout the day with an absolute low early in the morning. When the bees were given artificial PDF, their typical behavioural pattern was postponed by some time."

For the scientists this is the clue that PDF clock neurons form an anatomical bridge between the different pacemaker cells in the clock network of insects. What is more, they transfer day-night information from the circadian clock to such brain areas that control complex behaviours such as orientation to the sun, temporal memory and organizing the work throughout the day.
VLADIVOSTOK, Russian Federation (Jan. 17, 2018) - The Far Eastern or Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is already among the rarest of the world's big cats, but new research reveals that it faces yet another threat: infection with canine distemper virus (CDV). A new study published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases describes the first documented case of CDV in a wild Far Eastern leopard.

The case involved a two-year-old female leopard that was found along a road that crosses the Land of the Leopard National Park, in the Russian territory of Primorskii Krai.

"The leopard was extremely sick when she was brought in, and had severe neurological disease" said Ekaterina Blidchenko, veterinarian with the National Park and the TRNGO Animal Rehabilitation Center. "Despite hand-feeding and veterinary attention, her condition worsened, and a decision was made to euthanize her for humane reasons."

Although CDV is well known in domestic dogs, it also infects a wide range of carnivore species, including big cats. In 1994, a CDV outbreak in Tanzania killed over 1,000 lions in the Serengeti National Park.

Said Nadezhda Sulikhan, a scientific staff member of Land of the Leopard National Park and Ph.D. candidate at the Federal Scientific Center of East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity (part of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences): "The leopard virus was genetically similar to infections we've diagnosed in wild Amur tigers. But we think these infections have spilled over from a disease reservoir among domestic dogs, or common wild carnivores like badgers and foxes."

Unlike the situation for a social species like lions, outbreaks of CDV are likely to spread more slowly among more solitary cats like leopards and tigers. However, even infrequent transmission can have profound consequences for the species concerned. Research has estimated that extinction of small populations of tigers is 65 percent more likely when they're exposed to CDV.

Globally, carnivore populations are being pushed into smaller and more fragmented islands of habitat. If these trends continue, infectious diseases are likely to become a greater threat to carnivore survival in the future.

Said Dr. Martin Gilbert, Wildlife Health Cornell Carnivore Specialist with Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine: "As carnivore numbers decline, they face a greater risk from chance events like outbreaks of disease. With such a limited breeding population, even a small number of deaths from disease can be the difference between the survival of a population or extinction."

The combined pressures of habitat degradation, hunting and prey depletion have already marginalized this subspecies to a single population of approximately 80 individuals along the border of the Russian Far East and neighboring northeast China. Conservationists now need to understand the severity of this new-found threat, and also where it is coming from, as this information is critical for developing measures that counter the disease's impact.

Said Dr. Sulikhan: "Until we know where the virus is coming from, it is impossible to target vaccinations or other interventions to prevent infections in leopards. We are now working to unlock this riddle, and understand the importance of domestic dogs versus wild sources of the virus."

For now, the most effective way to combat this new disease threat is through traditional carnivore conservation approaches; reducing hunting and protecting habitat.

Dr. Dale Miquelle, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Russia Program and co-author of the paper, said: "By increasing the size and connectivity of leopard populations, they become more able to cope with losses from infectious disease, vastly reducing the risk of extinction"

Said Tatiana Baranowska, Director the Land of the Leopard National Park which holds the majority of Far Eastern leopards left in the world: "We are doing our utmost, in concert with our Chinese colleagues, to improve and expand leopard habitat to enlarge the existing population. Although disease and other threats are looming, we have great hope that our current and planned efforts will secure a future for this unique big cat."

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Wildlife Health Cornell, a College of Veterinary Medicine Center of Excellence, represents an unprecedented approach to the health challenges wild animals face around the world - a comprehensive, science-based response by a team of the world's top wildlife health experts. With an emphasis on the types of interdisciplinary collaboration often required to foster real progress along the science to policy and action continuum, Wildlife Health Cornell has grown out of a sense of genuine urgency regarding the fate of our planet's wildlife, an increasing understanding of our own dependence on the planet's natural systems, and the recognition that it will take a new generation of colleagues to halt and reverse the trends we face. By improving knowledge, understanding, and capacity at the interface of wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health and livelihoods, environmental stewardship can be enhanced today, and for tomorrow. See wildlifehealthcornell.org.

WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

Land of the Leopard National Park is a 262,000-hectare (650,000-acre) national park in Primorskii Krai, Russia. It was established in April 2012 following the merger of Kedrovaya Pad State Biosphere Nature Reserve, Barsovy Federal Wildlife Refuge, Borisovkoye Plateau Regional Wildlife Refuge, and a new territory along the border with China. Its critical mission is to save and preserve the Amur leopard population. Land of the Leopard National Park accounts for about 70 percent of Amur leopard natural habitat in Russia. The decision to establish the park was truly historic: the world's rarest big cats can now live here in safety. The National Park is also considered "the most feline territory of Russia" with four wild cats: Amur leopard, Amur tiger, leopard cat and lynx. Areas of work include law enforcement, research, ecological education and international cooperation. Visit: leopard-land.ru Follow @primorye.leoland e-mail: kedrpad@mail.ru
From: Ad Council For Immediate Release: Dateline: New York , NY Wednesday, January 17, 2018







Looking to cut through the advertising clutter and authentically connect with your audience? Break through the fourth wall and meet viewers where they are online with Facebook Live! Facebook Live gives viewers a personalized, behind-the-scenes look into the broadcasters world. Live video is also watched three times longer than pre-recorded video, and it receives ten times more engagement, according to Facebook.

Learn more about Facebooks powerful, popular live streaming tool with our guide below.

Who Facebook users and brand pages can share live videos with followers and friends with Facebook Live. Users can also watch livestream videos by clicking Live Video under the Explore tab on the Facebook Newsfeed.

What Facebook Live broadcasters can go live from their Newsfeed on both desktop and mobile, and can film for up to four hours.

Livestreaming provides an unprecedented level of access for viewers, allowing them to interact with broadcasters in real time. Viewers can comment and react to livestreams at the bottom of the broadcasting screen; broadcasters can then respond within the comments section or in the video.

It is best practice to acknowledge the presence of individual viewers and engage with their questions or comments as they appear. Answer the most relevant comments and like (or react to) others.

When

Livestreams are most successful when there is a clear reason why youre asking viewers to tune in. Be sure to stress your videos hook of why its relevant today. If the content isnt timely or can be found elsewhere, there is little reason for people to engage.

Where Livestream videos will appear both in followers Newsfeeds and on the broadcasters Facebook page. Facebooks algorithm prioritizes live video over recorded video, meaning that Facebook Lives are pushed to the top of viewers Newsfeeds to maximize views.

If users recently interacted with a Facebook page or liked a page, they will likely get a notification when that page goes live. Viewers can also click Live Subscribe on previous Live videos to be alerted about future livestreams.

Facebook Lives can also be watched after the fact on the broadcasters Facebook page. Like any other post, you can remove the video at any time. You can also re-purpose livestream videos and use them across your social channels.

Why In a world dominated by overt branding and sales messaging, todays audiences respond best to authentic creative. Like with live TV, Facebook Lives immediacy creates a sense that anything can happen, even if the piece is entirely scripted. Playing into this authenticity is key to maintaining viewers and distinguishing your livestream from the plethora of other videos on Facebook.

The time limit of livestreaming also fosters a sense of urgency among viewers, encouraging them to tune in now to access key information, engage with your organization, and experience new content firsthand. Coupled with social promotion prior to the live stream, this sense of urgency can help drive audiences to your post.

As mentioned above, Facebook Lives provide a platform for brands to directly engage with key stakeholders. This community engagement is central in building brand trust and reputation.

How The simplest way to go Live is by broadcasting from within the Facebook app.

Click start a new post at the top of your Newsfeed and select Live Video from the drop down options to launch the Live interface. You can add a description to your livestream and select the audience before going live. Press record to begin your broadcast, watch the three-second countdown, and start shooting!

The most successful Facebook Lives have a tight run of show, so we highly recommend developing a detailed script and strategy prior to your livestream. Leave little to chance by prepping talent and rehearsing ahead of time, and continually looping back to the objective of the video.

For additional tips, check out Facebook Lives website

With this guide, you will be on our way to becoming a Facebook Live master!



The post

Looking to cut through the advertising clutter and authentically connect with your audience? Break through the fourth wall and meet viewers where they are online with Facebook Live! Facebook Live gives viewers a personalized, behind-the-scenes look into the broadcasters world. Live video is also watched three times longer than pre-recorded video, and it receives ten times more engagement, according to Facebook.Learn more about Facebooks powerful, popular live streaming tool with our guide below.Facebook users and brand pages can share live videos with followers and friends with Facebook Live. Users can also watch livestream videos by clicking Live Video under the Explore tab on the Facebook Newsfeed.Facebook Live broadcasters can go live from their Newsfeed on both desktop and mobile, and can film for up to four hours.Livestreaming provides an unprecedented level of access for viewers, allowing them to interact with broadcasters in real time. Viewers can comment and react to livestreams at the bottom of the broadcasting screen; broadcasters can then respond within the comments section or in the video.It is best practice to acknowledge the presence of individual viewers and engage with their questions or comments as they appear. Answer the most relevant comments and like (or react to) others.Go live anytime!Livestreams are most successful when there is a clear reason why youre asking viewers to tune in. Be sure to stress your videos hook of why its relevant today. If the content isnt timely or can be found elsewhere, there is little reason for people to engage.Livestream videos will appear both in followers Newsfeeds and on the broadcasters Facebook page. Facebooks algorithm prioritizes live video over recorded video, meaning that Facebook Lives are pushed to the top of viewers Newsfeeds to maximize views.If users recently interacted with a Facebook page or liked a page, they will likely get a notification when that page goes live. Viewers can also click Live Subscribe on previous Live videos to be alerted about future livestreams.Facebook Lives can also be watched after the fact on the broadcasters Facebook page. Like any other post, you can remove the video at any time. You can also re-purpose livestream videos and use them across your social channels.In a world dominated by overt branding and sales messaging, todays audiences respond best to authentic creative. Like with live TV, Facebook Lives immediacy creates a sense that anything can happen, even if the piece is entirely scripted. Playing into this authenticity is key to maintaining viewers and distinguishing your livestream from the plethora of other videos on Facebook.The time limit of livestreaming also fosters a sense of urgency among viewers, encouraging them to tune in now to access key information, engage with your organization, and experience new content firsthand. Coupled with social promotion prior to the live stream, this sense of urgency can help drive audiences to your post.As mentioned above, Facebook Lives provide a platform for brands to directly engage with key stakeholders. This community engagement is central in building brand trust and reputation.The simplest way to go Live is by broadcasting from within the Facebook app.Click start a new post at the top of your Newsfeed and select Live Video from the drop down options to launch the Live interface. You can add a description to your livestream and select the audience before going live. Press record to begin your broadcast, watch the three-second countdown, and start shooting!The most successful Facebook Lives have a tight run of show, so we highly recommend developing a detailed script and strategy prior to your livestream. Leave little to chance by prepping talent and rehearsing ahead of time, and continually looping back to the objective of the video.For additional tips, check out Facebook Lives website here With this guide, you will be on our way to becoming a Facebook Live master!The post A How-To Guide: Facebook Live appeared first on AdLibbing.org


Everyone tells those "little white lies" and then there are times when we are being lied to in terms of a serious question in our life or that of our country.

Recent reports on The Pentagon Papers had interviews with Daniel Ellsberg where he outlined the fact that we were losing in Vietnam. While on a WH plane, he discussed his findings, at length, with McNamara who agreed we were not "winning." Once McNamara got off the plane to meet the press, he immediately went into a discussion of how we were winning beyond our wildest expectations; directly contrary to the reports he had just received. Plainly stated, McNamara lied to the world and to the American people.

Were there any "tells" in the speech that Secretary Robert McNamara launched into at the foot of the steps off the plane? It doesn't seem so. He was cool, apparently confident and had none of that tell-tale sweating we always saw on President Nixon's forehead.

President Johnson also decided to deceive the American public by indicating there had been an attack on an American ship in the Bay of Tonkin; it was a lie. http://bitly.com/2mFHBKr The alleged attack was used to escalate the war in Vietnam.

When President Bill Clinton said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," he was lying, but did it look like he was lying? No, it didn't and he made a point of emphasizing it with his hand; a tell of a lie in some people's judgment. Additionally, he paused at many points. Forensic investigators see pauses like this as attempts to collect the person's thoughts in order to present a believable story. The YouTube video is here: http://bitly.com/2mDdnrl

Some use pauses, some find their mouths dry, some will shift their eyes from side to side, avoiding direct eye contact, but that's not always true of a liar. Liars can also attempt to "get over" on their audience by talking so fast and being so voluble that no one has a chance to question for irrelevances or areas where questions are needed.

Today, we saw an incredibly rambling, Tommy-gun approach to the medical exam results of Donald Trump. Although obese, with high cholesterol, the White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson (http://cnn.it/2mCg8ci) who rationalized the use of a cognitive assessment, it has problems with the truth. A cognitive test is not a usual test for Presidents, Dr. Jackson said and Mr. Trump got 30/30 on the testseemingly outside the usual test results. He characterized Trump's health and cognition as "excellent."

Was the staccato delivery an attempt to use up the time and permit only limited questioning? Possibly. Was he anxious? No doubt since Mr. Trump, he knew, would be watching his performance.

Can we truly know when someone is trying to deceive? Not really. Psychologists know that we need to have a sample of the person's usual behavior in order to make some assumptions. In the instance of Dr. Jackson, we have none.

Has Mr. Trump's physical closed all discussion of his health and mental functioning? No. Patients have the right, whether a President or not, to release only the information they wish. President Kennedy's physicians hid the fact that he had Addison's Disease which he hid with a deep tan. They also knew he received excessive amounts of cortisone injections as well as stimulants. Kennedy was an exceedingly ill man who required crutches many times. Mr. Trump may hide his rosacea with heavy pancake makeup.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was also a man with limiting medical conditions. His staff carefully hid that fact that he wore heavy leg braces that had to be locked into place for him to walk. A special railroad station for his private train car was constructed beneath Grand Central Station in New York City for him to travel in secret and further hide his disability.

Is it usual for a White House physician to engage in deceit about the health of the President? History would seem to bear that out.
Written by: Tracy Turner

Im confused about the recent reports regarding leafy greens such as romaine lettuce. How is it that leafy greens can cause a foodborne illness?

Well, it is not the leafy greens themselves making people sick, but rather that they are the suspected source of pathogenic E. coli that has sickened some 58 people in Canada.

Several people in the United States have also become ill from a strain of E. coli that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is closely related genetically to the strain that caused the outbreak in Canada. In fact, 24 such illnesses have been reported in 15 states, including Ohio, between Nov. 15 and Dec. 12, 2017, the CDC said this week.

The likely source of the outbreak in the United States appears to be leafy greens, the CDC said, noting that the agency has not identified a single type or brand associated with the outbreak. Their investigation is ongoing and includes interviewing sick people to determine what they ate in the weeks before their illnesses started, the agency said in a written statement.

Preliminary results show that the type of E. coli making people sick in both countries is closely related genetically, meaning the ill people are more likely to share a common source of infection, the CDC statement said.

While Canadian authorities have warned about romaine lettuce consumption, the CDC states that because we have not identified a source of the infections, CDC is unable to recommend whether U.S. residents should avoid a particular food.

However, the CDC statement notes that leafy greens typically have a short shelf life, and since the last illness started a month ago, it is likely that contaminated leafy greens linked to this outbreak are no longer available for sale.

The illness in question is a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 infections. This strain of E. coli can produce a toxin that in some cases can cause serious illness, kidney failure or death. Thus far, at least five people in the United States have been hospitalized and one has died, according to the CDC. There has also been at least one death in Canada also, according to Consumer Reports.

So how can leafy greens become contaminated with E. coli?

If animal feces are in the field or soil in which the lettuce is grown, or if the lettuce comes into contact with water that contains the pathogen, E. coli can be transferred from the feces onto the lettuce. It can also be spread if a person who carries the bacteria doesnt wash his or her hands after using the bathroom, and then processes or prepares food, said Abigail Snyder, an assistant professor and food safety field specialist in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at The Ohio State University.

Its important to note that washing contaminated greens doesnt remove all bacteria, food safety experts say. While cooking can eliminate E. coli, most people dont cook their leafy green salads. For that reason, avoidance is sometimes recommended when the source of an outbreak is identified.

Symptoms of E. coli infection can begin as soon as 24 to 48 hours or as long as 10 days after eating contaminated food. Those symptoms include vomiting, severe or bloody diarrhea, and abdominal pain.

Chow Line is a service of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and its outreach and research arms, OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Send questions to Chow Line, c/o Tracy Turner, 364 W. Lane Ave., Suite B120, Columbus, OH 43201, or turner.490@osu.edu.
The dos and donts of selecting your 2018 seeds

SALEM, Ohio  With tighter margins and constantly evolving pest and disease issues, growers are looking to fine-tune their 2018 seed order.

There is no uniform advice when helping farmers make corn and soybean seed purchases. But, the experts agree its best for growers to approach their seed purchase holistically.

Seed has been the fastest growing expense on American farms over the last 10 years.

The average growth rate for seed costs since 2006 is 11.3 percent, which means that farmers who spent an average of $43/acre on seed in 2006 are spending around $118/acre in 2016, reported farmdoc daily, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign digital publication in July 2016.

Such rising costs, compounded by low commodity prices and last years record crop, puts a spotlight on seed selection.

Farmers get paid based on yield, so that is obviously something to consider, said Laura Lindsay, Ohio State Extension soybean and small grain production specialist.

But, it is important to consider all factors and do your research. Ohio State has published trials for many years, in many locations. There is so much information available, it is important to take a look, she added.

Claire Coombs, Penn State Extension educator agrees, it is important to do your research.

Look at Penn State trial reports. They have details such as yield, standability, resistance and explain each feature of the seed, she said.

Such impartial research is the best place to start. Looking at seed company reports is helpful as well, but Extension reports give unbiased results.

There is no one size fits all in seed selection  what your neighbor plants isnt necessarily the right choice for your field, said Lindsey.

Find seed trial results:

Ohio State Extension: https://u.osu.edu/perf/ Penn State Extension: https://extension.psu.edu  search grain trials.

Use a variety

Dont assume you can pick one variety that will work best for every field on the farm, Coombs said, who specializes in field and forage crops.

You can cross a road and the soil and issues in the field my be different. Using one type of seed is like putting all your eggs in one basket.

Using different types of seed is a way of ensuring farmers against whatever comes their way this season.

There is no way to tell what weather or pests will come your way; using a variety of seeds could be protecting yourself against this years problem, Coombs said.

Another benefit of using multiple types of seed is getting to do a bit of your own research, testing yield, standability and disease pressure across an entire field and see what is working or not on your own land, Coombs said.

Know your field

It is common for farmers to buy traits they dont need because they want to protect themselves from everything possible.

But, that is where knowing your field comes in, Coombs said. Knowing your fields history  previous crops, soil types, history of diseases or pests  will help select the right seeds.

We dont need to be planting unneeded traits. If we can reduce traits, we can also reduce building up a resistance to those traits, Coombs said.

Falling into the pressure of buying early or in bulk rarely pays, she added. The best seed for your soils is often worth more in terms of yield than any discount.

Below the soil

Some soybean diseases have few symptoms and are nearly impossible to detect above ground, said Lindsey.

Common issues decreasing yields in Ohio include Phytophthora root rot, stem rot and soybean cyst nematode, which is a parasitic nematode.

She recommends having your soil tested, and being sure to take samples from any low-producing areas because they could have hidden issues.

In a recent test, we found over 80 percent of fields had some degree of cyst nematode, Lindsey said. There is not always above-ground symptoms, but if you have a low-yielding area, get it tested.

The right seed selection can overcome these parasites.

Dont go it alone

After you do your own research and document the history of your fields, the next step is to talk to your seed representative about problems or concerns in particular fields.

Talking to Extension educators and seed representatives can help find the right seeds for your fields.

Coombs encourages farmers to use as many resources as you can. Take the time to do the research, talk to experts  it may take several hours of your time, but could add bushels per acre.

Top 3 tips for seed selection

Evaluate your past varieties. How did the variety perform on the best field? On the worst field?

How much did the seed cost?

How much fertilizer, insecticide or other inputs did this seed need to reach its yield? Examine the specifics of your farm. What pests and diseases are a risk?

What varieties are best for my soil type?

Do I plan to make any big changes on my farm this year? (i.e. invest in irrigation or drainage)

Evaluate seeds for profitability. Evaluate sees for profitability. Can I get a discount for buying early or in bulk?

Do I need genetic traits and/or seed treatment?

Could I be using less seed?

Source: Farmers Business Network, Seed Selection Playbook; Ohio State Extension, Agronomic Crops Network.
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New Holland has presented its next generation tractor powered by methane, and along with it its vision for a sustainable future of agriculture.

New Holland's latest development in its vision for the sustainable future of farming at the LAMMA Show is a methane powered concept tractor.

The machinery giant said it imagines the farm of the future as being completely energy independent, and that such a self-sufficient future is achievable today.

Operating costs are reduced by 30% and it produces only 20% of the pollution emissions compared a conventional diesel-powered tractor.

Biomethane as a sustainable fuel is particularly well suited to farms, as they have the raw materials and the space to house a biodigester to produce the gas.

The biodigester is fed with specifically grown energy crops, animal waste, food waste or crop residues. It can use waste collected from food factories, supermarkets and restaurants in addition to the materials gathered at the farm.

The biogas produced in the biodigester is transferred to a refining station where it is transformed into fuel-grade methane to power the farms vehicles and machinery.

'Efficient technology'

The methane can also be used to fuel a generator to produce electricity that can be used on the farm with any extra fed into the electricity grid to power local communities.

The by-products of biodigestion can be used as natural fertilisers on the farms fields.

Carlo Lambro, New Holland Agriculture Brand President, commented: The new methane powered concept tractor is the latest development in New Hollands pursuit of sustainable and efficient technology through innovation.

Its groundbreaking engine delivers the same performance and has the same durability as its standard equivalent, but with much lower running costs.

It combines alternative fuels and advanced agricultural technology to create a vital link that closes the loop in the Energy Independent Farms virtuous cycle by running on the energy produced from the land and waste products.
The Met Office has warned of persistent heavy snow for southern Scotland and north east England, and that rural communities are likely to become cut off.

A deepening area of low pressure is expected to track east across the UK during Wednesday night and early Thursday (17-18 January).

A spell of persistent and heavy snow is expected to develop. 3-8 cm of fresh snow is likely to accumulate widely with up to 20 cm over high ground.

The Met Office's amber warning will be in place for North East England, North West England, SW Scotland, Lothian Borders and Strathclyde.

It said some rural communities are likely to become cut off and power cuts are "probable".

Kathryn Samson, political Correspondent ITV News, posted on Twitter: "Tough conditions for hill farmers. NFU Scotland just shared snow shots from Megdale farm near Langholm. 12 inches of snow."

More than a foot (36cm) of snow was recorded in Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway, Glenanne in Co Armagh had 23cm, while Tulloch Bridge in Inverness saw 21cm of snow overnight with temperatures as low as -4C, forecasters said.

Police in Dumfries and Galloway have warned against "all but essential travel".

Less severe yellow warnings are in place with snow and ice forecast until Friday evening, with Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England areas affected.
Two national products have been highlighted at the House of Commons for their great importance to British life, beer and cheese.

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) teamed up with the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group to highlight the importance of two great national products  British beer and cheese - to the UK economy.

To demonstrate the close links between farmers and brewers, the two organisations hosted a beer and cheese tasting event for MPs yesterday (16 January) at the House of Commons.

MPs sampled a range of beers made from British malting barley as well as some of the 700 cheeses that are produced in Britain.

Beer and pubs generate 13 billion in tax revenue every year, while the total value of cheese sold in the UK in 2016 was 2.75 billion with almost half the cheese eaten being British.

Mike Wood MP, Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, said: The UK produces over 700 cheeses  more than France - and 10,000 different beers. Both are traditional agricultural products that trace their histories back thousands of years.

This tasting in the House of Commons showed not only the enormous diversity of both British cheese and British beer but how they are a match made in heaven - an Isle of Wight blue cheese with Suffolk ale; a West Midlands Brie with Scottish lager; or a London Porter with a smoked cheese from the North East - this was a mouth-watering eye opener.

'Patriotic'

The event comes as Defra Secretary Michael Gove urged the British public to be "more patriotic" in their cheese buying habits.

He boasted that British dairy farmers boast some of the finest cheeses in the world.

NFU Vice President Guy Smith added: Beer and cheese provide vitally important markets for British dairy and arable farmers both at home and abroad. Two million tonnes of British malting barley is grown every year  while around 25% to 30% of the milk produced by dairy farmers is processed into cheese.

We want MPs to understand the significance of both supply chains to the UK economy and to support British farmers and brewers so they can remain competitive, sustainable and resilient. And of course one of the best ways to discuss this is over a pint of British beer.

At the Oxford Farming Conference, Mr Gove said the government could introduce a "gold standard" food labelling system which highlights the credentials and quality of British produce in supermarkets.
This Sounds Pretty Intriguing

Director Ali Abbas Zafar was quoted as saying to DNA, "We have just locked the script. The idea is to make Salman look the way he appeared in Maine Pyar Kiya - from the time he began his career to now. But we will know how much we can achieve only after our complete research is done."

VFX & Prosthetics Will Come To Their Aid

Ali revealed that they will reportedly use an age-reduction technique to achieve what they have envisioned. He added, "We are in talks with the prosthetics and VFX team of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. They had worked on the Shahrukh Khan-starrer Fan, too."

Salman Hates Using Prosthetics

In one of his earlier interviews, the 'Tiger Zinda Hai' actor had confessed that he hates using prosthetics as it aggravates his nerve disorder (trigeminal neuralgia).

Ali Will Be Careful

The filmmaker said, "I know Salman doesn't like a lot of prosthetics and make-up, so we will have to design something that doesn't bother him too much because he's the central character."

Will They Seek Help Of Technology?

He further added, "We are figuring out other ways of doing it. Benjamin Button came a decade ago and during this time, a lot has happened with respect to technology. Many things can be done with VFX. So, we might not need too much prosthetics or make-up."

But One Thing Is Sure; Fans Will Be In For A Treat

Ali concluded, "He's such a good-looking man. He will work a little harder, as I keep pushing him to lose more weight and look younger. He can reduce weight and look 10 years younger within four weeks." Well, we too agree with this!
Why Is The Payment Of Evicted Contestants Is Delayed?

The website's sources (close to the actors), revealed , "The channel will not make payments for at least another week as Colors is facing a huge cash crunch due to default on payments by sponsors and advertisers. And stuck between the big corporates are the commoners Bigg Boss contestants, who cannot even enjoy their new-found fame and stardom."

Evicted Contestants Upset!

On condition of anonymity, at least three evicted Bigg Boss 11 contestants confided to India.com that their payments have been delayed by the channel.

Bigg Boss Has Changed Their Lives Completely

One of the contestants spoke to the website strictly off the record (as the contestants didn't want to antagonise the channel and the production house), "After eviction from Bigg Boss our lives have changed completely."

The Evicted Contestants Find Difficult To Maintain The Status!

"Gone are the days when we could safely travel by public transport like local trains and BEST buses in Mumbai, now we have to travel only by cabs to maintain the status and our lifestyles. We have to spend on various additional stuff after our stint on the reality show, which has doubled our daily expenses."

Gehana Vasisth Says

Gehana Vasisth, who was in news for various controversial statements regarding Bigg Boss contestant (especially Arshi Khan) and was also in limelight regarding her entry on the show, was quoted by the website as saying, "At least two contestants have been openly complaining about this discriminatory treatment by the channel and production house vis-a-vis contestants."

Gehana Adds

"They were used by the channel as extras to prop up the show while the winners were fixed. Now the channel is delaying the payment to the extras and some other contestants."

An Evicted Contestant Says

Another evicted contestant told, "The channel should have paid us so that we can spend on all this stuff. Post eviction, contestants get invited by media persons for press interviews and similar media-related events."

Contestants Have To Spend Huge Amount Of Garments & Transportations!

"I have spent Rs 10,000/- on cab fare in the last 3 weeks after my eviction. The channel wanted us to get our own garments for the finale. Such garments cost a fortune. How does the channel expect us to pay from our own pockets for such expenses?"

The Channel Provided Garments To Finalists And Not Others!

Regarding the payment, the contestant said, "the contestant further said, "They won't even give us a fixed date for the disbursement of payment. If they had initially given me a fixed date, I could have made adjustments, but the production people just kept saying next week, next week, and so on."

They provided garments to celebrities (who could afford the expenses) for the finale, but commoners were asked to get their own outfits!

Why Such Differentiation, Asks A Contestant!

The contestant asks, "Why are the channel and the production house differentiating between the commoners and celebs, when it comes to providing outfits."
Over the past several years, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A 0.99%) (BRK.B 1.08%) succession plan for when Warren Buffett can no longer run the company has become of greater interest to investors. We recently got some more concrete information about the succession plan when Berkshire managers Ajit Jain and Greg Abel both joined the company's board and were named vice chairmen, a move Buffett confirmed was part of the company's succession plan.

So, who are these two men who could take Warren Buffett's place? Here's what we know about Berkshire's succession plan, and a brief introduction to the two Berkshire managers who could potentially run the $600 billion conglomerate in the future.

Berkshire's succession plan

Warren Buffett is 87 years old, and his business partner and right-hand man, Charlie Munger, is 94. While we all hope Buffett and Munger live well into their 100s, the reality is that they won't be able and/or willing to run the company forever. So over the past few years, Berkshire's succession plan has become much more of a hot topic.

The most extensive discussion of Buffett's thoughts on the matter can be found in his 2014 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. The letter represented 50 years at the helm for Buffett, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that much of the "next 50 years" discussion included Berkshire's post-Buffett future.

The first part of the plan is that Buffett's son, Howard, will most likely succeed Buffett as a non-executive chairman. This is to create a system of checks and balances, as it is significantly easier to remove an underperforming or otherwise poorly matched CEO if that person is also the chairman.

Going further into the discussion, Buffett discussed some qualities that Berkshire's next CEO should possess. Just to name a few of the key attributes:

The CEO must be a "rational, calm, and decisive individual who has a broad understanding of business and good insights into human behavior."

The CEO must "know his limits."

Berkshire's CEO must be "all in" for the company, not for himself. (Note: Buffett acknowledges that he uses male pronouns in these statements but says that gender will have no bearing on the CEO search.)

The CEO must be motivated by the company's success, not by money.

The CEO must be able to "fight off the ABCs of business decay, which are arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency."

The CEO should come from internal candidates. Buffett wants the next CEO to already know the company well.

The CEO should be relatively young, and "not likely to retire at 65." Buffett defines this as someone who should last for more than 10 years at the helm.

Who is Ajit Jain?

Ajit Jain is 66 years old and has been working with Berkshire for 31 years. He is Berkshire's newly appointed vice chairman of insurance operations. Until recently, Jain was president of Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group and also led several of Berkshire's insurance companies.

Buffett has spoken very highly of Jain throughout the years, and at one point he even told Berkshire's employees that they could "swap me for him." In his most recent annual letter, Buffett said:

Ajit has created tens of billions of value for Berkshire shareholders. If there were ever to be another Ajit and you could swap me for him, don't hesitate. Make the trade!

On another occasion, Buffett said that "If Munger, I, and Ajit are ever in a sinking boat and you can only save one of us, swim to Ajit." To put it mildly, Buffett feels that Jain has been, and will continue to be, a tremendous asset to Berkshire and its shareholders.

Who is Greg Abel?

Greg Abel is 55 years old, has been with Berkshire for 25 years, and has been in charge of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Whereas Jain was named vice chairman of insurance operations, Abel is now vice chairman of non-insurance business operations. In other words, Jain is in charge of insurance, and Abel is in charge of all of the other subsidiaries.

Buffett has also been eager to praise Abel over the years, calling him a "dealmaker" and speaking highly of his management skills. "I always make time for Greg when he calls, because he brings me great ideas and is truly innovative in his thinking and business approach," Buffett said in 2013.

Why two potential successors?

Buffett has run Berkshire Hathaway for more than 50 years and wants a successor who will be at the helm of Berkshire for a long time. In other words, he doesn't necessarily want a CEO who's going to retire in a few years.

While there are probably several factors that Berkshire's board will take into account when the time comes to name a successor, the age and potential longevity of the next CEO will certainly be one of the main deciding factors. There has been widespread speculation that Jain would take the reins of Berkshire if it were necessary now.

In his 2014 letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote, "Both the board and I believe we now have the right person to succeed me as CEO -- a successor ready to assume the job the day after I die or step down." Many believe Buffett was directly referring to Jain in this statement.

However, Jain is 66 years old. If Buffett remains in charge for another five years, Jain would be in his 70s, and the board may be more likely to appoint Abel, who will just be turning 60. In a nutshell, since nobody knows if Buffett will continue to lead Berkshire for one more week or 10 more years, this move gives the board some flexibility.
Mysterious Lenovo branded smartphone photo appears online News oi -Samden Sherpa ZUK Mobile CEO has now shared an image of a mysterious Lenovo smartphone on Weibo.

We are expecting great things in 2018, especially in the smartphone world. We will definitely be seeing a lot of new innovations and more significantly a new trend will arise. While manufacturers will be busy this year, it looks like Lenovo is also working on reviving its ZUK brand after it had announced that it will stop manufacturing ZUK branded phones to concentrate on Moto phones in April 2017.

To recall Lenovo ZUK Edge might have been the last ZUK phone that was launched way back in December 2016. But it now appears that the company is working on something in the same brand line. Well, ZUK Mobile CEO has now shared an image of a mysterious Lenovo smartphone on Weibo. As far as speculations go this could be a ZUK phone that will arrive to probably resurrect the brand from its dormant state.

On analyzing the leaked image, the handset features a metallic rear with an arc design. There is the logo of the company at the bottom of the back panel. However, that is pretty much that we can make out from the image. While the details are scarce, we are investigating this case and will be following it closely.

Meanwhile, as mentioned above the ZUK brand was reportedly closed in December 2016. But rumors seem to pop up here and there suggesting that the company was working on a ZUK handset and that it could launch ZUK Z3 in the market. However, nothing had happened till now.

OnePlus 5 vs Honor 8 Pro vs Nubia M2 Which has the best dual-camera setup ! - GIZBOT

Earlier Vice President of Lenovo Group Chang Cheng was also moved to Mobil Business Group in China in order to restructure smartphone business in the country. Since he now holds the position of Product Planning Manager for Lenovo Group in China, many are of the opinion that the company under his leadership may resurrect the popular ZUK brand. At present, Lenovo is no longer making ZUK devices, but the ZUI Android skin is available on Moto branded phones in China.

What do you think this mysterious Lenovo phone is? Could it be an upcoming ZUK phone? Do let us know in the comments.

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Xiaomi Mi 7 may launch at MWC 2018; expected features News oi -Chandrika Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had previously confirmed that Xiaomi Mi 7 will be unveiled during the Chinese spring season; which means sometime around end of February or early March.

Samsung has already confirmed that the Galaxy S9 and S9 will get launched at the MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2018. It now seems like another company may use the tech exhibition to unveil its flagship. We are talking about Xiaomi and its Mi 7 flagship smartphone. The Chinese phone maker will be one of the exhibitors at the MWC that will take place in Barcelona in the next month.

As you can see in the above screenshot from Xiaomi's official website, it is confirmed that the company will attend the event as an exhibitor. If you recall, the company's CEO Lei Jun had previously confirmed that Xiaomi Mi 7 will be unveiled during the Chinese spring season; which means sometime around end of February or early March. So speculations are rife that the next generation Xiaomi flagship will get announced at the upcoming MWC.

The Xiaomi Mi 7 has appeared in several leaks detailing on the phone's specifications. Other that that, at the recent Snapdragon Tech Summit, Lei Jun said that the smartphone would be coming with Qualcomm's latest flagship processor Snapdragon 845. If the Mi 7 does get announced at next month, Xiaomi could become the first Chinese OEM to launch a Snapdragon 845 powered smartphone.

Other than that, the Mi 7 will be the first Xiaomi phone to feature wireless charging. The smartphone is also believed to be equipped with AI abilities. The company had earlier said that it would be focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) this year. Being a flagship phone, there are chances that the Mi 7's dual camera setup will be optimized with AI to give better photography experience.

Top 7 Xiaomi Redmi Y1 Tips & Tricks

As far as the rest of the specifications are concerned, the Xiaomi Mi 7 is said to carry 6GB or even more RAM. It is likely to be sport a full-screen design with a large 6-inch OLED display manufactured by Samsung.

As stated, the Mi 7 could come with a dual rear camera setup with two 16MP sensors. There are reports that Xiaomi may replace the fingerprint scanner with a 3D facial recognition feature like the Face ID seen on Apple's iPhone X. Lastly, a 3,350mAh battery is said to be powering the smartphone.

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MWC 2018 launch possible

This time frame coincides with the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 when Motorola is expected to launch the Moto G6, G6 Plus, and G6 Play and HMD is expected to unveil the global variants of the Nokia 7 and Nokia 6 (2018). As Xiaomi is said to be present at the MWC 2018 tech show, we can expect the company to unveil the Redmi 5 Plus and 5 Plus at the event.

Global variants to bring a major change

Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus global variants are said to bring a major change. The Chinese variant of these phones support only LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 34, 38, 39, 40, and 41 and miss out the LTE band 20 that is commonly used in Europe. The global variants of these Xiaomi phones are said to support the LTE band 20.

Europe release tipped

Given that the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus will support the band 20, we can expect these smartphones to be launched in Europe. However, the pricing and availability information of these devices in the region remain unknown.

Specs will remain the same

Expect for the support for the LTE band 20, the global variants of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus are not expected to come with any other changes. The specifications will be the same as in the Chinese models of these smartphones.
Germany Conducts Raids In Iranian Spy Probe

RFE/RL January 16, 2018

The federal prosecutor's office in Germany says police have conducted a series searches across the country in connection with investigations into 10 suspected Iranian spies.

However, officials said no arrests were made as a result of the January 16 raids.

A spokesman for the federal prosecutor, Stefan Biehl, said the raids were prompted by information received from Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which is in charge of Germany's counterespionage operations.

Biehl said the suspects were thought to have "spied on institutions and persons in Germany on behalf of an entity associated with Iran."

A German weekly magazine, Focus, reported that the suspects were thought to have been carrying out "secret service activities" by spying on Israeli citizens in Germany.

According to Focus, the raids were carried out at buildings in Berlin as well as the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Bavaria.

Prosecutors declined to comment on reports that the suspects were members of Iran's Quds Force, a special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) responsible for carrying out clandestine operations outside of Iran.

The Quds Force is commanded by IRGC Major General Qassem Soleimani and reports directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism for sending weapons and ammunition to the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as weapons, funding, and guidance to "other terrorist organizations" -- including Lebanon's Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the general command of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

In December, Germany's government protested to the Iranian ambassador in connection with the conviction of a Pakistani man who was serving as an Iranian agent.

Berlin's Superior Court sentenced 31-year-old Mustufa Haidar Syed-Naqfi to four years and three months in prison on charges of "working for a foreign intelligence service."

The court found he spied "against Germany" and France on behalf of the Quds Force by compiling information about possible attack targets in Germany -- German lawmaker Reinhold Robbe, who previously headed the German-Israeli Association, and a French-Israeli economics professor.

Investigators found detailed dossiers about the men and their daily routines, with hundreds of photos and video clips documenting their homes and workplaces, access routes to them, and information about security guards, surveillance cameras, and nearby police stations.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said Iranian Ambassador Ali Majedi was summoned and told that "spying on people and institutions with a particular relationship to the state of Israel on German soil is a blatant violation of German law."

With reporting by AP, dpa, and Focus

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-germany-espionage-searches -quds-force/28978796.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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B-52s return to Pacific for routine Continuous Bomber Presence mission

Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs / Published January 16, 2018

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) -- Six B-52H Stratofortress bombers and approximately 300 Airmen from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, are deploying to Andersen AFB, Guam, in support of U.S. Pacific Command's Continuous Bomber Presence mission.

The Stratofortresses, last deployed to the region in July 2016, will assume responsibility for USPACOM's CBP operations near the end of January 2018 from the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancers, deployed from Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota.

During their deployment, the 37th EBS conducted a variety of joint and bilateral training missions with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, South Korean air force and Royal Australian Air Force.

The B-52H's return to the Pacific will provide USPACOM and its regional allies and partners with a credible, strategic power projection platform, while bringing years of repeated operational experience.

The B-52 is capable of flying at high subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,166.6 meters) and can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional ordnance with worldwide precision navigation capability.

This forward-deployed presence demonstrates the continued commitment of the U.S.to allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

The employment of CBP missions in the USPACOM area of responsibility, conducted since March 2004, are in accordance with international law and are vital to the principles that are the foundation of the rules-based global operating system.



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Continuing Resolutions Create Uncertainty in Defense Department

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16, 2018  For the last nine years, DoD has been subject to continuing resolutions instead of having budgets, and the department needs stability and predictability to spend resources wisely and get service members the equipment and training they deserve, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here yesterday.

Dunford is participating in the NATO Military Committee meeting at the alliance headquarters here today.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford said another continuing resolution will mean the department will go four months into fiscal 2018 and be at a lower spending level than last year.

"A CR this year would be below the level of projected funding," he said. "In other words, the '18 budget would be a decrease in what the president's projected budget would be."

A continuing resolution is designed to be a short-term bridge as lawmakers form a new budget, the chairman said. But this year, the department will be under a continuing resolution for four months. The current CR runs out January 19.

Lack of Fiscal Predictability, Stability

"This is the ninth straight year with a continuing resolution," Dunford said. "That lack of predictability and that lack of stability in the budget has not allowed us to most efficiently plan and use the resources available to us."

This is because whether in a household budget or funding the military, predictability is key, Dunford said. Knowing when the paycheck comes in and how much will be in it week-to-week or month-to-month allows a family to plan expenditures and purchases. Not knowing how much will be in the check or even when it will arrive inhibits smart, judicious spending.

"We want to be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollars and in order to do that you have to lay out a plan," Dunford said. "And sometimes, when you are forced to spend all of the money in a compressed period of time at the end of the fiscal year, it isn't as efficient a use of the resources as you would want it to be."

Then, there is the uncertainty these constant continuing resolutions cause in the force. "The force  is very much aware of the budget debates, and it would be a very powerful signal for our elected leaders to pass a budget," the general said. "On a day-to-day basis they are focused on the mission, but the budget is very much on their minds."

Impact on Readiness, Modernization

Dunford stressed that readiness and modernization are linked. "They are all about delivering effective combat capability in terms of our units," he said.

Modernization has effectively been delayed over the past decade and this will mean modernization accounts must be pumped back up, new technology must be exploited and new ways of using old technologies must be explored. This cannot happen under continuing resolutions, the chairman said.

Lawmakers on the committees overseeing defense understand the problem and want to pass a defense budget. "Defense Secretary [James N.] Mattis met last week with both Democrat and Republican members of the House and the Senate to outline for them the implications of a continuing resolution and the budget uncertainty that we've been dealing with," Dunford said.

Mattis spelled out the real-world implications of not getting stable, predictable funding, the chairman said. The members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and Defense Appropriators understand this, Dunford said, and he and other senior DoD leaders have reached out to other representatives to explain the dangers facing the department.

Continuing Resolution Impacts

"All I can do is continue to do what we do, which is educate the members on what we need in terms of levels of resourcing, and what are the impacts of a continuing resolution, let alone a government shutdown," Dunford said.

Service members are concerned about the budget impasse. In his travels, troops ask the chairman about the budget but their "singular focus every day is doing their job," he said.

"I think when people like us come to visit  they'll ask questions about it, because it's in the media, Dunford said. "I think they are assuming  that the leadership back in Washington, D.C., -- and I include myself in that category with the secretary of defense and the members of Congress and the president -- they're assuming we're going to do our job and deliver from them the resources they need to do their job."

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NATO, Partner Defense Chiefs Discuss Afghanistan, Iraq, Command Structures

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16, 2018  NATO chiefs of defense are meeting here today to examine the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and on the alliance border with Russia.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is participating in the NATO Military Committee meeting at the alliance headquarters here today.

Chairman of the Military Committee Czech Gen. Petr Pavel opened the meeting this morning, saying the chiefs of defense will also make recommendations to alliance defense ministers on NATO's command structure, which will keep the organization flexible and more responsive.

'Robust, Agile Command Structure'

"A key component to NATO's adaptation is a robust and agile command structure," Pavel said. "We will focus on NATO Command Structure adaptation. We will receive briefings from [the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation] on the recommended options for implementation and provide guidance ahead of the February defense ministerial."

Changes to NATO's command structure mean day-to-day organizations and common funding from the alliance, Pavel said. Then, there are NATO force structure changes, which are capabilities that nations provide in time of war or for exercises to prepare for war.

"I think any of these capabilities are going to be a balance between force structure and command structure," Dunford said in an interview with reporters traveling with him.

The chiefs of defense will debate the plans put forward by U.S. European Command's commander and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation French Air Force Gen. Denis Mercier. The chiefs will refine the plan to get to the right mix of force structure and command structure.

Dunford believes some portion of this capability has to be permanent to allow a "warm start" to build on the force in time of war.

"We'll try to make sure that, as military leaders, we recommend the most effective way to do it," he said. "And then our political leadership will have a chance to make a decision."

Protecting the Euro-Atlantic Link

Discussions will also seek to strengthen the Euro-Atlantic link. "This is about making sure that we have credibility in meeting our alliance commitments," Dunford said. "And the Euro-Atlantic link must be protected in order for [NATO] to meet our alliance commitments."

The NATO leaders will invite partner nations in to speak about progress in Afghanistan, Pavel said. They will receive a briefing from Scaparrotti and Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, the commander of the alliance's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.

"The effectiveness of the Afghan national defense and security forces is essential to the stability of Afghanistan, and to the assurance of the Afghan society," Pavel said. "And the positive message about their progress and confidence to fight and win needs to be more widely heard."

The partners will remain as the chiefs discuss NATO's projecting stability efforts. These are aimed at countries in the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, Middle East and Central Asia, Pavel said.

Enhancing Stability

"We will deliberate how allies' and partners' efforts can enhance stability in the area, and in turn support national plans for individual partners," Pavel said. "Military cooperation is important, but only when combined with a range of other elements, such as the political, economic, judicial and social, can a sustained and lasting effect be achieved."

NATO is a member of the coalition to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and the organization's chiefs of defense will discuss current efforts, now that the campaign in Iraq and Syria has reached an inflection point, Pavel said

"The [defeat-ISIS] campaign is not over -- it now moves to a different phase which is less about combat operations and more about security and stabilization," the general said. "We will therefore discuss the transformation of the global coalition and, in particular, NATO's role in Iraq."

The chiefs will also dedicate time to the situation in Georgia and Ukraine and the progress in training Ukrainian defense forces and assistance to the Georgian military.

"Our final meeting will focus on NATO's modernization," Pavel said. "Since the Wales summit, and reinforced with the decisions taken at Warsaw summit, the alliance has adapted -- politically, militarily, and institutionally. As we move forward, it is paramount importance that we provide an overall coherence to all our military activities. This is to ensure that all the resources at our disposal are used to the utmost effect."

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1st SFAB combat advisor teams train for upcoming Afghanistan deployment

By Spc. Noelle Wiehe January 16, 2018

FORT POLK, La. -- The convoy of American Soldiers and their Afghan counterparts came to a sudden halt as a group of Afghan villagers crowded the road. With raised voices, the villagers claimed that U.S. forces had attacked their livestock, and vehemently stated that they would not let the convoy pass until they received compensation for their damaged property.

The Soldiers, members of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, used their specialized combat advising training to work with their Afghan National Army partners to effectively negotiate a solution that was amenable to the villagers.

After this, the American and Afghan soldiers moved onto their final objective of seizing a government building that had been taken over by oppositional forces -- all part of a simulated training scenario at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, Jan. 13.

The 1st SFAB Soldiers, headquartered in Fort Benning, Georgia, will deploy for the first time to provide training and advising assistance to Afghan National Defense Security Forces in the spring of 2018. The unit is the Army's new permanent, additive force structure developed and deployed as a solution to the Army's enduring advise and assist requirement in support of the defense strategy.

The situational training exercise in Fort Polk is part of a month-long rotation to polish their skills as teams working together to accomplish theater objectives by training, advising, assisting, accompanying and enabling allied and partnered indigenous security forces before their deployment. Other Soldiers participated in the training by serving as actors who role-played as Afghan villagers, soldiers, and oppositional forces.

"I think this is a great experience because (this is) a new team, new people; we have to learn how to overcome with what we have," said Capt. Justin Alexander, a team leader with a combat advisor team, 1st Battalion, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade.

Different than typical JRTC rotations in the Army, Soldiers were expected to take on an advisory role for the Afghan National Army to be able to resolve situations rather than take a hands-on approach. A normal JRTC rotation, Alexander said, has a set mission, while the 1st SFAB learns their mission as they go through the exercise.

"ANA were in front; ANA were leading," said Capt. Cody McBroom, a team leader for a combat advisor team, 1st Battalion, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade. "ANA did everything. As far as tactics, the basics of the infantry -- shoot, move and communicate -- (the ANA) did it all. It was all on them."

McBroom said the exercises at JRTC helped the 1st SFAB Soldiers come together and work as a team by learning from their strengths and deficiencies as they conducted the missions.

"It allows us to see where our deficiencies are on understanding the battalion roles and functions," McBroom said. "I think it will make everyone more well-rounded."

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South Carolina National Guard leads the way with new missile training program

By Sgt. David Erskine January 16, 2018

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The South Carolina National Guard held a graduation ceremony for its Patriot missile system training program, a first of its kind for the National Guard. The program provides sustainment training for 14E Patriot fire control enhanced operators, trains 14A air defense artillery officers at the brigade level to plan Patriot air defense, and provides the prerequisite training for 140E Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Systems Tactician / Technician and the Air Defense Artillery Fire Control Operations (ADAFCO).

During the ceremony held Jan. 6, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina, 12 Soldiers were recognized after they completed eight months of training hosted by the South Carolina National Guard's 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command.

"Be proud. I am proud of what you have accomplished," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Frank Rice, deputy commander for the 263rd AAMDC. "You are the first Soldiers who proved this training can be done."

The 263rd AAMDC and the Ft. Bliss Capabilities Development Integration Cell, created this class to ensure National Guard Soldiers have a solid understanding of the Patriot missile system for future joint training exercises and deployments. The attendees completed the training during drill weekends where they learned not only basic knowledge about the Patriot weapon system, but also how to plan and integrate the Patriots into the joint operational environment.

"These Soldiers who completed the Patriot training program acquired skills that will make them ready and relevant for operations in any theater," said Rice. "We are on the cutting edge for total Army growth, making our organization ready to command and control subordinate Patriot units."

The graduating Soldiers were presented with a course certificates certified by the U.S. Army. Rice also recognized the two honor graduates, Maj. Keith Phelan and Maj. Adam Williams.

"The class taught us information about the Patriots that we didn't have since we are not always around the Patriots," said Sgt. Charles Brewer, Senior Engagement Control for the 678th Air Defense Brigade in the South Carolina Army National Guard.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Rice thanked National Guard Bureau and all of the instructors for their support making the course a success. He also reminded the attendees about the importance of this training for the Army Air Missile Defense career field and readiness to respond to threats around the world.

"Buckle your chin straps, this stuff is real," said Rice.

The 263rd AAMDC plans to expand the program to other units in the National Guard.

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Hawaii Marines depart for ITX 2-18

US Marine Corps News

By Sgt. Kathy Nunez | III Marine Expeditionary Force | January 16, 2018

Marines depart for Integrated Training Exercise 2-18 from Marine Corps Base Hawaii to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms this week.

Marines from 3d Marine Regiment; 2d Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment; 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment and Combat Logistics Battalion 3 are to participate in ITX 2-18, making this this first iteration of the exercise that the majority of the Hawaii-based Marine Air-Ground Task Force participates in at the same time.

"The work to bring Hawaii-based units to ITX 2-18 is significant and we will be able to exercise together at a service-level training event for the first time," said Col. Michael Styskal, the 3d Marines commanding officer. "ITX 2-18 is a chance to bring our training to another level and to test our integration."

As the command element for MAGTF-3, 3d Marines is in charge of conducting ITX 2-18. The exercise will test their ability to command and control the MAGTF in a simulated environment.

ITX is a routine exercise for the infantry battalions within 3d Marines, but it doesn't typically include other III Marine Expeditionary Force units stationed in Hawaii.

"CLB-3 has not participated in ITX for almost 10 years," said Lt. Col. Bolivar Pluas, the CLB-3 commanding officer. "This will be the first time that we are deploying most of the Hawaii-based MAGTF to ITX and composite with other units to successfully conduct training."

CLB-3, 1/12, 2/3 and 3d Marines with its Combat Assault Company often train together in the Hawaii training areas to include the Pohakuloa Training Area on the island of Hawaii and in various locations across Oahu. However, their participation in ITX allows the Tactical Training Exercise Control Group based in MCAGCC Twentynine Palms to assess the MAGTF's combat readiness and ability to successfully accomplish any mission.

"Simply put, the training environment at ITX cannot be replicated anywhere else in the Marine Corps," Pluas said.

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USNS Brunswick Departs Lumut, Malaysia

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS180116-01

Release Date: 1/16/2018 9:48:00 AM

By Lt. Clyde Shavers, CTF 73 Public Affairs

LUMUT, Malaysia (NNS) -- The expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick (T-EPF-6) concluded a port visit to Lumut, Malaysia, Jan 12.

The crew members had the opportunity to experience the country's culture while strengthening ties with the local population. Port visits such as these serve as an important element in the U.S. Navy's theater security cooperation efforts by enhancing solid relationships with partner nations throughout the region.

The port of Lumut's unique capabilities in supporting expeditionary maintenance for deployed assets including the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) continues to be vital for the U.S. Navy in regional security and theater security cooperation efforts.

"The port of Lumut allows repairs and maintenance which would otherwise need to be completed further away from strategic areas," said Capt. Lex Walker, commodore of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7. "Furthermore, not only does Lumut provide an excellent opportunity for port visits, the Lumut Naval Base continues to be an important location for bilateral exercises with the Royal Malaysian Navy."

The Royal Malaysian and U.S. Navy continue to work closely together through increasingly sophisticated exercises including the annual bilateral Maritime Training Activity (MTA) Malaysia and the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) exercise.

"The U.S. Navy values the strong partnership with the Royal Malaysian Navy and we continue to look forward to even greater cooperative engagements this year," said Walker. "These opportunities to share knowledge and experiences with each other allow us to enhance mutual capabilities and improve tactical proficiency so that we may more effectively operate together as a unified force."

Brunswick is one of three expeditionary fast transport ships in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to continue its mission of providing rapid intra-theater transport of troops and military equipment.

As U.S. 7th Fleet's executive agent for theater security cooperation in South and Southeast Asia, Commander, Task Force 73 and DESRON-7 conduct advanced planning, organize resources and directly support the execution of maritime exercises and engagements, such as Pacific Partnership, the bilateral CARAT series, the Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) with Vietnam and multilateral SEACAT. Task Force 73 and DESRON-7 also tactically control and coordinate maintenance for rotationally deployed LCS.

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USS Chafee Returns from Western Pacific Deployment

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS180116-04

Release Date: 1/16/2018 12:54:00 PM

From Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam from an independent deployment to the Western Pacific and South America Jan. 12.

Chafee has a crew of nearly 350 officers and enlisted Sailors and is a multi-mission ship designed to operate independently or with an associated strike group. The embarked maintainers and pilots from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 37 served as the air support for the ship throughout the deployment.

While deployed, the ship conducted theater security cooperation and maritime presence operations with partner nations throughout the Pacific. Chafee engaged in multinational exercises with navies from Chile, Peru, Republic of Korea and Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, among other countries. Her crew recovered more than 800kg of illicit narcotics while patrolling the waters of 4th Fleet. Additionally, the destroyer successfully integrated into Carrier Strike Group 5 in support of the USS Ronald Reagan's (CVN 76) extensive patrol of the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.

"The superior performance of Chafee on deployment is a testament to the hard work and sacrifice of all the men and women serving aboard," said Cmdr. Jacob Braun, commanding officer of Chafee. "Their teamwork, positive attitude and spirit ensured Chafee was always prepared to execute tasking."

Chafee was named after the late Sen. John Lester Hubbard Chafee, a Marine veteran who fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal and served as the secretary of the Navy. The ship was last deployed to the Western Pacific and South America in 2015.

Chafee is part of U.S. Naval Surface Forces and U.S. 3rd Fleet. Third Fleet leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy, working constantly with U.S. 7th Fleet. The forces of both fleets complement one another across the spectrum of military operations in the Pacific.

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Denmark wants huge hike in military budget 'to deter Russia'

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 08:51AM

The Danish government aims to increase its military spending to counter an alleged security threat from Russia in Eastern Europe.

During a visit to the Danish Air Force team in Lithuania on Monday, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his center-right minority government needed to persuade the Danish parliament next month to back a proposed, whopping 20-percent hike in Denmark's military budget over a five-year period.

"We want to look at ourselves as a core NATO member. And in order to behave like such a member, we need to increase our expenditures," Rasmussen said.

An agreement made in 2006 calls on NATO member countries to have a military spending of at least two percent of their GDP. While many members of the military alliance have refused to allocate that percentage of their GDP to the military, some have recently been invoking the agreement in an ostensible attempt to deter Russia.

The Danish prime minister said his country's military budget needed a "substantial increase."

"Five years ago we thought that the defense line, so to speak, would not be in Europe, but would be international operations. Now we realize that we need to have the capability to do both," he added.

The brandishing of a "Russian threat" comes while NATO member states have significantly increased their military activities near Russia's western borders in recent years.

Last week, Denmark deployed 200 troops to a UK-led NATO mission in Estonia, citing the alleged threat from Russia. NATO has deployed around 4,000 troops, consisting of four battle groups, to Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland  all near Russian borders  in recent years.

Russia, realizing that security threat under its nose, has held several military drills to maintain preparedness. The NATO countries have then referred to those drills as signs that Russia has aggressive and not defensive intentions.

NATO  largely made up of Western European countries  also accuses Russia of having a hand in the crisis in Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

Eastern Ukraine has been the site of a conflict since 2014, when the government in Kiev started a crackdown on pro-Russia protests in the country. Earlier that same year, the Crimean Peninsula, then Ukrainian territory, voted in a referendum to separate from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Western countries branded the subsequent unification as an "annexation" of the territory by Russia, and Ukraine soon confronted pro-Russia protests elsewhere  in its eastern Donbass region  with a heavy hand.

The crisis in the Donbass soon turned into an armed conflict, which has so far left over 10,000 people dead and more than a million others displaced. Western countries have blamed Russia, which denies any involvement.

"Russia's behavior has created an unpredictable and unstable security environment in the Baltic Sea region," Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, said at a joint news conference with Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis in the capital, Riga.

"Given the Russian aggression and what happened in Crimea, I think we simply have to be realistic about things and invest more in our security," he said.

Earlier this week, Moscow deployed a new regiment of its advanced S-400 air defense missile system to Crimea, the second such deployment on the Black Sea peninsula after a first one in the spring of 2017 near the port town of Fedosia.

The new division was reportedly based next to the town of Sevastopol and would control the airspace over the border with Ukraine.

The S-400 is a defensive missile system that can intercept incoming missiles and invading aircraft.

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At least 6 civilians are killed in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen's Hudaydah province

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:24AM

Saudi warplanes have launched a series of attacks on Yemen's western province of Hudaydah, killing at least six people.

Late on Monday, Saudi fighter planes attacked a farm in the province's al-Jerahi directorate killing two farmers and injuring several more.

Four more civilians were killed when Saudi jets launched air raids on agricultural land in the province's al-Khokha region.

Earlier in the day, eight civilians were killed and five others were wounded when Saudi military aircraft struck targeted their vehicle as it was travelling along a road in the Ahem area of Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah.

On Sunday, a UN panel compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

The report, which has been devised for the UN Security Council, has not been made public, but Al Jazeera said it was allowed to view a copy.

More 13,600 people have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen in 2015. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The Saudi-led war has also triggered a deadly cholera epidemic across Yemen.

According to the World Health Organization's latest count, the cholera outbreak has killed 2,167 people since the end of April and is suspected to have infected 841,906.

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Democracy 'Retreating' As Trump 'Abdicates' U.S. Role

RFE/RL January 16, 2018

Democracy is "under assault and retreating" around the world, with the United States "abdicating" its traditional role as a champion of democratic ideals in the past year while Russia and China "increase repression at home" and "export their malign influence" abroad, Freedom House says.

The Washington-based nongovernmental group presented those findings in a report on the global erosion of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom In The World 2018, that it released on January 16.

"Democracy is facing its most serious crisis in decades," Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said. "Democracy's basic tenets -- including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law -- are under siege around the world."

The report says 2017 was the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, with 71 countries "suffering net declines in political rights and civil liberties."

"A major development of 2017 was the retreat of the United States as both a champion and an exemplar of democracy," the report says.

Freedom House, a political freedom and human rights advocacy group that is funded by the U.S. government, says it has "tracked a slow decline in political rights and civil liberties in the United States for the past seven years."

But it says that "the decline accelerated in 2017, owing to evidence of Russian interferences in the 2016 elections, violations of basic ethical standards" by President Donald Trump's administration, and "a reduction in government transparency."

The report says that "the press and the judiciary have remained resilient in the face of unprecedented attacks from President Trump."

But it warns that those institutions ultimately could be weakened by Trump's attacks, "with serious implications for the health of U.S. democracy and America's place in the world."

Abramowitz said, "the core institutions of American democracy are being battered by an administration that has treated the country's traditional checks and balances with disdain."

Exporting Autocracy

Meanwhile, Freedom House says, "autocratic regimes" in Russia and China have "taken advantage of the retreat of leading democracies" and are "acting beyond their borders to squelch open debate, pursue dissidents, and compromise rules-based institutions."

Abramowitz says the Trump administration's "sharp break from the political consensus of the last 70 years" has cast aside democracy as the "animating force behind American foreign policy."

He said Trump's "hastening withdrawal" from the historical U.S. commitment to supporting democracies abroad has made "the challenge posed by authoritarian regimes all the more powerful and threatening."

The report says Russian President Vladimir Putin's government has "demonstrated the increasing sophistication and reach of modern authoritarian regimes" by "organizing disinformation campaigns during elections in European democracies" and cultivating ties with "xenophobic political parties across the continent," threatening its closest neighbors, and serving as "an alternative source of military aid for Middle Eastern dictatorships."

"The central goal of these efforts was to disrupt democratic states and fracture the institutions that bind them together."

'Worst Of The Worst'

Elsewhere in RFE/RL's broadcast region, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were singled out among the 12 "worst of the worst counties" for political freedom and civil liberties.

The report says Uzbekistan's new government has "prompted cautious optimism" as a new administration formed after the death of longtime autocratic ruler Islam Karimov ended some forms of forced labor and granted "new if limited space" for civil society.

But it says Uzbekistan deserves "special scrutiny."

"Lasting change in one of the world's most repressive political systems will require sustained international attention as well as support for independent voices in the country's media and civil society," the report says.

Countries To Watch

In Serbia, Freedom House concludes that the tolerance of European Union leaders toward President Aleksandar Vucic's "authoritarian tendencies allowed him to further sideline the opposition and undermine what remains of the country's independent media."

Georgia, Afghanistan, and Macedonia are also named as "countries to watch in 2018" that may experience important developments deserving "special scrutiny."

It says opposition alliances are "crystallizing ahead of Afghanistan's long-overdue parliamentary elections, but preparations for the polls have been lacking, and it is uncertain whether they will be held as planned in 2018."

In Tbilisi, the report says, "the ruling Georgian Dream party recently pushed through constitutional amendments in Georgia that -- combined with the financial backing of its reclusive billionaire patron, [former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili] -- will make an effective challenge by the fractured opposition in future elections even more unlikely, potentially cementing the party's control for years to come."

In Skopje, Freedom House says Macedonia's "democratically elected, ethnically inclusive government" of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is "seeking to root out corruption and other systemic abuses that grew worse under its scandal-plagued predecessor."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/democracy- retreating-trump-abdicates-us-role-russia-china-take -advantage-freedom-house/28977872.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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Kosovo PM Alleges Foreign Role In Serb Political Leader's Assassination

RFE/RL's Balkan Service January 16, 2018

MITROVICA, Kosovo -- Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has suggested that the slaying of a leading ethnic Serb political leader in the country's north was the result of illegal interference coming from outside the country.

Oliver Ivanovic was shot dead on January 16 in the Serb-dominated northern part of the divided city of Mitrovica in an attack that has raised tensions in the Balkans and prompted the suspension of EU-facilitated talks between Kosovo and Serbia.

"We think that this crime, as well as certain criminal developments taking place in the north, are the result of illegal involvement in the north of other institutions beyond Kosovo," Haradinaj said following a meeting of Kosovo's National Security Council.

He did not elaborate.

Haradinaj also rejected Serbia's demand to take part in the investigation and said he might invite the FBI.

Ivanovic's lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajic, told RFE/RL that Ivanovic was shot in front of his office at 8:15 a.m., and doctors at a hospital in Mitrovica said they confirmed his death at 9:15 a.m.

Ivanovic sustained at least five gunshot wounds to his upper torso, Vlajic cited doctors as saying.

Media reports in Serbia described the killing as a drive-by shooting carried out by more than one assailant while Ivanovic was entering his office on Sutjeska Street in northern Mitrovica.

Police said they believe a burned out Opel Astra car found later on another Mitrovica street was used by the perpetrators.

In Pristina, Kosovar President Hashim Thaci called on law enforcement authorities to "throw light as soon as possible on the circumstances of the death so that the perpetrators are brought to justice."

A statement issued on Thaci's Facebook page also urged Kosovar citizens in the north to cooperate with police as their investigation continues.

The government in Pristina said it considered the killing an attack on "the rule of law and efforts to establish the rule of law in the whole of Kosovo territory."

In Brussels, Serbian delegates walked out of talks with Kosovar authorities that had just gotten under way -- the latest attempt to improve severely strained relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

'Push For Chaos'

The leader of Belgrade's delegation, Marko Djuric, said he and other Serbian delegates were returning to Belgrade because of "Ivanovic's murder."

Djuric, who heads of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija, said the killing was "an attempt to push the Serbian people into chaos, to push Serbia into chaos."

He said that "whoever is behind this attackwhether they are Serb, Albanian, or any other criminals, they must be punished."

EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to the presidents of both Serbia and Kosovo by telephone after the killing of Ivanovic.

A statement from Mogherini's office said she urged all sides "to show clam and restraint" and to allow the rule of law to take its course.

Mogherini also said the EU's Rule of Law mission in Kosovo (EULEX) would support the investigation by Kosovar authorities "in accordance with its mandate."

The EU-facilitated talks in Brussels -- which had last taken place in March 2017 -- were scheduled to continue through January 18 and were aimed pushing forward with the normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade.

Contentious Issues

Issues on the agenda of the Brussels talks included contentious issues surrounding a proposal for the creation of an Association of Serb Majority Municipalities in Kosovo.

Although Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Belgrade still claims the former Serbian province as part of its territory.

The normalization of ties between Pristina and Belgrade is also a key issue tied to the EU-membership ambitions of both Serbia and Kosovo.

In Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic scheduled an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on January 16 to discuss the implications of the killing.

Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said in a Facebook statement that "exploiting this tragic act for daily political goals, even to block processes aiming at normalizing ties between two countries, is against the logic and spirit of cooperation."

"Kosovo remains committed to create a safe environment for all its citizens and is powerfully set in its Euro-Atlantic path," Haradinaj said.

He also said Pristina would "in no situation accept the logic of calculating criminal acts for political purposes by anyone."

In Belgrade, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the killing "a terrorist act" and said that Serbia is demanding that international missions in Kosovo include Serbia in their investigation into the slaying.

"Serbia will take all necessary steps so the killer or killers are found," Vucic added.

During a visit to Montenegro, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that "the most important thing is to preserve stability in the north of Kosovo."

"When the stability of northern Kosovo is jeopardized, the stability of the entire Kosovo and the whole region is under threat," Dacic also said.

Calls For Swift Investigation

The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Zahir Tanin, urged investigative authorities to "work swiftly and effectively" and assured them that "all the international agencies on the ground are ready to support the authorities in any manner which may assist the swift apprehension of those responsible."

The U.S. Ambassador to Pristina, Greg Delawie, also called on judicial bodies "to investigate this incident swiftly and professionally, and bring the perpetrators to justice."

Delawie also urged "all sides to avoid dangerous rhetoric and remain calm at this sensitive time, and recommit themselves to continue the work toward the normalization of relations."

NATO urged "all parties to exercise restraint to defuse tensions and called for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina to "continue as soon as possible."

"This is critical for regional peace and security," it added.

Russia's Foreign Ministry warned of the "risk of contagion in an atmosphere of terror and a resurgence of interethnic conflict in the region."

Ivanovic, considered a moderate opposition politician, was a controversial political figure in both Serbia and Kosovo.

Judges from the EULEX mission in Kosovo in January 2016 found Ivanovic guilty of committing war crimes against ethnic Albanians during Kosovo's 1998-99 war and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

But that verdict was annulled by the Appeals Court in Pristina in February 2017, and a retrial was under way at the time of Ivanovic's death.

Ivanovic's political career began in June 1999 during the final days of the Kosovo war when he was named as the head of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija, a body set up in 1999 to represent ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

More recently, he was the president of the SDP Civic Initiative that ran candidates in local elections in Kosovo in 2017.

Ivanovic served as a member of Serbia's government from 2008 to 2012, despite Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, as Belgrade's state secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija.

He also had been a leader in Kosovo of Serbia's Social Democratic Party until 2009 when he became president of the SDP Civic Initiative.

Before the 1998-99 war, Ivanovic was a manager at the Trepca mine complex in Mitrovica.

Belgrade continues to claims ownership of the Trepca mines, which once employed 23,000 people and accounted for 70 percent of Kosovo's gross domestic product.

But the de facto partition of Mitrovica between Serbs and ethnic Albanians has kept most of Trepca's facilities closed since 1999.

With reporting by B92, Reuters, Tanjug, AP, Balkan Insight, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-serbia-politician- ivanovic-killed-mitrovica/28978233.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 Bombers, Warships Summoned to Korean Peninsula as Olympic Games Approach

Sputnik News

22:12 16.01.2018

The US military is bolstering its presence around the Korean Peninsula as the Olympic Games draw closer.

One new amphibious assault ship, an extra aircraft carrier and a slew of stealth bombers were moved to the Indo-Pacific region in recent days and weeks, Military.com reports. On January 11, a trio of nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers touched down at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. On January 14, the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship, a type of American helicopter carrier that also carries Marine ground forces, arrived at its new homeport of Sasebo, Japan, with a squadron of F-35B joint strike fighters operated by the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is also en route to the Western Pacific.

The deployments show that despite the agreement to postpone US-South Korea military exercises until after the Winter Games, the Pentagon has no plans of letting its guard down, Stars and Stripes notes.

The same may not be true of the two Koreas, however. Last week, officials from the two countries met for the first time in two years. The meeting resulted in an agreement for North Korea to send its largest-ever delegation to the Olympic games in Pyeongchang. South Korea's government has said that officials from Seoul and Pyongyang will meet again Wednesday at the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula.

A newspaper run by North Korea's Workers' Party stated in a commentary published over the weekend that the military maneuvers amounted to "an unpardonable military provocation chilling the atmosphere for improved inter-Korean relations."

"The US imperialist warmongers would be well-advised to ponder over [the] disastrous consequences to be entailed by their military provocations against the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] possessed of powerful nuclear deterrence," the Korean Workers' Party added.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has rejected the notion that the military movements are aimed at any one country in particular. "You would be wrong to view the bomber deployment within the single lens of what it means to the Korean Peninsula. It affects allies across the Pacific," the Defense Department's joint staff director, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, told reporters last Thursday.

When asked whether the vessels and warships in the Western Pacific were aimed at sending a message to Beijing, McKenzie remarked, "I think when we move bombers across the globe, we send a signal to everyone."

 Sputnik

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Searching for Answers: Argentine Congress Launches Probe Into Vanished Sub

Sputnik News

21:58 16.01.2018(updated 22:00 16.01.2018)

The disappearance of the ARA San Juan, a TR-1700-class diesel-electric submarine in service with the Argentine Navy, will be investigated by a commission established by Argentina's congress, according to recent reports.

The commission plans to determine the cause of the submarine's disappearance, evaluate the vessel's condition before it set sail and assess the Argentine navy and Ministry of Defense's search operation thus far.

The ARA San Juan  with its 44-member crew  ceased all communication on November 15 during a routine patrol in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina. The submarine's last known location was approximately 300 miles from Argentina's southern coast. The vessel is speculated by some officials to have disappeared following a battery failure. Others claim the disappearance was caused by an explosion onboard, noting that there was a loud noise recorded in the area where the vessel was last believed to be.

A large-scale search and rescue operation was launched after the sub's disappearance by various countries, including the US and Russia. Russia sent its Navy's oceanographic research vessel Yantar to help search for the submarine. According to US Southern Command, more than 200 US personnel, three aircraft and a Navy research ship surveyed more than 655 square nautical miles during rescue and recovery operations.

Although neither the ship nor its crew were found, the Argentine navy announced the termination of its active rescue activities on November 20.

However, the new commission, which consists of six Argentine Chamber of Deputies members and six senators from the country's government and opposition parties, will further investigate the circumstances of the vessel's disappearance, as the tragedy has given rise to doubt, confusion and suspicion among the family members of those on board.

Some relatives have accused the Argentine navy of masking the real cause of the disappearance while others have accused the navy of bribery and corruption regarding the alleged battery failure, BBC reported.

Luis Tagliapietra, father of crew member Alejandro Damian, told the Times of London, "something very serious must have happened for so many lies to be told and for the total lack of effort to find it."

Jesica Medina, the sister of one of the missing sailors, claims that a British Royal Navy helicopter was pursuing the Argentine submarine when it disappeared. However, the UK's Ministry of Defense has discredited these claims.

Argentina's naval chief Admiral Marcehlo Srur was dismissed from his position last month following the submarine's disappearance. Srur was appointed in 2016 by President Mauricio Macri and is the fifth senior officer to be sacked in the wake of the investigation.

 Sputnik

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Afghan Taliban Political Officials Visiting Pakistan

By Ayaz Gul January 16, 2018

The Taliban insurgency has quietly sent political negotiators to Pakistan from its Qatar-based office amid a new diplomatic push for encouraging peace talks between parties to the Afghanistan war.

A three-member Taliban delegation headed by Shahabuddin Dilawar, a senior member of the Doha office, is currently in Islamabad, local media reported Tuesday. Pakistani officials have not yet commented on the reports.

Diplomatic sources in the capital city have told VOA they are "aware" of the arrival of Taliban officials, but they refused to speculate on their mission.

"Let me check and if I get any information I will get back and share it with you," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid when VOA sought his confirmation and purpose of the insurgent delegation's visit to Pakistan.

On Tuesday, a U.S. delegation lead by Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells concluded official talks with Pakistani leaders.

A U.S. Embassy statement said Wells emphasized in her meetings with Pakistani officials that President Donald Trump's South Asia strategy "represents an opportunity to work together for the establishment of a stable, peaceful Afghanistan."

It said that Wells urged Pakistan to address the continuing presence of the Haqqani network and other terrorist groups within its territory.

A Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement issued separately quoted Ambassador Wells as saying that "Pakistan's support was critical to the success of the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan."

Afghan and U.S. officials have long alleged the Taliban and the allied Haqqani Network are using sanctuaries on Pakistani soil to sustain and expand insurgent activities in Afghanistan.

Islamabad denies the charges and insists there are no insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan. But officials maintain they are committed to help facilitate a peace dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban using whatever influence Pakistan has to find a political settlement to the Afghan conflict.

"Our influence with the Taliban, naturally has over the years diminished, mainly because most of them have actually moved into Afghanistan and therefore, they are not really under our influence directly," Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told VOA in a recent interview.

Meanwhile Afghanistan's official High Peace Council, which is tasked to promote peace and reconciliation with armed opposition, Tuesday reiterated the government is committed to engage in talks with the Taliban.

"The Afghan government has no pre-conditions for peace talks with [the] Taliban and can talk anywhere [the] Taliban want," said Akram Khpalwak, who speaks for the 70-member council, while addressing a meeting of hundreds of Afghan youth, women, politicians and civil society representatives in Kabul.

The Taliban's political office on Tuesday issued a statement in which it again put forward its agenda for engaging in any Afghan peace talks.

"Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] is seeking an end to foreign occupation and implementation of an Islamic system in the country  But the other side [Afghan government] has no clear strategy and is merely making hollow claims about peace talks," said the statement released to journalists.

The statement denounced as baseless reported official claims Taliban negotiators went to Turkey this week for preliminary talks with the Afghan government.

Also in his speech, Khpalwak again explained that the government had nothing to do with the Turkey talks. He went on to say that Kabul is waiting for the Taliban to respond positively to Afghan calls for coming to the negotiating table to discuss in peace.

"No official negotiations have begun yet and none of the government officials have participated in peace talks. We want negotiations with authentic and authoritative leadership of [the] Taliban," said Khpalwak.

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South Sudan's Cease-Fire Broken by Both Sides, Monitors Say

By John Tanza January 16, 2018

The body that monitors South Sudan's shaky truce is blaming rebels for a Christmas Eve attack that killed 15 people and wounded 26 others.

The monitors, known as CTSAMM (Cease-fire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism), said Tuesday that rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar attacked the village of Koch in the former Unity State. It said three children were among those killed.

The report said monitors confirmed the details by talking to witnesses and a local rebel commander, who said the attack was in response to a cattle raid.

The monitors called the attack a "clear and blatant violation" of the cessation-of-hostilities agreement that South Sudan's government and rebel groups signed last month in Addis Ababa.

There was no immediate response from Machar's group, known as the SPLM-IO.

In a separate report Tuesday, the monitoring body said fighters on all sides are committing rapes, beatings and other acts of sexual violence against women.

It singled out government military personnel in Juba, saying they "appear to be able to act with impunity and that they do not understand the significance and consequence of their actions."

More alleged cease-fire violations

The ceasefire has appeared at risk of collapsing as the warring sides continue to trade accusations of violations.

Kosti Manibe, a spokesman for another rebel faction, accused South Sudan's current vice president, Taban Deng Gai, of a fresh violation this week. He said Gai is visiting several areas in Jonglei and Upper Nile states with a huge number of soldiers who are well armed.

Article one, section two of the deal states that all forces shall immediately freeze in their locations, except for movements authorized by CTSAMM for logistical and administrative purposes.

''That type of movement as per the cessation of hostilities agreement is a violation. That is why we specifically mentioned it,'' Manibe said.

Gai's military spokesman, Col. Dickson Gatluak, denied accusations that the first vice president is in those areas to incite violence. He issued a press statement Sunday stating that the first vice president was on a ''peace mission."

He also said more than four rebel battalions loyal to Machar in the villages of Gawaar, Lou Nuer, Beih and Fangak have defected to Gai this week.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, African Union Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the "troika" countries of Norway, United Kingdom and the United States issued statements last week condemning the cease-fire violations in South Sudan.

Government and rebel forces have been fighting since December 2013, creating a massive humanitarian crisis. Some 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced from their homes, with 2 million fleeing to neighboring countries.

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Ex-Trump Aide Steve Bannon Questioned in Russia Probe

By Ken Bredemeier January 16, 2018

Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's former chief White House strategist, is being questioned Tuesday by lawmakers in their probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Bannon, who was a key Trump campaign aide and for seven months a top White House adviser before he was ousted, is appearing behind closed doors at the House Intelligence Committee, one of several ongoing investigations in Washington about the Trump campaign's links to Russia.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed Bannon last week to testify before a grand jury investigating Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

Bannon has continued to avow his support for Trump. But his relations with the president frayed badly after he was quoted extensively with critical remarks about the campaign and the first months of White House operations in author Michael Wolff's new book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House."

The former Trump adviser was quoted as calling it "treasonous" and "unpatriotic" that Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser, and then campaign manager Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer in the midst of the campaign in an effort to get "incriminating" evidence against Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

After the book was published, Trump started calling Bannon "Sloppy Steve," and said, "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." Bannon also was removed last week as the top executive at Breitbart News, the alt-right news site that has championed Trump's brand of populism.

The House Intelligence panel is likely to question Bannon about the June 2016 meeting set up by the younger Trump, who has told investigators the Russian lawyer produced no damaging information about Clinton. Investigators are also looking into then candidate Trump's role in writing a misleading statement about the purpose of the meeting, an explanation that quickly fell apart.

Bannon is also likely to be asked about his contention in Wolff's book that special counsel Robert Mueller, head of the criminal investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia, is focusing on alleged money-laundering by campaign officials. Bannon could also be asked about his knowledge of former national security adviser Michael Flynn's talks with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump assumed power a year ago and whether Trump, despite his denials, has any intention of firing Mueller.

Trump has repeatedly said there was "no collusion" between his campaign and Russia, although none of the months-long congressional investigations or Mueller has reached any conclusions yet.

"Do you notice the Fake News Mainstream Media never likes covering the great and record setting economic news," Trump said on Twitter Tuesday, "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!"

Mueller has secured guilty pleas from Flynn and former foreign affairs adviser George Papadopoulos for lying to federal agents about their contacts with Russia and has charged Manafort and another campaign aide, Rick Gates, with money laundering in connection with their lobbying efforts for Ukraine that predated the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Mueller is also investigating whether President Trump obstructed justice when he fired former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey, who was heading the agency's Russia probe before Mueller was appointed, over Trump's objections, to take over the investigation.

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Burundi Government Accused of Arresting Opponents of Constitutional Changes

By Mohammed Yusuf January 16, 2018

Burundi's government recently proposed constitutional changes that would, among other things, allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to stay in office beyond 2020. Civil society groups say the government is arresting opponents of those changes in advance of an upcoming referendum.

Officially, Burundi's government has banned anyone from campaigning for or against the proposed changes to the constitution. But civil society groups accuse the government of targeting those suspected to urging voters to reject the changes.

The head of Burundi's Forum for Strengthening the Civil Society, Vital Nshirimana, says people cannot make free choices.

"So far dozens of people, about 60 people were arrested in many sides of the country, and this is one of the signs that referendum will not be fair since those campaigning against are arrested, while those campaigning for 'yes' are not arrested," said Nshirimana.

The government says the changes are aimed at strengthening and advancing the country's laws after more than two years of political violence.

The violence was triggered in April 2015 when President Nkurunziza announced he would run for a controversial third term. Opponents said he was violating constitutional term limits and the peace deal that ended Burundi's civil war.

Now, critics believe Nkurunziza is maneuvering to stay in power beyond the end of his current term in 2020.

Hamissi Sultan represents opposition party FNL, which is against the constitutional change. He was arrested on January 2nd.

"It is the prosecutor of Ruyigi Province who issued an arrest warrant against me. I was questioned, and I was accused of organizing and leading a group meeting aimed at sanitizing people to vote against the proposed constitutional change," said Sultan. "We were with friends having fun, and some of them were arrested too. We were accused of participating in an illegal meeting aimed at opposing the draft constitution."

Sultan was released after three days without charge.

The president's deputy spokesman, Alain Diomede, says the government is educating its people on the proposed changes, but no one is allowed to advocate for passing or rejecting them.

"Right now the government is explaining to the electorate the content of the constitution," he said. "I mean some of the articles that are likely to change. There is no campaign to vote 'yes' or 'no', the campaign has not yet started. So when you teach people to vote 'no' and campaign has not started you understand that you are going against the law."

Burundians will vote on the proposed changes in May.

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Kenya Opposition Leader Vows to Inaugurate Self as 'Peoples' President'

By Daniel Schearf January 16, 2018

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose National Super Alliance (NASA) contests the results of October's re-run election, has defiantly vowed to inaugurate himself the "peoples" president' at the end of January, if there is no dialogue beforehand with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In an exclusive television interview Tuesday with VOA's Swahili Service, Odinga denied criticism the threat to hold his own "inauguration ceremony" on January 30 is a tactic to negotiate for power with Kenyatta.

"So, we're not using the swearing-in as a basis of negotiating with Uhuru Kenyatta. We have said in fact that we don't want any stake in Uhuru Kenyatta government. We want to be the ones who are in government."

Despite his tough words, Odinga said the opposition is seeking a dialogue with Kenyatta's ruling Jubilee Party of Kenya. He said it wants to discuss five points with the Kenyan president - electoral justice, judicial independence, police reforms, devolution of power, and restructuring the executive in the constitution.

"As [for] Jubilee, if they have another item or agenda they want to put on the table, they are free to do so. We are ready to discuss. But, our agenda for swearing-in is not negotiable. We say that if we cannot talk by [the] 30th of ... January we are going to be sworn in. And we will then release our program thereafter."

Kenyatta has hinted at, but not yet agreed to dialogue. Kenya's Attorney General Githu Muigai warned in December that any attempts to swear in Odinga as president would qualify as high treason, which is punishable by death.

'Vote of no confidence'

Kenya was plunged into political crisis after last year's presidential elections, which saw an initial poll voided by the Supreme Court and a second round in October boycotted by Odinga and his supporters.

Kenyatta won the second round with 98 percent of the vote. But, a low voter turnout - 39 percent - led many to question if 56-year-old Kenyatta has the mandate to lead, an uncertainty that 73-year-old Odinga has encouraged.

"So, that election was itself a vote of no confidence in Jubilee," Odinga said Tuesday. "And, therefore it is even shameful that Uhuru Kenyatta can be claiming that he is the president of Kenya on the basis of the 26th of October elections."

Kenya's opposition leader may be defiant, but governance and politics analyst at Interthoughts Consulting Jarvis Bigambo tells VOA he is running out of options. "Because the moment the Supreme Court of Kenya determined and pronounced itself on the issue of the conclusion of elections that were conducted on October 26, that matter sounded a death knell on the issues that the opposition could hop on."

Bigambo says Odinga has no legal ground to stand on. "And that's why their claim to that swearing in is that they want to swear in honorable Odinga as the 'peoples' president' not as the bona fide president of the Republic of Kenya," he said.

But Bigambo warns Odinga, who has no small measure of support in Kenya, should not be dismissed by the ruling party.

"It will also be very dangerous for Jubilee leadership - and here I'm speaking specifically to President Kenyatta - to undermine the political capital that honorable Odinga has. And, it behooves the president therefore to reach out and request the leadership of [Odinga's party] NASA to be gracious, to be diligent, and to be focused on the progress - democratic progress - of Kenya," Bigambo said.

The United States recognized the results of the October election, while calling for a national dialogue to address long-standing issues and deep divisions. The U.S. also urged opposition leaders to work within Kenya's laws to pursue reforms and avoid extra-constitutional actions such as Odinga's planned "inauguration ceremony."

VOA's Swahili Service contributed to this report.

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Mattis Highlights Diplomatic Solution for North Korean Situation

By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2018  Defense Secretary James N. Mattis has highlighted the efforts aimed at strengthening diplomatic avenues for a secure, prosperous and denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

Mattis spoke to reporters yesterday while en route to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula.

"The situation we face I would call it sobering," Mattis said. "But this meeting is designed to still make progress diplomatically, such as you've seen with three unanimous Security Council resolutions over these last months."

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is co-hosting the foreign ministers' meeting today and tomorrow with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Mattis said his role in the conference is to provide the military situation, then leave the meeting in the hands of Tillerson and the foreign ministers.

Effort Firmly in Diplomatic Realm

"I just want to emphasize this, because this shows that this effort right now is firmly in the diplomatic realm," he said. "That is where we are working it."

Mattis did note that military options do exist if North Korea were to launch an attack. However, he reiterated the goal of strengthening diplomatic efforts.

Diplomatic initiatives are "starting to go in the right direction," he said, noting developments such as North Korea saying it would send athletes and musicians to South Korea next month during the Winter Olympics.

Mattis traveled on today to visit the 366th Fighter Wing, known as the "Gunfighters," located at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. He said he wanted to discuss readiness with the airmen there.

"They are deployable fighter squadrons under that wing, and they are the ones who are training alongside the Singaporean air force there over the Snake River in Denver," he pointed out.

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US to Keep Pressuring N Korea Until Its Abandons Its Nuclear Program - Tillerson

Sputnik News

20:25 16.01.2018(updated 20:54 16.01.2018)

The international pressure campaign against North Korea will continue until Pyongyang makes a decision to fully denuclearize, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday.

"The pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes decisive steps to denuclearize," Tillerson said. "This is the strategy that has and will require patience."

The United States, Russia, China and the rest of the world does not recognize the DPRK as a nuclear power. This was stated on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at a summit in Vancouver, chaired by Canada and the US, where the Foreign Ministers of 16 states will discuss the situation around the DPRK.

"We all must insist a full enforcement of UN Security Council Sanctions as this is the letter of the law. We especially urge China and Russia in this matter," Tillerson said.

The United States will keep using sanctions against North Korean entities and individuals as a punitive tactic in response to Pyongyang's provocations, Rex Tillerson added.

During the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said that the continued investment in nuclear weapons by North Korea will lead to more sanctions against that country.

"To North Korea's leadership, our message is also clear: The pursuit of nuclearization will bring you neither security nor prosperity," Freeland said. "Investing in nuclear weapons will lead only to more sanctions and to perpetual instability on the peninsula."

The situation on the Korean peninsula worsened at the end of November 2017, when Pyongyang carried out its first rocket launch in two and a half months when it tested a new Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile. After the launch, the DPRK announced that the missile could carry a nuclear warhead, and that anywhere in the US territory was within its range.

 Sputnik

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Vancouver Talks Focus on Pressuring North Korea

By Nike Ching, Chris Hannas January 16, 2018

Foreign ministers from 20 nations meeting in Vancouver in regard to North Korea say sanctions pressure must continue against the country until it abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Tuesday's ministerial talks in Canada come just days after a mistaken missile alert sparked panic in Hawaii, a sharp reminder of the fears over North Korea's nuclear aggression.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the gathering of like-minded nations sends North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a unified message: "We will not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea."

The top U.S. diplomat urged China and Russia, which were not invited, to fully implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea.

"Additionally, we must increase the costs of the regime's behavior to the point that North Korea must come to the table for credible negotiations," Tillerson said during the opening of the talks.

He added that North Korea's missile tests pose a real threat to civilian air traffic, citing an example that lives of an estimated 152,110 people on 716 international flights could have been put in danger by North Korea's most recent missile launch back on November 28 of last year.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told those gathering in Vancouver that nations must improve the effectiveness of existing sanctions.

State Department Policy Planning Director Brian Hook said ahead of the meeting that leaders want to show that diplomatic paths to resolve the situation are available, while another official said there will be no talk of military options.

North Korea has defied U.N. calls to refrain from nuclear and ballistic missile tests. November test of an intercontinental ballistic missile spiked tensions and sparked a war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Those tensions have eased somewhat in recent weeks, and representatives from North Korea and South Korea held their first formal talks in two years.

Chinese state media reported Tuesday that President Xi Jinping told Trump in a phone call there must be efforts to maintain that momentum.

Those attending the Vancouver talks include those nations that supported South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as Japan and South Korea itself.

Stephen Noerper, senior policy director at the New York-based Korea Society, said it would be good if China and Russia were involved, but that those nations have sidestepped the sanctions against North Korea.

"It's China and Russia who would be the biggest violators in terms of what we've seen by way of transfers at sea of oils involving North Korean ships, and there have also been reports of Russia offloading coal, turning off its beacons and then going into North Korea," Noerper told VOA.

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Trump, Xi Hopeful Korean Contacts Will Change Pyongyang's Nuclear Weapons Pursuit

By VOA News January 16, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are hopeful that recent contacts between South and North Korean officials will lead to a change in Pyongyang's "destructive behavior" pursuing nuclear weapons, the White House said Tuesday.

The two leaders talked Monday and noted recent inter-Korean discussions leading to North Korea sending athletes and an orchestra to South Korea for next month's Winter Olympics. The White House said Trump and Xi "expressed hope" the rare contact between the two Koreas will lead to changes in North Korea's arms testing.

Trump, the White House said, "committed to sustain the United States-led global campaign of maximum pressure to compel North Korea to commit to denuclearization."

The White House said Trump and Xi also discussed trade issues, with the U.S. leader expressing "disappointment that the United States' trade deficit with China has continued to grow. President Trump made clear that the situation is not sustainable."

The chronic U.S. trade deficit with China totaled more than $371 billion in the last year, meaning that the U.S. is importing more goods worth that much from China compared to products it is exporting to China.

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Military option no solution to domestic woes: President Rouhani

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 16, IRNA -- No country can solve its domestic problems through despatching troops to other regional countries, said President Hassan Rouhani in the 13th Conference of Parliamentary Union of the OIC members (PUIC) in Tehran on Tuesday.

'We should solve our problems through peaceful solutions,' President Rouhani said, 'We support constructive interaction in the Islamic World with each other based on equal footage, in which there is no room for foreign interference and exploitation.'

'We should put our conflicts aside and reduce our foreign dependencies through relying on domestic capacities, social capitals, and rich resources to develop and promote the Islamic world,' he added.

Rouhani reiterated that for solving the problems, Islamic countries should have an inward look rather than an outward one.

Saying that the cooperation between the OIC members should be more institutionalized, President Rouhani said, 'We should solve our societies' problems through domestic capacities and capabilities and not tying hope to others to solve our problems. This doesn't mean isolationism.'

9417**1377

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US new strategy seeks to create complex situation for Iran: Defense minister

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 05:16PM

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami has warned that the US is pursuing its new strategy against Iran by creating a complicated situation for the country.

"The US seeks to implement its new strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran by creating a complicated atmosphere," Hatami said at a Tuesday conference in Tehran.

He pointed to US President Donald Trump's efforts to change Iran's nuclear deal with the world powers, and Washington's opposition to removal of sanctions against Tehran as part of the new US strategy against the Islamic Republic.

General Hatami noted that the US seeks to complicate the situation through attempts to distracting the attention of the Islamic Republic's decision-makers but noted that Iranian officials stand against such threats by relying on the nation's vigilance and the country's defense might.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump extended waivers of economic sanctions on Iran for another 120 days but said he was doing so "for the last time."

Although the US president declined to withdraw from the Iran deal  which he has long railed against and formerly promised to "rip up"  he gave a four-month deadline to the US Congress and America's main European allies to address what he called the "disastrous flaws" of the deal.

The agreement, reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries -- the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany -- puts limitations on parts of Iran's nuclear program in exchange for removing all nuclear-related sanctions.

Iran's Foreign Ministry also announced on Saturday that the country would commit to no obligation beyond those it has already agreed to under the nuclear agreement and that it would not renegotiate the deal.

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Japan Apologizes for False North Korean Missile Alert

Sputnik News

19:28 16.01.2018(updated 19:29 16.01.2018)

The public broadcaster NHK issued an on-air apology after it mistakenly sent the alert to its website and to users of its app on Tuesday.

The message received by mobile phone users at 6.55pm local time said: "NHK news alert. North Korea appears to have launched a missile. The government urges people to take shelter inside buildings or underground."

The error was corrected within minutes and the NHK spokesman said they're investigating what caused the mistake.

Tensions remain high on the Korean peninsula after North staged a serious of nuclear and missile tests in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

This comes just days after a similar incident in Hawaii when an employee mistakenly sent a ballistic missile alert that caused panic across the US state.

Residents received a warning to seek immediate shelter sending panic across Hawaii.

To make matters worse officials took 38 minutes to correct the false alarm.

 Sputnik

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Nazarbaev Thanks Trump For Backing Kazakh Territorial Integrity

January 16, 2018

WASHINGTON -- Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for Washington's support of his country's territorial integrity, as the two leaders met for talks expected to focus on regional security, economic issues, and bilateral relations.

In brief comments to reporters on January 16 before a scheduled luncheon, Nazarbaev also congratulated Trump on his first year in office.

"Kazakhstan has always enjoyed the very good political relations, and we appreciate the American support for independence and territorial integrity," he said, speaking through a translator.

Nazarbaev did not elaborate on the remarks. However, the Central Asian nation has been uneasy about Russia's policies toward former Soviet states like Kazakhstan ever since Moscow seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and stoked an insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Predominantly populated by ethnic Kazakhs, Kazakhstan has a sizable ethnic Russian population, estimated at around 20 percent, much of it concentrated in northern parts of Kazakhstan along its winding border with Russia.

Trump is at least the fifth president that Nazarbaev has dealt with during his 26 years in office, since Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union.

During that time, Nazarbaev has helped shepherd the country into a regional economic powerhouse, and attracted sizable foreign investment for extracting natural resources, first and foremost oil and gas.

The country's Tengiz and Kashagan fields in the Caspian Sea hold some of the world's largest proven reserves of oil.

But Nazarbaev has also overseen the virtual elimination of any opposition political forces and made it difficult for civic organizations or human rights activists to operate independently.

'Strategic Partner'

At 77, he is the oldest serving president of any ex-Soviet republic, and questions about who will succeed him -- and how -- have grown in recent years.

In remarks later at the White House's Roosevelt Room, Trump called Kazakhstan "strong, sovereign, independent" and added that the country was "a friend and strategic partner" to the United States. He also thanked Nazarbaev for helping in the transit of U.S. military equipment and personnel to Afghanistan.

Nazarbaev, meanwhile, made reference to Kazakhstan's location between two regional superpowers -- Russia to the north and China to the east -- and asked for continued U.S. support for an effort known as "C5 + 1." Started by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, that program aims to deepen U.S. cooperation with Kazakhstan and the four other ex-Soviet Central Asian countries: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

"Kazakhstan, being a neighbor of Russia, physically, of course is following closely the dynamics between the United States and Russia, which suddenly plunged into the abyss," Nazarbaev said.

Nazarbaev also said his country had reached deals to purchase more Boeing-made airlines and to assemble 900 new General Electric locomotives in Kazakhstan.

Neither president took any questions from the press.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House said the two were expected to discuss the deteriorating security situation in nearby Afghanistan.

Russia, Syria Talks

The Kazakh state news agency Kazinform said Trump and Nazarbaev would also be discussing relations with Russia and the war in Syria, along with trade issues.

"From a political perspective, we cooperate on solutions and promotion of regional and global security. The meeting will focus on the situation in Afghanistan, the Syrian conflict, and relations with Russia," Sanat Kushkumbaev, deputy director of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, which advises the president, was quoted as saying.

Kazakhstan also currently holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

On January 14, Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov headed a UN delegation that met in Kabul with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

That delegation also included the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and diplomats from China, Russia, and Britain.

Nazarbaev's press service said he would attend a meeting of the UN Security Council on January 18 to preside over talks focusing on nuclear nonproliferation.

After a January 9 meeting with U.S. Ambassador George Krol in Astana, the Kazakh president said he was seeking to build on the "amicable relationship" that Kazakhstan and the United States have established in the past 26 years.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, TASS, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbaev- meets-trump-russia-syria/28979197.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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Rohingya refugees safety must be ensured upon return: UN

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 06:49PM

The United Nations refugee agency says Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh should be consulted and ensured of their safety before they are repatriated to Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Andrej Mahecic, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that the safety of the Rohingya should be guaranteed before they are allowed to return voluntarily.

"Major challenges have to be overcome."

"These include ensuring they are told about the situation in their areas of origin ... and are consulted on their wishes, that their safety is ensured," the UN official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed that they would try to complete the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees within two years. Under the deal, Myanmar pledged to accept the Muslims who have been in Bangladesh since a bloody crackdown by Myanmar's military began in October 2016. The deal does not cover an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to that date.

It was unclear whether the Muslim refugees, subjected to horrific violence in Myanmar and not even recognized as citizens there, would be willing to return or would have to be returned forcibly.

The UN says nearly 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine for Bangladesh since violence intensified last August.

The refugees live in congested camps in the Bangladesh's border district of Cox's Bazar. Health officials have warned about the spread of diseases in the camps.

The World Health Organisation has said aid workers are ramping up efforts to vaccinate half a million children against diphtheria in and around Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. The respiratory disease has killed as many as 31 people and infected about 4,000 since it broke out in November in the camps.

About 316,000 Rohingya children were vaccinated last month, according to a Sunday statement by the WHO. They will need two more doses, spaced a month apart.

In the meantime, health workers are vaccinating 160,000 Bangladeshi children who live in communities near the refugee settlements in Cox's Bazar.

Since August 25, 2017, Myanmar's troops have been committing killings and rapes, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out mass arson attacks to destroy houses in Rakhine.

Only in its first month, the military clampdown killed some 6,700 Rohingya Muslims, including more than 700 children, according to the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Myanmar brands more than one million Rohingya Muslims in the country as "illegal immigrants" from Bangladesh, refusing to accept them as citizens despite the fact that they have lived in the country for many generations.

The Rohingya are considered by the UN as the "most persecuted minority group in the world."

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Bangladesh, Myanmar agree on Rohingya return in 2 years

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 09:22AM

Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to repatriate the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled a recent army crackdown in Myanmar within a period of two years.

The process will be "completed preferably within 2 (two) years from the commencement of repatriation," the Bangladeshi government said in a statement on Tuesday following talks in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, to implement a pact signed last November.

Under that deal, Myanmar pledged to accept the Muslim refugees, who have taken refuge in Bangladesh since the Myanamrese military launched a bloody crackdown against them in October 2016. The deal does not cover an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were living in Bangladesh prior to that date.

The Bangladeshi statement did not specify when the repatriation process would start.

Myanmar will allegedly provide temporary shelter for the returnees before rebuilding houses for them.

According to the statement, Bangladesh would set up five transit camps, which would lead the refugees to two reception centers on the Myanmar side of the border.

But it was unclear whether the Muslim refugees  subjected to horrific violence in Myanmar and not even recognized as citizens there  would be willing to return or would have to be returned forcibly.

Myanmar' government troops have been committing killings, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out arson attacks in Muslim villages in Rakhine State since late 2016.

The UN says nearly 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Myanmarese state to Bangladesh since violence intensified last August.

The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations but are denied citizenship and are branded illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which likewise denies them citizenship.

The UN has described the 1.1-million-strong Muslim community as the most persecuted minority in the world.



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Bangladesh, Myanmar to Reach Deal on Rohingya Repatriation in 2 Years - Reports

Sputnik News

14:03 16.01.2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Bangladesh and Myanmar finalized on Tuesday an agreement on repatriation of Rohingya refugees within the next two years, local media reported.

The decision was made at the first meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) held on Monday and Tuesday in Myanmar's capital of Naypyitaw, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

The agreement envisages the creation of five transit camps from where the repatriated refugees would be sent to two reception center in Myanmar.

Naypyitaw also reaffirmed its commitment to stop the influx of refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

The conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine state between the Rohingya, the Muslim minority, and the Buddhist majority, dates back to the previous century. Central authorities and the Buddhist population consider Rohingya to be undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.

The most recent escalation happened in late August after Rohingya insurgents attacked government security posts. The attacks prompted a response by Myanmar's authorities, resulting in clashes and the death of hundreds of Rohingya and forcing thousands of others to flee to Bangladesh. The situation has been harshly criticized by the global community, which called to put an end to violence.

 Sputnik

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Myanmar, Bangladesh to Begin Return of Rohingya Refugees

By VOA News January 16, 2018

Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh have completed an agreement to repatriate scores of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to escape a brutal military crackdown.

Bangladesh issued a statement Tuesday saying the repatriations will begin next week, with the goal of completing the process within the next two years.

Dhaka says the repatriation process will give priority to "family units" and orphans and "children born out of unwarranted incidence"  a reference to children conceived by rape. The agreement calls for Bangladesh to set up five transit camps that will move the refugees into two reception areas in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

But international watchdog Amnesty International called the deal "premature", saying that Rohingya, who allegedly were not consulted for the deal, have no gaurantee of safety upon their return.

"The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist," James Gomez, Amnesty International's Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement Tuesday. "The Rohingya have an absolute right to return to and reside in Myanmar, but there must be no rush to return people to a system of apartheid. Any forcible returns would be a violation of international law."

About 650,000 Rohingyas have fled into Bangladesh since last August, when Myanmar forces launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya villages in Rakhine state in response to attacks on Myanmar police outposts by Rohingya militants.

Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh have completed an agreement to repatriate scores of Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to escape a brutal military crackdown.

Bangladesh issued a statement Tuesday saying the repatriations will begin next week, with the goal of completing the process within the next two years.

Dhaka says the repatriation process will give priority to "family units" and orphans and "children born out of unwarranted incidence"  a reference to children conceived by rape. The agreement calls for Bangladesh to set up five transit camps that will move the refugees into two reception areas in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

But international watchdog Amnesty International called the deal "premature", saying that Rohingya, who allegedly were not consulted for the deal, have no gaurantee of safety upon their return.

"The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist," James Gomez, Amnesty International's Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement Tuesday. "The Rohingya have an absolute right to return to and reside in Myanmar, but there must be no rush to return people to a system of apartheid. Any forcible returns would be a violation of international law."

About 650,000 Rohingyas have fled into Bangladesh since last August, when Myanmar forces launched a scorched earth campaign against Rohingya villages in Rakhine state in response to attacks on Myanmar police outposts by Rohingya militants.

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Hundreds of Pakistani clerics unite to issue fatwa against bombings

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 03:03PM

Hundreds of Muslim Pakistani clerics have issued an Islamic directive, forbidding suicide bombings as the country has been plagued with violence carried out by several militant outfits.

In a book unveiled by the government at an official ceremony on Tuesday, more than 1,800 clerics declared bombings to be forbidden, or "haraam."

The Pakistani scholars, who declared, "No individual or group has the authority to declare and wage holy war," said bombings violated key Islamic teachings and, as such, were forbidden.

The book, which is prepared by the International Islamic University, seeks to curb "terrorism" that has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties across the violence-hit country since the early 2000s.

President Mamnoon Hussain, while speaking at the ceremony, expressed confidence that the unanimous fatwa would help address the challenges posed by terrorism, extremism and sectarianism.

"This fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society," the Pakistani president wrote in the book. "We can seek guidance from this fatwa for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism, in keeping with the golden principles of Islam."

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, while addressing participants of the ceremony, said, "It is a matter of concern that after 70 years, the dream for Pakistan, the dignity and justice we had to provide the nation, were not realized."

"Pakistan was not created so it could be just one more addition to a list of the world's poorest countries. It is necessary to show the world that even in this modern day and age, the Muslims of South Asia have the ability to form a successful nation on the basis of Islamic principles," the minister said.

For years, Pakistan has witnessed violence by militants that often use bombers. Attacks are frequently condemned as immoral, especially when civilians are killed, but militants view the tactic as their most effective weapon.

The militant activities, coupled with lack of security, have made room for the activities of criminal gangs, human smugglers and terror outfits linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani army, acts of terror by militants continue to target security forces as well as civilians.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001, when Pakistan entered into an alliance with the United States in Washington's so-called war on terror. Thousands more have been displaced.

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US 'not giving up' on ties with Pakistan: Dunford

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:35AM

The administration of US President Donald Trump is "not giving up" on ties with Pakistan despite repeatedly criticizing Islamabad's anti-terror efforts, says the top US military officer.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he was committed to the US-Pakistan relationship, which has been strained after Washington's many attempts to pile up pressure on Islamabad to step up its efforts against militant groups.

"Do we agree on everything right now? No we don't. But are we committed to a more effective relationship with Pakistan? We are. And I'm not giving up on that," said Dunford.

Trump has threatened to cut off foreign aid to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of harboring violent extremists.

In his first tweet of 2018, the Republican president took a jab at his predecessors, saying Washington had "foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years."

"And they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools," wrote the US president on Monday. "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

The allegation prompted outcry in Pakistan, with the military saying in a statement that its army chief told US General Joseph Votel, head of the US military's Central Command, that Islamabad "felt betrayed" by Trump's remarks.

Pakistan also summoned the US ambassador and lodged a strongly-worded protest, asking for Washington's clarification.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif has said that his government is preparing a response that "will let the world know the truth."

In his careful remarks, Dunford made clear that Votel was in charge of the military-to-military discussions and he would only contribute to that dialogue along with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would also.

"I'm not going to talk about the relationship in public because I'm committed to try to improve the relationship and I do believe that the military-to-military dialogue led by General Votel, with occasional reinforcement from Secretary Mattis, myself and others, is the right approach," Dunford said.

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Seoul Hopes to Build Dialogue With Pyongyang to Resolve Nuclear Issue

Sputnik News

23:17 16.01.2018(updated 00:27 17.01.2018)

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Seoul hopes to build upon recent breakthrough bilateral discussions with Pyongyang to resolve the nuclear crisis, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said at a ministerial meeting in Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday.

"As you know, South and North have jump-started talks this year after several years of hiatus. And despite the long absence I have to report that the dialogue has been rather productive and positive," Kang said. "We hope to build on this initial breakthrough to ease tension in the region and forge favorable conditions for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue."

On Tuesday, Pyongyang and Seoul reached an agreement on the participation of North Korean athletes in the upcoming Olympics in South Korea. The two parties are now to decide on the list of North Korean athletes and officials, who will take part in the Olympics.

At the high-level talks on January 9, Kang added, the two sides also agreed to resolve all bilateral issues through dialogue and work together to find a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula. Kang said the development marked a significant first step towards restoring inter-Korean relations which have been frozen for many years.

The Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula is being held in Vancouver. The two-day session, co-hosted by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, kicked off on Monday.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a press briefing on Tuesday that the international community should take advantage of the existing dialogue between North and South Korea as it provides an opportunity to advance the efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

"I think there are some signals of hope. What I believe is extremely important is to take profit of these signals of hope to make sure that serious process leading to peaceful denuclearization of Korean peninsula takes place," Guterres told reporters.

Asked whether he believes war on the Korean Peninsula is avoidable, Guterres said the "window of opportunity" that has opened up due to a recent thaw in inter-Korean relations "will hopefully make the war avoidable," but peace is not yet guaranteed.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has become tense after the United States and North Korea traded threats and insults following Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests during the past year.

The UN Security Council has introduced multiple sanctions against North Korea in order to impede the development of the country's nuclear program.

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and two nearby cities, Gangneung and Jeongseon, from February 9 to February 25. The South Korean resort city is located some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the border with North Korea.

Seoul and Pyongyang will hold a working-level meeting on Wednesday to discuss the participation of the North Korean athletes in the upcoming Winter Olympics. According to the South Korean Unification Ministry, the meeting will take place at 10 a.m. local time (01:30 GMT) at a negotiation site.

The working-level talks would be carried out by the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries, Yonhap news agency reported.

 Sputnik

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Lithuania Bars Kadyrov, 48 Other Russians Under Magnitsky Law

RFE/RL January 16, 2018

Lithuania has issued its first blacklist of 49 Russians banned for allegedly violating human rights or engaging in corruption and money laundering under its new Magnitsky law.

The blacklist was published by Lithuania's Interior Ministry on January 15 and included Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Chechnya region, among other prominent Russians.

Human rights groups say that Kadyrov, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2007 to head Chechnya, rules through repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces.

They claim Kadyrov has been responsible for abuses that include kidnappings, disappearances, torture, and killings of political opponents.

Also targeted on the Lithuanian blacklist are Russian Investigative Committee chief Aleksandr Bastrykin, who is accused of carrying out numerous politically charged cases against Putin opponents, and Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi, who is accused in the poisoning death of Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko at a hotel in London in 2006.

The Lithuanian law was modeled on the U.S. Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky laws are named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after suffering what his supporters said amounted to torture.

Magnitsky had been jailed by Russian authorities after he helped uncover a $230 million tax-fraud scheme. He was later convicted posthumously of the crime.

Lithuania was the fifth Western country to adopt Magnitsky legislation, following the United States, Canada, Britain, and Estonia.

The Lithuanian law authorizes the Foreign Ministry to identify people it considers to be violators of human rights or engaged in corruption and money laundering. The Interior Ministry can then act on those recommendations and ban the people from the country for five years.

Russia had no immediate response to publication of the blacklist. The Russian ambassador to Vilnius, Aleksandr Udaltsov, has previously warned that Moscow will retaliate over the new law.

"We will have to respond to yet another unfriendly step by Lithuania and bar entry to Russia to a number of unwelcome individuals from this country," Russian news agency Interfax has quoted him as saying.

With reporting by dpa, Baltic Times, and Sundaily.com

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuania-bars-kadyrov-other-prominent -russians-under-new-magnitsky-law/28977709.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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Rouhani: New US plan plot against territorial integrity, security of Syria

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 16, IRNA -- President Hassan Rouhani condemned presence of the US forces in Syria and said that the new plan of the US for Syria is contrary to the international regulations and is a plot for territorial integrity and security of Syria and the region.

According to a report of the Presidential Office website on Tuesday, President Rouhani in a meeting with Syrian parliament Speaker Hammouda Yusuf Sabbagh extended his congratulations for great victories of Syrian government, military and nation against terrorists and liberating important cities, and added that fight against terrorism has not fully come to end and still needs efforts.

President Rouhani said that the Iranian nation and government have always been with the Syrian nation and government and expressed the hope that the Syrian future would be in the direction of prosperity and tranquility.

He said that continuation of fight against terrorism and confrontation with foreign interferences are so important for the Syrian people, adding that the Syrian refugees should return home as soon as possible and rebuilding process should begin in Syria and Iran is standing by Syrian people and government in this regard.

President Rouhani said that the negotiation process and political moves started from Sochi should be continued until the fulfillment of rights of the Syrian nation and government.

Hammouda Sabbagh appreciated Iranian government and nation supports for Syrian people in the way of fight against terrorism, and called for continuation of supports and assistance by Iran during rebuilding Syria era.

He added that holding joint economic commission meeting in Damascus and upcoming visit of First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri to Syria will help develop relations.

Sabbagh said that Syria has officially asked the US forces to depart from Syria, adding that Syria has never agreed to their presence in Syria.

1391**2050

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President in a meeting with Syrian Parliament Speaker:

US new plot against int'l law, territorial integrity, security of Syria

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 16 January 2018 / 16:41

Tehran (ISNA) - The president met with the Speaker of the People's Council of Syria Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh on Tuesday and emphasized that the two countries should boost efforts to develop and strengthen close, inclusive relations between Tehran and Damascus.

Dr. Hassan Rouhani also expressed congratulations to the Syrian government, people and army on the great victories against the terrorists and the liberation of major cities of Syria, saying, "Of course, the fight against terrorism has not yet come to an end and should be continued with the same determination".

Pointing out that the Iranian government and nation have always stood by the Syrian government and people, and will continue to do so, the President also expressed hope that the future of Syria will be on the path to peace and development for the nation.

The president also condemned the presence of American forces in Syria and US plots for the country's future, adding, "The plot that the Americans recently have in mind for Syria is against international regulations and a conspiracy for territorial integrity and the security of Syria and the region".

Dr. Rouhani also went on to point out that the continuation of the fight against terrorists and the fight against foreign interference is an important issue for the Syrian people, saying, "We must work hard to bring Syrian refugees back to their homeland as soon as possible and begin the process of reconstruction of the country. In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran stands by the Syrian government and people".

The process of negotiations and political measures that started from Sochi must be pursued and continued until the right of the people and the will of the Syrian people and government are fulfilled, Dr. Rouhani continued.

The Speaker of the People's Council of Syria Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh appreciated the Iranian government and people for supporting the Syrian people in the fight against terrorism, calling for continued support and assistance from the Islamic Republic of Iran for rebuilding of Syria.

"Syria has officially asked the US forces to leave the country and we never agree to their presence in Syria," said Youssef Sabbagh, referring to US actions and plots for the countries of the region.

End Item

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Turkey sends armored vehicles to southern border with Syria: Sources

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 06:44AM

Turkey has reportedly dispatched a convoy of over 40 military vehicles and tanks to the southern regions along the Syrian frontier amid growing Ankara-Washington tensions over a US plan to create a "border force" at Turkey's doorstep.

Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday that two dozen armored vehicles had entered the Reyhanli district of Turkey's Hatay Province with military jammer vehicles "for reinforcement reasons."

Another 20-vehicle military convoy, including tanks, had also arrived in the Viransehir district of Turkey's Sanliurfa Province to provide assistance to the military units already deployed to the Syrian border, the sources added.

The US infuriated its NATO partner Turkey on Sunday by announcing that Washington and a coalition of its allies purportedly fighting Daesh will work with US-backed militants of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to set up a new 30,000-strong "border security" force.

The force would operate along the Turkish border with Iraq and within Syria along the Euphrates River.

Washington also said it is supplying weapons and training to anti-Damascus militants of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the SDF's main backbone. Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist group and the Syrian arm of the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting for independence over the past decades.

The US had promised to take back the weapons from Kurdish militants once Daesh falls.

Reacting to the US military's announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Washington is "building an army of terror" on the border with Syria," and that "it is our responsibility to suffocate this effort before it is born."

He also threatened an attack on Afrin "in the days ahead" to clear the northwestern Syrian town of "terrorists." The city is controlled by Kurdish militants.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu echoed Erdogan's remarks, urging the US to clarify its stance.

"The US must clarify which side it is on, whether it chooses to be with its allies or terror groups," he said, warning, "We will take our own measures [against terror groups] regardless of who backs them; whether it is the US or other countries, it doesn't matter to us."

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield. Ankara said the campaign was aimed at pushing Daesh terrorists from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces.

Turkey ended its Syria offensive in March 2017, but has kept its military presence there.

Syria has voiced strong opposition to both Turkish and American military actions on its soil, repeatedly calling on the two NATO allies to pull their forces out.

Washington's border force plan drew angry reactions from both Syria and Russia, with Damascus describing it as a "blatant assault" on its sovereignty.

Russia also said the US was seeking to split the Syrian territory.

"In fact, that means separation of a huge territory along the border with Turkey and Iraq," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "The actions we currently see indicate that the United States does not want to keep the territorial integrity of Syria."

'US after dividing Syria'

Meanwhile, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Monday denounced the US bid to form "an armed militia" as a desperate attempt to divide the country and prolong the crisis there.

He told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen television channel that the efforts by Washington and its agents in the Persian Gulf region as well as Turkey to undermine Syria's unity and sovereignty were in vain amid sweeping gains by the Syrian army and its allies against terrorists on the battlefield.

Mekdad also expressed confidence in the Syrian people's ability to foil the new conspiracy, adding that the presence of foreign forces on Syrian soil without coordination with the Damascus government is illegitimate.

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Ankara to Prevent All Military Support to Syrian Kurds' YPG Militia

Sputnik News

16:49 16.01.2018(updated 16:50 16.01.2018)

ANKARA (Sputnik)  Ankara intends to prevent all military support to Syrian Kurds' People's Protection Units (YPG), which it considers an extension of Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and urges NATO to treat all terrorist groups equally, Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, Gen. Hulusi Akar said.

The US-led coalition against the Daesh terrorist group is training a force expected to ensure border control in Syria, the Defense Post news website reported on Saturday, citing a coalition spokesman. The force is expected to be stuffed partly by veterans of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), affiliated with the YPG.

"We cannot and will not allow the terrorist organization, YPG, which has been proven as an extension of the PKK, to be supported and armed under the guise of it being an 'operational partner'," Akar said, as quoted by Anadolu news agency.

The Turkish military chief added that NATO should not give a preferential approach to any terrorist groups.

Following the coalition's announcement, Ankara has been indicating it might launch an offensive in Syria's northern Kurdish-controlled Afrin.

The PKK, involved in an armed conflict with Ankara, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, the European Union and NATO.

 Sputnik

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Turkey to Assault Syrian Afrin With Airstrikes on 149 Kurdish Targets - Reports

Sputnik News

14:08 16.01.2018(updated 14:21 16.01.2018)

ANKARA (Sputnik)  Turkey's possible offensive in Syria's northern Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave will start with airstrikes on 149 targets of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), Turkish media reported on Tuesday.

Since Saturday, Ankara has been threatening to start an operation against the Syrian Kurds in Afrin following an announcement by the US-led coalition about training a border protection force composed of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), affiliated with the YPG, in northern Syria. Various Turkish media have been reporting about shelling by the Turkish army of the territory under YPG control in Afrin. Ankara has reportedly sent armed convoys to the Syrian border.

The Turkish Vatan newspaper reported, citing military sources, that the country's airstrikes would be carried out by fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Ankara also plans to start a ground operation after the elimination of the main YPG strongholds by airstrikes. Turkey plans to attack the Kurdish forces from three directions to make them retreat to the regions under Damascus control to the southeast of Afrin, the outlet added.

Col. Thomas Veale, public affairs officer of the US-led coalition said in an interview with The Defense Post news outlet, published on Saturday, that the coalition was training the SDF to create a 30,000-strong force to maintain security along Syria's borders. The statement prompted condemnation from Damascus, calling these activities aggression and occupation.

The US announcement also followed threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to eliminate the US-trained Kurdish troops from the vicinity of the Turkish southern border.

Ankara, one of the Syrian ceasefire guarantor states alongside Iran and Russia, considers the YPG linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed a terrorist organization in Turkey.

 Sputnik

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Erdogan Hopes to Continue Talks on Syria With Putin Rather Than Trump

Sputnik News

14:08 16.01.2018(updated 14:38 16.01.2018)

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that he was not planning to discuss the US intentions to create "border security forces" northern Syria with US President Donald Trump, but would maintain contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I am not planning to call Trump, but contacts with Putin continue," Erdogan told reporters, when asked a relevant question.

Erdogan also urged NATO to oppose the US plans to create the border force, saying that the military bloc was "obliged" to stand against those powers that "harass and violate the borders of its members."

The news of the security border forces first emerged on Saturday, when Col. Thomas Veale, the public affairs officer of the US-led coalition, gave an interview to The Defense Post. He said that the coalition was training the SDF to create a 30,000-strong force to maintain security along Syria's borders.

The statement prompted condemnation from Damascus, which called these activities acts of aggression and occupation.

The news also prompted a backlash from Turkey, with Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag accusing Washington of creating a "terrorist army" to protect Daesh and President Erdogan pledging to "strangle" these forces before they were born.

 Sputnik

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Turkish President Steps Up Threats on US-backed Militia in Syria

By Dorian Jones January 16, 2018

Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Tuesday stepped up threats to launch a cross-border operation against the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG, which the U.S. backs in the war against Islamic State militants. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist organization linked to an ongoing Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.

Erdogan used his weekly parliamentary address to his ruling AK Party supporters to say the operation could be imminent.

"Tomorrow, or the day after, or within a short period, we will get rid of terror nests one by one in Syria, starting with Afrin and Manbij," Erdogan said.

Both Afrin and Manbij are areas under the control of the YPG in Syria. The Turkish president also chided his NATO partners for failing to address Turkey's concerns over the Kurdish militia.

"You are duty-bound to strike a certain pose against anyone that harasses one of your partners," he said.

The head of Turkey's armed forces, Hulusi Akar, is holding talks Tuesday in Brussels with his NATO counterparts.

Concern over 'border force'

Akar is also expected to confer with the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford in Brussels. Erdogan said concerns over Washington's plans to create a Syrian "border force" would be raised during that meeting.

The planned 30,000 strong contingent triggered Ankara's threat of military action because it would likely draw heavily on YPG personnel. Erdogan has called the proposed force a "terror army" and vowed to destroy it. U.S. officials see the force is key to containing any future threat by Islamic State terrorists.

While Ankara previously issued similar military threats against the YPG as the militia made sweeping gains against Islamic State along Turkey's border, this latest warning is widely seen as the most serious.

Erdogan Tuesday said that the planned operation against the YPG would involve Syrian rebel forces. Turkey is boosting its forces on the Syrian border and has been pounding YPG-controlled territory with artillery in the past few days.

Turkish-U.S. relations are deeply strained over Washington's support of the Syrian Kurdish militia. Tensions eased briefly in November after Erdogan said he received a commitment from President Donald Trump that the U.S. was ending its support of the YPG, a claim that Washington did not confirm.

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UK Royal Air Force scrambles jets to intercept Russian bombers

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:18AM

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has scrambled two fighter jets to intercept a pair of Russian strategic bombers approaching Britain's airspace, the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) claims.

The RAF confirmed on Monday that it had issued a "quick reaction alert," deploying Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes from the Lossiemouth base in Scotland to intercept two Russian Tupolev Tu-160s long-range bombers.

The British jets picked up the Russian bombers over the North Sea, about 30 miles (48km) from UK airspace and escorted them away from the area.

"The Russian aircraft were initially monitored by a variety of friendly nation fighters and subsequently intercepted by the RAF in the North Sea," the RAF said. "At no point did the Russian aircraft enter sovereign UK airspace."

Russia's Defense Ministry reacted to the RAF statement, saying the pair Tu-160s of bombers were on a 13-hour training flight over the Barents, Norwegian and North seas and did not breach international norms.

"All flights by Russian aircraft are performed in strict accordance with international rules for using airspace without infringement on any countries' borders," the ministry said in a statement.

The Soviet-era Tu-160 is the world's largest combat aircraft and has been modernized to carry long-range nuclear cruise missiles. It has yet to be confirmed if any of the Russian planes were armed during the encounter.

Last week, the UK Navy frigate HMS Westminster was ordered to intercept two Russian warships and two supporting vessels passing near UK waters.

Military forces of the UK, as a member of the NATO military alliance, and Russia have had several close contacts over the past months, amid a rise in diplomatic tensions between the two countries. They routinely test reactions with such sorties.

UK Defense Minister Gavin Williamson announced late last year that the RAF was set to deploy four more Typhoon jets to Romania to deter "an increasingly assertive Russia."

NATO has been patrolling skies over the Baltic Sea since 2004, when the three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the military alliance but lacked the aviation power to monitor their own airspace.

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British Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Strategic Bombers

January 16, 2018

Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) has scrambled two fighter jets to intercept Russian strategic bombers near U.K. airspace.

The RAF said on January 15 that it sent Typhoon aircraft from the Lossiemouth base in Scotland on a "quick reaction alert" as two Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack bombers approached Britain.

"The Russian aircraft were initially monitored by a variety of friendly-nation fighters and subsequently intercepted by the RAF in the North Sea," the air force said. "At no point did the Russian aircraft enter sovereign U.K. airspace."

Russia's Defense Ministry said the pair of bombers flew over the Barents, Norwegian, and North seas during a 13-hour training mission that covered neutral waters, in line with international norms.

"All flights by Russian aircraft are performed in strict accordance with international rules for using airspace without infringement on any countries' borders," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the bombers executed midair refueling during the mission, and were escorted by Belgian F-16 fighters as well as British Typhoon fighters at different stages of their journey.

Encounters between Russian and NATO warplanes have increased as Moscow has demonstrated its resurgent military might.

Russia also has increased its navy's presence in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and other areas.

Last week, the HMS Westminster, a Portsmouth-based Type 23 frigate, was ordered to intercept two Russian corvettes and two supporting vessels that neared U.K. waters en route to their Baltic home base.

Based on reporting by AP and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/british-fighter-jets- typhoon-intercept-russian-strategic-bombers- tupolev-tu160-north-sea-/28977795.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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Police, Protesters Clash Near Ukrainian Parliament

RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service January 16, 2018

KYIV -- Police and protesters have clashed near the Ukrainian parliament, where lawmakers discussed legislation on the "reintegration" of regions held by Russia-backed separatists.

The clashes on January 16 started after some of the protesters torched tires and burned a Russian flag in an area near the Verkhovna Rada and a tent camp set up by antigovernment protesters last year.

Police and firefighters extinguished the burning tires and threw them toward the tent camp. Law enforcement officers also used a chemical spray during the confrontation.

Ukraine's national police reported that one officer had been wounded in the scuffles, and one protester had been taken into custody.

Kyiv police said earlier that more than 3,800 officers were deployed near government buildings and the parliament ahead of the session in the Rada, Ukraine's single-chamber parliament. They greatly outnumbered the few dozen protesters.

Demonstrators want lawmakers to swiftly pass a "reintegration" bill that states that Russia -- which controls Crimea and backs separatists who have held parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in eastern Ukraine since 2014 -- is an aggressor.

Hotly Contested

The bill has been a hotly contested issue even before it passed in a first reading in October, amid scuffles between lawmakers. Opponents of the bill are displeased because they say it uncouples the issue of Russian-occupied Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and could lead to the restoration of trade with the territories under the control of the Russia-backed separatists because it does not include language to support the current ban, Rada Deputy Speaker and Samopomich (Self Reliance) party member Oksana Syroyid told Channel 5 news.

President Petro Poroshenko reluctantly cut all but humanitarian trade with the separatist-held parts of the region known as the Donbas in March 2017, under pressure from nationalist activists who had blocked rail and road routes between the two sides. The controversial move has made life even more difficult for those civilians living in the war-torn area, according to humanitarian groups.

Yuriy Boyko, leader of the Opposition Bloc, formerly the Party of Regions, claimed the bill "contradicts all international agreements and treaties" that Ukraine is party to in regard to solving the conflict, notably the February 2015 deal known as the Minsk accord.

Language regarding the Minsk accord, which has been criticized for not producing a lasting cease-fire -- let alone peace -- since it was signed, was removed after much debate ahead of the first reading of the bill.

Supporters of the bill, including lawmakers from the president's ruling party and the People's Front party of former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, say it is necessary for the defense of the country, the possible expansion of international sanctions against the Kremlin, for the peace process, and potential compensation for losses stemming from Russia's military actions.

"Legislative recognition of these facts will extend to the Kremlin the international legal obligations of the invader," Yatsenyuk said on Facebook on January 15.

The parliament said earlier that lawmakers might also discuss a bill on the creation of a Supreme Anticorruption Court, which Poroshenko proposed last month amid rallies demanding the adoption of such a law.

'IMF Letter'

The creation of an anticorruption court has been one of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) conditions for Ukraine to qualify for the next loan tranche of around $2 billion.

However, both the IMF and World Bank are not satisfied with the Ukrainian draft law on the anticorruption court, Ukrayinska Pravda reported.

The online newspaper reported on January 15 that the IMF has told Poroshenko's administration that it did not support the bill in its current form because it would not guarantee the court's independence.

Ukrayinska Pravda published what it said was the text of a January 11 letter from the IMF mission chief for Ukraine, Ron van Rooden, in which he wrote that the IMF has "serious concerns about the draft law."

"Several provisions are not consistent with the authorities' commitments under Ukraine's IMF-supported program," the letter said.

On January 16, Ukrayinska Pravda cited a letter from the World Bank's country director, Satu Kahkonen, to the presidential administration to express the bank's concerns about the bill.

"We believe that the draft law requires the following revisions to bring it into alignment with the recommendations of the Venice Commission and satisfy the requirements of the World Bank's estimated $800 million Policy-Based Guarantee to support key reforms in Ukraine," she said in a letter dated January 15.

Ukraine's backers have repeatedly urged the country to step up its fight against corruption. Western governments say tackling graft is crucial to curbing Russian influence.

Progress on reforms has been stalled since 2016, raising concerns in Ukraine and the West that little will be done ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019.

With reporting by RFE/RL Correspondent Christopher Miller in Kyiv, Reuters, and Ukrayinska Pravda

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-police-protesters -clash-kyiv-parliament/28978410.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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He also stated that 3 million users in India have already signed up for Samsung Pay since its introduction in March 2017.

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Haiti - Justice : Arrest of the alleged assassins of Father Joseph Simoly





Monday at press conference, Inspector Gary Desrosiers Deputy Spokesperson of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) announced that following the police investigation into the assassination of Father Joseph Simoly (54 years old) on December 21 2017, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23058-haiti-flash-a-priest-shot-dead-in-petion-ville.html four individuals were apprehended during a police operation in which two motorcycles and a 38-gauge handgun were also seized.



These individuals were identified as : Jonathan Servil, Jean Louis Julmer, Jocelin Philogene and Jean Louis Pierre presented to the press at the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ). They are accused of murder, carrying illegal firearms and criminal conspiracy.



Inspector Desrosiers said that these four individuals were known to the police and could be involved in two other murders committed in April and July 2017.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23168-haiti-security-incident-revolting-at-the-funeral-of-father-joseph-simoly.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23094-haiti-notice-funeral-of-the-reverend-father-joseph-simoly.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23088-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23070-haiti-security-strong-reaction-of-catholic-bishops-of-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23058-haiti-flash-a-priest-shot-dead-in-petion-ville.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Digiciel : List of the 22 finalists of the campaign Konbit Pou Chanjman





Let's recall that in March 2017, the Digicel Foundation launched "Kombit Pou Chanjman", to promote sustainable development of communities in Haiti, with 10 grants of US $ 10,000 to 10 organizations for the implementation of a community project.



In June 2017 out of the 300 projects received, 63 were selected for the second phase. These projects were visited at the end of 2017 by members of the Board of the Foundation with the support of employees of the company to assess their impact within communities.



Now, in the final phase, 22 projects have been selected for the Grand Final to be held in March 2018 where a jury will determine the 10 organizations that will each benefit from the $ 10,000 grant.



"We are delighted with these various projects that organizations have submitted with great care and determination. This demonstrates the will of the Haitian people to contribute to the development of their country. We congratulate the finalists and wish them every success. We look forward to supporting the 10 organizations in the implementation and realization of their projects" said Sophia Stransky, Non-Executive Director of the Digicel Foundation.



List of finalist organizations :



Ministry of a New Hope for Integral Development in Haiti (Department of Artibonite)



Community Center for Integrated Development of Gros Morne (Department of Artibonite)



Community Action for Education around Lake Peligre (Center Department)



Cooperation of Young Haitians for Socioeconomic Development (Center Department)



Organization for the Rehabilitation of the Municipality of Roseaux (Department of Grand'Anse)



Groupe Soleil Jeunesse (Department of Grand'Anse)



Paillant in Development Path (Department of Nippes)



Haiti Land of Dreams (Nippes Department)



Training Center for Mutual Aid and Community Development (North Department)



Technical Assistance and Institutional Capacity Building Center (North Department)



Peoples' Organization Working for North-East Development (Northeast Department)



Congregation of the Little Brothers of St. Teresa / Laguamite Fraternity (Northeast Department)



Asosyasyon Peyizan Jasmin (North West Department)



Watershed Committee Moustique River for Sustainable Exploitation (Northwest Department)



The Ministries of the Online Choir / Heartline Ministries (West Department)



Organized Farmers Initiative for Sustainable Development (IFOSUD) (West Department)



Haiti Adolescent Girls Network (West Department)



YWCA-Haiti (West Department)



Progressive Movement Port-Salutain (South Department)



Association of Young Thinkers for Evolution (South Department)



Echo of the Young Tuff for the Advancement of the Valley (South Department)



Kodinasyon Pou Devlopman Pech Ak Agrikilti Nan Awondisman Belans (Southeast Department)



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Environment : Sanitation new promises of Moise to the mayors





Monday at the National Palace, President Jovenel Moise, accompanied by his Chief of Staff Wilson Laleau and other members of his team, held an important meeting with the various municipal cartels of the metropolitan area, at the approach of the deployment of the Caravan of Change in the West Department scheduled for February 7th.



This new meeting with the mayors from the different municipalities of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince was an opportunity for the Head of State to reiterate his commitment to the collectivities, who have a major role to play in the development of Haiti.



He expressed his willingness to involve more in the future operations, all the public institutions concerned by the sanitation issue https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23229-haiti-insalubrity-9-mayors-of-the-metropolitan-area-call-the-authorities-to-dialogue.html while promising the mayors to make every effort to enable the populations of the metropolitan area and the rest of the country to evolve in a healthier environment.



In order to allow town halls to better play their part in the sanitation effort of the Department of the West, the Head of State promised that heavy equipment and of large tonnage will be distributed in the communes.



Let's hope that this promise becomes a reality, unlike that of July 2017 when Jovenel Moise promised the same thing before 8 mayors of the metropolitan area by saying to "wants to work to strengthen the capacities of communes by providing them with adequate materials and equipment for the implementation of their sanitation policy." https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21616-haiti-politics-moise-brings-together-8-mayors-and-made-promises-against-insalubrity.html



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23229-haiti-insalubrity-9-mayors-of-the-metropolitan-area-call-the-authorities-to-dialogue.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21616-haiti-politics-moise-brings-together-8-mayors-and-made-promises-against-insalubrity.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22862-haiti-environment-operation-lave-figi-kwadebouke.html



HL/ HaitiLibre
























Published on 2018/01/16 | Source

Added episodes 43 and 44 captures for the Korean drama "Bravo My Life" (2017)

Advertisement

Directed by Jung Hyo

Written by Jung Ji-woo

Network : SBS

With Do Ji-won, Park Sang-min, Yeon Jung-hoon, Jung Yoo-mi, Hyun Woo, Kang Ji-sub,...

Synopsis

60 episodes - Sat, Sun 20:45

This drama is the story of three people, actors who fail to debut after seven years and their lives as they relate to a broadcasting station.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/10/21

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Laurel Park OKs development on U.S. 64

Glen Englram presents a petition with around 800 names opposed to the Arcadia Views development.

LAUREL PARK  The Laurel Park Town Council voted unanimously to approve the development application for the Cottages at Arcadia Views during a meeting Tuesday morning at First Congregational Church.

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The proposal has been submitted by WXZ Development Inc., a Cleveland, Ohio, company that plans a development in five phases. The initial phase included 28 duplex buildings that will consist of 56 single-level homes. The proposal has been met with opposition from some Laurel Park residents and many more from Hunters Crossing and Hawthorn Hills across U.S. 64, who are not residents of Laurel Park. Opponents cited concerns about high traffic, lighting and lack of proper safety for residents. Present on behalf of WXZ was Senior Development Manager Mark Kopcienski.

Because the meeting was a quasi-judicial process, residents had to be sworn in before they could speak during the public hearing portion. While more than a dozen people were sworn in, several declined to speak when their turn became available.

One resident, Greg Plumb, dismissed the development plan as magical thinking, saying that there were inconsistencies between the proposed layout for Arcadia Views and the NCDOT's requirements for turning lanes near the development's entrances.

According to NCDOT's roadway design manual, a left turn lane on U.S. 64 in fact requires 1,200 feet of roadway to build, he said. The developer owns 600.72 feet in front of that section of U.S. 64, which begs the question, how do you widen 1,200 feet of road way into 600 feet?. Well, the answer to that is the developer will have to acquire more than 600 feet of additional right of way from abiding properties.

Plumb went on to estimate that the developer would need to acquire property from six residencies to see this plan through. Despite that, Plumb said that NCDOT had previously stated that it would not invoke eminent domain.

Several more spoke at the hearing, but once it had concluded there were several rebuttals directed towards the council before it moved on to the vote. Councilman Paul Hansen accused some of the outspoken residents of waiting until the eleventh hour to ask for meaningful change to the development.

At around 12:30 the meeting adjourned. It had gone on for more than three hours and most of the opponents had walked out in frustration. As Kopcienski left Felix Hall at First Congregational Church, he turned to thank all of the residents, including those opposed the the Arcadia Views development. But by that point he was addressing a mostly empty room.
A man who organised vehicles used in a 2010 tiger kidnapping has been jailed for 10 years after being extradited from Spain.

Jeffrey Melvin (36) failed to show up for his trial in June 2012 and was eventually extradited to Ireland in September 2016 on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard cash-in-transit employee Reginald Shannon was forced to hand over 134,000 to gunmen in January 2010 after his mother and young niece had been kidnapped.

Detective Inspector Barry Walsh said there was no evidence Melvin had been present during the robbery, but the investigation had linked him to the vehicles used in the raid.

The lengthy sentence handed down to Melvin was welcomed by organised crime units, who have been targeting the criminal for over a decade.

He was a key member of a gang involved in more than a dozen well-planned cash-in-transit robberies and tiger kidnappings - which involve two separate crimes, the first of which usually is an abduction - before he went on the run.

The court heard gardai uncovered a notebook with numerical details that mirrored movements of cash-in-transit vans used by AIB as part of their investigation into the 2010 tiger kidnapping.

Forced

Melvin, a mechanic, of Somerville, Ratoath, Co Meath, admitted conspiring to commit a robbery between October 13, 2009, and January 4, 2010.

Det Insp Walsh told Tara Burns, prosecuting, that Brinks Allied staff member Mr Shannon was met by two armed men as he was walking his dogs at about 5.30am on the January date. These men accompanied him back to his home, where his mother and nine-year-old niece were still asleep in bed.

The raiders bound the females' hands with cable ties, brought them outside and laid them under a duvet in the back of a Toyota Verso people carrier.

Mr Shannon was secured into a Renault Kangoo van with a ratchet and strap, and forced to drive around Dublin until the raiders in the vehicle directed him to the back of a Bank of Ireland branch.

The court heard there was a Brinks Allied van there to make a delivery.

Mr Shannon approached his colleagues and explained it was a tiger kidnapping and his colleagues handed over two money bags of cash.

Det Insp Walsh told the court that Melvin's phone number was tracked back to the Toyota Verso, the Renault Kangoo and a third van used in the tiger kidnapping.

Melvin was arrested and made admissions about purchasing the various vehicles before he failed to show up for his trial. The court heard that two men were previously acquitted of the tiger kidnapping due to legal issues that arose in their trials.

Another individual pleaded guilty to providing gardai with false information and received an 18-month prison sentence.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Shannon revealed that though the event did not have a profound psychological affect on him, it did impact his sense of security.

He said he did not return to work because his mother and niece had suffered greatly.

His mother, Angela Shannon, described in her victim impact statement how she suffered from anxiety and depression, could not leave the house on her own and had lost out on socialising because she was always on edge.

The now-teenage niece said she had been hospitalised because of the psychological trauma and that she used to relive the kidnapping daily in her mind. She said the crime had destroyed her life.

Melvin is currently serving a four-year sentence for possessing firearms.

Firearm

In that case, gardai placed him under surveillance in August 2011 and initially spotted him driving a BMW car near Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare.

He drove toward Naas, where he met with a man in a Toyota Avensis and they both travelled to a wooded area.

Gardai later swooped on both vehicles and the driver of the Avensis was seen throwing a firearm - placed in a sock - out his window. DNA evidence later linked Melvin to the firearm.

The 10-year sentence will run concurrently to the four years he is already serving.
A Dublin mother-of-three who conned her way into an elderly dementia sufferer's home by pretending she was an acquaintance has been jailed for three years for burglary.

Margaret Cawley (27) knocked at the house with a co-accused woman and a child and gained access by pretending she knew the 84-year-old woman.

The court heard that the elderly woman's sister (75) had been visiting and opened the door to Cawley.

Cawley and her co-accused went into the sitting room, spoke to the home owner as if they knew her and then offered to make tea.

As Cawley went into the kitchen, she stole the 84-year-old woman's handbag from her rollator walker and the co-accused took the sister's bag. The culprits and the child then ran out the door.

Cawley, of Daletree Place, Ballycullen, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to trespass and theft at Newcastle Manor Rise, Newcastle, Dublin, last March 14.

Convictions

She has 17 previous convictions for burglary and is currently serving a 22-month district court sentence. Her co-accused is still before the courts and cannot be named.

Gda Stephen Broderick told Fiona McGowan, prosecuting, that Cawley and her co-accused fled in a Nissan Almera car after they grabbed the two handbags.

Neighbours witnessed the car speeding off and the 75-year-old woman in distress outside the house.

Further witnesses saw two bags being thrown from the vehicle on the Nangar Road, near Baldonnel.

Gda Broderick said he tracked down the Nissan, driven by Cawley, a short dis- tance later and found a walking stick taken from the elderly woman's home in the passenger footwell.

The bags and their contents, including disabled parking discs, prescriptions and bank, social welfare and medical cards, were all recovered.

A cash amount of 100 had been taken.

Gda Broderick told the court that the incident had affected both elderly victims and they were more anxious about being alone.

The garda agreed with James Dwyer, for Cawley, that no violence or threats had been used in the offence.
Lauren Rodgers who had Job syndrome, died after a fatal nosebleed began at the Empire bar in Swords

The heartbroken family of a young woman who collapsed and died on a night out with friends has spoken proudly of the girl who never let her illness get in her way.

Lauren Rodgers (26), from Kinsealy, in Fingal, Co Dublin, collapsed shortly after arriving in the Empire bar, in Swords, on Friday night.

She had been the first person in Ireland to be treated in a specialist hospital in Sweden for Job syndrome, a life-threatening immunity illness that affected her chest and skin.

Lauren had been suffering heavy nosebleeds for a number of weeks and even underwent surgery in Beaumont Hospital just before Christmas.

"There were times they weren't too bad and she could manage them," her mother Edith told the Herald.

"But then there were times she would get us to call an ambulance because she would be coughing up so much blood and she wouldn't be able to breathe.

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"The type of bleeds she would get would run down the back of her throat and she could lose a lot of blood."

While having a drink on Friday night with her friend Catherine, who was due to fly to Australia yesterday, Lauren suffered another nosebleed.

"I dropped her at the Empire around 10pm. Lauren wouldn't go out often but she would go out every now and again," Edith told the Herald.

"She wasn't there long when it happened. She was on her first drink.

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"She went to the toilet with her friend to try and control it but it wouldn't stop.

Ambulance

"Catherine then rang me to tell me. Someone called an ambulance, but it was too much of a bleed for Lauren."

Paramedics worked on Lauren for nearly an hour, but she could not be saved.

Speaking at their home in Melrose Park mum Edith, and Lauren's sister Amanda, told of how she lived her life to the full despite the illness that was diagnosed when she was two.

"She never let it stand in her way. She never let it stop her do anything," said Edith.

"Even when she was going for jobs, she wouldn't mention it because she wanted to achieve everything on merit and not with a sympathy vote."

When Lauren was in her early teens, she was flown to Sweden for specialist treatment called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), the first person with Job syndrome in Ireland to do so.

"She also spent time in a hospital in Newcastle," said Edith.

The Rodgers family wanted to specifically thank their GP Jim Keely for all he did for Lauren.

All around the house are Lauren's pets - numerous dogs, a cat and a large aquarium.

"She adored animals and was forever taking in strays," Edith said.

"Her father, who died in 2009, even insulated the shed so she could have snakes and water dragons and all sorts of animals. She even featured on the RTE programme Consuming Passions in 2008 with her pets."

One of Lauren's dogs, Malibu, also died on Friday. "We don't know why he died. It's just such a coincidence," said Edith.

Only last month, Lauren joined Edith and Amanda as a community centre in Kinsealy was dedicated to her father, Liam, because he had campaigned for its opening for so long.

"She was the apple of her daddy's eye. She was like his apprentice. Amanda was always the girly girl, but Lauren was more of a tomboy. She was the one we went to when phones, and computers and remote controls were acting up," said Edith.

"There is some comfort in the thought that she will be side-by-side with her daddy again.

"We were only thinking of all the mischief they would be up to," she added with a warm smile.

"Despite being sick, Lauren always made you laugh, was always up for something and always up for banter. She had a great sense of humour," said Amanda.

Edith added: "She was an angel sent to us. She was always positive and never gave out.

"In the last few years, she was really taking control of her illness and its treatment, and how to use her medication.

"Even though she had a life-threatening illness, I was sure she would outlive me. That's how strong and determined she was.

"I didn't think I'd be burying my daughter. It's wrong to have to do that."

Amanda said that she is comforted by the fact that Lauren did not die alone.

Friends

"She was out with her friends, and in the end surrounded by those that loved her," she said.

"I think it is the way she would have wanted to go."

The Empire's manager James Bernes was on duty the night that Lauren died and passed on his condolences.

"She was a lovely girl. I knew her because she would be in here fairly regularly," he said.

"It's an awful tragedy and we certainly want to send our condolences to her family and her friends."

Lauren went to Sylvester's school and St Paul's school in Malahide, before attending Portmarnock Community School. She worked in the Supreme Clean dry cleaners in the Pavillions Shopping Centre in Swords.

"She loved her job there. It was like a second family to her. She always had a smile on her face," Edith said.

Co-owner of Supreme Clean, Angela Kenny, said Lauren was a "joy" to have in the shop.

"She was a lovely, warm-hearted girl. Lauren was patient and friendly, especially with the older customers," she said.

"She would come in before her time and got on great with us all here too. She was just a lovely, lovely person with a great sense of humour.

"She did the same work as everyone else and never wanted special treatment because of her illness," she added.

Lauren will be laid to rest in Fingal Cemetery following her funeral at St Colmcille's Church, Swords, tomorrow morning.
Around 3cm of snow is set to fall in the Dublin mountains, with similar blankets across Leinster, after wind and ice warnings were put in place.

Forecasters said Storm Fionn will continue to hold Ireland in an Arctic grip, with winds of up to 110kph and temperatures not expected to go above 4C.

Met Eireann has issued a status orange wind warning across the country and a status yellow wind warning for Leinster.

A yellow snow and ice warning was also expected to stay in place until this morning.

"In Dublin, we will see a few showers and winds will be strong but will become moderate, reaching the city by early evening," a Met Eireann spokesman said.

"South-westerly winds will increase from strong to very strong today and some heavy rain will possibly lead to sleet."

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While some parts of Leinster may have woken up to snow, rain and sleet will be more widespread.

Coastal areas remain at risk of flooding due to high winds, Met Eireann warned.

A combination of high winds and snowfall created blizzard-like conditions for drivers last night.

Social media users shared winter wonderland images of snowy streets and hillsides across Wicklow and the Dublin mountains.

The potential for more snow across the country will continue into the week. A number of rural schools have closed early due to the wintry conditions.

Galway City Council said it was planning to close an area of Salthill Promenade for the high tide this morning as a measure against possible flooding.

The road between Seapoint and Grattan Park in the city was closed to traffic last night ahead of the high tide.

Residents and business owners were advised of the weather alerts.

Vigilant

However, it was thought unlikely that any serious flooding would take place.

Local authorities urged residents and business owners to remain vigilant should conditions in coastal areas deteriorate.

"We have wind warnings in place for Storm Fionn across coastal areas," a Met Eireann spokesman said. "We are expecting winds of up to 110kph, but the strongest gusts will be experienced along the Atlantic seaboard."

Cork, Clare and Donegal were among the counties worst affected by the high winds last night.

The UK received the brunt of the storm, with Scotland and Northern Ireland the worst affected.

The ambulance service north of the border was called to 15 crashes yesterday as snow and strong winds hit, with a number of schools closing.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) in the Republic urged road users to exercise caution and said drivers needed to slow down and increase stopping distances due to the risk of black ice.
Hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner? Let your neighbors know

Is your organization hosting a free community Thanksgiving dinner? Let us know and we'll include it in a story.
The Buccini/Pollin Group, Hidrock Properties and Hilton Hotels & Resorts today announced the opening of the 310-suite Embassy Suites by Hilton New York - Midtown Manhattan in New York. BPGS Construction oversaw entitlement and construction of the project, and PM Hotel Group performed technical services during programming, design and construction and manages the newly opened hotel. CAMPION PLATT Interiors was selected to design the hotel"s public areas, while HVS Design was responsible for the guest suite and corridor designs, and PPA provided the architectural plans.

BPG was intrigued by the opportunity to build New York City"s only Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel in an irreplaceable location. While New York City has witnessed an explosion of new select-service hotels on the fringes of the city"s business and residential districts, the Embassy Suites" core location, unique and differentiated brand, all-suites configuration, multiple F&B options and 39-story design set this project apart. Located between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue on 37th Street, the hotel has great access to uptown, downtown, the city"s most important transportation hubs, and crucially, Midtown South"s busy office submarket. Finding a site that could accommodate the Embassy Suites brand, regardless of location, was also paramount. The 37th Street site is block-through, providing for access to both 36th and 37th Streets, and the requisite width and depth to accommodate an all-suite configuration. The Embassy Suites brand is known as a category killer, meaning that it dominates its segment  the all-suite format. Each suite comes with much more space than traditional hotels, especially the newer, economy projects being built on the fringes of the city. The Embassy Suites brand is also highly differentiated through its value proposition  a complimentary, cooked to order breakfast and hosted evening reception  in addition to providing a selection of a la carte dining and bar options. Finally, BPG was motived by the potential to build a 39-story building when much of the surrounding neighborhood is approximately 20 stories tall, providing stunning views of Manhattan.

Located at the crossroads of New York City - Herald Square and the bright lights of Broadway - the 39-story Embassy Suites by Hilton New York - Midtown Manhattan hotel is the place to see and be seen. With a glass facade offering supreme views of the iconic New York City skyline, the hotel is surrounded by Ernst & Young, IPG and Morgan Stanley and only a quick walk to Times Square, the Empire State Building and 5th Avenue shopping. Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal are both steps away, easily connecting the hotel to LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports and Amtrak"s NE Corridor.

The hotel's 310 studio suites are elegant spaces consisting of sophisticated, custom finishes. Many feature semi-private living areas with an oversized sofa seating area, some contain balconies, and all provide sweeping city views. Suites provide complimentary WiFi, two 42-inch HDTVs, spacious work area, mini-fridge, microwave and coffeemaker. Luxury bath amenities and spa-like showers make the bathroom experience unique in New York.

Hotel website
Adria Hotel Forum (AHF) is a leading Southeast European hotel investment conference held every year in Zagreb, Croatia and visited by regional and international hotel industry experts.

Except talking about investment details at AHF 2018 participants will be discussing challenges of Human Resources in tourism and hear experiences from different countries with goal to fins models how to better attract and hold the qualified employees.

AHF's success lays in a fact that year after year, we look for new themes, new panelists and new views. Our sight goes much beyond this region. We challenge ourselves and our partners and participants to try better.

AHF confirmed panelists are:

Kenneth Hatton (Senior Vice President, Global Development Belmond)

Pawe Rek (General Manager of Amadeus Poland)

Alexandros Moulas (Associate Director, International Development Consultancy, Savills)

Marybelle Arnett (Vice President, Development, Central & Eastern Europe, Hilton)

Marc Finney (Head of Hotels & Resorts Consulting, Colliers International)

Zivorad Vasic (Area General Manager, IHG)

Andrew Sangster (Owner of Hotel Analyst)

Thomas Emanuel (Director of business development, STR)

Murat Yilmaz(Vice President of Business Development for Deutsche Hospitality)

Evgenia Jenkins (CEO, Netizen Group)

Wolfgang Gold (Global Franchise Director, Easyhotel)

Gregor Jamnik (CEO, Hotel Best Western Premier Slon)

Adam Konieczny (Development Director for Poland and Eastern Europe, Louvre Hotels Group)

Lachezar Nikolaev Todorov (CEO, Terra Tour Service Eood)

International companies have expressed their support to AHF due to high quality and development level. Our partners are: Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group AG, Hilton Worldwide, Accor Hotels/Orbis Group, InterContinental Group, Colliers International, STR, Savills, HRS, Valamar Riviera, Hrvatski Telekom, Zagrebacka banka, HD Consulting and many others. Until now AHF has gathered more than 1500 attendees, 200 panelists, 90 round-table discussion sand presentations, and more than 140 partners.

The sixth edition of AHF will be held on February 14th and 15th 2018 in Zagreb, Croatia. More information about AHF can be found here.
The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh looks set to reopen next month after the hotel was converted into a lavish prison for high-profile Saudis, detained in what the kingdom called an anti-corruption sweep.

The Ritz-Carlton had closed its doors to guests since November last year, when around 200 people -- including business executives, officials and at least 17 princes -- were arrested and given rooms at the five-star hotel as holding cells.

The Ritz-Carlton had closed its doors to guests since November last year, when around 200 people  including business executives, officials and at least 17 princes  were arrested and given rooms at the five-star hotel as holding cells.

Saudi Ritz-Carlton set to reopen after stint as lavish prison The Ritz-Carlton had closed its doors to guests since November last year, when around 200 people  including business executives, officials and at least 17 princes  were arrested and given rooms at the five-star hotel as holding cells.

Read the full article at cnn.com
Business is built on trust inculcated in the customer for the products the businesses sell. The success factor of any business depends on the brand value that the Business promises to deliver to the guest. This value is always defined from the perspective of the guest. The smooth running and profitability of any business is based on the efficient, hitch free movement of the supply chain taken care of by capable and diligent employees who own their roles and embody the essence of the brand principles. It is employees, who aim to raise their own standard of work and attitude to the level of an exemplary Brand Ambassador, that are the treasured lot upholding the Brand reputation and ensuring a healthy bottom-line.

When these Brand Ambassadors do not uphold the brand flag and become less than competent and conscientious, the Brand value of the business, the Brand promise to the guest, Brand loyalty from the guests and Brand reputation in the minds of all stakeholders take a nosedive.

So what are the prime factors that are bound to put you on a downward escalator making the climb back even more arduous and painful than when you started out!

Nonchalant Staff that is ill-trained and lacks service orientation

When we go out to work  in any job or industry  we cannot afford to be uncaring, perfunctory and uninvolved. It is a moral binding that we bring ourselves fully to our positions regardless of internal irritants that exist or imagined issues that we wrestle with.

And when we are in the hospitality industry  a show business of providing experiential service to guests who come and spend their top dollar with us - such dismal disregard is completely inappropriate and unbecoming.

In the Front of the House areas I find Reception Desks, Mise-en-place stations and Micros centres to be such terrible breeding grounds for overly germ-y behaviour that I dread being seated anywhere close to those.

We recently went out for Dinner to a popular Italian Restaurant run by a celebrated City Chef. Unfortunately, the layout of this restaurant was perhaps such that you were always at an arm's length from those chit-chat coves. This evening, we had staff joking around, gossiping and doing anything but work at those hubs in a near empty restaurant.

This behaviour pattern is such a dead giveaway for bad training, lack of interest in one's job and lack of respect both for the Company and the guests. The smirking and the smart alec-y attitude does more long term harm than can be envisaged and undone.

The Missing 'Attention to detail'

Paying attention to detail is a valuable trait in any profession. But in the hospitality industry it assumes far greater significance because there are so many levels of product and sub-product presentations and so many strata of service delivery opportunities.

Dropping the ball even in the smallest of tasks in any section of the hotel can have a direct repercussion on the guest experience or an indirect one in terms of Brand delivery and reputation.

When we walked into the above-mentioned spiffy restaurant, we were showed to a table that was not clean. Even a Fast Food restaurant with a packed house, pick-eat-go nature of service and fast turnaround cannot afford to seat guests at tables that have not been wiped; this place certainly had no excuse for that.

We were seated on a table that was not ready - missing napkins and sundry other things. Soiled mats is never a good way of showcasing a restaurant and you do make matters worse when simple additions of EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar are missing from the table of an Italian restaurant.

The lighting of the place was abysmally low making it difficult to read the menu. Poor lighting is an oft-repeated mistake committed the world over, in the name of ambience and mood.

How can restaurants miss the basics while planning the structure? Hotels and restaurants have to have a 360 degree view of issues:  light  natural and artificial, temperature control, noise, location, pollution, traffic, accessibility amongst a host of other pertinent aspects.

My biggest woe, however, at any restaurant is their complete negligence of cleanliness  telling-tales in the tines of forks, stain marks on glassware, napkins with stubborn reminders of rather sharp gravy, staff uniforms that bear the stench of climate and callousness.

There are scores of restaurants  stand-alone and those in the confines of glitzy Five Stars  that kill guest satisfaction with their indifferent service and sub-standard offerings.

Technologically challenged Staff, also not in step with the latest advents

Technology, as is the human need, is evolving every nano second. A new gizmo is being invented or an old gadget updated at lightning speed for our ease, efficiency and convenience. So it is in our own interest that we stay on top of it, unlearn and relearn so as to give our optimal output.

Many chains and independent hotels and restaurants invest sizeable energy and budget to systems and devices upgradation and to training their workforce in it. At a Bistro in a well-known hotel, a steward thrust a Tablet in front of me for feedback, not knowing how to operate it himself. When asked to return to a previous page he said resignedly in Hindi "woh toh chale gaya. Ab nahin milega. (The page is gone. I cannot retrieve it)."

The steward erred grossly on two counts  first, he resorted to colloquial language while conversing with a guest when he should have stuck to the formal language of communication. Secondly, he or his establishment had failed to provide him with the requisite training. I felt like leaving the same sentence and sentiment as our comment on the contraption!

The Heart of the Matter is not in its place

At places with ill-trained staff, the food and atmosphere can be a great saviour. Suffice it to say that at our ill-fated outing at this 'all shine  no substance' Italian place we were denied even that. The pizza was most ordinary. Domino's does far better. The little accoutrements were

missing, the breads were far from fresh - yes all three, the Parmesan was floor dust massed-up in little balls and not freshly grated. And the tomato and basil spaghetti from the eponymous restaurant left a lot to be desired - the sauce was a thick, over stirred mass, overly salty and robbing the pasta of any taste or flavour, the spaghetti was not quite al dente. If you get your two basic dishes so wrong, how would you instil confidence in the customer to try out your trumped up menu that is heavy on the design value and comes out as a piece of literary fiction because your heart is not in its place!

I once had this well-established and feared food critic share her exasperation on how the Doormen made her feel small each time she came to the hotel in a tuk-tuk / auto rickshaw. The disdainful behaviour of one team member made her feel spiteful of the hotel at large.

On the other hand, I fondly recall the spotlessly liveried Doorman of The Pierre (a Four Seasons Hotel at the time of my visit) who was such a joy to have the first interface with as I got down from a public transport that was carrying me from around Newark Airport to the heart of Manhattan. The wise, well-behaved, thoroughly groomed Gent set the tone for one of the best hotel stays in my life.

When up-selling leads to short-selling

Spaghetti Kitchen, the Italian Restaurant, we have been talking about in this article messed up so badly on staff that were not only ill-trained but also wrongly trained.

Now, we know that all hotel staff is tutored to up sell  from the Sales & Marketing representatives and Front Office folks to the Food & Beverage personnel. But up-selling is an art form and a fine-tuned strategy. Its art lies in making subliminal suggestions to the guests who then think that it is either their own choice or have been done a favour by being sold a higher priced service / product.

The good fellas at Spaghetti Kitchen were appallingly trained to be pushy and aggressive about all that up-selling they unleashed on us and other guests  from pushing heavily taxed bottled water to diners who do not drink water with their meals, to openly snickering at our small two-course order for the late, late-night quick meal we went for, to pushing desserts to a table that was disinclined towards them, to at least try to shove overrated coffee to the couple that wished to finish the meal with a simple tiramisu  these Brand Anti-Ambassadors managed to short sell their reputation and image, pushing the guests even farther from their brand.

Failing to close the loop on a Guest Issue

Hotels and restaurants, since they are a people centric industry  by the people and for the people  fall open to a multitude of issues and crises that revolve around the troika of human ability, attitude and emotion. Nobody likes to be short-changed in their service expectation and product usage. In technological things, one can still blame the science or physics but in the service industry it is thinking, rational and able people who are at the centre of it and cannot get away by saying that the hardware malfunctioned or there was a systems error.

In the case of the Italian Restaurant we have been referring to, we let our displeasure known several times during the evening. Our complaints seemed to be falling on uncaring, unwilling ears. It was only when we let the strange people at Spaghetti Kitchen know that we were "industry folk," that some sense of respect was brought forward and the erring waiter quickly replaced by the Manager and the Maitre'd. This sort of knee-jerk reaction leaves a lot to be desired and robs the guest of any confidence he may have in your brand.

Since there were a plethora of issues we faced on that fateful "so-called" fine-dining dinner, we scaled up the matter to the Company's Image managers. The PR Reps., who call themselves PR Pundits, picked up our rant on the Food Forum and came back with too little, too late and too dispassionately. I gave the PR lady a reminder (reminders are sacrilege in the PR world of work); she gave me a passing apology perhaps only to go back to write her nth note to the restaurant management. The Management eventually wrote to me with the standard invite to 'come try them again "on the house"' without realizing that faith is never won with a free meal.

In our line of business, there are warning signs that flag out much before they become crises for the guests. We must learn to read them in time and draw out our plan of action to keep our SOPs well-oiled much before we are coerced to get into the battle zone to do the damage control.

L. Aruna Dhir
The new design is part of the modernisation project the hotel chain began in 2010 with the new style and new services it is introducing in its new projects and hotel renovations

RIU Hotels & Resorts is presenting a new brand image that is more modern, fresher and warmer, which starting today will accompany the new style the hotel chain has been introducing in its hotels through major renovation projects and new openings. The change in image was a natural step in this modernisation process. And it is taking place in a year of record investment in hotel construction, renovation and acquisition that in 2017 reached 600mn.

The new brand image was presented today in Madrid by Pepe Moreno, the member of the board of RIU, who posed for a group photo with his sales team on the rooftop of the future Riu Plaza Espana hotel, which offers impressive views of the city from the 26th floor of Edificio Espana.



From left to right, Laura Malone, Communications Director, Senen Fornos, Sales Director for Spain, Latam and Mexico, Pepe Moreno, Executive Director and Carlos Guindos, Branding Director.

The chain foresees changing the brand image in all the hotels over the next two years, introducing the new image in 50% of its properties in 2018 and the remaining 50% in 2019. To explain all the details of the new image, RIU has produced a presentation video you can watch by clicking here.



2.156bn in revenue, 92 hotels and 29,000 employees

In addition to presenting the new brand image, RIU today presented the main figures and projects for 2017 and 2018. Board member Pepe Moreno explained that the hotel chain closed 2017 with 2.156bn in revenue, 7% more than in 2016, while investment in openings, renovations, and land and hotel acquisitions represented 200mn more than projected at the start of the year, totalling 600mn.

As of 31 December, RIU has 92 hotels, which represent more than 43,000 rooms in 19 countries, with a total of 28,894 employees.

In 2017 two new hotels were opened: the Riu Dunamar, in Costa Mujeres, Mexico, and the expansion of the Riu Republica, in Punta Cana. Moreover, five hotels were completely renovated: the ClubHotel Riu Guarana, in the Algarve; the ClubHotel Riu Costa del Sol, the result of joining two beachfront hotels in Torremolinos; the Riu Festival, in Playa de Palma; the ClubHotel Riu Bambu, in Punta Cana; and the Riu Palace Paradise Island, in the Bahamas, which became a luxury Adults-Only hotel following its renovation in November.

In 2018: four new hotels and five major renovations

The year's openings will be kicked off with the presentation of the ClubHotel Riu Chiclana. The hotel, a favourite with families, located in Sancti Petri, Cadiz, will reopen in time for Easter after a complete renovation and new amenities, including a water park. Later, in April, the Riu Santa Fe located in Baja California, Mexico, will be presented, followed in June by the ClubHotel Riu Tequila, in Playa de Carmen. The Riu Palace Punta Cana will reopen in July, and the Riu Palace Tropical Bay, in Negril, Jamaica, will be presented in October.

The Riu Astoria, in Golden Sands, Bulgaria, will open in June with 530 rooms; the rest of the openings will be concentrated at the end of the year: The Riu Palace Boavista, on Boavista Island in Cape Verde, will open in early November; the Riu Palace Costa Mujeres will join the recently opened Riu Dunamar, in Costa Mujeres, Mexico, also in the month of November; the year will close with the opening in December of the Riu Palace Baja California, located in Los Cabos, next to the Riu Santa Fe, giving RIU a total of three hotels at this Mexican destination.

Over the year, RIU will continue studying opportunities in the leading cities of North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia, in keeping with its goal of expanding its Riu Plaza line of urban hotels. The brand already has two new projects in progress: the first hotel on the Spanish peninsula, located in the centre of Madrid in the emblematic Edificio Espana; and its second hotel in New York, a project that is underway in close proximity to iconic Times Square.

Another one of RIU's strategic objectives is to expand in holiday destinations in Asia. Construction is already underway of two hotels in the Maldives that RIU will present in 2019, a pair of hotels located on two uninhabited islands linked by a bridge. The Riu Atoll will have all the services RIU All-Inclusive customers are accustomed to, while the Riu Palace Maldivas will offer a more luxurious and sophisticated option. Also underway is a first RIU hotel in Dubai, a grand 800-room hotel located on the Deira Islands, which will also open in 2019.
2018 Top Ten Meeting Trends

The New Normal: Apple TV, Dedicated WiFi, Personalized Apps during meetings, Streaming live!

BENCHMARK, a global hospitality company, announces the "Top Meeting Trends for 2018" as observed by its properties.



Trend 1 Entering 2018 Cautiously Optimistic.

The meetings marketplace is cautious nationwide for 2018, but optimistic in major markets like Boston and Los Angeles where demand is strong. The American business environment and consumer sentiment is encouraging, and the pending tax implications are expected to create a positive effect for meetings throughout 2018 as businesses leverage the opportunities and increasingly invest in their employees.

Trend 2 The New Normal: Apple TV, Dedicated WiFi, Personalized Apps during meetings, Streaming live!

Need we say, technology is absolutely revolutionizing meetings in 2018, and in ways never before! Properties are being asked to create Apps for a specific meeting on demand during the meeting, to launch live streaming of sessions to remote points so team members outside the conference can participate, to send updedicated WiFi signals for specific meetings or sessions within a meeting, and to provide Apple TV on demand. It's the new normal!

Trend 3 Locavore Teambuilding.

Despite all the unique teambuilding programs out there that have moved well beyond the ropes courses, trust fall and Outward Bound-like activities, culinary teambuilding initiatives originating out of the hotel's kitchen remain, by far, the most popular coast to coast, the most requested by meeting planners, and the most approachable for meeting groups. What's on the horizon? Bar Wars, where a team creates its signature cocktail and then samples the recipe. Cheers!

Trend 4 Fab Food. Lights Up!

What are top priorities with meeting planners going into 2018? Superb, creative, participatory and healthy food options sourced locally and that may include food trucks on property, Iron Chef competitions, customized dining experiences and highly creative refreshment breaks. After the body is sufficiently and creatively nourished, the mind needs a perfectly lit environment for productive learning, and planners are demanding 21st Century lighting in all roomsnot just the meeting space, complemented wherever possible by Mother Natures natural illumination.

Trend 5 What's Shaking in Your Hood? Planners and their guests want to know!

You know what else matters to planners in 2018? Whats happening in a property's neighborhoodimportantly, what the locals recommend as the quirky, under-the-radar highlights of their destination.

Many groups like to get off property for a couple of hours or for an afternoon, and explore the unique aspects of the locale where they are gathering. So when at Doral Arrowwood in Westchester, New York, treks to nearby Sleepy Hollow are in order-particularly around Halloween. At Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore, groups can catch some rays at Queen Liliuokalani's private bathing beach, or take surf lessons on some of the world's best waves. Or at Hotel Contessa in San Antonio, immerse themselves in Texas history at the legendary Alamo a few blocks away. Afterwards they return to the meeting refreshed and invigorated.



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Complimentary on-site and state-of-the-art recreational amenities providing tangible unique experiences for meeting attendees are another of the Top Requirements requested by meeting professionals in 2018. Though this may seem obvious, in todays fitness-crazed world, recreational facilities are expected to include state of the art and challenging fitness options, which are complimentary and readily available to groups around the propertyand able to be experienced at guests leisure, increasingly 24 hours.

For the first time, privacy is a Top Demand from planners coast to coast  and we dont mean private work-out sessions. As business becomes increasingly competitive, privacy within meetings and apart from all other groups on property is essential and demanded by planners.

Trend 7 "I'm really busy, just email me."

Professional meeting planners are busier than any previous year with more on their plates and fewer team members to deliver expected results. Though they love personal visits when schedules permit, severe time constraints dictate email communications as their preferred method to stay in touch and learn of opportunities and special promotions. And yes, you can text too if you know the planning professional well.

Trend 8 Meetings Packages Pack Value. Planners Demand Value Pricing!

No matter how hot the economy, value is always in vogue and properties best remember this and negotiate accordingly. How to meet this challenge? Sell value-packed meeting packages (for Benchmark the Benchmark Conference Plan) as meeting planners love packages for their components covering all the basic needs of a meeting, whether a modified package or full-on CMPs.

Value for the meeting dollar never goes out of style. Though the economy is strong and expected to continue its uptick throughout the year, value is in vogue! Why, because new supply is coming online in multiple markets, creating pricing pressure for everyone and planners are using this to negotiate best-value pricing with no hidden costs.

Trend 9 Demand holding on for 2018. Group Size is Static. Two Days and Out.

Meeting demand is healthy nationwide, with select markets looking to exceed last year's numbers and select mature markets falling a bit behind. The expectation, though, is for demand growth in 2018. Group size is steady to last year with some planners discussing considerable larger group sizes for meetings later in the year.

Meeting lengths are tightening up, and the average meeting for 2018 is projected to last just 2 days. Off-shore or remote meetings are longer, given transportation logistics getting to islands or more distant resorts. A lot needs to be accomplished this year in a shorter period of time, making every meeting minute important, including off property and culinary experiences.

Trend 10 Meetings That Matter - Making It Personal



Planners are looking to hotels and resorts to create meeting environments that empower attendees to be introspective, inspire engagement, openness, honesty, transparency and epiphanies that are mutually beneficial to the attendee and their organization. Those properties stepping up let loose with a little whimsy that stimulates joy, spontaneity, appreciation and fun during the meeting experience.

Bonus Trend Pharma-Healthcare Tops Business Segments for 2018.



Actually, major pharma is taking a bit of a step back in 2018 as a significant contributing industry to meetings, though when combined with healthcare, the joint segment will still dominate demand for the year. Education is a close second followed by Financial Services, Associations and Technology. A bit of a change-up from previous years contributing industry segments, so we'll see what the balance of 2018 brings.

Benchmark is a leading U.S.-based global hospitality management company, which operates 70 award-winning hotels, resorts, and conference centers within its Benchmark Resorts & Hotels and Gemstone Collection brands in locations coast to coast, off shore, and internationally.
Radisson Blu Opens Second Hotel In Lagos, Nigeria

The hotel is centrally located in Ikeja, the capital of the Lagos State  home to many corporate headquarters, government offices and large manufacturers. It is situated next to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Highway, a main highway linking Ikeja with the rest of Lagos.

Radisson Blu announced the opening of its third hotel in Nigeria, and its second hotel in the country's largest city, Lagos. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group now has a portfolio of 85 hotels, and over 17,800 rooms in operation and under development in Africa.

Tim Cordon, Area Senior Vice President, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, said: "We are thrilled to be expanding our presence in Nigeria, one of Africa's economic powerhouses, with the opening of Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja. We have identified Nigeria as a key country for scaled growth, and the addition of our second Radisson Blu in the megacity of Lagos perfectly complements our development strategy. We are confident the appeal of the international upper upscale Radisson Blu brand and the excellent location of the hotel will attract strong business from both international and domestic travelers."

The hotel is centrally located in Ikeja, the capital of the Lagos State  home to many corporate headquarters, government offices and large manufacturers. It is situated next to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Highway, a main highway linking Ikeja with the rest of Lagos. The location of Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja is also just a few kilometers away from Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and close to the suburb's cultural and tourist attractions.

The 155-room Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja offers a choice of contemporary standard and business-class rooms, as well as a range of ultra-stylish one, two and three-bedroom loft suites. All rooms carry a fresh and modern design, with free high-speed wireless Internet.

The hotel has an extensive food and drinks offering. Guests can enjoy the all-day dining restaurant, serving international and local cuisine, or dining at the steak house restaurant that will calm any carnivorous craving. For a relaxing drink, guests have a choice between the stylish lobby cafe, a bar, the business class lounge or the pool terrace.

The hotel has impressive meeting and events facilities encompassing an area of 2,047m2 including a ballroom, an expansive conference room capable of hosting over 400 guests, and six meeting rooms with an adjoining business center. All meeting rooms are equipped with modern meeting technology and break-out areas.

Leisure facilities include a fully equipped gym and swimming pool for travelers seeking to rejuvenate or maintain their fitness regime.

George Balassis, General Manager of Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja said: "We are excited and ready to welcome the local community and international guests to Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja. We are sure that the team's passion to deliver the brand's renowned Yes I Can!SM service will lead us to become the preferred hotel in Ikeja for all guests."
Colin Kaepernick is nearing the end of his $1 million pledge, having donated $900,000 to 31 different organizations thus far. The former 49ers QB took to social media today to explain how hell distribute the final $100,000 with the help of his celebrity friends.

According to Kaepernick, the final round of donations will come in the form of a 10-day initiative, in which hell donate $10,000 to an organization that a celebrity will match. For instance, Kaepernick today pledged $10,000 to De-Bug, a story-telling, community organizing, and advocacy organization based in San Jose, California, and Kevin Durant has agreed to match.

My brother Kevin Durant @ KDTrey5 has generously decided to match my donation of $10,000, with $10,000 of his own, making the total donation to De-Bug $20,000!!! My brother Kevin, you are truly a champion on, and off the court.

According to ESPNs Darren Rovell, the $20,000 total will be going to travel stipends for families to visit their loved ones in prison, help to raise awareness towards a campaign towards a law that increases protections to young people in prison, money towards pretrial release for those who cant make bail as well as funds to support initiatives that seek to end bail.

Stephen Curry is also getting involved in Kaepernicks 10-day initiative, and has announced plans to make donations toward United Playaz, a youth organization in Oakland.

https://twitter.com/_/status/953374289545351168

https://twitter.com/_/status/953667882038198272

https://twitter.com/_/status/953690265834999808



Kaepernick
Jeezy has been heavily involved in the tequila business for much of this decade, copping a stake in the Avion brand back in 2013. Now, the rapper has decided to cash it out, selling his stake in the company to global spirits brand Pernod Ricard. Although its a bittersweet moment for both parties, this isnt the end of Jeezys involvement with the brand  not by a long shot.

As per XXL, the rapper expanded on his decision, saying: When I first became involved with Tequila Avion in 2013, I knew it had enormous potential on a global scale. This next step with Pernod Ricard USA and continued partnership with Founder and Chairman, Ken Austin, will allow us to continue to grow the brand on the worldwide stage. Jeezy will help oversee the next stage in the brands growth until 2020.

Avion has become a leading aspirational lifestyle brand in the fast-growing ultra-premium tequila category, says Paul Duffy, Chief Executive Officer of Pernod Ricard USA, the company acquiring the assets. This clearly displays Pernod Ricards commitment to this high-potential brand which was voted Worlds Best Tasting Tequila at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Ken Austin, Founder and Chairman of Tequila Avion, added as well. The Pernod Ricard people, distributors and brokers have been and will continue to be key drivers in taking Avion to the next level.

Jeezy is also about to embark on a multi-week tour for much of the remaining winter months. You can see the full schedule and cop tickets here.

[Via]

Jeezy
In last nights episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the noted comedian did not hold back when discussing the very public announcement of Donald Trumps physical examination results.

Trumps doctor held an hourlong press conference regarding the matter, which he described the POTUS as being in excellent health, despite the fact that he appears to be as Kimmel describes borderline obese. The physician confirms how the examination went extremely well, affirming how he has no concerns about Trumps cognitive ability.

Kimmel scrutinized the results in his particular brand of deadpan humour, mocking the fact that Trumps New York drivers license notes that hes 62, yet his medical exam describes the former Apprentice host as being 63, noting how hes the only person who gets taller with age.

Kimmel then recreated the infamous press conference, injecting a few not-so-subtle jabs at the President along the way. An actor assumes the role of the White Houses physician, and begins to list off the results most pertinent to the public, such as how Trumps hair is taking over his brain. The actor goes on to reveal how the use of a particular shade of burnt marshmallow Just For Men hair dye, combined with the high level of french fry oil in Trumps brain, has created a hairacite that effects the part of his bran that controls anger, attention span, and the urge to say reprehensible racist things.

At the end of the segment, a monster resembling Trumps infamous hairdo attacks the actor, causing pandemonium in the press conference. Watch the skit in its entirety below:
Birdmans financial situation continues to spiral out of control, with reports coming out today via The Blast that the rap mogul is being forced to surrender the keys to his opulent $12 million Miami mansion, effectively immediately.

Not long ago, we reported the beginnings of this story, which detailed a lawsuit filed EMG Transfer Agent, a company that loaned Birdman $12 million. The rapper defaulted on the loan, which led to some scorn by fellow Florida magnate Rick Ross, and the mansion was subsequently up for grabs, since he had put it up as collateral in the first place. As such, a judge is ordering the Cash Money celeb to cough up all keys to the premises and any and all security codes that would allow someone access to the home.

Legal documents have also revealed that a court appointed person that will take control of the residence will also receive all contracts, leases, rental agreements, fixtures furniture and equipment that are inside the mansion, which will more than likely be sold off piece by piece if no renter can be found in the near future. The compound is an enormous one, sporting 7 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms stretched over 20,000 square feet of luxury. There is also a fully-functional theater room and supposedly golden chairs that adorn Birdmans foyer. When it comes to living in style on South Beach, the perks dont get much better.

In good news, Birdman recently released a new track with Toni Braxtion called Heart Away. You can check that out here.

Birdman
Last month Cardi B topped off her historic year with a surprise single that silenced the haters, showing that she was neither a one-hit wonder nor a celebutante rapper-wifey. Bartier Cardi, another confident, audacious trap hit debuted in the Billboard Top 20, and in the process is bringing another musician that much closer to fame.

30 Roc, born Samuel Gloade, is a producer who works on part of Mike WiLL Made-Its Ear Drummer production team. As a solo musician, he was behind Yo Gottis platinum-hit Rake It Up, T-Waynes Nasty Freestyle, and Rae Sremmurds single Real Chill. Most recently, he contributed to production on Kings Dead, Jay Rocks first single off of his upcoming album and part of the Black Panther soundtrack. Its an impressive catalogue for someone who has remained so low-key you probably havent heard of him but theres no hiding anymore.

This weekend, HotNewHipHop caught up with 30 Roc to talk about these recent collaborations and how he is adjusting to the fame. In a swirl of interviews and meetings, 30 Roc has been reflecting on the long journey that brought him here and all that he still plans to accomplish.

Photo by Tommy Nova

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HNHH: Youre originally from New York right?

30 Roc: Absolutely.

And right now youre down in Atlanta, full time? I was surprised to find out youre from New York because your production is more diverse than the regional sound that people expect. Along with that, youve done work with people from various parts of the country. Like Migos, Yo Gotti, Kendrick Lamar. How did you end up down there?

Well I ended up down here when I was a kid. My mother moved out here to get a better life. So for a better life. She said, Well, I guess this will be better for us. It was a little complicated in New York. We ended moving down South and this is where I got all my skills. You know kind of to do production kind of, sort of. I always played the keys a little bit. Im good on the drums; I was in the band in school. I didnt really listen to a lot of music at a younger age. Not a whole lot. Im from a Caribbean, Antiguan background, but we heard music filtered my mother kind of sheltered [us] a little bit.

She didnt want you listening to rap music?

No, it wasnt really a rap music thing. We were going through a lot of different things all that adult stuff was going on. We were just trying to find our way, more or less. Coming from [that background] and figure out how to start through life. Yeah, grown-up people stuff, thats what they called it. I was a kid so I had to stay in a kids place.

And you did find your way, right your music has become so successful. Given that you were sheltered, how did you get into producing and who were you working with when you started?

I started getting into producing it was two of us in the group for 30 Roc. It was me and my brother, Corey. He started with me, he helped me, he taught me how to work the machine [and] all the other stuff. But then he decided to do something different. I kind of just kept it going and I had a couple of different places I didnt even know this was going to be a career. It just started coming together and thats when I figured out this is going to be something Im going to be into.

Were you mostly connecting on social media at that time?

Twitter was my best friend. I figured out, Yo Ill get you beats, Ill get you beats, Ill get you beats, let me get you some beats. It was a lot of free beats, I gave a way a lot I did it for K Camp in the early stage, a lot of other people. But I just started finding my way. Even getting on, with Rae Sremmurd, they sent out a tweet [saying] We need beat. They said We need beats and I went downstairs to my car. I started emailing beats out. And that was kind of how I got on  and that turned into the Ear Drummer thing. Youd be surprised.

So going to one of your most recent songs, Kings Dead by Jay Rock, and production on that: First could you tell us how it came together? Also, now that you are working with such big names, do you still stay up on Twitter and try to work with young guys coming up?

Absolutely I still stay on Twitter. The record came together  I sent the beat in, I sent the beat to Mike the start of the beat. And then Mike got on it and Mike said I can turn this into something and thenyou know Mike Will know how to make them plays. You cant deny the man. Thats why he has all these hit records out here. He knows how to make the plays and he knows how to get those caliber artists. Thats pretty much how the record came together. I have another partner on there with me Twon [Beatz], Twon helped me do the beat too. It was a couple of different factors to make that record.

And was that one that you had in mind for that group, for Kendrick and Jay Rock or was it something you had been playing with for a while?

Nah. Beats, I start with how I feel. Besides for the Cardi record [Bartier Cardi]. The Cardi record I knew I was doing it for her.

Why is that?

My manager, he said we need to do some records with Cardi. We need to figure out how to get on Cardis album. So I went [working with] my brother Cheeze [Beatz] and we started getting to work. My manager came in, he heard the beat, he was like Yeah, this sound like something, and after that we just kept going. And we walked it into Atlantic Records to Chris Jones, [DJ] Drama was in the room. I hit play on it, on my phone and everybody was like This is kinda hard right here. It took about seven, eight weeks But you know December 22 the record dropped and its been different Im loving the attention.

How are you adapting to all those changes? More interviews, more projects?

Its a lot of everything. Its more attention than Im used to but Im happy that Im getting recognized. Im very happy and appreciative to get recognized for my craft. Usually its only my managers. You have people thats rooting for you but then when you see the math, like people are digging this record. Even though Ive made a bunch of other records. Rake it Up, the T-Wayne Nasty record that went platinum, that was good too, but the Cardi thing was special to me.

Its a whole new level.

Yeah, its a whole new level and it introduces the world to my sound for real, you know what Im saying? And I just want them to recognize me.

With things set to move forward I want to dig into your background one more time, to figure out what we can predict. Do you have musicians that you look to as influences that influence your production?

I like Timbaland, and I like Pharrell. But I kind of go off of my own spirit. Because I want to reach inside myself to give them me. Instead of focusing on other producers and artists. Id rather look into myself and see what I want to present to the world.

And so with that in mind, looking inward where do you see that pushing your music?

Im trying to build up some capital. So I can be able to put out an album, a 30 Roc album. I would love for a company to take some interest in it but if thats not going to be the case then Im going to just be building up my catalogue and everything. I would love to put out an album and give the world me. I think Ive got some decent music. I could say great music but that would be me being arrogant [laughs]. So, I think I really got some good music and I think with the people I know and the artists and everything Im pretty sure I could bring some things to the table that people would like to listen to and stream, on a regular basis.

And you already have a big group of friends and people who youve helped up to this point.

Thats where Im at right now. Im still humble but Im still eager to do better. I havent reached my peak yet. Im only scratching my surface right now.
Virgil Ablohs Off-White will continue its partnership with Nike in 2018, as the two brands ride the wave of their highly coveted collection of ten sneakers that released not long ago.

And once again, the Air Jordan 1 will be featured as part of the new collection.

Off-White was recently featured as part of the mens Paris Fashion Week, which provided us a detailed look at the upcoming Off-White x Air Jordan 1 White. The kicks are built just like the Chicago colorway that dropped in 2017, but this upcoming rendition comes in an all-white design, accompanied by subtle blue and orange stitching and the signature Black writing.

The White Off-White x Air Jordan 1 is reportedly set to release on February 27th for $190. Unlike the first release, this colorway be available at more spots across the country, instead of just major cities. Select stores will also release them online.

Additionally, there are also rumors that a UNC-inspired Off-White x Air Jordan 1 collab is in the works for 2018, but theres no word on the validity of those rumors.

Off-White
Wyclef Jeans was hard at work throughout 2017. The former Fugees member released a new mixtape at the top of December and throughout the course of the year, dropped a few joints. However, in the midst of it all, it seems as if hes been having some troubles over his Miami home which has been foreclosed. Now, hes expected to cough up a large sum of money after a lengthy battle which resulted in his Miami homes foreclosure.

Wyclef Jean has reportedly been asked to cough up $484,000 in relation to his Florida home which has been foreclosed, according to The Blast. The famed musician was sued in 2008 after it was revealed that he violated some of his mortgage agreements for the Miami home that he copped but wasnt finished renovating. After the case was closed, the Judge ordered that his home be sold off as well as a $2.4 million judgement. The home was later sold for $1.6 million which left Jean with $824K to pay up.

Wyclef and one of the cases plaintiffs, The Cruz Family Irrevocable Trust, came to a mutual agreement where Wyclef had to pay them $350K that would be broke down into monthly installments until it was paid off. According to reports, it shouldve been paid off back in 2015. However, The Cruz Family are saying Wyclef never paid any installments. They later went back to court to demand that he pays off the $350K as well as interest.

The judge agreed to their request and now, Wyclef must pay $484,554.90 to The Cruz Family. Theyve since filed documents in New Jersey to start seizing assets to get the money theyre owed.
The phrase Gucci Gang wasnt necessarily something that anyone thought wouldve entered the public consciousness by the end of 2017, but here we are. Thanks to Lil Pump, the man who is responsible for that eponymous viral hit, has (for better or for worse) galvanized the next generation of hip-hop listeners with his standout track. Despite what you may think about the emcee, his song is actually doing more good than some may realize, specifically for those in need.

However, its not totally Pumps doing. YouTuber Graham the Christian took on quite the challenge as part of his mission to raise money for charity: to say the phrase Gucci Gang 1 million times. I repeat: 1. Million. Times.

Though that kind of task would more than likely crush mere mortals, Graham was able to persevere and complete the verbal trek to a milli in just over two weeks. An added and underrated part of all this as well: he had to click his mouse 1 million times to ensure that his counter was accurate. His voice and finger must have been sore by the end of it. View a clip of his last 1,000 utterances of the phrase below.

Graham used the stunt to raise money for something called Red Nose Day, which helps children in poverty. Even though he completed the challenge, you can still donate to this very worthy cause here. Theres no word on if Pump himself is aware of the initiative or if hes made a donation, but I feel like Graham will have a whole batch of new fans from the rappers support base to call his own after this.

[Via]

YouTube
A new ferry route between Ringaskiddy and Santander in Northern Spain can link the Wild Atlantic Way with the Camino.

THE new ferry sailing represents a "great opportunity" to link the two iconic routes, says Senator Tim Lombard.

The Cork Senator told us: I am delighted to see Cork linked to Northern Spain by a sea route. There are deep historical ties between the two places and I hope to see them renewed by the new ferry service.

The north of Spain has much to offer visitors as indeed does Cork. I believe the new service is a great opportunity to link up two iconic tourist trails, the Camino de Santiago and the Wild Atlantic Way.

The trek to Santiago in Gallicia, Northern Spain, traditionally begins when the traveller sets out from their own home.

This has led to routes to Santiago springing up in Germany and France, known as Jakobsweg and Le Chemin De St. Jacques respectively.

I propose to incorporate the Wild Atlantic Way into an Irish Camino, beginning by touring the breath-taking scenery of the South West of Ireland and then sailing to Santander and before concluding in Santiago de Compostela.

I think that uniting the two iconic routes will boost the profile of both and further strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two countries and offers endless possibilities in terms of boosting tourism.

I am looking forward to welcoming the Spanish back to Kinsale personally this Spring, the Senator added.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is being asked to provide reassurance that an organisation closely linked with the "secretive cult-like" Church of Scientology will not be facilitated in setting up operations in a rural village in Meath.

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igroup has vowed to measure, publish and close the pay gap between men and women in its offices in the US, UK and Germany  a first effort by a major US bank.



The focus on pay "supports our efforts to attract and retain the best talent and reward performance," Citigroup said.



The banks move is in response to a shareholder proposal filed by Boston-based Arjuna Capital, reported the Washington Post.



The bank also promised to do a similar analysis on other countries where its 200,000-strong global workforce are located.



"Citigroup is stepping into a leadership role on the gender pay gap that we have not seen from any of its US financial peers," Arjunas managing partner Natasha Lamb said.



Nearly half of Citigroups employees are women but they only make up a quarter of senior executives.



In analyzing total compensation, Citigroup will consider factors such as job level, function and geography.



In the UK, all companies including foreign ones like Citigroup are required to report gender pay data beginning April this year. UKs national gender pay gap currently stands at 18%, and the disparity reported by financial institutions have thus far tended to be wider than this.



But a partner at Mercer Consulting, Brian Levine, said the numbers shrink to between 1% and 3% when job function, seniority and other factors are taken into account, largely because women are clustered in lower paying jobs.



Lamb said she hoped other banks would follow Citigroups example.



In 2016, Arjuna successfully pressed seven technology firms to disclose their pay gap.



In 2017, it made the same effort with US banks but was rebuffed.



This year, financial institutions that were asked to publish their policies and goals to reduce the gender pay gap also included JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, American Express, Mastercard, and Reinsurance Group of America.


ptocurrency has seen a surge of media coverage in recent weeks yet many people  including employers  have a limited understanding of what it is and how it could impact them.Fred Schebesta, a successful entrepreneur and renowned figure on the start-up scene, says this has to change if organisations want to remain relevant in the very near future.Its super important for New Zealand employers, and employers all over the world, to understand cryptocurrency, he tells HRD. The hype surrounding it grows each day, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon, and it could really reshape business and the world as we know it.Schebesta, who co-founded global comparison finder.com, says employers that have a deeper understanding of cryptocurrency will reap the rewards in the long term.For instance, it may be a cheaper option to pay offshore employees using cryptocurrency instead of a traditional money transfer, due to generally higher costs and losing money in conversions, he explains. Employers who remain close-minded may also be limiting their talent pool as it becomes more in demand by employees.A number of organisations around the world have already begun paying employees in bitcoin and its something Schebesta predicts will become commonplace in just a few short years.NZ employers will see the beginnings of a reshaped industry over the next five years, he warns. From the get-go, if given the option, new hires will specify their choice of receiving their salary in a cryptocurrency.However, Schebesta also says that, as the industry gets more popular, the tax rules surrounding it are also likely to change.Just like with stock, employees may need to pay capital gains tax if their coins have risen in value from when their salary was first paid, he says. Or income tax brackets may need to be adjusted. This all depends on the jurisdiction, of course. We may also see a change in the way superannuation is paid out.His message to employers who are still in the dark or want to know more is simple  Check it out! he urges. Consider it as a new investment option with the ability to change how we pay our employees and how we invest in capital as we know it. Dont just sit back and avoid the hype. Aim to increase your understanding and how you can use it to your benefit.Employers can also get creative with cryptocurrency and Schebesta pointed to Singapore-based TenX as a perfect example. The blockchain company pays out their staff bonuses in Pay tokens  the businesses own currency.This is clever, as it incentivises staff to do a great job, as the value of their bonus is in line with the companys success, he says.
Two thousand and fifteen has been the year of the refugee and migrant crisis. Tens of thousands of North Africans are attempting to cross the Mediterranean. Syrians seek asylum in neighboring countries, in the European Union, and over six million are internally displaced. In Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma. As the media and international institutions focused on these stories, the island of Hispaniola quietly tumbled toward its own government-made migration crisis and human rights disaster. As of Thursday, June 18th, we have arrived: the Dominican Republic's plans to register hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent and Haitian migrants have failed, and the government and military are on the verge of arresting and deporting hundreds of thousands of the Dominican Republic's own citizens.



The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the island Hispaniola, and since the early 20th century Haitians have gone to the Dominican Republic--sometimes forced by the countries' mid-20th century dictators to cut sugar cane--to find work. Many Haitians stayed permanently in their neighbor country, having children and grandchildren who, according to the Dominican constitution's application of jus soli before 2010, were Dominican citizens. But over the past decade, a series of legal changes has challenged and eventually revoked the citizenship of over 200,000 of these Dominicans of Haitian descent. In a September 2013 ruling, the Dominican Republic's Constitutional Tribunal denationalized this entire group of Dominicans. After the legal decision, Dominican and international outrage and activism pressured the government to create a process by which denationalized Dominicans could register as foreigners for two years and then reapply for citizenship. The process also allows Haitian migrants living in the country to apply for legal residency. However, after these plans' June 17th deadline, the law states and Dominican leaders assert that those who do not register will be deported, regardless of where they were born.



Our experiences working with Dominicans of Haitian descent demonstrate how the lack accountability for military and police undermine the government's naturalization process, and how lack of due process puts many Dominicans who should be legally protected from deportation at risk of being expelled from their birth country. In February, Wilson Sentimo, a young Dominican man who works for Yspaniola, an education nonprofit, was arrested, extorted, and deported despite having a Dominican birth certificate and having never been to Haiti. He returned only with the help of local and international institutions. During a military raid in Wilson's community the week following his deportation, soldiers held up a young Dominican man of Haitian descent at gunpoint. When he showed his papers, the soldiers insisted, "You're Haitian even if you have a cedula [Dominican identity card]." In these cases, the arrests were made because the young men were of Haitian descent, and "looked Haitian," or were darker than what the arresting officers considered Dominican skin color. On January 27th, the military deported 51 people, including 30 Dominican-born children who were on their way to register in the naturalization process in San Juan de la Maguana. They returned only after intervention by international institutions and the Dominican Minister of the Interior. These abuses flout Dominican and international law and illustrate why the naturalization process, whose initial registration period closed on February 1st, only registered 8,755 of likely over 100,000 qualified Dominicans. Those Dominicans who were unable to register due to the high cost and the risk of military and police abuse during travel will be vulnerable to deportation starting on Thursday.



President Danilo Medina and moderate politicians have made it clear they do not want a human rights crisis this summer. Over the past month, however, government officials in charge of the plans said that the Dominican government will deport between 200,000 and 300,000 people starting this week. To avoid uncountable human rights violations such as illegal arrests, extortions, and deportations, Dominican and international activists, diplomats, and the public must pressure the Dominican government to hold accountable its armed forces, which acts with impunity and little oversight. The government must also be pressured to create a system to process potential migrants that upholds national and international standards for due process; otherwise, in the next few months there could be widespread deportations of Dominicans from their birth country.



This impending crisis also distracts Dominicans from the concrete steps necessary to include their country's most marginalized citizens in Dominican society. When civil society organizations scramble to protect their constituents from abuses, they cannot focus on long-term problem solving. After the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling, there was a moving show of solidarity when Dominicans and the diaspora mobilized to protect their fellow countrymen from an arbitrary and unjust decision, but this energy has waned. Extremists' rhetoric and actions--including lynching a young Haitian man in Santiago--have incited international commentators to make blanket condemnations of the Dominican Republic as a racist country, frustrating and alienating many Dominicans who care deeply for their country, their fellow citizens, and that the migrants who live and work among them are treated fairly.



There are clear, long-term solutions to include Dominicans of Haitian descent in Dominican society, including improving the education system and rule of law, ensuring that access to education is not denied, and ultimately reforming documentation issuance to be fair and non-discriminatory. Until Dominicans, the Dominican diaspora, and the international community can focus on how to empower marginalized communities to advocate for these changes, Dominicans of Haitian descent will continue to be marginalized and denied rights like education, due process, and citizenship. They will live knowing that at any moment, like Wilson Sentimo they can be arrested, extorted, and deported from the country where they were born.
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Watch: Dog Clears Way for Herd of Cattle in Snow Storm, Internet Can't Contain Emotions
The experiences of thousands of Irish women who travel to the UK every year for an abortion have been recounted during a key debate on a proposed referendum on the controversial issue.

Health Minister Simon Harris said: Women from every county in the Republic of Ireland travelled to the United Kingdom to access an abortion and I think we have to acknowledge them all.

Its the sad reality that weve been exporting this issue.

The debate came as an expected referendum looms on repealing the Eighth Amendment, the section of the Constitution which gives an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn.

Last December, a report by a specially convened Oireachtas committee found that Article 40.3.3 was not fit for purpose and called for it to be repealed.

In its 40-page report the committee recommended abortion should be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without a woman having to explain her decision, and that the procedure should be allowed if the life or health of the woman was at risk.

It also called for expectant mothers to be allowed an abortion at any stage of the pregnancy if doctors diagnosed a foetal abnormality that was likely to result in death before or shortly after birth.

At the start of a Dail debate that gave TDs the opportunity to state their position on the issue, Mr Harris said that in 2016 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK alone to have an abortion.

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He added it is estimated that 170,000 Irish women have travelled for an abortion since 1980.

These are not faceless women, it might be convenient for us sometimes to think that they are, theyre not, he said.

They are our neighbours, our sisters, our cousins, our mothers, our aunts, our lives.

This time around lets be honest about this. This is not a decision or a procedure that anyone takes lightly. Women agonise about it.

Fianna Fail TD Billy Kelleher said politicians had a duty to address the issue because there was a huge number of people in Ireland who have never had the opportunity to cast their vote on the matter.

This is an issue that I have been grappling with, he said.

We have to acknowledge that people have deeply held views, morally, ethically, and even religiously.

At the same time my personal or political discomfort is nothing compared to the discomfort that is caused to women every day of the week grappling with a crisis pregnancy, or an unwanted pregnancy or the devastating news of a fatal foetal abnormality.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said of repealing the Eighth Amendment: It is the right thing to do, it will correct an historic wrong.

Earlier in the Dail, opposition TD Ruth Coppinger voiced her concern that four weeks after the publication of the committees report some politicians still had not read it.

The number of deputies who have not had time to read it, youd think they had been asked to read War and Peace, she said.

Debates are being held in both the Dail and the Seanad on the matter so that all TDs and senator can express their views.

As the debates got under way, anti-abortion and pro-choice groups gathered outside Leinster House.

The debates are set to conclude on Thursday.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the future of Europe (European Parliament/PA)

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has urged Europe to stick together to protect and spread its values.

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg  the first leader to speak in the debate on the European Unions future  Mr Varadkar warned that guarantees secured in the Brexit talks to protect the Irish border cannot be reneged on.

As the negotiations move forward, we will continue to rely on your support and solidarity as we work to ensure that what has been promised in theory is delivered in practice, he said.

There can be no backsliding, he said.

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Phase one of the Brexit negotiations secured agreement late last year that a hard border on the island of Ireland will be avoided and the Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland will be maintained.

The Taoiseach told MEPs that he wanted the UK to keep its ties to Europe as close and as deep as possible while protecting the EUs internal market and the Customs Union.

And he also called for deeper unity across the bloc.

Were going to need to stick together if we are to protect what we have and export our values and world view, he said.

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Mr Varadkar also set out his vision for reform of the EU.

The European ideal took flight in the second part of the 20th century when people imagined a world that was joined together by mutual interest, trust and affection, replacing one that was torn apart by jealousy, fear and animosity, he said.

Building on the great successes and achievements of the past, I believe that with imagination, with creativity, and with courage, we can provide a soul and a heart for Europe, creating opportunities for all our citizens.

We can ensure that the European ideal that took flight in the last century will soar in the 21st

The importance of the role Europe played in cementing peace on the island of Ireland was highlighted by the Taoiseach.

It is hard to imagine the Good Friday Agreement being made without our shared membership of the European Union and the single market, he said.

Mr Varadkar said Ireland was contemplating a future without the foundation for the accord.

It is why we have insisted that there can be no return to a hard border on our island, no new barriers to the movement of people or to trade, he said.

And it is why we are so deeply grateful for the remarkable solidarity and support we have received from member states.

It is everything we hoped for and more. And it is proof positive of why small countries benefit so much from membership of the EU.

During his address the Taoiseach spoke at length in French and German.

Setting out more of his ideas on reform, Mr Varadkar called for some powers to be devolved back to member states, municipalities and regions and for more engagement with citizens and more direct democracy.
Airbus chief executive Tom Enders slammed Brexit and US President Donald Trump's pro-America trade policies as presenting twin threats to its business, while singling out the UK's vote to leave the European Union as posing the bigger issue.

The developments amount to a "double whammy" of protectionist hazards, Enders said in London at the annual dinner of the ADS trade association, which represents more than 1,000 aerospace, defence, security and space companies.

Brexit will weaken British industry and aerospace manufacturing in particular by increasing costs and curtailing competitiveness, the CEO said late Monday. While Airbus will seek to mitigate the impact on its business, "whatever we can do, the net result I'm afraid will be negative", he said.

The Toulouse, France-based company has 25 sites in the UK, including its main wing design and production facilities, while the wider supply chain extends to 672 sites and more than 5,000 "links or relations" in commercial aviation alone, Enders said.

Though Airbus should be protected from tariffs by an exemption granted to aerospace under World Trade Organization rules, it desperately requires clarity in areas such as future customs procedures and the movement of employees, according to the executive, who said employees make 80,000 business trips a year between the UK and other EU states.

At the event ADS President Colin Smith, called on Britain and the EU to negotiate a transition period for Brexit of not less than two years during which the status quo for businesses would prevail. (Bloomberg)
All Nestle products sold in Ireland are imported from Britain, meaning any changes to trading rules and regulations post Brexit would push up the company's costs, its UK and Ireland chairwoman has warned.

Fiona Kendrick also signalled that Border delays would hit its exports to here more than to other EU states, as the company has no distribution centres in Ireland.

Ms Kendrick said Nestle brings 22,000 tonnes of products into Ireland every year, via 2,500 truck movements, directly to its customers.

About 82pc of that is manufactured in the UK, with the remainder coming from Europe through Britain. The Republic of Ireland market accounts for 6pc of Nestle's business.

"What is very important for us is regulatory standards. Absolutely key is that we have a convergence of that, that we avoid red tape," Ms Kendrick told the House of Lords EU Committee.

"If I take Ireland as an example, every product that we manufacture for Ireland is identical [to those sold in the UK], from the front of pack to the actual nutritional labelling on that. If indeed we have different regulations, that will require different packaging, that will require therefore a very different requirement in our factories, which ultimately drives a lot of cost. We try and eliminate all costs."

Ms Kendrick said Nestle employs 700 people in Ireland with a factory in Limerick that produces infant formula.

"For us, finding a solution is very, very important," she said.

She said the company exports directly to Belfast for its Northern Ireland customers, and to Dublin for those customers in the Republic. There are no distribution centres here, Ms Kendrick added. She said the company does not transport its products across the Border, although its customers may do.

"In the EU [in continental Europe] we do have distribution centres there," she said. "So if there were a delay moving it across, it's a big direct impact on our customers in Ireland."

Leigh Pomlett, executive director of freight management group Ceva, and president of the Freight Transport Association, told the committee that to manage Border checks on the island of Ireland would be huge and complex.

"The interesting thing about that Border is that there are so many crossing points. It is like a colander of sorts," he said.

James Hookham, deputy chief executive of the Freight Transport Association, said the levels of trade between Ireland and Britain have grown to the point where border checks at ports could not be accommodated at UK ports.

"Areas such as Holyhead and the south Wales ports, but even in the port of Liverpool, there simply isn't the physical space for customs and border controls to be conducted."
Im told that the next big thing in sheep fashion could be the umbrella coat.

Its a device that would pop up umbrella -like from its holder on a ewe or lambs back to guard the unsuspecting animal from rain and other precipitation.

Before you ring up my editor and complain that Coughlan has been on the sauce, there is a very logical reason for my speculation about future trends in the world of high sheep fashion.

The biggest issue for those on the frontline of the sheep trade yesterday morning was wet sheep and how factories are dealing with the issue.

The consternation coming from the likes of John Brooks of ICSA was very understandable. The factories insistence that sheep not only be clean but that they be constantly dry has him and many others in a state of high anxiety.

Mr Brooks said: This is Ireland, its the middle of the winter, and sheep get wet. What are farmers to do? In the last week, the ante has been upped by processors. By all accounts wet sheep were perfectly acceptable up until last week. If they now want to introduce a policy of dry sheep only, they will have to look at their own facilities.

There is plenty of scope to improve lairage conditions so sheep can dry off before slaughter. There is also scope to improve wash-bay facilities for trailers.

Sheep farmers cannot stop the rain from falling so it is impossible to present dry sheep only for slaughter. ICSA does not condone producers bringing sheep for slaughter in an unfit condition but wet sheep do not contravene the ethos of the Department of Agricultures Clean Livestock Policy. Wet sheep are not dirty sheep.

IFA national sheep chairman Sean Dennehy said meat factories and the Department of Agriculture must adopt a practical and sensible approach given the current weather.

Neither the factories nor the Department can expect the impossible. It is totally wrong that some factories have threatened farmers and moved to ramp up charges on clipping, with some imposing 80c per head for dagging, said Mr Dennehy.

While factories are not publicly blaming the enforcement of Department regulations by Department officials, the result is that the numbers of sheep going through the system are, in the short term, in danger of being affected.

On the price front, quotes are largely unchanged with Kepak Athleague and Kildare Chilling pulling their quotes for hogget by 5c/kg.

Reports suggest up to 5.10/kg was paid for hogget yesterday. Cull ewes remain rock solid at an official quote of 2.80/kg in the majority of plants with only Dawn Ballyhaunis off the pace at 2.75/kg, with on-the -ground deals being done at 3/kg.

1 Headford

Lamb prices week on week strengthened at the top end by about 3/hd to 115/hd off a 70/hd base. That top 115/hd price was clicked by a batch of five lambs who weighed in at 51kg. Other prices of note were 41kg at 90/hd and 12 store types at 36kg who made 80/hd. Cull ewes sold from 70-115/hd, with that top price back on the previous week by 13/hd.

2 Kilkenny

Butchers' lambs/hoggets peaked at 2.17/kg for 54kg off a 2.03/kg base as given for 58kg, resulting in a full clearance. In the factory section, prices ran from 2.10-2.25/kg, while the more storish 37-41kg lamb sold from 2.15-2.35/kg. Cast ewes made from 54-129/hd.

3 Baltinglass

Trade for heavy, well-fleshed lamb was reported as "very strong" here yesterday, with wether and ram lambs from 41-54kg making from 103-107/hd, while ewe lambs in the 45-50kg bracket made from 94-105/hd. Among the lighter rams and wethers, prices ranged from 91/hd back to 78 for weights from 40 back to 35kg, with ewes from 26-36kg selling from 61-79/hd, with some of those heavier forward stores easier by about 2/hd.

4 Raphoe

A good entry of sheep here yesterday, with the trade reported as being "steady". Store lambs from 30-34kg sold from 65-75/hd, with heavier 34-37kg types making from 75-85/hd. Moving to the heavier types, 38-44kg sold from 85-95, with butcher types from 44-50kg making up to 108/hd off a 95/hd base. Above this 50-60kg lambs went as high as 117/hd. Fat ewes made from 60-118/hd.

5 Ballinasloe

Lamb/hogget prices averaged 90/hd here and hit a top call of 120/hd. Stag ewes averaged 99/hd to a top of 114/hd.

6 Dowra

Trade was steady here with factory lamb making from 90-110/hd, while pens of forward stores sold from 75-95/hd, with lighter stores making from 55-75/hd. Heavy cull ewes saw a top of 120/hd off a 80/hd base, with lighter feeder types selling from 50-80/hd. There was a large entry of in-lamb ewes, with those carrying doubles making from 160-210/hd, while those carrying singles made from 100-160/hd. Older in-lamb ewes made from 80-140/hd.
Irish beef, sheep and tillage farmers will go out of business unless strong subsidies from Brussels continue, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president has warned.

Ahead of crunch EU negotiations on the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020, Brexit and climate change, Joe Healy said it would be a defining year for farming

"Now is the moment for this Government and our Taoiseach to show their mettle by standing up for the CAP," said the Galway farmer, adding that the subsidies were responsible for injecting 1.8bn into the rural economy each year.

"We cannot have a situation where EU farmers have their incomes cut because the UK decided to leave," Mr Healy warned as he addressed the 63rd IFA Annual General Meeting.

"CAP cannot become the fall guy for any new initiatives. The coffers cannot be raided for new programmes."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who quipped that nobody "gets up earlier than the Irish farmer", said Ireland would continue to argue for the retention of a "strong, well-funded and effective CAP post-2020. We believe that if the EU wants to do new things, and it should, we should find new money".

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said the CAP budget would be a "big task" and we could not "shy away from debate" on contributions with the hole left by the UK's exit.

Finances closer to home turf were also under the spotlight as Mr Healy admitted it had been a challenging year for the IFA.

"Farmers do support us and this is evident in our membership figures holding very strongly," he said. "I would ask all farmers to support the association by paying their levies. It is fair and proportionate and represents a contribution of just 1.50 in every 1,000 of sales."

The farm lobby group recorded an operational loss of 1.4m to the end of March 2017. A decline in farmer EIF (European Involvement Fund) levies collected from farmers on produce sold saw income for the association drop 16pc to 16.2m.

Mr Healy pointed out a three-year plan was in place to close the current deficit and return to a balanced outcome over the next three years. Mr Healy said it would be a combination of rebuilding income and reducing costs, however, redundancies were not being considered.

Director general of the IFA, Damian McDonald, who was appointed over a year ago after the organisation was engulfed in a pay controversy in 2015, said they were facing a hugely challenging year for farming and there was a structured plan in place.

On the potential of an EU trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc, including beef powerhouses of Brazil and Argentina, Mr Varadkar said they were working hard to ensure Ireland's voice was heard. "Ireland without our beef industry, quite simply, would not be Ireland," he said.

On Brexit, Mr Varadkar said they were confident a hard Brexit could be avoided but recognised the agri-food sector was uniquely exposed with 35pc of exports worth 4.4bn going to the UK.

Mr Healy said a situation cannot be permitted where the UK is free to open its markets to low-standard or low-value products from outside the EU.

He said farmers were playing their part on climate change and would continue to do so.

"Agriculture saved this country following the last economic crash and it has played a huge part in rebuilding the economy," said Mr Healy. "Now that the economy is improving, don't forget farmers."
Shoppers can expect clothes from as little as 1.50 with the opening of 30 Pep&Co concession fashion stores in Dealz shops around the country.

The first 10 of the 30 concessions will open on February 23rd. They will appear initially in the Dealz flagship in Blanchardstown, as well as Kilkenny, Dundrum, Naas, Newbridge, Gorey, Athy, Finglas, Ballina and Castlebar.

Clothing prices will start at 1.50, with almost 60pc of items selling for 5 or less, and shoppers can expect hundreds of products lines.

"We are very excited to bring our fashion and brand to Irish consumers. We already run 170 Pep&Co stores in the UK, most of them located inside Poundland stores, so introducing Pep&Co to the Irish marketplace via Dealz has always been a priority," said Adrian Mountford, managing director at Pep&Co.

"We see an opportunity to provide great value to our customers," said Barry Williams, managing director of Poundland and Dealz, which are part of the same chain.

"We have a huge volume of customers, but a relatively small share of their spend.

"So the more categories we can add to our proposition, the more that we can encourage customers to shop more with us."

The news comes as part of a wider announcement from Dealz parent company Poundland, as they unveiled plans to open over 150 Pep&Co concessions over the next 12 months in Ireland, the UK and France.

In 2016 Poundland was acquired by South African retail holding company Steinhoff International for 610m (687m) and today Poundland has over 800 stores in the UK, Ireland, and Spain.

However Steinhoff was plunged into crisis in the latter half of 2017, following the revelation of accounting irregularities concerning its 2016 financial reporting.

Earlier this year Steinhoff admitted that while an internal investigation into the matter was on-going, the restatement of the financial statements "for years prior to 2015 is likely to be required", adding that the 2016 and 2015 financial statements "can no longer be relied upon."

In December rating agency Moodys downgraded Steinhoff, warning that it may not have sufficient funds to "sustain its European operations".

However Mr Williams told the Irish Independent that Poundland and Dealz had enough funds ring-fenced to sustain itself.

"We published our results for the period October to December, up to Christmas Eve, which were industry leading numbers[we had a ]record breaking Christmas, so the business is performing exceptionally well," Mr Williams said.

"And part of that announcement we also talked about the funding that we have secured into the business, we have a two year deal line of credit into the business that covers all of our cash flow requirements, we feel really comfortable about that."

(Additional reporting from PA).
Investors in UK pub group Mitchells & Butlers, in which Irish horse-racing tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier own more than a 23pc stake, have been urged by a shareholder advisory group to oppose the re-election of the pair's two representatives on the board.

Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) said that Keith Browne and Eddie Irwin, both non-executive directors who represent the Irish pair's Elpida investment vehicle, are therefore not considered independent.

"There is insufficient independent representation on the board," said PIRC, which is Europe's largest independent corporate governance and shareholder advisory consultancy.

Birmingham-headquartered Mitchells & Butlers holds its AGM next week.

The FTSE-250 company is one of the UK's largest restaurant and pub groups, controlling venues such as All Bar One, Toby Carvery, O'Neill's and Harvester.

It has about 1,700 sites that serve a total of about 400 million drinks and 130 million meals every year.

John Magnier and JP McManus have owned a stake in the pub group since 2007. The company, whose CEO is Phil Urban, has a market capitalisation of 1.1bn (1.2bn).

In its financial year to the end of last September, the company generated revenue of 2.18bn (2.45bn) and an operating profit of 208m (234m). Revenue was almost 5pc higher than in the previous financial year, while the operating profit was 10pc lower.

The advisory firm has also suggested that shareholders should oppose the re-election of non-executive director Josh Levy.

Mr Levy is a representative of Bahamas-based British billionaire Joe Lewis. Mr Lewis owns just under 27pc of Mitchells & Butlers.

Mr Lewis made a previous, unsuccessful takeover assault on the pub group.

"Josh Levy is not considered independent as he is a nominee of Piedmont, a significant shareholder in the company," said PIRC.

It also advised shareholders not to vote for the re-election of non-executive deputy chairman Ron Robson, as he is also an appointee of Piedmont.

PIRC has also advised shareholders to abstain from approving Mitchells & Butlers remuneration report.

"Changes in CEO total pay under the last five years are not considered in line with changes in TSR (Total Shareholder Returns) during the same period," said PIRC.

The advisory group also suggests that Mitchells & Butlers non-executive chairman, Bob Ivell, should not be re-elected by shareholders. PIRC claimed that Mr Ivell previously served in an executive capacity, and is also chairman of Carpetright. PIRC claimed this "raises concerns about his external time commitments".
Ireland may not nominate a candidate for a top European Central Bank post next week, despite being the only euro-founding member state never to have had a seat on the executive board.

The head of the Irish Central Bank automatically sits on the ECB governing council, but no Irish nominee has ever been named to the powerful six-person body that proposes and implements monetary policy.

Now, with four of those posts as well as the role as head of the euro area bank-supervision arm up for grabs before the end of next year, Irish Central Bank Governor Philip Lane, 48, and Deputy Governor Sharon Donnery are potential candidates.

An Irish appointment might help shake off the legacy of the banking crisis and bailout.

Still, the politics of European appointments mean the Government here might play a long game. The first step in the ECB reshuffle comes on Monday when euro-area finance ministers meeting in Brussels will collect nominations for a successor to vice president Vitor Constancio.

For that position, Ireland is leaning toward holding off from making a bid as it is unlikely to win, according to two people familiar with the situation. No decision has been made, the people said, asking not be named as the deliberations are private.

Spain has already made its case to regain the board seat it lost six years ago, with Economy Minister Luis de Guindos likely to be a frontrunner.

Instead, Ireland may hold off to stay in the mix for other positions, including the presidency after Mario Draghi steps down in October 2019. Market operations head Benoit Coeure and chief economist Peter Praet will also leave next year.

Another option would be to succeed Daniele Nouy, whose five-year term as chair of the Single Supervisory Mechanism ends this December. The role holds enormous influence overseeing the region's banks, despite not coming with a seat on the board.

The Department of Finance and Central Bank declined to comment.

Philip Lane, a Trinity College professor before being appointed Central Bank governor is a highly regarded economist.

Sharon Donnery joined the central bank in 1996 and became deputy governor in March 2016. She was chosen by Nouy to lead a working group at the SSM on resolving bad loans across euro-region banks. (Bloomberg)
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is prepared to strengthen legislation to pursue bankers who illegally took trackers off customers.

Mr Donohoe told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that a "collective failing" by the banks was behind the tracker mortgage rip-off.

They had failed to act in the best interests of their customers, as they are required to do. But he cannot prejudge a Central Bank investigation into whether it was an "accident" that all banks took trackers off people at the same time.

Some 33,700 customers have been identified as being affected by the tracker mortgage issue.

The minister was responding to Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty, who said the 1bn tracker scandal was theft and bankers should pay the consequences.

"Bankers are getting away with it, getting away with the biggest theft in the history of this State," he said.

The Sinn Fein TD said there would be a new scandal unless there was a fundamental change in the law. There was also a need for the Government to support a private members' bill to allow class actions, which could be used by groups of people to take on the banks.

Mr Donohoe said he had asked the Central Bank previously if it had sufficient powers and he was told it had.

He noted the Central Bank had recently said it needed greater powers, when the regulator was responding to a Law Reform Commission report. The Central Bank said it now wanted heads of financial firms to be liable for company failures.

The minister was prepared to legislate if stronger powers were called for by the Central Bank. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan was examining if there is a need for a change to allow class actions.

He said there were currently no public-interest directors on the boards of the banks in which the State had a stake. There was a tension between its duty to the companies and the expectations of the public and Oireachtas.

Directors would be appointed to the boards of AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB, but they will not be public-interest directors, as those roles applied only when the State guaranteed banks' funds.
Google is seeking to increase its control on internet traffic with plans for three new subsea cables, one of which will stop off in Ireland.

The web giant has the world's largest physical network, accounting for up to 25pc of worldwide internet traffic.

According to Google vice-president Ben Treynor Sloss, it has spent $30bn (24.5bn) on cables and data centres in recent years. "These new investments expand our existing cloud network," said Mr Treynor Sloss. "The Google network has over 100 points of presence and over 7,500 edge-caching nodes. This investment means faster and more reliable connectivity for all our users."

The 6,000km Irish cable will connect the east coast of the US with a further connection to Denmark in the east. It is planned, Google says, to give the company more bandwidth across the Atlantic ocean.

"To increase capacity and resiliency in our North Atlantic systems, we're working with Facebook, Aqua Comms and Bulk Infrastructure to build a direct submarine cable system connecting the US to Denmark and Ireland," said Mr Treynor Sloss. "This cable is expected to come online by the end of 2019. The marine route survey, during which the supplier determines the specific route the cable will take, is already under way."

The company is also planning other new subsea cables between the US and Chile and between Hong Kong and Guam.

"Simply put, it wouldn't be possible to deliver products like Machine Learning Engine, Spanner, BigQuery and other Google Cloud Platform and G Suite services at the quality of service users expect without the Google network," said Mr Treynor Sloss.

"Our cable systems provide the speed, capacity and reliability Google is known for worldwide, and at Google Cloud, our customers are able to make use of the same network infrastructure that powers Google's own services."

Google has two data centres in Ireland, but recently began looking at facilities in Denmark for the construction of a new data centre. Separately, Apple has still not indicated whether it will proceed with a proposed 850m data centre in Athenry.
Air Berlin (L) and Niki aircrafts stand on the tarmac at the Vienna International Airport (VIC) in Schwechat, Austria. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Aer Lingus owner IAG said yesterday it was hopeful that it could complete its agreed acquisition of Austria's Niki quickly after a court ruled that the administration process should be conducted in Austria rather than Germany.

"IAG remains interested in the assets of Niki and is looking forward to the new process being completed promptly," IAG said in a statement. It had agreed with German administrators to buy the holiday airline for 20m and integrate it into its Vueling brand, before the court ruling threw that plan into doubt.

"The group remains hopeful that Vueling can continue with its acquisition and safeguard up to 740 former Niki jobs in Austria and Germany," it said.

Ryanair along with Niki's founder, former Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, also said they were interested.

Offers can be made for Niki until Friday and a decision will follow within days, German administrator Lucas Floether and his Austrian counterpart Ulla Reisch said.

Niki filed for insolvency in Berlin last month after Germany's Lufthansa scrapped plans to buy the Austrian arm of insolvent Air Berlin.

IAG agreed with the German administrator to buy the business but that was put at risk last week after German and Austrian courts ruled the insolvency proceedings had to move to Austria. (Reuters)
The collapse of British services group Carillion started to hurt thousands of small contractors on Tuesday, with some laying off workers after the rapid demise of a company that was winning British state contracts as recently as November.

Rudi Klein, head of Britain's Specialist Engineering Contractors' Group, estimated that Carillion had left a trail of 1.2bn in unpaid bills to thousands of small subcontractors.

The 200-year-old company, swamped by debt and pension liabilities and losing cash, went into liquidation on Monday, threatening suppliers, merchants and big banks. The British government was forced to guarantee the provision of public services from school meals to road projects.

Examples of private companies that could be hit included a small Northern Irish engineering contractor owed 150,000 and a concrete frame manufacturer in north-west England owed 2m, Klein said.

Flora-tec, a corporate horticulture company based in Cambridgeshire, said it is owed more than 800,000 pounds for its work on Carillion contracts at local prisons, schools and hospitals.

"Last month, when we were knee-deep in snow, my guys were out at three in the morning putting salt down to make sure (facilities) were safe for people to use," managing director Andy Bradley told BBC radio.

"We're not going to get paid for that."

Britain began outsourcing public services in the late 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and the model expanded under Labour's Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. It is now the world's second-largest outsourcing market behind the United States.
Tara and Eoin got on like a house on fire on First Dates Ireland. PIC: RTE 2

Just when you're starting to wonder if First Dates Ireland has lost its touch with a preponderance of wannabe TV stars and obnoxious teens, along comes a couple like Tara and Eoin.

On the second episode of the new series on RTE 2 on Tuesday night, Eoin from Laois and Tara from Tallaght were the only couple to really hit it off.

More than that, though, they captured the hearts of viewers who were really rooting for them after a lovely date which ran the gamut of emotions from sadness to hilarity and everything in between.

Student nurse Tara revealed to insurance man Eoin that she had lost her partner Paul suddenly to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome in 2012, just three months after they had lost their baby daughter.

"I haven't dated since then," she told Eoin. "This is kind of my first outing since them. I'm only starting to build myself back up again."

Eoin also opened up to Tara about the fact that after his friend died suddenly he moved to Vancouver to start a new life only to return a year later after he learned he had a two year old son he had never met.

But they had the banter too.

"What's your road frontage like?" she asked

"Not enough!" he replied.

They also bonded over a mutual love of hurling which prompted Eoin to declare, "As the Laois man said to the girl from Dublin, 'How are ya kaypin?'"

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Sure it could not have gone better. They even shared a kiss at the end and went on Doyles and had a second date...

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Viewers were smitten by them and never has a First Dates couple inspired as many well wishes...

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But did Tara and Eoin make it to that third date? Are they planning to get hitched as I type? The nation needs to know, and Eoin revealed everything to Ryan Tubridy on RTE Radio 1 this morning...

Speaking about their snog at the end of their date, he said, "It was a spontaneous move, it was both mutual, we were both happy enough!"

However, it wasn't good news on the romance front.

"We're still chatting, we're still chatting, nothing intimate the last few months but we're good freinds," said Eoin. "Tara is a lovely girl and I think she's a great girl to be honest."

Tubridy asked if he should file their relationship under "just good friends" and unfortunately that's where Eoin said they stand.

"It's not quite the First Date people might have hoped for," said Tubridy, voicing the abject sense of loss and disappointment viewers are undoubtedly now feeling.
The family of a 12 year old boy killed in an accident involving a sulky vehicle on a public road say they hope new regulations can prevent further loss of life.

Sean Doyle (12) sustained catastrophic injuries after he was thrown from a sulky beneath the axles of an oncoming truck. He was one of three passengers on the sulky when the accident happened at St Cuthberts Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 on February 26 2016.

The jury in an inquest into Seans death recommended the introduction of bye-laws specifically relating to the regulation and safety considerations of the use of sulky cars on public roads.

I just hope no other child is lost in these circumstances, the childs mother Stacey Doyle said following an inquest in her sons death.

Sean was an amazing boy. He was the heart of our family, we miss him so much. He was full of life and fun and divilment and everyone loved him, his grandmother Mary Doyle said.

We are so glad of these recommendations, there is absolutely no way any child should be out on a sulky.

Sean's friend was holding the reins at the time of the accident when the horse bolted across St Cuthberts Road. The sulky car collided with an oncoming truck. The tubular steel shaft connecting the cart to the horse's harness snapped and Sean was thrown beneath the lorry.

The truck made a weird noise like it was letting air out and Rambo went to the opposite side of the road, he got a fright. The back of the truck hit us and I went up in the air and hit the ground. Sean was on the ground, the friend said.

Truck driver John Pouch, a local authority worker said there was nothing he could have done to avoid the collision.

The horse just shot across the road and hit the truck behind the cab, he said.

PSV Inspector Garda David OBrien described the sulky as a man-made cart on a tubular steel axle with no seat belts or side-guards.

Its not a vehicle that should be used on a public highway, Gda OBrien said.

Sean Doyle, from Melrose Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death was severe head injuries.

The truck was travelling well below the 50kmph speed limit, the inquest heard. A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions but no charges were brought.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
The husband of Malak Thawley, who died during surgery for an ectopic pregnancy at the National Maternity Hospital, said no compensation could replace the "profound loss" of her "needless death".

Ms Thawley (34), a teacher and a US citizen, was expecting her first baby when she died at the Holles Street Hospital on May 8, 2016.

Yesterday at the High Court Mr Justice Anthony Barr was told the case against the maternity hospital was settled and could be struck out.

But counsel told the court last week what had happened was a "cascade of negligence" and "it was one negligent act after another".

Liam Reidy SC said the doctor who carried out the surgery was an inexperienced junior surgeon and not supervised.

Counsel said the ineptitude was illustrated by the fact that when they decided to cool Ms Thawley's brain, two doctors were sent across the road to a pub to get ice as there was none in the hospital.

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Yesterday Mr Reidy said it had been settled for compensatory damages only and aggravated or exemplary damages were not involved.

No other details of the settlement were given to the court. Final orders will be made in the case next week.

Outside court, Alan Thawley said after a long and difficult process he had been able to bring these proceedings to a satisfactory conclusion.

"There is no compensation that could replace the profound loss of my wife's untimely and needless death.

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"The proceedings were brought forth to expose the cascade of negligence demonstrated by the hospital. I will continue to work with the Health Minister [Simon Harris] and his ministerial inquiry to ensure I am the last person in Irish history who has to suffer what I have suffered and continue to suffer," he said.

The Thawleys had been profoundly happy and excited when his wife became pregnant. As a surprise gift her husband arranged a scan at six weeks.

At the scan, they were told to go to the NMH for advice about an ectopic pregnancy.

Mr Thawley said he had googled ectopic pregnancy and had seen it could be treated with certain medicine but, counsel said, he was told that because the foetal sac had a heartbeat the only option was a surgical intervention. The couple felt they should follow the advice.

Mr Thawley (31), of Brusna Cottages, Blackrock, Dublin, had sued the National Maternity Hospital over the death of his wife, claiming she suffered a cut to the surface of her aorta and there was complete mismanagement of the major vascular injury.

It was also claimed there was a failure to have vascular clamps available on site for emergencies and a failure to have a red phone installed in theatre for use in emergencies.

It was further claimed her life was unacceptably endangered during the operative procedure and her death occurred as a result of the injury inflicted upon her and the complete mismanagement of the injury afterwards.

Mr Thawley had also sued for nervous shock and claimed his whole life and happiness with his late wife, together with his plans and dreams for their future, had been annihilated.

Liability was not at issue in the case, which was for assessment of damages only.

The NMH apologised in court last week for the events which led to the death of Ms Thawley, who was originally from Dallas.

Eoin McCullough SC, for the hospital, extended deepest condolences to Mr Thawley and apologised for the events which led to her death.

When legal proceedings were issued in January last year, a letter admitting liability by the hospital was issued the next day along with an apology.

An internal inquiry was also set up, counsel said.
A Dublin man who pulled a 15-year-old girl into a shed on his property and sexually assaulted her has been jailed for ten months.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the girl's father became aware she had received messages from his 39-year-old friend in 2014.

The girl subsequently told gardai that this man had grabbed her, pulled her into his shed and sexually assaulted her by touching her breasts and genital area under her clothes.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the teenager in Dublin on a date in August 2014. He has previous convictions for minor road traffic and public order matters.

Garda David Sheffield told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that the girl's mother brought her to a garda station after the text messages came to light.

During a specialist child interview, the teenager revealed that she believed her friend had given the man her number and that he'd texted her about going to the shed. She said she eventually agreed to go to the location and that he later threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened.

Gda Sheffield said the father-of-one was subsequently arrested and denied forcing himself on her or touching her genital area.

The garda said he did admit to getting her to masturbate him, saying she was annoying him, but that this was never part of the girl's allegation.

Ms Boyle referred to the teenager's victim impact statement in which she described how she had no trust in people and felt like something bad was going to happen.

Gda Sheffield agreed with Philip Sheahan SC, defending, that there was a disparity between the girl and the man's accounts of what happened. The garda further agreed the man had no previous convictions for sexual offences.

Mr Sheahan submitted to Judge Martin Nolan that his client had a good work history and was overwhelmed and ashamed for what he had done.

Judge Nolan said he had to take into consideration the mitigating factors of the man's plea of guilty, his remorse and his co-operation with the investigation.

He imposed a sentence of two years but suspended 14 months on condition that the man keep the peace for the entire period.

He noted that the man would be registered sex offender and would lose his occupation in life because of this offence.
A mother admitted in court yesterday that she would have to be earning a pre-tax income of 120,000 a year to make the amount she receives in State benefits.

At Kilrush District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan calculated that mother of four, Mary Maughan receives 55,000 a year on various State benefits.

Addressing Ms Maughan, Judge Durcan said: "You receive around 55,000 a year in benefits and if you were paying tax and all of that, you would need an income of 120,000 a year."

In reply in the witness box, Ms Maughan said: "Probably."

Judge Durcan said: "People are always complaining that the level of social welfare payments are inadequate - that is a political view - and the court cant comment on something like that otherwise than to note."

Solicitor, Tara Godfrey said that the payments are required for the care of six children.

Ms Maughan receives benefit payments concerning her own four children along with two other children she is guardian of.

In court yesterday, Ms Maughan was put forward as a bails person to provide an independent surety for her brother, Darren Maughan (26) who is currently on remand in prison but requires an independent surety for his conditional release on bail.

Solicitor for Mr Maughan, Tara Godfrey yesterday provided to the court details of the individual social welfare payments that Ms Maughan receives.

Ms Godfrey said that Ms Maughan receives 358.20 in a weekly carers allowance; a weekly payment of 352 in a guardian payment along with Child benefit monthly payments of 840 and a monthly domiciliary care allowance of 309.

Ms Godfrey said that in addition, Ms Maughan receives 3,400 annually in a respite grant as she is the carer of two children who are not her own.

Ms Godfrey said that Ms Maughan has 1,000 in different savings in court to put forward as independent surety.

Ms Maughan confirmed that she has a bank account but didnt have bank details with her in court.

However, Judge Durcan rejected Ms Maughans application to provide the independent surety.

He said that Ms Maughan is clearly burdened by huge responsibility and "it seems to me inappropriate that she should now be burdened with the danger of losing any of that money".

He said: "I refuse to accept this lady as surety by virtue of the nature of her payments she receives; that she hasnt produced a verifiable bank account and it is unfair on someone who has the burdens she has in life should have the added burden of providing surety."

At Ennis District Court last week, Gardai objected to Darren Maughan obtaining bail after claiming that he was part of an alleged "drug related feud".

Mr Maughan (26) of Stonecourt, Drumbiggle was before the court on three charges of criminal damage on January 11th at Waterpark, Ennis and Ms Godfrey denied that her client was part of any feud.

She said: "Certainly were not agreeing to that at all. We would say it is possibly gossip or hostile intelligence from someone.Were not part of a feud".

Judge Durcan had remanded Mr Maughan in custody with consent to bail to appear before Ennis District Court today.
A young Dublin woman who held over 24,000 of cocaine as a free favour to a third party has received a four year suspended sentence

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Yasmin Redmond (20) was leading an aimless existence at the time and had agreed to hold the drugs in a shed for no money as a favour to another person.

Redmond, of Thornton Heights, St Michael's Estate, Inchicore, pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine worth 24, 251 at her home on April 17, 2017. She has no previous convictions.

Garda Nicola Gormon told Lisa Dempsey BL, prosecuting, that she and colleagues with confidential information arrived at the premises with a search warrant.

Gardai forced entry as the home was empty at the time and were in the middle of the raid when Redmond entered.

She admitted there was something in the shed as officers uncovered a school bag containing the cocaine block behind an artificial Christmas tree at that location.

Redmond was arrested and told gardai that she had been minding them for a week for someone else.

Garda Gormon agreed with Ronan Munro SC, defending, that his client co-operated with gardai, had not come to adverse attention since and had steered clear of former peer groups.

Mr Munro submitted to Judge Martin Nolan that his client had been leading an aimless existence at the time but was now accessing counselling and attending Youthreach.

He asked the judge to depart from the mandatory minimum ten-year sentence for drugs offences of this nature and consider imposing a suspended sentence. Counsel suggested this was an exceptional case.

Judge Nolan accepted that Redmond was very young, co-operated with gardai and was at the lowest level of the drug dealing operation.

He said Redmond did not deserve to go into custody and suspended the sentence for four years.
A 17-YEAR-OLD Dublin boy has been given a four-month sentence after rejecting an offer of a community sanction which required him to attend a training course.

The youth described as having experienced huge upheaval in his life had pleaded guilty to a minor assault and a spate of thefts in Dublin which took place last year. Dublin Childrens Court heard he was already serving a sentence which would expire later this month.

The teen admitted stealing a phone worth 500 from a taxi driver who had been attacked by other youths on a date last June in Drimnagh. The phone was recovered undamaged.

He also admitted theft of another phone which was worth 129 in Cabra later that month, a minor assault on a man who suffered no injuries during an incident at a shop on Spa Road last April and theft of a designer sunglasses worth 100 from a car in Rathmines in July 2017.

The teen already had eight prior criminal convictions for theft, possessing stolen property, trespassing, vehicle theft and two public order charges.

At the sentencing hearing Judge John OConnor said a report had been sought from the Probation Service on the teens suitability for a non-custodial sentence, a community sanction called a day-centre order. This would have required him to attend a training course as well as having to accept guidance from the Probation Service to divert him from re-offending.

However, his solicitor Kate McGhee said the boy had suffered a huge amount of upheaval in his life and was was firm in that he was not willing to start a new course.

Judge OConnor told him that an alternative sentence, a period of detention, could be given but it was not too late.

Ive made my decision, muttered the youth, who was due to be released in a few weeks.

Judge OConnor imposed a four-month term consecutive to the boys existing sentence.

His mother hugged her son at the end of the case and thanked the judge.

In a mitigation plead, defence solicitor Kate McGhee said that the boy had agreed to mentoring and was willing to do almost anything asked of him by the Probation Service.

Ms McGhee said that the boy, who cannot be named because he is a minor, had started offending relatively recently and was now serving a sentence in Oberstown which will end in two weeks. The solicitor described this as a huge wake-up call for the boy.

The teen now understood the triggers in the community and how he needed to manage his behaviour, she said.

The upheaval in his life related to family members, the court heard. Obviously he wanted to be released and had learned his lesson, the solicitor said.

She added that the teen wanted to sit the Junior Certificate but it would be a struggle for him to engage with a new facility and a new people. He would like to go back to another course he had taken part in at a different training centre, the defence solicitor said.

She also asked the court to note that the teen had pleaded guilty at an early stage and had made admissions.

Judge OConnor said the teen presented as polite in court and that detention was a last resort. He would have made the day-centre order as the training centre place offered to him was an excellent facility and would not have been intimidating, he said.

He said the teen had chosen not to do it and the only alternative was detention.
A 19-year-old student who was picked up by Gardai on a motorway soon after midnight after an incident at his school, had reacted angrily when he heard of contact between his housemaster and parents over his studies, a Teaching Council inquiry heard.

He tore his t-shirt to shreds and said he would do what he wanted, the teacher at the centre of a professional misconduct inquiry wrote in an account of events that he sent to a colleague the following day.

The inquiry arises from a complaint by the school principal to the Teaching Council under new legislation.

In his written account to his colleague, the teacher at the centre of the case was recalling the evening of November 28 2016, when the student came to his on-campus quarters. They were alone.

The teacher wrote that there had been two weeks of difficulty trying to get the student to study. He said they were clashing and he was keen to remedy the situation".

Earlier in the day the teacher had emailed the students father about his concerns and said he would sort it out.

Both the teacher and student drank wine together that evening in the teachers quarters and the teacher wrote that the student had about three glasses of wine and I think I maybe had twice that.

The teacher said that he understood that drinking with him was not a good idea, but added that it was a useful pastoral tool".

It was exam time and he said as things were very stressful he decided to have wine and the student wanted to join. They also had pizza.

He said the discussion was positive and he put on movies. The account went on to stay: Unfortunately, I explained that I would expect him to study hard and had replied to his fathers email. He wasnt happy that we had communicated.

It was then that the student tore off his tee shirt and said he would do what he wanted and the teacher told him I wouldnt lie for him".

He said he helped him to put on his jumper/hoodie and told him to relax adding that in hindsight this was unusual.

The student took his cigarettes and lighter and stormed out. He followed him after 15 minutes as he was worried. The student wasnt in his dorm and the teacher walked around the campus.

The hearing also heard more about the attitude to alcohol in the school. Another teacher and housemaster said that generally speaking the policy was that there should be no access to alcohol for students, but there might be controlled occasions, such as a barbeque, where student could have up to four beers.

The hearing heard of supervised occasions in the school where Transition Year students, some of whom were 15, fifth year students and sixth year students consumed alcohol.

The assistant housemaster said when he inquired about the whereabouts of the student in question that evening, he was told he was having grinds in the residence of the teacher who is at the centre of the allegations. While it would not be usual to be having grinds in a teachers residence, because it was exam week he felt that was a reason for it.

Both the teacher/housemaster and the assistant housemaster who gave direct evidence to the hearing said that the teacher against whom the allegation are made was popular. The hearing was also told of positive references supplied to the inquiry from a former principal, teachers and former students.

The teacher/housemaster against whom the allegations were made, is not being called as a witness.

Gardai picked up the student on a motorway between about midnight and 1am on the morning of November 29, as he was trying to flag a taxi.

The inquiry heard of a series of text messages between the teacher and the student on November 29, before the students father intervened and sent a message stating, No more WhatsApp.

The teacher was suspended on full pay.

Today was she second and final day of the hearing.

The case is being heard in public but on an anonymised basis, so no names will be revealed

The allegations are that the teacher/housemaster:

*provided and/or allowed the student to consume one or more glasses of wine in an in-campus residence:

*left the student in the residence knowing that alcohol was available, knowing that the student had already consumed alcohol and/or was angry and or upset;

*was under the influence of alcohol and not fit and/or capable of discharging duties as a housemaster;

*failed to report or contact any senior member of staff after noticing that the student was absent from his dorm

*sent text messages to the student throughout the night and early morning, including messages to retract information that he had provided to the principal and or the Gardai;

*continued to send text messages after the principal had required that he cease.

Such hearings, similar to those conducted for doctors and nurses, investigate cases of underperformance and serious misconduct.

To reach a hearing, a complaint has to go through a Teaching Council Investigation Committee, which decides whether it merits being forwarded to a Disciplinary Committee.

Complaints that are considered frivolous or vexatious will not progress to a formal hearing.

In extreme cases, teachers may be "struck off" the professional register. Lesser penalties, include suspension, admonishment or an offer of support to improve performance.

Experience in Scotland and Wales suggests in Ireland up to 30 teachers a year could face a disciplinary hearing.

To date, the Teaching Council has received about 50 complaints under the legislation .

About half of the complaints have been refused and the remainder are at different stages in the investigation and disciplinary process.

A large number of that initial batch of cases are legacy complaints that were awaiting the enactment of Fitness to Teach legislation in July 2016.

The default positon is that Teaching Council hearings will be heard in public, but any party can request a private, partly private or public, but anonymised, hearing and it is up to the hearing panel to decide.
The funeral procession was escorted by fellow school pupils and friends of Sean Hughes. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Songs written by tragic teenager Sean Hughes were performed at his funeral yesterday.

The 15-year-old, from Finglas, Dublin, died last Friday after suffering from flu-like symptoms.

Friends of Sean turned out in their hundreds to pay their final respects to the talented writer and performer known locally as 'Lil Red'.

Sean's parents Karen and Joe, and his sister Zoe, led the mourners as his coffin was brought to St Canice's Church in Finglas.

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The teenager became ill at home last Wednesday. His health deteriorated rapidly and he was brought to Temple Street Children's Hospital, but sadly he did not recover.

Parish priest Fr Richard Hyland paid tribute to the much-loved teenager, quoting the music fan's very own rap lyrics.

"For all who knew and loved Sean, we know how much rap meant to him. In listening to his songs the real personality of Sean shines through," he said.

"For example: 'Education and dedication, non-discrimination that is how we change a nation'. He loved his school and he loved his friends," said Fr Hyland, adding that family and friends meant most to Sean.

Symbols of Sean's life brought to the altar included copies of his songs, his runners, a bottle of aftershave, the flag from his Colaiste Eoin school and a book of memories compiled by his classmates.

Sean's classmates recorded their own powerful and emotionally charged rap song, with their own messages of love and respect, dedicated to 'Lil Red', which was played to mourners.

At the end of the Mass, Sean's sister Zoe paid an emotional tribute to her little brother.

"You've no idea how much you mean to me Sean. I've never been so proud of you 'Lil Red'. You were the best son, brother, cousin and friend. Every memory of you I will cherish forever," she said.
Health officials warn the public to check they are fully immunised against measles

The HSE have confirmed a case of measles in Limerick and are warning those who may have been exposed to the virus that they may be in danger of getting infected.

The warning comes amid "ongoing large outbreaks" in Europe.

More than 120 cases of measles have now been confirmed in outbreaks affecting five areas of England, while those travelling to Romania, Italy and Germany without receiving two doses of the MMR vaccine are particularly at risk.

Measles is an extremely contagious airborne infection that can be passed on through physical contact with someone who is infected or when someone who has measles sneezes of coughs in your vicinity.

A spokesperson for the HSE Department of Public Health in Limerick told Independent.ie: "As a precaution the HSE is writing to all patients identified as being at risk of exposure advising them that they may be at risk of infection."

They have warned that there was a risk of exposure to measles at Shannondoc in Dooradolye on January 4 between 8.40pm and 11.50pm and also on January 7 between 1.30pm and 4pm.

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There was also an exposure risk at Zone A in the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick on January 7 between 2pm and 12.30am and also on January 9 during the hours of 11am and 1pm.

"Anyone who has been exposed and is not immune to measles (either through natural infection or MMR vaccination) may develop measles up to three weeks following date of exposure.

"Measles is highly contagious and is spread easily. The time between exposure to measles and developing the rash is usually 14 days (range 7-21 days).

"People are infectious from 4 days before rash starts until 4 days after," the HSE spokesman said.

Some of the complications caused by measles include ear infections, a severe cough and breathing difficulties, viral and bacterial infections (such as pneumonia) and eye infections.

Less than one in 1,000 measles cases result in more serious issues involving the nervous system, such as inflammation of the brain, a quarter of those can result in brain damage.

Being infected with measles during pregnancy can also result in miscarriage or a premature labour.

It is also particularly dangerous for infants aged under 12 months, people with weakened immune systems and anyone who is malnourished.

The symptoms of measles include: high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and a rash that starts on the head and spreads down the body - this usually begins after the illness initially begins and consists of flat red and brown blotches that blend into each other, this lasts around four to seven days.

The HSE is urging anyone with measles symptoms to:

Stay at home from work. Children should not attend school or creche.

Call the Department of Public Health at 061  483338 to advise that you think you/your child may have measles.

Telephone your GP so that they can see you at a time/place when no one else is there (to avoid infecting others).

Your GP may organise a test to confirm the diagnosis  this is usually done by using a small swab that takes a sample of the oral fluid from the mouth.

Experts also recommend that the best way to protect against measles is to get the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine, all children should get their first dose of this at 12 months and the second when they are aged 4-5 years. If your child has missed theirs, the HSE advises that you can contact your GP to get the age appropriate dose.

People most at risk of catching measles are those who have not received their full MMR vaccine or those with weakened immune systems.

For more information please visit here.

Outbreaks in Europe

Meanwhile, more than 120 cases of measles have now been confirmed in outbreaks affecting five areas of England.

Public Health England (PHE) said the current cases are linked to "ongoing large outbreaks" in Europe.

The most recent updates show that, as of January 9, West Yorkshire had 34 confirmed cases, Cheshire and Liverpool had 29, there were 32 in the West Midlands, 20 in Surrey and seven in Greater Manchester.

The health body previously warned that those who recently travelled or were going to travel to Romania, Italy and Germany without receiving two doses of the MMR vaccine are particularly at risk.

Measles is a highly infectious viral disease which typically lasts up to 10 days and begins with cold-like symptoms and a measles rash. It can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia.

PHE said the overall risk of measles is low among the population, as the UK achieved World Health Organisation (WHO) elimination status in 2016, alongside Denmark and Spain.

This means the number of cases in the UK across a period of at least three years was low enough to prevent the disease spreading among the general population.

The MMR vaccine is a combined inoculation which protects against measles, mumps and rubella and is available to all adults and children who have not completed the course.

The full course requires two doses and anyone who is unsure of their vaccination status is encouraged to check with their GP.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: "This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children at one year of age and as a pre-school booster at three years and four months of age.

"Children and young adults who missed out on their MMR vaccine in the past or are unsure if they had two doses should contact their GP practice to catch up.

"We'd also encourage people to ensure they are up to date with their MMR vaccine before travelling to countries with ongoing measles outbreaks."

She added: "The UK recently achieved WHO measles elimination status and so the overall risk of measles to the UK population is low, however due to ongoing measles outbreaks in Europe, we will continue to see cases in unimmunised individuals and limited onward spread can occur in communities with low MMR coverage and in age groups with very close mixing."

PHE said local health protection teams were working with councils and the NHS to raise awareness among communities and health professionals.

The NHS advises anyone who suspects they, or their child, might have measles to contact their GP.
Health Minister Simon Harris has vowed to make more hospital beds available

A vaccine that can reduce the risk of suffering flu-related pneumonia has a low uptake among over-65s and people with long-term diseases.

A study found the uptake of the pneumococcal vaccine was as low as 36pc among older age groups, despite the HSE making the jab free for pensioners and at-risk groups.

The jab reduces the risk of pneumonia in older patients by around 45pc. A HSE spokeswoman said there were two pneumococcal vaccines available and uptake was around 90pc for babies at 24 months.

However, pneumonia is one of the biggest risks to the elderly during the annual winter flu season.

It can be caused by the impact of the flu virus on the lungs or a bacterial infection getting a grip as a result of a patient's defences being weakened by flu.

The once-off pneumococcal vaccine can provide cover for around two decades.

Meanwhile, writing in today's Irish Independent, Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory in UCD, said so far "there is no evidence that the current influenza season in Ireland is more severe than last season, although the number of cases is certainly larger".

He repeated that it is not too late to get the flu vaccine.

It comes as the trolley crisis worsened in flu-hit hospitals again yesterday. There were 541 patients waiting for a bed across the country. Among them were 12 young patients on trolleys in the emergency departments of the main children's hospitals in Dublin, according to nurses.

A spokeswoman for the three children's hospitals said that there were a "number of children presenting with the flu and other respiratory viruses and it is anticipated that this number will continue to increase for the next few weeks".

She added: "Some young infants and children with these viruses can become very unwell requiring supportive treatment and prolonged hospital admissions.

"In the interest of patient safety and to manage the risk of infecting other patients on open wards, a number of patients continue to be treated in our emergency departments until a suitable inpatient bed becomes available on a ward.

"The buildings had led to physical constraints and we have submitted proposals to the HSE for funding as part of winter planning."

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) warned that children in several other hospitals across the country that have dedicated paediatric units were also having to be placed on trolleys in adult A&Es.

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Overcrowding was at its worst yesterday in Cork University and Tullamore hospitals.

The Arctic blast that is sweeping the country this week is expected to worsen the condition of people with respiratory conditions.

Health Minister Simon Harris has promised to make more beds available.

Meanwhile, up to 400 people die each year due to hospital emergency department overcrowding, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin told the Dail.

Mr Martin - himself a former health minister - told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that "three years ago, you as minister for health said you were sick to death of this problem and that you would solve it".

He accused the Government of being totally unprepared for this current winter crisis.

Mr Varadkar agreed that hospital emergency department overcrowding was totally unacceptable.

"I do not want any patient to face the indignity or clinical risk that is associated with waiting on hospital trolleys," he said.

The Taoiseach said the Government was now working on plans to provide extra hospital beds.

But he said that changes in work practices were also required.

However, he did not elaborate on how this will be achieved.
Amid warnings by medics that a blast of Arctic air would only serve to worsen the spreading of the flu virus, the swirling snow and bitter wind outside the Midland Hospital in Tullamore served as yet another reminder that this crisis is far from over.

Across the country yesterday, 541 people waited for hospital beds and at Tullamore patients and family members testified to the fact that the flu is now running rampant.

One woman in her 20s told the Irish Independent how her sister had been admitted at 10am with a "very bad case" of flu and was currently on a trolley. "It's very bad up there. Very busy. There are lots of old people on trolleys. It's just terrible to see them," she said.

Another patient wearing a face mask, who had gone outside to vape, told how she had been admitted at 11am that day with the flu and had been put on a trolley.

She had never had the flu before and was shocked at how badly it had hit her, she revealed.

"It's absolutely terrible, so it is. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy," she said.

The woman, who did not want to give her name, was being released later in the day and was told to go home and not go back to work for the remainder of the week.

One exhausted woman told how her young daughter had been admitted to hospital at 9pm the previous night, for another health concern.

Asked if her daughter had slept, she grimly replied: "She did - I didn't."

She had been taken off a trolley and put on a chair to await a CAT scan in the morning but was still there by mid-afternoon.

"This is her third admission in 10 weeks - I never want to see this place again," said the anxious woman.

Meanwhile, Stephen McMahon of patient advocate group the Irish Patients' Association said it was "heartbreaking" that children were left waiting for hospital beds.

Figures from the INMO showed that eight children were on trolleys at Temple Street Children's Hospital yesterday, while five were waiting at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin.

Mr McMahon commented on the figures: "It's simply heartbreaking to see children waiting on trolleys.

"We have to consider the stress people are under and any family would be worried about loved ones but specifically for children to be on trolleys is an extra concern."

A Children's Hospital Group spokeswoman said: "While long waiting times for children and families in emergency departments (EDs) is regrettable, this occurs every winter and the number of children attending the three children's hospitals' EDs is not unusual for this time of the year. There are a number of children presenting with the flu and other respiratory viruses and it is anticipated that this number will continue to increase for the next few weeks."
IT was a Saturday morning when a local man out jogging on White Strand in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, made the grisly discovery of the body of a baby boy.

The date was April 14, 1984, and the infant was confirmed to be dead. He had been stabbed multiple times before he was put in a plastic bag and left on the beach, just outside Cahersiveen town on the scenic Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry.

His little body had been jammed into a space between the rocks. The subsequent post-mortem examination revealed he was approximately five days old and had been dead for about two days. He had been stabbed 28 times, with four of these wounds penetrating his heart.

What remains a mystery to this day is the identity of his parents and the circumstances surrounding the three short days he might have lived prior to his brutal death.

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The baby was baptised and given the name 'John' by local undertaker Tom Cournane, who was deeply affected by the incident and arranged and paid for the baby's funeral.

The simple headstone on his grave at the local cemetery proclaimed: "I am the Kerry baby, Christened on April 14, 1984, named John. I forgive". The gravestone has, however, been vandalised several times, including being smashed in 2004.

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The true identity of 'Baby John' has never been established, but the discovery of his remains led to the infamous Kerry Babies case and the eventual setting-up of a tribunal of inquiry to examine the handling of it by gardai.

The investigation began to focus on several women in the area and a list was drawn up of anyone suspected of having been pregnant or who had left the area recently.

Women who had been in a relationship that had recently broken up or who were suspected to have been having an affair with a married man were also under suspicion, as were any "hippies" or "tinkers".

Eventually, the investigation began to hone in on a single mother, Joanne Hayes, who was known to have been pregnant, from Abbeydorney, over 75km away in north Kerry.

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Ms Hayes already had a young daughter.

Two weeks later, the body of another baby boy was uncovered on the Hayes farm.

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Ms Hayes had given birth to a boy on April 12, at around eight months gestation, but the baby died and was buried on the farm.

The results of a post-mortem examination were inconclusive.

Investigating gardai suspected the Cahersiveen baby also belonged to Ms Hayes and she and her family were brought in for questioning.

They signed statements confessing one of the bodies had been hidden on the family farm, and the other baby was stabbed and his body thrown in the sea at Dingle. She signed a statement confessing she had killed the baby in her house.

Her initial statement said she had given birth to a baby boy in a field on her parents' farm.

Detectives believed she gave birth to him in her bed before she stabbed him to death, and that members of her family had disposed of his body.

She was charged with the murder of the Cahersiveen baby in May at a special court sitting in Tralee, but the following day the remains of her own baby were found on her parents' farm.

When blood tests revealed the baby found on the beach was a different blood group to Ms Hayes, her married lover Jeremiah Locke, and the baby found on the farm, the charges were dropped.

But then there were attempts to prove "heteropaternal superfecundation" had taken place - that she had borne twins by two different fathers.

The investigation ultimately led to a tribunal of inquiry - the Kerry Babies Tribunal - headed by Mr Justice Kevin Lynch.

The public tribunal that was ordered by the then-minister for justice, Michael Noonan, was held in Tralee and Dublin in 1985 and lasted for 82 days.

It was to investigate the circumstances leading to the charges and allegations of Garda ill-treatment of the Hayes family.

Questioning of Ms Hayes during the tribunal focused on her personal life and she was asked about intimate issues pertaining to her sex life, menstrual cycle and her use of contraception.

Jeremiah Locke was questioned on whether Joanne Hayes had been a virgin when he first had sexual intercourse with her.

Ms Hayes collapsed and was sick a number of times and even required sedation.

There was huge media attention on the proceedings, which attracted the support of women's groups who picketed outside.

A Dail committee on women's rights described the questioning as "insensitive, harrowing, horrific and shameful".

The findings of the tribunal were highly critical of the Garda conduct of the investigations.

State papers released in 2015 revealed the then-Garda commissioner Lawrence Wren believed gardai had been "grossly negligent" in their investigation.

In the review of the discovery of the remains of Baby John, investigating gardai have stressed that the Cahersiveen and the Ireland of 1984 was a different place than that of 2018.

Garret FitzGerald was Taoiseach, Patrick Hillery was President, and divorce and contraception were both illegal at that time.

In January of that year, 15-year-old schoolgirl Ann Lovett died after giving birth to a baby boy, alone in a grotto in Granard, Co Longford. Ann was discovered lying beside the statue of the Virgin Mary by a group of children who were walking home from school.

Ultimately, neither mother nor baby survived.

The previous year, a bitterly fought referendum led to an amendment to the Constitution that recognised the right to life of the unborn child.

The last time Joanne Hayes had spoken publicly was in 2006 when, through her solicitor Pat Mann, she appealed to filmmakers not to make a dramatisation of the events.

In 2004, the headstone that marked Baby John's grave was vandalised and the headstone smashed.

The replacement headstone no longer bears the words "I forgive".

Gardai have assured the public that this time the investigation will be carried out correctly. Supt Flor Murphy said: "This investigation is going to be thorough, it's going to be professional and it's going to be staffed by people very experienced, drawn from the locality and from Kerry.

"It is supported by the Serious Crime Review Team, who have the expertise and the experience in dealing with historical investigations and their knowledge and expertise, complemented by our knowledge and with the support of the community, we can resolve this."

Ms Hayes has also been kept abreast of developments and a dedicated Garda Family Liaison Officer has been assigned to her.

But the garda leading the new investigation was also mindful that it was a review into the death of an innocent baby and an appeal for information.

"On April 14, 1984, on White Strand Beach in Cahersiveen, the lifeless body of a newborn baby boy was found in a bag," he said.

"The baby was called Baby John and he is buried here in Cahersiveen.

"We have never found out the full circumstances of the death of Baby John. We need the public's help to change that."

The strong belief among gardai is that the answers are not too far away and that even the smallest piece of information could be vital.

"This is an opportunity for them to help bring closure on this terrible event and ensure Baby John receives justice.

"After all these years, Baby John deserves the truth," he added.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Cahersiveen garda station at 066-9473610 - or the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111.
The Taoiseach gave a 20-minute address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning as part of a series of leaders' addresses.

He was the first head of government to do so. The President of the European Commission Jean Claude-Juncker and lead Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier were also present.

Here are five things he said:

1. On 'serving the interests of citizens'

In his speech, Taoiseach Varadkar called for the EU to "serve the interests" of all "citizens and not just corporations."

He also recommitted Irelands position at the centre of Europe and the euro and called for "even more free trade" and globalisation.

"Now is the time to fulfil the promise of the single market in other areas," he said.

"For example, insurance, mortgages and loans, so that people can get cheaper loans from European lenders and insurers if needs be," he told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

He said; "Ireland is a founder member of the euro, and a founder member of the Single Market."

2. On Tax

On tax, he said such issues "should be determined by national governments, but equally true was the fact that corporations should pay their fair share of tax."

"We cannot tolerate a situation where large companies can avoid paying taxes anywhere."

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He said Ireland has already taken steps to close loopholes in our tax laws "and we will do more."

"I believe in more free trade agreements with third countries, and in completing monetary union," he told the audience of MEPs.

3. On Challenges to the EU

The Taoiseach said that Europe is at "decisive point in history" and despite all the upheavals of recent years  the rise of populism and euro-scepticism, nationalism and anti-democratic forces - "we meet in solidarity", with a renewed "sense of purpose."

The Taoiseach paid tribute to John Hume as "one of the greatest figures in Irish politics."

He said John Hume saw the EU as a "model and a vision for lasting peace".

He added how that model of "people working together with shared purpose and endeavour  spilling their sweat instead of their blood"  could provide inspiration "in our own country".

4. On Ireland's Potential in the EU

Varadkar said the promise of Europe "unlocked the potential of Ireland and allowed us taking our place among the nations of the world."

He thanked the EU for recognising the unique situation of Northern Ireland and how Brexit affects Ireland.

5. On Ireland and Brexit

Taoiseach Varadkar pointed to the fact that citizens in Northern Ireland will remain to be EU citizens even after Brexit such is the unique position of the north.

He reiterated the importance of ensuring the UK translates the agreement in phase one of Brexit into a legal text and a withdrawal agreement.

He said EU membership brought Ireland from being the "least developed" member states when we joined to one of the "most prosperous" today.

"In unity there is security and cooperation there is strength, as we say is the Irish language; "Ni neart go cur le cheile."

He received a round of applause when he said Europe needs to "stick together" if we are to "protect what we have and export our values and world view."
Maureen Fahy, Joan McLoughlin and Justin Moran pictured at a meeting held by Age Action, the National Womens Council of Ireland, the Irish Countrywomens Association, Forsa, SIPTU, Active Retirement Ireland, Pensioners for Equality

A woman who lost thousands of euro due to a State Pension anomaly has spoken about the toll it took on her, saying "they've taken my money, they're not going to take my life."

More than 40,000 pensioners, most of whom are women, have lost out due to changes to the State Pension system, which were introduced in 2012.

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State pensions are now calculated using your average contributions, so those who took time out for reasons such as raising children or caring for sick relatives are missing out.

Employment and Social Affairs Minister Regina Doherty is set to bring proposals to the Cabinet committee on pensions tomorrow on tackling the issue.

A meeting was held today by Age Action, the National Womens Council of Ireland, the Irish Countrywomens Association, Forsa, SIPTU, Active Retirement Ireland, Pensioners for Equality and a number of individuals affected by the changes.

Joan McLoughlin, who is from Naas in Co Kildare, has said she is losing out on 80 per week and receives a pension of 155 weekly.

She told Independent.ie she was "furious" when she learned of the changes to the administration of pension payments.

After Joan finished secondary school she worked in the civil service but was forced to leave her job in 1972 due to their then-ban on employing married women, she then worked on her father's farm, raised three children and started her own business in the 1990s running farmhouse accommodation.

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Joan, who is a member of Pensioners for Equality, said "There is the shock of hearing that instead of being on a full pension you will be on a reduced pension from November 2012 for the rest of your life."

"When I first found out I was absolutely furious, I couldn't believe it and then as they did the checks they basically said that's what it's going to be and to suck it up.

"It really affected my thought process at first but I thought they've taken my money, they're not going to take my life.

"I had to learn to separate myself mentally from it, I knew I had to help get a group together and fight it that way, rather than be at home by myself moaning and annoying myself.

"Politicians listen and they're very sympathetic but that doesn't pay the bills."

Joan is still running her business but said that others are really struggling to get by.

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"I am fortunate that I am in good health and I'm still able to work but there are people who aren't so lucky and we are here to fight for those who might not be able to get out of bed or leave the house," she said.

"They are trying to survive on that little money and it's an absolute scandal, there is no other name for it, it's totally unjust.

She continued to say that the Government needs to be wary of the so-called 'Grey vote' if they do not fix the problem.

Joan said: "Thirty years of contributions should count for something but apparently it means nothing.

"It shouldn't be a mistake to return to work after a break, I run farmhouse accommodation and I'm proud of it and it brings money into the area, that shouldn't be penalised.

"If the politicians don't fix this this time they will pay for it because we have been moaning for years, everybody knows about it and we all vote, our age group votes and that's something that can't be forgotten about."

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Another person whose wallet has been directly hit by the changes is Paddy Quinn, who is the Senior Vice-President of Forsa, the recently amalgamated union of IMPACT, the CPSU and PSEU.

Paddy said that despite working for more than 50 years, when he retired in September he found out his pension would be reduced as he tried to set up his own business in the 1980s.

He explained: "In spite of the fact that I worked for around 52 years, when I retired last September I was put on the reduced pension.

"This is because when I was made redundant during the recession in the 1980s, I attempted to set up a business of my own and so I wasn't making a contribution for six or seven years, I now find myself on a reduced contributory pension of 233.60 per week, instead of 238.

"After working all of your life it is a real kick in the teeth to see what you're getting.

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"It might not sound like much less but it all makes a difference when you are living on it."

He said that he was shocked when he saw how much he was entitled to under the new system and stressed that men have also been impacted by the changes.

"I'd no warning about this, my understanding had been that if you had made a minimum of 48 contributions over the past 20 years then you'd receive a full contributory old age pension but that changed in 2012 and it was averaged out over your working lifetime.

"It's very disappointing because you assume that the State will take care of its people equally and that's just not the case now.

"The main people affected by this are women who left their jobs to maybe raise families or care for a sick relative but I am personally aware of six men who have been affected the same way that I have and are suffering the same way that I have," Paddy said.

Today's meeting was attended by a number of TDs including Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett, Fianna Fail's Anne Rabbitte, Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy and Independent TDs Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, who all spoke about their desire to have the situation rectified.

A protest calling for pension equality will take place outside of the Dail tomorrow at 12.30pm.
Screen grabbed image taken from the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland website of a revised proposal for the electoral boundaries in Northern Ireland which has been significantly altered, with Belfast now set to retain its four seats, according to an official map obtained by the Press Association. Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland/PA Wire

Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy has said a revised electoral boundary map for Northern Ireland obtained by the Press Association would amount to government gerrymander to placate the DUP.

"The Boundary Commission proposed and consulted on new electoral boundaries in 2016 as part of an overall plan to reduce the number of MPs here from 18 to 17," he said.

"Unsurprisingly, the DUP rejected the plan despite the fact that the proposals reflected the terms and remit under which the Boundary Commission was established.

"Sinn Fein warned at the time that any attempt via the Tory-DUP pact to subvert this process would represent an anti-democratic attempt to gerrymander electoral boundaries in that party's favour.

"These new proposals will also impact upon electoral boundaries for Assembly elections, ensuring gerrymandered constituencies reminiscent of those drawn up by the unionist one-party state decades ago.

"The Boundary Commission should immediately clarify whether the media reports of the amended proposals are accurate because, if they are, it would mean that the Tories have again acquiesced to the DUP's anti-democratic agenda, just as they have done on issues such as equal marriage, the Irish Language and legacy inquests.

"That is entirely unacceptable and further evidence of the British Government's ongoing refusal to act in an impartial manner as they are obliged to under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement."

The plan to redraw electoral boundaries in Northern Ireland has been significantly altered, with Belfast now set to retain its four seats, according to an official map obtained by the Press Association.

The map titled "2018 revised proposals" was briefly accessible on a section of the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland website earlier this week. While it has since been deleted, PA has secured a screenshot of the map.

Expand Close Screen grabbed image taken from the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland website of a revised proposal for the electoral boundaries in Northern Ireland which has been significantly altered, with Belfast now set to retain its four seats, according to an official map obtained by the Press Association. Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Screen grabbed image taken from the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland website of a revised proposal for the electoral boundaries in Northern Ireland which has been significantly altered, with Belfast now set to retain its four seats, according to an official map obtained by the Press Association. Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland/PA Wire

The commission has confirmed the map temporarily went live during a test exercise.

Northern Ireland is losing one constituency as part of wider government plans to reduce the number of seats in the UK from 650 to 600. How the reduction from 18 to 17 seats is achieved has become the source of political controversy.

The commission's first proposals, published in 2016, were heavily criticised by the Government's kingmakers, the Democratic Unionists, who claimed it could undermine the political stability of the region.

Analysts suggested the first version would see the DUP lose a seat to Sinn Fein in Belfast.

That map saw Belfast drop from four constituencies to three with the redrawing of a number of boundaries elsewhere in the region.

It envisaged the creation of a series of new constituencies - North Tyrone; Glenshane; Dalriada; West Antrim; Upper Bann and Blackwater; and West Down - by merging parts of existing constituencies.

But the revised map that was accessible on the commission website on Monday is significantly different.

Belfast retains its four seats, with radical changes to the constituency landscape beyond the city. All the new named constituencies in the first draft are gone.

The commission, which is an independent body funded by the Northern Ireland Office, has conducted a number of public consultation exercises on its first proposals and is anticipated to officially publish revised proposals at the end of the month.

The map that briefly went public on Monday envisages the creation of a Causeway constituency on the north coast, merging part of East Londonderry with part of North Antrim and a small section of East Antrim.

The remainder of North Antrim is renamed Mid Antrim and takes in parts of East Antrim and South Antrim.

South Antrim, in turn, takes part of a defunct Lagan Valley. Another portion of Lagan Valley merges with a section of Strangford, and a small part of South Down, to become Mid Down.

South Belfast is also expanded to take in parts of Lagan Valley and Strangford. Like Lagan Valley, the Strangford name is gone. The remaining chunk of the constituency is absorbed into a significantly larger North Down.

The remaining parts of East Londonderry are absorbed by enlarged West Tyrone and Mid Ulster constituencies.

Unlike the expansion proposed under the first draft, Fermanagh and South Tyrone remains largely unchanged.

A spokesman for the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland told PA: "During the preparation for our Revised Proposal consultation, which begins on 30 January 2018, the functionality of the website was being tested including the interactive map facility.

"The interactive map facility was accessed during this testing phase.

"The commission will be proceeding with the Revised Consultation on 30 January as planned."

Elections expert Nicholas Whyte, visiting professor at Ulster University, highlighted that the DUP "were not the only people who opposed" the reduction from four to three seats in Belfast - the SDLP and others had done so too.

Mr Whyte said during the consultations on the commission's original proposals he had come to the view that retaining four seats in Belfast was feasible, whereas previously he had thought three seats would be necessary to achieve the overall reduction in Northern Ireland seats from 18 to 17.

The elections analyst, who earlier said on twitter the revised plans seemed to be "not too far off my own proposals", praised the new map as "much better" than that for the original proposals.

However, he said he doubted the plans ever would be implemented.

"I still don't see the parliamentary arithmetic is there to pass these proposals," he added.

The map has come to light amid on-going speculation that the wider UK 2018 boundary review could be scrapped.

Labour has opposed the plan, with the party standing to lose seats under new boundaries, and some Tory backbenchers are also unhappy with the proposal to cut the number of MPs to 600.

Last week the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee heard evidence about the implications of scrapping the review.

The final proposals are due to go to the Government in September. Once they are laid before Parliament, MPs can approve or reject them.
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris opened a two-day Dail debate on repealing the Eighth Amendment and has read into the record the number of people from each county who travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016.

Mr Harris said: These are not faceless women. They are our friends and neighbours, sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts, wives.

Each woman is dealing with her own personal situation and making what is a deeply difficult decision.

Mr Harris read into the record the number of women from every county in Ireland who travelled to the UK for a abortion in 2016.

More women travelled from Dublin than any other county, while just 15 women in Monaghan traveled according to the records.

Expand Close Number of women from each county who travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016, as read into the Dail record by Health Minister Simon Harris. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Number of women from each county who travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016, as read into the Dail record by Health Minister Simon Harris.

The Minister noted that more than 1,200 of the women who went to the UK were aged between 30 and 39 and 1,500 were aged between 20 and 29. Another 255 were aged 40 or over.

Ten were girls under the age of 16, while 230 were teenagers.

Over half of the women who travelled were married, in a civil partnership, or in a relationship.

The Minister said 85pc of the women were between 3 and 12 weeks pregnant.

I cant help but wonder what we would have done if we didnt have a neighbouring island to help us turn a blind eye. And sometimes turning a blind eye is the same as turning your back, Mr Harris said.

In a 20 minute contribution, he also spoke about new realities that mean some woman are having abortions in Ireland by taking pills bought over the internet.

Research shows a 62pc increase in the number of women from Ireland contacting one online provider over a five year period, from 548 in 2010 to 1438 in 2015. And thats just one provider, he said.

Can we just pause and picture what this is telling us? Is it acceptable to any of us that women are once again left in a lonely and scary place sending off for a pill to be sent through the post instead of being able to access the medical advice and support they need?

This is happening in Ireland today. Thats a fact. How can we ignore it? How can we consider it alright? If it is the sad reality that we have been exporting this issue, are we now accepting that women must import their own solutions?

Mr Harris appealed for a calm debate on abortion over the coming months

Dont dismiss the idea that we can maturely recognise that each of us has deeply personal and genuinely held views, all of which deserve to be heard, to be understood and to be respected. It is an issue that troubles most of us as individuals, the Minister said.

He added that his own view on abortion has evolved in recent years.

My own views have changed and been formed by listening  listening to women and to doctors, and coming to recognise some hard realities. Some of us bear the scars of past debates and fear whats to come, he said.

Mr Harris said his department is working to find a way of legislating for the recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment.

They recommend extending the law on abortion to cover cases where the health of a woman is concerned, cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and a broader legal regime that allows abortions where the woman seeks it from her medical practitioner if her pregnancy is under 12 week gestation, he said.

I am working with my Chief Medical Officer and officials, and the Attorney General to consider how best to translate these recommendations into legislation should that be the wish of the Irish people. It is my intention that in the event of a referendum as much information as possible would be available to people.

During his speech, Mr Harris referenced the Magdalene Laundries, Mother and Baby Homes, the Kerry Babies case and the tragedy of Ann Lovett.

He concluded: I do not doubt that, as long as I remain a member of this House, I will continue to witness moments in this Chamber that remind us of darker times in our history.

But let this be a different type of moment. Let this be a moment people will look back on as one where their representatives confronted one of the most complex issues we have faced as country with clarity, with compassion and with care.

Fianna Fail health spokesman, Billy Kelleher, said there is an urgent need to change the current laws relating to abortion availability.

Mr Kelleher told the Dail that if Ireland fails to change the current situation on abortion availability, five women will every day continue to take abortion pills in the privacy of their own homes. And 10 Irish women will choose to go abroad every day to have an abortion outside of Ireland.

The Cork North Central TD said that the current situation needs to be changed.

"I firmly believe we must trust our women in this respect," he said urging that the main decision must be made by women and their doctors.

Mr Kelleher said he knew women who had made the difficult decision to have an abortion in either Netherlands or Britain. He said it was unacceptable to characterise women opting for an abortion as using it as "a form of contraception."

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the debate was taking place against renewed revelations relating to the 1984 Kerry Babies case. She said Joanne Hayes had been badly wronged by gardai and by the resulting tribunal of inquiry.

Ms McDonald said the 1983 Eighth Amendment on abortion happened in a grim time for the denial of women's rights in Ireland.

It was the constitutional compounding of the oppression of women, the Sinn Fein deputy leader said.

The Dublin Central TD, like the party leader Gerry Adams, paid tribute to Health Minister, Simon Harris, for his contribution to the Dail debate.

Labour leader, Brendan Howlin, reminded the Dail that his party had always opposed the 1983 amendment to the Constitution and continued to advocate change to take account of women's rights. He appealed for a reasonable national debate.

"By and large the debate 35 years ago and since has been led by individuals and groups who come to the issue with moral certainty and crusading zeal," Mr Howlin said.

The Labour leader said that the May 2015 referendum on same-sex marriage had led many citizens to think about the people-centred issues involved and change their minds on many long-held opinions. He hoped the same can be achieved in the upcoming abortion debate.

Meanwhile, Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy Rae said he was nervous intervening in the debate and he stressed his respect from everybody's opinion on the issue of abortion.

He paid tribute to Dail colleagues, Mattie McGrath of Tipperary, and Louth Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick, who disagreed with the mainstream Oireachtas committee report on the issue which he said was "biased."

"I believe passionately in what I am about to say. It comes from the way I was brought up," he said.

"I want to talk about the gift of life ... I just don't agree with abortion. I believe it is always wrong," Mr Healy Rae insisted.

The Kilgarvan-based TD said he was appalled by the recall of the Kerry Baby case this week. He utterly condemned the treatment of women who had children out of wedlock in recent times past.

But he spoke of a revelation of a friend of his who, along with his sister, had been adopted and given the "gift of life." He said both his friends had a great life.

"Who am I to deny these people the right to life? What right have I to do that?" he said.

Fianna Fail Galway East TD, Anne Rabbitte, said she had learned much from her work on the special Oireachtas committee which reviewed the topic. She recalled many heart-rending moments at the hearings and she thanked her colleagues for their hard work.

Ms Rabbitte said that the recommendation for unlimited abortion access in pregnancies up to 12-weeks went too far for her. She said she was prepared to see abortion being made available in cases of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality.

Deputy Rabbitte said that, as a democrat, she supported the principle of holding a referendum on the issue and looked forward to voting in it.
Abortion is already a reality in Ireland and needs to be dealt with through legislation, Health Minister Simon Harris will tell the Dail today.

The minister is to lead the Government side of the Eighth Amendment debate in the absence of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is still refusing to offer an opinion on the issue.

Two days of statements will get under way this evening with all 157 TDs entitled to speak for up to 20 minutes on the Oireachtas committee report, which recommended allowing terminations up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

Sources say Mr Harris will plead with deputies to set a "respectful" tone for the months ahead.

The Irish Independent understands he will use the opportunity to argue that abortion is already a reality for women in Ireland today.

The minister will point out that while it has been long known that Irish women travel abroad to end pregnancies, the growth of abortion pills now needs to be acknowledged.

A source said: "The minister will make the point that as a State it's time to take action to protect women and look after their healthcare needs with care and compassion."

Unusually for such a debate, Mr Harris told his advisers and department officials that he wants to write his own speech.

It comes as pressure mounts on the Taoiseach to offer clarity about his own position.

Mr Varadkar has been accused of "undermining" the work of the all-party committee on the Eighth Amendment by sending out mixed messages.

He has publicly warned that allowing unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks may be "one step too far", but has also told Fine Gael TDs it is the "strong option" on the table ahead of a referendum.

In the Dail, he said he was committed to having a referendum in May or June.

Mr Varadkar said he was not prepared to state his personal opinion until he knew exactly what question is being put to the people.

He said there was uncertainty about whether it would be a simple case of asking whether people want to repeal the Eighth, or if it should be repealed and replaced with a line giving the Oireachtas sole power to legislation for abortion.

"We are awaiting advice from the Attorney General about that because we would find ourselves in a very strange situation if we repealed the Eighth Amendment only to find out that other rights to life exist in other parts of the Constitution that might then make any legislation we pass unconstitutional," he said.

On the type of abortion regime that might be introduced, Mr Varadkar said draft legislation should be prepared before a referendum but "the legislation would then be in the purview of the Oireachtas and this Government does not have a majority in the House".

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin criticised Mr Varadkar for not stating his view on the committee's report, which was published before Christmas.

"I think that's unfortunate. I think it is not giving leadership. We need clarity," he said.

Fianna Fail's health spokesman Billy Kelleher accused the Taoiseach of "undermining" the process.

However, he defended his own party leader, Micheal Martin, for stalling on making his own position clear.
An artists impression of how the Center Parcs in Longford will look

Ireland's forest Centre Parcs holiday village in Co Longford - due to open in summer 2019 - is on track to open on time and recruitment will get underway this year to staff the centre.

Chief Executive Officer of Center Parcs, Martin Dalby, who visited the site this week said the progress is "absolutely amazing".

The park which will cost 230m over a 18-month construction period is at week 33 and is expected to finish on time.

"What we are creating there is a fantastic, unique holiday park set in 400 acres of woodland," the CEO told RTE Radio One's Today with Sean O'Rourke programme.

"There will be 500 units of accommodation, we have a fantastic indoor water park that we call the subtropical swimming paradise, we've got restaurants, bars, cafe and we've got fantastic spa."

It is hoped around 1,000 permanent jobs will be created at the centre and recruitment is due to get underway in October for most of these positions.

"In terms of Ireland it's completely unique," Mr Dalby said of the park which is designed to attract predominantly Irish holidaymakers.

There will be more than 150 leisure activities including water activities, badminton, bowling, zipwires and other activities the CEO said.

Expand Close .Pictured in Ballymahon Co.Longford at the Coillte owned Newcastle Woods where the site will be was Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD with Martin Dalby CEO of Center Parcs. The parc is expected to open in 2019 / Facebook

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Whatsapp .Pictured in Ballymahon Co.Longford at the Coillte owned Newcastle Woods where the site will be was Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD with Martin Dalby CEO of Center Parcs. The parc is expected to open in 2019

The park will be an "all weather" experience he said.

"Families need somewhere to go to spend time together," he added.

Questioned on the price point of holidays there Mr Dalby said "there is massive choice" and a "price-point for everyone".

At one of the resorts in the UK a three night stay over Easter weekend (Friday-Monday) costs 829 (940) for a two bedroom lodge for a family of four.

Prices for Longford have not yet been advertised.

He said it is expected that there will be 20m injected into the local economy according to the company's research.

Mr Dalby acknowledged that those who stay in the holiday park are likely to spend money on-site rather than in the local area.

"The economic benefit will be when they are arriving and when they are leaving," he said.

The local council and business associations had extended a warm welcome to the company he said.
The prospect of an electric-only era 12 years down the road has moved dramatically closer.

Gone by then will be sales of new diesel and petrols cars. But, in a shock development, hybrids and plug-in hybrids face the chop too.

That's if Communications, Climate Action and Environment Minister Denis Naughten has his way. He's confident he will, as reported in Saturday's Irish Independent. He wants nothing only pure electric cars sold as new from 2030.

Alongside the announcement is the recognition - by the minister as well as all involved - of the urgent need for a transition plan to make sure petrol and diesel owners don't lose out and can make the switch to electric as seamlessly as possible.

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Pressed on the implications of banning new-hybrid sales, the minister remained convinced electric cars alone will be sufficiently advanced by 2030 to cope with everyday demands (range, availability, charging network etc).

As part of the transition, he spoke of the possibility of a special scrappage scheme for petrols and diesels as we move towards buying 125,000 or so new electric vehicles every year (on current sales).

Mr Naughten (above) insisted he is "pushing for there to be nothing but only new electric cars sold from 2030".

The thing about revealing such intent is that it suddenly brings the future nearer. People start to think about what they are going to buy next like they have never done before.

In that respect, perhaps the minister is doing the state some service in turning up the volume on the perceived need to switch to EVs.

He is also, however, risking greater unease and uncertainty among buyers and sellers in the short to medium-term. We need a central, Government-coordinated, planned-and-plotted outline of how we are going to adapt to all this in a relatively short timespan. After all, it's nearly a decade since the then government pledged that 10pc of the national fleet would be electric by 2020. The total on our roads is a tiny, tiny fraction of that now.

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Our current infrastructure does not inspire confidence and needs massive input. Mr Naughten admitted there is a huge challenge on that front but insisted momentum is building. It would need to do so rapidly.

There are plans, starting later this year, for more fast chargers around the country but obviously the system will have to be expanded on a vast scale to meet 2030 demands.

A switch would also pose a major financial headache for the Exchequer, which currently derives 5.6bn a year in motoring-related taxes (VRT, VAT etc) with excise duty on fuel alone coming to 2.4bn last year.

Those sums would dwindle as the proportion of fossil-fuel cars diminished, making it imperative that an alternative taxation system is devised.

Mr Naughten's hybrid-ban plans - and presumably those of the Government - would be far more restrictive than those excluding sales of new diesel and petrol cars and vans in Britain and France from 2040 as they will still allow hybrids and plug-ins.

Reaction from the motor industry was summed up by SIMI chief Alan Nolan, who told Motors that the group would be hugely supportive of a shift to cleaner, zero-emission motoring.

But he added that we need that transition plan so that people currently driving 2.1m mostly diesel and petrol cars can make the change to EVs with as little hassle as possible.

Toyota Ireland marketing director Michael Gaynor - whose brand commands the lion's share of Irish hybrid sales - told Motors: "Hybrid is currently the best technology today, with pure EV driving at 55pc, and will support the gradual move to electrification."

Hybrid technology is continuously evolving, he added. "The next-generation hybrid and the generation after that will deliver pure EV driving experiences that will satisfy future legislators.

"Therefore we're confident that hybrid will play an integral role in helping Irish legislators meet their emission targets through 2030 and beyond."

He said the UK's ban excluded hybrid cars. "So if the Irish Government has a similar plan for 2030, are they also going to ban the import of second-hand petrol and diesel cars from the UK? If not, the ban becomes self-defeating."

Hyundai Ireland chief Stephen Gleeson told us: "I actually think the biggest danger to EV sales taking off is the Government giving more incentives to hybrids and, to a lesser extent, plug-in hybrids.

"The standard hybrid's CO2s aren't that much lower than decent diesel engines and for 90pc of the time are basically petrol cars. They have less of the other gasses but are not a long-term solution to the CO2 problem.

"The plug-in hybrid's CO2 is far lower and can operate as an electric car full-time for a lot of people who only do 40km or 50km a day."

He said he would be worried the "fantastic incentives" and recent BIK initiatives might not see the results they want this year and that they might look to level the playing field for 2019.

"I'm not sure that a complete ban is practical but I could not disagree with his (Mr Naughten's) point about everything including hybrids, or for that matter any propulsion system that emits emissions."

Volvo's David Thomas said hybrids help alleviate consumer concerns around range anxiety. "The Government should embrace hybrids as they bridge the gap between traditional and electric and will help consumers take their first step towards fully electric driving."

Meanwhile, Mr Naughten told Motors he thought "city commuters would want their heads examined not to have an EV" as soon as possible.

Anyone in the greater Dublin area should be definite candidates for an EV, he said, but admitted people "need reassurance - lots haven't tried".

His department is buying six EVs so people can see them up close and discuss them etc at rural shows, the ploughing etc. There is also a plan to provide funds to grant aid EV purchase in state and private companies.

More importantly, as mentioned, he's looking to increase the number of fast chargers along the primary network. There will be a minimum of 50 built this year.

The Department of Finance is also, he says, "looking at BIK for plug-in hybrids".

And there will be a home charging grant of 600 for used EVs for the first time.

The ESB, he said, would not be pulling out of running the electric infrastructure for the forseeable future. They have a 10-year window.

He agreed the decision has to be made for the ESB - to hive off or create a separate company.

He also agreed that the lack of infrastructure maintenance was undermining confidence.
JAMES Foley is saying thanks a million to his hard-working taxi.

No wonder.

It has just put up a million kilometres.

And, with his trusty Ford Tourneo Connect motor still going strong, James, from Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow jokes: Theres no reason it wont go for another million.

So far, he has driven the vehicle the equivalent of:

 25 times around the world.

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Whatsapp James Fole's Ford Tranist Connect shows 999999km on the odometer

 More than two trips to the moon

 100,000km a year.

 Nearly 9,000km a month.

James bought the 2007-reg seven-seater second-hand in 2008 and the kilometres have been racking up ever since.

Naturally, most of his taxi work has been in the Carlow-Kilkenny area but he does the occasional longer run to Dublin.

The thing is there is nothing unusual about the Tourneo Connect.

The engine, for example, is a standard, straightforward Ford 1.8-litre TDCi turbo diesel.

According to James, it hasnt given an ounce of trouble over all the years.

He makes no bones about why it has been running so well for so long.

In my business, regular servicing is an absolute must and I religiously stick to the service schedule  never more than 12,000km between service actions.

In that respect, he has huge praise for local mechanic Francis Kavanagh, who helps so much in keeping the car in tip-top condition.

James rate of mileage means that he has to have the car serviced every six weeks or so.

As you may know, the Tourneo Connect is the passenger version of the Transit Connect van and smaller brother of the famous Transit (a new version of the Transit Connect is due in Irish showrooms in May, by the way).

Ciaran McMahon, chairman and managing director of Ford Ireland, told us: It just shows what can be achieved when you look after a vehicles engine properly.

Im sure we will continue to see well-serviced models displaying such impressive mileage milestones.

However, James faced a unique problem when the cars odometer reached the 999,999km mark.

The early format digital display on the dash could not cope with the 1,000,000 figure  the newer ones can  so it stuck on 999,999 because the older format did not automatically reset to zero.

How many people ever have the pleasure of having to worry about that sort of detail?

Into the breach stepped main Ford dealer Bolands of Wexford, to help reset the dials  for free.

Its back to zero as James goes about his business with a million kilometres under his Tourneo Connect.

Heres to another 25 trips around the world.

* How many miles/kms have you on your car/van? Let us know: ecunningham@independent.ie
Spain looks certain to leapfrog the United States to become the worlds second most visited country, the United National World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has said.

Overseas, overnight arrivals to the US fell by around 4pc during the first six months of 2017, compared with the previous year, with many suggesting the divisive presidency of Donald Trump is putting people off visiting.

Spain, on the other hand, saw year-on-year arrivals increase by around 9pc during the first 10 months of the year.

While definitive figures for the whole of 2017 will not be available until spring, the UNWTO said it was all but guaranteed that globally, Spain would comfortably surpass the US and take second spot, behind France.

Going on current projections, around 82.2 million international tourists visited Spain in 2017, up from 75.3 million in 2016, compared with 72.9 million visitors to the US, down from 75.9 million. Spain was above the US in the rankings from 2001 to 2007, but lost its position during the global economic crisis.

The news comes as the Spanish Tourism Office in Dublin expects final figures for 2017 to show around two million Irish trips to Spain, making it a record year.

Expand Close US President Donald Trump salutes before boarding Air Force One on February 6, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp US President Donald Trump salutes before boarding Air Force One on February 6, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

France remains the worlds most visited country, with an estimated 88.9 million overseas arrivals last year, up from 82.6 million in 2016.

China and Italy complete the top five.

Top 10 | The world's most visited countries*

France (88.9 million visitors) Spain (82.2m) US (72.9m) China (59.3m) Italy (57.8m) Turkey (39.9m) Mexico (39.3m) UK (38.7m) Germany (37.6m) Thailand (34.7m)

*According to the UNWTO's projections

The 'Trump slump'

Donald Trumps presidency has coincided with a 3.9pc fall in overseas arrivals, according to the UNWTO, costing the US economy an estimated 157 million a week.

Middle East and Africa have plummeted in particular, falling by 30.2pc and 26.2pc, year-on-year, respectively. Visits to the US from Mexico are down 6.1pc.

The Trump slump, as it has been described, has also been profound in Eastern Europe (arrivals from the region are down 11.9pc), South America (down 13pc), Central America (down 10pc) and the Caribbean (down 13.8 per cent).

Only the Asian market has not seen a drop.

Which other countries saw tourism boom in 2017?

Again, figures for 2017 are not finalised, but current projections would suggest that several countries witnessed a remarkable rise in overseas arrivals.

Turkey rebounded from a tough 2016, when tourism fell by 23pc, to report a 29.9pc rise. Japans arrivals rose by 18.pc, Indias by 15.5pc, Indonesias by 23.5pc, and Vietnams by 27.8pc.

Tunisia, which was declared safe by the UK Foreign Office after two years off the travel map, welcomed 23.4pc more international tourists. Iceland (+16.6pc), Israel (+25.3pct), Nepal (+39.7pc) and Colombia (+21.4pc) also enjoyed a stellar 2017.

Where has tourism fallen?

Given the tensions on the peninsula it should come as no surprise to learn that arrivals to South Korea slumped by 23.9pc. Russia was the only European country to see a significant fall in visitors of 8.4pct.

Hurricane Irma saw arrivals dip to several Caribbean nations, including Antigua and Barbuda (down 7.8pc) and Aruba (down 5.1pc).

How many tourists are there in the world?

It is estimated that total international tourist arrivals increased by seven per cent in 2017 to a remarkable 1.322 billion. This is expected to grow by as much as five per cent in 2018  to 1.388 billion, the UNWTO says.

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Less than 24 hours after the black dress protest in support of #MeToo at the Golden Globes, Catherine Deneuve and 99 French women published an open letter criticising the "frenzy" of the recent sexual harassment claims. Deneuve has since apologised to victims of sexual assault, but reiterated the dangers of "censorship" and intolerance.

The #MeToo movement, and the backlash against it, has revealed deep generational differences in what constitutes sexual harassment. Here, three Irish Independent journalists describe what it means to them.

MARY KENNY (70s)

We all have to speak from our own experience. As a young girl, far from being subjected to sexual harassment, men took no notice of me at all.

In those far-off days, teenagers would go to dance 'hops' where females would line up against a wall, waiting for guys to amble in and invite them to dance. My recollection is that no one ever asked me to dance, and I ended up mooning around in the cloakroom sharing stories with other rejected wallflowers. A little later, living in Paris, I took to going into bars and ordering a glass of rose wine: some men, often lonely Algerians and Africans, would try to chat me up and make appreciative noises. I thought it was nice of them to try: if it got too insistent, I'd smile and leave, but although this could fall into the category of being a nuisance, I didn't consider it harassment.

Later on, as a young reporter in Fleet Street, the sexual revolution seemed to have occurred and there was a great deal of bad behaviour all round. When I was being sent on my first foreign assignment, the star reporter - an ace operator but a hard-boiled gal - advised me thus: "Always sleep with the Reuters man, doll." For why? To steal his sources. Sex was a weapon, she said: use it.

The question of sexual harassment is what the sociologists call "multi-factorial". Some women are robust, and can swat aside a sex pest with a withering look, or a knee in the groin. The journalist Ann Leslie has spoken about stubbing out a lighted cigarette on a man's hand when that hand wandered. But some women are vulnerable and sensitive - and predators often know, by some kind of radar, who the vulnerable are. Before the sexual revolution, there were accepted social boundaries and protocols. People broke them, but they were flagged up just the same. There were mottos like, "nice girls don't", or, "if you can't be good, be careful".

Expand Close Salma Hayek pictured at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP / Facebook

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Whatsapp Salma Hayek pictured at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Then that post-pill sex revolution introduced a sort of free-for-all. Men who previously had been reprimanded for swearing in mixed company felt free to make the crudest of remarks, such as the Irish theatre boss who told a young actress "you're looking quite attractive today - I could almost f*** you". Some thought this smart, liberated language. But now a more confident generation of women are calling a halt to this anything-goes attitude, re-drawing verbal boundaries and insisting on a formal recognition of 'consent'. Many men are now confused as to the difference between wooing and pestering. In their open letter criticising the #MeToo movement, Catherine Deneuve and her 99 Frenchwomen expressed concerns that the chemistry between the sexes may be repressed altogether: if women are always seen as "victims", they are disempowered - of desire, and of responsibility.

Each generation forms its own rules on manners and morals, and when the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it will surely swing back in the opposite extreme. Periods of libertinism are followed by eras of prudery: and vice-versa.

DEE FINNERTY (28)

I'm quite a liberal person and I've always believed in sexual freedom as much as the next person. However, I can see how the sexual liberty of one person may put another in a compromising position and, as such, remove their personal liberties from them. This is what I believe constitutes sexual harassment.

The problem with this 'liberty' is that it doesn't exist. For each freedom one person has, another will suffer the consequences. Instead we exist on a playing field of power balance - one where our position, race, lifestyle and gender put us on an uneven footing. That's why I believe the letter signed by Catherine Deneuve is problematic. All of us want sexual liberty but - and I think most would agree - not at the expense of another.On our playing field of life, if the person with better ground decides to use their advantage to coerce, bully or even physically violate someone into sexual activity, that to me is sexual harassment. I also believe that being called out with vulgarities on a public street constitutes sexual harassment by virtue of the fact that one is being harassed as they try to go about their business. Do I believe that a wink in the boardroom in the office constitutes sexual harassment?

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Personally, I think it would take more than one for something sexual to be implied, but once there is that tone of sexual forwardness, I believe it's not appropriate, and if someone is feeling bothered, or even mildly irritated by it, that counts as harassment. The stories coming from Hollywood in the last few months have left me feeling unsurprised yet amazed at the sense of change taking place.

I think the use of the word 'witch-hunt', however, is laughable. The irony seems to have been lost on the writers of Deneuve's letter and Liam Neeson, who described the #MeToo movement in such terms on The Late Late Show. The term stems from the time when women - often those of oppositional or vocal nature - were murdered based on the superstitious misconceptions applied to them. It's interesting to note that now, as women attempt to turn the tables on society - without the murder, I might add - this term has been adopted to protect the privileges some males fear losing. It's notable too that Anjelica Huston denounced the movement in an interview last weekend by saying "for as long as I've known them, men have always bullied women", while unfairly comparing them to untameable "gorillas". She went on to suggest "#MeToo should be changed to #WhyNow?".

I do agree with the writers of the open letter in Le Monde in one sense. Women are not victims and they are not traumatised by every hand that lands on their bottom. Instead we are used to and bored of putting up with this kind of behaviour, which is why we're calling for an end to it with the #MeToo movement. I think it has been influential in turning the tide against the acceptance of sexual harassment. Sadly, I believe it will always be an issue, but it gives me hope that women and men are refusing to accept harassment as just another element of day-to-day life. The more we call out this unacceptable behaviour, the more those harassers will have to make sure they keep their zippers up and their hands to themselves.

SINEAD RYAN (50)

Black dresses are normally worn in mourning, but Golden Globe nominees chose to wear the (still so flattering) shade in protest. They gave up colour on the red carpet in some misguided attempt to make a point. I still don't get it. Salma Hayek said it was "an awakening"; Susan Sarandon, "solidarity and gratitude". Right, so.

Perhaps it's that they finally gave themselves permission to call out the rampant sexism evident for years in their industry? Well, welcome to the party, ladies.

We mightn't be glamorous A-listers, but any of us who have worked in banks, hospitals, offices and factories know exactly what it's like to be smirked or whistled at, cat-called, touched, felt up and groped. We've been told repeatedly we "can't take a joke", aren't "up for a laugh" and "need to get a life". We've been called to meetings after everyone's gone home. We've been offered lifts when we didn't want them and asked to attend corporate lunches only to find out it's a table for two. None of this is new, or even original. But now it has a hashtag, so it must be real.

What is actually happening is that sexual harassment is being redefined. And the definitions have constantly changing nuances which are difficult to keep pace with. What one person (I'm looking at you, Catherine Deneuve) would call "stealing a kiss", another would term assault.

The accompanying tag line of #MeToo should probably be: "If I think what you're doing/saying feels wrong, then it is. But stay awake, because it could change tomorrow." The problem when the warning manual gets longer and bigger is it finally becomes unworkable. It is entirely individual and subjective, so drawing up #NewRules for what constitutes sexual harassment is impossible.

For those of us who began our careers in the 1980s, discrimination and harassment was a given. We just didn't take the same offence at it. Perhaps we didn't know we could - we just put up with it. That's my memory of it anyway. Co-workers would warn, "Look, everyone knows about him, just avoid him", or "Don't say anything; he'll stop your career in a minute".

There were occasions it was deeply uncomfortable; for instance, the time I announced my pregnancy to my then boss, who loudly informed the (entirely male) department that I was "up the pole".

Or the other time I was refused a promotion because men were "just better" at the job. No further explanation needed - move along, sweetheart. There was the 'pat on the back' by someone whose sense of geography was off, or the "lovely girl" comments which were meant to be compliments, but left me feeling unsettled and embarrassed. I like the idea that colleges are now forming 'consent classes' for boys and girls. I like that more women are prepared to say they want, or don't want, particular behaviour. I like that we can actually have public conversations about what's okay. I hope we include all men in these, because I get they can be confused and bewildered. We can too. What's ok today from you may be definitely not ok tomorrow from someone else.

Relationships are hard, and those with a wide power gap are the hardest of all.
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'Students live in an online world,' explains surf-loving, secondary school teacher Luke Saunders on this week's Ready Business podcast. 'When I started teaching, I was shocked that nothing had changed in the classroom since my time as a student.'

And so Studyclix was born as an online tool to help teachers and students in their Junior and Leaving Certs. There's 120,000 students and 25,500 teachers using the service, but he still hasn't given up the teaching just yet. The future of education, he says, still comes from the school and what the students are saying and doing.

A typical day for me is I teach, maybe have a surf on the way home, then after the kids are gone to bed by 8.30, I get to work on Studyclix until midnight.

Theyve now launched in Australia and their target is to be in five countries by 2020.

Ireland has been our proving ground, he says. And were looking to replicate its success internationally.

As for his top three tips on succeeding in business?

'Put your product first. Solve the problem that helps people and then worry about monetisation afterwards. Secondly, listen to your users for feedback and ideas on how to improve your product. Thirdly, invest in customer support because that builds brand loyalty and makes people refer you afterwards.

The Ready Business show, in association with Vodafone , is available via iTunes , SoundCloud and Stitcher or subscribe to the RSS feed of the Ready Business Podcast using your favourite podcatcher.

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Prince George and Princess Charlotte look out of the plane window as they arrive with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Warsaw's Chopin Airport for the start of their five-day tour of Poland and Germany

Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge peer out of a window as they arrive with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge on day 1 of their official visit to Poland on July 17, 2017 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince George of Cambridge with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge at a children's party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016 in Victoria, Canada

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge with their children Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge as they arrive on day 1 of their offical visit to Poland on July 17, 2017 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding of the Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton to her millionaire groom James Matthews, dubbed the society wedding of the year at, St Mark's church in Englefield, Berkshire

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge with Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge as they arrive at Berlin Tegel Airport during an official visit to Poland and Germany on July 19, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Robin Utrecht - Pool/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte board their plane in Hamburg Finkenwerder, Germany, July 21, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Charisius/POOL

The picture used on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 2017 Christmas card which was taken by Getty Images royal photographer Chris Jackson at Kensington Palace showing the royal couple with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive at Berlin Tegel Airport during an official visit to Poland and Germany on July 19, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R) and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge (L) with their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, on July 17, 2017

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge look on from the balcony during the annual Trooping The Colour parade at the Mall on June 17, 2017 in London, England.

Queen Elizabeth says Princess Charlotte bosses her old brother Prince George around.

The British monarch let slip that the two-year-old royal very much runs the the Cambridge household, and likes to show her four-year-old sibling who is in charge at the home they share with their parents - Prince William and Duchess Catherine - whilst attending to duties at Sandringham House on Sunday.

Elizabeth, 91, was talking to 10-year-old Emily Clay, who she rewarded a signed copy of the bible for her hard work at school in religious studies.

The Eastern Daily Press reports that the young girl said she looked after her younger sister Hadleigh and their mother Ellen laughed: Its the other way around."

Expand Close Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge view helicopter models H145 and H135 before departing from Hamburg airport on the last day of their official visit to Poland and Germany on July 21, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge view helicopter models H145 and H135 before departing from Hamburg airport on the last day of their official visit to Poland and Germany on July 21, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The queen then smiled: Its like that with Charlotte and George.

It comes after a source recently revealed that the toddler is "polite, but also fun and energetic", and loves to engage in conversation with people.

A source said: "She's very sweet and very confident - she's always chatting away. She has beautiful manners."

Charlotte was all smiles as she attended her first day of nursery a couple of weeks ago at Willcocks Nursery School in London, which her parents - who are currently expecting their third child - are said to have hand-picked because it will be an "ideal first step" in her education.

Expand Close Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge with their children Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge as they arrive on day 1 of their offical visit to Poland on July 17, 2017 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge with their children Princess Charlotte of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge as they arrive on day 1 of their offical visit to Poland on July 17, 2017 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

A source claimed: "They chose that nursery because they thought it would be an ideal first step for Charlotte's education, and they were impressed by the team who work there."

Catherine took pictures of Charlotte ahead of her first day and they were posted on the Kensington Palace official Twitter account.

Expand Close Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding of the Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton to her millionaire groom James Matthews, dubbed the society wedding of the year at, St Mark's church in Englefield, Berkshire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the wedding of the Duchess of Cambridge's sister Pippa Middleton to her millionaire groom James Matthews, dubbed the society wedding of the year at, St Mark's church in Englefield, Berkshire

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The images were captioned: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share two photographs of Princess Charlotte at Kensington Palace this morning.

"The images were taken by The Duchess shortly before Princess Charlotte left for her first day of nursery at the Willcocks Nursery School."
There are warnings about snow and ice as Ireland is in the grip of wintry weather

Met Eireann has issued two new weather warnings with snow, ice and strong winds set to hit parts of the country.

A status orange weather warning has been issued for Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal.

STATUS ORANGE



Snow-ice Warning for Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal



Valid:

Wednesday 17 January 2018 18:00

to

Thursday 18 January 2018 12:00



Please see https://t.co/9BeK3UcAwO for details. pic.twitter.com/GJ4Bz9hD0E  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 17, 2018

The latest weather warning will come into effect at 6pm tonight until midday on Thursday.

The warning comes as an Atlantic depression is set to bring scattered snow showers to northern parts of the country.

Meanwhile, a status yellow wind warning has been issued for Munster, Connacht and Leinster.

The alert will come into place at 5pm today until 3am on Thursday.

STATUS YELLOW



Wind Warning for Munster, Connacht and Leinster



Valid:

Wednesday 17 Jan. 17:00

to

Thursday 18 Jan. 03:00



Please see https://t.co/9BeK3UcAwO for details pic.twitter.com/oN2mhCNxbI  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 17, 2018

Southwest to west winds will reach mean speeds between 50 and 65km/h with gusts between 90 and 110 km/h, and high seas along Atlantic coasts have a risk of coastal flooding.

Met Eireann forecaster Clara Finkele said that although Storm Fionn has passed over Ireland, we should brace ourselves for strong winds and heavy rain.

Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One, she said: "Winds will further moderate this afternoon ahead of the next depression early this evening, do check for further warnings on Met Eireann's website.

"Heavy and persistent rain and winds will increase to gale force along the west coast .

Sunny spells & sctd showers this aft. Showers mainly of rain&hail, w/ risk of thunder. Hvy&pers. rain will push into Atl coastal counties later this aft, bec. widesprd this eve. Highs 3 to 7C. Gusty W winds will mod. this aft, backing S-SW, incr. strong to gale force this eve. pic.twitter.com/O1CtzS7QAg  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 17, 2018

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"Rain will spread further inland this evening and possibly turn to sleet and snow over Ulster and north Leinster this evening and tonight, when it will become very windy.

"However in the north, rain will turn to snow and sleet, with a risk of significant accumulations of snow.

"We can expect lowest temperatures of zero to 4 degrees, with a risk of frost this evening.

"Temperatures will be very mild for a time over midnight over the southern half of the country."

Meanwhile thousands of homes are without power this morning after last night's storm.

A number of ferry sailings have been delayed or cancelled. Passengers are advised to check with their carrier before travelling.
At least 12 people have been killed and 48 others injured after a double suicide bombing at a market in Nigerias northern city of Maiduguri.

Witnesses said the attack happened on Wednesday afternoon, with one bomber striking inside the market while the other remained outside, killing only himself.

The head of rescue operations for the State Emergency Management Agency, Bello Dambatta, said a female bomber attacked the market while the other attacker was male.

Muna Garage, the site of a camp for displaced people, has been attacked several times in the past few years by Boko Haram insurgents.

Boko Haram, which was formed in Maiduguri, has killed more than 20,000 people in its nine-year insurgency.
Apple plans to build another corporate campus and hire 20,000 workers in the next five years as part of a 350 billion dollar (250 billion) commitment to the US economy.

The pledge announced on Wednesday is an offshoot from the sweeping overhaul of US taxes championed by President Donald Trump and approved by Congress last month.

Besides dramatically lowering the standard corporate tax rate, the reforms offer a one-time break on cash being held overseas.

Apple plans to take advantage of that provision to bring back more than 250 billion dollars (180 billion) in offshore cash, generating a tax bill of roughly 38 billion dollars (27 billion).

Chief executive Tim Cook had promised the company would bring back offshore cash if it could avoid being taxed at the 35% rate that had been in effect under the previous tax law.

Apple is a success story that could only have happened in America, and we are proud to build on our long history of support for the US economy, Mr Cook said.

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The Cupertino, California, company says it will announce the location of a second campus devoted to customer support later this year.

The company did not say how big the second campus will be, or how many of the additional 20,000 workers that it plans to hire will be based there.

But it is certain that cities across the US will offer Apple tax breaks and other incentives in an attempt to persuade the company to build its second campus in their towns.

That was what happened last year after Amazon announced it would build a second headquarters in North America to expand beyond its current Seattle home.

The online retailer received 238 proposals from cities and regions in the US, Canada and Mexico. Amazon is expected to announce the winning bid later this year.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed yesterday to complete the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees within two years, despite international fears that they will be held in grim internment camps that may result in long-term ghettos and a "powder keg" of radicalisation.

More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims have been sheltering in neighbouring Bangladesh since the Myanmarese military began a bloody crackdown in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state in August, a campaign so brutal that it has been described by the United Nations as "ethnic cleansing".

Despite reports of mass rape, murder and the torching of villages, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bangladesh agreed in principle late last year to return the refugees as quickly as possible, but are still thrashing out the details.

Myanmarese Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye has claimed Myanmar would be ready to accept the first returnees on January 23 and "we are sure that this will be done on time".

Dhaka, however, has not confirmed the starting date.

State-run Myanmarese media reported that construction was progressing rapidly at the 124-acre Hla Po Khaung camp, which will host 30,000 in 625 buildings. The UN refugee agency is not involved in the process but has said it is willing to play a "constructive role" if allowed.

Myanmar's recent history of indefinite detention of the Rohingya minority had made the UN and international NGOs wary of involvement with the impending repatriation, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"The Myanmar government's priority is all about keeping control of returnees pending nationality verification, and that means holding them while they sort people out - which is unlikely to be a speedy process," he said. "There's no faith among the Rohingya that they will be protected or treated fairly during that process; they fear being ghettoised in an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp."

Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher Laura Haigh said the plans to return refugees to temporary camps raised serious alarm bells.

"For the last five years tens of thousands of Rohingya have been confined to squalid displacement camps which they are not allowed to leave," she said. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
American citizens who wish to visit North Korea should write a will, make funeral arrangements and designate carers for their children and pets, a chilling travel advisory from the US State Department has warned.

The fresh advice was issued last week, reported Fox News, and comes on the back of new rules issued last year that now require Americans to apply for a special validation to travel to the hermit kingdom, which is only handed out in "very limited circumstances".

The travel ban was enforced in the aftermath of the death of US student Otto Warmbier (22), who was arrested by the North Koreans while on holiday in Pyongyang and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour. He returned home last summer in a mysterious coma and died shortly afterwards.

The state department cautions that it will be unable to offer emergency assistance as it has no embassy in the country, and recommends that travellers prepare for the worst. "Draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney; discuss a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pet, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc)," says the recommendation.

President Donald Trump designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in November, citing Kim Jong-un's 'murderous' rogue regime and Warmbier's death as the reasons.

North Korea is also classified as a 'Level 4 - Do Not Travel' country, alongside Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Mali, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

The new advisory appears to have been issued despite a tentative thaw in relations between North and South Korea, who have met twice in the past week, and for the first time in over two years, to discuss Pyongyang's participation in the February Winter Olympics.

But while offering an olive branch to the South, Kim Jong-un has done little to defuse hostility with the US, reiterating last week that his missiles were pointing in America's direction.

Senior American officials have also reportedly discussed a limited military strike, or "bloody nose", option to contain Pyongyang's advancing nuclear programme.

The US, meanwhile, is continuing to bolster its presence around the Korean Peninsula by deploying stealth bombers, at least one extra aircraft carrier and a new amphibious assault ship to the region.

It also emerged yesterday that the same North Korean hacking outfit associated with the Sony data theft was behind attacks on South Korean cryptocurrency users and exchanges toward the end of last year.

Lazarus Group, thought be tied to the North Korean government, launched a so-called spear-phishing campaign against crypto users in the weeks preceding the opening of talks with South Korea, according to a report from Insikt, a research team at Recorded Future.

The cybersecurity company said it found technical similarities between those incursions and other North Korean-linked activities, including the data heist at Sony Pictures and the WannaCry ransomware attack.
Luxury fashion house Burberry has revealed a fall in UK sales over the final three months of 2017 as it saw the end of a boom in tourist spend from the Brexit-hit pound.

The trench-coat maker said comparable sales in the UK fell by a high single-digit percentage in the Christmas quarter as it failed to match last years impressive performance, when sales surged 40% thanks to a spending spree by overseas shoppers taking advantage of the weak pound.

Group-wide like-for-like store sales rose by 2% thanks to better trading in mainland China and the Americas region, although it was lower than the 3% expected by most analysts.

Overall retail revenues fell 2% on a reported basis to 719 million for the crucial Christmas quarter, rising 1% on an underlying basis.

Shares fell 7% after the update.

New chief executive Marco Gobbetti, who took over from former boss and long-standing creative director Christopher Bailey last year, insisted the firm was making good progress on revamp plans, with the firm on track for full-year profit forecasts.

He said: We are building on strong foundations and are fully focused on the successful delivery of our multi-year plan to position Burberry firmly in luxury and deliver long-term sustainable value.

The trading update comes after the recently-appointed boss sparked a shares plunge in November as he unveiled a strategic overhaul that will see the group focus more on high-end luxury shoppers.

The revamp includes moves to shut some wholesale sites and refurbish stores, which could see it ditch some outlets in department stores and shut those not in the right location.

Investors baulked at the costs of the plan, at the time sending shares falling the most in five years.

Burberry said in its latest update that it was on track to deliver cost savings of 60 million in the current financial year.

Steve Clayton, a fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: If Mr Gobbetti succeeds in repositioning Burberry to be one of the worlds most aspirational brands, the returns could be impressive. For now though, it is wait and see.

Burberry said sales in the final quarter of 2017 saw fashion perform well as new products went down well with customers, with good early results for its full look range, with tops, skirts and trousers selling well.

It is preparing for new bag launches from spring.
A pilot who once smuggled tonnes of drugs for Colombian cartels during Miamis cocaine cowboys era in the 1980s has been convicted of playing a key role in a fraud ring that stole at least 150 cars using a fake paper trail.

Mickey Munday, 72, was found guilty by a federal jury of mail fraud and conspiracy charges, each of which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Several others in the fraud ring previously pleaded guilty and testified against Munday, saying his role was transporting the cars and hiding them until they could be sold.

Munday showed no emotion when the verdict was read and he was taken immediately into custody.

US district judge Robert Scola set a date of March 29 for sentencing. Mundays defence team maintain that he was not aware of the car fraud.

Munday spent most of the 1990s in prison after pleading guilty to drug smuggling charges involving tonnes of cocaine from Pablo Escobars Medellin cartel and also the Cali cartel during the 1980s.

He frequently bragged about his exploits in media interviews and social media posts, and had a starring role in the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

If it flies, rolls or floats, I can drive it, Munday has frequently said.

Assistant US Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Munday told investigators in an interview that the fraud operation was called the hokey-doke scheme and he was in charge of getting the vehicles to Florida from around the country.

He was the head of the transportation division of the hokey-doke scheme, Mr Rothstein said. It was a scheme that stole cars with paper.

According to trial evidence, the scam involved obtaining cars that were about to be repossessed by a bank or other financial institution or through purchases at dealerships by straw buyers.

Using tow truck and car wholesale businesses as fronts, the group created a false paper trail that ended with them having clear ownership of the vehicles, which they then sold at a profit.

All told, testimony showed the group stole about 1.7 million dollars (1.2 million) from banks and other lenders between 2008 and 2015.

Some in the ring said Mundays colourful past as a big-time drug smuggler made him a natural fit for the operation.

Munday did not testify in his own defence. His attorney, Rick Yabor, insisted that prosecutors had not proven that Munday knew the operation was fraudulent and that Munday was simply transporting the vehicles.
Mr Babis has acknowledged for the first time he might not be in the new Czech government (AP)

Populist billionaire Andrej Babis has acknowledged he might not be part of the new Czech government, even though his centrist ANO movement won Octobers parliamentary election.

A new minority government led by Mr Babis was appointed in December, but lost a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament on Tuesday.

He and other ministers have agreed to resign.

Czech president Milos Zeman said he will ask Mr Babis to form another government, but no party in parliament seems ready to enter a coalition with ANO because Mr Babis is facing fraud charges.

The charges involve alleged misuse of EU subsidies for a farm he had owned.

Mr Babis told Czech public television that the next government might not include him, saying the ANO movement has to decide that.

It is unclear who might replace him as prime minister.
Immigration has been thrust to the fore of Italy's election campaign after a politician from a right-wing party warned that "the white race" was in danger of dying out.

The debate over race, integration and multiculturalism is shaping up as one of the key issues in the March 4 election, in a country which has rescued around 600,000 migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean in the last four years, most of whom arrived by boat from Libya.

Attilio Fontana, a prominent politician from the right-wing Northern League, said the "white race" in Italy could face extinction unless the number of migrants entering the country was drastically reduced.

"We have to decide if our ethnicity, if our white race, if our society continues to exist or if it will be cancelled out," said Mr Fontana, who is the League's candidate to become the next governor of Lombardy, the wealthy northern region that includes Milan.

An unwillingness to take in "all" migrants was not "a question of being xenophobic or racist, but a question of being logical or rational", he said.

His remarks were condemned by the centre-left, but he received the endorsement of Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League, who said that Islam and the migrant "invasion" posed a grave threat to Italian society.

"We are under attack. Our society, traditions and way of life are at risk," Mr Salvini said. "The colour of one's skin has nothing to do with it. Centuries of history risk disappearing if Islamisation gains the upper hand."

The Northern League has long campaigned against immigration but other parties are also playing on the fear factor as the election approaches.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party is allied with the Northern League in a right-wing coalition that has a good chance of winning the election, claimed this week that migrants in Italy were fuelling a crime wave.

He claimed there were 476,000 migrants roaming the country - a highly questionable statement given that many of the 600,000 who have arrived in Italy in the past few years have moved onto other countries or been sent back home.

"There's a crime in Italy every 20 seconds. There are three bank robberies every two days, but the newspapers don't even mention them any more because they are so common," he said.

Migrants "have to commit crimes in order to eat", he claimed.

Official statistics tell a different story - crimes were down by 9pc in 2017 and murders dropped by 12pc, according to the interior ministry.

Mr Berlusconi blamed the centre-left governments of Matteo Renzi and his successor Paolo Gentiloni for letting so many migrants into Italy.

The anti-establishment Five Star Movement also jumped on the bandwagon.

Luigi di Maio, the party's leader, said at the weekend: "I don't want to resign myself to the idea that just because the birth rate is low in Italy, we need to promote immigration."

Mr Renzi, former premier and head of the ruling Democratic Party, accused the Northern League of whipping up fear of migrants.

Through deals with Libyan militias and the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, Italy has reduced migrant arrivals by about a third in the last few months.

The accords have been heavily criticised by humanitarian groups, who say they result in hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees in Libya being stuck in squalid conditions where they are beaten, tortured and raped. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
A Danish prosecutor has said that inventor Peter Madsen has been charged with murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall during a trip on his private submarine, saying he either cut her throat or strangled her. Photo: Niels Hougaard /Ritzau via AP, File

A Danish prosecutor has called for artist and inventor Peter Madsen to be jailed for life for the "extremely brutal" murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall.

Madsen is suspected of killing Wall by either "cutting of the throat or strangulation". He has also been charged with "dismemberment" and "sexual relations other than intercourse of a particularly dangerous nature".

"This is a very unusual and extremely brutal case which has had tragic consequences for Kim Wall and her relatives," Jakob Buch-Jepsen, the special prosecutor leading the case, said yesterday.

Madsen (47) has admitted to dismembering the body of the 30-year-old journalist after she died on board his home-built submarine on the evening of August 10, 2017 but maintains she died in an accident. Her torso, with its head, arms and legs sawn off, was found at the end of August washed on a beach on Amager, an island in Copenhagen. There were 15 stab wounds to her body.

The eight-day trial will begin on March 8.
Farmers seeking to protect their land have joined forces with anarchists in opposition to the project

French police are deploying extra forces to western France ahead of a government decision on whether to build an airport project which has been the cause of several violent protests.

Hundreds of anarchists, farmers and environmental activists have occupied a vast area around Notre-Dame-des-Landes, outside the city of Nantes, to resist the proposed scheme. Protesters from other regions have reportedly arrived in recent days.

A security official said extra gendarmes and riot police are being sent to the area as authorities seek to clear out the protesters once the government makes its decision.

An initial attempt in 2012 to dislodge squatters from a resistance community ended in a clash between hundreds of riot police and activists hurling sticks, stones and firebombs.

A 2014 protest in the town of Nantes which drew some 20,000 plus the anarchists also led to a violent stand-off with police.

President Emmanuel Macrons cabinet is scheduled to discuss the airport at a meeting on Wednesday. His office said prime minister Edouard Philippe, who visited Nantes over the weekend, will then announce the decision.

Proponents argue the region needs a larger airport to boost its economic prospects. Opponents say the airport is unnecessary and a symbol of exploitative globalisation.

Farmers trying to protect their land have joined forces with the anarchists, who call themselves ZADists, based on the French acronym for development zone.
Steve Bannons lawyer relayed questions in real time to the White House during a House Intelligence Committee interview of the former chief strategist to Donald Trump, according to reports.

As politicians probed Mr Bannons time working for Mr Trump, Mr Bannons lawyer Bill Burck was asking the White House counsels office by phone during the Tuesday session whether his client could answer the questions, the Associated Press claimed.

He was told by that office not to discuss his work on the transition or in the White House.

It was unclear who Mr Burck was communicating with in the White House.

He is also representing top White House lawyer Don McGahn in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the questions were relayed over the phone and said it was a typical process.

Sometimes they actually have a White House attorney present in the room, she said. This time it was something that was relayed via phone and again was following standard procedure for an instance like this and something that will likely happen again on any other number of occasions, not just within this administration but future administrations.

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On Wednesday, the AP also confirmed Mr Bannon will meet with Mr Muellers investigators for an interview instead of appearing before a grand jury.

A person familiar with that issue confirmed the interview and said Mr Bannon is expected to cooperate with Mr Mueller.

Mr Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for Mr Trump, leading the Republican committee chairman to authorise a subpoena.

The developments brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what current and former aides tell Congress about their time in Mr Trumps inner circle, and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue.

The congressional subpoena for Mr Bannon came after the former far-right media executive and recently scorned Trump adviser received a grand jury subpoena issued by Mr Mueller.

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That subpoena, first reported by The New York Times, appeared to be a negotiating tactic that then prompted Mr Bannon to agree to sit down with Mr Muellers prosecutors rather than appearing before the grand jury.

Mr Bannon confirmed he had received the subpoena from Mr Mueller during his House Intelligence Committee interview, sources said.

Politicians questioned Mr Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference and sought answers about Mr Trumps thinking when he fired FBI director James Comey.

But Mr Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, and as a result, the chairman, Representative Devin Nunes issued the subpoena, spokesman Jack Langer said.
Catalonias new parliament has convened amid looming questions about the role fugitive and jailed politicians will play in the chambers separatist majority as well as the future regional government.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium in October to avoid a Spanish judicial probe over a foiled secession attempt, wants to be reinstated in his old job.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain, as well as a number of legal hurdles if he wants to be voted in from abroad by the regional assembly.

Seven more empty seats in the parliament belong to four former cabinet members sought by Spains Supreme Court who are with Mr Puigdemont and three more elected MPs  including former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras who are being held on provisional charges of rebellion or sedition.

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Other former Cabinet members and parliamentary officials have been released from jail, but remain under investigation.

Spanish central authorities took direct control of the north-eastern region following the unilateral declaration of independence by separatist MPs on October 27.

Triggering special powers, Spain sacked Mr Puigdemonts government, dissolved parliament and forced a new regional election on December 21 in the hope of halting the secession drive.

But contrary to Madrids hopes, separatists regained their slim parliamentary majority despite receiving less than half of the votes. In a first for Catalonia, a party that fiercely opposes independence was the most voted and gained the most seats.

In the inaugural session, there were yellow ribbons symbolising the protest against the judicial process in the seats of the absent MPs, while several hundred people rallied outside the parliament, waving pro-independence flags.

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The newly-elected MPs will first choose a speaker and the chambers governing committee, a key group that could interpret procedural rules to allow Mr Puigdemonts candidacy from exile.

The two main separatist parliamentary groups said they would elect a leftist, pro-independence speaker and would back Mr Puigdemonts candidacy to form a government.

However, parliamentary legal advisers said in a report this week that Mr Puigdemont cannot be sworn in via video link or by having a proxy candidate as he must debate his candidacy in person in the parliament.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has also vowed to maintain direct rule over Catalonia if the fugitive separatist politician tries to resume office from Brussels.

The parties that promote Catalan independence jointly hold 66 of the regional chambers 135 seats and also have support from four pro-independence, anti-establishment lawmakers.

Polls consistently show that most Catalans want the right to decide the regions future, but are evenly divided over splitting from Spain.
In his first medical exam as US president, Donald Trump "did exceedingly well" on a cognitive test, scoring 30 out of 30.

The cognitive test, known as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), is designed to screen for mild mental decline.

Donald Trump's White House physician, Dr Ronny L Jackson, said Tuesday that the president received a perfect score ton the exam.

The military doctor said it was evidence that Trump does not suffer from mental issues that could prevent him from performing his duties as president.

More #winning. 30 out of 30. I look fwd to @ScottAdamsSays take but mine is that the left has to stop hitching their wagon to BS sound bytes they want to be true so they dont get shut down this hard all the time. They keep losing any credibility they had left! https://t.co/d9L8EB1HXd  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 16, 2018

"I've found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes," Dr Ronny L Jackson told reporters on Tuesday.

"The president is mentally very sharp, very intact. ... He is fit for duty," Jackson said. "I think he will remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even for the remainder of another (four-year) term if he's elected."

Dr Jackson said the test - which Trump did "exceedingly well" on - would have shown evidence of Alzheimer's disease or other issues.

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Developed in 1996, the MoCA uses 30 questions to test for mild cognitive impairment in adults and takes between 10 to 12 minutes to complete. A score of 25 or more is considered normal.

The questions include basic tasks such as counting backwards from seven, drawing a clock that reads 10 past 11, identifying certain animals and repeating back specific sets of words.

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The standard version of the test is "pretty good" but "not definitive", Dr Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer's disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters.

The test does not assess the president's psychiatric fitness and the president did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to his doctor.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, there is no single test that proves a person has Alzheimer's disease. That diagnosis can only be made through a complete assessment that considers all possible causes.
The results of Donald Trump's first medical exam as US president were revealed on Tuesday by White House physician Dr Ronny L Jackson and according to the doctor, Trump is in excellent physical and cognitive health.

The results have come under a high level of scrutiny since the publication of controversial book, Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House, raised questions about Trump's mental health and fitness for office.

The test was administered by Dr Ronny L Jackson, who has served in the White House medical team since 2006 and as the official White House doctor since 2013.

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The doctor assumed care of Trump when he took office in 2016 and has spent a "significant" amount of time with the president over the past year.

White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Dr Jackson is the physician from the medical team that Trump spends the most time with.

With a background in emergency medicine, the doctor has served in navy bases across the US, as well as an explosive unit in Italy and a platoon in Iraq as the resuscitative medicine physician.

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According to his naval biography, Jackson grew up in West Texas and attended Texas A&M University, specialising in marine biology before going to medical school at the University of Texas.

It was during his time in Iraq that Jackson was chosen as a White House physician and returned to the US in 2006. In 2013, Obama promoted him to the top role, where he has remained since.

Top advisers to Obama were quick to praise the doctor following the revelation of Trump health results.

"Dr Jackson is a phenomenal doctor and a really great guy, Dan Pfeiffer, Obamas senior adviser, posted Tuesday on Twitter. He and his team took great care of all of us for many years.

Dr. Jackson is a phenomenal doctor and a really great guy. He and his team took great care of all of us for many years  Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 16, 2018

Jackson gave details on Tuesday following Trump's test at the Walter Reed military hospital.

Jackson reported that the 6ft 3in president weighed in at 239lb, 3lb heavier than he was in September 2016.

Trumps blood pressure was 122 over 74, and his total cholesterol was 223, which is higher than recommended.

Trump was 70 when he took office, making him the oldest person ever elected to the nations highest office.

Jackson said Trump is healthy and should remain so for the remainder of his presidency.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said US president Donald Trumps decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital was sinful.

Mr Abbas, who has openly lambasted Mr Trump over his policies, told a news conference in Egypt that the US has disqualified itself from continuing as a broker in the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The long-time opponent of violence said Palestinians will continue to peacefully pursue our demands until we win back our rights.

The Palestinian leaders comments at the Egypt conference on Jerusalem came ahead of a weekend visit to the region by US vice president Mike Pence.

Mr Pence is the most senior American official to visit the Middle East since Mr Trumps decision over Jerusalem in December. He will visit Egypt, Jordan and Israel, but will not meet with Palestinians.
Pope Francis met with survivors of priests who sexually abused them, wept with them and apologised for the irreparable damage they suffered, his spokesman said.

The pontiff also acknowledged the pain of priests who have been held collectively responsible for the crimes of a few, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke told reporters on Tuesday, during Francis first visit to Chile.

Francis dived head-first into Chiles sex abuse scandal on his first full day in Santiago that came amid unprecedented opposition to his visit: three more churches were torched overnight, including one burned to the ground in the southern Araucania region where Francis celebrates Mass on Wednesday.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up an anti-pope protest outside Francis big open-air Mass in the capital, Santiago.

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Despite the incidents, huge numbers of Chileans turned out to see the pope, including an estimated 400,000 for his Mass, and he brought some inmates to tears with an emotional visit to a womens prison.

But his meeting with abuse survivors and comments in his first speech of the day were what many Chileans, incensed by years of abuse scandal and cover-up, were waiting for.

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Mr Burke said Francis met with a small group of abuse victims after lunch, listening to their stories and praying with them. The spokesman gave no details, other than to say the pope listened to them, prayed with them and wept with them.

Earlier in the day, Francis told Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, politicians, judges and other authorities that he felt bound to express my pain and shame that some of Chiles clergy had sexually abused children in their care.

I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again, the pope said.

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Francis did not refer by name to Chiles most notorious paedophile priest, the Reverend Fernando Karadima, who in 2011 was barred from all pastoral duties and sanctioned by the Vatican to a lifetime of penance and prayer for sexually molesting minors.

Nor did he refer to the fact that the emeritus archbishop of Santiago, a top papal adviser, has acknowledged he knew of complaints against Mr Karadima but did not remove him from ministry.

Sex abuse is Pope Francis weakest spot in terms of his credibility, said Massimo Faggioli, a Vatican expert and theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia.

It is surprising that the pope and his entourage dont understand that they need to be more forthcoming on this issue.

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Anne Barrett Doyle, of the online abuse database, BishopAccountability.org, praised Francis for opening his visit with the apology, but said Chileans expect him to take action against complicit church leaders.

This is a crucial opportunity for Francis. With luck, he will not make the mistake of his brother bishops in underestimating the savviness and moral outrage of the Chilean people, said Ms Barrett Doyle, who last week released research showing nearly 80 Chilean priests have been credibly accused or convicted of abuse.

The Karadima scandal and long cover-up has caused a crisis for the church in Chile, with a recent Latinbarometro survey saying the case was responsible for a significant drop in the number of Chileans who call themselves Catholic, as well as a fall in confidence in the church as an institution.
Workers on the majority of private sector contracts held by failed construction company Carillion will continue to be paid, the Insolvency Service said.

It announced that 90% of the companys private customers have indicated they want it to carry on providing services until new suppliers can be found and will provide funding to keep employees on.

The announcement came as a 48-hour period of support for firms working on Carillions private sector contracts approached its end, with thousands of workers uncertain about their future.

The companys interim chief executive has revealed that Carillion had just 29 million in cash by the time it went bust, at a time when it was struggling under 900 million of debt and a 587 million pension deficit.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the House of Commons that the large salaries and bonuses paid to Carillion executives while the future of its 20,000 employees were put at risk showed there was one rule for the super-rich, another for everybody else.

In fiery exchanges at Prime Ministers Questions, Mr Corbyn called on the Prime Minister to end the costly racket of contracting out public services to private businesses.

These corporations need to be shown the door, said the Labour leader. We need our public services provided by public employees with a public service ethos and a strong public oversight.

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But Mrs May retorted: Were making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that workers in those public services are supported and taxpayers are protected.

But what Labour oppose isnt just a role for private companies in public services, its the private sector as a whole.

The Official Receiver has powers to recover any unlawful or unjustified payments made to Carillion executives, she said.

Mrs May revealed that Business Secretary Greg Clark was holding round-table meetings on Wednesday with affected banks, small businesses, trade bodies and unions.

And she welcomed agreements reached between Carillions private sector service customers and the Official Receiver.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said all of these companies had been contacted over the past 48 hours, adding: Over 90% of these customers have indicated that they want Carillion to continue providing services in the interim until new suppliers can be found and will provide funding which enables the Official Receiver to retain the employees working on those contracts.

Work has paused on construction sites, pending decisions as to how and if they will be restarted.

Stephen Pegge, of the trade organisation UK Finance said: UK banks and the Government are working closely to make sure the impact of the Carillion liquidation on SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the supply chain is understood and managed in a way that best supports those in need of assistance.

Lenders are contacting customers and, where appropriate, are putting in place emergency measures, including overdraft extensions, payment holidays and fee waivers to ensure those facing short term issues can be helped to stay on track.

In High Court papers seen by the Press Association, Carillions interim chief executive Keith Cochrane revealed the company made a formal request for support from the Government on December 31 following talks during the final months of 2017.

Up until as recently as Sunday, directors believed a constructive dialogue regarding short-term funding was under way in order to rescue the company, he said.

However, while discussions were ongoing, Mr Cochrane accused the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) of taking unilateral action which in the companys view undermined the groups efforts to conserve cash.

He said the RBS asked for certain bank payments to be pre-paid, which had a negative impact on the companys liquidity by between 2 million and 20 million.

Two days later, on January 14, the Government denied the companys final request for help which led directors to conclude it was insolvent.

Carillion holds public sector or public-private partnership contracts worth 1.7 billion, including school dinners, cleaning and catering at NHS hospitals, construction work on rail projects such as HS2 and maintaining 50,000 Army base homes for the Ministry of Defence.

But its share price has plunged more than 70% in the past six months after a string of profit warnings.
Police in Burma opened fire at hundreds of protesters angry about a ban on a local festival, killing seven people, officials have said.

The protesters in Rakhine state marched through the ancient city of Mrauk-U and ransacked a government building on Tuesday after authorities banned the anniversary celebration of the founding of the old kingdom, saying they were not informed about it beforehand.

Deputy director of the regional government Tin Maung Swe said police warned the mob to stop but they were being physically attacked and officers had to respond after initially using rubber bullets.

The protest involved Rakhine Buddhists.

Rakhine is also home to minority Rohingya Muslims, who have long faced persecution that has seen about 650,000 people driven away from their homes into Bangladesh since August.

The UN office in Burma said it was concerned by reports of violent clashes and urged respect for the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

It also called on security forces and demonstrators to act with restraint and avoid further violence, and for authorities to investigate any disproportionate use of force.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon refused to answer a broad array of queries from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump on Tuesday, provoking a subpoena from the panels Republican chairman.

The development brought to the forefront questions about White House efforts to control what the former adviser tells Congress about his time in Mr Trumps inner circle and whether Republicans on Capitol Hill would force the issue in light of the newly issued subpoena from the Republican-controlled panel.

The congressional subpoena came the same day The New York Times reported that Mr Bannon  a former far-right media executive and recently scorned political adversary of the presidents  has been subpoenaed by special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before a federal grand jury.

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With the issuing of Mr Muellers subpoena, Mr Bannon became the highest-ranking person who served in the Trump White House to be called before a grand jury as part of the special counsels investigation.

Committee members grilled Mr Bannon as part of their investigation into Russian election inference, and also wanted answers from him about Mr Trumps thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.

But Mr Bannon refused to answer questions about that crucial period, prompting the committees chairman, Devin Nunes of California, to issue the subpoena.

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Late on Tuesday, Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said Mr Bannons refusal to answer those questions came at the instruction of the White House.

This was effectively a gag order by the White House, Mr Schiff said shortly after Bannons interview concluded. He said the committee plans to call Mr Bannon back for a second interview.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

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At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said no one had encouraged Mr Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but theres a process of what that looks like.

As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognised process that goes back decades, Ms Sanders told reporters.

A White House official said the president did not seek to formally exert executive privilege over Mr Bannon  a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions.

The official said the administration believes it does not have to invoke the privilege to keep Mr Bannon from answering questions about his time in the White House.

The focus on Mr Bannon follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book saying that he sees the presidents son and others as engaging in treasonous behaviour for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

In Michael Wolffs Fire and Fury, Mr Bannon accuses Donald Trump Junior, Jared Kushner and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer dirt on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

More recently, Bannon has said he was not referring to Trump Jr. but rather to Manafort. Wolff stands by his account.

After the books release, Mr Trump quickly disavowed Sloppy Steve Bannon and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Bannon apologised a few days later but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News.
Carillion had just 29 million in cash by the time it went bust (Yui Mok/PA)

Workers on the majority of private sector contracts held by failed construction company Carillion will continue to be paid, the Insolvency Service said.

It announced that 90% of the companys private customers have indicated they want it to carry on providing services until new suppliers can be found and will provide funding to keep employees on.

The announcement came as a 48-hour period of support for firms working on Carillions private sector contracts approached its end, with thousands of workers uncertain about their future.

The companys interim chief executive has revealed that Carillion had just 29 million in cash by the time it went bust, at a time when it was struggling under 900 million of debt and a 587 million pension deficit.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Government of being deeply negligent, telling the House of Commons that the large salaries and bonuses paid to Carillion executives while the future of its 20,000 employees were put at risk showed there was one rule for the super-rich, another for everybody else.

In fiery exchanges at Prime Ministers Questions, Mr Corbyn said the Government had a responsibility to ensure the construction giant, which held 1.7 billion worth of public sector contracts, was properly managed.

But Mrs May retorted: We were a customer of Carillion, not the manager of Carillion, and that is a very important difference.

She revealed that Business Secretary Greg Clark was holding round-table meetings on Wednesday with affected banks, small businesses, trade bodies and unions.

And she welcomed agreements reached between Carillions private sector service customers and the Official Receiver.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said that all of these companies had been contacted over the past 48 hours, adding: Over 90% of these customers have indicated that they want Carillion to continue providing services in the interim until new suppliers can be found and will provide funding which enables the Official Receiver to retain the employees working on those contracts.

Work has paused on construction sites, pending decisions as to how and if they will be restarted.
Kolkata, Jan 17 (IBNS): The Italian delegation to the Bengal Global Business Summit -- being held in Kolkata -- signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a city-based association, on the eve of the summit.

The MoU was signed between Italian Leather Research Institute and Kolkata-based CLC TA Tanner's Association, Kolkata .

Paolo Gurisatti,President of SSIP district and Golin Mauro,CEO Spraytech were present for the signing.

The MoU, which has the sanction of the West Bengal government is about exchange and support for providing technical competence in the Bengal tanning companies, said Alberto Cavicchiolo of ArtValley.

For the second year in a row, Italy is participating as Partner Country in BGBS 2018, under the aegis of ArtValley.
Mumbai, Jan 15 (IBNS): State Bank of India (SBI)  the largest commercial bank in India  announced tie-up with Transfast Remittance LLC - the USA based payment network since 25 years with a network that covers over 6 billion people across 120+ countries  for inward remittance from the USA to India.

Transfast enjoys a leadership position in the cross border payments industry and offers competitive pricing, fast transfer of funds and personalized customer engagement to notify transfers and other value added services.

The remittance tie-up agreement, signed by Sujit Kumar Varma, Chief General Manager (International Banking), SBI and Samish Kumar, CEO, Transfast Remittance LLC, establishes a framework for US based NRIs to remit their funds to their bank account with any bank in India using SBI Indias network.

As per World Bank data, India has received inward remittance of nearly $ 65 billion in 2017 of which SBI received more than 23% in terms of value of transactions.

This tie-up with Transfast will further boost the market share of SBI in the retail inward remittance business. SBI aims to achieve a sharp growth of about 50% through inward remittance with this tie-up.

The remittance facility would be available to the NRIs in USA by middle of Feb 2018.

Siddhartha Sengupta, DMD & Group Executive - International Banking, SBI said, We are happy to announce this mutually beneficial association with Trans-Fast Remittance LLC. Now the Indian diaspora in the United States will be able to conveniently send funds directly into their account across various banks in India in the shortest possible time using SBI Indias technology platform. It has always been our endeavor to offer value to our customers and effective remittance offering will further cater to the needs of the large US Indian population.

Samish Kumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)  Transfast Remittance LLC said during the signing ceremony With the largest account holder base and an extensive network of branches across the country, SBI is the leading bank in India, making it an important choice for the Indian diaspora community sending money from abroad. We are very happy to offer our large Indian customer base the ability to deposit money instantly into bank accounts at SBI. With the addition of SBI to our growing network in India, we are able to reach even the remotest areas of the country thus benefiting our customers."
New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): On his fourth day of visit to India, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Gujarat.

Indian PM Narendra Modi said the PM will experience 'Gujarats remarkable hospitality' during his visit to the state.

Modi will receive him on his home turf.

"PM @netanyahu will experience Gujarats remarkable hospitality during our visit to the state today. We will attend various programmes and interact with a wide range of people, ranging from innovators, entrepreneurs and farmers. Know more," Modi tweeted.

PM @netanyahu will experience Gujarats remarkable hospitality during our visit to the state today. We will attend various programmes and interact with a wide range of people, ranging from innovators, entrepreneurs and farmers. Know more. https://t.co/pJticm2WDb  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 17, 2018

The Israel PM is scheduled to visit Sabarmati Ashram and pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi and Netanyahu are scheduled to inaugrate iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.

They will participate in numerous other events during the visit to the state.

Netanyahu will later depart for Mumbai.

He arrived in India on Sunday.

He has already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind during his stay in New Delhi.

He visited the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife Sara on Tuesday.

Returning from Agra, he addressed at the 3rd annual Raisina Dialogue here.
New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): Lauding both India and Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, said the partnership between the two nations will write a new chapter in the history of humanity.

Modi said this at the inauguration of iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.

Speaking at the event, Modi said: "The partnership between India and Israel and the mutual plans of development are good signs for a bright future of the two nations."

Modi was accompanied by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a six-day visit to India, at the inauguration of iCreate Center.

Regarding iCreate, Modi said: "The first condition of success is courage. One who can have courage, he can take any decision. I congratulate all young people who are making innovations through iCreate."

The PM also added by saying that he is working towards making all systems in the country "innovation-friendly"

After holding a mega roadshow, Modi and Netanyahu on Wednesday visited the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi, who welcomed Benjamin and his wife Sara at Ahmedabad airport, took his Israeli counterpart to the Ashram travelling an eight-km stretch for a roadshow amid a rousing reception by a huge crowd.

Modi was seen literally taking up the role of a guide for Netanyahu and his wife inside the Ashram. The two PMs also flew kites.

While Netanyahu was wearing a black suit, Modi was fitted in kurta-pajama.

The two leaders even posed for photo-ops.

They will participate in numerous other events during the visit to the state.

Netanyahu will later depart for Mumbai.

He arrived in India on Sunday.

He has already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind during his stay in New Delhi.

He visited the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife Sara on Tuesday.

Returning from Agra, he addressed the 3rd annual Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
Ahmedabad, Jan 17 (IBNS): Visiting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was rolled out a red carpet welcome during his trip to Gujarat, tried his hand in flying kite on Wednesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Gujarat with the Israel PM, shared the rare image where the leader was seen flying a kite.

Modi said just like a kite, the relationship between India and Israel is also ' scaling new heights'.

He said the relationship will benefit entire humankind.

"PM @netanyahu trying his hand at kite flying. Like a kite soaring high, India-Israel friendship is scaling new heights and will benefit not only our citizens but also the entire humankind," Modi tweeted.

Earlier, both the leaders visited the Sabarmati Ashram paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

Lauding both India and Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, said the partnership between the two nations will write a new chapter in the history of humanity.

Modi said this at the inauguration of iCreate Center at Deo Dholera Village in Ahmedabad.

Speaking at the event, Modi said: "The partnership between India and Israel and the mutual plans of development are good signs for a bright future of the two nations."

Modi was accompanied by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on a six-day visit to India, at the inauguration of iCreate Center.

Regarding iCreate, Modi said: "The first condition of success is courage. One who can have courage, he can take any decision. I congratulate all young people who are making innovations through iCreate."

The PM also added by saying that he is working towards making all systems in the country "innovation-friendly"

After holding a mega roadshow, Modi and Netanyahu on Wednesday visited the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

Modi, who welcomed Benjamin and his wife Sara at Ahmedabad airport, took his Israeli counterpart to the Ashram travelling an eight-km stretch for a roadshow amid a rousing reception by a huge crowd.

Modi was seen literally taking up the role of a guide for Netanyahu and his wife inside the Ashram. The two PMs also flew kites.

While Netanyahu was wearing a black suit, Modi was fitted in kurta-pajama.

The two leaders even posed for photo-ops.

They will participate in numerous other events during the visit to the state.

Netanyahu will later depart for Mumbai.

He arrived in India on Sunday.

He has already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind during his stay in New Delhi.

He visited the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife Sara on Tuesday.

Returning from Agra, he addressed the 3rd annual Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): After her recent visit to INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, Raksha Mantri Nirmala Sitharaman, on her visit to Air Force Station Jodhpur, took to the skies in the formidable Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft of 31 Squadron.

In her 45 minutes of sortie, she was demonstrated some of the unique characteristics and strengths of this mighty twin engine Air Superiority Fighter (ASF). She is the first woman Defence Minister of India to fly a sortie in an IAF Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft.

To gauge the operational capability and preparedness of the defence forces, the Raksha Mantri has been visiting various establishments of the Armed Forces. These visits go a long way in enhancing the motivation of the defence personnel as they get an opportunity to personally interact with the RM herself.



After her sortie on the multirole ASF, she addressed and interacted with theAir Warriors of Air Force Station, Jodhpur and congratulated them on their professionalism, high state of morale and motivation.

During the visit, she was also briefed on employment of Air Power in the defence of our country.



Owing to its versatile capabilities, Su-30 MKI forms an integral and the most potent component of our nations Air Power. Recently, BrahMos Supersonic Air Launched Cruise Missile and Astra Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile, was integrated and successfully fired from this platform.

With these advancements, the reach with air-to-air refueling and standoff performance, Su-30 MKI is a truly potent platform and is bolstering IAFs strategic capabilities.
Chennai, Jan 17 (IBNS): As Gujarat leader Jignesh Mevani tried to evict from a press conference the Republic TV journalist, scribes from different TV channels in Chennai in a show of solidarity walked out from the press conference.

Mevani had directed the Republic TV journalist to leave his press conference.

During the press conference on Tuesday after journalists placed their microphones on the table, Mevani saw Republic TV microphone among them and said: "Who is the Republic TVs reporter? I wont talk to Republic."

I wont answer questions. Remove the mic, he said.

Shabbir Ahmed, a reporter from Times Now, was then quoted as saying, You cant demand that (which mic should be there and which should not). We dont want this press conference, you can go.

The Press conference ended with the Gujarat leader not taking any question.

The journalists from other media houses showed solidarity and walked out from the press conference.

Reacting to the incident, Mevani tweeted: "The nation wants to know tonight why I did this. Answer is : my integrity is impeccable. Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt."
New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday visited the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Vadrad in Sabarkantha District of Gujarat.

They were briefed on various achievements of the Centre.

They also inaugurated through video link, the Centre of Excellence for date palms at Kukama in Kutch district.

They interacted with farmers from Kutch district.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi said that Israel has shown the way on how to transform a nation with the agriculture sector at the core.

He said it is important to use technology in the agriculture sector. He outlined how India is working towards doubling farmers' incomes by 2022.

He said it is important to devote attention to irrigation and innovative methods of farming.
Creative Commons

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has attacked the Narendra Modi government for its decision to abolish subsidy for Haj pilgrims, media reports said.

Owaisi said the government should refrain itself from doing "Hindu appeasing politics."

"Haj subsidy is justRs 200 crore. BJP called it appeasement. I ask BJP, the PM and RSS that if Muslim Haj subsidy is appeasement, what about Kumbh Mela? The government had allocated Rs 1,150 crore when Kumbh Mela was held in 2014, he was quoted as saying by media.

Will BJP tell the Yogi government, which is painting everything saffron, including Haj House, to stop Rs 800 crore for pilgrimage to Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, and Rs 1.5 lakh to each Manasarovar yatri? Owaisi asked.

This comes after the Government on Tuesday abolished subsidy for Haj pilgrims.

Announcing this, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said the decision is in line with the Governments agenda to empower minorities without appeasement.

Naqvi had said that for the first time in independent India, 1.75 lakh pilgrims will go to Haj without a subsidy. Last year 1.25 lakh pilgrims from India went to Haj.

The decision to abolish Haj subsidy came day after Government allowed Muslim women, above the age of 45, to go on haj without male guardian, in a group of at least four.

The Union Minister had said the Government will save Rs 700 crore by stopping the subsidy. The funds would be used for the education of minorities, particularly girls, he added.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs had, last year, constituted a six-member committee to review the existing Haj policy, including subsidy issue in the light of a 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing subsidy given to pilgrims by 2022.

The committee suggested that women above 45 years be allowed to perform Haj without a Mehram (a male relative by blood) in a group of four or more.

Also, it recommended that coupons for Adahi (sacrifice of animals) be made compulsory for all the pilgrims and the quota of Mehram be increased from the present 200 to 500, he said.

The committee also suggested that the number of embarkation points (EPs) be reduced from 21 to nine and those should be at Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi. It also recommended that suitable Haj houses be built at these EPs, Naqvi said.


Chennai, Jan 17 (IBNS): Giving rise to speculation of a star alliance in the political field, superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan shared stage at a film launch in Chennai on Wednesday.

On being asked about an alliance, Rajnikanth told media that only time will tell this.

Haasan, who had announced his plans to undergo a state-wide tour across various districts of Tamil Nadu to understand the grievances of people, has confirmed that he will declare the name of his political party on February 21.

Haasan has also said that his party's mission statement will also be made public on the same day.

In a statement released at midnight Tuesday, Haasan said, "I have immense gratitude to the people of Tamil Nadu who have given me everything! However, "gratitude" by itself is not adequate, and the love and affection I have for them needs to be manifested in action & in deed."

Haasan said there is true power in finding one's purpose in life.

He said that his mission is to challenge the status quo that has been plaguing the politics of Tamil Nadu for some time now.

Not lagging behind and promising to bring a change, southern superstar and icon Rajinikanth in Dec last year announced that he will enter politics and float his own political party.

Rajinikanth promised his fans that he will strive to bring changes in the system.

Rajinikanth had said he was not entering politics to seek power and announced his party will contest in 234 constituencies in the coming Assembly elections in 2021.

The actor was quoted as saying: "I will start a political party before State Assembly Elections. Till then, I request fans not to speak about politics, speak ill of any political party."


Kolkata, Jan 17 (IBNS): At least eight persons were killed and several others were injured when a public bus overturned and fell into a roadside ditch at Satkui area under Kharagpur Local Police Station limits in West Bengal's West Medinipur district, officials said.

According to reports, a Midnapore town to Kharagpur bound private bus lost its control, after its driver tried to save a motorcyclist, and fell into a roadside canal at around 3:15 pm.

As many as 40 passengers of the bus were rescued and rushed to nearby hospitals where five of them were declared brought dead.

Three more persons died later in the hospital while more than 20 injured are being treated in Medinipur Medical College and Hospital in critical conditions.

A source in the hospital told IBNS that death toll in the accident may rise.

Local police, however, have started probe into the mishap.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)




Guwahati, Jan 17 (IBNS): Ahead of Republic Day celebrations, Assam police has received a major threat from several insurgent groups from Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

The insurgency threat came much bigger after suspected militants of NSCN (K) and ULFA (I) on Tuesday evening set ablaze 9 crude-oil laden tankers at Namchik area near Jagun in upper Assams Tinsukia district along with Arunachal Pradesh border.

Assam DGP Mukesh Sahay said that, militancy problem has been gradually reduced in Assam soil, but threat still comes from neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland sides.

Several insurgent groups have taken shelter in the neighbouring states, which become major threat for the state, DGP Sahay said.

The top Assam cop further said that, massive combing operations against the militants are going on in Assam and bordering areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland.

Meanwhile, Assam police alerted all district police to take appropriate security measures ahead of Republic Day celebrations.

Recently, the Union Home Ministry has asked the state government of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and other security agencies to launch massive hunting operation against the militants in the concerned states.

Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland shares border with Mynmar and several banned outfits have set up base camps in the neighbouring country.

On the other hand, Assam police ADGP Dr RP Meena on Wednesday visited the site of Tinsukia district, where suspected militants torched 9 oil tankers.

ADGP Meena also took part in a high level security meeting with Tinsukia SP Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Ahmedabad, Jan 17 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dedicated to the nation, the iCREATE facility located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

iCreate is an independent Centre created with the objective of facilitating entrepreneurship through a blend of creativity, innovation, engineering, product design and leveraging emerging technologies to deal with major issues such as food security, water, connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics, energy, bio-medical equipment and devices etc.

iCreate aims to develop an ecosystem in India to generate quality entrepreneurs.

The two leaders visited various stalls that highlighted technologies and innovations across diverse fields.

Addressing the gathering, Modi said that innovation has a key role to play in bringing the people of India and Israel, closer to each other.

He said the entire world has taken note of the technological prowess and creativity of Israel.

He said the youth of India has energy and enthusiasm.

"What the youth needs is a bit of encouragement and institutional support," he added.

Modi said that the Government is working to make the entire system innovation-friendly, so that intent can generate ideas; ideas lead to innovation; and innovation helps create a New India.

He said that the first pre-requisite of success is courage. He congratulated the courageous youth who are engaged in innovative activities at iCreate.

Quoting Kalidasa, the Prime Minister touched upon the dilemma between convention and innovation.

He urged the youth of India to innovate to overcome the challenges facing the nation today, and to improve the quality of life of the common man at lowest possible cost.

The Prime Minister spoke of cooperation between India and Israel for innovation in areas such as food, water, health and energy.

He said this cooperation between the two countries would write a new chapter in the history of mankind in the 21st century.
Kolkata, Jan 18 (IBNS): Three well known privately-run hospitals in Kolkata witnessed huge agitation on Wednesday after three patients died due to alleged medical negligence, reports said.

According to reports, a 2.5-year-old girl- Oyetri Dey, who was admitted to AMRI hospital in south Kolkata's Mukundapur area with high fever on Monday, died on Wednesday morning shortly after an injection was applied to her.

Alleging that the little girl, who was a resident of Sonarpur near Kolkata, died due to wrong injection and hospital's negligence, her family members demonstrated at the hospital.

During the agitation, few staffers of the hospital, including AMRI hospital Mukundapur's unit head Jayantee Chatterjee, allegedly misbehaved with the patient party and threatened them, a charge the hospital strongly denied with a statement.

Later, Oyetri's family members lodged a complaint at Purba Jadavpur Police Station against the hospital authority, according to reports.

Denying the allegation of any medical negligence, a senior official of AMRI hospital told IBNS that the hospital authority is looking into the matter.

"AMRI Mukundapur's unit head Jayantee Chatterjee has been sent to a compulsory leave while the hospital management has lodged a complaint at local police station against the patient party for physically harassing our lady unit head and attempting to vandalize hospital's properties," the official said.

Meanwhile, family members of a 54-year-old man staged demonstration at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Kolkata's EM Bypass area on Wednesday morning after the patient died allegedly without proper treatment.

Alok Das, a resident of city's Kasba area, was taken to Apollo Gleneagles hospital with severe breathing difficulty.

His family members claimed that the hospital delayed admission and before receiving any treatment, the man passed away at around 8:30 am, after waiting for nearly 1.5 hour outside emergency.

Later, the patient party lodged a complaint at Phoolbagan Police Station against the hospital while no reaction has been received from the private hospital's authority so far.

Another upscale private nursing home in Kolkata's Alipore area, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, faced demonstration following the death of a 32-year-old man, who was injured in a road accident and was under treatment at the hospital since Monday (Jan 15).

According to reports, Gautam Pal, a resident of Salkia in Kolkata's twin city Howrah, sustained injuries on his right hand and left leg after meeting an accident on Park Circus-EM Bypass Maa (Parama) flyover on Monday and he was admitted to Calcutta National Medical College at Beniapukur area and later shifted to Woodlands hospital at Alipore on Tuesday after his condition deteriorated.

His family members claimed that the young man, who was declared 'out of danger' by the doctors a day ago, died in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Alleging that the man died due to hospital's medical negligence, his family members staged agitation at the hospital and later lodged a complaint at Alipore Police Station against the hospital authority.

However, the hospital authority has not reacted on the issue yet.

The city police, however, have initiated probe in these three cases, according to senior officials.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
Kolkata, Jan 17 (IBNS): Aviation giant Emirates on Wednesday announced offer for Indian travellers that will allow them to plan long weekends and summer holidays in advance, and travel to over 150 destinations across 6 continents around the globe.

All-inclusive Economy Class fares from Kolkata start at INR 21,800 for destinations in the Middle East, at INR 41,400 for Europe, and INR 60,100 for USA.



Business Class fares from Kolkata start at INR 84,900 for the Middle East, INR 113,300 for Europe, and INR 185,550 for USA.

Travellers will be able to plan their travel until 30th November 2018, with an additional, special EOL sale for 72 hours during the Indian Republic Day period.

The Hello Tomorrow 2018 sale, along with Emirates extensive network and world-class fleet, is sure to entice travellers to explore newer destinations and experience new cultures, while enjoying the award winning Emirates experience. Passengers looking for leisure and business travel will be treated with the best of Emirates in-flight experience for a never like before bargain on flight tickets. Additionally, passengers will also be able to pay using Skywards Miles plus cash.

With the Hello Tomorrow 2018 offer, passengers can now plan for indulgent weekend travels to Dubai or explore a historic trip to the Balkans in Eastern Europe with daily flights from India to Zagreb, Croatia, via Dubai while saving on the ticket. In 2017, Emirates expanded its network to over 150 destinations, with exciting traveller destinations like Newark, USA via Athens; Zagreb, Croatia; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Travellers planning a family vacation during the school summer holidays, starting from the month of May to June, can plan in advance for a fun trip to North America or sketch an itinerary for the relaxing yet adventurous destinations in Europe. Young couples looking for an easy-on-the-pocket getaway can avail the offers to plan a romantic escape to exotic beaches around Eastern Europe and the solo travellers can flock to the coast of Adriatic Sea, before tourists crowd the sands coming July and enjoy the offbeat attractions of Croatia with daily flights to Zagreb, via Dubai.

With exciting deals at the beginning of the New Year and more than 150 destinations to explore across the globe, Emirates is ready to spoil travellers with assorted travel experiences in 2018.

For more information on HT 2018, visit www.emirates.com/in. Tickets will be available for sale from 16th to 29th January 2018 for Outbound and destination travel dates until 30th November, 2018.




Toronto, Jan 17 (IBNS): Brad Duguid, Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Growth, and Navdeep Bains, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development announced in Guelph recently that Ontario and Canada are partnering with Linamar -- a leading name in Ontarios manufacturing sector -- to boost Research & Development and help create up to 1,500 new jobs and retain about 8,000 others in the province, media reports said.

Ontario is said to be the only region in the world with five global automotive assemblers  Fiat-Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda and Toyota  as well as truck manufacturer Hino and is providing Linamar with a conditional grant through the Jobs and Prosperity Fund -- which grants funding to businesses, business associations and entrepreneurs for projects to improve productivity and help them compete in the global marketplace. -- of up to $50 million as part of a project with overall eligible costs of up to $500 million.

The Government of Canada will also provide matching funding towards the project, the duration of which is until 2024 with job commitments lasting until 2029, according to reports.

We are thrilled by the support shown today by both our federal and provincial governments for our significant investment in innovation...of both product design, process design and material development to solve global problems and create opportunities for us all to succeed...further cementing the fact that Canada is a great place for advanced manufacturing to thrive, Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Linamar Corporation was reported to state.

Ontarios auto industry continues to attract investment, even in the midst of uncertainty about NAFTA, which proves our foundational strength when it comes to building and developing new vehicles. Partnerships like this one support our long-term competitiveness and help Ontario continue to lead the way in transformative vehicle technologies, Duguid was reported to state.

The investment will reportedly help Linamar to manufacture next-generation transmission, high-efficiency engine components and systems, produce electrified and connected vehicle technologies.

Bains, according to reports, said that this investment in dedicated automotive innovation -- focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, collaborative robotics and lightweight components.-- is one of Canadas leading sectors and "will create and maintain middle-class jobs in Southern Ontario and drive economic growth in the area. Investing in these projects also means that Canadian manufacturers can remain globally competitive and a leader in technological advancements.

Official reports also said that this investment will also help Ontario's plan to increase the number of post-secondary students graduating in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by 25 percent over the next five years, to 50,000 per year giving Ontario the highest number per capita of postsecondary STEM graduates in North America.

Vehicle assembly and auto parts production, will directly support more than 100,000 jobs in Ontario, reports said.

Ontario -- said to be the top vehicle producer in North America -- is expected to further strengthen its leadership in the development and manufacturing of the next generation of vehicles and new automotive technologies worldwide thereby attracting new investments and jobs.

Ontario also recently announced, official reports said, that the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) -- which strengthens its position as a North American leader in transformative automotive technologies, as well as transportation and infrastructure systems -- and provide $80 million over five years for the economic and environmental benefits of connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) technologies.

"Our government continues to work with businesses like Linamar that help boost the economy and create good, stable jobs. Im delighted the government can be part of the long-term vision for a business that continues to innovate and grow in Guelph," Liz Sandals, Member of Provincial Parliament for Guelph, was quoted by the media as saying.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Images: sourced from Facebook
Ottawa, Jan 17 (IBNS): A Canadian university professor, who was once charged with terrorism in France, has returned to his country, media reports said.

Hassan Diab served three years in prison on his alleged involvement in terrorism in France in 1980.

Before being linked with terrorism charges, Diab had to fight an anti-extradition case in Canada for six years.

He was extradited to France three years ago after a long extradition case in Canada.

Diab was released from prison by authorities of France after terrorism charges against him were dropped due to lack of proper evidence.

He was linked to a 1980 bombing in France that killed three people.

Though the French court could not provide sufficient evidences to support the allegations against Diab, the latter's repeated urges to allow him to return to Canada were turned down.

However, Diab's release was ordered for eight times before the final time but every time prosecutors could manage to detain him.

According to the French system, prosecutors can keep someone, whose release has been ordered by the court, on the grounds that he is dangerous for public safety.

Diab is expected to address the media on Wednesday morning.



Image: Creative Commons
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The U.S. Supreme Court could soon be delivering another jolt to Indian Country, as another treaty rights case is looming on the horizon.

Clayvin Herrera, a citizen of the Crow Tribe , was prosecuted by Wyoming for a hunt that took place in the Bighorn Mountains . He argues that the state lacked jurisdiction because the area, despite being off the reservation, is covered by an 1868 treaty with the federal government

"This case presents an important question of federal law that has divided the lower courts and affects the livelihoods of thousands of Native Americans," Herrera's attorney wrote in petition to the Supreme Court last October.

The petition in Herrera v. Wyoming has indeed attracted significant attention. The Crow Tribe is supporting the appeal and so are a group of Indian law professors , along with Crow citizens and experts in Montana.

The case is being closely watched elsewhere in Indian Country too. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes , based in neighboring Idaho, are a signatory to a treaty that contains similar provisions for hunting off the reservation, Chairman Nathan Small pointed out.

It doesnt just include the Crow Tribe," Small said last October, during the annual convention of the National Congress of American Indians

"We're very concerned that this case could have a detrimental effect not only with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, but I think with a lot of other tribes," Small said, adding that he was fearful the Supreme Court could hand down a "bad decision."

But even though the Supreme Court has heard from interests on both sides of the matter, the justices want more information. In a January 8 order , they asked the Department of Justice for its views, thus delaying resolution of Herrera's petition for at least a couple more months.

"Certainly a lot of tribes have off-reservation hunting and fishing rights, observed attorney Joel Williams of the Native American Rights Fund during NCAI's meeting last year.

NARF co-authored the brief submitted by the Crow Tribe and Williams said NARF expects to work with other advocates to ensure the Supreme Court gets a "full presentation" about off-reservation treaty rights if the case ends up being accepted.

"Were all in the same boat so we've got to work together to get the best results we can," John Echohawk, NARF's longtime executive director, said at the NCAI convention.

Historically, off-reservation treaty rights have posed problems for the nation's highest court. The last major case on the issue was Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians

In the 1999 decision, the court affirmed the off-reservation fishing rights of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. But the vote was 5 to 4, indicating there is some resistance to the premise that tribes can exercise off-reservation treaty rights, independent of state jurisdiction.

"To be sure, Indians do not have absolute freedom from state regulation of their off-reservation activities," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent. "Indeed, the general rule is that the off-reservation activities of Indians are subject to a State's nondiscriminatory laws, absent express federal law to the contrary."

The court's makeup has changed significantly since the 1999 decision. William Rehnquist, the chief justice at the time, and Antonin Scalia, who also went against the tribe, have since passed on.

But Justice Thomas and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was also part of the 1999 bloc against the tribe, remain on the court. They have been joined by two conservative-leaning allies -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito.

Since Roberts replaced Rehnquist on the court in 2005, tribal interests hit a remarkable losing streak. Between 2006 and 2016, they lost nine out of 11 cases.

Of the five justices who sided with the Mille Lacs Band, only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Stephen G. Breyer remain on board. They have been joined by two liberal-leaning allies -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan.

That leaves the court at a theoretical deadlock should the Herrera case be accepted. A big unknown is Justice Neil Gorsuch , who is the newest member of the court.

Gorsuch boasts an extensive -- and largely favorable -- record in Indian law, and his experience as a judge on a federal appeals court earned him praise from tribes and their advocates. He joined the court last April, when no Indian law cases were on the docket.

A month later, the court accepted Patchak v. Zinke . Oral arguments took place last November, and the outcome will determine whether Congress can protect tribes from certain kinds of litigation.

The court has since agreed to hear Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren , whose outcome will determine whether a property dispute can proceed without the involvement of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe . A date for arguments has not yet been set.

And just last week, the court granted a petition in Washington v. U.S. , a closely-watched treaty case from Washington. Tribes fear the outcome could end up limiting the state's role in protecting salmon runs. A date for arguments has not been set either.

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Women these days are breaking free and shaking things up things pretty good. Be it in the form of a police officer, an actor, a fitness expert or an expat; Indian woman have shown it to the world they are not ready to sit tight in society's 'pre-defined box' of sexist instructions.

Now, our very own Raksha Mantri has set an example for women across the country by becoming the first woman Defence Minister to fly in a Sukhoi 30 MKI of the Indian Air Force.

Nirmala Sitharaman emerged as the biggest gainer of the Cabinet reshuffle to become India's first woman Defence Minister of the country since Indira Gandhi held the charge and she certainly seems to be going strong.

Smt @nsitharaman in the cockpit of the Sukhoi-30 MKI, familiarising herself with the fighter aircraft, before taking off for a sortie #RakshaMantrifliesSukhoi pic.twitter.com/uKtIbzOv7J  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) 17 January 2018

Before the scheduled take off, Sitharaman met air warriors of the Indian Air Force at Air Force Station Jodhpur. She was given a quick briefing on the supersonic jet by the Air Force pilot before taking off.

News agency ANI quoted sources as saying that the defence minister flew in the supersonic jet on January 17.

Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is a nuclear-capable aircraft, which can penetrate deep into enemy territory. It was first commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2004. By 2025, India plans to add two more Sukhoi squadrons to its fleet.

#WATCH: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman observed the night time takeoff of the MiG-29K aircraft from INS Vikramaditya (Source: Indian Navy) pic.twitter.com/e024OcpASB  ANI (@ANI) 9 January 2018

Jodhpur: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the cockpit of the Sukhoi-30 MKI, before taking off for a sortie. pic.twitter.com/M3k72B56Jv  ANI (@ANI) 17 January 2018

According to reports, the sortie will be a part of the defence minister's continued efforts to gauge and review the operational preparedness and combat capabilities of the armed forces.

The Raksha Mantri is an all-rounder in every sense. A few months ago, an old video of her making avakaaya pickle or mango pickle surfaced on the internet. Nirmala can be seen preparing pickles with other members of the house. Soon after the video went viral, many lauded the minister for being "humble" and rooted"

And this tweet sums it up
Even after a change in title, delay in release date, several death threats and bounties, Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat still remains to be mired in controversies. One film shook the entire nation so bad that all those associated are still bearing the brunt.

The Allahabad High Court today issued a contempt notice to censor board chairman Prasoon Joshi in connection with the release of the film "Padmaavat" on January 25. The Lucknow bench of the court granted three weeks' time to Joshi for filing his response to the contempt notice.

BCCL

It fixed next hearing of the matter in the week commencing February 12. A bench of Justice Mahendra Dayal passed the order on the petition filed by Kamta Prasad Singhal, who had submitted that he had earlier filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking ban on the release of the movie because it promoted Sati, which is an offence.

After hearing the PIL, the court had on November 9, 2017 dismissed the petition but, simultaneously, it had permitted the petitioner to move his grievance through a representation to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Youtube

Accordingly, he moved the representation before the chairman of the board on November 13, 2017 but Joshi is yet to decide on it and three weeks time given to him by the high court has expired. At this, the high court issued contempt notice to Joshi.
Padmaavat has been one of the most controversial films in the history of Bollywood. After Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh have collaborated with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the third time.

Thinking it would be a hat-trick, the film's trailer got immense love and even better views. However, the movie which is based on Rani Padmavati, has not gone down well with the Rajput Karni Sena.

Twitter

Ever since the announcement of the date, the Karni Sena have been threatening the cast and crew of the film. From saying they will chop off Deepika's nose to vandalising the sets, Padmavati has undergone things, no other Bollywood film has.



After Censor Board approved the movie, the movie has now been renamed to Padmaavat with some major modifications. But even then, Rajput Karni Sena is not satisfied. The women from Chittorgarh have threatened to commit Jauhar if the film releases in Rajasthan.

screengrab

After much protests, four states have officially banned the film, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Not to miss, they're all BJP ruled states banning Padmaavat despite CBFC clearing it.



Let's take a look at the States that have NOT banned the film, YET.

1. Uttar Pradesh - Earlier in November, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had alleged that Padmavati director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is no less guilty than those issuing threats to actors and others involved with the film and asserted that if there is any action, it will be against both the sides.

He had even lashed out at the film-maker, he said Bhansali was habitual of playing with public sentiments. The state government has said it would not allow the movies release till certain controversial portions are removed.

But looks like they're going ahead and releasing the film believing CBFC's judgement. So yay!

2. Tamil Nadu - The Rashtriya Kshatriya Maha Sabha Samajhothan Samiti has sought a ban in Tamil Nadu on the release of the Hindi film Padmavat scheduled for January 25. He claimed that Prasoon Joshi, chairman of Central Board of Film Certification, had allowed the movies release under pressure from its producers.

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have banned the release of Padmavat, he said, adding we are trying to get an appointment with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to seek a ban."

But despite that Tamil Nadu has yet not banned the film.

3. Maharashtra - Maharashtra tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal had earlier demanded a similar action on Hindi film Padmavati. Infact in November, Rawal wrote to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, stating the movie should be banned if it is not in line with history. However, the CM is in no mood to stop the film after CBFC's approval.

4. New Delhi - The capital of the country is fortunately facing no such issues. Despite the neighbouring states Haryana and U.P banning the film, Delhi will have a smooth release of the film.

5. Chattisgarh - Despite showing discomfort at Rani Padmavati's performance on Ghoomar earlier, no official ban has been put in the state and the release will take place on January 25th.

Screengrab

6. Madhya Pradesh - After a day of officially announcing the release date of his much-controversial period drama for the second time, Karni Sena has struck back once again. According to reports, a school in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam was allegedly vandalised by members of Shri Rajput Karni Sena after students performed on the song 'Ghoomar' from the film.

But nothing seems to deter the state as it has not yet banned the film.

7. West Bengal - Even when the protests reached, Mamata Banerjee governed state has welcomed the Sajay Leela Bhansali directed film with open arms.

8. Karnataka - Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who was facing threats from many groups for her lead role, has received strong support from her home state, Karnataka.

The Congress government on Monday extended security to her family in Bengaluru and agreed to allow screening of the movie provided the censor board clears it. Deepika is the daughter of badminton icon Prakash Padukone, who lives in Bengaluru.

9. Bihar - While Nitesh Kumar had earlier joined the 'no Padmavati' chorus, he is now abiding with the rules and CBFC's approval. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose party is in an alliance with BJP in the state, had earlier said Rani Padmavati (played by Deepika Padukone) should not have been made to dance in the film. However, it is officially releasing in the state without any chaos till now

10. Goa - The CM has yet not been approached by the Karni Sena yet to ban the film.

These 10 states are not the only ones, but entire North East, Punjab, South India, Jharkhand are backing the film and we couldn't be more proud of their decision. In fact, in a recent update, Padmaavat producers moved the Supreme Court challenging the ban on its screening by four states across the country. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case on Thursday, Bar and Bench reported.
The million dollar question that no one can answerwhen will Salman Khan get marriedhas been bothering his fans as well as cine-buffs since a long time. Each time, the Dabangg Khan is asked about it, he dodges the question with a joke. He wont get married but he, for sure, wants to have kids.

(Read More: We Can't Tell About Marriage But Salman Is Having Kids In The Next Two-Three Years For Sure)

bubblespan.com

Whats more, his relationship status is so complicated that no one knows who he is dating. While rumours, for long, have been rife, that he is dating Romanian beauty Iulia Vantur, he has never accepted the same in public. On the other side, his alleged closeness with ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif has also given rise to gossip that they are back together.

No one knows what the truth is. However, Iuliva Vantur, who is prepping up for her single Harjai alongside Manish Paul, in her recent interview hinted that she is not dating Salman.

Im aware of the gossip. Most of it is not true. But I cannot stop people from spinning stories. I have a lot of respect for Salman. At the same time, I have no idea where life is taking me. Three years ago, I was all about being responsible and making plans, but not everything turns out the way we expect them to. Not everything is our will. What happens was meant to happen, she told Bombay Times.

Furthermore, she calls Salman a good friend. We dont know whats cooking, do you? Tell us in the comments section below.
While the Chinese celebrated their Lunar New Year in style, their Capital Beijing on Saturday woke up with dense, choking smog which left the pollution levels of the city skyrocketing. The Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau (BMEPB) said that post the Lunar New Years celebrations, the harmful particulate matter in the air had hit the second-highest level in five years by Saturday morning, the state-owned China News Service reported.

Reuters

Beijing had initiated a "war against pollution" in 2014 as part of the governments promise to reverse the damage done by decades of breakneck growth which had some price to pay.Public health concerns over air pollution have grown and the government has found no source of pollution too small to ignore.

Reuters

"In setting off fireworks, be conscious of 'setting off the (pollution) index'," read an editorial on Saturday in the People's Daily newspaper, the Communist Party mouthpiece. Millions of people move to China to visit family and friends during the Lunar New Year which the government predicts up to 3 billion trips.

Though the government had made attempt to make people light lesser firecrackers with the help of fewer approvals for firework stalls and officials being warned to lead by example and abstain from the pyrotechnics.

Reuters

But the efforts didnt bear many fruits. Although state-owned Xinhua reported that purchases of fireworks fell 4.9 percent in Beijing this year, the measures weren't enough to avoid a spike in pollution from healthy to hazardous levels in a matter of hours.

Beijing's level of PM2.5, a measure of small particulate matter particularly damaging to health, peaked at 647 micrograms per cubic metre early on Saturday, the national Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement on its website.

Reuters

That was well beyond the upper limit of 500 on China's air quality index and double the threshold considered hazardous.

Dispersal of the pollution largely depends on weather conditions, with two cold air fronts likely to help reduce pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region through to Wednesday, the environmental ministry said, before conditions deteriorate again and potentially lead to another heavy bout of pollution.
In January, Haryana made paradoxical headlines - one for the state achieving its best sex ratio in 16 years and other for registering horrendous incidents of gangrapes and murders of minors.

An 11-year-old in Panipat, a 15-year-old whose body washed up at a canal's banks in Jind, and a 14-year-old who was abducted from Faridabad's Sector 31 and gang raped by two men overnight  have rocked the state over the last 72 hours. Another sexual assault during the same period was reported from Faridabad, on a 23-year-old woman in a moving car, raising questions not only about the safety of women in the state, but law-and-order overall.

Faridabad and Panipat are among the three Haryana districts, along with Gurgaon, that report the most number of case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, between April 1 and December 31, 2017  Faridabad (129), Gurgaon (112) and Panipat (71).

Representational Image

In terms of total number of Pocso cases under trial, these three districts also report the highest numbers  Faridabad (176), Gurgaon (150) and Panipat (110)  along with Rohtak (135). Faridabad also has the worst conviction rate (13%) in Pocso cases. Gurgaon (46%) and Panipat (42%) have better numbers, but they lag well behind Ambala and Sonipat (63%).

The incidents reveal the dire straits in which the state finds itself, with 1,106 cases registered under Pocso between April 1 and December 31, 2017. The corresponding figures for 2015-16 and 2016-17 are 1,057 and 1,029 respectively. What further exacerbates the situation is that only 34% of the accused (199 people) have been convicted across the state. In fact, in three districts  Mewat, Rewari and Narnaul  conviction rate is 0%, as all accused have been acquitted.

In the same period, 395 people have been acquitted. The maximum number of acquittals have been reported in Fatehabad (99) and Faridabad (39), followed by Gurgaon with 21. In contrast, further appeals have been filed in only 21% of the cases. Together, the data highlights the low impact of preventive laws and low conviction rate in the state. Officials have now been asked to review the acquittals in Fatehabad and Faridabad, to plan a strategy and further course of action.

"We're taking such cases seriously. We want to reassure all that the guilty will be given the harshest punishment. We have been training volunteers in villages to spread awareness about sexual abuse and bad touch within rural families," said Kavita Jain, state minister for women and child development.

However, social activists say that along with enforcement, the government should now focus on changing the mindset of people towards women.

"What has happened is really disturbing and heartbreaking. We've somehow managed to change the outlook within families towards the girl child and against female foeticide. But we also need to work towards changing the mindset of society towards women and their safety.

"We owe it to our girls that they are provided a free and secure environment. If we tell our boys to respect women, they will teach the same to their sons, and it will take only a generation to change the mindset. It's time we did something about it," said Swarnlata Malik, social activist working against female foeticide.
The black money hidden in banks of Singapore will soon be under Indian authorities radar as the New Delhi is soon getting information of all accounts opened in the country since 2008. And Singapore revenue authority has already asked all banks to share details of the Indian account holders to pass it on to their counterparts in India.

The transfer of this information will take place as per double taxation avoidance agreement that the two countries As part of the information-exchange drive to curb back money stashed overseas, many Indians with bank accounts in Singapore have received letters about this.

This is just the beginning. We will have an entire database of information of all current and past account holders in Singapore, and track the trail of money and its movement. Information from other countries is also being shared with us, BS quoted a senior government official.

The Singapore officials will also share the details of the beneficiaries of those accounts apart from information about the account holders.

We are asking for information about specific assesses, based on information we received from our sources. A lot of information exchange is happening.

We are also providing information to our treaty partner countries, said a senior tax official.

The officials will also tell all about the accounts that have been closed, Even if you have closed the account in Singapore and transferred the money to a tax haven, we will get the information under the exchange drive, the official added.
It seems like a plot straight out of a thriller space movie, but one that may not have a happy ending. A rogue Chinese space station is slowly spiralling down to earth, where it may cause a lot of mayhem on impact.

REUTERS

How bad is this development? Well, the Tiangong-1 Chinese space station is carrying a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical onboard, and experts watching its downward spiral don't yet know where it will hit the earth.

Aerospace agencies from around the world are monitoring the doomed Chinese space craft's descent, which has been travelling out of control since September 2017. The European Space Agency predicts its atmospheric re-entry window between March 17 and April 21. Tiangong-1 will burn as a bright fireball as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, still 10 to 40 per cent of the satellite is expected to survive the crash.

Tiangong-1 is also expected to contain the dangerous chemical hydrazine. The highly toxic and corrosive chemical is used in rocket fuel and long-term exposure to hydrazine is believed to cause cancer in humans, according to a Dailymail report. Long-term exposure to hydrazine can lead to some serious consequences, as it can damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system in humans.

And all of this is currently spinning around the globe like a huge ticking time bomb. Chinese experts believe that there's a higher chance of someone winning the lottery than anyone getting harmed by debris falling from Tiangong-1 as it falls down to earth.

Still, no one wants to take that chance. Hopefully, by April, we'll know the official crash trajectory of Tiangong-1.
Emerging trends shaping the future of insurance.

The role of the regulator in the insurtech revolution.

Using insurtech to create a superior customer experience.

Integrating insurtech with legacy IT systems.

There are predictions that 2018 could be the year of insurtechs, especially with the Federal Government encouraging their development with its regulatory sandbox. So, dont wait until insurtechs disrupt your business to find out how to react to them and work with them.The Insurance Business Insurtech Summit is your chance to learn more about:Hear from the big insurers such as IAG Suncorp and QBE , reinsurers, underwriters and the challengers including Trov and Huddle Insurance.Then experience a pitch session: the Tech Den Start-up Competition will see five shortlisted start-ups sell their solutions to a panel of judges for the ultimate prize of a $20k marketing campaign.View the Summit agenda here Insurance Business readers are encouraged to register early for the best price with the Super Saver offer. Further discounts also apply to group bookings of four delegates.The Insurtech Summit 2018 will be held at the Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney on Tuesday, May 08, 2018.
Lloyds of London chief executive Inga Beale has warned that the financial sector, and other industries, are inadequately prepared to defend themselves against a devastating cyberattack.Beale, who spoke at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, said that if a hacker manages to take down a single cloud service provider, losses could exceed US$50 million, or possibly double that amount. She attributed that to the insurance industrys lack of experience in dealing with massive cyberattacks.Natural disasters have traditionally been the largest threat to insurers, but Beale said that these have been eclipsed by the threat of successful breaches.Lloyds figures show that only 17% of this new age of business functions can be insured, and that insurers estimates of cyberattack damage are quite rough, given their lack of experience dealing with such incidents.There are substantial insurance gaps, as a majority of cyber risks are not covered by any form of insurance, said Beale, as quoted by the South China Morning Post. Just like natural catastrophes, cyber events such as hacker attack or internet failures can cause severe impact on businesses and economies.Beale added that Lloyds is currently working with major insurers in coming up with contingency measures for cyberattacks, and that this area should be the insurance industrys top priority.However, cyber risks dont come from just hackers, she said. Sometimes, a companys own employee can unwittingly expose the firm to a data breach.If an employee presses the wrong button, it may bring the whole system down, Beale said. Staff training is thus of upmost importance to handle such risks.
You may have figured out that I like to watch the insurance news. I mean, I work for the company that produces my favorite insurance news (Insurance Journal) and I dont say that just because I work here. I was an IJ reader before I became the Director of the Academy. Anyway, Im really interested in the what laws are passed and how the different regulators operate. Im actually a fan of the way that insurance regulation in the US has evolved over the last 300 years or so.

An item that is particularly interesting where I live in Florida is the topic of Assignments of Benefits. For those among us who arent dealing with this issue yet, lets define what were talking about before we dig into the problem and maybe what Florida is trying to do to fix it.

An Assignment of Benefits is a simple document that allows someone, other than the insured to receive the money payable by an insurance policy. You signed one the first time you visited your doctor. Its among the stack of paperwork when you first become their patient. Its what allows them to send the bill to your health coverage without you having to pay the whole bill, submit it to the health coverage, and wait for the check to come from them. It makes the whole process of paying for medical needs faster and relatively less painful.

Thats not where the problem has come up. The problem is coming up when there has been a property loss. The insured does what he thinks is right, he contacts a contractor who comes out, examines the damage, creates an estimate, and then tells the insured that they can get started as soon as they sign this little form. Whats that form? You already know that its the assignment of benefits form. What happens next depends on the contractor. An ethical contractor works with the insurance company by providing estimates, letting the adjuster examine the property, makes the needed repairs and charges the insured their deductible amount. The home is repaired, and everyone is happy.

What seems to be happening more often is a little different. Somehow between the signing of the assignment of benefits and contact with the insurance company, either the contractors estimates become inflated or they simply contact their normal attorney, who files suit against the insurance company. In the end, the insurance company ends up paying more for the repair, the insured might end up having to write a check (or worse, end up with incomplete work), and homeowners rates for everyone go up.

I hear you asking if I have a solution to recommend, rather than just complaining about a problem in my state. Thats a fair question to ask. Right off, I dont know what the solution is. Ive read the text of the bill thats before the Florida legislature and it looks like it might help. Do I think itll solve the problem? Not really. I believe that the vast majority of contractors are honest, hard working people who use assignments of benefits to make sure that they get paid for the work that they do. I also believe that most insureds are honest, too. I also believe that there are a few people that think that all theyre doing is taking money from insurance companies and no one gets hurt.

Lets be clear about this, please. Whenever someone causes the costs of an insurance company to go up, like by inflating claims beyond what would be reasonable, those costs are not just absorbed by the insurance company. They arent even just absorbed by those new insuretech companies that promise transparency and giving back. Those costs are absorbed by consumers. In the end, the company will turn a profit somehow. They may not this year, but next year they will. By the way, the contractors (and others that work hard to get extra money out of insurance companies) are making their money, too. In the end, the only one that suffers is the consumer.

Topics Carriers Florida Contractors
Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Brokerage Inc. hired Russell Corner II as a construction and surety specialist.

Corners key responsibilities in this role include managing relationships with current and prospective clients, as well as bringing in new business. He will focus primarily on construction accounts and will also work closely with the companys bonding and surety program.

Russell is based in Massachusetts and has more than 15 years of experience in the construction industry.

Source: Starkweather & Shepley

Topics Construction
An unlicensed home improvement contractor whose false promises left an elderly Massachusetts womans home in ruins and others temporarily homeless is heading to prison.

The Salem News reports that 49-year-old Jaime Ford was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay $214,500 in restitution.

Ford previously pleaded guilty to 42 charges including larceny, forgery, insurance fraud and being a common and notorious thief.

Prosecutors say Ford convinced a Beverly octogenarian he could build an addition on her home. Instead, he left behind a shell and debris containing asbestos.

Prosecutors say Ford used money from his customers on new cars, luxury homes and gambling trips.

Fords attorney had asked the judge for a sentence of probation, saying there are two sides to every story.

Information from: The Salem (Mass.) News

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Fraud Massachusetts Contractors
A federal judge in Philadelphia on Tuesday rejected Wells Fargo & Co.s bid to dismiss that citys lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. mortgage lender of predatory lending targeting black and Hispanic borrowers.

U.S. District Judge Anita Brody said Philadelphia may pursue claims that the banks alleged reverse redlining violated the federal Fair Housing Act, though she had serious concerns about whether claims of economic harm could survive.

Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Goyda said in an email that the decision, while disappointing, in no way suggests that the claims ultimately will prevail. Wells Fargo has been a part of the Philadelphia community for more than 140 years and we are prepared to defend our record as a fair and responsible lender.

Mike Dunn, a spokesman for Philadelphia, said the city looks forward to developing further evidence of Wells Fargos alleged discriminatory practices.

The lawsuit is one of several against big lenders by major U.S. cities claiming that mortgage lending discrimination causes more defaults by minority borrowers, lower property tax revenue, and higher costs to combat crime and blight.

It is separate from the scandal over the creation by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo of unauthorized customer accounts.

The third-largest U.S. bank by assets on Friday said it set aside $3.25 billion last quarter to cover litigation for those accounts and other issues.

Philadelphia accused Wells Fargo of having since 2004 steered minority borrowers into higher-cost, higher-risk loans than white borrowers, even if they qualified for safer loans.

It also said black and Hispanic borrowers were respectively 4.1 times and 2.6 times more likely to go into foreclosure on those costlier, riskier loans.

Wells Fargo countered that Philadelphia could not show that bank policies had a disparate impact on minority borrowers, and that the citys claims could not be substantiated, were too remote from any improper conduct, or were brought too late.

Brody found some direct relation between discriminatory lending and the harms to the citys goals of fair housing and an integrated community, such as reduced minority homeownership or greater impediments for minorities to buy homes.

The judge expressed serious concerns about the viability of the economic injury aspect of the citys claim with regard to proximate cause, but said Wells Fargo did not show why the entire FHA claim should be dismissed.

Philadelphia had 1.57 million residents in 2016, ranking sixth among U.S. cities. The 2010 census said roughly 43 percent of Philadelphians were black and 12 percent were Hispanic.

The case is City of Philadelphia v. Wells Fargo & Co. et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, No. 17-02203.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Related:

Topics Lawsuits USA Legislation
Last week, the U.K. government asked German business leaders for help in securing a good deal with the European Union on financial services. The request deserves to be taken seriously. Europes businesses have much to gain from keeping London as a thriving financial center.

The City is by far the most significant financial hub in Europe. In 2016, the U.K. accounted for more than three-quarters of the EUs foreign-exchange turnover, 85 percent of its hedge-fund assets and nearly a third of its equity-market capitalization, according to a recent report by the European Parliament.

Some in the EU-27 see Brexit as a chance to lure away parts of this business  and theyre right. Yet it wont be easy to replicate the wealth of expertise which the City has built up. In addition, some of Londons financial infrastructure  its system for clearing derivatives, for instance  is complex and delicate. Relocation will be risky, especially if it has to be done abruptly. The Citys customers in the EU have an interest in minimizing this disruption.

[Insurance Journal editors note: The European Union currently has 28 members, including the UK. EU-27 countries are the 27 other EU countries involved in Brexit negotiations with the UK.]

To be sure, the U.K. government cant expect business as usual for the City. When the U.K. leaves the single European market, as Prime Minster Theresa May has said it will, banks and insurers located in the U.K. will lose their automatic passports to operate anywhere in the EU. Many financial-services companies would like to stay in London, but wont be able to once those permissions are lost: The EU-27 accounts for a large part of their revenues.

Still, a compromise ought to be possible. Britain and the EU-27 could agree on some form of regulatory equivalence  under which the EU would recognize that the U.K.s rules are as good as its own. The idea isnt new: Europe already applies the principle of equivalence in its financial-services dealings with other non-EU countries. To be of much use for London, equivalence would need to be extended to new areas of business  but theres no reason why that shouldnt happen. This would give U.K. financial-services firms partial access to the EU market, serving the interests of the U.K. and the EU alike.

The move would still be far from painless. Partial access to the European market is still just that  partial. Britain might have to accept some rules without having any say, and wouldnt be able to let its financial rules diverge much from Europes in future.

For London, and for the Citys EU customers, all this would fall a long way short of simply remaining in the EU and its single market. But a deal along these lines would be vastly better than none, and not just for Britain. Europe, too, has in interest in coming to terms.

Editors: Ferdinando Giugliano, Clive Crook.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Europe London Uk
Canadian financial technology company Ratehub Inc. has raised a $12 million Series A investment led by Elephant, a venture capital firm. Participating in the funding round was Simon Nixon, co-founder of UK-based financial comparison site MoneySuperMarket.

Launched in 2010, Ratehub Inc. connects Canadians with the financial products and services. Ratehub Inc. owns and operates financial product comparison site, Ratehub.ca, and CanWise Financial, a national mortgage brokerage which funds over $1 billion of annual mortgage volume.

The funds will be used to invest in Ratehub.cas other verticals, including credit cards, deposits and insurance. Ratehub is using the investment to build a digital platform that will allow Canadians to go through the entire mortgate process online. It also is planning to launch a new suite of tools in 2018, which will allow Canadians to compare home, auto, and life insurance policies.

Jeremiah Daly, general partner and an Elephant co-founder, has joined Ratehub Inc.s board of directors.

Working with Elephant and Simon Nixon [of MoneySuperMarket] will be a tremendous asset in accelerating Ratehub Inc.s future growth, said James Laird, co-founder of Ratehub Inc. and president of CanWise Financial.

Elephant brings valuable connections and insight into developing a successful online brand, based on their experience at Warby Parker, Allbirds, Scopely, and other leading online brands, said Laird. At the same time, he added, Nixon will bring his expertise in growing a financial comparison website into a billion-dollar company, thanks to his experience with MoneySuperMarket.

Ratehub Inc.s founders have executed on an ambitious vision to build the leading source of financial information for Canadian consumers, alongside a marketplace to connect them with financial institutions, said Daly at Elephant.

They offer a compelling value proposition to both parties that doesnt otherwise exist in Canada, he added. With this initial investment in Ratehub Inc., were looking forward to seeing the company continue to scale and lead the Canadian market.

About Ratehub Inc.

Ratehub Inc. connects Canadians with financial products through its financial product comparison site, Ratehub.ca, and mortgage brokerage, CanWise Financial. Ratehub said more than five million Canadians visit Ratehub.ca every year for recommendations on the best mortgage rates, credit cards, savings accounts and insurance products.

About Elephant

Elephant was launched in 2015 by Jeremiah Daly and Andy Hunt, co-founder of Warby Parker. With offices in Boston and New York, Elephant is currently investing out of its $156 million debut fund.

Source: Ratehub

Topics InsurTech Canada Funding
Two motorcycle manufacturers and their trainers are accused of negligence in a lawsuit over the death of a central Ohio police officer.

Sean Johnson lost control of his motorcycle during an on-duty training ride with fellow officers from Hilliard and fell to his death from an elevated ramp along Interstate 270 in May 2016.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Johnsons estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit last month against Victory Police Motorcycles LLC, Victorys sales director, Polaris Industries Inc., and Polaris trainer. The suit seeking unspecified damages alleges the officers were traveling in close formation but werent properly trained for riding so closely.

The newspaper says Polaris trainer declined to comment, and the other parties couldnt be reached for comment Monday, which was a holiday for many employers.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Auto Law Enforcement Ohio
The U.S. Supreme Court last Friday agreed to review a bid by Schlumberger NV, the worlds largest oilfield services provider, to allow companies to recoup profits lost due to patent infringement when patented technology is used overseas.

The case involves a fight over how much rival ION Geophysical Corp. must pay for infringing Schlumberger technology that helps search for oil and gas beneath the ocean floor. The justices will hear Schlumbergers appeal of a lower court ruling that barred it from recovering more than $93 million stemming from foreign contracts the company said it lost as a result of the infringement.

The case involves four patents owned by Schlumberger subsidiary WesternGeco related to an invention that more efficiently completes marine seismic surveys to help identify oil and gas drilling locations.

ION developed a competing system and sold it to surveying companies abroad. WesternGeco sued in 2009, and a federal jury in Houston, where both firms are based, found that Ion infringed the patents and caused the company to lose contracts. The jury awarded $12.5 million in royalties and $93.4 million in lost profits.

In 2015, the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patent disputes, ruled that Schlumberger could not recoup the lost profits portion, saying U.S. patent law does not apply outside the country.

Schlumberger appealed to the Supreme Court. The company said the ruling will harm innovation by allowing companies to infringe competitors patents while risking minimal punishment.

President Donald Trumps administration, backing Schlumberger, urged the court to take the case.

The court is likely to decide the case by the end of June, when its current term ends.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

Topics USA
Business interruption and cyber incidents interlink as the major threat facing companies over the coming year, according to a report published by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

Allianz revealed that business interruption  including supply chain disruption  ranks as the most important global risk for the sixth year in a row (listed by 42 percent of respondents).

BI scenarios include the physical damage impact of natural catastrophes and fires on facilities and the supply chain as well as new triggers stemming from digitalization and interconnectedness, which have a high financial cost, but usually do not cause physical damage, explained the companys seventh annual risk report.

Titled Allianz Risk Barometer 2018, the report surveyed 1,911 respondents in 80 countries, which included Allianz customers as well as brokers, risk consultants, underwriters, senior managers and claims experts. (The full list of top business risks is included at the bottom of this article.)

The report found that BI and cyber are bound together as a joint threat because cyber incidents, for the first time, are viewed as the most feared BI trigger, while BI is the main cause of economic loss after a cyber incident.

Although cyber BI incidents are indeed rising from hacker attacks, the report noted they are more frequently caused by technical failures and employee error.

The report cited the causes of BI that respondents most fear as:

Cyber incidents (listed as the top concern by 42 percent of respondents)

Fire, explosion (40 percent of respondents)

Natural catastrophes (39 percent)

Supplier failure (30 percent)

Machinery breakdown (23 percent).

BI can have a tremendous effect on a companys revenues, said the report, noting that BI losses for business can often be much higher than the cost of any physical damage.

The average large BI property insurance claims is now in excess of $2 million, which is more than a third higher than the average direct property damage loss of $1.75 million, the report affirmed.

Increasingly, BI losses are triggered by non-traditional risk exposures, which dont cause physical damage but result in lost income, or non-damage business interruption (NDBI), Allianz said.

Businesses still have to deal with traditional exposures, such as natural catastrophes, but they also are challenged by many new triggers, said Volker Muench, global practice group leader, Property, AGCS.

The new BI triggers include digitalization (as data becomes a critical asset), supplier interdependencies, product quality incidents, Muench said, adding that indirect impacts can also be felt from terrorism and political events or strikes, when people stay away from affected areas.

BI impact is easy to underestimate, said Thomas Varney, regional manager Americas, Allianz Risk Consulting, AGCS, who was quoted in the report. Risks can be extremely complex. In many cases, it is difficult to know what the actual exposure is, how to calculate the loss, or even where the actual disruption in the supply chain occurred.

Companies often underestimate the length of time it takes to get back in business after a business interruption, particularly when they must use alternative suppliers, Muench said.

For example, companies may have their own cyber-attack continuity plan, but might have failed to assess the impact of a cyber incident on their suppliers, which prevents them from delivering products or services, he indicated.

Allianz Top Business Risks: 1-10

Although business interruption and cyber are at the top of Allianz global business risks, survey respondents listed eight additional concerns. Here are all the global risks included in Allianz risk barometer for 2018 with the accompanying percentage of respondents:

Business interruption (42 percent)

Cyber incidents (40 percent)

Natural catastrophes (30 percent)

Market developments (22 percent)

Changes in legislation and regulation (21 percent)

Fire, explosion (20 percent)

New technologies (15 percent)

Loss of reputation or brand value (13 percent)

Political risks and violence (11 percent)

Climate change/increasing volatility of weather (10 percent).

Articles covering additional aspects of the Allianz report will be published in the coming days.

Related:

Topics Cyber Allianz
Some Texas coastal towns where Hurricane Harvey made landfall are working to restore tourism and other economic attractions nearly five months after the storm.

Hundreds of businesses in Rockport and Fulton are now open amid recovery efforts assisted by Aransas County and other government officials, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports.

Experts estimate the immediate impact of Harvey added up to $134 million in business losses in the county.

Harvey made landfall Aug. 25, leaving behind destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure in Rockport, with about 10,000 residents. Nearby Fulton, a town of nearly 1,600, also took a heavy hit.

Officials with the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce said about 460 businesses of 1,300 are now operating.

Allison Larsen, a volunteer with International Economic Development Corp., was part of a recent recovery meeting. The areas charm  with special events, hospitality and homegrown businesses  is intact, according to Larsen.

Theres no doubt you have natural assets, she said in a recent presentation in Rockport. Harvey didnt take that away from you.

The gathering was the culmination of a series of workshops examining how best to provide economic stability after disaster.

Immediate plans include investing in Rockport and Fultons downtowns, supporting small businesses and embracing voluntourism  a kind of tourism growing in popularity where visitors seek to combine vacations with volunteering for a cause, the newspaper reported.

Our goal is really to attract volunteers that will spend money in our community and help with recovery, said Luis Puron, executive director of Rockport Center for the Arts.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Texas
The 2018 Florida Legislative Session is underway, and lawmakers have wasted no time taking up legislation to address the assignment of benefits crisis plaguing the state.

While they debate which reform option to back, stakeholders say the Florida Legislature must do something this year to keep an already bad situation from getting worse.

The insurance industry, regulators, and consumer groups have tried unsuccessfully for five years to convince Florida lawmakers to reform the policyholder benefit known as AOB, which allows an insured to sign over their insurance policy rights to a third-party. The insurance industry has continued to call out what they call abuse of AOBs by vendors and attorneys who use an AOB contract to take control of a homeowners policy, inflate a claim, then sue an insurance company that disputes the bill.

Evidence of that abuse is mounting in the form of increased litigation and insurance rates.

According to the Consumer Protection Coalition, a group of business leaders, consumer advocates, real estate agents, construction contractors, insurance agents and insurance trade groups fighting for reforms to AOB abuse, the number of lawsuits involving an AOB grew from 405 in 2006 to more than 28,000 in 2016  an increase of more than 6,800 percent. Last year, 20,000 lawsuits were filed as of July.

But lawmakers have feuded with the industry over the right reforms to enact in previous years, and this year may not be any different.

AOB Data Call

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has also repeatedly spoken up on the need for the Florida Legislature to enact reforms, and has highlighted its own evidence of AOB abuse, primarily fueled by attorneys, contractors, water mitigation firms and roofers. Now, OIR is saying that abuse is only getting worse.

In its most recent data call of water or roof damage homeowners claims closed between Jan. 1, 2015 and June 30, 2017 released last week, OIR found the frequency of water claims per 1,000 policies has increased 44 percent since 2015 and severity has increased by 18 percent. The report looked at detailed information for 144,983 water claims from the top 25 homeowners and dwelling fire writers as of 2015. However, the examination was open to response from all personal residential property writers.

OIR omitted information in the data call from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has borne the brunt of the abuse, stating the state-run insurer of last resort has submitted its own data that has already been examined and reported on.

OIR said Southeast Florida has the highest frequency of water losses, and the region experienced a 60 percent increase in water claims frequency during the two-year period. But the highest combined change in frequency and severity occurred in Central West Florida where there was a 35 percent increase in claim severity between 2015 and 2017, underscoring how the abuse has spread from South Florida to other parts of the state in the last few years. OIR noted that all regions of Florida experienced significant increases in water losses.

When these water loss claims are coupled with an AOB, the severity of a claim is generally at least 85 percent more, according to OIRs data. Since 2015, OIR found the use of AOBs has increased from 12.8 percent of water claims to 17 percent of water claims.

OIR concluded in its report that the increase in both the frequency and severity of water losses, the rising use of AOBs, and the acceleration of those trends over the last several years is resulting in tangible consumer harm. The report states the escalating trends are leading to premium increases for almost all Florida homeowners, and reducing consumer choice as insurers cease writing or begin nonrenewing policies in areas with high water losses.

Absent any intervening changes in the way AOBs are being used today, it is expected that these trends will continue to deteriorate, the report states. This may cause availability issues as insurers struggle to control the rising costs and will result in higher homeowners premiums for all Florida homeowners.

Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier took the release of the data call report as an opportunity to stress the need for lawmakers to enact reform this year, saying the results show a clear sign that Florida is seeing an aggressive rise in the number of water loss claims associated with an AOB

Without a legislative remedy, this problem will lead to an increase in homeowners insurance premiums and lack of consumer choice as insurers stop writing or renewing policies in areas with high water losses, he said.

Proposed Legislative Solutions

So far, lawmakers have shown reforming AOB is a priority, but their approach on how to do so differs greatly between the Florida House and Senate.

Which path lawmakers choose is a point of contention and concern for the insurance industry. Key stakeholders, including trade associations representing insurers and consumers, as well as OIR, are backing a bill that was introduced and passed last year by the Florida House, and which the House already passed again this year.

Stakeholders say of the bills receiving lawmaker support so far, House Bill 7015 would be the most effective because of provisions addressing Floridas one-way attorney fee statute. The statute, designed to be a policyholder protection for those suing an insurance company, has been the main source of abuse, the industry says.

They claim the statute has been exploited by trial lawyers and vendors that obtain an AOB from a policyholder and litigate cases for substantial pay-outs because the statute mandates that attorney fees be paid by the insurer if a claim is found to have been underpaid by any amount.

HB 7015, would chip away at incentives for third parties to sue insurance companies by awarding fees under a formula based on the judgement obtained by the assignee and the pre-suit settlement offer. Under this formula, attorney fees could also be awarded to the insurer, or possibly no one, depending on the amount of the judgment.

Other key features of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jay Trumbull, include:

Allows a policyholder to rescind an assignment agreement for any reason within seven days of signing;

Requires an assignee to provide a copy of the assignment agreement to the insurer within three business days after the assignment agreement is executed or the date of repair work begins;

Requires an assignee to notify the policyholder and the insurer that litigation against the insurer will be filed;

Requires an assignment agreement to contain a written, itemized, per-unit cost estimate of the services to be performed by the assignee. If the estimate includes a claim for water restoration services, it must also include proof that the assignee or subcontractor of the assignee possesses a valid certification from an entity that requires water remediation to be performed to a standard approved by the American National Standards Institute.

Requires OIR to have insurers report data on trends in AOBs and related litigation.

The industry put its support behind HB 7015 once it became clear that the bill the industry backed in 2017 would not be a contender this year. The bill, drafted by OIR and other stakeholders last year and reintroduced for this session as Senate Bill 62, was not given a hearing before the 2018 session started, effectively eliminating its chances of being passed.

Now its up to the Florida Senate to decide if it will take up HB 7015, but many are not optimistic given that Senate lawmakers let the bill die last year.

The Florida Senate has shown preference for Senate Bill 1168 filed by Senator Greg Steube. That bill would not address the states one-way attorney fee statute and would prohibit insurers from passing the cost of litigation in the insurance rate.

The bill also limits an insurers ability to deny coverage because of fraud by an insurance applicant, and further limits the insurers ability to properly adjust an AOB, said a statement by the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida (PIFF).

While the bill includes some very limited consumer protections, the overall effect of this legislation will be increased rates, as insurers avoid the risk of litigation, said Michael Carlson, president of PIFF. This will send a strong signal to the insurance marketplace that Florida is closed for business. Nothing could be worse for the average consumer.

The bill was on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committees Jan. 16 agenda but wasnt considered.

Logan McFaddin, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) regional manager, said getting any meaningful reform passed will be difficult again this year as the trial bar will try to kill anything that alters the states one-way attorney fee statute.

The bottom line is attorney fees are the number one issue, she said.

Topics Lawsuits Carriers Florida Legislation Claims Market Homeowners
Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in Kentucky touted its potential as a viable alternative to ease the states addiction woes from opioid painkillers.

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes joined other advocates at a state Capitol event last week to promote a medical marijuana legalization bill introduced in the state House.

Advocates included Eric Crawford, who had a plastic bag filled with prescription bottles in his lap as he sat in a wheelchair. He suffered spinal cord injuries in a vehicle crash 24 years ago, and many of the prescriptions were to combat pain and relax muscles.

Crawford, who lives in Mason County, said Kentuckians who want to use medical marijuana should not have to fear being treated as criminals.

Its not for everybody to run out and get high, he said. Youre helping sick people.

The bill resulted from work by a task force that Grimes led. The group heard heartbreaking stories from people whose suffering could be eased by medical marijuana, she said.

Kentuckians are begging for an alternative to opioids and prescriptions, Grimes said. The natural remedy is what they are asking for to help with their illness and ailments.

Kentucky continues to be ravaged by opioid-related addictions. Kentucky had more than 1,400 drug overdose deaths in 2016, a 39 percent increase from three years ago.

Grimes, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2014, noted that 29 states have legalized medical marijuana. Grimes called on the Republican-led legislature to make Kentucky the next state to join the list.

Today is a real gut check for every member of the General Assembly, she said. Will they stand up for the citizens of Kentucky or are they merely going to sit in silence?

The legalization bills lead sponsor is Rep. John Sims Jr., D-Flemingsburg.

Medicinal marijuana advocates face a tough challenge. Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer later predicted such a bill wouldnt garner enough votes to pass the Senate.

I am a `no on medicinal marijuana at this time, pending further scientific information that could change my mind, said Thayer, R-Georgetown.

Theres still a stigma around marijuana as a gateway drug, he added.

Kentuckys ban on medical marijuana survived an initial test in court last year, when a circuit court judge ruled that the state has a good reason to curtail citizens possession of a narcotic, hallucinogenic drug.

The ruling came after three people sued the governor and the attorney general and asked a judge to throw out the ban because denying sick people safe medicine is unjust.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cannabis Drugs Kentucky
A casino company said Monday it never had a problem with the shuttle boat that burst into flames off Floridas Gulf Coast, leading to the death of a female passenger.

Tropical Breeze Casino spokeswoman Beth Fifer said the company does not know what caused Sundays huge blaze, which gutted the 12-year-old shuttle boat and forced about 50 passengers to jump into chilly waters off Port Richey.

We are deeply saddened for the loss of our passenger, the 14 injured and anyone else who was affected by this tragedy, Fifer said.

Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point spokesman Kurt Conover said Monday that the passenger arrived at the hospitals emergency room at 10 p.m. Sunday and died shortly afterward. He said she had apparently gone home after the fire but became ill.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiners Office identified the woman as Carrie Dempsey, 42, of Lutz, Florida. Her cause of death has not been released.

Conover said eight other passengers were treated at the hospital and released.

Authorities originally said no injuries were life-threatening.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Michael De Nyse said investigators will determine the cause of the fire and examine the history of the boat and Tropical Breeze Casino.

Helicopter video taken by WTSP-TV early Monday shows the boat was burned down to its hull, with only an American flag on its bow uncharred.

The shuttle boat regularly carried people back and forth from the Tropical Breezes offshore casino, about a 45-minute ride into international waters. There, passengers would play games such as black jack, which is illegal at non-Indian casinos in Florida, and roulette, which is illegal statewide.

The shuttle boat caught fire about 4 p.m. Sunday, quickly engulfing the boat close to shore near residential neighborhoods. Officials said the boat was headed out to the casino ship at the time.

Port Richey Police Chief Gerard DeCanio said the shuttle boat experienced engine problems after leaving the dock at Port Richey, a suburban community about 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of Tampa. But as the vessel turned back, flames kicked up and people began jumping overboard into shallow water, according to witness accounts.

Larry Santangelo, 57, said he had just driven into his neighborhood when he saw smoke and fire and thought a house  possibly his own  was ablaze. But then he realized it was the boat just about 100 yards (90 meters) offshore.

He told the Tampa Bay Times that he then saw people wandering about confused, wet and cold, after they reached land. One woman collapsed upon reaching shore and vomited, he said.

Santangelo said he took about 30 of the passengers into his garage to warm up and recover.

It was so windy and they were soaking wet, said Santangelo. He worried that some might suffer from hypothermia.

It wasnt immediately clear what caused the fire, which sent a huge plume of dark black smoke wafting over sunny skies on an unusually chilly winter day in the Tampa Bay region.

It looked pretty dramatic because the shuttle boat burned really fast, DeCanio told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Another witness told the Tampa Bay Times the shuttle boat passes regularly by his familys home, carrying patrons to and from a casino ship offshore. But he knew something was wrong when he saw smoke and heard shouts and screams.

They didnt have much time to decide whether or not to jump, said Bakr Jandali, 19, who was with his home nearby. The fire was moving fast. It was a hard jump.

Jandali said passengers had to jump about 12 feet (3 meters) from the boat and wade through waist-deep water to shore. There, residents gave them aid.

All of us, my family and the neighbors, brought them towels and water, Jandali said. They were so cold.

News footage at the site showed bedraggled survivors cloaked in blankets trying to warm themselves afterward.

The boat was identified in newspaper reports as the Island Lady, a 72-foot wooden-hulled vessel which Fifer said had been inspected by the Coast Guard.

If we had any type of idea that there was a problem, we wouldnt have left the dock, the cruise spokeswoman told the Tampa Bay Times. There was no inkling that there were any problems with that vessel whatsoever.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida
What Is a Mutual Fund Subadvisor?

A mutual fund subadvisor is a third-party money manager that is hired by a mutual fund company to manage an investment portfolio. Subadvisors are typically sought out by management investment companies because of their expertise in managing a specific strategy.

Key Takeaways A mutual fund subadvisor is contracted out by a main fund advisor or portfolio manager to handle specific facets of an overall strategy.

Typically, a mutual fund company would bring in an outside manager because of that manager's expertise in managing a certain area of the market or specific strategy.

On the upside, sub-advised funds are often managed by experts in a certain strategy, allowing a fund to bring a new strategy to market quickly and competitively.

On the downside for investors, sub-advised funds tend to bring higher fees due to the need to pay both the subadvisor and the overall management company.

1:21 An Introduction To Mutual Funds

How a Mutual Fund Subadvisor Works

Mutual fund subadvisors are associated with the management of sub-advised funds. Management investment companies partner with mutual fund subadvisors to offer mutual funds targeting specific objectives. A management investment company may seek to work with a subadvisor to improve the performance of a particular strategy or to offer a new strategy.

Oftentimes, investment companies will seek a subadvisor to offer a new strategy because of the efficiencies involved with contracting a manager versus building from within.

Agreements and Efficiencies

Since sub-advisory relationships are third-party partnerships involving the management company and a subadvisor, they require extensive legal documentation. Subadvisory agreements include details on the duties of the subadvisor, fund expense management, sub-advisory fees, the duration of the agreement and any collaboration involved between the parties for marketing and distributing the fund.

Third-party subadvisors have expertise in a particular investment strategy. They are utilized to offer funds to investors managed to a specific investment objective. While legal agreements and terms can be extensive, many investment companies will find that they can offer expertise in a certain strategy with lower costs and better operational processing through the development of a sub-advisory relationship.

Advantages and Limitations

Sub-advised funds are often managed by the best managers in a particular strategy. These managers have expertise in all aspects of the funds management, including investment decisions, trading strategies, and operational efficiencies.

A sub-advisory relationship can allow a fund company to bring a new strategy to the market relatively quickly. An investment company may work with a single subadvisor to develop a new customized product or multiple subadvisors for various products. They may also choose to partner with a single subadvisor to build out a diversified group of new products.

One factor potentially limiting investor interest in sub-advised funds are the fees. Fees on sub-advised funds are generally higher because they require compensation to both the subadvisor and the management company. Investors should closely consider the fees of sub-advised funds relative to other fund options. High fees can detract from a funds total return and take value from a shareholder's investment.

Although there are positives and negatives, overall subadvisors can greatly help a fund company to attract new clients and broaden their options for investors.

Leading Subadvisors and Funds

In 2018 there were over 300 sub-advised managers in the market with over $4 trillion in sub-advised assets managed comprehensively. A report from Pensions & Investments presents Wellington Management as the industrys leading subadvisor by assets with over $400 billion in sub-advised assets under management. As of 2020, Wellington is the primary subadvisor for the Hartford mutual funds, which represents a significant portion of its sub-advised assets under management.
A 17-century book by a Czech philosopher forms the basis of an upcoming exhibition at the equally ancient Elizabeth Fort in Cork, writes John Tynan.

Johann Amos Comenius is known as the father of education and he lends his name to an element of the EU Erasmus programme.

His book Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart is still in print and it made an impression on Czech artist Tomas Penc when he learned of it in school.

Penc, while exploring the idea of a collaborative exhibition with Peter Nash, suggested the books themes could inspire their artwork.

Comeniuss allegorical literary work follows a pilgrims journey through the world, at conclusion of which he finds peace in his heart.

This heart is described in the book as an abandoned dwelling in disrepair. We work with this interpretation in the exhibition and draw a parallel between the disused dwellings located in the Elizabeth Fort and the inner life or psychological state of an individual as an intrinsic theme relating to all of us, said Penc, who was smitten with Ireland when he came for a short visit in 2004.

The exhibition will occupy two houses in the fort. We will have seven works, three by me and four by Peter, consisting of sculptures, audio/visual work, animation, projections and drawing.

Nash has purposively adopted processes he feels act as a counter to the technological revolution the world is experiencing.

Im interested in how technology is changing our personal interactions with each other and with the wider world, along with affecting how we access information, said Nash.

Things have changed so fast in my own lifetime and a lot of my work is an attempt to keep up and adapt to this change.

I deliberately use quite archaic, slow-working methods, such as woodcarving and drawing, to investigate these themes, as a counterpoint to the rapidly moving digital age in which we find ourselves.

The exhibition at Elizabeth Fort, Cork, runs from January 26  February 8.
A camp to house Rohingya Muslim and Hindu refugees who return from Bangladesh to Burma will be ready by its promised deadline next week.

More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh since Burmas military launched a brutal crackdown in August following attacks on police posts by a militant group.

Though Burmas army claimed it was a clearance operation against the terrorists, the United Nations, United States and others have said the operations were "ethnic cleansing" to remove the Rohingya from the country, also known as Myanmar.

Burma and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November to repatriate Rohingya and set up a working group last month to oversee the repatriation of people who had fled violence in the northern part of Rakhine state in the west of Burma.

Win Myat Aye, the minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said Burma was hosting a one-day meeting on Monday with Bangladesh officials in the capital Naypyitaw to discuss the logistics of how many Rohingya will be allowed into Burma and how they will be scrutinised to be placed in the camps.

Officials plan to start the repatriation process from January 23.

"We are planning ahead to be able to accept the returnees from next week and we are sure that this will be done on time," Win Myat Aye said.

The UN refugee agency said it is not involved in the process but is willing to play a "constructive role" in the process if allowed, specifically in registering the refugees and helping to determine whether they are returning to Burma voluntarily.

"Our involvement in the process and our full access to areas of return in Myanmar can help to build confidence for all concerned, including the refugees," said Vivian Tan, UNHCRs senior regional communication officer.

In the November agreement, Burmas civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, pledged to take measures to halt the outflow of Rohingya to Bangladesh and restore normalcy in the region.

The UN and rights groups have urged the Burmese government to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya refugees.

Many have questioned whether Rohingya would return to Burma under the current circumstances.

Japans foreign minister on a visit to the country last week urged Suu Kyis government to guarantee the safe and voluntary return of the refugees.

State-run media in Burma reported on Monday the 124-acre Hla Po Khaung camp will accommodate about 30,000 people in 625 buildings and that at least 100 buildings are to be completed by the end of the month.

It would be the first camp built in the repatriation process.

- PA
Burma Audit Finds Unlawful Spending by States, Regions Under Prior Govt

Union Auditor-General U Maw Than. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW  The Auditor-Generals Office says it has found unlawful expenditures of the development funds of the countrys regions and states after reviewing the use of those funds under the previous U Thein Sein administration.

The office sent the results of its audit to the Presidents Office late last year, Auditor-General U Maw Than told reporters in Naypyitaw on Tuesday.

We are just responsible for reporting what we have found, and it is up to the Presidents Office whether or not to take action, he said.

The Auditor-Generals Office examined the development funds of all regions and states and of the Naypyitaw Union Territory. It found that missing funds were modest, except in Magwe and Irrawaddy regions, as well as violations of procedures and regulations.

The way some regional governments spent the funds didnt comply with procedures and regulations. For example, there were miscalculations in spending, and some spent without drawing up budgets, said U Maw Than.

He added that the Presidents Office had yet to issue any instruction in response to the report.

U Maw Than declined to disclose the detailed financial accounts of the regional governments.

The Auditor-Generals Office was assigned by the Presidents Office in June to examine the financial accounts of the previous government following revelations of embezzlement of regional development funds by the former Magwe Region chief minister U Phone Maw Shwe.

U Khin Maung Win, chairman of the Lower House Judicial and Legal Affairs Committee, suggested that the Auditor-Generals Office be more open with the public about the missing funds, citing the example of U Phone Maw Shwe, who returned some of the misappropriated money after the investigation.

He also cited the example of the Mandalay Region government, which revoked permits for more than 100 plots of land that were dubiously granted or leased by the previous regional government during the transfer of power in 2016.

Those cases show that misappropriation exists. In any case, action should be taken against those who are responsible, he said.

The Presidents Office has previously said it would not take action against the former Magwe chief minister in order to stick to its policy of no retrospection.

The officials who ran the Irrawaddy Region government under the previous administration had to explain their spending of regional development funds in May after allegations that they embezzled up to 7 billion kyats ($5.2 million at current exchange rates). The regions former ministers claimed that they donated large portions of the fund to a regional development foundation that they were heading.

We are not finding fault with them. We just want to ensure proper public financial management and put them on the right track, said U Maw Than.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Locals Upset Over IFC Meeting Regarding Salween Hydropower Project

The first large bend in the Salween Riveralso called the Nu Riverin China. / Salween/Thanlwin / Nu River / Facebook

MANDALAY  Action for Shan State Rivers (ASSR) said on Monday that locals were saddened by the meeting of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) concerning the controversial hydropower projects on the Salween River in Shan State.

Despite disagreements, the IFC held a stakeholder discussion in Taunggyi on Monday, without representatives of impacted locals or local civil society organizations (CSOs) present, said Sai Khur Hseng, an ASSR spokesperson.

The ASSR said the discussion was part of a series of meetings to finalize a countrywide strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for hydropower development projects on the Salween River, including Naung Pha dam, which alarms the locals.

The Naung Pha dam, located between Lashio and Hopong townships, is similar to other planned hydropower dams in the region, an armed conflict zone.

Locals, including us, and many other local CSOs, have been against the hydropower projects and the dam building on the Salween River for many years. We were angered and saddened by the ignorance of responsible organizations like the IFC, said Sai Khur Hseng.

Six large hydropower dams are planned to be built along the river in Shan, Karenni and Karen states, which would collectively generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity. Most of the electricity produced from these hydropower dams will be exported to neighboring countries, mainly China.

Since these projects will not benefit the local communities, we do not want them. For developing our region, there are many things to do other than building hydropower dams and selling the powers to other countries, he added.

The locals have been against hydropower development on Salween River for many years, urging for transparency, and concern for natural disasters, as well as environmental and social impacts. Since the dams and hydropower plants projects are located within armed conflict zones, another concern is stability and peace in the region.

The IFC should have called off its assessment as soon as possible, for it is just for the benefit of the Naypyitaw government and hydropower corporations, against the wishes of local communities, said Sai Khur Hseng.

In addition, we want full transparency on these projects. And also, we would like to tell them to think about the armed conflicts and peace in the region, he added.

Earlier this month, the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) issued a statement and called for transparency regarding the building of hydropower dams on the Salween River and in the Irrawaddys Myitsone hydropower projects.

The MATA statement suggested the government develop solar and bio-fuel power instead of planning hydropower and coal power projects, which could impact the environment and social stability in the respective regions.
Specials The Evolution of Yangons New Bus Service

The Irrawaddy

The Yangon Bus Service (YBS) marked its first-year anniversary on Tuesday facing the same hopes and apprehensions as at its birth. But the Yangon government seems committed to making it a success, vowing during Tuesdays celebrations to make it happen. Here are some of The Irrawaddys previous stories on the bus service to help readers understand how the YBS became what it is today.

Yangon Transport Authority Declares YBS a Success on Its 1st Birthday

Authority says plans for this year include launch of cashless payment system

Hopes and Troubles Mark YBS First Anniversary

Despite optimism, unlicensed buses and illegal drivers raise fears for public safety.

The Yangon Bus Service in Numbers

Check a snapshot of the Yangon Bus Services operations based on the latest available data, from December in infographics.

Acer, Excel Myanmar to Bring Cashless Fares to Yangon Bus System

A joint venture between the Burmese and Taiwanese firms was selected to fit the commercial capitals public transit system with a card payment platform.

Despite High Operating Costs, CEO of Yangons New Bus System Remains Optimistic

With bumpy start behind it, transit system chief focuses on boosting fleet size, reaching breakeven in 4-5 years

Rangoon Bus Rollout Gets Mixed Reviews

For residents of Rangoon, this week was full of excitement, dissatisfaction, and frustration as the city embraced a new bus network.

Rangoon Regional Minister Reveals Ambassadors Role in Bus Purchases from China

The planning and finance minister says the purchase of 1,000 new buses for US$56 million was arranged with the help of the Chinese ambassador.

Rangoon Launches New Bus System

Early problems including long waits and overcrowding blamed on a lack of vehicles on first day of operation.

Can Rangoons Traffic Woes be Solved?

Through an improved bus network and a new computerized traffic control system, the government hopes to cut congestion by 40 percent.

Volunteers Jump on Board Regional Govt Launch of New Rangoon Bus System

Hundreds of volunteers are signing up to work with philanthropic groups, the student union, and lawmakers to ease the transition to a new bus service.

New Bus Service for Rangoon Commuters to Launch Next Week

Eight companies to operate 59 bus lines under a new bus service to tackle badly maintained buses, dangerous driving, and unprofessional staff.
Google plans to build three new undersea cables to speed up its connections with new regions as it looks to better its cloud computing business and compete with rivals Amazon and Microsoft.

The three will take to 11 the number of subsea cables that Google has been involved in building, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Other companies have built their own cables too: in September last year, Microsoft announced that it had completed construction of the Marea subsea cable, a joint project with Facebook and global telecommunications infrastructure company Telxius.

Ben Treynor, vice-president of Googles cloud platform, told the newspaper that the only way to grow the company's cloud business was by creating more bandwidth.

He said the existing infrastructure made its network the biggest privately owned, handling about 25% of the worlds Internet traffic.

The longest of the three new undersea cables will be a fully private link between Los Angeles and Chile, a distance of 9977 kms. Google has a data centre in Chile which was built in 2015. The cable has been named Curie after the French scientist Marie Curie.

A second cable, which will run from the US east coast to Denmark, with a stopover in Ireland, will be 7242 kms in length. The Havfrue  Danish for mermaid  will provide additional bandwidth over the Atlantic. Google will share capacity with Facebook on this cable.

The third cable, HK-G, will run for 3862 kms and link Hong Kong and Guam. It will have links to other cable systems that link Australia, East Asia and North America.

The three new cables will enable the linking of five new regions for cloud clients: Montreal, the Netherlands, Los Angeles, Finland and Hong Kong.
Carsales will launch its first ever Kids Coding Camp over two days this January at the company's headquuarters in Melbourne as part of its Go4Tech initiative.

A modern-day connected car is the most literal form of modern mobile tech you can get, but with technology pervasive everywhere, learning to code is an essential 21st century skill.

After all, with Carsales reminding us that "Australia is one of the most digitally connected countries in the world", it is no surprise to see that "businesses are increasingly relying on technology and software solutions to support their operations, now and into the future".

Thus, to help introduce the next generation to the technology industry, Carsales has launched its new Kids Coding Camp, with the first at its HQ in Melbourne, and more to come later this year, and presumably, for the foreseeable future.

Jo Allan, Carsales' chief people officer, said: "We recognise its important to engage with young Australians early in their schooling to excite them about technology and help them pursue their interest in the field.

Our goal at Carsales is to encourage curiosity in tech and help steer those who are passionate about technology in the right direction, especially when choosing school subjects. We want the next generation to have the best possible chance to carve out a successful career in the technology industry.

This guidance is particularly important for young females because currently women only make up around 19% of the tech industry in Australia. [According to the report entitled "SEEK Laws of Attraction Research, 2017."]

"To help bridge this gender gap, Carsales wants to engage with young females early to show them the opportunities, resources and support available to help them thrive in the industry.

Turn phone horizontal to view full image  article continues below, please read on.

We're told the inaugural summer edition of the Carsales Kids Coding Camp "attracted 43 participants, 21 females and 22 males, aged six to 13 years. Over the two days, participants grasped the fundamentals of coding, took part in an array of activities, which included programming concepts using robotic games, and heard from tech industry leaders in a fun, supportive and interactive environment".

Turn phone horizontal to view full image, article continues below.





Jason Blackman, chief information officer at Carsales, was among the leaders who spent some time with the participants.



Our Kids Coding Camp is a great vehicle to enthuse the next generation about creating technology. We will continue to run similar coding camps and look forward to welcoming both new and returning participants to hopefully inspire this next generation to pursue further studies and a career in the industry, Blackman said.



We're advised that "upcoming dates for 2018 carsales.com.au Kids Coding Camps will be released soon," with the ability to register your interest via this email address: go4tech@carsales.com.au
Monash University has selected global IT consulting company Indra as a partner in a project to establish a sustainable electricity Microgrid at its Clayton campus in Melbourne.

Under the project, the existing Microgrid infrastructure, already incorporating one megawatt of roof-top solar generation capacity, will be extended by another three megawatts by the end of 2018. One megawatt hour of storage capacity will also be added.

By 2020, the university expects to be generating seven gigawatt hours of electricity, sufficient to power 1000 homes for a year.

The Microgrid is the InGRID.AGM software platform from Indra which will monitor and process power system operations across the grid through a combination of intelligent processing nodes at the edge of the network and a centralised analytics engine. The nodes use powerful Intel processors over which Indra has developed its InGRID.AGM IoT solution for utilities.

"The ability to have real-time monitoring and management is a critical part of Monash Universitys vision that the Microgrid will become a centrepiece for research and industry engagement, focused on meeting the new needs of the energy sector," said Monash University Net Zero Program director, Tony Fullelove.

"By managing the Clayton campus energy demands and providing ancillary services to the Victorian power grid, the Monash Microgrid will provide a real-world example of how Victoria can keep its energy system affordable and resilient, particularly during peak periods and extreme weather events, while rapidly transitioning the state to a low carbon economy."

Indra Energy solutions manager Giovanni Polizzi said effective monitoring and management of energy systems and loads at a network and customer premise level was a key challenge for the Australian electricity sector.

And, according to Polizzi, the Microgrid, supported by the Indra InGRID.AGM platform, would showcase how these challenges can be overcome.

"By operating in a real-world environment, the Microgrid will help to provide a clearer understanding of how the energy industry can manage networks with consumer-connected generation, storage and smart technologies," he said. "This partnership brings together an acute understanding of the Australian energy market, a world-leading technology provider and cutting-edge implementation and research.

To achieve its net zero target, Monash has committed to spend $135 million on energy transformation over the next 13 years. This will cover energy efficiency measures such as LED lighting, campus electrification, on-site renewable energy and purchase agreements for off-site renewable energy.

The resulting energy savings are expected to to be worth $15 million a year by 2028.
The value of bitcoin has fallen by as much as 25% overnight as news of crackdowns by governments in a number of countries spread.

Bitcoin fell to US$10,388 at 4.37pm in New York yesterday (8.37am Wednesday in Melbourne), its lowest level since early December 2016.

Bloomberg reported that other cryptocurrencies like ripple (40%) and ethereum (26%) also experienced sharp falls.'

South Korea is one of the countries cracking down on cryptocurrencies and it is the third biggest market for such currencies.

On Monday, the Seoul Government issued its strongest warning to date about using bitcoin for trade, saying: Cryptocurrency is not a legally recognised currency."

Neil Wilson, a London-based senior market analyst for online trader ETX Capital, told the news service: "The (South Korean) finance minister made it clear theyre definitely considering banning crypto trading - and its probably the third-largest market.

The news is hitting prices and broader sentiment, and it follows Chinas move to shutter mines.

China moved against cryptocurrencies last year and has stepped up its offensive, particularly against online trading platforms and mobile apps, Bloomberg claimed.

Weve heard reports that South Korea, China and Japan have considered a shared approach, a path, to regulation, Wilson said, also citing a challenge to digital coins from a bill in the US Senate.

It looks like the light touch that has allowed the crypto-boom to explode may be coming to an end, he wrote in a note to investors.

The news agency quoted Steven Maijoor, the chairman of the European Securities and Market Authority as saying that investors should be ready to lose all that they had invested in bitcoin.

It has an extremely volatile value, which undermines its use as a currency, he said. Its also not broadly accepted.
Corporate water consultancy company WaterGroup says millions of dollars in manual water reading costs will now be saved with the use of smart water meters.

According to WaterGroup, with the switching on of Telstras NB-IoT Network, it can now deploy state of the art ultrasonic, intelligent water meters to provide remote online meter readings.

Telstra is Australias largest and fastest mobile network so with their NB-IoT Network now switched on, we can deploy our state of the art ultrasonic, intelligent water meters to provide remote online meter readings, says Guenter Hauber-Davison, managing director of WaterGroup.

This will save millions of dollars in manual water meter reading costs. More importantly, though, it will save many millions of litres of precious drinking water by identifying leakage as and when it happens,

Utilities, can now deploy smart water meters hassle free into residential dwellings, apartments and difficult-to-access basements, due to the deep long range network coverage of NB-IoT.

It will provide utilities ,for the first time ever, with a cost-effective way to truly understand in near real time where the water is going  and where it is lost  In their water distribution network.

Utilities will also for the first time be able to bring the Australian consumer what they want  a future of smart water use monitoring where live consumption data is displayed on their smart phones with corresponding alarms. It will make bill shock and unnoticed leaks a thing of the past.

Hauber-Davison said with growing populations, utilities were obligated to anticipate rising demands. Sydney and Melbourne, home to 40% of all Australians, are expected to accommodate another three million residents each by the mid-2050s.

Smart water management and protecting one of our most important natural resources is essential," he said.

The new NB-IoT enabled ultrasonic, intelligent water meters are expected to collectively save Australian water users 160 million litres of water a year, enough to supply a city of 900,000 residents with water.

Hauber-Davison said during FY 2016/17 alone, WaterGroup had delivered measurable outcomes for its clients including water savings of almost 300 million litres with cost savings of more than $1 million.

For example, less than six weeks after Australian National University engaged WaterGroup to install a smart metering system on its campus, approximately $300,000 in potential water usage savings were identified.
The value of bitcoin has fallen below US$10,000, with the cryptocurrency losing more than half its value since it broke the US$20,000 mark in mid-December.

At 3am GMT yesterday (2am Australian time Thursday), the value of bitcoin was down to US$9555, according to a report from RT.

Glen Zadoya, the head of Analitika Online, a Russian trading firm, told the TV channel: "The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a serious attack from speculators.

The reasons for the sell-off are reports on the strengthening of regulation by the Chinese and South Korean authorities. After that, the exchange rate of many cryptocurrencies fell below important psychological levels.

Alongside the dizzying drop in cryptocurrencies, the market demand for gold coins jumped by a factor of five at one of Europe's biggest online dealers.

CoinInvest director Daniel Marburger said his company had sold about 30kg of gold, worth US$1.2 million in the spot market, on Tuesday.

The fall in the value of cryptocurrencies has been mostly attributed to crackdowns by the South Korean and Chinese Governments.

On Tuesday, a senior Chinese central banker urged the authorities to ban centralised trading of the currencies and also prevent individuals and private businesses that offered related services from doing so.

Reuters reported that it had seen an internal memorandum from government meetings that listed what went on at a meeting of Internet regulators and other policymakers.

People's Bank of China vice-governor Pan Gongsheng was quoted by the news agency as saying Beijing would keep putting pressure on the cryptocurrency business and prevent the build-up of risk.

"Pseudo-financial innovations that have no relationship with the real economy should not be supported," he said.

South Korea, which is said to be the third largest market for cryptocurrencies, is yet to announce what it would do to curb speculation.

On Monday, the Seoul Government issued its strongest warning to date about using bitcoin for trade, saying: Cryptocurrency is not a legally recognised currency."

A petition signed by nearly 2000,000 people  which means the government has to respond to it  has put pressure back on the authorities to consider what they do next.

The Seoul Government has said it would make a final decision after "sufficient consultation and co-ordination of opinions", according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Security firm Trend Micro has helped the UK National Crime Authority to put a man behind bars on three charges of computer offences.

The company said Goncalo Esteves of Essex had pleaded guilty to offences under the Computer Misuse Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Esteves was behind the creation of the crypting services Cryptex Reborn and Cryptex Lite; he admitted his involvement, was charged and pleaded guilty.

The service was a single one, known as Cryptex, until 2011 after which it was forked into full and lite versions, the former selling for US$20 per month or US$30 for a lifetime licence.

A crypting service can encrypt, obfuscate, and manipulate malware, to make it harder to detect by security programs. This helps it to evade detection.

An advertisement for Cryptex listing many of its features.

Esteves also operated a website known as reFUD.me which ran a counter anti-virus service. This service enables people to check files for malware detection and find out which programs can detect it.

"Such services allow users to upload a sample they want scanned, and the sample will then be tested for detection against 30-40 of the best-known AV companies products," according to Trend Micro.

Neither tool is malware in and of itself, but both are used by cyber crooks.

Screenshot: courtesy Trend Micro
Android spyware that has a wide range of functionality has been found by the security firm Kaspersky Lab, which likens it to the wares of Italian company Hacking Team that suffered a major data breach in 2015.

The new spyware, dubbed Skygofree because this name was found in one of the domains listed in its source code, is believed to have been initially developed in 2014.

Thereafter, according to Kaspersky, its functionality has improved. "...remarkable new features (have been) implemented, such as the ability to record audio surroundings via the microphone when an infected device is in a specified location; the stealing of WhatsApp messages via Accessibility Services; and the ability to connect an infected device to Wi-Fi networks controlled by cyber criminals", the company said.

The spyware is spread from websites which host it. "We observed many Web landing pages that mimic the sites of mobile operators and which are used to spread the Android implants," Kaspersky said. "These domains have been registered by the attackers since 2015."

The code and functionality were observed to have changed numerous times, Kaspersky said, noting that that latest version was signed with a certificate valid from 14 September 2017.

The care taken in the coding was reflected in the fact that Skygofree was able to add itself to a list of protected apps on Huawei devices; such apps do not stop working even when the screen is off.

"Given the many artifacts we discovered in the malware code, as well as infrastructure analysis, we are pretty confident that the developer of the Skygofree implants is an Italian IT company that works on surveillance solutions, just like Hacking Team," Kaspersky noted.
A majority of Australian IT decision-makers believe reporting of data breaches to regulators will help prevent cyber crime.

Surveyed by global security vendor Palo Alto Networks, 79% of IT decision-makers agreed that reporting breaches to regulators should be mandatory and 69% believed reporting of data breaches to regulators would help prevent cyber crime.

According to Palo Alto, most organisations understand that cyber security isnt just an IT risk, but rather a business and legal risk, given the vulnerabilities and potential impact  and it says the impact and visibility is about to be even greater due to mandatory data breach notification.

The decision-makers were surveyed ahead of Februarys introduction of mandatory data breach notification requirements in Australia.

According to Palo Alto, one way to prevent data breaches and other types of incidents from occurring is to understand and block against threats to networks and data.

Sean Duca, vice-president and chief security officer, APAC, Palo Alto Networks, says voluntarily sharing cyber threat information  among and between the private and public sectors  is a key tool to understanding the threats and protecting accordingly.

To stay ahead of cyber criminals, its important that businesses see the value in voluntarily sharing cyberthreat information with other businesses and with government. There needs to be a framework around the types of information shared so that businesses feel comfortable sharing cyberthreat information with each other. This is the only way Australian organisations will be able to implement a cyber security posture oriented around prevention of data breaches rather than the far more expensive cure.

Cheng Lim, partner, King and Wood Mallesons, said, Collaboration and engagement between IT, risk and legal departments is critical and essential in preparing for the commencement of the mandatory data breach notification and managing risk generally.

Palo Alto outlines six steps it says businesses IT and legal departments can take to prepare for the mandatory data breach notification scheme:

1. Review the organisations data collection practices and policies, and ensure personal information is collected and stored only if necessary.

2. Audit security risks to personal information held by the organisation and any held by third parties (such as cloud providers) on the organisations behalf.

3. Consider how internal data-handling and data-breach policies should be updated to reflect the new requirements.

4. Conduct table top exercises to test the effectiveness of the organisations incident response plan.

5. Review steps in place to avoid data breaches (for example, physical security of laptops and papers, cybersecurity strategies, or ways to reduce administrative errors).

6. Review contract management and ensure due diligence on contractors policies and appropriate contractual terms, particularly in the areas of dealing with data breaches, IT security and personal information storage and collection.

Organisations need to make sure their IT, risk and legal teams work together to put a solid breach notification and communication plan in place. Such a plan can help avoid the associated PR disasters and possible litigation that may follow a breach. It could be the difference between retaining or losing clients and reputation, Duca said.
Mobile network operators should take a leadership role in the inevitable transformation of their industry as mobile and fixed networks slowly move towards bridging the divide between them, a leading telecommunications analyst says.

In a blog post, Paul Budde, arguably Australia's best-known telecommunications analyst, said the mobile telecommunications industry was resisting change, but the players should see the reality and transform themselves, else technology would do it for them.

He said the changes in the fixed telecommunications industry had been the operators being pushed back into the infrastructure utility market. As a result, there had been a drop in their market valuations.

"The major use of mobile phones is in data (95%+) and the use of data will only increase," Budde noted. "That means that in order to be able to handle all of this broadband traffic the underlying backbone network needs to be fibre-based."

Most city-based mobile base stations were linked to fibre optic networks. The advent of 5G would speed up the connection of more towers to fibre as only a fibre network could handle the increased broadband traffic that would result, he observed.

Independent operators were slowly taking over the operation of mobile towers as it was not economical for mobile operators to run their own towers and deploy a fibre network, Budde said.

As most NBN connections were fibre-to-the node, there was a chance for mobile operators to provide competition if they had deep fibre networks. "For example, a last-mile 5G connection to directly compete with the NBN... could open up more market opportunities for mobile virtual network operators."

He said that the NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, would have to decide on its next move after the network was completed in 2020. "Fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-curb are the most likely options here, and 5G is certainly one of the options to drive proper high-speed broadband into peoples homes."

Budde said a convergence was taking place. "Increasingly the backbone networks for the mobile operators will mimic the NBN and there will be little room for duplication of these networks  4G and 5G access points are their nodes in the mobile networks. So wireless will increasingly be a last-mile retail element rather than a basic network."

He said changes in the market were already evident in the US where MNO valuations were falling while those of tower operators were going in the opposite direction.

"Rather than resisting change the MNOs should take a leadership role in the transformation of the industry, especially with the inevitable changes that are going to occur in the post-NBN 2020 period. A holistic approach will be needed instead of one that is aimed at protecting a sharp divide between mobile and fixed networks," Budde said.
Faculty Book Launch to Celebrate Works of Plath, Theune

Jan. 16, 2018

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University English faculty members James Plath and Michael Theune each authored a book published in 2017: Everything Shapes Itself to the Sea (by Plath) and We Need to Talk: A New Method For Evaluating Poetry (by Theune).

A faculty book launch celebrating the works of Plath and Theune will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 4 p.m. in the Merwin Gallery of the Joyce G. Eichhorn Ames School of Art Building (6 Ames Plaza West, Bloomington). The event is free and open to the public.

Inspired by his time living and working in the Caribbean for a semester in 1995, Everything Shapes Itself to the Sea is a collection of poems that recounts Plaths experience. A Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Plath taught American literature courses at the University of the West Indies-Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. In addition to spending time with his wife on an extended honeymoon, Plath met with literary publishers and journalists from the islands two newspapers and invested in a rumshop to help a friend he met on the island prevent the business from foreclosure.

Our time in Barbados was such a visceral experience that I absolutely had to write about it, and poetry seemed to best fit the rhythms of the island, Plath said, noting that the poems were written over the years, from the time he was on the island to last year. I hope that I was able to capture both the atmosphere and some of the contradictions of living in paradise.

Plath has taught creative writing, journalism, American literature, and film at Illinois Wesleyan for the past 30 years. A previous feature writer for a Milwaukee newspaper, Plath worked as editor-publisher of the award-winning arts journal Clockwatch Review and was a member of the literature panel of the Illinois Arts Council. Plath currently serves as president of The John Updike Society, which organized in May 2009 at the American Literature Association conference in Boston.

Proposing a new method for evaluating poetry, Theunes book We Need to Talk: A New Method for Evaluating Poetry , is co-authored by Bob Broad, a professor of English at Illinois State University. The book aims to answer the question of how people judge the success of poetic verse and suggests why and how people who care about poetry should communally explore and document their shared and conflicting values.

People often think of what they value as something stable and certain, and they believe they can sort out their values by thinking more deeply about them, Theune said. However, values rarely behave this way. Rather, they're quirky, even quark-like--sometimes particles, sometimes waves. And, so, to get a better sense of what one really values, one needs a new method.

Broad and Theunes method, Poetry Dynamic Criteria Mapping (PDCM), focuses on first, listening in on real-world arguments about poetic values which occur in editorial meetings, on judges panels, and in poetry workshops, and then analyzing these values and ultimately sharing them. In this way, we can discover with much greater accuracy what we really value in poetry, Theune said.

The first book to provide the background and theory, as well as a practical, working model, for the evaluation of creative writing, Theune said the PDCM method was influenced by Broads work in rhetoric and composition.

Bob's an expert in the evaluation of writing, so it was a professional pleasure to work with him, Theune said. While this book took a great deal of work, it was a deep joy to make and convey our discoveries with my friend.

A professor of English, Theune is also Director of the Writing Program at Illinois Wesleyan. He co-curated Voltage Poetry, and is a founding editor of the Keats Letter Project. In addition to publishing a number of poems, essays and reviews, Theune is currently co-editing Keats Negative Capability: New Origins and Afterlives.

Having taught graduate courses in writing assessment, pedagogy, writing studies and research methods, Broad has additionally published numerous articles and chapters. He is also the author of What We Really Value: Beyond Rubrics in Teaching and Assessing Writing, published in 2003.

Wednesdays event will include a combination of reading and workshop featuring readings from Plaths book. Following the readings, Theune and Broad will lead a discussion of Plaths poems to demonstrate their new method. Refreshments will be served and books will be available for sale and signing.

By Vi Kakares '20
Residents hoping to bring joy to local children this Christmas are encouraged to partake in the Enhancing the Lives of Families program (also known as E.L.F. 2022)  made possible through the collaboration between The Cane Bay Library and the Dorchester Children's Advocacy Center  that aims Read moreBerkeley, Dorchester groups unite for Operation E.L.F. 2022
Almost two years of preparation involving over 200 meetings, 30 subcommittees, and so on. Thats just a quick look at Joyce Rabins work as Chair of Together in Israel: Our Pride, Our Purpose. Hadassahs 100th National Convention. (Hadassah, which was founded in 1912, held its first conventi Read moreS'ville resident helps organize 100th national of Hadassah, The Womens Zionist Organization of America
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IMEMC News |  

The second-highest decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decided Monday to call on the executive committee to suspend recognition of Israel until Israel recognizes the existence of Palestine, and annuls its annexation of Jerusalem, marking the latest fallout from Donald Trumps December 6th claim of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The PLO will cease all security cooperation with Israel, and will cease the cooperation of the Paris Agreement, which had tied the Palestinian economy to the Israeli economy.

The statement from the Central Council said, in part, Since Israel has voided all signed agreements through its constant violations of these agreements, the Central Council affirms that the direct goal is an independent Palestinian state, which involves moving from self-rule to having a state, by achieving sovereignty of the state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Council called on the international community to work on ending the Israeli occupation, using all of the past UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, to achieve Palestinian sovereignty and an independent Palestinian state.

They called on countries to boycott Israeli settlement products, and to publish the database which includes the list of companies which bring products from the settlements.

The Council called for adopting the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) call, denouncing Israeli apartheid as a racist regime that is being imposed in place of a Palestinian state, rejecting any temporary solutions  especially regarding borders, rejecting any recognition of Israel as a Jewish state (which implies the denial of the existence and rights of the millions of non-Jews who live there), affirming the unity agreement signed in 2011 between the Palestinian factions, and affirmed again in 2017, and assuring a political partnership under the PLO as the only representative of the Palestinian people.

The Council affirmed the legitimate right of resistance to the occupation, as stated by international law, and called for support of the non-violent resistance movement in Palestine.

They also affirmed the urgent need to assist the Palestinians in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine, who are facing expulsion, home demolitions, and constant violations by Israel. They called on all Arab countries to follow through on their commitments of support to the Palestinian people.

The Council decided to take all needed measures to assist the Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip.

They decided to continue the work on the international level to provide protection for the Palestinian people, as stated in Security Council Resolution 605 in 1987, 672 and 673 in 1990, Resolution 904 of 1998, and to ensure the implementation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which calls for protecting civilians living under foreign military occupation.

They decided to continue the international work to call for full membership at the United Nations for the state of Palestine.

The Council also decided to submit the cases of settlements, political prisoners, and the Israeli wars on Gaza to the International Criminal Court, and they also decided to continue filing more applications to international organizations and agencies.

Unofficial translation of the statement (by WAFA):

Statement issued by the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

January 14, 2018

Ramallah, Palestine

The Palestine Liberation Organizations Central Council held its twenty-eighth ordinary session, under the name Jerusalem the eternal capital of the State of Palestine, between January 14  15 2018 in the city of Ramallah, in the presence of President Mahmoud Abbas.

A total of 87 members out of 109 members attended the session, while a number of members were unable to attend because they were arrested or prevented by Israel.

President of the Central council Salim Al-Zanoun began the session by saying that The time has come for our Palestinian Central Council, that is representing the Palestinian National Council, which took the decision to establish the Palestinian National Authority to be the core of the state, to decide its future and function and to reconsider the recognition of the State of Israel until it recognizes the State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital and accept the refugees return based on resolution 194.

Al-Zanoun stressed that the Central Council rejects any ideas that are being circulated as part of the so-called deal of the century, because they violate international law and resolutions of the international community and seek to impose a deficient solution that does not meet the minimum of Palestinians legitimate rights.

He called for finding other international pathways under the auspices of the United Nations to sponsor solving the Palestinian cause.

He said, Our success in facing these risks and challenges requires accelerating the steps of implementing reconciliation and ending the division, and developing a plan to strengthen national partnership within the framework of the PLO, as the supreme national political and legal reference for our people.

Al-Zanoun proposed to hold a session of the National Council, in which both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad will be invited with the task of reshaping, choosing or electing a new national council, as stipulated by the system of elections of the National Council.

We respect and appreciate the position of Arabs and their support for the Palestinian cause. We demand the implementation of the decisions of the Arab summits on Jerusalem, especially the Amman summit of 1980, which called for severing all relations with any state that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or transfers its embassy to it.

He stressed that the sacrifices and struggles of prisoners in Israeli jails obligate Palestinians to provide all forms of support and that the dignity of Palestinians remains above any consideration.

Meanwhile, President Abbas reiterated commitment to a two-state solution based on international resolutions, the Arab peace initiative on the 1967 borders, the cessation of settlements expansion and unilateral actions. He affirmed that Palestinians will continue to seek the Security Council until full membership is achieved.

He stressed that Palestinians will not accept what the US attempts to impose, and that the PLO will reconsider its relations with Israel, yet engage in any serious peace negotiations under the auspices of the UN.

Following are the resolutions issued by the Central Council:

First: US recognition of Jerusalem

1. To condemn and reject the decision of US President Donald Trump, recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and transferring his countrys embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and work to reverse this decision.

2. The Council considered that the US administration, by announcing this decision, has lost its eligibility to function as a mediator and sponsor of the peace process and will not be a partner in this process unless the decision is reversed.

3. The Council stressed its rejection of President Trumps policy that is aimed at presenting a project or ideas that contravene the resolutions of international community to resolve the conflict, which revealed its essence by declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Council stressed the need to abolish the Congresss decision to consider the PLO as a terrorist organization since 1987, and the State Departments decision to close the Office of the PLO general delegation in Washington on November 17, 2017.

Second: The relationship with Israel (the occupation):

In light of the withdrawal of the occupying state from all agreements and revoking them by practice and imposing a fait accompli, and with the Central council stressing that the direct goal is the independence of the State of Palestine, which requires transition from self-governing to the stage of a state that is struggling for independence, with East Jerusalem as its capital and on the borders of 4 June 1967, in implementation of the resolutions of the National Council, including the Declaration of Independence in 1988, and relevant UN resolutions, including the General Assembly resolution 67/19 of 29/11/2012, as the political and legal basis for Palestinians reality, and the affirmation of adherence to the territorial unity of the State of Palestine, and the rejection of any divisions or facts imposed contrary to that;

The Central Council decided that the transitional period stipulated in the agreements signed in Oslo, Cairo and Washington, with its obligations no longer stand.

1.The Central Council calls upon the international community to assume its responsibilities on the basis of relevant UN resolutions to end the occupation and enable the State of Palestine to achieve its independence and to exercise its full sovereignty over its territory, including its capital, East Jerusalem, on the borders of 4 June 1967.

2.Assign the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization to suspend recognition of Israel until it recognizes the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and revokes the decision to annex East Jerusalem and expand and build settlements.

3.The Central Council reaffirms its decision to stop security coordination in all its forms and to break away from the relationship of economic dependence established by the Paris Economic Agreement, to achieve the independence of the national economy. It requests the Executive Committee of the PLO and the institutions of the State of Palestine to start implementing this.

4.Continue to work with world countries to boycott Israeli colonial settlements in all fields, to work on publishing the database for companies operating in Israeli settlements by the United Nations and to emphasize the illegality of Israeli colonial settlements since 1967.

5.Adopt the BDS movement and call on world countries to impose sanctions on Israel to put an end to its flagrant violations of international law and to end its continued aggression against the Palestinian people and the apartheid regime imposed on them.

6.Reject and condemn the Israeli occupation and apartheid that Israel is trying to enshrine as an alternative to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and affirm the determination of the Palestinian people to resist by all means.

7.Reject any proposals or ideas for transitional solutions or interim stages, including the so-called state with temporary borders.

8.Refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Third: The internal Palestinian situation:

1.Adhere to the reconciliation Agreement signed in 2017 and its execution mechanisms, the latest of which is the Cairo agreement in 2017 and the provision of means of support for its implementation, and enable the Government of National unity to assume its responsibilities fully in the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Amended Basic Law, and then conduct general elections and hold the Palestinian National Council session no later than the end of 2018 in order to achieve political partnership within the framework of the PLO, the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian people, and work to form a government of national unity in order to strengthen the political partnership and the unity of the Palestinian political system.

2.Affirm the right of our people to exercise all forms of resistance against the occupation in accordance with the provisions of international law and to continue to activate, support and strengthen the peaceful popular resistance.

3.Affirm the need to support Palestinians and their steadfastness in the eternal capital of the State of Palestine, Jerusalem and affirm the need to support their struggle against the Israeli measures aimed at Judaizing the Holy City.

4.Take all measures to support our people in the Gaza Strip, who faced the Israeli aggression and the Israeli siege and provide the support they need, including freedom of movement, access to health, the reconstruction and the mobilization of the international community to break the siege.

5.The Central Council condemns the leaking of the property by the Greek Orthodox church to Israeli institutions and companies and calls for accountability of those responsible. It supports the struggle of the Palestinian people from the Orthodox community in order to preserve their rights and their role in administering the affairs of the Orthodox Church and preserving its property.

Fourth: The Security Council, the General Assembly and the International Criminal Court:

1.Continue to work to provide international protection to the Palestinian people in the territory of the occupied State of Palestine (West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) based on the Security Council resolution 605 for the year (1987), 672 (1967) and (1990), 904 of (1998), and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 (Protection of Civilians in Time of War).

2.Continue to work to strengthen the status of the State of Palestine in international forums and activate the request for full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations.

3.Provide referral on various issues (settlement, prisoners, aggression on the Gaza Strip) to the International Criminal Court.

4.Continue to join to international institutions and organizations, including the specialized agencies of the United Nations.

Fifth: The Arab and Islamic levels:

1.Call for activating the resolution of the 1980 Amman Summit, which obliges the Arab states to sever all ties with any state that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfers its embassy to it, which has been reaffirmed in a number of other Arab summits with the request of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states to do the same.

2.Adhere to the Arab peace initiative and reject any attempts to change or alter it and maintain its priorities.

3.Work with the Arab countries (The Arab League), the Islamic countries (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement to hold an international conference with full powers to launch the peace process and in coordination with the EU countries, Russia, China, Japan and other international groups on the basis of relevant international resolutions and benefit from the outcomes of the 2017 Paris conference in a way as to ensure the end of the Israeli occupation and the empowerment of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders and exercise its independence and sovereignty and to resolve the refugee issue on the basis of UN Resolution 194 and other final status issues in accordance with the resolutions of the international community within a specific time frame.

4.The League of Arab States, the OIC, the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Union must stand firm in front of world countries that violated the resolutions of these collective frameworks on voting against the United Nations General Assembly resolution on Jerusalem 21/12/2017.

5.The Central council condemned US threats to cut aid to UNRWA, which is seen as a way for the US to abandon its responsibility over a refugee crisis that it has aided in creating and calls on the international community to commit itself to securing the necessary funds for UNRWA, which would put an end to the continued decline in the Agencys services and instead improve its role in providing basic services to the victims of the Nakbah and ensure a decent life for refugees as a responsibility that the international community should fulfill in accordance with resolution 194.

6.The Central Council rejects foreign intervention in Arab countries and calls for a political solution and dialogue in order to end the crises and wars experienced by some Arab countries. It calls for maintaining the unity of these countries and defying attempts to divide and alleviating the suffering of Arabs.

Sixth: Develop mechanisms to implement the decisions of the previous Central Council to represent women by at least 30% in all institutions in the State of Palestine and to harmonize the laws in accordance with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Seventh: The Central Council salutes the masses of Palestinians in refugee camps and exile camps in Syria, Lebanon and the Diaspora who affirm their adherence to the right of return every day. The Executive Committee is mandated to continue and intensify work with the Palestinian communities in the world and to communicate with international parties to mobilize support in facing decisions that aim to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Eighth: The Central Council salutes the struggle and steadfastness of the prisoners in the Israeli jails and calls for their support in their daily confrontation and calls on national and international institutions to bring up their cases in all forums until their release. The Council condemns the arrest and intimidation of children, including Ahed Tamimi, which has become a symbol of Palestinian pride in the face of occupation as well as dozens of other children.

It condemns the deliberate killings and field executions committed by Israel, as well as the killing of Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, and condemns the continued detention of the bodies of Palestinians in the numbers graves, and calls for their unconditional release.

Ninth: The Central Council salutes Palestinians for their response to President Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfer the US Embassy to it. It salutes the souls of Palestinians who rose for Palestine and al-Aqsa.

Via IMEMC News



Related video added by Informed Comment:

Al Jazeera Arabic: PLO ?? Central Council recommends suspending recognition of Israel
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By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) |  

As 2017 ended with billionaires toasting their tax cuts and energy executives cheering their unfettered access to federal lands as well as coastal waters, there was one sector of the American elite that did not share in the champagne celebration: Washingtons corps of foreign policy experts. Across the political spectrum, many of them felt a deep foreboding for the countrys global future under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

In a year-end jeremiad, for instance, conservative CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria blasted the Trump administrations foolish and self-defeating decision to abdicate the United States global influence  something that has taken more than 70 years to build. The great global story of our times, he continued, is that the creator, upholder, and enforcer of the existing international system is withdrawing into self-centered isolation, opening a power vacuum that will be filled by illiberal powers like China, Russia, and Turkey.

The editors of the New York Times remarked ruefully that the presidents boastfulness and belligerence and tendency to self-aggrandizement are not only costing America worldwide support, but also isolating it. Discarding the polite bipartisanship of Washingtons top diplomats, Obamas former national security adviser, Susan Rice, ripped Trump for dumping principled leadership  the foundation of American foreign policy since World War II  for an America first stance that will only embolden rivals and weaken ourselves.

Yet no matter how sharp or sweeping, such criticism cant begin to take in the full scope of the damage the Trump White House is inflicting on the system of global power Washington built and carefully maintained over those 70 years. Indeed, American leaders have been on top of the world for so long that they no longer remember how they got there. Few among Washingtons foreign policy elite seem to fully grasp the complex system that made U.S. global power what it now is, particularly its all-important geopolitical foundations. As Trump travels the globe, tweeting and trashing away, hes inadvertently showing us the essential structure of that power, the same way a devastating wildfire leaves the steel beams of a ruined building standing starkly above the smoking rubble.

The Architecture of American Global Power

The architecture of the world order that Washington built after World War II was not only formidable but, as Trump is teaching us almost daily, surprisingly fragile. At its core, that global system rested upon a delicate duality: an idealistic community of sovereign nations equal under the rule of international law joined tensely, even tenuously, to an American imperium grounded in the realpolitik of its military and economic power. In concrete terms, think of this duality as the State Department versus the Pentagon.

At the end of World War II, the United States invested its prestige in forming an international community that would promote peace and shared prosperity through permanent institutions, including the United Nations (1945), the International Monetary Fund (1945), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947), the predecessor to the World Trade Organization. To govern such a world order through the rule of law, Washington also helped establish the International Court of Justice at The Hague and would later promote both human rights and womens rights.

On the realpolitik side of that duality, Washington constructed a four-tier apparatus  military, diplomatic, economic, and clandestine  to grimly advance its own global dominion. At its core was an unmatched military that (thanks to hundreds of overseas bases) circled the globe, the most formidable nuclear arsenal on the planet, massive air and naval forces, and an unparalleled array of client armies. In addition, to maintain its military superiority, the Pentagon massively promoted scientific research, producing incessant innovation that would lead, among so many other things, to the worlds first system of global telecommunications satellites, which effectively added space to its apparatus for exercising global power.

Complementing all this steel was the salve of an active worldwide diplomatic corps, working to promote close bilateral ties with allies like Australia and Britain and multilateral alliances like NATO, SEATO, and the Organization of American States. In the process, it distributed economic aid to nations new and old. Protected by such global hegemony and helped by multilateral trade pacts hammered out in Washington, Americas multinational corporations competed profitably in international markets throughout the Cold War.

Adding another dimension to its global power was a clandestine fourth tier that involved global surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and covert operations on five continents by the Central Intelligence Agency. In this way, with remarkable regularity and across vast expanses of the globe, Washington manipulated elections and promoted coups to insure that whoever led a country on our side of the Iron Curtain would remain part of a reliable set of subordinate elites, friendly to and subservient to the U.S.

In ways that to this day few observers fully appreciate, this massive apparatus of global power also rested on geopolitical foundations of extraordinary strength. As Oxford historian John Darwin explained in his sweeping history of Eurasian empires over the past 600 years, Washington achieved its colossal Imperium on an unprecedented scale by becoming the first power in history to control the strategic axial points at both ends of Eurasia through its military bases and mutual security pacts.

While Washington defended its European axial point through NATO, its position in the east was secured by four mutual defense pacts running down the Pacific littoral from Japan and South Korea through the Philippines to Australia. All of this was, in turn, tied together by successive arcs of steel that ringed the vast Eurasian continent  strategic bombers, ballistic missiles, and massive naval fleets in the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, and the Pacific. In the latest addition to this apparatus, the U.S. has built a string of 60 drone bases around the Eurasian landmass from Sicily to Guam.

The Dynamics of Decline

In the decade before Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, there were already signs that this awesome apparatus was on a long-term trajectory of decline, even if the key figures in a Washington shrouded in imperial hubris preferred to ignore that reality. Not only has the new presidents maladroit diplomacy accelerated this trend, but it has illuminated it in striking ways.

Over the past half-century, the American share of the global economy has, for instance, fallen from 40% in 1960 to 22% in 2014 to just 15% in 2017 (as measured by the realistic index of purchasing power parity). Many experts now agree that China will surpass the U.S., in absolute terms, as the worlds number one economy within a decade.

As its global economic dominance fades, its clandestine instruments of power have been visibly weakening as well. The NSAs worldwide surveillance of a remarkable array of foreign leaders, as well as millions of the inhabitants of their countries, was once a relatively cost-effective instrument for the exercise of global power. Now, thanks in part to Edward Snowdens revelations about the agencys snooping and the anger of targeted allies, the political costs have risen sharply. Similarly, during the Cold War, the CIA manipulated dozens of major elections worldwide. Now, the situation has been reversed with Russia using its sophisticated cyberwarfare capabilities to interfere in the 2016 American presidential campaign  a clear sign of Washingtons waning global power.

Most striking of all, Washington now faces the first sustained challenge to its geopolitical position in Eurasia. By opting to begin constructing a new silk road, a trillion-dollar infrastructure of railroads and oil pipelines across that vast continent, and preparing to build naval bases in the Arabian and South China seas, Beijing is mounting a sustained campaign to undercut Washingtons long dominance over Eurasia.

Fortress America

During just 12 months in office, Donald Trump has accelerated this decline by damaging almost all the key components in the intricate architecture of American global power.

If all great empires require skilled leadership at their epicenter to maintain what is always a fragile global equilibrium, then the Trump administration has failed spectacularly. As the State Department is eviscerated and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discredited, Trump has  uniquely for an American president  taken sole control of foreign policy (with the generals he appointed to key civilian posts in tow).

How, then, do those who have been in close contact with him in this period assess his intellectual ability to adapt to such a daunting role?

Although since his election campaign Trump has repeatedly bragged about his excellent education at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School as a qualification for office, he started there in the late 1960s thinking he already knew everything about business, prompting his marketing professor, who taught for more than 30 years, to brand him the dumbest goddam student I ever had. That brash unwillingness to learn carried into the presidential campaign. As political consultant Sam Nunberg, sent to tutor the candidate on the Constitution, reported, I got as far as the Fourth Amendment before his eyes are rolling back in his head.

As Michael Wolff has recounted in his bestselling new book on the Trump White House, Fire and Fury, a few months later, at the close of a phone conversation with the president-elect about the complexities of the H-1B visa program for skilled immigrants, media mogul Rupert Murdoch hung up and said, What a fucking idiot. And last July, as no one is likely to forget, after a top-secret Pentagon briefing for the White House principals on worldwide military operations, Secretary of State Tillerson seconded that view by privately labeling the president a fucking moron.

Its worse than you can imagine. An idiot surrounded by clowns, one White House aide wrote in an email, according to Wolff. Trump wont read anything; not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers; nothing. He gets up half-way through meetings with world leaders because he is bored. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh claimed that dealing with the president was like trying to figure out what a child wants.

Those qualities of mind are amply evident in the administrations recent National Security Strategy report, a vacuous document that wavers between the misguided and the delusional. When I came into office, Trump (or at least whoever was impersonating him) writes darkly in a personal preface, rogue regimes were developing nuclear weapons to threaten the entire planet. Radical Islamist terror groups were flourishing Rival powers were aggressively undermining American interests around the globe Unfair burden-sharing with our allies and inadequate investment in our own defense had invited danger.

In just 12 short months, however, the president  so his preface indicates  had singlehandedly saved the country from almost certain destruction. We are rallying the world against the rogue regime in North Korea and the dictatorship in Iran, which those determined to pursue a flawed nuclear deal had neglected, that preface continues in a typically Trumpian celebration of self. We have renewed our friendships in the Middle East to help drive out terrorists and extremists Americas allies are now contributing more to our common defense, strengthening even our strongest alliances We are making historic investments in the United States military.

Reflecting his administrations well-documented difficulties with the truth, almost every one of those statements is either inaccurate, incomplete, or irrelevant. Setting aside such details, the document itself reflects the way the president (and his generals) have abandoned decades of confident leadership of the international community and are now trying to retreat from an extraordinarily dangerous world into a veritable Festung America behind concrete walls and tariff barriers  in some eerie way conceptually reminiscent of the Atlantic Wall of beachfront bunkers Hitlers Third Reich constructed for its failed Festung Europa (Fortress Europe). But beyond such an obviously myopic foreign policy agenda, there are vast areas, largely overlooked in Trumps strategy, that remain critical for the overall maintenance of American global power.

All you have to do is note headlines in the daily media over the past year to grasp that Washingtons world dominion is crumbling, thanks to the sorts of cascading setbacks that often accompany imperial decline. Consider the first seven days of December, when the New York Times reported (without connecting the dots) that nation after nation was pulling away from Washington. First, there was Egypt, a country which had received $70 billion in U.S. aid over the previous 40 years and was now opening its military bases to Russian jet fighters; then, despite President Obamas assiduous courtship of the country, Myanmar was evidently moving ever closer to Beijing; meanwhile, Australia, Americas stalwart ally for the last 100 years, was reported to be adapting its diplomacy, however reluctantly, to accommodate Chinas increasingly dominant power in Asia; and finally, there was the foreign minister of Germany, that American bastion in Europe since 1945, pointing oh-so-publicly to a widening divide with Washington on key policy issues and insisting that clashes will be inevitable and relations will never be the same.

And thats just to scratch the surface of one weeks news without even touching on the kinds of ruptures with allies regularly being ignited or emphasized by the presidents daily tweets. Just three examples from many will do: President Pena Nietos cancelation of a state visit after a tweet that Mexico had to pay for Trumps prospective big, fat, beautiful wall on the border between the two countries; outrage from British leaders sparked by the presidents retweet of racist anti-Muslim videos posted on a Twitter account by the deputy leader of a neo-Nazi political group in that country, followed by his rebuke of British Prime Minister Theresa May for criticizing him over it; or his New Years Day blast accusing Pakistan of nothing but lies & deceit as a prelude to cutting off U.S. aid to that country. Considering all the diplomatic damage, you could say that Trump is tweeting while Rome burns.

Since there are only 40 to 50 nations with enough wealth to play even a regional, much less a global role on this planet of ours, alienating or losing allies at such a rate could soon leave Washington largely friendless  something President Trump found out in December when he defied numerous U.N. resolutions by recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital. The White House soon got a 14-1 reprimand from the Security Council, with close allies like the Germans and the French voting against Washington. This came after U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had ominously warned that the U.S. will be taking names to punish countries that dared vote against it and Trump had threatened to cut aid to those that did. The General Assembly promptly voted 128 to 9 (with 35 abstentions), to condemn the recognition  eloquent testimony to Washingtons waning international influence.

Next, lets consider the historic investments in a central pillar in the architecture of American global power, the U.S. military, mentioned in Trumps National Security Strategy. Dont be distracted by the proposed whopping 10% increase in the Pentagon budget to fund new aircraft and warships, much of which will go directly into the pockets of giant defense contractors. Focus instead on what once would have been inconceivable in Washington: that the proposed Trump budget would slash funding for basic research in strategic areas like artificial intelligence likely to become critical for automated weapons systems within a decade.

In effect, the president and his team, distracted by visions of shimmering ships and shiny planes (with their predictable staggering future cost overruns), are ready to ditch the basics of global dominion: the relentless scientific research that has long been the cutting edge of U.S. military supremacy. And by expanding the Pentagon while slashing the State Department, Trump is also destabilizing that delicate duality of U.S. power by skewing foreign policy ever more toward costly military solutions (that have proved anything but actual solutions).

Starting on the campaign trail in 2016, Trump has also hammered away at another pillar of American power, attacking the system of global commerce and multilateral trade pacts that have long advantaged the countrys transnational corporations. Not only did he cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which promised to direct 40% of world trade away from China and toward the United States, but hes threatened to void the free-trade pact with South Korea and has been so insistent on recrafting NAFTA to serve his America first agenda that ongoing negotiations may well fail.

The Crumbling U.S. Geopolitical Position

As serious as all that might be, Trump revealed the deepest damage he was capable of doing to the geopolitical foundations of the countrys global power in two key moments on his trips to Europe and Asia last year. In both places, he signaled his willingness to deliver hammer blows to Washingtons position at those strategic axial ends of Eurasia.

During a visit to NATOs new headquarters in Brussels in May, he chastised European allies, whose leaders reportedly listened stone-faced, for failing to pay their fair share of the military costs of the alliance and, while he was at it, refused to reaffirm NATOs core principle of collective defense. Despite later attempts to ameliorate the damage, that sent shudders across Europe and for good reason. It signaled the end of more than three-quarters of a century of unchallenged, unquestioned American supremacy there.

Then, at an Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Vietnam in November, the president launched a tirade against multilateral trade agreements and insisted that he would always put America first. It was as if, in an Asia in which China was rising fast, he were again announcing that Washingtons post-World War II supremacy was an artifact of history. Appropriately enough, at that same meeting, the remaining 11 Trans-Pacific partners, led by Japan and Canada, announced major progress in finalizing the TPP agreement he had so symbolically rejected  and did so without the United States. The U.S. has lost its leadership role, commented Jayant Menon, an economist at the Asian Development Bank. And China is quickly replacing it.

Under Trump, in fact, Washingtons close relations with three key Pacific allies continue to weaken in visible ways. During a courtesy phone call upon taking office, Trump gratuitously insulted Australias prime minister, an act that only highlighted that countrys mounting alienation from the U.S. and a growing inclination to shift its primary strategic alliance toward China. In recent polls when asked what country they preferred as a primary ally, 43% of all Australians chose China  a once-unimaginable transformation that Trumps version of diplomacy is only reinforcing.

In the Philippines, the inauguration of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016 brought a sudden shift in the countrys foreign policy, ending Manilas opposition to Beijings bases in the South China Sea. Despite an aggressive courtship by Trump and a certain temperamental affinity between the two leaders, Duterte has continued to scale down the joint military maneuvers with the U.S. that were an annual event for his country and has refused to reconsider his decisive tilt toward Beijing. That realignment was already evident in a leaked transcript of an April phone call between the two presidents in which Duterte insisted that the resolution of the North Korea nuclear issue should rest solely with China.

It is, however, on the Korean peninsula that Trumps limitations as a global leader have been most evident. In two uncoordinated, ill-informed initiatives  denigrating the Korean War-era U.S. alliance with South Korea and demanding total nuclear disarmament by the North  Trump fostered a diplomatic dynamic that has allowed Beijing, Pyongyang, and even Seoul to outmaneuver Washington.

During his presidential campaign and first months in office, Trump repeatedly insulted South Korea, demeaning its culture and demanding a billion dollars for installing an American missile defense system. No one should then have been surprised when Moon Jae-in won that countrys presidency last year on a say no to America platform and on promises to reopen direct negotiations with the North Korea of Kim Jong-un. Then, during a state visit to Washington last June, the new South Korean leader was blindsided when Trump called the free-trade agreement between their two countries not fair to the American worker and blasted Moons proposal for negotiating with Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un oversaw 16 rocket tests in 2017 that left his country with missiles that could potentially deliver a nuclear weapon to Honolulu, Seattle, or even by years end New York and Washington, while testing its first hydrogen bomb. Convinced that North Korea seeks the capability to kill millions of Americans, Trump became obsessed with curtailing Pyongyangs nuclear program by any means, even threatening last August to unleash on that country fire and fury like the world has never seen.

Within days, however, then-White House strategist Steve Bannon exposed the empty bluster of all of this by telling the press, Theres no military solution until somebody solves the part of the equation that ten million people in Seoul dont die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons. So the threats failed and Trump flailed, repeatedly trash-tweeting Kim Jong-un as little Rocket Man and bragging that his own nuclear button is much bigger than the North Korean leaders. These 12 months of bizarre, destabilizing presidential twists and tweets, almost without precedent in the annals of modern diplomacy, have pushed Seoul toward direct talks with Pyongyang  excluding Washington and weakening what had been a rock-solid alliance.

In the war of nerves with North Korea over its missile tests, Trumps strategy of triangulation with China (that is, Washington nudges Beijing, Beijing shoves Pyongyang) has already inflicted a major, unrecognized defeat on American power in the Pacific. For the last six months, to encourage Beijing to pressure Pyongyang, the White House has suspended the freedom of navigation patrols that challenge Beijings spurious claims to territorial control over the South China Sea, effectively conceding this strategic waterway to China.

In a deft bit of dissimulation, Beijing has made a show of cooperation with Washington by expressing grave concerns over Pyongyangs missile tests and imposing nominal sanctions, while playing a longer, smarter strategic hand. In the process, it has been working to curtail joint American-South Korean military maneuvers and neutralize the U.S. Navy in what China considers its home waters.

In this diplomatic edition of The Art of the Deal, Beijing is trumping Washington.

Taking Down the Empire

Quite understandably, many Americans have focused on the damage Trumps first months in office have done domestically, from opening pristine wilderness areas and offshore waters to oil and natural gas drilling to threatening access to medical care, skewing the progressive tax code to favor the rich, cancelling net neutrality, and voiding environmental protections of every sort. Most if not all of these regressive policies can, however, be repaired or reversed if the Democrats ever take control of Congress and the White House.

Trumps strikingly inept version of one-man diplomacy in the context of Americas ongoing global decline is an altogether different matter. World leadership lost is never readily recovered, particularly when rival powers are prepared to fill the void. As Trump undercuts the U.S. strategic position at the axial ends of Eurasia, China is pressing relentlessly to displace the United States and dominate that vast continent with what New York Times correspondent Edward Wong calls a blunt counterpoint synonymous with brute strength, bribery and browbeating.

In just one extraordinary year, Trump has destabilized the delicate duality that has long been the foundation for U.S. foreign policy: favoring war over diplomacy, the Pentagon over the State Department, and narrow national interest over international leadership. But in a globalizing world interconnected by trade, the Internet, and the rapid proliferation of nuclear-armed missiles, walls wont work. There can be no Fortress America.

Alfred W. McCoy, a TomDispatch regular, is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, the now-classic book which probed the conjuncture of illicit narcotics and covert operations over 50 years, and the recently published In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power (Dispatch Books).

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 Alfred W. McCoy

Tomdispatch.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2018) - Bluestone Resources Inc. (TSXV: BSR) ("Bluestone" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update regarding the permitted Mita Geothermal project ("Mita") located adjacent to Bluestone's Cerro Blanco Gold project in Guatemala. Bluestone's Board of Directors has approved a flow test program to further test select geothermal wells with the goal of upgrading the confidence level of the known geothermal reservoir. The data collected will provide the basis for the development strategy going forward. Flow testing is expected to commence in February and be completed by the end of March. In preparation for the testing, construction of the necessary infrastructure has already commenced with the installation of pipelines, pumps, sumps, downhole logging equipment, and monitoring equipment.

Bluestone's President and CEO, Darren Klinck, commented "We believe there is considerable unrealized value in the Mita Geothermal project as evidenced by more than US$60 million invested in the project in the past, the market value of such geothermal projects once in production, and importantly, the direct alignment with the Guatemalan government's focus on transferring base load power generation to renewable sources such as geothermal."

The multi-well flow test program will:

Collect fundamental static and dynamic resource data for use in future resource modeling and utilization; and

Provide a quantitative and realistic prediction of resource performance for an updated project design (wellhead pressure, flow rates, enthalpy, injection pressure, and duration of sustainable commercial production).

Since 2009 many of the geothermal wells at Mita were flow tested with various short-term, single well flow tests. While there were no four-week, multi-well flow tests completed, the data gathered from those tests was used in selecting the wells for the upcoming test program.

Mita Geothermal Project Overview

The Mita geothermal resource was discovered in the late-1990s during gold exploration in southeastern Guatemala. The geothermal resource is located adjacent to Bluestone's Cerro Blanco Gold deposit with the Company controlling the necessary surface rights for both projects.

Previous operators spent approximately US$60 million permitting and advancing the Mita Geothermal project. A total of 19 geothermal wells have been drilled up to depths of 1,500 meters to delineate the geothermal resource including nine slim holes and ten standard-diameter wells. An internal Goldcorp pre-feasibility study on the Mita geothermal project was completed in 2011 and later a feasibility study in 2013, both internal studies returned positive economics.

In 2015 a 50-year license was granted to build and operate a 50 MW geothermal power plant. The Mita Geothermal project was part of an integrated dewatering and power generation strategy with the Cerro Blanco gold project before it was put on care and maintenance in 2012.

It is projected that beneath the Mita geothermal concession, a deeper geothermal reservoir exists at depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters. Geothermometry projects temperatures of 220+C. The geothermal fluids migrate up a major fault system creating an intermediate geothermal reservoir (600-900 meters) at temperatures up to 200+C, which has been encountered by existing geothermal exploration wells. The development of a potential deeper geothermal reservoir could provide additional power generation to utilize the permitted capacity of up to 50 MW.

The Guatemalan power grid is located 8 km from the Mita Geothermal project. Over the past few years, electrical infrastructure has been upgraded to this part of the country significantly shortening the distance from the project to the main grid.

The government, through the National Electrical Energy Commission, announced that it is preparing to issue an RFP for 420 megawatts of power, of which 40 megawatts is to be reserved specifically for geothermal energy.

While the Cerro Blanco gold project is not dependent on the Mita Geothermal project, Bluestone's management believes that there are potential synergies between the two that enhance the economics of the Cerro Blanco gold project beyond what was outlined in the Preliminary Economic Assessment available at www.sedar.com.

About Bluestone Resources

Bluestone Resources is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its 100% owned Cerro Blanco gold and Mita geothermal projects located in Guatemala. The Cerro Blanco Project economics, as disclosed in the Company's Cerro Blanco Preliminary Economic Assessment which is available at www.sedar.com, and updated mineral resource estimate for Cerro Blanco indicates a robust project with an expected nine-year mine life producing 952,000 ounces of gold and 3,141,000 ounces of silver. Initial capital expenditures estimated in the PEA to fund construction and commissioning is estimated at US$170.8 million with all-in sustaining cash costs (as defined per World Gold Council guidelines, less corporate general and administration costs) estimated to be US$490 per ounce of gold produced. The Company trades under the symbol "BSR" on the TSX Venture Exchange.
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (Kirkland Lake Gold or the Company) (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today announced the Companys full-year guidance for 2018, which includes increased production, improved unit costs and higher levels of capital and exploration expenditures in support of the Companys objective of growing annual gold production over the next five to seven years to approximately a million ounces. Included among planned investments in 2018, are initial capital expenditures for a new shaft at the Macassa mine (see section, Macassa Shaft Project). All dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

Highlights of 2018 guidance include:

Production growth to over 620,000 ounces

to over 620,000 ounces Improved unit costs , with operating cash costs and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce sold expected to average $425  $450 and $750  $800, respectively 1

, with operating cash costs and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce sold expected to average $425  $450 and $750  $800, respectively Exploration expenditures estimated at $75  $90 million in 2018, with $60  $75 million targeted for Australia aimed at achieving continued growth of the Swan Zone and other high-potential areas at Fosterville, and in support of resuming operations at the Cosmo mine in the Northern Territory

estimated at $75  $90 million in 2018, with $60  $75 million targeted for Australia aimed at achieving continued growth of the Swan Zone and other high-potential areas at Fosterville, and in support of resuming operations at the Cosmo mine in the Northern Territory Sustaining capital expenditures of $150  $170 million, with higher sustaining capital expected at Fosterville related to elevated levels of development in support of mining to lower depths, establishing additional mining fronts and sustaining operations over multiple years

of $150  $170 million, with higher sustaining capital expected at Fosterville related to elevated levels of development in support of mining to lower depths, establishing additional mining fronts and sustaining operations over multiple years Growth capital expenditures of $85  $95 million, with key capital requirements including expenditures for a new shaft (see section, Macassa Shaft Project) and tailings impoundment area at Macassa, as well as the bulk of growth capital required at Fosterville to achieve the mines target of over 400,000 ounces of annual production by 2020.

Tony Makuch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: Our 2018 business plan includes strong performances at each of our operating mines, leading to higher consolidated production and improved unit costs compared to 2017. It also outlines an important year of investment, both to ensure the long-term sustainability of current operations and for investing to achieve our longer-term objective of reaching a million ounces of annual gold production. Towards that objective, we see a clear path to reaching over 400,000 ounces per year from both Fosterville and Macassa. Fosterville is targeted to reach this level within three years as we achieve full production at the Swan Zone and commence production from additional mining fronts. Macassas path to over 400,000 ounces will take longer and will involve sinking a new shaft. The new shaft will benefit Macassa in many ways, including de-risking the operation, supporting more effective underground exploration, improving working conditions, in addition to increasing production and lowering unit costs. We also plan to increase production at our Taylor Mine and, with continued exploration success, are working towards resuming operations in the Northern Territory2 of Australia. With production from all sources, we are working to make Kirkland Lake Gold a million ounce per year gold producer within five to seven years.

In support of our growth plans, we are increasing our commitment to exploration in 2018, with a focus on Australia. At Fosterville, we are planning extensive exploration programs aimed at continuing to grow the Swan Zone, expanding Harrier South, extending the Lower Phoenix and Robbins Hill mineralization and investigating a number of other regional targets. We will also be completing significant exploration work in the Northern Territory of Australia, where we will be developing into, and drilling, the Lantern Deposit at the Cosmo mine, and drilling several additional high-potential targets in the region. In Canada, exploration drilling will be mainly focused on continuing to extend the South Mine Complex at Macassa and expanding gold mineralization at Taylor.

2018 Guidance

Macassa Taylor Holt Fosterville Consolidated Gold production (,000 ozs) 215  225 60  70 65  75 260  300 +620 Op. cash costs ($/oz)1 475 - 500 625  650 625  650 270  290 $425 - $450 AISC/ounce sold ($/oz)1 $750 - $800 Operating cash costs ($M)1 $260 - $270 Royalty costs ($M) $22 - $27 Sustaining capital ($M) $150  $170 Growth capital ($M) $85  $95 Exploration ($M) $75  $90 Corporate G&A ($M)3 $20  $22

Review of 2018 Guidance

Consolidated gold production in 2018 is targeted at over 620,000 ounces, an increase from the 596,405 ounces produced in 2017. Production is expected to increase at both Macassa (2017 production of 194,237 ounces) and Taylor (2017 production totaled 50,764). Production at Holt is expected to be similar to the 2017 production level of 66,677 ounces. Fosterville is also targeting to have similar production to 2017, when the mine produced 263,845 ounces, as the impact of mining lower-grade stopes, due to mine sequencing, is offset by the benefit of initial stope production from the Swan Zone in the second half of 2018. The wide target range for production at Fosterville reflects the potential for production growth to be achieved in the event that the mine continues to benefit from positive grade reconciliations, as was the case throughout much of 2017.

in 2018 is targeted at over 620,000 ounces, an increase from the 596,405 ounces produced in 2017. Production is expected to increase at both Macassa (2017 production of 194,237 ounces) and Taylor (2017 production totaled 50,764). Production at Holt is expected to be similar to the 2017 production level of 66,677 ounces. Fosterville is also targeting to have similar production to 2017, when the mine produced 263,845 ounces, as the impact of mining lower-grade stopes, due to mine sequencing, is offset by the benefit of initial stope production from the Swan Zone in the second half of 2018. The wide target range for production at Fosterville reflects the potential for production growth to be achieved in the event that the mine continues to benefit from positive grade reconciliations, as was the case throughout much of 2017. Operating cash costs per ounce sold are expected to average $425  $450, which compares to current full-year 2017 guidance of $475  $500 and the average for the first nine months of 2017 of $508 4 . The improvement is largely expected to result from higher grades at the Macassa mine in 2018.

are expected to average $425  $450, which compares to current full-year 2017 guidance of $475  $500 and the average for the first nine months of 2017 of $508 . The improvement is largely expected to result from higher grades at the Macassa mine in 2018. All-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce sold are targeted at $750  $800 in 2018, compared to the current full-year 2017 guidance of $800  $825 and the nine-month 2017 average of $811 4 . The anticipated improvement in AISC per ounce sold in 2018 mainly reflects the expected improvement in operating cash costs per ounce sold.

are targeted at $750  $800 in 2018, compared to the current full-year 2017 guidance of $800  $825 and the nine-month 2017 average of $811 . The anticipated improvement in AISC per ounce sold in 2018 mainly reflects the expected improvement in operating cash costs per ounce sold. Operating cash costs for 2018 are estimated at $260  $270 million, which compares to the current guidance for year-end 2017 of $270  $280 million and total operating cash costs in the first nine months of the year of $217 million 4 .

for 2018 are estimated at $260  $270 million, which compares to the current guidance for year-end 2017 of $270  $280 million and total operating cash costs in the first nine months of the year of $217 million . Royalty costs in 2018 are estimated at $22  $27 million compared to current guidance for 2017 of $20  $25 million 4 and total royalty costs of $15.2 million in the first nine months of the year.

in 2018 are estimated at $22  $27 million compared to current guidance for 2017 of $20  $25 million and total royalty costs of $15.2 million in the first nine months of the year. Sustaining capital expenditures in 2018 are targeted at $150  $170 million. The 2018 guidance compares to the Companys guidance for total capital expenditures in 2017 of $160  $180 million, with all but approximately $15 million related to sustaining capital 4 . Higher sustaining capital expenditures are expected at Fosterville in 2018 reflecting planned investments that will support multiple years of production. Included in the investments is extensive underground development to access and commence production from the Swan Zone in the Lower Phoenix gold system and from the Harrier South Zone in the Harrier gold system. Also included in sustaining capital expenditures at Fosterville will be upgrades to the mines mobile equipment fleet and investments in the grinding, gravity and BIOX circuits in the Fosterville mill.

in 2018 are targeted at $150  $170 million. The 2018 guidance compares to the Companys guidance for total capital expenditures in 2017 of $160  $180 million, with all but approximately $15 million related to sustaining capital . Higher sustaining capital expenditures are expected at Fosterville in 2018 reflecting planned investments that will support multiple years of production. Included in the investments is extensive underground development to access and commence production from the Swan Zone in the Lower Phoenix gold system and from the Harrier South Zone in the Harrier gold system. Also included in sustaining capital expenditures at Fosterville will be upgrades to the mines mobile equipment fleet and investments in the grinding, gravity and BIOX circuits in the Fosterville mill. Growth capital expenditures are estimated at $85 - $95 million in 2018. Of planned growth capital expenditures, approximately $45 million are at Macassa, and relate to the commencement of two key multi-year projects, the sinking of a new shaft (see section entitled, Macassa Shaft Project, which follows) and construction of a new tailings impoundment area, with the latter targeted for completion in 2019. Work on the shaft project during 2018 is expected to focus primarily on completing permitting, engineering, procurement, ramp excavation and surface construction. Growth capital at Fosterville in 2018 is estimated at approximately $35 million with major projects planned for the year including a new ventilation system, involving driving two vent raises, construction of a paste fill plant and establishment of a new water treatment plant in support of future production growth and effective environmental management.



are estimated at $85 - $95 million in 2018. Of planned growth capital expenditures, approximately $45 million are at Macassa, and relate to the commencement of two key multi-year projects, the sinking of a new shaft (see section entitled, Macassa Shaft Project, which follows) and construction of a new tailings impoundment area, with the latter targeted for completion in 2019. Work on the shaft project during 2018 is expected to focus primarily on completing permitting, engineering, procurement, ramp excavation and surface construction. Growth capital at Fosterville in 2018 is estimated at approximately $35 million with major projects planned for the year including a new ventilation system, involving driving two vent raises, construction of a paste fill plant and establishment of a new water treatment plant in support of future production growth and effective environmental management. Exploration expenditures in 2018 are expected to increase4, to $75  $90 million, with approximately $60  $75 million to be targeted for the Companys Australian operations. Expenditures in Australia will focus on drilling and underground exploration development activities at Fosterville as well as at the Cosmo mine in the Northern Territory, where the Company is working towards resuming mining operations after placing the mine on care and maintenance in June 2017. At Fostervile, drilling during the year will focus on extending known mineralized zones at Swan, Lower Phoenix, Harrier, and Robbins Hill, and also test for new mineralized structures. In addition, approximately $10 million is being directed to the LODE (Large Ore Deposit Exploration) program at Fosterville, which includes greenfield drilling, surface soil sampling, gravity and 3-D seismic geophysical surveys, and reconnaissance exploration on newly granted exploration licenses. In the Northern Territory of Australia, planned exploration programs at the Cosmo mine involve underground development and drilling to improve the understanding of the Lantern Deposit and support resource definition and expansion. In addition, drill programs are also planned at the formerly-producing Prospect open pit at Union Reefs, Maud Creek and other targets on the Northern Territory land position. Exploration expenditures in 2018 for the Northern Territory are largely focused on supporting the establishment of a five-year production plan for the Cosmo mine and Union Reefs mill that is sufficiently attractive to support a resumption of operations. Approximately $15 million of the planned exploration expenditures at Cosmo relate to care and maintenance expenses while operations remain suspended. Lower levels of exploration expenditures are planned for the Companys Canadian operations in 2018. At Macassa, underground drilling will continue to focus on resource replacement and expansion. Deep surface drilling at Macassa is being discontinued while the Company sinks the new shaft, which will support more effective and efficient underground exploration programs going forward. Drilling at Taylor in 2018 will continue to target additional expansion of mineralization around the Shaft and West Porphyry deposits. There is no exploration drilling planned for the Holt and Holloway mines in 2018

Corporate G&A3 expense in 2018 is targeted at $20  $22 million, similar to the current target for full-year 2017 of $20 million.

Macassa Shaft Project

Among planned investments in 2018 are initial capital expenditures related to a new shaft at the Macassa mine. The new, 21.5-foot diameter, concrete-lined shaft will offer a number of important benefits to the Macassa mine, including: de-risking the operation; enabling more effective underground exploration to the east of the South Mine Complex; improving ventilation and general working conditions in the mine; and supporting higher levels of production and lower unit costs. The new four-compartment shaft will have a total hoisting capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day (ore and waste) and is an important component of the Companys plan to increase production at Macassa with a goal of reaching over 400,000 ounces per year over the next five to seven years.

Construction of the shaft will be completed in two phases. The first phase will be to a depth of 5,450 feet and include a mid-shaft loading pocket. Completion of phase one is targeted for the second quarter of 2022 at a capital cost estimated at $240 million (approximately $40 million of expenditures planned in 2018). Phase two of the project will be undertaken following the commencement of production from phase one, and will involve extending the shaft to an ultimate depth of approximately 7,000 feet. Completion of phase two is targeted for the end of 2023 at an estimated capital cost of approximately $80 million. The Company has not completed a National Instrument 43-101 level feasibility study on the shaft project.

Qualified Persons

Pierre Rocque, P.Eng., Vice President, Canadian Operations and Ian Holland, FAusIMM, Vice President Australian Operations are qualified persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved disclosure of the technical information and data in this news release.

About Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is a mid-tier gold producer with 2018 production targeted at over 620,000 ounces of gold from mines in Canada and Australia. The production profile of the company is anchored from two high-grade, low-cost operations, including the Macassa Mine located in Northeastern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine located in the state of Victoria, Australia. Kirkland Lake Gold's solid base of quality assets is complemented by district scale exploration potential, supported by a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

For further information on Kirkland Lake Gold and to receive news releases by email, visit the website www.klgold.com.

Footnotes

Operating cash costs, operating cash cost/ounce sold and AISC/ounce sold are Non-IFRS Measures and reflect an average US$ to C$ exchange rate of 1.250 and a US$ to A$ exchange rate of 1.250. See Non-IFRS Measures set out starting on page 27 of the Companys MD&A for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 for further details about these Non-IFRS Measures. The most comparable IFRS Measure for operating cash costs, operating cash costs per ounce sold and AISC per ounce sold is production costs as presented in the Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income. The Companys Cosmo mine and Union Reefs mill in the Northern Territory of Australia was placed on care and maintenance effective June 30, 2017 (see News Release dated May 4, 2017). A portion of the Companys 2018 capital and exploration expenditures will be incurred in the Northern Territory as the Company works to resume operations at higher levels of production, higher grades and lower costs. Corporate G&A expense Includes general and administrative costs and severance payments. The Companys full financial results for full-year 2017 will be released in late February 2018. As such, comparisons in this press release involving financial measures included in the Companys 2018 guidance are made to existing 2017 guidance, as well as the Companys nine-month 2017 results.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward looking statements and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of Kirkland Lake Gold with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and include information regarding: (i) the amount of future production over any period; (ii) assumptions relating to revenues, operating cash flow and other revenue metrics set out in the Company's disclosure materials; and (iii) future exploration plans.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect Kirkland Lake Gold's management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although Kirkland Lake Gold believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the combined company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the future development and growth potential of the Canadian and Australian operations and anticipated timing thereof; the future exploration activities planned at the Canadian and Australian operations and anticipated effects thereof; the ability to increase annual production in accordance with the projected timelines; the timing, costs and benefits associated with the Macassa Shaft Project and the anticipated effects thereof; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of Kirkland Lake Gold and market conditions. This information is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in filings made by Kirkland Lake Gold, including its annual information form, financial statements and related MD&A for the financial year ended December 31, 2016 and the financial statements and related MD&A for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017 filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Kirkland Lake Gold has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Kirkland Lake Gold does not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSX:MUX) acquired the Black Fox Complex in October 2017 in a strategic investment that increases our gold production, provides excess milling capacity, and significantly expands our mineral resource base and exploration potential in the Timmins district of Canada. Exploration is the principal focus at Black Fox for 2018. A $10 million property-wide exploration program that will include approximately 330,000 feet (100,000 metres) of drilling is underway. The main objectives are to test for extensions of existing resources, follow-up on significant drill results, and to investigate new exploration targets.

The Black Fox Complex is composed of two land packages that cover 7 miles (11 km) along the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault, known internationally as the Golden Highway. The combined production from the purchased properties totals over 950,000 ounces of gold. The Black Fox mine was initially in production from 1997 to 2001. It was re-commissioned in 2009 and has operated continuously since then, producing a total of 821,000 ounces of gold from an open pit and underground mine. Although there is a history of exploration and production, the land packages appear underexplored to depth and along trends. The 2018 exploration budget has been almost tripled from the previous year and will consist of approximately 200,000 feet (60,000 m) of surface drilling and 130,000 feet (40,000 m) of underground exploration and delineation drilling.

We are very pleased with the addition of the Black Fox Complex to our portfolio and to announce an aggressive exploration program to assess the full potential of the property.

Black Fox has all the criteria characteristic of great exploration projects including: prime location within a prolific mining region, high gold endowment, presence of high-grade mineralization, multiple prospective structural trends, as well as various styles of mineralization and host rock types.

Despite successful past exploration, the property remains largely under-explored and the upside potential is considered excellent. We anticipate that our 2018 exploration program will result in the growth of known deposits, and lead to new discoveries of gold and base metal mineralization. - Sylvain Guerard, Senior Vice-President Exploration.

When McEwen purchased the Black Fox Complex, the last release of exploration results had occurred one year earlier in Q3 2016, and there was a significant backlog of unassayed drill core. Therefore, this release includes the undisclosed results from late 2016 and 2017, along with new drill results generated since the purchase (see Tables 1 to 3 for complete drill information).

2017 Black Fox Mine Exploration Highlights

In 2017, Black Fox underground exploration was focused on extensions of existing resources proximal to the mine infrastructure, and areas below and along the flanks of the deposit where potential exists for new discoveries. Through this exploration program, several advanced development targets including the High Quartz (HQ), extensions of the Deep Central (DC), and the Far East zones, were brought into the conceptual mine plan. Additional exploration targets include the Far West, Gap, and deeper below the DC (see Figure 1).

High Quartz (HQ)

Drilling in the HQ, carried out from an exploration drift at the 1,700 ft (520 m) elevation, and targeting mineralization at the 2,000-2,600 ft (600-800 m) elevation, had positive results. Highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 520-EX286-05 grading 43.6 g/t gold over 1.61 m, 330 ft (100 m) west of the DC, centered on the 2,300 ft (700 m) elevation.

Deep Central (DC)

Exploration drilling was directed down plunge of the DC and tested for extensions at 2,600-4,000 ft (800-1200 m) elevation. This drilling proved technically challenging from available drill stations due to poor ground conditions. Highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 520-EX346-17 grading 7.2 g/t gold over 3.89 m at the 3,000 ft (910 m) elevation; and

at the 3,000 ft (910 m) elevation; and Hole 520EX-346-23 grading 39.6 g/t gold over 5.13 m at the 2,700 ft (830 m) elevation.

Definition drilling within the known resource at the DC returned some notable results including:

Hole 680-F115-09 grading 77.3 g/t gold over 4.02 m (not true width) at the 2,800 ft (840 m) elevation; and

(not true width) at the 2,800 ft (840 m) elevation; and Hole 520-EX346-35 grading 29.5 g/t gold over 1.72 m at the 2,200 ft (675 m) elevation.

Down dip drilling (i.e. parallel to the mineralization) collared from development at the 2,400 ft (740 m) elevation was used to drill over 650 ft (200 m) below the modeled DC mineralization envelope. This method allowed rapid coverage vertically beneath existing mineralization and helped demonstrate continuity, while avoiding difficult ground conditions. Results were positive and will be followed-up with drilling focused across strike to delineate additional mineralization. Highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 740-L275-71, which had six significant intervals, including 41.0 g/t gold over 1.75 m, followed by 36.9 g/t gold over 6.1 m, and 27.2 g/t gold over 4.0 m, and 23.2 g/t gold over 1.56 m, and 223.7 g/t gold over 9.2 m, and 15.5 g/t gold over 1.25 m (not true widths).

Far East

Far East is a zone of mineralization plunging shallowly to the southwest and located 500 ft (150 m) east of the mine workings. Previous drilling was done at poor angles and was complicated by a swarm of diabase dykes cutting the mineralization. Recent drilling has intersected intense alteration, quartz carbonate veining, as well as sulfide and gold mineralization, which are all indicators of the potential for economic gold mineralization. Highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 520-EX662-07 grading 23.3 g/t gold over 3.00 m.

Gap

Recent drilling in the Gap, located between the East and West Black Fox mining zones above the 1,600 ft (490 m) elevation, intersected a mineralized zone between two vein swarms, returning encouraging results in two of seven holes. Highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 490-L164-83 grading 16.3 g/t gold over 4.54 m (not true width) at approximately the 1,500 ft (470 m) elevation; and

(not true width) at approximately the 1,500 ft (470 m) elevation; and Hole 490-L164-87 grading 25.0 g/t gold over 1.00 m, followed by 25.6 g/t gold over 1.0 m, and 46.7 g/t gold over 1.84 m (not true widths) at approximately the 1,200 ft (370 m) elevation.

Far West

Drilling in the Far West was carried out from an exploration drift at the 1,700 ft (520 m) elevation, and targeted mineralization at the 2,000-2,600 ft (600-800 m) elevation. Results were positive, highlights of this drilling include:

Hole 520-EX290-02 grading 87.3 g/t gold over 1.15 m , located 1,000 ft (300 m) west of the DC and centered on the 675 m elevation; and

, located 1,000 ft (300 m) west of the DC and centered on the 675 m elevation; and Hole 520-EX286-45 grading 80.3 g/t gold over 0.73 m at the 2,100 ft (650 m) elevation.

2018 Black Fox Complex Exploration Targets

Black Fox Deep

A deep directional drilling program from surface targeting potential extensions of mineralization down dip of the DC zone at 3,000-4,600 ft (900-1,400 m) depth is currently underway. The deepest mineral reserve at Black Fox is currently at the 2,750 ft (840 m) elevation, and the deepest mineral resource is at the 2,900 ft (880 m) elevation. The deepest DC drill intercept to-date was in Hole 520-EX346-28 grading 5.3 g/t gold over 1.45 m in a quartz vein with visible gold at the 3,450 ft (1,050 m) elevation.

Tamarack  Intriguing Base Metals and Gold

The Tamarack zone is located southeast of the Black Fox open pit and contains significant gold and zinc-lead-silver massive sulfide mineralization. The zone starts near surface and appears to extend for 2,500 ft (760 m) vertical with a coherent dip at the contact between volcanic and sedimentary rock units (see Figure 2). As the Tamarack zone is open along strike and at depth, current exploration is focused on determining the distribution of gold and base metal zones and true size potential.

Five surface drill holes have recently been completed targeting base metal and gold mineralization. Hole 17BF-621, located down the dip of the near surface mineralization returned 23.6% zinc, 15.0% lead, 0.15 g/t gold, 277 g/t silver over 5.10 m (not true width).

Two underground drills were also mobilized, one targeting the down dip projection of the surface base metal and gold zone, and the second tracing the Deep Tamarack zone up dip at the 1,650 and 2,000 ft (500 and 600 m) elevations. Hole 520-EX582-45 located 260 ft (80 m) up dip of Deep Tamarack returned 5.6% zinc, 0.4% lead, 0.5 g/t gold and 9.8 g/t silver over 5.97 m, including 40.8% zinc over 0.37 m (not true width).

In 2017, six underground holes from the 1,700 ft (520 m) elevation were drilled to refresh the understanding of a tight cluster of historic holes that define the Deep Tamarack zone. Drill holes tested the 2,450 and 2,800 ft (750 and 850 m) elevations on approximately 160 ft (50 m) horizontal spacing around the historic holes. Significant intersections of gold and base metal mineralization (not always coincident) include:

Hole 520-EX582-40 grading 5.4 g/t gold over 4.70 m; and

and Hole 520-EX584-42 grading 10.4 % zinc, 1.3% lead, 1.43 g/t gold, 18 g/t silver over 2.00 m (not true width) in semi-massive sulfide mineralization.

Froome Deposit

The Froome deposit is located 2,800 ft (850 m) to the West of the Black Fox open pit. It was discovered in 2014 and has a current Indicated resource of 151,000 gold ounces at a grade of 5.5 g/t. A drill program is focusing on extending the Froome deposit at depth. It will be executed in conjunction with geophysical methods to aid in vectoring towards mineralization. Lateral extensions will also be tested to follow up on prior significant lateral drill intersections to the northwest and southeast of the deposit (see Figure 3).

Drilling in late 2016 along strike 1,000 ft (300 m) northwest of Froome returned an excellent intersection in Hole 16PR-G214 grading 12.5 g/t gold over 22.0 m, including 61.1 g/t gold over 3.2 m (not true width). The follow up program of six holes intercepted significant gold values without repeating the high-grade assays, however the drilling supports the continuity of the host lithology and warrants additional drilling, which will be completed in 2018.

Grey Fox Deposit

Grey Fox has a current open pit and underground resource of 668,000 gold ounces at a grade of 4.4 g/t in the Indicated category, and 174,000 gold ounces at a grade of 4.2 g/t in the Inferred category. Exploration at Grey Fox in 2018 will drill test the depth extensions of high-grade portions of the deposit and along strike within the Grey Fox structural zone.

Stock Property

The Stock property (location of the Black Fox Stock Mill) is the site of the former Stock Mine, which produced 137,000 gold ounces at a grade of 5.5 g/t from an underground mine between 1989-2005. Exploration at Stock will start by validating a historical near surface zone of mineralization to the East of the mine.

Figures 1-3:

Table 1  Black Fox Drilling: Click Here

Table 2  Froome Drilling: Click Here

Table 3  Tamarack Drilling: Click Here

ABOUT MCEWEN MINING

McEwen has the goal to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas. McEwens principal assets consist of: the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); the El Gallo Gold mine in Mexico; the Black Fox mine in Timmins, Canada; the Gold Bar mine in Nevada, currently under construction; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing towards development.

McEwen has a total of 337 million shares outstanding. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 24% of McEwen.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Technical information pertaining to geology and exploration contained in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of Dean Crick. Mr. Crick is a "qualified person" within the meaning of NI 43-101.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Black Fox Complex drilling was conducted by Norex Drilling supervised by McEwens Geology Department. All exploration drill core samples at the Black Fox Complex were submitted as 1/2 core and analyses reported herein were performed by the independent laboratories: Accurassay Laboratories, which is ISO/IEC 17025 certified, ALS Laboratories, which is ISO 9001/IEC17025 certified, Activation Labs, which is ISO 9001/IEC17025 certified, SGS Canada Laboratories, which is ISO9001/IEC17025 certified, and Swastika Laboratories, which is ISO 17025 certified. Samples from definition and select delineation drilling, and development sampling completed within the Black Fox mine are assayed at McEwen's onsite laboratory. McEwens quality control program includes systematic insertion of blanks, standard reference material and duplicates to ensure laboratory accuracy.

To determine the lengths of significant mineralised intervals, the following composite criteria was established: a minimum reportable interval length of 3 m was determined by establishing a cut off grade of 3.4 g/t Au for underground (1 g/t Au for near surface). A consecutive maximum length of 3 m of internal waste, including sub cut-off grade material, is allowed and incorporated into the reported composites. Where an interval of less than 3 m is considered, if the grade x length calculation is greater than 10, it may be reported. There is no top cutting or capping of assays.
University engineering team to design, analyze and test against high-level radiological materials threat



Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018



MANHATTAN  From military groups to local first responders, newly funded radiation detection research at Kansas State University is expected to have far-reaching benefits.



The U.S. Department of Defense Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has executed $100,000 for year one of "Radiological Systems Research for Detection, Localization and Isotope Identification," as part of a five-year initial award contract valued at $2.2 million.



The funds will support research and development of mobile radiation detection systems and their components used to find, localize and identify threatening radiological materials. Tasks undertaken will involve design, analysis and testing of state-of-the-art sensing technologies and their supporting systems.



Walter McNeil, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering, is the lead investigator, and providing project support will be Don Gruenbacher, associate professor and department head, and Bala Natarajan, professor, both electrical and computer engineering; and Amir Bahadori, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering.



"This is a multidisciplinary approach that will leverage the experience of K-State engineering faculty in radiation-sensing materials, sensor read-out, signal-processing and advanced data analysis, all of which are embedded within mobile instrumentation," McNeil said.



Testing will include assessment of radiological dispersal devices or "dirty-bombs" at national laboratory test sites such as Idaho National Laboratory, and will also collaborate with local military platoons at Fort Riley, such as the nuclear biological chemical reconnaissance vehicle platoon of the 48th Chemical Brigade.



"The mobile detection systems and methods explored in this work will benefit small military groups tasked with facing radiological threats in combat scenarios," McNeil said. "Domestically, these technologies are utilized by first responders and other emergency response personnel."



Resulting equipment investigated may ultimately be deployed on a variety of platforms, including light-armored military vehicles, unmanned systems and personnel.






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In my travels up and down the East Coast, I have been fortunate enough to work with some fantastic nurses. From what I hear, there was much more of an authoritarian relationship between doctors and nurses a few decades ago  preceding the time I entered the medical profession. This has now morphed into much more of a collegial teamwork approach, as we battle to get our patients better at the frontlines of medicine. And thats a good thing. I think its extremely sad whenever any doctor doesnt fully appreciate the superb grueling work that nurses do each and every day, or treats them with any disrespect. Sadly these days, however, its actually not the doctors, but hospital administrations in many places that do not value their nurses anywhere near as much as they should. Those that treat their nurses well, appear to be in the minority.

Anyone who has worked in health care for any length of time, has seen situations erupt where nurses and administrations clash. I have seen this happen myself in many health care institutions, and almost every doctor Ive talked to across the country is also familiar with the scenarios. It could be about pay and conditions, patient load, or other work expectations. A glance at the news will reveal countrywide disputes, strike action, and concern over low morale. Such a shame and a waste. There are hospitals out there where nurses have practically been pleading for an extra frontline nurse or an additional aide to lessen their workload  just one extra member of staff who would make an enormous difference to their day and to patient care. We all understand that the financial squeeze is on everywhere in health care. Yet these are frequently the same organizations where executives are walking away with multi-million dollar pay packages. Would it really be impossible to hire that extra floor nurse?

Nurses already do so much more than they should ever have to. They frequently deal with aggressive, abusive patients and their families. They physically restrain. They lift people up who are twice their own weight. They calmly handle and see things that would make most of the population vomit. On top of that, nurses are usually the kindest and most caring people you could ever meet  and miraculously remain that way during the worst parts of their job. Angels may sound a bit too biblical a word, but remember before the foundations of modern nursing were laid by Florence Nightingale in the 19th century, nursing care was often provided by people who practiced organized religious activities, including nuns and monks  which is a profound thing to reflect on (the fact that nursing was equated with religion and good work).

And then theres all the modern-day administrative duties too. Much noise has been made by the physician community about the poor and suboptimal clunky electronic medical records we have to work with. Lets not forget that its actually nurses who were told to work with these systems first, after Meaningful Use federal policies were implemented. Glance down any modern-day hospital floor now, and you will see nurses  who are the very heart of direct patient care  spending the vast majority of their time clicking and typing away, fulfilling overwhelming tick box criteria and protocols that are often redundant and take them away from their patients. Whenever a new directive is dreamed up or enforced by a health care institution, its the nurses who will be the frontline workers who are immediately on the receiving end, and have to completely change their workflow to accommodate it. Truth be told too, they have less collective power to give pushback than the physicians do.

Heres what we need for the nursing profession:

1. Workload. It goes without saying that in no other profession does the workload need to be controlled and restricted more than with nurses and their patients (much more so than with doctors). Nurses cannot be expected to be competently taking care of excessive numbers of patients. These safe patient care ratios need to be agreed between nursing leadership/unions and administrators, and then strictly implemented.

2. Job duties. Nurses must be supported by the other professions around them and not be expected to do anything beyond the scope of their job. Examples include restraining, transporting, and even walking or feeding patients when theres lots of other clinical work that needs to be done. Care assistants, transporters, sitters, physical therapists and hospital security  they must be present in adequate numbers to do what they need to do and free up nurses.

3. Pay. How much nurses should be compensated has been an issue for a long time and is frequently debated in the media when nurse unions may threaten to strike. Its a terrific shame that nurses should ever feel the need to strike, but at the same time, they should be valued appropriately for the difficult job they do. Paying an hourly rate which is lower than other jobs which require only a high school education, or offering pay rises of only a few cents an hour  when nurses have debt to pay off and a family to support  is insulting to a profession that holds high importance to society, and is not an acceptable situation.

If it was up to me, after being in practice for over a decade and seeing close hand what nurses have to deal with every day  I would pay nurses three times what they get! Theres a reason why public opinion polls consistently rank nurses as the most respected profession. Interestingly, physicians frequently come up second on the list. To be honest, if there was any group of people that Im totally okay with doctors coming second to, it would be nurses. Out of all the careers that should be well rewarded and put on a pedestal  few can be more deserving than our amazing and dedicated nurses.

Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician and author. He is the founder, DocSpeak Communications and co-founder, DocsDox. He blogs at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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As a senior health care executive, I plan continuing education carefully each year to ensure I am maintaining competence and pursuing excellence in leadership development. Unsettled by barriers perceived for women in leadership locally and nationally, I did not expect the career development programs offered through my agency would meet my needs. My search led me to the Career Advancement and Leadership Skills for Women in Healthcare offered through Harvard Medical School directed by Julie Silver, MD. If you are a woman in health care leadership or a man who supports women in health care leadership, I urge you to consider attending this course. It completely changed how I envision my career and the strategy I use to advance it.

The first session set the tone for the entire workshop. Julie Silver was so engaging and insightful that I began to follow her instructions immediately. Though I was an accomplished health care leader, I had lost my vision for my career, and this workshop helped me get back on track. For several years, I have worked to improve diversity in health care. The workshop empowered me through not only confirming my concerns with evidence-based research but also giving me the tools to address my concerns in a professional, productive and socially acceptable way. For me, the attendees of this workshop became a powerful group of allies who were eager to provide support and propel each other to the next level of success and leadership.

On the first day, I reaffirmed my passion was to support diversity and women in health care leadership. My focus would be to build my brand as a subject matter expert on social media to reflect that. I would strategize on how to secure higher level positions, speaking engagements, and writing opportunities to raise awareness of the impact of lack of diversity in health care leadership.

Since I am a federal health care executive appointed to a position of public trust, it was important that my brand be patriotic and positively reflect the mission of the agency. My strategies would be to find new ways to advocate for diversity in health care leadership on social media. Serve as a mentor. Be more selective of speaking engagements related to diversity. Expanding my leadership roles within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (agency-wide).

Once I created my Twitter profile, I immediately began to support the #SheLeadsHealthcare and #QuoteHer campaigns. It was wonderful to engage with the conference participants virtually. I began to understand the power of social media to disseminate research, educate professionals, and support social justice.

In addition to the conference campaigns, I decided I would devote more time to writing about diversity to raise awareness. I attended Women Conferences by the Healthcare Diversity Council, inviting colleagues in each city to attend as my guest. I became more selective regarding which speaking engagements I accepted. It was important for me to speak at national conferences with an audience which included hiring officials who could directly impact the hiring of diverse health care workers.

I decided I had to step outside of my comfort zone and advocate for myself: Nominating myself to become chairwoman of the board of directors for the Healthcare Diversity Council. Reaching out to the past chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) to offer support for diversity initiatives within the organization.

Creating inaugural diversity and inclusion committees for the Louisiana Chapter of ACHE and the Veterans Affairs ACHE Regents Advisory Council. Once established, I requested to be appointed to an agency-wide council led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Creating an opportunity for me to advocate for diversity at the highest levels of governance within the agency.

Since it was troubling to me that people consistently promote the myth of lack of diversity in the leadership pipeline, I decided to serve ACHE mentoring the pipeline. In 2016, I mentored six diverse candidates: Caucasian, Latina, and African American females, two African American males, three of whom were veterans. While it was a serious time commitment, watching them receive promotional opportunities was my reward. Most importantly, I found another way to give back to the men and women who have sacrificed all for our country (veterans).

In 2017, I spoke at the VA Healthcare Summit which is known for having the top VA appointed officials as speakers. I spoke on a panel at the Academy Health Annual Research Meeting. I attended a workshop at the National Institute of Health (NIH) providing recommendations on mentoring diverse researchers in translation research which will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. I spoke on a panel at the American College of Healthcare Executives Chapter Leader Conference after winning the Regents award for my accomplishments in diversity. And finally, I was asked to speak at the Harvard Medical workshop that made it all possible.

My leadership roles expanded from serving on the Board of Directors for the Case Western Reserve University, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing Alumni Association to the Executive Board of Directors, Director of Communications and Chair of the Social Media Committee. I was appointed as the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Diversity Council. I went from chairing the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to being appointed to the Board of Directors serving District 4 for the state of Louisiana ACHE.

As I prepared to attend the 2017 workshop, I wondered if it would be as powerful as the year before and it was. I have a new list of goals and strategies for 2018, and I have been asked to present at the 2018 workshop. While I dont know what I will accomplish in 2018, I am already off to a great start. Excited to give an update on my accomplishments after attending the workshop a second year. I can only hope it is as successful as 2017. What a year!

Tiffany Love is a health care executive.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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It started slowly. My former resident and present colleague, Terry Shaneyfelt first authored Are Guidelines Following Guidelines? The Methodological Quality of Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Peer-Reviewed Medical Literature.

This paper alerted us to the problem. But guideline fever continued to rage. Almost every specialty and subspecialty society decided that they needed to join the guideline movement. They needed to tell us the right way to practice medicine.

While I understood the problems of guidelines (I had found a 40-page guideline on cerumen), it had not yet become visceral. Then the great pharyngitis controversy of the early 21st century made it personal. In 2001 the ACP (endorsed by the CDC and AAFP) published Principles of Appropriate Antibiotic Use for Acute Pharyngitis in Adults.

This guideline endorsed the Centor score to exclude testing or treatment for 0 and 1, test 2, and either test or treat with narrow-spectrum antibiotics 3 or 4. The IDSA the next year published Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis.

That guideline argued for testing 2-4 (again neither testing nor treating 0 or 1. Some authors of that guideline then published an editorial that took the ACP to task for suggesting empiric treatment of some patients.

We must conclude, therefore, that the algorithm based strategy proposed in the ACP-ASIM Guideline would result in the administration of antimicrobial treatment to an unacceptably large number of patients with non-streptococcal pharyngitis.

I strongly disagreed with the IDSA position, but remained puzzled how two reputable organizations could review the same data in an evidence-based manner and have such disparate recommendations. And then it gets even worse. The Annals of Family Medicine published this article from Europe: Differences Among International Pharyngitis Guidelines: Not Just Academic:

Although the evidence for the management of acute sore throat is easily available, national guidelines are different with regard to the choice of evidence and the interpretation for clinical practice. Also, a transparent and standardized guideline development method is lacking. These findings are important in the context of appropriate antibiotic use, the problem of growing antimicrobial resistance, and costs for the community.

That 2007 study preceded this 2011 study, Analysis of Different Recommendations From International Guidelines for the Management of Acute Pharyngitis in Adults and Children. That study compared 12 guidelines and found great disparities in recommendations.

Now I was certain that the guideline process had a major limitation. For the occasional question, the data are clear, and all parties agree, but too often different guideline committees have differing values. And values influence how we view data and certainly what we value in developing our guidelines.

You likely know several examples of dueling guidelines  breast cancer screening, prostate cancer screening, and goals of diabetes control. Recently we have guidelines for hypertension that give significantly different recommendations.

I realized that I had GFS when I wrote about an excellent IDSA article,The IDSA takes an admirable position in not endorsing the new Sepsis Guidelines.

So what causes this syndrome? We want to believe that guidelines come from evidence, but we forget the famous Nietzsche quote: There are no data, only interpretation. Depending on our belief system, we value outcomes differently. In the sepsis example, the critical care doctors want sensitivity (few false negatives) and do not see problems with lower specificity (i.e., giving antibiotics to some patients who do not need them). The IDSA worries (appropriately) about antibiotic resistance and antibiotic side effects. So that prefer to maximize specificity and wait for more data in some patients.

Too often guidelines are considered rules. They were always meant to be guides, and clinical judgment should always trump the guides. But each time a major guideline appears, we read about it in the NY Times. Practicing physicians do not know what to believe because of guideline bloat and controversy. We do not need 12 pharyngitis guidelines. We should not even call specialty and subspecialty opinions guidelines. They are making recommendations based upon their view of medicine. In we all have biased views of proper medical care.

Guidelines can have serious unintended consequences. When we label our opinions as guidelines, we put all physicians in an uncomfortable and even untenable situation.

So I have no idea how to evaluate the seemingly never-ending supply of guidelines. I have no idea how to interpret them recognizing the biases involved in creating them.

Please join me and admit that you too have GFS. I fear this syndrome has no cure. It is pervasive and growing. It is not a rare disease.

Robert Centor is an internal medicine physician who blogs at DBs Medical Rants.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
A seemingly never ending silver twined cone chosen to portray Ireland of the 10th century; a visit from the populist author of his time, Sir Walter Scott and a possible hide-out of the four times wed, Dame Alice Kyteler at Dunmore Cave ties in well with a cat like monster slain there by a Kilkenny female chieftain.

And The Big Fella left instructions on its use while ancient tribes had forts here (two have been ploughed over and one remains un-excavated). Their presence led to a shocking Viking massacre chronicled in the annals of the Four Masters. The remains of many women and children have been found there and carbon dating has confirmed that the age of the bodies coincide with the dates in the annals.



A seemingly never ending silver twined cone chosen to portray Ireland of the 10th century; a visit from the populist author of his time, Sir Walter Scott and a possible hide-out of the four times wed, Dame Alice Kyteler at Dunmore Cave ties in well with a cat like monster slain there by a Kilkenny female chieftain. And The Big Fella left instructions on its use while ancient tribes had forts here (two have been ploughed over and one remains un-excavated). Their presence led to a shocking Viking massacre chronicled in the annals of the Four Masters. The remains of many women and children have been found there and carbon dating has confirmed that the age of the bodies coincide with the dates in the annals.

Dunmore Cave is as good as it gets when it come to history, archaeology and explaining our past and yet it never seems to get the recognition it deserves.

All that changed for a short while in 1999 when it made the international headlines. A conscientious worker was cleaning up after tourists when he shone his torch over the terrain to see if there was any rubbish lying around. A shiny object caught his eye and showing the calibre of the man, within a second of seeing what lay before him, he secured the site and his actions afterwards saved a find of global status.



Within months, the archaeological world was in a tizzy and with good reason. Forget about the silver and bronze pieces and other fragments found, it was the presence of something totally unexpected that turned heads. It was the hint of a very expensive, rich purple coloured dye used in a dress to which was attached a number of silver cones that made the headlines.

It turned out to be Byzantine in origin and all of a sudden we are sailing to that place with Yeats, through his poem of the same name. More of that later.

Dunmore Cave, which boasts the largest stalagmite in Ireland (6.5 metres), remains under-valued and has not been celebrated for its importance and of course the finds here should be returned to the centre which blends into the landscape.

The following words were written about Dunmore Cave in the Dublin Penny Journal of September 1, 1832: And this is the regal fairy hall; and the peasants say that when the myriad crystallisations that hang about are, on a gala evening, illuminated and when the for-ever falling raindrops sparkle in the fairy light, the scene becomes too dazzling for mortal life.

The reason for such a whimsical description might be because of the lack of light.

The Fairy Hall remains and it is said that the reason there are no stones from the partially collapsed ceiling above is because the fairies removed them to allow dancing to go ahead. At least thats what the enchanting Michael Keogh told me on my tour there last week.

Located just six and a half miles from Kilkenny city, Dunmore is by far the most historically significant cave on the island of Ireland, With strong links to our Celtic mythology; scene of the massacre of 1,000 children and women; reputed to be the hiding place of Dame Alice Kyteler, who was accused and sentenced to death for witchcraft in the 14th century but escaped. It is claimed that she remained in the cave until she was smuggled to New Ross to board a boat which we believe, took her to England.

And Michael Collins sent some of his men into the cave in 1919 to check if it was suitable as a hideout and if there was another way out in case they were pursued by the Crown Forces. In his memoirs, the late Judge James J. Comerford of the New York State High Court said he was sent there by Collins to check out the place as a possible hide-out for volunteers. He, Bobby Shore and five others went in with candles and when he came out, he said he had come across a large number of skeletons under a grey glass case. What in fact he saw were wet, grey stalagmites which in the light of a penny candle probably looked glassy grey.

The real jigsaw that is Dunmore Cave has never been put together - until now.

The massacre at Dunmore in 928 AD is written about in the Annals of the Four Masters and while the Dublin based Vikings killed all the men, they then went to the cave and those they could not get out were burned out while any youngsters they got were sold as slaves in Dublin.

However, the most salacious testament of what happed in Dunmore comes from the Book of Leinster compiled in 1160. A fierce Amazonian type warrior, Aithbel, killed a the cat like monster called the Luchtigern in the cave. She also killed the Fomorian tribe we learn from the book and she burned the seven wild men and also scattered the black fleet and hunted the red hag and drowned her in the nearby River Barrow.

We are also indebted to Sir Walter Scott, the author of Ivanhoe, Waverly and Woodstock (not Inistioge). His son-in-law gave this account of his trip to Dunmore in August 1825: Next morning we all went to the cave at Dunmore which is vast without dignity, and dangerous without terror - a black, slippery, dirty hole.

Today it is a visitor centre, excellently run and with temperature 9 degrees centigrade all year round, it is never cold or warm. As you go down the steps, the landscape changes and within a minute there is no growth and you enter another world. Some of the stalagmites look like the creature from The Alien film and with carefully placed lighting it is absolutely breathtaking and pity there is no longer access to the blue pool in an inner chamber (The Crystal Hall) only reachable by sliding down the narrow entrance on your belly.

It is more than a rumour that there is another even larger chamber behind one of the existing ones and we may never know because official access doesnt look like being approved anytime soon.

We were told that the cave opened up after the ceiling collapsed 3,500 years ago after acid strengthened rain water got through the cracks and caused the cracks to grow until such time as they could no longer hold up the huge limestone slabs. Michael Keogh told us that a farmer came out one morning to check on two goats and found them at the bottom of what was described as a yawning chasm. Since then it has been used regularly but never as a place of residence like the caves structures in Southern France.

Geologically the visitor centre is important. On your way down, there are several levels and each is covered by the dominant material of that time. There is so much to take in that you should take your time and treasure each step back in time. To appreciate this hidden gem you have to take the tour and you have to give yourself a half an hour to enjoy all the exhibits.

But it is the chance find at the cave in 1999 when a man cleaning up, shone a light on a particular part of the cave and saw something shining and when he went to inspect it, he found 43 silver and bronze items. The hoard was dated by several coins minted at York, in the North of England to around 970 AD. It consisted of hack silver and ingots as well as conical buttons made of fine silver wire woven expertly to form their present shape. The richness of the hoard which had been concealed in a rocky cleft deep in the cave and the fact that it was never returned to, hints that a personal tragedy overcame its owner.

He or she had pushed the belongings up the cleft and after 1,000 years it dropped to the ground and thankfully it was found by someone of exemplary character.

The importance of this find cannot be underestimated. A cone of woven silver thread is simply delicious and it is slightly bigger than an old penny piece. Last year, The Irish Times newspaper named it as one of 100 objects in the history of Ireland. It has three separate strands of silver, each composed of between 15 and 18 wires and thanks to the expertise of the craftsman, probably based in Dublin it is difficult to know where one ends and others start.

However, the huge international furore over the 1999 find did not concentrate on the silver but the remains of a dress and the dye used in it.

The silver coins dated from 970, some 40 years after the great slaughter at Dunmore. The smaller cones in the hoard have parallels in Viking burials on the Isle of Man.

What were the cones for? Found with them was a border of silver wire to which they seem originally to have been attached. More exciting was a small, unpromising-looking remnant of textile that turned out to be, of all things, very fine silk. It seems that this was a fabulous dress with a silver wire border and cones that functioned either as tassels or as buttons. The silk itself was more valuable than all the silver ornaments put together. It had come, almost certainly, from either the Byzantine empire or the Arab world. The dye used to colour it was either red or purple and used by only the wealthiest.

If it was the latter, the dress was truly amazing: purple dye was breathtakingly expensive. Either way, the woman who wore this dress must have made a dazzling spectacle. For the display of female wealth and status in 10th century western Europe, glamour doesnt get much more fabulous than this. Who was this woman and where did she come from? I doubt if she was from Dunmore, Muckalee, Comer or the City but from some far-off land, its more romantic and exciting to think that it was a foreigner dressed in the finest of Viking style?

All we know is that someone had a dress worth a kings ransom, shoved it in a crack in a cave in a moment of panic and never got to come back for it.

We know from Andy Higgins in the National Museum of Ireland that the jewellery was north African silver wire. Exhaustive research found that the dye is obtained from the purple murex snail which is only found on the north coast of Africa. It took several thousand snails to produce enough dye for a garment. Also found were a buckle and strap-end from a long-decayed leather belt, possibly worn over the beautiful murex coloured garment and this buckle would have been mounted with the silver ornaments found. Were the coins, ingots and other objects wrapped in this garment and tied up with the belt, before being hidden in a crevice in the cave? Who knows, Dunmore might throw up some other secrets in the future.

Some people, no matter how much they try to deflect from themselves, have a way of making life a little brighter. One of the great team at Dunmore is Michael Keogh, tour guide extraordinaire who has a fascination with Kilkenny history and in particular with Dunmore Caves.

On the day that student James Lahart and I visited there in 2012, he had a bus load of extremely well behaved transition year students from Presentation College, Carlow for a tour and they were captivated. It was a mesmerising hour or so in his company and at the end of the tour, he took out his tin whistle and played that haunting Gaelic melody. An Coolin.

At 70 years of age, he went down the 352 steps and back up again with the dash of a much younger man. Long may he continue and what a jewel he has been for the last eight years, Failte Ireland should have him giving classes on how to give a tour. We also thank him for his enormous help in putting this piece together.


By Rachel Lee



Hyper-trendy, beauty-conscious Korea has risen to leadership status in the world of nail art, which is positioned as a way of expressing individuality, fashion savvy and even humor.



Nail art, a meticulous business that turns manicures into art, uses nail polish, nail stickers and tiny jewels to decorate nails often lengthened with extensions to create certain looks. Nail artists boast their techniques with applicator brushes or small nail brushes, focusing on cuticles, tips or the entire canvas.



It is taking off in the United States and Europe and is already popular in Asia, including industry leaders Japan and China.



According to Statistics Korea, the size of the country's nail art industry reached 3 trillion won ($21 billion) last year. The number of nail art shops has seen a steady increase _ 1,683 in 2006 and 6,161 in 2012 _ and the number of employees in the industry also jumped from 4,040 in 2006 to 11,238 in 2012.



"The meaning of manicure in Korea has been transformed in the last decade," said Shim Soo-jin, a nail artist and a chief manager at the country's biggest nail salon brand Golden Nail.



"Until recently, painted nails with traditional shades dominated the Korean market. But the boom in nail art has turned the rules upside down. Consumers in a diverse range of all ages now see nail art as a way of expressing their individuality and fashion, opting for fancier and bolder jewelry and colors."



Japan has long been a leader of nail art trends with showy, colourful designs, which inspired Korea's nail art industry in the early 2000s, the chief manager said.



Thanks to the country's trend-sensitive beauty market, Korean nail art has begun to gain attention from around the world in recent years.



Jessica, a tourist from the U.S., told The Korea Times she was amazed at how trendy and sophisticated the designs Korean nail artists can create are, when she visited a salon in southern Seoul for the first time last December.



"Back in the U.S., there are a few places that do a great job in nail art, but it tends to be simple and limited. Every time, I wanted to try something new, but the techniques were not as good as Korea," she said.



Japan's nail art market has seen a steady growth since being introduced to U.S.-made artificial nails about four decades ago. The market size has doubled in a decade to $2.74 billion annually, according to the Japan Nailist Association (JNA), which said there are nearly 25,000 nail salons across the country as of last year.



The introduction of a soft gel that lasts for up to two months, far longer than traditional manicures which start chipping after about a week, has charged the sector.






Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Snow showers this evening. Breaks in the overcast later. Low 17F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 50%..

Tonight

Snow showers this evening. Breaks in the overcast later. Low 17F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 50%.
Smart Brides, Portlaoise is one of the finalists in the Wedding Boutique of the Year category at the Irish Wedding Awards.

The Awards will take place at The Crowne Plaza Dublin this Sunday, January 28. It will be a black tie event.

This is the second annual Irish Wedding Awards, aiming to celebrate the hard work of the best professionals and establishments in the Irish wedding industry. Thousands of nominations were received from the public and the full list of finalists has now been compiled.

As one of the finalists in the Wedding Boutique of the Year category, Smart Brides will find out if they have managed to win the competition and collect the trophy at the elegant ceremony being held on Sunday. At the inaugural prestigious Irish Wedding Awards Smart Brides won both the Midlands and National Awards in the category of Wedding Boutique of the Year 2017.

Carole Keegan, Manager for Smart Brides, said, We are thrilled to have been nominated and shortlisted as finalists again this year. What is spectacular about these awards is that real brides vote for the nominees.

Brides continue to visit and recommend our store due to the dedication, professionalism and enthusiasm of our exceptional style consultants.

The 2nd Irish Wedding Awards 2018 aim to recognise and reward those within the wedding industry that work towards making your special day perfect, including the caterers that provide delicious reception meals for your wedding, the DJs and bands that add the extra thrill to the atmosphere, the hair and makeup artists that make you look and feel on top of the world, and many others.

The glamorous event promises to be the biggest and most unforgettable night in this years events calendar. Numerous prestigious accolades will be awarded to the most deserving professionals and businesses, including Wedding Venue of the Year, Caterer of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Specialist Wedding Supplier of the Year and many more.

Nicole McEwan, Campaign Manager for Creative Oceanic said, We are delighted to see so many people getting involved in The 2nd Irish Wedding Awards. We have had a fantastic response from the public over the last year at the first ceremony and we are looking forward to welcoming and acknowledging the most dedicated and successful individuals and establishments in a celebration of their tireless work. We would like to wish all the finalists the best of luck.
A treatment centre for drug and other addictions is Portlaoise is set to cost nearly 3 million to build in health service spending.

The Health Service Executive Service Plan for 2018 confirmed the cost of the Community Addiction Services Unit - new facility for counselling and support services at St. Fintans Health Campus, Portlaoise.

A total of 2.40 million will be spent this year and the total bill is 2.95 for the 400 sqm facility on HSE land off the busy Dublin Road near the town's prisons. No extra day to day spending is budgeted for by the HSE.

The centre is due to be built by the end of 2018 and will be fully operational in early 2019. It will expand significantly in both scale and scope of service provided from Coote Street Portlaoise. It is will also have regional remit for addicts from around the midlands.

During the planing process the HSE told Laois County Council that it is important that CADS would not be accessible or in proximity to other parts of St Fintan's for security reasons.

There are a number of elements to CADS, including methadone maintenance, counselling, alternative therapy, rehab and aftercare, family support, harm minimisation, Outreach etc. A needle exchange was identified during the planning process.

At the Laois Joint Policing Committee in September 2017, the Midlands Drugs Task Force revealed that in 2015, a total of 945 people presented for treatment across the counties of Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, 137 of which were in Laois.

A total of 390 people presented for alcohol difficulties, followed by 301 for opiates, 146 for cannabis, 43 for cocaine, 30 for benzodiazepines, and just one for ecstasy. A further 21 presented for other stimulants and drugs.

The most common age of clients was the 25 to 29 group, followed by people aged 30 to 34.

The HSE told Laois County Council that the centre would house various local and national addiction services under one roof, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Midland Simon, Anna Liffey Drug Project, and Merchants Quay Ireland.

It is expected that inmates of Portlaoise's prisons will be attending CADS upon their release as part of a step down programme.

The expected hours of operation are 8am to 8pm weekdays, with some infrequent services operated over weekends.

The HSE confirmed in December 2016 that contracts were signed with two agencies, Extern and Merchants Quay to provide addiction services to adults, teenagers and children in Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.

Planing permission was granted for the centre in February 2016. The site has been overgrown for some years and at one point it was earmarked for a new Garda Station.

Clancy Construction has the contract for the project. The Thurles-based firm recently completed the 9 million construction of Scoil Bhride National School in Portlaoise.

Work has had to be carried out to remove a small knotweed infestation.
Nearly 60 children have to be sent to foster homes outside Laois and other midlands counties with some having to move schools because of a shortage of foster parents, according to a new report.

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQUA) has published a new inspection report fostering services in the Midlands counties of Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford. The service is run by the Child and Family Agency Tusla.

At the time of the inspection last autumn there were 204 foster care households in the area. Some 143 of these were general foster carers and 61 were relative foster carers. There were 368 children in foster care. Of these 94 children were placed with relatives and the remaining 274 children were placed with general foster carer.

"There was not a sufficient number of foster carers in the area to meet the needs of children in care. Social workers from both the fostering and children in care teams told inspectors that there was a deficit in the availability of foster carers and that this

impacted on finding appropriate placements for children.

"The principal social worker told inspectors that there were 57 children in private placements outside of the area at the time of inspection. According to a needs analysis carried out by RAFT, the Midlands area reported the second highest national

increase in private placements during Quarter 1, 2017.

"A number of these children were placed a long distance from the area. This meant that they were located outside of their own community and access to and contact with their families and friends, may have been impacted. It also meant that maintaining children of schoolgoing age in their own school, may not have been possible.

"While the foster carers they were placed with were supported by link social workers from the local area, the

childrens social workers had to undertake long journeys to carry out their statutory visits.

"The service director told inspectors that arrangements were in place to ensure that where long-term matches were appropriate, these would be expedited and the care of the children would be transferred to the local area social work departments.

"There was lack of placements apparent in all age groups as well as shortages of placements for children with complex disabilities and/or complex health needs as a result of disability," said HIQA'S report.

Social workers told HIQA inspectors that they had little involvement to date in the recruitment of foster carers.

Five recruitment campaigns had been undertaken during the 12 months prior to the inspection. There were 16 applications from prospective foster carers and six information meetings were held during that time and a strategic recruitment day for representatives from a number of diverse communities.

Information provided to inspectors showed that seven general foster carers had been approved for the area during the previous 12 months. It also showed that 12 foster carers left the foster care panel voluntarily during that time.

The principal social worker told inspectors that there were 30 inactive foster carers currently on the panel. At the time of inspection, social workers were contacting these foster carers to ascertain if they wished to continue fostering or not.

Inspectors reviewed the records of eight exit interviews conducted with foster carers who left the service. The majority said that they left for personal reasons and several spoke favourably about the support that had been offered to them. A small number said that they left due to lack of support.

Their suggestions for improvement to the service included ensuring access to counselling and psychological services for all children in care, increased support for foster carers own families and children, and support in managing relationships with the birth families of children in care.

Data provided to inspectors showed that there were eight placements available at the time of inspection.

The service manager told inspectors that the Midlands area was priotitise and that two of the four social workers on the team were based there.

The recruitment of additional social workers for the team had been sanctioned. There was a higher number of enquiries from potential foster carers in the Midlands area than in other areas in the Dublin Mid Leinster region.

Inspectors were told there is capacity to meet the level of demand there was from the area and that it was sufficiently resourced to respond to enquiries within 1-3 days and then hold information meetings or conduct home visits when the potential foster carers might be a long distance from an urban centre.

HIQA Inspectors were told that there were plans to increase the number of staff on RAFT which, in time, may result in increased recruitment in foster carers.

Inspectors found that the service area had committed extra resources to the retention of foster carers since the previous inspection. The fostering team had increased in number and a dedicated principal social worker for fostering was put in

place and had taken up her post a number of weeks prior to the inspection. During the 12 months prior to the inspection, a programme of training and support had been put in place and the majority of foster carers had had a foster carer review,

which identified their individual needs for additional training and support.




Dealz has announced it will open 30 PEP&CO shop-in-shop fashion outlets in its stores creating over 120 Irish jobs, taking Irelands leading discount retailer to new fashion heights.

This move will see a new line of clothes brought in to Dealz stores all over the country.

The first ten shop-in-shops will appear in Dealz flagship store in Blanchardstown, Kilkenny, Dundrum, Naas, Newbridge, Gorey, Athy, Finglas, Ballina and Castlebar.

Additional PEP&CO shops will then roll out across a further 20 Dealz locations including Killarney, Galway, Letterkenny and Cork  prior to summer.

A leading UK supermarket is opening in Portlaoise, creating more than 20 jobs.

There has been no announcement regarding the Portlaoise store yet but over 300 stores are due to be updated to include the fashion outlet in the next 12 months.

A move that is set to shake up the fashion high street will be welcomed by Irish savvy shoppers seeking a fresh, new offering in the discount fashion retail space.

The arrival of the fledging fashion brand is set to drive significant attention of local competitor Penneys as customers will be able to directly compare the quality and price of ranges.

In Ireland, prices at PEP&CO start at 1.50 with almost 60% of items at 5.00 or less and it expects to keep quality high and prices low as it builds a business of real scale and volume.

The news comes as part of a wider announcement made by parent company Poundland, as they unveiled plans to open over 150 PEP&CO shop-in-shop fashion outlets over the next 12 months in Ireland, the UK and France.

The expansion  which will put Poundlands PEP&CO brand in over 300 locations by the end of the year - would provide true fashion scale for the discount retailer and comes just days after the retailer secured new loan funding to maintain its ambitious investment plans.

Adrian Mountford is the Managing Director at PEP&CO.

We are very excited to bring our fashion and brand to Irish consumers. We already run 170 PEP&CO stores in the UK, most of them located inside Poundland stores, so introducing PEP&CO to the Irish marketplace via Dealz has always been a priority.

This Christmas we sold over a million more items than we did in our whole first year of trading in 2015, continued Adrian.

Thanks to our partnership with Poundland  and now Dealz in the Republic of Ireland - were set to double in size over the coming year, helping us to drive economies of scale to keep prices low

Who would have thought 12 months ago that we would make Poundland a must-stop fashion destination. We now look forward to replicating this success in our Irish Dealz stores as we bring this incredible brand offering to Irish consumers," said Poundland's UK & Ireland Managing Director Barry Williams.

By the end of this year, with over 300 shop-in-shop fashion stores, were set to become a major fashion player.

Read more: Ungritted Portlaoise roads 'a myth' says Laois County Council.
A Laois woman approved for home help assistance eight months ago is still waiting for the scheme to begin and is at risk hospital admission as a result, a Laois TD has claimed.

Speaking in the Dail during a debate on the hospital trolley crisis, Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said he the case was highlighted to him by a constituent this week

"I had a case in my office this morning where a woman was granted one hour, seven mornings a week, to keep her in her home in a rural area on the side of the Slieve Bloom mountains.

"If that woman does not get that help, she will be in hospital. She was granted it in May and still has not received it. She has been put on a waiting list.

"Employ some of the unemployed people on the dole for home help and let us keep people in their local areas and local communities. It would cost approximately 100 a week.

"To put people in a home would cost 1,000 a week. Those are the economics," Deputy Stanley told the Dail.

HSE TO SPEND 3 MILLION ON PORTLAOISE ADDICTION CENTRE

The TD raised the issue with the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, prior to Budget 2018. He called on the Minister to provide sufficient extra resources are prioritised in this area "to abolish this shameful waiting list for home help hours and to provide additional home help staff."

At the time he raised two other cases. In one instances a woman, aged 92, who lives alone had her evening home help visits stopped. Dep Stanley claimed her son now has to look after her cooking, cleaning and toileting needs as she is frail and incontinent.

In another another case an woman aged 88, who lives alone in Laois was hospitalised and then spent two weeks in a nursing home. She had been trying unsuccessfully to get Home Help for two years.

NEW HSE WEBSITE FOR MEDICAL CARDS
A committee that helped halt the closure of Abbeyleix hospital hope the Health Service Executive are about to embrace a plan which could see the hospital playing a role in reducing the trolley count at Portlaoise and other hospitals.

HSE Management are due to meet the Abbeyleix Hospital Action Committee and Laois TDs this Thursday, January 18 to discuss a possible future for the hospital.

The hospital was saved from the HSE axe after three elderly patients took the HSE to court in 2011. Two big public marches were also organised.

The local committee also drew up an extensive plan for the hospital in 2012.

It proposed expanding the hospital so that more patients could be catered for. However, there are just two long stay patients left.

Brian Maher was involved in the campaign.

Against the backdrop of the trolley crisis, Mr Maher said the plan should be used.

It still holds true and is as relevant today, almost 6 years later, particularly in light of recent demands for additional hospital beds on Minister for Health, Simon Harris. We remain committed to the retention and expansion of the essential healthcare facility at Abbeyleix Hospital as a means to addressing that relentless demand, he said.

He said the committee remains committed to the following principles:

 That Abbeyleix Hospital should be re-imagined as a vital component of healthcare in County Laois to provide for an extension to the Community Nursing Unit component which will deliver the capacity for a number of long-stay elderly care beds within the context of a more comprehensive service offer to include a Rehabilitation Centre. This combination of service offered for adults in the district will seek to take pressure off the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise while securing the future of the Community Nursing Unit.

 That the future of Abbeyleix Hospital is secured not just for the short term but for future generations. In light of our increasing population in County Laois which grew by 5.1% between 2011-2016 above a national average of 3.8%. In particular the increasing growth of our elderly cohort of over 65 years of age which has grown by 19.1% between 2011  2016.

Mr Maher said this all points to an increasing demand for such facilities as Abbeyleix Hospital provides in order that the State can meet a growing requirement for both private and public beds in a sustainable and planned way.

The meeting with the HSE will also be attended by the Friends of Abbeyleix Hospital.

Mr Maher said it is intended to discuss in a positive way how we as a community can work together with the HSE to secure the future of Abbeyleix Hospital for generations to come.

HOSPITAL HAS JUST TWO LONG STAY PATIENTS

The future of the hospital was raised in the Dail by Brian Stanley TD for Laois with Minister for Health Simon Harris during a debate on hospital trollies.

"Step-down facilities need to be utilised, such as at Abbeyleix hospital in my own constituency. The Minister is aware of this. We are meeting the committee for Abbeyleix hospital on Thursday night about this.

"As elderly patients in Portlaoise hospital could be discharged to that facility, Abbeyleix now needs to be expanded and upgraded," said the Sinn Fein TD.
Closing A&Es in hospitals such as Portlaoise was 'the right thing to do', according to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who also insisted it should only happen if there is adequate capacity in other hospitals.

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin challenged the Taoiseach in the Dail about the future of the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise and other hospitals in the Dublin-Midlands Hospital Group.

"Is the Government going to close the Accident and Emergency department in Portlaoise hospital and reduce accident and emergency capacity further?" asked Dep Howlin.

The Taoiseach replied: "We do not have any plan to close any Emergency Department in the State, not least because to do so properly, one would need to make sure patients would be adequately provided for in the next centre, the new hospital or the adjoining hospital and that they would have the capacity to deal with the additional workload.

"We saw the difficulties faced by St. Vincent's University Hospital when St. Columcille's Hospital had its emergency department closed. We also saw the difficulties in Limerick arising from the closures in Ennis and Nenagh.

"It is not that it was the wrong thing to do. Clinically, it was the right thing to do. However, one needs to make sure the new central hospitals have adequate capacity to deal with the additional patient loads and evidently they do not. That is something we need to take into account," said Mr Varadkar.

The Fine Gael leader said the bed capacity review indicates that, with reform, 2,500 additional inpatient beds will be needed in Irish hospitals by 2031.

"We would like to front-load that number, but one cannot built hospital wings and new hospitals all that quickly," he said.

Mr Varadkar added that about 190 hospital beds will be added this year.

"We are working to see how quickly we can front-load that number, if possible. It is being worked on as part of the capital plan," he said.
White socks and black slip-on shoes were rightly considered uncool growing up.

So, too, was wearing your schoolbag over both shoulders and only the bravest among us would have considered going outside in a shell-suit tracksuit or driving a car smaller and quieter than its exhaust.

For some reason I never quite understood, local environmental issues always felt distinctly unfashionable too, with the exception of the annual Tidy Towns competition, which brought the kind of collective-shovel-carrying

-response a then-fracturing USSR could only wish for.

But in a peculiar contradiction, any strain of activism that tried to tap into an environmental conscious brought about the kind of queasiness Superman experienced whenever he was around Kryptonite.

Then the world changed

The War on Terror! ISIS! The threat of nuclear armageddon!

But scientists whove been sending weather balloons into the atmosphere for years say these issues pale against the bigger issue of pollution and the environment.

READ MORE: Robert Mulhern on Kildare's highlights, lowlights and best moments of 2017

And where the environment fits in the public conversation is one of more curious differences between London and Kildare.

This is London, where you can go from one week to the next without seeing a blade of grass, but wheres theres an obvious collective conscience for places where grass still grows.

And then Kildare, where Ive yet to feel any real transfer of that sentiment.

Part of the reason is the absence of any leading voices and the Green Party has yet to recover locally from the collective kicking it took nationally as a coalition government partner.

Once upon a time, this political agenda was promoted by people like Sean English and JJ Power, who did forge significant local profiles within the Green Party locally.

And while I cant remember their policies, I can remember the sometimes dismissive attitude to their presence in a landscape where the most pointed environmental issue now, is resistance to renewable energy.

More than 20-plus years on, the attitude to what they were waving a flag high for hasnt evolved much, even against the backdrop of a the downturn in climate.

Local opposition to renewable solutions, understandable as it is for the impact on those living nearby, comes against the backdrop of Irelands bottom-of-the-table performance in the EU carbon emissions league table.

Locally and nationally, were not at the races in terms of finding solutions to this must-solve problem, and when you think about it theres not too many degrees of separation in that failure and a Trump White House who people are happy to take aim at for pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord.

Unfortunately, Kildare doesnt get a pass on trying to solve a problem that continues to leave the rest of the world scratching its head.

Its inevitable and necessary that solar farms and wind farms will form the future furniture of Irelands landscapes and sea-scapes.

And Englands and Scotlands and Wales too!

And if the solution to Ireland meeting 2020 CO2 targets is not the production of energy in these forms then what?

The challenge for community leaders is an uenviable one because to hit that 2020 figure the weight of compromise has to fall in favour of the environment.

I read a recent column by Conor McHugh in these pages about the future leadership on green politics in Kildare and probably, the best path is promote environmental practices that save people money.

Whether thats free car tax in London for a low emissions vehicles or free electricity in Germany when theres an over-abundance of renewable energy.

And a world of falling power prices, water costs, and where it costs significantly less to run your car, is the beginnings of a mandate people could start to buy into.

The black-slip might be back before that future comes into fashion and in the meantime Im off to complete my green conversion in that mythical hippie commune, out the back of Blessington somewhere.

Robert Mulhern is a London based journalist contracted to RTE's The Documentary on One. To contact our columnist, email mulhernrobert@hotmail.com
Several UK extradition cases were adjourned today, Monday, as the High Court waits for the Supreme Court to hear arguments on whether Brexit makes it unsafe to send suspects and convicts to Britain.

Justice Aileen Donnelly adjourned the cases until February 19 to let the Supreme Court deal with the impact of Brexit in the case of a Roscommon construction company director wanted in the UK for his part in a 5 million tax fraud.

Thomas Joseph O'Connor (49), with an address at Cloughbeirne, The Walk, Roscommon was convicted in London's Blackfriars Crown Court in January 2007 and sentenced to 4 years and six months in prison for defrauding the British revenue.

After being convicted following a six-week trial, OConnor, who was on bail, did not attend court for the sentencing hearing and now faces further charges in England of absconding.

He had returned to Ireland where he was arrested on an extradition warrant in 2009.

Since then the High Court has ordered his extradition, a decision he unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. Counsel for Mr O'Connor then went to the High Court to say that he should not be surrendered as Brexit posed a risk of a violation of his fundamental rights.

Justice Aileen O'Donnelly rejected that argument saying there was, "no evidence he is at any real risk of his rights being breached." Mr O'Connor then took the case to the Supreme Court and a hearing is due to take place on January 24.

Seven of those who appeared before the High Court on foot of extradition warrants issued by the UK authorities today were adjourned on what lawyers have taken to referring to as the "O'Connor point" or the "Brexit point". They will appear before the court again on February 19.
The close-knit community of Aughavas, Co Leitrim is well known for its strong community spirit. Despite the fact the area has no typical village centre, Aughavas' strong sense of identity is clearly visible to all those who visit.

From its enviable GAA facilities to the excellent local school, the famous local church - Brian O'Driscoll and Amy Huberman were married there don't you know! - to its hard-fought-for community centre and pub/post office/shop, Aughavas is clearly a very proud area.

But while it is most definitely a community with strong heart, like many rural areas, Aughavas has been impacted by emigration and the resulting decline in population. Planning restrictions on one-off rural housing make it difficult for those who would like to build and a fall in student numbers at the three-teacher local school means there is a possibility it could lose one staff member come September.

Unlike many other communities however, the people of Aughavas are taking a very pro-active approach to addressing the challenges facing their area.

This evening, January 17, a special meeting is being held in St Joseph's National School, Aughavas to highlight the problems facing the community, but more importantly, to try to find solutions which will work for the benefit of the all living in the area.

The meeting will start at 8.30pm and all are welcome to attend.

Items up for discussion include:

- The promotion of the local school. The achievements of the pupils and staff will be highlighted along with benefits the school brings to the local community.

- Ideas will be sought on how to sustain the school and its current staffing level going forward.

- Also up for discussion are future enrolment issues and ideas to solve them, afterschool care and other related matters.

People in the local community are invited to come along and share their ideas to safeguard the future of Aughavas for the generations to come.
Two weather alerts are in place for the region this evening.

A Status Orange Snow-ice warning is in place for Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal but icy conditions will also be seen in neighbouring counties to a lesser extent.

The warning comes into action from 6pm this afternoon (January 17) and remains valid until 12pm tomorrow, Thursday, January 18. An Atlantic depression will cross Ireland this evening and early tonight bringing a spell of snow on its northern flank. This will be followed by scattered snow showers later in the night and Thursday. At present, the main risk of appreciable accumulations is limited to Ulster but this could change as the evening progresses so please stay up to date with weather alerts.

A Status Yellow Wind Warning comes into effect for Connacht, Munster and Leinster from 5pm this afternoon. Met Eireann say winds of 50 to 65km/h are likely with gusts of 90 to 110km/h in many counties. Winds may temporarily exceed these values in exposed Atlantic coastal fringes for a time this evening. There is an increased risk of coastal flooding due to the combination of the high seas, strong winds and the low pressure so please stay away from low lying coastal areas.
THE LIMERICK priest based in the home parish of the late Dolores ORiordan has said that funeral plans have not as yet been finalised.

In a statement issued this Tuesday via the Catholic Communications Office, Fr James Walton, priest in Dolores' home parish of Ballybricken, said that details concerning the Funeral Mass for the late Dolores ORiordan RIP have not as yet been finalised.

When information on the funeral liturgy becomes available, it will be circulated to media by the Catholic Communications Office, the statement adds.

It is expected that her funeral will take place in Limerick, however.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader on Monday following the 46-year-olds sudden death in a London hotel, Fr Walton said he wished to extend my deepest sympathies to the family.

Police in London have confirmed that the Limerick rock stars sudden death at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane on Monday is not being treated as suspicious.

The Metropolitan Police said after a preliminary investigation that her death was not being treated as suspicious and the case will be handed over to the coroner's office.

A book of condolence was opened in her native Limerick this Tuesday morning, while a massive outpouring of grief and tributes have followed her death.

Her bandmates have said that they are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores.

She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today," they said.

Meanwhile, a close friend of Dolores' has said he received a call from the Limerick musician on Sunday night and that she was "full of life, joking and excited".

Record label boss Dan Waite of Eleven Seven Music said in a statement: "The news that my friend Dolores has passed deeply shocked me. I worked with the Cranberries at Universal Records and have kept in touch ever since.

"Dolores left me a voice message just after midnight last night stating how much she loved Bad Wolves' version of Zombie. She was looking forward to seeing me in the studio and recording vocals.

"She sounded full of life, was joking and excited to see me and my wife this week. The news of her passing is devastating and my thoughts are with Don her ex-husband, her children and her mother."
BUDGET airline Norwegian has confirmed plans to expand its transatlantic services from Shannon to the United States.

Norwegian Air International is to expand its Boston and New York services to Shannon for 2018, a move that has been welcomed by the airport this Monday.

The airline, which commenced services at Shannon in July last year, is to double its frequency from two to four flights a week on its service to Providence Green Airport, Rhode Island, just over one hour from Boston.

In addition, it is adding an extra service to Stewart International Airport, Orange County  just 90 minutes from New York, increasing from two to three flights a week.

The extra services will kick-in from March 2018 and bring to seven the number of weekly scheduled services with Norwegian from Shannon, which had already seen its transatlantic offering is at its largest number for 17 years.

The budget carrier started the two new routes from Shannon to the US in July of last year, with Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos promising more choice and lower fares for travel to the USA as a result at the time.

Norwegian Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Ramdahl said this Monday: Our new transatlantic routes from Ireland have made a strong start so we are delighted to add extra services at Shannon where our affordable flights to the US have proved particularly popular with passengers.

"These additional flights will give Irish passengers even more choice and are another important step in our plans for continued growth in Ireland.

Welcoming the announcement, Andrew Murphy, Shannon Airport Managing Director, said: This is excellent news for Shannon and excellent news for tourism on the Wild Atlantic Way and wider region that we serve. This announcement clearly demonstrates Norwegians commitment at Shannon and results in an increase of over 200% in capacity by the airline in 2018.

Matthew Thomas, CEO of the Shannon Group, said it was significant that Norwegian has chosen to grow its passenger base at Shannon.

"This expansion further strengthens our long haul connectivity and Shannons position as a key transatlantic gateway. We will now have our largest number of US services in over 17 years, which is fantastic for the wider region and for transatlantic aviation generally. It also shows that the new model for low cost transatlantic flying is proving popular and complements our existing range of transatlantic carriers.

The flights will be operated by a B737 Max aircraft and will run Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to Providence Green Airport and Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday to Stewart International Airport.
The entrance to the West Valley of the Valley of the Kings is seen here. in the West Valley, archaeologists are excavating what may be the tomb of Tut's wife. The house of Theodore Davis (1838-1915), a wealthy man who explored the Valley of the Kings, can be seen in this image.

Excavations have begun in an area of the Valley of the Kings where the tomb of Tutankhamun's wife may be located, archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced today (Jan. 16).

Archaeologists are digging in a spot called the West Valley, or the Valley of the Monkeys, near the tomb of the pharaoh Ay (reign: 1327 to 1323 B.C.), the successor to King Tut (reign: 1336 to 1327 B.C.). Though a few royal tombs have been found in the West Valley, the bulk of them have turned up in the East Valley of the Valley of the Kings.

During previous excavations, the researchers identified something intriguing in this area near Ay's tomb  four foundation deposits and radar images of what seemed to be the entranceway of a tomb that may exist about 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface.[See Photos of Egypt's Valley of the Kings]

Hawass, who is leading the excavations, told Live Science in July 2017 that he believes a tomb is there. "We are sure there is a tomb there, but we do not know for sure to whom it belongs," he told Live Science in an email at the time. He later cautioned that until excavations were conducted, archaeologists couldn't be certain of the tomb's existence. "It is all possibilities until we excavate," he wrote that month in a follow-up email.

If the tomb exists, it could belong to Ankhesenamun, Hawass said. She was the wife of Tutankhamun but married Ay not long after Tut's death. Due to the location of the evidence, Hawass and his team think that any undiscovered tomb may belong to her.

The archaeologists are excavating near the tomb of the pharaoh Ay, part of which is seen here. The tomb is located in the West Valley of the Valley of the Kings. (Image credit: Magica/Alamy)

After Ankhesenamun's marriage to Ay, mentions of her don't appear again in surviving historical records. It's not known when Ankhesenamun died, how she died or where she was buried. Egyptian pharaohs sometimes had multiple wives and Ay's tomb only mentions another wife who was a woman named Tey.

Excavations, which are being funded by the Discovery Channel, have just started, according to a statement on Hawass' website. Several photos of the excavation are shown on Hawass' website, and the statement said that more photos of the ongoing excavations will be posted soon.

Original article on Live Science.
A North American gray wolf (<i>Canis lupus</i>) strikes a pose in the snow, recalling the storied figure of the Custer Wolf, the so-called "gray devil of the desert" that haunted South Dakota during the early 20th century.

For nearly a decade during the dawn of the 20th century, a lone  and furry  figure cut a criminal swath across South Dakota's badlands, evading government officials as well as seasoned trackers and bounty hunters.

At the peak of his infamy, the price on his head totaled $500  the equivalent of about $6,000 today. He was the Custer Wolf, a North American gray wolf (Canis lupus) so-named for the nearby town of Custer, South Dakota. The four-legged outlaw that preyed on livestock was widely reviled as a scourge of farmers and ranchers, but was also a source of fearful speculation, rumored to be an enormous monster possessing supernatural powers that prevented its capture.

On this day (Jan. 17) in 1921, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) distributed a statement announcing the death of the elusive Custer Wolf at the hands of a federally contracted hunter, naming the wolf "the master criminal of the animal world" and describing it as "the cruelest, the most sagacious, the most successful animal outlaw that the range country had ever known." [Photos: Brand-New Baby Wolves]

The language in the statement  written by USDA press officer Dixon Lanier Merritt, also a poet and humorist  seems a little over-the-top, but so was the Custer Wolf's story.

Larger than life

For nine years, the beast hunted and fed on horses and cattle across a range spanning about 300 square miles (780 square kilometers) in South Dakota, costing their owners an estimated $25,000  an amount equal to about $311,000 in 2017.

But the wolf was also said to mutilate its kills "in atrocious ways for the mere sake of killing," according to the statement. Over the years, attempts to catch the wolf with traps, guns, dogs and poison were unsuccessful. Fearful rumors circulated that he was no "mere wolf," but a hybrid of wolf and mountain lion, "possessing the craftiness of both and the cruelty of hell," and that he was accompanied by two coyotes that served as "bodyguards," the USDA reported.

Historically, wolves in the Dakotas typically preyed on large ungulates such as bison, moose and elk. But as Europeans settled in the West, they killed off the wolves' prey. And so the wolves, their ranges now greatly reduced by agriculture and ranching, began hunting livestock in order to survive.

This marked the beginning of federal bounty programs to exterminate wolves. These programs were so effective that North American gray wolves were largely eradicated in most of the lower 48 states before they were offered protection by the Endangered Species Act in 1978, with only a few hundred animals remaining in Minnesota, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reported.

Death of "the criminal wolf"

In the end, the Custer Wolf couldn't outrun the law. The USDA sent one of its own hunters, H.P. Williams, on the trail of the renegade wolf in March 1920, with instructions to catch the animal "no matter how much time was required," Dixon wrote in the statement.

Federal hunter H.P. Williams (left) and a local rancher stand over the slain Custer Wolf on Oct. 11, 1920. (Image credit: Paul Fearn/Alamy)

Williams trailed the wolf for months, first shooting the alleged coyote "bodyguards" and then laying a series of traps that the wolf managed to avoid or spring without getting caught. But the wolf's storied luck ran out on Oct. 11, when he stepped into one of Williams' steel traps, the hunter reported to the USDA.

Even then, the wolf managed to break the trap and run for 3 miles (4.8 km), with the trap's teeth still gripping his front leg, before Williams ended his life with a bullet.

In death, the wolf was found to be no oversize monster. In fact, he was "an old wolf" with nearly white fur, and he was smaller than average, measuring about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length and weighing 98 pounds (44 kilograms), Williams recounted.

Despite Merritt's harsh words in the USDA statement about the Custer Wolf's lengthy "reign of dread," the writer clearly held some admiration for the animal that evaded human retribution for so long, and grew into a larger-than-life, four-legged legend of the Wild West.

"He loped through every kind of danger and spurned them all," Merritt wrote.

Currently, there are no known populations of gray wolves in South Dakota, according to the FWS.

Original article on Live Science.
Far above your head right now, whizzing across the majestic canvas of space at 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h), is a load of garbage.

More than 500,000 pieces of human-made debris  colloquially known as "space junk"  orbit the Earth at any given time, NASA reported in 2013. At least 20,000 items in this extraterrestrial scrap heap are larger than a softball, and can include such massive detritus as entire defunct satellites and abandoned launch vehicles.

Such huge obstacles naturally pose a danger to new space missions, according to NASA. But just as dangerous are the many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can't even be tracked. "Even tiny paint flecks can damage a spacecraft when traveling at these velocities," NASA officials wrote. "In fact, a number of space shuttle windows have been replaced because of damage caused by material that was analyzed and shown to be paint flecks." [10 Futuristic Technologies 'Star Trek' Fans Would Love to See]

As more space missions (and more space junk) enter orbit every year, the need to clean up Earth's outer atmosphere grows ever more pressing, scientists say. Researchers previously proposed using magnets, ultrathin nets and giant harpoons to tackle the trash problem. How to clean up the smallest debris  the millions of particles that are less than 10 cm wide  is a trickier question to answer. Now, in a new paper published in the February 2018 issue of Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics, researchers at the Air Force Engineering University in China propose a solution: just blast the junk with satellite-mounted lasers.

This NASA graphic depicts the amount of space junk currently orbiting Earth. The debris field is based on data from NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office. Image released on May 1, 2013. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/JSC)

The study researchers ran multiple numerical simulations to model how the orbital path of space debris could be affected by radiation from space-based lasers. Essentially, the idea is to lower the orbital path of the debris enough so that it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, below about 120 miles (200 kilometers) above the surface, where it would burn up.

The models showed that orbital measurements called inclination, which describes the angle between the plane of orbit and Earth's equator, and right ascension of ascending node (RAAN), which describes the angle between Aries and the satellite as it crosses Earth's equator while passing from the Southern to Northern Hemisphere, proved crucial to the calculations. According to the models, small-scale debris cleanup proved most effective when the RAAN of the space-based laser stations matched the RAAN of the debris.

While these resultsmake a strong theoretical case for using space-based lasers as a viable means of cosmic cleanup, the idea of laser junk removal is not new. In 2015, Japanese scientists proposed adding a trash-blasting laser to the country's Extreme Universe Space Observatory module on the International Space Station, as well as developing a new satellite-mounted laser specifically for debris removal. Using a so-called coherent amplification network laser  which focuses many small lasers into one powerful beam  the satellite could vaporize thin layers of matter off of any debris it encountered, researchers said, forcing the junk downward to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

China's willingness to experiment with rapid debris removal is appropriate considering that the country is considered one of the worst offenders when it comes to space junk, Universe Today reported. In 2007, a Chinese anti-satellite missile test was responsible for what is considered the most severe fragmentation of space junk in history, Space.com previously reported. The incident spewed thousands of new pieces of junk into low Earth orbit, one of which appeared to damage a Russian spacecraft in 2013.

Originally published on Live Science.
A critically endangered Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) turned up along the side of a road in eastern Russia, suffering from a disease that typically infects domestic dogs.

Amur leopards, also known as Far Eastern leopards, are extraordinarily endangered. As few as 60 individuals remain in the wild, according to a paper published today (Jan. 17) in The Journal of Wildlife Diseases describing the find.

And the find is surprising. The disease, called canine distemper virus (CDV), infects many animals besides dogs, but it is rarely found in cats. Research published in 2001 in the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology suggests that when cats do catch CDV, it's usually because they've been in close contact with dogs. [Facts About Leopards]

The approximately 2-year-old wild female was spotted on May 8, 2015, close to a road running through Russia's Land of the Leopard National Park, according to the paper.

"On initial approach, the leopard showed a lack of fear toward people and vehicles and an indifference to its surroundings," the authors wrote.

A team of conservationists gave the 61-pound (28 kilogram) big cat drugs to immobilize it, then hauled it back to a care facility. Despite caregivers' efforts, the leopard refused food and water. It developed "uncoordinated" movements and "severe hind limb contractions" that couldn't be controlled with medicine. As the creature's condition deteriorated, caregivers made the decision to euthanize the cat.

That the leopard had CDV is a big deal, the researchers wrote, because the more a species' population dwindles, the more susceptible it is to shocks from disease outbreaks. CDV spreads more easily among social cats such as lions when big-cat outbreaks do occur, but the new paper suggests that it's still a significant threat to the more solitary Amur leopard.

Originally published on Live Science.
ALBION  An Albion woman received a knock on her door from a police officer just before midnight last week, thinking it was a complaint about her garbage cans being out too early.

Instead, Jael Sexton was informed she needed to call a police chaplain in Washington. Her sister had been killed in what appeared to be a domestic violence incident.

Jade Bost, 64, died Jan. 6 in Spokane, Washington. The cause of death was multiple stab wounds and the death was ruled a homicide by the Spokane County Medical Examiners office.

Bost, whose maiden name was Miller, grew up in Noble County and most of her family still resides here. Theyre recovering from the reports of a grizzly killing.

Police arrested Bosts husband, William Bost, after he crashed into a police officers car while the officer was working an unrelated traffic incident. Reports claimed Bost seemed disoriented at the time.

Police went to their home in Spokane and allegedly found Jade Bost dead, face down in a pool of blood with knives around her. William Bost was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder.

Jade Bost grew up in Noble County and graduated from Central Noble High School in 1971. She later obtained a doctorate in biology and was a professor at Spokane Community College from 2002 until she retired in June, her sister said.

Her family, including sister Sexton and her children and their 91-year-old mother, Eloise Miller, still reside in the Albion area.

I was totally in doubt. I got the (Albion) police officer at my door, I was told to call the chaplain in Washington. They told me it was just a family emergency, Sexton said about the encounter.

Sexton said it was the situation everyone has nightmares about, being contacted in the middle of the night to find out a family member is dead.

It was complete denial. How could anybody? she said. It was total denial. Total shock.

Bost hadnt been back to Noble County in more than a decade, not since her father died 16 years ago, Sexton said. Her sister didnt have any children, but had three dogs she loved like kids and was hesitant to leave them, so she rarely traveled away from her Spokane home.

But Bost talked with her mom on the phone every Sunday and wrote letters back and forth with the family, so they stayed in touch.

Sexton said she was planning a family trip to Washington this past Christmas so everyone could see Bost. But when Sexton couldnt get the days off work, she decided to scrap the trip.

I always thought there would be next year, Sexton said.

She described her sister as lifelong learner, someone who wanted to spread knowledge to others. Students at the community college told a local newspaper that Bost was a brilliant and funny teacher during her 15 years in the biology department.

She was a hard worker, loved her job being a teacher. She was hardcore with her students. She wanted them to do their best, Sexton said.

Sexton said she wanted Noble County residents to know what happened to her sister, but also to be aware that domestic violence can happen to anyone and can turn deadly. If there was something amiss in her sisters marriage, she said her family didnt know about it.

It really hits home when you dont think anything like this can happen to you, Sexton said.

Funeral arrangements for Bost are still pending with a funeral home in Spokane, Sexton said. She did not anticipate the family would have any local services.
Talented Longford milliner, Luke Norton, featured on TV3s Ireland AM programme today where he was interviewed about his thriving millinery business.

Luke, discovered his passion for millinery during his involvement with the Junk Kouture competition at Cnoc Mhuire secondary school in Granard.

And he explained to Ireland AM presenter Ciara Doherty that things have skyrocketed for Luke Norton Millinery since April of last year.

Luke, along with the Designer Room and New Romantic Jewellery, were the three Irish entrepreneurs, all looking for a bit of a boost, featured on todays programme.

Luke, from Coolarty, Edgeworthstown, explained that all of his headpieces are custom-made for clients.

Luke studies equine management in Enniskillen and he revealed that the millinery is a sideline that has taken off so much so that last November he was named Milliner of the Year at the New Yorker Hi Magazine 2017 Style Awards.

Following his appearance on Ireland AM, Luke posted on his Facebook page; that was great fun and such an amazing opportunity.

You may also be interested in:

Longford milliner Luke Norton designs headpiece for Ottawa Rose Vanessa Foran

Luke completed his Leaving Certificate last June, and during 2017 he designed a number of headpieces that were worn during the Punchestown Festival and his beautiful work was also showcased to a worldwide audience by the Ottawa Rose, Vanessa Foran during the Rose of Tralee International Festival.

You can learn more about Luke Norton Millinery by checking out his Facebook page or by following him on Twitter @NortonMillinery

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Granard student's Millinery to be worn at Punchestown
Dealz has announced it will open 30 PEP&CO shop-in-shop fashion outlets in its stores creating over 120 Irish jobs, taking Irelands leading discount retailer to new fashion heights.

This move will see a new line of clothes brought in to Dealz stores all over the country.

The first ten shop-in-shops will appear in Dealz flagship store in Blanchardstown, Kilkenny, Dundrum, Naas, Newbridge, Gorey, Athy, Finglas, Ballina and Castlebar.

Additional PEP&CO shops will then roll out across a further 20 Dealz locations including Mullingar, Killarney, Galway, Letterkenny and Cork  prior to summer. Dealz Longford is not in the initial roll out.

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COMPETITION: Win a 50 Dining Voucher and sample the mouthwatering Abbey Hotel new bar food menu

The move is set to shake up the fashion high street and itwill be welcomed by Irish savvy shoppers seeking a fresh, new offering in the discount fashion retail space.

The arrival of the fledging fashion brand is set to drive significant attention of local competitor Penneys as customers will be able to directly compare the quality and price of ranges.

In Ireland, prices at PEP&CO start at 1.50 with almost 60% of items at 5.00 or less and it expects to keep quality high and prices low as it builds a business of real scale and volume.

The news comes as part of a wider announcement made by parent company Poundland, as they unveiled plans to open over 150 PEP&CO shop-in-shop fashion outlets over the next 12 months in Ireland, the UK and France.

The expansion  which will put Poundlands PEP&CO brand in over 300 locations by the end of the year - would provide true fashion scale for the discount retailer and comes just days after the retailer secured new loan funding to maintain its ambitious investment plans.

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Longford Green Isle Foods manufacturing plant sold as part of 225m deal

Adrian Mountford is the Managing Director at PEP&CO.

We are very excited to bring our fashion and brand to Irish consumers. We already run 170 PEP&CO stores in the UK, most of them located inside Poundland stores, so introducing PEP&CO to the Irish marketplace via Dealz has always been a priority.

This Christmas we sold over a million more items than we did in our whole first year of trading in 2015, continued Adrian.

Thanks to our partnership with Poundland  and now Dealz in the Republic of Ireland - were set to double in size over the coming year, helping us to drive economies of scale to keep prices low

Who would have thought 12 months ago that we would make Poundland a must-stop fashion destination. We now look forward to replicating this success in our Irish Dealz stores as we bring this incredible brand offering to Irish consumers," said Poundland's UK & Ireland Managing Director Barry Williams.

By the end of this year, with over 300 shop-in-shop fashion stores, were set to become a major fashion player.

You may also be interested in:

Watch: Things have skyrocketed for talented Longford milliner Luke Norton
Gardai in Mohill are investigating the latest sheep kill incident that has occurred in the area. The latest incident occurred on Monday night/Tuesday morning last when a flock of 30 sheep were attacked by dogs, resulting in the death of eight sheep.

A further seven sheep were injured while the remainder of the flock has been left worried.

It is understood this is the third such incident that has occurred in the Mohill area in as many weeks.

In the wake of a number of similar events elsewhere in the country Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmer's Association Chairman John Brooks said he is appalled to hear of yet another spate of dog attacks on sheep.

"At this time of year, sheep flocks are at their most vulnerable with a lot of heavily pregnant ewes and some already lambing. It is absolutely vital that we all do what we can to protect these defenceless animals from such attacks."

Mr Brooks added, "Procedures regarding the microchipping of dogs also need to be urgently reviewed. Even when dogs are caught or in some instances shot following an attack, identifying the owner remains problematic. The issue arises when dogs are sold and the details are not being updated with the microchipping agencies. As a result, farmers have no way of identifying the true owner and getting to the bottom of the incident."

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Longford IFA says dog owners need to take responsibility for their pets
Longford and the Midland region is being overlooked in the National Planning Framework, according to local councillors, who discussed the matter at great length at the January meeting of Longford County Council last week.

The National Planning Framework will set out how best to develop the country by 2040 but the plan, according to local councillors, neglects the Midlands and will be the "death knell" of the region should it go ahead in its current format.

This issue is probably the most important item that we are going to consider during the course of this council, said Cllr Gerry Warnock after a presentation by the county's Senior Planning Officer, Donal Mac An Bheatha.

This isnt something thats going to have an effect now, tomorrow, or next week. Were looking twenty years down the road. So the way this process goes and the end result is going to have a huge bearing on the future of Longford.

The Independent councillor went on to say he was extremely disappointed that this plan didn't live up to its potential for Longford.

Considering the way Longford was treated under the former National Spatial Strategy, I waited with great eagerness for this National Planning Framework and I thought it could be a huge opportunity to redress a lot of the wrongs and a lot of the mistakes that were made under the former National Spatial Strategy, where places like Longford were essentially left out in the cold at their economic expense, at their development expense, at their infrastructural development expense, he continued.

From what Ive seen so far, this process is going on a year now and despite the best efforts of the council, that draft knocked all anticipation and great expectation out of me because - with all due respect for the people working on it - whoever drafted that hasnt got a scooby doo whats going on in rural Ireland.

They have obviously never worked in local authorities. Theyre reading some sort of mad theory books from God knows where.

Theres a very sinister element too in that I believe this is going to be enshrined in the legislation. So you have a situation where, going down the road when were looking for money for something, its very easy for them to shut that door on us because theyre nationally bound to go by the recommendations of this plan.

Also read: Longford is being neglected in national plan say, local councillors

These sentiments were echoed by Cllr Seamus Butler who agreed that those who drafted the plan were unaware of the situation in the more rural parts of the country.

They go through these consultation processes and they dont take a blind bit of notice because the whole thing is decided upfront, he fumed.

And this is just putting a veneer of some sort of democracy on it, which it is not.

If these sorts of plans go through, then be it on the head of any government that passes this.

The fact that there is no city specified in the midlands was another cause for frustration with the council.

Its a crime that they havent specified Athlone as a city. Whoever has drawn this up, be it on their heads because they are putting another nail in the coffin of rural Ireland, Cllr Butler continued.

Its taken the wind out of our sails. This can only be solved at a political level. Were going to have to go on a political battle to seal our place.

Cllr Mae Sexton was equally furious at Longford's exclusion and proposed that Longford County Council, and other local authorities in the region make it known that they will refuse to cooperate if significant changes are not made to place more emphasis on the Midlands.

This is really quite frightening. We have a situation where theyre pretending that this is a consultation and theyre pretending that theyre listening to us. And I dont believe civil servants should be allowed to have that kind of power, she said.

I think we have to look at this again. We have to find a different way to respond to them - to the fact that theyre not listening to us.

And I really think we need to talk to other county councils who feel the same as us. And I think that we need to decide that were not cooperating with this. Were just not going to do it.

Non-cooperation, however, is not an option, according to Director of Services for Longford County Council, Barbara Heslin.

We have to cooperate with the process, she explained.

We can play games with this if we wish but, at the end of the day, the minister will come in and take control.

The important thing from our perspective is that we make the strongest possible regional submission into this strategy and continue the good fight in making sure our message is listened to.

Fianna Fail Cllr Joe Flaherty gestured to the Fine Gael side of the room, stating that the FG councillors need to do something about this.

The key thing to take away from this presentation is that were not going to be developed in this county. Were going to be shackled, he said.

Were not going to have the opportunities because the framework isnt there to help us develop the county.

In the context of this plan, were simply going to become a wasteland of warehouses. Its deeply troubling.

I think theres an onus on the other side of the room to drive this, he continued, referring to the Fine Gael councillors.

This is a Dublin-driven plan by a Dublin government. This isnt about rebalancing Dublin. This is about wiping out rural Ireland and fortifying Dublin.

Independent Cllr Mark Casey was also adamant that local Fine Gael councillors make immediate plans to sit down with local Fine Gael Minister Eoghan Murphy to discuss how Longford and the Midlands can be included more in the plan.

"Any person that says this isn't political and has magic in their head," he insisted at last week's meeting.

"It's up to the Fine Gael party to sort this out, full stop. At the end of the day, this is being done by Fine Gael. We have a Minister up there who hasn't a clue what's going on in rural Ireland.

"If this was an independent minister, Gerry (Warnock), Mae (Sexton) and I would be up to him tomorrow to sort this out. The onus is on Fine Gael to sort this out. Full stop."

The Fine Gael councillors at the table whole-heartedly agreed that they should sit down and try to lobby the Local Government Minister.

This will be the death knell for all of the good work that were trying to achieve here, said Cllr Peggy Nolan.

We cannot sit back and just accept this. This side of the house has to step up to the plate now and say we as a county are not going to be left behind again. We fought a very hard battle to get where we are now.

And none of us should go out knocking on doors to be reelected if we allow this to happen. If it happens and we dont put up a fight, then shame on us. If it happens and weve put up a fight, at least people can say weve done our best.

It was agreed unanimously that the Fine Gael councillors would look for a delegation to sit down and discuss the issue with Minister Eoghan Murphy, and that Longford County Council would lodge a strong submission to the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.

Read next: Longford needs help badly
It is the end of an era as veteran and celebrated Longford town publican, Eamon Farrell, has called time on his Town & Country Bar on Earl Street.

For 43 years the bar was a mecca for GAA fans of all persuasions and the affable Eamon was one of the most charismatic to ever stand behind a bar.

Over the years the bar hosted such luminaries as the Dubliners and at least three thousand people claim to have been in the bar the night that Hollywood star and Longford son, Will Ferrell, visited the famed hostelry.

Calling time on his many years on Earl St, Eamon paid tribute to the many local customers who frequented the premises over the years.

He told the Leader: "I had them for weddings and sadly I had them for funerals but through it all I met some fantastic people."

Eamon grew up on Park Road and in a colourful life he set off at just fifteen for his first job in the Isle of Man.

He quickly learned the ropes and jumped at the chance to return home for a job as a butler with Lady Granard in Castle Forbes, Newtownforbes.

He later went with the family to Paris and then London before taking up the chance to manage a leading Irish bar in north London.

In the early '70s, he returned to Longford and launched a successful fruit and veg wholesale business.

He also launched an auctioneering business in partnership with former TD, Louis J Belton and in 1974 he purchased the Earl St bar.

It was owned by two nurses called Donoghue and McGovern.

Seemingly, one was from the country and the other from the town and as folklore has it, that's how the bar got the name, 'Town & Country.'
A court has heard how a man allegedly threatened to stab a woman in the heart with a pair of scissors after breaking into her house during the early hours of the morning.

Steven Farrell (25), of 6 St Anthony's Cottages, Mullingar, Westmeath appeared at a sitting of Longford District Court yesterday (Tuesday).

Garda Vincent Reynolds gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to an incident that occurred at 18 Ennell Court, Mullingar, Westmeath on December 1 2017.

Garda Reynolds said it would be alleged that Mr Farrell entered a private property where a 62-year-old woman was sleeping alone.

When she woke, she found a man standing over her armed with a pair of scissors.

"He demanded money, jewellery and car keys or else he would her in the heart with a pair of scissors he was holding," said Garda Reynolds.

Judge Seamus Hughes was told by the prosecuting garda, the victim was not in possession of her car on the night in question, resulting in the eventual theft of her mobile phone and jewellery.

Garda Reynolds added Mr Farrell was initially questioned over the incident but denied any involvement.

However, on foot of subsequent forensic analysis having been carried out on the alleged weapon used in the incident, Mr Farrell was re-arrested and charged with burglary on Monday evening.

The accused, sporting a blue jacket and blue trousers, did not address the court during yesterday's hearing.

Garda Reynolds said because directions had yet to be received from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the State would be applying for Mr Farrell to be remanded in custody.

Judge Hughes granted that request, remanding Mr Farrell to appear back before a sitting of Harristown District Court on Friday (January 19).
Following Sundays The Week in Politics we asked Longford-based general election candidates Cllr Micheal Carrigy (Fine Gael) and Cllr Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail) for their reaction and views to the programme. Cllr Flaherty responded with the below:

The scars of central government's neglect are acutely visible across urban and rural Longford.

otwithstanding the Council's efforts and Center Parcs' arrival, there is a fear that we are taking one step forward but two steps back.

Its the doughnut effect. We're marooned in the Midlands, whilst a Dublin centered and obsessed government drives policies that enable the large metropolitan centres, either side of us, to thrive. Empty shop units abound and we see the worry etched in business owners' faces.

Every week another business closes and the most recent closures included Le Wine O Clock.

Urzula Harley returned from France to open a wine bar but closed after a few months.

Award winning artisan butcher, Terry McLoughlin, closed in Lanesboro two weeks ago.

The weekend saw the closure of Ella's Closet boutique whilst Earl St publican, Eamon Farrell, closed after forty years.

I am working with several businesses experiencing serious difficulties and they don't think they'll get past Patrick's Day.

That's not a recovery  that's a crisis.

The finger of blame goes back to central government. During the boom, we were dependent on construction with one in five jobs construction linked.

The crash decimated us  more so than most other counties.

The government didn't launch a raft of training solutions or a jobs action plan. Instead the problem festered and today Longford has the highest unemployment rate nationally at 19.6%.

It is harrowing to hear our county described as one of the most marginalised and neglected in the country.

We need to see better infrastructure to support existing and new communities living here.

Failure to put in place such infrastructure will lead to serious social and economic problems in the years ahead.

We have one of Ireland's largest un-opened shopping centres.

We have one of the first army barracks to close and with no sign of redevelopment, the barracks is a reminder of this government's apathy towards Longford. Real and meaningful future development for Longford town hinges on a successful vision for the barracks site.

We looked to Dublin for leadership but we haven't seen any.

There are no green shoots for Longford - only dark clouds. Brexit looms and the concerns are stark.

An IBEC survey shows Longford has the fourth highest numbers of jobs exposed to the Brexit fallout, amounting to 24% of the entire workforce.

The government rightly prioritised the diplomatic challenge of Brexit but are failing to work with businesses starring Brexit in the face.

They are obsessed with churning out sound bytes instead of working with these businesses and helping them prepare for the consequences of Brexit.

Longford is clearly on the periphery to this government's vision.

The National Framework Plan sets out a vision to 2040. It will stifle development here and cost Longford jobs whilst fortifying larger urban centres.

There's a stark reality manifesting itself in a deep sense of foreboding for Longford people.

We see a government poised to turn out the lights on our county.

But Longford people won't stand for it.

They want their voice back and Sunday's 'Week in Politics' report articulated this growing anger. We want our voice heard again in Dail Eireann.

WATCH : 'Has the economic recovery reached the only county in Ireland without a TD of its own?' HERE

Also read:

Government knows Longford is in need of investment:

Cllr Micheal Carrigy responds to Sunday's 'Week in Politics' report aired on RTE
Local News, Crime

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 17 2018

Tea Kaganovich And Ramazi Mitiashvili Indicted For Grand Larceny In The First Degree For Stealing From Medicaid By Billing For Fake Medical Tests.

Brooklyn, NY - January 17, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the indictment and arrest of Tea Kaganovich, 45, and Ramazi Mitiashvili, 57, both of Brooklyn, NY for Grand Larceny in the First Degree and other related charges for illegally billing Medicaid for fraudulent diagnostic testing services and laundering the criminal proceeds from their scheme. The Attorney General also filed a civil lawsuit seeking $24 million in damages from the defendants under the States False Claims Act and other laws. The indictment alleges that Kaganovich and Mitiashvili, operators of Sophisticated Imaging, Inc., East Coast Diagnostics, Inc., and East West Management, Inc., engaged in a systematic scheme to subject Medicaid patients to a battery of diagnostic tests that were not medically necessary and not ordered by real physicians. Kaganovich, Mitiashvili, and the indicted corporations then caused the Medicaid program, including Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), to be billed for medical testing, some of which was never rendered at all. The defendants later laundered their illicit proceeds through various bank accounts and paid co-conspirators hundreds of thousands of dollars to perpetuate the scheme. The Attorney Generals civil lawsuit alleges that defendants illegal conduct cost Medicaid over $8 Million.

Medicaid is meant to be a healthcare safety net for New Yorkers, not a bank account for criminals, said Attorney General Schneiderman. My office will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who try to undermine the Medicaid program and defraud New York taxpayers.

During its ongoing investigation into medical mills, the Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) discovered that the pattern of fraud at each medical mill was similar. Medical mills are purported healthcare clinics that solicit Medicaid recipients who have no apparent medical concerns with promises of a cash payment, usually ranging between $20 and $50. After getting the recipients in the door and obtaining their Medicaid identification, the mills, using licensed healthcare providers complicit in the scheme, submit fraudulent claims to Medicaid or MCOs for services that are never rendered or medically unnecessary. Prosecutors allege that the licensed healthcare providers who purportedly staff the mills are paid by the mills for the use of their medical licenses and Medicaid credentials, but often never see the patients in whose names they submit claims to Medicaid.

In 2016, MFCU sent undercover investigators posing as Medicaid recipients into one of the mills. The investigators discovered individuals who held themselves out as physicians even though they did not have licenses. To maximize billing, the unlicensed doctors subjected the patients, including MFCUs undercover agents, to an array of medical tests from individuals purporting to be diagnostic technicians with a variety of medical equipment. The tests were whatever equipment the technicians happened to bring to the medical mill that day.

Prosecutors allege that Kaganovich, Mitiashvili, and their corporations participated in the medical mill scam by funding and staffing it. Prosecutors also allege that to keep the scheme going, Kaganovich and Mitiashvili paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks to the owners of medical clinics for patient referrals. Prosecutors further allege that Kaganovich and Mitiashvili also employed the purported diagnostic technicians who rotated between mills and contracted with licensed physicians to read the medically unnecessary diagnostic scans their employees generated. Prosecutors also allege that operators further caused the physicians to bill Medicaid and MCOs for the fraudulently obtained scans, and that once reimbursed by Medicaid or MCOs, the physicians paid Kaganovich and Mitiashvili for administering the allegedly medically unnecessary scans.

In October 2016, investigators from MFCU executed search warrants at two medical mills related to the defendants scheme located at 2423 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in Manhattan and at 2781 Webster Avenue in the Bronx.

A grand jury sitting in Manhattan returned an indictment charging all defendants with Grand Larceny in the First Degree, a class B felony; Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony; and Prohibited Practices (Kickbacks) in violations of the New York Social Services Law, a class E felony. The grand jury also charged Kaganovich and East Coast Diagnostics with Money Laundering in the First Degree, a class B felony; Mitiashvili and East West Management with Money Laundering in the Second Degree, a class C felony; and Kaganovich and Sophisticated Imaging with Money Laundering in the Third Degree, a class D felony. Lastly, Kaganovich and Mitiashvili were indicted for Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony. If convicted of the top counts, each defendant faces up to 25 years in state prison.

Notably, a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn indicted Kaganovich and Mitiashvili last month for various federal crimes related to a similar healthcare fraud scheme.

Today, Acting Justice Mark Dwyer of the Supreme Court, New York County arraigned the defendants and adjourned the case to April 6, 2018. Both defendants pled not guilty. The Defendants continue to be held in federal custody.

The Attorney General would like to thank the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG), the U.S. Department of Justice Medicare Strike Force, which operates with the U.S. Attorneys Office, Eastern District of New York; the Office of the Kings County District Attorney; the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG); the New York City Human Resources Administration, Medicaid Provider Investigations and Audit Unit, and the managed care company HealthFirst for their assistance and cooperation in this investigation.

This case was investigated by MFCU Investigators Stanislav Tabakov and Thomas Dowd, and Supv. Inv. Dominick DiGennaro under the supervision of Deputy Chief Investigator Kenneth Morgan. Senior Auditor-Investigator Lisandra Defex conducted the financial analysis with the assistance of New York City Regional Chief Auditor Investigator Thomasina Smith. MFCU Lead Data Scientist Steve Salotti and Legal Assistant Daniel Herzog assisted on the case.

Special Assistant Attorneys General Alyssa A. Preston and Jonathan Reiner are prosecuting the case along with NYC Deputy Regional Director Twan V. Bounds with the assistance of NYC Regional Director Christopher M. Shaw. Thomas OHanlon is the Chief of Criminal Investigations-Downstate. Special Assistant Attorneys General David Abrams and Konrad Payne are handling the civil lawsuit with the assistance of Civil Enforcement Chief Carolyn Ellis. MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul Mahoney.
by Sara Guaglione , January 16, 2018

Graydon Carter, former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, has invested in a new visual-focused mobile aggregation platform called ZIG, which launched Monday in iOS.

It will be available on Android and the mobile web soon.

ZIG collects pieces of content from big and mid-sized publishers  such as videos, photos and articles  and pulls the most important photos and news bites and packages it back to users in a feed on the app.

But cofounder Joshua James told Publishers Daily, We dont use the 'a' word here, referring to the word aggregate. We dont think thats what ZIG does. Users consume an article by sliding with their finger, and consume main parts that they care about through photos or video, he said.

ZIG, also cofounded by Adam Platzner and John Tornow, lets users connect their Facebook or Twitter accounts to ZIG, letting them see what users already follow on other social platforms in order to tailor their ZIG feeds.

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The idea is to simplify users consumption of news with a personalized content stream. Every time you use the app we are trying to educate ourselves on what you like what you dont like  what you skip, what you zoom on, did you send it to a friend, James said.

The feed is a stream of photos and videos created from online stories, tailored to a users topic and people interests. Links, headlines and text are removed from the original article and packaged into a series of photos, with caption-like blurbs.

Users can swipe through the feed, click on a photo and headline that interests them, and swipe through a selection of photos from the original article. A link can take users to read the full article on the publisher's site. There is no need to toggle between sites and apps to find specific news.

Users can consume so much more content in our app than in other classic publishing platforms, James said. The current publishing model is a poor user experience. Its really built on ad clicks and page views, not usability. Thats the model publishers have been forced to go with.

James, who has founded a number of start-ups, including a digital start-up that was sold to Warner Music Group, said ZIG is a consumption model, not an ad-click model. Going forward, the cofounders see opportunities for ad inventory throughout the app. But for now, Platzner says our priority is the product.

Advertising is going to be our main revenue stream. Down the line, we want to monetize this feed in a way that is not intrusive, he said.

The team at ZIG has met with various media companies, which have responded well to the app,. ZIG helps drive more traffic to publishers, James said. A large portion of the platforms initial users are clicking through to read the original article on publishers owned-and-operated sites.

A social feature likely to appeal to ZIG's younger demo allows users to superimpose a photo of their face giving a reaction to a piece of content. Called ZIG React (patent pending), the feature encourages users to engage with a publisher's content in a new way, and that image can be shared across social platforms, email and text.

The shared piece of content links back to the original article, too. Additions to the feature will roll out soon, the cofounders said.

ZIG is Carters first public project since retiring from Conde Nasts Vanity Fair last fall, after 25 years at the helm. Platzner, who has worked at big publishers, like Conde Nast and Mansueto Ventures, met Carter at a Vanity Fair summit last year.

Personally, Ive admired him since I was in high school," he added, calling Carter "a mentor to us." Other early investors include music producer Quincy Jones, vice chariman of NBC Universal Hollywood mogul Ron Meyer, Vivi Nevo and Live Nation.

The ZIG co-founders would not disclose funding amounts.
by Gord Hotchkiss , Featured Contributor, January 16, 2018

Ive come to realize that brand building is a lot like having kids. Much as you want to, at some point you simply cant control their lives. All you can do is lay a strong foundation. Then you have to cast them adrift on the vicissitudes of life and hope they bounce in the right direction more often than not. Its a crap shoot, so you damn well better hedge your bets.

Luck rules a perverse universe. All the planning in the world cant prevent bad luck. Crappy things happen with astonishing regularity to very organized, competent people. The same is true of brands. Crappy things can happen to good brands at any moment -- and all the planning in the world cant prevent it.

Take Oct. 31, 2017 for instance. On that day, Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented truck down a bike lane on Manhattans West Side, killing eight and injuring 11 others. What does this have to do with branding? Saipov rented his truck from Home Depot. All the pictures and video of the incident showed the truck with a huge Home Depot logo on the door. You know the saying that theres no such thing as bad publicity? Wrong!

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Or take Aug. 11, 2017 when a bunch of white supremacists decided to hold a torchlight rally in Charlotteville, Va. Their torch of preference? The iconic Tiki Torch, which, ironically, is based on a decidedly non-white Polynesian design. Tiki soon took to social media to indicate it was not amused with the neo-Nazis' choice.

The first instinct when things go wrong -- with kids or brands -- is to want to jump in and exert control. But that doesnt work very well in either case. You need to build anti-fragility. This concept, from author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is that shocks and disruptions make you stronger and more creative, better able to adapt to each new challenge you face. So, in the interest of antifragility -- of kids or brands -- here are a few things Ive learned.

1. Do the right thing. Like the advice from the eponymous 1989 movie from Spike Lee, you should always Do the Right Thing. That doesnt mean being perfect. It just means that when you have a choice between sticking to your principles and taking the easy way out, always do the former.

Children raised in this type of environment will follow suit. You have laid a strong moral foundation that will be their support system for the rest of their lives.

The same is true of brands. A brand built on strong ethics, by a company that always tries to do the right thing, is exceptionally anti-fragile. When knocks happen -- and cracks inevitably appear -- an ethical brand will heal itself. An unethical brand that depends on smoke and mirrors will crumble.

2. Build an emotional bank account. One of the best lessons Ive ever learned in my life was Stephen Covey's metaphor of the emotional bank account. My wife and I have tried to pass this along to our children.

Essentially, you have to make emotional deposits to those close to you, building up a balance from which you can withdraw when you need to. If you raise kids that make frequent deposits, you know that their friends and family will be there for them when they need them. The degree of anti-fragility in your children is dependent on the strength of their support network. How loyal are their friends and family? Have they built this loyalty through regular deposits in the respective emotional bank accounts?

The same is true for anti-fragile brands. Brands that build loyalty in an authentic way can weather the inevitable storms that will come their way. This goes beyond the cost-of-switching rationale. Even brands that have you locked in today will inevitably lose that grip through the constant removal of marketplace friction through technology and the ever-creeping forces of competition. Emotional bank accounts are called that for a reason -- they have to do with emotions, not rationality.

3. Accept that mistakes happen. One of the hardest things about being a parent is giving your children room to make mistakes. But if you want to raise anti-fragile kids, you have to do this.

The same is true with brands. When things go wrong, we tend to want to exert control, to fix things. In doing so, we have to take control from someone else. In the case of parenting, you take control from your children, depriving them of the chance to learn how to fix things themselves.

In the case of branding, you take control from the market. But in the latter case, you dont really take control -- because you cant. You can respond, but you cant control. Its a bitter lesson to learn, but one best learned sooner rather than later.

4. Remember, youre in this for the long run. Raising anti-fragile children means learning about proportionate responses when things go off the rails. The person your child is when she's 15 is most likely not going to be the person she is when she's 25. Youre not going to be the same person, either. So while you have to be firm when they step out of line, you also have to take care not to destroy the long-term foundations of your relationship. Overreacting can cause lasting damage.

The same is true for brands. The market has a short memory. No matter how bad today may be, if you have an anti-fragile brand, the future will be better. Sometimes its just a matter of holding on and riding out the storm.
Despite healthy growth, Facebook acknowledges that its Messenger service is far from perfect. In particular, the messaging app has become too cluttered, according to David Marcus, head of Messenger at Facebook.

Expect to see us invest in massively simplifying and streamlining Messenger this year, Marcus promises in a new blog post.

At the time same, Marcus envisions Messenger as the solution to a growing list of tasks  from organizing group activities to planning family vacations to doing homework to connecting with contacts via text, photo, video, along with real-time audio and videos.

At the moment, its not clear how Marcus and his team plan to reconcile these seemingly competing goals. To that end, Facebook is not yet ready to discuss how it plans to simplify Messenger.

One possibility might involve Facebook giving businesses their own platform on which to communicate with Facebook users, or aiding in the development of brand-specific messaging platforms.

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Bigger brand names are bringing a presence to Messenger (LEGO, Katy Perry, Apple Music), which signals the acceptance from CMOs that its time to create a unique and effective experience that can reach more people at scale, Marcus noted.

Within Messenger or some complimentary platform, Marcus said to look out for investment in rich messaging experiences from both global brands and small businesses that need to be nimble to stay competitive.

Last year, Messenger surpassed 1.3 billion monthly active users, according to internal figures.

Speaking to the platforms business-to-consumer potential, more than 200,000 bots are now live on Messenger.

Illustrating a broader move away from text for communication purposes, Messenger users sent more than 500 billion emojis -- and 18 billion GIFs -- last year. Plus, Messenger users participated in 17 billion video chats, last year. That's double the number of video chats recorded in 2016.

Yet for all the activity on Messenger, Instagram could inspire more messaging excitement in 2018. Thats because the Facebook unit recently began testing a standalone messaging app in smaller markets outside of the United States.

Dubbed Direct, the experimental app opens in camera mode -- just like Snapchat. Initial test markets have included Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Uruguay and Chile.

By April 2017, Direct -- still with the Instagram app -- had surpassed 375 million users.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 16, 2018

A federal judge has thrown out a couple's lawsuit over an online critique of their apartment in Paris, which they rented to vacationers.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan said in an order issued Tuesday that the couple, Claude and Violaine Galland, failed to comply with court orders aimed at expediting the long-running legal fight.

"The record in this case -- spanning over three years for what is essentially a single contract claim -- demonstrates a long history of dilatory practices," Sullivan wrote. He added that no sanction short of dismissal would be effective. The Gallands, who resided in New York when the case was filed, are now in Switzerland, according to court papers.

Unless the Gallands appeal, the dismissal will end a dispute that dates to 2013, when the Gallands rented out their Paris apartment to two vacationing couples who subsequently posted some critical comments on the vacation rental site VRBO.com.

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One of the couples, Stephen and Terri Bowden of Alabama, allegedly wrote that the apartment was small and noisy, but attractive enough and close to the Metro and Notre Dame Cathedral.

The other pair, James and Judith Johnston of Oregon, allegedly wrote that they had an awful experience at the apartment. Expect a 2 story climb of narrow stairs, sloping floor, poor lighting, exposed utilities, broken and patched plaster, they allegedly wrote. The reviews are way too wordy and sound like the owner.

The Gallands sued both couples for libel and breach of contract, alleging that the rental agreements contained a clause prohibiting tenants from complaining in online reviews. The Gallands referred to that ban as a "house rule," writing that it must be followed even in the event that the four-horses-of-the-acopalyspe emerged from doom.

In 2015, Sullivan dismissed the libel allegations, but allowed the Gallands to pursue their breach of contract claims. The Bowdens subsequently settled the lawsuit, according to court papers.

Last summer, the advocacy group Public Citizen entered the case on behalf of the Johnstons. That organization said it was prepared to argue that the Gallands' ban on negative reviews was void under the Consumer Review Fairness Act -- a 2016 law that invalidates standardized contractual provisions that restrict people's ability to post reviews. Public Citizen also noted that a New York state judge ruled in 2003 that New York's consumer protection law prohibits clauses that ban bad reviews.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 16, 2018

Attorneys general in New York and other states on Tuesday sued the Federal Communications Commission over its recent vote to dismantle the net neutrality rules.

The attorneys general are asking the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. to invalidate the FCC's so-called "Restoring Internet Freedom" order, which repealed the 2015 net neutrality rules. The law enforcement officials write that the FCC's repeal should be invalidated for several reasons, including that it was "arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion," and that it violates the Communications Act. The papers don't elaborate on the arguments.

The repeal of net neutrality would turn internet service providers into gatekeepers  allowing them to put profits over consumers while controlling what we see, what we do, and what we say online," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is leading the initiative, stated. This would be a disaster for New York consumers and businesses, and for everyone who cares about a free and open internet."

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Attorneys general from 20 other states and the District of Columbia joined in the legal challenge.

The FCC voted 3-2 last month to repeal rules that prohibited broadband carriers from blocking or throttling online traffic and from charging companies higher fees for prioritized delivery. Critics of that move say net neutrality rules are necessary to prevent carriers from discriminating against competitors and small companies that can't afford high fees for fast-lane service.

The repeal won't take effect until 60 days after the order is published in the Federal Register, which has not happened yet. Given that the repeal hasn't yet been published, the suit may be premature. The attorneys general state in the legal papers that they are filing the suit now -- as opposed to waiting for publication in the Federal Register -- "out of an abundance of caution."

Net neutrality proponents Free Press and Public Knowledge filed similar lawsuits Tuesday.
by Tanya Gazdik , January 17, 2018

General Motors is once again the top automaker when it comes to loyalty, according to IHS Markit.

Now in its 22nd year, the IHS Markit Loyalty Awards honor winners in more than 30 categories including GM for the top award, Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, with a loyalty rate of 69.1%, and Ford brand for Overall Loyalty to Make with a loyalty rate of 63.4%.

Automotive manufacturers and brands were recognized in a ceremony Tuesday evening for superior customer retention and conquest efforts during the 2017 model year (October 2016 through September 2017).

IHS Markit analysis found that with approximately 17.5 million new vehicle registrations during the 2017 model year, 53.6% of customers returned to market to purchase or lease another new vehicle from the same make they already owned. This represents record loyalty rate and an increase of 0.8 percentage points from last year.

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New to the analysis this year is the assessment of the impact a garage mate of the same brand has on defection. A garage containing two vehicles of the same brand will return to repurchase from that brand 63% of the time. When the garage mate is a competitive brand, then the rate of return drops 20 percentage points to 43% brand loyal. These data can be used to identify customers who may look loyal to a given brand, but are actually at higher risk for defection.

As a result of this additional analysis, Lincoln was found to be the brand with Highest Loyalty to Dealer, meaning, 48.5% of all Lincoln owners returned to a Lincoln dealer for another Lincoln in the 2017 model year.

Ford achieved the highest loyalty rate of all makes during the 2017 model year, winning the Overall Loyalty to Make award. The award for Highest Conquest percentage for the 2017 model year went to Jeep.

Toyota was honored for highest Ethnic Loyalty to Make among all ethnic groups combined, as it led in loyalty among all three ethnic groups  African American, Hispanic and Asian.

Buick was named for Most Improved Loyalty to Make for the model year and Jaguar was recognized for Most Improved Conquest percentage during the 2017 model year.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, January 17, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- If there was any doubt that digital media has taken center stage in political marketing, it was put to rest by top executives, operatives and consultants speaking at MediaPosts Marketing Politics conference here Tuesday. While traditional media remains a mainstay for many local races, public affairs and issues-oriented campaigns, top digital and data officers of the two major U.S. parties and others made the case that digital is taking the lead in national and important state races, mainly for the same reasons it is beginning to dominate the mix for conventional consumer marketers: because its efficient and it works.

But the digital chiefs of the two parties portrayed very different strategies for 2018. Republican National Committee Chief Digital Officer Doug Hochberg showed how the GOP has begun centralizing its efforts via its GOP.gov portal, while Democratic National Committee Chief Mobilization Officer Caitlin Mitchell showcased a more decentralized strategy that provides tools and resources for local and state campaigns to leverage digital media more effectively.

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Over the past several years, the GOP has essentially gone all-in on digital, Hochberg said, abandoning TV advertising altogether, and focusing its efforts around its namesake web destination.

He said the effort began with the RNC leasing GOP.gov from a third party provider, but its early testing proved so successful that it bought the site and has made it the hub of its digital marketing activities.

The reason, he said, is it works by the most meaningful KPI the party can measure: voter turnout.

Yes, the RNC still relies on its lists, email, telephone and door-to-door canvassers, but GOP.gov has become a means of recruiting voters to its lists and also getting them to turnout.

To illustrate that, he showed a table illustrating the impact on eight battleground states (see photo) showing double-digital lifts in actual voter turnout vs. what each states official projected they would be.

The hit you always get that you cant really turn out a voter, Hochberg said about an oft-cited criticism of digital media. What we found is that if you get someone to go to your website early, get them on your email list, youre pushing them emails everyday. And youre getting them with ads, because youre targeting them correctly.

He said the RNC still uses conventional digital ads too, mostly Facebooks, but that when prospective voters visited GOP.gov, it significantly boosted turnout.

During her keynote, the DNCs Mitchell made almost the opposite case for a decentralized digital strategy relying not on a single digital destination, but on providing a spectrum of tools and resources that campaigns could utilize and customize based on testing, data-gathering and constant improvement.

The next big thing, she said, is machine learning and automation, including AI to automate things like email communication.

Were looking at automating parts of the process and testing, she said.
by Wayne Friedman , January 17, 2018

Media company E.W. Scripps Co. has started a TV data analysis service for political campaign marketers called MarketPredict.

The growth in political ad dollars has pushed TV station groups to offer more data analysis and other services to advertisers. Scripps made the announcement at MediaPost's Marketing Politics Conference in Washington, D.C.

The MarketPredict system will forecast campaigns' voter conversions by modeling factors influencing them. It can update data in real-time to deliver insights into how voters might react to major news events.

In addition, the service will provide omnichannel recommendations across paid, earned and owned media, including television, digital, social media and campaign events. It will also integrating campaign data sets with the proprietary MarketPredict system to develop better campaigns.

MarketPredict has run internal tests of the service in the 2016 elections and in the Virginia gubernatorial race in 2017.

Eisha Armstrong, managing director for MarketPredict, says the service will monitor the latest voter opinions and word of mouth to help media campaigns.

E.W. Scripps has 33 TV stations -- as well as radio and other national media businesses.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 17, 2018

Teams at Google have begun to use artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a suite of machine-learning products that enable developers with limited skills to build their own custom system based on AI.

The service, Cloud AutoML, uses machine learning to automatically build and train learning algorithms. The first one -- Vision -- was announced Wednesday, and recognizes objects in images. The model provides a simple graphical user interface that enables a layperson to specify data, then turns that data into a model customized for specific needs. There is also a faster turnaround for production-ready products, of as little as a day.

The platform addresses the lack of talent, knowledge and expertise in AI. "Only a handful of businesses in the world have access to the talent and budgets needed to fully appreciate the advancements of ML and AI," wrote Fei-Fei Li, chief scientist of Cloud AI at Google, in a blog post. "Theres a very limited number of people that can create advanced machine learning models. And if youre one of the companies that has access to ML/AI engineers, you still have to manage the time-intensive and complicated process of building your own custom ML model."

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Several companies have been testing AutoML for the past few months. A Vision model built into Disney's search engine on its website aims to improve the ability to search and discover products in the Disney store.

Urban Outfitters has begun to use Cloud AutoML to address attribution, according to Alan Rosenwinkel, data scientist at URBN. He explains in the blog post how the company's using the technology to automate the product attribution process by recognizing nuanced characteristics in clothing like patterns and neckline styles.

The products are being developed with help from Google Brain engineers and others across Google.
New research presents the simulation of a system that predicts the onset of a migraine attack with a remarkably high degree of accuracy. Being able to foresee a migraine can help to relieve or even prevent the pain altogether. Share on Pinterest The findings may change the lives of those living with migraines. Migraines are reported to affect over 14 percent of people in the United States, with 1 in 7 adults being affected each year, and women being twice as likely to develop them than men. While migraines do tend to go away on their own, the pain is often excruciating, and the need for remedies is dire. The World Health Organization (WHO) report that migraine now is the sixth highest cause worldwide of years lost due to disability. Although drugs help to relieve the pain, the fact that people have to wait until they feel the first signs of a migraine often reduces the effectiveness of the painkillers. But now, a team of Spanish-based researchers have simulated a migraine prediction system that could soon improve the lives of people affected by migraines. Josue Pagan Ortiz, of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in Spain, and his colleagues designed the system, and they presented it at the Summer Simulation Conference, held in Seattle, WA. The scientists have now carried out a simulation using real patient data, presenting a real scenario for the prediction of migraines. The findings were published in the journal Future Generation Computer Systems. Knowing when an attack will strike can drastically improve the effectiveness of the painkillers, the researchers explain, helping patients to stop the pain.

Simulating a migraine prediction system Pagan Ortiz spoke to Medical News Today about the novelty of his recent research, highlighting the fact that while the device has not yet been tested, it has been simulated in a real scenario. In our previous research we developed a prototype to gather hemodynamic data information from migraine sufferers in an ambulatory scenario, he explained. Hemodynamic data refers to the variables that announce the onset of a migraine attack, and they include surface skin temperature, the skins electrical properties, heart rate, and the oxygen saturation of the capillaries. We created personalized predictive models offline, in our servers and computers, and we wanted to test them in real time in order to generate alarms and let the patients know, in advance, when the migraine pain is [going to] start. This experiment is a time-consuming and expensive task, thus we decided to simulate it first, Pagan Ortiz told us, adding further details about the procedure. What we simulated is the behavior of our current prototype in a real scenario, he continued. We simulated the conditions that real ambulatory monitoring devices suffer: sensor disconnection, noise, etc., and we studied how this can affect the reliability of the migraine prediction. [W]e showed techniques to mitigate this effect and keep accurate predictions, Pagan Ortiz added. On the other hand, we studied how this system could alert patients. We saw the predictive models behavior and how the simulated monitoring device generates alerts.

Over 75 percent prediction accuracy Pagan Ortiz said, The simulation showed that it is suitable to bring to the real world all the methodology weve developed to predict migraines and generate alarms in real time to warn patients in advance. More specifically, the average rate of prediction success of the system is 76 percent, and the average period of time before the onset is 25 minutes  which is enough time to intervene so as to diminish the pain or prevent it altogether. Pagan Ortiz went on, Predictions are made in the time window where the drug is effective according to the pharmacokinetics of the drugs. With this [system], we estimate [that] we will be able to predict, and thus avoid, around 75 [percent of the] crises. This will reduce the visits to emergenc[y rooms], he stated, adding, [I]t will allow [for] personalized medicine (drugs [for] the acute phase of the pain), and it will improve their [quality] of life. It will also reduce considerably the bill of national and private health systems and health insurances due to economic savings in direct and indirect costs.
Nimrat Kaur is one of the finest and most versatile actresses in Bollywood and with each movie; she proves that she is here for the long run. After flooring us with her exceptional performances in projects like 'The Lunchbox', 'Airlift' and 'Homeland'; Nimrat is back in action with 'The Test Case', the much-awaited web series by ALTBalaji. And the recently released trailer speaks volumes about how kickass the show and Nimrat's performance is going to be.

 ALT Balaji

Nimrat plays the lead role of Captain Shikha Sharma, India's first woman combat officer, who struggles to make a mark in a male-dominated world. The first few seconds are enough to make you fall in love with Nimrat's character and her flawless and phenomenal acting.

When a woman strives to break-free from the shackles of the society and do something that was until now considered to be under men's jurisdiction, especially when it means fighting the enemies in the battlefield as a commando; the whole world tries to pull her down.

But, Captain Shikha Sharma fights all odds and shows the men in the Special Forces Training Centre that she can overcome any obstacles thrown at her  be it physical or the mindset of those who believe women aren't fit for combat or to be in the Army.

 ALTBalaji

As we delve deeper into the trailer, things get problematic and suspicious for Nimrat's character who now not only struggles to become the first female combat officer, but also has to deal and get over the politics inside the academy. At the end of the trailer, Nimrat says This is my story sir, And there is only one hero in this story and that's me and we completely agree.

By the looks of the trailer, it seems that Nimrat will completely own the web series. And we can already smell a suspense-filled thriller brewing in the backdrop that confuses us to an extent where one is compelled to question who the main player here is. Is it Nimrat who is pulling the strings or is she just a pawn in this game?

Apart from Nimrat, Juhi Chawla, Atul Kulkarni, Rahul Dev, Sumit Suri, Annup Soni and Akshay Oberoi too did an amazing job. Chawla plays the character of Shraddha Pandit, the Minister Of Defence. Although we couldn't see much of her in the trailer, her dialogue was enough to intrigue us to look forward to the release of the episodes. The torture that a man is willing to bear for his nation, a woman too, can bear. Captain Shikha Sharma will be our test case for this. This will go down in the history of web series as one of the most hard-hitting dialogues.

'The Test Case' is produced by Ekta Kapoor and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. The first episode has already been aired and the remaining episodes of this series will be available on ALTBalaji from January 26.
When he appeared in 'Maine Pyar Kiya', a dreamy looking young Salman Khan melted everyone with his innocent looking face and charming smile. It's one of those films that still brings a smile to your lips every time you watch it. What if we could get to see Salman's old avatar once again? Wouldn't that be a treat for all his fans?

Salman Khan's next film 'Bharat' will give you a glimpse of the actor's journey from the age of 18-70. This project of his has been in the news for a very long time and finally the actor will soon start shooting for it as well.

The film will be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Atul Agnihotri. If reports are to be believed, the makers have decided to use prosthetics to make him look like a young lad.

 Rajshri Films

Talking to the media Ali said, We have just locked the script. The idea is to make Salman look the way he appeared in 'Maine Pyar Kiya'  from the time he began his career to now. But we will know how much we can achieve only after our complete research is done.

To get the best result and look, the makers are already in talks with the VFX team of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. It is the same team that even worked with Shah Rukh Khan for his film 'Fan'.

According to reports, the team is planning to use an age reduction technique to achieve the younger look.

Talking about it, Ali also mentioned, I know Salman doesn't like a lot of prosthetics and make-up, so we will have to design something that doesn't bother him too much because he's the central character. We are figuring out other ways of doing it. Benjamin Button came a decade ago and during this time, a lot has happened with respect to technology. Many things can be done with VFX. So, we might not need too much prosthetics or make-up.

All the elements for 'Bharat' are being designed keeping Salman's need in mind as he has mentioned that such things lead to his nerve disorder (trigeminal neuralgia).

Ali also believes that even this time, Salman will surprise his fans with this new avatar. In fact, Salman might also lose weight for this film. At present, the team is busy with the groundwork. The concept already sounds pretty interesting and we are sure that the Sultan's fans are already looking forward to this one.
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President Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, secretly traveled to San Francisco over the weekend for a meeting on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Fox News has confirmed.

According to sources, McMaster met with officials from South Korea and Japan, including Shotaro Yachi, the director of the Japanese national security council.

During the meeting, the group discussed the newly-resumed communications between North Korea and South Korea. They also agreed that these renewed communications  and agreement for North Korea to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month -- are diversions and have no effect on North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons program, the sources said.

All sides agreed on the need to increase pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear program.

Last month, during a speaking appearance in California, McMaster said the possibility of war with North Korea increases every day the problem over its nuclear program isn't solved.

"I think it's increasing every day," McMaster told Fox News' Bret Baier at the Reagan National Security Forum in California. "It means we're in a race. We're in a race to be able to solve this problem."

Added McMaster: "There are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict, but it is a race because he's getting closer and closer and there's not much time left."

McMaster told Baier that North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un's nuclear ambitions are the gravest national security threat that America faces.

"The greatest immediate threat to the United States and to the world is the threat posed by the rogue regime in North Korea and his continued efforts to develop a long range nuclear capability," he said.

McMaster added, "So it's immensely important that we work together with all of our allies, partners, everyone internationally, to convince Kim Jong Un that the continued pursuit of these capabilities is a dead end for him and his regime."

John Roberts currently serves as the chief White House correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network as a senior national correspondent in January 2011, based in the Atlanta bureau.
A four-star admiral has recommended that the commanding officers of two ships involved in separate deadly collisions last summer should face court-martial, the Navy announced Tuesday.

In all, five officers and a chief petty officer have been recommended for possible criminal charges following the convening of a Consolidated Disposition Authority headed by Adm. Frank Caldwell, director of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program.

An additional eight sailors were identified for non-judicial punishment.

From the destroyer USS Fitzgerald, where seven sailors were killed in June when the ship collided with a Philippine-flagged container ship southwest of Tokyo, four officers have been identified for charges, including former commanding officer Cmdr. Bryce Benson, said Capt. Greg Hicks, Navy chief of information.

USNI News first reported the charge recommendations Tuesday.

In addition to Benson, two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade have been recommended for discipline. The charges recommended against them include dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide.

An investigation into the Fitzgerald collision, reviewed by Military.com, found that watchstanders were looking the wrong way as the ship entered a collision course with the container ship ACX Crystal. When the danger was finally identified, the officer of the deck froze, giving an order and then retracting it as danger rapidly approached.

The investigation also revealed that there had been a near-collision a month prior to the crash, but no actions were taken to prevent another such incident.

"The command leadership did not foster a culture of critical self-assessment," investigators found.

Benson was badly injured in the collision and ultimately had to be medically evacuated from the ship.

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In the case of the destroyer USS John S. McCain, which collided with a Liberian-flagged tanker, Alnic MC, just east of the Straits of Malacca in August, Caldwell recommended the ship's former commanding officer, Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, face charges of dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide. He also recommended that an unnamed chief petty officer face a charge of dereliction of duty.

An investigation into the McCain collision, released in November, revealed massive confusion on the bridge as the ship made an early morning passage through one of the busiest sea lanes in the world.

Sanchez was on the bridge, but had not summoned a sea-and-anchor detail to assist with the movement, according to the investigation.

When he observed the ship's helmsman was having trouble staying on course and controlling speed, Sanchez ordered the duties be divided up. But the message was not communicated, and chaos ensued, resulting in the helmsman incorrectly declaring the ship had lost steering.

The investigation also found that several of the sailors on watch had been transferred from the cruiser USS Antietam, and were not familiar with steering controls for the destroyer.

If Sanchez had set a sea-and-anchor detail to help, the collision would not have occurred, the investigation found.

Four sailors from each ship were recommended for non-judicial punishment, Hicks said.

"The announcement of an Article 32 hearing and referral to a court-martial is not intended to and does not reflect a determination of guilt or innocence related to any offenses," he said in a statement. "All individuals alleged to have committed misconduct are entitled to a presumption of innocence."

Dates for Article 32 hearings have yet to be announced.

Additional administrative actions are being conducted for members of both crews, including non-judicial punishment for four Fitzgerald and four John S. McCain crewmembers.

Information regarding further actions, if warranted, will be discussed at the appropriate time.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
Officials say the device was known as an "unexploded ordnance," or an explosive weapon that did not explode and still posed a...
Human error -- and miscommunication about runway lighting -- are to blame for a Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet that skidded along a ditch and then burst into flames in an Oct. 26, 2016, mishap aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California, according to a command investigation.

The incident resulted in both the mishap pilot and the pilot leading the flight being assigned to field flight performance boards, and the mishap pilot ultimately being placed on conditional flight status, a spokesman for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Capt. John Roberts, said in a statement.

The investigation, which was completed in February 2017, was released to Military.com on Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The document reveals that the Marine Corps pilot, who safely ejected prior to the crash, had been inexperienced and "below average" in training progression on the aircraft.

No mechanical problems were identified on the aircraft, and no issues were discovered in the planning of the sunset training flight.

The pilot was part of the Beaufort, South Carolina-based Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 251, having recently joined the unit after completing replacement pilot training at Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101, a Hornet fleet replacement squadron in Miramar, California. VMFA-251 was at 29 Palms at the time to complete an integrated training exercise.

The flight itself was unremarkable until around 6:15 p.m., when the mishap pilot prepared to land.

On final approach course, according to the investigation, the pilot leading the flight realized the runway lights were not on, and radioed the tower asking that they be turned on so he could see better. But as the mishap pilot approached the runway, the strip remained dark.

There was clear confusion as the pilot began a long final approach. He wasn't aware of a UH-1 Huey from a recent flight parked on a nearby taxiway, and overflew the aircraft's rotors by just 30-50 feet on descent. The aircraft then touched down briefly on a dirt track between another runway and a taxiway.

The Hornet's left landing gear tire landed in the middle of a drainage ditch, throwing the entire plane off-balance.

"The Mishap Pilot perceived everything to be normal up until the Mishap Aircraft touched down, then 'saw a rising shadow that looked like a dip then felt the jet hit the dirt, almost immediately the jet started to roll to the right' and began to violently come apart," the investigation reads.

About 450 feet on, the plane hit a culvert and burst into flames. Fortunately, the pilot had ejected when the Hornet's nose began to roll to the right and was safely away from the conflagration.

With the continued momentum from the landing, the burning aircraft continued to move along the dirt area by the drainage ditch before finally coming to a stop.

The investigation found the pilot's lack of situational awareness and overall confusion led to the crash.

"He mistook the dark stretch of the dirt area with the drainage ditch centered within in it and extending towards him and the flashing lights of the section of H-1 helicopters parked at the threshold for the unlit duty runway with the darkened runway centerline and no approach lights," the investigator wrote.

But it also found miscommunication about when to turn on the runway lights, and called the 29 Palms air traffic controller negligent for failing to put the lights on at sunset.

In his endorsement of the investigation, the commander of Marine Aircraft Group 31, Col. Robert Cooper, said the pilot lacked the tools he needed to address a "mitigatable" hazard, like a dark runway.

"I am confident that this mishap would not have occurred had FAA regulations been complied with," he wrote. "I'm also certain that the mishap would not have occurred if the pilot met the standard expectation of USMC aircrew levels of situational awareness."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Veterans are mostly proud of their service. And rightfully so, its no small thing to take the leap into the military and all that it entails. But there are some veterans who, well, theyre like that one 50-year-old dude for whom high school was the highlight of his entire life and who references every situation back to the good old days. Like that, but, you know, with guns.

Because of this, we all know those service members and veterans who so prominently display photos of themselves on social media in uniform that all we can muster is a heavy eye roll or an unfollow. We get it, you served, thanks for the daily reminder. Not sure how Arbor Day is all about veterans, but somehow you made it out to be. You know, that kind of veteran. To some extent, were all guilty of this in some capacity. Because out of the millions of photos out there, they can all be boiled down to fall into about seven distinct categories of obnoxiousness.

1. The Basic Trainee

This photo gets whipped out whenever a vet feels nostalgic, and its often accompanied by some remark such as, It was harder at [insert training base name] back in [insert random year] than it is for these soft kids today who get coddled! Its also a popular photo for those individuals for whom basic training was the only point in their career, because they didnt really make it any further. The poster bears some risk in doing this because if theyre discovered they are apt to be covered in a deluge of ridicule.

2. The Mirror Selfie

This one is firmly the property of the younger generation these days. And with all mirror selfies, we have to say: Please police up your backgrounds before you post these things. We can clearly see the pile of Bud cans behind you and  worse  your messy pile of moto t-shirts. We get it, you love your job, but we dont need a daily reminder of what you in uniform and your shower curtain look like. Give it a few years until you are managing troops like yourself and youll be singing a different tune.

3. The Look How Responsible I Am One

Clad in dress uniform or serviceable camo, maybe even cracking a clean-cut smile, we can see that youre a responsible service member  probably an officer. Your feed is full of positive stories about the military and your family. Frankly, boring, but were glad youre around to provide order and point out uniform violations online.

4. The DGAF

This one is a bit more nuanced, because it can be divided into two categories: the DGAF (dont give a fuck) military and the DGAF ETS/EASd. The DGAF military is usually a bunch of grubby troops out in the field with all manner of uniform violations, exercising their ability to cram a vast quantity of tobacco products into one shot. These photos often include some kind of animal or mascot. Apparently there are bonus points if you incorporate one of many stages of inebriation and the vagaries of uniform adjustment that come with it. The DGAF ETS/EASd veteran demonstrates how quickly one can lose ones military fitness after leaving the service while still letting everyone know that you served. It takes skill, really.

5. The Shooter

This variant shows the service member or veteran in some sort of a shooting pose: staring grimly down the barrel of a rifle, putting lead downrange with a machine gun, or dramatically going toe-to-toe with a 25-meter target with a 9mm handgun. Added bonus points if theres a blank firing adapter attached so that we know that youre a real hardcore killer. And for those of you who tried to pose to make it look like youre engaged in a brutal firefight with Tommy Talib, it begs the question: Who do you expect us to believe it was that took the picture? Now go think about what youve done.

6. The Band of Brothers/Sisters Shot

One of the most common, this one shows the veteran posed with a group of their buddies in front of their vehicle/track/combat outpost/helo/vessel/aircraft. Usually theres an American flag somewhere in the picture. Its often a phone photo of a hardcopy photo to get that vintage feel. Theres bound to be a mix of those who really want to take this seriously and are at parade rest or at responsible low ready, and those who really dont care and who are throwing up all manner of obscene gestures.

7. The Operator

And the most common of all: The guy standing in front of a desolate backdrop, or one of Saddams many palaces, holding a weapon. By the obligatory law of veteran social media, the weapon has to be held at a 45-degree angle, either at the low ready or in the air Rambo-style. This one lets everyone know that youre a hardcore combat killer since you also seem to be wearing half of Ranger Joes tacticool product line. The zip ties are a nice touch, what with all the detainees that your convoy protection team will be processing. Again, bonus points for a blank firing adapter. Same for a belt of linked ammo draped artfully across your shoulders, because as we all know, ammunition always feeds better if its covered in dirt.

Angry Staff Officer is an engineer officer in the Army National Guard with an enlisted infantry background. He has blogged under the name 'Angry Staff Officer' since 2014 and is a member of the Military Writer's Guild. He has served in multiple positions in both staff and line units, at the company, battalion, and division levels, and served one tour in Afghanistan. Angry Staff Officer holds his master's degree in history. Follow Angry Staff Officer on Twitter @pptsapper

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17.01.2018 LISTEN

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 late afternoon saw Mr. Nana Appiah Mensah, CEO of Zylofon Media gift the host of the #TaxiDriverShow, Blakk Rasta a brand new Mitsubishi Pajero as appreciation of his selfless contribution to the newly airborne show.

Blakk Rasta who after a long break on air after a mix up at Hitz FM came back on air with his long term producer Arnold Wailer on Friday, December 1st. The Taxi Driver Show which is a radio show on Zylofon 102.1 FM is reggae show designated to promote good reggae music and educate the populace about the History of Africa.

With his music, Blakk Rasta readies to give back to society as he puts up his first major show dubbed Kuchoko In The Ghetto which is scheduled on Saturday, 3rd February, 2018 at The West Hills Mall, Kasoa (Car Park).

With your support Blakk Rasta is aiming at promoting good and quality reggae sound from Africa to the world.

Kindly follow Blakk Rasta on his official social media handles to get insight updates on his musical journey;

Twitter & Instagram: @BlakkRasta

Facebook: Blakk Rasta

http://beeniewords.com/

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 late afternoon saw Mr. Nana Appiah Mensah, CEO of Zylofon Media gift the host of the #TaxiDriverShow, Blakk Rasta a brand new Mitsubishi Pajero as appreciation of his selfless contribution to the newly airborne show.

Blakk Rasta who after a long break on air after a mix up at Hitz FM came back on air with his long term producer Arnold Wailer on Friday, December 1st. The Taxi Driver Show which is a radio show on Zylofon 102.1 FM is reggae show designated to promote good reggae music and educate the populace about the History of Africa.

With his music, Blakk Rasta readies to give back to society as he puts up his first major show dubbed Kuchoko In The Ghetto which is scheduled on Saturday, 3rd February, 2018 at The West Hills Mall, Kasoa (Car Park).

With your support Blakk Rasta is aiming at promoting good and quality reggae sound from Africa to the world.

Kindly follow Blakk Rasta on his official social media handles to get insight updates on his musical journey;

Twitter & Instagram: @BlakkRasta

Facebook: Blakk Rasta

http://beeniewords.com/
UK-based new Ghanaian movie producer, Eunice Oheneba Asiedu, has stated that she is not scared to invest in Ghana's movie industry.

According to her, unending claims by majority of Ghanaian movie stakeholders that the industry is dead or almost dead doesn't move her. She has the passion to produce movies, and she will go ahead to pursue that despite challenges facing the movie industry.

Filming has always been my passion as I used to act years ago. I finally decided to try producing in Ghana. It was a challenging experience, I must say, and not an easy task to handle. The issue about the movie industry dying does not really move me, she told NEWS-ONE on Tuesday.

Movie stakeholders have always maintained that the movie industry has declined and blamed it on lack of government support, piracy, foreign content (telenovelas) and other causes.

The possibility that such claims would push investors away does not work with Eunice, who started her acting career in Ghana in 2009 but could not continue because she resides in the UK.

She returned home recently to produce an upcoming movie titled 'Once Upon A family', which stars both Ghanaian and Nigerian actors like Prince David Osei, Mercy Johnson, among others.

So far, she has invested over GH100,000 into the making of the movie and would still spend more ahead of the movies premiere. She believes that she can be the one to bring change.

As I said, this movie was a big budgeted movie but I dared and took the risk since it is my passion. I believe every change begins with oneself. I feel it as my calling and by Gods grace will do my very best to revive the industry in my own small with the support of everyone. We all in our own power if we can make it happen, she indicated.

Eunice is in her late 20s and hails from Kade, but she was brought up in Akim Oda in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She attended Joduro Integrated School, Wesley Girls' High School and continued to the University of Ghana, Legon, before she moved to the UK. She is currently studying at the Global University in UK.

She started acting in 2009 and featured in movies such as 'Catch Me If You Can', 'Potential Love', 'Destiny's Child' and other movies. She took a break in 2012 and is now returned as a producer and CEO of Eunice Asiedu Productions.

Her upcoming movie also stars Nollywood actress Halima Abubakar, Selly Galley, Fella Makafui, Kisa Gbekle, Jeffrey Nortey, Bro Charles of 'Yolo' fame, Kofi Adjorlolo, Paulina Oduro and others.

Ghana should expect a great one this year from EA Productions. We will be premiering 'Once Upon A Family' very soon and hope we all come in our numbers to make it a memorable one. This movie is a fun-packed one and you cant afford to miss it, she added.
Theres never been a better time to eat in Accra. New restaurants are opening all the time and the older ones just keep getting better.

A new food joint, Northern Bazaar, reopens to take care of cuisine lovers in and around Abelemkpe, a suburb of Accra.

The food joint used to be at Dzorwulu but it was moved to Abelemkpe due to growing market in that part of Accra.

It is located off the Commodore Street opposite Rayposh Hotel, and it serves both local and continent dishes.

Samata Adam, CEO of Northern Bazaar, told NEWS-ONE on Saturday that they would be concentrating more on local dishes, especially northern Ghana dishes, hence the name Northern Bazaar.

I love food. I mean I love hygienic food and that is what we will be serving our clients. We do both continental and local dishes but we will be concentrating on the local dishes. We do locals from the North. You can get 'wasa wasa', 'tuo zaafi' (TZ) and others, she said.

Indeed, the competition in the food industry is getting interesting and with Northern Bazaar, northern food lovers will definite heave a sigh of relief.

Samata Adams was born in Yendi and had her basic education at Datus Complex School in Tema. She attended the Ghana Secondary School in Koforidua for her senior high education. She had her first degree in Banking & Finance at the Islamic University in Accra.

She has had working experiences at both Fidelity Bank And Stanbic Bank. She is currently reading law at GIMPA. It has always been her dream to be an entrepreneur, and no wonder she established the eatery.

Cooking is my hobby and those who know me personally can attest to the fact that Samata will not eat anything if it is not nutritious, the happily married woman and mother of one said.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Professor Sarah Darkwa, a Food Scientist at the Department of Vocational and Technical Education, University of Cape Coast (UCC) has expressed worry about the glamour with which many Ghanaians have substituted local condiments or spices such as 'Dawadawa' for artificial seasonings.

Subsequently, she has advised against excessive use of artificial seasonings as they often contained some questionable ingredients that could be harmful to the human health, when used over time.

According to her, such seasonings had high amounts of salt or salt-related chemicals and were not as healthy as traditional condiments in preparing foods.

Professor Darkwa who was speaking on the topic 'Food Science: A sweet killer of nutritional well-being' at an inaugural lecture at UCC on Thursday, described these food seasonings as 'sweet killers'.

The lecture offered an opportunity for Prof Darkwa to present some of her researches that examined the use of local food materials in the preparation of healthy food products, determination of glycemic loads and indices of some local foods.

Prof Darkwa, however advised Ghanaians to resort to Dawadawa which was highly aromatic and could be used as a healthy condiment in food preparation for good health rather than maggi cubes which were made of artificial chemicals and flovouring.

'Dawadawa has a high protein and fat content and a huge deposit of vitamins needed for the proper functioning of the human body with nutritional components that can contribute significantly to alleviating the widespread nutritional problems in Ghana if incorporated well into our daily meals,' she stated.

She mentioned that cardiovascular and chronic diseases and conditions such as stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and arthritis were common in the country due to the high consumption of these artificial seasonings.

She admonished Ghanaians to change their social perceptions, which were leading them into dangerous lifestyles, noting that tasty foods were not really made so by seasonings.

'The use of artificial food seasonings as flavor enhancers has been globally accepted for different recipes and these enhancers have taken the place of many of the traditional and naturally produced seasonings, such as, dawadawa, which can be used as a healthy condiment in food preparation for good health,' the professor of Food Science bemoaned.

She said 'there are four main ingredients used in the production of stock/bouillon cubes. They are salt, hydrogenated oil, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and colours and preservatives. However, researchers have found these items harmful to the health'.

Prof Darkwa said although food was a basic need of humans, it could promote health and likewise diseases and therefore it was important to ensure that whatever one ate, being it in small quantities, promoted good health.

She also cautioned against excessive intake of non-alcoholic drinks as most of them contained high levels of sugar and other harmful substances which tended to be detrimental to the human body.

The professor, therefore, called for more advocacy and more commitment from medical personnel and citizens' change in lifestyles to fight it.
The Northern Regional Security Council is mobilizing food items and water for victims of the recent chieftaincy clashes between Gonjas and Tampulimas in the North Gonja district.

Hundreds of displaced persons, particularly children and women, have sought refuge in the bushes and are living there without the basic necessities following the renewed clashes in the area.

After visiting the troubled communities, the Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed decried the living conditions of the residents, hence the need to mobilize food and other relief items for their upkeep.

He bemoaned the situation saying, Women and children have been sleeping in the bushes for the past three days. The sad thing is that, small children are getting diarrhoea and some of them will suffer from pneumonia.

Immediately, we are mobilizing gari, sugar and other items that they can consume without having to prepare.

He stated that the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) would be meeting with some chiefs from the North Gonja district today [Tuesday].

We will not sit down and allow anybody to use any barbaric method to fight people just because they think some people dont deserve to be chiefs or they dont own land, he said.

For this time we have to treat these as criminal matters and let the law take its own course. That is why I made it very clear that after further interrogations if it demands that some of the chiefs are perpetrators, we will lock them up to deter others.

Salifu Saeed revealed that security operatives deployed to the troubled communities on Monday have arrested more suspects.

He also added that five AK 47 rifles and several cartridges of ammunition were retrieved from the crime scene.

Two persons died whilst several others were injured following the weekends chieftaincy clashes in the North Gonja district.

Parts of the Diisah and Salugu communities in the North Gonja district were set ablaze following the weekends renewed chieftaincy clashes between the Gonjas and Tampulimas.
The cold snap that rang in the new year may not have been ultra-cold, but it was demoralizing, ear-tinglingly long. At least I emerged from it with some important information: imperial stouts are good.

This may sound obvious to fans of the gothest of beer styles, but truth has a way of getting hammered home when you spend night after dark, early night avoiding the cold outside by staying cooped up in the bone-dry house and dodging the drafts inside with wool sweaters, blankets and extra socks.

There is a coziness to such a scene, however, and its perfect liquid companion is the hearty, dark imperial stout. Replete with flavors and aromas of their signature dark malts  chocolate, coffee and "dark fruit" like raisin, date, black cherry and berry  and usually packing well north of 8 percent ABVs, these beers were made for winter in cold places.

Fittingly, the first imperial stouts  it's the origin of today's common usage of "imperial," meaning bold or robust  were brewed in late 19th century England for export to the Russian empire. Catherine the Great was a particular fan of these beers, and this royal heritage is often alluded to in the names of the many modern craft interpretations of the style, including Avery's Czar and Sprecher's Czar Brew, which is aged in bourbon barrels.

Whether of the Russian or American variants, these beers are usually inky black and among the richest in any brewery's lineup. Some are treated as such with once-a-year releases and signature parties to celebrate them, a la Three Floyds' Dark Lord Day and Surly's Darkness Day.

While those special releases are worthy of such elevation, there are plenty of imperial stouts on shelves right now  or even year round  that are, too. The Upper Midwest, it would seem, is a particularly good place to partake in the style, with well-respected to acclaimed imperial stouts easy to find.

Adulterating imperial stouts with vanilla, cocoa, coffee, nuts, spices or fruit  not to mention aging in spirits barrels  is all the rage right now, and such treatment can yield delicious results. But that  and beer geeks' comical instinct to chase scarcity  often leads to "clean" imperial stouts being criminally overlooked.

So let's drink some, yeah? I picked five of my favorite unadorned imperial stouts  really, they're five of my favorite beers, period  for short reviews. They're all easy to find, either on shelves year-round, virtually year-round or currently in season.

The beers featured below generate all their complex flavors and aromas through the traditional four ingredients: malt, hops, water and yeast. Barrels are fine, but they don't apply here.

Imperial stout is also a stellar candidate for cellar-aging, both to allow the beer to develop in the bottle but also to stretch often seasonally limited supplies year-round. Most of the bottles I sampled below were aged for one to two years, which is about as long as I want to let stouts go. Bell's Brewery, however, enables beer hoarders by advising that its Expedition Stout is suitable for "unlimited" aging, an unusual green light from brewers who almost always suggest their beer be drunk quickly.

A couple of caveats on drinking imperial stouts: These are enormous beers, and they'll leave quite a mark on your sobriety  and eventually your waistline  if you have more than one or maybe two a night. So, enjoy responsibly. Drinking slowly so the glass warms (PLEASE USE A GLASS) also allows the beer's true flavors and aromas to shine. The Goldilocks zone here is mid-50s to even 60 degrees  practically room temperature in my house in January.

Plead the 5th Imperial Stout

Brewed by: Dark Horse Brewing, Marshall, Mich.

Vital stats: 11% ABV, seasonal four-pack of bottles.

The capstone of Dark Horse's excellent numbered stout series, Plead the 5th is a regular in my cellar. A bottle packaged in late fall 2015 had a rich, almost fudgy, dark chocolate character with a molasses note and a modest alcohol bite. All imperial stouts are relatively viscous, but this one is only moderately big-bodied, and silky-smooth to boot.

Blackout Stout

Brewed by: Great Lakes Brewing, Cleveland

Vital stats: 9.9% ABV, seasonal four-pack bottles.

This beer commemorates the 2003 power grid failure that left 55 million people across the Northeast in the dark. My 2015 bottle poured an aroma distinct from the others featured here in its robust dark fruit character, notably plum and cherry. Combined with the chocolatey malt, it had almost a Black Forest cake effect, though with a moderated sweetness and a touch of molasses.

Expedition Stout

Brewed by: Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo-Comstock, Mich.

Vital stats: 10.5% ABV, seasonal six-pack bottles, though they're often available for most of the year.

Expedition is widely regarded as one of the best imperial stouts, period, and it's my favorite for the cellar because of its immense complexity. It's got it all: coffee, chocolate chip, molasses, even a little leathery note and a kind of almost-burnt toffee note, like someone left a pot of homemade caramel on the stove just a little too long. Then there's the dark fruit: raisin, black cherry, I guess a little bit of fig. And the hop character on the finish is more distinct than the other beers here: a slightly piney bitterness that melds seamlessly with the malt's roast bitterness. That's a lot going on, and I think my glass bottled in August 2016 was at a sweet spot for its age.

Satin Solitude

Brewed by: Central Waters Brewing, Amherst

Vital stats: 8.5% ABV, Year-round six-packs bottles.

Central Waters is renowned for its barrel-aged stouts, but Satin Solitude is no slouch eitherespecially for its $10-per-sixer price point. It's a beer I don't buy as often as I should, and my fresh bottle was a case for picking it up more often. It's the most coffee-forward of the beers here, with a very roasty aroma cut with lots of cereal-like malt sweetness. On the palate it's less sweet than it smells, with the malt doing double duty, bringing a chocolatey sweet yin but also that sharp roast yang that works with the hops to run the moderately bitter finish. It's by far the lowest ABV of these beers and has a somewhat lighter body to match.

Imperial Stout

Brewed by: Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Vital stats: 10.5% ABV, once-seasonal four-packs of bottles.

This is probably my No. 2 favorite of this style, but I'll have to get by on the dregs left in my cellar for a while as the simply named Imperial Stout is not on Founders' (extensive) release calendar for 2018. It's a shame, because this one from 2015 is a beast: motor-oil thick, with deep roast character and an almost vinous dark fruit character and dark, dark chocolate flavor that's sweet and bitter at the same time. Some slower-moving bottle shops may have some dusty four-packs lying around  ask a clerk who looks like she might not be easily annoyed. In the long term? "I'm confident that we will see this beer again in the future," Founders Wisconsin market manager Hank Olsen said. "Imperial Stout is just sitting on the bench this year to make room for a new lineup."

Honorable mentions
17.01.2018 LISTEN

An Accra Magistrate court has remanded into police custody, three men arrested in possession of explosives.

This was after the police prosecutor pleaded with the court to give them two weeks as they conduct investigations.

Accused persons are Ismaili Ali Musah, Abdul Karim and Osmani Alhassan who were arrested Monday morning at Odorkor in Accra.

The Police found seven grenades in possession of Abdul Karim who directed police to arrest the two others.

It is unclear the motives of the suspect even though unconfirmed reports have linked one of them to international terrorist group ISIS.

Arraigned Tuesday, the Police prosecutor said the explosives are part of ammunition belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces.

The court was adjourned to January 30, 2018.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com
A new mineral, lithium has been discovered in Ghana, the Ghana Minerals Commission has c onfirmed to Joy News.

The discovery was made in the Volta, Western and Ashanti regions.

Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission Mr. Kwaku Addai Antwi Boasiako told Joy News that the discovery was made during a nationwide exploration by the Minerals Commission.

Mr. Boasiako says the commission is in the process of exploring the commercial value of the mineral ahead of comprehensive exploration activities in the identified areas.

The country can play a leading role in electronic car business if the mineral is discovered in commercial quantity, he says.

Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission Mr. Kwaku Addai Antwi Boasiako

He also says the commission is keen on publishing the mineral map of the country so individual consigners can apply to take charge of them.

Mr. Boasiako says the commission hopes to change the notion of corruption at the minerals commission by making the application process by internet thereby depersonalizing the process.

Both lithium metal and its compounds have many uses. Lithium stearate is mixed with oils to make all-purpose and high-temperature lubricants.

Lithium hydroxide is used to absorb carbon dioxide in space vehicles

Lithium is alloyed with aluminum, copper, manganese, and cadmium to make high-performance alloys for aircraft.

Bahnmetall consists of lead-containing 0.04% lithium, 0.7% calcium and 0.6% sodium is harder than pure lead and was used for railroad car bearings in Germany.

Compounds such as LiAlH4 and organolithium reagents (LiMe, LiPh, etc.) are very important as reagents in organic chemistry

Lithium metal has the highest specific heat of any solid element and its sometimes used as battery anode material (high electrochemical potential). Lithium compounds are used in dry cells and storage batteries.

Lithium is used in the manufacture of special high strength glasses and ceramics sometimes, lithium-based compounds such as lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) are used as drugs to treat manic-depressive disorders.

Story by Ghana| Myjoyonline.com| Oswald K Azumah| Additional Files from www.webelements.com
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Seven Great Princess Academy has topped all basic schools in the country in the 2017 BECE Results as the best for the second year running.

A research by the media found out that the school located in Ablekuma Central and North Constituency scored a grand aggregate total of 351 points on the Accra Mteropolitan Education Directorate 2017 BECE Results and Analysis to place first.

Followed by Lydians International School in Ablekuma South who came second with 114 points, and Gracedew International School who came third with 47 points respectively.

On grade per subject basis score, Seven Great Princess witnessed 57 students out of a total of 57 scoring grade one in the English Language paper.

In Integrated Science 55 pupils scored grade one while two had grade two and 55 out of 57 students scored grade one in Mathematics.

In French 56 out of 57 pupils scored grade one likewise the Ghanaian Language (Ga) which also witnessed 57 out of 57 pupils scoring grade one.

The research also found out that all 32 students who sat for the Home-Economics paper scored grade one.

The cummulative sum of the aggregate grades catapulted the school to the summit of the table for the sceond year-running.

Headmaster of the Lartebiorkorshie branch of the school, Samuel Abbey told some media persons who visited the school last Tuesday that the school has dedicated teachers and teaching staff which is evidenced in the performance of the school.

He noted that he ensures that teachers are always in class teaching and students are being comfortable with what they are taught.

According to him the school would not rest on its oars and would work harder to expect much better results next year.

I expect a better results from candidates next year and ensure that all of them get their first choice schools as usual, he told this paper.

Some students of the school the media spoke with recounted the past history of the school as an academic institution where high marks are obatined and hence their zeal to follow suit.

They maintained that the high competition among their peers also encourage them while stressing that the schools record as the best in the country over the past years motivate them to worker extra harder to keep the status quo.
At a time government is seeking to entrench vocational education and impart a spirit of entrepreneurship on its youth, a major milestone has been achieved with a grand opening of the Queens College in Adenta, Accra for career and skills development.

A completely private initiative, birthed after five years of incubation, Queens College, is to serve a dual purpose of providing a holistic education for the youth, mostly women, while still creating entrepreneurs for the future.

At a brief but grand opening session at the Adenta premises of the college, Monday, the Principal, Rev Prince Adu Darko in his welcome address described the College as a "training center for women of integrity."

The College, he says, will provide three-years of intensive training for students with the hope of empowering as well as providing them with employable skills to cater for their needs and those of their dependents.

The Board Chairman of the College Dr. Mrs Mercy Akrofi Ansah, explained they had to begin the College with women because they are the most vulnerable in the society.

With time, we will open our doors to men as well, she promised, adding, the college will make a concession to also admit students with low literacy performance but will be made to undergo competencybased training and take practical examination only.

The Queens College is providing elective courses in Fashion and Decor, Catering and Service Training and Personal Care Assistance with core courses in English and Communication skills, Entrepreneurial skills Basic Bookkeeping and IT Skills.

In a country where the aged are mostly ignored, Dr. Mrs. Akrofi Ansah said the students will be given hands-on training on how to care for the aged in the society as well as vulnerable groups in the country.

Certified by the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), the Queens College will run a trimester system beginning from January to December every year with three vacations.

Dr Akrofi Ansah said with time, the College will include a remedial session for graduates of the senior high school and also add home management as one of the courses to be treated.

The pioneer students and teachers were later introduced to the attendees of the ceremony after which the Principal, Rev Adu Darko took the attendees round the Colleges facilities.
A 12-year-old girl, resident in Gomoa Antsaadze in the Central Region has been bathed with acid in a bid to exorcise her after her biological father accused her of being a witch.

The victim's father, Frederick Nettey, 41, a driver reportedly accused her of being behind his failure in life and the financial predicament he finds himself.

The JHS 2 student is said to have fainted at school following which his father was informed about the incident. He arrived at the school and took her to a fetish priest instead of a hospital for the supposed evil spirits to be driven away from her.

Upon arrival at the Fetish Priest's abode, the former is said to have subjected the young girl through a dehumanizing ordeal thrusting a stick into her vagina and subsequently poured acid into her vagina to force her to admit she is indeed a witch.

Journalist, Benjamin Amuzu who visited the victim at the St Gregory Hospital at Kasoa Liberia Camp after she was abandoned by her father midway into their journey, told Kasapa News that her vaginal area has been burnt as a result of the acid bath and has sores all over her body with visible cane marks from beating by the Fetish priest.

A nurse at the hospital disclosed that the girl has had blood infusions because she is anemic as a result of bleeding, and has had her vagina assessed by a gynecologist to ascertain the extent of damage.

The suspect (father) is alleged to have collected monies from men after allowing them to sleep with the victim and her elder sister.

The Kasoa District DOVVSU Commander DSP Florence Anaman confirmed the arrest of the suspect, while the police is on a manhunt for the Fetish priest who's currently on the run.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Farmers in Agogo in the Asante Akyem North District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana still live in fear to visit their farms, despite presence of security personnel deployed to the area to maintain peace and order.

This fear comes at the heels of the shooting incidence that took place at the area some weeks ago where some security personnel were shot.

This was disclosed by a resident of the area in an interview on Best Fm in Bogoso in the Western Region, Monday January 15, 2017. The resident whose name is withheld for security reasons apportioned blame on opinion leaders and some chiefs in Agogo who are owners of the cattle as a cause for the rootless misbehaviour of the Fulani heardsmen.

It is obvious that the cattle are not for the Fulani herdsmen, but politicians, chiefs, security kapos and even people who are not from and not residents of Agogo He said.

The residents posturing, as he spoke on Best FM's Maakye Morning Show depicted a state of sadness.

He stated that, for some time now in Agogo, the usual busy Mondays where one will see farmers walking hurriedly to their farms cannot be seen anymore. This is because they fear they will be killed by the fulanis when they turned up at their farms.

Almost everyone in Agogo has a farm. Young and old so most times you will see them going to their farms on Monday to harvest their farm produce. However, this cannot be seen this time around since they could be killed any time when they visit their farms. He narrated.

The resident, whose relative has suffered in the hands of the Fulani herdsmen believes that, calm will only return to Agogo if the Fulani herdsmen are sacked from the area.

He continued that, the high security presence can only manage the problem and cannot bring an end to it. He envisaged that there may be food shortage of food produce in the Ashanti Region if the Fulani heardsmen are not evacuated from the area.

Vegetables and other food stuffs from the area that are transported to other neighboring countries and all regions in Ghana will be lost since farmers will no longer be visiting their farm. The resident said sadly.
The only independent presidential candidate in last years election, Jacob Osei Yeboah, has urged African leaders to be challenged by the recent derogatory comments by US President Donald Trump to improve deteriorating conditions on the continent.

Speaking on Joy News channels nightly programme, PM Express, on Monday, Mr Yeboah said although the words of the American President were vulgar, they represent the truth.

Thousands across the globe have condemned Mr Trump for recently telling senators that immigrants from Africa, El Salvador and Haiti were from shitholes.

The African Union and the United Nations have issued strong words to condemn the remark by Trump.

President Akufo-Addo and former President John Mahama have all took to their Twitter handles to register their discontent.

Following the backlash, Mr Trump has claimed he was taken out of context.

Speaking on the issue on the current affairs programme, Mr Yeboah said the public anger against the comment is justified, but Mr Trump only spoke the truth: many parts of Africa are very dirty.

So far as I am concerned, maybe Trump was not diplomatic because that language is vulgar. Aside from that, lets look at it objectively and you could say that he is not far from wrong. If Ghana and most African countries are pleasant places to live in, we will not have our youth endangering their lives through the desert and being enslaved on another African country or find themselves on another African country facing xenophobic issues. And all of these are actually pointing to the fact that yes indeed most African countries are unpleasant places, he said.

He adds: Shithole means unpleasant place...the current NPP government has seen that filth is choking us and therefore elevated a whole sanitation to the ministerial level. This is indeed an indication of the fact that we are being choked to death.

Watch full programme in the video below.



Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]
A retired captain of the Ghana Army has said the nation must be worried about the progression of arms to explosives in amateur hands.

Ebenezer Budu Koomson said it is disturbing that amateur hands are now graduating from locally manufactured pistol to pump action and side guns to some dangerous explosives.

The security expert told Evans Mensah on Newsnight Tuesday that it is time for the nation to take its border security issues more seriously because the current porous nature of the borders is dangerous.

Mr Koomsons comment is in reaction to the police's arrest of three men with hand grenades in different areas in Accra, Monday.

The lead suspect was arrested in Odorkor after which he led the police team to pick up two of his accomplices.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Also commenting on the issue, North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, condemned the viral nature of the operation on social media which created a lot of anxiety.

The ranking member of Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee said the reported link of one of those arrested persons to ISIS brings to mind the September 28 report by the Libyan Attorney General.

The minority in parliament last year called on government to treat as urgent a Libyan report which cites some Ghanaians reported to be members of the terrorist group.

The minority called on the government to publicly react to the claim due to its grave ramifications on Ghanas image.

Mr Ablakwa said it is a wake-up call for the country to go back to the report and ensure proactive measures are taken.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Krachi Youth Association is glad to release this press statement in response to a number of media publications of some mischievous groups who are parading themselves as concerned people of Volta Region to undermine and frustrate the constitutional process and workings of the Commission of Enquiry for the creation of the proposed Oti Region from the Volta Region.

The groups we have identified so far include: The Association of Western Togoland Youths-(ASWETOY), Concerned Citizens of Volta Region-(COCI-VOLT) and Individuals who have petitioned the Commission on hearing schedules.

We the proponents of the creation of the Oti Region have heard all the arguments that the groups are advancing to justify their opposition to our noble petition for the creation of the new region.

Weare at al loss as to why these groups are engaging in political propaganda against the good people of the proposed Oti Region for their secret sponsors.

The questions we beg to ask are as follows:

How does the creation of the Oti Region affect the Southern part of Volta Region which is predominantly Ewe?

Does these groups respect our democratic rights?

Are the groups aware that we in the Northern Volta also have a history and how the geo-colonial political

system of that part evolved?

Why did they NOT oppose the creation of districts in the entire Volta Region BUT rather the region?

Why are they deceiving the public and portraying the issue as if the people of the Northern Volta enclave

are all Ewes? The people in that area are predominantly Guan and Twi speaking people.

While our southern neighbours can boast of the best social amenities from Ho to Hohoe to Keta and other

places, we have none of that to boast off. While they can boast of the best schools, hospitals, and other

public and private institutions, we have nothing worthwhile to show. While most of their roads are tarred,

we in the north must navigate tortuous roads in order to trade, access health care and get to our

destinations.

The Oti enclave has been denied any meaningful development. It is certainly not a good feeling for us to

find ourselves in this situation. We are among the main producers of the food and cash crops that make

up the national gross domestic product but the least beneficiaries of the proceeds from it.

It is based on these and many other reasons that, Nananom and intellectuals from the enclave have led

us to a point of no return, a point where we are counting down on days for the referendum, to decide

emphatically that we deserve every opportunity and accessibility open to other Ghanaians. We deserve

good infrastructure, state of the art institutions, and political recognition because we are also Ghanaians.

We are on the move and none of the schemes of the detractors can deter, stop, or break our front because

we do not owe any allegiance to any group. After all, socio-culturally, we are different. We have painstakingly built the momentum that can shatter any formidable opponent to our cause. And so, we

will not at this point trade our cherished cause for any sort of political manipulation.

We have over 400 chiefs and none of them swears an oath of allegiance to any chief anywhere. We are a

people with a common history and destiny. In addition, as a people we speak similar Guan dialects which

are almost intelligible to one another. We determine what is good for us. It is worth noting that our

opponents have resorted to verbal assaults and they insult our respected and revered Chiefs but for our

maturity and respect for human dignity, we would have reacted in equal measure.

As a matter of fact, we were individuals and independent traditional groupings prior to the colonial era.

It was colonialism that brought the North and South together as one region (Volta Region) for

administrative purposes. This colonial arrangement does not predispose any group to be subject to or lord

over the other. We shall therefore not allow anyone to suppress our freedom, development and

democratic rights under the 1992 constitution of Ghana. We consider ourselves as Ghanaians and not

part of the so called Western Togoland which some group have petitioned the UN Secretary General

about.

We respect the cordial relationship we have enjoyed over the years with our Southern brothers and sisters

despite the unpleasant under development we witnessed under the current Volta Region. It is only fair

that the South supports us in this journey to getting a new region rather than oppose and create barriers

on our way.

We want to believe that the agenda of these groups opposing the Oti Region creation are not being

supported by prominent chiefs and politicians of the South.

We would like to use this opportunity to warmly and respectfully welcome the Justice Brobbeys

Commission to the Volta Region and most importantly to the Oti enclave and specifically Kete-Krachi. We

are so far, satisfied with the ongoing processes and the schedule of public hearing for the Volta Region.

We wholeheartedly support the arrangement since we from the Oti enclave will be directly affected. We

are more than excited, elated and glad that the Commission is reaching out to us the beneficiaries. We

want to assure them of our fervent support and cooperation throughout the process.

We also want to use this platform to alert the Police and Security Agencies to be wide alert as some people

who are opposed to the Oti Region are likely to be violent and introduce any form of dubious means to

stall the work of the Commission. We are curiously also monitoring the activities of such criminally minded

people and will inform the police accordingly when necessary.

Signed:

BarnabasYeboah, PRO

Krachi Youth Association
Security Expert, Dr Kwesi Aning, has sounded a note of caution to the security detail that has recently been deployed to Agogo in the Ashanti Region to flush out cattle herders destroying farms and properties.

The joint police and military detail, Operation Cowl Leg, was recently revamped with more personnel and logistics  including three new helicopters  following the gunning down of three members of the taskforce by suspected armed herdsmen.

Just like neighbouring Nigeria, herdsmen -- believed to be Fulanis -- and local farmers in Ghana have been locked in conflict over the use of grazing land for decades.

Many lives have been lost in the Ashanti, Eastern and Western regions due to Fulani-farmer clashes.

In a bid to quell the menace once and for all and in response to the attack on the members of the taskforce, the government has revised its strategy, this time with a focus on driving out the nomadic cattle herders with intensified force.

Related: Herdsmen menace: Euphoria grips Agogo as police-military team arrive

Three soldiers sustained gunshot wounds after an attack by the herdsmen at Agogo on Monday, 8 January 2018.

The soldiers and a police officer, all members of Operation Cow Leg, were shot by herdsmen after they had responded to a distress call by a farmer whose crops were being destroyed by cattle belonging to the Fulani.

The unknown assailants laid ambush and shot at the security officers.

The wounded security officers are currently receiving treatment at the 37 Military Hospital.

Commenting on the situation, Dr Aning said the revised strategy, which may include brute force, will not be effective.

Operation Cow Leg driven by the shoot-the-cattle strategy is confrontational; its dangerous, its aggravating the problem, he noted on Tuesday, January 16.

He warns that the Fulani ethnic group, which he said constitute a substantial population within the Sahel region, may respond with equal force, thereby escalating the problem.

Dr Aning, who is Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research at Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, believes dialogue with the cattle herders may prove a more sustainable solution to the menace.

Related video: Watch 'Violent Shepherds', a documentary on the farmer-herdsmen situation in Ghana

Warning to herdsmen

The Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Obed Akwa, has warned the nomadic herdsmen to cease attacks on security and inhabitants of Agogo and other areas.

He said security forces will not hesitate to descend heavily on herdsmen who attack members of the taskforce.

If anybody dare attack them, then they have defied the authority of government, and, as I said, such attacks cannot go without response and this response will be proportionate. It will be graduated; depending on the level of attack, we will up our game. It will address the core problems of the Traditional Area.

In response to that, we decided under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to send in reinforcements to send a clear message to those involved in this dastardly act that they cannot continue to act with impunity in the state of Ghana, Lt. Gen. Akwa underscored.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]
As you probably have heard, RSV is hitting early and hitting hard this year. Here at Winona Health, my fellow caregivers in Pediatrics and Family Medicine and I are fielding many questions from concerned parents and child care providers. We are always happy to be your resource!
The Press Foundation (TPF), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has held the second edition of the National Media Festival in Bolgatanga with a call on journalists to go beyond their comfort zones and engage in investigative reporting.

The Festival is aimed at bringing together journalists and stakeholders to celebrate investigative journalism with the establishment of the Anas Aremeyaw Anas Investigative Journalism Award, to encourage more journalists to delve into issues that would influence society.

The first edition was held last year in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional Capital. This year's Festival was attended by journalists, politicians, the clergy, chiefs, some heads of department, security services and some members of the public.

Mr Listowel Yesu Bukarson, the Executive Director of the TPF, said it was founded two years ago and subsequently instituted the National Media Festival to bring as many journalists as possible, stakeholders and the business community together to brainstorm on issues and market them through the media.

Chaired by the Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, Tong-Rana Kugbilsong Nalebegtang, the Festival was held on the theme: 'Developing Northern Ghana; the Role of the Journalist.'

Mr Bukarson said: 'One reason we decided to come here is that we have all heard, read and seen the works of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, his works have taken him across the country and beyond, he is a symbol that is valued and appreciated by not just us in Ghana, but the globe.'

He said after the previous year's edition, he observed that journalists including Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Mannaseh Azure Awuni, Samson Lardy Anyenini Shamima Muslim, and himself, were from the northern part of the country and their jobs had impacted on the nation, and thus decided to come back to interact with their people as proud sons of the area.

Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, the Upper East Regional Minister, commended the Executive of the TPF for the initiative and said Northern Ghana was proud of all her sons and daughters who had imbibed the discipline and culture to stand out in their endeavours.

He said the media's strong position in recent times had moved them from mirroring society to setting the agenda, adding that it was no doubt a large segment of the population made decisions and took actions based on information received on air, newspapers or the internet.

Giving the strong influence of the media, the Minister said it had a crucial role to play in the development of Northern Ghana.

'The first task is to work towards changing the psyche of citizens from being content with poverty and helplessness to one of seeing opportunities in challenges,' he said.

Mr Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the Investigative Journalist, said being at the event was important because 'it was the only opportunity we could get to have a face to face interaction with you, when you hit town and you hear the rumours, those who say I am a spirit, this is no spirit matter, I am here in person and in flesh.'

He said it was incumbent on people from the north of Ghana to make the right decisions and take the right and appropriate steps to ensure that the area was developed.

Mr Anas showed some of his investigative videos and said his purpose for participating in the event was to tell the people the truth and the reality.

'People think that the journalist's job is just to tell a story and leave it and let the rest continue, I am a different brand of journalist, call me controversial if you like,' he said.

Mr Victor Afetsi, a participant at the programme, told the Ghana News Agency after the event that it was 'a well-organised and educative programme.'

He said he had learnt from the wisdom, words of encouragement and counsel of Mr Mannaseh Azure Awuni, who used his upbringing as an example to advise the youth not to allow their circumstances to define them.

'It was a delight seeing them for the first time,' he added.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Chairman of the Calvary Apostolic Revival Church, Apostle Ishmael Anum-Sai, says Ghana requires loyal men and women in various sectors of the economy to support President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to roll out his policies for accelerated development.

He said though the President may be loyal in his administration, it required the collaborative effort of his cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives and civil and public servants to realise his vision for the nation.

Apostle Anum-Sai said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency as part of the New Year celebrations at La in Accra.

He said Christians and Ghanaians in general required the Holy Spirit to empower them to overcome sin and be empowered for service.

He said as leaders of the nation, they needed to operate on the pillars of faith, courage, loyalty and sacrifice so that the ordinary Ghanaian could experience a breakthrough in life.

Apostle Anum-Sai commended the President for some bold initiatives such as the fight against galamsey to help turn the economy around.

He admonished leaders in every sphere of national life to sacrifice for the nation and ensure that the national cake was equitably distributed.

Apostle Anum-Sai entreated Ghanaians to be resilient in spite of challenges and push for more development.

GNA
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Eric Kwakye-Darfuor, has urged journalists to be advocates of truths and facts that will propel the development of Ghana.

He said even though government could not do without the media, because of the relevant position it occupied in the scheme of national development, 'the media must be circumspect in reporting about sensitive national issues'.

The Minister who made the remarks at the maiden Eastern Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), media encounter in Koforidua, said inaccurate reportage on national issues was disincentive to government and nation building.

He mentioned the Fulani menace and the illegal mining activities known as galamsey, as some of the sensitive national issues that the media were not reporting accurately and charged the media to do proper investigation of issues before publishing.

The Regional Minister, emphasising his points indicated that, some international media had reported against him that he owed cows in the Afram Plains area, hence, his inability to fight the Fulani menace that had led to protractions between the people and the Fulani's.

'It is sad that on the issue of the Fulani menace, the press has taken sides without knowing the actual facts and history behind the cattle rearing in Ghana, for the media to sit in their offices and studios and postulate is bad for our democracy'.

According to the Minister, it was irresponsible for a journalist to sit in his office and publish untruth and stressed that 'I want to put on record that I am a strict vegetarian and have never considered cattle rearing as part of my businesses and do not even have a chicken in my house'.

Mr Parry Okudzeto, a deputy minister of information, said government recognised the role of the media in realising all its policies and programmes and urged the media to educate the public on the policies.

He mentioned that government in recognition of the role of the media would resource all the state media and open more communication channels to make information more accessible and facilitate the work of the media.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Mr Kwesi Boateng Adjei, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLG&RD) has said government would develop a Home-grown Digital Mapping of property to promote the National Digital Property Addressing System (NDPAS) and Street Naming system.

'The NDPAS will also be used to promote the digital mapping of parcels of land across the country for easy navigation and relevant spatial data for effective service delivery.'

He said the vision of the initiative is to achieve a nationwide use of spatial database information for good governance and socio-economic development through the development, management and dissemination of property addressing linked with postal codes and to ensure total access to high-quality geographic information and services for individuals and organisations.

Mr Adjei was addressing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Executives (MMDCEs), Coordinating Directors and other Officers of the Assemblies in the Volta Region at a sensitisation workshop on the NDPAS organised by the Ministry of MLG&RD in collaboration with the Land Used and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA).

The workshop is part of government's effort at ensuring the completion of the Street Naming and Property Addressing, especially the digitisation of property towards the effective opening of the economy and supporting MMDAs to improve revenue generation.

It is also to enable the participants to understand the expected activities and outcomes to roll-out the street naming and property addressing exercise and also prepare MMDAs to continue and successfully deploy the Ghana Post GPS.

He said revenue mobilisation is a critical success factor for effective development and improved standard of living and that the NDPAS has a great implication for revenue mobilisation and would give MMDAs and their Managers the required resources to deliver social amenities such as schools, health facilities, improved sanitation, modern markets and lorry parks and overall, the ability to build resilient cities.

Mr Adjei who is also the Member of Parliament for New Juaben North said the commitment to the implementation of Street Naming and Digital Addressing makes spatial planning a strategy for which MMDAs can leverage on for effective planning and development and to address the challenge of development before planning, as it pertains in the country.

He said the Ministry would soon make the NDPAS and street naming and a minimum condition for the assessment of the FOAT Assessment in the District Development Facility and the Urban Development Grant to compel MMDAs as required.'

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister said the NDPAS is aimed at saving emergency situations and would rescue operations of missions as rescue teams had always been impeded by navigation difficulties.

The Regional Minister expressed the hope that the NDPAS would create job opportunities for the Ghanaian people and the real essence of the exercise would be materialised to enable the MMDAs educate Ghanaians.

Mr Chapman Owusu-Sekyere of the LUSPA and Mr Ekow Paintsil from the Ghana Post took the participants through various stages for them to understand the processes and importance of the exercise.

An address after the workshop was generated for the Volta Regional Coordinating Council which is coded: VH-0003-9423.
President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will host a cross-section of the media in Ghana today January 17 to mark one year of his administration.

Dubbed Media Encounter top journalists in the country have the opportunity to ask questions on key topics  from security to the economy.

Wednesdays exercise will be second such encounter with the media since the President took over the reins of government as Head of State.

A similar media encounter in July last year marked the President's six months in office, where he promised to meet the journalists every six months.

Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to recount measures that have been taken by his government to improve on the economic situation of Ghanaians and answer questions about some of the scandals that have rocked his administration.

Curious journalists will seek his comment on the BOST contaminated fuel scandal, A-Plus' corruption allegations against two deputy chiefs of staff, allegations of conflict of interest against the Finance Minister over the issuance of a Bond, the GHS800,000 budgetary allocation for the creation of a website for the Special Development Ministry, and the recent cash-for-seat scandal.

Related video: Six Months In Office - News Desk on Joy News
The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has called on the President to sanction officials of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) who on Monday attempted to remove the Deputy Chair of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Georgina Opoku Amankwaah from her office.

The standoff could have been avoided if the President had heeded the PPPs call to advise the three Commissioners under investigation by the Chief Justice to step aside for the ongoing investigation to end, National Secretary of the party, Murtala Mohammed, in a statement.

There was a chaotic scene at the EC Monday, after the EOCO Boss led five heavily armed police officers with two armoured vehicles into the premises to forcibly remove the Deputy Chair, who had reported to work.

Mrs Opoku Amankwah had been on a six-month interdiction at the request of EOCO for investigations into her alleged involvement in financial impropriety. She and two other colleagues, the chairperson of the EC, Mrs Charlotte Osei and Deputy in charge of Operations Amadu Sulley are all subjects of investigation by a committee instituted by the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo.

Read the full statement from PPP below.

ACT ON EC NOW TO AVOID FURTHER COMMOTION MR. PRESIDENT

The drama staged by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) officials led by their Acting Executive Director last Monday at the offices of the Electoral Commission (EC) to eject the Commissions Deputy Chairperson, Ms. Georgina Opoku Amankwah from her office, was unprofessional and cannot go unnoticed. EOCO should be held responsible and immediate sanctions applied to individuals involved.

The standoff could have been avoided if the President had heeded the PPPs call to advise the three Commissioners under investigation by the Chief Justice to step aside for the ongoing investigation to end. The current situation where the other two Commissioners under investigation are at post creates an unfair advantage and puts the two at post in a conflict of interest position to temper with evidence and the investigation, as well as disrupt the work of the Commission.

The Staff of the Electoral Commission is already divided among itself - unsettling the work of the commission. We cannot be spectators when there is chaos at the premises of our electoral management body.

The sluggishness from the Presidency regarding this matter is a clear manifestation of leadership weakness. What prevents President Nana Addo from acting swiftly if indeed we voted for a CHANGE? Former President John Mahama terminated the appointment of the then CHRAJ boss, Ms.

Lauretta Vivian Lamptey when a prima facie case was established against her by the then Chief Justice. This act by the previous administration was a noble act worthy of emulation.

The PPP will not relent to ask for transparency, accountability and the enforcement of rule of law.

The Progressive Peoples Party wishes to reiterate its earlier position to the President, to invoke article 146 of the Constitution, to request the three (3) EC Commissioners to step aside until they are cleared of all wrongdoing.

No one should be above the law and no institution should be a bunker immune against the laws of Ghana.

Murtala Mohammed

(National Secretary, PPP)
Dr. Joseph Teye Nuertey, Upper West Regional Director of Health Services has stated that right from the planning stages of health delivery in Ghana, nutrition was not accorded the necessary importance, which has since affected the health system.

'It is even unfortunate that even some managers in Ghana Health Service (GHS) do not give nutrition its needed attention and this is reflected on how some frontline health staff view nutrition activities as an additional task rather than their core duties', he said.

Dr. Nuertey who stated this during the Annual Nutrition Review and Advocacy Meeting in Wa, noted that the central role of nutrition on health was recognised by Hippocrates, the ancient doctor of medicine when he said 'Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food'.

The Regional Director of Health Services said it was about time health professionals realised that their core duty of ensuring a healthy population could never be achieved until they gave nutrition its needed attention, adding that nutrition was the bedrock for health and development.

He said despite this, the Upper West Region made modest improvement with regard to malnutrition among under-fives, hinting that acute malnutrition also termed as wasting had decreased from 13.9 per cent in 2008 to 4.4 per cent in 2014 according to the Ghana Demographic Health Survey (GDHS).

Dr. Nuertey noted that inadequate food intake and disease of infections were the known immediate determinants of under-nutrition, saying it was not surprising that the region made progress considering the investments in the area of both nutrition specific and sensitive interventions in the last few years.

However, he pointed out that the region was still baffled with food insecurity and poor hygiene and sanitation practices, which according to him were fundamental for nutrition outcomes.

He said the Emergency Food Security and Market Assessment (EFSA, 2016) Conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP), indicated that the prevalence of food insecurity has increased in two of the three regions of the north which were included in the 2012 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) report.

'The level of food insecurity increased from 16 per cent in 2012 to 18 per cent in 2016 in the Upper West Region', the Regional Director of Health Services noted.

Dr. Nuertey also disclosed that 70 per cent of Ghanaians still practised open defecation because of lack of toilet facilities according to the GDHS 2014 report, noting that this was still serious and had a lot of health implications including increased infection rates and eventually under-nutrition or even death among under-fives.

He noted that stunting had also improved, though marginally, from 24.6 per cent in 2008 to 22.2 in 2014 according to the GDHS.

The Upper West Regional Health Services Director commended the WFP, the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for playing various roles in supporting the directorate's effort at up scaling nutrition activities in the region.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr David Asante- Apeatu, has paid a working visit to the Nkonya and Alavanyo Traditional areas in the Volta region.

The visit, which included the peace keeping regiment and site for a security base on the buffer zone between the two areas was to afford the IGP the opportunity to familiarise himself with the security of the area.

He expressed worry about the unending nature of the almost a century old land dispute between the areas said the changing times demanded that the Police Service re-strategized on maintaining law and order in the two towns.

He appealed to the youth to respect the mandate of the security personnel and asked that they took up their roles in the peace process.

Nana Tsedze Atakora VII, Paramount Chief of Alavanyo appealed to Government to guide the process by the 2004 Dr Livingston Boamah Committee report, work on which had been abandoned since 2009.

He said the Committee made significant efforts and that trees and stones bearing boundary markings were discovered, and a composite map subsequently drawn.

Nana Atakora asked government not to rest the burden of the peace process on the traditional areas alone, and welcomed the police's efforts at increasing its effectiveness in the troubled zones.

He appealed for a police station in Alavanyo, saying since the last was decommissioned during the colonial times, fighting crime had been without a local charge office and a holding cell, and added that land had long been availed for the project

Madam Comfort Attah, the District Chief Executive of Biakoye said leaders of Nkonya agreed to cancel last year's Sankyiba festival following an alleged kidnapping incidence and had recently suggested the engagement of an independent prosecutor.

She said personnel of security services, though inadequate had been supportive and asked the IGP for more personnel and logistics, particularly vehicles and accommodation.

GNA

By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Newmont Akyem Development Foundation (NAkDeF), the Charity wing of the Newmont Akyem Mine has awarded 1,720 scholarships to students in the Birim North District in communities affected by the mines.

The scholarship beneficiaries are in tertiary, vocational and Senior High Schools.

Mr Joep Coenen, General Manager of Newmont Akyem Mine disclosed this at the end of year media soiree for media personnel in the Eastern Region at Koforidua.

He said NAkDeF had recently launched a partnership programme with GIZ, a German Development Agency for the construction of a vocational institute at Akyem Amanfrom for the training of the people in employable technical skills for their economic empowerment.

Mr Coenen said NAkDeF was also working towards the establishment of the Cooperative Credit Union to enable the people in the mining communities to get access to start-up capital for their businesses and funding for the local businesses.

He said 2017 was a successful year for the company as it won many awards for their performance and the mine won the first position in the Ghana Club One hundred award, won the best performing in environmental management at the Ghana Mining Industry award and the communication faction of the company won the best Public Relation(PR) organization of the year, extractive sector at the National PR and Communication Excellence Award.

The General Manager expressed his appreciation to all stakeholders of the company including the media for the support given them.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a Researcher and International Consultant, says the derogatory and racist comments US President, Donald Trump, used to describe Africans, blacks and others were unpardonable, especially coming from a president regarded as the most powerful in the world.

He said: 'In fact, I was really angry when I heard and read about it and I'm happy the whole world has shown anger and disgust'.

He said the African Union should show anger and make a statement, while the individual heads of states and governments must also come out with statements to express their disgust.

Dr Antwi-Danso expressed these sentiments in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, on Saturday.

President Trump is reported to have called African countries and Haiti 'shithole countries' while discussing immigration issues with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House on Thursday.

President Trump is quoted to have said: 'Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They're shithole countries  We should have more people from Norway.'

President Trump has since denied using such vulgar language, tweeting that 'the language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!'

Dr Antwi-Danso said if it were US, they would have retaliated and even threatened the one who made that statement; 'So this is the time we have to show that despite the assistance we have received from America, we have our pride as a continent and we're proud of who we are, and don't owed anybody excuses'.

He said the US President's comment was distasteful, which had received worldwide condemnation, saying; 'People have shown their anger and President Trump needs to know how to talk'.

He saidTrump's comment was indefensible, adding; 'People are trying to defend him by saying that, 'That is how he talks and unaware that the comment would trigger anger around the world'.

Dr Antwi-Danso said that President Trump was the first diplomat of America and his utterances served as gestures to the rest of the world.

'Therefore, his demeanour must go to conform to the aims and principles of good neighbourliness' and good intentions for the world.

'So if you're a President and you don't know how to talk, then there is no excuse for you.

'I have heard some of the senators saying he is a sick man and, therefore, he doesn't do any good to US with his behavour and utterances,' he stated.

Dr Antwi-Danso said: 'The African Union coming out with a statement doesn't mean that, it is severing relations with America, but it's high time the Continent showed that, it had its pride and wouldn't tolerate continued disrespect from the Trump's administration.

'If the African Union comes out, at least if for nothing at all, we will be applauded for defending our dignity and pride'.

Meanwhile, Mr. Irbard Ibrahim, an International Relations Expert, told the GNA that, although the comment from President Trump was derogatory and distasteful, the African leaders should tread cautiously, and not do anything that would affect the bilateral and multilateral relations between America and the Continent.

'When we respond, we should do so in diplomatic and unprovoked manner in order not to escalate matters,' he stated.

Mr Ibrahim said: 'To forgive is divine and Mr. Trump is not a superhuman and not perfect, therefore in our response, it must be measured and hope that such derogatory comment will not happen again'.

He said the US Visa Lottery enabled Africans, Asians, Arabs, Latinos and other people around the world to contribute towards the development of the US and, therefore, they did not deserve such distasteful descriptions from President Trump.
The Quiet Economy has a telling impact on Jackson Countys economy. And, according to Chris Hardie, former Black River Area Chamber of Commerce director, the Quiet Economy could be expanded through enterprises catering to the silent sport industry.

Hardie offered suggestions for capitalizing on recreational opportunities offered by the Black River at the Jan. 10 Friends of the Black River meeting. His presentation covered the economic impact the Black River has had and can continue to have on the area.

The river has long had an economic impact on the region, especially during the lumber era when billions of board feet of pine were harvested and floated down the Black River to saw mills in La Crosse, said Hardie. Today, the rivers main importance is recreational, providing the base for a variety of activities from fishing to boating and canoeing and kayaking.

The logging era was a major economic boom for the area in the nineteenth century.

The 1837 treaty opened the forests to logging, said Hardie. Thirteen sawmills sent 300 million board-feet down the river by 1873. In today economy, the lumber taken out of Jackson County forests would be worth more than $2.5 billion.

Although todays recreational activities might not have the same level of economic impact as the logging industry of the nineteenth century, the activities could be an economic driver for the area. Hardie cited data from the Outdoor Industry Association that found those engaged in outdoor activities nationwide produced $17.9 billion in spending annually.

The quiet economy attracts highly-educated people and they spend money, an average of $468 per trip, said Hardie. With silent sports, they come, they enjoy and spend money and then they leave. They support jobs and dont stress the infrastructure as much as other development.

A study conducted in the Ashland, Bayfield and Sawyer counties showed the recreational opportunities available in those counties brought in a significant number of visitors.

Ninety-five percent of participants were from outside the area, said Hardie. Nonresidents spent $26.4 million in 2012 in total trip spending in the three counties. The number one activity here is outdoor recreation. We have the assets and its not just the Black River; its the streams. You have to go a long ways north to get the same experience. Here we have the Northwoods closer to home.

Starting at Rib Lake and flowing to its confluence with the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Black River is the 10th longest river in Wisconsin. Hardie suggested the 190-mile-long Black River could become a state part of a water network as a possible economic resource.

Why not designate the Black River as a water trail? asked Hardie. It could be an interpretive route with a network of access points.

By means of those access points, water trail users could take in amenities such as campsites and enjoy local attractions along the river as they experience the natural beauty through a mode of travel used even before recorded history.

Catering to the visitors would be an important part of a mix that could include businesses providing guided trips as well as sporting goods suppliers, groceries and restaurants.

I was recently approached by someone with just that sort of idea, said Black River Falls administrator Brad Chown. The idea is out there.

Other ideas could be creating development near the river and use of social media to attract visitors or new residents who want to unplug.

Hardies presentation was part of FBRs ongoing mission to bring educational programs about environmental issues, conservation and enjoyment of the natural world to the community.

For more information about the program and FBR, email info_fbr@yahoo.com.
Bolgatanga, Jan. 13, GNA - The thick black walls, the hailing smoke that meander into the skies through the kitchen roof, emanating from traditional tripod, announcing the day's preparation of meals is no longer winning hearts. This is due to growing concerns of exploitation of fuel wood for cooking and the attendant effects on the environment.

THE GENESIS

In Ghana, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (2012) report indicates that Ghana is losing its forest very quickly. It says Ghana's forests cover had dwindled from 8.2 million hectares at the beginning of the 20th Century to only 1.6 million hectares. This information is horrifying and need to prick the conscience of Ghanaians to appreciate the urgent need for all to find alternatives to cooking.

According to experts as recorded in the SPORE magazine, more than three billion people, (majority of them from Asia and sub Saharan Africa) still cook without clean fuels and efficient technologies, contributing to 90 per cent deforestation in Africa. According to the FAO, 60 per cent of charcoal and 35 per cent of wood fuels are consumed globally.

The article 'the risks of increasing consumption, written by Romainloury, (SPORE), Africa lost 75 million hectres of forest area between 1990 and 2010.

The concern is that much as the environment is being depleted through indiscriminate felling of trees to acquire fuel wood, the same spate of effort is not made to find alternatives to adopt new cooking technologies to reduce degradation on the environment.

The traditional forms of cooking on tripods and stones over the years do not compromise on quantity of wood used since the more the quantity of food cooked, the more wood and charcoal used and these actions affect health of all, especially women, children and the environment.

The situation in Senior High Schools in the three regions of the north is no better, as most of these institutions cook on a large scale to feed the students, using similar methods of cooking.

These methods of cooking, impact negatively on the environment. According to WHO, 4.3 million people suffer and die from household pollution every year with 13,700 people dying annually due to indoor pollution in Ghana while 600,000 deaths occur in Africa due to cardio vascular diseases and cancers.

Globally, indoor pollution is noted to be the third leading cause of deaths. Estimated health, environmental and economic cost of traditional cooking and the use of solid fuels cost about US$123 billion annually according to the report.

Heavy in-door pollution damages the eyes and lungs. However, the use of improved cooking technologies leads to reducing emissions and disease burdens.

It is for this reason that as a nation, all must rise to the call for more environmental and healthy livelihoods through the use of culturally-appropriate clean and efficient cooking technologies that meet every traditional user's needs to accelerate efforts to increase access to clean, modern cooking fuels to achieve the goals for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All).

EFFECTS OF UNCLEAN COOKING STSTEMS

Underscored in the SDG Goal two that stresses on good health and well -being of women and children, smoke inhalation through cooking from these old methods hinder the achievement of this goal if no actions are taken to improve the current situation. The practice is a worry because women in the three regions of the north of Ghana, who consume about 70 per cent of their primary energy needs on solid fuel, charcoal and wood, continue to do so for the lack of alternatives.

To this end, women and girls spend close to four hours or 30 per cent of the day searching for the resource from farms, mangroves and forest areas for their cooking, with negative implications. It is not only the quality time lost by these girls in school, gathering fuel wood for their families, but the women could instead use that period to carry out income earning activities to support the family.

Unfortunately unpaid work in terms of collection of fuel wood and cooking, remain a major cause of gender inequality in the country especially in the three regions of the north.

To improve the situation of the girls and the quality of education as in goal four, there is the need for more families to adopt improved ways of cooking to reduce cooking time.

In the midst of the growing environmental violations and indiscriminate wood use for cooking, the country's progress in charting the path to ensure SDG seven that seeks to guarantee access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030, is still bedevilled with challenges because families are unable to afford the high cost of new cooking technologies and therefore rural communities find it difficult to patronize the new cooking systems.

Even though the government of Ghana in 2016 distributed over 20,000 LPG gas cylinders as part of efforts to promote clean cooking, the continual use of gas has been bedevilled with challenges, because beneficiaries are still unable to refill the cylinders and discontinue use due to high cost of liquefied gas. It has therefore led to most rural communities reverting to the use of wood for fuel.

To this end, there is the need for Ghana to set out clear targets and make investments move towards sensitising communities and institutions in respect of implementing policies to achieve SDG seven which links to the other 16 SDG goals.

This is because when the time in cooking household meals is reduced through the use of improved cooking systems, the burden on families who go out and spend lots of time to collect and buy the wood will reduce, thereby promoting zero hunger which goal two seek to solve.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Mr Dramani Bukari, the Officer in charge of Energy at SNV, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said to address all the SDG content, Ghana must implement policies and strategies on clean cooking systems.

He noted that even though Global Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves and its counterpart in Ghana took a stand to promote clean cook stoves, Ghana is yet to take its first step on its planned target of 2 million clean cook stoves by 2020.

He noted that even though the Global Alliance counterpart in Ghana intended to distribute about two million cook stoves, it was not an official position accepted by the government of Ghana and noted that the sector was crucial given the level of life associated with indoor pollution and its attendant impact on women and children.

He said the time women and children spend in search for wood could be rechanneled to other activities to earn income and to reduce poverty.

Mr Bukari said in spite of the fact that there were civil society organizations like Ghana Alliance for clean cook stoves, there was the need for a coherent policy for the sector to streamline and coordinate activities of partners to optimise impact.

Responding to questions on the growing number of caterers on the school feeding programme and cooking in other educational institutions where the use of large quantities of fuel wood for cooking is inevitable, he suggested to government to provide improved stoves to schools so that it would help reduce emissions, and check atmospheric and thermal levels.

Coming from an advocacy organisation, he said LPG should not be the only alternative for cooking for people living in communities, hence improved stoves with less concentration on heat and reduced smoke that use less wood should be promoted.

He stated that most people live below the poverty line in the rural and some urban areas and therefore cannot afford to purchase and use LPG mentioning 'Agyapa'clean cook stoves, among others that were on the market.

Mr Bukari therefore called on the government to come out with clear policies and support manufacturers with funding to produce low cost improved stoves at the community level .

According to him, it would be ideal if the District and Municipal Assemblies include in their mid- term development plans, budgets and strategies, the implementation of clean cook stoves in communities.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Bishop Welbeck Tawiah Commey, Leader and General Overseer of Born Again Souls Food Christian Ministries has appealed to Traditional rulers of Greater Accra Region to end all land Chieftaincy disputes and enstool a Paramount Chief for the Region.

He said the installation would encourage government to channel more funds into the construction of more educational and other infrastructural projects.

Bishop Commey who is also the President of Ordained Christian Ministries Association made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Sowotoum after his ordination as Bishop at Glory Heaven Ministry off GRA Road, Sowutoum-Accra.

He said 'This is the time that Chieftaincy disputes and land litigations must end in the Greater Accra Region for us to think and rather think of the welfare of school going adults education for the generation by giving them higher education with Bible knowledge which will help them to become good future leaders.'

He said without proper education and fear of God in Bible knowledge, the economic growth of the country would not be achieved as people would be tempted to do the unexpected.

Bishop Commey commended the government for the Free SHS saying it would go a long way to help the poor and needy but brilliant children in the rural areas especially in the coastal areas.

He appealed to the government to maintain the free education and make it accessible to all to enable these poor children to be educated before going into the fishing industry and appealed to parents and guardians to send their school growing children to school.
The Kokrokoo Charities Foundation founded by Mr Kwami Sefa Kayi, the morning show host of Kokrokoo on Peace FM, has presented an incubator to the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua.

The Incubators which is estimated at 10,000.00 US Dollars imported from Germany is said to be one of the best brands of incubators in the world.

Presenting the Incubator, Mr Kayi explained that the foundation was established by a group of people and institutions who believed in giving back to society and pledged to donate 100 pieces of incubators to hospital in the country to support efforts to give opportunities to preterm babies to survive and grow to contribute their quota to the development of the country.

He said so far, the foundation had presented 10 incubators to hospitals in the country and the presentation to the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua was the eleventh.

Mr Kayi said the foundation had been informed that the Eastern Regional Hospital, already had three incubators provided by the government and had space for more and if there is an opportunity, the foundation would donate some more incubators to the facility.

The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Kwame Anim Boamah who received the incubator on behalf of the hospital thanked the foundation and Mr Kayi for their gesture.

He gave the assurance that the hospital would take good care of the incubator to help support preterm babies to survive.

The Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua on the average has ten preterm babies daily at their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has stressed the need for Government to reconfigure the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to make commercial oil drilling at the Saltpond Oil field (SOF) economically viable.

The SOF, which was the first oil-producing field in the country, is undergoing the processes of decommissioning of its offshore platform due to high concentration of sulphur content which had affected global demand for the otherwise highly priced commodity.

At a stakeholders' forum held at Saltpond to solicit views on prudent management and oversight of oil revenues, Mr Kwame Jantuah, Vice Chairman of PIAC, explained that the continued use of oil revenues to cater for an idle field did not reflect judicious use of the resources.

The forum was attended by representatives of all decentralised Government Departments and Agencies as well as religious organisations, security agencies, educational institutions, Employee Associations, traditional leaders, Assembly Members, Non-governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organisations and the Media.

Mr Jantuah indicated that although the SOF had been shut down because it was financially not viable, the GNPC continued to use oil revenue to cater for the cost of maintaining the offshore production platform ahead of plans to decommission it.

He explained that the idle SOF was heavily draining the country's oil revenues on the payment of the emoluments of skeletal staff and the maintenance of the non-functional oil production facility.

According to him, the decommissioning of the SOF for lack of activity in the area would protect the country's oil revenues from slipping into unproductive revenue expenditures.

Mr Jantuah bemoaned the fact that notwithstanding the committee' statutory mandate and commitments to ensure efficient, transparent and accountable management of petroleum revenues and investments, it lacked the legal wherewithal to prosecute people who misappropriated funds of Ghana's oil revenue allocations.

Against this backdrop, he reiterated the need and support for PIAC to have prosecutorial powers to effectively and efficiently control the misappropriation of oil revenues.

He recommended that Parliament empowered the committee and rendered their unqualified support to forestall any further misappropriation of oil revenue to spark rapid national development.

That, he observed will promote accountability from people who were not performing their roles.

He assured that the committee would continue to execute its mandate with high integrity and remained independent of governmental dictatorship on the oil revenue management.

Mr Jantuah reaffirmed the PIAC's determination to engage the media and other key stakeholders to keep track of oil revenue disbursement as means of promoting social auditing and accountability.

He urged the media and other strategic stakeholders to play their meaningful watchdog roles more effectively to ensure that oil revenues were better protected.

Mr Matthew Tay, the Mfantsiman Municipal Coordinating Director said public engagement on the oil revenue and its utilisation was crucial to enabling PIAC execute its mandate.

Mr Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, a participant, called for enough printing and distribution of hard copies of PIAC's annual reports to stockpile various libraries, schools, media houses and other relevant stakeholders.

That, he underscored was the surest way to broaden discussion, involvement and strict scrutiny and auditing of the country's oil revenues to promote transparency and accountability.

GNA

By Isaac Arkoh, GNA
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Mr Edem Agbewornu, the Keta Municipal Chief Executive, has called on government to stop expanding settlements at Gakli Kologa and other communities along the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao for security reasons.

He described the communities as 'unapproved' and haven for thousands of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries and must be watched.

The DCE said this when he briefed the Inspector General of Police, Mr David Asante-Apeatu on the security of the area, during the IGP's tour of the frontier.

Mr Agbewornu said the development posed serious challenges to local governance and said an expanding 'black market' and illegal activity made the situation a "time bomb".

He said buildings including a huge market complex had been constructed without permits and were dangerously sited along the buffer zone, creating difficulties in implementing regulatory policies.

Mr Agbewornu therefore underscored the need for a police post along the border and other vantage points to beef up security along the stretch.

The MCE said the Republic of Togo had secured their side of the border and appealed to government to rebuild the broken border walls and enforce laws that prohibited trade in foreign currency in the country.

The IGP commended the MCE for efforts at ensuring security and said the Police Service would consider plans to establish a division at Aflao in view of recent industrial strife in the Municipality.

He reiterated the need for the people to be law abiding and cooperate with the security agencies.

GNA

By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Residents of Sunyani have commended the Sunyani Municipal Assembly for embarking on a decongestion exercise to clear hawkers, petty traders and indiscipline drivers from occupying unauthorised places.

The exercise, which commenced on Wednesday, is being enforced by the Assembly's taskforce in collaboration with Police and Military personnel to ensure that pavement, pedestrian walkways and the streets in the metropolis were free for smooth socio-economic activities.

A number of them interviewed by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) expressed worry about the activities of traders and hawkers impeded the flow of vehicular and human traffic.

According to them, adequate notice was given by the Assembly for the people to move to the spacious Nana Bosomah market, but that was was ignored by the traders.

They called on the Assembly to sustain the exercise and be firm to ignore all kinds of appeals and pressures that might be upon them to stop it.

Mrs Ama Kumi-Richardson, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), who met the various market queens, advised them to urge their members not to sell on the streets and the pavements but move to the main market for pedestrians and buyers to have enough space to pack their vehicles and freely move around.

She asked traders, hawkers and drivers not to provoke members of the taskforce since the implementation would benefit the public.

Meanwhile, some affected traders and drivers have complained bitterly about the exercise since according to them the market and the lorry station were not spacious enough to contain all of them.

GNA

By Regina Benneh, GNA
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Senior Paster of the First Baptist church, Tema has observed the need to build modern and comfortable church facilities to advance the work of God.

'I agree with you that the Lord is in our hearts, but you will also agree with me that we need a building to work in and a place to worship the savior; we also need very beautiful offices to work in for people to know that God has been gracious to us,' he said.

Reverend David Kwame said this on Sunday in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the sod-cutting ceremony for the commencement of a multi-purpose development project at the church premises.

He informed that the work of God could go on better and people could serve God better if places of worship and office facilities for the church workers were available and in good shape.

Reacting to whether the church was only interested in building auditoriums and not catering for the needy, Rev. Kwame said, 'I say this to the glory of God, this is a church that supports people that are in need. In fact in every month we have about 21 to 22 people we support financially, the aged and those that are sick; people that need money to trade, people that need rent, the church take such responsibilities.'

He admonished the newly nominated Special Prosecutor the President to be fair and bring justice to the people of Ghana, adding that 'Corruption is not just a perception, corruption is real. I believe with the coming of the Special Prosecutor it would be a warning to all that if we take the nation for granted, the law with catch up with us.'

Mr. Samuel Quartey, the Project Architect and a member of the church said that the church had a Life Chapel Teen service that did not have a good place of worship, and so the project was going to create avenue for their services.

'They worshiped in a small building we thought was too old and in addition had a small capacity, and we are also struggling with office spaces for the church secretariat, counseling rooms, etc. therefore we thought we should do a better utilization of the land,' he said.

The project, which would cost about two million dollars, would be funded through contributions of members with the first phase expected to be completed between 12 to 15 weeks.

Mr. and Mrs. Francis Tuyee, who were founding members of the church and had been fellowshipping with the church for over forty years, cut the sod for the commencement of the project.

They expressed joy to have been part of the wonderful history is seeing the church from a small beginning to this level.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF), a youth focused organisation, Monday said to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture in Ghana, government must make it more appealing to the youth.

It said there was the need for a well-coordinated branding campaign that would promote and present agriculture and its value-chain among the youth.

Mr Seth Oteng, the Executive Director of YBF, in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday, called on government to design and pursue educational programmes that would sensitize the youth on the competitiveness of employment in agriculture.

Acknowledging a slow start of the Akufo-Addo led administration in 2017 he noted that the 2018 Budget would offer diverse opportunities for the youth who would want to go into agric.

He also called for youth inclusiveness in governance.

According to him, the 'Beyond Aid' agenda of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a realistic and commendable campaign, however, 'As the global aid architecture shrinks, it has become obvious that governments in Africa and their citizens (corporate and individuals) must mobilize resources internally and from Diaspora for the transformation of their countries.

'The passion and commitment of the President to this agenda is clearly reflected in the 2018 Budget policy direction and specific programmes such as Voluntary Education Fund, invitation for private sector co-funding of the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), among others,' he said.

Mr Oteng said:'Taking cognizant of the fact that there is much talk about the need for African countries to own and localize development goals (including SDGs, the Agenda 2063) and now the 'Beyond Aid' agenda, YBF maintains that the youth should be at the centre in all of this, not only as beneficiaries, but as a critical interest group.'

He told the GNA that mobilizing the youth presented a great opportunity for creating an effective platform for participation in the political economy, building resilience of young people, and addressing the root causes of many of the key challenges facing them.

YBF is a youth focused organisation set up to create supportive platforms to challenge the creativity of the youth, and to make available critical information and resources needed for total development of the youth.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

A 12 year old Fulani girl was in the early hours of Sunday murdered in a cold blood by an unknown person at the outskirt of Gomoa Ekwamkrom, near Agona Swedru in the Central Region.

Miss Ajula Sumaila, was said to have been sent by her father, Sumaila Omaro, a Fulani herdsman leaving in the outskirts of Gomoa Ekwamkrom at about 0630 hours to fetch water from a well near their village for household chores.

Police Superintendent, Seth Panti Yirenkyi, Agona Swedru District Police Commander disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Agona Swedru on Monday.

The District Commander said at about 0730 hours in the morning, the father of the deceased reported that he sent his daughter to go and fetch water but she never returned.

Superintendent Yirenkyi told GNA that not quite long, he heard some shouting that his daughter had been killed by an unknown person about 100 meters away from the village where he rear his cattle.

According to the District Commander Omaro rushed to the scene and saw his daughter dead with deep cutlass cut at the back of her head.

Superintendent Yirenkyi said the Police rushed to the crime scene and found the deceased lying in pool of blood.

He said the Police took the body to the Agona Swedru Municipal Hospital for preservation and also for doctors to perform autopsy on it.

The District Commander said sofar no arrest has been made by the Police and investigations are ongoing to unravel mystery behind the killing.

He said that the Police had invited Omaro to further probe to ascertain the circumstance led to the murder and that preliminary investigations has disclosed the family has no problems with natives in and around the area.
As demand for batteries drives a surge in the price of cobalt, the Democratic Republic of Congo is gearing up to overhaul its mining regulations to harvest more profit from the coveted metal.

The global boom for smartphones and electric cars has pushed up the price of cobalt, a key ingredient in top-range batteries, to $75,000 (almost 63,000 euros) a tonne -- an increase of 127 percent in one year.

DR Congo is the world's leading producer of cobalt, where authorities consider the previous mining code to favour foreign investors at the expense of the economy.

The central African country is also the top African producer of copper, currently trading on the London Metal Exchange at more than $7,000 a tonne for the first time in three and a half years.

Congo's production of copper has rocketed from 27,000 tonnes in 2002 to more than a million tonnes today, according to the preamble to the new mining code.

The code should "make the mines a true motor of the development of the country", according to Minister of Mines Martin Kabwelulu, who has overseen the industry since February 2007.

From the Katanga provinces in the southeast to North and South Kivu on the eastern border via the central Kasai region, the subsoil is rich in gold, diamonds and coltan, another mineral used for electronic products and often cited as an illegal source of finance for conflict.

After many twists and turns, the Congolese government in December presented parliament with its revised version of the 15-year-old mining code, increasingly seen as detrimental to the interests of the state.

"The former code of 2002 was meant to be attractive for investors because then we were in a state of war," Henri Muhiya of the influential Roman Catholic episcopate told AFP, referring to the Second Congo War of 1998-2003.

"We've realised that the investors indeed came, but the profits weren't shared out in a fair way between them and the country," added Muhiya, the secretary of the natural resources commission of the episcopal conference, which has amended the text before parliament.

"We're going to try to find a balance," he said.

Economic patriotism

The new code, passed by the National Assembly and now in the hands of the Senate, provides for "a broadening of the base and the raising of mining royalties," according to Muhiya.

It sets out taxes of up to five percent on "strategic metals" -- most likely including cobalt -- and six percent on precious stones.

Kinshasa is introducing a form of economic patriotism by raising the stake of the state in the capital of mining companies and outsourcing tasks related to the industry "only to firms in which the majority of the capital is owned by Congolese nationals".

DR Congo is the world's leading producer of cobalt, where authorities consider the previous mining code to favour foreign investors at the expense of the economy

DR Congo authorities also want to ensure the repatriation of at least 40 percent of the revenue of minerals that are sold for export.

Multinational firms have fired back, charging that the new mining code would "significantly weaken the confidence of investors", in a joint letter to the speakers of both houses of parliament.

The protest was signed by the Congolese subsidiaries of giants in the sector, China Molybdenum, Rangold, the Swiss firm Glencore and MMG, an Australian-Chinese venture.

"Our partners have for 15 years -- these words aren't too strong -- cheated and stolen from us. That has to stop," the chief executive officer of the powerful Gecamines state mining firm, Albert Yuma, stormed in November.

'Regime cash machine'

The DRC should control its mineral resources like "our Arab brothers have benefitted from the control of oil," said Yuma, leader of the national business community and close to President Joseph Kabila.

Kabila's second and last elected five-year mandate ended on December 20, 2016, but has been extended in a church-brokered deal at the cost of severe repression.

The vast money in mining has to be seen in the context of DR Congo's chronic reputation for corruption and the deep poverty that afflicts most of its 80 million citizens.

Reliable figures for turnover and employment in the mining industry are elusive in a country where much economic activity is unregistered and even the size of the population is unknown, given the absence of a recent census.

Last July the British NGO Global Witness described the mining sector as the regime's "cash machine" and its revenues were being wasted by a "toxic combination of corruption and mismanagement".

In November, US NGO the Carter Center estimated that $750 million generated by mining production between 2011 and 2014 could not be traced in any "reliable fashion" in Gecamines's accounts, an assertion that the company angrily rejects.

Documents released last November in the "Paradise Papers" leak said that Swiss firm Glencore acquired a Congolese mine for a pittance in 2007 through controversial Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler.

In 2013, the NGO Africa Progress Panel analysed five mining sales to offshore companies linked to Gertler's firm.

"Together the five deals cost the DRC at least $1.36 billion, an amount equal to almost twice the DRC's combined annual budget for health and education in 2012," it said.
Current executive director Tom Quinn will be retiring in March, and the organization will be accepting applications and reviewing qualifications to fill the position. Quinn has been executive director since 2011.
In the early seventies we used to watch one cowboys film titled, Run Man Run, Santana Is In Town. In those days, marauding cowboys used to raid Kraals, killing cattle ranchers and looting their properties. Anytime the cowboys entered a town, people run helter skelter. There was this particular guy called Santana, a particular cowboy who did not countenance the behavior of these rogue cowboys and decided to take them on in a ruthless manner.

Santana will wake up every morning, fasten his pistol on his hip, jump on his horse and went about looking for cowboys who played the buffoonery. The guy is a very good marksman and so when he had an encounter with these cowboys, he will take them out one after the other until the rest run for dear life. So anytime Santana entered any town, a jubilant crowd would come out of their houses to meet him. Santana was simply a hero and a torn in the flesh of rogue cowboys.

The happiest day in my life in this New Year was when I heard that the President, Nana Akufo Addo has appointed Mr. Martin Alamisi Barnes Kaiser Amidu as the Special Prosecutor. Corrupt officials under the disgraced NDC regime under John Mahama should run for cover because Santana is in town. Those in government today should also be on the look out because Santana will not spare them if they are found wanting. Anybody who will oppose the appointment of the fine legal brain as a Special Prosecutor has skeletons in his or her cupboard. In the run-up to the 2016 general elections, then candidate Nana Akufo Addo promised Ghanaians that when he got the nod as the president of Ghana he will appoint a Special Prosecutor to tackle corruption which was institutionalized by the John Mahama-led administration and he has kept that.

Listen to Mr. Rawlings on the appointment of Mr. Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor: The President by this appointment has risen above partisanship and recognized a highly principled citizen. Mr. Amidu has proven to be fearless anti-corruption crusader whose pursuit of truth and justice has won him national admiration. And you sit somewhere beat your stomach and tell Ghanaians that Mr. Amidu is not an NDC man. Mr. Rawlings knows Martin Amidu from the revolutionary days till they formed the NDC. Only a fool will believe that Mr. Amidu is not a card-bearing member of the NDC. When the going was tough and the tough kept moving, where were these latter day saints?

You see, it is not only in Ghana that a Special Prosecutor is appointed to bring checks and balances into governance and society as a whole. In the United States, a Special Prosecutor or Special Counsel or Independent Counsel is a lawyer appointed to investigate and potentially prosecute a particular case of a suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example, the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or Attorney General might be handled by the Special Prosecutor rather than by an ordinary prosecutor who would otherwise be in the position of investigating their own superior. And so, you see the reason why we need a Special Prosecutor? Instead of thanking the president for keeping his word, NDC communicators are out there bastardizing Mr. Amidu, calling him names and using vulgar language to describe the gentleman. Some even say he is not a card bearing member of the NDC. Really? Have these people forgotten that that once upon a time he was a Running-Mate to the late Professor Mills and a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the same Mills, administration? The other day when Mr. Mahama spoke to NDC supporters at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region where they had their Unity Walk, he said Nana Addo was going to appoint a family member or his personal lawyer as a Special Prosecutor so that that person could jail NDC former appointees. Now that an NDC man has been appointed, what is Mr. Mahama telling the NDC supporters at Techiman? Shame!

Anyway why is the NDC afraid of the appointment of Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor? Is it because he was the one who blew the lid over the Woyomegate? Even before his appointment, the man referred to himself as a Citizen Vigilante and we are all living witnesses to the numerous cases he pursued. The work of a Special Prosecutor is not to prosecute only political appointees. It is a national call and Civil Servants, Public Servants and a cross section of society can be called to answer questions bordering on corruption. I therefore see no reason why only NDC supporters are afraid of the man. Even if a Police or Army officer is found wanting as far as corruption is concerned, the person will face the music squarely.

Those who surprise me most are the NDC foot soldiers who worked like beast of labour to bring the NDC into power only to be jettisoned by their leadership who grew Epicurean and lived like Pharaohs of yesteryears. If you listen to some of them criticizing Martin Amidu, you will be at a loss as to why they are doing that. While NDC party functionaries educated their children in prestigious schools at home and abroad, you, the foot soldiers, were living from hand to mouth and when a Special Prosecutor is about to start his work you are kicking like a bull. The Akans say if the lizard goes to eat pepper, it is not frog's business to breathe into his mouth to sooth the pain. ( Okotre nko di mako mma aponkyerene enhuhu na no)

As for me if the Whistle Blowers Bill is passed into law, I will never hesitate to report any suspected corrupt cases to the authorities. We need money to service the Free SHS, continue paying teacher and nursing trainee allowances and many more projects that could assuage the suffering of the masses. We have all come to one conclusion that corruption retards progress of the nation and so any attempt to sabotage the efforts of Mr. Amidu will be resisted. Ex-President Mahama served notice at Ho where the 31st December revolution was celebrated that if former functionaries of the NDC regime were hauled to court, supporters of the party should rally behind them. Nobody has any problem with that but if they try to besiege the courts where these people are going to be tried, they should expect nothing but big trouble.

Good morning Madam Dzifa Ativor, Minister of Transport and the queen of bus branding. You were harboring the fears that if the NDC supporters fail to vote for the party to come to power you and some of your colleagues will be jailed. The time has come and so prepare to face the music. It is only you who knows why you will go to jail if the NPP came to power so it is not for me to tell you. As for me I am not afraid of Mr. Martin Amidu because my hands are clean. I am just a poor guy sitting 'my somewhere' minding my own business. The Akans say it is only those who dance who feel their testicles dangling inside their pants. If Mr. Amidu starts barking behind me I will not look back because he can not bite me since I have done nothing wrong.

But if you are a Board Member of Bui Authority and you are given a contract to mould blocks for the authority, you have committed a conflict of interest and you will meet Martin Amidu one day. The law says crime has no status barrier. The fact that the board member committed that offense many years ago doesn't mean he will have his way. His initials are J. A. N and he is a scribe of a poplar political party in Ghana. We need to expand the Nsawam Maximum Prison for more inmates are coming.

When I was first introduced to Cigar smoking, I found the cost of a stick of cigar very costly so I started with the cheapest one called Lost City Cigar. I miss it so much and so today I want to revisit the past by puffing Lost City Cigar.

Eric Bawah
Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Apeatu, has confirmed that the explosives seized from three persons, including a self-confessed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) member, by the Odorkor Police are grenades of some kind.

Some of the grenades are said to have landed in unauthorized hands.

According to the IGP, the police had commenced investigations into the whereabouts of the missing grenades.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the police headquarters in Accra, Mr Asante-Apeatu urged the public to remain calm, as they (police) investigate the matter.

Three persons are currently in police custody for having in their possession explosives believed to be grenades.

The ISIS member was named by the police as Ishmael Ali Musa, 31; Abdul Karim, 30  believed to be a notorious land guard and suspected armed robber, as well as Osman Alhassan, 33, from Mali.

Police intelligence led to the arrest of Abdul Karim at Agape Down, near Ablekuma Monday morning where seven varied species of the grenades (bombs) were retrieved.

Information gathered indicated that the suspects, who had been working together for the past year, imported 20 of the grenades from Libya and were said to be selling them.

Our investigations seek to answer questions such as whether these persons were terrorists, whether they have linkage with any terrorist group, how they obtained the objects, their sources, potential allies and many others, Mr Asante-Apeatu said.

He revealed that the police administration is treating the matter with utmost seriousness and had dispatched scores of investigators and specialists to various locations where some of the grenades are believed to be kept.

Investigators have now made a total of three arrests of persons, whose nationality would be confirmed later; and I would like to thank the public for their assistance and for remaining calm, he posited.

Police sources have indicated that the suspects reportedly imported the grenades, including other weapons like AK 47 rifles, side arm pistols and some quantities of ammunition from Libya for sale.

Abdul Karim, the reported custodian of the grenades, upon his arrest, led the police to Kata Hotel, near Nyamekye in Accra, where his supposed master  Ishmael Ali Musah  was hiding and was arrested.

Ishmael Ali Musah was with Osman Alhassan, and were both grabbed.

They admitted that so far, 13 grenades, together with all the weapons, had already been sold in Ghana.

They also mentioned three communities in Accra where the said grenades were, the source averred, but did not name the communities for investigation purposes.

The police are currently working with the military to retrieve the 13 grenades currently in the hands of unauthorized persons in the country.
On several occasions the Ghana Police Service has been adjudged the most corrupt institution in Ghana by some self glorified, dignified and personified anti-corruption institutions or think-tanks for reasons known to only them. Is it really true that Ghana Police Service is the most corrupt institution in Ghana? You may agree based on perception generalisation of their observations but I will also disagree and call for more proofs. I mean further and better particulars considering what is going on at places particularly in the political circles.

Whereas these these institutions and think-tanks, so called have not been able to publish their research methodologies and the sample sizes of their researches, the police service can easily be nailed as the most corrupt institution in Ghana by perception generalisation considering what happens by the side of the road and granting of bails as well as other petty services provided by the police service. Is this enough to adjudge the police service the most corrupt institution in Ghana? I don't think so. We need more forensic auditing or scientific proofs before we can all agree.

How I wish those who are demonising the police service without any proper forensic auditing or scientific proofs in the name of fighting corruption can publish their research methodologies, sample sizes and the number of research participants or respondents so that we can have the opportunity to argue the other side of coin and punch holes into their researches just for academic purposes? Some of us do not want to defend the police service blindly but we rather want to have enough proofs, concrete and cogent evidence to support the perception generalisation approach that the police service is indeed the most corrupt institution in Ghana.

The perception based research approach currently being employed by the so called think-tanks and these anti-corruption institutions smacks of grand schemes just to tarnish the image of the police service which is already dwindling due to perception by the acts of some miscreants and unscrupulous people in the police service, and also to make their institutions to appear more credible and popular just to stay relevant and to attract huge monies from developing partners in the name of fighting corruption in Ghana. We know all that.

Untill we see what goes on at other places with the same research methodologies, sample sizes and the number of research participants or respondents, we cannot rely only on perception generalisation to adjudge some institutions corrupt than the others. That approach is flawed, weak and a lazy one. We must evidently see what goes on at other places so that we can compare and contrast. Until then, it is dangerous to proclaim the police service as the most corrupt institution in Ghana because it could lead to lost of confidence and public apathy in the police service. When that happens, people will take the law into their own hands so we must not let that to happen.

Currently there is a video circulating on social media particularly facebook and whatsapp about a frustrated man who threatened to arrest some police officers whom he accused of taken 1ghc or 2ghc from drivers. He even told them to be taken ghc 10 or ghc50 instead of 1ghc or 2ghc. He then told them to change their attitudes because change has come. Surprisingly these police officers were silent and very cold as the man was angrily shouting at them. Something that suggests that they were guilty of what the man was alleging. He then told his driver to drive on and they left. Is this enough prove that the police service is the most corrupt institution in Ghana? I don't want to believe that.

Interestingly around this same time is another video circulating on whatsapp and facebook with director of public reforms, Thomas Kusi Boafo accusing the former government of stinking corruption and how the presidency was used as a transit point for importation of cars and sold them cheaply to party officials, people in government, chiefs, queen mothers, members in the media fraternity and even pastors. Can we make some conclusions here too? The fact is that I don't haste to conclude until I have all the facts particularly when it comes to matters of corruption and most especially if somebody's reputation is at stake.

I don't want to sound political and one sided but if indeed these allegations are true, then isn't it right for that frustrated man who threatened to arrest those police officers for taking 1ghc or 2ghc instead of 10ghc or 50ghc? I guess it is a shame to be seen or caught on camera taking small monies instead of taking big monies and to me that is the message that man whom I believe might be a politician is trying to put across. If you want to steal, steal big monies and not the small monies so that it will be overwhelmingly and convincingly clear that you are thief or corrupt but not the small monies which have strings of shame and reproach attached to it. This is an old corruption philosophy that people ascribe to.

I have always been asking what makes people think the police service is the most corrupt institution in Ghana as perceived by the general public with the support of the so-called think-tanks anti-corruption institutions? This what we need to do as a country and people, and that is to conduct some scientific research or forensic auditing to establish the real cause of police corruption before we can prescribe the right medications or solutions to solve this canker that has engulfed not only the police service but the whole nation. We should be mindful that the police service is just a subset of the larger public. The police might have it own unique style of corruption but the fact is that everybody in the police service came from the larger society where conscience is fast eroding and roting.

The root cause of police corruption lies in article 200(3)- the police service shall be equipped and maintained....The question some of us have always been asking is that, is the police service well equipped and maintained to perform its constitutional mandate of maintaining law and order? Is the budgetary allocation from the central government enough for the police service to function effectively and efficiently? The last time I checked and only until this year, the police service never received its budgetary allocation from the central government for 3 years but rather relied heavily on internal generated funds from the bank guards and other approved sources within the police service. The same people will sit in their flashy V8 full of air conditions and will be pointing accusing fingers at the police for being corrupt. Isn't it sad? You shirk your responsibilities and still have the conscience and the guts to call the police corrupt?

What people should be asking is, how did the police administration run the police service for all these 3 years if indeed the police service did not receive release from the central government to support its administration and operations? Is the police service a private business? Is the police service an income generating entity to survive on its own without budgetary allocation from the central government? The question of whether the police service is well equipped and maintained if not well answered, we are likely to have a deeper perception of police corruption and assume it as a confirmation that Ghana Police Service is indeed the most corrupt institution in Ghana.

We are in a country that you see and hear police administration and senior police officers appealing to people and philanthropists to come to their aid with donor support so that they can be effective and efficient in their respective areas of command. This is done under the guise that policing is a shared responsibility so members of the general public with whom some may be high profile criminals have a responsibility to policing. This is a clear sign that our police service is not well equipped and maintained and if the police service is not well equipped and maintained, it breeds corruption.

The police service may be corrupt just like any other public institution in Ghana but I doubt we are the most corrupt institution in Ghana just by looking at the face of it. That might not be factually correct and very far from the reality. Yes! We agree that there is embedded corruption in the police service and which you don't need a rocket science to see it but to be adjudged overall best in corruption in Ghana, we need further and better particulars.

Still the only service with integrity in Ghana.

Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III

[email protected]

#Ahantadiaries_16_01_18
Sudanese security agents arrested the leader of the opposition Communist Party on Wednesday after it organised a protest in the capital Khartoum against rising bread prices, its spokesman told AFP.

Sporadic protests have erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, after bread prices more than doubled earlier this month following a jump in the cost of flour.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated near the presidential palace in response to a call by the Communist Party.

Anti-riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons to disperse the crowd.

Early on Wednesday, agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested the Communist Party's leader, spokesman Ali Saeed said.

"Today, at 3:00 am (0100 GMT), two trucks full of armed men from NISS came to the house of our general secretary Mokhtar al-Khatib and took him to an unknown location," Saeed told AFP.

"We don't know where he is but we do know that it was NISS that took him."

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began.

The Communist Party said its members would continue to mobilise people and organise demonstrations, while the country's main opposition Umma Party has called an anti-government demonstration for later on Wednesday.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 ($9 to $25) as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. A student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of the deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sunyani, Dr. Evelyn Kumi Richardson has eulogized the organizers of MTN/Suncity Reading Club for the initiation.

Dr. Kumi Richardson who visited the participants of the MTN/Suncity Club on Saturday could not hide her joy about the project.

I am impressed. In fact I am very happy that these children are willingly spending their time to read. They came from different schools but the cordiality among them is a good thing that will serve a good purpose for us. If not this project, these children would have indulged themselves into something which wont be beneficialbut reading will boost their confidence over the language which is not our mother tongue, she said.

It is a pleasure to have two sessions in my municipality. I will thank the organizers for the initiative. God bless them and we will always support such projects. Thanks to the Director of Suncity Radio, Mr. Ransford Antwi, his family, workers and MTN Ghana for such an amazing project, the Sunyani MCE praised the Organizers on their efforts to help improve education in the municipality.

Dr. Evelyn Kumi Richardson reiterated governments commitment to help improve education in the country.

Education is something that the government holds with high esteem and we will do anything to support such projects. We will partner with anybody who will embark on educational projects in order to improve on education in the municipality, she stated.

Dr. Evelyn Kumi Richardson disclosed that the number of girls in school within the Sunyani municipality has outweighed the number of boys. According to her, she is overwhelmed about the development.

Five communities in the Brong Ahafo Region are beneficiaries of the project which seeks to rekindle interest in reading among the participants.

The reading clubs are centered at Sunyani, Fiapre, Odumase, Chiraa and Abesim.

The MTN Ghana sponsored project is being spearheaded by Suncity Radio in Sunyani.
It is no more current news but it is heart-warming that Nigeria got 95,000 slots for Hajj 2018. This was the same number of slots granted Nigeria for 2017 Hajj by the Saudi government. The slots were shared 75,000 and 20,000 to the State Pilgrims Welfare Boards/Commissions/Agencies and the private tour companies respectively.

The slots were granted at a ministerial meeting between Saudi Arabia and Nigeria in Makkah, Saudi Arabia where the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 2018 was presented, an event that kick-starts the processes of Hajj every year. This year, the Saudi Arabian delegation was led by the new Minister of Hajj and Umrah Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Saleh Bin Taher Benten while the Nigerian delegation was led by the Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Hon. Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim in company with the Chairman/CEO of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Barr. Abdullahi Mukhtar Muhammad and Nigerias Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Isa Muhammad Dodo.

However, Nigeria is optimistic of fully utilizing its slots for 2018 Hajj, being the fifth country in the world with the highest number of pilgrims to Makkah. Besides, it was not fully utilized last year due to the global/national economic recession and presumed hike in the Hajj fares. Yet, it was surprising that Nigeria was one of the countries with large number of Hajj slots who utilized over 90 percent of its quota for last Hajj. Over 81,000 Nigerian pilgrims officially participated in the 2017 Hajj, kudos to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria which explored all humanly possible means to ease the effects of the fares and opened up amicable communication with the Saudi authorities to relax huge penalties on Nigeria for crossing deadlines. That should not be allowed this year because of the high prestige Nigeria has garnered globally over the years in the management of Hajj affairs.

It would be recalled that Nigerias Hajj slots were 95,000 before 2012 when the Saudi government, due to the expansion projects on the Grand Mosque of Makkah and Prophet Muhammads Mosque in Madinah, slashed down slots for all countries by 20 percent, thus reducing Nigerias quota to 75,000 shared to state boards and tour operators 65,000 and 10,000 respectively. The downward review caused agitation amongst the Nigerian Muslims who exhausted the slots every year until the 2017 Hajj that witnessed the restoration of the 20 percent global reduction.

Unfortunately, the supposedly good news for Nigerian potential pilgrims was marred by the economic recession and increase in Hajj fares. A lot of them who made huge deposits awaiting the announcement of the Hajj fares by NAHCON found it very difficult to complete the fares. In some states, some pilgrims withdrew from the journey. In short, some states could not utilize half of the allocations given to them by NAHCON. But notwithstanding, a few other states exhausted their slots and demanded for more. It was a tough experience that tested the managerial prowess of NAHCONs leadership which embarked on aggressive awareness campaign throughout the country on the dangers of losing Hajj slots while Nigeria had been making demands for more slots according to the increase in the Muslim population in Nigeria.

By the time the registration deadlines were done, little below 50 percent of the total slots was utilized. The commission explored all available means: the radio, television, Mosques, zonal meetings and meeting with some governors to encourage the pilgrims to pay up for the Hajj exercise. The national ulama team which is constituted by NAHCON from amongst the high class Islamic scholars in Nigeria was mandated to reach out to Muslims in their domains. That effort eventually yielded fruitful results. That is why the Saudi government must have agreed to grant same quota to Nigeria.

On this note, the national ulama team of NAHCON and all relevant teams, including the media have the onerous task of continually preaching to the Nigerian Muslim Ummah on the need to completely utilize the 95,000 Hajj slots for 2018. Since the nations economic situation is gradually but steadily improving, chances should not be open for the Saudis to reduce Nigerias quota in future due to inability to use up the given slots.

For the ulama team, they should utilize some of their sermons on Fridays and preaching in Mosques and religious gatherings to reach out to the intending pilgrims. They should seek the support of the Islamic scholars within their vicinities. They can go further and explore house to house meeting with Muslim families who have the interest and intention of going to Hajj.

For the NAHCON, it has already released the deadlines for every Hajj activity from the preparatory stage to the end of the Hajj exercise to state boards, in confirmation with the guidelines and dates released by the Saudi Arabia authorities. It advised intending pilgrims to make deposits of N300,000 monthly from November 2017 to March 2018 in order to make up N1.5 million, depending the final announcement of 2018 Hajj fares by NAHCON. It also advised those who can make bulk deposits of such amounts at once to do so. By the time the Hajj fares are announced, those whose deposits are more will definitely be refunded their balances and those who have deficits can easily complete the payments.

This is because the Saudi Arabia authorities have vowed not to tolerate late payments for services which every country struggles to secure for its pilgrims. The host country, in its renewed commitment to overcome the challenges which pilgrims faced during the 2017 Hajj especially in Mina, cannot change its schedules for any Hajj event. Saudi Arabia strives to give all human comfort to pilgrims and Nigeria must assist them in securing the best services for the pilgrims who must in turn pay in time to guarantee such services.

For the media team, the field is very important to reach the intending pilgrims. They should not only see it as a service to humanity, they can be assured that the spiritual reward of making a Muslim perform his or her obligation is immeasurable.

And the overall is on the governors who are primarily the owners of their boards and by extension the pilgrims. They should release funds to their Muslim Pilgrims Boards or Commissions or Agencies early enough to put them on the track of meeting up with the March 2018 deadline. It is especially necessary to remind the governors of states of Southeast and South-South that all Hajj activities are time-bound. It is unpleasant to find that pilgrim boards for these two geopolitical zones, save one or two, often cause operational hiccups for Hajj every year due to very late remittance of Hajj fares as well as lack of mobilization of the board officials by their state governors.

Finally, we must realize that it is not enough to rejoice that Nigeria was granted 95,000 seats for 2018 Hajj, the onus lies on all members of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah to ensure the full utilization of the slots and timely payments of the Hajj fares to guarantee securing best services, as always, for the Nigerian pilgrims.

Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good governance in Abuja. E-mail [email protected]
17.01.2018 LISTEN

The Minerals Commission has outlined new vision to lure investment for the mining sector for economic progression and job opportunities.

The commission said it will provide the essential investment setting for both domestic and foreign investors to invest in the mining sector to grow the Ghanaian economy.

The Minerals Commission as part of its objectives includes timely processing of all mineral rights applications and permits as well as introduction of an online application and processing system to reduce delays in the mineral rights application processes.

Board Chairman of the commission, Hon. Samson Kwaku Boafo told journalist in Accra Tuesday, that the commission will identify and develop new mineral potentials with the serious view of diversifying the minerals and mining sector through aggressive marketing and investment promotion.

We will also identify and develop new mineral potentials with the serious view of diversifying the minerals and mining sector through aggressive marketing and investment promotion. The Commission will also facilitate training of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to provide goods and services to the mining sector.

He indicated that, the Commission will be expanding its frontiers to map out deposits of industrial minerals across the country. This will be packaged as part of the Commissions investment drive for prospective investors in the construction industry, thereby creating employment for a lot more people in the mining sector.

Hon. S.K Boafo has also appealed to the media to support the Commission to educate, especially illegal miners to mainstream their activities and also publicize positive stories of change in mining communities.
The Chief of Navy Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Peter Kofi Faidoo, has asked officers of the Ghana Navy to always maintain their equipment.

The Military High Command, he said, will continue to urge the government to provide the needed equipment required by the Navy to execute its constitutional duties.

But let me challenge personnel of the Ghana Navy to handle public property with the needed care and endeavour to adopt a maintenance-conscious attitude, he said at the 2017 annual WASSA by the Ghana Navy at the Sekondi Naval Base in the Western Region.

He applauded the officers and ratings of the Western Naval Command at the Naval Base for exhibiting professionalism in the discharge of their duties despite the limited resources at their disposal.

He said despite the numerous logistical challenges and other problems, the Western Naval Command has for the past years performed its duties, including international peace support operations, to the admiration of many in the maritime industry.

On the operational front, the Command chalked some successes as it was able to fulfill all its operational responsibilities by ensuring that ships were put to sea, he pointed out.

The army officer said that the challenges have been persistently communicated to government, and High Command has been assured that they would be addressed, adding that notwithstanding, in our own capacity, all efforts are being made to deal with some of these challenges in order to improve our operational efficiency.

He expressed his appreciation to family members of all military officers for supporting them, and urged them to continue to ensure discipline in all aspects of their lives.

As you are all aware the Base has numerous civilian activities ongoing and I am happy to say that there has not been any recorded incident of unruly behaviour and confrontation with our civilian partners and friends, he noted.

Welcoming the guests to the programme, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) the Western Naval Command, Commodore Isaac Osei-Kuffuor, said 2017 saw numerous activities, including the Administrative Inspection of the Command by the CNS.

He challenged personnel to remain resolute and build the needed 'espirit de corps,' which is very crucial in the discharge of their duties.

I entreat you all to make judicious use of the available resources at your disposal and I assure you that the Command will still endeavour to provide resources necessary for effective and efficient work so as to keep the Command afloat, he told the naval personnel.
Chairman of the Committee of Experts on the Constitution

The Main Stages in the Evolution of the 1992 Constitution As a result of internal and external pressures for a return to constitutional rule, the National Commission for Democracy (NCD) established by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) carried out a series of public seminars and consultations with the aim of soliciting the views of individuals and organizations on the nature, scope and content of the future constitutional order between 5th July and 9th November 1990. This resulted in the publication of a NCD report entitled Evolving a True Democracy which was presented to the Government on 25th March 1991. A major finding in this report was a popular preference for a multi-party democratic system. This was the legacy of the late Mr. Justice Daniel Annan, the Chairman of NCD.

The report was accepted by the Government as the embodiment of the aspirations of Ghanaians on the future constitutional order.

The next stage in the evolution of the 1992 Constitution was the establishment of the Committee of Experts in May 1991 to draw up and submit to the PNDC draft proposals for a draft Constitution. The Committee's Report informed the deliberations of the Consultative Assembly which was charged with drafting the final Constitutional Document.

The Committee commenced its assignment on June 11 1991 and submitted its Report to the Government on 31st July 1991.

The third stage was the inauguration of the Consultative Assembly on August 25, 1991. The Consultative Assembly comprised 260 members made up as follows: 117 persons elected by District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies, 121 persons elected by identifiable bodies and 22 persons appointed by PNDC.

Two bodies, Ghana Bar Association and the National Union of Ghana Students refused to send a representative each to the Consultative Assembly on the ground that the structure of the membership would assure the predominance of PNDC sympathizers. The ultimate membership totaled 258.

The Consultative Assembly completed its assignment and handed over the draft Constitution to the PNDC on 11th March 1992.

Attached to the draft Constitution were the Transitional Provisions containing the controversial immunity provisions in respect of certain acts and personalities in the PNDC regime. These provisions were not drafted and approved by the Consultative Assembly as a body. We have it on the authority of Professor Kwamema Ahwoi and Nana Atto Dadzie in their biography of Justice Daniel A. Annan that the Transitional Provisions were the subject of special negotiations between the PNDC Legal Team, headed by Justice Annan, and some leading Chairmen of the Committees of the Consultative Assembly. Obviously the Committee of Experts did not participate in the negotiation. I personally had returned to my UN job before the drafting of these Provisions. The Draft Constitution, together with the Transitional Provisions was subjected to a referendum on April 28, 1992 and was overwhelmingly approved by Ghanaians.

The Constitution was enacted on 8th May 1992 and gazetted on 15th May 1992. It came into force on 7th January 1993.

In this lecture, I will focus on the work of the Committee of Experts, pointing out those areas where the Consultative Assembly departed from the Committee's proposals and leave you to act as the jury. I will conclude with an overview of our constitutional experience over the past 25 years and the prospects for the future.

The Mandate and Work of the Committee of Experts on the Constitution

The Committee of Experts was established by PNDC Law 252 (1991), with the following remit: to draw up and submit to the PNDC Council, proposals for a draft constitution of Ghana. Section 4 of the Law instructed the Committee to take the following documents into account in its deliberations:

The Report of the National Commission for Democracy of 25th March 1991 on Evolving a True Democracy; the abrogated constitutions of Ghana of 1957, 1960, 1969, and 1979 and any other constitutions; such other matters relating to proposals for a draft Constitution as the PNDC may refer to it; any other matter which in the opinion of the Committee is reasonably related to the foregoing. Furthermore, the Committee's proposals were to be informed by certain basic principles. Specifically, the primary objectives of the proposals were: Provide for an Executive President to be elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage; Provide for a Prime Minister who must command a majority in the National Assembly; Provide for a National Assembly to be elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage; Guarantee, protect and secure the enforcement of the enjoyment by every person in Ghana of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, freedom of assembly and association including the freedom to form political parties, women's rights, workers' rights and the rights of the handicapped; Provide for a free and independent judiciary; Guarantee the freedom and independence of the media; Provide for directive principles of state policy that shall ensure participatory democracy and the sound management of the national economy; Provide for a decentralized system of national administration based on a non-partisan District Assembly system with development as its objective and including revenue sharing clauses, and Reflect a commitment to equal and balanced development of all parts of Ghana, particularly, in the allocation of national resources and in the distribution of the national wealth. It is to be noted that the Committee was mandated to formulate constitutional proposals based on the foregoing core principles. These principles, in my view, were consistent with the fundamental tenets of a liberal constitutional order. Committed constitutional democrats may have honest differences over the institutional efficacy of the structures based on some of these principles, but I did not find that any of these principles was repugnant to a liberal constitutional order. The Committee operated under severe time constraints. We had barely two months to complete our assignment. Full membership was appointed in May 1991 and we commenced our deliberations on June 11, 1991 and produced our Report on July 31, 1991. The general environment in the country for the Committee's work was uncongenial. A prolonged period of operating without a constitution unfortunately generated suspicion about the substance and outcome of our assignment. This contrasted sharply with the goodwill and support of the United Nations toward this exercise. The Ghana Bar Association which had boycotted the Consultative Assembly would not accord to me the courtesy of a hearing at its conference to discuss the proposals of the Committee. I was actually booed by the students of my students!

The Challenges Posed by the Transition From a Military-Led Regime to a Civilian Constitutional Regime We had to contend with the existence of some skepticism in the higher circles of the PNDC regime about the viability of multi-party democracy. There was the strong feeling that all the institutions established during the regime should not be swept away on the inauguration of a constitutional regime. PNDC saw itself not simply as a military regime but as the precursor of participatory democracy and that its legacy to the foundation of grassroots democracy committed to the principles of integrity and accountability should be preserved (e.g. District Assemblies and Public Tribunals). There was some concern about the fate and role of the military in a constitutional regime. In the general public, particularly among the professional classes, there was a pervasive suspicion about the true intentions of the PNDC. The Committee was perceived as collaborators in some diabolical conspiracy to construct a spurious constitution to the detriment of the nation. Many of my friends and acquaintances told me that they would have advised me against undertaking the constitutional assignment if I had consulted them. So while the United Nations sent me off to my mission as a gallant standard bearer of constitutionalism to my country, the general public in Ghana was not enthusiastic about my assignment.

My own view was that PNDC's offer of a programme of return to constitutional rule should be grabbed, particularly having regard to the basic constitutional principles enunciated in PNDC Law 252 which clearly committed the Government to a liberal constitutional order.

I conceded to my friend (Prof. Adu Boahen) that PNDC had not involved the general public or the prospective political actors in the drawing up of the agenda for evolving the Constitution, and to some leading members of the Bar  that the Bar was patently underrepresented in the Consultative Assembly (CA). But I argued that those limitations would pale into insignificance in the process of executing the agenda, because that process would generate its own momentum. While recognizing that PNDC had exploited its incumbency advantage, the inauguration of a liberal constitutional order would eventually set the country on a constitutional democratic track. As it turned out, although the Ghana Bar Association as a body ultimately did not participate in the Consultative Assembly, there were as many as 32 lawyers from other organizations and the Legal and Drafting Committee of the Consultative Assembly was chaired by the eminent jurist, Mr. Justice S.A. Brobbey.

The Consultative Assembly itself objected to our participation in their deliberations. Afari Gyan captured the plight of the Committee in the following dedication in his book: To members of the Committee of Experts, who braved recriminations and personal abuse to do their work with dedication and conscience. [2] Two members of our Committee were however invited by the Consultative Assembly to assist with the drafting of the final document.

The most charitable view of our predicament was that after a ten year break from constitutional rule, our Report uncorked all the pent-up feelings in the general public and afforded Ghanaians the first real opportunity to freely debate constitutional proposals, and we were obviously an easier target than the PNDC.

The Committee also had strenuously and successfully insisted that its Report should be presented to the Consultative Assembly without any comment or adjustment by PNDC. The price of independence was loneliness. We fielded all the ferocious criticisms alone.

In the end, I have no doubt that our role gave impetus to the constitutional exercise and paved the way to a lively and productive debate in the Consultative Assembly.

The Committee was composed of the following:

Dr. S.K.B. Asante  Chairman

Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Dr. Agyeman-Badu  Omanhene of Dormaa, Member

Mrs. Justice Annie JiaggeRetired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Member

Mr. L.J. Chinery-Hesse Former Chief Parliamentary Draftsman AGs Department, Member

Mr. Ebo Bentsi-Enchill Ghana Bar, Member

Dr. K. Afari- Gyan Lecturer in Political Science, University of Ghana, Member

Dr. Charles D. Jebuni Lecturer in Economics, University of Ghana, Member

Dr. E.V. O. Dankwa Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Ghana, Member

Mrs. S. Ofori-Boateng Director of Legal Drafting AGs Dept., Member/Secretary

There were also volunteers like Prof. Maxwell Owusu of the University of Michigan and two able research assistants, one of whom, Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor, became Minister of Interior and Attorney-General. We consulted with experts and personalities in public life, past and present and relied on the materials mentioned in the enabling legislation which included the constitutions of other countries and memoranda from individuals such as Prof. Paul Ansah's memorandum on the Media Commission and Dr. Seth Twum's memorandum on Human Rights and the Judiciary. We consulted with Dr. Alex Quaison-Sackey and Kwamena Ahwoi on a rotational system for head of state, using traditional leaders, and on decentralization and local government, respectively. Prof. Maxwell Owusu gave a fascinating paper on Media Freedom and Mr. Ansah-Asare also assisted with research.

The report was not transmitted to PNDC for review before submission to the Consultative Assembly and the public. It was issued as the definitive Report of the Committee without amendment by or comment from any authority. As indicated above, the price of independence, however, was loneliness. We fielded the criticisms alone. CONTINUE NEXT WEEK The Organization of the Committee's Work

As to the organization of work, we delineated some seventeen (17) areas for purposes of general discussion and formulation as follows:

The Executive The Council of State The Legislature Directive Principles of State policy Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms Freedom and independence of the Media Representation of the People Majoritarian or Consensus Democracy Political Parties The Judiciary Administration of Land Decentralization and Local Government Chieftaincy Enforcement of the Constitution Economic and Financial Order Public Administration Amendment Procedure; and Citizenship

Individual members were assigned the task of preparing proposals covering specific, identified areas. The proposals formulated were subjected to a general critique at the plenary session. Thereafter, the proposals were finalized. This involved two steps, namely

A discussion of the relevant issues, the resulting proposals and the rationale for these proposals and A precise formulation or drafting of the proposals that would provide the basis of the key constitutional provisions.

THE SUBSTANCE OF THE REPORT

Within the extremely limited time or barely two months, the Committee produced a report entitled the Report of the Committee of Experts (Constitution) on proposals for a draft Constitution of Ghana, covering the above-mentioned subjects. The Committee's proposals were substantially adopted by the Consultative Assembly. However, the Consultative Assembly departed from a significant number of the Committee's proposals in such areas as the structure of the Executive, the structure and functions of the Council of State, representation of the people, Chieftaincy and local government.

IMPACT OF THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS

Although the Consultative Assembly departed from a significant number of the proposals submitted by the Committee of Experts, the Committee's Report informed the deliberations of the Consultative Assembly which ultimately endorsed the bulk of the Committee's proposals. The Committee's work generated a lively national debate on the structure and content of the future Constitution for the country and intensified the momentum for the transition to constitutional rule. Finally the Report of the Committee has proved to be the main document relied on by the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution since it came into force some 25 years ago.

OVERVIEW AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

With all the shortcomings of our Constitution, we can boast of a functional, liberal constitutional order based on a multi-party system which assures us, inter alia, peace, law and order, an independent judiciary, fundamental human rights and freedoms, freedom of the media, universal adult suffrage, modest parliamentary oversight over the Executive, a robust version of judicial review and a reasonable measure of decentralization.

For the past 25 years, we have successfully operated a constitutional democracy under which there has been a peaceful transfer of power from one party to another on three occasions through the ballot box. Ghana has been acclaimed as a haven of constitutionalism, peace and stability in a turbulent region and as a beacon of democracy for Africa.

Ghana has survived as a national entity and a fully integrated and functional state for sixty years.

However, there is no room for complacency. The successful conduct of six elections without a major outbreak of conflict is to be appreciated. But the conduct of peaceful elections does not exhaust the essence of democracy.

If we adhere to these fundamental tenets of national integration and ensure even development of all parts of Ghana and opportunities to the people to participate in decision making at every level of national life and in government, we would be able to point our form of governance as a model to the rest of Africa.

[1] Report of the Committee of Experts (Constitution) on proposals for a draft Constitution of Ghana. Ghana Publishing Corporation 1991

[2] The Making of the Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana, Friedrich Ebert Foundation 1995, p iii.

By Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante
THE TEMA Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), is being taken to court for its failure to take action on the influx of metal containers at the frontage of the Prince of Peace Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Tema, in the Greater Accra Region.

Land guards and squatters were reported to have encroached on the frontage of the church property in Community 5, Tema, thereby constructing concrete work and placing metal containers on the space appurtenant to the main building contrary to the building scheme and area layout which reserves that portion of land to facilitate the passage of utility service lines and aesthetic purposes.

Residents and the church are scared that the putting up of the illegal structures could lead to squatters' community which would pose serious security problems to life and property in the area.

It is against this backdrop that the church decided to drag the Assembly and Tema Development Corporation (TDC) to court for issuing permit to the container owners and looking on unconcerned for the illegality to be carried out.

A petition sent to TMA and TDC, which copy is in possession of the DAILY GUIDE, indicates that the church, in the year 2001, acquired a parcel of land with plot number INST/A/252 measuring 0.20 acres for the purpose of building a multi-purpose facility including conference halls, auditorium, among others.

The petition further stated that the church had moved to construct a fence wall and acquired all necessary documentation including a building permit from TMA and was taking steps to commence the project.

However, according to the petition, Some land guards and squatters have started doing concrete work and placing metal containers on the appurtenant land at our frontage, contrary to the building scheme and area lay-out which reserves that portion of land, usually to facilitate the passage of utility service lines, for landscaping and development of aesthetic purposes.

If steps are not taken immediately, it would lead to the springing up of temporary structures and squatters community which would pose extreme risk, danger and security problems to life and property in the area and thus affect use and purpose of the church's property and the general public as a whole.

The church therefore appealed to the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and TMA to intervene through their taskforce to remove the illegal structures on the land to avert future problems.

Information available to the DAILY GUIDE alleged that the owners of the containers are hiding behind some politicians to embark on the illegal act.

Some residents observed that It is better for TMA and TDC to stop the encroachers now than to leave them to do this illegality until the area is turned into a complete slum and the people start creating problems before they come to demolish their structures for the people to agitate.
Deputy Chief of Staff Abu Jinapor says it is evidence of the government's high transparency ratings that a bipartisan probe has been instituted into allegations, the presidency was used for profiteering.

He said on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Wednesday, the probe which is telecast live shows the government has nothing to hide from the Ghanaian public.

The politician pointed out the probe would never have happened under the previous government of President John Mahama.

"In the four years of President Mahama's administration, not a single bi-partisan probe took place," despite several scandals, he said.

But in about a year into the Akufo-Addo government, two parliamentary probes have occurred.

The first probe was into bribery allegations levelled by some Minority National Democratic Congress MPs who claimed a ministerial nominee, Boakye Agarko, had paid monies to have his nomination approved after a turbulent vetting process.

In the latest probe, a private event organiser, Millennium Excellence Foundation asked potential sponsors to pay $100,000 to gain proximity to the special guest at an expatriate awards dinner, President Akufo-Addo.

The Foundation partnered the Ministry of Trade and Industry which collected the monies from sponsors. The ministry and the Foundation have denied allegations seats were sold to business leaders to have access to the President.

The President expressed satisfaction no wrong was done but days later an NDC Minority motion tabled in Parliament called for a bipartisan probe into the issues.

But the Deputy Chief of Staff observed that "when people are unsettled even when you believe those allegations are spurious you allow investigations", he said.

He said in the Ford gift saga, one of the biggest scandals under Mahama, a similar request for a probe by the then NPP Minority was "torpedoed" the NDC Majority then who now constitute the Minority and spearheaded the process for the current probe.

In the Ford gift saga, a luxury Ford Expedition was given to the president by a Burkinabe contractor. The Minority then filed a motion calling for a bi-partisan probe but the motion was arrested even before it was debated.

It was anticipated that NPP Minority would follow that example in the instant case but House Speaker Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye, after a rather rancorous debate on the motion filed by Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, announced the establishment of a five-member committee to look into the allegations.

Abu Jinapor pointed out that despite the transparency of the Akufo-Addo government, there is a desperate attempt to stigmatise the government of corruption even without a basis.

He stressed the president's commitment to fighting corruption remains unflinching.
Residents of the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, have expressed concerns over the increasing spate of crime in the region, which they believe is primarily caused by the absence of street lights in the area.

Several residents in the New Juaben municipality have fallen victims to activities of these criminals.

Most of them lost their mobile phones, purse and bags containing money at gun or knife-point.

According to residents, one can hardly take a quiet walk in the streets after an evening meal without being accosted by knife-wielding thugs who demand personal belongings and money.

Afia Serwaa, who resides at Adweso SSNIT flat, but operates a shop close to the Adweso market, recounted her experience with criminals who snatched her bag, while she walked home with her three children.

I was on my way home with my children when I heard the sound of a motorbike coming from behind me. The whole place was dark so I could not see when the light of the motorbike got close but before I realized, a man behind the rider reached out for my bag. He pulled it from me and I began shouting for help.

Eventually they went away with the bag which contained the day's sales I had made from work. I blame the incident on lack of street lights in the area and the Police post which is also not in the area. If there was street light I would have seen the guys on the motorbike to even identify them. Now my children are all traumatized and we become scared anytime we close from the shop and we are heading home.

Another resident, Nana Atuahene told Citi News the presence of thieves in the area is due to the absence of street lights.

I always go for my daily jogging at 4:00am every dawn, and what I noticed is that only the street lights at the Koforidua Technical University work. The rest are all not working and this has prevented several people from coming out to exercise.

Pickpockets and other thieves we call Kwashey boys have taken advantage of the darkness in the area, and are robbing innocent people of their mobile phones and other valuables.

The New Juaben Municipal Engineer, Alex Tetteh, while admitting the lack of maintenance of these streetlights, said the Assembly is making efforts to procure a crane but needs assistance from central government.

Our major challenge has been how to maintain the street lights. It is true several areas in the Municipality are without street lights but quite recently we distributed some street lights to various Assembly members for their areas and I know they have fixed them, he said.

From Adweso, Agyeiwaa lodge, Poly area and on the highway, the street lights are very long which requires cranes to be used in maintaining them. But as it stands, the Assembly does not have one so we are making arrangements to buy a crane from either Kumasi or Accra. I will suggest that government should also assist us with the maintenance because it involves a lot of money.
Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Owusu Amponsah, Second-In-Command of the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, has appealed to the public to support the facility with an ambulance to help convey sick inmates to the hospital.

According to ADP Amponsah, the prison is also in need of essential drugs and other teaching and learning materials to enhance effective rehabilitation of inmates.

He made the appeal when a team from Prisons Fellowship Ghana and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) visited the facility to donate assorted items to the inmates over the weekend.

He stated that the Nsawam Prison is the most populated prison in the country housing an average of 3,500 inmates, thereby, putting a lot of pressure on the facility.

The Executive Director of Prisons Fellowship Ghana, Emmanuel Offei Kwafo, was hopeful the donation would go a long way to ease the burden of the management in the interim.

As Christians, we are enjoined by our faith to show generosity to those in need  the poor, the suffering and the socially disadvantaged, he added.

Mr Offei Kwafo pointed out that they have made several donations to prisons across the country quarterly to aid the reformation of prisoners and their integration into the society.

The Chaplain of the Nsawam Prisons, Rev Martin Padi, who received the assorted items, thanked Prisons Fellowship Ghana for the gesture and called for public assistance to help improve conditions there.
Parish Priest of Christ The King Church, Accra, Father Andrew Campbell, has attributed some mental health cases in Ghana to what he termed as broken family system.

Speaking at a mental health forum organised by the Harvard University Centre For African Studies on Friday, January 12 under the theme: 'Mental Moments  Demystifying Madness', Father Campbell bemoaned the alarming rate at which the family system in Ghana was breaking down.

The forum was aimed at discussing solutions for improving mental health treatment in Ghana

Such break downs in family systems, he said, were exposing many children to the streets where they are further being exposed to various narcotic drugs.

Family life is breaking down. There is something missing in our homes, Father Campbell stated.

He said as Parish Priest of Christ The King, he has had to deal with many children from the streets of Accra, especially those at lorry stations and many of them have been victims of drug abuse.

According to him, many children on the streets as a result of broken marriages and family systems are on a daily basis abusing drugs.
Fourteen satellite stations are to be established at strategic locations in the country this year to monitor the activities of illegal miners.

The stations will enable people to use global positioning system (GPS) to give prompt reports on mining activities for swift responses.

The Minerals Commission, which is undertaking the project, will also create three more mining districts, in addition to the existing nine mining districts, as part of efforts to monitor the activities of illegal miners. Event

At a press briefing held in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the commission, Mr Kwaku Addae Antwi-Bosiako, explained that the satellite stations would serve as rapid response centres to give real time data and information on mining activities.

We are setting up the 14 satellites stations and three more districts at strategic locations where people will be able to use GPS to give prompt reports to our regional offices and headquarters on mining activities for swift response, he said.

Last year, the government declared war on illegal mining and suspended all small-scale mining activities. It also set up a national anti-galamsey task force to fight the menace.

The establishment of the proposed satellite stations is, therefore, intended to give impetus to the fight against illegal mining. Licence

Mr Antwi-Bosiako said the commission would not countenance attempts by some individuals to dubiously acquire mining licences.

We will adhere strictly to the regulations for acquiring licences and so anyone who needs a licence will have to follow due process and fulfil the requirements because we want things to be done right, he stressed. Online

The Chairman of the Minerals Commission Board, Mr S.K. Boafo, said the commission was finalising processes to introduce online mechanisms for acquiring mineral rights.

He said the current manual means of applying for licences and mineral rights delayed unduly and hindered efficiency of work.

He observed that the board had a well-thought out agenda to turn around the fortunes of the country's mining sector.

We want to identify and develop new mineral potentials with a serious view to diversifying the minerals and mining sector through an aggressive marketing and investment promotion exercise.

The commission will also facilitate the training of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to provide goods and services in the mining sector, he added. Employment

According Mr Boafo, emphasis would be placed on the creation of employment in the mining sector.

The minerals and mining sector abounds in investment potentials and so we are going to provide the conducive environment to attract investors, while ensuring that we protect the security and safety of our resources.

We have a vision to adopt appropriate strategies, including collaborating with neighbouring countries, to make the Minerals Commission a centre of excellence in the delivery of mining services in the sub-region, he said.

He added that the commission would also focus on improving safety in the mining sector, especially in ensuring that mining did not destroy the environment.
Hi Thomas,

Greetings from Binduri.

Krachie, bok) di3? Naa waa for you ooooooo. I heard you said NDC members bought state vehicles like biscuits during the transition period. Right? I watched it from a video a friend sent me.

Thomas Kusi Boafo, you too? This issue was alleged by Eugene Arhin, the director of miscommunications at the Presidency, one of the babies with plagiarized brains when he was desperate to cover up the leaked video of ASP Nanka Bruce's assault at the Flagstaff House. An allegation the NDC challenged him to produce evidence which he failed. One would have thought the challenge thrown by the NDC that government should name and shame all who bought state vehicles during the period of transition will settle this brouhaha of missing state vehicles, but the same basket of deplorables are still out there shamelessly trying to dust the eyes of Ghanaians in their hungry quest to divert the attention of Ghanaians from the ongoing parliamentary probe of the stupid cash for seats damning scandal.

Thomas Kusi Boafo, you are an auditor. You've taught me before though I learnt nothing from you but story telling. Yes, you were the kind of lecturer who was so naive and hypocritical. Very unobjective and biased. You claimed to be apolitical then but only the zombies believed you. You know audit procedures very well. It is similar when vehicles are transferred during transition period. In case you want further and better particulars of audit procedures of Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) I will make it available to you.

Now check this out :

Property, Plant and Equipment Audit

A. Existence: Do the assets exist?

1. Inspect additions or if initial audit, inspect all assets.

a. Vouch a sample from accounting records to underlying documentation.

b. Vouch a sample from the accounting records to the physical assets.

2. Test cutoff. Examine documents relating to acquisition and disposal to determine proper recording period.

B. Completeness. Are all PPE transactions reflected in this period's balance?

1. Perform analytical procedures.

2. Reconcile subsidiary and general ledger.

a. Prepare Schedule of PPE assets from subsidiary ledger or client worksheets for testing. Include in work papers.

3. Analyze repairs and maintenance.

a. Evaluate debits in repairs and maintenance account to determine proper recording (capitalize perhaps?).

b. Evaluate additions to PPE to determine proper recording (non capitalizing items perhaps?).

C. Rights and Obligations. Does the client own the PPE?

1. Examine titles and lease agreements.

2. Evaluate whether leases are properly recorded as operating and/or capital leases.

3. Vouch entries in PPE with payment records to ascertain ownership.

4. Vouch entries in PPE with insurance records (payments to insurers) to ascertain ownership.

5. Vouch entries in PPE with property tax records (assessments and payments to governments) to ascertain ownership.

D. Valuation and Allocation. Are PPE assets recorded in accord with GAAP?

1. Vouch additions and disposals by examining documentation relative to authorization of purchase, recording of purchase, PPE schedules for assets.

2. Test to determine if depreciation is recorded and if a generally accepted method has been consistently applied.

E. Presentation and Disclosure. Are PPE assets properly presented and are footnote disclosures relating depreciation methods, collateralized assets, commitments of assets, lease terms adequate?

1. Read financials.

2. Examine management representation letter for information concerning PPE.

Now are you trying to tell me that your transition team did not carry out these basic test on the vehicles before accepting their documents? People like you need to stop screwing around.

And assuming without admitting that they carried out such procedures why are we here? Then again this would have been incompetence under President Mahama regime can we say same of your regime?

And if you care to know 641 vehicles were handed over to this regime by the previous regime so how could they be sold to NDC gurus like biscuits?

Are we safe with these your foolish lies? Or have you guys forgotten that we are no longer on the campaign trail where lies pay?

You are no longer in the class room where you would make weird allegations without proper scrutiny. You used to engage in beer parlour propaganda when you were in Poly and I thought you were hungry for recognition, you've now been recognized with an appointment where your table is always empty yet you get paid so why this sudden barking like a rabies-infected dog who just saw a ghost at dawn?

Is it for political expedience? Or you are currently very idle? Or have you suddenly lost your sense of judgment? Why are you engaging in no break, no job, no sense, a joro, jara, joro Zombie of the legendary Fela Kuti's song?

And to all those of your colleagues out there trying very hard to equalise this malicious lies to the gargantuan grabbing of state lands, buildings and vehicles in the erstwhile Kuffour's regime all in an attempt to shove it down our throats must get it clear; President Kuffuors regime and certainly Nana Akufo-Addo's regime was and would be the only regime that state lands, buildings and vehicles would ever be bought like biscuits. I know you would certainly acquire some in similar fashion.

Aaahhhaaaa, I understand you now have a Reverend attached to your name. Really? What are pearls to swines? Is Saul now a prophet? E ba ne sen? How come? You preach in church? And still engage in these lies? Awurade Yakubu judgment day will be so interesting.

Hmmmm our challenges are really fearsome.

Accept my letter in good faith, no hard feelings, after all I'm a citizen not a spectator.

*Assibid Dauda*

*The Binduri Youth Activist*

(054-0585599)
Residents of Bimbilla have called on the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to lift the ban on the use of motorbikes to transport more than one person.

According to the residents, the directive is negatively affecting the smooth running of businesses and movement in the community.

Last Friday, REGSEC banned the use of motorbikes in two of the regions hotspots, following a shooting incident which claimed the lives of three persons.

But residents of Bimbilla who say the motorbike serves as their means of transport are appealing to the Regional Security Council to review the ban.

One resident who spoke to Citi News said: This is a very serious issue because here, our main transportation is the motorbike. Assuming I'm carrying my father, he is old and they say I should not carry somebody if we are going to farm, how do we do it?

Another said: I have six members of staff and it is only me who goes to school on a single bike. The other people always come to school in pairs. Yesterday when I came to school, we were three and when I asked what happened, they said we should not carry people on motorbikes. The effect is that the standard of education is going to go very bad. We are already battling with it here.

Three people died in Bimbilla, with eight others injured in the attack which occurred last Thursday.

According to eyewitnesses, two persons on a motorbike allegedly shot at them and sped off.

Five persons who sustained various degrees of injury are receiving treatment at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, with three others at the Bimbilla Hospital.

The incident led to sporadic shootings in some parts of the troubled town.
About 200 protesters marched Wednesday in the Sudanese capital's twin city of Omdurman against rising food prices, with anti-riot police firing tear gas to disperse the rally.

Prices of food items but mainly bread have surged in past weeks across Sudan after a jump in the cost of flour due to a shortage of wheat supplies.

Sporadic protests have since erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, with demonstrators coming out onto the streets in their hundreds.

"No, no to hunger! No, no to high prices!" protesters shouted as they marched towards a square in central Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on the west bank of the Nile River.

Anti-riot police moved in swiftly to stop their march and fired tear gas, an AFP correspondent reported.

Authorities had poured water into the streets leading to the square in an attempt to prevent protesters from reaching the site, he said.

Wednesday's rally was called by the main opposition Umma Party, a day after a similar demonstration held near the presidential palace in Khartoum following a call issued by the Communist Party.

Tuesday's protest was also broken up by police using tear gas and beating protesters with batons.

Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service early on Wednesday arrested the Communist Party chief, Mokhtar al-Khatib, from his home, his party spokesman told AFP.

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began earlier this month.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 ($9 to $25), as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. But a student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.
17.01.2018 LISTEN

Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Obiri Boahen is calling on the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to sanction Dr Lawrence Edusei, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on the late Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, the J.B Danquah.

The former legislator was murdered at his residence at Shiashie, near East Legon, a suburb of Accra on February 9, 2016.

Dr Edusei, the pathologist whose report is to assist in investigations and the prosecution of the matter in court, claimed the autopsy report is missing and this according to the police is hampering efforts to build solid case against Daniel Asiedu and Vincent Bosso, the two suspects who were arrested in connection with the murder and standing trial at the Accra Central District Court presided by Ms. Arit Nsemoh.

In a petition filed at the Enso Nyameye Chambers, a Sunyani-based legal firm and copied to the media in Sunyani described the conduct of Dr Edusei not only as reprehensible but unacceptable as well.

Copies of the petition, which were sent to the Medical and Dental Council, and Dr Edusei, noted the trial had suffered numerous adjournments thereby, stultifying the committal proceedings all because of the conduct of Dr Edusei.

Nana Obiri Boahen said in the petition that he had been attending court proceedings and had been doing so by watching brief for the NPP, sympathizers, friends and relatives of the assassinated MP and is ever ready to appear in person to proffer much information and evidence.

It added that this petition is without prejudice to whatever decision the honorable court may take on the 18th day of January, 2018.

Richard Kofi Boahen, Sunyani
The Asokwa Juvenile Court has struck out the case involving five suspects alleged to have been involved in a gang-rape in Bantama in the Ashanti Region.

According to the state attorney in charge of the case, one of the suspects in the case is not a minor, hence the need to move the case from the juvenile court.

The suspects, who were discharged on earlier charges of conspiracy to defile and defilement, have subsequently been re-arrested for trial in a circuit court.

The Asokwa Juvenile Court presided over by His Worship Peter Oppong Boahen discharged the suspects after the state attorney told the court investigations have revealed one of the suspects is not a minor.

This revelation compelled the court to strike out the case because it has no more jurisdiction over the matter.

The suspects were quickly re-arrested and handed a new charge to be tried in an open court.

In December 2017, the suspects were arrested over a seven-member gang-rape scandal that occurred in Bantama.

The five suspects were among seven boys seen in a video forcibly having sex with a teenage girl.

Counsel for the accused persons Emmanuel Opoku still insists all his clients are juveniles since he has not received any document to the contrary.

He expressed displeasure over the decision to re-arrest his clients.

-3news
BOSCOBEL, Wis.  Theron R. Adams, 88, of Boscobel died Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, at his home. Funeral services will be held at noon Thursday, Jan. 18, at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Boscobel, with visitation 10 a.m. to time of services. Burial in Boscobel Cemetery. Kendall Funeral Service in Boscobel is assisting the family.
Eritrea's highest representative has been expelled from The Netherlands, Dutch officials announced Wednesday in an ongoing diplomatic spat over the secretive African country's practice of collecting so-called "diaspora tax" from expatriates.

"In light of the continuous intimidation and force used in the collection of diaspora tax and its resulting social and political unrest, the cabinet is forced to give the Eritrean government a powerful signal," Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra said.

Therefore the Eritrean charge d'affaires Tekeste Ghebremedhin Zemuy "has been declared persona non grata and his departure has been requested," Zijlstra said in a letter to the Dutch parliament.

The official was notified about the move on Tuesday, which Zijlstra said was a "particularly heavy measure, seldom used by the Netherlands."

The decision came after Dutch officials in December summoned the Eritrean ambassador in Brussels to protest the practice of collecting diaspora tax, levied by the Eritrean government.

"Based on these and previous discussions with the Eritrean authorities the cabinet realised that there was no understanding of the strong Dutch resistance against the way diaspora tax was being collected," Zijlstra said.

"Also, there is no attempt by the Eritrean side to compromise on the matter," the minister said.

"Therefore, the Dutch cabinet wants to make it clear that it will not accept this practice," said Zijlstra.

Zeilstra, however, added it did not mean the closure of Eritrea's embassy in The Hague, as such a move would harm bilateral relations including over migration and human rights.

Eritrean refugees make up the second-largest group of refugees taken in by the Netherlands in recent years, after Syrians.

Eritrean strongman Isaias Afwerki's regime is accused of jailing thousands of political prisoners since he came to power in 1993 in the Horn of Africa nation, one of the world's poorest countries.

The University of Tilburg said many of some 20,000 Eritreans now living in The Netherlands still feel intimidated.

A study done by the university in June last year said a mandatory two percent tax payment is enforced on members of the Eritrean expatriate community to boost empty coffers back home.

"Those who are reluctant or refuse to pay... are ostracised as pariahs and consequently intimidated and harassed," the study said.

No general elections have been held since the ex-rebel Marxist leader took power after a three-decade independence war against Ethiopia.
As the countdown continues to the grand finale of Miss Intercontinental World Pageant holding on 24th January, 2018 in Egypt, Miss Nigeria Representative, Chizoba Ejike earlier departed Nigeria today for the world contest through the Murtala Muhammed International airport, Lagos.

The pretty model and beauty queen who will be flying Nigeria's flag at the world stage is going on the bedrock of experience haven emerged top in several national pageants and as a current winner of Miss Intercontinental Nigeria. Chizoba will be involved in the pre-event activities with other 71 contestants across different countries in preparation for the 46th anniversary of the Miss Intercontinental pageant taking centre stage at the SUNRISE GRAND SELECT CRYSTAL BAY RESORT in Hurghada, Egypt.

Her Majesty, Chizoba Ejike is already attracting support across the Nigeria and Egypt as she arrives Cairo few minutes ago. She is expected to put up an impressive performance to attract national honour and international recognition irrespective of the initial challenges and delay. 
Dr. Chris Kwakpovwe, a pharmacist turned-clergyman who has gained international fame for his best seller, Our Daily Manna, a faith devotional accessed daily by millions of people across the world has started the New Year with a determination to accomplish two principal things.

Announcing his resolutions at different times at a recent service at the Manna Prayer Mountain both at Ogudu Ori-Oke and Lekki in Lagos, he promised to be a better father to his children and husband to his wife. Others who are to benefit from his improved outlook include staff of ODM. Another area of the clerics life which he seeks to mend is his physique.

Weighing about 95kg and a little under six-feet, Kwakpovwe told the congregation that he is going to take more time to keep fit. My target is to run 50000 kilometres this year. Last year, I ran 40000 kilometres. I have set that target for myself, in order to improve on my physical attributes. Many men of God did not make it to 60 years because they give all their time to the spiritual. The truth is that you need to keep your body fit, in order to carry out the various spiritual assignments, otherwise, it will take a toll on your health. He said that this routine physical exercise will be reinforced with rounds of swimming. I sit for long hours to write ODM every day. Sometimes, I have pains in my lower back. I swim to get rid of the pain. My target is to swim 10 kilometres this year.

Having faced several challenges in his ministry in the course of last year, it was looking like the vicissitudes of life were going to take a huge toll on him, but the Man of God is a graduate of the school of hard knocks. He frequently tells his congregation that an established pattern in his life follows a route where a traumatic storm that threatens to blow him to pieces comes ahead of a big break. The often quoted example was at the beginning of his ministry when things where so tough, he woke up one morning and decided to take his life and that was when God gave him the vision of writing a daily devotional.

The intensity with which he delivers the teachings in Our Daily Manna has forced Kwakpovwe into a tasking schedule. Unlike many preachers whose books are extracted from a compilation of their sermons, he continues to write distinct articles on a daily basis. This informs the fresh perspective of the issues discussed in ODM. Although, many ghost-writers have approached him, ostensibly to relieve him of the daunting obligation of writing the daily devotional, Bishop Chris says God has not given him the green light to abdicate that duty. So; he continues to write every day! Apart from ODM, he has written over 70 other titles!

Arguably one of the most prolific writers in the clergy, the sacrosanctity of his themes and the manner he draws from daily occurrences and history that his readers around the world can easily relate to buttress his arguments makes Our Daily Manna everyones personal experience. There is a hardly a reader who cannot find a narrative that reflects an aspect of his life. This ability to keep it real without pretense and always presenting himself as a forgiven man who is enjoying the mercy of God, have drawn many to him. He told his congregation who were listening intently, I am not better than you. That is why I exhort you to depend on God and His awesomeness. I am not the one doing any of these things. All the glory for the diverse testimonies and miracle of healings that you hear and see around me should go to God. God is the miracle worker. God is the healer. I am as surprised as you are at all these things that are happening. I am nobody. There is no sophistication about me. My name is even difficult to pronounce. I come from a very remote village in Urhoboland in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. My village is not even on the map.

Kwakpovwe is a veteran of facing wicked and wild winds of contrived rumours and riding through the turbulence to unbelievable triumphs. He acknowledges that only God could have helped him overcome. He is a firm believer in the Biblical axiom that a righteous man can rise again from his fall as many times. His expectation, which is, mainly informed by experience of the past gives him the assurance that as long as he places his trust in God, he will emerge from the tribulations stronger and wiser.

Meanwhile, the Manna Prayer Mountain, an interdenominational ministry, alongside users of ODM worldwide, which he heads are on a 21-day fast which will culminate with an all-night session of worship, praise and prayers at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on Friday, January 26. This year, the theme is Change of Garment Night.

Looking ahead into the New Year, he issued a message of hope. With faith in God, every opposition bows to your destiny. However, you must realise that: It takes joy (gladness of heart) to connect with heavens divine plan for your life and ministry. Determine that nothing will steal your joy again! Pray very hard. Forgive everyone who hurts you. Read your bible and tell other people about the wonderful love of God. Then surely, every garment that is not meant for you will be torn and you will be decorated with a new garment of promotion and favour.
Its a New Year and Nollywood actress, Uche Ogbodo, is not ready to allow her body adapt to all the festive food she has consumed as she has returned to the gym.

The actress is not joking when she sets her mind to achieve a strong aim and when it comes to her body, she is not toiling with it.

Ensuring that she remains sexy with no traces of big tummy and being over-weighed, she recently hit the gym to get that sexy body that will always create attention whenever she steps into any gathering.

Sometimes, its not all about sexiness but ability to stay fit which medically it is recommended considering the kind of stress celebrities and Nigerians go through daily.
Akwa Ibom State born Model and former Queen of the City and Globacom Campus Ambassador of University of Uyo has made it to the cover of the book Just a Girls Story in an adorable way.

The book which was authored by Chinedu Hardy Nwadike, an Imo State born blogger and writer was recently released on amazon.com with Hardy taking time to acknowledge those who contributed to the success of the book.

Just a Girls Story which is Chinedu Hardy Nwadikes third book after Chronicles of Age and Montmera, is about three friends who played the wrong cards in the campus; losing out in their post-campus lives because of their wrong choices and Hardy said its a great lesson for young girls, mothers and everyone.

It is Just a Girls Story and men played a little role in it. Its about what women do to women and the need for women to first of all expunge self-inflicted stigmas before fighting for others caused by men

It is a fine stories, with pieces of reality weaved on fiction, it is touching and in most cases, shows a piece of every female who reads it, Hardy said.

On going for Aniema Orok on the cover page, he said; Should we have used Beyonce or one American top model? Aniema is my friend and one successful young model, having achieved tremendous feats within a short time. I was excited to use her photo when I saw one that was perfect for what I wanted on the cover. I really appreciate her agreeing to be part of this book

Aniema Orok is a Rhodies World Super top Model; Winner, Queen of the city; Akwa Ibom Anniversary Queen Ambassador; Globacom Campus Ambassador of University of Uyo; Miss Ibeno 1st Runner up and Best commercial Face Otis Model Academy

The book Just a Girls Story is out on Amazon on both paper back and kindle editions.

See details here

https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Story-Chinedu-Hardy-Nwadike/dp/1983780189/ref=la_B07913S8GQ_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516099772&sr=1-2
The Magical Unicorn Project officially launched today in a bid to help women empower, not just in the mortgage industry, but in society at large.Started by Kyra Wong, a district vice president at Manulife, the Magical Unicorn Project endeavours to assist women overcome adversity and what she calls an emotional glass ceiling, or a self-limiting belief system. Moreover, Magical Unicorn shines a bright light on men who do their part to change social attitudes and help women unlock their full potential.However, as Wong tells it, adversity is the single largest obstacle in the way of more women and greatness. She overcame it, and believes other women can, too.Ive had significant adversity in my life, Wong told Mortgagebrokernews.ca. I lost my parents at a young age and grew up with pretty much no support system, aside from one younger sister I had in my life. So I really had to navigate all of lifes challenges by myself and had a number of setbacks along the way, but I always chose to accept adversity and use it as an opportunity to advance, and grow, and become better, so when I speak about these things, they come from a place of experience.Wong has received nothing but positive feedback from within and without the mortgage industry, which she says will feature prominently in Unicorn activities.One of them will be an interview series with three categoriesleading ladies, go givers, and supporting menfeaturing inspiring stories from an array of guest speakers, like CEOs, politicians and chief economists.Magical Unicorn adherents are encouraged to live a life of S.P.A.R.K.L.E.,speak, positivity, adversity, rise, kudos, love, expressa concept inspired by Robin Sharma and Darren Hardy. Not limited to women, theres also a component of the Magical Unicorn Project to help children actualize their ambitions.I hope that more people are living with higher consciousness and awareness, and that there will be more women empowering women and that there will be more men helping empower women, she said. Im encouraging everyone to live a life of S.P.A.R.K.L.E., which is the acronym within the project that describes an approach to living life that will ultimately help create a joyful, happy and successful life.Pointing to both leading women and supportive men in the industry, Wong is raring to go.
Amazon has begun mass layoffs in its corporate ranks, becoming the latest tech company to trim its workforce amid rising fears about the wider economic environment. On Tuesday, the company notified regional authorities in California that it would lay off about 260 workers at various facilities that employ data scientists, software engineers and other corporate workers. The company would not specify how many more layoffs may be in the works beyond the ones confirmed through the filing in California. Some corporate employees in Seattle, Washington said on LinkedIn on Tuesday they were let go, too. In an announcement posted on its website Wednesday, Amazon said impacted employees were notified on Tuesday.
Quicken Loans may be nipping at its heels, but Wells Fargo isnt ceding its spot atop the mortgage-lending heap without a fight.The banking giant intends to hold onto its position as the biggest fish in the $1.7 trillion US mortgage pond, even as it projects shrinking profit margins on home loans this year, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry told Bloomberg in a recent interview.We want to be number one, regardless of who were competing with, because thats the position we hold and were enthusiastic about it, Shewsberry told Bloomberg.Banks like have dominated the mortgage market since the financial crisis. However, over the last few years theyve been grudgingly giving ground back to nonbank lenders. At the same time, Quicken Loans has utilized its online Rocket Mortgage platform and other technology to outperform practically every other US mortgage provider, Bloomberg reported. For Quicken, only one giant remains to be slain: Wells Fargo.And Quicken seems confident that it will do just that. Last month, Chairman Dan Gilbert told Bloomberg that Quicken would soon overtake the banking behemoth.Well be the largest retail market share lender within a short period of time, Gilbert said.The mortgage company still has quite a gap to bridge, though. In the year ending Sept. 30, Quicken Loans originated about $88 billion in home loans, according to Bloomberg. Wells Fargos retail originations for the same period totaled $107 billion. And when mortgages done through correspondent lenders are included in the total, Wells Fargos originations for the year shoot up to $231 billion.
Oil reached new highs in London as OPEC members called for output curbs to continue, allaying concerns that the recent rally could weaken their commitment.

Brent crude closed above $70 a barrel for the first time in three years after Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said Saturday that production curbs have contributed to stability in the market and should remain, echoing comments from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The global benchmark had only briefly breached the key level last week.

The comments came as Citigroup, Societe Generale SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co. predict the coalition of oil producers could begin winding down their intervention from the middle of the year, before its scheduled conclusion in December.

The call to maintain cuts by Iraq "is another sign that the market is going to go up," Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, said by telephone. "We are seeing supply, globally, really start to tighten."

Oil is extending a two-year rebound as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies reduce supply to drain a global glut. Though they've said their historic deal will run until the end of this year, OPEC is "very likely to cut short" the pact if markets become balanced, JP Morgan Securities said in a report.

Brent for March settlement rose 39 cents to $70.26 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, the highest close since December 2014. Prices climbed 3.3 percent last week. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.40 to March WTI.

West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 51 cents to $64.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was about 51 percent below the 100-day average. There was no settlement Monday because of the Martin Luther King holiday in the U.S., and all transactions will be booked Tuesday.

The U.A.E. sees no big changes in OPEC policy as a result of short-term price fluctuations, Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said in Abu Dhabi. Qatari Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada told the official Qatar News Agency that the group should only review its supply accord once crude stockpiles return to their five-year historical average.

Oil-market news:

- Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised its 2018 Brent forecast to $64 a barrel from $56. The market is tightening faster than expected because of "improving cyclical conditions," cold winter weather and strong OPEC compliance, the bank said.

- U.S. drillers added 10 rigs to fields last week, the most in more than six months, according to data from Baker Hughes Friday.

- OPEC holds enough spare output capacity to push the global market from deficit to surplus this year, but there's low probability of it coming into play given the continued commitment to the supply-cuts deal, BMI Research said Jan. 12.
We observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday as a federally recognized holiday, but we may take for granted how this day came about. Not long after Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, a campaign was initiated to honor his life and legacy of civil activism. A day was proposed to remember his opposition to discriminatory practices of state and federal laws and his pursuit of a more equitable system of governance. The road toward passage of this law would be a lengthy journey and was a true testament to the struggle of Kings efforts.

For years, members of Congress argued over whether to create a day honoring King. Many argued that creating another paid federal holiday would be too expensive or that because King had never served in public office, Congress shouldnt honor a private citizen. Those in support of a day of commemoration pushed back to acknowledge a community leaders message of nonviolent change and to continue the effort that King had died for. This clearly showed that a divide still existed in America, and it would take time and consideration to attempt any reconciliation.
Economic hardship not the outcome of ...
DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a rather healthy 35-year-old female. I drink a lot of water daily  approximately 5-6 liters, just because I feel the need to. My doctor does not seem concerned, as she says it may be normal for my body. I've been drinking these amounts for five to six years (I think it started during pregnancy). My family is concerned, as they say it is too much for the kidneys. I would truly appreciate your opinion. Also, I do not know whether any of this may be relevant, but I am not diabetic (but I am insulin-resistant); I do not use any medication; I am a smoker; I have gastritis; and I am slightly overweight.

ANSWER: Five liters a day is more than most people need. However, it is well within the ability of the normal kidneys to handle, assuming you are getting enough of the electrolytes and minerals the body requires.

People taking diuretics, which affect the kidney's ability to regulate salt, can develop dangerously low sodium levels with excess water intake.

DEAR DR. ROACH: In 2010, my husband had an abdominal/pelvic CT scan (for an unrelated reason), and they found a 14-mm mass in his lower right kidney. In 2017, a repeat scan showed that the mass was much larger, and he had the kidney removed. The pathology showed a 48-by-40-mm papillary kidney cancer, type 1. We were told that removing the kidney would be curative, and no other testing (scans) have been ordered. We have not been told of specific type or staging. I had breast cancer in the past (mastectomy and radiation) so am familiar with the process. Is renal cancer different? We just feel out of the loop and that we should have more information on this cancer. He has lost a lot of weight.  K.K.

ANSWER: Several kinds of cancers start in the kidney, but papillary kidney cell cancer is a less common type. Fortunately for you and your husband, type 1 generally are not as aggressive, and people with this kind of kidney cancer have a better prognosis than people with other types. It is completely obvious, at least in hindsight, that the 14-mm mass should not have gone so long without a follow-up.

Around the time of diagnosis, an evaluation is undertaken to look for evidence of spread, including a CT scan of the lungs. Kidney cancer also can go to the bone, so if he had any bone pain or elevated blood tests showing bone damage (called alkaline phosphatase), most experts would recommend a bone scan as well. If there is no spread, the five-year survival in people with this type of cancer is greater than 90 percent. No chemotherapy is indicated if there is no evidence of spread. I would recommend a visit with a medical oncologist, just to make sure his workup is complete.

The weight loss is concerning. It may indeed have been the tumor; cancers can make substances that cause people to lose weight. However, I personally wouldn't stop looking, especially if the weight loss continues.

DR. ROACH WRITES: A recent column on multiple myeloma noted that myeloma is uncommon in younger people. About 3.5 percent of myeloma cases occur in people under 45; however, that is still a lot of cases, and many physicians are unaware that this cancer can occur in young people. You can learn more about this cancer at myeloma.org.

READERS: The booklet on restless leg syndrome and nighttime cramps offers more tips. Readers can obtain a copy by writing:

Dr. Roach

Book No. 306

628 Virginia Dr.

Orlando, FL 32803

Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Can. with the recipient's printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or request an order form of available health newsletters at 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803. Health newsletters may be ordered from www.rbmamall.com.
Authorities are looking for a La Crosse sex offender who removed his monitoring bracelet.

Casey Thibodeaux, 37, was last seen about 6:30 p.m. Friday, when he cut off his Department of Corrections GPS bracelet at a Kwik Trip in La Crescent, Minn., according to the Wisconsin Crime Alert Network.

Thibodeaux, who is on parole for a first-degree sexual assault conviction, is wanted on a warrant. He may be driving a brown Ford Fusion and may be in the Kenosha or South Milwaukee areas.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Department of Corrections or the Vernon County Sheriffs Office at 608-637-2123.
Mi-Wuk Village, CA  After inquires by Clarke Broadcasting, Tuolumne County Sheriffs Officials confirm that they are investigating an attempted child abduction incident involving a Twain Harte Elementary School 7th grader this morning.

The male student was approached by a man, while heading to his bus stop before school,on Conte Court in Mi-Wuk Village. Lt. Jarrod Pippin reports, Our office was contacted by the superintendent of schools up in Twain Harte where a student was approached by a white male in a white panel van but we dont have a make or a model on the vehicle. He went on to detail, The subject in the van asked the student if he could help him with something in the back of the van, which prompted the student to run from the area. The student ran and hid in the woods before reporting the incident to school officials.

Lt. Pippin indicates that deputies responded to the area but were unable to find the man or van he was driving. He describes the man as a white male adult, tall with a thin build. He was dressed all in black with a hoodie covering his mouth or possibly a scarf.

We are working with the school to come up with anything if we can, states Lt. Pippin, adding, Right now we believe it is an isolated incident as we havent had any other reports into our office.

Students and parents are encouraged to keep an eye out at bus stops for any suspicious subjects or vehicles and report them to the bus driver or law enforcement immediately.
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UTSA is delaying opening its campuses until noon on Wednesday while several San Antonio school districts said they planned to operate as normal.

Northside ISD, Northeast, SAISD, SISD, Alamo Heights, Fort Sam Houston ISD and Edgewood said they would operate on normal schedules Wednesday.

Several districts said they were monitoring weather conditions and any changes would be announced Wednesday morning.

Now Playing: Weather Video Video: San Antonio Express-News

UTSA's announcement was made via Twitter and the school website. Classes are expected to resume at that time, but the university advised students to "use caution" and check back for updates.

University of The Incarnate Word also plans to delay opening until noon Wednesday.

Bandera ISD announced a two-hour delay.

RELATED: San Antonio to remain icy Wednesday before seeing temperatures in the 70s this weekend, NWS says

Wintry precipitation should move East of San Antonio mid-afternoon Tuesday, Brett Williams, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, told mySA.com.

But with temperatures staying below freezing into Wednesday, roads will likely remain slick.

Texas A&M University-San Antonio said it would resume a normal schedule, though the OLLU satellite campuses in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley would remain closed.

The City of San Antonio said its offices and facilities were to reopen at 10 a.m. Bexar County offices and courts planned to open at regular times.

SAWS has announced it will open offices and customer centers at 10 a.m.

No other colleges or school districts have announced their Wednesday plans.

Incarnate Word High School: Opening noon Wednesday

St Anthony Catholic High School: Opening noon Wednesday

Our Lady of the Lake: Opening noon Wednesday

Trinity University: Opening at 11 a.m. Wednesday

Boerne ISD: Opening two hours late Wednesday

Saint Mary's: Opening at 11 a.m. Wednesday

Comal ISD: Opening two hours late

Check back to mySA.com throughout the day for updates on how the winter storm is affecting San Antonio.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye
For the first 10 years Miriam D. Mann worked at NASAs predecessor, she was legally prohibited from working alongside her white co-workers, according to her granddaughter, Duchess Harris.

A Twin Cities-based author and professor, Harris shared the story Tuesday of her grandmother, who was one of the first African-American women to work at NASA. She was joined at the Martin Luther King Day event for about 800 La Crosse area middle-schoolers by University of Wisconsin-La Crosse associate professor of physics Taviare Hawkins, the 50th African-American woman to ever receive a doctorate in physics, and senior Adrienne Hester, who will be the first black woman to receive a degree in physics from UW-L when she graduates next year.

Harris was invited to speak about her book, Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA, by La Crosses community committee to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. The book tells the story not just of Mann, but also of the women who worked beside her checking calculations that sent men into space. Mann started working for NASA in 1943, back when it was known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

This is not a civil rights era story, but it is a World War II story, Harris said.

Mann went to college and studied chemistry, intending to be a teacher, but ended up moving to Virginia where her husband, Bill Mann, got a job as a professor at then-Hampton Institute. When Mann got a job as a human computer at the nearby NACA campus in Hampton, Va., she was lauded as a leader for women in engineering.

That was actually hopeful. These women dont ever become engineers, Harris said.

However, Mann worked with Mary Jackson, who successfully petitioned to get enough education to become an engineer and gained the distinction in 1958. Harris mother, Miriam Mann Harris, had her high school graduation party at Jacksons home.

My mom has a pretty funny story about that where she says they were so loud and rowdy they were asked to leave. My mom wouldnt admit to that until I had my own teenagers, Harris said.

Harris told the students about her grandmothers working conditions, which included being paid significantly less than white co-workers and dealing with the effects of segregation, which prohibited them from working alongside the rest of NASAs employees, eating in the same cafeteria or using the same restrooms.

They are hidden over there because it is actually, technically still illegal for them to be in that space, Harris said. NACA wanted their knowledge, wanted their brain-power, but didnt want anyone to see them.

The story of the human computers was portrayed in the 2016 movie Hidden Figures starring Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and Taraji P. Henson. Harris praised the movie, but said there are some things movie-goers dont learn, such as the large number of African-Americans who were critical of the space race and NASA, arguing that the money spent to beat the Soviet Union to the moon would be better spent at home, improving the lives of those living in impoverished black neighborhoods.

To NASAs credit, it took the criticism well, she said, hiring Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame to improve their outreach efforts to people of color.

While the event mainly featured trailblazers of previous generations, the speakers took the time to look to the future.

Hawkins and Hester took the opportunity to encourage the students, particularly African-American girls, to get involved in STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

As a woman of color, I sometimes felt like I didnt belong, and that is not the case. If you love something and are passionate about something, work hard for it and you will fit in, Hester said.

She shared stories of what first drew her to STEM, from examining bugs under a microscope as a kid to learning hands-on physics in her Lakeville, Minn., high school.

We did experiments in class; we had catapults. We didnt break any windows unfortunately, but maybe that was for next years class, Hester said.

She acknowledged that physics can be intimidating, but reassured the students that its can be a fun and rewarding discipline.

It is kind of difficult, but you can do it. Just because something is hard doesnt mean youre not able to do it, Hester said.

Hawkins shared the name of the first African-American woman to receive a physics doctorate, Willie Hobbs Moore, and talked about her experience being the first African-American woman to receive degrees in physics at both University of Iowa, where she received her bachelors degree, and Syracuse University in New York, where she received her masters and doctorate.

I tell you this to let you know that there are fewer than 100 African-American women with PhDs in physics. Talk about firsts, right? Hawkins said.

Im looking out at you guys, and I know I wont be the last, she told the crowd.

The speakers really appreciated the enthusiasm of their audience.

I love young people, so it was great, Harris said. The energy was fantastic.

Middle-schoolers are at a developmental sweet-spot, because they havent yet become cynical.

They are still so optimistic. They arent jaded yet. They are open to learning new things, Harris said.

While young, they demonstrated emotional maturity in their questions at the end of the discussion, asking the three speakers whether they still dealt with barriers in the workplace and whats the hardest part of being a woman of color in the STEM and academic fields.

Hawkins admitted there have been times when she felt judged by her skin color and her gender, but not since joining UW-Ls physics department, where she works alongside four women physicists.

Im no longer the only one. Its different.  Times are changing, and thats really nice, Hawkins said.
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will today visit Mozambique where he is expected to meet his counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi and Zimbabweans resident in that country. The President has embarked on a regional tour to apprise fellow Sadc leaders on political developments in Zimbabwe following the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe on November 21 last year.

Cde Mnangagwa has already visited South Africa where he met President Jacob Zuma, who is the chairperson of Sadc. Last Friday the President visited Angola and met his counterpart Cde Jao Manuel Goncalves Laurenco who chairs the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation before visiting Namibia on Monday where he met President Hage Geingob.

He is also scheduled to visit Zambia this Friday where he will meet President Edgar Lungu.

Cde Mnangagwas ascension to the Presidency has received widespread local, regional and international endorsement with higher expectations that the new political dispensation would deliver robust economic development and reposition Zimbabwe on the international scene. Since his takeover Cde Mnangagwa has been preaching peace, unity and his main focus is on economic turnaround. His Government has clearly articulated its keen desire to normalise relations with the international community for increased investment and also wants to rope in the Diaspora to participate in national development as Zimbabwe is now open for business.

President Nyusi, the fourth president of Mozambique since independence, attended Cde Mnangagwas inauguration on November 24 last year where he said Mozambique stood with Zimbabwe in its transition. Zimbabwe and Mozambique enjoy cordial relations dating back to the liberation struggle when Mozambique provided training and refugee camps for Zimbabwean guerillas.

 Herald

Breaking News via Email
A Grade 8 student has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing to death a Zimbabwean teacher he accused of failing him.

The 15-year-old allegedly went to the teachers home in the early hours of Saturday and started breaking all the windows with stones.

When Kingston Vhiya, a teacher at Bosele Middle School in Manyeding Village near Kuruman, Northern Cape, went outside, the boy is alleged to have hit him with a stone on the chest before stabbing him to death.

A friend who had been with the murdered 42-year-old teacher at the time of the incident said Vhiya had been stabbed after stepping out of the house to try talk to the boy.

The boy started by throwing stones, breaking windows of the house. He accused Kingston of failing him at school. Kingston told him that he could not blame him for failing and that he should speak to individual subject teachers.

The boy had broken the windows and was able to pull out Kingstons phone, which was on the charger, through one of them (windows). Kingston then opened the door but was hit by a stone on his chest, Zeky Mangei said.

He said he had tried to stop his friend from going out because he feared that the pupil might not have come alone.

Vhiya, from Masvingo in Zimbabwe, started teaching at the school last year.

Kingston convinced me that they would just talk, to stop the boy from causing more damage to the house. When Kingston opened the door again and stepped outside, the boy repeatedly apologised for his behaviour, saying he was under the influence of drugs.

The boy said he would come with his parents and they would fix the windows.

The situation seemed calm and I went back inside the house. A few minutes later, I heard Kingston cry out loud. He said he had been stabbed. I rushed out and found him rolling on the ground.

It was unbelievable, Mangei said, adding that the pupil also charged at him with the knife and stones, and then ran off.

They loaded Vhiya in a car and rushed him to Kuruman Hospital.

On our way there, Kingston kept saying that I should pray for him. I had hope that he would pull through. When nurses told us that he had passed away at about 4.30am, I could not believe it.

My friend was a humble person and he loved teaching, Mangei said.

Northern Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Dimakatso Mooi confirmed the incident, saying Vhiya had been stabbed with a sharp object.

She said the pupil was expected to appear in the Mothibistad magistrates court today on a charge of murder.

Mooi said investigations were continuing.

Northern Cape education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.

Vhiyas sister, Mpho Mthetha, said the family was devastated. She said his brother had been living in South Africa since 2008.

I last spoke to Kingston on Monday Im so sad. He was not fighting with anyone but he was killed.

It will cost us between R30 000 to R50 000 for the repatriation of Kingstons body to Zimbabwe. We do not have that kind of money, Mthethwa said, adding that Vhiya had not been married and had no children.

It is better that the boy has been arrested. He must face the consequences, Mthethwa said.

This is not the first incident in which a teacher was killed or was assaulted. In March last year, Priscilla Mncunu, 54, the deputy principal of Laduma High School in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, was gunned down in front of Grade 12 pupils.

In August, Kate Chiloane was shot and killed by her husband in front of pupils at Sediba-Sa-Thuto Primary School in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.

In October, a Randfontein pupil was suspended after he allegedly assaulted a teacher with a brick.

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By Louis Ferleger, Professor of History, Boston University and Matthew Lavallee, Graduate Student, Boston University. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website

Behind towering figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. were the taxi dispatchers, pharmacists, grocers, and other small business owners who were instrumental in making civil rights a reality.

News that Montgomery police had arrested Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus spread quickly. Within twenty-four hours, leaders of the citys black community called a meeting to propose a bus boycott. The next evening, leaders in the African American community gathered in Martin Luther King, Jr.s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The leaders included small business owners, lawyers, clergy, teachers, postal workers and union leaders. Though all agreed on the necessity of a boycott, alternate transportation lingered as the final question of the meeting. The citys relatively large network of black-owned taxi companies  eighteen companies operating approximately 210 cabs  provided the first solution. Each small taxi business eagerly offered its assistance, lowering its fares so that passengers paid the same as they would to ride the bus, lending critical tactical support to the early days of the boycott.[1]

But when city authorities learned that this network of small black-owned businesses was providing critical organizational support to the protest, the police began enforcing a minimum fare law, prohibiting the cabs from offering the same low fare as the busses. But this did not hinder the boycott in the way that white city leaders hoped because a volunteer carpool replaced the cheap taxi service. And with this solution, too, the assistance of the organizational network of small businesses proved vital. Black pharmacist Richard Harris worked tirelessly to orchestrate the carpool and offered his drugstore as a makeshift dispatch hub. Although city authorities prohibited one sector of small businesses from supporting the protest, another black-owned business filled the taxi companies void.[2]

The story of the Montgomery bus boycott usually focuses on two key figures: Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. But without the development of car pools and the support of small businesses, the boycott could not have succeeded. These stories demonstrate that the support of small black-owned businesses helped the civil rights movement to succeed in a variety of ways. King, for example, traveled widely during the civil rights movement. One magazine estimated that King travelled nearly 780,000 miles per year in the late 1950s as he preached against segregation.[3] Such wide travel would have necessitated considerable material support. Local businesses played a key role.

In Mississippi, black business owners were also on the front lines, enduring pressure from the white community. In addition to preaching at four different congregations, Reverend George Lee ran a prosperous printing business and a grocery store, positioning him as a prominent leader in Belzoni, Mississippis black community.[4] He was the first African American in Humphreys County to get his name on the voting list and organized the Belzoni, Mississippi branch of the NAACP in 1953 along with his friend Gus Courts, another grocery store owner. Lee and Courts registered hundreds of black voters in a county where no black person had voted since Reconstruction. In 1955, after regularly receiving telephone threats that said, Youre number one on a list of people we dont need around here anymore, Lee was shot and killed while returning from picking up his preaching suit at the dry cleaners.[5] The investigating sheriff dismissed the death as merely an automobile accident and said the lead pellets lodged in what remained of his jaw were just dental fillings. Gus Courts then endured threats that wholesalers would not deliver goods to his grocery store and a local bank refused to do business with him unless he handed over NAACP records.[6] But this did not deter Courts. Despite threats that he would face a similar fate as Lee, he continued to push for voter registration. In response, white-owned gas stations stopped selling gasoline to him. Recognizing the power of black-owned enterprise, Courts started pooling money within the black community so that it could purchase its own gas station. After refusing to remove his name from the voter registration list, Courts was shot twice while standing inside his store, but survived.[7]

Black small business-owner George Washington refused to stop supporting the civil rights movement, leading a local oil supplier to remove the pumps at his gasoline station and distributors to refuse to deliver groceries to his store. In retaliation, his property was bombed and police arrested Washington for failing to report the bombing.[8] As in other states, Mississippis black community developed effective measures to counter such economic pressure thanks to the power of black-owned enterprise. In response to the economic reprisals conducted by the Citizens Councils, the national office of the NAACP established a war chest at the black-owned Tri-State Bank of Memphis. These funds could be lent to Mississippi activists to help evade the possibility of losing their homes, farms, or businesses.[9]

Amzie Moore, a World War II veteran, owned a gas station in Mississippi. He also endured frequent threats and a reporter in 1964 noted that Moore would receive three calls threatening his life in an evening.[11] Moore developed a relationship with Bob Moses when Moses was recruiting SNCC volunteers from Mississippi. But Moore flipped the recruitment drive on its head. Moore felt that, while it was fine for SNCC to recruit young people from Mississippi as it was doing, it would be even better if SNCC sent students into Mississippi to register voters.[12] Moores position in the community as the owner of a gas station also enabled him to assist with logistics, such as transportation for the volunteers. Moore even presented his proposal for SNCC students to assist voter registration to the SNCC conference and hosted meetings of leaders of the voter registration drive at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi.[13]

Histories of the civil rights movement that emphasize the glory and successes of charismatic leaders only tell part of the story. Small black-owned businesses were critical because they were empowered to engage in civic participation. These businesses were uniquely situated to support the civil rights movement and also parted the waters.

Footnotes

[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), 46-52; Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), 133.

[2] Branch, Parting the Waters, 145; King, Stride Toward Freedom, 75-79.

[3] Taylor Branch, The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013), 14.

[4] Payne, Ive Got the Light of Freedom, 36.

[5] Ibid., 37.

[6] Andrews, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, 94; Payne, Ive Got the Light of Freedom, 36.

[7] Payne, Ive Got the Light of Freedom, 38-9.

[8] Ibid., 94-5.

[9] Payne, Ive Got the Light of Freedom, 46.

[10] Payne, Ive Got the Light of Freedom, 44.

[11] Ibid., 45.

[12] Branch, Parting the Waters, 330.

[13] Ibid., 345, 486.
Last week, California State Treasurer John Chiang, who sits on the CalPERS board, spoke to the Culver City Democrats Club. Chiang is running for Governor. The session was recorded and I am told the video will be posted.

During the Q&A section, someone who reads Naked Capitalism asked about CalPERS plans to outsource its private equity program (for details, see our recent post: CalPERS Launches Illegal, Corrupt, Unjustified and Beneficiary-Damaging Private Equity Strategic Partner Search Obviously Designed to Favor BlackRock):

How can CALPERS justify handing over as much as $26 billion to a costly private equity middleman and hand the business to one firm  BlackRock? Why is it being done in the first place? Other big public pension funds are going in the opposite direction  of doing more in house to reduce fees, not increase them.

Chiangs response:

There are a few that are going in-house My office looked at it. We put together, I wouldnt call it quite a white paper but as we started a few years ago some of us were very interested in a Canadian model where in the Canadian model, the private equity model, did very well except once we looked at where they were making money, they were making money on oil companies in Canada. Part of our challenge is, weve been trying to figure out how do we replicate a private equity performance and expertise and bring it in-house. And there is interest but to cover all the territory that the private equity companies [unintelligible few words] would be quite expensive. But we are looking into that, trying to reduce the fees and bring those services [unitelligible few words]

We got in contact with the person who grilled Chiang, who was willing to provide more detail via e-mail:

I said, off mike, at the end, Im not the only one who reads Naked Capitalism. In other words, your garbage answer is not going to get you that far in circles more sophisticated than the Culver City Dem Club. At the very end, I went over to him again when people were just chatting him up. I said, this is going to be a problem for you. Your competitors obviously know this and I suspect it will come up at some point. He said, well, Newsom hasnt said anything about it. I said: oh, come on  this could come out a month before the primary. You need to get it together. You need to fix this and get a better story or this is going to be really bad for you. Yves is not going to stop writing about this. He said: well, shes just wrong I just said, Oh, please. Good luck. And left. Also, somewhere in there I said, you watered down that assembly bill [on private equity transparency]. And he whined, I had no support.

Notice what is going on here. Chiang could have chosen to duck this line of questioning truthfully by saying something like, We are just getting more information about options, no decision has been made. He is instead aggressively defending what is going on even as highly regarded, mainstream publications like Private Equity International have raised eyebrows about CalPERS rushed and inexplicably narrow solicitation process. 1

Even worse, the defense is flat out false. Chiang flatly misrepresented what is happening. CalPERS is not planning to bring more private equity in house or taking steps to reduce fees.

The Request for Information that we posted last week is crystal clear on what is being set in motion: CalPERS is looking to give investment discretion, as in control over the money, to an external manager who will then pick private equity funds and/or co-investing. The proposal also amusingly makes clear that the hired gun is to go to lengths to present the sham that this is a CalPERS program, as opposed to XYZ Fund Manager Scheme. Specifically:

It is important to note that with this strategic partnership initiative (Strategic Partnership or Partner) CalPERS does not intend to create a standard Fund of Fund relationship or consider this to be an outsourcing of responsibility. Instead, CalPERS desires to create a collaborative partnership where the Partner has investment discretion, but works with CalPERS PE Staff in the development of an annual allocation plan that CalPERS will approve. The Partner is expected to act as an extension of CalPERS Staff and continuously dialogue with CalPERS PE Staff on the management of the Portfolio. CalPERS is open to any legal structure that will help it achieve these goals.

If Chiang really does not understand what a sham this is, he doesnt deserve to be Treasurer, much the less Governor. All that counts in that paragraph is that the partner will have investment discretion. The fact that it has to talk to CalPERS a bit more than in the typical fund of fund arrangement is optics.

This bears no resemblance to the so-called Canadian model in which seven Canadian pension funds have been doing more private equity in house. The only way that can be construed to be happening, as one wag said, is CalPERS would be getting a Canadian, in the form of its head of private equity, Mark Wiseman, if CalPERS were to go with BlackRock, which certainly appears to be the plan.

And as weve also written, the idea that this will lower fees is false. It will increase them, on the order of at least $50 million per year of base fees if CalPERS were to outsource its entire portfolio. And thats before you get to the fact that an outside manager will typically take 10% of the profits, which will cut further into CalPERS returns.

But observe further: Chiang is not only abjectly misrepresenting what is going on, he is also presenting himself as being the moving force behind it. Now why might that be?

Chiang is taking a pro-private equity position (have CalPERS pay more fees) amid his gubernatorial bid. Private equity in general is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, donor group. And even though fund managers are supposedly prohibited from giving money to the campaigns of public pension funds trustees, there are well-established ways of circumventing the rules: have the donation made by the an in-law or wife of a financial firm executive (even better under her maiden name) or the executives of a private equity portfolio company. These routes are so well known that in major US cities, the big consultants can look through donor lists and identify how they are connected to the almost certain actual source of the funds.

The potential upside to Chiangs fundraising would also explain another feature of this partner search that weve found difficult to explain: that false urgency. When CalPERS first presented this idea to the board, it made it sound as if it was proceeding in a very deliberate manner, with the next step being that the board would be briefed on possible legal structures in six months. The sudden change to a rushed process that looks designed to favor one party is consistent with needing to show sufficient progress before election time.

Californians who view Chiang as a bona fide progressive may take umbrage at this line of inquiry. However, if you care about a candidates policy positions, the most reliable guide is his past actions. Chiang supporters need to look hard at what he has done at CalPERS. Just because you dont like Gavin Newsome does not mean that Chiang should get a free pass.

______

1From its January 11 article, Decoding the CalPERS request for information :
Yves here. It should not come as a surprise to find that Carillion, a bad financial actor, also abused safety rules, and its legal structure insulated it from the consequences.

However, this post triggered another line of thought. First, the headline is misguided, because as with the TBTF banks in the crisis, holding companies accountable is pointless. They pay cost of doing business penalties and carry on with the same bad conduct, perhaps more carefully if they got big enough fines or bad enough headlines. Individuals need to be punished, most of all the executives responsible, with hefty fines, clawbacks, loss of deferred pay, and when appropriate (which is vastly more often than it happens) jail time.

But there is a second concern with the idea of holding Carillion, or more accurately, its executives, managers, and key enablers accountable. With the liquidation of the firm, what happens to the enormous volume of records, particularly those kept on computers? Typically in a liquidation, all the equipment is auctioned off. Is there any legal or regulatory process underway to make sure this data wont be lost? Otherwise, the odds that key perps will get off easy rises considerably.

By Dave Smith, a blacklisted construction worker, secretary of the Blacklist Support Group, trade union tutor and co-author with Phil Chamberlain of Blacklisted: the secret war between big business and union activists published by New Internationalist. Originally published at openDemocracy

When you invite blacklisting human rights abusers to run the NHS and school meals, dont be surprised when vampire capitalism attempts to suck the taxpayer dry, writes Dave Smith.



Image: Blacklist Support Group protest against Carillions involvement in Anfield stadium redevelopment, 2016, Twitter.

On Monday, the Cabinet Office went on Twitter to ask if anyone had been affected by Carillion. I replied:

Yes, I was #blacklisted by #Carillion for raising safety concerns on their building sites. Can the government help me by setting up a public inquiry to bring those responsible to justice?

I got 800 retweets in the first 24 hours, which as Im not a celebrity or a newspaper columnist felt like going viral. But what it demonstrates is how the Carillion saga has outraged public opinion. And quite rightly.

I am just one of several thousand construction workers blacklisted by major construction companies including Carillion. Their secret database meant workers who complained about asbestos or unsafe electrical installation were denied work on major construction projects. This resulted in unemployment, mortgage repayment difficulties and family tensions. In some cases, blacklisted workers committed suicide.

Back in 2009, I took an Employment Tribunal against Carillion. On the first day in court their lawyer handed the judge a document in which the company admitted blacklisting me because I was a union member who had raised concerns about safety on one of their building sites. Carillion even provided the name of the senior manager based at their Wolverhampton HQ who supplied the information to the unlawful blacklist, this included a copy of my official safety representatives credentials. Despite this admission, I still lost the case.

The reason for the decision was like so many others in the building industry, I was not employed directly by Carillion but via an employment agency and as such was not protected by UK employment law. The written judgement in my case states that:

We have reached our conclusions with considerable reluctance. It seems to us that he has suffered a genuine injustice and we greatly regret that the law provides him with no remedy.

We appealed and ended up in the European Court of Human Rights (we still lost). To add insult to injury, Carillion even came after me for 3,500 worth of legal costs.

In 2016 at the High Court, Carillon eventually admitted that they had blacklisted workers who complained about safety on their building sites and paid out millions in an out of court settlement. I was one of those who received a payment. But compensation is not the same as justice. Technicalities in the legal system meant that Carillion and the rest of the blacklisting companies were able to buy their way out of a trial. Not one of the company directors who orchestrated the blacklisting conspiracy has had to account for their actions. This is why blacklisted workers are so angry and are calling for a public inquiry into the national scandal.

Why do multinational companies like Carillion act like this? The simple answer is because they can. For decades, politicians from all the mainstream political parties have become virtual cheerleaders for private enterprise. Unshackle business from burdensome red tape became the mantra. It might be good for corporate profits but its the increasing number of workers now forced to work on zero hour contracts or via employment agencies without any legal rights who are paying the price.

But the private is best ideology has also seen Carillion and the other blacklisting companies being lavished with lucrative public sector contracts. Rampant privatisation resulted in the seedy practices of the construction industry infesting the public sector. At Swindon Hospital, Carillion managers were embroiled in a scandal involving allegations of racist bullying and bribery. At Pentonville prison the company were reported for being 6 months behind in repairs.

Carillion is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Its not about one poorly managed company. The whole neoliberal privatisation agenda is rotten to the core. When you invite blacklisting human rights abusers to run the NHS and school meals, dont be surprised when vampire capitalism attempts to suck the taxpayer dry.

Why when education, health and social care are facing a funding crisis are we giving billions of pounds of taxpayers money to private companies and their investors? Whenever privatisation fails, the public sector is called upon to bail out big business, whether its Virgin Trains on the East Coast mainline, the G4S security debacle at the Olympics or Carillion. Yet despite the record of failure, the same private companies get invited back to retender for public contracts time and again. And bosses bonuses get ever more eye watering.

Of course, workers on projects run by Carillon deserve to be paid and are entitled to their pensions but not another penny of public money should be given to the bosses of the disgraced company. In a civilised society these people would be facing criminal charges. If the government has another magic money tree hidden away somewhere, it should bail out the NHS not Carillon or their bankers.

The time has come to take back control of our public services from the profit driven leeches who have taken over. The greed is good philosophy has had its day. Its time to think about what is best for society rather than the fat cats. The government should nationalise Carillon now at the current market value of their shares (i.e.: nothing) and run the projects for the good of our people rather than for private profit.

PFI and the myriad of other privatisation mechanisms need to come to an end. We could make a start by following the recommendation of the select committee investigation into blacklisting that called for all of the construction companies involved in the blacklisting conspiracy to be banned from any publicly funded contracts. We dont have to wait for a General Election; local authorities, the Scottish government and the Welsh Assembly could implement such a policy tomorrow. Those who suffered at the hands of Carillion dont need sympathy and kind words from politicians  we need action.

I have been campaigning on the issue of blacklisting for nearly a decade and my Carillion tweet has got the biggest response ever. Perhaps its an indication that the tide of public opinion is turning.
On the 16th and 17th January, the Allied Chiefs of Defence gathered for their first meeting of 2018 in the 178th Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence Session (MCCS) at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. During the first day, the CHoDs focused on the Alliances political and military priorities ahead of the July Summit, military contribution to security and stabilization in Europes southern neighborhood, the NATO Command Structure (NCS) adaptation, the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the Global Coalition against ISIS and NATOs role in Iraq. The second day saw sessions with Ukraine and Georgia, followed by a meeting focused on Military Coherence.

Discussions on Europes southern neighbourhood centered on acknowledging the ongoing security challenges and the need to further increase cooperation and coordination of military activities between Allies and partners in support of stability in the Middle East and North Africa. In this context, the CHoDs also stressed the important role of NATOs Hub for the South.

With regard to the NCS Adaptation, the CHODs gave a recommendation on a proposal that will deliver a structure that is fit-for-purpose, meeting the requirement for effective command and control across all three NATO core tasks in face of current and future security challenges. They also provided guidance for additional work required for the implementation phase once a political decision has been taken.

In the Resolute Support Mission session, the CHoDs, alongside their operational partners, stressed their continued commitment to Afghanistan and the Mission. They also acknowledged the Afghanistan National Defence and Security Forces enhanced capabilities. General Pavel stated: The Chiefs of Defence recognised the progress achieved by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces over the course of last year, in particular the growth of the Afghan Special Security Forces and the Afghan Air Force, improved leadership and  most importantly, the Afghan forces growing confidence in their ability to fight and win.

Concerning the Global Coalition against ISIS and NATOs involvement in Iraq, the Chiefs of Defence recommended enhanced coordination with the European Union and other international partners as well as the possible adaptation of the NATO Training and Capacity Building activity in Iraq (NTCB-I) to better respond to the needs of the Iraqi authorities in the area of defence sector reform.Meetings with Ukraine and Georgia allowed the respective Partner CHoDs to provide briefings on their challenging regional security situations and progress reports on their national defence force development. The CHoDs recognized the ongoing transformation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2017 and stressed their continued commitment to Ukraine through the Comprehensive Assistance Package. On Georgia, the Allied Chiefs recognized its significant and enduring contribution to NATOs Operations and Missions, especially to Resolute Support. The CHoDs commitment to supporting the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package was restressed and they noted the opportunity for further NATO-Georgia interoperability.

In their final session, the Allied Chiefs of Defence underlined the need for increased coherence across the numerous work strands in support of all three core tasks. They noted the continued importance of long term strategic thinking intertwined with political guidance.
The NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018. With more than 200 studies delivered since its inception, the NIAG has continuously adapted to the needs of the Alliance, providing technical and high-level advice covering a wide spectrum of topics.

The NIAG is a high-level consultative body of senior industrialists from NATO Allied and Partner nations. It advises NATO, as well as the Conference of National Armaments Directors, on key issues regarding armaments cooperation matters and the industrial and technological base of the Alliance.

Since the start of 2018, the NIAG has a new Chairman: Mr. John Jansen (The Netherlands) succeeded Mr. Martin Hill (United Kingdom). Mr. Jansen is a Senior Advisor to the Netherlands Foundation for Defence and Security Industries (NIDV).

At its last plenary meeting in 2017, the NIAG also elected Mr. Rudy Priem (Belgium) as it new Vice-Chairman, bidding farewell to Mr. Michael Langer (Germany). Mr. Priem is Director, European Government Relations for Security, Defense and Space at United Technologies Corporation (UTC).

Both were elected to a two-year term.
The State of Qatar signed a security agreement with NATO at the Alliances Headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday (16 January 2018).

At a signing ceremony, Brigadier General Tariq Khalid M. F. Alobaidli, Head of the International Military Cooperation Department, Armed Forces of the State of Qatar, and NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, stressed the importance of NATOs cooperation with Qatar in the framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI).

This security agreement provides the framework for the protection of exchange of classified information, as defined by all 29 member countries. These agreements are signed by NATO partner countries that wish to engage in cooperation with NATO. All four ICI partner countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and U.A.E.) have now signed individual security agreements with NATO. This enables the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programmes (IPCP) of the ICI countries with NATO to be implemented as effectively as possible.
(Natural News) Last week, the Daily Mail took a moment to check out the logically indefensible, glaringly inconsistent gender identity policymaking going on at one of Englands oldest, top-rated all-girls grammar schools, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls in Manchester. Though the school is by definition exclusive and its name clearly describes itself as only a school for girls, in the name of inclusion, school officials have imposed a new rule on their faculty: they can no longer refer to the schools 1,350 girl students using the g-word.

(Article by James Barrett republished from DailyWire.com)

We are working to break ingrained habits in the way we speak to and about students, particularly referring to them collectively as girls,' Principal Stephanie Gill announced in a letter recently sent out to parents. Explaining that they were attempting to avoid misgendering students because it could be very hurtful, Gill said the school is embracing gender neutral language in all our communications with students and parents.

The changes come following officials advising the Girls School Association to impose gender-neutral language, provide books to children featuring trans parents, and adopt gender-neutral uniforms.

Despite its new sweeping gender identity policies, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls doesnt plan to accept boys  nor even drop girls from its title.

The schools banning of the g-word hasnt gone over very well. The Daily Mail highlights a few reactions, including one parent who couldnt quite follow the schools logic.

When I opened the letter I wasnt sure if it was a joke or not. It seems a bit potty to me, said one parent who asked to remain unnamed. They are talking about diversity, but its a girls only school. How does that work?

Another local responded even less graciously. Its ridiculous, the local told the BBC. We live in an age where we have to respect peoples views and if people have issues around gender and sexuality we have to understand that. But girls should be referred to as girls.

Actor Lance Spencer chimed in by mocking the schools refusal to change its name. Altrincham Grammar School for Gender Neutrals doesnt quite have the same ring to it, he said, a sentiment echoed by photographer Ian Charles who said things will get a little confusing for those reading the schools sign.

The pro-parental choice group Campaign for Real Educations Chris McGovern said that while the school might have good intentions, children who have issues over their gender identity can be treated with respect without the English language being altered to accommodate them.

H/T Jazz Shaw

Read more at DailyWire.com
(Natural News) If it exists online and its free, chances are whoever owns it is collecting data points on how you use it and selling this information to third parties for profit. Thats the case with the social media platform Twitter, anyway, which Project Veritas recently exposed as a data-mining Trojan Horse that collects, analyzes, and exploits everything that its users say, do, or send via the platform.

This includes private messages, nude photos, and anything else that Twitter users decide to post or send using the service. This is how Twitter make[s] most of [its] money, according to Mihai Florea, a software engineer at Twitter who was recorded undercover by Project Veritas spilling the beans about Twitters business model. Basically, if you dont want the entire world to potentially find out what youre doing on Twitter, then dont use it  and this goes for any other free service online as well.

Youre basically paying for the right to use our website with your data basically, and its the same on every free website, Florea added.

Twitter Direct Messaging Engineer, Panay Singh, provided even raunchier details about Twitters hidden and nefarious hand of spying and exploitation. He told an undercover Project Veritas agent that everything users do on the platform is permanently stored on Twitters servers, never to be deleted.

Everything you send is stored on my server. You cant [delete it], its already on my server now, Singh admitted. So all your sex messages  are on my server now. All your illegitimate wives, and, like, all the girls youve been [expletive] around with, they are on my server now, he added, joking that, Im going to send it to your wife, shes gonna use it in your divorce.

Big Brother tracks a lot of what people do online, Twitter employees admit

In other words, nothing about Twitter or any other free online service is in any way private  including allegedly private messages. Not only that, but the people who work for these companies seem to get a kick out of having access to peoples private information, as indicated by the callous responses of people like Singh, who in his valley girl vernacular appears unfazed by the Big Brother implications of the setup.

So what happens is, like, when you write stuff or when you post pictures online, they never go away, Singh stated. Like, theyre always on there  Even after you send them, people are, like, analyzing them, to see what youre interested in, to see what youre talking about, and they sell that data  Everything. Anything you post online.

Even before a person joins services like Twitter, his or her private data as it was previously collected by other websites and web services is made available. Former Twitter engineer Conrado Mirando can be heard explaining to Project Veritas secret undercover agents that Twitter already has a lot of information about its users that comes from other sources, and that there is no way to protect people from this information falling into the wrong hands.

Further, Twitter Senior Network Security Engineer, Clay Haynes, admitted to the hidden cameras that he, too, has access to seemingly private information on Twitter, including users Direct Messages (DM) transcripts that many of them think are private.

It is creepy Big Brother, Haynes stated. I mean its like a level  I dont want to say it freaks me out, but it disturbs me.

This shouldnt come as much of a surprise considering the fact that Twitter revised its privacy policy earlier in the year to make it even easier for the service to track users browsing habits  even when not logged into the app. Such information can be stored for weeks, we previously reported, though it wouldnt be all that surprising to find out that weeks actually means forever.

Stay informed on privacy issues by reading PrivacyWatch.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
A prospective frac sand company with claims to thousands of acres in southeastern Minnesota intends to pursue its challenge of Winona Countys ban on frac sand mining in a higher court.

Minnesota Sands notified the state Court of Appeals Tuesday that it is appealing a District Court judges dismissal of its lawsuit.

Minnesota Sands and a group of landowners argued that the 2016 mining ordinance violates their constitutional rights by singling out sand used for industrial purposes while allowing mining for construction uses.

Winona County Judge Mary Leahy dismissed the claims in November, ruling that the county board acted within its legislative capacity in adopting the ordinance and that the ordinance does not violate the plaintiffs rights to equal protection and due process nor U.S. commerce laws.

Leahy also ruled the ordinance does not amount to a taking, under which landowners are entitled to compensation when laws strip their property of all economic value. The plaintiffs never had the right to mine their lands as mining was a conditional use and required a permit even before the adoption of the ban. She also ruled the ordinance does not deprive them of all economic value as the land can still be used for other purposes.

Tuesdays filing does not outline the companys grounds for appeal.

Attorneys representing Minnesota Sands and Winona County did not respond to messages Wednesday.

Winona County was the first in Minnesota to completely ban mining of the round-grained silica sand used to extract oil and natural gas through a process known as hydraulic fracturing.

Demand for frac sand led to a boom in mines across western Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota since 2009, though demand later waned with falling oil prices. Industry watchers expect demand to exceed the 2014 peak this year or next as well operators use more sand per well.

According to court documents, Minnesota Sands has mining leases to 1,946 acres of land in Winona County that contain silica sand worth between $3.6 and $5.8 billion. Company president Rick Frick of Dakota, Minn., claims to have rights to another 1,700 acres of land though he has yet to mine any sand.
(Natural News) Google had a rough week.

James Damore, a former Google engineer who was fired for writing a memo criticizing the tech giants ideological echo chamber, filed a lawsuit against his old company over its ideological and anti-white male bias.

(Article by Scott Greer republished from DailyCaller.com)

Damores lawsuit claims that Google has a problem with conservative white men and works hard to enforce ideological conformity among its employees. Damore provides damning examples of the left-wing bias of Google, including employees openly supporting violence against right-wingers, the company rewarding staffers who publicly condemned Damores views and Google promoting ridiculous diversity initiatives. (RELATED: Lawsuit Exposes Googles Rank Internal Bias, Identity Obsession)

In addition to the lawsuit, The Daily Caller News Foundation uncovered that Googles fact check system pretty much only targets conservative outlets while leaving questionable left-leaning sites unscathed. (RELATED: Googles New Fact-Check Feature Almost Exclusively Targets Conservative Sites)

This is an issue because when a person searches for a site, one of the first things he will see in the sidebar is Google claiming a site such as The Daily Caller publishes questionable content, thus hurting traffic and that outlets brand.

Its not unreasonable to ask if Google uses its fact check system to suppress conservative content rather than to inform its users.

Last week provided more evidence that one of most influential corporations in the world uses its immense power to enforce an ideological bias among its employees and the millions of people who use its service. That should worry everyone, but apparently one person not concerned about it is Sen. Mike Lee, who chairs the Senate Antitrust subcommittee.

The Utah Republican joined Fox News Tucker Carlson last Wednesday to talk about Googles abuses, and surprisingly brushed off The Daily Caller co-founders concerns about it.

In no way is [Google] as much of a threat as the government is to your privacy, Lee told Carlson. To Tuckers worries about Googles ability to censor political speech, invade our privacy and insidiously promote its own political agenda, Lee confidently asserted that you can use another search engine.

Using another search engine is a quaint response to Google having a virtual monopoly on the business. In America, nearly 89 percent of all internet searches go through Google. A few people deciding to use Bing over Googles political bias will not change the fact that the internet search giant controls the flow of information for the vast majority of Americans.

If Google wants to bury an article or an entire outlet, like it has done for RT, it will do so and American citizens have little recourse to object to that decision.

Tucker brought up the fact that citizens have no power to change a powerful institution like Google, but do have that ability with a democratic government through elections and their representatives. Sen. Lee waved that point away by asserting the government can lock up people for their speech, but Google cant.

While it is obviously true imprisonment is far worse than having your search results skewed, Lees flippant attitude doesnt account for the reality of the situation. The U.S. government isnt arresting people for their political views and is legally barred from discriminating against people in employment and other areas due to their politics.

Meanwhile, Google, a powerful corporation, uses its internet search monopoly to suppress political views it disagrees with and discriminates against conservative employees.

If the U.S. government was actually doing all that Lee says it has the power to do, then it would be the greatest threat to free speech. However, the government is not doing such things to the extent Google that is, and Lee comes off as pointing to a non-existent problem to divert attention from the real issue.

State power is, theoretically, the bigger threat to freedom if its abused. But corporations like Google are the ones abusing their power to suppress free speech in the real world. Why shouldnt lawmakers focus on that?

Lee appears to believe that the free market will magically take care of that problem and that lawmakers should just focus on the government. It is a bit weird for a man like Mike Lee, who fears the power of big government, to be so unfazed by big tech monopolies.

Interestingly enough, the Utah senator used to be a staunch critic of Googles power. In 2011, he accused the company of cooking the results in its searches to favor their own products. That same year, he released a statement warning of Googles ability to use its power to invade the privacy of average citizens.

Googles powerful position as an Internet gatekeeper reduces the companys incentive to compete with other search engines by providing enhanced privacy protection for consumers, Lee said in his 2011 statement. The combination of behavioral and personal information enables Google to generate consumer data that is unprecedented in scale and scope. These activities raise serious privacy concerns and may be indicative of an important market that is largely unconstrained by competition. Antitrust enforcement may unlock beneficial competition for the protection of user privacy and avert the need for additional privacy regulation.

Now the Utah Republican tells those concerned about Googles power and politics to switch to another search engine, even though he acknowledged a few years ago the company has built such a strong monopoly that consumer boycotts dont present a real threat to it.

Additionally, in 2015, Lee had sought a probe into why the Federal Trade Commission had let Google go off easy in 2012 in spite of finding that the tech giants conduct has resultedand will resultin real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search and advertising markets.

Why Lee changed his stance is a question that remains to be determined, but Ann Coulter did point out a possible reason for his change of heart on Thursday.

[I]n 2016, Google Fiber expanded into Salt Lake City, Coulter tweeted. Now, @SenMikeLee has no complaints with Google.

Whatever Lees reason for changing his mind on Google, the American people should share the same skepticism of the tech giant that Lee used to have.

As Tucker Carlson rightly declares, Tech giants are not just a threat to privacy, they are a threat to our basic American freedoms.

Hopefully, more lawmakers wake up to the fact that Google isnt just some chain store with multiple competitors equal to its strength. Google is a monopoly that has the power to control how we view the world  and it desperately needs a higher power to keep it in check.

Read more at DailyCaller.com
Stop whatever you're doing.

Shake Shack is coming to the Bay Area!

The first place where you can expect to try the cult favorite burgers is at Stanford Shopping Center.

The Palo Alto Shake Shack, scheduled to open its doors this fall, will be the first in Northern California, but not the last.

The company is also eyeing spots in Larkspur, Marin County  where a lease agreement is being ironed out  and San Francisco's Marina district, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Randy Garutti, Shake Shack's chief executive, said in a statement that the company has "long admired the talented chefs, winemakers and artisans of the Bay Area's vibrant food scene."

He continued: "It is with great respect and humility that we enter that landscape, deepen our West Coast roots, and bring a new community gathering place to this iconic city after so many years."

The Palo Alto outpost, scheduled to open its doors in the fall, will be next to PF Chang's, where Wells Fargo bank is now located.

Once it occupies the space where Wells Fargo currently sits, the Stanford restaurant will offer "exclusive" menu items, Kristyn Clark, senior manager of brand communications for Shake Shack, told Palo Alto Online.

The shopping center will also outfit an outdoor space with tables, chairs and string lights in a throwback to the original Shake Shack in New York City's Madison Square Park, according to Clark.

Shake Shack, which was born as a hot dog cart in 2004, is often compared to In-N-Out Burger, a West Coast favorite. Hundred of its 160 locations are in the United States.

Its menu features the Shackburger, a vegetarian portobello mushroom burger, a crispy chicken sandwich, crinkle-cut fries, milkshakes, handspun frozen custard, and more.
Two massive developments in the South Bay got the green light Tuesday after San Jose and Santa Clara agreed to drop lawsuits holding things up. Each was worried the other city's development might bring in too many people too quickly.

In two years, Santa Clara plans to unveil a massive 230 acre development, including offices, stores and more than 1,000 new residential units.

Merlita Millan, who lives nearby, is worried about overcrowding and traffic.

The city of San Jose was worried too and filed a lawsuit addressing traffic concerns. On Tuesday, the two cities announced they reached an agreement.

"Right in the beginning we get $4.5 million to address traffic impact as soon as they pull their first permit," San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle said.

Meanwhile, residents like Milan said traffic is already bad and question whether the deals the two cities made will be enough to preserve the quality of life in her neighborhood.
A student's death and how it was communicated to the school community has left parents in an East Bay school district bewildered and a bit uneasy about whether their children have been exposed.

On Jan. 8, the first Friday back from the holiday break, the Dublin Unified School District sent out an email notification to the Kolb Elementary School community saying a student died from "a reportable disease."

"As soon as we received information from the health department, we shared it with the Kolb school community," Superintendent Leslie Boozer said.

Parents were taken aback by the surprising message and a bit confused about what action they should take.

"The email was very ... it raised more questions than it answered," parent H.T. Astrov said.

The Alameda County Public Health Department said it was "initially notified on Jan. 8, 2018, of a reportable disease by the health care provider."

No other information about the death or the illness was provided.

"Of course, you think the worst," Astrov said. "It was what Id call very loose language, and it left a lot of room open to interpretation."

The health department did recommend that parents take their children to the doctor right away if they see symptoms such as fever, sore throat, coughing or weakness. But it didn't recommend any health screening or treatment for students, parents, staff or the rest of the community.

"We wanted to reassure families what the county health department has assured us: that there was nothing that was putting them at risk by being at the school site or being in the Kolb community," Boozer said.
At least seven students believe they were drugged while paying a visit to the Sigma Chi fraternity house at Stanford University last Friday, according to a report.

Five members of Pi Beta Phi and two male rowers suspect they were drugged by someone who does not attend the Peninsula university, according to the Stanford Daily.

The five Pi Beta Phi members reportedly suffered from symptoms that "aligned with that of Xanax or a similar benzodiazepine," according to an email memo that was sent to Pi Beta Phi members and obtained by the student newspaper.

One of the two rowers was reportedly transported to the hospital even though his blood alcohol content was "too low to have warranted a transport," according to the newspaper. The other rower went to the hospital voluntarily and "tested positive."

An investigation is ongoing, according to the university.

"Both the Title IX office and campus police are investigating, and at this moment the allegation remains unconfirmed," a statement from the university read.



Sigma Chi issued the following statement in response to the report:

"Sigma Chi International Fraternity is aware of the allegations that illegal substances were brought into an event by a non-member and provided to attendees without their knowledge and we have begun our investigation into the matter. We are committed to working collaboratively with local authorities and Stanford University to see the perpetrator brought to justice."
A California man says vandals toppled 100 beehives and killed hundreds of thousands of bees after dousing them with diesel fuel.

Mike Hickenbottom told KSBW-TV, an NBC affiliate, that the Italian and Russian honey bees on his property in Prunedale were attacked on Saturday.

Hickenbottom says the bees are stored on his property during the winter, and beekeeper Alfonzo Perez leases the hives to pollinate almond trees growing on farms across the state.

Hickenbottom says neighbors have complained about the bees in the past, but the bees are not aggressive. An estimated 200,000 bees died.

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office is investigating, and authorities say no arrests have been made.

Prunedale is about 100 miles south of San Francisco.
A Chicago man was charged Tuesday in connection with a shooting outside a suburban mall that killed a woman and wounded a girl on Saturday evening, authorities said.

Honorio Perez, 49, was charged with first degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, North Riverside police said in a statement.

Perez, of the 2500 block of South Trumbull Avenue, was taken into custody without incident on Tuesday, officials said.

Officers responded to a call of shots fired in the southwest parking lot of North Riverside Park Mall, located at 7501 W. Cermak Rd., at around 5:46 p.m., according to North Riverside police.

Maria Ruiz, 42, and a juvenile girl, whose exact age was not immediately available, were found with gunshot wounds and taken to Loyola Hospital.

Ruiz, of the 2200 block of South Sawyer in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

Authorities said Perez fled the scene before officers arrived to find Ruiz inside her vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to her body.

Officers determined Saturday that the incident was "isolated and domestic in nature," North Riverside Deputy Police Chief Christian Ehrenberg said in a statement, though the relationship of the victims and the gunman was not known.

A GoFundMe page created by Ruiz's son Jose has already raised over $26,000 to help pay for funeral expenses.
The Kennedy Expressway was shut down amid a shooting investigation in Chicago overnight, authorities said.

Illinois State Police said they received a call of shots fired just before midnight Tuesday on northbound Interstate 90 near Diversey. There, they found a vehicle with bullet hole damage but no one appeared injured in the incident, according to ISP.

The Kennedy Expressway was shut down between Division and Kedzie from about 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Further information on what happened wasn't immediately clear.
A former high school classmate was charged with murder Wednesday in the stabbing death of a University of Pennsylvania student who was home in Orange County visiting family during winter break.

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, of Newport Beach was arrested Friday. He is accused of picking up 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein from his family's Lake Forest home, then stabbing him "multiple times" with a knife before burying his remains in Borrego Park in Lake Forest. Woodward drove Bernstein to a shopping center parking lot on Portola Parkway in Foothill Ranch before the slaying, the district attorney said.

Details about the events prior to the Jan. 2 slaying were not immediately available. Bernstein's remains were found a week later in a shallow grave in the park, which the suspect visited after the killing, according to the district attorney's office.

The two were classmates at Orange County School for the Arts in Santa Ana. District Attorney Tony Rackaukas said there was no evidence that the two were friends in high school.

"As far as motive is concerned... we have a ways to go," Rackaukas said.

Woodward contacted Bernstein via Snapchat Jan. 2 before the two met.

He was arrested on suspicion of homicide after DNA evidence linked him to the death of Bernstein, a pre-med student who was home on winter break when he was killed. Woodward remains jailed without bail.

Woodward's mother, Michele, made her first public statement about the case Tuesday, asking for privacy.

"I would like it very much if everyone would respect our privacy and the privacy of the Bernstein family," she told NBC4 outside her home. "This is a time of great suffering and we would ask that you would respect that suffering. Thank you very much.''

Meanwhile, Bernstein's parents -- Gideon and Jeanne -- issued a statement expressing dismay at media reports about the cause of their son's death. The Orange County Register reported Monday, the day of Bernstein's funeral, that he had been stabbed more than 20 times and the killing may have been an act of rage sparked by Bernstein's attempt to kiss Woodward the night he disappeared.

"Our son was a beautiful, gentle soul who we loved more than anything," the Bernsteins said. "We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community. There is still much discovery to be done and if it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime."

"We're looking to see whether or not that might be supported," Rackaukas said Wednesday when asked whether the crime will include hate-crime allegations.

Bernstein disappeared around 11 p.m. Jan. 2 at Borrego Park in Lake Forest. He was reported missing the next day by his family after he missed a dental appointment and failed to answer telephone calls and text messages. After a weeklong search, his body was found Jan. 9 on the outskirts of the park, in a shallow grave.

Woodward, who was interviewed by authorities during the search, returned to the site after the slaying while he was under surveillance, according to the DA's office. He also was seen cleaning out his vehicle, prosecutors said.

Sheriff's officials said Woodward drove Bernstein to the park the night of Jan. 2. He told investigators that Bernstein wandered into the park and disappeared. Woodward eventually left the park at 1 a.m., telling investigators he drove to a girlfriend's house in Tustin, but returned about 3:40 a.m. when Bernstein still had not surfaced, according to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register.

In subsequent interviews, however, Woodward was unable to remember the girlfriend's name or address, according to the affidavit. Woodward also had scratches and abrasions on his hands, which he attributed to a "fight club" in which he was involved. He also had dirt under his fingernails, with Woodward saying he had fallen into a mud puddle.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said DNA evidence tied Woodward to Bernstein's death, although they have not provided any specifics. The Register reported that the DNA was Bernstein's blood found on a sleeping bag in Woodward's possession.
Protecting the credibility of organic brands and humane treatment of animals  especially chickens  prompted La Farge-based Organic Valley to co-sponsor a full-page ad in The Washington Post objecting to a Trump administration plan to scuttle rules on the issue.

We are deeply disappointed in your proposal to eliminate the new organic standard on animal welfare, said a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue reprinted in the ad, which ran in Tuesdays Post and had more than two dozen co-signers.

USDA letter signers Co-signers to the letter to U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue in an ad in Tuesdays Washington Post include Amazon.com's Whole Foods Market, Hormel Corp.'s Applegate, Organic Valley, Lactalis Group's Stonyfield, Danone's Horizon Organic, the Organic Trade Association, National Co-Op Grocers, Vital Farms, Pete and Gerrys Organic Eggs, Maple Hill Creamery, National Farmers Union, Dr. Bronners, The Humane Society of the United States, Rodale Institute, Environmental Working Group, Oregon Tilth, Farm Aid, Union of Concerned Scientists, Center for Science in the Public Interest, National Family Farm Coalition, Consumer Federation of America, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Organic Coalition, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Accredited Certifiers Association, among others.

The ad was published the day before the deadline for public comment on the USDA decision to withdraw the rule.

Its a very frustrating process, Organic Valley CEO George Siemon said Tuesday in a phone interview about the animal welfare issue, which he has been involved with since the early 1990s.

Largely, it is all about access to the outdoors and animals being allowed to pasture, Siemon said of the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices Final Rule, which the Obama administration had approved during its final month, but the Trump administration has delayed implementing several times.

Perdue announced the withdrawal in December, based on USDA findings that the regulation exceeded the agencys authority and would have had a bigger economic impact on farmers than original estimates had indicated.

Groups such as the Organic Trade Association supported the rule, but several ag trade groups, including the National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemens Beef Association, oppose it, contending that it would create more roadblocks to organic certification and increase costs without improving animals welfare.

However, a key element of the rule stipulates that producers must provide animals with daily access to the outdoors and that outdoor areas include vegetation and/or soil. Additionally, exit doors must be distributed to ensure animals have ready access to the outdoors. It does not allow enclosed porches to be considered outdoors or to meet the requirement for outdoor access.

The rule targets mega-farms that confine chickens in huge buildings and try to pass off postage-stamp porches as providing outdoor time for chickens, said David Bruce, Organic Valleys general manager for poultry.

The ability of chickens to go outside to roam organically managed pastures also allows them to get away from the crowd, another element of humane treatment, said Siemon, one of a handful of Vernon County farmers who founded Organic Valley with its full name of Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool in 1988.

Sitting on a porch is fine, but its better to be outdoors, Bruce said, in human terms city folks might find more understandable.

Humane treatment of animals uses the same root word  humans, he said.

Similarly, some eggs are advertised as coming from cage-free chickens when the animals technically arent in cages but remain closely confined and rarely see the light of day, he said. And not all free-range chickens are allowed to range freely to pasture, he said.

But those terms confuse consumers who believe that they, and other descriptions, such as natural, mean organic, he said.

Complicating the situation is ineptitude at the USDA, with very uneven application of standards, said Siemon, who said the difficulties trace back several administrations.

Nearly 130 Organic Valley members in eight states have about 750,000 chickens that lay about 16.5 million eggs a year, Bruce said.

Although he acknowledged that that is a drop in the bucket compared with the 75 billion total eggs laid a year in the United States, organic customers deserve to know that the eggs they are buying are legitimate instead of falling short of the standards.

The administrations plan to trash the rules is an affront to the many people and organizations engaged in a multi-year, transparent and highly participatory process that resulted in an animal welfare standard overwhelmingly supported by organic farmers, organic companies, humane animal care advocates, and consumers, says the letter to Perdue, with co-signers including organic food brands, retailers, manufacturers, trade groups and certifiers.

We support this voluntary regulatory program on which the $50 billion organic industry depends. The program is an outstanding example of how private initiatives can marry public process, and it has had strong bipartisan approval from its inception, the letter said.

Underscoring that point during the interview, Siemon said, Were the only group that goes to Washington and asks for regulations. Thats probably hard for the administration to understand.

Siemon and Bruce encouraged people to submit comments before the deadline of midnight Wednesday to the USDA via the Organic Valley web site, as well as contact members of Congress.

Organic farmers have pioneered new practices to enhance animal welfare because consumers demand it and because it makes farms more resilient and profitable, the letter to Perdue says. Eliminating the rule not only fails to acknowledge innovation in the organic farming sector and provide fair and transparent rules, it also undermines the faith people have in how organic agriculture is governed.
Ice and snow turned travel treacherous across the South, shutting down interstates in Louisiana, causing highway crashes in Kentucky and closing airport runways in Texas as snow turned the red clay white and prompted schools to close across the region.

Snow began falling during the pre-dawn hours Tuesday in Louisiana, where freeways were closed in and around Baton Rouge as the winter weather system took aim at other states, forecasters said.

With the weather system moving east and plunging temperatures expected right behind it, winter storm warnings were issued for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Dangerous wind chills prompted school systems to close Tuesday across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. Some colleges also canceled classes, including Wichita State University in Kansas, where wind chill values were expected to drop as low as minus-13 degrees (minus-25 Celsius), The National Weather Service said.

In Kentucky, multiple crashes closed a 10-mile (16-kilometer) section of Interstate 24 on the west side of the state and blocked southbound lanes of Interstate 65 in south-central Kentucky, including a five-vehicle pileup that involved a Greyhound bus, authorities said. That crash, which injured multiple people, also involved two commercial vehicles and two passenger vehicles Tuesday morning on I-65.

In Tennessee, forecasters called for up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow in the central part of the state, which includes the Nashville area.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at Texas airports  including Houston, San Antonio and Austin  where frigid temperatures left runways dangerously icy. Forecasters warned mariners along the Texas coast to be on guard for gale-force winds.

Snow was falling Tuesday morning in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and was expected to move into Alabama and Georgia later in the day.

In Louisiana, state officials said both lanes of Interstate 49 in the Shreveport area were closed early Tuesday. Parts of Interstate 20 and Interstate 220 were also closed.

"We've got numerous crashes on the interstates and surface roads," Louisiana State Trooper Glenn Younger said Tuesday morning from Bossier City, Louisiana, just across the Red River from Shreveport.

"You can't see the black ice  it's invisible," said Younger, who had been driving on roads since 5 a.m. Tuesday and could feel the back end of his patrol car begin to slide at times.

"You want to just barely touch the brakes in that situation," he said. "A lot of people get scared and they want to jam on the brakes and that makes it worse."

What looked like about 1 inch (2 centimeters) of snow covered the hood of Glenn Springfield's truck when he went outside early Tuesday morning in northeast Louisiana, he said. Springfield, a spokesman for the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, said the worst highway conditions were about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of him  but the snow was heading east.

"We're just advising people that if you don't have to work, stay home," Springfield said.

Ice had coated roads and bridges in 36 of Mississippi's 82 counties, mostly in the northern and central parts of the state, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said in a statement Tuesday morning. Some of the heaviest snow in Mississippi was expected in the state's Delta region, where up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) was possible.

In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency. Numerous businesses and government offices closed because of the threat.

Jim Wimberly was at work Tuesday morning managing a Dollar General story in Tuscumbia, in northwest Alabama, despite freezing precipitation on the ground and a forecast of more on the way. Shoppers had emptied the shelves of bread, but the milk case was still stocked because of a delivery on Monday.

"The roads are a little slick right now. It's been sleeting for about the last hour or two hours," said Wimberly. "Half of my parking lot is white and half of it is just regular asphalt."

Alabama officials were trying to avoid a repeat of four years ago, when a winter storm blanketed central Alabama and left motorists stranded on roads in metro Birmingham for hours. Teachers and students camped out in schools.

Forecasters aren't predicting a large amount of snow for Alabama  just 2 inches (5 centimeters) or less with more in spots. But they say temperatures steadily falling into the teens could freeze anything that comes down.

Drivers had a hard time navigating hills around the north Alabama city of Haleyville, where roads quickly turned white Tuesday morning, but there was still plenty of traffic because manufacturing plants that didn't close in advance began dismissing workers, store clerk Rose Payne said.

"It's coming down as snow, but with these cars driving over it looks ice on the ground," said Payne, who planned to walk home from her job at Friendly Shop if roads got too bad. "The driveways of businesses are white."

Reeves reported from Birmingham, Alabama. Associated Press writers David Warren in Dallas; Rebecca Reynolds Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri contributed to this report.
Stacks of medical records were tossed in a public dumpster for anyone to access and the Connecticut State Department of Health is investigating.

Dozens of medical records were found buried in a dumpster behind Allied Medical Associates in Waterbury on Tuesday. The records contain sensitive and confidential medical information.

Im afraid that my medical records can be there and thats not a good thing, Yasmeen Burgos, of Waterbury, told NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters.

Burgos was treated by Allied Medical Associates sole physician Dr. Stephen P. Harris two years ago and worries her information could be compromised.

Harris told NBC Connecticut the medical office shut down two days after Christmas because bills hadnt been paid.

I cant treat my patients and also stand over people watching whats going on, so suddenly, I found out we were deeply in debt because a lot of our bills hadnt been paid, Harris said.

A note on the front door of Allied Medical Associates said the office is permanently closed and for patients to contact their attorney.

A state health employee arrived a short time after the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters to investigate the records in the Waterbury dumpster on Tuesday.

Harris showed the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters that his house and car were filled with patient records saved from his practice, however, he admits the others that were found were authorized to go in the garbage.

There were two boxes of files that were labeled or I thought labeled 2010 and theres only a seven-year period you have to maintain records, so we put them in the dumpster. You know, Im responsible for it, I have talked to the state. Were going to retrieve those and destroy them but it was not intentional- it was a bad decision, but it was a decision made because we had so little time to get out, Harris said.

NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters asked Harris why the documents werent shredded in the first place.

I know they needed to be shredded, but I felt that, you know, once the dumpster people came and put them in a dump covered up and chewed them up, there wouldnt be anybody crawling through there to get those, Harris said. We had our own shredder and it takes forever to shred those and we didnt have time to do it.

State health officials secured the records on Tuesday afternoon. They said they cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, but they provided NBC Connecticut an outline of the states law regarding medical records.

According to state statute 19a-14-44 Discontinuance of Practice, patients must be informed.

This must be done by placing a notice in a daily local newspaper published in the community, which is the prime locus of the practice. The notice shall appear twice, seven days apart. In addition, an individual letter is to be sent to each patient seen within the three years preceding the date of discontinuance of the practice. Medical records of all patients must be retained for at least sixty days following both the public and private notice to patients, the law reads in part.
Hartford police are investigating a shooting Tuesday night and said they found a car that fled from officers. It was on Yale Street and it had been set on fire, according to police.

The investigation started when an officer heard six gunshots from a back lot in the 600 block of Blue Hills Avenue at 9:42 p.m., then saw an Acura flee west on East Euclid Street and south on Blue Hills Avenue, according to police.

Police chased the car until officers lost sight of it on Interstate 91 South, according to police.

Investigators determined that the Blue Hills Avenue lot was the crime scene. The victim had been shot in the back and walked to Mt. Sinai Hospital, but was transported to St. Francis Hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening, police said.

Hartford patrol officers also responded to Yale Street to investigate a car fire and determined it was the car officers had been chasing after the shooting, police said.

Crews at the scene determined the car fire had been set. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call LT Cicero 869-757-4179.
Two people are dead after spending the night out in the cold in South Dallas.

A woman's body was discovered on the ground near her wheelchair just before 8:00 Wednesday morning at a DART bus shelter at the intersection of S. Malcolm X Blvd. and Peabody Ave. (near Pennsylvania Ave.).

"She was laying there," said Broderick Auzenne, who called 911. "I didnt know her name, I just shook her. She was real hard and she didnt wake up."

Several people, including Auzenne, had seen the woman at the bus shelter since Monday, and tried to get her to go inside.

"She wouldnt go, she wouldnt go. We tried everything we could to try to help her," Auzenne said.

A few hours later, Dallas police officers found the body of a 69-year-old man under the Interstate 45 overpass at Martin Luther King Blvd., near the former site of "Tent City," a homeless encampment that was shut down last summer.

Wednesday night, Our Calling, a homeless outreach center by day, was acting as an emergency shelter for another night.

"I heard about a couple of people that died out there in the cold last night," said Charles Watkins. Watkins said he sleeps on the streets, but came to Our Calling because it was too cold. "That's frightening feeling, you know?"

"Because of the cold weather, we're staying open all night," said Operations Director Pastor Jeremy Goerning. "It's a little bit overwhelming because the need is far greater than the resources currently available to help."

The city is doing all they can," said Reverand Reginald Meriwether, a street minister who works with the homeless. "They are coming out asking people do they want to come in, and some of them say 'no', you what Im saying? Their pride is in them, know what Im saying," said Meriwether.

The Dallas County Medical Examiners Office will determine the cause of the deaths. Foul play is not suspected.

On Wednesday night, Dallas sidewalks and underpasses were dotted with sleeping bags.

"Right here on top of this vent is where we're gonna put down a bed," explained Ryan Rule, who felt lucky to sleep on top of a sidewalk grate that blew hot air. "It's a luxury, it really is."

The temperature was 13 degrees overnight in North Texas. NBC 5 Meteorologist Rick Mitchell said it was the coldest night in the area in seven years.

The metroplex was under a hard freeze warning Tuesday night until noon Wednesday.

NBC 5's Kevin Cokely contributed to this report.
A Texas man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing two people as he drunkenly shot at vehicles while driving along a freeway in Oklahoma.

Custer County District Attorney Angela Marsee says 38-year-old Jeremy Doss Hardy of Pasadena pleaded guilty Tuesday shortly before jury selection was to begin for his trial on two counts of first-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and other offenses.

Marsee says a judge sentenced Hardy to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.

Hardy waived his right to appeal.

Investigators say Hardy fired randomly at vehicles along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma on Dec. 16, 2015, killing 45-year-old Kent Powell of Arapaho, Oklahoma, and 63-year-old Billie West of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.
A Detroit man who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years has been deported to Mexico.

Jorge Garcia came to the U.S. with his family when he was 10 years old and has long sought legal status. The 39-year-old landscaper was too old to qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is limited to immigrants who were born after June 15, 1982.

Garcia was deported on Monday and can't return to the U.S. for a decade.

"Jorge is very devastated, hes very sad," his wife, Cindy Garcia, said on MSNBC Tuesday. "My kids and myself are also sad. Its a nightmare that came to life that we dont wish upon anybody."

During his yearly check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November, Garcia learned he'd been scheduled to be deported as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. His wife told MSNBC's Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle that Garcia did not have a criminal record and that previous administrations had given the father of two U.S.-born citizens stays of removal.

"They said, 'Well he was brought here at 10 and that was his crime that he had committed, and because the paperwork was already in process that he had to leave the country,'" Cindy Garcia said.

A request from Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Dearborn pushed back the deportation date to allow Garcia to spend the holidays with his family. Cindy Garcia is also a U.S. citizen.

Immigrant advocates say deporting people like Garcia separates families.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Khaalid Walls said in an email Tuesday he was looking into the matter.
This week's news that the Trump administration is ending Temporary Protected Status for 200,000 migrants from El Salvador is also rattling nerves in neighboring Honduras.

A decision on the fate of more than 50,000 Hondurans living in the United States under TPS is expected in July, and it could have severe social, economic and political consequences for the Central American nation.

Experts say that as in El Salvador, the return of tens of thousands of people  plus, potentially, an untold number of their U.S.-born children  threatens to exacerbate already-grave problems like high rates of murders and other crime, political instability, widespread poverty and income inequality.

"The exit of so many compatriots from the United States would be a social bomb that will immediately explode in Honduras," analyst Raul Pineda Alvarado told The Associated Press.

Perhaps most immediately, there would be a hit to remittances, which typically account for about 20 percent of the country's gross domestic product  though most of that is sent by Hondurans who would not be affected by cancellation of TPS.

Billions of dollars sent home each year help households feed and clothe children, buy a car, build a modest home and keep the lights on. Those expenditures then filter out into the broader economy.

Olga Martinez, a 42-year-old cleaning worker in Tegucigalpa, relies on the $150 a month she receives from two sons who are in the United States under the TPS program. It's a significant sum in one of the hemisphere's most impoverished countries, where about 65 percent of the population is poor and many make do on the equivalent of a dollar or two a day.

"If I don't have that money, I don't know what I will do," Martinez said. "My life will be very hard because they will come and there is no work here."

The U.S. made TPS available for Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch ravaged the country in 1998, killing about 7,000 people and devastating the agricultural sector. The measure allows migrants to live and work in the United States legally.

Like with other countries, it was by definition supposed to be temporary until conditions caused by the disaster improved back home. But over the years, successive U.S. administrations kept it in place, believing that other problems such as poverty, corruption and gang-driven violence would have made it difficult for the country to reabsorb those citizens.

The Trump administration has made clear it is putting the emphasis back on the word "temporary" as it evaluates TPS, withdrawing it for some 46,000 Haitians and 2,500 Nicaraguans in November and now for the Salvadorans. Back in November it delayed a decision on Hondurans for six months, saying it needed more information.

Homicide rates in Honduras and El Salvador have fallen significantly in the last year, though both are still among the highest in the world. Street gangs known as "maras" are ubiquitous and prey on small business owners and families through extortion.

For both nations the violence is "still at epidemic levels," said Christine Wade, a professor of political science and international studies at Washington College in Maryland. "So you would basically be returning people to highly insecure countries."

Pineda said a flood of returning TPS recipients, in addition to migrants without legal status being deported under a more aggressive U.S. immigration stance, threatens to swell the ranks of the un- and underemployed, aggravating economic inequality and producing "high levels of ungovernability."

Honduras is already in the throes of political instability following a disputed November election in which President Juan Orlando Hernandez won a new term and his opponent alleged fraud. At least 17 people died last month in protests over the vote.

"Considering how they operated the last election, I don't think there's any evidence whatsoever that the government there can manage the return of 50,000 or 60,000 Honduran nationals and thousands perhaps of their relatives anytime soon," said Michael Allison, a professor of political science at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. "The country and the political and economic conditions are worse there today than in 1998 when Mitch struck."

Even Honduras' school system could be sorely tested by an influx of children unaccustomed to learning in a Spanish-language setting, with scarce resources available to accommodate their needs.

Allison said he expects not all 50,000 Honduran TPS recipients would return, with some likely remaining illegally and living on the margins of society, others making for Canada or another country and still others seeking residency through marriage or employer sponsorship.

But Hernandez's government clearly sees the El Salvador decision as a harbinger and is bracing for impact.

"We Hondurans were given the opportunity of six more months for a decision to be made, and the Salvadorans were not," Hernandez said Monday. "Nevertheless we must begin preparing for the eventuality that our compatriots would have to return."

"We must think about how we open the doors to them and how they can bring their goods and resources free of taxes to restart a life with greater facilities in Honduras," he added.

Like the Salvadorans covered by TPS, who were given a grace period through September 2019 before they must leave the United States, Honduras is now hoping for broader immigration legislation that could include relief for TPS recipients. Hernandez said his government is aggressively lobbying the Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers.

"It is the U.S. Congress that is the key piece for the 56,690 Honduran TPS recipients, since they will decide how to enter into an immigration policy that would benefit Hondurans," said Marlon Tabora, the country's ambassador to Washington.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican, introduced a bill that would end TPS while granting permanent residency to qualified enrollees of the program.

It's also possible that Honduras could win another 18-month extension out of political considerations.

Last month Honduras was one of just nine countries to vote against a U.N. resolution condemning Washington's decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. If Hernandez, a conservative seen as a firm U.S. ally, were to make a similar decision to move his country's embassy, as neighboring Guatemala has already done, it could curry further favor with the Trump administration.

"If you're looking at it rationally in terms of policy, you'd have to end TPS for Hondurans if you're going to end it for Salvadorans," Wade said. "If they don't, it's going to look like a total quid pro quo situation."

Associated Press writer Freddy Cuevas reported this story in Tegucigalpa and AP writer Peter Orsi reported from Mexico City.
What to Know Low temperature of 13, recorded before dawn at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is lowest in seven years

Wednesday's high to reach 33; warm-up expected Thursday

Some North Texas schools to begin on a delay Wednesday

The South awoke on Wednesday to a two-part Arctic mess. First came a thin blanket of snow and ice, and then came the below-zero wind chills.



The snowfall sabotaged morning rush hour even before it began, sending cars crashing into each other on major thoroughfares throughout the region. Officials urged people to stay off the slick roads if possible, and to bundle up and wear layers of clothing if they ventured outside.



The same slippery conditions and dangerous wind chills swept across several southern states Tuesday, shutting down interstates, triggering highway crashes, closing airport runways and prompting widespread school closings. Snow fell in a wide band that stretched from southeastern Texas all the way to western Massachusetts.

BRUTAL COLD



The blast of wintry weather impacted areas east and southeast of Dallas-Fort Worth overnight Monday, covering the area with a thin blanket of snow or ice.

The greatest concern Wednesday was the cold air in place. NBC 5's Grant Johnston forecast an official low temperature of 14  close to the record of 12  with wind chills dipping below 0 in some spots. Areas near the Red River could be down in the single digits overnight Tuesday night.

Some schools were on delays Wednesday due to the winter weather. Click HERE for a full list.

ICE PARALYZES SOUTHEAST TEXAS



In Houston, hundreds of crashes were reported Tuesday as the region dealt with icy roads and drivers not used to negotiating slick spots. KPRC reported spin-outs were not hard to find.

"We can handle wet, we can handle cold but when you get real cold with water and you put ice on these roads, it's very dangerous. It's hard for folks to move around," Judge Bob Hebert, of Fort Bend County, said.

Officials and county leaders urged people across Southeast Texas to stay put and avoid the risk of venturing outdoors.

"We're driving with our lights on the freeway trying to slow people down and they are passing us," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told KPRC. "If you see a police car going 35 miles an hour with its lights on you're required A, not pass it and B, have some common sense."

Potentially hazardous wind chills also prompted schools to close Tuesday across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri.



Hundreds of flights were canceled at Texas airports, where frigid temperatures left runways dangerously icy. Forecasters warned mariners along the Texas coast to be on guard for gale-force winds.



"We've got numerous crashes on the interstates and surface roads," Louisiana State Trooper Glenn Younger said Tuesday morning from Bossier City, Louisiana, just across the Red River from Shreveport.

"You can't see the black ice; it's invisible," said Younger, who had been driving roads since 5 a.m. Tuesday and could feel the back end of his patrol car begin to slide at times.



"You want to just barely touch the brakes in that situation," he said. "A lot of people get scared and they want to jam on the brakes, and that makes it worse."


The sister of a woman, who along with her husband faces allegations of keeping their 13 children captive in their California home, says her nieces and nephews faced an extremely strict existence.

On the "Today" show Wednesday, Teresa Robinette, whose sister, Louise Anna Turpin, and brother-in-law, David Allen Turpin, have been jailed and could face charges of torture and child endangerment, said the children didn't live a normal life.

"They werent allowed to date. They didnt have a social life. They werent allowed to watch TV. They werent allowed to talk on the phone or have friends over, the normal stuff that kids do," Robinette said.

Turpin and Robinette's younger brother, Billy Lambert, said he barely knows Louise and David because the couple eloped and lost touch with the family before he was born. Louise Turpin was 16 years old at the time, he said.

The siblings said they were distraught to learn that their 13 nieces and nephews were living in squalor, and physically tortured. Robinette said she voiced her concerns about the children to her sister but was told their father was tall and lanky and they'd grow up to be like him.

"We are as hurt, and as shocked, and as angry, and disappointed as everybody else," Robinette said.

"If we knew, we would have fixed the situation," Lambert added. "People are assuming that we knew. We had no idea."

Robinette lives in Cleveland, Tennessee, and noted that they couldn't do anything to help their nieces and nephews from "across the U.S."

Officials said the children, ranging in age from 2 to 29, were so malnourished the older ones looked like children.

Authorities said they uncovered the abuse when a 17-year-old girl jumped out of a window, called 911 and led police to Southern California home. She was so malnourished, investigators initially thought she was 10 years old.

Captain Greg Fellows of the Riverside County Sheriff's Office said it was unclear what prompted the teen to flee, but he noted her mother "was perplexed" when deputies arrived at the family's door.



The Turpins moved to Perris in 2014, records show. David Turpin had been home schooling his children at the residence, which he had gotten state approval to do so, California records show. The private school, Sandcastle Day School, had an enrollment of six in the 2016-17 school year, with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

Full-time private schools must register with the state to record their students' exemption from mandatory attendance at public schools, but the education department lacks the authority to monitor, inspect or oversee private schools, Ainsworth said.

They are, however, subject to an annual inspection by the state or local fire marshal. Representatives for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Riverside County Fire Department and the Perris Fire Department did not immediately say whether the Turpins' home was ever inspected.



Fellows said officials had no idea anything was happening inside the home and authorities had "no call history at this address." Social workers never visited the home either, said Susan von Zabern, director of the county Department of Public Social Services.

"This was the first opportunity to intervene," von Zabern said.
The parents of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student killed and buried in a California park said Tuesday that the killing may have been a hate crime against their gay son.

The family statement came after a search warrant affidavit obtained by a newspaper revealed that Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20, the high school friend arrested on suspicion of killing Blaze Bernstein, told investigators that Bernstein had kissed him and he had pushed him away before they went to the park.

As he described the kiss, Woodward clenched his jaw and his fists, saying "he wanted to tell Blaze to get off of him," investigators wrote in the affidavit obtained by the Orange County Register.

"Our son was a beautiful gentle soul who we loved more than anything," Gideon Bernstein and Jeanne Pepper Bernstein. "We were proud of everything he did and who he was. He had nothing to hide. We are in solidarity with our son and the LGBTQ community."

The couple added, "If it is determined that this was a hate crime, we will cry not only for our son, but for LGBTQ people everywhere that live in fear or who have been victims of hate crime."

Bernstein was then stabbed more than 20 times and buried in a shallow grave at the park, the Register and the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We are saddened to hear, on the day we laid our son to rest, that gruesome details of the cause of his death were published," Bernstein's parents said in their statement.

Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department, would not confirm to The Associated Press if Bernstein was stabbed but said "the condition of the body at the time it was discovered turned it from a missing person to a homicide immediately."

Woodward was interviewed by authorities after Bernstein was reported missing by his parents on Jan. 3.

Woodward was arrested Friday on suspicion of homicide after DNA evidence linked him to the death of Bernstein, Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes said. The two knew each other from high school, he said.

Bernstein may have been planning to sexually pursue Woodward, according to the 16-page affidavit.

Bernstein texted two female friends about a June interaction where he felt Woodward was romantically interested in him, according to the document. Bernstein wrote that Woodward was about to "hit on me" and "he made me promise not to tell anyone."

Bernstein was visiting his family in Lake Forest, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, during winter break. Woodward picked him up on Jan. 2 and drove with him to several places before they wound up at a park, authorities said.

A sheriff's investigator wrote in court filings that Woodward appeared nervous, had scratched hands and dirt under his fingernails, and avoided touching doors with his hands while leaving the sheriff's office building.

It was not immediately possible to reach Woodward in custody, where he listed his occupation as "Nerf games," according to the jail's website.

Authorities searched for Bernstein for nearly a week with assistance from drone pilots and found his body Jan. 9 after recent rains partially exposed it.

___

This story has been corrected to show that while The Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times reported Bernstein was stabbed, the manner of death has not been confirmed by officials.
A man reportedly shot at least 12 bullets into the air Tuesday after a West Hollywood hotel refused to return his marijuana to him.

Police received a call of shots fired shortly before 8:30 p.m. near the Mondrian Hotel, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

A hotel guest who had checked out returned to retrieve marijuana he left in his hotel room and became enraged after employees refused to return it due to its drug policies.

After being escorted by security, the man rang at least a dozen shots into the air then fled the scene in a silver hatchback driven by a woman.

No one was injured and the gunman fled the scene.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who allegedly agreed twice to oversee deliveries of narcotics and other contraband in exchange for cash payments was arrested Tuesday with three other men on federal narcotics charges.

Deputy Kenneth Collins and the others were arrested by FBI agents after arriving in Pasadena, allegedly to provide "security" for the transport of nearly 45 pounds of cocaine and more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

During the FBI's undercover investigation, Collins allegedly agreed that he and his team would accompany the narcotics and take calculated steps to prevent legitimate law enforcement from intercepting the drugs -- in exchange for cash payments as high as $250,000, according to federal prosecutors.

Collins, 50, of Chino; David Easter, 51, of the Hyde Park district of Los Angeles; and Grant Valencia, 34, of Pomona, were charged in a federal criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court last week.

The three allegedly provided security in November for the transport of what they thought was 13 pounds of methamphetamine, as well as marijuana and counterfeit cigarettes, according to the document. In justifying the high fees for his services, Collins -- a 15-year veteran of the sheriff's department -- told an undercover FBI agent "we're cops" and "all of our transports make it through," court papers allege.

A fourth man -- Maurice Desi Font, 56, of South Los Angeles -- was charged in a second criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. All four defendants appeared in court in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday. Collins, Valencia and Font were all taken into custody, with a tentative court date of Jan. 30. Bail was set at $100,000 for Easter. He is tentatively due back in court Feb. 6.

"Deputy Collins sold his badge to assist an individual he thought was a drug trafficker," said U.S. Attorney Nicola T. Hanna. "The deputy allegedly used his status as a law enforcement officer as a guarantee when he promised safe travels for large quantities of illegal narcotics."

Hanna said the case "is part of our long-standing and ongoing commitment to root out corruption, particularly when it involves sworn law enforcement officers."

Over the past several years, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has won convictions of 21 now-former sheriff's department members -- including ex-Sheriff Lee Baca and former-Undersheriff Paul Tanaka -- in connection with various crimes uncovered during a wide-ranging FBI investigation of the jails.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department issued a statement noting that it brought the allegations of criminal misconduct against Collins to the attention of federal investigators several months ago.

"Since that time, the LASD has been directly cooperating with the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation during all aspects of the investigation," according to the department.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell said he was disappointed.

"It's certainly kind of a kick in the gut to all of us," he said. "Not only to all of us in the profession, but to the community members we serve as well. We're all set back a little bit by this."

Collins was most recently assigned to the County Services Bureau. He has been placed on administrative leave, according to LASD.

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department expects all of its members to hold themselves to the highest ethical and professional standards at all times," the department said. "The allegations presented are very serious and of great concern to the Department and the communities we serve."

"When allegations of criminal activity involve law enforcement, we have systems in place to root out misconduct in the organization and any Department member who chooses to violate the law and public trust," according to the statement.

"The LASD will continue to work with our federal partners in all aspects of the investigation."

The affidavit in support of the complaint outlines an alleged scheme in which Collins agreed to accept tens of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for providing security during the transportation of large quantities of drugs from the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas, Nevada.

On Nov. 14, after Collins negotiated a $25,000 payment in exchange for providing security during the transport of contraband, Collins, Easter and Valencia participated in a caravan that traveled to Las Vegas, prosecutors allege. During negotiations for the transport of multiple pounds of cocaine and meth, plus cash, from Pasadena to Las Vegas, Collins allegedly said he would bring a larger team than used during the November transport, and those additional members would include other law enforcement officers, court documents state.

When the team arrived Tuesday at the pre-determined location, Font was the alleged fourth member of the team. According to the affidavit, the FBI had been investigating Collins in relation to an alleged scheme to accept cash payments in exchange for providing security for illegal marijuana grow facilities, as well as assisting in the distribution of controlled substances.

An undercover FBI agent "who was posing as a family member of a wealthy investor looking to finance an illegal marijuana grow house " first met with Collins in August, the document alleges. The U.S. Attorney's Office contends Collins offered to provide security for an illegal marijuana grow house and claimed to have three "teams" that already provided security for drug operations across San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

During one of the August meetings, Collins allegedly displayed his Sheriff's Department badge and lifted his shirt to reveal a firearm hidden in his waistband, which investigators believe was to emphasize that he was a law enforcement officer and his services therefore were more valuable to a drug organization, according to prosecutors. According to the affidavit, that meeting concluded with the undercover agent paying Collins $5,000 in "good faith" money for future services.

Over the course of several meetings, Collins also offered to "fix problems" for the undercover agent, including by physically assaulting people, in exchange for cash, the affidavit alleges. Collins claimed to have a very "professional ... team" comprised of "cops" who "travel ... with guns," federal prosecutors allege.

Paul Delacourt, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, alleged that Collins "used his position of trust and appropriated his authority to conduct lucrative criminal activity with others at the expense of Los Angeles County residents." "While our investigation continues to determine whether others may have been involved, this should not be viewed as an indictment of the many dedicated servants at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, some of whom brought this unlawful activity to our attention," Delacourt said. If convicted of the drug trafficking conspiracy alleged in the criminal complaints, each defendant would face a sentence of up to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The Association of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies issued a statement saying the arrest of a deputy "is always shocking and very disappointing."

"As outraged as the public may be over these accusations, I guarantee you the men and women of the sheriff's department are twice as upset," according to the union. "We urge the public not to lose faith in the vast majority of deputies who every day demonstrate their commitment to the community with their honesty, integrity, bravery and hard work."

Collins once taught an "Emerging Leaders" reform program for ex-offenders program, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Valencia was part of Collins' classes. Collins told the newspaper in 2014 that he grew up poor in South Los Angeles and was in the military.
At least two bodies have been recovered after an airplane that embarked on a 15-minute flight crashed on Wednesday in the Bahamas.

A total of six Bahamians are feared dead. Delvin Major, chief investigator at Bahama's Air Accident Investigation Department, said a six-seater Piper Aztec left the Nassau International Airport at about 8 a.m.

By 11 a.m., the agency received reports the aircraft disappeared from radar screens earlier in the day and that limited efforts to find the craft proved fruitless. Search and rescue efforts by the AAID began immediately, Major said.

The U.S. Coast Guard joined the search for the aircraft by sending a helicopter in response to a request for assistance by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.

Two bodies were recovered and debris was located. Officials plan to return to the area where the plane was found early Thursday. Severe weather has hindered the search for the aircraft, San Andros police said. The plane carried one pilot and five passengers.

Royal Bahamas Police Force spokesperson Shanta Knowles said the aircraft left the airport  formally called the Lynden Pindling International Airport  in the North Andros district and headed to North Providence, which is about a 15-minute flight.

Carlton Bowleg Jr., a minister of parliament representing the North Andros and Berry Islands districts, previously told The Tribune Limited that the passengers are feared dead.
What to Know The 25-year-old prisoner who busted out of a Connecticut correctional institution last week has been detained

Authorities said that Jerry Mercado, who was thought to be in New York City after the prison break, was arrested in Canton, Georgia

Police said Mercado was thought to have gotten out of the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution by stowing away under a vehicle on Jan. 7

The 25-year-old prisoner who escaped from a Connecticut prison earlier this month was captured in Georgia.

Jerry Mercado was detained at a gas station in the Atlanta suburb of Canton, Georgia, on Wednesday afternoon after the U.S. Marshals Service acted on a tip they got, officials said.



It comes after marshals had raised the reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest of Mercado, who busted out of the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield on Jan. 7.

Police said he might have escaped from the prison by stowing away under a vehicle that morning, and officials said Tuesday he was thought to be in New York City and was riding the subway in an attempt to fit in. But officials said Wednesday he left Manhattan and headed for Georgia at some point.

During a news conference on Jan. 8, state Department of Correction (DOC) Commissioner Scott Semple said investigators believed a vehicle was involved in the escape because there were no breaches to the facility's outer fence.

Semple said there were two vehicles on the property that day - a state police van and a garbage truck - and investigators are looking into whether Mercado stowed away under one of the vehicles to escape.

Mercado, who is from Hartford, was serving a three-year sentence for third-degree burglary charges at the time of the escape. Officials from the DOC said he is classified as a "low risk" offender.

Carl Robinson is primarily a dormitory-style facility that houses around 1,500 inmates on Shaker Road in Enfield.
Nine of the 12 members of the National Park System Advisory Board resigned this week out of frustration that the new heads of the Interior Department hadn't met with them, NBC News reported.

Tony Knowles, the board's chairman since 2010 and a former Democratic governor of Alaska, said in an interview with Alaska Public Radio that he and eight other members of the panel quit on Monday over their frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke hadn't met with them even once. He confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

Another contributing factor was department leaders' apparent lack of interest "in learning about or continuing to use the forward-thinking agenda of science," Knowles told Alaska Public Radio. The board advises the interior secretary and the National Park Service on matters such as designation of natural and historic landmarks.

Interior Department Associate Deputy Secretary Todd Willens said Wednesday it's "patently false" to say the department hasn't engaged with the board, the Associated Press reported. He said the terms of two members had expired and their resignations are a "hollow and dishonest political stunt."
The City of Philadelphia is tackling the opioid epidemic killing hundreds of people in the city by targeting companies that make powerful painkillers.

On Wednesday, Mayor Jim Kenney, City Solicitor Sozi Pedro Tulante and city health officials accused major drugmakers, including some with U.S. headquarters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, of deceptive marketing of prescription opioids.

The epidemic currently plaguing the city has exacted a grim toll on Philadelphia residents and their families, Kenney said. And the cause can be directly linked to methods used by manufacturers to market and sell their products to doctors and the public. Those tactics have to end.

The number of deadly overdoses in Philadelphia in 2017 is expected to reach 1,200, one-third more than 2016. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Philadelphia suffered a higher rate of overdose deaths than any other major American city.

One in three Philadelphians has been prescribed an opioid painkiller in the past 12 months, the city estimates.

The opioid crisis is the largest public health crisis this city has seen in a century, and it has been fueled by drug companies," Philly Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said. Its well past time for those companies to stop pushing these drugs and start helping us cope with the human tragedy they have caused.

The 172-page suit filed in Philadelphia Commons Pleas Court names several companies with local ties as defendants. Among them: Teva, an Israeli company which has its U.S. headquarters in Horsham; Cephalon, which was based in Frazer, and Endo Pharmaceuticals, an Irish company with U.S. headquarters in Malvern.

Also named as defendants were New Jerseys Allergan/Actavis, Janssen Pharmaceutical and Johnson & Johnson; and Connecticuts Purdue Pharma.

Some of the companies named in the suit have consolidated. Teva acquired Cephalon in 2011. And Allergen sold its Actavis Global Generics wing, which produces opioids, to Teva in 2016.

The suit seeks to halt what the city calls deceptive marketing practices and force the drugmakers to pay for treatment costs and reimburse Philadelphia for the money it has spent responding to the addiction epidemic. The epidemic is so bad the city has dedicated an EMS unit to drug overdose response.

City agencies have incurred large, burdensome, unnecessary and avoidable costs to address the crisis, City Solicitor Sozi Pedro Tulante said. It is our duty to devote all resources we can to help protect the public from further perils and to finally put an end to the practices which are the root of this epidemic."

Drug companies have said in similar lawsuits they don't believe litigation is the answer, but have pledged to help solve the crisis. After the filing of the Philly suit, Teva, Allergen, Endo, Janssen and Purdue said they are committed to curbing illegal prescription drug use. Endo, Janssen and Purdue also denied the citys claims.

The city is joining a growing list of U.S. cities and states, including New Jersey, suing painkiller manufacturers.

Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared a statewide disaster emergency that suspends regulations hindering access to addiction care.

NBC10 received theses responses from drug companies named in the Philly suit:

Teva Statement:

"Teva is committed to the appropriate use of opioid medicines, and we recognize the critical public health issues impacting communities across the U.S. as a result of illegal drug use as well as the misuse and abuse of opioids that are available legally by prescription. To that end, we take a multi-faceted approach to this complex issue; we work to educate communities and health care providers on appropriate medicine use and prescribing, we comply closely with all relevant federal and state regulations regarding these medicines, and, through our R&D pipeline, we are developing non-opioid treatments that have the potential to bring relief to patients in chronic pain. Teva also collaborates closely with other stakeholders, including providers and prescribers, regulators, public health officials and patient advocates, to understand how to prevent prescription drug abuse without sacrificing patients needed access to pain medicine."

Allergan Statement:

It is important to put into perspective Allergans role regarding opioids. Allergans two branded opioid products  Norco and Kadian  account for less than 0.08 percent of all opioid products prescribed in 2016 in the U.S. These products came to Allergan through legacy acquisitions and have not been promoted since 2012, in the case of Kadian, and since 2003, in the case of Norco. Allergan has a history of supporting  and continues to support  the safe, responsible use of prescription medications. This includes opioid medications, which when sold, prescribed and used responsibly, play an appropriate role in pain relief for millions of Americans.

Endo Statement:

"Endo is dedicated to providing safe, quality products to patients in need and we share the public concern regarding opioid abuse and misuse. We are committed to working collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive solution to the opioid crisis, which is a complex problem with several causes that are difficult to disentangle. Any serious solution must therefore be multifaceted and consider, among other things, the legitimate access needs of the millions of patients suffering from acute or chronic pain who rely on opioids to improve their quality of life.

"Toward that goal, Endo has taken meaningful action during the past year by voluntarily ceasing opioid promotion and eliminating its entire product salesforce. Endo also voluntarily withdrew Opana ER from the market following FDAs request despite having a statutory right to challenge that request, implemented additional anti-diversion measures and terminated its new opioid product development programs.

"It is Endo's policy not to comment on current litigation. That said, we deny the allegations contained in this lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend the Company."

Janssen Statement:

"Responsibly used opioid-based pain medicines give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain. At the same time, we recognize opioid abuse and addiction is a serious public health issue that must be addressed.

"We believe the allegations in the lawsuits against our company are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to its opioid pain medicines, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label. According to independent surveillance data, Janssen opioid pain medicines consistently have some of the lowest rates of abuse among these medications, and since 2008 the volume of Janssen opioid products always has amounted to less than one percent of the total prescriptions written per year for opioid medications, including generics. Addressing opioid abuse will require collaboration among many stakeholders and we will continue to work with federal, state and local officials to support solutions."

Purdue Statement:

We are deeply troubled by the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis, and are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. Although our products account for approximately 2 percent of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, weve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed three of the first four FDA-approved opioid medications with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.
A Delaware County man, who sexually assaulted his friend's daughter and created hundreds of child porn images, received the statutory maximum sentence of 90 years in prison.

Matthew Maffei of Aston, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Tuesday for manufacturing sexually explicit images of his childhood friend's 7-year-old daughter as well as the transportation, receipt and possession of child pornography.

Officials say they sought the maximum sentence for Maffei due to his "horrific sexual abuse" of the victim.



Maffei sexually abused the girl in her own home as her parents slept in the next bedroom. He also forced the girl's 5-year-old brother to watch the abuse and threatened to kill them both if they told their parents what he was doing. During the sexual assaults, which officials called "unspeakable," Maffei committed foul acts on the girl and even took photos which he later distributed as child pornography.



While imposing the sentence against Maffei, the Delaware County District Court asked the victim's parents to assure the girl and her brother that Maffei would "never in his lifetime be released from custody."


Welcome to the 21st Century, Tony Iannelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said as he ushered in the opening of Pennsylvanias first medical marijuana dispensary Wednesday morning.

Located on an otherwise quiet street in Bethlehem, Keystone Canna Remedies looks like any other new business. There are no pot leaf signs or smelly odors lingering in the air. This is not a West Coast-style dispensary and everything about Keystone Canna Remedies points to the very professional nature of Pennsylvanias nascent program.

Patients will walk into a spacious waiting room where security will check for proper identification and physician recommendations. Inside an adjoining area, patients can sit down with pharmacists in one of two private consultation rooms to discuss treatment options, ask questions and learn more about state regulations.

With a plan in place, patients will then visit the retail counter to choose from dozens of medications. Flower and edibles will not be available per Pennsylvania law, but patients can purchase vaporizers, cartridges, tinctures, oils and even lotions. They can also choose between products that contain THC  the psychoactive ingredient that gets people buzzed  and CBD  a purely medicinal compound that does not produce a high.

Pennsylvania and the Department of Health has been doing it right, said Victor Guadagnino Jr., who founded Keystone Canna Remedies alongside his father, Dr. Victor Guadagnino, and his aunt, Joan Guadagnino. The state is setting the standard for how other states should implement medical marijuana programs.

Native Brooklynites, the Guadagnino family chose Pennsylvania to kick off their cannabis business after seeing Gov. Tom Wolfs commitment to getting the program off the ground quickly and without the kind of bureaucratic hiccups that plagued similar programs in New Jersey, Maryland and New York.

The elder Guadagnino is a cardiologist whose own father found relief from cancer in medical cannabis.

It was very personal for all of us, he said, adding that the family has a home in Bucks County and a business partner in the Lehigh Valley.

Keystone Canna Remedies

Keystone Canna Remedies opening comes at a precarious time for the marijuana industry. Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded an Obama-era directive that allowed states to decide their own marijuana laws.

Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug alongside heroin and LSD at the federal level.

Sessions move coincided with California becoming the nations largest state to welcome recreational use of marijuana at the beginning of the new year. Californias medical program has been in place since the mid-1990s.

But the Guadagnino family is not worried their business could go belly up if prosecutors chose to enforce federal drug laws. Wolf has signaled a willingness to continue the states program despite Sessions warning, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts introduced a bipartisan bill to protect state marijuana laws from federal scrutiny.

We believe that the state will protect us, Victor Guadagnino Jr. said. Im not worried because were focused on getting the patients access. When people can see the benefits cannabis can have, I think there is going to be a lot of change at the national level.

One of those patients is former Philadelphia Flyers left winger and current Lehigh Valley resident Riley Cote, who uses medical pot to recover from years on the ice. Known as a brawler, Cote racked up more than 50 penalties during his time in Philadelphia. He often woke up swollen and bruised, and retired from the sport at the age of 28 after undergoing multiple surgeries.

To manage the pain, doctors prescribed him pills.

Ive seen the dark side of opioids  what they do to the spirit and the mind for athletes and all people, he said. I dont want to go down that path.

In cannabis, Cote found a sustainable and holistic approach to health.

Its a very positive plant, he said. We have to bring it out of the darkness and into the light. We just have to get over ourselves and our belief systems and change the way we think.

Keystone Canna Remedies is now open to the public for consultations and educational workshops only. The dispensary will begin selling medication in February.
Lebanon's censorship authorities have effectively banned Steven Spielberg's newspaper drama, "The Post," because the American director is on a regional blacklist for supporting Israel.

The directive by the country's General Security agency still needs to be signed by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk to enter into effect, but that is considered a formality that is unlikely to stop the ban.

The directive accompanied another ban on "Jungle," a survival movie based on the memoirs of Israeli national Yossi Ghinsberg.

Lebanon and other Arab nations have long maintained a cultural boycott against Israel. But the twin bans reflect the growing strength of a once-fringe movement to extend the boycott to people and companies seen as too friendly to Israel.

General Security, which is also charged with running Lebanon's only commercial airport, detained acclaimed Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri as he arrived last year to promote his latest film, "The Insult." The drama is Lebanon's entry to the Foreign-Language awards category at this year's Oscars.

Doueiri was questioned on charges of doing business with Israel. His previous film, "The Attack," was banned in Lebanon and most Arab countries because it was filmed in Israel and featured several Israeli actors. All charges were dropped against him after news of his detention caused a scandal in the national media.

Also last year, Lebanese authorities banned "Wonder Woman" hours before it was due to premiere, following a campaign against its lead actress, Gal Gadot, who served in the Israeli army.

Supporters of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Lebanon is officially at war with Israel and Lebanese law bans its citizens from visiting Israel or having business dealings with Israelis.

But General Security and its censorship bureau have been inconsistent in their application of a cultural boycott. Several previous Spielberg films have played in Lebanon, including "The Adventures of Tintin," ''The BFG," and "Bridge of Spies." And the ban against "The Post" and "Jungle" is unlikely to prevent Lebanese from watching them through streaming websites or on bootleg DVDs.

Lebanese cinemas were already showing "Jungle" when they were advised to pull it, said Isaac Fahed, the Sales & Distribution Manager at Grand Cinemas, a Middle East cinema chain.

Grand Cinemas had been marketing "The Post" for two months, before it became clear a ban was in the pipeline, said Fahed.

Cinemas around Beirut have taken down posters promoting the film, which was set to premiere on Thursday.

The film is effectively banned from Lebanon unless Machnouk reverses the General Security recommendation, said an official at the agency who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Lebanon officially follows an Arab League blacklist against supporters of Israel and organizations and companies seen as promoting or doing business with the country. A leaked U.S. State Department memo from 2007 revealed that Spielberg was blacklisted by the League for donating $1 million to Israel for reconstruction during its 2006 war with Lebanon.

Gino Raidy, a board member of the NGO March, which advocates freedom of expression in Lebanon, described the General Security's censorship regime as "pointless" and "frustrating."

"The real loss from censorship is against Lebanese filmmakers, who with every passing month get more and more 'red lines' they cannot cross."

"The rise in censorship means that the censors know they're losing the culture war, and that people are overwhelmingly against it, hence the frenzied, incoherent attempt to ban things they don't understand, or don't fall into their extremely narrow worldview," he wrote in his blog.

Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.


People with disabilities are facing an uphill battle for parking spaces amid a fast rising number of parking cheats, according to an investigation by the News4 I-Team.

A review of parking enforcement records in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia shows a dramatic increase in citations and convictions against people who illegally park in spaces designated for people with disabilities.

The increase was most dramatic in D.C. In 2017, D.C. public works officers began issuing tickets against drivers who unlawfully park at red top meters in the Central Business District, which are restricted for use by people with handicapped placards on their vehicles.

DDOT

Handicapped-accessible parking violations soared to 7,480 in 2017, a jump from 4,371 in 2016. Public works officers said the violations include drivers who did not display a valid handicapped-accessible parking placard and others who failed to pay the fare at the meters.

If you spent 45 minutes looking for a red top meter, you give up and park where you can, said Heidi Case, an advocate for transportation improvements for people with disabilities.

Case, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, said she often fails to find red top meters, because of rampant cheating by other drivers. She said she is angered by drivers who unlawfully use handicapped parking for convenience.

They get out of their car and youre like, Where is the person with the disability? Why are you taking that space? Case said.

The I-Teams review of Maryland and Virginia court records revealed a growing number of criminal convictions for unlawful parking in spaces for people with disabilities in both states. The records showed at least 200 convictions in Maryland and more than 400 in Virginia since 2014.

(Violations) are a lot more common in the winter months, said Howard County Police Officer Ben Bowman, who patrols for handicapped-accessible parking cheats.

People dont want to park far away and walk through the freezing cold, Bowman said.

News4 I-Team cameras and producers joined Howard County Police on an enforcement detail during the holiday season and watched a quick succession of violators. At least one claimed to be using a relatives placard, though the relative was not in the vehicle at the time. Police issued a $350 ticket to the driver.

In another instance, police ticketed a driver who pulled into a parking space with no placard. The driver screamed profanities at the police and drove away after accepting the ticket.

Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper.


Last month, three friends were killed in separate shootings. Police have not determined whether their deaths are linked, but on Tuesday, they announced they made an arrest in one case.

Malique Lewis, 20, of Southeast D.C., is charged with first-degree murder, assault and several additional charges. He is accused in the death of Armani Coles, 27, of Northwest D.C.

Officers were called to Kenilworth Avenue on Dec. 28 and found Coles lying in the street, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Lewis is being held without bail.

Lewis was on probation at the time of the fatal shooting for carrying a firearm without a license in D.C. At the time of his arrest, he was also being sought in connection with a robbery and assault case in December.

D.C. police chief Peter Newsham told The Washington Post that Coles shooting could be linked to two other killings that occurred on the same day in the District. Newsham said Coles and the two other victims, Ronzay Green and Kerrice Lewis, were friends.
A Fairfax County man is facing felony charges for allegedly making threats against police, local places of worship, courthouses and the Virginia governor's mansion.

Virgil Snyder, 46, made the threats by phone and on his Facebook page, search warrants pulled by the News4 Northern Virginia Bureau say.

A warrant says a call received on Jan. 2 at the Mount Vernon District Police Station was linked to Snyders number. The caller, according to the warrant, referenced a police officer assigned to that station and made statements about shooting [the officer] with armor-piercing bullets while the [officer] was sitting in his cruiser.

The warrants affidavit continues:

The caller then followed up with threatening statements about blowing up your cruiser with a M203 grenade launcher' and further stated that an RPG would also blow up your cruiser while the individual sat in it. The caller indicated, during the call, that the individual would be blown out of the cruiser and again stated that the individual could not survive the attack.

News4 is not identifying the officer involved.

A Fairfax County police detective then called Snyder, according to the warrant.

Snyder allegedly told the detective he was upset because he said the officer he referenced in his initial call had harassed him previously. The detective said Snyder then hung up the phone.

The detective began searching on social media, the warrant says, and discovered disturbing posts on a Facebook account with Snyders name.

The warrant states the post read: Lets burn down the Governors [sic] Mansion n [sic] Richmond and lets burn down the churches and synagogues and mosques. Let us burn down the court house in Fairfax and Alexandria or in every county in Virginia.

Police immediately worked to track down Snyders location using his cellphone. They found him the next day, Jan. 3, at the Giant grocery store on the 11200 block of Fairfax Boulevard in Fairfax. Its there that they arrested him and charged him for making the threats.

Snyder did not work for the grocery store, a company representative said.

While this alleged threat occurred while Gov. Terry McAuliffe was in office, News4 reached out to the office of new Gov. Ralph Northam. They deferred comment to Virginia State Police, the agency responsible for protecting the governor. A representative for the state police said the department is aware of the situation and is assisting Fairfax County police with the investigation.

A representative for the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center said Snyder posted bail on Jan. 4. News4 tried to reach Snyder by phone but did not immediately hear back.

Snyder is due in court March 13. Online court records say a public defender will handle his case. A receptionist at the public defender's office told News4 the office could not confirm who will represent Snyder, citing privacy concerns.
Update

An employee at a behavioral health care center in Virginia has been found not guilty after he was charged in connection with the death of a 15-year-old boy after being restrained.

William P. Herndon, 47, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was found not guilty on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the boy at the North Spring Behavioral Healthcare facility, in Leesburg, Virginia.

The victim, a resident of Norfolk, Virginia was a patient at the facility. He "lost his life after being restrained by the employee," the sheriff's office said shortly after the incident, which occurred Nov. 19, 2017.

An autopsy report ruled the teen's death was accidental and found he died from "positional asphyxia due to physical restraint." But Herndon's defense attorney underscored another autopsy finding: The teen also had an underlying heart abnormality that contributed to his death. A pathologist called as a defense witness testified that he believed it was cardiac arrest rather than asphyxia that caused the death.

Defense attorney Todd Sanders also challenged the prosecution's contention that security camera video of the incident showed the teen was restrained and compressed for four minutes.

"This has been an ordeal for everyone involved...there are no winners here. Our prayers are with the [name omitted] family," Sanders said.

The facility serves children age 7 to 17 who have emotional, behavioral or psychiatric disorders, its website says.

Original story

A 15-year-old boy at a behavioral health care center in Virginia has died, and police charged an employee in connection with the death.

Loudoun County, Virginia, police said William P. Herndon, 47, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the boy, who was from Norfolk, Virginia.

The victim, who was a patient at the facility, "lost his life after being restrained by the employee," the sheriff's office said. The incident occurred Nov. 19.

The name of the juvenile victim was not released. The reason the victim was at the North Spring Behavioral Healthcare facility, in Leesburg, Virginia, also was not released.

An autopsy found that the teen died of "positional asphyxiation."

North Spring Behavioral Healthcare serves children age 7 to 17 who have emotional, behavioral or psychiatric disorders, the facility's website says.

Herndon was arrested Tuesday and is being held without bail at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.
George Washington's Mount Vernon mansion in northern Virginia will be closing temporarily for scheduled preservation work.

The mansion on the banks of the Potomac River will be closed from Jan. 22 through Feb. 4.

The estate itself will remain open, and tourists can visit the museum, Washington's grave, the 4-D theater and the other attractions. Admission to the estate will be 50 percent off while the mansion is closed.

During the closure, the mansion's central passage will be repainted to better reflect its appearance in 1799 and staff archaeologists will do excavation work in the cellar.

The privately operated estate attracts roughly 1 million visitors a year.
A New Jersey man whose car plunged into the icy Delaware River Sunday is accused of leaving his girlfriend to die after he escaped from the submerged vehicle and fled the scene, authorities said.



Police say Jacob Garrett, 24, of Burlington City, was driving "at a high rate of speed" with Stephanie White, 23, also of Burlington City, in the passenger seat shortly before 1 p.m. along Riverbank Road when his car struck a parked minivan. The impact caused the car to vault over the river wall and fall into the ice-covered water below.

As the vehicle became submerged in water, witnesses helped Garrett get out of the car while White remained trapped in the passenger seat, the Burlington County Prosecutor's office said in a statement. Garrett then allegedly told witnesses to "help my girlfriend" before fleeing the scene.



"He left his girlfriend in the water to die," said Burlington City Police Captain John Fine. "When he crashed his car the vehicle went into the water, he got out, said take care of my girlfriend, and ran away. That's an offense in itself."



White was still wearing her seatbelt when responding firefighters pulled her out of the submerged vehicle. She was taken to Lourdes Medical Center where she was later pronounced dead.

A Burlington City police K-9 tracked Garrett to a nearby River Line light rail station. Authorities stopped the train at the Beverly/Edgewater Park station and arrested Garrett, who was soaking wet, the prosecutor's office said.

"I just can't believe that he was such a coward and left her there," said Victoria Wood, Garrett's neighbor.



Garrett was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, causing death while driving with a suspended license and endangering an injured victim. He was held Monday in the Burlington County Jail and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

"He was just always a bad seed," Wood said. "He'd come in here blasting his music. All of us called the cops all the time."

Those who knew White said she worked as a waitress to help her mother raise her younger foster brother.


A Navy veteran is struggling to figure out how he was exposed to HIV during a recent visit to a Nashua, New Hampshire hospital.

Eugene Devoyd still can't believe it.

"I will tell you what I think, deep down, but I don't want anybody copying, I think the people that are working at the hospital up there are a bunch of idiots," Devoyd said.

Devoyd says his trouble started when he visited Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for complications after he fell outside his house.

Devoyd is a diabetic, and during his treatment he was given insulin using an insulin pen. He says the hospital later told him the pen had previously been used on a patient with HIV, potentially exposing him to the virus.

"I feel like they should have definitely told me what was going on," he said.

To make matters worse for the family, Devoyd says his son was checking his insulin levels when he accidentally pricked himself, potentially exposing himself to HIV, too.

"I feel more sorry for my dad," Chris Devoyd said.

The hospital declined to discuss the incident, citing privacy laws.

"Due to federal and state confidentiality laws and our utmost commitment to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss individual treatment at our facility," Tate Curti, COO of Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, said Thursday.

"If a potential issue arises, it would receive prompt attention, as well as a quality review, to determine all factors and to identify opportunities for improvement and corrective actions, as warranted," Curti added.

Both Eugene and Chris are taking anti-virus medicine, and have passed one screening for HIV. They still have two more tests.

"Very very stressful," Chris Devoyd said. "I can not let it stop from continuing how this can happen in this day and age."
Maine's first Somali police officer is on paid leave during an investigation after her arrest over the weekend in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Worcester police charged Zahra Munye Abu, of Portland, with several misdemeanors including assault and battery, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Police say the 26-year-old caused a disturbance at a Ja Rule and Ashanti concert at the Palladium Nightclub. She was arrested Saturday night, and posted bail early Sunday.

Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck confirmed Abu's arrest, but declined further comment.

Abu was born in a Kenyan refugee camp before coming to Maine. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine and became a police officer in 2016. The Associated Press could not locate a phone number for her, and it's unclear if she has a lawyer.
A New Hampshire man has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Court documents say a search of 39-year-old Jason Stone's home in Greenland in 2016 showed more than 100 images and videos of child pornography on electronic devices.

Stone is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on May 1.


Heacham church historian endorses Pocahontas musical Heacham church historian endorses Pocahontas musical

Christine Dean, a history enthusiast from St Marys, Heacham is endorsing a new musical production of Pocahontas, after helping the Michala Jane Dance School research the local history behind the story.
Graeme and Gill Leech continue to operate Regent Block Management

From left, Gill and Graeme Leech with Tim Hughes

INDEPENDENT letting agency Regent Lettings Limited was acquired by Tim Hughes of Belvoir in September.

Following a handover period, former owners Graeme and Gill Leech continue to own Regent Block Management in Newbury, where it remains business as usual.

And they plan to spend more time in the New Forest, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire where they have family and other business interests, including a holiday let property, which they have recently developed.

Mr and Mrs Leech would also like to thank all of their clients and customers, not only for their business over the last 10 years, but also for their friendship which they hope will continue, in many instances away from the property lettings arena.

Mr Hughes opened Belvoir Lettings in 2014, after leaving the Army and a short spell working for charity.

His aim was to provide a level of service to landlords that he had not been able to find when buying and renting out his own buy-to-let property in Reading.

Belvoir Newbury has been growing quickly, and Mr Hughes says he is looking forward to continuing the same standard of service that clients and customers came to expect from Mr and Mrs Leech and their team.

Mr Leech said: When Tim approached us to see if we would be interested in selling, we had to think about it, but after some considerable thought, as we now have several different business interests, felt that our team and clients may benefit from new leadership who were fully focussed on one business.

Following a number of discussions, we felt that Tim would be the right person to be at the helm, embrace the portfolio that we have built up and continue to look after our clients going forward, with their terms and conditions of business remaining unchanged.

Once again, we would like to thank all of our landlord clients, some of whom have been with us since day one, and we value the relationships that we have built up over the years.

It is not therefore surprising that while, in one sense, we leave our clients with a heavy heart, we would not have sold

if we didnt feel that Tim had the same ethics, morals and fibre as us, not only to look after the business that we have built over many long days with many fantastic, long-standing clients.

Tim also plans to drive the business forward, which is vital, and we very much hope that with our clients support this will enable Tim and his Belvoir franchise to expand and flourish in Newbury in the years ahead.

We wish Tim, his team and our former clients and customers a very happy and prosperous New Year.
This year, BMG LABTECHs Australian office celebrates 20 years of innovation and steady growth. The office was established in January 1998 to support Australia and the APAC region, offering excellent sales and customer service for BMG LABTECHs wide range of dedicated and multi-mode microplate readers.

Since its incorporation there have been many changes at BMG LABTECH. We have grown and developed into a premium company, offering the very best in customer support for the high quality German designed and built range of microplate readers. 2018 marks a milestone year in which I anticipate further growth by enhancing our offering to new customers and continuing our dedicated support to our loyal customer base, says James Balmer, Managing Director BMG LABTECH P/L.

In the -omnics era of science, microplate readers are at the core of life-science applications. BMG LABTECH worldwide is positioned at the forefront of these technologies due to the companys ongoing collaboration with its customers. This has led to the development of innovative and unique technologies in microplate reading, adds James. BMG LABTECH also recognizes the importance of customer support, providing a highly qualified and fully trained team including applications specialists, engineers and a dedicated focus on technical support. We also offer applications support for the lifetime of all our instrumentation, something that we know adds considerable value to our customer base.

To celebrate this significant milestone, there will be various events and promotions for BMG LABTECHs APAC customers throughout the year. Stay tuned and join in the celebrations!
International medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra announces that Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), one of the most renowned orthopaedic hospitals in the US, has ordered Sectras 3D pre-operative planning solution. The software will provide HSS orthopaedic surgeons with advanced tools to enhance visualization of complex cases with the goal of improving patient outcomes.

Sectras innovative 3D solutions will enable us to make full use of the acquired images, resulting in cutting edge delivery of care to our orthopaedic patients, says William M. Ricci, MD, Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma Service at HSS. This 3D platform will improve the quality of pre-operative planning with potential for improved surgical outcomes.

The 3D pre-operative planning solution includes tools that allow the surgeon to render standard CT images into a three-dimensional interactive image that can be segmented, manipulated, mirrored, templated and 3D printed. The software will integrate with the existing Sectra radiology PACS at HSS to enable surgeons immediate access from anywhere in the hospital.

This agreement adds software tools for advanced 3D virtual fracture reduction and trauma planning as well as efficient tools for 3D spine planning into the hands of all surgeons at HSS, says Gustaf Schwang, General Manager Business Unit Orthopaedics at Sectra. It also includes collaborative development of software, intended to deepen both companies leadership position in our respective markets.
Scientists have long been reading the code of life - the genome -, as a sequence of letters but now researchers have also started exploring its three-dimensional organization. In a paper published in Nature Genetics, an interdisciplinary research team of scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) - including a Centro Nacional de Analisis Genomico (CNAG-CRG) group - in Barcelona, Spain, shows that the three-dimensional organization of the genome plays a key role in gene expression and consequently in determining cell fate.

It all began with the 4D Genome project, an ambitious and innovative research initiative funded by a European Research Council Synergy grant aimed at understanding how the spatial organization of the genome contributes to decisions made by cells. What scientists wanted to find out was whether genome architecture plays an active function or whether it is a mere side effect of the genome's activity. The model that the 4D Genome team used was cell reprogramming, a process that allows the scientists to revert white blood cells back to a state of pluripotency whereby these cells can differentiate into any other cell type. Proteins that control gene activity (known as transcription factors) play a key role in this process, which the 4D Genome team studied in great detail, assessing how they induce changes in gene expression, modifications of chromatin (the structure around which DNA is wrapped), and changes in the 3D organization of the genome.

Understanding how stem cells are formed and how they can convert into different cell types is a major challenge in modern biology. It has been known since the fifties that all specialized cells in the body contain the same genome. So, what then distinguishes one cell type from another? The answer is that different cells read the information contained in different parts of the genome. The machinery required to achieve this selective information recall resides primarily in so called 'transcription factors', molecules that switch genes on or off. Many other molecules are also involved in this process, including epigenetic regulators that help to densely pack the genome into the nucleus of a cell, or locally unpack it to allow gene expression. The scientists used a reprogramming method discovered by CRG senior researcher Thomas Graf and his team. With this precision tool in hand, they were able to study the dynamics of genome organization by comparing the changes in genome architecture and transcription at different times during reprogramming.

"We expected that transcription factors would first switch on certain genes, which then afterwards may force a re-organization of the 3D structure of the chromosome. Surprisingly, what we found is that in a large proportion of the genome, the transcription factors were actually promoting this re-organization before the genes were switched on," explains Ralph Stadhouders, co-first author of the paper together with computational biologist Enrique Vidal.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

"Our paper shows that transcription factors may play a completely new role in cell reprogramming: they do not only switch genes on and off, but also promote the architectural changes necessary to modify gene expression," states Thomas Graf, senior CRG group leader and lead investigator of this study. "It may have relevant implications for researchers worldwide studying gene regulation in general since we know now that the large-scale organization of the genome cannot be ignored. It also raises new questions about how these large changes can be brought about: possibly new mechanisms, perhaps even new machineries that are necessary to change certain areas of the genome" reflects Graf.

The perfect combination: risky + interdisciplinary fundamental science

The findings reported in Nature Genetics indicate that genome architecture has important informational value for controlling gene expression during cell reprogramming, and is thus required for the specialized functions of a cell. "We are only scratching the surface of what could be critical as yet unrecognized mechanisms by which cells regulate gene expression" says co-principal investigator and ICREA research professor at CNAG-CRG, Marc A. Marti-Renom. "The new discovery might also be fundamental for development and for some development-related diseases and cancer," he concludes.

Again, this is an example on how risky science with innovative and interdisciplinary approaches leads to surprising and relevant results to advance knowledge. In this case, four laboratories at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (including a CNAG-CRG one) took full advantage of their experience and diverse capabilities to address fundamental questions in genome biology with the support of a 13M  ERC Synergy grant. "Promoting and supporting fundamental research is crucial to advance knowledge. We are proud that our project is already providing the first answers to the burning question about how genome 3D organization shapes genome regulation," agree the four group leaders participating in the 4D Genome project: Thomas Graf, Marc A. Marti-Renom, Guillaume Filion, and Miguel Beato.
X-Men: Sins of Sinister gets its own Sinister-ized Captain America and more new character designs

Mister Sinister is apparently about to pull off his very own Age of Apocalypse and remake reality in his image
GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us.
A defiant state Rep. Josh Zepnick reversed course Tuesday from a past claim that he did not recall alleged incidents in which he was accused of sexual misconduct  now saying he disputes some details of one of the allegations.

Zepnick, D-Milwaukee, also panned attempts by fellow Democrats to push him out of office, saying hes readying for a possible re-election bid this fall.

Im not going to be treated like some punching bag because people want to sort of make a point about the relations between men and women at the workplace, Zepnick told the Wisconsin State Journal on Tuesday. I made a mistake. Ive apologized for it. ... I dont think its a pattern of conduct.

Zepnick also said Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz told him the move to strip him of his legislative committee assignments was temporary. But Hintz, D-Oshkosh, moved quickly Tuesday to rebut that. Through a spokeswoman, Hintz said he has no plans to restore Zepnicks committee posts.

Zepnick was publicly accused in December of drunkenly kissing two women, a Democratic Party of Wisconsin employee and a legislative staffer, without their consent in separate incidents in 2015 and 2011. Shortly after the allegations became public, Hintz and other top Democrats called on Zepnick to resign.

So far, he has refused.

Zepnick spoke Tuesday after the Assembly voted 92-0 to require members and employees to undergo sexual harassment training every two years. Zepnick voted for the resolution.

He said he has not made a final decision on whether hell seek re-election, but is making preparations to do so.

Im making some quiet moves behind the scenes to get ready, Zepnick said. He added that he wants to see what emerges from an anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wisconsins redistricting plan.

Zepnick is set to face at least one Democratic primary challenger: Attorney Marisabel Cabrera, who narrowly missed defeating Zepnick in a 2016 primary, has said shell challenge him again this year.

The allegations against Zepnick first were published by The Capital Times, which granted anonymity to the accusers.

Zepnick initially told The Capital Times he did not recall either incident.

On Tuesday, Zepnick claimed he now recalls parts of the more recent 2015 incident. Asked about the discrepancy, Zepnick said it took me awhile to kind of piece things together from a night that happened three years ago and involved drinking.

As time goes on, you start to remember things better, he said.

Zepnick acknowledged kissing the female accuser but said some reported details about the incident were inaccurate and exaggerated, including one in which the anonymous accuser said Zepnick, according to the Capital Times, put his tongue and lips on my mouth and face without my consent.

Zepnick said he instead hugged the woman and kissed her on the cheek.

Zepnick has acknowledged he is an alcoholic and said his past drinking contributed to his mistakes. He said Tuesday that he has been sober since 2015. Zepnick was arrested that year for drunken driving, a charge of which he later was convicted.

Speaking Tuesday, Zepnick said he has gotten largely positive feedback from constituents since the allegations became public. He also took issue with the description of his behavior by one of his accusers in a Capital Times report as predatory.

I feel Im lumped in with a lot of really bad eggs, and Im not sure how fair it is, Zepnick said.
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu set to arrive in Mumbai

Mumbai : Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive here from Ahmedabad around 6.15 p.m. on Wednesday on a two-day visit, officials said.

On Thursday, Netanyahu will have a packed schedule. He will interact with the best of both the worlds Mumbai has to offer - business and glamour. His official day will start with a power-breakfast with top Indian CEOs and head honchos plus attending a business forum of Israeli and Indian business persons.

This will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace opposite the Gateway of India and a visit to the Chabad House in Nariman House, in nearby Colaba - both in south Mumbai.

Both these places - the heritage hotel and the once non-descript Nariman House - were the targets of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by 10 Pakistani gunmen who sneaked in from the Arabian Sea.

Netanyahu is expected to declare the Chabad House as a Living Memorial in which the orphaned toddler Moshe Holtzberg, now an 11-year-old boy, was saved by his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel from the terrorist mayhem.

However, his young parents Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka lost their lives along with seven others in the attack, after which little Moshe and Samuel were taken to Israel.

Later, he will attend a gathering with the members of the small but prosperous Jewish community living in different parts of Mumbai. The evening is reserved for a gala glamour-filled engagement with Bollywood personalities, his final engagement before returning home on Friday morning.
Atlasaurus dinosaur tail discovered in Mexico up for auction

Mexico City : A dinosaur tail discovered in Mexico will be up for auction on Tuesday night to raise funds for the reconstruction of thousands of schools damaged by two earthquakes that struck the Latin American nation in September.

The fossil tail of a dinosaur, with 4-meter length and 180 kg of weight, comes with a reserved price tag of 1.8 million Mexican pesos ($95,805), according to organizer Morton's Auction House. All the amount raised above the base price will be donated to the BBVA Bancomer Foundation to help finance the reconstruction of some 5,000 damaged schools.

The tail belongs to a 17-metre (56-foot), 22-tonne sauropod of the Atlasaurus imelakei species that roamed the Atlas Mountains of Morocco during the Middle Jurassic, some 165 million years ago.

Mexico was rattled with two major quakes in September, nearly 480 people were killed in the natural calamity.

"Education is an element of enormous importance for the country, an element of social mobility, that is why we support the reconstruction of schools," Adolfo Albo, from BBVA Bancomer Foundation, told Reuters.

The foundation hopes that the tail of the dinosaur will be sold for an amount much greater than the base price.

Moroccan paleontologists took 300 hours to clean the gigantic remains of the reptile, before scientists in Utah pieced them back together.
If there's a will, there's a wave. Outdoor enthusiasts can rejoice in the wealth of water-based activities to choose from in Costa Rica. Surfing, diving and rafting are several popular favorites, and the combination of a wide range of difficulty levels create the perfect activity for everyone in a group. The Pacific coast boasts the most surfing locations, the majority of which are found in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. Tamarindo Beach in the Northern Pacific is considered one of the country's surfing meccas. Visitors will be able to find surf camps, rental shops and ding repair all throughout the beachfront.

When in doubt, paddle out. Thanks to generous rainfall in most parts of the country, Costa Rica's rivers offer exhilarating rafting and kayaking adventures throughout the year. With the pristine Caribbean Sea to the east, the lively Pacific Ocean to the west and a collection of rivers that flow across the country, Costa Rica is also a premier kayaking course. Tortuguero National Park is among the areas in Costa Rica that's especially great for kayak excursions. Visitors can also kayak down one of Costa Rica's flowing rivers giving them an opportunity to see lots of wildlife.

The best views come after the hardest climb. Considered one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world, Costa Rica is home to 28 national parks, eight biological reserves and a series of protected areas that captivate outdoor enthusiasts around the world. Adventure travelers can hike through Costa Rica's magnificent volcanoes, rain forests and jungle landscapes. One of the country's most famous parks is Manuel Antonio. This small biological peninsula is the perfect place to encounter majestic wildlife during a visit to its hiking trails. The Guanacaste National Park, officially declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is another truly astounding part of the country, well-known as prime hiking grounds.

At Arenal Volcano, situated in a beautiful natural park that bears the same name, visitors enjoy hiking the area which has been determined safe by experts. For those looking to go thrill-seeking underground, the nearby Venado Caverns offer a unique cave-hiking experience throughout a 2,700 meter stretch of limestone caves, which abound with icicle formations. For an even more authentic experience, travelers can trek from coast-to-coast, with an itinerary that offers exposure to off the beaten path rural locales and exciting cultural discoveries.

Life's an adventure. Enjoy the ride. Countless miles of trails, covering every type of terrain, await biking enthusiasts of all levels. There are an estimated 80 paths to choose from. The mountains of Talamanca or the Central Volcanic Mountain Range offer rigorous biking. The mountain ranges in Guanacaste and Tilaran, as well as the valleys and plains along the Caribbean, the Central Pacific, and the Southern Pacific also make for excellent biking destinations.

Costa Rica offers boundless adventure activities for all different ages, tastes and budgets, making it effortless for visitors to integrate fitness into a vacation. For a fitcation fit for a king, the answer is Costa Rica.

For more information on Costa Rica, visit www.visitcostarica.com

About Costa Rica

Nestled between Nicaragua and Panama, Costa Rica offers visitors an abundance of unique wildlife, landscapes and climates -- meaning a trip to this Central American country is anything but run-of-the-mill. The country proudly shelters approximately five percent of the known biodiversity in the world and has become a global leader in sustainable practices. Visitors to Costa Rica enjoy a highly organized tourism infrastructure offering a broad terrain of activities and accommodations.

About Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT)

Established in 1955, the Costa Rica Tourism Board (the ICT), alongside its partners in the private sector, spearheads the vital task of regulating and promoting Costa Rica's extensive tourism offerings.

SOURCE Costa Rica Tourism Board

For further information: Media Contact: Ines Cano, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications, P: 305-444-4033, [email protected]
DENVER, CO, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels") and Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG; TSX: URE) ("Ur-Energy") today jointly submitted a Petition to the U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") for Relief Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (as amended) from Imports of Uranium Products that Threaten National Security (the "Petition").

Imports of uranium from state-owned and state-subsidized enterprises in Russia , Kazakhstan , and Uzbekistan now fulfill nearly 40% of U.S. demand, while domestic production fulfills less than 5%.

, , and now fulfill nearly 40% of U.S. demand, while domestic production fulfills less than 5%. Increasing levels of nuclear fuel are expected to be imported from Russia and China in the coming years, which will compete directly with U.S. uranium production.

and in the coming years, which will compete directly with U.S. uranium production. In 2017, U.S. uranium production fell to near historic lows due in large part to uranium and nuclear fuel imported from state-subsidized foreign entities; 2018 domestic production is likely to be even lower.

A healthy uranium mining industry is vital to U.S. national security, because it supplies fuel for nuclear power plants that are a key component of the nation's critical energy infrastructure and essential defense needs.

Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels, both headquartered in Denver, Colorado , are the two main U.S. uranium producers, together supplying more than half of all U.S. uranium in 2017.

, are the two main U.S. uranium producers, together supplying more than half of all U.S. uranium in 2017. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy have filed a Section 232 Petition requesting (1) the Department of Commerce to investigate the effects of uranium imports on U.S. national security and (2) the President to use his authority to adjust imports to ensure the long-term viability of the U.S. uranium mining industry.

Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy have proposed sensible remedies that will support a viable domestic uranium mining industry with a negligible impact on U.S. nuclear utilities

Uranium is primarily used as the fuel for non-emitting, zero-carbon nuclear energy, but also plays a key role in national defense. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, nuclear energy provides about 20% of all electricity, and nearly 60% of the carbon-free electricity, generated in the U.S. Uranium is also the backbone of the U.S. nuclear deterrent and fuels ships and submarines in the U.S. Navy. Despite uranium's critical role in supporting clean electricity and national defense, imports of cheap, foreign state-subsidized uranium have swelled in recent years to the point that domestic suppliers currently provide less than 5% of our nation's demand. As recently as 1980, U.S. producers supplied nearly 100% of our domestic uranium needs, and in 1989 the DOC initiated a Section 232 investigation at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") because of concerns that uranium imports exceeded 37.5% at that time. The problem is far worse now.

In 2016, the combined uranium imports from three geopolitically and commercially linked countries  Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan  fulfilled nearly 40% of U.S. requirements. While the U.S. does not import significant quantities of uranium from China at this time, China has significantly grown their state-owned nuclear enterprises and announced that they intend to penetrate the U.S. nuclear market with nuclear fuel that will compete directly with U.S. uranium miners. Further, the approaching expiration of the Russian Suspension Agreement will remove existing limits on Russian uranium imports. This will create additional pressure on U.S. uranium producers, as Russia has announced plans to increase its U.S. market share after that agreement expires in 2020.

Today's extreme dependence is not a matter of foreign competition legitimately underpricing domestic production. It is the result of certain foreign state-subsidy policies that undermine U.S. companies who could otherwise compete fairly on a global basis.

The Petition filed today is a response to this threat to U.S. energy and national security. The Petitioners urge Commerce Secretary Ross and President Trump to act decisively to help restore the long-term viability of the U.S. uranium mining industry. Without a viable nuclear fuel cycle, the commercial and nuclear capabilities of the U.S. will be diminished, and the nation is likely to become 100% dependent on foreign parties that compete with the U.S. for geopolitical influence and commercial advantage to fuel a majority of our clean, baseload electricity. Further, international treaties require that the uranium necessary for defense programs be sourced from the U.S. Unless steps are taken now to foster a healthy domestic uranium mining industry, the defense stockpiles currently held by the DOE will be depleted, and it is unlikely that domestic producers will have sufficient capabilities to meet our defense needs in the future.

Legal Basis and Process

The Petition was filed by Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy pursuant to the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (the "Act"), and 15 C.F.R.  705.5. The Act was promulgated by Congress to protect essential national security industries whose survival is threatened by imports. As such, the Act authorizes the Secretary of Commerce (the "Secretary") to conduct investigations to evaluate the effects of imports of any item on the national security of the U.S. In the Petition, Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy describe in detail how the loss of a viable U.S. uranium mining industry would have a significant detrimental impact on the national, energy, and economic security of the U.S. and the ability of the country to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle.

Once the DOC initiates an investigation, the Secretary has 270 days to prepare a report to the President. Following receipt of the Secretary's report, the President then has 90 days to act on the Secretary's recommendations, and if necessary take action to "adjust the imports of an article and its derivatives" and/or pursue other lawful non-trade related actions necessary to address the threat.

Benefits of Trade Remedies

The Petition seeks remedies which will set a quota to limit imports of uranium into the U.S., effectively reserving 25% of the U.S. nuclear market for U.S. uranium production. Additionally, the Petition suggests implementation of a requirement for U.S. federal utilities and agencies to buy U.S. uranium in accordance with the President's Buy American Policy. These remedies are expected to result in U.S. utilities purchasing approximately 12 million pounds of uranium per year from U.S. production, based on recent data. This would be expected to create a healthy U.S. uranium mining industry, bolster national defense, and improve supply diversification for U.S. utilities and their customers. Greater diversification will lessen the exposure of the U.S. government, U.S. utilities and their customers to the policies of nations like Russia, Kazakhstan, and China. U.S. utilities and their customers will also receive greater protection from supply shocks, price increases, and other geopolitically motivated actions of foreign state-controlled uranium producers. Likewise, a strong domestic uranium mining industry will be able to reliably supply the required domestic uranium that is critical to our national defense programs. The U.S. government will provide support to a vital national security industry, while maintaining a high degree of competition that encourages innovation and lower prices. These remedies will reduce dependence on imports that fuel clean energy, and support reductions in air pollution and carbon emissions.

U.S. uranium producers will continue to compete with global uranium producers, but on a more level playing field. U.S. production will come from existing U.S. producers, from other U.S. producers that are on standby as a result of low uranium prices, and from new U.S. producers. Pricing for U.S. uranium would be expected to increase through domestic competition to levels more consistent with un-subsidized global costs of uranium production, but not to a level that will have a significant impact on the bottom lines of U.S. utilities or the rates their customers pay. An econometric model included in the Petition demonstrates that the average price impact to consumers will be negligible.

Additional information regarding the trade action, including the full text of the Section 232 Petition, can be found on the companies' respective websites shown below. There can be no certainty of the outcome of the investigation or the recommendation of the Secretary, and therefore the outcome of this process is uncertain.

About Energy Fuels: Energy Fuels is a leading integrated U.S. uranium mining company, supplying U 3 O 8 to major nuclear utilities. Its corporate offices are in Denver, Colorado, and all of its assets and employees are in the western United States. Energy Fuels holds three of America's key uranium production centers, the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch Processing Facility in Wyoming, and the Alta Mesa Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today and has a licensed capacity of over 8 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. The Nichols Ranch Processing Facility is an in-situ recovery production center with a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year. Alta Mesa is an in-situ recovery production center with a licensed capacity of 1.5 million pounds of U 3 O 8 per year, which is currently on care and maintenance due to low uranium prices. Energy Fuels also has the largest uranium resource portfolio in the U.S. among producers, and uranium mining projects located in a number of Western U.S. states, including one producing in-situ recovery project, mines on standby, and mineral properties in various stages of permitting and development. Energy Fuels also produces vanadium as a co-product of its uranium production from certain of its mines on the Colorado Plateau, as market conditions warrant. The primary trading market for Energy Fuels' common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "UUUU", and the Company's common shares are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "EFR". Energy Fuels' website is www.energyfuels.com.

About Ur-Energy: Ur-Energy is a U.S. uranium mining company with corporate and operations offices in Denver, Colorado and Casper, Wyoming. Ur-Energy operates the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. Ur-Energy has produced, packaged and shipped more than two million pounds from Lost Creek since the commencement of operations. Applications are under review by various agencies to incorporate Ur-Energy's LC East project area into the Lost Creek permits, and the company has begun to submit applications for permits and licenses to construct and operate its Shirley Basin Project. Ur-Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing activities in the United States, including the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of uranium mineral properties. The primary trading market for Ur-Energy's common shares is the NYSE American under the trading symbol "URG;" Ur-Energy's common shares also trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's website is www.ur-energy.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to: the expected increases in foreign state-subsidized imports of uranium in coming years; the expected further negative impacts of such imports on U.S. uranium production and national security, including the depletion of stockpiles held by the Department of Energy; the potential of the U.S. to be unable to sustain an independent nuclear fuel cycle and to become 100% dependent on foreign parties; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation, including whether or not the Secretary of Commerce will make a recommendation to the President and the nature of the recommendation; whether or not the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; the expected benefits of the proposed remedies, including: the expected impacts on U.S. production and the U.S. uranium mining industry, the expected impacts on purchases of U.S. production by U.S. utilities, the expected impacts on supply diversification and the expected benefits of such diversification on domestic utilities and national defense, the expected ability of the U.S. uranium mining industry to reliably supply the required domestic uranium production, the expected impact of the proposed remedy on improved competition, innovation and lower prices, and the reduction of dependence on imports; the expected impact on pricing for U.S. uranium production and the negligible price impact on electricity rates paid by consumers; and any other statements regarding Energy Fuels' or Ur-Energy's future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects; constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements in this news release that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "expects", "does not expect", "plans", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" and similar expressions) should be considered forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's ability to control or predict. A number of important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements, including without limitation factors relating to: the expected increases in foreign state-subsidized imports of uranium in coming years; the expected further negative impacts of such imports on U.S. uranium production and national security, including the depletion of stockpiles held by the Department of Energy; the outcome of the Department of Commerce Section 232 investigation, including whether or not the Secretary of Commerce will make a recommendation to the President and the nature of the recommendation; whether or not the President will act on the recommendation and, if so, the nature of the action and remedy; the expected benefits of the proposed remedies; the expected impact on pricing for U.S. uranium production and the negligible price impact on electricity rates paid by consumers; and other risk factors as described in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly financial reports. Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy assume no obligation to update the information in this communication, except as otherwise required by law. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Energy Fuels' and Ur-Energy's filings with the various securities commissions which are available online at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations, beliefs and plans of the management of Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, that speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE Energy Fuels Inc.

For further information: Karen Heinold, [email protected], 202.379.6358

Related Links

http://www.energyfuels.com


CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 /CNW/ - The Boyd Group Inc. (the "Boyd Group") today announced the January 12, 2018 opening of a collision repair location in Lawrenceville, Georgia. This brownfield development previously operated as a motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle repair shop. Now a Gerber location, this center is located in one of the major retail corridors off State Route 316. This well-traveled highway connects the University of Georgia to Atlanta and is commonly referred to as University Parkway.

"This newly developed center is located eight miles east of our Duluth location and further extends our presence into the northeast suburbs of Atlanta," said Tim O'Day, President and COO of the Boyd Group. "With the opening of our 23rd location in Georgia, we continue to cement our presence in the state and expand our capacity to serve our customers and insurance partners in the area."

The Boyd Group is continuously looking to add new collision repair locations to its existing network in Canada and the U.S. Interested collision repair center owners are asked to contact Stephen Boyd at the contact coordinates below for more information.

About The Boyd Group Inc.

The Boyd Group Inc. (the "Company"), directly and through subsidiaries, is one of the largest operators of non-franchised collision repair centres in North America in terms of number of locations and sales. The Company operates locations in five Canadian provinces under the trade names Boyd Autobody & Glass (http://www.boydautobody.com) and Assured Automotive (http://www.assuredauto.ca), as well as in 21 U.S. states under the trade name Gerber Collision & Glass (http://www.gerbercollision.com). The Company uses newly acquired brand names during a transition period until acquired locations have been rebranded. The Company is also a major retail auto glass operator in the U.S. with locations across 31 U.S. states under the trade names Gerber Collision & Glass, Glass America, Auto Glass Service, Auto Glass Authority and Autoglassonly.com. The Company also operates a third party administrator, Gerber National Claims Services ("GNCS"), that offers glass, emergency roadside and first notice of loss services. GNCS has approximately 5,500 affiliated glass provider locations and 4,600 affiliated emergency roadside services providers throughout the U.S. For more information on The Boyd Group Inc. or Boyd Group Income Fund, please visit our website at (http://www.boydgroup.com).

SOURCE Gerber Collision & Glass

For further information: Stephen Boyd, Vice President, Corporate Development, Tel: (204) 594-1776, [email protected]
Highlights:

The Crucero NI 43-101 resource estimate includes an indicated resource of 1.0 Moz gold (30,653,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.0 g/t gold) and an inferred resource of 1.1 Moz gold (35,779,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.0 g/t gold) at a 0.4 g/t gold cut-off ( See Tables 1 and 2 for details); and





(30,653,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.0 g/t gold) and an (35,779,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.0 g/t gold) at a 0.4 g/t gold cut-off ( 1 and 2 for details); and This resource estimate increases GoldMining's global measured and indicated resource to 9.5 Moz gold (12.4 Moz gold equivalent) and inferred resource to 11.7 Moz gold (14.2 Moz gold equivalent) across all of its projects resulting in a 13% increase in the indicated category and an 11% increase in the inferred category (see Table 4 for details).

VANCOUVER, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ - GoldMining Inc. (the "Company" or "GoldMining") (TSX-V: GOLD; OTCQX: GLDLF) is pleased to announce the results of a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") mineral resource estimate for its Crucero Gold Project (the "Crucero Project" or the "Project") located in the Department of Puno, southeastern Peru. The estimate includes an indicated resource of 30,653,000 tonnes grading 1.0 g/t gold (1.0 Moz) and an inferred resource of 35,779,000 tonnes grading 1.0 g/t gold (1.1 Moz) at a 0.4 g/t gold cut-off.

Amir Adnani, Chairman of GoldMining, commented: "We are pleased to announce the resource estimate for our Crucero Project, which represents another milestone in the execution of our long-term growth strategy. In 2017, we worked towards furthering this strategy by successfully completing three acquisitions  the Crucero, La Mina and Yellowknife Gold Projects. Our plan in 2018 is to continue this strategy and build upon our vision of maximizing gold leverage for our shareholders."

Garnet Dawson, CEO of GoldMining, commented: "We are pleased to report this conceptual pit constrained resource estimate for the A1 deposit, one of several targets identified by geochemistry and geophysics on the Crucero Project by previous owners. Future exploration programs will look to expand the existing resource at the A1 deposit, test several of the nearby targets and complete additional metallurgical testwork."

The Project

The Crucero Project occurs within the Puno Orogenic Belt, which is host to orogenic gold deposits and associated extensive alluvial deposits in eastern Peru and Bolivia. The Project is road accessible by paved road from Juliaca to the town of Crucero, approximately 150 km to the northeast, with the remaining 50 km to the site by gravel road. High-power electrical lines pass within 8 km of the property.

The Project is comprised of three mining and five exploration concessions with an aggregate area of 4,600 hectares. The three mining concessions are held indirectly by a subsidiary of GoldMining through a 30-year assignment from a third party running until 2038 and are subject to certain net smelter return royalties of 1 to 5%, based on monthly gold prices.

The A1 deposit, as currently defined by trenching and drilling, strikes northwest and dips vertically to steeply to the northeast. The deposit is approximately 750 m long by 100 m in width and has been traced to a vertical depth of 400 m, but most of the drilling is confined to within 250 m of surface. The deposit is open at depth and along strike to the northwest and southeast. The structurally controlled gold mineralization is associated with sulphide veins hosted within strongly deformed metasedimentary rocks.

Historic exploration programs have focused on the A1 deposit, however geophysical and geochemical surveys have identified additional targets for follow-up exploration.

Crucero Resource Estimate

GoldMining engaged Global Mineral Resource Services to prepare an independent NI 43-101 technical report for the Crucero Project, including an updated pit constrained resource estimate for the A1 deposit. The indicated and inferred resource estimates, which have an effective date of December 20, 2017, are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. Assumptions used for the pit modelling are shown in Table 3. A gold cut-off grade of 0.40 g/t was utilized based on similar types of mineralization found at other near surface deposits in the world and is highlighted in the tables below.

Table 1: NI 43-101 indicated resource estimate for the A1 deposit.

Gold Cut-off Tonnage Grade Contained Metal (g/t) (Mt) Gold (g/t) Gold (Moz) 2.0 876,000 2.3 64,000 1.0 13,504,000 1.4 606,000 0.8 19,617,000 1.2 783,000 0.6 25,378,000 1.1 912,000 0.4 30,653,000 1.0 993,000 0.2 33,019,000 1.0 1,013,000 0.0 33,341,000 0.9 1,013,000

Table 2: NI 43-101 inferred resource estimate for the A1 deposit.

Gold Cut-off Tonnage Grade Contained Metal (g/t) (Mt) Gold (g/t) Gold (Moz) 2.0 827,000 2.4 63,000 1.0 14,265,000 1.4 656,000 0.8 21,662,000 1.3 874,000 0.6 28,958,000 1.1 1,038,000 0.4 35,779,000 1.0 1,147,000 0.2 38,706,000 0.9 1,173,000 0.0 39,479,000 0.9 1,174,000

Table 3: Assumptions utilized to establish the conceptual pit for the purposes of the above resource estimate.

Parameter Value Unit Gold Price 1,500 US$/oz Mine Operating Cost (Mineralization and Waste) 1.65 US$/t milled Process Operating Cost 16.00 US$/t milled Overall Pit Slope 47 Degrees

The A1 deposit was modelled on a series of cross-sections and level plans from which a three-dimensional wireframe model was constructed for the mineralized zone at an approximate grade boundary of 0.1 g/t gold. Diamond drill holes (72) totaling approximately 23,000 metres and eleven trenches totaling approximately 3,285 metres were used to define the model (Figs. 1 and 2). High-grade gold values were capped at 17 g/t gold with 19 assays falling above this value. Assay sample lengths were composited at 2.5 metres within the domain. Variography was used to model the grade continuity and to determine the search ellipse orientations and dimensions for interpolation. Ordinary kriging was used to estimate gold into blocks measuring 10 x 10 x 10 metres in dimension. Average bulk density of 2.85 g/cm3 was used to convert block model volumes to tonnages.

Validation of the model was completed by comparison of the block model and drill hole grades by visual inspections in section and plan across the deposit.

Figure 1: Plan Map showing A1 deposit drill holes, trenching (rock channel samples) and projection of mineralized solid.

Figure 2: Cross-section through the A1 Zone showing drill hole grade, block grades and conceptual pit outline.

Quality Control  Quality Assurance Program

The above resource estimate was based on drilling and trenching programs completed by previous operators. The drill programs incorporated control samples including blanks, duplicates and standards as part of their Quality Control  Quality Assurance Program. The control samples from the drill programs have been reviewed and verified by the Qualified Persons (as defined herein) and the assay results were deemed suitable for resource estimation. No information is available regarding the Quality Assurance  Quality Control Program from the trench sampling carried out between 1996 and 2003, however these samples represent only a small percentage (approx. 4%) of the overall assay database used in the resource estimate. The Qualified Persons (as defined herein) are of the opinion that the inclusion of these samples would not have a material effect on the reliability of the overall estimate.

Qualified Person

The resource estimate disclosed herein on the Crucero Project was prepared for GoldMining by Mr. Greg Z. Mosher, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo., of Global Mineral Resource Services (the "Qualified Person"). Mr. Mosher is recognized as a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101, is independent of the Company and has reviewed and approved the disclosure regarding the resource estimate for the Crucero Project disclosed herein.

A technical report respecting the above resource estimate will be filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR in due course. There is no new material scientific or technical information respecting the Crucero Project since the effective date of the resource estimate.

Paulo Pereira, President of GoldMining Inc. has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Pereira holds a Bachelors degree in Geology from Universidade do Amazonas in Brazil, is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and is a member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.

Cautionary Note

Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in the "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" categories will ever be converted into mineral reserves with demonstrated economic viability or that inferred mineral resources will be converted to the measured and/or indicated categories through further drilling. In addition, the estimation of inferred resources involves far greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the estimation of other categories of resources. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of pre-feasibility or feasibility studies.

About GoldMining Inc.

GoldMining is a public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of gold assets in the Americas. Through its disciplined acquisition strategy, GoldMining now controls a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, U.S.A., Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Additionally, GoldMining owns a 75% interest in the Rea Uranium Project, located in the Western Athabasca Basin of Alberta, Canada.

Table 4: GoldMining's Global Estimated Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource Statement1,2,3.

Deposit Cut-off4 (g/t) Tonnage (Mt) Grade Contained Metal Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Copper (%) Gold Eq (g/t) Gold (Moz) Silver (Moz) Copper (Mlbs) Gold Eq (Moz) Measured Resources Titiribi5 0.3 51.60 0.49 - 0.17 0.78 0.820 - 195.1 1.290 Indicated Resources Titiribi5 0.3 234.20 0.51 - 0.09 0.65 3.820 - 459.3 4.930 Sao Jorge6 0.3 14.42 1.54 - - 1.54 0.715 - - 0.715 Cachoeira7 0.35 17.47 1.23 - - 1.23 0.692 - - 0.692 Whistler8 0.3 110.28 0.50 1.76 0.14 0.79 1.765 6.130 343.1 2.797 La Mina9 0.25 28.17 0.74 1.77 0.24 1.12 0.667 1.607 150.2 1.013 Crucero12 0.4 30.65 1.00 - - 1.00 0.993 - - 0.993



435.19 0.62 0.55 0.10 0.79 8.651 7.737 952.7 11.080 Measured and Indicated Resources Total

486.79 0.61 0.49 0.11 0.79 9.471 7.737 1,147.8 12.370 Inferred Resources Titiribi5 0.3 207.90 0.49 - 0.02 0.51 3.260 - 77.9 3.440 Sao Jorge6 0.3 28.19 1.14 - - 1.14 1.035 - - 1.035 Cachoeira7 0.35 15.67 1.07 - - 1.07 0.538 - - 0.538 Whistler8 0.3/0.6 311.26 0.47 2.26 0.11 0.68 4.626 22.617 713.5 6.731 La Mina9 0.25 12.39 0.65 1.75 0.27 1.07 0.260 0.697 73.3 0.427 Boa Vista10 0.5 8.47 1.23 - - 1.23 0.336 - - 0.336 Surubim11 0.3 19.44 0.81 - - 0.81 0.503 - - 0.503 Crucero12 0.4 35.78 1.00 - - 1.00 1.147 - - 1.147 Total

639.10 0.57 1.13 0.06 0.69 11.705 23.311 794.5 14.157

Table 4 Notes:



1. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral resources will be converted into mineral reserves. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing or other relevant issues.



2. The above global resource estimate table is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to represent the viability of any project on a standalone or global basis. The exploration and development of each project, project geology and the assumptions and other factors underlying each estimate, are not uniform and will vary from project to project. Please refer to the technical report for each respective project, as referenced herein, for detailed information respecting each individual project.



3. All quantities are rounded to the appropriate number of significant figures; consequently, sums may not add up due to rounding.



4. Gold cut-off for all projects except for Whistler, which is gold equivalent cut-off.



5. Notes for Titiribi:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report on the Titiribi Project Department of Antioquia, Colombia" prepared by Joseph A. Cantor and Robert E. Cameron of Behre Dolbear & Company (USA), Inc., with an effective date of September 14, 2016, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile.



Gold equivalent estimated for the Titiribi deposit assumes metal prices of US$1,300/oz gold and US$2.90/lb copper and recoveries of 83% for gold and 90% for copper. 6. Notesfor Sao Jorge:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Sao Jorge Gold Project, Para State, Brazil" prepared by Porfirio Rodriguez and Leonardo de Moraes of Coffey Mining Pty Ltd. ("Coffey"), with an effective date of November 22, 2013, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile. 7. Notes for Cachoeira:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report and Resource Estimate on the Cachoeira Property, Para State, Brazil" prepared by Gregory Z. Mosher, P.Geo. of Tetratech, Inc. with an effective date of April 17, 2013 and amended and re-stated October 2, 2013, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile. 8. Notes for Whistler:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report on the Whistler Project" prepared by Gary Giroux of Giroux Consultants Inc., with an effective date of March 24, 2016, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile.



The Whistler Project is comprised of three deposits: Whistler, Raintree West and Island Mountain.



Gold equivalent estimated for the Whistler deposit assumes metal prices of US$990/oz gold, US$15.40/oz silver and US$2.91/lb copper and recoveries of 75% for gold and silver and 85% for copper.



Gold equivalent estimated for the Raintree West deposit assumes metal prices of US$1,250/oz gold, US$16.50/oz silver and US$2.10/lb copper and recoveries of 75% for gold, 85% for copper and 75% for silver.



Gold equivalent estimated for the Island Mountain deposit assumes metal prices of US$1,250/oz gold, US$16.50/oz silver and US$2.10/lb copper and recoveries of 75% for gold, 85% for copper and 25% for silver (recovered in copper concentrate).



A gold equivalent cut-off of 0.3 g/t was highlighted in the estimate as a possible open pit cut-off (Whistler, Raintree-shallow and Island Mountain), and a gold equivalent cut-off of 0.6 g/t was highlighted in the estimate as a possible underground cut-off (Raintree-deep). 9. Notes for La Mina:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report on the La Mina Project" prepared by Scott E. Wilson, C.P.G. of Metals Mining Consultants, Inc. ("MMC") with an effective date of October 24, 2016, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile.



Gold equivalent estimated for the La Mina project assumes metal prices of US$1,275/oz gold, US$17.75/oz for silver and US$2.75/lb for copper and recoveries of 93% for gold and 90% for copper. 10. Notes for Boa Vista:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report on the Boa Vista Project and Resource Estimate on the VG1 Prospect, Tapajos Area, Para State, Northern Brazil" prepared by Jim Cuttle, Gary Giroux and Michael Schmulian, with an effective date of November 22, 2013, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile. 11. Notes for Surubim:









Based on technical report titled "Technical Report on the Rio Novo Gold Project and Resource Estimate on the Jau Prospect, Tapajos Area, Para State, Northern Brazil" ("Surubim Project") prepared by Jim Cuttle and Gary Giroux, with an effective date of November 22, 2013, which is available at www.sedar.com under GoldMinings SEDAR profile. 12. Notes for Crucero:









Pit constrained resource estimate based on US$1,500/oz gold, mining cost of US$1.60/t, processing cost of US$16.00/t and pit slope of 47 degrees.



A technical report documenting the Crucero resource estimate, amongst other items, will be filed in due course and will be available at www.sedar.com under GoldMining's SEDAR profile.

The above global estimated resource statement is provided for information purposes only. Investors should refer to the underlying technical reports referenced above for project-specific factors relating to each resource estimate.

Forward-looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of GoldMining with respect to its business and future events, including expectations and future plans respecting the Project and statements with respect to the details of the mineral resource estimate. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business and the markets in which GoldMining operates. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including: the inherent risks involved in resource estimation and the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in resource estimation and interpreting drill results and other exploration data, the potential for delays in exploration or development activities, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with GoldMinings expectations, accidents, equipment breakdowns, title and permitting matters, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in operations, fluctuating metal prices, unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, including to fund any exploration programs on the Project. These risks, as well as others, including those set forth in GoldMinings filings with Canadian securities regulators, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. 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. GoldMining 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 the TSX Venture Exchange, nor its Regulation Services Providers (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE GoldMining Inc.

For further information: GoldMining Inc., Amir Adnani, Chairman, Garnet Dawson, CEO, Telephone: (855) 630-1001, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

www.brazilresources.com


Infill Drill Holes:

SMDD17-181A: 39.0 metres grading 3.47 g/t Au





SMDD17-185: 57.0 metres grading 2.56 g/t Au

Expansion Drill Holes:

SMDD17-182: 6.0 metres grading 67.39 g/t Au (15.33 g/t Au capped)





SMDD17-196: 28.5 metres grading 3.85 g/t Au





SMDD17-202: 39.0 metres grading 3.06 g/t Au





SMDD17-213: 34.5 metres grading 4.50 g/t Au

(A drill hole plan map is attached to this news release)

Craig MacDougall, Senior Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD, stated: "The ongoing drilling program continues to deliver positive results, not only increasing our confidence in the existing resources, but extending mineralization below the initial resource pit shell which is expected to have a positive impact on future resource estimates. This, coupled with the ongoing engineering studies, is expected to allow us to upgrade the project to a reserve status in 2018 and to target production for 2019."

2017 Exploration Program

Drilling from the current program has confirmed further continuity of mineralization in areas associated with the main mineralized structures within and below the current resource pit shell (see tables 1 A & B) and in secondary structures in the hanging wall (see tables 1 C & D). These results are expected to have a positive impact on future resource updates. Results from initial step out holes to the northwest and southeast along strike (see tables 1 E & F) did not intersect significant mineralization, although encouragingly the main host structure appears to continue. It must be noted that the pinch and swell of mineralized zones within the deposit foot print is typical. Further drilling is required to test for additional mineralized zones along strike.

In addition to the drilling program outlined above, the Rosebel mine team is working to advance the Saramacca deposit towards production. An Environmental and Social Impact Study (ESIA) is underway and preliminary engineering work is advancing on mine design and various infrastructure elements, such as ore transport options, access roads, and waste rock disposal. In addition, field work has commenced to provide geotechnical and hydrogeological information and to complete condemnation work over areas of the proposed site infrastructure. A comprehensive metallurgical testing program will also be undertaken to refine the recovery assumptions and to test the crushing and grinding characteristics of the mineralization.

About the Saramacca Project

The Saramacca project is strategically located approximately 25 kilometres southwest of the Rosebel Gold Mine milling facility. Mineralization is hosted in the Paramaka Formation within the lower part of the Marowijne Greenstone Belt, which is dominated by metamorphosed basalts in the immediate project area. These are traversed by the regional, northwest trending Saramacca shear zone, which is believed to be an important deformation zone for the localization of gold mineralization.

On August 30, 2016, the Company signed a letter of intent with the Government of Suriname to acquire rights to the Saramacca property, with the intent of defining a National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource within 24 months. The terms of the letter included an initial payment of $0.2 million, which enabled immediate access to the property for Rosebel's exploration team to conduct due diligence, as well as access to the data from previous exploration activity at the Saramacca property. On September 30, 2016, having been satisfied with the results of the due diligence, the Company ratified the letter of intent to acquire the Saramacca property and subsequently paid $10 million in cash and agreed to issue 3.125 million IAMGOLD common shares to the Government of Suriname in three approximately equal annual instalments on each successive anniversary of the date the right of exploration was transferred to Rosebel (December 14, 2016). In addition, the agreement provides for a potential upward adjustment to the purchase price based on the contained gold ounces identified by Rosebel in National Instrument 43-101 measured and indicated resource categories, within a certain Whittle shell within the first 24 months, to a maximum of $10 million.

The Saramacca project falls within the "UJV" area as defined in an Agreement with the Government of Suriname announced on April 15, 2013. The Agreement establishes a joint venture growth vehicle under which Rosebel would hold a 70% participating interest and the Government will acquire a 30% participating interest on a fully-paid basis.

On September 5th, 2017, the Company announced the first mineral resource estimate in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards incorporated by reference in National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for the Saramacca deposit, and subsequently filed a NI 43-101 Technical Report available on the Company's website at www.iamgold.com or under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The resource estimate comprises 14.4 million tonnes of indicated resources averaging 2.20 grams of gold per tonne for 1,022,000 ounces and 13.6 million tonnes of inferred resources averaging 1.18 grams of gold per tonne for 518,000 ounces. Approximately 60% of the resources are contained within shallow, softer laterite and saprolite hosted mineralization. The Saramacca deposit is believed to have significant potential for expansion.

Qualified Persons and Technical Information

The drilling results contained in this news release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

The "Qualified Person" responsible for the supervision of the preparation, verification and review of the technical information in this release is Samuelle Gariepy, P. Geo., Senior Exploration Geologist with the regional exploration team at the Rosebel Gold Mine in Suriname. She is considered a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 with respect to the technical information being reported on. The technical information has been included herein with the consent and prior review of the above noted Qualified Person.

The information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Craig MacDougall, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration for IAMGOLD. Mr. MacDougall is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

The sampling of, and assay data from, drill core is monitored through the implementation of a quality assurance - quality control (QA-QC) program designed to follow industry best practice. Drill core (HQ and NQ size) samples are selected by the IAMGOLD geologists and sawn in half with a diamond saw at the Rosebel mine site. Half of the core is retained at the site for reference purposes. Sample intervals may vary from half a metre to one and a half metres in length depending on the geological observations.

Samples are transported in sealed bags to FILAB in Paramaribo, Suriname, a representative lab of ALS. FILAB is an ISO 9001 (2008) and ISO/IEC 170250 accredited laboratory. Samples are weighed and coarse crushed to <2.5 mm, and 350-450 grams is pulverized to 85% passing <100 m. Samples are analyzed for gold using standard fire assay technique with a 50 gram charge and an Atomic Absorption (AA) finish. IAMGOLD inserts blanks and certified reference standard in the sample sequence for quality control. Samples representative of the various lithologies are collected from each drill hole and measured for bulk density at the site RGM laboratory.

Forward Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs, margin expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and statements regarding the estimation of mineral resources, exploration results, potential mineralization, potential mineral resources and mineral reserves) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "estimate", "believe", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, failure to meet expected, estimated or planned gold production, cash costs, margin expansion, capital expenditures and exploration expenditures and failure to establish estimated mineral resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, changes in world gold markets and other risks disclosed in IAMGOLD's most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

About IAMGOLD

IAMGOLD (www.iamgold.com) is a mid-tier mining company with four operating gold mines on three continents. A solid base of strategic assets in North and South America and West Africa is complemented by development and exploration projects and continued assessment of accretive acquisition opportunities. IAMGOLD is in a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

Please note:

This entire news release may be accessed via fax, e-mail, IAMGOLD's website at www.iamgold.com and through CNW Group's website at www.newswire.ca. All material information on IAMGOLD can be found at www.sedar.com or at www.sec.gov.

Si vous desirez obtenir la version francaise de ce communique, veuillez consulter le http://www.iamgold.com/French/accueil/default.aspx.

Table 1: Diamond Drill Hole Assay Results

A: Infill drilling along the main mineralized structures (main fault) within resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-181 32833 63386 891 89.2 215 -50 0 10.5 10.5 5.65 0.88 0.88 SMDD17-181A 32832 63384 891 345 215 -50 0 10.5 10.5 5.73 1.07 1.07













228 235.5 7.5 4.09 2.59 2.59













261 300 39 21.28 3.47 3.47 SMDD17-188 32495 63684 866 117 215 -50 24 55.5 31.5 17.19 2.16 2.16













94.5 100.5 6 3.27 6.05 6.05 SMDD17-195 32329 63972 826 186 215 -47 No significant results













248 254 6 3.11 0.55 0.55 SMDD17-216 32688 63268 917 420.5 35 -50 67.8 75 7.2 4.89 2.52 2.52

B: Expansion drilling along the main mineralized structures (main fault) below resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-182 32873 63357 892 402.5 215 -50 309.5 315.5 6 3.27 67.39 15.33













348.5 363.3 14.8 8.07 2.91 2.91 SMDD17-187 32672 62976 912 417 35 -50 297 304 7 4.75 1.27 1.27 SMDD17-190 32436 63863 848 237 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-192 32406 63909 838 258 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-193 32729 63499 880 306 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-194 32710 62963 899 384.5 35 -50 261.5 272 10.5 7.13 1.3 1.3 SMDD17-196 32776 63482 874 345 215 -50 240 268.5 28.5 15.55 3.85 3.85 SMDD17-198 32631 63616 888 275 215 -50 220.5 226 5.5 3 2.08 2.08 SMDD17-199 32456 63794 876 193.5 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-201 32302 63588 881 321.5 35 -50 279.5 285.5 6 4.07 3.26 3.26 SMDD17-202 32588 63733 862 315.5 215 -51 255.5 294.5 39 20.74 3.06 3.06 SMDD17-204 32144 63798 882 273.5 35 -53 No significant results SMDD17-207 31799 64341 721 225.5 35 -50 No significant results SMDD17-209 31762 64290 730 351.5 35 -55 276.5 290 13.5 8.34 1.04 1.04 SMDD17-211 32860 63425 880 447.5 215 -50 362 393.5 31.5 17.19 1.88 1.88 SMDD17-213 32158 64421 720 432.5 215 -50 0 5.25 5.25 2.86 0.6 0.6













180.5 189.5 9 4.91 0.72 0.72













206 219.5 13.5 7.37 1.02 1.02













329 338 9 4.91 1.19 1.19













360.5 395 34.5 18.82 4.5 4.5













414.5 422 7.5 4.09 1.13 1.13

C: Infill drilling along the secondary mineralized structures within resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2

Easting Northing Elev.

















SMDD17-185 32795 63592 864 157.5 215 -50 37.5 94.5 57 31.1 2.56 2.56 SMDD17-200 32319 64126 773 297 215 -50 153.4 162 8.6 4.69 5.8 5.8 SMDD17-210 32179 64280 730 309.5 215 -52 120 131.5 11.5 5.96 3.44 3.44













248 254 6 3.93 0.54 0.54

D: Expansion drilling along the secondary mineralized structures below resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-183 32904 63480 859 231 215 -50 0 9 9 4.91 1.16 1.16













196.5 217.5 21 11.46 4.87 4.87 SMDD17-191 32810 63088 883 282 35 -50 No significant results SMDD17-197 32362 64112 779 297 215 -50 204 213 9 4.91 1.43 1.43 SMDD17-203 32272 64152 767 291 215 -50 0 16.5 16.5 9 0.8 0.8













136.5 142.5 6 3.27 2.72 2.72 SMDD17-208 32912 63408 873 183.5 215 -50 0 12 12 6.55 2.33 2.33













139.5 153.5 14 7.64 2.81 2.81













159.5 170 10.5 5.73 0.52 0.52 SMDD17-215 31917 64604 697 243 215 -50 1.5 21 19.5 10.64 1 1













142.5 151.5 9 4.91 3.98 3.98

E: Expansion drilling along strike at the south east end of resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-184 33026 63226 874 243 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-186 32968 62957 846 234 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-189 32907 62907 854 165 215 -50 No significant results

F: Expansion drilling along strike at the north west end of resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-212 31723 64675 667 84 215 -50 30 39 9 4.91 0.69 0.69 SMDD17-214 31776 64750 659 225.5 215 -50 No significant results

G: Exploration drilling north of resource pit shell HOLE-ID Local UTM grid End of

hole (m) Azimuth

() Dip

() From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) True

Width (m)3 Au (g/t) Au (g/t)

(capped at 30

g/t Au)2 Easting Northing Elev. SMDD17-205 32483 64277 717 156 215 -50 No significant results SMDD17-206 32541 64348 702 180.5 215 -50 No significant results

Notes: 1. Drill hole intercepts are calculated using a 0.50 g/t Au assay cut-off and 5m minimum length 2. During compositing, assays greater than 30 g/t Au are capped at 30 g/t Au 3. True widths are estimated from intersected geometries

Figure 1: Saramacca drill hole plan map and highlighted 2017 assay results.

SOURCE IAMGOLD Corporation

For further information: Ken Chernin, VP Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation, Tel: (416) 360-4743, Mobile: (416) 388-6883; Laura Young, Director, Investor Relations, IAMGOLD Corporation, Tel: (416) 933-4952, Mobile: (416) 670-3815, Toll-free: 1-888-464-9999, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.iamgold.com


In a value-add for brick-and-mortar retailers across North America, Instacart and Unata join forces to enable the future of online grocery shopping

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ -- Instacart, the technology-driven, nationwide on-demand grocery delivery service, announced today it has acquired Unata, the award-winning provider of 1-to-1 digital solutions for grocers. Together, the ecommerce pioneers plan to enable the future of online grocery shopping, combining their talented teams, vibrant cultures, and innovative products to accelerate the process.

The acquisition, which bridges Unata's comprehensive white-label digital grocery platform with Instacart's established technology and scale, will create a one-stop shop for brick-and-mortar retailers to effectively compete in an increasingly online world.

"Instacart's mission has always been to be an independent partner to retailers and enable them to give their customers the best experiences using the best technology," said Apoorva Mehta, Founder and CEO of Instacart. "This acquisition allows us to take that commitment to the next level. It represents a landmark win for retailers, who will benefit from Instacart's scale, Unata's highly configurable technology, and the deep grocery industry integrations this acquisition will enable."

"Unata and Instacart have long shared a vision of innovating the grocery industry and building the online grocery shopping experience of the future," said Chris Bryson, CEO of Unata. "By combining the power of our teams and technologies, we can achieve this vision faster and for the first time ever offer a fully comprehensive, configurable digital solution for grocery retailers of all sizes."

Unata  whose headquarters will remain in Toronto  will become an independent subsidiary of Instacart, maintaining its name and brand. Instacart will continue to invest in innovation and resources for both Unata and Instacart as the companies merge into a single powerhouse platform. Chris Bryson, Unata's Chief Executive Officer, will remain in his current role, and will report to Instacart's Chief Business Officer, Nilam Ganenthiran. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Instacart, which expanded from 30 to over 190 markets in 2017 alone, is confident that Unata is the ideal partner to complement and expand its technology as the company looks to continue its blistering growth in 2018.

About Instacart

Instacart helps people cross grocery shopping off their to-do lists with just a few clicks. Customers use the Instacart website or app to fill their virtual shopping cart with items from their favorite, local stores and Instacart connects them with shoppers who hand pick the items and deliver them straight to their door. Founded in San Francisco in 2012, Instacart has quickly scaled to over 190 markets nationwide and partnered with retailers across the United States, including popular national chains as well as local, regional grocers. By combining a personal touch with cutting-edge technology, Instacart offers customers a simple solution to save time and eat fresh food from the most trusted grocery brands. Instacart is the only grocery service that can meet today's on-demand lifestyle by delivering in as little as one hour. First delivery is free at www.instacart.com.

About Unata

Unata powers industry-leading digital experiences for North America's most well-respected grocers, with the mission to innovate the future of the grocery shopping experience. Unata enables 1-to-1 eCommerce, eCircular and eLoyalty experiences, powering the entire digital grocery experience through a single platform. Unata's award-winning work is featured by retailers including Lowes Foods, SpartanNash, Raley's, and more. To learn more, visit www.unata.com or follow Unata on Twitter or LinkedIn.

SOURCE Instacart

For further information: Dacyl Armendariz, Instacart Communications Manager, [email protected], http://www.instacart.com

Related Links

http://www.instacart.com


Montreal International Auto Show  Press Conference: January 18, 2018  11:45 am EST

MONTREAL, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - At a special press conference during media day for this year's Montreal International Auto Show, Toyota Canada will make an important announcement in Quebec that will expand the options for drivers to support decarbonization of vehicles in Canada.

"Toyota is passionate about helping Canada, and societies around the world, enjoy a greener future  as we have outlined in our Environmental Challenge 2050," said Martin Gilbert, Director of Sales Planning and Innovation, Toyota Canada Inc. "Working closely with the Quebec government and other key stakeholders, we now feel the time is right to take the next important step towards decarbonizing the automobile."

Media Advisory

Accredited members of the media are invited to a press conference at the show to learn more about this announcement

WHAT: Toyota sustainability announcement

WHERE:

Montreal International Auto Show, Palais des congres, Toyota display (following regular press reveals), or



Watch live via: https://studiocast.ca/client/toyotacanada/event/3627/en/

WHEN: January 18, 2018  11:45 am (lunch will be served)

 (lunch will be served) WHO:

Martin Gilbert , Director of Sales Planning and Innovation, Toyota Canada Inc.  plus spokespeople for French and English interviews.

, Director of Sales Planning and Innovation, Toyota Canada Inc.  plus spokespeople for French and English interviews.

Isabelle Melancon, Minister of Sustainable Development, the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change



Pierre Moreau , Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

About Toyota Canada Inc.

Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota has sold over 5 million vehicles in Canada through a national network of 287 Toyota and Lexus dealerships. Toyota is dedicated to bringing safety, quality, dependability and reliability in the vehicles Canadians drive and the service they receive. TCI's head office is located in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax and parts distribution centres in Toronto and Vancouver. Toyota manufactures vehicles at two sites in Canada. Having produced more than seven million vehicles, popular Canadian models built at these facilities include Toyota RAV4, Toyota Corolla, Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h hybrid.

For more details, including a full list of media contacts, digital images and product details please visit media.toyota.ca.

To unsubscribe or update your profile, please send an email to [email protected].

Toyota Canada Inc. | 1 Toyota Place | Toronto, ON | M1H 1H9 | Canada

SOURCE Toyota Canada Inc.

For further information: or to set up interviews, contact: Mylene Demers, Office: 514-286-2145 ext. 232, Mobile: 514-261-5840, Email: [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.toyota.ca


Agreement estimated to have a minimum retail value between $8 million - $12 million per year

Highlights

Organigram agrees to supply Prince Edward Island a minimum of 1,000,000 grams per year

Organigram selected as one of 3 licensed producers (LPs) selected to supply adult-use recreational cannabis to Prince Edward Island market

Agreement secures inventory for the adult recreational market in Prince Edward Island

MONCTON, NB, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX VENTURE:OGI) (OTCQB:OGRMF) (the "Company" or "Organigram"), a leading licensed producer of medical marijuana based in Moncton, New Brunswick, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") with the Government of Prince Edward Island (PEI) for the distribution of cannabis to the adult-use recreational market.

Through the MOU, PEI secures a supply of at least one million grams of recreational marijuana per year from Organigram.

"We are excited to finalize this agreement with the Government of Prince Edward Island," says Greg Engel, Organigram's Chief Executive Officer. "Particularly as a Maritime-based company, we are proud to support the Province's efforts to move toward a responsible, sustainable and successful adult-use recreational market."

"The province is very pleased to partner with Organigram in securing a safe supply of cannabis for the PEI market," said Minister of Finance Heath MacDonald. "Islanders who choose to partake in recreational cannabis in PEI can be confident that the products available to them will be safe, of high-quality, and provided through licensed suppliers committed to cannabis education and responsible use."

The PEI supply arrangement follows a memorandum of understanding Organigram signed in 2017 with the Government of New Brunswick (GNB) to supply a minimum of 5 million grams of cannabis a year. The GNB MOU is estimated to have a retail value of between $40 million to $60 million per year.

"There is tremendous cannabis expertise here in the Maritimes," says Mr. Engel. "We have worked hard to assemble a local, world-class team of experts. We applaud PEI's recognition of our homegrown industry leadership and its commitment to building  and formalizing  positive and productive working relationships with regionally-based companies like Organigram."

As part of discussions with PEI, and as reflection of the organizations' shared commitment to the safe and responsible implementation of new federal rules related to the adult-use recreational cannabis market, Organigram will also be working closely with the Government of PEI to develop and contribute to social responsibility programs that will provide ongoing education, helping ensure public safety remains a priority.

"There is no successful cannabis market or industry without an unwavering commitment to public safety," says Ray Gracewood, Chief Commercial Officer, Organigram. "We are proud to work with PEI and share their vision of a thriving, responsibility-first recreational market."

For more information, visit www.Organigram.ca

About Organigram Holdings Inc.

Organigram Holdings Inc. is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company whose wholly owned subsidiary, Organigram Inc., is a licensed producer of medical marijuana in Canada. Organigram is focused on producing the highest quality, condition specific medical marijuana for patients in Canada. Organigram's facility is located in Moncton, New Brunswick and the Company is regulated by the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR").

Organigram has been ranked in the top ten Clean Technology & Life Sciences Sector on the TSX Venture Exchange 50.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking information which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Important factors - including the availability of funds, consummation of definitive documentation, the results of financing efforts, crop yields - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE OrganiGram

For further information: Organigram Holdings Inc., Ray Gracewood, Chief Commercial Officer, (506) 645-1653, [email protected]; Dylan Rogers, Investor Relations Analyst, (506) 801-8986, [email protected]
FREDERICTON, Jan. 16, 2018 /CNW/ - Plaza Retail REIT ("Plaza") (TSX: PLZ.UN) invites you to participate in a live conference call with senior management discussing Plaza's year end 2017 financial results on Monday, February 26, 2018 at 10:00am EST (11:00am AST).

Plaza's financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2017 will be released prior to the call and will be made available on Plaza's website at www.plaza.ca in the Investor Relations section, and on the Canadian Securities Administrators' website at www.sedar.com.

The dial-in numbers for the conference call are:

In Toronto 1-647-427-7450

Outside Toronto (toll free, within North America) 1-888-231-8191

To ensure your participation, please dial in five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. You will be required to identify yourself and the organization on whose behalf you are participating.

If you cannot participate in the live mode, a replay will be available until March 5, 2018 at 11:59pm EST. To access the replay, please dial 1-416-849-0833 in Toronto or 1-855-859-2056 (toll free, within North America) and enter passcode 6594025. The audio replay will also be available for download on Plaza's website for 90 days following the conference call.

Plaza is an open-ended real estate investment trust and is a leading retail property owner and developer, particularly in Eastern Canada. Plaza's portfolio at September 30, 2017 includes interests in 295 properties totaling approximately 7.7 million square feet across Canada and additional lands held for development. Plaza's properties include a mix of strip plazas, stand-alone small box retail outlets and enclosed shopping centres, anchored by approximately 90% national tenants.

SOURCE Plaza Retail REIT

For further information: Please visit www.plaza.ca or contact: Michael Zakuta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Plaza Retail REIT, Tel: 514.457.7007; Floriana Cipollone, Chief Financial Officer, Plaza Retail REIT, Tel: 416.848.4583

Related Links

http://www.plaza.ca


You are clearly a super-user of NUVO.net. Thats a good thing. It means you depend on independent and local news sources to keep you informed. You are a smart person.



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This week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will consider whether the states harshly gerrymandered congressional map violates the states constitution.

The case is happening early enough in the year that the court could order a redrawn map ahead of the midterm elections. If that happens, Democrats will probably win at least one additional House seat this cycle, and they will be better positioned in several other seats.

The case is about state, not federal, law, so the result will stand regardless of how the United States Supreme Court rules on the biggest question of all: whether partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution.

A Supreme Court ruling against partisan gerrymandering could usher in a half-dozen or more new congressional maps before the 2020 election, but probably not before this Novembers midterm elections.

If the Supreme Court doesn't limit partisan gerrymandering, it could get a lot more extreme.

As unfavorable as the current map is for Democrats, Republicans could go even further in 2020 if they controlled the process again. This is unlikely because the Pennsylvania governor is now a Democrat, but Pennsylvania serves as a good illustration of how gerrymandering can play out.

We've redrawn the Pennsylvania congressional map in two ways. One is a neutral map, the kind that might be drawn by a nonpartisan committee. The other is an adventure in extreme gerrymandering that aims to maximize the number of Republican-held seats.

A Fairer Map

If Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rules that the state's congressional map must be redrawn, Democrats opportunities could improve a lot before the midterms.

Its clear that the current one was drawn to the advantage of Republicans. Democrats won only five of the states 18 congressional districts in 2012, the year it took effect, even though they won the House statewide popular vote by 1.5 percentage points.

A nonpartisan map Current

map Extreme

gerrymander Median perimeter (approx.) 187 mi. 287 mi. 499 mi. Efficiency gap* +8 Rep. +14 Rep. +32 Rep. 2016 presidential election Districts won 7 11 6 12 3 15 Median vote Trump +9 Trump +9 Trump +13 2012 presidential election Districts won 9 9 5 13 3 15 Median vote Romney +2 Romney +5 Romney +6 *Based on 2016 presidential vote; figures are rounded

Thats partly because Democrats tend to waste votes in heavily Democratic urban areas, like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But the cartoon-moose-shaped Seventh District, running from Philadelphia city limits to Amish country, is routinely listed among the nations most gerrymandered. It's represented by the Republican Patrick Meehan, who faces a competitive re-election contest in a district that just barely voted for Hillary Clinton.

On this nonpartisan map, the Seventh would become a Democratic stronghold. The map here relies on standard nonpartisan redistricting criteria, like compactness and representing communities of interest.

Democrats would make more incremental gains in several other congressional districts where Republicans have taken more subtle steps to reinforce their position. The open 15th District, for example, would become a district where Mr. Trump won by just two points, not eight points. Democrats would probably be considered favorites to take the seat in this political environment.

This map represents a big improvement for Democrats over the Republican gerrymander. But it still might disappoint some Democrats. Donald J. Trump would have won 11 of these districts, even though he barely won the statewide popular vote. In fact, this map has an 8 percent efficiency gap in favor of the Republicans (in the 2016 presidential election). An 8 percent efficiency gap is a proposed threshold for whether a map should be considered an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

Theres a simple reason for this: Democrats waste a huge number of votes in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Mrs. Clinton won by 81 percent to 16 percent in those two cities combined, nearly enough for her to pull off the statewide victory. But those huge margins dont yield any more congressional districts than a margin of, say, 65 to 35. If Mrs. Clinton had won Philadelphia and Pittsburgh by 30 points, she would have lost the state by 5.5 points. As a result, a nonpartisan map could end up yielding the results one would expect for a state that voted for Mr. Trump by a more comfortable margin.

An Extreme Gerrymander

As hard as it may be to believe, Republicans did show some restraint in 2010. They could have gone further. After eight years of additional political polarization along geographic lines, they can go further still.

Today, an extreme Republican gerrymander could plausibly reduce the Democrats to just three out of the 18 congressional districts, despite the fact they lost the states presidential vote by less than a percentage point in 2016.

Three ways you could draw Pennsylvanias congressional districts: Current map

Our hypothetical Republicans pull it off by spoking the Philadelphia suburbs and borrowing more extensively from heavily Republican central Pennsylvania to shore up incumbents in southeastern Pennsylvania, two of which currently represent districts that voted for Mrs. Clinton. All of the vulnerable Republicans in southeastern Pennsylvania now find themselves in districts that voted comfortably for President Trump and Mitt Romney. The Democratic 17th District undergoes quite a makeover, and it adds a lot of reliably Republican territory. Its probably enough to knock out the incumbent Democrat, Matt Cartwright.

The map makers then take a bold step, denying Democrats a second district by splitting up Pittsburgh. This is risky. It brings several southwest Pennsylvania districts to the edge of competitiveness, including the vacant 18th District  where a special election will be held in March. It also makes the open seats in the Ninth and 11th Districts much likelier to yield competitive contests. But our estimates indicate that the risk is probably worth it for Republicans, even in a wave election, in terms of maximizing the total number of expected Republican seats.

Our best guess is that Republicans would be favored to come away with 14 seats in the midterm elections if this map were adopted, up from the 13 they hold now and the 11 or 12 theyre expected to hold after this years midterms. In a more neutral or even Republican-leaning political environment, or over the course of a full decade, the Republican advantage is even greater.

(These estimates are based on election results since 2002 and include a measure of the effect of redistricting. We used the handy Daves Redistricting App and precinct-level election results from Ryne Rohla of Washington State University.)

This is probably a more aggressive gerrymander than the Republicans would consider. For one, it's a bad deal for many individual Republican incumbents, even if it's a pretty good deal for the party over all.

If theres a wave election in November, incumbents in western Pennsylvania would find themselves in fairly competitive races. Keith Rothfus and Mike Kelly, in particular, would be in trouble. Their districts currently have a Cook Partisan Voter Index of R+11. With this redraw, Mr. Rothfuss would drop to R+4 and Mr. Kellys to R+5. (The index measures a districts partisanship based on its vote in recent presidential elections.)

But this might understate their vulnerability, since much of southwestern Pennsylvania has a strong Democratic tradition.

Virtually all Republican incumbents would become more vulnerable to a primary challenge because they would represent new constituents who wouldnt be especially familiar with their new representatives.

A safer and more likely option would be to leave the Democrats a seat in Pittsburgh. Republicans could still easily improve their position over the current map by further spoking the districts of southeast Pennsylvania, and they would find it even easier to end the Democratic hold over the 17th District, where Mr. Cartwright won re-election by only eight points in 2016.

In general, this more cautious gerrymander would flip one Democratic seat and shore up the vulnerable Republicans, without newly endangering any Republican incumbents. The more aggressive gerrymander would cost the Democrats two seats, over the longer term.

This particular story is unlikely to play out in Pennsylvania because Democrats are favored to hold the governor's mansion through the next redistricting cycle. But something similar could occur elsewhere, across the country.
MADISON  Broadband is a general term for a mix of technologies that can connect people and machines to the internet. Those delivery systems range from typically slow dial-up connections to cable and Digital Subscriber Lines, from satellite to public Wi-Fi networks, and from optical fiber to small-cell transmission links.

Broadcast white space, which describes buffer zones between assigned broadcast channels in the spectrum used to transmit electromagnetic waves, may be the next frontier.

Wisconsin is on a short list of a dozen states targeted by a coalition led by Microsoft to greatly expand the use of white space, mainly in the television spectrum, to extend high-speed broadband internet service to homes, businesses and more.

Primarily intended for hard-to-serve rural areas, the white space option is attractive because it can operate a speeds four times faster than Wi-Fi and reach up to 16 times farther. Wireless signals can travel over hills, through foliage and buildings, the same qualities that have long allowed rural communities to get strong television signals.

Its also less expensive  at least, in theory  because the equipment needs appear to be less elaborate than fiber-optic cable or transmitters that must be more densely situated to work. It can cost $30,000 per mile for fiber-optic cable under normal conditions, more over more rugged terrain, which is why internet service providers have been hesitant to drop last-mile line in sparsely populated areas.

As a result, about a third of the people living in rural America  about 23 million  dont have broadband or are connected at minimal levels. Those who are connected often dont enjoy speeds that allow efficient uploads and downloads, or pay prices that may be prohibitive.

Thats why members of the Wisconsin Legislature are getting behind resolutions to encourage the availability of at least three channels below 700 megahertz on an unlicensed basis in every market in the United States. Thats a province of the Federal Communications Commission, which has supported greater use of white space for about a decade but has yet to guarantee spectrum.

Without such guarantees, say members of the Connect Americans Now coalition, providers wont invest whats needed to make white space more than a lot of static.

We hear from constituents every week asking us when broadband will finally reach their doors, said Rep. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, who joined other lawmakers Jan. 10 in proposing the joint resolution. She and others agreed broadband is essential for modern rural economies, with applications ranging from education to telemedicine, and from business growth to emergency services.

Why is Wisconsin a target for white-space pilot projects? In part because there have been some limited experiments here, but also because Wisconsin ranks only behind California in the amount of federal matching dollars that can be made available in the next few years for broadband projects. Those dollars are assigned through the FCCs Connect America Fund 2.

It also helps that Microsoft President Brad Smith is a native of Appleton and familiar with both the challenges and opportunities for white-space internet in Wisconsin. Microsoft is a global internet cloud provider and thus has enlightened self-interest in serving more people, as its already doing in other places.

This is really all about getting everybody online in rural communities, Smith has said. If 23 million additional customers can access the internet at broadband speeds, every tech company in America will benefit.

Not everyone is convinced. Broadcasters remained concerned that white-space spectrum isnt as unused as most people believe, citing possible interference to existing channels, wireless microphones used by groups large and small, UHF and VHF translator stations and more. They also resent that Microsoft didnt take part in the recent FCC auction of white space and now wants free spectrum.

Then again, in an increasingly mobile society that has seen what ubiquitous internet coverage can do, it seems unlikely broadcasters can stand up forever against change. Television white space is likely to become one of the tools to bring better, faster and less expensive coverage to rural America. Wisconsin has a chance to make white space a common connection space.
Who gets salary hike

The proposal is now to increase the salaries of all Central Government employees whose salaries fall within the pay matrix 5. The Finance Ministry is currently examining a recommendation to this effect. While it is unclear what the numbers would be, various aspects are under consideration.

Burden on exchequer

The main aspect under consideration is the burden on the exchequer. On examination, it was found that the junior level CG employees were hit the hardest and hence a salary hike for them would be necessary. The numbers on how much the salary hike would be are under consideration.

How long should CG employees wait

The government has made it clear that those employees above the pay matrix level 5 would not get salary hikes for now. As per, the recommendation their hikes were good and hence there is no need for any change now, government officials said. The matter is currently under deliberation and the government would come up with some kind of announcement in the next four to five weeks if all goes as per plan.

What 7th Pay Commission had recommended

The 7th Pay Commission had recommended a hike of 14.27 per cent in basic pay of central government employees, raising minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month. The employees had however demanded that the hike is raised to Rs 26,000. The government feels that it has already reviewed the salaries and perks of Central Government employees above the pay matrix 5. Hence, it was decided that they do not need higher pay matrix levels.
After Jignesh Mevani asks a media channel to leave, all scribes boycott him in Chennai

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Jignesh Mevani refused to speak in the presence of an English news channel and ended up getting boycotted by the media in Chennai.

After a close door interaction with students and academicians, Mevani had agreed to a short media meet.

As soon as the newsmen started getting ready for the event by arranging the microphones, Mevani asked the reporter of an English news channel to remove his equipment.

The Gujarat legislator made it clear that he will not talk in the presence of that TV channel since it was "his policy".

"We were arranging the microphone. As soon as he saw microphone that had our logo, he asked us to remove it. I told him we want a general byte and not an exclusive. But he refused", the reporter of that particular channel covering the event told PTI.

"We felt like he was dictating terms. We just sought a byte from him on issues relating to the State (Tamil Nadu)", he said.

The video released later by the TV channel showed Mevani saying he will not speak if there was a question from that particular channel.

"If a question comes (from that channel) I will stop speaking to anyone. Let the mic be removed", Mevani said.

Reacting to Mevani's rider, another TV channel reporter told him: "You cannot demand like that. If you do not want to talk then it is up to you. Thank You."

Following the incident, social media was flooded with comments supporting Chennai media for boycotting the event.

OneIndia News
Army Captain injured in Pakistan firing in Poonch

India

oi-PTI

An Indian Army Captain was injured after Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday.

"There was a ceasefire violation by the Pakistan Army. They resorted to firing along the LoC in Chakan Da Bagh area in Poonch this evening," a security force official said.

The injured Army Captain has been hospitalised, they said.

The Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire continued till late night, they said.

The latest violation of the ceasefire came a day after seven Pakistani Army men, including a Major, were killed and four others injured in retaliatory action by the Indian Army in Poonch. Authorities had on Monday suspended the cross-LoC bus service between Chakan Da Bagh and Rawalakot, following heightened tension on the LoC.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 9:52 [IST]
As rot in judiciary increases, why it is time to revisit the Justice Malimath report

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Amidst the major rift in the Supreme Court, it would be interesting to take a look at the recommendations made by the Justice V Malimath Committee on reforms of the criminal justice system.

While Justice Malimath and his team had gone into various aspects to make the criminal justice system better, he had also set down guidelines for judges and courts.

The 2003 report has been catching dust and successive governments have not bothered visiting it. Recently at the annual Directors General of Police conference held in Madhya Pradesh, the report came up for discussion. The government would now consult with the Law Ministry on the implementation of the report.

In this context, it would be interesting to see what the committee had said about the courts and also with regard to impeachment of judges.

Judges of India:

"There is gross inadequacy of judges to cope up the enormous pendency and new inflow of cases. The existing judge-population ratio in India is 10.5:13 per million population as against 50 judges per million population in many parts of the world. The Supreme Court has given directions to all the States to increase the judge strength by five times in a phased manner within the next five years. The vacancies in the High Courts have remained unfilled for years. This must be remedied quickly.

The Commission is deeply concerned about the deterioration in the quality of judges appointed to the courts at all levels. The Constitution of a National Judicial Commission is being considered at the national level to deal with the appointment of judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court and to deal with the complaints of misconduct against them. The mere entrustment of the power of appointment to the National Judicial Commission will not ensure the appointment of competent and upright judges. We need a process to ensure objectivity and transparency on this behalf.

This requires laying down the precise qualifications, experience, qualities and attributes that are needed in a good judge and also the prescription of objective criteria to apply to the overall background of the candidate. The analysis and discussions preceding their recommendations should be recorded so as to ensure objectivity and transparency in the matter of selecting the candidates.

Complaints:

There are also complaints of serious aberrations in the conduct of the judges. Under Article 235 of the Constitution, the High Court can exercise supervision and control over the subordinate courts. There is no such power conferred either on the Chief Justice of the High Court or the Chief Justice of India or the Supreme Court of India. The provisions for impeachment are quite difficult to implement. It is felt that the Chief Justice should be conferred certain powers to enforce discipline and to take some corrective or advisory measures against his colleagues whenever aberrations in their conduct come to notice.

The Committee also feels that criminal work is highly specialised and to improve the quality of justice only those who have expertise in criminal work should be appointed and posted to benches to deal exclusively with criminal work. As the expertise a, all levels is found to be woefully inadequate the Committee feels that suitably tailored intensive training including practical programme should be devised and all the judges given training not only at the induction time but also in service at frequent intervals. To achieve these objectives, the following recommendations are made:-

Special attention needed:

Qualifications prescribed for appointment of judges at different levels should be reviewed to ensure that highly competent judges are inducted at different levels.

Special attention should be paid to enquire into the background and antecedents of the persons appointed to the Judicial Offices to ensure that persons of proven integrity and character are appointed.

Intensive training should be imparted in theoretical, practical and in court management to all the Judges.

In the Supreme Court and High Courts, the respective Chief Justices should constitute a separate criminal division consisting of such number of criminal benches as may be required consisting of judges who have specialized in criminal law.

Such judges should normally be continued to deal with criminal cases until they demit office.

Vacancies in the criminal divisions should be filled up by appointing those who have specialized knowledge in criminal law.

In the subordinate courts where there are more judges of the same cadre at the same place, as far as possible assigning of civil and criminal cases to the same judge every day should be avoided.

In urban areas where there are several trail courts some corust should have lady judges who should be assigned as far as possible criminal cases relating to women.

A High Power Committee should be constituted to lay down the qualifications, qualities and attributes regarding character and integrity that the candidate for the High Court judgeship should possess and specify the evidence or material necessary to satisfy these requirements. Reasons should be recorded with reference to these criteria by the selecting authority.

Reforms:

The Chief Justice of the High Court may be empowered on the lines of the US Judicial Councils Reform and Judicial Conduct and Disabilities Act 1980 to do the following:-

Advise the judge suitably

Disable the judge from hearing a particular class of cases

Withdrawing judicial work for a specified period

Censure the judge

Advise the judge to seek voluntary retirement

Move the Chief Justice of India to advise the Judge or initiate action for impeachment.

The Chief Justice of the High Court may issue circulars:-

That immediately below the cause title of the judgment order the following particulars shall be entered:-

Date of conclusion of arguments

Date of reserving the judgmen

Date of pronouncement of judgment

At the bottom of the judgment the following particulars shall be entered:-

Date when the dictation was completed

Date when typing was completed and placed before the judge

The date when the judge signed

The Court Officer shall enter in a separate register:-

The time when the judge assembled.

The time when the judge rose

Copy of this record shall be sent to the Chief Justice on the same day and put up on the notice board.

OneIndia News
Can a by-stander file appeal in criminal case? SC asks in Bofors plea

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Can an unconnected person file an appeal in a criminal case? This was a point raised by the Supreme Court while hearing the appeal in the Bofors case.

A bystander cannot file an appeal in a criminal case. This will be dangerous criminal law jurisprudence the Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra observed.

The appeal was filed by an advocate, Ajay Agarwal. He had challenged the Delhi High Court's 2005 decision to quash the case which had broken out in 1987.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal pointed out to the Bench that it examine the locus standi of the petitioner who was an advocate and had nothing to do with the case. Agarwal, however, argued that this was a case of political corruption and the HC had not appreciated the evidence on record.

The Bench said, " if a bystander is allowed to file an appeal in a criminal case, then any citizen can file an appeal for acquittal in any criminal case anywhere in the country. That is why criminal jurisprudence limits the right to file an appeal to only relatives of the victim."

When the Bench was about to reject the appeal, Agarwal sought more time. He said that he would try and find judgments which permit a third party to file an appeal in a criminal case.

OneIndia News
Fact Check: This image of huge crowds in Gujarat is not from the AAP roadshow

From YouTube to WhatsApp, parties go the 'social' way to campaign in Gujarat

Major fire on oil tanker anchored off Gujarat coast, crew rescued

India

oi-PTI

A fire was reported on a merchant navy oil tanker carrying 30,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel off the Gujarat coast but there were not casualties, a defence spokesperson said.

He, however, did not say if the oil in the vessel spilt into the sea.The tanker, MT Genessa, is anchored 15 nautical miles off Deendayal Port in Kandla.

The fire was reported at around 6 PM today.

The Indian Coast Guard swung into action and evacuated all the 26 crew members, two of whom suffered burn injuries.

"There was a fire in the crew compartment and efforts are underway to douse it," a Coast Guard official said.

Indian Coast Guard Interceptor Boat C-403 is at the scene and the maritime security agency's pollution control team has been activated, the spokesperson said, without clarifying if there was an oil spill or any such possibility.

He said a Dornier aircraft has been pressed into service to ascertain the extent of the fire.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 23:32 [IST]
Hajj subsidy scrapped: Hope the amount is used for minority welfare', says Ahmed Patel

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Wednesday wrote to Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi over the scrapping of Hajj subsidy yesterday. Ahmed, in his letter, asked whether the amount saved is being used for the welfare of Muslims.

Ahmed wrote that the Supreme Court had in 2012 asked the Hajj subsidy to be reduced in a span of 10 years, but the government did it well in advance.

"I sincerely hope that this reduction in outlay by nearly Rs 200 crore has been matched by an increased investment in the welfare of the community, as mandated by the Honourable Supreme Court," the latter said.

He also asked the government to share the details of expenditure.

The government on Tuesday decided to withdraw Hajj subsidy to pilgrims. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had in 2012 directed that subsidy on air travel should be phased out in ten years.

The court had said that as regards the Hajj subsidy, from the figures for the past 19 years given in the affidavit filed by the Union of India, it appears that the amount of subsidy has been increasing every year.

The Haj subsidy is a subsidy given to Indian Muslim Hajj pilgrims by the Government of India in form of discounted Air fares on Indian Government owned Air India. The programme has its origins in British colonial era.

[What is Hajj subsidy and here is the Supreme Court verdict that ordered its stopping]

Over the years the subsidy has gradually reduced. In the year 2012, the subsidy extended was Rs 836.56 crore. This amount reduced to Rs 680.03 crore in 2013. In 2014 it further reduced to Rs 533 crore. In the year 2015 the subsidy was at Rs 529.51 crore and in 2016 it reduced to Rs 405 crore.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 20:20 [IST]
Haryana DSP murder: CM Khattar says no culprit will be spared; announces Rs 1 cr compensation

Haryana CM Khattar breaks silence says, 'such incidents of rape are unfortunate'

India

oi-Madhuri

After 4 days of silence, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that these incidents of rape in the state are sad and deplorable.

''Such incidents are unfortunate. We'll take strict action & tie up all loose ends. We have made changes in the police administration & transferred a few officers. I appeal political parties to not politicise the issue,'' Khattar said while speaking to ANI.

''We started 'Dial 100 Project', will also begin '1090 Project' so women in danger can immediately contact police. We'll look into matters, take help of counseling or legal action as the need be. We've set up special courts for speedy trials of such cases,'' Khattar further said.

Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday met Governor for dismissal of Khattar Government on the issue of law and order. The Congress state unit also demanded Khattar's resignation over an increase in the number of rape cases in the state.

Recalling the three very gruesome cases reported in a matter of days:

The body of a 15-year-old girl with her private parts mutilated and liver ruptured was found near Budhakhera village in Haryana's Jind district.

Four men allegedly raped a 22-year old woman inside a moving vehicle in Faridabad's Sector 16 on Saturday, 13 January.

Two neighbours allegedly gang-raped and murdered an 11-year-old in Panipat, also committing necrophilia soon after.

These are the three rape cases from across the state which has shed light on the poor state of women's security in the country, and Haryana in particular.

OneIndia News
Have to take a call on curbing Internet, social media to deal with terrorism: Army Chief

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said that there was a need for international consensus on the fight against terrorism.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2018 event in New Delhi, Rawat said terrorists are using systems which are highly technology enabled and transcending international borders. "We need to disrupt terrorists and their sponsors. There is a need to identify nations who are sponsors," added the Army chief.

He further said that terrorism had two sides to it militant and political. "It is important to tackle both. Many may argue that there is no point in banning political outfits since they don't indulge in terror activities directly, but we should not forget that they support it," he added.

The Army chief warned that access to militants' access to nuclear warfare could mean doom for the humanity. "The threat of nuclear and chemical weapons falling into the hands of terrorists can be a disaster for humanity," he said.

He added that there was a need to put some checks and curbs on Internet as well as social media that terrorist organisations always resort to.

"Putting some checks and curbs on the internet and social media that terrorist organisations always resort to... In a democratic country people won't like it but have to take a call on whether we want safe and secure environment or willing to accept curbs temporarily so terrorism can be dealt with," said the chief of Army.

OneIndia News
ICAI CA CPT 2017 results today at this time, how to check

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Recommended Video

ICAI CA CPT 2017 results declared, know how to check | Oneindia News

The ICAI CA CPT 2017 results will be declared today. The results once declared would be available on the official website.

The results are expected to be declared by around 8 pm today. The finals were held in November 2017 and the CPT in December.

An all India merit list for the candidates securing a minimum of 55 per cent and above marks and up to the maximum of 50th rank in the case of final examination will also be prepared. It will be available on the above mentioned websites. Placed below is the data of the students that were admitted in final examination and CPT. The number of students appeared in the final exams is 1,28,853 at a total of 346 exam centres across the globe.A total of 63,035 candidates have sat for the CPT exams in 327 centres in India and other countries.

How and where to check ICAI CA CPT 2017 results:

icaiexam.icai.org

caresults.icai.org

icai.nic.in

Those students who wish to receive their results on their personal email IDs are required to pre-register their requests at the website - icaiexams.icai.org. They will then be provided with their results immediately after the declaration of the results. For accessing the result at the above websites, the student shall have to enter his registration no. or PIN no. along with his roll number.

Those who want to receive their result through SMS should follow the following steps:

i) For final examination result

CAFNL(space)XXXXXX (Where XXXXXX is the six digit Final examination roll number of the candidate)

e.g. CAFNL 000128

ii) For Common Proficiency Test (CPT) result

CACPT(space)XXXXXX(where XXXXXX is the six digit Common Proficiency Test roll number of the candidate)

e.g. CACPT 000171

They should then send the message to 58888

OneIndia News
Local educators are bullish on proposed legislation to aid low-spending and low-enrollment school districts.

State Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, has introduced legislation to allow low-spending districts to increase the amount they spend from the current $9,100 per-student limit to $9,400 per student next school year. The limit would increase by $100 each school year until it reaches $9,800 per student by the 2022-23 school year. It would also increase sparsity aid payments to small school districts from $300 to $400 for student.

Black River Falls and Tomah are among 120 school districts defined as low-spending under the bill. Black River Falls School District superintendent Shelly Severson welcomes the change.

Were very excited the legislature has re-opened the discussion on low-spending districts, Severson said. This will definitely help us.

She said Black River Falls has been near the bottom of per-pupil spending since revenue caps were created in 1994. She said districts like Black River Falls have been penalized ever since.

Severson said Black River Falls, which spends more than $500 per pupil less than the state average, would gain between $150,000-$170,000 in additional spending authority under the bill.

Tomah would be able to raise per-pupil spending by $300 per student during the first year. Tomah voters in 2016 passed a referendum to exceed revenue caps for three years and the district was looking at another referendum in 2019.

It may change how much we go for in a referendum, school district business manager Greg Gaarder said.

Governor Scott Walker last year vetoed a similar plan in the 2017-19 state budget over concerns that it would raise property taxes. The veto came after the legislature reduced the amount of money Walker initially proposed to help districts in rural areas, where many of the low-revenue districts are located.

Walker, however, supports Nygrens bill. Tom Evenson, spokesman for Walker, said the governor is backing Nygrens new plan because it includes a provision that would prohibit school districts from raising taxes if voters rejected a referendum in the last three years.

The budget provision would have allowed the increase even in places where voters voted down referenda, Evenson said. This ensures accountability to local voters who have rejected revenue increases within the last three years.

The sparsity aid provision applies to school districts with 745 or fewer students and a density of fewer than 10 students per square mile. Alma-Humbird-Merrillan is one of 144 districts that qualify. The school district has a 4K-12 enrollment of about 650 students. Superintendent Paul Fischer said that would result in $55,000-$60,000 in additional revenue for the district.

An increase in sparsity aid certainly would help rural districts, Fischer said. While I feel this would be beneficial for the district, I think that we must continue to look at the overall funding formula for school districts, especially the revenue limits that are placed on districts throughout the state.

State Superintendent Tony Evers, who oversees the DPI and is running against Walker for governor, said the proposal is an answer to a longstanding request.

Our rural and low-spending districts have been asking for this funding for many years. Increases to sparsity aid and the low revenue ceiling were in my budgets, and I am pleased to see them considered after the governors veto cast doubt on their future, Evers said.

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who sits on the legislatures budget-writing committee and last fall expressed concern over the decision to reduce funding for rural schools, praised the new plan released Monday.

The legislation ... demonstrates our commitment to find common ground among the legislature to support our K-12 schools, he said.

If approved by lawmakers, Nygrens plan would accompany an additional $649 million in new funding spread over this school year and next.

Walker announced support for the plan about two weeks before he is expected to give his annual State of the State address in the state Capitol. It also comes during a re-election year during which he is being challenged by Evers and more than a dozen Democratic candidates.

Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, called the announcement a re-election tactic.

Republicans must think taxpayers have a short memory when it comes to their actual priorities, she said. This is another hollow campaign gimmick from Gov. Walker to further his own political ambitions at the expense of local schools.

Even if the bill passes, Gaarder said local school districts could face a different funding problem. Gaarder told the Tomah School Board Monday that the district could face cuts in federal funding if President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress agree on a federal budget.

Tomah receives $1.5 million per year in federal funding, mostly through Title 1 reading grants and special education aid.

We really havent seen a federal budget under the Trump administration, Gaarder said.

Molly Beck of the Wisconsin State Journal contributed to this report.
IIT students chalk out Maharashtras 'Save Constitution' rallies against BJP on Republic Day

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Mumbai, Jan 17: On January 26, when the nation will celebrate the 68th Republic Day, opposition parties, including the Congress, in Maharashtra will host "Save the Constitution" rallies to protest against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state and at the Centre.

In fact, the idea for the protest rallies in the state has been given by some students of the premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.

"The idea for the rally came from some IIT students. We have all seen the situation prevailing in the country for the last three years since the BJP came to power.

"Recently, union minister Anant Kumar Hegde spoke about changing the Constitution. This rally is a response to that," Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jitendra Avhad told The Economic Times.

The Congress along with other opposition parties will take out "Save Constitution" rallies in every district of the state on Republic Day, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said at a meeting of senior party leaders on Tuesday.

The former chief minister of Maharashtra also mocked the BJP's decision to take out "Tiranga (tricolour)" rallies in response to the Opposition's rallies.

"The BJP's parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has never accepted the Tiranga as the national flag and till recently did not hoist it. It is ridiculous that the same people are now taking out Tiranga Yatra," he said.

Meanwhile, some workers of the BJP Yuva Morcha from Satara joined the Congress in Chavan's presence during Tuesday's meeting.

Former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil were among those who attended the meeting.

The list of leaders expected to attend "Samvidhan Bachao" (Save the Constitution) rally in Mumbai on January 26 include Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (NC), Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) (JD-U), Gujarat MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani and Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel.

Former Bombay High Court judge BG Kolse-Patil and Purshottam Khedekar of the Maratha Seva Sangh may also be present, stated a report by The Economic Times.

In fact, the organisers of the event have invited Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav to be a part of the rally. The silent rally will move from near Mantralaya to the Gateway of India in Mumbai.

OneIndia News
India hits back at Pakistan PM over Hafiz Saeed's case

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

BJP hit back at Pakistan's inaction over Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, saying India will act against the chief of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah if Pakistan fails to do so.

MoS Home Hansraj Ahir, said, "We won't decide our nation's strategy on basis of what Pakistan says. We consider Hafiz Saeed a terrorist. It will be good if Pakistan government takes action but even if they don't, we will."

Ram Madhav, BJP National Gen Secretary, Plenty of evidence against terror activities of Hafiz Saeed have been collected by countries, it's all available to Pakistan government but they want to turn a blind eye. For a PM for whom Hafiz Saeed is 'saheb' what evidence can anyone supply to him."

The stern response from India comes after Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said no action can be taken against Hafiz Saeed

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that there is no case registered against Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad.

"Action is taken when there is a case registered [against someone]," said Abbasi in an interview, quoted Geo TV.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief is also looking to contest the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and has, thereby, formed a party by the name of Milli Muslim League (MML). Pakistan has recently prohibited Saeed's JuD and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations. Saeed has been grabbing headlines often since his release from house arrest in November. He was placed under the same in January 2017.

OneIndia News
"Intelligence department not up to mark," says Karnataka CM, proposes special recruitments

India

oi-Anusha

Acknowledging that the intelligence department of the police in the state has a long way to go, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has proposed special recruitments and training. Responding to questions raised about communal violence and killings were the result of poor intelligence gathering, Siddaramaiah claimed that a process to recruit trained police personnel specifically for the purpose of intelligence department is underway.

"The present intelligence system is not up to the mark. I know that and you are aware of it too. A separate recruitment process is taking place now. Interviews are already underway and those recruited will be given special training and will be posted only in the intelligence department," Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister, Karnataka said on Wednesday.

Siddaramaiah was addressing the press after a conference with senior police officials ahead of the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018. Matters of communal violence, polarisation, security threat in sensitive areas of the state, need for heightened police deployment during elections were discussed during the meet.

The need to improve the intelligence department was invoked after Siddaramaiah claimed that the murders of Deepak Rao- a Bajrang Dal worker and Basheer- who was killed in retaliation in Suratkal, could have been averted if the department was stronger. The confession comes at a time when the Karnataka government is facing flak over communal violence incidents in coastal Karnataka. "I will not say that the police are one hundred per cent right and intelligence has been great. There are lapses but they have been identified and they will be rectified effectively," he added.

Siddaramaiah warned politicians like Ananth Kumar Hegde against making hate speeches. "Law will be put into motion if politicians indulge in hate speeches. Suo moto action will be taken against those seen making inflammatory speeches and comments," he said while calling the BJP MP "irresponsible". The police department has been asked to identify sensitive localities and the stations they fall under to take precautionary measures to stop communal flare-ups during the elections.

OneIndia News
Jind rape and murder case: Suspected accused found dead in Kurukshetra

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

One of the suspected accused in Jind rape and murder case was found dead in Kurukshetra on Wednesday as two SITs were constituted to trace the culprits and to investigate the case.

Haryana Police had expedited efforts to find the whereabouts of a Balmiki youth, a student of Class 12, for questioning in the rape and murder case of a 15-year-old Dalit girl at a village in Jind. The boy went missing from Jhansa village under mysterious circumstances on January 9.

RC Mishra, ADGP Ambala Range, said, "We're investigating and scanning all CCTV cameras in the area. All people related to the case are being interrogated. After we receive FSL report, we can make a further comment."

The body of the 15-year-old girl, who had been missing since last Tuesday after she left home for tuition classes, was found near a canal at Budha Khera village in Jind district's Safidon town.

The girl, who belonged to a village in Kurukshetra district, had been brutally assaulted. Her private parts were mutilated and some of her vital organs had been ruptured, the official said. The recent incidents were a stark reminder of the December 16 Nirbhaya case in which a physiotherapy intern was raped by a group of men in a moving bus and a rod inserted into her body. She died in a hospital 13 days later.

An FIR was registered under section 302 IPC.

(With agency inputs)
'Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt,' Jignesh tweets after scribes boycott pressmeet

India

oi-PTI

Chennai, Jan 16: In response to journalists' boycott his press meet in Chennai, Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani urged the media not to be unfair.

In a show of solidarity, journalists on Tuesday boycotted a press meet to be addressed by Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani in Chennai after he refused to talk in the presence of an English news channel.

Following the incident, social media was flooded with comments supporting Chennai media for boycotting the event.

Mevani tweeted, "The nation wants to know tonight why I did this. Answer is: my integrity is impeccable. Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt."

The nation wants to know tonight why I did this. Answer is : my integrity is impaccable. Be critical but don't try to hit below the belt.  Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) January 16, 2018

After a closed door interaction with students and academicians, Mevani had agreed to a short media meet.

As soon as the newsmen started getting ready for the event by arranging the microphones, Mevani asked the reporter of an English news channel to remove his equipment.

The legislator made it clear that he will not talk in the presence of that TV channel since it was "his policy".

"We were arranging the microphone. As soon as he saw microphone that had our logo, he asked us to remove it. I told him we want a general byte and not an exclusive. But he refused", the reporter of that particular channel covering the event told PTI.

"We felt like he was dictating terms. We just sought a byte from him on issues relating to the State (Tamil Nadu)", he said.

The video released later by the TV channel showed Mevani saying he will not speak if there was a question from that particular channel.

"If a question comes (from that channel) I will stop speaking to anyone. Let the mic be removed", Mevani said.

Reacting to Mevani's rider, another TV channel reporter told him: "You cannot demand like that. If you do not want to talk then it is up to you. Thank You."

PTI
NIA arrests two naxals for killing JD(U) MLA in Ranchi

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Two persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of a JD(U) MLA at Ranchi by members of the CPI (Maoists). The National Investigation Agency arrested the two suspects Prafull Kumar and Jaiganesh.

NIA officials say that during the probe a larger conspiracy had been established into the killing of Ramesh Singh, the JD(U) legislator on July 9, 2008.

This case is related to the killing of Ramesh Singh Munda, then JD(U) MLA, his two security officers Shiv Nath Minz, Md Khurshid and one student, Ram Dhan Patar.

The Jharkhand police had registered a case following which the probe was handed over to the NIA. The NIA had earlier arrested 5 more accused persons including former minister Raja Peter Singh, after taking over the investigation.

OneIndia News
Imran Khan discharged from hospital, to resume long march from same point where he was shot

This cop from Pakistan became a millionaire overnight: Here is how

Pakistan rubbishes reports of DGMO level talks

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Pakistan on Wednesday rubbished the reports of a possible DGMO level meeting with India, terming such news as "baseless and misleading".

"No meeting of DGMOs of Pakistan and India is being considered as of now as reported by a section of media. The news is baseless and misleading," news agency ANI quoted Pakistan Ministry of Defence, Office of Assistant Director Media, as saying.

It was earlier reported that Pakistan is examining a proposal for a DGMO level meeting with India after a gap of four years. This move was said to be aimed at reducing tensions along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary through fresh confidence-building measures, the media report had said.

In November, a telephonic conversation between the two DGMOs took place following a request by the Pakistani side.

[To reduce tension along LoC, Pak considers DGMO level talks with India]

Pakistan-India DGMOs have a frequent hotline contact, but they last met face-to-face four years ago at Wagah, a village which serves as a transit terminal between Lahore and Amritsar.

December 24, 2013, Wagah meeting had taken place after a break of 14 years. That meeting too was held to discuss ways to ensure peace along the LoC and the Working Boundary.

OneIndia News
Is Hardik Patel joining BJP today? This is what he says

BJP announces list of candidates for Gujarat polls, Hardik Patel makes the cut

'Was in Congress once, I know...': BJP's Hardik Patel confident of winning Cong bastion Viramgam

Pravin Togadia feels unsafe under BJP: Hardik Patel

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Wednesday expressed his concerns over the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international working president's safety in the Bharatiya Janata Party's rule.

This comes two days after Pravin Togadia's mysterious "disappearance" and subsequent hospitalisation in an unconscious condition on Monday.

Patel took to twitter and said, "Pravin Togadia was safe during Congress' reign, but today, under BJP rule, he feels unsafe and insecure."

                        Hardik Patel (@HardikPatel_) January 17, 2018

On Tuesday, Patidar leader and Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia met Togadia in the hospital.

Togadia alleged that attempts were being made to frame him in different cases.

Meanwhile, on addressing the media, Togadia moved to tears, claiming that efforts have been made to silence his voice and not let him speak on the issues like the Ram temple, welfare schemes for farmers and the law on cow slaughter.

Togadia's remark came a day after he had reportedly gone missing and was later found admitted in a hospital in Gandhinagar.

He said that someone might be trying to get him killed in a fake encounter.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)
4 more new judges to be appointed in SC to sustain strength

SC crisis: Judges urge CJI to come up with plan to resolve issue

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and four dissenting judges - Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph, Madan B. Lokur and Justice Chelameswar met on Wednesday for lunch at the Supreme Court, amid efforts at ending a rift that could impact important cases.

The dissenting judges, who demand a stronger institution, have said "something is happening and they are ready for a debate", sources said, reports NDTV.

They also asserted that Chief Justice Mishra has to come out with a plan solve this issue.

The development comes a day after CJI Misra met in his chambers the four judges who had aired grievances against him in a press conference last week.

Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, and DY Chandrachud were the ones who initiated a talk between the four judges and the CJI and were there until the end of the meeting.

It was at the request of these three judges that CJI Misra met the four judges who have written him a letter on January 12.

The meeting, which started at 10.10 am lasted for around 15 minutes before the judges took up their work for their day.

However, according to the reports, the meeting did not bear any fruits and the two parties are set to meet today again in order to resolve the issue.

Despite the optimism expressed by legal bodies, the crisis in the Supreme Court over complaints against the chief justice seemed far from over. The five judges will meet again on Wednesday.

At a press conference last week, the four judges had flagged certain problems, including the assigning of cases by the CJI, and said there were certain issues afflicting the country's highest court.

They went on to add that the Chief Justice was abusing his position as the 'master of the roster' and assigning cases having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution selectively to benches "of his preference" without any rationale basis for such assignment.

Their criticism didn't seem to have had any effect on the CJI, though. The Constitution Bench that begins hearings tomorrow on several important cases doesn't have any of the four judges.

The Bar Council of India on Monday said that the rift between the CJI and the four rebel judges has been "laid to rest". A day after, Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the "judges' conflict is not settled". "From what has been reported, I accept that the judges' conflict is not settled.We are in the process to resolve the issue. It would be done shortly," Venugopal said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India announced the composition of a 5-judge constitution bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra to hear major cases including those challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act. However, the four senior-most judges who rebelled against the CJI saying "all is not well" were not included in the 5-judge constitution bench.

OneIndia News
Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

Sushil Modi blames RJD for attack on Nitish's convoy

India

pti-PTI

Modi Patna, Jan 17: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday lashed out at the RJD and accused the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party of having masterminded the attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's convoy last week, along with the liquor mafia.

The senior BJP leader's attack on Lalu Prasad's party was made in the context of attack on CM's cavalcade in a village in Buxar district on January 12 last. BJP is a coalition partner of Nitish Kumar government in Bihar.

"Police had seized a huge quantity of liquor from Nandan village of Buxar district. The attack on the Chief Minister was a planned one, aimed at seeking vengeance for the operation", Sushil Modi tweeted.

Kumar's cavalcade was attacked when he was touring the village on Friday last as part of his state-wide "Vikas Samiksha Yatra". The Chief Minister had banned sale and consumption of alcohol in the state nearly two years ago.

In the tweet, Sushil Modi also said "those who had once stood joining hands in favour of prohibition, have today sided with the liquor mafia".

The remark was an obvious reference to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, currently in jail in connection with a fodder scam case, who had stood beside the Chief Minister on January 21 last when a state-wide human chain was formed in support of the prohibition drive. The RJD was sharing power with Kumar's JD(U) at that time.

The Chief Minister walked out of the Grand Alliance after corruption charges surfaced against Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav - who was then the Dy CM. The BJP, which was in the opposition, immediately came up with the offer of support to Kumar following which a new government was installed in the state. Sushil Modi also lambasted the opposition party for "weaving false tales of dissatisfaction with development works" and said "both wards under the village enjoy facilities like electricity and tap water".

The RJD has been claiming that the stone-pelters were Dalits living in nearby localities who wanted to draw the CM's attention towards alleged lack of amenities in their area. The party has also criticized the ensuing police action, describing as "harassment of Dalits" the arrests made in connection with the attack on the Chief Minister's carcade, which had left many security personnel and other staff injured.

PTI
Who put all this policy in the budget? I whispered to my colleague the night the budget passed.

Groups, he said glumly. I call it the shadow legislature.

These groups are often from outside Wisconsin and often funded by large donors. Behind the scenes, they push for policy, added at the last minute, which is unrelated to the state budget but changes laws.

Recently, these groups came out of the shadows to directly ask for what they wanted.

It was a busy week in the Capitol. Forty-nine committee hearings and 150 bills moved in three days. Lawmakers scrambled to research complex bills.

Big issues were debated. Should lawmakers further limit the powers of local schools to set referenda? Should the state take away more local power to set rules related to workers? Voted out of committee were bills to limit pollution rules and shut down state air monitoring.

Hearings scheduled with short notice made it difficult for interested citizens to follow the flurry of activity.

In an effort to be informed, Glory Adams from Eau Claire took advantage of the legislative notification system on four topics: local control, and environmental, consumer and worker protections.

Glory found out about a bill to take away local powers that I had missed. I called her to thank her for her vigilance. Glory explained how difficult it was to stay informed. I get 25 or 30 notices a day, Glory said. I cant keep up with them.

No one can.

Many bills were moving to public hearings and a vote with only a few days notice. The speed and volume of bills made it tough to gain any meaningful public input. Sometimes, the only person testifying on a bill, besides the legislative author of the bill, was a representative of an out-of-state group pushing the bill.

For example, a group from Tallahassee, Florida, sent a young man named Jared to push legislation on their behalf. Besides the Senate author, Jared was the only one to testify on the bill. The group is one of several working to do away with professional licensing.

I asked Jared where else he was sent to push for action on bills. Ive been working on bills in Arizona, he said. Ive also been to Indiana and Florida. I recently testified in Nebraska. Jared lives in Washington, D.C. But I grew up in Illinois, he offered, hoping that fact would help.

It didnt.

In two cases, bills were pushed by outside groups to get out from under insurance rules. In one case, a different group from Tallahassee, Florida, wanted to take a car insurance product and make it a financial contract. After much research, it seems to me the current law protects consumers from companies looking to make a big profit. Changing the law would eliminate those protections.

In another case, the Chicago-based Heartland Institute pushed a bill to sell a type of health insurance that would not really be health insurance. At least not with the protections currently provided in law.

People dont realize these bills dont even originate in Wisconsin, Glory Adams noted. They come from various organizations, and are repeated here Often times (the bill) doesnt even apply to Wisconsin. (The groups) arent looking at the needs of Wisconsin.

With so many hearings scheduled at the same time, the chairs of many legislators were empty. They arent even listening to us, one man said. I began to wonder if the leaders really wanted any public input.

This process of haste and obscurity diminishes the public voice. Lawmakers arent hearing Wisconsin citizens who are testifying. How do you create a thoughtful law or fix a bill when you do not hear about the unintended negative effects on Wisconsin from a proposal written by an out-of-state group?

At the end of a long day, I spoke with a woman from Ettrick who shared my opposition to a bill to eliminate the requirement of local government to put notices in the newspaper of their public meetings. How am I going to know whats going on? she asked me.

Someday, when someone asks, Where did my democracy go? I will tell them about how haste and the influence of the shadow legislature suppressed the public voice.

Democrat Kathleen Vinehout, Alma, represents the 31st state Senate District.
US Congressman Carter says India's future is brighter than ever

India's first private rocket Vikram-S built by Skyroot Aerospace lifts off from Sriharikota

To reduce tension along LoC, Pak considers DGMO level talks with India

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Amidst growing tensions, Pakistan is examining a proposal for a DGMO level meeting with India after a gap of four years. This move is likely to reduce tensions along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary through fresh confidence-building measures, a media report said.

The report comes a day after Pakistan said four of its soldiers died and five others injured in cross-border firing by Indian troops across the LoC. The Indian Army, however, said seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in its retaliatory firing.

A Pakistan defence ministry official in a meeting on Monday told the Senate defence committee that a "fresh proposal of DGMOs' (director generals of military operations) meeting is being considered," the Dawn reported.

The official also briefed the senators about the latest trends in Indian ceasefire violations, it said.

In November, a telephonic conversation between the two DGMOs took place following a request by the Pakistani side.

According to the report, one of the confidence-building measures being considered for the planned meeting of DGMOs is "calibre reduction" of the arms being used at the LoC.

Pakistan-India DGMOs have a frequent hotline contact, but they last met face-to-face four years ago at Wagah, a village which serves as a transit terminal between Lahore and Amritsar.

December 24, 2013, Wagah meeting had taken place after a break of 14 years. That meeting too was held to discuss ways to ensure peace along the LoC and the Working Boundary.

OneIndia News
Dalit man in Kerala beaten up by wife's brother allegedly for not converting to Christianity

In UP, ex-pradhan thrashes Dalit girl, throws her out of school over uniform

In Rajasthan, Dalit man thrashed for using water from pot 'meant' for upper castes

UP: Dalit youth mercilessly beaten by 3 men, forced to chant Jai Mata Di

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Lucknow, Jan 17: Violence against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh continues as a 27-year-old man was mercilessly beaten by three attackers with sticks in Muzaffarnagar last Sunday.

The case came to light after a video capturing the violent incident went viral on social media. The video shows the three assailants not only beating the victim with sticks, but hurled abuses kicked and forced him to chant "Jai Mata Di".

Those who attacked the man alleged that he had insulted Hindu gods. The video was taken by a fourth man who was a part of the gang who attacked the Dalit youth. After the video went viral, the police lodged a First Information Report (FIR) and launched a manhunt to nab the culprits, stated media reports.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Senior Superintendent of Police Anant Deo said an FIR under "strict sections" had been lodged at the Purkazi police station.

"We are speaking to the victim and his family members and the accused have been identified as three-four Gujjar residents of the area. The incident took place in the Purkazi police station area," the SSP said.

An FIR was registered under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and sections of the SC/ST Act and IT Act, police said.

In the video, the victim's hands were seen folded and his helmet removed while the attackers beat him and forced him to chant, Jai Mata Di.

The video shows, one of the assailants telling the victim, "We don't criticise your Ambedkar, do we? Why did you do it to ours?"

Senior police officials investigating the matter told reporters that police teams are conducting raids to nab the accused. Cops assured that arrests will be made soon in the case.

Recently two Dalit men were beaten up by a mob in Ballia, UP for allegedly stealing cattle. The "animal lovers" did not stop at that.

The mob also partially tonsured the heads of the two alleged cow thieves as a punishment. Later, the duo was seen walking on the streets of Ballia holding placards saying "gai chor" (cow thieves).

OneIndia News
UP: Kanpur airport to get World-Class facilities by year end

UP police busts biggest haul of demonetised currency notes in Kanpur

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Recommended Video

Uttar Pradesh police busts biggest haul of old notes in Kanpur | Oneindia News

The Uttar Pradesh Police has busted the biggest haul of old notes in Kanpur on Wednesday. Over Rs 96 crores in a demonetised currency of Rs 500 and Rs, 1000 notes have been recovered from residential premises in Kanpur.

Anand Kumar, Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law & order) said at least 16 people have been arrested till now in connection with the case. The counting of currency notes is underway and questioning is on.

AK Meena, SSP, Kanpur Received information of presence of demonetised currency worth crores at a person's residential premises in Kanpur, a raid was conducted, RBI and I-T dept officials informed, a final amount not ascertained as search and counting underway."

Kanpur: All accused arrested in connection with recovery of Rs 96 crores in demonetised currency, sent to jail, booked under several sections. pic.twitter.com/6JWg52FuE2  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

Meena said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had gathered inputs about some companies and individuals involved in converting illegal currency into legal money and shared the information with Inspector General of Police, Kanpur, Alok Singh.

The IG collected more information about those running the money conversion racket and briefed the SSP Kanpur, directing him to carry out raids discreetly. Following a tip-off, the SSP formed several teams headed by SP (East) Anurag Arya and SP (West) Gaurav Grover.

#WATCH Police seized demonetized currency worth crores from a residential premises in Kanpur. pic.twitter.com/Hh7sLrWwoG  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 17, 2018

OneIndia News
Shoaib open fires in UP university after trying to start conversation with girls; arrested

Violence in school: Class 1 boy stabbed by another student

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

In yet another incident bringing to fore the rising violence in school, a class 1 student was stabbed with a sharp object by a class 9th student in Lucknow.

The victim, six-year-old Hrithik Sharma, told his parents that the girl took him inside a bathroom and attacked him, said an HT report. Hrithik, who suffered injuries on the chest, abdomen and left eye, is stated to be stable but has been placed under observation at KGMU's trauma centre for 48 hours.

"Child is under treatment and is fine now. Our priority was his safety, his parents work as peons and we thought it will be tough for them, so we took him to hospital by ourselves. We are told by the child that a 'Didi' took hold of him and attacked him with a sharp object," the principal of the school told news agency ANI.

Hrithik's father said that no FIR has been filed so far.

"School authority says they will file an FIR but nothing but it hasn't been done yet. My child says he was attacked by a girl," he said.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 22:28 [IST]
"Why is 'Hindu' communal only when I say it?": RSS veteran Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

73-year-old Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, perceivably seen as one of the most divisive figures in Karnataka, is a simple man. Clad in all whites, the vermillion on his forehead and sharp retorts to anything anti-Hindu is conspicuous. The Kshetra Karyakarini or Zonal Executive member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)- in charge of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana - Bhat, has many monikers including being called a fanatic and hate-monger on one side and educationist and crusader on the other, depending on who you ask.

Speaking to OneIndia, Bhat, who runs a school among other activities in the communally sensitive region of Dakshina Kannada, reasons why a fast weakening Hindu community must unite, the role of RSS in the 2018 elections in Karnataka and why he differentiates between 'Dharma' and law.

What is causing the communal unrest in Dakshina Kannada in your view?

There are people who worship one God but the problem arises when they hate others for worshipping a different God. Stones are pelted at Hindu religious processions, glass bottles are thrown and violence is initiated. RSS has the strongest presence in Dakshina Kannada and we have close to 1,000 shakhas. Our organisation is an eyesore for many since we create awareness among Hindus. The weakening of the Hindu community is the root cause. It is natural that oppressors target the weak.

Why do you say that the Hindu's (the majority community) are weak and oppressed in Dakshina Kannada?

There is no unity in the majority. The nation is one community- but the Congress is dividing it on the lines of 'majority' and 'minority' communities. They have been continuously breaking the Hindu community on lines of caste, creed, sub-caste etc. Now Siddaramaiah wants to divide Lingayat community as well. Frankly, we are still on the defensive and not offensive. If we go on the offensive, they will not survive.

Has the pampering of Upper castes led to the split of lower castes within Hinduism?

Not at all. This is a creation of the Congress. The Sangh doesn't think along those lines. In 1940 when Sangh was established here, there were Konkani Samaj, Marathi Sangh, Haviath Samaj, Gowda Sangha, Bhat Sangha but today the entire Hindu Samaj is part of the Sangh. Those from so-called backward communities are also with us in big numbers. We are inclusive.

What are you doing to consolidate the Hindu society?

We may seem like an anti-Muslim and anti-Christian organisation but we are not. Our work is different. Hindu society has issues like untouchability, a sin that we are working to demolish. We visit Dalit homes, eat with them, work with them to eradicate social disparity. We are working towards widow re-marriage, the abolition of dowry etc. We are correcting the anomalies within and becoming inclusive. We have 1.57 lakh Seva units that help in different fields like education, infrastructure, medical centres etc. The RSS is only for the protection of our country, culture and history.

RSS treats the Bajarang Dal as part of the Sangh Parivar. How do you react when any member of the Dal is alleged to be involved in communally inflammatory incidents?

Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of our Sangh's Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Attempts are being made to tarnish the organisation's name. RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal are labelled as accused in any case of assault on a Muslim. Arrests are being made without evidence. We tell our members not to attack anyone unnecessarily but it becomes necessary when we are attacked. But most times, our people are not involved but people like Ramanath Rai (District in-charge minister) insists that RSS is named. In the case of Basheer, none from our organisation is involved and we are pained by the death.

Does the same logic apply when Popular Front of India (PFI) members are arrested for attacks on Hindu's?

We believe PFI and KFD are behind the murders of Hindu activists. They are anti-Hindu and anti-national who formed different organisations after SIMI was banned. Mangaluru has become the bomb manufacturing hub of India and we believe that PFI is involved just like it is in cow slaughter, love jihad cases, religious conversions. This is what we believe but let investigations reveal more.

Isn't politics being played over dead bodies of communal violence victims?

Why are there dead bodies in the first place? We have never attacked first. Christians are indulging in religious conversions unabashedly. Why enforce a ban on Hindu religious practices among children in Church-run schools? Muslims attack directly and Christians attack covertly. We won't let them enter our houses and convert our people. For Muslims and Christians to survive, Hinduism has to survive- let us live together. We need to protect ourselves.

But those dying or killing in communal violence cases are from socially backward castes. How do you explain this?

They are the majority of the community. To speak in your terms, I am from an upper caste but there are cases against me too. Many communities are becoming aware of the atrocities on us and are now opposing it strongly. My wife and I were arrested under MISA during Indira Gandhi's time but caste didn't matter then, why now? Yes, our elders made a mistake by looking down upon backward communities but things have changed now.

How do you justify your workers indulging in moral policing?

You are talking law and I am talking Dharma. Yes, there are laws to protect cattle and women but are the police implementing it? Irrespective of the law, I have the right to protect my daughter, my family. If there is violence, so be it. We will not attack but will not back down if we are attacked. They (Muslims) have enough countries to go to but Hindus have only India. Not all Muslims are terrorists but why do they not condemn terrorist attacks, love jihad, cow slaughter and conversions? We respect people like Abdul Kalam and George Fernandes and are not anti-minority.

How important is RSS for a political party to win elections in Dakshina Kannada district? Will the Sangh back the BJP?

Very important. A party needs RSS' support but we do not indulge in politics. We will support any party that fights for the cause of Hindus and stands by us. The likes of Rahul Gandhi remember that they are Hindus only during elections. Why is it communal if I call myself a Hindu and not if Rahul Gandhi calls himself one? But in places that we are weak, tactics like minority votes, cash for votes are used to lure voters. Educated or rich Hindus don't want to come out and vote but Muslims and Christians aren't like that. The more they win, the more they become fanatical and hence vote in large numbers.

Our full support is to the BJP because it is the only party that stands for Hindutva. We don't worship individuals but there is a need to strengthen Narendra Modi and for that to happen, BJP should win in Karnataka.

Do you consider Corruption to be anti-national? If yes, what do you have to say about BJP in Karnataka that was accused of running a corrupt government?

Corruption is absolutely anti-national. We will condemn it even if the BJP is corrupt. We are happy when the corrupt are punished but according to the law and not politics. Leave it for the law to take its course and then we accept it.

What role does education play according to the RSS?

Education is most important and children should get a nationalistic education. Children should be told of this country's great history, why and how it was broken, the atrocities and what their responsibilities are towards it. They allege that the school we run is a communal school. But it is nationalist. We promote the idea of giving your time, money and life to the country. If we inculcate nationalistic practices through education, we can see some remarkable changes in this country. There are Muslim students in our school too but we do not discriminate.

Hindu organisation's names are being linked to murders of Gauri Lankesh and M M Kalburgi. Your thoughts on it?

Till date, only allegations have been made but no arrests, no evidence has come up. The way they accuse Hindu organisations makes me suspicious of their involvement in the cases- including those of Pansare and Dabholkar. Let them provide proof. If these allegations were true, would the police not have gathered some evidence and nabbed someone, especially when the state government is against us? The government knows their people are involved and is stopping the police from going after the criminals.

OneIndia News
Britain gets first-ever 'minister for loneliness' to tackle isolation

International

oi-PTI

Britain appointed its first-ever minister to combat loneliness, a problem the government says affects more than 9 million people in the country who always or often feel lonely.

Tracey Crouch, currently minister for sport and civil society in the UK government, will take on the additional role created in memory of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered by a right-wing fanatic in June, 2016.

"Jo Cox recognised the scale of loneliness across the country and dedicated herself to doing all she could to help those affected," May said in a statement.

The new ministerial role will take forward the recommendations of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, with the post holder working with the commission, businesses and charities to create a government-wide strategy.

According to research, more than 9 million people always or often feel lonely, around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month, and up to 85 per cent of young disabled adults - 18-34 year olds - feel lonely.

"For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life. I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones - people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with," May said. Crouch, Tory MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said she was determined to make significant progress in "defeating loneliness".

"This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness," she said. Loneliness can be triggered by a life event, such as a bereavement or becoming a parent, with certain groups, such as the elderly, young people and carers, particularly at risk. Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen who was stabbed to death outside her parliamentary office in West Yorkshire, had campaigned to combat the problem.

"One of the awful things about losing Jo is knowing how much difference she would have made in the world," her husband Brendan tweeted. The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, chaired by Rachel Reeves MP and Seema Kennedy MP, has spent the last year considering what the government and others can do to help.

They have been working with 13 charities, including Age UK and Action for Children to develop ideas for change. "We are really pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of loneliness very seriously with its prompt response to our report. Jo Cox said that, young or old, loneliness doesn't discriminate," said Reeves.

An estimated half the people aged 75 and over live alone in Britain, with many saying they can go days, even weeks, with no social interaction at all. The UK government has also announced that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) will devise a method of measuring loneliness, and a fund will be set up to help tackle the problem through activities which connect people.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 23:13 [IST]
I want immigrants to come from everywhere: Trump

International

pti-PTI

Washington, Jan 17: Even as the White House pushes for a merit-based immigration system US President Donald Trump has said he wants immigrants to come from everywhere.

"I want them to come in from everywhere  everywhere," Trump told reporters yesterday in a brief response to a question surrounding the controversy about his recent statement in which he allegedly said he wants more people to come from Norway.

Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that the president is pushing for a merit-based system irrespective of the country, religion and ethnicity of an applicant.

"He wants immigrants to come in from everywhere, but he wants to do that through a merit-based system," said Sanders. "By definition, a merit-based system is colour blind. It's not basing it on any of that criteria.It's not based on race, religion or country of origin.

It's actually based on the merits of whether or not this person's going to be contributing to society," she said in response to a question. Sanders said it was a "much more fair system" and the one supported and voted by Democrats "just years ago". "But now Trump is championing it.

The opposition, the Democrats, are just showing absolute signs and definitions of what hypocrisy looks like," said Sanders.

"Democrats need to quit playing politics.. They need to come to the table with a real deal based on the parameters that were discussed in the meeting that most of you saw, and let's try to get something done for the American people," Sanders said.

PTI
Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk to be the caretaker prime minister

Theres no case against Hafiz Saeed 'sahab, says Pakistan PM

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that there is no case registered against Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Islamabad.

"Action is taken when there is a case registered [against someone]," said Abbasi in an interview, quoted Geo TV.

This comes just days after Saeed hit out at the Pakistan government for "not ushering Islamic rule in the country".

Earlier, the Pakistan government had blacklisted Saeed's JuD after US blocked $255 million military aid to the country, even as he opened the first office of Milli Muslim League (MML), the political outfit of the JuD. The office was opened in Lahore.

Earlier in November, the Pakistan Prime Minister had claimed that India has provided "no evidence" against Saeed on the basis of which he can be prosecuted.

"The court, a three-judge bench, has released him (Saeed) saying there are no charges against him, the country has a law you know," said Abbasi.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief is also looking to contest the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and has, thereby, formed a party by the name of Milli Muslim League (MML).

Pakistan has recently prohibited Saeed's JuD and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) from collecting donations.

Saeed has been grabbing headlines often since his release from house arrest in November. He was placed under the same in January 2017.

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Join the Viroqua Chamber Main Street at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24, for a meeting that will include members and community member resources for businesses and organizations. The meeting will take place at the American Legion (Tap House 138). Coffee and light breakfast fare will be served. The meeting will follow a less traditional open mic format for information gathering and networking.

The Viroqua Chamber Main Street has a large network of partner businesses and organizations that have amazing services to offer. Need a loan or financial counseling, need help marketing, how about the revolving loan fund through Vernon County or the city of Viroqua? Need help with your website, branding or do you have printing needs? What about grant writing, real estate resources, economic development information, state or tourism resources?

We are calling this event business resources open mic, because we want to hear from you about services that you offer! Anyone who wants to participate will get three minutes at the mic. If you have questions about the format, please contact our office at 637-2575 or visit our Facebook page.

Media conversion kits

The McIntosh Memorial Library of Viroqua is pleased to announce a new community resource will be offered at the end of January. Beginning Jan. 29, patrons will be able to convert recorded material on VHS tapes to DVDs using two media conversion kits provided by the library. The kits will be available to use daily inside the library through March 16. Patrons using the kits will need to provide their own DVDs and must abide by all copyright restrictions. To reserve a date and time to use a kit, log onto the library website at www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org and select the reserve a space option to get started. The kits are being made possible in part by the Winding Rivers Library System and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, call the library at 637-7151, log onto www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org or like the Viroqua Library page on Facebook.

Facade grant applications

Facade grant applications are available for businesses for 2018 and will be accepted until Feb. 15.

Qualifying projects for facade grants from the Viroqua Chamber Main Street include painting, windows, awnings, brick work, entryway, etc. For more information about this grant or to receive a grant application, please contact the Viroqua Chamber Main Street office at 637-2575 or nrschmidt@viroqua-wisconsin.com.

Author visit, Feb. 6

The McIntosh Memorial Library of Viroqua is partnering with Viroqua and Cashton area schools to bring Michigan-based childrens author Patricia Polacco to the library for a presentation. Join them Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 11 a.m. at 205 S. Rock Ave. in Viroqua.

To date, Polacco has written and illustrated more than 115 books for children earning her numerous national awards. Currently, the author is beginning the process of writing books for adults while traveling the country for lectures and speaking engagements.

For more information, call the library at 637-7151, log onto www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org or like the Viroqua Library page on Facebook.

Love Stomp, Feb. 10

Celebrate winter with Bluedog Cycles! Join them for a delicious dinner hosted by Rooted Spoon followed by a beautiful candlelight snowshoe stomp through the VFW land at the edge of Viroqua. Its limited to 40 couples.

Where and when: 5:30-6 p.m., happy hour cash bar; 6-7 p.m., dinner at Rooted Spoon Kitchen Table; 7:30-9:30 p.m., candlelight snowshoe stomp and bonfire, VFW, 751 S. Washington. Cost is $100 per couple ($50 per person); this fee includes dinner, drink and snowshoe rental.

For more information or to purchase tickets and reserve your snowshoes, contact Bluedog Cycles 608-637-6993 or bluedogcycles@gmail.com. For more information regarding Vernon Trails please check out their website, www.vernontrails.com.
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The World War I centennial ends in November of this year. The war was a cataclysmic event that affected the lives of everyone in Vernon County. We have a lot of interesting local stories to bring to you throughout this year, starting today with A for aviation.

News about soldiers was commonly printed in local newspapers across the country during and immediately after the war. The following brief article, printed in the Vernon County Censor in March of 1919, caught my attention:

Very picturesque indeed in the striking French uniform, Lawrence Lindemann is at the old home circulating among friends. Lawrence tried in every way to enter the American aviation corps. Being debarred because of physical reasons, he enlisted in the Red Cross, going to France, then on that memorable trip to Italy to the fighting front. Later he transferred to the French army, receiving instruction in artillery school. He had just transferred to the aviation corps and was preparing to try for flying when the armistice was signed. Lawrence has the distinction of being the only Viroqua boy to serve under a foreign flag.

Well, thats quite a story. Since he didnt serve with the U.S. armed forces, Lawrence is not listed in the Vernon County War History book, always the first stop for our World War I research. But his brother Albon is there, and details about Albon give us some important clues about Lawrence.

Lawrence Osgood Lindemann was born in Viroqua in 1898, so he was too young for the first draft on June 5, 1917, which was for men ages 21 through 30. His older brother Albon, however, was old enough and registered that day. His draft registration card can be seen on ancestry.com, and from it we learn that he was already in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. The War History book tells us that Albon became a second lieutenant in the 52nd Aero Squadron in the U.S. Army Air Service. He was stationed at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, during the war.

Airplanes! No wonder Lawrence was desperate to be in the aviation corps  his big brother was learning all about flying. The Wright brothers had developed the first successful airplane just a few years earlier, in 1903. Although too young for the draft, Lawrence was old enough to volunteer, but as the newspaper article above tells us, he did not pass the physical exam for the U.S. Army Air Service.

Lawrences passport applications are also available on ancestry.com, so we can see that he applied for a passport in May of 1918 in order to go to Italy to do ambulance work for the Red Cross. He arrived in Bordeaux, France, in June, and later joined the French Army. The war ended in November and Lawrence was discharged from the French Army by February of 1919. Then he sailed to New York, and arrived back in Viroqua by March.

I havent yet found more information about Lawrences time overseas, but Ill keep looking. The newspaper article said he was the only one from Viroqua to serve under a foreign flag  were there other Vernon County natives who did so? Contact the museum if you have one of these stories.
More than one in four Australians were lonely in 2018. That was then. God only knows how lonely we all are now.

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2017 Crowns New Jersey The Paragon of State-Regulated Online Gambling

Published January 16, 2018 by Elana K

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has released the industrys year-end numbers, which came to a staggering $245 million.

In October 2017, New Jerseys online gambling revenue hit the $200 million mark - a huge milestone since the state legalized online gambling in 2013. Now that 2017 has come to a close, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has released the industrys year-end numbers, which came to a staggering $245 million, making New Jersey the paragon of successful online gambling implementation.

Monthly Highlights

December marked the 10th consecutive month in which New Jerseys online gambling revenue surpassed $20 million. The highest-earning month in 2017 was March, which brought in $21.7 million.

Online Poker

Online poker has been the sore point in an otherwise glorious year. While New Jerseys online casino revenue has continuously climbed, its online poker revenue has been on a steady decrease.

As one possible solution to online pokers poor numbers, New Jersey signed an online poker liquidity agreement with Nevada and Delaware in October 2017. The idea is to widen New Jerseys potential player pool, which could increase income and create a more attractive option for New Jersey poker players.

NJ Federal Lawmakers Want to Keep Online Gambling Legal

As New Jerseys successful numbers were released, federal NJ lawmakers from both parties penned a letter to the Department of Justice (DoJ), asking it to continue to uphold the legality of state-regulated online gambling. The letter came in response to a previous letter sent by Senators Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein in November, warning the DoJ of the evils of online gambling.

In 2011, the DoJ ruled that legalizing online gambling is a states right, and the states can choose to legalize it or not, as they please. Since then, online gambling opponents have been fighting this ruling, but so far, it has been upheld.

While New Jerseys successful year isnt legal proof that online gambling should not be banned by the federal government, it certainly is a model for a successful implementation. And as more and more states look to New Jersey as a paradigm for successful online gambling, they too will jump into the fray, just as Pennsylvania did in 2017. The more states that legalize online gambling, the harder it will be for the DoJ to overturn its 2011 ruling.